A big black cat sits outside as a silent witness. The library building, with a steel tunnel entrance, is tucked at the back of the Peace Palacethe larger than life, sunset orange brick building that dominates The Hague landscape, metaphorically. A search engine for the judges, this library with its endless stacks, is where the justice really begins.

For years, the library has been acquiring materialbooks, journals, papers, magazinesanticipating future conflict. The idea is simple: Naive, is how Jeroen Vervliet, director of the peace palace library, puts it. But like everything at The Hague and especially at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), justice is a concept that is carefully constructed. We believe that you have to successfully anticipate the conflict that will take place in the next ten years, says Jeroen. In the case of Kosovowhere the ICJ had been asked for advisory opinion in 2008, over Kosovos declaration of independence by Yugoslaviathe library had started slowly gathering literature over the years. You need to deep dive into information to understand a position. It is a matter of peace or war.

Statue of the black cat outside the Peace Palace building | via Twitter

It is also where judges go to read. The Indian judge, Dalveer Bhandari, comes into the sunny reading room often, to sit on a table quietly and read his paper. Prior to each case, a team pulls out primary source information for the judges to prepare bibliography for the case. This helps provide judges contextan essential part of international law.

The library is at the heart of the whole idea of peace. It is here that the preliminary order that went in favour of India, would have its acquired legitimacy in international law. Context, again. In May 2017, when India filed its emergency motion, the staff of the library reached out in the stacks, to pull out everything that ever existed on the Vienna Convention for the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. The Avena or La Grande cases, or anything that ever dealt with consular access, was brought out for judges to read.

And there is plenty to read. The bright orange stacks go deep 90 metres and are 12 metres wide, assembling together 1.5 million titles. Even before the case comes up, the research team has pulled out the relevant material and compiled it so that the judges have the legal moorings to form their opinions.

The books, unlike anywhere else, are arranged according to their sizeeach book of the same measurement filed next to each other, so conflict resolution in Asia sits comfortably with a World War I for Dummies. Irreverent, Spanish, Arabic, ancient, fresh off the academic press, obscure and mainstream, the library has a mandate to acquire everything really that exists on international law, conflicts or conflict resolution.

And to ensure that the library, as well as the staff, are aware of the enormity of their task, there is the cat.

Shes watching everything we do, like cats do. We dont refer to her as the cat, we call her the witness, says Jeroen. The witness keeps a watch to ensure that the principles of justice are observed. Shes keeping count and is a conscience keeper.
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Communication forHealthy Communities (CHC) is a five- year program implemented through acooperative agreement between the United States Agency for International DevelopmentUSAID/Uganda) and FHI 360. The project is designed to support the Government ofUganda and partners to design and implement quality health communicationinterventions to contribute to reduction in HIV Infections, total fertility,maternal & child mortality, malnutrition, malaria & tuberculosis. CHCworks with Ministry of Health and partners to rollout a nationwide OBULAMUintegrated health communication platform through: Mass media; outdoor media;social and digital media; and, inter personal communication (IPC).
The Salvation Army(TSA) is one of the world-wide faith based organizations, found 150 years ago.With the mission of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ with emphasis onholiness, and building a united and self-reliant Army that meets the needs ofthe whole person, body, soul and mind without discrimination. TSA has served peoplefrom the most impoverished and marginalized communities in Africa. Asia andLatin America without discriminating, race, gender, ethnicity or religion. TSAUganda has been working since 1931 preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ whileat the same time implementing community projects to lift people out of poverty.TSA Uganda seeks to recruit highly motivated and qualified individuals for afive 5 year Sustainable Integrated Development (SIDE) project to be implementedin Kiryandongo district with funding from NORAD through Digin.
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
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., raised approximately $6 million in the first 24 hours after his presidential campaign announcement. But his Democratic opponents shouldn't be surprised or concerned.

Sanders is the only Democratic contender for 2020 who ran for president in 2016, during which he raised about $230 million. For someone with nearly universal name recognition, an extensive donor list and a long run-up to his announcement, Sanders's haul shouldn't impress knowledgeable political watchers. (Should Joe Biden announce, I would bet his 24-hour fundraising total will dwarf Sanders's total. A former vice president shouldn't have to lift a finger to trigger a flood of money.)

More to the point, fundraising totals, I would argue, have as much predictive value as, say, poll numbers nearly a year before the Iowa caucuses (Feb. 3, 2020). Ask Ron Paul ($40 million raised in 2012, zero primary victories) or Jeb Bush ($155 million raised by his campaign and outside groups). Ask Hillary Clinton, whose fundraising prowess in 2008 didn't secure the nomination and in 2016 struggled to defeat Sanders before losing to Donald Trump. Money only gets you so far and in some instances conveys an unwarranted front-runner status (e.g., Jeb Bush) that contributes to the perception of underperformance if the candidate doesn't win in early states.

I would argue that for all the talk of dark money - which is most certainly an issue insofar as it erodes faith in democracy and contributes to polarization - money will matter even less this time around in the primary, and perhaps even in the general election. Instead of talking about who has the "most money," /we would do better to see if a candidate has "enough money." And early on, even having "enough money" isn't such a big deal. In 2008, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was famously broke going into New Hampshire, won there and never looked back. In 2012, former Sen. Rick Santorum had little more than his trademark sweater vest when he eked out a narrow win in the Iowa caucuses. The benefit of small states as the early contests is that it levels the money playing field.

You expect 2020 will be different because of an early Super Tuesday with states in which advertising is essential and expensive (e.g., California, Texas). It will be different, but for several reasons, I'm not convinced that will make money more important this time around.

First, the month between the Iowa caucuses and Super Tuesday gives a surprise victor or a surging underdog time to generate a rush of money. (Yes, California early voting will be underway on March 3, but plenty of voters will wait until Election Day precisely to size up the field. Moreover, there are eight other Super Tuesday states.)

Second, digital ads picked up by TV and other media give candidates a cheap way to get widespread coverage. (Recall the viral ads from the 2018 congressional races, such as the biographical piece from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.) Furthermore, if one masters free media, Trump showed you can dominate the news cycle and drown out ads.

Finally, Sanders has another obstacle that may undercut any money advantage he has. CNN's Ronald Brownstein explains that after Iowa and New Hampshire, "the next month of the primary calendar is dominated by states across the Sun Belt where non-white voters comprise a large share, and often an absolute majority, of the electorate." He writes:

"The pivot begins with Nevada and South Carolina,where contests will be held in the second half of February. The tilt toward diversity then explodes in early March when big Sun Belt states from Florida, North Carolina and Virginia in the southeast to Arizona and Texas along with California across the southwest will all crowd together on the calendar. ...

"That could advantage the candidates best positioned to appeal to minority voters, particularly African-Americans - a list led by black Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, as well as former Vice President Joe Biden, who's still considering whether to run."

In other words, money's not everything - and certainly not as important as the media often suggest it is.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in a number of ways epitomizes the Republican Party's descent into intellectual rot and immoral opportunism. Graham as a candidate called out President Trump as a bigot and "the most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party."

As one of the late Sen. John McCain's closest friends, Graham decried autocrats, stood up for human rights and castigated President Barack Obama for failing to exercise global leadership. He considered himself a defender of the military and our national intelligence community.

He's now among the worst apologists for President Donald Trump -- vowing to investigate unsubstantiated smears of the DOJ and FBI and insisting there was no collusion between the trump team and the Russians (despite evidence of Paul Manafort's meeting with Konstantin Kilimnick, the Trump Tower June, 2016 meeting and the Roger Stone-WikiLeaks connection.)

Most stunning is his reversal on immigration. Once a member of the Gang of Eight's comprehensive immigration reform he now supports Trump's fear-mongering on the border and even his unprecedented power grab, a declaration of a "national emergency."

There was one remark that perfectly typifies the horrible habits of the Trumpized GOP -- playing to low information voters' ignorance, ignoring real problems in favor of hyperventilating over phony ones, infatuation with authoritarianism and deep cynicism. Here's the relevant exchange on Face the Nation:

- - -

MARGARET BRENNAN: The President just declared a national emergency in regard to getting the funds for his border wall.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of getting those funds though through this emergency action there's about three point six billion of it--

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: --that could come from military construction efforts, including construction of a middle school in Kentucky, housing for military families, improvements for bases like Camp Pendleton and Hanscom Air Force Base. Aren't you concerned that some of these projects that were part of legislation that you helped approve in Congress are now going to possibly be cut out?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, the President will have to make a decision where to get the money. Let's just say for a moment that he took some money out of the military construction budget. I would say it's better for the middle-school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border. We'll get them the school they need. But right now we've got a national emergency on our hands. Opioid addiction is going through the roof in this country. Thousands of Americans died last year or dying this year because we can't control the flow of drugs into this country and all of it's coming across the border.

- - -

Thunk. Graham knows the opioid problem doesn't stem from a lax border; he should know however that test scores for kids in rural, red states like Kentucky are atrocious. and that there are problems other than illegal immigration problem (which has been declining) that most affect voters. (For starters if one cares about opioid addicts the last thing to do would be to cut Medicaid as Republicans proposed.)

Let's look at the education picture first. Last year the Lexington Herald Leader reported:

"In 23 schools more than half of the students tested couldn't read beyond a beginner or novice level. Most of those schools were in Jefferson County, with one - William Wells Brown - from Fayette County.

"Only two schools - SCAPA at Bluegrass in Fayette and Marie Gatton Elementary in McClean County - had no students scoring at the lowest level in math.

"Nineteen schools had more than half of those tested performing at the lowest level in math. Sixty-three schools had 40 percent or more of the students tested performing at the bottom level, including Bryan Station High School, William Wells Brown Elementary and Booker T. Washington Elementary in Fayette County.

"In addition to Fayette, six school districts had multiple schools with poor math scores, the Herald-Leader analysis showed."

Kentucky routinely ranks near the bottom in educational attainment. It also lags in healthcare, economic opportunity and has a soaring incarceration rate. Anyone think those factors have far more to do with opioid addiction than the lack of a wall at the border thousands of miles away?

Trump and his Republican enablers don't want to hear the facts:

More for you Opinion Why concern about Trump and Russia likely spiked for FBI...

"The data show that far more drugs are detected at ports of entry than between ports of entry. The Office of Field Operations, working at ports of entry, seized 4,813 pounds of heroin during the first 11 months of fiscal year 2018, through Aug. 31, 2018. During the same period, U.S. Border Patrol, which works between legal ports of entry, seized 532 pounds of heroin. CBP statistics from 2012 through 2017 show similar disparities between heroin seized at ports of entry and heroin seized between ports of entry. The data also show that fentanyl, another opioid, was seized at ports of entry at a higher rate than at points between ports of entry. From Politifact New York:

"The Drug Enforcement Agency reports similar findings, noting in its 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment that "a small percentage of all heroin seized by CBP along the land border was between ports of entry." . . .

"The agency said 85 percent of the fentanyl that came across the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017 entered through the San Diego port of entry.

"Data and analysis from the drug enforcement and customs agencies have been used by the Congressional Research Service, Cato Institute, and Brookings Institution, among others, to explain the flow of drugs and recommend policy changes.

David Bier, an immigration analyst who writes about border security at the libertarian Cato Institute, said that by saying a 'majority' of opioids come through ports of entry. . . .

" 'By weight, the average port inspector seized 8 times more cocaine, 17 times more fentanyl, 23 times more methamphetamine, and 36 times more heroin than the average Border Patrol agent seized at the physical border in early 2018," Bier wrote in an email..

While Democrats talk about education as well as other issues like healthcare that have an effect on the quality of people's lives, Republicans' gleefully exploit their voters' ignorance, perpetuating the cycle of scapegoating-poor economic returns-more scapegoating.

Tragically, the dishonest political shenanigans of people like Graham widen inequality (by geography, class and race) and accentuates polarization. They make constructive policy making nearly impossible, and play into the hands of demagogues. It's then that authoritarians like Trump come along who insist "they alone" can fix problems and falsely place blame on outsiders rather than some of their own disastrous policy choices.

At some point it's too much for Republican voters to bear. A Democratic governor won in 2018 in Kansas to repair the self-inflicted fiscal wounds from years of tax cuts that starved the state of needed revenue. Democrats rebound throughout the Rust Belt in 2018 and made inroads in former conservative strongholds like Nevada, Arizona and nonurban Pennsylvania. (Likewise, you've seen a spate of teacher strikes in red states that haven't paid teachers adequately, a recognition that a policy of supply side tax and budget cuts and immigration hysteria do not make for a decent quality of life.)

The strategy of fear, deflection and willful ignorance has a short shelf-life. In the end voters know if their lives are getting worse or better. To the extent Democrats talk to voters about the actual problems and realistic solutions they will go far. They cannot merely deplore the fear-mongering and race-baiting, however deplorable they are. If Democrats address the actual problems of average voters, Republicans will lose power and be forced (maybe) to re-evaluate their approach.

In the meantime the cynical, base-pleasing politics of Trump, Graham and others damage the lives of the most vulnerable Americans, batter our democracy and destroy a sense of national unity. What an awful legacy they will leave.
Is your cheeseburger an endangered species?

Reports of the death of Americas beef and dairy industries at the hands of the Green New Deal (GND) may be exaggerated, but both farmers and their Philly steak-n-cheese-eating fans have reason to be concerned about policies embraced by progressive Democrats.

Claims by some opponents of the #GreenNewDeal that it would mean an end of the cattle industry in America are inaccurate  for the simple reason that the GND doesnt offer any specific policies. The legislation actually filed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, is merely a resolution declaring general goals and directions, not specific laws and regulations. On this issue the resolution merely calls for working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible.

However, the FAQ handout from Ocasio-Cortez that originally accompanied the proposal was much more aggressive and, many farmers fear, far more accurate about the GNDs goals.

It demands a a greenhouse gas-free food system, and bemoans the fact that GND doesnt call for an end to all GHG emissions because we arent sure we can get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.

Supporters of AOC, as Ocasio-Cortez is known, argue that this FAQ document was mistakenly released, a work in progress, and doesnt reflect the immediate goals of the Green New Deal effort. However, 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 GND agenda without a drastic effect on cattle-intensive industries like beef and dairy.

And so Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, has legislation targeting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) for the alleged damage they are doing to the climate. I want to talk about the impact that CAFOs have on the environment and what we can do to mitigate it, Blumenauer said. We shouldnt be incentivizing them through programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program; we should be forcing them to pay for the damage they cause to the environment and public health.

Eric Holt-Gimenez says the problem is industrial overproduction of food  the root cause of agricultural pollution, food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. To discourage overproduction, he suggests a guaranteed minimum price for farmers, essentially an agricultural minimum wage paid by consumers to prop up inefficient, smaller farming operations.

And New Jersey senator Cory Booker  a #GreenNewDeal supporter and candidate for president  stated flatly that the devastating impact of emissions from the meat industry must end.

The tragic reality is this planet simply cant sustain billions of people consuming industrially produced animal agriculture because of environmental impact, Booker, a vegan, told VegNews magazine. Its just not possible.

The media are downplaying the potential effect on the agricultural sector from the Democrats newest policy initiative, accusing Republicans of exaggerating the case or conflating idealistic goals with realistic policies. But ranchers and farmers have gotten the message.

You may think the #GreenNewDeal is some far-out nutcase dream, but if youre involved in agriculture youd better view it as a threat to your entire way of life, Texas rancher Casey Kimbrell tweeted.

Sara Place of the National Cattlemans Beef Association says the Green New Deal highlights the large divide between people that are interacting with the environment and growing food every day, and those that are concerned about environmental issues, but ignorant.

And Kansas cattle rancher Brandi Buzzard Frobose has written an open letter to Ocasio-Cortez explaining that American ranches are producing beef in the United States more sustainably and efficiently than ever before  did you know that the U.S. produces nearly 20 percent of the worlds beef with only 9 percent of the worlds cattle?

I beseech you to please have a conversation with your constituents and colleagues that have an agriculture background, Frobose writes. Cows are not the problem.

But Ocasio-Cortez, who represents Queens, New York, doesnt have a lot of constituents with an agricultural background. Neither do many of the congressional co-sponsors of the GND who are from urban districts, like Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Boston and Ted Lieu of Los Angeles. Ag jobs just arent a key part of their constituency.

For the Democrats running for president, however, the math is very different. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina all have significant agricultural interests. According to Katie Olthoff of the Iowa Cattlemens Association, Iowa has the seventh-largest inventory of cattle in the United States and more feed yards than any other state.

We have a lot of relatively small feeder farmers, as we call them, Olthoff says, as opposed to the larger operations environmentalists tend to focus on.

At the Iowa State Dairy Association website, board president Larry Shover quotes a study reporting that Iowas 1,200 dairies  and 213,000 dairy cows  have an economic impact of more than $4 billion per year.

In New Hampshire, dairy products are a $50 million market and the single largest agricultural commodity in the state. The dairy tradition is such an embedded part of the Granite States story that the industry promotes the Ice Cream Trail featuring local dairies and shops from Nashua up to the Great North Woods.

And the official state beverage of South Carolina? Milk.

Still, virtually every nationally known 2020 Democratic candidate has endorsed the #GreenNewDeal. Thats going to present some interesting political calculations for Democrats in a 10-way (or 15- or even 20-way?) race for their partys nomination.

Even if the number of farmers in these early states is relatively small (fewer than 2 percent of Americans actually work on a farm), their effects on the economy are felt much more broadly. In addition, as support for the ethanol subsidy in Iowa over the decades shows, many voters have an emotional connection with their states farmers that gives their issues an outsized political impact.

Iowas farms are family farms, and so when Washington talks about America getting out of the cattle business, its not just a job. Its a family, Olthoff said.

About 10 years ago, my husband and I made a huge investment in order to farm years ago. Our dream was to be able to raise our kids on a farm, to live in rural Iowa, to live this lifestyle. When I hear about proposals and regulations that threaten us, I do get emotional, Olthoff said.

This isnt about shutting down an industry. Its about a way of life.

Michael Graham is political editor of NH Journal. Hes also a CBS News contributor. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Alexandria Sheriff's Office.

WASHINGTON - Paul Manafort will be sentenced in an Alexandria, Virginia, federal court for tax and bank fraud on March 8, the first punishment handed down to President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for Manafort to spend roughly 19 to 24 years in prison. Special counsel Robert Mueller has not asked Judge T.S. Ellis III for a specific sentence but in a filing last week called Manafort's wrongdoing "serious, long-standing, and bold."
DURANGO, Mexico - For decades, U.S. farmers, landscapers and builders tapped a seemingly endless supply of cheap labor: the waves of undocumented immigrants coming across the southern border. The workers arrived in time for harvests and construction booms. They did the low-wage manual labor that Americans were unwilling to do.

By the 2000s, more than half of American farmworkers were undocumented, according to the Labor Department. But now - thanks to border enforcement, the surging cost of smugglers and changes in migration patterns - the number of people crossing into the United States illegally is nearing the lowest level since the early 2000s. There are more Mexicans leaving the United States than arriving there.

For the White House, that might be a triumph. But for the agriculture industry, the impact is acute. Each year, its labor force dwindles.

To fill those positions, employers have turned to temporary visa programs that recruit workers in Mexico and Central America. Since 2016, the number of U.S. agricultural visas has grown from 165,000 to 242,000, a record high, according to the Labor Department. Amid an intractable debate over immigration and border security, America's labor force is quietly being transformed, as many employers see no choice but to shift from illegal to legal labor.

Visa recruiters are now driving into remote villages in Mexico, broadcasting their hiring sprees on portable radios, loudspeakers and Facebook ads. In rural America, farmers are converting hotels into dormitories for visiting Mexican apple-pickers.

Despite his claim that immigrants take jobs away from Americans, President Donald Trump has touted the guest worker program, acknowledging the difficulty in finding American manual laborers and pledging to make it easier for farmers to hire workers legally.

The country's temporary foreign worker program includes a category for nonagricultural jobs, known as H-2B visas. Despite a huge demand from industries that are also struggling to replace undocumented workers - such as shrimping and hospitality - H-2B visas are capped annually at 66,000.

This year, employers applied for 97,800 nonagricultural visas in the first five minutes of the visa lottery, far more than ever before, crashing the Labor Department's website, the department said in a news release.

There is no such limit for workers on agricultural visas, and U.S. employers apply to bring in workers for up to 10 months per year on unskilled visas for agriculture, known as H-2A visas.

"Without them there would be no broccoli or lettuce," said Tony Tew, an area manager for Foothill Packing, a labor contractor in Yuma, Ariz. "They want to come here to work, and they work hard."

There is perhaps no better example of the confluence of border security and America's labor supply than Yuma, known as the "Winter Salad Bowl" of the United States, where lettuce and broccoli are grown a few miles from the border fence. Before the government increased its enforcement - with fencing, additional agents and harsher jail sentences - farmers there once relied on a steady stream of undocumented workers. But this harvest season, there are an estimated 3,800 H-2A workers in the city, almost all from Mexico, up from 2,858 in 2016, according to Yuma officials.

Some of them, like Humberto Ruiz Silva, live in northern Mexico and wake early each morning to cross the border into Arizona, flashing his visa to the U.S. immigration agent.

"The money is triple for me, and for some others more than 10 times what they would make in Mexico," Silva, 39, said.

- - -

In a small, two-story building in Durango, Mexico, one of the country's poorest states known for its sparsely inhabited mountain ranges, the office of CSI Visa Processing has six-foot stacks of visa applications in its hallways.

The company has boomed along with the H-2A gold rush, opening 10 offices across Mexico to keep up with the surge in employer demand for visas. In 2010, the company said, it recruited and processed visas for roughly 20,000 workers. Last year, it helped bring 35,000 workers across the border.

In rural Mexico, temporary visas have always been enormously coveted, and the surge in demand for legal workers is already remaking entire towns. Last year, the average hourly wage for an H-2A worker was $12.01 per hour, exponentially more than Mexico's $5-per-day minimum wage, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data.

Around 4,000 of the H-2A workers now come from El Mezquital, according to CSI, which recruits there. One of Mexico's poorest regions, it has been mostly forgotten by the federal government, where for years men have picked apples in local orchards for less than a dollar an hour. Guillermo Mathus, CSI's president, has created a pipeline between that region and the fields of Washington state.

When he returned to El Mezquital on a trip last month, residents stopped him everywhere he went to ask about the program.

"Are you hiring women yet?" a young woman asked.

"When can we submit our applications?" a young man asked.

Across El Mezquital, homes and trucks have been bought with American salaries. Many workers have begun saving for the children's university fees. On their refrigerators, some workers keep magnets from the places they've worked: harvesting hops in Idaho, cherries in Oregon, apples in Washington.

Before U.S. employers apply for temporary work visas, they must prove that they can't find Americans to do those jobs, posting advertisements in local newspapers, for example. They must arrange interviews for their workers at crowded American consulates in Mexico. They must pay the "prevailing wage," which is typically a few dollars per hour higher than minimum wage.

Temporary work visa programs are heavily regulated, requiring employers to provide standard housing for workers and compensation for those injured on the job, for example. Some farmers say the system is too difficult and expensive to navigate.

"Basically, we pretty much gave up," said Don Hartman, a vegetable farmer in Deming, New Mexico. Instead of hiring laborers with the H-2A program to replace undocumented workers, he now tries to make do with the legal workers he has used for years. "They need to make [the program] less cumbersome, less regulated, less political. Those people want to come and work and go back home and we need the help. Why can't they make a single program that will work for both of us?"

- - -

Illegal border crossings began to fall consistently around 2006. It wasn't solely a function of border enforcement. Mexico's economy had grown and its population growth had slowed, meaning more Mexicans could find jobs at home. Plus, the price of human smugglers had surged, and fewer people were interested in an illegal crossing that could cost $6,000 or more.

With the election of Trump, employers said they knew that finding undocumented workers would probably become even more difficult. One Washington state farmer said he watched as his entire pool of undocumented workers crossed the border into Canada after Trump's inauguration, fearing deportation. Another farmer, failing to find domestic workers in 2017, formed a partnership with a local prison, hiring detainees to work the fields as part of a voluntary work program.

Labor contractors and industry groups held conferences about how to solve the problem, explaining how existing visa programs could be used. A low unemployment rate in the United States added to employers' desperation, making it even harder to find American workers willing to do manual labor jobs.

"When I give presentations to agricultural groups, I hear the same thing: There just are not as many workers crossing the border, and the current administration has people running scared," said Jennifer Uranga, a labor contractor based in Idaho.

Uranga is one of a growing number of agents who help farmers and other businesses to hire legal workers in Mexico. Some of those workers end up in Yuma, a city of 95,000 nestled amid a desert landscape of mesquite trees and dotted with verdant fields of lettuce, cabbage and broccoli, as well as some citrus and date palm groves.

An enforcement push in Yuma, including the construction of a border fence in 2006, helped reduce illegal crossings substantially, according to the Department of Homeland Security, although experts say some of those migrants might have been diverted to other parts of the border. Still, Arizona employers needed undocumented workers. Officials say that the state's economy depends on the nearly 1 million foreign workers - around a third of whom are undocumented - who work in predominantly low-wage jobs like landscaping or farm work, according to a 2016 study by the New American Economy, a bipartisan organization of business leaders and mayors dedicated to immigration reform.

"We've been warned to get our labor force legal," said Steve Alameda, a Yuma-area farmer who earlier saw his labor crews short by as much as 25 percent, due in part to a drop in illegal immigration. "Everyone knows we have problems with undocumented workers. We try to avoid that, but everybody knows it's happening. Now, here's a program in place where you can get yourselves legal."

- - -

Gowen reported from Yuma, Arizona.
As part of his plot to "kill almost every last person on the earth," authorities say a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist compiled a hit list of prominent politicians and cable TV journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson was taken into custody Friday after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home. Hasson had been stockpiling the supplies since at least 2017, according to court documents, and had developed a spreadsheet with his alleged targets.

Among them was former congressman Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., who now co-hosts an MSNBC show and has been a target of President Donald Trump's disdain. The list also included two of Scarborough's MSNBC colleagues, hosts Chris Hayes and Ari Melber, and CNN's Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.

Since he took office, Trump has regularly called the work of mainstream journalism organizations "fake news" and accused political journalists, without evidence, of dishonest reporting. He has often referred to journalists as the "enemy of the people."

Trump revived the enemy line on Wednesday, criticizing a New York Times report that said he asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker whether a perceived loyalist could be put in charge of an investigation into hush money paid to women during the 2016 campaign. "The New York Times reporting is false," Trump said in a morning tweet. "They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"

Hasson created his list of "traitors" and targets on Jan. 19, authorities said, two days after he conducted a series of internet searches:

8:54 a.m.: "what if trump illegally impeached"

8:57 a.m.: "best place in dc to see congress people"

8:58 a.m.: "where in dc to congress live"

10:39 a.m.: "civil war if trump impeached"

11:26 a.m.: "social democrats usa"

"It's exactly what Donald Trump is encouraging," Scarborough said during his show Thursday morning while addressing Hasson's alleged plot.

This is the second time in recent months that prominent politicians, Trump critics and TV journalists have been targeted by domestic terrorists. In the fall, a 56-year-old Florida man was charged with sending 13 homemade pipe bombs to Hillary Clinton, former president Barack Obama, CNN and others.

Journalists around the world face constant threats and dangers: 88 journalists and media workers were killed in 2018, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That includes five people at The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, who were gunned down less than a year ago.

This is how some of the cable TV hosts on Hasson's alleged list have reacted so far:

- Don Lemon, CNN, on his Feb. 20 show

"We are all safe, and we thank the Coast Guard and law enforcement for stopping this in time. But we need to talk about why. Once again, critics of the president are being targeted with violence ... These things don't happen in a vacuum. The president's words matter. Just look at the suspect's list of targets."

- Chris Cuomo, CNN, talking to Anderson Cooper on Feb. 20

According to Yahoo: "This is scary. This is something that the people who get named, we have to deal with, especially with our family because while we accept it as just the nature of the world we live in these days, my brother, this is very scary to the people and the little ones at home. So we've got to deal with that."

- Chris Hayes, MSNBC, on Twitter

"Remember when one of the president's most devoted, obsessed fans tried to murder like 20 of the president's most prominent political foes?"

"... Just a crazed right-wing nut with an enormous cache of weapons and a hit list of media personalities and prominent Democrats."

- Joe Scarborough, MSNBC, on his Feb. 21 show

"Donald Trump has been warned repeatedly that talking about enemies of the people is a Stalinist phrase, that it will encourage some of his more unhinged followers ... "

"We've all known that Donald Trump and his words and his attacks about enemies of the people would lead to this type of behavior. This is now the second time that we know about, from the pipe bombs to yesterday, but yesterday was obviously far more specific, far more dangerous. And you know, it's exactly what Donald Trump is encouraging."
A Springfield man has been apprehended in connection with the theft of a pickup truck that went missing in January.

Joshua R. Baker, 33, of 1042 N. Franklin Ave. in Springfield, was arrested Wednesday on an Illinois Department of Corrections parole violation warrant, according to the Morgan County Sheriffs Department. The out-of-county warrant was for a driving with a revoked or suspended license, and he was given a new charge of burglary.

Morgan County deputies, working alongside the Pike and Sangamon County sheriffs departments, and the Illinois State Police Central Illinois Enforcement Group, began the investigation into a pickup truck that was stolen between 7 a.m. on Jan 4 and 7 a.m. on Jan. 5. The diesel 2004 Ford F250 was taken from a building in the 22200 block of East Morton Avenue.

Police received a report shortly after the theft.

On Jan. 8, we got a report of a stolen vehicle on East Morton Avenue, said Morgan County Sheriff Mike Carmody. Our investigation led to an individual in Springfield. We got with the Sangamon County Sheriffs Office who did their investigation and we believed he may be making his way to Pike County.

Baker was located at a residence in Pike County where he was arrested on the warrants. He was booked into the Morgan County jail at 11:19 p.m. Wednesday. He is currently being held without bond.

Soon after, the vehicle was located in a warehouse in Springfield with minor damage and a missing piece of equipment.

I think it was a good joint effort, Carmody said. It was a really nice group effort to recover this vehicle because it was at a location where we may not have recovered it, had they taken it apart. We got to it before it was distributed to out-of-state or wherever.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is off to a splashy start in his second run for president, quickly trumpeting a massive fundraising haul in his first 24 hours as a candidate, luring millions to his Tuesday announcement video and brawling with President Trump - signs of his potential to become a major factor in the Democratic primary.

The initial surge and one-day receipts of $6 million reflect a resilience of support for the Democratic runner-up in 2016 and served notice to his competitors, who have so far been unable to create the same groundswell with their campaign launches.

It also reinforced the strength of his established political base at a moment when other candidates are only beginning to introduce themselves to voters. That is an asset that could prove valuable, should the contest splinter the party into many different pieces.

But Sanders, 77, also is confronting a radically different political landscape than the one he faced four years ago and potential obstacles toward regaining the surprising strength he showed in 2016, when he benefited from being the only serious opponent to the eventual Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

This time, he is facing a crowded and diverse field of challengers who, if not able to match Sanders' fundraising prowess, have demonstrated some financial strength and have played to overflow crowds in the early voting states. Some of them are doing so with the help of staffers and supporters who backed Sanders in 2016.

Sanders, for his part, has yet to prove he can expand his appeal past his limited, if loyal following of younger voters, mostly young men. He had particular issues in 2016 in attracting older women and nonwhite voters, two Democratic blocs whose electoral prominence has only grown in the past two years.

Beyond those hurdles, Sanders has faced scrutiny over the way his campaign team handled sexual misconduct claims in 2016 and, perhaps most challenging, is no longer the sole advocate in the race for liberal priorities such Medicare-for-all, a higher federal minimum wage, free community college and other policies embraced by many in the field.

Nevertheless, the first day of Sanders' second campaign swiftly demonstrated that he still commands an audience of both defenders and detractors, surprising some Democrats who have long expected him to run but were unsure how potent a force he would prove to be.

"This is truly remarkable," Rufus Gifford, President Barack Obama's reelection campaign finance director, tweeted Wednesday about Sanders' first-day haul. "I was skeptical of his ability to match his 2016 grassroots $$ magic. I was wrong."

Democratic strategist Jon Reinish, who is not affiliated with any 2020 campaign, said there was "no question" that Sanders "has had an impressive 24 hours."

But, Reinish said, Sanders also "enters the race with some significant baggage."

Sanders said Wednesday that his $6 million in donations within a day of his announcement came from 225,000 contributors.

By comparison, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a rival candidate seen by some as having had the best previous leap into the race, said she hauled in about $1.5 million in her first 24 hours.

Sanders also will be able to transfer some of the more than $9 million in his Senate campaign account at the end of 2018, according to federal campaign finance records.

Small-dollar fundraising, the type that benefited Sanders in 2016 and this week, could emerge as a critical factor in the Democratic primary. There is growing skepticism among Democratic voters about wealthy benefactors' influence on the political process, posing risks for candidates relying on large donations. Sanders ranks as the best example of that; in 2016 he kept his campaign in the running until the end of the primaries, although Clinton had a lock on the party's major donors.

The surest sign of Sanders' standing in the Democratic field may have come from the president the Democratic candidates are seeking to defeat. President Donald Trump appeared to be trying to elevate the firebrand liberal as part of a broader attempt to cast Democratic candidates as far-left extremists, as he escalates his effort to win a second term.

"Crazy Bernie has just entered the race. I wish him well!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, a Trump campaign spokeswoman issued a statement seeking to tether other candidates to him.

A couple of hours later, Sanders responded with his own social media missive and a link to a page on his website where people can provide their contact information.

"What's crazy is that we have a president who is a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a fraud. We are going to bring people together and not only defeat Trump but transform the economic and political life of this country," Sanders tweeted, words that echoed his announcement.

Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, is signaling that he plans to run a campaign reprising many of the signature themes he highlighted in 2016: Medicare-for-all, combating income inequality and aggressively addressing climate change, among other things.

"He will run an issue-focused campaign," said Sanders adviser Ari Rabin-Havt, who also noted that Sanders' leadership on major issues will be part of the case he makes to voters.

The Vermont senator's two-minute Tuesday launch video, which had been viewed more than 6 million times on Twitter as of Wednesday afternoon, emphasized that Sanders has been at the forefront of the fight for liberal ideas that have become focal points in the contest.

Much of the rest of the field has gravitated to the positions that Sanders has advocated. While some liberal activists see that as a positive development, it could also complicate Sanders' path to the nomination, leaving voters with a potential choice between the first advocate or one who shares Sanders' views but may seem more appealing or electable.

Over Presidents' Day weekend in New Hampshire, a key early state whose primary Sanders won in 2016, Sens. Harris and Cory Booker, D-N.J., both noted their support for Medicare-for-all, though the latter pointed out the difficulty of passing it.

Both candidates drew large and enthusiastic crowds. At a church in Portsmouth on a snowy afternoon, Harris drew 1,000 people inside, according to her campaign's estimate, with 500 or so outside. A house party for Booker in Manchester was packed with interested Democrats eager to hear him speak.

But the more intense competition ahead could be between Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another favorite on the left with a similar message of taking on the wealthy and powerful and being a champion for the working class.

"Bernie getting in will draw some support in the short term from Warren and also several other candidates," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has endorsed Warren. Green also predicted Warren and Sanders would become a "one-two punch that drives the debate among the entire field."

For Sanders, rival candidates are not the only thing he will have to worry about. After his struggle to win over African-American voters in 2016, he now faces a field with at least two black candidates, Booker and Harris.

In the matter of appealing to women, Sanders publicly apologized last month to women who felt mistreated by his campaign staff members in 2016. Sanders has not clarified, however, when he knew of the allegations and what role he had in adjudicating complaints.

In one notable change from 2016, Sanders has a largely new campaign team. He has hird Faiz Shakir, a veteran political operative who had been serving as the national political director for the American Civil Liberties Union, to manage his 2020 campaign.

In the past, Shakir worked for former senator Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the speaker of the House.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and a veteran South Carolina lawmaker, said Sanders "seems to have learned the lesson from before - he is doing outreach in communities of color and recognizing the need to do that."

"It seems to have dawned on him that he is not the only game in town, and as a result I see that he is more aggressive in his effort here," the Democrat said of her home state. "I do think he had not much choice but to get out of the gate fast. This is a totally different field than when he ran before."

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The Washington Post's John Wagner contributed to this report.
All elected officials in Illinois would be required to wear body cameras while conducting public business if a bill sponsored by state Rep. John Cabello becomes law.

The intent of the bill by the Machesney Park Republican is to reduce corruption at the state and local levels, but Cabello acknowledges his idea has virtually no chance of winning approval.

We see the dealings going on in Chicago with some of the wiretaps and some of the corruption thats been going on for decades, Cabello said. We hear of the state lawmakers that get themselves into trouble with bribes and so on and so forth. So, I just thought that since the state was looking at making all police officers wear body cameras, I figured this might be a good way to have records of what lawmakers are doing.

House Bill 3447 would direct the State Board of Elections to develop rules for the use of body cameras by public officials of the state.

Recordings made with the use of a body camera worn by a public official could be used as evidence in any administrative, judicial, legislative or disciplinary proceeding. The recordings would not be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

The measure would cover city and county officials as well as those elected to state office. Public officials found to be in violation of the law would be subject to fines.

If they want to be an elected official, they should be following the law, Cabello said. If they dont want to, I think they ultimately shouldnt be an elected official. We would find ways of being able to remove them.

Cabello, who is a veteran Rockford police officer, said his body camera proposal is not an attempt to reinvent the wheel.

Its going to be the same as what law enforcement will have to do, he said. Theres not going to be one person going through all of the recordings. Its more of if someone makes an allegation or a complaint, youll at least have some footage to go through.

The proposal is a unique but costly approach to weeding out corruption, said state Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford.

If its limited to certain groups of officials, that could limit the cost, but it could be extremely expensive, Sosnowski said. Then, of course, you have all of the backroom support and infrastructure as far as recording and maintaining the records and the servers and those folks to maintain that. It would probably be a very costly endeavor and I think it would be very difficult to enforce when they actually were using it.

State Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, said hes willing to consider Cabellos proposal with some reservations.

Before we spend lots of taxpayer dollars on putting cameras on 177 lawmakers and thousands of other public officials around the state, I wonder if Rep. Cabello would be interested in a pilot body camera project, Stadelman said.

State Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, declined to comment on the bill.

Although Cabello said the proposal had generated positive feedback from his constituents, he doesnt think the idea will gain traction in Springfield.

I think there will be some elected officials that will support it but I doubt its even going to get a committee hearing in Springfield, Cabello said. The majority party, they wont want to hear this. I cant see (House Speaker Mike) Madigan letting this see the light of day.

Still, the idea has merit, Cabello said.

Its time we start getting public trust back for the elected officials and the only way thats going to happen is we have to root out the corruption, he said.
EDWARDSVILLE  Saying her grandson is not a terrorist, Debra Cook made an emotional plea that Keaun Cook be transferred to a mental facility so he can get the help he needs, and said the system failed them by not providing any help before he was arrested in 2016.

The grandmother and two others spoke on Keaun Cooks behalf at the Madison County Board meeting Wednesday night.

Also speaking on Keaun Cooks behalf was Joshua Young, a Green Party candidate for county board in the last election; and Catherine Vajda, who identified herself as a neighbor of Keaun Cook and Debra Cook.

Young said Keaun Cook fell between the cracks of mental health and law enforcement.

This young man has been failed by the system, he said, calling the situation an injustice and saying he needs to be transferred to a medium security mental health facility.

Debra Cook said Keaun had long-time mental health issues and spent 18 months in the juvenile justice system, much of that in solitary confinement. She said when he was released he had changed and was incapable of functioning in society.

The system that was supposed to help him did more harm than good, she said, adding that nobody would pay attention to his mental issues until he did something stupid.

Eighteen times I begged for help, but nobody listened, she said.

When Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler told her that her time was up she continued speaking for several minutes, saying she was fighting for her grandson.

She was allowed to continue until she was finished.

Vajda said she was a neighbor of the family, and described Keaun Cook as a quiet person who had issues.

He seemed like a lost soul, she said.

Both Young and Vajda repeated the claim that Keaun Cook was no terrorist.

No additional action was taken by the board, but the pleas come as Madison County officials are waiting for the Illinois Department of Human Services to transfer Cook to a mental health facility for evaluation.

Keaun Cook, 21, was charged in August 2016 with one count of making a terrorist threat and one count of material support for terrorism, both Class X felonies.

At the time, Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said Cook had been in contact with an unspecified terrorist organization, and planned as mass casualty incident at multiple locations in Madison County. Authorities became aware of the threat when they responded to a call for a welfare check at a home on the 1300 block of Sir Galahad Lane in Godfrey.

Since then he has been charged several times after attacking jail personnel. In the latest incident, he allegedly spit on a jail worker on Dec. 1.

In a press release issued last week, Gibbons said that Cooks mental health has been an issue.

Unfortunately, County Jails are not structured to serve as mental health facilities, and can only provide limited resources for inmates with such challenges, he said in the release. With that in mind, we have worked with defense counsel and the Court to transfer Mr. Cook to a more appropriate, secured mental health facility, while he awaits resolution of his cases.

Cook had been ordered into IDHS custody in May 2018, but according to Gibbons office was never transferred to another facility.

In December, Cooks attorney, Jeff Weishaupt, filed a petition to determine Cooks fitness and enforce the courts order to have Cook transferred.

On Feb. 6 Associate Judge Philip Alfeld found Cook unfit for trial and ordered him into IDHS custody for treatment.

Gibbons said he has been checking daily, but as of Wednesday Cook had not been transferred.

Reach reporters Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
Long before Yalitza Aparicio became the first indigenous woman nominated for best actress at the Oscars, she applied for a retail position at a clothing store in her hometown of Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.

She didn't get the job. Aparicio, now in the same conversations as Glenn Close and Lady Gaga, recalls the store manager's exact words: "It's your skin color."

She wasn't surprised. It isn't unusual for people with indigenous features to face discrimination in Mexico. But now Aparicio, who had never acted before landing the lead role in the critically lauded "Roma," has gone from aspiring public school teacher in a city of less than 18,000 to the first indigenous woman on Vogue Mexico's cover. Fans tout her as the face of indigenous Mexico. Trolls leave racist comments on her social media. And at just 25 years old, she's wrestling with the rewards and burdens of fame.

Soft-spoken and quick to smile, she says she doesn't consider herself an indigenous activist and hopes to better express herself publicly about these issues in the future. Yet when the camera turns on, she gazes straight ahead, exuding the confidence that made her on-screen character, Cleo, so effortlessly realistic.

"I never liked being in front of a camera. I was a scaredy-cat, very reserved and not very social," Aparicio said in Spanish of her life before "Roma." "I never thought I would leave my hometown, but here I am."

Since its release by Netflix in December, "Roma" has racked up accolades around the world, including 10 Academy Award nominations. It has also inspired innumerable features focused on Aparicio's character, Cleo, a domestic worker from Oaxaca inspired by writer-director Alfonso Cuaron's real-life childhood nanny. Cleo, who speaks a combination of Spanish and Mixtec on screen, represents the more than 2.4 million domestic workers across present-day Mexico, more than 95 percent of whom are female and from indigenous areas. The black-and-white film, set in the early 1970s, depicts the dynamic between Cleo and her employers with startling intimacy, presenting her inside and outside of the home where she lives and works.

Luis Rosales, the casting director for "Roma," said Cuaron gave him only two directives as Rosales searched for their star. The first: Whoever got the role needed to physically look like the person on whom Cleo is based. Second, he said in an email, "she had to feel like her, too."

"We interviewed over 3,000 women for the role of Cleo," Rosales said. "Yalitza got our attention since her very first audition."

Aparicio, who auditioned at the urging of her older sister, was familiar with the role. Her mother is a domestic worker, so she easily identified with Cleo. "For some scenes, I interpreted the memories I have of my mom," she said.

Aparicio had never heard of Cuaron or seen any of his films before "Roma" - let alone watched many movies growing up. The only film memories she has are kung fu scenes from the Bruce Lee movies her father loved. The only TV she remembers seeing as a kid was "Inuyasha," a Japanese anime about a schoolgirl who's transported to the social and political upheaval of the Sengoku era.

"I never watched much TV as a kid because no one else looked like me on the screen," she said.

Instead, like other kids in Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico, she took on the responsibility of financially contributing to her family from an early age. While she was in elementary school, she sold toys and clothes in the streets with her family. Growing up, she empowered herself by talking openly about the color of her skin, taking it as a point of pride when people on the street said, "Hola morenita!" - a common greeting that's meant to be endearing, although it translates to the brash-sounding, "Hi, dark-skinned one."

"In my family, I've always had the darkest skin," she said. "I always joked with my siblings that it was because I was made of chocolate."

That perseverance comes through on Aparicio's magazine covers, fan selfies and black-and-white billboards plastered on the streets of West Hollywood. On her Instagram account, where she has 1 million followers, she posts powerful handwritten letters from her fans, many of whom also have indigenous backgrounds. A few weeks before the Oscars, she posted a note written on a torn-out piece of composition paper: "Dear, Yalitza. Thank you for giving us a voice in a world where they want to silence us and make us disappear. Wishing you all the luck."

Her success has brought increased attention to the 68 indigenous nations in Mexico, where up to 14 percent of the population is indigenous. "If Yalitza wins the Oscar, it will be a reminder to the entire world that indigenous people are alive and very much still existing in the world in the 21st century," says Odilia Romero, the national coordinator for Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales, an association that oversees indigenous affairs in the United States and Mexico.

Not everyone has celebrated Aparicio's success. In December, when Aparicio appeared on the cover of Vogue Mexico, she faced racist vitriol in the comments section. In January, the digital news site Sin Embargo reported that a group of Mexican actresses had allegedly tried to prevent Aparicio from winning a Mexican Academy of Film Award, considered by many to be the "Mexican Oscars," because of her previous acting inexperience. The academy was quick to dismiss the claims, noting it had awarded past nominees with similar acting backgrounds. And, on Feb. 15, a video that appeared to show Sergio Goyri - a Mexican actor known for his work in soap operas - calling Aparicio a "pinche india" went viral. He has since apologized for using the phrase, which means "damned Indian."

Despite these issues, Aparicio is quick to profess loyalty to her homeland, saying she is in love with Mexico and has no plans to move from Oaxaca. Up until the time of this interview, she had not received offers to work in other films.

"I would love to have the opportunity to act again," she said. "I dream about having a role that makes people reflect on themselves, but nothing has presented itself yet."

After the Oscars, whether she wins or loses, she's looking forward to returning home for a taste of the familiar - a big plate of her mom's spicy mole negro. And as for her activism, she's getting there. She urges those who use the derogatory term for an indigenous person in Spanish - "indio" - to think twice.

"I am not an Indian," she said. "I am indigenous."
Lincoln, NE (68508)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
The smartphone with a foldable screen, which Samsung will start shipping at the end of April, is far more than an expensive gimmick. With the release of the $1,980 Galaxy Fold, Samsung challenges Apple's claim to premium pricing and unleashes, in what looked like a mature market, the same kind of race that Apple started with the first iPhone.

The price point, of course, is pure cheek. When Apple launched the iPhone in January, 2007, it did so at $399 with a two-year contract, more than most mobile phones cost that year, but Nokia's 2007 flagship handset, the N95, sold for a hefty $700 unlocked - and it didn't even have a full keyboard.

Samsung, however, isn't trying to be the Apple of 2007: It has moved to displace the Apple of today from the enviable market position of capturing 44.4 percent of the smartphone market's total value in the last three months of 2018 while delivering only 18.2 percent of unit shipments. The ability to price its phones at a premium to other manufacturers' products is, arguably, Apple's biggest advantage, established during a few crucial years at the end of the 2000s while Nokia lost its way, Microsoft failed to compete and Google still worked on its Android operating system.

Now, Samsung is making a grab for the premium price-setter's crown with an innovation as bold as Steve Jobs's abolition of the physical keyboard. The foldable phone adds another device, the tablet, to the list of gadgets you don't really need if you have a smartphone (that list already includes a camera, a music player and a watch, to name just the most obvious conquests).

It's also the biggest change the market has seen since 2007. One can gripe about the difficulty of using the fold-out novelty one-handed, expect software problems (Android needs a serious upgrade to run on a shape-shifting device, and so do popular apps) or complain about the bulkiness of the two-battery, two-screen phone - but the first iPhone, too, received its share of criticism just because it was different and required a learning curve. Being able to watch movies, play games and read books on a good-sized screen and still use the device as a reasonably-sized phone is a big advantage that, in the end, trumps all the complaints.

Economically, passing up a tablet for a Samsung Galaxy Fold makes no sense. A latest-generation iPhone plus an iPad Pro can be had for the same price, and, no question, the pair would be the more practical purchase: As first-generation tech, the Fold can be expected to be buggier than these long-perfected devices.

Samsung, however, isn't trying to make a reasonable offer to consumers. It's claiming the right to set higher prices than Apple. Citigroup predicts Samsung will ship about a million Folds this year; at the current price point, that would be a bigger achievement than Apple's 2007 iPhone sales of 1.39 million units. The people who buy the Fold won't just be early adopters: they'll be, let's face it, the kind of people (call them tech devotees, wannabes or just vain) who have helped Apple obtain its price-setting power. Arguably, it'll be cooler to own a Fold than an iPhone because it's the new new thing - and also because it's so expensive: an unbeatable combination.

For the iPhone, the real test came in 2008, with the second model and an eight-fold sales jump. Samsung probably won't see a similar dynamic, but, if the Fold works properly and doesn't break too easily, it may have enough time to establish itself as the new king of cool since other manufacturers working on foldable screen tech won't be able to source enough of the new displays: Samsung has a jump on them when it comes to manufacturing at scale. It has more production capacity than its rivals (South Korea's LG Display and China's BOE and Visionox) put together.

Samsung, of course, is taking a gamble. But, for the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer suffering from historically low profit margins, the bold move is justified. If the Fold takes off, it'll set off a new cycle for the smartphone industry, which has struggled to grow recently (unit shipments dropped 4.4 percent in 2018). Samsung's competitors, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, which are also planning to launch foldable phones soon, will be forced to drive down prices as the biggest players also compete on the ergonomics and functionality of the new devices, something that hasn't happened in the industry for years. Samsung, however, can try to do what Apple had done before it, hanging on to premium prices. This time, it has a chance to do things right.

There's a possible incentive for smartphone producers to push more foldable phones: Even though the devices are advertised as extremely durable, the constant folding and unfolding makes it likely that they won't last as long as current smartphones, which people replace increasingly seldom. The industry would love a shorter natural replacement cycle.

Apple, meanwhile, faces its Nokia moment. It can hardly do what it did with its competitors' earlier, more timid innovations such as large screens or the elimination of bezels - simply copy them and set the price higher. A foldable iPhone for $2,500 later this year? It's not happening, though Apple is working on a foldable device, as a recent patent indicates. So what role can the phone revolutionary of 2007 play in the next revolution, against competitors eager to deny it its usual mammoth profit share? Jobs probably would have had an answer by now. Current Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook hasn't given an indication of his plans yet.

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Bershidsky, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.
Before he became a billionaire, Dai Lin would ride his bike to work, pedaling through the streets of Tianjin to the headquarters of Tiandy Technologies Co., the camera maker he built with support from China's government.

When Dai started his company in 1994, roadside surveillance cameras were rare in China. Now they're everywhere - part of a high-tech surveillance state that's stoking privacy and human-rights concerns in the world's most populous nation, raising thorny questions for international investors, and making well-connected entrepreneurs like Dai extremely rich.

The 54-year-old former academic, who now drives a luxury sedan and rewards high-performing employees with BMWs, is the latest of at least four businessmen to amass billion-dollar-plus fortunes from surveillance companies that count China's government as a major client or investor. Their combined net worth exceeds $12 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The figure underscores the scale of Chinese President Xi Jinping's unprecedented push to keep tabs on the country's 1.4 billion people. About 176 million video surveillance cameras monitored China's streets, buildings and public spaces in 2016, versus 50 million in America, according to IHS Markit. In 2017, Xi's government spent an estimated $184 billion on domestic security. By 2020, authorities plan to roll out an "omnipresent'' nationwide camera network and a social-credit system that tracks personal data on everything from traffic violations to video-game habits. It will soon be hard to go anywhere in Tianjin, or any other city in China, without being watched.

And it's not just surveillance-focused firms like Tiandy that are helping the government expand its monitoring programs: Companies from Alibaba Group to Ping An Insurance to Tencent are playing increasingly important roles. Look hard enough, and you'll find links to China's surveillance state at nearly all of the nation's most innovative businesses - several of which are staples of 401(k) accounts and other investment portfolios around the world.

Supporters of China's surveillance activities say they've fostered trust, improved public safety and helped make the country a world leader in areas like artificial intelligence. Critics, including billionaire philanthropist George Soros, say Xi's government is exploiting technology to gain a dangerous level of control over its citizenry. That concern has only grown in recent months amid reports on the suppression of Uighurs, the predominately Muslim ethnic groups in China's Xinjiang province.

As Tiandy and its peers expand overseas, some worry that China's surveillance industry might help governments from Africa to Latin America erode civil liberties. Another fear, highlighted by U.S. scrutiny of Huawei Technologies Co., is that exported Chinese surveillance equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. Huawei's HiSilicon unit is a major supplier of chips that power surveillance cameras.

"The Chinese government's approach to leveraging data for purposes of social control and management could bolster the coercive capability of the state in ways that have quite troubling implications, including for the future of democratic governance worldwide,'' said Elsa Kania, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank. "Many of the companies that are exporting AI applications, such as facial recognition, can be used for surveillance and thus enable repression."

Chinese officials have repeatedly insisted that such concerns are without merit. In response to a critical speech on China's surveillance programs by Soros at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the former hedge fund manager's comments were "not even worth refuting.'' Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has denied helping Beijing spy.

Tiandy, whose name-and-shame surveillance systems in Tianjin identify jaywalkers and display their faces on street-side billboards, declined to comment on Dai's net worth or the privacy issues surrounding China's monitoring programs.

Wuhan Guide Infrared, a maker of infrared cameras whose chairman has a net worth of $1.3 billion, and Ping An, which develops smart sensing technology for local governments, both declined to comment. Tencent, which has invested in surveillance-related startups, didn't respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Alibaba's cloud-computing unit said authorities using its "City Brain" technology have seen "tangible improvement in areas such as traffic flow and emergency response time."

For all the concerns about government surveillance raised by Soros and groups like the United Nations, views from inside China are often more apathetic. Older residents have long been accustomed to living under the watchful eye of the Communist Party, and younger generations have grown up sharing nearly every aspect of their lives on social media. While there have been sporadic outcries over alleged data-gathering overreach, many citizens are willing to sacrifice some of their privacy as long as China's leaders keep delivering on promises of higher incomes and strong economic growth.

Proponents of the country's social-credit system, which is being tested in several cities before a planned national rollout in 2020, say it promotes honest dealings in a country whose legal system has often failed to build trust among consumers and businesses. People with high social-credit scores may find it easier under the new regime to buy plane tickets, borrow money, purchase a house and secure a high-paying job.

The fear is that China's government, and the businesses that supply it with surveillance and censorship technology, are also building a system that's capable of stifling dissent like never before.

In Xinjiang - where as many as 1 million Uighurs have been held in mass detention camps - Chinese authorities are deploying AI-powered cameras, facial scanners and audio surveillance tools to carry out what Human Rights Watch has described as a "systematic campaign of human rights violations.'' China has said that the camps are voluntary education centers that help purge "ideological diseases."

Human Rights Watch has called out companies including iFlyTek, a Shenzhen-listed developer of voice-recognition technology, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based maker of DNA sequencers, for allegedly supplying the Xinjiang police. The advocacy group has also urged money managers to refrain from investing in businesses with links to China's mass surveillance programs. (iFlyTek and several of its peers, such as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Zheijiang Dahua Technology, are components of MSCI 's global benchmark stock indexes.)

U.S. politicians are applying pressure too. In August, a bipartisan group of American lawmakers urged the White House to punish businesses including Hikvision and Dahua, two of China's biggest surveillance camera makers, for allegedly facilitating human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Both companies are already barred from supplying the U.S. government.

There's a "deep sense of unease" about Chinese surveillance among Western observers, many of whom have become increasingly sensitive to potential privacy abuses in the wake of controversies involving big technology companies like Facebook, said Shoshana Zuboff, an emerita professor at Harvard Business School whose book "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" includes a section on China.

A Hikvision spokesperson said the U.S. government ban "was not based on any evidence, review, or investigation of potential security risks posed by Hikvision" and "ignores Hikvision's commitments to comply with all applicable laws." Dahua and iFlytek didn't respond to requests for comment. MSCI said its stock indexes are designed to represent the "investment opportunity set" without making "subjective" assessments of constituent companies. Thermo Fisher said in a statement this week that it has decided to stop sales of DNA identification technology in Xinjiang.

While the backlash over Xinjiang may curb sales of Chinese surveillance products in the U.S., demand at home and in many emerging markets is still growing rapidly enough to spawn a new generation of surveillance startups.

Among the most successful is Sensetime, a leader in facial-recognition technology that earns about two-fifths of its revenue from government contracts. The four-year-old company - a member of China's "AI National Team" - was recently valued at more than $4.5 billion, making it one of the world's biggest AI startups. In a response to questions from Bloomberg, the company said most of its revenue comes from areas outside government surveillance, such as autonomous driving and augmented-reality technology.

China's more established tech companies, some of which have long helped the government monitor and censor the internet, are increasing their ties to the surveillance state. Baidu, billionaire Robin Li's online search company, is working with Chinese authorities to provide "smart city'' services, including cloud storage systems that can analyze surveillance-related data. Tencent and Alibaba, the e-commerce giant founded by billionaire Jack Ma, are participating in similar projects.

Tiandy, whose cameras can capture high-definition color images in lighting conditions equivalent to a night sky with one star, is a prime example of the Chinese surveillance industry's growing overseas reach. The company now sells to more than 60 countries - a tally that may rise thanks in part to Xi's "Belt and Road" global infrastructure initiative.

That's good news for Tiandy and its billionaire founder, but may add to concerns among privacy and political rights activists that China is exporting its surveillance state around the world. Recent visitors to Tiandy's headquarters include the president of Angola, an oil-producing nation in southern Africa with one of the lowest rankings in Freedom House's global survey of civil liberties.

One of the few countries with an even lower Freedom House score? China.

- With assistance from Pei Yi Mak.
OTTAWAOttawas top civil servant is deeply concerned about the increasingly divisive and violent rhetoric in Canadian politics, telling MPs hes worried somebody is going to be shot in this years general election campaign.

In an unprecedented statement to the House of Commons justice committee, Michael Wernick told MPs hes worried Canadians could lose faith in the institutions of governance in this country.

I worry about foreign interference in the upcoming election campaign  I worry about the rising tides of incitements to violence when people use terms like treason and traitor in open discourse, Wernick told the committee Thursday.

Im worried that somebody is going to be shot in this country, this year, during the political campaign.

Wernick, a career public servant who has served in senior positions in both Conservative and Liberal governments, was testifying at the committee about his discussions with former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould about SNC-Lavalin.

But Wernick clearly had a lot more on his mind than the scandal that has swamped Justin Trudeaus government for the last two weeks.

As the Clerk of the Privy Council, Wernick provides non-partisan support to the prime minister, in addition to overseeing the federal civil service. Wernick also has been tapped by the Liberal government to inform Canadians of foreign interference in the 2019 election.

Clerks are not exactly household names, and rarely make such highly-publicized interventions on the public stage. But the justice committee invited Wernick to testify, and so he found himself in the middle of a political storm.

Lori Turnbull, the director of Dalhousie Universitys School of Public Administration, said she took from Wernicks testimony that he perceives a decline in civility in politics in Canada, and felt it important enough to tell the committee.

When asked if that was the role of the Clerk, Turnbull, who worked at the Privy Council Office between 2015 and 2017, said yes.

Its the role of the public service to tell politicians what the situation is even if they dont want to hear it, Turnbull said.

Maybe even if its not what they ask.

Wernick specifically criticized Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk over his comments to the United We Roll protest on Parliament Hill earlier this week.

I know youve rolled all the way here, and Im going to ask you one more thing. I want you to roll over every Liberal left in the country, Tkachuk told protestors.

I think that its totally unacceptable that a member of the Parliament of Canada would incite people to drive trucks over people after what happened in Toronto last summer, said Wernick.

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Wernick told MPs he was not suggesting politicians and partisans should avoid vigorous  even heated  debate on policy issues. But he warned that debate has devolved in countries that used to be considered beacons of democracy  notably the United States.

I want to be very clear. Partisan politics in a democracy is entirely appropriate. You should go at each other hammer and tongs to convince Canadians to send you back here, Wenick said.

When that debate starts to cause Canadians to lose faith in their institutions, I worry that were on the slippery slope to what we see south of the border.

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OTTAWAJody Wilson-Raybould was under pressure to make the right decision on the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin but at no time did she face undue influence, says Canadas top civil servant, insisting all discussions with the former attorney general were legal and appropriate.

In a remarkable appearance before the justice committee, Michael Wernick, the clerk of the privy council, denied the allegation at the heart of a controversy that has rocked Justin Trudeaus Liberal government: that Wilson-Raybould was improperly pressured to use a deferred prosecution agreement on the Quebec company.

Opposition MPs have charged that Wilson-Rayboulds refusal to bow to that pressure cost her cabinet post as justice minister in a January cabinet shuffle. Wilson-Raybould has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, but pointedly told the Commons Wednesday that she hopes she has an opportunity to speak my truth.

Wernick speculated that Wilson-Rayboulds concerns may centre on three meetings held last year  including one where he conveyed context about the consequences a criminal prosecution of the company might have.

He said that Wilson-Raybould likely felt pressure to get it right but he bluntly told MPs Thursday that there were no grounds for the suggestions that she was the focus of improper pressure on a court case that has political and economic overtones for the government.

It is my conclusion and my assertion, based on all the information I have, that there was no inappropriate pressure on the minister of justice in this matter, Wernick said.

Still he conceded that impressions of improper influence are subjective and that federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion  who has launched his own probe of the affair  will have to decide whether those interactions crossed the line.

Read More:

Canadas top public servant fears somebodys going to be shot during election campaign

Gerald Butts, Trudeaus principal secretary, resigns amid SNC-Lavalin scandal

The SNC-Lavalin affair: meet the main players

Wernicks testimony had Ottawa spellbound, as he tackled head-on the controversy that has consumed the nations capital for the last two weeks and did it in a blunt-spoken manner not usually used by public servants.

The 37-year public servant grabbed attention from the moment he sat down at the microphone, with an eyebrow raising opening statement expressing concerns about the direction of the country and the rising tide of incitements to violence and his fear of political assassination in the coming federal election.

Then Wernick got to the manner at hand as he batted aside the suggestions that the former justice minister was subject to undue influence on the SNC-Lavalin file and if she felt she was, she had ample opportunities to report it but did not.

And he said that Wilson-Raybould is not bound by solicitor-client privilege, undermining the reason that she herself has cited for not telling her version of events.

Wernick predicted that when Wilson-Raybould appears before the committee next week, she will express concern about three events, all of which were entirely appropriate, lawful, legal, he said.

The first was a meeting on Sept. 17 between himself, the prime minister and Wilson-Raybould. Wernick said that, at the time, Trudeau and his top advisers were consumed with NAFTA negotiations, and that he was assigned to help mediate a very serious policy difference on the governments Indigenous rights framework between Wilson-Raybould and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett. The Sept. 17 meeting with Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau was held to discuss that matter, Wernick said.

Just two weeks earlier, the director of public prosecutions had decided not to proceed with a deferred prosecution in the SNC-Lavalin case. But Wilson-Raybould had the power to overturn that decision.

Wilson-Raybould told the prime minister that a deferred prosecution agreement was not a good course and she had no intention of intervening, Wernick recalled. In turn, the prime minister told Wilson-Raybould the decision to intervene in the case was hers alone, he said.

(Trudeau) indicated that it was entirely her call to make, that she was the decider, Wernick said.

That is a message that the prime minister conveyed to the minister on every situation that I am aware of when it came up.

The next event he predicted Wilson-Raybould would raise was a conversation between her chief of staff and officials from the Prime Ministers Office on Dec. 18. Wernick, however, said he was not there and is not aware of what transpired.

Finally, Wernick highlighted his own conversation with Wilson-Raybould on Dec. 19. Wernick said he wanted to check in with her on SNC-Lavalin and the possibility of mediating the criminal charges against the company, as well as other legal issues before the government.

I conveyed to her that a lot of her colleagues and the prime minister were quite anxious about what they were hearing and reading in the business press about the future of the company, the options that were being openly discussed in the business press about the company moving or closing, Wernick said.

Asked later if he pressured Wilson-Raybould to intervene in the case and halt the SNC-Lavalin prosecution, Wernick said no  he doesnt believe he improperly pressured her.

Theres pressure to get it right on every decision, to approve, to not approve, to act, to not act. I am quite sure the minister felt pressure to get it right, he said.

Part of my conversation, he added, was conveying context that there were a lot of people worried about what would happen, the consequences  not for her  the consequences for the workers in the communities and the suppliers.

But he insisted that his conversation was within the boundaries and did not cross any line.

So I can tell you with complete assurance that my view of those conversations is that they were within the boundaries of whats lawful and appropriate. I was informing the minister of context. She may have another view of the conversation, but thats something the ethics commissioner can sort out, he said.

And if Wilson-Raybould truly had concerns about any of these interactions, Wernick said there were multiple, multiple, multiple occasions when she could have raised it with Trudeau  at cabinet meetings or by telephone  or she could have gone directly to the ethics commissioner herself.

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But NDP MP Murray Rankin pressed Wernick, questioning whether the subsequent meetings with Wilson-Raybould were evidence of continued political pressure thereafter to change the tune.

Wernick said that judgment lies with the ethics commissioner, a role that he said was created for these very ethics and government issues.

If this is not the kind of issue an ethics commissioner is there for, why do we have one?

Wilson-Raybould declined to speak with the Star Thursday, saying she had to attend a meeting.

The MP for Vancouver-Granville has said little so far, citing solicitor-client privilege. Wilson-Raybould has sought advice from former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell on how much she can say while respecting the bounds of cabinet confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege. The government is also weighing whether to waive that privilege.

But Wernick challenged Wilson-Rayboulds rationale for staying quiet. He noted that hes not a lawyer but based on his long experience in government, said it doesnt appear that solicitor-client privilege applies to her situation. He said she was not acting as a solicitor and the matter was never discussed at cabinet.

She was not advising the prime minister, the prime minister said at every occasion verbally or in writing that she was the decider. So she was not giving legal advice to the prime minister, he said.

During his own appearance at the committee earlier in the morning, Justice Minister David Lametti said that discussions between the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the attorney general on the issue would be routine and appropriate.

The attorney general cant be an island, Lametti told the committee Thursday morning, while stressing that the final decision about prosecutions rest with the attorney general.

An attorney general can speak with cabinet colleagues about a variety of different considerations that might be pertinent to his or her decision in any particular case, he said.

Lametti, who took over as attorney general and justice minister last month, was the first witness as the justice committee began its own investigation into the controversy, one opposition MPs charge is limited because the Liberals refuse to call Trudeaus own aides.

He walked a cautious line, refusing to comment on the meetings that Trudeau and his officials had with Wilson-Raybould, saying he wouldnt speculate on those discussions or even whether they took place.

Lametti said while he had a general understanding of the issue as a Quebec MP, he had no conversations with the prime minister on the file prior to taking on the role of justice minister. Asked whether he has come under pressure since taking the post, Lametti responded, I have not.

But he defended the use of deferred prosecutions  a new element of Canadas justice system  calling them an important tool in the tool kit.

He said its another way for serious criminal behaviour to be prosecuted without endangering innocent third parties such as employees, pensioners and contractors because it doesnt put the viability of a company itself at risk.

Wilson-Raybould is expected to make her own appearance before the justice committee next week. But just how much she can say remains a question mark.

Lametti would not tell the committee whether he expected a decision on solicitor-client privilege in time for Wilson-Rayboulds appearance.

Trudeau himself conceded Thursday that Canadians want to know about the allegations swirling around his government but getting those answers will depend on legal advice on how much can be said on the matter.

Solicitor-client privilege is a key tenet of our justice system. There are serious potential consequences if we lift that privilege. That is why myself and the former minister are receiving advice to see how we can proceed, he said.

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The Star and BuzzFeed News are investigating the ways in which political parties, third-party pressure groups, foreign powers, and individuals are influencing Canadas political debate in the run-up to this falls federal election. This is the second report. The first report can be found here.

A clear majority of Canadians believe foreign governments  including our closest international ally  will attempt to influence the 2019 federal election.

New polling conducted by Abacus Data and released exclusively to the Star and BuzzFeed News shows 60 per cent of Canadians believe its likely foreign governments will try to influence the results of this Octobers general election.

Where do most expect that influence to come from? Canadas closest neighbour and ally, the United States.

Most respondents (69 per cent) said it was either moderately, highly, or very highly likely the U.S. would attempt to influence the election, rating it as likely as interference from China.

Abacus CEO David Coletto said that Canadians recognize the U.S. has as much interest in Canadian affairs as Beijing.

The U.S. has an interest in making sure that our government aligns closely with them as our number one trading partner and security partner, but I think (Canadians) also recognize other global powers are also looking to influence our allies and alliances as well.

Russia, which has been accused of active interference in multiple western democratic elections including the 2016 U.S. presidential, followed with 65 per cent of respondents perceiving them as a threat.

Influence covers everything from a public endorsement  or a 140-character presidential put-down  to more serious clandestine activity.

The Abacus online poll was conducted between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5, with 2,500 Canadians aged 18 and over. Abacus put the margin of error at plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

In 2017, Canadas electronic intelligence agency warned parliamentarians that they expect its very likely hackers will target Canada during the 2019 election.

While the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said theyve yet to observe hostile nations attempting to influence Canadas domestic politics, its not a given they wont in an election year. And the agency is expected to release an updated threat assessment in the coming weeks.

CSE is one of several law enforcement, intelligence and civilian agencies that have been tasked with safeguarding the 2019 vote, including detecting hostile nations attempt to meddle in the election.

According to Abacus data, Canadians are largely confident that the federal government is up to that task. A full 66 per cent of respondents said they were somewhat or very confident in Ottawas ability to prevent interference in the federal election, while 34 per cent expressed little to no confidence.

The numbers flipped when respondents were asked about social media platforms. Only 36 per cent said they were somewhat or very confident in social platforms ability to prevent foreign interference, while the rest were either not that confident (43 per cent) or not at all confident (20 per cent).

Facebook is acutely aware of concerns and in October announced a Canadian Election Integrity Initiative to help ensure the platform is a space for authentic civic engagement. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould is in the midst of conversations with social media companies, including Facebook, about their obligations this election year.

Coletto said Canadians are giving the government the benefit of the doubt when it comes to preventing election interference.

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If we had gotten into some of the details and asked them how they feel about specific aspects of the governments plan (to safeguard the election) they might feel differently, Coletto said.

But on the surface, (Canadians) generally think that the government is competent enough on this and theres less confidence in social media companies to self-regulate.

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Venezuelas Maduro closes Brazil border to block aid entry, online Feb. 21

It looks certain that on Saturday there will be a confrontation and bloodshed at the Venezuelan-Colombian border, as boxes of USAID food will be handed to Venezuelans on the Colombian side of the border  to be delivered in Venezuela.

Washington claims that it merely seeks to help the Venezuelan people and that it has brought medicines and nutritional supplements. Self-declared president Juan Guaido terms it a humanitarian avalanche.

It is nothing of the sort. The U.S. goal is to embarrass President Maduro and encourage the Venezuelan military to rebel.

When the three U.S. air force planes arrived, they were greeted by administration hawks, Cuban America politicians Mario Diaz-Balart and Marco Rubio. Vice-President Mike Pence will be on hand in Colombia on Monday to provide moral support.

If Washington were serious about providing aid, it would use the two major ports, an hours drive from Caracas. And it would use internationally recognized agencies, such as the United Nations or the Red Cross.

Largely ignored is the perspective of these organizations. Colombias Red Cross spokesperson Christopher Harnisch declared last week: We will not be participating in what is, for us, not humanitarian aid. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujaric also raised objections to the U.S. tactics: For the UN, humanitarian assistance should be carried out in accordance with the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

Well, independent it is not  This is a cynical move, preying on a desperate and hungry people. It is also a clear American plan to bring about regime change, and further U.S. interests in the oil wealth of Venezuela (the largest proven reserves in the world). Meanwhile, the Lima Group (spearheaded by Canada) continues to support these efforts, and should be embarrassed that is associated with this tactics. It will not end well.

John M. Kirk, Halifax, N.S.

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Charitable organizations make a huge difference in our lives. From hospitals and universities to arts groups and social agencies, its vital they get the money they need to do their good work.

Governments ought to do all they can to encourage giving, and theres one measure the Trudeau government should adopt in its upcoming budget that would make a big difference to many charities.

It should broaden the tax exemption on capital gains for charitable donations. It can do that by giving the same tax treatment to donations of shares in private companies and real estate as is now given to gifts of publicly traded shares.

Experts who have looked at this idea estimate it would result in additional donations to charities of about $200 million a year. Thats a big chunk of change that would go to organizations like the United Way and local hospital foundations.

Theres every reason to believe it would work. In 2006, largely due to lobbying by retired financier Donald K. Johnson, the Income Tax Act was amended to exempt donations of publicly trade stock from all capital gains tax. As a result, people who gave stock to charities no longer faced a big tax bill from Ottawa.

Not surprisingly, more of them could be enticed to part with more of their wealth. That single measure has resulted in more than $1 billion a year in additional donations to charities.

Johnson has been pushing for the same measure to be adopted for donations of real estate and shares in private companies. There are some issues to overcome, such as how to value such donations. But they can be solved and an extra $200 million a year for charities is worth the effort. The cost to the government in foregone taxes would be in the range of $50 million to $65 million.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau should readily appreciate the potential benefit. Before entering politics he was deeply involved in charitable work with such organizations as St. Michaels Hospital and Covenant House.

If that isnt enough, he should listen to the scores of major charities that signed an open letter to the government last fall asking for this change. In the Toronto region they included the likes of the United Way, SickKids Hospital, the University Health Network, York University and CAMH.

All these groups stand to benefit by making it easier to tap into private wealth. The benefits, in turn, will flow to the whole community.
As the scope and impact of Russian disinformation targeting Canada become clearer, new research suggests it is not only a growing national security issue but one that can actually threaten our public health. As our information environment continues to be poisoned by Kremlin bots and trolls, it turns out that theyre also making us sick, literally.

A recent report by CBC News states that foreign influence campaigns by Russia (alongside Venezuela and Iran) on Twitter have targeted Canadian debates about pipelines and immigration policy, among other issues, including antivaccination messaging. Hundreds of deleted accounts targeted environmental issues connected to pipelines in an effort to influence politically left-leaning Canadians, while immigration issues and conspiracy theories have targeted those on the right.

Among the tweets highlighted in the report is one about a family of Syrian refugees, who lost their 3-year-old son, who drowned when his family was attempting to flee Turkey for Greece in September 2015.

The image of the child dominated the front pages of newspapers around the world and helped spur an outpouring of emotion and support for Syrian refugees. It also became a major issue in the 2015 election campaign, and newly released Twitter data indicate that banned foreign Twitter accounts attempted to put the story to their own malign use.

A chart published by CBC News, based on the analysis of 9.6 million deleted tweets released by Twitter, shows a large spike around early September 2015 when the story was breaking. The released data show that at least 100 fake accounts tweeted a story about the drowning that was critical of the governments handling of the situation, perhaps with the aim of hurting the Tories in the election.

While its unlikely that these Tweets had any significant effect on the outcome of the election, it does demonstrate that foreign propagandists track important national issues and are prepared to amplify them in order to exaggerate the corrosive effect they have on our social cohesion.

Of the 2,617 suspended Twitter accounts, 245 tweeted or retweeted reports about environmental issues related to pipelines and grassroots anti-pipeline messages, further provoking and entrenching environmentalists and pipeline critics.

One tweet, sent out by an account connected to the Kremlins internet Research Agency, commonly known as the St. Petersburg Troll Farm, was clearly intended to stoke environmental concerns, #TransCanada shuts down #Keystone after oil seeps to surface News of the oil seeping to the. while hundreds of other tweets further amplified news of leaks, #politics Keystone pipeline leak worse than believed and "Crescent Point Energy pipeline leaks oil in Saskatchewan field #environment.

Right-leaning Twitter users were reportedly targeted by fake accounts with tweets aimed to provoke fears about immigration and other wild conspiracy theories.

The Twitter data clearly demonstrates that foreign regimes are using social media to agitate pre-existing social prejudices and biases in order to manipulate national debates and divide our society. Election outcomes are just one of the targets of foreign disinformation and malign influence campaigns, while subversion of our democracy remains the primary goal.

Even more worrisome is the fact that Kremlin-controlled social media bots and trolls are also using disinformation to make us physically sick, which represents a threat to our public health and safety. The same Twitter data demonstrates that thousands of anti-vaccinations tweets were also among the fake deleted Twitter accounts.

Since 2014, the Kremlin has developed, distributed and amplified antivaccination conspiracy theories, urging parents not to allow their children to be vaccinated against life threatening illnesses, including measles. This has created a global health crisis.

The World Health Organization has reported a steep rise in the number of measles cases over the past year, with some estimates suggesting a 50 per cent rise. In Europe, its estimated that 72 people have died as a result of the failure to vaccinate.

The situation facilitated by Russian social media propagandists has become so acute that the World Health Organization has listed vaccine hesitancy as a top 10 global health risk for 2019.

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Just as Kremlin trolls inject themselves into social media debates to promote political polarization on other issues, so too have they with the antivaccination debate, legitimizing conspiracy theories and promoting vaccine complacency in the west, including Canada. Infectious disease specialists in this country have warned about the rise of preventable infectious diseases due to vaccination misinformation, where cases of measles are on the rise.

Such threats posed by Russian social media information warfare require the Canadian government to engage and regulate social media platforms to help protect our elections, democracy and now, our public health.

Marcus Kolga is a documentary filmmaker, human rights activist and an expert on Russian disinformation and sanctions. He is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Centre for Advancing Canada's Interests Abroad.

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NASHVILLE - Seven Latino workers are suing federal immigration authorities over a raid at an eastern Tennessee meatpacking plant that ended in the arrests of about 100 people.

The National Immigration Law Center, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Sherrard, Roe, Voigt & Harbison law firm filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

The class action lawsuit claims the Southeastern Provision workers 4th and 5th Amendment constitutional rights were violated in April when armed officers raided the Bean Station plant, using racial slurs, shoving guns in their faces and punching one worker in the face. Workers at first feared there was a terrorist attack or active shooter at the plant, as two helicopters flew overhead, officers had blocked the road and some stood behind large machine-guns, the lawsuit says.

It also alleges that officers didnt know workers identities or immigration statuses, only that many were Hispanic. Only 11 of about 100 workers were charged with crimes, and they were nonviolent ones, the lawsuit says.

White workers at the plant, meanwhile, were not accosted, detained, searched or arrested, and many stood outside smoking during the raid, the lawsuit says.

Martha Pulido, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said she was handcuffed and had a gun pointed at her, was taken to a nearby armoury, had her personal items confiscated, was fingerprinted and then was detained for about 14 hours.

Why so many guns and such excess violence? Pulido said through an interpreter during a conference Thursday. The only thing we were doing was earning a living for our family.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said the operation was a federal criminal investigation that also spurred immigration arrests. He declined to comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said the absence of comment should in no way be construed that ICE thinks a suit has any merit.

Cox said the agencys investigations are equally focused in its worksite enforcement efforts on foreign nationals who unlawfully seek employment as well as the employers who knowingly hire them.

James Brantley, the plants owner, pleaded guilty in September to federal charges of employing unauthorized immigrants, tax evasion and wire fraud.

Court records show Brantley dodged nearly $1.3 million in federal payroll taxes over the past decade. A plea agreement shows Brantley withdrew cash to pay some workers.

During the April raid, officers were helping to execute an Internal Revenue Service search warrant for financial documents related to Brantley, but, according to the lawsuit, had a far more extensive goal than what the search warrant authorized.

They planned to detain and arrest every worker in the plant who was or appeared to be Latino, the lawsuit states.

National Immigration Law Center staff attorney Melissa Keaney said her team doesnt believe the immigration status of the plaintiffs is relevant to the lawsuit and wont be discussing that. The lawsuit mentions that one plaintiff is legally authorized to live and work in the United States, but doesnt include the same level of detail on others.

Almost 600 children did not go to school in the area the day after the raid, the lawsuit says. Additionally, a state inspection days after the raid resulted in more than $41,000 in fines over the plants working conditions.

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Of the workers detained during the raid, 40 have been released on bond, 12 have voluntarily left the U.S., six were deported and five remain in custody, according to Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.

At the time, it was the largest immigration workplace raid in nearly a decade, Keaney said. Months later, about 150 workers were arrested by federal agents in June at a Fresh Mark meatpacking plant in Ohio.
RICHMOND, Va. - After initially ordering a New York woman who mimicked Virginias seal by exposing her breast outside the Capitol to be held without bail, a Virginia judge has agreed to release her.

Attorney David Baugh tells The Washington Post that Richmond General District Court Chief Judge Lawrence B. Cann III agreed to release 45-year-old Michelle Sutherland on a personal recognizance bond Thursday. She would have to pay $1,500 if she doesnt show up for her March 21 court date.

Sutherland was arrested on an indecent exposure charge during a Monday protest in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. News outlets report that Cann said he didnt understand the charge stemmed from a political protest when he ordered Sutherland jailed Tuesday.

Advocates say holding someone without bail for a nonviolent misdemeanour is unusual.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com
WASHINGTON - Robert Muellers Russia investigation has to end with a report. But anyone looking for a grand narrative on President Donald Trump, Russian election interference and all the juicy details uncovered over the past 21 months could end up disappointed.

The exact timing of Muellers endgame is unclear. Attorney General William Barr, who oversees the investigation, has said he wants to release as much information as he can about the inquiry into possible co-ordination between Trump associates and Russias efforts to sway the 2016 election. But during his confirmation hearing last month, Barr also made clear that he ultimately will decide what the public sees, and that any report will be in his words, not Muellers.

Some key questions:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE INVESTIGATION ENDS?

Mueller will have to turn in a report of some kind when hes done. It could be pretty bare-bones.

Justice Department regulations require only that Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report that explains the decisions to pursue or decline prosecutions. That could be as simple as a bullet point list or as fulsome as a report running hundreds of pages.

Mueller has given no guidance on what or when it will be, but there are signs a conclusion is coming soon.

The number of prosecutors working for Mueller has dwindled, and his team, which had sought an interview with the president, has not had meaningful dialogue with Trumps lawyers in the past two months. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, is expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March. Thats a likely indication that Rosenstein expects the special counsels work to be wrapping up. Matthew Whitaker, who was acting attorney general before Barr was confirmed, also has said the investigation is nearly done.

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WHAT DOES BARR SAY HELL DO?

Barr said he envisions two reports, and only one for congressional and public consumption.

Barr has said he takes seriously the shall be confidential part of the regulations governing Muellers report. He has noted that department protocol says internal memos explaining charging decisions should not be released.

During his confirmation hearing, Barr said that he will draft, after Mueller turns in his report, a second one for the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. But here again, the regulations provide little guidance for what such a report would say.

The attorney general is required only to say the investigation has concluded and describe or explain any times when he or Rosenstein decided an action Mueller proposed was so inappropriate or unwarranted that it should not be pursued.

Barr indicated that he expects to use his report to share the results of Muellers investigation with the public, which the regulations allow him to do. But he hedged on specifics and said his plans could change after speaking with Mueller and Rosenstein.

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WHAT WILL TRUMP DO?

Trumps lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has said the presidents legal team wants to review any report before its released. Giuliani also raised the prospect that Trump lawyers could try to invoke executive privilege to prevent the disclosure of any confidential conversation the president has had with his aides.

Its not clear whether the presidents lawyers will get an advance look at Muellers conclusions. Mueller, after all, reports to the Justice Department, not the White House.

Barr himself seemed to dismiss that idea. When Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Barr whether Trump and his lawyers would be able to correct the report before its release and put their own spin on it, Barr replied: That will not happen.

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WILL THERE BE A FINAL NEWS CONFERENCE?

It seems unlikely, especially if prosecutors plan to discuss people they never charged.

Then-FBI Director James Comey broke from Justice Department protocol in extraordinary fashion with his July 2016 news conference announcing the FBI would not recommend criminal charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server. Barr has made clear his disapproval of Comeys public move.

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If youre not going to indict someone, you dont stand up there and unload negative information about the person, Barr said.

There have been times when the department has elaborated on decisions not to pursue criminal charges. Also, there is some precedent for special counsels appointed by the Justice Department to hold news conferences.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel who investigated the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame and who was granted even broader authority than Mueller, held a 2005 news conference when he charged I. Lewis Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney. But even then, Fitzgerald drew a clear line.

One of the obligations of the prosecutors and the grand juries is to keep the information obtained in the investigation secret, not to share it with the public, Fitzgerald said then. And as frustrating as that may be for the public, that is important because, the way our system of justice works, if information is gathered about people and theyre not charged with a crime, we dont hold up that information for the public to look at. We either charge them with a crime or we dont.

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CAN DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS SUBPOENA MUELLER AND HIS REPORT?

Sure. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., has said as much.

We could subpoena the final report. We could subpoena Mueller and ask him in front of the committee what was in your final report. Those are things we could do, Nadler told ABCs This Week in October.

But Trump, as the leader of the executive branch, could direct the Justice Department to defy the subpoena, setting the stage for a court fight that would almost certainly go to the Supreme Court.

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WILL TRUMP BE ABLE TO SEE THE REPORT?

It is unclear whether Trump will ask to see the report and under what circumstances he or his attorneys might be able to view it, especially because the document is meant to be confidential for Justice Department leadership.

Barr said at his confirmation hearing that he would not permit White House interference in the investigation. But he also has voiced an expansive view of executive power in which the president functions as the countrys chief law enforcement officer and has wide latitude in giving directives to the FBI and Justice Department.

Democrats could seize on any disclosure to the president to argue that the report really isnt confidential and should be immediately provided to them as well.

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
MINNEAPOLIS - A U.S. citizen has been charged with kidnapping and other counts for his alleged role in the abduction of a freelance journalist who was held hostage in Somalia for nearly three years, according to federal charging documents unsealed Thursday in New York.

According to a criminal complaint, Abdi Yusuf Hassan was part of a conspiracy to kidnap the journalist in January 2012 in Galkayo, Somalia, and demand $20 million in ransom. The journalist was released Sept. 23, 2014.

While the journalist is not named in the complaint or in a superseding indictment, the dates of his capture and release, and several details outlined in the court documents, match the experiences of author Michael Scott Moore, a German-American who was abducted by pirates in Somalia while he was there writing a book about piracy.

Moores publicist said he was unreachable for an interview Thursday. In November, Moore confirmed to the New York Times that another man indicted in the case, Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, was one of his captors. Mohamed and Hassan are listed as co-defendants.

According to court documents, Hassan, 51, was born in Mogadishu and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He faces six counts, including kidnapping conspiracy, hostage-taking conspiracy and unlawful use of firearms.

He was arrested in Minneapolis on Friday and will be returned to New York to face charges. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney in New York to comment on his behalf.

The charging documents say the journalist was in a vehicle on Jan. 21, 2012, in the vicinity of Galkayo when he was surrounded by a group of heavily armed men carrying what appeared to be AK-47 assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. He was abducted and struck with weapons, injuring his head and wrist.

He was taken to different areas in Somalia, and at one point was held in a vessel off the Somali coast. He told investigators that he and another hostage were typically guarded by about 10 men, all armed with assault rifles or belt-fed machine-guns. In December 2013, he was moved to a residence near Galkayo, which was frequently visited by Hassan, the complaint says.

The complaint says Hassan spoke English and was a translator for the hostage takers; the journalist, who identified Hassan from a lineup, said he also appeared to hold a leadership position over the other guards.

Multiple times during the journalists captivity, Hassan ordered him to call a family member to try to demand more money for ransom. During one call on Jan. 30, 2012, the journalist told a family member that his captors were demanding $20 million and that if they did not receive the money within 24 hours, they would stop providing food and water to Victim-1, the complaint said.

In another call in May 2012, the journalist said things had gotten very serious and another hostage had been tortured in front of him. The journalist said there was a real threat that if the ransom didnt come through, he would be sold to al-Shabab.

In May 2012, the pirates released a video, showing the journalist in an undisclosed location with a prayer shawl over his head, surrounded by masked kidnappers who pointed a machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade at him.

The journalist was released in September 2014. Moore has said his family raised $1.6 million for his release.

According to the complaint, Hassan entered the U.S. in New York on Sept. 15, 2015, and was interviewed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He allegedly said he worked as the Minister of the Interior and Security for Galmudug State in Somalia, which includes Galkayo, and his job included arranging for the release of kidnapped people, including the journalist.

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Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti
SEAFORD, Del. - Police in Delaware say a man who skipped out on a restaurant bill barricaded himself in a nearby hotel, armed with a hunting-style bow and arrow.

The Daily Times of Salisbury reports Seaford police responding to Grottos Pizza on Tuesday quickly arrested a female suspect, 24-year-old Summer Bueso-Shinn. But 28-year-old Schuyler Sutton had fled to a Days Inn, where police received reports of him walking the hallways with a bow and arrow.

When officers tried to contact him in his room, he refused to come out for several hours, before eventually surrendering.

In addition to the theft charge, Sutton is wanted out of Montgomery County, Maryland, for first-degree burglary. Hes also accused of slapping a servers rear end as he left the restaurant.

Its unclear if they have lawyers.

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Information from: The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., http://www.delmarvanow.com/
WASHINGTON - The Latest on Roger Stone (all times local):

4:05 p.m.

A judge has imposed a full gag order on Trump confidant Roger Stone after he posted a photo on Instagram of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Thursday she believes Stone would pose a danger to others in the case if she didnt institute the order.

Jackson ordered Stone to court to show why she shouldnt modify or revoke his bail or implement a full gag order. The judge had already issued an order limiting comments in the case.

The 66-year-old Stone said the post was an egregious mistake and the symbol was a logo, not crosshairs.

Stone has pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering related to discussions he had during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks.

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3:45 p.m.

Trump confidant Roger Stone says he made an egregious mistake by posting an Instagram photo of the judge presiding over his criminal case with what appears to be the crosshairs of a gun.

During a tense court hearing Thursday, Stone said there was no excuse for his post Monday about U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Jackson wanted Stone in court Thursday to show why she shouldnt modify or revoke his bail or implement a full gag order in his case.

The political operative and self-described dirty trickster has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to Congress, engaged in witness tampering and obstructed a congressional investigation into possible co-ordination between Russia and Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

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3 p.m.

Trump confidant Roger Stone is appearing in court after he posted a photo on Instagram of a judge and what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun.

The political operative and self-described dirty trickster has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to Congress, engaged in witness tampering and obstructed a congressional investigation into possible co-ordination between Russia and Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

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U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wants Stone to show why she shouldnt modify or revoke his bail or implement a full gag order in his case.

On Monday, Stone posted a photo of Jackson with what appeared to be crosshairs near her. The 66-year-old Stone has apologized and said the picture has been misinterpreted.
JUNEAU, Alaska - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said a 90-day comment period is inadequate for a draft environmental review of a large copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major Alaska fishery.

Its a very legitimate request from my perspective to have more time to do the due diligence on a project of this size, the Republican Sullivan told reporters Thursday, noting he would likely make a formal request for additional time.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday released the draft that lays out development alternatives for the proposed Pebble Mine in southwest Alaskas Bristol Bay region, including a no-development option.

For years, the project has been the subject of heated debate and, at times, litigation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said the Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

Critics of the project called the corps review rushed and superficial.

Tom Collier, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, which wants to develop the mine, said the partnership sees no significant environmental challenges that would preclude the project from getting a permit.

Before the drafts release, the leaders of several organizations had asked the corps to consider at least a 270-day comment period.

Meanwhile, Sullivan also said he supports President Donald Trumps efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, calling the situation a crisis.

He said two avenues cited by the White House would involve use of funds from a federal asset forfeiture fund and U.S. Defence Department anti-drug efforts. He said he had been working with White House at senior levels, saying, You should use these. Use these. You dont have to declare a national emergency. 

He said he didnt think an emergency declaration was needed because of the resources those two options would provide, in addition to the roughly $1.4 billion that Congress recently approved for border barriers.

Sullivan, who faces re-election next year, spoke to reporters after giving his annual address to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature. Such speeches are tradition for Alaskas U.S. senators.
PORT RICHEY, Fla. - The mayor of a small Florida city fired two shots at sheriffs deputies who raided his home Thursday to arrest him on allegations of practicing medicine without a license, authorities said.

Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad fired at Pasco County deputies during an early morning raid, but no one was hit and they did not return fire, Sheriff Chris Nocco said. The deputies retreated and Massad, 68, soon surrendered.

Hes lucky hes not dead, said Nocco, who said Massad will be charged with attempted murder.

He said Massad has a history of drug use, violence and threats and owns several guns, which is why deputies raided the 3,200-square-foot, waterfront home rather than make a routine arrest. He said Massad fired after deputies announced their presence. Three other people in the home were not charged. It couldnt be immediately determined if Massad has an attorney.

Port Richey is a town of 2,800 about 40 miles (64 kilometres) north of Tampa on the Gulf Coast. Massad was elected mayor in 2015 and served on the city council from 2000 to 2008.

State officials say Massad was treating patients at his home even though he lost his physicians license in 1992. He and his girlfriend were arrested in August after deputies said they battered each other.

Neighbours Linda and Brian Van Es told the Tampa Bay Times they awoke to gunshots and heard deputies ordering someone to drop their gun and surrender.

Its unfortunate, but its not surprising, because of his history, Linda Van Es said.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The University of South Carolinas president is apologizing after pictures of white students wearing blackface were found in old yearbooks.

USC President Harris Pastides (Pas-TEE-Dees) said in a letter Tuesday that the photos were found in the Garnet and Black, which was the schools yearbook from 1898 to 1994.

The letter says there are a number of offensive photos depicting white students in blackface and other offensive content. Pastides says the school denounces the photos and mindset they represent.

He says the photos provide another opportunity to learn from the demons of the past.

The revelations come amid national criticism after a blackface photo on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northams yearbook page surfaced.

Pastides says South Carolina wants to create an environment where everyone feels welcome and can thrive.
SALEM, Ore. - Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is poised to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Many residents have testified in favour of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 per cent  forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles.

The Oregon housing shortage is getting worse because of a big influx of people moving to the state  lured by the states job opportunities and its forests, mountains, coastline and relaxed lifestyle. Many move from California, where the cost of living is often more expensive.

Cities across the West Coast are struggling with soaring housing prices and a growing homelessness problem. The small southern Oregon city of Medford recently authorized churches to offer car camping for the homeless on their parking lots.

A state legislative House committee on Wednesday backed the measure, sending it to the full chamber for a vote as soon as next week. The state Senate passed it last week.

Gov. Kate Brown told reporters she expected the full House to approve the measure. I look forward to signing the bill, said Brown, a Democrat.

The committee rejected an amendment that would have exempted cities with populations under 150,000 and another that would have delayed the measure from becoming law until Jan. 1, 2020, instead of immediately after Brown signs it.

Weve waited too long as it is, and there are too many people living in tents. It is an emergency, said Rep. Tawna Sanchez, a Portland Democrat and member of the House Committee on Human Services and Housing that endorsed the legislation.

Lawmakers said Oregon will be a pioneer in statewide rent control if the measure becomes law. New York has a statewide rent control law, but cities can choose whether to participate.

California restricts the ability of cities to impose rent control. Last November, voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have overturned that law.

Homelessness and affordability have no boundaries, said Rep. Mark Meek, a Democrat from a Portland suburb. Were going to be leading the nation now with this legislation.

Oregons measure prohibits landlords from terminating month-to-month leases without cause after 12 months of occupancy and limits rent hikes to once per year. Those increases are limited to 7 per cent above the annual change in the consumer price index.

Landlords can terminate tenancies only with 90 days written notice and payment of one months rent, with exemptions in some cases. A landlord can refuse to renew a fixed-term lease if the tenant receives three lease violation warnings within 12 months and the landlord gives 90 days notice.

The Oregon Rental Housing Association, which represents small-scale landlords, said the measure protects good tenants while not encouraging landlords to leave the business and invest their money elsewhere.

I believe most landlords will be able to adapt and operate within the parameters, said Jim Straub, the groups legislative director.

Eric Lint, who lives in Bend, one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., urged lawmakers to pass the protections because of spiraling rents. The medical lab where he works is chronically understaffed because potential hires say there is a lack of affordable housing.

Lint said his hourly pay has risen 8 per cent over five years. Meanwhile, his rent has increased 66 per cent. He plans to move away in the fall but did not say where in his testimony.

Anna Pena, a senior at the University of Oregon in Eugene who works full time, described living in a house smaller than 1,200 square feet (111 square meters) with five roommates and spending over half her income on rent that then increased by 15 per cent.

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Ultimately, housing insecurity has been one of the biggest setbacks for my education and personal health, she said.

Sen. Tim Knopp, a Republican from Bend, said before he voted against the measure last week that it does not address the housing supply issue.

Another measure aiming to deal with that issue would require cities and counties to allow duplexes and some higher-density housing in lands zoned for single-family homes.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said 30,000 housing units must be built per year to meet the states current housing deficit and to build for the future as more people move to Oregon.

Oregon ranked second to Vermont as the top moving destination in 2018, according to a study by United Van Lines, the largest U.S. household goods mover.

About 60 per cent of Oregons new arrivals come for jobs or because theyre looking for work, said Josh Lehner, a state economist. At least one-third of the new arrivals are from California, he said.

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This version corrects that the committees name is the Committee on Human Services and Housing, not Committee of Services and Housing.

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Mary Esch in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.

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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
OMAHA, Neb. - Omaha police used justifiable force when firing dozens of bullets at an armed robbery suspect in a fast-food restaurant and had no duty to protect a law enforcement reality television show crew member who was inadvertently shot and killed, the police chief said.

Bryce Dion, 38, who was a sound technician on Cops, was on a ride-along with Omaha police officers in August 2014 when he was killed, The Omaha World-Herald reported.

His family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Omaha, accusing the police of negligence and using excessive deadly force.

In court Wednesday, Christian Williams, a lawyer for Dions family, said the suspect, Cortez Washington, was clearly a threat to officers when they fired on him as many as 39 times.

But, he said, officers fired around two dozen additional shots even as Washington was running from the restaurant, and that one of those bullets inadvertently hit Dion, who was standing in the entrance to the restaurant.

The bullet slipped through a gap in the armpit of the bulletproof vest Dion was wearing, and he died.

Washington was also shot and killed.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer testified that the police response was justified and that Washington never stopped being a danger to responding officers, even when he was running away.

Officers later learned that Washingtons weapon was a pellet gun.

The police departments internal affairs unit and a Douglas County grand jury cleared the three officers who fired their weapons of any wrongdoing.

Douglas County District Judge Jim Masteller is expected to take the case under advisement after the trial ends this week.

Dion was the first crew member to be killed in more than 30 seasons of Cops.

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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
JUNEAU, Alaska - The state official overseeing Alaskas cruise ship monitoring program is concerned about losing independent environmental inspectors on cruise ships.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed eliminating the inspectors, known as Ocean Rangers, as part of his budget plan, CoastAlaska reported Wednesday. The Republicans budget, which contains sweeping cuts, is being reviewed by state lawmakers.

The state Department of Environmental Conservations top budget official, Jeff Rogers, laid out the Dunleavy administrations case for removing inspectors from cruise ships.

We get a lot of reporting from cruise ships, where they discharge, how much it is, those logs are now publicly available, Rogers said. And all of that inspection and reporting activity will continue even without those 24/7 onsite observers, the Ocean Rangers.

But those who work in Alaskas cruise ship program say that without onboard inspectors, the states authority to monitor pollution from ships would be limited.

The head of the DECs cruise ship monitoring program, Ed White, said the Ocean Rangers have been a critical part in the permitting process.

The program doesnt cost Alaska residents money. Its funded by the states cruise ship passenger fee, approved by voters in 2006. Any change to the Ocean Rangers program would require an act of the Legislature.

No bill has been filed and White said he and his staff havent seen any draft language.

The programs $3.8 million has been removed from Dunleavys proposed budget. But without an act of the legislature, that money cant be redirected, and the programs mandate remains on the books.

The state is also constrained by the courts over how it can spend funds from cruise ship passenger fees.
DALLAS - Prosecutors have dismissed one of the cases being re-examined because they involved a Houston officer accused of lying in an affidavit that led to a deadly drug raid last month.

Court records show the drug case against Courtney Jacobs was dismissed Wednesday, the same day the Harris County District Attorneys Office announced it will review more than 1,400 cases worked by Officer Gerald Goines.

The cases, including more than 25 pending before a court, came under review as the FBI launched an investigation into whether any civil rights were violated during the January raid that left five officers, including Goines, injured and two residents dead.

The veteran narcotics officer was discharged Thursday after weeks in Memorial Hermann Hospital, according to his lawyer, Nicole DeBorde.

A spokesman for the district attorneys office said Jacobs case was dismissed because shed been in jail for four months and prosecutors were not ready to go to trial. Goines did not file the charges against Jacobs but her case was included in the review because he was present at the arrest, according to Dane Schiller.

Jacobs defence attorney, Marcus Fleming, said prosecutors informed him Wednesday that the case would be dismissed in the interest of justice. He said he believes Goines involvement was a factor.

Last week, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Goines lied in the affidavit that justified the warrant for the Jan. 28 raid on a home in which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, were killed.

DeBorde has said Goines is innocent of any crime.

The district attorneys office is in the early stages of reviewing cases Goines handled during his 34 years with the Houston Police Department and has not yet released the full list of court proceedings.

Each case will be reviewed individually and none of the other pending cases have been dismissed, Schiller said.

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Associated Press writer Terry Wallace contributed to this report.
SPINDALE, N.C. - Authorities in North Carolina say an inmate who went missing at the Rutherford Correctional Center has been captured not far from the facility.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety said in a statement that department K-9 staff and members of the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office found 22-year-old Jeremy Fincannon about one mile from the facility on Thursday afternoon. Officials had determined he was missing after a routine count at 7:30 a.m.

Officials say the minimum custody inmate originally from Rutherford County was serving a term of five years and six months as a habitual felon after convictions for assault. Fincannon was scheduled for release in September. Now, officials say he will face charges related to this incident and be moved to a higher custody facility.
Petty Officers from NTAF Mid-South built a handicap ramp for disabled veterans last summer at the American Legion Post 1 in Memphis. The naval recruiters volunteered to renovate the Post 1, and thanks to their work, the organization has been able to grow and continue to support veterans and active service men and women here in Memphis.
OMAHA, Neb. - A Nebraska sheriffs deputy charged with sexually assaulting a woman more than a decade ago now is linked to at least five other potential victims, and the investigation began with a polygraph test for a state patrol job he was seeking.

Nicholas Bridgmon, a Seward County sheriffs deputy, is charged in Johnson County with forcible sexual assault, which allegedly occurred Dec. 1, 2006. Bridgmon has been placed on administrative leave, and his attorney didnt return a message Thursday from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Authorities have said the other alleged assaults listed in court records occurred in several unspecified counties.

A court affidavit in support of the charge says an investigation began when he was applying for a job with the Nebraska State Patrol. A pre-employment lie detector test in November showed some deception on his part.

A patrol investigator says in the affidavit that Bridgmon later acknowledged that when he was 19, hed had sex with two girls who may have been under the legal age of consent. He also said hed had sex with women whod slept heavily or passed out after drinking alcohol.

Bridgmons boss, Sheriff Michael Vance, said Thursday that Bridgmon was given a polygraph test before his hiring in November 2015. He doesnt know what questions the two polygraph operators asked or what questions may have tripped up Bridgmon on the state patrol exam.

A lie test isnt fail-proof, Vance said, but it can be useful in making hiring decisions.

It helps, especially with people you dont know, said Vance, who became sheriff after his election in November. He also said there have been no allegations of criminal conduct against Bridgmon since his employment by Seward County.

State patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said he couldnt share what questions the patrol polygraph operator asked.

The court affidavit includes a womans recounting of what she said was her rape by Bridgmon when he was 19 and she was 17 in or around July 2007. She said he groped her in his car as they drove away from her parents home and then raped her at a remote location outside the Johnson County community of Cook. The village sits about 51 miles (82 kilometres) south of Omaha.
RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolinas elections board Thursday ordered a new election in the nations last undecided congressional race after the Republican candidate conceded his lead was tainted by evidence of ballot-tampering by political operatives working for him.

The State Board of Elections voted 5-0 in favour of a do-over in the mostly rural 9th Congressional District but did not immediately set a date.

In moving to order a new election, board chairman Bob Cordle cited the corruption, the absolute mess with the absentee ballots.

The board action came after GOP candidate Mark Harris, in a surprising turn, dropped his bid to be declared the winner and instead called for a new election. He reversed course on the fourth day of a board hearing at which investigators and witnesses detailed evidence of ballot fraud by operatives on his payroll.

Through the testimony Ive listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called, Harris said. Its become clear to me that the publics confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.

At the same time, Harris denied any knowledge of the illegal practices allegedly used by those working on his behalf.

Harris left the hearing room without answering questions. It was not immediately clear whether he intends to run in a new election.

The Democrat in the race, Dan McCready, hailed the board decision as a great step forward for democracy in North Carolina.

From the moment the first vote was stolen in North Carolina, from the moment the first voice was silenced by election fraud, the people have deserved justice, McCready, the Harvard-educated founder of a solar energy company, said in a statement.

The decision could leave the congressional seat empty for months, perhaps until the fall, board attorney Josh Lawson said. New primaries will be held in addition to a new general election, with the dates set by the elections board.

Harris reversal and the boards subsequent decision averted the possibility of a drawn-out court battle, had either candidate disagreed with the outcome of the hearing. The move also spared the new Democratic leadership of the House from having to intervene under its constitutional power to decide who can be seated as a member.

Harris led McCready by 905 votes out of about 280,000 cast last fall in a district that includes part of Charlotte and extends eastward through several counties along the southern edge of the state. But the state refused to certify the outcome as allegations surfaced that Harris political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless may have tampered with mail-in absentee ballots.

According to testimony and other findings detailed at the hearing, Dowless conducted an illegal ballot harvesting operation: He and his assistants gathered up absentee ballots from voters by offering to put them in the mail.

Dowless workers in rural Bladen County testified that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates.

It is generally against the law in North Carolina for anyone other than the voter or a family member to handle someones completed ballot.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

Harris, former pastor of a Baptist church, testified that Dowless had assured him that he wouldnt collect absentee ballots in violation of state law.

Ill never forget. He said it again and again. He said, We do not take the ballot, the candidate testified. Harris also insisted: Neither I nor any of the leadership of my campaign were aware of or condoned the improper activities that have been testified to in this hearing.

Harris admitted hiring Dowless over his own sons warnings. While Dowless was known for getting results, he went to prison in the 1990s for fraud and was dogged by suspicions of political chicanery in his get-out-the-vote efforts in 2016.

Harris appeared to tear up on Wednesday when his son testified that he warned his father not to do business with Dowless.

The congressional seat has been in Republican hands since 1963.

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The board is made up of three Democrats and two Republicans.

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Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio .
CINCINNATI - The Kentucky teen at the heart of an encounter last month with a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington is suing The Washington Post for $250 million, alleging the newspaper falsely labeled him a racist. His attorneys are threatening numerous other news organizations, including The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump cheered the lawsuit, tweeting Wednesday that Covington student suing WAPO. Go get them Nick. Fake News! The legal action, and possible future ones, comes at a time of intense scrutiny of Trumps relationship with the press, which he has repeatedly labeled the enemy of the people. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas this week suggested revisiting a cornerstone of modern press freedom, the 1964 New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case, which established knowing or reckless disregard of falsity as a pre-requisite for libel actions by public officials, a standard later extended to libel actions by public figures as well.

In papers filed Tuesday in federal court in Kentucky, Nicholas Sandmann and his parents alleged that the Post had engaged in targeting and bullying and modern McCarthyism.

The Post ignored basic journalist standards because it wanted to advance its well-known and easily documented, biased agenda against President Donald J. Trump ... by impugning individuals perceived to be supporters, according to the complaint.

In a statement Wednesday, the Post said it was reviewing a copy of the lawsuit and planned to mount a vigorous defence.

Sandmanns attorneys also are threatening legal action against The Associated Press and other news organizations. In a letter to the AP, dated Feb. 15, Atlanta-based attorney L. Lin Wood called on the news co-operative to retract and correct what his letter asserts are defamatory statements. Sandmann also provided his version of the events.

The Associated Press took great care to ensure its stories were measured and fair, reporting the facts of what transpired and adding details as they emerged, said spokeswoman Lauren Easton, adding that AP stands by its stories.

The actions of Sandmann and his Covington Catholic High School classmates have been intensely debated since video and photographs emerged of them wearing Make America Great Again hats and facing off against Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips.

Both Sandmann and Nathan Phillips say they were trying to defuse tensions that were rising among three groups on a day Washington hosted both the anti-abortion March for Life, attended by the Covington students, and the Indigenous Peoples March. But video of Sandmann and Phillips standing very close to each other , with Sandmann staring and at times smiling at Phillips as he sang and played a drum, gave some who watched it a different impression.

Interpretations changed over the days following the incident as witnesses released more cellphone video footage. Phillips had approached Sandmann, but well before that, both his group and Sandmanns were confronted by a third group that appeared to be affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.

Videos show members of the religious group yelling disparaging and profane insults at the students, some of whom shouted back. Video also shows the Native Americans being insulted by the small religious group. Sandmanns legal team has released its own video , Nick Sandmann: The Truth in 15 Minutes. It shows scenes from the confrontation, clips from news coverage and interviews, and examples of harsh Tweets and comments aimed at Sandmann and his high school.

Phillips did not immediately return efforts to reach him for comment.

First Amendment lawyers contacted by the AP were hesitant to comment without reading the full legal complaint. Floyd Abrams, who worked on the landmark Pentagon Papers case of 1971, wrote in an email that the press does get a good deal of leeway in voicing opinions about matters they have seen and are commenting on.

One legal question might be whether Sandmann would be treated in court as a public or private figure. Abrams observed that sometimes individuals involved in newsworthy events are treated as involuntary limited purpose public figures, meaning they would have to meet a higher legal standard than would a private citizen.

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AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Funds staff has agreed to support the economic policies of the Ecuadorean government with $4.2 billion over the next three years.

The arrangement is expected to be brought to the IMF Executive Board for its final approval in the coming weeks.

The IMF said the agreement is part of a broader effort by the international community that includes financial support of almost $6 billion over the next three years from the Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Latin American Reserve Fund and the World Bank.

The governments plan is aimed at creating a more dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive economy, said Anna Ivanova, the IMFs mission chief for Ecuador.
SALT LAKE CITY - Two Republican lawmakers proposed a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors in conservative Utah on Thursday, a plan thats been hailed as a milestone by advocates and wont be opposed by the influential Mormon church.

Republican Rep. Dan McCay acknowledged he isnt a typical sponsor for such a measure, but he said its an important way to support LGBT youth amid an alarming spike in youth suicide.

This is the Utah we want. This the Utah were all going to fight for, for the rest of our time so we deliver a place to you that you are welcome, he said.

The plan would prohibit any treatment aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity, which has ranged from talk therapy to practices like electric shock. Therapists who practice it could lose their license.

Conversion therapy has been proven to be not effective, and is particularly harmful to youth, said Republican chief sponsor Rep. Craig Hall.

The proposal comes during a national campaign to ban the practice, which is now outlawed in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

There has been pushback with lawsuits challenging the bans as violating free-speech and religious freedom rights. Appeals courts have upheld the bans so far, though a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on professional speech could give new life to the lawsuits, said Mat Staver with the conservative Liberty Counsel.

Utah has a history with conversion therapy, making the new proposal there a landmark step, said Shannon Minter with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is helping lead a national campaign to ban the practice.

In the 1970s, there were Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teachings that homosexuality could be cured, and a graduate students study at Brigham Young University that subjected men to electric shock, said Taylor Petrey, a religion professor at Kalamazoo College in Michigan who studies gender and sexuality in the faith.

Church teachings have also been used by groups like the now-defunct Evergreen International that promised to help people overcome homosexual behaviour.

The church has since denounced the practice and said homosexuality is not a sin, though the faith remains opposed to same-sex marriage and intimacy. Church officials said Wednesday they wont stand in the way of the proposed legislation, which doesnt apply to religious leaders.

Those who have been through conversion therapy, like 19-year-old Nathan Dalley, said it leaves them depressed and can lead to suicide attempts.

At the time I hated the fact that Im gay more than anything else about myself, he said. Then 16, his therapist said he could change if snapped a rubber band on his wrist to dissuade himself every time he had gay thoughts, played more sports and talked in a more masculine voice.

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It didnt work, and led to a downward spiral, though he has pulled himself out.

Conversion therapy is still happening today. Its harmful and it still affects me in multiple ways every day, Dalley said.
HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut Republicans are seeking to return artwork featuring a police-themed flag to the state capitol.

The handmade wooden plaque featuring what is known as the Thin Blue Line flag had been displayed for two months until it was removed this week over concerns that it was disrespectful to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Thin Blue Line flag has the design of an American flag with a blue line replacing a white stripe.

House Republican leader Themis Klarides said the flag should be promptly reinstated, and the suggestion that the flag is anything other than honourable is categorically false.

Klarides says the flag was donated by state capitol Police to honour law enforcement officers.

Democratic state Rep. Brandon McGee previously supported removing the flag. His spokesman said Thursday that McGee now wants the flag back up and has submitted a formal request to managers who oversee Capitol operations.

McGees change in tone came after he met with the head of the state Fraternal Order of Police, John Krupinsky, who says people dont understand the true meaning of the flag.

The Office of Legislative Management told WVIT-TV while artwork is usually put through an approval process, they felt the flag was appropriate to hang without vetting in Police Memorial Hall.

The office said they also decided to remove the artwork.

The piece is now in storage to be returned to its owner.
MIAMI  A judge ruled Thursday that federal prosecutors  among them, U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta  broke federal law when they signed a plea agreement with a wealthy, politically connected sex trafficker and concealed it from more than 30 of his underage victims.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra, in a 33-page opinion, said the evidence he reviewed showed that Jeffrey Epstein had been operating an international sex operation in which he and others recruited underage girls  not only in Florida  but from overseas, in violation of federal law.

Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him, wrote Marra, who is based in Palm Beach County. Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others.

Instead of prosecuting Epstein under federal sex trafficking laws, Acosta, then the U.S. attorney in Miami, helped negotiate a nonprosecution agreement that gave Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity from federal prosecution. Epstein, who lived in a Palm Beach mansion, was allowed to quietly plead guilty in state court to two prostitution charges and served just 13 months in the county jail. His accomplices, some of whom have never been identified, were never charged.

Acosta agreed to seal the deal, which meant that none of Epsteins victims, who were mostly 13 to 16 years old at the time of the abuse, were told about it until it was too late for them to appear at his sentencing and possibly reject the deal. Upon learning that Epstein had pleaded guilty without their knowledge, two of his victims filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida in 2008, claiming that prosecutors violated the Crime Victims Rights Act, which grants victims of federal crimes a series of rights, including the ability to confer with prosecutors about a possible plea deal.

Marra agreed, saying that while prosecutors had the right to resolve the case in any way they saw fit, they violated the law by hiding the agreement from Epsteins victims. Marras decision capped 11 years of litigation  which included the release of a trove of emails showing how Acosta and other prosecutors worked with Epsteins high profile lawyers to conceal the deal and the scope of Epsteins crimes from both his victims and the public.

Read more:

Feds to investigate billionaire Epsteins sex plea deal

Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, settles lawsuit and avoids accusers testimony

Particularly problematic was the Governments decision to conceal the existence of the (agreement) and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility, Marra wrote. When the Government gives information to victims, it cannot be misleading. While the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the (agreement) with Epsteins attorneys, scant information was shared with victims.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in Miami declined to comment.

Brad Edwards, the Fort Lauderdale attorney who brought the case, said he was elated at the judges ruling, but admitted he is bitter that the case took 11 years to litigate, blaming federal prosecutors for needlessly dragging out the case when they could have remedied their error when it was brought to their attention in 2008.

The Government aligned themselves with Epstein, working against his victims, for 11 years, Edwards said. Yes, this is a huge victory, but to make his victims suffer for 11 years, this should not have happened. Instead of admitting what they did, and doing the right thing, they spent 11 years fighting these girls.

While the victims ultimately would like to see Epstein go to jail, the judges ruling stopped short of issuing a remedy or punishment. He gave the government and victims 15 days to confer with each other to come up with a resolution. Its unclear what that resolution would be.

Edwards conceded that Epsteins sentence isnt likely to be overturned. He was released in 2009.

But victims rights advocates say that other charges can still be brought against Epstein if more victims come forward in other jurisdictions. There has been no statute of limitations for sex trafficking since 2002.

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The decision follows a three-part series published by the Miami Herald in November, Perversion of Justice, which detailed how federal prosecutors worked in concert with Epsteins lawyers to arrange the deal.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a probe into whether federal prosecutors committed any wrongdoing.
NORFOLK, Va. - A former American Idol and Fear Factor contestant who was arrested last year in Virginia with nearly 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of fentanyl will be allowed to live with her parents in New Jersey while awaiting trial.

The Virginian-Pilot reports 32-year-old Antonella Barba will be released Thursday after shes fitted with a monitor to ensure she follows curfew.

Barba was indicted this month on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Prosecutors say she was a courier for a drug ring.

She was previously charged with shoplifting in New York and has a felony marijuana case pending in Kansas.

Barba reached the top 16 on American Idol in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on Fear Factor in 2012.

Her attorney, James Broccoletti, declined comment to the newspaper.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
GREENBELT, Md. - A Coast Guard officer suspected of drawing up a hit list of top Democrats and network TV journalists spent hours on his work computer researching the words and deeds of infamous bombers and mass shooters while also stockpiling weapons, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was ordered held without bail on drug and gun charges while prosecutors gather evidence to support more serious charges involving what they portrayed as a domestic terror plot by a man who espoused white-supremacist views.

Hasson, a former Marine who worked at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington on a program to acquire advanced new cutters for the agency, was arrested last week. Investigators gave no immediate details on how or when he came to their attention.

Federal agents found 15 guns, including several rifles, and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside his basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In court papers this week, federal prosecutors said he compiled what appeared to be a computer-spreadsheet hit list that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. Also mentioned were such figures as MSNBCs Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNNs Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.

In arguing against bail Thursday, federal prosecutor Jennifer Sykes said Hasson would log onto his government computer during work and spend hours searching for information on such people as the Unabomber, the Virginia Tech gunman and anti-abortion bomber Eric Rudolph.

The United States District Court Greenbelt Division is shown on February 21, 2019 in Greenbelt, Maryland. A member of the U.S. Coast Guard, 49-year-old Christopher Paul Hasson was arrested on weapons violations and is accused of plotting a major attack against Americans.





Sykes said the charges so far are just the tip of the iceberg and called Hasson a domestic terrorist who appeared to be planning attacks inspired by the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage.

Public defender Julie Stelzig accused prosecutors of making inflammatory accusations against her client without providing the evidence to back them up. It is not a crime to think negative thoughts about people, she said.

She also questioned whether the government is trying to make an example out of Hasson, given criticism that authorities have overlooked domestic terrorists.

Perhaps now they can say, Look, were not targeting only Muslims, she said.

Stelzig said Hasson doesnt have a criminal record and has served 28 years in the Coast Guard. She described him as a committed public servant and a loving husband and father.

Hasson spent about $14,000 on weapons, survival gear and other equipment, Sykes said. However, Hassons public defender argued that the number of firearms found in Hassons apartment is modest, at best for many gun collectors in other parts of the country.

There is nothing Im seeing in here that would show he was stockpiling weapons, Stelzig said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day agreed to keep Hasson behind bars but said he is willing to revisit his decision in 14 days if prosecutors havent brought more serious charges by then.

Hasson was previously an aircraft mechanic in the Marines, serving from 1988 to 1994.

Court papers detail a 2017 draft email in which he wrote that he was dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth.

Also, Hasson sent himself a draft letter in 2017 that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for focused violence in order to establish a white homeland, prosecutors said.

Stelzig identified that neo-Nazi leader as white separatist Harold Covington. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Covington died last July.

Last February, Hasson searched the internet for the most liberal senators and also asked, Do senators have ss (Secret Service) protection and Are supreme court justices protected, according to the court filing.

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Bob Davis, who rents a house from Hasson in coastal Currituck County, North Carolina, and met him a few times, said he was absolutely shocked by the allegations.

He was a very stern military guy. Thats how I saw him. I truly nothing but respected him. There are people in life who are not 100 percenters. He was a 100 percenter, Davis said, meaning Hasson worked hard and didnt slack off. He portrayed in a very professional manner. He was honourable. ... He was a good man.

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Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Currituck County, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
ALBANY, N.Y. - News that an upstate New York brewer planned to recreate ale from a bottle salvaged from a 133-year-old shipwreck took the wind out of the sails of a scuba-diving Long Island brewer who has already done it.

Jamie Adams, owner of Saint James Brewery in Holbrook, said Wednesday he plans to release his new ale next month. He created it from yeast he painstakingly cultured from bottles of English ale he salvaged in 2017 from the wreck of the SS Oregon, which sank off Fire Island in 1886.

Adams, who has been diving the 135-foot-deep wreck for nearly 20 years, was stunned when he saw an Associated Press story over the weekend describing another brewers plans to use the Oregon yeast.

One of the divers I had enlisted to help me find these bottles with the intent of making beer had given one of them to this other brewer, unbeknownst to me, Adams said.

Adams learned about it when the State University of New York at Cobleskill announced that students were trying to culture yeast from a shipwreck bottle given to Bill Felter of Serious Brewing in Howes Cave. The plan was for Felter to create a new beer if the students were successful.

I called Felter and he has agreed not to use the yeast, Adams said. Im glad we could work it out amicably without my having to take legal action.

Felter told the Syracuse Post-Standard hes scuttled his plans out of respect for his fellow farm brewer. I dont want to step on their toes.

The Oregon is near and dear to Long Island scuba divers, said Adams, a former Wall Street trader who took up brewing and diving after 9-11. It was the Titanic of its day. It was built as a luxury liner to ferry people between New York and Europe.

The wreck is 75 per cent buried in sand, which shifts after storms to uncover various portions of the ship. In 2017 we found the area around the first class dining room was accessible. It hadnt been for years, Adams said.

Adams and fellow divers used a dredge to uncover artifacts including china, silverware, and bottles of ale with corks intact. Through research, he determined the bottles contained classic English ale.

Weve opened a few and have been able to propagate a few different yeast strains, he said.

After making numerous test batches since 2017, Adams had a yeast strain he was confident would perform properly.

Were calling it SeaKing New York Ale, Adams said. Its set to debut March 9 at the annual New York Craft Brewers Festival in Albany.
JUNEAU, Alaska - Three people were seriously hurt and four vehicles demolished in a five-car wrong-way crash on the highway between downtown Juneau and the Mendenhall Valley.

Juneau police say the driver of a car in the outbound lane of the divided highway made a U-turn and drove toward downtown Juneau, starting the five-car pileup.

The compact car struck a car head-on. Two cars and a pickup then collided while trying to avoid the first two cars.

A 66-year-old man drove the car that reversed course. He was rushed to Bartlett Regional Hospital. Police obtained a blood sample from him to determine if he was impaired.

The mans 70-year-old female passenger and the driver with whom he collided, a 31-year-old man, were flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Latest on Oakland teachers strike (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

Teachers in Oakland, California, say they will start striking Thursday morning, after rejecting the districts latest offer to avoid a walkout.

Union President Keith Brown says the district on Wednesday proposed a raise of 7 per cent over four years and a one-time bonus of 1.5 per cent, up from its original offer of 5 per cent over three years.

Brown says the latest offer fails to address the high cost of living that is driving teachers out of Oakland.

The union is demanding 12 per cent over three years retroactive from 2017 to 2020. Teachers also want smaller class sizes, more counsellors and full-time nurses.

The walkout will affect 36,000 students at 86 schools. The district says schools will remain open.

The Oakland walkout is the latest strike nationwide over classroom conditions and pay. Other recent strikes in Denver and West Virginia also have built on a wave of teacher activism that began last spring.

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This item has been corrected to show the latest offer from the school district includes a 7 per cent raise over four years and a one-time 1.5 per cent bonus, not an 8.5 per cent raise over four years.

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1:05 p.m.

Teachers in Oakland, California, are getting ready to walk off the job Thursday in the latest strike nationwide over classroom conditions and pay.

The union representing 3,000 teachers said in a statement Wednesday that educators planned to say goodbye to students, barring an unlikely change from the district.

The walkout would affect 36,000 students at 86 schools, which the district says will remain open with substitute teachers and non-union employees.

Teachers are seeking smaller class sizes, more counsellors and full-time nurses, and a 12 per cent raise retroactive from 2017 to 2020.

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The district has offered a 5 per cent raise, saying its squeezed by rising costs and a budget crisis.

Other recent strikes in Denver and West Virginia also have built on a wave of teacher activism that began last spring.
WASHINGTONJustice Department officials are preparing for the end of special counsel Robert Muellers nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and believe a confidential report could be issued in coming days, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The special counsels investigation has consumed Washington since it began in May 2017, and it increasingly appears to be nearing its end, which would send fresh shock waves through the political system. Mueller could deliver his report to Attorney General William Barr next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss with reporters sensitive deliberations.

Regulations call for Mueller to submit to the attorney general a confidential explanation as to why he decided to charge certain individuals, as well as who else he investigated and why he decided not to charge those people. The regulations then call for the attorney general to report to Congress about the investigation.

An adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump said there is palpable concern among the presidents inner circle that the report might contain information about Trump and his team that is politically damaging, but not criminal conduct.

Even before he was confirmed by the Senate, Barr had preliminary discussions about the logistics surrounding the conclusion of Muellers inquiry, a second person said. At that time, though, Barr had not been briefed on the substance of Muellers investigation, so the conversations were limited.

CNN first reported Wednesday that Mueller could send a report to Barr as early as next week.

Read more:

Confidential Mueller evidence used in disinformation campaign, U.S. prosecutors say

Trump caves on shutdown; adviser Roger Stone arrested in Mueller probe

Muellers DC grand jury granted more time to investigate

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment, as did a Justice Department spokeswoman.

How detailed either Muellers report or the attorney generals summary of the findings will be is unclear. Lawmakers have demanded that Muellers report be made public, but Barr has been noncommittal on that point, saying he intends to be as forthcoming as regulations and department practice allow. He has pointed, however, to Justice Department practices that insist on saying little or nothing about conduct that does not lead to criminal charges.

The special counsels office, which used to have 17 lawyers, is down to 12, and some of those attorneys have recently been in touch with their old bosses about returning to work, according to people familiar with the discussions. All but four of the remaining 12 lawyers are detailed from other Justice Department offices.

The end of the special counsels probe would not mean the end of criminal investigations connected to the president. Federal prosecutors in New York, for instance, are exploring whether corrupt payments were made in connection with Trumps inaugural committee funding.

If Mueller does close up shop, government lawyers on his team would likely return to their original posts but would be able to continue to work on the prosecution of cases initiated by the special counsels office.

That was the case for two special counsel lawyers, Brandon Van Grack and Scott Meisler, who have left the office formally but are still working on cases begun by Mueller.

When the special counsel brought the case against Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and friend to Trump, for lying to the FBI, attorneys from the U.S. attorneys office in Washington were assigned to it from the start  an indication that Mueller expects to hand off the investigation soon.

The four prosecutors remaining who arent part of the Justice Department are some of the special counsels highest-ranking lawyers: Aaron Zebley, who is effectively Muellers chief of staff; James Quarles, who is a senior executive in the office; Jeannie Rhee, the lead prosecutor in the case against Michael Cohen, Trumps former personal attorney; and Greg Andres, the lead prosecutor in the trial of Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman.

According to people familiar with the special counsels work, Mueller has envisioned it as an investigative assignment, not necessarily a prosecutorial one, and for that reason does not plan to keep the office running to see to the end all of the indictments it has filed.

Muellers work has led to criminal charges against 34 people. Six Trump associates and advisers have pleaded guilty.

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Among those who have pleaded guilty are Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn; former deputy campaign manger Rick Gates; and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, as well as Manafort and Cohen.

Most of the people charged in Muellers investigation are Russians. Because there is no extradition treaty with their country, those 26 individuals are unlikely to ever see the inside of a U.S. courtroom.

None of the Americans charged by Mueller are accused of conspiring with Russia to interfere in the election. Determining whether any Trump associates had plotted with the Kremlin in 2016 was the central question assigned to Mueller when he got the job, in a moment of crisis for the FBI, the Justice Department and the country.

Days earlier, Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey. The purported reason for the dismissal was Comeys handling of the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton, but Trump said in an interview with NBC shortly after the firing that he was thinking about the Russia inquiry when he decided to fire Comey.

Because FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms to ensure their political independence, the Comey firing rattled Washington, setting off alarms not just in the Justice Department but in Congress, where lawmakers feared the president was determined to end the Russia investigation before it was completed.

In the wake of Comeys firing, Deputy Attorney General Attorney General Rod Rosenstein chose Mueller as special counsel, in part to quell the burgeoning political crisis.

Mueller, a Vietnam War veteran, prosecutor and former FBI director, was highly regarded. Politicians on both sides of the aisle  as well as law enforcement and intelligence veterans within federal agencies  had long admired and trusted Mueller, a Republican.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt and accused Muellers prosecutors of political bias because a number of them had made donations to Democratic candidates in the past. Some congressional Republicans who back the president have repeatedly attacked Muellers work as corrupted by anti-Trump bias among Comey and his senior advisers at the FBI.

When Muellers investigation ends, it is likely to set off a fresh political firestorm.

Democrats are already demanding a detailed public accounting of what Mueller found, beyond what is in the public indictments and trial evidence to date. Republicans, meanwhile, are poised to escalate their attacks on the special counsels work as a waste of time and money  and paint the end of the investigation as final proof that there was nothing to the suspicion that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Much of Muellers time was spent trying to determine whether the president attempted to obstruct the investigation. Toward that end, Mueller questioned those closest to the president about his private statements about the inquiry, his public tweets that attacked law enforcement officials, and internal White House documents that might shed light on Trumps behavior.

Months of negotiations over a possible interview of Trump came to little. Ultimately, Mueller and the Justice Department did not serve the president with a subpoena, which could have led to a fight at the Supreme Court, and Trumps lawyers submitted written answers to questions from the special counsel.

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WASHINGTONMichael Cohen has agreed to testify in public next Wednesday before Congress about his work as U.S. President Donald Trumps personal lawyer and longtime fixer, but lawmakers said they would limit the scope of their questioning in deference to the special counsel.

The hearing next week before the House Oversight and Reform Committee will give Cohen, once one of Trumps most loyal aides, a rare public platform to try to explain his work for the president, including an illegal scheme during the 2016 campaign to pay hush money to two women claiming to have had affairs with Trump. And it promises to provide House Democrats investigating Trump, his business and his administration with early fireworks to punctuate their efforts.

But Cohen  who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, tax fraud and a campaign finance violation in the hush money scheme  will also face intense scrutiny from Republicans, who have already indicated that they plan to aggressively challenge his past work and credibility as a witness against the president.

The committees chairman indicated that after consultation with the Justice Department and the House Intelligence Committee, Cohen would not be allowed to discuss matters related to Russia, including a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Congress has an obligation under the Constitution to conduct independent and robust oversight of the executive branch, and this hearing is one step in that process, the chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in a statement announcing the rescheduled hearing.

In a two-page memo released late Wednesday, Cummings outlined 10 topics he said would be addressed, including the presidents debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election and his compliance with federal tax and campaign finance laws. Other topics were more open-ended, including Trumps business practices and possible conflicts of interest, as well as the accuracy of the presidents public statements.

Read more:

Mueller seems to be wrapping up two-year investigation

After surgery, Michael Cohens prison date postponed to May

Judge to release some info on FBI raid of Trump lawyer Cohen

Lanny Davis, one of Cohens lawyers, told ABC News that his client intended to share personal, front-line experiences of memories, and incidents, and conduct, and comments that Donald Trump said over that 10-year time period behind closed doors.

Cohen had intimate access to Trump as a businessman and during the 2016 presidential campaign. But since he came under the scrutiny of federal investigators, Cohen has implicated Trump in court in the hush money scheme and spent more than 70 hours with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and those working for Mueller.

On Twitter on Wednesday, Cohen said he was Looking forward to the #American people hearing my story in my voice! He included a link to a GoFundMe page raising money for the Michael Cohen Truth Fund.

The public hearing is one of three sessions Cohen will have next week on Capitol Hill. He is also scheduled to participate in private deposition-style interviews with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, where he is likely to be pressed on matters pertaining to Russia and other potential efforts by foreign powers to gain influence over Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the two intelligence committees about the Trump Organization proposal to build a skyscraper in Moscow.

Before that, in August, Cohen had pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to tax fraud, making false statements to a bank and the campaign finance violation. He said in court at the time that the last violation was the result of payments he made at Trumps behest during the 2016 campaign to two women to keep them from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with Trump.

Cohen had been expected to report early next month to begin serving a three-year prison sentence, but on Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan said that he could delay that appearance by two months, to May 6. In requesting the delay, Cohens lawyers said he had undergone recent shoulder surgery and needed to take part in physical therapy.

If Democrats are hoping that Cohens testimony will damage Trumps public image, Republicans have been laying the groundwork to try to undercut Cohens credibility first. In a letter to Cummings on Tuesday, the oversight committees top Republicans referred to Cohen as an admitted serial liar and accused the Democrats of putting on a political show.

When Cohen appears before our committee, we can only assume that he will continue his pattern of deceit and perjury, the Republicans, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, wrote. Although Cohen falsely attributes his crimes to blind loyalty to Donald Trump, a federal judge correctly noted that Cohens crimes were all motivated by his personal greed and ambition.

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Trump himself has repeatedly suggested that Cohen lied to prosecutors about him to reduce his own prison sentence. Rudy Giuliani, Trumps lawyer, abruptly shifted his own assessment of Cohens honesty after Cohen pleaded guilty and began talking to prosecutors.

It was another comment by Trump  who during a Fox News interview in January cryptically called for Cohens father-in-law to be investigated  that prompted Cohen to initially postpone the oversight hearing, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 7.

Democrats seized on the threats, asserting that Cohen had been intimidated from testifying to Congress by the president  an action that could be construed as a crime. Trump denied that he had done anything of the sort.

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CHICAGO - An attorney representing the brothers at the centre of an investigation into the attack reported by Jussie Smollett said her clients manned up and testified in front of a grand jury, before prosecutors charged the Empire actor with filing a false police report.

Gloria Schmidt spoke to reporters Wednesday outside a Chicago courthouse where the brothers met with the grand jury, which was collecting evidence in the case. The brothers told police that Smollett paid them $3,500 to stage the attack because he was unhappy about his salary and wanted to promote his career.

Police have said the brothers are not considered suspects but havent elaborated. Schmidt said the two men wanted to come clean and werent motivated by any promises from prosecutors.

There was never a change of heart, Schmidt said. There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said, Were gonna correct this. Plea deal, immunity, all of that  they dont care about that.

The brothers, identified by Schmidt as Abimbola Abel Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, are of Nigerian descent. But they told a reporter at CBS2-Chicago that they were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens.

They are bodybuilders who have developed an online following and have dabbled in acting and at least one failed business venture, according to social media posts and news reports.

Abimbola Osundairo, 25, graduated from Lake View High School in Chicago, where he participated in football, track and field, soccer, and wrestling, before joining the football team at Quincy University in western Illinois, according to a football profile on the universitys website. Olabinjo Osundairo, 27, also was on the Quincy football team and had attended Latmos Comprehensive College in Lagos, Nigeria, according to his football profile.

Smollett, who is black and gay, he was physically attacked by two men who shouted homophobic and racial slurs at him before beating him up and throwing some kind of chemical on him the early morning of Jan. 29. He also said his attackers shouted, This is MAGA country, an apparent reference to President Donald Trumps campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, and looped a rope around his neck.

The brothers told a CBS2 reporter in a phone interview that they are not racist, homophobic or anti-Trump, the news station reported.

Chicago police said they reviewed video of Smollett walking downtown but found nothing showing an attack. They released images of two people , later identified as the brothers, whom they called persons of interest in the case because they were in the area at the time.

The Osundairos were arrested on Feb. 13 at OHare International Airport after returning from Nigeria when police learned at least one of them worked on Empire. Police said they left for Nigeria on the day of the attack. Police released them released after two days, saying the investigation had shifted following interviews with the brothers.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference Thursday that investigators reviewed extensive phone records between Smollett and the brothers, including calls from when the brothers were in Nigeria after the allegedly staged attack.

The Cook County States Attorney charged the 36-year-old Smollett on Wednesday with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report. He turned himself in to police early Thursday to face the charge, police said.

Smolletts attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, met with prosecutors and police earlier Wednesday afternoon. Its unknown what was discussed or whether Smollett attended the meeting. The attorneys didnt reply to requests seeking comment.

A man identified on some videos as the Osundairos business partner, Leland Stanford, did not respond Wednesday to a Facebook message. The Osundairos did not respond to a message on their Team Abel Facebook page or to an email posted on their YouTube page, and a voice message left at a phone number listed for their father also was not returned.

Smolletts lawyers had said the actor was angered and victimized by reports that he may have played a role in staging the attack.

As a victim of a hate crime who has co-operated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with, the weekend statement read. He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.

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The statement said one of the brothers was Smolletts personal trainer, and the Chicago Tribune  which is not naming the brothers  reported that Smollett follows their bodybuilding page on Instagram.

The Osundairos, who promote a fitness and diet program under the title Team Abel, have more than 20,000 Instagram followers and more than 1,600 followers on Facebook. They also have a Team Abel YouTube channel.

Theyre also aspiring actors who have posted auditions online and reportedly worked with Smollett on Empire.

The Tribune reported that neither brother has been credited for work on Empire, though the older brother said in a 2015 interview that he played the prison bodyguard for Chris Rocks character. Rock guest-starred on the Season 2 premiere of Empire in 2015.

The newspaper also reported that the brothers signed in 2016 with Hinsdale, Illinois-based Babes N Beaus Model and Talent Agency, according to one of the owners, Don Underwood.

Each appeared on an episode of NBCs Chicago P.D. last year, and both had roles in the 2017 independent movie The Worst Nightmare, the Tribune reported. One had a small part in Spike Lees 2015 film, Chi-Raq.

State records showed the Osundairos established a party and decoration store in 2015 that was dissolved last year, the Tribune reported. Federal court records show they filed for bankruptcy in 2016 with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt and their store operating at a loss.

The newspaper reported that the older brother pleaded guilty in 2012 to aggravated battery and was sentenced to two years of probation for a stabbing that occurred a year earlier about a block away from the brothers home, according to Cook County records. His brother was ticketed for a DUI in 2015.

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Check out the APscomplete coverage of the Jussie Smollett case
LOS ANGELES - Fired FBI acting director Andrew McCabes headline-making interview on CBS news magazine proved a TV audience grabber as well.

The program ranked as the third most-watched last week with 9.7 million people tuning in, according to Nielsen figures released Wednesday.

Viewership was down across the board during the Presidents Day holiday weekend, and the Sunday audience for 60 Minutes didnt approach its season average of 11.6 million. But McCabes memoir The Threat, about the FBI and the Trump administration, topped Amazons bestsellers list the day after the interview aired as part of a media blitz for the book.

He told 60 Minutes that a crime may have been committed when President Donald Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017 and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia.

McCabe also said the FBI had good reason for a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat. McCabe, fired from the Justice Department last year after an internal probe into a news media disclosure, denied he intentionally lied and said his firing was politically motivated.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the interview Sunday night. Trump has repeatedly shared his views, including in one tweet in which he called McCabe disgraced and said now his story gets even more deranged.

CBS won the weekly network ratings contest as viewers also devoted time to the networks NCIS and The Big Bang Theory and their spinoffs, Nielsen said.

With six of the top 10 shows and 13 of the most-watched 20, CBS had an average of 6.3 million weekly viewers. NBC had 5.2 million, ABC had 3.8 million, Fox had 3.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million and the CW had 880,000.

Fox News Channel was the weeks most-watched cable network, averaging 2.5 million viewers in prime time. TNT had 2.3 million, MSNBC had 1.9 million, ESPN had 1.4 million, HGTV had 1.35 million and History had 1.3 million.

ABCs World News Tonight topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.4 million viewers. NBCs Nightly News was second with 8.8 million, and the CBS Evening News had 6.7 million.

For the week of Feb. 10-17, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NCIS, CBS, 13.4 million; Americas Got Talent Champions, NBC, 10.5 million; 60 Minutes, CBS, 9.7 million; FBI, CBS, 9.5 million; Blue Bloods, CBS, 8.9 million; Chicago Med, NBC, 8.7 million; Chicago Fire, NBC, 8.5 million; The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8.3 million; The Masked Singer, Fox, 7.9 million; Young Sheldon, CBS, 7.7 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.
BEIRUT - The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

Two officials say they are trying to verify reports that Fabien Clain, a Frenchman who is one of Europes most-wanted members of Islamic State group, has died in an airstrike in Syria.

A French diplomatic official and an official with U.S.-backed Syrian forces say verifications are underway amid a standoff over the final sliver of land held by IS in southeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.

Clain is considered a key figure in the 2015 attacks in Paris, and it was his voice that claimed responsibility in the name of Islamic State for the deadly onslaught in his home country.

Neither official would be named, given the ongoing verifications in the village of Baghouz.

A U.S. military spokesman said the coalition could not confirm the reports.

By Lori Hinnant and Sarah El Deeb.

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6:10 p.m.

A commander with a U.S.-backed Syrian force says back-to-back suicide car bombings in a market in eastern Syria have killed at least 14 people.

Adnan Afrin says the two blasts went off Thursday evening in the village of Shahil, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the al-Omar Oil Field base in the Deir el-Zour province. He says two suicide bombers stopped their cars and detonated the vehicles in the market.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a car bomb that was detonated remotely as a convoy that includes workers and technicians who work at the oil field was passing. The Britain-based war monitor said 20 were killed and others wounded.

The explosions came Thursday as the Kurdish-led forces backed by the U.S. are besieging IS militants in the last speck of territory they control in eastern Syria.

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10:50 a.m.

An Iraqi security official says the U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria have handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq.

The official says the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side overnight, and that they were now in a safe place and being investigated.

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The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The handover comes as the U.S.-backed Syrian forces are involved in a standoff over the final IS-held sliver of land in southeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border amid the extremists imminent territorial defeat.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq will take back all Iraqi IS members, as well as thousands of their family members.
CAIRO - A Sudanese opposition party says more than 10 opposition leaders have been arrested ahead of the latest day of protests urging President Omar al-Bashir to resign.

In a statement, the Sudanese Congress Party says security forces pre-empted demonstrations by arresting the deputy head of the Umma Party, Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi; the partys Secretary-General Sara Naqdallah; Communist Party leader Mokhtar al-Khatib, and others.

Later, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds who had gathered to march, near the Arab Market area in Khartoum.

Sudan has been rocked by a wave of protests since December calling on al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup, to step down. Activists say at least 57 people have been killed, but the government tally stands at 30.
GENEVA - A Swiss military official says a verdict is expected Friday in the trial of a former sergeant accused of jeopardizing Switzerlands standing as a neutral nation by joining a foreign Christian militia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria.

Swiss media say Johan Cosar is accused of training and fighting with the Syriac Military Council militia from 2013 to 2015.

Cosars military trial on charges of joining a foreign army and recruiting other Swiss citizens opened Wednesday.

Court spokesman Mario Camelin said a concern for Swiss authorities was that a veteran of the armed forces fighting for a foreign militia could jeopardize the Alpine countrys long-vaunted neutrality.

If convicted, Cosar could be fined and sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Camelin said Cosars cousin also is on trial.
THESSALONIKI, Greece - The Latest on migrants and asylum-seekers in Europe (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

Doctors Without Borders says 116 migrants have been forcibly returned to Libya after a day and a half at sea.

The group, known by its French acronym MSF, says in a Tweet that the people, including 21 women and children, disembarked in the western coastal city of Khoms early Thursday. MSF provided water, food, blankets and hygiene kits to the group, which also included a pregnant woman and 6-month-old baby.

Libyan Coast Guard Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ayoub Gassim confirmed a boat carrying mainly Africans was rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, but rejected the term forcibly returned, saying the Libyans rescued them from the sea ... for their safety.

Libya is a major transit point to Europe for those fleeing poverty and civil war elsewhere in Africa. Traffickers have exploited Libyas chaos following the countrys 2011 uprising.

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12:35 p.m.

Greek authorities say they have rescued 21 migrants found adrift in a small boat in a section of the northeastern Aegean Sea off the usual illegal immigration route.

The migrants were located Thursday between the island of Samothraki and the northeastern port of Alexandroupoli, after Greek authorities received an emergency call reporting their boat was in trouble.

Most migrants entering Greece illegally by sea from Turkey prefer the much shorter crossing to the eastern Aegean Sea islands, and the longer, northern route is rarely used.

Also Thursday, police in the northeastern region of Thrace said they detained nine Syrian and Afghan migrants found squashed into a car that was being driven west after crossing the land border from Turkey.

The driver, a 20-year-old Syrian, was arrested on suspicion of people-smuggling.
WARSAW, Poland - Polands opposition lawmakers on Thursday demanded explanations from the ruling party about reports that one of its regional offices used donations for the Red Cross to finance its parliamentary campaign.

Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported recently that Red Cross funds raised from the sale of donated clothes were used to finance the 2015 campaign of the Law and Justice partys regional candidates in southwestern Polands Wroclaw region. It also quoted unnamed witnesses as saying that donated food was used in the campaign.

Law and Justice politicians were in charge of the charity at the time.

Malgorzata Klaus, a spokeswoman for Wroclaw prosecutors, says that Education Minister Anna Zalewska is to be questioned about allegations that her campaign was financed that way.

Opposition Civic Platform lawmakers on Thursday demanded explanations from Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is also the prosecutor general.

European Council head and Polands former prime minister, Donald Tusk, said in an interview on TVN24 that if true, the allegations were a glaring example of corruption among political elites.

It is the latest in a series of image problems for the ruling party ahead of elections to the European and national parliaments this year. Other problems include allegations that the partys powerful leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski was involved in illegal business negotiations and that he solicited a bribe from a businessman.

Political parties in Poland are banned from doing business or drawing funds from business.
HELSINKI - Balloting has started for next months general election in Estonia, an online voting pioneer, amid tight protective measures a day after Microsoft warned that hackers linked to Russia had allegedly targeted democratic institutions in Europe.

Kristi Kirsberg, media adviser to Estonias electoral committee, said Thursday that the Baltic country  the first in the world to use online balloting for a national election in 2005  has trained candidates to properly secure their home pages and was closely tracking fake news and disinformation.

Apart from educating candidates on cyber threats, special attention has been given to protecting political parties websites, she said.

Excluding some minor Facebook postings, no interference attempts have been reported. Kirsberg said Estonias government agencies have set up hotlines to major social media companies like Facebook, who are ready to assist election officials.

The State Chancellery has helped us to build ties with Facebook, Twitter and Google so that we can quickly inform them in case some kind of disinformation on the election starts to spread, Kirsberg said. She said that one government official was fully focused on monitoring domestic, Western and Russian news sites as well as social media.

Microsoft said Wednesday that a hacking group identified as Strontium, with alleged links to Russia, had targeted email accounts within think tanks and non-profit groups in six European countries, not including Estonia, ahead of the EU parliamentary elections in May.

The U.S. tech company urged politicians and authtorities to keep in mind that cyberattacks and hacking arent limited to election campaigns but have targeted groups dealing with democracy, electoral integrity, and public policy.

Many Estonian experts dont expect neighbouring Russia to meddle with the former Soviet states election as Moscow isnt seen gaining much from such activity.

Estonias governing Center Party, which is led by Prime Minister Juri Ratas and caters to the countrys large ethnic-Russian minority, is leading in polls and Ratas is expected to have good chances of forming the new Cabinet.

About a third of Estonias eligible 958,600 voters are expected to cast ballots online to renew the 101-seat Parliament in the small country of 1.3 million. The election is March 3.

The online voting system is based on Estonians solid trust in their government, which has provided over one million compulsory ID cards, complete with a microchip, enabling secure identification on the internet.

Ballots are cast through a government website. Should a person change their mind, they can go back into the site or vote at a traditional polling station to change their vote during the advance voting period until Feb. 27.
BERLIN - A German court has sentenced a 33-year-old Egyptian man to life in prison for killing his daughter in a fit of jealousy.

In its verdict Thursday, Duesseldorfs regional court noted the gravity of the crime, preventing his release even after serving the standard 15-year life term.

The defendant, identified as Ahmed F. in line with German privacy rules, was found guilty of strangling his seven-year-old daughter in July 2018 because he wanted to take revenge against his wife, who he suspected of infidelity.

F. denied the allegations and claimed his daughter died in an accident.

His wife had called police after receiving a video call from F. in which he could be seen pointing a gun at their crying daughter. She was dead by the time police entered the apartment.
ROME - U.S. and Italian advocates for victims of pedophile priests are pressing for Italy to overhaul legislation that allows bishops to dodge accountability for predator clergy in the predominantly Roman Catholic country where the church wields considerable political influence.

A U.S. state legislator joined an Italian lawmaker and American and Italian victims of pedophile clergy at the Italian Parliament on Thursday to put a spotlight on what they described as significant gaps in how the Italian justice system handles the problem.

Francesco Zanardi, who heads an Italian survivors advocacy group, said Italy must revise its 1929 Lateran Treaty with the Holy See. He noted that under that agreement, bishops can refuse to respond to magistrates investigating their alleged roles in hiding pedophile crimes by priests.

Thus, as long as they personally are not being investigated for abuse, bishops have the right to refuse to answer questions from the judiciary, Zanardi told a news conference in the Chamber of Deputies, Parliaments lower house.

The same treaty, he noted, also requires magistrates to inform church hierarchy they have started investigations of priests, effectively giving bishops more time to possibly discourage witnesses or victims from coming forward.

Italian law doesnt require bishops to denounce cases of abuse by clergy, Zanardi said.

There is a legislative vacuum, he said.

The Catholic church holds a privileged place in Italian society and wields significant influence in politics. Parishes in small towns and big cities alike run after-school and weekend recreation programs for youngsters, since public schools dont offer them. That gives priests easy access to minors.

A U.S. advocate for accountability for pedophile priests noted that the American Catholic church was forced to be more transparent after victims came forward as adults when several states opened windows on statutes of limitations. That nudged U.S. bishops to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward abusive priests.

But the Italian church still allows itself to be guided by canon law, which gives the priest a second chance and leaves it to the bishops discretion on whether a priest should be punished or removed from children, said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.

Earlier this month, Italy was taken to task by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child for its failure to properly police the Catholic church . The committee called for an independent inquiry into what it said was the abnormally low number of investigations and prosecutions of child sex abuse committed by priests.

With priests considered respected figures in Italian society, the words of Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi sounded unusually blunt when he told how he was raped by a priest when he was 13, and how every time he showers, he still shudders at that memory.

As he has campaigned in his home state, Rozzi urged Italian lawmakers to open up windows of opportunity in statutes of limitations so adults can denounce abuse suffered as children.

Rozzi drew on his own experience when he wondered aloud whether a 13-year-old would know what is meant by a statute of limitations.

Zanardi said only one pedophile priest is now in prison, out of 144 convictions in the last 10 years. Italian judges tend to let convicted clergy serve sentences under house arrest, he said.

Unlike in the United States, in Italy, the scandals havent done anything, Zanardi said.

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He and Rozzi embraced in a symbolic joining of forces to change that.

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Frances DEmilio is on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio.
BERLIN - German media report that two men have died after a shooting in Munich.

Police in the Bavarian capital said Thursday the situation is under control and there is currently no danger to the public.

The Munich daily tz reported the shooting happened on a building site. It quoted an unnamed police spokesperson as saying authorities are working on the assumption that one man shot dead another and then killed himself.
SYDNEYJulie Bishop, the popular former Australian foreign minister, said Thursday that she would not run in coming federal elections, adding to the conservative governments already-bleak image as a place that is inhospitable to women.

Hers is the highest-profile departure in what has become an exodus of women from the government, which is run by a coalition led by the center-right Liberal Party. The departure of several female Liberal lawmakers in recent months has reignited a debate about sexism in Parliament that could shape the next election.

Its no secret the Liberal Party has a problem with women, said Clementine Ford, a feminist commentator. Ford said she was surprised that Bishop had remained in the party for as long as she had.

Until last year, Bishop had been deputy leader of the Liberal Party for more than a decade, standing stalwart while an ever-revolving door for the top job roiled the party and upset voters. In her tenure as deputy, the party had three different male leaders, one of them serving twice.

Last August, Bishop was one of three candidates who vied for the partys leadership after Malcolm Turnbull, who was then the prime minister, was ousted in a back room revolt. Despite having higher public approval ratings than her two male opponents, she lost on the first ballot with less than 13 per cent of the vote. Scott Morrison, who was then the treasurer of Australia, was elected by Liberal Party lawmakers as the next prime minister.

After the vote, Bishop opted to leave the Cabinet and become a rank-and-file lawmaker.

Ford said she did not think it even occurred to male party members to elect a woman as their leader. Bishop was the first woman to formally stand for leader of the Liberal Party.

She was hugely popular with the electorate, Ford said. To ignore not only her skills and ability and merit, but to do it so blatantly, must have been a huge slap in the face for her.

Bishops loss in the leadership vote sent waves of relief through the opposition Labor Party, which is favoured in polls to win the next election. Though the exact date has not been set, elections must be held this year.

If Bishop had won, the Labor Party might have had a real fight on their hands in the next election, said Jane Caro, an Australian author and commentator. So the Liberal Party really cut off its own nose to spite its face, but such is the strong belief among many conservative people that women should not be in charge.

After the leadership vote last summer, Bishop addressed Parliament and said that women in both chambers had long been subjected to appalling behaviour, including bullying and sexist comments about their appearance, clothing and personal lives.

It is evident that there is an acceptance of a level of behaviour in Canberra that would not be tolerated in any other workplace in Australia, she said at the time, referring to the Australian capital.

Julia Banks, another Liberal Party lawmaker, said in August that she was quitting politics after the next election, and called for Parliament to enact a code of conduct to curb inappropriate behaviour.

Women have suffered in silence for too long, she said.

Women in Australia are under-represented at the federal level. Of the 58 Liberal members of Parliament, 11 are women, as are eight of the partys 24 senators. In the Labor Party, 29 of 69 members of Parliament and 14 of 25 senators are women.

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Bishop, 62, said a number of people, including women, had shown interest in running for her seat and that it was time for a new member to take her place.

Her announcement came just over a month after Kelly ODwyer, the minister for women and the minister for industrial relations, said she would not run in the next election because she wanted to spend more time with her family.

ODwyer, who was Australias youngest female Cabinet member and the first sitting Cabinet member to give birth, is one of six women holding the top 23 positions in Morrisons government.

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Since last summer, there has been a growing call for the Liberal Party to adopt quotas promoting women, something the party has so far rejected. The Labor Party, by contrast, aims to have 50 per cent female lawmakers by 2025.

Earlier this year, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that while the Liberal Party should consider quotas, she had not yet decided if she supported the idea.

I do know that as an organization there is more that we can do, Payne told the Sydney Morning Herald. All options should be on the table. Its not something which we are ignoring. Its something which we take very seriously.

Bishop was Australias first female foreign minister, a role that thrust her in the international spotlight in July 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot out of the sky and crashed in Ukrainian territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels. The crash killed all 298 people on board, including 28 Australians and nine permanent residents.

Julies judgment, determination and energy helped secure a United Nations Security Council resolution that ensured Australia and its partners could repatriate the victims of that terrible crime, Morrison said in Parliament on Thursday after Bishops announcement. Australia has not forgotten those terrible days and still waits for the perpetrators of that crime to be brought to justice.

It was a sentiment echoed by Bill Shorten, the Labor Party leader.

If any of us were ever to be privileged to be in the position that she was in, dealing with the Russians and other people, I hope that any of us would show the same strength that she showed. Thats to her everlasting credit, Shorten said.

Turnbull, the former prime minister, said on Twitter that Bishop had been Australias finest foreign minister, eloquent, elegant and always courageous advancing our national interest in these challenging times.

Bishop departed the legislature after her farewell speech, before Morrison and Shorten spoke their praise.

Along with Bishops political legacy, however, the prime minister made reference to a part of Bishops wardrobe that has dogged the lawmaker as much as leopard-print kitten heels have Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain.

Her successor will have big shoes to fill, Morrison said, and we all know Julie has the best shoes in the Parliament.
BANGKOK - Vietnam, the location of President Donald Trumps next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has come a long way since the U.S. abandoned its war against communist North Vietnam in the 1970s.

North and South united into a youthful nation that now numbers 95 million, and in the mid-1980s the country embraced global trade, starting its rise as a production base for South Koreas Samsung and many other manufacturing giants. The Doi Moi reforms adopted by its communist rulers, modeled largely on Chinas transformation into the worlds factory floor, could provide a model for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

GOING FOR GROWTH: The Vietnamese economy expanded at an estimated annual rate of just above 7 per cent in 2018, fueled by a double-digit increase in manufacturing output. At 5.54 quadrillion Vietnamese dong ($238 billion in 2017), its GDP ranks in the worlds top 50 economies. As the economy has grown, poverty rates have fallen and life expectancy has risen, to 76 years.

SAMSUNG FACTOR: Heavy investment by South Koreas Samsung Electronics, the worlds biggest maker of computer chips and cellphones, led commitments by other big global manufacturers like Microsoft and Intel. Samsung opened Vietnams first mobile phone plant in 2009 and now employs more than 100,000 people in its factories there. In 2017, the company accounted for more than a quarter of Vietnams total exports. Samsung no comment on speculation that Kim might visit one of its factories outside the capital Hanoi, where he is to meet with Trump.

EXPORT BONANZA: By joining the World Trade Organization and regional groupings including the Pacific Rim accord called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vietnam has leapfrogged its neighbours in taking advantage of lowered tariffs, and its exports have soared. In the meantime, manufacturers from South Korea, Japan and China have crowded in to take advantage of lower costs and other incentives. Exports surged to $214 billion in 2017, up by more than a fifth from the year before. The U.S. is Vietnams largest export market, at nearly $42 billion in 2017. Its not all cellphones: Vietnams main exports also include electronics, shoes and apparel.

CHALLENGES: Having just barely reached middle-income status, Vietnam is struggling to raise productivity  the key to ensuring living standards will continue to improve. Economists say the countrys productivity is only about a third of Chinas and much lower than in affluent countries. Heavy reliance on export-led growth leaves the country vulnerable to global downturns. Vietnamese leaders also have emulated China in keeping a tight grip on the media, political dissent and other freedoms. Rural poverty, pollution and corruption are serious concerns, and like its huge neighbour to the north, Vietnam is struggling to revamp state-dominated industries that are a legacy of the earlier era of central planning.

THE OUTLOOK: After years of absorbing large flows of foreign investment Vietnam could see that flow taper off along with global cutbacks. To sustain growth and remain competitive, the country needs to give a freer rein to private businesses, the World Bank and other experts say, and encourage adoption of more advanced technologies.
BEIJING - Asian stock markets were little-changed Thursday following a listless day on Wall Street ahead of U.S.-Chinese negotiations aimed at ending a tariff battle.

Tokyos Nikkei 225 index lost 0.1 per cent to 21,402.69 after a gauge of manufacturing activity fell to a three-year low, suggesting Japanese economic growth is slowing. The Shanghai Composite Index was unchanged at 2,762.67.

Sydneys S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4 per cent to 6,120.50 while Hong Kongs Hang Seng gained 9 points to 28,526.95. Seouls Kospi was unchanged at 2,230.15. Benchmarks in New Zealand and Taiwan advanced while Southeast Asian markets mostly declined.

Investors looked ahead to talks in Washington on a fight over Beijings technology ambitions ahead of a March 2 deadline for a possible U.S. tariff hike. Neither government has released details but companies saw the decision to hold more talks as a sign of progress after a U.S. envoy said a meeting in Beijing last week made headway.

President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday the talks were going very well. Trump has suggested he might postpone the tariff hike on $200 billion of goods but made no firm commitment.

The U.S. Federal Reserve reassured investors by releasing minutes of its latest meeting saying, as expected, it will be patient with interest rate hikes amid economic uncertainty.

Lack of details in the Feds report leaves the region to await further US-China developments, said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report. After markets rose on Trumps positive comments, she said, one should not be surprised to see more gains.

The benchmark Standard & Poors 500 index gained 0.2 per cent to 2,784.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent to 25,954.44. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.03 per cent to 7,489.07.

Germanys DAX, the FTSE 100 in London and Frances CAC 40 all gained 0.3 per cent.

JAPANESE MANUFACTURING: The preliminary reading on a monthly purchasing managers index fell to 48.5 on a 100-point scale from Januarys 50.3. It was the second unusually large monthly decline and the PMIs lowest level since October 2016. Such large falls are rare and suggest that the economy is losing momentum rapidly, said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics in a report.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 8 cents to $57.24 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 71 cents on Wednesday to $57.16. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 2 cents to $67.10 per barrel in London. It gained 63 cents the previous session to $67.08.

CURRENCIES: The dollar edged down to 110.82 yen from Wednesdays 110.85 yen. The euro gained to $1.1341 from $1.1336.
CARACAS, Venezuela - As President Nicolas Maduro deploys missiles and infantrymen to Venezuelas borders bracing for what he claims is U.S. coup plot disguised as humanitarian aid, his opponents are rallying their own troops. Nurses, doctors, engineers and homemakers have volunteered by the thousands to distribute the food and medicine in the face of a government ban.

The citizen brigade is one of the most ambitious undertakings Venezuelas opposition has attempted. The plan  to bring tons of food and medicine into the country for sick and malnourished Venezuelans  is in open defiance of Maduro, who considers it a foreign military intervention.

The volunteers anticipate running into roadblocks by soldiers who remain loyal to Maduro. They know that their chances of breaking through are slim, but theyre undaunted.

Theres a lot of concern about how its going to come into the country, said Dr. Danny Golindano, speaking to a group of volunteers through a crackly microphone at a Caracas plaza. As health providers, its our duty.

The opposition plans to mobilize on Saturday. Leaders say they will make a first attempt to bring the emergency food and medicine across the border from Colombia, Brazil and the Caribbean island of Curacao, all of which have been blocked by the government. Air and sea travel were halted from Curacao this week and the border with Brazil was ordered closed indefinitely on Thursday. Earlier this month, Venezuelan troops barricaded the main bridge linking the country to the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where U.S. aid is stored.

The opposition has not detailed how they will overcome those government obstacles.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has declared himself Venezuelas interim president to overthrow Maduro, has called on caravans of volunteers to help bring in and deliver the supplies to the neediest Venezuelans. Hes repeatedly called on soldiers to stand down and reject Maduros orders blocking them, but large-scale defections havent appeared.

Young and old, the army of aid volunteers answering Guaidos call includes hospital orderlies, lawyers, psychologists, university students and retirees. So far, more than 800,000 volunteers have signed up to help through a designated website, organizers say.

Galindano gathered dozens of volunteers one day this week at a tree-covered Caracas plaza to give them instructions on the humanitarian aid. Holding a microphone, he explained the large-scale crisis crippling medical care, a reality many have endured with their own families.

Fired from a public hospital in Caracas for reporting the deaths of eight cancer patients under unsanitary conditions, Galindano has turned to charity work to prevent more Venezuelans from dying due to lack of medicine and supplies. He now serves as a national co-ordinator for the Venezuelan non-profit Doctors for Health.

Addressing the crowd of volunteers, Galindano explained that once the humanitarian aid enters Venezuela, non-profit groups and churches will take the lead in distributing it. Four large hospitals will function as collection centres and distribute it to regional health centres, he said.

Alesia Santacroce, a lawyer and university professor for the past 30 years, listened closely, saying she felt compelled to volunteer, although its unclear what role she will play. She and her mother already run a soup kitchen that provides free meals to 500 poor people every weekend.

Shes among millions of Venezuelans filled with a renewed great hope, she said, since the 35-year-old Guaido catapulted onto the national stage last month and declared himself Venezuelas rightful president  a move aimed at ending what he called Maduros tyranny, and backed by the United States and dozens of other countries.

Ill go wherever I have to go to help humanitarian aid get in, she said. Ill even go to the border.

Venezuela has been under 20 years of socialist rule, which critics blame for leading the once-wealthy oil nation to the brink of collapse. Hyperinflation and widespread shortages of food and medicine has driven more than 2 million to flee, while those staying behind struggle to afford scarce food and medicine.

Maduro refuses to step down after being re-elected last year in a vote widely criticized as fraudulent because some popular opposition candidates were barred from running. He says the United States is leading an economic war against Venezuela, and the humanitarian aid is part of a coup plot to overthrow him and rob the country of its oil wealth.

The aid standoff has prompted billionaire British mogul Richard Branson to organize a concert on Friday in Cucuta aimed at raising millions of dollars to help struggling Venezuelans and open the border. Maduros government responded by saying it will hold its own concert on the opposite side of the border.

Opposition leader Roberto Patino, who is organizing the volunteers, said Saturdays initial foray to bring in the aid represents a starting point. If Maduros military blocks them, they will continue to press to open the humanitarian channel until they succeed, he said, adding that the citizen brigades will not try to force the aid into the country.

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Its about appealing to the conscience of the armed forces and officials who are on the border, Patino said. We are doing everything possible to minimize the possibilities of repression.

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Follow Fabiola Sanchez on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/fisanchezn
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The U.S. State Department said several men arrested in Haiti with a cache of weaponry at a time of violent demonstrations have been returned to the United States before a scheduled court hearing in the Caribbean nation.

The department said in an emailed statement that the return was co-ordinated with Haitian authorities, but a spokesman for Haitis Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant told Radio Vision 2000 on Thursday that he was not aware of the mens departure and demanded an immediate explanation from the justice minister.

Five U.S. citizens were among eight men arrested on Sunday while carrying automatic weapons and other arms and driving in cars without license plates. Police spokesman Michel-Ange Louis-Jeune has said the men told police they were on a mission, but they refused to say anything else except that they would call their unidentified bosses.

Prosecutors had said the men would appear in court on Wednesday. Instead, they were taken to the airport. One of the men is a Haitian citizen and apparently was not returned.

Carel Pedre, a Haitian media personality, said in a video posted on Facebook that he was on a commercial flight to Miami with the men and posted a video of them on social media. He said that when the half-empty plane landed, the crew announced that officials would be boarding it before anyone could disembark. He then said U.S. officials led them away.

The Miami U.S. attorneys office referred all questions about the mens status to the State Department, which did not issue further comment. There was no public record Thursday morning of any charges against them in Miami federal court.

Jean Clarens Renois, a former presidential candidate, said in a phone interview that the situation has eroded confidence in Haitis government.

The seven guys easily left the country, he said. Its kind of incomprehensible for a nation. There is no authority at all.

The arrests came after more than a week of violent demonstrations in which Haitians demanded the resignation of President Jovenel Moise amid rising inflation and allegations of corruption. Ceant has promised to reduce certain government budgets by 30 per cent, lower the cost of goods and investigate allegations of misspending tied to a Venezuelan program that provided Haiti with subsidized oil.

Haitians, however, remained wary of those promises, and Renois said people have lost trust in the government especially given the outcome of the case involving the eight men.

I used to read that Haiti is a failed country, he said. Now we can say that.

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Danica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Associated Press writer Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Extortion, physical assaults, verbal abuse, denial of state services, forceful evictions, harassment, being disowned by family members.

These and many other challenges may begin to fade away for the Kenyan gay community if a court rules Friday in their favour to abolish laws that criminalize homosexual behaviour.

The court case stems from a petition by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya. The groups argue that sections of the code are in breach of the constitution and deny basic rights by criminalizing consensual same-sex relations between adults.

Existence of these laws within the Penal Code validate stigma, discrimination and violence toward individuals who do not conform to societys expectations on gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation, they argue.

Their removal means equality, inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, said Mercy Njueh of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

It means having the law affirming our existence and validating that we, like all Kenyans, are protected under the law, she said.

In Kenya, people convicted of gay sex face up to 14 years in prison. Many countries across Africa have laws against homosexuality, and severe harassment and physical threats are common.

Kenyan laws, like in many other African countries that outlaw same sex relations, are vestiges of British colonial rule.

There is resistance to gay rights right at the top.

Gay rights are not of any major importance in Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta told CNN in an interview last year. He told CNN that the laws are supported by 99 per cent of the Kenyan people.

Dominant attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community tend to be largely negative, said activist David Kuria.

Within families there is a deep sense of shame when they learn one of their own is a gender or sexual minority. While the broader community views the LGBTI persons as wrong, sinful and generally use similarly stigmatizing adjectives, he said.

Negative perceptions are largely informed by ignorance about the causes of gender and sexual diversity, Kuria said.

For many it is an acquired habit, which can therefore be dropped, or it is a sickness that needs to be cured. Either way, it is something that is wrong and needs to be corrected, he said.

Kenyan courts which many assumed to take a conservative view on issues of sexuality have so far ruled largely in favour of the petitions over LGTBQ rights.

Kenyan judges in April 2015 ordered a government agency to register a human rights group representing the countrys gay people. The Kenyan constitution recognizes and protects the rights of minorities, the three judges of the High Court said in their ruling. The Non-Governmental Organization Co-ordination Board had refused to register the rights group on religious and moral grounds.

In March, a Kenyan appeals court ruled unlawful the use of forced anal exams to test whether two men had gay sex.

In September, the court lifted a ban on Kenyas first film to premiere in the Cannes Film festival to allow limited showings, after censors banned the film over its gay content.

A positive ruling on Friday would help the community move to the next item on their agenda which is reconciliation with their own families, said Kuria.

The removal of the criminal tag will certainly help family reconciliations, he said.

Many people whose are sexual and gender minorities, whose sexual orientation or transgender status is known, tend to have difficulties relating well within their families. Many are out rightly rejected or treated with stigma.

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In case of a negative ruling, the fact that the case was heard gave gays important visibility, said Njueh.

It dismantled the myth that homosexuality is a western agenda since the petitioners are Kenyans and the support we have from the sexual and gender minorities, who have religiously been attending court hearings affirms our existence, she said.

It also opens avenues for conversation around sexual and gender minorities.
CHICAGOChicago police say Empire actor Jussie Smollett has turned himself in to face a charge of making a false police report when he said he was attacked in downtown Chicago by two men who hurled racist and anti-gay slurs and looped a rope around his neck.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tells The Associated Press that Smollett turned himself in early Thursday at central booking. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson plans to hold a morning news conference and Smollett is expected to appear in court later in the day.

The 36-year-old actor was charged Wednesday.

The charge could bring up to three years in prison. It could also force the actor, who's black and gay, to pay for the cost of the investigation into his report of a Jan. 29 beating.Earlier in the day, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said attorneys for Smollett, 36, met with prosecutors and detectives, but it was unclear if the actor was present. The lawyers, Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, could not be reached for comment. They have been joined by Los Angeles-based lawyer Mark Geragos, who has represented celebrities including pop star Michael Jackson, R&B singer Chris Brown and actress Winona Ryder.

On Tuesday, two brothers who had been under arrest in the case appeared at the criminal courthouse, also to talk to prosecutors and detectives, authorities said. They and their attorney, Gloria Schmidt, were seen near the grand jury rooms Tuesday afternoon, but police said they did not appear before a grand jury.

Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, has said he was walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment on East North Water Street around 2 a.m. Jan. 29 when two men walked up, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, declared This is MAGA country, hit him and wrapped a noose around his neck.

Police initially said they were investigating the reported attack as a hate crime and took the two brothers, 25 and 27, into custody last week after they were captured by surveillance cameras in the area around the time of the alleged attack. Guglielmi called them potential suspects last Friday morning, but they were released 12 hours later.

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Key moments since Jussie Smollett reported Chicago attack

Guglielmi said the brothers were no longer suspected and that, after talking with them, detectives were now investigating whether Smollett paid the brothers to stage the attack. Information from the brothers also allowed investigators to discover where the rope used for the noose had been purchased, according to a law enforcement source.

The shift in the investigations focus came amid growing skepticism on social media  doubts that Smollett addressed in a national TV interview and in a strongly worded statement after the brothers were released.

Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with, read the statement from his attorneys. He has been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth.

The statement said one of the brothers was Smolletts personal trainer, the first time the actor had acknowledged knowing either of them. The two also reportedly worked with Smollett on Empire.

As many as a dozen detectives were assigned to the case in the weeks following Smolletts report, and nearly every camera in the Streeterville neighbourhood was checked for video that might show the attack. Some police sources privately expressed doubts after finding little, if any corroborating evidence or video of a crime.

Police did release an image of two men seen in the area of Smolletts building around the same time, but it was blurry and dark. Smollett said his music manager was on the phone with him at the same and would support his story, but the actor refused to turn over his full phone records. Instead, he handed police redacted records.

The report drew both outrage and support on social media from fellow celebrities, politicians and presidential hopefuls. U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in, saying, It doesnt get worse, as far as Im concerned.

As doubts grew, Smollett proclaimed his innocence through representatives and during a national television interview on Good Morning America.

A major break in the case came Feb. 13 when police arrested the two brothers after they arrived at OHare International Airport from Nigeria. Police also raided the mens North Side townhome, seizing items as the brothers were questioned by detectives.

Earlier Wednesday, Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx announced she had recused herself from the case last week out of an abundance of caution because she spoke to one of Smolletts relatives after the alleged attack and acted as a go-between with police, one of Foxxs aides told the Chicago Tribune.

States Attorney Foxx had conversations with a family member of Jussie Smollett about the incident and their concerns, and facilitated a connection to the Chicago Police Department who were investigating the incident, said Robert Foley, a senior adviser to Foxx. Based on those prior conversations and out of an abundance of caution, last week States Attorney Foxx decided to remove herself from the decision-making, he said.

Foley would not comment further. First Assistant States Attorney Joe Magats is now overseeing the case.

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A week before the alleged attack, Smollett told police he received a threatening letter at work. Witnesses told police a postal worker dropped off the letter at the Chicago studio where Empire is filmed. It was postmarked in southwest suburban Bedford Park on Jan. 18 and bore two American flag stamps. The letters MAGA were written in the upper-left corner of the envelope.

Federal authorities are looking into the origin of the letter. The status of their investigation was not known Wednesday.

With files from AP


Ontarios attorney general says her office is not currently considering a provincial public inquiry into how Toronto police handled the case of now-convicted serial killer Bruce McArthur, who killed eight men with ties to the citys Gay Village over a seven-year span.

At this time, we are not looking at a public inquiry on the matter, Caroline Mulroney told reporters at Queens Park Thursday.

Mulroney said she instead hopes the scope of an ongoing review into Toronto police missing persons cases  now being conducted by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Gloria Epstein  will be as broad as possible.

The comments were made shortly before Toronto police board chair Andy Pringle made a statement at the civilian boards monthly meeting announcing it had formally asked the province whether an inquiry would be launched.

Pringle did not appear to be aware of Mulroneys comments, made prior to the start of the meeting.

Pringle said that if the province had no plans to call an inquiry, the board would consider a request by Epstein to broaden the scope of her ongoing review into Toronto police missing persons cases and allow her to examine how Toronto police investigated McArthur himself.

Read more:

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McArthur told police man wanted it rough after assault reported, newly unsealed document reveals

A timeline of the Toronto police investigation into Bruce McArthur and the Gay Village serial killings

Mayor John Tory told reporters before the board meeting its important to know the intentions of the province, and the answer will help guide the board in responding to Epsteins request to expand the terms of her probe, which was limited to a review of missing persons cases because the McArthur case was still before the courts.

Due to considerations for McArthurs fair trial rights, Epstein had not been able to scrutinize how Toronto police had investigated McArthur himself, but his guilty plea means she could now take a closer look.

There are many unanswered questions that have to be dealt with, said Tory, who sits on the police services board. Either way, he said, they will be.

Community members have raised many questions about missing persons investigations generally, as well as the circumstances surrounding Mr. McArthurs offences, some of which include the role of the police when conducting investigations, Pringle said, reading from a statement.

The Board believes that it is important that any review be wide-ranging, transparent, open and comprehensive  and, now that the criminal proceedings are at an end, that the specific circumstances surrounding Mr. McArthurs offences be examined, too, he continued.

In the wake of McArthurs arrest, calls grew louder for a public inquiry into police handling of the disappearances of the killers victims, who began going missing in 2010. In a statement to the Star last month, the brother of one of McArthurs victims, Selim Esen, said a public inquiry was necessary to get into the bottom of this neglect over many years.

Lives could have been saved, including Selims, if there were proper investigation in time and place, said Ferhat Cinar.

Haran Vijayanathan, the executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), said Thursday that his organization supports the ongoing Epstein review, and that once thats completed a public inquiry could still be called if there are remaining questions and concerns.

That is the right next step for accountability. Upon completion of Justice Epsteins review, consideration should be given to whether further steps are necessary, including a public inquiry, he said in a statement.

For Susan Gapka, who advocates for transgender and homeless rights, not having a public inquiry into this issue is disappointing. Police internal reviews are a good start, but there needs to be public oversight for people to feel satisfied, she said.

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There are so many unanswered questions, she said, adding shes prepared to ask the federal government to address the issue of the concurrent life sentence that McArthur received.

Its likely hell die in prison, but hes eligible for parole after 25 years and some people thought that was unfair or not enough justice, she said.

Scrummed by reporters after the police board meeting, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders  who was unaware Mulroney had said no to an inquiry  said he gladly welcomed a probe, whatever form it takes.

I think the discussion now is what platform, or what form its going to be in, he said. We welcome whatever format, whatever form (of review) it is, to speak about the investigation and what we did with the information we had at the time.

Asked if lives could have been saved during the investigation, Saunders bluntly said, Im sorry, youre not going to live in a world of ifs. 

The power of hindsight is an incredible tool, he said. We have to deal with what we have, when we have it.

McArthur pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 to murdering eight men between 2010 and 2017: Andrew Kinsman, 49; Selim Esen, 44; Majeed Kayhan, 58; Soroush Mahmudi, 50; Dean Lisowick, 47; Skandaraj (Skanda) Navaratnam, 40; Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, and Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam, 37.

By pleading guilty, McArthur spared victims and the public a trial that would have included horrific evidence, Superior Court Justice John McMahon said at the serial killers sentencing.

McArthur was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

For years, many in Torontos LGBTQ community believed a serial killer was at work in the citys Gay Village.

McArthur was interviewed twice by police before his eventual arrest  in 2013, as a witness in the police investigation into the disappearances of his first three victims, and in 2016, after a man reported the killer attempted to strangle him during a sexual encounter.

Pringle said the board expects a response from the province soon and will consider Justice Epsteins request at the first available opportunity.

The Toronto police board wants to look at how to improve its policies and procedures, training and culture, and seek to restore and fortify confidence in our police service, and to continue to build bridges with residents of all of our communities, Pringle said.

With files from Kris Rushowy
Stanislav Nycz thought the lease extension he signed would allow him to remain in his Parkdale apartment.

Instead it could be the reason he has to vacate the home hes lived in nearly 20 years.

Nycz could soon be forced to vacate his apartment at 1340 King St. W., where he has lived since 2000 after he signed a document he took to be a standard rental extension. In fact, the notice stipulated the end of his tenancy.

For now I dont know where I will go, said Nycz, speaking through a Polish interpreter. The rent prices are high. The biggest question is if I can earn enough money (to afford another place).

How can they just throw me out like that?

Nycz says his problems began after building ownership changed hands around June last year, and he asked his new landlord, Evan Johnsen, if he could move to a lower floor in the building in an effort to minimize the strain to his legs caused by decades of manual labour.

Nycz says Johnsen OKd the move, and asked him to sign a new lease boosting the rent to $725 a month. Nycz agreed to sign an extension at the beginning of July despite, he admits, not fully understanding the language of the documents due to his poor English.

In fact, the extension only guaranteed Nycz could remain in his apartment until the end of December.

He was a good talker, I signed without thinking anything was suspicious, said Nycz. Why would he agree to the change if he knew that five months later he was going to evict me?

A former longtime tenant in the building, Grazyna Filipkowska, says she was also misled by Johnsen.

According to Filipkowska, Johnsen had already terminated her employment as building manager, citing her limited English as the main reason. A month later in November, she said the landlord approached her with a form to terminate her tenancy.

Convinced by Johnsen, who had worked out similar arrangements with other long time Polish-speaking tenants of the building, that he would help her find another place, Filipkowska says she reluctantly signed the form despite not fully understanding the implications.

(Johnsen) said, Im going to help you get a government (subsidized) apartment, Filipkowska recalled, speaking through an interpreter. But the moment I moved out, all (promises for help) stopped.

Filipkowska is now staying with Nycz in his apartment until she can find a place she can afford.

Johnsen did not respond to multiple requests to comment on the tenants allegations. Monika Wilk, a real estate lawyer who the tenants say contacted them on behalf of Johnsen, also did not respond to the Neighbourhood Voices request for comment.

Nycz and Filipkowskas predicament is one that is on the increase in Parkdale, said Cole Webber, community legal worker in the housing rights division of Parkdale Community Legal Services.

What were seeing is an influx of investors who are looking to capitalize off the rental market. They buy off buildings (like 1340 King) and attempt to push out long-term working class tenants so they can raise rents without limits on the vacant units.

According to Webber, Johnsen has purchased multiple properties in Parkdale, which have longtime tenants who pay below-market rate rent.

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After speaking with Parkdale Legal, Nycz has rebuffed repeated attempts by Johnsen and his representatives to meet to discuss the matter. He has not received an eviction notice despite his lease having already expired.

David Bell, who also lives in the building, and is a member of a tenant-action committee for 1340 King, says hes heard from some residents who have moved into the vacated units that they have only signed short-term leases for considerably higher rents.

Bell has lived in this location for more than six years, and is worried he may soon be approached by Johnsen to leave.
General Motors is seeking to halt illegal strike activities following the companys decision to shutter its Oshawa plant and slash 2,600 unionized jobs  claiming that ensuing protests have significantly compromised GMs ability to sell products, damaged the companys reputation and are an unacceptable safety risk to employees and the public.

In an application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board obtained by the Star, GM says Unifor, the union representing Oshawa workers, orchestrated walkouts, sit-ins and rolling blockades after the company announced in November that it would shutter its plant at the end of 2019 after a century of operations.

This activity is part of an ongoing tactical plan to engage in illegal activity as a means of protest against actions by GM Canada that Unifor opposes, says the application, expected to be heard Thursday.

The company is seeking an order to cease the protests and compensation for unspecified costs incurred due to unlawful acts.

Under Ontario law, workers cant strike while a collective bargaining agreement between a company and a union is in force. In its response to GMs application, Unifor says the company has already violated express language in that agreement that promised it would not close or sell any plant until September 2020, when their contract was set to expire.

The union filed a separate grievance on the plant closure in late 2018 that has yet to be ruled on.

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Unifors response to GMs application says a recent economic impact study shows the closure would result in 24,000 jobs lost across the country by 2025, when taking into account the impact on suppliers who make parts for the auto giant.

The response adds that Unifor organized solidarity events and rallies in an attempt to communicate the importance of the auto industry to the Canadian economy, both to government and the public at large.

GMs allegations pertain to isolated incidents which occurred several weeks ago and were quickly resolved, according to the union.

The demonstrations described by the company include GM workers walking out of the plant immediately following the closure announcement on Nov. 26, as well as attending a Unifor meeting in response to the news that workers would be out of a job.

The companys application quotes the union plant chair telling colleagues it was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do to walk out on the assembly line and tell men and women to leave their job and go home. The application said this was evidence he authorized, called, counselled and procured an illegal strike.

The application also says that after GM told Unifor on Jan. 8 it would not reconsider its decision to close the plant, the company was forced to abandon production on its second shift due to workers staging a sit-down protest.

GM also cited a rolling blockade of the plant on Jan. 17, in which vehicles sporting Unifor flags surrounded the Oshawa plant and clogged the roadway.

Unifor later prevented GM employees from accessing GMs Canadian headquarters by setting up check points manned by security guards who were retained by Unifor and dressed in fatigues and wore bulletproof vests, according to GMs application.

David Doorey, a labour and employment law professor at York University, said Ontario labour laws create a very narrow legal right to strike, although illegal strike applications arent particularly common because illegal strike activities rarely happen and usually end quickly  negating the need for a labour board battle.

Employers tend to file these applications when tensions are ongoing and they fear more strikes ahead, Doorey said.

If the strike ended quickly, the labour board can decide that theres no point in holding a hearing at all and simply dismiss the application. Unifor appears to be asking for the labour board to do just that in this case.

Since the definition of a strike is so broad in Ontario, virtually every concerted work refusal during a collective agreement is illegal, so the law is very much on the side of employers, he added.

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Having said that, the usual remedy ordered by the labour board amounts to little more than a declaration of an illegal strike and an order to not do it again.

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In its response to GMs application, Unifor said its demonstrations outside the plant may have delayed access to one or more gates at the plant, but other gates remained unimpeded and production continued. It said the blockade outside GM headquarters did not impact plant production and therefore cannot be construed to be an illegal strike.

Workers at two GM suppliers represented by Unifor have also walked off the job in protest of the Oshawa plant closure, according to GM. One of those suppliers, Inteva, filed a separate illegal strike application in January.

In a statement to the Star, Unifor president Jerry Dias said GM was failing to keep its promise to workers to keep this plant open until our collective agreement expires in September of 2020 and we will continue to hold GM accountable until they do the right thing and revise plans for the Oshawa Assembly Plant.

Their betrayal is not only to their own employees but to all Canadians who supported them when they were facing bankruptcy. In 2009, the Canadian government provided almost $14 billion in aid to the countrys struggling auto sector including GM, of which a total of $3.5 billion was never recouped.

GMs application does not specify how much it is seeking in compensation from Unifor and did not respond to specific questions from the Star about remedies.

This court application was in response to some previous Unifor actions. As the matter is before the courts, we have no further comment at this time, said GM director of communications Jennifer Wright.

GMs Oshawa plant manufactures approximately 680 cars and trucks with an estimated value of $35 million a day, according to the companys submissions.

Unifor has weighed the legal risks of its actions and has decided on a course of action it believes is the best way forward to protect its members. Very few of the big labour battles in Canada, or anywhere for that matter, have been won or lost in litigation, Doorey said.

This battle involving the GM closure will be decided on the streets and in the hearts and minds of the public and automobile consumers.

Read more about:
On Wednesday, a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice authorized the release of further information to obtain (ITO) documents used in the Toronto police investigation of serial killer Bruce McArthur.

The new ITO, a 220-page document dated Jan. 26, 2018, is an affidavit filed by a Toronto police detective in order to obtain a search warrant for 53 Mallory Cres., the address where partial remains of all eight of McArthurs victims were eventually located, and an assistance order to enlist the help of two forensic anthropologists from Ontario Forensic Pathology Services.

The documents contain new, previously unreported details about how police went about their investigation and sheds new light on McArthurs previous interactions with investigators.

Here are five key details from Wednesdays release:

McArthurs 2016 arrest

After a man  his name is redacted  told police McArthur had tried to strangle him during a sexual encounter on June 20, 2016, the serial killer told investigators in an interview he thought the man wanted it rough. The two men had met in a parking lot near Bathurst St. and Finch Ave. W. and began making out in McArthurs van when, according to the man, all of a sudden McArthur started freaking out. McArthur grabbed the mans throat, but the victim was able to push him off, escape the van and call police, the ITO says.

McArthur soon turned himself in to police and was arrested and interviewed. The investigating officer, Det. Paul Gauthier, indicated McArthur appeared genuine and credible in his recall of the incident, and determined there were no grounds to lay charges, the ITO says.

Gauthier is facing professional misconduct charges over the incident.

Read more:

McArthur told police man wanted it rough after assault reported, newly unsealed document reveals

A timeline of the Toronto police investigation into Bruce McArthur and the Gay Village serial killings

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An officer remembered interviewing McArthur in 2013

A member of the investigation team recognized McArthur from Project Houston, the Toronto police investigation launched in late 2012 to probe the disappearances of three of the serial killers victims: Skanda Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan.

The ITO notes that Det. Const. Joshua McKenzie recalled interviewing McArthur during Project Houston. McKenzie came to that realization in Sept. 2017, shortly after investigators connected McArthurs van to the disappearance of victim Andrew Kinsman.

DC McKenzie located a copy of the interview summary and confirmed it was the same Bruce McArthur, the ITO documents say.

McArthur twice bought new vehicles after key dates

Police conducted that Project Houston interview with McArthur on Nov. 11, 2013. Eighteen days after that interview, McArthur purchased and registered a 2001 silver Dodge Caravan, the ITO notes. He did not have a vehicle registered to him during the time period the men from Project Houston disappeared, between Sept. 2010 and Oct. 2012, the document says.

Years later, the ITO goes on to say, McArthur also purchased a new vehicle 16 days after (an Aug. 1, 2017) town hall meeting that brought a great deal of media attention to the disappearances of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen and the newly formed Project Prism.

Police tracked McArthurs movement

Investigators obtained a log showing the use of key fobs for McArthurs apartment building in hopes of tracking his movement on June 26, 2017, the day Andrew Kinsman went missing. McArthurs fob activity from that day indicates that it was used eight times to both exit and enter the parking garage entrance of McArthurs building over the course of about 12 hours.

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The last two uses of the fob were at 11:32 p.m. when it was used to enter the garage, and then 11:40 p.m. when it was used to access the elevators from the garage. The ITO notes that there is potential that entries and exits were missed.

The scale of the investigation

The ITO shows that at least 80 police officers from across various departments, including homicide, dog services, intelligence services, and the sex crime unit, were involved in the investigation.
Mayor John Tory has voiced support for a motion to stop purchasing Mexican-made General Motors vehicles for the City of Torontos fleet, should the company proceed with a plan to close its Oshawa plant and cut 2,600 unionized jobs.

Councillor Mike Laytons motion, expected to be discussed next week, calls on the city to evaluate and change its purchasing practices of GM vehicles manufactured in Mexico unless General Motors maintains production in Oshawa and at its other Canadian facilities.

At a time of record profits, General Motors plans to close its plant while the company continues to expand production in Mexico, the motion says.

The closure of the Oshawa Assembly Plant would result in the loss of thousands of Canadian jobs, taking livelihoods away from the very people who bailed General Motors out when it was facing bankruptcy.

In a statement to the Star Thursday, Tory said he wanted to hear from city staff about the feasibility of the plan.

But right now, I plan to support the motion, he said.

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I have been outspoken about the devastating impact that the closure of GM Oshawa will have on families in our region. As I said last year, Toronto will not be immune to the impact of this impending closure, he added.

I have been clear that I am committed to doing everything we can to protect jobs and bring new jobs to Toronto, Oshawa, and the surrounding region to ensure that generations to come can continue to build their lives here.

Of the 5,500 vehicles and parts in the citys fleet, 372 are currently produced by GM, according to the motion, which council is scheduled to considered on Feb. 26.

The motion is subject to referral to the citys government and licensing committee, however, and requires a two-third vote to waive that referral.

Mexican-made GM cars can be distinguished from Canadian-manufactured ones because they have a vehicle identification number that starts with three.

Layton said he did not know how many Mexican-made GM vehicles were currently in the fleet, but said the motion was a pretty strong signal to a corporation when the City of Toronto says, we stand in solidarity with workers on this matter.

Mexican GM workers are paid significantly less than their Canadian counterparts, he added.

That should be factored into our procurement practices to ensure that were not only purchasing from companies with good environmental performance but also companies that are good social employers, he said.

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Unifor, the union that represents GM workers, has called the planned Oshawa closure a betrayal not only to their own employees but to all Canadians who supported them when they were facing bankruptcy.

In 2009, the Canadian government provided almost $14 billion in aid to the countrys struggling auto sector, including GM, of which a total of $3.5 billion was never recouped.

The wind down is also the subject of an active grievance filed by Unifor, which argues that GM violated express language in its collective agreement that promised no closures until September 2020, when their contract was set to expire.

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After a man reported to Toronto police in 2016 that Bruce McArthur tried to strangle him, the now-convicted serial killer told police he thought the man wanted it rough, according to a newly unsealed court document.

McArthur, who had by then killed six men, was arrested for assault but considered genuine and credible by the investigating officer, and it was determined there were no grounds to lay charges. McArthur was released unconditionally, the court document states.

The following year, McArthur killed two more men.

New details about the 2016 interview with police are contained in a police document released to the Star and other media Wednesday night  alongside more details about how police investigators homed in on McArthur as a suspect in the disappearances of men from the Torontos Gay Village.

The police document is an affidavit sworn on Jan. 26, 2018  just over a week after McArthurs arrest  to obtain a judges authorization to search 53 Mallory Cres., the home where McArthur worked as a landscaper and where he buried the dismembered body parts of his victims inside large planters or in the ravine behind the home.

The document, providing a detailed outline of the Project Prism investigation that led to McArthurs arrest, was released by Ontario Court Justice Cathy Mocha, following a court application by the Star and other media. The document contains police theories and summaries of evidence, some of which was submitted in court earlier this month.

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McArthur, 67, pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in deaths spanning 2010 to 2017. He was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The police affidavit reveals new information about a June 20, 2016 incident when McArthur was arrested but released with no charges following allegations he choked a man during a consensual sexual encounter.

According to the document, McArthur and the man, who is not identified, had been in a casual, on-and-off relationship for several years. The man told police that McArthur had approached him while he was in his buildings parking lot.

Its been a few weeks since weve seen each other, lets go for dinner, McArthur said, according to a summary of the mans statement contained in the police document.

OK, give me a half an hour so I can shower and feed my cats, the man told police he replied.

He then met McArthur in a Tim Hortons parking lot at Bathurst St. and Finch Ave. W. and were going to go in to eat, the document states. They were in McArthurs vehicle, making out, when all of a sudden McArthur started freaking out, the police document says, summarizing the mans statement.

Without saying anything, McArthur grabbed the man by the throat and started squeezing, having a good grip on his Adams apple, the document states.

The man told police he was able to break McArthurs grip and push him off, then grabbed McArthur by the throat before getting out of the van. McArthur sat there for a couple minutes while the man called police, then drove south on Bathurst, according to the document.

The man had no visible injuries, but told officers his throat was sore.

A few hours later, McArthur went to a Scarborough-area police station, where he was arrested for assault and taken to the local North York station, where he was interviewed on video, according to the affidavit.

He told officers that during the encounter, the man made a request to have a body part pinched harder, which made McArthur believe he wanted it rough, according to the document.

McArthur told police he then placed his hands around the mans neck, and the man did the same to him, causing a brief struggle. The man then got out and called 911, McArthur said.

The investigating officer, Det. (Paul) Gauthier, indicated that McArthur appeared genuine and credible in his recall of the incident. It was determined that there were no grounds to lay charges and McArthur was released unconditionally, the document states.

Gauthier is currently facing two counts of professional misconduct in connection with the 2016 incident, including that he allegedly failed to videotape the statement from the complainant  a verbatim written statement was taken  and did not photograph the victims injuries within 72 hours. Both are required by the Toronto police policy on domestic violence investigations.

In a letter written to colleagues and obtained by the Star, Gauthier denies the allegations, saying that a proper investigation was done. He is scheduled to appear before the Toronto police tribunal next week.

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The police affidavit also includes new details about when police realized McArthur had been interviewed as part of Project Houston, a special Toronto police investigation into disappearances of McArthurs first three victims: Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan. The probe ran from 2012 to 2014 but ended with no charges.

Det.-Const. Josh McKenzie had been an investigator on Project Houston, and was later assigned to work on Project Prism, the probe into the disappearances of McArthurs two final victims, Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman.

As court heard earlier this month, Kinsman had left a note on his calendar saying Bruce on the June 2017 day he went missing. That note combined with security camera footage from Kinsmans apartment building helped identify McArthur as a potential person of interest in Kinsmans disappearance.

In September 2017, when lead investigator Det. David Dickinson advised McKenzie that McArthur was a possible person of interest, McKenzie recalled interviewing McArthur in November 2013.

At that time, McArthur had been interviewed as a witness, as police had connected him to two of the missing men, Faizi and Navaratnam, via evidence on their computer and on a notepad that belonged to Faizi. During that interview, McArthur also stated that he knew Kayhan, establishing a link between McArthur and all three missing men.

In a recent interview, Insp. Hank Idsinga, head of the Toronto police homicide unit, said it wasnt uncommon during the project to interview someone connected to two or more of the missing men, as Torontos Gay Village is a tight-knit community.

According to the affidavit released Wednesday, upon recalling the interview with McArthur, McKenzie located a copy of the interview summary and confirmed it was the same McArthur, the ITO states.

The police document also shows that at least 80 police officers from across various departments, including homicide, dog services, intelligence services, and the sex crime unit, were involved in the investigation.

An agreed statement of facts read out in court earlier this month revealed details about how police had discovered photos in McArthurs digital files of deceased men. McArthur kept file folders for each of his eight victims, some containing images of his deceased victims with a fur coat and a cigar between their lips.

After discovering the photos, police were able to quickly identify two of the men  Kinsman and Esen, but they couldnt immediately identify others.

The affidavit provides a glimpse at how police were attempting to identify them. In one case, that of Soroush Mahmudi, police were able to identify him because he had been previously reported missing, on Aug. 22, 2015. An officer was able to compare a photo of Mahmudi provided by his family to a picture of one of the dead men downloaded from McArthur's computer and believed it to be the same person.

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Toronto police arrested a man Wednesday and charged him in two fatal shootings, eight months apart, in downtown Toronto.

One shooting took place on Canada Day in Kensington Market, the other took place earlier this month on Queen St. E.

Officers responded to a call on July 1, 2018 at about 10:30 p.m. for a shooting near Augusta Ave. and College St., just west of Spadina Ave.

When they arrived at the scene, police found four people suffering from gunshot wounds. Marcel Teme, 19, of Toronto, was the most seriously hurt and he died three days later.

On Feb. 8, just before 2 a.m., officers responded to a call for a shooting at 366 Queen St. E., near Parliament St.

Officer arrived to find Jaunoi Christian, 24, of Brampton, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrested Ibrahim Khiar, 33, of Toronto at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and charged him with second degree murder, three counts of discharging a firearm and endangering life for the Canada Day shootings. Police had identified him as a suspect back in July and released his photo as they sought the publics help in tracking him down.

Khiar has also been charged with first degree murder for the Feb. 8 shooting.

He also faces eight other gun-related charges for allegedly being in possession of a firearm at the time of the arrest.

Khiar is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday at Old City Hall, room 101, at 10 a.m.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-7400.

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WINNIPEGManitobas childrens advocate is urging the province to stop lengthy solitary confinement of youth in custody after a review that found one boy was isolated for 400 straight days in a cell no bigger than a parking stall.

Daphne Penrose and provincial ombudsman Marc Cormier jointly investigated the use of solitary confinement, segregation and pepper spray in Manitobas youth jails.

Penrose said in a 100-page report released Thursday that the province should immediately end solitary confinement longer than 24 hours for kids in custody.

She also recommended that Manitoba Justice restrict the use of punitive segregation overall and called on the province to build a facility to address trauma, mental illness and other mental impairments youth who are locked up in jail frequently live with.

Some youth in Manitoba have been confined in solitary, denied their basic needs and refused meaningful human contact for days and weeks on end, Penrose said of the youth, called Colton in the report, who spent more than a year in isolation.

Colton was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder and other cognitive issues, she said, and spent a total of more than 650 days in solitary.

Penrose called Coltons case a clear violation of human rights, of international standards.

What we discovered  was extremely concerning, unacceptable and must immediately change, Penrose said at a news conference.

The investigation began in 2015 after the advocates office fielded several complaints about segregation and pepper spray in Manitobas two youth jails: Agassiz Youth Centre and Manitoba Youth Centre.

The review found that between September 2015 and August 2016, youth corrections staff placed 167 males in solitary confinement 498 times. About 20 per cent of cases lasted for more than 15 days.

The advocate defines solitary confinement as being placed alone in a cell for more than 24 hours without meaningful human contact or mental stimulation.

Statistics Canada data shows Manitoba has the highest rate of youth incarceration in Canada with more than 80 per cent being Indigenous.

The advocate suggested use of solitary confinement and segregation is harmful to youth and hurts their chances at successful reintegration into society.

Ultimately, (it) may increase recidivism and compromise public safety.

Penrose did find that the use of pepper spray on jailed youth declined dramatically to two instances last year from 2010s high of 46.

Staff told investigators that may be due to alternative de-escalation methods such as talking to youths and having patience to wait out a situation.

In a separate report, Cormier made 32 recommendations on segregation, largely focused on reviewing compliance with correctional services laws and regulations.

Gathering data was difficult as records werent systematic or complete, he said. Corrections employees had a systemic misunderstanding about what documentation was required and that led to miscollection of information.

Without that data collection you are making poor decisions.

Cormier suggested that jails be made to have policies that make clear that segregation cant be used as discipline. He also called for changes to require youth be informed of their rights and access to services.

Manitoba Justice has accepted his recommendations and will put them into place by March 1, Cormiers report said.

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Penrose said she has not yet heard from the department.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said Penroses report is still being reviewed.

He said Manitobas segregation policies changed last year and are in line with other provinces.

I think it is important to know that youth in segregation are there because their behaviour poses a risk to themselves, to other inmates or to staff, he said.

Every effort is made to ensure that youth go back into general population at the earliest opportunity.

Cullen also said the use of pepper spray in youth facilities has declined over the past few years. He said it was only used twice last year.

Cullen said segregation and pepper spray are only used as a last resort but acknowledged that more changes are needed to ensure positive outcomes.

The health, safety and security of staff and inmates at our youth correctional facilities is one our top priorities.

NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said the reports are very troubling.

All children must be kept safe, even those serving sentences, Fontaine said in a release.

Today, the Pallister government refused to listen to the expertise of the Advocate and heed her call for better youth mental health supports. They also failed to take responsibility for the accurate and consistent reporting of these methods. Children deserve better.

Last week, the province announced a review into the connection between youth justice and child welfare.

One of the goals is to try to keep crossover kids out of jail. A study of admissions at the Manitoba Youth Centre in October showed about 60 per cent of youth facing charges were also involved with child-welfare services.

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OTTAWA For Kathy Katula, and many others in the yellow-vest movement, the high-visibility garment is the perfect symbol to reflect the complaints of a disgruntled working class  its cheap, loud and available at hardware stores and trucks stops.

It symbolizes unity to me, she said at Parliament Hill Tuesday for a yellow-vest rally. It symbolizes to people that were out and about were the working middle class.

But the ubiquity of the vest  and the ease with which people with diffuse views have flocked to it  might be part of its problem.

While many people wearing in have legitimate complaints about support for the oil sector, the informal nature of the protest has allowed extremist elements to operate under the visage of a yellow vest, experts say.

The United We Roll Convoy for Canada, the cross-country cavalcade that has covered about 3,500 kilometres over last five days to Ottawa was originally created as a yellow-vest event. While the yellow vest label was eventually dropped, lead organizer Glen Carritt said, in order to let more people participate, the convoy hasnt lost its colour.

Crossing four provinces to voice a list of complaints to the federal government on everything from carbon pricing, stalled pipeline projects, and environmental and energy legislation thought to hobble the oil and gas sector, to intergovernmental agreements geared to regulating international migration.

The movement has attracted controversy for its messaging, which has sometimes taken the form of rude, crude, and uninformed complaints that include sovereignty sapping conspiracies perpetrated by the United Nations, climate change denial, and calls for the imprisonment of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the charge of treason for failing to act in the countrys best interests.

While a hallmark of Canadian democracy includes freedom of expression, points out Candyce Kelshall, president of the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies, the economic message is starting to get lost.

The problem is where that movement is being co-opted by extremist elements, she said. Its not just one thing, its many things, and thats the nature of social movements: some people will latch onto one message.

At a small rally on Parliament Hill Wednesday, where about 80 people gathered to continue the protest that kicked off the day before, that hazard was clear when a man wearing a Northern Guard vest ventured onto the demonstration grounds to film the event and mingle with protestors.

According to Kelshall, Northern Guard is a men-only, anti-immigration and anti-Islam hate group bent on border patrol to prevent Haitians from entering Canada.

The fact that someone (with the Northern Guard) would feel comfortable enough to be in public, associated with the yellow-vest movement, and be able to be publicly identified  that says theres a certain degree of acceptance, Kelshall added. That they feel comfortable enough to do that, Kelshall added.

While members of the yellow-vest convoy, and others at the Parliament Hill protests explicitly denied holding racist views themselves, and have either been indifferent or oblivious to the presence of hate groups at their rallies, and the rally in Ottawa is no exception.

The Wolves of Odin  an Edmonton-based splinter group of the Soldiers of Odin who insist theyre only against radical Islam but have posted blatantly Islamophobic remarks on social media  have attended every yellow-vest protest in Edmonton, the home of Les Michaelson, a property manager and yellow vester who rode the convoy and appeared at both rallies in Ottawa.

The nice thing about Canada is this is a free country, Michaelson said Saturday from one of the convoy vehicles outside of Dryden, Ont., en route to the capital. So you're between a rock and a hard place, because if you have a racist organization appear at one of your rallies, youre not going to walk up to that guy and say, Hey, youre a racist, get out of here.

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Katula, another protester also clad in the high visibility vest for both rallies, had a similar rationale on the Hill Tuesday.

Youre going to get a few radicals and theres nothing you can do, she said on Wellington St., Tuesday, where a counterprotest against the yellow-vest convoy erupted, and noted that for all its noise that rally had been a peaceful one. I think after today, people are going to have a different opinion.

Amid a shouting match bolstered by bullhorns on both sides of exchange, yellow-vest protestors and counterprotestors made efforts to speak calmly and come to an understanding across the police lines that separated them.

You can't just pick in one aspect of the elements movement and say yes it's peaceful and it organized, Kelshall said. It is actually neither.

With files from Omar Mosleh

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EDMONTONThe United We Roll truck convoy is gearing up to head back from Ottawa to Western Canada after a five-day long trip and two days of protesting on Parliament Hill  a journey that has come with a hefty price tag for participants, along with some controversy surrounding the use of donated funds for the movement after infighting between organizers.

The convoys trip began on Feb. 14 in Red Deer, Alta., with around 80 trucks making the full trip to Ottawa to protest the federal government, and a few dozen others who joined the convoy along the way. Richard Dixon, a business professor at Athabasca University, estimates the cost of fuel alone for the journey to hover around $1,600 per truck.

Some truckers financed their journey completely out-of-pocket. Others were supported by their employers, who provided trucks for the trip and money for fuel. Rob Bennetts, who joined the convoy from Williams Lake, B.C., said the total cost of his journey, from fuel to accommodation, is over $4,000  which he said he financed himself with the help of donations from friends and family.

To alleviate the financial pressure on the convoy, a GoFundMe page was started Dec. 28 by lead organizer Glen Carritt to help cover costs, from fuel to accommodation and repairs. It has raised around $140,000 as of Wednesday evening, with the promise that participants will be reimbursed once their journey wraps up.

What Ive told everybody is to keep receipts, and  were going to make sure that by the time they leave, or by the time they get back to where theyre going to, that theyll get those funds reimbursed, Carritt said.

But the handling of some convoy donations has been met with criticism by earlier organizers of the movement, who are fighting to get a portion of the money donated back to them.

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CJ Clayton, a Kelowna, B.C. man., started an earlier GoFundMe page for the convoy under the name Yellow Vest Official Convoy to Ottawa, which raised around $90,000 and has since closed, following infighting between organizers. (Carritt) wanted to bury the Yellow Vest part of the movement. and just go with gas and oil, Clayton said. The disagreement on branding caused a rift within the group, he said.

Around $38,000 of money raised was given to Carritt to help cover costs for the convoy, Clayton said, but has since gone unaccounted for. The rest of the money, Clayton said, has been refunded to donors. A GoFundMe spokesperson confirmed the funds were withdrawn by the campaign organizers prior to closing the page.

Carritt said the money is now held in an escrow bank account, and a third party will be determining its whereabouts. He said he will recommend it be returned to Clayton. A lawyer representing Clayton has since sent a letter to Carritt demanding the $38,000 be returned by Feb. 28.

Clayton said he wanted the money to be used to help cover the costs of the convoy as intended, and he is demanding receipts from Carritt on how the donated money is being handled. If the money were to be returned after the convoy, he said, he intends to donate it to a charity.

A lot of these people dont have any money, they left with no money, Clayton said of convoy participants, adding they were relying on donations. Peggy-Lee Glenn, another organizer of the Yellow Vest Convoy, claimed on social media that some participants had no money to return home as a result of financial mismanagement.

But Carritt and other participants on the ground maintain that everyone was accounted for. Wade Woywitka, who participated with the financial help of his employer, Alberta-based Entrec, said people were offered financial help when they needed it.

If anybody needed money in the convoy, they had it right there, Woywitka said. Bennetts agreed. It would be completely ridiculous to think that anything was amiss with the financial responsibilities of that GoFundMe page, Bennetts said.  ... I have complete trust in (Carritt).

Carritt, who is a business owner of OP Fire, an oil and gas company, and a town councillor in Innisfail, Alta., said he has helped many participants out of his own pocket as he waits for GoFundMe donations to trickle down. He added he has enlisted the help of his business accountant to keep track of reimbursements upon return.

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Im a caring, giving guy, Carritt said. For the official Yellow Vest Convoy group to start making accusations about me taking money is completely unfounded.

Woywitka said he has no doubt people will be reimbursed for their journey, but added the $1,000 he spent on the convoy was worth every penny.

I wouldve spent every last dime I had to come up here to do this, Woywitka said. After seeing what we accomplished, I wouldve spent everything I had to get up here.

Nadine Yousif is a reporter/photographer for Star Edmonton. Follow her on twitter: @nadineyousif_

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LONDONPurplebricks Group PLC fell by the most on record after the U.K. real estate broker pared its revenue forecast for the second time since early December and disclosed the unexpected departure of two top executives.

The company  which began expanding into Canada, Australia and the U.S. just as those markets started stuttering, and opened its Canadian headquarters in Stoney Creek  has become the largest online broker in the U.K. by charging a fixed fee instead of a commission. Purplebricks cut its sales guidance for the year by about 20 per cent. Both its U.K. and U.S. chief executives will leave the business.

Shares in Purplebricks fell as much as 39.4 per cent, the most since its December 2015 trading debut.

A housing slowdown thats gripped major cities globally from New York to Dubai and Hong Kong has been gathering pace, dimming prospects for brokers.

In the U.K., the companys largest market, the messy Brexit negotiations have exacerbated a drop in home sales, with transactions in London near historic lows. Australia is also facing a slowdown, while a marketing push has failed to translate into expected sales in the U.S.

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Purplebricks, which offers online and some traditional brokerage services, expects to bring in revenue of 130 million ($224 million Canadian) to 140 million this year, down from an initial estimate of as much as 185 million.

Given the tough trading backdrop in its key regions and the recent changes to customer propositions in the U.S. and Australia, revenue visibility is low and the near term growth outlook has weakened, Peel Hunt analysts including Gavin Jago wrote in a note Thursday.

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with files from Tom Hogue

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WASHINGTON - A long-awaited end to Canadas steel-and-aluminum tariff nightmare could be just weeks away, says Ottawas ambassador to the United States  but David MacNaughton is playing coy about the source of his newfound optimism.

Along with Transport Minister Marc Garneau, MacNaughton was taking part in a panel discussion Thursday about the prospects of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement when he abruptly declared that an end to U.S. tariffs on metals imported from Canada, which have been in place for nearly nine months, could soon be at hand.

I think were going to resolve it in a positive way in the next short while, the ambassador said. I dont want to go into great detail, but I think were going to resolve this matter soon ... even governments end up doing the right thing eventually.

When asked later to elaborate on his reasoning, MacNaughton clarified the possible timeline, but refused to explain beyond the suggestion that the anti-tariff narrative driving Canadas ongoing charm offensive in Washington and elsewhere is finally starting to sink in.

It is obviously difficult to predict accurately exactly what is going to happen here  there are many moving parts, there are other distractions  but Im confident that were going to get there in the next few weeks, he said.

When you look at the number of people in the United States who are talking about why these tariffs have to go ... this is hurting Americans, and I think theres enough pressure building that we can find a resolution to this.

On Tuesday, MacNaughton was in Ottawa when he indicated that hes hearing complaints from some U.S. quarters about the ongoing impact of Canadas retaliatory tariffs  countermeasures that have been targeting some $16.6 billion in U.S. imports, largely from politically key states, since the summer.

And Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland pressed for an end to the tariffs when she met last week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the margins of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

MacNaughton and Garneau were just two of the past and present lawmakers, diplomats and business leaders from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico gathered in Washington to explore when Congress might get around to debating the merits of the USMCA.

Both said Thursday they remain confident that U.S. lawmakers will eventually ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, although when remains an open question.

Donald Trump was, of course, top of mind for many. Former New York congressman Joe Crowley, who lost his nomination last year to rising Democrat star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, blamed the president for having weaponized the issue of trade, a tactic that he blamed for alienating two of Americas most important allies.

How he treated Mexico, how he has treated our closest friend in the world, Canada, and how he has brought them to the table in the way in which he has, I think also has left a lot of people unsettled, especially Republicans, Crowley said.

I know that people know where Democrats are. I kind of want to know where Republicans are today, because the president has made the issue of trade  something that has been very associated with Republicans  a very toxic issue for some of them.

Gordon Giffin and Jim Blanchard, two former U.S. ambassadors to Canada, shared a panel with former Canadian envoy Gary Doer, all three of whom called on the White House to lift its tariffs on steel and aluminum. They also agreed the new trade deal cant be passed until those tariffs are removed.

Tariffs aside, a number of Democrats and Republicans say they wont vote for NAFTA 2.0 in its current form.

Democrats say the agreement lacks labour and environmental enforcement, and some dont like its extended drug-patent protections. U.S. officials say those congressional concerns will have to be dealt with in so-called side letters or the bill Congress votes on to enact the deal.

MacNaughton also put to rest two other persistent questions in Ottawa, including lingering fears that notwithstanding the new NAFTA, Canada could be sideswiped if Trump imposes national-security tariffs on auto imports in the wake of a Commerce Department report that explores the ramifications of such a move.

A side letter on autos that was negotiated as part of the USMCA is in full force and effect, and doesnt require ratification, MacNaughton said.

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He also described as fake news the speculation that he might be poised to replace Gerald Butts as Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus principal secretary, who resigned Monday.

I have lots to do here, with a great team at the embassy, and I look forward to continuing to do the job here, said MacNaughton, who once held the same title in the office of former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. I have no intention of taking a job in Ottawa.

 Follow James McCarten on Twitter @CdnPressStyle
TORONTO - Huawei Technologies Inc. is adamant that it wont abandon Canadian consumers, telecommunications companies and universities, even if the countrys government bans its 5G technology.

Speaking through a translator at a media roundtable Thursday, the technology giants chairman Liang Hua stressed that he believes there is a way for the business to forge ahead in the country, though he noted the relationship between Canada and the companys home country China is not ideal.

If Huawei were to be excluded from the deployment of 5G in the country then there are still customers that will choose us. In that case, we will also continue to provide services to those customers that have chosen us, he said.

At the end of the day, we hope the decisions on 5G can be based on technology, instead of other factors. We want it to be a level playing field.

Liangs comments and his visit come as Huawei is encountering intense scrutiny in the wake of the December arrest of its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States, which seeks to extradite her over accusations of fraud and violating international sanctions against Iran.

Huawei has already faced restrictions on its technology from three of Canadas Five Eyes intelligence allies  the U.S., Australia and New Zealand  and telecommunications partners, including Telus Corp., have said if Huawei is banned their 5G wireless networks could be delayed and more expensive.

Huawei has primarily been working with Telus and Bell in Canada on wireless technology, but also sells smartphones through Rogers and Videotron under their main brands, as well as some secondary brands such as Virgin Mobile, Fido and Koodo.

The company  with a Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ont. and research facilities in Ottawa, Markham, Waterloo, Ont., Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton  has also committed money to collaborations with the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, McGill University and the University of Waterloo.

Liang insisted the recent scandal hasnt damaged such relations or the companys respectability, adding that is not realistic for Huawei to expect to serve every market, though it does have 30 5G contracts around the world.

I dont think there is a negative impact on the companys reputation, but rather I think they just gave us a round of free advertisement around the world, he said.

In the short-term, if there were some political influence (or) some political factors in play, it might have an impact on our scale of investments, but in the long run, we still believe it is all down to the technologies.

Liang announced that Huawei would be adding 200 jobs to the Canadian market and increasing its research and development investments in Canada by 15 per cent in 2019, following a $180 million of investment it made in Canada in 2018.

He also said the company was committed to ensuring all intellectual property generated with Canadian institutions Huawei partners with is kept within the country in arrangements that benefit both the organizations and Huawei. It employs 1,100 workers in the country, including 700 focused on research and development.

He insisted that wouldnt change based on whether a ban is implemented and denied that the announcements were made in an effort to influence the forthcoming decision.

Liang skirted questions about precisely how damaging a ban could be for the company and wouldnt say what he felt China and Canada could do to repair their relations.

He did, however, open up about Mengs recent troubles.

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I believe she is innocent and I hope the Canadian legal system can bring justice back to her and hope that she can be freed and reunite with her family soon, but I am not a lawyer, so I cant comment on the substance of the case, he said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version referred to Liang Hua as Hua on second mention. It also had an incorrect spelling for Meng Wanzhou.
MONTREAL - Strong sales abroad helped propel a leap in Gildan Activewear Inc.s fourth-quarter profit last year as the company looked to e-commerce for bigger gains in 2019.

China has now outstripped Canada as the Montreal-based clothing manufacturers third-largest market, after the U.S. and Europe, chief executive Glenn Chamandy said.

Our fastest growing market is China, Chamandy told a conference call with investors Thursday. Were continuing to see really good...international growth.

About 86 per cent of the companys US$743 million in sales last quarter stemmed from the U.S., driving a 14 per cent overall revenue bump.

The rise included a 19 per cent jump in international sales to US$66.1 million compared with US$55.4 million a year ago.

Broken down by product, activewear sales totalled US$569.3 million, up from US$465.4 million. Hosiery and underwear sales took a hit, however, and fell eight per cent to US$173.4 million in the fourth quarter as Gildan-brand sock sales dropped and mass retailers opted not to replenish Gildan-brand drawers, the company said.

Our Gildan-brand underwear is doing very, very well in e-commerce today, Chamandy qualified, highlighting the potential of online sales. Our American Apparel continues to grow. Were leveraging all of our brands today as we go forward in e-commerce.

Gildan, which nabbed American Apparels intellectual property rights and some manufacturing equipment in 2017, projects strong double-digit growth in online sales, said chief financial officer Rhodri Harries.

Last spring, Gildan expanded American Apparels presence with a new online store, providing a runway for the brand to sell its wares  from hoodies to high-waist jeans  to more than 200 countries. The brand returned to the Canadian market with an online store in November.

Obviously, its still on a relatively small base, Chamandy added of e-commerce sales as a whole. Were just in the beginning stages, really.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, is aiming for mid-single-digit sales growth in 2019, with adjusted diluted earnings per share of between $1.85 and $1.87.

A large private-label mens underwear program was secured with a major U.S. retailer  our inference is that it is Walmart  in 3Q, and is expected to positively impact 2019 results, said analyst Keith Howlett of Desjardins Securities in a research note this week.

In reporting its results Thursday, Gildan raised its quarterly dividend to 13.4 cents per share from 11.2 cents.

The clothing maker earned a profit of $59.6 million or 29 cents per diluted share in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from a profit of $54.9 million or 25 cents per diluted share during the same period in 2017.

On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned 43 cents per share last quarter, up from 31 cents per share a year earlier.

The result matched the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Gildan reported a profit of $350.8 million or $1.66 per share on $2.91 billion in sales in 2018 compared with a profit of $362.3 million or $1.61 per share on $2.75 billion in sales in 2017.

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On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned $1.86 per share last year, up from an adjusted profit of $1.72 per share in 2017.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GIL)
A deal that would see Barrick Gold Corp. split returns from its Tanzanian unit with the government could have ramifications for its negotiations with other countries, including Papua New Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Toronto-based miners long-term license to operate its mine in Papua New Guinea is due for renewal this year. The question is whether officials there, and in other countries where the global miner operates, will push for a similar arrangement as resource nationalism continues to gain traction around the world.

The largest gold miner may already be trying to get ahead of that tide in Papua New Guinea. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow met last week with government officials about extending its license for the Porgera mine, Barricks joint venture with Zijin Mining Group Co.

Executive Chairman John Thornton had said previously that Barrick may one day sell its remaining 47.5 per cent stake to Zijin. But since taking Barricks reins in January, Bristow has backpedaled on that. The miner issued a statement this week calling Porgera a long-term asset for both companies. It then added that, without an extension to its mining lease, it would be difficult to justify the significant capital investments the mine requires.

Elsewhere, Bristow has also hit the ground running. The company has already reached out to the new government in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after President Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in late last month.

Barrick, and other miners, have been pushing for changes to the countrys mining code, but so far have been rebuffed. The countrys mines minister said earlier this month the rules wont be reopened.

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VICTORIA - British Columbias budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market, business leaders say.

Finance Minister Carole James is banking on continued strong economic growth to fund long-term social and economic programs amounting to $2 billion over the next three years, but thats risky, B.C. Business Council president Greg DAvignon said Wednesday.

He said the council, which represents many of the largest employers in the province, credits the government for the budget initiatives that support families and environment programs, but it should not take business for granted in a darkening economy.

I would caution the government that to take the economy for granted is at their peril, DAvignon said. Theres a complete absence of economic vision in the face of what we see are some increasing strong head winds facing the economy in B.C. and Canada.

Recent economic data suggest Europe could be heading for recession, global trade is facing turmoil as the United States and China squabble and Canada is being hit by trade sanctions from the U.S., he said. Recent U.S. tax cuts also impact the competitiveness of products from British Columbia, said DAvignon.

The budget includes a $400-million Child Opportunity Benefit for families with children up to age 18. Interest on student loans was eliminated, social assistance payments increased by $50 per month and support payments for children of foster parents were increased.

The budget introduced Tuesday included the minority New Democrat governments $902-million Clean BC Fund to fight climate change.

Its almost as though the economys taken for granted, DAvignon said. The consequence of that is were just not going to have the revenue or the means to support baked in, long-term costs when the economy starts softening as were seeing through a bunch of indices and anecdotes from the investors around our table.

Real estate developer Jason Turcotte said the budget looks to tax revenue from home sales to help fund programs, but it hinders new property developments that create the wealth.

Theres not a lot of incentive right now to move forward with projects and if that happens on any kind of mass scale were going to have a shortage of supply, which obviously doesnt help affordability at all, said Turcotte, vice-president at Metro Vancouvers Cressey Development.

He said his company and others are delaying real estate projects.

The government introduced tax measures in last years budget to moderate B.C.s real estate market.

The budget forecasts revenue from B.C. housing starts to drop almost 17 per cent this year and decline 6.4 per cent next year.

James said she expects the market to continue to moderate but does not foresee a crash because the province is considered a desirable place to live.

She downplayed the business concerns, saying B.C. is forecast to lead Canada in economic growth for the next two years and her budget has set aside more than $2.6 billion in contingency and allowance funds in the event of a downturn.

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Weve built a very prudent budget that has caution built in and gives us the opportunity to continue to invest in the people of B.C. who continue to build that strong economy.

Opposition Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said the budget does nothing to stimulate the economy.
The trailer began with a scene where John was performing "Your Song" to two women.

The trailer features teenager Reginald Dwight who formed a band called Bluesology that was backing American soul musicians in the mid-'60s. The trailer moves on to how Dwight transformed himself into Elton John after advised to "kill the person you were born to be in order to become the person you want to be".

Moving on, John meets Bernie Taupin (portrayed by Jaime Bell) during a songwriting audition which led to a strong working relationship between the two as Taupin had written almost every song John has recorded.

The trailer also showed the time where John met John Reid (portrayed by Richard Madden) at a Motown Christmas party. "You can be the best-selling artist in America if you desire," Reid tells John in the trailer. The pair were a couple for the next five years while John kept his sexual orientation a secret. Reid remained as his manager until 1998 when John fired him over embezzlement accusations.

Also included in the trailer was the famed U.S. debut tour at the Troubadour in support of his self-titled second album and the two-night stand at Dodger Stadium in 1975 where he dressed in a sequinned L.A. Dodgers uniform and cap with 'Elton' and number 1 on the back.

Shortly after the scenes of the concert were cutscenes of John's attempted suicide which involved him collapsing into a pool and being rushed to the hospital.

At the end of the trailer, John was singing with a woman that could possibly be the recording for the smash duet hit, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", with Kiki Dee. A scene of his marriage to German recording engineer, Renate Blauel was also included in the movie.

Elton John will be touring New Zealand in 2020. See the full details here.
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
A woman whose male partner watches pornography regularly is more likely to report symptoms of an eating disorder.

The research from Ohio State University examined how a partners porn viewing habits influenced the likelihood of the woman in the relationship experiencing guilt around eating, anxiety surrounding her weight, binging or purging.

Previous and current partner pornography use was linked to womens disordered eating behaviors, even after considering womens age and whether women reported being bothered by this use. Previous partner pornography use was related to womens higher self-induced vomiting, binge eating, body fat preoccupation, and feeling extremely guilty after eating, Tracy Tylka, author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State's Columbus and Marion campuses told Theravive.

Current partner pornography use was related to womens higher self-induced vomiting, body fat preoccupation, and feeling extremely guilty after eating. Interestingly, these relationships were significant even after accounting for womens personal desire to be thin, suggesting that she may be engaging in disordered eating due to other factors, such as her perceptions of her partners desires (to want a thinner woman) or to cope with negative feelings that may arise due to his use, she said.

In conducting her research, Tylka and her co-author Rachel Calogero of Western University in Canada enlisted 409 American women who were in relationships with men. The women were given a questionnaire aimed at identifying symptoms of disordered eating and also asked questions about their perceived pressure from outside influences like media or people in their lives to lose weight or be thin. The women were also asked to report how much time their partners spent watching pornography every week, and also rated on a scale from never to almost always how often their formers partners viewed pornography.

The researchers say the findings warrant further study.

Womens perceptions of their current and former partners pornography use are connected to their disordered eating behaviors. Given that this sample was a sample of community women (average age of 34), and that it is common for adult men in relationships to view pornography, this is an area worth of additional study. Perhaps partners should be integrated into eating disorder prevention and treatment interventions to open communication among couples as to how their behaviors (or their perceptions of their partners behaviors) may be driving disordered eating, Tylka told Theravive.

The pornography viewing habits of partners, and the perceived pressure from partners to be thin was found to contribute to behaviours of disordered eating in the women studied, even if the woman didnt idealize being thin herself. Tylka says this is important, as it suggests women may be adapting their behaviours in response to what they believe their partner values, even if it is contrary to their own views surrounding body type.

The more male partners watch porn, the more their female partners may feel sexually neglected within the relationship or that their partner wants different women than them. They may turn this frustration on their bodies, for example my body isnt good enough as it is, at least in my partners eyes, and engage in disordered eating behaviors or try to deal with their negative emotions that arise, she said.

Women often get recognition, attention, and evaluated for what they look like and their sexual desirability. In short, women learn their worth is tied to their appearance, both in society, and this message is often mirrored within their interpersonal relationships. If they feel that they do not have their partners sexual attention, they may be very impacted, as it may be a blow to their self-worth as a woman, she added.

The average age of women in this cohort was 34, and disordered eating was found to be greater in this group than in a group of college women previously studied. It is possible, Tylka says, that this is because these women have had more relationship experience or have been influenced by past relationships.

Tylka is hopeful more research is undertaken into partner influence on eating disorders.

This study showed that connection between partner variables and womens disordered eating is an important area of study that may have important implications for the prevention and treatment for womens disordered eating, she said.
Staff reports

Watertown Public Opinion

There are five things going on in the world that I find baffling, even six that are incomprehensible.

Why does anyone buy jeans with holes in the knees?

Our country was over 21 trillion in debt, but the Republicans still voted to give the millionaires and billionaires a big tax cut, causing the debt to increase to 22 trillion, and rising.

Why do millions of women kill their unborn babies, thus denying themselves with pleasure and satisfaction of watching a beautiful little soul develop and grow?

Our President rails against illegal aliens, blaming them for rape, murder and drugs. But it is reported that he uses them extensively in his business enterprises, because he, a self-proclaimed billionaire, can pay them much less than Americans.

The S.D. legislature removed the necessary permit for concealed weapon carry, against law enforcement advice, and during a national gun violence crisis. This is outrageous! Does there have to be a gun disaster in South Dakota to make our elected officials use some common sense?

But the most unsolvable mystery is: Why do so many people ignore the promise of God written in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life," while they readily follow Satan as he leads them to the horrors of hell?

Karl J. Johnson

Watertown
Elisa Sand

Dakota Media Group

Doland will be moving most of its students into the elementary school building in spring as the district moves ahead with the demolition of three of the oldest sections of the school.

That is needed to build a 90-by-250-foot addition.

The schedule for demolition has not been set, Superintendent Jim Hulscher said, but the goal is to have the buildings down before school dismisses so construction can begin as soon as possible.

Were hoping to have a concrete date (for razing) in the next couple weeks, he said.

The district is tearing down the areas predominantly used by the middle and high school students, Hulscher said, but there are also some spaces used by all the students like the music classroom and the lunch room.

The sections of the building slated for demolition were built in 1911, 1928 and 1959.

Well keep the current elementary and gym, Hulscher said in a phone interview Monday.

A new, one-story building will provide replacement space for high school and middle school students. Thats smaller than whats going away, Hulscher said, but there are currently vacant rooms in the buildings set to be torn down.

The addition will include:

 A primary entrance for the school.

 A facility thats compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 New high school classrooms, a music room and a lunch room.

 Renovation of the elementary school space.

The preschool will be moved to an off-campus location temporarily until construction is done.

Hulscher said renovation work in the elementary building will allow for combined space for the city and school libraries, which are currently in separate rooms at the school. The project will also allow for a combined fitness center that will be used by the school and the community.

The city library has been at the school for about a year, he said, since the Doland post office moved into the city building used as the library.

Hulscher said the school board has been discussing improvements to the school for the last five to 10 years. For that reason, he said, capital outlay funds have been set aside for the improvements, which means no special bond issue was needed. A bond issue would have required an increase in property taxes for voters in the district.

Contractor bids have yet to be sought, but the estimated cost is $2.87 million for demolition and new construction.

If it comes in where we expect, we should be able to pay for it as we go, Hulscher said.

Construction will likely continue through the summer and in to the 2019-20 school year. But, he said, ideally the district would like to have the kitchen and lunch room completed by fall.
Dan Crisler

Public Opinion Staff Writer

In terms of crime statistics, 2018 was mostly a positive one for the Watertown Police Department albeit with some concerning trends.

Appearing before the Watertown City Council at the councils Public Works, Finance and Safety Committee meeting Tuesday night, WPD Police Chief Lee McPeek and Assistant Chief Tim Toomey noted positive year-to-year trends in a 4 percent decline in juvenile arrests and citations issued for underage drinking along with a 19 percent decline in traffic citations issued. But they highlighted a concern in the 15 percent uptick of adult arrests largely correlated with a 48 percent uptick in marijuana arrests.

The variation in trends came despite stability in the calls for service. In 2018, the WPD officers responded to 22,106 calls for service, just a tick above the five-year average of 22,089.

Last year proved to be a good year for traffic within Watertown, continuing a trend from 2017.

Our roads are safer, Toomey said.

Playing a major role in the 19 percent decline in traffic citations compared to 2017 was a 53 percent decline in speeding citations.

Toomey specifically highlighted a significant decrease of 31 percent in accidents that resulted in injury, from 135 accidents in 2017 to 93 accidents in 2018.

In both the decrease in speeding citations and injury accidents, Toomey cited the residual effects of federal highway safety grants awarded to the WPD in 2016 and 2017. The grant allowed WPD to pay officers 584 hours in overtime to enforce seat belt use in the city, leading to a reduction in injury as a result of crashes.

Getting the (injury accidents) number down is the direct result of getting those grants, Toomey said.

On the flip side, driving under the influence arrests increased by 18 percent, from 207 in 2017 to 241 in 2018. The 2017 total increased by 33 arrests from 2016s total of 174 arrests.

Calling the percentage increase bad news, Toomey expressed some frustration toward the offenders.

I dont understand it. Its just such a preventable thing, he said. No matter how much education and prevention we do, those numbers just seem to keep rising.

Toomey said one explanation for the rise might be that the WPD now has a certified drug recognition evaluator in Cpl. Scott Price. Receiving his certification in February 2018 after going through a rigorous process, Price has found 19 cases of impaired driving after conducting drug evaluations.

He did a tremendous job, Toomey said.

As DUI arrests increased in 2018, so did arrests for drug possession and use. With drug arrests rising 31 percent overall from 2017, marijuana arrests accounted for 48 percent of that increase. In 2018, the WPD recorded 247 arrests for possession of marijuana compared to 162 in 2017. The department also recorded 17 arrests for distribution of marijuana, nine more arrests than in 2017.

Toomey blamed the increase on the greater number of states legalizing marijuana.

With the legalization happening all around us, marijuana is easier to get and transport. Its coming to Watertown, Toomey said.

The department also noted a 7 percent uptick in methamphetamine possession arrests, with 129 such arrests in 2018.

According to Toomey, perhaps the greatest concern on the drug front is the 45 percent increase in ingestion arrests, from 180 such arrests in 2017 to 261 in 2018. The increase is such that it has raised alarm at the WPD.

We have a big problem with drugs, Toomey said.

Council member Mike Danforth also said the members of the community have also raised concerns on the topic. Calling the presence of drugs probably the number one question I get in regard to public safety, Danforth asked McPeek and Toomey what it would ideally take to curb the rising trend. Toomey responded being able to hold offenders, especially distributors, more accountable might be part of the solution.

The penalty cant be just a slap on the wrist, according to Toomey.

McPeek said more prevention efforts would also be part of a solution but added theres no ultimate solution readily apparent.

Were doing what we can with the manpower we have. Weve got a lot things in the works. But do we hold the magic bullet? No, he said. Nobody in the state and the United States really does.

McPeek did express optimism that drug trends will eventually reverse.

I think were going to see that pendulum start to come the other way eventually. Right now the numbers are climbing. But I think theyre going to peak out and start to come back the other way, he said. Unfortunately, we didnt see that this year yet. But were still gearing toward that.

One concerning trend that did reverse was the decline in underage alcohol consumption citations. After issuing 308 such citations in 2017, capping off a three-year rise, WPD officers issued 295 such citations in 2018.

Toomey credited a coalition formed by the WPD that included Watertown School District officials, Lake Area Technical Institute officials and students and City of Watertown officials that came up with prevention programs and public service announcements.

We actually stopped that trend and the numbers went down a little bit, Toomey said. This year, were going to double down on that and keep those prevention programs going and see if we can get that number a lot lower.

Whereas underage alcohol consumption citations declined in 2018, juvenile tobacco citations increased significantly in 2018. After issuing 34 citations in 2017, WPD officers, especially school resource officers, more than doubled those citations in 2018 with a total of 71 issued.

Toomey blames the increase on the presence of e-cigarettes.

Vaping has gotten out of control, Toomey said.

To combat the trend, Toomey said the WPD is working with the Watertown Healthy Youth Coalition and others to educate young students the consequences of using nicotine.

Were going to be working on stopping that earlier in a childs life, he said.

911 Center recognized

In exhibiting extreme gratitude for everyone who works in and with the WPD, Toomey made sure to recognize the departments 911 center by naming the center the WPD unit of the year.

Handling 911 calls not only in Watertown and Codington County, but a half-dozen surrounding counties as well, the center handled 12,022 911 calls. With 911 call load spread across 15 dispatchers  four of which are part-time  the center followed procedures to ensure high quality response efforts to a T as it recorded monthly quality assurance rates between 96 percent and 99 percent. For comparison, Toomey said the national average quality assurance rate is 95 percent.

Toomey said dispatchers go so far as to remain on the line with a person to provide counseling and advice while the situation is being addressed by first responders.

These guys and girls do tremendous work, Toomey said.

Toomey said the centers efforts, along with the efforts of everyone else within the WPD, helped the agency accomplish its mission in 2018.

Our mission is to provide spirited law enforcement services to the community while making Watertown a safe place to live, work and raise a family. We definitely accomplished that mission this year, he said. Mission accomplished by these fine folks that Im in awe of every day.

The full 2018 Watertown Police Department report is available online at https://bit.ly/2GzB5ku.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

A shower is possible early. A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
Police seek clues as fire burns down house

PHUKET: Police are investigating possible causes of a fire than burnt down a house in the east side of Phuket Town early this morning (Feb 21).

Safetypropertypolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 21 February 2019, 04:53PM

Police arrived with five fire trucks at the scene on the intersection of Soi Sena Niwet and Anuphasphuketkarn Rd at 1:30am this morning. Firefighters proceeded to tackle the blaze which took 20 minutes to bring under control.

The house was a single-story cement building, in front of which were bottles of petrol for sale.

Capt Ronnapoom Pempoon of Phuket City Police explained that, When the fire started, the owner of the house, 69-year-old Kluay Hernsuntei, was asleep along with her son and daughter-in-law who went to stay with her because she was feeling unwell.

At the time of the incident, a neighbouring karaoke bar worker was nearby and ran to the back of the house screaming for Ms Kluay to get out with her son and daughter-in-law.

Capt Ronnapoom said that after questioning Ms Kluay, she explained that she had sold a few bottles of petrol before going inside to sleep.

I heard the worker from the karaoke bar shouting at the back of the house that there was a fire, Ms Kluay explained.

So we all ran out of the house immediately without taking anything with us as we were scared and in shock, she said.

All three managed to escape without harm, although everything in the house was destroyed including a motorcycle.

Capt Ronnapoom questioned the karaoke bar worker who explained that just before the fire broke out, she saw a woman holding a bottle of petrol near the house. The worker thinks she recognised the woman as somebody that lived with Ms Kluay for a couple of months before she found a job and now rents a room close by.

Ms Kluays son went to look for the woman at the place where she lives but she was not there.

Capt Ronnapoom noted that the woman and Ms Kluay had not had any arguments.

We will gather evidence from the scene and will further question Ms Kluay and the witness, and also seek to find the woman who was seen near the house, he added.
Patong Police Chief to rein in tourists hooning on motorbikes

PHUKET: Patong Police have set up a new check point on Phra Mettha Rd to catch speeding tourists after a video emerged on social media showing a tourist on a motorcycle popping a wheelie on the road.

patongtransport

By Waranya Prompinpiras

Thursday 21 February 2019, 06:17PM

A still from the video on social media that shows a tourist popping a wheelie on Phra Mettha Rd.

The checkpoint on Phra Mettha Rd set up to catch hooning motorists. Photo: Patong Police

The checkpoint on Phra Mettha Rd set up to catch hooning motorists. Photo: Patong Police

The checkpoint on Phra Mettha Rd set up to catch hooning motorists. Photo: Patong Police

Patong Police Chief Col Anotai Jindamanee said, We have invited the driver in the video and the rental shop owner to Patong Police Station this evening (Feb 21) to discuss the incident. We will then decide how to proceed with charges.

We will also tell the rental shop owner to explain the traffic rules to all future renters, he added.

Col Anotai explained that there are always police checkpoints in Patong to maintain safe traffic in the area.

When the video emerged, we set up a checkpoint in the same location day and night to put a stop to the dangerous driving there, Col Anotai said.

Col Anotai went on to speak about road safety statistics in Patong, 2018 figures show that Patong Police arrested approximately 2,000 people per month for traffic violations.

The most common violations were driving without a valid licence, driving through red lights, and driving without a helmet, he noted.

Col Anotai added that, Of the 2,000 monthly traffic violations in Patong, half were foreigners and half were Thais.
Finnish boy, 5, attacked by stray dogs at Ao Nang, Krabi

PHUKET: A 5-year-old Finnish boy is in hospital after being attacked by a pack of stay dogs at Ao Nang Beach in Krabi yesterday (Feb 20).

tourismanimalsSafety

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 21 February 2019, 01:03PM

Five-year-old Finnish boy Eemi Nikula remains recovering from his ordeal at Krabi Nakharin International Hospital. Photo: Sutee Krabii

The boy, Eemi Nikula, suffered scratches and bites to his torso, back and buttocks and has a wound about five centimetres long on his right calf.

The most dangerous wound was a bite to his neck, where fangs had punctured two holes near his Adams apple.

Eemi is now recovering at Krabi Nakharin International Hospital, where doctors have treated his wounds.

The boy has been vaccinated for rabies and tetanus, doctors confirmed.

He is to stay under observation at the hospital for any outbreak of fever or other signs of infection, doctors noted.

Eemis father, Appo Nikula, 30, explained that the dog attack happened at about 6:30pm.

Mr Nikula was leaving the beach with his two sons, but Eemi went back to the water to wash sand off himself.

Suddenly he saw a pack of four to five dogs attack his son, he said.

He ran to intervene and with the help of people nearby manged to get the pack away from Eemi.

The pack of dogs even followed him while he was carrying Eemi from the beach, Mr Nikula said.

In the end, local people chased the dogs away, he added.

Pankum Kittithornkul, Chief Administration Officer (Palad) at the Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) visited Eemi at the hospital last night.

Ao Nang OrBorTor has a campaign to sterilise local stray dogs and vaccinate them against rabies. The campaign is ongoing every year, but still people dump their dogs in public areas, which makes it hard to keep our campaign effective, he said.

I have ordered the Public Health and Environment Division (at Ao Nang OrBorTor) to coordinate with district livestock officials to check the area and catch the dogs that attacked Eemi, he added.

We need to know how many such dogs are out there and whether they have been vaccinated for rabies, he said.

This is very important. Ao Nang Beach and Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park are popular tourist areas, and this is the first time we have had stray dogs hurting tourists, but we must take quick action to prevent it from happening again, MrPankum said.
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Several teams from schools across Isabella and Gratiot Counties will be competing for project funding during the fourth annual Pitch-er This event.

The competition, hosted by the United Way of Gratiot and Isabella Counties, will take place at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine in Mt. Pleasant, starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

The event will have teams of students across both counties present a pitch for a project that would benefit their community, according to Annie Sanders, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Gratiot and Isabella Counties.

We have teams of local youth aged between sixth grade and high school in both counties, she said. There are six teams that made it to the final round.

The teams applied and started to build their pitch prior to the holiday season last year, Sanders said.

The finalists are all chosen based on how feasible their ideas are, Sanders said. Teams are required to create a project and have the details sorted out before moving on to the finals.

We fund up to $5,000, so if it costs more than that and they dont have an extra revenue stream, that falls out, she said. Were making sure that the logistics are in place.

Each team has a mentor that helps them put their projects together and guides them through the process. The mentor could be anyone, including a family member, a school official or a community member.

Its someone who is invested in the youth of the community and generally someone who has experience with the idea that the students are pitching, Sanders said.

Each of the projects will be judged by a panel of judges. The judge panel is comprised of:

* Heidi Aldrich of the Gratiot-Isabella Residential Education Service District (RESD)

* Shaun Holtgrieve, Executive Director of student affairs at CMU

* Dr. Tina Thompson, Associate Dean of the College of Medicine at CMU

* Keith Virgo, of Masonic Pathways in Alma

* Wes Wickes, Executive Director of Central Michigan Youth for Christ

The judge selection process focuses on bringing in people who have not judged in previous years, have a neutral position on each of the pitches and are diverse in terms of background, Sanders said. She also said that the selection is also based on bringing people from both counties.

The panel will choose the best pitch based on a rubric provided by the United Way. The winner of the competition will receive funding from the United Way to help implement their project into their community, Sanders said.

In addition to the judges vote, the audience will be able to vote on which pitch they like the most, according to Sanders. This will happen at the end of the event and that vote will count towards a percentage of the final score.

The judges score has more weight, but the audience vote will influence the winner as well, she said.

The event was started four years ago to allow community youth to voice their ideas on how they would improve the communities they live in, according to Sanders.

It came from an idea to bring together students from both counties and put funding behind the great ideas that they have, she said.
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On Wednesday, Lamont kept stepping on his speechs coherence by commenting on the audiences reaction and speculating on who would support his proposals and who might oppose them. This seemed small. Lamont has been emphasizing the seriousness of the moment and the start of a new era in state finances. Lamont may have been uncomfortable revealing a budget that inflicts a host of regressive tax increases on working people and the poor. Taxing over-the-counter medicine and beverages with sugar is a curious way to promote social mobility and put more money in peoples pockets. Democrats used to howl in pain at such economic plans.
Most of Holyokes sewage during normal weather is sent to the citys wastewater treatment plant. But environmental complaints filed with the EPA said that from at least 2012 the city has discharged raw sewage directly into the Connecticut River during big rainstorms that resulted in so much stormwater that the sewage system overflowed.
Nokia Corporation provides mobile and fixed network solutions worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Mobile Networks, Network Infrastructure, Cloud and Network Services, and Nokia Technologies. It focuses on mobile radio including macro radio, small cells, and cloud native radio solutions for communications service providers and enterprises; and provides network planning and optimization, network implementation, and systems integration, as well as company-wide managed services. The company also offers fixed networking solutions, such as copper and fiber access products, solutions, and services. In addition, it provides network infrastructure and professional services for mobile networks; and managed services for the fixed, mobile, Internet protocol (IP), and optical domains. Further, the company offers network planning, implementation, operation, and maintenance services. Additionally, it provides IP/optical networking solutions, including IP routing and optical transport systems, software, and services; software solutions, such as customer experience management, network operations and management, communications and collaborations, and policy and charging, as well as cloud, IoT, security, and analytics platforms; and submarine networks and radiofrequency systems. Nokia Corporation was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.

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Each witness knew Ortiz, and each told a consistent story, Fahey said. The man driving the car Baez was shot in had known Ortiz for as long as four years, Fahey said. The woman was in the car Ortiz had arrived in, and saw him returning to it with a gun. The third man had been acquainted with him, too.
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It's hard to imagine a country up in arms over a new public holiday -- but that was the near-universal reaction Wednesday to Austria's plan to give workers an afternoon off on Good Friday.

The Austrian government had come up with the plan as a way of conforming to a ruling by the European Court of Justice last month that it was illegal for Good Friday to be a full holiday for members of certain Christian churches only.

In response, the government announced on Tuesday that starting from April 19 this year, everyone would be able to leave work at 2:00 pm.

But that decision has drawn widespread criticism all round.

Adherents of the Protestant churches -- who until now had the right to take the whole day off -- branded the new rules unfair, while businesses said the new holiday would be too costly.

Even unions said the new measure amounted to a government "making fools" of employees.

"A holiday which starts at 2:00 pm on a Friday, when a lot of employees will already have finished work at midday anyway, is ridiculous," said Bernhard Achitz, from the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (OeGB).

The working day generally starts early in Austria, and many businesses are in the habit of ending the working week early on a Friday afternoon.

The Die Presse daily asked: "Will stores be able to stay open during the half-day holiday?", referring to Austria's current strict rules on retail opening hours.

Many took to social media to mock the government's compromise, with some branding it a "half Good Friday".

Read also: Push to 'denazify' Austria's star wine

The European Court of Justice had found that it was discriminatory to have Good Friday as a paid holiday only for members of protestant and other denominations.

Good Friday is the day on which Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ before his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Around 5.2 million Austrians are estimated to be Roman Catholics, out of a population of 8.8 million.

The next biggest groups are thought to be Muslims (around 700,000), Orthodox Christians (500,000) and Protestant denominations (300,000).
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Singapore  Thu, February 21, 2019 17:15 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a13aebd 2 SE Asia #singapore,#FreedomOfExpression,Singaporean,activist,fined,Skype,Hong-Kong Free

A Singaporean activist was Thursday fined for organising an illegal public discussion in the tightly-controlled city-state that featured a prominent Hong Kong democracy campaigner speaking via Skype.

Jolovan Wham was convicted last month of breaking public order laws after he failed to apply for a police permit before inviting activist Joshua Wong to speak via video call to an audience.

The 39-year-old was also found guilty of refusing to sign a written statement to police. On Thursday he was handed a fine of Sg$3,200 ($2,300).

Wham, who is currently out on bail, said he will appeal the sentence, but if that fails he said he will choose to serve a 16-day jail term rather than pay the fine.

The activist, who is also an advocate for migrant workers' rights, had described the gathering in November 2016 as "a harmless and straightforward discussion about social movements".

Wong, who was among the leaders of massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014, spoke to the audience about the role of civil disobedience and democracy in building social movements.

Organising a public assembly without a permit in Singapore is punishable by a fine of up to Sg$5,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to Sg$10,000 or jailed for a maximum of six months or both.

Wealthy Singapore is regularly criticised by rights groups for its heavy-handed response to political dissent and freedom of expression.

In December, the editor of a Singaporean website was charged with defamation for publishing a letter alleging corruption among the country's leaders.

The same month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued a blogger for defamation after he shared an article on Facebook linking the leader to a corruption scandal in neighbouring Malaysia. Lee said the article was false and without basis.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Sydney, Australia  Thu, February 21, 2019 15:33 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a132bb0 2 SE Asia #Australia,#Malaysia,former,policemen,Mongolia,model,murder Free

A former policeman sentenced to hang in Malaysia for the murder of a young woman in a scandal linked to the country's ex-prime minister, has lost a bid for asylum in Australia.

Sirul Azhar Umar, who has been in Australian custody since fleeing Malaysia in 2015, has maintained that he was ordered by "important people" to murder Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Canberra's policy is not to extradite people to countries where they may face the death penalty. Sirul could face deportation however if Malaysia goes ahead with abolishing the punishment, as it has promised to do.

Altantuya, 28 at the time, was killed and her body blown up with military-grade explosives in 2006.

Her death is said to be part of a scandal involving claims an associate of Malaysia's ousted prime minister Najib Razak arranged huge kickbacks for the purchase of French submarines in 2002.

Allegations have long circulated that Najib -- then deputy premier -- and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in the killing. Both have denied the claims.

Sirul, who has previously offered to tell all in exchange for a full pardon from Malaysia, has tried to claim asylum in Australia on the grounds that his crime was political.

His claim had been denied, and on Monday the Administrative Appeals Tribunal rejected his appeal in Sydney.

"There are serious reasons for considering that the applicant committed in Malaysia a serious non-political crime before entering Australia," the tribunal said in a report issued on its findings.

Political heavyweight Anwar Ibrahim, who was imprisoned under Najib until the prime minister's shock defeat in May elections, has slammed Canberra's "tainted" policy towards the former government, calling for Sirul to be sent home.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, February 22 2019

Indonesia can only blame itself for its continued failure to secure lucrative business contracts and investments from Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Middle Eastern countries. Why do other countries get multibillion-dollar investments from Saudi Arabia while we only get a relatively smaller amount from the royal family?

Why did Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cancel his scheduled visit to Jakarta on Feb. 19 to 20, while his high-profile visits to Pakistan, India and China went on as planned? The prince pledged to pour billions of dollars into those countries. International media described the lucrative investments as part of the princes campaign to counter his worsening relations with the West.

Why is it that we cannot reap such benefits? We feel we are close to Saudi Arabia, yet we are never seen as good enough for thei...
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Fri, February 22 2019

Mahathir Mohamad (Reuters)

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad returned to power last May, about 15 years after stepping down as prime minister in 2003. The 93-year-old leader said he was trying to make Malaysia an Asian tiger again. Mahathir, a medical doctor by training, invited a group of Indonesian journalists, including The Jakarta Posts Ary Hermawan, to his office for an interview in Putrajaya on Tuesday. The following are excerpts from the interview.

Question: What is the state of relations between Indonesia and Malaysia?

Answer: It is time for Indonesia and Malaysia to know about each other more. Indonesia needs to know about the situation in Malaysia and we in Malaysia need to know the situation in Indonesia.

Historically, M...
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 11:17 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a126d3c 1 National graft-convict,BPK,KPK,Home-Minister,BKN,civil-servants Free

Antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Wednesday urged the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to calculate state losses arising from the payment of salaries to 1,466 civil servants convicted of corruption between 2011 and 2018.

According to the National Civil Service Agency (BKN), 2,855 civil servants have been convicted of corruption. Their dismissals were supposed to be completed by the end of last December in accordance with a joint decree signed by the Home Ministry, the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry and the BKN.

Meanwhile, only 1,389 of the convicts have been dismissed from their civil service posts to date, meaning the remaining 1,466 are still on public payrolls and, therefore, still get monthly salaries.

The termination of employment for civil servants, according to the 2014 Law on the state civil service, requires a decree issued by each of the civil servants supervisors, including ministers, governors, mayors and regents.

Previously, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Febri Diansyah said the failure of the concerned officials to sign the required paperwork had caused the additional losses to the state.

ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah said the delays had caused an estimated Rp 6.5 billion (US$462,748) per month or Rp 72 billion per year in state losses.

He said that estimate was not official, as it was based on the 2015 government regulation on civil servant salary increases, and only the Supreme Audit Agency had the authority to calculate the precise number.

Their salary accounts must be blocked immediately, Wana told reporters after submitting ICWs report to the audit agency's main office in Central Jakarta.

Civil Service Agency's spokesman Mohammad Ridwan told The Jakarta Post that the government planned to grant the various government institutions still listing the convicts on their payrolls more time to process the required dismissals.

However, a deadline will be given. If they cannot complete the dismissals before the deadline, they will face penalties, he said.

Ridwan said most of these convicted civil servants were from regional administrations, which are led by governors, mayors or regents. These officials generally took the stance that they were not responsible for the dismissal of the convicts. They laid the blame for the delayed dismissals on the officials who were in office at the time of the convictions.

They say: Why should we be responsible for dismissing them? Ridwan said.

He added that currently serving officials were also questioning who was responsible for returning the money stolen.

This is one of the most concerning things, Ridwan said.

According to him, the officials have not received letters on court rulings, which would be the basis for the dismissals.

Ridwan said the Civil Service Agency along with other institutions, including the Home Ministry, the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry, the KPK and the BPK, had discussed alternative ways to overcome the problem.

He added that one of these alternative methods was stipulated by the technical team compiling the joint ministerial decree.

"If the officials dismissed them, the Supreme Audit Agency and the Development Finance Comptroller would be required to calculate the accumulated state losses, Ridwan said. (das)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Rome, Italy  Thu, February 21, 2019 09:19 857 acca405afacc7201380025f21a120150 2 World #Vatican,#SexAssault,envoy,meeting,sexual-abuse,victims,Catholic,priests Free

Vatican representatives met Wednesday with victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests a day ahead of a landmark conference on the protection of minors, the Holy See said.

"The credibility of the Church, the Vatican and the pope are at an apocalyptic stage," Francois Devaux, co-founder of the victim's association "La parole liberee" (Freed speech), said afterwards.

The Vatican's organising committee met "12 people, men and women, from different parts of the world who belong to various organizations," a Vatican statement said.

"The members of the committee are very grateful to the victims who participated for their sincerity, the depth and the strength of their testimonies," it added.

It would help committee members grasp "the gravity and urgency of the difficulties that they will confront" during the meetings, the statement said.

Some victims nonetheless criticised the pope's absence on Wednesday, along with a lack of concrete measures to halt the abuse.

"Where is the pope" asked Peter Isely from the international survivors network Snap.

"What good will this meeting do," Devaux asked in turn.

He noted that more than 100 senior Vatican officials would search for a response to the crisis, and asked: "Don't we already know what to do?

"In Lyon the archbishop (Philippe) Barbarin acknowledged that he transferred a paedophile priest and today he is still archbishop," Devaux added by way of illustrating the Church's lack of response.

On Thursday, the pontiff is to launch four days of debate and prayer meant to "leave its mark" in the fight against the "scourge" of sexual abuse, Vatican spokesman Andrea Tornielli said in a statement.

The gathering of heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent "offers new opportunities for awareness, listening to victims, responsibility, accountability, and transparency," he added.
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Linkedin Shaun Tandon and Gianrigo Marletta (Agence France-Presse) Washington/Tampa, United States  Thu, February 21, 2019 10:40 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a124812 2 World #USA,#radicalism,Donald-Trump,rejection,Islamic-State,jihadist,citizenship Free

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is barring a US-born former Islamic State propagandist from returning home, making the highly unusual case that she is not a US citizen.

Trump's refusal to admit 24-year-old Hoda Muthana comes just as he is pressing Europeans to repatriate their own Islamic State fighters and will likely face legal challenges, with US citizenship extremely difficult to lose.

Trump said on Twitter he has "instructed" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country" -- a break with usual US protocol not to comment on individuals' immigration issues.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Pompeo said in a terse statement.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," he added.

The US generally grants citizenship to everyone born on its soil and the Alabama-raised Muthana is believed to have traveled to Syria on a US passport.

But a US official said a later investigation showed that she had not been entitled to her passport, adding: "Ms. Muthana's citizenship has not been revoked because she was never a citizen."

Officials declined further comment but in a loophole that could boost the government case, Muthana's father had been a diplomat from Yemen -- and children of diplomats are not automatically given citizenship.

Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shilby, showed a birth certificate that demonstrated she was born in New Jersey in 1994 and said her father had ceased being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.

"She is a US citizen. She had a valid passport. She may have broken the law and, if she has, she's willing to pay the price," Shilby told AFP at his office in Tampa.

He said Muthana wanted due process and was willing to go to prison if convicted.

"We cannot get to a point where we simply strip citizenship from those who break the law. That's not what America is about. We have one of the greatest legal systems in the world, and we have to abide by it."

US-born and radicalized

Just this weekend, Trump took to Twitter to chastise European allies that have not taken back hundreds of Islamic State prisoners caught in Syria, where Trump plans to withdraw US troops.

Comparatively few Americans have embraced radical Islam, with the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University identifying 64 who went to join the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq.

Muthana, raised in a strict household in Hoover, Alabama, said she was brainwashed by social media messages and headed to Syria without her parents' knowledge in 2014.

Shortly afterward, Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of herself and three other women who appeared to torch their Western passports, including an American one.

She went on to post vivid calls on social media to kill Americans, glorifying the ruthless extremist group notorious for its beheadings that for a time ruled vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

But with the Islamic State group down to its last stretch of land, Muthana said she has renounced extremism and wants to return home with her toddler son, born to one of her three jihadist husbands.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly," she said in a handwritten note to her lawyer.

Tough to lose US citizenship

The US decision on Muthana comes amid rising debate in Europe on the nationality of extremists. Britain recently revoked the citizenship of Shamina Begum, who similarly traveled to Syria and wants to return to her country of birth.

Britain asserted that she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship due to her heritage, but the Dhaka government on Wednesday denied that she was eligible, leading her to become effectively stateless.

US citizenship is significantly more difficult to lose. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War as slavery was abolished, establishes that anyone born in the country is a citizen with full rights.

The US Supreme Court in the landmark 1967 Afroyim decision rejected the government's attempt to revoke the nationality of a Polish-born naturalized American after he voted in Israel.

And last year a federal judge rejected a bid to strip the nationality of a Pakistani-born naturalized American who was convicted in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.

But Trump has campaigned on a hard line over immigration and raised the prospect of ending birthright citizenship ahead of last year's congressional elections.

In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes that killed two Americans in Yemen -- prominent Al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son -- but did not believe it was possible to revoke citizenship.
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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Thu, February 21 2019

Hans van Ginneken and his wife Corrie fell in love with Bali the first time they visited the resort island several years ago.

This year, during the Dutch couples second holiday in Bali, they decided to go on a Java-Bali round trip.

Balinese people are quite friendly, the island is beautiful and the rice fields are amazing, Ginneken told The Jakarta Post in Sanur, one of the islands popular beaches, recently.

The couple said they hoped to visit again in the future, despite the Bali administrations plan to charge a US$10 levy on every foreign tourist visiting the island.

There is no problem. Its only $10. As long as [the administration] uses the money for the environment, nothing else, Ginneken emphasized, adding that he was confident most tourists would still come to Bali ...
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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 14:55 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a130718 1 Business Taxation-Supervisory-Committee,e-commerce,marketplace,incentives Free

The Taxation Supervisory Committee (KPP) has suggested that digital marketplace service providers need incentives to balance out the additional burden of a new regulation on tax treatment for e-commerce transactions.

The KPP is an independent committee that is tasked with monitoring taxation policy and implementation. The committee, which reports directly to the Finance Minister, called for improvements to tax policy.

KPP division head of analysis and consultation Herry Setyawan said the committee had been exploring a number of ideas to provide incentives to online marketplaces.

If the marketplaces have tax obligations, they should be given enough time to manage their cash flow, said Herry in a recent interview in Jakarta.

He went on to add that the committee was also actively communicating with the Indonesian E-Commerce Association to accommodate the latters concerns and ideas, particularly on how to also apply equal tax treatment to online sellers who sold their goods and services via social media.

The committee had prepared suggestions [for the tax authorities] on how to accommodate suggestions from business players, said Herry.

The government had issued Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 210/2018, which is to come into effect April 1, with the aim of subjecting businesses in the digital economy to tax treatment equal to that of conventional businesses. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Madrid, Spain  Thu, February 21, 2019 10:10 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a121454 2 World #Spain,#rape,Court,jailed,men,gang-rape Free

Three men were sentenced to up to 15 years in jail for gang rape, a Spanish court said Wednesday, in a case reminiscent of a 2016 assault which caused national outrage.

In March 2015, a 29-year-old man -- identified by the court with his first name Ricardo -- took the victim, then aged 18, to his flat in Collado-Villalba near Madrid with two other men.

Ricardo, who had previously had "some type of sexual relationship" with the victim, forced her to give him a blow job.

She was then forced to do the same to his two friends, all of whom "knew she didn't want to".

The court, which said the victim suffered from anxiety and depression after the event, sentenced Ricardo and another man, Martin, to 15 years in jail, and the other friend Miguel Angel to 14 years.

The case is reminiscent of the 2016 "Wolf pack" case that saw five men accused of gang-raping a teenager at Pamplona's famed bull-running festival.

They videoed it on their smartphones and bragged about it within their WhatsApp group, calling themselves "The Pack".

Last year, they were convicted of sexually abusing, rather than raping the victim, and sentenced to nine years in jail, causing outrage.

The decision sparked massive demonstrations in what became Spain's equivalent of the #MeToo campaign, with victims lambasting a "patriarchal" judiciary derided as too tolerant of widespread sexual violence.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 12:37 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a12a9ef 1 City Depok,floods,riverbank,collapse Free

A housing complex in Depok, West Java, was left inundated on Wednesday following the collapse of sheet piles by the banks of the Jantung River.

The collapsed of 20-meter-high and 100-m-long sheet piles also caused a landslide along the riverbank and damage to a house in the Tirta Mandala housing complex.

Sukamaju subdistrict head Nurhadi said the 20 to 60 cm flooding was caused by the overflowing Jantung River water that could not be contained by the sheet piles.

"Also, less water infiltrates [ the ground] due to the development of houses around the river," he said, kompas.com reported.

Nurhadi said the permit for the housing complex was in the process of being acquired.

Furthermore, he would communicate with the Public Works and Housing Ministry to resolve the problem.

"We will ask the ministry to deploy heavy equipment and reinstall the sheet piles," he added. (sau)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 10:00 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a120c54 1 Politics Jokowi,Prabowo-Subianto,land,Presidential-Debate Free

The controversy surrounding presidential candidate Prabowo Subiantos land ownership took a new turn on Wednesday, with Gerindra Party figures insinuating that Joko Jokowi Widodo had also benefited from Prabowos business acumen.

In a direct jab against the incumbent, who revealed during the second presidential debate that Prabowo controlled thousands of hectares of land, the rival camp warned Jokowi that his rise to political stardom was partly thanks to the party founded by the former army general.

Gerindra Party deputy chairman Edhy Prabowo said proceeds from Prabowos ownership of large property concessions in East Kalimantan and Central Aceh contributed to Jokowis bid for the Jakarta governors post in 2012, regarded as the key milestone that heralded his rise to the presidency in 2014.

Some of the funds made from the business were wired to finance Pak Jokowis campaign during the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election and the amounts were massive, Edhy said on Wednesday.

Jokowi ran in the Jakarta gubernatorial election with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, with the backing of the Gerindra Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The pair won the election, defeating then incumbent Fauzi Bowo-Nachrowi Ramli in the runoff.

With Jokowis past ties to Gerindra, Edhy deprecated Jokowis remarks, which he described as a personal attack against Prabowo during the debate last Sunday.

When the candidates traded barbs on agrarian reform, Jokowi replied to Prabowos criticism over his administrations land-distribution program by saying that his rival owned 220,000 ha in East Kalimantan and 120,000 ha in Aceh.

[Jokowi] seems to have forgotten that Pak Prabowo and the Gerindra Party played a role in getting him to where he is now, Edhy said.

The disclosure that Prabowo owned extensive landholdings, apparently contrary to his own campaign narrative that often criticizes the small clique of Indonesian people who control the countrys resources, has led to the two rival camps trading blows with each other.

Prabowo acknowledged in his closing statement in Sundays debate that he owned cultivation rights over the tracts of land granted by the state and that he was willing to return the concessions to the state.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla jumped into the fray on Tuesday, revealing that Prabowo had bought the land in East Kalimantan for US$150 million in 2004 after Kalla granted the purchase of the concession to the former general in order that the land would not fall into the hands of foreign business players.

Although relatively unknown, Prabowo and his younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo control the Nusantara Group business empire, which has a total of 27 companies engaged in the plantation, forestry, mining and energy sectors.

Recently, Hashim criticized Jokowi for asserting that he did not spend any money during the race for the Jakarta governorship, with Hashim saying that he had been the one who wired the money to fund Jokowis campaign at the time.

Jokowi came to his office several times and asked for financial assistance, Hashim claimed, and he decided to provide not only money, but also campaign banners and Jokowis signature checkered shirts.

I have the records that we helped Pak Jokowis [campaign], he said.

Hashim, who is an executive in Prabowos campaign team, revealed in 2014 that he gave about Rp 52 billion ($3.7 million) for Jokowis campaign in the 2012 Jakarta election.

PDI-P politician Eva Kusuma Sundari confirmed that Gerindra took part in financing the campaign, however, she said that Prabowo gained more benefit because his party and his own picture were promoted in most of the campaign materials.

Vedi Hadiz of the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne in Australia said that both Prabowo and Jokowi were entangled in the oligarchical structure that had been nurtured during the New Order Era and now co-existed with the countrys democracy.

The fact that Prabowo could be thought of as a man of the people is quite amusing given his origins at the heart of the New Order Era oligarchy, Vedi told The Jakarta Post, highlighting the fact that Prabowo was the former son-in-law of former president Soeharto.

That people might think that Jokowi has been able to launch his political career, and survive for this long, without the financial muscle of oligarchs is just as funny.

Oligarchy has been reproduced and continues to thrive within Indonesias democracy. In the present democracy it is protected by the fact that it has colonized the institutions of governance. These include the major political parties, and national, regional and local legislatures, he said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Makassar  Thu, February 21, 2019 13:20 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a12c53f 1 Politics Jokowi,Prabowo-Sandiaga,2019-elections Free

The campaign team of presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno has reported 15 district heads in Makassar, South Sulawesi, to the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) over footage that reportedly promotes the incumbent President Joko Jokowi Widodo and running mate Maruf Amin.

In the footage, which runs for one minute and 27 seconds, there is a part that certainly depicts [their] support for a certain pair, legal team head Edy Arsyam said at the local office of Bawaslu, on Thursday as quoted by Antara.

Edy said the district heads were civil servants and, thus, it was illegal for them to show support for a certain presidential candidate and try to influence the constituency.

He added that South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who was captured in the video, had allegedly played along.

We began to sense an unfairness. Were collecting the evidence, he said, adding that they had allegedly violated the State Apparatus Law.

A member of the campaign team, Asruddin Bahar, added that the footage may have violated the Election Law and a Bawaslu regulation that forbids civil servants from engaging in politics or campaigning.

The head of the South Sulawesi office of Bawaslu, Laode Arumahi, promised to follow up on the report. (swd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 16:56 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a136ff5 1 City taman-anggrek-mall,explosion,jakarta,gas-explosion,gas-pipe-leak Free

West Jakarta Police have questioned five eyewitnesses in connection with an explosion at a food court in Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta on Wednesday that left six people injured.

West Jakarta Police have questioned five eyewitnesses, including a technician and security officers, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Thursday.

The police laboratory and forensics (Puslabfor) unit are also investigating the incident.

It is currently under investigation, he said, as quoted by kompas.com.

The investigation results will be used as a lesson-learned to prevent similar incidents in the future, Argo added.

The explosion occurred at a food counter at 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday. At 12:15 a.m. the Jakarta Polices bomb squad, led by First Insp. Muji, investigated the area and confirmed a gas leak as the cause of the explosion.

Six people were injured and 40 food counters and two restaurants were damaged in the incident. The victims included both men and women and were aged between 29 and 44 years.

Police cordoned off the scene pending their investigation.(sau)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Belgrade, Serbia  Thu, February 21, 2019 08:08 857 acca405afacc7201380025f21a119de8 2 World #Serbia,#politics,Prime-Minister,Ana-Brnabic,son,LGBT,same-sex-marriage Free

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's partner gave a birth to a baby boy Wednesday, her office said, heralding it as a historic event although the conservative country does not legally recognise same-sex marriages or partnerships.

"Ana Brnabic is one of the first Prime Ministers whose partner has given birth while in office... and the first in the world in a same-sex couple," her media office said in a statement.

"The delivery went well and both the mother and baby are doing fine," it added.

According to local media, the boy was named Igor.

Brnabic, 43, became one of the few openly gay government leaders in the world when she came to power in June 2017.

But she has not been a vocal advocate on LGBT issues in a country where homophobia is widespread.

In February alone there have been at least two acts of vandalism at an LGBT centre in central Belgrade.

During an appearance at a Pride parade in Belgrade in 2017, Brnabic declined to comment on whether she would like to see same-sex marriage legalised in her country.

"I can't give you my personal opinion right now because I'm here as the prime minister representing the Serbian government," she said at the time.

Although the country has various legal acts addressing gender identity and anti-gay discrimination, rights activists say that implementation is poor.

A campaign for the adoption of a law on same-sex partnerships, for which activists hope to win the premier's support, has not yet been successful.
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Thu, February 21, 2019 13:34 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a12c66a 1 National Citarum-River,West-Java,environment,Citarum-Harum,Siliwangi-Military-Command Free

The fate of the governments ambitious program to clean up the Citarum River -- the longest and dirtiest river in West Java -- has been mired by the late disbursement of funding, forcing the Indonesian Military (TNI), which is involved in the program, to ask for money from a foundation.

The military, which runs the Citarum Harum program, is planning to borrow Rp 14 billion (US$997,275) from the Citarum Harum Foundation, an NGO that has sought to build public support for the program.

The Siliwangi Military Commands territorial assistant to the command's chief of staff, Col. Hasto Respatyo, said the funding was expected to be sufficient to support the militarys operation until the end of this month. It will be used to finance the personnel's food, allowances and accommodation.

We have been forced to borrow money from the Citarum Harum Foundation to fund our task force's operations along the river, because this years funding has not been received, Hasto told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The Citarum is an important river that supports households and industries in West Java and Jakarta. The river is deemed important for the lives of at least 27 million people in the two provinces, as it is a major source for raw water supplies, irrigation and hydroelectric plants.

The poor state of the river, which is also a dump site for domestic and industrial waste, has prompted the government to implement restoration and clean-up programs along the river.

Citarum Harum was initiated by the government and the military command last year when National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Lt. Gen. Doni Monardo was serving as Siliwangi commander.

The foundation was launched in February 2018 alongside the program, which was to help the government in revitalizing the 270-kilometer-long river, which is polluted by household garbage and waste from textile factories.

The foundation has collected money from residents and businesspeople to clean the river, as neither can give money directly to the government to revitalize the Citarum.

Among the donors are Dato Sri Tahir of the Mayapada Group and Tahir Foundation, Ted Sioeng from the Sioengs Group, Hendro Gondokusumo of Intiland and Benny Tjokro of Hanson. They have given Rp 20 billion to the program.

Hasto said the loan from the foundation was a temporary measure and only covered minor activities such as for a seedling nursery for plants that will be planted along the river as well as the operations in 13 of Citarums 23 zones.

Throughout 2018, the military operation as part of the Citarum rehabilitation program was funded by the Citarum River Basin Area Center under the Public Works and Housing Ministry.

Military personnel have been assigned to carry out various tasks, including clearing up garbage and waste from the river, educating residents on waste disposal as well as taking care of the seedling nursery.

The government said it had allocated Rp 640 billion for the program this year and appointed West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil as the head of the Citarum task force.

The money would be used to purchase excavators from state-owned weapon maker PT Pindad; construct incinerators in 50 locations along the river as well as 2,050 public bathing, washing and toilet facilities and fund the military operation as part of the project.

West Java Environment Agency head Bambang Riyanto said the disbursement of the fund was delayed because of the plan to build incinerators. The Public Works and Housing Ministry argued that building incinerators was not their responsibility, so its deliberation was handed over to the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Bambang said.

As the plan is under discussion, the funding package could not be approved and disbursed by the Finance Ministry on time, causing the military to scramble to find money for the program.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said he had asked Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan to disburse the money immediately so the problem would not affect the restoration program.

Pak Luhut said the money would be ready no later than mid-March, the governor said.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo (right) signs a handover document authorizing the transfer of items of evidence confiscated by the Corruption Eradication Commission to the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) on Wednesday in Jakarta. The items have been claimed by the state and will be used by the BNN and AGO for their respective purposes.(JP/Iqbal Yuwansyah)(right) signs a handover document authorizing the transfer of items of evidence confiscated by the Corruption Eradication Commission to the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) on Wednesday in Jakarta. The items have been claimed by the state and will be used by the BNN and AGO for their respective purposes.(JP/Iqbal Yuwansyah)
Mei Wu, who served as both emcee and performer, explained the tradition of Chinese New Year or Spring Festival - which was born from a thousands-of-years old myth when the people followed a lunar calendar. According to Chinese lore, a ravenous animal was wreaking havoc, stealing food and attacking people in a village. The villagers soon learned that the animal could be frightened away by bright lights and colors and loud noises. As the Chinese people were the inventors of gunpowder, the use of firecrackers was incorporated into the celebration.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 19:35 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a1405e4 1 City Bekasi,traffic-jam,economic-growth,mayor Free

The mayor of Bekasi, West Java, Rahmat Pepen Effendi, has said he is proud that his city has become known as a city of traffic congestion as it indicated economic growth.

Pepen was responding to the remarks of newly inaugurated Cilegon, Banten, Mayor Edi Ariadi who commented on Wednesday that Bekasi was often jammed.

Im proud that traffic jams often occur in Bekasi, otherwise there wouldnt be economic growth, nor would education be progressing. Let it be congested, what's more important is that the economic growth [of Bekasi] is above the national average, Pepen said on Thursday.

According to the Bekasi mayors 2013-2018 accountability report (LKPJ), the city recorded a growth rate of 5.82 percent from 2013 until 2016, while the national average stood at 5.17 percent in 2018.

Furthermore, Pepen said, four national strategic projects being constructed side by side in the city contributed to the traffic congestion. The projects are the Becakayu toll road, the light rail transit (LRT), the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road and Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.

The city administration would of course make steady efforts to tackle traffic congestion, he said.

Infrastructure will be improved, so as time goes by [traffic congestion] will be reduced. Because it's not only the system that needs to change but also society's behavior, Pepen said.

Hopefully, he [Edi] heard what Im saying and he is aware of it, he added.

The new Cilegon mayor said after his inauguration on Wednesday that he wanted infrastructure development in Cilegon to be as great as in Bekasi, but expressed regret at the traffic congestion in Bekasi.

Weve requested an overpass, which is the responsibility of central government or Banten province. We dont want to be like Bekasi, what a shame about its congestion, Edi said, as quoted by kompas.com. (sau)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 10:41 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a124c3a 1 Business Freeport-Indonesia,negotiation,presidential-election,Jokowi,James-Moffet,Ignatius-Jonan Free

Negotiations on the divestment of gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) were dragged into public debate when former energy and mineral resources minister Sudirman Said said a meeting between President Joko Jokowi Widodo and then-Freeport McMoran (FCX) chairman James Moffet took place in 2015.

Minister Ignasius Jonan said on Wednesday that he had no knowledge of such a meeting, which reportedly pertained to a proposal on Freeports contract extension, which according to Sudirman, had received a green light from President Jokowi.

Maybe there was such a letter, but I dont know. Even there was, it was irrelevant [to the negotiations], Jonan said in a press conference at his office in Jakarta. He also said that even if there was a meeting between Jokowi and Moffet, it did not affect negotiations.

Jonan said when he was assigned by Jokowi to continue the negotiations with Freeport in October 2016, old letters and other documents did not serve as references in the negotiations.

He said President Jokowi had given clear instructions to the negotiators, consisting of himself, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno.

The instructions were clear --- increase ownership to 51 percent, construct smelters, change the contract scheme into a special mining permit and increase state revenue. We now know the results [ of the negotiations], he added.

He referred to a announcement made by Jokowi on Dec. 21, 2018 that Indonesia had become the majority owner of PTFI after increasing its ownership from 9.36 percent to 51.23 percent through a US$3.85 billion deal.

Jonan said he had never met with Moffet because when the negotiations started, he had already been replaced by Richard Adkerson. According to Jonan, Adkerson had expressed interest in meeting with President Jokowi but the President had not agreed to such a meeting. (bbn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21 2019

The West Jakarta Police have identified 25 motorcycle gangs that reportedly often create public disorder.

Weve arrested [members of] eight of the 25 gangs identified, West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Hengki Haryadi said on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

Two of the eight gangs were allegedly involved in recent attacks.

Members of one gang are suspected to have been involved in an assault incident in Tanah Sereal Raya in Tambora on Jan. 20 that killed a resident named Adam Ilham. Police have arrested 12 alleged members of the gang.

The other gang has been accused of an assault on Ahmad Al Fandri in Tanjung Duren on Feb. 5. Police have detained 14 suspected members of the group.

Four gang members from the Tanjung Duren incident are junior high school students, ...
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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 13:52 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a12d430 1 Business gas-find,gas-discovery,reservoir,exploration-blocks,energy,Repsol,petronas,Mitsui-Oil-Exploration,SKKMigas Free

The government has yet to announce the official volume of what is possibly Indonesias biggest gas discovery in almost two decades, which was found by Spanish energy giant Repsol along with its joint venture partners Malaysias Petronas and Japans Mitsui Oil Exploration.

The gas find, called the Kaliberau Dalam Well 2X (KBD2x), is located in the Sakakemang Block, South Sumatra, and has at least 2 trillion cubic feet of recoverable resources, according to preliminary estimates.

The government will assess the gas find until the end of the year, said Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar.

We need to drill in four to six spots to measure the reserves, he said recently. Well [drilling] can take three to four months. Once the appraisal is completed, we will know what the possible, probable and proven reserves are.

But I can tell you that in terms of a fractured basement reservoir, the KBD2X is the second biggest discovery after the Corridor Block [Indonesias third largest gas block located in South Sumatra], he added.

Fractured basement reservoirs are an accumulation of hydrocarbons under metamorphic and magmatic rocks, upon which a sedimentary sequence lies in an unconformable manner.

Separately, Andrew Harwood, research director at global energy think tank Wood Mackenzie, estimated that there was 1.5 trillion to 2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas at the site. If the estimate is correct, it would put the KBD2X in the top five discoveries globally over the last 12 months.

At 2 tcf, the KBD2X discovery is the largest in Indonesia since ExxonMobil discovered the Cepu oil field [in Central Java] in 2001, he wrote in an e-mail. It would also surpass the largest discovery in the Asia-Pacific in 2018, the Dorado oil discovery in Australia.

A report from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKKMigas) shows that Repsol discovered the reservoir in early February. Since Feb. 10, the company has been carrying out a production test with an initial result of 45 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

"The discovery will pave the way for other explorations by targeting fractured basements spanning from South Sumatra to Central Sumatra," said SKKMigas head Dwi Soetjipto.

Meanwhile, deputy minister Arcandra said the ministry hoped production could begin within five years.

If we [the government] can help them [Repsol] in the early production phase, such as infrastructure and other things, we expect that production could begin faster, he said.

Arcandra was confident that if the gas discovery lived up to its expectation, it would prolong domestic gas supplies beyond 2025.

"If it [the KBD2X] succeeds, our gas balance will change. It will extend the gas supply. But for how long, we will need to wait for the appraisal," he said.

Wood Mackenzie calculates that the KBD2X can produce natural gas of 300 mmcfd for 15 years. It also said Indonesia could capitalize on the discovery to attract investment and stimulate more exploration.

The think tank believes that in near to medium term, the gas discovery will partially offset declining output from other domestic fields and reduce Indonesias reliance on liquefied natural gas.

"In the long term, Indonesia needs to continue to attract explorers, particularly in the more difficult but potentially more prospective eastern Indonesia basins, Harwood said.

In its latest report for 2018s fiscal year, Wood Mackenzie underlined that there was limited interest among oil and gas giants in the latest oil and gas block offerings.

Some experts have said globally, policy uncertainty along with a slump in the global oil price has forced giant oil and gas companies to put the brakes on exploration, which require massive investment, and instead implement efficiency measures.

On the same day the gas find was made public, Repsol inked a production sharing contract with the government to operate new exploration block South Sakakemang, near the Sakakemang block where it found the giant reservoir.

Repsol Indonesia general manager Greg Holman said the company was committed to replicating its achievement in the Sakakemang block.

As of now, Repsol operates five exploration blocks in Indonesia, namely East Jabung, Sakakemang, South East Jabung, Andaman 3 and South Sakakemang.
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Thu, February 21, 2019 12:23 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a129a79 1 National Palu-Earthquake-Tsunami,emergency-relief,post-disaster,central-sulawesi,BNPB,jusuf-kalla Free

Five months after earthquakes, a tsunami and soil liquefaction devastated Central Sulawesi in September last year, the region maintains its emergency status after the provincial administration extended the phase.

The emergency transition phase was scheduled to end this week, but a meeting involving the provincial administration, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Public Works and Housing Ministry working unit and other stakeholders decided to extend the status until April 23.

In the middle of the meeting, Vice President Jusuf Kalla called and told us to make sure that the huntara [temporary accommodation] came with basic features, such as electricity and clean water, Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The vice president later agreed to the extension of the disaster emergency transition status, he added.

This is the third time the phase was extended. The first emergency phase applied from Sept. 29 following the disaster until Oct. 26. It was extended for 60 days until Dec. 25, then again until Feb. 23 and most recently until April 23.

National Commission on Human Rights Central Sulawesi representative Dedi Askary expressed hope that the extension meant authorities could implement plans effectively and efficiently.

Extension after extension has the same consequences, that is extending the suffering of the survivors in 400 temporary shelters, he said.

So far, 488 of the targeted 699 huntara had been built for survivors in Palu, Donggala, Sigi, and Parigi Moutong, according to Arie Setiadi, who heads the Public Works and Housing Ministrys working unit.

Yet, as not all of them have access to electricity and clean water, we ask for two more months to finish them, Arie said.

According to the initial plan, a total of 1,200 huntara would be built in two phases. However, as Jusuf Kalla told them to finish the 699 units, no additional huntara would be built, Arie said. Of the 699 to be built, 441 were ready.

We continue to work with [state-owned electricity company] PLN to meet the needs, he said.

Meanwhile, 3,000 permanent houses are planned to be developed in Tondo Palu Timur subdistrict with financial support from the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation.

Separately, Central Sulawesi Social Affairs Agency head Ridwan Mumu said the mourning funds would be disbursed soon, but only 1,606 of the 4,402 victims killed in the disaster had been verified.

The funds for the verified ones will be wired to their respective next of kin, Ridwan said, adding that funds had also been prepared for the 72,000 evacuees to cover 60 days of living costs. (swa)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Depok  Thu, February 21, 2019 17:35 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a13c385 1 City Depok,waste,treatment Free

For most people maggots are repulsive creatures but Depok city administration in West Java has successfully turned them into an economically beneficial commodity.

The larvae of the black soldier fly are being used by the administration to consume organic waste at the Merdeka 2 waste bank (UPS) in Sukmajaya.

The unit head Heriyanto explained that his team had distributed baskets to several households in Depok into which the residents separate organic waste to be fed to the maggots.

We have asked several households in Depok to separate their own waste, he said on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Residents who have separated their waste and supplied it to the waste bank are eligible for free fertilizer produced by the maggots from eating the treated organic waste.

The fertilizer is of a high quality and can be sold, Heriyanto added.

He explained that the maggots were able to decompose several tons of organic waste in a week or two.

The maggots can then be used as fish or poultry feed. Fluid extracted from them can also be used as a natural pesticide, Heriyanto said. (sau)
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Linkedin Alice Ritchie (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdomn  Thu, February 21, 2019 08:20 857 acca405afacc7201380025f21a11a437 2 World #UKCitizen,#Bangladesh,UK,Bangladesh,rejection,Islamic-State,teen,citizenship Free

A London teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria was on Wednesday facing the prospect of being stateless after Britain revoked her citizenship and authorities in Bangladesh, where her family is from, said they would not take her in.

Shamima Begum travelled to Syria in 2015 aged just 15, but after giving birth in a refugee camp last weekend, she wants to come home.

Now 19, Begum said she was "shocked" at the decision by Britain to revoke her citizenship, a move announced in a letter to her family in Britain, according to their lawyer.

It was reported that she could be eligible for automatic citizenship in Bangladesh, where her mother is believed to be from, but the foreign ministry in Dhaka rejected this.

"She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh," it said.

"It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage. So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh."

Speaking to the BBC in the refugee camp in eastern Syria, where she arrived after fleeing fighting between the IS group and US-backed forces, Begum said she was British.

"I have one citizenship... and if you take that away from me, I don't have anything. I don't think they are allowed to do that," she said.

Dutch husband

She had earlier told ITV News that Britain's decision was "unjust", but said she might consider applying for citizenship in The Netherlands.

Her husband, an IS fighter believed to be held by Kurdish forces in Syria, is Dutch.

"Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland," said Begum. "If he gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison."

The Dutch authorities refused to comment but experts said Begum stood little chance of being accepted because she would have to satisfy a stringent list of requirements.

Her family's lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee said he was "considering all legal avenues to challenge" Britain's decision.

Begum's fate has stirred controversy since she and two school friends fled her east London home to join the terror network four years ago.

The case highlights a dilemma facing many European countries, divided over whether to allow jihadists and IS sympathisers home to face prosecution or bar them over security concerns as the so-called "caliphate" crumbles.

Interior minister Sajid Javid told lawmakers Wednesday that revoking citizenship was "a powerful tool" not used lightly.

"But when someone turns their back on (our) fundamental values and supports terror they don't have an automatic right to return to the UK," he said.

He has previously said that more than 100 individuals had already been deprived of their British citizenship.

- 'Children should not suffer' -

Javid noted on Wednesday that international law that means Britain can only do this if it will not leave the person stateless, if they are a dual national or "in some limited circumstances they have the right to citizenship elsewhere".

Javid hinted that Begum's newborn son -- her third child, after her previous son and daughter died in recent months -- could be treated differently.

"Children should not suffer, so if a parent does lose their British citizenship it does not affect the rights of their child," the minister said.

Begum appealed to British authorities to show "compassion" by allowing her to raise the baby in Britain.

But she inflamed public opinion back home by saying in her first interview with The Times last week that she had no regrets about joining the jihadists.

In her latest BBC interview, she expressed more remorse.

"I was hoping Britain would understand I made a mistake, a very big mistake, because I was young and naive," she said.

Begum was born in Britain, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen, her family's lawyer said.

The BBC reported however that she may have automatic right to Bangladeshi citizenship until she is 21, through a parent.
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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 21, 2019 16:55 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a136fb9 1 Business bank-indonesia,rate,February,perry-warjiyo Free

Bank Indonesia (BI) announced its plan to maintain its policy rate for the third successive month after a two-day board of governors meeting on Thursday. The central bank also pledged to continue its efforts to ensure adequate liquidity in the banking sector to encourage loan growth this year.

During the meeting, BI decided to maintain its seven-day reverse repo rate at 6 percent. The lending facility and deposit facility rates were also maintained at 6.75 and 5.25 percent, respectively.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said the decision was consistent with the joint efforts between the central bank and the government to strengthen the external stability of the country, particularly to manage the current account deficit and to maintain the attractiveness of Indonesian financial assets.

Perry added that the central bank was constantly monitoring the latest developments in global affairs, noting the potential slowdown of the United States economy, uncertainties surrounding the Brexit negotiations as well as slowdown of Chinas gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

These global and financial developments, on one hand, present challenges [for Indonesia] to boost exports but on the other hand encourage foreign capital inflows into developing countries, such as Indonesia, said Perry in Jakarta on Thursday.

He went on to add that despite the central banks monetary policy focus in safeguarding the external stability, BI would continue its expansive monetary operation so as to ensure adequate liquidity in the banking sector to encourage loan growth.

Our monetary operation strategy going forward is increasing the availability of liquidity. We [will] add the frequency and volume of term repo [auction] as well as foreign exchange swaps, among other things, said Perry. (bbn)
Complaint-handling smartphone application Qlue won the Best Mobile Government Service award in the Public Empowerment Category at the seventh installment of the World Government Summit held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 10-12.

The World Government Summit is an annual event involving government representatives from across the globe. At the forum, representatives of government officials, policy makers, experts and private companies exchange views about global trends.

Last year, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati received the Best Minister in the World award at the summit.

Read also: Qlue secures new funding from MDI Ventures

As for this years event, Qlue was said to surpass five other nominees in the category, including the Pakistan Citizen Portal from Pakistan and NYC 311 from the United States.

Founded in 2016, Qlue is a mobile application designed to accommodate public complaints and requests. According to a statement received by The Jakarta Post, Qlue was considered successful in incorporating communities to help improve governance.

Qlue founder and CEO Rama Raditya expressed his happiness at the achievement, saying that its both pride and challenge that keeps motivating the company to innovate and develop smart city technology to help the community, in-line with Qlues mission. (jes/mut)
Writer and music critic Felix Dass has captured one of Indonesia's most successful indie-pop bands through on-tour and behind-the-scenes images in Going South to the North.

Retro-pop sextet White Shoes and The Couples Company (WSATCC) has had a long and colorful career, releasing records through a variety of international labels and traveling globally for solo performances and festival appearances in countries like Korea, Japan, and America.

Going South to the North: Menikmati White Shoes and The Couples Company dari Dekat bersama Felix Dass (enjoying WSATCC up close with Felix Dass) covers part of the adventure these Jakarta musicians have enjoyed as a band, specifically their trip to Australia for the Darwin Festival 2013.

The book features stories and quotes from the band's members, as well as a good amount of behind-the-scenes photos from their journey that were taken by Felix.

Felix has been involved in the local indie music scene for many years as a music critic, radio host, a band manager and several other roles. Joining WSATCC on the trip to Darwin, he indeed experienced the band's daily interactions and private moments up close. What was special about this specific trip was that the band had decided to play in an Australian city that was less known among most Indonesians, rather than performing in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or Melbourne as a few other Indonesian bands have done.

The trip to Darwin Festival 2013 was their Australian debut, Felix recalled. At the time, Felix was working as a public relations officer for AirAsia Indonesia, which sponsored the trip.

What was very interesting [was that] they played a non-popular state when it comes to music in Australia. It wan't Melbourne or Sydney or Perth. It was Darwin, a place where even many Australians have never been to, he said, reminiscing about the uniqueness of the endeavor.

The city was freaking expensive, but it has a unique character. Theyre 24/7 tropical life, very close to Indonesia. So yeah, just being there was already a special experience. We also saw crocodiles and the Northern Territorys breathtaking landscapes, he said.

The entire trip was unforgettable, Felix said, with him snapping hundreds of photos. Still ecstatic when he landed back in Jakarta, Felix went straight to WSATCC's manager Indra Ameng and proposed his idea for the book.

Felix approached the project through the lens of a fan, unabashedly gawking at the band from behind his camera.

Ive been always a massive White Shoes and The Couples Company fan. The first thing was that I wanted to have a good stash of memories that I could share with other fans. The life during the band's trip, as told by someone other than a band member, had never been done before in the case [of WSTCC], he said.

The band, which took its name from the fact it originally had two couples, showed the closeness of its members during the trip. (Neither couple is together now, but remain on friendly terms.) This reliance on friendship, even outside their work relationship, was something that Felix wanted to highlight.

I found that the band was larger than the music they were playing. Its a family that takes care of each other, he said.

The bond in the band is very strong. When you see them from the inside, you understand why they were able to go far  see the world, play music at prestigious festivals, bag [renown] as one of the giants of Indonesian music, all the while being a bunch of nice folk in real life. I think thats the best part of being [part of] the White Shoes and The Couples Company family.

That the book took five years from its initial concept to publication is not lost on the author, who calls it a long journey.

The reason behind this, Felix explained, was that it took him a year before focusing earnestly on the project, and then it took another two years to find a suitable collaborator  in this case, independent publisher Binatang Press.

The experience was rough, but Felix felt that it was something that needed to be done, not just with WSATCC, but with other local bands.

For me personally as a writer and a music guy who lives in the scene, this book is my effort to show people that we need to document our experiences. Whatever format you is OK  books, videos, podcasts, whatever, he said.

The journey has taught him the many aspects of publishing.

I want to show photographers out there that you need to expand on the stories of the pictures you take. Going South to the North is a photographic book, and its made by a guy who operates a professional camera in auto mode, he said.

I know the angles that would look good in print and I dont have a super deep knowledge of operating a camera, but I can make a book out of my auto mode pictures, because I want to document things and share the stories of my time with the band to [other] people.

Let the spirit lead you [...]. Dont think too much. Sometimes you wont end up with anything if you think about things over and over, he advised.

The journey  from the actual trip to publishing the book  was an unforgettable one that Felix gets to relive through Going South to the North. He promises that he is not resting on his laurels, and is already hard at work on another book project.

My next book will be out in the next few months. Its about the massive change that went on in Soundrenaline, one of the biggest music festivals in Indonesia. I just cant stop. (hdt)

Going South to the North is available for Rp 200,000 on binatangpress.com

Felix Dass also contributes music reviews to The Jakarta Post.
Text that ran with photo ads of both Kelly and Wilson said all donations are for time and companionship only; anything else that may occur is between two consenting adults, the warrant said. The ads also said, by contacting me, you agree that you are not affiliated with any form of law enforcement.
Miss Pure International United Kingdom Rosemary Lloyd is interested in helping Bali's campaign against plastic waste, and hopes that other regions will follow.

As we have seen on [the news] and social media, the plastic waste issue in Bali still needs attention, Lloyd said on Tuesday in Denpasar, Bali, during a meeting with Bali Deputy Governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati.

Lloyd regretted that plastic waste had marred the islands natural beauty.

While single-use plastic bags were permitted in Europe, she said, customers needed to purchase it, which made Europeans prefer bringing their own bags to shop.

In our country, plastic bags are recycled using machines, she said as quoted by Antara.

Read also: Bogor plastic bag policy helps markedly cut waste

Tjokorda appreciated Lloyds interest in helping Balis fight against plastic waste, and that plastic waste was among the resort island's most critical problems.

The issue had led the local administration to issue Bali Gubernatorial Regulation No. 97/2018 that prohibited the use of plastic, including plastic straws.

Restaurants and hotels are now using straws made from stainless steel or bamboo. Meanwhile, customers are expected to bring their own shopping bags, he said.

Tjokorda added that Bali was the only province in Indonesia that had issued a regulation on plastic use. (jes/mut)
Nordic countries are famous for their picturesque landscapes, ranging from forests to lush green plains  and they are also where the ethereal Northern Lights can be seen.

Nine Nordic artists and two Indonesian photographers have depicted these landscapes in unique ways, providing different perspectives that go beyond just hitting the shutter-release button.

Their works can be marveled at in It Came from the North, an exhibition in the lobby of World Trade Center 2 in Setiabudi subdistrict, South Jakarta. Displaying a total of 30 works, the exhibition runs from Feb. 19 to March 22.

Visitors read introductory information on It Came from the North on Feb. 20. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)

Presented by Jakarta-based art consultancy ISA Art Advisory, It Came from the North celebrates the countries nature. It presents a glimpse into relationships that the locals have with their environment, showing why it holds a special place among them and how it became a part of their lives.

The Nordic concept friluftsliv, made famous by Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen, highlights the importance of nature in our lives as it relates to the balance between ourselves and our surroundings.

When talking about Nordic countries, most people will directly think about their natural landscapes. These countries have mountains, forests and valleys with four different seasons resulting in breathtaking views, Michelle Florida Limbong, the exhibitions project manager, told The Jakarta Post on Feb. 20 at World Trade Center 2.

We wanted to include an art element, hence our selected works are not purely photography works, Michelle said, adding that they were also helped by Linda Toivio, the director of the Hosek Contemporary art gallery in Germany, throughout the curation process.

Michelle also said the exhibition aimed to encourage Indonesians to learn from people in Nordic countries about appreciating nature.

'Cruising the Fjord', a photo taken by Indonesian Alexander Thian. (ISA Art Advisory/Alexander Thian)

Alexander Thian is among the Indonesian photographers whose works were selected for the exhibition. Alexander took photos during his five-day trip to Norway in May 2018. His works comprise Alone, but Not Lonely, Cruising the Fjord and Winter Sun.

He said there were unique stories behind the photos. For Winter Sun, I spent a long time at Oslo Opera House with the purpose of marveling at its minimalist-designed building and soaking up the ambience, Alexander told The Jakarta Post via a messaging application on Feb. 20.

Meanwhile, Cruising the Fjord was taken when he joined a cruise from Bergen City to Flam village. I was intrigued with a ripped Norway flag. I think both the flag and scenery behind it were really amazing, said the author of Somewhere Only We Know.

Alone, but Not Lonely shows a man in a red jacket feeding geese. It was taken in Oslo near the [Oslo] Opera House. I stood behind the man for over 10 minutes while waiting for the right moment, Alexander said. There were many people passing by in that area, but I just wanted to capture that man from behind with the geese.

Read also: A tale of two artists

Three photographic works from Alexander Thian are on seen at It Came from the North. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)

Often recognized by his Instagram username Amrazing, Alexander admires the locals appreciation for nature. They have clear tourism regulations and comprehensive infrastructure. Im sure they can be implemented in Indonesia as we also have amazing nature that needs to be preserved, he said.

Aside from Alexander's series of photographs, It Came from the North also exhibits artwork from Norway-born photographer Stig Marlon Weston. His pieces  Grove #10, Grove #8 and Grove #18  are a product of Westons unconventional way of capturing forests by hanging the film on trees at night.

Finnish photographer Sandra Kantanen utilized colored smoke and digital painting techniques to capture a forest near her house in Hanko, southern Finland. Part of an ongoing series titled Smoke Works, Kantanens artwork at the exhibition consists of Untitled (Forest 4), Untitled (Forest 8) and Untitled (Forest 10).

Works from Norway-born photographer Stig Marlon Weston sit in a section of the exhibition. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)

The exhibition also featured other artists and photographers, with works from Mads Peter Iversen (Denmark), Astrid Kruse Jensen (Denmark), Nanna Hanninen (Finland), Tine Poppe (Norway), Stefan Isaksson (Sweden), Inka and Niclas Lindergard (Sweden and Finland) and Vicky Tanzil (Indonesia).

It Came from the North is also the result of collaboration with the embassies of four Nordic countries in Indonesia, namely Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. It is also part of ISA Art Advisorys effort to bring art to public spaces while encouraging locals to develop a relationship with the environment. (mut)
Germany launched a drive Wednesday to halve food waste by 2030 as research shows every consumer on average throws away 55 kilograms of edibles a year.

The new strategy would target households, producers, retailers and the restaurant industry to get them to cut down the 11 million tons of food wasted a year.

The new push would aim to help Germany meet UN and EU targets and reduce its climate footprint, said Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Minister Julia Kloeckner.

"Every product contains valuable resources: water, energy, raw materials, but also labor, care -- and heart and soul," she told national news agency DPA.

Read also: Simple ways to combat food waste

New research will look to develop "intelligent packaging" that could use a color gradient to indicate whether food is still edible or past its use-by date.

Companies will be urged to take voluntary measures, such as fine-tuning delivery chains and appropriate portion sizes in restaurants, the ministry said.

The opposition Greens party, who have long urged a shift away from industrial-scale toward organic agriculture, criticized the strategy as too little too late.

Their veteran lawmaker Renate Kuenast demanded not "voluntary commitments and round tables" from the food industry but "binding obligations".
US police on Wednesday charged a TV actor with lying to authorities about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack on the streets of Chicago.

Jussie Smollett, a gay and black actor who stars in the Fox network drama Empire, is facing felony criminal charges of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.

He claimed that on January 29, two masked men beat him late at night in downtown Chicago while yelling racist and homophobic slurs.

The alleged incident initially seemed to serve as an example of growing intolerance in the US and led to an outpouring of support for the actor. But over the following weeks, the 36-year-old went from victim to suspect.

"Felony criminal charges have been approved by Cook County State's Attorney's Office against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report," Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement late Wednesday.

"Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest."

Smollett's attorneys promised to conduct their own investigation and mount "an aggressive defense".

"Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said in a statement.

The actor reported to police that his alleged assailants poured bleach on him, tied a rope around his neck, and yelled "This is MAGA country" -- a reference to US President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

But detectives grew suspicious of the account after interrogating two men who reportedly revealed that they were hired to stage the incident.

Chicago TV station WBBM said the men, brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, claimed Smollett was unhappy that a threatening letter he had earlier received at the Chicago studios where Empire is filmed had not received enough attention.

Read also: Police probe tip 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett was seen with alleged attackers

A rush to judgment

Gloria Schmidt, the brothers' attorney, told reporters Wednesday that the men testified under oath about what they knew without a plea agreement and did not expect to be charged with a crime.

"They're not guilty of anything," Schmidt said.

"I think Jussie Smollett should come clear, because the truth will set him free," she said.

The initial news of Smollett's claims led to widespread condemnation and shock. An outpouring of support came from public figures such as Emma Watson, Katy Perry, and Joe Biden.

Senators and Democratic 2020 presidential candidates Cory Booker and Kamala Harris both called the incident "an attempted modern-day lynching".

President Trump commented that the alleged attack was "horrible".

But Smollett's story appeared to unravel with a steady stream of leaks to US media, and has since become a cautionary tale in an era where incomplete information is quickly spread via social media.

"Many politicians and journalists seemed to suspend all critical thought in a campaign to indict not just Mr. Smollett's attackers but the country as a whole," opinion writer Noah Rothman wrote in The New York Times.

The Chicago Tribune newspaper echoed that sentiment, while warning that the crime Smollett described "certainly was possible".

A 2018 analysis published by The Center for Public Integrity found more than 2.4 million crimes between 2012 and 2016 in which hate was suspected to be a motivating factor.

FBI statistics show hate crimes rose 17 percent in the US in 2017, especially against African-American and Jewish populations.

"The real tragedy in all of this is that hate crimes are, in fact, on the rise in the Trump era," Rothman said.

Senator Harris was among those struggling to reconcile her initial statements with how the case has unfolded, when asked Monday by a reporter about what she now thought of Smollett's claims.

"It's something we should all take seriously whenever anyone alleges that kind of behavior, but there should be an investigation," Harris said, according to Fox News.
It is perfect timing that Modo  the first Doraemon fashion show in Asia  was staged in Jakarta this year.

The year 2019 marks 50 years since cartoon series Doraemon was first published, while 2020 will mark 50 years since Doraemon first appeared in Indonesia. Doraemon has also been chosen as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics special ambassador.

The show Modo, the name of which is derived from Mode Doraemon and the Japanese pronunciation of mode, involved various Indonesian designers who interpreted the beloved robotic cat character.

The lineup included celebrity designer Ivan Gunawan, whose show opened two days of fashion presentations at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta on Feb. 13 and 14; Jil by Gloria Agatha; Monday to Sunday; and 3 Mongkis.

As more designers are given more platforms to reinterpret classic cartoon characters, it is interesting to see how each vision fulfills a different segment of an increasingly dynamic fashion market.

Having Ivan Gunawan involved and to open the show was quite unexpected. Aesthetically, Ivan and Doraemon are worlds apart.

Show-stopper: The final look from Ivan Gunawans Kuroba collection at Modo 2019 is modeled by Asias Next Top Model cycle 6 alumni Jesslyn Lim. The ensemble is up for auction starting at Rp 250 million (US$17,807). (Courtesy of Muara Bagdja Team/-)

Ivans collection, called Kuroba (Dark Wings), consisted of 25 looks for women and five for men. It was tricky to see how the collection had any Doraemon vibe visually  Ivan went for a conceptual approach instead, with a dark twist.

The story of Doraemon is, after all, pretty dark: He had lost his ears (his creators rats mistakenly chewed them off), love interest and color from crying too much, and ended up traveling back in time to improve the fate of his creators great-grandfather, Nobita, a lazy, wimpy kid who never manages to solve his own problems  and Doraemon has to save him again, again and again.

There were many interpretations in detail, which were realized in collaboration with visionary accessories designer Rinaldy Yunardi and Optik Seis for eyewear. Doraemons signature propellers were used on headbands and caps; his golden bell and red sash were made as necklaces and belts; and there was a fedora adorned with crystal drops on its rim  perhaps a symbol of Doraemon crying non-stop after his love interest, Noramiyoko, laughed at him when he lost his precious ears. Even socks had patches of Shizuka, Nobita and other characters.

Meanwhile, textile details included sakura beading, patches of Doraemon characters and a contemporary batik print with silhouettes of the characters in gold. No interpretations of magic pockets were seen, though.

In the shows finale, Ivan presented what he called his masterpiece in his 15-year career. It was truly a show-stopping look  a decadent ensemble of a zipped long coat, accessorized with an extravagant headpiece with propellers and a black tulle neckpiece.

The coat alone was sprinkled entirely with gold Swarovski crystals and hand-embroidered with Doraemon characters all over  all sewn by a single seamstress.

The final look alone took six months to create, so it is no wonder that the entire collection took over a year to develop. The look is up for auction at Rp 250 million (US$17,807) and is on display at Grand Indonesia.

Ivan has a myriad of ideas in his head, just like Doraemon, who has a myriad of gizmos in his magic pocket, said Helena Irma K. Tegoeh, director of AI Indonesia, which licenses numerous Japanese animated franchises to this country.

The objective was to introduce Doraemon at a high fashion level, targeting high teens and young adults, proving that Doraemon isnt something that only children can wear.

Ivan definitely brought a decadent, couture-like kind of high fashion to the mix, but exactly how is this appealing to millennials remains to be seen. The silhouettes alone seem more fitting for tea parties, charity benefits, galas, weddings and award shows and are less in line with what is stereotyped as millennial.

Dark wings: Mens looks from Ivan Gunawans Kuroba collection are featured at Modo 2019. (Courtesy of Muara Bagdja Team/-)

The menswear, however, is exactly that. Ivan notices streetwear is not showing any signs of slowing down  there was plenty of PVC outerwear, logo detailing, sporty looks and technical detailing.

The clothes were even paired with Yeezy 500 shoes. Perhaps the four-layered ensembles were not the most realistic in this weather; nevertheless, they showed a clear vision.

The micro-sized Matrix-style eyewear, which were mostly used on the womenswear, were quintessentially millennial.

There are plenty of people who are not into streetwear, and that seems to be the niche that the womenswear fulfills: young women who still want caped dresses, giant bow ties, fields of organza, the glitz, the glamor and stuff that is not exactly for every day fashion. It is likely Ivan intended the looks to be collectibles, like most Doraemon merchandise is, given what he presented at the end.

While the industry continues the habit of lumping everyone between the ages of 23 and 38 into a singular, stereotypical demographic, Ivan identified just how many niches exists in a single collection. (ste)
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Linkedin Seha Yatim (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Thu, February 21, 2019 13:18 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a12b830 3 Opinion data-privacy,privacy,data-protection-bill,data-protection,Internet,user-data,business,small-and-medium-enterprises Free

Privacy was one of the issues that received wide regulatory attention in 2018 and it will continue to be among trending issues in 2019 given rising concerns over data security. In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May 2018, prohibiting the transfer of European Unions (EU) residents data out of the region unless the recipient countries have received adequacy decision from the EU. Without an adequacy decision, firms will need to utilize standard contractual clauses or binding corporate rules.

The GDPR is viewed as the strictest data privacy law to date, and countries started to grapple with ways to align their own data protection laws. Many countries in the Asia Pacific started to tweak, implement or develop their own privacy laws. Thus far, the only Asian market that the EU has adopted an adequacy decision for is Japan. Its close counterpart, South Korea, is still in discussion stages even though it started the negotiation process in the same year as Japan in 2017.

Other markets are still far behind. After a report commissioned by the EU in 2010 concluded that India did not provide adequate protection based on its existing laws, the country is finalizing a standalone data protection bill. Similarly, Thailand and Indonesia are targeting their draft personal data protection bills to be passed by this year.

Indonesia started deliberating a draft personal data protection bill since 2015 but it keeps getting pushed back due to lack of prioritization. It remains to be seen if the push from the Communication and Information Ministry to get the bill passed before the April presidential and legislative elections will bear fruit.

A privacy law is pertinent to Indonesia if it wants to continue attracting foreign investments and being the breeding grown for homegrown unicorns. Every new technology application will involve personal data whether it is artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data, and others. A privacy law developed based on international or regional standards such as the privacy principles of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Privacy Framework can help create certainty and an enabling environment for businesses, while offering adequate protection for a consumers personal data.

There are, however, constituencies within Indonesia that view the draft personal data protection bill as a tool to level the playing field and they have lobbied hard to get the bill to impose data localization rules on grounds that it will better protect the personal data of Indonesian residents. This is a flawed argument as the protection principle under privacy frameworks are tech-neutral. Moreover, international and regional privacy frameworks provide avenues for data transfer as long as adequate protection measures are in place.

With rampant privacy breaches around the world, Indonesias data protection bill should come sooner than later. The longer it takes for the bill to be passed, the more vulnerable consumers are to data breaches. It will also make it tougher for Indonesian businesses to conduct cross-border business transactions without a privacy law that is aligned with the international markets.

A privacy law, even when it has been passed, may take years before it reaches maturity in terms of getting businesses to comply with the rules, raising public awareness, or introducing guidelines to complement the law in areas where there might be gaps, especially when new technology applications are introduced at a rapid cycle. For instance, Singapore passed its Personal Data Protection Act in 2012, but it wasnt implemented fully until 2014 to give companies time to develop internal policies and comply with the law. They also only embarked on enforcement at a later stage once companies became more familiar with the rules.

In Indonesia, where small and medium enterprises form the bulk of businesses, they will be the group that will need the most hand-holding. The government will need to consider how SMEs can develop capacity in this area and how they would be able to manage with the relevant compliance costs.

At the end of the day, while the concerns of different constituencies are considered, policymakers should remember that a well-measured data protection act is key to protecting consumers, and stalling it will not be beneficial to anyone.

***

The writer works with the Access Partnership team in Asia to help technology clients shape and influence the regulatory and policy environment in the region. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Asia.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Muhammad As'ad (The Jakarta Post) Jombang  Thu, February 21, 2019 15:25 856 acca405afacc7201380025f21a132285 3 Opinion Hijrah,millennials,Islam,Muslim,#2019PresidentialElection,2019-presidential-election,right-wing Free

Last November several celebrities hosted a festival in Central Jakarta called Hijrah Festival, in reference to individual Muslim shifts towards a more religious way of life. The program was held for three days featuring sermons from many well-known preachers such as Abdul Somad, Adi Hidayat, Salim Fillah, Felix Siauw and Hanan Attaki. The festival committee chairman former MTV VJ Arie Untung stated the festival aimed to unite brotherhood among Muslim. Even though tickets were relatively not cheap at around Rp 80,000 (US$5.66), around 12,000 tickets were reportedly sold out. Due to this success, the committee plans to hold another such festival in the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan.

It seems the hijrah trend among celebrities continues; several musicians, TV hosts and actors have publicly declared their intention to hijrah, or to leave their less Islamic ways toward a more religious way of life.

Now the trend of individual shifts is expanding to become a movement to persuade others to do the same, mainly by establishing religious forums. One is the kajian musyawarah, loosely translated as a consultation of studies that gathers celebrities interested in becoming more pious Muslims. The initiators also include actors and TV personalities Teuku Wisnu, Dimas Seto, Baim Wong, Irwansyah dan Dude Harlino. Recently Raffi Ahmad and his wife have also joined this religious program with others calling themselves the hijrah squad. They actively promote their activities through social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. They also initiate and support mass religious gatherings (tabligh akbar) such as the latest in late January with cleric Abdul Somad in Bandung, West Java.

In general, this movement is a positive activity toward a better way of life based on Islamic values. What makes this movement interesting is its tendency to detach itself from influential Islamic ideologies and organizations in the country, as reflected in the highly diverse outlooks and preaching of the featured clerics.

They include Khalid Bassalamah who promotes Islamic teaching based on the Salafi interpretation, Felix who preached in favor of the caliphate, in line with the aspiration of the banned Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, and Adi Hidayat, a former board member of Muhammadiyah special branch in Libya. Although Somad promotes the Shafii school embraced by the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), he does not seem bound to NU.

The preachers can even be contradictory: Somad supports the maulid celebration of the birth of Prophet Muhammad which Khalid rejects. Unlike Felix, Khalid supports the government and refuses to publicly criticize any ruling government  in line with the advice that Muslims should follow their government (umarah).

As many Indonesian Muslims belong to certain religious streams and organizations such as NU, Muhammadiyah or follow the Salafi school and Jamaat Tabligh, for instance, it would be interesting to see how the members of the hijrah movement perceive themselves among those mainstream religious schools and affiliations.

As the scholars Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec note, Muslims everyday practice is ambivalent and at times contradictory. It is embedded in traditions, relations of power and social dynamics, but it is not determined by them. Indeed the members of kajian musyarawah dont seem to really care whether they are following specific Islamic organizations or specific religious practices as long as they are Islam, as seen in the contradictions among the above preachers.

Regarding the upcoming elections, it will be also interesting to see how this new trend influences Muslim millennials in their political choices, as they seem removed from the traditional influence of the largest organizations, NU and Muhammadiyah

The Australian scholar Greg Fealy has stated that Muslims everyday practice will determine Muslims participation and choice in this democratic country. These are particularly the Muslims unaffiliated to religious organizations such as NU, as he told tirto.id last December. Seeing the emergence of hijrah movement among some repentant celebrities, we will still have to find out how this prediction of their voting behavior turns out in the 2019 legislative and presidential elections.

***

The writer is a lecturer at the University of Hasyim Asyari (Unhasy), Pondok Pesantren Tebuireng, Jombang, East Java.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Gov. J.B. Pritzkers first budget address was full of contradictions.

The first-term Democratic governor promised to reach across the aisle and work with conservatives on compromises to help mend the states many fiscal woes.

We are all here, Democrats and Republicans, with the common desire to serve the people of our state well. And we do that well when we talk to each other and, more importantly, listen to each other, he said.

Later, Pritzker unapologetically touted the speed with which he pushed through a $15 minimum wage hike in his first month in office, even when conservatives and downstate job creators pleaded with him to slow down and discuss potential compromises, pleas the governor ignored.

I worked with the appropriate amount of haste to change [the minimum wage], Pritzker boasted. When your house is burning down, you dont wait for the rain to put out the fire.

The governor said he will face decades-old fiscal problems with new ideas, then offered up the same proposals that have been discussed in Springfield for years  a progressive income tax, gambling expansion, more borrowing, pushing pension payments further down the road.

Pritzker claimed he inherited a fiscal 2020 budget with a $3.2 billion structural deficit before saying the budget proposal he was presenting Wednesday is balanced with $1.1 billion in additional revenue and massive spending hikes.

Speaking of that, Pritzker said the state must hold the line on spending. He then proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending in the next fiscal year alone  $100 million more for preschool grants for lower-income families; a 5 percent increase for public universities and community colleges; and $50 million more to help lower-income students attend college.

In a state flush with cash, these are worthy investments. In one with a $3.2 billion budget deficit, and with promises of even more spending increases to come throughout his four-year term, they are fiscally irresponsible. (Oh, and he said his budget proposal was more austere than hed like.)

The governor also promised to work with both Republicans and Democrats on a downstate revitalization plan to encourage the creation of new businesses and jobs and foster the growth of existing ones in struggling communities so they can thrive.

And, again, he bragged about the minimum wage hike, which Republicans and business owners maintain will be job killers, particularly downstate.

Finally, there is Pritzkers top priority, switching from a flat tax to a progressive income tax system, which he promised would not raise taxes on the middle class.

To hear him tell it, a progressive tax system  where higher wage earners pay larger portions of their income in taxes than lower wage earners  is the magic pill that will cure Illinois fiscal disease.

A fair [progressive] tax will change the arc of Illinois finances forever, he said.

But he again didnt share details about how his progressive tax system would work and how it would impact all taxpayers.

My office intends to immediately begin negotiations over proposed fair tax rates with leaders from the House and Senate, he said. Conversations and debate about rate structures and how much revenue we need to raise are appropriate.

Pritzker apparently doesnt know how much new revenue the state needs to pay for his spending priorities. That means he cant possibly know whether it will require a tax increase on the middle class or not.

Ill help him here: Without real spending and pension reform, it will.

That should scare all taxpayers.

So should his contradictions.

Dan McCaleb is editor of Illinois News Network and the digital hub ILNews.org. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dan at dmccaleb@ilnews.org.
"They said that because the university was adamant about not allowing scooters on campus, that they were going to withdraw from the market because their business model is going to solely scooters, Spruill said. "I pressed them, I said the bikes were pretty cool, and he said, 'Our business model shows, our clientele shows, our customers show that they all want scooters.
EDWARDSVILLE  Local prosecutors are looking over a recent Supreme Court decision on civil forfeiture to determine how it might impact both future and past cases regarding asset seizure.

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down Wednesday could have a major impact on seizure of property by police and the courts.

Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said he had just read the case, Timbs v. Indiana, and passed it on to other attorneys in his office. Jersey County States Attorney Ben Goetten had not had time to read it Wednesday.

I think its consistent with the increasing scrutiny of asset forfeiture by the courts, Gibbons said.

The court ruled in the case that the seizure of a $42,000 Land Rover was excessive. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion, which was joined by all the justices except Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, who wrote separate concurring opinions.

The decision handed down Wednesday stems from the 2013 arrest of Tyson Timbs, of Marion, Indiana, who later pleaded guilty to dealing a controlled substance, heroin. At the time of the arrest, police seized a $42,000 Land Rover SUV he had recently purchased with money from an insurance settlement.

Police attempted to seek civil forfeiture of the vehicle, claiming it has been used in the commission of the crime.

One fairly unique factor is that the vehicle seized was purchased with legal funds, according to Gibbons.

More Information Incorporation "When ratified in 1791, the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that as part of Timbs v Indiana, a case involving civil forfeiture handed down Wednesday. However, the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, one of the "Civil War Amendments" to the U.S. Constitution, incorporates, or makes protections in the Bill of Rights applicable to the states. One of the issues was whether the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Claus had been incorporated and now applies to the states. The court ruled it is. In her opinion, she referred to McDonald v Chicago, the last major case to deal with incorporation. It dealt with incorporating 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms to the states. Ironically, Ginsburg was one of the dissenters in that case. See More Collapse

You are actually taking something away that the person owns lawfully, Gibbons said. Courts have said that has a higher level of scrutiny to it.

When a drug dealer uses drug money to buy a car, the drug dealer didnt have the right to that money in the first place, he added.

The decision could have far-reaching impact on law enforcement agencies, which routinely seize vehicles and other property. In many cases, including locally, seized vehicles are routinely used by law enforcement agencies.

The case drew interest from liberal groups concerned about police abuses and conservative organizations opposed to excessive regulation. Timbs was represented by the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice.

The decision is an important first step for curtailing the potential for abuse that we see in civil forfeiture nationwide, said Sam Gedge, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice.

After pleading guilty, Timbs was sentenced to one year of home detention, five years probation and court-supervised addiction treatment, and fines totaling $1,203.

Police also attempted to seize the Land Rover, but the state court denied the request, observing that Timbs had recently purchased the vehicle for $42,000, more than four times the maximum $10,000 monetary fine. The court determined the seizure would be grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Timbs offense, hence unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendments Excessive Fines Claus.

The Eighth Amendment reads: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The ruling was affirmed by an Indiana appellate court, but the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the opinion, in part because it said the excessive fines clause applies only to federal action and does not apply to the states.

As part of the ruling, the clause was incorporated, or applied to states, through the 14th Amendment.

Ginsburg wrote that the historical and logical case for incorporating the Excessive Fines Clause is overwhelming and deeply rooted in this nations history and tradition.

Ginsburg also noted the excessive penalties invoked by the seizure.

Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties, Ginsburg wrote. Excessive fines can be used, for example, to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies..

I think its fairly sound reasoning on the courts part, Gibbons said. Its an interesting opinion.

Were reviewing it, he said. I had not seen the case, so I went and read it. I sent it to the attorneys that handle those types of cases to make sure we remain in full compliance.

He was unsure how or if it would be applied retroactively.

If there are questions raised about past cases, well have to go back and look at the cases, he added, noting that the source of funds used to purchase the asset will be the deciding factor.

The case was remanded, or sent back, to be reheard by the Indiana court system using the new ruling for guidance.

In his concurrence, Thomas agreed with the decision, but made a different legal argument.

He wrote that freedom from excessive fines was protected by the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States in the 14th Amendment.

Some information was provided by The Associated Press.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
Senator Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon)

From a press release:

Gov. Pritzker and his budget team made tremendous strides for Illinois today, focusing on our children and the future is something to be celebrated. I commend Gov. Pritzker for his commitment to invest more in both K-12 and higher education institutions.

Under the proposed budget scheduled to start July 1, 2019, school districts across the state will get $25 million more than required by the new school funding formula  an increase to $375 million from $350 million.

Higher education will also see a $50 million increase for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) and a $55.2 million increase for public universities operating expenses.

Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and other area public schools have been decimated for too long, and stability must be brought back into our classrooms to invest in our states economic growth. I appreciate his effort and for sharing my main priority.

I look forward to working with Gov. Pritzker on his bipartisan Downstate Revitalization Plan while having discussions on this proposal to agree on a final spending plan that is fiscally responsible to taxpayers.

Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville)

From a news release:

The governor of Illinois is constitutionally required to deliver a balanced budget based on current law and current revenues.

Unfortunately, after declaring that the state has a $3 billion budget deficit and a $15 billion backlog of unpaid bills, Governor Pritzker promised more spending, more fees, continued underfunding of pensions, and more taxes.

We need a balanced budget based on reality, not more political promises funded on the backs of working people.

The governor stated that Illinois should be paying $4.9 billion in pension payments, but will be required to pay $9.1 billion (due to pension holidays under Governor Blagojevich).

Whats his answer? Continue to underfund them. Stretch the payment out for a longer time, increasing the states payments by estimates of over $100 billion over the next 50 years.

On top of this, the state will have paid off pension bonds and will have an additional $1 billion. Instead of continuing to put this into pensions, he has proposed new spending on new programs.

As Illinoisans, we have already seen how this plan plays out, and it always ends with unfulfilled promises and increased taxes that we cannot afford!

Expecting tax payers to foot the bill for politicians spending is not right and I will not support it.

Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill)

From a press release:

Gov. Pritzker presented an honest assessment of our fiscal challenges. The good news: he wants to put more money toward schools and career and technical education in central Illinois. Thats fantastic. Investment in education is an investment in the economy and in long-term stability.

But his revenue proposals are going to present challenges, and they should be given a fair hearing in the Senate.

I give the governor credit for being aggressive and creative in addressing Illinois budget problems. Its refreshing to have a leader who is not trying to balance the budget on the backs of workers and retired teachers.

Comptroller Susana Mendoza

Today, Governor Pritzker took a welcome departure from the past. His budget address shows he grasps the problems Illinois faces and is embracing serious solutions to attack them. As he said, it has taken decades to get Illinois into this mess, and Governor Pritzker knows it will take years for us to dig ourselves out.

Governor Pritzkers proposed support for early childhood, elementary and higher education; crime prevention; veterans; mental health, child care and aging programs is both welcome and necessary.

Today is just the first step in the budgeting process, but it appears to be a good step. Now its time for Governor Pritzker and the legislature to get to work. My office will continue to serve as a resource for up-to-date fiscal information and transparency for taxpayers.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul in interview after the address:

I liked the speech. It was a dose of reality in there, of the financial burdens that we face, and the things that we need to do to tackle them, and he was honest that were not going to do that overnight.

Im certainly interested in public safety, one of the last things he addressed. On the heels of the shooting in Aurora, weve got policy to work on. But we also need to invest in the state entities and then law enforcement at large, including the attorney generals office, in order to do the things we need to do to keep people safe from gun violence, from people who prey on consumers.

On legalized cannabis: The devil is always in the details. Im particularly concerned about anything thats done to target cannabis and legalization to children through flavoring or production of candies or products aimed toward kids. Weve seen it before with cigarettes, weve seen it now with vaping, and I anticipate that challenge when we talk about legalization.

Im a proponent generally, but the devil is in the details.

Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Alton)

From a press release:

State Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Alton, issued the following statement after Gov. J.B. Pritzkers budget address:

With the enormous multi-billion dollar backlog of unpaid bills that Illinois is facing, there will certainly be tough decisions that need to be made to help get our fiscal house into order. As the former president of the Riverbend Growth Association, I understand that the path Illinois has been going down is not sustainable, and we must control spending. In our households and businesses we cannot get away with not paying our bills  and the state should not be able to get away with it either.

Hearing the governors priorities is a first step in the process of negotiating a responsible budget that begins to address the challenges Illinois faces. I will be speaking up for the priorities of our community and working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put Illinois back on the path to fiscal stability.

House Speaker Michael J. Madigan released the following statement:

After four years of unprecedented crisis, we are still uncovering the extent of the damage to our states budget. Bruce Rauners budget crisis has left us with billions of dollars in unpaid bills, frayed our social service infrastructure, and squandered $1 billion on late payment penalties instead of funding our schools, health care and critical human services. Without the efforts of House Democrats and some rank-and-file Republicans who worked together to make tough decisions and end Rauners crisis, the damage would have been even worse.

Amid the challenges we heard spelled out today, we also heard that we now have a governor who recognizes the magnitude of these challenges and will work with us to address them. House Democrats stand ready to work with Governor Pritzker and our Republican colleagues, bring all options to the table for honest negotiation, make the tough decisions, continue to stand strong and protect critical human services and quality schools, and move Illinois forward.

Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville)

www.ilhousedems.com

After four years of failed leadership, it is important that as we move forward in budget negotiations we ensure everyone has a seat at the table. We need both Democrats and Republicans to be ready to compromise and do what is best for Illinois, said Stuart. I am ready to compromise and craft a state budget that protects essential services, and pays down the enormous backlog of unpaid bills.

We still have a lot to negotiate in terms of what the budget will look like. The recent proposal of implementing a mileage tax to solve the states budgetary woes is concerning to me, especially in the Metro East and southern Illinois where we do not have public transit options readily available. Living in a rural community often requires families to drive long distances for work, school or just to buy groceries, continued Stuart. Paying down the backlog of unpaid bills is one of my top priorities to get our financial house in order, but I believe we must do so by asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share and responsibly controlling state spending, not by increasing taxes on those who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Compiled by Capitol News Illinois and Hearst Illinois
As for Sanders, his unexpectedly strong showing against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic race stemmed from unique circumstances; he was the only option for younger and more liberal Democrats who opposed the former secretary of state.

By running again at 79, he wont just have one unpopular rival; he is facing a diverse array of candidates, all younger and many espousing the positions like Medicare for all and free college, which were Sanders staples in 2016.

That may explain why, in a December poll taken by the liberal Daily Kos web site, Sanders ran an unexpectedly poor fifth with 11 percent, trailing Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ORourke, Biden and Harris. Four years ago, he was the groups heavy favorite.

In recent weeks, criticism has surfaced about how the Vermont senator ran his last campaign, especially the male dominance and a number of incidents in which female staff members were poorly treated. A number of his 2016 operatives have moved to other camps. And Sanders is bound to face more criticism this time for refusing to shed his independent status and join the Democratic Party, as well as for his reputation as a political loner who doesnt work well with others.
VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System senior leadership will hold a veterans town hall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in Room BC at the Grand Island Public Library.

The town hall will provide an opportunity to learn about whats new in veterans health care and benefits. Subject-matter experts from the local VA health system will provide updates and respond to questions from veterans, patients, families and community partners during the meeting.

Following the town hall, representatives from various VA programs will be available to provide assistance to veterans who may not be enrolled in the health care system.

For more information, contact Angela Williams at (308) 389-5102.
At least three people were injured in a large-scale accident on Interstate 80 Wednesday morning that involved nine semi-trucks and two passenger vehicles.

The vehicles were involved in multiple crashes on I-80 between Giltner and Aurora. Five vehicles took part in a chain-reaction crash. Because of the pileup, I-80 was closed to eastbound traffic for about three hours while emergency crews worked at the scene and cleared the road.

Weather conditions were a factor in the crashes.

At about 9:10 a.m., Hamilton County received a 911 call that two semi-tractor/trailers had crashed and jackknifed, blocking eastbound traffic near mile marker 328. As troopers and officers were en route to the scene, additional vehicles became involved in a chain-reaction crash. The first crash scene involved four semis and one passenger vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee.

After the initial incident, a pair of semis that were traveling together came upon the scene and were unable to stop. One struck the other, pushing it into the Jeep Cherokee.

Both occupants of the Cherokee were transported to the hospital in Aurora, but the passenger, Jason Palmer, 29, of Indiana, was flown to Kearney with life-threatening injuries. The driver was evaluated and has been released from the hospital.
On Wednesday, Central Nebraskans were busy digging out and road crews were busy clearing the streets and highways.

In Grand Island, city crews headed out at 1 a.m. Wednesday to first clear off emergency snow routes before getting to residential areas.

The guys finished up snow routes between 4:30 and 6 (a.m.). We had a truck break down, so we had a route take longer, but by 6 they were done with all the snow emergency routes, said Grand Island Street Superintendent Shannon Callahan.

Callahan said as a rule of thumb it takes about half a day to clear residential streets, depending on the amount of snow.

I really try to shoot for those 12 hours. I imagine well be done later this evening, she said Wednesday morning.

The night crew that plows emergency routes is made up of 13 operators and units. A salt crew also was out Wednesday morning treating arterials and main roads. There are approximately 925 lane miles in the city.

About 3.5 inches of snow accumulated in Grand Island with the latest snowfall. Callahan said it usually takes at least 2 inches before crews are sent out to clear streets. There havent been many days of significant snowfall this winter, but the department has remained busy.
Javier Mulero, 18, of Capitol Avenue in Hartford, had 80 bags of fentanyl, more than 50 small containers of cocaine and cash in his car, police said. Next to the drugs was a loaded, 9mm handgun.
At every stage of my journey as a startup founder, Ive sought advice from mentors, industry experts and other entrepreneurs. Whether my aim was to gain insight into the unfamiliar market I was entering or obtain guidance on growing a business and building a team, I was always -- still am -- a big believer in hearing what others have to say.

Related: 5 Pieces of Common Startup Advice That Do More Harm Than Good

There is, however, a caveat here, because the key to seeking advice is knowing when to ignore a suggestion that goes against what your gut instinct is saying. Doing that is not always easy, though in some cases for me it was easy, because the guidance was so obviously misguided that it was easy to ignore.

Here are the five worst startup tips I heard and the (hopefully, good) advice I can offer on knowing when you can rule out those tips for your business.

1. "Customers wont buy what youre selling."

When youre trying to disrupt an industry or do something unique, so-called experts love telling you why it wont work. When Jeff Bezos was trying to raise funds for Amazon in the mid-'90s, he met with a lot of resistance from people who simply couldnt imagine people shopping online. In fact, one of the first questions many investors asked him was Whats 'the internet'?

During the early days of my beverage company, I met with an executive at Coca-Cola to discuss my idea and get some advice. After explaining that Hint beverages were deliberately sweetener-free as a way of helping people drink more water and be healthier, he insisted that Americans love 'sweet.'

As he was talking, I realized that his perspective was completely skewed by his experience of selling sodas. He simply could not believe that the problem I was trying to solve existed or that a significant number of people shared my desire to be healthier.

The lesson: Dont let industry incumbents or otherwise out-of-touch experts tell you that you wont succeed. The only people who can answer that question definitively are potential and existing customers themselves.

2. "You need industry experience."

If youre disrupting a market or taking on a major established player, it often helps to not have too many preconceived ideas about how things should be done. Elon Musk has a software background and made it big with fintech service, Paypal. His car company,Tesla, has been even more disruptive, playing a major role in transforming the automobile industry as it shifts toward electric-powered vehicles that are increasingly more like computers on wheels.

Before Hint, I had no beverage industry experience and was often told that my company wouldnt succeed unless I hired people with insider knowledge to help me. Yet every time I recruited anyone with a background in the soda business, to help with industry-specific challenges like product development or distribution, I found myself constantly battling that person's natural instinct to do things the traditional way.

Conversely, my best employees have been the ones who are first and foremost passionate about the problem were solving and driven by the thought of taking on the large incumbents. You can train people on how to sell beverages, but it's much harder to teach them how to think differently.

The lesson: Unless you teach people to think differently, youll end up going down well-trodden paths until your business is just another of the also-rans and not a trailblazing new leader.

3. "Your product must be perfect before you can launch."

Many successful tech companies work off the foundational idea of building the plane while youre flying it. They start by getting off the ground with a minimum viable product that solves a basic user need. Then they add new features and performance enhancements through regular software updates.

Related: Battle-Tested Startup Advice From 6 Awesome Entrepreneurs

I like that approach: True, my companys first beverages didnt have a long shelf life because I was determined not to use preservatives. Yet while this limited the number of retailers willing to stock our products, it didnt stop us from going to the market to see if customers wanted what we had to sell. At the same time, we continued working until we came up with an innovative solution to the shelf-life issue.

The lesson: Your product or service doesnt need to be perfect. It just needs to solve a problem effectively and gain a foothold in the market. "Good enough" is always better than "too late."

4. "Fake it 'til you make it."

Asked which attribute leaders need most to succeed when big changes are happening, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell said, I would place my bet on curiosity. Curious people are not afraid to ask even the most basic questions to expand their knowledge, even if that makes them look ignorant or naive.

When you lack industry experience, its often tempting to pretend you know more than you do in meetings with investors, suppliers and partners. This is just another way of ensuring you merely join the status quo instead of becoming a unique and outstanding presence.

Every supplier told me that the only way to solve our products shelf-life issue was to use preservatives. As an industry newbie,I could have taken the easy path and agreed, pretending I understood the reasons behind what they said.

Instead, I used my ignorance as an excuse to ask the most basic questions, which probably made me look extremely green. But there was a silver lining there: My back-to-basics approach helped one of my suppliers rethink its standard processes and come up with an alternative approach its tech people hadnt considered before.

The lesson: If you fake it til you make it, youll be too concerned with fitting in to ever challenge the way things are done. Remain curious and youll stay on the fast track to learning and success.

5. "You cant focus on anything else."

Growing a new business is a constant battle and often a losing one: 50 percent of startups fail in first four years, according to government statistics. Youll put in long hours and often feel it necessary to do nothing else but work on and think about your business.

And thats the pathway to burnout. Yet, when I started out, a number of people told me that Id have to sacrifice all other aspects of my life if I wanted my business to succeed.

Not true, I found out. In fact, its important to look after yourself as well as your company. You need to exercise and eat well, spend time with your family and friends and have other interests, whether that means sports, the arts or a hobby. If you follow me on social media, you will know that I spend every morning taking my two dogs on a hike. Its my own way of clearing my head and focusing in on the present.

The lesson: Being a rounded person is an important attribute for any leader. Your business will demand a lot of your attention, but it shouldnt exhaust all of your time and energy.

Tips are optional.

Its hard to distinguish between good and bad advice, especially when it comes from people who have your best intentions at heart. In certain circumstances, you may benefit from listening to experts, bringing in those with industry experience, developing a "perfect product," faking a little knowledge and being singularly focused.

Related: 'The Lean Startup' Author Shares His Latest Advice

But overall the key is to trust your instincts and believe in yourself and your mission. That will be your ultimate guide along the road to success.

Related:

The 5 Worst Tips I Received When Starting My Business

Starting a Small Business? This $20 Class Will Teach You How to Help It Thrive.

Get Exclusive Access to Silicon Valley Trailblazers for Less Than $20



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NORWALK  A new department could be created as part of the mayors reorganization plan that would handle issues relating to homelessness, immigration and food insecurity.

The Ordinance Committee of the Common Council voted Tuesday to allow a public hearing at its next meeting on the creation of a Community Services Department.

The department would be headed by the Chief of Community Services and would serve as a liaison between local residents most in need and state agencies that provide assistance, filling the role formerly performed by long-defunct social services department.

My understanding is that some of the former social services functions focused on the distribution of public assistance and that doesnt happen anymore, said Raymond Burney, director of personnel and labor relations. There are a lot of things the city doesnt provide to the residents, to the people who are most in need of city assistance, and those types of items will fall to human services.

The department would include the Chief of Community Services and the director of Norwalk Public Library and would envelop the Health Department, Fair Rent, Human Relations, Fair Housing and a new department called Human Services.

Former Norwalk Mayor Bill Collins said the former social services department was eliminated because, at the time, there was a State Department of Social Services office in Norwalk. Soon after eliminating the city office, the state office closed, causing a void, according to Collins. He urged the creation of the new department.

Board of Education member Barbara Meyer-Mitchell said that she and other board members realized there was a need as they worked to revise the schools food-charge policy.

We are missing out on getting grant dollars because we do not have a clearinghouse, a central office to manage these services, Meyer-Mitchell said. And that means that we dont have a trusted entity through which dollars could come into programs to provide these services.

The public hearing will be held at the Ordinance Committees 7 p.m. March 19 meeting and is the next step toward approval, which eluded this particular part of the reorganization. Originally, the new department faced opposition based on a proposal to subsume Recreation & Parks and eliminate the Fair Housing Officer position. Both have since been resolved.

The recreation department can function and stay where it is, and now the city is prepared to move forward with the Fair Housing Officer remaining intact, Bernie said.

Once the public hearing is closed, the Ordinance Committee will have to approve the creation of the department.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586
When Zimbabweans celebrated after the military toppled Robert Mugabe in late 2017, few could have foreseen that just over a year later their economy would be collapsing and soldiers would be on the streets.

It's a scenario that's played out all too often when a strongman who has ruled for decades leaves the stage.

For almost all of Mugabe's nearly four decades in charge, his decisions were unquestioned, and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's grip on power rarely wavered. By replacing him with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the military won a factional battle within ZANU-PF, weakening it, and sidelined the once-powerful police force and secret service that were key Mugabe allies.

"The glue it had in the past 38 years, that cohesive, forced consensus under Mugabe - it's gone," Tendai Biti, a senior leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said in an interview in Johannesburg.

What's happening today in Zimbabwe echoes the experiences of other African countries and bears similarities with the chaos currently taking place in Venezuela, six years after the death of Hugo Chavez.

In Ivory Coast, Felix Houphouet-Boigny's 1993 death in office triggered a power struggle over succession and ultimately a civil war that divided the country in two for almost a decade. Somalia hasn't been a functioning state since Siad Barre was toppled in 1991, and in Congo the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko after 32 years in power sparked the world's most deadly conflict since World War II. In Burkina Faso, the intelligence services fell apart with the ousting of strongman Blaise Compaore, making the country a target of jihadist attacks.

To be sure, there are political differences between West and southern Africa. In the south of the continent most countries, including Zimbabwe, are governed by parties formed during the liberation struggle against white rule. In West Africa, power is often concentrated in the hands of one dominant character who maintains control by weakening state institutions, making those nations even more vulnerable to disruption when they're gone.

"There's usually one conductor playing the orchestra," Vincent Foucher, a research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research in Bordeaux, said of West Africa. "Once the leader is out, his political party is completely weakened because there is no ideology that keeps it together."

In addition to the West and central African nations that have fallen apart following the departure of long-term leaders, others may follow.

Paul Biya has been in charge of Cameroon for almost 37 years and the country is riven by a separatist insurgency that's left the ruling elite increasingly divided. Politicians in Gabon are jockeying for power in the absence of President Ali Bongo, who suffered a stroke in October last year and has been recovering in Morocco. In Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema has presided over a kleptocracy since 1979.

For Zimbabwe the outlook is dire. A currency shortage means it can't afford essential imports, factories are closing and protests over a more than doubling of fuel prices last month were crushed, with at least 17 people killed. Teachers were intimidated by the military in a subsequent strike and soldiers are a common sight in buses, gas stations and supermarkets.

"There have been several confirmed reports of extra-judicial killings, allegations of rape and torture," said Fadzayi Mahere, a lawyer who ran as an independent in last year's elections. "The military seems to want its pound of flesh for its role in removing Mugabe."

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says the government is moving as quickly as possible to revive the economy. Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe's secretary for information, said that since Mugabe's exit media freedom has improved and cabinet has approved the rescinding of a much maligned act that hindered reporting on the government.

"With the situation we inherited, it was also going to be a tough struggle," Ncube said in a statement. "The process of restructuring, reforming and rebuilding our economy is just beginning. But the train has left the station and we are moving firmly in the right direction."

Even so the situation is complicated by the tensions between the police and the army, open divisions within the ruling party and rumors of strains between Mnangagwa and his deputy and former armed forces commander, Constantino Chiwenga. Mnangagwa retired four generals this week while Chiwenga was hospitalized abroad for an undisclosed ailment, in what has been seen as an attempt to boost his hold over the military.

Yet the ruling party is unlikely to be dislodged easily. Mnangagwa is a former spy chief who takes pride in his nickname the "crocodile," with his office sporting a mug themed on the reptile.

"Zimbabwe has a long tradition of political violence, and Emmerson Mnangagwa is a very, very old crocodile who's always been at the center of that," Foucher said. "Even though Mnangagwa has presented himself as a moderate, it's clear that he wants to hold on to power."

That hasn't eased the chaos. Communications officials often contradict each other, and Mnangagwa has twice condemned violence by his own military.

"You don't have evidence that this is a government that can actually make decisions, whereas under Mugabe you had no doubt who was in charge," Biti said. "It's a fragility that I've not seen before. The state is in a permanent state of paranoia. That's why they are putting soldiers on the street picking up people."

- - -

Bloomberg's Brian Latham contributed to this report.
NORWALK  The Parking Authority has unveiled a plan for new, angled parking on Wall Street and surrounding areas and slightly reduced hourly rates.

Roughly 20 people braved the snow Wednesday evening to attend the informational session in the Yankee Doodle Garage conference room at which Parking Authority Board Chairman Richard Brescia and Director of Transportation, Parking and Mobility Kathryn Hebert laid out the plans and responded to questions.

There are a lot of exciting things going on in the Wall Street area and parking, specifically parking, I know thats front and center on everybodys brain, Hebert said.

The plan would add 13 additional spaces  four on Main Street, three on River Street and six on Wall Street  and convert the existing parallel spots on the downtown streets to angled, back-in spaces.

The studies have shown that head-in parking, especially now, is rather dangerous, because you have to back out into traffic, said Mayor Harry Rilling, who was in attendance.

Rilling recalled an incident recently when he was driving on Frank Esposito Way and a driver who was parked head-in, next to an SUV that was blocking his view. The driver backed out blindly into the side of Rillings car.

The main thing we want to do is make sure that we do everything we can to bolster the Wall Street area, Rilling said.

In addition to adding parking, the hourly rate to park in Yankee Doodle Garage would be reduced from 50 to 25 cents. Monthly permits would be reduced from $38 to $25, and on-street parking would be reduced from 75 cents to 50 cents an hour. Hours of operation would be extended by three hours, from 6 to 9 p.m., and multi-space meters would be added.

The proposal was met mostly positively, though some wondered whether paid parking could be eliminated.

I think the best way, to use your keyword, revitalize the Wall Street area would be reduce or eliminate parking charges. Doesnt the town cover that? Dont I pay for that from my taxes? Brooks Dubois asked.

The reason you have a parking fee, whether its in SoNo, or here eventually in Wall Street, is to create turnover, Brescia responded.

According to Brescia, during the conception of this parking proposal, he and other members of the Parking Authority heard from several businesses that cars were parking on Wall Street, which has been free with a time limit, for several hours at a time.

Marc Alan, director of marketing and publicity at Factory Underground Studio, said more meters outside of just the angled parking in the area would be a benefit to the neighborhood.

Brescia acknowledged that for many people the new approach to parking might be difficult, at least at first, though if done correctly, the angled spaces require less maneuvers than parallel parking. But in the end the safety benefits outweigh the potential inconvenience.

Mike Mushak, a landscape architect and member of the citys Planning Commission, said he was first resistant to the idea, but his opinion was changed after observing angled, back-in parking in a number of midwestern cities.

When I first heard about it I was completely skeptical and thought this looks crazy, Mushak said. It is so much better when youre pulling out.

The commission is planning tentatively for the summer to make the parking changes. At least one additional public information session is expected. The Common Council will vote on the proposal as part of the Parking Authority budget.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586
Soto has been in custody since his arrest on July 9, according to the U.S. Attorneys office said. Each of his charges carry the potential for more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
A labor union issued a warning on a possible impasse in contract negotiations for more than 30,000 Stop & Shop workers it represents in New England, with the current contract slated to expire on Saturday.

The sides have been in negotiations since mid January, with the United Food & Commercial Workers stating on Thursday that Stop & Shop has failed to offer improved benefits for workers, a possible sticking point.

UFCW has begun an online ad campaign asking Stop & Shop to do what is right for workers, customers and the community in the unions words. In a late-January update for members, UCFW characterized the companys stance as the same old doom and gloom that we heard three years ago in negotiations for the current contract that reaches its sunset on Saturday.

A subsidiary of Aholde Delhaize, Stop & Shop is the largest supermarket chain operating in southwestern Connecticut, with more than 20 stores. In a corporate statement, Stop & Shop took the stance that any agreement must reflect the rapid changes and increasing competition that are reshaping our industry in its words.

Ahold Delhaize chose its Hartford area stores for renovations it will roll out across its footprint as it tries to make shopping easier and promote fresh, healthy foods.

The first 20 stores are done in the Hartford, Conn. area, and the first feedback of customers is very positive, said Aholde Delhaize CEO Frans Muller, speaking in November on a conference call. In the Hartford area if you take a visit there, we have a very strong, fresh produce ... proposition which will create a lot of traffic.

Well upgrade and update our stores also, in center store, self-checkouts; and the whole experience or journey will improve a lot, Muller added. I think all those components together will give us extra share and extra growth for Stop & Shop, which has historically great locations and very good teams.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Woman Dies After Eating Speciality Poisonous Mushrooms at Michelin-Starred Restaurant

A woman has died after eating a $100 per head meal with potentially poisonous mushrooms at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain as she celebrated her husbands birthday.

The Riff Restaurant in Valencia has been closed while local authorities investigate the death of 46-year-old Maria Jesus Fernandez Calvo, along with 19 customers who also fell ill reported local media.

Calvo ordered a dish of rice and Morchella fungi, sometimes known as morel mushrooms on Feb. 16, as she celebrated her husbands birthday along with their 12-year-old son.

Morel mushrooms are toxic unless they are properly cooked.

Calvo died the following morning after bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. Local authorities said that cause of death is currently unknownan autopsy should reveal whether she died of poisoning or asphyxiation from particles of vomit in her lungs.

Her funeral took place three days later, on Feb. 20.

We will have to wait  before we can determine whether it was the ingestion of a food that directly caused her death, or whether it prompted a state that led to this fatal outcome, said regional health chief Ana Barcelo on Wednesday, reported the Telegraph.

Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Toxicology.

The family had opted for a special taster menu of Mediterranean-inspired dishes, including one with the morel mushrooms, Morchella esculenta, which is a delicacy in France.

Beware The False Morel

The mushrooms are poisonous if eaten raw, but are rendered harmless through cooking.

To make matters worse, true morels have an even more deadly siblingfalse morelswhich look similar to the untrained eye.

False morels are a delicacy in Nordic countries but require more extensive preparation to strip them of their powerful hydrazine toxin.

According to an earlier report by El Espanol, 10 people who opted for that menu also suffered from mild symptoms of poisoning.

Chef Bernd Knoller expressed his deep sorrow for the death of Calvo, reported the Telegraph.

Esta leonesa, afincada en Valencia, acudio al restaurante para celebrar el 44 aniversario de su marido junto a el y su hijo.  El Espanol  2019219

In a statement, Knoller said he decided to close the restaurant until the causes of the food poisoning were known.

I have offered my complete cooperation to the Valencian health authority from the very start in order to clear up the facts, with the hope that we can establish the causes as soon as possible, he said.

The family chose a menu option that costs 85 euros (about $100) per head, reported the Telegraph, that comprises seven dishes, including boletus, pigs ear, and rice dishes with seasonal fungi.

According to information on the RiFF restaurant website opened RiFF in 2001.

The Michelin guide describes the restaurant, which opened in 2001, as having innovative cuisine  based around the highest quality, seasonal, local product.

The restaurant passed an inspection when health officials arrived for an inspection on Monday, according to local media reports.

Last year, 11 people died in Iran, and 800 people were poisoned after eating toxic wild mushrooms across 10 provinces.

The mushrooms looked similar to edible ones but contained a poison for which no treatment is known. At least two needed liver transplants.

Mushroom toxins typically attack the liver. In 2017, three Californians required liver transplants, including an 18-month-old girl, with 14 people poisoned by eating death cap, mushrooms that year.

Death cap mushrooms account for nine out of 10 deaths from mushroom poisoning.
Residents at the Kashgar city vocational educational training center attend a Chinese lesson during a government organized visit in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on Jan. 4, 2019. (Ben Blanchard/Reuters)

China Invites Waves of Diplomats to Visit, Seeking to Head Off Xinjiang Backlash

BEIJINGChina is stepping up its diplomatic outreach over controversial camps in its heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang, inviting more foreign diplomats to visit as it seeks to head off criticism from Muslim-majority countries and at the United Nations.

Since December, China has taken at least three groups of foreign diplomats to visit what it calls re-education and training facilities, but rights groups say they are internment camps. A fourth group is scheduled to visit this month.

The countrys foreign ministry said on Feb. 16 that Geneva-based diplomats from Pakistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Egypt, Cambodia, Russia, Senegal, and Belarus were visiting Xinjiang on a trip that ended Feb. 19.

Six diplomatic sources told Reuters that Beijing had invited for the next visit China-based diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Russia, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Hungary and Greece.

Two sources said that trip was scheduled for next week.

Officials from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Russia, Hungary, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Greece didnt respond to requests for comment. Officials from Singapore, Bangladesh, and Turkmenistan declined to comment. Cambodian officials said they were unaware of the visit.

A source at the Lebanese foreign ministry said Lebanon wouldnt participate, while Georgian diplomats received an invitation, but wouldnt be able to attend, its foreign ministry press service said.

Chinas Foreign Ministry, in a faxed response to Reuters, confirmed the Xinjiang government was inviting China-based diplomats to visit in coming days, but didnt give details.

Xinjiang officials didnt respond to requests for comment.

Separately, government officials on Feb. 22 will brief foreign envoys in Beijing about the situation in Xinjiang, four of the diplomats said. Chinas Foreign Ministry didnt immediately respond to a request for comment about that meeting.

Very Rattled

Diplomatic sources say China has become increasingly worried about the overseas backlash against the camps, especially threats of U.S. sanctions, and has sought to counter that with a public push for a friendlier narrative.

Theyre very rattled, one senior diplomat, who has discussed Xinjiang with Chinese officials, told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Muslim countries have generally held off criticizing China, at least in public.

But in February, Turkey called on China to close the camps, saying they are a great shame for humanity, prompting an angry reaction from Beijing.

China does not want any other Muslim countries joining Turkey in criticizing the camps, a second Beijing-based diplomat said.

All the diplomats who spoke to Reuters requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Chinese regime has also taken foreign reporters to the camps, including a small group in January that included Reuters. The tightly choreographed and chaperoned visit marked the first time non-Chinese media had been given access to the camps.

Uyghurs and other Muslims held in concentration camp-like facilities, known as re-education centers, are forbidden from using Islamic greetings, must learn Mandarin Chinese, and sing propaganda songs, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

Uyghur children of parents who are detainees in political re-education camps or living in exile are being placed into state-run orphanages in Xinjiang by local authorities, a traumatized father has told The Epoch Times.

The news follows orders by Chen Quango, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) Secretary in Xinjiang, to relocate all orphans in Xinjiang to state facilities by 2020.

Former detainees have also told The Epoch Times that Uyghurs are being tortured, raped, and killed in secretive political re-education camps.

Chinese Communist Party officials say the mass detentions among the Uyghur population, the majority of whom practice Islam, are part of measures to crack down on terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism in the country. The CCP has used the excuse of potential extremist threats to justify its strict surveillance and crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the region.

UN Meeting

China hopes to mute criticism of its Xinjiang policies at two upcoming events, diplomats say.

One is the United Nations Human Rights Council, which starts on Monday in Geneva; the other is the Belt and Road summit in late April in Beijing, at which leaders from several Muslim nations are expected.

This month, rights activists urged European and Muslim nations to establish a U.N. investigation into the Xinjiang camps.

Switzerland, Germany, Britain and the United States were among the most critical of Chinas policies in Xinjiang at its Universal Periodic Review by the U.N. Human Rights Council in January.

Yang Shu, head of the Institute for Central Asia Studies at Lanzhou University in northwestern China, told Reuters that it was important to take foreign visitors to Xinjiang, but that the effect would probably not be obvious.

For countries that have good relations with China and have similar problems, it is easy for both to reach consensus on the Xinjiang issue, said Yang, an expert on security and terrorism.

For other countries, explanations will not have much effect. The United States and other countries have been criticizing China for a long time over the Xinjiang issue, and an explanation will not change their minds, he said.

Several Western diplomats told Reuters in recent weeks they were frustrated at Muslim countries unwillingness to speak out about Xinjiang.

A group of about a dozen ambassadors from Western countries wrote last year to request a meeting with Xinjiangs top official, Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, to discuss their concerns. No meeting has been scheduled.

The letter was circulated widely, but no Muslim country signed it, diplomats say.

Turkeys outburst, however, has given some hope that the wider Islamic world could soon start making critical comments about Xinjiang.

By Ben Blanchard. The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Chilean victim of sexual abuse, Juan Carlos Cruz, adresses the media outside the entrance of the Paul-VI residence in the Vatican on Feb. 20, 2019. (VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)

Victims of Abuse Call for Bishops to Be Sacked, Demand to See Pope

Clergy sexual abuse victims pressed to meet Pope Francis on Feb. 20 in a bid to push the Catholic church to employ a zero-tolerance policy that would include the dismissal of bishops who covered up such crimes.

One day before a planned summit by Francis to discuss how to combat the global sexual abuse crisis, 12 victims met up with five Vatican officials to talk through ways to combat the problem in a meeting that lasted over two hours.

The Roman Catholic church has been exposed for systematically covering up allegations of sexual abuse spanning decades long. Each one of the abuse survivors said they were disappointed the pope was not there. Francis was not scheduled to attend.

We need to have a discussion with the man who makes the rules and has the power in this institution, and thats Pope Francis, said Peter Isely, an American from Milwaukee who was abused by a priest when he was a boy.

Isely said the discussion had become a little bit confrontational, a little heated at times but polite.

In the United States, abuse scandals have continued to rock the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican on Feb. 16 dismissed former U.S. Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick from the Roman Catholic priesthood after he was found guilty in a canonical process of sexual abuse against both minors and adults.

The ruling against McCarrickone of the most prominent figures in the U.S. Catholic Churchwas made final by Pope Francis, following an appeal by McCarrick.

Such scandals have also rocked Chile, Australia, Ireland, and more. In the United States alone, billions of dollars have been paid in settlements.

We made our demands for zero tolerance. We want the pope to write into universal law: zero tolerance for the cover-up of sex crimes. They can do it right now, Isely told reporters after the meeting with the officials, all who are clerics.

The summit, which will last four days from Feb. 21 to Feb. 24, brings together presidents of national Roman Catholic bishops conferences, Vatican officials, experts, and heads of male and female religious orders. The church is still struggling to enact a concerted, coordinated, and global effort to tackle the crisis.

The group of victims said bishops should be dismissed from the priesthood, like McCarrick, if they have found to have covered up abusethe same punishment as those who committed the abuse itself.

Phil Saviano, whose story of the abuse by a priest when he was 12-years-old in Massachusetts was told in the 2015 Oscar-winning film Spotlight, said he demanded that the Vatican turn over documents on molesting priests, past or present.

It would be a wonderful sign of transparency and maybe some people who are bailing out of the Catholic Church, especially in the United States, may take it as a sign that maybe things are going to get better, Saviano said.

In the United States, nearly two dozen local, state, or federal investigations, criminal and civil, have been launched into the Roman Catholic Church over child sexual abuse allegations. Over half of the 187 Roman Catholic dioceses across the country have also started investigating these claims or have announced plans to do so.

Reuters contributed to this report
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared acting president Juan Guaido (C), arrives to take part in a demonstration called by the transportation sector to support him, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 20, 2019. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)

Venezuelas Guaido Heads to Border as Maduro Threatens to Close It

Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido and some 80 lawmakers headed toward the Colombian border in a vehicle convoy on Feb. 21, hoping to receive humanitarian aid for their famished nation even as ousted socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro grounded air traffic and closed maritime and land border crossings.

Guaido, recognized by more than 50 nations as the legitimate head of state, said he plans to bring in aid by land and sea on Feb. 23 to alleviate severe and widespread shortages of food and medicine. Guaido and the lawmakers from the National Assembly departed Caracas on the morning of Feb. 21 for the 500-mile trip to Cucuta, Colombia, a border town where tons of aid from the United States is piling up. Crowds formed along a major street in Caracas as Guaidos convoy departed. Venezuelans waived national flags and cheered in support.

Maduro ordered all of the aid to be blocked. The Venezuelan military, still obedient to the ousted dictator, placed shipping containers on the major vehicle bridge linking Colombia and Venezuela.

Guaidos move to receive the aid in person is likely to force the military stationed on the Cucuta border to choose their allegiance. Venezuelan military units deployed at other border portals will be forced to make a similar choice as convoys and boats loaded with tons of aid are expected to attempt deliveries at the border crossing with Brazil and the maritime crossing with Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire.

On Feb. 19, the Brazilian government promised to deliver aid on trucks driven by Venezuelans organized by Guaido. Maduro ordered the land crossing with Brazil to be closed by 8 p.m. on Feb. 21, according to Efecto Cocuyo, an independent Venezuelan news outlet. On Feb. 20, Maduro ordered the closing of Venezuelas maritime border with the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire after Curacaos government said it would help store aid destined for Venezuela.

Maduro, who, together with his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, is responsible for the socialist policies that have devastated the once oil-rich nation, denies there is a crisis. In televised comments on Feb. 21, the dictator called Guaidos plans to bring in aid a cheap show to undermine his government.

I dont want to take any decision of this type, but I am evaluating it, a total closure of the border with Colombia, Maduro said.

Through this call for humanitarian aid, the population will benefit from the arrival of these goods to the Venezuelan border, said legislator Edgar Zambrano, as he and other lawmakers waited to board buses in a plaza of eastern Caracas.

The National Assembly declared Maduro illegitimate in January, months after the socialist dictator won a sham re-election. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency on Jan 23. President Donald Trump immediately recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader.

Guaidos ascendance and Trumps swift affirmation of his legitimacy triggered a virtual global referendum of socialism and communism, with dozens free world nations, including the United States, Germany, and Australia, backing Guaido, while a handful of current and former communist regimes, including China, North Korea, Cuba, and Russia, sided with Maduro.

Its still unclear how Guaido plans to bring in the aid. Opposition figures have suggested forming human chains across the Colombian border to pass aid packages from person to person and ships are also carrying aid from the Dutch Caribbean islands.

Regardless of the arrangement, the Venezuelan military will be forced to decide between obeying the orders of an ousted dictator, deserting, or declaring allegiance to the legitimate interim president. In a speech to the Venezuelan community in Florida on Feb. 18, Trump issued a stern warning to the Venezuelan military, telling those who side with Maduro that they stand to lose everything.

The United States has sent tons of aid to Colombias border with Venezuela, which Maduro has mocked as a cheap show. Maduros vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has alleged the aid is poisonous and could lead to cancer.

Meanwhile, more aid was en route via land and sea. On Feb. 20, a boat carrying 250 tons of aid left Puerto Ricos capital of San Juan and headed for Venezuela, the local government said in a statement. On Feb. 21, a plane carrying 50 tons of humanitarian aid provided by the Venezuelan community in the United States took off from Miami en route to Curacao, according to Guaido.

It is the hope of saving lives that inspires this immense movement, Guaido wrote on Twitter, adding a hashtag which roughly translates as humanitarian avalanche.

Sea Change

In his address to the Venezuelan community, Trump positioned the transition in Venezuela as indicative of a sea change in South America that will lead to the purging of communism and socialism in the Western Hemisphere. A peaceful transition in Caracas would lead to the removal of communist and socialist dictatorships in Cuba and Nicaragua, Trump suggested.

Trump said that Maduro is a puppet of the communist regime in Cuba and excoriated socialism and communism as deadly, failed ideologies. According to the congressional testimony of one former insider, more than 90,000 Cuban communist proxies run the government apparatus in Venezuela. Havana has also sent more than 20,000 security forces personnel to Venezuela in exchange for oil, according to Trump.

By an account from one source in Venezuela, the vast majority of the population backed Trumps speech, with people even in party-line cities taking to the streets in response.

Venezuela is home to the world largest oil reserves and was a thriving nation before Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, instituted a socialist regime that has decimated the nations economy. Almost 90 percent of Venezuelas population live below the poverty line and more than half of families go hungry every day. More than 3 million people have fled the nation.

Reuters contributed to this report.
The exterior of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass. is seen on April 26, 2007. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will no longer sell or service genetic sequencers in China's Xinjiang region following criticism that they were used for surveillance that enabled human rights abuses. (Stephan Savoia/AP)

US Company to Stop Sales of Genetic Tech in Chinas Xinjiang

BEIJING Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. says it will no longer sell or service genetic sequencers in Chinas mostly Muslim region of Xinjiang following criticism that they were used for surveillance that enabled human rights abuses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The company in Waltham, Massachusetts, cited its values, ethics code and policies, according to the Journal. The company said it recognized the importance of considering how products are usedor may be usedby our customers.

Thermo Fisher faced criticism from human rights groups and American lawmakers for supplying the equipment used to identify individuals in Xinjiang. Over the years, the region has been transformed into a vast security state, packed with police stations, street cameras, and security checkpoints at which electronic identity cards are scanned.

The Chinese regime has used the excuse that Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tensions with the ethnic Han Chinese majority to crack down on the local population in Xinjiang.

Thermo Fisher didnt immediately respond to a request for comment left on the company website.

According to U.S. officials and U.N. experts, as many as 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities are detained in political education camps in Xinjiang where they undergo political indoctrination and are forced to denounce their faith. Former detainees have reported cases of torture, forced medication, and rape.

The United States and other governments have criticized the crackdown. In May, a U.S. congressional commission on China wrote a letter asking the Commerce Department to prevent American technology from being misused by Chinese police.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering sanctions against Chinese officials and companies involved in human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Last year, the U.S. Congress banned government agencies from buying surveillance products made by Hikvision, Chinas leading manufacturer of surveillance cameras. Hikvision has collaborated deeply with Beijing to develop AI-enhanced technology for monitoring its citizens, including in Xinjiang.

U.S. companies have also been called out for assisting the regime in building surveillance infrastructure that can be used for repression. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), at a congressional hearing last July, criticized Google for opening an AI research center in China, and Thermo Fisher Scientific for supplying DNA-sequencing equipment to Xinjiang police.

The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
UK Faces Influx of ISIS Brides As At Least 12 More Surface In Refugee Camps

Ever since remorseless jihadi bride Shamima Begum began her campaign to be allowed back into Britain after fleeing the toppling ISIS caliphate, it has emerged that at least a dozen more British jihadi women may similarly seek re-entry to the UK.

About twelve women, as per multiple reports, are said to reside at the same refugee camp in northern Syria that is housing Begum after fleeing a losing battle against Western allies push to break the jihadi grip on Baghuz, the ISIS terrorist groups final stronghold in the region.

British authorities now face the issue of female jihadi extremists pleading to be let back into Britain.

The BBCs Middle East correspondent, Quentin Sommerville, who interviewed Begum shortly after she gave birth to a son, revealed the wave of British female jihadi arrivals at the camp.

This whole issue of what to do with these IS women and other IS supporters isnt going to go away, he said, referring to the wives of ISIS fighters.

We know that in the last week alone, 12 British women have arrived at displacement camps here in northern Syria. So for the British Government, this headache of what to do doesnt end with Shamima Begum.

Lord Carlile QC was cited by the Daily Mail as saying that while Britain has a strong case to block Begum from re-entry, she could use her newborn son to try and circumvent the move. He added that the case of Begumand by extension other ISIS would-be returneesis likely to be a headache for British authorities for some time to come.

This is going to drag on for months or even years, Lord Carlile said.

Fierce Opposition

Begums pleas to be allowed back into the UK after spending four years as an ISIS acolyte and self-admitted recruitment poster girl, has sparked fierce debate over whether she and others like her should be blocked on grounds of posing a security threat.

She herself insisted she was just a housewife and said there was no evidence of her doing anything dangerous.

Security experts like British intelligence service head Alex Younger have warned, however, that would-be returnees like Begum were potentially very dangerous because having been in that sort of position people like her were likely to have acquired certain skills or connections.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he will not hesitate to block the return of Begumor other ISIS supportersadding that those who do manage to make their way back to Britain should be prepared to be investigated and potentially prosecuted.

We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh were full of hate for our country, he said, referring to an Arabic acronym for the terrorist group, Sky News reported. My message is clearif you have supported terrorist organizations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return.

UK authorities announced on Feb. 19 that they had moved to strip her of British citizenship, effectively blocking her re-entry.

Exclusive: Shamima Begum has had her UK citizenship revoked by the British government, this letter seen by ITV News shows https://t.co/lFXaJFtBvM pic.twitter.com/7JMMPyKQNq  ITV News (@itvnews) February 19, 2019

Survivors and other victims of the murderous cults reign of terror, meanwhile, are furious at the prospect of ISIS women getting a sympathetic hearing in the Western press, or worsea free pass.

Just Housewives

Ali Y. Al-Baroodi, who survived ISISs bloody occupation of Mosul, told the Jerusalem Post that claims on the part of jihadi brides that they were just housewives, as Begum has so insisted, are simply false.

It was hell on Earth and every single one of them made it so, he said, asking sarcastically if perhaps local victims of the jihadi women should apologize for disturbing their stay there.

[ISIS] demolished cities and hundreds of mass graves, [and left] thousands of orphans and widows, he added.

Its impossible to muster sympathy for her, author and academic Idrees Ahmad wrote in reference to Begum, according to the Post. She went to Syria as a colonizer, several months after ISIS beheaded journalists and aid workers.

Murad Ismael, co-founder of an organization that helps Yazidiswho were enslaved and slaughtered en masse by ISIS terroristscalls for perspective on who the real victims are.

Thousands of terrorists left their heavenly countries and came to Iraq and Syria, he told the Post. They came and murdered our men, raped and enslaved our women and girls and took our children.

No Regrets

In earlier interviews, Begum said she has no regrets about joining ISIS and suggested that air strikes against the terror group in Syria somehow justified the Manchester Arena terror attack.

Its a two-way thing, really, she told the BBC, adding that the suicide bomber that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester was a kind of retaliation for bombardments of ISIS-held enclaves, adding, so I thought, ok, that is a fair justification.

Begum also told The Times of London that seeing beheaded heads in bins did not faze her.

In a statement cited by The Telegraph, the familys lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, said, [The] Family are very disappointed with the Home Offices intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship. We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision.

However, under the 1981 British Nationality Act, a person can be deprived of their citizenship if the home secretary is convinced it would be conducive to the public good, such as protecting national security and the safety of its citizensprovided that the individual does not become stateless.
While involved in the pursuit, Sands tried to carjack several vehicles and fired shots at motorists and others, police said. The suspect carjacked a vehicle and engaged police in a second pursuit, which ended in Willimantic after Connecticut State Police and local police used stop sticks.
Relatives of deceased artisanal miners sit during an ongoing rescue and recovery operation at the flooded Cricket gold mine near Kadoma, Zimbabwe, on Feb. 17, 2019. (Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images)

Trapped Miners Tragedy: Zimbabwe Mining a Perilous Venture

HARARE, ZimbabweHe looked at me and smiled, says Ronika Tafireyi, after seeing her husband Thinkmore Madimutse being taken to a nearby tent by a rescue team after he was saved from the Battlefields mine disaster.

Madimutse was the first of eight survivors to be rescued from the mine in Zimbabwewith 24 bodies so far recoveredafter heavy rains flooded and trapped illegal miners in Kadoma, 90 miles west of the countrys capital Harare, on the night of Feb. 12. Authorities said they had been unable to initiate rescue operations until Feb. 16 because of continued rain.

The 33-year-old Tafireyi was short of words when she saw her husband being ferried to the tent before being taken to the hospital. I am so excited and dont know what to say, Tafirei said.

Tafirei, a cook at the mine, said her husband was reluctant to go underground at the mine that night but eventually did. She said she woke up to a heavy downpour outside their home, only to hear later on from a colleague who was at the site that the situation was bad, and the chances of survival of those who had been underground were slim to none.

From the news I received from a colleague coming from the site, things were so bad that he said it was impossible to even think anyone was going to survive, Tafirei said.

Madimutse, who was underwater except for his head when he was rescued, was covered in mud when he was brought out of the mine shaft.

The rains flooded the shaft where I was, but, fortunately, I managed to find a place where I stood and that helped me to remain alive, although I could see other miners falling and dying, said Madimutse.

However, luck wasnt with Libongani Zimbeva, who stays at the mine compound, as she lost three relatives who were also trapped underground.

I have been waiting here patiently to identify bodies of our relatives, Zimbeva said.

The government said as many as 70 gold miners may have been trapped after a dam wall is believed to have collapsed, resulting in flood waters pouring into nearby mining shafts and tunnels.

The rescue team has since stopped its operations because of continued rainfall. That has left concerned family members and other artisanal miners camped at the mining site waiting impatiently for any news.

Winstone Chitando, minister of Mines and Mineral Development, said the challenge is that rescuers need to drain the shafts to recover the remaining bodies, even as rain continues falling.

Meanwhile, the government has been accused of being slow to take action, and is being blamed for not having preventative measures in place.

We need urgently as a government to come up with a very clear position to ensure that we dont have a repeat of this, Chitando said. Eventually, we would want all mining operations to be safe.

He added that the countrys Environmental Management Agency had found issues two weeks earlier at the site that needed to be addressed, but the corrections werent enforced in time.

Makorokoza

The area, rich in gold deposits, is frequented by illegal miners dubbed makorokoza, who operate without regulation. However, due to a high unemployment rate, the country has a record of more than 500,000 artisanal miners who mine the highest volume of gold in the country.

In 2018 alone, small-scale miners produced 22 tons of gold, compared to 11 tons by large-scale miners, Dexter Nduna, a member of Zimbabwes Parliament, said.

Speaking to journalists at the site, Nduna said that some of the proceeds received from small miners by government should be channeled toward creating safety nets and protecting small-scale miners from such accidents.

It is incumbent upon the government to get the same monies coming from the small-scale miners to create safety nets, so that they can continue to produce as they have always been, he said.

More than 250 families make a living from each shaft at Battlefields, said Nduna, adding that artisanal mining should be regulated and recognized.

As for Tafireyi, she hopes her husband will never venture into any mining activities again, and, fearing that the next time he wont survive, hopes he finds another means to make a living.
Three UK Conservatives Quit Party in Protest at Disastrous Brexit

LONDONThree lawmakers from Britains governing Conservatives quit over the governments disastrous handling of Brexit on Feb. 20, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa Mays attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union.

The lawmakers, who support a second European Union referendum and have long said Mays Brexit strategy is being led by Conservative eurosceptics, said they would join a new independent group in parliament set up by seven former opposition Labour politicians.

The resignations put May in an even weaker position in parliament, where her Brexit deal was crushed by lawmakers last month when both eurosceptics and European Union supporters voted against an agreement they say offers the worst of all worlds.

While the three were almost certain to vote against any deal, the hardening of their positions undermines Mays negotiating position in Brussels, where she heads later to try to secure an opening for further work on revising the agreement.

With only 37 days until Britain leaves the European Union, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit are redrawing the political landscape. The resignations threaten a decades-old two-party system.

The final straw for us has been this governments disastrous handling of Brexit, the three lawmakers, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, said in a letter to May.

Soubry later told a news conference that the Conservative Party had been taken over by right-wing, pro-Brexit lawmakers.

The truth is, the battle is over and the other side has won. The right-wing, the hard-line anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every (Conservative) leader for the last 40 years are now running the  party from top to toe, she said.

May said she was saddened by the decision and that Britains membership of the European Union has been a source of disagreement both in our party and in our country for a long time.

But by  implementing the decision of the British people we are doing the right thing for our country, she said, referring to the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted by a margin of 52-48 percent in favor of leaving the European Union.

Asked what May would say to others considering resigning, her spokesman said: She would, as she always has, ask for the support of her colleagues in delivering (Brexit).

Independent Group

The three sat in parliament on Wednesday with a new grouping which broke away from the Labour Party earlier this week over increasing frustration with their leader Jeremy Corbyns Brexit strategy and a row over anti-Semitism.

Another former Labour lawmaker joined their ranks late on Tuesday, and several politicians from both the main opposition party and Conservatives said they expected more to follow from both sides of parliament.

What unites most of the group of 11 is a desire to see a second referendum on any deal May comes back with, now that the terms of Brexit are known in detail  something the prime minister has ruled out.

For Mays Brexit plan, the resignations are yet another knock to more than two years of talks to leave the European Union, which have been punctuated by defeats in parliament, rows over policy and a confidence vote, which she ultimately won.

Britains 2016 European Union referendum has split not only British towns and villages but also the parliament, with both Conservative and Labour leaders struggling to keep their parties united.

May has faced a difficult balancing act. Eurosceptic members of her party want a clean break with the bloc, pro-EU lawmakers argue for the closest possible ties, while many in the middle are increasingly getting frustrated over the lack of movement.

Those who have resigned have long accused May of leaning too far towards Brexit supporters, sticking to red lines which they, and many in Labour, say have made a comprehensive deal all but impossible to negotiate.

But May will head to Brussels hoping that her team will get the green light to start more technical negotiations on how to satisfy the concerns of mostly Brexit supporters over the so-called Northern Irish backstop arrangement.

The backstop, an insurance policy to avoid a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and European Union member Ireland if London and Brussels fail to agree on a deal on future ties, is the main point of contention in talks with Brussels.

British officials are hoping they can secure the kind of legal assurances that the backstop cannot trap Britain in the European Unions sphere to persuade lawmakers to back a revised deal.

But Mays argument she can command a majority in parliament if the European Union hands her such assurances is getting weaker. A government defeat last week showed the eurosceptics muscle.

One pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker, Andrew Bridgen, said: I would find it very difficult to accept a legal document from the same (party) lawyer whose definitive advice four weeks ago was that we could be trapped in the backstop in perpetuity.

By Elizabeth Piper, William James, and Kylie MacLellan
Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe in an interview with CBS News' '60 Minutes' (L), and on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' show. (Screenshot/CBS/MSNBC)

Testimonies Reveal the Real Story Behind McCabes 25th Amendment Comments

Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe sent shockwaves across the nation earlier this week when he admitted during an interview with CBS News 60 Minutes to having discussed invoking the 25th Amendment in an effort to remove President Donald Trump from office.

McCabe, however, began to downplay the significance of his comments in a subsequent interview on MSNBCs Morning Joe program, contradicting facts he had previously stated.

The real story goes even deeper.

A review of the transcripts of closed-door testimonies given to congressional investigators by former senior FBI officials helps to reveal what McCabe had told them.

McCabes own congressional testimony reveals that, despite his focus on the 25th Amendment comments in his interviews with media, he never brought up the issue with congressional investigators.

To understand the full scope of McCabes actions, its important to revisit the events in early May 2017, when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Two days after Comey was fired, on May 11, 2017, McCabe testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. While the hearings original intent had been to focus on national security threats, Trumps firing of Comey completely altered the topic of the hearing.

McCabe, who agreed that he would notify the committee of any effort to interfere with the FBIs ongoing investigation into links between Russia and the Trump campaign, told members of Congress that there had been no effort to impede our investigation to date. In other words, McCabe testified that he was unaware of any evidence of obstruction from Trump or his administration.

McCabe, however, failed to inform the committee that he was actively considering opening an obstruction-of-justice probe into Trumpa path he would initiate in a meeting with Rosenstein just five days later.

On the morning of May 16, 2017, Rosenstein allegedly suggested to McCabe that he could secretly record Trump. It was at this meeting that McCabe was pushing for the Justice Department to open an investigation into the president, according to witness accounts reported by The Washington Post.

In addition to McCabe, Rosenstein, and special counsel to McCabe, Lisa Page, there were one or two others present, including Rosensteins chief of staff, James Crowley, and possibly Scott Schools, the senior-most career attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a top aide to Rosenstein.

According to comments in the Washington Post article relayed by one of those present at the meeting, the conversation between McCabe and Rosenstein was framed in an entirely different light, noting that Rosenstein responded with sarcasm to McCabe, saying, What do you want to do, Andy, wire the president? It was most likely Crowley who was being referenced.

Sometime later the same day, both Rosenstein and Trump met with former FBI Director Robert Mueller in the Oval Office. Rosenstein would appoint Mueller as special counsel the following day, on May 17, 2017, and in doing so, Rosenstein removed control of the Trump-Russia investigation from McCabe and put it in the hands of Mueller.

This was confirmed by a statement last week by a DOJ spokesperson, who said, The deputy attorney general in fact appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, and directed that Mr. McCabe be removed from any participation in that investigation.

McCabe was later fired for lying to the DOJ inspector general and is currently the subject of a criminal grand jury investigation.

McCabes Conflicting Statements

In the 60 Minutes interview, McCabe said the issue of invoking the 25th Amendment was actively discussed between Rosenstein and himselfto the point where the issue of how many Cabinet members might support such an action was raised:

McCabe: Discussion of the 25th Amendment was, was simply, Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other Cabinet officials might support such an effort  It was really something that he kind of threw out in a very frenzied, chaotic conversation about where we were and what we needed to do next.



McCabe: [Rosenstein] was discussing other Cabinet members and whether or not people would support such an idea, whether or not other Cabinet members would, shared, his belief that the president was, was really concerning, was concerning Rod at that time.

Pelley: Rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the Cabinet who would vote to remove the president?

McCabe: Thats correct. Counting votes or possible votes.

During a subsequent interview on MSNBCs Morning Joe, however, McCabe struck a notably different tone, saying there was not an active discussion to remove the president. Gone was any participation by McCabe, nor was there any discussion of possible participation from other Cabinet members:

McCabe: We felt like if the president has obstructed justice for the purpose of negatively impacting our ability to investigate Russian interference with the campaign and Russian potential connections with his own campaign effort, why would any president do that? Why would a president not want the FBI to understand exactly what the Russians have been up to in our political process?

Geist: And based on that you were discussing the 25th Amendment, which removes a duly elected president from office?

McCabe: The conversation was not about removing the president.

Geist: Well, thats what the 25th Amendment is.

McCabe: Rod brought up the 25th Amendmentmentioned it in the course of a wide-ranging and frenetic conversation. It is not something that Im aware of he took any action to pursue. I dont know about any other meetings that included discussions of it. It was simply one thing, one topic, in the midst of a whole host of issues that we were thinking about and kind of working through our heads at that time.

Geist: Did he present that idea to other Cabinet officials, because as you know, you have to count heads to see Do I have the votes to remove the president.

McCabe: Not that Im aware of. I have no indication of that.

Circular Corroboration

Some media have suggested that FBI general counsel James Baker provided corroboration of McCabes original version of eventsthat Rosenstein offered up the idea of wearing a wire to record the president and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment. Theres one significant problem with that line of argument: Baker was never part of the actual conversations with Rosenstein.

Everything Baker understood to have transpired, every detail, came from McCabe himself, and perhaps Lisa Page. We know this from closed-door testimony given by Baker to congressional investigators that was reviewed for this article.

Rep. Meadows: Were you in the meeting when deputy AG Rod Rosenstein suggested to wire tap or record the President of the United States as has been recently reported allegedly in the McCabe memos?

Mr. Baker: I was not at those meetings, but I heard about those meetings.

Rep. Meadows: And how did you hear about those meetings?

Mr. Baker: I heard about them, I believe, from Andy and from Lisa.

At certain points during his testimony, Baker appeared unsure if Page had even been part of the conversation, telling investigators, I think I heard it from Mr. McCabe. I am quite confident I heard it from Mr. McCabe. I think I may have also heard about it from Lisa, but I dont specifically remember that.

Baker, who indicated that McCabe had several conversations with Rosenstein, told investigators he didnt connect the 25th Amendment thing to the wire. Maybe it was my mistake mentally. I connected that more to the obstruction matter.

The 25th Amendment conversation, my understanding was that there was a conversation in which it was said I believe by the DAG that there werethat there were two members of the Cabinet who were willing to go down this road already, Baker continued.

Exactly who these Cabinet members might be has never been elaborated on and, according to McCabes most recent interviews, probably dont exist. As to precisely why Rosenstein might elect to wear a wire and what that might accomplish, Baker seemed a bit uncertain, telling lawmakers, that is a good question. It was not exactly clear.

Failure to Mention Rosenstein Conversations

Nowhere in McCabes own testimony before congressional investigators on Dec. 12, 2017, are the Rosenstein conversations mentioned. Nor do any such references occur in the testimony of Page. Given the importance that McCabe has recently placed on these alleged discussions, their omission from his testimony seems telling. Both transcripts have been reviewed by The Epoch Times.

No Follow-Up After Alleged Comments

We know from Bakers testimony that despite the supposed concerns raised by McCabe, no notification or follow-up actions were ever taken with the DOJ with respect to the comments McCabe attributed to Rosenstein.

Rep. Meadows: All right. So multiple people at the FBI knew that there was this conversation about invoking the 25th and taping the President of the United States, and you didnt tell the Attorney General?

Mr. Baker: Correct, to my knowledge. I did not.

Trump Didnt Know He Was Under Investigation

All of this activity was supposedly precipitated by Trumps firing of Comey and subsequent fears that he was engaging in some sort of obstruction into the FBIs investigation. But again, there was a problem. Trump was never told he might be the subject of a criminal investigation, a fact that even Baker admitted to during his testimony:

Mr. Ratcliffe: So do you know if at any point in time, did Jim Comey as FBI Director ever tell President Trump that President Trump was under criminal investigation?

Mr. Baker: I thinkmy understanding and belief is that he never toldthat he told the President the opposite.

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) would later ask, How could President Trump obstruct a criminal investigation into his actions if he doesnt know theres a criminal investigation into his actions?

In other words, if Trump was never told he was under investigation, his firing of Comey could not have been for the purpose of obstructing an investigation of himself.

Baker responded to Ratcliffes observation by claiming, But he could have tried to obstruct the investigation with respect to others.

However, this line of logic quickly led to another conclusion that was captured in a sequence between Ratcliffe and Baker:

Mr. Ratcliffe: Okay. So your notion is that President Trump may have obstructed justice possibly because of the actions of others. Are there any limitations on a Presidents pardon authority?

Mr. Baker: Well, the contours of the Presidents pardon authority, I think, are not completely clear. So the question, for example, can the President pardon himself?

Mr. Ratcliffe: But were talking about others. Im trying to figure out why President Trump would obstruct justice into an investigation of Michael Flynn or Paul Manafort or anyone else if he had the ability to pardon those folks, which I believe is an absolute authority under the Constitution.

No Evidence of Collusion Found by FBI

Its not apparent from the testimonies reviewed by The Epoch Times if an obstruction investigation was ever actually opened. It is clear there were discussions, but there has been nothing definitive to suggest an investigation was ever initiated.

At the same time, we know the FBI hadnt found any evidence of collusion in the May 2017 timeframe. While McCabe was attempting to open an obstruction investigation, FBI agent Peter Strzokwho played a key role in the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaigntexted Page about lacking evidence of collusion:

You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, Id be there, no question. I hesitate, in part, because of my gut sense and concern theres no big there there.

Page, who was asked about this text during her July 2018 testimony, said, So I think this represents that even as far as May of 2017, we still couldnt answer the question.

Baker, who was questioned about the Strzok text, was then asked if hed seen any evidence to the contrary. He stumbled a bit in his reply:

Rep. Meadows: Do you have any evidence to the contrary that you observed personally in your official capacity?

Mr. Baker: So the difficulty Im having with your question is, what does collusion mean, and what does prove mean? And so I dont know how to respond to that.

Rep. Meadows: Ill yield back.

What McCabes FBI Was Really Investigating

Toward the very end of Bakers final day of testimony, he finally disclosed the actual substance of the discussions taking place at the upper echelons of the FBI:

Mr. Baker: We discussed, so to the best of my recollection, with the same people I described earlier: Mr. McCabe, possibly Mr. Gattis [Carl Ghattas, executive assistant director of the National Security Branch], Mr. Priestap, possibly Lisa Page, possibly Pete Strzok. I dont remember that specifically.

Rep. Ratcliffe: So there wasthere was a discussion between those folks, possibly all of the folks that youve identified, about whether or not President Trump had been ordered to fire Jim Comey by the Russian Government?

Mr. Baker: I wouldnt say ordered. I guess I would say the words I sort of used earlier, acting at the behest of and somehow following directions, somehow executing their will, whetherand so literally an order or not, I dont know. But

Rep. Ratcliffe: And so

Mr. Baker: As ait was discussed as a theoretical possibility.

Rep. Ratcliffe: When was it discussed?

Mr. Baker: After the firing, like in the aftermath of the firing.

The FBI, with no actual evidence of collusion after 10 months of investigating, began discussing a complete hypothetical at the highest levels of leadership as a means to possibly open an obstruction-of-justice investigation of the president of the United States.

Jeff Carlson is a regular contributor to The Epoch Times. He also runs the website TheMarketsWork.com and can be followed on Twitter @themarketswork.
SNC-Lavalin Scandal Highlights Problem of Big Companies Weight in Canadian Economy

Oligopolies impair productivity, competitiveness, says business professor

NEWS ANALYSIS

The Liberal government is in hot water because of its alleged actions regarding SNC-Lavalin, a company deemed to be of national significance but saddled with a history of questionable conduct. The governments efforts to assist the Montreal-based global engineering and construction firm shows how far it can go for such companies.

SNC-Lavalin employs around 50,000 people and earned $9.1 billion in revenue in 2017. In Quebec, the company is viewed by many as a crown jewel. It is but one example of a large Canadian company in which the government effectively has a vested interested in helping avoid ruin.

With a reputation of holding political sway in Quebec City and Ottawa, SNC-Lavalin is desperately trying to move beyond charges of bribing Libyan officials while avoiding crippling punishment.

Through remediation agreements (RAs) that came into effect in September 2018a company may be able to avoid potentially harsher penalties imposed by a guilty conviction in a court of law.

According to The Globe and Mail on Feb. 7, SNC-Lavalin told the government it was in dire circumstances and needed suspension of criminal charges. Since the start of 2017, there have been more than 50 meetings between the firm and the feds on subjects of justice and law enforcement. The Globe reported that Liberal party insiders knew the 2018 budgets introduction of RAs was meant to help out SNC-Lavalin, which gives an idea of the companys political sway.

Hard Reality

Large companies having deep relationships with the government like SNC-Lavalin seem to play by a different set of rules from smaller firms struggling under regulatory burdens. The result is a less competitive and less productive economy.

The Canadian economy is small and concentrated in certain industries. A handful of large companies tend to dominate industries like banking, airlines, and telecommunications. This reality has the potential to create more hairy situations for the government.

We [Canada] have so many oligopolistic companies. This is going to come up again. This is not the first time that a justice minister or prime minister has been involved in trying to  help a company get off the hook, said Carleton University business professor Ian Lee in an interview.

The government desires a thriving economy and wants jobs to be created, not lost. It would not want SNC-Lavalin to suffer like Bombardieranother Quebec darlingdid. The government granted hundreds of millions of dollars in interest-free loans when Bombardier ran into various difficulties; it has laid off thousands of workers.

The more people that can potentially lose their jobs, the more quickly the politicians will react, Lee said.

Companies like SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier have a special status, says Lee. [Theyre] so important to Quebeckers and the provincial government. That necessarily makes them important to the federal political parties, he said.

Remediation Agreements

SNC-Lavalin faces a potential 10-year ban from government business. Lee says such punishment would have been too severe, but he has concerns about the newly introduced RAs being little more than a slap on the wrist.

Based on how RAs have evolved in the United States, Lee suggests a mega fine of 510 percent of assets along with a written public enumeration of the companys wrongdoing approved by a superior court judge would be appropriate.

We want the penalties to change their behaviour and other companies in the future, Lee said.

So far no company has yet benefited from an RA through the governments public prosecution service after the amendment to the Criminal Code came into force.

Uncompetitive Economy

In its report Death by 130,000 Cuts: Improving Canadas Regulatory Competitiveness, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said that of all the skills needed to do business in Canada, perhaps the most important is learning to navigate government regulations and bureaucracy.

And these regulations serve as a moat around large companies, which have the human and financial resources to navigate the regulatory quagmire. The number of federal requirements that impose an administrative burden on businesses went up from 129,860 in 2014 to 131,754 in 2015.

Onerous compliance costs along with inefficient and unpredictable regulatory processes divert business resources away from more productive activities. This is especially true for small businesses, which lack the specialized and dedicated compliance resources of larger firms, according to the report.

Canada has fallen to No. 14 on the global competitiveness index from No. 9 eight years ago. On the burden of government regulation, Canada ranks 38th. The country has become far less attractive to foreign investment, which would challenge larger companies.

In the oligopolistic markets theres a lot of hidden barriers that keep out foreign competition, Lee said.

In Canada, 87 percent of the domestic market is controlled by two airlines and Canadians endure some of the highest airfares in the world, according to Mark Morabito, executive chairman of Canada Jetlines.

And of course, the big six banks own upward of 95 percent of total bank assets in Canada.



Lee says that the oligopolistic nature of Canadas business landscape hurts the nations productivity vis-a-vis the United States and that more competition and foreign investmentwhich the Liberal government desperately seekswill diminish the governments influence over the business landscape.

When you open it up to competition, its harder to get the government to protect you, Lee said. When you make the economy more competitive, its going to chip away at this kind of behaviour were discussing.

Transparency is extremely important since the competitive marketplace isnt able to keep everybody in check, says Lee, adding that this is why, more than ever, Canada needs a free media, academics, and NGOs that can ferret out bad corporate behaviour.

When people know their behaviour is going to become public, it changes their behaviour, Lee said. I profoundly believe that.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETBiz
Report: Witness Says Gate Blocked When Lion Killed Intern

BURLINGTON, N.C.A witness told authorities a gate blocked by a ball at a North Carolina animal preserve allowed a lion to reach three people at the start of a fatal attack, biting one interns ankle and pulling her into the enclosure, according to a medical examiners report.

A Caswell County sheriffs lieutenant advised that animal trainer Ashley Watts reported separating the 14-year-old lion named Matthai into a section of an enclosure at the Conservators Center in Burlington on Dec. 30, according to the report first published by WRAL-TV.

Watts said the gate securing that section was blocked by a large ball and the lion entered the area that Watts, 22-year-old intern Alex Black and a second intern were cleaning, the report stated. Before she could close the gate, the lion bit Blacks ankle, pulling her into the enclosure, the report said.

The sheriffs official, Lt. Eugene Riddick, said fire department personnel used a firehose to separate the lion and Black without success, the report noted.

Report details how intern was killed by lion at NC animal preserve https://t.co/XOOMJO719R pic.twitter.com/MeiDh01gBa  WXII 12 News (@WXII) February 21, 2019

The lion dragged Black around the enclosure by her neck for an extended amount of time. After attempts to sedate the lion with darts failed, deputies shot the lion eight times, killing the animal, the report said.

The initial assessment showed Black died from multiple deep lacerations to the neck with significant blood loss, according to the report. It lists the probable cause of death as Mauling by Animal.

Intern killed by lion when it escaped pen due to large ball preventing gate from properly closing https://t.co/twXWGMR2Vi pic.twitter.com/S5oikuD3ez  Wilson Jacob (@wilsonjmashaka) February 21, 2019

In a statement provided to WFMY-TV, the center disputes reports that the gate was obstructed by a ball, saying that is neither accurate nor plausible. However, the center does not explain how the lion was able to reach the three.

The attack occurred less than two weeks after Black, a recent college graduate from New Palestine, Indiana, had begun working at the nonprofit wildlife facility.

USDA inspections in 2017 and 2018 found no problems at the center, according to government reports. A government inspector counted 16 lions among 85 total animals in 2018.

The center stresses in its statement that as an intern, Black wasnt responsible for the accident and that all credible evidence indicates that she was killed almost instantly and first responders were conducting a recovery, not a rescue.

The center reviewed safety policies and procedures and re-trained staff, and said its confident that, when followed, those existing policies and procedures are sufficient.

Lt. Darrell McLean, a spokesman for the Caswell County Sheriffs Office, declined comment Wednesday.

Wildlife Center

The center was founded in 1999 by longtime wildlife organization volunteers and employees Douglas Evans and Mindy Stinner as an educational nonprofit dedicated to providing a home for select carnivore species.

In 2004, the center accepted 14 lions and tigers that were part of a larger confiscation of animals living in unacceptable conditions, according to the centers about page. The lion that killed a person before being put down, Matthai, was a 14-year-old male born to one of those lions.

The center now houses over 80 animals across more than 21 species and welcomes over 16,000 visitors a year.

On its website and Facebook page, the center advertises once-in-a-lifetime-experiences with animals. One part states: Roar with lions from 5 feet away!

The center stayed closed for one month before reopening in early February. Prior to reopening, the center stated on its website: The Conservators Center is looking forward to welcoming guests back for regular tours beginning this Saturday, February 2nd. We are excited to continue our mission of wildlife education and conservation.

The statement did not mention the attack.

NTD reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Rep. Ilhan Omar Once Traveled With Radical Anti-US Group That Supports Cuban, Venezuelan Socialism

It has been revealed that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) traveled in November 2017 to Honduras as part of a delegation sponsored by the radical Witness for Peace group.

The organization was formed during the Reagan administration to oppose U.S. policies aimed to stop the spread of communism, it also supports Cuban and Venezuelan socialism.

The story about Omars trip, which took place before she became a U.S. Representative, was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Feb. 19.

Omar tweeted about the trip in 2017, saying after traveling to Honduras as part of the Witness for Peace delegation, Ive returned home with a heavy heart and deep concern for the electoral process and human rights crisis the people of Honduras are enduring. Shortly afterward, she began urging Congress to end all military and security aid to Honduras.

After traveling to Honduras as part of the Witness for Peace delegation, Ive returned home with a heavy heart and deep concern for the electoral process and human rights crisis the people of Honduras are enduring.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 30, 2017

The congresswomans links with the far-left group could raise more questions about her suitability to serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as Witness for Peace openly supports revolutionary groups in Latin America and the socialist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. On Feb. 11, President Donald Trump called for her resignation from the committee after she made controversial comments about Israel that have been described as anti-Semitic.

President Trump on Rep. @IlhanMN: Her lame apology, and thats what it was, it was lame, and she didnt mean a word of it was just not appropriate. I think she should resign from Congress. pic.twitter.com/6rbPUDdFuz  CSPAN (@cspan) February 12, 2019

Witness for Peace, which also organizes travel delegations to Cuba, has also called for the return of Guantanamo Naval Base to the country and has described the Trump administrations tough policies toward the country as an old unjust, counterproductive Cold War posture of past decades.

Trevor Loudon, an expert on Marxist groups and the radical left who is a contributor to The Epoch Times, said the group has been supporting revolutionary movements in Latin America since the Reagan era.

Witness for Peace was there trying to help the revolutionary groups that the American government was trying to suppress. They were working directly to help foreign enemies of America against this country, he said.

[They were] sort of an alliance of the religious left, the hard Marxist left, Latin Americas revolutionary movements who are militantly opposed to America.

He said it was concerning that Omar attended the travel delegation not long before she was elected to Congress and while she was serving in the Minnesota state legislature.

Ilhan Omar is connected to many socialist groups in Minnesota but this one is international in scope and very well connected to active revolutionary movements who are working to cause trouble in America, he said.

Basically, she has put her loyalty to the revolutionary groups in Latin America over her loyalty to the United States. So how can she be trusted with secrets? How can she be trusted to not promote their policies?

Board Members Ties With Socialist Groups

Loudon also said many people associated with the group, such as board member Jeanette Charles, have overt ties with Marxists groups and organizations.

Shes on their board, shes a member of LeftRoots, which is a front for the freedom socialist organization, [and] shes openly Marxist, as most of the other people [are], he said.

Charles, who worked for Witness for Peace Southwest, is only listed as a board member on the Spanish version of the organizations website. She is also a member of the Chiapas Support Committee, a group that supports Venezuelas socialist dictator, Nicolas Maduro.

In an open letter she wrote in 2017, Charles said socialism in Venezuela is our greatest hope against war and capitalism.

Like Charles, board member Eunice Escobar is listed to also work for the Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) and the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN).

According to CRLNs website, one of its missions is to dismantle U.S. militarism, neoliberal economic and immigration policy, and other forms of state and institutional violence. The Chicago-based group has also described the Trump administrations recognition of Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela as an attempted coup against the socialist regime.

The revelation comes after Omar received backlash for perpetuating antisemitic tropes earlier this month. In her comments, she implied a prominent pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), paid off lawmakers for their support of Israel.

Its all about the Benjamins baby  https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019

Its all about the Benjamins baby  https://t.co/KatcXJnZLV  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2019

Her comments were condemned by both Democrats and Republicans and she subsequently apologized for the social media posts but have not taken them down.

Meanwhile, she also came under fire for attempting to grill the special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, during a House hearing on the Caracas crisis on Feb. 13 and was also criticized for accusing the United States of leading a coup against Maduro.
Bystanders watch a news broadcast showing images of a summit meeting between North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's president Moon Jae-in on a public television screen in Pyongyang on Sept. 19, 2018. (Kim Won Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

Regime Tells North Koreans Denuclearization Is Irreversible Ahead of Trump Summit

A North Korean newspaper, the main mouthpiece of the communist regime, ran an opinion piece that, for the first time, provided the citizenry a rationalizationfrom the regimes propaganda perspectivefor denuclearization.

The op-ed, published in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, presented the path to peacea keyword in the denuclearization narrativeas difficult, but irreversible.

The road to peace is hard, and sometimes accompanied by great sacrifices, the article stated. We cannot rest just because the road ahead is too long, and we cant turn around or retreat just because of trials and obstacles blocking it.

The op-ed, which mentioned the word peace or peaceful more than 70 times, came two weeks before the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, planned for Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

In the grandiose language typical of North Korean press, the piece argues that Kim was on the verge of a military conflict with the United States, but decided to make a great strategic choice to tame the war with love.

The power of infinite love that sprang from his heart was transcending dozens of hydrogen [bombs], stated the Feb. 13 article.

Seismic Propaganda Shift

For decades, the communist regime fed North Koreans with propaganda that nuclear weapons were crucial in preventing the United States from invading the country. But the narrative shifted with the historic April 27, 2018, Panmunjom Declaration, when Kim pledged to denuclearize.

The op-ed appears to mark a major shift in the communist propaganda of old.

This is the first time the Rodong Sinmun has run a story explaining the significance and background of the complete denuclearization that Kim has repeatedly promised, the South Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh stated in a Feb. 18 report.

The language of the op-ed, which was attributed to a Japanese resident in Korea, also appears aimed at addressing the concerns and grievances of groups in North Korea who object to the fact that the U.S. and U.N. sanctions are still in place, the paper noted.

Trump said he doesnt want to rush the denuclearization talks and that the sanctions will remain in place for the time being. Hes also pointed to the economic potential of the tiny country, which is wedged in a strategic position between China, Russia, and South Korea.

We think that they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future, Trump told reporters on Feb. 15.

Update: The article has been updated with a more accurate description of the Feb. 13 opinion piece.
Frank Leutz enjoyed Shen Yun at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, on Feb. 20, 2019. (NTD)

PHOENIXCar talk radio show host Frank Leutz is a man of many accomplishments. Besides running a successful repair shop in Chandler, Arizona, Leutz is also a jazz trombonist who has played in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

So after watching New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, Leutz was able to appraise the production based on his experience in the industry.

This by far is [a] top notch performance, he said on Feb. 20.

What struck me as really compelling was the synchronization between the pit orchestra and the performers on stage.

Shen Yun dancers and orchestra members are currently touring the world in six equal-sized companies, spreading the essence of 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture to modern audiences.

The standout of the performance for Leutz, host of WrenchNation Car Talk Radio, was the erhu soloist. The erhu is an ancient two-stringed instrument that is described as being to convey a wide range of emotions.

That was phenomenal, he said.

That was my highlight of the whole show.

Leutz also praised the pianist and the vocalists, as well as the live orchestra, saying they did a phenomenal job.

Message of Unity

The radio personality found the message of the performance particularly striking.

[It] gave us a sense of unity as humanity, through art and music, Leutz said.

I think its a wonderful message.

The performance, Leutz said, displayed a positivity that were all one, and we may be different but we really are one, adding that this was something sorely needed today.

Learning Experience

It was also a learning experience for the radio show host, who said he learned more about the art and style of different dynasties. Many of Shen Yuns dance pieces revolve around the style and dance forms used in specific dynasties, such as the Tang (7th to 10th centuries) and Qing (17th to 20th centuries) dynasties.

He noted that often, depictions of Chinese history has focused on war and conquest, so it was good to be reminded by Shen Yun of the art and culture of the people.

Leutzs co-host Susie Wong also attended the performance after wanting to come for 10 years.

Absolutely love it, she said.

While Wong is ethnically Chinese, the production was equally as edifying for her.

This was really enlightening for me, Wong said.

Because growing up  we just celebrated Chinese New Years, and so you go through the traditions, you do it because your parents told you to and taught you to, and now this is about seeing the culture.

Its about absolutely seeing my culture, where my family is from, and it was just beautiful.

Spirituality

Traditional Chinese culture is also grounded in spirituality and belief in the divine. As depicted in the stories and songs performed by Shen Yun, these ideas formed the bedrock of a civilization that lasted thousands of years. Leutz said the underlying message of spirituality was a powerful one.

I think we all have our spiritual walk in life, he said.

[It] lights up the soul, brings out the spirit.

Wong also appreciated the spirituality brought forth throughout the program.

Leutz said he was a fan of Shen Yun, and will definitely be back to see the show when it returns, as he thinks there is a lot more he can learn about traditional Chinese culture. He added that he would recommend it to anyone.

Wong was more emphatic.

Im going to text my family right now and let them know, she said.

All my Asian brothers and sisters, I went to see Shen Yun and you guys should too.'

With reporting by NTD Television.

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: Overdosing School Bus Driver Charged After Crashing Into Tree

A school bus with 12 special needs pupils onboard crashed into a tree in Newark, driven by a woman who was overdosing on drugs, according to authorities.

After being revived with Narcana treatment used to revive opioid users who have overdosedthe driver, named as Lisa Byrd, 57, was arrested and later charged, according to an official statement from the Department of Public Safety.

Officials said that she had with her contraband and drug paraphernalia during the crash, which occurred around lunchtime on Feb. 20.

The children, who range from 5 to 13 years old, were all unharmed.

A video obtained by ABC7 shows the bus drift aimlessly across traffic before hitting a tree.

WATCH: N.J. school bus driver ODs on heroin while behind wheel and crashes; kids unhurt This is a pathetic situation, Newark Public Safety Director said.https://t.co/1Ffey4PKr6  New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 21, 2019

According to the news outlet, sources at the police department said that she was on heroin.

Endangering the lives of Newark children is something we will not tolerate, Mayor Baraka said in a statement. We are grateful that none of the students were injured and that no other residents were harmed due to this incident.

First responders revived the driver with Narcan when they arrived on the scene.  Fox 8 News  2019221

Just one day earlier, another allegedly overdosing driver was arrested and charged in New Jersey after three people were killed when his Honda plowed into a gas station.

Byrd faces charges of 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, driving while impaired, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

She was transported to the hospital for treatment.

F&A Transportation, the company employing the driver, has been removed from transporting children until an investigation is completed, Newark Public Schools said in a statement, according to CNN.

3 Killed at Gas Station

The Department of Public Safety noted that the charges at this point are accusations. This suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The day before, just a few miles away in the township of Wayne, a Delta gas station attendant and a father and his 17-year-old son were killed when a car smashed into the station.

The driver survived and has been charged with multiple crimes, according to local reports, including manslaughter and first-degree death while driving intoxicated.

According to NBC New York, the driver was given Narcan at the scene.

The driver was identified by the prosecutors office as 29-year-old Jason Venderee, reported North Jersey.

The crash occurred just before 9 a.m on Feb. 19. on Route 23 in Wayne, New Jersey.

BREAKING: A multi-vehicle crash in New Jersey this morning has left several people seriously injured.  ABC7NY  2019219

A video shows the moment that the Honda Pilot barrels into the gas station, just as gas station attendant Lovedeep Fatra turns to return the gas pump nozzle after filling up a Chevrolet Camaro on the forecourt. Fatra died in the crash.

The Honda can be seen mounting the Chevrolet before the video cuts out. The roof of the Chevrolet was torn off, and the two occupantsJon Warbeck, 50, and his 17-year-old son, Lukewere killed.

BREAKING: Dont think anyone has seen this yet. We asked one of our @PIX11News editors to highlight this tragic video and cut it at the moment of impact. So sad. 3 people killed in this crash on Rt. 23 in Wayne, NJ. The driver  survived. pic.twitter.com/aUWofhHt5R  Jay Dow (@JayDowTV) February 19, 2019

The father was going to celebrate his birthday the next day, his sister, Toni Smith, told Pix11.

The driver in the fatal crash faces several charges including manslaughter and possession of a controlled dangerous substance.  PIX 11  2019220

Speaking of the driver, Venderee, Smith said, Im glad he survived. I hope survives because dying would have been the easy way out for him.

Venderee, of Glenwood in Vernon Township, has been charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated manslaughter; three counts of first-degree death by auto while driving intoxicated within 1,000 feet of school property; three counts of second-degree death by auto; possession of a controlled dangerous substance; possession of hypodermic needles; and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The driver survived after being administered Narcan at the scene, the sources said.  NBC New York  2019219

Gas station worker Tito Krishnamurthyhad just stepped away from the gas pumps when the crash happened. He told NBC, Weve never had anything like this before.

His colleague, Fatra, who was killed in the crash was a 22-year-old from India who had moved to America to pursue a better life, reported ABC.

RIP: 23-year-old Lovedeep Fatra was working at a gas station off of a New Jersey highway when a driver, who was  ABC7NY  2019219

In total, three cars, including the Honda Pilot, were involved in the crash, which flung debris into a nearby car dealers lot, damaging the parked vehicles.

We heard a loud noise and glass breaking, said Christian Ochs, a sales consultant at Wayne Mazda told North Jersey.

John Schindler was putting up a sign at the dealership when he heard a crash. He turned around to see an SUV spinning to a stop, with the driver apparently slumped over in the drivers seat.
RaDonda Vaught, left, wipes away tears as her attorney, Peter Strianse, right, talks with reporters after a court hearing in Nashville, Tenn. on Feb. 20, 2019 (Mark Humphrey/AP Photo)

Nurse Charged in Fatal Drug-Swap Error Pleads Not Guilty

NASHVILLE, Tenn.A Tennessee nurse charged with reckless homicide after a medication error killed a patient pleaded not guilty in a Nashville courtroom on Feb. 20, packed with other nurses who came in scrubs to show their support.

The error happened at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in December 2017 when RaDonda Vaught injected 75-year-old Charlene Murphey with the paralytic vecuronium instead of the sedative Versed.

The 35-year-old Vaught could not find Versed in an automatic dispensing cabinet, so she used an override mechanism to type in VE then picked the first drug that came up, according to court documents and a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesdays hearing, Vaughts attorney, Peter Strianse, called the criminal charge against the nurse completely unfathomable. He noted that the state board of nursing has taken no action against Vaughts nursing license, which is still active.

This sets a terrible precedent, and these nurses are here today because it is patently unfair to charge a nurse with a criminal offense for something that was nothing more than a mistake, Strianse said.

Vaught did not want to discuss the case, but she and several of the other nurses teared up as she spoke of the overwhelming support she has received.

Im very thankful that I picked a profession with such generous, loving people, Vaught said. Online supporters have donated more than $72,000 for her legal bills.

Murpheys husband, Sam Murphey, reached by phone said he is too upset to talk about his wife. Her son, Gary Murphey, told The Tennessean newspaper earlier this month that his mother would have forgiven Vaught and felt sorrow for her.

I know my mom well, and she would be very upset knowing that this lady may spend some of her life in prison, Gary Murphey told The Tennessean. She probably had a family, and its destroyed their life too.

Nurse charged in fatal drug-swap error pleads not guilty pic.twitter.com/RWdUA9t8jm  Santiago Reyes (@reyessantiago38) February 20, 2019

He also said the family has no plans to sue the hospital.

Janie Harvey Garner runs the online nurse advocacy organization Show Me Your Stethoscope. She has been organizing support for Vaught and flew in from St. Louis for the hearing.

Garner said medication errors happen all the time but usually the public is unaware of them. And she said nurses dont take the errors lightly.

RaDonda has to wake up every day and think about what happened, Garner said. I, early in my career, made a minor error. No one was harmed. But every time I think about it, I sweat.

Garner said she believes Murpheys death was terrible and tragic. But she worries Vaughts prosecution will ultimately hurt patient safety.

Vaughts staunchest supporters have come from Show Me Your Stethoscope, an online nurse advocacy group that circulated her story and helped raise more than $70,000 for her legal defense.

Glad shes getting such great support.  Walter Houston (@5kNurseRunner) February 20, 2019

This will cause people to die because people wont come forward with their mistakes, Garner said.

The Nashville district attorneys office has declined to speak about the decision to charge Vaught, but a spokesman sent reporters a document showing the definition of reckless in Tennessee code.

It reads, in part, that conduct is deemed reckless when a person disregards a substantial risk in a manner that constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise.

Nurse Marguerite McBride was at the Wednesday hearing to support Vaught and said she had worked with her at a different hospital for about a year.

Shes an amazing, compassionate, caring nurse, McBride said. Families love her. Other nurses love her.
Mother and Boyfriend Charged After Children Tortured With Hot Sauce and Chilli

A South Carolina man has been charged with abusing his girlfriends children as part of a punishment regime that included rubbing hot sauce in their faces, smothering one repeatedly with a pillow, and even shooting one in the foot with a BB gun.

Police said that the mother of the two children, Sabrina Irene Emerick, 25, was not directly involved in the abuse. However, she has been charged with neglect and child cruelty because she had knowledge of what was happening to her 5-year-old and 7-year-old sons.

Her longtime live-in boyfriend, Robert Earl Kailiala Saladaga 37, is additionally charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature for abuses dating back to at least September 2017.

Greenville Police Department (GPD) said in a statement that investigators had documented numerous instances of abuse at the residence in Greenville, South Carolina.

Saladaga would hold a pillow over one of the childrens face causing the minor to be unable to breathe, said the GPD statement. The child was 5 years old at the time.

Saladaga is also accused of rubbing a hot pepper on a childs private area as punishment for urinating on the couch while sleeping.

Sometimes, he would rub hot sauce over the childs face, eyes, and mouth, causing him to vomit, according to the report. In additional to physical beatings, he forced one child to take hot and cold showers.

Investigators have learned that each of these abuses were forms of discipline for misbehaving at school or wetting the couch while sleeping, Greenville Police Lt. Jason Rampey told reporters, according to Greenville News. From what we know, the mother did not participate in the abuse, but she was aware of it and allowed the children to be placed at unreasonable risk.

Heinous crimes against children are some of the most difficult cases we investigate, Rampey said in a statement. The horrific stories of abuse endured by these children are sickening and reprehensible. As such, the children have been removed from this abusive environment for their safety and well-being.

Saladaga was given a $25,000 bond and Emerick a $10,000 bond, which both posted and were released on Feb 15, according to the GPD

Saladaga is required to wear electronic monitoring and have no contact with the children as part of his bond conditions.

The felony charge he faces, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. To be convicted, the state must prove that great bodily harm was caused, such as a likelihood of death or serious injury.

CHILD ABUSE CHARGES: A mother and her longtime, live-in boyfriend have been arrested by the GPD and charged with abuse  Greenville Police Department  2019220

According to the Greenville News, the children have been removed from the home and are living with a family member.

Child Abuse

According to a report published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, approximately 3.5 million children nationwide in 2016 were the subjects of at least one maltreatment reports to authorities.

Child abuse is one of the nations most serious concerns, the authors of the report wrote in the introduction.

About 17 percent of those reports were substantiated; the department said that there were an estimated 676,000 victims of child abuse and neglect, or 9.1 victims per 1,000 children.

Children in their first year of life had the highest rate of victimization at 24.8 per 1,000 children of the same age in the national population.

About three-quarters of the cases were neglect while about 18 percent were physical abuse. Some children suffered from multiple forms of maltreatment.

Of the perpetrators of the abuse, more than four-fifths were between the ages of 18 and 44 and more than half were women.
Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, are displayed before a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, on Sept. 23, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Mom Shares Drug Overdose Photo to Warn About Epidemic in United States

A Delaware mother is hoping a photo of her deceased son will raise awareness about the opioid epidemic ravaging communities and families across the United States.

Nora Sheehan said her son, Andrew Jugler, died in October after overdosing on powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

She shared a photo of her identifying his body in the morgue.

Holding my dead son in my arms, this is the picture of addiction, she said of her son, as reported by SWNS via Fox News. This is what happens.

(Warning: One of the photos below depicts her sons dead body in the morgue, and it might be disturbing to some viewers.)

After struggling with addiction since 2010, Sheehan added, her son finally succumbed to his demons. She said he first started taking OxyContin before getting high on heroin and later fentanyl.

Due to his drug problem, Jugler went to live in the woods in Maryland and served jail time for breaking and entering, she added.

Heartbreaking   Metro  2019221

I hope that sharing this image will impact addicts but mainly I hope the rest of us stop walking around blindly, she was quoted by Fox as saying.

I never thought heroin and fentanyl were as prevalent in my community as they are. Its an epidemic. A lot of us just dont care until it comes into our lives.

Sheehans family isnt alone in their grief. Over 70,000 people overdosed in the U.S. in 2017, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

'This is the picture of addiction This is what happens'  Daily Mail  2019221

Among opioids, fentanyl was the No. 1 top killer, health officials have said.

I couldnt grieve until I saw him, Sheehan said of her sons passing, adding that she didnt see him for two days after he died.

Until then I had been holding out hope, she added. They told me to prepare for the smell in the room, because his body had been outside for a while in the hot weather. That was the farthest thing from my mind. I wanted to hold him and hug him one last time.

Sheehan added that she never thought her son wanted to die.

But the combination of drugs he took that last time, he would have never survived, she continued.

She said: For years I would lay in bed at night and worry about where he was sleeping. When he moved to the woods I asked him if I could buy him a new tent or a new sleeping bag but he refused. I begged him to come home, The Mirror reported.

While I was trying to drive Andrew to a detox center in September he opened the door while my car was going 60 mph as if to throw himself out, she said. I stopped the car and started screaming. I asked him in that moment where he wanted to be buried.

The grieving mom organized a memorial and invited some of her sons homeless friends. Members of the community gave out pizza and hygiene products.

Fentanyl Deaths

In August, President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass a measure to stop synthetic opioid drugs such as fentanyl from being transported into the United States via the U.S. Postal Service system.

It is outrageous that Poisonous Synthetic Heroin Fentanyl comes pouring into the U.S. Postal System from China, he wrote on Aug. 20.

The shipment of fentanyl from China to the U.S. is almost a form of warfare, Trump said in August.

In China, you have some pretty big companies sending that garbage and killing our people, Trump said at the time.

More than 71,500 Americans have died of a drug overdose in 2017, according to data released the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The majorityor least 68 percentof those deaths could be attributed to opioids such as fentanyl.
Moldova Opposition Election Candidates: Were Being Poisoned

CHISINAU, MoldovaTwo opposition leaders have accused Moldovan authorities of poisoning them, drawing a rapid denial from the ruling party, just days before a parliamentary election that threatens to tip the east European country back into crisis.

Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase said doctors had discovered heavy metals in their blood. The two have joined forces to campaign against the ruling Democratic Party ahead of the Feb. 24 vote and accuse its leadership of rampant corruption.

Suspicions arise, and against the background of the attitude of the current government to those whom they think are dangerous, this case should be taken seriously, Sandu said.

The authorities want our deaths, Nastase added.

A spokesman for the pro-Western Democratic Party rubbished the allegation and said strange accusations are heard in the last few days and are becoming more and more fantastic.

Unfortunately, the election campaign in Moldova has sometimes exceeded common sense, said the spokesman, Vitalie Gamurari.

The election pits the Democratic Party, which heads the current government and denies corruption allegations, against the Socialists, who favor closer ties to Russia.

Nastase and Sandus ACUM bloc oppose both these main parties, and on Feb. 21 signed a pledge not to enter into a coalition with them in case of a hung parliament.

The election threatens to entrench a split in the country between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces at a time when concerns over corruption and democracy have soured its relations with the European Union.

Opinion polls suggest no party will win an outright majority, which could set the scene for months of coalition talks or another election.

Moldova, one of Europes poorest countries, which is squeezed between Ukraine and EU member state Romania, plunged into political crisis in 2014-2015 after $1 billion was pilfered from three banks.

The scandal tarnished the image of pro-Western forces in the country, which the European Parliament last year declared a state captured by oligarchic interests.

By Alexander Tanas
Riya Rajkumar, 11, and Roopesh Rajkumar, 41, are seen in this undated police handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO, Peel Regional Police)

Man Accused of Killing 11 Year Old Daughter Dies in Hospital, Police Say

TORONTOA man accused of killing his daughter on her 11th birthday died in the hospital on the evening of Feb. 20, police said, noting that their investigation into the girls death is not over.

Roopesh Rajkumar had been hospitalized with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after his arrest.

His daughter, Riya Rajkumar, became the subject of an amber alert late Thursday night after her father allegedly indicated to her mother that he planned to hurt both the child and himself.

Shortly after the alert was sent out, Peel regional police knocked down the door to her fathers home in Brampton, Ontario, and found Riyas body.

Roopesh Rajkumar, the dad accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter Riya Rajkumar, has died at Sunnybrook Hospital. He was admitted for a self-inflicted gunshot wound prior to his arrest by OPP last Thursday night. Peel Police forensic officers just arrived at the hospital. pic.twitter.com/x0jFptgPc7  Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyGlobalTV) February 21, 2019

Officers have not released her cause of death, and note that the homicide unit will continue its investigation.

Rajkumar was arrested by provincial police more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, and was charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators have said that after Rajkumar was transferred into the custody of local police, they discovered he was injured and took him to the hospital. The provinces police watchdog declined to investigate the circumstances leading to the gunshot wound.

The day Riya diedValentines Daywas also her and her mothers birthdays.

She was so excited for her birthday, looking forward to having dinner later that evening, Riyas mother, Priya Ramdin, said in a statement Tuesday. Never did I think that my daughter would not return back to me.

Its very heart-wrenching, said Peel Regional Police Const. Danny Marttini, making particular note of the mothers pain. We have to remember that this is a family, and shes now moving forward without her daughter.

Riya had just celebrated a joint Valentines Day birthday with her mother before being dropped off at a gas station in Mississauga, Ontario, last Thursday afternoon for a visit with her father, Roopesh Rajkumar, who did not live with them.

When he failed to bring Riya home at the scheduled time, Marttini said the mother became concerned. That anxiety morphed into something more serious after Rajkumar, an ex-boyfriend, allegedly indicated to the girls mother that he planned to harm both himself and their child, Marttini said.

She came in already fully concerned saying, This is what hes saying to me, Im concerned for the well-being of my daughter, I need some help, she said.

Marttini said police began investigating the situation right away but did not immediately have grounds to enter Rajkumars home, where Riyas body was found roughly five hours after she was reported missing.

We need extenuating circumstances to force entry into somebodys residence, Marttini said. To do a door-knock? No problem. But if nobody answers, thats sort of as far as we go.  As the investigation unfolded, they did receive information that they did believe she was in the residence. As soon as they had that information, they proceeded.

Shortly before entering the home, however, police had issued an amber alert in Riyas disappearance. The alert, released just after 11:30 p.m., was issued via the national Public Alerting System on cellphones across the province.

That bulletin, police said, directly led to Rajkumars arrest.

Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne said a motorist driving on Highway 11 in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, shortly before midnight noticed Rajkumars vehicle, which had been described in the amber alert.

As a result of the amber alert, they observed the vehicle and gave us the coordinates, she said. Thankfully  we were able to apprehend this man.

When Peel police took custody of Rajkumar from the provincial force, Marttini said officers became aware of an undisclosed medical condition that meant he required treatment at a trauma center. Rajkumar remained in the hospital under police custody on Friday evening.

As news of the girls death spread, several people stopped by the area around Rajkumars home to leave flowers and pay their respects.

Emmanuel Okafor, who lives nearby, paused near the home, clasped his hands and said a silent prayer.

I pray to God the family lives through this, he said. No family should ever go through this.  It breaks my heart.

Okafor said he followed the situation closely after the amber alert was issued.

Its senseless, he said. We were really hoping last night she would be found alive, not knowing this morning wed have this tragic news.

Jennifer Fuller, who has a daughter around the same age as Riya, laid flowers on a snowbank near the home.

Its sickening and its sad, she said.

Grief and shock were also setting in at Meadowvale Village Public School in Mississauga, Ont., where Riya was a grade five student.

The school issued a statement expressing shock at the girls tragic death, announcing flags would be lowered to half-staff, and outlining supports available to students.

Riya was a well-liked student, and her death is deeply felt by everyone at the school, Principal Stacy Service said. Even students who did not personally know Riya will also be affected.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie called Riyas death senseless, and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called the alleged killing a horrific act.

Both Peel and provincial police said on Friday that they continued to deal with another form of fallout from the amber alertpeople calling to complain about the late-night alerts or repeat broadcasts that were issued after Rajkumar was in custody.

Dionne lamented that some people valued their own convenience over the safety of a child, a sentiment echoed by Marttini.

Were talking about a child that was missing, Marttini said. I feel for everyone, but given the circumstances, I think it did lead to the arrest of the individual. I think thats what we have to focus on.

The amber alert that helped lead to Rajkumars arrest is a special bulletin issued when a child under 18 is abducted and believed to be in imminent danger. In order to meet the criteria for the alert, police must also have a description of either a suspect or a suspect vehicle.

Riyas funeral was held earlier Wednesday.
Lawyer for Hoda Muthana Says Shes Willing to Pay Her Debts to Society

The lawyer for Hoda Muthana, a woman who went to Syria to join ISIS before marrying three terrorists, said she is willing to pay whatever debts she has to society, including a lengthy prison term.

Hassan Shibly, her familys lawyer, said she is accountable for her actions and she will only answer to God for her decisions, Fox News reported.

Muthana, 24, told The Guardian in Syria that she wanted to head back to the United States with her baby son after spending four years with ISIS.

The only lesson learned here YET AGAIN is how precious it is to be an American citizen. It is why Trumps battle to protect the sanctity of our borders and elections is the most important battle he will ever wage. @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/gzyhyPao2H  James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) February 21, 2019

We starved and we literally ate grass, she was quoted by the outlet as saying. I would tell them please forgive me for being so ignorant, and I was really young and ignorant and I was 19 when I decided to leave, she said.

Muthana in 2015 posted messages on Twitter that allegedly tried to incite people to commit terrorist attacks against Americans during national holidays.

Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! she once wrote.

"I turned to my religion and went in too hard," said Hoda Muthana, who's now begging to come home.  New York Post  2019218

Muthana also wrote: Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day  Kill them.

Shibly claimed to Fox that she is a legal U.S. resident born in New Jersey.

People shouldnt forget that Hoda herself right now and her family are not saying that she should just come back home, that she should get a free pass, he added. Everybody acknowledges that what she did was horrible, disgusting, unacceptable, but we also acknowledge that America is great because of our legal system.

Whats more, she might also have intelligence about ISIS.

I personally called them, I said, Listen we know where she is and shes ready to speak with you. Shes ready to collaborate. Shes ready to turn herself in, he said. You should at least go question her and see if she has intelligence that can protect American lives. And they failed to act on it and thats really concerning.

Zuhdi Jasser, the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said the United States shouldnt consider bringing her back.

She became, not only a terrorist, she became an enemy of our country and if she did believe in the citizenship oathshe abandoned it and actually violated it and became an enemy combatant, he told Fox.

If she is allowed in, the other path she could have is to come in and get due process of law as a citizen, which I hope would include imprisonment, and then a trial for treason, and committing acts of war against her own country, Jasser said, adding that Shibly is wasting his time with her case.

There are millions of American Muslims and people who want to come back that are true humanitarian victims of the Syria conflict, he added. They should get the message that jihadists have no space here and they need to be rejected legally with the full brunt of our law, Jasser said.
Actor and singer Jussie Smollett attends the Fox Networks Group 2018 programming presentation after party at Wollman Rink in Central Park in New York, on May 14, 2018. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Jussie Smollett Staged Attack Because He Wanted a Higher Salary on Empire: Chicago Police

Empire actor Jussie Smollett staged a hate crime because he wasnt satisfied with his salary on the show, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a press conference on Feb. 21.

This stunt was orchestrated by Smollett because he was dissatisfied with his salary, he told reporters.

Johnson said that he was personally upset about what Smollett allegedly did in filing a false police report.

This announcement recognizes that Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career, Johnson said. Im left hanging my head and asking why.

Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim, Johnson added. Im offended by whats happened and Im also angry. This publicity stunt is a scar that Chicago didnt earn and certainly didnt deserve.

Johnson also noted that a slew of people seized on the initial news of the attack, relying solely on Smollett himself, and tried to blame it on President Donald Trump and Trump supporters.

Celebrities, news commentators, and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor, he said. Many of those who reacted initially have declined to respond to the update, while others have said it didnt matter that Smollett appeared to make up claims of an attack.

Smollett originally claimed he was attacked in Chicago around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, in freezing temperatures by two white men who shouted slurs at him and said this is MAGA country, an apparent reference to Trumps slogan Make American Great Again.

Two Nigerian-American brothers who were extras on Empire, Abel and Ola Osundairo, were arrested on suspicion of attacking Smollett but were released after reportedly telling the police that Smollett orchestrated the attack and paid them $3,500.

They were promised an additional $500 upon their return to the United States, sources told CBS Chicago. The sources said one of the brothers held a rope and poured bleach on Smollett while the other wore a plain red hat and yelled slurs at Smollett.

Smollett allegedly rehearsed the attack with the brothers several days before Jan. 29 and gave the brothers money to buy the rope, ski masks, and other gear. Surveillance footage obtained by CBS showed the brothers buying the gear.

EXCLUSIVE: I tracked down surveillance of the Osundairos buying supplies before attack Sources say Jussie Smollet told brothers what to buy. Countless phone calls placed for this. Visited more stores than I wish to admit. @cbschicago https://t.co/GT6h2g6Y9a pic.twitter.com/ULr3UTDe9Q  Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 20, 2019

Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. pic.twitter.com/LvBSYE2kVj  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019 Police said the information the brothers gave them changed the trajectory of the investigation. On Feb. 20, a spokesman said Smollett was officially a suspect in the investigation for the charge of filing a false police report, a class 4 felony, and that detectives were presenting evidence for the case before a grand jury. On Thursday morning, Smollett surrendered to officers at 5 a.m., reported Fox. The actor came in quietly and was processed and transferred to the Cook County courthouse ahead of a court appearance later in the day. A Cook County spokesperson said Smollett was in our custody and he is being held separately from other detainees, which is typical for high profile detainees. Smollett has not given a statement to police since detectives interviewed the Osundairos. The actors legal team issued a statement saying: Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence. We intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense, his lawyers added. From NTD News
A woman looks through a magnifier to see a 2GB RAM from a notebook during the semi-tech show in Taipei on May 10, 2007. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

How China Poaches Taiwanese Semiconductor Experts to Fulfill Tech Ambition

Recent media reports say China is proposing to boost imports of U.S. semiconductors to $200 billion in the coming years, as part of negotiations in the ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this would be a five-fold increase from current numbers.

Semiconductor chips, which power almost every electronic device, are already one of Chinas largest import categories by value.

The semiconductor purchase proposal highlights a reality in China: Beijing continues to lag in terms of domestic manufacturing of the most advanced semiconductors, despite the states heavy investments.

However, Beijing is closing the technology gap fast, because of a push to lure away Taiwanese engineers to work for Chinese chipmakers.

Chinese companies are offering two to three times [Taiwanese engineers] current salaries to work for them, said an unnamed Taiwanese engineer in a recent interview with Japanese media Nikkei.

Taiwan is home to some of the worlds most advanced semiconductor factories, most notably, the worlds largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

In August 2018, Taiwans Central News Agency reported that Nanya Technology, a Taiwanese maker of DRAM chips, lost 48 of its senior experts to China in less than two years. DRAMs are semiconductor memory chips within digital products that store data.

Inotera Memories, another Taiwanese DRAM maker, saw 400 of its employees leave for China after the company was acquired by U.S. tech company Micron in 2016.

In a July 2018 article that cited unidentified headhunting companies, Taiwans leading financial publication Business Weekly estimated that there are about 2,000 Taiwanese employees at Chinese semiconductor companies in mainland China. Another 1,000 Taiwanese work at the Taiwan branch offices of Chinese companies.

Recruitment Efforts

In August 2018, two chip industry promotion agencies run by Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly published a white paper on talent recruitment goals. The paper pointed out that to sustain Chinas desired industry growth, by 2020, the country would need a total of 720,000 IC (integrated circuit, the term for placing electronic components onto semiconductors) qualified workers. The shortage would amount to 400,000, given that there were only 320,000 well-versed workers at the end of 2017, and less than 30,000 Chinese graduates enter the IC sector every year.

The paper called for more efforts in recruiting top IC experts from overseas, as well as offering more financial incentives such as stock options and other bonuses.

Different city governments also have their own recruitment packages.

For example, the Quanzhou municipal government, located in southern Chinas Fujian Province, offers a stipend program for workers in the citys IC sector. Companies could nominate candidates to this program. If the candidate is approved by the government, he or she would receive 1,200 yuan ($178) per month to compensate living expenses if their monthly salary falls in the range of 2,001 to 16,000 yuan ($1,786 to $2,381). For a monthly salary higher than 16,001 yuan, the person would receive a monthly stipend of 1,600 yuan ($238).

Quanzhou authorities have also set aside 50 million yuan ($7.44 million) to establish a training center, where junior engineers and recent graduates receive specific job training.

The city hired Liu Chung-luang, former president of Taiwans top school for training semiconductor engineers, National Tsing Hua University, to head the center. The center would hire overseas experts, especially those from Taiwan, to train local IC talents, the authorities said.

National Tsing Hua University is located within the islands biggest science and technology park in Hsinchu City, akin to Silicon Valley.

The Hefei municipal government, located in eastern Chinas Anhui Province, also provides stipends for living expenses, periodic disbursements of 50,000 to 100,000 ($7,440 to $14,882), to approved talents who work in the citys IC sector. The stipend program lasts for three years.

Meanwhile, the Kunshan municipal government, located in southeastern Jiangsu Province, encourages local banks to provide loans to Taiwanese tech companies investing in the city. The government would partially shoulder financial losses incurred should the Taiwanese firms be unable to repay the loans.

Star Engineer

One of the most high-profile Taiwanese semiconductor talents ever recruited by China is Liang Mong-song.

Liang was a senior director in research and development at TSMC, where he worked for 17 years before leaving the company in February 2009. He then taught at the electrical engineering department of Taiwans Tsing Hua University for six months, before moving on to a teaching post at South Koreas Sungkyunkwan University.

According to Taiwans leading financial magazine CommonWealth, Liang was poached by Samsung and became chief technology officer at the South Korean tech giants LSI division in 2011. LSI, or large-scale integration, is a key process to making semiconductors, which involves putting together thousands of transistors onto a single microchip.

Because of Liangs expertise, Samsung was able to beat TSMC in developing the 16-nanometer (nm) and 14-nm chip-making technology, according to CommonWealth.

As chips reduce in size on the nanometer scale, they become more powerful and advanced.

Then, in October 2017, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), a state-backed semiconductor foundry headquartered in Shanghai, announced that Liang had been appointed the companys co-chief executive officer. According to multiple Chinese news sites, Liang earned a yearly salary of roughly $200,000 after taxes.

In a June 2018 report, Taiwanese news site TechNews noticed two significant changes at SMIC after Liang joined the Chinese foundry. First, SMICs yield ratethe rate at which semiconductors are successfully producedfor its 28-nm chips significantly improved. Second, SMIC announced that it had made a major breakthrough in improving the yield rate for the 14-nm process.

According to TechNews, citing unidentified sources, Liang persuaded his former Taiwanese and South Korean colleagues to work at SMIC, which made the 14-nm breakthrough possible.

Taiwanese media reported that SMIC is set to start mass production of its 14-nm process technology this yeara first for Chinas chip-making industry.

Despite SMICs recent advancements, TSMC continues to lead the technology race: It will be the sole manufacturer of Apples A13 chips, which will power the U.S. giants 2019 iPhones, according to Taiwanese daily newspaper DigiTimes. Last years Apple iPhones contain A12 processors made by TSMCs 7-nm process.

Last year, two former TSMC employees, one surnamed Wu and another with the name of Zhao, were charged by Taiwanese prosecutors for allegedly trying to transfer trade secrets for the intention of providing them to their future Chinese employers, both chip-making firms.
(L) Chinese students wait to welcome then-Chinese leader Hu Jintao to Ottawa on June 23, 2010. (C) Chinese students hold banners and ags to welcome Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Ottawa on Sept. 21, 2016. (R) A crowd waving Chinese ags awaits the arrival of Hu Jintao in Vancouver on Sept. 17, 2005. (cliplab.pro/Shutterstock; Becky Zhou/The Epoch Times)

How Beijings Invisible Hand Infiltrates Canadian Campuses

Observers explore how Canada should respond

TORONTOChinese students at McMaster University were issued instructions by the Chinese consulate in Toronto on how to respond to a human rights event held on campus earlier this month, screenshots of social media discussions among a group of Chinese students show.

The incident, which was China-related and involved two student groups, is part of a growing trend of reports of Chinese consulates and embassies exerting influence and interference in their host countries.

In a group discussion on WeChata popular Chinese social media platforma group of Chinese students said they consulted the Toronto consulate about a Feb. 11 event held at McMaster titled The Genocide of Uyghur Muslimstalk by a Uyghur Survivor and were told to report their observations to the consulate, according to screenshots seen by The Epoch Times and a report by the Chinese edition of Deutche Welle.

One of the participants in the group chat shared recordings of the event with others and asked for their help to identify those in attendance, while noting that the recordings and images had been sent to the consulate.

The consulate was also said to have asked that the students contact the McMaster Chinese Student and Scholars Association (Mac CSSA) to take action by contacting university authorities. Mac CSSA president Yulang Li responded in the group chat that the organization was working on a statement and had reported its objection to the event to university authorities.

The Epoch Times has seen and previously reported on a statement in Chinese issued by Mac CSSA along with four other groups condemning the Feb. 11 event and saying they had reported it to the Toronto Chinese consulate.

In response to the statement, Rukiye Turdush, a Canadian Uyghur human rights activist who spoke at the event, said she is concerned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is interfering on Canadian soil.

Theyre using these Chinese students, positioning them in Canadian campuses, and theyre trying to export their dominant, atrocious ideology to our country. This is a dangerous thing, she said.

Sheng Xue, a Chinese-born Canadian author based in Toronto, said the statement by Mac CSSA and the other four groups is reminiscent of the tone of official statements issued by the CCP.

I think the statement was probably checked by the Chinese consulate before it was released, Sheng said. From the tone of the statement, we can see that the student organizations want to show that they obey the Chinese consulate, and they want the Chinese consulate to be on their side and to support them. Its as though theyve forgotten theyre in Canada.

Another recent incident that raises concerns about foreign influence in Canada involves Chemi Lhamo, a University of Toronto Scarborough student of Tibetan ethnicity. After Lhamo shared news of being elected president of the universitys student union on social media, her account was flooded with negative comments and vulgar insults for being vocal on Chinas suppression in Tibet. A petition was later started by an individual or group claiming to be studying at the university calling for her election as president to be overturned.

Means of Control

A 2018 paper by the Washington-based Hudson Institute notes that a large part of Beijings propaganda efforts target overseas Chinese students and communities, taking advantage of their strong sense of patriotism toward their home country.

[Beijing] encourages hyper-nationalism among Chinese students in the U.S., who try to stifle criticism of Communist Party-led China, the paper said.

This strategy is on full display whenever a high-level Chinese official visits a Western country, with Chinese embassy officials rallying Chinese students and other members of the community to greet the official and block protests by groups persecuted in China.

In 2010, an Epoch Times exclusive report exposed secret recordings that showed Chinese embassy officials in Ottawa giving instructions to students on how to prepare for a battle to welcome then-Chinese leader Hu Jintao to Canada, including blocking human rights protesters. In one of the recordings, an embassy-sanctioned organizer can be heard telling students to prepare to wage war with critics of human rights abuses in China.

The recordings also capture Liu Shaohua, at the time the first secretary of the Education Department at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, saying the embassy would cover the cost of hotels, food, and travel for the three-day event. He estimated there would be 3,000 people coming to welcome the Chinese leader.

The cost, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, was little money compared to the political struggle that Beijing is waging, as this is a battle that relates to defending the reputation of our motherland, Liu said.

Similar efforts to mobilize Chinese students to join welcome rallies were made by consulates and the embassy during Chinese Premier Li Keqiangs visit in 2016 and Hus previous visit in 2005, among others.

Sheng says incidents such as the one at McMaster and others show that many Chinese students act in line with the direction of the CCP due to long years of being brainwashed.

They have been brainwashed, they have been educated like thisso its not that surprising for them to be acting like this, she says.

In his landmark speech about Americas new direction on China in October 2018, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made a special mention of CSSAs when talking about CCPs efforts to exert influence in academia. He said there are more than 150 branches of CSSAs across American campuses organizing social events for more than 430,000 Chinese students. These organizations alert Chinese consulates and embassies when Chinese students, and American schools, stray from the Communist Party line.

In some instances, CSSAs have been linked with espionage, as was the case with the CSSA at a Belgian university that reportedly acted as a front for industrial espionage in the mid-2000s.

In another case in the 1990s, Canadian immigration officials accused Yong Jie Qu, a CSSA leader at Concordia University in Montreal, of engaging in acts of espionage and subversion. Authorities said he identified pro-democracy students and reported information about them to the Chinese Embassy.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior manager with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), says CSIS is concerned about several Chinese student organizations because many of them are under the influenceif not under the full controlof the Chinese government and Chinese intelligence services.

It is a great concern of the Canadian government and CSIS that some of those Chinese student associations are actually taking detrimental actions against the interest of the Canadian public and the Canadian government, he said.

The Epoch Times contacted the Toronto Chinese consulate and Mac CSSA for comment but received no response.

A statement on the Chinese Embassys website says what happened at McMaster and the University of Toronto has nothing to do with the Chinese Embassy and Chinese Consulate General in Canada. It adds that we strongly support the just and patriotic actions of Chinese students.

A spokesperson for McMaster said the university doesnt have any information on consular involvement, but it would be a concern if anyone felt they would be under surveillance while attending an event on campus.

CSSAs and Chinese Embassies and Consulates

The Chinese regime first started putting a concerted effort into supporting CSSAs in the 1980s. The efforts were further bolstered after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when more Chinese student societies abroad were becoming sympathetic to Chinese democracy activists, leading to the regime feeling threatened.

The about us section of many CSSA websites, including the one at the University of Toronto, Australia National University, and University of Canberra, indicate that the organizations are founded or supported by Chinese consulates or embassies.

According to Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat who defected to Australia in 2005, Chinese consulates control overseas student organizations by providing funding and scholarships to Chinese students working for the consulate.

Chen says the main task of the consulates Education Department is to control and manage overseas students in order to help the consulate suppress organizations and individuals targeted by the regime. He adds that CSSAs in particular are extensions of CCP agencies overseas.

Almost all of the Chinese student associations in Australia, the United States, and Canada are established by the Ministry of Education of China, he said in a previous interview with The Epoch Times.

According to the website of the Ottawa Chinese Embassy, the education departments of the embassy and three of its consulates in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are in charge of Chinese student affairs in four districts across Canada.

The Toronto consulate typically arranges its annual meetings for the universities in its territorywhich includes Ontario and Manitobaaround the time of the Chinese New Year. But there are other gatherings involving CSSAs and the consulate throughout the year that get reported online as well.

According to a 2018 report by Foreign Policy, Chinese consular officials regularly communicate with CSSA leaders through group chats in WeChat, dividing the groups by region and assigning each region to an embassy or consulate contact. Based in part on interviews with CSSA heads and internal documents, the report says CSSAs regularly receive funding from Chinese consulates and that many CSSAs officially describe themselves as being under the guidance or leadership of the Chinese Embassy. Some CSSAs even vet their membership to ensure only those whose views are aligned with the CCP are included, the report says.

Not all CSSA members are comfortable with the growing ideological pressure from the Chinese Embassy and consulates, according to the Foreign Policy report. That pressure has become more prominent since 2016, after the Chinese Ministry of Education gave a directive for schools to ramp up efforts to instil love for the Party in students, including those studying abroad.

The report also says an umbrella group overseeing the CSSAs in the southwest of the United States requires all CSSA presidential candidates to have approval from the Chinese consulate before elections take place.

In Canada, an umbrella group overseeing all CSSAs was formed in 2015. The inauguration ceremony of the Canadian Federation of Chinese Students (CFCS) was held in Ottawa with embassy officials and 66 CSSA representatives in attendance.

Counsellor Yang Xinyu and Li Xiaosu from the embassys Education Department handed out certificates appointing a president and six vice-presidents to the federation.

The group was also received by then-Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui in the embassy. During the meeting, the ambassador handed the federations flag to federation representatives, according to a report by Chinas state-owned media Peoples Daily.

In 2016, among the crowd gathered to welcome premier Li Keqiang at the Ottawa Westin Hotel where he stayed, students stood under the banner of CFCS, Chinas official media reported.

According to a 2018 report by the Canadian Bureau for International Education, there are about 100,000 Chinese international students studying in Canadian universities and colleges.

Protesting Events Opposed by Beijing

Attempts by Chinese embassies and consulates to control and use Chinese students in the interest of the Chinese regime have been well documented.

In 2017, when Tibets spiritual leader Dalai Lama was scheduled to talk at the University of California-San Diego, the CSSA said in a social media posting that it had asked the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles for instructions on how to stop the event.

David Matas, a Winnipeg-based international human rights lawyer who, along with former secretary of state David Kilgour, investigated forced organ harvesting of adherents of Falun Dafaa meditation discipline severely persecuted by the Chinese regimehas had many first-hand experiences of being targeted by Chinese students and CSSAs.

He recalls one instance in 2007 where he was scheduled to give a talk at Columbia University in New York about his research into forced organ harvesting in China. In advance of the event, he obtained a copy of an email sent to Chinese students urging them to take action to interfere with his talk. On the day of the talk, Matas said students came into the room with banners denouncing Falun Dafa. In 2015, the CSSA at Columbia was shut down for ongoing violations, according to university officials. The specifics of the violations, described as financial and organizational in nature, werent provided.

Matas experienced a similar incident a few days later at Princeton University. He says he has also had a number of his talks cancelled at universities with CSSA or Beijing-controlled Confucius Institutes.

Nobody [at the universities] who cancelled said they did it because Chinese student associations asked them to do it, but Ive been to other places where [the event] wasnt cancelled but I was told by administrators that they were asked by the Chinese consulate, or the Confucius Institute, or the CSSA, to cancel the event, he says. It seems to be systematic.

Supporting the Party

CSSAs activities on behalf of the Beijing regime arent limited to disrupting events at universities. The associations also often mobilize the Chinese diaspora to disrupt and speak out against initiatives that the regime is against.

In 2005, when the Chinese edition of NTD Television, an independent media that regularly reports on human rights violations in China, applied for a broadcast licence in Canada, the Chinese Student Association at the University of Ottawa wrote a letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asking that the license be denied.

A leaked Chinese Embassy document later revealed the embassys intention was to derail NTDs application. The document, signed off by the ambassador, discussed rallying Chinese student groups and others against the application.

Two years earlier, when Canada was reeling from the shock of the SARS outbreak in 2003, the University of Toronto CSSA was among other pro-Beijing groups who protested a Toronto Sun cartoon implying that SARS was made in China. Succeeding in getting the Sun to apologize for the cartoon became an accomplishment for the groups, which they boasted about to Chinese authorities.

In 2006, Canada rejected a Chinese diplomats request for renewing his diplomatic visa because of his intelligence-gathering and activities against Falun Dafa adherents. The diplomat, Wang Pengfei, worked in the education office of the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, which is in direct contact with Chinese student associations in Canada, particularly in Ottawa. A source connected to the embassy later told The Epoch Times that Wang been declared persona non grata and expelled from Canada.

Lingdi Zhang, a former student at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview in 2005 that while attending the university she received an email from Chris Xu, vice-chair of the Chinese Student Association, warning they are aware she practices Falun Dafa. The email added that the Chinese Student Association is directly led by the Education Office of the Chinese Embassy in Canada, and we are watching every move you make.

Moving on up

Clive Hamilton, a university professor and author of Silent Invasion: Chinas Influence in Australia, says CSSAs are an integral part of Beijings apparatus to monitor the thoughts and behaviours of Chinese students abroad.

Hamilton says many of Beijings United Front organizations encourage their members to enter politics and run for elections for mainstream parties. The United Front is a state organization tasked with influencing foreign governments and societies.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was reported last year to have identified about 10 political candidates at state and local government elections whom it believes have close ties to Chinese intelligence services, he writes.

Hamilton adds that the main threat to Western societies is that Beijing has been working to sway elite opinion, attempting to get decision-makers in other countries to conform with the Chinese regimes agenda.

In 2017, New Zealand MP Jian Yang generated headlines after admitting that while in China, he worked at academies that train spies. Before immigrating to New Zealand, Yang had studied at an elite military academy in China and pursued graduate studies in Australia, where he was chair of CSSA at the Australian National University. He also admitted that he had been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

In Canada, a former University of Toronto CSSA president moved on to the offices of at least two provincial cabinet ministers, working as an aid to then-Ontario cabinet ministers Michael Colle and Michael Chan. He now works in a Canadian federal ministers office. He has often taken an active role organizing pro-Beijing events, such as rallying crowds to welcome Chinese leaders to Canada.

Whole-of-Society Response

Last year, in a U.S. Senate intelligence hearing, FBI director Chris Wray expressed his agencys concern with Chinese influence in academic institutions.

The use of nontraditional collectors, especially in the academic settingwhether its professors, scientists, studentswe see in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country, Wray said. So one of the things were trying to do is view the China threat as not just a whole-of-government threat but a whole-of-society threat on their end, and I think its going to take a whole-of-society response by us.

Juneau-Katsuya, the former CSIS senior manager, says the Canadian government should warn the general public and elected officials about the danger of foreign interference and agents of foreign governments that operate in Canada, undermining the democratic processes that exist within our society.

People working with these [Chinese student] associations are consciously manipulated, he says.

Human rights lawyer Matas says the issue ultimately goes back to the Chinese regime and its embassies and consulates abroad.

Typically, what happens when the CSSA or somebody who has graduated from the CSSA does something, theyre doing it at the request of the Chinese government, and often there is money involved, he says. The Canadian government should be expelling the diplomats that are spurring this activity.

He adds that the United States and Australia are taking an active role to more systematically investigate the way China is using its front organizations to conduct infiltration and subversion and promote the Communist Party agenda.

Chinese-Canadian author Sheng Xue says the Canadian government should be doing more to address the issue. She suggests passing legislation to limit the actions of people and organizations who support the communist tyranny in Canada, and expel the Chinese diplomats and those individuals acting on behalf of the Chinese government.

Citing the foreign interference laws passed in Australia in 2018 and Canberras increased vigilance against Chinas attempts to interfere in its domestic affairs as a good example for Canada to follow, she points to two recent efforts to curb foreign interference in Australia as a case in point.

Earlier this month, Huang Xiangmo, a Chinese billionaire accused of attempting to influence Australian politicians on behalf of Beijing, had his citizenship application request denied and his permanent residency cancelled. In another example, also this month, the head of a Chinese organization in Sydney received a surprise visit by federal security personnel who were investigating whether his organization had close ties to Beijing and if he was in contact with Chinese officials. Sheng says these cases raised major red flags in the Chinese community.

The Canadian government and the Canadian society need to understand the evil of the Chinese Communist Party. They are not far away; they are here to cause damage here, she says. I wish the Canadian government could learn from the Australian government and take more action.
Linda O'Keefe (L) and James Neal, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif. (Newport Beach Police Department via AP)

Girls Death Haunted Police Until Arrest Made 45 Years Later

SANTA ANA, CaliforniaInvestigators searched for decades for the killer of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared while walking home from summer school in a case that gripped a California seaside community.

A photo of a smiling Linda OKeefe has hung for years on the wall of the police department in Newport Beach, reminding investigators to keep pressing forward on cold cases like hers.

More than four decades later, authorities in Southern California said on Feb. 20, that a Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973. The announcement came the same day authorities said they charged a man with killing an 11-year-old boy near Los Angeles in 1990.

In Lindas case, authorities said they got a hit last month from a genealogical database that matched a DNA sample taken when her body was found strangled in a ditch a day after she went missing. Increasingly, investigators have found a powerful tool in databases made up of DNA samples submitted by people seeking to learn about their ancestry.

The detectives dogged this case, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters, declining to say whether the suspect or his relatives submitted DNA for genealogical purposes. We have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday, Feb. 19, and charged with murder with special circumstances, Spitzer said.

He seemed like a good guy, Neals landlord, Michael Thulson, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. I had no indication he was capable of anything even 10 steps less than this, which just shows you what you dont know.

Neals son-in-law told the newspaper that the family was not ready to comment. It was not immediately clear if Neal had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and the voicemail was full on a number listed for him.

Neal was due to appear in court in Colorado on Thursday.

In Los Angeles County, authorities said Edward Donell Thomas, 50, has been charged in connection with the kidnapping and killing William Tillett. The boy disappeared in 1990 while walking home from school in Inglewood, and his body was found in a dark carport later that day. The coroner determined he had been suffocated.

A combination of old evidence and advanced technology led to Thomas, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta told reporters without releasing details.

Fronterotta said investigators dont believe Thomas acted alone. He and the boys brother urged anyone with information to come forward.

I just want to keep the momentum going so the family can have closure, Hubert Tillett said.

The police chief was on the force at the time and said the case left an indelible mark in my mind, in my heart.

Thomas was being held without bail, and it wasnt known if he had an attorney. His arraignment is scheduled for April 4.

In Newport Beach, OKeefe was walking home from summer school in July 1973 when she vanished. She was last seen talking to a stranger in a van and never made it home, police Chief Jon Lewis said.

Her family and friends searched for her and called police. The next morning, her body was found.

Authorities said they never gave up the search for her killer, even after decades passed and her parents had died. The suspects DNA profile was uploaded to a criminal database in 2001 but there were no hits for years, authorities said.

They got a hit this year on a genealogical database, leading investigators to obtain a DNA sample from Neal, and it matched, Spitzer said.

Neal lived in Southern California at the time of OKeefes killing and moved to Florida soon afterward, where he changed his name, Spitzer said. The prosecutor declined to say whether Neal has a criminal record.

OKeefes two living sisters have been told about the arrest, authorities said. Over the years, hundreds of people have worked on the case, the police chief said.

One of them was now-retired Newport Beach police Officer Stan Bressler, who said OKeefes death stunned the community and was never forgotten.

Every once in a while, you just think, Gee, I wonder if well ever find him, he said.

By Amy Taxin
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand Dame Jenny Shipley at the Boao Forum for Asia Conference in Sydney, Australia on July 30, 2015. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via Reuters)

Former New Zealand PM Denies Writing Article in Chinas Official Paper

WELLINGTONNew Zealands former prime minister has denied writing an article attributed to her by the official newspaper of Chinas ruling communist party that praised the Asian giants economic development at a time of strained ties.

The first-person opinion piece, headlined We need to learn to listen to China, was published under Jenny Shipleys name on the website of the Peoples Daily on Feb. 18. It had become its top-read English-language story by Thursday.

It is important for the foreign minister and prime minister and others to understand that I would never think of getting into a public situation like this, at such an important time for New Zealands relationship, Shipley told the New Zealand Herald newspaper. She said she had not been aware of the piece.

Shipley, who is the chairwoman of the New Zealand subsidiary of China Construction Bank, did not respond to Reuters request for comment on Thursday.

The Peoples Daily, which published a Chinese version in the newspapers main edition on Jan. 23, said it was looking into the matter and declined further immediate comment.

The item drew a backlash from Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday its timing was very unwise.

An intelligence agency decision in November that rejected participation by Chinese technology giant Huawei in New Zealands 5G network has left politicians and foreign policy analysts worried about relations with one of New Zealands key trading partners.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns first visit to Beijing has faced scheduling issues and China last week postponed the New Zealand launch of a major tourism campaign.

Shipley said she had been interviewed by a Chinese newspaper in December for a feature article that had already been published, the New Zealand Herald said.

An article with comments on topics similar to those in Mondays piece ran last month on the website of the China Daily, a separate state-run newspaper, but was couched in the third person and put Shipleys comments in quotation marks.

Shipley was New Zealands first female prime minister and led the country from 1997 to 1999 as head of the center-right National Party.

By Charlotte Greenfield
Former Australian Minister of Trade Andrew Robb speaks to journalists during a press conference as part of APEC in Nusa Dua on Bali, Indonesia, on Oct. 4, 2013. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty Images)

Former Australian Minister Ceases Work With Chinese Communist Party-Linked Company

Former Trade Minister Andrew Robb has become the latest former politician to cease employment with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) linked company, as new foreign transparency laws take effect on March 1.

Robb, who had an annual income of $880,000, became a consultant with Darwin Port leaseholder Landbridge soon after quitting politics in 2016.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Robb left Landbridge because at this stage, Landbridge has no other projects relevant for me to assist.

Landbridge, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, acquired the controversial 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015.

Ye Cheng is a member of the national Chinese Peoples Consultative Committee and seeks to advance the CCPs One Belt, One Road policy.

Australia: Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm Landbridge before foreign interference law kicks inhttps://t.co/P0K40gRDjC pic.twitter.com/mWZkrkQMDc  Geoff Wade (@geoff_p_wade) February 20, 2019

Robb said that he was commissioned by Landbridge for over a year to prepare a comprehensive report on ways that Australias world-class health industry could assist with a major improvement of Chinas public health system, he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Just before Landbridge had an opportunity to formally present my report to Chinese authorities, they were advised not to bother because the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments had become so toxic that the report would be binned.

Robb previously denied working on behalf of the CCP and defended his position by saying that the CCP was not doing business in Australia, so he was not subject to the new scheme. Landbridge, who confirmed Robbs departure, has previously denied being influenced by the CCP in its operations.

Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr and former Victoria Premier John Brumby have also left roles with companies that have strong links to the CCP.

Carr announced that he was stepping down as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), which was founded by Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo. Huang has been denied entry into Australia, and was stripped of his permanent residency visa, upon advice from ASIO that he could engage in foreign interference activities on behalf of the CCP, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

Brumby also announced his resignation from the Australian Board of Huawei. Huawei has played a key role in the CCPs programs of mass surveillance, human rights abuse, and technological dominance.

No More Hidden AgendasForeign Influence Transparency Scheme

Under the new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) any people who act on behalf of foreign powers and seek to influence the Australian political process are required to publicly register their names and provide details of their relationships and activity with the foreign agent.

The National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2018 and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2018 have passed the #Senate without amendments  Australian Senate (@AuSenate) June 28, 2018

This will provide transparency for the Australian government and the Australian community about foreign influence in Australia, Australias Attorney-General, Christian Porter, said in a June 2018 press release.

Foreign actors will remain free to promote their interests in Australia, provided this is done in a lawful, open, and transparent way, said Porter in a public statement.

The FITS scheme was first introduced in December 2017 by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to address disturbing reports about Chinese influence.

Media reports have suggested that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been working to covertly interfere with our media, our universities, and even the decisions of elected representatives right here in this building, he told Parliament at the time.

As of Feb. 21, eight entries have been made on the transparency register.

Obligations for Former Cabinet Ministers

Former cabinet ministers have a lifetime obligation to register any activity they undertake on behalf of a foreign principal, according to the FITS fact sheet (pdf).

This includes circumstances where a former cabinet minister is employed by (or acts in any capacity for) a foreign principal at any time following their departure from their role as cabinet minister, according to the FITS fact sheet.

Any member of Parliament, including staffers and heads of Commonwealth agencies, who have held a designated position within the last 15 years are included.

[They] must register any activity they undertake on behalf of a foreign principal where, in undertaking the activities, the person contributes experience, knowledge, skills or contacts gained in their former position.

The new transparency scheme: For the first time, the public and decisionmakers in government will have visibility of the level and extent to which foreign sources may be seeking to influence Australias government and political processes. https://t.co/7IHT7mbR6a  John Garnaut (@jgarnaut) November 14, 2017

The scheme does not prohibit former Cabinet Ministers from undertaking activities on behalf of a foreign principal. Rather, it acknowledges that it is in the public interest that these arrangements are transparent.

Actors for foreign principals who do not register or comply with the reporting obligations of the scheme will be liable for up to five years in prison.

Epoch Times reporters Melanie Sun and Richard Szabo, and The Australian Associated Press contributed to this report.
Father Accused of Beating, Raping Twin Daughters Sentenced

Warning: details of this story may be disturbing!

MINNEAPOLISA 52-year-old Minneapolis man accused of beating and raping his mentally disabled twin daughters has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Hennepin County Judge Fred Karasov sentenced the man Wednesday, Feb. 20, for crimes committed against the women when they were teenagers, and for endangering his third daughter, who is a juvenile.

SHARE #PedoGateNews #Incest What is wrong with the world?

Minneapolis Incestuous, depraved, BEAST Father raped, chained/beat twin daughters in what authorities called torture

Jerry Lee Curry also fathered 2 children by one of the twins https://t.co/IcIwXs0Dtu pic.twitter.com/5cCAFo8b26  IntellectualMuse (@OurChildren11) February 24, 2018

One of the twins said in a victim impact statement that their father hurt, used, and abused the whole family. The statement said the woman hoped her father would spend the rest of his life chained up the same way he had chained his two daughters to their beds and door.

The man pleaded guilty last week to first-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree assault, and gross misdemeanor child endangerment. Six other counts were dismissed under a plea deal.

The twins, now 22-years-old, were not at the hearing.

Injuries Clinically Diagnostic Of Torture

One of the twins escaped to alert authorities last May.

County human services official a short time later removed the other twin and a younger sister from the familys home.

Minneapolis Father Jerry Lee Curry 51, imprisoned and raped his twin daughters for ten years https://t.co/odAHPjqStJ via @MailOnline  DanRiehl (@DanRiehl) February 23, 2018

Child safety experts who examined the twins soon after they were removed their parents care concluded that their injuries were clinically diagnostic of torture.

Authorities said the man was upset that one of the twins had become sexually active and felt they were eating too much.

In a petition for a protection order that a Hennepin County judge granted in June, the twin who was impregnated twice said she did not ever remember having enough food.

He forced me to have sex, he has done this to me every day since I was in my early teens or so, the twins account continued. He did this to my twin sister also.

Charges: Minneapolis father raped, chained and beat twin daughters in what authorities called torture. https://t.co/LAc8eltYDU pic.twitter.com/3QCFqHkpTD  Star Tribune (@StarTribune) February 22, 2018

According to the complaint, the other twin, identified as Victim A, said that once her parents realized she was sexually active, her father repeatedly put a dog chain tightly around one or both ankles and connected it to the parents bedroom door to prevent her from seeing men and to deny her food. The twin said her father would beat her while she was bound, and that her twin, referred to as Victim B, also was chained.

An exam of Victim A found a largely detached left ear, and scars on her forehead, scalp, and back. She also had a chronic limp from being chained around her ankle so tightly and could not see out of her left eye after her father allegedly stomped on her head.

In June, a nurse saw that Victim B was crying, and she said her father had raped her and that she was pregnant by him. She said he routinely raped her when her mother was not home, the complaint said.

Storyteller update: Dad chained, raped twin daughters; had two children by one of them. https://t.co/W9NzRKp5Ng pic.twitter.com/0c2GAzHJqC  STORYTELLER NIGERIA (@Storytellerngr) February 23, 2018

A spokesman for the Hennepin County attorneys office said charges were filed against the father once enough evidence had been gathered. Chuck Laszewski also said the office worked with child protection workers to immediately place the minors in out-of-home care.

Online court records do not list a defense attorney who could comment on the fathers behalf.

How to Report Suspected Child Maltreatment

If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency so officials can investigate and assess the situation. Most states have a number to call to report abuse or neglect.

To find out where to call, consult the State Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Numbers website.

The Childhelp organization also can provide crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. Contact them at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).

Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies involving more than 6.6 million children (a referral can include multiple children), according to Childhelp.
A school bus drives down a street in Manhattan's East Village in New York City on Jan. 15, 2013. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Driver of School Bus Carrying 11 Children Revived With Narcan After Crashing in New Jersey

A school bus driver transporting 11 children was revived with the overdose drug Narcan after crashing the bus in New Jersey, authorities have said.

Sources told ABC 7 that the incident occurred on the intersection of 14th Avenue and Jones Street in Newark at around 1 p.m., where a 57-year-old female bus driver crashed the bus into a small tree. At the time, 11 students ages 5 to 13 were on board.

A law enforcement source told NBC 4 that the driver had a bag of heroin in her hands.

The bus driver has been identified as Lisa Byrd, according to the news station who cited Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

#BREAKING School bus driver revived with Narcan after crashing in New Jerseyhttps://t.co/62sMJMew87  Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) February 20, 2019

The children were evaluated by EMS but no injuries were reported. The driver was taken to University Hospital for treatment, according to PIX 11.

A witness to the incident, Sherod Jones, told ABC 7 that he jumped onto the bus to help the driver and children after the crash.

This is the moment a school bus carrying children with special needs crashed in New Jersey. Afterward, the driver was revived with the narcotic overdose drug Narcan: https://t.co/aTAkTNFGZG pic.twitter.com/UGuzE6ZXRL  Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) February 20, 2019

I got on the bus and I checked to see what the ladys foot on the brake, and I put it in park so that the kids would be alright, Jone said. He described the woman looked as though she was having a stroke.

She looked like she was having a stroke or something, he told the news station. Her eyes were wide open and her hands were up, then they went down, her arms, and her eyes were wide open.

Sources told PIX 11 that the driver may be facing multiple charges.

Second DWI Crash in 2 Days

This incident comes a day after a multi-car crash in New Jersey, which left three people dead. The driver of the car was apparently under the influence of drugs and was also revived with Narcan, reported ABC 7.

A gas station attendant and a father and son were killed in the crash, while sources say the driver believed responsible was administered Narcan and will survive.  ABC7NY  2019220

According to reports, the 29-year-old driver, Jason Vanderee, overdosed then lost control of his Honda Pilot before crashing into a Camaro carrying a father and his son, Jon and Luke Warbeck, who were killed in the crash. A third car was also hit and debris from the accident damaged several other cars.

The accident also caused one of the cars to roll over and crash into a Delta gas station. Lovedeep Fatra, 23, who was serving as a gas attendant at the time was killed as a result. Fatra had come to the United States from India just a year ago.

After Vanderee was given Narcan, he was transported to St. Josephs Medical Center in Paterson where he is expected to survive, reported ABC 7, citing sources. A state official told the news station that the 29-year-old had his license suspended in early 2017 due to another DWI incident in 2016. His license was reinstated after seven months, meaning that Vanderee was driving on a valid license at the time of the Feb. 19 crash.

In addition, Vanderee had received citations for wrong-way driving on a one-way street in January 2018, the improper display of plates in April 2018, and careless driving in September 2015.

Authorities are still investigating the crash.
Audience members at a Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Lincoln Center in New York City on Jan. 13, 2019. (The Epoch Times)

Document Reveals Beijing Pressured UN Diplomats to Boycott Shen Yun Performances

For more than a decade, Beijing has made numerous attempts to stop Shen Yun, a New York-based performing arts company, from reaching audiences worldwide.

The companys mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through music and dance, and its depictions of Chinese culture as divinely inspired, have irked the officially atheist communist regime.

Now, a letter recently obtained by The Epoch Times reveals that the Chinese regime tried to dissuade United Nations diplomats from attending Shen Yuns performances, using hate propaganda to defame the company.

The two-page letter, dated Dec. 6, 2016, was from Chinas Permanent Mission to the United Nations and addressed to all Permanent and Observer Missions to the Union Nations.

The letter said Shen Yun was staged by Falun Gong, which it slandered, claiming it was an evil group that harms society and violates human rights. It asked countries UN missions to remind their diplomats and staff not to support or attend the [Shen Yun] show. The letter was written in anticipation of a set of Shen Yun performances at Lincoln Center in New York City from Jan. 11 to 15, 2017.

An official stamp at the bottom of the letter confirms it was sent by Chinas UN Permanent Mission. But it is conspicuously missing an official signature.

The letter pushes Beijings long-standing propaganda about Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, an ancient Chinese spiritual practice based on meditative exercises and moral teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Introduced to the public in China in 1992, it soon attracted millions of adherents, with Western news organizations reporting in 1999 that 100 million Chinese had taken up the practice.

Then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin viewed Falun Gongs popularity as a threat to his rule and communist orthodoxy, and banned the practice.

Jiang launched a nationwide campaign in July 1999 to arrest and detain Falun Gong adherents in labor camps, prisons, black jails, and brainwashing centers, where they were often tortured and abused, with thousands confirmed to have been killed. They also have been targets for forced organ harvesting, as researchers say large numbers have been murdered through the extraction of their organs.

At the same time, Jiang mobilized the Partys entire propaganda apparatus, including television, radio, newspapers, and even school textbooks to vilify the discipline and anyone who practiced it.

In 2006, a group of Falun Gong adherents founded Shen Yun in New York, with the mission of reviving traditional Chinese culture that was lost under decades of communist rule.

Part of Shen Yuns performances depict stories of modern-day China, including the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong.

Out of fear that Beijings campaign against Falun Gong might be exposed to international audiences, the Chinese regime has sought to undermine Shen Yuns performances since the companys inception.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also fears people in China and around the world becoming familiar with Chinas authentic culture. The Shen Yun website says the CCPs Marxist-atheist ideology sees traditional Chinese culture, which is deeply rooted in Buddhist and Taoist worldviews, as its greatest rival.

Today, Shen Yun has six touring groups of artists who simultaneously perform around the world. Its 2019 world tour will visit more than 130 cities. This January, Shen Yun put on 14 performances at Lincoln Center; all performances were sold out, according to the companys website.

Shen Yun is set to return to Lincoln Center in March, with 15 more performances beginning March 6.

The Chinese regime has frequently deployed similar scare tactics. For instance, in New Zealand in early 2011, Liao Juhua, then-Chinese consul general in Auckland, sent letters to dozens of the citys council members telling them not to attend Shen Yuns performances.

Im really upset that the consulate should think it can influence elected members in a host country, where theyre our guest, said Dr. Cathy Casey, then-Auckland City Council member, in a phone interview with The Epoch Times at the time.

Casey added, This consul general has no right to tell me not to go to production in Auckland. How dare they? Its completely inappropriate behavior as a diplomat in this country.

Aside from pressuring foreign government officials, Beijing has also pressured theaters around the world not to host Shen Yun.

Most recently in Madrid, Spain, the Royal Theater abruptly canceled Shen Yuns performances, citing technical difficulties. The cancellation was issued just weeks before the companys scheduled performances on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. However, the theaters technical staff did not cite any technical issues when the contract was first signed.

An undercover investigation by the U.S. branch of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, a non-profit organization that investigates human rights abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong adherents, revealed the Chinese regimes pressuring tactics.

A person who identified himself as the Chinese Ambassador to Spain, Lu Fan, told investigators posing as Chinese officials that he pressured the theater director into using the excuse of a technical issue to cancel the performances.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un after a signing ceremony at the end of their U.S.North Korea summit on Sentosa Island, Singapore, on June 12, 2018. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

Denuclearization is Overriding Goal in Trump-Kim Summit

WASHINGTONThe Trump administration laid out the priorities of the United States ahead of the second summit with North Korea later this month in Vietnam. The major goal is to develop a shared understanding of what denuclearization is, according to the White House.

Following the historic June 2018 summit in Singapore, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for the second time on Feb. 27 and 28 in Vietnams capital, Hanoi.

Ahead of the meeting, a White House senior official said Washingtons ultimate objective would be the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Its the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit, he said during a press call.

However, both sides have different interpretations of the denuclearizationhence the objective to develop a shared understanding of what denuclearization is, including a freeze on all weapons of mass destruction and missile [programs], another senior administration official explained.

The exact format of the meetings between the two leaders has not been finalized. However, there will be a one-on-one meeting during a meal as in last years summit.

Were looking to move forward with a number of initiatives that could specifically advance each of the four pillars of the Singapore joint statement from last summer, the official said.

Last years summit in Singapore produced a joint statement that was signed by both leaders. One of the pillars of the agreement was complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Other elements of the joint statement were: transforming relations between the United States and North Korea, establishing a permanent peace regime on the Korean peninsula, and the return of POW/MIA remains from the Korean War.

At the upcoming summit, Trump also looks to talk with Kim about the economic future that North Koreans could enjoy if he follows through on his commitments.

North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse, the president wrote in a tweet on Feb. 8.

North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse. He may surprise some but he wont surprise me, because I have gotten to know him & fully understand how capable he is. North Korea will become a different kind of Rocket  an Economic one!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2019

Diplomatic Road to the Summit

During the call, the senior administration official explained the sequence of events that laid the groundwork for the second summit.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made several trips to Pyongyang in 2018. However, a meeting between Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Chol scheduled for November 2018 was abruptly canceled.

Going into November and December, we hit something of a holding pattern with the North Koreans, the official said, adding that the reasons were not entirely clear to the U.S. side.

It could involve some internal issues that they were reviewing, he said.

However, in late December 2018, the engagement between Trump and Kim through an exchange of letters revived the dialogue leading to rapid-fire events in January.

The first ice-breaking event was the New Years address by Kim in which he reiterated his commitment to denuclearization as well as the modernization of the North Korean economy. Shortly after that, Kim visited Beijing to attend a two-day summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Kims top aide Kim Yong Chol visited Washington and held meetings with Pompeo and later with Trump in the Oval Office.

Since then, negotiators have met several times to resolve differences on various issues.

I dont know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearize, said the official when asked about whether Pyongyang is negotiating in good faith.

The reason why were engaged in this is because we believe theres a possibility, he said. Thats why the president has assigned such a priority to engaging with them.
Delaware Restaurant Owner Who Fled Communism Honors Veterans and Cherishes US Freedom

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Chinas War on Religion

What China Calls Sinicization is What Hitler Called Nazification

For religious believers in China, things are rapidly going from bad to worse. And the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made it clear that its sinicization campaignturning churches into an arm of the stateis only just getting started.

The present wave of persecution began last February, when harsh new restrictions on religious activity were put in place. It has continued to pick up speed in the months since, as churches and mosques have been destroyed or defaced.

Catholics have been a particular target, with a number of bishops and priests arrested and some of Chinas most famous shrines torn down. As one underground priest recently put it, Catholicism in China is facing calamity.

Other Christian denominations are faring little better. The Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, for example, was attacked on Dec. 9. Over 160 members of the congregation were arrested, along with their pastor, Wang Yi, who has been charged with inciting subversion of state power.

Chinas Muslims are also under siege, especially the Turkish-speaking minorities of the Far West. Over the past year, more than a million Uyghurs and Kazakhsout of a total population of only 10 millionhave been sent to re-education camps. There they are required to speak only Chinese, forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, and told that all religions are nothing more than superstition.

The persecution of Tibetans and Falun Gong adherents is also reaching new heights. Even Chinas tiny Jewish community, centered in the ancient city of Kaifeng, has not escaped the wrath of the authorities. In an eerie reprise of Kristallnacht, the authorities trashed their makeshift synagogue (they are forbidden from building a new one), ripping Hebrew scriptural quotations off the walls and filling in the ritual bath with dirt and stones.

It is important to understand that the Party is not beating down believers because these oppose the official state ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The vast majority accept Communist rule. They just want to be left alone to practice their faiths in peacea right supposedly guaranteed by the PRCs Constitution.

The Pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church, for example, has explicitly said that, following the Bible, he accepts and respects the fact that this Communist regime has been allowed by God to rule temporarily. It didnt keep him out of jail.

The Catholic Church has gone even further in its efforts to appease China, entering into a still-secret agreement with the Communist Party last September over the appointment of bishops. But the Partys war on religion has continued.

In fact, not long after the Sino-Vatican agreement was signed, the great shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows in Shanxi Province had its statues removed. A local Party official explained that they had to go because the shrine had too many statues.

This is laughable. China is literally littered with statues of past Communist leaders. The problem with those that lined the approach to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows shrine is that they were the wrong statues. They depicted angels and saints, rather than Commie greats like Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping. Because of this, they had to go.

Even worse, the shrine of Our Lady of the Mountain in Yunnan Province was razed to the ground. Why is the government so determined to deface or destroy such centers of public Catholic devotion?

The real issue, in my view, was that tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over China visited these shrines each year to pay tribute to the Mother of God. Such a public display of loyalty to something other than the Party and its leaders went directly counter to its push for sinicization and could not be allowed to continue.

Some Westerners still seem to believe that sinicization is merely intended to free Chinese Christianity and other religions from foreign entanglements. What it really is, however, is a far-reaching political campaign intended to transform all religions in China into instruments of state control.

This is why the CCP has imposed a whole host of new restrictions on religious activity within Chinas borders. And it is also why the state is aggressively invading the sanctuaries of churches it allows to stand.

The authorities are appointing church leaders, including Catholic bishops, who state openly that their primary loyalty is to the Party, rather than to their faith. The Bible is being rewritten under Party supervision to emphasize loyalty to the state. Pastors and priests are being ordered to hang the PRC flag and the portraits of Communist Party leaders above their altars. Those who offer any resistance to the states encroachments are accused, like Pastor Wang, of seeking to subvert the state.

This is not the first time this has happened.

After taking power in 1933, Hitler embarked on what he called Nazification. In order to bring the churches into line with the state, pastors and priests were ordered to hang swastikas around their altars, and display his picture in prominent places. Theologians were recruited to retranslate the Bible so that it conformed to Nazi thinking. And those who resisted these encroachments were arrested and charged with treason.

The ultimate goal of Nazification was the worship of the Third Reich and its leader, Adolf Hitler.

Facing intensifying persecution, nearly all of Chinas Christian churches are more than willing to render unto Caesar what is Caesars, and what is Gods unto God.

Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute and the author of Bully of Asia: Why Chinas Dream is the New Threat to World Order.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Police officers stand next to burning barricades during a protest near Girona, Spain, on Feb. 21, 2019. (Pilar Suarez/Reuters)

Catalan Protesters Burn Tires, Clash With Police

BARCELONA, SpainRiot police briefly clashed with pro-independence Catalan protesters in Barcelona on Feb. 21 while other activists burned tires and blocked highways across northeast Spain as part of a day of protests against the trial of 12 separatist leaders.

A total of 28 people, including 12 police officers, were wounded and four people were arrested, police said.

Near the Plaza Catalonia railway station in downtown Barcelona, police in riot gear used batons against a large group of mostly young protesters after a few of them hurled stones at the police.

One group of protesters disrupted underground city trains by sitting on tracks.

Earlier in the day, protesters set fire to piles of tires to block some 11 highways. Police said roads had been reopened.

Members of local groups, working under the name Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDRs), have staged periodic protests across Catalonia since separatist leaders were arrested after the Catalan parliament declared independence for the region in October 2017.

Twelve of the leaders went on trial in Madrid this month because of the failed independence bid that triggered Spains biggest political crisis in decades.

The Feb. 21 protests included marches held by supporters of civil groups Omnium and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) at midday, and a bigger march planned for the evening. The organizers also called a strike although it was not yet clear how far that was observed.

Former ANC leader Jordi Sanchez and the ex-head of Omnium, Jordi Cuixart, were in the dock on Thursday in a trial that is expected to last for at least three months.

The defendants face charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds, which they all deny.

The 2017 independence declaration, which followed a referendum conducted by Catalan authorities in defiance of a judicial ban, angered some in the region and many people in the rest of Spain.
Renu, the eldest sister of Shamima Begum, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard in London, on Feb. 22, 2015. (Laura Lean/PA Wire/Getty Images)

Body Language Expert Reveals the Hidden Truth Behind ISIS Brides Words

A body language expert has analyzed interview footage of runaway ISIS bride Shamima Begum and found that she appears emotionally vacant and arrogantyet expects people to feel sorry for her.

Judi James, who has written several books on interpreting the messages that body language inadvertently reveals, said, It is very difficult to feel sympathy for the 19-year-old Begum, adding that the jihadi bride delivered unemotional answers, relatively calmly, almost as though she cant see what any fuss might be about.

Begumwho has remained defiant about running away from her London home four years ago to join the jihadis in a Syrian refugee camp with her newborn son. She has pleaded to be allowed back into the UK as American and other forces have decimated the Islamic terror groups presence in the region and its so-called caliphate crumbles.

British authorities have decided to strip Begum of her citizenship and block her return to the UK.

Rash of Telling Interviews

The jihadi teen has spoken on camera several times since surfacing in a refugee camp in Al-Hawl, northern Syria, and being infamously cited by The Times of London that she had no regrets about running away to join the jihadi terror group, while being desperate to return to the UK to have a decent life there with her baby.

She later spoke to Sky News reporter John Sparks on Feb. 17, saying, a lot of people should have sympathy toward her for what Ive been through, while admitting I was okay with beheadings.

"I think a lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I have been through." In an interview with Sky News, Shamima Begum says she hopes for the sake of her child she'll be allowed to return to the UK. Full interview here: https://t.co/JlQZG73ZiQ pic.twitter.com/FUFUyUMkgW  Sky News (@SkyNews) February 17, 2019

In response to suggestions that she might pose a security threat and her return should be blocked by British authorities, Begum told Sky News she was just a housewife and that British authorities had no evidence of her doing anything dangerous and that she never made propaganda and never encouraged people to come to Syria.

But the more recent interview with the BBC reveals that Begum had been featured in ISIS propaganda videos and, according to BBCs Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville, she thus helped the enemy of Britain.

I did hear a lot of people were encouraged to come after, Begum admitted.

When Sommerville asked her whether she would apologize to the families of victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack, she said I do feel that its wrong that innocent people did get killed, but added, Its a two-way thing, really, saying it was just like the women and children in Baghuz that are being killed right now unjustly by the bombings.

And its kind of retaliation, she said. Their justification was that it was retaliation, so I thought, ok, that is a fair justification.

"I didn't want to be IS poster girl"  London teenager Shamima Begum, who fled to join Islamic State group in Syria, says she now wants the UK's forgiveness [Tap to expand] https://t.co/9KwR4TYUqA pic.twitter.com/JWsgeHHppl  BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) February 18, 2019

When British authorities announced on Feb. 19 that they had moved to revoke her citizenship, effectively banning her from entering the country, Begum was interviewed by ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo and asked to comment.

I dont know what to say, she told ITV News. I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. Its a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like its a bit unjust on me and my son.

Its kind of heartbreaking to read. My family made it sound like it would be a lot easier for me to come back to the UK when I was speaking to them in Baghouz. Its kind of hard to swallow.

Begum again appeared defiant during the interview, however, saying she heard of other people being sent back to Britain and that I dont know why my case is any different.

She said her message for British authorities was to give her a reason why they see me as a threat to the UK.

Not Within the Boundaries of Normal

After viewing some of the interview footage, James told Mirror Online, Her head is down and slightly turned at the start but she also uses enough eye contact to suggest some confidence.

She appears to place a hand on her hip at one point, which could validate this look of confidence although if she has just given birth it could be prompted by discomfort. She uses the words You know as though expecting empathy and understanding, James said.

James said Begum appears to be unaware that what she has done is not within the boundaries of normal.

But perhaps the most puzzling trait is the way her tone and body language remain almost the same throughout, despite discussing things like executions and her friends. This air of normality is added to by her use of the mouth shrug, James continued.

James added that Begum even performs this diminishing gesture when asked about her parents or her baby possibly being taken away.

Citizenship Revoked

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid was cited by the Daily Mail as saying that the decision to revoke Begums citizenship is conducive to the public good on grounds of preventing terrorism.

British officials notified Begums family in a Feb. 19 letter of a decision taken by the Home Secretary, to deprive your daughter, Shamima Begum, of her British citizenship. In light of the circumstances of your daughter, the notice of the Home Secretarys decision has been served of file today [19th February], and the order removing her British citizenship has subsequently been made.

Javid had previously said Begum will face consequences for backing ISIS and vowed, Where individuals do manage to return, they will be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.

The letter noted Begum had a right to appeal.

Exclusive: Shamima Begum has had her UK citizenship revoked by the British government, this letter seen by ITV News shows https://t.co/lFXaJFtBvM pic.twitter.com/7JMMPyKQNq  ITV News (@itvnews) February 19, 2019

Very Disappointed

In a statement cited by The Telegraph, the familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said,  [The] Family are very disappointed with the Home Offices intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship. We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision.

A number of experts warned against letting Begum and others who joined ISIS back into Britain.

Alex Younger, the head of British intelligence service MI6, told Sky News that they were potentially very dangerous, because having been in that sort of position people like her were likely to have acquired certain skills or connections.

Begum left London four years ago with two school friends to join ISIS.

While Kadiza Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016, Begum said she did not know what happened to her other friend, Amira Abase.
We know where she was coming from. We know what her activism was. We know what her passion was because we have that left behind.  Theres no previous model for how her legacy survives as a regular citizen who dies or is killed and then has a whole new life that takes on after that, Taylor said. The typical way that we see that happen is for people who are already famous. Already famous people live forever, but regular people dont.

Taylor also challenges her students to think about how society reacts to social injustices and how women of color ensure their voices and activism matter in the world.

I argue that one of the things that we need to is we to always be vigilant. We need to know when things are happening, and we need to pay attention.  When I saw especially large-scale public injustices in my community, I definitely spoke out about that, because if I didnt speak out about them, then they were just going to happen again.

Instead of solving one problem with one solution, she said, it is necessary to have multiple solutions to address multiple problems because issues show up in groups, not one at a time.

In response to a question about how to get involved with enacting change in a system or in their community, Taylor encouraged people to start with one thing in their community.
Though the battle these men took part in was about 100 years ago, Lengel told the audience of young Blinn students that there is still something they can benefit from the veterans stories today.

[Troops] attacked, they died, and [the war] solved nothing. When you think about it this way, what is there to learn? Lengel mused aloud, playing devils advocate. War is bad. War is hell. Lets avoid it if we can. Other than that, theres not much to learn. If we take this perception and we just look at the big picture, focus on the tragedy, drawing simple and neat conclusions that seem to satisfy us, we can learn nothing at all. ... We need to try and encounter [veterans] personally. We need to recognize that their experiences can provide all kinds of examples for us. They can provide examples of tragedy, but even in a place like World War I, they can provide examples that are uplifting, exalting and inspiring. Each one of these individuals had something of us in them; the worst thats in us, and the best thats in us.

Americans can honor veterans by really listening to their thoughts, their fears, the stories they have to share that are hard to stomach, the historian said.
The protections for American workers to which she speaks were lobbied away in the late 1990s. The only companies that are required to make any effort to attract domestic workers are those that are not classified as "visa dependent." The definition for this begins with having more than 15 percent of onshore staff being on visas. This means, for example, that an entire department could be on visas without having to lift a finger to recruit domestically so long as that department is not 15 percent of the whole. To further nullify any impact, any employee on a visa with an advanced degree or who is paid at least $60,000 is not included in the calculation. For the fields where this is most commonly applied, that figure is quite low.
Is there another outsider who yanked an unwilling political party further in his or her ideological direction in a shorter period of time than Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont? I mean, other than Donald Trump.

Back when he was polling in single digits at the outset of the 2016 presidential primary, Sanders and his position of being against every single international trade agreement since World War II on the inaccurate grounds that they facilitate a race to the bottom were still considered outliers within the Democratic Party. By October 2015 his unlikely polling surge helped persuade consensus front-runner Hillary Clinton to downgrade her opinion on the Trans-Pacific Partnership from gold standard to junk.

Where are the Democrats now? Its a pretty safe bet that no candidate is going to campaign as a free trader in the 2020 Democratic primary, setting up the potential for a large-scale realignment on a major policy issue for the party, Vox concluded this week.

Advantage Sanders, if not necessarily the country.
September 12, 1932 - February 20, 2019

Bonnie Gale Hogard was born, as the older sister to Bobby and Don, and daughter of Rector and Jenettia Jackson in Hamil, Arkansas on September 12, 1932. She grew up in Pocahontas, Arkansas working in her family-owned grocery store. After working at Southwestern State Telephone Company as a switchboard operator, she met and courted Harold Wayne Hogard. Their young romance blossomed into a lifelong marriage beginning July 2, 1955 and ending her last earthly breath.

As an adult, she served as former president of the Bryan/College Station Better Business Bureau, as chairman of the board of directors of the BCS Red Cross, as a sister of the Eastern Star, former owner and broker of Century 21 Bonnie Hogard & Associates, and as a member of the Central Baptist Church. More importantly, she and Harold welcomed and raised 3 sons, Wayne Jackson, Jeffrey Lynn, and Steven Pickett. Their three sons blessed them with 8 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

Memorial Funeral Chapel, 1515 South College Ave, Bryan, TX, will be holding an open visitation on Thursday, February 21, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 pm. A celebration and memorial service for her life will be officiated by Wade Phillips at Memorial Funeral Chapel on Friday, February 22, 2019 at 10:00 am.
From a young age, La Verne Young-Hawkins was taught the value of selfless service. As an adult, she made time to serve in the local community, but after retiring in 2006, she dedicated her life to volunteer work.

The 71-year-old, who moved to the Bryan-College Station area in 1985 to work at Texas A&M as an assistant professor in the College of Education, has volunteered her time to dozens of community projects and events for various organizations. She served as a longtime volunteer with the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and has done work with the Brazos Valley African American Museum, Kwanzaa for Kids, Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army, to name a few.

A lot of my passion for community service came from my parents, she said. I watched them and I went with them when they volunteered. ... Im just continuing that.

After teaching at the university for 22 years, Young-Hawkins says working with young people in the area is still important to her.

I believe that education needs to start early, and thats why I just love working with kids, she said. So that they can learn about economic empowerment and how to give back to the community and what unity means and all of those kinds of things.
A Georgia man who has been sentenced to federal prison for a scam that cost the city of Bryan nearly $800,000 did not have any previous connection to the city, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Derrick Ervin, 40, was sentenced by a judge in Houston on Tuesday to serve 77 months for his part in a scheme that targeted Bryan. The Atlanta resident pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the Department of Justice, Ervin admitted that conspirators posed as city vendors and emailed the city asking for money to be sent to new bank accounts.

The city sent three payments totaling $779,807. According to the city, the crime took place in March 2018, and no citizen or employee information or data held by the city was breached. One city employee received disciplinary action in accordance with the citys personnel policies but was not a co-conspirator in the scheme.

A comprehensive review of the citys policies and procedures also occurred, according to the spokeswoman. After Ervins arrest, all but $254,000 was returned to the city.
Four area CHI St. Joseph Health hospitals received TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Gold and Bronze awards this week. The Burleson hospital earned the Gold Award, while the Regional, Grimes and Bellville hospitals each earned the organizations Bronze Award.

According to a release, CHI St. Joseph Burleson Hospital  located in Caldwell  reported at least one measure set for Inpatient Quality Reporting and Outpatient Quality Reporting programs and attained a 20 percent improvement in readmissions or a rate of 5 percent or less to earn gold status. Burleson was among 51 hospitals to achieve the honor.

This recognition underscores our commitment to patient safety and delivering quality health care, said CHI St. Joseph Health Burleson Hospital Director of Operations Kurt Sunderman. Our team works tirelessly throughout the year to ensure a high standard of care for all patients at Burleson Hospital.

Regional, which is located in Bryan; Grimes, located in Navasota; and Bellville hospitals all attained a 10 percent improvement in readmissions or a rate of 5 percent or less. They were among 51 hospitals to earn bronze.
How did those changes happen? I called Phil Lempert, founder and editor of SupermarketGuru.com and a food industry analyst for more than 25 years. The trend started with the Silent Generation, many of whom served in the Pacific during World War II, he explained. After coming home, they wanted to continue eating foods that they had tried while abroad. Their children, the baby boomers, wanted more Chinese and Japanese foods. These days, with globalization and the Internet, there's broader knowledge, and people are more educated and curious.

"Supermarkets were losing market share to Asian markets. The distributors were doing volume at little stores," he said. "With demographic changes and more acculturation in food, retailers understood that they ought to carry more Asian products. The supers want to be one-stop shops."

Young people have affected inventories, too. "Millennials and Generation Z go to Instagram and look at a food photo and they re-create it. They're willing to experiment," Lempert said. "They don't care to be introduced to the chef in the backroom and would rather just have great food no matter where it comes from. They're value-conscious, do not want to be overcharged and want great quality."
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Steve Wildsmith was an editor and writer for The Daily Times for nearly 17 years; a recovering addict, he now works in media and marketing for Cornerstone of Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Blount County. Contact him at wildsmithsteve@gmail.com.
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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-334-2557 or email legals@bulletinjournal.com.
Oneonta, NY (13820)

Today

Mostly clear this evening then becoming mostly cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming mostly cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Towanda, PA (18848)

Today

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Steinbach will gain 83 more personal care home beds by late 2021, the provincial government announced Thursday, as Premier Brian Pallister arrived at Rest Haven to firm up his governments promise, first pledged in 2017, to expand the 35-year-old facility.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach will gain 83 more personal care home beds by late 2021, the provincial government announced Thursday, as Premier Brian Pallister arrived at Rest Haven to firm up his governments promise, first pledged in 2017, to expand the 35-year-old facility.

Construction will begin "late this fall" and continue for two years on a 143-bed PCH facility, said HavenGroup CEO David Driedger.

The new three-storey building, situated beside the current Rest Haven site, will eventually house that facilitys 60 beds, plus space for an additional 83 individuals. It is expected to reduce or eliminate the need for patients to await PCH placement from a hospital bed.

The current wait list, from panelling to placement, is about 18 months, Driedger said. The old PCH units will be renovated into space for the new facilitys support staff.

"Its a very exciting time," he told The Carillon following remarks from Pallister, Health Minister Cameron Friesen, and Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen.

If construction proceeds as planned, Driedger noted the new facilitys opening will coincide with the HavenGroups 75th year.

JORDAN ROSS | THE CARILLON Pallister joins Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen, Health Minister Cameron Friesen, Provencher MP Ted Falk, and Mayor Earl Funk following the announcement.

Pallister acknowledged the "growing demand" for PCH facilities across the province, and said it was "critically important" for his government to do what it can to provide housing solutions for an aging population. He also praised financial contributions from the Steinbach community.

Friesen told reporters the Steinbach expansion is being counted as the provinces first tangible step toward fulfilling its promise of adding 1,200 more PCH beds across Manitoba by 2025.

Mayor Earl Funk touted the projects expected economic spinoffs, including the creation of more health care jobs and work for local tradespeople.

Overall project costs and funding breakdowns are being kept under wraps until the tendering process is complete, but Driedger said the total price tag will be higher than the $25-30 million figure he estimated in September 2017, when a 140-bed expansion proposal from Southern Health and HavenGroup was first earmarked for provincial funding.

Faced with a funding shortfall last fall, Driedger said all stakeholders clarified their support. He confirmed the Manitoba governments total contribution will now be higher than its $133,000-per-bed benchmark.

Driedger called the project "by the community, for the community."

"This community is a very generous community when they see its a very worthwhile project to support."

The buildings design will replace long hallways with clusters of rooms meant to impart a neighbourhood feel. Every room will have its own shower, Driedger said, and the design includes two larger rooms for bariatric patients.

More coverage of the announcement will appear in next Thursdays print edition of The Carillon.
The Town of Niverville has said it has no plans to establish a municipal police force, now that an independent policing study has been completed.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Town of Niverville has said it has no plans to establish a municipal police force, now that an independent policing study has been completed.

During a Tuesday evening meeting, Niverville council announced that an independent study conducted by former Winkler Police Chief Rick Hiebert was recently completed. Results of that study have been analyzed by the towns council and administration.

Hiebert was hired to study and analyze future policing options for Niverville.

Niverville also said on Tuesday the full report would not be made public at the request of Hiebert, stating the former police chief felt that if it were released other municipalities would be able to review it and use the recommendations without paying for their own independent report.

Concerns about safety escalated after high profile and violent crimes took place in town, including a machete attack and screwdriver attack that both took place in 2017.

Niverville mayor Myron Dyck said now that the study has been completed and analyzed, council will not look to create a municipal police force, something some residents have called for.

Instead, he said the town will look to create a "hybrid model" that would include continuing to be serviced by St Pierre RCMP, while also creating their own plan to deal with what Dyck called "lower level" policing.

"We value what the RCMP does for our community and we hold them in high regard, but in reality some of the things here that our residents are requesting cant always be considered their priorities," Dyck said. "There are days when they are able to deal with more highway traffic and surveillance issues, but there are days when they are not."

The town issued a press release that identified a number of the towns plans to assist with "lower level" policing including adding to its existing security camera program, and hiring employees to do real-time monitoring of their security cameras.

Council also said they hope to work more closely with volunteers and community groups that give their time to improve safety in the town, and they plan to explore new technology and innovation as a way to assist with policing.

Niverville also said that with the provinces Police Services Act amended every five years and currently being worked on for 2020, they will look to give greater powers to enhance bylaw enforcement related to the Highway Traffic Act including giving bylaw enforcement officers the power to hand out traffic tickets.

The town is also looking to give greater powers to provincial community safety officers (CSOs) who currently work to assist police in a number of Manitoba communities.

Dyck said council has already met with the Department of Justice and has asked that CSOs be given the power to question "suspicious people" including those who "as an example are driving around at 3 a.m. for no apparent reason."

Dyck was asked if he was concerned the towns plans could anger some residents who have advocated for a municipal police force.

"We have heard people asking us to create a police force and others telling us not to because its going to cost too much, so what we have said is we see benefits in this hybrid model," he said.

In its release the town said start-up costs for an independent police force would come in at around $477,000, while yearly operating costs would sit at $575,000. A community safety officer program would incur $58,000 for start up costs and $62,500 to operate.
Consumers expect their cars to lastand not be in the repair shop. Thats why reliability is so important, said Jake Fisher, Senior Director of Automotive Testing at Consumer Reports. The latest results from CRs exclusive reliability survey give us more real-time information on 2018 vehiclesso we can make more robust predictions about 2019 models people will buy.

CRs Predicted Reliability rating is based on the model's recent history, provided the model hasn't been significantly redesigned for the current model year. For a brand new or redesigned model, or one with insufficient data, CR makes a prediction based on the manufacturers track record, history of the previous generation, or similar models that shared the same components. Our predictions are not a guarantee that any individual model will be reliable, but we believe that consumers who chose vehicles with a higher rating will be less likely to experience serious issues with their car, Fisher added.

Tesla Model 3 owners told CR that problem areas included loose body trim and glass defects. With the Chrysler 300, it was problems with the in-car electronics and transmission. These reliability issues contributed to both brands tumbling eleven spots in CRs latest Car Brand Rankings, which reveals which brands make the best cars.

Overall Scores for all 33 brands included in Consumer Reports 2019 Brand Report Card are available in CRs Annual Auto Issue or by visiting CRs 2019 Autos Spotlight online at http://www.CR.org/spotlight.

Three other vehicles can now be Recommended by CR because of improved reliability. They are the BMW X3, Genesis G90, and Lincoln Nautilus (which used to be the Lincoln MKX).

For live coverage of CRs breaking news, connect on Twitter at @ConsumerReports and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ConsumerReports. Or, visit Reddit on Tuesday, February 26 for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with CRs Jake Fisher at 12 pm Eastern/9 am Pacific.

Consumer Reports buys all its test cars anonymously from dealers and does not accept free samples from automakers for any of its ratings or evaluations. CR conducts a battery of tests on every vehicle it evaluates, including braking, handling, comfort, convenience, safety, and fuel economy. Roughly 6,000 miles of general driving and evaluations are racked up on each car during the testing process.
MINNEAPOLIS--The Travelers Institute, the public policy division of The Travelers Companies, Inc. , will host a symposium, Disrupting Distraction, today at the University of Minnesota. Part of the companys Every Second Matters distracted-driving education series, this session will explore the latest trends and research around distracted driving and promising approaches to tackling this important public health problem.

Travelers recently commissioned a survey of 503 Minneapolis-area drivers and found that 71 percent use a mobile device while driving, with 84 percent of millennials, 72 percent of Gen Xers and 62 percent of baby boomers engaging in this behavior.

The survey also identified how drivers in the region are using mobile devices while behind the wheel, which included:

Reading texts or emails (56 percent).

Typing texts or emails (44 percent).

Updating or checking social media accounts, such as Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter (24 percent).

Shopping online (19 percent).

Its alarming to see how pervasive the distracted-driving problem is in our society, said Joan Woodward, President of the Travelers Institute and Executive Vice President of Public Policy at Travelers. Nearly 10 percent of our survey respondents said they had hit a pedestrian, cyclist or another vehicle, and 17 percent said they had a near miss because they were distracted behind the wheel.

Todays event  co-hosted by the Travelers Institute, the Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation, the Distraction-Free for Life Club, Just Drive, the University of Minnesota College of Science & Engineering, the University of Minnesota HumanFIRST Laboratory, the Minnesota Safety Council, the Insurance Federation of Minnesota and Gamma Iota Sigmas Beta Pi Chapter  will begin at 11:30 a.m. CT and feature a panel discussion moderated by Woodward and presentations from speakers, including:

Michael Klein, Executive Vice President and President, Personal Insurance, Travelers.

Al Johnson, Vice President, Corporate Environment, Health & Safety, Cargill Inc.

Colonel Matt Langer, Chief, Minnesota State Patrol.

Dr. Nichole Morris, Director, HumanFIRST Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Research Scholar, Center for Transportation Studies; Adjunct Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Minnesota.

During the event, Travelers will premiere the second video in its Unfinished Stories series, which honors victims of distracted driving by imagining what might have been if the crash never occurred. The video debuting at todays event tells the story of Shreya Dixit from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and the previously released video tells the story of Phillip LaVallee from Monticello, Minnesota. The Dixit and LaVallee families will be attending todays event, and the victims fathers, Vijay Dixit and Gregory LaVallee, will deliver the opening presentation. To see the latest video and other distracted driving content, visit www.travelers.com/DistractedDriving.

Too many people believe they can drive safely while distracted and that they wont be the one to be involved in a crash, but that one moment with your eyes off the road can be all it takes, said Dixit.

Until we change the casual attitude toward distracted driving and attach a stigma to it as was done with drunk driving, more stories will go unfinished, said LaVallee.

Visit the Travelers Institute website to see the schedule of upcoming events and learn more about these initiatives.

About the Travelers Institute

The Travelers Institute, the public policy division of The Travelers Companies, Inc., engages in discussion and analysis of public policy topics of importance to the insurance marketplace and to the financial services industry more broadly. The Travelers Institute draws upon the industry expertise of Travelers senior management, as well as the technical expertise of many of Travelers underwriters, risk managers and other experts to provide information, analysis and solutions to public policymakers and regulators. Travelers is a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business. For more information, visit www.travelers.com.
Blizzard Conditions and Road Closures Force State of Emergency Declaration - California and Hawaii Sue Trump

BREAKING NEWS and TRAVEL ADVISORY

SACRAMENTO - February 20, 2019: Extreme winter conditions affecting several northeast states have snarled traffic, cancelled thousands of flights, and severely threaten the supply of road salt to last out the winter. These intense conditions have necessitated a Declaration of a State of Emergency in New Jersey. In response to the declaration, California and Hawaii have filed lawsuits against President Donald Trump.







In a hastily assembled press conference, newly elected California Governor Gonif Newscum said, "See what Trump's willy-nilly actions have caused? The next thing you know, Trump will issue a ban on earthquakes, which everyone knows are a sacred California treasure. Thanks to earthquakes and their potential to erupt at any moment, California remains on all the Top-Of-The-Mind Awareness polls. This is a boon to tourism because people are pressed into thinking that they better visit now before the entire state slides into the Pacific Ocean." Newscum then added, "And it also helps to keep California residents' minds off the fact that we're about to increase all state taxes by 400%."

Meanwhile, about three thousand miles to the west, Hawaii's Governor What's-His-Name tweeted out the following message: "Ditto with us, if Trump bans California's earthquakes, he'll then be emboldened to mess with our erupting volcanoes. Volcanoes serve the same tourism benefit to us. Without the urgent fear that Hawaii will go the way of Krakatoa and Pompeii, tourism may decline by 50% or more. It keeps everyone on their toes, and while we're not crazy enough to consider raising all state taxes 400%, we believe that our residents will gladly welcome increases in the 300% to 350% range. After all, some of the money will go to building walls around our islands to prevent the ocean from inundating us because of global climate change. Walls will be our salvation!"







After the Twitter universe went nuts with "What about Trump's border wall?" comments, The Hawaii governor tweeted out, "This is different, our pedestrians and shoppers risk attack from real sharks with a full mouth of razor sharp teeth if the ocean floods Honolulu streets. The drug cartelcrossing into the southern states barely have any human-sized teeth."

It is expected that Colorado will join the new law suit against Donald Trump as soon as they satisfy their "munchies."

In a related news media story, famous radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh is said to be considering a law suit against the Hawaii governor for using the word "ditto" without his written permission.*

This fake news story was gleefully written by The Auto Channel's executive vice president/co-publisher, Marc Rauch.
New Study Shows Japanese-brand Automakers Generate 1.52 Million Jobs in U.S. as Part of Decades-long Commitment

WASHINGTON - February 21, 2019: A new employment study prepared for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Associations U.S. office (JAMA USA) by Rutgers University Economics Professor Thomas J. Prusa, PhD, shows Japanese-brand automakers generate 1.52 million jobs throughout the U.S. The study, entitled The Contribution of the Japanese-Brand Automakers to the United States Economy, provides a comprehensive look at the robust, longstanding investments by Japanese-brand automakers in the U.S. economy and U.S. workforce.

Notably, this latest report shows continued growth in direct, dealer network, intermediate and spin-off employment nationwide. The new data reinforces a decades-long story of strong growth and sustained investment across the United States by Japanese-brand automakers, says Dr. Prusa. In addition to their direct and dealer employment, these companies support approximately 250,000 jobs in the U.S. automotive supplier network, actively strengthening the American manufacturing base.

Dr. Prusas latest study confirms what we have long understood: Japanese-brand automakers commitment to America yields tangible benefits for families and communities across the country, says JAMA USA General Director Manny Manriquez. Were proud that Japanese-brand automakers' cumulative direct U.S. employment has increased nearly 28% since 2011, compared to a six percent growth rate in overall U.S. manufacturing employment over the same time period, says Manriquez.

These figures prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that JAMA members are a vital force in the U.S. economy, with nearly four decades of sustained investment in manufacturing alone. This long-term commitment demonstrates the enduring strength of the U.S.-Japan economic relationship, and we urge leaders in Washington, D.C. to keep this in mind as they consider trade policies that will impact the trajectory of the American auto industry, of which our member companies are an integral part."

The full report is available here.

About Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA): JAMA is the nonprofit trade association of the 14 manufacturers of passenger cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles in Japan. JAMA headquarters is in Tokyo.

About JAMAs Washington, D.C. office (JAMA USA): JAMA USA is the U.S. branch office of the Tokyo-based Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. To learn more about JAMA USA, visit our website at jama.org or follow us on Twitter at @JapanAutosUSA.
2019 Philadelphia Auto Show Welcomes Largest Crowds in 15 Years







More than 257,000 people attended the 2019 event, making it the second largest Philadelphia Auto Show ever--

East Norriton, Pa., Feb. 14, 2019  The Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia (ADAGP), owner and producer of the Philadelphia Auto Show, is proud to announce that 257,515 people attended the 2019 Philadelphia Auto Show, making it the second largest show in its rich 118-year history. There is no better testament to the value that an auto show brings to the consumer-research process than experiencing crowds of this size, said Kevin Mazzucola, executive director of the event. People are lining up at the door and purchasing tickets to attend at near-record pace. There is such a hunger for this handson experience. They need it and quite frankly, expect it.

As one of the nations largest consumer auto shows, the Philadelphia Auto Show annually welcomes hundreds of thousands of attendees and has a proven track record of influence on consumers in the region. Post-event surveys conducted by Analytic Business Services (AnaBus) have historically reported that nearly 50 percent of Philadelphia Auto Show attendees go on to purchase a vehicle within 12 months of their Auto Show visit, which translates to billions in sales regionally.

The 2019 Philadelphia Auto Show marked the 118th edition of the event, which had a 750,000 square foot display floor that showcased an array of the newest pre-production models, Super Cars, Exotics, Classics, Hollywood rides and the latest in after-market automotive design. For updates on future shows, please monitor phillyautoshow.com.

About the ADAGP and Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation

The Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia (ADAGP), established in 1904, is the oldest association of its kind in the nation. Comprised of 190 franchised new car and truck dealers throughout the five-county Philadelphia area, the Association owns and produces the Philadelphia Auto Show. The Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the ADAGP. It is a 501(c)(3) public charity that aims to enhance and enrich the lives of children in the communities where its dealer members work and live. Since its incorporation in 2003, the Foundation has contributed more than $12.9 million to area childrens charities and organizations.
Washington: A US Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a widespread domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focussed violence" to "establish a white homeland" and dreamed of ways to "kill almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in US District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, searched the internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected".

This image provided by the US District Court in Maryland shows a photo of firearms and ammunition that was in the motion for detention pending trial in the case against Christopher Paul Hasson. Credit:US District Court via AP

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.

Hasson, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court on Thursday.
Vatican City: Decades of cover-ups of sex abuse in the Catholic Church are intrinsically linked to the fact that so many cardinals, bishops and priests are gay, the author of a new book said on Wednesday.

French writer Frederic Martel gestures during an interview with Associated Press, in Paris. Credit:AP

Bishops were so terrified of being outed that they were reluctant to report paedophile priests, said Frederic Martel, author of In the Closet of the Vatican.

His claims were made as victims demanded a policy of zero tolerance from the Vatican, and Pope Francis likened critics of the Church to "the Devil".

The book, alleging the majority of clergy in the Vatican is homosexual, is published today in 20 countries and coincides with Pope Francis opening an unprecedented four-day conference on how to deal with the abuse scandal.
Cape Canaveral: Israel's first spacecraft designed to land on the moon is set to blast off from Florida on Thursday US time in the first privately funded lunar mission, as the Jewish state seeks to become only the fourth nation to reach the surface of Earth's natural satellite.

The unmanned robotic explorer named Beresheet - Hebrew for "genesis" or "in the beginning" - was due for lift-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8.45pm local time (12.45pm on Friday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.

An artist's impression of SpaceIL's lunar lander, Beresheet, landing on the moon Credit:SpaceIL/TNS

The 585-kilogram, dishwasher-sized lander was built by Israeli nonprofit space venture SpaceIL and state-owned defence contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with $US100 million furnished almost entirely by private donors.

If the launch is successful, Beresheet is due to arrive on the near side of the moon in April following a two-month, 6.5 million-kilometre journey.
Victoria's state-owned forestry corporation has been told to suspend the release of new areas of native forest for logging, in a decision the timber industry says has put scores of regional small businesses in peril.

The Andrews government has intervened to stop VicForests putting out its next timber release plan, due to concerns about threats to protected wildlife and the impact of recent bushfires and climate change on the state's forests.

Stockpiles of logs at Neerim South. Credit:Penny Stephens

The timber release plan  a document that identifies areas, called coupes, that can be logged over the next three to five years  is already more than a year overdue.

On Thursday VicForests said the Andrews government had directed it not to proceed with a timber release plan until further policy work was completed.
Before Gai Brodtmann called for an end to the silence around endometriosis in the House of Representatives in 2017, mention of the disease affecting one in 10 Australian women in the Hansard was few and far between.

It also wasn't mentioned much outside of Parliament, with women often dismissed as having bad period pain and waiting many years for diagnosis.

Since then that 90 second statement has been viewed around 87,000 times on Facebook, $2.5 million was pledged for research into the disease, and the government also launched a National Action Plan to reduce waits for diagnosis and increase awareness about the painful condition.

Labor MP Gai Brodtmann delivers her valedictory speech to the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It also shows up much more often in the Hansard - and it's not just the member for Canberra speaking up.
The Coalition government has appointed several former Liberal MPs to lucrative jobs at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on the final parliamentary sitting day before the budget.

Attorney-General Christian Porter announced the appointments on Thursday afternoon, including a seven-year part-time role for former Senate president Stephen Parry, who quit politics in 2017 due to his dual citizenship.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the AAT required additional members to cope with an increased caseload. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Howard-era Veterans' Affairs minister De-Anne Kelly, of the National Party, was appointed to a part-time role  after years of lobbying to join the tribunal, according to close sources.

Former Liberal speaker of the West Australian Parliament Michael Sutherland was handed a five-year, full-time job on the tribunal. Mr Sutherland caused controversy when he called refugee activists and environmentalists "a bunch of cockroaches" who were "crawling all over the seat" while he was unsuccessfully seeking a federal Senate vacancy in 2017.
The federal government's chief banking regulator faces a funding shortfall of $113 million over the next four years as it grapples with the fallout from the royal commission.

The Morrison government has been locked in preparations for the final budget in April before the federal election, but new figures released to Senate estimates show that funding for Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) staff alone will fall $71 million short over the forward estimates.

ASIC chair James Shipton said the budget numbers presented to him from portfolio additional estimates statements meant that staff would have to be cut if funding was not increased.

ASIC chairman James Shipton. Credit:AAP

"In the absence of a funding boost there would be constraints and we would be compelled to look at constraining our expenditure," Mr Shipton said.
Parts of Queensland's Flinders Highway are like "confetti" after the floods disaster which swamped parts of the state.

Major repairs have begun to roads and rail lines in north west Queensland as water from the floods slowly recede.

Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey inspects damage on the Flinders Highway, east of Julia Creek.

However, thousands of kilometres of road remain closed or have restricted access across the top of the state.

Queensland Rail crews have noted damage to 204 sites and more than 300 kilometres of track on the Mount Isa trail line, including 40 kilometres of major washouts between Cloncurry and Hughenden.
"It changes basically by the hour however at this stage we're just trying to keep abreast and make sure we are prepared for any circumstances. Ms Buck said the Sunshine Coast was expecting about 150 millimetres of rain each day from Friday to Monday. At the moment our river systems are quite low so they can withstand that but they are looking at isolated heavy falls so we are being very careful of what people are doing in those particular low-lying areas," she said. A do-it-yourself sandbagging station was set to open at the Nambour Showgrounds on Thursday afternoon.

Cyclone Oma is expected to move towards the coast during Friday and Saturday while moving north and staying offshore, but she may make landfall. Loading "Forecast certainty is shaping up to see the most likely scenario that Cyclone Oma will approach the coast this weekend, and a coastal crossing cannot be ruled out at this stage, Bureau of Meteorology state manager Bruce Gunn said. "Surf and swell conditions will be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating, and swimming and many beaches are already closed for public safety. Fishing boats along the coast have returned to port in preparation for the wild weather, but a retreat from the sea may not be such a bad thing.

Mooloolah River Fisheries general manager Ash Wall said torrential rain and gale-force winds could be good news for the Sunshine Coasts prawn industry. In actual fact it will give the fishing ground a rest and agitated water helps bring feed for prawns so it will help prawn growth, he said. Surfers riding the swell at Snapper Rocks as Cyclone Oma edges closer. Credit:Dave Hunt/AAP If you get a drought on the land you get a drought at sea basically so it needs rain to flush the river systems out to bring prawns out into the ocean and agitate the feed. Wind and agitation is good for them.

Events along the Queensland coast are being cancelled and holidaymakers are rescheduling travel plans as dangerous conditions are expected to continue into early next week. Brisbane man Henrik Vesander said he has been left in the lurch by a Moreton Island ferry operator who has refused to let passengers re-book their trip, despite the impending cyclone. I find it really unbelievable and disappointing. Our accommodation provider has given us credit to re-book at another time but the ferry will not. We are not requesting a refund we just want to re-book," he said. A Moreton Island Adventures booking expert said customers have had plenty of time to change travel plans before Cyclone Oma arrived. Customers agree to terms and conditions when they book. They must give a minimum five days notice and they have had plenty of time to be aware of that [cyclone] and time to prepare, a Moreton Island Adventures booking expert said.

But Mr Vesander said severe warnings had only been issued in the past 24 hours. "We contacted them as soon as we were able to after weather warnings, we have been watching forecast the whole time," he said. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said preparations had begun with relevant mayors and it was likely there would be a Queensland Disaster Management Committee meeting on Friday morning. "The problem at the moment is that although it's sitting off the Queensland coast, the Bureau of Meteorology cannot put a direct path that it will take," she said. "It's a cyclone. They are unpredictable and we do know that there could be waves between five and seven metres, I'm being told."
When Sam Edwardes was bitten by a shark at a beach in Byron Bay on Sunday morning, he was the third of his tight circle of friends to be attacked.

The first was nearly 20 years ago in 1999, when Tony Donoghue was attacked while the friends were staying at Hardwicke Bay in South Australia.

Mr Donoghue, 22, left to go wind-surfing but did not return. Several hours later, a search along the shoreline yielded nothing, before his damaged wetsuit and harness were found in the evening. The coroner concluded he had died in a shark attack.

Then, seven years ago, another one of Mr Edwardes' friends was attacked by a shark but escaped with minor injuries.
A Melbourne chiropractor filmed manipulating a two-week-old boy must not treat children aged under 12 while he is investigated by authorities.

Andrew Arnold was put on an "undertaking" by the Chiropractic Board of Australia on Thursday.

A disturbing Facebook video of a Melbourne chiropractor performing a controversial treatment on an infant resulted in him being referred to regulators as medical groups denounce the practice. Credit:Facebook

"I will not undertake any chiropractic treatment of children from birth to 12 years," the undertaking published on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website reads.

"I will not publish, display, promote or provide materials, information or advice that relates to the assessment, management or treatment of children from birth to 12 years, including but not limited to the publication of material on social media, blogs, and/or any other platform on the internet."
We need a bipartisan policy on this. Regardless of which party wins the upcoming election, please make mandatory airconditioning in aged care facilities a "core" promise before the onset of next summer. At the same time, impose heavy penalties on owners who fail to comply and make reporting the lack of airconditioning, or lack of its use, as mandatory. Charlotte Brewer, Shepparton Aim for technological innovation and adaptation One likely submission to the aged care royal commission is that the ratio of care workers to residents should be increased significantly. Labour is the highest cost factor in aged care. Increasing labour input per resident is not going to be viable in the long-run with a rapidly increasing ageing population seeking residential care. To make the sector viable, what is needed mostly are improvements through technological innovation and adaptation, and improvement of the work methods to increase productivity. Scope for such improvement is huge. Sadly, neither the industry nor the government has taken any significant steps in this direction. The royal commission should pay sufficient attention to this aspect in its deliberations.

Ranjan Pethiyagoda, Endeavour Hills Four years of devoted and loving care for mum My mother was looked after in an aged care nursing home in Kew for four years until her death in 1990. We had cared for her at home until then. In those four years, we could visit at any time and we never had one complaint. On the night she died, I had to comfort the lovely nurse who had looked after her from the beginning. One could not wish for more. Joan Mok, Kew Wasted money that could go to the elderly

The Prime Minister wants to spend $1.4billion to re-open an unnecessary facility on Christmas Island. Let us put that in perspective. That is equivalent to 28million days of aged care funding at $50 per day. Or, more than 233 million days of meals in an aged care facility at the government recommended rate of $6 per resident per day. Andrew Reid, Strathdale THE FORUM Maybe a nudge or two If it is true that he who pays the piper calls the tune, it is hard to believe the Nauru government's new laws  imposing further restrictions on the circumstances in which residents can be sent overseas for medical treatment  were not prompted by a wink and a nudge (if not a push) from the Australian government. This, and the announcement that medical evacuations will be to Christmas Island, show how low our government is prepared to go to try to save its own hide. I am ashamed.

Des O'Shea, Wyndham Vale Refugee's success story Aram Mirkazemi, chief executive of software company Altium, arrived here as a refugee from Iran in the 1980s, without a word of English (Business, 20/2). He has been pivotal in the growth and profitability of this company which makes design software for circuit boards that are found in everyday household items. His stock is currently worth $300 million. How many people with this potential are currently rotting on Nauru or in other refugee hellholes? Carmel Boyle, Wendouree Seeking a lifetime ban

I do not think those recalcitrant cowboy developers, Raman Shaqiri and Stefce Kutlesovski, who have been fined $1.3million (The Age, 21/2), have learnt anything. They should be banned from being involved in future development works of any kind. Carlton's historic Corkman Irish Pub must be rebuilt. Jurgis Maleckas, Port Melbourne A surfeit of conferences The Victorian Auditor-General has found that schools are spending up to $37 million a year sending teachers to conferences, courses and seminars that "fail to positively harness students' potential" (The Age, 21/2). Minimal annual professional development hours were mandated for health care professionals some years ago, resulting in a proliferation of seminars and conferences. The benefits of attendance to individuals, and translation into better health outcomes for patients, are unclear. Maybe the most effective learning models can be implemented using available resources at minimal cost. A health education audit, perhaps?

Charlotte Chidell, Eltham North A double standard Mathias Cormann expects the electorate to accept his apology for his "oversight and stuff up". However, that explanation would not be acceptable to Centrelink should some poor unfortunate pension recipient offer the same reason for non-compliance. Their pension would immediately by stopped. Margaret Haggett, Cheltenham Issue behind the issue

Isn't the bigger problem with the Mathias Cormann travel rort that a company controlled by Liberal Party treasurer, Andrew Burnes, was awarded a $1billion government contract? Denny Meadows, Hawthorn Would any of us 'fess up? Readers, when you check your credit card statement and do not see an item you expected to be charged for, what do you do? Ring your bank and complain? Wait and see whether it appears in the next month's statement? Or keep quiet? John Taylor, Brighton

The cancer of pokies Woolworths has announced it will give dairy farmers a better deal. Very commendable, but what about the elephant that wreaks havoc across our country? Australians lose about $24billion a year on the pokies, and Woolies is a big factor in this merciless rip-off. Does it care? Apparently not. Let's screw the punters. Let's keep the beer barns open until 5am to squeeze out every last dollar. And where are our politicians? Are they seduced by their pokies income, or the lobbying power of Woolies, the pubs and clubs, the AFL and the NRL? It is an election year, so speak up now. It is time to excise this malignant cancer that eats at our nation's body and soul. Edward Keene, McCrae A fair price for farmers

It is time for federal legislation to provide farm-gate, fixed pricing for milk that ensures dairy farmers a reasonable return. Then processors and retailers can determine their individual margins in the supply chain to consumers. Brian Kidd, Mount Waverley Builders' duty of care Builders are skipping away from combustible cladding, even on new buildings, as their responsibility ends with certificate of occupancy. Yet car makers replace faulty airbags under warranty, some over 20years old, because a malfunction may cause death. Maybe the car makers should claim that handing over the keys is the end of their responsibility? Wendy Knight, Little River

The long wait for action The extensive use of asbestos in the construction industry during the 50s, 60s and 70s was the precursor to the use of combustible cladding and the terrible situation owners find themselves in today. If the amount of asbestos lingering in our backyards and on our roofs is anything to go by, owners of buildings with combustible cladding should expect governments to sit on their hands for the next 60 years. The recent exceptions to government inaction is when a developer or insolvent energy company demands to knock down an architecturally important or heritage-listed building containing said toxic product. The Victorian planning minister and treasurer will rush into action, issuing a permit and even offering to pay for the works. Cheryl Wragg, Moe Owners pay an unfair price

According to the deputy head of the Victorian Building Authority's state-wide cladding audit, a 2017 Supreme Court decision made it "absolutely clear" the VBA did not have the power to direct a builder or building surveyor to fix defective building work after an occupancy permit for a building had been issued (The Age, 21/2). I qualified as a civil engineer, and believe that forcing owners to pay for what is not their negligence is unfair. The VBA should be required to enforce the Builders Guarantee Act to rectify structural defects within six years from certificate of occupancy issue date. To erect a building with non-compliant materials was the fault of the architects who wrote the original specifications, and the building surveyors who were responsible for ensuring the correct materials were used. I hope there is a class action by all concerned, and the VBA and government are held to account. Ian Anderson, Surrey Hills Sad lack of accountability Spot on, Tony Wright  "In this chaos the buck stops ... nowhere (The Age, 21/2). A great article, as always. Accountability standards have reached a new low.

Doris Morgan, Benalla The more things change ... Tony Wright, referring to ministerial responsibility, has got it in one. However, it is old news. Machiavelli, writing in the 16th century said: "When you see a minister who thinks more about his own interests than about yours, who seeks his own advantage in everything he does, then you may be sure that such a man will never be a good minister, and you will never be able to trust him." Alan Phillips, Beechworth The forgotten factor

Stewart Sweeney pleads a case for an economy beyond neo-classical and Keynesian thinking because "both assume endless growth  as measured through current national and corporate accounting definitions, systems and standards  is a necessary and desirable goal" (Letters, 19/2). He asks our hero, Ross Gittins, to propose a hopeful alternative, given the desperation felt by ordinary people about neglect of the atmosphere and land. For a long time I have wondered why every attempt to factor the environment into the economy has met with such powerful resistance from the corporate world: I especially remember the carbon tax, of course. I would love Ross to explore this topic. Linda Zibell, Mount Helen Dangerous practices Manipulation of babies' spines (The Age, 20/2) is unnecessary, unproven and potentially dangerous. Chiropractors who convince mothers that their babies have mythical subluxations and deformities following birth, which can be magically manipulated away (for multiple fees), are dangerous. Effective regulation of pseudo treatments for non-existent disorders by non-medical practitioners is almost non-existent. It is time that alternative therapists stopped targeting children and regulators such as the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency acted.

Associate Professor Ken Harvey, public health and preventive medicine, Monash University Voting  Australian style My daughter's year 6 class studied the history and gestation of our political and voting system (Letters, 21/2). They examined local, state and federal systems and the constitution. Their learning was enabled by excellent role playing, mock elections and debates on bills, and culminated in a visit to Canberra. My daughter was captivated. I am an immigrant from the United Kingdom who, already familiar with the Westminster system, found the modules more value than the educational material provided through the Australian citizenship process. There is a major shortcoming in the way we educate our large immigrant population. We should also recognise that, increasingly, they come from outside the UK and no longer have even the head start of understanding the Westminster system. Paul Shepherd, Tyabb

Our own fashion legend Norma Tullo died this week (Death Notices, 20/2). She was a very important fashion designer from Melbourne from the 1960s onwards. She is far more relevant than Karl Lagerfeld  "The king of shade" (The Age, 21/2)  to people who are interested in our own designers. Where is her tribute? Vale Norma. I loved you clothes. Julie Carrick, Leopold AND ANOTHER THING

Politics Borders: the government's "look over there because we don't have any policies" move. Cate Broadbent, Yarraville More shouty weeks before we can have our say at the ballot box. It can't come quickly enough. Denise Stevens, Healesville

There's nothing more scary than a cornered conservative. Mayda Semec, Brighton East Public service is now self-service. Phillip Payne, Mandurang We punish the petty thieves but appoint the great ones to office.

Jane Oldfield, Caulfield South I'm so glad we have the subs to stop cyber attacks. Richard Russell, Glen Iris Cormann People wonder why Cormann didn't notice he wasn't charged $2780. Hello? He can't count to 45.

Steve Knoll, Natimuk He should be on a BasicsCard. Do Canberra's shops accept it or will Helloworld fly him those that do? Cindy O'Connor, Brunswick Finally, a travel agent that forgets to charge customers. Who's the CEO again? Ron Slamowicz, Caulfield North

Cormann is shocked we don't believe it was an innocent mistake. What do Centrelink's robo-debt victims think? Peter Thomas, Pascoe Vale Easily done. Cormann is a busy man who trusted Helloworld. Diana Goetz, Mornington Mathias, if you can't organise your own holiday, don't go.

Terry Court, Tatura Furthermore Consumer confidence should be based on wage growth, not escalating housing debt. Sarah Bone, Wonthaggi Supermarkets have been milking farmers.
Plans for two contentious Coombs apartment complexes - which included a combined 335 units - have been knocked back amid concerns they would have resulted in a significant "overdevelopment" of their respective sites.

Wight resident Ryan Hemsley, pictured above right with John and Alison Hutchison, has praised the decision to reject two apartment complexes planned for Coombs. Credit:SITTHIXAY DITTHAVONG

The ACT Planning and Land Authority has rejected Zapari Group's application to build 212 units at the corner of John Gorton Drive and Terry Connolly Street, as well as POD Projects Group's proposed 123-apartment complex at the Arthur Blakeley Way/Colbung Street intersection.

Local residents have hailed the "major slap down" of the two proposals, hoping the rebuke would serve as a warning to developers seeking approval for developments at odds with local planning rules.

Zapari Group faced a community backlash after last year lodging plans for an eight-storey, 212-complex on a 4,107 square metre site the Suburban Land Agency had earmarked for between 21 and 44 dwellings.
And that's it from us today, and for the week.

Bourke St killer James Gargasoulas will soon hear his fate in the Supreme Court, while the first AFLX match will be played tonight.

Check back to The Age website for updates throughout the day.

Have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the sunshine!
Accounting software giant MYOB has delivered a lacklustre result ahead of a crunch shareholder vote on a bid for the company by private equity powerhouse KKR.

MYOB's full-year results released on Thursday show revenue growth slowed to 6.9 per cent and didn't hit consensus expectations of $489 million.

MYOB chief executive Tim Reed described the results as 'solid'. Credit:Jessica Hromas

Underlying earnings before interest, tax and depreciation of $189 million was flat from the previous year and fell short of consensus expectations of $200 million. Profit was $63 million, up from $60 million the previous year.

MYOB continued to grow its online subscribers, with the total rising by 229,000 in the 12 months to December 2018 ahead of its aim of 200,000 online subscribers a year. It is on track to reach 1 million online subscribers by 2020.
Iron ore giant Rio Tinto has revealed details of its 136 tailings dams as pressure builds on the mining sector to demonstrate the safety of the practice after hundreds died when a dam burst in Brazil earlier this year.

Tailings dams store toxic waste produced as a result of mining operations and can be built with several different methods.

Firefighters pull a body from the mud days after the Vale mining company's dam collapsed in Brumadinho, Brazil. Credit:AP

The Brazilian disaster on January 25 occurred after an upstream dam burst at South American iron ore miner Vale's Brumadinho facility.

Upstream tailings dams are expanded by sequentially adding to the crest of the dam wall. The safety of upstream dams was also highlighted in 2015 when a BHP and Vale dam burst, destroying a South American village and killing 19.
Soft-drink giant Coca-Cola Amatil insists its top Coke brand is leading the way back for the company as it battles shrinking volumes across many of its core drink segments.

The Coca-Cola Company's ASX-listed local bottler on Thursday told investors that the "brand Coca-Cola" range returned to volume growth in the second half of 2018 but overall soft-drink and bottled water volumes in Australia remained in decline.

Coca-Cola said it had received several non-binding indicative offers for SPC. Credit:Vince Caligiuri

Coca-Cola Amatil's profits fell to $279 million from $445 million the previous year, the company said, as it slashed the value of its Shepparton-based food processor, SPC.

Excluding the struggling SPC, profits were down 6.5 per cent to $388.5 million, which the company said was driven by state-based container deposit schemes forcing up the price of drinks, and "challenging" trading conditions facing its operations in Indonesia.
Carnival in the Caribbean, a riotous spectacle of drums, rhythm, dance, color and phantasmagorical characters, inspires jazz trumpeter and composer Etienne Charles.

I have always thought of Carnival as an all-encompassing art form that has elements of music, dance, theater, costume design, improvisation, satire, comedy, Charles said ahead of his performance at the Manship Theatre, Wednesday, Feb. 27. The concert is part of the River City Jazz Masters series.

Charles based his sixth album, Carnival: The Sound of a People, Vol. 1, on Carnival in his native Trinidad. The opening track, Jab Molassie, begins with Charles field recording of Trinidadian musicians playing hypnotic percussion.

During parades in Trinidad, percussionists accompany terrifying Carnival characters called Jab Molassie. Wielding pitchforks and wearing horns, wings and tails, these fire-breathing, dancing, singing blue demons demand money from spectators.

A Guggenheim fellowship enabled Charles, an associate professor of jazz trumpet at Michigan State University, to study music and traditions across Trinidad. He recorded the devilish Jab Molassie drummers in Paramin, a rural village above Port of Spain.

They play biscuit tins, Charles said. They call them pans. That rhythm became the bed for the tune. When they (the performers who portray the Jab Molassie devils) hear that, thats when they transform into the Jabs, the devils.

Like Mardi Gras in Louisiana, Carnival in Trinidad satirizes contemporary society. It also represents the islands colonial past.

Legend has it that Jab Molassie is the vengeful spirit of a slave who met his death in a vat of boiling molasses, Charles said.

Following the biscuit tins intro on his composition "Jab Molassie," Charles and his band enter with ethereal piano notes and an otherworldly theme stated by trumpet and alto saxophone. He shapes cool American jazz around the Trinidadian percussion.

Taking their cue from the Trinidadian drummers, Charles and three more percussion players approximate the islands drumming throughout Carnival: The Sound of a People, Vol. 1. Charles alone plays congas, djembe, keg drum, duddup, bongos, shakers, cowbell, iron and cajon.

For Dame Lorraine, another of the albums Carnival character-based pieces, trumpet and two saxophones play a boisterous tune that would fit naturally in a New Orleans brass band performance. In his trumpet solo on the song, Charles also shows skill and imagination of the kind pioneered by the traditional jazz trumpeters he emulated, many of whom came from New Orleans.

More field recordings from Trinidad  including a call-and-response very like Mardi Gras Indian chants  animate the five-movement suite Black Echo. The albums piece de resistance, the suite evolves from dark strains based on Trinidads history of slavery to the unrestrained revelry of modern Carnival.

Charles expects Carnival: The Sound of a People, Vol. 1 to be the first album in a series based in Caribbean music and culture.

Carnival is an ocean, he said. Its never ending, constantly changing, dynamic. The music for Vol. 1 just poured out of me. I feel like I didnt even write it, like I was there at the piano while this music came through me. It was almost like communicating with ancestors.

Charles moved to the United States from Trinidad to study at Florida State University with jazz pedagogue and pianist Marcus Roberts. He earned his masters degree in jazz studies from Juilliard and began teaching at MSU in 2009.

From a musical point of view, New Orleans is a place of musical ancestors for Charles trumpet playing.

New Orleans is important to anyone who plays music called jazz and beyond jazz, he said. Louis Armstrong was the first worldwide pop star. And his sound was definitely the way that the music grew.

Charles studied the music of Armstrong and his fellow New Orleans trumpeters Joe King Oliver, Freddie Keppard, Manuel Perez and Bunk Johnson.

Charles feels both a cultural and musical connection to New Orleans.

Caribbean culture is masked in New Orleans as New Orleans culture, he said. The funeral procession followed by rejoicing, thats an African and Caribbean thing. You dont see it anywhere else in the U.S. Its something that we do. A lot of tradition in New Orleans  the baby dolls, the black Carnival Indians  you see it in New Orleans and the Caribbean.

Etienne Charles

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27

Manship Theatre, 100 Lafayette St.

$25-$45

manshiptheatre.org; etiennecharles.com
On Lundi Gras, Mayor LaToya Cantrell will do as many New Orleans mayors have done before her: ceremonially turn the city over to Rex, the king of New Orleans Carnival. Rex, a benevolent ruler, will do as hes done before: declare 24 hours of revelry, command his subjects to put aside work for a day and free children from the tyranny of school.

Of course, on Ash Wednesday, Rexs rule and all the mischief that goes with it will end, and itll be back to business in New Orleans.

Would that Louisianas Republican U.S. senators and congressmen take a leaf from that tradition. Their obeisance to President Donald Trump  Americas self-proclaimed Rex  shows no sign of ending. The latest example is the presidents declaration of a national emergency in order to shift billions of taxpayer dollars from the Pentagon to construct his Mexican border wall.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that Mexico, not American taxpayers, would pay for the wall. That broken promise aside, he had every opportunity to fund his wall during the first two years of his presidency  when Republicans controlled both halls of Congress. Despite no wall funding, the president decreed no national emergency. Now that Democrats control the House, he declares an emergency and proposes cuts in Pentagon funding to pay for the wall  circumventing Congress and the Constitution.

Louisianas GOP senators and congressmen, who have consistently bowed and scraped before this president as if he were a monarch, once again appear unwilling to challenge him  even as he gelds them by diminishing their constitutional authority.

Its not my preferred choice, but Im going to support the president, U.S. Sen. John Neely Kennedy said. He will be exercising powers that Congress has given him, so this business about, 'Well, its unprecedented, and it circumvents Congress,' Congress gave him the power. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy hasnt been that specific, but he has voiced support for a border wall and introduced legislation that would pay for it through various means.

The wall may be politically popular in deep-red Louisiana, but national polls consistently show most Americans oppose both its construction and this fake national emergency. The real emergency here is Congress delegating its constitutional budget-writing authority to the executive branch and shirking its duty to be a check on presidential excesses. In one sense, though, the president is right: There is a national border emergency  at our southern border, where the Gulf of Mexico meets Louisianas wetlands.

Last week, Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, wrote an editorial for Politico debunking Trumps claim of an immigration crisis and the need for a wall, concluding, accurately, More Americans have died or been displaced by extreme weather events related to climate change since 2001 than by terrorists, foreign or domestic. If Trump wants to build a wall to make America safe, he should start with a seawall.

Theres no guarantee that in the future an imperious President Trump wont try to divert federal wetlands funding to build his wall. Should that happen, would Louisianas GOP senators and congressmen finally object? Or would they just continue hailing their king?
When youve taken a hit like Louisianas oil patch did in the middle of this decade, from over $100 a barrel for oil down to $50 or $55, it means rebuilding economically.

The good news is that Acadiana is doing just that, diversifying its traditional oilfield service base with high-tech businesses and commercial development.

That was one of the prime takeaways from The Acadiana Advocates first economic summit in Lafayette Tuesday.

The optimism about the future was palpable, but it was cautious, too. Even approaching five years since this oil bust began, many families are still hurting from its effects, or have had to relocate for work.

But what is working is tangible and promising, like the expansion of tech-based businesses like CGI and Waitr in Lafayette recently announced.

"We're seeing a lot of positive things. Are we where we were before the bottom fell out in the oilfield? No, but we're making significant progress," said Troy Wayman, president and chief operating officer of One Acadiana. "We are cautiously optimistic about the diversification of our economic base in the region."

The leaders of business and finance gathered by The Advocate for Tuesdays session at the Picard Center inevitably focused on the issues that every region in the state and in fact the country face. These include business uncertainties caused by the long economic growth pattern of the last decade  no one knows when there might be a significant correction  or the immediate problems caused by a trade war with China and other nations.

In the latter case, Louisiana is more sensitive to tariff wars because of the impact on agriculture as the state is a big exporter, and also because pipelines and petrochemical plants are big consumers of steel.

We agree with Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana, that "the sooner we resolve these tariff issues, the better off Louisiana and the United States will be."

At the same time, there are good signs as funding for higher education has stabilized after a decade of cuts. Joseph Savoie, president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, is the elder statesman of higher ed in the state and focused on talent development  including the need for support for students to finish their degree or other credentials after high school.

The jobs of the future require formal education beyond high school and we agree with Savoie that completion rates need to improve, so that Acadianas workforce can be poised to take advantage of the opportunities now opening up.

Louisiana is not out of the oil and gas business by a long shot, either, but as energy leader Bill Fenstermaker noted on the panel, technology is advancing in that field every day.

The insights of the leadership panel ought to guide decisions made in the coming year to push Acadiana and Louisiana forward.
Fearing that he didnt have enough votes to approve restrictions on benefits awarded the part-time board members who run electric cooperatives, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell forwarded Thursday the idea of allowing customers to vote on how the leadership would be compensated.

The five elected utility regulators then postponed a decision until next month.

Rural utility operations could see biggest changes since 1940s: board term limits, reimbursement changes, more State regulators and the electric cooperatives that serve about 900,000 Louisiana customers are nearing a deal that would make the most sweepi

PSC staffers, at the request of commissioners, on Friday published rules that included a ban on providing board members health insurance, limit how much they were paid to attend meetings and require they serve limited terms. The two Democratic members of the panel  Campbell, of Bossier Parish, and Lambert Boissiere III, of New Orleans  voiced concern that the three Republican PSC commissioners would not support adoption of the new rules, Campbell said.

Campbell introduced an amendment that would enforce the rules only if the co-op boards detailed for each customer how much they were compensated and asked if that amount was okay. "If they vote 'yes', then you get the money. If they vote 'no', you don't," he said.

His last-minute amendment was aimed at staving off a vote that would essentially kill attempts to rein in compensation packages for the board members who run the nonprofit 11 cooperatives that provide power to 900,000 customers, a little less than half the state.

Begun in 1936 to provide electricity to areas without enough residents to attract private companies, rural cooperatives were set up as nonprofits with the customers as owners. As suburbs around Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette grew into rural areas, several of the cooperative grew from serving a few hundred residents and businesses to serving tens of thousands of customers, including industrial manufacturers.

For years state regulators focused more on the for-profit, privately owned utilities like Entergy Corp. and Cleco. They were surprised in September to hear complaints that many co-op board members, who arent supposed to be paid, received extravagant per diem and an array of benefits, like health insurance.

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Health insurance, travel among perks nixed in new rules for Louisiana's rural electric co-op boards State regulators will eliminate lavish perks  such as health insurance and extravagant travel  for board directors who are supposed to be un

Campbell said that at an average compensation of about $27,000 annually, co-op board members are better paid than state legislators and local school board members, but do far less work.

Jeff Arnold, whose Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives represents all but three of the utilities, said the issue is not the compensation, but whether the regulators have the authority to decide how the businesses should operate. The PSCs constitutional oversight only extends to the rates charged customers, which cooperatives call members, and regulators don't interfere with the board compensation of the privately owned utilities, which often is in the six figures, he added.

Arnold said had the rules been passed on Thursday, the cooperatives would have sued. Legal costs are paid by utility members under state law. Besides, all the boards but one in his organization already had voted on their own not to offer board members better insurance packages than co-op employees receive, he said.

PSC Chairman Mike Francis, R-Crowley, asked the commissioners to postpone any decision until the regulators meet again next month to give time for everyone to consider Campbells amendment.
The new band director at Denham Springs High School left a job at a Texas school district five years ago while police investigated whether he had an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Vincent Fortado was not charged with a crime. A police report said the band teacher admitted developing a close relationship with, and sending "flirty" text messages to, a high school student, and asked her to delete text messages, which she did. It wasn't clear whether Fortado quit or was fired.
Chris Tyson, president and CEO of Build Baton Rouge. The State Bond Commission on Thursday approved an $865,000 line of credit for Build Baton Rouge that will allow the city-parish redevelopment authority to buy land and develop property in the Plank Road Corridor. Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome has said she will ask the Metro Council to give the organization another $300,000 to help it cover an annual budget shortfall.
Entergy Louisiana has won approval to buy solar power from a 50-megawatt power plant slated for West Baton Rouge Parish, a previously-announced project that is expected to save the utility's customers $29 million over the 20-year contract.

Entergy plans to buy power from a subsidiary of Arizona-based Eagle Solar Group, which builds utility-scale solar projects. The plant is set to begin construction in mid-2019 and finish in 2020, Entergy said. It is being built on 560 acres near Port Allen.

The renewable energy will offset the equivalent of nearly 19,000 passenger vehicles' emissions in on year, the utility said. The Public Service Commission approved the agreement at its meeting Thursday.

Eagle Solar's power plant is one of the largest planned in Louisiana, and is part of a wave of utility-scale solar projects that are starting to pop up throughout the state as costs for the technology continue falling.

Entergy said it currently has 180 megawatts of renewable energy, including hydro, biomass and waste heat recovery, along with the state's two largest sources of carbon-free power, the Waterford 3 and River Bend nuclear units.
The Baton Rouge Epicurean Society will celebrate the beginning of crawfish season with its annual CrawFete, featuring boiled crawfish and crawfish dishes made by local chefs.
Ada, OK (74820)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
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.
Clockwise from left: Students in front of the Shree Mayur Primary School, in Eastern Nepal.
The exterior of the proposed Ridgway Library from the architects conceptual plan. Image courtesy of Humphries Poli Architects. (Courtesy image)
Men who can do 40 pushups or more might have a lower risk of experiencing a cardiovascular problem, including heart attack, than those who can complete fewer than 10.

In a new study, researchers found that at least for men, the ability to do push-ups in large quantities is a good predictor of heart health.

A Round Of Pushup For A Healthy Heart

A team of researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a study involving over 1,100 male firefighters aged 18 and above. From 2000 to 2007, the participants had medical checkups that recorded health data, including weight, cholesterol, and blood sugar. They also went through treadmill stress tests and did pushups.

The participants were divided into five groups depending on how many pushups they can do: 0 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40, and 40 and above. For 10 years, the researchers noted any cardiovascular issues that each participant experienced.

To their surprise, the researchers found that the number of pushups a person can do is a better predictor of heart health than a treadmill stress test.

Among the 1,000 firefighters involved in the study, the ones who can do 40 push-ups and more have a 96 percent lower risk of developing a heart condition compared to those who can only do 10 or below.

Healthy Body, Healthy Heart

The researchers, however, clarified that pushup alone is not an indication of a healthy heart. The study does not prove causation.

"It's probably not the pushup, per se," stated Stefanos N. Kales, a co-author of the study. "It's that the push-up is giving you an indication of what's going on under the hood."

The ability to do more pushup indicates that a person regularly exercises, eats right, and maintains healthy body weight. The goal of the study, according to Kales, is to provide clinicians a fast and simple test that requires no special equipment to screen patients for cardiovascular risks.

"It's not a one-size-fits-all, but it would likely cover a lot of people," he explained. "[There is] no cost, and it could likely be done in about a minute."

The study appears in JAMA Network Open.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration might interfere in states that allow vaccine exemptions despite the ongoing measles outbreak.

In a statement, commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned that the federal government will be forced to take action if "certain states continue down the path that they're on."

"Some states are engaging in such wide exemptions that they're creating the opportunity for outbreaks on a scale that is going to have national implications," he told CNN.

He did not specify plans and actions that the federal government might take if the exemptions continue, however.

"You could mandate certain rules about what is and isn't permissible when it comes to allowing people to have exemptions," added the commissioner.

FDA To Take Action Against Measles Outbreak

There are currently 17 states, including Washington where a measles outbreak began last month, that allow parents to opt out of having their children vaccinated for "philosophical beliefs." Majority of the states permits exemptions for religious reasons.

However, the tide is changing. In Clark County, the hardest hit in Washington, 63 confirmed cases of measles have been reported as of Wednesday, Feb. 20. Majority of the cases are among children ages 1 to 10 years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from Jan. 1 to the present, a total of 127 individual cases of measles have been confirmed across 10 states. Five outbreaks (three or more confirmed cases) have been declared so far this year.

Banning Vaccine Exemptions

The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics previously called for public health authorities to remove nonmedical exemptions to address the reemergence of diseases that can be prevented with a vaccine.

The United States has eliminated measles, a highly contagious disease that spreads through coughing and sneezing, in 2000. However, in 2018, 17 outbreaks were declared across the country with 372 confirmed cases reported  the second highest number since 2000.

The Washington state Health Care and Wellness Committee passed a bill that bans personal and philosophical exemptions for vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) in children despite criticism. An additional bill seeks to remove personal and philosophical exemptions for all school-required vaccines, not just MMR.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
At long last, Samsung's first foldable smartphone is now official. The Galaxy Fold, which arrives this April 26, sets the phone industry on a new path, according to the company.

Samsung first offered a glimpse at the then-unnamed phone back in November, but at its just-finished Galaxy Unpacked on Wednesday, the company showed the new device and revealed more details about what it can do.

LTE and 5G versions of the Galaxy Fold will be available. Pricing starts at $1,980 through AT&T and T-Mobile, and each purchase will come with a free pair of Samsung's new wireless earbuds. A European release is scheduled on May 3, starting at 2,000.

Galaxy Fold Specs

The phone uses one of Samsung's latest display technologies: a 7.3-inch "Infinity Flex" display that can fold in half and allow the entire phone to be put in a pocket. The main display has a QXGA+ resolution with an aspect ratio of 4.2:3. When folded and in "phone mode," users have access to a 4.6-inch HD+ display.

The display isn't the only new thing here, too. Samsung is using its Universal Flash Storage 3.0 technology for fast feeds, with the phone sporting 512 GB worth of space right off the bat. A Qualcomm 7 nm octa-core processor powers everything up, and 12 GB of RAM means performance hiccups will be kept at bay.

There are two batteries in the Galaxy Fold, separated at the hinge but nonetheless combined via software, amounting to a total capacity of 4,380 mAh.

Speaking of the hinge, Samsung says it's a pretty sturdy one that features multiple interlocking gears, all of which are hidden at the rear of the device, allowing the device to transform from a tablet to a phone without friction.

On the back is a triple-camera system shared by both tablet and phone modes. The main lens is a 16-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, and that's partnered with a 12-megapixel wide-angle and telephoto cameras, plus one 10-megapixel cover camera for selfies. The Galaxy Fold will come in a slew of colors.

Galaxy Fold Software

Samsung clearly thought about ways in which the device can maximize its massive screen real estate. To take advantage of its tablet-large display, the Galaxy Fold can run three apps at once on the same screen. There's even a continuity system to so users can adjust these apps while moving between phone and tablet modes.

Some apps have been optimized for the said system, including WhatsApp, YouTube, and Microsoft Office. Samsung has been working with Google to ensure Android 9 Pie fully adapts the Infinity Flex Display.

Foldable Phone

The Galaxy Fold isn't the first of its kind, and certainly won't be the last. A number of major phone manufacturers have been reportedly developing similar concepts, including Xiaomi, Huawei, and even Lenovo. LG, on the other hand, is taking a wait-and-see approach.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The big picture: Neither company has much experience in the credit card industry but both are looking for alternatives as their primary sources of income - iPhone sales and securities trading - are slowing.

Apple is reportedly partnering with financial services provider Goldman Sachs on a credit card thatll integrate with the Apple Wallet app to help consumers better manage their money, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

The card, which will use Mastercards payment network, could offer perks like two percent cashback on most purchases and perhaps even higher kickbacks when buying Apple products. Through the Apple Wallet integration, users will be able to set spending goals, manage balances and track rewards, were told.

Sources say Goldman is adding customer support call centers and building an internal network to handle whatll be its first credit card, the latter of which has a budget of around $200 million.

Apple already earns a small cut when iPhone users make purchases using their credit cards via Apple Pay. The hope is that theyll generate even more revenue when their own card is used. The initiative could also boost adoption of Apple Pay which hasnt expanded as rapidly as some hoped.

The card will be offered to employees for testing in the coming weeks ahead of a public rollout later this year.

Image courtesy TuiPhotoEngineer via Shutterstock
What just happened? Apples not having the best time right now. In the wake of falling iPhone sales, the firm has lost its title as the worlds most innovative company. Having jumped from fourth place to the top of the list last year, Apple has now fallen to 17th position.

The iPhone X, AirPods, and its augmented reality endeavors helped Apple take the number one spot on Fast Companys annual innovation list in 2018. But this year it has been replaced by Meituan Dianping, a Chinese app maker that expedites the booking and delivery of services such as hotel stays, movie tickets and food.

Fast Company senior editor Amy Farley told CNBC that Apple had lost its crown because they didnt really break new ground with their devices, and hardware sales were sluggish. A new report from Gartner says iPhone sales were down 2.7 percent to just over 209 million units across 2018, a result of the problems Apple is facing in the Chinese market.

Fast Company did praise Apple for its A12 Bionic chipthe first 7nm processor to launch in a smartphone. But while the SoC is unquestionably powerful, the three iPhones it appeared in last year didnt set the world on fire.

The second position on the most-innovative list is Grab, a Singapore-based ride-hailing firm. The rest of the top five is made up of the NBA, Walt Disney Company, and Stitch Fix. Twitch took the number 10 positionthe Amazon-owned streaming service was recognized for its growing prowess.


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Samsung held its annual Unpacked event in San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Wednesday, presenting fans with a new product lineup that includes three versions of its flagship Galaxy S10, plus the Galaxy S10 5G, the Galaxy Fold, and several new wearables.

All of the devices have an edge-to-edge display that increases the amount of screen real estate available.

The S10 Triumvirate

It had been widely rumored well before the launch that Samsung "would adopt a similar strategy as Apple and launch three devices, with one being a cheaper model," noted Ville-Petteri Ukonaho, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy S10, the Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10e. The S10e is the inexpensive model.

All three of the S10 devices have a triple rear camera system and a dual front camera system. The cameras and lenses are embedded into the screen, each floating in a sea of pixels.

They have the world's first Infinity O-Display on AMOLED.

"The quality of the screens is amazing," noted Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research.

The S10 devices have the world's first ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, embedded directly beneath the screen at the base.

Also, they can double as wireless chargers for Samsung wearables.

"The cameras and the reverse charging were a hit. The camera software democratizes pro photography capabilities," Wang told TechNewsWorld.

"Today marks a new beginning," D.J. Koh, head of Samsung's mobile communications division, told a packed audience. The new lineup "will launch the next decade of Galaxy."

However, these three phones "have technologies that were in previous models," noted Ramon Llamas, a research director at IDC.

"There's a lot of incremental improvements, and if that's setting the stage for the next 10 years, we have to be prepared for incremental improvements," he told TechNewsWorld.

Pricing is set at US$900 for the Galaxy S10, $1,000 for the S10+ and $750 for the Galaxy S10e. All three will be available from March 8 in stores and online. Samsung will begin taking preorders Thursday.

Sales of the Galaxy S series will be challenging, Llamas predicted, because of the price and people's reluctance to upgrade.

Trotting Toward 5G

The Galaxy S10 5G will be offered exclusively by Verizon Wireless in the United States.

"So we're down to 150 million people here (Verizon's customer base) instead of 320 million," Llamas said. "How many of them have 5G in their local areas?"

Meanwhile, Samsung is rolling out the Galaxy S10 5G with a number of carriers across Europe.

Trouble is looming, though: There is no single worldwide 5G standard, and the U.S. and the EU have been battling over different implementations.

The Galaxy Fold

"Occasionally a new device is introduced that overcomes expectations and sets the industry on a new path," said Samsung's Koh. "A device like the Galaxy Fold."

Galaxy Fold

For the Fold, Samsung reinvented the display from the ground up, pioneered new technologies, and created new materials, among other things, Koh said.

"The biggest surprise was the exceptionally great design of the foldable device," Strategy Analytics' Ukonaho told TechNewsWorld.

"The Galaxy Fold defines a whole new category of smartphones," he said. "It will be the device every other vendor wants to beat."

The Fold has a 4.6-inch cover (outside) with a QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED display. When it is unfolded to serve as a tablet, its two inside screens seamlessly conjoin to create a 7.3-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display.

"We had to develop brand new ways to design, develop and manufacture" to make the Galaxy Fold, said Justin Denison, Samsung's senior vice president of product marketing.

The company had to invent a new polymer layer and create a display roughly half as thin as the typical smartphone display, said Koh.

"One of the biggest challenges was building the backbone of the device," Denison said. Samsung "developed a sophisticated fold system with hinges with multiple interlocking gears."

Apps can switch seamlessly among the screens with Samsung's "App Continuity" feature. Users can open up to three active apps simultaneously.

The Fold has a rear triple camera, one front camera and two inside cameras. It uses a state of the art 7nm 64-bit octa-core processor; it has 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. It supports Universal Flash Storage 3.0.

Two batteries, one on each side of the Fold, offer a total of 4,380 mAH to power the device. Their power is combined into one source.

The Fold is Fast Charging compatible on both wired and wireless. It runs Android 9.0 (Pie).

The Galaxy Fold will be available from April 26, Denison said.

It will be offered in an LTE and 5G versions. Pricing will begin at $1,980, depending on the region and carrier.

"That's quite high, but we expected this because of its complex mechanics," Strategy Analytics Ukonaho remarked.

"Most people were expecting it would come in at more than $2,000," noted Constellation's Wang.

Samsung "is not the first to come out with a foldable phone," noted IDC's Llamas. "China's Royole FlexPai is, but Samsung gets credit for bringing this out into the mainstream."

If you're a real heavy-duty hardcore multimedia consumer, this might be for you," he said, "but right now we're talking almost a niche device."

3 New Wearables

Samsung debuted three new wearables: the Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Fit/Galaxy Fit e, and Galaxy Buds.

Galaxy Wearables

The smartwatch, activity tracker and cord-free earbuds are designed to accommodate a range of lifestyles, the company said.

"Consumers are increasingly putting their overall well being at the center of their lifestyle decisions, and they're looking for wearables that make it easier to get active and stay balanced every day," said Koh.

The Galaxy Watch Active offers blood pressure monitoring and stress management, as well as fitness tracking.

Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology. Email Richard.


When people reach out to me about cutting the cord, theyre often looking not only to drop TV service, but to sever all ties with their cable company. As such, one of the most frequent questions I get is whether its possible to drop home broadband service and use only a phones mobile hotspot to access the internet.

I hate to bear bad news, but this approach remains impractical if you plan to watch any significant amount of video on your laptop, tablet, or television. Thats because every major wireless carrier limits high-speed data while using your phone as a hotspot, so even with an unlimited data plan, youll run into problems streaming video.

The good news is that you can still save money by dropping cable TV and keeping cable internet service.

The limits of a mobile hotspot

Heres how each of the four major U.S. carriers restricts mobile hotspot use with their unlimited data plans:

Verizon Wireless: Above Unlimited and Beyond Unlimited plans offer 20GB per month of mobile hotspot use at 4G LTE speeds (generally between 5- and 12Mbps), after which youll be throttled to 3G (0.6Mbps) speeds. Go Unlimited plans only allow 3G speeds with mobile hotspot.

Above Unlimited and Beyond Unlimited plans offer 20GB per month of mobile hotspot use at 4G LTE speeds (generally between 5- and 12Mbps), after which youll be throttled to 3G (0.6Mbps) speeds. Go Unlimited plans only allow 3G speeds with mobile hotspot. AT&T: Unlimited &More Premium plans include 15GB per month of mobile hotspot use at 4G LTE speeds, after which youll be slowed to a measly 0.128Mbps. Unlimited &More plans dont allow hotspot use at all.

Unlimited &More Premium plans include 15GB per month of mobile hotspot use at 4G LTE speeds, after which youll be slowed to a measly 0.128Mbps. Unlimited &More plans dont allow hotspot use at all. T-Mobile: T-Mobile One plans offer unlimited mobile hotspot use at 3G (thats 0.512Mbps) speeds. T-Mobile One Plus plans add 20GB per month of 4G LTE hotspot data, but smartphone and tablet users will have their speeds prioritized if the network is crowded. T-Mobiles fine print also notes that if you use more than 50GB of data per month, primary data usage must be on a smartphone or tablet. Using your phone primarily as a hotspot could get you in trouble.

T-Mobile One plans offer unlimited mobile hotspot use at 3G (thats 0.512Mbps) speeds. T-Mobile One Plus plans add 20GB per month of 4G LTE hotspot data, but smartphone and tablet users will have their speeds prioritized if the network is crowded. T-Mobiles fine print also notes that if you use more than 50GB of data per month, primary data usage must be on a smartphone or tablet. Using your phone primarily as a hotspot could get you in trouble. Sprint: Unlimited Basic plans include 0.5GB of 4G LTE hotspot use per month, Unlimited Plus plans include 50GB of hotspot use, and Unlimited Premium plans include 100GB of hotspot use. In all cases, youll get 3G speeds after hitting the limit.

What does all this mean? If Verizon, T-Mobile, or Sprint are throttling your hotspot speeds, youll barely hit Netflixs minimum speed requirement of 0.5Mbps. Netflix recommends a minimum speed of 1.5Mbps just for standard-definition video, so youll be getting a pixelated picture with lots of potential for buffering. With AT&Ts throttled speeds, you wont be able to stream Netflix at all.

As for how much you can watch at full 4G LTE speeds, Netflix consumes at least megabits per second, or 2.25 GB per hour, in HD. Even with the most generous of these plansthatd be Sprints Unlimited Premium with 100GByoud only get to watch about 44 hours of TV per month before hitting the limit. Other plans would limit you to less than 10 hours of HDTV per month, and thats assuming you dont use home internet for anything else.

Im not saying its impossible to cut the cord with a mobile hotspot, but in addition to limiting your TV time, youd also need to use an antenna where possible, seek ways to limit streaming video quality, and curb hotspot use with other devices such as tablets and laptops. Meanwhile, the hotspot feature itself will eat up your smartphones battery life, and it might not perform well if its in a different room from the TV thats receiving the Wi-Fi. For most people, this will all be more trouble than its worth.

What about alternative carriers?

The Big Four carriers arent your only options for wireless service. You can also opt for a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO, which essentially repackages coverage from one or more of the Big Four carriers, often for less money. Unfortunately, most of these services place similar restrictions on mobile hotspot use.

The one exception I found is Visible, a Verizon-backed digital carrier that operates on Verizons network and costs $40 per month for unlimited data. Visibles speeds max out at 5Mbps, so you probably wouldnt be able to watch TV in high definition, but Visible doesnt appear to have any additional restrictions on mobile hotspot use. In theory, you could watch as much standard definition TV as you wanted.

One caveat, though: If the network is seeing heavy demand, Verizons actual customers get top priority, pushing down speeds for Visible customers. That could be a problem if you live in a densely populated area.

What about 5G?

One of the great hopes for a more competitive home internet market in the United States is the arrival of 5G wireless, which can support much faster speeds even under heavy demand. Wireless carriers have been hyping 5G as revolutionary for both mobile and home internet service, so youd be forgiven for thinking the technology is imminent.

In reality, 5G home internet will only be available in certain parts of certain cities this year, and building out the infrastructure more broadly will be an arduous process. Dont be surprised if the ability to replace your cable internet with 5G service takes five years or more.

Why you shouldnt despair

Although you probably cant ditch cable internet, chances are you can still come out ahead by cutting cable TV. The average TV bill in the United States is about $100 per month, and its only getting pricier as TV networks squeeze cable and satellite companies for higher carriage fees. While home internet service is also getting more expensive, its not climbing at nearly the same rates as TV, because there are no external factors forcing cable companies to hike prices, and because internet service is much more profitable to begin with.

Even if your internet provider enforces data caps, those tend to be far less restrictive than those of mobile carriers. Comcast, for instance, starts charging overage fees after 1TB of use, which is 10 times more data than what Sprint allows for hotspot use on its priciest service tier.

Can you truly say youve cut the cord if youre still tethered to the cable company for internet access? If were arguing semantics, perhaps not. Can you still save money regardless? Most definitely.

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Florida Department of Health reported 10,629 new COVID-19 cases statewide during the week of June 11-17, bringing the cumulative total since March 2020 to 2,310,881. Forty-three more people died, upping the death toll to 37,555.
To submit business news, email editorial@TBNweekly.com. Submissions also may be faxed to 727-397-5900, dropped off at the office or mailed to Tampa Bay Newspapers, 9911 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772. Please include contact information on all submissions.
This conceptual drawing of the Schooner Resort Hotel shows a five-story hotel facing the beach, with another two-story hotel building across Gulf Boulevard that includes parking and retail space on the ground level. Connecting the two buildings is a walkway over the boulevard. The developer wants to create a standout look to replace the old Schooner Hotel at 14500 Gulf Blvd.
Tahlequah, OK (74464)

Today

Mostly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Localized flooding is possible.
Syracuse- A large and powerful storm system lifting northeast through the Upper Great Lakes will bring rain, warmer temperatures, and finally strong winds to Central New York this weekend.

Temperatures will be chilly but rising early Saturday as a southeast wind begins to develop out ahead of the storm system. Temperatures at sunrise will be in the mid teens.

With a little early sunshine and the wind, temperatures will quickly rise through the 20s and 30s during the morning on their way to a high in the low 40s.

Clouds will thicken through the day but precipitation is not expected until well after sunset.

There is a very small chance that some of the first bits of precipitation could be an icy mix. Even if this is the case, it should turn to rain quick enough to avoid any major travel problems. More likely than not, though, precipitation will start as rain.

Steady rain will fall Saturday night into Sunday morning before tapering off to rain showers. Morning lows will be in the upper 30s Sunday.

As the warm sector of the storm system moves into Central New York, a little sun may break out late Sunday morning and into the midday hours. Temperatures at this time will jump into the upper 40s for most of Central New York. Syracuse could break 50 degrees.

A sharp cold front will put a quick end to the warmth with temperatures tumbling through the 40s and 30s Sunday afternoon. Rain showers will increase again and turn to snow by the evening.

Winds will steadily increase Saturday into Saturday night, becoming strong by Sunday morning. Gusts over 30 mph are likely through Saturday night. Wind gusts will approach 40 mph Sunday morning.

Once the front moves through, winds will turn to the southwest and increase further. Wind gusts will approach or even exceed 45 mph, especially into Sunday evening and Sunday night over the higher elevations.

The strong winds will continue throughout Monday as well.

Temperatures will briefly approach 50 degrees late Sunday morning, but the afternoon will turn sharply colder with strong winds.

Here is a look at each day's forecast details:

Saturday

Morning Lows: Mid teens

Afternoon Highs: Low 40s

Cloud cover: Mostly cloudy. A little sun early.

Precipitation: Rain after 9 PM.

Winds: Southeast 7-12 mph, gusting to 30 mph.

Confidence: Average

Sunday

Morning Lows: Upper 30s

Afternoon Highs: Upper 40s

Cloud cover: Mostly cloudy.

Precipitation: Morning rain tapers to showers. Rain to snow showers in the afternoon.

Winds: Southwest 15-20 mph, gusting to 45 mph.

Confidence: Average
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitutions prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, limiting their abilities to impose financial penalties and seize property.

The decision delighted critics of civil asset forfeiture, who welcomed it as a new weapon in their war against what's been labeled "policing for profit" - the practice of seizing cash, cars and other property from those convicted, or even suspected, of committing a crime.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on her second day back on the bench after undergoing cancer surgery in December, announced the court's decision, saying the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause protects against government retribution at all levels.

"For good reason, the protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history: Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties," Ginsburg wrote. "Excessive fines can be used, for example, to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies. . . . Even absent a political motive, fines may be employed in a measure out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence."

Groups as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned the Supreme Court of abuses, with the chamber touting a national study that found "60 percent of the 1,400 municipal and county agencies surveyed across the country relied on forfeiture profits as a 'necessary' part of their budget.' "

The case at the court involved Tyson Timbs of Marion, Indiana, who had his $42,000 Land Rover SUV seized after his arrest for selling a couple hundred dollars' worth of heroin. Timbs has sued to get it back, and while Wednesday's decision did not dictate that outcome, it gave him a new day in court.

"Increasingly, our justice system has come to rely on fines, fees and forfeitures to fund law enforcement agencies rather than having to answer to elected officials for their budgets," said Scott Bullock, the president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice, which represented Timbs. "This is not just an ominous trend; it is a dangerous one."

The ACLU's brief said that in 2017, 10 million people owed more than $50 billion in criminal fines, fees, and forfeitures. It described how a $100 ticket for a red-light violation in California carried an additional $390 in fees, and how New Jersey's fine of $100 for marijuana possession could lead to more than $1,000 penalty for a poor person represented by a public defender.

Some justices, too, had become worried about the state and local efforts.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a recent opinion that civil forfeitures have "become widespread and highly profitable."

"This system - where police can seize property with limited judicial oversight and retain it for their own use - has led to egregious and well-chronicled abuses," Thomas wrote, referring to reporting by the New Yorker, and an investigative series in The Washington Post that chronicled how aggressive policing tactics resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars collected from motorists not charged with crimes.

The issue has been divisive at the federal level as well. Democratic Attorney General Eric Holder restricted the Department of Justice's reliance on civil asset forfeitures, but Republican Jeff Sessions championed the program. A bipartisan group of senators objected to the Sessions initiative.

But those issues were largely missing in Ginsburg's crisp nine-page opinion. The issue, Institute of Justice Lawyer Wesley Hottot said at oral argument in the case, was a simple matter of "constitutional housekeeping."

The Constitution's Bill of Rights protects against actions of the federal government. But the Supreme Court over time has applied it to state and local governments under the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment. In 2010, for instance, the court held that the Second Amendment applied to state and local government laws on gun control.

The Eighth Amendment states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Two of those commands - regarding bail and cruel and unusual punishments - have been deemed to apply to state and local governments. But until now, the ban on excessive fines had not.

The Indiana Supreme Court was among a handful of state high courts that had said that part of the Eighth Amendment did not apply to state actions.

Timbs provided the test case. The factory worker said in an interview before the Supreme Court hearing that he became reliant on painkillers after a foot injury. He moved from Ohio to Marion, Indiana, to live with his aunt and to try to make a fresh start.

With money he received from a life insurance policy after his father's death, Timbs bought the Land Rover. "The rest of the money I spent on drugs," he said. When that ran out, he undertook the small-time heroin dealing.

After he pleaded guilty to selling to an undercover agent, Timbs was sentenced to home detention, probation and a court-supervised treatment program for addiction.

Indiana then hired a private law firm to file a lawsuit forcing Timbs to forfeit the car, under a state law that allows seizure of vehicles used "to facilitate violation of a criminal statute."

Timbs sued to get the car back, and a judge agreed, citing the Excessive Fines Clause and saying "forfeiture of the Land Rover . . . was grossly disproportionate to the gravity" of the crime. He noted the maximum monetary penalty for Timbs's crime was $10,000.

But the Indiana Supreme Court held that the excessive-fines clause did not apply to the states. Citing Indiana's status as "a sovereign state within our federal system," the court said it would not "impose federal obligations on the state that the federal government itself has not mandated."

Three other states - Michigan, Mississippi and Montana - also take that position.

The Supreme Court's opinion Wednesday does not take a position on whether Indiana's seizure of the Land Rover was excessive. It holds only that the Indiana Supreme Court was wrong to say that the Eighth Amendment did not apply.

But Ginsburg noted the lower court's finding that the value of Timbs' vehicle was "more than four times the maximum $10,000 monetary fine assessable against him for his drug conviction."

Ginsburg's opinion said that the Excessive Fine Clause is incorporated to apply to state and local government under the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause, the traditional way the court makes such decisions. Justices Thomas and Neil Gorsuch agreed with the outcome, but said they would have relied on a different part of the 14th Amendment.

The case is Timbs v. Indiana.
WASHINGTON (AP)  An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria wont be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the U.S. said Wednesday. Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States."

But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," said Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for."

Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Shibly said that the administration argues that she didn't qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

He released a copy of the woman's birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on Oct. 28, 1994, to support his claim.

The lawyer also provided to The Associated Press a letter from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to what was then known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services attesting to the fact that the woman's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission to the U.N. from Oct. 15, 1990 to Sept. 1, 1994.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that "I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!"

The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the U.S. has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Muthana's lawyer said she was "just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman," when she became enamored of Islamic State, believing it was an organization that protected Muslims.

Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was "brainwashed" by IS and compelled to marry one of the group's soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she "became disenchanted with the marriage," and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the government's decision to deny her entry to the country.

Muthana's status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official would not elaborate but said Pompeo's statement was based on the lawyers' conclusions.

The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Muthana's case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

However, Muthana's case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a U.S. passport. Passports are only issued to citizens by birth or naturalization, according to Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who has studied the phenomenon of foreign Islamic State fighters and families.

Hughes said the decision is also unusual because it comes just days after the Trump administration urged European nations to repatriate extremists from Syria as the Islamic State nears collapse.

"If you are trying to make the case that others should take back their people, it stands to reason that you would do that, too," he said.

Muthana, who says she dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son, her lawyer said.

In a letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made "a big mistake" by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

"During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me," she wrote.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."

Shibly said Muthana was brainwashed online before she left Alabama and now could have valuable intelligence for U.S. forces, but he said the FBI didn't seem interested in retrieving her from the refugee camp where she is living with her son.

Muthana's father would welcome the woman back, Shibly said, but she is not on speaking terms with her mother.

Ashfaq Taufique, who knows Muthana's family and is president of the Birmingham Islamic Society, said the woman could be a valuable resource for teaching young people about the dangers of online radicalization were she allowed to return to the United States.

Her coming back could be a very positive thing for our community and our country, Taufique said.
Haverstraw, N.Y.  A man allegedly drove his car through a family of eight twice outside a convenience store in Rockland County on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old mother was killed in the incident. The 35-year-old father and his six children were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life threatening, according to the Journal News in White Plains.

The children ranged in age from an infant to 10 years old, according to WABC in New York.

The driver of the car, 35-year-old Jason Mendez, has been charged with second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted second-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty and was being held at the Rockland County jail on Wednesday, according to the Journal News.

The attack took place outside a 7-Eleven in Haverstraw, north of New York City.

The incident began when the father of the family asked Mendez not to smoke a cigarette around his children. Mendez then flew into a rage, witnesses said, according to the Journal News.

He got into his car after the argument and then deliberately drove into the family, police said, according to CBS New York. Mendez then allegedly backed up and hit the victims again.

Mendez was in his car when officers arrived, but had a knife, police said, according to CBS. Officers drew their weapons and eventually used a Taser to subdue him.

Mendez is a resident of Washingtonville in Orange County, according to NBC New York.

Police said the investigation is ongoing. Additional charges are expected, according to the Journal News.

This is a tragedy, Haverstraw Police Capt. Martin Lund said, according to CBS. It doesnt happen very frequently, if at all, in our community. But it is a tragedy that happened today.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598
G. Bruce Ketcham is a Syracuse lawyer.

By G. Bruce Ketcham

In a Feb. 12, 2019, Post-Standard commentary, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick railed against criminal justice reform bill proposals that would revise the bail and discovery rules in criminal cases (Criminal justice `reform undermines public safety).

While most of Fitzpatricks commentary consisted of sweeping generalities, replete with fear-inducing adjectives, Fitzpatrick did dispense a handful of highly emotional anecdotal claims that he apparently believes justifies his dire, hysterical, apocalyptic, doomsayer warnings about the proposed reforms. Fitzpatrick wrote, A defendant arrested on a drug charge who has multiple school threats on his computer, or someone who burglarizes your home with you in it, will now be released on bail, as will most defendants charged with violent crime.

Fitzpatrick went on to write, A guy who rapes his girlfriends daughter can now depose that precious child in a sickening interview process or, even better, demand that the court allow him to visit her dwelling. Witnesses, already terrified by the defendants gang cohorts, will have his or her name, address and phone number fully and immediately provided to the defendant under some perverted sense of due process. He dramatically punctuated these claims with the proclamation This is not hyperbole, it is fact.

Here are the actual facts. Fitzpatrick is referring to two bills that are now being considered in the New York state Senate: Senate Bill S2101 (NY Bail Reform Act) and Senate Bill S1716 (revises Criminal Discovery Rules). As it is right now, without the passage of these bills, A defendant arrested on a drug charge who has multiple school threats on his computer, or someone who burglarizes your home with you in it, [can] be released on bail. Fitzpatrick full-well knows this has always been the case. Except for the most serious crimes, the accused has always been eligible for bail release -- unless the crime was committed while the defendant was on probation or parole. These proposed bills will not change anything in this regard and the bill language is unmistakably clear about this.

Regarding Fitzpatricks claim about witnesses contact information being given to defendants and their gang cohorts," Fitzpatrick is being less than candid and forthright in failing to disclose the fact that  245.20, subsection 5 of that Senate bill (S1716) provides that a prosecutor may move for a protective order pursuant to section 245.70 to obtain an exemption from the disclosure requirement if s\he reasonably believes it would be as dangerous as Fitzpatrick claims. By filing for a protective order, DA compliance with the disclosure requirement would be immediately suspended until a hearing to decide the merits of the DAs concerns. This entirely nullifies Fitzpatricks stated concerns. Fitzpatrick obviously is unaware of this fact.

Regarding Fitzpatricks claim about a defendant deposing a child rape victim and about allow[ing] him to visit her dwelling -- there is absolutely nothing in any reform bill that authorizes such a deposition. Senate Bill S1716 authorizes only three kinds of defendant depositions: 1) a law enforcement officer, 2) government employee, or 3) an expert. And there is absolutely nothing in Senate Bill S1716 or any other reform bill that authorizes a defendant to confront a child rape victim (or any crime victim) at her dwelling. Fitzpatrick full-well knows the courts issue protective orders to prevent such victim confrontations and absolutely nothing contained in any proposed criminal reform bills changes or undermines these protections in any way whatsoever. Witness tampering is just as unlawful with these reform bills as without them. The protections are the same.

So virtually everything Fitzpatrick alleged in his handful of hysterical anecdotal claims is untrue.

Its difficult to know just how Fitzpatrick could be so profoundly uninformed about these reform bills. But this much we do know for certain. The assertions he made in his emotional anecdotal claims are not the facts he assured us they were. Readers can click on the bill links above and read the bills to confirm this. They are in PDF format and can be downloaded to your computer or smartphone.
COOPERSTOWN, NY -- Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, one of Upstate New Yorks most prestigious and popular annual beer festivals, will take a year off in 2019 with plans to return in 2020.

Brewery Ommegang has hosted BCTC at its location south of the village of Cooperstown for 20 years. The brewery said recent renovations to its tap room, and changes in its branding and packaging, prompted it to consider updates to the festival.

Youve likely noticed that over the past 12 months, weve renovated our home with the expansion of our Tap House, and weve renovated our branding, with fresh new labels, packaging and tap handles, Ommegang said in a Facebook post today. "In this same vein, we feel its time to renovate our biggest event."

In its Facebook post, the brewery assured fans that it will continue its popular summer music fest and other events this year.

Belgium Comes to Cooperstown, usually held in early August, typically sells out in hours -- or even minutes -- when tickets go on sale online each April 1. Brewers also plan ahead: Guest breweries often make special edition Belgian-style beers just for the event.

Of course, we know very well that our fans have only the highest expectations of us, the Facebook post continued. To continue to meet those expectations, wed rather take the time to get it right. We recognize that this may disappoint some of you and we dont take that lightly, but we believe that its the right way to ensure that what we bring back in 2020 is truly exceptional.

Ommegang urged fans who have suggestions for future BCTC fests to send ideas and thoughts to BCTC@ommegang.com.

Brewery Ommegang opened in 1997 as one of the first breweries in the United States to focus on Belgian-style ales.. Owned and operated by the Belgain brewing company Duvel Moortgat, its has greatly expanded its line-up to include IPAs, blended ales, barrel-aged brews and a series of beers brewed in conjunction with the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
A Syracuse nurse who admitted to falsifying $72,000 in workers compensations claims was ordered to pay back the money and sentenced to five years of probation today.

Linda Sue Parnell, 64, of Syracuse, previously pleaded guilty to the four counts of wire fraud pertaining to her workers compensation claims. U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd sentenced her in Utica today.

Parnell was approved to receive workers compensation after she said she suffered a back injury working at a Veterans Affairs hospital. She was allowed to file for reimbursement for a YMCA of Greater Syracuse membership, and for miles drive to and from the facilities.

Parnell claimed to visit YMCA locations more than 1,700 times between 2010 and 2016. That would have meant she went to the gymnasium about 283 times a year.

Parnell actually only made about 50 visits to the YMCA, prosecutors said. The investigation revealed Parnell had been claiming to visit on holidays or days when she was out of the state, including during a months-long period when she lived in Pennsylvania.
The Law Enforcement Notifying Schools of trauma, or LENS, will give the sheriffs office an opportunity to notify a school when a student suffers trauma after school hours. The SCSO will contact Cpt. Tony Powers, supervisor for the School Resource Officer program, and he will contact the principal of the childs school so that the principal will know that the child may need extra attention the next day or explain the childs absence. If the child is not at school, the SCSO will perform a welfare check at the home.
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Melinda Wittwer first moved to Carpinteria in 1972 and taught mostly junior high students in Oxnard during her 25-year career. Now retired, she enjoys pottery, writing, books and travel.
Counties and municipalities in Nebraska are required by the State to submit one-year and six-year road work plans.

This years plans could be in conflict with State highway department plans.

The Sidney City Council had decided to save toward prioritized street projects. Those discussions addressed what streets to work on, how extensive the projects would be and setting a budget for the cost of the work. The council and Street Superintendent Hank Radtke agreed that 13th Street would be one of the priorities for a new surface. Planned work also includes Elm Street between 13th and 17th Streets, at an estimated cost of $400,000.

In the Feb. 12 meeting, Radtke said the State plans to work on Road 17J. The project, according to Radtke, is a complete tear-out and replacement at an estimated cost of $9.2 million. The Citys share of the project is 20 percent, about $1.8 million. The concern is the City has a Streets budget of about $2.4 million. Mayor Roger Gallaway said he is concerned that the City doesnt have long-range plans for the streets.

It is just as serious a concern today, said Radtke. For me, it is the elephant in the room.

Vice-mayor Joe Arteburn reminded the council of its commitment to the community.

What do we tell Sidney taxpayers? he asked.

Radtke was asked about last years major street project, which was Illinois Street, a shared project with the State.

The council also approved Victoria Loghry as a new member of the Historic Preservation Board. Loghry was appointed as a business owner for a three-year term. Appointments to the Historic Preservation Board are made by the city manager and confirmed by the council. The Historic Preservation Board is designed with seven members; three who are citizens interested in the history and historic preservation of Sidney, and four members who are real estate owners of property within Sidneys historic district.

Downtown will be a little more attractive as soon as one of the newest projects is completed. The council was presented with a project to replace and update lighting in downtown. Economic Development Director Melissa Norgard said that at the Jan. 8 meeting of the Historic Preservation Board, John Phillips petitioned for funds to replace lights on downtown businesses. In her memo to the city council, it was noted that lights have been going out and are no longer look uniform. It was also discussed to have the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce and businesses provide support for the project.

Phillips, who was present at the meeting, said the requested funds only cover the cost of the light bulbs.

I feel like this is a positive project for the community, Phillips said.

The bulbs will be purchased from Finneys at a cost of 90 cents per bulb. Three bids were sought including Finneys. The highest was Amazon at $1.27 per bulb. Phillips said the bulbs are imported from China and prices could be affected by trade tariffs.

He said the bulbs will likely not be installed until after the summer hail season.
William Jennings Bryan once said Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

In Peetz, the city and country are uniting.

One of the values of a small community is its family-like atmosphere. When there is a need, neighbors step up. They pull on the work boots and jacket, fill the donation jar at the cafe and start up the trucks and combines when a neighbor is ill.

This time, the help is in applying for a grant to help the Peetz School District.

The Monsanto corporation has a grant designed to help farmers help the communities they support. The Americas Farmers Grow Communities grant is sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The grant gives farmers a chance to win $2,500 to be awarded to their favorite non-profit organization. Donations can be made to organizations such as 4-H, FFA, schools, fire departments or civic groups.

Dave and Tiffany Vallier submitted an application naming Peetz School as the recipient.

Were pretty fortunate to have people support us any way they can, said Peetz School District Superintendent Mark Collard.

Tiffany Vallier said she found the notice of the Americas Farmers Grow Communities program on social media and decided to fill out an application. They received confirmation of the application, then of the grant award.

It was pretty surprising, she said.

She said the timing was appropriate as the school had just completed CPR training for the staff. Vallier said a school the size of Peetz needs at least two defibrillator unit and has one in place now. She said it was her husband Davids idea to apply for the grant. Collard describes the defibrillator as a self-contained unit that directs the user how to treat a patient, also known as an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). He said the only required training is done annually through CPR and First Aid classes. The AED will be purchased through the Peetz Volunteer Fire Department.

It is a way we can help our community, she said.

She said Peetz is one of 13 grant recipients in Colorado, and the only recipient in Logan County.

The Monsanto Fund has worked to improve peoples lives, providing sustainable assistance to communities in need. The Monsanto Fund has partnered with more than 6,000 schools and 12,000 organizations in 47 countries across six continents, according to the Monsanto Fund website.
The signature red and yellow patrol flags are a common sight on New Zealands beaches and Papamoa beach is no exception.

This week the Papamoa Surf Lifeguards are calling on the public to help them keep you and your families safe.

This summers dangerous surf conditions have seen lifeguards at the club, and at the new Papamoa East temporary summer tower kept busy with more rescues on our stretch of beach than in previous years.

A clear correlation of the growing population in the area and also beach goers preferring to visit Papamoa beach rather that fight the traffic often encountered trying to access other local beaches, says a statement from Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand is an essential rescue service as well as a charity that receives no government funding and relies totally on the support of the community, sponsors and grants to continue its work of keeping kiwis safe on our beaches.

The Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club looks after a 14km stretch of beach from Sandhurst Drive to the end of Papamoa Beach Road  this is one of the largest patrolled beaches in the country.

The Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club will launch its annual Summer Appeal on the 25 February and will run all week.

Members, Life Guards and Nippers will be doing the rounds in the Papamoa region calling on your support by shaking buckets for your loose change.

Please how your appreciation for our volunteer lifeguards and this important role they play in our community. Make a donation during this Summer Appeal so we can be here for you when you need us.

All money collected in Papamoa will go directly towards to Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club and will help the Surf Club keep Papamoa Beach safe.

If you miss our collectors and would still like to help, go online to the clubs give a Little page and donate there  https://givealittle.co.nz/org/papamoaslsc
Click the image above to watch the video

In todays weather forecast we are expecting a cloudy day with a few showers, turning to rain in the afternoon or evening. Northeasterlies will be strengthening.

Its a one-clothing layer day today with a high of 25 and an overnight low of 19 degrees. Humidity is 88 per cent.

High tide is at 9.40am and low tide at 4pm (Tay St). Theres a sea swell of 0.5m and sea temperature is 23 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 8.03pm.

If youre going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 7 and 10pm.

On this day in NZ history in 1902 the Kelburn cable car opened. Wellington's iconic cable car was built to provide residents of the developing hill suburb of Kelburn with quick access to and from downtown Lambton Quay.

At 12.51pm on Tuesday February 22 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused severe damage in Christchurch and Lyttelton, killing 185 people and injuring several thousand.

In world history on this day in 1825 Russia and Britain established the Alaska/Canada boundary.

In 1879 Frank Winfield Woolworth's 'nothing over five cents' shop opened at Utica, New York. It was the first chain store.

In 1920 the American Relief Administration appealed to the public to pressure Congress to aid starving European cities.

In 1932 Adolf Hitler became the Nazi Party candidate for the presidential elections in Germany. In 1935 all plane flights over the White House were barred because they were disturbing President Roosevelt's sleep.

In 1954 the US planned to install 60 Thor nuclear missiles in Britain. In 1962 a Soviet bid for new Geneva arms talks was turned down by the USA. In 1963 Moscow warned the USA that an attack on Cuba would mean war. In 1984 Britain and the USA sent warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.

Today is the birthday of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement. Born in 1857 he once said Be Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.

To get involved in activities around the Bay of Plenty, please check out our Whats on page.

Today is the last day for our SunLive sunrise weather updates. Remember to start the day by filling it with positive thoughts and drinking in the beauty of this beautiful Bay of Plenty. Thank you for tuning in over the last two years. Kia Kaha!

Have a great day!
UPDATE 5.55pm: The man shot by police after a bank robbery fired at officers before being killed by them.

District Commander Superintendent Andy McGregor says he was believed to be on P.

He says police received a call at 9am with reports a man who had been using methamphetamine, had discharged a firearm at another family member near Kawerau.

While police were investigating the family harm incident the same offender entered the Kawerau First Credit Union armed with a sawn-off shotgun and demanded money.

Police located the vehicle he was in shortly afterwards and gave chase to try and stop him.

"At about 10.20am the vehicle made a stop at State Highway 30," says Andy.

"Armed officers went forward. The offender presented a firearm at them and discharged a shot.

"Officers returned fire."

"It's a tragic event that no police officer wishes to deal with.

"When we use firearms it is not taken lightly."

EARLIER:

Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Andy McGregor is holding a media conference following the fatal shooting of a man in Kawerau today.

Police says immediate first aid was provided, but the man died.

The incident unfolded after police were made aware of both a bank robbery in Kawerau and a family harm incident around 9am, where the offender was reported to be armed.

Police subsequently located a vehicle believed to be involved and attempted to stop it.

"The driver fled from Police but was eventually stopped on State Highway 30 around 10:20am, say police.

"He was shot by police.

"A number of investigations are now underway and Police will be at the scene for some time, with cordons and diversions in place.

"Police are in contact with the mans family but will not be releasing any further details about the mans identity at this early stage."

The IPCA has been notified.

EARLIER:

A man has been shot by Police following a series of incidents in Kawerau this morning.

Police were made aware of both a bank robbery in Kawerau and a family harm incident around 9am, where the offender was reported to be armed.

Police subsequently located a vehicle believed to be involved and attempted to stop it, says Detective Inspector Mark Loper.

"The driver fled from Police but was eventually stopped on State Highway 30 around 10:20am.

"He was shot by police and first aid was immediately given.

"The incident is still in its early stages and police are working to build a full picture of the events of this morning.

"More information will be released as details become available."
Kiwibanks I am Hope New Zealander of the Year, Gumboot Friday, Facebook Frame has gone viral.

Kiwibank wanted to show their support of Mike Kings I am Hope charity. They came up with the idea of donating a dollar to the Gumboot Up NZ Fund for every Kiwi who added the frame to their profile picture.

Gumboot Friday will raise funds to help young Kiwis get free counselling.

The response has blown us away, says Kiwibanks brand manager Kim Waghorn.

We were hoping it would reach 20,000 people but weve already passed the 21,000 mark. Its clear this is resonating strongly and something Kiwis really care about.

Based on the overwhelming response, Kiwibank is committing up to $50,000 towards the cause, says Kim.

It is great to see New Zealand recognising what an important issue this. Every gesture counts, says Kiwibank CEO Steve Jurkovich.

When Kiwibank came to me and said they would donate up to $20,000 if Kiwis used the frame I was stoked, says 2019 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Mike King.

It was beyond what I thought was possible. Now they say theyll go up to $50,000, well thats beyond what I hoped for. This is an amazing initiative  come on New Zealand, get behind it.

Mike King won the 2019 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year and is using the platform to promote Gumboot Friday and his charity I am Hope which will facilitate free and timely mental health support for Kiwi kids.

The first Gumboot Friday will happen on April 5, 2019.

If you would like to donate to the Gumboot Friday Fund via the Key to Life Trust Give-a-little Page: https://givealittle.co.nz/donate/org/keytolife.

For more information visit: www.iamhope.org.nz
Carpinteria, CA (93013)

Today

Clear skies. Low near 65F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 65F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Barbara Louise Caldwell, 78, went to be with the Lord on June 22, 2021. A public viewing will be at Strode Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

The council approved a total of six new positions for the fire and EMS department, two initially and four starting in January.
FILE - This Dec. 6, 2017, file photo shows one of the elevated sections of the high-speed rail under construction in Fresno, Calif. During his first State of the State speech last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he is committed to finishing the Central Valley portion of the bullet train.
TICKERS: ATU

Source: Streetwise Reports (2/21/19)

The key reasons to consider investing in this company, which is producing oil and gas in central Alberta, are presented in a Haywood research report.



In a Feb. 11 research note, analyst Christopher Jones reported that Haywood initiated coverage on Altura Energy Inc. (ATU:TSX.V) with a Buy rating and a CA$0.70 per share price target. This implies a projected return of 63%, as the stock's current share price is CA$0.46.

"Altura is a company that warrants closer attention," Jones noted. "We recommend accumulating shares at current levels."

Jones listed and described the investment drivers behind this company, which has "largely flown under the radar" since 2015 and is currently trading below its peers. The list includes Altura's:

1. Performing people. Altura's management and board members are "top tier" and "not your typical junior C suite," Jones described. David Burghardt, the president and CEO, ran Vermillion France for two years. Founding board members include Darren Gee, president and CEO of Peyto Exploration; Brian Lavergne, president and CEO of Storm Resources; and John McAleer, managing director of Palisade Capital. "A strong C suite is an intangible that could have a high impact on share price performance over time as this unique team gains traction with the market," the analyst wrote.

2. Growth potential. The company's growth is forecast at 70% debt-adjusted per share and "ranks strongly relative to peers," Jones commented. Altura reached production of 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2018, and with 160 tier 1 future drilling locations, it has "above average growth visibility over the long term."

3. Focus on returns. Management intends "to position the company for multiple years of profitable production and reserve growth" by employing new technology to exploit pools with significant original oil in place and a low recovery profile, Jones relayed. The team aims to grow organically and through acquisition to maximize shareholder returns.

4. Positioning for rising prices. Altura generates "cash flow netbacks that rival that of light oil producers" by effecting cost efficiencies, Jones indicated. At year-end, they were $29 per barrel of oil equivalent. With these strong netbacks, supported by low operating expenses and above average leverage, the company is "well positioned to capitalize on improving oil prices by directing incremental cash flow to further growth opportunities," he added.

5. Multiple expansion potential. Altura looks attractive based on a handful of key metrics. As such, said Jones, "we expect the market to award the stock with a higher multiple as the company earns an audience with further operational execution."

Catalysts to watch for, noted Jones, are Altura's reserve update expected this month, in which Haywood expects to see "material reserve additions and net asset value growth."

Jones concluded, "Altura provides investors with a rare blend of management quality, a solid growth asset, above average operational and financial metrics, and access to capital.

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.

Disclosures from Haywood Securities, Altura Energy Inc., February 11, 2019

Analyst Certification: I, Christopher Jones, hereby certify that the views expressed in this report (which includes the rating assigned to the issuers shares as well as the analytical substance and tone of the report) accurately reflect my/our personal views about the subject securities and the issuer. No part of my/our compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations.

Important Disclosures



Other material conflict of interest of the research analyst of which the research analyst or Haywood Securities Inc. knows or has reason to know at the time of publication or at the time of public appearance: n/a. Research policy available here.
TICKERS: NLC

Source: Streetwise Reports (2/21/19)

The arrival of a pilot plant adds to the already brisk pace of what a Canaccord Genuity report described as "the best undeveloped lithium brine project globally."



Neo Lithium Corp. (NLC:TSX.V) successfully brought to Catamarca, Argentina, the pilot plant for its Tres Quebradas (3Q) lithium brine, adding a new milestone to a project characterized by its brisk pace, according to a February 14 research report by Canaccord Genuity analyst Eric Zaunscherb.

Zaunscherb reiterated his speculative buy rating for Neo Lithium and also a target price of CA$2 per share.

Neo Lithium's pilot plant arrived at the Argentinian province of Catamarca without delays or issues at customs. Engineers are currently reassembling the plant. The management intends to have it fully operational by the end of this month, Zaunscherb explained.

The aim of Neo Lithium's 3Q project is to produce high-grade lithium carbonate from its brine reservoir complex in Catamarca.

"The 3Q project, in our view, is the best undeveloped lithium brine project globally based on grade, chemistry and scale," Zaunscherb highlighted.

The arrival of the pilot plant is the most recent of the project's "brisk pace" development, according to Zaunscherb's report. Before the arrival of the plant, Neo Lithium completed the first environmental license renewal of the project.

The provincial government of Catamarca issued the environmental license, a requirement for the exploration and the development of the 3Q's lithium brine. The license must be renewed every two years.

Neo Lithium plans to complete the prefeasibility study of the project during the first quarter of 2019, explained Zaunscherb.

The company also intends to conclude the project's environmental impact assessment report before the end of the first half of the year, the analyst added.

"Neo Lithium will now be able to continue infill drilling, develop production and monitoring wells, drill in the high-grade zone and expand the automation and fine-tuning of the pond system," Zaunscherb commented.

Before its arrival in Catamarca, the pilot plant was successfully tested in neighboring Chile. The plant will use brine concentrated to approximately 4% lithium extracted from the project's pilot evaporation ponds, Zaunscherb explained. No reagents will be employed in the process.

"This positive step continues to demonstrate the brisk pace that management has had from discovery to development," he said.

The pilot plant has a capacity to produce 50 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually, while the evaporation ponds have a capacity to produce over 500 tonnes of approximately 4% lithium brine per year, he added.

Along with the plant's reassembling, Neo Lithium will build additional warehouses, as well as other infrastructure.

Neo Lithium "remains well funded with $49 million in cash" and continues to evaluate "a range of financing options," among them "potential strategic partnerships," Zaunscherb explained. "We believe there are many avenues to expand the project's resources and optimize its economics," he added.

The company currently trades at 0.11x normalized (5%) P/NAV, a discount when compared to peers that trade at 0.21x. "We see this discount as unwarranted due to the speed and quality of work conducted by management," the analyst pointed out.

Zaunscherb included in his assessment of risks the possibility that "a vocal minority of project opponents may force delays (or worse) in the permitting process." However, the main risk, according to the analyst, "is the price of lithium carbonate."

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

1) Mario Santana compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.

Disclosures from Canaccord Genuity, Neo Lithium Corp., Flash Update, February 14, 2019

Analyst Certification: Each authoring analyst of Canaccord Genuity whose name appears on the front page of this research hereby certifies that (i) the recommendations and opinions expressed in this research accurately reflect the authoring analysts personal, independent and objective views about any and all of the designated investments or relevant issuers discussed herein that are within such authoring analysts coverage universe and (ii) no part of the authoring analysts compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed by the authoring analyst in the research.

Analysts employed outside the US are not registered as research analysts with FINRA. These analysts may not be associated persons of Canaccord Genuity Inc. and therefore may not be subject to the FINRA Rule 2241 and NYSE Rule 472 restrictions on communications with a subject company, public appearances and trading securities held by a research analyst account.

Required Company-Specific Disclosures (as of date of this publication):

Canaccord Genuity or one or more of its affiliated companies intend to seek or expect to receive compensation for Investment Banking services from Neo Lithium Corp. in the next three months.

The authoring analysts who are responsible for the preparation of this research have received (or will receive) compensation based upon (among other factors) the Investment Banking revenues and general profits of Canaccord Genuity. However, such authoring analysts have not received, and will not receive, compensation that is directly based upon or linked to one or more specific Investment Banking activities, or to recommendations contained in the research.

Disclosures are available here.
by Austin Bay February 21, 2019

In 2018, a small but palpable change in Korean War diplomacy occurred, one that may yet produce something other than nuclear conflagration in East Asia: rotund North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un kept his word.

In April 2018, Kim made a promise just before he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. He said his regime would refrain from testing ICBMs and nuclear devices.

So far, his regime has kept that promise.

Given the Kim regime's depravity, vicious cruelty and documented lying, the halt in missile and nuclear weapons test are encouraging.

However, in less than a week (Feb. 27-28) Kim meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. At the June 2018 Singapore summit, Kim told Trump that he would denuclearize his regime. That has not occurred.

Depending on your source, Pyongyang has done nothing -- or very little -- to denuclearize or has prepared to implement a couple of technically positive actions but slow rolled the process, hoping to exchange a cache of nuclear devices for relaxation in U.S. and U.N. economic sanctions.

No one is astonished that North Korea's criminal regime still has nuclear weapons. In many respects, nukes and ICBMs are Kim's only bargaining chips.

Many, however, are warily amazed that the diplomatic process continues.

On Feb. 19, Trump told Washington reporters he believes North Korea will ultimately denuclearize. However, his administration is not operating on a definitive timeline to achieve it.

That's a reasonable approach given North Korea's strangling economy and the immense military power Washington, Seoul and Tokyo wield. Thanks to cellphones, the North Korean people now know their South Korean kin eat well, own cars and take vacations to India and Hawaii. That's a reason for Kim to continue to negotiate.

Sanctions on North Korea remain in place and if anything over the last eight months enforcement has improved. The naval embargo has tightened and the number of ships carrying illicit cargoes identified and intercepted by the U.S. and its allies has increased.

Recall that Trump requires CVID: complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. That requirement has not changed. Trump's intent is clear. Kim's intentions are more opaque.

In 2017 and 2018, I devoted several columns to the Trump administration's multidimensional coercive diplomatic effort in Korea. A chronicle of the operation appears in my latest book, "Cocktails from Hell" and draws on those columns. The book section concludes with this post-Singapore comment: "Elements of a serviceable CVID deal have emerged. North Korean domestic media have mentioned the possibility -- but the deal has yet to be made."

Verification of North Korean CVID is a huge issue. Will Pyongyang tolerate it? It seems South Korea and North Korea are indirectly addressing this issue. In December 2018, South Korean railroad experts inspected North Korea's railroads. For more than two weeks, a South Korean train crept over some 2,000 kilometers of northern track, gathering granular data on North Korean rail infrastructure and verifying its miserable condition.

This looks like coordinated planning for diplomatic success -- so kudos to Seoul and Washington.

The U.S. encourages inter-Korean "peacebuilding" efforts like rail inspection and family visits. They are small steps but concrete and they set a positive diplomatic tone. Call that the inter-Korean diplomatic track.

The diplomatic effort may still breakdown, which is why the U.S. and its allies must prepare for failure as well. I've seen dozen or so open-source Korean diplomacy "failure scenarios" and I've sketched a couple of my own. Not a single scenario ignores the fact the U.S., Japan and South Korea possess overwhelming military superiority.

The Hanoi summit may produce nothing more than superficial goodwill. Two years ago, that would have been an achievement. But the time is approaching for North Korea to move from symbolic gestures to concrete, verified action.
Just over 100 years ago, Mexico had a popular, much beloved democratically elected President determined to reduce foreign influence and obscene profits flowing out of the country and raise the standard of living for his people. The US financial interests on Wall Street orchestrated a military coup and made sure he was brutally murdered.

The president obviously was not Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, who has been set up to receive the same treatment this year, but his name was remarkably close  Madero not Maduro. The parallels and contrasts between the two men are thought-provoking.

Unfortunately poor Francisco Madero, an idealistic reformer who ruled as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913 did not have the tough political street smarts and plain common sense that Venezuelas Maduro has exhibited throughout his long, controversial but undeniably successful career.

Madero naively trusted in the army commander-in-chief he had inherited from his predecessor President Porfirio Diaz, General Victoriano Huerta. Huerta had prospered throughout the long 35-year rule of Diaz from 1876 to 1911 by carrying out genocidal campaigns for him against the Yaqui Indians and the Mayans.

In 1913, Wall Street interests enthusiastically supported Huerta when he carried out a coup against the innocent Madero. Woodrow Wilson, the US president of the day was an exceptionally ugly racist who despised the Mexican people and at first went along with Huertas coup.

The huge financial and mining interests in New York were eager to continue plundering Mexicos resources while more than 90 percent of its people lived virtually as slaves in appalling poverty under Diaz.

In the last decade of Diazs rule  securely supported by the Wall Street financial robber barons, as historian Matthew Josephson called them and by the complacent administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft  at least 600,000 people were worked to death as real slaves on the estates of Diazs supporters. Not a whisper of disapproval was heard from Washington.

Huerta ruled with his usual mindless thuggish brutality for less than a year and a half before provoking such national revulsion that he was ousted in a brief and bloody civil war. He fled of course to the United States but then made the mistake of alienating US business and military leaders alike by openly embracing Imperial Germany to plot his militaristic comeback.

Huerta died in loose US military custody in 1916 after a night of dining out and carousing. Poisoning by the Americans was widely suspected but the cause may well just have been heavy drinking. His autopsy revealed extreme cirrhosis of the liver.

To this day Huerta is reviled as the murderous mass killer and cowardly murderer and tool of cynical foreign interests he was while the well-meaning, but tragically ineffectual Madero is genuinely loved by the people of Mexico. The days from the start of Huertas coup to the presidents murder  gunned down by an impromptu firing squad of assassins by night along with his own brother and vice president are remembered as La Decena Tragica, The Ten Tragic Days.

In the years that followed, Mexico endured all the horrors of a collapsed state with rival feuding bands slaughtering each other and everyone else they came across. The population of the country plummeted from 15 million in 1910 to 11.6 million a decade later. Factoring in how many deaths were masked by the high birth rate, well over four million people, or more than 25 percent of the total population died in the years of anarchic violence that Huertas murder of President Madero set in motion.

La Decena Tragica continues to reverberate in Mexico to this day. When current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to withstand massive pressures from the Trump administration to recognize their preferred puppet, Juan Guaido as Washingtons preferred figurehead president of Venezuela, he is heeding his peoples reverence for martyred President Madero and remembering the bloodbaths and chaos that the hated Huerta unleashed in his place.

Madero naively trusted in the honor of his army commander, the murderous Huerta. By contrast, President Maduro in Venezuela, like his political mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez, has taken care to always have an army high command loyal to the democratically elected national civilian leadership. Nevertheless, today, US leaders have openly called on Venezuelas military leaders to scrap their own cherished constitution and political processes and violently topple President Maduro  All of course in the name of their usual mythical and never-defined freedom.

However, Bloomberg News pointedly noted in a recent report that in a Venezuelan military establishment of more than 2,000 generals and admirals, only a single officer who did not even command any troops has sworn allegiance to National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido, the farcical boy toy whom the Trump administration is trying to set up as president of Venezuela in Maduros place.

It is just as well. The precedent of Mexico more than a century ago teaches us that if the US plot to topple President Maduro were to succeed, as the one to remove and murder President Madero did so tragically 106 years ago, then civil war, chaos and the violent death of multiple millions of innocent people would rapidly follow.

In the seven years following the murder of Francisco Madero, more than a quarter of the population of Mexico were slaughtered or starved to death. The history of states where 21st century US administrations have successfully orchestrated regime change makes clear that Venezuela would suffer a similar fate.

Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan and Ukraine remain appalling object-lessons to the world in US criminal incompetence  at the very least  in nation-building. The consequences of the endless failed attempts to topple the government of Syria tell the same terrible story.

The bullets that slammed into gentle, naive little President Madero more than a century ago continue to ricochet in our own bloodstained age.
Early deadlines are in effect for advertising and editorial submissions; submit materials by Thursday, July 1 (for the July 8th issue). Please call for details. Our offices will be closed Friday, July 2, to observe the holiday.
As a subscriber, I was disappointed to read of Lee Enterprises decision to lay off nine employees from the Post-Dispatch newsroom and have the newspaper designed at the companys design center in Indiana. Whether its a reporter, a designer, a salesperson or an accountant, a local newspaper requires local boots on the ground to understand and report on what matters to readers in the communities they serve.

Creating a daily newspaper is a collaborative process, and it is made more difficult when conducted over email versus a cubical wall. Its hard to financially support an organization that weakens local news coverage, but I will continue to subscribe because local journalism matters ... now more than ever.

Since the new copy editors and designers are based in Indiana, I hope they are made aware of the colloquial use of the word hoosier. It could affect future articles.

Patrick Barry  University City
In his last moments, Kriegshauser realized the boys had misinterpreted the crews signals to move so the plane could land. In selfless sacrifice, Kriegshauser changed course. Mi Amigo gave out before he could attempt another landing. The crash into nearby woods killed all 10 aboard.

Foulds, even at that young age, realized that whoever was at the controls of the B-17 had saved his and the other boys lives. Ever since, he has dedicated his life to preserving Kriegshausers memory.

Last month, Foulds was tending to a memorial, erected in 1969, that stands in Sheffields Endcliffe Park for Mi Amigos crew. A man walking his dog stopped and asked what he was doing. Foulds shared the story, not knowing that the man was BBC newscaster Dan Walker, who promptly launched a Twitter campaign to fulfill Foulds one wish: an honorary overflight by the British military to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Mi Amigos sacrifice.

On Friday, the British Royal Air Force and the U.S. Air Force will perform a joint overflight. Kriegshausers nephew, James, a doctor and St. Louis resident, will attend along with other members of the family.

Wars too often are remembered as conglomerations of tragedy, destruction and suffering. But we of surviving generations must never forget the moments of courage and heroism that distinguish greatness from barbarism. Lt. John Kriegshauser and his crew died the deaths of heroes so complete strangers  a group of boys  could live. The awesome weight of that memory and responsibility fell on young Tony Foulds. And he bears it, even at age 82, like an Olympian.
But they do make kids safe? Sometimes. A Jefferson City priest, for instance, went on to work at Disney World after being suspended. After the Springfield, Ill., bishop posted his accused list, an ex-priest was fired from his taxpayer-funded job.

Even those prelates who have posted such lists usually still fall short in several key ways.

First, they often deliberately overlook priests who were ordained elsewhere, such as one accused of molesting at least two dozen boys who has worked in both St. Louis and Belleville. Another is accused of molesting at least seven kids, including a local boy at St. Marys parish in Belleville.

Second, bishops often omit religious-order clerics, those priests who are Jesuits, Marianists or Crosiers who were ordained elsewhere, molested elsewhere, but were sent into another diocese. For example, theres a Belleville-based order in which at least five clerics were, according to the churchs own records, credibly accused of assaulting children in Minnesota.

But they also spent time around here and have remained essentially below the radar. Between them, they worked in at least nine St. Louis-area towns, including Belleville.
On Jan. 29, Jussie Smollett, a gay African-American actor, reported to Chicago police that he had been the victim of a vicious hate crime. As my colleague Nana Efua Mumford has noted, the disturbing details were almost cinematic, like an episode of Empire, Smolletts television show. Two masked assailants not only made homophobic, racist slurs, according to Smollett, but also poured an unknown chemical on him and hung a noose around his neck. One of the attackers shouted, This is MAGA country  as in the Trumpian phrase Make America Great Again.

That theatricality, and the timeliness of the political message, ensured the incident would catch the publics imagination. Now, evidence is emerging that the episode may in fact have been scripted, by Smollett himself. On Wednesday evening, Chicago police announced that Smollett has been charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. Smollett, through his attorneys, has denied participating in a hoax.

Regardless of how the Smollett episode ultimately turns out, it provides a useful reminder: The more a crime report sounds like a movie, the more suspicious you should be.
The governor fundamentally believes that individuals should keep more of their hard-earned money, the statement said. Both the Tax Cuts and Job Act signed by President Trump and latest state income tax cut will benefit millions of Missourians.

In the committee, Walters outlined a number of different examples of how the federal changes, combined with the updated tax tables, might affect taxpayers when they file their returns.

Under one scenario, a married couple making a total of $100,000 and each claiming one dependent would see their refund go to $67 for 2018 from $516 for 2017.

A single filer with no dependents making $36,000 annually would face a tax bill of $58 for 2018, rather than a refund of $53 as in 2017.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, said Thursday that Parsons criticism would not stop the chamber from continuing to press Walters.

We are the peoples body and give all Missourians a voice in state government. A core constitutional function of the elected Legislature is to have oversight over the unelected bureaucracy. The committee will continue to fully examine the actions by the Department of Revenue that are impacting taxpayers and state revenue, and to protect Missourians from experiencing this type of pain again, Haahr said.
BENTON, ILL.  A St. Louis man pleaded guilty in federal court here Wednesday and admitted dealing at least five kilograms of cocaine and 2,200 pounds of marijuana.

The drug dealing conspiracy began in federal prison, when Ra Tem Jones, 40, met another man who agreed to supply him drugs, Jones' plea says.

That man, Eutimo Hector Fernandez-Cavazos, recruited truck drivers to bring the drugs from southern Texas to Jones at a truck stop in East St. Louis, Jones' plea says.

Jones admitted that he'd been supplied at least five kilograms (or about 11 pounds) of cocaine and 1,000 kilos (or about 2,200 pounds) of marijuana. He also admitted that all his money was "dirty," meaning derived from his drug dealing. He used $56,000 in $100 bills to buy a 2014 Land Rover at a St. Peters dealer, his plea says.

Jones has a prior conviction for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 100 kilos of marijuana in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. He was sentenced to five years and three months in prison in 2002 for that case and for failing to show up for a sentencing hearing. In 2008, he was caught with a gun and was later sentenced to seven years in prison on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and for violating his supervised release in the Missouri pot case.
JEFFERSON CITY  A proposal that would make it more difficult for law enforcement to confiscate property from suspects won approval on Thursday from a Missouri House committee  the same week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Constitution's ban on excessive fees applied to states.

The legislation by Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, bans confiscating assets from someone unless the person is convicted of a crime. Civil asset forfeiture allows law enforcement to transfer property from those suspected of a crime before they are found guilty or not.

If someone really is operating a billion-dollar cartel, shut them down by all means, but dont say that Im some sort of trafficker or drug dealer if you never charge me with a crime, he said.

Dogan says the act will help move the state away from policing for profit.

He said that current Missouri law is already strict when it comes to civil asset forfeiture, leading police agencies to instead adhere to more lenient federal regulations.
Now it does. And that puts the wind behind the back of the bills making their way through Dogans committee. His bill would stop the practice in Missouri of state police agencies avoiding state jurisdiction by seeking asset forfeiture under guise of federal law, and keeping any seizures made in drug cases.

Under Dogans bill, which passed unanimously, such forfeitures would be done under the color of state law, and any money or assets taken would go to the state, reducing the profit motive of individual police agencies.

Next up was state Rep. Justin Hills bill, which would reduce the incentive for private probation companies to drug test defendants charged with misdemeanors that have nothing to do with alcohol or drugs.

There is an incentive to keep (defendants) in the system so (the private probation companies) can keep getting monthly fees, Hill said.

Indeed, testified Michael Barrett, head of the Missouri State Public Defenders office, all of these elements of policing for profit work together to harm the criminal justice system and keep poor people buried in deep poverty.
Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman 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

In these modern times of social media, does it get any more A-list than starring in a GIF?

Ashli Lincoln, a reporter with KMOV (Channel 4), is finding out.

It started with a standard event in stand-up television journalism  a guy (almost always a guy) walking into your live shot and uttering something profound like "Yeah," or "Whoo" or "Hey."

Trying to finish her live weather update Tuesday night from outside the Enterprise Center, Lincoln quickly dispatched the intruder  with a sweep of her arm and without missing a beat.

Well, it seems that some people who had been watching the newscast loved the event, a lot.

As of Thursday afternoon, a video clip posted to Twitter had been retweeted 165 times and had logged 1,164 likes.
If Pope Francis needed a concrete example to justify summoning church leaders from around the globe to Rome for a tutorial on clergy sex abuse, Sister Bernardine Pemii has it.

The nun, who recently completed a course on child protection policies at Rome's Jesuit university, has been advising her bishop in Ghana on an abuse case, instructing him to invite the victim to his office to hear her story before opening an investigation. If Pemii hadn't stepped in?

"It would have been covered. There would have been complete silence," Pemii told The Associated Press recently. "And nothing would have happened. Nobody would have listened to the victim."

Francis is convening this week's summit at the Vatican to prevent cover-ups by Catholic superiors everywhere, as many around the world continue to protect the church's reputation at all costs, denying that priests rape children and by discrediting victims even as new cases keep coming to light.

History's first Latin American pope has made many of the same mistakes. As archbishop in Buenos Aires, he went out of his way to defend a famous street priest who was later convicted of abuse. He took a handful of measures early on in his papacy that undermined progress the Vatican had made in taking a hard line against rapists.
From the Garrison address flowed a famous telegram. In 1884, Republicans pressed Sherman to be their presidential nominee. He wired back: "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."

The Shermans later moved to New York but kept their home on Garrison. Ellen Sherman, a devout Catholic, died in 1888 and was returned for burial in Calvary Cemetery.

Sherman died at 71 in New York on Feb. 14, 1891. The Pennsylvania Railroad provided its executive train to return the general to his wife's side.

At Union Depot, just east of today's Amtrak station, the casket was placed on an artillery caisson pulled by four black horses. Cavalry escorted it north on 12th, followed by once-wiry veterans of Sherman's own Army of the Tennessee. Other units, including Confederate veterans, joined the solemn clattering over cobblestones.

At Calvary, one of the Sherman children, the Jesuit Rev. Thomas Sherman, recited graveside prayers in Latin and English. An honor guard fired three crisp volleys, followed by a last rumble of artillery from a distant hill.
It was very eye-opening, he says of the trip, his first time outside the United States. It made me take a deeper look at myself and what I wanted instead of always trying to make other people happy. Its about me being happy and more comfortable with myself and my sound.

He says hes even more comfortable picking up the microphone and cracking a joke  just being myself.

vThom has been DJing for six years. He got his start dabbling with loops and edits on is iPad. DJ Uptown convinced him to take his skills to the turntables.

I already knew I had to. He said, You sound good, but what can you do on a turntable? says vThom, inspired by St. Louis acts such as DJ Mahf, DJ Crucial and Charlie Chan, as well as DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Scratch, DJ Paul and Grand Wizzard Theodore.

His first official gig was at the BBC Asian Cafe & Bar in the Central West End, where he had a weekly residency. He spun there for two years and created his sound. (The cafe even named a sushi roll after him.)

He sound is totally improvised, though he says there are particular routines, combinations and mixes that he likes playing.
What follows is, on a superficial level, a criminal procedural of sorts, made all the more interesting by the virtual absence of the police, whose involvement the kidnappers have issued a dire warning against: Keep the cops out of this, or well kill the girl. Other than the psychological insights that are offered  under the table  by an especially sage retired police detective (Jose Angel Egido), the investigation is carried out entirely by the members of the sprawling clan and their neighbors, some of whom start to suspect an inside job.

One of those neighbors is Paco, played by Javier Bardem, the real-life husband of his co-star, Cruz, and who here plays her former lover (both characters are now married to other people, played by Barbara Lennie and Ricardo Darin). Although everybody knows Paco and Lauras romantic past, there are some other things they dont know.

When Laura receives a ransom demand via text, certain old ghosts  financial ones as well as interpersonal  rise from their tombs to wreak havoc. Paco, we learn, currently owns a vineyard that used to belong to Lauras family. Its patriarch (Ramon Barea) is said to have drunkenly gambled away his fortune, forcing the lands sale at a price well below its value. Class resentments and sexual jealousies flare up, clouding judgment and calling into question bedrock beliefs.
Hungarian actor Geza Rohrig, who made a splash in the Oscar-winning Son of Saul a few years ago, is back  but not as you remember him.

In that shattering Holocaust drama, Rohrig played a Jewish prisoner/laborer at Auschwitz-Birkenau whose job it is to dispose of the remains of gas-chamber victims. In his new film, the darkly comic dramedy To Dust, Rohrig plays a slightly clownish, slightly morose contemporary Hasidic cantor named Shmuel at a synagogue in upstate New York.

And yet there are similarities.

When Shmuels wife dies  the inciting incident that opens the film, with the handling of her naked corpse  Shmuel becomes fixated on the question of what happens to her body. In his belief system, a part of the soul  in Hebrew, the neshama  remains with the remains, as Shmuel explains it, until she no longer physically remains. The idea that a piece of his wifes consciousness might still exist  and be suffering  torments him.

In the course of Shmuels search for closure and solace, he talks to various people he considers experts: a mortician, a coffin salesman, a rabbi. (If that sounds like the opening of a joke, it kind of is, albeit one whose humor is of a very gentle  and philosophical  bent.)
On Oct. 23, 1980, four workers were shot and killed during an early morning robbery at Pope's cafeteria in Des Peres. Here is our original coverage of that event.
Blunt, who has raised concerns about continuing the NGA funding stream with American intelligence officials, expressed hope that the NGA would not be somewhere the president would want to look for funding for the wall.

He said it was clearly understood by the intel (intelligence) and defense community that it is an essential part of our future security.

Blunt serves on both the Senate Appropriations and Intelligence committees.

I would hope that would not be the case and then if it was the case, are we talking about only delaying the money that is being appropriated from March until the end of September? he said. Or are we talking about having to start (the appropriations) all over again?

I think what they (Democrats) are talking about on all of these military construction projects like that one, or the hospital at Fort Leonard Wood, would be a delay from this fiscal year, to Oct. 1, he said, referring to the beginning of the 2020 fiscal year.
The World Trade Organisation faces significant challenges, and the current tensions among the trade partners are a huge test for the int'l trade community, on Thursday night said in Bucharest the WTO Director-General, Roberto Azevedo.

Risks are real and real economic problems will exist, the head of the WTO warned.

Roberto Azevedo delivered these statements at a press briefing that he attended alongside the Romanian Minister for the Business Milieu, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Stefan Radu Oprea, ahead of the meeting of the Trade Ministers of the EU member states unfolding in Bucharest in the context of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council.

The report the WTO has released recently warns that in the first quarter of 2019 there will be the smallest economic growth recorded since 2010, so we have to do whatever we can to reduce those tensions. We will talk during this meeting tonight about how we could strengthen the international economic system. I thank Minister Oprea for the leadership he has proved in this respect, the WTO Director-General added.

Therefore, we have to do everything possible to alleviate tensions in the economy, We firstly need to de-escalate the situation, then we solve the economic disputes. The year 2018 was the busiest year in the last two decades, in terms of economic disputes. We have to enhance the international economic architecture, stressed Roberto Azevedo.

In the context of Romania's exercising the presidency of the EU Council, the Informal Meeting of the Trade Ministers is taking place in Bucharest, 21 to 22 February. In this context, European Commissioner for Commerce Cecilia Malmstrom and the WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo are attending the meeting.
The tourists from Israel visiting Romania are second in number after those from Germany, with as many as 60 flights per week between Romania and Israel, the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Romania, David Saranga said in the opening of the Tourism Fair's spring edition in Bucharest.

If in the past tourists who came to Israel were on a pilgrimage, now we can see young tourists coming, too. I am born in Tel Aviv, I grew up in Tel Aviv and still live in Tel Aviv. So, I cannot be that unbiased, but if anyone comes to Israel and sees on the one side the modern world, the modern Tel Aviv, the first Jewish city that was built after the Jews returned to their country, on the other side they can see tradition, a more than 3,000-year-old tradition of connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem. This combination is a very significant fact when it comes to the tourism in Israel, the ambassador stressed.

Attending the event was Ami Allon, Director for Central and Southern Europe at the Israel Ministry of Tourism, who said that the number of Romanian tourists in Israel reached 110k last year.

We have a lot of opportunities to come to Israel from six cities of Romania. One of the most important thing we are doing this year, we are going to commence a very strong collaboration with perhaps one of the most important tourism agencies in Romania - Christian Tour. It is paramount to us to work with a tour-operator in Romania so we can increase the number of tourists visiting Israel, Ami Allon added.
The Permanent Representative Committee of the governments of Member States approved the provisional agreement reached by the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union with the European Parliament on the Natural Gas Directive, with the next step being the adoption of the Directive by the European Parliament, the Ministry of Energy announced on Thursday.

"I am very pleased we've reached this agreement so quickly. This agreement eliminates a problem existing with EU's legislative framework in the energy field and it guarantees a coherent implementation of the Energy Union norms in the entire EU. By reaching the two consecutive political agreements we got closer to the moment of adoption of the Gas Directive and the closure of this file under the Romanian presidency," stated Minister of Energy Anton Anton.

The revision of the Directive on Natural Gas is very important for strengthening energy security in the European Union. The Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU had a crucial role in these negotiations guaranteeing that the Energy Union rules will apply including to the gas pipelines to and from third countries, explained the representatives of the Ministry of Energy.This file has been subject to negotiations at European level for more than a year. The modification of the Directive was proposed by the European Commission in November 2017, but the European Parliament has only made his standpoint known in April 2018. The Council of EU, under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, reached a consensus on February 8, 2019.According to the same source, the modification of the Directive on Natural Has will make the legal framework of the European Union equally applicable on the EU territory, it will increase transparency and provide legal certainty for both investors in the gas infrastructure and network users.
The Social Democrats argue that "starting today" President Klaus Iohannis' campaign will cost Romania 6.9 million euro a day, representing European funds not absorbed by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Development."

"Starting today, Iohannis Spanner-in-the-works electoral campaign will cost Romania 6.9 million euro a day, representing European funds not absorbed by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Development. This is on average the amount of European funds absorbed per working day by the two Ministries in 2018. After the end of the 45-day interim period, these ministries that lack ministers can no longer settle the bills for European funded projects. In the past two years, PSD [the Social Democratic party, major at rule, ed.n.] has significantly accelerated the absorption of European money, but the results could be better if Iohannis would not throw a spanner in the works," PSD maintains on Thursday in a post on its official Facebook page.

On January 7, Klaus Iohannis signed the decree appointing Minister of Public Finance Eugen Teodorovici as acting Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration, and the decree appointing Rovana Plumb, Minister of European Funds, as acting Minister of Transport. According to the law, the interim period lasts for 45 days.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila conveyed to the president the new proposals for the appointment of the Ministers of Transport and Regional Development. The new nomination at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration is Daniel Suciu, and Razvan Cuc at the Ministry of Transport.
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis will hold consultations with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on the side-lines of the EU-League of Arab States Summit, to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Saturday, the Romanian Presidential Administration reports.

The two officials are expected to assess the latest developments in the relationship between the two countries and the concrete possibilities to boost and deepen bilateral co-operation in all areas of common interest, including the economy.

The high-level dialogue takes place as part of the third meeting of the Joint Bilateral Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Co-operation, to be held in Cairo, February 26-28.The consultations between Iohannis and El-Sisi are said to be a good opportunity to discuss shared priorities of the two countries against Romania's holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and Egypt holding the presidency of the African Union.Iohannis will attend the EU-League of Arab States Summit on Sunday and Monday. The meeting will be chaired by Egyptian President El-Sisi and European Council President Donald Tusk.Iohannis will deliver a speech to the plenary session of the summit in which he will present Romania's vision of co-operation between the European Union and the League of Arab States for finding common solutions to current, medium and long-term challenges.
The opposition Save Romania Union (USR) has prepared letters to the European institutions complaining about government emergency ordinance 7/2019 amending justice legislation, USR national leader Dan Barna said on Thursday.

"We have already prepared the letters, probably we will send them today. This is a legitimate approach, through which the European partners of Romania, the partners that have brought Romania to the current stage of development, have to be correctly and really informed about what the implications are of these changes, which have been made without a minimum consultation - whether internal or external - despite that having been mandatory under the latest recommendations of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). (...) Romania does not allow itself to break away from Europe and move eastwards towards Russia, where Liviu Dragnea and Tudorel Toader probably push it, and I mean here Mr Tudorel Toader's nostalgia of his communist youth," Barna said at the end of a meeting with the Ombudsman, whom he asked him to refer the ordinance to the Constitutional Court (CCR).

According to the USR, the same message should go to the Venice Commission, whose recommendations are binding to Europe from a moral point of view."The next days are critical," said Barna.
The Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia-Elena Intotero had a meeting with representatives of the Romanian community of Brisbane, Australia, who indicated their interest in keeping cultural and linguistic ties with Romania and the initiative of the Ministry of Romanians Abroad (MRP) to distribute folk costumes, provide educational support in Romanian and student camps.

According to a press statement released on Thursday, in attendance were about 50 Romanians gathered in the association "Unirea Brisbane", as well as Romania's Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand Nineta Barbulescu, along with Romania's Consul General in Sydney Iulian Nitu.

"Although they have settled on the Australian soil many years ago, the Romanian community is connected to what is happening in Romania and, at the same time, they want to keep up their cultural and linguistic ties to the motherland. The approximately 50 Romanians at the meeting with Minister Natalia-Elena Intotero voiced interest in the MRP initiatives to distribute Romanian folk costumes and provide educational support in Romanian, as well as the ARC camps for children of Romanian extraction from all over the world," reads the statement.Intotero also had a meeting with representatives of the Logan City Hall, including Mayor Cherie Dailey, during which the minister thanked for the support extended to the local Romanian community. At the same time, she also referred to MRP's support for twinning between Romanian and foreign cities, with the local administration officials saying they are interested in identifying a Romanian town to initiate such a partnership.In Brisbane, where, besides 2,000 Romanians, there are representatives of more than 200 ethnicities, the Romanian minister also had a meeting with Minister for Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs Stirling Hinchliffe. Intotero welcomed the Brisbane authorities' best practice example and thanked the Australian minister for supporting the cultural and linguistic identity of the Romanian community.Intotero presented a symbolic award from the Romanian government to Professor Traian Chirila of the Queensland Eye Institute, the inventor of artificial cornea and one of the highly appreciated experts at in the world in this area.During a visit to Queensland's Parliament, Intotero laid flowers to the portrait of a former prime minister of Queensland."Another Romanian whose name is linked to an extremely important time in the history of Australia, holds a place of honour in the gallery of premiers of the Queensland state. The son of an emigrant from Romania, Edward Granville Theodore was born in Adelaide and he was the premier of Queensland, the second largest state in Australia, and he initiated a series of reforms that made him famous nationwide and became Australia's deputy prime minister."The visit to Australia and New Zealand was scheduled to continue in Sydney, Auckland and Wellington.
Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba met on Wednesday with Secretary of State for European Affairs with Portugal's Foreign Affairs Ministry Ana Paula Zacarias. The discussions of the two officials focused on the working programme of Romania's Presidency at the EU Council and the ongoing developments at European level in relation with the current agenda.

According to a Foreign Affairs Ministry's (MAE) release, the topics tackled included the future of the European Union, the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the enlargement policy, the Economic and Monetary Union, the latest developments in the sphere of international trade relations, as well as the development of talks regarding the UK's withdrawal for the EU.

In this context, the Romanian dignitary reiterated the importance of shaping the Strategic Agenda of the EU for the next five years and conveying a message of unity at European level, as a foundation for the future efforts to meet the Union's strategic objectives.In respect to the 2021-2027 MFF, Minister-delegate Ciamba presented the approach and efforts of Romania's Presidency at the EU Council in the negotiation process on this file. The negotiations aim to facilitate dialogue in view of advancing the discussions at the European Council in June and obtaining an agreement in the autumn of 2019.In regards to the Economic and Monetary Union, Ciamba highlighted the necessity of an inclusive approach of the strengthening process of the Economic and Monetary Union, likely to favour a higher degree of convergence at European level.The talks revealed the similarity of Romania's and Portugal's standpoints over some priority topics included on the EU agenda, such as the protection of the European citizens' rights in the context of the UK's withdrawal for the EU, as well as granting the observance of commercial multilaterism based on rules, taking into account the increase of the existing tensions at global level.Minister-delegate George Ciamba underscored the attention paid by the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council to the enlargement policy and the cooperation with the Western Balkan states. In this regard, he voiced support for the fulfillment of the objective assumed by the member states, that of launching accession negotiations with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia in June, according to the Council Conclusions of 26 June 2018.In respect to the bilateral relation, the two officials evoked their excellent stage. The Romanian dignitary underscored the importance of strengthening and consolidating the high-level bilateral dialogue between the two countries, both on aspects of the European agenda and in relation to the international agenda, the MAE release informs.
The meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group (JPSG) on Europol is to take place on 24 and 25 February in Bucharest, in the context of the parliamentary dimension of the Romanian presidency of the European Union's Council.

The meeting co-chaired by Oana Florea, Head of the Romanian delegation to the JPSG Europol and Claude Moraes, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) is attended by parliamentary delegations from all the EU member states and the EP, according to a release by the Chamber of Deputies sent on Thursday to AGERPRES.

Attending and taking the floor at the event, an occasion for debates on various topics regarding the functioning of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), will be key-representatives of Europol: Catherine De Bolle (Executive Director), Victor Wili Apreutesei (President of the Board ) and Wil van Gemert (Deputy Director, Operations Department). Other key-note speakers will be Julian King (Commissioner for Security Union), alongside representatives of the European bodies in charge of personal data protection, among whom Francois Pellegrini (President of the Cooperation Board), Giovanni Buttarelli (European Data Protection Supervisor, via teleconference) and Wojciech Wiewiorowski (Assistant Supervisor at European Data Protection Supervisor).

On the first day, there will be two preparatory meetings: the one of the JPSG Europol Presidential Troika made up of the heads of the delegations of the current presidency parliaments (Romanian), the previous (Austrian) and the next (Finnish) and of the European Parliament, and that of the working group set up in view of establishing ways of participation of the Danish Parliament in the JPSG meetings.

The second day of the meeting will comprise presentations and debates on the Europol structures' activities for the September 2018 - February 2019 period, in particular on specific fields of action of Europol - the European Centre of combating cybercrime, the Centre of information on travels, respectively, a structure that is to be fathered this year, the source says. On this occasion, the parliamentarians, members of the delegations will address questions to the Europol officials.

The meeting also aims to set the procedure for nominating the future representative of the JPSG to the meetings of the Europol's Board, considering that the term of the current representative Tsvetan Tsvetanov expires on 25 February 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall had a meeting on Thursday with Bernd Lange, Chairman of the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament, among the topics discussed featuring the interinstitutional cooperation (Council of the EU-EP), the negotiation and conclusion of the European Union Free Trade Agreements.

"On the agenda of my discussions today with Mr Bernd Lange, Chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee (INTA), there have been subjects of interest such as interinstitutional cooperation (EU Council - European Parliament) on the policy and trade relations of the EU or the negotiation and conclusion of the EU Free Trade Agreements," the deputy prime minister said.

She appreciated the discussion with the European official as a constructive one, focused on the EU-US trade relations.

"It was a very constructive discussion focused on the EU-US trade relations, in which I stressed that the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU aims to advance the negotiations to achieve the objectives of common interest, including from the perspective of strengthening the European Union's global actor role. In this context, we have shown that during our term of office, we are prepared to support the efforts of the European institutions to promote an ambitious and positive trade agenda at EU level, and the interest of European citizens is essential in every aspect of the negotiations on the EU's trade agreements," Ana Birchall wrote on Facebook.
President Klaus Iohannis signed the decoration decrees of artists Constantin Flondor and Adrian Ghenie on Thursday, informs the Presidential Administration.

The head of state gave the two painters the National Order "For Merit" in the rank of Knight.

Thus President Iohannis gave this order to Constantin Flondor as a sign of "high recognition and appreciation for the important and prestigious career in the arts, for the talent and dedication through which he promoted the Romanian school of painting", and to Adrian Ghenie in sign of "appreciation for artistic talent, for the important role in promoting the Romanian painting school in the world".

The two are some of the most important contemporary artists. Adrian Ghenie's works have been awarded for several millions of dollars at auctions abroad. Last year, "Boogeyman" was bought for 4.85 million pounds at a Sotheby's auction in London. Constantin Flondor is the co-founder of the Prolog, Sigma and 111 groups.
No society is immune to corruption, one of the important issues being the individual struggle of citizens against this phenomenon, US Ambassador in Bucharest Hans Klemm said on Thursday.

The US diplomat was part of the jury of "NO CORRUPTION" speech contest, launched by the US Embassy. The final of the competition, which took place on Thursday, was attended by eight students from across the country.

Prior to the contest, the US ambassador spoke about the support the United States grants Romania, with regard to the anti-corruption fight, included.

Since the fall of communism, the United States has been an active partner, alongside Romania - even before the establishment of the Strategic Partnership - in terms of supporting, developing and consolidating the Romanian institutions of a democratic governing. These things are based on the values specified in the North Atlantic Treaty, the values of democracy, liberty, rule of law, the diplomat said.

He stressed that there are no societies immune to the phenomenon of corruption.

The anti-corruption is an effort made in any country in the world, including in the United States. No society is immune to this, no country is immune, he pointed out.

Hans Klemm highlighted, in this context, some elements needed in the anti-corruption fight - a strong judicial system and a solid work of prosecutors.

After the students in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Targu Mures presented their speeches, the jury which beside Hans Klemm, was also made up of Bogdan Petrache from Mega Company and Analbela Costache from Funky Citizens, decided the winners.

The first place went to Abigail-Florina Dan from Cluj-Napoca. In her speech, she talked about the way in which corruption entered the daily life of Romanians during communism, but also about individual choices in the anti-corruption fight. The second and third place were occupied by Luiza-Maria Iordache, a student in Bucharest, and Mihaela-Simona Zegreanu, student in Targu Mures.
About 2,000 Romanian tourists visited South Africa in 2018, said on Thursday Jabu Mbalula, Ambassador of this country in Bucharest.

Our offer for tourists who want to visit South Africa is very varied, the tourism strategy is well developed and well diversified. (...) Last year, the number of Romanian tourists visiting South Africa was just over 2,000, the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa told AGERPRES, at the opening of his country stand at the Tourism Fair, the spring edition.

He noted that among the attractions of South Africa, there is remarkable biodiversity - there are 800 bird species and 5.8 percent of the Planet's mammals. South Africa has 21 national parks, 1,333 natural reserves and 8 sites of UNESCO World Heritage.

Among the attractions of South Africa I can mention ethnographic diversity, people are very welcoming and friendly, the fauna can be found in safaris, towns, and especially a street with the homes of two Nobel laureates of South Africa - Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the ambassador said.

He mentioned that South Africa also has a "very complex strategy that deals with South Africans' visits to Romania. According to him, in April last year, a workshop was organized in Romania with the participation of travel agencies. It was an interactive meeting, in which we presented our offer to the Romanian agencies and so did they, in order to facilitate the best possible exchange of tourists, said the South African diplomat.
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Termen extins: CJI anunta un concurs de grant pentru selectarea unei echipe care va crea un instrument sau instrumente ce vor fi utilizate la lectiile de Educatie pentru media
Deputies in Rowan County are looking into a fraud case where nearly $26,000 was taken from an elderly womans bank account, according to Capt. John Sifford.

An incident report filed on Friday with Rowan County Sheriffs Office showed an elderly woman, living on Mocksville Road in Salisbury, reported thousands of dollars missing from her bank account.

The victim reported that someone transferred $25,797.98 from her bank account to another account at the same bank, according to Capt. Sifford.

How the transaction occurred was not immediately available. The incident report listed the crime as fraud involving wire/computer/electronic manipulation.

Sifford said that both transactions occurred Friday and that the account has been frozen. He also said authorities have identified a relative of the victim as a suspect. The suspects name and exact relation was not given.

The Rowan County Sheriffs Office is continuing to investigate the case, Sifford said.
Carver, a major in the Iredell County Sheriffs Office, said he voted against the position because Troutman has an officer to citizen ratio of 5.3 officers to every 1,000 citizens. The county has a ratio of 1.4 to every 1,000. Troutmans officer to citizen ratio is higher than Mooresvilles, 2.1 to 1,000, and Statesvilles, 3.1 to 1,000.

They have the man power within their own staffing to do this without a new financing mechanism to get it, Carver said.

The sheriffs office pays for more than half of the SROs in the county, five of nine, Carver said. The other four are paid for by Iredell-Statesville Schools.

Carver said he also didnt want to approve the position in the middle of the year, outside of the boards budgeting process.

People are saying We need a school nurse. We need a social worker. We need this, that and the other. We need a new bus driver. We need bus monitors. We need a bus mechanic, Carver said. All those competing interests arent getting the opportunity to have their case heard when you do it one at a time which is why we have a budget vetting process.

Carver said considering all budget requests at the same time allows the board to compare and prioritize requests made of the board.
In his speech announcing the citizen of the year at the 2019 Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet Tuesday, Bill Brater referred to him as a caring soul.

This caring soul has been instrumental in making sure the most advanced technology was available so members of the community can receive the very best of care, Brater said.

Since Ed Rush became Iredell Health Systems CEO in 2004, the organization has thrived, Brater said. It provides the community with more than 1,600 jobs.

As he came to the stage, Rush said he became suspicious when he saw several board members at the event, but he never expected to receive the citizen of the year award. When he saw his family standing in the back, he got choked up.

When you get older, the tears flow and you cant control them sometimes, Rush said.

When Rush came to the area 15 years ago, he saw what a dedicated workforce Iredell Health had.

As much as I appreciate this award, I cant accept it, Rush said. I have to accept it in the name of all those employees, those thousands of employees that I work with year after year from the time Ive been here. They deserve this. Theyre the ones who do the real work.
We kind of had no choice because there isnt a great deal of chamber music written for bass and string quartets, he said.

He also mentioned hes not fond of much of the repertoire already written for his ensemble, and would rather explore new territory.

One of our missions is to expand the repertoire for string quintets with bass, Merdinian said. Giving voice to all these awesome, new composers is very exciting for us. The idea of expanding techniques and expanding sound worlds, we are fascinated by the creativity of some of these young composers and we just love performing (their work).

That was the focus of their last album, Outliers. It focused on showcasing works by upcoming composers that specifically wrote music for the group. It was released in January 2018 and reached No. 1 on the classical Billboard Charts.

Even though the group has roots dating back to 1997, the current lineup formed in 2009, according to Merdinian. He said was the last member to join, but everyone met while attending the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

The group apparently formed while taking up on old festival tradition; students playing music and asking for money along street corners in Aspen. Merdinian said that the group grew popular rather quickly.
Seven candidates took part in the second official debate for New York City public advocate Wednesday night. It was a 90-minute slugfest dense with discussion, but the candidates had no shortage of criticism for the mayor  and each other.

Here are a few things we learned:

De Blasio is the opposition

The public advocate can, as debate moderator and NY1 political anchor Errol Louis described it, partner with the mayor, or be a thorn in his side. The candidates on stage all expressed more interest in positioning themselves as thorns, repeatedly assailing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios record on the interconnected crises of housing and homelessness and his role in wooing Amazon. But the harshest sound bites came when co-moderator Laura Nahmias of Politico New York asked the candidates if de Blasio were qualified to run for president  an option the mayor notably has not ruled out.

He is not qualified to run for president. He should not run for president, Assemblyman Michael Blake responded bluntly. Assemblyman Ron Kim called the mayor completely delusional. Former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a former de Blasio ally, echoed her previous comments to New York magazine, saying de Blasio lacked focus. And New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams touted his classification in City & State as one of de Blasios enemies.

De Blasio has not endorsed in the public advocate race, and likely will not, but there are rumors abound about who the mayor is privately backing. The debate made it clear that none of the major candidates are buttering him up.

New York City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr., who recently lost his committee chairmanship after making offensive comments about gay people, may have put it best:

During the Public Advocate Candidatess debate everyone ran away from mayor Bill DeBlasio faster than they ran away from me  Rev Ruben Diaz (@revrubendiaz) February 21, 2019

Labor is a key

The debate began in an area of mayoral agreement, with candidate Nomiki Konst, a former journalist, giving verbal support to the IBEW Local 3 union members who have been on strike for nearly two years against Spectrum, the parent company of debate host NY1. De Blasio has, at times, avoided appearing on NY1 over the last few months in solidarity with the striking workers. Blake and Williams also mentioned the striking workers in their opening statements.

It was a reminder of the important role that labor will likely play on Tuesday, Feb. 26, as candidates struggle to get voters to the polls for a mid-winter special election. Blake earned a roar in the crowd when he mentioned DC37 Local 372, which had endorsed him, but labor endorsements have been relatively rare in the race. Some of the citys most politically potent unions, like 1199 SEIU and 32BJ SEIU, havent endorsed and arent planning to do so.

Amazon is still a factor

As in the previous televised debate, all the candidates assailed the economic development deal that would have brought tech giant Amazon to Queens. De Blasio championed the since-cancelled deal, which promised at least 25,000 new jobs from Amazon alone, but the candidates all knocked the negotiations as being too secretive and the deal too generous, even if there was disagreement on stage about whether Amazon pulling out entirely was a positive result for New York.

We shouldnt be competing with other cities and states to give away billions of dollars, said Kim, who is running on the No Amazon ballot line and has largely defined his candidacy by his consistent opposition to the deal. Dawn Smalls, by contrast, tried a more measured tone, claiming she was the only candidate on stage who never attended an anti-Amazon rally. But that didnt mean she supported the deal, as Smalls also noted she was anti-two men going into a back room, referencing de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomos roles in negotiating with Amazon.

There are real differences among the candidates

Yes, its tempting to write off the crowd of liberal Democrats on stage as all the same, given their almost universal agreement on issues like allowing immigrants who live in the country illegally to get drivers licenses and vote, or their universal condemnation of the Amazon deal. But the debate allowed for some nuance on certain topics like how to regulate the vacation rental platform Airbnb in New York, or whether candidates supported building more city-subsidized affordable apartments, even if the income bands to qualify for housing were higher than the neighborhoods median income. Yes, a televised debate isnt the ideal platform for digging into details  and voters didnt hear a thing from the 11 other candidates on the ballot who didnt qualify for the debate. But the candidates all offered differing visions for the city, and differing strategies for how to fix what they see as wrong. So voters should pay attention  after all, any one of them could be mayor one day.
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GERING  On Saturday, Feb. 23, Legacy of the Plains Museum is hosting a Smithsonian Museum on Main Street (MoMS) traveling exhibit, Water/Ways."

Legacy of the Plains Museum and the surrounding community has been chosen by Humanities Nebraska to host Water/Ways as part of the Museum on Main Street program  a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. Gering is the last stop on this tour through Nebraska before it leaves on Saturday, April 13.

Water/Ways explores the endless motion of the water cycle, waters effect on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality. It looks at how political and economic planning is affected by access to water and control of water resources. Human creativity and resourcefulness provide new ways of protecting water resources and renewing respect for the natural environment.

Designed for small-town museums, libraries and cultural organizations, Water/Ways will serve as a community meeting place to convene conversations about waters impact on American culture. With the support and guidance of our partners, Legacy of the Plains will develop a complementary exhibit, host public programs, and facilitate educational initiatives to raise peoples understanding about what water means to us.
SCOTTSBLUFF  The Western Nebraska Human Resources Management Association will be awarding at least one scholarship up to $500 to students currently attending or entering an accredited secondary institution during the fall semester of 2019.

This can be annually renewed, but a new application is required each year. It is not required that an applicant study human resources management, however, a student interested in entering the human resource management may be given preference. Applicants in accounting, business administration, business management, finances or economics are encouraged to also apply.

The application deadline is Friday, March 22. An application can be obtained from your guidance counselor, principal or by contacting Brent Dormann at 308-631-2427.

Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form
CHADRON  Bighorn sheep in the Panhandle are sporting some new hardware this week thanks to the work of a helicopter capture crew, wildlife professionals and volunteers.

South Dakota State University joined the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in capturing and processing a total of 48 sheep Monday and Tuesday  22 in the Wildcat Hills near McGrew and 26 at three locations in the Pine Ridge near Chadron and Crawford.

Wildlife professionals have ramped up monitoring efforts in recent years to combat disease issues with Nebraskas bighorn sheep, the most notable malady being Mycoplasma pneumonia. In addition to the sheep captured, processed and released, seven chronically ill ewes from the Pine Ridge were taken to South Dakota State University in Brookings for additional study.

The sheep that were released received new tracking collars and ear tags, in addition to undergoing a series of tissue samples and vaccinations. The ewes were not only fitted with new collars and tags, but also with vaginal implant transmitters. The latter devices, which have been used the past two years in the Pine Ridge, will help study lamb mortality.
Thats why you find the last two to three miles of these creeks are dug drains, and theyre dug on property lines, Rolls said. The Chaloupka Homestead was on quarter and the Fanning Homestead was on the other side of Dry Spotted Tail.

Rolls said neither family wanted to have the drain dug through their respective hay meadows, so it was agreed to have the drain on the boundary line. This solution opened pasture land, but dried up ideal habitats for trout, waterfowl, wetland plants and other wildlife.

However, PRBE is trying to return the drain to a more natural path to the river rather than a straight shot to the river, making it into better habitat to serve as a trout fishery.

We believe (the creek) should be over the natural course that it went over years ago, Smith said. We have a little gem here in western Nebraska, and if this project is successful, we might have the opportunity to do this on other streams and make them better fisheries.

The goal is to not only enhance recreation and allow the natural fishery to continue, but the project will also augment the water that goes back to the North Platte.
Though participants in Chadron are not jumping into a river like their Scottsbluff counterparts, they will still feel the chill of helping a good cause. At the second annual Polar Plunge in Chadron, plungers will jump into an icy tank of water at 950 W. 10th St., in Chadron.

The fire department comes out and brings their portable tank," Nicholson said of the Chadron Polar Plunge. They set it out for us and fill it with water.

Overman has been participating in Special Olympic events since the Torch Run began in the 1980s. That event saw members of law enforcement run from western Nebraska to the state capitol in Lincoln. Most Special Olympics events are local in the state today and Overman has participated every year in the Panhandle Polar Plunge.

I do it for Special Olympics, Overman said. Ive been a fan of Special Olympics since I saw a documentary (about it) in the 1970s.

As soon as the law enforcement Torch Run started, he became involved, but his reasons behind it are the participants. Overman said although participants have a lot of challenges in life, he enjoys seeing their appreciation, their successes and how happy they are.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Omaha-based Patriotic Productions is planning the last of its Honor Flights to take veterans to Washington D.C., on a tour of our national monuments.

For the past 11 years, Bill and Evonne Williams with Patriotic Productions have organized 12 flights, taking 3,500 veterans to the nations capitol. Those veterans had served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

September was a flight for women in the military. This May 24 will be the final flight, for Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor decorated combat veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan and Persian Gulf conflicts.

Weve been asked a lot whether we were going to do something for the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Bill Williams said. Well also be taking along some of the children of fallen veterans in those conflicts.

The flight is scheduled for May 24 over Memorial Day weekend. Its a one-day event, leaving Omaha in the early morning, touring our national monuments throughout the day and returning later that evening.

It makes for a long day, but it beats packing a suitcase, Williams said.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:25 am

Forty years ago during February, I hired a taxi to take me from my residence in northern Tehran and deliver me to the American Embassy for evacuation from Iran. En route, representatives from the new government interceded on my behalf to allow for safe passage through the Revolutionary Guards.

Early the following morning we boarded touring buses for the short trip to Mehrabad Airport and the 747s chartered by our State Department to fly us to West Germany. On the way to the airport, our route was lined with joyous children waving small American flags and their elders, who wept.

At the airport, the soldiers stood at attention with their AK-47s pointed skyward out of respect. Many of them were crying. Americans were leaving. Pan Am flight crews gave us welcome warm meals, blankets and pillows, and held back the liquor until after our naps. The Imperial Iranian Airforce had fighter bombers and interceptors,

F4 Phantoms and F105 Thunderchiefs escorted us to the Turkish border. From their cockpits, the U.S.-trained Iranian pilots saluted us and bid us farewell, as they peeled off heading home to their bases.

When our pilot announced crossing into the old Ottoman Empire, there was a cheer from many, and tears from many more.

Before Israel, Turkey and the Soviet Union, I lived in Iran for just over four years. We expatriates and compatriots traveled the Persian country with Yamaha dirt bikes and World War II surplus Willys jeeps into the southern deserts of Dasht-e Lut and Dasht-e Kavir.

We visited many cities and ancient ruins such as Persepolis. We snow skied at Dizin and Shemshak below the morning shadow of Mount Damavand, at 5,600 meters, in the Alborz Mountains, the western range of the Hindu Kush. We camped and swam the Caspian Sea coast, roasting whole chickens over our campfires, eating barbari bread, feta cheese and fresh caviar with wine and beer.

We gambled at the British-run casino in Ramsar, mostly roulette and blackjack. We learned Farsi from young teenagers who were trying to learn the difficult language of English. Iranians were friendly, gentle of humor, helpful to a fault, generous and known world-wide for their hospitality.

You wouldnt believe some of their banquets. H.I.M. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, shahanshah (king of kings), and the lovely empress Farah Diba tried to move their country forward with land reform, family law and womens rights.

It wasnt to be. Theocracy would prevail over monarchy. Now I fear the future for these good people. Even as infidels we were valued guests in their country as they looked after and kindly cared for us.

Someday I hope to return for an extended visit, to see again what my eyes saw in my 30s and be among these wonderful people.

Eric Duerst

Toledo
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He added localities are not allowed into regional arrangements without a price, saying Egertson had been exploring a potential arrangement with the regional jail in Orange.

Supervisor Jack Frazier concurred it might be time to look at a regional jail arrangement for Culpeper. The sheriff agreed, saying the states larger jails were filling up with federal inmates and that he didnt want it to get the point where they were completely full and have no room for us.

County officials at the budget meeting noted the states former 200-bed juvenile facility next to Coffeewood Correctional Center in Mitchells has been sitting empty for several years since it closed. The state originally proposed making it into a womens facility, but that has yet to materialize.

Supervisor Sue Hansohn suggested starting the conversation with the state about using that space, located in Culpeper County, for local jail needs.

287(g) and other budget highlights

Jenkins, in earlier remarks on Tuesday, said the need for more jail staff has nothing to do with the controversial 287(g) partnership the jail has with Immigration & Customs Enforcement for holding suspected undocumented immigrants for the federal agency.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:25 am

The circumstances leading to Amazons decision to scrap its New York City project are trends corporate leaders need to examine closely. There are cultural and political shifts in America which are changing the way business is done.

Amazon walked away from its deal struck with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio which would create 25,000 new jobs and added $27 billion in new city and state tax revenue. In return, Cuomo and de Blasio, who actively courted Amazon, promised $3 billion in government incentives  a lightning rod among opponents.

The selection came after an extended, closely-guarded process in which more than 230 North American cities bid on Amazons HQ2. To the amazement of many business analysts, Amazon selected New York City and Crystal City, Virginia as the winners.

New York opposition came swiftly as details emerged, particularly from union leaders (Amazon is non-union). Vocal politicians, such as newly elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens) and Democrats in the state senate fought back by nominating an outspoken opponent to a state commission that could single-handedly squash the agreement.

Opinion polls show New Yorkers favored the deal. Support for the new headquarters was strongest in communities of color and among working people who too often havent gotten the economic opportunity they deserved, de Blasio said in arguing for Amazon to stay the course. But Amazon pulled the plug.

While Amazon will find more friendly digs, what is happening in New York should not be ignored. There is a growing backlash to corporations among liberals.

Veteran Wall Street Columnist Peggy Noonan sees a larger trend developing which is bad for our private, market-based economic system.

Noonan believes the Democratic Party is going hard left for the foreseeable future. Pew Research shows Democrats began lurching to the left beginning in 2009. Gallup says the percentage of Democrats calling themselves liberal has jumped 23 points since 2000.

Noonan adds: Millennials, the biggest voting-age bloc in America, are to the left of the generations before them. Moderates are aging out. It is a mistake to dismiss their leaders as goofballs wholl soon fall off the stage. They may or may not, but those who support and surround them are serious ideologues who mean to own the future.

Joe Parilla, a fellow at the Brookings Institutions Metropolitan Policy Program, told the Associated Press that Amazons high-profile bidding process may have stoked the backlash. Companies usually search for new locations quietly, in part to avoid the kind of opposition Amazon received.

There are two very energetic forms of populism in the U.S. right now, one on the left and one on the right, and neither likes Amazon that much, said Brayden King, professor of management at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. For both, Amazon is becoming a whipping boy, King told the Wall Street Journal.

Hopefully, the lesson learned from Amazons misfire will resonate with corporate executives. It is not enough to roll into town and tell government leaders to give them their best offer of tax incentives in exchange for new jobs and an increase in tax revenues. A nine-fold increase in revenue is a pretty good return, but hard economic facts were overshadowed by the resentment of providing any government incentive.

Corporate leaders must engage community and political leaders regardless of their views and slug through the approval process. It is not easy and there will be bumps and bruised feelings. But just as roadbuilders carefully engineer, excavate and pave the highway before opening it to traffic, companies have to build the foundation for their projects. Thats reality today.



Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the states oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@msn.com
Posted Wednesday, February 20, 2019 4:31 pm

Robert Brown is a resident of Stevens County in Eastern Washington, but he believes the policies coming out of Olympia dont reflect what he values.

The issues he considers important are Second Amendment rights, taxation and border security. And Brown is one of the many who have rallied behind the newest movement to split his state into two.

The idea isnt new, but has most recently been spearheaded by Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley. This year proposed House Bill 1509 to the Legislature to divide Washington at the Cascade crest, establishing a 51st state in Eastern Washington called Liberty.

Public policy experts have noted that the Cascade Mountains mark an observable difference between Washingtons more conservative, rural east side and its more liberal, urban west side.

Proposals to split the state date back to 1905, varying in intent to simply split apart, or to combine with parts of Eastern Oregon or the panhandle of Idaho.

Ive never seen a state thats so  as soon as you come over that mountain pass  so divided. I mean night-and-day difference, Brown said.

But Western Washington has a much higher population than Eastern Washington, and thus, more representation in the legislature.

According to the Washington Office of Financial Managements 2018 population estimates, Eastern Washingtons most populous county is Spokane County, which has less than 25 percent of the population of Western Washingtons King County.

Because it is less populated, Eastern Washington sends only 33 legislators to Olympia, whereas Western Washington sends 114. This year, just three of the 84 Democrats in the legislature are from Eastern Washington.

According to Cornell Clayton, a public policy professor at Washington State University, this has led to some cultural Republicans in Eastern Washington feeling as though their values arent represented in the legislature, especially when it comes to social issues like abortion, gun control, and church-state issues.

These are folks whotake these cultural issues and wage culture wars, and its them who are aggrieved by the policies that come out of Olympia, because they feel engulfed by a Western Washington culture, Clayton said.

King County in Western Washington and Lincoln county in Eastern Washington show both ends of the states political spectrum. The cultural clash was evident in the 2016 Presidential election  72 percent of King County voters chose Hillary Clinton, while the same percentage of Lincoln County voters choose Donald Trump.

Two years later, it was seen again in Washingtons passage of Initiative 1639 in the 2018 general election. The initiative raised the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle to 21, redefined the rifles as assault rifles, added more stringent background checks, increased waiting periods and enacted storage requirements. Eighteen of the 20 counties in Eastern Washington rejected the initiative.

In Western Washington, King County voted to pass I-1639 by the highest margin, with 76 percent of voters in approval. In Eastern Washington, Lincoln County voted against the initiative by the highest margin, with 75 percent disapproving.

But King Countys 76 percent accounted for more than 730,000 votes, while Lincoln countys 75 percent accounted for only around 4,000.

Divergences like this has led some residents like Brown  whose county similarly had 73 percent of voters against Initiative 1639 and 67 percent favoring Donald Trump  to say they are treated kind of like the red-headed stepchildren just shoved in the corner.

And his county is almost exactly that: it shares a border with British Columbia, and is only one county away from the Idaho border.

Gun rights issues have underscored this years revival to splinter the state.

Last week, 51st state supporters and gun rights advocates rallied in Washingtons capitol building rotunda, hearing speeches from a domestic violence survivor, a former prosecuting attorney, and Reps. Shea and Jesse Young, R-Gig Harbor.

Theres this constant claim in Olympia that were all one Washington and share the same values but the fact is that we dont share the same values on a whole lot of things, Rep. Shea said in an interview.

While state secession is illegal, the U.S. Constitution outlines ways for new states to be added with consent of affected state legislatures and Congress.

This year, Shea is the prime sponsor for HB 1509 to establish the state of Liberty, and House Joint Memorial 4003 to petition U.S. Congress with the same request. Neither of these bills have been scheduled for a public hearing.

According to Shea, if Puerto Ricos statehood referendum is approved by Congress, a new state in Washington would balance the U.S. Senate by establishing 52 states in America.

Rep. Shea proposed similar bills in 2015 and 2016. None of the bills have progressed past a first reading, but that doesnt mean the discussion will die down anytime soon.

According to Professor Clayton, whats going on in Washington echoes a national sentiment.

What it tells us is that in Washington, much like the rest of the country, our politics has become polarized, he said. Weve sorted ourselves out as a country in geographical terms and I think thats whats going on in this state and across the country.
(CNN)  Lucie was just 16 when she became involved with a Catholic religious community after attending a holiday camp in Switzerland. At the time, she told CNN, she was "very, very, very alone" and looking for friends and affection.

What she found at first was "really like a family," she said. But two years later -- by which time she was preparing to become an "oblate," a lay person affiliated with a religious order -- she says a pattern of sexual abuse by a charismatic priest who she considered her spiritual father began.

It took 15 years for Lucie -- a pseudonym used at her request to protect her family -- to realize that what she says she experienced over several months in the 1990s was abuse. At the time, just 18 years old, she felt "disgusted" by the physical intimacy she says the priest forced on her but also wracked by guilt and powerless to stop him.

"It was like automatic you know. He wanted to go to the end -- to ejaculation -- and I was just like an object for him and I had a feeling he did this a lot of times," she said.

Her story is not unique.

CNN has spoken to several other women who say they are victims of the devastating sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse they suffered within the Community of St. John.

For Liene Moreau, who says she was abused by a priest in France for 15 years, starting when she was a novice, or trainee nun, in her 20s, the breach of trust and of faith were the hardest part to deal with.

"The psychological abuse was worse than the sexual abuse; it's my inner life, he took my dignity, my femininity, all that I was. And still today it is very hard to have confidence in myself," she said.

'Acts contrary to chastity'

The order to which the women belonged, the Contemplative Sisters of St. John, was founded at St. Jodard in the Loire region of France, in the early 1980s -- one of three orders set up by Father Marie-Dominique Philippe.

Laurence Poujade, a former nun who now heads a victims' organization, says Philippe's doctrine -- and his crimes -- are at the heart of the order's problems today.

"He believed that because he was involved in mysticism, everything was possible," she told CNN. "But no, everything was not possible.

"I think very often about the victims who will never be able to be heard," she said. "We are talking about victims who don't speak out, but what about those who went straight to psychiatric hospitals, what about those who mutilated themselves? I know of one case, her parents called me to tell she had cut out her own tongue. What can you say? What can have happened for a victim to do that?"

In 2013, seven years after his death, the Brothers of St. John revealed that Philippe "had committed acts contrary to chastity with several adult women whom he accompanied at the time." Nuns were among the victims of this abuse, the order later confirmed. For years, there were also rumors about other priests and other victims within the order.

But the lid was fully lifted on the scandal earlier this month, when Pope Francis for the first time acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns and other women by priests and bishops as a "problem" for the church.

In one breakaway part of the Community of St. John, "corruption" had reached the point of "sexual slavery," he told reporters, leading his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to dissolve it in 2013.

The Vatican subsequently sought to soften that characterization, saying that when Francis "spoke of 'sexual slavery,' he meant 'manipulation,' a form of abuse of power which is reflected also in sexual abuse."

But the genie was out of the bottle. And it's clear the Catholic Church -- already grappling with a global scandal over the sexual abuse of children by clergy -- has questions to answer.

Pope's words 'like a bomb'

Shortly after the Pope's comments, the Community of St. John issued a statement recognizing that, beyond the allegations against its founder, "some sisters or former sisters have also testified that brothers and priests of the community were also responsible for abuse. Many of these brothers and priests have already been sanctioned and others are in the process of being sanctioned."

CNN contacted the Vatican for a response to this story; its spokesman would not comment on any specific allegations but did confirm that cases involving clerics belonging to the Congregation of St. John were being investigated by the Vatican.

For Lucie, Francis' words were a watershed moment. They brought huge relief -- and a sense of justification after years spent struggling to be heard. "When I first read the article, it was incredible, it was like a bomb," she told CNN, in her first interview about her experience with a branch of the St. John community in Switzerland.

"I thought, like, okay, everything we tried to tell the Vatican, the Pope, the bishop, there is something happening... because sexual abuse, nobody ever say before."

'I couldn't see him as a predator'

Lucie told CNN her alleged abuser had misused his position of authority and the order's central tenet of "loving friendship" to justify what he was doing.

On the first occasion Lucie says the priest tried to kiss her on the mouth, she pushed him away. But she says he was not deterred. "I didn't feel I had any power in front of him, I couldn't say really something. When I was trying, he always had arguments to tell me that I'm wrong and he's right. How can I not believe him?" she told CNN.

"He was taking off his clothes and I saw everything -- it was the first time of my life, and I was really disgusted. But I realize that on the moment I didn't feel anything. Because I was not there anymore, it was a protection, to not feel."

Lucie has struggled to grasp why she didn't realize what was happening at the time but now believes it was down to that disassociation and what she calls brainwashing. "It was absolutely 100% impossible for me to see him like a predator," she said.

In response to the allegations made by Lucie, a spokesman for the St. John community told CNN there had been "several accusations of sexual abuse" made towards this particular priest and that he had left the community 10 years ago.

"It is now the Vatican's responsibility to look into these complaints and a legal proceeding is ongoing," the spokesman said. "All the measures at our disposal have been taken to remove him from the community."

Search for justice

The problem is not isolated to one rogue community. In recent months, CNN and several other news organizations have highlighted the abuse of nuns by male clergy elsewhere in Europe, as well as in Asia, South America and Africa.

Bishops from around the world have been summoned by the Pope to an unprecedented summit this week in Rome to discuss the crisis over clerical sexual abuse. But the four-day meeting will likely focus on the shocking array of claims of abuse of children.

All the women who spoke to CNN said their first struggle was simply to recognize the abuse for what it was. Only after many years did they seek justice, first within the church and then through the courts.

Lucie, who is now married with five children, tried to take her alleged abuser to civil court, but a Swiss public prosecutor ruled that the statute of limitations had expired. A lawyer for the priest declined to comment to CNN on the allegations made by Lucie.

Lucie, who eventually moved to Belgium and still attends church regularly in the small village where she lives, says that before attempting legal action, she had tried unsuccessfully to raise the issue with the St. John community.

"After I don't know, maybe two years, I was conscious that the community was not doing anything, I was talking about (it) with other victims, realizing that they know, that it's been 15 years that they know, that there's other victims. So they don't want to do anything," she said.

Moreau, now 41 and married with three daughters, tried to take her alleged abuser to court in France, but the statute of limitations meant the case was dropped by the Tours prosecutor.

She sought a meeting in 2017 with the priest in question, to confront him, but was advised against it by the order. A brother from the St. John community sent an email in November 2017, seen by CNN, in which he acknowledged "the gravity of the abuse" Moreau suffered but said she must see a psychotherapist for her own sake before seeking contact with that priest.

In letters shown by Moreau to CNN, dating from her time with the order, the priest suggests "discretion... in the future we will have to meet elsewhere ... I pray that we can find clever ways of meeting." He ends by saying that his "crazy love" for her comes from Jesus.

Moreau, who is Lithuanian and at first spoke limited French, now thinks the priest may have targeted her in part because of that.

"I was far from my family, in a foreign country, this is already something, and that might also be why he chose me, an easy prey in the end," she said. The priest also made her believe that the fault was hers, as a "temptress," she said, despite the fact she says she tried to distance herself from him.

The priest in question is being investigated by the Vatican and has been removed from some of his duties, a St. John community spokesman said.

In a February 7 statement, the leaders of the three orders within the Community of St. John said they condemned "every situation of sexual abuse and abuse of power" and reaffirmed "their clear resolve to eradicate any and all abusive situations."

They said the order dissolved by Benedict in 2013 -- and referenced by Francis -- was a small, Spain-based splinter group which separated from the St. John community in 2012 after church authorities tried to bring in reforms following Philippe's death.

The dissolution of the order has brought little closure for Moreau, who is still coming to terms with what she says happened to her.

"It lasted for 15 years, and it's now been two years since I was able to put the word 'abuse' on this, and still today it's very complicated to admit that I might be a victim," she said.

"If only just for myself, I don't want to be a victim. And yeah, I feel responsible because he made me responsible, he made me complicit in his acts."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "They say they were sexually abused by priests, then silenced. Now these women are speaking out."
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 
T he CEOs have said it: scheduling meetings, lunch breaks and workouts is no longer enough. To hit peak productivity, micro-scheduling is the best option: in other words, planning every minute of your day, down to checking your phone and making tea.

Its all the rage in Silicon Valley: Bill Gates and Elon Musk both split their days into five-minute chunks. And New York-based entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk reportedly plans his day out to the second.

If someone gets to a 10am meeting at 10.02am, Im not very patient, says Elaine Lui, founder of celebrity news site Laineygossip, who splits her day into 10-15 minute slots  including three-minute breaks to go to the toilet.

Mere mortals: dont do this alone. Call in the machines: from AI secretaries to apps that prioritise your top tasks, heres how to hack your way to efficiency.

Block booking

What would your perfect day look like? asks Cheryl Isaacs, a chartered psychologist at OPM Consulting in Wandsworth. Work it out, then create a realistic schedule that fits, allowing time for each task but also challenging yourself.

Cut your day into chunks, whether in hours or minutes  whats crucial is giving everything a label, says Dr Joan Harvey, an occupational psychologist at Newcastle University. Be honest about what youre using the time for. You only need 30 minutes for a power nap, she adds, so schedule in 30 minutes, then move on.

Elon Musk splits his day into five-minute chunks / AFP/Getty Images

Apples default Calendar app lets you schedule your tea break to the minute with the help of a trick: once youve created an event, tap the start or end time and the section will expand, unlocking more precise options.

Flat Tomato breaks your day into 25-minute intervals, known as the Pomodoro Technique, while Plan lets you quickly schedule time blocks: part to-do list, part calendar app, so you can drag tasks straight into your diary.

If time is tight, let Clara be your PA: an AI email app that sorts your calendar out. Just cc Clara into any email and itll book in your meeting around your existing schedule.

Power of three

To-do lists are essential but dont make them too long, says Isaacs. The answer lies in what business leaders call the three-task rule: taking the first 10 minutes of the day to decide on the three key things you must achieve. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg calls this ruthlessly prioritising and says its key to keeping calm amid a busy schedule.

Start your simplification process with Google Tasks: a to-do list app for setting tasks and sub-tasks against certain due dates. Google presents these in clear, bulleted form, while 30/30 is for colour-coders: a more in-depth list app that lets you assign times for each task and alerts you when its time to switch.

Download 135 List to supercharge your checklist. Every day it asks you to write down one big item, three medium-sized ones and five smaller ones to get done that day.

Work out what to prioritise then gamify each task with Habitica, an organisation app that gives you an avatar and rewards you as you tick things off. A fun way to make yourself tackle meeting prep  just dont let your boss see you playing.

Inbox zero

Dont become a slave to your email, says Graham Allcott, author of How to Be a Productivity Ninja. Research shows a third of email users gets stressed by the volume they receive, while another study says it takes up to 23 minutes to regain your focus each time you get distracted.

Try what Isaacs calls stacking  completing similar tasks together. If youre making calls, make all your calls, she suggests. If youre emailing, power through an hour of emails then switch them off.

Let Adios be your guide: the free tool for Gmail limits incoming emails to three a day. Set power hours  Allcott recommends 7am, 1pm and 5pm, with 45 minutes for each session  and add any recipients whose messages you need to show up immediately (your boss).

Pair with Boomerang for Gmail, which lets you schedule an email to be sent later. When youre in your inbox power hour, Gmail Smart Reply saves you time by using AI to predict what to say next.

Sparks app shows you your most important emails first while Spike makes your emails more conversational, presenting them in chat form instead of formal threads.

To save on typing time, Loom lets you send a video instead of words. Rather than scheduling a formal video call, the app lets you film yourself or narrate a presentation at the click of a button.

Natural habits

To be productive, work to your own natural circadian rhythm, says Isaacs.

Tackle complex tasks early if youre a morning person; leave emails and more routine tasks for lower energy times when you dont need as much juice.

Productives app will help you decide how to divide your day according to your habits, while Rescue Time tells you whats wasting your time.
S amsung unveiled its brand new smartphone range, the Samsung Galaxy S10, last night at a massive Unpacked event, including that folding phone.

The new range features a brand new punch-hole design, a 93.1% screen to body ratio, three rear cameras and a new wireless power-sharing feature.

There are three phones in the range: a smaller S10e, the standard S10 and the larger S10+. Also new to the Galaxy S10 is an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint scanner, which reads the 3D contours of your thumbprint and is almost impossible to fool.

Excited to get your hands on the new Galaxy S10? Well, thanks to Argos, you could be one of the first people in the world to get the new phone at 12.01am on the day of its release, March 8.

A few lucky people who live in London Zones 1-5 will be able to apply for a special Argos Fast Track delivery and receive their new Samsung device the minute the phone comes out.

The retailer says it has seen huge demand in pre-orders for the new Samsung flagships, and given all the new features coming to the S10 range, it expects customers will be excited to be some of the first to get the new handset.

Phil Elford, head of technology at Argos, said: Argos is all about getting you what you want, when and how you want it, so were delighted to offer a selected number of our customers the ultimate in convenience  one of the most sought-after new handsets delivered right to their doorstep just after midnight. Were confident that Samsung fans will be thrilled to get their hands on the new handset before anyone else.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ have three cameras on the back of the phone / Samsung

To apply for one of the delivery slots, you need to visit the Argos website today where all the details will be announced. Move fast as there are only a limited number of slots available.

If you dont manage to grab one of the limited slots, the Samsung S10 is available to pre-order today from Argos and other retailers, with prices starting from 669 for the S10e and should arrive on your doorstep on March 8.
T ech firms from across the world gather together in Barcelona from Monday to announce their latest mobile wares.

As Samsung skipped the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year, instead choosing to unveil its new Galaxy S10 range in London instead.

But therell be more than enough devices and developments at the Barcelona convention to keep tech fans busy. Heres what is going to be hitting the headlines at MWC....

Faster downloads

The conversation this year is going to be dominated by 5G, the next generation of mobile technology.

Think faster downloads, zero lag during gaming and the end of wi-fi as we know it.

Companies will be showing off the infrastructure tech that will make this possible, as well as phone manufacturers such as OnePlus and Xiaomi revealing more details about their 5G devices, including potential release dates.

Its still going to be a while until the UK gets full 5G coverage  late 2020 at the moment, so dont get your hopes up.

Mobile World Congress 2019: What to expect

Foldable devices

The other big chat is about folding smartphones. Huawei and Xiaomi are both rumoured to be revealing their dual-screen folding devices, the Mate Flex and Dual Flex respectively, while the maker of the first folding smartphone, Royole, will have its FlexPai on show too.

Early reports of the FlexPai point to it being bulky, slow to launch apps and having a camera that isnt brilliant.

Yet the innovation is exciting and itll be interesting to see how the other companies are tackling the folding challenge.

Showstopper smartphones

Though no Samsung appearance is on the agenda, that doesnt mean other phones wont be revealed.

Xiaomi is set to announce its Mi 9 device, Nokia will break ground with its rumoured five-camera smartphone, the Nokia 9 PureView, and Sony will showcase its new Xperia XZ3 follow-up.

Next-gen wearables

MWC isnt just about phones. The wearables schedule includes a new HoloLens  Microsofts mixed-reality headset  which looks to be getting a new processor and a design upgrade.

Huawei and LG could release new smartwatches featuring Qualcomms latest Wear 3100 processor too.

There also appears to be an intriguing smartphone/wearable hybrid from Chinese company Nubia, which from the images looks like a phone with a flexible display that you can wear on your wrist.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:20 am

A proposal to provide exemptions to the Public Records Act for the Legislature is dead, according to bill sponsor, Jamie Pederson, D-Seattle.

Senate Bill 5784 drew fire from media representatives at a public hearing last week.

At a press conference Tuesday, Democratic leaders from both the house and the senate indicated that because of the outcry against the proposal, they would not move forward with a public records bill this session.

The Senate Bill 5784, proposed by Pederson and signed by six other Democratic senators, was heard by the Senate State Government and Tribal Relations Committee on Feb. 13.

Rowland Thompson of Allied Daily Newspapers and the Washington State Newspaper Publishers Association testified in opposition saying, We would rather lose the case than have this bill.

Democratic lawmakers cited Thompson and other media representatives testimony as a deciding factor in not pursuing the bill.

This bill is a nonstarter, theres nothing to even work with, said Senate Majority Leader, Andy Billig, D-Spokane, of the now dead bill.

Republicans plan to put forward a bill based on a measure introduced last year by former District 5 Representative Paul Graves, who lost his 2018 race for re-election. The Graves bill would have explicitly added the legislature to the existing public records act and did not add new exemptions for the legislature. The bill never received a public hearing.

The bill that did pass the legislature in 2018, only to be vetoed by Governor Jay Inslee, had received broad Republican support.

Last years effort to exempt the Legislature from the Public Records Act followed a lawsuit from multiple media organizations. A Thurston County Superior Court judge had ruled that the legislature was subject to the Public Records Act and had not been in compliance for years.

House Minority Leader, Representative, J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, said the Republican caucus would like to move forward with a version of Graves bill.

I think in general our caucus has been for the maximum amount of openness, said Wilcox.

Senate republican leadership took a broad stance on the whole of the public records act at a press conference, Tuesday.

We need to take a look at the public records in general, not just for the legislature as we go forward, said Senator Doug Ericksen, R- Ferndale. We have to make sure that people are getting access to the information they need but we also are not wasting public resources on the frivolous types of demands that come in, especially for our local governments.

With the cutoff date for many committees on Feb. 22, a new bill addressing public records would have to be dropped before Friday.

We are going to re-drop the Graves bill cause we think its important and we think it should move forward. Rep. Morgan Irwin, R-Enumclaw.
T he 91st Academy Awards are back for another year of glitz and glamour, with Hollywood legends gearing up to walk the red carpet ahead of competing for the most coveted gongs in film.

This years show has already made headlines after it was announced that it would be going ahead without a host for the first time in three decades, after Kevin Hart stepped down due to controversy over resurfaced homophobic tweets.

However, in a bid to combat the absence of a host, show producers have opted for an A-list line-up of presenters including, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Lopez and Tina Fey.

Here is everything you need to know about where you can catch all the action from this years Oscars:

Presenter: Craig is among the presenters listed for this year's ceremony / AFP/Getty Images

When are the Oscars taking place?

The 2019 Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 24.

How can I watch the Oscars in the UK?

The entire ceremony will be aired on the Sky Cinema Oscars channel, so if you didn't get a invite this year then fear not.

Fans can purchase a Now TV pass which gives viewers access to Sky TV for a short-term period. The pass costs 9.99 per month, but new Now TV customers can opt for a free 14-day trial in time for the event.

Roma: The film is the first Netflix flick ever to be nominated for Best Picture / AP

Due to the time difference, the main ceremony is expected to start around 1am so if you dont fancy staying up into the early hours you can catch the highlights on Monday, February 25 on Sky Cinema Oscars at 8pm.

If you want to catch Hollywoods finest walk the red carpet then the official Oscars Twitter account (@TheAcademy) will be streaming live from 11:30pm.

Olivia Colman leads British hopefuls at the Oscars

Who are the nominees?

Also in the running for Best Picture is Spike Lees BlacKkKlansaman, Green Book, Bradley Coopers directorial debut A Star is Born, Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther, which made history as the first superhero movie to land a nomination in the category.

Best Actress will see Aparicio and Colman battle it out against Golden Globe winner Glenn Close, A Star is Born actress Lady Gaga and Can You Ever Forgive Me? star Melissa McCarthy.

See the full list of nominees here.

Academy Awards 2019 Oscar Nominations - In pictures 1 /20 Academy Awards 2019 Oscar Nominations - In pictures Best Picture Olivia Colman in The Favourite Best Picture A Star is Born Best Picture Black Panther Best Picture Vice Best Picture Roma AP Best Picture Green Book Best Picture Bohemian Rhapsody Leading Actress Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce in The Wife Leading Actor and Actress Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in a scene from A Star is Born AP Leading Actress and Supporting Actor Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Supporting Actress Rachel Weisz in The Favourite AP Supporting Actress Emma Stone in The Favourite SplashNews.com Supporting Actress Amy Adams in a scene from 'Vice' AP Supporting Actress Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk Supporting Actress Marina De Tavira in Roma Supporting Actor Adam Driver (right) in BlacKkKlansman AP Supporting Actor Sam Elliott in A Star is Born AP Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali in Green Book AP Supporting Actor Sam Rockwell in Vice AP

Who should be taking home the gongs this year? Have your say!

Here is your chance to let us know who you think will be taking home the big prizes at this years Oscars.

TODO: define component type apester
S opranos actor Vinny Vella has died aged 72 after a battle with liver cancer.

The news was announced in a statement from his representatives who described him as one of the funniest actors.

We are saddened to report that Vinny Vella has passed and I'm sure that no one is more saddened than himself, the statement read.

Vinny loved life from his family to his friends and fans he was easily one of the funniest, endearing actors to have ever graced the screen.

Actors Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr. and Steve Buscemi pictured in 2004 / Getty Images

His son Vinny Jr said he has been left heartbroken. In a statement to TMZ he said: RIP to my father.

I love you so much and Im so heart broken. You are no longer in pain  no more suffering pops. I love you.

Vella played Jimmy Petrille on The Sopranos from 1999 to 2004 and was famed for his role as Artie Piscano in Martin Scorseses Casino.

Tributes: Vinny Vella pictured in 2013 / Rex Features

He also starred alongside Robert De Niro in Analyze That and Steve Buscemi and Iggy Pop in Coffee and Cigarettes.

Tributes flooded in from fans and former co-stars, including Thomas J Churchill who said he felt privileged to have directed Vella.
K atie Prices boyfriend Kris Boyson has vowed to stick by her son Harvey, after it was reported that his relationship with the former glamour model is on the rocks.

The personal trainer promised to support the 16-year-old as he hit back at a troll who had criticised Price for bringing another so called dad into Harveys life.

Commenting on an Instagram photo which showed Boyson cuddling Harvey on the sofa, the troll wrote: Poor Harvey another so called dad whos come into his life youre the biggest mug going if you thing [sic] its going to last.

@officialkatieprice you need to learn to stay single and put your kids first for a change, they added.

Family: Harvey Price with mother Katie / SplashNews.com

Boyson proved his dedication to Prices children as he fired back at the Instagram user, describing them as insecure.

Another insecure woman getting her insecurity fix by messaging me about someone elses life, he wrote.

Katie Price considers putting Harvey into care

If a mug is somebody who has stuck by a disabled child then you must be the Devil. Now p*** off.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Boyson and Price had been rowing constantly while on holiday to Spain,

Katie Price - In pictures 1 /46 Katie Price - In pictures Instagram/katieprice @katieprice Jeff Spicer/Getty Images Katie Price: Harvey & Me Glen Gratton SplashNews.com @zoejamesmua PA Wire/PA Images The Adventures of Katie and Carl Fluffy style Katie at a film premiere in London in February Dave Benett Crisis talks Katie Price and Derrick Pountney after crisis talks via Showbiz Bang Loved up Katie Price with husband Kieran Hayler, who had an affair with her best friend Katie Price Twitter Image Shining in silver The model pictured at a screening of a Lego film which she attended with her children (Picture: Sean Dempsey/PA) Sean Dempsey/PA Wire Extravagant Katie Price poses with a copy of her autobiography - Love, Lipstick And Lies - in one of her famously extravagant attires (Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Angel Katie Price at aphotocall to launch her new venture KP Rocks (Picture: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images My Little Pony Katie Price wore a strange pink horse outfit for the fifth birthday of her equestrian school PA Riding in Katie riding a horse for a book launch in London Ferdaus Shamim/Getty Images Cooling off Katie Price poses in a bikini in the I'm A Celebrity shower ITV/Rex Features Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Bongarts/Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images

Katie and Kris have been rowing the entire holiday over pretty much everything. Katie has been working so hard on the reality show, shes been snapping and grumpy with Kris, and in turn hes been playing up to the cameras, a source told The Sun.

Being trapped on a working holiday together in the campervan hasnt gone well and the relationship is on the rocks with them bickering the whole time.

Standard Online has contacted Prices representatives for comment.
7 0 dead in Dhaka blaze

At least 70 people have been killed as a huge fire ripped through buildings in a historic district of Bangladeshs capital, Dhaka.

The huge blaze took hold in the Chawkbazar area and devastated tightly-packed buildings separated only by narrow alleyways.

Officials said the fire was this morning mostly under control after more than nine hours of frantic efforts by firefighters.

Tories and Labour brace for more walkouts

Both Labour and the Conservatives are braced for more walkouts after a historic split shook the political landscape.

It comes after Tories including ex-minister Anna Soubry defected to join a new independent grouping of MPs.

The defections from the Tories took the number of Independent Group MPs across both parties to 11.

Corbyns bid to break Brexit deadlock

Jeremy Corbyn is set to launch a fresh bid to break the Brexit deadlock as she heads to Brussels for talks with EU leaders today.

The Labour leader said he would use the meetings to stress that a no-deal option does not command a majority in Parliament.

Mr Corbyn also called on Theresa May to abandon her red lines to secure a workable deal.

ISIS brides UK citizenship could be restored

Shamima Begums British citizenship could be reinstated after Home Secretary Sajid Javid admitted he would not leave an individual stateless.

The ISIS brides citizenship was revoked in a move only permissible if it means she would still be recognised as a citizen of another country.

There had been speculation the teenager, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there but the country denied this.

Ms Begum had said she only has "one citizenship" and that it was wrong for the UK to revoke it without speaking to her first.

Meghan celebrates with stars at baby shower

The Duchess of Sussex has celebrated alongside celebrity friends at her baby shower in a lavish five-star hotel in New York.

Amal Clooney and Jessica Mulroney were among stars pictured entering the Mark Hotel for the bash last night.

Abigail Spencer, who starred in US drama Suits with Meghan, was among other guests spotted arriving for the star-studded event.

Brit Awards: The 1975 come out on top

The 1975 scooped a double win at the Brits last night, taking home awards for best British group and album of the year.

The group took aim at misogyny in the music industry in their powerful acceptance speech.

London-born Jorja Smith was crowned Best British Female at the bash, with George Ezra winning the male equivalent.

On this day

1437: James I, King of Scotland, was assassinated by a group of dissident nobles led by Sir Robert Graham.

1595: Robert Southwell, English poet and Jesuit martyr, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn.

1613: Michael Romanov was elected Tsar of Russia, founding the house of Romanov which ruled until the revolution in March 1917.

1849: Britain annexed the Punjab at the end of the Second Sikh War.

1858: The first electric burglar alarm was installed by Edwin T Holmes of Boston, Massachusetts.

1952: Identity cards were abolished in Britain.

1965: American Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot dead while addressing a meeting in New York.
A coast guard officer allegedly plotted a mass terror attack in Washington which included a hit list of leading Democrat politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson, a self-proclaimed white nationalist, has been accused of planning to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.

The 49-year-old was said to have based his preparations for the attack on a 1,500-word manifesto written by Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik, who was convicted in 2012 of two terror attacks that killed 77 people.

On the same day, he allegedly searched online for the best place in dc to see congress people, where in dc to [sic] congress live, what if trump illegally impeached and are supreme court justices protected.

The list also named CNN journalists Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, and MSNBCs Chris Hayes, Ari Melber and Joe Scarborough.

49-year-old Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson / Facebook

The former US Marine, who was based at the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington when he was arrested last Friday, was appearing in US District Court in Maryland today over alleged gun and drug offences.

Officers found 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition when they raided Hassons home in Silver Springs, Maryland, the court heard.

But prosecutors say the initial charges were the tip of the iceberg. District Attorney Robert Hur said in court documents: The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.

According to the court file, the Coast Guard agent followed Breiviks manifesto and stockpiled steroids and human growth hormone to increase his ability to conduct attacks.

In an email dated June 2, 2017, Hasson was alleged to have written: I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth.
U S President Donald Trump is looking to talk more in depth about the future of North Korea if it follows through on denuclearisation at an upcoming summit with Kim Jong-Un.

The pair are due to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam next week at a follow up summit after their historic Singapore meeting last year.

A US official told CNN that the president will show the North Korean leader the positives of following through a commitment to final and full denuclearisation.

Mr Trump has four priorities for the summit which are transforming relations between the US and North Korea, establishing a permanent peace regime on the Korean peninsula, denuclearisation and the return of troops killed in action during the Korean War.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with US President Donald Trump / AFP/Getty Images

The men are expected to have a meal together as well as one on one meetings.

Critics have said Mr Trump gave Kim too much simply by meeting with him in Singapore last year. That criticism may be levied again for the Vietnam summit.

But the US officials said the United States remained focused on getting the North Korean leader to denuclearise, even if he had not made that decision himself so far.

"I don't know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearise, but the reason why we're engaged in this is because we believe there is a possibility," one official said.

The two sides have not agreed previously on what denuclearisation means.

The pair met in June last year / AP

Kim agreed in Singapore to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, which could be taken to include removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea and nuclear-capable forces, while the United States has been demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs.

It is ultimately about the denuclearisation of North Korea. That was what was agreed between the two sides and that is the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit. This is an important step towards that ultimate goal," the official said.

He said the United States would press for a freeze on all weapons of mass destruction and missile programs and a "roadmap" to set expectations for negotiations going forward.

The two sides are not discussing the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea, however. The United States keeps some 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Asked whether Trump was open to withdrawing all U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula for a peace treaty that would formally end the war, a second official said that was "not the subject of discussions."

The officials noted that punishing US sanctions would remain in place to give North Korea an incentive to move.
I SIS bride Shamima Begums British citizenship could be reinstated after Sajid Javid admitted he would not leave an individual stateless.

Home Secretary Mr Javid revoked the teenagers citizenship in a move only permissible if it means the person would still be recognised as a citizen of another country.

There had been speculation that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there but its minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam denied this.

The 19-year-old, who fled to Syria as a schoolgirl aged 15, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby as the end of the so-called caliphate was within sight.

Shamima Begum has had her British citizenship revoked

She told the BBC that she only has "one citizenship" and that it was wrong for the UK to revoke it without speaking to her first.

Asked about the latest developments regarding the situation surrounding Ms Begums citizenship, Mr Javid said: "I'm not aware of any Home Secretary in any party in any previous government that has taken a decision that would leave anyone stateless.

Speaking on ITVs Peston, he added: "I'm not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless."

Shamima Begum in Syria / ITV

A statement tweeted by Mr Alam said: "The Government of Bangladesh is deeply concerned that she has been erroneously identified as a holder of dual citizenship shared with Bangladesh alongside her birthplace, the United Kingdom.

"Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh.

"It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage. So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh."

TODO: define component type apester

The statement added that Dhaka had only been made aware of the situation by the media.

Asked whether she had been left stateless by Britain, the Begum family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: "It's certainly something we will be adding to the mix in terms of our appeal."

He has said Ms Begum was born in the UK, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen.

Shamima Begum left the UK in 2015 / AFP/Getty Images

A Home Office spokesman said Mr Javid's priority was the "safety and security" of the country.

Decisions to deprive people of citizenship were "based on all available evidence and not taken lightly," the spokesman added.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join the terror cult in 2015 and resurfaced heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week.

Shamima Begum, right, after she gave birth in Syria amid the storm over her possible return to the UK / Sky News

When shown a copy of the Home Office letter that announced her British citizenship would be stripped, she said it was "a bit unjust on me and my son".

She went on to say she may try for citizenship in the Netherlands, where her husband is from.

Mr Javid suggested the action to prevent Ms Begum returning will have no impact on her baby son's nationality.

Shamima Begum on Manchester bombings: "it's a two way thing"

While insisting he could not discuss individual cases, he told the Commons: "Children should not suffer. So, if a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child."

Ms Begum's situation has sparked intense debate about the UK's responsibilities to those seeking to return from Syria.

The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Home Secretary with the power to strip people of citizenship if it is "conducive to the public good"

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said Ms Begum could challenge the Home Secretary's decision, and described it as a "complex issue" that could take a while to resolve.
S hamima Begums baby has been pictured for the first time as the ISIS brides citizenship hangs in the balance as a national row rages.

The newborn boy, who Begum gave birth to last weekend, was seen cradled in her lap as she conducted a TV interview.

He was wrapped in a blanket as the 19-year-old former Bethnal Green schoolgirl spoke from Syria and said she was shocked by her citizenship being taken away.

There is now a complex debate over whether the pair will return to the Britain after two other countries where she may have had a right to settle, Bangladesh and Holland, slammed the door.

Shamima Begum's child could have the right to live in Britain, it has been suggested / ITV

Though her citizenship has been revoked, home secretary Sajid Javid suggested the child could still be a British national.

Begums fate remains unclear since her plea to return to the UK, with Mr Javid vowing to keep those who have supported terror out of the country.

He had aimed to do so on the basis of Begum having dual British and Bangladeshi nationality.

However, a lawyer for her family has denied she has this and the Bangladesh government has said she is not their citizen and will not be allowed there.

Under international law a country is unable to make an individual stateless and Mr Javid has stated he would not do so.

TODO: define component type apester

"I'm not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless, he told ITVs Peston on Wednesday night.

Asked whether Ms Begum had been left stateless by Britain, her family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: "It's certainly something we will be adding to the mix in terms of our appeal."

Shamima Begum shocked at Home Offices decision to revoke her citizenship

Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join the terror group Islamic State in 2015.

She resurfaced while heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week, asking to return to give birth to her child.

Shamima Begum pictured at Gatwick Airport in February 2015 / EPA

As well as trying to return to Britain, Begum has also said she may try for citizenship in the Netherlands, where her husband is from.

A Home Office spokesman said Mr Javid's priority was the "safety and security" of the country.

Decisions to deprive people of citizenship were "based on all available evidence and not taken lightly," the spokesman added.

The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Home Secretary with the power to strip people of citizenship.

This can be done if it is class as "conducive to the public good".

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said Begum could challenge the Home Secretary's decision.
T he row over the fate of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum escalated today as one of Britains top lawyers branded the Home Secretarys decision to strip of her British citizenship completely incompetent and unlawful.

Philippe Sands QC, an international human rights barrister from Londons Matrix chambers, said that it appeared crystal clear that 19-year-old Ms Begum had been made stateless by Mr Javids actions and did not hold Bangladeshi citizenship as the Home Office claimed.

Mr Sands added that the case was a humungous mess and called on Mr Javid to reveal exactly who had given him the legal advice that Ms Begums British citizenship could be lawfully removed.

The attack by Mr Sands follows a declaration by Bangladeshs ministry of foreign affairs that Ms Begum, who was born and grew up in the UK, is not a Bangladeshi citizen and that she will not be allowed into the country.

Shamima Begum shocked at Home Offices decision to revoke her citizenship

That announcement came only hours after Mr Javid had appeared before MPs to defend his decision to strip Ms Begum, who left in February 2015 with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls to live in Syria and marry Islamic State fighters, of her British citizenship.

The grounds are understood to be that her Bangladeshi parentage makes her a citizen of that country.

TODO: define component type apester

Mr Javid told the Commons that although he would not comment on her individual case, no decision on nationality was taken lightly, and that he had taken legal advice from Home Office lawyers and would not make any person stateless.

Today, however, Mr Sands insisted that Ms Begum had been made stateless in a breach of the law as he questioned whether Mr Javid had gained the approval of either Foreign Office lawyers or the first class Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC before taking his decision.

Shamima Begum pictured with her baby / ITV

Mr Sands added: The real question is one of fact and law: was she by this act going to be made stateless and the answer to that seems crystal clear.

She may be entitled to apply for Bangladeshi nationality but presently she does not appear to have Bangladeshi nationality and theres a cardinal distinction between the two. So that raises a question: who on earth gave this advice?

Making a person stateless has huge consequences and we should not be playing around with peoples futures, however difficult, unfortunate and even horrible are some of the things this young woman has said in recent days.

Its very hard not to conclude that at the date the decision was taken, this individual had a single nationality. Its a humungous mess and frankly it is completely incompetent.

Mr Javids decision to remove her nationality means that Ms Begum, who has just given birth to a boy in the Syrian refugee camp where she is living, will be unable to return to this country unless she wins a court battle to overturn the Home Secretarys order.
T he pope has promised concrete action will be taken against child sexual abuse by priests.

Opening a conference in the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Francis told Catholic leaders from around the world that the Church must listen to the cries of little ones seeking justice.

Francis convened the four-day meeting to address the scandal that has ravaged the Churchs credibility in the US - where it has paid billions of dollars in settlements over the last three decades.

He told the assembled bishops and heads of religious orders: Faced with the scourge of sexual abuse committed by men of the Church against minors, I wanted to reach out to you.

Pope Francis attends the four-day meeting on the global sexual abuse crisis / REUTERS

Victims expected "concrete and efficient measures" and not mere condemnations, he added, countering scepticism from some survivors who said the meeting was a public relations exercise.

The pope and the almost 200 participants in a Vatican auditorium watched a video of five victims, who wished to remain anonymous, telling painful stories of abuse and cover-up.

"From the age of 15 I had sexual relations with a priest, one said.

This lasted for 13 years. I got pregnant three times and he made me have an abortion three times, quite simply because he did not want to use condoms or contraceptives.

A Chilean man said that when he reported abuse to religious authorities he was treated as a liar and an enemy of the Church, calling child sexual abuse by priests a terrible contradiction.

He said: You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed  in some cases  into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith.

Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines broke into tears as he read a keynote speech that acknowledged: "Wounds have been inflicted by us, the bishops, on the victims.

Pope Francis seen at the four-day meeting at the Vatican / REUTERS

In Ireland, the sexual abuse scandal shattered the power of the Church. In the past four years, voters approved abortion and gay marriage, defying the Vatican.

In Chile, all of the country's bishops offered their resignations last year over a widespread cover-up. Francis accepted seven of the resignations and dismissed two others from the priesthood.

A poll by Santiago-based think-tank Latinobarometro showed the number of Chileans calling themselves Catholics fell to 45 per cent last year, from 74 per cent in 1995.

A report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania last year revealed that priests had sexually abused about 1,000 people over seven decades in that US state alone.

Protesters outside St. Peter's Basilica on the first day of the global child protection summit / EPA

Before it started, some victims' groups said the conference was an attempt to cleanse the image of the 1.3 billion-member Church.

But Anne Barrett-Doyle of bishopaccountablity.org, which tracks abuse cases around the world, said she was pleasantly surprised by the pope's opening remarks.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 1:35 pm

OLYMPIA  A proposed bill would eliminate the philosophical or personal objection used to exempt children from vaccines required to attend schools in Washington state.

Senate Bill 5841 is co-sponsored by a group of 10 Democratic senators and introduced by Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver.

There is a current measles outbreak in Clark County with 62 confirmed cases, Cleveland said. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a public health emergency in Clark County on Jan. 18.

This outbreak threatens the health of not only unvaccinated children, but those that cannot receive vaccinations, said Cleveland at a public hearing on Wednesday.

Under the bill, a child would be prohibited from attending a school or licensed day care center unless they have proof of full immunization or a certificate of exemption.

In the 2017-18 school year, the rate of kindergarten personal belief exemptions was 3.7 percent, compared to only 0.2 percent for religious reasons and 0.8 percent for medical necessity, said Cleveland.

Full immunization includes vaccines for chickenpox, diphtheria, measles, German measles, haemophilus influenzae type B disease, hepatitis B, mumps, pneumococcal disease, polio, tetanus and whooping cough, the legislation states.

Dr. John Wiesman, secretary of the state Department of Health, testified in support of the bill. Once in use, vaccines are continuously monitored by the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and other organizations for safety reasons, he said.

Vaccines are very safe and effective, said Wiesman. Vaccines undergo much research and safety testing before they are licensed.

In order for a child to be exempt from all or part of the immunization requirement, they must provide a written certification signed by a health care practitioner that a particular vaccine is not advisable, as referenced in the measure. The same is required of a parent or guardian who believes their religious beliefs are contrary to the required immunization.

Jill Collier, a registered nurse, spoke in opposition of the bill. She said there is nothing simple about obtaining a medical exemption. Medical providers are more hesitant than ever to find medical exemptions because of the increased hostility around this debate, she said.

There is no guarantee a vaccine is going to be without risk, said Collier. Unfortunately we learn about some of these kids genetic susceptibilities in their autopsy reports.

Dr. Elias Kass, a naturopathic physician, works with vaccine hesitant families on a daily basis. He testified in support of the the bill because of his belief that all kids deserve to be protected from disease.

There are so many things we cant prevent, there is so much suffering available, said Kass. Lets give all of our kids the opportunity to grow up without the diseases we can prevent.
T he Duchess of Sussex flew home from New York today in a private jet after enjoying a baby shower with her closest friends.

Meghan, 37, boarded a Gulfstream G450 twin-jet plane, with a one-way trip costing around 95,000, and headed back to the UK.

The duchess, who is expecting her first child in the spring, will be up in the air again this weekend when she joins husband Prince Harry on an official visit to Morocco.

Meghan arrived in New York on Friday night for a supposedly secret trip to visit her friends.

Fashion designer Misha Nonoo steps out for Meghan's baby shower at the lavish Mark Hotel (REUTERS) / Reuters

The main event was an intimate baby shower hosted by Amal Clooney and Serena Williams.

After the soiree, which was attended by her close friends Gayle King and Jessica Mulroney, Meghan went to the airport last night.

Jessica Mulroney arrives for the bash as snow falls on New York / AP

It is not known if Mrs Clooney, the lawyer wife of Hollywood actor George, was with the duchess on the return flight.

The duchess was accompanied by two personal protection officers during the visit. They were assisted by US State Department officers during the five-night visit.

Amal Clooney pictured arriving for the Duchess of Sussex's baby shower / AP

Meghans baby shower was held in a 57,000-a-night penthouse suite at the exclusive hotel The Mark on the Upper East Side.

She also enjoyed a meal with friends at Ralph Laurens luxury restaurant The Polo Bar, in what is believed to be her visit to New York since her wedding to Prince Harry last May.

Meghan and Markus Anderson at a dinner prior to the baby shower / 247PAPS.TV / SplashNews.com

Kensington Palace confirmed that Meghans trip had been privately funded as it was a personal getaway.

The Gulfstream G450 used by the duchess has a 16-passenger capacity.

According to Haute Living, it is also considered to have the most advanced flight decks in business aviation, with 14-inch liquid crystal display screens arranged in a landscape format and an Enhanced Vision System to present pilots with a clear picture of runway markings, taxiways and the surrounding landscape at night or in deteriorating weather conditions - like the snow and ice in New York on Wednesday.

It also boasts a shower, a three-person divan, and a full galley with a convection oven should any of the passengers require an in-flight meal.

And there will have been plenty of room for the many gifts seen being delivered to Meghans hotel ahead of the shower.
A guest at Meghan Markle's baby shower has revealed details of her afternoon celebrating with the Duchess of Sussex in New York.

Gayle King said on CBS This Morning that she and other guests at the intimate event were taught how to arrange flowers.

The duchess, 37, then donated the arrangements to various charities, Ms King said.

She added that she could not say what gift she had purchased for Meghan, who is expecting her first child in spring, because the guest of honour did not open any of her presents.

Meghan heads to the airport following her baby shower / SplashNews.com

"She wants to do that when she goes back to London, when she and Harry and are back together," Ms King said.

Meghan flew home from the US today in a private jet after enjoying the baby shower with her closest friends.

TV host Gayle King arrives for the Duchess of Sussex's baby shower / REUTERS

The trip marked her first trip to America since her wedding to Prince Harry last May.

Following a segment on the programme about Meghan's shower, Ms King's co-hosts asked her about the event.

Co-host Bianna Golodryga said: "[Meghan] arrived at the Upper East Side venue yesterday amid tight security. The party included some big-name guests including Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, and our very own queen Gayle King."

Stars join the Duchess of Sussex baby shower in New York 1 /15 Stars join the Duchess of Sussex baby shower in New York Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex leaves The Mark Hotel hotel in the Manhattan Reuters Amal Clooney leaves after attending the baby shower for Meghan Markle in New York AP Fashion designer Misha Nonoo steps out for Meghan's baby shower at the lavish Mark Hotel Reuters Jessica Mulroney arrives for the bash as snow falls on New York AP Amal Clooney pictured arriving for the Duchess of Sussex's baby shower AP Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex leaves The Mark Hotel hotel in the Manhattan Reuters Jessica Mulroney Reuters Amal Clooney AP Designer Misha Nonoo Reuters Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex leaves The Mark Hotel hotel in the Manhattan REUTERS Gayle King AP Misha Nonoo AP Amal Clooney Reuters Jessica Mulroney AP Gayle King AP

Turning to Ms King, co-host Nora O'Donnell asked: "How was it?"

Ms King replied: "A good time was had by all."

Ms O'Donnell then asked: "What did you get her?"

"She didn't open any of the gifts because she wants to do that when she goes back to London, when she and Harry are back together," Ms King explained.

Ms King leaves the event / AP

"I don't know what everybody got. I think I got something I think is very nice. But you know, she's a very private person. I think she should decide what she wants to say about this."

Ms King then shared a story from the shower.

She said: "I hope she won't mind me sharing this because I've never seen anything like this at a baby shower. They did flower decorations. They had flower arranging, they brought in somebody to explain how to arrange flowers," Ms King told her co-hosts.

"We all each made an individual vase. And then Meghan, at her request, they got in touch with an organisation I've never heard of with, Repeat Roses, and they're all donated to different charities. I thought that was a very sweet thing."

She added: "It just speaks to who she is. She's kind, she's very generous. And a really, really sweet person."

The presenter also revealed that the shower was hosted by Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney and Genevieve Hillis, who has been Meghan's best friend since the age of 17 when they met at Northwestern.

"It was a small, private affair, and a special time for her,' said Ms King. "Having a baby is a great thing."

The duchess arrived in New York on Friday night for a supposedly secret trip to visit her friends.

The main event of the trip was the baby shower at the exclusive hotel The Mark on the Upper East Side.
U S actor Jussie Smollett sent himself a racist and homophobic letter and claimed he was attacked because he was unhappy with his salary, police said today.

It comes after the Empire star was arrested and charged with filing a false police report when he told authorities he was attacked by two men who hurled racist and anti-gay slurs and looped a rope around his neck.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the 36-year-old "took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career".

Mr Johnson said at a news conference Smollett sent a racist and homophobic threatening letter to himself at the Fox studio lot before an alleged attack.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson during a press conference / Sky News

He also said he was "dissatified with his salary".

Smollett, who is accused of filing a false police report, was charged on Wednesday and turned himself in early on Thursday.

Jussie Smollett, 36, turned himself into police on Thursday / REUTERS

The actor told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop at around 2am local time on January 29.

Smollett, who is black and gay, said they beat him, made racist and homophobic comments, poured some unknown chemical substance on him and looped a rope around his neck before fleeing.

Police released CCTV images of "persons of interest" over an alleged assault on Jussie Smollett / AP

But detectives in a city with many CCTV cameras could not find video of the alleged beating.

Later, two brothers were taken into custody for questioning but were released after two days, with police saying they were no longer suspects.

Smollett will appear in court later on Thursday / Getty

Smollett is due to appear in court later today.
D onald Trump has said a woman who left the US to join the Islamic State group in Syria will not be allowed to return.

The president said he had instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, 24, back into the country.

Her lawyer is challenging a claim that she is not a US citizen after Mr Pompeo said she had no legal basis to travel to the US.

In a brief statement, Mr Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

Hoda Muthana, left, and her lawyer, right, are fighting the decision / AFP

"Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States."

But the Alabama womans lawyer insisted Ms Muthana was born in the US and had a valid passport before she joined ISIS in 2014.

He said she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of legal consequences.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," her lawyer said.

"When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for."

Ms Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along

The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum.
A ctor Alec Baldwin has said he fears for his familys safety after doing impressions of president Donald Trump.

The Saturday Night Live performer regularly impersonates the US President, but has now said he fears possible reprisals for doing so.

Mr Baldwin has said he is now worried Mr Trump could stir up some kind of retribution against him from his supporters.

In an interview for the podcast the Dworkin Report, Mr Baldwin said: People would say to me early on, do you have any concerns about retaliation, not necessarily from the government or Trump, but from his agitators?

Donald Trump speaking at the White House on Friday / Carlos Barria/Reuters

I always said not really, I didnt really think that was something that was real, until now, when he made this comment about retribution and he thought SNL should be investigated.

Mr Baldwin added the president signals people to become angry and bitter and then the actions flow from there.

Last week Mr Baldwin reprised his role as Mr Trump in a sketch that parodied a recent press conference about the border wall with Mexico.

Mr Trump, in response, tweeted there was nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC!

Fears: Actor Alec Baldwin / AP

He also questioned how shows such as SNL get away without retribution adding it was very unfair and should be looked into.

Mr Baldwin said Mr Trump: Signals people, not necessarily what to do, but how to feel, and thats the beginning.

"The beginning is you make people angry, the beginning is you make people agitated and bitter and then the actions flow from there.

The actor also directly messaged Mr Trump, asking if a sitting president exhorting his followers that my role in a TV comedy qualifies me as an enemy of the people constitutes a threat to my safety and that of my family?
A snowboarding vicar will swap prayers for big air on a 24-hour charity pilgrimage around Britains snowdomes.

Rev Steven Young, of St Michael and All Angels church in Mill Hill, will drive almost 500 miles on a route from Hemel Hempstead to Glasgow to complete a run down the slopes of each of the UKs six official snow centres in a single day.

The 37-year-old, who dubs himself vicar by day, snowboarder by day off, hopes to raise thousands of pounds for the North London Hospice, where he is a volunteer chaplain.

He said: I have a big love for snow domes. For 20 you can get out on the snow, which is brilliant, and they helped me a lot. So visiting them all in one day is a bit of a pilgrimage, for want of a better word.

The vicar will travel 500-miles to complete the challenge / Reverend Steven Young

Since I found out the Hemel Hempstead dome opened at 7am in the morning, and being geeky about travel and challenges, I tried for a few years to work out if it is possible to visit every single UK snowdome in one day.

"Its more comical than endurance. I will literally be running out of the car, running into the ski centre, getting my lift pass, doing one run, then running back into the car again.
J eremy Corbyn has said ISIS bride Shamima Begum must be brought back to the UK where she should receive state support.

It comes after Home Secretary Sajid Javid took the decision to strip the 19-year-old of her British citizenship.

Begum fled the UK at the age of 15 to go and support the terror group in Syria.

Mr Corbyn told ITV News on Thursday: Because she was born in Britain she has that right to remain in Britain and obviously there are a lot of questions she has to answer but also some support that she needs.

Corbyn shares his view on the case of ISIS bride Shamima Begum

She has a right to return to Britain, on that return she must obviously face a lot of questions about everything she has done and at that point any action may or may not be taken.

I think the idea of stripping somebody of their citizenship when they were born in Britain is a very extreme manoeuvre.

Shamima Begum has had her British citizenship revoked

It came as Philippe Sands QC, an international human rights barrister from Londons Matrix chambers, said that it appeared crystal clear that Ms Begum had been made stateless by Mr Javids actions and did not hold Bangladeshi citizenship as the Home Office claimed.

Mr Sands said the case was a humungous mess and called on Mr Javid to reveal exactly who had given him the legal advice that Ms Begums British citizenship could be lawfully removed.

TODO: define component type apester

Bangladeshs ministry of foreign affairs said on Wednesday she is not a Bangladeshi citizen and that she will not be allowed into the country.

This came only hours after Mr Javid had appeared before MPs to defend his decision to strip Ms Begum, who left in February 2015 with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls to live in Syria and marry Islamic State fighters, of her British citizenship.

Shamima Begum pictured with her baby / ITV

The grounds are understood to be that her Bangladeshi parentage makes her a citizen of that country.

However, Mr Sands insisted that Ms Begum had been made stateless in a breach of the law as he questioned whether Mr Javid had gained the approval of either Foreign Office lawyers or the first class Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC before taking his decision.

Mr Sands said: The real question is one of fact and law: was she by this act going to be made stateless and the answer to that seems crystal clear.

She may be entitled to apply for Bangladeshi nationality but presently she does not appear to have Bangladeshi nationality and theres a cardinal distinction between the two. So that raises a question: who on earth gave this advice?"

Making a person stateless has huge consequences and we should not be playing around with peoples futures, however difficult, unfortunate and even horrible are some of the things this young woman has said in recent days.

Its very hard not to conclude that at the date the decision was taken, this individual had a single nationality. Its a humungous mess and frankly it is completely incompetent.

Mr Javids decision to remove her nationality means that Ms Begum, who has just given birth to a boy in the Syrian refugee camp where she is living, will be unable to return to this country unless she wins a court battle to overturn the Home Secretarys order.
T he future of runaway schoolgirl Shamima Begum appears uncertain.

Her British citizenship was revoked and Bangladesh has denied she is a holder of dual citizenship.

The 19-year-old fled Bethnal Green to Syria as a schoolgirl when she was aged 15. She has now given birth to a son while in Syria.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked Ms Begums citizenship amid reports she had Bangladeshi citizenship owing to her heritage.

Mr Javid suggested Ms Begums new born baby boy could still be a British national.

Ms Begum recently gave birth to a baby boy / ITV

Here are some key questions about the case:

- What has happened?

Mr Javid has used his powers under the British Nationality Act 1981 to strip Ms Begum of her British citizenship. This can be done in instances where doing so would be "conducive to the public good". However, this power can only be used where the person concerned has dual nationality, as leaving an individual stateless is a breach of international law.

Home secretary Sajid Javid / Stefan Rousseau/PA

- What is the law?

The power to revoke citizenship was extended by the Immigration Act in 2014 and can only be used in cases where a person has "conducted" themselves "in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK" and where the secretary of state has "reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able, under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom, to become a national of such country or territory".

TODO: define component type apester

- What was said about these powers when they were introduced?

Writing in the Daily Telegraph in 2014, then Home Secretary Theresa May said: "Following the recent Immigration Act, I can, in certain circumstances, remove citizenship from naturalised Britons who are fighting overseas and exclude them too. And while it is illegal for any country to make its citizens stateless, any British national who returns from Syria and Iraq faces prosecution here for participating in terrorist activities abroad."

Shamima Begum fled the UK to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria aged 15 / PA

- Does Ms Begum have dual citizenship?

Bangladesh's minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said she does not. He states: "Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh.

"It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage.

"So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh."

- What is the status of her child?

Guidance on British citizenship on gov.uk says "A child born outside the United Kingdom will be a British citizen by descent if either parent is a British citizen otherwise than by descent at the time of the birth."

As Ms Begum was understood to be a British citizen as she gave birth, the child can also be considered a British citizen.

ITV

This appeared to be acknowledged by Mr Javid in the House of Commons when - not speaking about Ms Begum's case specifically - he said: "Children should not suffer.

"So, if a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child."

Another sticking point may be the European Convention on Human Rights, with Article 8 guaranteeing the right to one's "private and family life". This could be used as an argument against any separation of mother and baby.
T he number of property millionaires in London has fallen almost twice as sharply as the rest of the country, it was revealed today.

There was an 8.1 per cent annual drop in the number of homes in the capital worth an estimated 1m or more, down from 430,720 to 395,871.

This compared with a UK-wide decline of 4.5 per cent, according to property website Zoopla.

London still accounts for more than half of the 733,777 homes valued in seven figures. The national total was down 4.5 per cent, from 768,553 last year  about one in 40 homes.

The average estimated property value of a home in London is now 654,730  though this is almost 200,000 more than prices being achieved when properties are sold.

Experts blamed the slump on the drop in house prices, the uncertainty of Brexit, and stamp duty rises.

Westminster was the London borough with most millionaire properties  54,137, meaning 46 per cent of homes in the area were valued in seven figures. Kensington and Chelsea was second with 44,130, or 54 per cent of its homes.

Camden was third with 34,569, or 32 per cent of the boroughs homes.

Barking and Dagenham has the fewest million-pound homes  22. There were 522 in Newham and 673 in Bexley.

Outside London, Guildford had most property millionaires at 5,615. Some 44 per cent of homes in Cobham, also in Surrey, were valued at 1m or more  the UKs highest rate.

Figures from the Land Registry last month revealed that London house prices fell for the sixth month in succession  the longest run of declines since the 2008/9 financial crisis.

The average home in the capital was worth 473,822 in December, 0.6 per cent  or about 3,000  less than a year previously. Prices have dipped every month since June.

Todays Zoopla research found that in areas such as the East, West Midlands, North-East and Yorkshire the number of 1m properties increased.

Annabel Dixon, spokeswoman for Zoopla, said: Its hard to ignore the overall decline in million-pound properties in the past 12 months. But its clear to see the majority of this decline resides in London. Outside the capital, there has been significant growth in seven-figure properties.
C abinet minister Jeremy Wright today urged Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a Commons committee which has investigated fake news.

The Culture Secretary flew 5,000 miles to the social media giants California headquarters for a face-to-face meeting with Mr Zuckerberg about plans to regulate social media giants after a series of scandals.

The Facebook chief angered MPs by refusing to appear before the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee when it was hearing evidence from experts about fake news online and the growing power of social media companies.

What I will be saying to him is that ... it would be in Facebooks interests for him to go and speak up for his side of the argument and describe what he says Facebook is doing and why, Mr Wright told the BBC.

But the primary purpose of his visit to Facebook and other US social media companies was to discuss the Governments plans to regulate them.

Mr Wright also rejected an idea of co-regulation being promoted by former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg, now head of global affairs and communications for Facebook.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:34 am

Evan Carnes, senior project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, had one message Wednesday for the Lewis County leaders who turned out for an outreach meeting with Corps leadership: Call me.

The Corps has a stigma about it: Were really hard to get ahold of, Carnes said. I have a phone, I have an email and youre welcome to use them.

Leaders from the Corps Seattle District have been holding outreach meetings throughout the region, in part to address long-simmering frustrations with permit wait times and communication issues. Carnes told Lewis County attendees that he didnt want them to feel like they were dealing with a faceless bureaucracy.

If you have a question or youre not sure, you should call me, he said. My job is not to write as many permits as I can. I want to help people.

The Corps handles environmental permits under a swath of different federal laws, such as a the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. Southwest Washington leaders have long complained that the agencys Seattle District is especially slow at processing applications, and communication is poor.

With frustration mounting, congressional leaders have threatened to redraw Southwest Washington into the Portland, Oregon District, which has much shorter wait times. Dena Horton, Sen. Maria Cantwells Southwest Washington outreach director, told Lewis County officials earlier this month that Seattle Corps leaders have been told legislative options are on the table if conditions dont improve.

Horton was at the meeting Wednesday, along with staffers for Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground. Commissioner Edna Fund was in attendance as well, as were leaders from the cities of Centralia and Chehalis.

It was very good to have that outreach, Fund said following the meeting. People are always a bit critical of the Corps, so it was really nice to have an outreach person talking about giving their phone number and their email.

In all, more than 30 local officials, business and property owners attended the Wednesday meeting, held at the Centralia Timberland Library. Though many have been outspoken skeptics of the agency, the tone remained cordial  even lighthearted at times  as Carnes expressed his desire to be as accessible and helpful as possible.

The questions were very appropriate. They were very much in line with what the local development goals are, said Bob Thomas, regulatory branch section chief for the Corps. Its demystifying the permitting process. It can be pretty bewildering to people . A key part of that is us being accessible.

Carnes, who led the meeting, spent several hours giving an overview of the agencys role, which laws guide its permitting decisions and how to navigate the system. His presentation covered things such as which physical features define a wetland, which activities are eligible for permit exemptions and what kind of drawings are most helpful on applications.

After a long time deep in the bureaucratic weeds, he said he hoped the guidelines had been helpful  but that people should still reach out.

Having that engagement and providing a person for people to call or reach out to is more important than the technical aspects of this presentation, he said.

During the meeting, Carnes also praised the Lewis County Public Works Department, which has had more permits issued than any other entity in the area, and has proven adept at navigating the application process. Fund said that praise spoke well of the work of Betsy Dillin, the departments senior utilities and surface water engineer.

In response to another question, Carnes said the Seattle District of the Corps was working on implementing a paperless submission process for applications, moving to an online permit system. Many in attendance welcomed that development.
I SIS bride Shamima Begum has asked for mercy from British politicians and said she is willing to change after she was stripped of her UK citizenship.

The 19-year-old told Sky News she will not allow her newborn son, who she said is unwell, to return to the UK alone.

Begum wants to return to Britain after she fled the UK at the age of 15 to go and support the terror group in Syria.

In an interview with Sky correspondent John Sparks, she was asked if she had anything to say to British politicians. She responded: "I would like them to re-evaluate my case with a bit more mercy in their heart, you know."

Asked whether she can be rehabilitated, she replied: "I am willing to change."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has taken the decision to strip Begum of her citizenship but insisted she will not be left stateless - something which is banned under international law.

It comes amid speculation that she is a dual British-Bangladeshi national.

Begum had initially asked to return to the UK to give birth to the child, having lost two children while living with Islamic State.

Ms Begum's newborn / ITV

She has previously told Sky News she was "okay" with beheadings by IS and claimed in another interview that the Manchester Arena terror attack was "retaliation" for bombings in Syria.

Asked if she had reflected on her remarks this week, she replied: "No not really, because I have busy with my son, he is sick, I can't do much for him."

She told Sky: "I am struggling to get my supplies in right now.

"I don't have a card because they lost my card, so I have to run around to take care of my son now, when I am sick. I am not getting my stuff."

Shamima Begum has had her British citizenship revoked

Jeremy Corbyn has said she must be brought back to the UK where she should receive state support.

The Labour leader on Thursday criticised Mr Javid's action as "very extreme" after diplomatic tensions broke out with Bangladesh denying the 19-year-old had citizenship in the nation she has apparently never visited.

Despite stripping Begum of her UK citizenship, Mr Javid has suggested that the rights of her newborn son were unaffected, saying that "children should not suffer".

Meanwhile, the Begum family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee called for Mr Javid to explain what steps could be taken to deliver her days-old son to the UK from the Syrian refugee camp where they are staying without documentation.

TODO: define component type apester

"Given Sajid Javid has confirmed the child is British we want to know what practical steps can be taken in these circumstances," the lawyer said.

Ms Begum's parents would be happy to take the boy, he said, but it is not yet known whether she would allow him to travel without her.

Mr Javid has defended his move and insisted he would not leave an individual stateless - which is illegal under international law - after Bangladesh denied she had citizenship there.

A statement from the nation's foreign affairs minister Shahriar Alam also said there is "no question" Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, could enter the country.

Following his latest interview with Shamima Begum, Mr Sparks said the conditions at the Syrian camp were "poor".
S hocked homeowners have told of their shock after finding a 4ft-long, slightly blue, rat snake in their toilet.

The Essex couple made the grim discovery after a lit candle was knocked over in their bathroom.

When trying to pick up the candle which had smashed, the large hissing snake was spotted backing into the toilet of the Basildon home.

Homeowner Naomi Burdett said: My partner discovered the snake after hearing the candle smash, he saw the snake which hissed at him then backed away into the toilet.

He ran upstairs in a moment of panic, neither of us are the biggest fans of snakes and its not exactly what you expect to see in your downstairs loo.

My sister-in-law was close by and was able to come round and help us contain him - we named him Kevin - and fortunately the RSPCA was then able to take him away to specialist care.

We havent had any heating until recently so it must have been really cold for him - we havent been staying here during the renovations so I have no idea where he has been living or how long he has been here.

Its a really bizarre situation - we were telling family and they were saying send us pictures or we dont believe you.

I just hope he makes a full recovery now, as we grew quite attached to him.

The rat snake, which can be kept as a pet in the UK had been dyed a slight tinge of blue from cleaning products in the cistern, the RSPCA said.

ACO White said: Im sure these poor people got quite a shock when they discovered a snake residing in their toilet

It just goes to show every day is different for an RSPCA inspector - we never know what we are going to be called about.

Rat snakes are kept as pets fairly regularly in this country so Im sure hes an escaped pet - if anyone recognises him they can call the RSPCA inspectorate appeal line on 0300 123 8018.
A former altar boy has been found guilty of manslaughter after cutting the throat of a convicted paedophile.

Christopher McMahon, 48, repeatedly stabbed his drinking partner David Potter, 50, after he confessed to sexually abusing a six-year-old child.

Following the incident, Mr McMahon, of no fixed abode, went to his on-off partner's house still soaked in his victim's blood and told her: "I've done it."

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC told jurors: "Mr McMahon said he had slit a man's throat and indeed he had."

David Potter was found dead in his Tooting flat / Metropolitan Police

Mr Potter, who had convictions for sex offences concerning a child, was found dead in a pool of blood five days later after police were alerted by a concerned neighbour.

A post-mortem examination found he had stab wounds to the neck, the most severe of which had gone through to the spine and cut numerous blood vessels including the jugular vein.

Mrs Whitehouse told jurors: "Mr McMahon admits he was the person who stabbed Mr Potter to death.

"The question for you will be why Mr McMahon did that."

The court heard how Mr Potter had pleaded guilty to gross indecency with a child in February 2000 at Chester Crown Court.

The charges related to two incidents of sexual abuse involving a girl in the late 1990s.

The jury was told Mr McMahon had previously made allegations against a parish priest over his behaviour towards him when he was an altar boy in the 1980s, but the matter was never reported to police.

Mr McMahon was cleared of murder but was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

It can now be reported that the defendant was cleared in 2008 of the murder of Jill Grinstead, 63, who was beaten to death at her home in Wimbledon, south west London.

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.
B oth Labour and the Conservatives are braced for more walkouts as the creation of a new independent grouping of MPs continues to rip through the political landscape.

The Independent Group (TIG) said they expected to see more MPs join them as it emerged former prime minister David Cameron tried to persuade Tory MPs not to turn their backs on the party.

High-profile ex-minister Anna Soubry, one of three Conservatives who announced their defection to the new group on Wednesday, said Mr Cameron asked her and others to remain in the Tory Party.

She told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent those who would later leave the party a text saying: "Is it too late to persuade you to stay?"

Former British Conservative Party MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston defected from the Tories on Wednesday / REUTERS

Heidi Allen, another defector, said that around 100 of her former colleagues on the Tory benches shared her frustrations at the direction of the Conservative Party. Ms Allen told ITV's Peston: "I'd say a third of the party."

As attacks on the Prime Minister from ex-Tory MPs intensified, Ms Soubry accused Theresa May of having a personal "problem" with immigration.

Ms Soubry told BBC2's Newsnight: "The only reason why she will not agree to the single market is because of free movement of people.

"And I think what's really worried me about Theresa, and she has history in the Home Office that supports this, because I'm an old barrister, I look at the evidence, and I think she's got a problem with immigration. I really, honestly do."

Anna Soubry (blue jacket) and Sarah Wollaston (blue scarf), with Luciana Berger (red jacket) arrive to speak after quitting their respective parties / PA

Asked if she meant it was a personal rather than policy issue for the PM, Ms Soubry said: "Oh yeah, I think she has a thing about immigration and I don't know where the hell that's come from.

"Because in a modern Conservative Party, when you again look at the evidence, you know, if we don't have all these people that come and do all this work in our country, who on earth is going to do it?"

Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he would leave the party if the Government backed a no-deal Brexit.

The 11 members of The Independent Group

Mr Grieve told the BBC: "I can't predict where I might be if the party goes completely off the rails - that's another matter."

He added: "The Government which I am supporting implementing a no-deal Brexit - what would I do?

"I would not be able to maintain my support of the Government.

"I would have to leave the party."

Lord Peter Mandelson said he felt "morally compromised" staying in Labour following anti-Semitic abuse endured by people such as ex-Labour MP Luciana Berger.

The Labour peer told ITV's Peston: "When I look at the sort of anti-Semitic abuse to which Luciana Berger has been subjected, but not alone, many others in the party, I feel ashamed, I feel actually quite morally compromised staying in a party that can spew out so much hatred towards other members of their own party.

"Now what is Jeremy Corbyn going to do about this? I mean, this risks growing from a splinter into a cavernous split in our party if he doesn't take action to stop it."

Lord Mandelson urged Labour MPs to remain in the party.
P hilip Hammond today stressed that he and colleagues were absolutely committed to avoiding a no-deal Brexit amid warnings that a third of the Cabinet could resign to stop the UK crashing out of the EU.

The Chancellor insisted progress was being made towards getting Brussels to budge and agree appropriate guarantees that the Northern Ireland border backstop would only be a temporary measure, as demanded by Brexiteers.

However, there were no clear signs of sufficient compromises yet from Brussels to satisfy a number of Brexiteers and newly-Independent MP Sarah Wollaston, who backs a second referendum, warned of a mass Cabinet walkout if the country heads towards chaotically plummeting out of the EU.

Former Cabinet minister Justine Greening also made clear she would quit the party if the Government backed a no deal.

Both the Tories and Labour were today on alert for fresh resignations after three Conservative MPs quit the party yesterday to join eight former Labour MPs in a new Independent grouping.

Newly-Independent MP Sarah Wollaston, right, warned of mass walkouts / Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images

The Chancellor indicated that the crucial meaningful vote on Theresa Mays Brexit blueprint could even take place next week if there is a dramatic breakthrough in the negotiations.

Mr Hammond said billions had already been spent on Brexit preparations, including the risk of a no-deal which he emphasised would be a very bad outcome for the UK.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, he added: What Im telling you is that I and my colleagues are absolutely committed to avoiding that outcome and to making sure that we get the deal.

During a media round this morning, Mr Hammond repeatedly declined to say whether or not he would resign as Chancellor rather than stay in the post if the UK was plunging into a no-deal departure from the EU.

He is not one to make threats of resignation and is seen as less likely to quit than some other Cabinet ministers including Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Justice Secretary David Gauke if the country is heading towards a no-deal.

Justine Greening indicated she would leave the party if the Government backed a no-deal Brexit / EPA

However, he added: So long as I believe that Im able to influence that outcome and to help to get us to a good outcome here which will protect British jobs and British prosperity in the future that is what I will go on doing.

He also made clear that the Governments strategy was to get sufficient concessions from the EU on the backstop, more clarity in the political declaration on issues such as workers rights and that technology could in future be used to solve the Northern Ireland border row, in order to win over enough Brexiteers, the DUP and some Labour MPs to get a parliamentary majority, while accepting that a hardcore of European Research Group members may still not back Mrs Mays deal.

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There were signs that some ERG members may support the Prime Ministers proposals if there is a codicil or addendum to the Withdrawal Agreement, despite earlier demands, which have been rejected by Brussels, that it must be re-opened for changes to be made to the backstop.

However, Mrs Wollaston stressed that around nine Cabinet ministers could walk out if Mrs May steers the country towards a no-deal Brexit.

A third of the Cabinet, Im pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit, she claimed.

The Totnes MP joined the new Independent grouping yesterday alongside former minister Anna Soubry and South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen.

Ex-education secretary Ms Greening indicated she would leave the party if the Government backed a no-deal Brexit.

I dont think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union, she said.

Asked if she would follow her three former colleagues to the Independent Group she said: It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment.

The Prime Minister is due to fly to Egypt at the weekend for an EU-Arab summit at which she hopes to make further progress in persuading European leaders to make concessions.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox were also holding more talks in Brussels with senior European Commission officials.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who held talks with Mrs May last night, stressed a no deal was still possible and that it would have terrible consequences for the UK and the Continent.

Mr Hammond acknowledged it was extremely uncomfortable for businesses to have got so close to the scheduled Brexit date of March 29 without clarity on the outcome.
If Jeremy Corbyn wants to repair the party so it can fight the worst Tory government for many decades, he would look at Luciana Berger declaring that, as a Jewish woman, she cannot stay in an institutionally racist party and move every sinew in his body to change it.

He would listen to each and every one of the now ex-Labour MPs when they say that the public are worried about feeling politically homeless, and he would build them a home, not a student union.

Politics is about, and for, all the people in this country, not a tiny clique on the hard Left who want to prove that they are the best and who believe that if you're not in their gang then you belong in the bin.
E uropean Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker today raised fears that Britain is hurtling towards a no-deal Brexit with terrible economic and social consequences.

Just hours after talks with Theresa May in Brussels, Mr Juncker said he was not very optimistic about preventing the UK crashing out of the European Union next month.

His comments came amid warnings that a third of the Cabinet could resign to stop a no deal.

Downing Street insisted progress had been made to break the deadlock in Brexit talks. EU diplomats said Brussels and the UK are moving towards an interpretative instrument or parallel declaration over the temporary nature of the Northern Ireland border backstop.

Mrs May met with Mr Juncker on Wednesday / Getty Images

But while this could persuade some Tory Right-wingers to support Mrs Mays plans, it was far from clear that she could gain a Commons majority given that Brexiteers were demanding that changes to the backstop are included in a redrafted withdrawal agreement.

This morning Mr Juncker said: If no deal were to happen, and I cannot exclude this, this would have terrible economic and social consequences in Britain and on the Continent.

But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue.

PA

The Prime Minister faced fresh warnings over no deal from within Tory ranks as she scrambled to agree a breakthrough with Brussels.

Chancellor Philip Hammond stressed that he was absolutely committed to avoiding the UK crashing out of the EU on March 29.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who is one of several Cabinet ministers said to be prepared to resign to avoid a no deal, said: I will do everything I can and whatever I deem necessary to prevent a no-deal Brexit coming about.

Newly independent MP Sarah Wollaston, who backs a second referendum, warned of a mass Cabinet walkout if the country heads towards no deal.

She said that about nine Cabinet ministers could quit. A third of the Cabinet, Im pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit, she claimed.

/ Yves Herman/Reuters

The Totnes MP joined the Independent Group yesterday alongside former business minister Anna Soubry, backbencher Heidi Allen and eight Labour MPs who quit earlier this week.

Former Cabinet minister Justine Greening also made clear she would quit the party if the Government backed a no deal.

Both the Tories and Labour were today on alert for fresh resignations.

The Chancellor indicated that the crucial meaningful vote on Mrs Mays Brexit blueprint could take place next week if there was a dramatic breakthrough in the negotiations.

Mr Hammond said billions had already been spent on Brexit preparations, including the risk of a no deal which he emphasised would be a very bad outcome for the UK.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, he added: What Im telling you is that I and my colleagues are absolutely committed to avoiding that outcome and to making sure that we get the deal.

During a round of interviews this morning, Mr Hammond repeatedly declined to say whether he would resign as Chancellor if the UK was heading for a no-deal departure.

He is seen as less likely to quit than other Cabinet ministers, including Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Justice Secretary David Gauke.

However, Mr Hammond added: So long as I believe that Im able to influence that outcome and to help to get us to a good outcome here which will protect British jobs and British prosperity in the future, that is what I will go on doing.

The Prime Minister is due to fly to Egypt at the weekend for an EU-Arab summit at which she hopes to make further progress in persuading European leaders to make concessions.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox were also holding talks in Brussels.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: There is clearly more work to do but it is still very much the position of the EU that they want the UK to leave with a deal. That means everyone working together with energy to secure a deal.
J ean-Claude Juncker today joked Prime Minister Theresa May was not the reason he was sporting a plaster on his cheek for the latest round of Brexit talks.

The PM was greeted by the European Commission president and chief negotiator Michel Barnier as she arrived in Brussels on Wednesday.

When asked by journalists about the plaster on his left cheek Mr Juncker reportedly joked: Mrs May did not inflict this on me.

The president, who put his hand on Mrs May's back to guide her away to the meeting, had earlier explained the plaster was there because of a shaving cut.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is welcomed by European commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ahead to a meeting on Brexit in Brussels / EPA

Mrs May and Mr Juncker did not shake hands as they posed for the cameras in front of UK and EU flags, and remained unsmiling until the EU Commission president broke the ice.

And he had earlier joked that the PM should not be blamed for his unfortunate injury.

Ahead of greeting Mrs May, he told reporters: The outcome of an unfortunate gesture this morning. The first time I ever shaved I was 15. Today I thought I would try again and this is what happens.

"I don't want you to think Mrs May is responsible for this injury on my face.

Mrs May travelled to the EU capital on Wednesday night to meet with Mr Juncker to try to convince the bloc to change the agreement to make it more palatable to Tory MPs.

The president had earlier poured cold water on the possibility of a breakthrough in Brexit talks ahead of the meeting.

In a statement after the talks the pair said they are "seized of the tight timescale" facing them after holding "constructive" Brexit talks.

A joint statement issued following the meeting said: "The two leaders agreed that talks had been constructive and they urged their respective teams to continue to explore the options in a positive spirit.

"They will review progress again in the coming days, seized of the tight timescale and the historic significance of setting the EU and the UK on a path to a deep and unique future partnership."

The statement said discussions had looked at "which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature and give the appropriate legal assurance to both sides".
A disgraced superhead must repay 1.4 million received in illegal bonuses to the local authority that employed him after his request to appeal was dismissed.

Alan Davies, 72, has admitted false accounting and was stripped of his knighthood.

He was overpaid about 950,000 between 2003 and 2009 while he was head of Copland Community School in Wembley.

On one occasion, Davies took home 400,000  three times the going rate for his position.

Brent council brought a High Court claim against Davies, of Mill Hill, and five other former members of staff who it claimed were overpaid 2.7 million over six years.

Last year, Mr Justice Zacaroli found Davies was liable to the council for breaching his fiduciary duty.

The judge told him to repay 1,395,839 in December and ruled that Brent could trace his assets to recoup the money.

Davies took his case to the Court of Appeal, but his request was refused this week on the grounds that, if it was taken forward, there would be no real prospect of success.

Davies ran the school for 20 years until he was suspended in May 2009.

He was lauded for his work by former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, all of whom visited the school.

In 2013, Davies pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court to creating a false paper trail on bonuses and allowances and was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Margaret McLennan, deputy leader of Brent council, said: Im pleased that the Court of Appeal has refused Alan Davies the chance to appeal the High Court ruling that he received vast sums in unlawful bonuses and must pay back nearly 1.4 million.

Davies fiddled the system to pay himself these outrageous bonuses.

He now needs to pay back every penny he stole from the education of local school children and I am grateful to everyone who helped bring this disgraced former headteacher to justice.
A Tommy Robinson supporter who hurled abuse at an Al Jazeera journalist has been cleared of a religiously aggravated offence after telling magistrates he has a "little" Muslim friend.

William Eve was accused of hurling abuse at Sonia Gallego during an English Defence League (EDL) rally held in Whitehall last year.

A video played at City of London Magistrates' Court on Thursday shows Eve accusing the reporter of being "Muslim-backed", asking if she is "f*****g stupid" and calling her "a s**g".

The 57-year-old confronted Ms Gallego while he was in custody for allegedly committing contempt of court.

Eve is now sofa-surfing because of marriage troubles while his wife's business, the Bank Restaurant in Hornchurch, east London, has suffered after the footage was posted on Twitter, the court heard.

Footage of Eve speaking to Ms Gallego quickly went viral on the social media platform, attracting criticism.

Eve spoke with Ms Gallego during a rally in Whitehall last July / PA

Eve admitted one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress but denied there was a religious element to the offence.

He told magistrates he has no issue with Islam or people of other races, adding he has a Muslim friend from Bangladesh who works a greengrocer near his wife's restaurant.

"I lived in Asia for 22 years," he said.

"I lived in another people's country and I have friends from all over.

"And the little guy who has a shop a few doors away from my wife's restaurant, Hussain, I used to go to Smithfield Market and buy vegetables for the restaurant and I used to buy vegetables for Hussain ... he's a lovely little man."

Eve explained he had only used the phrase "Muslim-backed" because of Al Jazeera's links to the Qatari royal family.

He was found not guilty of causing religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress after a trial.

Chairman of the bench, magistrate Tim McAndrews, said: "Whilst we note your hostility, we could not be sure that hostility was caused directly by the association with Al Jazeera's proprietors and accordingly we find you not guilty."

Eve, from Rainham, Essex, was fined 160 and ordered to pay another 165 in costs and compensation for the offence he admitted.

The rally was held on July 14, last year / PA

The court heard Ms Galego was reporting on the "Free Tommy Robinson" rally in Whitehall on July 14 last year when she was approached by Eve demanding to know who she was with.

"Immediately, I felt quite like I was being targeted, first of all for being a member of the press," she said.

"I told him that I was a journalist, he demanded to know with whom I was with and I told him Al Jazeera.

"He responded by saying 'OK, so you're Muslim-backed."

She said Eve was "pointing towards me in quite an aggressive fashion", adding: "An alarm bell went off and I wanted to film it for my safety."

The reporter, who is British and not a Muslim, said his "menacing" tone continued and when she asked him to explain the comment, Eve asked: "Are you f*****g stupid, are you thick?"

Eve then said "you know, you're a slag", before walking away as he was filmed by Ms Gallego, who was pelted with horse manure, along with her cameraman, producer and security guard, as they left the scene.

Ms Gallego said: "It's part and parcel of the job to go into situations which are risky.

"However, this has been a point of worry when we have to cover these sort of incidents given the rhetoric that has been bandied about in the past couple of years, not only just in terms of Islamophobia but in terms of journalists trying to do their jobs.

Prosecutor Simon Maughan had suggested to Eve: "You thought this lady and her group were associated with our members of a religious group, namely Muslims, and that's why you took umbrage to their presence."

"Not at all, totally wrong," Eve replied.

"So, because I mentioned a religion I'm being chastised. I really don't understand. Because I said the word 'Muslim' I'm in court."

He added: "I don't want to cause anyone any harm, I really don't and the saddest thing is I have been accused of being racist, and even worse is the things that this whole thing has caused.

"I don't live at home anymore because of this, my wife's business has been demolished because of this, because Ms Gallego thought it would be good to put this incident up on Twitter."
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:30 am

Dozens of Twin Cities residents are expected to visit the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library on Saturday for a presentation by authors Brian Mittge and Kerry Serl on the subject of their latest book  Centralia founder George Washington.

Mittge and Serl published George Washington of Centralia: How the Pioneering Son of a Slave Crossed the Continent, Founded a Town and Saved it During its Darkest Hour last summer following years of research. Mittge said Wednesday that the library reached out to himself and Serl to see if theyd present as part of Black History Month  George Washington was one of the first African Americans to found a town within the United States.

The event will begin at 2 p.m. and is free to attend. It is tagged as an adult program on the Timberland website, but Mittge said their presentation is suitable for all ages.

We did a similar presentation a year or two at the Olympic Club in Centralia, before wed finished the book, Mittge said. Well be sharing a lot of information we uncovered and gathered over the past couple of years. Well talk about his life and the bicentennial event weve had over the past couple of years, with plenty of question and answer time as well.

Brian Zylstra, the Lewis County representative on the Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees, put Chehalis library manager Lily Grant in touch with Mittge and Serl. Grant said capacity of the presentation room at the library is about 48 people; more than three times that number have marked themselves via social media as interested in attending.

We like to have local authors here and people to talk about local history, so it came together at the right time, Grant said. It just happened they were available during February, so we booked them.

Mittge credited Serl with unearthing some of the most eye-catching materials contained in the book. Washington lived from 1817-1905, so original materials such as letters and photographs involving him are well over 100 years old.

According to Mittge, he and Serl were aware of four photos of Washington when they finished their book. Right before the book went to print, Serl called him to report a fifth photograph existed. Theyre still trying to track down the original.

History is a really interesting thing, Mittge said. Sometimes you keep discovering things in places you wouldnt have thought to look. We have continued looking for new information about (Washington) and hope to publish a second edition at some point.

Printed materials wont be the only medium event attendees should expect to experience Saturday. Mittge recently wrote a song about Washington and debuted it last weekend at the Paradise Fire Aid Super Jam to benefit wildfire victims in California.

Mittge riffed off a Woody Guthrie song to create the musical score and wrote lyrics based on quotes attributed to Washington. One verse goes, Off to the west with the sun in his face, hoping to find one decent place

Washington is reported to have told family members in Missouri, If theres a decent place in the world, Im going to find it, before setting off for the Pacific Northwest.
L iverpool star Sadio Manes home was burgled while he was playing in the clubs Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.

Raiders broke into his property in Allerton, south Liverpool, late on Tuesday while he was at Anfield for the first leg of the last-16 tie.

Several items including watches, mobile phones and car keys were stolen in the raid between 6pm and 11.45pm.

Merseyside Police launched an investigation into the burglary and forensic examinations were under way.

Mane, 26, was previously burgled in November 2017 while he was at the clubs home stadium for another Champions League game against Maribor.

A gang was thought to have broken into his home before smashing a patio door at the nearby address of team-mate Dejan Lovren before they fled when a woman shouted she was calling the police.

Detective inspector Phil Mahon said the force was appealing for witnesses to the latest break-in come forward.

"While the occupants were not present at the time of the incident this will no doubt be a distressing experience for them and I would ask the offenders to do the right thing and return the stolen items to the owner in any way possible, the officer added.

"We know the watches in particular are of significant monetary value and I would also like to appeal to anyone who might have been offered the items for sale since the burglary to contact police."
A Manchester City fan is fighting for life in hospital after an alleged assault in Germany.

The fan is in critical condition following the alleged assault, which took place after the clubs Champions League match against Schalke at the Veltins Arena on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Man City said the club are working with Greater Manchester Police and Germany police to ascertain more information about the incident.

The clubs official website says: Club staff have remained in Germany to support the family of an injured City fan who is currently in a critical condition in hospital.

The alleged assault came after Man City sealed a dramatic 3-2 Champions League win at Schalke.
A 54-year-old man has been charged after no blacks was daubed on a familys front door in Salford.

Greater Manchester Police said Vaughan Dowd has been charged with criminal damage and racially aggravated criminal damage after the graffiti was sprayed on a father and sons home.

Jackson Yamba said he and his son were left traumatised after abuse was sprayed on the entrance to their home.

Superintendent Howard Millington of GMPs Salford Division said: I want to emphasise that we are acutely aware of the strength of public feeling surrounding this incident.

Solicitor Jackson Yamba had horrific racist graffiti painted on his front door / Jackson Yamba/GoFundMe

"Both CID and neighbourhood officers are looking into this crime and we are working closely with our partners to support the victim, as is the case in all hate crimes.

"Let me reassure people that where incidents of this nature take place, we will always pursue a prosecution.

Jackson Yamba's front door was covered in racist graffiti (Theo Baya/PA ) / Theo Baya/PA
A young man has died after a stabbing in south London this evening.

Officers scrambled to Minet Road, Brixton shortly before 7pm on Thursday.

Police treated the 23-year-old victim who died at the scene, Scotland Yard said.

There have been no arrests, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police.

Lambeth Police tweeted: "We are at the scene of a fatal stabbing at 6.45pm in Minet Road, Lambeth, SW9.

"Officers gave first aid to the 23-yr-old victim, who sadly died at the scene."
A Tory MP has been charged with making false claims for parliamentary expenses, the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.

Christopher Davies, the MP for Brecon and Radnor, is accused of two counts of making a false instrument and one of providing false or misleading information in relation to allowance claims.

These are said to be linked to furniture for his parliamentary office, according to the Telegraph.

The MP, who has said he is "disappointed" by the CPS' decision, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court in relation to the allegations on March 22.

In a statement, the CPS said it had received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police in November 2018.

These related to allegations Mr Davies falsified two invoices in support of parliamentary expenses claims.

A CPS spokesman said: "Following a review of the evidence, the CPS has today charged Mr Davies with two offences of making a false instrument and one offence of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims.

"The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Davies are now active and that he has a right to a fair trial.

"It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings."

The 51-year-old MP has previously said the situation was a result of an "honest mistake" when details first emerged he could face legal action.
A teenage boy has been found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute

The verdict was announced after a nine-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The jury took three hours to find the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, unanimously guilty.

Judge Lord Matthews told the boy he had committed some of the "wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard".

Six-year-old Alesha MacPhail.

He deferred sentence until March 21.

As the accused was led downstairs, a man in the public gallery shouted "evil" and another said "f****** scumbag".

Alesha's body was found in woods on the Isle of Bute on July 2 last year, hours after she was reported missing from the house her father shared with his parents on the island, where she was staying for part of the school holidays.

The 16-year-old denied abducting, raping and murdering Alesha, and attempting to hide evidence.

During the trial, it was revealed DNA traces found on Alesha's neck, private parts, shorts and vest were more than one billion times more likely to be from the accused than someone unrelated to him.

Alesha MacPhail's mother Georgina Lochrane at court / PA

He had lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Toni McLachlan - the girlfriend of Alesha's father Robert MacPhail - for the killing.

Lord Matthews told the teenager: "I have no idea what made you do this but I do know that the evidence you did it was overwhelming."

The judge will on Friday consider an application from media outlets to lift a ban on identifying the boy.

Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane, who sobbed in court as the verdict was announced, did not comment as she left the building later.

Alesha MacPhail's funeral in July last year / Lesley Martin/PA

In a statement issued via police, Ms Lochrane said: "Words cannot express just how devastated I am to have lost my beautiful, happy, smiley wee girl.

"I am glad that the boy who did this has finally been brought to justice and that he will not be able to inflict the pain on another family that he has done to mine.

"Alesha, I love you so much, my wee pal. I will miss you forever."

The MacPhail family said: "We can't believe that we will never see our wee angel Alesha again. We miss her so much.

"We hope that the boy who took her from us is jailed for a long time because of what he has done to our family.

"Alesha may be gone from our lives but she will always be in our hearts."

Advocate Depute Iain McSporran, who led the prosecution, said that to have a child taken in the "bestial manner" in which Alesha lost her life was "infathomable".

A picture among tributes near a house on Ardbeg Road on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, after the body of Alesha MacPhail was found in woodland on the site of a former hotel by a member of the public. / PA

He read excerpts from a victim impact statement which said her mother suffered nightmares about what had been done to her daughter and her father had experienced "insufferable pain".

Members of the jury were offered a counselling service and were told they did not have to sit on a case again in future if they did not wish to.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston, senior investigating officer in the case for Police Scotland, said: "I welcome today's verdict and hope that it will bring some comfort to the family and friends of little Alesha MacPhail who have been through the most horrific ordeal.

"Throughout the police investigation and this trial, Alesha's family have shown incredible bravery in the face of the most appalling circumstances.

Alesha MacPhail's mother Georgina Lochrane at Glasgow High Court. / Getty Images

"Alesha's senseless and barbaric murder shocked the small community on Bute and people across Scotland. The effects of her death are still being felt today."

The six-year-old was murdered on the small island in the Firth of Clyde, home to a community where many people did not even feel the need to lock their doors.

She had been spending a three-week summer holiday with her grandparents, attending a a birthday party the day before she died.

In the early hours of Monday July 2, an intruder crept into her room, took her from her bed and subjected her to a horrific sexual assault.

Her naked body was found in nearby woodland the next day, her pink polka-dot pyjama shorts and white vest a short distance away.

Robert MacPhail outside the High Court in Glasgow, where a teenager was found guilty for the murder of his six year-old daughter. / PA

There was disbelief from the local community as a local teenager was charged with Alesha's rape and murder, a 16-year-old boy who would try to blame her father's live-in girlfriend for the killing.

The court heard Alesha suffered a total of 117 separate injuries, with those to her neck and face consistent with being gripped and those to her nose and mouth indicating she had been smothered.

Chief Superintendent Hazel Hendren, divisional commander for Argyll and West Dunbartonshire division, said: "I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to little Alesha.

Georgina Lochrane leaving the High Court in Glasgow, where a teenager was found guilty of the murder of her six year-old daughter. / PA

"She was such a beautiful wee girl who was vibrant, funny and much loved. Her family have shown incredible bravery through what has been an unimaginable ordeal.

"I would also like to thank the local community of Bute, who pulled together and did everything they could to help both Alesha's family and the major police investigation which followed.

"This was an incident which shocked the tight-knit community of Rothesay to the core, but that community showed strength and determination to assist the police in any way they could, and I cannot thank them enough. The response to our appeals was significant, not only from Bute but from across Scotland.
A man has been stabbed in front of horrified onlookers at an east London rail station.

Witnesses told how the violent scenes unfolded on a Tube train at Barking station before the suspect fled when the doors opened.

Police and paramedics were scrambled to the scene shortly before 11.30pm on Wednesday.

The victim, whose age was not immediately clear, suffered a stab wound to his abdomen, officers said.

He was rushed to hospital. His condition was not known.

Eye-witness Charlotte Maher said: Just witnessed a stabbing on the Hammersmith and city line at barking station.

Passenger alarm pulled and a brave gentleman tripped the individual with the knife up.

Police at the scene of the stabbing inside Barking station / @itslwilliams/Twitter

In a tweet, she added: Suspect appeared to flee along the platform after the doors were opened, the injured individual also fled.

The station was closed after the incident.

British Transport Police (BTP) were appealing for witnesses to come forward.

In statement, the force said: It appears a male has received a stab wound to his abdomen.

The victim was taken to hospital, where he is being treated for his injury.

Officers investigating the incident are appealing for witnesses to get in touch.

It was not clear whether any arrests had been made and the Standard has approached BTP for further information.
T he mother of a three-year-old boy allegedly crushed by a car seat has been found guilty of child cruelty.

Adrian Hoare, 23, allegedly failed to prevent her boyfriend Stephen Waterson, 25, from squashing Alfie Lamb in the footwell of his Audi convertible with his seat in February last year.

The jury was unable to reach a majority verdict on a manslaughter charge against Waterson.

Following an Old Bailey trial, jury members did find Waterson, the adopted son of former Tory Minister Nigel Waterson, guilty of intimidation of a witness in the case.

Adrian Hoare, the mother of three-year-old Alfie Lamb / PA

Hoare was cleared of manslaughter, but found guilty of a charge of child cruelty and common assault on another witness.

Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Kerr discharged the jury and gave the prosecution seven days to decide whether to seek a retrial.

The defendants had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. After Alfie's death, Hoare and Waterson lied to police about what happened.

On February 1 last year, the defendants had gone shopping for cushions in Sutton, accompanied by Alfie, Emilie Williams, 19, Marcus Lamb, 22, and another young child.

Jurors were shown CCTV of Alfie running to keep up with his mother moments before he was put in the car for the journey back to Croydon, south London.

Stephen Waterson and Adrian Hoare with Alfie Lamb in Sutton / PA

It was alleged nightclub worker Waterson became annoyed at Alfie's crying and twice moved his front passenger seat into him as he sat at his mother's feet.

Jurors heard the maximum space in the foot well was 30cm, and, at the touch of a button, that could be reduced to just 9.5cm.

Waterson, who is 5ft 7in tall, initially pushed his front seat back to give himself more leg room, according to Ms Williams, who is the sister of his ex-girlfriend.

Stephen Waterson, who has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of intimidation of a witness / PA

Alfie screamed for his "mummy" but Hoare just slapped him and told him to "shut up", said unqualified driver Mr Lamb, who was Alfie's cousin.

By the time they arrived at Waterson's home in Croydon, south London, the boy had collapsed and stopped breathing.

Alfie and mother, Adrian Hoare

As medics desperately tried to revive him, Waterson fled the scene and Hoare spun a web of lies, claiming she had been in a taxi.

Alfie, nicknamed "Little Tarzan" by the defendants, died from crush asphyxia three days later.

Meanwhile, Waterson gave officers a false name and false statement and sold the Audi.

He allegedly threatened to make the Hoare and the other witnesses "disappear" if they did not stick with their fake stories.

Hoare eventually broke her silence and told her half sister Ashleigh Jeffrey in a taped conversation handed to police.

But Waterson blamed Mr Lamb, who he regarded as a step brother, for being a "grass" and put his foot on his head during a violent assault in Crystal Palace Park which was filmed on his mobile phone.

Jurors were told Waterson was a controlling womaniser who used his family connections to "powerful people" to control and manipulate people.

He also had a violent temper with three previous convictions for attacking an ex-girlfriend and his sister's husband.

Giving evidence, he denied he would hurt a child and said he moved his seat back once by up to an inch.

It was suggested on his behalf that Hoare must have done something to cause Alfie's injuries.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told jurors both played a part in Alfie's death, saying Hoare "fundamentally and fatally" failing to act.

Mr Atkinson said: "When he started to cry, when he said he did not have enough room, when he coughed as if he was about to be sick, when he was screaming, when she could see he did not have enough room.

"All she needed to do was pick him up and she didn't and he is dead."

Commenting on Alfie's case, Scotland Yard's Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said: "

Adrian Hoare, as the mother of Alfie, and Stephen Waterson, her partner, should have put the safety and well-being of Alfie as their uppermost priority when he was placed in the car on February 1st last year.

"Instead, they put the toddler, who was just three-and-a-half years old, in the footwell of the vehicle with little or no room to move.

"Waterson moved his seat back. Hoare, who was sitting behind Alfie, failed in any meaningful way to address the consequences of Waterson's actions. Although the movement of the seat carried with it an obvious risk, given the lack of space even for a child of Alfie's size, she utterly failed in her duty to protect her child.

"Finding that Alfie was unresponsive once they returned to Adams Way, Hoare and Waterson continuously lied to police in a bid to escape responsibility for their actions. Even with her son fighting for his life in intensive care, Hoare showed little or no concern for Alfie and focussed her energies on maintaining contact with her partner so they could corroborate their false stories.
T o an outsider, the chicken sub on sale at the Kitchenette Karts street food truck in Spitalfields Market probably looks relatively easy to construct.

Sure, it contains all the necessary elements for a delicious and satisfying lunch on the go: bread with a fluffy middle and crispy edge, tender strips of chicken, and a crunchy thwack from raw vegetables tossed in a chilli and lime sauce. But theres a lot more to this than meets the taste buds.

The sandwich was made by Keenan Berry, a young street food entrepreneur and recent graduate from the same-named training programme, Kitchenette Karts, founded by Cynthia Shanmugalingam. Aimed at guiding young people towards paid employment in the food industry, it has created a food and business curriculum, as well as organising placements with partner food traders Breddos Tacos, Montys Deli, Yum Bun, and restaurants including Ottolenghi Spitalfields, Pizza Pilgrims, Moro and St John.

To date, the team has worked with 29 unemployed young people, 17 of whom found employment after three months and two of whom have set up micro businesses.

In 2017, Berry was living with his mother in Croydon and had finished sixth form studies. He knew he wanted to attend university but hadnt thought beyond that. He had begun earning money doing shifts at his local bar and post office, but otherwise he was mostly just playing Playstation all day, he explains during a Kitchenette Karts shift break. When both jobs fell through because of new rota patterns, Berry hit the internet.

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I found some random post on Gumtree showing that The Princes Trust was doing a week-long course for food safety. It was free, and I thought it wouldnt hurt to learn how to cook, he remembers.

As a young boy, Berry had cooked with his mum. It was very basic though - things like chopping cucumbers or stirring the pot, he laughs. Doing the food safety qualification led him to another event where he met Kitchenette Karts director, Jake Slater, and he now believes that gaining the qualification was one of the best decisions he ever made. So many doors have opened as a result of it," he says. "I can now go into kitchens saying Im qualified as a trainee chef.

We see this as a passport into the food industry if [the trainees] want it, believes Slater, whose concept developed out of a successful but separate food business incubator project from 2012, called Kitchenette. A few years later the team felt it could help more directly by empowering people who had no previous links to the food industry.

Skip forward to 2017 when, following crowdfunding, the Kitchenette team launched Kitchenette Karts: a food truck to be used as a vehicle to train young people with help from carefully chosen street food partners, and with the eventual goal of supporting them towards employment.

Keenan Berry learning the ropes at Breddos Tacos / Kitchenette Karts

Today, potential trainees referred from organisations such as The Princes Trust can attend a taster session, then an additional three-day bootcamp involving street food business development, storytelling, and studying for a Level 2 food safety and hygiene certificate. A further 12-week programme includes street food work placements, up to three day-long kitchen stages, and an additional part focusing on skills such as clear communication, time-keeping, and CV writing. In March there will be a new programme offering work placement on their own truck in Spitalfields Market.

A lot goes into our menu planning," says Slater. "The dishes have to be something that trainees can do, and are easily constructible within a street food environment. Initially they might be chopping herbs or slicing bread or garnishing. Over time theyll start using cooking equipment - we build up their skills as we go."

Slater passionately believes that by gaining exposure to actual work in a real world kitchen environment", a trainee can get the most useful insight into the skills required for each job, whether thats logistical planning (getting equipment from A to B, rota-ing staff, and knowing when and how to prep all the food), cooking, front of house, handling money or being aware of allergens. What excites him about street food is that by being in a small team of people trainees will be playing so many different roles they can learn and improve fast.

For Berry, the hard work has paid off and he is on the cusp of launching Smallies in Brighton, which he describes as "British-Trinidadian because it's Trinidadian food with British street food stylings." Named after one of his favourite dishes, small Trinidadian flatbreads known as doubles, which are commonly served in pairs and filled with chickpea curry.

"The doubles are quite small," he explains. "[But also] When people say Smallies it makes people smile which is always good.

"In Trinidad, there are doubles food stands after doubles food stands and its definitely something I want to bring here. The food is nice and simple and it has good vibes.

Slater is sad to be losing Berry from London, but is also really happy for him. "Keenan is one of the best examples of what were trying to do.
 Arent you bored of seeing women being held to a completely different standard to men? Anna Paquin asks, entirely rhetorically. Arent you bored to death of women on television making one bad decision then having to spend three episodes atoning for it? Its bullshit. Its an insult to our intelligence, she continues, crackling with consternation. All hail the end of that era.

Were in a juice cafe in Venice, Los Angeles, a large block of rose quartz on the table between us, beside glasses of water to which chlorophyll has been enthusiastically added by our waiter (only in LA). Neither of us is as Zen as our surroundings. Paquin, who lives close by and confesses to be a fan of the cafes turmeric shots, nevertheless rolls her eyes at the carefully constructed bohemia of it all. She might have worked in Hollywood for 27 of her 36 years, and won an Oscar at 11, but she remains refreshingly no-nonsense.

As a teenager I was doing loads of pretty full-on stuff on camera that Id never done in real life

Her latest on-screen iteration would no doubt go further, and eschew the turmeric shots in favour of tequila. In the much buzzed-about Flack (beginning this month on W) she plays Robyn, a celebrity publicist specialising in crisis management and keeping her clients indiscretions off the front pages with a wily combination of spin and steel. Shes incredibly good at her job and unapologetic about the choices she makes, says Paquin.

Some of those choices are bad: having sex with her client  a celebrity chef incapable of staying faithful  and attending Narcotics Anonymous for her boyfriend, while continuing with her cocaine habit. But a lot of them are for reasons you can understand, she explains. Under all the gloss, shes the child of an addict who was mentally unwell and killed herself. She keeps the plates spinning, but shes ultimately very damaged.

If that sounds a little bleak, rest assured the London-based show is anything but. Its satire is deeply meta  Robyns clients include a prickly, transphobic comedian, played by Alan Davies, and an arrogant, narcissistic actor, played by Bradley Whitford. The storylines, which feel pulled directly from todays breakneck news cycle, are awash with drinking and drugs and fuelled by spiky, sweary, whip-smart dialogue; Robyn reminds me of a slicker, glossier Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It.

Armando Iannuccis political comedy was, in fact, one of the reference points for Oliver Lansley, the shows creator. Its the same machinations of the dark arts, but in a world that is more glamorous and accessible, he tells me. His inspiration for Robyn came initially from the book, Difficult Men, about the rise of the Hollywood antihero, such as Walter White, Tony Soprano and Don Draper.

Female protagonists have been apologised for and explained away, in a way that we never do about men, he says. I wanted to write a character that could be on the cover of a book called Difficult Women.

Paquin has been on board since the beginning, not only in the leading role, but also as an executive producer  the show is co-produced by CASM, the production company she has with her actor husband, Stephen Moyer. There are not many jobs in which theres no way to become more senior at what you do, but thats the case with acting, she points out. Its like, okay, Ive been doing this for 27 years  give me more responsibility.

Born in Canada, Paquin was raised in New Zealand by teacher parents and has the hybrid accent to show for it. A casting call in the local newspaper led her to audition at age nine for The Piano, which won her a best supporting actress Oscar at the age of 11  the second-youngest person ever. She consequently had her own PR person long before other children knew what one was. As a very shy little girl, having to do press was scary and weird, she recalls. Im sure there are some kids who are very precocious and very chatty  that just wasnt who I was. My mum hired a publicist to make sure it was as contained and controlled as possible  more like a traffic cop than anything else.

She continued working through her teens, mainly in edgy, independent films, before joining the X-Men franchise. She met Moyer on the set of HBOs sexy vampire series True Blood, where, for seven years, he played her vampire lover, Bill. In 2012, she gave birth to their fraternal twins. They were born in the middle of True Blood  it was a zoo, she says. If you were Robyn, creating a PR story to be really juicy, actor plus actor plus raunchy show plus wedding plus babies would be it.

Moyer also has two older teenage children from two previous relationships. Paquin politely declines to go into details about their family dynamic, suffice to say: One of the things I think is really beautiful about blended families is there are more people who love the children. Its a village and that can only be a good thing.

While careful to protect the privacy of her family, Paquin is not afraid to compromise her own to speak out. In 2010, a few months before she married Moyer, she came out as bisexual, as part of the Give a Damn campaign to support LGBT equality. She tells me how, in signing up to make a statement in support of the project, the form asked for her name and sexual orientation. I was just like, Well, Im not heterosexual, so well cross that out and enter the correct word. Im not big on labels, but if we must use them, here you go. Her video statement features the actress saying: Im Anna Paquin. Im bisexual, and I give a damn.

Everybody in my life knew, it wasnt like it was some secret but evidently, I crashed the website, she grins. Much of the speaking out in Hollywood over the past 18 months, of course, has involved the #MeToo movement. One concrete change it has already brought to Paquins working life is the addition of an intimacy co-ordinator, to protect actors in scenes involving nudity or sexual content. For Paquin, who is currently filming the fifth and final season of The Affair, it was the first time working with one.

I worked on HBO for years and years and everyone gets their tits out, she shrugs. And before that, as a teenager, I was doing loads of pretty full-on stuff on camera that Id never done in real life. I can look after myself, but how wonderful that theres going to be a generation of actors who go through that with some support.

Her role in The Affair, playing Joanie Lockhart, Alison and Coles now-grown-up daughter, appealed largely because it now films in Los Angeles. The kids started proper school last September and were not looking to be uprooting them any more, she says. Maybe therell be some really exciting jobs that I might not get to do, but Im going to have kids who know they are the top priority and I dont think you can trade that. But that, of course, is where producing ones own material comes in. Controlling your own destiny, she nods. I know its a wanky expression but its totally true.

Moyer has also directed a film they produced together, The Parting Glass  is that something shed like to have a go at, too? Oh, absolutely, I just havent found what I want to direct yet, she enthuses. And its a very long time commitment. Im sure there are people who are comfortable handing things to other people. But if its mine, my footprints and handprints will be all over it.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:35 am

It was a winding path that led Niston Franco to where he is now, but ask him and hell say he doesnt believe in luck. Rather, he believes in preparing yourself for opportunity, so when it comes knocking, youre ready to answer.

Franco has been the CEO of the nonprofit Eugenia Center based in Chehalis since 2011. In that time, the organization has seen exponential growth; Franco was one of four employees when he started back in 2005, and now is one of 44.

But Franco didnt move to Washington from his home nation of Colombia keen on a career in treating chemical dependency. Rather, he was on a path to become a Catholic priest. He came to the U.S. in 1999, and began to study at the Diocese of Yakima and at a seminary in Oregon.

Even as a kid, he said, he had a fascination with the Pacific Northwest, saying that he would read about its natural qualities and Seattle and its history.

The mountains, the trees  the pine trees  and the rivers and lakes, he said.

He decided that the church wasnt the path for him, and left that course. He was married in 2002, and sought to gain some much needed work experience. For six months, Franco said, he struggled to land a job. Then he happened on a position at Sea Mar in Tumwater, as a chemical dependency professional.

He started out as a volunteer, and took part in some of the organizations events. With a foot in the door, he eventually landed a job as a counselor in training. A year and a half down the road, he was a manager.

Not too shabby, he said, for someone who struggled learning English as he was growing up. His go-to subjects tended more toward history, philosophy and sociology. He would stick with Sea Mar until 2008, but in the years in between, he found part-time employment with other agencies. One of those part-time jobs was with the Eugenia Center. He landed that job in 2005.

He became full-time with Eugenia Center in 2008, when the agency submitted a proposal to work with Lewis County Drug Court. Another part-time position introduced Franco to Thurston Countys drug court system, and he said he fell in love with it  the way it offered rehabilitation through means more effective to individuals suffering with addiction or mental health issues than incarceration.

I strongly believe that if somebody is a danger to society, there are certain things that have to take place to keep everybody else safe, but when those charges are related to a mental health condition or a substance use disorder  chemical dependency issue  then we should be going from punishment to an intervention model where we can intervene. If there is jail time that needs to happen, I dont want to change the legal system  but in that process how do we reform this individual? How do we introduce this individual into being rehabilitated? he said.

Franco developed a stance toward treatment he described as progressive  maybe more progressive than the sensibilities of others working closely with the local criminal justice system, he said. Franco described a desire for a system that moved further from punitive responses to drug use, and more like that of an intervention. He spoke favorably of medical assisted treatment, like Vivitrol and Suboxone treatment. He said someday hed like to see a needle exchange program in the area.

By late 2008, the Eugenia Center began to work with Lewis Countys drug court, and has been providing counseling and case management for drug court ever since.

In 2017, The Chronicle reported 6 percent of Lewis Countys Drug Court graduates would likely re-offend within 18 months of graduation, according to statistics from the Department of Social and Health Services. The statewide average was 20 percent.

Franco became CEO of Eugenia Center in 2011  which at the time had six employees. Over the years, that number would grow to 44, with most of the growth occurring between 2016 to 2019, Franco said. He credits that partly to the ability to apply for more grants and seek sure financial footing.

Today, Eugenia Center offers individual and group counseling on drug and alcohol abuse, mental health services and transportation for their clients. They opened a clinic in Mossyrock.

Franco said hes an advocate of meeting the person where theyre at, and for the clinic to be as approachable as possible.

The last thing we want to do is create more barriers, because theres a lot of barriers and obstacles for people to ask for help, and asking for help when you have a problem with drinking and using is not easy, he said.

Often, hell be approached by individuals who sought treatment successfully, and are now interested in becoming counselors. He said that sort of experience can help a counselor be more relatable to their clients, as long as the person seeks the proper education and licensing..

As for Franco, its encouraging when someone approaches him and says he played a part in them kicking a deadly habit. Hes been at it long enough that he might not even remember the person right away, but conversation will often jog his memory, as they tell him the positive track their life has taken since.

You might not change the whole world, but its good to know that you touch lives every day, and that youre able to be a part of the solution, he said.
S ince 2010 weve known for certain that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred. Genetics has completely revolutionised in no time at all the entire story of human origins, says Clive Finlayson, an evolutionary biologist based in Gibraltar who has been excavating Neanderthal sites there for 30 years. Non-Africans today carry between 1.8 and 2.6 per cent Neanderthal DNA, its now clear.

This is extraordinary news for us all, not only for embattled creationists. It has to change our sense of what it is to be human, to learn that not only did we co-exist and interbreed with other human species but that we carry their legacy within us today.

It is this newly awakened curiosity about our nature that underpins the phenomenal success of Yuval Noah Hararis Sapiens. That, however, was first published in 2011 and already looks a bit out of date on this subject. A few lucky Neanderthal genes did hitch a ride on the Sapiens Express, Noah Harari breezily remarks, characteristically adding: It is unsettling  and perhaps thrilling  to think that we Sapiens could at one time have sex with an animal from a different species and produce children together.

Back then, Noah Harari still favoured the replacement theory over the new research proving interbreeding and he was committed to the belief that, at some time between 70,000 and 35,000 years ago, a cognitive revolution transformed the capacities of Sapiens, enabling us to graduate from biology to history, to conceptualise, to make tools and create art  abilities that enabled us to out-compete and eliminate all other humans, violently or not.

It may well be that when Sapiens encountered Neanderthals the result was the first and most significant ethnic-cleansing campaign in history, Noah Harari suggests, sentences beginning with that little formula cropping up frequently in this kind of remote speculation, along with those smoothly structured If... then... He is confident, though in the superiority of Sapiens, telling us In a one-on-one brawl a Neanderthal would probably have beaten a Sapiens. But in a conflict of hundreds, Neanderthals wouldnt stand a chance  because they could not co-operate effectively in large numbers, or adapt rapidly to new challenges.

Clive Finlayson wants us to re-evaluate altogether our perception of Neanderthals as having been primitive  and the original way he sets about this is by examining the evidence for their relationship with birds. Thus he combines his own two great interests, birdwatching and human origins. The Smart Neanderthal is itself an odd mix of genres, half a presentation of archaeological and scientific research and half a birdwatching memoir, relating memorable trips, frequently bringing in his wife Geraldine and son Stewart who work in the same field.

So this is an anecdotal and quirky book, an act of storytelling in effect, but nonetheless persuasive for that.

Finlayson and his collaborators have found the bones of no fewer than 160 species of birds in just four caves on a single limestone peninsula in Gibraltar. Working with experts in taphonomy  the study of how organisms decay and are fossilised  he draws large conclusions. Neanderthals were not restricted to slow-moving prey, as had been assumed. They made blades; they made complex tools and they had sophisticated economic and social organisation that included detailed planning of hunting activities at specific times of the year for particular prey.

Cognitive skills: Nana and Flint, forensic reconstructions of two Gibraltar Neanderthals by Kennis & Kennis

Examining cut marks on the bones of large predatory birds such as vultures and eagles, he deduces that they were taken primarily for their feathers and talons, and therefore had high symbolic significance, as such birds did in Native American culture. Using tools produced by a modern flint knapper, he emulates the Neanderthals by skinning scavenged Griffon vultures, to produce a complete cloak of vulture feathers consisting of both wings and the tail.

And then, in 2012, Finlayson and his team discovered engraved lines resembling a hashtag in Gorhams Cave in Gibraltar, at a level that had been occupied by the Neanderthals. Here was an abstract pattern, proof, he contends, that Neanderthals had cognitive skills comparable to a modern human.

Finlayson, who passionately admires the Neanderthals as, among much else great naturalists aware of the beautiful complexity of nature and indeed seems at several points openly to identify with them, is deeply moved by the implications of this, telling us pointedly that they were not replaced by cognitively superior humans.

It is time to welcome the Neanderthals into our global community, he concludes, in contemporary, inclusive mood. The Smart Neanderthal is a touching, slightly eccentric contribution to an evolving story, finding, as all do in this field, tremendous significance in still scant evidence  but it is wonderfully suggestive and engaging. Some of us find news and speculation about our own distant origins even more intriguing than the very latest celebrity gossip.
Queen of Hoxton

This Shoreditch spot is known for one of its nights above all else: Hip Hop Karaoke. Its the best open mic in London for would-be MCs, and is hosted by DJ Rob Pursey of Southern Hospitality, which throws some of the most popular hip hop nights in the capital. Make sure you know your J Dillas from your P Diddys if you take to the stage here, as the crowd will soon let you know if you cant keep up with the beat. Expect a variety of house, techno and disco sounds if you head to any of the other weekend club nights here.
R ace Against the Machine. Thats the title of a hugely influential book by MIT professors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson that looks at how technology is reshaping the economy and fundamentally changing the work well be doing in the years to come.

Its conclusion is stark: millions of jobs will be lost as roles currently handled by humans are increasingly taken over by software and machines.

The Bank of Englands chief economist, Andy Haldane, has made a similar point, predicting that as many as 15 million jobs are at risk from automation in the UK alone.

But before we all get too depressed, heres some good news. Jobs that involve creativity are far less likely to be replaced by technology  because luckily for us, computers are mostly still hopeless at creative tasks.

This begs the question: where does creativity come from? Does it just happen randomly, or is it possible to build organisations that nurture this way of thinking and equip people with the skills to turn a creative idea into a product or a business?

If you want to know the answer, theres no better place to go than the Royal College of Art, which was founded in the 19th century in response to the Industrial Revolution, which was destroying old jobs and ways of working on a scale similar to todays technology changes.

Whats so impressive about the RCA isnt just that it produces so many amazing graduates  such as artist David Hockney, film director Ridley Scott and former Burberry CEO Christopher Bailey.

This tiny school spawns more business start-ups than Oxford, Cambridge or Imperial College London, which all have far larger student populations.

And when you look more closely, you find that the UK punches way above its weight when it comes to the quality of our art schools and the creative ingenuity of their graduates, from John Lennon to Apple design genius Jony Ive.

But even though the creative industries contribute more than 100 billion to the British economy each year, the truth is that art schools have never been a priority for ministers, which means theyve been relatively underfunded  and could be even better than they currently are.

A glorious exception can be found in Battersea, where a 50 million cheque from central government is funding the RCAs expansion into a stunning new building by Tate Modern architects Herzog & de Meuron.

Just last week the Sigrid Rausing Trust announced a 15 million gift to support this project, showing how bold political action can inspire others to follow.

This is exactly the kind of leadership we need if were going to have any chance of winning the race against the machine.
W hat does Ed Bramson want with Barclays? The corporate raider has never actually said  a year after he first built a 5% stake, he hasnt publicly declared his intentions, nor even told the Barclays board he is scheming to join.

The impression left is that it amuses Bramson to sit quietly on the sidelines, that perhaps he just enjoys the fuss he has created without ever having to commit to anything.

Its assumed that he wants to shake up the trading arm, perhaps ditching Britains last proper global investment bank in the process.

That might be OK if this were just a game, but its not. Barclays is a massively important UK institution, vital to the lives of millions of customers, thousands of staff and chunks of corporate Britain. Moreover it finally looks to be finding some stability after years of chaos.

It would be best if Bramson was sent packing and there are reasons for optimism.

For a start, unusually, no other activists have tried to jump on his bandwagon. No longer-term investors have come out in his support.

Most interest from City investors in Bramson seems to come from those who dont own the shares precisely because they dont like the strategy. So even if they agree with Bramson, they cant vote for him.

So it seems likely that his attempt at the upcoming AGM to grab a seat on the board will fail, perhaps embarrassingly so.

One City observer notes that Bramsons track record, especially when he does get on to the boards of companies he wants to bust up, is far from perfect.

He arrives with a pre-conceived plan, cant or wont adjust when reality proves different to prejudice, and struggles to work with chairmen or chief executives.

Whatever he specifically wants, it is bound to involve yet another shake-up at a major bank, massively complicated institutions that take ages to evolve.

I asked an analyst to find me an example of a bank that shrunk its investment bank and had a higher share price at the end of the process. He couldnt think of one.

Moreover, because of the way Bramson has structured his stake (dont ask, its complicated) he isnt personally exposed to the share price falling.

Its all upside for him, and only for him.

It would be decent of him to come out in the open at least so we can see if he is as tough as he seems to imagine, to see if he can take a punch or just throw them.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley says he wants to keep the dialogue at a constructive level, adding wed love to understand him, sounding like an adult dealing with an annoying teenager. He didnt seem irritated, but he has every reason to be.
A sset manager GAM attempted to draw a line under its bond fund crisis on Thursday by firing the hedge fund boss at the centre of the row.

The Swiss firm said British-based Tim Haywood, who was suspended in July, had been dismissed for gross misconduct due to serious failure to achieve the standard of skill and care which were to be expected of someone in his position.

Haywood said on Friday he intended to appeal this decision

Haywood, who ran the giant Absolute Return Bond Fund, was accused of shoddy record-keeping after a whistleblower came forward to complain.

His suspension led to the liquidation of ARBF, an exodus of clients and share price collapse, which culminated in the exit of chief executive Alexander Friedman in November.

Gam chairman Hugh Scott-Barrett said: 2018 marked the most difficult year for GAM since its independence 10 years ago and 2019 will continue to be challenging.

The bonus pool for executives had been slashed by 60% although it still weighs in at Swfr5.6 million (4.3 million).

Haywood said in a statement: I dispute many of the findings, while noting the majority of the allegations have been dropped.
S erco was upbeat about rewarding long-suffering shareholders on Thursday despite difficult conditions in the UK.

The prisons-to-hospitals outsourcers chief executive Rupert Soames, who described the mood as miserably cheerful, like Eeyore, said dividends were on the cards again.

Serco, which makes 40% of sales from the UK, said sales in 2020 would rise 5% due to new contracts, including a 1.9bn deal to house asylum-seekers in Britain. Free cash flow also turned positive for the first time in three years.

Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, has never paid a dividend to investors but said prospects were increasing. Theres an aviation term called being on short finals, which means youre just coming into land approaching the runway. We are reaching the landing point where we will be able to pay dividends.

Its been a miserable four years for shareholders but they can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. In 2014 we were early adopters of financial carnage. Finally the old tanker seems to be turning and we now have positive cash flow and increasing profits. It does feel a bit of a turning point.

He declined to specific when the payout might resume. Despite the UK drag, around 80% of order intake this year came from overseas.
B AE Systems shares fell on Thursday after it admitted a German freeze on Saudi arms exports in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi could hammer its supplies to the kingdom.

The FTSE 100 firm, which gets less than 15% of group sales from Saudi, said there were several planning and supply chain projects to cut disruption from the ban. Germany said in November it would halt arms export licences to Saudi following outrage over Khashoggi, who was slain in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey in October.

BAE has Saudi contracts for Eurofighter Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets using parts affected by the German ban, prompting fears shipments could be hit.

Chief executive Charles Woodburn said: This is not a cliff-edge scenario. The impact has been minimal to date but over time it could become more difficult. He did not give details on how it was trying to cut disruption because the information is classified.

BAE was less forthright about the problems than French plane maker Airbuss chief executive Tom Enders, who has said Germanys ban was a kind of moral high ground attitude.

Woodburn said: The operations of Saudi Arabia are conducted under a government-to-government agreement where we are the prime contractor.

The issue of German licences is a political issue and as such requires it to be resolved at a political level. To that end we are working closely with the UK government.

BAE said order intake increased by 8 billion to 28.3 billion. Its defence order backlog was at a record high with high visibility on key initiatives over the next decade. Shares fell 7% to 471p.

The company has appointed a chief technology officer in a bid to keep BAE innovating.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 9:19 am

While sexual health education is largely a local decision right now, a new bill could require school districts to implement comprehensive sexual education as an integral part of the curriculum.

Under current state law, Washington public schools have the option to teach sexual education. SB 5395 would require all public schools in Washington to provide comprehensive sexual education by September 2020.

At the Chehalis School Boards regular meeting Tuesday evening, two Chehalis parents voiced concerns over new sexual education legislation that would be more comprehensive and emphasize the importance of affirmative consent.

We are all for having accurate information, but when it is going to broaden in scope, we really do want to make sure we are aware of what is happening, that all parents are, said Chehalis School District parent Brian Mittge.

The bill was read for the first time on Jan. 18, then referred to the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. There was a hearing for the bill on Feb. 13. Mittge asked the Chehalis School Board what type of parental involvement the board would have if there were requirements in what is now an optional type of curriculum.

Chehalis School District Superintendent Ed Rothlin said any curriculum review the school district does will give parents an opportunity to be engaged.

Of course, this (subject) will attract more parents, Rothlin said. We usually dont get a lot of interest when were doing some of our other adoptions, but we are keeping our eye on it. Unfortunately, I cant say that all the schools agree with the Chehalis School District. There are a lot of opinions in Olympia, so we will keep a watch on it.

Superintendents from the Centralia, Napavine and Mossyrock school districts did not respond to interview requests Wednesday afternoon about what the districts currently provide for sexual education. Winlock School District Superintendent Richard Serns wrote in an email that he had not heard of the bill yet, and has not heard from parents about the bill.

We dont use any sex education curriculum, Serns wrote in an email. The only thing that we do is the counselor and the principal talk with the 5th grades students (boys and girls separate), and there are of course the basic health and biology courses at the middle school and high school. We just started meeting with some school and community leaders regarding educating middle school and high school students about the dangers of sexting and other risky social media practices. We have had excellent presentations from the sheriffs department and others regarding that for assemblies. That isnt sex education per se but it is an important related topic.

The new legislation would mandate more comprehensive sexual education, require affirmative consent curriculum and that school districts use a curriculum that the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has approved. Parents would still be allowed to opt their children out of the sexual health education.

According to the bill, the instruction must include information that, Encourages healthy relationships that are based on mutual respect and affection and are free from violence, coercion, and intimidation as well as Teaches how to identify and respond to attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual violence and Emphasizes the importance of affirmative consent, meaning conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity, as a requirement before sexual activity.

Onalaska School District Superintendent Jeff Davis said the district already covers topics presented in the bill.

Other than making it more mandatory, I dont see a lot of things that are different from what we are doing now, Davis said. We teach a lot of behavior kinds of issue through character education each month.

Davis said he believes school districts and families have a responsibility to have age-appropriate conversations with students, including discussing consent with high school students.

I think it is important that we make children aware at the appropriate ages about being healthy, Davis said. Thats a huge umbrella about what that means.
Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

STAMFORD  A former clerk at a music store in the Stamford Town Center mall pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing over $20,000 from her employer by fraudulently processing refunds of the same CD box set collections and other items over and over again and pocketing the cash.

After making the plea to a felony charge of first-degree larceny, former FYE cashier Rishay Prescott, 32, of High Street, can avoid prison if she returns to court in mid April with $7,000 in cash, according to the terms of her plea agreement. If not, a Stamford judge will be free to sentence her to up to five years in prison, according to the deal outlined in court by Supervisory Assistant States Attorney Paul Ferencek.
Introducing your online-only product into physical stores calls for a completely different launch playbook. But as difficult as the task ahead may be, it won't be impossible.

Example: Quip, an oral care company, successfully launched its product in Target, one of Harbor Retails partners, last year. And because Quip meshed well with Targets new cheap chic branding, it was able to gain an additional $40 million in equity financing, after just one fiscal quarter on the retailers shelves.

Placing your own product in physical stores can help you create a seamless shopping experience for your customers, test new product lines and even create brand awareness. True, web-only brands are taking over ecommerce, but companies like Casper are successful because theyre available in traditional retail stores, too.

Related: How a Brick-and-Mortar Store Can Be the Foundation of Ecommerce Success

That kind of combination works: Playing in both the online and in-store categories allows brands, especially those with new products, to double down in the three Cs: convenience, culture and curation, and take a deep dive into consumer experience.

That's important because consumers are still human afterall and therefore in need of physical interaction with brands and products; no wonder even Amazon is jumping into the offline game. So, it doesn't matter whether you are seeking a permanent retailer or are opening a pop-up store: You need to put your creative top hat back on. Successful in-store product launches are as much about the shoppers experience as they are about the brand's operational efficiency and conversion metrics.

Dancing your way to an in-store launch

If you can create experiences that are special enough for customers to share and memorable enough to foster repeat purchases in-store, youll be giving retailer procurement and merchandise teams what they need to champion your launch, as well as capture a sizable share of basket and repeat sales with greater ease.

Before you can do that, however, you'll need to understand your brand, the channels it will sell in and the retailers it will partner with. And you cant do all that alone. Here are the important teams youll need to help you:

1. Channel marketing

Channel marketing will ensure the right channels are in place for your launch. Do you need digital, mass or specialty marketing? Each channel will have different nuances that people in this role will understand. Selling in a convenience store will be vastly different from selling through a mass merchant, for example. You wont be changing your brand voice -- only the way you sell your product. The selling message must resonate with, and be relevant for, that channel.

Ensure you layer on mission statements for each channel. Considering that 77 percent of consumers use a mobile device to find products, according to Salsify, mission statements will give additional insight into who, how and why people shop specific retailers. Also, leverage the future state of the retailer: Is it increasing its product mix to capture more of your targets? If so, you might want to double down.

Related: Let's Get Personal: Using Technology to Improve In-Store Customer Experience

2. Customer marketing

Customer marketing can help you make sure the retailer you're considering aligns with your company's goals and values; it will ensure the retailer will be a good partner. Be as selective with your first retailers as you were with whomever you pitched for funding and whomever you recruited as your first team members. Is the retailer collaborative? What are the performance thresholds you must surpass to elevate your brand directly into marketing, store design and operations?

Take Harry's, the shaving company, for example. Harry's is all about giving customers "a quality shave at a great price." To accomplish that goal for women, as well, the brand launched Flamingo. Until February, Flamingo was available online only, but now both Harry's and Flamingo products can be found at Target.

This is an example of a great retailer-brand match. While Harry's offers high-quality products, service and style, Target is known for low-cost yet high-quality style, unique product lines and great service.

3. Retailer marketing

Retail sales are going up. In fact, according to the U.S. Census, they hit a record high of $5.7 trillion in 2017. Inside the retailer itself, you'll need marketers who can help determine the rules of engagement to combine customer-relationship management strategies and promotional power. Aligning your audiences and bringing a smaller or new product to their attention will help them compete better as the landscape continues to grow.

Ask yourself how your shopper base can influence the retailers current guest base. When it comes to working with this team, partner up to improve store traffic and drive conversion. Demonstrate how your brand brings more shoppers to the store and increases total basket conversion. For example, some holiday shopping crazes, such as Cabbage Patch Kids (1983), Furbies (1998) and Hatchimals (2017), brought in a ton of store traffic and sold out in a flash.

4. Store operations

A retailer's store-operations team has the goal of easing field operations for everyone. These team members know the path to purchase inside and out to leverage not-so-ideal aisle placement. Use a natural shopper flow per shopper trip profile to your advantage so your products can reach the eyes -- and basket -- of the shopper across mission-based or exploratory trips.

Just as when you were pitching and proving your business's worth when you were starting out, you'll need to hook the shopper with an authentic experience in the aisle that sells more than your features and benefits. You might do this through in-aisle experiences or even additional services that are attached to your product lines. Ulta stores are a great example: They offer an experience, education, samples and product sales, all in one.

Related: 7 Layout Secrets of the Big Retail Chains

When you first started out, you focused on the most important things you could do to drive value for your business in the moment. So, when its time to launch your product in-store, you'll be reverting to the same starting line. But, courage: Youve trained for this. Youve already competed in this arena. And you can renew your success -- this time in the retail sphere -- and do so with even greater confidence.

Related:

Thinking About Taking Your Product Into Big-Box Stores? You Need Help in These 4 Areas

This Indian Leather Brand has Withered the Test of Time by not Throwing in the Towel to Changing Trends

This Legendary Music Retailer Made Millions Online. So Why Did They Open a Studio?



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
A Florida man said he did what he had to do to protect himself, his dog and his neighborhood when faced with an overly aggressive coyote.

The coyote was killed and his dog is getting frequent checkups to make sure rabies is not an issue.

"They're all back behind here," said Ben Pool, who said he hears coyotes often in his Fruitland Park neighborhood. But he said he rarely sees them.

Things were different, however, on Friday.

"My dog and a coyote were standing face to face, fixing to go at it," Pool said.

Pool was able to get the two animals apart.

"He came at my legs, first, I smashed him in the side of the head with the cup. He came at me again, I smashed him again and then he jumped up at my face, when he did that I jumped back, smacked him in the side of the head, he screamed and he went down," Pool said.

Pool managed to get himself and his dog up the street and home, but says the coyote was relentless.

"It was extremely aggressive, it did not respond to anything I had ever heard, like making noise. The more I did that, the madder it got and the more it came at me," Pool said.

Desperate times meant Pool got a gun and went off in his truck.

"I was going to shoot it out the window because I didn't want to get out and fight it again and when I did, it jumped up at the window of the truck. I rolled the window down, went three or four times at it, and finally I ran over it. No regret, none. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Pool said.

Pool feels the coyote population is only going to get larger, and he fears it's only going to get more complicated. That's why he wants more support from state and local officials.

"If I would have been bitten, everyone would have been here in a heartbeat doing something. But since I wasn't bitten, nobody was going to come and do anything," Pool said.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 10:35 am

The first part of Dr. Preston Kiekels week looks like that of the average professor. Its the weekend when he marches to the beat of his own drum.

Kiekel leads a variety of math-related classes each Monday-Thursday while school is in session at Centralia College ranging from statistics to industrial mathematics. Most Fridays and Saturdays, Kiekel can be found instead at Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, teaching inmates there as part of the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program.

Though hes taught subjects such as algebra and statistics to the Cedar Creek population, Kiekels most popular offering by far is Math and Society, a class he describes as math for those who arent as interested in STEM  science, technology, engineering and mathematics  degrees.

Its the same as a class I teach each year at the college, Kiekel said. I try to have all my prison classes be as close to what I teach on the main campus as possible. The last unit of it is music, and its a particularly interactive one where you can see a lot of the students are much more excited and engaged.

The U.S. Department of Education began the Second Chance Pell program in 2015, allowing eligible prisoners to apply for federal Pell Grants for use at one of more than 60 colleges. Centralia College is one of three postsecondary institutions in Washington participating in the program  Seattle Centralia Community College and Tacoma Community College are the others.

Math and Society explores a number of areas related to life skills and the humanities some people dont think of in a mathematical context. Regular topics include geometry within visual art forms and personal finance, though Kiekel takes suggestions from each class to help round out the curriculum.

The music portion features a look at how sound waves are measured through trigonometry, lectures on the history of math and music stretching back 1,000 years, and explores the mathematics of sheet music. Students then use math to analyze a song of their choosing and to compose a song of their own.

Kiekel said inmates who take the class often earn high grades, an outcome he attributes to their commitment to maintaining their Pell Grants and desire to capitalize on their second chance.

These are the most dedicated students Ive ever worked with, Kiekel said. They do all their work and show up all the time. The extent to which they contribute to the class is remarkable. They put in the effort, seem to benefit from it, and seem to love it. Thats what makes them such great students.

Cedar Creek officials have to give Kiekel special permission to bring musical instruments into the facility. The prison already has guitars used during worship services, so Kiekel brought other instruments such as frame drums and a Bulgarian string instrument called a gadluka inside the gates.

The resources we do not have access to in the prison, like the internet, really brings my attention to my reliance on those tools. There are some compromises we have to make, which makes me more flexible in how I present materials to my regular students. Its had a positive impact on my day-to-day job as a teacher.

With more than three years remaining until the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program is set to expire, Kiekel hopes to continue refining the Cedar Creek version of his Math and Society class while introducing dozens of inmates to the everyday uses of mathematics.

Most people are math-phobic, which is a characteristic of our culture, Kiekel said. When you show them something they enjoy and are familiar with, it really helps them connect to the material and to the math more broadly.
Last winter at MJBiz Con in Las Vegas, the longest line at the convention was for a tiny Italian Ice stall, where two guys shoveled free samples of cherry and lemon ices into little cups. The guys were Al and Troy Everetts, a father and son team from Pennsylvania. And the product they were serving for the first time ever was called Mt. Everetts Frozen Creations -- traditional Italian Ices infused with non-traditional CBD.

This was the last place on earth the two ever expected to be -- at a marijuana convention three thousand miles from the family's Italian Ice and custard shop in the small town of Kingston.

How they got there and why is a story of a good idea, good timing, and good recipes.

Related: How to Start and Market Your CBD Company

Rocky Mountain high

The idea for Mt. Everetts Frozen Creations was hatched by Troy, 24, during a road trip to Denver with his girlfriend (now wife). Troy had never been to Colorado, and he was blown away by all the recreational pot shops and offerings. "I saw like 20 brands of edible chocolate there," he says. "Business was crazy. It was just booming."

When he returned home, he told his father, Al, about what he'd seen. Al describes himself as "an R&D guy who's been making ices for 25 years." He's a VP at Rosati Ice and owns a local Italian Ice shop called Josie's on S. Wyoming Avenue.

Troy said, "Dad, you make the best Italian Ice. Let's see if we can get into this business."

Al was skeptical. He was an Italian Ice guy. What did he know from cannabis? He had very little personal experience with the plant, although he did have memories of his older brother talking to him about it in the 70s. "I was 12 and he was 17," Al says. "He'd be reading High Times all the time. He'd say, 'I'm telling you, Al. This should be legal. It's good for you.'"

Despite his early doubts, Al loved his son and admired his enthusiasm, so he agreed to go to Colorado "to wrap my head around it." He, too, was impressed by the business, so he started doing research and asking around. "Everybody kept coming back to me saying, 'Listen, you'll never get the (CBD) oil in the water. Good luck. Go ahead and try it,'" Al recalls.

Challenge accepted

Undeterred, Al set off to do what he does best. "I just spent a lot of time testing things and working with different ingredients," he says.

Because CBD oil is expensive, he did lots of calculations and mixing processes on paper and in his head before he put oil to ice. After six weeks, Al concocted the perfect process and formula for CBD-infused ice.

"I break the oil up into real, small particles, almost like nanoparticles," Al says. He believes the process gives the ice more bang for the buck and makes it more effective therapeutically.

Al created three flavors: Lemon, which he describes as the most traditional flavor in the Italian Ice business. "That's the flavor that most everybody does on the street corners in New York. Mango, which Al says has taken off in popularity in the last in the 20 years. And cherry, a tried-and-true favorite.

Related: Why These Teenage Girls Started a CBD Lifestyle Brand

High scores

After perfecting his formula, Al sent the ices off to a lab in California to be tested.

"I'll never forget the response," he says. "They called me and, for the first minute, they must have said the F-word like 10 times. They said, 'We melted it. We froze it. We beat it up and your numbers are spot on. You're real consistent.' They told me I should go teach some of the bigger companies how to be more consistent."

In cannabis, consistency is king. When people like a product, they want it to taste the same and make them feel the same every time.

They went on to test his product for pesticides and again were surprised that he came out completely negative.

With the winning formula complete, the next challenge was raising enough money to start the business. This is when another father-son team (who remain anonymous) stepped in to partner with the Everetts. Those investors introduced them to Two Roots, a major cannabis-infused beer company, who invited them to Las Vegas to debut their new product.

Ice, Ice Baby

Troy admits to being overwhelmed by the response at MJBiz Con, saying, "We weren't sure how the ice was going to do in the West Coast. They don't really know what Italian Ice is out there. But people went crazy. They wanted to get orders ASAP.

To date, the Everetts have shipped orders to dispensaries in California, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Florida. They sell the product online, but at this point only to people in the East Coast.

Al is thrilled with the early success, but he's even more thrilled to be working with his son.

"It's great," he says. "We work well together because he has this strengths and I have my strengths. He's a marketing guy; he's the social media guy. You know these young kids with the computers and everything. Put me in the kitchen. That's where I'm going to go."

Related: The Coming International CBD Boom and How it Will Disrupt the Marijuana Business

Related:

How A Father And Son Teamed Up to Infuse The Family Ice Business with Cannabis

Julian Marley Thinks Cannabis Should Be Free

Ricky Williams Has The Last Laugh



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Chahid El Hafed , Feb 21, 2019 (SPS) - the Permanent Bureau of the National Secretariat praised Wednesday the support of the African Union for the Sahrawi cause, in statement concluded its meeting yesterday at the Presidencys headquarter

The Permanent Bureau hailed the principle position of the African Union and its commitment to its Constitutive Act, recalling the permanent presence of the Saharawi question within the continental organization and at the highest levels.

It notes that the formation of an African troika at the level of presidents reflects the natural and required role of the African Union to resolve the dispute between the two member countries in the Organization, the Saharawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco.

The Permanent Bureau highlights the growing interest at the international level in promoting the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, especially the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, President Horst Koehler.

In this sense, the POLISARIO reiterates its sincere cooperation with the efforts of the UN to decolonize Western Sahara. SPS

125/090/TRA
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
Symmetrical streaks in Venus' lower-level clouds as seen by the Akatsuki spacecraft (left) and reconstructed through simulation. A strong downflow is denoted by brighter parts of the images.

Surprise! New pictures show two symmetrical streaks hiding in the sulfuric acid clouds close to the surface of Venus.

The Japanese Akatsuki spacecraft spotted the twin phenomena in Venus' northern and southern hemispheres. Each streak is roughly 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometers) across. That's more than double the distance between San Francisco and New York City.

Venus is close to Earth's size but orbits closer to the sun than our home does. Venus isn't habitable by life as we know it , not by any stretch of the imagination. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide. It has clouds made of sulfuric acid. The planet is, in fact, fully enveloped in clouds, and you cannot see its surface with the naked eye. Underneath the clouds lies a world shaped by the runaway greenhouse effect and featuring oven-like temperatures, possible active volcanoes and bone-crushing pressures.

This is all old news to researchers  after all, Soviet Union landers briefly survived this surface environment in the 1970s and 1980s  but the streaks were previously unknown. And they may be unique to Venus.

The story of their formation isn't too alien, though: The streaks are related to polar jet streams, researchers from Japan's Kobe University, which led the study, said in a statement . Polar jet streams are found on Earth, but their results are different on Venus.

At Earth's mid and high latitudes, dynamic winds can form cyclones, high-pressure systems and jet streams  and the same thing is probably happening at the high latitude of Venus, the university's analysis shows. But at lower latitudes on Venus, things get a little weird. Large-scale flows in the Venus atmosphere, coupled with that world's planetary rotation, create huge vortexes starting at the equator and stretching as far as 60 degrees latitude north and south. On Earth, the equivalent vortex would stretch well into Canada in the north  and as far south as the ocean near Antarctica.

The planetary-scale streaks on Venus form using the process above. From the statement, "The giant vortexes caused by Rossby waves (left) are tilted by the high-latitude jet streams and stretch (right). Within the stretched vortexes, the convergence zone of the streak structure is formed, a downflow occurs, and the lower clouds become thin. Venus rotates in a westward direction, so the jet streams also blow west." (Image credit: Nature Communications/ CC BY 4.0

"When jet streams are added to this phenomenon, the vortexes tilt and stretch, and the convergence zone between the north and south winds forms as a streak," researchers said in the statement. "The north-south wind that is pushed out by the convergence zone becomes a strong downward flow, resulting in the planetary-scale streak structure." Planetary rotation and atmospheric fluctuations over the equator keep the hemispheres symmetrical.

Akatsuki captured the streaks using an infrared camera that can measure wavelengths of 2 micrometers (a tiny fraction of a millimeter). This allows the spacecraft to spy on the construction of lower cloud banks only 31 miles (50 km) from the surface. Researchers modeled the atmosphere using a program called AFES-Venus, developed before Akatsuki arrived at Venus in 2015. (The probe was supposed to get there in 2010 but missed the opportunity ; the second attempt worked.)

The researchers noted that it is difficult to observe Venus' surface and lower atmosphere, which could affect the accuracy of the simulations.

A study based on the research was published Jan. 9 in the journal Nature Communications. The research was led by Hiroki Kashimura, a project assistant professor at Kobe.
Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, poses with the M113 armored personnel carrier during a training exercise at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2002. Ramon was one of the seven astronauts killed in the Columbia disaster on Feb. 1, 2003.

ORLANDO, Fla.  When Israel's first moon mission launches into space today (Feb. 21), a tiny memento of the country's first astronaut will fly along with the spacecraft.

Ilan Ramon , Israel's first and only astronaut, died in a tragic accident during his first trip to space. He was one of seven astronauts flying in the space shuttle Columbia when it broke apart upon returning to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003, killing everyone on board.

Sixteen years after the accident, an Israeli startup company called SpaceIL aims to tackle another momentous first by launching not just the first Israeli space mission, but also the world's first privately funded lunar lander . At a pre-launch briefing here on Wednesday (Feb. 20), SpaceIL co-founder Kfir Damari said Ramon "inspired us when we were younger," adding that he hopes SpaceIL's mission will inspire the next generation of Israeli rocket scientists.

Related: Israel's 1st Moon Lander: SpaceIL Beresheet Mission in Pictures

The crew of mission STS-107 on the space shuttle Columbia, from left to right: David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool and Ilan Ramon. (Image credit: NASA)

SpaceIL's lunar lander, named Beresheet, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today (Feb. 21) at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT on Feb. 22), and you can watch the launch live here on Space.com . If all goes according to plan, Beresheet will then begin its seven-week-long journey to the moon.

Along with a magnetometer and a laser retroreflector , the Beresheet lander will carry a time capsule to the moon. Inside that capsule are three tiny discs  each about the size of a nickel  containing digital copies of Israeli memorabilia, such as the nation's declaration of independence, its national anthem, Hebrew songs and artwork by Israeli children. A photo of Ramon will also be included in the capsule, The Jerusalem Post reported .

"That time capsule, I think, incorporates the dreams and hopes of all of those were involved in building the spaceship," SpaceIL co-founder Yonatan Winetraub said during the briefing. "Hopefully, people in the far future will be able to come and retrieve that time capsule" and "see what is was like on Earth in 2019."

"Unfortunately, the accident with Ilan Ramon is something I think all of us remember, but he really inspired us," Damari said. Ramon's widow, Rona, continued to fuel that inspiration after the Columbia disaster, Damari added. She founded the Ramon Foundation to promote STEM and space education for children in Israel, and she became a staunch supporter of SpaceIL's mission.

Officials with SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) speak at a press conference in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 20, 2019. From left to right: Sylvan Adams, SpaceIL donor and Canadian-Israeli philanthropist; SpaceIL co-founder Yonatan Winetraub; Yigal Harel, head of the SpaceIL Spacecraft Program; Boaz Levy, executive vice president and general manager of IAI's Systems Missiles and Space Group; and Kfir Damari, co-founder of SpaceIL. (Image credit: Space.com)

"Rona had something amazing for not just us, but all the kids who also met her and got the feeling that they are really capable," Damari said. "She really believed in everyone, and she really believed in us." When SpaceIL was founded for the Google Lunar X Prize competition in 2011, Rona told the team that they "are continuing building a path," Damari said. "Hearing that from her was something that excited us, but in a way, it [also] gave us the feeling that we must continue and we must succeed."
In this image, captured by InSight's Instrument Deployment Camera on Feb. 7, one of the lander's pair of white weather-station towers, with the temperature and wind sensors extended horizontally to the right, is visible below the robotic arm.

We take daily weather reports for granted here on Earth, but their mundane utility just got some out-of-this-world competition from NASA's InSight mission , which is now providing reports on temperatures and wind speeds from its home at Elysium Planitia.

The lander is equipped with sophisticated weather-monitoring equipment on account of one of its instruments, an ultrasensitive seismometer that scientists will use to see inside the planet. But that device is so sensitive that it could mistake gusts of wind for elusive so-called marsquakes  which is why scientists need to track the weather, second by second, on Mars.

"It gives you the sense of visiting an alien place," Don Banfield, chief meteorologist for InSight and a planetary scientist at Cornell University in New York state, said in a statement . "Mars has familiar atmospheric phenomena that are still quite different than those on Earth." [ Mars InSight in Photos: NASA's Mission to Probe Core of the Red Planet ]

The InSight team has assembled a website hosting the mission's weather data, including daily high and low temperatures, wind speeds and directions, and air pressure information. The data date back to Feb. 11, which was InSight's 75th day on the Martian surface; it takes a day or two from the end of a Martian day for data to become available on the website.

InSight is located on a flat plain called Elysium Planitia , where it's currently winter  and the reported temperatures are suitably chilly, with no daily high cracking 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 9 degrees Celsius). Average temperatures are reliably in the minus 80s F (minus 60s C), with lows as frigid as minus 140 F (minus 95 C).

That's not counting the windchill, and the gusts on Elysium Planitia are clocking in as high as 37.8 mph (17 meters per second).

All of this data isn't just designed to make the Northern Hemisphere's winter on Earth seem a little less grim: The information also plays a crucial role in InSight's science mission . Scientists will use the temperature, air pressure and wind information to ensure that the motion the lander's seismometer detects is really coming from below the Martian surface.

That said, scientists are already spotting plenty of intriguing meteorological phenomena in the data they've seen so far. For instance, they've noticed how straightforward pressure changes are on Mars versus those in Earth's atmosphere. "Compared to Mars, Earth is pretty chaotic," Banfield said in a different statement . "It's a very regular seesaw guided by a metronome on Mars. On Earth, the pressure is guided by a hyperactive child."

Other phenomena seem to be more dramatic on Mars compared to Earth. Scientists already knew about what they've called dust devils  large spiraling gusts of dust  on Mars. But researchers hadn't expected the features to be as large or violent as they are at InSight's location, where the devils have literally tilted the ground beneath the seismometer.
Updated on Feb. 28: SpaceX is poised to make history Saturday (March 2) with the first-ever test flight of a private spaceship built to carry astronauts into orbit. That Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission won't carry astronauts, but it will be the first launch of a spacecraft built for humans from U.S. soil since 2011 and you can watch it all live.

SpaceX will launch the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission at 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT) on Saturday, March 2. Since Crew Dragon is designed to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, you can expect a live webcast of the launch from the space agency.

Space.com will carry NASA's Crew Dragon webcasts here over the next week. You'll also be able to watch NASA's webcasts on NASA TV, and SpaceX will likely provide its own webcast here. Scroll down to see when to tune in for the first Crew Dragon launch.

Related: SpaceX Dragon Crew Demo-1 Flight: What to Expect

Countdown to launch

An artist's illustration of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket launching from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The action began on Friday (Feb. 22), when NASA held a press conference no earlier to discuss a post-flight readiness review briefing of NASA and SpaceX mission managers. That meeting, known as an FRR in NASA-speak, included final discussions and reviews to make sure a mission is ready for flight. It was during that meeting that NASA and SpaceX officially gave the "go" for Crew Dragon's launch.

Two days before launch, on Thursday, Feb. 28, NASA will hold a pre-launch press conference to discuss the launch once more. That briefing will begin at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) and should last about an hour. Representatives from NASA's Commercial Crew Program, International Space Station Program and Astronaut Office will be joined by a SpaceX representatives to go over final details for the mission.

Related: Take a Walk Through SpaceX's Crew Dragon

March 2: Launch Day

The launch day webcast events in the wee hours of Saturday at 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT). The launch itself, as stated above, is at 2:48 a.m. EST. SpaceX's webcast will likely start a bit later than NASA's, as they typically begin about 15 minutes before liftoff.

At 5 a.m. EST (1000 GMT), NASA and SpaceX will hold a post-launch press conference with agency and SpaceX representatives.

In Photos: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Crew Dragon

March 3: Space station arrival

It will take SpaceX's Crew Dragon just over 27 hours to reach the International Space Station after launch.

The spacecraft will arrive at the station Sunday, March 3. NASA's live coverage will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 GMT), with docking occurring at 5:55 a.m. EST (1055 GMT). Unlike SpaceX's Dragon cargo vehicles, which are captured by the station's robotic arm and attached to an open berth, Crew Dragons are designed to dock themselves.

About five hours after Crew Dragon docks, astronauts will open the hatches between the station and the visiting spacecraft. NASA's live coverage of that event will begin at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT).

A special welcome ceremony by the station's crew will follow at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT). The Demo-1 Crew Dragon will deliver about 400 lbs. (181 kilograms) of supplies and gear for the station crew, NASA officials said.

Crew Dragon and Starliner: A Look at the Upcoming Astronaut Taxis

SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen atop its Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Image credit: SpaceX)

March 8: Return to Earth

The Demo-1 Crew Dragon will remain linked to the space station for five days before returning to Earth. Undocking is currently scheduled for Friday, March 8. Here's what to expect.

NASA's live coverage will begin at 12:15 a.m. EST (0515 GMT), when station astronauts will close the hatches between their spacecraft and Crew Dragon.

The real action begins at 2:30 a.m. EST (0730 GMT), when NASA's undocking coverage begins. You can expect undocking to occur sometime shortly after the webcast starts, but once Crew Dragon departs the vicinity of the station NASA may pause its commentary for a few hours.

At 7:30 a.m. EST (1230 GMT), NASA will begin its Crew Dragon deorbit and landing coverage. While SpaceX and NASA did not announce a specific splashdown time, Crew Dragon is expected to conduct its deorbit burn about 5 hours after leaving the space station. The deorbit burn will last 10 minutes, after which it will take Crew Dragon 30 minutes to re-enter the atmosphere, deploy parachutes and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.

At some point after splashdown, NASA will hold a post-landing press conference on NASA TV. The exact time and location of that has not yet been released.

SpaceX's Dragon cargo ships splash down in the Pacific Ocean and are retrieved by a recovery ship. Nominal Crew Dragon missions, however, are expected to splash down off the eastern coast of Florida to be retrieved by SpaceX's Go Searcher recovery ship.

At some point after splashdown, NASA will hold a post-landing press conference on NASA TV. The exact time and location of that has not yet been released.

SpaceXs Crew Dragon: A Private Space Taxi in Photos

More test flights

If all goes well with the Demo-1 Crew Dragon mission, SpaceX will launch to more big test flights: an in-flight abort test and the first crewed spaceflight.

In June, SpaceX plans to launch an in-flight abort test to demonstration the Crew Dragon's escape system. The spacecraft is equipped with eight SuperDraco thrusters to pull a Crew Dragon free of its Falcon 9 rocket during an emergency.

If that abort test goes well, SpaceX will proceed with a crewed test flight in July, NASA officials have said.

SpaceX is one of two commercial companies picked by NASA to fly astronauts to and from the space station. The other company is Boeing, which will launch astronauts on its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rockets.

NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.6 billion contract in 2014 to develop Crew Dragon for astronaut flights. Boeing received $4.2 billion from NASA to support Starliner development.

Note: Here's a link to NASA's full broadcast schedule for the Crew Dragon mission. NASA will also post mission updates at its Commercial Crew site here , and this launch blog .
Blue Canyon Technologies announced in September 2017 it won an AFRL contract to provide the bus for an experimental smallsat called S5 for space surveillance applications.

Updated Feb. 16.

WASHINGTON  An experimental Air Force small satellite intended to test space situational awareness technologies will be a secondary payload on the upcoming Falcon 9 launch of a commercial communications satellite and lunar lander.

Spaceflight, the Seattle-based company that brokers rideshare launch services, confirmed in a Feb. 11 statement that it will be flying the S5 satellite for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) as a secondary payload on the Falcon 9 launch of the PSN-6, or Nusantara Satu, communications satellite built by Space Systems Loral, a division of Maxar Technologies, for Indonesian company PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara.

That launch, scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 21 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, is best known for carrying the Beresheet lander developed by Israel's SpaceIL, a former Google Lunar X Prize team, as a secondary payload. Beresheet will be released into geostationary transfer orbit and gradually extend its orbit towards the moon, a process that will take two months.

Industry observers, though, had believed there was at least one additional secondary payload on the launch, but its identity wasn't confirmed until the Spaceflight announcement. That release, though, provided few details about S5 and its mission.

Blue Canyon Technologies announced in September 2017 that it won a contract from AFRL to build two smallsats intended to operate in geostationary orbit. One was identified as S5, a 60-kilogram satellite designed to perform a space situational awareness mission using a payload provided by Applied Defense Solutions. The illustration accompanying the release showed an optics system attached to a satellite bus and solar array.

"The objective of the S5 mission is to measure the feasibility and affordability of developing low cost constellations for routine and frequent updates to the GEO space catalog," Blue Canyon Technologies said in its statement.

Applied Defense Solutions received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 award from the Air Force in 2017 for a project called Small Satellite System for Space Surveillance. "This flight experiment will demonstrate viability of utilizing a low cost space sensor to supplement the SSN," or Space Surveillance Network, the abstract for the SBIR award states.

The project called for using a 30-centimeter telescope, like that used on the Space Based Surveillance System pathfinder satellite, "married with a mission operations concept for detecting and tracking objects near the geosynchronous belt," the abstract stated. Blue Canyon was cited in the abstract as one of the partners on the project.

Applied Defense Solutions was acquired last July by L3 Technologies for approximately $50 million. That acquisition "strengthens our business in the mission-critical aspects of space situational awareness, particularly in the area of multi-domain command and control, which is a key element of our country's national security strategy objectives," said Christopher Kubasik, president and chief executive of L3, in a statement about the deal.

The S5 satellite will be attached not to the rocket's upper stage or payload adapter but instead to the Nusantara Satu satellite itself, Spaceflight explained in its statement. "Before the telecommunications satellite reaches its final GEO position, it will separate the S5 spacecraft which will then turn on and start its mission," Spaceflight said.

Another SSL-built communications satellite, Hispasat 30W-6, deployed a smallsat after launch last year. That earlier mission used a new SSL-developed deployer called Payload Orbital Delivery System, or PODS, but this mission will not use PODS, SSL spokesperson Wendy Lewis said Feb. 16.

For Spaceflight, a leading company in arranging launches to sun-synchronous and other low Earth orbits, this mission will be its first to deliver payloads to geostationary orbit and beyond. "The launches we pursue continue to get more sophisticated and demonstrate that our expertise goes beyond identifying and scheduling launches," Curt Blake, chief executive of Spaceflight, said in a statement. "With this mission, Spaceflight is demonstrating that the moon is in reach."

This story was provided by SpaceNews , dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Lincoln Wright South Bend Tribune

South Bend Tribune

Kim Pike says she felt like a prisoner in her own home for about eight years. She says she was verbally abused, threatened, sometimes denied dinner and forced to stay in a small basement bedroom in her Goshen home.

And it was all at the hands of people she thought to be family.

I was scared, she said. Very scared because they said they were going to hurt me.

But two years ago, Pike was able to take back her home, thanks to attorney Jessica Brock and the LAVA program.

LAVA  Legal Assistance for Victimized Adults  is a program run through Indiana Legal Services. It provides free civil legal help to seniors and endangered adults who have suffered abuse, neglect or exploitation.

To be eligible for the service, a person must be an Indiana resident, age 60 or older or an endangered adult and able to consent to retain counsel. Endangered adults are people who are being harmed or threatened and are incapable of caring for themselves because of a mental or physical issue.

Getting her life back

Pike, now 56, lives in her childhood home in Goshen. About 10 years ago, she allowed two family members to move in because they had nowhere else to go. Eventually a significant other of one of the family members also moved in.

For the next eight years, the three proceeded to take over and trash her house, she said, forcing her to live in a small basement bedroom and refusing to move out.

Pikes situation became so bad that in 2017 a healthcare professional of hers contacted Adult Protective Services. Criminal charges were not brought, but APS put her in touch with LAVA and Brock took the case.

Through civil action, Brock was able to get protective orders against the the two family members. The protective orders, which The Tribune observed, say that Pike showed enough evidence to justify the order.

The following relief is necessary to bring about a cessation of the violence or the threat of violence, the order says.

Brock was also able to get all three evicted from Pikes home, and the court awarded the woman a $6,000 judgment for the damages done to her house.

Without LAVA and Brocks help, Pike doesnt know what she would have done.

Shes wonderful, she said of Brock. I am very thankful for what she has done for me.

Because of LAVA, Pike said, she has her life back and isnt afraid anymore because those family members cant hurt her. Now she is sharing her story so more people can know about LAVA and potentially get the help they need.

I dont want anybody to have to go through what I went through, she said.

A needed service

LAVA was formed in January 2017 and is now being looked at by other states as a model, Brock said, adding they have presented at two national conferences. LAVA is one of the few programs in the country that offers civil legal aid specifically to seniors and endangered adults.

In another case Brock worked, a nephew with power of attorney for his aunt and uncle was making withdrawals from the couples bank account without permission. He was also reportedly not using the money for his aunt and uncles benefit. The court ordered a judgment of close to $19,000 against him. Last week, the St. Joseph County Prosecutors Office also filed a Level 6 felony count of theft against the man.

Its the need for legal action in such cases that Brock sees as keeping LAVA funded. The program is paid for through a grant from the Victims of Crime Act, which is administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. LAVAs grant was renewed last year, which will pay for the program through September 2020.

Last years grant renewal also allowed LAVA to add one more attorney in the state. Brock, who is based in South Bend, oversees the northern part of the state. There is an attorney and paralegal based in Indianapolis and the third attorney is based in Bloomington.

About one in nine seniors are victims of elder abuse, Brock said, and a majority of cases involve a family member. Since the program started, LAVA has taken on hundreds of cases, Brock said. Besides cases involving family members, LAVA also goes up against international fraud schemes that exploit elders out of money.

While getting victims money back can be difficult, Brock said, the organization has been successful at separating the victim from the abuser.

Our primary focus is the victims safety and stopping the cycle of abuse, she said.

And LAVA is absolutely seen as a success, Rebecca Zaseck, president of REAL Services, said. REAL Services is an umbrella organization for more than 20 programs that assist elderly, disabled and low-income individuals in 12 northern Indiana counties.

As we age we need assistance with several things and legal action is one of them, Zaseck said. Its good to have that safety net.

REAL Services is one of many community partners that works with LAVA. Zaseck said they have referred several people to the legal services program. The beauty of the partnership, she said, is the organizations are collaborating and not duplicating services.

Many more people will likely need the services of LAVA in coming years, Zaseck said. The number of elder abuse cases continues to rise as the baby boomer generation gets older.

By the year 2025, the entire baby boomer generation will be 60 and over, according to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. And by next year, 17 percent of Indianas population will be 65 or older.

Its sad to see so many people in a situation of abuse or exploitation, Brock said, but shes happy to be another piece of the puzzle providing services for those in need.

Its a position no one should be put in, Brock said. I hope people know they can seek help and that help is available.
South Bend Tribune Report

South Bend Tribune

GOSHEN  A Cass County man and woman have been charged after an autopsy found that a 10-year-old girl ingested methamphetamine before she died in June 2018, the Elkhart County Prosecutors Office announced Thursday.

Charges were filed Feb. 6 against Erica Reschke, 30, and Brandon Hobbs, 34, both of Cassopolis.

The death investigation started on June 9, 2018, when Elkhart police were called to a home in Elkhart where a girl was found dead.

The prosecutor says an autopsy initially showed the girl had a bowel obstruction and internal complications. A subsequent toxicological analysis showed she also had elevated levels of methamphetamine in her system. The pathologist said meth toxicity may have been a contributing cause in the girls death.

The prosecutors office did not release the name of the dead girl.

The investigation conducted by the Elkhart County Homicide Unit determined that Reschke and Hobbs had brought the girl and her 9-year-old sibling to a house in Elkhart County for the evening last June, according to the prosecutors office.

Both children had special needs and required intensive supervision by caregivers, according to the prosecutor. Homicide investigators learned that the 10-year-old apparently ingested methamphetamine brought by Reschke to the home, where both children could have had access to it.

Reschke is charged with two counts of Neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony, and one count of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony. She faces a maximum penalty of 42.5 years at the Indiana Department of Correction.

Hobbs is charged in two counts with neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony. He faces a maximum penalty of 2.5 years at the Elkhart County Correctional Complex.

Both have been before a magistrate judge for an initial hearing, and a trial date has been set for May 6 in Superior Court in Goshen.
Jeff Parrott

South Bend Tribune

South Bends Democratic state senator Wednesday said he fears passage of a hate crimes bill that doesnt specify types of hate could hurt Indiana economically as much as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act did in 2015.

Its looking every bit as bad as when we went through the RFRA spectacle of a few years ago, said Sen. David Niezgodski. This is not something thats all-inclusive. Theyve stripped and gutted the bill.

Niezgodski was referring to an amendment to a bias crimes bill the Senate passed Tuesday. As introduced, the bill allowed judges to increase sentences for violent or property crimes motivated by the offenders hatred of a victim because of a list of factors including the victims race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. But an amendment offered by Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, replaced the list of terms with simply bias.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb issued a statement saying the bill, as amended, wont get Indiana removed from a list of five states that dont have hate crime laws. Also lacking laws are Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming.

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce also came out strongly against the amendment. The states largest business and economic development advocacy group has made passing a hate crimes bill one of its top legislative priorities this session.

Indiana is in an intense battle for talent, Kevin Brinegar, president and chief executive officer of the Indiana Chamber, told The Tribune. For the first time in the history of this country, there are more job openings than there are job seekers. Our population is not growing (much) but just slightly, so we need to remove any barriers or inhibitors to recruiting skilled and talented individuals to our state. As part of that effort, we need to get off this list.

Brinegar said its too soon to compare this bill to the RFRA debacle, in which the General Assembly in 2015 passed a bill aimed at allowing businesses or organizations to discriminate against the LGBTQ community on the basis of religious beliefs. After an intense uproar from the business community, along with negative coverage in the national press, lawmakers passed a bill a week later to rescind the law.

In this situation, the bill could come up for a final Senate vote today but hasnt yet passed the House. Because the Chamber of Commerce so badly wants a hate crimes bill this session, it hopes the amended bill passes the Senate and then is changed in the House to re-insert the list of hate types, Brinegar said.

If this was the final day of the session and what they were voting on, we would say, dont adopt this bill because it doesnt accomplish the goal, Brinegar said.

Social conservatives, including those who championed RFRA, praised the amendments passage. The American Family Association of Indiana issued a statement calling the amendment a strong statement for equal justice under the law rather than stooping to the identity politics that divides our nation. The group said a victim list also isnt popular in the House.

Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma has said his caucus wont support a bill that specifies gender identity as the basis for a hate crime, and he has indicated his support for a bill that doesnt list hate types.

But Brinegar said judges have told the bills authors they arent likely to extend sentences without a specific list in the statute.

They dont feel like they have the specificity from the General Assembly, Brinegar said.

The amendment passed the Senate 33-16, with no Democrats voting for it and all Democrats walking out in protest. Seven Republicans, including the bills authors, Mike Bohacek, of Michiana Shores, whose district covers western St. Joseph County, and Ron Alting, of Lafayette, joined Democrats in voting no.

Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, voted for the amendment. She was too busy with Senate business to be interviewed Wednesday, she told a reporter via text.

My vote yesterday was to make the bill more inclusive, Rogers said in a texted statement, so all Hoosiers have equal protection rather than a short list that would exclude.

But Niezgodski said the list, the same as those passed by 45 states and Congress, was comprehensive enough.

The Senate Republicans have tried to make it sound great, but its not being accepted like that, Niezgodski said, adding that the list of hate types removed from the bill already protected everyone. Theres not a single Hoosier in the state of Indiana that doesnt fall under one of those categories.
Dr. Richard Feldman

South Bend Tribune

Increasingly, there are studies in the medical literature regarding the potential use of marijuana in reducing opioid use and even in curbing the opioid epidemic of addiction and overdose. The media is tuning in to this intriguing prospect highlighted by a CNN report by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The upshot of these reports is that the legalization of cannabis, both medical and recreational, may have unanticipated positive consequences and implications for public policy.

A 2014, an 11-year study from the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City found that states which legalized medical cannabis over an 11-year period had nearly 25 percent fewer opioid overdose deaths each year compared to states where marijuana remained illegal. Other studies have demonstrated similar reductions in numbers of opioid prescriptions.

More recently, two studies of note were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine. The first study found that states which legalized medical or adult-use marijuana had about a 6 percent reduction in Medicaid opioid prescribing compared to the remaining states. The other study in Medicare patients found that there was an average 2.2 million fewer daily opioid doses prescribed in states that instituted a medical cannabis statute as compared to other states. Further reductions in opioid use (up to 10 percent) were seen when a state progressed from medical to recreational marijuana legalization. Greatest reductions were realized in states which utilized medical marijuana dispensaries.

Another study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health looked at over 2,200 patients with intractable pain on various pain medications. Fifty-eight percent of these patients were able to reduce the use of these medications when they started taking cannabis, including 38 percent of patients using opioids. Sixty percent were able to reduce their opioid dose by 50 percent and some completely eliminated their use.

In a paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society, 138 medical marijuana users were asked about use of pain medications including opioids. Eighteen percent reported decreasing use moderately, 20 percent extremely, and 27 percent completely. Another study in the Clinical Journal of Pain followed a group of 176 patients and found that 44 percent stopped their opioids within seven months of starting medical cannabis. Finally, in a study in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, 36 percent of 344 cancer patients receiving medical marijuana stopped their opioids and nearly 10 percent reduced their dosage.

Additional studies have also demonstrated marijuanas ability to improve chronic pain and decrease opioid use. One study revealed that it can also potentiate the analgesic effect of very low (non-pain relieving) opioid doses comparable to higher doses without increasing the abuse potential of either substance. Other reports suggest cannabis as a real possibility for use in weaning off patients from opioids.

These studies, although compelling, are mostly observational and involve small patient numbers that indicate a strong association, but not a definitive cause-and-effect relationship between medical cannabis and decreased opioid dependence, addiction, and overdose deaths. More research is needed.

The legalization of medical marijuana is certainly not the principal solution to the opioid epidemic. And from a public health perspective, its always controversial to utilize a measure that is not completely harmless to address a more serious problem. Substituting e-cigarettes for tobacco is a good example. But broader access to medical cannabis could be part of the answer and should at least weigh in the balance in considering both legalizing medical marijuana and intervening in the opioid crisis gripping our nation.
South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND  Rita Moreno likely expected to have her choice of prime acting roles after winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance as Anita in West Side Story.

After all, Natalie Wood  who played Maria in West Side Story  landed the role of Gypsy Rose Lee in the 1962 movie Gypsy, and remained active for the rest of the decade.

I didnt do a film for seven years after I won the Oscar and Golden Globe, Moreno recalled.

The award-winning film, television and theater actress will be speaking tonight at the University of Notre Dame at an event hosted by the Institute of Latino Studies. Moreno took questions from the media at a news conference held Wednesday at McKenna Hall.

That was in a way a choice, but let me explain that choice, Moreno said. I didnt want to go gang movies again because I had done the definitive gang movie.

Moreno said the scripts that she received often typecast her into stereotypical roles. Moreno had played native girls, or women with accents or sexpots in Westerns before landing the role of Anita.

By the time I got those two wonderful awards, I said thats it, no more,she said. But I was in for a surprise, and I was heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken.

Moreno adapted by acting in live theater as well as television, where she performed on programs ranging from the 1970s PBS educational program The Electric Company to dramas, such as Oz and Law and Order.

Now, Moreno has come full circle and will act in the Steven Spielberg-directed reboot of West Side Story.

Moreno said like the 1957 play and the 1961 film, the reboot will be set in 1950s New York and is a re-imagining of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. Movie fans will hear the great songs like America and Maria the choreography done by Jerome Robbins will remain largely intact.

Moreno said that she will have an acting role in the film.

Im certainly not playing Anita, Moreno joked. Anita doesnt have white hair or wrinkles.

The role is Valentina, who is the widow of Doc, who owns the candy store, she said.

Moreno said one important change is that all of the films Puerto Rican characters will be played by Hispanics. That was not the case in the 1961 film, and Moreno said that Spielberg made that a point of emphasis.

Steve is killing himself and bending himself into pretzels, as is (screenwriter) Tony Kushner to get it right this time, Moreno said.

Moreno said that Spielberg worked with the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico to hold a panel discussion on the 1961 film to address its shortcomings and glories.

They went to Puerto Rico and got what we loved about the movie and what we didnt, she said.
It has been announced that next year will see IFSEC move to a brand-new dateline of 19 - 21 May and welcome three prestigious events alongside it at ExCeL London; Security & Counter Terror Expo (SCTX), Ambition and Forensics Europe Expo.

Focal point for security industry

Building on a rich history of the two exhibitions - IFSEC steeped in the trade and commercial security world and Security & Counter Terror Expo immersed in national security  the collaboration of these key events has been designed to meet the strength of demand for a central focal point for the security industry.

The additional synergies between the first responder focused, Ambition and Forensics Europe Expo, which currently run alongside SCTX, and FIREX International as well as the wider security community, also lend additional diversity and strength to this new alliance.

Extensive security products on display ExCeL London will become the global destination for the security community, pushing the boundaries of security product innovation and expertise

ExCeL London will become the global destination for the security community, pushing the boundaries of security product innovation and expertise. 38,000 trade, commercial, public and policing security professionals will unite at one venue to discover the most extensive range of security suppliers on offer. In doing so, the industry will see a single marketplace for the security ecosystem made up of installers, government end users, corporate end users, integrators, manufacturers and distributors. The announcement of the move to stage IFSEC and SCTX together at Londons ExCeL from 2020 is already being warmly welcomed, as the security industry look forward to seeing one sole event for the whole community.

This has come at the perfect time for the security industry. The BSIA are excited to be supporting this major new partnership between the UKs two leading security exhibitions. We have a long-standing partnership with IFSEC and we look forward to extending our welcome to SCTX. Mike Reddington, CEO, BSIA

Dahua Technology to participate in IFSEC, SCTX

Dahua is excited to see this partnership between IFSEC and SCTX in 2020. It will provide a rewarding balance of end-users, consultants, installers and integrators. This presents a fantastic opportunity for likeminded end-users and integrators to exchange ideas with manufacturing security professionals. Steve Norman, Sales Director, Dahua Technology UK & Ireland

Risk UK, Benchmark and Professional Security Installer welcome the news that Security & Counter Terror Expo is running alongside IFSEC in 2020. We have a long-standing association with this market sector via Risk UK magazine and associated media. We look forward to supporting SCTX and IFSEC in 2020. Mark Quittenton, Managing Director, Risk UK, Benchmark and Professional Security Installer Magazines

Hikvision to take part in SCTX and IFSEC 2020

Hikvision are pleased to hear the news that IFSEC and Security & Counter Terror Expo will run alongside each other in 2020"

Hikvision are pleased to hear the news that IFSEC and Security & Counter Terror Expo will run alongside each other in 2020. This is a good move forward for the security community, and we look forward to supporting this. Justin Hollis, Marketing Director, Hikvision UK & Ireland

IFSEC is always a great success for BRE Global / LPCB and were looking forward to showcasing the dynamic Attack Testing Zone to the SCTX and IFSEC 2020. Richard Flint, LPCB Physical Security Certification Scheme Manager, LPCB / BRE

Global security industry to attend

IFSEC never stops surprising me. Great move for the whole security industry, getting SCTX alongside IFSEC in 2020. Its going to be a massive set of shows. Roy Cooper, Managing Director, Professional Security

Discussing this move for the market, the organisers of IFSEC and SCTX share their thoughts as they announce the culmination of these 18 month-long discussions to co-locate these events.

The security industry is both broad and complex  and in recent years Clarion and UBM have come to realise that in this environment both IFSEC and SCTX had evolved in ways which were seeing them become increasingly complementary in both profile and audience. said Tim Porter of Clarion Events.

SCTX 2020 to be global Counter Terror arena

This is a great fit for IFSEC as it strengthens our message of the critical nature of security as a major global issue"

SCTX is by far the most prestigious and market leading event in the counter terror arena, with a proven track record in drawing a high calibre audience of government specifiers, law enforcement and related crime intelligence agencies. added Gerry Dunphy of IFSEC.

This is a great fit for IFSEC as it strengthens our message of the critical nature of security as a major global issue. IFSEC will also highly complement this offering by continuing to champion integrated security for the trade and commercial markets. The prospect of these events, working in harmony, promoting expertise and guidance for the broader security environment has already been met with immense anticipation by the security community.

Bringing the events together will offer exhibiting manufacturers and distributors an unrivalled opportunity to access the entire end-to-end security audience, with a greater number of security product buyers in one venue than any other security event across the globe. Over 600 exhibiting companies will join to represent all aspects of the security sector, ranging from the latest developments in commercial and corporate security through to critical national infrastructure and policing.
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
TUV Rheinland: Cooperation with Start up-Accelerator Plug And Play

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

TUV Rheinland has been a cooperation partner of the Plug And Play start-up accelerator since 1 February. With this cooperation, the globally active testing service provider TUV Rheinland is consistently pursuing its innovation and digitization strategy. \The cooperation with Plug And Play gives us excellent access to a worldwide network of start-ups and thus intensive contact with a start-up scene that develops innovative solutions with a view to our TUV Rheinland portfolio,\ says Dana Goldhammer, Global Officer Innovation & Digitalization at TUV Rheinland. Based in Silicon Valley in the United States, the Innovation Center is one of the world\-\-s leading start-up platforms and supports more than 100 newly founded companies every year, including partnerships with internationally established corporations.

TUV Rheinland as a start-up partner

Today, TUV Rheinland\-\-s environment is characterised by the digitalisation of the globalised world, in which technology, business and society are constantly changing and innovations are becoming increasingly important. As the engine of a modern society, as the guarantor of technical innovation and as a testing service provider whose core business is the reliability of systems as well as security and which can thus contribute to a better quality of life for many people, TUV Rheinland consistently uses the opportunities offered by digitalisation. With the development of new technologies (e.g. IoT, artificial intelligence), the company is also changing, digitizing its classic test business and developing new services that support its customers in making their products more secure in the digital world. \The partnership with Plug And Play gives us the opportunity to identify digital business ideas along the lines of our core business and to leverage innovative ideas. Conversely, as an established company, we are happy to support founders with our market knowledge and access to equipment, because innovation is an indispensable part of our business,\ says Goldhammer.

David Neef, Partnership Director at Plug And Play Germany, adds: \We are very proud of having TUV Rheinland join our innovation platform. As a leading testing service provider, TUV Rheinland becomes an important strategic partner for our programs in Silicon Valley, Germany and China\. The partnership between TUV Rheinland and Plug And Play will be announced today at the STARTUP AUTOBAHN EXPO Day in Stuttgart. TUV Rheinland takes the cooperation with Plug and Play as an opportunity to bundle all innovation activities under the title \Future HUB  TUV Rheinland Innovation Program\ and make them visible to the public under a new sign.

TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded 145 years ago. The group maintains a worldwide presence more than 20,000 people; annual turnover is nearly EUR 2 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all aspects of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects, helps to shape processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, TUV Rheinland employs a global network of approved labs, testing and education centres. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. Website: www.tuv.com
Revolutionizing E-Invoicing: Blockchain, RPA and AI are at the Ready

Posted by Publisher Internet

Various national government initiatives, mandating E-Invoicing and realtime tax controls, pose a big challenge for many corporates within their future digitization strategy. However, innovative technologies such as blockchain, robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) are at the ready to provide completely new perspectives for the whole E-Invoicing sector.

From May 13 to 15, 2019 the E-Invoicing Exchange Summit Miami once again brings together experts, thought leaders and professionals in E-Invoicing, Purchase-to-Pay (P2P), E-Procurement, Supply Chain Finance and AR/AP. A special highlight is the presentation of Dra. Margarita Rios-Farjat, the recently appointed head of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), describing Mexico?s E-Invoicing journey so far and Mexico?s future E-Invoicing strategy.

On Monday May 13, the pre-conference day, all delegates are invited to join a dedicated seminar run by OpenPEPPOL on ?Invoicing with PEPPOL  From a European Start to Global Reach? and the meeting by the Business Payments Coalition E-Invoice Work Group, in which the U.S. requirements for an E-Invoice Interoperability Framework will be discussed. Furthermore, participants can also attend the deep dive workshop ?Blockchain for Corporations? held by Enrico Camerinelli, Senior Analyst, Aite Group (USA).

During the two main conference days of the E-Invoicing Exchange Summit Miami the great variety of presentations, user case studies, round-tables and panel discussions ensure everyone?s needs and challenges will be met. In two tracks the participants get an update among other things on the U.S. E-Invoicing standardization, the design for a global interoperability framework, on technology trends such as RPA and AI as well as on legal identity solutions. In addition, the attendees of the E-Invoicing Exchange Summit Miami are going to learn how to successfully handle real-time E-Invoicing compliance and discover how blockchain technology impacts P2P and Supply Chain Finance.

For further information, visit www.exchange-summit.com/miami

Vereon AG organises leading-edge seminars, conferences and workshops addressing current business issues. Distinguished experts in research, science, industry and politics regularly present practical solution approaches and pioneering trends. Leaders and specialists from all sectors appreciate these information platforms for building knowledge, exchanging experience and making valuable new contacts.
~ Judge to give the decision on whether the prosecution can take place on Monday. ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The judge at the Court of First Instance granted the prosecution their request to hold Leader of the United Democrats (UD) Theodore Heyliger for the next 8 days in pretrial detention.

The Prosecutors Office also petitions the court on Thursday afternoon to grant them permission to prosecute Heyliger in the LARIMAR Investigation.

Spokesman for the TBO Roderick Gouverneur confirmed the request for extension was granted while he said the Judge will render its verdict on whether or not the Prosecution will be allowed to prosecute Heyliger.

LARIMAR Corruption Investigation can be considered one of the biggest corruption cases that involves politicians, civil servants and persons in the private sector such as construction companies.

Heyliger was due to appear in court at 2pm on Thursday afternoon his appearance was delayed while members of his immediate family and few supporters waited for him outside of the Court House.

Heyliger was arrested on Tuesday morning after several persons including his stepfather George Pelgrim was arrested two weeks ago. TBO officers also arrested Ron Elferink both men spent eight days 10 days on pretrial detention they were released when they petitioned the court to release them due to medical conditions.

Prior to the recent arrests, the Managing Director of Windward Road Jan Hendrick Boekaar was also arrested while his home and office were searched.

Windward Roads managed to secure a deal with the TBO and Prosecutors Office where they will pay a fine of USD2M. However, the money will be deducted from new projects that the Department of VROMI has to provide for the Dutch company.
Kralendijk:--- The Board of financial supervision of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Cft) has called on both the Executive Council and the Island Council to show more decisiveness in the realization of policy intentions and financial management actions. The Cft observes that too many financial resources have remained unused in recent years, while necessary improvements are still lacking in various policy areas. When the financial management is put in order, a timely and reliable budget and accountability cycle can be attained.

Preliminary figures show that Bonaire has realized a surplus of approximately USD 12 million over the year 2018. The revenues were approximately USD 3 million higher and the expenditures approximately USD 9 million lower compared to the 2018 budget. In almost all policy areas the available resources have not been fully utilized. The Cft has advised the Executive Council to ensure that the 2018 financial statements are finalized in time, so that a proposal can still be made to the Island Council to spend the money that has remained unused. Discussions were held with the Executive Council about the possibilities to achieve a situation whereby the policy intentions that are incorporated in the budget will be fully implemented in 2019.

In November 2018 a government agreement (bestuursakkoord) was concluded between the State of the Netherlands and Bonaire. The Cft will monitor the execution of the agreements to improve financial management and has received an explanation from the Executive Council on the current state of affairs. The Cft has agreed that the present financial management improvement plan will be finalized in February 2019. This is important since it has been agreed with Bonaire that the 2021 financial statements will receive an unqualified auditor's report.

The government enterprises have also been discussed. These companies carry out government tasks and their proper functioning is therefore of great importance for the citizens. The Cft has called for the improvement of the governance and to comply with the agreements in the government agreement. Specifically, the full staffing of the supervisory boards was discussed and the timely drafting and submittal of the annual accounts. Also in this area decisiveness is essential in the short term.

During the visit of the Board on Tuesday, February 19th, meetings were held with the Lieutenant Governor, the Executive Council and the Island Council.
~ Says PJIAE needs to bring in Dutch Financial Advisor pending the recruitment of CFO. ~

PHILIPSBURG: --- Newly appointed CEO of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) Brian Mingo told SMN News in an exclusive interview that while he supports the US pre-clearance for PJIAE he said the Airport simply does not have the money at this time to invest in such a project. Further Mingo said that PJIAE has to conduct more studies on the US preclearance and what benefits it could bring to St. Maarten. He said the US preclearance is indeed is a great concept, but the timing is out of whack especially since the Airport does not have the money.

Asked if he is working on getting US Pre Clearance for St. Maarten Mingo said he is working towards that, but more research needs to be done since its a big investment. We cannot invest in projects such as these in a hurry because that will run us into problems. Asked if did any type of research and if he has tangible information to show what the Return on Investment will be for St. Maarten, Mingo said there are projections as there is a report available. He made clear that he is busy doing the quick fixes at the Airport since he has only been there for 6 weeks. Dont forget that when I get the Airport Terminal fixed, I would then have a second loan of USD 100M to pay along with the existing loan. The USD 100M I am going to get now is sufficient to fix the damaged terminal building to bring it back like it was pre- IRMA along with some additional improvements.

The US Preclearance is not included in Phase 2 of the project because we do not have the money, while more studies must be done on the retail part of this project. If we are going to channel 70% of the US passengers through another gate then I have to wonder what will happen to the other stores that will not be getting the same traffic, these other store owners will get upset because they would not be making the same money as they were in the beginning.

Asked if the Management Team of PJIAE made a final decision on how they will proceed Mingo said he sent a proposal to the Supervisory Board informing them on what will be done with the USD 100M which he said is geared towards restoring the Terminal Building and the businesses inside of the Terminal. Mingo said that the US Pre-clearance will be included in package 3 and 4 simply because PJIAE does not have the money. He said there are 4 phases in which PJIAE will be restructured ranging from Phase 1 thru 4 he said Phase one is already completed by restoring the roof which costs USD 14. 7M and now they are busy with Phase 2 which is expected to be completed by 2020 if the funds are available. Mingo said that if the funds are not available then nothing will happen. Asked if he is aware that the Prime Minister already sent a letter to the US counterpart in July 2018 assuring them that the US preclearance has priority Mingo said that he is fully aware but one has one has to know that the US preclearance has conditions such as the US Department of Security would have to visit PJIAE and basically have to inspect the Terminal Building and see how they could fit in the plan of the US Clearance. If the Terminal Building is not fully functional how could we have them come in for such inspection, therefore the restructuring of the Terminal Building has to be finalized before the idea of US Pre Clearance can be entertained since its a security issue especially since goods also will be taken to the US territory. Besides that, the price tag for US pre-clearance ranges from USD 6M to USD 8M per year.

Mingo said Aruba managed to get US clearance because it stimulated their tourism market and also combat problematic drug trafficking of the 90's he said that instead of the US stopping the drugs in their territory they stopped it in Aruba since its cheaper while boosting the tourism economy There was a deal made back then and now there is a deal made between the Kingdom and the United States, which resulted in having the US aircraft in Curacao watching over the situation in Venezuela. "I beleive there is a probably relationship and Washington which allowed the US defence to make use of the Dutch Territories. Government will be looking into these things when having these understandings when establishing US preclearance since it will benefit WINAIR since it opens the gateway to the US via St. Maarten, he also considered it to be a great business model for St. Maarten.

While Mingo said that more research and or studies have to be conducted SMN News understands that PJIAE already invested heavily by hiring certified companies to conduct the necessary research.

SMN News further understands that the conceptual drawing for the layout of their services and office spaces has already been approved. There is a plan is to expand towards the east of the existing terminal building to accommodate the US preclearance services. There is also a commercial plan in place, a consultant was on St. Maarten who looked at the drawings and have presented options to PJIAE on how to put in commercial strategy in place in the US preclearance area. There is a study available on possible financing and the current bondholders also expressed their desire in the past to finance the US preclearance project.

Dutch CFO and Financial Advisor.

Mingo said he never said that PJIAE should hire a CFO from the Netherlands however he said his advice is for PJIAE to bring in someone from the Netherlands with the financial capabilities as a financial advisor. Mingo said PJIAE cannot afford to wait three to four months for a CFO to be appointed because the screening process takes time and he believes that PJIAE simply cannot wait that long for a CFO. We need someone who would work in the Finance Department of PJIAE to crunch the numbers in order for them to secure the loan. I never said to appoint a CFO from the Netherlands I already have someone that could work with the staff to identify the liquidity problem. The financial problems at the airport were created because we have overextended ourselves with projects without having the necessary funding.

One example is the commitment given to the contractor for the roof which in my view is an expensive roof thus placing the company in financial predicament. If PJIAE had a good CFO in place that person would have blocked that project until the finances are secured, one option was getting the local banks involved.

Mingo said that believes that the Prime Minister is doing a great job and people need to stop the bickering. He said one of the things the PM is doing is helping him find the money to keep the company afloat. He said people cannot be cursing out the Dutch and or the mother country that is providing St. Maarten with money, for example, the USD 15M which will be tied into the USD 100M grant. Den Haag is willing to support me so that we can move forward.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a Plenary Public meeting on Thursday, February 21, 2019.

The Public meeting is scheduled for 14.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The Minister of Justice will be present.

The agenda points are:

1. Incoming documents

2. Regulation of tasks

3. Discussion on handling of sexual molestation cases that have been surfacing in the media

(IS/539/2018-2019 dated January 30, 2019)

(This meeting was requested by MP T.E. Leonard, MP F. A. Meyers, MP S.M. Bijlani and MP C.A.H. Peterson)

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 115, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx and Parliaments Facebook page: Parliament of Sint Maarten.
(CNN)  A small brown rat which lived on a tiny island off northern Australia is the world's first mammal known to have become extinct due to "human-induced climate change," the government says.

The Bramble Cay melomys inhabited a small coral island on the Great Barrier Reef, measuring about five hectares (12 acres) and located in the Torres Strait, between Queensland state and Papua New Guinea.

The mammal had not been seen for almost 10 years and was initially pronounced extinct after "exhaustive" conservation efforts failed, according to a report published by the University of Queensland in 2016.

That finding was confirmed by the Australian government on Monday.

The cause of its extinction was "almost certainly ocean inundation" from rising sea levels over the past decade, which had led to "dramatic habitat loss," according to the 2016 report.

"It's not a decision to take lightly," Geoff Richardson, assistant secretary for environment and energy, told members of the Senate, or upper house of parliament. "When something is listed as extinct it essentially ceases to get any protection."

Several hundred of the rodents were believed to occupy the island in the 1970s. But their population rapidly declined thereafter. By 1992, the population had dropped so sharply that the Queensland state government classified the species as endangered.

Critics of Australia's conservation efforts say the extinction of the melomys highlights the lack of resources for preserving wildlife.

"Bramble Cay melomys' extinction is an absolute tragedy," said Greens party senator Janet Rice, who is chairing a senate inquiry into the country's extinction crisis.

"Labor and Liberal's addiction to coal is the death warrant for many of our other threatened animals," she said, referring to the mining policies of the major political parties.

If temperatures continue to rise, nearly 8% of all species worldwide could become extinct, a 2015 study by the University of Connecticut found. Australia, New Zealand and South America are considered to be at highest risk.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Australian mammal becomes first to go extinct due to climate change."
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ad Hoc Committee Integrity (AHCI), will meet on February 21, 2019.

The AHCI Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 10.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda points are:

1. Discussion on the Danish Code of Conduct for research integrity

(IS/477/2016-2017/ dated February 17, 2017)

2. Codes of conduct in national Parliaments: Transparency

(IS/478/2016-2017 dated February 17, 2017)

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.



The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 115, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx and Parliaments Facebook page: Parliament of Sint Maarten.
Up till March 6th, the government of Curacao has the time present solutions to the budget for 127 million guilders

Willemstad:--- The government of Curacao has been given until coming March 6th to present solutions for a minimum amount of 127 million guilders with which the 2019 budget can be balanced. Just like it was the case the previous two years, this year again a budget deficit seems imminent, based on which the standards laid down in the Kingdom Act on Financial Supervision cannot be met. Therefore, substantial and urgent measures are needed to balance the Curacao budget. The measures will need to have an effect that lasts for several years because also on the long term a considerable shortage is foreseeable.

Minister Gijsbertha has already indicated that, considering the fact that the tax revenues did not meet the forecast, he will decrease the initial estimated revenues in the 2019 budget with 92 million guilders. In addition, a downward adjustment of other revenues of at least 35 million guilders must also be taken into account. In total, the government must, therefore, present at least 127 million guilders in real revenue-increasing and/or cost-reducing measures in 2019. As a result of the rising health costs and the costs of the old age fund (AOV), multi-year deficits in social funds can also be anticipated. These rise to 1.25 billion guilders in 2028. Chairman Raymond Gradus declares: "In order to guarantee these facilities for later generations, reforms will be needed in order to make the multi-annual budget realistic and sustainable."

The government of Curacao has already presented a number of measures, such as a commitment stop, no hiring of new personnel and the postponement of decision-making on the indexation of government personnel. However, the Cft has asked for a full bundle of measures that for the year 2019 will add to at least 127 million guilders whilst balancing the budget on a long-term basis as well. Moreover, the Cft has requested that the other risks for the budget, such as the education covenant, the additional charges for HNO, the residual debts of Sehos and the operating deficit of C-Post be registered and covered. The Cft has given the government the time to do so until March 6th at the latest, so the budget can be audited by a committee that was set up for that specific purpose. This should lead to a budget amendment that will be submitted to Parliament before April 1st.

During its visit to Curacao, the Cft spoke with the Governor, the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Finance, the financial committee of Parliament and the management of both Sehos and the SVB. Also, a meeting was held with the Minister of Finance, the SOAB, the National Audit Office Curacao and the Cft, during which the roadmap towards an unqualified audit report on the 2021 financial statements was discussed. The Cft consists of the following members: Raymond Gradus (chairman), Gregory Damoen (member on behalf of Curacao), Henk Kamp (member on behalf of the Netherlands) and Russell Voges (member on behalf of Sint Maarten).
WILLEMSTAD:--- On March 7 and 8, 2019, the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS) will hold its annual board meeting in Willemstad, Curacao (Dutch Caribbean), which will be followed by an open workshop for all members. This international event will take place in the Renaissance Curacao Resort & Casino.

AICESIS, whose primary objective is to encourage and promote dialogue and exchange of views and good practices among its members and, at a wider level, to encourage dialogue between economic and social partners around the world currently unifies 72 Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (ECSs-SIs) from African, Latin American, Asian and European countries.

The Economic and Social Council of Curacao (SER) is since 2017 member of the board of AICESIS, representing the Latin American region.

The SER feels much honored to have been offered the responsibility to host this great event this year, which will bring delegates from ECSs-SIs from all over the world to our colorful and vibrant island.

The SER sees this as a unique opportunity for AICESIS-members to meet and greet each other and to exchange ideas and best practices in a distinctive Caribbean environment, known for its European style, rich cultural and architectural heritage with a blend of more than 55 nationalities.

Official Opening

The Prime Minister of Curacao, His Excellency Mr. Eugene Rhuggenaath, will address the international audience during the official opening ceremony of the sessions on March 7, 2019.

After the official opening address given by the Prime Minister, the acting President of the SER, the Honorable Mr. John Jacobs, LL.M., will give a welcome speech. In addition, the President of AICESIS, the Honorable Mr. Iacob Baciu from Romania, will open the board meeting of AICESIS.

Board Meeting

The board meeting is a closed session, accessible only to the board members, which are ECSs-SIs from the following countries: Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, the Dominican Republic, the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Spain, France, Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Romania, and of course Curacao.

AICESIS uses the following languages at its meetings: English, French, and Romanian.

In the evening hours, there will be a gala dinner for the foreign delegates, local dignitaries, consuls-general and honorary consuls of the visiting countries and other special guests.

Open workshop

On March 8, 2019, there will be an open workshop for all members of AICESIS. The workshop will also be attended by international observers, regional and local institutions that have received a special invitation.

The workshop will focus on the theme The Digital Revolution and Its Impact on the Future of Mankind, which has been chosen by the current President of AICESIS, Mr. Baciu, as the main working theme of AICESIS during his term as President of the association.

Context

Humanity continues to embark on a period of unparalleled technological advancement. The next 5, 10 and 20 years will present both significant challenges and opportunities. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing technologies that blur the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres across all sectors. Technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, quantum computing, synthetic biology, and robotics will all drastically supersede any digital progress made in the past 60 years and create realities that we previously thought to be unthinkable. Such profound realities will disrupt and change the business model of each and every industry and the social economic model of each and every country. Private sectors, governments, academics, labor unions, and entrepreneurs are all seeking the roadmap for navigating these profound changes in the world of work. Such a road map must be created collaboratively by all stakeholders.

During the workshop, there will be panel discussions where AICESIS-members will present their findings and reports regarding the main theme of the Romanian Presidency. Furthermore, there will be an exchange of ideas and best practices concerning the actions, that are being prepared or have already been taken by the social partners of the various member states to further promote the transition to the digital economy, in a socially balanced manner.

During the workshop, there will also be an interchange of ideas and information regarding specific aspects related to the main theme, like e.g. robotization, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) and the way these developments affect the economy in terms of employment arrangements and working conditions.

Debates will be held on the way public policies should be formulated and implemented to effectively regulate the effects of the digital economy and the role social partners should play in this regard. Proper attention will be given to related issues like reform of education and training systems, changes in labor legislation, the reconciliation of personal and work life and the protection of privacy in the new economic and social environment.

Additionally, there will be some review of labor and social aspects of the digital economy, like e.g. changes in work (the example of digital platforms) and opportunities to promote womens work and equality.

The Minister of Economic Development of Curacao, His Excellency Mr. Steven Martina, PhD, will open the workshop and will elaborate on the topic of Digital Government Transformation towards a Smart Nation.

Attendees

So far delegates from ECSs-SIs of the following countries, along with the SER of Curacao, have enlisted for the sessions in Willemstad, Curacao:

Argentina Consejo Economico y Social de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Aruba Sociaal-Economische Raad van Aruba Benin Conseil Economique et Social Du Benin Cameroun Conseil Economique et Social Du Cameroun China China Economic and Social Council

Cote dIvoire Conseil Economique, Social, Environnemental et Culturel de la Republique de Cote dIvoire

Dominican Consejo Economico y Social de la Republica Dominicana

Republic

France Conseil Economique, Social et Environnemental de la Republique

Francaise

Greece Economic and Social Council of Greece (OKE)

Luxembourg Conseil Economique et Social Du Gran-Duche de Luxembourg

Monaco Conseil Economique et Social Du Principaute de Monaco

The Netherlands Sociaal-Economische Raad van Nederland

Romania Economic and Social Council of Romania / Consiliul Economic Si

Social

Russia Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation

Sint Maarten Social Economic Council of Sint Maarten

Spain Consejo Economico y Social de Espana

Uruguay Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay

The last date of registration was February 20, 2019. On the basis of experience it can be stated that more countries will register after the closing date.

The International and regional organizations who will be attending the workshop as observers are (till now):

The International Labour Organization

lInternationale francophone du Dialogue social

Alternativa Democratica Sindical de las Americas

For more information you can visit the following websites:

www.ser.cw

www.aicesis.org
Caracas: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country's vast border with Brazil to be closed on Thursday, local time, just days before opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid he has refused to accept.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Credit:AP

Maduro said he' was also weighing whether to shut down the border with Colombia.

Maduro made the announcement on state TV surrounded by military commanders.

Opposition leaders led by Juan Guaido, who is opposition leader, National Assembly president and self-declared interim Venezuelan president, are vowing to bring in US supplies of emergency food and medicine on Saturday to dramatise the country's hardships under Maduro, who has said his people need no such help.
Sex abuse survivors and members of the Ending Clergy Abuse take their message to the Vatican on Wednesday. Credit:AP Francis, history's first Latin American pope, has made many of the same mistakes. As archbishop in Buenos Aires, he went out of his way to defend a famous street priest who was later convicted of abuse. He also took a handful of measures early on in his papacy that undermined progress the Vatican had made in taking a hard line against rapists. These include the pontiff publicly botching a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile by initially giving it no credence. But Francis realised last year he had erred. "I was part of the problem," Francis told Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz during a private meeting at the Vatican in June. Faithful arrive in St. Peter's Square to attend Pope Francis' Angelus noon prayer at the Vatican. Credit:AP

The pope has now done an about-face and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him at the extraordinary summit. Some 190 presidents of bishops' conferences, religious orders and Vatican offices are gathering for four days of lectures and workshops on preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims and investigating abuse when it does occur. The Vatican isn't expecting any miracles, and the pope himself has called for expectations to be "deflated." But organisers say the meeting marks a turning point in the way the Catholic Church has dealt with the problem, with Francis' own conversion last year a key point of departure. Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of priests at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday. Credit:AP "I have been impressed by the humility of the Holy Father," said Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican sex crimes investigator who helped set Francis straight on Chile. "He's ready to say 'I got that wrong. We're not going to do it again. We're going to do it right."' "I think that gives us great hope," Scicluna said.

But the challenges are daunting as the message trickles down slowly. Just this week, the online research group BishopAccountability released statistics from eight of the largest Catholic countries in the world, with the bishops from only one country - the US - committing to a policy to permanently remove any priest who has sexually abused a child. American members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) hold pictures of victims in St Peter's Square ahead of the summit. Credit:AP Bishops in some countries, including Brazil, don't even have a published abuse policy to speak of. In Italy, the president of the bishops' conference met with abuse victims for the first time last week - but only after summit organisers demanded it. "I want to say that something important is going to come out of the week, but based on research we've done, I believe this church is nowhere close to enacting the reforms it must make to stop this epidemic," said BishopAccountability's Anne Barret Doyle.

Loading Survivor Phil Saviano, who was crucial to the Boston Globe's 2002 expose that first revealed the extent of the abuse and cover-up by clergy, was more optimistic. He marvelled that Scicluna quoted from the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight, which was inspired by the Globe's reporting, at a press conference launching the summit. "I really didn't expect to hear them complimenting the news media and thanking you for helping them to come to better understanding of the nature of this problem that is so deeply entrenched within the Catholic Church," Saviano told reporters. Saviano joined a dozen abuse survivors at a meeting on Wednesday with summit organisers, and hand-delivered a letter calling for the Vatican to release the names of known abusive priests and their files. "Do it to launch your new era of transparency," he said.

A different group of survivors will join the bishops themselves, offering testimonies during daily prayers. The message, said Chilean abuse survivor Cruz, who organised the meeting with the summit committee members, is that bishops must listen to survivors and apply true zero tolerance at home. "Those who have covered up, there is the door," Cruz told the AP. While abuse survivors are being well represented at the summit, women as a whole are not. Of the 190 participants, 10 are religious sisters representing orders in the summit, and three women will address the meeting. Other than that, the meeting is by men and for men - the hierarchy of the church.
Upper House MP Nick Goiran has delivered a speech in Parliament that has already taken up an entire day and he says he won't stop talking until the state government releases a $225,000 review into the legislation he is debating.

Mr Goiran is debating changes to state's surrogacy laws which would give men access to the practice rather than restricting it to women.

Liberal MP Nick Goiran has vowed to keep going in his parliamentary speech on surrogacy law amendments until the government releases a review he says MPs need to make up their minds. Credit:Nathan Hondros

On Tuesday, Mr Goiran spoke for five and a half hours on the amendments, and was set to resume on Thursday afternoon.

But he says MPs should not be forced to take a conscience vote on changes to surrogacy legislation without having access to a major review of the laws ordered by the government last year.
Taxpayer-funded legal bills for the Australian Workers Union raids dispute have been tallied at more than $800,000, with more expenses to be incurred as the case continues.

The Registered Organisation Commission, which is defending the AWU challenge to raids on the union's offices by the Australian Federal Police in 2017, has racked up legal costs of almost $550,000, commissioner Mark Bielecki told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday night.

It comes on top of the $288,000 legal bill incurred by Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash, who has defended the use of taxpayers money for her legal representation.

Michaelia Cash has told a Senate Estimates committee she had no prior knowledge of the AWU raids. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Senator Cash told an estimates hearing the same day that the expenditure had been approved by the Attorney-General and was consistent with previous ministerial spending - including when Labor was in government.
Jerry Seinfeld might be able to make sense of the economic debate being mounted by the major parties in the final full sitting week of Federal Parliament.

Seinfeld gave viewers an episode of his eponymous show in which everything was reversed.

This Bizarro World, in which Jerry was a decent human being, Kramer took up an ordinary job and the alternate group of friends hang out at Reggie's rather than Monk's, has moved from New York's Upper West Side of New York to Canberra.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bizarro World would understand the economic debate of Federal Parliament this week.

Scott Morrison continues with his "big stick" approach to the nation's power companies, with a threat to force them to divest their assets if they are caught "misusing power".
Parliament is investigating whether MPs and their staff are in "contempt of the Senate" after shares in buy-now pay-later companies including Afterpay plunged following the internal circulation of a draft report.

The draft findings of an inquiry into the sector, which could recommend tougher credit regulations on the booming industry, were shared among six committee members at 7.30pm on Tuesday.

As many as 58 staff in senators' offices could also have accessed the report, which is due to be released on Friday.

The Senate will investigate whether a market sensitive report was leaked. Credit:Daniel Munoz

Shares in the providers fell an hour after the market opened on Wednesday, with Afterpay falling by 11 per cent between 11.16am and 11.37am.
Police have charged a man who allegedly grabbed a woman from behind, dragged her to the ground, and sexually assaulted her as she walked along a beach footpath.

The incident occurred on Christmas Eve, 2018 at 5am around 300 metres north of Mullaloo Beach.

Police have charged a 28-year-old man Credit:file

Police will allege a 28-year-old man was naked in a car park when a woman in her 40s walked past on the shared pathway adjacent to the beach.

He has since been charged with sexual penetration without consent and is due to appear in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Thursday.
A still from CCTV footage of the arrest of a man in a Preston chemist.

A Victorian police officer has been charged with assault after an investigation into the use of excessive force during the arrest of an African-Australian man at a chemist's shop in Preston.

The state's anti-corruption watchdog on Thursday said an officer involved in the arrest, a senior constable, had been charged with two counts of common law assault and will appear in court in April.

In April last year, The Age published CCTV video footage of the man's arrest in February 2016 after he attacked several bystanders and held up the chemist with a pair of scissors and terrified shoppers.
Cyber attackers have hit Melbournes Catholic Archdiocese, demanding a ransom from the church and paralysing its computer system for days, while Australia's biggest corporate superannuation fund, TelstraSuper, has admitted it has also been targeted.

The Age has confirmed the attacks, after revealing on Wednesday that a cyber crime syndicate hacked and scrambled the files of Melbourne Heart Group, a cardiology unit based at Cabrini Hospital.

Car maker Toyota has also been hit by a cyber attack in Australia, with employees locked out of their emails for days. Toyota Australia's servers were targeted on Tuesday and an investigation involving federal authorities is under way into who was behind the potentially malicious cyber attack.

The Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese managed to isolate the impact of the attack and restore services. Credit:Pat Scala

The Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese breach took place in late November, when hackers infiltrated the churchs IT system using "ransomware", a type of attack which can threaten to publish the victims data or block access to it unless money is paid.
The real identity of the gangland lawyer turned Informer 3838 is likely to be revealed on March 1, following a watershed court decision.

The Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that the suppression order keeping Informer 3838's name a secret should be lifted next Friday, on March 1.

But police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton is expected to appeal that decision, meaning her name could be suppressed beyond that date.

Police have been arguing the identity of the criminal defence barrister, which is widely known in criminal circles, must remain a secret due to the extreme danger she faces.
Wed forgive you for forgetting, but theres a travel agent saga that was hanging around far before the revelations about Helloworld chief executive and Liberal fundraising boss Andrew Burnes and his close friendship with cigar chompers Mathias Cormann and Joe Hockey.

Jamie Pherous had a victory of sorts on Wednesday after his $3 billion outfit, Corporate Travel Management, posted a 20 per cent jump in profit, apparently leaving the market assured criticisms from Rob Lucianos high-profile hedge VGI Partners might not hold.

Jamie Pherous announced a strong first-half result for Corporate Travel Management, but some analysts are still wary. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit:

By last night, Corporate Travels share price was back where it was in October, when VGI raised questions about everything from the companys accounting methods to the existence of its offices.

But someone serious must still be sceptical, because the investment analysts Diogenes Research appear to have been commissioned to take a look over Pherous numbers.
After carefully following the journal of a 19th century naturalist to a tiny Indonesian island, a team of researchers has rediscovered the world's largest bee.

Indonesians call it Raja Ofu, the King of Bees. Scientists call it Wallace's giant bee. The men who found it just call it a "flying bulldog".

One of the first images of a living Wallaces giant bee. Megachile pluto is the worlds largest bee, approximately ten times larger than a European honey bee. Credit:Clay Bolt (composite image)

It is about the size of your thumb, is ten times bigger than a honey bee, and has a six-centimetre wingspan.

It lives by itself in holes it digs in termite nests and has a big sting.
The mother of a boy who was left on a childcare centre bus for up to six hours has counted her blessings that her son is safe.

Cassandra Brown-Crane's two-year-old son Alijah returned to the Yass Little Learners childcare centre on Thursday, after he was left on the centre's bus on Wednesday.

Chris Reynolds (left) and Cassandra Brown-Crane (right) with their two-year-old son Alijah Reynolds the day after he was allegedly left in a bus at a childcare centre. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Ms Brown-Crane wrote on social media on Thursday that it was a complete accident that her son was left on the bus and while she didn't blame the centre she was not happy that it had happened.

Ms Brown-Crane wrote that the childcare centre staff were not to blame.
Sydney developers, councils and residents have been in the dark for months about where stations will be built for a new $18 billion-plus metro rail line between Parramatta and central Sydney.

But mapping of geotechnical investigations over the past year for the Sydney Metro West project gives some insight into where the state's transport bureaucrats are looking to build stations and the alignment of the line along which driverless, single-deck trains will run.

A proposed metro line from Sydney's CBD to Parramatta has been slated for opening in the second half of the 2020s.

The amount of drilling at Zetland in the south east suggests the government is serious about extending the line there from the CBD, boosting transport links to the fast-growing Green Square precinct.

But some industry insiders say Zetland could be used as an entry point for tunnelling for the mostly underground line, and provisions made for a station to be built there in the longer term.
"We swim with them anyway, and its silly that they have to go home after school hours," said Julie Harvey. Mr Perkins, leader of the students who are touring N.S.W. country centres to investigate the living conditions of aborigines, took 12 aboriginal children from Green Hills "Shanty Town" to the pool entrance about 4 p.m. The baths manager, Mr Neville Duke, told Mr Perkins neither he nor the children could be admitted. "This is ridiculous  these children have been here before during school hours," said Mr Perkins. Mr Duke replied that he was enforcing council regulations.

"Aboriginal children are not allowed in this pool outside school hours," he said. The standing resolution on Kempsey Council books was passed on December 6, 1948. "Not Permitted to Use Baths" The Rev. Ted Noffs of Kings Cross welcomes Charles Perkins back to Sydney on February 26, 1965 Credit:Ted Golding It states that the "baths manager be instructed that aborigines are not permitted to use the Municipal Baths."

An amendment passed on February 21, 1949, states that "any coloured children attending the Municipal Baths with High school swimming parties be permitted to use the baths but the council's previous resolution be not relaxed." The students' action outside the pool followed a debate between Mr Perkins and the Mayor this morning. Mr Melville has Labour preselection far the scat of Raleigh in the coming State election. Mr Melville told Mr Perkins he had "been refused entry to the baths before when you came here with gentlemen of the cloth to dabble in politics" "You did not have the requisites of council to enter the pool," Alderman Melville said.

Mr Perkins: On what ground was I rejected? Mr Melville: I don't know. The baths manager can refuse admittance on any grounds he likes. Loading The Mayor then said he had a statement to make. "There is no colour bar at the pool at alldoes that satisfy you?" he said.

Mr Perkins: I'm afraid not. 27 Received in Gifts Mr Melville later said he thought the students should use "evolution" to help aborigines, not "revolution." The students surveyed Burnt Bridge aboriginal reserve in pouring rain this morning. Local feeling in Kempsey has been strong against the students.
An Iranian refugee who moved to Australia in search of a "land of freedom and opportunity" has appeared before a Sydney court, charged with being one of two alleged ringleaders of a drug syndicate conspiring to smuggle $36 million worth of ice into Australia.

Hamid Ranjbarian, 37, was arrested on Wednesday morning at a home in North Parramatta, before he was charged with multiple offences linked to his alleged role in a conspiracy to import up to 40kg of ice from Iran.

Police arrested Hamid Ranjbarian on Wednesday and charged him with multiple offences linked to his alleged role in a conspiracy to import up to 40kg of ice from Iran to Australia. Credit:NSW Police

A fellow Iranian national, Saeed Bakhtiyari, 27, was also arrested on Wednesday at a home in Wentworth Point just after 7am.

He has been charged with multiple offences linked to the alleged criminal network operating in Sydney's west, including knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group.
Pope Franciss historic sex abuse summit has been met with disdain by Australian victims who believe it will do little to address the culture of crime and cover up that has plagued the Catholic Church.

As more than 100 bishops from around the world convened at the Vatican on Thursday for a four-day conference on clergy abuse, survivors and advocates remained sceptical about what the unprecedented event is likely to achieve.

Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of priests at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday. Credit:AP

John van Raay, one of the victims of convicted paedophile Father Kevin ODonnell, described the Church as masters of spin, noting that the Popes absence at a meeting of survivors in Rome earlier this week tells you everything you need to know about the summit.

Phil OLeary, who was abused by a family priest from the age of 14, branded the gathering as a crock, particularly in view of the difficulties survivors face seeking compensation through Australia's National Redress Scheme.
Love Life & Death. Phoenix Quartet. Presented by Phoenix Collective. Larry Sitsky Room, ANU School of Music. Thursday, March 7, 7pm. trybooking.com/book/sessions?eid=440517. More information: phoenixcollective.com.au.

Violinist Dan Russell is something of a musical entrepreneur. In addition to his other musical pursuits, in 2018 he founded Phoenix Collective, a group of musicians in various configurations.

As artistic director, he plays as a solo violinist with a pianist, with a guitarist, in baroque and tango trios, and in a string quartet. While the soloists in the duo and trio combinations can vary, the quartet is more fixed in its membership.

Phoenix Quartet led by Dan Russell (violinist with facial hair) is coming to ANU School of Music.

And it's Phoenix Quartet that's coming to Canberra on March 7 for Love Life & Death. While it's not quite a homecoming for the Sydney-based Russell, he does have strong links here. He is married to a Canberran whose parents live in the nation's capital and he's been a regular performer with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra for the last three years.
Work will soon start to demolish and remediate the site of the former CFMEU offices at Dickson's Section 72, marking the start of a major transformation of the wider inner-north precinct.

Demolition firm Irwin and Hartshorn have been awarded a $427,000 contract to raze four vacant buildings at Dickson's Block 6, including the union's old offices.

Work will soon start on the demolition of Block 6 at Dickson 72, pictured above Credit:ACT government

Work is scheduled to start later this month and be completed in April.

Prior to demolition, the contractor will be required to remove non-friable and friable asbestos which has been found at the site. In an email this week, the goverment's 'Section72 team' stressed the material was not the "loose fill Mr Fluffy asbestos".
Canberra automotive businesses say they could be driven out of the city as ACT government rate hikes "cripple" their bottom line.

Reliance Automotive Services owner Jon Waterhouse, 63, said he was seriously considering relocating his Fyshwick store to New South Wales because of rising rates.

Pedders Suspension's Phillip store manager, Terry Patat, pictured above, said commercial rate hikes imposed on his business are unjustified Credit:Elesa Kurtz

Mr Waterhouse said his rates bill had increased from about $5000 to $15,000 in the past two years, as a result of the Barr government's taxation reform program.

"It's crippling my business," Mr Waterhouse said.
A Canberra woman allegedly murdered by members of her family was making plans to change her will before she died, a court has heard.

Katherine Panin, 81, was found dead on the back stairs of the family home in Red Hill on October 12, 2015.

The back stairs at Beagle Street where Katherine Panin was found dead.

Her daughter-in-law Melissa Beowulf and her two grandsons Thorsten, 32, and Bjorn Beowulf, 31, have pleaded not guilty to murder and are facing trial in the ACT Supreme Court.

By the time Mrs Panin died the family was in financial crisis, the court has heard.
It can be tempting to sit on the couch after a long day at the office, but new research suggests keeping a packed schedule after work will help you function better the next day.

According to a small study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology last week, workers who spend their evenings wearing themselves out by playing sport, or doing other structured activities, are more "proactive" when they return to the office.

Keeping a busy schedule after work can help you to be more proactive in the office. Credit:Stocksy

Proactivity means not just reacting to a situation but thinking ahead, working out what needs to happen, and then taking charge to achieve it, explained Professor Sharon Parker from Curtin University's Centre for Transformative Work Design, who co-authored the study.

Examples of proactivity observed in the study included speaking out with new ideas, introducing new and improved ways of doing things, and being innovative.
An interim report by a team commissioned by the Morrison government has found the health of the lower Darling River remains in a poor state and more fish deaths are likely to occur.

A study into the recent mass fish kills recommends Murray-Darling basin governments should "re-evaluate" a costly plan to alter the Menindee Lakes, introduce real-time monitoring to cut water theft and update modelling to account for climate change.

The interim report also found low inflows and dry conditions across the catchment are likely to continue "for the foreseeable future".

Graeme McCrabb on his tinnie in the Darling River, floating among dead Murray cod and other fish just after the second of three big fish kill events near Menindee. Credit:Nick Moir

The team - led by Rob Vertessy, a Melbourne University professor and former Bureau of Meteorology head - came to similar conclusions as to the cause of the fish kills as an Academy of Science study commissioned by the federal ALP and released on Monday.
A number of years ago, then federal education minister Simon Birmingham coined a phrase and used it often: Education should be seen as from high chair to higher ed.

It made absolute sense. It fitted exactly what the Group of Eight universities (Go8) had been advocating for several years; that successful education  putting students and the future of the national economy first  could only come when politicians, policymakers and parents viewed education as a seamless process. It should encompass everything from early childhood to post secondary.

Universities and TAFE have united, saying both sectors need to thrive. Credit:AP

In Melbourne on Friday, something most Australians would never have heard of, the Melbourne Declaration, will be both celebrated and reframed by the current Education Minister, Dan Tehan. The declaration has, to date, been focussed on schools and improving outcomes for students.

Both the Go8 and TAFE Directors Australia have been invited to attend. We have both accepted, with alacrity, because we see that invite, finally, as a glimmer of understanding that post-secondary education should be included. Both the Go8 and TDA hope the reframing of the declaration is a line in the political sand.
Beijing: It's not the news Donald Trump's China-hawks would want to hear in the final stretch of a bruising trade negotiation where Washington's biggest ambit claim has been the accusation that China's tech industry is built on theft, not innovation.

Meituan's platform allows consumers to order food from local restaurants and get it delivered. Credit:Bloomberg

The world's most innovative company in 2019 is officially a Chinese super app.

That's the verdict of Fast Company, the US magazine that has chronicled the movers and shakers of the US tech world for more than two decades and was synonymous with Silicon Valley's dot.com boom.

Meituan Dianping has topped Fast Company's annual list of the world's most innovative companies, for "pioneering transactional super apps".
Santos cracked its first profit in five years, beating analysts expectations as it eyes continued growth following a major acquisition late last year.

Profit rose to a record $US630 million ($879 million) for the year, up from a loss of $US360 million seen in 2017. Operating earnings have also leapt by more than 50 per cent, from $US1.4 billion up to $US2.2 billion.

Sales jumped 18 per cent year-on-year to $US3.7 billion.

The results support Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher's decision to reject the $14.5 billion takeover bid made last year by US private equity firm Harbour Energy.

Rejected takeover bid
Westpac is facing the first class action against a major bank in the wake of the royal commission into financial misconduct, with plaintiff firm Maurice Blackburn alleging irresponsible lending by the banking giant.

In a claim the bank will fight, Maurice Blackburn on Thursday said the lead claimants in the case would be Queensland couple Ian and Michelle Tate, who borrowed $1.8 million from the bank across five properties between 2008 and 2016.

Westpac client Michelle Tate and Maurice Blackburn's Ben Slade during a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday. Credit:AAP

Their case focuses on two of these loans, for investment properties in Darwin and Mudgee, in NSW. It says the actual and likely rental losses and other costs associated with the properties have cost the couple $400,000.

Principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, Ben Slade, said the Tates were the only people currently signed up to the action so far, but he believed "thousands" of consumers may be eligible to join the class.
Investors are betting the outlook for the embattled mortgage broker sector may not be quite as grim as feared following the royal commission, after Labor vowed not to introduce policies that would "see the end" of the industry.

After shares in listed brokers Mortgage Choice and AFG crashed in response to the Hayne royal commission's call for an overhaul of remuneration, both stocks rebounded on Thursday following an apparent backdown from Labor.

The slowing home loan market contributed to a fall in the profits of Mortgage Choice.

Mortgage Choice shares rebounded 8.5 per cent to 76c, even as it delivered sharply lower profits and dividends, while AFG surged 23 per cent to $1.18.

Though both brokers' shares remain well below where they were before the royal commission's final report, investors are more optimistic about their future under a potential Shorten government.
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Should they be allowed to march? This is the conversation that Borough President James Oddo launched this week, when he tweeted his support for Staten Islands Pride Center, a group that is barred from marching in our boroughs St. Patricks Parade under their banner.

Stories on the topic on SILive.com have elicited strong reactions, with people seemingly dug in on their positions -- on both sides of the issue. Here we present you with two oppositional perspectives. Both are comments posted on our website, and we invite you to continue the conversation with the same respectful and thoughtful approach you see here.

Perspective: Lets drown the voices of hate

I used to be like many of you. Why do they have to march in this parade mentality.

Last year my sister told me shes doing the 1 mile run beforehand with pride center wearing colors of gay pride flag.

My sister has a few friends of lgbqt so she was just showing support.

One of the organizers for pride center knew id be in top 3 for the mile asked me if I would consider wearing a pride center shirt for the run. Initially said no but thought whats the big deal? Besides nobody else asked me to run for them.

Now I live in West Brighton so I know a lot of the people who show up for the parade.

If you disagree with them marching or participating then please keep it to yourself.

I finished the race and ran back up forest to my house before the parade started. I received a hate filled reception from many in the crowd waiting for the parade to start.

I got the occasional great job from familiar neighborhood faces. But mainly it was negativity.

God bless these guys and girls that have to hear what I heard in the 45 minutes I was wearing the shirt. But more importantly God bless the Irish Catholics calling me names and telling me I dont belong.

The people of lgbqt community are strong though. Stronger than me. They jogged at a very leisurely pace. They heard far worse than I did. They laughed it off like it didnt bother them. Then they all thanked me for wearing the t-shirt.

What kind of example are you setting for your kids? I know the lesson I want my children to take away from my experience.

-- Posted by commenter Goodget

Perspective: Let the organizers decide, its their choice

For anyone who thinks the Pride Center should be in this Parade, I will ask a sincere question.

If an organization that advocated for curing homosexuals or another organization that openly condemned homosexuals (say the Westboro Baptist Church) wanted to march in the Gay Pride Parade under their own banner, would the organizers of the Parade not be within their rights to say no? Would calls for being inclusive or being allowed to march like everyone else be convincing?

Not too long ago, a group like NAMBLA was part of gay pride celebrations, and marched in gay pride parades, presumably under their own banner. Thats no longer the case. Are the gay pride parade organizations not being inclusive? Should NAMBLA be allowed to march like everyone else? https://www.apnews.com/c64e816cac5b0fa1194dd40f576813b2

Freedom of association is a wonderful thing...and is constitutionally protected. Some of us remember that not too long ago gay activist groups tested that by trying to compel their way into St. Patricks Day parades, and thankfully the Supreme Court ruled against them.

-- Posted by commenter Penseroso
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Is there still a debate over whether gay people should be allowed to march openly in the Staten Island St. Patricks Parade?

What year is this again?

Members of the Staten Island Pride Center have been denied permission to march under their own banner in the March 3 parade. Theyve consistently been denied permission in recent years.

They can march, just not under their own banner.

The parade is about Irish heritage, parade president Larry Cummings told the Irish Central Voice, not sexuality or politics.

So, sure, they can march in a closet.

But the parade is also about our Staten Island community, and gay people are part of that community. What do people fear will happen if theyre allowed to march openly?

Parade organizers have declined to speak with the Advance about the controversy this year.

Forget whether the gays should be allowed to march. Ask instead if your gay child should be allowed to march. Your colleague at work who is gay. The athlete or entertainer you admire who might be gay. Should they be denied just because theyre gay?

Catholic teachings against homosexuality have been used as a reason to deny gay marchers a place in St. Patricks parades.

But the iconic Manhattan parade began allowing gays to march openly in 2015. The parade passes by St. Patricks Cathedral, which is basically Roman Catholicisms home office in North America.

The first year that gays were allowed to march openly, Cardinal Timothy Dolan was the parade grand marshal. So much for using the shield of Catholic doctrine to deny gays the opportunity to march openly. As if the Catholic Church has it all figured out when it comes to questions of sexual orientation anyway.

And if you are going to throw Catholic teachings around, remember that mercy and inclusion are also supposed to be part of what were about as Catholics. Were supposed to welcome all. Im far from perfect in that regard. But this one is a no-brainer to me.

Some false, tit-for-tat equivalencies are being thrown around out there as well, including the silly question of whether the Ku Klux Klan would be welcome to march in a Pride Center parade.

The KKK preaches hate and intolerance. They have committed murder and horrific violence in their inglorious past.

Have I missed the cross-burnings and night-riding and bombings carried out by pride centers? You cant equate one with the other.

Were also told that its parade organizers who run the event, so they can decide whos allowed to march and who isnt.

That makes it sound like the Island parade is somebodys private happening.

But you cant view it that way when a big chunk of Forest Avenue is closed off for the parade. When the NYPD is needed to do traffic control at multiple intersections. When parking is disrupted in the neighborhood. When elected officials have given public funds to the parade in the past.

That makes it a lot more than just one individual groups event.

Gays are allowed to march openly in St. Patricks Day parades in Ireland. Theyve been permitted to march openly in Chicagos parade for years. Gay veterans are allowed to march under their own banner in the Boston parade.

Civilization has not crumbled. The parades are still the great celebratory events theyve always been. Borough elected officials have also called for inclusion here.

Ive gone to the Forest Avenue parade for years, including as part of my work for the Advance. And I will attend the parade this year. My son is marching with his school marching band. So Im not calling for a boycott.

But its way past time that gays were allowed to march openly in the parade.

Staten Island gets slammed for being backward and intolerant by too many people as it is. We shouldnt do it to ourselves.
HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y.  A New York City police detective killed by friendly fire while responding to a chaotic robbery scene was hailed at his funeral on Wednesday as a consummate law enforcer with people skills befitting his lifelong nickname: Smiles.

Brian Simonsen , whose posthumous promotion to detective first grade prompted a lengthy standing ovation in a crowded Long Island church, was shot in the chest on Feb. 12 outside of a cellphone store in Queens.

He and six other officers opened fire on a robbery suspect who police say was pointing what appeared to be a handgun. Simonsen's partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman , was hit in the leg and arrived at the funeral in a wheelchair.

"The only two people responsible for Brian's death, the only people, are the career criminals" involved in the robbery, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said firmly, delivering a eulogy in a voice sometimes choked with emotion.

To the devastated men and women of the 102nd Precinct, where Simonsen worked, and to officers around the city, O'Neill said: "Thank you for your dedication."

"Always remember who you are, what you do and why you do it," he said. "Continue to be proud of that" while honoring Simonsen's legacy.

On the night he was shot, Simonsen should have been off for a union meeting. But he opted to go to work so he could continue tracking a string of recent robberies.

"It was never just a job for him," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The mayor related a story about Simonsen soothing a crime victim who'd fought off an intruder. She cried on his shoulder so long that his shirt was soaked with her tears.

On Wednesday, the tears of many were evident at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays.

Simonsen and his wife, Leanne, a nurse, lived in Calverton, near the Long Island community where he grew up. Neighborhood kids knew him as "Uncle Brian."

"Smiles, he should have been the mayor. He was the glue. ... He just loved everyone," said Melissa Weir, who had known him since their high school days in Riverhead.

"There's a lot of people who are hurting," Weir said outside the church. "Last night, I screamed in my car."

You dont want any of our police to end up that way. But why him? ... A good guy, such a larger-than-life personality, she said. A stand-up guy.
Update: Okoumou has been detained, according to news reports.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Patricia Okoumou, the woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 2018, has allegedly climbed to the top of the Southwest Key Building in Austin, Texas, according to Fox 10 news.

Okoumou is protesting the detention of immigrant children and family separation, according to multiple news outlets in Texas.

Austin police say Okoumou is about 60 feet high. She was heard chanting Free the children. Let them go," according to Fox 10.

A national, nonprofit organization, Southwest Key is centered on keeping children out of jails and prisons, according to the organizations website.

Okoumou was denied a jury trial for the Statue of Liberty incident in October of 2018.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Staten Island woman convicted for scaling the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July spent eight hours on the top of a Texas building Wednesday to protest immigration policies, authorities said.

St. George resident Patricia Okoumou was arrested for trespassing after climbing the Southwest Key building on Jain Street in Austin, according to the Austin Police Department (APD).

The incident was reported at 12:14 p.m. and officers were able to talk her down by 8 p.m.

Authorities said Okoumou climbed to the top of the building and made her way to the roof to hang protest banners. The building houses children who were separated from their families after crossing the United States border, according to media reports.

Okoumou was charged with criminal trespass and taken to Travis County jail, said the APD.

My goal is to make sure that young children can never be put in cages in our country ever again, she said on her website.

Okoumou could not immediately be reached Thursday.

In December, the immigration activist was found guilty of trespassing, disorderly conduct and interference with agency functions in connection to the Fourth of July stunt.

She is scheduled to be sentenced March 5 in Manhattan federal court.

During the bench trial, prosecutors said Okoumou allegedly climbed the outside of the Eiffel Tower twice, but was not prosecuted by Parisian authorities.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As Mayor Bill de Blasio works to diversify the citys specialized high schools by eliminating the admissions exam, Staten Islands only specialized high school is finding ways to ensure students are finding opportunities to apply to the prestigious school.

Staten Island Technical High School in New Dorp is the boroughs only specialized high school.

Specialized high schools are selective public schools that offer an advanced or focused curriculum. Students are admitted based on results on the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT).

The school, along with seven other specialized high schools, has historically admitted primarily Asian and white students. Last year, offers to Tech were sent out to 326 students, including two black students and five Hispanic students.

Recognizing that some Staten Island schools are underrepresented at Tech, administrators worked to create the Schools VISIT (Visit Inside Staten Island Tech) program.

Through this program, fifth- and seventh-graders from elementary and middle schools visit Staten Island Tech for a four-hour STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) experience. Students learn robotics, television studio production, 3D printing and Russian.

Every Tuesday we host the VISIT program, which is an elementary school and middle school outreach program. Basically just focusing on high school readiness and high school awareness, said Mark Erlenwein, principal of Staten Island Tech. Its a real collaborative effort amongst the faculty and our students, our student ambassadors, giving students an opportunity in the elementary and middle schools to get to know Staten Island Tech a lot better. To get to experience it themselves."

He added: "Theres a lot of ideas and thoughts about what our school is and who our school is. To bring them into the building gives them that opportunity to try it themselves. And then we hope that they go home that night, they tell their parents and guardians all about our school and will want to learn more.

The program is facilitated by Tech student ambassadors who are alumni of the visiting elementary and middle schools.

MENTORING SEVENTH-GRADERS

Staten Island Technical High School also created VISIT Plus, which invites two North Shore middle schools -- Dreyfus Intermediate School (I.S. 49) in Stapleton, and Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61) in Brighton Heights -- to learn high school readiness skills over the course of eight visits.

In addition to its instructional component, VISIT Plus fosters relationships between both middle school and high school students.

The long-term goal of the program is to develop an extensive Career and Technical Education (CTE) Focused High School Readiness program that offers selected seventh-graders an opportunity to learn new skills at Tech.

Students learn about the high schools special programs, admissions and the school culture. They are also exposed to SHSAT test-prep opportunities, where Tech students tutor middle school students every Saturday.

For these students on Saturdays there is specialized high school admissions test prep at their home schools for them to have access to, to further facilitate the process of learning more about specialized high schools and Staten Island Tech and then giving them the tools to take the exam and hopefully get in, said Erlenwein.

Through VISIT Plus, students from I.S. 49 and I.S. 61 will design and create a solar-powered remote-control car -- using a computer-aided design and drafting software and 3-D printing.

Were teaching these students -- through our students and faculty -- how to take a remote control car, convert it to a solar-powered remote control car and then design a new chassis or body. And in a couple of weeks, the students from I.S. 49 and I.S. 61 are going to have a friendly race, and race their cars against one another, said Erlenwein.

Watch the video above to see students design solar cars and learn how to build circuit boards.

Each group is assigned a Tech student who acts as mentor while creating the car -- ensuring it is measured to scale and 3-D printable.

Were teaching kids how to build a solar-powered toy car, said Shayka Amaratunga, a senior at Tech who previously went to I.S. 49. We as mentors, were going to be there with them -- but the main thing is to teach them how to do it. I dont think I was that exposed to STEM stuff so this gives them an open door to see if this is something they want to do.

OUTREACH PROGRAM

The high school has offered an outreach program since 2004. It was originally named the Specialized High School Institute Program. When that program was relocated to middle schools, Erlenwein worked with educator Barry Levine to develop the VISIT program when Erlenwein became principal in 2013. Levine is now the coordinator of the VISIT programs.

Upon getting this job, I wanted to give back and create that opportunity once again, Erlenwein said. At that time, the Specialized High School Institute program was no longer in our school. They relocated them into middle schools, so we wanted to have our own impact on the opportunities that our elementary and middle schools have."

Erlenwein said, through a new initiative beginning this spring, every Staten Island high school will institute a smaller version of the VISIT program into their schools.

Giving middle school students a chance to walk high school hallways and visit high school classrooms informs their decisions and builds excitement for the years to come," said Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education (DOE). "We have seen great success with VISIT and are thrilled to expand it to include more schools and students as Tour District 31.

According to the DOE, Tour District 31 is a similar program where approximately 2,000 middle school students on Staten Island will have the opportunity to tour schools outside of their zoned high school.

Current participating high schools include Port Richmond High School, Port Richmond; Ralph R. McKee Technical High School, St. George; Susan Wagner High School, Sea View; Tottenville High School, Huguenot; New Dorp High School, New Dorp; Curtis High School, St. George; and the Eagle Academy for Young Men, Stapleton.

Some tours have already begun and will continue throughout the spring.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The following is a roundup of obituaries published on SILive.com. Viewing times and guestbooks can be found here.

Michael Anselm Bilotto, 84, a loving husband, father and grandfather who was a lifelong resident of Staten Island, died on Feb. 17. Following his return from the U.S. Army, he helped run his fathers business, The Staaten, then the Sleepy Hollow Inn, and later worked as a New York State Supreme Court Officer for 27 years.

Michael E. Farber, 56, died on Feb. 20, He was a history buff who cherished his Irish heritage.

Inez M. Barghaan died on Feb. 20. A full obituary will be published soon.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Neil Holtermann, a member of the family that owns Holtermanns Bakery on Arthur Kill Road in New Springville, tragically died in a car crash on Sunday in New Jersey, according to a Facebook post.

He was 34 years old.

Neils sister, Alison, said that she learned of her brothers death when she received a phone call at approximately 3:30 a.m. on Sunday.

I knew something was wrong, she said.

Once she was told of Neils death, Alison said that she dropped the phone and broke down crying right there.

He had the most amazing laugh, Alison said. Every time he was in the room, you knew he was in the room.

Another relative of Neils, Jill Holtermann, said the loss of Neil was heartbreaking."

He was such a good kid,'' she said. "This never should have happened.

Jill, who also works at the bakery, said Neil came in all the time."

I was in the other day at work, and I could picture him in front of me asking for a bagel, she said. Its a heartbreak because this kid is so beautiful.

Neil Holtermann was a graduate of Tottenville High School and lived in Staten Island, according to Jill, and both his father and grandfather worked at the famed family bakery.

Alison said that the family has received just tons of support from the community.

Its so greatly appreciated, she said.

The circumstances that led to the crash and additional details are currently unavailable.

A Facebook post by Holtermanns Bakery on Wednesday requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the college fund of Neils sons, Neil, Jr. and Grayson.

The gofundme effort for his sons has currently raised approximately $6,000.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Criminal charges against an ex-convict from Queens accused of once running a prostitution business on Staten Island have been dropped.

But, Eddy Florence isnt going home anytime soon.

Florence remains behind bars and is facing kidnapping, rape, promoting prostitution and other charges stemming from a separate case in Queens in which hes accused of pimping out two teenage girls.

In the Staten Island matter, Florence, 33, was busted in January 2018 and accused of sex-trafficking and prostitution-related crimes that allegedly occurred between June and December of 2017.

An indictment alleged the defendant had at least two women working for him and physically threatened at least one of them, said the indictment.

Florence steadfastly denied the allegations, and the charges were dropped Tuesday at a conference in state Supreme Court, St. George.

A spokesman for the district attorneys office confirmed the charges against Florence were dismissed but had no further comment.

Florences court file has been sealed.

Attorney Craig Newman, who represented Florence in the Staten Island case, declined comment.

In the pending Queens case, the defendant was arrested on Dec. 13, 2017, and later indicted on 43 counts including kidnapping, rape, sex-trafficking, promoting prostitution, criminal sexual act (formerly classified as sodomy), possessing a forged instrument and drug possession, said prosecutors in that borough.

In a news release issued last May, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown alleged Florence had coerced two girls, ages 13 and 15, into having sex with strangers for money during several weeks in late 2017.

Prosecutors allege Florence placed prostitution ads on Backpage.com, resulting in the girls meeting johns.

The younger girl, who had been living in a residential group home, moved in with Florence in November 2017, said Brown. He subjected her to sexual contact numerous times over the following weeks, the D.A. said.

Florence has denied the allegations and is being held in lieu of $5 million bond or $1 million cash bail, online records said.

He is next scheduled to appear in Queens state Supreme Court on March 6.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- No boycott of Staten Islands St. Patricks Parade is planned, despite the unanswered calls of activists and multiple elected officials for LGBT inclusion.

Carol Bullock, Executive Director of the Pride Center of Staten Island, said her organization is not calling for a boycott of the parade being held March 3.

The parade is such a great day, and were not trying to ruin it for anyone, she said.

Organizers of the 55-year-old West Brighton tradition have not returned multiple requests for comment on the decision not to let the Pride Center march with a banner. Bullock said in an email that organizer Larry Cummings "flat out refused and said there was nothing to talk about, it wasnt going to happen.

Borough President James Oddo started a cascade of local officials voicing their support for LGBT inclusion in the event when he tweeted about the issue Friday.

The St. Patricks Day Parade on Staten Island is a joy. I look forward to marching next month, and time has long since passed that we include the @pridecentersi," he wrote on the social media platform.

What a unifying moment it would be for our borough to reach an accord and have all of SI enjoying this happy day.

The St. Patricks Day Parade on Staten Island is a joy. I look forward to marching next month, and time has long since passed that we include the @pridecenterSI. What a unifying moment it would be for our borough to reach an accord and have all of SI enjoying this happy day.  Jimmy Oddo (@HeyNowJO) February 15, 2019

He said Wednesday that years of personal maturation led to his decision to speak out about an issue he believed in.

Oddo credited his close friendship with former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in citing how his beliefs grew into what they are today. He also had a conversation with Bullock the day before he made his announcement.

AIM WAS TO RAISE ISSUE OF INCLUSION

Bullock said she wanted to take the initiative in 2019 to bring up the inclusion issue with local elected officials.

This has been in my stomach, in my gut for years now, Oddo said. Its almost embarrassing for me that its taken this long.

Oddo admits his decision to still march in the parade could be seen as inconsistent, but said he felt grandstanding" wouldnt lead to change. He did not definitively say whether he would continue to attend the parade in the future.

He said the doors of Borough Hall are open to the parties involved, if they want to work through the issue.

After Oddos tweet, multiple elected officials, including Congressman Max Rose, District Attorney Michael McMahon and City Councilwoman Debi Rose, announced their support for LGBT inclusion.

No elected officials have called for a boycott.

Bullock said the reaction to Oddos tweet was inspiring to her and her staff, and was optimistic they would eventually be allowed to march under their organizations banner.

I think its a small group that creates this perception of Staten Island," she said. We want to march to celebrate our Irish heritage, but under the banner of the organization were so proud to work for."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Shocking, and later unfounded, allegations forced a successful Staten Island chiropractor to shutter her thriving practice, flee the borough and rebuild a life decimated by intense media coverage, a new lawsuit claims.

Dr. Danielle Serini, 40, gained national notoriety after NYPD crossing guard Jennifer Becker framed her for being a racist, unhinged woman during a series of baseless attacks three years ago, leading to death threats and depression, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court.

The poor womans life was turned upside down, said Serinis lawyer, Jay Goldberg. It affected her in every conceivable way.

Serini, now a New Jersey resident, filed a lawsuit against the City of New York; Becker; NYPD crossing guard Margaret Marsh; Officers Ebony Glover and William Dawson; Sgt. Robert Gurnick and Det. Richard Dinkle  all of the 120th Precinct  alleging they maliciously accused her of targeting Becker.

The doctor seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Goldberg estimates the fiasco cost Serini millions of dollars. More importantly, it affected her mental health, led to hair loss, strained her marriage and left her in fear of building a new practice, he said.

The practice I spent years building was totally destroyed, Serini said in a statement to the Advance. Whats worse is I was arrested three times in front of my children, who remain terrified that someone might come again and take me from them.

Court documents show an innocent tiff between Serini and Becker back in April 2016 spiraled into false allegations that forced authorities to arrest the doctor three times before the cases were dismissed more than a year later.

Subsequently, Becker was then charged with framing Serini.

Almost everyone assumed these were legitimate allegations, Goldberg said. The cops didnt properly investigate. Nobody questioned what Becker and Marsh told them.

Jennifer Becker, right, gets arraigned at Staten Island Criminal Court on Thursday Nov. 16, 2017. (Go Nakamura for New York Daily News)Third-Party-Submitted

According to the filing, it was late in April 2016 when the doctor was taking her son home from school when he tried running across the street before Serini grabbed him. Serini noticed neither Becker or another crossing guard were stationed near the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Slosson Avenue in Castleton Corners, and told Becker about it the next time she saw her.

The filing alleges Becker began screaming and cursing at Serini while she was with her two children, but the chiropractor did not respond.

The next day, Glover and Gurnick, who were supervising the crossing guards, visited Serini at her office to confront her about harassing the guards, said the lawsuit. Gurnick gave her a number to call if she had any complaints.

Serini reported Becker for again verbally attacking her on May 25, and the officer told her she would take care of it, the filing states.

But the situation escalated from there.

In June 2016, Serini was arrested for stalking Becker and Marsh and held overnight before being arraigned the next morning. She was charged with stalking and harassment and orders of protection were issued.

About eight months later, the suit said the chiropractor was arrested in front of her two children at her office for allegedly giving Becker the middle finger and throwing a lollipop at her, thus violating the order of protection.

Serini was then accused in March 2017 of sending vile and racist letters to Becker, Marsh and the 120th Precinct stationhouse.

Serinis name and photo was than splashed across the New York tabloids and various local media outlets, including the Staten Island Advance.

The complaint said YouTube videos, including one that has more than 400,000 views, about the arrests painted Serini as a racist and possibly mentally unstable.

The allegations led to verbal and written threats, patients leaving and her kids, then ages five and eight, being harassed at school, said the filing.

She was an accomplished woman. She had a very good and viable practice with many patients, Goldberg said. She had to flee the Island.

Beckers plot was foiled after a probe revealed she allegedly tried to implicate Serini by sending racist letters, some of which contained a photo of Beckers mixed-race son, as part of the ongoing feud, law enforcement sources said at the time.

Becker was charged with 29 counts of tampering with physical evidence, 12 counts of stalking, 11 counts of aggravated harassment, four counts of falsely reporting an incident, and endangering the welfare of a child, said the criminal complaint.

In August, Becker pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence and filing a false report during an appearance in Mental Health Court in state Supreme Court, St. George. She had not yet been sentenced.

Becker is currently suspended with pay, according to the NYPD.

A spokesman for the city Law Department could not immediately be reached.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Despite its sanctuary-city status, deportations in New York City are up 150 percent since 2016, according to a report released Thursday.

Comptroller Scott Stringer, whose office published the report, attributed the increasing numbers to more activity from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which performed 88 percent more arrests in that time period.

These statistics are harrowing and theyre a call to action, because these just arent numbers  theyre sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, partners, neighbors, and friends, Stringer said.

In large part, the deportation increase has been fueled by a 265 percent rise in people with no prior criminal record being removed from the country, which marks the highest increase of any major city in the country, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for ICE declined to comment directly on Stringers report, but said ICE officers in New York perform their lawful duties with integrity and pride.

ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. However, ICE no longer exempts classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement, she said in a statement.

All of those in violation of immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.

Staten Island only accounts for 3 percent of the citys cases involving immigrants, but that still is more than 1,600 total cases.

Gonzalo Mercado, executive director of La Colmena, said that even one person going through these type of proceedings, and it signals a change in American policy over the last decade.

These are the same people that for 15 years, we were trying to bring out of the shadows, he said. "There used to be a consensus that we have to do something for these people.

Favio Ramirez Caminatti, executive director of El Centro del Inmigrante, said the report reflected facts that already scared Staten Islands immigrant community -- both undocumented, and those with legal status.

ICE is acting without control, he said. (The report) is a c all for elected officials to take action and do something. This is happening in our backyard.

Assemblyman Charles Fall, whose parents came to the United States from Guinea in the 1980s, said immigration helped to build and sustain this country.

I recognize (this issue) is complex and one that generates a lot of passion, but it is challenging to justify tearing families a part and forcing some of our most talented out, he said.

The majority of deportation actions taking place are happening to Chinese and Indian immigrants, according to the report.

The report recommended the city work toward universal legal representation for individuals in immigration proceedings, and that New York state should act to restrict immigration enforcement operations in and near courthouses.

When people are afraid of going to the courthouse, it not only makes immigrants less safe, it makes everyone less safe, Mercado said.
Page Content

Businesses that had to make their physical spaces more accessible for people with disabilities since the enactment of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) increasingly find that they must do the same for online access. Website accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court nearly tripled in 2018, from 814 the year before to 2,258, according to a report by law firm Seyfarth Shaw.

We've rounded up SHRM Online resources and articles from other trusted media outlets on the news.



Wake-Up Call for HR

The lawsuits, filed in 14 statesled by New York with 1,564 such suitsallege that the sites are not accessible to the blind or visually impaired. The businesses that were sued represent a wide variety of industries, including retail, hospitality, education and the streaming service Hulu.

In January, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision to dismiss a website accessibility lawsuit against Domino's Pizza. That ruling could make California's federal courts an attractive venue for plaintiffs and cause the number of website accessibility lawsuits in the state to increase dramatically in 2019, Seyfarth Shaw noted.

While the explosion in lawsuits has not specifically focused on employers' careers sites and job portals, the general trend should be a wake-up call for employers that want to avoid litigation.

(Seyfarth Shaw)



Job Applicants Starting to Sue

Lawsuits against employers over careers sites and online applications have slowly followed litigation over public accommodations for website-accessibility.

In late 2018, a flurry of complaints were filed in California, challenging the accessibility of online job application platforms under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

According to the National Organization on Disability's 2018 assessment of nearly 200 companies, only 49 percent reported that their recruiting websites and intranets were compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) by the World Wide Web Consortium, as recommended by most courts.

(SHRM Online)



Make Your Careers Sites More Accessible

Employers committed to diversifying their applicant pools and improving candidates' experience need to be aware of problems that applicants with disabilities may have when they try to access careers sites, job portals and electronic applications.

(SHRM Online)



ADA Resources

The ADA requires employers to provide a level playing field for workers with disabilities. These resources can help HR avoid discrimination by providing reasonable accommodations.

(SHRM Online)


Members of the Caribbean African Multicultural Association of Thunder Bay, from above left, Adetunde Ogunberu, Colleen Peters, Margaret Kargbo and Nicole Croes, with bottom left, Sage Ogunberu and Chima Kargbo, were at Thunder Bay City Hall on Wednesday to start Black History Month and the eighth annual dinner and gala.
Sharon, PA (16146)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
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TOKYO  With their second summit fast approaching, speculation is growing that President Trump may try to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to commit to denuclearization by giving him something he wants more than almost anything else: an announcement of peace and an end to the Korean War.

Such an announcement could make history when the two leaders meet in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28.. It would be right in line with Trumps opposition to forever wars. And, coming more than six decades after the fighting essentially ended, it just seems like common sense.
VATICAN CITY  If Pope Francis needed a concrete example to justify summoning church leaders from around the globe to Rome for a tutorial on clergy sex abuse, Sister Bernardine Pemii has it.

The nun, who recently completed a course on child protection at Romes Jesuit university, has been advising her bishop in Ghana on an abuse case, instructing him to invite the victim to his office to hear her story before opening an investigation. But what if Pemii hadnt stepped in?

It would have been covered (up). There would have been complete silence, Pemii said. And nothing would have happened. Nobody would have listened to the victim.

Starting Thursday, Francis is convening a summit at the Vatican to prevent cover-ups of sex abuse by Catholic superiors everywhere. The gathering comes as many Catholic bishops and authorities around the world still try to protect the churchs reputation at all costs, denying that priests rape children and discrediting victims even as new abuse cases keep coming to light.

Bishops in some countries, including Brazil, dont even have a published abuse policy to speak of.

Francis, historys first Latin American pope, has made many of the same mistakes. As archbishop in Buenos Aires, he went out of his way to defend a famous street priest who was later convicted of abuse. He also took a handful of measures early on in his papacy that undermined progress the Vatican had made in taking a hard line against rapists.

These include the pontiff publicly botching a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile by initially giving it no credence. But Francis realized last year he had erred.

I was part of the problem, Francis told Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz during a private meeting at the Vatican in June.

The pope has now done an about-face and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him at the extraordinary summit. Some 190 presidents of bishops conferences, religious orders and Vatican offices are gathering for four days of lectures and workshops on preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims and investigating abuse when it does occur.

The Vatican isnt expecting any miracles, and the pope himself has called for expectations to be deflated. But organizers say the meeting marks a turning point in the way the Catholic Church has dealt with the problem, with Francis own conversion last year a key point of departure.

Nicole Winfield is an Associated Press writer.
Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images

BAGHOUZ, Syria  Young girls and boys stared out of the back of trucks, their faces dirty, their eyes filled with terror, exhaustion and uncertainty, as hundreds of men, women and children were evacuated from the Islamic States last enclave in eastern Syria on Wednesday. The evacuation may signal an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants self-declared caliphate that once stretched across much of Syria and Iraq.

Their condition pointed to the squalor that Islamic State has been reduced to in the tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River. Food and water have been running out in the pocket, where some 300 militants along with hundreds of civilians  believed to be mostly their families  have been under siege for more than a week by U.S.-backed forces. Conditions have been so bad that at least 60 people previously evacuated from the militants shrinking territory subsequently died of malnutrition or exhaustion.
American Airlines is teaming up with the helicopter company Blade to offer its best customers the option of booking a whirlybird ride to or from Los Angeles International (LAX) or New York (JFK) airports, along with other enhanced treatment.

Both Delta and United offer similar helicopter transfers for well-heeled passengers from the New York area to JFK and Newark respectively, but not in Los Angeles.

According to American, passengers who book a Blade ride "will be picked up in the city at a destination of their choice and flown to LAX or JFK where they'll be greeted (at the heliport) by an American Airlines team member and escorted via Cadillac to Flagship First Check-In." The reverse process is available for arriving passengers who want to fly out of the airport via helicopter.

At LAX, participating AA passengers can choose to be taken initially to The Private Suite for check-in and security clearance (an exclusive terminal across the runways from the main terminals, designed to accommodate celebrities and business moguls who can't stand airport crowds) with a ride to their plane via Cadillac.

American doesn't say where in the two cities travelers can be picked up, but most New York JFK passengers will probably begin the Blade ride at a Manhattan heliport (more about that here). For Los Angeles travelers, Blade's website suggests possible pick-ups at a downtown LA, Santa Monica or Montecito heliport, or at Burbank Airport, Van Nuys, Santa Barbara, Orange County, or even San Diego.

Blade's website says that airport transfers to JFK from Manhattan start as low as $195 for booking a seat on a scheduled departure, and at $695 for a private six-seat helicopter charter. Transfers from downtown Los Angeles to LAX start at $295 per seat on schedule departures.

According to American, the helicopter transfers and The Private Suite terminal experience at LAX are offered at an additional cost to customers who purchase one of the airline's Five Star Experience packages, which include services like first class check-in, use of Admirals Clubs, a personal escort through the airport, priority boarding, and car service coordination. Available at 12 U.S. and four international airports, Five Star Service costs $350 for the first adult and $100 per additional adult.

Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our free bi-weekly travel alert emails!

"The No. 1 pain point of traveling from New York City and Los Angeles to the airports is traffic. Our Blade airport transfer product turns an hour-and-a-half drive into a helicopter flight that's five to seven minutes," said Rob Wiesenthal, founder and CEO of Blade.

Have you ever flown or would you consider a helicopter transfer between the city and the airport? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

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.
Wildly successful TV producer Shonda Rhimes has reduced the price of one of her Los Angeles homes to $9 million. The Hancock Park property was listed last fall for $10 million.

The creator of Scandal and Greys Anatomy purchased the home from the musician Beck in 2010 for $5.6 million. So if it sells for the reduced price, she'll still walk away with a nice profit.
When Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., had a craving for caffeine on a trip to New York this week, the Trump critic found himself faced with quite a conundrum. The nearest coffee shop, you see, was in Trump Tower. Also, it was snowing.

But the congressman was not deterred.

Click through the gallery above to see reactions to the tweet

He did the only thing one can do as a member of the Resistance in literally the densest county in America: He walked a couple extra blocks to get his coffee, took a selfie, and then tweeted about it.

"It's snowing in New York," he wrote on Twitter, alongside a selfie close-up showing his hair and jacket dusted with the aforementioned snow outside the Fendi store in midtown Manhattan. "I need coffee. The closest cafe is inside Trump Tower. This is me walking to an alternative."

The tweet has since been retweeted more than 4,700 times and has more than 41,000 likes. It also spawned hundreds of jokes and memes as people mocked him for his dramatic description of his plight. The tweet currently has more than 20,000 replies.

ALSO: Cher wants Eric Swalwell on the 2020 ticket

Noted Swalwell-endorser Cher has yet to weigh in, but many others did.

"He's standing outside Fendi, which is 57th and Madison," replied Scott Holberg. "There is a Starbucks at 58th and Madison, on the same side of the street."

Nevertheless, he persisted.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter
In January, the Modern Language Association reported that colleges across the country have shut down a stunning 651 language programs over the past three years. This astounding news did not make headlines. It is a quiet crisis  and a harbinger of peril for the next generation of U.S. leaders.

In 1957 a tiny satellite named Sputnik shook Americans out of their global leadership complacency. If the Russians could beat us into space, then maybe they could beat us in other areas as well.

The shock sparked a mad dash in math, engineering and science. It prompted an explosion nationwide in the study of Russian and other critical languages used by our allies and adversaries alike. It steeled our determination as a nation to boost our knowledge base and learn languages to maintain U.S. leadership and national security.

Once again, that leadership is at risk. And once again, the threat is as much complacency at home as danger abroad.

On the surface, language departments are suffering a fate similar to the rest of the humanities as universities look to cut costs and discover relevant fields of study. The standard rationale is that the sciences and engineering fields are universities (and students) moneymakers. Those fields are booming. They are flush with government dollars and funding from tech giants. New laboratories and facilities are being built to attract star faculty. And with the whole world learning English, why bother anyway?

But science degrees, engineering careers and money arent the real issues. Languages (like many of the humanities) require little more than a professor, a textbook and a classroom, making a higher net profit to the institution than their hard science counterparts, with their labs, equipment and software. Italian is always Italian, after all.

The real issue is demand, which has been diminishing for decades and starts long before college: Nationwide, only 1 in 5 students from kindergarten through high school is taught a foreign language. Only 16 states require any world language learning at all in K-12  and usually this amounts to only two years in high school. Language proficiency requirements are on the wane. Yet learning French or Korean is no different from learning English: It takes time to become proficient. Those who grow up without opportunities to learn other languages arent likely to ask for them when they get to college. Its a vicious cycle, especially if parents have little to no experience with other languages.

There are places like Glastonbury, Conn., and Fairfax, Va., where school districts continue to offer comprehensive language programs for kids beginning early in elementary school. Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota offers a truly one-of-a-kind experience for kids 7 to 18 to immerse themselves in 15 languages in a fun, camp-like setting.

But these places are exceptions  and those exceptions are bittersweet. They afford opportunities to a tiny percentage of Americans who live in these school districts or who can pay for summer language camp programs. The rest of America  the 4 in 5 who have no opportunity to learn a second language  is left with few options.

Given the political environment, its hard not to be alarmist at Americas dismissal of world languages. The U.S. faces serious security threats: North Korea, Russia, Islamic State holdouts in the Middle East  the list goes on. To address those challenges effectively, we also need allies. The need to speak the language of our adversaries and our friends is still very present and very real, no matter what we tweet.

National security is not only about threats at the border or nuclear arms. It also involves economic strength. How can we expect to cut our trade deficits if we cant speak the language of our customers?

Our quiet crisis is of our own making. It is not only short-sighted, it is tragic. It can be undone. Until we recognize the value of learning other tongues, however, there arent words in any language for the trouble well be in.

Dan Hamilton is a professor at Johns Hopkins University and dean of Waldsee German Language Village, a program of Concordia Language Villages.

Stacie Nevadomski Berdan is a former global executive, an expert on international careers and co-author of Raising Global Children.
President Xi Jinping called for deeper strategic mutual trust between China and Iran as he reiterated the country's determination to develop the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership on Wednesday.

Xi's remark came as he met with Iranian Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani in Beijing.

Xi said that China and Iran have a long-standing friendship, and their mutual trust and friendship have withstood the test of time.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday opposed President Rodrigo Duterte's plans of a "harsher" anti-drug campaign, which he himself said could be bloody.

In an interview in Cebu City, Robredo said nothing was solved almost three years into Duterte's drug war which has left over 5,000 suspects dead according to government data.

"Matuto tayo sa nangyari over the last two and a half years. Ang daming buhay iyong ibinuwis, hindi naman natin na-resolve iyong problema sa droga," Robredo said when asked about Duterte's promise of a "harsher" war on drugs.

[Translation: "Let us learn from what happened over the last two and a half years. Many lives were lost but the drug problem was not resolved."]

Robredo added that the government should focus on running after syndicates that smuggle illegal drugs into the country.

"Ang dapat sanang parusahan natin, iyong mga nagdadala ng mga droga dito sa Pilipinas (Those who smuggle drugs into the Philippines are the ones who should be punished)," Robredo said. "Hindi iyong pinapatulan natin iyong mga maliliit, na iyong mga maliliit na mga gumagamit, dapat sana tingnan natin iyon na biktima (We should not focus on the small-time drug users whom we should actually see as victims)."

Duterte in a speech in Malacanang on Wednesday said the discovery of floating cocaine packages in different parts of the country are proof that international drug cartels have infiltrated Philippine shores, and that drug dealers will be killed regardless of nationality.

READ: Duterte warns of a 'bloodier' drug war amid floating cocaine discoveries

Malacanang on Thursday explained that by warning of an intensified drug war the President meant he would be "relentless" in his campaign against illegal drugs and will focus more on it.

"In fact he has instructed police officers to do everything in their power, in accordance with law, to dismantle the entire drug apparatus in the Philippines," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.

Some lawmakers, meanwhile, are cautioning the President against human rights violations.

"Kahit bago niya sinabi na magiging harsh, harsh na talaga. Higit 20,000 na napapatay ayon sa mga human rights organizations at para paulit ulit niya sabihin sa kanyang SONA o sa ibang public statements, lalo lang nagpapatindi ng lungkot, takot, at rejection sa ganyang social, economic problem," opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said.

[Translation: Even before he said it would be harsh, it has always been harsh. More than 20,000 were killed according to human rights organizations and for him to make public statements such as those, these only worsen the sadness, fear, and rejection in this social and economic problem."]

Senator Joel Villanueva, meanwhile, recalled the murder case of 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, killed in a police operation in Caloocan in August 2017.

READ: Duterte: No pardon for cops guilty of Kian slay

"Yung collateral damage lalaki lalo yan kung itutuloy lang natin ng walang pakundangan at hindi natin icocorrect yung mga pagkakamali na atin nang nakita (The collateral damage will grow especially if we will continue with the drug war without correcting the mistakes we have seen)," Villanueva said.

Malacanang has said there are no state-sponsored killings, adding that it is committed to investigate officers who violate and abuse their power.

CNN Philippines' Ina Andolong and Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
By Patrick Whyte, Skift | Feb. 20, 2019

Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith is pushing ahead with plans to transform the airline to bring it on a par with its European rivals.

On Wednesday, Smith outlined the new strategy, which included plans for a simplified structure as well as a brand reorganization.

Millennial airline Joon is going and the company will now focus on three airlines: Air France, KLM, and low-cost subsidiary Transavia with regional carrier variations -- Air France Hop and KLM Cityhopper -- in each home market.

The company is creating a new group CEO committee to determine the overall strategy. Smith will chair it with Pieter Elbers (KLM CEO), Anne Rigail (Air France CEO) and Frederic Gagey (chief financial officer of Air France-KLM) reporting to him. Elbers and Rigail will be deputy group CEOs.

Elbers's position was reportedly under threat but it seems all sides have agreed a peace deal with a new contract in the offing.

Air France has also secured a new pay deal with pilots, on top of previous labor agreements. Smith will be hoping this will brings an end to the crippling strikes that have hurt the airline.

The group is also working to simplify and modernize its fleet. This will involve securing new aircraft, phasing out older models and sprucing up cabins.

Asked by one analyst on an earnings call, whether his plans to restructure the company were any different to his predecessors', Smith said he was working with "respect, transparency and confidentiality" and that employees at Air France in particular were buying into his vision.

"They are willing to really start to understand the marketplace to look outside of Air France to ensure that the group is more cohesive to ensure that the strengths of the group are leveraged and to really understand that we have four other major competitors in Europe and that Air France KLM has everything that is necessary to regain our natural position at the top of the industry in Europe," he said.

IAG and Lufthansa -- which have had much more success moving from national carriers into multi-airline groups -- are Air France-KLM's biggest full-service rivals but it also competes with low-cost carriers EasyJet and Ryanair.

Alitalia Tease

There wasn't much in Smith's comments about any future M&A until towards the end of the earnings call, where he made quite a cryptic remark about struggling Italian airline Alitalia, which has attracted interest from Delta Air Lines and EasyJet.

"[I]n terms of Alitalia, we continue to observe the process and what is going on. We are not active participants at this moment. But obviously, the Italian market is extremely important for the group. As far as Alitalia is concerned, we are actively watching the events that are unfolding," he said.

Alitalia, Air France and KLM are all part of the Skyteam airline alliance.

Full Year Results

Operating profit for 2018 fell 31 percent to US$1.5 billion (EUR1.3 billion,) largely as a result of the crippling strikes at Air France and a higher fuel bill. Revenue rose 3 percent to US$30.1 billion (EUR26.5 billion.)

The differing performances of the two main airline components illustrates just why the new CEO wants to change things. Air France Group's operating profit fell 69 percent to US$301 million (EUR266 million,) while at KLM Group the same metric fell 6 percent but still resulted in earnings of US$1.2 billion (EUR1.1 billion.)
By Lauren McMah, News.com.au | Feb. 21, 2019

An Air New Zealand plane has been forced to do a mid-air U-turn after it failed to get permission to fly over Iran -- marking the second Air New Zealand flight this month that has been stifled due to a lack of clearance.

The new Airbus A321neo was on a delivery flight from Hamburg, where Airbus has a major production facility, to Auckland and was believed to be flying via Oman, Kuala Lumpur and Cairns.

Due to a "last-minute delay in the delivery process", the plane took off for Oman before it had been given clearance to fly over Iranian airspace.

Without the necessary clearance, the plane was unable to fly over Iran and had to turn back around and return to Hamburg.

"We had received assurances by our delivery flight planning agent that the Iranian clearance paperwork would come through during the flight," Air New Zealand said in a statement.

"Unfortunately this was not received in time and the decision was made to return to Hamburg."

The airline called the incident "unfortunate" but said turning back was "not uncommon".

It said: "Each clearance process is managed differently and has different application deadlines and parameters (for instance one jurisdiction may require proof of an existing clearance to land elsewhere, another may outline a set period of time when the aircraft is able to land within that airspace, and some require application within a short window of the flight departing).

"While the turn back is unfortunate, the nature of obtaining a chain of interlinked clearances means scenarios of this nature are not uncommon.

"The aircraft has since departed Hamburg and is expected to arrive in Auckland late on Thursday evening."

It is the second time in weeks an Air New Zealand plane has been refused clearance to enter a foreign country.

Flight NZ289, carrying about 270 passengers, was turned around several hours into its journey from Auckland to Shanghai on February 9 as it wasn't given permission to land by Chinese authorities.

"A technicality meant the particular aircraft operating this service did not have Chinese regulatory authority to land in China," the airline said at the time.

Aviation experts pointed the finger at Air New Zealand and said there was likely to have been a "serious administrative cock-up".

Earlier this week New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defended the country's relationship with China amid suggestions of a diplomatic rift.

A major China-New Zealand tourism scheme was also delayed this month -- Chinese media claiming tourists were "punishing" New Zealand for its decision last year to ban Chinese telco giant Huawei from operating in the country.

"This is a robust and mature relationship," Ms Ardern told reporters on Monday.
China Aviation Daily | Feb. 20, 2019

Oriens Aviation announced today (20th February) it has signed an agreement with Pilatus Aircraft Ltd to extend its exclusive UK and Ireland Authorised Pilatus Centre at London Biggin Hill Airport to the PC-24 Super Versatile Jet, effective immediately. In readiness, it is ramping up tooling and sending engineers to Stans, Switzerland for training to add the twin-engined jet to its Part 145 MRO approvals. It expects to achieve this by the end of the third quarter.

"We are delighted to be widening our partnership with Pilatus with the new PC-24 and looking forward to creating a sales centre showcase at our Biggin Hill home," said Oriens Aviation CEO Edwin Brenninkmeyer.

He added: "The aircraft is a real game-changer in the light jet market, blending the short field performance of a turboprop, the speed of a light jet and a generous cabin, akin to that offered by mid-sized jets. The large cargo door, 10 passenger seats and unique unpaved field performance capable of landing and taking off from both paved and unpaved runways of 893m and above makes this jet unlike any other."

"We are very pleased to extend our relationship with Oriens Aviation to the PC-24. Edwin and his team have proved to be a terrific partner supporting the PC-12 since the outset and naturally we endorse their credentials as a valued Pilatus family ambassador," commented Ignaz Gretener, Vice President General Aviation of Pilatus.

Oriens marks first year as Authorised Pilatus Service Centre

Oriens' announcement today comes on the first anniversary of the business opening its Authorised Pilatus Service Centre and a successful four years as the OEM's representative, facilitating the introduction of 10 Pilatus PC-12s into service in its region.

Oriens' mission is to deliver a high quality, responsive, end to end service to all Pilatus Customers - from sales, AOC and aircraft management advisory, MRO and most recently, pilot training.

Its MRO activity was recently bolstered with the addition of Stuart Locke, from TAG Farnborough Maintenance Services as General Manager, at the beginning of this year. He plans to triple the number of productive manhours, 90% of which is devoted to the Pilatus PC-12, versus 2018, through the introduction of new processes and work methods, responding to the peaks in MRO activity. Oriens is also upping its technician and engineering resources.

Oriens Maintenance is now able to offer swift responsive AOG support at airports and small airfields around the UK & Ireland with the introduction of a fully equipped vehicle as a mobile support centre & workshop. It is big enough to carry an electrical /air generation system, large components, jacks, even a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 aircraft engine.

Late last year Oriens agreed an alliance with Oysterair and secured UK CAA approval to commence pilot training courses at its Biggin base. To date, one PC-12 Legacy renewal course has been completed and two active PC-12NG courses are currently ongoing. "The emphasis is to combine traditional teaching methods with modern multi-media platforms in a course that covers EASA and FAA approvals and class ratings. All PC-12 instructors working with Oriens actively fly the PC-12 as line pilots," said Jonathan Shooter, Managing Director of Oysterair, adding he is delighted to bring this offering to London Biggin Hill in collaboration with Oriens.

Through close collaboration with fractional PC-12 operator Jetfly and Bournemouth Aviation Services, Oriens Aviation is now supporting over 20 Pilatus PC-12 aircraft with a number of private UK customers moving over from Bournemouth. From 1st January 2019 the Bournemouth facility is dedicated solely to supporting Jetfly aircraft.

Contributed by Oriens Aviation
New details emerged Wednesday afternoon in a Martinez courtroom as witnesses testified at the jury trial of an alleged DUI driver accused of causing a series of collisions that took four lives on Interstate Highway 80 in San Pablo in 2017.



Fred Lowe, 49, was arrested in connection with the crash that damaged vehicles on both sides of the center divider on Highway 80 in San Pablo just before 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 25, 2017. According to the California Highway Patrol, Lowe had a blood-alcohol content of 0.14 percent when his blood was taken hours after the crash.



Four people were killed in the crash: 50-year-old Daryl Horn, 14-year-old Joseph Horn, both of Napa, and 52-year-old Troy Biddle and 12-year-old Baden Biddle, both of Bainbridge Island, Washington. Five vehicles were involved in the crash, and at least six additional injuries were reported.



Lowe faces four counts of murder as well as additional charges related to drunk driving and leaving the scene of a crash. He has two prior DUI convictions in Sacramento County in 2011 and 2012, as well as a robbery conviction out of Solano County in 1991.



One witness called by the prosecution Wednesday afternoon said she still has persistent neck problems more than two years after the crash, and underwent several months of physical therapy for her injuries.



She was in a westbound vehicle, on the other side of Highway 80, with her husband and children when the vehicle containing the decedents flew over the center divider and became involved in a series of collisions. She described the experience as devastating.



One of her daughters, a high school student, suffered a head injury in the crash that had to be stapled shut at a hospital. The injury caused her to miss a band audition at school.



Ivan Hernandez, a young man who witnessed the collision on Highway 80, testified that a vehicle matching the description of the one driven by Lowe, a blue Mercedes-Benz, nearly crashed near the freeway entrance and the driver had difficulty maintaining a lane before the crash.



Hernandez said he saw sparks and smoke at the scene of the crash, where a vehicle flew over the center divider, before he pulled over to call 911.



After the crash, Lowe allegedly fled the scene and parked his car in the vicinity of Barranca Street, off San Pablo Dam Road, where a resident called and reported the Mercedes-Benz as suspicious after noticing visible damage to the vehicle's exterior.



He was arrested nearby, according to the CHP.





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.
OAKLAND (BCN)



The Oakland Unified School District's 3,000 teachers will go on strike beginning at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, the head of the teachers' union said on Wednesday afternoon.



Speaking at a crowded news conference outside Skyline High School in the Oakland hills, Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown said school district officials presented a slightly improved contract offer at a negotiating session on Tuesday, but said it wasn't significant enough to meet the union's demands.



The union is seeking a 12 percent pay raise over three years, and the district previously offered a 5 percent raise over three years.



Brown said the district's new offer is 8.5 percent over four years, but said that's still not enough to meet the union's demand for a living wage that addresses the high cost of living in Oakland.



School district spokesman John Sasaki confirmed that district officials have offered an 8.5 percent increase over four years, which he said is more than the 6 percent over three years recommended in a report by a panel tasked with helping the two sides come to an agreement.



Sasaki said the new offer consists of a 1.5 percent bonus for the 2017-18 school year, a 3 percent increase for the current year and 4 percent increase over the next two years.



The two sides will meet again at 9 a.m. Friday, Brown said.



Teachers and parents and students who support them will picket at all 86 school sites, according to Brown.



The strike will be the first by Oakland teachers since 1996, when they walked out for more than two months.



Brown said, "We want a short strike" but said the length is "indefinite" and "it's not a one-day strike."



As Brown's news conference was ending, about 40 Skyline High students held a rally to support the teachers, chanting "Books, supplies, lower class size!"



The school district said in a statement that it is "prepared to minimize the disruption to our students' learning as much as possible" and that qualified central office employees and screened temporary teachers will join school principals and site staff "to supervise, care for and educate students."



The district said all of its schools will be open during the strike and "students should attend school during the strike as regular attendance policies apply unless an official announcement is shared from the district."



School officials said they anticipates teacher picket lines at schools and know that some parents and students plan to join them.



They said, "We respect and support this decision, but also encourage union members and supporters to respect the rights of our students to attend school during a strike."



The district said that as the teachers' union advised its members, "Picket lines are to remain peaceful and it is illegal to block or physically interfere with anyone crossing the picket line to enter school grounds."



School officials said, "This includes in any way interfering with our transportation vendors as they drop off and pick up students."



Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District officials said buses will not stop at Montera Middle School Thursday because of the strike and buses serving Skyline High School and Oakland Community Day School will not go into the two campuses.



Bus 648 to the day school will stop at Mountain Boulevard at Leona Street. Bus 648 to the Fruitvale BART station will not stop at Carson Street at Aliso Avenue.



Bus Nos. 617, 638, 648, 652, 654, 658 and 662 will stop at Skyline Boulevard and Balmoral Drive but not at the high school campus. Bus Nos. 646 and 649 will operate but also not stop at the campus.



All other service to Oakland schools will be normal but service may change for safety concerns, AC Transit officials said.





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SANTA CRUZ (BCN)



A University of California at Santa Cruz student from Sunnyvale was charged Tuesday with possessing and distributing drugs to students through a mobile application he built called "Banana Plug."



Collin Howard, 18, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose for distribution and possession with an intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.



Howard allegedly developed the Banana Plug application, a play on the school's banana slug mascot, and sold drugs to undercover law enforcement officers from the university and Homeland Security Investigations.



Posters around the school advertised the application, which offered MDMA, "shrooms," cocaine and special requests with the tagline "We Have What You Want." A police officer from the university eventually saw one of the advertisements and downloaded Banana Plug to make a purchase.



Between Nov. 7 and Nov. 28, 2018, Howard sold marijuana and cocaine to the officers and communicated with them through Snapchat to complete the purchase, according to prosecutors.



The third and fourth purchases included more than 5 grams of methamphetamine, and Howard was arrested during the fourth meeting before the officers completed the purchase, prosecutors said.



Howard is expected back in court on Friday, and could face up to 20 years in prison in addition to millions of dollars in fines.





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A special documentary screening of "Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable" will be presented Thursday in Sonoma ahead of The 22nd annual Sonoma International Film Festival next month, organizers said.



The showing will start at 7:15 p.m. at the Sebastiani Theatre at 476 First St. E.



Hamilton was 13 years old when she lost her arm to a tiger shark as she was surfing, but she hasn't let that stop her from chasing her dream of being a professional surfer or from becoming a mother.



Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The film festival starts March 27.







The Napa County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday identified Javier Hernandez Morales as the man who died when he shot at sheriff's Deputy Riley Jarecki from his vehicle Sunday night in Napa.



The sheriff's office also released the deputy's body camera video of the shooting. It shows Jarecki standing outside the driver's door telling Morales in the driver's seat to roll down his window. Morales complies but then shoots at Jarecki, who immediately fires back.



Morales died at the scene, and Jarecki was not injured. Sheriff's officials said the shooting at the deputy was attempted murder, and Jarecki has been placed on administrative leave.



The shooting happened around 11 p.m. Sunday in the 1100 block of Henry Road. The sheriff's office scheduled a media briefing on the case for late Wednesday afternoon.



The graphic video is available on the Napa County Sheriff's Facebook page, but viewers are advised it is not suitable for children.







The University of California at Berkeley said on Wednesday that it has suspended a professor in its arts and humanities division for sexually harassing a female student 10 years ago.



However, the university didn't name the professor.



UC Berkeley said that in 2018, after an extensive investigation, its Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination "concluded that a professor violated the university's Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy by engaging in unwelcomed verbal conduct of a sexual nature that was found to be sufficiently severe that it created a hostile environment and interfered with a complainant's study and work."



The university said the behavior occurred between 2007 and 2009.



UC Berkeley said, "At all times, the professor denied, and continues to deny, the allegations and maintains that he did not engage in conduct that violated the (harassment) policy or the Faculty Code of Conduct."







A University of California at Santa Cruz student from Sunnyvale was charged Tuesday with possessing and distributing drugs to students through a mobile application he built called "Banana Plug."



Collin Howard, 18, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose for distribution and possession with an intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.



Howard allegedly developed the Banana Plug application, a play on the school's banana slug mascot, and sold drugs to undercover law enforcement officers from the university and Homeland Security Investigations.



Posters around the school advertised the application, which offered MDMA, "shrooms," cocaine and special requests with the tagline "We Have What You Want." A police officer from the university eventually saw one of the advertisements and downloaded Banana Plug to make a purchase.



Between Nov. 7 and Nov. 28, 2018, Howard sold marijuana and cocaine to the officers and communicated with them through Snapchat to complete the purchase, according to prosecutors.







A state appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday upheld the convictions and lengthy prison sentences of two men in the brutal gang rape and beating of a 16-year-old girl outside a Richmond High School homecoming dance in 2009.



Jose Montano and Marcelles Peter were among six men convicted in the attack and were the only two to go to trial; four others pleaded guilty.



Montano and Peter were each convicted in Contra Costa County Superior Court in 2013 of forcible rape in concert, forcible sexual penetration in concert and forcible oral copulation with a special allegation of causing great bodily injury.



Montano was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison and Peter to 29 years to life.



The victim was attacked during a period of more than two hours in a dark courtyard outside the school on Oct. 24, 2009. She was found by police after a passerby called 911 and she was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital, where she was for five days.







An African-American duo that has taken Hollywood by storm told a gathering of boys and men of color on Wednesday to work together to create their own stories of change and hope.



Closing the national gathering of Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper Alliance at Oakland's Scottish Rite Center, filmmaker Ryan Coogler and actor/producer Michael B. Jordan shared lessons learned from their work together in crafting powerful stories of African-American resilience, from "Fruitvale Station" to "Creed" to Oscar-nominated "Black Panther."



Just as the two Hollywood heavyweights have depended on one another to fuel their success as film storytellers, they encouraged those attending MBK Rising! to find people in their own lives to help light their paths.



"If you want to be an artist, if you want to build anything that is going to affect people, that has the potential of existing long after you are gone from this place, you have to do it with other people," said Coogler, who grew up in Oakland and Richmond. "That's how the world works, that's how we work as human beings. Find your group, find your collaborators and look around you."



Coogler and Jordan began their rise to fame together in 2013 with "Fruitvale Station" about the shooting death of Oscar Grant in 2009 at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. The director and actor teamed up again on the critically acclaimed films "Creed" and "Black Panther," which is nominated for Best Picture at Sunday's Academy Awards.







The Oakland Unified School District's 3,000 teachers will go on strike beginning at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, the head of the teachers' union said on Wednesday afternoon.



Speaking at a crowded news conference outside Skyline High School in the Oakland hills, Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown said school district officials presented a slightly improved contract offer at a negotiating session on Tuesday, but said it wasn't significant enough to meet the union's demands.



The union is seeking a 12 percent pay raise over three years, and the district previously offered a 5 percent raise over three years.



Brown said the district's new offer is 8.5 percent over four years, but said that's still not enough to meet the union's demand for a living wage that addresses the high cost of living in Oakland.



School district spokesman John Sasaki confirmed that district officials have offered an 8.5 percent increase over four years, which he said is more than the 6 percent over three years recommended in a report by a panel tasked with helping the two sides come to an agreement.







Staff at Martinez Junior High School found threats of a school shooting written on a bathroom wall for the second time in two days on Wednesday, but school officials maintain that there is no credible threat to the safety of their students.



Officers arrested a boy on Tuesday after finding a threat written on a bathroom mirror, but determined the threat was not credible. The boy was booked into juvenile hall. His name was not released because he is a youth.



Classes went on as scheduled Wednesday and school officials had counseling staff on site for any students who wished to talk to an adult about their feelings on the threat. Wednesday afternoon, however, school officials sent an email to parents acknowledging that a second threat had been found -- this time in a girls' bathroom.



Still there is no credible threat to students or staff, CJ Cammack, superintendent of the Martinez Unified School district, said.



"We will continue to investigate this matter and will seek the maximum consequences permissible under the law and the California Education Code," Cammack said in a statement. "All our students and staff deserve the right to attend school and feel safe while in school or at work."













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OAKLAND (BCN)



A strike by Oakland Unified School District's 3,000 teachers began Thursday as the teachers' union calls for higher wages to address the higher cost of living in the area.



Teachers began picketing at 6:30 a.m. at various schools around the district, then gathered for a news conference outside Manzanita Community School about an hour later.



"For two years, we have been negotiating with the Oakland Unified School District to make our students a priority," said Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association union. "It's time for the district to listen to the community."



The union is seeking a 12 percent pay raise over three years. The district previously offered a 5 percent raise over three years and earlier this week raised it to 8.5 percent over four years, but Brown said that's not enough to address the high cost of living in Oakland.



The two sides will meet again for negotiations on Friday morning.



Later on Thursday, teachers and their supporters plan to hold a rally at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza around 11:30 a.m. and then will march to the school district's headquarters at 1000 Broadway.



According to the district, all schools are staying open during the strike.





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A seventh grader from Chaboya Middle School in San Jose is headed to the Scripps National Spelling Bee after correctly spelling "guanabana" at a regional bee on Sunday.



Rishik Gandhasri participated in the 2019 Bay Area Regional Spelling Bee at the Amador Theater in Pleasanton and came out on top after 14 rounds.



His winning word is a "large succulent irregularly ovoid fruit of a small tropical American tree having short fleshy spines and a slightly acid fibrous pulp," according to Scripps. The second-place finisher misspelled "occitan."



Gandhasri will attend the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 26-31 in Washington, D.C. Chaboya Middle School shared a short congratulatory post, saying, "Outstanding job Rishik!"



This year, the national Scripps organization stepped in to oversee a regional competition because no local sponsors offered to organize the bee.



The Bay Area region includes schools in Mendocino, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Lake counties.



"The Bay Area holds great interest in our spelling program and we wanted to ensure the tradition of a regional competition would continue," said Scripps spokeswoman Valerie Miller, thanking Visit Tri-Valley for its partnership.



Five national bee winners have come from Bay Area schools, Miller said, along with several national finalists.



"We see this as a temporary solution for this year and look forward to solidifying plans for a new regional sponsor."





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VALLEJO (BCN)



Vallejo police have identified the man who was fatally shot late Saturday night as Jeveon Washington, 19, of Vallejo.



Washington was found in the 800 block of Curtola Parkway when police responded around 11 p.m.



Washington was taken to a hospital where he died of his injuries.



Anyone with information about the fatal shooting is asked to call Detective Kevin Rose at (707) 651-7146 or Detective Rob Greenberg at (707) 648-4280





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BERKELEY (BCN)



University of California at Berkeley police are asking for help identifying a man suspected of injuring another man Tuesday afternoon at a table for a conservative student group on Upper Sproul Plaza.



Someone called police at 3:29 p.m. Tuesday to report a disturbance on the plaza. A UC Berkeley student who witnessed the attack told officers that two men had been fighting.



On the plaza, officers found an injured man who said he had been punched several times. The victim told police he was at a table for the student group Turning Point USA when two men came up to the table and started arguing.



The victim started filming the argument with his phone and apparently a fight began when one of the two men slapped the phone out of the victim's hand.



The suspect knocked over the table for Turning Point and the pair struggled over the phone. Then the suspect punched the victim several times, injuring the man's nose and eye, police said.



The suspect left the plaza before officers arrived. Police are asking anyone who has information about the case or the man in a photo released by the campus Police Department to call them at (510) 642-6760.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A pedestrian was hospitalized Wednesday afternoon after a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus struck them near the Balboa Park BART station.



The collision happened just after 4 p.m. near Geneva and San Jose avenues, Muni spokesman Paul Rose said.



The pedestrian made contact with left side an 8-Bayshore bus, which was moving at the time. The impact caused the pedestrian to fall to the ground.



The pedestrian was taken a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, Rose said.



Further information was not immediately available.





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MOUNTAIN VIEW (BCN)



No one was injured in an apartment fire on Wednesday in Mountain View, fire officials said.



Flames and smoke were reported at a two-story apartment building in the 1200 block of Dale Avenue at about 7 p.m., and firefighters responded to find it isolated to a first-floor apartment.



The fire did not spread to other units and was extinguished in about 15 minutes, according to fire officials.



Residents got out of the unit and the occupants in the rest of the building were told to evacuate, then later returned to their homes. One resident chose to stay with friends nearby and did not require further assistance.



Damage to the apartment was estimated at about $50,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A U.S. Internal Revenue Service analyst in San Francisco has been charged in federal court with leaking information about the bank records of Michael Cohen, a former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump.

IRS investigative analyst John Fry, 54, was charged in federal court in San Francisco on Feb. 4 in a criminal complaint filed under seal. The complaint was unsealed Thursday after Fry's initial appearance before a federal magistrate.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A Guatemalan immigrant jailed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly two years was released from a Colorado detention facility Tuesday, his supporters announced.



Last week, Immigration Judge Joseph Park granted Raul Lopez, 46, a $25,000 bond during a hearing in San Francisco, in which Lopez appeared via telephone conference, his attorneys said.



The bond hearing was ordered by U.S. Magistrate Sallie Kim in January. 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.



Lopez was initially detained by ICE agents in March 2017 and was held at the West County Detention Center in Richmond. In September 2018 Lopez was moved, unbeknownst to his family, to a detention facility in Aurora, Colo. after the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office ended its contract with ICE to house its detainees.



At his initial 2017 bond hearing, a judge determined he was a danger to the public and denied his release because of three misdemeanor DUI convictions between 2010 and 2016.



According to the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, which has been supporting Raul's family during his detention, Raul was reunited with his family Tuesday after the alliance helped raise the bond money.



"Now that Raul is free, we will continue to support him and his family as he continues the legal battle with ICE to remain with his family," alliance officials said in a statement.



The government has 30 days to appeal Park's decision, Frances Kreimer, an attorney for Lopez said last week.



ICE officials were not immediately available for comment.





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SAN LEANDRO (BCN)



Fire officials with the Alameda County Fire Department said Wednesday that the cause of a three-alarm fire at a Georgia Pacific warehouse in San Leandro on Valentine's Day was electrical.



Firefighters responded at 5:47 p.m. Thursday to the warehouse in the 2800 block of Alvarado Street where winds blew smoke from the fire across Washington Avenue as crews were on their way.



Fire officials said the blaze was contained where it began, in a large cardboard box wax application machine in the rear warehouse of the firm's one-story building.



No one was injured in the fire, fire officials said.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A state appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday upheld the convictions and lengthy prison sentences of two men in the brutal gang rape and beating of a 16-year-old girl outside a Richmond High School homecoming dance in 2009.



Jose Montano and Marcelles Peter were among six men convicted in the attack and were the only two to go to trial; four others pleaded guilty.



Montano and Peter were each convicted in Contra Costa County Superior Court in 2013 of forcible rape in concert, forcible sexual penetration in concert and forcible oral copulation with a special allegation of causing great bodily injury.



Montano was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison and Peter to 29 years to life.



The victim was attacked during a period of more than two hours in a dark courtyard outside the school on Oct. 24, 2009. She was found by police after a passerby called 911 and she was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital, where she was for five days.



Co-defendants Manuel Ortega and Ari Morales pleaded guilty to similar charges and received prison terms of 32 and 27 years. Elvis Torrentes and John Crane were sentenced to six and three years in prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges.



A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal unanimously rejected Montano's and Peter's claims of errors in jury instructions and other procedures in the case.



In 2011, the West Contra Costa Unified School District and a joint powers authority agreed to pay $4 million to settle a civil claim by the victim. Her lawyer said she had relocated.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



A man with six felony convictions dating back to 1991 has been charged with murder for allegedly fatally shooting a man in East Oakland in November, Alameda County prosecutors said.



Robert Graham, 47, is charged in connection with the shooting death of 39-year-old Phillip Pullum of Oakland in the 3500 block of Davis Street shortly before 7 p.m. on Nov. 27.



A witness who looked at video surveillance footage of the shooting identified Graham as the shooter, Oakland police Sgt. Yun Zhou wrote in a probable cause statement.



Graham was arrested in the 6500 block of Fenham Street in East Oakland at 5:30 p.m. last Wednesday, according to Zhou.



Graham, who lists his occupation as drug counselor, was charged and arraigned on Tuesday and is scheduled to return to court on Monday to enter a plea. He's being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail.



In addition to murder, Graham is charged with two counts of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm and one count each of carrying a loaded firearm in a city and carrying a concealed firearm on his person.



Prosecutors say four of his six prior felony convictions were drug-related, one was for possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and one, his most recent conviction in 2013, was for evading a police officer.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Two Bay Area contractors were convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco Wednesday of conspiring in a plot to rig bids for renovating a building at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.



Clifton Burch, 50, of San Lorenzo, president of Empire Engineering and Construction Inc., and Peter McKean, 49, of San Mateo, vice president of Townsend Management Inc., were each convicted of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud.



They will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on June 19 and could face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.



Prosecutors said Burch, McKean and a third contractor agreed to submit bids ranging from $6.2 million to $7.1 million in 2013 so that another supposed contractor, who was actually an undercover FBI agent, could win the U.S. Department of Energy contract with a lower bid.



The probe grew out of a case in which Chinatown tong leader Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow was convicted of murder and racketeering and former state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco-San Mateo, and fundraiser Keith Jackson pleaded guilty to a corruption charge.



The same undercover agent posed as a businessman in the Chow case.



The third contractor, Anton Kalafati, 34, of San Francisco, President of B Side Inc., pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge last year.



Business consultant Derf Butler, 54, of Vallejo, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and lying to FBI investigators. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said Butler orchestrated the phony bids and admitted to receiving $15,000 from the undercover agent.



Simmons said Burch and McKean expected to get payment and work after the supposed low-bid contractor would win the job.





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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  President Rodrigo Duterte seems more convinced now that businessman Peter Lim is involved in illegal drug operations.

Malacanang on Thursday said this could be the reason for the President's stern warning against Lim, who is on the run for drug charges.

Duterte in a speech Wednesday night said it would be better for the alleged drug lord to commit suicide since he would face 200 years in jail if he surrenders. "Never ever surrender to me alive I-abbreviate mo na. Ikaw na magtali sa leeg mo," Duterte said.

READ: Duterte warns of a 'bloodier' drug war amid floating cocaine discoveries

When asked why Duterte is now going tough on Lim, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said it seems that the President has more basis to do so.

"Siguro some time ago, nung sinasabi mong soft pa siya, walang masyadong ebidensya against him. Baka marami nang ebidensya to convince the president that he (Lim) is really behind many operations concerning drug activities," Panelo said.

Authorities have been hunting down Lim following the arrest order issued against him in August 2018 on charges of conspiracy to commit illegal trading. His co-accused, self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, earlier told a Senate hearing that Lim was his supplier in selling and distributing illegal drugs in the Visayas.

Lim earlier denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade including the allegations made by Duterte that he is part of a Chinese triad leading the Visayas operations. He even personally appeared to the President, his kumpadre (co-sponsor) in a wedding, to clear his name.

Malacanang has said Duterte does not personally know Lim, and they only happened to be fellow sponsors in the wedding.

Panelo said Malacanang has no idea about Lim's whereabouts since the accused drug lord has not reached out to the Palace even after Duterte's statements on Wednesday.
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that if states don't require more schoolchildren to get vaccinated, the federal government might have to step in.



Nearly all states allow children to attend school even if their parents opt out of vaccines. These vaccine exemptions are especially popular in Washington state, where a measles outbreak started last month that has now sickened at least 67 people in four states. And New York has been working to contain its largest outbreak in decades, which began in October and has sickened more than 200 people.

"Some states are engaging in such wide exemptions that they're creating the opportunity for outbreaks on a scale that is going to have national implications," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, said Tuesday in an interview with CNN.

If "certain states continue down the path that they're on, I think they're going to force the hand of the federal health agencies," he added.

Gottlieb's suggestion about the federal government and vaccines was first reported by Axios.

The commissioner was vague on when he thought the federal government should take action and what exactly that action should be. "You could mandate certain rules about what is and isn't permissible when it comes to allowing people to have exemptions," he said.

He said he hoped that the measles outbreak would make state officials realize that they needed to get stricter on exemptions.

Forty-seven states allow parents to opt out of childhood vaccines for religious reasons. Of those, 17, including Washington, allow parents to opt out because they feel that vaccines violate their personal or philosophical beliefs.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups have long said that states should get rid of all exemptions except when a vaccine would cause medical harm to a child.

Gottlieb said he is "deeply skeptical" of all exemptions except medical ones.

Reaction to Gottlieb's statements was mixed.

"This is fantastic news," said Dr. Adam Ratner, director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone. "I think some of the states may need that kind of push."

Bill Zedler, a Republican Texas state representative, disagrees.

"It's a horrible idea," said Zedler, who has fought efforts to get rid of religious and personal exemptions in his state.

"That's why we have different laws in every state: so the citizens of that state can decide how they want to run things," he added.

Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and state senator in California, said that although he welcomed national leadership on this issue, he was concerned about the legality of the federal government moving into an area that has been controlled by state laws.

"Traditionally, school entry requirements have been the role of the states, so there might be a constitutional challenge if the federal government tried to mandate by law those school requirements," he said.

Pan, who four years ago successfully led an effort to get rid of personal and religious vaccine exemptions in his state, said he thought national leaders might take a different approach than what Gottlieb suggests to increase vaccination rates.

On Tuesday, he sent a letter to Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, to ramp up efforts to address parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children.

"As our nation's doctor, I urge you to issue a call to action on vaccine hesitancy in the United States and make this crisis a public health priority," Pan wrote.

Pan warned Adams about campaigns on social media to scare parents away from vaccinations.

"Our nation requires your leadership to stop this attack on our nation's health by addressing the spread of vaccine misinformation causing unwarranted vaccine hesitancy," he wrote.

In a statement to CNN, Adams said he has "consistently championed for the use of vaccinations."

He added that "the data tells us that that states with broader exemption laws have higher numbers of unvaccinated residents, which predisposes them to outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases like measles."
SALEM, Ore.  Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is on track to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Many residents have testified in favor of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 percent, forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles.
LOS ANGELES  John Brider was found passed out near a homeless shelter and taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he later died.

Brider, 63, had gone into cardiac arrest and oxygen had been cut off to his brain. But another, seemingly improbable, factor contributed to his death last winter: hypothermia, or loss of body heat, from being out in the cold, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner ruled.

One of the abiding myths about Los Angeles is that homeless people come here from the East Coast or Midwest because at least they wont freeze to death.

But despite Los Angeles typical sunshine and mild temperatures, five homeless people, including Brider, died of causes that included or were complicated by hypothermia in the county last year, surpassing San Francisco and New York City, which each reported two deaths.

The Los Angeles County coroner said 13 people died in part of the cold over the past three years. Advocates worry that this cold, rainy winter will bring more deaths.

Hypothermia led to more deaths in Los Angeles than in colder regions because 39,000 homeless people here live outdoors  by far the most of any metropolitan area in the country. Los Angeles generally moderate Mediterranean climate is no shield, because hypothermia can set in at temperatures as high as 50 degrees, experts say.

Going without a hat can drain up to half a persons body heat, and wet clothing can intensify heat loss twentyfold, according to a 2007 report from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. Underlying medical conditions, alcohol and drug use  including the use of psychiatric medications  mental illness and the privations of living outdoors intensify the risk. Brider, for example, tested positive for cocaine and had cancer of the throat and tongue, the coroner said.

Many people experiencing homelessness suffer from malnutrition and sleep deprivation, leading to some of them remaining out in the cold. Ultimately, sometimes they die, said Bobby Watts, the homeless councils chief executive.

Los Angeles hypothermia cases, first reported in the Capital & Main online publication, are a tiny fraction of the overall homeless death toll, which climbed from 720 in 2016 to 900 last year. But hypothermia is a particularly appalling, and preventable, way to die.

The idea that people froze to death is really horrible; It is a shared societal tragedy, said Jim OConnell, founding director of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, who researches hypothermia among homeless people.

Cold and rain are not the only weather conditions that are killing homeless people. The coroner reported six deaths in 2017 and 2018 involving hyperthermia, or abnormally high body temperatures, including three on the same sizzling hot day last July.

Gale Holland is a Los Angeles Times writer.
FALLS CHURCH, Va.  The federal government has acknowledged that it shares its terrorist watch list with more than 1,400 private entities, including hospitals and universities, prompting concerns from civil libertarians that those mistakenly placed on the list could face a wide variety of hassles in their daily lives.

The governments admission that it shares the list so broadly comes after years of insistence that the list is generally not shared with the private sector.

Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations which has filed a constitutional challenge to the governments use of the watch list, called the governments admission shocking.

Weve always suspected there was private-sector dissemination of the terror watch list, but we had no idea the breadth of the dissemination would be so large, Abbas said.

The watch list is supposed to include only those who are known or suspected terrorists but contains hundreds of thousands of names. The governments no-fly list is culled from a small subset of the watch list.

Critics say that the watch list is wildly overbroad and mismanaged, and that large numbers of people wrongly included on the list suffer routine difficulties and indignities because of their inclusion.

The governments admission comes in a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Alexandria by Muslims who say they regularly experience difficulties in travel, financial transactions and interactions with law enforcement because they have been wrongly added to the list.

Abbas said now that the government has disclosed how many private entities receive access to the Terrorist Screening Database, the official name of the watch list, it now needs to explain exactly which private entities are receiving it and what theyre doing with it. Hes asked a judge to require the government to be more specific. A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Are universities taking TSDB status into account in making admission or disciplinary decisions? Are Inova Alexandria Hospitals building security personnel screening visitors against the TSDB and denying entry to listees? Is Motorola screening its software engineers who work on cellular infrastructure equipment against the TSDB and firing listees? Plaintiffs have no idea, Abbas and co-counsels Lena Masri and Carolyn Homer wrote in a brief submitted Friday.

In depositions and in court hearings, government officials had denied until very recently that the watch list compiled by the FBIs Terrorist Screening Center is shared with private entities. At a pretrial hearing in September, government lawyer Dena Roth told U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga that the Terrorist Screening Center does not work with private partners, and that watch list status itself ... is considered law enforcement sensitive information and is not shared with the public.

It is not clear what restrictions are placed on how private institutions use the list.

The FBI did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

Matthew Barakat is an Associated Press writer.
Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor who said he was the victim of a hate crime, was indicted Wednesday night by an Illinois grand jury that found probable cause that he had actually staged the assault he reported to Chicago police in January.

Law enforcement officials said a grand jury had decided that Smollett falsely reported being attacked in a case that quickly drew national attention, and charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct.
LOS ANGELES  David Horowitz, whose Fight Back! syndicated program made him perhaps the best-known consumer reporter in the U.S., has died. He was 81.

Horowitz had dementia and died on Thursday in Los Angeles, a family spokesman said.

Fight Back! With David Horowitz won multiple Emmys and a huge audience as Horowitz investigated product defects, tested advertising claims and confronted companies with customer complaints.

A popular feature on Fight Back! were commercial challenges, which included products being dropped from a helicopter or being smashed with wrecking balls to test claims of strength and even durability tests featuring an elephant, according to a family biography.

Fight Back! aired on KNBC-TV, where Horowitz was a consumer reporter for more than 15 years.

At its peak, the program was syndicated on dozens of TV stations across the country. Horowitz also made regular appearances on KNBC newscasts and on NBCs Today show. He also had a popular radio program and a newspaper column and authored several best-selling books.

In 1993, Horowitz moved to KCBS-TV where he delivered Fight Back! segments during news broadcasts, according to the family biography.

I dont consider myself a consumer advocate, Horowitz told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. If youre on television, you have to really be broadcasting in the public interest ... but you also have to be objective ... I do a lot of stories where the consumers wrong  where theyre trying to rip off companies, too.

In 1987, Horowitz was taken hostage during a KNBC-TV broadcast by a gunman with mental problems. The journalist read the mans statements on camera although the hostage-taker didnt realize the broadcast had been cut. The weapon turned out to be an empty BB gun.

The experience led Horowitz to join a successful campaign to outlaw realistic-looking toy guns in California and other states.

His reporting was criticized by some consumer advocates and reporters as being too concerned with showmanship and less-serious consumer concerns, such as whether a particular popcorn brand lived up to its advertising.

But the Chicago Tribune noted in 1987 that Horowitz waged successful campaigns to remove life-threatening sulfites from salad bars and to require automakers to install rear window collision-avoidance lights. He was honored by consumer groups and in 1981 became the first newsman to receive the Chief U.S. Postal Inspectors Award for uncovering mail fraud, the Tribune reported.

Horowitz also took heat for his paid work for Better Books, which offered directories with ads, consumer tips and lists of Better Business Bureau members but collapsed into bankruptcy.

Horowitz was born on June 30, 1937, in the Bronx and held a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Before joining KNBC-TV in the 1970s, he worked for various newspapers and TV stations.

Horowitz also appeared as himself on episodes of Silver Spoons, ALF, The Golden Girls and Saved by the Bell.

Horowitz worked to make the world a better and more honest place, his family said in a statement.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne, two daughters and two grandchildren.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is exploring the idea of forming a special committee to look at climate change and security risks, with the effort being coordinated by a 79-year-old physicist who rejects mainstream climate science.

A discussion paper asks federal officials from an array of government agencies to weigh in on a proposed executive order that President Trump would sign establishing the Presidential Committee on Climate Security.

A memo to those federal officials asks them to direct any questions to William Happer, a member of Trumps National Security Council and a well-known critic of mainstream climate science findings.

Happer would be a fringe figure even for climate skeptics, said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. David Titley, now a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University.

Several climate scientists agreed with Titley, including Georgia Techs Kim Cobb, who said Happers false, unscientific notions about climate change represent a danger to the American people.

Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes, who wrote the book Merchants of Doubt on climate denial, pointed to instances when Happer has claimed that carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from the burning of coal, oil and gas, is good for humans and that carbon emissions have been demonized like the poor Jews under Hitler.

Happers bio at Princeton University, where he previously taught, describes him as a pioneer in the field of optically polarized atoms. It notes that he served in the administration of President George H.W. Bush as the director of energy research at the Department of Energy, where he oversaw a basic research budget of roughly $3 billion.

The National Security Council advises the president on security and foreign policy issues. According to the discussion paper, the council would fund and oversee the committee. Among the committees responsibilities would be to address existing United States Government reports on climate for scientific accuracy and advise on the national security implications of climate change.

The committee would be composed of 12 members, according to a draft of the executive order. Members would include experts in national security and climate science. The panel would advise the president on how climate might change in the future under natural and human influences.

Trump once tweeted that climate change was a Chinese hoax. More recently, he used a cold snap that hit much of the nation last month to again cast doubts. People cant last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming (sic)? Please come back fast, we need you! he tweeted.

Both the Pentagon and the presidents intelligence team have mentioned climate change as a national security threat, and a 2018 National Climate Assessment detailed drastic effects of global warming.

Over about a dozen years, government scientists, military leaders and intelligence experts have repeatedly highlighted climate change as a major national security risk, said Titley, who founded one such study team in the Navy.

Titley said these studies have come to the same conclusions under three presidents, including two Republicans. He said there are a surprising number of documents from the Pentagon and intelligence community after January 2017 (when Trump took office) that talk about climate and security risk.

For the Pentagon, its about readiness, Titley said. For the intelligence community, its about risks. We see the risks are accelerating.

Climate change can push a marginally stable area into chaos, Titley said, mentioning Syria, which suffered a record drought at the same time as a civil war that triggered a migration of a million people.

Francesco Frank Femia, chief executive of a think tank that reviews systemic risk to national and international security, expressed concern that the proposed panel was meant to poke holes in future government reports and studies.

Kevin Freking and Seth Borenstein are Associated Press writers.
As teachers continue to strike in Oakland, local institutions and businesses are offering free admission to students who are temporarily out of school.

The Oakland Museum of California is offering free entry to children who attend Oakland Unified schools (regular price for adults) between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Friday.
WASHINGTON  Already-faltering negotiations between the Trump administration and California aimed at resolving a dispute over fuel economy standards have broken down completely, according to a top Democratic lawmaker.

Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Wednesday that the Trump administration confirmed that its talks with California about the Environmental Protection Agencys plans to scale back the standards are over.

The breakdown increases the likelihood that both sides will spend years fighting in the courts over car pollution standards.

Litigation is not the best option here, Carper said in a statement. It wastes time, money, creates uncertainty for American automakers and harms the environment. I encourage automakers to speak out quickly, loudly and clearly against this decision.

California officials blamed the administration, saying its efforts to reach a compromise were less than genuine.

It would be fair to say the negotiations never really began in the first place, said California Air Resources Board spokesman Stanley Young. We had several meetings but nothing that was meaningful was discussed.

Officials at the EPA did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Under former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the agency announced plans last year to relax fuel economy and tailpipe emission rules that were designed to cut down on planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles already rank among the major contributors to climate change. The standards were aimed at getting the nations cars and trucks to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

Under Trump, the EPA said it would consider freezing the Obama-era targets at 2020 levels.

The EPA also threatened to take away Californias unique authority to set its own, stricter air pollution standards for vehicles  something the state has been empowered to do since the enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1970.

California vowed to fight back. The state has sued the Trump administration over the proposed fuel-economy rollback and officials have said they will go to court again if the administration requires them to follow its lower standards.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have adopted Californias rules, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all new vehicles sold in the U.S., according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group.

The California Air Resources Board had been meeting sporadically with officials from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in hopes of persuading them not to roll back the regulations.

The goal was to avoid a lengthy legal battle that would leave automakers subject to conflicting regulations.

Carmakers could find themselves having to produce different vehicles for a divided U.S. market  one class of cars that would meet the Trump administrations scaled-back standard and cleaner vehicles for California and the states that follow its regulations.

Hopes for a compromise were dim from the start.

Although the Trump administration and California officials met several times over the course of months, officials familiar with the talks said that they were so unproductive that they could hardly be considered negotiations.

Administration officials didnt respond to their California counterparts proposals, repeatedly steered the conversation to small talk, and kept federal employees with technical expertise out of the discussions, according to officials briefed on discussions.

Anna M. Phillips is a Los Angeles Times writer.
Israel is heading to the moon.

And if its successful, the small nation of about 9 million will only be the fourth to successfully deliver a robotic lander to the lunar surface  after the heavyweights of China, Russia and the United States.

The mission has been long and the road arduous for Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL, which has, in some iteration or another, been working on the concept of a lunar lander for nearly a decade.

Now, that work culminates Thursday when a SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch from complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with SpaceILs lander in tow. There is a 32-minute nighttime launch window.

From the beginning, the goal for SpaceIL was to induce an Apollo effect, capturing the imaginations of the next generation of scientists in Israel, and encouraging kids to enter into the fields of science, engineering, technology and math, much like the Apollo missions in the United States did in the 1960s.

This mission is a source of inspiration for people around the world, and we are looking forward to making history and watching as the Israeli flag joins superpowers Russia, China and the United States on (the) moon, said philanthropist and businessman Morris Kahn, SpaceILs president, who has contributed $40 million in financing to the project.

SpaceILs mission began in earnest in 2009, when founders Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub registered for Googles Lunar X Prize  a moon race to build and land a commercial lunar spacecraft. The first competitors to do it would win a $20 million first-place prize.

They founded SpaceIL in 2011, and in 2015 scored a launch contract with SpaceX. SpaceIL was later named one of five finalists for the prize, along with Cape Canaverals Moon Express.

But as the competition wore on, it became apparent that none of the companies were going to be able to meet the deadline to land on the moon, and so Google ultimately scrapped the competition in March 2018.

But SpaceIL and partner Israel Aerospace Industries pushed ahead, surviving financial challenges to complete the lander. In addition to Kahn, Dr. Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American doctor and philanthropist, and her husband, casino magnate and investor Sheldon Adelson, have contributed $24 million to keep the lunar lander soaring.

It is high time that the Jewish people and the State of Israel achieved this immortal milestone, the Adelsons said in a news release. In religion and ethics, science and scholarship, we have long reached for the stars; now we are rightfully reaching the moon.

In honor of that milestone, SpaceIL named the $100 million spacecraft Beresheet, Hebrew for in the beginning. Its small, weighing about 350 pounds without fuel and standing about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide.

And it still has a complicated journey ahead.

The SpaceX mission, which has other payloads onboard, is highly complex. About 30 minutes after the launch, when the rocket is about 37,000 miles from Earths surface, Beresheet will disengage from the Falcon 9. The trip to the moon will take about two months, with the craft gradually orbiting Earth in larger ellipticals until its close enough to the moon that it can ignite its engines and reduce its speed to be picked up by the moons gravity.

Scientists at Israel Aerospace Industries facility in Yehud, Israel  about 10 miles southeast of Tel Aviv  will be in charge of sending data to the autonomous craft as it performs each maneuver in its lengthy journey.

The landing itself, though, will be in the hands of Beresheet. The team in Israel will not be able to control the lander as it makes its 20-minute descent onto the lunar surface on April 11.

But if all goes well, the lander will spend some time on the moons Sea of Tranquility, taking photos of the surface and measuring the magnetic field at its landing site.

And thats where it will stay  until someday, perhaps, Israeli astronauts can retrieve it. Stored inside is a totem to the nation: A time capsule in the form of three disks containing Israeli artifacts such as its Proclamation of Independence, national songs and drawings by Israeli children.

At SpaceIL we hope that the next generation of engineers and scientists will be able to bring Beresheet back to Earth, the company said.

Despite its historical significance, Beresheet is not the primary payload on the journey.

In a ride-share agreement arranged by mission management company Spaceflight, SpaceXs Falcon 9 will also be shuttling a telecommunications satellite for the South East Asia region built by SSL in Palo Alto. The Indonesian Nusantara Satu satellite will provide data, internet and video connection throughout Indonesia.

A second small satellite for the U.S. Air Force Research Lab called S5 will also go to geosynchronous transfer orbit with a mission to test space situational awareness technologies.

After Beresheet detaches from the Falcon 9, the two stilettos will head to geostationary orbit, with the Air Force satellite detaching before they reach their final position.

The weather is looking good for the Thursday night launch attempt. According to the Air Forces 45th Weather Squadron, weather is 80 percent go for launches on Thursday or Friday, in the case of a scrub. On both days, the biggest worry is a thick layer of clouds.

The launch will be live-streamed by SpaceX on YouTube and by SpaceIL on Facebook.

Chabeli Herrera is an Orlando Sentinel writer.
A group of hackers associated with Russian intelligence hit civil society groups across Europe ahead of the May elections there, Microsoft said Tuesday.

The attacks, disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post, demonstrates the continuing spread of a broad online campaign aimed at disrupting real and potential political opponents of Russias president, Vladimir Putin. The company said it had found that hackers targeted more than 100 email accounts at think tanks and nongovernmental organizations that work on issues including election security, nuclear policy and foreign relations.

Microsoft did not address what country the attacks came from, but it blamed a group of hackers sometimes called Fancy Bear. Online security companies have identified Fancy Bear as a Russian group, and it is widely believed to be tied to Russian intelligence.

Fancy Bear was involved in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee in the United States, according to the party and security researchers. Last year U.S. authorities indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers related to the hacks of the party headquarters and the Clinton presidential campaign.

Russian officials have denied that Moscow had any role in the hacking attempts.

Despite scrutiny of groups like Fancy Bear, the attacks have continued. The same hacking group last year similarly targeted Republican think tanks that had criticized President Donald Trump in advance of the midterm elections in the United States. Microsoft also detected those as part of its cybersecurity operations.

Increasingly the attacks have also targeted groups that are not directly involved in elections but seek to steer debate or focus on specific targets.

Microsoft said the attacks occurred between September and December and took the form of spearfishing campaigns. Spearfishing involves sending emails that appear to come from legitimate sources to get users to click the links inside. If a user clicks those links, hackers can use that to install malware, steal passwords or conduct other online mischief.

The German Council on Foreign Relations, the European offices of the Aspen Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the United States were among the groups Microsoft said were targeted and agreed to be disclosed, the company said.

In a statement on its website, the German Marshall Fund said groups beyond candidates and their political campaign managers must be increasingly vigilant.

Everything we do as an organization, from our policy research to our work strengthening civil society, is dedicated to advancing and protecting democratic values, it said. The announcement serves as a reminder that the assault on these values is real and relentless.

The other groups could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The targeted research institutes have done work related to issues important to Russian policy and its continuing use of misinformation to influence elections. The German Marshall Fund, for example, has investigated Russias use of social media to spread political messages in its favor in various elections in Europe. The German Council on Foreign Relations has published reports related to arms control and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been at odds with Russia.

Microsoft has been tracking the increase in hacking attempts by nation states, including Russian actors, as part of its Defending Democracy Program, which it announced last year to provide protection to candidates, political parties and nongovernmental organizations working in the field of elections.

It said it was expanding its AccountGuard cybersecurity service free to campaigns and nongovernmental organizations that use its Office 365 software in 12 new European markets to protect against these kinds of hacks.

Microsoft executive Tom Burt said in the blog post that Europe was the birthplace of democracy and that as the ongoing attacks demonstrate, this idea is increasingly under threat.

Karen Weise is a New York Times writer.
Stores and restaurants in several states would be required to do something pretty basic if certain lawmakers have their way: accept their customers cash.

The legislation comes amid a worldwide move toward cashless payments using cards or mobile devices, which supporters say are safer, quicker and more convenient. But critics say an outright ban on cash discriminates against those without credit or bank accounts, and raises concerns about privacy and data security.

Last week, Supervisor Vallie Brown proposed an ordinance that would require businesses in San Francisco to accept cash. The New Jersey Legislature and the Philadelphia City Council have passed measures this year that would ban cashless stores. New York City, Washington and Chicago are weighing similar bills.

A no-cash sign is a not-welcome sign for many who dont have access to banking services, Brown said at a Board of Supervisors meeting. The unbanked are all around us. Theyre young people who dont qualify for credit cards, seniors and low-income folks on fixed incomes or prefer to use cash.

A report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2017 estimated that 6.5 percent of U.S. households did not have bank accounts.

The penalties in the proposed bills range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. San Franciscos proposed fines range from $50 to $1,000, depending on the number of offenses. In the New Jersey bill, they could go up to $5,000 for a second offense. A spokesman said the governor was considering whether to sign the legislation.

New Jersey state Sen. Nellie Pou, who is sponsoring one of the bills, said that business groups and Amazon had expressed opposition to the bill, and she worked with businesses to include exceptions, including for airports, parking facilities, car rental companies and any internet-based transaction.

She added that she had asked Amazon, which is operating five pop-up stores and one bookstore in New Jersey, to come up with ideas for how they could serve those without a bank account, but that she did not hear back. Amazon declined to comment.

Massachusetts has a little-known law requiring retail stores to accept both cash and credit. There have been calls for the legislature to clarify whether the law, approved in 1978, applies to restaurants.

Retailers that have adopted cash-free policies argue that most of their customers already pay electronically and that not having to fumble with cash makes the lines go faster. Without cash on hand, employees are free from a number of related tasks, like counting it and transporting it to the bank or an armored truck. A lack of cash also cuts down the danger of robbery or theft.

Its more efficient for our teams and restaurants because theyll get back hours of their day to cook and spend time with you in the restaurant instead of the administrative work associated with cash, the salad chain Tender Greens said in an online statement when it put a cash-free policy in place last year.

Other shops and restaurants that have instituted cash-free policies  some in just one location, some in many or all  include Starbucks, Dig Inn, Dos Toros, Sweetgreen and Argo Tea. In-flight purchases on airplanes have been cash-free for a long time, and some government offices do not accept cash.

Ritchie Torres, a councilman from the Bronx who introduced the New York City bill, said he has concerns about the implications of a cashless economy for New Yorkers who face historically rooted barriers to both credit and banking.

What if you have no papers? What if you have no credit history? he asked, adding that others may prefer cash to protect their data and privacy.

The goal here is not to stifle technological progress, he said. A cashless payment can be one option among many, but it should never be the sole option.

Stephanie Martz, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Retail Federation, argued that businesses should be able to decide themselves how to operate.

But she added that only a handful of businesses are experimenting with cashless payments, and that the vast majority of small purchases are still made in cash.

Chronicle staff contributed to this report.

Karen Zraick is a New York Times writer.
Fort Bragg's North Coast Brewing Company has announced that after a hiatus, it is reintroducing its popular Brother Thelonious Belgian Abbey Ale. The 9.4 percent beer will soon return to taps and store coolers with a different look, following a new licensing agreement with the Thelonious Monk estate.

Monk was a bebop pianist who rose to prominence in the 1950s and '60s for his complex jazz arrangements consisting of often dense and dissonant chord progressions. He died in 1982 at the age of 64.

His son, jazz drummer T.S. Monk Jr., is now the administrator to the family estate, and in August 2017, he filed suit against North Coast Brewing over their licensing agreement.

The Northern California brewery, which began brewing the beer in 2005, had initially been given permission to use Monk's likeness on the beer's label in exchange for donating some proceeds to what was then the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. (The institute, with branches in New York and Los Angeles, has since been renamed for Herbie Hancock.)

However, in January 2016, Monk Jr. rescinded permission due to the brewery's use of his father's image and name on the beer's corresponding merchandise. A lengthy legal battle ensued, but both parties eventually entered into a reconfigured licensing agreement. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but North Coast has named a new beneficiary, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the company announced Thursday.

With the Monk estate no longer attached to the jazz institute, North Coast wanted to select a jazz-related entity it was "very fond of" to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the beer.

"We wanted to support a jazz organization that we felt was doing great work, and that's why we chose them," says Doug Moody, North Coast Brewing Senior Vice President. "We couldn't be happier."

In addition to the change in philanthropy efforts, the brewery is releasing the beer with a reimagined label.

"It's a brand new day for Brother Thelonious," Moody says. "We thought it was time for a change with the other change ... The beer inside is identical but the partnership with the Monterey Jazz Festival is brand new, hence the new label."

The latest illustration of Monk, pictured above, was created by artist Eric Grbich. A press release states that the design "presents a nod to the Belgian monks that popularized this style of ale alongside America's own 'monk.'" Grbich's design will also appear on merchandise related to the beer, per the new licensing agreement.

The revamped Brother Thelonious ales have already been sent to accounts, and are already appearing on draft at bars and in bottles in shops around the Bay Area.

SFGATE has reached out to the Monk estate for comment. We will update this story when we receive a response.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


The Oakland Unified School District's 3,000 teachers went on strike at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, and residents were up before dawn. Some were trying to figure out what to do with students, while others were upset about the sound of circling helicopters.

East Bay residents began hearing helicopters around 6 a.m., and some voiced frustrations online.

News crews were on hand to see whether students would attend classes as normal Thursday.

The district said all of its schools will be open during the strike and "students should attend school during the strike as regular attendance policies apply unless an official announcement is shared from the district."

School officials said they anticipates teacher picket lines at schools and know that some parents and students plan to join them.

They said, "We respect and support this decision, but also encourage union members and supporters to respect the rights of our students to attend school during a strike."

ALSO: Why Oakland teachers say they are striking

Speaking at a crowded news conference outside Skyline High School in the Oakland hills Wednesday evening, Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown said school district officials presented a slightly improved contract offer at a negotiating session on Tuesday, but said it wasn't significant enough to meet the union's demands.

The union is seeking a 12 percent pay raise over three years, and the district previously offered a 5 percent raise over three years.

Brown said the district's new offer is 8.5 percent over four years, but said that's still not enough to meet the union's demand for a living wage that addresses the high cost of living in Oakland.



School district spokesman John Sasaki confirmed that district officials have offered an 8.5 percent increase over four years, which he said is more than the 6 percent over three years recommended in a report by a panel tasked with helping the two sides come to an agreement.



Sasaki said the new offer consists of a 1.5 percent bonus for the 2017-18 school year, a 3 percent increase for the current year and 4 percent increase over the next two years.



The two sides will meet again at 9 a.m. Friday, Brown said.

MORE: Latest strike updates



Teachers and parents and students who support them will picket at all 86 school sites, according to Brown.



The strike will be the first by Oakland teachers since 1996, when they walked out for more than two months.



Brown said, "We want a short strike" but said the length is "indefinite" and "it's not a one-day strike."



As Brown's news conference was ending, about 40 Skyline High students held a rally to support the teachers, chanting "Books, supplies, lower class size!"



The school district said in a statement that it is "prepared to minimize the disruption to our students' learning as much as possible" and that qualified central office employees and screened temporary teachers will join school principals and site staff "to supervise, care for and educate students."



The district said that as the teachers' union advised its members, "Picket lines are to remain peaceful and it is illegal to block or physically interfere with anyone crossing the picket line to enter school grounds."

OPINION: What's behind the teacher strikes: Unions focus on social justice, not just salaries

School officials said, "This includes in any way interfering with our transportation vendors as they drop off and pick up students."



Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District officials said buses will not stop at Montera Middle School Thursday because of the strike and buses serving Skyline High School and Oakland Community Day School will not go into the two campuses.



Bus 648 to the day school will stop at Mountain Boulevard at Leona Street. Bus 648 to the Fruitvale BART station will not stop at Carson Street at Aliso Avenue.



Bus Nos. 617, 638, 648, 652, 654, 658 and 662 will stop at Skyline Boulevard and Balmoral Drive but not at the high school campus. Bus Nos. 646 and 649 will operate but also not stop at the campus.



All other service to Oakland schools will be normal but service may change for safety concerns, AC Transit officials said.





Bay City News contributed to this report.
A Sacramento Bee reader shared an image with the news organization showing seven dead coyotes strung along a wire fence on 26 Mile Road a few miles north of Oakdale, 50 miles east of Yosemite National Park.

The woman named Dee, "who asked only to be identified by her first name for fear of retaliation," told the Bee, "What kind of demented mind would do that?"

Patrick Foy, Captain of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement Division, agreed the carcasses are "highly offensive," but told the Bee restrictions on killing coyotes are few and it's not illegal to display the dead animals.

Ranchers killing predatory coyotes stalking their cattle is common and hanging the carcasses of coyotes as a social statement and to warn off other coyotes is not unheard of (though there isn't any scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of this practice). To prove that point, we found a 1937 Life Magazine image showing freshly killed coyotes hanging by their legs from a fence in Texas (see image above). But some argue the practice is less common and not as widely accepted as it once was.

Michael Sutton, former president of the California Fish and Game Commission appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, told the Mountain Journal in December 2018 that carcasses of coyotes are still hung on barbed wire fences in rural California.

"Most people are outraged when they learn about all the different ways we abuse wildlife," Sutton, who is an avid hunter, told the publication. "Anti-cruelty laws in many states don't extend to coyotes."

ALSO: Two coyotes now call Bernal Hill home, and sometimes they 'frolic'

The Oakdale incident has sparked controversy in the rural community that calls itself "The Cowboy Capital of the World" and where the economy is centered around agriculture and cattle ranching. Some are saying the coyote display is an appropriate tradition among ranchers, while others are offended. The discussion has grown lively in a Facebook group called the Oakdale Area Incident Feed.

Many, though not the majority, of the nearly 100 people who commented on the thread expressed disgust over the dead animals put on exhibit.

"Reading this is sickening how people can just kill so many and throw them on a fence... makes you wonder when they are doing this," wrote one resident in the area.

"If this is real this is so freaken wrong and sick minded," echoed another.

Even more people expressed approval, especially since the dead coyotes were put on view in a farming community.

"I've seen it there along that stretch over the years. Old timers display them in hopes others won't come back to the area," shared one commenter. "Not sure its effective considering the number of carcasses, but its livestock country, so not offensive to me at all."

"I definitely don't believe that there's anything wrong with the person as it's been going on for years without complaint," agreed another. "Out there on farmland you got to do what you gotta do to maintain your profit from the land. I've honestly been waiting to see how long it would take for someone to freak out about the coyote display and am surprised it's been this long. It's a whole other way of life out in the country working the land and nowadays the average person has no idea how to interact with the natural environment.

"I am so glad the comments are real at this moment," wrote one person of the comments deeming the dead coyotes appropriate. "I really expected to look at them and a bunch of crying, animal rights activist. Not so. Glad to know there are still people who aren't offended at every little thing. Who remember there was a time when everything didn't have to be so washed."

Some pointed out this isn't the first time they've seen coyote carcasses in Oakdale.

"Yes, I've seen this for years in Oakdale, mainly on 26 Mile Rd.," wrote a commentor.

And as many people do in this day-and-age, some turned the discussion into a conservatives-versus-liberals battle.

"There's nothing wrong with putting them on a fence. Nothing at all. You guys are a bunch of crybaby liberal leftists," wrote one.

MORE: Coyotes are being spotted from San Francisco to Silicon Valley. Are there actually more of them?

Coyotes are the number-one livestock predator in western North America, causing the majority of sheep, goat, and cattle losses. United States government officials shoot, poison, trap, and kill about 90,000 coyotes each year to protect livestock.

The fence where the coyotes were hung by their snouts in Oakdale surrounds a cattle grazing area, but the property owner, who wished to not be identified, told the Bee she didn't kill the coyotes and the animals haven't been an issue.

"Anyone that would kill coyotes and put them like that so the public could see is just not a normal person," the property owner told the Bee.
High-speed police car chases can be loads of fun in action movies or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but the real-life versions often turn tragic.

That's why an East Bay police force outfitted half of its fleet of cruisers with a technology that allows officers to track suspects' vehicles without tailing them at 100 mph.

Over the last year and a half, the San Pablo Police Department has installed the StarChase vehicle-tagging GPS system in 10 of its 20 vehicles.

"It's a risk-reducing tool for our agency," said San Pablo Police Lt. Mike Gancasz. "It helps reduce the number of high-speed pursuits that are inherently dangerous to officers, passengers in the car, citizens, pedestrians, bystanders."

A 2015 USA Today analysis found that more than 5,000 bystanders and passengers were killed and tens of thousands injured in police chases between 1979 and 2013. Most bystanders were killed in their own cars by a fleeing driver.

The backbone of the StarChase technology is an air cannon similar to the one that Lou Seal uses to shoot t-shirts into the crowd at Giants games. But instead of launching cotton tees, the car-mounted gun fires a glue-capped GPS capsule about the size of a mini-Coke can.

In the event that an officer encounters a suspect vehicle, he activates the system, which pressurizes the gun, heats up the glue and opens a door hidden in his patrol car's grille. When an aiming laser dot appears on target, the officer fires by pushing a button on a separate panel.

The GPS dart hits the vehicle and sticks, allowing the tag to begin broadcasting the vehicle's position to a dispatch center as the officer breaks off the chase.

The range of the air cannon is about 20 to 30 feet to be effective. Gancasz said about 90 percent of the shots taken by San Pablo officers hit their mark and stick.

"The officer doesn't necessarily have to wait for the speeds to be 100 miles an hour to do something like this," Gancasz said. "The sooner they can get out of the pursuit and slow the vehicle down and increase safety for the public, they do. It's not a system that is used at 150 miles per hour, that doesn't happen."

Gancasz says StarChase has resulted in numerous arrests and recoveries of tagged cars, some by San Pablo PD and others by surrounding jurisdictions who have been told, "Hey, this car should be in your area."

One recent example:

"We had officers that deployed a GPS tag on a car in our city and that car fled out of our city and onto the highway," Gancasz said. "The California Highway Patrol got involved, but our dispatcher was able to track this car in real time as it fled across the Carquinez Bridge.

"And it fled into Vallejo and eventually the suspects fled the car and were apprehended, and the car was recovered."

The GPS data provided by StarChase can be used in court to show not only the route a vehicle took but exactly how fast it was traveling during the trip.

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So far, Gancasz said, no suspect has attempted to detach a projectile from a tagged car.

Initial installation is not cheap  it costs about $5,000 to outfit one car  but the annual subscription fee is minimal, Gancasz said. He said the product is used widely on the East Coast, but adoption in the West has been slower.

The North Sacramento California Highway Patrol is currently testing StarChase as part of a pilot program. The CHP in San Francisco reported they are not using the product.
Its hard to imagine a more dynamic Bay Area couple than Mourad Lahlou and Mathilde Froustey.

A Michelin-starred chef with arms sheathed in tattoos, Lahlou is credited with bringing a new lens to traditional Moroccan cuisine. He is the culinary force behind San Franciscos eponymous Mourad restaurant and the upcoming Amara  a Moroccan Mexican restaurant that will inhabit the same Richmond District space as his acclaimed previous restaurant, Aziza.

Froustey, a Parisian expatriate, is a classically trained ballerina who came from France to join San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer, receiving acclaim and awards for the title role in Sleeping Beauty and as Kitri in Don Quixote. When not on the stage or in the dance studio, she curates La Maison in Oakland, an interdisciplinary creative space for artists that she co-founded.

The two met last year through a mutual friend who brought Froustey to Lahlous restaurant with the intention of introducing them. Lahlou wasnt there that night, so Froustey reached out via Instagram to thank him for the meal. At her invitation, Lahlou then made his first-ever visit to the Ballet to watch her dance in Snowblind (a role she reprised recently on Valentines Day) and took her to dinner at Petit Crenn. The pair enjoyed each others company so much that they lingered well past closing time. But Froustey left two days later to dance in Europe, and was gone for two months. An almost old-fashioned romance ensued, with endless texts between the two winging across oceans and time zones but nary a telephone conversation during the entire trip. The relationship continued to blossom upon Frousteys return to the United States, leading to a marriage proposal over the holidays. They plan to wed in September.

On a busy Monday afternoon, the two spoke with The Chronicle about the backstage realities of their professions, sartorial inspirations, potential future projects and their real-life pas de deux.

Q: The dance and culinary worlds are both so intense and full of pressure. How do you support and influence each other professionally?

Mourad: I had never gone to the ballet before, but since weve been together, Ive never missed a single one of her performances.

Mathilde: And he pushes me. This morning I was so tired and didnt want to go to rehearsal. And he told me to get up, shower and go.

Mourad: She pushes me, too. Empowering women is a strong theme for Mathilde  its really inspiring. We were recruiting for a sous chef and got over 80 resumes. We narrowed it down, and I told her about the final list  all men. She asked, Do you have to fill it now? Why dont you wait? So I waited. And we ended up promoting a young woman from our kitchen.

Mathilde: I cant take credit, though  he was already thinking that way. Ive been into many restaurant kitchens since weve been together, and his kitchen is one of the most feminine and diverse in San Francisco.

Q: When you first began dating, what surprised you most about the reality of being a dancer or a chef?

Mourad: When you go to the ballet and youre unaware of whats going on, you see someone onstage doing technical things that the human body is not supposed to do, smiling and making it look so easy! But once we became emotionally attached, it was harder for me to watch her dance. I see her feet when she gets home from rehearsal, her pain when she wakes up in the morning. Most people dont have any idea.

Mathilde: At first I thought, Oh, they dont change the menu every day, it cant be that hard. No! He comes home at 1:30 a.m., sometimes even later. Then he wakes up early and goes back to work. Every day hes one of the first ones in and last ones out. The discipline this guy has is insane. If its not perfect, its in the trash. Hes hard on people in his kitchen because he asks perfection. But somehow he pulls the best out of them, and that makes people love him. Ive never seen somebody who was so hard on his people, yet they love him so much.

Brittany Murphy / The Chronicle 2016

Q: So Mourad, youre a perfectionist in the kitchen. Mathilde, do you cook?

Mathilde: No. Im good with my feet, but not with my hands. Ill break everything. Ill burn myself with the microwave!

Mourad: Its true. The first time I cooked for her, she said, I want to help you but Im really clumsy. Ill break something in two seconds. I didnt believe her and gave her something to do. Within two seconds I heard a crash.

Q: How do you handle difficult moments between yourselves?

Mathilde: I like to dance things out. If were having an argument or Im having a stressful moment, I put music on and dance.

Mourad: The first time I saw her do it, we had just started dating. Were having an argument about something and then she suddenly goes downstairs. Then I hear music. I hear her dance. And Im sitting there thinking, Is she kidding me right now? And then she involves me in that process and says, Come and dance with me! I say, No, Im mad at you. I dont want to dance with you. She says, You can still be mad at me, but just dance, just move!

Mathilde: And then we laughed about it.

Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle

Q: How did you develop your sense of style?

Mathilde: I have an amazing mother who always told me I can wear a plastic bag and look good. I go from H&M to Givenchy to Chanel. I mix it up, but I tend to not spend money on clothes. I love going to a fancy event wearing an H&M dress and people asking me if its Chanel and being able to say, No, it was $19.99.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Mourad: And Mathilde is one of these people who will say it was $19.99.

Mathilde: If you move and express yourself with grace, you can wear anything and still be beautiful. I also believe in being nice. If youre a nice person, you can wear whatever you want and be respected.

Mourad: She can pull off a T-shirt and jeans, or shove a fancy dress into her purse in the morning then pull it out to wear later and look amazing. Thats what happened today for the photo shoot.

Q: She literally pulled the dress she wore for the photos out of her purse?

Mourad: Yes. Its not like it had been dry-cleaned and was hanging. Shes not cautious about that stuff.

Q: And what about Mourads style?

Mathilde: Since hes been going to the ballet, his car is literally a dressing room of suits because he goes in his apron from the kitchen to his car. He changes into a suit and comes to the ballet.

Mourad: I think whats really beautiful is that she accepts the way I am. I wear baggy pants with holes, T-shirts, hoodies. I just want to be comfortable.

Q: Do the two of you envision any future artistic and culinary collaborations?

Mourad: Weve been talking about this idea of doing a little restaurant together, like a lab, bringing in creative guest chefs and artists. It would be part of a hotel with maybe 10 rooms that looks like a Moroccan riad. And people could stay and be with these chefs and artists, learning.

Mathilde: An emulsification of our worlds, like were using a whisk to blend them.

Samantha Nobles-Block is a San Francisco freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com
WASHINGTON  When it comes to online conspiracy theories, Sen. Kamala Harris campaign follows the old mantra: Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Traditionally, political public relations teams avoid commenting on conspiracies, misinformation or base insinuations about their clients, believing that calling attention to them dignifies and thus elevates them from the fringes.

But Harris communications team has been doing the opposite  immediately calling out material it sees as baseless.

Veterans of Democratic presidential campaigns say other campaigns should take note, because the strategy reflects a new normal in politics.

Former President Barack Obama and the Democrats 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, were plagued by false conspiracy theories, from questioning of Obamas place of birth (Hawaii) to rumors of Clinton health problems. The internet and social media allow these types of theories to grow and fester, and both candidates were eventually forced to respond. Theres every indication the 2020 presidential field will face more such attacks, enhanced by a voracious political extremist media sphere and foreign propaganda efforts.

Harris team has already begun confronting misinformation online, from the seedy to the silly.

When conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl tweeted that Harris was ineligible to be president because her immigrant parents hadnt lived in this country for five years before she was born, the California senators campaign communications director, Lily Adams, retweeted it and called it out as garbage within five minutes. Wohls assertion was fictitious: Harris is eligible to run for president as a U.S.-born citizen under the Constitution, and there are no natural-born citizenship requirements regarding parents status.

The campaign even wades in when the underlying controversy seems silly. During an interview with radio show The Breakfast Club, Harris revealed that she had smoked marijuana in college and talked about music she has listened to, including Snoop Dogg and Tupac. Some listeners blended the answers together, causing a mild internet storm when people pointed out that those artists werent performing when the 54-year-old Harris was in college.

Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams went on offense to dispel the confusion, tweeting out video of the remarks and deriding Harris critics for trying to make Reefergate happen.

He also jumped in when Harris made a barbecue pit stop in South Carolina and a conservative radio host tweeted a roundabout allegation that Harris was promoting climate change by eating beef  cattle production being a notorious emitter of methane gas.

But Sams noted within minutes that in fact, It was pork.

The campaign declined to comment for this story, but political communications specialists who are not working with any current presidential candidates say the lean-in approach of the Harris communications shop is a model of what campaigns will need to do this election cycle.

I dont think theres any option to ignore anything anymore, said Brian Fallon, who was Clintons presidential campaign press secretary and now runs the left-aligned advocacy group Demand Justice. Any 2020 campaigns press operation is wise to be constantly monitoring what gets picked up on Twitter, essentially, and to immediately speak to debunk and contain rather than wish it would go away.

In previous eras, campaigns could wait and see what the media ran with. With the internet, that cycle has been shortened from days to minutes. Most newsrooms monitor Twitter to see what gets traction, and some assign stories accordingly.

Sometimes, what gets traction is Trumps Twitter feed itself. Its easy for Democratic campaigns to see the benefits of trying to grab hold of the narrative on social media  as Trump does nearly every day.

To stay ahead of the news cycle, Fallon said, smart campaigns will capitalize on the same social media environment to control whats being said about the candidate. A campaigns silence or slowness to respond to circulating allegations could be interpreted as panic mode, he added.

Twitter, I think, has become something of an assignment editor in recent years, Fallon said. Only like 20 percent of the general public is on Twitter, but basically 100 percent of political reporters are on Twitter. ... So engaging immediately and confidently and providing new facts and context is a must.

The need for rapid response is made even more urgent by the revelations about Russias propaganda efforts during the 2016 election, which U.S. intelligence agencies concluded were designed to promote Trumps candidacy. Those operations promoted conspiracy theories online to harm Trumps rivals and sow political discord.

The Department of Homeland Security has pledged that the administration will combat any such efforts in the 2020 campaign, amid concerns that Trumps own diminishing of Russian election disruption would carry over into the administrations work. Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a recent call with reporters that his office would help anybody who comes knocking on our door.

Even so, former Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt agrees that ignoring conspiracy theories is no longer a luxury that campaigns can enjoy. He should know  false theories about Obamas birthplace plagued the president for years. The persistent queries eventually forced him to release two copies of his birth certificate as he lamented the unfounded rumors as silliness, adding that normally (he) would not comment on something like this.

The notion that responding to a conspiracy theory elevates it is also a thing of the past, LaBolt said. He noted that Trump still promotes conspiracy theories on Twitter and elsewhere without checking on their veracity, from tweeting baselessly about rigged Google search results to falsely implying that his 2016 opponent Sen. Ted Cruzs father was involved in John F. Kennedys assassination.

We live in a world where you cant even necessarily trust whats coming out of the president of the United States mouth, and hes not going to check his sources before he tweets something out, LaBolt said. Once things are in the ecosystem, theyre in an environment with no editors, and its the campaigns responsibility to serve as those editors.

Given the presidents history of promoting such theories, effectively defusing them is in some ways a test of candidates abilities to stand up to Trump, said Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton campaign spokesman.

Democrats want a (nominee) that can defeat Donald Trump, and one way to demonstrate that is aggressively taking on the type of conspiracies that he fosters, thrives on and promotes, Ferguson said. Theres no candidate who will succeed this cycle without confronting the right-wing conspiracy fever, and defeating fraudulent memes about them.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
The California Republican Party has never been less relevant. It has no statewide elected officials. Its a super-minority in the Legislature. Only 1 in 4 registered voters belongs to it. And the states entire GOP House delegation can fit in a minivan.

Yet the three people vying to be state party chair this weekend at the GOPs convention in Sacramento arent calling for wholesale changes. Far from it.

They dont think the party needs a new approach to immigration or climate change, issues where polls say the GOP is out of step with California voters.

Nor should it back away from President Trump  even though 62 percent of likely California voters polled in January said they disapproved of his job performance.

Its a great day in America: Donald Trump is president, would-be party chair Steve Frank said on my Its All Political podcast, repeating the line he uses during his frequent appearances on conservative talk radio shows across the state. Neither of his opponents would disagree.

Absent any policy differences, the main distinction between the candidates is a battle over whether the problem is, in fact, whats left of the California Republican Partys establishment.

The 1,400 delegates meeting this weekend will choose between Frank, whose roots in the California Republican Party go back to Ronald Reagans first term ... as governor; Travis Allen, who ran for governor last year and thought the Republican opponent backed by Trump, John Cox, was too liberal; and Jessica Millan Patterson, a longtime party operative unknown to the public but the favorite of the GOPs withered establishment.

On Thursday, Frank and Allen announced that they were joining forces to lead the resistance at the convention against Patterson and the party establishment. In the likely event that delegates deadlock Sunday in their first vote for a new party chair  a candidate needs a majority of delegates to win  Frank and Allen have urged their backers to support the other one for party chair on a second ballot against Patterson, who would be the first female chair in California Republican Party history.

For those trying to keep this straight, thats two conservative Republicans calling themselves the leader of the resistance  against their fellow Republicans.

Heres where the candidates stand on the GOPs biggest problems, and what to do about them:

Reaching nonwhite voters: Nonwhite Republicans are becoming more rare by the day. Latinos, the states single largest ethnic demographic, long ago fled the party. Eighty-six percent surveyed by the group Latino Decisions said after the November midterm elections that they had voted for a Democratic House candidate. Seventy-three percent said Trump had done or said something that made them mad.

Frank, 72, who attended his first state GOP convention in 1966, conceded that weve never opened a conversation with Latino voters.

Yet none of the candidates embraces a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents. Theres no need, Frank said: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won 41 percent of the Latino vote in his recent re-election bid with the exact same values and positions on immigration as the California Republican Party.

The solution, Frank said, is simple: Show up at the Hispanic communities. ... Go to the Hispanic Grocers Association. We dont do the real work that the Texas Republican Party does.

Allen agreed that Latinos and Republicans are philosophically aligned. His solution is not to try to cater to identity politics, as Democrats do, but to win over Latinos and everyone else with Republican values of small government and conservative social positions.

Patterson, who is Latina, said she could open new doors for the state party because I would be the first person to look like me who would be chairman.

She said she would expand the partys work with organizations such as Grow Elect, which has helped 230 Latino Republicans win election to local nonpartisan offices. However, the partys brand is so toxic that only one Latino Republican sponsored by the group has been elected to partisan office, where candidates have to reveal which party they belong to.

Winning moderate voters: Frank, publisher of the conservative newsletter California Political Review, doesnt think the party should change to appeal to more moderate voters on issues such as a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and climate change. The GOPs platform, he said, is based on actual economics and real science  not junk science.

The partys real problem in November was that we didnt have a statewide message for the voters, Frank said. If you dont have registration, if you dont have candidates, if you dont have a message, the debacle of November 2018 was easily predictable.

Allen, who believes the verdict is still out on climate change, agreed that the party should be more conservative instead of Democrat lite.

But Patterson said the party needs to talk about issues in a different way while not alienating potential supporters.

We all care about the environment, Patterson said. But its not just what you say, but how you say it to people as well.

Growing the GOP brand: Allen promised to get 100,000 California Republicans to give $10 a month and direct the money into voter registration efforts. Allen said only he could do that because he counts 25,000 people on his list of supporters and donors.

Reality check: In 2018, the state GOP had roughly 37,000 donors who gave $100 or less, according to party officials.

Frank, a longtime social conservative, thinks the party can grow by reaching out to evangelical Christians, most of whom he said are not registered voters.

Allen blasted Patterson for receiving the endorsement of nearly every elected Republican in the state Legislature (many of whom served with Allen in Sacramento), along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. Allen said those endorsements and her leadership of California Trailblazers, an organization that trains GOP candidates, are an example of the failing status quo.

Former East Bay Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, a moderate who lost her re-election bid in November, told The Chronicle last month that she worried centrist GOP lawmakers would leave the party if Allen became chair. Patterson declined to respond to Allens comments because I dont talk poorly about my opponents, or any other Republicans for that matter.

But, Patterson said, I would say that Id rather have someone like Catharine Baker in office who is voting with Republicans 89 percent of the time than the Democrat thats there now who will not.

While the candidates bicker, outgoing party chair Jim Brulte, a longtime state senator, offered simple advice for how Republicans can change the partys fortunes: Talk to someone other than white Republicans.

Unless and until Republicans in California get a lot more Hispanic, Asian American and African American votes, we are going to struggle at the ballot box, Brulte said. Republicans spend way too much time talking to the choir and not enough time talking to people who can be converted.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
More high school students could be headed to the polls under a pair of bills that would clear the way for California 17-year-olds to vote.

This is an idea whose time has finally come, said Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, whose ACA4 would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they would turn 18 before the November general election. Its building on the feeling that we want to engage young people in the voting process.

Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose, would take the idea a step further. His bill, ACA8, would drop the voting age to 17 for every election, from mosquito abatement district all the way to president.

The younger voting age would not only connect more teenagers to the political process but also give their concerns a better chance to be heard, Low said.

Lowering the voting age to 17 would allow teens to get a sense of the importance of voting at an earlier age, he said. And since young people dont vote, politicians instead go to every retirement home possible in search of the support they need.

Twenty-three states plus the District of Columbia allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections or caucuses, but Lows measure would plow new territory. No state, county or city allows people younger than 18, the age set in 1971s 26th Amendment, to vote in federal general elections.

Low admitted his bill could face constitutional problems. State and local communities, however, can set voting age rules for their own elections, which includes the primaries in federal contests  although not the general election.

If the Legislature passes the bills, they would have to be signed by the governor before appearing on the March 2020 ballot for approval by California voters.

The issue is personal for both Low and Mullin.

Low, who was 31 when he was first elected to the Assembly in 2014, identifies with young people who are pushing for their place in politics. As a government and political science teacher at De Anza College in Cupertino, Low found that many of his students didnt have a basic knowledge of how the political system works.

They may have had a high school civics class, but so much emphasis now is on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), students who cant vote see no reason to participate, Low said.

Mullin is following in the footsteps of his father. Former Assemblyman Gene Mullin, who taught government classes for 32 years at South San Francisco High School, introduced an identical bill in 2008 to let 17-year-olds vote in primaries. It never made it through the Legislature.

So far, thats also been the story for the two assemblymen. A 2017 bill by Low to let 17-year-olds vote in federal elections collected only 46 votes in the 80-member Assembly, well short of the 54 needed to move it to the state Senate. Kevin Mullin introduced teen voting bills in 2013 and 2016, and neither made it out of the Assembly.

The bills just got hung up in partisan politics, Mullin said. The concern from the Republican side is that were trying to form more Democrats.

Although the Democrats say thats not true, its not a misguided fear on the part of Republicans, said Mark Baldassare, a pollster who is president of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Most young voters register as decline to state, or no political party, as its now known, he said. But polling has shown those independent voters lean to Democrats in elections by about a 2-to-1 margin, Baldassare said.

But even that partisan lean doesnt always translate into support for lowering the voting age.

In San Francisco, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 57 percent to 7 percent, voters rejected a measure in 2016 that would have lowered the voting age to 16 in local elections, although not in state and national contests.

In Washington, D.C., one of the nations most heavily Democratic areas, the D.C. Council refused in November to even vote on a measure that would have dropped the voting age to 16.

Theres also a trend in California away from conferring the responsibilities of adulthood on teenagers.

California raised the minimum age for buying tobacco from 18 to 21 in 2016, and last year made it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy any sort of gun. When they legalized recreational use of marijuana, state voters set the minimum age for purchasing cannabis at 21.

In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill that would have barred new drivers under 21 from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. for a year after receiving their licenses. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, arguing that adults should not be subject to the same driving restrictions presently applied to minors.

Theres a huge difference between buying cigarettes and voting, said Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Theres solid neurological research showing that 21-year-olds are different from 17-year-olds, who are more prone to making impulsive decisions, Kawashima-Ginsberg said. But impulsiveness isnt what voting is all about, she said.

There are places where age matters, but voting isnt one of them, Kawashima-Ginsberg said.

Mullin voted in the Assembly to raise the ages for tobacco and gun purchases and to restrict licenses for drivers under 21. But he agreed that those have nothing to do with voting.

Smoking is a habit that we want to discourage from an overall public health standpoint. Gun ownership and driving with an unrestricted drivers license have been shown to have public safety implications, he said in a statement. In the case of voting and civic engagement, this is behavior we want to, or should want to, encourage.

Both Mullin and Low are confident their bills have the backing they need to get on the March 2020 ballot.

Theres bipartisan support now, Low said, along with growing interest from young people eager to make their political voices heard.

Then theres the boost that comes from a November election that gave Democrats strong two-thirds majorities in both the Assembly and Senate.

Voting is fundamental to the citizenship feeling, Low said. Lowering the voting age ensures that more people will be able to shape not only our present, but our future.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
Marc Benioff, co-CEO of Salesforce, assailed his own industry in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, calling San Francisco a train wreck of inequality because of the tech sector.

Theres one problem with his charge: Both measures he uses for inequality  homelessness and soaring housing prices  well predate the tech boom.

San Francisco has been grappling with homelessness since Dianne Feinsteins tenure as mayor in the 1980s. In the name of urban renewal and redevelopment, a wave of demolition of single-room-occupancy hotels hit the city between the mid-1970s and the 1990s. Many low-income apartment buildings also were removed from the market: between 1970 and 2000, almost 9,000 low-rent apartments were demolished or converted. Between 1980 and 2000, 6,470 more were converted to condominiums. As a result, a dearth of cheap housing meant the number of homeless San Franciscans rose, to a high of 8,640 in 2002 and approximately 7,500 today.

High housing prices in San Francisco similarly predate its tech boom.

According to the California Legislative Analysts Office, the gap between Californias home prices and those in the rest country started to widen in the 1970s, going from 30 percent above U.S. levels to more than 80 percent by 1980. Contrary to Benioff, the LAO blames public policies that suppressed construction when the rest of the country underwent a housing boom. San Franciscos Budget and Legislative Analysts Office calculates that the city would have needed to add 15,000 housing units per year for its prices to have remained in line with the rest of the country, instead of the actual 2,000. That would have resulted in 459,000 units built between 1980 and 2010 instead of 60,334. Thus San Franciscos housing supply is estimated to be less than half of what it should have been for prices to have kept pace with the rest of the country.

Not only did government policies destroy cheap housing, but expanded building regulations have also made it impossible to build cheaply. Those regulations have increased the cost of building affordable housing even more than they have for housing in general; this is due to the more stringent design requirements and NIMBY activism.

Today, Californias development and impact fees are three times the national average, and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley estimates that the cost of building an affordable 100-unit project in California increased from $265,000 per unit in 2000 to almost $425,000 in 2016.

Benioff is correct that San Francisco has a huge and growing inequality problem, and this city that prides itself as one of the most progressive is home today mostly to the very rich and the poor, with the middle class largely driven out. But this is not the result of the (tech) rich getting richer. As a recent article in The Economist concludes, Californias inequality problem is not the stagnation of low incomes per se. It is stagnation relative to costs  in particular, the cost of housing. Today, a minimum-wage earner in San Francisco would have to work 177 hours per week to afford an average one-bedroom rental. (There are 168 hours in a week.)

Freeing housing markets is thus the master key to solving San Franciscos inequality, homelessness and housing crises.

If Benioff really wants to get San Francisco back on track, he should call for a vast rollback of regulations, which would make it possible to construct housing that is actually affordable as opposed to permanently subsidized. (Instead, he is pushing multimillion-dollar tax increases for unaccountable city homeless funds, such as the recently passed Proposition C he bankrolled.)

A recent McKinsey Global Institute study found that shortening the land-use-approval process could reduce the cost of housing by more than $12 billion through 2025 and accelerate project approval times by four months on average. Reducing construction permitting times could cut another $1.6 billion, and raising construction productivity and deploying modular-construction techniques could cut up to $100 billion.

Rather than chastising his fellow tech titans, Benioff should lead the way in establishing venture funding for housing that is truly affordable. This same McKinsey study projects that such private funding could finance more than 30,000 affordable units a year. Thats a solution everyone should be able to get behind.

Mary L.G. Theroux is senior vice president of the Independent Institute, publisher of the 2009 book Housing America: Building Out of a Crisis.
President Trumps Twitter account has accumulated countless undeserving victims over the past two years. In this case, Gov. Gavin Newsom is not one of them. Trumps threat to take billions of federal dollars from Californias high-speed rail project characteristically turned a serious public policy question into an opportunity for reality-show-style conflict. But the neophyte governor was the engineer of this particular derailment.

Unlike his staunchly pro-train predecessor Jerry Brown, Newsom alternately opposed and supported high-speed rail before he became governor. His first State of the State address and subsequent elaborations last week revealed that his position on the project is what its always been: incomprehensible.

Noting that completing the promised San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line would take too long and cost too much, the governor left the universal impression that he planned to dramatically downgrade the project to a Merced-to-Bakersfield run, raising inevitable questions about whether such a route could possibly justify a $77 billion budget. When news organizations dutifully reported this news, the governor insisted he had not abandoned the original scope and accused the media of spreading misinformation.

The governor was sounding a lot like his presidential nemesis, who soon joined him in throwing rocks at Californias already failed fast train. As Trump let loose a volley of gleefully hostile tweets about the project, his administration moved to cancel nearly $1 billion dollars in funding for the train and threatened to claw back another $2.5 billion already issued for construction in the Central Valley.

Seizing an opportunity to play to his own base, Newsom cried retribution, noting that California (along with 15 other states) had just sued to prevent Trump from using a phony emergency to redirect funds to another frustrated public work, his border wall.

Its worth noting, however, that Trumps Twitter attacks on the train began the day after Newsoms address  and five days before the latest of the states many anti-administration lawsuits. It was the governors confused critique, in other words, that gave the president his opening. Trump may be our schoolyard bully in chief, but Newsom doesnt have to wave his lunch money in front of him.

Granted, the high-speed rail project has been a flawed attempt at a worthy idea, and Newsom should be forthright about its practical shortcomings as well as its potential benefits. But he cant be for it and against it at the same time. The governor should develop a coherent plan to right the project that answers its critics instead of emboldening them.

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.
Gov. Gavin Newsom made it plain from the night he was elected that he would be a thorn in the side of the Trump administration. The country is watching us, he said at his inaugural. The world is waiting on us. There are so many reasons to challenge President Trump and his ill-advised policies, authoritarian instincts and divisive rhetoric. But Newsom left himself and the state open to being bullied by Trump with the governors muddled State of the State remarks about high-speed rail. Newsom left the distinct impression that he was abandoning the S.F.-to-L.A. vision, and scaling back the project to a Bakersfield-to-Merced line. Now, ever so predictably, Trump is canceling $929 million in federal funding for the project, and demanding the return of $2.5 billion that has already been spent. Newsom is alleging that its payback for the states lawsuit against the presidents declaration of a farcical national emergency to shift funds to a border wall. Yes, it is a bogus emergency. But in this case, the governors communication breakdown gave Trump an opening  and he is taking it, as our editorial notes.

What were saying

Get those guns: The mass shooting that left six dead in Illinois was a reminder that getting guns out of the wrong hands should be a top priority. But as our editorial notes, Californias program to confiscate guns from owners on the banned list is going slower than needed. This was supposed to be a priority for Attorney General Xavier Becerra and his predecessor Kamala Harris. What gives?

Nukes in wrong hands: A new congressional report is warning of White House efforts to rush the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia  the same regime that has been implicated in the brutal death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The nuclear push shows how misplaced loyalties could do further harm to national and global security, our editorial states.

Police misconduct  publics right to know: Police unions arent winning the way they used to in bottling up records of officer misconduct, as our editorial notes. After a law took effect in January requiring open records, unions went to court to thwart such transparency, a tactic thats just received a stinging setback. This is a good thing for accountability.

Tom Toles / Washington Post

Presidents Day reflections: The weekend to honor American presidents provided disturbing reminders of how the current occupant of the White House is dishonoring the office. Our editorial counts the ways.

A note on Sunday Insight

Its moving! Starting Sunday, the Insight pages will appear in the Main News section instead of a stand-alone tabloid. It will maintain key features, including an editorial, the Chron Quiz, a special supersize Tom Meyer cartoon, Letters to the Editor, Parting Shots (good week / bad week) and my weekly column. The shift to the more prominent position will offer two distinct advantages: It will be easier to find, and the later deadlines will allow us to get in breaking content when merited. BTW, my column this week will focus on Justice Clarence Thomas suggestion that the landmark 1964 Times vs. Sullivan ruling  which has been called one of the bedrocks of free speech  should be reconsidered. I spoke with leading law professors about the implications.

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Where to follow us

We have a new Twitter channel, Opinion Central (@sfc_opinions). Please add it to your stream. Youll catch our editorials and opinion pieces, as well as our drive-by comments on assorted subjects in the news.

Letter of the Week

Belinda A. Berry of Walnut Creek sounds this hypocrisy alert: Regarding Gavin Newsoms plan to sue President Trump for declaring a national emergency to fund the wall. Newsom says Trump is taking this action because his base must be fed. As must yours, Gov. Newsom. Hence, your lawsuit.

And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form.

Just a reminder

The Chronicles editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets.

Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicles editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinions
For someone who never held elective office before the presidency, Donald Trump has made some savvy political moves during these first 25 months in office, many of them aimed at earning another 48 months in this job come 2020.

Of course, his undisciplined remarks often create stumbles, handing opponents openings and verbal ammo to use against him, though few of those seem to have left lasting marks so far. But a recent astute move came in probably the most-quoted part of his 5,100-word State of the Union address earlier this month.

The president had scorned Venezuelas slide into turmoil and chaos under President Nicolas Maduro whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.

Then, Trump brought that news home for the nearly 47 million viewers watching live:

Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence  not government coercion, domination and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.

For many Americans, that statement revealed only a keen grasp of the obvious. But for significant, energetic sectors now assembling for the 2020 primary competition in the left wing of the Democratic Party, those were fighting words.

You could see it in the House chamber audience. Most members, including Republicans and Democrats and their leadership, rose to their feet and launched one of the nights 104 outbursts of applause.

However, some important Democrats did not. They included Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-identified democratic socialist who just joined the presidential primary fray, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, new to the House and a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Political speechwriters sprinkle applause lines throughout such addresses; they even insert warning punctuations for the speaker to pause. That effective applause line was aimed at highlighting the widening gap among Democrats, specifically the ebullient Ocasio-Cortez, who may replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the favorite GOP target this cycle.

Its no accident that Ocasio-Cortez and others are talking up socialism, higher taxes and more government involvement in Americans lives, say, through a completely government-run health care system.

Last August, a nationwide Gallup poll of Democrats found a substantial majority of them (57 percent) viewed socialism positively, while a minority (47 percent) viewed capitalism positively.

Thats a significant change since 2010, when positive views of both were equal.

Heres an interesting but meaningful twist: The socialism Ocasio-Cortez advocates is intentionally packaged far differently than the traditional heavy-handed, failed version that Trump describes with government controlling the means of production and distribution.

Gallup now finds that more than 1 in 4 Democrats believes that socialism instead means equal standing for everybody, all equal in all rights, equal in distribution.

Thats a vastly different definition that dodges the real-life Venezuela model and is much easier to sell to many Democratic voters, especially if they are as poorly read in history as are most younger Americans.

Last week, Ocasio-Cortez was celebrating her successful opposition to Amazons plans to build a second headquarters in New York City with 25,000 high-paying jobs.

Anything is possible, she tweeted when the online retailing giant abandoned its plan to locate in her district. Today, Ocasio-Cortez wrote, 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.

CNN then sought the reaction of a fellow Democrat and New Yorker, Rep. Carolyn Mahoney. My constituents want jobs, said the 13-term House veteran. It used to be we would protest wars. Now, were protesting jobs?

Stand by in the coming months to hear that progressive fissure voiced over and over, and for Trump and other Republicans to foment it at every opportunity.

With a Democratic primary field as large as its expected to be, the competitive juices are ripe for the kind of hyperbolic exploitation and divisions that plagued the 17-candidate Republican field in 2016.

That melee plucked the nomination from control of party elites and handed it to an unexpected and divisive candidate whod garnered only a 45 percent plurality of party primary votes. In 2020, Democrats could see a similarly perilous dynamic.

Andrew Malcolm is a veteran domestic and foreign correspondent. Twitter: @AHMalcolm.
Downstairs at the de Young Museum on Valentines Night, crowds of donors were lapping up Monet, The Late Years, an exhibition that is inviting, warm, pretty and easy to like. Upstairs, they were, as they tend to do at such events, lapping up cocktails and comestibles from McCalls.

Charles Desmarais essay about the exhibition called it glorious and pointed out that there was much to be learned by careful study of the differences between individual works. For many strolling more casually through the exhibition, however, the beautiful paintings look appealing without being overly demanding. Whats not to like? This quality put smiles on the faces of many art-loving Impressionist-o-philes.

Basking in the mellow mood created by the paintings, Thomas Campbell, the Fine Arts Museums director and CEO, was at the reception, receiving kudos and congratulations, and getting acquainted with de Young supporters he hadnt yet met in his first few months at the museum.

This exhibition, he noted, had been planned by Max Hollein, who has moved to New York to be director of the Metropolitan Museum, a job that was formerly held by Campbell. I gave him Michelangelo and Heavenly Bodies and I inherited Contemporary Muslim Fashion and late Monet. It seems like a good trade.

Since were neighbors, lets be friends:

 Pauline Persichilli saw the notice in the Marin Independent Journals classified ads: Lost: One carton of American Spirit cigarettes. Please return one pack at a time to Attn: Michelle ... Is this Michelles do-it-yourself program to cut down on smoking?

And from Nextdoor listings, Ron Turner forwarded a notice from a woman looking for her boyfriend: He ran off to Mexico for Christmas and havent been able to catch up with him since his return at 3:26 a.m. this morning. Either theres some kind of typo in there or the guy is one slippery devil. The woman who placed the ad says she has to find him in order to give him some very important paperwork.

 Up there in Marin, where love abounds, Kristi Denton Cohen noticed a volunteer opportunity in a local online bulletin board: A San Rafael woman needs assistance reading 50 love letters from 1943, says the notice, while the woman transcribes them on her computer. Perhaps the woman has a vision problem; perhaps love is just plain mysterious. But given your choice of chores, wouldnt you rather be the reader than the transcriber?

 Meanwhile, in Rohnert Park, kindness is flowing, too. A Nextdoor listing spotted by Lyndi Brown offered any taker a free half comfortable chair. The leather has some cuts from where sensors and buttons have been, but itd look really good in any man- or woman-cave, or just as a decorative chair. The Good Samaritan warns, Ive transported the chair on my bike before, but if you live more than 16 miles away, youll have to pick it up yourself. (To underline this heroic offer: If you live 15 miles away, the donor would deliver the furniture by bike.)

More Information PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING "You, we're on a roll today. You spanked me twice today." Man to man, overheard at the Cliff House Bistro by Jane Goodwin See More Collapse

By the account of Ninfa Dawson, who is to the ranks of film festival volunteers as Meryl Streep is to the ranks of movie stars, the opening night of the Mostly British Film Festival  at which The White Crow, a film about Rudolf Nureyev, was screened  was the best night ever in the festivals history.

The theater was packed, and after the movie was shown, festival founder Ruthe Stein talked onstage with Jeannette Etheredge, who was a close friend of Nureyev. Audience members included Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, and around here, you cant get bigger stars than that.

I was at the festival the second night for Celeste, an Australian movie starring Radha Mitchell, directed by Ben Hackworth , both of whom were there. The role of Celeste, an opera star making a comeback, was intriguing, the actress beguiling.

But the real showstopper of the movie was its setting, Paronella Park, an architectural folly built in the 1930s in the remote jungle of North Queensland, Australia. The filmmakers were as entranced with the locations storybook quality as the audience. Ive been in Los Angeles so long, said Mitchell, I just want to get back to the forest.

So heres a rarity for this column, a real estate tip: For 200 or 300K, said Hackworth, you can buy a beautiful ocean-view property in North Queensland. Its quite cheap.

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING

You, were on a roll today. You spanked me twice today.

Man to man, overheard at the Cliff House Bistro by Jane Goodwin

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, 415-777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik
The state health department has finished crawling through a San Francisco housing development with radiation scanners and says it found no hazards. But a review of the states final report on that effort, released this month, shows that its testing was superficial and did not address key questions about health and safety, prompting some experts to call the whole effort misleading.

The scan, which began in July and continued through December, was conducted in an area known as Parcel A, the only developed portion of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a Superfund site along the citys southeast waterfront.

In 2004, the state and other agencies declared Parcel A free of radioactive hazards and removed it from the Superfund portion, a decision based largely on spotty paper records and conjecture instead of rigorous testing. Hundreds of people now live there. But after two employees of the Navy contractor Tetra Tech EC pleaded guilty to falsifying radioactivity test data in other parts of the shipyard and regulatory agencies raised additional questions about the company's work, worried homeowners demanded that their neighborhood be tested.

The states survey was supposed to provide some closure, and the citys development agency welcomed the final report as good news. It said in a news release that the state had declared the housing area free from any radiological health and safety hazards.

Experts who spoke to The Chronicle, however, said the states scanning effort was far too limited to reach this conclusion.

The survey of the housing area was designed to pinpoint relatively large objects buried close to the surface that emit one type of radiation: gamma radiation. One such object, a radium-filled deck marker about the size of a silver dollar, was unearthed in September in an unoccupied area behind a fence.

Provided by U.S. Navy

But the survey did not account for other potentially dangerous forms of radioactivity, experts said. The state didnt sample the soil on Parcel A, even though soil contamination is one of the main concerns driving the shipyard cleanup; when tainted soil is disturbed, radioactive particles can travel in dust and be ingested or inhaled, posing a cancer risk.

The survey also was unable to detect substances that emit alpha or beta radiation, including plutonium-239, which lasts tens of thousands of years, and strontium-90, which mimics calcium and lodges in bones. The only way to accurately measure alpha and beta particles is to analyze soil samples in a lab, something the state didnt do.

It is totally and completely wrong for anyone to say the state report means the area is free from any radiological hazards, said Gaetano Taibi, a health physicist trained in the biological effects of radiation who used to work for the California Department of Public Health.

A Navy radiation expert with 40 years of experience also has called the survey incomplete.

Its not designed to be a thorough survey. Its not designed to answer all questions, Scott Hay, who has spent two years reviewing Tetra Techs radiation data as a Navy consultant, said during a community meeting at the shipyard on Jan. 28. Is it a complete survey and would I recommend that you release the property based on that? No.

The state and the Navy defended the Parcel A survey, arguing that it was adequate because the Navy never used Parcel A for industrial purposes and because much of the original soil was replaced during construction anyway.

Parcel A is not contaminated with loose radioactive unsealed contaminants, the California Department of Public Health, which conducted the survey, said in a statement. The only logical contaminant scenario ... is from discrete sealed sources that somehow remained on the site.

These are assumptions, however, not scientific conclusions based on test results. And they fit a larger pattern of unsupported claims and wishful thinking by government officials whose job is to watch the shipyard and keep people safe.

According to previous investigations by The Chronicle and other Bay Area media outlets, the agencies in charge of the shipyard  federal, state and local  have repeatedly tried to minimize problems with the cleanup and risks to the public over the past two decades. A city health official complained that investigating false soil samples was a waste of taxpayer money, blamed the media and withheld key documents from homeowners. The Navy failed to tell police employees stationed at the shipyard that their office was built atop a former radioactive laundry and was next door to a large, constantly agitated stockpile of radioactive dirt.

They are twisting things in the absence of reliable measurements, said Daniel Hirsch, former director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at UC Santa Cruz and a persistent critic of the cleanup process. Every claim for safety seems to be twisted and distorted.

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

The central assumption behind the states recent scan of Parcel A is that soil contamination there isnt logical  an assumption thats been challenged by experts and a group of former cleanup workers turned whistle-blowers.

Last year, a group of academic researchers led by Hirsch used the Navys own records to show how radioactive substances could have traveled from the industrial parts of the shipyard to the current housing area, dispersed into the soil. Some former cleanup workers, meanwhile, have said they detected elevated levels of radioactivity in the sewer system beneath the housing area and in soil along its border.

When testing other parts of the shipyard, the Navy is supposed to use a more rigorous approach than the one the state applied to Parcel A. The Navy agrees to cleanup levels  amounts of radioactive substances that wouldnt pose an unacceptable health risk to anyone living there. Then it takes soil samples, tests them, and compares the results to the cleanup levels.

At the housing area on Parcel A, though, the state used radiation scanners that were held above the ground by workers or towed from tractors, taking thousands of individual radiation measurements in specific locations.

Instead of checking the measurements against objective cleanup levels, the state checked them against each other, investigating further only if one area was much more radioactive than the others.

By way of analogy, if a government beef inspector applied the same method, she would check thousands of steaks for disease-causing bacteria and throw out only the handful of steaks with the highest bacteria counts, even if a lower amount of bacteria would still make someone sick.

Literally, they dont even have a claim of what is clean, said Hirsch. All they did is they wandered around Parcel A and looked for spots that were a lot hotter than other parts.

The state responded that the parcel is composed of dozens of different types of materials both natural and man-made  rocks, wood chips, asphalt, concrete  making their approach valid and necessary. The state also said that prior to the construction of new homes, much of the topsoil on Parcel A was replaced with new fill known to be clean.

A close examination of the report shows that multiple locations in the housing area registered above-average levels of radium-226 and cesium-137, two potentially dangerous radioactive substances. The state says these spots were double-checked using a more sensitive scanner and only naturally occurring radiation was found.

But theres no way to be sure of that conclusion without taking soil samples and testing them in a lab, said Don Wadsworth, a health physicist and ex-president of New World Environmental, a former radiation-control subcontractor at the shipyard. Wadsworth is one of seven people who worked on the cleanup and have since filed federal whistle-blower lawsuits against Tetra Tech. New World Environmental is also named as the defendant in one of those lawsuits.

If someone came back to me with the readings that the state got, I would tell them to go back there and take soil samples. Id want to know what was there, said Wadsworth. He called the report eye candy for the uninformed.

There are still a few loose ends in the Parcel A survey that will be tied up soon, the state says in its report. In addition to the deck marker that was found, the state noticed a second anomaly in November  an unusual but barely detectable radiation reading that was taken months earlier on a hillside. The anomaly could not be detected during a later search, possibly due to damp conditions caused by rain. Workers plan to return to the spot and investigate further.

Responding to concerns from residents, the state is also offering to test dust inside their homes. The indoor testing, which will be performed between Feb. 27 and March 2 for those who request it, will look for alpha and beta particles in dust wipes from window sills, to assess whether residents are being exposed to radiation that might have blown into the residences, the state said.

The state health department may not have the final word on the housing areas safety. Several city officials said recently they want more scrutiny of the tests. Mayor London Breed, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Shamann Walton, the supervisor whose district includes the shipyard, have asked two local universities to examine the testing process at Parcel A and a second parcel nearby. Details of the review have not been released.

We are in discussions with UCSF and UC Berkeley about the timing and details of this review, said the mayors spokesman, Jeff Cretan. As they are the trusted experts in the field, we are looking to them to design and implement procedures and protocols of a review that will meet the needs of the community.

Homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., the citys partner in developing Parcel A, referred detailed questions about the states scan to public officials, saying in a statement: No radiological health and safety hazards to the residents of Parcel A were observed.

About 20 homeowners have filed lawsuits against Lennar and Tetra Tech, alleging that the companies withheld facts about contamination at the shipyard. Lennar and Tetra Tech have said the suits are baseless.

One of the plaintiffs, Salustiano Ribeiro, a laboratory scientist who moved to the shipyard in 2017, said he didnt think the state performed enough testing.

Its like theyre not listening to us, he said. They should have done soil sampling all over [the parcel]. To make sure that they can find alpha and beta. If its clean, then I could be OK. But I dont know if its truly clean.

Editor's note: This article has been modified since its original publication to make clear that two employees of Tetra Tech EC pleaded guilty to falsifying data about radiation hazards at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and that various regulatory agencies overseeing the Hunters Point cleanup, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy and state health authorities, have called Tetra Tech EC's test results for much of the site into question.

Jason Fagone and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jason.fagone@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @jfagone, @cdizikes
The Napa County Sheriffs Department on Wednesday released body-worn camera footage from a weekend police shooting that killed an armed motorist, and it appears to show that the motorist fired at the deputy first before she shot back and killed him.

Napa County sheriffs Deputy Riley Jarecki was on solo patrol Sunday night when she checked on a driver parked on the 1100 block of Henry Road in a southern part of the county, said Henry Wofford, a sheriffs spokesman.

Jarecki was conducting a vehicle check, where deputies search to see if occupants of a vehicle require help or if there is something nefarious going on inside, Undersheriff Jon Crawford said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

The two talked for a few minutes before Jarecki asked to look inside of the red Honda that 43-year-old Javier Hernandez Morales was driving, Crawford said.

Now Playing: On February 20, 2019, the Napa County Sheriff's Office released body-worn camera footage of a fatal February 17, 2019 shooting involving deputy Riley Jarecki and Javier Hernandez Morales, an armed man in a parked car. Video: Napa County Sheriff's Office

In the 48-second clip, from the passenger side, Jarecki shines a bright flashlight into the car parked on the 1100 block of Henry Road.

Can I look around and make sure? she says as she gestures at the interior of the car, and the suspect, wearing a camouflage hoodie, throws his hands up. All right, wait right there, dont move, OK? the deputy says.

OK, Hernandez Morales responds in Spanish as he throws his hands up again. No problem, I dont have problems.

She walks to the drivers side, raps on the glass and repeatedly asks Hernandez Morales to roll down the window.

He hesitates, looking back and forth from the inside of the car to the deputy.

Whats up? he says in Spanish as he rolls down his window.

Twelve seconds after Jareckis initial request, Hernandez Morales whips out a .22-caliber revolver, firing at least one shot at her at point-blank range.

The body camera footage gets shaky as the deputy races away from the drivers window.

Shots fired, shots fired, Jarecki calls into her radio, and then as the car engine sounds like its revving, she fires 15 shots into the passenger side of the car. The video ends on the last shot.

Hernandez Morales fired from close proximity, essentially without warning, and its pretty obvious to us he intended to kill her, Crawford said Wednesday.

Responding officers declared Hernandez Morales dead at the scene.

A second firearm, a loaded .22-caliber rifle, was discovered in the car, Crawford said. The revolver had been reported stolen in Fremont.

The car was not reported stolen, but it was not registered in his name.

Hernandez Morales had at least five prior arrests for violations including possession of a concealed and loaded firearm, assault on a peace officer, and driving under the influence. Its unclear if he was convicted on any of those charges.

He had a few warrants out for his arrest and went by several aliases, delaying the release of his identity, but officials did not provide details.

Jarecki was not injured and has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard under department protocol, they said.

According to the departments Facebook page, Jarecki was sworn in as a deputy sheriff on June 20, 2018.

Authorities are still trying to figure out what prompted Hernandez Morales to open fire on Jarecki.

There were two people there and oftentimes you just never find out, Crawford said. Id love to be able to ask him.

Wofford said the incident is being investigated by the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force, a panel that includes the Sheriffs Department, the Napa Police Department and the Napa County district attorneys office.

Gwendolyn Wu and Lauren Hernandez are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @gwendolynawu @LaurenPorFavor
A dragnet focused on capturing wanted fugitives, drug dealers and other neighborhood nuisances resulted in 50 arrests in just hours in San Franciscos Tenderloin, authorities said Thursday.

San Francisco police, sheriffs deputies and parole agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation conducted the operation over five hours Wednesday as part of a larger strategy to improve the quality-of-life issues in the drug-plagued district.

Dubbed a fugitive recovery operation, officials arrested 38 people on outstanding warrants while busting the remaining 12 people on suspicion of other crimes ranging from drugs to burglary charges.

The community in the Tenderloin is very determined and organized to take their community back, and were doing everything we can to support that, district station Capt. Carl Fabbri said.

The operation was similar to an enforcement operation in October when police arrested 37 people in the neighborhood.

Parts of the district, like Civic Center, have seen welcomed improvements in recent months, but the neighborhood is still criticized as being an open-air bazaar for drug dealers.

Neighborhood streets are regularly strewn with doddering drug users, some passed out with needles still dangling from their arms. Shuffling among the troubled are families, school children and other residents who have grown frustrated over the seemingly intractable neighborhood problems.

Many of the suspects arrested Wednesday had bench warrants after failing to appear in court for an earlier arrest, Fabbri said, while others violated a court order or committed different crimes.

There are families here. There are children. There are parks. There are people trying to run businesses, coming to and from work, he said. There is a strong community that really cares and there is a significant criminal element in the Tenderloin. Were trying to get those people out of the community and to give the community some relief.

Officers typically arrest around 12 people a day in the neighborhood, officials said. In 2018, more than 600 people in the Tenderloin were booked for drug crimes of the 4,000 overall arrests.

But many of the suspects are processed in the citys jails and then released on conditions. Recent changes in the states bail system have led to an increase in people being released from jail before trial, allowing many back on the streets to sell drugs after just a few days behind bars, police said.

Fabbri said his officers have been undeterred by the larger challenges in the criminal justice system.

All we can do is do our job and do it well, he said. Our role is to make those arrests. Were not giving up. Well never give up on the fight to make the Tenderloin a better community.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
WASHINGTON  After nearly two years of delays, the Trump administration is moving ahead with its plan to stop granting work permits to the spouses of many high-skilled visa holders, an effort that could jeopardize tens of thousands of immigrant families in California alone.

Rolling back the permits could have sweeping consequences for the Bay Area, where tech companies heavily rely on high-skilled immigrants. Many of those workers come to the U.S. with spouses and children, and the loss of the spousal work permits could imperil families ability to stay in the country or deter workers from accepting jobs here to begin with.

The step forward for the regulation comes as a federal appeals court ran out of patience with the administrations delays in issuing it.

The proposed regulation was officially sent to the White House for review on Wednesday, a government database shows. That procedural step means that the Department of Homeland Security has completed its work on the policy. The White House will now put the regulation through review with other agencies, a process that can take anywhere from days to months, depending on the regulations complexity.

At issue are work permits for nearly 100,000 immigrants who are here with spouses, working on high-tech visas and seeking green cards. (Spouses and children of H-1B visa holders have H-4 visas granting residence.) The largest share of those, nearly 30,000 of them, live in California, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

In 2015, the Obama administration created the H-4 employment authorization document, known as H-4 EAD, to allow those spouses to work until the family can get green cards. Getting those permanent residency permits can often take many years, especially for immigrants of countries like India and China that send a lot of high-skilled talent to the U.S. In the meantime, their spouses are unable to work legally in the U.S. unless they have an employer who can separately sponsor them for a visa.

Since it went into effect, more than 90,000 immigrants have been approved for work permits under the program. President Trump pledged early on to rescind the H-4 permit program, but the administration has delayed. As it continued to promise the regulation would come, a lawsuit challenging the program has been on hold in the courts.

That changed in December, when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped granting the Department of Homeland Security extensions and ordered that the case proceed. A group of technology workers called Save Jobs USA who argue the program jeopardizes American jobs sued the Obama administration and, after losing in D.C. federal court, appealed the case. The Trump administration after taking power had it postponed until December.

The reasons for the delay, and sudden step forward, are not entirely clear. Government lawyers had assured the court the rule was being written and reviewed. In September, the lawyers had predicted a rule would be out in three months. The first briefs in the case are due in March.

Experts suspect that with the government finishing a separate rule blocking immigrants who might use public benefits, and with the lawsuit moving forward, the work was expedited. Once the rule is published, the government could argue the court should indefinitely postpone the lawsuit, as the underlying regulation is being rewritten. That would avoid the chance that the appellate court decides the program is legal, setting a precedent contrary to the objectives of the Trump administration.

The agency doesnt want to risk having a judicial ruling that would go against it, said Natalie Tynan, an attorney with Hunton Andrews Kurth who worked in the Department of Homeland Security for more than 11 years. In general from an agencys perspective, the agency prefers to issue its regulations rather than have the courts opine on what the regulations should say. So any opportunity to moot out litigation is a positive one for the agency.

Fifteen members of Californias congressional delegation signed a letter urging the Trump administration to preserve the permit program last year. They included Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose and Ro Khanna, D-Fremont. Eshoo and Lofgren introduced legislation late last year to keep the H-4 spousal work permit program in place.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency within Homeland Security that manages the program, is committed to upholding our nations immigration laws, helping ensure they are faithfully carried out, and safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system designed to protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers, according to spokeswoman Jessica Collins.

She would not comment on the substance of the regulation, but noted its not final until the review and comment process is complete.

Once the White House signs off on the draft regulation, it will be published in the Federal Register. That will start a clock on a comment period, usually 30 to 90 days, after which the administration legally has to review the comments and make any necessary revisions. Only after that can the regulation be finalized, and litigation could potentially hold it up for months or years longer.

Still, the uncertainty of future job status and symbolism of the Trump administration proposal could have immediate ripple effects for families that rely on the visas, and companies struggling to attract top talent.

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If you have 100,000 people who are extremely well-educated, and on the path to getting green cards, and are either indirectly stimulating economic growth or directly creating jobs for native-born Americans by starting companies in this country, why would you pull out the rug from all these people? said Doug Rand, co-founder of Boundless, a tech startup designed to help immigrants navigate the legal system. Rand also worked on the original H-4 regulation in the Obama administration.

Rand pointed out that only families already approved for green cards qualify for the work visa, meaning the government has already determined there are no Americans who could be working the high-skilled job. Once approved, they still must wait for the green card to be issued, and the spouses need the H-4 work permit because of the lengthy processing backlog for people from some countries, including India. Until they actually receive their green cards, they remain ineligible to work. Lofgren has co-authored legislation to eliminate per-country green card caps, shortening the wait.

John Miano, the attorney representing Save Jobs USA, said the focus should be on American workers, and argued that the Obama administration overstepped its legal authority to create the work permit without explicit congressional action.

Why are congressmen creating regulations to protect the jobs of foreign workers when they have done nothing to advance legislation to prevent Americans from being replaced by H-1B workers? Miano said. He added that the high-skilled visas have requirements that spousal work authorizations lack, including proving that Americans could not fill the jobs they are taking.

More than 93 percent of those affected by the potential removal of the work permit are women, which especially concerns advocates.

It undermines the agency and dignity of these spouses and it harms their career prospects; it leaves them less empowered to leave abusive situations, said Amanda Baran, an attorney and advocate with the San Francisco-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center and a veteran of the Department of Homeland Security.

I feel like its just another part of Trumps larger agenda, which is to expel immigrants, prevent them from coming in and make life uncomfortable for them here and compel them to leave, she said.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@

sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
Yalonda M James / The Chronicle

Oaklands public schools will remain open on school days during the teachers strike scheduled to begin Thursday. Schools plan to deploy substitute teachers and administrators to oversee students, who may gather in larger groups in libraries and auditoriums.

There are, however, other options for parents who cant keep their children at home but choose not to drop them off at school.
Electric scooter companies are squaring off with Oakland over who should be liable when a rider gets injured after careening over a bump in the sidewalk, or hitting one of the citys notorious potholes.

City officials want to hold the companies responsible, even for roads that have deteriorated because the city failed to maintain them. But the companies and their allies are fighting back, saying that rutted roads and crumbling pavement shouldnt be their problem.

The argument escalated Wednesday, when representatives of Bird, Lime, Lyft, Razor and Spin sent a letter to the city attorney, mayor and other officials, challenging the language being drawn up for Oaklands terms and conditions to operate e-scooters in the city. It includes terms that release Oakland from liability for injuries arising out of, or relating to the design, construction, maintenance, repair, replacement, oversight, management, or supervision of any physical, environmental, or dangerous conditions of public streets.

The companies said these terms are unusual. Many cities have adopted reasonable indemnification provisions which do not seek to include the citys own negligence and does not explicitly carve out the citys responsibility to riders to maintain the citys right of way and infrastructure, they wrote.

A spokesman for City Attorney Barbara Parker said Parker would review the letter. He declined to comment further.

In the last couple of years, Oakland has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle lawsuits for dangerous conditions on streets and sidewalks. But e-scooters are new terrain.

The two-wheeled gadgets have caused scores of accidents since landing on streets throughout the country last year. Toddlers and elderly people have been hit on sidewalks; riders have shown up in emergency rooms with injuries ranging from compound fractures to cranial bleeding. Though the issue has caused mounting concern among physicians, it seems nobody wants to be held at fault. Many companies set up user agreements to insulate themselves from lawsuits, but now cities want to be shielded as well.

Right now the position is, Im not responsible for anything, youre responsible for everything, said Thom Rickert, vice president and emerging risk specialist at Argo Group, an underwriter of specialty insurance.

That mantra holds for both the cities and the companies, he said, and that its a common reaction to a new technology that presents a lot of unknowns. Scooters have small wheel bases that could easily be upset by cracks in the sidewalk  and Oakland has plenty of those. Combine that with riders who zip along at high speeds, often without wearing helmets. Its a recipe for litigation that could eat away the citys budget.

Still, the draft regulations Oakland officials are working on now are more stringent than other cities, Rickert said. San Franciscos e-scooter permit application includes an indemnity clause that releases the city from liability for most injuries and damages, except those caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct of the city.

Overall, Oakland has embraced e-scooters, even as other cities recoiled. City Council members called the whizzing devices a fast, reliable mode of transport for people who cant afford cars. Some officials even touted the e-scooters as a social equalizer that could help in neighborhoods like East Oakland, where BART stations are far apart and bike rental docks end south of the Fruitvale neighborhood border.

Yet the e-scooter companies signaled Wednesday that if Oakland doesnt soften its rules, it might chase out this new form of micro-mobility.

Oakland transportation officials would not say when the requirements will be made final. The scooter companies hope to have the regulations solidified this week.

As a policy matter, we appreciate that the city has made the determination that it wants to encourage sustainable micromobility transportation options, the companies said in their letter to the city. However, currently the indemnification provision creates a barrier that runs counter to the citys own policy choices to incorporate emerging mobility technologies into its transportation network.

The head of Jack London Improvement District and the bicycle advocacy group Bike East Bay sent similar letters Wednesday, urging the city to change course. Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell pointed out that no other form of transport shoulders the financial risk for unsafe street design.

Ford and Toyota have no such indemnification requirements, nor does Ford GoBike, privately owned scooters, bicycle manufacturers, AC Transit buses, wheelchair users, shuttle vans, etc., he wrote.

Savlan Hauser, the executive director of Jack London Improvement District, agreed.

She called the regulations particularly harsh because e-scooters are most useful in outer neighborhoods with poorly maintained roads, and few transit options.

We dont want to make it impossible to have these types of innovations and transportation solutions in our neighborhoods, Hauser told The Chronicle. I think theres a way to work it out.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @rachelswan
Across Oakland, thin trickles of students crossed their striking teachers picket lines on Thursday and gathered in libraries, auditoriums and cafeterias, where administrators let them watch public TV and gave them other enrichment activities.

There was no type of structure without the teachers, said Kimouri Jackson, a senior at Oakland Technical High who watched an animal documentary and said only a few dozen students showed up. The school usually has 2,000 students.

Other students rallied with their teachers or attended hastily arranged solidarity schools in churches, libraries and recreation centers.

It was Day One of the Oakland Education Associations strike for higher pay, smaller classes and more support for thousands of students  with no end in sight. The district enrolls more than 50,000 students, though about 13,000 of them attend charter schools whose teachers are not part of the 3,000-member union and arent on strike.

Oakland teachers pay begins at $46,500, and the average salary is $63,100. Their contract expired two years ago, and teachers are demanding a 12 percent raise. They also want Oakland Unified to hire more counselors and nurses and to stop closing schools. Administrators say they have no choice, and need to slash $22 million to help close a $30 million budget deficit.

The union on Wednesday rejected the districts latest proposal of a 7 percent raise over three years plus a retroactive 1.5 percent bonus.

Grim-faced administrators around the district declined to comment Thursday, though the principals, through their union, told Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell they were concerned about student safety during the strike and asked her to close schools until the dispute is resolved.

That request and other concerns were included in a press release issued Thursday by the administrators union, including the statement: As our Oakland teachers go on strike, we strongly support their fight for smaller class sizes, more support for students, and a living wage for educators. But beyond that, administrators referred questions to spokesman John Sasaki, who spent the morning at Manzanita Community School on East 27th Street.

Every percent raise we give our teachers is worth $3.5 million, Sasaki said, because the district must give an equivalent raise to nonteaching staff. We just hope we can come to a resolution quickly.

He said he didnt know how many students and teachers were absent Thursday because the clerks who would provide those numbers were filling in for striking teachers.

Outside Manzanita, a raucous crowd of striking teachers, nurses, counselors and supporters marched in the chilly morning air, waving signs and chanting, Organize! Dont fool around! Oakland is a union town!

Parent Erica Garber picketed with her 5-year-old son, a kindergartner, and her father, a former teacher.

I want to teach my son to be an active participant in our society, she said. The cutbacks at my sons school have been dramatic. Theres no school nurse, and theyre talking about cutting the librarian.

At McClymonds High, teachers were told two years ago that the library was being renovated. Its still closed, and students cant check out books, said teacher Booker Lett.

The school also has few of the basics that make up a good education: art supplies, computers and instructional aides, he said. It doesnt even have clean drinking water. McClymonds has used filters since lead was found in the water in 2017.

Greg Kalkanis, a substitute teacher who has taught Spanish full-time there this year, said he joined Thursdays strike because the school hasnt found a permanent teacher to relieve him.

The problem? He doesnt speak Spanish.

Theyre learning from someone not qualified to teach Spanish, Kalkanis said. Were unable to hire a teacher because we dont pay well enough.

One of the teachers solidarity schools was at Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church in West Oakland. In the auditorium was a table with hot food, alongside coloring books and games. A few dozen middle and elementary school students milled about, some coloring U.S. maps. In one corner, volunteers packed sandwiches for striking teachers.

This is bigger than a teacher contract issue. Weve had mismanagement. Weve had cuts. This is about the future of public education, said volunteer Kim Davis, a district parent.

Members of other unions, including truck drivers and firefighters, joined the teachers outside district headquarters at 1000 Broadway to show support. So did some substitute teachers, rather than crossing picket lines to shore up staffing.

Im seeing it through to the end, said Rich Bonzo, who had been assigned to cover classes at Castlemont High this week.

At Oakland Tech, the strike was a raucous, lively affair. A DJ blasted Cardi B as about 200 teachers wearing red or black union T-shirts and students from several schools circled the courtyard, cheering when the DJ called out their schools name. A stream of horn blasts came from passing vehicles.

Inside the school, administrators declined to speak to a reporter. But they left intact a pink sign in the schools main office that read: Oakland Tech teachers, we support you!!! Thanks for all that you do.

Sasaki, the district spokesman, saw some good  and a larger lesson about school funding  in the festive spirit.

Its exciting to see, frankly, because everyone who works for the district cares about students and education funding, he said. These teachers are sending an important message that we need to invest more in education  not just here in Oakland, but everywhere.

By late morning, the crowd dissipated and made its way down Broadway for a midday rally outside City Hall.

There, hundreds gathered to hear students, teachers and union members talk about why they support the strike. For one eighth-grade girl, a student at Roots International Academy, the answer was obvious: The school board voted last month to shut down her school by summer.

They looked us in the face. They said to 11- to 14-year-olds that they were closing Roots, while we were crying and saying, Recall the vote, the student said angrily into the microphone.

Becky Pringle, vice president of the National Education Association, fired up the crowd with a message of support from the groups 3.2 million teacher members across the country.

You are in the fight of your lives to ensure every single child can explore their brilliance, Pringle said to cheers.

Thursdays action is the first strike in Oakland since 2010, when teachers struck for one day. The bargaining teams for Oakland Unified and the union planned to meet again Friday morning to try to resolve the dispute.

If an agreement is reached, the union must approve it before the strike can end. The school board would also have to sign off.

The strike follows similar actions around the country during the past year, as half a dozen teachers unions have demanded better working conditions.

Ashley McBride, Kimberly Veklerov and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle, nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ashleynmcb @kveklerov @NanetteAsimov
Three days before Willie McCoy, a young black man, was fatally shot on Feb. 9 by six officers from the Vallejo Police Department, a bill that would update a law that astoundingly hasnt been changed in almost 150 years was introduced in the Assembly.

Californias law governing when a homicide by an officer is justified was written in 1872  nine years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves. If theres anything that is overdue to be rewritten, this is it.

The bill, AB392, would regulate when police can open fire on people.

That bill would establish very clear standards and guidelines for when officers can and cannot use deadly force, Lizzie Buchen, a legislative advocate for the ACLU of Nortnern California, told me. If that bill passes, then all agencies would have to update their use-of-force standards.

According to the bill, deadly force would be acceptable only to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury. It would require law enforcement officers to exhaust every alternative before firing their service weapons. It would allow police departments to discipline or fire officers who use unnecessary deadly force.

The bill will make it easier to prosecute police officers for their actions.

Yes, sometimes officers have to use force. They do a dangerous job in which people at times try to kill them  like what apparently happened over the weekend in Napa, where a deputys body camera showed a man firing at her before she shot him dead. But cops are trained professionals. We have a right to expect them to be better, and with this many people of color dying in these particular ways, we as a society have to help cops  make them  become better.

When you change policy, you will hopefully change peoples attitudes, said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, one of the bills co-authors. You will change how theyre trained to do their jobs.

This isnt the first time Weber has tried to change the states use-of-force policy. As my colleague Alexei Koseff reported, the measure is nearly identical to a proposal that was shelved at the end of the last legislative session. That measure was introduced amid public outrage over the death of Stephon Clark, a black man who was unarmed when police fatally shot him in Sacramento in March.

The law needs an update, because there isnt enough accountability for police officers who fatally shoot people like McCoy. Police killed more than 100 civilians in California in 2018. Only a few cases were prosecuted.

For two years, Ive written about the police shooting black and brown people in Vallejo  people who might still be alive if officers were governed by higher use-of-force standards. McCoy was asleep in his car in a Taco Bell drive-through lane, and then was shot dead.

According to police, when McCoy awoke he reached for the fully loaded, semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine, that was in his lap. Yes, McCoy had a gun. Thats not in dispute. He shouldve been arrested for carrying an illegal firearm.

The Vallejo Police Department, which hasnt returned my requests for comment, hasnt addressed why officers felt an imminent threat to their lives.

McCoy was hit more than 20 times. The bullets pelted his face, shoulders, chest and arms, according to a family attorney who viewed his body. An official coroners report hasnt been released.

The bill doesnt take away an officers right to use deadly force. It just defines when deadly force can be used. Again, this is as important as the new California law requiring cities to unseal police misconduct records.

All of it is important if youre going to do reform, but clearly changing the use of lethal force will have an impact because, obviously, we hope there will be fewer incidents of people being shot, Weber said.

The bill was referred to the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Feb. 15.

This bill will hopefully make the use of lethal force the last thing you do and that the purpose of doing it is because you know that this person is going to do you bodily harm, Weber said.

Law enforcement organizations lobbied against last years bill, arguing that a change would make it more dangerous for police patrolling the streets because it would make officers hesitant. Earlier this month, a similar bill backed by law enforcement was introduced in the state Senate. It stops short of holding officers accountable for their actions, just like the people they arrest.

Thats not good enough. Just like the people they arrest, the police arent above the law.

The majority of time, officers conduct themselves and do not cross that line, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, a co-author of AB392. When there is an officer that crosses the line, we think this bill will force departments to rethink their practices and focus on less lethal tactics and de-escalation.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays and Thursdays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
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Thursday morning commuters woke up to cold and freezing fog in some areas around Seattle, but the sun and blue skies came out later in the morning and promised to stay out for most of the day.

That will all change come Friday.
The field of candidates for Seattle City Council continues to grow -- and shrink.

Abel Pacheco and Jason Williams are the latest Seattle City Council candidates to announce, while promising contender Beto Yarce surprised political observers late Tuesday by suspending his campaign against council radical Kshama Sawant.

The latest moves brings the count up to three dozen people running for the seven district Council seats up for election this year. Eight candidates are running in District 7 (downtown, Queen Anne, Magnolia) for the seat of retiring Council member Sally Bagshaw.

Jason Williams, 31, a Magnolia resident, is the latest contender in a field that is offering up a choice of qualified candidates. He was once head of the Young Democrats at Seattle Pacific University, holds an MBA from Yale and works in product marketing for Microsoft.

RELATED: O'Brien is fourth Seattle City Council incumbent not to seek re-election

"Seattle's next chapter is being written right now, but our leaders and our communities are not working together," Williams said.

Abel Pacheco is making his second bid for the District 4 seat, where incumbent Rob Johnson is not seeking reelection. The north-by-northwest Seattle district stretches from Fremont and Wallingford to View Ridge and Windermere.

Pacheco made a late bid for District 4 in 2015. He finished out of the money (along with 12-year Council incumbent Jean Godden) as Johnson and Democratic activist Michael Maddux waged a close but cordial general election seat.

Pacheco, a Ravenna resident, is director of strategic engagement for Washington MESA -- Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement, a STEM pathway for young women and students of color.

"As a son of immigrant parents, access to opportunity is a core belief of mine and I believe Seattle should govern with this as a principal value," Pacheco said in announcing.

Four ouncil incumbents -- Bagshaw, Johnson, Bruce Harrell and Mike O'Brien -- are not seeking re-election.

RELATED: Harrell is third City Council incumbent to not seek reelection

Just two district incumbents, Deborah Juarez in North Seattle, and Lisa Herbold in West Seattle-South Park, are running for re-election.

Juarez and Herbold have adjusted best to the city's new district election system, becoming an updated version of big city ward politicians and fighting for their neighborhoods.

Sawant is rarely seen tending to needs of District 3, which includes the Central Area, Madison Park and Capitol Hill. She has recently faced revelation by S.C.C. Insight that her actions on Council and hiring are controlled by Socialist Alternative, the Trotskyist political movement to which she belongs.

Yarce was out on the trail early, staging coffees and get-togethers, and earning early impressive endorsements. He was, however, taking flak for having only recently moved into District 3 from Mill Creek.

"One of the things that I learned on the campaign trail is that small business needs additional support: I can most effectively support entrepreneurs in our community by remaining at Ventures," he said in suspending his campaign.

ALSO FROM CONNELLY: Landslide disapproval for Trump emergency declaration -- poll

Ventures is a non-profit small business incubator.

Five candidates including Sawant remain in the District 3 race. The latest, public defender Ami Nguyen, announced last week.

Sawant is beginning to wear on people, notably in being shouted down by union Iron Workers last spring when she took to the bullhorn outside Amazon to call for an employer head tax. She has lately refused to participate in Seattle's election vouchers program, a form of public financing that puts limits on election spending.

Sawant has argued that big business is out to get her. In 2015, aided by out-of-state money, she outspent a business-backed opponent.

She has also reaped backing from The Stranger in her 2013 and 2015 races, and soft focus coverage this cycle on Socialist Alternative giving her orders.

With retirements, at least four of nine Council members will be newcomers come January. The Council's two at-large members, Lorena Gonzalez and Teresa Mosqueda, are holdovers who do not need to run this year.
After a limb amputation, brain areas responsible for movement and sensation alter their functional communication. This is the conclusion of a new study published today in Scientific Reports. According to the authors, from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the findings may help to understand why some patients report phantom sensations and others do not.

Entitled "Lower limb amputees undergo long-distance plasticity in sensorimotor functional connectivity," the study represents a step forward a complete comprehension of a phenomenon called brain plasticity, which means the brain's ability to change itself in response to daily life situations. This ability is greater during the early stages of development but is still critical for learning, memory and behavior throughout our whole life. Investigating the underpinnings of brain plasticity is the key to develop new treatments against mental disorders.

In order to go deeper on that, neuroscientists from Brazil decided to investigate the brain after lower limb amputation. In a previous study from the group, a magnetic resonance imaging experiment revealed that the brain overreacts when the stump is touched. Also, they found that the corpus callosum -- brain structure that connects cortical areas responsible for movement and sensations -- loses its strength. These findings have raised curiosity about what would be the impact of an impaired corpus callosum on the cortical areas it connects.

Led by Fernanda Tovar-Moll, radiologist and president at IDOR, researchers investigated the differences in functional connectivity (i.e. the communication of brain areas) among motor and sensitive areas connected by the corpus callosum in nine lower limb amputees and nine healthy volunteers.

The results showed that authors' idea was correct: in response to the touch in the stump, sensitive and motor areas of patients' brains exhibited an abnormal pattern of communication among the right and left hemispheres, probably as a consequence of impaired corpus callosum. In addition, sensitive and motor areas of the same hemisphere showed increased functional communication in amputees.

"The brain changes in response to amputation have been investigated for years in those patients who report the phantom limb pain. However, our findings show that there is a functional imbalance even in the absence of pain, in patients reporting only phantom sensations," explains Ivanei Bramati, medical physicist and Ph.D. student at IDOR.

According to the authors, understanding the changes of neural networks in response to the amputation can pave the way for the development of new technologies and devices to treat this disorder and offer patients a better quality of life.
Recent advances in battery technology, from the engineering of their cases to the electrochemistry that takes place inside them, has enabled the rapid rise of Teslas, Leafs, Volts and other electric cars.

Now, scientists at Scripps Research, inspired by the refined electrochemistry of these batteries, have developed a battery-like system that allows them to make potential advancements for the manufacturing of medicines.

Their new method, reported February 22 in Science, avoids safety risks associated with a type of chemical reaction known as dissolving metal reduction, which is often used to produce compounds used in the manufacturing of medicines. Their method would offer tremendous advantages over current methods of chemical manufacturing, but until now, has largely been sidelined due to safety considerations.

"The same types of batteries we use in our electric cars today were far too dangerous for commercial use a few decades ago, but now they are remarkably safe thanks to advances in chemistry and engineering," says Phil Baran, PhD, who holds the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research and is a senior author of the Science paper. "By applying some of the same principles that made this new generation of batteries possible, we have developed a method to safely conduct powerfully reductive chemical reactions that have very rarely been used on a large scale because -- until now -- they were too dangerous or costly."

"This could have a major impact on not only the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals," Baran adds, "but also on the mindset of medicinal chemists who traditionally avoid such chemistry due to safety concerns. This problem was in fact brought to our attention by co-author Michael Collins, a medicinal chemist at Pfizer, for precisely this reason."

One of the most powerful reactions, and representative examples of this deeply reducing chemistry that chemists use to make new molecules is the Birch reduction, which was largely pioneered by Australian chemist Arthur Birch in the 1940s. This reductive reaction involves dissolving a reactive metal in liquid ammonia to manipulate ring-shaped molecules that can be used as the foundation for making many chemical products, including drug molecules.

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The procedure calls for condensing ammonia or similar compounds, which are corrosive, toxic and volatile, and combining it with metals such as lithium that are prone to bursting into flames if exposed to air. The process must take place at extremely cold temperatures, requiring expensive equipment and specialists.

A rare example of the use of a dissolving metal reduction in pharmaceutical manufacturing is a compound that was previously in development at Pfizer, a remarkable achievement in chemical manufacturing that required a herculean effort. The system to produce the compound on a large scale required enough gaseous ammonia to fill three Boeing 747 airliners and must be conducted at -35 degrees Celsius. The lengths to which Pfizer went to utilize this chemistry are a testimony to the reaction's synthetic power.

To overcome these significant barriers to using such chemistry, Baran and his team looked to the advances made in battery manufacturing by joining forces with experts at the University of Utah, led by Shelley Minteer, PhD, and the University of Minnesota, led by Matthew Neurock, PhD.

The lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in modern electronics such as mobile phones, laptop computers and electric cars rely on advances in an internal component called the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). The SEI is a protective layer that forms on one of the electrodes inside a Li-ion when the battery is first charged and allows the battery to be recharged. Producing the safe and efficient batteries now used in consumer electronics relied on years of advances in optimizing the chemical conditions -- the composition of electrolytes, solvents and additives -- that produced the SEI.

The team noted that the reaction that forms the SEI in batteries is an electrochemical reaction akin to the Birch reaction and its relatives. They surmised that they could borrow from what battery makers had learned to pursue a safe and practical method of conducting an electroreduction reaction.

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"In many ways you're looking at similar situations -- powerful reactions that, when effectively harnessed, can provide tremendous utility," says Solomon Reisberg, a graduate student in the Baran lab and one of the co-authors on the Science paper. "The team took advantage of the hard-won knowledge about the conditions that make reductive electrochemistry in batteries practical and used that knowledge to rethink how deeply reductive chemistry could be used on a large scale."

The Scripps Research team began by testing a range of additives used to prevent overcharging in Li-ion batteries and found that a combination of two, substances called dimethylurea and TPPA, made the Birch reaction possible at room temperature.

Testing various other materials used in batteries, Baran's team came up with a set of conditions that allowed them to not only conduct reductive electrosynthesis safely but also to increase the versatility of the reaction to create a wider variation of products that was not possible with previous electrochemical methods.

This method avoided the need for dissolving liquid metals in large quantities of ammonia -- and the associated cost and risks -- and instead used an electrolyte system similar to that used in batteries. In addition to the Birch reaction, the researchers were able to apply the technique to other types of powerful reactions often used in synthesis but rarely, if ever, used in industrial settings.

The researchers synthesized multiple versions of important single-ring compounds as well as molecules where multiple rings were combined to create more complex structures that form the skeletons of drugs and other chemical products. In contrast to the enormously expensive devices previously required to conduct reductive chemistry in large quantities, the team collaborated with Asymchem Life Science, a chemical manufacturer based in Tianjin, China, to build a small modular device capable of generating large quantities of products for less than $250.

"This demonstrates that kilogram-scale synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant building blocks can be produced by adapting what we've learned about electrochemistry from the rapid advance of battery technology," Baran says. "We anticipate that this will be a boon to industry, allowing them to finally bring these reactions to practical use."

The Scripps Research team collaborated on the project with researchers at Pfizer Global Research and Development, the University of Utah, the University of Minnesota and Asymchem Life Science in China.

Additional authors on the paper, Scalable and safe synthetic organic electroreduction inspired by Li-ion battery chemistry, were Byron K. Peters, Kevin X. Rodriguez, Solomon H. Reisberg, Sebastian B. Beil, David P. Hickey, Yu Kawamata, Michael Collins, Jeremy Starr, Longrui Chen, Sagar Udyavara, Kevin Klunder, Timothy Gorey and Scott L. Anderson.

The research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant for the Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry (CCI Phase 1 grant #1740656), Pfizer and Asymchem.
Who knew a potentially deadly bacteria could be used for good?

LSU Mechanical Engineering graduate student Tatiana Mello of Piracicaba, Brazil, is currently working on genetically engineering and optimizing E. coli bacteria to produce bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner. This undertaking has garnered the attention of many in the engineering and biology fields and has also given her the opportunity to speak about her research at the recent National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego.

Mello proposes using E. coli bacteria to expand biodiesel production by creating a new type of feedstock.

"The main feedstocks used in the U.S. for biodiesel are soybean and corn oil," she said. "The actual production is enough to feed us, but you have the surplus that nobody knew what to do with, so biodiesel was created. This market is growing and growing. They expect within a few decades, the surplus won't be enough to produce biodiesel. E. coli is cheap and abundant, and you can just genetically modify it to fulfill this need."

Mello's main goal is to create Malonyl-CoA bioproducts, such as biodiesel, plastics, polymers, and pharmaceuticals. Malonyl-CoA is found in bacteria from humans and has important roles in regulating fatty acid metabolism and food intake; it's also an attractive target for drug discovery.

"Malonyl-CoA maximization is the topic of my research because it's a precursor for so many things," she said.

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Mello, who has worked on this project for two years, had the privilege of presenting her project at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego last month. Only 12 university-level science majors in the country who are interested in learning about the biodiesel industry receive travel scholarships to attend. However, only four of those students are asked to present their research.

Mello did so as part of the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel, of which she is a member. She said attending the conference not only impacted her career and research, but also her understanding of the biodiesel industry.

"I was opened up to a new world after the misconception about the food industry and the biofuel industry competing for cropland was demystified," she said. "The many new concepts, regulations, and issues presented during the fast-paced event prepared me much better for the entire biodiesel business."

After earning her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Sao Paulo, Mello decided she needed one more degree in order to apply her scientific knowledge.

"First I got into biology because I was all about studying life," she said. "It fascinated me. When I was finishing my biology degree, I realized I couldn't apply anything to what I was studying. Those were the engineers. I needed bioreactors and machinery. So, I decided to get an engineering degree."

Mello stayed at Unicamp, where she earned her ME degree and then began working for Caterpillar Inc. in Brazil.

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"While there, I realized I wanted to combine my two bachelor degrees," Mello said.

She connected with LSU ME Professor Marcio de Queiroz, who is also from Brazil and now serves as her advisor. She also has co-advisors, such as LSU Biological Sciences Professor Grover Waldrop, and says they all work together and have submitted a patent on her project.

Mello is set to graduate from LSU in May and plans to stay in southeast Louisiana, hopefully finding a job in the Baton Rouge area. Of course, it all depends on which company will be open to her new idea.

"We have this method, and it's working, but we need industry partners to scale it up," she said.
Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird -- the now extinct adzebill -- showing that some of its closest living relatives are the pint-sized flufftails from Madagascar and Africa.

Led by the University of Adelaide, the research in the journal Diversity showed that among the closest living relatives of the New Zealand adzebills -- which weighed up to 19 kilograms -- are the tiny flufftails, which can weigh as little as 25 grams. The closeness of the relationship strongly suggests that the ancestors of the adzebills flew to New Zealand after it became physically isolated from other land.

This finding mirrors the close relationship between New Zealand's kiwi and the extinct Madagascan elephant birds, published by University of Adelaide researchers in 2014, hinting at an unappreciated biological connection between Madagascar and New Zealand.

Like the better-known moa, the two species of adzebill -- the North Island adzebill and South Island adzebill -disappeared following the arrival of early Maori in New Zealand, who hunted them and cleared their forest habitats. Unlike the moa, adzebills were predators and not herbivores.

"The adzebill were almost completely wingless and had an enormous reinforced skull and beak, almost like an axe, which is where they got their English name," says Alexander Boast, lead author and former Masters student at the University of Adelaide.

"If they hadn't gone extinct, they would be among the largest living birds."

A team of researchers from Australia, New Zealand, and the US analysed genetic data from the two adzebill species.

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"A lot of past genetic research and publicity has focused on the moa, which we know were distant relatives of the ostrich, emu, and cassowary," says co-author Dr Kieren Mitchell, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide.

"But noone had analysed the genetics of the adzebill, despite a lot of debate about exactly what they were and where they came from."

"We know that adzebills have been in New Zealand for a relatively long time, since we previously discovered a 19 million-year-old adzebill fossil on the South Island," says co-author Associate Professor Trevor Worthy, a palaeontologist at Flinders University.

"A key question is whether they've been present since New Zealand broke away from the other fragments of the supercontinent Gondwana or whether their ancestors flew to New Zealand from elsewhere later on."

Researchers at both the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA and Curtin University's Ancient DNA Lab sequenced adzebill DNA from fragments of bone and eggshell. They compared this to DNA from living birds to discover the identity and origin of the adzebill.

"It's possible that ancient migration of birds between Madagascar and New Zealand may have occurred via Antarctica," says Dr Mitchell.

"Some coastal regions of the continent remained forested and ice free until as recently as 30 million years ago."

Dr Paul Scofield, Senior Curator Natural History at Canterbury Museum says: "The North Island adzebill likely evolved from its South Island counterpart relatively recently. We know the North and South Islands were joined by a narrow piece of land around two million years ago. Adzebills probably developed in the South Island, then walked over this land bridge to the North Island."
Scientists with the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health report motor skills problems in children exposed during pregnancy to plasticizer chemicals known as phthalates that are widely used in personal care products like moisturizers and lipstick, as well as plastic containers and children's toys.

Results of the study of 209 New York City children are published in the journal Environmental Research.

The researchers measured levels of phthalates and their metabolites in urine collected from women during late pregnancy and from their children at ages 3, 5, and 7 years. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency short form (BOT-2), a screening test for motor problems, was administered at age 11 to assess motor skills.

The findings suggest that maternal exposure to phthalates in late pregnancy could have long-lasting adverse effects on motor function in children in later childhood, particularly in girls. There was also evidence that childhood exposure to phthalates may have more harmful effects on motor function in boys.

"Almost one-third of the children in our study had below or well-below average motor skills," says senior author Pam Factor-Litvak, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School. "Children with even subtle motor problems often have difficulty participating in daily activities of childhood, particularly sports. Children with motor problems may also experience low self-worth and self-esteem, high rates of anxiety and depression, as well as behavioral disorders, such as ADHD."

Phthalate exposures likely occurred when expecting mothers and their children unknowingly ingested small amounts of products like lipstick or plastic food containers or packaging. They may also have absorbed these chemicals through their skin.

"This study adds to the substantial body of evidence on the health risks of phthalates for children, which also includes elevated risk for asthma and cognitive issues," says Julie Herbstman, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of CCCEH. "To the extent possible, expecting mothers should minimize their exposures to products like lipstick and moisturizers that contain these chemicals by paying attention to product labels. In addition, policymakers and manufacturers should consider steps to limit or eliminate the use of these chemicals. No chemicals should be this widely available until they are proven to be safe."
Atopic dermatitis, a common inflammatory skin condition also known as allergic eczema, affects nearly 20 percent of children, 30 percent of whom also have food allergies. Scientists have now found that children with both atopic dermatitis and food allergy have structural and molecular differences in the top layers of healthy-looking skin near the eczema lesions, whereas children with atopic dermatitis alone do not. Defining these differences may help identify children at elevated risk for developing food allergies, according to research published online today in Science Translational Medicine. The research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

"Children and families affected by food allergies must constantly guard against an accidental exposure to foods that could cause life-threatening allergic reactions," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Eczema is a risk factor for developing food allergies, and thus early intervention to protect the skin may be one key to preventing food allergy."

Children with atopic dermatitis develop patches of dry, itchy, scaly skin caused by allergic inflammation. Atopic dermatitis symptoms range from minor itchiness to extreme discomfort that can disrupt a child's sleep and can lead to recurrent infections in scratched, broken skin.

The study, led by Donald Y.M. Leung, M.D., Ph.D., of National Jewish Health in Denver, examined the top layers of the skin, known as the stratum corneum, in areas with eczema lesions and in adjacent normal-looking skin. The study enrolled 62 children aged 4 to 17 who either had atopic dermatitis and peanut allergy, atopic dermatitis and no evidence of any food allergy, or neither condition. Investigators collected skin samples by applying and removing small, sterile strips of tape to the same area of skin. With each removal, a microscopic sublayer of the first layer of skin tissue was collected and preserved for analysis. This technique allowed researchers to determine the skin's composition of cells, proteins and fats, as well as its microbial communities, gene expression within skin cells and water loss through the skin barrier.

Researchers found that the skin rash of children with both atopic dermatitis and food allergy was indistinguishable from the skin rash of children with atopic dermatitis alone. However, they found significant differences in the structure and molecular composition of the top layer of non-lesional, healthy-appearing skin between children with atopic dermatitis and food allergy compared with children with atopic dermatitis alone. Non-lesional skin from children with atopic dermatitis and food allergy was more prone to water loss, had an abundance of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, and had gene expression typical of an immature skin barrier. These abnormalities also were seen in skin with active atopic dermatitis lesions, suggesting that skin abnormalities extend beyond the visible lesions in children with atopic dermatitis and food allergy but not in those with atopic dermatitis alone.

"Our team sought to understand how healthy-looking skin might be different in children who develop both atopic dermatitis and food allergy compared to children with atopic dermatitis alone," said Dr. Leung. "Interestingly, we found those differences not within the skin rash but in samples of seemingly unaffected skin inches away. These insights may help us not only better understand atopic dermatitis, but also identify children most at risk for developing food allergies before they develop overt skin rash and, eventually, fine tune prevention strategies so fewer children are affected."

Allergy experts consider atopic dermatitis to be an early step in the so-called "atopic march," a common clinical progression found in some children in which atopic dermatitis progresses to food allergies and, sometimes, to respiratory allergies and allergic asthma. Many immunologists hypothesize that food allergens may reach immune cells more easily through a dysfunctional skin barrier affected by atopic dermatitis, thereby setting off biological processes that result in food allergies.
Infants may be more sensitive to non-native speech sounds than previously thought, according to a study published in the Journal of Memory and Language. The findings shed light on the way babies begin to understand language.

The study, coauthored by Jessica Hay, an associate professor in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Department of Psychology, and Ryan Cannistraci, a PhD student in experimental psychology, looks at how lexical tones can affect an infant's ability to associate words with objects.

Lexical tone is the manipulation of a word's pitch contour. Although English words do not make use of pitch contours within words to convey meaning, many languages -- such as Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Thai -- do.

For example, by changing the pitch contour, the Mandarin word ma can mean either "mother," "horse," "hemp," or "to scold."

What differentiates Hay and Cannistraci's study from others in the field of infant language learning is its focus on these non-English sound structures.

"Most research on early word learning has focused on what is referred to as intonation languages, where pitch changes are used at the phrase level but not to mark changes in word meaning," Hay said. "However, over half of the world's languages use pitch contours to communicate meaning."

The researchers based their experiments on a cognitive skill called task switching -- the ability to unconsciously shift attention between different tasks. The research involved presenting 14-month-old subjects with two novel objects paired with a novel pseudoword. The babies had English as their primary household language.

Once the infant was used to the association between the object-label pairs they underwent two sets of trials. In the "same" trials, infants were presented with objects along with their correct label. In the "switch" trials, the labels were reversed. By measuring average attention for both trial types, researchers were able to gauge whether the subjects had truly learned the object-label association. It may seem intuitive that the infants would have an easier time discerning between two objects when the labels differ greatly in tone, but this is not always the case.

In fact, the researchers found that the babies were able to learn the association between an object and its label more easily when they heard a sound with a high-pitch contour, just as babies that have Chinese as a primary household language would hear.

"We think it may be the case that English-learning infants are able to learn from the rising pitch contour in our experiment because they hear rising pitch contours in their everyday life," Cannistraci said. "In English, rising pitch contours are prevalent in infant-directed speech, and are also often used to solicit attention and to mark questions."

The experiments pave the way for a more inclusive approach to understanding how language is learned.

"In order to be able to generalize what we know about how children learn languages, it is important to study all sorts of different languages," Hay said. "By incorporating non-native lexical tones into our studies, we have learned that infants are able to apply what they know about their own language when learning words in a new language. This suggests that infants are motivated to learn language and will use any potentially relevant information available to them."
An international team of scientists, including researchers from the University of Southampton, has shown that fossilised eggshells unearthed in western Romania represent the earliest known nest site shared by multiple animals.

The shells -- some complete and others broken into thousands of pieces -- are densely packed and encased in mudstone which formed part of the remains of a bird breeding colony, probably comprising hundreds of seperate nests.

Now in the collections of the Transylvanian Museum Society in Cluj Napoca, Romania, the samples date from the late-Cretaceous period (approx. 70 million years ago) and were discovered near the city of Sebes in Transylvania by local palaeontologist Matyas Vremir about nine years ago.

Led by Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche in Argentina, the scientists examined sophisticated electron microscope images of the unique, fossilised material from the site. They established it contains four different types of egg shell, indicating that four types of animals all shared the same nesting site; extinct birds within a group known as enantiornithes, birds of undetermined classification, gecko-like lizards and smaller predecessors of today's crocodiles.

Christian Laurent, Tizard Scholar and member of the Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics Group at the University of Southampton, comments: "We know very little about the parental behaviour of Mesozic birds, We know they had nests, laid eggs and hatched young which were relatively mature and able to move around after hatching -- but evidence is scant beyond this. This research suggests they were tolerant of creating their nests, not only alongside other birds, but also reptiles."

The team, which also includes researchers from the University of Jinan (China), the Transylvanian Museum Society (Romania), the Royal British Columbia Museum (Canada), the University of Debrecen (Hungary), and Pavol Jozef Safarik University (Slovak Republic), has published its findings in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Their paper speculates that an area of plain created by seasonal flooding offered the enantiornithes safety from predators. It's also believed that their nest environments afforded shelter to smaller reptiles which benefitted from the security of the birds guarding their own nests. The researchers suggest that the lizard and crocodile type animals were not perceived as a threat to the bird eggs and nestlings -- possibly because they were much smaller than the adult birds and so not a predatory threat to them or their hatchlings. To date, this is the oldest example of this kind of ecological strategy.

Christian Laurent adds: "Evidence supporting our theory can still be seen today in Argentina, where lizards (Salvator merianae) co-habit and lay eggs inside the nests of the caiman crocodile -- safe in the knowledge that the female doesn't feed during the incubation of her eggs and poses no threat to the hatchling lizards."
Most reptiles and fish have multiple sets of teeth during their lifetime. However, most mammals, such as humans, have only one set of replacement teeth and some mammals, like mice, have only a single set with no replacement. This diversity raises both evolutionary questions -- how did different tooth replacement strategies evolve? -- and developmental ones -- which mechanisms prevent replacement teeth in animals that lost them?

In a new paper in Development, Professor Abigail Tucker and PhD student Elena Popa of King's College London tackle these questions with a molecular analysis of mouse tooth development. They have pinpointed why mice don't have replacement teeth by comparing gene expression in the dental lamina, the area that forms the teeth, of the mouse and the minipig, which has two sets of teeth.

Wnt signalling is known to be required for tooth replacement in other vertebrates; the researchers from King's Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences now show that Wnt activity is absent in a rudimentary form of the dental lamina (RSDL) in mice. This structure forms in the mouse but then disappears, stopping the generation of another set of teeth.

Using sophisticated genetic techniques, the researchers activated Wnt signalling in the mouse RSDL at E15.5 and E16 stages of development, revitalising this structure, and additional teeth were formed as a consequence.

These results demonstrate the potential of the RSDL as a source for replacement teeth in mice, and provide an experimental system suitable for studying the mechanisms behind replacement.

"Why the potential for tooth replacement varies so much across vertebrates is an intriguing question," explains PhD student Elena Popa. "Our results show that, although the mouse normally does not form a second replacement set of teeth, it still has the potential to do so given the right signals."

Finally, they report that culturing the RSDL in isolation stimulated its tooth-forming potential, suggesting that the first generation of teeth might prevent replacement teeth from developing; the previous set of teeth also influence the development of a next set.

Professor Tucker explains: "This is relevant to human tooth replacement, as structures similar to the RSDL have been identified next to the permanent teeth during development. In normal development of our teeth, therefore, the second set or permanent tooth may inhibit the generation of a third set of teeth."

These results provide a conceptual advancement in the tooth-replacement field, as well as providing new insights into how traits are lost during mammalian evolution and how they might be restored.
Hike around the natural habitats of San Diego County and it becomes abundantly clear that honey bees, foreign to the area, are everywhere. In a study published last year, researchers at the University of California San Diego found that honey bees are the most widespread and abundant pollinators of wild plants in the world, with the San Diego region having exceptionally high honey bee visitation on native plants -- roughly three-quarters of all observed pollinators.

New research from the same team found that honey bees focus their foraging on the most abundantly flowering native plant species, where they often account for more than 90 percent of pollinators observed visiting flowers.

The new study by Keng-Lou James Hung, Jennifer Kingston, Adrienne Lee, David Holway and Joshua Kohn of UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences is published on Feb. 20 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"To have a non-native species that removes the lion's share of pollen and nectar in a diverse ecosystem such as ours is stunning" said Kohn, a professor in the Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution. "Think about if we had an invasive plant that covered 75 percent of the region's land area -- it's similar to that level."

The honey bees' monopoly over the most abundantly blooming plant species may strongly affect the ecology and evolution of species that are foundational to the stability of the region's plant-pollinator interactions, the researchers said.

"It's concerning enough that a non-native species reaches an overall 75 percent numerical dominance -- what's more, we now show that their numerical dominance is even higher on the plant species that supply the largest amounts of pollen and nectar," said Hung, a former student of Holway and Kohn who is now a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University. "This finding suggests that honey bees are disproportionately removing resources from the plant species that likely support the greatest diversity and abundance of native pollinator species."

From an ecological perspective, the new assessment could help habitat and wildlife management evaluate pollination services and native pollinator conservation in natural areas where non-native honey bees have become established.

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"Our study is a first step in figuring out which plant and pollinator species may be most susceptible to interference from honey bees," said Hung. "This is also a great example of the importance of understanding the natural history of a non-native species when we attempt to evaluate its ecological impacts -- both positive and negative."

Native to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, honey bees were introduced to North America in the 1600s. They spread in California after the state's gold rush in the mid-1800s. In San Diego, the great majority of honey bees foraging in natural systems are both feral and Africanized (an aggressive hybrid of the Western honey bee).

Behind the honey bees' ability to preferentially target the most rewarding plant species is the fact that they employ social communication to "spread the word" when flowers with rich pollen and nectar resources are available in abundance. Most pollinating insects native to the area are solitary, and thus not capable of such communication.

"Honey bees are thought to have the most sophisticated communication of all invertebrates. They can communicate the distance and direction of a high quality food source," said Kohn. "Native bumble bees are also social and are thought to communicate that there is a worthwhile floral resource and what it smells like, but they can't communicate distance and direction the way honey bees can."

Native bumble bees made up only 0.2 percent of insect visitors to flowers, perhaps due to competition with honey bees. These findings highlight the importance of considering the honey bee's unique foraging behavior when evaluating its ecological impact on native species.

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San Diego County is considered a global biodiversity hotspot where researchers have documented more than 600 species of native bees, numerous other pollinating insect species and more plant species than any other county in the United States. According to the researchers, the high biodiversity, coupled with the fact that many plant and pollinator species in the region are threatened by habitat loss and climate change, means that any ecological impact of honey bees on native species could be especially consequential.

"There is little doubt that honey bees currently play an important role in pollinating native plants here in San Diego," said Hung, "but we need to also consider how honey bees may be impacting native pollinators by competing with them for limited food resources."

The researchers also point out that non-honey bee pollinators are known to increase the pollination success of many crop plants in California and elsewhere, even when honey bee hives are brought to fields by the truckload. So the maintenance of healthy populations of native insects is an important aspect of stable food production.

In addition to possible negative effects of honey bees on native pollinating insects, honey bees may negatively affect native plants as well. Studies in other systems have shown that too many visits by comparatively large and super-abundant pollinators such as honey bees can hinder plant reproduction because of damage caused to flowers. In addition, honey bees are known to visit more flowers on a plant before moving to the next plant than native pollinators. This may increase self-fertilization, which often leads to lower-quality seeds due to the negative effects of inbreeding.

The researchers are now investigating these and other possible ramifications of honey bee dominance in San Diego, although their true impact is difficult to assess since there are no available baseline data from before honey bees were introduced into the area.

"In general, the threats that honey bees may pose to native biodiversity have not been explored very thoroughly, but we are now headed that way," said Kohn, who first became interested in honey bee dominance while hiking in local wilderness areas. "No matter how far away from agriculture or urbanized areas I was, if something was blooming heavily, it was just swarmed with honey bees. I thought it was odd that there were so many honey bees here."
AP Photo/Pavel GolovkinAfghan politician Fawzia Koofi speaks to media about ongoing efforts to resolve the war in Afghanistan and her fears that womens rights will get short shrift in talks with the Taliban. It is very worrisome that we may go back to where we were under the Taliban, Koofi said.
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File photoRestrictions on Neeka, a dog deemed dangerous by the Town of Danvers, may be changing if a compromise worked out between the town and the dogs owners is approved.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Convicted plunderer Janet Lim Napoles will be able to attend the trial for multiple cases she is facing at the Sandiganbayan over the alleged pork barrel scam.

The Supreme Court (SC) allowed her to leave her detention facility at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.

Her conviction in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam case of former Senator Bong Revilla made her a "national prisoner" who needs authority from the high court to leave his or her place of detention. Revilla has since been acquitted.

Napoles' imprisonment forced the Sandiganbayan Third Division to defer the start of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile's plunder trial on Tuesday. The trial has been delayed for years. Enrile is out on bail and campaigning for a Senate seat.

The Sandiganbayan sought an exemption from the SC that would allow Napoles to attend hearings after her lawyers manifested she prefers to be present.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said that normally, the rules on this issue are rigid but sometimes exemptions are made. And in this case, the court found it to be an exemption considering the sheer number of cases Napoles is facing.

"The public should be made aware that these exemptions are not tailor fit to the person. Its the particular situations and circumstances that impact on the cases that we consider when we make them exemptions," he said.

Napoles is facing several plunder and graft cases for allegedly working with lawmakers in diverting pork barrel to fake nongovernment organizations.
New Delhi, Feb 21: Terrorism and extremism are "common concerns" and Saudi Arabia will extend all cooperation to India and other neighbouring countries to deal with them, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said on Wednesday after holding "extensive and successful" talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The talks took place a day after the influential Arab leader concluded a high profile visit to Islamabad, and in the backdrop of India's escalating tension with Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed by a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber. In his media statement, Modi called the attack a "cruel symbol" of the scourge of terrorism and sought punishment for the terrorists and their backers. The crown prince did not mention the strike.

"Last week's barbaric Pulwama attack was a symbol of the shadow of the inhuman danger hovering over the world. To deal with the scourge, we have agreed that there was a need to ramp up pressure on countries extending any sort of support to terrorism," Modi said, without naming Pakistan. He said dismantling terror infrastructure, eliminating support to terrorism and punishing terrorists and their supporters are very necessary.

The two sides inked five pacts to expand cooperation in a range of areas, including trade and investment. The crown prince, in his media statement, described terrorism and extremism as common concerns and said his country will extend support to India and other neighbouring countries to deal with the challenge. "As far as terrorism and extremism are concerned -- which are common concerns --

I want to tell India that we will extend all cooperation to you -- be it intelligence sharing...not only with India but also with the neighbouring countries," he said. "We will work together so that we can ensure a bright future for the generations to come," he added. In his address, Modi also called for a strong action plan for combating extremism and so the powers spreading violence and terror cannot mislead the youth. Modi termed the talks "extensive and successful".

The crown prince arrived here on a less than 30-hour visit Tuesday night, a day after concluding his high-profile tour of Pakistan where he said dialogue was the only way to resolve "outstanding issues" between India and Pakistan. In a special gesture, Modi received Salman at the airport here, signifying the importance India attaches to the visit by the leader of the Gulf nation.

In a joint statement, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Monday called for avoiding "politicisation" of the UN listing regime, at a time India is stepping up efforts to brand the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group's chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The joint statement said the Saudi crown prince stressed that dialogue is the only way to ensure peace and stability in the region to resolve "outstanding issues" between India and Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said in Islamabad that Riyadh will try to "de-escalate" tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama attack. After he was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday, the crown prince talked about historical linkages between the two countries and stressed on expanding the ties further.

"The relationship between India and Saudi Arabia is in our DNA....Today, we want to be ensured that the relationship is maintained and improved for sake of both the countries and with the leadership of Mr President and the Prime Minister, we can create good things for both the countries," he told reporters. He also talked about the contribution of lakhs of Indians in the overall development of Saudi Arabia. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the crown prince will leave New Delhi around 11.50 pm on Wednesday.
We often hear stories of people being harassed for speaking Spanish. Just this week, a video surfaced of a customer berating the manager at a Mexican restaurant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, for speaking Spanish to the restaurants owner. You need to speak English, she yelled. Get the [expletive] out of my country. Aside from the rudeness, the customer displays an astonishing ignorance about the country she calls her own. First, the people she was insulting were American citizens, as well. Second, there have always been multiple languages spoken in this country. When our founders gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776, they were meeting in a city where one-third of the population spoke German. In 1839 there were so many German-speaking immigrants in Ohio and Pennsylvania that those states declared German an official language in schools. The 1910 census found that one-third of the population of Cleveland was unable to speak English. German-language publications persisted in the Shenandoah Valley as late as 1938. Employees at a Mexican restaurant speaking Spanish? What did you expect? All this is America. And yes, weve had socialists, too. In the 1912 presidential election, Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs polled 6 percent of the vote. Voters in New York and Wisconsin also elected Socialists to Congress in the early 1900s. The politics of todays supposed socialists may be wrong, but that doesnt make them any less American.
The dilemma for the rest of is that we cant know the truth, barring some corroborating evidence suddenly appearing. We can choose whom to believe (and too many of us will, based solely on our political persuasion), but if were honest wed have to admit: we dont and likely cant know what happened in that hotel and/or dorm room.

So I wont presume to make an assumption and will momentarily give Lt. Gov. Fairfax the benefit of the doubt. But if I could ask him any questions it would be: was it worth it? Would you do it again? Does the fleeting enjoyment of a one-night stand offset the potential problems that can arise, and often do arise, and now have arisen for you?

Call me a prudish Sunday School teacher if you want  I wont mind, because I am. But it strikes me that there was a way Mr. Fairfax could have easily avoided the trouble that would come to haunt him down the road. Lets call it zipper control.

It also strikes me that in such cases (and look how many there have been of late) that the fuel, the atmosphere in which such things occur, is a treacherous culture of sexual permissiveness, even promiscuity.

So for the sake of argument, lets imagine two worlds.
Eric Wilson noticed a new entry as he rifled through a copy of the 1947 Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide for black travelers looking for welcoming establishments during the Jim Crow era.

Listed under Natural Bridge was The Mountain View Cottage  the first time it ever appeared in the Green Book, which was published annually from 1936 to 1966. It was only listed in three editions before it disappeared again.

And so began Wilsons yearslong search for information about this forgotten cottage and the stories of black visitors and residents of Natural Bridge.

Wilson, the executive director of the Rockbridge Historical Society, gathered documents and oral histories from people who remember the tourist homes that welcomed black visitors. And he spoke with those who worked in the area, specifically at the Natural Bridge Hotel, as tourism began to increase around the iconic structure.

He will discuss some of his findings at a presentation at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Natural Bridge State Park Visitor Center.

Wilson said its the perfect timing  Black History Month will just be ending and The Green Book, named after the guidebook, was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Nobody wants this to turn into a political, partisan show, Filler-Corn said.

She also said she was wary of agreeing to the formation of the committee without more details spelled out. We asked for the specific: What are you talking about? What would this look like? How would this be done?

Cox said he was proposing a special subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee. He said he does not believe Republicans can form the panel without bipartisan cooperation. But he indicated, without elaborating, that he plans to seek another route.

Tyson accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Watson accused Fairfax of assaulting her in 2000, while they were students at Duke University. Fairfax says the encounters were consensual and has blasted the allegations as part of a smear campaign against him.

Both women went public with their accusations this month, at a moment when Fairfax appeared to be on the cusp of ascending to the governorship.
Elizabeth Johnson Rice, who is one of the Richmond 34, said Wednesday that the group welcomed Northam to the VUU event and had not been reached by student representatives before they asked Northam to reschedule. Rice wrote a letter to Northam early Wednesday objecting to the visit being canceled.

She added that the Richmond 34 are split on whether Northam should stay in office. But, she added, those she has contacted are open to public dialogue on the issue.

In my letter, I talked about having a forum in the near future so the governor and the students and the community could talk about this issue, Rice said. Hopefully that will happen also.

Northam has made few public appearances since the Feb. 1 discovery of the racist yearbook photo, which shows a man in blackface and another man in a Ku Klux Klan robe. He apologized that day, but the following day he said he believes he was not in the photo. However, on Feb. 2 he disclosed that he wore blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance contest in San Antonio in 1984.

The governor has so far rejected widespread calls to resign and has instead embarked on a tour of private visits with black leaders in the state.
She said Gastelo would have said White pulled up in another vehicle and approached their car, while Taylor came out of the nearby apartment building and joined them.

Mason said Gastelo was prepared to testify that Taylor shot him while White shot Santamarina. In the chaos that ensued, the car they were in lurched forward and crashed.

A single shot struck Santamarina in the back of the head, and the bullet came out the opposite side, Mason said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment and was found to have no brain activity. The following day, he was removed from life support and was pronounced dead soon after, she said.

Mason said that a little over an hour after the shootings, the investigation led officers to an apartment on Westover Avenue, where Taylor and White were found with several other people but were not immediately charged. Police later recovered at least two guns outside the building, including a 10 mm Glock 29, which examiners were able to connect to White and tie to Santamarinas injuries, Mason said.

Friends have said Gastelo has two children and Santamarina left behind a son. The two men shared musical aspirations, and Santamarina reportedly often traveled to Georgia to produce music.

He was very loving and fun to be around, Atlanta musician Alana Dorsey told The Roanoke Times soon after his death.

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Highlights of Picardos lengthy acting resume include major roles on ABCs The Wonder Years and China Beach and SyFys Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. He also memorably and gruesomely transformed into a werewolf in the 1981 cult horror classic The Howling.

Massachusetts-based artist Ruth Sanderson, the conventions artist guest of honor, has won multiple awards as an illustrator of more than 80 books. She has a Roanoke connection: She co-founded Hollins Universitys Master of Fine Arts program in childrens book writing and illustration and teaches there during the summers. (Full disclosure: I am also a MystiCon guest speaker.)

Nye noted with delight that the MystiCon organizers are holding a free group singalong Thursday starting at 9 p.m. at the Elephant Walk, the bar and restaurant at Holiday Inn Tanglewood. A con that has a singing social has to be special.

She first began to collaborate with McCaffrey through a project that involved creating choose your own adventure books. I was so nervous, but she was incredibly kind and encouraging, Nye wrote. Eventually she wrote or co-wrote seven books set in McCaffreys worlds.
By Rick Hood

The start of the year is an important time to contemplate healthy habits, and the easiest place to begin is with cooking and eating decisions that are good for our bodies, our souls, and our environment. This simple task should include considering where foods and ingredients are sourced. Without question, foods from local farms, not factories, are fresh, nutrient rich, and more wholesome, with the significant benefit of reducing polluting transportation costs.

Were all part of a living, larger body  our earth. We already belong to each other. We breathe the same air, drink the same water, and see the same sky. Every element of our bodies and the food we eat comes from the earth. When we take a moment to see the deeper relationship of ourselves to plants, animals, and other humans through food, the desire to be conscious of those connections will grow.

A more enriching, sustainable connection with food is envisioned by Michael Pollan, an award-winning author, naturalist, and Harvard professor: We can change the way we make and get our food so that it becomes food again  something that feeds our bodies and our souls. Imagine it: Every meal would connect us to the joy of living and the wonder of nature. Every meal would be like saying grace.
WASHINGTON

If the goal is to build a border wall, then President Trump has made the wrong decision at every turn. In early 2018, Trump had the opportunity to secure $25 billion in funding for his border wall in exchange for legal status for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. Instead of taking the deal, he blew up the negotiations with his s---hole countries remark and by demanding changes to legal immigration policy.

Then in June, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing by an overwhelming bipartisan 26-5 margin. This could easily have passed the House and Senate. Instead, Trump later shut down the government over wall funding and demanded $5.7 billion. Result? After a disastrous 35-day shutdown, he got less  $1.38 billion  than he would have if he had just gone along with the bipartisan deal six months earlier.
The General Assembly adjourns its 2019 session on Saturday. During its 46-day session, the House and Senate reviewed countless bills and resolutions. Many were passed and many others tabled for one reason or another.

One of our favorite resolutions passed earlier this week  a commendation presented to Rosemary Trible for the exceptional work she has done with her organization, Fear 2 Freedom, dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault heal.

Rosemary Trible was violently raped at gunpoint in 1975 when she was 26 and working as a talk show host for a Richmond TV station. Back then, nobody talked about rape or sexual assault. Victims were left to suffer in silence. But Trible chose not to be a nobody, believing instead that silence can be the greatest enemy of recovery. He tore my body and he stole my joy, but I got my joy back, she has said of the event, and now I want to dedicate my life to be a voice for the voiceless. She found strength, dignity, and recovery in helping others.

Her efforts began at Christopher Newport University, where her husband, Paul, serves as president. She started by quietly reaching out to students who were victims of assault.
Its hard not to be excited by the development planned for Manchester just south of the James. Even so, our enthusiasm should be kept in check by what is happening in other cities whose civic leaders, not to mention ambitious developers, are busy gentrifying once woebegone neighborhoods. Maybe we can avoid the downside of urban renewal here, and we hope so. But theres no guarantee of it, and there are probably well-informed activists who will say that in some of our neighborhoods weve already crossed that line.

Most vibrant cities have what has been called an urban glamour zone, with art galleries, high-end restaurants, wine bars, loft apartments, and open-space offices. But civic leaders are only now beginning to see some of the unfortunate consequences of what seemed, not so long ago, the path to a glorious future. Many cities have gone to great lengths to attract workers in high-tech jobs to once-deteriorating downtowns. San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle  among other cities that have gentrified to great acclaim  now find themselves plagued, City Journal reports, with social dissolution and rising homelessness. Even Richard Florida, best known as a champion of the creative class, has joined the ranks of skeptics. In his new book, he describes a situation in which the same cities that have catered to young, well-educated, and relatively affluent professionals are becoming more and more bifurcated. They are beset, Florida says, by rising inequality, deepening economic segregation, and increasingly unaffordable housing.
Nearly 17 years after the Short family was murdered, their house has burned to the ground.

The former home of Michael, Mary and Jennifer Short, at 10820 Virginia Ave. in Oak Level, was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning. The roof no longer stands; interior walls are largely gone; and the front of the house is leaning forward at an angle.

Michael and Mary Short were found in their home on Aug. 15, 2002, each with a single gunshot wound to the head. The remains of their 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, were found Sept. 25 in a ditch near Madison, N.C., also with a gunshot wound to the head. No arrests have been made in the case.

Ron Morris, the news director for radio station WZBB-FM watched the fire from the radio station, which is across the highway from the house.

It was on fire when he got to work around 5:15 a.m., he said, adding, Its totally gutted.

There was so much smoke that it also had an effect on the traffic that was coming both ways, he said. The northbound lane of the highway was closed for several hours.

Morris said he wasnt sure if anyone had been living in the house, but three or four weeks ago he had seen several places on the property where someone had set fires burning, trash and things.
Democrats are also trying to avoid the appearance of a rush to judgment that could lead to the ouster of the only African-American in statewide office as Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both white, remain in office after admitting to wearing blackface as young men.

Tyson, a California professor, has accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in a Boston hotel room in 2004. Watson has accused Fairfax of raping her while the two were students at Duke University in 2000.

Fairfax has said both encounters were consensual and has refused to resign. He has repeatedly professed his innocence, saying he was being smeared when it appeared he would ascend to the governorship given the calls for Northams resignation over the racist photo that appeared in his medical school yearbook.

Fairfax has called for the FBI to investigate. On Thursday, he reiterated his desire for a non-political investigation.

It would be extraordinary and unprecedented to initiate a General Assembly inquiry about matters that are better left to law enforcement, said Fairfax spokeswoman Lauren Burke. The lieutenant governor remains confident that the truth will prevail and that he will be exonerated.
The pro-Equal Rights Amendment protester who was being held in the Richmond jail without bond after exposing herself in a protest is being released, according to her attorney.

A magistrate set bond at $700 for Michelle Renay Sutherland, 45, of Brooklyn, N.Y., after she exposed her breast during a bit of performance art on Monday in which she and another activist mimicked the Virginia seal.

But Judge Lawrence B. Cann III on Tuesday, during a video arraignment, ordered her held without bond.

Richmond Commonwealths Attorney Michael Herring and Sutherlands lawyer, David Baugh, requested she be released on a promise to return for her March 21 court date.

The judge apologized in a court hearing on Thursday, Baugh said, saying he didnt have the back story and only had paperwork showing the charge of indecent exposure when he ordered Sutherland to be held without bond.

In a phone interview after her release, Sutherland, an artist who goes by the name Sister Leona, said her video bail hearing on Tuesday was over in a minute. The judge asked if she had an address in Virginia, and she said she didnt. A public defender then told her she was being held without bond.

I was really confused, she said.
I was just naive enough to think, Oh, I can do this, Mr. Griggs said. I look back on it and think, How did I ever decide I could do something like that?

His Sailor Bob character became much more than simply a host to introduce the next Popeye cartoon. He grew into a beloved, even iconic figure for children within reach of the Channel 12 signal. He was a familiar face for kids from the Shenandoah Valley to Southside Virginia at a time when most localities had only three television stations.

The show debuted Monday morning, Jan. 12, 1959. He got through that show, breathed a sigh of relief  and remembered he had another one to do that afternoon. For much of its run, the show was broadcast twice each weekday and performed live with no scripts. Its homespun humor and amusing spontaneity carried the day, as did Mr. Griggs genuine kindness.

Dressed in a sailors cap and denim shirt, Mr. Griggs would sit at his drawing board, his marker hovering over his sketch pad as he contemplated his next stroke. He would draw as music played or while he bantered with a puppet named Gilly Gull that poked its head through a porthole and was brought to life by the voice of Dave Davis, a station announcer. They managed to entertain their audience on different levels, leaving children laughing and parents chuckling.
Nancy Disharoon, director of Accreditation and Accountability, presented an instructional highlight that focused on school attendance and its importance, including the methods employed by the county to ensure students comply with compulsory attendance policies.

Regular and consistent attendance at school is important to achievement, Disharoon said.

Research suggests that students who attend school regularly feel more connected to the school community, develop relationships and friendships, and are more likely to graduate from high school and to succeed academically, she added.

The Commonwealths Department of Education defines excessive absenteeism as missing more than 18 days of unexcused or excused abscesses, or 10 percent of the school year.

When the number of absences reaches or exceeds this number, intervention efforts begin in the form of letters and meetings with parents and seeking resources that might address the ongoing problem.

If district efforts do not produce results, students can be taken to court for excessive absenteeism.
The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday ordered an evidentiary hearing for a man who claims he is innocent of a vicious 1997 assault in Norfolk.

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice William C. Mims, the court held that the Virginia Court of Appeals erred by not ordering a circuit court hearing to sort out the truth in a writ of actual innocence petition filed by Nathaniel Dennis, 65, convicted of beating and shooting a coworker at the Daily Press newspaper in Newport News.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and the Washington law firm of Baker Botts LLP argue that Dennis has new evidence that the crime was committed by another former newspaper employee.

The new evidence includes statements from five current or former inmates who said the other suspect  now serving life for another crime  implicated himself in the crime in statements to them as well as from a women the other suspect shot in the head in an unrelated assault.

Among other things, the Virginia attorney generals office, in defending Dennis conviction before the appeals court, reported the other suspect told a state police investigator he had nothing to do with the assault.
A tweet from Henrico police at 3:09 p.m. said officers were responding to a report of an active shooter in the 2200 block of Mountain Road, which is where The Academy at Virginia Randolph is located.

Police have since said there were no reported injuries and no confirmed reports of gunfire.

About 5:35 p.m., the police tweeted that Virginia Randolph had been given the all clear.

There are no reported injuries, and it is believed no shooting took place at the school, the tweet said. Henrico Police are beginning to demobilize and the area will subsequently reopen. This incident remains under investigation.

A police spokesman declined to further discuss the possible threat, citing an ongoing investigation.

Kelley Esposito, whose son is a senior at Virginia Randolph, nervously waited to pick him up at St. Peter Baptist Church, also on Mountain Road, where school and police officials had set up a parent reunification area on Wednesday afternoon.
He brings an extraordinary combination of skills and experience to us, Adams said.

Duncan spent two years overseeing the Detroit Housing Commissions efforts to redevelop its public housing communities through the federally funded HOPE VI program. He then started his own consulting firm and spent seven years advising housing authorities before taking the job in Illinois.

Duncan was among a half-dozen finalists for the CEO position with RRHA, Adams said last week as the housing authority announced that it planned to formalize the hire after Duncan visited Richmond and met with RRHA residents and staff, elected officials, activists and others.

Duncan is set to become the housing authoritys third CEO since 2012.

Adrienne Goolsby, who also hailed from the Chicago area, held the role from 2012 to January 2015. She resigned in what was called a mutual decision at the time.

Goolsby was succeeded by T.K. Somanath, who first accepted the job on an interim basis that same year. He held the role until January 2018, when he resigned under intense criticism stemming from RRHAs handling of a heating crisis that left residents relying on space heaters during the dead of winter.

Orlando Artze, who has headed the housing authority on an interim basis since last February, will leave the agency after helping Duncan make the transition into his new role.
It's been a year since Nick's International Foods moved from its longtime home in downtown Richmond to Westwood Ave. in Henrico County and the gourmet market is celebrating with a party on Saturday.

Nicks specializes in Greek and Mediterranean foods and sells items such as olives, olive oil, deli meat, cheese, spices, wine and beer, and pastries, but the 60-plus year old market is probably best known for its deli sandwiches.

When owner Manual Mouris (whose father, Nick Mouris, started the business in the 1950s) moved the store from 400 W. Broad St. to 2413 Westwood Ave. in January, he discontinued made-to-order deli sandwiches opting instead to offer them pre-made and grab-and-go.

The sandwiches are still made daily by Tony Wiley, chief sandwich maker, along with salads and Wiley still runs the deli counter for sliced meats and cheeses.

Nicks's one year anniversary party is Saturday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. and will include free tastings of wine, cheese, grape leaves in other Greek favorites plus a raffle for more treats.

Nick's International Food is open Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Stony Point Shopping Center in South Richmond is under new ownership.

Ziff Properties Inc., a South Carolina-based commercial real estate firm, has purchased the strip retail center, including the vacant former grocery store building, located off Huguenot Road near Forest Hill Avenue in the Bon Air community.

The shopping center is not the same as Stony Point Fashion Park mall, which is located off Chippenham Parkway.

For some time now, we have been searching for the right entry into the Richmond market. We are excited about the opportunity to work with local businesses as we continue to enhance the Stony Point Shopping Center, said Gordon Valentine Jr., Ziff Properties assistant director of acquisitions, in a statement.

The purchase price of the shopping center was not disclosed; the sale had not been recorded on the citys property records website by Thursday afternoon.

Tenants in Stony Point Shopping Center include a number of restaurants such as Southbound, small mom-and-pop businesses and some franchise locations of national chains.
ONTARIO -- Ontario City Council has authorized Mayor Randy Hutchinson to move forward with several tasks related to utilities and the cleanup of Ontario Commerce Park.

Prior to its council meeting, members of the economic development and utilities committees had a joint meeting to determine its next steps with the former General Motors (GM) property.

The city acquired the property, positioned along West Fourth Street and Stumbo Roads, last year after the former owners didn't create the 500 jobs required under their development agreement. The city was to receive $1 million held in escrow, but accepted the property in lieu of what the mayor anticipated would be a "costly and lengthy lawsuit."

Motion 1: To authorize engineering and bids for a possible waterline.

Council first authorized the mayor and service safety director Jeff Wilson to complete engineering and begin the process for bids on a possible waterline. The 12-inch line would run from the north side of Fourth Street, under the road and down the west side of Stumbo Road. Future property owners would be responsible for connecting into the line.

Hutchinson said he had a couple of estimates for water.

"To run a water line from underneath Fourth Street and come right down near the press prep building and put a fire hydrant on the north side of that drive, it'd be about $110,000," he said.

The estimated cost to run a line down Stumbo Road is more than $300,000.

Motion 2: To authorize getting quotes for the initial cleanup process.

Council also discussed how to clean up the property, weighing the benefits of hiring someone versus contracting the work.

Early estimates, the mayor said, showed the initial cleanup could cost $25,000.

"We'd spend more than $25,000 hiring somebody, and then, wear and tear on our equipment. And then you break something because you don't know what's laying around out there," said second ward councilwoman Michelle Webb. "Just hire somebody, get it done initially and then we can talk about how we want to maintain it."

The motion that came out of the discussion allows the mayor and service safety director to get quotes for the initial cleanup process, specifically for the property's perimeter.

Motion 3: To authorize engaging with engineers for bidding of "unsafe building" demolition and filling of basements.

Council determined the mayor and service safety director should connect with engineers to discuss filling the basement of the former powerhouse and demolishing an "unsafe building" at the property.

Motion 4: To authorize the planning of an auction.

Council asked Hutchinson and Wilson to move forward with an "industrial facility auction." The auction would give the city a chance to sell dozens of industrial items located at the former GM property.

Other steps moving forward.

The mayor said he'd also come back to council with sewer estimates. A portion will need to be done but there is a section that is already intact.

"(That portion of) the sewer is going to save us a fortune because it's already there. It's got to have some work done," Hutchinson said.

Council debated equipping properties with utilities.

"I just want to make sure we're not over-spending," at-large councilman Ken Earhart said.

Economic development committee leader Mark Weidemyre is optimistic.

"I think we're going to find that building brings some decent money because of the ceiling heights," Weidemyre said. "Mayor and I went over there with a realtor ... and he said, these buildings just don't exist ... We've got a gem there."

He and Hutchinson will be attending Select USA to market the Ontario Commerce Park in June.

"This gives us a lot to look at right now," Hutchinson said.
DUSHANBE -- With Islamic State (IS) fighters on the verge of defeat in their last stronghold in Syria, hundreds of foreign women and children, the family members of the militants, have ended up in refugee camps in the war-torn countrys northeast.

Among them are at least 50 Tajiks.



With debate raging in the United Kingdom and the United States about the possible return of young women who joined Islamic State and now want to come home, Tajikistan is taking a firm stance: the government believes the only way to prevent future security threats is to bring home the jihadists and their families, especially the children.



Tajikistans Foreign Ministry announced on February 12 that it will take all the necessary measures to make sure no Tajik child is left in Syria or Iraq.



We are trying to repatriate all our citizens from Syria. First of all, we want to bring back the children, Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin told reporters at a February 12 press briefing in Dushanbe.



Tajikistan has also secured a deal with Iraqi authorities to facilitate the return of more than 90 Tajik children, most of whom live with their mothers in Iraqi jails. The Tajik authorities say most of the women were taken to Syria by their husbands.

We reached an agreement with Baghdad that well pay a $400 fine per person instead of the $2,500 fine Iraq [usually] chargesfor illegally crossing their border, the minister said.

Many of the incarcerated women fled the fighting in Syria for Iraq.

The Tajik government has assigned its ambassador to Kuwait and Iraq, Zubaidullo Zubaidzoda, to organize the return of the women and children.



Zubaidzoda told RFE/RL that he has established contacts with all sides involved -- the Syrian authorities and international aid agencies, as well as the Kurdish-led forces who control some of the areas -- to discuss access to the Tajik nationals in refugee camps.



The Foreign Ministrys announcement immediately spread as the best news ever among Tajiks in a sprawling refugee camp on the outskirts of the northeastern Syrian town of Al-Hawl, says Tahmina Odinaeva, an IS widow from Tajikistan.



Odinaeva, 36, who lives in a tent with her two children, says she has written to the Tajik authorities pleading for help.

I am not here by choice. My husband deceived me. He brought us to Syria. Then he was killed."

I want to go back home, Odinaeva says, adding that she wants to be reunited with her parents and brother, whom she stays in contact with via the WhatsApp messaging service.

Odinaeva insists she made a mistake by listening to her husband who she says tricked her into coming to Syria in 2015.



She met her husband, an ethnic Uyghur from China, in a Chinese bazaar in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, where he worked. The couple went on to marry and have two children before her husband convinced Odinaeva to move abroad.



I am not here by choice. My husband deceived me. He brought us to Syria. Then he was killed, she says, speaking by phone from the refugee camp.

Odinaeva didnt give any further details.



Authorities in Dushanbe and Odinaevas family in her native town of Hamadoni in southern Tajikistan confirm her account that she left Tajikistan with her husband and children more than three years ago.



Ambassador Zubaidzoda says he is planning to meet Tajik nationals like Odinaeva, stranded in refugee camps along with their children. The diplomat already has experience in organizing the repatriation of Tajik nationals: He played a key role in bringing back six Tajik IS orphans from Iraq last year.



Zubaidzoda says there are 92 Tajik children and 43 women Tajikistan wants to bring home from Iraq. Some of the children live in refugee camps, but most are in prisons with their mothers serving jail sentences for the crime of belonging to an extremist group. Some of them have been sentenced to death.



According to Iraqi law, the repatriation of the minors requires written permission from at least one of the parents and an Iraqi court order. At the February 12 press briefing, Tajik Foreign Minister Muhriddin told reporters that the ministry believes most of the fathers have been killed.

All of the drivers that caused a small number to fight abroad -- injustice, marginalization, repression -- still exist. Young people will seek new ways to express this frustration, sometimes using violence."

The foreign minister says the biggest challenge is the refusal of some of the Tajik mothers in Iraq and Syria to send their children back to Tajikistan.



Some of them argue that they dont have any relatives in Tajikistan willing to look after their children. In a few cases, some mothers insist they don't want their children to be raised in secular Tajikistan, the Foreign Ministry said.



Tajikistans repatriation efforts come as Islamic State militants, besieged by Kurdish-led forces, are fighting to retain their last piece of territory in Syria, in and around the village of Baghuz, which is close to the border with Iraq.



The question of what to do about foreign IS fighters and their family members captured by the Kurdish-led forces has created a major headache for governments in their home countries. According to a report by the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization, more than 40,000 foreign citizens joined Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between 2013 and 2018.



U.S. President Donald Trump has urged European nations to repatriate their nationals from Syria to stand trial at home.

Different countries, fearing the potential security threats the former jihadi fighters pose, have employed different methods to deal with IS returnees, ranging from prosecution and imprisonment to rehabilitation and reintegration into society.



In the European Union, returnees face criminal investigation and sometimes prosecution. In Belgium, returning members of Islamic State can be sent to secure units for rehabilitation. And according to a European Parliament report, the French government allows its citizens to be prosecuted in France or Syria, providing they get a fair trial.



Tajikistans desire to bring its foreign citizens home has its roots in the countrys experience with civil war in the 1990s and its aftermath. Then, dozens of Tajik refugee children ended up in militant training camps in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan.



At the height of the IS successes in Syria and Iraq in 2015, Tajikistan offered an amnesty to its nationals who voluntarily returned from the conflict zone and renounced violence.



More than 100 people returned to Tajikistan, before and under the amnesty, and reintegrated into society, albeit under the watchful eyes of the authorities.



Some of them now take part in state-sponsored campaigns against extremism. Former fighters often appear on state television, giving interviews about IS atrocities they say they witnessed in Iraq and Syria.

WATCH: Extremist Ties Turn Brother Against Brother In Tajikistan (from September 2017)





Some of those who returned were convicted of being mercenaries or being involved in recruiting fighters for IS.



Not everyone, however, is happy about their return, fearing some of the returnees still hold on to their extremist ideology.



We never know for sure what was the real reason they came back. We cant be sure they really deradicalize, said a university lecturer in Dushanbe who wished to remain anonymous because he is personally familiar with some of the cases of the returnees.

Although there are no official barriers for the returnees to work or study, there is no rehabilitation process for those who spent time in IS-controlled territory.



As of yet, we have not seen any attacks by former foreign fighters in Tajikistan, but the absence of the rehabilitation programs could create problems for the family members and society more generally in the long term, says Edward Lemon, a fellow at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security in Washington, D.C.



What may be more threatening in the longer term is the fact that [Islamic State] has now dissipated and traveling to Syria is now all but impossible, [so] more Tajiks may be inspired to carry out attacks at home, Lemon says.



All of the drivers that caused a small number to fight abroad -- injustice, marginalization, repression -- still exist. Young people will seek new ways to express this frustration, sometimes using violence, Lemon told RFE/RL.



The authorities say some 1,900 Tajik nationals left for Syria and Iraq to join IS since 2014 and that nearly 500 of them are believed to have been killed. Some have returned. The fate of the rest is unknown.

Written and reported by Farangis Najibullah with additional reporting by RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondent Mumin Ahmadi
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have signed an agreement on a strategic partnership between their countries.

Turkmenistan's State Information Agency said the two leaders signed the document in Ashgabat on February 21 after discussing bilateral trade, energy, and cultural ties.

Berdymukhammedov reportedly said Turkmenistan was ready to try to help bring Taliban negotiators together with Afghan officials for peace talks.

Among other issues they discussed was the ongoing construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural-gas pipeline.

Agreements also were signed in a bid to boost cooperation in the energy and transports sectors -- including an accord on customs cooperation and construction of a railroad connecting Turkmenistan with Tajikistan via Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by TDH, Pajhwok, and Khaama Press
The United States says it will not allow a U.S.-born woman who joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria to return to the United States because she is not a citizen, an assertion her lawyer disputes.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on February 20 said the woman, Hoda Muthana, now in a refugee camp in Syria with her toddler son, has no legal claim to U.S. citizenship.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States," he said, without explaining why it was determined the 24-year-old woman did not have citizenship.

President Donald Trump said he gave orders not to allow the New Jersey-born woman to return to the United States.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!" Trump tweeted.

Her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, insisted the woman was born in the United States, had been living in Alabama, and had a valid U.S. passport before she joined IS in 2014. He claimed she had renounced the terrorist group and wanted to come home to protect her son regardless of the legal consequences.

Muthana's father was a Yemeni diplomat -- and children of diplomats are not automatically granted citizenship. Shibly said, however, that her father had stopped being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," Shibly said. "When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for."

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
The Netherlands' Foreign Ministry says Tajik authorities have confirmed that an opposition activist who resurfaced in Dushanbe last week from self-imposed exile was arrested, and that he is accused of "criminal activities."



"At this time the Dutch [Foreign Ministry] investigates whether and how it can assist [Sharofiddin] Gadoev. We are following the case closely," ministry spokeswoman Willemien Veldman said in a statement sent to RFE/RL on February 21.



A legal representative for Gadoev said earlier that authorities in the Netherlands, where the activist is said to have a residency permit, had launched an investigation into the situation after concerns were raised by Tajik opposition and rights activists about his fate.



Gadoev's mother told RFE/RL that her son had been "taken away at 8 p.m. on February 20" after spending one night at his family home, adding that she didn't know where he was.



Oishamoh Abdulloeva said Tajik authorities told her that Gadoev would be released soon. But she said she was "very concerned about" her son.

According to her, Gadoev arrived at his family home in the southern district of Farkhor on February 19, "along with several people" that Abdulloeva said she didn't know.

She said the men accompanying Gadoev stayed in her house and spent the night there, before taking him away the following evening.

Gadoev's sudden return to Dushanbe sparked conflicting information about whether Gadoev had willingly traveled to Tajikistan or was forcibly returned.

Viktoria Nadezhdina, a legal representative for Gadoev, said that the activist was detained by the authorities in Russia before he reappeared in Tajikistan's capital.

"According to an official response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sharofiddin Gadoev was arrested in the Russian Federation based on two Interpol red notices," Nadezhdina told RFE/RL on February 20.

A "red notice" is a request through Interpol for the authorities in other countries to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.

Asked whether Gadoev was extradited to Tajikistan by Russia, Nadezhdina said the ministry's response did not include further "details."

Nadezhdina said authorities in the Netherlands, where Gadoev has a residency permit, have also launched an investigation into the situation after concerns were raised by Tajik opposition and rights activists about his sudden reappearance in Dushanbe.

Abdusattor Boboev, a member of the National Alliance of Tajikistan, says the Europe-based opposition association is concerned about Gadoev's fate.

"We are worried that the government could create all kinds of problems for Sharofiddin, including eliminating him physically," Boboev said on February 21.

Tajik authorities claim Gadoev, co-founder of the opposition Group-24, returned to Tajikistan voluntarily and surrendered to police at Dushanbe International Airport on February 15.

The same day, the Interior Ministry shared a video in which Gadoev said that he had returned "willingly." In that video, Gadoev also criticized the opposition and urged other activists to do the same.

However, on February 19 the National Alliance posted a contradictory video message from Gadoev that the group says was recorded ahead of his trip to Russia.

"I am recording this video [to warn] that if I suddenly appear on Tajik television or some YouTube channel, saying that I have returned of my own accord -- you must not believe it," he said in the undated footage.

"I am not planning to go to Tajikistan willingly. Never. I'm not going to Tajikistan and surrender to [President] Emomali Rahmon's government," he said.

But Gadoev said he might be kidnapped and forced "under torture and pressure" to publicly speak against "certain movements, groups, and persons."

He noted that some other Tajik opposition figures had been killed, kidnapped, or disappeared during visits to Russia and that he might face a similar fate.

"I'm travelling to Russia on the 14th to meet with officials from the Security Council of Russia...to discuss some problems that have occurred in Tajikistan, also to discuss the situation of Tajik labor migrants," Gadoev said in the video.

Gadoev's return to Tajikistan raised suspicions among opposition activists and others, while his mother said she was unaware of her son's plans to return to his home in the southern district of Farkhor.

Pro-government media and some Facebook accounts posted photos of Gadoev meeting his mother and relatives at his home.

Others shared a video that shows Gadoev calling his mother from a mobile phone while a man in a Tajik police uniform and the Dushanbe correspondent of Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency look on.

The government of President Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has long been criticized for its crackdowns on dissent.

Tajikistan banned its longtime political rival, the Islamic Renaissance Party, in 2015 and has imprisoned dozens of opposition party officials and supporters.
The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center says the leader of anti-landfill protests in the city of Kolomna near the Russian capital is a political prisoner.

The group made the announcement in a statement posted on its website on February 21, saying that Vyacheslav Yegorov was being persecuted because of his sociopolitical positions.



Yegorov, 41, is an activist with the No Dump In Kolomna public group, which opposes the dumping of garbage from Moscow in landfills in the area of Kolomna, a historic city of some 140,000 people located about 120 kilometers southeast of the Russian capital.



Since February 2, Yegorov has been held under house arrest while facing a charge of repeatedly violating regulations on holding public gatherings and protests.

Russia's Criminal Code envisions criminal prosecution for at least three violations of the law on public gatherings in six months, a provision which Memorial said is illegal because it contradicts the constitution.



If convicted, Yegorov could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Vyacheslav Yegorov last year led several rallies protesting the environmental consequences of poorly managed landfills and household-waste disposal in Kolomna.

Similar rallies have been held in recent months in other Russian cities and towns.

The latest such rallies took place in 30 Russian regions on February 3.
SOFIA -- Emilian Gebrev, a Bulgarian businessman who fell into a coma in April 2015 with symptoms of severe poisoning, says he believes whoever was involved in the attack against him had help from inside Bulgaria.

Gebrev, a veteran of the Bulgarian arms industry, survived the poisoning, as did his son and a company executive who were treated for similar symptoms.

The case bears hallmarks of the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2018.

The British-based open-source investigation group Bellingcat said on February 14 that Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeyev, a high-ranking military intelligence officer and a graduate of Russia's Military Diplomatic Academy, arrived in Bulgaria just days before Gebrev fell ill. The investigative group says Sergeyev used an alias while in Bulgaria.

Bellingcat said Sergeyev is also suspected of being involved in the attack against the Skripals in Salisbury, having arrived in Britain two days before they were poisoned.

"External support is extremely important and powerful, but without any internal cooperation there is no way [the attack] can happen," Gebrev told RFE/RLs Bulgarian Service on February 20.

"The more I personally analyze what has happened so far, however cruel and ugly it sounds, it is the result of an extremely thoughtful, purposeful and consistent war on me, the company I lead and, analyzing the whole situation, on the companies in defense sector," Gebrev said.

An initial investigation into Gebrevs poisoning found traces of the highly toxic insecticide chlorpyrifos in his coffee and food at his home -- but no substance banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention such as Novichok.

Little else, however, was discovered and no one was punished for the attack.

The Kremlin has disputed the findings of the new Bellingcat investigation implicating it in Gebrevs poisoning.

'Close Partnership'

British and Bulgarian officials, however, said earlier in February that the case has been reopened and that the two countries have been "closely" coordinating their efforts for "several months."

"We are working in a joint team and a close partnership, and we are going to find out the facts in this case," U.K. Ambassador to Bulgaria Emma Hopkins told reporters in Sofia on February 11.

While Gebrev did not name Russia specifically as a co-conspirator in the attack against him, he told RFE/RL that reports of a Russian agent's involvement don't surprise him.

It's not even a coincidence. It's overlapping interests, which are even stronger," Gebrev said, noting that it appears to indicate Moscow was involved in some way.

The Bulgarian arms dealer also criticized local investigators in Bulgaria, noting that the case was reopened only after pressure exerted by Britain because of the possible link between the attacks in Sofia and Salisbury.

When the state wants to investigate, then it can. And when it doesn't want to, well, here it is 2019, four years later, and only now are they trying to understand what happened," Gebrev said.

Skripal and his daughter also survived after weeks in critical condition. But Dawn Sturgess, a British national who authorities said came in contact with the poison after her boyfriend found a fake perfume bottle containing it, died in July 2018.

British authorities have charged that two Russian men, identified by Bellingcat as agents of Russia's GRU intelligence services, carried out the Salisbury attack.

However, they have not identified a third suspect. Bellingcat has acknowledged that its "unclear what [Sergeyev's] role may have been, if any, in the preparation and execution of the poisoning operation."

Moscow has denied involvement in the poisoning of the Skripals using the highly toxic nerve-agent Novichok, which led to a series of sanctions against Russia by the West and tit-for-tat diplomatic actions.

Two men who British police say traveled under the aliases Ruslan Boshirov and Aleksandr Petrov and have ties to Russian military intelligence, have denied involvement. They say they are traveling vitamin salesmen who visited Salisbury to view its cathedral spire.
CHISINAU -- Two Moldovan opposition leaders have accused the authorities of poisoning them, three days before parliamentary elections.

Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase of the pro-European ACUM (Now) bloc said on February 21 that doctors had discovered heavy metals in their blood.

"Suspicions arise, and against the background of the attitude of the current government to those who they think are dangerous, this case should be taken seriously," Sandu told a press conference in Chisinau.

Nastase added that the authorities "want our deaths."

Vitalie Gamurari, a spokesman for the pro-Western, ruling Democratic Party, rejected the allegation, saying: "Strange accusations have been heard in the last few days and are becoming more and more fantastic."

Besides the Democratic Party, groups competing in the February 24 vote include the Socialists, who favor closer ties to Russia, and the ACUM bloc, which accuses Moldovas leadership of rampant corruption.

Opinion polls suggest none of them will win an outright majority.

With reporting by Reuters
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is demanding that Russia give U.S. diplomats immediate access to American investment-fund manager Michael Calvey, who was formally charged with financial fraud and is being held in a Russian pretrial detention center.

Calvey's lawyer, Dmitry Kletochkin, confirmed on February 21 that Calvey was formally charged by the Russian authorities, adding that his client maintained his innocence and had refused to answer interrogator's questions.

"My client chose not to answer questions. The charge is pretty vague and not concrete. That is why he will start answering questions [by interrogators] only after outlining defense position with his lawyers," Kletochkin said.

Calvey, a U.S. citizen who founded the Baring Vostok Capital Partners (BVCP) private equity fund in 1994, is one of the most prominent foreign investors in Russia.



BVCP said that the charges against Calvey and three other employees were connected to "a commercial conflict related to Bank Vostochny.



The investment fund "once again states that it has full confidence in the legality of its employees actions, it does not agree with the charges and that BVCP has always acted in full compliance with the law," it said in a statement.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said on February 21 that it "has not received permission from Russian authorities to visit" Calvey since his arrest on September 14.

"Russia's obligations under the Bilateral Consular Convention require them to provide consular access within four days," the U.S. Embassy statement said.

"We have requested this access multiple times. The Russian Federation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet complied with the terms of our Bilateral Consular Convention and has not allowed us to provide consular assistance. We have expressed our strong concern about this delay through diplomatic channels."

Calvey's February 14 arrest on accusations of large-scale fraud in Russia sent shock waves through Western business circles.

The 51-year-old Calvey was detained in Moscow along with three other Baring Vostok employees, including French citizen Philippe Delpal, and two other suspects. All six have since been ordered held in pretrial detention.

According to Kletochkin, all other persons arrested in the case were also formally charged with large financial fraud on February 21. All of them maintain their innocence, he said.

Russia's Association of Professional Investors issued a statement on February 21, calling on the authorities to choose a pretrial restriction other than arrest for Calvey and other suspects in the case.

And Russia's sovereign wealth fund on February 21 said that its head, Kirill Dmitriev, had appealed to a Moscow court and the Investigative Committee to move Calvey, Delpal, and two Russian suspects in the case to house arrest.

Media reports in Russia said on February 21 that business ombudsman Boris Titov had sent a request to Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika urging him to assess the legality of Calvey's arrest.

If convicted Calvey could face up to 10 years in a Russian prison.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address on February 20 that "honest businesses" should not live in fear of prosecution. It was not immediately clear whether he was referring to Calvey's case.

Baring Vostok is one of the largest private-equity firms in the former Soviet Union, according to its website. It manages more than $3.7 billion in assets, 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 the investment bank Salomon Brothers. He is a member of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

Amid severely strained ties between Moscow and Washington, Calvey is the second U.S. citizen to be arrested in a high-profile case in Russia in as many months.

Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine who says he is innocent and was in Moscow for a friend's wedding, was detained in late December on an espionage charge and is in pretrial detention.

Russian officials have denied that the countrys troubled relations with the United States influenced the arrests.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax
Iran will hold a three-day navy drill in and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz this weekend, according to state media.



Officials were quoted as saying that the annual exercise, which will start on February 22, will extend as far as the Sea of Oman and the fringes of the Indian Ocean.



Iran regularly holds maneuvers in the strait, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.



Navy commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi told state television that submarines, warships, helicopters, and surveillance planes will participate in the drills.



The exercise, dubbed as Velayat-97, will include missile launches from the vessels, he added.



The exercise aims to evaluate the navy's equipment, practice launching weapons and "enable the troops to gain readiness for a real battle," the semiofficial Tasnim news agency cited the rear admiral as saying.



"The maneuver should prepare us for an emergency," Khazandi added.



The military exercises come at a time of heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, which last May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed tough sanctions on the Iranian economy.



Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the United States decides to block oil exports as part of its sanctions.



Iran is a major exporter of oil and a member of the OPEC oil cartel.



The United States has dismissed the threat, saying Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz.

Based on reporting by Tasnim, dpa, AFP, and AP
Each year, Atanas Zachariev leaves Budapest to visit family and friends in his native Bulgaria.

Each year, the situation in that Balkan country for Roma like himself, he says, gets worse.

So a perceived rise in racist hate speech from Bulgarian government officials including Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Krasimir Karakachanov, whose controversial proposals for what he has described elsewhere as "dealing with the Gypsy question" include "training centers" and free abortions for Romany women, doesn't surprise the advocacy officer at the European Roma Rights Center.

Zachariev and other rights activists are expressing "grave concern" about what they say is the targeting of the Roma by officials, especially Karakachanov's right-wing alliance of United Patriots, as "part of a strategy of distraction" and a way to deflect attention from corruption scandals in Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007 and is its poorest member.

"It is utterly outrageous but not surprising. Bulgaria slowly, but surely, is turning into a fascist state where pseudo-patriots and populists such as Karakachanov are gaining more and more power," Zachariev tells RFE/RL.

"If such documents are not publicly denounced by [Prime Minister Boyko] Borisov's cabinet, which has been silent so far, there is a danger of once again sending the wrong message to Bulgarian society. Silence means agreement and allows racism and fascism to proliferate. Borisov's cabinet is even more to blame, because it allows far-right politicians to push their agenda."

'Dog Whistle' Distraction

Bulgaria has one of the bloc's largest Romany populations, composing about 5 percent of the country's 7.3 million people, though experts say the number is likely double that due to underreporting.

Many of them live on the fringes of Bulgarian society, struggling for work or housing opportunities that much of the population takes for granted.

This, rights groups say, makes Roma ripe for targeting by the broader public in general, and extremist politicians in particular.

Karakachanov is one such politician, argues Krassimir Kanev, chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, which recently expressed "grave concern" about what it says is a rise in cases of racist hate speech from government officials and frequent "collective punishments" for Romany communities.

A force in Bulgarian politics, Karakachanov heads the nationalist VRMO party, a member of Borisov's governing coalition.

But the party's fortunes have been waning over the past year, after a whistle-blower produced a raft of documents that implicate Karakachanov and others in the illegal sale of Bulgarian passports to foreigners.

While the minister has not been charged, the scandal increased pressure on the government to ramp up its battle against graft, which the EU has said it is still monitoring more than a decade after the country joined the bloc.

Kanev sees the "concept note" as a dog whistle "to attract the racist vote" for Karakachanov's party in upcoming European Parliament and municipal elections.

"This [proposal] looks somewhat harmless, and we may look at it as mere propaganda. But these people often mean what they say," Kanev tells RFE/RL.

'Unfairly Targeted'

"Such proposals, when they become the subject of a public debate, are also extremely insulting for Roma. They also serve as justifications for some repulsive practices going on against Roma at present, such as their collective expulsion from their homes."

Forced evictions of Roma have long been a topic of debate in Bulgaria.

Illegal housing is rampant there, but critics say Roma are unfairly targeted once eviction orders are handed down.

The Equal Opportunities Initiative Association, a Roma development and rights group, says that from 2012 to 2016, in nearly two-thirds of municipalities, 399 out of 444 housing-demolition orders took aim at Romany families.

Part of Karakachanov's proposal from earlier this month, called a Concept For The Integration Of The Unsocialized Gypsy (Roma) Ethnicity, lays out measures to reverse what he describes as the "privileged status" of Roma in Bulgaria. It sets out a number of disqualifying factors with respect to social benefits and specific ways to combat childbirth among Romany women with more than two children. It also calls for the destruction of unauthorized Romany dwellings and the total elimination of makeshift ghettos by municipal authorities.

The plan does suggest providing Roma with the opportunity to buy the land on which they live, but many say that's virtually impossible given such families' lack of funds and access to financing.

Tip Of The Discrimination Iceberg

Asparuh Angelov, a member of the Romany community in the city of Sliven, about 300 kilometers east of Sofia, has seen his share of discrimination against Roma.

Sliven has one of the largest Romany populations of any municipality in Bulgaria. About 20 percent of the 125,000 inhabitants are Roma, many in the Nadezdha neighborhood, known for its poverty and squalor.

Locals call rats "pis pis" (kitty, kitty) in reference to the rodents' size.

Angelov says that Karakachanov plays on broad stereotypes instead of facts as he tries to foment anti-Roma sentiment. "His politics is to talk only about 'Gypsies' -- how bad they are, how they don't work, how they just get social benefits," he says, noting that in his neighborhood Romany unemployment is no different from the national jobless rate.

For Zachariev, Karakchanov is just the tip of the discrimination iceberg. He says fear within the Romany community is mounting as members face hostility in their everyday lives and are denied basic services and receive below-standard medical care and education opportunities.

Zachariev points to his own family's struggles even though they are educated and productive members of the community.

He says his sister was attacked by a Bulgarian woman while trying to purchase something from her. Police refused to investigate the case, he says, and a doctor denied her a medical certificate documenting the injuries she suffered.

"The proposal tests the environment for another set of anti-Roma measures in the future and is being used as the next strategic move from the side of Karakachanov to cover up for corruption scandals and once again gain popularity," Zachariev says.

"Racism and hatred against a minority continue to gain popularity and power. This is a general trend for the European countries."
Flash floods and heavy winter rains have killed at least 26 people in Pakistan's southwest and central regions, officials said on February 21.



The National Disaster Management Authority said 14 people were killed and 200 families were affected by flash floods that submerged villages near the southwestern town of Lasbella.





In central Pakistan, nine people were killed in three separate incidents of roofs collapsing during heavy rains, four of them in the city of Multan.



Emergency teams are working to rescue people from flooded parts of Lasbella in Baluchistan Province, said Imran Zarqoon, a spokesman for the provincial disaster authority.



Heavy seasonal rains often cause landslides and flash floods in Pakistan.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawn.com
In a first move to choose the head of a future European public prosecutor's office for financial crimes, ambassadors of 22 EU states have held a secret ballot that was reportedly won by French candidate Jean-Francois Bohnert, followed by former Romanian anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Koevesi, and Germany's Andres Ritter.

The ballots cast by the 22 countries that chose to join the upcoming anticorruption structure was secret, but according to diplomats speaking to Politico.eu under the condition of anonymity, Bohnert got 50 points, while Koevesi and Ritter got 29 points each.

The vote was an "indicative" one, according to the diplomats, and marked the beginning of a complicated process of selection. The candidates were chosen based on an initial February 14 recommendation by a selection panel, which placed Koevesi as the front-runner due to outstanding achievements both as a leader and as a manager of Romania's National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA).

Koevesi was dismissed by the government last year in what critics say was a move to prevent the DNA from convicting senior members of the governing alliance.

Koevesi has been widely praised by the EU for her results in fighting graft in one of the bloc's most corrupt countries.

The February 20 vote could be followed by other "indicative" votes before negotiations will start in several EU committees ahead of a final vote in the European Parliament.

The move came amid an escalating dispute between the European Union and Romania, with the bloc asking Bucharest for clarification after the government imposed measures that critics say will exert more political control over the judiciary.

Romania, which currently holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency, needs to "very urgently put the reform process back on track" and abstain "from steps which reverse progress" in fighting corruption, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said on February 20.

The bloc was "following with great concern the latest developments concerning the rule of law in Romania," Schinas added.

Written by Eugen Tomiuc, with reporting by Politico.eu, G4media.ro, and Digi24live.ro
Afghan Taliban leaders said on February 21 that their new political chief will not attend peace talks with U.S. envoys that are due to place in Qatar next week.

U.S. officials want to meet with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, hoping the Taliban's co-founder and military veteran will add momentum and have the clout to discuss issues that have made it difficult to broker a peace deal with Afghanistans government.

But senior Taliban leaders said Baradar would not be travelling to Qatar because he has had difficulties obtaining travel documents.

They said there are also differences among the Taliban leadership over the precise role that Baradar should have in the talks.

Baradar was released from a Pakistani jail in October. His appointment was widely seen as marking a new push by the Taliban to achieve political and diplomatic legitimacy.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Afghan Service and Reuters
Ye Ye Soe, an 18-year-old resident of Min Bu village, was killed amid a clash between government soldiers and Arakan Army forces in Rathedaung township, western Myanmars Rakhine state, Feb. 20, 2019.

UPDATED at 2:05 P.M. EST on 2019-02-22

A young woman was shot dead Wednesday morning amid fighting between Myanmar soldiers and the rebel Arakan Army in Rakhines states Rathedaung township, residents of Min Bu village said.

Ye Ye Soe, 18, tried to run for cover along with her family members when the shooting began, but was hit in the face by gunfire from government forces, they said, adding that the Myanmar Army used helicopters during the fighting.

During the armed conflict near the village, residents said that government troops fired guns and other artillery into the community and afterwards ordered them to gather inside a local school and a monastery for an inspection.

Villagers later told RFA's Myanmar Service that there was no fighting in Min Bu village, but Myanmar Army soldiers responded to a land mine explosion by firing into the village.

"Government soldiers opened fired every direction as they were deployed all around the village," Min Bu Village head Saw Hla Tun told RFA.

The villagers were able to return to the scene of the shooting until about 3 p.m. local time to check Ye Ye Soes body.

One villager, who declined to give his name, told RFA that when the residents reported the girls death to the military commander of the battalion conducting the inspection, officials rejected that she had been killed by their gunfire.

Arakan Army (AA) spokesperson Khine Thukha confirmed the exchange of gunfire between its troops and government soldiers between Min Bu and Naw Wai villages in northern Rakhine State, which it said resulted in the deaths of more than 20 Myanmar Army fighters.

Villagers said government troops entered Min Bu village at about 6:30 p.m. local time and apprehended six villagers  Than Pae, Wai Soe Htun, San Linn, Tun Myat, Than Chae, and village head Hla Soe Htun  and took them away as they left the community.

RFA was unable to reach Colonel Win Zaw Oo from the government army's Western Military Command, which oversees operations in Rakhine state, for comment.

Ye Ye Soes death is the second reported civilian fatality, following that of seven-year-old boy Naing Soe, who suffered a shrapnel wound to the head after an attack on his village by government troops in late January and died two days later.

'Civilians must never be targeted'

Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, retweeted photos of the dead woman and wrote, Civilians must never be targeted! Heartfelt sorrow for the families of the victims.

Lee has been a vocal critic of the fighting in Rakhine state, urging both sides to take precautions to ensure the safety of civilians, thousands of whom have been driven from their homes by the hostilities since late last November.

Clashes between the Myanmar Army and the AA intensified early this year after Arakan fighters carried out coordinated attacks on four police outposts near Myanmars border with Bangladesh, killing 13 policemen and injuring nine others.

In response, the government military deployed a large number of troops to the region with villagers and others reporting the use of heavy weapons, artillery, and helicopters in civilian areas.

The military and state government has also block humanitarian aid from reaching civilians affected by the armed conflict.

In January, Rakhine state government instructed United Nations and international humanitarian agencies other than the World Food Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to suspend their activities in Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Maungdaw townships  the five areas in northern Rakhine where fighting has occurred.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Brigadier General Maung Maung, leader of a group of military lawmakers in Myanmar's parliament, attends a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw in an undated photo.

Lawmakers from Myanmars main opposition party and the military on Thursday said they submitted a list of nominees to be included on a new joint committee focusing on constitutional reform, despite their ongoing opposition to the panel which they claim has not been formed according to relevant laws and procedures.

The bloc of appointed military legislators, who hold 25 percent of the seats in parliament, put forward eight representatives for the 45-member committee, while the military-backed opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which holds five percent of assembly seats, submitted two.

The committee is tasked with drafting a bill to amend the army-drafted 2008 constitution that the current government views as undemocratic and not conducive to the development of a democratic federal union.

Parliament approved a motion on Tuesday to include 45 lawmakers on the panel, including 18 from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, eight military MPs, two legislators each from the USDP, Arakan National Party (ANP), and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and 13 legislators from other parties.

At the time, USDP and the military MPs refused to submit nominees for the joint committee, arguing that the panel's formation was not in accordance with the constitution, and that the house speaker ignored lawmakers suggestions during meetings to discuss the committee. They also complained that only a small percentage of military lawmakers would be included on the panel.

Brigadier General Maung Maung, the leader of the military MP bloc, said army legislators will abide by parliaments decision, but added a caveat.

[We] will oppose any discussion on amending the constitution that could harm the interest of the nation and all the people, including ethnics, he said.

We, the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] representatives, will support it if [the committees plan] doesnt go against the interest of the nation and all people, including ethnic [minorities], and that everyone agrees, he said, adding that the bloc has yet to study the details about the panel and its work.

Lower house lawmaker Thaung Aye from the USDP said his party must adhere to parliament's decision to create the committee.

A list of the names have been sent, he said. As parliamentarians, we have to follow the parliaments instructions and orders. We cant say that we dont like this party or that person. Parliaments instructions and orders are legally binding. We have to abide by them, so we sent the names and will join the meetings.

The USDPs two initial nominees were invited to join the committees first meeting on Wednesday, but then they were rejected, and the party put forward two others, he said.

We welcome them

Committee secretary Myat Nyarna Soe said he welcomed the moves by the military and the USDP.

Weve already said that we would welcome them, and we always will welcome them, he said. So its really appreciated that they are joining.

The committee will hold a second meeting on Feb. 25 and begin talks on possible amendments to the controversial constitution that enshrines the political power of Myanmars military.

The panel is scheduled to submit a bill to parliament by July 17.

Besides allocating officers an automatic quarter of the seats in the national and regional parliaments, the charter gives them a crucial veto over proposed constitutional changes and control of three security and defense ministries.

Before the civilian NLD-led government came to power in 2016, it promised to change certain sections of the constitution that it viewed as undemocratic, but later backed down to avoid antagonizing the military with which it must share power.

MDCF protests against charter

Also on Thursday, some 50 activists from the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF) staged a protest outside a courthouse in Yangons Yankin township, calling for the abolishment of the constitution and the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe.

During the demonstration, police detained leading activist Kyaw Zin Latt for questioning, members of the group said.

The MDCF staged the rally because it claims that the referendum on the current constitution in 2008 was fraudulent, with more than 6 million bogus ballots cast under the names of dead voters, many of whom perished during Cyclone Nargis that year.

The group also claims that Kyaw Swe violated the Police Disciplinary Act, though it did not elaborate.

Kyaw Swe, who has served as home affairs minister since 2016, was previously commander of the Myanmar militarys Southwestern Regional Command in Pathein in Ayeyarwady region.

Though the MDCF sought permission from Yankin Township Police to hold the protest outside the courthouse, they were told they could stage it in a park in Yangons Tamwe township.

The group, however, held the protest outside the courthouse where detained MDCF leader Htin Kyaw, who was arrested in August 2018 on charges of incitement under Section 505 of the Penal Code, appeared for his hearing.

The well-known human rights activist has been repeatedly arrested and jailed for peaceful political activities.

Reported by Win Ko Ko Latt and Thant Zin Oo. Translated by Nandar Chann. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Banana farms like this one in Oudomxay province are known to pollute rivers.

Lawmakers in Laos are urging the government to be stricter on foreign business entities in the country in an effort to protect the environment and protect the livelihood of the people.

Khamsaphone Xayavong, a member of parliament from Oumxay district, Oudomxay province in northern Laos, called for extra scrutiny on foreign companies at a provincial assembly conference last week.

He cited several cases in which foreign-owned businesses have polluted or engaged in unfair business practices.

These include Chinese banana plantations and factories that have polluted streams and rivers in northern provinces, Chinese companies which did not pay for products ordered from Laotian farmers, pig farms that violated contracts, failing to pay workers on time or failing to pick up the pigs that were ready to be sold.

Nith Phothivanh, a law maker from La district in Oudomxay, said that Chinese investors did not pay for beans that they ordered from 100 local farming families in his district.

Xayavong indicated that the government should not so readily give concessions to investors.

Investment from foreign companies in either banana farming, mineral exploration or infrastructure building has negatively affected the livelihood of the people by polluting streams and rivers, he said.

[These companies] do not deserve concessions, he said, adding, The provincial governments should be stricter in the future.

Xayavong put special emphasis on banana plantations, as bananas are farmed heavily in 14 of Laos 17 provinces, including the six northern ones. Other crops such as sugarcane, melon, cabbage and lettuce are also widely farmed, and sources say they all use polluting chemicals.

In May, Lao authorities granted special concessions to a Vietnamese company growing bananas in Laos Savannakhet province. The farm is said to use polluting chemicals and government assurances of protection from chemical pollution at plantations in the south are widely doubted, sources say.



Illnesses and deaths have long been reported among Lao workers exposed to chemicals on foreign-owned farms, with many suffering open sores, headaches, and dizzy spells, sources told RFA in earlier reports.



Chemical run-off from farms has also polluted many of the countrys water sources, killing fish and other animals and leaving water from local rivers and streams unfit to drink, sources say.

Chemicals released into a river by a Chinese-owned banana farm near the Lao capital Vientiane killed over 300 kg of fish in November, prompting warnings by authorities to local villagers not to bathe or fish in the polluted stream, sources say.

The Chinese Sun Paper Company polluted rivers in Sepon district, Savannakhet province and sources say that there has been little to no improvement in the area since.

Xayavong urged the Oudamxay provincial government to set strict rules and regulations for new investors before giving concessions.

He proposed that business entities perform impact studies before they can be allowed to develop the land for economic use.

He said that in the past there had been six Chinese companies given concessions to plant bananas in many thousand hectares of the province, mostly in Hune district.

Those companies were not required to undergo any inspections or impact studies. As a result of their economic activities, the local environment was severely damaged due to the heavy use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

There are total of 36 of foreign-invested projects in Oudomxay province, with 29 projects by Chinese companies, four from Malaysia, two from Vietnam and one from South Korea.

Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya, Written in English by Eugene Whong.
US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, June 12, 2018.

The North Korean government has ordered staff in its overseas missions to be prepared to operate under an emergency duty system ahead of the second U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled for Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The emergency duty period started Feb. 19 and will last for ten days, according to sources. During the ten-day period, embassy and consulate staff will keep tabs on North Korean citizens abroad and report on reactions in the local media with the aim of ensuring the summit goes smoothly.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pyongyang gave special orders to consulates and embassies, a North Korean trade worker in China told RFAs Korean Service this week.

[They have to] report any reaction or response from [people] in the countries they are in related to the second U.S.-North Korea summit, the source said.

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital next week, for their second summit in an effort to address a nuclear arms dispute that has kept the Korean War foes at odds for the last 25 years.

In the face of criticism that Trump gave Kim too much simply by meeting with him in Singapore last year, U.S. officials say Washington remains focused on getting the North Korean leader to denuclearize.

"I don't know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearize, but the reason why we're engaged in this is because we believe there is a possibility," Reuters news agency quoted a U.S. official as saying Thursday.

It is ultimately about the denuclearization of North Korea. That was what was agreed between the two sides and that is the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit. This is an important step towards that ultimate goal," the official said.

North Korea is keen to get relief from economic sanctions imposed by Washington, the United Nations and other countries over its nuclear and missile programs, but Washington says U.S. sanctions would remain in place until there is movement on denuclearization.

RFAs source said the emergency order also meant that diplomatic staff and their families are under close watch, said the source, who added that similar steps were taken before the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore last June.

Overseas trade workers also need to operate under [this system], said the source, adding, The consulate gathered representatives of trade workers and resident communities to report the movements of all trade workers beginning today.

They say that if anyone travels without permission from the trade representatives, they will be punished as if they were threatening Kim Jong Un himself."

In Beijing, there are a number of long-term trade workers who have been actively engaged in enterprises in Southeast Asia, especially in Taiwan, Hongkong, Cambodia and Vietnam, said the source, adding, They are also on the watch list [this time] so they cant really move around [the region].

The State Security department is especially keeping a close watch on them, the source said.

Trade workers are not happy with the order because [it is as if] suspicion is falling upon them even though theyve been loyal to the Workers Party and earning foreign cash [for the country], said the source.

But they cant really express how they feel. If they say something unpleasant and any incident happens in any of the countries neighboring Vietnam during the summit, theres no way theyll avoid being charged with treason.

In the second summit between North Korea and the United States, both countries will try to build on the agreement made after the first summit held last June, to continue toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The Kim regime has claimed that several testing sites have been destroyed but international inspectors have not been invited to verify this claim.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in January admitted that the administration was still awaiting concrete steps by North Korea to scrap its nuclear arsenal.

Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Exiled activists from the China Democracy Party stage a protest over Beijing's rights record outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2019.

China's human rights activists continue to speak out on behalf of victims of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's abuses of power, despite the threat of arbitrary detention, torture, and forced 'disappearance,' an overseas rights group said on Thursday.

"2018 was another year of harsh reprisals against human rights defenders by Chinese authorities for their peaceful exercise of and advocacy for human rights," the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network, which compiles reports from groups inside China, said in its annual report.

"Types of retaliation included the use of torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention," the report said, adding that the government had also threatened activists who tried to cooperate with United Nations human rights experts.

Anyone who tried to speak out for marginalized and persecuted communities, report violations, or complain about the perpetrators of rights violations "bore the brunt of government retaliation" last year, the report said.

The group called on China to release all ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims subjected to mass arbitrary detention in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

"End arbitrary detention of ethnic Uyghurs and Turkic Muslims in the [XUAR], and shut down internment camps and other indoctrination programs established under 'counter-terrorism' and 'counter-extremism' policies," the report said in its recommendations section.

Sprawling camp system

Though Beijing initially denied the existence of re-education camps, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the XUAR, told Chinas official Xinhua news agency in October 2018 that the facilities are an effective tool to protect the country from terrorism and provide vocational training for Uyghurs.



Reporting by RFAs Uyghur Service and other media organizations, however, has shown that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities.

Adrian Zenz, a lecturer in social research methods at the Germany-based European School of Culture and Theology, has said that some 1.1 million people are or have been detained in the campsequating to 10 to 11 percent of the adult Muslim population of the XUAR.



In November 2018, Scott Busby, the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, said there are "at least 800,000 and possibly up to a couple of million" Uyghurs and others detained at re-education camps in the XUAR without charges, citing U.S. intelligence assessments.



Citing credible reports, U.S. lawmakers Marco Rubio and Chris Smith, who head the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, recently called the situation in the XUAR "the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today."

The CHRD report also called for the release of all detained and imprisoned rights activists and human rights lawyers, and for those who mistreated or tortured them to be held criminally responsible.

"CHRD urges the Chinese government ... to provide detainees and prisoners prompt access to proper medical treatment ... and end the practice of enforced disappearance," it said.

The report also said that wholesale violations of basic human rights had reached unprecedented levels under the administration of President Xi Jinping.

Draconian, invasive under Xi

"Under Xi, Chinas authoritarian one-party political system has become the most draconian and invasive since the 1980s," CHRD said in the report.

"The system denies Chinese citizens their human rights to democratic participation, freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and freedom of religion, and it punishes them for promoting and exercising these rights," it said.

The government has also targeted anyone who complains about abuses of power, and its failure to protect its people's economic, cultural and social rights under international conventions, it said.

The report came as police in the eastern province of Jiangsu detained Twitter user Liu Hongbo and forced him to write and sign a self-criticism statement after he retweeted a number of tweets from the account of exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Kwok.

Liu told RFA on Thursday that he was questioned by police in Yangzhou city last August and questioned about the tweets, which he was told amounted to a crime.

"I forwarded Guo Wengui's tweets. Many other internet users forwarded them too. I read them, and I liked them," he said. "I didn't write them myself."

"The police ... said that it is a crime," Liu said. "I didn't know how to write a statement of remorse, so they showed me. We don't seem to have any human rights in this country."

On Tuesday, exiled activists from the China Democracy Party (CDP), which is banned in China, staged a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Washington over Beijing's rights record.

"We went to the Chinese embassy to protest, and we laid wreaths outside for all the victims of communism [in China] and all of the persecuted Chinese citizens over the past 70 years," veteran dissident Wang Juntao told RFA.

Reported by Tam Siu-yin for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Shi Shan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has hit out at the censorship of a film segment he directed from a compilation film titled "Berlin, I Love You," saying it was likely the result of self-censorship on the part of Western organizations, rather than direct pressure from Beijing.



Ai was invited to direct the first episode of several that would go to make the feature-length film in 2015, which is part of the "Cities of Love" series, he said via his Instagram account.



"At this time, I was living under soft detention in Beijing and unable to leave China," he wrote. "I remotely directed the episode from my studio in Beijing, watching through the computer screen as my son rode his bicycle along the Berlin Wall Memorial."



But while Ai's contribution was used to promote the film, he didn't discover it had been cut until the film was released in the U.S. on Feb. 8, he said.



"It was infuriating to find our involvement had been erased, especially since we had not received any prior notice from the production team," Ai said in a statement.



"The reason we were given for the episode's removal was that my political status had made it difficult for the production team to secure further funding," he said.



"We discovered that one of the executive producers of the film is also producing a Shanghai installment of the series."



When contacted by RFA for comment, Ai said that the producers had come under "various kinds of pressure" to remove his contribution to the film.



"They were told my segment couldn't be in it, or else it would have a negative impact on the distribution of the film, and that most investors ... wouldn't want to fund it," he said.



"I believe their explanation ... and they were told in no uncertain terms by the [Berlin Film Festival] that it was to do with my contribution," Ai said.



Ai said his involvement in the production "sent out a signal" that the producers and festival organizers feared would anger the Chinese Communist Party.



"Most of this censorship actually originated with Western organizations," he said. "They are engaged in self-censorship so as to comply with China's censorship regime."



"This is internalized political pressure, not necessarily something that the Chinese government has told them directly," Ai said. "But they are adamant about it because of problems they have encountered in the past."



Withdrawals and deletions are common

Ai cited the example of "One Second," by acclaimed director Zhang Yimou, who withdrew his entry to the festival for "technical" reasons, amid an ever-tightening climate of censorship under the administration of President Xi Jinping.



Commentators said Zhang's move was also likely an example of self-censorship.



Requests for comment made to the Berlin Film Festival offices on met with no reply at the time of writing.



Beijing-based artist Hua Yong said such withdrawals and deletions are extremely common in the Chinese film industry and artistic community.



"Chinese intellectuals can't even speak out or publish things online, let alone in exhibitions," Hua said. "As for what happened with Ai Weiwei, I can only make a guess, which is that there was something about it that couldn't be laid on the table."



Ye Yaoyuan, assistant professor at the Center for International Studies at Texas' University of St. Thomas said that both political and commercial interests were likely involved in the decision.



"The Chinese Communist Party's role behind-the-scenes resulted in them removing -- and silencing -- something that should have been screened," Ye said. "The cutting of his section was the result of political intervention, and we don't know what other commercial interests were operating behind the scenes."



Suspicions were raised when Zhang Yimou withdrew his film that festival sponsor Audi, which has a strong foothold in China, may have influenced the move.



Ye said the organizers were in a difficult position.



"It doesn't look good if they insist [on the screening], nor does it look good if they make concessions," he said. "The person who holds the purse-strings is boss, so of course they're going to listen to the sponsors."



Last October, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said in a report that China's Communist Party is using multiple methods to "export its authoritarianism."



Chinese practices included interference in multilateral institutions; threatening and intimidating rights defenders and their families; imposing censorship mechanisms on foreign publishers and social media companies, it said.



Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Jia Ao for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A group of forestry activists accompanied by monks held a Buddhist ceremony in hopes of protecting Prey Lang forest in Cambodias central plains. The forest has been ravaged by deforestation caused by illegal logging, with much of the illicit timber smuggled outside the country.

During the ceremony monks and activists wrapped Buddhist yellow clothes around trees under the belief that the loggers, who may themselves be Buddhists, would think twice about cutting down trees in traditional garb.

Participants in the ceremony told RFAs Khmer Service that they saw many large trees had been cut down.

One monk, the Venerable Oun Long, led a group of villagers to patrol the area and clothe the trees last weekend. He said the group confiscated abandoned wood and chainsaws. They also detained loggers they found on patrol. He said the group clothed at least 40 trees.

He said he hoped that this ceremony would encourage youth to get more involved in the fight for the forest, noting that many of the activists that attended the ceremony were quite young.

Youth have sacrificed their time and energy to protect the trees. In the future they will invite their friends [to do the same,] he said.

But he acknowledged that one ceremony is not enough to deter the loggers.

After the ceremony, forest crime will still continue, said the Venerable Oun Long.

He said the detained loggers were set free after being advised not to further engage in illegal logging.

Another activist said the Buddhist ceremony is aimed at praying for the forests existence in the future, so that indigenous identity can be preserved.

Srey Thei, a representative from the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN), a grassroots movement working to preserve the forest, said that illegal logging is difficult to combat because loggers operate late night and they also have homemade weapons.

She added that the authorities dont cooperate with activists in their efforts to stop illegal logging.

We are still concerned because we cant patrol the entire forest, she said.

According to a recent report, the 36,000 hectare forest is now 40 percent smaller than it once was.

Cambodia has long endured the rampant smuggling of logs and timberoften with the complicity of local authoritiesto neighbors such as China and Vietnam, where the wood is used to make high-end furniture.

In May last year, a report by the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said that around 300,000 cubic meters (10,594,400 cubic feet) of timberincluding endangered rosewoodhad been smuggled out of protected areas in Cambodia to Vietnam with the help of local authorities through some U.S. $13 million paid in bribes between November 2016 and March 2017.

According to the NASA Earth Observatory website, between 2001 and 2014 Cambodia lost a total of 1.44 million hectares (5,560 square miles) of forestone of the worlds fastest rates of deforestation.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Barefoot and in pajamas, Milan Jovanovic watched flames engulf his Belgrade house after a Molotov cocktail crashed through a window in an attack before dawn.

He and his wife survived only because she smelled the smoke. "They nearly burned us alive," said Jovanovic, a 68-year-old investigative journalist who writes about government corruption.

Jovanovic is the latest journalist in Serbia to come under attack in what opponents of President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling party say is an increasingly hostile environment for media. His is a country with aspirations to join the European Union in the next decade.

The Balkan state has joined an unbroken strip of countries in eastern Europe stretching from the Baltic to the Adriatic Sea where populist parties have taken over state media and denounced critics as spreading lies.

Physical attacks, harassment by police and politicians and even the murder of a reporter have drawn condemnation across former communist Europe and are threatening to unravel decades of progress building the rule of law.

Attacks against Serbian journalists rose to 102 last year, the most since 2008, including seven physical assaults, according to a database compiled by the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists. There were 72 instances of "pressure," which includes harassment by name by politicians and state-backed media.

Many place the guilt with Vucic, who was the minister of information for the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the war with Kosovo in the late 1990s. The government, led by his Serbian Progressive Party, has pulled advertisement funding from state-owned companies in opposition-linked publications. He and his allies have also frequently used their public positions to denounce media figures.

That contributed to Serbia falling 10 spots in the World Press Freedom Index last year, to 76th out of 180 countries, its worst ranking since 2013. Reporters Without Borders describes the country as a place "where it is unsafe to be a journalist."

And while Vucic has pledged to clinch Serbia's entry into the EU sometime next decade, Reporters Without Borders says it "utterly fails to meet EU press freedom standards."

"Attacks on journalists in the last period are getting more diverse," Pauline Ades-Mevel, head of the EU and Balkan desk at Reporters Without Borders, said in an email. "We have noted not only physical attacks, but also death threats against journalists on social media, as well as smear campaigns against prominent independent journalists in tabloids."

Democracy watchdog Freedom House knocked Serbia's 2018 classification from "free" to "partly free," noting "the massive centralization of power in the hands of one person, President Aleksandar Vucic." Premier Ana Brnabic called the criticism "insufficiently objective."

"I absolutely do not think and do not feel that I live in a partly free country, but rather that I live in a country which is freer than it was a few years ago," she said.

Serbia's case highlights a growing worry around press freedom in the region.

In Slovakia, protests toppled former Prime Minister Robert Fico after the execution-style murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend last year. In Hungary, allies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban have created the biggest state-allied propaganda machine in Europe. And Poland's nationalist government is on a self-proclaimed mission to return media assets into the hands of Polish investors.

There is growing scrutiny on Serbia to ensure the safety of its journalists. In Jovanovic's case, police found the perpetrators within a week, including a nightclub entertainer who confessed driving the attacker that threw the firebomb.

At first they punished just one with a 50,000 dinar ($482) fine and house arrest.

But, following weeks of anti-government rallies demanding full investigation, authorities moved against the man believed to have ordered the assault: Dragoljub Simonovic, the head of the city of Grocka and former chief of Serbia's state railways, who Jovanovic had written about extensively.

Vucic made a TV announcement that the prominent member of his party will face criminal charges -- though prosecutors have yet to decide which ones.

"Everything we had burned." Jovanovic said. "Nobody from the government even tried to contact me to help."
Tara O'Neill / Hearst Connecticut Media

MILFORD  A West Haven man was charged Thursday after officers took him into custody on a warrant, stemming from an incident involving an alleged assault and robbery back in November.

Isaiah McKnight, 22, of Ardale Street in West Haven, was charged with third-degree robbery, third-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace and sixth-degree larceny.
Bradley Elementary School teachers Kim Otte, from left, Michelle Norman, Heather Caron, with her son Talan, 8, and Beth Nixon, picket near the Bradley school during the second day of a statewide teacher strike in Bradley on Wednesday. Despite the West Virginia House of Delegates stopping the omnibus education bill Tuesday, teachers and school service personnel were still striker to endure the bill didn't come back up for vote due to a parliamentary law in the state's legislature. (Chris Jackson/The Register-Herald)
Last updated on: February 21, 2019 11:24 IST

Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi was among the best fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force.

He perished when the Hawk aircraft he was flying had a mid air collision in Bengaluru on February 19.

Those who had flown with him tell Archana Masih/Rediff.com about the skilled flyer who had a fan following among young pilots.

Just like his beaming photograph, Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi was a cheerful man. A man, other officers in the squadron approached when they needed a pep talk.

"He was a talented pilot -- one of the best flying instructors and exuded immense confidence. He had a fan following among the junior pilots," says an Indian Air Force officer who knew him and served with him.

"He disarmed you with his smile, was the rocket of any party, and a thorough professional at his job."

Wing Commander Gandhi perished when his Hawk aircraft crashed after a mid air collision during an aerobatics display in the run-up to the Aero India show in Bengaluru.

Two other IAF officers, who ejected from their aircraft, sustained fractures and injuries. They are out of danger and recovering in the Command Hospital.

Wing Commander Gandhi had flown the Sukhoi-30, Mirage 2000 and MiG 21s and was selected among the best pilots of the Indian Air Force to train on the Hawks in United Kingdom for two years when the aircraft was inducted into the IAF in the mid 2000s.

He was posted to Bidar near Hyderabad which is home to the Surya Kiran, the IAF's aerobatics team consisting of fighter pilots.

Pilots with the best flying skills make it to the team.

Every position has a fixed syllabi, every pilot has a special responsibility and needs a lot of practice. Pilots in the formation do not change positions ad hoc.

"His adaptability and flying skills were such that he was like fish to water," says an IAF officer who has been his flight commander in the past.

The Surya Kiran team excels in close formation flying. The tragedy must have left them shaken. It is still not sure whether the team will undertake a display till the Court of Inquiry completes its investigation into the cause of the accident.

"You feel sad, but have to get back into the cockpit. The tradition in the squadron is that in the next opportune moment following a crash, the whole squadron gets into the cockpit and flies led by the commanding officer. You don't let it fester."

"Mission is always first," says the Sukhoi-30 pilot who knew Wing Commander Gandhi and his young family well. When he called his own wife to inform her of Wing Commander Gandhi's death, she already knew and was sobbing.

The deceased officer had married his childhood love, Himani, a software engineer in the United States and had a long distance marriage. His Facebook post read that he had wanted to grow old with her. The couple have a five-year-old boy Riaan and loved their holidays together.

During the time Himani was having an extremely busy year, he had brought his little boy to live with him in Bidar.

His wife and son flew back to India on hearing the sad news. "I heard she showed tremendous calm -- asking where did she have to reach, Bangalore or Bidar," says an IAF officer.

The bonding in the IAF embraces officers's families in good times and bad. They rally together, doing their best to comfort the bereaved, who most often are young wives and children.

An officer who has carried many coffins of lost brothers home, says after a crash, sometimes there is not much left to constitute a body and a male member of the deceased is told not to open the coffin.

"We want them to remember them as they were in good times," says the officer who saw his first fatalities in the Kargil conflict.

Wing Commander Gandhi, a native of Hisar, Haryana, had been a fighter pilot for over a decade.

He was an asset, especially, when posted as an instructor to a previous fighter squadron that took on freshly commissioned pilots and gave them basic training before sending them off to different squadrons.

"In the air force, an instructor's job is very important. From flying, to tying laces, to studies, to how to behave in a squadron, in parties, to personal problems -- he is like a mentor. He is responsible for training, teaching and grooming them to become good officers," says the IAF officer who served with Wing Commander Gandhi at that time.

"He would put young cadets at ease and was a great mentor."

Surya Kiran pilots usually do two sorties a day and serve in the squadron for 3 years. Honing of skills is a continuous process in the air force and military flying is a very intensive job.

"No sortie is a joyride, every sortie has a specific mission to achieve," says the fighter pilot as he comes to grips with the loss of another brother officer.
February 21, 2019 08:29 IST

'His head was injured in the stone-pelting that happens regularly in Kashmir.'

'Do you know that even when people are throwing stones at my son, he is not allowed to open fire?'

'He has to wait for the government to order him to fire his gun.'

A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com meets the family of CRPF jawan G Subramanian, who was among the 41 soldiers martyred in Pulwama.

An hour before a Jaish e Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an SUV laden with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir, on February 14, G Subramanian called his wife Krishnaveni in Tamil Nadu.

"At around 2.30 pm that day he spoke to his wife, asked her if she had lunch and told her that they were moving camp, he might not be able to contact her en route, but would call her once he reached his destination," recalls his elder brother G Krishnasamy.

The next they heard was of the terror attack on the CRPF bus in which 41 jawans, including Subramanian, were killed.

Savalaperi is just off the National Highway that goes from Kanyakumari to Bengaluru, and as you drive into the village in Kovilpatti taluka, Thoothukudi district, you come across a board paying tribute to the 27 year old soldier.

"One of our villagers, who is also in the CRPF, phoned me to tell me that the bomb attack was on the convoy that my brother was travelling in. I started checking the news, but his name was not in the initial list of the dead," says Krishnasamy, left.

"We thought he must be okay as he had spoken to Krishnaveni only an hour earlier. Later, although his name was not on the list of the dead, TV news cameramen started arriving at our home and we knew that the worst had happened."

Both the brothers did their diplomas in electricals, but "while I went away to the Gulf to work, my brother wasn't interested in electricals at all, he always wanted to join the police force."

Although Subramanian joined a police training academy for three years, he could not get into the Tamil Nadu police. When the CRPF called for recruits, he applied and was selected.

He was selected in 2014 and posted in Chennai for a year of training after which he was sent to Uttar Pradesh for further training. His posting was in Srinagar, during which time got married on June 27, 2017 to Krishnaveni, his moraponnu, a distant cousin.

"He gets around 70 days of leave a year, so they must have spent about six months together. They got along very well, but it was not to be," Krishnasamy says, going silent, lost in memory.

"My son had come home last year and was wearing a cap to hide a head wound," remembers Subramanian's father Ganapathy. "When we asked him about it, he said someone had banged into him. He has an elder sister in Chennai and stays with her for a day or two on the way home. Only when she quizzed him did he say the truth."

"His head had been injured in the stone-pelting that happens regularly in Kashmir. Do you know that even when people are throwing stones at my son, he is not allowed to open fire? He has to wait for the government to order him to fire his gun, this is so wrong."

"A stone can kill you. My son had seven stitches on his head and he lied that someone banged into him because he didn't want us to worry. He didn't want us to be sad. Now look at what has happened."

"I worked in the Gulf for several years, but now my father is refusing to let me go," says Krishnasamy. His father, left, asks, "Who will look after us in our old age? One son has left us forever, I don't want my elder son out of my sight."

A journalist present informs Krishnasamy, "Infosys Chennai wants to give your brother's wife Rs 2 lakh. They have sent me a form for her to fill in her bank details. I am WhatsApping the form to her. Will you please fill it up and send it to a number which I have included in the message?" Krishnasamy nods absentmindedly.

Among those present is a jawan from CRPF Chennai who has come to collect details of the family. He too has a few forms and is filling them diligently.

"I have also served in Kashmir, three districts there are very critical," he says. "The terrain is very difficult. The highest mountains in the country are there. There is snow all year around."

"The BSF guards the border, but they cannot be everywhere at the same time. People cross the border at numerous places. The BSF does its best, the army does its best, we do our best and yet the arms get in," he sighs.

The soldier wants a current photo of Subramanian's parents and also their bank joint account number.

"We are not in a state to have our pictures taken," says Ganapathy. "I am only doing my duty, please do it sir," the CRPF trooper says gently, but firmly.

"Krishnaveni will continue to get his salary in her account. We just want to give something to his parents in an account both can access," the CRPF trooper says by way of explanation.

"I don't feel like it, but on Monday I will have to go to town. I have so many things to buy. You know we have to do so many rituals for my son. It is the least we can do and I want to do it properly. I will go to the bank on Monday and open a joint account," Ganapathi explains.

But the CRPF jawan cannot stay that long. Since both the father and mother already have a bank account in the local State Bank of India branch, Ganapathi's brother-in-law calls the bank manager and requests him to make the account a joint one.

The manager agrees readily. All the slain CRPF trooper's parents have to do is to make an application. The letter could be sent with someone so the grieving father does not have to leave his home.

"Our local MLA is also a minister, he came here with Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam and Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan," says Krishnasamy. "They gave us a cheque for Rs 20 lakh and promised to give Krishnaveni a job."

"She is a commerce graduate. I think she will get the job of village administrative officer, that is what the local government officers are saying," he adds.

As we leave Savalaperi, we notice that the village's welcoming arch has an image of Veerapandiya Kattaboman, the legendary 18th century Tamil king who defied the East India Company. The Englishmen sent him to the gallows and hung his body in public to deter others.

Subramanian's village has 400 families, and more than 10 villagers serve in the army and CRPF. "I don't think his death will stop our youth," says a villager, "they will continue to join the army."

An apt sentiment, coming from the land of Veerapandiya Kattabomman.

Photographs: A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
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Last updated on: February 21, 2019 23:41 IST

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a public interest litigation seeking protection for Kashmiri students being targeted following the Pulwama terror attack in different parts of the country over which the National Conference leader Omar Abdullah accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of remaining 'silent'.

IMAGE: People protesting in Jammu against the Pulwama terror attack. Photograph: PTI Photo

The National Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, issued notice to the Union ministries of home and human resource development seeking a report over the reported ill-treatment of Kashmiri people in the aftermath of the attack.

41 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna took note of senior advocate Colin Gonsalves' submission that the plea for protection needed to be heard urgently as it relates to the safety and security of students.

The bench, which refused to list the plea for hearing on Thursday, however, assured Gonsalves that it will be listed for consideration on Friday.

The petitioner Tariq Adeeb, a lawyer, alleged in his plea that students from the Kashmir Valley are being attacked at different educational institutions across the country after the Pulwama attack and authorities concerned should be directed to take action to stop such assaults.

The petition, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, sought direction to the Centre for taking steps to prevent 'threats, assaults, violent attacks, social boycotts, ostracism, evictions and other coercive acts' committed by groups and mobs against 'Kashmiris and other minorities'.

"There is a sudden rise in the incidents of crimes against Muslims and Kashmiris after the Pulwama attack....," it alleged.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Abdullah, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, hit out at both the prime minister and the opposition Congress for not speaking out against the 'systematic targeting of Kashmiris' in various parts of the country.

The NC leader said he had been looking for a statesman but only found politicians, and asserted that the country needs an alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, not BJP's B-team.

"We didn't have much expectation from the BJP but we had expectations from the prime minister. We had hoped he would keep politics aside and say something," he said.

"While the PM is silent, it is sad the country's largest opposition party's leadership also remained silent," Abdullah added.

Abdullah also asked J and K Governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure the security of Kashmiri students who were forced to return home.

"There is need to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students who have returned home fearing attacks on them," he said, adding that arrangements should be made so they don't suffer academic losses.

The people of Kashmir, Abdullah said, were expecting to hear two words of sympathy and moral support from the Congress.

"Today, they had a press conference where everything was talked about. But they should have talked about the systematic targeting as well.

"These are the very forces that Congress is fighting with words and want to defeat... We regret the Congress has not raised its voice against these forces effectively."

Abdullah also criticised Meghalaya Governor Tathagatha Roy for backing the boycott of 'everything Kashmiri' and said it was unfortunate.

'... Why are we being punished? Just because we are the only Muslim majority state in the country?' Abdullah asked.

Incidents of selective targeting of Kashmiris will lead to further alienation of people in the state, he warned.

The NHRC said even though there is an atmosphere of grief and anger across the country after the terror attack, violence by people against their fellow countrymen cannot be accepted in a civilised society.

Stating that such incidents will destroy the democratic fabric of the country and also tarnish its image of a rich tolerant culture, the Commission, in a statement, asserted that the Central government should take action against the miscreants.

It also highlighted the need for sensitization of local authorities, police agencies and the general public to maintain law and order.

Former home and finance minister P Chidambaram said some people want Kashmir to be part of India but don't want Kashmiris to be part of Indians, asserting that the 'irony of the situation is depressing'.

"The irony of the situation is depressing. We want Kashmir to be part of India, but we do not want Kashmiris to be part of Indians," the senior Congress leader said.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram also took a dig at Tathagata Roy's statement and Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar's remarks that students from the Kashmir Valley faced no threats.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad appealed to state governments to ensure that students from the Valley are treated well and their efforts to join the mainstream encouraged.

Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, Azad said as a representative of Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament and belonging to that state, he was saddened by reports that in Agra a hotel put up a board saying Kashmiris are not allowed to stay.

"This used to happen during the British rule. But this has happened for the first time in Independent India," he said, adding, people from all regions and religions are standing with the Army following the Pulwama terror attack.

"I want that no political party, individual or section taking advantage of the terror attack, indulges in politics of religion," Azad said.

He appealed to people to treat Kashmiris who come for trade, business or for studies, well as they want to be a part of the mainstream.

"Those students who have come from Kashmir for studies, it means that they don't want to be part of terrorism, it means that they don't want to become terrorists, they want to study and join the country's mainstream. It means that they condemn terrorism, they reject the appeal and money of terrorists," the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.

"I would appeal state governments that in their educational institutions they should not just issue advisories, but send people to colleges and explain to students to help Kashmiris join the mainstream," he said.
Source:

Last updated on: February 21, 2019 23:54 IST

Lieutenant General D S Hooda (retd), a former Northern Army commander and main architect of the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, will head a Congress task force on national security.

Party president Rahul Gandhi met Lt Gen Hooda and discussed the modalities of the panel.

"The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country," a party statement said.

Lt Gen Hooda will lead the panel and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts, it said.

Hailing the step, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, 'Yet another positive and welcome step towards a strong nation and stronger national security by Congress President @RahulGandhi.

'The experience that Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda brings in, will benefit the nation in the long run.'

In another tweet, she said, 'The only thing they will find is Surgical Strike and How's the josh?! :))'

Reacting to the development, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the Congress couldn't have had a better officer to advise them on national security.

'Lt Gen Hooda is a credit to the uniform he has worn. I had the privilege of having him as my security advisor when he headed 16 corps in Nagrota,' he tweeted.

The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of politicising the surgical strikes.

On September 29, 2016, the Army had carried out the strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month.

Last December, responding to a question during a panel discussion at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh, Hooda had said that in hindsight, it would have been better had 'we done it (surgical strikes) secretly'.

He had also said the initial euphoria about the success of the surgical strikes was natural but the constant maintenance of the hype around the military operation was unwarranted.
February 21, 2019 08:12 IST

At the annual Cobra Gold military exercise, you can find international marines seeking out water in unlikely places, eating spider eggs, and even drinking cobra blood.

Take a look!

All photographs: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

A soldier is fed snake blood during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand. The military exercise is believed to be the biggest activity of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region with 29 nations taking part as participants or observers.

A Thai soldier is bitten by a snake as he presents non-venomous snakes during the Cobra Gold exercise. The exercise, which began on February 14 will go on till February 22, is held in the northern Thai province of Phitsanulok.

A soldier eats a Carambola (star fruit) during exercise. One of the components at the event is learning how to find various sources of water and food in a tropical forest, ranging from animals blood to water inside vines.

A soldier is fed a scorpion as part of the military exercise. A Thai Marine instructor said the exercise aimed to make soldiers survive in an emergency situation.

A soldier is fed snake blood at the exercise. Peter Haymond, the acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Thailand was quoted as saying the aim of the exercise was to strengthen cooperation and inter-operability.

At the exercise, a soldier presents rice cooked in a condom. Seven nations in addition to Thailand and the United States are active participants: Singapore, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. About 4,500 US personnel, on land and sea, are taking part.

A soldier trains with a snake during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise. The exercise began in 1982 and has only grown in strength.

The annual event, which began on Wednesday, has more than of 6,800 US troops partaking in the drills -- nearly double the countrys 2018 participation figures.

A soldier is fed an earthworm as part of survival tactics. We do have that potential of being separated especially in jungle this thick and being able to sustain ourselves is crucial, so yes, its very beneficial and necessary, a US Marine identified as Sergeant Griffin was quoted as telling Reuters.

The other components of the exercise comprises of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training.
February 21, 2019 11:35 IST

16-year-old Greta Thunberg had earlier said world leaders were behaving like children about climate change.

IMAGE: Every Friday, since August last year, Greta Thunberg has staked out a place outside the Swedish parliament holding a placard reading "School strike for the climate" asking Sweden to change its rules on emissions. Photograph: TT News Agency/Hanna Franzen/Reuters

You need to take action now against the climate crisis, not just talking about it because if you keep going on like this, doing business as usual, and just talking about and bragging about the little victories, you are going to fail. And if you fail, you are going to be seen as one of the worst villains in human history in the future. And you dont want that.

This powerful message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi isnt issued by some world body or by any other world leader, but by a 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden.

Meet Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) who in August last year became the face of a school strike outside the Swedish parliament building. She has been boycotting classes every Friday and has staked out a spot in front of parliament in Stockholm, demanding that her government step up the fight against climate change. Her message is simple: Strike for climate.

She has also inspired tens of thousands of high school students -- in Sydney, Brussels, Berlin, The Hague, London and other cities to follow suit. Some have marched in the streets bearing banners: Save Our Future, Act Now!, Climate Change is Real.

IMAGE: In January 2019, the teen activist, now diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome staged a sit down protest in front of the Congress Centre during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Now, Greta in a video posted by Brut India asked Prime Minister Modi to take real action against the climate crisis. The video since going live has got over 2,000 likes and have been retweeted over 700 times.

Thunberg made waves at the United Nations climate change summit, COP24, where she said, We have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not.

She has also criticised her own country, Sweden for its emissions. At the COP24 summit, she said world leaders behaved like children.

Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago. We have to understand what the older generation has dealt to us, what mess they have created that we have to clean up and live with. We have to make our voices heard, she had said.
Source:

Last updated on: February 21, 2019 18:20 IST

At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure on terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, a media report said.

The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Mohammad during his first official visit to Islamabad.

The News International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the Crown Prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait and a gold-plated gun.

The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister.

In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Prime Minister Khan at the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad.

Khan had thanked him for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi Crown Prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers were killed.

The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The international community led by the United States has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth $20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability.

China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country.

Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his 'outstanding support' in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries.
Source:

Last updated on: February 21, 2019 22:18 IST

India has decided to 'stop' the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, in comments that came over a week after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack killing 41 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

An official later clarified that it was not a 'new decision' and that the Water Resources minister was 'simply reiterating' what he has always said.

'Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,' Gadkari tweeted.

The reiteration to stop the flow of Indus water to Pakistan comes amid mounting Indo-Pak tension over the Pulwama terror strike that has triggered demands for action against the neighbouring country.

India has already decided to revoke the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan and mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate it in the international community.

"Regarding the tweet (by Gadkari) about Indus treaty, this is not a new decision. Mantriji is simply reiterating what he has always said.

"He is talking about diverting India's share of Indus water which was going to Pakistan -- and he has always been saying this," Information Officer in-charge of Water Resources Ministry Neeta Prasad said when asked about the issue.

There were demands to stop flow of India's share of Indus water to Pakistan after the Uri terror attack in 2016.

Officials said the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop flow of water.

Under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, the waters of the western rivers -- the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab -- was given to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers -- the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej -- to India.

India's share of water from Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of the water was being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to 5 per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said.

In another tweet, Gadkari said, 'The construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river.

'Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states.'

In an address at a public rally at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Gadkari said, "We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna ..."

"After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan."

"Now we will build three projects on them, and divert the water to river Yamuna," he said.

The Union cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam project on the Ravi river in Punjab, a move that was intended to help India arrest its share of water flowing into Pakistan.

For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 was also announced.

In September 2018, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments had signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpur-Kandi project, according to officials.

Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by J-K.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  "What a Saturday," Perla Cabrera exclaimed as she sprinted to a room full of women in uniform red t-shirts. The pandemonium in that cramped room at the newly refurbished barangay hall of Payatas B. in Quezon City was so intense, the women said it felt like a Monday. They are all barangay health workers who were busy preparing for a door-to-door vaccination drive on the coming Monday.

The Department of Health (DOH) has heightened its immunization drive following a measles outbreak in five regions in the country, including the most densely populated Metro Manila. While the agency has assured adequate supply of vaccines, it admits the number of health workers to administer community vaccination is not enough.

Cabrera has been a health worker in the village for almost a decade now, and she witnessed how the people's confidence in government vaccines has crumbled. Even in villages like those located in highly urbanized Quezon City, she said many Filipinos remain ignorant about the benefits of complete vaccination.

"Meron talaga kaming na-encounter na tamad. Ayaw magpabakuna ng nanay, kasi minsan siguro kulang din sa kaalaman. Meron din kami na-encounter na ayaw magpabakuna nang pinuntahan namin kasi natakot sa Dengvaxia," Cabrera said.

[Translation: We have encountered lazy parents. Some don't want their children to receive vaccines, perhaps because they lack information about its benefits. We also encountered a parent who did not want their children immunized due to the Dengvaxia scare. ]

Health officials blamed the recent measles outbreaks on the growing distrust in vaccination brought by the dengue vaccine mess.

"Nakamamatay ang fake news," [Translation: Fake News is deadly.] Cabrera burst into laughter after she said this when I asked her to expound why she thinks the Dengvaxia controversy scared many residents in her village. She may have said it in jest, but it made sense.

The local health center physician, Dr. Elimira Dizon, said the immunization coverage in the village has particularly dropped since the dengue vaccine or Dengvaxia controversy in 2017.

Dr. Dizon's team of health workers deployed to the community has been regularly confronted with hostile parents. "First hand experience po ng aking [of my] staff na, despite the coordination with the barangay, once they see our team, people really go to their houses, shut their doors, their windows. They decline. They keep quiet, even if we knock on their doors, they don't answer," Dizon said. "They even deny that there are children in their houses when we know there are children there."

On social media, other health workers share a number of more alarming encounters on the field including parents threatening them when they persist in their mission.

Dizon said the Dengvaxia scare has negatively impacted their immunization campaigns in the communities.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque has blamed Public Attorney's Office Chief Persida Acosta for the public's decline in vaccine confidence and compliance causing the spike in measles cases.

Acosta is prosecuting some former and current government officials after some children who received the dengue vaccine from 2016 to 2017 fell ill or died. Acosta's group of forensic personnel concluded that the dengue vaccine caused the death of the children.

The DOH maintained, however, that there is no solid proof to directly associate the vaccine to the fatalities. Acosta still asserted her team has proven this. She also denied she was responsible for the measles outbreak.

"Unfair po 'yan Sana po bago siya manisi ng iba, tinginan muna niya ang mga pagkukulang sa kanilang kampanya sa mga subok na bakuna," Acosta said, lambasting Duque.

[Translation: That's unfairbefore he blames other people, he should look at the misgivings of his agency's campaign on tested vaccines.]

A ten-year decline in vaccine coverage

Following the announcement of a measles outbreak in Metro Manila February 6, dozens of parents have flocked to health centers. On February 8 alone, 400 children received measles vaccines in Quezon City's most populous village of Batasan.

The country's vaccination coverage has been on a steady decline since 2008, according to health officials. However, when requested for actual immunization data, the DOH has provided a data set from 2015 until the 3rd quarter of 2018 only.

The Manager of the National Expanded Program on Immunization Dr. Wilda Silva said, based on their assessment, the consistent decline in immunization coverage is primarily due to the lack of skilled health workers in the regions. Other challenges like the distribution of vaccine supplies nationwide, and the parents' lack of access to and information about vaccines come into play.

Silva said the DOH has implemented programs to address these gaps. "We have hired more nurses since 2011 and the number of manpower has grown since then." She added DOH has also implemented community initiatives as early as 2013 to make vaccination accessible, especially to far-flung areas.

While it admitted that the immunization rate among Filipinos has begun decreasing since 2008, the agency argued that the number of unvaccinated children has grown even bigger since the Dengvaxia mess in 2017.

Coverage of measles-containing vaccines

From 64 percent in 2015, the country's measles vaccination coverage shrunk to nearly half in the third quarter of 2018. Expectedly, the number of unvaccinated children rose from more than half a million in 2015 to nearly a million before 2018 ended.

Dr. Ruby Constantino, DOH Disease Prevention and Control Bureau Director, said the plummeting numbers are alarming. Constantino added, the government targets a 95 percent coverage to achieve a "herd immunity" or the collective resistance of a population to infectious diseases like measles.

"A low immunization coverage increases a community's risk to contagious infections," the health official explained.

The regions of CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have the lowest measles vaccine coverage since 2015.

The immunization rate has consistently improved in the National Capital Region from 2015 to 2017. The region even recorded the second highest coverage at 67 percent in 2017. However, the numbers have significantly decreased by a staggering 75 percent in the first three quarters of 2018, which is now among the lowest in the country.

In Western Visayas region, the number of immunized infants has plunged in the last four years. In the third quarter of 2018, the region-composed of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Guimaras, and Negros Occidental- has the most number of unvaccinated infants in the country, with its immunization coverage down by 80 percent before 2018 ended.

Congress launched a probe into the controversial dengue vaccine in November 2016. Its succeeding hearings have been nationally televised. The Public Attorney's Office took on the case in January 2018. On numerous Congress hearings and in dramatic manner, Acosta brought with her hysterical women who claimed their children have died from the vaccine. Later, some of the women admitted that their children were not dead, but remained sick. Emotionally charged stories like this hogged the headlines all-year round.

2018, so far, recorded the lowest immunization coverage in the country in the last decade.

Constantino said there are two doses of Measles-containing Vaccines (MCV). MCV 1 is the first dose given to infants aged 9 months, while MCV 2 is the next dose that an infant should receive at age 12 months. The health official said a baby is fully immunized from measles if he or she receives both doses on schedule.

However, data from the DOH show, there has been a steady downtrend in the number of infants that received the second dose since 2015. "Nakakaligtaan na nila or kulang ang mothers sa information [Mothers either forgot or lack the information]," Constantino said. She added an incomplete vaccine dose still exposes an infant to infection. "We have been aggressive with our campaigns to inform parents. We are also doing supplemental immunization activities to address this."

The DOH survey in 2018 show that the primary reason why children have not received their vaccination is because "mothers are busy." This topped the agency's survey, followed by "child not eligible for vaccination" as the second topmost reason.

However, as far the village of Payatas B. is concerned, which could be the case for most barangays in the country, Dr. Dizon said "busy" has become the mothers' go-to alibi. "It could just be an excuse. You can be very busy, but you can endorse your child to some caregiver." Dizon said it all boils down to the disinformation and unfounded scare surrounding vaccination as the main underlying factor why parents refuse to have their babies immunized.

Rapidly propagating Measles infections

Secretary Duque has declared a measles outbreak in the regions of Western Visayas, National Capital Region (NCR), CALABARZON, Central Visayas, Central Luzon and some provinces of Region 2. From the start of the year until February 9, there has been an exponential spike in the number of measles cases in these regions compared to the same period last year.

In Metro Manila, measles cases in the first month of the year grew fifteenfold, the most number of cases among all regions. From its zero measles casualty record in 2018, CALABARZON-composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon tallied 25 deaths, the highest casualty count.

Rizal province recorded both the highest number of measles cases (693) and deaths (18) among all provinces nationwide.

Data from the DOH reveal, there has been a dynamic trend in the number of measles cases in the country in the last decade. The figures reached an all-time high in 2014 with more than 50,000 cases, and over 300 deaths: the government has declared an outbreak in at least three regions, including Metro Manila.

Measles infection has significantly dropped after 2014, and even reached a ten-year low in 2016 at more than 700 cases and two deaths. However, the numbers began shooting up again since then.

In 2018, the measles infection rate rose tenfold. And this year, the number of cases in the first month of 2019 alone is nearly as much as the sum of cases of the years 2015 to 2017.

Infants aged 4 years and below are the most vulnerable. An overwhelming 85 percent of the deaths belong to this age group. Nearly half of these fatalities are babies born within the last three quarters of 2018.

Ninety-nine percent of the deaths have either not received vaccines and have no records of immunization, or received a single dose only.

On February 19, Duque reported measles cases reached more than 8,000 with 135 deaths.

With the government's ongoing mass immunization campaigns, the secretary believes the spread of infection will slow down by April.

Graphics by Micah Vilano. Maps by Chad de Guzman.
Hong Kong: Gov't mulls through train service cut

It is feasible to adjust the frequency of the Intercity Through Train service if it can ease the pressure on the East Rail Service, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today.

During the Chief Executive's Question Time at the Legislative Council, Mrs Lam was asked about the possibility of reducing the through trains frequency following a 30% drop in patronage since the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) was commissioned last year.

Mrs Lam acknowledged the drop, but noted that some issues needed to be taken into consideration.

Since the through train service terminates at a location in Guangzhou different from that of the XRL, if we are to drastically reduce the through train service, it may cause some repercussions, she said.

The Chief Executive added that she met with China Railway Corporation representatives in Beijing last year and brought up the issue of adjusting the through train timetable with them.

She added the Transport & Housing Bureau will follow up on the issue.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
February 21, 2019 14:09 IST

A breathtaking display of manoeuvres by military aircraft besides aerobatic teams cast a spell at the 12th edition of Aero India.

The Bengaluru skies dazzled with somersaults and stunts by metal birds.

Venkata Satish Guttula managed to click some of the beauties as they flew overhead.

The Advanced Light Helicpopter Dhruv

The advanced Light Helicpoter Dhruv is a multi-role, new-generation helicopter in the 5.5-ton weight class, indigenously designed and developed by HAL.

Powered by two Shakti engines, it provides superlative performance throughout its flight envelop.

It is suited for a high-speed cruise for rapid deployment and to maximise the area of operations.

The basic helicopter is produced in skid version and wheeled version. In the wheeled version, options for fixed and retractable undercarriages are available.

The Dhruv is built for military as well as civil applications for which the helicopter is certified by the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, India, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation respectively.

The utility version of the Dhruv helicopter can be used for VIP travel, commute, search and rescue, emergency medical service, under sling load, disaster relief, and offshore operations.

HAL is also building a civil version for DGCA approval.

The Dhruv helicopter is suitable for increased payload at higher altitudes and has been developed for the Indian Air Force, Navy, and the Army. This version is the ALH Mk-III version that is equipped with MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit)



The A330 Neo

The Airbus A330neo ("neo" for New Engine Option) is a wide-body jet airliner developed by Airbus from the Airbus A330 (now A330ceo -- "Current Engine Option").

A new version with modern engines comparable to those developed for the Boeing 787 was called for by owners of the current A330. It was launched on July 14, 2014, at the Farnborough airshow, promising 14% better fuel economy per seat.

It will exclusively use the larger Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine. Its two versions are based on the A330-200 and -300: the -800 has a range of 8,150 nmi (15,090 km) with 257 passengers while the -900 covers 7,200 nmi (13,330 km) with 287 passengers.

The -900 made its maiden flight on October 19, 2017, and received its EASA type certificate on September 26, 2018, and was first delivered to TAP Air Portugal on November 26.

The -800 made its first flight on November 6, 2018, aiming for type certification in mid-2019 and first delivery in the first half of 2020.



The Avro and Kirans

BH572 was the first IAF-built Hawker Siddeley HS-748 'Avro' from Kanpur. The aircraft first flew on November 1, 1961, and subsequently flew demo flights in the Far East.

The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed by the British firm Avro in the late 1950s as a replacement for the aging DC-3s, then in widespread service as feeder-liners.

The Avro concentrated on performance, notably for STOL operations, and found a dedicated market. Some 380 aircraft were built by the Hawker Siddeley.

A larger, stretched development of the HS 748, the BAe ATP, attempted to compete with the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 but saw a limited production run.



The Kiran was designed to meet an Indian Air Force requirement for an intermediate jet trainer.

The first aircraft, powered by the Rolls Royce Viper Mk 11, was flown for the first time on September 4, 1964.The production aircraft was designated "Kiran I", and the first pre-production deliveries were made to the Indian Air Force in March 1968.

Later production aircraft were fitted with hard-points under each wing for weapon training and re-designated as "KiranIA".

A total of 190 Mk I and 1A aircraft were built. An uprated version powered by a 4,200 lbf (19,000 N) thrust Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engine and enhanced weapon-carrying capability was designated "Kiran II", which first flew on July 30, 1976, and deliveries commenced in 1985, with 61 delivered by the time production ended in 1989.

The B52 Bomber flying from Guam

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber.

The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s.

This B-52 was flown all the way the Andersen USAF base at Guam for the Aero India and it made a dramatic pass-by.



The Dakota

The Dakota was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, United States, in 1935. It was inducted in the IAF in 1946 and played an invaluable role during the 1947 Kashmir operations.

This is a commuter, multi-role light transport powered by two 1200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 twin wasp air-cooled radial engines.

The aircraft touches a max speed of 215 mph and its max range is 2430 km. It has a typical passenger layout for 28-32 passengers.



Embraer AWACS with Sukhoi





The DRDO Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEWACS) is a project of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation to develop an airborne early warning and control system for the Indian Air Force. It is also referred to as the DRDO NETRA AEW&CS system.



The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is an air superiority fighter jointly developed by Russia's Sukhoi and India's HAL for the Indian Air Force. The Su-30 is a multi-role two-seat long-range interception and air standing patrol powered with two AI-31FP turbofans with TVC.

The Su-30 MKI has a range of 3000 km with internal fuel which ensures a 3.75 hour combat mission. It is in service of the IAF since 2002.



Hindustan Turpoprop Trainer Hawk i and Dornier

The Do-228 is a twin turboprop, high wing aircraft used in different roles like commuter transport (19-seater), VIP transport, troop transport, para jumping, surveillance roles, air observation role, calibration of airport navaids, air ambulance, cargo and logistics support, and airborne survey role.

The Do-228 is the only "Make in India" aircraft ideally suited for regional connectivity under the RCS-UDAN. It can operate from all regional airports in India.



The Hawk-i (india) is the indigeneously upgraded Hawk Mk 132 aircraft, with enhanced operational and training capabilities. The Hawk MK 132 is an advanced jet trainer, with tandem seats meant to provide basic, advanced flying and weapons training.

It can be used as a ground attack aircraft or for air defence. The aircraft was produced at HAL under licence from BAes, the UK.

The HAWK-i programme was taken up by HAL in an effort to be self-reliant in matters such as integration of new sub-systems or modifications, obsolesence management of avionics systems and to enhance the aircraft operational and training capabilities of the Hawk aircraft.



Hindustan Turboprop Trainer (HTT-40) is a basic trainer aircraft indigenously designed and developed by HAL.

The HTT-40 would be used for basic flight training, aerobatics, instrument flying and close formation flights whereas its secondary roles would include navigation and night flying.



Navy Neptune

The Boeing P-8I "Neptune" is a long-range, multi-role maritime patrol aircraft which is a derivative of the P-8A of US Navy, built for the Indian Navy.

The P-8I is specifically built for maritime surveillance and is the perfect replacement for the ageing Tu-142M maritime patrol aircraft of Soviet origin. The aircraft can perform basic surveillance missions to combat operations too.

The aircraft comes with the punch to perform Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW), and also intelligence gathering and early warning missions.

Saras

The Saras has been designed by the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru, and is being tested by pilots from the Indian Air Force.

The Saras Mk 2 will be ideal for commuter connectivity under the Udaan scheme for a variety of applications like air taxi, aerial search, survey, executive transport, disaster management, border patrol, coast guard, ambulance and other community services.



Tejas-Jaguar-Sukoi in missing man formation

The Tejas, Jaguar, Sukhoi Su-30 MKI were flown in missing man formation in honour of Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi who was killed in a crash on Tuesday while practising in Surya Kiran for Aero India.



The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is an air superiority fighter jointly developed by Russia's Sukhoi and India's HAL for the Indian Air Force. The Su-30 is a multi-role, two-seat long range interception and air standing patrol powered with two AI-31FP turbofans with TVC.

The Su-30 MKI has a range of 3000km with internal fuel which ensures a 3.75 hour combat mission. It is in service on the IAF since 2002.

The Jaguar is a deep strike penetration aircraft in service of the IAF since 1978, and is still in service in a significantly upgraded form.

This is a ground attack fighter, and a maritime role aircraft powered by two Rolls Royce Turbomeca Adour MK 811 turbo fan jet engine producing 3740 kgf with afterburn. The maximum speed is 840mph with a combat radius of 575 km. This aircraft has participated in the Kargil war operations in 1999 and dropped conventional bombs on infiltrators.



The Tejas is a single-seat, single-jet engine multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and HAL for Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

It integrates technologies such as relaxed state stability, fly-by wire flight content system, composite material structuure and a flat rated engine.

It is the smallest and lightest in its class of contemporary supersonic combat aircraft.
Source:

February 21, 2019 09:20 IST

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a banquet hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on February, 20, 2019. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo

Saudi Arabis' Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in his country's jails on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request as the two leaders held extensive talks in New Delhi, according to the ministry of external affairs.

After the talks, it was also announced that India has decided to extend e-Visa facility to Saudi nationals.

In an important development, Saudi Arabia also joined the International Solar Alliance, a move welcomed by the prime minister, MEA officials said.

Both sides noted the potential of cooperation in the renewable energy sector, not only in investment but also in research and development, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

In another significant move, Saudi Arabia has also agreed to resolve issues relating to Indian workers who are currently stranded in the kingdom due to the closure of a foreign company, T S Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, said.
February 21, 2019 08:31 IST

With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamis side.

There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent, says R Rajagopalan.

IMAGE: Dr Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK. Photograph: Courtesy, Dr Ramadoss's Twitter page

With the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam first off the blocks in Tamil Nadu in snapping up allies for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the rival DMK expected to follow soon, the electoral alliances in the crucial southern state, which sends 39 MPs to the Lok Sabha, have been firmed up.



It is a straight between the AIADMK + allies and DMK + allies.

Both the national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, are riding on the coat-tails of regional parties, the former with the AIADK and the latter with the DMK.

Of the new entrants, superstar Rajnikanth has abstained from this round of elections, while friend and rival Kamal Hassan will play a spoilsport for the DMK. However, once the poll campaign hots up, the cine world will get relegated to the background.

In the absence of both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, this will be the first time that Tamil Nadu will go to polls without a tall leader. It is a peculiar challenge for both the AIADMK and DMK, but it is a do-or-die situation for MK Stalins leadership of the DMK as the main opposition party in the state.

With regional parties holding sway, Tamil Nadu remains a model for federal politics, whose focus will be on district- and state-level issues.

Of the lot, it is the Pattali Makkal Katchi of father and son duo of S Ramadoss and Dr Anbumani Ramadoss that has emerged as a main beneficiary in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamis side.

There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent.



The PMK aligning with the AIADMK will actually benefit the EPS government, helping it to continue in office after the Lok Sabha polls. That is because of the peculiar political situation in Tamil Nadu whereby bypolls to 21 assembly seats are also expected to be held along with elections to the Lok Sabha.

Interestingly, the PMK has a hold in 10 assembly seats, as these segments fall under the PMK stronghold Vanniar belt. That was the main attraction it held for the AIADMK.

Given this vote transfer from the PMK, the EPS government is confident of surviving even if the opposition DMK manages to wins 5-8 bypolls, as the AIADMK expects to bag the rest.

That is why the AIADMK wooed PMK, even agreeing to concede seven Lok Sabha seats to it plus a Rajya Sabha, more than what it yielded to the national party, BJP.



So where does all this leave the BJP and Congress in Tamil Nadu?



The BJP firmed up its alliance with the AIADMK because it felt the party echoes the feelings of Hindus. Also, during the lifetime of Jayalalithaa, the party manifesto supported the construction of Ram mandir in Ayodhya.

Even if the BJP wins two Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu it will be a bonus for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Given the importance of the state, it was mystifying why BJP chief Amit Shah and Modi, who tweeted their joy after the Shiv Sena-BJP electoral agreement, failed to express their enthusiasm after Union minister Piyush Goyal stuck a deal with the AIADMK for BJP, with nary a tweet to welcome the party into the NDA fold.

A similar predicament awaits the Congress too in the southern state.

During the 2019 poll campaign almost all political parties will focus on the Tamil genocide in the north-eastern province of Sri Lanka in 2009 and blame it on the Congress and UPA regime.

Perhaps quick to realise this, the DMK, which pronounced that Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial choice, has now piped down its enthusiasm.



But all this intense politicking should not hide the fact that Tamil Nadu, while remaining the best administered state in the country, is facing an immense leadership crisis.

Of those left, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam leader Captain Vijaykant is unwell. And the future of the newest political outfit, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam of TTV Dhinakaran, is shrouded in uncertainty.

The absence of a tall leader is telling, with smaller parties jostling to fill the space of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, even as Prime Minister Modi believes that after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls there is bound be space for either BJP or the Congress in the state.

The ground situation in Tamil Nadu is that there is no wave for either the AIADMK or DMK. In a nut shell, the 2019 Lok Sabha poll will see a fractured mandate, with almost all political parties bagging a few seats.

Of them the DMK will be the two-digit winner out of 40 Lok Sabha seats (including the lone Puducherry), while other parties will end up with single digit, including the ruling AIADMK which may win eight seats. The Congress with the DMKs support is likely to win four seats. The PMK will end up with 3, and BJP with 2.



Whichever side one may look at, and whatever you may say, the real gainer is the PMK. And the DMK is the loser, at least till such time as the poll results are out in May 2019.



How will all this play in the national scenario? Once the smaller parties win in the southern states, especially in Tamil Nadu, they will play a major role in national politics after the 2019 Lok Sabha poll results.

Their whims and fancies are bound to rule the roost in New Delhi.



R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist and a keen observer of Tamil Nadu politics.
February 21, 2019 10:00 IST

'Nobody is going to fight India's war.'

'India has to fight its own war against the rogue State and the evil forces nurtured by it,' argues Anand Kumar.

IMAGE: The scene of the suicide bombing in Goripora, Awantipora, Pulwama district, February 14, 2019, in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed. Photograph: ANI

Every time a Pakistan-sponsored terror strike happens in India a demand arises for strong action against that country.

The same is the case after the Pulwama terror attack in which more than 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

Under intense pressure to act after the Uri attack, the Indian government went for a surgical strike.

After the Pulwama attack, once again there is widespread anger in the country against Pakistan.

People are demanding that the government should ask the security forces to carry out a repeat surgical strike.

But is a surgical strike the answer to incessant terror attacks emanating from the soil of Pakistan.

The terrorist attack in Pulwama occurred at a very crucial time when elections are approaching in India.

This attack is now bound to have its impact on the way people are going to vote.

At first sight, it appears that the terrorist attack has aroused nationalist feelings in large parts of the country which might benefit the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

But it is also a double edged sword in the sense that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government would have to come up with a solid response to this attack.

If the government fails to do that in a convincing manner, it will affect its credibility.

The government is probably aware of that and is trying to isolate Pakistan diplomatically before going in for retaliation.

In this effort, the Indian government has been largely successful and has the support of the European Union, Russia, France and, most importantly, the United States.

However, Pakistan may not be completely isolated as it has its sympathisers in the Muslim world.

Many of these countries support Pakistan, unmindful of what it does taking it as a co-religionist.

Similarly, it is futile to expect China's support on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and on Jaish e Mohammad terrorist Masood Azhar.

China buys the Muslim world's silence over what it is doing in its Xinjiang province by scuttling India's attempt to get Masood Azhar branded an international terrorist.

Countries like the United States say India has the right of self-defence.

This is the best one can get from the international community.

Nobody is going to fight India's war.

India has to fight its own war against the rogue State and the evil forces nurtured by it.

The Indian government so far has not been able to act decisively against Pakistan because of the nuclear parity achieved by that country.

It is often argued that India cannot act like the United States as the power asymmetry between India and Pakistan is not that great.

But should India go on taking these terror strikes until it becomes militarily as powerful as the United States?

The obvious answer is no.

There is no peace for India with Pakistan as it exists today.

Kashmir is just a smokescreen for the larger Pakistani agenda to harm India.

Its main policy is to bleed India through a thousand cuts.

If this is so, then what is India's Pakistan policy?

Do we have a policy for Pakistan at all?

Border firings or surgical strikes cannot be an answer to Pakistan's incessant flow of terrorists to India.

We can't let Pakistan hold our security and prosperity hostage to its nefarious acts.

If Pakistan wants to bleed India through a thousand cuts, then shouldn't India also try to cut it in a few pieces? This will take care of its nuclear parity to a great extent.

It is time India starts following a pro-active policy on Pakistan instead of indulging in reactive surgical strikes.

Pakistan is shamelessly denying its involvement in the Pulwama terror attack while Jaish e Mohammad chief Masood Azhar enjoys the Pakistani State's hospitality.

This terror attack will boost the morale of terrorists who have suffered great losses due to the counter terrorist operations launched by the security forces in Kashmir.

This will also bring wider publicity to Jaish e Mohammad and help it get new recruits, both in Pakistan and from Kashmir.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made some fake peace overtures after taking over.

India was right in rejecting his offers for talks given his radical Islamist credentials.

He is a known Taliban supporter.

The suicide bomber involved in the February 14 terror attack claimed to be an admirer of the Taliban.

There is a seamless relationship between the State and non-State actors in Pakistan.

Pakistan can't shun responsibility for the terror attack while nurturing Jaish e Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

The terror attack has pointed out the grave security situation prevailing in South Asia where a number of Islamist terror organisations are running amuck with the support of the rogue Pakistani State.

This situation has been made worse by the US decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

This has boosted the morale of the Taliban and other Islamist terrorist groups.

Pakistan has largely emerged unharmed from the US war on terror despite having close alliance with the Taliban, al Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups.

Under threat from President George W Bush Pakistan pretended it was changing sides, but in reality remained closely allied with these groups.

This strategy helped Pakistan avoid the United States's wrath.

Moreover, it extracted military assistance from the United States in the name of helping Washington in its war on terror.

By the time the United States saw through Pakistan's double game, fatigue had already set in and American leaders had started talking of withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The United States is located far from the terror hub of the Af-Pak region.

India unfortunately shares its border with the rogue State called Pakistan.

India must realise that there is no peace for this country as long as the present political and military structure continue in Pakistan.

In the present set-up in Pakistan, the military calls the shots and India is its avowed enemy.

The liberal approach of giving Pakistan the status of most favoured nation has only invited more terror attacks on this country.

Though that MFN status has now been withdrawn, it is time India takes a relook at its Pakistan policy which is mostly reactive.

The creation of Bangladesh in 1971 changed the dynamics of the India-Pakistan relationship.

Only a similar development can once again change the status quo in the India Pakistan relationship.

This would dent Pakistani nuclear parity with India to a great extent and make its policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan less desirable.

Until that happens, there is no permanent peace for India.

Anand Kumar is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.
Last updated on: February 21, 2019 16:12 IST

'The bottom line is that disproportionate losses should be avoided at all cost and terrorists should be denied tactical successes that act as opium for them to become bold to achieve perceived victory.'

'This is a long war and instead of rushing to achieve quick success, the objective should be not to give any success to the terrorists in terms of casualties and freedom of movement.'

'Every soldier martyred by terrorists in combat is a moral victory for them,' says Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).

Photograph: PTI Photo IMAGE: Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhaundiyal 's wife Nitika Kaul and family members pay homage to the brave soldier who lost his life in the February 18 encounter with terrorists in Dehradun.

Forces took heavy losses in Pulwama encounter to avoid civilian casualties? Is it a benchmark and a precedence for future counter-terrorist operations?

If it is so, there is a serious flaw in the thinking and strategy being followed by the security forces in Kashmir.

When I took over the command of a Rashtriya Rifles unit, my first address to my men was, 'I do not want any of my soldier or officer to lay down his life for the country. I am not here to send you wrapped in the Tricolour'.

My Subedar Major almost fell off the chair and gave me a serious look, probably thinking what I as a new commanding officer was saying that we will not commit ourselves to lay down our lives for the nation.

With a little pause, I said, 'I want our enemies to die for their cause and their country. I want each one of you to live and fight for another day.'

There was pin drop silence, but the message was driven home that I value your lives and we have to fight by using our superior skills and precise intelligence, for which we had to prepare and work hard.

The bottom line is that disproportionate losses should be avoided at all cost and terrorists should be denied tactical successes that act as opium for them to become bold to achieve perceived victory.

This is a long war and instead of rushing to achieve quick success, the objective should be not to give any success to the terrorists in terms of casualties and freedom of movement.

Every soldier martyred by terrorists in combat is a moral victory for them.

The Pulwama encounter indeed has reversed the momentum of counter-terrorist operations and given moral victory to the terrorists due to the extremely high ratio of loss of lives in the suicide attack and the subsequent Pulwama encounter.

This is a 'long war' and the 'lone option' is to tire the terrorists and deny them a sense of victory by not losing men.

If security forces deny loss of lives of their own men, the terrorists will be frustrated with their own losses and are bound to commit more mistakes.

IMAGE: Soldiers at the site of the February 18 operation in Pinglan, Pulwama, south Kashmir, which left five soldiers and three Jaish e Mohammad terrorists dead.

The operation was conducted in an area 12 km from the February 14 terror attack on CRPF personnel which left 41 jawans dead.

Killing terrorists at great cost is our failure and their victory.

There can be no justification to lose men and there is no sense of achievement and pride to send coffins wrapped in the Tricolour back home. It is a loss and friction of own combat potential.

In any case, such heavy losses cannot be sustained.

If the military hierarchy does not question, citizens and soldiers will certainly question the wisdom of leadership and their planning of operations that are counter- productive.

The security forces must know that idea of terrorism cannot be killed by the gun. The security forces have neither the mandate nor capabilities to end terrorism or a socio-political conflict, their task is to supress the violence by use of legitimate force.

Force in any case is not a tool for conflict resolution or to redress the grievances. That mandate rests with the legislature and executive. But unfortunately both these agencies have abdicated their responsibilities with regard to conflict resolution and a 'baby dead on arrival' has been handed over time and again to the security forces.

Security and safety of men is a 'Superior Command Responsibility'. Letting men to display bravado and commit mistakes when there are other means available while operating under hostile environment is a 'Breach of Duty' and commanders at all level must correct this phenomenon.

Failure of commanders to implement the 'necessary and reasonable measures' is a serious breach of responsibility that cannot be condoned.

What are the lessons from this operation? Operational and strategic leadership should not micromanage tactical operations.

Let the Company Commanders, Commanding Officers and frontline soldiers operate in real time with a clear mission to act with deep sense of responsibility to cause maximum damage with minimum losses.

In counter-terrorist operations, men and tactical commanders cannot be given free run either to lose their own lives out of sheer bravado or use disproportionate force to cause collateral damages.

Tendency of commanders to rush in must be curtailed. Senior leadership should not demand results from the subordinate commanders, rather they should create conditions for men to achieve results.

The cornerstone of success of operations is intelligence and precise strikes without loss of lives of our soldiers.

Chasing shadows and violating standard operating procedures is a cardinal mistake that needs to be corrected.

The notion of 'Free Hand' also needs to be debunked because it is misleading and creates a perception that political leaders have done what they could do, it is failure of security forces and not theirs.

The security forces should not fall in a trap of 'Free Hand'. The rhetoric of 'Free Hand' has no locus standi in the eyes of the law.

Has the government made amendments to the Armed Forces Special Power Act to make the so-called 'Free Hand' condoned by the law?

Or signed a new directive of Status of Forces and Mandate for Operations?

No! not at all. Therefore, the security forces should not play to the gallery and rather act with conscience as a citizen first and soldiers later by upholding the ethics of soldiering.

There is no place for a soldier to indulge in unethical practices. A soldier must act under three circumstances.

First, act against those who wage war against the State, second, act against those who attempt to bring harm to the soldiers and third, act against those who obstruct the rule of law.

Soldiers are required to operate without prejudice of cast, creed, race and religion. Thus, there is no place for any action driven by sense of retribution.

Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd) is a Distinguished Fellow at the United Services Institute of India.
February 21, 2019 20:29 IST

However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling Modi brand of soft Hindutva and hard-sell nationalism garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.

IMAGE: DMK president M K Stalin interacting with voters in Tamil Nadu. Photograph: Courtesy, MK Stalin's Twitter page

With the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhaga quickly signing up a seat-sharing agreement with main ally Congress at the national-level on Wednesday, just a day after the ruling all India Anna DMK had patched up the pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party counterpart at the national-level and also the Vanniar-strong Pattali Makkal Katchi, Tamil Nadu is poised for a tough and interesting poll fight.

For now, the undecided DMDK of ailing actor-politician Vijaykant is holding up the final accord for both fronts, the party seeking parity with the PMK on the AIADMK front but with nothing substantial to seek from the rival DMK combine, though former state Congress president S Thirunavukkarasar has formally opened a line of communication.

The DMK-Congress seat-sharing was waiting to be tied up, but the PMK and DMDK sending out cross-signals to the two alliance leaders had held back a formal announcement.

With the PMK deciding to hitch its stars to the AIADMK-BJP combine, that left the DMK with that many seats to spare the Congress -- from an initial seven to 10, including the lone Puducherry UT seat, in a combined total of 40.

DMK president M K Stalin had sealed the alliance in principle when he unilaterally declared Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate. However, last-minute hitches did reportedly appear when party Rajya Sabha member and Stalins half-sister Kanimozhi commence seat-sharing talks with the Congress team in Delhi earlier in the week.

The problems reportedly arose when some Congress leaders from the state pressed for 15 seats after the PMKs exit, but a firm Stalin was seemingly ready to break up the talks. Better counsel prevailed when Kanimozhi had a second round of discussions with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Tuesday night, after the rival combine had inked the pact in Chennai and announced the same earlier in the day.

Stalins reported firmness may have been displayed behind the scenes. It however flowed from past experience, especially seat-sharing with the Congress partner in the UPA-2 government at the Centre, for the 2011 assembly polls in the state. Yielding to high-voltage pressure, ailing DMK president the late M Karunanidhi reportedly yielded 60-plus seats in the 234-member assembly to the Congress ally.

As the DMK complained post-poll, centred on the common 2G scam of the time, the Congress could not only win as many seats but also not transfer even available votes to the DMK and other alliance partners.

However, after the 2016 assembly polls, where the DMK allotted 41 seats to the Congress, of which it won only eight, Karunanidhi blamed the combines narrow defeat (supported by the 40-41 per cent vote-share in favour of ruling AIADMK under Jaya) on the poor performance of the Congress in particular.

If he was pointing a finger at Stalin for giving away so many seats to the Congress -- in the form of a tit-for-tat charge against the father from elections 2011 -- neither came out in public on that score.

Unlike in the past, when Congress high-level teams would meet with DMK counterparts in the latters Anna Arivalayam HQ, this time Stalin despatched Kanimozhi and former Union minister T R Baalu to Delhi instead.

For the average DMK cadre, Stalin leaving it to Kanimozhi to handle the partys Delhi affairs as only late cousin Murasoli Maran and the latters estranged son Dayanidhi Maran had done with the full confidence of the leadership, has come as a demonstrated reunion of the family -- leaving out older brother and former Union minister M K Azhagiri, of course.

Against this, the reported father-son differences within the PMK ally of the AIADMK-BJP combine was doing the rounds in select social media platforms until both showed up for alliance talks.

While AIADMK bosses, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, met with Ramadoss Sr at a five-star hotel in the city, son Anbumani Ramadoss was present at the pact-signing ceremony, shutting critics mouths on purported differences within the PMKs first family -- and also the party.

Even within the AIADMK, the so-called EPS and OPS factions seemed to have closed ranks, though in the final analysis the identification of constituencies for individual parties in the two alliances and the selection of candidates, especially in the respective coalition leader-party, will go a long way in determining the victory chances of individual candidates.

It is here that the DMDK seems to perceive itself as the deciding factor in individual constituencies. The temptation for the party to feel attracted towards the DMK than the AIADMK seemingly flows from the possible choice of constituencies.

For instance, the DMDK is said to be keen on getting Salem constituency in the western region for Vijaykants wife and party treasurer Premalatha to contest. The DMDKs alternative candidate for the seat is said to be Premalathas brother and party deputy general secretary L V Sutheesh.

On the other side, EPS hails from Salem district and the AIADMK would have problems palming off the constituency to any alliance partner, on purely political calculations and personal preferences. The DMK is said to be not having any such problems of the kind -- at least not as much as the AIADMK.

However, such concerns alone would not be influencing the DMDK alliance decision. Overall, the party still harps on the 14 seats that it had contested unsuccessfully in 2014 under the BJP-NDA combine. Prospective alliance partners are talking about the results, especially the polling figures.

Alliance interlocutors also seem to be touching a raw nerve in the form of the DMDKs assembly poll performance two years later, in 2016. At the time, not only did Vijaykant, a two-time MLA, lose in his chosen constituency. He lost his security deposit too, like all other party candidates when the DMDK headed a five-party combine.

The DMDK is not the only one playing truant. Smaller parties on either side of the electoral divide also seem to be pressuring the rival alliance leaderships with demands for a higher number of seats and also select constituencies.

The tendency in Dravidian Tamil Nadu especially has been for the alliance leaders to try and palm off insecure seats to smaller parties. In a way, even the identification of the constituencies is an indicator of the alliance leaders perception of various allies -- including national parties like the BJP and Congress, CPI and CPM. Less said about sub-regional parties like the PMK and MDMK, DMDK and VCK, the Dalit-strong party of former MP, Thol Thirumavalavan.

Here, the DMK is more likely to face tough demands from the Congress, and other prospective allies like the MDMK, the two communist parties and VCK, among others. The Congress itself has been reduced mostly to a party of generals, at constant wars with each other, over the past decades.

Though both the Congress and the ruling BJP rival at the Centre can only hope for five and three per cent vote-share in a good election, they have their own advantages for the respective alliance leaders.

For the AIADMK in 1998 and the DMK rival in 1999, the Vajpayee image contributed an additional five per cent vote-share across the state. In 2014, the Modi magic wasted it on the BJP-NDA, which still won two seats -- one each for the BJP (Pon Radhakrishnan, Kanyakumari) and the PMK (Anbumani Ramadoss, Dharmapuri).

The Congress does not have such a personality advantage vis-a-vis BJP for prospective allies. Instead, the raging perception is that minorities would gather only around those parties and candidates that would vote with and for the Congress, against the BJP rival at the national-level.

These apart, the DMK had itself failed with Stalin as mascot for over a decade when the choice of party candidates for both LS and assembly polls came in for a lot of criticism from the cadres. The voters just did not know many of the candidates, who were seen as last-minute imports from outside the constituency/district, some of them also with no real cadre connect either.

Against this, the Congress has one too many wounded veterans who refuse to yield electoral space to youngsters, which has also been a bane for the state party. This compares with some of the other states where too the party is not in power for long but still has been able to attract committed youth.

Yet, the Congress has the minorities vote-bank to offer against the BJP-NDA, more this time possibly against any time in the past. The tilting factor remains: Can the rivalling Modi brand of soft Hindutva and hard-sell nationalism garner more votes for the alliance than under Vajpayee or even in elections 2014, where the Lady factor won the day for AIADMK rival under Jayalalithaa?

There of course is the indeterminable Dhinakaran factor, which if made deep inroads into the parent AIADMKs vote-banks in any or many constituencies could favour the DMK rival, all the same. The added speculative question centres on the DMDKs decision.

If the party still insists on numbers than winnability, Dhinakarans AMMK seems to be the only option for the party -- but then, Vijaykant may have a lot to explain to cadres and voters alike, like the PMK before him, about purportedly compromising on corruption of the AIADMK variety, from the past and allegedly continuing still.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analysts, is director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
Source:

February 21, 2019 14:10 IST

'Most humble & amazingly knowledgable human being. Had a childlike curiosity.'

'I loved speaking to him for hours about goodness. He practiced it.'

IMAGE: Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan in Hum Aapke Hai... Koun!

Raj Kumar Barjatya, film-maker Sooraj Barjatya's father and the producer of Hum Aapke Hain... Koun!, Hum Saath-Saath Hain and Vivaah, passed away on Thursday, February 21, after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 75.

He passed away at 9.04 am at the Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, south Mumbai.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Rajshri Productions/Twitter

Rajshri Productions's Twitter handle confirmed his passing: 'It is with profound grief that we mourn the loss of Raj Kumar Barjatya, father of Sooraj Barjatya. May his soul Rest In Peace'.

The producer had complained of back pain and was taken to the hospital on Monday, an official from Rajshri Films told PTI.

Raj Kumar Barjatya is survived by wife Sudha and son Sooraj Barjatya.

Rajshri Productions, founded by Raj Kumar Barjatya's father Tarachand Barjatya, produced critically acclaimed films like Dosti, Tapasya, Saaransh among many others.

Hum Chaar, the studio's most recent film, released last week.

Madhuri Dixit, who starred in Hum Aapke Hain... Koun! tweeted her condolences: 'A warm soul and a person I'd always look up to. Deeply saddened by the demise of #RajKumarBarjatyaji.'

'Thank you for inspiring and guiding me through my journey. Condolences to @SoorajBarjatya and family. Hope you'll find the strength to grieve this loss'.

Anupam Kher, who made his debut with Saaransh, tweeted, 'Deeply saddened to know about the demise of #RajKumarBarjatyaji. Had known him since my 1st film #Saaransh.'

'Most humble & amazingly knowledgable human being. Had a childlike curiosity. I loved speaking to him for hours about goodness. He practiced it. Will miss him'.
February 21, 2019 11:56 IST

'Co-living is a phenomenon that is bound to strike the right chord with young people everywhere and India will lead the charge as the testing ground for all such ideas.'

Photograph: Kind courtesy OYO Rooms/Twitter

In a little over five years, OYO Hotels and Homes has become the biggest chain of leased and franchised hotel in the country.

It has invested more than $150 million in the Southeast Asian market and is fast increasing its footprint in the US and Europe markets.

In a conversation with Karan Choudhury, OYO Founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal lays out his plan for 2019.

What is the company's India expansion plan? Are your India operations profitable?

India continues to be one of our core markets with existing coverage spanning over 200-plus cities and host guests in over 8,700 properties in over 170,000 rooms.

OYO is 12 times the size of the second largest player.

We are a company that believes in forward-looking investments and is not chasing short-term profits.

We will, therefore, continue to invest aggressively in our home markets, India and China, and other high priority markets.

OYO India has witnessed a 3.5X revenue growth, reporting operating revenue of Rs 416 crore, compared to Rs 120 crore reported for FY17.

The revenue growth has been driven by strong underlying business drivers notably increase in exclusive room supply, two times increase in stayed room nights and consistent margin expansion.

The growth trend continues in FY19 with revenue estimates of Rs 1,400 crore.

What's next for India after OYO and OYO Living? Are you planning to get into co-working space as well?

Co-living is a phenomenon that is bound to strike the right chord with young people everywhere and India will lead the charge as the testing ground for all such ideas.

We are therefore betting big on OYO Living in India.

Separately, as part of our multi-brand strategy, we continue to identify and evaluate potential products and offerings that can help us achieve the objective of creating a perfect space in every place.

While we have a strong play in the real estate industry with OYO Home, OYO Living and our Weddingz.in and MICE offerings, we do not have any further announcements to make now.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Ritesh Agarwal/Twitter

The company has made some senior hires. Was it one of the demands of the investors?

When we think of expansion and senior international hires, we are actually thinking localisation.

For instance, entering China, the idea was not to be an Indian company that is moving into the market, but how a Chinese company would work and operate in the market.

'Distributed Leadership' helps expedite making decisions and retain top talent from the beginning.

At the pace at which we are growing, we are confident that we will be the world's most-preferred chain of hotels, homes and living spaces by 2023.

IMAGE: OYO Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal. Photograph: Kind courtesy Ritesh Agarwal/Twitter

You recently announced the launch of your operations in the Philippines. What is your international expansion plans?

We have launched with an initial presence in three cities and 500-plus rooms, which we are aiming to take to 10-plus cities and over 20,000 rooms by 2020.

We have committed an investment of $50 million in the market.

We are currently in eight countries around the world -- India, China, Malaysia, Nepal, the UK, UAE, Indonesia and more recently the Philippines.

Our expansion across India and international territories is backed by our strong operational capabilities and our ability to use technology to improve efficiencies at every touch point.

We are looking at the largest 15 to 20 markets of the world that are characterised by fragmented inventory, and the future looks bright as these are also the all-purpose markets like China and the UK.

Our goal in these markets is not just to capture a handsome market share, but to be bigger than the top three to four hotel chains combined.

We are in the early stages of rolling out our first OYO Townhouses in the US.

We see great opportunity in this market but also appreciate the competitive nature of franchising and uniqueness of the US.
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Earlier this month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward Markey released their ambitious proposal for a Green New Deal to urgently address concerns over climate change. What did the reaction to their proposal look like across Twitter, traditional mainstream news coverage and web searches?

Ocasio-Cortez has become the de facto face of the proposed policy, but she is not the first to generate Twitter buzz for a #GreenNewDeal. That honor goes to 2012 and 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

The timeline below shows the total number of tweets per day mentioning #GreenNewDeal or GreenNewDeal or Green New Deal from July 1, 2010 (the beginning of the data) through Feb. 17, 2019, using data from Crimson Hexagon.

The first slight bump from August 2012 through November 2012 largely centered on posts such as an Aug. 18, 2012 tweet from Stein in which she offered Our #GreenNewDeal will redirect research funds from fossil fuels to research in wind, solar & geothermal. Like? PLS RT. Mentions abruptly ended the day after the election.

Four years later, Stein managed to sustain Twitter conversation around the #GreenNewDeal for much of 2016 with a series of tweets criticizing fossil fuels, promoting the idea of job creation and noting the impact of climate change on minorities.

Once again, the Twitter conversation abruptly ended the day after the election.

Ocasio-Cortez is the latest to adopt the idea of a Green New Deal, resurrecting it as part of her campaign for Congress last year and adopting many of the same concepts and focal points as Steins proposal.

The graph below zooms in on the timeline above (from Nov. 1, 2018 through Feb. 17, 2019) and shows that the Twitter conversation did not begin immediately upon Ocasio-Cortezs election. Rather, it was her Nov. 13, 2018 occupation of Nancy Pelosis office that began sustained conversation about the Green New Deal, reminding us of the power of physical activism for propelling topics back into the national discourse.

Attention remained relatively steady until a GND press conference on Feb. 7, 2019, peaked the following day as the press, public and policymakers digested the proposal, and then has steadily decreased since.

The timeline below compares Twitter against worldwide online news coverage mentioning Green New Deal in the 65 languages monitored by the GDELT Project. Since there is a substantial difference between the number of daily tweets and the number of daily news articles, the timeline normalizes their volumes into a Z-Score that reports the number of standard deviations from the mean rather than raw counts, allowing the two to be plotted on the same graph by comparing their relative changes rather than absolute counts.

News media coverage appears to have overall followed a very similar trajectory to Twitter. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that Twitter barely registered the Jan. 3, 2019 announcement that the new House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis would not focus on the Green New Deal language favored by Ocasio-Cortez and others, though the news media covered it heavily. Given Ocasio-Cortezs fervent Twitter following, it is surprising that there was not more reaction to this snub.

Both the news media and Twitter covered Ocasio-Cortezs Feb. 7 press conference heavily, but both also show a rapid fading of coverage over the following week and a half.

The timeline below examines this reaction to the press conference in more detail, zooming in on the day before and two days after at hourly resolution (all times are Eastern Standard), using the same Z-Scores as before. To examine how all of this media and social attention influenced public interest, it also plots Google search volume on the same axis.

While Twitter is often described as being so fast that it beats the news, in this case the heavy promotion of the event and lack of specific details as to what would be announced meant media outlets spent much of Wednesday afternoon speculating. Twitter, on the other hand, largely remained silent until the day of the press conference.

It is also worth noting that 82 percent of the tweets above were actually retweets and 57 percent included a link, rising from 50 percent during the press conference to around 70 percent by the end of the week. This suggests that much of the Twitter commentary involved users simply forwarding information rather than offering their own perspectives.

From 7 to 8 a.m. the morning of the press conference, media outlets released a flurry of coverage commenting on their expectations and rehashing Democrats concerns about climate change.

The press conference itself led to a vertical surge of Twitter commentary that lasted from the presser itself through 9 p.m.

News coverage, on the other hand, peaked during the press conference as outlets published their live takes and reports, then decreased for several hours as they digested the details, before peaking again in the 6-7 p.m. hour with the final reporting of the day. News coverage actually increased over the following two days as the press digested the ramifications of the proposal, while Twitter and search interest largely trailed off.

Google searches began trending upward in the 5-6 a.m. hour as people woke up and looked for the latest news on that days press conference. Unlike news and social media, Google searches increased only slightly during the press conference itself. Instead, they steadily increased through a peak in the 9-10 p.m. hour. They also remained elevated through the night and did not reach a peak until the 8-9 a.m. hour the following day.

The slow buildup of search interest reflects the fact that the press conference, while important to climate activists, was not otherwise a major event. Interest largely grew organically through the day as people had time to check the news and when they got home from work that evening.

The difference between search interest and news and social attention also reminds us that there is a tremendous and underappreciated difference between the production and consumption of information. When we analyze public reaction to legislation, we typically measure production in the form of news coverage and social media posts. Consumption, in the form of web searches, tells us which aspects of those narratives actually resonated with the public.

The timeline below plots the Google Trends results for four purported themes of the Green New Deal proposal that received particular attention: restrictions on air travel, Universal Basic Income for those unwilling to work, farting cows and forcing citizens to drink their own urine. (Universal Basic Income and farting cows were found in the original FAQ published on Ocasio-Cortezs website but later deleted after proving controversial; the basis for the urine search is explained below.)

(Google Trends does not report the actual number of searches; instead it reports a score of 100 during the hour with the greatest number of searches and reports the remaining hours relative to that peak. To focus on their hourly timing, the four searches are displayed independently of each other in the graph below.)

Restrictions on air travel were the first of the four to generate substantial search interest, beginning around 5 a.m. and increasing sharply more than two hours before the press conference. Providing for those unwilling to work and cutting back on the number of cows in the country captured attention during the press conference. After the conference, the three received fairly similar attention.

The one outlier in the graph above is searches for urine drinking. In the hours after Ocasio-Cortez press conference, a hoax version of the proposal was circulated online that had been altered to claim that to conserve water, Americans would be required to drink their own urine. The fact that this topic appears so differently in the graph above suggests that it might be possible to identify future hoaxes by looking at how interest in them differs from related topics.

Putting this all together, we see a number of interesting trends. For scripted events like a political press conference, Twitter is not actually any faster in its coverage than news media and the two offer a very similar picture in terms of overall attention. However, much of the Twitter conversation in this case was limited to users forwarding links and other peoples tweets, rather than contributing their own thoughts. This suggests Twitters use as a mechanism for understanding popular reaction to policy events may be more limited than we have previously believed. Search volume grew slowly over time, reminding us of the difference between production and consumption of information. Search interest also allows us to see which narratives are resonating the most with the public.

In the end, perhaps the biggest takeaway is that despite social media increasingly becoming the tool du jour of the political class, the graphs above show that to truly understand reaction to legislative proposals, we still very much need to keep an eye on traditional news media and on search trends.
Patrick Caddell, who died over the weekend, was already a political legend when he came into my life five years ago. I was in the middle of a political campaign running as an independent for the U.S. Senate against a three-term Republican incumbent in Kansas. Our race was getting a lot of national attention, which piqued Pats interest. When we talked on the telephone it became clear that he shared my conviction that our system of government was leaving too many people behind and that we needed to re-empower average Americans. Pat came to Kansas to help me try to do that.

We have created in this country a dangerous income inequality that threatens the very existence of the middle class, which is an essential prerequisite for a Democracy like ours to prosper, he said. Yet from the two parties in Washington all we hear are platitudes and slogans.

I was taken with Pat immediately. He spoke with such passion and conviction about the American people. He never once asked to be paid for his time or his advice. He simply wanted to have a meaningful impact on the lives of people we felt were being neglected. He helped me find my voice.

Although known as a pollster with remarkable analytical abilities, at his core Pat was a student of U.S. history. He had a contrarians fondness for some of our lesser-known Founding Fathers. I wonder if he saw himself in the portraits of those men who shaped American history but whose own legacies were obscured by others whose lights shone brighter. And whatever his ambitions as a young Democrat who helped put Jimmy Carter in the White House, the Pat Caddell I was fortunate to get to know didnt want attention. He didnt seem particularly interested in fame and fortune.

A regular on Fox News in recent years, he used the platform to talk about what Americans were really thinking. He had spent decades studying voter attitudes and realized that the electorate was feeling more and more alienated from their government. As he wrote to me in October of 2014:

Three-quarters of American voters believe that their children and grandchildren will not have a life as prosperous or better than that of our generation. In itself, that constitutes the undoing of the sacred social contract that is at the very foundation of the American Idea. Finally, a solid majority of American voters believe that even if you work hard and play by the rules a person will still not be able succeed in our country today. That is the death rattle of the American Dream.

Pat wanted to give voice to those Americans who felt left behind.

I was reminded of this nearly two years ago, while Pat and I took an Uber together in Chicago. It was about a 10-minute trip. Our conversation was interrupted by a FaceTime call to my daughter. At the end of the ride, our driver asked if Pats last name was Caddell. When Pat confirmed his identity, the driver couldnt contain himself. He told Pat how much he admired and loved him, his words breaking up as he choked back his emotions. Pat understood his struggles. He spoke to him. He spoke for him.

Despite whats been written, Pat wasnt a particular fan of our current president. In fact, he lamented both choices the major parties gave America. He wrote in June of 2016:

There is a crisis of legitimacy threatening the 2016 election. As the primary process wraps up, it appears that the electorate will be offered the choice between two candidates who have the highest unfavorability ratings in the history of American presidential elections. With the middle class under siege from stagnant wages and rising costs of living, our entitlement programs on an unsustainable path, and systemic corruption infecting our politics, a majority of Americans are shaking their heads in disbelief that these are our only choices.

Caddell was convinced that we needed to profoundly shake up our political system. He believed it no longer served the American people but was a self-perpetuating system that existed for the benefit of the insiders. As he put it, The great majority of voters are frustrated with the self-dealing corruption of the political ruling class: incumbent politicians, lobbyists, the Washington media, big business, big banks, big unions, and big special interests. Pat wanted to change that. Yet at the same time, he still believed America was the exceptional nation and had the ability to lift up the world if we stayed true to our ideals. However, he was concerned that our great nation had lost its way.

For too much and too long, the political class, Democrats and Republicans both, has turned the foundational principals of American Democracy on its head: acting as if the American people are the servants and that they themselves are the peoples masters. To preserve this perversion, they lull us with political theater, demoralize us with cynicism, use fear to divide us one from another  all the while trying to bribe us with false promises. They no longer ask the American people for their patriotism or idealism, or their sacrifice, but ask only their price.

Over the past five years, Pat had come to Kansas many times. Hes stayed in our home, filling it with his booming voice. The animal-shaped magnets that he brought for our oldest daughter still decorate our dishwasher. He had an immediate effect on her and was always the recipient of endless hugs. Ill never forget her as a 2-year-old walking over to Pat as he was standing alone at her preschool program, taking his hand, and walking him back to where she was sitting. At that point, Pat had only met her once, but she already felt like he was part of the family and didnt want him to stand alone.

Patrick Hayward Caddell died in his native South Carolina, was educated at Harvard, and made it in Hollywood after moving to California during one of his periodic bouts of disillusionment with politics. But its fitting that he felt so at home in Kansas, Americas Heartland.

A quote often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson defines a successful life this way: He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earths beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.

It was not actually Emerson who wrote these words. It was a Kansan named Bessie A. Stanley, the wife of a state legislator, in 1905. I think Pat would have liked her  and I imagine he would have explained to her husband how he could become governor. By every one of Bessie Stanleys measures, Pat Caddell was not only successful, but he also left an indelible mark on America, modern American politics, and the lens through which many view the world. The American people lost a true advocate on Saturday. He was a friend who will be deeply missed.
Before the 2016 presidential race, Bernie Sanders exuded some charm as an unapologetic lefty with a Brooklyn accent. But when his campaign gained traction, the authoritarian took over. Unwilling to concede that Democratic primary voters preferred Hillary Clinton to him -- she had amassed nearly 4 million more votes -- he continued to undermine her all the way up to the party convention. Without a doubt, he helped elect Donald Trump.

Recall this scorched-earth attack, at a rally when Clinton had all but clinched the nomination: "Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?"

It happens that those speeches didn't include anything particularly supportive of Wall Street's goals. As a senator, she continually voted against its interests. But she did represent New York, where the financial industry is a major employer and provides the biggest payroll. As a senator from Vermont, Sanders routinely voted money for Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets, a $1.5 trillion boondoggle. Why? Because the F-35 program was employing a lot of Vermonters.

Sanders is no stranger to hypocrisy. Last summer, he praised the Democratic National Committee for greatly reducing the power of superdelegates -- powerful Democrats who can back any candidate, regardless of how the people vote. But in 2016, when it became clear that he was losing the nomination, Sanders beseeched the superdelegates to ignore the voters and support him instead.

Dismissing the will of the people is a Bernie specialty. No one can forget the Nevada Democratic state convention, held after Clinton had won the Nevada caucuses by a comfortable margin. The "Bernie bros" erupted, shouting the C-word at the women running the event. That included its chairwoman, who also received death threats against her and her grandchild.

Forced by circumstances to issue a statement, Sanders didn't condemn the violence until the third paragraph -- and that was quickly followed by a "but" that, in Trumpian fashion, blamed both sides. (We note that the statement has been removed from the official Sanders campaign website.)

The Sanders base has always been heavily weighted in the white gentry. African-Americans, on the other hand, tend to distrust him -- and for good reasons. During the early primaries, he waved off his losses in the Southern states, with their large black electorates, as not mattering.

It didn't help that his top black surrogate, academic Cornel West, had called Barack Obama "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

There was always a racial undercurrent in the 1960s migration of many New York liberals to Vermont, an overwhelmingly white state with moderate politics. Racial tensions in the city were high, and black militants were not so keen to sit at the knees of white intellectuals and be told what was what. Up in Burlington, white liberals could safely sit in cafes and talk radicalism to one another into the night. Sanders became one of them.

Why Democrats let Sanders, an independent, drop by when he needs their services while they do all the hard work has long been a mystery. While seeking re-election to the Senate last year, Sanders briefly joined the party to run for the nomination as a Democrat. (That way, he could keep a real Democrat off the November ballot.) Once he won, he refused the nomination, allegedly to preserve his independence. Independence from what, a differing opinion?

We shouldn't care that Sanders is old, white and male. And some of his ideas are good. Problem is, he lost his moral authority in the 2016 election of Trump. It should be over for him.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM
Does the bolt of eight members of Parliament from the British Labour Party out of frustration with its left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, have anything to teach Democrats in the United States?

There's a case for saying no, since Corbyn is well to the left of anyone bidding to lead the Democratic Party. That would include Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist who announced Tuesday that he's again seeking the presidency. The independent from Vermont is a lefty for sure, but his worldview is rooted in less radical forms of socialism than Corbyn's, and his foreign policy views are somewhat more conventional than the Labour leader's.

Competing with Sanders for support from the democratic left is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She proudly insists that she's a capitalist, a boast that would make Corbyn shudder.

Moreover, a core beef of the center-left British rebels has to do with Corbyn's handling of Brexit, an issue that -- mercifully -- the United States does not have to deal with.

Most Labour Party moderates, and the vast majority of its members, want their leadership to push hard for a second referendum to reverse the country's narrow 2016 decision to leave the European Union. But Corbyn is well-known to be, at best, ambivalent about membership in the EU (he opposed it in the past as a capitalist club) and has, up to now, not made a second referendum central to his strategy.

Corbyn's critics like to say he's had a "bad Brexit," by which they mean that he has failed to take advantage of Prime Minister Theresa May's chaotic performance. Her complex approach to leaving the EU has suffered one parliamentary defeat after another and split her Conservative Party.

Indeed, the revolt of the pro-Europe center broadened on Wednesday when three Conservative MPs quit their own party to join the new Independent Group.

Yet Corbyn-led Labour has not opened anything like the large advantage in the polls that an opposition ought to have in these circumstances.

A particular flashpoint is Corbyn's lack of real energy or clarity in confronting an outbreak of left-wing anti-Semitism. This was the prime motivation behind MP Luciana Berger's decision to leave the party. Berger, who is Jewish, has been treated barbarously by some on the "Brocialist" left.

"I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic," Berger said. On Tuesday, an eighth Labour parliamentarian, Joan Ryan, joined the flight, citing a "culture of anti-Jewish racism" in the party she's belonged to for four decades.

So why should Democrats in the United States care about any of this?

Begin with the fact that Labour and the Democrats have historically had a lot in common as reformist center-left parties. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were close allies in creating a middle-of-the-road politics that sought to accommodate the left to the market rhythms of the Reagan and Thatcher Eras. Blair's "New Labour" in the mid-1990s echoed Clinton's "New Democrats" from a few years earlier.

But the "neo-liberalism" the left associates with Clinton and Blair came under fierce progressive assault after the 2008 economic implosion for being too financier-friendly, insufficiently attentive to rising inequality, and too confident in the benefits of free trade and deregulation. The backlash in Britain was particularly vigorous in response to Blair's strong support for President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Again, whatever Republicans may claim, Democrats are a long way from embracing Corbynism. But the bitterness of the growing divide between the left and center-left in Britain is a warning of how debilitating intra-progressive strife could become in Congress and in the 2020 primaries.

Given that the defeat of Donald Trump is the absolutely necessary first step toward a more humane politics, more moderate and more adventurous Democrats can ill afford to concentrate their fire on each other. The stakes are too high for self-indulgent sectarianism.

And differences in approach over how to guarantee everyone health coverage or how to fight climate change are less important than agreeing that both problems are urgent and need solving. Remembering that your opponents would prefer to do nothing at all on these issues is a good way to put such disagreements into perspective.

It's an irony of recent Labour Party history that both Blair and Corbyn invoked a commitment to stand up for "the many, not the few" as the battle cry of their very different campaigns. Nothing makes the privileged few happier than a left that becomes too maximalist to win, and then tears itself apart.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
Yes, the Green New Deal Is Audacious. But We Have No Choice But to Think Big.

WASHINGTON -- Who's afraid of the Green New Deal? I'm not. It's ambitious, aspirational, improbable, impractical -- almost as audacious as putting a man on the moon. We used to be able to think big. Let's do it again.

Since the 14-page resolution was introduced in Congress last week by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., critics have been falling over themselves to denounce the Green New Deal's policies as prohibitively expensive, totally unworkable or somehow Venezuelan. If those opponents would stop shouting long enough to actually read the document, they'd see that it's not a compendium of concrete policies at all, but rather a set of goals.

And they are the right goals. The Green New Deal seeks to outline a national project for our time -- not just a response to a grave environmental threat, but a framework for enhanced growth, opportunity and fairness.

The laudable aim is to play offense, not defense, in the fight to limit climate change. We are going to have to wage that battle one way or another. Why not do it on our terms, before Miami slips underwater and the yet-unburned parts of California go up in flames?

The best historical analogy is not the New Deal but World War II, when mobilization of the nation's vast productive capacity not only defeated Germany and Japan but also generated unprecedented domestic economic growth, hugely expanding the middle class. Once again, the planet faces a dire threat. Once again, the United States can help lead the world to victory.

It's a massive overreach, critics of the Green New Deal say. But any effort to address climate change that is commensurate with the scale of the problem is going to look like an overreach. Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases -- the cause of global warming -- are beginning to level off, but they need to start falling, and fast, if we are to spare our grandchildren and great-grandchildren an ecological nightmare.

Can we really shift entirely to clean energy sources within 10 years, as the resolution pledges? Well, certainly not if we don't try. In 1961, when JFK announced the goal of sending an American to the moon and back by the end of the decade, NASA scientists had only a vague idea how to do such a thing. They figured it out, and succeeded in 1969.

Breakthroughs will be needed, for example, in solar energy technology and battery storage. Why should China -- now the world's biggest producer of solar panels -- be allowed to make these innovations and reap the resulting economic benefits? Why not the United States?

It's too expensive, naysayers complain. They point to a clause in the resolution that calls for "upgrading all existing buildings in the United States" to make them more energy-efficient. That sounds absurd -- until you remember the massive blackout drills that took place across the country during World War II. People participated. It was their patriotic duty.

Windows, roofs, doors, appliances -- all have to be replaced every once in a while, and all can be made less wasteful of energy. And as for goals such as making sure every American has "high-quality health care" and "affordable, safe and adequate housing," well, those have been Democratic Party positions for a very long time.

Acting alone would be pointless, skeptics say. Indeed, China is now by far the world's biggest carbon emitter, with the United States second and India a fast-rising third. What would be the point of going to great effort to reduce U.S. emissions while others just burn more coal?

Think about it, though. We are, after all, the second-biggest emitter, which means that any substantial reduction would indeed have measurable impact. Also, officials in China and India, unlike those in the Trump administration, understand and accept the conclusions of climate scientists. China may be adding coal-fired power plants, but it is also making massive investments in clean energy. Do you really want Beijing to lead the way into the future? Shouldn't it be Washington?

That's a rationale for the Green New Deal that the Make America Great Again crowd should embrace. If you believe in American exceptionalism, you believe that the United States has a duty to lead at moments of crisis. This is such a moment.

Look at the big picture. Unless you deny the science of climate change, you have to believe that we need to take bold action. Stop all the nitpicking. Enough with the posturing. Let's talk about what to do.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
It doesnt get much bigger than attacking the home of democracyparliament houseand a countrys major political parties only months out from a federal election.

In his statement on these attacks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there was no evidence of electoral interference. But elections aside, there is a much broader question here about what these attacks might mean.

By being caught with its hands squarely in the cookie jar, this sophisticated state actor guaranteed that its actions would garner global media attention. It has also, likely unintentionally, placed itself smack in the middle of an ongoing public debate about foreign interference in Australia.

Lets cut to the chase, Chinese state intelligence was probably involved in the breach. This was a sophisticated attack that used a suite of new malware and techniques thatat the timewerent detected by almost all malware-detection software. Building a new toolset of this type takes considerable time and effort, and although Russia, North Korea, Iran and Israel undoubtedly have the capability, Australia is simply not a high enough priority for those countries to expend their finite cyber espionage resources on this kind of advanced attack. The Chinese state, however, has the motive, the capability and an extensive track record.

But we will only know who is responsible for the attacks if the government chooses to tell us, and thats where things get tricky.

The Australian government has been reluctant to name and shame states engaged in cyber operationswhat is known as attribution. It has formally blamed Russia several times for malicious cyber behaviour that hasnt involved obvious Australian interests, but has named China only once. In that December 2018 attribution, which occurred after Chinese hacking in Australia that affected industry, universities and think tanks, the government focused on the theft of intellectual property for commercial gain and was drawing a distinction between acceptable intelligence that seeks to uncover government or military secrets and unacceptable intelligence for commercial advantage.

It is also notable that this formal attribution was conducted collectively with many other affected countries. Safety in numbers matters when Chinas approach to international engagement is taking an increasingly coercive and vengeful tone. And lets face it, while it may not be effective in dissuading further attacks, remaining silent is often the more palatable option from a political and diplomatic perspective.

So the first prerequisite for the Australian government to formally name the attacker would be for its purpose to have been unacceptable espionage. In parliament and political parties there wouldnt be much commercially valuable intellectual property at stake, but perhaps this attack could be a form of foreign interference?

Its clear that this act of cyber espionage isnt, in and of itself, an act of foreign interference. Intelligence, at least in Western countries, is typically used to gain insights and to inform our government positions and plans. From this perspective, the highest priority targets would be government departments and ministers, but its not hard to imagine how information about the powerbrokers and personalities of parliament could be used to refine and hone a foreign governments posture and diplomatic approach.

Another possibility that doesnt involve foreign interference is that the hacker was after our political parties campaign databases. There is already good evidence that Chinese state intelligence is hoovering up large datasets to enhance its intelligence-gathering and counter-intelligence efforts. If Chinese state intelligence was behind this attack, its possible that these comprehensive campaign databases could be a useful addition to the data they have already collected.

It is worrying, however, that the Liberal, Labor and National parties were targeted. The more that intelligence-gathering extends beyond government and parliament, the less likely it is that any intelligence gained will provide any insight into official government positions, and the more useful it would be for interference activities.

One way this espionage could be used for foreign interference isas seen in the 2016 US presidential electionthrough the release of stolen campaign emails to damage a particular party or candidate and sway public opinion. But this tactic is now embedded in the public consciousness and our political parties and media could well respond in a way that is detrimental to the attacker.

But a far subtler, more covert, and much more difficult to detect form of foreign interference could be the use of the stolen information to identify politicians and staffers who may be susceptible to influence, enable future relationships with them and find points of leverage that might convince, cajole or coerce them into a supportive position. An in-depth understanding of our political parties and the machinations of parliamentthe exact targets of this hackwould be far more helpful in enabling this kind of interference than it would be in illuminating our official decision-making processes.

Forensic investigation of these breaches is difficult and time-consuming, and the attacker took active steps to hide its tracks. The investigation is in its early stages, and the culprit may never be officially identified, but knowing what was stolen will be key to formulating a response and preparing for any interference that may occur in the future.

This attack may never be classified as electoral interference, but the very public statements made by Morrison in parliamentthe scene of the crimemake it unlikely that it will be brushed under the carpet. While the short-term focus is on securing the systems in parliament and our political parties, we also need to face the far more difficult, long-term task of protecting our political systems and democracy from undue influence.
Russia Will Target U.S. With New Weapons If It Deploys Missiles to Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking during his state-of-the-nation address Wednesday, warned that Russia will aim new hypersonic missiles at the U.S. should it deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

Russia's new Zircon missiles, which Putin claimed fly at nine times of the speed of sound and have a range of 620 miles, are part of its ongoing effort to upgrade its defensive capabilities against what it regards as an increasingly hostile U.S.
SPAIN: French national passenger operator Voyages SNCF has registered the Rielsfera trademark and appointed a legal practice in Barcelona with a view to establishing a train operating business in Spain.
Associate dean of crisis management Steven Yeagley presents to student senators about the student of concern reporting program.
Allan MacDougall, cofounder and former CEO of Vancouver's Raincoast Books, has died. He was 71. Born in Montreal, MacDougall started in book publishing in 1972, beginning with McClelland and Stewart in Toronto, where he served first as a sales representative and then as sales manager. He then moved to Vancouver, joining Mark Stanton in launching Stanton and MacDougall Ltd., a publisher rep group. The business partners then co-founded Raincoast Book Distribution in 1979; MacDougall became CEO in 1998, a position he held until his retirement in 2010.

Under MacDougall's leadership, Raincoast became Canada's largest book distributor and wholesaler, and had several notable achievements, including becoming the Canadian publisher of the Harry Potter series, which sold 12 million copies in Canada.

Throughout his career, MacDougall was involved in several other aspects of publishing, including serving on the faculty and steering committee of the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University, and on the boards of D&M Publishers for15 years and the Vancouver Public Library for 12 years.

"Allan we will miss you always," John Sawyer, current CEO of Raincoast Books, said in a statement announcing MacDougall's passing. A date for a memorial will be announced soon.
Germany was the guest of honor at the 27th edition of the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), which ended its six-day run on February 17. The contingent, exhibiting under the German Stories pavilion, included 14 childrens publishing houses. PW spoke with four of these publishers to learn more about what they were pitching at TIBE, the titles they have sold to Taiwan, and their perspectives on the Taiwanese childrens book market.

arsEdition

Picture books and childrens literature took center stage for arsEdition at TIBE. We have a wide range of board books but rising production costs have made some formats such as touch-and-feel unworkable for a smaller market like Taiwan, said foreign rights manager Mathilda Deroubaix, who was in Taipei with rights director Gaelle Toquin. The company has sold more than 50 titles to Taiwanese publishers: Isabel Abedis Silly Goat, Stupid Goose, for instance, is on its third recontract with Commonwealth Education, while Bobbles, the Little Bumblebee by Britta Sabbag, Maine Kelly, and illustrator Joelle Tourlonias (300,000 copies of various formats sold in Germany) is set to captivate a new generation of young Taiwanese readers.

China and Taiwan are arsEditions major markets in Asia, said Deroubaix, adding that her companys biggest market outside of Germany is Scandinavia. In general, Taiwanese publishers are very careful in their title selection, she said, taking considerable time in thinking through every aspect of the production and marketing processes, which means that they are totally invested in each title that is chosen and are working hard to ensure its success. And if previously the publishers were into educational titles, they are now much more receptive to a wider range of themesbut remain partial to stories with moral values. At TIBE, many visitors to the arsEdition stand were drawn to Thorsten Saleinas witty four-title lift-the-flap series (Whos Going to the Loo?/Whose Animal Butt Is This?/Splish Splash/The Cow Makes Mooooo), which was already sold to China and nine other countries.

Carlsen

Carlsen, one of Germanys biggest childrens book houses, had a great year in Taiwan. Among the 40 titles that were sold was Margit Auers middle grade series the School of Magical Animals, of which the Traditional Chinese edition was just launched by Weber Publications, whose German-speaking editor makes the evaluation and translation process a lot easier and faster). At this years TIBE, foreign rights manager Sylvia Schuster was recommending to publishers Charlotte Habersacks quirky series Please Dont Open, Anca Sturms trilogy the Worlds Express, and Marc-Uwe Klings picture book The Day Grandma Broke the Internet. Single titles of all types work here, and since about 70% of our list are singles, this market is a great fit for us, said Schuster, who works directly with publishers as well as through agents, adding that Carlsen is the biggest graphic novel publisher in Germany and we translated all kinds of French comics. But this market still prefers Japanese and Korean styles and authors. Maybe there will be a market for us in this segment in the near future.

Well-prepared, less concerned about selling massive quantities than acquiring quality content, and very professional were the descriptions Schuster used for the editors and publishers she met at TIBE and worked with in Taiwan. The number of German-speaking Taiwanese editors was a nice surprise to her. What I see is that this market, despite the shared language, culture, and history, is not at all the same as China, and there are great opportunities for rights sales here even though the market is so much smaller. For Schuster, TIBE remains a good fairaccessible and manageableand she is already looking forward to her next visit.

Loewe Verlag

This 150-year-old company, Germanys fifth-largest publisher of childrens and YA books, was back at TIBE after a 10-year hiatus. Rights deals had picked up recently, and we thought that it was a good time to return and establish new contacts while strengthening existing relationships, said foreign rights manager Ching-hui Chen, who sold Dagmar Geislers Emotional Education picture book series (with My Body Belongs to Me and I Wont Go with Strangers among the 13 titles) to Weber Publications last year. We made contact with many small Taiwanese publishers for the first time last year, and we have sold more than 30 titles already. It is refreshing to see how open-mindedand bravethese publishers are in trying new ideas, said Chen, who has received an offer for Karl Olsbergs artificial intelligence-centric YA trilogy (Boy in a White Room/Girl in a Strange Land/Boy in a Dead End), which is a Speigel bestseller that has been nominated for the German YA Literature Prize.

Taiwanese publishers, Chen added, are not just chasing after bestsellers. They are focused on finding the right titles that work for their publishing program and readers. For instance, they are interested in the A Guide to... series on fundamental knowledge and ethics that has titles on migration and integration, and human rights and democracy as well as publications on current events and issues. The latter has seen her actively promoting Sabine Zetts Collins Rocks: Becoming What All Girls and Boys Dream OfInfluencers!, which targets budding YouTubers and is already translated into Dutch, Korean, and Turkish, and Annette Mierswas Instagirl, which addresses issues related to the use of social media such as cyber-bullying and self-esteem. This being a stable market but one with fast-changing demands and preferences means that we have to remain attentive and innovative at all times, Chen said.

Thienemann-Esslinger

When international sales director Ivana Bernhard first visited TIBE in 2012, the e-book hype had just reached Taiwans shores and whispers of the death of print were getting louder. Today, we see the attention going back to print and print sales of childrens books continuing to grow, which is of course great news for the whole industry, said Bernhard, who has been in rights sales for more than 20 years. (The number of childrens titles in the Taiwanese book market has increased by at least 10% annually since 2016.)

Taiwan is a good market for picture books, Bernhard pointed out. We have sold quite a number of picture books here. In fact, Weber Publications has just translated Lev Kaplans Eisbjorn. Those we sold are doing great, and the standard of picture books is much higher here due to the sophistication of the market, added Bernhard, who was pitching bestselling author Oliver Scherzs middle grade fiction series A Friend Like No Other and Sabine Bohlmans A Day at the Hairdresser to booth visitors. But this market is also more difficult since children do not read as much due to their focus on school assignments and their tendency to read mostly to pass examinations. Having said that, Taiwan remains an importantand growingmarket for Thienemann-Esslinger.
The 27th edition of the Taipei International Book Exhibition, which wrapped up its six-day run on February 17, hosted 735 publishing houses and had a roster of more than 1,000 events to promote reading and book-related activities. Weve rounded up a selection of photo highlights from the fair. All photos by Teri Tan.

Parents with strollers were a familiar sight in Hall 3, which was designated the childrens pavilion. Dual-career Taiwanese couples are known to spend a large portion of their discretionary income on educational materials and edutainment products for their children.

Scenes like thisof parents reading to their childrenwere commonplace throughout the fair, especially in Hall 3.

An installation to promote Jimmy Liaos latest title, Sometimes, Sometimes, at Locus Publishings booth. Liao is Taiwans most popular author-illustrator, whose booksincluding All of My World Is You, The Sound of Colors, The Blue Stone, and When the Moon Forgothave been translated by more than 176 publishers around the world.

Author-illustrator Peggy Nille chatting and signing her latest book, De A a Z (published by Editions Nathan) at the France pavilion.

Children were captivated by Jon Agees sneaky and silly story, Life on Mars, at one of the many storytelling sessions.

A publishing assistant handselling and guiding two mothers on the best ways to use a picture book. This is one of the methods employed by many Taiwanese childrens book publishers to cultivate a loyal clientele and promote related products.

This years fair coincided with the start of the new school semester, and a special initiativeSpring Semester Starts at TIBEinvited student groups (and their teachers) from primary and secondary schools to join the fun of reading.

The Roaming in Fantasy virtual reality exhibit offered participants a thrilling experience of Taiwans motorcycle traffic scene.

A new generation met old technology at the German pavilion, German Stories, where several typewriters were installed. Children were encouraged to leave their messages or thoughts about German books or anything related to Germany. In most cases, they left simple messages in German with help from pavilion volunteers.

Kindergartners and their teacher waiting to enter the German pavilion to check out picture books on display.
The Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) conference, March 28 to 30, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will focus on women in the field and highlight five keynote speakers. Wendy Nather, head of the Advisory CISO team at Duo Security, Cisco, is one of those speakers.

WiCyS is a unique conference that focuses on recruiting, retaining, inspiring and advancing women in cybersecurity careers while also including students, educators, industry, government, military and research organizations.

Nather comes with a list of impressive credentials and will talk on Friday, March 29, 1:20 p.m., about Solving for the Security Poverty Line. Her keynote will dive into the security problems faced by organizations that do not have full IT capabilities. The dynamics of cybersecurity are complex and will need engagement by the entire community to address them.

Nather regularly speaks on topics such as risk analysis, societal and privacy issues, threat intelligence, incident response, identity and access management as well as data security. Although she works at Duo Security, she has been the research director at the Retail ISAC and was research director of the Information Security Practice at the independent analyst firm 451 Research. She led IT security for the EMEA region of the investment banking division of Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) and served as CISO of the Texas Education Agency.

In addition to her work, Nather has co-authored The Cloud Security Rules. In 2014, she was named one of SC Magazines Women in IT Security Power Players. In 2018, she earned the Reboot Leadership Award as an Influencer.

Her talk will lay out certain problems and challenges facing society. For organizations that dont have full IT capabilities, the cascading effects include security. It is not just a matter of providing cheap or free security software, or scanning and scolding until regulators step in. The dynamics in cybersecurity are more complex and need focused efforts from the entire community.

For more information on keynote speakers or the conference, visit http://www.wicys.org.

About Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS)

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is the premier organization with national reach dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry for knowledge sharing, experience, networking and mentoring. Established in 2013 by Dr. Ambareen Siraj from Tennessee Tech University through a National Science Foundation grant, WiCyS is a nonprofit organization offering many membership, sponsorship and collaboration benefits. The organizations founding partners are Cisco, Facebook and Palo Alto Networks. WiCyS strategic partners include Facebook, Fidelity Investments, IBM, Lockheed Martin, SANS Institute, the Security Industry Association, PayPal and Target. The WiCyS Conference is an excellent opportunity for companies to connect with women candidates to recruit them into cybersecurity jobs.
We view financial education as a central responsibility for high schools, and finEDge is purpose-built to guide educators and students through key aspects of the financial system, said Andy Isaacs, director at UChicago STEM Education.

The Magnetar Capital UChicago Financial Education Initiative today launched finEDge, a single-semester program designed to prepare high school students to navigate financial decisions with confidence. Instead of simply delivering information and facts, finEDges fresh approach to financial education focuses on developing students financial attitudes and behaviors. The program prepares students to navigate financial decisions with confidence.

finEDge builds on the momentum of Magnetar Academy, a successful high school financial education curriculum developed by the Magnetar Capital Foundation in 2012 and taught in 700 Chicago-area high school classrooms. In 2016, the Foundation donated $5 million to UChicago STEM Education, originating a partnership to scale financial education across the United States. The finEDge program is a product of this collaboration and is currently being piloted in 10 states.

Several studies report that more than half of 18-24-year-olds wish theyd taken a personal finance course in high school. The Magnetar Capital UChicago Financial Education Initiative designed finEDge to meet this demand.

When students leave high school, whether theyre headed to college or right into the workforce, their financial responsibilities change, said Andy Isaacs, director at UChicago STEM Education, where the initiative is housed. We view financial education as a central responsibility for high schools, and finEDge is purpose-built to guide educators and students through key aspects of the financial system.

Field tested across a wide range of schools with diverse groups of students, finEDge encourages teaching in the way that students learn bestthrough exploration, application and reflection. The curriculum addresses access and barriers to financial success, recognizing that the financial system provides students with different choices and opportunities.

finEDge is special, in part, because it honors the fact that students come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, said Alec Litowitz, founder and CEO of Magnetar Capital. Every student can benefit from the coursework, regardless of their familys current financial circumstances, taking with them knowledge, and skills that will have a positive impact on the rest of their lives.

To learn more about finEDge, visit http://finedge.uchicago.edu/.

About the Magnetar Capital UChicago Financial Education Initiative

Established in 2016, the partnership between UChicago STEM Education and the Magnetar Capital Foundation aims to develop the tools, resources and capacity to scale financial education across the United States, preparing students to be critical consumers in a complex, ever-changing marketplace. A product of the initiative, finEDge is a research-based financial education curriculum that provides students with opportunities to develop positive behaviors and practice making financial decisions. The initiative advocates for a single-semester of financial education in every high school nationwide.
Healthfuse, the industry leader in managing and sourcing revenue cycle vendors for hospitals and health systems, will present at the Southeast regional HFMA Dixie Institute on February 24-27, at the Renaissance Riverview Hotel in Mobile, AL. Nicholas Fricano, chief executive officer of Healthfuse will moderate a panel exploring the trends related to bending the cost curve, consumerism and innovation and their impact on the hospital revenue cycle and how technology and advanced analytics can address these trends in a manner that is beneficial to both patient and provider.

The rapid pace of change and ability to compete and innovate are among the biggest challenges hospitals revenue cycle professionals face, says Fricano. Bringing revenue cycle leaders together to provide actionable revenue cycle strategies will give attendees key takeaways they can apply to their organizations.

In addition to moderator Fricano, other panelists are:



Ian Stewart-SVP of Revenue Cycle Operations at R1 RCM

Terri Meier-System Director, Patient Revenue Cycle at UC San Diego Health

Cheri Kane-VP of Revenue Cycle at Community Health System

Mike Wilson-Director of Business Services at DCH Health System

A recent Healthfuse survey found in reviewing more than two billion hospital accounts, hospitals are increasingly dependent on vendors to help manage a myriad of revenue cycle processes. While the goal is increased efficiencies, lower costs and improved collections, a full 64 percent of hospitals report being dissatisfied or unsure about their vendors performance. The survey also found that nationally, 50.7 percent of vendors are non-compliant with best practices, regulations or service level agreements (SLAs).

About HealthFuse

Healthfuse works with over 90 hospitals and health systems to provide revenue cycle vendor management services that reduce cost and increase collection performance of revenue cycle vendors. Its automated auditing solution for all hospital account collection provides clients with a 24/7 approach to improving the efficiency of all vendor functions and processes by eliminating variability. Healthfuse guides hospitals and health systems as they create a viable, sustainable vendor structure that increases outputs and saves money. http://healthfuse.com

About HFMA Dixie Institute

The 50th Annual HFMA Region V Dixie Institute is one of the oldest, longest running conferences in HFMA. In 201, Dixie returns to where it all began in 1969, Mobile, AL. HFMA Region V Chapters include: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. The 38,000-member Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) helps healthcare leaders achieve optimal results by creating and delivering education, analyses, and strategic guidance to address the many challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces today. Our diverse network comprises healthcare finance leaders working in all sectors of health care. Discover more at https://www.hfma.org/learn/.
The Cyphers Agency's new office in Crofton, Md. We started before the digital era, so its dizzying to think about how many services and skills weve added throughout the past 30 years. Im fortunate to be surrounded by a team constantly hungry to learn and evolve, so I cant wait to see what our future holds.

The Cyphers Agency, a full-service marketing and advertising firm founded in 1989, celebrated not only its first year in its new Crofton, Md. office, but also its 30th year in business, in early February.

When I started The Cyphers Agency as a one-man shop 30 years ago, I saw myself as a jack-of-all-trades; my goal was to build an agency with employees who specialize in each aspect of marketing, said Dave Cyphers, President and Founder of The Cyphers Agency. Im immensely proud of the team weve built along the way. But, after 30 years in business, I also know that the quality of your environment can greatly impact your people and what they produce.

After outgrowing the previous Annapolis office, this philosophy led Cyphers to purchase the standalone colonial building along Crofton Parkway. Conveniently located between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., and boasting nearly twice the space, the agencys new home features modern, personalized workspaces for each employee; two spacious breakout rooms; a large upstairs lounge that hosts a daily real-time social media strategy meeting; a plethora of house plants and exterior landscaping; and ample parking space.

Its actually hard to believe that weve only been here a year, said Darren Easton, Vice President and Creative Director. After observing a years worth of team interactions, from agency-wide brainstorms to the impromptu one-on-one exchanges of ideas that occur every day, its clear everyone feels at home.

Beyond the upgrades inside the office, the Cyphers team has also taken to its new surroundings. Our proximity to the Crofton Country Club and residential neighborhoods has been an unexpected benefit, said Cyphers. Ive seen folks go for runs around the neighborhood after work and partake in the summer farmers market across the street. Even small perks like these can go a long way in creating a positive work culture, so Im pleased to see the team fully embrace our new home.

As for whats next for the agency, Cyphers points to continual growth. We started before the digital era, so its dizzying to think about how many services and skills weve added throughout the past 30 years. We most recently expanded our public relations division and video production capabilities. Im fortunate to be surrounded by a team constantly hungry to learn and evolve, so I cant wait to see what our future holds.

The Cyphers Agencys new office is located at 1682 Village Green, Crofton, Md. 21114. To learn more about the agency and its work, visit thecyphersagency.com or call 410.280.5451.

About The Cyphers Agency

The Cyphers Agency, Inc. is an independent, full-service creative agency offering advertising, public relations and digital services with a focus on marketing strategy and brand development. Headquartered in Crofton, Md., the agency works to promote regional and national brands in a range of industries including Annapolis Yacht Sales, Capital Bank, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Grain Foods Foundation, Seasons Pizza, and Strayer University.

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The American Legion Travis L. Williams Post 65, a veteran and community pillar in South Phoenix and its title sponsor, Arizona Public Service (APS), will host a new program called Play It Forward on Thursday, Feb 28, in celebration of Black History Month. The engagement will honor Black History Month by inviting Betty Fairfax High School, Linda Abril Educational Academy, Maryvale High School, South Mountain High School and Cesar Chavez High School, from the Phoenix Union High School Districts Black Alliance, to experience a special reception at APS corporate headquarters. In addition to Post 65, the program will be hosted by APSs Network for Urban Engagement and Veteran Employee Transition Retention Network employee groups. Following the reception, the students will attend a production by Arizona Theatre Company.

The reception will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m., then students will walk across the street to the Herberger Theater to enjoy the performance of August Wilsons play, "Two Trains Running", at 7:30 p.m. The play is directed by Lou Bellamy and takes place during the 1960s in an African- American neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA. The performance explores the civil rights movement and changing attitudes toward race.

Im excited to create this program as a member of the American Legion Travis L. Williams Post 65 to celebrate and honor Black History Month by educating the Phoenix Union High School Districts students and recognizing those who helped pave the way for civil rights in our country, says U.S. Army Desert Storm Veteran, HeroZona Foundation Co-Founder and Travis L. Williams American Legion Post 65 Member, Alan AP Powell. I also want to give special thanks to the South Mountain High School Principal and Member of the Black Alliance, Brian S. Guilford, for his continued support in coordinating this event.

The program will host ten students from each high school, principals, members of the Black Alliance and the director of the army JROTC. All students who attend the engagement will receive extra credit. The group will listen to community leaders speak prior to watching the play.

The arts enrich us all, and it is especially fulfilling for APS to support Post 65 and the Arizona veteran community, and to share this opportunity with the deserving students of South Phoenix and Arizona Theatre Company, says APS President, Jeffrey B. Guldner.

Renowned poet extraordinaire and founder of Homebase Poetry, HB Harold G. Branch III, will be a special guest at the event and read a poem about black history to the crowd. Speakers at the event will include former Democratic leader of the Arizona State House of Representative and Master of Ceremonies, Art Hamilton; APS President, Jeffrey B. Guldner; Arizona District 12s Second Vice Commander and American Legion Travis L. Williams Post 65 Member, Felice Wimbish-Tribue; Arizona State Representative from District 12, Reginald Bolding; Phoenix Union High School District Superintendent, Dr. Chad E. Geston; Phoenix Suns President, Jason Rowley; and Arizona Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs.

The Play it Forward program is yet another example of community enrichment created through the leadership and commitment of APS and the American Legion Travis L. Williams Post 65. I am proud to call both organizations community partners of the Phoenix Suns, says Rowley.

The Arizona Theatre Company is honored to be part of this initiative and are thrilled that the students will experience the work of one of the greatest American playwrights, August Wilson, and part of his 10 play cycle that illuminates the African American experience in each of the decades of the 20th Century. It is humbling to be included in such distinguished company and we are proud that Wilsons words will add to the resonance of the evening," says Managing Director for the Arizona Theatre Company, Billy Russo.

For more information on the program, reach out to kassidy(at)evolveprandmarketing.com.

About Travis L. Williams American Legion Post 65

The Travis L. Williams American Legion Post 65 welcomes veterans from all branches of our Armed Forces. The post enables its members to continue serving God, Country and the Community. Their mission is to support the community of the South Phoenix area. One hundred percent of the funds raised through their events are given back to the community to help give scholarships to students, and aid and assistance to veterans in need and their families. For more information, visit twilliamspost65.org.
CyberScout These awards represent an amazing achievement for the CyberScout organization and a testament to the work our team does every day.

Security Products Guide, the industry's leading information security research and advisory guide, has named four CyberScout winners in the 15th Annual 2019 Info Security PGs Global Excellence Awards in Customer Service Team of the Year , Cyber Security Vendor Achievement of the Year, CEO of the Year and Customer Service Department of the Year. These prestigious global awards recognize cybersecurity and information technology vendors with advanced, ground-breaking products, solutions, and services that are helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of security and technologies.

CyberScout is proud to be the winner of Info Security Products Guides (ISPG) 2019 Global Excellence Awards in the following four categories:

Customer Service Team of the Year  100-499 Employees

Gold Winner

Brett Montgomery, Fraud Operations Manager: Members of the Team: [Global Team] Heather Fetherston (Supervisor)  Aelmuire Mullaney, Hanna Sjodsen, Chanelle Xiu, Olivia Gu [Canada Team] Marianne Morissette (Manager)  Christopher Shaver, Michael Bulger [North America] Brett Montgomery  Stephen Isaacs, Kelli Mercer, Christine Popke, Victor Reyna, Boualien Saiyasith, Vanessa Depiano, Charmonair Johnson, Sharlene Miles, Carletta Hasken

CyberScouts front-line customer service team taps into a deep pool of expertise to support our broad client base. The group is comprised of 25 senior-level individuals and this elite team of professionals averages nine years of experience. Together they fielded 23,432 breach-related calls and 49,884 total calls in the past year, providing 24/7 assistance to identity theft victims.

The nature of identity theft makes it a global concern, with threat trends crossing regional barriers. Our customer service team takes calls from many countries and theyre in constant communication with our international partners. This allows our U.S.-based professionals to better understand where new threats may be emerging so they can service customers most effectively.

The team works with everyone from average families to high net worth individuals to business clients of all sizes. The cause behind each incident of identity theft is also different, from a breach at a healthcare providers office to data loss at the local school district. Each case has the potential to bring unique challenges that our team sorts out every day, with 99 percent of CyberScout customers reporting they are satisfied or very satisfied with our service.

Customer Service Department of the Year  100-499 Employees

Bronze Winner

Victor Searcy, Vice President of Global Operations

Victor Searcy, vice president of global operations at CyberScout, heads up our customer service management team. His extensive experience is a valuable asset in guiding the customer service leadership as they constantly review new identity fraud hacks and attacks, and evaluate other threats that could put our customers at risk.

CEO of the Year  100-499 employees

Bronze Winner

Matt Cullina served as CEO of CyberScout from 2008 to January 2019 and is currently EVP, Managing Director of Global Markets.

Under Cullinas leadership, CyberScout evolved from a service provider enjoying strong partnerships among personal lines carriers in the United States to a multifaceted, award- winning provider of identity and data risk management, breach response, resolution and education services around the globe.

Cybersecurity Vendor Achievement of the Year  100-499 Employees

Bronze Winner

When identity theft strikes, the impact on its victims can be devastating. A survey conducted for CyberScout by the Identity Theft Resource Center, shows that nearly half of consumers dont know where to turn after a data breach that makes them vulnerable to cybercrime. Nor do they know whom to trust. Fortunately, millions of people have access to CyberScouts resolution services team as a service through their insurer, bank or employer.

We are proud of the award-winning CyberScout teams and services recognized this year by these ISPG awards, says CyberScouts acting CEO Bill Tait. "These awards represent an amazing achievement for the CyberScout organization and a testament to the work our team does every day."

About Info Security PGs Global Excellence Awards

Info Security Products Guide sponsors the Global Excellence Awards and plays a vital role in keeping end-users informed of the choices they can make when it comes to protecting their digital resources and assets. It is written expressly for those who are adamant on staying informed of security threats and the preventive measure they can take. You will discover a wealth of information in this guide including tomorrow's technology today, best deployment scenarios, people and technologies shaping cyber security and industry predictions & directions that facilitate in making the most pertinent security decisions. Visit http://www.infosecurityproductsguide.com for the complete list of winners.

About CyberScout

Since 2003, CyberScout has set the standard for full-spectrum identity, privacy and data security services, offering proactive protection, education, and data theft resolution as well as breach preparedness and response. Serving approximately 17.5 million households worldwide and more than 770,000 businesses, CyberScout is offered globally by an ever-growing number of client partners. CyberScout combines extensive experience with high-touch service to help individuals, government and commercial clients minimize risk and maximize recovery.

To learn more, visit http://www.cyberscout
An industry veteran with two decades of sales management experience, Smith was honored by CRN for his role in the impressive growth of Broadvoices channel nationwide.

Broadvoice, an award-winning provider of hosted voice, unified communications (UC) and SIP Trunking services for businesses, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Tessley Smith vice president of channel at Broadvoice, to its prestigious list of 2019 Channel Chiefs for the second year in a row. The top IT channel leaders included on this list continually strive to drive growth and revenue in their organization through their channel partners.

Each of the 2019 Channel Chiefs has demonstrated exceptional leadership, vision, and commitment to their channel partner programs. Channel Chief honorees are selected by CRNs editorial staff as a result of their professional achievements, standing in the industry, dedication to the channel partner community, and strategies for driving future growth and innovation.

The individuals on CRNs 2019 Channel Chiefs list deserve special recognition for their contribution and support in the development of robust partner programs, innovative business strategies, and significant influence to the overall health of the IT channel, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. We applaud each Channel Chiefs remarkable record of accomplishments and look forward to following their continued success.

An industry veteran with two decades of sales management experience, Smith was honored by CRN for his role in the impressive growth of Broadvoices channel nationwide. The channel and its support teams grew 50 percent year over year in 2018. Broadvoice also experienced tremendous growth of its major strategic partnerships. Year over year, Broadvoice partners have increased MRR 155 percent.

Smith has worked steadily to expand the companys channel sales strategy and its business customer base, said Sam Ghahremanpour, president of Broadvoice. His recent focus on putting current partners in a strong position to develop, transition and grow cloud-based business strategies for their customers has been instrumental in the growth of our partner program.

The 2019 CRN Channel Chiefs list, including the 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs, is featured online at http://www.crn.com/channelchiefs and will appear in the February 2019 issue of CRN.

Broadvoice offers a flexible, smart portfolio of IP-based voice and data offerings, backed by its enterprise-class, geo-redundant IP telephony platform. This includes its flagship cloud PBX and UC services, which features unlimited voice calling plans throughout the continental United States and Canada. For more information on the Broadvoice Partner Program, please call 866.697.9112, or visit http://www.broadvoice.com/partners.

About Broadvoice

Broadvoice simplifies communications for small and medium businesses (SMBs) by combining powerful cloud PBX, UC and collaboration features with virtual call center in one award-winning Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform that delivers enterprise-class features at affordable rates. The platform is connected to Broadvoices secure, redundant network and hosting infrastructure, enabling SMBs to connect with customers securely anytime, anywhere and with any device. Broadvoice is ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

About The Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelco.com


Uberall, Inc., the location marketing solution for businesses competing to attract and win local brick-and-mortar customers, today released a new study about how SMB (small- and medium-sized business) marketers feel about interactive voice technology. Interactive voice is the 2-way engagement that a consumer has with a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apples Siri. People can use these assistants in many different places like smart speakers, mobile phones, and connected services at home and on the go.

For the study, Uberall commissioned a survey of 300 SMB marketers throughout the U.S. Heres a closer look at what they found.

Almost half think Amazon Alexa has most marketing potential

The SMB marketers surveyed were asked which mainstream voice assistant they think has the greatest potential for marketing. The results heavily favored Amazons Alexa, with 48% believing it will be most useful for marketers. Other responses included: Google Assistant (29%), Apples Siri (17%), Microsofts Cortana (3%) and Other (3%).

Its not surprising that SMB marketers think Alexa could find its way into their plans in the near future, said Florian Huebner, Uberall Co-CEO and Co-Founder. In terms of its install base, Alexa is the most popular voice assistant today, with many people using it in their daily lives. With its rising scale and growing ecosystem, its no wonder so many SMB marketers recognize its potential.

Voice isnt a major part of most SMB marketing strategies -- but spend is rising

When SMB marketers were asked how their organizations marketing budget for interactive voice channels is changing, more than one-third (35%) said it was increasing. However, of that group, only 9% said it was significantly increasing while one-quarter (26%) said it was slightly increasing. Just three percent said it was slightly decreasing and 1% said significantly decreasing.

Perhaps most noteworthy was that 38% of SMB marketers polled said they dont do anything with voice.

With voice technology still in its infancy, its possible that SMBs are waiting until it matures -- either from a scale or technology point-of-view -- before making it a more prominent part of their marketing strategies, Huebner said. There is also a learning curve among marketers on best practices and campaign development that is likely stalling investments.

More than half would invest in voice if they had better insight into ROI

The respondents were asked what would make their organization invest more in interactive voice marketing. They were asked to select all that apply, and many had multiple answers. The results are as follows: Better insight into campaign success and ROI (53%), more data for campaign targeting and personalization (47%), lower barrier to entry on the technology side (33%), more alignment with my performance campaigns (32%), deeper/wider integration into the overall product ecosystem (e.g. smart fridges, smart speakers, smart TVs, phones, etc) (28%) and other (10%).

Understanding ROI for interactive voice continues to be a challenge for marketers, said Huebner. As investments in voice rise, the demand for greater clarity on performance will, as well.

40% of SMB marketers think they should develop their own interactive voice channels

When asked who should be in charge of developing content for interactive voice channels, 40% said us, the brand/in-house. The other answers include creative/content agency (28%), other/Im not sure (13%), media-buying agency (9%), SEO agency (7%) and publisher partners (3%).

This is a very new form of marketing, so developing interactive voice content in-house allows SMBs to have a level of control they might not have with third-party vendors, said Huebner. It also keeps costs in check. However, most SMBs are just dipping their toe into voice marketing. As their ambitions grow and campaigns become more sophisticated, they will have to outsource more of the development.

To access the full study, visit: https://m.uberall.com/What_SMBs_Think_About_Voice_Technology_Whitepaper.

About Uberall, Inc.

Uberall is a global leader in location marketing technology. Its flagship Location Marketing platform solution empowers the world's biggest brands to connect with their customers and turn online interactions into offline sales. Uberall gives businesses central control of their digital presence and online reputation, enabling them to easily manage brand interactions in real-time on all digital platformsmobile, voice and desktopacross websites, mobile apps, store locators, search engines, maps, social platforms, and advertising networks. The Location Marketing Cloud provides a consistent, accurate digital brand footprint that helps businesses capture new customers and maximize revenue for every location.

Uberall is headquartered in Berlin, with additional offices in San Francisco, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Cape Town. Its clients include Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders from all over the world.

Learn more at https://www.uberall.com.
Gong Master Tibetan Singing Bowls Sound Healing Training Practitioner

The increasing interest for Sound Healers comes from the rising consumer interest and awareness of alternative medicine and wellness programs. Sound Healing incorporates a wider range of a target market, even more so than yoga, as virtually anyone from any age and physical ability can participate. In recent years, many scientific studies have been released that confirm singing bowls as an effective tool and alternative wellness technique that contributes to increased overall well-being, reduced stress and helps to calm the mind. Recently, sound bath sessions have become popular for relaxation and de-stressing with more yoga and/or meditation teachers, healers & medical therapists starting to combine singing bowls into their classes, workshops and retreats to diversify their healing offerings, grow and scale their businesses and broaden their target market.

THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF GONG & TIBETAN SOUND SINGING BOWLS HEALING

Recent scientific studies confirm that singing bowls represent an effective wellness method which enhances a persons wellbeing, reduces stress and provides mental rejuvenation. Sound baths have become really popular and, as a result, more and more and/or meditation teachers, healers & medical therapists are incorporating singing bowls into their classes, workshops and retreats. Tibetan Sound therapy provides the following benefits:



Benefits for people in good health are Clarity & Acuteness of Senses

Gongs help to promote inner harmony, Balance & Focus

Elevate energy levels in the body

Gong sound therapy will help to bring relief from pain, stress, and anxiety.

The gong vibrations improve blood circulation and its pressure.

Assists with symptoms associated with digestive issues, joint problems, and headaches.

Understand the history and origin of the Tibetan Singing Bowls

Receive the fundamental techniques aspects from Sound healing masters.

It is possible to overcome various obstacles while giving sound healing sessions.

Sound Healing is one of the most useful tools for relaxation, sleep, memory, and mental rejuvenation.

Learn about the Chakras and the use of sound in Chakra healing and balancing.

Improve your communication skills and intuition to become an insightful Sound healer.

Become a sound healer to inspire your friends, family, people in your hometown and all over the world.

Get a deeper understanding and self-acceptance and a chance to change the personal lifes direction.

Experience different sound healing meditation techniques and the understanding of their application.

Achieve personal well-being, clarity, and peace of mind and increase self-confidence, inner creativity, and grow spiritually.

Deep learning of the fundamental principles of meditation by sound healing practices from Western and Eastern Masters.

The Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation School India has announced 2 Sound Healing courses, both accredited by the Samadeva International Academy of Sacred Sound Healing.

The Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation School has announced 2 Sound Healing training programs for the upcoming months:

Certified 7 Days Master Level Gong Master Training Tibetan Singing Bowls Training in North Goa, India.

8 Days Tibetan Singing Bowls Master Sound Healing Terarapist Training In North Goa, India. Thursday 5th December until Thursday 12th December 2019.

The Importance of Master Level Tibetan Singing Bowl Teachers Teacher Training:

A premier opportunity to be part of an emerging and popular trend in the world. Shiva Girish, Founder of Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation & Sound Healing School, believes the world needs more Sound Healers. Tibetan Sound Bowl Therapy Healing is growing rapidly in Asia, Europe, UK and in the USA. There is an increasing demand from Sound Healers in the world and a lack of certified Sound Healing Therapists. This program is aimed at allowing advanced and experienced Sound Healers to certify others as Sound Bowl Therapists to meet the level of demand.

ACCREDITATION

Training accredited by Samaveda  International Academy of Sacred Sound Healing. Certificate issuer recognized: Internationally.

About SAMAVEDA  International Academy of Sacred Sound Healing

SAMAVEDA is an international organization which connects meditation masters and practitioners from a variety of lineages and traditions. Each member receives support and advice on personal development and from the members of the global community and its founders. Responding to the growing interest in meditation all over the world,

SAMAVEDA developed a training program for teachers to ensure that spiritual seekers all over the world are guided expertly and safely on their journey.

SAMAVEDA ensures that spiritual seekers all over the world are guided expertly and safely on their journey.

SAMAVEDA certificate indicates that its holder has been trained according to a high standard set by expert meditators and experienced spiritual masters as well as lives up to moral and ethical norms.

WHO CAN JOIN - Certified Gong Master With Tibetan Singing Bowls Teacher Training

The Tibetan Gong Master and Singing Bowls Teacher Training Programs are dedicated to those noble persons who feel that they have a calling, a spiritual mission to do good and heal others. The course is highly recommended to:

Music lovers, alternative healers, tarot card readers, yoga and meditation masters and practitioners, Reiki healers and other holistic health practitioners.

Persons who look for an active way to help themselves and the persons around them. Practicing sound healing therapy will help people totally transform themselves, metamorphosing into spiritual guides, always ready to heal and serve a Greater Good.

Alternative medicine, which combines ancestral spiritual practices and natural elements, in opposition to a more invasive medicine and use of synthetic products.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Master Level Sound Healing Therapist Tibetan Singing Bowls Training

The main purpose of these courses is to bring together ancient and new knowledge and wisdom and combine them into a one of a kind sound healing experience. Participants will work together with a highly experienced and knowledgeable trainer who will prepare them for leading sound healing sessions/workshops. Participants will learn to work on their healing journey  to do their own self-development and inner energetic work and raise to higher energy.

WHATS INCLUDED IN TRAINING:

4 Days Gong Master Training & 3 Days Tibetan Singing Bowl Teacher Training Course includes:



Teaching includes scheduled Gong Yoga.

Students Practice Giving Group Gong/Tibetan Bowls Sacred Sound Baths

Students Practice Giving Group Sound Healing Sessions

Students Practice Giving Group Musical Concerts

Take part in All Night Continuous Play Gong/Singing Bowl Puja

Learn Different Techniques in Healing with Singing Bowls and Gongs

Learn the principles and history of Sound. Students will be presented the fundamentals of Tibetan sound healing, vibrational sound healing, types & history of Tibetan singing bowls and also the background & importance of Tibetan Singing Bowls in the field of sound healing therapy.

Learn why Mantra Meditations, Meditations with Tibetan Singing Bowls and Primordial Sound Meditation is so powerful.

Learn how to combine Gong Healing, Tibetan singing bowl healing therapy with Yoga Pranamaya, Meditation and other alternative healing modalities.

Learn and experience and power of sound through the Voice (Mantras) and Vibrational Sounds. Experience different sound healing meditation techniques and the understanding of their application.

Sacred Sound Training through Tibetan Singing Bowls & Gong, Mantras & Sacred Sound Meditations Techniques.

Improve communication skills and intuition to become an insightful Sound healer. During the course, student will learn how to become a sound healer to inspire friends,

Certification by Samadeva International Academy of Sacred Sound Healing.

Tibetan Sound Bowl Therapy Healing is growing rapidly in Asia, Europe, the UK and in the USA. There is a constant need for training and Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation School offers both practitioners and trainers the opportunity to exchange knowledge and wisdom from the Masters.

Aim, Objective, and Goals of Gong Master Sound Healing Therapist Training:

This Master Level Tibetan Singing Bowls Sound Healing Therapist Training is designed in such a way that Master Level Certified Singing Bowl Therapists, will learn how to train others to become Tibetan Singing Bowls Healers.

Learn the art of leading, teaching and certifying others through a Tibetan Singing Bowls Sound Healing Training workshop.

Learn to design and lead 3  4-day Sound Healing Training workshops.

Learn the structure and length of Sound Healing sessions.

Learn how to design a combined workshop with Yoga Asanas, Pranayama, Passive Meditation and Active Dynamic Meditation into Sound Healing Training.

Learn how to balance theory, actual practice and closing time for Sound Healing Training.

Learn and understand the difference between features and benefits of Sound Healing.

Learn to understand the common obstacles of Sound Healing workshops and how to overcome them.

Learn how to train others in the fundamentals of Tibetan Sound Healing, vibrational sound healing, types of bowls and the history of Tibetan Singing Bowls.

Learn how to train others on how they can play the various types of Tibetan Singing Bowls and how the different types of bowls have unique benefits on the mind, body, and spirit.

Learn how to train others on different techniques for giving sound vibration healing with the Tibetan Singing Bowls

Learn how to train others so that they can learn how to give a Full Body Therapeutic Sound Bath Healing Session with just a few bowls and/or with all seven chakra Tibetan Singing Bowls.

Learn how to train others to combine mantra sound Meditations with Tibetan Singing Bowls to give deep therapeutic healing sessions.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation Teacher Training Centre is located in Arambol Beach North Goa and In Ram Jhula, Rishikesh, along the banks of river Ganges. It is in the close vicinity of Parmarth Niketan, the main organizer of daily evening Ganga prayer, a spiritual and religious gathering of people along the banks of the river and saying thanks for another beautiful day in their lives. Rishikesh, also known as the Yoga Capital of the World.

Contact: Satyam Shivam

Company: Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation & Sound Healing School

Address: Satyam Shivam Sundaram Meditation School, Anahata Yoga Hall, Hotel Arambol Arbour, Arambol beach, Goa

Contact: +917888206883

Email: satyamshivamsundaram2(at)gmail.com

Website: https://www.satyamshivamsundaram.net/

Training Accreditation: SAMADEVA  International Academy of Sacred Sound Healing. Certificate issuer recognized: Internationally. http://www.samaveda.net/

Students Who Are Interested To Join Trainings 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEH_6i4XujU&list=PLCp2P1zWmq7vfkMrCsozZy7PKkwt7g-SM

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_kSBHgq-dtgIkxAyvPKk6Q

Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/meditationteacher.trainingcertificationIndia/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meditationschoolindia/
A Time to Kill, a Time to Heal: a potent story of salvation, is the creation of published author Roger L. Helle, a highly decorated Vietnam War Marine vet based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, currently still doing traveling ministry with his wife after retiring from four decades of teen ministry.

Helle writes, Ron entered the long hospital corridor looking for his brother Roger. After searching the ward unsuccessfully, he approached a doctor standing by the bed of a patient. Im Sergeant Helles brother, he said. How is he?

The doctor looked at Ron and said, Im sorry, son, but your brother is going to die. Theres nothing else we can do.

Just a few beds away, drifting in and out of consciousness, Roger heard the doctors death sentence. Not yet twenty-three years old, he felt fear grip his heart in a way he had not even experienced on the battlefield. That fear caused him to do something he had never done before. Roger silently prayed, God, if there is a God, if you let me live, Ill do anything you want! Then he slipped mercifully back into a drug-induced sleep.

That prayer would be answered in a way Roger could never have imagined, but only after years of nightmares, alcohol, and tortured emotional battles. Peace did come at last as Roger not only made peace with Vietnam, but the emotional pain of his past as well.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Roger Helles new book expresses the power of Gods grace on the battlefields of life, both physical and spiritual.

Helle shares a deeply moving story of his own journey to seeing the light, as well as the mission trips to Vietnam to reconcile with the effects of the war, mirroring his own healing with that of the war-torn citizens he returns to help.

View a synopsis of A Time to Kill, a Time to Heal on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseA Time to Kill, a Time to Heal at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about A Time to Kill, a Time to Heal, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


The Rigaku nano3DX X-ray microscope XRM and CT equipment from Rigaku enable nondestructive analysis of large samples at high resolution.

X-ray analytical instrument manufacturer Rigaku Corporation is pleased to announce its attendance at the 54th annual meeting of the Texas Society for Microscopy (TSM). The event is hosted by the Kleberg Advanced Microscopy Center at The University of Texas in San Antonio and takes place February 21st - 23rd, 2019. Several workshops are scheduled, as well as a scientific program with platform and poster presentations, along with a vendor exhibition.

On Friday February 22nd, Aya Takase from Rigaku will present High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography for Foam Characterization  a study, in which a high-resolution, high-contrast and high-speed laboratory X-ray microscope with true submicron resolution was used to characterize foam materials. X-ray microscopes can visualize the solid walls and cellular structure in foam materials in 3D without having to slice and potentially alter the cell structure, enabling the study of cell morphology in detail and calculation of parameters such as porosity and cell volume distribution.

Rigaku, a global leader in X-ray analytical technology, is presenting its latest X-ray microscopy (XRM) and computed tomography (CT) solutions at the meeting. XRM and CT equipment from Rigaku enable nondestructive analysis of large samples at high resolution.

The Rigaku nano3DX X-ray microscope features parallel beam geometry that makes true submicron 3D imaging possible. The Rigaku MicroMax-007 HF rotating anode X-ray generator effects characteristic X-ray radiation for high contrast and rapid data collection, and the ability to easily switch anode materials to optimize contrast for specific sample types.

The nano3DX X-ray microscope is a well-suited X-ray CT scanner for low-density materials such as food, pharmaceuticals, plants, insects, foam and various composite materials.

Computed tomography reveals, at high-speed, the high-resolution, three dimensional structure of an object by means of computer-processed combinations of numerous X-ray images taken from different angles. CT solutions from Rigaku include the Rigaku CT Lab GX industrial 3D X-ray micro CT imager, an ultra-high-speed, high-resolution 3D CT system suited for measurements of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, bones, ores, electronic devices, batteries, aluminum castings and printed circuit boards.

The CT Lab GX series is designed for ease-of-use, featuring the latest 3D CT technology for measurement of industrial products in a short period of time. The units Sample-Stationary scanning method allows quick and easy sample mounting.

A principal feature of the CT Lab GX imager is its capacity for ultra-high-speed measurement. A CT scan can be achieved in 8 seconds and image reconstruction in 10 seconds. High-definition 3D observation is possible with a minimum resolution of 4.5m.

Two versions are available: the low-energy CT Lab GX90, suited for measurement of subjects such as small animals and low-density materials, and the high-energy CT Lab GX130, suited for subjects less penetrable by X-ray beams such as ceramics and metals.

The Rigaku CT Lab HX high-performance benchtop X-ray micro CT system features a combination of the high power X-ray source and the largest field of view (FOV) in its class. Built for easy operation, the compact yet powerful micro CT system offers a large FOV of up to 200 mm, and can provide three dimensional X-ray images of a wide variety of samples. Preset scans, programmed for typical conditions, require only a few steps to run. The high-power 130 kV, 39 W X-ray source facilitates high-speed image acquisition as fast as 18 seconds/scan.

More information about X-ray imaging solutions from Rigaku is available at http://www.rigaku.com/products/imaging

About Rigaku

Since its inception in Japan in 1951, Rigaku has been at the forefront of analytical and industrial instrumentation technology. Rigaku and its subsidiaries form a global group focused on general-purpose analytical instrumentation and the life sciences. With hundreds of major innovations to their credit, Rigaku companies are world leaders in X-ray spectrometry, diffraction, and optics, as well as small molecule and protein crystallography and semiconductor metrology. Today, Rigaku employs over 1,400 people in the manufacturing and support of its analytical equipment, which is used in more than 70 countries around the world supporting research, development, and quality assurance activities. Throughout the world, Rigaku continuously promotes partnerships, dialog, and innovation within the global scientific and industrial communities.

For further information, contact:

Michael Nelson

Rigaku Global Marketing Group

tel: +1. 512-225-1796

michael.nelson(at)rigaku(dot)com
ezPaycheck In-house Payroll Software ezPaycheck software makes the decision easy for retail business owners to switch to an in-house payroll processing application with less cost and more control.

Business payroll software, ezPaycheck from Halfpricesoft.com now has a unique opportunity for retail business owners to switch to an easy to use in-house payroll processing application! For added customer satisfaction, the developers have also added an update to the already easy to follow instructions for set up.

ezPaycheck software makes the decision easy for retail business owners to switch to an in-house payroll processing application with less cost and more control. said Dr. Ge, the founder of halfpricesoft.com.

Customers seeking a way to streamline payroll processing with more accuracy, in-house can go online to https://www.halfpricesoft.com/index.asp and download ezPaycheck software. The download includes the full version of the paycheck software along with a sample database. The sample database allows new customers to try all of ezPaychecks exciting features, including the intuitive graphical interface, without wasting time entering data.

Small businesses get many unique features in the latest release of ezPaycheck payroll software:



Supports payment of hourly, salary, night shift, by piece, by load, or by mileage rates for employees.

Supports daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly and monthly payroll periods. Features report functions, print functions, and pay stub functions.

Prints miscellaneous checks as well as payroll calculation checks.

Prints payroll checks on blank computer checks or preprinted checks.

Automatically calculates Federal Withholding Tax, Social Security, Medicare Tax and Employer Unemployment Taxes.

-Includes built-in tax tables for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Creates and maintains payrolls for multiple companies, and does it simultaneously.

Prints Tax Forms 940, 941, W-2 and W-3.

-Supports multiple accounts at no additional charge.

-Supports network access.

Priced at $99 per calendar year for a single user version, ezPaycheck payroll tax solution is affordable for any size business. To start the no obligation 30-day test drive today, please visit https://www.halfpricesoft.com/index.asp.

About Halfpricesoft.com

Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of small business software, including online and desktop payroll software, online employee attendance tracking software, accounting software, in-house business and personal check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, Accounting software, 1095 form software and ezACH direct deposit software. Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of customers and will help small business owners simplify payroll processing and streamline business management.


Henry Big Boy Steel Hammer Extension + RHINO rail Designed from the receiver up, these low-profile scope mount rails offer improved bore-to-optic positioning and eliminate movement for better accuracy even under the harshest recoil of a big bore rifle.

Ranger Point Precision has expanded its performance parts offerings for Henry Repeating Arms lever-action rifles to include new hammer spur extensions and RHINO picatinny scope mount rails.

RHINO Picatinny Rails

Designed from the receiver up, these low-profile scope mount rails offer improved bore-to-optic positioning and eliminate movement for better accuracy even under the harshest recoil of a big bore rifle.

They are available for Henry Repeating Arms All Weather and Classic models chambered in 30-30, 45-70; the Big Boy Steel rifles chambered in .44 Mag/Spl, .45 Colt, .357 Mag/.38 Spl; the Henry Long Ranger rifles chambered in .223 Rem/5.56 NATO, .243 Win, .308 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor.



Compatible with most picatinny and weaver rings and dovetail mounted sights

Low heights of .26" and .35" and available in two lengths 5" receiver flush and 6" longer

Better alignment than two-piece mounts

Contoured bottom and 10 MOA machined for more elevation flexibility

Made from strong-as-steel anodized 7075 aluminum for light weight and rust-proof lifetime

2X the recoil lug contact improves accuracy by eliminating scope movement under the harshest recoil

A set of four self-centering T15 Torx drive screws resist cam-out and offer the most stable and repeatable bond between rail and receiver

Hammer Spur Extensions

If you run a scope on your Henry lever-action rifle, you'll easily be able to cock the hammer and love the secure hammer control these beauties afford with their thumb curvature and diamond checkering.

Features:



1/8" longer extension than most, for plenty of purchase

Compound curvature to better match the user's thumb

Deep diamond checkering for secure, non-slip operation

Ultra light design for minimal influence on lock time

Rounded edges and corners for painless use

Ambidextrous attachment for right handers or left handers

CNC machined from 6061 aluminum and hard anodized (clear or black)

About Ranger Point Precision

Ranger Point Precision LLC (RPP) is a family owned and privately held firearms parts manufacturer located in the Houston area in Cypress, TX. Founded in 2012 by President/CEO Adam Devine, the company has grown from Adams passion for firearms and mechanical engineering. Made in the USA, RPP designs unique and innovative performance parts for pistols and rifles including Marlin Firearms, Henry Repeating Arms, Winchester Repeating Arms, Steyr Arms and more. Ranger Point Precision prides itself on delivering unmatched quality products and world-class customer service. To learn more, please visit us at https://www.RangerPointStore.com or follow @rangerpointprecision on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter.
Powernet has completed work on the second phase of their Free Wi-Fi network in the community of Avondale. Work on the project began in June of 2018 and included installing networking equipment within 11 multi-dwelling units across the area. The expanded network will serve more than 600 additional residents.

In 2015 Powernet began working with its partners to provide free internet access to Avondale residents in an effort to revitalize the neighborhood, improve the quality of life and attract future business to the area. The initial project spanned approximately 1 mile of Reading Rd between Blair Avenue and South Shuttlesworth Circle, servicing over 250 residences and businesses. Since going online for the first time in mid 2016, the network has hosted over 46,048 unique sessions.

The goal of this expansion was to provide powerful indoor connectivity to Avondale residents, says Edita Dolan-Mayo, Director of Marketing and Community Affairs at Powernet. This project would not have reached this point without our trusted partners willingness to make a difference in the community.

The project has received a significant amount of support from members of the community and some of Powernets closest partners. Community supporters including the Avondale Community Council, Avondale Development Corporation, and Gabriels Place have provided access to community buildings and feedback that enables Powernet to gear the network towards the needs of residents in the area.

Partners such as The Community Builders, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, and Cincinnati Public Schools have also played a key role in providing financial assistance through grants and organizational programs. Their support has allowed Powernet to continue expanding the network by covering costly aspects of the project such as equipment installation and continued maintenance.

"Were excited to help bring connectivity to Avondale residents with the support of our trusted partners. This investment, made possible with HUD grant funds, complements our efforts to make Avondale an even better place to live, said Jeff Beam, TCB director of development, Ohio.

Powernet also received support from Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company, Purple and SureFire Innovations, three of the companys largest suppliers. These partners have worked closely with Powernet to provide discounted equipment and donate services. SureFire Innovations provided cabling services for the project while Ruckus delivered networking equipment to increase connectivity access for Avondale residents. Purples onboarding portal has been utilized to displays job opportunities and community events to users as they log-in to the Wi-Fi network.

We know without the support of our partners, this project wouldnt have been possible, says Alli Stevens, CEO of Powernet. Im thankful for all the support weve received and look forward to collaborating on additional expansion in Avondale.

Avondale residents can simply search for AvondaleFREEWifi on their Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the network where access is available.

About Powernet

Powernet is a Woman-Owned business with more than 25 years of experience and expert sales, engineering and support teams, which provide our partners and clients the unparalleled service and innovative technology they need to achieve their business goals. Servicing worldwide with offices in Ohio (HQ), Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Maryland, and Texas. We enable businesses and communities to connect in the office and globally through our full-service technology lineup featuring Wi-Fi, voice, data and IT managed services. Additionally, we offer IP security systems, billing (& back office support applications) as well as domestic and international carrier services.
Rachel Thompson "Im so grateful for the professors I had at Liberty. I plan to not only teach law but to invest in my students the same way my professors invested in me," Thompson stated

Salem based immigration and adoption attorney Rachel Thompson has returned to her alma mater as an adjunct professor for Liberty University School of Law. She is teaching Adoption Law at the same program where she earned her own law degree in 2012.

Thompson brings extensive experience as an Immigration and Adoption Lawyer to her new position. She continues practicing full time with Poarch Law in Salem, Virginia where she has been since 2013.

Thompson specializes in removal and deportation cases and has been featured as a Federal Bar Association National speaker. Thompsons work as an attorney has earned her much praise both personally and professionally. In 2016 Thompson earned the Alison Parker Young Professional award from DePaul Community Services and, in 2018 the Federal Bar Association presented her with the Immigration Law Section Young Lawyer of the Year award.

The daughter of immigrants, Thompson is passionate about her area of practice and hopes to make an impactful difference in the minds and careers of her new law students.

It means so much to be able to teach at a place that has taught me so much, Thompson stated. Im so grateful for the professors I had at Liberty. I plan to not only teach law but to invest in my students the same way my professors invested in me.

Liberty University lies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Lynchburg, Virginia and is within a few hours of Washington, D.C and Charlotte, N.C. Its rigorous legal skills program is taught from a Christian worldview, which not only prepares students with the core competency skills needed to practice law but also how to integrate faith and reason into their choice of law practice. They are approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association (ABA).

About Poarch Law

Poarch Law was founded in 2003 to focus on advocacy and protection of Southwestern Virginias diverse immigrant community. The firm now consists of five dedicated attorneys that specialize solely in Immigration and Adoption law services for both individuals and companies. More information about Poarch Law is available at http://poarchlaw.com/.
Oakland Zoos Director of Veterinary Services, Karen Emanuelson

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) found and rescued two orphaned mountain lion siblings yesterday in Half Moon Bay. They were immediately transported to Oakland Zoos Veterinary Hospital where the veterinary staff performed a full health exam (under sedation) on the four-month-old Mountain lions. They were found to be dehydrated and malnourished. They also had lesions and ticks on their bodies. One of the mountain lions was suffering from a nose wound from what appears to be an altercation with a skunk.

DROPBOX LINK TO PHOTOS AND VIDEO : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0wprrsykt4dvkzn/AACY2Z4_Zk8s8JosO9IjsWmAa?dl=0

As they receive ongoing care and treatment from Oakland Zoo veterinary staff, CDFW is currently in search of a forever home for these two cubs. Due to their young age and lack of survival skills, CDFW has determined they are unable to return to the wild. The lions will remain at Oakland Zoo until the cubs are healthy and a suitable, permanent home is found. Because the Zoo already has three mountain lions, acquired in late 2017 and also orphans, it isnt possible to keep these any additional mountain lions at Oakland Zoo.

The two mountain lion kittens have created quite a stir in the sleepy ocean side town. The adult female was nowhere to be seen. CDFW personnel have checked records for possible radio collared lions and have asked for information about possible roadkill but have no evidence of what happened to the female lion. These are very difficult wildlife management decisions. The best-case scenario is for the kittens to find their way back to a mother mountain lion. CDFW gave them 24 hours to find their way back and only when it became apparent that they were on their own but too young to survive, did they make the call to capture them, said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Representative.

Without a mother present, cubs lack survival skills, such as hunting (a basic survival tool), out in the wild which severely lowers their survival rate. Mountain lions are becoming critically endangered in the California, often struck by cars or shot when seen as a threat in encroaching urban areas and developments.

Oakland Zoo is committed to the conservation of mountain lions and is proud to have the staffing and resources to take action for this important species. We are thankful for the partnership with CDFW, the Mountain Lion Foundation, the Bay Area Puma project and the others working as an alliance to protect mountain lions and to vision a Bay Area where we live sustainably with our native big cats said Amy Gotliffe, Director of Conservation at Oakland Zoo.

Oakland Zoo helped found BACAT (Bay Area Cougar Action Team) in 2013, an alliance with the Bay Area Puma Project and the Mountain Lion Foundation, to help support the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to save mountain lions caught in the human-wildlife conflict.

ABOUT OAKLAND ZOO AND THE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA:

Oakland Zoo, home to more than 750 native and exotic animals, is managed by the Conservation Society of California (CSC); a non-profit organization leading an informed and inspired community to take action for wildlife locally and globally. With over 25 conservation partners and projects worldwide, the CSC is committed to conservation-based education and saving species and their habitats in the wild. Oakland Zoo is dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare for zoos and aquariums.
A Caravan Health Collaborative ACO brings independent health systems together to introduce new population health measures that lead to better patient care and financial success. An ACO with more covered lives leads to more predictable and sustainable results.

Caravan Health and Margaret Mary Health recently published a whitepaper exploring the effect of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) on community hospitals. Health providers could face serious reductions in Medicare payment rates unless they engage in delivery system and payment reform efforts. Providers must make a plan to understand these new rules and avoid financial distress.

Our health care system is in a transition from fee-for-service to fee-for-value payment. In 2015, this transition took a big step forward with the passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for physician payment and established the Quality Payment Program (QPP). The QPP allows providers to participate in an alternative payment model (APM) which pays incentives for high quality and cost-efficient care. In short, APM participation maximizes Medicare reimbursement. More than half of providers nationwide are now participating in APM programs.

The new whitepaper explains that Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organizations (ACOs) are a prudent option for community health systems seeking to avoid payment reductions while maintaining quality of care. These ACOs are the most common type of APM, counting about one-third of fee-for-service patients, providers and hospitals in 2018. ACO participation works especially well for hospitals because they employ many of the nations physicians as well as nurses that can implement population health measures that have been shown to improve care quality.

Caravan Health has found the key to, not just surviving, but thriving in this new world of value-based payment, said Lynn Barr, Caravan Health CEO and Founder. A Caravan Health Collaborative ACO brings independent health systems together to introduce new population health measures that lead to better patient care and financial success. An ACO with more covered lives leads to more predictable and sustainable results.

As part of a Caravan Health ACO, we are reaching the promise of value-based payment, said Tim Putnam, President and CEO of Margaret Mary Health, a critical access hospital in Batesville, IN. Since implementing new population health measures, the change in approach has been evident for our clinicians and patients. I truly believe it helps our patients lead more healthy lives.

The paper is available at the Caravan Health website: https://caravanhealth.com/thought-leadership/resources/macra-whitepaper/. Caravan Health will also hold an interactive webinar to discuss options for community health systems. The presentation will be on February 28 at 10am PT/12pm CT/1pm ET. Register here: https://caravanhealth.com/macra-and-risk-webinar/.

About Caravan Health:

Caravan Health is the national leader of successful accountable care and population health programs for community health systems. Caravan Health works with more than 225 health systems, 14,000 providers, and more than 1,000,000 patient lives to drive quality, financial benefits, and strong physician relationships in accountable care organizations.

About Margaret Mary Health:

Located in Batesville, Indiana, Margaret Mary Health is a not-for-profit, critical access hospital providing both inpatient and outpatient services. Employing nearly 750 team members, the hospital has experienced significant growth through the years, adding oncology and rehab centers, as well as expanding access to primary and minor care in nearby communities. MMH serves a population of more than 65,000 residents in Ripley, Franklin and surrounding counties.
Core teams of cleaning experts is the heart and soul of Mini Maid Cleaning, according to owner Lawrence Crappell. We are proud to be serving people living in and around Albuquerque. Since 1976, we have been bringing our exclusive Mini Maid technique to homes across the largest city in New Mexico, said a representative for the company. From its inception, Mini Maid focused on building long-term working relationships with clients. They adopted a client-first pricing policy, while emphasizing the importance of guaranteeing satisfaction. With 40 years of experience under their belt, it should come as no surprise that the company is a top choice for local residents, searching for cleaning services near them.

The representative continued, A number of factors contribute to, our enduring success. Firstly, we are locally owned, operating in 3 person crews with a team leader to check her teams work.

"Our clients love the fact that we guarantee complete security and safety, enabling them to trust us with both occupied and vacant properties. Moreover, we insure and bond all of our employees,to ensure our clients peace of mind.

A unique feature of Mini Maids services is their guarantee. Customers should inspect their home after their service is completed and any concerns or issues please give the office a call so that we can rectify the problem with no additional charge. Clients get their best bang for their buck, and for this reason a majority of our customers have been using Mini Maid for over 20 years.

The client-focused approach the company follows extends to the use of products and supplies. The Team will bring all necessary equipment and supplies to complete the job. However, if clients prefer to have us use their own specific products and supplies we will accommodate them.

Mini Maid provides free over the phone quotes for all your cleaning needs! Please call us at 505-881-8233 for that free quote today.

Reflecting on the companys 40 year celebration, Lawrence stated, We have a solid track record of serving Albuquerque residents and strive to constantly improve the quality of our service. We hope to complete several more years in the industry, while maintaining our high standards and keeping our clients happy.

About the Company

Mini Maid is a one-stop home cleaning service based in Albuquerque. Originally established in 1974, the company has very well experienced teams of cleaning experts, all bonded and insured. The company offers a guarantee for their services.

To learn more about the company, visit their website. https://minimaidabq.com/
Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners to Migrate 67 Perfect Teeth Offices to Denticon Mid-Atlantics trust in our team and in our software cements Denticons position as the only enterprise cloud-based practice management system with a significant DSO footprint.

Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners, a dental support organization (DSO) powered by Denticon cloud-based enterprise practice management software, recently completed its acquisition of Birner Dental Management Services, the company behind Perfect Teeth.

Mid-Atlantics 67 newly affiliated Birner offices will continue to do business under the Perfect Teeth brand, and will remain locally managed out of Denver, Colorado as the base for operations in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.

As part of its unique partnership model, Mid-Atlantic will provide needed resources to build and expand Perfect Teeth through investment in state-of-the-art technology with the rollout of Denticon cloud-based enterprise practice management software.

Denticon will provide Perfect Teeth with advanced patient-facing, reporting, clinical, and operational tools, while allowing for significant savings in total cost of software ownership.

Eric Giesecke, Planet DDS CEO, noted: Its been a privilege to work with Mid-Atlantic and help power their growth with our Denticon practice management software. And were thrilled to expand that partnership by welcoming Perfect Teeths many offices to the Denticon family this year. Mid-Atlantics trust in our team and in our software cements Denticons position as the only enterprise cloud-based practice management system with a significant DSO footprint.

Denticon by Planet DDS is the only proven, time-tested software offering that was built from the ground up for multi-location groups in the cloud. Denticon allows dental organizations to break free from the constraints of desktop software with a comprehensive solution that includes the tools needed to standardize, centralize, and grow. All while reducing IT cost and enhancing security. Learn more about Denticon at http://www.planetdds.com.

Founded in 2016, Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners is a dental support organization dedicated to improving the delivery of dental care by elevating the importance of dental professionals in the overall health care of patients and their communities. By providing dentists with financial management, marketing and technology services, Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners alleviates administrative burdens and allows dentists to focus on their patients. Learn more about Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners at http://www.mid-atlanticdental.com.

Perfect Teeth is a group of dental offices dedicated to providing gold standard patient care and service to every patient, every day. Since opening in 1995, Perfect Teeth dental practices have provided family-friendly dental care for patients of all ages in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. Learn more about Perfect Teeth at http://www.perfectteeth.com.


Kinsmen Group, a specialist supplier of engineering information services and solutions, today announced it has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification, the worlds leading standard for quality management systems (QMS). Kinsmen Group received the certification for the design, development, delivery and support of its information management solutions which utilized the M-Files intelligent information management platform. The new accreditation demonstrates the company's commitment to excellence for pharmaceutical, chemical, biotech, and oil and gas industry clients.

We are extremely proud to have earned this ISO 9001 certification, said Brian Sallade, CEO of Kinsmen Group. We believe this demonstrates our culture of continuous improvement. We work with companies that operate in quality-driven industries and this certification emphasizes our ongoing commitment to exceeding our customers expectations and being a leader in our field.

BSI, a world-renowned independent auditing firm, performed a thorough evaluation of Kinsmen Group for adherence to the quality management principles established by ISO 9001:2015. The standard is founded on several quality management principles, including a clear focus on meeting customer requirements, strong corporate governance, and leadership commitment to quality.

Kinsmen Group is a member of quality and standards organizations such as Process Industry Practices (PIP), Capital Facilities Information HandOver Specification (CFIHOS), and the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC), the worlds foremost authority in benchmarking, best practices, knowledge management, and process and performance improvement.

ISO 9001:2015 also stresses a process-driven approach to meeting objectives and an emphasis on continuous improvement. Kinsmen Group, a member of the M-Files Partner Program, met the strict ISO 9001:2015 requirements through its use of the M-Files intelligent information management solution. More specifically, the Kinsmen Group utilized the M-Files platform and M-Files Process Maps to prove organizational consistency, improve process efficiency, and facilitate overall transparency during the certification process to demonstrate quality and compliance.

Through its streamlined implementation and configuration process, M-Files made it extremely easy to prepare for our certification, said Stephanie Clarke, quality manager at Kinsmen Group. M-Files replaced Dropbox as our primary repository for content, allowing us to use artificial intelligence to manage business-critical documents and information with an increased level of convenience and compliance. This proved to be highly beneficial during the certification and auditing processes.

"M-Files equips businesses operating in frequently audited environments with intelligent information management solutions that help them meet rigorous quality requirements," said Greg Milliken, senior vice president of marketing at M-Files. "As regulatory climates demand more visibility into key business processes and workflows, companies are increasing turning to AI-powered solutions like M-Files to help them demonstrate and achieve compliance. In addition to Kinsmen Group, M-Files achieved recertification for ISO 9001:2015 in May 2018 using its own information management and QMS solution.

For more information on the M-Files intelligent information management solution, visit https://www.m-files.com/en.

About Kinsmen Group

Operating globally from locations in the U.S. and the U.K., Kinsmen Group helps asset-intensive companies digitally transform their complex engineering information into business intelligence that is used to rapidly empower their workforce, optimize operations and gain the competitive advantage. Kinsmen Group consultancy and technical services help meet the compliance, safety, efficiency and business goals of owner-operators and engineering, construction and procurement companies. For more information, visit https://www.kinsmengroup.com/.

About M-Files Corporation

M-Files provides a next-generation intelligent information management platform that improves business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively. Unlike traditional enterprise content management (ECM) systems or content services platforms, M-Files unifies systems, data and content across the organization without disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration. Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in its unique Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files breaks down silos by delivering an in-context experience for accessing and leveraging information that resides in any system and repository, including network folders, SharePoint, file sharing services, ECM systems, CRM, ERP and other business systems and repositories. Thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries use M-Files for managing their business information and processes, including NBC Universal, OMV, Rovio, SAS Institute and thyssenkrupp. For more information, visit http://www.m-files.com.


Acuant, a leading global provider of identity verification solutions chosen by Kristopher James Company Partners to Streamline Customer Onboarding for Financial Institutions With Acuants award-winning AcuFill technology, our banking partners can capture and auto-populate data in a fraction of the time, improve accuracy and create an impressive customer experience at the first interaction.

Acuant, a leading global provider of identity verification solutions, today announced that Kristopher James Company will offer the companys hardware and software onboarding solutions to financial services clients. For more than three decades, Kristopher James Company has provided premium-quality corporate forms and supplies to financial institutions nationwide. With Acuants AcuFill technology, Kristopher James Company is helping banks and credit unions streamline and modernize the onboarding process.

We are committed to helping financial institutions operate efficiently, said Guy Becker, President of Kristopher James Company. Manual data entry during new customer onboarding is slow and can potentially introduce errors. With Acuants award-winning AcuFill technology, our banking partners can capture and auto-populate data in a fraction of the time, improve accuracy and create an impressive customer experience at the first interaction. This is a much-needed tool for todays modern financial institution to better compete.

Acuants AcuFill technology is real time data capture and auto-fill software that saves time, increases revenue and impresses customers. By automating ID capture and data fill, banks can eliminate manual entry, photocopying and extra paperwork. AcuFill captures any government issued ID or identity document. Card information is processed securely in the cloud without storing any data or images on the local device, then accurately auto-populated into the target application in seconds.

Working with an industry leader like Kristopher James Company will help us reach banks and credit unions across the nation who need to streamline their onboarding processes, said Acuant President and CEO Yossi Zekri. Consumers are technology-savvy, increasingly looking to do business with institutions that are modern, mobile friendly and responsive. We believe we can give those institutions a way to impress customers with a fast and friendly experience.

About Kristopher James Company

Kristopher James Company has over three decades of experience supporting financial institution clients with their operational needs. The company is a one-stop-shop for the day-to-day supplies that to help financial institutions operate efficiently. As the preferred forms and supplies provider for Jack Henry & Associates, Kristopher James Company guarantees to provide affordable banking solutions and dedicated support representatives to meet each banks unique requirements. The company also shares its years of experience in the industry through performance improvement consulting services and printing/mailing services. For more information please visit http://www.kristopherjamescompany.com.

About Acuant

Acuants next gen Identity Platform is powered by AI with human assisted machine learning to reduce fraud while providing a seamless customer experience and increasing conversions in the digital economy. Built to scale and meet KYC, AML and GDPR regulations, Acuant achieved ISO certification and has the industrys highest speed and accuracy rates. Award-winning products include AcuFill ID capture, AssureID authentication, Facial Recognition Match, Chip and Ozone ePassport authentication. Solutions are omnichannel allowing businesses to establish identities on premise or remotely via the cloud and mobile devices. Completing more than 3 billion trusted transactions worldwide, partners include Fortune 100, FTSE 350 organizations and start-ups in all industries. For more information please visit http://www.acuantcorp.com
Kaptivo Wins Best of Show at ISE These awards acknowledge our unique piece of the digital collaboration puzzle, said Kaptivo CEO David Hsieh.

Kaptivo (kaptivo.com), creator of the worlds best-selling whiteboard collaboration system, today announced the company is being recognized with two awards: a win in the Best of Show Awards at the recent ISE 2019 show, and selection as an award finalist at the upcoming Enterprise Connect 2019 show. Both of these shows are among the top venues worldwide for showcasing technologies for business communication and collaboration.

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is the worlds largest exhibition for AV and systems integration, a class of technologies which includes Kaptivos whiteboard collaboration system. Kaptivos connected whiteboard technology is enabled by a combination of camera and video processing hardware mounted above a whiteboard, as well as patented digital image processing and advanced image processing software that can render a perfect digital version of the whiteboard.

Kaptivos exhibition of its Kaptivo for Meeting Rooms version of this technology earned the firm the Best of Show award in the AV Technology Europe category at ISE 2019 in early February.

Face-to-face for global teams

These awards acknowledge our unique piece of the digital collaboration puzzle, said Kaptivo CEO David Hsieh. One of the biggest challenges for enterprise collaboration today is bringing the best, irreplaceable aspects of face-to-face collaboration into the context of digital, global teams. At Kaptivo, were solving part of that challenge with whiteboard collaboration, and its great to be recognized for it.

In addition to the ISE win, Kaptivo has been named a finalist for the Best Communications/Collaboration Device Award at the upcoming Enterprise Connect Show in March, an award that acknowledges the importance of Kaptivos technology to the broader story of business collaboration.

Wins in technology + collaboration

Its very exciting to be recognized with these two awards together, because while ISE is a show and an award focused more on technical innovation in the AV and integrated systems space, Enterprise Connect focuses more on the total set of challenges for enterprise collaboration, said Hsieh. These awards together illustrate how Kaptivo is bringing technical innovations to real business problems.

Kaptivo will appear at Booth 1239 at the Enterprise Connect Show in Orlando March 18-21, 2019.

About Kaptivo

Whiteboards are the universal tool for communicating visual concepts--Kaptivo has digitally connected it. We turn any whiteboard--even if it was made in the 1950s--into a digital communication device that anyone can afford, making meetings, lectures or any situation involving a whiteboard better. We're not replacing the whiteboard because it's already perfectly simple. People love writing on a real whiteboard, and we help them do it more efficiently. A secure solution integrated with all major collaboration, video conferencing and LMS platforms, Kaptivo is available for businesses, schools and organizations of all sizes. Kaptivo is privately held and backed by a transatlantic syndicate of venture-capital investors including Benhamou Global Ventures (Palo Alto), Draper Esprit PLC (London) and Generation Ventures (Toronto), with offices in Cambridge, UK and San Mateo, California. To learn more about Kaptivo, visit - kaptivo.com

Contact: Michael Burke, michael(at)msrcommunications.com, (415) 989-9000
My Side of the Fence: a probing story of a young man of God on the rise, is the creation of published author John Mattison, a former Navy engineer and later civil servant now residing in middle Missouri with his wife. He is a father and grandfather.

Mattison writes, Dreams are wonderful to have. Asa Brooks has several, but the most important is his dream of becoming a propulsion engineer. He has the knowledge, the talent, and the opportunity, thanks to an engineering mogul named C. R. Primo supporting him. Something isnt right. A constant nagging has his spirit troubled. He feels Gods presence in his life. He asks Gods guidance with everything he attempts. Despite how much knowledge he acquires, despite how much money he makes and gives away, God remains quiet on the biggest decision he has to make. He asks his father, a Baptist preacher, what to do. His dad tells him the same thing every time. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. His faith is tested to the point of bending but never breaking. The trials he faces in life lead to the most important lesson he learns. When you need Gods answer, ask the right question.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, John Mattisons new book is a sterling fictional demonstration of how a godly character is built, a motivating portrait of how focusing on the right things in life is everything.

As young Asa Brooks finds himself running up against great opportunities and even greater obstacles, readers will see how a strong faith and humble nature can go far even in terms of worldly success, especially if ones heart is in the right place.

View a synopsis of My Side of the Fence on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseMy Side of the Fence at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about My Side of the Fence, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


A whole new class of people are now good candidates for Roth conversions

Responding to Forbes reporter Ashlea Ebelings request, Mr. Lange shared his insight and expertise on why, under the new Trump tax laws a whole new class of people are now good candidates for Roth conversions. The benefits are dramatic. Jim and his wife will be $789,000 better off because he made a $239,000 Roth conversion in 1998. Under the new laws, the benefits are even more impressive.

The article provides a wealth of excellent advice about the readers and viewers who would benefit most from a Roth IRA conversion now. As a bonus, the article is accompanied by what might soon become an award-winning photograph of Jim dressed in a suit and tie riding his bicycle across the Arizona desert in East Saguaro National Park.

But, the article is limited in length and there is a lot more to the story that your audience needs to know.

The article, written by Ashlea Ebeling, entitled Ripe Time to Roth: Between Trumps Temporary Tax Cuts and the Stock Markets Downswings, Now Could Be the Time to Do a Roth Conversion, will appear in the February 28, 2019 edition of Forbes magazine and the digital version of the article is currently available online here: https://www.paytaxeslater.com/forbesarticle

If nothing else, please check out the picture.

James Lange, CPA/Attorney has been quoted 36 times in The Wall Street Journal, has written 5 best-selling financial books, including Retire Secure! and The Roth Revolution which have been endorsed by dozens of industry greats including Charles Schwab, Larry King, Ed Slott, Roger Ibbotson, Jane Bryant Quinn, Burton Malkiel and 60 other IRA, legal, and financial experts. Jim, a former radio talk show host, comes media-trained and wants to share his expertise with your audience.

Contact:

Sandra Proto

412-521-2732, Ext. 220

sandy(at)paytaxeslater.com
Integrated Advisors Network https://integratedadvisorsnetwork.com/ is proud to announce several new advisory firms who have recently joined the platform. These firms include:

Archer Bay Capital, based in the Greater Boston area, is led by Terri Campbell, CFA, who has over 25 years experience managing money for institutionsbanks, pension funds, foundations and a large insurance company. Terri has managed a $4 billion stock fund, created asset allocation strategies for multi-million and multi-billion dollar portfolios, hired and fired specialized money managers, and contributed to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and international accounting standards through her work at Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

I established Archer Bay Capital as a fiduciary firm where our clients interests come first. We believe in transparency of fees and creating low cost portfolios. In the long run, practical, data-focused investment decisions using low fee options will win versus chasing the latest trend. said Terri Campbell, Founder, Archer Bay Capital LLC.

"Terri has a truly unique and impressive career background combined with significant experience in the philanthropy community. said Jeff Groves, CEO, Integrated Advisors Network.

Shields Capital Advisors, based in the Greater Chicago, IL area, is led by Bill Yocius. Bill is former CEO of Mitchell, Vaught and Taylor. Bill formed Shields Capital Advisors to better serve his client base. He has been a registered investment advisor representative for over 15 years and has been actively involved in the markets for over 30 years. He currently serves as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District, a Director of the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance and is the Chairman of his local church. Bill has an MBA (Finance) from Loyola University Chicago and lives with his wife Carol in Fox River Grove.

Augusta Capital Management, based in Augusta, Georgia, is led by John Rhodes. Prior to launching Augusta Capital Management, John has held senior management level positions at Equitable Life, Bankers Trust, Credit Suisse, Forstmann. Most recently he was Chief Investment Officer at AP Wealth Management.

Integrateds open architecture allows me to choose my own investments, strategies and service providers. The best-of-breed turnkey technology and mid/back office support were also very appealing to help me expand my service offerings for both my client service and growth goals stated John P. Rhodes, CFA, Augusta Capital Management, LLC.

John has incredibly deep experience in the investment management industry. He brings demonstrated success in both conventional and alternative investment strategies utilizing a collaborative and systemic process. said Jeff Groves, CEO, Integrated Advisors Network

The Burns-Blackburn Group, based in Greater San Diego Area, is led by Todd Blackburn and Curtis Burns. The 2 person firm was previously with Vintage West Capital Management in Cardiff, CA.

Because our industry is already so highly regulated and with additional regulations pending, it was very important to choose a partner that is committed to navigating the regulatory environment we operate in every day. We were really impressed with the Integrated team and their vast knowledge of our industry specific rules and regulations, making them an ideal from that perspective. said Todd Blackburn.

By joining the Integrated Advisors Network we are able to leverage an open architecture platform that offered our clients a broader array of investment strategies and service providers said Curtis Burns.

Both Curtis and Todd have deep industry experience with a specialized focus on retirement planning that really complement our network  said Linda Pix, Chief Business Development Officer, Integrated Advisors Network.

Capital City Financial Partners, based in Columbia, South Carolina, is led by Joshua Bradley. The 15 person firm also has a satellite office in Lexington, South Carolina.

"We looked at multiple firms searching for one that values compliance as a priority to keep us and our clients protected, as well as offers technology integrations to make day-to-day business more efficient. We also wanted to remain detached from a broker/dealer connection and steer clear of a firm who would tell us what to do and how to do it. Integrated stood out to us because of the personal connections their team established from the beginning, giving off a genuine feel (versus other corporations who were obviously just trying to get more business). Integrated provides us the freedom to run our firm as we see best for our clients while still providing top-level protection and efficiencies on the back side." Said Joshua Bradley, Managing Partner, Capital City Financial Partners.

"Were really impressed by Capital City Financial Partners highly personalized and holistic approach. The firm has an extremely strong intern program where many of the employee have started. They are an extraordinary team of professionals with significant expertise in financial planning and investment management. said Michael Young, President, Integrated Advisors Network.

For media inquiries, please contact Bill McGuire at 973-216-4152 or bill@wmmcguire.com

About Integrated Advisors Network

Integrated Advisors Network is a SEC-Registered Investment Adviser offering a supported independence business model to advisors who want to run their own business without bearing all of the cost and responsibilities associated with doing so. Through our strategic business alliances, we provide an integrated back office technology and services platform that allows advisors to establish their personally branded investment adviser practice, while leveraging the benefits of shared cost. We have created a unique and flexible environment that supports advisors during and after their transition to independence, and allows them to do what they do best: service their clients. Find out more about how Integrated Advisors Network can help define your future. For more information call 855-729-4222 or visit http://integratedadvisorsnetwork.com/
Branding is perhaps the most important thing a growing business could do to achieve long-term success. You never know where consumers may see your brand or what emotional connections they could develop and when. - DesignRush Founder and Executive Director Gabriel Shaoolian

A consistent brand presentation across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23 percent.

However, a brand has many visual and emotional components. Therefore, crafting a consistent identity can be difficult for businesses.

DesignRush.com, a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies, discovered how the best branding agencies build unified brand identities across many channels. These strategies help growing companies capture consumers, increase awareness and recognition, and ultimately improve revenue.

The top 5 ways that branding agencies create a successful brand identity are:

1. Create A Brand Strategy

About one-third of consumers have a specific brand in mind when they begin shopping.

By creating a brand strategy before beginning the actual branding process, experts can pinpoint valuable audiences and ensure that the brand becomes recognizable and trustworthy to them. This will empower consumers to have that brand in mind when they set out to make a purchase.

Building a brand strategy includes tasks such as:



Conducting market research

Defining the target demographic

Determining goals

Writing the mission and core values of the brand

Creating a brand book that outlines brand guidelines

And more!

2. Design A Logo

Studies show that color improves brand recognition by up to 80 percent  and when coupled with a strategic logo, this visual moniker can be the key to brand visibility.

Thus, branding agencies often design a logo that aesthetically embodies a brand's products, services, mission and values early on in the branding process. Although a logo is not the only branding element, it is often the most highly-recognized.

Successful logos have a few key design qualities. They are often:

Simple and scalable

Modern yet timeless

Responsive for all digital screen sizes

Memorable and have strong brand relevance

3. Name The Brand, Products & Services

Although brains process visuals up to 60,000 times faster than words, every brand, product and service needs to be named in accordance with the overarching brand identity.

Successful brand or product names should be:

Short or simple

Related to the key mission of the brand

Easy to pronounce

4. Brand The Website

Strong branding on multiple platforms can improve brand visibility by up to 4 times  but a website is perhaps the most important platform.

The best branding agencies take the time to properly brand professional websites. Well-branded sites typically have:

The logo in the top-left corner of all web pages, which leads back to the homepage

Large, easily readable font

A consistent color scheme that matches other visual collateral

Intuitive navigation

Strategic landing pages that match brand goals

And more!

5. Roll Out The Identity On Other Platforms

There are a near-infinite number of digital platforms and interfaces that businesses must brand in order to properly present themselves to their target audience.

Therefore, they must also roll out the brand on other channels, including:

Social media

Marketing campaigns

Graphic and print designs

Packaging designs

Email newsletters

Video marketing campaigns and commercials

Advertisements

And more!

Branding is perhaps the most important thing a growing business could do to achieve long-term success, says DesignRush Founder and Executive Director Gabriel Shaoolian. You never know where consumers may see your brand or what emotional connections they could develop and when. Therefore, brands need to take the time to build a truly unified persona for their brand and distribute that on each and every possible medium.

DesignRushs Agency Listing section features the top local and global branding companies. Some of the top branding agencies from around the world include:

1. Art Fresh Inc.

Art Fresh is an award-winning full-service branding studio, focusing on marketing strategy, brand design, marketing communications, building brands and managing them effectively. They provide premium-quality creative design that includes logo design and corporate identity, print advertisements, label and packaging design, brochure design, responsive web design, and various other promotional services to help businesses capture a strong position in the market.

Visit Art Fresh online at https://www.art-fresh.ca/

2. Baldwin&

Baldwin& is a full-service e-commerce agency with offices in Ghent, Belgium, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Brands that are looking for a professional partner to help them develop, design and promote their webshop can tell Baldwin& what theyre after and the agency will make it happen, from A to Z.

Visit Baldwin& online at: http://www.baldwinand.com/

3. Brands to life

Brands to life is a Melbourne-based branding agency working with local, national and international brands. Their branding, advertising, and digital thinking have launched brands, intensified engagement, gotten more bums on seats, achieved more clicks and bigger donations, increased awareness and boosted sales. They breathe new life into brands to create, refresh or re-position them. Brands to life finds simple truths and creates authentic brand stories and unique, memorable identities.

Visit Brands to life online at: https://www.brandstolife.com.au/

4. Bulldog Studio

Bulldog Studio has a team of graphic designers that develops print projects, branding and packaging projects. Their added value is tangible because they have direct feedback from their clients throughout every step of the process.

Visit Bulldog Studio online at: http://bulldogstudio.es/

5. Catchword

Catchword is a dedicated brand name development firm that has been them industry-leading product, service and company names since 1998. Clients hire and rehire Catchword because they view naming not just as a creative exercise but as a critical component of brand value. Sure, they come up with cool names (some would say super cool), but not before Catchword has a profound understanding of each clients business and branding objectives.

Visit Catchword online at: https://catchwordbranding.com/

6. Cleverbird Creative

Cleverbird Creative is an 85+ time award-winning web design and digital branding firm based in Chicago. They create beautiful and effective websites for startups, Fortune 500 companies  and everyone in between. Cleverbird Creative marries performance and beauty, with most of their sites not only winning design awards but also seeing an increase in sales, leads, and traffic by an average of 450 percent.

Visit Cleverbird Creative online at: http://cleverbirds.com/

7. ElephantMark

ElephantMark is a full-service website design and branding agency located in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. They build brands from the ground up by creating unique brand experiences and brand strategies. ElephantMark crafts unique brand strategies and helps small and large businesses alike to reach new audiences. A typical scope of work could include a brand audit, brand naming, brand identity design, a brand strategy manual, a website, signage design, advertising campaigns, and more.

Visit ElephantMark online at: https://www.elephantmark.com/

8. Erretres, The Strategic Design Company

Erretres, The Strategic Design Company, is a branding and digital consultancy firm based in Madrid and working internationally in Europe, America, and Asia. Their work is characterized by human-centered and technology-infused design solutions, as well as business innovation and strategy. They are specialists in the simplification of complex problems in order to create identities which bring value to brands and end users. Erretres teams up with their clients at all stages of the process, offering methods and solutions tailored to the particular needs of each project. They are unique, offering both branding and digital international expertise.

Visit Erretres, The Strategic Design Company, online at: http://www.erretres.com/

9. GKV

GKV is celebrating over 35 years of creating advertising, direct marketing, branding, digital and social media campaigns on behalf of their clients. GKVs success is rooted in their ability to create and execute breakthrough strategies for companies and organizations that are out-spent in their categories. GKV and its clients succeed by challenging the category status quo. On the clients behalf, they have created advertising initiatives that have succeeded consistently in the marketplace and in industry award competitions by demonstrating thought leadership, emotional power, and confidence.

Visit GKV online at: https://gkv.com/

10. Jacob Tyler Brand & Digital Agency

Jacob Tyler Brand & Digital Agency is an integrated brand experience agency. They deliver creative experiences and marketing strategies that amplify each brands reach, breed customer loyalty, and drive business growth. Everyone thinks they are innovative. Everyone thinks they offer solutions. But Jacob Tyler Brand & Digital Agency helps brands to kick cliches to the curb and focus on exactly what they want to solve for their specific audience  and after over 18 years in business, theyre really great at it.

Visit Jacob Tyler Brand & Digital Agency online at: https://www.jacobtyler.com/

11. KRV Guru

KRV Guru is comprised of a young, energetic, creative and passionate MARTECH team who loves what they do and  most importantly  who they work for: Brands. They are known as passionate and crazy marketers in search of innovation. KRV Guru believes that Marketing is Mathematics and that they know the right formula to get an answer.

Visit KRV Guru online at: https://www.krvguru.com/

12. Launch Digital

Launch Digital is a creative design and marketing agency working with clients of all sizes and in all sectors. They understand that every brand and project has different values and audiences. Launch Digital has a very powerful in-house creative team with young, fresh designers led by strong marketing directors and management. Their talent and experience produce creativity that is capable of delivering impressive design work for all business types. Launch Digital looks at all of their clients entire marketing efforts, suggesting amendments and implementing changes with the goal of growing brands, products, services, and market share to give a great return on investment and ultimately increase profit for their clients.

Visit Launch Digital online at: https://www.launchscotland.com/

13. Massive Media Inc.

Massive Media is a branding and experience design agency for companies with ambition. They partner with solution-focused organizations to achieve clarity, effective messaging and the technologies needed to thrive in the wild. Whether the end product is a revised brand, a digital advertising campaign or a new website, Massive Medias approach centers on deep cultural insights, clear strategic direction and the power of human expression.

Visit Massive Media online at: https://engagemassive.com/

14. MESH

MESH exists to create connections and loyalty to brands. They are an independent award-winning creative and strategic agency with over 15 years of success. MESH works with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to startups, all of whom are ready to grow and transform their brand. MESH has proven expertise in brand building, strategic account leadership, advertising, creative services, public relations, and traditional and digital media. MESH has provided professional and creative solutions to clients in a wide variety of industries, including Visit Baton Rouge, Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation, Mississippi Aquarium, and more.

Visit MESH online at: https://www.meshbr.com/

15. Milestone Creative Ltd.

Milestone is an independent creative agency that builds close, long-term relationships with clients to grow stronger brands. They believe in the benefits of applying creativity to business. Its why Milestone started back in 1995 and it continues to be their driving force. From ownable branding to using digital channels more effectively, its the creative spark that makes strategy come alive. They develop compelling propositions, competitive positioning, and memorable creatives to help brands make a deeper, lasting connection with customers. Milestone Creative enjoys working with a broad base of clients from both the B2B and B2C sectors. They can provide strategic brand consultancy, integrated marketing campaigns, packaging design, and more.

Visit Milestone Creative online at: https://www.milestonecreative.co.uk/

16. Murmur Creative

Murmur Creative is branding, packaging, and web agency that specializes in the food and beverage industries. Murmurs goal is always to elevate the businesses and organizations they work with and enrich communities through their work and their relationships. Murmur Creative loves working with like-minded organizations that believe in a holistic approach to branding and design. They are strategists. They are partners. And they are dreamers.

Visit Murmur Creative online at: https://murmurcreative.com/

17. Namestorm

Namestorm has been in the market of business naming consulting since 2005. They have advised startups, medium-sized companies, and well-known companies on their name search and helped them create or find their desired name. Namestorm specializes in naming. This means that they do not offer a wide range of services but are exclusively devoted to professional naming. However, they do branch out. For example, they founded NameRobot, a portal with many unique tools for do-it-yourself naming. With more innovations and cooperations in the field of naming, they continue to strengthen their leading position in their area of expertise.

Visit Namestorm online at: https://www.namestorm.com/

18. Nuu

Nuu is a hub for strategy, design, and innovation. Their people lead the charge  a team of strategic thinkers who conceptualize and create in combinations of design, code, culture and unique brand stories. Each of their clients has something to share. Nuu finds it and gives them what they need to tell the world.

Visit Nuu online at: https://nuu.co/

19. Percept Brand Design

Percept is a design agency in Sydney. They specialize in branding, packaging design, print communications, advertising, website, and digital design.

Visit Percept Brand Design online at: http://percept.com.au/

20. Slice Design

Based in London, UK, Slice Design is a branding and packaging design agency that has helped consumer brands grow and get noticed since 2004. They like to think of themselves as a challenger to the larger agencies. As the name suggests, Slice Design cuts through jargon with their flexible, no-nonsense approach and down-to-earth attitude. From their studio in London, Slice Design works for clients around the world, including big household names and small startups, challengers and leaders. Whether a big brand re-design or simple packaging update, Slice Design is proud to remain flexible, refreshingly honest and wholly independent.

Visit Slice Design online at: http://www.slicedesign.co.uk/

21. South Made

As digital marketing evolves, so does South Made. What started as a boutique web design firm has grown into the one-stop shop that is now South Made Marketing. Collectively, they have a background in business management, web design, graphic design, photography, creative writing, social media, sales and marketing. South Made builds brands digitally through marketing, web design, graphic design, branding, strategy, social media, SEO, pay-per-click advertising, videography, photography, consulting, and more.

Visit South Made online at: https://southmade.com/

22. Startling Brands

Startling Brands is an agency full of branding and marketing specialists that work globally with industry-leading, innovative, purposeful companies and institutions. They provide a full range of integrated strategy, brand consulting, creative, marketing and strategy development services to help their clients to create, grow and manage their brands.

Visit Startling Brands online at: http://www.startlingbrands.com/

23. Streng Agency

Streng Agency is not a typical advertising agency. For that matter, Streng is not a typical business. This is due in part to their approach to solving everyday problems as creatively as possible. That includes every decision they make. Streng Agency is contemporary and state-of-the-art in its office space as well as their approach to work. They have made it their ongoing practice to not only hire the best creative professionals that ensure experienced leadership but also individuals that are driven by finding new, provocative ways to change markets. Streng has been providing award-winning customer-generating marketing for over 30 years. During that time, they have developed a wide range of capabilities, specializing in advertising and marketing, strategy, branding, design, web development, digital marketing, and a totally integrated approach to all of these services and marketing tactics under one roof.

Visit Streng Agency online at: https://strengagency.com/

24. Tridimage

Tridimage is a leading 3D branding, graphic design and structural packaging agency in Latin America. Tridimage has creative headquarters in Buenos Aires and has account managers in Mexico, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Tridimage's reputation attracts the attention of both established and emerging companies operating in Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. Tridimage has worked in more than 30 countries in the world, carrying out more than 7000 projects. Tridimages designs have won six Pentawards, three Vertex Awards, and even more accolades.

Visit Tridimage online at: https://www.tridimage.com/

25. Wegacha

Wegacha adheres to the saying We get it. They understand that many brands and businesses have imaginations that run wild. And they know that a good business takes time to grow. Luckily, Wegacha is ready to help brands build great things. They are thinkers, dreamers, doers, storytellers and hackers with a cause that will guide clients through this new journey into the digital world.

Visit Wegacha online at: https://wegacha.com/

Brands can view the best branding firms by rates, expertise, experience, case studies, reviews and more on DesignRush. Users can easily filter to compare branding agencies and find the top branding experts to position their business for long-term success.

About DesignRush: DesignRush.com is B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies.

DesignRush features the top agencies around the world, including the best Branding Companies, Digital Agencies, Logo Design, Digital Marketing, Website Design, eCommerce Web Design Companies, and more.
Honeycomb provides customers who believe in us an opportunity to support our growth. It gives us a way to raise needed capital to exhibit at the Summer Fancy Food Show, and showcase our products to the national food scene. In addition, the campaign has been a good marketing tool for us.

Pittsburgh-based financial technology start-up Honeycomb Credit today announced its expansion into the state of Ohio. Honeycomb, a SEC-registered crowd-financing portal for small businesses led by a 6th generation community banker, recently launched a campaign for Cleveland-based Popes Kitchen, a specialty purveyor of artisanal sauces, cocktail mixes and bar products. Honeycomb is also partnering with countrys third largest commercial shared kitchen space The Central Kitchen (formerly known as Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen).

Honeycombs expansion is a result of growing interest beyond its home markets of Pittsburgh and upstate New York. Honeycomb has already completed 14 deals in these markets, helping businesses to secure loans of over $400,000. Popes Kitchen commented Honeycomb provides customers who believe in us an opportunity to support our growth. It gives us a way to raise needed capital to exhibit at the Summer Fancy Food Show, and showcase our products to the national food scene. In addition, the campaign has been a good marketing tool for us.

Honeycomb has already enabled funding for a number of specialty food purveyors, and continues that trend through its partnership with The Central Kitchen. Eric Diamond, Central Kitchens COO, stated that we are really excited about the partnership with Honeycomb Credit. As Ohio's largest shared use kitchen incubator, we know a large number of businesses who have well-loved products but still have trouble getting access to capital at reasonable rates. Our partnership with Honeycomb will help us to achieve our goal of increasing the success rate of local food businesses in Northeastern Ohio.

George Cook, CEO of Honeycomb commented, Honeycombs expansion into Ohio represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to support hundreds of thousands of Main Street businesses located in the Buckeye State. We look forward to working with The Central Kitchen and others to unlock growth opportunities for small businesses and to build vibrant, financially empowered communities.

About Honeycomb Credit

Honeycomb Credit is a Funding Portal, which is registered with the SEC and FINRA to act as an intermediary in Securities that are offered and sold under Title III. As a marketplace for bringing together small businesses and investors, Honeycomb offers businesses an opportunity to crowd source debt at reasonable rates from their existing customers. Honeycomb operates in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. Businesses can borrow up to $100,000 for expansion purposes, and investors can invest as little as $100.
Fresh on the heels of announcing the arrival of Carlos Treistman, a founding partner and a former leader of Orrick's Houston office, the co-head of the Latin America Practice and well-known player in Houston's corporate, private equity and business communities, Greenberg Traurig is now also pleased to welcome Katherine Treistman another founding partner of Orrick's Houston office and the global co-head of its Energy Disputes Practice, to its Houston office and the firm's litigation practice.

"I could not be more pleased to welcome Katherine to our expanding Greenberg Traurig family in Houston," said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurig's Executive Chairman. "Both she and Carlos fit our practice focus areas and culture. We have patiently grown our three offices in Texas over the last 15 years, enjoying strong revenue growth without succumbing to the short-term thinking and growth for growth's sake so rampant in the market. With Carlos' focus on private equity, technology, energy and LatAm, and Katherine's strong litigation background, they will hit the ground running in our environment.

Katherine Treistman is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice has focused on complex commercial disputes in the energy industry, technology, finance, private equity, antitrust, auditor liability and other high stakes commercial claims. Before joining Orrick, she was a partner at Susman Godfrey where she worked for 20 years and has vast trial and pre-trial experience.

"In the past 12 months, Greenberg Traurigs unique culture and strategy in Texas have allowed us to welcome more than 20 new attorneys to our three offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, where our team of more than 125 attorneys works as a truly Texas firm while simultaneously being integral members of a unified global law firm," said litigation shareholder Mary-Olga Lovett, the firms Senior Vice President and Co-Regional Operating Shareholder of its Texas offices. "Katherine is a stellar litigator with broad experience in Texas and around the nation."

Treistman noted, Greenberg Traurigs position of leadership in Texas and in complex litigation will benefit my clients. The firm 'gets' Texas! This is a synergistic opportunity for me, my clients, and the firm, and I am excited to work with the firms powerhouse team and of course, continue working closely with Carlos and our mutual clients.

Greenberg Traurigs preeminent Global Litigation Practice, led by co-chairs Lori G. Cohen and Jeff E. Scott, consists of more than 600 attorneys working across the firms 39 offices around the globe. Most recently, The American Lawyer recognized the firm as National Litigation Department of the Year for Products Liability.

On Feb. 1, Carlos Treistman joined Greenberg Traurig from Orrick, where he was co-chair of the Latin America Practice, one of the founding partners of the Houston office, and served as the original office leader.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
Forkbeard logo Forkbeard's ability to leverage the existing capabilities of billions of smart devices already on the market enables rapid adoption across multiple market verticals.

Forkbeard Technologies AS will be demonstrating the industrys first and only, ultrasound/BLE-based, indoor positioning platform for smartphones and other mobile devices, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 25  28.

Building on Sonitors unique and proprietary ultrasound-based indoor positioning technology, the Forkbeard technology platform provides unparalleled accuracy and reliability in software-enabled positioning of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices running on Android and iOS operating systems, said Wilfred Booij, Ph.D., CEO of Forkbeard Technologies AS. The ability to leverage the existing capabilities of billions of smart devices already on the market enables rapid adoption across multiple market verticals.

Accurate distance measurement lies at the foundation of Forkbeards uniquely efficient indoor positioning technology. Combining industry standard, audio and Bluetooth technology, Forkbeard's accuracy performance is near 100 times better than that of Bluetooth beacon technology alone. Furthermore, since ultrasound does not penetrate walls, windows, ceilings or floors, the Forkbeard technology provides 100% room-level accuracy, which no other real-time, smart device positioning technology can do.

Forkbeard combines low-latency, high location accuracy performance with the ease of installation of a battery powered infrastructure. The cloud supervised Forkbeard technology platform offers flexible and reliable positioning data integration through a collaborative partner eco-system. Forkbeards wireless technology will be offered to the market through attractive subscription models supporting product, OEM and technology licensing.

The Mobile World Congress marks Forkbeards first appearance since Sonitor Technologies AS announced the establishment of Sonitor IPS Holding AS, creating two subsidiaries, Forkbeard Technologies AS and Sonitor Technologies AS. Forkbeard will focus on the development of platform technologies for cloud-based, indoor positioning of mobile devices. Sonitor Technologies will continue to focus on the commercialization and expansion of the market leading Sonitor Sense platform and partner in the commercialization of the Forkbeard technology platform in healthcare and other markets.

"We believe that spinning out the Forkbeard smart device indoor positioning platform into a new business will allow us to take the technology rapidly mainstream in the indoor location market that analysts project to grow from less than $10 billion annually today to approximately $40 billion by 2023*, said Knut Sandven, Chairman of the Board of Forkbeard Technologies AS.

Forkbeard technology will be demonstrated live at the Mobile World Congress (MWC19- Hall 7) in Barcelona, February 25-28, 2019. (Stand #7J61 in the Innovation Norway Pavilion)

Visit http://www.forkbeardtech.com.

*http://www.marketsandmarkets.com 2017 and http://www.researchandmarkets.com 2017

The Forkbeard story: From Viking kings to Indoor Positioning

Viking King Harald Blatann (also known as King Bluetooth) ruled Norway and Denmark in late 900 A.D. King Bluetooth was an exceptional leader, known for connecting people and cultures, and over 1000 years later inspired the naming of the Bluetooth technology by Ericsson, a technology that enables the exchange of wireless data.

In 986 A.D. Sweyn Forkbeard, King Bluetooths son, known for his navigational expertise, revolted against his father and became his successor. King Forkbeard also ruled as the first Viking king of England.

As with the power of kings, technology evolves. The Forkbeard technology represents a new paradigm for efficient wireless connectivity and accurate indoor positioning of mobile iOS or Android smart-devices, dramatically improving the accuracy performance compared to a BLE-only positioning technology. The patented Forkbeard technology combines the capability of Bluetooth (BLE) with the proven superior accuracy performance of our ultrasound location technology. Forkbeard delivers exceptional indoor positioning technology value.

http://www.forkbeardtech.com

Contact

Terry Aasen, SVP Business Development and Alliances, Forkbeard Technologies AS, terry(dot)aasen(at)forkbeardtech(dot)com

Forkbeard Technologies AS, Drammensveien 288, 0283 Oslo, Norway

http://www.forkbeardtech.com
Our Citri-Fi product lines offer opportunities to improve yields and texture in addition to replacing phosphates and allergens to help clean up labels.

Clean label food is not just another passing trend in the limelight. This fast-growing movement is now expected when creating natural foods and beverages. It is quite common to spot consumers running their index finger across the back of food packaging reading the fine print. Yet, meat products are not immune to this label scrutiny.

More than ever, meat and poultry producers are working diligently to create clean and transparent foods for the masses. For instance, in meat processing, phosphates perform well when it comes to improving yields. However, this ingredient is falling out of favor in some circles due to the perception of what is considered clean label. As a result, processors are exploring alternatives to phosphates.

One solution is using Citri-Fi, a natural citrus flour, which provides high water holding and emulsification properties in conjunction with dissolved sodium carbonate also known as soda. When Citri-Fi 100M40 is used between 0.2% and 0.4% along with sodium carbonate, processors find they can remove phosphate while still maintaining high raw and cooked yields. Studies show that injected poultry using Citri-Fi and sodium carbonate together improved yields by more than 4% versus poultry injected with no phosphates. Moreover, processors benefit with reduced purge and favorable sensory results. Coincidently, many meat and poultry processors already use sodium carbonate as a processing aid or for other purposes.

Since Citri-Fi works synergistically with other yield enhancing ingredients, this natural ingredient also can replace phosphates when used with other hydrocolloids such as rice starch or carrageenan to improve yields. Alternatively, for those processors who continue to use phosphates, Citri-Fi can be used in addition to phosphate to enhance the yield and eating qualities.

Fiberstar is dedicated to creating clean and natural solutions for the meat and poultry industry which is a core segment of our business, says John Haen, President and CEO of Fiberstar, Inc. Our Citri-Fi product lines offer opportunities to improve yields and texture in addition to replacing phosphates and allergens to help clean up labels.

Citri-Fi is non-GMO, non-allergen and gluten-free. This natural ingredient has no E-number and can be labeled as citrus flour or dried citrus pulp.

For more information, please contact Dr. Brock Lundberg, Ph.D. at b.lundberg(at)fiberstar(dot)net or (715) 425-7550 x 102.

Fiberstar, Inc. http://www.FiberstarIngredients.com is a privately held innovative biotechnology Company focused on enhancing food performance by manufacturing and marketing value-added, plant-based food ingredients. Its largest brand, Citri-Fi, is a natural, highly functional fiber produced sustainably from citrus fruit using a physical patented process. Citri-Fi is GRAS, non-allergenic, neutral in taste & odor and non-GMO. This functional fiber line benefits meat, dairy, bakery, gluten-free, sauce, condiments, frozen food, beverage and health & wellness food products through textural improvements, nutritional enhancements and/or cost savings. Headquartered in River Falls, Wisconsin with manufacturing in Florida and Wisconsin, Fiberstar sells products globally in over 65 countries.
Exhibitor Media Group President and COO Randy Acker, The EXHIBITORLIVE Meeting Point Lounge was a great new addition to the attendee experience in 2018, and we are excited that Event Architecture will once again bring it to life in 2019.

Event Architecture is pleased to renew its partnership with Exhibitor Media Group as a sponsor of the EXHIBITORLIVE Meeting Point Lounge at EXHIBITORLIVE 2019. Exhibitor Media Group publishes the award-winning EXHIBITOR magazine and is host of the annual event, which is a professional development conference for trade show and corporate event marketing. The event runs February 25-27, 2019, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the second year the EXHIBITORLIVE Meeting Point Lounge will be available to attendees at the event and sponsored by Event Architecture. According to Exhibitor Media Group President and COO Randy Acker, The EXHIBITORLIVE Meeting Point Lounge was a great new addition to the attendee experience in 2018, and we are excited that Event Architecture will once again bring it to life in 2019.

For the 2019 lounge, Event Architecture will bring one of its 20 tall x 32 wide x 16 deep XPODH structures. The portable building features a durable, modern design constructed of sturdy aluminum supports encased by air cells comprised of a double layer of coated fabric, which are pressurized to create tension.

As with all Event Architecture structures, the XPODH was easy to customize for the event. EXHIBITORLIVE branded graphic wraps cover the exterior, and additional branded graphics and signage will be placed inside and out. Attendees will find many comfortable seating areas at the lounge, as well as plenty of charging stations.

Charles Pappas, an EXHIBITORLIVE editor, will also be hosting two Fireside Chats at the lounge, where he will discuss the launch of his new book: "Flying Cars, Zombie Dogs, and Robot Overlords: How World's Fairs and Trade Expos Changed the World." The chats will take place Monday, February 25 at 2 p.m. (for attendees) and Wednesday, February 27 at 11 a.m. (for exhibitors and supply side representatives).

Having a commanding presence at a prestigious event marketing conference like EXHITIBORLIVE also allows Event Architecture to introduce its products to experiential marketers and agencies who arent familiar with the companys line of modular structures.

As Tim Bookout, Director of Sales at Event Architecture explains, EXHIBITORLIVE has long been the place for the best trade show and corporate event training and ground-breaking products. We are excited to be included in EXHIBITORLIVE's increased commitment to professionals involved in outdoor activations and events as marketing dollars continue to shift away from traditional media and into experiential engagements.

The EXHIBITORLIVE Meeting Point Lounge will be located at booth #1853. Event Architecture also welcomes attendees to stop by its booth #1856 to meet representatives from the company and for information about its customizable, semi-permanent, modular structures.

To learn more about Event Architectures innovative solutions for live events, activations and experiential retail, contact Tim Bookout at 972-323-9433.

ABOUT EVENT ARCHITECTURE:

Event Architecture is a provider of portable, modular architectural structures that are perfect for indoor or outdoor events, trade shows, festivals and an endless array of brand activations. Our portable solutions can be fully branded, and they come in sizes to meet any need. Event Architecture is committed to both service and unsurpassed product excellence. Find out more at http://www.Event-Architecture.com.
Entrinsik Informer (http://entrinsik.com/Informer), has been named a Top Performer in the Business Intelligence Software category for the Winter 2019 Customer Success Report published by FeaturedCustomers. FeaturedCustomers is the leading customer success content marketing platform for B2B business software & services helping potential B2B buyers make informed purchasing decisions through vendor validated customer success content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and customer videos.

FeaturedCustomers evaluated all the potential Business Intelligence Software companies on its platform for possible inclusion in the report. Only 34 companies meet the criteria needed for being included in the Winter 2019 Business Intelligence Software Customer Success Report. Entrinsik Informer received an overall score of 93 earning a Top Performer award in the category.

The Customer Success Report is based on the curation of authenticated case studies, testimonials, and reviews from across the web, telling a complete story of vendors in the Business Intelligence Software space through real customer experiences. Scores are determined by multiple factors including number of total reviews, customer success content, social media presence, and vendor momentum based on web traffic and search trends.

The Top Performer designation is awarded to vendors with significant market presence and enough customer success content to validate their vision. Highly rated by customers, Entrinsik Informer consistently publishes high quality vendor produced customer success content and curates quality customer reviews from multiple third-party sites.

The full report, along with Entrinsik Informers profile, which includes detailed product scorecards is available for you to download at https://entrinsik.com/whitepapers/informer-named-top-performer-for-bi-tools-in-2019-report/?pg=i.

This marks the 2nd year FeaturedCustomers Customer Success Report has focused on business intelligence tools and the 2nd year Entrinsik has been recognized for Informers market-leading business intelligence solution and dedication to delivering the highest-level in customer support, says Doug Leupen, President and CEO at Entrinsik.

About Entrinsik Informer:

Entrinsik Informer 5 is a robust, extensible data discovery and analytics platform that simplifies the process of accessing, cleansing, blending, and analyzing on-prem and cloud data. Based on a single web-based platform, Informer 5 makes it easy for organizations to aggregate disparate data to create a cohesive, curated, governed data hub for self-service data analysis. Because of its open-source API-based architecture, Informer easily integrates with various CRM, ERP and enterprise systems within various industries including Higher Education, Insurance, Manufacturing & Distribution, Healthcare, Public Safety, Not-for-Profit, Government, and many others. For more information, visit https://entrinsik.com/Informer.

About FeaturedCustomers:

FeaturedCustomers, the worlds only customer reference platform for B2B business software & services, helps potential B2B buyers research and discover business software & services through vendor validated customer reference content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and customer videos. Every day their platform helps influence the purchasing decisions of thousands of B2B buyers in the final stages of their buying cycle from Fortune 500 companies to SMBs. For more information, visit https://www.featuredcustomers.com.
Small and mid-size businesses increasingly use cloud, data analytics and mobile to improve their connectivity and infrastructure. This means a larger attack surface from which cyber-criminals can infiltrate.

eMazzanti Technologies President and Co-founder, Carl Mazzanti, will be a featured cybersecurity industry expert on a Cybersecurity Panel Discussion presented by NJBIZ, Tuesday, February 26, 2019.

The NJBIZ Cybersecurity educational event is scheduled to run from 8:00 to 10:30 am at The DoubleTree by Hilton Somerset, 200 Atrium Drive, Somerset, New Jersey. Interested parties may register with NJBIZ.com for a nominal fee.

The panel of industry experts will explore topics such as Understanding the Role of Cybersecurity, the Rise of Cyber-Crime, Back-up and Recovery Planning, Data Privacy, and Cyber-Defense for SMBs as the Attack Surface Grows, among others.

Small and mid-size businesses increasingly use cloud, data analytics and mobile to improve their connectivity and infrastructure, stated Mazzanti. This means a larger attack surface from which cyber-criminals can infiltrate.

NJBIZ Cyber-Security Panel Experts

The panel moderator, Mike Geraghty, is the Director of Cybersecurity and State Chief Information Security Officer, New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC).

Panelists slated for the event include NYC tech entrepreneur and cyber-security expert Carl Mazzanti, Robert Egan, Owner, Archer & Greiner, PC, Carl Scalzo, CEO & Founder, Online Computers, and John Wolak, Co-Leader, Privacy & Data Security Team, Gibbons P.C.

Manufacturing Cybersecurity Addressed

Recently, Mazzanti addressed the topic of Secure the Manufacturing Product Line at the NJMEP Manufacturing Cybersecurity Program. NJMEP is a private, notfor-profit organization that improves the profitability and competitiveness of New Jerseys manufacturers.

Many small business manufacturers lack the resources to manage cybersecurity risks. Moreover, the evolving nature of the risks and a shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals make effective cybersecurity administration a challenge for organizations large and small.

Managed Security Services Provider

Cyber-attacks have the potential to cripple a business for weeks or months. Fortunately, the cybersecurity experts at eMazzanti Technologies, a managed security services provider (MSSP), tackle daily emerging threats as front-line warriors in the fast-changing cybersecurity landscape.

eMazzanti delivers enterprise-grade small business cybersecurity technologies to detect and block attacks. In addition, they design proactive, multi-layered cyber-defense solutions to mitigate small and mid-size business cyber-security risk, including 24/7 network monitoring and a variety of managed services solutions.

Related resource information:

eMazzanti Technologies Doubles PCI QIR Staff to Strengthen Retail Data Security

Securing Mobile Devices

About Carl Mazzanti

Carl Mazzanti is the Co-founder and President of eMazzanti Technologies, Microsofts 2015, 2013 and 2012 Partner of the Year, and 8X Inc. 5000 list honoree. His company specializes in cyber-security and cloud solutions, outsourced network management, remote monitoring, and support for small and mid-sized retailers, manufacturers and distributors. Carl is frequent business conference speaker and technology talk show guest on the topic of cyber-security.

About eMazzanti Technologies

eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver increased revenue growth, data security and productivity for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers, expertly providing advanced retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring and support.

eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list eight consecutive years, is a 2015, 2013 and 2012 Microsoft Partner of the Year, 2016 NJ Business of the Year, 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year and one of the TOP 200 U.S. Microsoft Partners! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info@emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies.


The new law places a new philosophy around license-granting in Egypt.

In an effort to encourage local production, Law No. 15 of the year 2017 on the Facilitation of Granting Licenses to Industrial Facilities was published in the Official Gazette on May 3, 2017. The law has recently been implemented, and within April 2018, 1,345 industrial facilities obtained licenses under the new law  compared to 153 facilities in April 2017. By now, there have been more than 10,000 licenses granted under the new law. Indeed, the new law has helped speed up the licensing of industrial facilities by replacing a similar section in Law. No 453 of 1954 on Industrial and Commercial Workshops. The law applies to all industrial establishments, including those inside of free zones and investment zones.

The new law starts by setting out a few fundamental concepts, some definitions, and explanations on the licensing requirements and on the bodies granting them. For example, one of the key provisions has led to the unification of previously scattered bodies into one body, namely, The General Authority for Industrial Development. This centralizes the power of industrial licensing into a single one-stop-shop authority. The law requires this authority to respond to applications within thirty days for high-risk facilities, and seven days for low-risk facilities. Additionally, these applications can be filled out by hand or submitted electronically. Projects that are considered medium-sized, small, or very small, and can be granted a license simply through notification. Essentially, the entire process has been shortened from seven steps to only three steps.

The law aims to change the landscape of industrial development, with a greater purpose of increasing industrial competition and removing the bureaucracy that previously came with such licensing. In fact, the government has identified the importance of taking care of the industrial sector in Egypt, as it is one of the key aspects that will help nurture Egypts economy. For that reason, the new law eliminates old constraints on such growth and makes the process easier for applicants and recipients alike. The government has targeted a growth of 8% in the industrial sector by 2020. Moreover, facilitating the granting of licenses is likely to attract both foreign and local investment, encouraging new projects of all sizes.

The new law places a new philosophy around license-granting in Egypt. It encourages those interested in entering the industrial market to do so easily and efficiently because of the existence of the new General Authority for Industrial Development, and because of its mandated prompt responses.

Andersen Tax and Legal in Egypt has a number of experts who can assist with the attainment of licenses. Please contact us to find out more.

https://andersentaxlegal.com.eg/contact-us/
La Plata, MD Dentist, Dr. Charniece Whitaker, Completes Advanced Invisalign Course Instead of relying on the force of metal wires, Invisalign moves teeth gradually and firmly through the use of clear plastic aligners.

Dr. Charniece Whitaker, a skilled dentist in La Plata, MD at Cieplak Dental Excellence, recently attended an Invisalign Bootcamp in Maryland. The continuing education course event gave participants greater insight into this groundbreaking orthodontics treatment option that works for teen and adult candidates with misaligned or crooked teeth. The one-day event focused on numerous aspects of Invisalign, including deep and open bite correction, solving certain types of crossbites and troubleshooting common patient concerns.

For more than 20 years, Invisalign has offered an alternative to traditional braces that typically require placement of metal, ceramic or plastic brackets on the teeth. Instead of relying on the force of metal wires, Invisalign moves teeth gradually and firmly through the use of clear plastic aligners. Each aligner is custom generated from advanced software. Patients in La Plata, MD, switch Invisalign aligners every 10-14 days until they have finished their course of treatment.

Many patients prefer the idea of moving their teeth using the Invisalign system instead of choosing traditional braces. For teenagers, the decision may be one of aesthetics or concern for sports-related trauma to the teeth and gums. Many young athletes also like the comfort of Invisalign, not to mention the ability to remove the aligners while eating. Adult orthodontics patients appreciate being able to move their crooked teeth into more attractive, functional positions discreetly. When in place, the clear plastic aligners are usually unnoticeable.

Invisalign technology has become a trusted method of straightening crooked teeth, gapped teeth, crowded teeth and bite misalignments. Many people are candidates for Invisalign treatment. Dr. Whitaker is well-versed in explaining Invisalign, as well as recommending other orthodontics treatments and peripheral treatment options as needed.

Individuals considering Invisalign in La Plata, MD, are encouraged to contact Cieplak Dental Excellence at 301-609-9999. Although some dental insurance plans will not cover orthodontics, Cieplak Dental Excellence offers a variety of financial options to cover the cost of treatment.

About the Dentist

Cieplak Dental Excellence has been offering trusted dental care to patients in the La Plata, MD area for over 30 years. Founder, Dr. Patrick Cieplak, is dedicated to learning the latest dental techniques and has completed thousands of hours of continuing education courses. Dr. Cieplak is one of only 3,000 dentists worldwide to achieve Mastership with the Academy of General Dentistry. He is a Fellow in the International Congress of Oral Implantology as well as Associate Fellow in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. His associate, Dr. Charniece Whitaker, is a general dentist who received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. She strives to always develop her skills and serve her community with minimally invasive and effective techniques. To learn more about Dr. Cieplak, Dr. Whitaker, their team or the services they offer, please visit http://www.patcieplakdds.com or call 301-609-9999 to schedule an appointment.
Introducing the SafeCruise plan from VisitorsCoverage Inc. The SafeCruise plan is filling a gap in the travel insurance industry to meet the demands from an increase in cruise travel being seen worldwide. --Rajeev Shrivastava, CEO of VisitorsCoverage Inc.

With cruise travel growing significantly year over year, VisitorsCoverage has created an exclusive travel protection product with handpicked travel insurance benefits to meet this demand. SafeCruiseSM is a trip protection plan that is designed to provide cruise-goers coverage for the most common mishaps related to this type of sea-bound sojourn.

From Canada to the Caribbean, Madrid to the Mediterranean, cruise travel is experiencing a boom. With millennials taking notice and baby boomers opting for convenience-based vacations, cruise travel has seen a more than 20 percent increase in passenger numbers since 2012. According to The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, an estimated 27.2 million people worldwide took a cruise in 2018, and with interest consistently growing each year, more vacationers than ever are expected to set sail in 2019.

Cruise travel can pose unique financial and medical risks that not all travel protection plans can cover, so VisitorsCoverage, in partnership with International Medical Group (IMG), handpicked benefits such as emergency medical evacuation, accident and sickness medical expense and trip interruption coverages to maximize meaningful coverage for cruise-goers.

Additionally, the plan can offer valuable cancel for any reason coverage, which can reimburse up to 75 percent of non-refundable trip costs if the insured needs to cancel for a non-covered reason. This benefit allows for more flexibility and simplifies the decision-making process for travelers.

The SafeCruiseSM plan is filling a gap in the travel insurance industry to meet the demands from an increase in cruise travel being seen worldwide, said VisitorsCoverage CEO Rajeev Shrivastava. With the creation of this exclusive travel protection plan, we are continuing our commitment to simplifying travel protection for travelers on a global scale.

"We are excited to work with VisitorsCoverage Inc. on SafeCruiseSM, said IMGs Vice President of International Sales, Amanda Winkle. The travel industry has seen a rapid increase in demand for cruise vacations and SafeCruiseSM was created to meet the specific needs of those travelers. VisitorsCoverage continues to be a market leader, developing products to meet their clients need.

As the New Year begins, VisitorsCoverage continues to work diligently to meet the needs of travelers, and SafeCruiseSM offers essential coverages for cruise-goers. By creating innovative new products to fit the needs of an ever-diversifying travel market, VisitorsCoverage continues to emerge as a leader in the travel insurance industry.

About VisitorsCoverage Inc.  Silicon Valley-based VisitorsCoverage Inc. is an InsurTech company operating in the travel insurance space and helping travelers acquire suitable travel insurance online by providing an insurance experience that is fast, affordable and hassle-free.

About International Medical Group:

International Medical Group (IMG), an award-winning provider of global insurance benefits and assistance services for more than 25 years, enables its members to worry less and experience more by delivering the protection they need, backed by the support they deserve.

###

Insurance benefits in all SafeCruiseSM travel protection plans are subject to limitations and exclusions, including an exclusion for pre-existing conditions.

The above briefly describes insurance benefits that are part of travel protection plans. Please review the plan for a detailed description of the terms, conditions and exclusions. Availability and benefits may change per state. If you are not satisfied for any reason with the plan, you may cancel your plan and receive a full refund within 10 days from the effective date of your coverage, as long as your trip departure date has not occurred and you have not filed a claim. Insurance benefits are underwritten by the United States Fire Insurance Company under form series T210 and TP-401. Crum & Forster is a registered trademark of United States Fire Insurance Company. The Crum & Forster group of companies is rated A (Excellent) by AM Best Company 2018
Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award We are excited to launch this new awards program that will both highlight and recognize the critical importance of the work wound care nurses are doing in post-acute care settings across the country, commented Katherine Piette, CEO and Co-Founder, Corstrata.

Corstrata, a provider of digital healthcare IT solutions and services for wound prevention and care management, announced today that it will sponsor the nations first Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award. The Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award sponsored by Corstrata is a new annual program designed to recognize and honor the individual contributions of wound care nurses for their knowledge and expertise in providing exceptional patient care using evidence-based best practices to accelerate patient wound healing, improve patient outcomes and instill excellence in his/her overall practice of wound management.

Sponsored by CORSTRATA and hosted by the Post-Acute Care Symposium (PACS): Advancing Quality Outcomes Through Wound & Incontinence Education, the Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award is open to all nurses working in post-acute care settings. The first annual award will recognize one individual for his/her direct contribution to overall wound care excellence in a post-acute care setting.

We are excited to work with HMP, founders of the new Post-Acute Care Symposium and Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Spring and Fall meetings, to launch this new awards program that will both highlight and recognize the critical importance of the work wound care nurses are doing in post-acute care settings across the country, commented Katherine Piette, CEO and Co-Founder, Corstrata. Nominees will also gain great exposure for their work with entries being judged by our distinguished panel of judges comprised of four of the leading experts in the wound care industry.

The distinguished panel of judges for the Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award includes, Cathy Milne, MSN, APRN, CWOCN-AP, Connecticut Clinical Nursing Associates, Bristol, Connecticut; Diane Krasner, PhD, RN, FAAN, Wound and Skin Care Consultant, York, Pennsylvania; Karen Lou Kennedy-Evans, RN, FNP, APRN-BC, CWOCN, CWS, KL Kennedy, LLC, Tucson, Arizona; and Dot Weir, RN, CWON, CWS, Advanced Wound Healing Centers Catholic Health System, Buffalo, New York.

As Cathy Milne, our PACS co-chair and judge stated, With the post-acute care setting now central to our healthcare delivery system, the time has come to provide a practical conference for nursing professionals that focuses on the day-to-day realties of patients with wound and incontinence issues, and that is why HMP is excited to not only support the launch of this innovative new meeting, but support the first Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award as well, said Peter Norris, Executive Vice President, HMP. By hosting the awards with PACS we are not only providing attendees with actionable clinical pearls to help advance quality outcomes through wound and incontinence education, but also recognizing the nurses on the front line already making a difference in their patients lives.

The panel of wound care experts and healthcare professionals will judge the nurse nominee entries based upon the following achievements over the past 12-18 months:



Excellence in direct patient wound care that contributes to positive patient outcomes.

Mentoring staff and nurses and providing guidance on wound care and skin integrity best practices.

Evaluation and implementation of new wound care products and services that ensure best practices and improves the quality of care.

Participation in community-based education programs that promote and advance wound care and skin integrity best practices among the patient population.

The Post-Acute Care Wound Nurse Excellence Award recipient will receive a complimentary registration to attend the Post-Acute Care Symposium event in San Antonio, TX, May 9-10, 2019, including airfare and other travel expenses. The deadline to enter is March 12, 2019 and there is no cost to enter. All nominees will receive a $100 discount to attend the Post-Acute Care Symposium. To learn more about the awards program, visit http://corstrata.com/pac-excellence-award or to nominate an excellent post-acute wound care nurse go to https://corstrata.com/pac-excellence-award-form/.

ABOUT HMP

HMP is the force behind Healthcare Made Practicaland is a multichannel leader in healthcare events and education, with a mission to improve patient care. The company produces accredited medical education events and clinically relevant, evidence-based content for the global healthcare community across a range of therapeutic areas. Its brands include Consultant360, the year-round, award-winning platform relied upon by healthcare providers across 21 specialties; Psych Congress, the largest independent mental health meeting in the U.S.; EMS World Expo, the worlds largest EMS-dedicated event; and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), the largest wound care meeting in the world. For more information, visit hmpglobal.com.

ABOUT CORSTRATA

Corstrata was founded by two passionate healthcare experts, Katherine Piette and Joseph Ebberwein, with the goal of improving access to technology-enabled, evidence-based care for patients with chronic wounds, which currently costs the U.S. $33B annually. Home health agencies, hospices, rehab hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, wound care and ostomy related manufacturers, self-funded employers, clinically integrated networks, and third-party payers (Medicare Advantage, Medicaid MCOs) benefit from Corstratas unique combination of clinical expertise, digital technologies and telemedicine to provide expert recommendations to improve care for wound patients. The company delivers a Comprehensive Wound Care Management Program, Wound Patient Consultations, and specific services such as wound program assessment, formulary design, treatment guidelines assessment, wound documentation review, and education. Wound program development is available for Pressure Injury (Ulcer) Prevention and Management, Diabetic Foot Ulcer Prevention and Management, Ostomy Care and Management, and Palliative Wound Management. For more information about Corstrata, visit http://www.corstrata.com.


Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS), The Cannabis Health & Safety Organization, today announced the appointment of cannabis advocate and seasoned campaign organizer Lissa Satori, as Director of Development.

Satori has been a champion for patients and quality medical cannabis since 2012. A former child protective services investigator, Satori was often confronted with the negative effects of substance abuse and failed drug policies.

Satori donated her time and leadership skills to various grassroots organizations at the beginning of her cannabis reform work. She founded the Ohio Hemp Chamber of Commerce and the first Ohio Women Grow chapter in 2015. After the deeply divisive 2015 Ohio legalization initiative, Satori founded United Ohio, a premier cannabis patient organization formed to unify and inform Ohios stakeholders.

In 2016, Satori served as campaign coordinator for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, the catalyst for the legalization of medical cannabis under Ohio House Bill 523. She later joined the Marijuana Policy Projects Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Michigan as director of outreach; securing a victory for statewide cannabis policy reform with the passage of Prop 1 in 2018.

We are thrilled to have Lissa join the FOCUS team. In addition to her extensive experience around cannabis policy, Lissas shared passion for health and safety makes her the perfect fit to support the continued growth of our organization around the world, stated Lezli Engelking, Founder and CEO of FOCUS.

Established in 2014, FOCUS is an Arizona-based non-profit that protects public health and consumer safety through the development and implementation of international, cannabis specific, Good Manufacturing Practices. FOCUS has provided guidance on global cannabis policy at the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and to policy makers on both a national and international level.

FOCUS shares my original mission for quality health and safety, Satori commented. The fact that I am participating in shaping and regulating this evolving industry while still staying true to my values is exciting for me.

For more information visit focusstandards.org.

About FOCUS:

Established in 2014 as The Cannabis Health and Safety Organization, FOCUS is a 501c3 non-profit that addresses the many shortcomings in quality, safety, and consistency that have become evident with the explosive growth of the global cannabis industry. FOCUS is not a cannabis company, an industry trade association, nor an advocacy organization. FOCUS is an unbiased, third-party with no financial stake in  or funding from  the cannabis industry. FOCUS does not advocate on behalf of or push cannabis policy. FOCUS exists to help assure the rapidly growing global cannabis industry has the necessary protections in place for the health, safety, success, and welfare of everyone. This autonomy fosters a principled, objective organization that protects end users, and acts as the much-needed neutral, nonpartisan bridge between industry and regulatory.
Cameron Melancon, a history buff who was born in El Paso, Texas and currently resides in Illinois with his parents, brother, and chocolate Lab puppy, Duchess, has completed his book The Sioux Kid: a riveting collection of short, interconnected stories introducing a compelling character whose action-packed life is bound in honor and integrity as he navigates the lawless Old West.

Cameron writes, They called him the Sioux Kid. Most good folks liked him. Outlaws hated him. And lawmenwell, some did, and some didnt. They said he was faster with a revolver than any one man alive, but he was even faster with a Henry carbine. The Sioux Kid lived by his gun because he had been given no other choice, not because he wanted to. He had promised his mother and father that as long as he lived by his gun, it would only be pointed at wrongdoers, with the intent to do good. He kept that promise.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Cameron Melancons book is a cant-put-down book of Western adventures starring a young half-Sioux brave in pursuit of justice across the American frontier.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase The Sioux Kid at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not overwhelmed with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
BriskHeat has opened a calibration center in Shenzhen, China. This is the latest in a worldwide network of ACR Hot Bonder calibration and repair centers. This network of calibration and repair centers dramatically reduces transportation and turnaround time for customers. The remote service centers expand BriskHeats commitment to the composite curing industry.

Today, BriskHeat, a leading provider of flexible heating, insulating, temperature control, and composite curing solutions, announced it has opened a calibration center in Shenzhen, China. This is the latest in a worldwide network of ACR Hot Bonder calibration and repair centers including Columbus, Ohio and AeroNed B.V. in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

This network of calibration and repair centers dramatically reduces transportation and turnaround time for customers, said Edye Buchanan, Product Manager for Controllers and Control Systems, BriskHeat. The remote service centers expand BriskHeats commitment to the composite curing industry.

In addition to offering the only U.S. and Canadian UL recognized hot bonder on the market, BriskHeat offers:



Three-year standard warranty with a free loaner program during servicing

Technical product specialists and sales engineers to provide field training and phone support

A growing network of field distributors and representative groups to quickly respond to customer inquiries and needs

BriskHeat also provides equipment to composite curing training facilities. Many of our present and potential customers utilize Abaris Training Resources, Inc. to train their employees in composite repair, Buchanan said. BriskHeat supplies Abaris with ACR3 units for student training at their facilities worldwide, setting up these students for years of future success.

BriskHeat is committed to be a worldwide leader in composite curing and repair products and services for years to come. To see a full range of heating products and services, visit BriskHeat.com or call 888-501-7491.

About BriskHeat

Since 1949, BriskHeat has provided flexible heating solutions used for freeze protection, condensation prevention, flow/viscosity control, vacuum bake-out, composite curing, and temperature process control. BriskHeats primary manufacturing facilities and headquarters are located in Columbus, Ohio. BriskHeat has a worldwide sales network including sales offices in Taiwan, China, Germany, and France., as well as a manufacturing facility in Vietnam. In 2017, BriskHeat was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. In 2018, BriskHeat became part of NIBE Industrier AB, a global group of manufacturing companies with over 15,000 employees worldwide. Follow BriskHeat on Twitter (@BriskHeat), on Facebook or on LinkedIn.
The dexFreight blockchain-based logistics platform allows shippers, carriers and other supply chain stakeholders to transact and collaborate more efficiently, transparently and securely. We dont want to develop in a vacuum and we believe the dialogue with and feedback from early adopters is vital in creating a blockchain-based platform that helps the entire logistics community.

dexFreight, providers of a decentralized, blockchain-based logistics platform, today launched the dexFreight Early Adopters Program for U.S. shippers, carriers, brokers, and forwarders.

The dexFreight platform built on blockchain technology allows supply chain stakeholders to transact and collaborate more efficiently, transparently and securely, said Rajat Rajbhandari, CEO and co-founder of dexFreight. Through our Early Adopters Program, we will be using the real-world expertise of logistics stakeholders to evaluate new and advanced features of our platform that will be launched in the near future. We dont want to develop in a vacuum, and we believe the dialogue with and feedback from early adopters is vital in creating a blockchain-based platform that helps the entire logistics community.

The dexFreight Early Adopters Program is open to U.S.-based companies. By joining the Early Adopters Program, companies will have exclusive access to early release versions of the dexFreight platform. As members of the Early Adopters community, they will have the opportunity to interact with dexFreights development and product teams.

Early Adopters Program participants will have free access to the platforms basic features for three months and to advanced features at no charge when they first become available, and then at a discounted rate. They will receive early notifications about new features before they are offered to all platform users.

Basic features of the dexFreight platform include TMS/FMS integration, load and capacity matching, safety data, rate negotiation, accessorial selection, P&D scheduling, shipment tracking, navigation and communication, and payments built on blockchain technology from the ground up.

Plans for the platform include escrow services, tokenized invoices, rate forecasting, on demand warehouse, load chaining, fleet optimization, bid preparation and risk prediction features, as well as third party apps.

In October 2018, dexFreight completed its first blockchain-based shipment using smart contracts. The platform, an ecosystem of open source protocols, blockchain and machine learning technologies, allowed the shipper and carrier to directly connect, negotiate rates, and schedule pickup and delivery.

About dexFreight

dexFreight is a decentralized, blockchain-based logistics platform that allows shippers, carriers and other supply chain stakeholders to transact and collaborate more efficiently, transparently and securely. For information, visit http://www.dexfreight.io
Our Town Series Featuring Simon and Sophia: Village Hall Meeting: a fun eye-opener of town life, is the creation of published author Bernadette Kolbeck, a retired nursing director and avid reader from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, with an interest in family lore and engaging her grandchildren in educational adventures.

I have an idea! When Grandma B said that, her two grandchildren knew they were in for excitement, Kolbeck writes. This is how our story opens. Grandma B asked us if we want to get to know our town. She added that we could visit all the different places in town that helped to make a community. These visits would start with attending a town hall meeting, the basic element of government that helps towns grow. But something happened at the meeting that was cause for suspicion. It was a mystery; see if Simon and Sophia can figure out what is going on.

So starts our story about a little but progressive town of Slinger, Wisconsin, that has been home to Simon and Sophia most of their lives. Like most kids, they are sharp and inquisitive, so its fun working with them.

Many people do not know about the start of their town and would be surprised at how much hard work by so many people it takes to start a town and keep it going. Who was responsible for founding this town, in other words, what kind of history can we uncover?

This book will be the first in a series of several books each addressing steps taken by people that made Slinger a growing community for over 150 years. Come down this path with Grandma B, Simon, and Sophia and join us having fun while learning.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Bernadette Kolbecks new book is a beautiful starting point for families seeking to encourage their childrens interest in the broader community in which they live.

View a synopsis of Our Town Series Featuring Simon and Sophia: Village Hall Meeting on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Our Town Series Featuring Simon and Sophia: Village Hall Meeting at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Our Town Series Featuring Simon and Sophia: Village Hall Meeting, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Candidates Night This technology gave every resident in the community the opportunity to ask questions and watch the forum.

The Avalon Management Group, AAMC, a national leader in Homeowner Association management, today announced that it has launched an industry-first process, using livestream technology, to encourage greater community participation.

Recently, Avalon Management livestreamed a candidates forum for a 2,600 home community. Hundreds of residents watched the forum on their smartphones, tablets, and computers. With a room capacity of less than 150, this technology gave every resident in the community the opportunity to ask questions and watch the forum.

In commenting on this revolutionary process for HOA meetings, Avalon CEO Mark Jones explained, Our ongoing objective has been to improve the property management/association/community member relationship, increasing collaboration and communication. Technology has been an ideal way to achieve that objective, starting with individual community apps and iPads for our Board members and continuing on with livestream meetings and events.

Residents were notified through Avalons community mobile app and email. They could also learn more about the event through links posted on the Associations website. Questions for the candidates were submitted in advance through the Avalon mobile app and website. Multiple cameras and microphones ensured that the audience could clearly see, talk, and listen to each candidate.

Jones added, We recognize that online platforms have now become a preferred method of interaction among most generations. From those commuting and handling busy lives to older generations that may not be as mobile, our livestream capability offers them a way to feel included and have a voice in what happens in their community.

After receiving positive feedback, Avalon Management plans on using live stream technology for annual and monthly Board Meetings for larger communities in the near future.

About The Avalon Management Group

Headquartered in Canyon Lake, California with additional offices in Temecula and Oceanside, The Avalon Management Group has provided exceptional service and leadership for Homeowner Associations throughout Riverside and San Diego Counties for more than 30 years. Additionally, the Company is a member of the Innovia Management Cooperative, which represents over 3,000 communities across the country. To learn more about The Avalon Management Group, please visit http://www.AvalonWeb.com or call (800) 343-7213, extension 101. #hoamanagement
The Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C. Based out of Dallas, lawyer Bobby Devadoss represents clients nationwide in federal employment cases involving labor disputes, discrimination, sexual harassment, and whistleblower retaliation.

Attorney Bobby Devadoss, of the Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C., has been honored with a 2019 Elite Lawyer Award for the area of federal employment law.

The Elite Lawyer rating service recognizes attorneys who display a high level of competence in their practice and receive acknowledgment from their peers, community, bar, and committees. Devadoss is a founding member of Elite Lawyer, having first received the honor in 2017.

Based out of Dallas, lawyer Bobby Devadoss represents clients nationwide in federal employment cases involving labor disputes, discrimination, sexual harassment, and whistleblower retaliation.

Before opening Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C., Devadoss worked as a federal labor attorney for the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Designed to assist potential clients in finding an experienced legal professional to address specific legal needs, the Elite Lawyer tools and resources provide information on distinguished attorneys throughout the United States.

The Elite Lawyer Award assures that each attorney selected to the directory has received a nomination from their peers for displaying excellence and a high level of skill with the law. Awarded only to those who have met or exceeded the criteria of a rigorous, multi-phased selection process, the Award recognizes top-rated attorneys for their excellence and outstanding service in their specific area or areas of practice.

Only the most outstanding and experienced attorneys receive the Elite Lawyer Award. A prestigious nomination and presented only to legal professionals who are able to meet or exceed its demanding criteria, it sets these exceptional attorneys apart from their peers when consumers use the directory to search for a top-notch attorney in their area.

The Elite Lawyer Award speaks highly of how well each nominated attorney is perceived by their legal community. For more information about Elite Lawyer, or to become a member of the esteemed directory, visit http://www.elitelawyer.com.

About Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C.

Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C., is a nationally recognized federal employment law firm that has handled more than 1,000 cases involving employees from almost every federal agency. Our attorneys help employees receive the compensation they need when they have grievances or are facing disciplinary action. Devadoss Law Firm, P.L.L.C., has offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. To schedule a free consultation, call 888-351-0424 or visit https://www.fedemploymentlaw.com.
AltMed Florida Dispensary Design Our dispensaries have set the standard for quality products, service and overall patient experience on the Gulf Coast and we are excited to bring our premium MUV medical cannabis brand to South Florida where theres high demand from a rapidly growing patient base.

AltMed Florida has announced the grand opening of its first southeast Florida MUV Medical Cannabis Dispensary at 1045 South State Road 7, Suite 200, in the Wellington Reserve medical complex.

Near Palm Beach International Airport and a short drive from West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, the state-of-the-art dispensary is ideally positioned along the rapidly growing I-95 corridor and is the only southeast Florida dispensary west of the Florida Turnpike.

Doors open for the first time Thursday February 21 at 10am for licensed Florida medical cannabis patients. All new MUV patients will receive 25% off their first purchase. The Grand Opening is Saturday, February 23 at 10am. Patients at the grand opening will receive 35% off their entire first purchase and the first 100 patients will also receive a MUV SWAG bag. Patients can order online at http://www.altmedflorida.com for Express Pickup or Delivery beginning Sunday February 24.

Like AltMed Floridas three current MUV Dispensary locations (Tampa, Sarasota and Apollo Beach), the new Wellington dispensary will stand out because its designed as a premium experience. Think Apple store, with modern, open-concept design and expert staff with extensive training. Patients can also see real-time, strain specific inventory at http://www.altmedflorida.com where they can order for express pickup or delivery within a 25-mile range.

Our dispensaries have set the standard for quality products, service and overall patient experience on the Gulf Coast and we are excited to bring our premium MUV medical cannabis brand to South Florida where theres high demand from a rapidly growing patient base, said AltMed Florida CEO John Tipton. Our dispensaries are unlike anything in the state and we invite all licensed patients to visit our new Wellington location.

The MUV brand already has a wide following in other legal medical cannabis markets, including Arizona, where it has won five Best of Arizona medical cannabis awards.

MUV products offer an extensive variety of delivery options and formulations, including several that are unique among current Florida license holders with its patent-pending transdermal gels and metered dose inhalers. Products come in a variety of delivery methods and formulations within each delivery method to assure every patient has a product to meet their desired outcome. Product categories include cannabis flower vaporizer cups, topicals (pain relief cream), 72-hour transdermal patches, metered dose inhalers, distillate vaporizer pens (without any cutting agents), strain specific vaporizer pens, oral sprays, tinctures, capsules as well as the widest selection of strain specific concentrates in the state of Florida.

MUV products are sold exclusively in Florida at MUV dispensaries because, unlike other states, Florida does not allow wholesale of product between license holders - only products that license holders make themselves can be sold in their dispensaries.

The MUV retail experience speaks to the role of medical cannabis products in the modern healthcare marketplace, said AltMed Marketing Director Todd Beckwith. We learned that MUV customers in other legal medical cannabis states are more apt to take an active role in their healthcare than with traditional medicine. They want to understand the products and the research behind the products, so we have created a layered and informative retail experience.

For more information about the new ADA compliant Wellington MUV Medical Cannabis Dispensary, including hours and available MUV products, visit: http://www.altmedflorida.com. AltMed Florida is on pace to open 30 MUV Medical Cannabis Dispensaries across the state, all supplied by its 150,000-square-foot state-of-the-art cultivation facility. Visit this link for images of AltMed Floridas cultivation operations. For a corporate video see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wOhs9qyVc.

About AltMed Enterprises - Alternative Medical Enterprises, LLC, headquartered in Sarasota, Fla. and doing business as AltMed Enterprises, is a fully integrated medical cannabis company that brings compassion, community engagement and pharmaceutical industry precision to the development, production and dispensing of medical cannabinoids.

About AltMed Florida, LLC (Plants of Ruskin, LLC d.b.a.) - With a focus on quality and attention to detail, Plants of Ruskin has more than 35 years of experience in providing seedlings to farmers for vegetable and medical product production. Plants of Ruskin founders, the Dickman Family, are 4th generation farmers with a long history of working in conjunction with the University of Florida, including an endowed chair specifically dedicated to plant improvement.

About MUV - The MUV brand of cannabis infused products was launched in Arizona in 2016 and quickly gained international attention and recognition. In its first six months alone, MUV received four best of Arizona medical cannabis awards, including two first prizes for its proprietary Ethanol extractions that are the basis of all MUV products.

Forward-Looking Statements - To the extent any statements made in this press release contain information that is not historical, these statements are forward-looking in nature and merely express our beliefs, expectations or opinions. For example, words such as may, should, estimates, predicts, continues, believes, anticipates, plans, expects, intends, potential, strategy and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations or estimates and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) our ability to implement our business strategy of distributing high quality cannabis products where permissible under applicable law; (ii) availability and cost of additional capital; (iii) our ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified employees and management; (iv) the impact of federal, state or local government regulations; (v) competition in the cannabis industry; (vi) our ability to generate revenues; and (vii) litigation in connection with our business. All forward-looking statements included in this press release and attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are qualified by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, regardless of whether new information becomes available, future developments occur or otherwise.
24/7 SENCHA AKEBONO TEA holds pride to the fact that they are the first organic tea brand to create teas which can be enjoyed not only for the taste of traditional Japanese tea but the taste of teas found outside of Japan.

AKEBONO TEA K.K. today announced that AKEBONO TEA is going to release their line of organic teas which infuses herbs into traditional Japanese tea on February 28, 2019 and start shipping worldwide.

Based in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and headed by CEO, Misato Tanaka, AKEBONO TEA uses Tokyo, the origin point as the inspiration by blending together the old and the new. At AKEBONO TEA, their goal is to develop a new type of unique Japanese tea by creating arrangements mixing traditional tea and herbs. AKEBONO TEA was made with the vision of mixing together tradition and contemporary aspects which can be found in the city of Tokyo, along with the brands wishes to help aid its customers to take the best parts of their past selves to create a new, better version of themselves to thrive in their everyday lives.

Traditionally, Japanese teas such as sencha and hojicha can be brewed and enjoyed alone; however, AKEBONO TEA takes it a step further by mixing in herbs to make its own set of 8 flavorful herbal teas. Herbs such as lemongrass, green rooibos, mint, and florals can be found in their herbal blends which help create aromatic fragrances and rejuvenating factors to complement the Japanese teas.

In order to enjoy AKEBONO TEA there are 5 main points that are special to their brand:

AKEBONO TEA holds pride to the fact that they are the first organic tea brand to create teas which can be enjoyed not only for the taste of traditional Japanese tea but the taste of teas found outside of Japan. They offer blends of sencha, and hojicha as well as herbal blends which mix in herbs to create rich aromatic fragrance that complements the Japanese tea bases to create refreshing tastes with health benefits in mind.

All the blends are certified organic by JAS - it means that their tea can be enjoyed with the peace of mind knowing that there were no pesticides of chemical fertilizers used in the process of cultivating their organic tea. The tea leaves used by AKEBONO TEA are carefully handpicked and processed in Shizuoka at a tea farm which is based at the bottom of Mount Fuji, so that they grow by taking in all the nourishment fed in by nature surrounding the farm.

Along with promoting the use of organic tea leaves, AKEBONO TEA encourages sustainable relationships between customers, producers, production sites, and nature as they purchase our tea leaves directly from tea farms.

Both their classic and herbal blends can be brewed and enjoyed easily so there is no need to worry about if the pot that you have will suit the tea. AKEBONO TEA comes packaged as loose leaves and can be best enjoyed when brewed with hot water for two minutes.

With the health of happy customers in mind, AKEBONO TEA designed labels which easily indicates the caffeine levels of each blend so that those who are conscious of daily caffeine intake such as pregnant mothers and children can rely on their teas to relax in confidence.

AKEBONO TEA is not just an organic tea brand but also a symbol of challenging and cherishing the life that you live. We hope that our teas can aid individuals to create a positive life in which they thrive, and we hope to continue to support those who choose to work hard in various aspects of their lives.

To find out more about their origins and view all 8 of their original blends visit the AKEBONO TEA website.

For product imagery, download from here.

About AKEBONO TEA K.K.

AKEBONO TEA founded by Misato Tanaka is an organic tea brand with the mission to spread the joys of Japanese tea in the hopes of bettering the lives of customers from the inside to the outside. They hold value in respecting traditional Japanese green tea which have been long held in Japanese culture as well as bringing in new aspects to revolutionize it in order to make it more accessible and enjoyable by people around the world.

The brand logo is a motif of three tea leaves in a tortoiseshell pattern. The tea leaves symbolizes the taste of luxury and flavourful ness of the tea, made at AKEBONO, and is based on the traditional Japanese phrase "one core two leaves" which represents the Japanese green tea sprout at its best. As a brand their mission is to create teas full of nourishment and rejuvenating factors so that their customers are able to live a better and healthier lives by enjoying AKEBONO TEA to thrive on the inside and outside.

CEO Profile

Misato Tanaka, Founder and CEO graduated from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. During her time in university, she also studied abroad at Sciences Po Paris (France) and Bocconi University (Italy) to learn luxury brand management. After graduating she joined Softbank Corporation as a new graduate to cultivate entrepreneurship, and sales experience. Thereafter, she began to develop a new business as a start-up of tea export in order to launch "AKEBONO TEA". Green tea had been a constant part of her life due to having relatives who lived in Shizuoka, a place well known for their quality green tea. Having this background, she wanted to find a way to share the joys and benefits of green tea as she had experienced. Since starting she has made Japanese tea and traditional crafts her main focus, while valuing the essence, to create products that are timeless yet revolutionary and suitable for the ever-changing market.
The AireSpring team is very excited to have Justin on board as we expand our presence into the Mountain Region. His longstanding relationships in the Mountain Region and deep industry knowledge are a great complement to the AireSpring Advantage.

AireSpring, a leading Managed Services Provider of Cloud Communications and Managed Connectivity Solutions, announced that it has appointed Justin Walsh as its Colorado-based Channel Manager for the Mountain Region. During his total of 16 years at CenturyLink, most recently as Inside Sales Manager for CenturyLink Business, Mr. Walsh had the opportunity to build powerful relationships in the channel with sub-agents and master agencies. He will be leveraging his partner network around the region to introduce them to the benefits of The AireSpring Advantage, including a broad product line, 20-plus carriers integrated into one network, the QuoteSpring real-time, online quoting tool, and an escalation list that goes up to the CEO. Prior to joining CenturyLink, Mr. Walsh worked as a Corporate Inside Sales Manager at Verizon Business, following sales and account management positions with Integra and Qwest Communications. Mr. Walsh has remained in his home state of Colorado, serving the Mountain Region throughout his 20-year telecom career.

The AireSpring team is very excited to have Justin on board as we expand our presence into the Mountain Region, said Ron McNab, AireSpring Senior Vice President of Channel Sales. His longstanding relationships in the Mountain Region and deep industry knowledge are a great complement to the AireSpring Advantage. We see Denver and the entire Mountain area as a burgeoning market that is in need of our customized attention, and we look forward to serving the Channel community there as we grow together.

About AireSpring

Founded in 2001, AireSpring is an award-winning Managed Services Provider of Cloud Communications and Managed Connectivity solutions, serving thousands of businesses nationwide. AireSpring provides fully managed and connected end-to-end, next-generation solutions for multi-location enterprise customers. Services include Multi-Cloud Connect, SD-WAN, AirePBX Cloud Business Phone System, AireContact Cloud Contact Center, SIP Trunking, MPLS, Disaster Recovery, Managed Security and Business Internet. AireSprings solutions are offered through a diversified network of channel partners that includes distributors, master agents, managed service providers (MSPs), and value added resellers (VARs). AireSprings services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide fully meshed network, providing customers an integrated, end-to-end solution from a single vendor.

AireSpring has received numerous industry awards for Next-Gen Solution Provider, Visionary Spotlight Award, Product of the Year, Best Telecom Deal, Best in Show, and Top Channel Program. AireSpring is privately held, diversified, debt-free, and renowned in the industry for delivering a broad range of innovative cloud communications and connectivity solutions at competitive rates, with white glove service that extends throughout the entire customer lifecycle. To find product information or to become an AireSpring partner, please visit http://www.airespring.com or contact us at (888) 389-2899.
Car insurance rates are constantly increasing from various reasons. Drivers are recommended to scan the insurance market periodically and see if they find better deals, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Lowestcarinsuranceratesonline.com has launched a new blog post that explains why car insurance rates are increasing when a policyholder renews his policy.

If a policyholder receives higher insurance rates when he renews the insurance policy, he should demand some explanations from the insurance company. If the explanations are not convincing, the policyholders should switch the insurance carrier.

The most common reasons why car insurance rates are increasing every year are the following:



Higher medical costs. Every state has a minimum level of bodily injury liability coverage. The liability requirements range from $20,000 to $100,000. In case of a car accident, this coverage is the maximum amount a policyholders insurance company will pay for the medical costs. In the past years, medical costs have increased significantly. These increased costs are passed to the paying customers.

Increased repair costs. Drivers are required to carry a minimum property damage liability insurance that can range from $ 5,000 to $ 25,000. This coverage is the maximum amount an insurance company will pay for damages caused in an accident. The high costs to replace the expensive technology found in newer cars is the most significant factor that leads to overall increased repair costs.

Increased number of uninsured motorists. According to the latest data available, the Insurance Research Council estimates that 13 percent of drivers were uninsured in 2015. For that reason, the number of uninsured claims is huge, and the losses of insurance companies are transferred to their customers.

Insurance fraud. The Insurance Information Institute estimates that insurance fraud costs Americans $32 billion a year. Usually, high-risk drivers will lie in order to get the insurance rates of a clean driver. Some insurance companies cover losses better than others. Some will try to move the entire cost of their losses to their customers.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit http://www.lowestcarinsuranceratesonline.com/

Lowestcarinsuranceratesonline.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
It is clear that employee performance and engagement are keys to the success of all of our winners and finalists.

The Business Intelligence Group announced today the winners of its 2019 Best Places to Work award program, which identifies the organizations doing all they can to improve performance by challenging their employees in fun and engaging work environments. The Business Intelligence Group is honoring these companies for helping their employees accelerate their careers, knowledge and performance. First, nominations for the Best Places to Work award were submitted and then employees of the nominated organizations were asked to complete an online survey to rate their overall satisfaction and company performance.

This years overall winner is Sisense. Based in New York, Sisense takes a radically different approach to business analytics. The companys obsessive commitment to consistent product innovation and customer success enable organizations to instantly reveal insights from complex data. Sisenses agility allows business users with no technical background to get accurate intelligence at the very moment it is needed without waiting hours, days, or even weeks for answers. Sisense provides a complete business platform to prepare, analyze, and visualize large volumes and varieties of data. Its unique In-Chip and Single Stack technologies simplify every step of the BI process  from data preparation to discovery of insights.

"Sisense strives to create a workplace that encourages diversity of thought, innovation and care," said Amir Orad, Chief Executive Officer of Sisense. "At Sisense, we believe that we are all building the company together - reaching incredible heights due to our outstanding people - and that effort was recently reflected in the company being called out as a top performer for culture and ethics by Gartner in its most recent Magic Quadrant report. Our amazing team is what allows us to deliver these great results, and so we're very proud to be recognized as overall winner in the prestigious Business Intelligence Groups Best Places to Work award for 2019."

It is clear that employee performance and engagement are keys to the success of all of our winners and finalists, said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer of Business Intelligence Group. The Best Places to Work awards program puts the power of determining winners into the hands of employees, and they have spoken. Congratulations to all of the winners.

2019 Winners

Global Enterprise



Synechron

Multinational Enterprise



Jumio

Public Company



Dubai Statistics Center

Morrison Healthcare

Large Business



Centers Health Care

International Cruise and Excursions

Medium-Size Business



Digital Harbor, Inc.

SADA Systems

Service Express

Sisense

Thycotic

Small Business



Makers Nutrition

Neverware

Reservations.com

Teami LLC

Trust Point

ttcInnovations

YouDecide

A small group of companies were also named finalists in the 2019 Best Places to Work awards, and they are Agiloft, Airthings, Awlogy Media Group, Beyond Limits, Conversica, Dynamic Systems, GridGain Systems, InSync Healthcare Solutions, Pantheon Systems, RapidScale, Tradeshift, and Valimail.

About Business Intelligence Group

The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry and business award programs __industry and business award program__, business executivesthose with experience and knowledgejudge the programs. The organizations proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.
Caracas, Feb 22 : Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered the country's southern border with Brazil be sealed off, media reported.

"I have decided: in south Venezuela, starting at 8 p.m. today Thursday (February 21), the land border with Brazil will be totally and absolutely closed," said Maduro.

The measure will be in effect until further notice, the president said during a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces.

The move comes amid what he called "provocation" from Brazil's right-wing government, reports Xinhua news agency.

Venezuela is also considering sealing its border with Colombia, he added.

"I don't want to have to make these types of decisions, but I am evaluating it -- the total closure of the border with Colombia," said Maduro.

Both Colombia and Brazil have aligned themselves with Venezuela's right-wing opposition and its campaign to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist PSUV party from power.

The president called on Colombia's armed forces to refrain from taking part in the Washington-orchestrated maneuvers, including an announced February 23 attempt to deliver humanitarian aid, which Venezuelan officials believe is a pretext for military intervention.

The responsibility "for any outbreak of violence on the border between Colombia and Venezuela rests on (Colombian President) Ivan Duque," Maduro said.

According to Maduro, Duque informed his US counterpart Donald Trump that "he does not have the backing of the Colombian armed forces for an attack on Venezuela."

On Wednesday, Caracas announced the indefinite suspension of air and maritime connections with the neighbouring islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which face Venezuela's Caribbean coast.

Political tensions between the government and opposition groups in Venezuela came to a head after Maduro was sworn in to a new term on January 10.

The opposition, which largely boycotted the presidential elections in May, refuses to recognize Maduro's re-election win and has been demanding a new round of voting.
Oslo, Feb 22 : Cyber crime is growing extensively these days. Norwegians have become one of the favourite targets of cyber crime and are easier to be cheated than Swedes and Danes, newspaper Aftenposten reported on Thursday. The reports show that they fall prey to a lot of ransoms, and other monetary based crimes.

Mapping of over 120 million users in 45 countries, conducted by software company Symantec, showed that the only nation that is more exposed than rich Norwegian citizens are Saudi Arabians, the report said.

Norwegians are exposed four times higher than Swedes and six times high than Danish citizens to so-called "phishing" attempts, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Norway must have been far up the list for many criminal groups last year when it is so highly exposed. I do not think Norway has been so high on the list before," Snorre Fagerland, security analyst in Symantec, told Aftenposten.

The reason for Norway being targeted is because it is one of the richest countries in the world and criminals can earn more money if they get hold of Norwegian data, said Fagerland, who together with his colleagues analysed 2.4 billion emails daily in 45 different countries.

On the "black market", where stolen data is purchased and sold, a stolen Norwegian credit number with personal information may be worth $45.

"The criminals are primarily concerned with profitability. When they enter a country like Norway, it requires investment. They must translate texts, reconnaissance and customize the attacks," Fagerland said.

The way the "phishing" attacks are designed shows that the computer criminals have learned to master Norwegian language.

At Symantec's list of 45 countries, Norway comes in third place among countries with the highest proportion of malicious links in the emails.

The survey showed that 12.8 per cent of the malicious e-mails contained such fake links in 2018, which is more than twice as much as, for example, Denmark.

Norwegians are also very high placed on the list when it comes to getting spam e-mails and "ransomeware" on mobile phones, when criminals lock mobile phones and then require ransom.

-- With inputs from IANS
Caracas, Feb 22 : Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered the closing of the country's southern border with Brazil.

The measure is to take effect at 8 p.m. Thursday local time (24:00 GMT) and remain in effect until further notice, Xinhua news agency reported.

The move comes amid what he called "provocation" from Brazil's right-wing government.

Venezuela is also monitoring the situation along its border with Colombia, he added.

"I don't want to have to make these types of decisions, but I am evaluating it -- the total closure of the border with Colombia," said Maduro.

Both Colombia and Brazil have aligned themselves with Venezuela's right-wing opposition and its campaign to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist PSUV party from power.
United Nations, Feb 22 : The Security Council in a show of unanimity on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" suicide bombing in Pulwama that killed 40 Indian security personnel and named the Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM).

China, which has been protecting JeM chief Masood Azhar, joined the other 14 members of the Council in issuing a press statement that called upon all countries to combat terrorism and to cooperate with the Indian government in bringing the terrorists to justice.

The statement called the February 14 attack a "heinous and cowardly suicide bombing" and noted that the JeM claimed responsibility for it.

A press statement is which is short of a resolution and is usually arrived at by consensus. Since it is not a formal resolution, it saves Beijing from the dilemma of having to vote for it or veto it as a favour to its ally Pakistan.

China has consistently vetoed attempts at the Council to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists facing UN sanctions.

The statement "underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice".

The Council also "reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the UN and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts", it added.

Taking a hardline on terrorism, it said, "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed".

The tough and unequivocal statement comes despite intense lobbying by Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi to blunt diplomatic reprisals.

On Tuesday, she met with Council President Anatolio Ndong Mba of Equatorial Guinea to appraise them of the "dangerous situation", as well as with other diplomats.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet have called for prosecution of those responsible for the attack.

The Council statement said that it "reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security".

A key phrase in the statement reaffirming "the need for states to combat by all means" terrorism would be a matter of legal interpretation on how far India can go in retaliation, although it would have to be taken "in accordance with the Charter of the UN and other obligations under international law".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
New Delhi, Feb 22 : The joint statement issued during the visit of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a very clear recognition of India's position on Jammu and Kashmir and shows a great deal of sensitivity to India's concerns on terrorism, sources said here on Thursday.

They said the two-day visit of the Crown Prince that concluded on Wednesday has given tremendous structure to the strategic partnership, built on the solid foundation of the relationship and considerably broadened the relations.

The visit also saw a strong thrust to the Saudi investment and $100 billion has been earmarked for investment opportunities reflecting a strong confidence in India's growth story, according to the sources.

On the joint statement issued late Wednesday referring to the need for creating necessary conditions for resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan, they said Saudi Arabia acknowledged that conditions have to be created for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan and displayed understanding of India's stand that terror and talks cannot go together.

They said there was recognition that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. There was also an acknowledgement of threats India is facing in terms of terror.

The joint statement issued also said that the Crown Prince appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since May 2014, including his personal initiatives, to have friendly relations with Pakistan.

There was recognition that the Prime Minister had reached out to the western neighbour but acts of friendship were thwarted by acts of terror.

The sources said that Strategic Partnership Council, to be chaired by Prime Minister and the Crown Prince, would have two to three ministerial groups looking at specific areas such as defence and security, and economy, trade and investment.

The proposed joint naval exercise could take place in 2019 and could be later extended to Army and Air Force.

On Saudi investments in India, they said it would cover a wide area including infrastructure, refining, petrochemicals, engineering, minerals, tourism and manufacturing.

In all, 11 MoUs were signed in the meeting of business council which was attended by nearly 50 Saudi entities.

They said that security was identified as a major area of cooperation keeping in mind common threats faced by the two countries.

The statement said that the two sides agreed to constitute a "Comprehensive Security Dialogue" at the level of National Security Advisors and set up a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism to enhance further cooperation in the counter-terrorism efforts and benefit mutually from real-time intelligence sharing.

It said that the two sides agreed to work together with other Indian Ocean Rim countries for enhancing maritime security.

The sources said that Saudi Arabia has also been sensitive to India's request on prices of crude and has also agreed to requests for release of prisoners and increasing the quota of Haj pilgrims.

It has been sensitive to the predicament of Indians stranded due to closure of a foreign company, they added.
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Fashion designers such as Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Rina Dhaka along with Bollywood actors Arjun Rampal and Aditi Rao Hydari celebrated the centennial of Khadi and presented the fabric as a style statement on the runway here on Thursday.

Ficci Ladies Organisation (FLO) along with All India Women's Education Fund Association (AIWEFA) organised an event called "Khadi Goes Global" at The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum here. The event honoured Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary and 100 years of Khadi.

Image Source: IANS Actor Arjun Rampal walks on the ramp for fashion designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla' show Khadi Goes Global - celebrate 100 years of Khadi, in New Delhi

Kashmir born designer Rohit Bal showcased a pastel collection, which included sarees and lehengas made from Khadi. Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal, who looked dapper in a black sherwani with an embroidered shawl, walked the runway as his showstopper.

Bal described Khadi as the "fabric of the soul."

"It's the national fabric of our country. It stands for freedom, independence and self discovery. It's the fabric of now, before and the future," Bal told IANS.

Image Source: IANS Actors Arjun Rampal and Aditi Rao Hydari walks on the ramp for fashion designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla' show Khadi Goes Global - celebrate 100 years of Khadi, in New Delhi.

Next on the runway was Rina Dhaka, who not only showcased a collection made out of Khadi, but also paid a tribute to the martyrs of the Pulwama attack, which took place on February 14.

Her white and beige collection had "Jai Jawaan" written on them.

An emotional Dhaka said: "The message is my way of expressing the current scene... For me it is very important. In my way I am also trying to tell with this story my message to have gratitude for our soldiers."

Asked about Khadi and its popularity, the designer told IANS: "Khadi is the fabric of a journey. It is a warp and weft of life...no one else has the Khadi story, only we have it."

Rajesh Pratap Singh was up next. He presented a wide array of dhotis, pants, shirts and sherwanis in plain white.

Image Source: IANS Actress Aditi Rao Hydari walks on the ramp for fashion designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla' show Khadi Goes Global - celebrate 100 years of Khadi, in New Delhi

Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari concluded the show as she sauntered the runway in a white and gold lehenga for the label Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

FLO President Pinky Reddy talked to IANS about the importance of Khadi, which is also called the fabric of freedom.

"Our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has done a lot for Khadi and I feel we have to encourage what was started by Gandhiji. Khadi has become an international name and we should not forget it," Reddy said.

The "Khadi Goes Global" event also saw a dance performance titled "An Ode To Mahatma" by Geeta Chadran and Sandhya Raman. It also honoured promoters and producers of Khadi such as Bal, Pratap Singh, Chaman Siju and Rta Kapoor Chishti, among others.

-- With inputs from IANS
Rome, Feb 22 : A group of 41 migrants allegedly plans to sue Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over a case in which 177 migrants were held on an Italian coastguard ship off Sicily for ten days in August and only allowed ashore when other nations agreed to take them.

The migrants, who were all stranded aboard the Umberto Diciotti in conditions that observers described as "dire", will ask for damages from Salvini for deprivation of personal liberty, and include a couple whose son is a minor, Interior Ministry sources said.

The migrants, who have also appealed to European Court of Human Rights over their plight, are said to be seeking damages of between 42,000 euros and 71,000 euros.

The Italian Senate is due to vote by late March on whether to accept a request from a special court in Sicily to allow Salvini to stand trial on kidnapping and other charges in the so-called 'Diciotti' case.

If the Senate agrees to lift Salvini's immunity and he is prosecuted, he could jailed for between three and fifteen years.

In Strasbourg, lawyers from the Baobab Experience rights association lodged the migrants' appeal.
The Hague, Feb 22 : Presenting its case on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Pakistan on Thursday claimed that it had a robust judicial system in its country and dismissed India's plea for repatriation of Jadhav as "devoid of legal merit".

Arguing for his country before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) presided over by Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf on the fourth day of hearing, Pakistan lawyer Khawar Qureshi contended that it was wrong on India's part to disparage his country's Military courts, which, he said, follow the same procedure as civilian courts.

Qureshi said India "failed to respond to evidence" in its argument made by lawyer Harish Salve yesterday.

"India persists in contumelious conduct. India fails to engage with the evidence that states made an exception to espionage prior to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) being adopted a" that state practice was unaffected by VCCR", Qureshi said.

India in its arguments on Wednesday had contended that Pakistan did not follow the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations as it failed to inform India of Jadhav's arrest immediately after and of providing him any consular access.

Jadhav, a naval officer, was awarded death sentence by the Pakistan military court in 2016 after he was arrested by it on charges of espionage.

Qureshi said there was overwhelming evidence to show that Jadhav was a spy, acting under the plan of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

He called Ajit Doval "India's self-styled superspy" and said that if Doval were to come to London, there is a vacancy for an actor to play James Bond.

He attempted to scuttle Indian judiciary's credibility also by referring to hanging of Afzal Guru, which he said was done merely to satisfy collective conscience of the people.

"India's position is as devoid of legal merit now as it was on 8 May 2017(when ICJ stayed Jadhav's execution). India's claim of relief remains as far fetched now as it was then," Qureshi said while concluding.

The ICJ retired for deliberations after Pakistan Agent Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan made the concluding remarks.

The Court will advise the date of the judgment "in due time".
New Delhi, Feb 22 : The joint statement issued during the visit of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a very clear recognition of India's position on Jammu and Kashmir and shows a great deal of sensitivity to India's concerns on terrorism, officials said here on Thursday.

They said the two-day visit of the Crown Prince that concluded on Wednesday has given tremendous structure to the strategic partnership, built on the solid foundation of the relationship and considerably broadened the relations.

The visit also saw a strong thrust to the Saudi investment and $100 billion has been earmarked for investment opportunities reflecting a strong confidence in India's growth story, according to the officials.

On the joint statement issued late Wednesday referring to the need for creating necessary conditions for resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan, they said Saudi Arabia acknowledged that conditions have to be created for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan and displayed understanding of India's stand that terror and talks cannot go together.

They said there was recognition that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. There was also an acknowledgement of threats India is facing in terms of terror.

The joint statement issued also said that the Crown Prince appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since May 2014, including his personal initiatives, to have friendly relations with Pakistan.

There was recognition that the Prime Minister had reached out to the western neighbour but acts of friendship were thwarted by acts of terror.

The officials said that Strategic Partnership Council, to be chaired by Prime Minister and the Crown Prince, would have two to three ministerial groups looking at specific areas such as defence and security, and economy, trade and investment.

The proposed joint naval exercise could take place in 2019 and could be later extended to Army and Air Force.

On Saudi investments in India, they said it would cover a wide area including infrastructure, refining, petrochemicals, engineering, minerals, tourism and manufacturing.

In all, 11 MoUs were signed in the meeting of business council which was attended by nearly 50 Saudi entities.

They said that security was identified as a major area of cooperation keeping in mind common threats faced by the two countries.

The statement said that the two sides agreed to constitute a "Comprehensive Security Dialogue" at the level of National Security Advisors and set up a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism to enhance further cooperation in the counter-terrorism efforts and benefit mutually from real-time intelligence sharing.

It said that the two sides agreed to work together with other Indian Ocean Rim countries for enhancing maritime security.

The officials said that Saudi Arabia has also been sensitive to India's request on prices of crude and has also agreed to requests for release of prisoners and increasing the quota of Haj pilgrims. It has been sensitive to the predicament of Indians stranded due to closure of a foreign company, they added.
New Delhi/Yavatmal/Chandigarh, Feb 22 : Four Kashmiri students in Maharahstra have been assaulted while a Kashmiri teacher in a private university in Punjab said he was asked to quit on Thursday even as the Supreme Court said it may take up Friday a PIL seeking security for students from the Valley in wake of the Pulwama terror attack.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress for their silence over attacks on Kashmiri students, while senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad appealed to people to not push Kashmiris "back into quagmire" by boycotting or beating them up.

In Yavatmal, Kashmiri students of Dayabhai Patel College of Physical Education were pounced upon near their rented home in Waghapur Road area on Wednesday night.

Two of the students - Umar Rashid Dar and Umar Nazir Ganai, both from Kashmir's Kupwara - and their friends were intercepted outside their home by activists allegedly from the Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena.

The dozen strong mob demanded to know where they hailed from. When the students replied Kashmir, they were slapped, kicked, punched and threatened with "dire consequences".

The mob also demanded to know whether their relatives were "terrorists" and forced them to raise slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai," "Hindustan Zindabad" and "Vande Mataram".

The visibly-scared boys told media persons that "it was difficult for us to pursue education in our home state and now even here. We don't know what to do or where to go."

However, they said the police and college authorities have assured them full protection and support especially since their final exams were starting next week.

College Principal, Sandeep Chawak, told IANS that the entire college stands "unitedly" with the four students, three of whom are here for three years and one for the past one year.

Amidst all round condemnation, Yuva Sena President Aditya Uddhav Thackeray attempted damage control by appealing "not to vent anger against Pakistan" against people living in our own country, while the organisation's Secretary Varun Sardesai assured action against the culprits if they were found to be the party's activists.

In another related incident. Salman Shaheen, an Assistant Professor of English at Lovely Professional University (LPU) near Punjab's Jalandhar city said that he was "forced" to resign after a social media post linking him to comments regarding the Pulwama terror attack.

Alleging that a photo of his Facebook status was distorted to create an impression that he had written something objectionable, he said he was also confronted at his rented accommodation outside the university campus.

University sources confirmed the resignation but said that the teacher "realized his mistake and decided to quit".

In wake of the attacks by right-wing groups, particularly in Uttarakhand, which have led to a large number of Kashmiri students leaving the state, Omar Abdullah warned that such attacks "will result in further alienation of Kashmiris".

"Kashmiri boys and girls pursuing studies outside the state have nothing to do either with politics or the Kashmir issue. They are simply trying to build their careers.

"These students have somehow managed to contact us saying that they have been harassed and threatened to leave different colleges and universities outside the state," he told media persons in Srinagar.

Abdullah said it appeared that those targeting Kashmiris had the blessings of the establishment, pointing out that the Meghalaya Governor had called for a boycott of the Kashmiri community.

He criticized Modi for his silence over the attacks on Kashmiri students and traders outside the state.

"...If he (Modi) was busy, the Home Minister could have said something. Even the Congress has not said anything comforting. We need a statesman, not a politician," he said.

Azad, who is also a former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, said the Kashmiri youth who are studying at various universities across India are the ones who have shunned the lure of militancy and are for joining the national mainstream.

"It means they feel safer among their countrymen. If they will be beaten up here, and persecuted by militants back home, where would they go," he said at a press conference in the capital.

He said mere advisories would not do and the state government officials must visit educational institutes and colleges and assure them. "Let them (Kashmiris) come into the mainstream. Don't push them back into the mire, these students want to escape," Azad said.

A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna indicated that it may hear on Friday a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Centre and the state governments to protect Kashmiri students after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves mentioned it for an urgent hearing.

PIL petitioner Tariq Adeeb referred to a dozen media reports of attack on Kashmiri students across the country after the Pulwama attack, while citing the apex court's July 17, 2018 judgment on the issue of curbing of activities of vigilante groups and mob lynching.
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Even as there has been hard talk by the government over the Pulwama terror attack, a reference to the need to create necessary conditions for resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan in the joint statement issued during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicated that talks continue to be an option if India's conditions are met.

Some former diplomats who spoke to IANS said the reference in the statement issued late Wednesday reiterates India's stated position on talks and nothing more could have been expected.

Former Ambassador to Iran K.C. Singh said the statement reflected "give and take" from both sides.

"It came too late at 10.30 p.m. Basically, you wanted something from Saudis and they wanted something from you. So, it's give and take."

He said India has always talked about the need for creating a conducive atmosphere for talks. "That's what India says always. Since they (Pakistan) also referred to talks to, (Narendra) Modiji has to present his conditions for talks," he said.

He, however, felt that the whole visit could have been handled differently.

Singh had also tweeted about the statement, saying it came too late "to fully limit the damage by Crown Prince MBS not condoling Pulwama martyrs or naming Pakistan".

"Indian negotiators belatedly retrieved ground by inserting reference, though 'states' abetting terror for India means Pak and for Saudi Arabia, Iran," he said.

"Why was joint statement so delayed, when normally it's mostly finalised as leaders meet? Post joint press statements and MBS' and Saudi FM's dithering, it took great effort to tweak written joint statement and get a face-saver."

In response to a tweet on the possibility of more attacks as long as Pakistan allows Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to flourish, Singh said: "All the more reason why Saudi Crown Prince in Delhi needed to send a clear warning to Pakistan. Unfortunately, the Modi government appeared defensive and over-sensitive to Saudi sentiments."

Vivek Katju, a former Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, said the reference to condition for talks with Pakistan reflects India's position.

"This is India's stand. It means that pre-condition, as far as we are concerned, is that talks and terrorism can't go together. That is what it means. This is standard formulation. These are not either-or situations. It is reiteration. That's how I look at it," he said.

Former Ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood said Saudi Arabia will play its balancing game and "we should know it". Expecting more than that is quite unrealistic, he said.

The statement said the two sides stressed the importance of regional stability and good neighbourly relations.

It said that the Crown Prince appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including his personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," the statement said.

Both sides also called upon all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists perpetrating terrorism from all territories against other states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Crown Prince condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pulwama last week in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Pakisan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Modi, in his speeches after the terror attack, has taken digs at Pakistan and given signals that the perpetrators would have to pay a heavy price.
Metro Manila (February 21, CNN Philippines)  Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Thursday Miss Universe Catriona Gray's opposition to lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility may have been caused by "misinformation" from administration critics.

"She may have been misinformed of the facts given that the opposition to the lowering comes from 'yung mga dating kritiko ng administrasyon [the former critics of the administration,]" Panelo said during a Malacanang media briefing.

Panelo said Gray should be educated on the proposal, noting that the measure would not place children behind bars, and instead will rehabilitate them.

"We are precisely focusing on the problem kasi the problem. Because the problem is they're engaged in crime, so what will we do? We will have to rehabilitate them, learn why they have committed these crimes and put them back in the society," he said.

In an interview with a TV network, Gray said the country should shift its focus to the reasons forcing children to commit crimes.

"I worked a lot with children and everybody knows that children are not disposed to do that kind of act or to act out in that way. And it really is probably is a consequence of their circumstance or their environment or external pressures, whether it be from people or circumstance," Gray said.

She said the country should focus on removing pressures on children and educate parents and communities about these.

"I feel like that would be a better long term solution rather than locking up kids. Or not locking up kids, but you know, once you label a child in a way that a child in conflict with the law, how are you bringing them up to see themselves?" Gray said.

Panelo said he is glad Gray is speaking out on the issue.

Gray advocates providing education for children. She was a volunteer teacher assistant to students of non-government organization Young Focus.

Under a bill pending in the Senate, children from 12 years old who commit crimes would be sent to a youth care facility for rehabilitation. It also proposed to send minors who commit serious offenses like murder, homicide and rape to a Juvenile Reformatory Center.

The current law pegs the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 15. Children of this age who commit crimes would be sent to a youth care facility called "Bahay Pag-asa" for rehabilitation. The agency monitoring the implementation of the law, however, said some of these are even "worse than prisons."

President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed for a lower age of criminal responsibility, and has endorsed bills in Congress lowering the age from 15 to 12.
Bengaluru, Feb 21 : Karnataka Congress legislator J.N. Ganesh was remanded to 14-day judicial custody, a day after he was arrested in an assault case at a resort in the Ramanagara district, the police said on Thursday.

"Principal Civil Judge Anita sent Ganesh to 14-day judicial custody when he was produced before her court at Ramanagara for allegedly assaulting his party's legislator Anand Singh at a resort on January 20," Ramanagara district Superintendent of Police Ramesh Bhanot told IANS.

Ganesh, arrested by a state police from a hotel in Gujarat's Somnath town, was flown to Bengaluru from Ahmedabad earlier in the day. He had gone missing after attacking Singh.

"As we have collected sufficient evidence and recorded statements of the accused and the complainant, resort officials and fellow legislators, we did not seek his police custody as preliminary inquiry has been completed," said Bhanot.

The police registered an assault case against Ganesh on Singh's complaint under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to attempt to murder.

Though Ganesh was to be sent to the district prison at Ramanagara, about 40 km from here, the judge considered his plea to be lodged in the Bengaluru Central Jail.

While Ganesh represents Kampli assembly segment in the Ballari district, Singh is from Vijayanagara segment.

After assault Singh was admitted to a private hospital here. He has been discharged from the hospital.

Congress state President Dinesh Gundu Rao suspended Ganesh after the police registered an FIR against him on January 21.
Chandigarh, Feb 21 : A teacher from Jammu and Kashmir in a private university near Punjab's Jalandhar city said that he was "forced" to resign after a social media post linking him to comments regarding the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed on February 14.

Salman Shaheen, who was Assistant Professor of English at Lovely Professional University (LPU) near Jalandhar, however, alleged that a photo of his Facebook status was distorted to create an impression that he had written something objectionable about the Pulwama attack.

He said that he was called by the university authorities and asked to submit his resignation as students and others were upset with his comments. He was also confronted at his rented accommodation outside the university campus, he added.

Following this, Shaheen resigned from the university and has left for his home state.

University sources confirmed the resignation but said that the teacher "realized his mistake and decided to quit". They said that Shaheen was called to explain his version after news about his social media post spread on the LPU campus.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Ending all speculation, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday repromulgated the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, commonly known as the triple talaq ordinance, for the third time.

The President also promulgated three other ordinances cleared by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday. These include the Companies (Second Amendment) Ordinance, the Medical Council Ordinance and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019 meant to prevent chit fund scams and protect small investors.

The repromulgation of the triple talaq ordinance, which has the provision of sending a Muslim man to jail for up to three years for divorcing his wife through triple talaq (instant irrevocable divorce), is significant as it comes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

In the past, Presidents have returned ordinances brought by the government just ahead of the elections, leading to speculation whether the controversial triple talaq ordinance would get the Presidential nod.

The government got the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill passed by the Lok Sabha twice, but the Bill could not sail through the Rajya Sabha where the government could not muster the numbers.

The Bill is set to lapse in the Rajya Sabha as no consensus could be built over it with the Opposition that has objected to the penal provision in the Bill.

The opposition parties demanded the Bill should be sent to a select committee for thorough scrutiny and wider consultations. However, the government did not agree.

The government first brought the triple talaq ordinance in September last year and has since repromulgated it thrice, drawing flak from the Opposition, Muslim bodies and even women rights activists primarily for turning a civil matter (divorce) into a criminal one.
Bhopal, Feb 21 : Over a dozen legislators, including from the Congress, are said to be upset with ministers of the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government, and have come together to form a 'club,' sources said on Thursday.

Some of the MLAs have also met the Chief Minister.

The 'club' includes legislators of the ruling Congress and MLAs providing support to the government.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Rambai told reporters that the 'club' has 28-30 lawmakers.

Sources said the MLAs are upset as officials in their respective areas are being transferred without their advice. Also, they are being ill-treated by the Ministers, sources added.
Baghpat/New Delhi, Feb 21 : After withdrawing the most favoured nation (MFN) status and slamming a 200 per cent import duty, India on Thursday decided to stop the flow of its share of water from the three eastern rivers -- the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej -- to Pakistan.

"Under the leadership of (Prime Minister Narendra Modi), our government has decided to stop our share of water, which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from eastern rivers and supply it to people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a tweet.

In another tweet, he said construction of a dam had started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, the Ujh project will store India's share of water for use in J&K and the rest will flow from the second Ravi-Beas Link to provide water to other basin states. All these projects have been declared as the national projects, he added.

Thursday's announcement comes on top of actions like withdrawal of MFN status to Pakistan and slapping of a 200 per cent duty on all imports from Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF troopers and which was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

India has sent enough message to Pakistan that it will not be business as usual and that the February 14 terror attack would be avenged.

Meanwhile, speaking at a public meeting in Baghpat, Gadkari said after partition India got three rivers but their water were flowing to Pakistan. "Water will be diverted to Yamuna. It means, there will be more water in Yamuna," he said. India is not exploiting any of its rights with this decision.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan control over the water flowing in three "eastern" rivers of India -- the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej with the mean flow of 33 million acre-feet (MAF) -- was given to India.

While control over the water flowing in three "western" rivers of India -- the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum with the mean flow of 80 MAF -- was given to Pakistan.

The government had in December 2018 cleared the proposal to implement the Shapur Kandi Dam Project in Punjab on Ravi for which Rs. 485 crore central assistancewould be provided from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had then said the project was cleared by the cabinet, which would minimise some of the water flow of Ravi, currently going waste through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan.

-- With inputs from IANS
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The United Nations must do more to end violence and forced displacement. A move in that direction will include restructuring of the Security Council and norms for grant of veto power, experts said at a day-long conference on the 'Future of United Nations' at the O.P. Jindal Global University, here on Thursday.

"The UN must address many challenges faced by the world, including forced displacement, hunger, inequality, trade disputes, increasing debt burden and danger to media freedom," said Virendra Dayal, former Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary General, in his inaugural address, according to a statement by the university.

Among the measures the UN can take to restore the power balance, the panelists recommended recomposition of the Security Council, veto power, promotion of democracy, and adequate funding by the developed countries and rules of procedure.

Speaking on Gandhian non-violence and Meiji Revolution in Japan -- a period known as Japanese enlightenment -- a panelist stressed India and Japan can leverage their rich heritage to bring harmony in the working of the UN.

"India's fight for independence as well as Gandhi's philosophy of peace and welfare of humankind spread across the world. Similarly, the Meiji revolution paved the way for peace and prosperity in Japan.

"The two countries can utilise this rich historical heritage and act in harmony in the UN," said Sukehiro Hasegawa, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Timor-Leste.

Latest updates on Gandhi Jayanti 2019
Islamabad, Feb 21 : Pakistan on Thursday re-imposed a ban on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), formed by Hafiz Saaed to sidestep the ban on his Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and its charity arm, the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, to discuss the geo-strategic and national security environment in light of the Pulwama suicide bombing and its aftermath, media reports said.

The two entities had been proscribed in an ordinance promulgated by then President Mamnoon Hussein in February last year to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act with regards to proscription of terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council, but this had lapsed.

At the meeting, it was also decided to accelerate anti-terrorism operations in the country, the Dawn daily said.

A statement released after the meeting also quoted Prime Minister Imran Khan as saying that "this is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State".

At the meeting, it was also noted that Pakistan "is not involved in any way, means or form" in the terror attack by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which left 40 Indian paramilitary force personnel dead, the Dawn reported.

The statement also said that it was resolved at the meeting that Pakistan would take action against anyone found using its soil for terrorism.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Congress on Thursday attacked the Modi government and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval over the suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF troopers and questioned the intelligence breach that led to the attack.

"Is our Intelligence so weak under Ajit Doval that terrorists were able to carry 350kg of explosives through the most protected highway in the country?" Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a media briefing here.

"How did the terrorists know the exact route of the CRPF jawans? Was there an intelligence breach? If so why has no action been taken against those responsible in the intelligence agencies," he asked.

The Congress leader also questioned the government for ignoring the video released by the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group barely 48 hours ahead of the attack.

be.

"If for every case the demand for a CBI probe is asked, then it's best that the Kerala Police be disbanded. The police probe has just begun. If people have any evidence against the CPI-M, it should be handed to the police and not to the media," he said.
Bhopal, Feb 21 : The Madhya Pradesh Police has raised a fund of Rs 7.5 crore to provide financial aid to the families of martyrs killed in a suicide attack in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir last week.

Director General of Police V.K. Singh handed over the cheque to Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday, said an official statement here.

The amount also includes contribution from the salaries of all police officials in the state.

On February 14, 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed in a terror suicide attack when a explosives-laden SUV rammed the convoy of CRPF buses in Pulwama district.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal here on Thursday asked the police to take steps to check movement of illicit cash and liquor.

"The LG directed Delhi Police to take stern steps to check movement of illicit cash and liquor," the Raj Niwas said in a statement.

During a meeting held to review the preparedness of Delhi Police for upcoming general elections, Baijal said the assessment of force requirement should be meticulously done, and MHA and other concerned agencies be suitably informed well in advance.

Baijal also said the Delhi Police should focus on efficient control room management for effective and timely redressal of complaints, regarding violation of the model code of conduct during the election.

He said coordination with neighbouring states and districts be ensured for free, fair and smooth election process.

"Delhi Police also informed that with the announcement of the election dates, it will intensify action against defacement of property, misuse of vehicles and loudspeakers, seizure of illicit cash/items meant for bribing voters/other electoral malpractices," the Raj Niwas said.
New Delhi: Lt Gen (Retd.) DS Hooda during a meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Feb 21, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Lt Gen (Retd.) DS Hooda during a meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Feb 21, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Feb 21 : Army's former Northern Command chief D.S. Hooda, who directed the 2016 cross-LoC surgical strikes, will now be heading a task force on national security at the behest of the Congress.

The decision was announced by the Congress on Thursday after a meeting between party President Rahul Gandhi and Lt Gen D.S. Hooda (retd).

The task force team would be picked by Hooda to prepare a "vision paper for the country in consultation with a select group of experts."

"I would be picking up my own team which may consist of 5-6 persons. These persons would be drawn from different backgrounds such as military, foreign policy experts and may be also from the police," Hooda told IANS.

He said the task force would target to submit a report in about a month's time on various aspects of the national security.

Hooda, however, clarified that he has not joined the Congress and his involvement is restricted to this task force only.

In September 2016, Hooda had planned and directed the surgical strikes on terror launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC). However, he has also said in the past that the surgical strikes were "over-hyped" and "politicised."
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Supreme Court on Thursday commuted the death sentence of a man who murdered his wife and five children after rapping the Madhya Pradesh government for it "unexplained" delay of four years in forwarding his mercy petition to the Centre, leading to almost five years in deciding it.

Jagdish was convicted and sentenced to death by the trial court and the capital punishment was confirmed by the state High Court and upheld by the top court on September 18, 2009.

Commuting the death sentence while noting the brutal nature of the crime in which "6 innocent lives were lost", the bench of Justice N.V.Ramana, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Indira Banerjee directed, "We direct that life imprisonment in this case shall mean the entire remaining life of the petitioner and he shall not be released till his death."

The order came on Jagdish's review petition challenging the President's rejection of his mercy petition on July 16, 2014, arguing that there was a delay of almost five years in deciding it and that itself was a ground for commuting the death sentence.

He had also sought the review of the apex court's September 18, 2009 judgment upholding his death sentence.

In its decision, the court cited the "unexplained delay of four years in forwarding the mercy petition by the state of Madhya Pradesh leading to delay of almost five years in deciding the mercy petition and the fact that the petitioner has been incarcerated for almost 14 years ..."

Taking a dim view of the way the Madhya Pradesh government acted, the court said, "We are constrained to observe that not only was there a long, inordinate and unexplained delay on the part of the state of Madhya Pradesh but to make matters worse, the state of Madhya Pradesh has not even cared to file any counter-affidavit in the writ petition even though notice was issued four years back on November 18, 2014 and service was effected within a month of issuance of notice."

Observing that the delay in forwarding the petition was "totally unexplained" and the top court "cannot countenance" it, Justice Gupta, speaking for the bench, observed, "We are dealing here with the case of a person who has been sentenced to death. The mercy petition is the last hope of a person on death row. Every dawn will give rise to a new hope that his mercy petition may be accepted. By nightfall this hope also dies."

This court, the judgment said, has repeatedly held that in cases where death sentence has to be executed, it should be done as early as possible and if mercy petitions are not forwarded for four years and no explanation is submitted, "we cannot but hold that the delay is inordinate and unexplained."

Observing that the death sentence is the exception and has to be pronounced in rarest of rare cases, the court said that it was of the view that "regardless of the brutal nature", this crime was not a fit case for a death sentence.
Chandigarh, Feb 21 : Former Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini has been summoned by the Punjab Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the cases of sacrilege and firing incidents in Punjab in 2015.

Saini, a high-profile police officer, who was DGP during the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government in Punjab, has been asked to appear before the SIT at the Punjab Police headquarters here on February 25.

The SIT is investigating the reasons behind the firing on Sikh protesters, agitating against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, during the SAD-BJP regime (2007-2017).

The SIT has already arrested two senior police officers -- Inspector General (IG) of Police Parampal Singh Umranangal and former Moga Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Charanjit Sharma -- in connection with the firing incidents.

The IGP was arrested from Chandigarh on Monday in connection with the Behbal Kalan firing in the Faridkot district in October 2015 in which two people were killed and several others injured.

Sharma and three other police officers were booked for murder and attempt to murder following recommendations by the Justice (retd.) Ranjit Singh Commission of Inquiry into the sacrilege cases and firing incidents.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was also questioned by the SIT on November 16, 2018.

SAD President Sukhbir Badal, who was the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister at that time, was also quizzed by the SIT.

Punjab was brought to a standstill in October 2015 with radical Sikhs and others blocking highways and roads for days following the incidents.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The country may be heading towards a coalition government after the upcoming general election if reports prepared by different foreign brokerage firms are to be believed.

But, guaranteed income scheme for farmers will remain a wild card and if implemented and marketed well, could influence voting behaviour giving a big chance to the ruling party, according to brokerage firm reports.

A day after a CLSA said that BJP will find it difficult to replicate its 2014 success in country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, a Fitch Solutions Macro Research report on Thursday said that a coalition government seemed most likely at the Centre with good chances even for Congress for steering such a government.

But all is not lost for the Modi government that may very well make a comeback on the back of voter support from rural India. In a separate report, UBS said the guaranteed income for the small farmers announced in this year's Budget may help sway rural voters, helping BJP to have a better chance.

The political combination forming ahead of 2019 general elections is throwing up new possibilities each day. The coming together of BSP-SP in UP has indicated that going will not be easy for the ruling BJP that won 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will find it difficult to win a complete majority in India's upcoming general election and the opposition Congress party has a fair chance to form the government at the Centre with the support of regional allies, a Fitch Solutions Macro Research report said.

"We at Fitch Solutions are bucking the overwhelming consensus at this juncture that the BJP will most likely form the next government after the upcoming elections. The Indian National Congress party, headed by Rahul Gandhi, has a fair chance too, of steering a coalition government," the Fitch report added.

The only issue that could help BJP is the guaranteed income scheme for farmers. The income support "is a guaranteed cash flow that farmers can use as collateral to take out loans from banks -- it can be levered 3-4 times," the UBS report said. "It also reduces the tail part of the volatility and we think farmers will likely respond to it positively," the report added.

While the UBS report said the guaranteed income scheme will remain a wild card and "if implemented and marketed well, could influence voting behavior," especially because the Feb 1 Budget contained measures, including an annual Rs 6,000 payout to marginal farmers.

The policy may reap dividends because it involves a yearly rather than a one-off payment, with the first installment likely due in the next few weeks, the analysts wrote.

However, the Fitch report sighted the Pulwama attack which may allow the ruling party to "drum up nationalistic sentiment and to rally the electorate behind the BJP."
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Expressing concern over reported attacks on Kashmiri students in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday appealed people to not push Kashmiris "back into quagmire" by boycotting or thrashing them.

He said the Kashmiri youth who are studying at various universities across the country are the ones who have shunned the lure of militancy and are for joining the national mainstream.

"The young students from Kashmir, boys and girls, who have taken admission in different colleges and universities across India are the ones who do not want to join militancy in Kashmir. It means they want to study and contribute in the mainstream of India," Azad said at a press conference here.

These were the youths who have condemned militants and Pakistan and their lures of all kinds of things, including money, Azad said and added, "It means they feel safer among their countrymen. If they will be beaten up here, and persecuted by militants back home, where would they go."

He said mere advisories would not do and the state government officials must visit educational institutes and colleges and assure them. "Let them (Kashmiris) come into the mainstream. Don't push them back into the mire, these students want to escape," Azad said.

His appeal has come after reports of violence against, and calls for boycott of, Kashmiris and their businesses appeared from different parts of the country in the wake of the suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&K's Pulwama district on February 14. As many as 40 CRPF troopers were killed in the attack.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to repeat its Gujarat model in Uttar Pradesh for the coming Lok Sabha elections by replacing a number of sitting MPs with new faces.

Party sources said the party could deny tickets to over 30 sitting MPs in Uttar Pradesh on the grounds of performance.

They said that discussions on fielding new candidates in the Lok Sabha elections were held at the residence of party President Amit Shah on Wednesday night. The meeting was also attended by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Dinesh Sharma and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The meeting lasted for over two-and-half hours.

The BJP leadership had dropped enough indications earlier about denying tickets to MPs who were perceived to have been unable to perform. The party would like to try new faces to beat incumbency. The new faces could include MLAs and ministers in the state.

The BJP had earlier followed the same trend in Gujarat where it replaced its sitting MLAs with new faces in the Assembly polls.

Last year, the BJP had released the report cards of its ministers and MPs. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was tasked to prepare the report card of the party MPs in the state.

The sources said the leaders also discussed the party's preparedness in the state ahead of the parliamentary polls.

Uttar Pradesh sends a maximum of 80 MPs to Parliament. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 71 and its ally Apna Dal two in the state.
Chandigarh, Feb 21 : The Punjab government has cracked down in a big way on unscrupulous travel agents and registered 2,140 cases under various Acts since it came to power in March 2017, a Minister told the Punjab Assembly on Thursday.

State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra said that 1,107 cases had been filed under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 528 under Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act 2014 and another 505 under the Emigration Act, 1983.

On the recent case of four Kapurthala youth who were fraudulently sent to Armenia by a group of travel agents, Mohindra told the House that three accused agents had already been arrested under the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act 2012, and said the remaining would be apprehended soon.

A Lookout Circular (LOC) had been issued and raids were being conducted, he added.

All the victims had returned from Armenia and safely reached their homes on February 9, said the Minister.

Mohindra said that the Punjab government would soon set up a corporation to provide skill training to youth to match foreign job requirements, the terms of reference for which were being finalised.

Acting on the Chief Minister's directive, the state government had already issued a directive and advisory to all the top civil and police officials to crack down on illegal travel agents to ensure strict compliance with the laws and legislations governing the licensing and operations of travel agents, the Minister added.
Bengaluru: A F-16 fighter jet at "Aero India 2019" - air show at Yelahanka Air Force Station, in Bengaluru, on Feb 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru: A F-16 fighter jet at "Aero India 2019" - air show at Yelahanka Air Force Station, in Bengaluru, on Feb 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru: A F-16 fighter jet at "Aero India 2019" - air show at Yelahanka Air Force Station, in Bengaluru, on Feb 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru, Feb 21 : With the competition for an IAF order of 110 combat jets hotting up, US aerospace major Lockheed Martin has presented its single-engine supersonic multirole F-16 Falcon in the new avatar of what it says "tailored" for India F-21 fighter.

"The F-21 distinguishes from the F-16 Falcon with a refuelling probe, which enables air-to-air transfer of fuel, fuselage with additional space for indigenous systems and a triple-range launcher to hold three missiles under each wing," a Lockheed Martin spokesman told IANS on the margins of the Aero India expo at the IAF's Yelahanka air base.

The F-16 is flown by the US Air Force, Israel, Iraq and Pakistan, among other countries the world over.

"The new fighter has modifications in and out. Its cockpit provides with a large display of navigation aids for the pilots," said the spokesman on the differences between the F-16 and F-21.

The defence major on Wednesday also offered to make F-21 in India as an advanced, scalable fighter for the Indian Air Force (IAF) if it secures the order.

"The combat jet can be tailored to IAF's requirements," the spokesman said.

India had issued a request for information from global defence and aerospace majors in 2018 to procure 110 fighters - with 16 in flyaway condition and the remaining to be made in India with a local partner.

Global aerospace majors Boeing, Dassault Aviation, Eurofighter, Saab and Russian United Aircraft Corporation will be competing with Lockheed Martin for the fighter order after India floats the request for proposal (RFP).

"India has not yet issued a formal requirement via a request for proposals (RFP). When India releases its RFP, we will respond to it with the F-21," Vivek Lall, Lockheed Martin's Vice President for Business and Strategy Development, told IANS.

The company offered to manufacture the aircraft under the 'Make in India' initiative along with Tata Advanced Systems of the Tata Group if it bags the deal.

"The F-21 outclasses the competition across the board. No other competing fighter comes close to matching the F-21's capabilities or the industrial and economic opportunities its partnership can deliver to India," Lall asserted.

While Lall did not share more details of the F-21 proposal as it was "competition-sensitive", the fighter provides growth capacity, lethality, survivability and modernisation that the IAF requires, he said.

(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
Agartala, Feb 21 : Border guards of India and Bangladesh would further intensify vigil to curb crimes, cross-border movement and other illegal activities, a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official said here on Thursday.

"An Inspector General-level meeting between BSF and BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) was held in Chittagong (in Bangladesh) last week where it was decided to further strengthen the vigil along the frontiers to control crimes, cross-border movement of inimical elements and unauthorised persons besides other illegal activities," a senior BSF official, who attended the meeting, told IANS.

The official, who did not want to be named, said that both sides have exchanged information relating to trans-border illegal activities and chalked out various strategies to deal with it.

BSF's Mizoram-Cachar frontier Inspector General Kanu Charan Mahali led the Indian team while Tripura frontier Inspector General Soloman Yash Kumar Minz, his Assam-Meghalaya frontier counterpart Kuldeep Saini and officials from the External Affairs Ministry took part in the four day meeting on February 11-14.

"The border guards of the two countries have been adopting a zero tolerance policy to curb smuggling of arms, explosives and drugs and human trafficking along their frontiers," the official added.

According to the BSF official, the next border coordination conference would be held in any of the northeastern states in August.

Four northeastern states - Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam - share a 1,880 km international border with Bangladesh with most parts of it unfenced, mountainous and prone to crime.

Meanwhile, 24 school children of BSF families, who as part of the "Adventure Visit of School Children of BSF to Bangladesh", went to different cities of that country, returned here late Thursday evening through the Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) international integrated check-post.

The visit, the first time for school children from northeast India. was part of confidence-building measures between the BSF and BGB.

During the five-day tour, the children were exposed to excursion and mountaineering in rocky and plateau areas of Jaflong in Sylhet district and then went to Dhaka, where they saw various monuments and historical places, a BSF official said.

The school students, comprising 10 girls and 14 boys, also visited the Bangladesh National Museum, the National Martyrs' Memorial, Gazipur Safari Park, Bangladesh Centres for Development Management in Rajendrapur and the Dhaka cantonment area.

The official said that during the school students' stay in Peelkhana (the BGB headquarters), the children of BGB personnel put up a colourful cultural function for them.

The students also visited Ratargul forest area to see mangroves.

"Earlier this month a batch of school children belonging to BGB families visited West Bengal on a similar mission," the BSF official said.

He said that this initiative would not only acquaint the children from both countries with the rich social and cultural heritage of of the other country, but would also go a long way in strengthening the ties and friendly relations between the two border guards.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he will ensure that Delhi gets full statehood in two years and within the next 10 years everyone in the city will have a house.

"I am saying this here in front of you all. If in two years I don't make Delhi a full state, you can change my name. The day it is declared a full state, everyone will have a pucca house within 10 years," he told a public rally here.

Urging people to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal said that he can also enter the house of the Prime Minister to get full statehood for Delhi.

"If we can enter the house of Delhi Lt Governor to get the signature on files, we can also enter the house of the Prime Minister to get full statehood for Delhi."

"We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the people of Delhi. But now is the time we should fight for full statehood.

"Delhi has to give all the seven (Lok Sabha seats) to AAP. If this happens, we will ensure full statehood to Delhi in two years."

Addressing people after the inauguration of two Mohalla Clinics at Azadpur Mandi, Kejriwal said that within four years of coming to power, the people were getting free education, health facilities and also the "cheapest electricity in the world".

"Nowhere in the world people are paying only 1 rupee for electricity but Delhi is getting it for 1 rupee."

He said his government was going to install CCTV cameras in the city from next week. "This could have been done earlier but Modiji sat on its file for three years."

Attacking the BJP at another public address at Gandhi Nagar later in the day, he said his government was not diving people on religious basis.

"The schools we built is for all and is giving free education to all. Our hospital is treating everyone for free, irrespective of religion. We don't discriminate people on religious basis like the BJP."

He also said that his government was providing cheap electricity in all areas. "We never said that we will supply water to only Hindu areas."

Urging people to vote for his party in the Lok Sabha polls, he said the BJP, which came to power in 2014, had done only one successful work -- of spreading hate in the country.

"It was Pakistan that wanted to divide us on the basis of religion for 70 years. But India never allowed it to happen. But now Modi and Shah in five years have done what Pakistan could not do. The poison they have spread is not good for the country and its development.

"If 2019, if they are back in power, the country will be finished. They are very dangerous people. Shah has said that if in 2019 they win, they will rule till 2050. They will change the Constitution."
Kolkata, Feb 21 : Accusing the Delhi based non-profit organisation Mission Netaji of running a "sinister campaign" to taint Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's image by claiming that the leader lived in Uttar Pradesh as a hermit named Gumnami Baba, the members of Bose's family on Thursday urged the Centre to release all Intelligence Bureau (IB) files on the recluse.

Claiming that it was a "criminal offence" to term Gumnami Baba as Netaji in disguise without any documentary or photographic evidence of the same, BJP leader and Bose's grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose said the Central government must start an inquiry to find out who are supporting such false campaigns against Bose.

"I am sorry to say that Mission Netaji has not just betrayed the Bose family but the entire nation and the honourable Prime Minister. Because without any documentary or photographic evidence, one cannot arrive at the conclusion that Gumnami Baba of Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in disguise," Chandra told reporters.

"We demand that the government of India and the Uttar Pradesh government release the Intelligence Bureau files that might be there on Gumnami Baba before the Lok Sabha elections. That would reveal the identity of this anonymous person. I am sure that the Prime Minister would positively respond to this," he said.

Chandra accused Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose, the founder-trustee members of Mission Netaji, of betraying the nation by spreading falsehood in their yet to be released book in which they have allegedly described the mysterious sant as Bose.

He also criticised director Srijit Mukherjee, who is making a film titled 'Gumnami,' for allegedly claiming in an interview that his upcoming movie will portray Bose as the "penniless recluse."

"I want to know who are the people supporting this distortion and who are funding Mission Netaji to spread such falsehood to taint and derogate Netaji's image? Who are these traitors? We appeal to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to start an inquiry by the IB," he said.

Bose's nephew Dwarkanath Bose claimed that the results of the DNA test of the hermit's teeth found in his belongings and the examination of his handwriting by experts found no similarity between Gumnami Baba and Bose.

"When the Mukherjee Commission was conducting its inquiry, a DNA test was conducted with the teeth of Gumnami Baba that was found in his room in Faizabad, but the results were negative. It had no similarity with the DNA sample provided by the Bose family," he said, adding that the handwriting was examined by experts from four countries.

He also said the family members have written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release the report of Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission, set up in June last year to probe the identity of Gumnami Baba.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) has signed with major trade unions a new wage settlement pact, which would increase the gross monthly pay of cement employees by Rs 5,000.

"The CMA and the federation of major central trade unions (INTUC, AITUC, BMS, HMS, CITU and LPF) signed a major wage settlement pact before the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), New Delhi, on February 20, 2019," the statement said.

The move is likely to benefit around 20,000 employees in the Indian cement industry, the CMA said in a statement here on Thursday.

"It would to benefit around 20,000 cement workers by way of increase in gross pay, enhanced dearness allowance and service weightage," the statement said.

The present settlement is for four years, from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2022, it said. Arrears for 11 months will be paid in two instalments.

The settlement also provides for service weightage benefits, enhanced DA and other benefits, the CMA said.

Twenty-one cement companies, which cover 60 per cent of the country's cement capacity, had authorised the CMA to negotiate with the trade unions.

The CMA negotiation team was headed by N. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, India Cements.

Trade unions were represented by G. Sanjeeva Reddy, President of INTUC, and Ghisulal B. Kalal, National Executive Member of the BMS, among others.

Hailing the pact, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Rajan Verma said, "the cement industry is an important industry for the inclusive growth of the country and there has been a change in approach with the value of industry being well appreciated on both sides."
Yavatmal : , Feb 21 (IANS) Barely five days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here, four Kashmiri students were threatened, attacked and humiliated, allegedly by some Yuva Sena activists, sparking widespread condemnation.

Yuva Sena Secretary Varun Sardesai on Thursday assured action against the culprits if they were found to be the party's activists.

The Kashmiri students of Dayabhai Patel College of Physical Education were pounced upon near their rented home in Waghapur Road area. The Pulwama terror strike in Kashmir left 40 CRPF troopers dead, including two from Buldhana in Maharashtra.

Amidst all round condemnation, Yuva Sena President Aditya Uddhav Thackeray attempted a damage control by appealing "not to vent anger against Pakistan" against people living in our own country.

"I think the outrage against Pakistan and the need to give it a fitting reply is important. But we must ensure that this is not directed at our own citizens in any manner," he said.

Yuva Sena Secretary Sardesai pointed out that it was because of Shiv Sena founder patriarch Bal Thackeray that 'quotas' were created in the country's education system.

"Thousands of Kashmir students are studying in Mumbai and other parts of the state. The Yavatmal incident is wrong and condemnable. If they are Yuva Sena workers, we shall take suitable action against them," Sardesai said in a statement.

Two of the students - Umar Rashid Dar and Umar Nazir Ganai, both from Kupwara (J&K) - and their friends were intercepted outside their home on Wednesday night.

The attackers demanded to know where they hailed from. When they replied Kashmir, they were slapped, kicked, punched and threatened with "dire consequences".

The dozen strong mob also demanded to know whether their relatives were "terrorists" and forced them to raise slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai," "Hindustan Zindabad" and "Vande Mataram".

The college Principal, Sandeep Chawak, said the entire college stands "unitedly" with the four students, three of whom are here for three years and one for the past one year.

"A team led by Superintendent of Police M. Rajkumar visited the college, counselled all the students and assured there will not be any such repeat incidents, besides increasing the security around the Kashmiri boys' home," Chawak told IANS.

Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan said "the police must immediately book these Yuva Sena activists who are indulging in goondagiri" against Kashmiris.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik wondered "whether the fight is with terrorists or the innocent Kashmir people.

"This is wrong since such actions against Kashmiris anywhere in the country will give a further boost to terror..."

Rajkumar told the media this evening that they had started rounding up the miscreants and the Lohara Police Station shall now register cases against them.

The visibly scared boys told mediapersons that "it was difficult for us to pursue education in our home state and now even here. We don't know what to do or where to go."

However, they said the police and college authorities have assured them full protection and support especially since their final exams were starting next week.
Islamabad, Feb 21 : Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday told the Pakistan Army to respond "decisively and comprehensively" to any aggression or misadventure by India amid rising tensions between the two neighbours after a Kashmiri suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF personnel.

According to Geo News, Khan issued the directives during a meeting of the National Security Committee which discussed the country's security situation due to heightened tensions with India after the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

A statement issued after the meeting and cited by Geo News said: "Pakistan was not involved in any way, means or form in the said incident... The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously."

The Prime Minister directed both the Ministry of Interior and security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground, the report said.

The armed forces of Pakistan have been authorised to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India", the statement said.

It said Pakistan had earlier sincerely offered investigation of the incident as well as the offer for a dialogue on the issue of terrorism among other disputed issues.

Khan in a televised speech on Tuesday denied his country's involvement in the suicide bombing and sought "actionable intelligence", which was termed by India as "lame excuse".

"We expect India to positively respond to the offers. Based on the investigation or any tangible evidence provided, the State of Pakistan shall take action against anyone found using our soil," the Thursday statement read.

It further cited Khan as saying that "we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State".
Jammu, Feb 21 : The State Administrative Council (SAC), which met here on Thursday, has approved reservation benefits to people living along the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The development comes after the Union cabinet gave its nod to 10 per cent quota for poor among the general categories in Jammu and Kashmir and also approved the provision for SC/ST reservation in promotion in government jobs in the state. Since the state is under President's Rule, the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday took these decisions, said Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh.

An official statement issued by the SAC said, "The SAC under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik has approved the draft amendments in the 'Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act-2014' for extending the benefits of reservation to persons residing in the areas along the international border."

The IB covers a population of around 3 lakh people spread over 350 villages in the Jammu Division.

"The amendments shall meet the longstanding demand of the people residing in the areas adjoining the IB for their overall socio-economic and educational development," the statement said.

"The said demand was examined in consultation with the J&K State Commission for Backward Classes and it was felt that persons residing in the areas adjoining the IB are similarly situated as the persons residing in the areas adjoining the Actual Line of Control (ALC) so far as their socio-economic backwardness is concerned and thereby qualify for inclusion within the ambit of reservation at par with persons living in areas adjoining the ALC," it added.

"However, as per the recommendations of the J&K State Commission for Backward Classes, the areas falling within 6 km from the IB shall be covered within the meaning of reservation. List of such villages shall be notified while framing rules once the ordinance is promulgated," the statement said.

As per the existing reservation rules, 3 per cent reservation is admissible to people residing at LoC in direct recruitment. A reservation of 3 per cent is also available to the people residing on ALC in professional institutions.

"With this amendment, ALC and IB will be considered as one category for purposes of seeking reservation in direct recruitment and in promotions. This will benefit a large number of people residing in the areas adjoining the IB to reap the benefits of reservation like other categories.

"Following the approval of the proposal by the SAC today, the Social Welfare Department will process the draft amendment for further consideration of the government of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs for promulgation of the Ordinance by the competent authority," the statement said.
Kolkata, Feb 21 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed love for all languages while strongly voicing dissent against the attacks on Kashmiris and against all divisive voices.

"We love all languages, religion, culture as we don't believe in divisive politics. We don't have such mindset," Banerjee said during a celebration of International Mother Language Day.

She said that one cannot ask a Rajasthani or a Punjabi residing in the state, not to speak in their own mother tongue. The entire nation will be at "peace" if all the citizens spanning from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and all corners of the country will be at ease.

Referring to a case of assault on a Kashmiri shawl seller in Nadia district after the Pulwama attack, she said: "Can we ask a Kashmiri shawl seller not to come? I believe that action should be taken if such incidents happen. I don't believe in the theory that a section of people can take law in their stride by deciding who will stay and who will not."

Banerjee expressed shock regarding a group of people 'daring to approach a Kashmiri doctor's house who had spent 20 years in the city and ask him to leave'.

The incident happened in Kolkata's Tiljala area.

Indirectly hitting out at the BJP-led Central government she said: "Who are these people and how much power do they have? I will tell the people of this political party, who wants to divide the nation, that my mother tongue does not teach us hatred."

Also, if someone speaks up they are being labelled as 'in favour of India' or 'in favour of Pakistan'. Now everything starting from language, religion, food etc. is being dictated, she alleged.

"We want united India. I do not hate these people who are spreading communal violence but it burns my heart as these things are unacceptable. I did not speak these things to hurt anybody's sentiments," Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister proudly said that West Bengal is the land that teaches respect for all languages as people grow up learning that one should not spread hatred.

She pointed out that her government had given official status to Rajbanshi, Ol Chiki, Urdu and other languages so that everyone can work freely.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Digital Communications Commission, the inter-ministerial panel of DoT, has given in-principle nod for monetisation of fibre assets of the Pan India broadband connectivity project, BharatNet, so that these can be offered to private telcos through auction, lease or by outright sale.

Sources said the DCC discussed a proposal on the marketing of the BhratNet's fibre assets because the government has not been able to ensure effective utilisation of BharatNet, which is a costly asset.

"The created fibre assets of BharatNet should be offered on lease to the private sector on an open auction bidding basis for a 20-year period. The Commssion has given the in-principle approval," an official source said.

Most of the assets will be offered to the private sector that translates into 2.5 lakh km of fibre. It was decided that the DoT must also look at the the outright sale of fibres as well as a differnt model of leasing. The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) will now work out various sales and outright leasing options.

"But we have proposed that the fibre asset should be handed over to the private sector on long lease and ensure its utilisation. This will hasten the tower fiberisation as well," said an official.

The DCC approval was taken for sale-versus-lease and what should be the models of lease of these assets, official sources said. The panel has decided to put as many as 20 fibre assets or pairs on auctions for private entities for a 20-year lease term after retaining four, in the 2.5 lakh kilometres of optic fibre cable (OFC) deployed under the BharatNet-I programme.

The lease model will be worked out in line with the regulator's recommendations and the USOF has been asked to chalk out a comprehensive plan within 10 days. So far no estimation on revenue proceeds has been made, sources said.

The latest approval may help the government market BharatNet assets and earn revenues as well, said sources.
Vatican City, Feb 21 : Pope Francis said here on Thursday the world was waiting not only for the Catholic Church to condemn child sexual abuse by members of clergy but also for "concrete measures" to eradicate it.

The head of the Church said this in his speech at the start of a four-day summit, which is aimed at tackling the child sexual abuse within the institution.

The summit -- "The Protection of Minors in the Church" -- is being attended by the heads of all national bishops' conferences from over 130 countries, the BBC reported.

Details of sexual abuse have emerged across the world and the Church has been accused of covering up crimes.

"The holy people of God are watching and waiting not for simple and obvious condemnations but concrete and efficient measures," the Pontiff told 190 representatives of the ecclesiastical hierarchy which gathered at the Holy See for the meeting.

The Pope said he wanted to consult those gathered in the Vatican, which included patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops and bishops, "in the face of the plague of sexual abuse perpetrated by men of the Church against children".

He hoped the gathering would allow them to "hear the cry of the little ones who ask for justice", Efe news reported.

The Pope said those present at the summit bore a pastoral and ecclesial responsibility to discuss how to confront the "evil" of abuse at the hands of the clergy.

Participants would be given some guidelines to aid them in their reflections on the issue, which would act as a starting point, he added.

As part of his address, the Pontiff called on the Holy Spirit to help the Church over the coming days to transform the "evil" of abuse into an opportunity for its members to take stock of the situation.

The summit began with priest Hans Zollner, one of the members of the organising committee and an expert in the fight against abuse, reading the words of a victim of abuse: "Neither my parents nor the ecclesiastical authorities heard my cry. Did God not hear it either?"

Pope Francis called for "decisive action" on the issue when he was elected in 2013, but critics say he has not done enough to hold to account bishops who allegedly covered up abuse.

Some groups of survivors voiced scepticism that any concrete action will be taken during the event, calling it a "publicity stunt" to cleanse the image of the Church.
Srinagar, Feb 21 : Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress for their silence over attacks on Kashmiri students in parts of the country.

Addressing the media here, Abdullah said: "Attacks on Kashmiri students will result in further alienation of Kashmiris.

"Kashmiri boys and girls pursuing studies outside the state have nothing to do either with politics or the Kashmir issue. They are simply trying to build their careers.

"These students have somehow managed to contact us saying that they have been harassed and threatened to leave different colleges and universities outside the state," he said.

Since a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in the Kashmir Valley on February 14, many Kashmiri students have been attacked by rightwing groups, particularly in Uttarakhand. A large number of them have left the state.

Abdullah said it appeared that those targeting Kashmiris had the blessings of the establishment, pointing out that one Governor -- of Meghalaya -- had called for a boycott of the Kashmiri community.

He criticized Modi for his silence over the attacks on Kashmiri students and traders outside the state.

"There was no condemnation from the Prime Minister on Kashmiri students being attacked. If he was busy, the Home Minister could have said something. Even the Congress has not said anything comforting. We need a statesman, not a politician," he said.

The National Conference leader also expressed concern over the withdrawal of security to mainstream politicians in the state.

"On one hand you are telling us that we have to be prepared for Parliament and Assembly elections, on the other hand, you are telling us that we no longer deserve the protection of the state," he said.

"Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers and office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the Kashmir Valley," he said.

"At a time when mainstream political parties should be encouraged to step up their activities and build greater contact with people to counter the forces that have supported radicalisation and violence, this will have the opposite fallout," he said.

Abdullah asked Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to reconsider the step. "If it is not revisited, we will approach the courts and ask them to intervene.

"I have no doubt this step was taken without taking into consideration inputs from central and state intelligence agencies which can only means it was been done for political purposes and there is an element of pick and choose at play here," he added.

The security cover of 18 separatist leaders and 155 politicians in Jammu and Kashmir has been withdrawn.

According to an official order, the list covers leaders from the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.

Others are Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik and former IAS officer Shah Faesal.

Over 1,000 personal security guards and 100 vehicles provided to the secured persons are being withdrawn, an official said.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The Digital Communications Commission, an inter-ministerial panel of DoT, on Thursday discussed the revival proposals of two of its struggling PSUs - BSNL and MTNL - where the department proposed issue of 10-year bonds to fund their VRS plans and that their huge land assets be monetised through leasing to reduce their rising debts.

The revival of MTNL and BSNL was also discussed at the meeting.

Both the organisations face the biggest common hurdle of a very large legacy of staff which has been given by DoT to them. So, restructuring would be essential for revival being planned, official sources said.

No decision has, however, been taken on BSNL-MTNL revival plans discussed in the meeting.

Informed sources said: "What was impressed upon the DCC was that DoT believes that telecom is a strategic sector and therefore the government's presence in this sector is desirable and these are organisations with considerable strength, capabilities and strong asset base."

BSNL had given two proposals -- VRS and land monetisation. BSNL has 1.76 lakh employees while MTNL has 22 lakh employees. In both, the majority of them are above the age of 50.

Three issues were raised in the package of MTNL -- VRS, refund of Broadband Wireless spectrum (BWA) interest and land monetisation.

In the case of MTNL, the sources said it was estimated that over the next five years, about 16,000 employees will retire. So with VRS, their exits will be accelerated a bit and that the task of bringing back the company to health becomes faster.

For BSNL, it is expected that 75,000 employees could possibly retire in natural course and it might also help the organisation, where the wage bill is 60 per cent, come back to a sound financial position. In case of MTNL, the HR bill is 85-90 per cent of the revenue.

The VRS estimates are Rs 2,120 crore for MTNL and Rs 6,365 crore for BSNL and both these are proposed to be funded through bonds over a 10-year period to minimize cost pressure on the government, the sources added, while stating that with mass retirements coming, the pension obligations of the government will also go up to some extent.

"The restructuring would address two main issues. The first core issue is for the employees and a VRS package in line with the Gujarat model which the organisations believe will be quite attractive and may find 50 per cent takers and the second step would address the issue of huge debt which both BSNL and MTNL carry.

"MTNL has a debt of Rs 20,000 crore and BSNL Rs 15,000 crore. In order to ensure that the outgo to the government is minimum and there is least cost implication, it has been proposed by the DoT (to DDC) that the VRS and MTNL's BWA interests be funded through a 10-year term bond issue. Secondly, the debt be completely financed through lease of land. The model adopted for reducing the debt is land monetisation through lease because they have substantive assets," the sources said.

MTNL has sought refund of interest on a loan it had taken earlier to acquire the BWA spectrum.

The DCC suggested that the lease proposal of these PSUs are handled through the mechanism of DIPAM or the department of disinvestment which has an institutional set up to do it across ministries.

The sources said that fresh investment had been sought in the form of 4G spectrum wherein BSNL has sought half of it through equity. The total cost of spectrum is Rs 14,000 crore and they have sought Rs 7,000 crore infused as equity and MTNL wants it through preferential rights issue.

One of the demands of BSNL and MTNL -- 4G spectrum allocation -- has already been delinked and the DCC had last time decided to refer it to the TRAI on the issue of allocation of administrative spectrum, price and quantum of 4G spectrum.

These were the facts that the DCC was not able to get into a detailed discussion due to the lack of time and there will be a follow-on meeting soon.

Members have asked for some more details on each of these revival plans and when these companies will return to health. Also, the DoT and these two companies were asked to come back to the DCC with how exactly they will achieve higher revenues, said the sources.

BSNL had a loss of Rs 4,800 crore for 2017-18 and MTNL Rs 900 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : A five-day exhibition of crafts by 500 artisans from across the country will commemorate Kasturba Gandhis 75th death anniversary (which falls on Friday), along with Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary year.

The exhibition named 'Ba, Bapu evam Shilpkala Utsav' will run from February 22 to 26 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here.

The showcasing artisans have been selected from a pool of over 10,000 artisans who participated in a pan-India programme 'Hunar Khoj Yatra' that started on October 2, 2018 from Rajghat.

The Yatra was an initiative to identify and acknowledge craft traditions and artisan communities that had not been acknowledged so far, IGNCA Janapada Sampada Division head Molly Kaushal told IANS.

There would be knife-makers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, weed mat-makers, folk painters and handloom artisans, among others who will be displaying utility, ritual and decorative crafts at 'Hunar Haat' organised at the event.

The cultural festival seeks to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of self sufficient villages, and is organised in partnership with Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra, a non-governmental organisation which train artisans and promotes handicrafts made out of bamboo.

The exhibition will be inaugurated with a classical dance performance 'Natya Katha: Kahani Kasturba Ki' by Padma Vibushan recipient and Rajya Sabha member Sonal Mansingh on Friday at the Ambedkar International Centre here.

Entry is free for the public.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : A Delhi Court on Thursday adjourned to March 7 a case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, accused of abetting suicide of Sunanda Pushkar, his wife.

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj adjourned the hearing after Delhi Police sought more time to prepare its argument on the issue of framing of charges against the parliamentarian.

Tharoor's lawyer Vikas Pahwa told the court there are some discrepancies in documents provided by the police in the case.

Meanwhile, Tharoor moved an application seeking to travel to Bahrain and Qatar. The court said it will hear the Congress leader's plea seeking permission for foreign visit on Friday.

On May 14, 2018, police submitted the charge sheet against Tharoor under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to abetment of suicide and cruelty to wife.

Pushkar, 51, died under mysterious circumstances at a hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that Tharoor was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.
Jammu, Feb 21 : Trade across the Line of Control (LoC) between the divided Kashmir resumed on Thursday after two days of suspension.

Officials at the Chakan Da Bagh trade facilitation centre in Poonch district said 35 trucks carrying goods from the Indian administered part of Kashmir left for Rawalakote in Pakistan in the Pakistani-administered part of the state.

Officials said the trucks carrying goods have also left Rawalakote from Pakistan for Chakan Da Bagh.

Cross-LoC trade remained suspended for two days because of curfew in Jammu city as no goods carrying vehicles could move of Jammu to Poonch during this period.

The trade across the LoC was started in 2005 as a major confidence building measure between India and Pakistan.
Washington, Feb 21 : The US has imposed sanctions on an Indian national, based in the UAE, and his parents for their involvement in an alleged global smuggling network for heroin, opioids and other drugs.

The US Treasury Department in a statement on Wednesday called Jasmeet Hakimzada a "significant foreign narcotics trafficker" who since 2008 laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through a trading company in the United Arab Emirates.

The Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated two Indian nationals (his parents) and four entities registered in India or the UAE that form part of the narcotics trafficking organization run by Hakimzada.

"Jasmeet Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world," said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

"This action is a result of years of effort with our US and foreign partners to disrupt the activities of this significant narcotics trafficking organization," he added.

The OFAC called the man's father Harmohan Hakimzada as "his primary partner in the drug trafficking and money laundering operation", while mother Eljeet Kaur is an officer for two front companies in India. Hakimzada's parents also reside in the UAE.

According to the Department, Hakimzada ran a global drug trafficking network that smuggled heroin, cocaine, ephedrine, ketamine and synthetic opioids into the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

A US federal grand jury indicted Hakimzada in 2017 on 46 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Under the sanctions, all of Hakimzada's assets in the US are frozen and American citizens are barred from doing any business with him.
Bengaluru, Feb 21 : Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday flew in the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at the Aero India air show here and hailed the fighter.

"It was a wonderful experience flying the LCA. The avionics of the aircraft was very good. I could see the manner in which the pilot was accurately targeting in radar and other modes," Rawat told the media here.

The combat jet was piloted by Air Vice Marshal N. Tiwari while the Army chief was the co-pilot in the tandem-seater cockpit.

The aircraft, once added to Indian Air Force's (IAF) operational fleet, will be a strength, Gen Rawat said.

"The LCA is a wonderful aircraft. It will be a great addition to the fleet," he said.
Chennai, Feb 21 : Income Tax Department officials on Thursday searched 31 premises of four businessmen in Tamil Nadu for suspected tax evasion, said a senior official.

"The search operation is on," the official not wanting to be identified told IANS.

Searches are on at several places here and in Vellore and Villupuram districts.

The businessmen are involved in real estate, dairy and money lending businesses.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Opposition leaders will meet here on February 26 to deliberate on a common minimum programme (CMP) to be presented by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, a TDP leader said on Thursday.

This follows a meeting of opposition leaders here on February 13 where they decided to have a pre-poll pact and a common agenda to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

A senior TDP leader requesting anonymity told IANS that Gandhi, entrusted with the task of preparing the CMP, will present a copy to the opposition leaders.

"The CMP will be finalised after taking suggestions from leaders of all parties," the TDP source said.

On February 13, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi met at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : The government on Thursday approved air travel to paramilitary forces between Jammu and Srinagar in the wake of the suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF troopers on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The decision was conveyed to the chiefs of various paramilitary forces including the BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB by the Home Ministry and has come into immediate effect, according to a letter made public on Thursday.
Mumbai, Feb 21 : Reliance Communications (RCom) on Thursday said it has requested for an 'urgent approval' from the company's lenders to directly release around Rs 260 crore from its bank account to Ericsson.

The move comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed RCom to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson India within four weeks.

"Reliance Communications group has requested urgent approval from its lenders to release approximately Rs 260 crore received from Income Tax refunds, lying in its bank account, directly to Ericsson," an RCOM spokesperson said.

The company has already deposited Rs 118 crore with the Supreme Court.

RCOM further said that it "is confident of raising the balance approximately Rs 200 crore for payment to Ericsson, in order that the entire Rs 550 crore plus interest thereon stands paid to Ericsson well within the four weeks time allotted by the Supreme Court".
Washington, Feb 21 : President Donald Trump has said that an Alabama woman who left the US in November 2014 to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group will not be allowed to return despite her public plea to come back and stand trial in America.

Hoda Muthana was 20 when she left her home to marry an IS fighter in Syria. She had told her family she was going to a university event in Turkey. She now lives with her young son in a Syrian refuAgee camp.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!," Trump tweeted on Wednesday.

Pompeo had earlier said that Muthana was not an American citizen and will not be admitted, CNN reported.

"Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the US. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the US," he said in a statement.

The woman earlier married three IS fighters in Syria and called for the killing of Americans on Twitter.

In a series of interviews this week from northern Syria with her infant son, Muthana, now 24, expressed deep remorse.

"When I left to Syria I was a naive, angry, and arrogant young woman," she said in a handwritten statement provided to CNN by a representative. "To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."

She described herself as having been "brainwashed".

Trump recently told the UK and other European countries to take back and put on trial IS fighters captured in the final battle against the group. He warned that the alternative was that US-led Kurdish forces would have to release them.

Muthana's family lawyer, Hassan Shibly, said it was "preposterous" that Trump called European states to take back their citizens and now "was trying to play games when it came to American citizens".

"The Trump administration continues its attempts to wrongfully strip citizens of their citizenship," he told ABC News.

"Hoda Muthana had a valid US passport and is a citizen. She was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in October 1994, months after her father stopped being (a) diplomat," Shibly said, and later tweeted a picture of what he claimed was Muthana's birth certificate that appeared to confirm her place and date of birth.

The lawuer said that the woman's father, who had been in the US as a Yemeni diplomat, stepped down from his diplomatic role months before Muthana's birth.

Under the US law, Muthana would be a US citizen by nature of her birth in the country, though the State Department can argue that her claim to citizenship was flawed because of the immigration status of her parents at the time of her birth.
Jaipur, Feb 21 : The Rajasthan government has suspended two jail officials and acted against two others after a Pakistani prisoner was murdered by Indian inmates in the Jaipur Central Jail, officials said on Thursday.

The government has put Jail Superintendent Sanjay Yadav and Jailor Jagdish Sharma under Awaiting Posting Orders (APO) category and suspended two officials with immediate effect, Inspector General of Police Rupinder Singh said.

Rakesh Mohan Sharma has been appointed the new jail Superintendent.

Singh said that Vaidhyanath Sharma, in charge of cell number 10 where the Pakistani, Shakarulla, was lodged and murdered, has been suspended along with the warder of the cell, Ramswaroop.

Security has also been enhanced in other prisons in Rajasthan where Pakistanis are jailed, an official said.

The Pakistani prisoner was allegedly murdered by group of fellow prisoners on Wednesday after an argument over a TV programme, officials said.

The incident comes in wake of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the terror attack in Kashmir which left 40 CRPF troopers dead.
Panaji, Feb 21 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday cautioned Indian defence shipyards against constantly pleading with the government for equipment manufacturing contracts while urging them to look abroad for selling maritime battle ware.

Sitharaman was addressing a function at Goa Shipyard Limited in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from here, to launch an offshore patrol vessel.

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' call was not just aimed at manufacturing for local markets but also to promote India as a defence equipment manufacturing hub for a global market.

"There should definitely be an approach of competing globally. You have a market everywhere. There is immense interest in buying from India, such things like offshore patrol vessels, speedboats for guarding the borders," the Minister said.

"Many southeast Asian countries have requested and shown interest in wanting to purchase from India what otherwise they would have gone for a Western producer," she added.

She chided Goa Shipyard for constantly pleading with the Defence Ministry for manufacturing orders for the domestic market while also urging it to reach out to the global market.

"I want not just Goa Shipyard but also every public sector in the defence public sector undertakings to look at themselves as manufacturers of international class and not just depend on captive market which is the defence forces or the navy or the coast guard," Sitharaman said.

"We want many private entrepreneurs in the industry and investments to happen so that there is a healthy opening up. Private and public should together contribute to India's manufacturing sector," she added.
Chennai, Feb 21 : Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan on Thursday said his Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party will release the names of Lok Sabha candidates in phases and that youths will get preference.

Speaking to reporters here, Kamal Haasan said the candidates will be selected based on criterias like age, education and others.

Kamal Haasan also took a dig at other political parties. "Those who issued booklets about their policies and principles have forgotten that and are entering into electoral alliances."

Kamal Haasan hoisted the party's flag at the party headquarters to mark one year of its existence. The MNM has decided to go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls.
San Francisco, Feb 21 : Apple users will now be able to stay up to date on their favourite places right from the Google Maps app on iOS, the Internet giant has announced.

Users can search for a place - whether it's a new restaurant that just opened up in the neighbourhood or that must-try bakery across town - and tap the "Follow" button.

"You'll then be able to see important updates from these places in your 'For You' tab so you can quickly learn about upcoming events, offers and more," Andrew Cooper, Product Manager, Google Maps, wrote in a blog post late on Wednesday.

"And now, places and businesses all over the world can see their followers in the Google 'My Business' app, and actively post helpful information for their followers to see. The 'Follow' button starts rolling out on iOS today," Cooper added.

This Google Maps feature was initially rolled out for Android devices in October 2018.
Chicago, Feb 21 : Actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with filing a false case.

The Chicago Police on Wednesday reported that felony criminal charges had been approved against the "Empire" actor, who last month said that he was attacked by men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs and physically beat him, reports variety.com.

"Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote on Twitter.

According to the Cook County State's Attorney's office, Smollett is due to appear in court for a bond hearing on Thursday.

Following the charges, Smollett's lawyers issued a statement saying they would defend the charge.

"Like any other citizen, Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," it read.
United Nations, Feb 21 : Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for bringing the perpetrators of the terrorist attack that killed 40 Indian security personnel in Kashmir swiftly to justice a day after meeting Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi.

His spokesperson Stephane Dujarric issued on Wednesday a stern statement: "It is essential that there be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice."

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday made a similar appeal to bring those responsible for the attack in Pulwama to justice.

They did not say to whom their call for prosecutions was addressed or mention Pakistan, but their broad statements appear to include action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has taken responsibility for the attack and is based in and protected by Pakistan.

Dujarric said that Guterres also made an urgent appeal to "India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.

"It is the belief of the Secretary-General that all difficult challenges can be resolved peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement," he added.

Asked at his briefing if Guterres would take on the task of mediating through good offices, Dujarric said: "As we said yesterday, both parties need to request it."

While Pakistan has asked for his - as well as others' - intervention, India has rejected the involvement of third parties in the dispute with its neighbour because both countries had agreed that Kashmir was a bilateral affair.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Agartala, Feb 21 : With the customary speech of the Governor, the week-long Budget Session of the Tripura Assembly will begin from Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath said here on Thursday.

State Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki would address the session on the opening day, the Minister told IANS.

"Deputy Chief Minister (also Finance Minister) Jishnu Dev Varma will lay the budget for the upcoming fiscal 2019-20 on the second day of the session on Monday," said Nath, who also holds the Law, Education and Other Backward Communities portfolio.

He said several important bills were likely to be submitted during the session, which would continue till March 1.

Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist legislators were expected to raise the issue of "political violence, government jobs and crisis of school teachers".

"A severe crisis of food and rural jobs is putting the people in the rural, interior and tribal areas in a harsh distress condition while the state government remains inactive and busy with other non-serious issues," Deputy Opposition Leader Badal Choudhury said.

"Our legislature party will meet here on Thursday evening to decide the strategies for the upcoming session," he told IANS.

This is the third session of the Tripura Assembly after the Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (BJP-IPFT) alliance came to power on March 9. The alliance trounced the CPI-M-led Left Front government in the February 2018 polls after two decades of rule.
New York, Feb 21 : Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has reiterated his nation's commitment to a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region and to democracy.

During his meeting with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Washington on Wednesday, Shahid underscored "the importance of his government's reform efforts to (ensure) the vitality of Maldives' democracy," the deparment's Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said.

The two leaders spoke of their "common interest in deepening bilateral ties between the US and Maldives, and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region", his statement added.

Pompeo appreciated the Maldives' commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said.

Their statements on democracy and rule of law were a boost to the Indian Ocean nation's fragile democracy.

Maldives had fought back a challenge to its democracy in September 2018 when the opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assumed the presidency after defeating President Abdulla Yameen, who had declared a state of emergency and arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed when the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of nine opposition leaders, including former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The US-Maldives declaration of commitment to free and open Indo-Pacific region has added significance because of the China factor.

Yameen, who had moved closer to China and Pakistan, sent emissaries seeking support from them after the emergency declaration that India and the US criticised.

China sent warships to the Indian Ocean region near the Maldives after the emergency was proclaimed in February last year.

Beijing is also a major investor and aid-giver to the Maldives.

Palladino said that Pompeo undertook to work with the Congress to provide $9.75 million in additional aid to Maldives.

David J. Ranz, the deputy assistant secretary for Central and South Asian affairs, announced in December an aid package for Maldives comprising $7 million in military aid for maritime security and $3 million for supporting civil society and environmental programmes.

According to Maldives Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer the country owes $1.4 billion to China.

The US State Department said that the Treasury Department would help the Maldives government with developing a debt strategy and with domestic debt management.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Dhaka, Feb 21 : At least 45 people have been killed and scores injured in a fire that ripped through a building in Bangladesh' Dhaka on Wednesday night, said local media the Daily Star.

The fire broke out around 10:00 p.m. at a chemical warehouse in old Dhaka. The flames then quickly spread to other buildings nearby, a fire service official was quoted as saying on Thursday, reports Xinhua.

The death toll in the fire could rise, warned the fire officials, who have been working throughout the night to douse the devastating fire.

Numerous people, including women and children, were also injured and admitted to nearby hospitals.
Xilinx's RFSoC portfolio is the only single-chip adaptable radio platform that is designed to address current and future industry requirements. The portfolio now includes:

Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen 2: Sampling now with production scheduled for June 2019 , this device meets regional deployment timelines in Asia and supports 5G New Radio.





, this device meets regional deployment timelines in and supports 5G New Radio. Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen 3: Provides full sub-6GHz direct-RF support, extended millimeter wave interface, and up to 20 percent power reduction in the RF data converter subsystem compared to the base portfolio. The product will be available in 2H 2019.

The new products monolithically integrate higher-performance RF data converters that deliver the broad spectrum coverage required for the deployment of 5G wireless communications systems, cable access, advanced phased-array radar solutions and additional applications including test & measurement and satellite communications. By eliminating discrete components, the devices enable up to a 50 percent power and footprint reduction, making them ideal for the needs of telecommunications operators seeking to enable massive multiple-input, multiple-output base stations for their 5G systems.

"We are committed to helping our customers accelerate innovation, and are especially excited to drive the development of adaptable, intelligent 5G infrastructure with these new, higher performing additions to the Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC portfolio," said Liam Madden, executive vice president of hardware and systems product development, Xilinx. "Now with complete coverage of sub-6GHz spectrum bands, it will give our customers even more of a competitive advantage by allowing them to accelerate the design and development of next-gen systems today."

With pin-compatibility across the portfolio, customers can design and deploy their systems now using first-generation devices with a roadmap to Gen 2 and Gen 3 for greater performance. More information on Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoCs, including details of the ZCU111 Evaluation Kit, can be found at www.xilinx.com/rfsoc.

Mobile World Congress 2019

Xilinx will be showcasing its RFSoC portfolio along with other adaptable, intelligent 5G infrastructure demonstrations at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 25-28, 2019 in Hall 6, Stand 6M30.

Additionally, the company will join partners and customers on stage during the Power Hour sessions on Thursday, February 28 from 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CET. The Xilinx hosted sessions will be held in Hall 8.0  NEXTech Theatre D.

More information on Xilinx's presence at Mobile World Congress can be found here.

About Xilinx

Xilinx develops highly flexible and adaptive processing platforms that enable rapid innovation across a variety of technologies  from the endpoint to the edge to the cloud. Xilinx is the inventor of the FPGA, hardware programmable SoCs and the ACAP, designed to deliver the most dynamic processor technology in the industry and enable the adaptable, intelligent and connected world of the future. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

 Copyright 2019 Xilinx, Inc. Xilinx, the Xilinx logo and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other countries.

PR Contact:

Tara Sims

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NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vitech, a leading provider of administrative software solutions, announced today that it will be exhibiting at the 2019 SuperReturn International Conference, taking place in Berlin, Germany from February 26th through March 1st.

Vitech will be exhibiting V3, its alternative investment administration solution. V3 helps investment organizations streamline operations, expand capabilities, and deliver higher levels of customer service.

"We are excited to be back in Berlin at SuperReturn International," said Hope Nawada, Vitech's Director of Investment Solutions. "We look forward to meeting with attendees to discuss how V3 can transform their operations and support their success in an evolving marketplace."

About Vitech and V3

Vitech Systems Group, Inc. is a leading provider of administration software to investment, insurance and retirement organizations. Vitech provides its clients with proprietary enterprise software, related implementation services and ongoing support. For more information, please visit http://www.vitechinc.com.

V3 is a highly scalable, configurable administrative platform that addresses the complex needs of investment, insurance and retirement organizations. It is an award winning, contemporary technology solution available for both on-premise or cloud-based deployments.

SOURCE Vitech

Related Links

http://www.vitechinc.com


NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The following event roundup from Virtual Press Office is a list of featured exhibitors for MWC Barcelona 2019, the largest mobile event in the world, bringing together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology, which takes place from February 25  28 at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain.

MWC Barcelona 2019 press kits, news releases and photos are available on Virtual Press Office's dedicated news page for the event, managed by Virtual Press Office/Cision PR Newswire: http://mwc.vporoom.com/

MWC Barcelona 2019 press kits on Virtual Press Office

Anokiwave

Press Kit: mwc.vporoom.com/Anokiwave

Pioneering the mmW revolution, we are a fabless semiconductor company providing highly integrated silicon core IC solutions and silicon front ends for mmW markets.

Our products include mmW Si core ICs, Active Antenna ICs, and mmW Front End ICs. We place all requisite functions for Active Antennas on small silicon ICs within the radiating element lattice of the Active Antenna, enabling low-profile planar solutions for commercial 5G, RADAR, and SATCOM markets.

mmW Si Core ICs

Active Antenna ASICs

mmW Front End ICs

G+D Mobile Security, Inc.

Hall 7 Stand 7A41

Press Kit: mwc.vporoom.com/gi-de

G+D Mobile Security is a global mobile security technology company headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company is part of the Giesecke+Devrient group. G+D Mobile Security has a workforce of 5,700 employees and generated sales of approximately EUR 812 m in the 2017 fiscal year. More than 40 sales and partner offices as well as 20+ certified production and personalization sites and data centers ensure customer proximity worldwide.

G+D Mobile Security manages and secures billions of digital identities throughout their entire life cycle. Our products and solutions are used by commercial banks, mobile network operators, car and mobile device manufacturers, business enterprises, transit authorities and health insurances and their customers every day to secure payment, communication and device-to-device interaction. For more information, please visit: gi-de.com/mobile-security.

IDEMIA

Hall 6 Stand 6H30

Press Kit: mwc.vporoom.com/IDEMIA

IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity, has the ambition to provide a trusted environment enabling citizens and consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities (such as pay, connect, travel and vote), in the physical as well as digital space. Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, an identity that ensures privacy and trust and guarantees secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect one of our greatest assets  our identity  whether for individuals or for objects, whenever and wherever security matters. idemia.com

Parallel Wireless

Hall 5 Stand 5I5

Press Kit: mwc.vporoom.com/ParallelWireless

Parallel Wireless is on a mission to connect the 4 billion unconnected people worldwide by reimagining the cellular network. We empower global Service Providers to be profitable despite margin pressure  through the world's first ALL G software that consolidates and abstracts RAN and core network functions and fully orchestrates networks resulting in network programmability, agility, future proof and optimal network performance for all use cases: low density/high density, in-building coverage or public safety 4G (LTE). The only US-based end-to-end telecom vendor is deployed on six continents and was nominated by Vodafone at the Facebook TIP Summit as the best performing vendor. Parallel Wireless' innovation and excellence has been recognized with 55+ industry awards. Connect with Parallel Wireless on LinkedIn and Twitter. For more information, please visit parallelwireless.com.



SK Telecom

Hall 3 Stand 3H10

Press Kit: mwc.vporoom.com/SKTelecom

For more information, visit sktelecom.com/en.

The above press kits will continue to be updated throughout the show. Please check back during MWC Barcelona 2019 for the latest news.

Virtual Press Office (http://www.vporoom.com/) is a Cision PR Newswire company. Follow us on Twitter @VPOEventZone or subscribe to our RSS feed for more trade show news. If you have questions about Virtual Press Office services, or if you would like to offer feedback on this exhibitor profile roundup, please email [email protected].

SOURCE Virtual Press Office
By early 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had finalized an extensive set of rules for the management and disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) in landfills and ash basins that are frequently located adjacent to coal-fired power facilities. In response to the rule, Ameren Missouri decided to move aggressively to implement a program that would exceed deadlines for compliance and incorporate a range of strategies to benefit the environment. Ameren's program includes increasing beneficial reuse of coal ash produced at Ameren facilities, ash basin closures, water safety assessments and significant reductions in water usage for power production.

Burns & McDonnell was brought on board to assist with the first ash basin closure at the Meramec Energy Center, an 923-megawatt (MW) coal and natural gas-fired facility located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Meramec rivers in St. Louis County. The plant had been solely coal-fired until 2016, when two of its four units were switched to natural gas. The project was to close two ash basins totaling more than 30 acres located on the power plant site.

The $8 million project was more than a simple closure. It required an intensive review of federal and state regulatory requirements for storage and disposal of coal combustion residuals as well as Missouri's solid waste regulations and rules for stormwater management and wastewater treatment and discharge. These reviews were vital to ensure the facility remain in compliance during all phases of construction and afterward when the basin closure was complete.

Though the smaller of the two basins was closed with a conventional cover system, the project team wanted to evaluate other options for a final system at the larger basin. A review looked at three alternatives  two of which incorporated a synthetic turf cover system with lower geomembrane component. A third system  the one selected  consisted of a composite high-density polyethylene (HDPE) flexible geomembrane material, a geocomposite drainage layer, 18-inch soil layer, and a 6-inch erosion control layer that accommodates plant growth. This system was judged to be most effective and also yielded a construction cost savings of $2 million, plus another projected $1 million in operational savings over a 30-year life cycle.

"Ameren takes environmental stewardship seriously because it's the right thing to do," says Steve Nalefski, vice president and general manager of the Environmental Services Group at Burns & McDonnell. "We were proud to play a role in helping Ameren establish a leadership position as the power industry navigates toward compliance with these very complicated rules for disposal and mitigation of coal ash basins. This project now serves as a model that is being used by Ameren to close ash basins across its generation fleet while reducing long-term water usage by approximately 11 billion gallons a year."

New Vision for Buck O'Neil Bridge and Downtown Kansas City Earns Grand Award

By 2016, annual inspections had made it clear that the Buck O'Neil Bridge, connecting downtown Kansas City with the metro's northern suburbs, had numerous structural deficiencies that were too urgent to ignore. But instead of proceeding with a conventional bridge rehabilitation, the City of Kansas City, Mo., and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) decided to take a pause to do a comprehensive study that would look at a full range of issues that would yield a new vision of how a future bridge could correct longstanding deficiencies and help continue the economic resurgence of Kansas City's downtown.

MoDOT, the City and the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) joined together in consultation with local leaders in a unique partnership to complete the first planning and environmental linkages (PEL) study in the state of Missouri and the Kansas City region. This yielded a whole new vision for the future of the Buck O'Neil Bridge and the North Loop of Interstate 70 as it passes through Kansas City's downtown.

The North Loop of I-70 and Buck O'Neil Bridge were built to serve a different era and different kind of downtown. Constructed in the mid-1950s to enable efficient commuting to and from Kansas City's growing suburbs, the downtown loop cut through vibrant business districts and historic residential zones. The PEL study enabled a thoughtful conversation about how the 28 acres currently dedicated to the I-70 North Loop could be repurposed and contribute to the city's continued economic momentum.

The study has gained national attention because it was one of the first to examine the effects of autonomous and connected vehicles (AV/CV) on future regional travel times and patterns. Modeling showed that if 20 percent of vehicles were AV/CV by the year 2040, there would be a nearly 200 percent increase in projected capacity and a 20 percent reduction in travel times.

Analysis based on feedback from thousands of area stakeholders resulted in support for four alternatives for highway interconnections coming off the bridge and separating traffic destined for downtown. None of the alternatives would expand the interstate and all explore opportunities for new development and urban redesign in the context of public input and environmental needs.

"This study has gained the attention of transportation authorities around the country because it recognizes we need new approaches to upgrade our roads and bridges in today's era of limited funding," says Ben Biller, vice president and general manager of the Transportation Group at Burns & McDonnell. "We're very proud to have been recognized for our role in a process that will be the foundation for one of the most important infrastructure projects in Kansas City in many years to come."

For photos and support materials, please visit our MEDIA KIT.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of 7,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune's 2019 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com .

Contact: Mary Young, Burns & McDonnell

816-822-4369

[email protected]

SOURCE Burns & McDonnell

Related Links

http://www.burnsmcd.com


PLANTATION, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TradeStation Securities, Inc. ("TradeStation"), a Monex Group company and award-winning* online broker-dealer and futures commission merchant, will host Futures Stars 2019, a one-day commodity futures trading event on March 8, 2019. The event, which is open to TradeStation clients as well as non-clients, will be held at TradeStation headquarters in Plantation and will feature six professional futures traders sharing their knowledge and insights.

Key learning points will include: (1) understanding how commodity futures products can become another asset class in a traders' portfolio; (2) finding trading opportunities during the regular and evening trading sessions; and (3) managing risk while trying to maximize returns. The event will provide valuable information for all levels of commodity futures traders.

"With an impressive lineup of commodity futures traders and educators, Futures Stars 2019 can be a valuable learning experience for all attendees," said John Bartleman, President of TradeStation Group, Inc. "We invite TradeStation clients as well as non-clients to join us and learn how to jump-start their commodity futures trading."

The event's guest speakers include: IReallyTrade founder Larry Williams; LBR Group, Inc. President Linda Bradford Raschke; Futures Radio Show host Anthony Crudele; Simpler Futures Managing Director Raghee Horner; Signal Trading Group founder David Stendahl; and CME Group's Craig Bewick. Michael Burke, TradeStation's Vice President of Client Training and Education, will host the event and share his custom commodity futures trading tools.

For those who cannot attend Futures Stars 2019 in person, TradeStation will live-stream the event, enabling you to join us throughout the day from any location on any device. You'll also get exclusive access to the archived recordings after the event.

For more information and to register, visit https://www.tradestation.com/promo/futures-stars/.

To speak with an account executive to learn more about TradeStation or to open an account, call 1.800.808.9336 or visit TradeStation.com.

About TradeStation Securities, Inc.

TradeStation Securities, Inc. (Member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC, NSCC, DTC, OCC & CME), a wholly owned subsidiary of TradeStation Group, Inc., is a licensed securities broker-dealer and a registered futures commission merchant (FCM), and a member of major stock, options and futures exchanges in the United States.

* Visit TradeStation.com/Awards for more information.

SOURCE TradeStation Securities, Inc.

Related Links

http://TradeStation.com


The forum will kick off with a seminar on accurate asset valuations and their crucial role in improving inventory turns and profitability. The session will include an in-depth look at FleetEvaluator, a proprietary asset valuation software that leverages a massive store of asset and market data to generate real-time values for agriculture equipment, as well as construction equipment, trucks, and trailers. Attendees will also participate in roundtable discussions, collaborative breakout sessions, and one-on-one consultations. The dealer forum will end with a presentation on e-commerce technology and its integration into the current used agriculture equipment landscape where buyers are using it to purchase parts, attachments, and equipment online.

The forum will also provide ag equipment dealers with networking opportunities and information about the user-friendly, industry-specific products from Sandhills, including new specialty and niche equipment trade websites that facilitate targeted, high-ROI exposure to sell more equipment.

"Agriculture dealerships, manufacturers, and auctioneers are looking for innovative ways to improve sales," says TractorHouse's Nate Meiergerd. "The upcoming forum is an opportunity to gain crucial insights into the industry's latest tools and technology to gain a leg up on competitors in the year ahead."

For more information or to register to attend the upcoming forum, contact Sandhills directly.

About Sandhills Publishing

Sandhills Publishing is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications, websites, and online services that connect buyers and sellers across the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Publishingwe are the cloud.

Contact Sandhills:

120 West Harvest Drive

Lincoln, NE 68521

www.Sandhills.com

[email protected]

(402) 479-2181

SOURCE TractorHouse
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation today launched the Enabling Linux in Safety Applications (ELISA) open source project to create a shared set of tools and processes to help companies build and certify Linux-based safety-critical applications and systems whose failure could result in loss of human life, significant property damage or environmental damage. Building off the work being done by SIL2LinuxMP project and Real-Time Linux project , ELISA will make it easier for companies to build safety-critical systems such as robotic devices, medical devices, smart factories, transportation systems and autonomous driving using Linux. Founding members of ELISA include Arm, BMW Car IT GmbH, KUKA, Linutronix, and Toyota.

To be trusted, safety-critical systems must meet functional safety objectives for the overall safety of the system, including how it responds to actions such as user errors, hardware failures and environmental changes. Companies must demonstrate that their software meets strict demands for reliability, quality assurance, risk management, development process, and documentation. Because there is no clear method for certifying Linux, it can be difficult for a company to demonstrate that their Linux-based system meets these safety objectives.

"All major industries, including energy, medical and automotive, want to use Linux for safety-critical applications because it can enable them to bring products to market faster and reduce the risk of critical design errors. The challenge has been the lack of the clear documentation and tools needed to demonstrate that a Linux-based system meets the necessary safety requirements for certification," said Kate Stewart, Senior Director of Strategic Programs at The Linux Foundation. "Past attempts at solving this have lacked the critical mass needed to establish a widely discussed and accepted methodology, but with the formation of ELISA, we will be able to leverage the infrastructure and support of the broader Linux Foundation community that is needed to make this initiative successful."

ELISA will work with certification authorities and standardization bodies in multiple industries to establish how Linux can be used as a component in safety-critical systems. The project will also define and maintain a common set of elements, processes and tools that can be incorporated into Linux-based, safety-critical systems amenable to safety certification.

Additional project goals include:

Develop reference documentation and use cases.

Educate the open source community on safety engineering best practices and educate the safety community on open source concepts.

Enable continuous feedback with the open source community to improve processes, and to automate quality assessment and assurance.

Support members with incident and hazard monitoring of critical components relevant to their systems and establish best practices for member response teams.

For more information about ELISA, visit elisa.tech .

Industry Support for ELISA

"The safe and effective performance of safety-related software is essential as we increasingly rely on programmable devices in our homes, workplaces and communities at-large. UL looks forward to the launch of ELISA and the opportunity it presents to more rapidly assess and validate  with confidence  the Linux component of safety systems."

- Tom Blewitt, VP & CTO, UL

"The Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) was founded more than 13 years ago to advance the use of GNU/Linux in industrial products by addressing the need for real-time capabilities and safety certification. Shortly after, we here at OSADL created the OSADL Safety Critical Linux Working Group for functional safety, which culminated in the SIL2LinuxMP project that laid some groundwork for using GNU/Linux in safety-related systems. We subsequently added legal support and many other services that are needed to successfully use Open Source software in industry to our portfolio. We still continue to foster real-time Linux, among other, as a Gold member of the Linux Foundation's Real-Time Linux project, and we are proud to see some of the efforts of the SIL2LinuxMP project continued at a larger scale in the ELISA project."

- Dr. Carsten Emde, General Manager, OSADL

"At Automotive Grade Linux, we are working closely with the Real-Time Linux project and the ELISA project in order to achieve functional safety certifications for automotive applications such as our instrument cluster, heads-up-display and ADAS solutions. By working closely with ELISA, this will help us provide automotive manufacturers with all of the testing artifacts and documentation they need to achieve safety certification for their AGL-based systems."

- Dan Cauchy, Executive Director of Automotive Grade Linux at the Linux Foundation

"Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) Project is committed to improving implementation of Linux-based civil infrastructure systems through industrial grade software and a universal operating system that is maintained for more than ten years. We work closely with several open source project such as Real-Time Linux, Linux Kernel LTS and KernelCI to achieve Long Term Support (LTS) and safety and security certifications. We support the ELISA Project and its efforts to build and certify Linux-based safety-critical applications on a broader scale."

- Urs Gleim, Governing Board Chair of the Civil Infrastructure Platform , hosted at the Linux Foundation

ELISA Founding Members

Founding members of ELISA include Arm, BMW Car IT GmbH, KUKA, Linutronix, and Toyota.

Arm

"Safety and trust are the highest priorities for the automotive industry as vehicles become more autonomous and Arm's Automotive Enhanced technologies are at the heart of systems powering these vehicles. The work the Linux Foundation is undertaking with the ELISA project complements Arm's functional safety leadership and continued commitment to software enablement."

- Lakshmi Mandyam, VP automotive, Automotive and IoT Line of Business, Arm

KUKA

"KUKA is looking forward to working with other Linux experts in order to define a series of methods and processes, with the goal of certifying Linux-based safety-critical systems."

- David Fuller, CTO, KUKA AG

Linutronix

"We are happy to see that the SIL2Linux work will continue and advance with the launch of ELISA and provide a clear focus for the use of Linux in safety critical applications. ELISA will help to establish Linux in the industrial control world deeper than ever before."

- Heinz Egger, CEO, Linutronix

Toyota

"Open source software has become a significant part of our technology strategy, and we want to help make it easier to use Linux-based applications. Toyota believes the ELISA project will support CASE use cases in an innovative way for the automotive industry."

- Mr. Masato Hashimoto, General Manager of E/E Architecture Development Div., Advanced R&D and Engineering Company, Toyota

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Inquiries

Emily Olin

The Linux Foundation

[email protected]

SOURCE The Linux Foundation

Related Links

http://www.linuxfoundation.org


PHOENIX, Md., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- It used to be that if you were a good physician, a profitable medical practice followed. But today, there is too much uncertainty. It takes solid business tactics to run a profitable and high-quality practice.

Seize Control! Change what you can within your organization.

The High-Performing Medical Practice: Workflow, Practice Finances, and Patient-Centric Care by Owen J. Dahl, MBA, LFACHE, CHBC

Thousands of physicians and administrators have learned re-engineering skills through Owen Dahl's consulting and books. In this new resource, The High-Performing Medical Practice: Workflow, Practice Finances, and Patient-Centric Care (in print or eBook), https://greenbranch.com/store/index.cfm/product/2394_32/the-high-performing-medical-practice-workflow-practice-finances-and-patient-centric-care.cfm, Dahl has translated these principles into an easy-to-use book, with plenty of examples of how you and your team can re-engineer a healthcare practice.

The quandary of how to increase workflow  identifying the bottlenecks

The optimum patient experience (new patient and established patient) and how your patients define quality care

Effectively use the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to gauge your practice health

Use patient surveys to increase efficiency and quality

The relationship between recruiting and keeping good staff

Why cost-cutting alone won't improve your bottom line, but an understanding of the costs is crucial.

How Lean Six Sigma can significantly improve your workflow

Benefits of tech  but why computerizing processes doesn't necessarily lower costs and increase quality

How the move towards value-based reimbursement will impact you

Healthcare practice finances, revenue cycle management and patient responsibility

This book is chock-full of healthcare practice "truths." It starts with an honest assessment and audit of the practice. From there, Owen Dahl covers the essential "needs," of most any healthcare practice today, along with the roadmap of how to apply sound business wisdom effectively to get the results you need.

Table of Contents

Introduction and The Value Star Concept

Chapter 1: An Honest Assessment of Your Healthcare Practice

Chapter 2: Patients: Customer Engagement, Surveys, and Patient-Focused Care

Chapter 3: The People Factor: Recruiting and Keeping Good Staff Members

Chapter 4: Partnering, Communication, and the Supply Chain

Chapter 5: Yes, Your Healthcare Practice is a Business

Chapter 6: Practice Efficiency, Lean Six Sigma, and Effectiveness

Chapter 7: Instill a Culture of a Learning Organization

Chapter 8: Healthcare Practice Finances, RCM (Revenue Cycle Management) and Patient Responsibility

Chapter 9: Benefits of Technology in Clinical Operations

Chapter 10: Your Practice Transition Roadmap

Chapter 11: The Opportunity for Practice Transformation

Chapter 12: The Culture of Your Healthcare Practice: Putting the Pieces Together

Chapter 13: Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) and Conclusion

Owen J. Dahl, MBA, LFACHE, CHBC, LSSMBB is a principal of Owen Dahl Consulting in The Woodlands, Texas and the Author of Think Business! Medical Practice Quality, Efficiency, Profits, 2nd Edition , a guide to applying business fundamentals to the practice of medicine. His second book is an eBook complete with templates: Medical Practice Disaster Planning Guide. He also is the contributing author of popular books Lean Six Sigma for the Medical Practice and Integration of Behavioral Health into Medical Homes: A Rapid Implementation Guide . A nationally-known speaker on strategic planning, Lean and Six Sigma, culture, human resource management and the revenue cycle, Owen is also an independent consultant with the Medical Group Management Association, MGMA.

About Greenbranch Publishing

Greenbranch Publishing, with headquarters in Phoenix, Maryland, is a privately held firm founded in 1998. The company is a leading media company and publisher of medical practice management, compliance and patient safety titles, in print and eBook, periodicals and webinars for physicians, practice administrators, and office practice managers. More information at (800) 933-3711 or at www.greenbranch.com.

Media Contact:

Nancy Collins

[email protected]

410-493-1799

SOURCE Greenbranch Publishing

Related Links

http://www.greenbranch.com


TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AACSB International (AACSB) announces that the Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana (A&M-Texarkana) has earned accreditation for its College of Business, Engineering and Technology. Founded in 1916, AACSB is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools, and the largest business education network connecting students, educators, and businesses worldwide.

"AACSB accreditation recognizes institutions that have demonstrated a focus on excellence in all areas, including teaching, research, curricula development, and student learning," said Stephanie M. Bryant, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. "We congratulate Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana and dean Gary Stading on earning accreditation, and applaud the entire A&M-Texarkana teamincluding the administration, faculty, staff, and studentsfor their roles in earning this respected honor."

Synonymous with the highest standards of quality, AACSB accreditation inspires new ways of thinking within business education globally and, as a result, has been earned by only 5 percent of the world's schools offering business degrees at the bachelor level or higher. Today, 836 institutions across 55 countries and territories maintain AACSB accreditation. Furthermore, 189 institutions maintain a supplemental AACSB accreditation for their accounting programs.

"We are thrilled that our business programs have earned accreditation through AACSB. It is an achievement that not all universities can claim, and a testament not only to the quality of our programs, but also to the faculty and leadership in our College of Business, Engineering, and Technology who have worked so hard to make this accreditation possible," said A&MTexarkana President Dr. Emily Cutrer.

AACSB accreditation provides a framework of 15 international standards against which business schools around the world assess the quality of their educational services. These standards ensure continuous improvement and provide focus for schools to deliver on their mission, innovate, and drive impact. AACSB-accredited schools have successfully undergone a rigorous review process conducted by their peers in the business education community, ensuring that they have the resources, credentials, and commitment needed to provide students with a first-rate, future-focused business education.

"The Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana's commitment to earning accreditation is a true reflection of their dedicationnot only to their students, alumni network, and greater business community, but to the higher education industry as a whole," said Bryant. "Today's students are tomorrow's business leaders, and the addition of A&M-Texarkana to the network of AACSB-accredited business schools will have a lasting positive impact for their institution, both locally and globally."

AACSB also announced that the Indian Institute of Management Indore, Lahore University of Management Sciences, the University of Agder, and the University of Macau have earned accreditation.

About AACSB International

As the world's largest business education alliance, AACSB International (AACSB) connects educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders. Synonymous with the highest standards of excellence since 1916, AACSB provides quality assurance, business education intelligence, and professional development services to almost 1,700 member organizations and over 800 accredited business schools worldwide. AACSB's mission is to foster engagement, accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education. The global organization has offices located in Tampa, Florida, USA; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Singapore. For more information, visit aacsb.edu.

SOURCE AACSB International

Related Links

http://www.aacsb.edu


AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (NYSE: INN) (the "Company") today announced that its 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held Thursday, May 16, 2019, beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. The meeting will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Austin  Downtown/Convention Center located at 200 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78701. The meeting is open to all shareholders of record as of March 15, 2019.

About Summit Hotel Properties

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust focused on owning premium-branded hotels with efficient operating models primarily in the upscale segment of the lodging industry. As of December 31, 2018, the Company's portfolio consisted of 77 hotels with a total of 11,659 guestrooms located in 26 states.

For additional information, please visit the Company's website, www.shpreit.com and follow the Company on Twitter at @SummitHotel_INN.

SOURCE Summit Hotel Properties, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.shpreit.com


Improvements planned in the first 90 days include upgraded perimeter fencing and gates with keypad access. The offices will be renovated and LED lighting installed throughout the facility. The locations will also receive new paint and paving repairs. With the transition, customers will gain access to StorageMart's 24/7 customer service and the tenant portal, allowing them to easily manage their account online.

"This acquisition represents a rare opportunity for us to acquire four of our direct competitors," said Alex Burnam, Real Estate Acquisitions and Development at StorageMart. "These additional facilities will serve to satisfy the demand for self storage in the Jackson County market, allowing us to continue providing best-in-class storage solutions for our customers throughout the area."

StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, MO and has grown to be the largest privately-owned, family operated storage company in the world. StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, who have been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean, and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home through their Store It Forward program. In 2018, the company donated more than $281,000 to charities, in addition to donating over $520,000 in free rent to charities throughout the US, UK and Canada. Find out more at http://www.storage-mart.com.

Contact: Sarah Little

573.449.0091

[email protected]

SOURCE StorageMart

Related Links

http://www.storage-mart.com


CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration is now open for The Chicago School of Professional Psychology's (TCSPP) Social Impact Awards Luncheon taking place on March 7 at 11:30 a.m. at Maggiano's Banquets. Launched to honor the outstanding work happening in the Chicago community by mental health professionals and advocates, the luncheon is in its second year and is one of many events The Chicago School has planned to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The Chicago School is a leading nonprofit, private university devoted exclusively to psychology, and related behavioral health sciences.

SHE radio host and mental health advocate Jay Styles will emcee the event honoring:

Dan Bigg , co-founder and director of Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA), whose mission is to directly serve, support, educate and advocate with others for reducing drug related harm. Named "Chicago Magazine's" 2017 Chicagoan of the Year, Mr. Bigg was co-developer of Mobile Opiate Substitution Therapy, a program designed to destigmatize methadone services and make them more accessible. Mr. Bigg passed away in 2018.

, co-founder and director of Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA), whose mission is to directly serve, support, educate and advocate with others for reducing drug related harm. Named "Chicago Magazine's" 2017 Chicagoan of the Year, Mr. Bigg was co-developer of Mobile Opiate Substitution Therapy, a program designed to destigmatize methadone services and make them more accessible. Mr. Bigg passed away in 2018. Armand R. Cerbone , Ph.D., ABPP, LGBTQ mental health advocate. In the late 1970s, Dr. Cerbone he was among the first openly gay psychotherapists to advocate and offer appropriate and affirmative care for LGBT clients. He is the founder of the Sexual Orientation Section of the Illinois Psychological Association.

, Ph.D., ABPP, LGBTQ mental health advocate. In the late 1970s, Dr. Cerbone he was among the first openly gay psychotherapists to advocate and offer appropriate and affirmative care for LGBT clients. He is the founder of the Sexual Orientation Section of the Illinois Psychological Association. Captain Jeffrey Coady , Psy.D., ABPP, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) Regional Director. Captain Coady represents the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use in fulfilling the agency's mission to reduce the impact of mental illness and substance use disorders in communities in the states of Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Minnesota , Ohio , Wisconsin and 34 Federally-recognized Tribes. Captain Coady is a TCSPP alum.

"We are thrilled to honor these courageous individuals who have been on the cutting edge of behavioral health issues that impact Chicago. These three remarkable individuals have led the way through innovation and advocacy. I am confident that many TCSPP students will follow in their footsteps and become leaders as well," said Margie Martyn, Ph.D., TCSPP Chicago Campus Dean.

All proceeds from the Social Impact Leaders Awards luncheon will go to scholarships for continuing students on The Chicago School's Chicago Campus, and the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education.

About The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Founded in 1979, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) is a nonprofit, private school devoted exclusively to psychology, and related behavioral health sciences. The Chicago School is an affiliate of TCS, a nonprofit system of colleges advancing student success and community impact. The institution serves approximately 4,300 students across campuses in Chicago; Southern California (Los Angeles, Irvine and San Diego); Washington, D.C., and Dallas, as well as through online programs. The Chicago School is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, (WSCUC), and its Clinical Psychology Doctoral Programs in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles are accredited by the American Psychological Association. With more than 20 graduate degree programs, thousands of hours of real-world training, and a wealth of international opportunities, TCSPP is the leader in professional psychology and behavioral health education. To learn more, visit www.thechicagoschool.edu.

Media Contact: Lisa Riley

312.410.8963

[email protected]

SOURCE The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Related Links

http://www.thechicagoschool.edu


ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- When Sleep Show opens March 8-10 in Houston, attendees at the George R. Brown Convention Center will get a glimpse of the bedroom of the future.

"People spend one third of their lives sleeping so we want to make sure they're aware of new ways to make their sleep better," said David Could, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. "Sleep Show is the premier and only destination to test the newest sleep solutions while learning about the latest research and trends in the industry. This event will help improve peoples' sleep for years to come."

The National Institutes of Health estimates that roughly 30 percent of the general population complains of sleep disruption. One innovative sleep solution is the sleep robot, which uses sounds to lull users to sleep while the machine's synchronized breathing allows for increased relaxation. Three lucky attendees will leave Sleep Show with their own Somnox robot.

Smart mattresses are among the newest innovations in sleep, using technology like pressure and temperature sensors to automatically respond to users' needs throughout the night. Some smart mattresses, like Eight Sleep's Pod, also integrate with other smart home devices making it possible to wake up each morning and ask, "Alexa, how did I sleep?"

Sleep Show will also feature a variety of educational talks and products focused on blue light reduction techniques. Studies have shown that blue light emanated by smart phones and tablets can have a disastrous impact on sleep, yet most Americans admit to using electronics a few nights a week within an hour before bedtime.

In addition to the latest technologies on the market, Sleep Show will feature the Author's Corner. Attendees will hear readings from sleep's best-selling books and meet their favorite authors, including the "Sleep Doctor" Dr. Michael Breus, Johns Hopkins sleep expert Dr. David N. Neubauer, pediatric sleep expert Dr. Harvey Karp, "The Sleep Whisperer" Dr. Chris Winter and Harvard's Chuck Czeisler.

For additional information visit www.sleepshow.org. For sponsorship or exhibitor information, please contact [email protected]. For national media registration or media-related questions, please contact Danielle Ruckert at [email protected]. If you're a local (Houston) member of the media, please contact Abby Linney at [email protected].

About the National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) is dedicated to improving health and well-being through sleep education and advocacy. Founded in 1990, the NSF is committed to advancing excellence in sleep health theory, research and practice. www.sleepfoundation.org  www.sleep.org  www.sleepshow.org

Contact:



Danielle Ruckert

RH Strategic for the National Sleep Foundation

[email protected]

206-607-1311

SOURCE National Sleep Foundation

Related Links

http://www.sleepfoundation.org


COLUMBIA, S.C. and WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the solar industry commended the South Carolina House of Representatives for unanimously passing a landmark energy bill, The Energy Freedom Act, on a bipartisan vote, and urged the Senate to quickly follow suit.

The Energy Freedom Act would modernize the state's energy market, enabling all energy sources to compete on fair terms, and provide customers more choice over their energy. This will help South Carolina consumers lower what are currently some of the highest home energy bills in the U.S., expand solar deployment, and protect and grow the state's solar workforce by creating thousands of new jobs.

"The South Carolina House has shown tremendous leadership in passing this much-needed legislation to lower consumers' electric bills and create new local jobs," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). "Now, it's up to the Senate to quickly follow suit before the state's burgeoning solar market gets stalled because of unnecessary red tape."

In South Carolina, rooftop solar caps are expected to be hit across the state in mid-March and utility-scale solar projects continue to have issues getting connected to the grid. This compromise legislation was developed with significant input from local solar companies, utilities, nonprofits and business stakeholders from all parts of the state.

"We are running out of time. The arbitrary cap on solar energy in South Carolina is rapidly approaching and could severely damage the state's free market energy economy," said Matt Moore, Chairman of the Palmetto Conservative Solar Coalition and former Chair of the South Carolina Republican Party. "This legislation passed the House with near unanimous support and we need the momentum to continue building in the Senate. Thousands of solar jobs and individual energy freedom are at stake."

"The South Carolina Solar Business Alliance (SCSBA) is pleased that this compromise legislation has cleared its first hurdles and is on its way to the Senate," said Steffanie Dohn, SCSBA's Director of Legislative Affairs. "This legislation is a product of weeks of give and take by utilities, the solar industry, legislators and multiple clean energy advocates. In the spirit of compromise, all stakeholders were able to put South Carolinians first by giving them the freedom to choose how they get their energy, lower costs and open up economic opportunities for businesses and residents throughout the state."

If approved, this legislation (House Bill 3659 and Senate Bill 332) would:

Require the Public Service Commission to initiate a new proceeding to review and approve rates and terms provided to large-scale solar facilities, streamlining the process and ensuring contract terms are reasonable for such projects;

Allow large energy consumers, such as industrial manufacturers, to negotiate directly with a renewable energy supplier to more easily realize savings from solar;

Eliminate the net metering caps and extend the existing residential solar rates for two years until the Public Service Commission determines a successor program;

Provide for more transparency and competition in long-term utility generation planning; and

Establish a neighborhood community solar program designed to expand solar access to low-income customers.

South Carolina currently has 2,983 solar jobs, according to a new report released last week by The Solar Foundation. It is the 18th biggest solar state in the nation with 616 megawatts of solar capacity installed. This bill is critical to continuing that growth so South Carolinians can have more well-paying job opportunities across the state.

More detail about the bill is available at https://www.seia.org/sites/default/files/SC-LCICompromise-Overview.pdf

SOURCE Solar Energy Industries Association

Related Links

http://www.seia.org


PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Risk Management Association is expanding its efforts in support of the community bank sector with the addition of Mark T. Burgoon, Community Bank Relationship Manager.

RMA created the new position of Community Bank Relationship Manager to ensure that such institutions nationwide can more readily access RMA services. RMA Relationship Managers like Burgoon prove valuable partners to financial institutions by suggesting the best products, training, and materials to help their professionals thrive in an increasingly challenging economic and regulatory landscape.

"Mark comes to RMA with extensive experience as a business developer handling both banking and investment products," said William G. Loftus, Director, Member Relations for RMA. "We are excited to have Mark's deep industry knowledge available as a resource to our community bank members."

The recent addition of Burgoon is part of numerous key personnel moves and investments in support of RMA's Vision 2020 effort to remain the authority on risk management in financial services through the strategic deployment of innovation, technology, and creativity.

To learn how Burgoon and RMA can benefit your institution, please contact Burgoon at (215) 446-4031 or [email protected], or visit the RMA website.

About RMA

Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 2,500 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,000 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia/Pacific.

SOURCE The Risk Management Association
WATERLOO, ON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Intellijoint Surgical, a Canadian-held company developing and commercializing smart navigation for total joint replacements, is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Alexiades, MD, to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Alexiades is an orthopaedic surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City - the number one American hospital for orthopedics nine years in a row ranked by the US News & World Report. Dr. Alexiades will play an active role in clinical research and surgeon education while guiding the development of an expanded product portfolio bringing Intellijoint Surgical's core technology to more surgical applications.

"Intellijoint Surgical is a true innovator in orthopaedic navigation," commented Dr. Alexiades following his appointment. "As a high volume orthopedic surgeon, their flagship product  Intellijoint HIP  enhances my accuracy during total hip arthroplasty (THA). It doesn't slow me down and it is cost-effective for our hospital. I am excited to join the advisory team to further develop this technology and prove the benefits it has for patients."

Dr. Alexiades specializes in hip, knee, shoulder and elbow surgery including arthroscopic surgery, joint-sparing surgery and total joint replacement. He is a trailblazer in the mini-anterior approach to THA and an early adopter of the partial knee replacement. Dr. Alexiades has been in practice for 29 years, all of which have been at HSS. In the last two years, Dr. Alexiades has completed hundreds of THAs using Intellijoint HIP to deliver the best possible outcomes for his patients.

"Dr. Alexiades was an essential team member in the development of Intellijoint HIP for the anterior approach," explained Armen Bakirtzian, CEO & co-founder of Intellijoint Surgical. "His experience, knowledge and keen interest in developing technology to improve total joint replacement outcomes is an invaluable asset and I am so happy he is expanding his role by joining our SAB."

Outside his clinical work, Dr. Alexiades is active in New York's Finest Foundation, chairs the NYPD Article II Medical Board and is Chief Surgeon for the NY State Troopers Association. He is passionate about the education and training of residents and fellows, and is an examiner for the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, with responsibility for the education and certification of orthopedic surgeons.

Dr. Alexiades joins an esteemed group of orthopaedic surgeons on Intellijoint Surgical's SAB: Chairman, Dr. Allan Gross at Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, Ont.), and members: Dr. Wayne Paprosky at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, Ill.); Dr. Michael Bradley at South County Hospital (South Kingstown, R.I.); and Dr. Ran Schwarzkopf at NYU Langone's Hospital for Joint Diseases (New York, N.Y.).

About Intellijoint Surgical:

Intellijoint Surgical develops and commercializes surgical navigation solutions. Intellijoint's flagship product, Intellijoint HIP provides surgeons with real-time, intraoperative measurements to ensure proper size selection and positioning of orthopaedic implants during total hip replacements. Intellijoint is committed to improving patients' lives by providing every surgeon with effective, easy-to-use technology.

Intellijoint Surgical is the recipient of the North American Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology Leadership Award, the Futurpreneur Shopify True Grit Award and the Growing Strong Futurpreneur Award.

SOURCE Intellijoint Surgical Inc.

Related Links

https://www.intellijointsurgical.com/


SHANGHAI, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd. (Quectel), the global leading supplier of IoT modules, today announced its commercial 5G IoT modules featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G modem and their antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF Front-End (RFFE) and antenna elements from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. Compliant with 3GPP Release 15 specifications and capable of both 5G standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes of operation, Quectel's newly-launched 5G modules RG500Q/RG510Q and RM500Q/RM510Q are designed for enterprise and mobile broadband applications such as fixed wireless access, mobile hotspot devices, and public safety and surveillance applications.

Designed in LGA form factor, the RG500Q supports 5G NR sub-6GHz while the RG510Q supports both sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum bands. Both modules also support LTE Category 12 or above and embedded GNSS capabilities, and target Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North America regions. Designed in M.2 form factor, the RM500Q supports 5G NR sub-6GHz while the RM510Q supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum bands. Both modules also support LTE Category 22 connectivity with integrated GNSS and eSIM. RM500Q and RM510Q are ideal for globally deployed mobile devices including Always Connected PCs (ACPC), industrial PDAs and mobile gateways.

Quectel's RG500Q and RM500Q 5G sub-6GHz modules will be demonstrated at MWC19 Barcelona at Quectel's booth 5C11 and Qualcomm booth 3E10.

The full release is available on Quectel website: https://www.quectel.com/infocenter/news/459.htm

About Quectel Wireless Solutions

Quectel Wireless Solutions is the leading global supplier of 5G, LTE, LTE-A, LPWA, GSM/GPRS, UMTS/HSPA(+) and GNSS modules. As a professional IoT technology developer and cellular module supplier, Quectel is able to provide one-stop service for IoT cellular modules. Quectel products have been widely applied in IoT/M2M fields including smart payment, telematics and transport, smart energy, smart city, security, wireless gateway, industry, healthcare, agriculture and environment monitoring. For more information, visit Quectel's website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.

[email protected]

SOURCE Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd.

Related Links

https://www.quectel.com/


NEWARK, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTGX) today announced that Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide a corporate overview at the Leerink Partners 8th Annual Global Healthcare Conference in New York.

Presentation details:

Event: Leerink Partners 8th Annual Global Healthcare Conference

Date: Thursday, Feb. 28

Time: 9:00 a.m. EST

Location: Lotte New York Palace Hotel

A live and archived audio webcast of the presentation can be accessed by visiting the Investors page of the Protagonist Therapeutics website at http://investors.protagonist-inc.com.

About Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.

Protagonist Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that utilizes a proprietary technology platform to discover and develop novel peptide-based drugs to transform existing treatment paradigms for patients with significant unmet medical needs. PTG-300 is an injectable hepcidin mimetic for the potential treatment of anemia and iron overload related to rare blood diseases with an initial focus on beta thalassemia. PTG-200 is an oral peptide interleukin-23 receptor antagonist in development for the treatment of Crohn's disease. The company has entered into a worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech for the clinical development of PTG-200. PN-943 is an oral, gut-restricted alpha-4-beta-7 integrin antagonist peptide in development for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

Protagonist is headquartered in Newark, California, with pre-clinical and clinical staff in California and discovery operations in both California and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For further information, please visit http://www.protagonist-inc.com.

SOURCE Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.protagonist-inc.com


ANNVILLE, Pa., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- All three Pennsylvania Air National Guard (PAANG) wings, part of Pennsylvania's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), earned 2018 United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards signifying them as exceptional performers. The award spans a two-year period of wing performance.

All three wings have earned this prestigious Air Force award before, but this is the first time that the 111th Attack Wing in Horsham, the 171st Air Refueling Wing in Pittsburgh, and the 193rd Special Operations Wing in Middletown received the award the same year.

"We are extremely proud of how our three wings perform and it is nice to see that their outstanding accomplishments are recognized and honored at the highest level," said Brig. Gen. Michael J. Regan Jr., DMVA's deputy adjutant general-Air. "The men and women assigned to these wings play a key role in our nation's readiness and ability to keep us safe and preserve our freedom."

111th Attack Wing (ATKW), Horsham (Montgomery County)

The 111 ATKW primarily serves as a control center for the MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft. Flying over territory thousands of miles away, the aircraft can provide instantaneous information to combatant commanders, extended surveillance, battlefield reconnaissance and precision air strikes when needed. The wing also conducts defensive cyber protection.

Award citation highlights include the wing undergoing an unprecedented cyberspace mission conversion, including a major facility renovation, and still meeting operational capability for remotely piloted aircraft and cyberspace operations missions. Despite the changes, the wing still deployed 25 percent of its personnel in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

171st Air Refueling Wing (ARW), Pittsburgh (Allegheny County)

The primary mission of the 171 ARW is to provide in-flight refueling to Department of Defense and NATO aircraft and also support the homeland defense mission on a daily basis. The wing also transports cargo and passengers worldwide.

Award citation highlights include the 171st supporting more than 200 aircraft missions, issuing over 400,000 pounds of fuel and processing more than 40 short tons of cargo. Additionally, 311 wing members were recognized for their performance during the 2017 Nuclear Operational Readiness Inspection as well as the wing being lauded by the commander of Strategic Command for its near flawless execution of the mission during the exercise.

193rd Special Operations Wing (SOW), Middletown (Dauphin County)

The 193 SOW is home to the only airborne Military Information Support Operations broadcasting platform in the U.S. military. The unit assists civilian authorities during natural disaster or homeland security during peacetime and supports the Air Force Special Operations Command during wartime.

Award citation highlights include the wing successfully executing overseas contingency and domestic operations deployments while maintaining a high rate of readiness. The wing deployed 642 members across 27 nations. Wing members flew 386 combat missions and safely executed 3,000 broadcast hours.

Founded in 1747, the PNG is the third largest National Guard in the nation and is comprised of nearly 20,000 soldiers and airmen who reside in every county across the commonwealth. The PNG is part of the DMVA's dual mission, which also includes supporting Pennsylvania's nearly 800,000 veterans.

For more information about the DMVA, visit us online at www.dmva.pa.gov or follow us at www.facebook.com/padmva or www.twitter.com/padmva.

MEDIA CONTACT: Joseph Butera, 717-861-2178

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

Related Links

http://www.dmva.pa.gov


To download and read the full McGraw-Hill English Learners Report, visit: www.mheducation.com/ELreport.

According to the survey, a strong majority of educators (75 percent of teachers and 85 percent of administrators) are optimistic about ELs' ability to succeed academically. The majority also believe EL instruction contributes to their students' improved academic language performance and overall English proficiency. Furthermore, most educators surveyed expressed that EL instruction is funded sufficiently in their school or district, and that access to EL instructional resources has increased over the past five years.

However, survey results highlight gaps and areas where additional support may be needed. Many educators believe that social and emotional obstacles, such as having overcome trauma or insufficient language skills to communicate with other students, present the biggest hurdle to ELs success. Other prominent challenges called out by teachers include the lack of family and community support, and anxiety around the political climate. Overall, 69 percent of administrators and 65 percent of teachers reported that conversations about immigration impact their school/classroom environment, and noted that discussions around immigration were more prevalent than those about other social and political issues, including healthcare, climate change and gun violence.

"It's encouraging that educators feel EL instruction is translating into positive academic benefits for many ELs, but these survey findings also underscore the importance of social and emotional learning in schools," said Heath Morrison, President of McGraw-Hill's School Group. "As education professionals, we must continue to do everything we can to ensure that our students have the social and emotional support that they need, so that they can succeed academically and in life."

Educators Highlight Social and Emotional Learning as the Most Prominent Obstacle for ELs

According to the survey, educators see a clear link between ELs' social and emotional wellbeing, and their ability to succeed academically.

77 percent of teachers and 81 percent of administrators agreed that social and emotional learning challenges (trauma, inability to communicate with other students) presented a somewhat or extremely significant obstacle to effective EL instruction.

Both teachers (70 percent) and administrators (67 percent) identified lack of family and community support as the second biggest obstacle to effective EL instruction.

While teachers called out "anxiety surrounding the political climate" as the third most important obstacle to effective EL instruction (66 percent), administrators identified "student reluctance to participate" (60 percent).

69 percent of administrators and 65 percent of teachers reported that conversations about immigration affect their school/classroom environment, and noted that discussions around immigration were more prevalent than those about other social issues, including healthcare, climate change and gun violence.

Educators Generally Feel Equipped to Teach ELs

Survey findings indicate that despite gaps, a majority of educators believe their school or district provides sufficient ongoing professional development opportunities to hone their skills, which improves their ability to teach.

Seven out of 10 teachers agree that their school or district provides sufficient, ongoing professional development to support ELs' success, an increase from 55 percent in the 2017 iteration of this survey. Also, 76 percent agreed in 2018 that the training provided by their school or district improves their ability to teach English Learners.

Both teachers (51 percent) and administrators (55 percent) agreed that they have seen an increase in the EL resources made available to them over the past five years, indicating that EL instruction is becoming an increasing priority.

Still, gaps remain: A large number of administrators (46 percent) and teachers (36 percent) feel that they have not received enough EL training/professional development. Among both groups, almost one in four indicate that they do not feel confident applying the training/professional development they had received.

Adaptive Learning Tools and Interactive Approaches Are Most Effective for EL Instruction

Teachers and administrators reported that adaptive tools and interactive instructional approaches are most effective for EL instruction.

Teachers and administrators highlighted interactive classroom games and collaborative group work as the most effective approach to instruction.

Teachers and administrators alike find adaptive learning technologies to be the most effective resources for EL instruction.

Audio-visual resources were reported to be the most widely used classroom instructional tools, used by 77 percent of teachers and 76 percent of administrators, followed by adaptive learning technologies and free online educational resources.

"The results of this survey indicate that certain tools and approaches are considered more effective by educators, and that's valuable when looking at how we can help support EL students and their teachers," said Morrison. "As we work to support a growing population of EL students, we'll need to ensure teachers continue to have access to the resources they know to be most impactful, as well as the professional development that they need to thrive."

About the 2018 English Learners Report

McGraw-Hill Education's 2018 English Learners Report was administered by Morning Consult in December 2018 to more than 460 teachers and administrators in K-12 schools across the United States to examine their opinions regarding English Learner (EL) instruction. The study assesses EL instructional approaches and material preferences, as well as perceptions, challenges and opportunities. In this press release, results are for all respondents (teachers and administrators), unless specifically indicated as from teachers.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education is a learning science company that delivers personalized learning experiences that help students, parents, educators and professionals drive results. McGraw-Hill Education has offices across North America, India, China, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions available in more than 60 languages. Visit us at mheducation.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Contact:

Tyler Reed

McGraw-Hill Education

(646) 766-2951

[email protected]

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education

Related Links

http://www.mheducation.com


RICHMOND, Mass., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rivetz, an industry pioneer of embedded decentralized mobile security solutions, today released a special cybersecurity report entitled "Protecting Our Digital Selves", describing how we can protect our personal data  and thus, our digital selves  in a mobile-first world.

In a Rivetz-commissioned survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, Rivetz found that respondents were incredibly reliant on their smartphones: two-thirds of respondents were willing to allow a friend to borrow their car for 24 hours, but the same percentage were not willing to allow a friend to borrow their smartphone for the same amount of time.

If their smartphone was stolen, more than 90 percent of respondents said they would find it important or extremely important to prevent someone from accessing the content on their smartphone if they lost it.

Despite fears of losing their smartphones, younger generations were found to be much less concerned about protecting their data than other generations. Twice as many Gen Xers (66 percent) and Baby Boomers (62 percent) thought it was important that all of their IoT devices communicated with one another securely than Millennials (33 percent).

Beyond the personal data we exchange between our devices, perhaps the most sensitive data any of us has is financial; Millennials and Gen Zers were twice as likely (14 percent) to stay signed into online banking accounts than Gen Xers or Baby Boomers (7 percent).

With just a username and password, anyone can gain access to a person's online information from almost any device in the world. That seems small comfort to most respondents  71 percent of whom did not believe their data is secure if they sign in on a device they don't own.

"Our smartphones are an extension of ourselves," said Steven Sprague, CEO of Rivetz. "Our devices are so personal  they are our digital identity. It is paramount that we put users in control of their data by protecting their devices with simple and safe built-in solutions."

When asked whose responsibility it was to keep their data secure, a striking 91 percent believed the duty was their own. Given this reality, two-factor authentication (2FA) appears to be a viable solution for users to enable an extra layer of security and control over their own data.

2FA requires not only a username and password but also another piece of information unique to you  such as a security code sent to your mobile device via text or app. In fact, 92 percent of respondents felt 2FA kept their data more secure. The same percentage (92 percent) also believe it is worth, it in the long run, to take a little longer to log into their accounts to avoid data breaches in the future.

When asked what types of accounts on which they would enable 2FA, 91 percent chose bank accounts, 53 percent chose health records, 49 percent chose email and 39 percent chose social media. Twice as many Gen Zers would use 2FA for cryptocurrency exchanges, compared to Baby Boomers or older (22 percent).

Rivetz's best-in-class security solutions hinge upon access to the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), which is an isolated, measured computer environment separate from the operating system already built into millions of mobile devices. By provisioning all digital transactions through the TEE, Rivetz assures that users' private keys cannot be altered or stolen if the operating system were tampered with or infected by malware.

About Rivetz

Rivetz technology and services aim to provide a safer and easier-to-use model for all users to protect their digital assets using hardware-based trusted execution technology. The device plays a critical role in automating security and enabling the controls that users need to produce high assurance data and benefit from modern services. Rivetz leverages state-of-the-art cybersecurity tools to develop a modern model for users and their devices to interact with services on the Internet. They were selected for Telecom Council's prestigious Innovation Showcase Class of 2018. Find out more at www.rivetz.com and follow Rivetz on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram.

All trademarks and product names are the property of their respective companies.

Rivetz Media Contact

Nikki Dance

FortyThree, Inc.

[email protected]

831.401.3175

SOURCE Rivetz

Related Links

https://rivetz.com/


WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Nearly 17,000 Hispanics/Latinos were killed with guns in California from 1999 through 2016, according to Lethal Hispanic/Latino Firearm Victimization in California, a new 91-page study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC). [For English and Spanish language versions of the study, its key findings and recommendations, and related materials, see http://www.vpc.org/CALatino .]

Para la version en espanol haga "click" aqui.

Funded by the Hope and Heal Fund, a collaborative fund to stop gun violence in California, the study details the disproportionate impact of lethal gun violence on Hispanics/Latinos in California, most notably the 10- to 24-year-old age group. It also presents in-depth interviews with California experts on ways that data collection in the state can be improved, especially in terms of better identifying race and ethnicity and integrating different data sets to improve their utility, to offer a more complete picture of the full impact of gun death and injury on residents and aid violence-prevention efforts.

The study also presents lethal gun violence information for other races/ethnicities in California  white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native  and contains numerous historic tables detailing firearm mortality among these groups.

VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann states, "For Latinos in California, especially young Latinos, gun violence is an ongoing crisis. For decades, California has been the nation's leader not only in identifying effective approaches to reducing gun violence, but in gathering the data necessary to help us better understand its many impacts. To ensure that progress continues to be made, Californians working to reduce violence in their communities need the best information available, not only to better understand the issues they're facing, but also identify the most effective violence prevention strategies."

Among the study's findings:

From 1999 to 2016, more than 16,600 Hispanics died from guns in California : 12,912 in firearm homicides, 3,402 in firearm suicides, and 319 in unintentional firearm deaths. Of these deaths, guns killed 15,222 Hispanic males and 1,411 Hispanic females. Forty-five percent (7,485) of the victims were 10 to 24 years old.

: 12,912 in firearm homicides, 3,402 in firearm suicides, and 319 in unintentional firearm deaths. Of these deaths, guns killed 15,222 Hispanic males and 1,411 Hispanic females. Forty-five percent (7,485) of the victims were 10 to 24 years old. From 1999 to 2016, nearly three quarters of all Hispanic homicide victims were killed with a firearm (74 percent). For Hispanic homicide victims ages 10 to 24, 85 percent were killed with firearms.

In 2016, 921 Hispanics were killed by firearms in California in homicides, suicides, and unintentional deaths. More than a third (322) of the victims were 10 to 24 years old.

in homicides, suicides, and unintentional deaths. More than a third (322) of the victims were 10 to 24 years old. In 2016, the Hispanic firearm homicide victimization rate was 4.40 per 100,000, more than three times the white firearm homicide victimization rate of 1.45 per 100,000. For Hispanic victims ages 10 to 24, the firearm homicide victimization rate was 6.63 per 100,000, more than four times the white firearm homicide victimization rate for this age group of 1.56 per 100,000.

In 2016, among Hispanic female victims, for homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 91 percent of Hispanic female victims (70 out of 77) were murdered by someone they knew. Twenty-seven of these females (39 percent) were killed with guns. Of the 70 Hispanic female victims who knew their offenders, 44 victims (63 percent) were intimate acquaintances of the offender. Of the Hispanic female intimates murdered, 21 were killed with guns (48 percent).

The study concludes, "Because of limitations in data collection, the true scale of the impact of gun violence on Hispanic men, women, boys, and girls in California is not fully known. Comprehensive, consistent, and reliable information from a broad range of sources is necessary to ensure that violence prevention policies work to save lives, protect families, and ensure healthy communities. This is true not only for Hispanics in California, but for all residents of the state."

Lethal Hispanic/Latino Firearm Victimization in California utilizes data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as information maintained by the California Department of Justice for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report.

For the English language version of the study, see:

http://www.vpc.org/studies/CAlatino.pdf .

For the Spanish language version of the study, see:

http://www.vpc.org/studies/CAlatinoesp.pdf .

For the English language version of the study's key findings and recommendations see:

http://www.vpc.org/studies/CAlatinokey.pdf .

For the Spanish language version of the study's key findings and recommendations see:

http://www.vpc.org/studies/CAlatinokeyesp.pdf .

For all materials related to the study in English and Spanish, see:

http://www.vpc.org/CAlatino .

Rates are calculated by dividing the total number of relevant deaths by the relevant population in California and multiplying the result by 100,000.

The definitions used in Lethal Hispanic/Latino Firearm Victimization in California are dictated by the terms utilized by government agencies in the collection of information. The Violence Policy Center recognizes the role played by language and the importance of identity language. We understand that the population included within the term Hispanic may not identify with this label. While this term is used throughout this research to remain consistent with the data as reported, our intent is not to reiterate or endorse any implications that may accompany it. Hopefully, in the near future data collection will become more sensitive and responsive to relevant terminology and identity language, such as Latino/a or Latinx.

The Violence Policy Center ( www.vpc.org ) is a national nonprofit educational organization that conducts research and public education on violence in America and provides information and analysis to policymakers, journalists, advocates, and the general public. Follow the Violence Policy Center on Facebook and follow @VPCinfo on Twitter.

The Hope and Heal Fund is the only collaborative fund committed to preventing gun violence in California. The Hope and Heal Fund invests in innovative, strategic and evidence-based solutions to prevent gun violence, by harnessing the collective power of individuals, communities, government and philanthropy to ensure homes and communities in California are safe and free from gun death, injury and trauma. For more information about the Hope and Heal Fund, please visit hopeandhealfund.org and follow @HopeandHealFund on Twitter.

Contact: Sally Martinelli, (202) 822-8200 x104, [email protected]

SOURCE Violence Policy Center

Related Links

http://www.vpc.org


WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has selected 12 science and technology demonstration payloads to fly to the Moon as early as the end of this year, dependent upon the availability of commercial landers. These selections represent an early step toward the agency's long-term scientific study and human exploration of the Moon and, later, Mars.

"The Moon has unique scientific value and the potential to yield resources, such as water and oxygen," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Its proximity to Earth makes it especially valuable as a proving ground for deeper space exploration."

NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) initiated the request for proposals leading to these selections as the first step in achieving a variety of science and technology objectives that could be met by regularly sending instruments, experiments and other small payloads to the Moon.

"This payload selection announcement is the exciting next step on our path to return to the surface of the Moon," said Steve Clarke, SMD's deputy associate administrator for Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The selected payloads, along with those that will be awarded through the Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads call, will begin to build a healthy pipeline of scientific investigations and technology development payloads that we can fly to the lunar surface using U.S. commercial landing delivery services. Future calls for payloads are planned to be released each year for additional opportunities," he said.

The selected payloads include a variety of scientific instruments.

The Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer will measure the lunar surface radiation environment.

Three resource prospecting instruments have been selected to fly:

The Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System is an imaging spectrometer that will measure surface composition.



The Neutron Spectrometer System and Advanced Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface are neutron spectrometers that will measure hydrogen abundance.

The Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer for Lunar Surface Volatiles instrument is an ion-trap mass spectrometer that will measure volatile contents in the surface and lunar exosphere.

A magnetometer will measure the surface magnetic field.

The Low-frequency Radio Observations from the Near Side Lunar Surface instrument, a radio science instrument, will measure the photoelectron sheath density near the surface.

Three instruments will acquire critical information during entry, descent and landing on the lunar surface, which will inform the design of future landers including the next human lunar lander.

The Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies will image the interaction between the lander engine plume as it hits the lunar surface.

The Surface and Exosphere Alterations by Landers payload will monitor how the landing affects the lunar exosphere.

The Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing payload will make precise velocity and ranging measurements during the descent that will help develop precision landing capabilities for future landers.

There also are two technology demonstrations selected to fly.

The Solar Cell Demonstration Platform for Enabling Long-Term Lunar Surface Power will demonstrate advanced solar arrays for longer mission duration.

The Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator will demonstrate a navigational beacon to assist with geolocation for lunar orbiting spacecraft and landers.

NASA facilities across the nation are developing the payloads, including Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Johnson Space Center in Houston; Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Nine U.S. companies, selected through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) in November 2018, currently are developing landers to deliver NASA payloads to the Moon's surface. As CLPS providers, they are pre-authorized to compete on individual delivery orders.

NASA also released the Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payload (LSITP) call in October 2018 soliciting proposals for science instrument and technology investigations. The final LSITP proposals are due Feb. 27 and awards are expected to be made this spring.

"Once we have awarded the first CLPS mission task order later this spring, we will then select the specific payloads from the internal-NASA and LSITP calls to fly on that mission. Subsequent missions will fly other NASA instrument and technology development packages in addition to commercial payloads," said Clarke.

Commercial lunar payload delivery services for small payloads, and developing lunar landers for large payloads, to conduct more research on the Moon's surface is a vital step ahead of a human return.

As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA has announced plans to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for astronauts to land on the lunar surface. The agency is planning to test new human-class landers on the Moon beginning in 2024, with the goal of sending crew to the surface by 2028.

For more information about NASA's Moon to Mars exploration plans, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


CHERRY HILL, N.J., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is pleased to announce the newest member of its Board of Directors, Alexandra von Plato of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Ms. von Plato is Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Health, where she leads global teams of nearly 4,000 professionals with expertise in advertising and branding, strategic communications, digital media and technology, service design, health sciences, and medicine.

In addition to Ms. von Plato's work as CEO of Publicis Health, she also is an accomplished creative and business leader as well as a sought-after healthcare expert. She has played key roles in the success of several award-winning, next-generation communications and media businesses. As a creative leader, Ms. von Plato has overseen the development of groundbreaking brand marketing initiatives and programs for leading life sciences, biotech and wellness companies.

"I am honored to join MSAA's Board of Directors and I look forward to contributing to the continued success of the organization," said Ms. von Plato. "Multiple sclerosis is a disease that impacts so many individuals and communities, and MSAA provides invaluable support and services to those living with MS, and I'm proud to be a part of the cause."

Prior to being named CEO of Publicis Health in 2018, Ms. von Plato previously served as Global Group President for Publicis Health's Communications & Media Group for three years. Prior to that, she was President & Chief Creative Officer at Digitas Health, where she was the principal creative executive responsible for building DH into an award-winning healthcare agency and the only digitally native brand agency in healthcare.

"We are extremely honored to have Alexandra join our national Board of Directors," said MSAA President & CEO Gina Ross Murdoch. "Her expertise in the fields of digital strategy, healthcare communication, and marketing bring tremendous value to MSAA and will provide important insight for developing innovative programs to support our mission of improving lives today for the entire MS community."

About MSAA

The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is a national nonprofit organization and leading resource for the entire MS community, improving lives today through vital services and support. MSAA provides free programs and services, such as: a Helpline with trained specialists; award-winning publications, including MSAA's magazine, The Motivator; MSAA's nationally recognized website (at mymsaa.org), featuring award-winning educational videos and research updates; S.E.A.R.C.H. program to assist the MS community with learning about different treatment choices; a mobile phone app, My MS Manager (named one of the best multiple sclerosis iPhone & Android apps by Healthline.com); a resource database, My MS Resource Locator; safety and mobility equipment distribution; cooling accessories for heat-sensitive individuals; educational programs held across the country; MRI funding; My MSAA Community, a peer-to-peer online support forum; a clinical trial search tool; and more. For additional information, please visit www.mymsaa.org or call (800) 532-7667.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system (CNS), which consists of the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. MS damages or destroys the protective covering (known as myelin) surrounding the nerves of the CNS, and can potentially injure the nerves as well. This damage causes reduced communication between the brain and nerve pathways. Common MS symptoms include visual problems, overwhelming fatigue, difficulty with balance and coordination, depression and cognitive issues, and various levels of impaired mobility. The prevalence of multiple sclerosis is estimated at nearly 1 million people nationwide and most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 50. MS is not contagious and researchers continue to look for both a cause and a cure.



SOURCE Multiple Sclerosis Association of America

Related Links

http://www.mymsaa.org


"This transition is really a natural byproduct of the tremendous market success that Motiv has experienced, and the future growth plans we are putting in place," said O'Leary. "The number of recent key partner and supplier agreements Motiv has secured over the past year, including sales to USPS and a strategic partnership with Winnebago, as well as a BMW lithium-ion battery supply agreement, demonstrate that the company has matured and now offers an opportunity to better leverage Jim's incredible technical talent in expanding our technology offerings with innovations to further cement our competitive advantage. My transition from Chairman to CEO provides the company with a seamless transition and allows me to apply my operational experience and deep commercial customer knowledge more directly to the team."

"It was always my hope that we would reach a point in Motiv's evolution where I could focus on the aspect of Motiv that excites me the most  and that's the development and deployment of our key technology and our growing ability to Free Fleets from Fossil Fuels. I'm incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished and am excited about this opportunity to pass the reins to Matt," said Castelaz. "It has been a pleasure working with him over these last two years, and I am confident of the tremendous value his leadership brings to Motiv."

Before joining the Motiv board, O'Leary served in various capacities in his 38 years at Ford Motor Company, including, most recently holding the title of Vehicle Line Director - North America Trucks, SUVs, and Commercial Vehicles. During his extensive career at Ford Motor Company, O'Leary co-led the launch of the aluminum-intensive 2015 F150 at two assembly plants. As Director of Corporate Strategy, he led development of a corporate strategy to significantly grow Ford's presence in the Asia Pacific. As Director of Product Development for South America, O'Leary led the historical transformation of Ford South America from 100 percent legacy to 100 percent global products in three years, including local design and development of two global vehicles - EcoSport and Ka. O'Leary also led from inception to launch the successful all-new 2009 F150 which won many awards including Motor Trend and North American Truck-of-the-Year awards, as well as Truck of Texas.

In January, Motiv had announced a battery supply agreement with BMW AG for its new line of lithium-ion batteries and earlier this month, a new deployment with CALSTART and the United States Postal Service.

About Motiv Power Systems

Founded in 2009, and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Motiv Power Systems, a leading provider of software and technology to electrify medium duty commercial vehicles, is committed to freeing fleets from their dependence on fossil fuels. Motiv's EPIC (Electric Powered Intelligent Chassis) are CARB certified, GSA approved, and available for many configurations including step vans, box trucks, work trucks, shuttle buses, school buses, trolleys, and other specialty vehicles. An EPIC offers uncompromised performance and functionality without the pollution, noise, heat, and vibration of gasoline or diesel power. Motiv is the only Ford eQVM-approved provider of all-electric chassis for commercial trucks and buses and benefits from engineering insights and support from Ford to ensure safety and reliability. With more than 500,000 miles logged among several of the largest fleet operators in the United States, the EPIC family eliminates 100% of vehicle emissions, dramatically reduces operating and maintenance costs, and creates a healthier environment for riders and communities, while also reducing driver fatigue.

Media Contact:

Technica Communications

Lisa Ann Pinkerton

[email protected]

SOURCE Motiv Power Systems

Related Links

http://www.motivps.com


The open topped Routemaster bus, wrapped in imagery of a voluptuous model in lingerie, was packed with campaigners wearing t-shirts proclaiming their bodies don't restrict them when it comes to being who they want to be, as the protesters chanted 'we have more to say than any dress size could.'

With mantels such as 'Artist', 'Entrepreneur', 'Activist' and 'Dancer', emblazoned across their chests, the troop of activists marshalled the bus outside the main London Fashion Week venue and around central London landmarks championing all women with empowering placards, megaphones and feel-good music.

Staged by online fashion retailer, Simply Be, the protest encouraged everyone to celebrate all body shapes and sizes, enjoy fashion and express themselves. At the same time it asked why larger sized models are not sufficiently represented on the runways at fashion weeks across the globe.

The models, ranging from sizes eight to 24, held placards declaring 'Fashion should empower us', 'Fashion shouldn't shame us', 'Our beauty is immeasurable' and 'So much more than our measurements.'

The model squad, which also included body positivity activist Felicity Hayward (size 20), then manoeuvred the bus around central London landmarks to celebrate individuality and champion diverse, inclusive fashion.

With the average size of women in the UK now 16-18, Simply Be commissioned research and found that a staggering 89% didn't feel their size was represented on runways, in advertising, and in fashion press.

Almost half went on to state that they felt women of their size were ignored by the brands when it came to fashion choices.

Ed Watson, Global Comms Director at N Brown Group plc, which owns Simply Be, said: "We love fashion month and anything that raises the profile of fashion. However, it would be great to see more diverse representation of body shape on the runways. We've seen more size diversity coming through at the New York shows, but there's still a long way to go.

"Our open-top bus tour around London is a celebration of women and who they are, eliminating the idea that we are defined by our bodies. At Simply Be we believe that fashion shouldn't shame us, it should empower all women.

"The line-up of incredible women we work with highlights that there are no boundaries when it comes to size, something that Simply Be has firmly embraced. This isn't about thin shaming  we just think it's time we saw more diversity in terms of size in advertising campaigns and on runways, because women are so much more than their measurements.

"We want all women to feel great in their own skin and have the confidence to express themselves through fashion."

American research has shown that diversity sells. Over 2500 women with ages ranging from 14  65 and dress sizes from four to 22 found that women were 200 percent more likely to purchase a product when the models were their size, 175 percent more likely to purchase when the models were within their age range and 1.5 time more likely to purchase if the model was a similar ethnicity.

In May 2016, a French bill stating that fashion models need to provide a doctor's certificate attesting to their overall physical health, confirming that they are not too skinny, came into effect. France followed similar legislation already passed in Spain, Italy and Israel.

The protest follows Simply Be's 'We're All Angels' lingerie presentation  the most size inclusive lingerie show of the AW18 season, featuring models from a size eight to 22 including supermodel and diversity campaigner Robyn Lawley (size 14). This event took place two days ahead of the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show, one of the most anticipated events in the fashion calendar which famously only features models of a size eight or smaller.

Simply Be's SS19 collection is available to shop at www.simplybe.com.

About Simply Be

With over 18 year's expertise in plus size fashion, Simply Be is part of the N Brown Group. Simply Be is the fashion force that puts fashion first by bringing on-trend products to women of all shapes and sizes. Simply Be believes that style shouldn't come with a dress size. Collections are available in sizes from 12 - 32, and footwear in both standard and wide widths.

About N Brown Group

An expert in fashion that fits and flatters, N Brown is one of the UK's leading digital retailers. Its key retail brands are JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo. It offers an extensive range of products, predominantly clothing, footwear and homewares. N Brown is all about democratising fashion and is size inclusive, focusing on the needs of underserved customer groups  size 20+ and age 50+.

N Brown is headquartered in Manchester where it designs, sources and creates its product offer, and employs over 2,600 people across the UK.

SOURCE N Brown Group Press Office
DENVER, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Messner Reeves LLP is pleased to announce Amish Shah, Tanner J. Walls, and Wade Warthen are now partners of the firm. Mr. Shah and Mr. Walls are members of the firm's Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Warthen practices in the firms' Real Estate Law Practice Group.

Amish Shah, Los Angeles Office  Mr. Shah represents clients with a wide variety of business and civil matters. He has vast experience with boutique to brand-oriented clients spanning a wide range of industries including public and private entities. Mr. Shah has a depth of knowledge in all aspects of business and employment litigation, with an emphasis on the litigation of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-and-hour claims, as well as other personnel and workplace issues.

Tanner J. Walls, Denver Office  Mr. Walls is a trial lawyer who focuses on complex civil litigation. He primarily represents corporations and businesses in civil disputes, with an emphasis on product liability actions and commercial litigation. He regularly represents large corporations and small businesses in contract disputes, premises liability cases, subrogation matters, business torts, trade secret actions, and consumer claims of all kinds. Having served on national and regulatory counsel teams in large multi-district pharmaceutical litigation pending in federal courts, as well as statewide coordinated proceedings across the country, Mr. Walls has a wealth of experience. Additionally, he has defended professional liability claims and represented physicians and attorneys in regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Wade Warthen, Denver Office  Mr. Warthen has over 20 years of legal experience, including positions as in-house counsel at a Denver-based REIT and at the country's second-largest privately held corporation. He concentrates his practice on commercial real estate transactions of all types, including leases and amendments for landlords and tenants, purchases and sales from contract through closing, loan documents and financing arrangements, construction contracts, title, survey, and due diligence evaluations, boundary, access, and easement issues, development, land use, and zoning concerns, lien rights, and real estate regulatory compliance. He brings expansive real estate experience to the Messner Reeves team.

Founding Partner and CEO, Bryant "Corky" Messner expressed, "Each of these attorneys have demonstrated a commitment to Messner Reeves. Each has built a significant book of business and delivered results for their clients that exceed expectations in many cases. We are proud to call each of them our partners."

About Messner Reeves LLP

Messner Reeves LLP, a full-service national business law firm with over 100 attorneys, provides legal services from nine offices in Colorado, Nevada, California, New York, and Utah. Delivering effective legal counsel, quick response times, and competitive rates, Messner Reeves specializes in the following industries: Banking & Financial Institutions, Corporations & Business Entities, Healthcare, Retail, Restaurants & Hospitality, and Specialty & Niche Markets. The firm employs a wide range of attorneys to ensure its full-service model include practice area expertise in Crisis Prevention & Management, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Real Estate Law, Corporate Law, Litigation & Appellate, Tax, Liquor Licensing, Criminal Defense, and Individual Services. Business clients of the firm vary in size including Fortune 500 companies as well as individual entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit www.messner.com.

SOURCE Messner Reeves LLP

Related Links

https://www.messner.com


PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Darryl Williams, senior director of analytics at MediSpend, will discuss how to utilize data and maximize advanced monitoring strategies to improve business results in the life sciences industry at the 7th Annual CBI Compliance Monitoring Congress at 3:50 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA. The session, "Implement Advanced Monitoring Strategies and Leverage Data to Provide Business Value," will focus on how to gain actionable insights from the data available to compliance officers for transparency reporting.

"Real time, or near time, monitoring of enterprise data amplifies high risk areas throughout the organization," said Williams. "The ability to identify outliers and drill down into non-compliant activities enhances the effectiveness of strategic decision making throughout the organization."

The CBI conference is a chance for leading life sciences experts to cover the challenges of managing expanding compliance monitoring efforts to mitigate risk. Participants will explore ways to further develop their own compliance monitoring strategies. They will discuss how to put together the optimal compliance team, explore tools and processes to automate transparency reporting and deploy effective strategies to manage anti-bribery and anti-corruption risks associated with third-party vendors.

About MediSpend

MediSpend is a global leader in cloud-based compliance software for the life sciences industry. MediSpend is the compliance system of record for some of the world's largest life sciences companies. We help pharmaceutical, medical device, dental, and emerging biotech companies comply with global healthcare laws while reducing risk and lowering costs. The MediSpend Compliance Cloud enables life sciences companies to manage and monitor physician engagement, aggregate, and analyze enterprise data, and comply with global data privacy and transparency reporting regulations. Our employees are committed to customer success, innovation, and exceptional product development. Our customers are located in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. MediSpend is headquartered in Portsmouth, NH, with offices in Minnesota, New York City, and Philadelphia, PA. Visit MediSpend online at www.medispend.com.

Media Contact:

Kathy Fallon

[email protected]

215-952-3223

SOURCE MediSpend

Related Links

https://www.medispend.com


First Assays Expected Early March

VANCOUVER, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Mawson Resources Limited ("Mawson") or (the "Company") (TSX:MAW, Frankfurt:MXR, PINKSHEETS: MWSNF) announces a drill and permitting update from Finland.

Highlights:

Mawson commenced drilling Jan 21, 2019 and continues to drill with four rigs operating 24/7 executing a 15,000 metre drill program. Fourteen holes for 5,040 metres were completed in the first month of drilling, with first assay results expected to be available in early March;

and continues to drill with four rigs operating 24/7 executing a 15,000 metre drill program. Fourteen holes for 5,040 metres were completed in the first month of drilling, with first assay results expected to be available in early March; The drilling is targeting electromagentic geophysical ("EM") plates that are contiguous and extend down plunge from the constrained Inferred Mineral Resources of 424,000 ounces of gold at 3.1 g/t AuEq, with a focus on the Raja, South Palokas and Palokas prospects. At the same time geophysical crews continue to survey and define further targets along the known 4 kilometre trend;

with a focus on the Raja, South Palokas and Palokas prospects. At the same time geophysical crews continue to survey and define further targets along the known 4 kilometre trend; The recent decision by the Finnish mining authority ("TUKES") in relation to the 1,462-hectare Kairamaat 2/3 exploration permit allows Mawson to drill from 200 drill platforms (from 529 optional sites) plus 76 existing drill platforms for an additional 3 years;

As a standard part of Finnish Administrative Law, appeals on the granted exploration permit by the mining authority were lodged by two parties during the 30-day window. A local Non-Governmental Organization ("NGO") appealed on general grounds, which was expected, and Parks & Wildlife Finland, Lapland ("Metsahallitus") appealed a specific issue of a buffer zone around an eagle nest. Appeals were not received from key stakeholders including the official environmental authority ("ELY"), reindeer herders nor anyone in the local community. Drilling will continue during the appeal period.

Mr Hudson, Chairman & CEO states, "Four rigs continue to target EM extensions below and along strike from the maiden resource area. We have seventy people employed at site and highly anticipate the release of the first batch of assay results from the laboratory in the coming weeks. The new exploration permit which provides a three-year runway for drilling from 200 new drill platforms is a game changer for Mawson. We have dealt with the Finnish appeal system for each drill program over the long term, and we are very happy to have reached agreement with all environmental authorities on how exploration in the area should be conducted over the next 3 years. In combination with the wonderful support from local communities, we can now continue exploring without further delays."

Geophysical EM surveying is ongoing at Rajapalot, and is driving the 15,000 metre winter drill campaign focused on resource expansion. The EM plates are generated by sulphide minerals that also are associated with the gold and cobalt mineralization and at least double the footprint of known mineralization. The drill program initially aims to test the down-plunge and lateral extents of the Raja, South Palokas and Palokas mineralization. To date 14 drill holes for 5,040 metres have been completed in the first month of drilling of the 15,000 metre program, with first assay results available in early March. Approximately 70 people are employed at site.

The Finnish Mining Authority, TUKES, the responsible permitting authority, made a clear decision to renew the Kairamaat 2/3 permit for 3 years, while ensuring all environmental values of the permit area will not be impacted. The ruling was based on Mawson's new and comprehensive Natura assessment with certain mitigation procedures to avoid impacts on the natural environment. Statements or consolidating evidence supporting Mawson's permit renewal were received from independent Finnish Professorial experts and the local Ylitornio municipality, while the national environmental regulator, ELY's statement outlined that Mawson's work also, according to the permit conditions, will not produce any significant impacts.

As is standard under Finnish Administrative Law, all governmental decisions are appealable within 30 days. Two appeals were lodged by a local NGO group and Metsahallitus. The enforcement order in place allows ongoing drilling until both appeals are addressed by the Administrative Court. This process can take up to 18 months. The Metsahallitus appeal relates to a specific technical and narrow detail related to a buffer around an eagle nest and was not against the permit conditions nor the enforcement order. Only the Administrative Court has the power to cancel an enforcement order, a possible, yet unlikely outcome, given the support from independent legal experts and the view of ELY. The enforcement order allows Mawson to drill from 200 drill platforms (from 529 optional sites) plus 76 existing drill platforms within the 1,462 hectare Kairamaat 2-3 exploration permit area for an additional 3 years, according to specific exploration methods that can be undertaken within Natura 2000 areas, including but not limited to diamond drilling, base-of-till drilling and geophysics.

According to the Finnish Mining Act, after the first renewal period of up to 4 years, exploration permits in Finland can be renewed in 3-year maximum intervals, for a combined total of 15 years. The Kairamaat 2-3 exploration permit area was first granted to Mawson as exploration claims in October 2011 under an older version of the Mining Act, and then renewed in June 2014 . Due to expanded work programs and a new Natura Assessment, the new permit decision of 18 January, 2019 replaces a superseded permit decision made on January 12, 2018. In summary, Mawson has 8 years 9 months remaining of its 15-year permit time at Kairamaat 2-3.

In other news, Mawson welcomes all to visit management and board members at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada ("PDAC") meeting from Sunday March 03 to Wednesday 06 2019 at Booth #2941 and at the Core Shack Booth #3104B (05-06 March 2019).

Technical Background

The qualified person for Mawson, Mr. Michael Hudson, Chairman and CEO for Mawson and Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the contents of this release.

About Mawson Resources Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, PINKSHEETS:MWSNF)

Mawson Resources Limited is an exploration and development company with a focus on the resource expansion of its high-grade Rajapalot gold-cobalt in Finland. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company.

Four diamond drill rigs (K3 & K8) from the Arctic Drilling Company OY ("ADC"), one from MK Core Drilling OY ("MK"), and one from KATI OY ("KATI") all with water recirculation and drill cuttings collection systems were used for the drill program. Core diameter is NQ2 (50.7 mm) diameter core. After photographing and logging in Mawson's Rovaniemi facilities, core intervals averaging 1 metre for mineralized samples and 2 metres for barren samples were cut in half at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) core facilities in Rovaniemi, Finland. The remaining half core is retained for verification and reference purposes. Analytical samples were transported by Mawson personnel or commercial transport from site to the CRS Minlab Oy facility in Kempele, Finland. Samples were prepared at Kempele and analyzed for gold at Raahe using the PAL1000 technique which involves grinding the sample in steel pots with abrasive media in the presence of cyanide, followed by measuring the gold in solution with flame AAS equipment. The QA/QC program of Mawson consists of the systematic insertion of certified standards of known gold content, duplicate samples by quartering the core, and blanks the within interpreted mineralized rock. In addition, CRS inserts blanks and standards into the analytical process.

Rajapalot is a significant and strategic gold-cobalt resource for Finland with the recently published maiden resource already positioned as one of Finland's current top three gold resources by grade and contained ounces and one of a small group of cobalt resources prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 policy within Europe. A pit and underground Constrained Inferred Mineral Resource of 424,000 ounces of gold equivalent ("AuEq") at 3.1 g/t AuEq (4.3 million tonnes at 2.3 g/t Au, 430 ppm Co) at 0.37 g/t AuEq cut-off open pit and 2 g/t AuEq underground was calculated, within a combined Unconstrained Inferred Mineral Inventory for the Palokas and Raja prospects of 482,000 ounces AuEq at a grade of 2.4 g/t AuEq (6.2 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t Au, 410 ppm Co) at 0.4 g/t AuEq cut-off. The constrained resource demonstrates the high-grade of Rajapalot with open-pittable grades of 2.8 g/t AuEq (2.1 g/t Au and 420 ppm Co) and underground grades of 5.2 g/t AuEq. The calculation represents the first resource estimate for the Rajapalot Gold-Cobalt Project and has substantial potential to grow, with only 20% (800 metres) of the 4 kilometres known mineralized trend included within the maiden resource to relatively shallow depths (average depth of drilling 88 metres within 34.2 kilometres drilled to date at Rajapalot)

NI 43-101 Technical Report:

On December 19, 2018, Mawson filed an independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report") on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Raja and Palokas Prospects, at the 100% owned Rajapalot Project in Finland, (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report"), in support of the Company's news release dated December 17, 2018 . The NI 43-101 Technical Report was authorized by Mr. Rod Webster of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd ("AMC") of Melbourne, Australia, and Dr. Kurt Simon Forrester of Arn Perspective of Surrey, England. Each of Mr. Webster and Dr. Forrester are independent "qualified persons" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The NI 43-101 Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.mawsonresources.com or under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The gold equivalent ("AuEq") value was calculated using the following formula: AuEq g/t = Au g/t + (Co ppm/608) with assumed prices of Co $30/lb; and Au $1,250/oz. AuEq varies with Au and Co prices.

On behalf of the Board,

"Michael Hudson"

Michael Hudson, Chairman & CEO

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Mawson disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

SOURCE Mawson Resources Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.mawsonresources.com


PITTSBURGH, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP) has established a record date for its 2019 annual meeting of shareholders. Koppers shareholders of record at the close of business on Monday, March 18, 2019, will be entitled to notice of the annual meeting and to vote upon matters considered at the meeting.

The annual meeting will be held on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at The Duquesne Club, 325 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Koppers will send a definitive proxy statement to shareholders of record, which will contain important information about the meeting and the matters to be considered. Shareholders are urged to read the proxy statement when it becomes available.

About Koppers

Koppers, with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an integrated global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds. Our products and services are used in a variety of niche applications in a diverse range of end-markets, including the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction industries. Including our joint ventures, we serve our customers through a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution network, with facilities located in North America, South America, Australasia, China and Europe. The stock of Koppers Holdings Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KOP."

For more information, visit: www.koppers.com. Questions concerning investor relations should be directed to Mr. Michael Zugay at 412-227-2231 or Ms. Quynh McGuire at 412-227-2049.

For Information:

Michael J. Zugay, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

412 227 2231

[email protected]

SOURCE Koppers Holdings Inc.

Related Links

http://www.koppers.com


BALTIMORE, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kalix Marketing announces the addition of new independent school clients. The schools  Fuqua School (Farmville, Va.), Garrison Forest School (Owings Mills, Md.) and St. James Academy (Monkton, Md.)  have retained Kalix Marketing to conduct in-depth market research studies. Fuqua and Garrison Forest also have engaged Kalix to leverage the research findings on their brand positioning and messaging.

Jonathan Oleisky, President, Kalix Marketing

Market research, one of the strategic marketing services offered by Kalix, will enable these independent schools to better understand their target audience in a challenging educational landscape and increasingly competitive admissions environment.

"Fuqua School has a unique set of enrollment challenges, based on our history and location in the heartland of central Virginia," says John Melton, Fuqua's head of school. "We needed a thorough, data-driven dive into who our prospective families are and why they choose  or don't choose  Fuqua. Kalix's experience and expertise with market research and independent schools has been a game-changer for us. What they uncovered is helping us redefine our marketing strategy."

Harnessing the expertise and experience of senior-level research, marketing and creative professionals, Kalix offers a unique approach to market research and strategy development to branding, creative design and digital marketing.

Kalix President Jonathan Oleisky explains of his Baltimore firm, "Every project we undertake begins with objective, third-party research on exactly what your market is saying and thinking about your school. It's the starting point for all effective marketing strategies. It's exciting to take that data and weave it into brand positioning, creative and messaging strategies  print, digital, social media  to help schools transform their enrollment marketing plans."

Meet the Kalix Marketing team at booth #361 at the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) Annual Conference Exhibit Hall on February 28-March 1, 2019 in Long Beach, CA.

Media Contact:

Sarah Achenbach

Director of Communications

Kalix Marketing

443-744-0725 (cell)

kalixmarketing.com

SOURCE Kalix Marketing

Related Links

http://kalixmarketing.com


BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Advisers, LLC today announced an update to the portfolio management team for the John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ). The Fund is advised by John Hancock Advisers, LLC and sub-advised by Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington).

Effective today, Roberto Isch, CFA, joins Gregg Thomas, CFA, as a portfolio manager on the Fund. Mr. Isch joined Wellington in 2012, has more than 10 years of experience in the investment management industry, received a B.A. in Political Science from College of the Holy Cross, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investments

John Hancock has helped individuals and institutions build and protect wealth since 1862. Today, we're one of the strongest and most-recognized financial brands. We serve investors globally through a unique multimanager approach: We search the world to find proven portfolio teams with specialized expertise for every strategy we offer, then we apply robust investment oversight to ensure they continue to meet our uncompromising standards and serve the best interests of our shareholders. Our approach to asset management has led to a diverse set of investments deeply rooted in investor needs, along with strong risk-adjusted returns across asset classes.

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial

John Hancock is a division of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and as Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups, and institutions. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were over CAD$1.1 trillion (US$849 billion) as of September 30, 2018. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as MFC on the TSX, NYSE, and PSE, and under 945 on the SEHK. Manulife can be found at manulife.com.

One of the largest life insurers in the United States, John Hancock supports approximately 10 million Americans with a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments, 401(k) plans, and education savings plans. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investments
WEST CHESTER, Pa., Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jane Leslie Dalton is recognized by Continental Who's Who for her High Standards of Ethics in the field of Law in recognition of her role as Of Counsel of Duane Morris LLP.

With over 800 attorneys in offices stationed across the nation, Duane Morris LLP was established in 1904 as Duane, Morris, Heckscher & Roberts. Devoted to offering their clients quality legal services, the firm is adept in handling matters with regards to aviation, banking, education, health law, intellectual property, wealth planning, private equity, private investments and more.



With over forty years of experience in the field of Law, Jane Leslie Dalton is revered for her outstanding contributions to the industry. Having established herself as a well-regarded professional within the field, throughout her career, Dalton has attained extensive experience within the areas of ethics and public speaking and in defending highly controversial and highly publicized legal battles.



Early in her career, Dalton attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she received her Juris Doctor degree in 1971. In her previous years, Dalton attended Smith College where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree.



In an effort to further enhance her professional development, Dalton is an elite member of several

prominent organizations including serving as Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Insurance and Trust Fund. She also served as Co-Chair, of the PBA's Commission on Women in the Profession and as President of the Metropolitan Bar Caucus of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. And, Dalton is a former Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.



An illustrious scholar, Dalton has contributed to several published works including "Speak up: Finding Your Authentic Voice," in the Philadelphia Bar Association Women in the Profession Newsletter, July 1, 2011; "If I Knew Then What I Know Now," Women's Advocate Newsletter, Fall 2009, and she is the co-author of , "When 'Will' Won't Do In Employment Agreements," Law 360.



In recognition of her professional accolades, Dalton was the recipient of the 2012 Sandra Day O'Connor Award given by the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Replansky Award in 2011, and was given the AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Recognized by Philadelphia Magazine as one of Pennsylvania's Super Lawyers for ten years, Dalton was one of the 2005 recipients of the Women of Distinction Award-NAWBO.



Dalton dedicates this recognition to her husband, Tom Holly, "Thank you for your love and support", and her mentors Henry Reath and David Sykes.



For more information, please visit https://www.duanemorris.com/

Contact: Katherine Green , 516-825-5634 [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com


DALLAS, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:JEC) was honored for its outstanding collaboration, contribution and commitment to innovation at Avaya's ENGAGE 2019 conference. Recognized as the U.S. Federal Partner of the Year, Jacobs received Avaya's Partner of the Year Award celebrating leaders across five categories (Innovation, Mid-market, U.S. Federal, Cloud and Service). The Avaya ENGAGE 2019 conference is the premier event for the future of communication experiences and its impact on digital transformation.

Focused on building long-term client relationships to become one of the largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional and construction services, Jacobs was not only Avaya's top-line revenue producer in the U.S. Federal space in 2018, but also grew its overall business with Avaya by 325 percent in the past year, selling the most end devices  secure and non-secure telephones  in the federal sector, including the single-largest sale ever to a federal agency. The scope of the project was for Jacobs to install and provision 33,000 endpoints.

"Jacobs provides innovative solutions for highly technical, critical operational requirements," said Jacobs Aerospace, Technology and Nuclear Senior Vice President Jennifer Richmond. "We look forward to our continued partnership with Avaya, sustaining our focus on providing clients solutions to enhance and simplify communications, and collaborate on services that create experiences that matter."

Avaya creates intelligent communication experiences for customers and employees, and builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration  in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both.

Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2018 revenue and a talent force of more than 80,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

For press/media inquiries:

Kerrie Sparks

214.583.8433

Brian Morandi

720.286.0719

SOURCE Jacobs

Related Links

http://www.jacobs.com


BOISE, Idaho, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fatty Liver Foundation joins with Amsety to help teach people about their risk of having liver disease by using an online screener which helps the user understand their risk then invites them to nominate three friends to take the test by blowing them a kiss in a short video.

The Kiss and Click Challenge is a way for people learn more about their health and to encourage people they care about to do the same. Fatty liver disease is epidemic in America. An estimated 100 million people have fatty livers but don't know it.

The Kiss and Click Challenge, learn your liver health score and encourage others to do the same by blowing them a kiss in a short nominating video

Wayne Eskridge, the CEO of the Foundation said "The shocking thing is if you have two friends one of you has a fatty liver." Eskridge continued, "Liver disease is usually silent, it often has no symptoms until you face a life threatening diagnosis of cirrhosis."

The early stages of the disease are called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD. As the disease progresses and begins to cause scarring of the liver it is called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH. The end stage of NASH is called cirrhosis which is a very serious medical condition.

The Fatty Liver Foundation is a non-profit patient advocacy group dedicated to providing education and support to patients suffering from liver disease and seeking to educate the millions of at risk people. NAFLD and NASH are a silent epidemic that is largely unknown to the public and not screened for by the medical profession. To learn more got to the website www.fattyliverfoundation.org.

Amsety is the manufacturer of the only nutrition bar specifically designed to support liver health and the liver health score test was developed by Amsety's liver health experts. The online score is calculated based on a series of questions and indicates how liver-healthy a person's lifestyle is. It is not a medical test but provides a measure of the general habits and lifestyle elements promoting long term liver health. The Liver Health Score is a tool for anyone with the goal of improving their liver health by making more knowledgeable lifestyle choices.

Anyone interested in joining the challenge is encouraged to determine their Liver Health Score at www.amsety.com/liver-health-score and post a video on their social media, with the hashtags #kissandclick and #livermatters, and nominating three friends to do the same. The participants are also encouraged to donate to the Fatty Liver Foundation.

Media Contact:

Wayne Eskridge CEO

Fatty Liver Foundation

(208) 860-0546

[email protected]

SOURCE Fatty Liver Foundation

Related Links

http://www.fattyliverfoundation.org


PATCHOGUE, N.Y., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their ongoing initiative to teach companies how to self-promote, internet marketing agency, fishbat, shares the number one reason why restaurants should run social media contests to increase engagement.

Restaurants and social media marketing go together like peanut butter and jelly. Or white wine and fish, if your tastes run more highbrow. According to the new rules of dining out, pulling out your smartphone to snap a photo of your meal is no longer impolite, and for a sizeable population of social media users, it's an absolute must.

If your restaurant is not currently hosting regular contests across its social media channels to increase engagement, here is the number one reason why you should be: It works. Keep reading for tips on how your restaurant can execute an engaging social media contest.

Feed Your Followers

Successful social media marketing is all about creating engaging content for your followers to consume, and promoting organically is important, since it feels genuine to viewers and establishes your brand's credibility. Hitting that sweet spot between relevant and real not only increases awareness of your restaurant, but it drives engagement with your brand across social media platforms as well. Running regular social media contests does just that: It's food for your followers that can also function as organic advertising.

Do it Daily

Running a recurring social media contest does not have to be complicated. Some of the most successful social media contests in the restaurant industry were surprisingly easy to execute. Flash contests on Facebook where the winner is the first follower to respond takes the guesswork out of sorting through entries. Consider running a daily contest that asks your followers to share their favorite entree or dessert off your menu. Utilize regularly trending hashtags such as #MondayMotivation or #ThrowbackThursday to fill out your weekly schedule and give your followers more general food-centric prompts like "What's your favorite healthy treat?" or "Share your favorite after-school snack as a child."

Create a Custom Hashtag

While we're on the subject of hashtags, remember that promoting your brand is a vital component of a successful social media strategy. Create a catchy, custom hashtag that captures the spirit of your restaurant's brand to accompany your social media contests. If you decide to run contests across Twitter, having your followers utilize a custom hashtag in their posts will make it easier to find entries. Plus, you never know when a post will go viral, and you want your restaurant's brand messaging to make as many unique impressions as possible.

Picture Perfect Plates

Instagram contests that encourage users to share photos of their meals are an excellent way to extend your restaurant's social media reach far beyond your existing followers. They also serve as a form of organic advertising that showcases your restaurant's best assets  its food and beverages. Social media users already love sharing pictures of their dining adventures - use this behavior to your advantage.

Play by the Rules

Before your restaurant moves to the execution stage of any social media contest, check each platform's competition guidelines. Facebook and Instagram enforce strict rules regarding accurate tagging in content  you can't encourage users to tag themselves in photos if they aren't in the photo. Twitter's rulebook prohibits encouraging users to post duplicate (or near duplicate) updates or links. It's a good idea to check out the guidelines periodically for updates and changes.

About fishbat

fishbat is a full-service digital marketing firm that takes a holistic business approach to their clients' digital marketing programs. The fishbat team understands the importance of business principles just as well as the nuances of the latest digital technologies. fishbat offers every digital marketing service available from digital marketing research and planning to brand development to website and asset creation through social media management and search engine optimization programs - all custom calibrated for both B2B and B2C businesses.

Press Contact: Scott Darrohn, fishbat Media, 855-347-4228, [email protected]

SOURCE fishbat

Related Links

http://www.fishbat.com


NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarity Benefit Solutions, one of the leading HSA Companies, lists the top employee benefits that employers can use to attract the top talent in a tightened job market.

With unemployment at a historic low, the employment market is remarkably tight. In order to attract top talent, employers have started thinking outside the box, offering unconventional benefits. These benefits often promote a better work-life balance, address priority concerns for employees, and promote a better employee experience.

Here are the top trending voluntary benefits that are attracting top talent in a tight job market:

Student Loan Repayment Programs. Student debt affects more than half of the workforce. Especially for the millennial generation, paying off student loan debt is a top financial priority. Offering a student loan repayment program attracts top talent by showing potential employees that you understand and care about their needs while offering a way for them to achieve their financial goals.

Telecommuting/Flexible Work Hours. A Harvard Business Review study found that almost 90% of people would put more consideration toward a job that offered a flexible schedule than one that did not. Flexible work hours let parents be more involved in childcare, hobbies, and other things that improve work-life balance. This also includes the ability to telecommute or work remotely. Many people are attracted to opportunities that let them work from home at least part-time. This can save them childcare costs, and the cost and time associated with commuting.

Health and Wellness Programs. A study conducted by Workforce Magazine revealed that 87% of job seekers consider wellness packages when job searching. That study also reported that 67% of employees whose employers offered wellness programs would recommend their employer to others. Health and wellness programs give your employees opportunities to live a healthier, more active life while improving workplace culture.

Paid Time Off for Volunteering. As of 2018, almost a quarter of American adults did at least one volunteer activity. Volunteering is fulfilling and brings value to people's lives, but they often don't partake in large volunteer acts because it requires them to take off of work. Offering paid time off to volunteer shows potential employees that you value what is important to them and that you support their ventures outside of work.

About Clarity Benefit Solutions: Clarity Benefit Solutions HSA Administrators provides technology that makes the health insurance plan selection process fast, easy, and straightforward. For over two decades, we have provided clients with industry-leading technology, compliance, and exceptional customer service. Our offering is designed to save time and lower the costs of managing benefits while also promoting employee self-service and automated ACA compliance.

SOURCE Clarity Benefit Solutions

Related Links

https://claritybenefitsolutions.com


AUSTIN, Minn., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a leading global branded food company, today reported results for the first quarter of fiscal 2019. All comparisons are to the first quarter of fiscal 2018 unless otherwise noted.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Fiscal 2019 earnings guidance reaffirmed at $1.77 to $1.91 per share

to per share Volume of 1.2 billion lbs., up 1%

Net sales of $2.4 billion , up 1%

, up 1% Pre-tax earnings of $307 million , up 1%

, up 1% Diluted earnings per share of $0.44 , down $0.12 per share due to the impact of tax reform in 2018

, down per share due to the impact of tax reform in 2018 Effective tax rate of 21.3% compared to 0.6% last year

Operating margin of 13.0% compared to 13.0% last year

Cash flow from operations of $187 million , down 38%

COMMENTARY

"We had a solid quarter with sales growth from Refrigerated Foods, Grocery Products and International," said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. "Three of our four segments generated earnings growth, which keeps us on track to deliver our full-year guidance."

"Our new Hormel Deli Solutions division is off to a great start as the next growth engine for our company," Snee said. "In addition, many branded value-added businesses performed well this quarter, including our business in China and both Hormel and Jennie-O foodservice divisions. We also saw impressive growth from many retail brands, including SPAM, Dinty Moore, Herdez, Wholly Guacamole, Applegate, Natural Choice and Hormel pepperoni."

"Again this quarter, our well-developed strategy of shifting our mix toward branded, value-added products in our domestic and international businesses more than offset significant declines in the commodity businesses," Snee said. "We continue to intentionally transition our portfolio away from commodity products and the associated earnings volatility."

CYTOSPORT DIVESTITURE

"Earlier this week we announced a definitive agreement to sell the CytoSport business to PepsiCo," Snee said. "We made strong progress with innovation and sales growth in the food, drug and mass channel. However, it became clear to us over time that PepsiCo is the right long-term owner of this business as they have deep expertise in this space. PepsiCo has been a long-standing distribution partner for CytoSport and the Muscle Milk brand, which puts them in a strong position to grow this dynamic business."

The purchase price is $465 million in cash, subject to adjustments at closing. Total net sales in fiscal 2018 were approximately $300 million with operating margins slightly below total company operating margins.

SEGMENT HIGHLIGHTS  FIRST QUARTER

Refrigerated Foods

Volume down 1%

Net sales up 2%

Segment profit up 3%

Sales growth was led by the new Hormel Deli Solutions division, with strong gains coming from Columbus branded items and Jennie-O premium deli meats. Foodservice sales of Old Smokehouse bacon and Hormel Fire Braised products and retail sales of Hormel pepperoni, Hormel Natural Choice and Applegate products also showed excellent growth. Segment profit increased as value-added profits more than offset a 70% decline in commodity profits, higher freight costs and higher operational expenses.

Grocery Products

Volume up 3%

Net sales up 1%

Segment profit down 2%

Sales increases were led by Herdez salsas and sauces, Wholly Guacamole dips, the SPAM family of products, Muscle Milk protein beverages and Hormel bacon toppings. These sales increases were partially offset by declines in contract manufacturing. Segment profit declined due to the effect of a non-operating tax benefit in our MegaMex joint venture in fiscal 2018, which was partially offset by a legal settlement in fiscal 2019.

Jennie-O Turkey Store

Volume flat

Net sales flat

Segment profit flat

Volume and sales for the quarter were flat as improved results in foodservice and commodity sales were offset by declines in retail. Volume and sales increases in foodservice were driven by many categories, including Jennie-O raw boneless breasts and Jennie-O cooked breasts. Segment profit was flat as lower selling, general and administrative expenses were offset by lower retail sales of lean ground turkey.

International & Other

Volume up 1%

Net sales up 2%

Segment profit up 1%

International volume, sales and profit increases were led by double-digit growth in exports of SPAM luncheon meat and strong results from our China business. China results were positively impacted by strong sales of SPAM and SKIPPY branded products and lower pork input costs. Fresh pork export volume, sales and profitability declined in the quarter due to the continued impact of tariffs in key markets.

SELECTED FINANCIAL DETAILS

Income Statement

Results were negatively impacted by two cents EPS related to the sale of the Fremont facility. Expenses included the cost to move value-added equipment out of the facility and various pension-related items.

EPS related to the sale of the Fremont facility. Expenses included the cost to move value-added equipment out of the facility and various pension-related items. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased, primarily due to a one-time benefit of two cents EPS resulting from a legal settlement. This settlement includes compensation for lost profits and was primarily reflected in net unallocated expense and the Grocery Products segment.

EPS resulting from a legal settlement. This settlement includes compensation for lost profits and was primarily reflected in net unallocated expense and the Grocery Products segment. Advertising investments were $39 million compared to $40 million last year. Advertising investments for the full year are expected to be flat compared to the prior year.

compared to last year. Advertising investments for the full year are expected to be flat compared to the prior year. Operating margin was 13.0% compared to 13.0% last year.

The effective tax rate was 21.3% compared to 0.6% last year. The increase was primarily due to deferred tax remeasurements in fiscal 2018 as a result of The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The full-year effective tax rate for fiscal 2019 is expected to be between 20.5% and 23.0%.

Cash Flow Statement

Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $39 million compared to $54 million last year. Capital expenditures for the full year are expected to total approximately $350 million . Key projects for the full year include an expansion of our Burke pizza toppings facility in Nevada , Iowa , an expansion at our Fontanini facility in McCook, Ill. , and multiple other projects designed to increase value-added capacity.

compared to last year. Capital expenditures for the full year are expected to total approximately . Key projects for the full year include an expansion of our Burke pizza toppings facility in , , an expansion at our Fontanini facility in , and multiple other projects designed to increase value-added capacity. Depreciation and amortization expense in the first quarter was $40 million compared to $39 million last year. Expenses for the full year are expected to be approximately $160 million .

compared to last year. Expenses for the full year are expected to be approximately . Share repurchases for the quarter totaled $45 million , representing 1.1 million shares purchased.

, representing 1.1 million shares purchased. The Company paid its 362nd consecutive quarterly dividend at the annual rate of $0.84 per share, a 12% increase over the prior year.

Balance Sheet

Working capital decreased to $665 million from $911 million at the beginning of the year, primarily related to higher levels of current debt.

from at the beginning of the year, primarily related to higher levels of current debt. Cash on hand increased to $513 million from $459 million at the beginning of the year.

from at the beginning of the year. Total debt is $625 million . The debt is split between current maturities of long-term borrowings of $375 million and long-term borrowings of $250 million .

. The debt is split between current maturities of long-term borrowings of and long-term borrowings of . The company remains in a strong financial position to fund other capital needs.

OUTLOOK

"We are reaffirming our sales and earnings guidance for fiscal 2019," Snee said. "We remain encouraged by the growth prospects in Refrigerated Foods, Grocery Products and International. The results we are seeing in our deli, foodservice and China businesses are exceeding expectations. While the fundamentals in the turkey industry are improving, Jennie-O Turkey Store will likely fall below our full-year expectations due to a lower retail sales outlook. While global trade uncertainty remains, we continue to execute on our well-defined strategy that focuses on building world-class brands, leading with innovation and insights, making smart investment decisions and building intentional balance into our business."



Fiscal 2019 Outlook Net Sales Guidance (in billions) $9.70 - $10.20 Earnings per Share Guidance $1.77 - $1.91

PRESENTATION

A conference call will be webcast at 8 a.m. CT on Thursday, February 21, 2019. Access is available at www.hormelfoods.com by clicking on "Investors." The call will also be available via telephone by dialing 888-254-3590 and providing the access code 1445918. An audio replay is available by going to www.hormelfoods.com. The webcast replay will be available at 11 a.m. CT, Thursday, February 21, 2019, and will remain on the website for one year.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS - Inspired People. Inspired Food.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a leading global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenues across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Skippy, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Columbus, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly Guacamole, Hormel Black Label and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the 10th year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. In 2016, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary and announced its new vision for the future - Inspired People. Inspired Food. - focusing on its legacy of innovation. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

REPORTING SEGMENTS

At the beginning of fiscal 2019, the Hormel Deli Solutions division combined all deli businesses, including the Jennie-O Turkey Store deli division, into one division within the Refrigerated Foods segment. In addition, the ingredients business was realigned from the Grocery Products segment to the Refrigerated Foods segment. Fiscal 2018 first quarter segment net sales and segment profit reflect the new operating segments. These segment changes have no effect on previously reported consolidated net sales, operating profit, net earnings or earnings per share.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking information based on management's current views and assumptions. Actual events may differ materially. Please refer to the cautionary statement regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors that appears on pages 7-9 and 28-30 in the company's Form 10-K for the year ended October 28, 2018, which can be accessed at hormelfoods.com in the "Investors" section.

HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION SEGMENT DATA (Unaudited) (In thousands)



Thirteen Weeks Ended

January 27,

2019

January 28,

2018*

% Change NET SALES









Grocery Products $ 606,825



$ 603,577



0.5

Refrigerated Foods 1,278,747



1,254,637



1.9

Jennie-O Turkey Store 321,234



322,760



(0.5)

International & Other 153,549



150,319



2.1

TOTAL $ 2,360,355



$ 2,331,293



1.2

























OPERATING PROFIT









Grocery Products $ 95,297



$ 97,545



(2.3)

Refrigerated Foods 162,593



157,531



3.2

Jennie-O Turkey Store 37,904



37,724



0.5

International & Other 24,978



24,655



1.3

TOTAL SEGMENT PROFIT 320,772



317,455



1.0

Net unallocated expense 13,891



12,394



12.1

Noncontrolling interest 94



104



(9.6)

EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX $ 306,975



$ 305,165



0.6





* FY18 segment results have been adjusted to reflect the changes in the Grocery Products, Refrigerated Foods and Jennie-O Turkey Store segments.

HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (In thousands, except per share amounts)



Thirteen Weeks Ended

January 27,

2019

January 28,

2018* Net sales $ 2,360,355



$ 2,331,293

Cost of products sold 1,872,021



1,832,997

GROSS PROFIT 488,334



498,296

Selling, general and administrative 193,544



219,872

Equity in earnings of affiliates 11,458



23,531

OPERATING INCOME 306,248



301,955

Interest & investment income (expense) 6,874



7,939

Interest expense (6,147)



(4,729)

EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAXES 306,975



305,165

Provision for income taxes 65,456



1,954

(effective tax rate) 21.3 %

0.6 % NET EARNINGS 241,519



303,211

Less: net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interest 94



104

NET EARNINGS ATTRIBUTABLE TO HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION $ 241,425



$ 303,107









NET EARNINGS PER SHARE





Basic $ 0.45



$ 0.57

Diluted $ 0.44



$ 0.56









WEIGHTED-AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING









Basic 534,495



529,453

Diluted 547,118



543,482









Dividends declared per share $ 0.2100



$ 0.1875





*Restated per ASU 2017-07, Compensation - Retirement Benefits: Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost (Topic 715).

HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION (Unaudited) (In thousands)



January 27,

2019

October 28,

2018 ASSETS













Cash and cash equivalents $ 512,689



$ 459,136

Accounts receivable 565,060



600,438

Inventories 994,428



963,527

Income taxes receivable 147



3,995

Prepaid expenses 23,601



16,342

Other current assets 4,761



6,662

TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 2,100,686



2,050,100









Goodwill 2,716,750



2,714,116

Other intangibles 1,204,991



1,207,219

Pension assets 200,448



195,153

Investments in and receivables from affiliates 277,837



273,153

Other assets 171,005



189,951

Property, plant & equipment, net 1,483,681



1,512,600

TOTAL ASSETS $ 8,155,398



$ 8,142,292

















LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' INVESTMENT





















Accounts payable $ 505,617



$ 618,830

Accrued expenses 50,361



48,298

Accrued worker's compensation 25,215



24,594

Accrued marketing 139,338



118,887

Employee-related expenses 160,242



224,736

Taxes payable 63,791



2,490

Interest and dividends payable 116,370



101,079

Current maturities of long-term debt 374,878





TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 1,435,812



1,138,914









Long-term debt, less current maturities 250,000



624,840

Pension and post-retirement benefits 484,004



477,557

Other long-term liabilities 100,134



99,070

Deferred income taxes 179,669



197,093

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (292,342)



(243,498)

Other shareholder's investment 5,998,121



5,848,316

TOTAL LIABILITIES & SHAREHOLDERS' INVESTMENT $ 8,155,398



$ 8,142,292



HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) (In thousands)



Thirteen Weeks Ended

January 27,

2019

January 28,

2018 OPERATING ACTIVITIES





Net earnings $ 241,519



$ 303,211

Depreciation and amortization of intangibles 40,018



39,123

(Increase) decrease in working capital (81,659)



58,879

Other (12,453)



(97,036)

NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES 187,425



304,177









INVESTING ACTIVITIES





Acquisitions of businesses/intangibles 



(858,102)

Net purchases of property/equipment (9,125)



(52,943)

Decrease in investments, equity in affiliates, and other assets 7,446



5,746

NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (1,679)



(905,299)









FINANCING ACTIVITIES





Net proceeds (payments) from short-term debt 



255,000

Net proceeds (payments) from long-term debt 38



374,726

Dividends paid on common stock (100,125)



(89,814)

Share repurchase (44,809)



(25,199)

Other 15,997



23,455

NET CASH (USED IN) PROVIDED BY FINANCING ACTIVITIES (128,899)



538,168

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (3,294)



4,607

INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 53,553



(58,347)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 459,136



444,122

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT END OF QUARTER $ 512,689



$ 385,775



SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation

Related Links

http://www.hormelfoods.com


SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Catalyst, Inc. a leader in next-generation data, analytics, and decision support, today congratulated Louisiana's Thibodaux Regional Medical Center on being named the Top Innovation winner in the first annual Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH) Innovation Award. The new awards program recognizes healthcare organizations that overcome quality improvement challenges related to patient safety.

Thibodaux Regional, a 180-bed regional medical center with more than 1,200 employees and 250 physicians on its medical staff, was given the top honors for its work in transforming its orthopedic care processes, especially around total hip (THA) and total knee (TKA) arthroplasty. THA and TKA are the most prevalent surgeries for Medicare patients in the United States, with more than 400,000 cases in 2014 at a cost of more than $7 billion annually for hospitalization.

The first annual PSQH Innovation Awards recognize healthcare organizations who have overcome quality improvement challenges. Organizations receiving honorable mentions in the awards program were Intermountain Healthcare, in Salt Lake City; University of Kansas Health System, in Kansas City; Jersey Community Hospital, in Jerseyville, IL; and Seattle Children's Hospital, in Seattle.

In recognizing Thibodaux Regional, judges from PSQH cited the organization's use of its previously implemented enterprise data warehouse and broad suite of analytics applications to identify opportunities for improvement, resulting in a 76.5 percent relative reduction in the complication rate for total hip and knee replacements while achieving more than $815,000 in cost savings in less than two years. Additional results lauded by PSQH included:

38.5 percent relative reduction in length of stay (LOS) for patients with total hip replacements

23.3 percent relative reduction in LOS for patients with total knee replacements, due to improved patient education, early mobilization, and decreased use of opioids

Consistently high levels of patient satisfaction

"As the population continues to age overall and more individuals reach retirement age, total hip and knee replacement surgeries are expected to grow rapidly," said Dan Burton, CEO of Health Catalyst. "The significant, measurable improvements, both clinically and financially, that Thibodaux Regional achieved shows how data and analytics can be used to rework processes and workflows to drive consistency, reduce variation and waste, and ultimately create a better patient experience from beginning to end."

A Care Transformation Orthopedic Team was formed at Thibodaux Regional to research evidence-based best practices across multiple disciplines and evaluated various strategies to improve patient safety, reduce complication rates and strengthen patient education. Once its transformation adjustments were in place, the team used its analytics application to provide near-real-time data, creating valuable insights into complication rates, average variable cost, LOS, compliance with its newly defined pre- and post-operative processes, and patient satisfaction. The surgical team could immediately see the impact of their work on outcomes, which increased stakeholder commitment and willingness to change.

The Care Transformation Orthopedic Team is now exploring additional opportunities to decrease costs in the operating room, including development of a new initiative called WellFit that integrates medical care with wellness to give participants the highest-quality, most-active lifestyle possible to optimize the participant's strengths while lowering medical risks.

About Health Catalyst

Health Catalyst is a next-generation data, analytics, and decision-support company, committed to being a catalyst for massive, sustained improvements in healthcare outcomes. We are the leaders in a new era of advanced predictive analytics for population health and value-based care with a suite of machine learning-driven solutions, decades of outcomes improvement expertise, and an unparalleled ability to unleash and integrate data from across the healthcare ecosystem. Our Health Catalyst Data Operating System (DOS)a next-generation data warehouse and application development platform powered by data from more than 100 million patients, and encompassing over 1 trillion factshelps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs for organizations ranging from the largest US health system to forward-thinking physician practices. Our technology and professional services can help you keep patients engaged and healthy in their homes, communities, and workplaces, and we can help you optimize care delivery to those patients when it becomes necessary. We are grateful to be recognized by Fortune, Gallup, Glassdoor, Modern Healthcare and a host of others as a Best Place to Work in technology and healthcare. Visit www.healthcatalyst.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

For more information contact:

Todd Stein

Amendola Communications

510-417-0612

[email protected]

SOURCE Health Catalyst

Related Links

http://www.healthcatalyst.com


HOUSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE: GPI), ("Group 1" or the "Company"), an international, Fortune 500 automotive retailer, today announced that its board of directors increased the Company's common stock share repurchase authorization to $75 million.

Purchases may be made from time to time, based on market conditions, legal requirements and other corporate considerations, in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The Company expects that any repurchase of shares will be funded by cash from operations. Repurchased shares will be held in treasury.

ABOUT GROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Group 1 owns and operates 182 automotive dealerships, 237 franchises, and 47 collision centers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil that offer 30 brands of automobiles. Through its dealerships, the Company sells new and used cars and light trucks; arranges related vehicle financing; sells service contracts; provides automotive maintenance and repair services; and sells vehicle parts.

Investors please visit www.group1corp.com, www.group1auto.com, www.group1collision.com, www.facebook.com/group1auto, and www.twitter.com/group1auto, where Group 1 discloses additional information about the Company, its business, and its results of operations.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are statements related to future, not past, events and are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. In this context, the forward-looking statements often include statements regarding our goals, plans, projections and guidance regarding our financial position, results of operations, market position, pending and potential future acquisitions and business strategy, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should," "foresee," "may" or "will" and similar expressions. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate. Any such forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, (a) general economic and business conditions, (b) the level of manufacturer incentives, (c) the future regulatory environment, (d) our ability to obtain an inventory of desirable new and used vehicles, (e) our relationship with our automobile manufacturers and the willingness of manufacturers to approve future acquisitions, (f) our cost of financing and the availability of credit for consumers, (g) our ability to complete acquisitions and dispositions and the risks associated therewith, (h) foreign exchange controls and currency fluctuations, and (i) our ability to retain key personnel. For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE: Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

Investor contacts:

Sheila Roth

Manager, Investor Relations

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

713-647-5741 | [email protected]

Media contacts:

Pete DeLongchamps

V.P. Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services and Public Affairs

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

713-647-5770 | [email protected]

or

Clint Woods

Pierpont Communications, Inc.

713-627-2223 | [email protected]

SOURCE Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.group1auto.com/


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Glidewell Dental, an industry-leading provider of dental laboratory services, products, technologies, and clinical education, has released Vol. 14, Issue 1, of Chairside magazine, featuring a cover story with general dentist and forensic odontologist, Dr. Mary Shields.

V14I1 Chairside Magazine Cover

From collecting human bite-mark evidence to identifying remains after a natural disaster, Dr. Shields applies dental science to legal cases and investigations around the world. Glidewell Dental Vice President of Clinical Affairs Dr. Neil Park talks with Dr. Shields about one of her recent missing person cases and how a BruxZir zirconia crown was the key to bringing closure to a hurting family.

In this fascinating interview, Dr. Shields, who is set to become one of fewer than 100 board-certified forensic odontologists in the world, shares some of the rewards and challenges of working with local law enforcement and global rescue agencies while also maintaining a thriving dental practice.

The new edition of Chairside also gives readers an in-depth look at an unprecedented 8-year study on BruxZir Solid Zirconia from the independent Gordon J Christensen Clinicians Report. The landmark clinical study highlights the fact that BruxZir zirconia  the most prescribed brand of full-contour zirconia in North America  exhibited a 100 percent survival rate and zero terminal fractures after eight years.

The magazine also showcases the results of a two-year retrospective study, completed by Dr. Mayuri Kerr, Brett Allen, and Dr. Neil Park, investigating the success rate of the popular Hahn Tapered Implant System. Dr. Kerr and her team found that the Hahn implants in the study enjoyed a 99.2% success rate and mean bone loss that compares favorably with other major implant systems on the market.

For doctors looking to improve and expand their practice, the edition also includes seven practical tips for entering the field of sleep dentistry from Dr. John Tucker and an interview with Dr. John Geasland on how his patients have benefited since he added implant surgery to his practice.

Chairside magazine also comes in a digital format that offers readers exclusive content, including in-depth videos, clinical case photos, CE credits and more. It can be accessed anytime, anywhere, from a desktop, hand-held tablet or mobile device. Print editions of the quarterly magazine are distributed to dental offices nationwide.

About Glidewell Dental

Glidewell Dental is among the world's largest providers of custom restorative services and is recognized as an industry-leading materials and devices manufacturer. Established in 1970 in Orange County, California, Glidewell Dental continues to build on its storied history of technological innovation and continuing education, committed to making comprehensive, high-quality treatment more accessible to patients in the U.S. and internationally. For more information, please visit glidewelldental.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Eldon Thompson, Sr. Director of Marketing

Glidewell Dental

[email protected]

Related Links

Glidewell Dental

SOURCE Glidewell Dental

Related Links

http://glidewelldental.com


SAO PAULO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 4Q18 Highlights

Highest full-year EBITDA of the last 10 years ( R$ 6.7 billion ), with EBITDA margin of 14.4%, and highest 4Q EBITDA of the last 10 years ( R$ 1.4 billion ), with EBITDA margin of 12.9%.





), with EBITDA margin of 14.4%, and highest 4Q EBITDA of the last 10 years ( ), with EBITDA margin of 12.9%. Dividend distribution of R$ 765 million approved for 2018 is the highest of the last 10 years.





approved for 2018 is the highest of the last 10 years. Financial leverage measured by the net debt/adjusted EBITDA ratio stood at 1.7x on Dec. 31st, 2018 .





. Free cash flow of R$ 2.6 billion in 2018 and R$ 2.0 billion in 4Q18.

Additional Information

Gerdau S.A. informs that it is filling today its 4Q18 results at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and at the Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios (CVM), which are available at Gerdau's website. To access this document, please click on https://ri.gerdau.com/notices-and-results/results-center#2018

The 4Q18 Valuation Guide is also available at Gerdau's website

https://ri.gerdau.com/financial-information/valuation-guide

Investor Relations

[email protected]

55 11 3094 6300

SOURCE Gerdau S.A.

Related Links

http://ri.gerdau.com


CALABASAS, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Announcing the selection of Gerald L. Marcus among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys for 2019. Selection to America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys is by invitation only and is reserved to identify the nation's most exceptional litigators for high-value personal injury, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, and medical malpractice matters.

To be considered for selection, an attorney must focus more than 50% of their active legal practice on personal injury, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, and/or medical malpractice matters. These minimum qualifications are required for initial consideration. Thereafter, candidates are carefully screened through Advanced Data Analytics evaluating a broad array of criteria, including the candidate's professional experience, litigation experience, significant personal injury settlements and/or verdicts, peer reputation, and community impact in order to rank the candidates throughout the state.

Only the top 100 qualifying attorneys in each state will receive this honor and be selected for membership among America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys. With these extremely high standards for selection to America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys, less than one-half percent (0.5%) of active attorneys in the United States will receive this honor  truly the most exclusive and elite level of attorneys in the community.

If you would like more information about America's Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys or the selection process, please visit our website at www.Top100PersonalInjuryAttorneys.com or contact Kevin Wieser  Membership Director at [email protected].

The personal injury lawyers at The Law Offices of Gerald L. Marcus have handled thousands of injury cases for clients in the greater Los Angeles area for more than 30 years and recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on their behalf. If you or a loved one was injured in an accident, trust our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys to pursue maximum financial compensation under personal injury law.

SOURCE The Law Offices of Gerald L. Marcus

Related Links

http://www.Top100PersonalInjuryAttorneys.com


HICKSVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- You've found the perfect franchise, done all the research, spoken to current franchisees, and you're ready to make the big purchase. But do you need a lawyer to help you through the process? The answer is always yes. When pursuing a franchise opportunity, there are significant amounts of paperwork that you'll need reviewed, as well as questions/concerns you may have about the overarching rules and management. An attorney familiar with franchises will be able to guide you through all these processes and ensure that you make the optimal decisions to protect yourself and your future business. Franchise and Real Estate Attorney Long Island, Suffolk County , Markotsis & Lieberman, P.C., discusses the importance of attorney representation in franchise deals.

Your lawyer knows the relevant laws and regulations that are specific to opening or running a franchise. They can assist you in transactional procedures relating to the opening of the store, be it with the franchisor or the landlord. They can also help you deal with negotiations and, if necessary, disputes and lawsuits. When choosing a franchise attorney, ensure that they have the right experience to help with all of the aspects of opening and operating a franchise.

Franchise agreements tend to strongly favor the franchisor. Having an attorney in your corner will help make sure your transaction is fair and you're well represented. They will review the terms of your agreement and advise you of its meaning so you are fully aware of the parameters of the relationship with the franchisor. They will also make educated, informed recommendations for possible negotiation. Additionally, if problems persist post-signing, a franchise attorney will be able to advise on how to pursue a solution with the franchisor. Franchisees often hesitate when faced with business problems. Having the support of a seasoned attorney can provide the support and expertise a franchisee needs.

They can advise you on choosing a business entity. A lawyer experienced with franchises will be able to suggest how to structure your new business. They know the difference between an LLC, a C-Corporation, and all the other various options you have. Choosing the right business entity is extremely important and will determine your legal rights and liabilities as a business owner and how your business is taxed.

When investing in something as important as a new business, having a competent lawyer by your side experienced in franchise transactions is imperative. The legalities of a franchise are complex and having the right agreements and documentation between you and your franchisor can make or break a business. Throughout the ownership process, you'll find that having the right attorney will be a major asset to your team.

About Markotsis & Lieberman, P.C.: Markotsis & Lieberman, P.C Real Estate Law Firms is a general practice law firm. Practice areas include business formations, agreements and transactions, real estate, litigation (commercial and civil), and wills, trusts and estates. Our team of seasoned attorneys is here to guide you through every step of the legal process providing personalized attention to every client. When you're facing a complicated legal situation, our team of legal experts is there to fight for your rights.

SOURCE Markotsis & Lieberman, P.C.

Related Links

http://mlesq.com


Students who studied on an IES Abroad or IES Internship program in 2018 submitted applications to be considered for the award. IES Abroad received inspiring submissions from its students across 25 U.S. colleges and universities, such as Grinnell College, University of Virginia and Indiana University, to name a few.

Breana Ross (IES Abroad Cape Town Customized Program, Spring 2018 | University of Miami) has been selected as the 2018 IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year for her dedicated work with students from high-need townships in South Africa, through the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO) in Cape Town.

This next generation of future leaders is diverse, passionate, and action-focused about social justice, and committed to a more inclusive global vision. Many of IES Abroad's students  93 percent of whom find employment within six months of graduation, among other benefits  prepare themselves for futures that embody global citizenship through their service abroad. The Global Citizen of the Year Award highlights the experiences of those individuals.

Honored students for the 2018 Global Citizen of the Year Award include:

Global Citizen of the Year Winner:

Breana Ross | IES Abroad Cape Town Customized Program, Spring 2018 | University of Miami

Global Citizen of the Year Finalists:

Idil Tanrisever | IES Abroad Buenos AiresLatin American Society & Culture, Spring 2018 | Lafayette College

| IES Abroad Buenos AiresLatin American Society & Culture, Spring 2018 | Jeremy Marks | IES Abroad Shanghai & Beijing Customized Program, Summer 2018 and IES Internships Cape Town, Summer 2018 | University of Iowa

| IES Abroad Shanghai & Beijing Customized Program, Summer 2018 and IES Internships Cape Town, Summer 2018 | Phoebe Forlenza | IES Abroad MilanItaly Today, Spring 2018 | Barnard CollegeColumbia University

As the winner of the Global Citizen of the Year Award, Ross will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and the three finalists will each receive a $400 cash prize.

An international jury of IES Abroad employees reviewed the student applications, looking for contributions the students made that affected their local community while abroad; lessons they learned not only about themselves, but also about the local community in which they lived; and plans to sustain or continue their impact once they have returned from abroad.

As part of their applications, student winners shared a range of meaningful contributions and anecdotes, such as volunteering in impoverished Argentine villas, like Idil Tanrisever; collaborating with local businesses to facilitate cross-cultural understanding, like Jeremy Marks; and assisting refugee, migrant and immigration services, like Phoebe Forlenza.

Breana Ross' commitment to and reflections on the importance of mutual learning experiences contributed to her winning the award. Ross also successfully articulated how she will apply her experiences abroad now and in the future, which showed that she strives to be a global citizen every day, not just today, or simply just for this award.

Now a senior journalism major at the University of Miami, Ross builds cross-cultural bridges of poetry, storytelling and education through a writing organization she founded during her sophomore year called Written in My Soul, the mission of which is "to teach youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds how to express themselves in a healthy manner through poetry," according to Ross.

She carried this passion with her to Cape Town, and she discovered an outlet for it through her involvement with SHAWCO, a student-led service organization at the University of Cape Town. Through SHAWCO she was able to teach reading and math to second and third graders in Nyanga and Manenberg, two impoverished townships in South Africa.

"The children I worked with in some of the townships were some of the happiest people I have ever seen, yet they were some of the poorest," Ross said. "Many of them did not have adequate food, water, shelter or clothing, yet they approached each day with a happiness and zealousness that changed my entire perspective. They did not focus on what they did not have. They focused on being happy in the present moment and showing love the best ways they knew how."

In addition to working with local youth, Ross found an outlet for her love of journalism by contributing content to the University of Cape Town's newspaper. Upon her return to the United States, she plans to continue using her journalism skills to give voice to overlooked international issues.

"Using my love for writing and storytelling allowed me to not only reflect on the experiences I was having, but also to share my blogs and stories with an audience both in South Africa and back home in the U.S. to spark meaningful dialogue," she said. "As a storyteller, I now think of my stories as providing a window into a world different than that of my viewers. I look for stories that tackle social issues, issues that Americans may find uncomfortable but South Africans would proudly and comfortably discuss."

Ross also plans to implement what she learned studying abroad in Cape Town to improve the reach and impact of Written in My Soul.

NOTES TO EDITORS

More information and imagery for each awardee can be found in the IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award Press Kit, here.

If you would like to interview a student, or need additional information, please get in touch with Mekky Media: Email: [email protected] | Direct Line: 773-580-9721

ABOUT IES ABROAD

Founded in 1950, IES Abroad is a not-for-profit academic consortium of more than 260 top-tier American colleges and universities, with more than 240 additional partner universities worldwide. IES Abroad provides premier study abroad and internship programs around the world through IES Abroad, IES Internships, IES Abroad Customized & Faculty-Led Programs, and The Study Abroad Foundation. With more than 400 study abroad programs in 85 locations worldwide, the organization creates authentic global education opportunities for more than 10,000 students annually. IES Abroad has nearly 140,000 alumni who have benefited from studying on IES Abroad programs since its inception, and offers more than $5 million in scholarships and financial aid.

You can also find us on social media:

Twitter: @iesabroad

Facebook: IES Abroad

Instagram: @iesabroad

Contact: David Viggiano

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE IES Abroad

Related Links

http://www.iesabroad.org


Strong Roots addresses fast-rising demand for healthy foods that are plant-based, flavorful and easy to prepare at a time when consumers are trading up to better quality ingredients, convenience, and tastier options to help them live a flexitarian and increasingly, vegan lifestyle.

The company is making its U.S. debut next month at Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., in booth 1087, with a line-up of its best-selling products including Mixed Root Vegetable Fries--a vibrant mix of beets, carrots and parsnips, Kale & Quinoa Burgers, and Cauliflower Hash Browns.

Strong Roots was founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Samuel Dennigan, 33, who has deep family roots in the produce business. Strong Roots products are now available in 4,000 supermarkets in Ireland and the U.K., with sales climbing from zero to 20 million totaled over a three-year period. Dennigan attributes the success to a keen focus on consumer needs.

"Young consumers are savvier and more curious about food than ever before but have had few appealing options in the freezer. Strong Roots brings a better experience-a delight to come home to on a busy weeknight for a meal or a tasty everyday snack. We inspire today's healthy eaters to be spontaneous and creative by offering flavorful foods they can mix and match with minimal prep. We like to think of Strong Roots as their 'plant-based friend,'" Dennigan says.

"We are a purpose-driven company. Our foods are smart and sustainable, avoid spoilage, and have recyclable packaging. We want to help change lives for the better."

Strong Roots is entering the U.S. with eight of its top-selling products. All are verified Vegan and Non-GMO. The Root Vegetables are gluten free and all are made with no artificial flavors or trans fats. The line will be available in late spring in natural and specialty food stores and major supermarkets via natural products distributors KeHE and UNFI, and others.

Products coming to U.S. stores include:

Mixed Root Vegetable Fries

A crispy, vibrant selection of beetroot, carrot and parsnip. SRP $4.99-5.49, 15 oz. bag. Gluten Free.

Beetroot Wedges

Lightly dipped in rice flour batter, ready to oven bake and add color to every plate. SRP $4.99-5.49, 15 oz. bag. Gluten Free.

Spinach Bites

In a crisp, carrot and vegetable crumb, perfect to share, dip or as a side. SRP $4.99-5.49, 13.3 oz. bag.

Cauliflower Hash Browns

A crisp cauliflower hash brown perfect to share, for breakfast or as a side. SRP $4.99-5.49, 13.3 oz. bag.

Broccoli & Purple Carrot Bites

A crisp broccoli bite coated in a purple carrot crumb. Perfect to share, dip or as a side. SRP $4.99-5.49, 13.3 oz. bag.

Kale & Quinoa Burger

A blend of quinoa, kale and mixed vegetables with a puffed quinoa coating. SRP $4.49-$4.99, four per box.

Pumpkin & Spinach Burger

Pumpkin, mixed vegetables and a puffed quinoa coating combined in a delicious vegetable patty. SRP $4.49-$4.99, four per box.

Beetroot & Bean Burger

Kidney beans, beetroot and bulgur wheat, perfectly seasoned and full of flavor. Coated in beetroot crumbs. SRP $4.49-$4.99, four per box.

The U.S. expansion comes as frozen food sales are starting to heat up after a five-year slump, according to Nielsen. Once shunned as inferior to fresh produce, today's frozen foods are gaining converts among food lovers. The Wall Street Journal declared just this month that serious cooks are "revisiting the coolest aisle and hacking into the freezer's potential." Strong Roots is also tapping into fast-rising demand for plant-based foods. Sales of plant-based foods jumped 20 percent to $3.3 billion compared with the prior year, according to a July 2018 report from the Plant Based Foods Association.

About Strong Roots

Strong Roots was founded in 2015 by Samuel Dennigan, an Irish entrepreneur who spent a decade working for his family's fresh produce distribution business and saw an opportunity to bring next-generation innovation to what he considers the sleepy frozen food market. After a strong start in Ireland with one product, Sweet Potato Fries, Dennigan, 33, has expanded distribution across the U.K. to major retailers like Whole Foods, Waitrose, Tesco and Harrod's department store and to 10 other markets including Iceland and Singapore. The line now has eight innovative flavors of frozen root vegetable fries, veggie burgers and bites, developed by forging relationships with growers across Europe and in the U.S., providing top-quality, sustainably grown produce and innovative recipes.

Strong Roots has won several industry awards including four Great Taste Awards and three New Product Awards from The Grocer. In 2017 Dennigan was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Food and Drink in Ireland and won the Start-Up Award in Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition. The company is a finalist for a coveted NEXTY Award from Natural Products Expo West. Winners will be announced in March 2019. Strong Roots is a member of the Plant Based Foods Association. Its U.S. subsidiary is based in Brooklyn, N.Y.

For Photos, Fact Sheet, Founder Bio and Nutrition Information, click here

Instagram: @strongrootsusa, Facebook: @strongrootsusa

SOURCE Strong Roots
MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm, today announced the appointment of Ross A. Jaffe, MD as a Venture Advisor on the firm's healthcare investment team. Dr. Jaffe will work closely with NEA's medical device team out of the firm's Menlo Park office.

"We've had the pleasure of working with Dr. Jaffe for quite some time as a co-investor and fellow board member," said Dr. Josh Makower, General Partner and Head of Medical Device and Healthtech investing at NEA. "Dr. Jaffe's deep roots within the Medtech investing ecosystem and leadership role improving regulatory and reimbursement processes in the US make him an excellent partner in advancing our current projects, as well as helping us identify new transformative medical device investments. We are honored to have Dr. Jaffe join us as a Venture Advisor and look forward to the value he will add to both our investment team and medical device portfolio companies."

Dr. Jaffe is an experienced venture capitalist with expertise in medical technology. As one of the founders and a Managing Director of Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, he has spent the past twenty years investing primarily in medical devices. Prior to founding Versant Ventures, Dr. Jaffe was a General Partner at Brentwood Venture Capital, where he led investments in medical device, drug delivery, biotechnology, healthcare services, and healthcare information system companies.

Dr. Jaffe has served on the boards of multiple successful medical technology companies, including Acclarent, St. Francis Medical Technologies, Therasense, Insulet, Novacept, and Ablation Frontiers, and is currently a Director of AlterG, Minerva Surgical, and DocMatter. He earned a BA in Policy Studies from Dartmouth; an MD from Johns Hopkins; and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business; and completed his medical training and served as an attending physician at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Jaffe has played an active role in the venture capital and medical device communities, including serving as a Director of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists. He currently serves as a Director of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), an FDA-industry collaboration focused on improving regulatory science. Dr. Jaffe was honored with the NVCA Outstanding Service Award in 2017 and has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists in 2008, 2011, and 2012. Outside the venture community, Dr. Jaffe is a current member and former Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and a former Chair of the Board of the Children's Health Council.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than $20 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm's first fund closed in 1978, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 225 portfolio company IPOs and more than 375 acquisitions. www.nea.com.

SOURCE New Enterprise Associates, Inc.

Related Links

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HOUSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Energy, one of North America's largest energy and services companies and a subsidiary of Centrica plc, is selling Clockwork, Inc., and certain of its affiliates ("Clockwork") to Authority Brands, a home services franchise platform backed by funds advised by Apax Partners for $300 million. Clockwork consists of over 725 franchise territories, and 10 company-owned stores, and brands including One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning (One Hour), Benjamin Franklin Plumbing (Benjamin Franklin), Mister Sparky electric, BuyMax, Success Academy and SuccessWare 21.

Direct Energy acquired Clockwork in 2010 for $183 million. Since then, awareness of the home services brands, One Hour, Benjamin Franklin and Mister Sparky has grown in North America. However, Centrica's consumer strategy has evolved, with an increased focus on developing ongoing customer relationships through home protection plans and home warranty offers, and on developing its own home services brands and driving simplification and focus in the scope of services we deliver to customers. The sale price represents an attractive multiple of Clockwork's 2018 EBITDA.

"Direct Energy will focus on building ongoing relationships with our customers and continue to deliver growth through both energy and a broader network of home service providers, as well as expanding our home protection plans and home warranty offers. The decision for this sale reflects our goals to focus and simplify our channels to customers and to own our own brands," said Bruce Stewart, president of Direct Energy Home North America. "Authority Brands is a good home for Clockwork and the franchise owners and customers will see no difference in our service delivery as we conclude this transaction."

Rob Weddle, CEO of Authority Brands, said: "The addition of the Clockwork group of brands is an important and significant step in the evolution of Authority Brands. The One Hour, Benjamin Franklin, and Mister Sparky brands are market-leading franchises within their respective industries and their addition to our portfolio doubles our overall system revenue to over $1 billion."

Ashish Karandikar, Partner at Apax Partners, said: "We are delighted to support Authority Brands with this transformational acquisition. The Clockwork brands operate in attractive markets and will bring scale and diversification to Authority Brands' platform."

"Clockwork has been a good business for Centrica since its acquisition in 2010," said Mark Hodges, Executive Director and Chief Executive, Centrica Consumer. "The sale of the Clockwork portfolio is aligned with our intention to drive channel and brand rationalization across the Group, with a continued focus on efficiency, effectiveness, quality and simplification. I am pleased we have found a good home in Authority Brands and wish the Clockwork business and its franchisees the best for the future."

The sale is expected to close in the first half of 2019 and is subject to approval by U.S. competition authorities under the Hart Scott Rodino Act.

About Direct Energy

Direct Energy is one of North America's largest retail providers of electricity, natural gas, and home and business energy-related services with over four million customers. Direct Energy gives customers choice, simplicity, and innovation where energy, data, and technology meet. A subsidiary of Centrica plc (LSE: CNA), an international energy and services company, Direct Energy, its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, operate in 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia and 8 provinces in Canada. To learn more about Direct Energy, please visit www.directenergy.com.

SOURCE Direct Energy

Related Links

http://www.directenergy.com


Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Former Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena on Thursday finally showed up at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to answer the complaints against him in connection to the multibillion-peso shabu shipments that slipped into the country last year.

Lapena, currently the director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, submitted his counter-affidavit in response to the graft and administrative charges filed against him by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in January.

He asked the DOJ panel of prosecutors to junk the complaints against him, but refused to give a copy of his counter-affidavit to the media.

"I have submitted my counter affidavit and it is for the consideration of the Department of Justice panel and it will go through a process and at this point in time I cannot make a comment on the process that it will undergo," he said.

The NBI tagged Lapena as one of the respondents for failure to prosecute those behind the magnetic lifters. It accused Lapena of dereliction of duty, grave misconduct, and corrupt practices for causing "undue injury" to the government by his inaction.

The complaint stems from the discovery of two massive drug shipments concealed in magnetic lifters - one believed to be worth 11 billion and the other, 2.4 billion - which slipped into the country last year under Lapena's watch as Customs chief.

The panel reprimanded the lawyer of the NBI after he moved to withdraw the name of one of the respondents.

A prosecutor denied the motion, saying it shows NBI "did not study the complaint very well." The panel will conduct an ocular inspection of the site where the six magnetic lifters were found.

Dozens of personalities allegedly involved in the smuggling, including a number of companies and their officers, were also charged in relation to the shabu ssmuggling.

In December last year, PDEA also filed drug charges against over 40 people, but found no evidence linking Lapena to the shabu smuggling.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY) announced today that Douglas M. Bell has joined the firm as EY Global Trade Policy Leader and will work across the organization to support clients and advise EY leadership on trade issues. Bell comes to the EY organization following a distinguished career in the federal government  most recently at the US Department of the Treasury, where he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade and Investment Policy.

"We are in a period of intensive action following the 2017 tax reform bill and new global trade directives. EY insights are sought after by domestic and multinational companies eager to navigate this fluid landscape," said Marna Ricker, EY Americas Vice Chair of Tax Services. "Doug is deeply experienced in trade agreements and international economic policy discussions, having represented the US on a number of major bi- and multilateral trade negotiations. During his time in government, he earned a reputation for focusing on the broad issues faced by the US in order to compete globally."

Bell's extensive knowledge of trade policy and historical perspective of US trade policy development can enhance EY service offerings, addressing important market drivers and recent global trade disruptions to help clients benefit from wide-ranging EY capabilities.

Bell has served under both Republican and Democrat administrations. At Treasury, he led the department's trade policy development efforts, with an emphasis on the financial services sector and matters relating to China and the European Union. He also managed Treasury's involvement in free-trade agreement and bilateral investment treaty negotiations.

Prior to his role at Treasury, Bell also served at the:

Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), including four years as the Counselor and Assistant US Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics. There he oversaw market-access and rule-of-origin chapters in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations.

National Security Council at The White House from 2009 through 2011, where he was Director for International Trade and Investment. He advised the President, National Economic Director, National Security Advisor and other senior officials on trade and investment issues, developed the Administration's trade agenda and managed policy and the coordination of economic agencies in support of the President's objectives. He led government-wide approaches to resolving ongoing trade and economic issues.

US Department of State, where he began his career as a Foreign Service Officer.

Bell earned an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm of EY serving clients in the US.

SOURCE EY

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SHIHEZI, China, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) ("Daqo New Energy", the "Company" or "we"), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry, today announced that it had signed a one-year 10,350 MT polysilicon supply agreement with JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar") (NYSE: JKS), a world-renowned solar module manufacturer.

Under the terms of the supply agreement, Daqo New Energy will supply JinkoSolar with 10,350 MT of polysilicon during calendar year 2019, with price to be determined on a monthly basis according to market pricing.

Mr. Shihua Su, Chief Marketing Officer of Daqo New Energy, commented, "We're pleased to have signed this agreement with JinkoSolar which will further strengthen our relationship. JinkoSolar has been one of our strategic customers for many years. We will continue to support them by supplying our high quality polysilicon products and work together with them to meet the growing demand of the global solar PV markets."

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Daqo New Energy's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the demand for photovoltaic products and the development of photovoltaic technologies; global supply and demand for polysilicon; alternative technologies in cell manufacturing; the Company's ability to significantly expand its polysilicon production capacity and output; the reduction in or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy applications; and the Company's ability to lower its production costs. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the reports or documents that the Company has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information or any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a world-renowned solar module manufacturer. JinkoSolar has over 12,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities globally. The company distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in more than 80 countries worldwide. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 9.2 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 6.5 GW for solar cells, and 10 GW for solar modules, as of September 30, 2018.

JinkoSolar has over 12,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities globally, 16 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates, and global sales teams in United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and Argentina.

About Daqo New Energy Corp.

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) ("Daqo" or the "Company) is a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry. Founded in 2008, the Company is one of the world's lowest cost producers of high-purity polysilicon. Daqo's highly-efficient and technically advanced manufacturing facility in Xinjiang, China currently has an annual polysilicon production capacity of 30,000 metric tons, and the Company is undergoing a debottlenecking project and a capacity expansion project and expects to increase its annual polysilicon production capacity to 70,000 metric tons in the first quarter of 2020.

For more information, please visit http://daqo.gotoip1.com/

Daqo New Energy Corp.

Investor Relations

Phone: +86-187-1658-5553

Email: [email protected]

Christensen

In China

Mr. Christian Arnell

Phone: +86-10-5900-1548

E-mail: [email protected]

In the US

Mr. Tip Fleming

Phone: +1-917-412-3333

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Daqo New Energy Corp.

Related Links

www.dqsolar.com


ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Armor Gear (UAG, urbanarmorgear.com) designers of rugged, lightweight mobile accessories, are offering out-of-this world smartphone protection with their newest collection of cases for the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e.

Urban Armor Gear Samsung S10 Case

Now a global partner in the Samsung Mobile Application Partner Program (SMAPP), UAG has designed their newest collection to withstand the inevitable drops, shocks, and bumps we all face. Working closely with Samsung to complement and enhance the S10's advanced features, the new offering thoroughly protects the unique technology such as the Infinity-O display, triple-camera, and in-display fingerprint scanner.

Exceptionally thin and lightweight, each series in the S10 collection boasts an impact-resistant core and an armor shell with 360-degree protection. Providing unparalleled security, the collection also offers Samsung customers a variety of styles in several color choices.

"The Galaxy S10 has unprecedented performance and price. It certainly deserves the best protection available and we believe UAG's latest Samsung collection offers just that" said Kaila Vandermey, Marketing Manager. "Whether you are crossing the road or crossing the Galaxy, you can be sure your S10 is safe with UAG."

Monarch Series Case for Samsung Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+

Available in Crimson, Black, and Carbon Fiber

MSRP: $59.95

Handcrafted, feather-light construction with 5 layers of protection

Top grain leather and alloy metal hardware

Soft impact-resistant core & honeycomb traction grip

Oversized tactile buttons & protective screen surround

Compatible with Samsung Pay and Samsung Fast Wireless Charging

Meets 2X Military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G 516.6)

Plasma Series Case for Samsung Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+

Available in: Ice, Ash, and Magma

MSRP: $39.95

Feather-light composite construction

Armor shell and impact resistant soft core

Oversized tactile buttons and non-slip ruggedized grip

Easy access to touchscreen and ports

Scratch resistant skid pads and screen surround

Compatible with Samsung Pay and Samsung Fast Wireless Charging

Meets military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G 516.6)

Pathfinder Series Case for Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+

Available in Black, Slate, and Midnight Camo

MSRP: $39.95- $49.95

Feather-light composite construction

Armor shell and impact resistant soft core

Oversized tactile buttons and non-slip ruggedized grip

Easy access to touchscreen and ports

Scratch resistant skid pads and screen surround

Compatible with Samsung Pay and Samsung Fast Wireless Charging

Meets military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G 516.6)

Plyo Series Case for Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+

Available in: Ice and Glacier

MSRP: $39.95

Armor shell & impact resistant soft core

Air-soft corners for cushioning impact

Feather-light composite construction

Oversized tactile buttons & easy access to touchscreen and ports

Protective screen surround

Compatible with Samsung Pay and Samsung Fast Wireless Charging

Meets military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G-516.6)

About Urban Armor Gear: Inspired by adrenaline-fueled outdoor adventures throughout Southern California, Urban Armor Gear (UAG) delivers mobile accessories and cases developed to survive rugged terrains while protecting your tech throughout any journey. Urban Armor Gear's innovative and lightweight yet durable designs constantly evolve to provide urban adventurers and global thrill-seekers high-quality accessories to preserve the latest tech gear on the market, with the reassurance that their UAG mobile cases will perform in all extremes. Our badge of honor stands behind every single UAG product, receiving a military-grade certification for protection against shock by enduring rigorous laboratory drop-testing.

Visit: urbanarmorgear.com or www.instagram.com/urbanarmorgear for more information.

Media Contact:

Derrick Stembridge

ECHOS Communications

919-971-7855

[email protected]

SOURCE Urban Armor Gear

Related Links

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SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CircleUp, the investment platform providing capital and resources to consumer brands, has been named to Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019. The list features the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today's volatile world. CircleUp was honored as one of the World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Data Science .

CircleUp was recognized for the advancements made to its proprietary technology Helio that finds, classifies, and evaluates a universe of 1.4 million (and growing) companies across more than 200 sources to shine a light on breakout brands. In 2018, CircleUp had a number of remarkable breakthroughs in developing Helio and in scaling its capital solutions for brands. CircleUp's capital solutions CircleUp Growth Partners and CircleUp Credit Advisors as well as its Insights team are powered by Helio. As a result of the advancements in Helio's horsepower, CircleUp is making significant strides towards its mission to help entrepreneurs thrive by providing them with the capital and resources needed.

The growth of Helio's capabilities also represent a significant step towards the future of data-driven investing. With Helio, CircleUp takes a quantitative approach to investing in entrepreneurs. By proactively monitoring the universe of consumer companies, Helio can mitigate unconscious bias or geographic constraints and respond to data-driven signals of success, rewarding promising entrepreneurs effectively and efficiently. The advancements made in 2018 with Helio also enabled CircleUp to lay the groundwork towards its future vision: a systematic investing fund , applying the innovations of systematic investing in the public markets to the private markets. With Helio, CircleUp will have the inputs to reshape private investing and the vision to create a transparent and efficient market that drives innovation.

"We are honored to be among this incredible list of companies and thankful that Fast Company recognizes those who are truly breaking ground and challenging the status quo," said Ryan Caldbeck, co-founder and CEO of CircleUp. "Early-stage investing is a notoriously opaque industry, but we see an opportunity with Helio to bring forward a more transparent and equitable capital market as well as unlock insights for entrepreneurs."

This year, Fast Company's editors and writers sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries and every region. "Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that we've generally associated with startups," said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with Senior Editor Amy Farley.

The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a roadmap for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

About CircleUp

On a mission to help entrepreneurs thrive, CircleUp harnesses the power of data to provide capital and resources to emerging consumer brands. Through Helio, the company's technology platform that identifies, classifies, and evaluates consumer and retail companies, CircleUp has built the world's most robust repository of CPG and retail intelligence and takes a quantitative approach to investing in promising entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2012, CircleUp is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Union Square Ventures, GV, Canaan Partners, QED Advisors, and others. Learn more at www.circleup.com

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

SOURCE CircleUp

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The award acknowledges Chemetall's sustained performance, strong continuous improvement and customer-oriented approach in line with Airbus targets and expectations. Chemetall supplies Airbus with high-quality Naftoseal  aircraft sealants and Ardrox  corrosion protection products which meet the stringent requirements of the international aerospace industry.

"This is a great honor to receive this award for the fifth consecutive year, and it makes us extremely proud. It reflects our trustful cooperation with Airbus, and acknowledges the passion and dedication of the entire Chemetall team to support the Airbus growth strategy," says Hendrik Becker, Chemetall's Global Aerospace Manager. With three major supply chain projects and maintaining a high quality and delivery performance in 2018, Chemetall contributed to further strengthen the global Airbus supply chain.

"With our strong commitment to deliver high quality service and products, we will continue to further support Airbus and the announced ramp-up of the Airbus Single Aisle Program," says Ronald Hendriks, Quality Manager EMEA and SQIP Leader. Chemetall is the only company in the history of SQIP that achieved the "Accredited Supplier" status five times in the category 'Material & Parts'.

Airbus reviews the performance of its suppliers

The aim of the Airbus Supply Chain & Quality Improvement Program, known as SQIP, is to advance the major strategic Airbus suppliers towards the goal of industrial excellence with regard to product quality and delivery reliability. In view of increasing production rates, this goal is of particular importance. Every year, the performance of each participating supplier is reviewed and either confirmed or  in case of non-conformity with the requested quality standards  downgraded or even rejected.

Chemetall has a long-term partnership with Airbus

Over the past 30 years, Chemetall and Airbus have established a long-lasting and successful business relationship. From production sites in Langelsheim/Germany and Soissons/France, Chemetall supplies several Airbus sites with aircraft sealants, corrosion protection products, cleaners and pre-treatment technologies. This year, Chemetall will finalize the expansion of its production site in Langelsheim, Germany, to fulfill the increasing global demands for aircraft sealants.

About BASF's Coatings division

The Coatings division of BASF is a global expert in the development, production and marketing of innovative and sustainable automotive OEM and refinish coatings, decorative paints as well as applied surface treatments for metal, plastic and glass substrates in a wide range of industries. The portfolio is completed by the "Innovation Beyond Paint" program which aims at developing new markets and businesses. We create advanced performance solutions and drive performance, design and new applications to meet our partners' needs all over the world. BASF shares skills, knowledge and resources of interdisciplinary and global teams for the benefit of customers by operating a collaborative network of sites in Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific. In 2017, the Coatings division achieved global sales of about 3.97 billion.

Solutions beyond your imagination  Coatings by BASF. For more information about the Coatings division of BASF and its products, visit www.basf-coatings.com.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The more than 115,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of more than 60 billion in 2017. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com.

SOURCE Chemetall

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MONTREAL, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec ("CDPQ") announced today a major investment in Allied Universal ("the Company"), the leading security services provider in North America, alongside company management and Warburg Pincus and Wendel, its current financial partners. The transaction values Allied Universal at more than US$7 billion.

The investment from CDPQ will support the long-term growth and strategy of the largest provider of integrated manned guarding security services in North America. Part of CDPQ's investment also consists of up to approximately $400 million of primary capital which will be used by the Company to pursue its growth strategy and execute on its pipeline of attractive M&A opportunities.

With annual revenues of approximately US$7 billion and more than 210,000 employees at over 38,000 client sites, Allied Universal is the largest and fastest growing security solutions provider in North America. The Company offers a mix of comprehensive manned guarding security services and innovative technology solutions, including systems integration and remote monitoring, to a broad and diversified group of customers.

"I am very proud to have one of the world's leading institutional investors commit to Allied Universal and back our vision for success", said Steve Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Allied Universal. "Our team has worked hard to build the best security company in the world. We are all excited about the future of Allied Universal as well as our plans for continuing to grow both organically and through strategic acquisitions in both the manned guarding and technology sectors. We look forward to accomplishing great things with CDPQ as our long-term partner."

"This investment, which represents one of the largest private transactions in business services, enables us to invest in a national leader in facility and security services, a sector that will continue to experience sustained organic growth and industry consolidation," commented Stephane Etroy, Executive Vice-President and Head of Private Equity at CDPQ. "We look forward to supporting Allied Universal's talented management team as they continue to grow this world-class business and build on its track record of providing its clients a customized mix of manned guarding and security technology solutions."

Advisors

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as financial advisor to CDPQ, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to CDPQ. Barclays and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisors to Allied Universal, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acted as legal counsel to Allied Universal.

Transaction Process

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, following customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

About Allied Universal

Allied Universal, a leading security and facility services company with over 210,000 employees, provides unparalleled security services and solutions. The enterprise combines people and technology to deliver evolving, tailored solutions that allow our clients to focus on their core business. An unrelenting focus on clients' success creates partnerships rooted in quality and value, and is supported by experience gained from being in business for over 60 years. Through our people and leading services, systems and solutionsAllied Universal is there for you. For more information, please visit www.aus.com.

ABOUT CAISSE DE DEPOT ET PLACEMENT DU QUEBEC

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at June 30, 2018, it held CAD $308.3 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter @LaCDPQ or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

SOURCE Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

Related Links

https://www.cdpq.com/


PHOENIX, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bishop Fox, the largest private cybersecurity professional services firm focused on offensive security testing, will present a "Guide to Abuse Domain Permutations" at BSidesSF 2019 in San Francisco, CA on March 3, 2019 from 1:30-2:00 p.m.

Led by Bishop Fox partner Rob Ragan and security analyst Kelly Albrink, the presentation will review the technical controls defenders can proactively adopt in their social engineering incident response plans. They will discuss how major consumer brands can protect their users against these types of attacks, and will provide statistics on the percentage of domain permutations the top brands control and how many are actively serving malicious content.

"Attackers are employing homoglyphs, subdomain attacks, typo-squats, bit-squats, and similar attacks to trick internet denizens with fraudulent websites," said Albrink. "However, with the capability to continuously monitor domain permutations for new HTTP, HTTPS or SMTP services in real-time, all the latest tricks from internet scammers can be detected and eliminated."

The presentation will cover both attacker and defender techniques. For "attackers," Albrink and Ragan will demonstrate ways to leverage domain permutations in adversary simulations. For "defenders," the discussion will detail how to better prepare, identify, contain, and eradicate threats that utilize domain permutations.

"Adversaries register domains permutations in order to commit fraud, distribute malware, redirect traffic, steal credentials, or for corporate espionage," added Ragan. "If you're not leveraging our recommended technical controls to defeat attackers, you risk damaging your brand's reputation if your credentials or internal systems are compromised."

About Bishop Fox

Bishop Fox is the largest private cybersecurity professional services firm focused on offensive security testing. Since 2005, the firm has provided security consulting services to the world's leading organizations  working with over 25% of the top Fortune 100 companies  to help secure their products, applications, networks, and cloud with penetration testing and security assessments. The company is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and has offices in Atlanta, GA; San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; and Barcelona, Spain.

Contact:

Amy Blumenthal

617-879-1511

[email protected]

SOURCE Bishop Fox

Related Links

https://www.bishopfox.com


LAKE MARY, Fla. and NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Apax VIII, a fund advised by Apax Partners, today announced it has agreed to sell its entire stake in AssuredPartners, a leading US insurance brokerage, to an investor group led by GTCR, a leading Chicago-based private equity firm. GTCR previously owned AssuredPartners from its inception in 2011 until its sale to Apax VIII in 2015. The terms of today's transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.

Apax IX, a separate fund advised by Apax Partners, will co-invest in the transaction alongside GTCR taking a significant minority stake in AssuredPartners. AssuredPartners' management team retains its significant minority stake in the business.

Established in 2011, AssuredPartners is today one of the largest insurance brokers in the United States, distributing property and casualty ("P&C"), risk management, employee benefits and personal insurance. Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, the company operates from 200 offices across 30 states and London, England.

In executing The Leaders Strategy, GTCR partnered with management to form AssuredPartners in 2011 with the goal of creating a leading middle market broker. Over the course of four years, the company completed 112 acquisitions, grew annualized revenue to over $500 million and built a platform from which to achieve long-term success.

Apax VIII acquired a majority stake in AssuredPartners in 2015. During its ownership, AssuredPartners has delivered on its strategy of building a leading insurance brokerage franchise through consolidating a large, fragmented industry. This has been achieved through significant M&A, the business has completed 124 acquisitions, continued strong organic growth, driven by operational improvements including investment in IT, salesforce and infrastructure, and the recruitment of key senior hires, including CIO and Chief Organic Growth Officer positions. The result of these initiatives has seen revenue and EBITDA more than double during Apax VIII's ownership as the business has benefited from scale and broader product ranges.

Jim Henderson, co-founder and CEO of AssuredPartners, said: "Apax has been a superb partner for Assured over the last three years and we are delighted to be renewing this successful partnership. At the same time, we are excited to welcome back the GTCR team who we know very well and value their expertise and insight. We look forward to working with both firms who share our vision and commitment to scaling the business further."

Tom Riley, co-founder, President & COO of AssuredPartners, added: "We have formed a partnership with agencies throughout the country and beyond through the partnership and support of GTCR and Apax Partners. Our acquisition strategy has allowed us to create something truly unique in our industry. The union of our two supporting entities joining forces makes for a very exciting future for AssuredPartners. We look forward to our continued success with Aaron Cohen and Ashish Karandikar and their respective winning teams".

Ashish Karandikar, Partner at Apax Partners, said: "Three and half years ago, we backed Jim Henderson and his team on an ambitious journey to build the preeminent US middle market insurance brokerage firm. Since then, AssuredPartners has charted an impressive growth trajectory through organic investments in sales and technology and through acquisitions to create a scaled product and service proposition to carriers and customers. We believe there continues to be exceptional opportunities for AssuredPartners and it's over 5,000 talented and entrepreneurial insurance professionals and are excited to be continuing our journey."

Aaron Cohen, GTCR Managing Director, added: "We had an incredible experience working with the Assured team and have watched with admiration their continued success over the last three years. We want to congratulate the entire Assured organization on building a leading insurance broker with over $1 billion of revenue in just eight years. AssuredPartners is a trusted advisor to its customers, offering unique capabilities to assist leading companies in all of their insurance and risk management needs. We are thrilled to be partners with Jim Henderson, Tom Riley and the team once again and look forward to the continued expansion of the AssuredPartners platform."

The Apax Funds have significant experience investing in the insurance sector, including Hub International and Genex, which were successfully exited in 2013 and 2018 respectively, and current investment Duck Creek Technologies.

The investment in AssuredPartners continues GTCR's two decades of successful experience investing in the insurance industry with past investments in insurance brokers Alliant Resources and AssuredPartners, specialty carrier Ironshore, premium finance provider Premium Credit Limited and software company Solera.

AssuredPartners and Apax VIII were advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (M&A Advisor) and Kirkland & Ellis LLP (legal counsel). Harris Williams and Barclays also provided M&A advice to Apax VIII. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP provided legal advice to Apax IX. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP served as legal advisors to the management team of AssuredPartners. GTCR was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (financial advisor) and Latham & Watkins LLP (legal counsel).

About AssuredPartners

Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida and led by Jim Henderson and Tom Riley, AssuredPartners, Inc. acquires and invests in insurance brokerage businesses (property and casualty, employee benefits, surety and MGU's) across the United States and in London. From its founding in March of 2011, AssuredPartners has grown to over $1.1 billion in annualized revenue and continues to be one of the fastest growing insurance brokerage firms in the United States with over 200 offices in 30 states and London. For more information, please visit www.assuredpartners.com.

About Apax Partners

Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.

Media Contacts:

For AssuredPartners

Jamie Reinert | +1 513-624-1779 | [email protected]

For Apax Partners

Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | [email protected]

USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst | +1 212-521-4854 | [email protected]

UK Media: James Madsen / Matthew Goodman, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | [email protected]

For GTCR

Eileen Rochford | +1 312-953-3305 | [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

London-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.com), and Paris-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.fr) had a shared history but are separate, independent private equity firms.

SOURCE Apax Partners; AssuredPartners

Related Links

http://www.apax.com


AGOURA HILLS, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) (the "Company"), a leading provider of high quality single-family homes for rent, today announced that the Board of Trustees declared a dividend of $0.05 per share on the Company's common shares for the first quarter of 2019. The distribution will be payable in cash on April 1, 2019 to shareholders of record on March 15, 2019.

The Board of Trustees also declared a per share quarterly distribution on the Company's cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred shares of $0.40625 per share on the 6.5% Series D shares, $0.39688 per share on the 6.35% Series E shares, $0.36719 per share on the 5.875% Series F shares, $0.36719 per share on the 5.875% Series G shares and $0.39063 per share on the 6.25% Series H shares payable in cash on April 1, 2019 to shareholders of record on March 15, 2019.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand for rental homes, known for high quality, good value and tenant satisfaction. We are an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on acquiring, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. As of December 31, 2018, we owned 52,783 single-family properties in selected submarkets in 22 states.

Additional information about American Homes 4 Rent is available on our website at www.americanhomes4rent.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that relate to beliefs, expectations or intentions and similar statements concerning matters that are not of historical fact and are generally accompanied by words such as "believe," "expect," "will," "intend," "anticipate" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These forward-looking statements include the payment and anticipated timing of the payment of distributions of the Company's common and preferred shares. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and assumptions about future events. While the Company's management considers these expectations to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control and could adversely affect our cash flows and ability to pay distributions. Additional information about these and other important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from anticipated results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements is available in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform to actual results or changes in expectations, except as required by applicable law.

Contact:

American Homes 4 Rent

Investor Relations

Phone: (855) 794-2447

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Homes 4 Rent

Related Links

https://www.americanhomes4rent.com


NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) does not normally comment on political parties and candidates during an election. But with the announcement that Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power"), a new political party formed by longtime followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, is now seeking election to the Knesset, we feel compelled to speak out.

The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel. The party might conceivably gain enough votes to enter the next Knesset, and potentially even become part of the governing coalition.

Historically, the views of extremist parties, reflecting the extreme left or the extreme right, have been firmly rejected by mainstream parties, even if the electoral process of Israel's robust democracy has enabled their presence, however small, in the Knesset.

Ultimately, it is up to Israel's Central Elections Commission to determine, as it has done in the past, whether Otzma Yehudit can be listed on the ballot on Election Day.

Looking ahead to April 9, AJC reaffirms our commitment to Israel's democratic and Jewish character, which we hope will be the ultimate winners in every election cycle.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee
"Joining a project team this early allows us to apply our technical expertise and commercial best practices to make the most positive impact," said Tom Gentile, President and CEO, Spirit AeroSystems. "We can create cost-efficient, innovative engineering solutions that take into account Spirit's highly efficient manufacturing processes. We are proud to be selected by Aerion for this program and look forward to contributing to the success of this groundbreaking new airplane."

"The AS2 will revolutionize global mobility," said Aerion Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President Tom Vice. "We are proud to partner with Spirit AeroSystems. They are a leader in aircraft composite structures and we are excited that they have joined the AS2 team."

Spirit expects to immediately begin preliminary development efforts. Aerion's 12-passenger AS2 is up to 70 percent faster than today's business aircraft. Supersonic cruise speed is Mach 1.4, about 1,000 mph. It saves as much as three hours across the Atlantic and more than five hours across the Pacific.

On the web: www.spiritaero.com

On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.spiritaero.com.

About Aerion

Aerion is the industry leader in supersonic aircraft. The company is pioneering a new generation of efficient, economical, and environmentally responsible supersonic aircraft. The Mach 1.4 AS2 business jet is scheduled to begin flight testing in 2023. Aerion entered into a partnership with Boeing in February 2019 to develop the AS2 and advance the supersonic market. In October 2018, Aerion and GE Aviation unveiled the quiet and efficient GE AffinityTM engine, the first supersonic engine in more than 50 years.

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems
Secure and Fast offering is designed to automate the movement and management of data, services and workflows to hybrid clouds and new IT infrastructure without causing disruption to businesses or user experience

MONTREAL, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Accedian, a leading provider of application and network performance solutions, has partnered with Quali, the leader in delivering intelligent Environments-as-a-Service (EaaS) for cloud and DevOps automation, to help service providers and enterprises ensure seamless digital experiences as they undergo transitions and migrations often associated with performance and security risks. Accedian and Quali, working with their system integrator and channel partners, will deliver a new offering, Secure and Fast, to their global customers. In this solution, Accedian's SkyLIGHT combines advanced network flow monitoring, real-time application transaction capture and end user experience tracking as part of Secure and Fast's full stack performance and security posture assessments.

Secure & Fast combines Quali's Cloudshell Pro with Accedian's SkyLIGHT PVX unified NPM/APM solution and Cavirin's CyberPosture Intelligence, a security and compliance solution for hybrid infrastructures. It promotes collaboration and enables organizations to simplify application and cloud rollouts, automate and expedite deployment processes, validate cybersecurity postures, and gain visibility into resource usage and potential performance impacts - all in a replicable and secure sandbox environment before going `live' with any changes or updates.

The benefits for enterprises and service providers include:

Faster delivery of physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure for new products and services

Real-time monitoring of application performance and transaction times across multi-cloud environments

Ability to pinpoint the root-causes of performance degradations

Comprehensive visibility into the impact to overall system security posture

Risk-free, lab-as-a-service tests of SDN and 5G network slices

"We are excited to work with Quali as it gives our customers an opportunity to safely replicate and measure the impacts of application, cloud and network migrations on business productivity and the bottom line," said Richard Piasentin, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Accedian. "We understand how important it is for all businesses to ensure secure application delivery anywhere, while not sacrificing high levels of performance for business-critical applications. We look forward to working with Quali and Cavirin on new solutions to orchestrate and automate the testing of network slices and 5G network labs."

"Testing 5G networks using Lab as a Service with Secure and Fast capabilities empowers organizations to accelerate their products and services to market," said Sunny (Dos) Dosanjh, Technical Marketing Director, Quali. "With intelligent cloud tools such as Secure & Fast, it has become a lot easier to deploy workloads efficiently and uniformly across public, private/hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The granularity of Accedian's solutions will be key to analyzing network flows within the data center as well as measuring end user experience and application transaction times."

"We are excited to be working with both Accedian and Quali on Secure and Fast, a solution that will help minimize the risks associated with 5G security, deployment, and performance while assuring optimal quality of service levels and user experience," said Mukul Kumar, Cavirin CISO.

Secure & Fast will be demonstrated at Mobile World Congress Feb 25-29 in Barcelona and during RSA March 4-8 in San Francisco. To book a meeting or to express interest in trialing this new solution, please visit accedian.com/secure-fast.

Media contact:

Kaela Loffler

VP Marketing, Accedian

T: +46-70-239-72-07

E: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/accedian/r/accedian-and-quali-partner-to-tackle-the-challenges-of-cloud-migration-and-5g-test-automation-for-ne,c2744878

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Accedian
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Gale Schneider is living fully in spite of stage 4 breast cancer, and she shared her joy during New York Fashion Week while modeling at SMGlobal Catwalk for Say YES to HOPE. She left her cancer behind as she took her place on the runway.

20-year stage 4 breast cancer survivor Gale Schnieder and her grandsons

Her courage on this 20-year journey has been steadfast as she has endured both IV and oral chemotherapy, many hormone blockers, radiation, radiation burns, a stem cell transplant, spots surgically removed from her liver, SIR-Spheres microspheres to her liver tumors and, most recently, cryoablation that froze three spots on her liver.

Gale's amazing doctor Mohammed Bilal, MD, who is head of vascular and interventional radiology at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, and Katie Egner, physician assistant of interventional radiology, were in the audience to cheer her on. Katie said, "It was an evening that represented incredible hope, love, and strength and was an inspiration to all that were fortunate enough to attend." Both agreed that it re-validated the work that they do. Dr. Bilal shares, "To see outcomes like that and then to witness the patient enjoying such a special moment in her life makes everything clear as to why the work we do is so important. It was an honor for us to be a part of the night."

Making the evening even more amazing was the fact that Gale was escorted down the runway by her four grandsons and on the return walk, they all broke into a dance. The joy and enthusiasm were contagious and had the audience on their feet.

Together, YES, SMGlobal Catwalk, the designers, Gale, and the other patients are making a difference in the fight against a cancer that is not often discussed. The "Surviving in Fashion" showcase is a beautiful tribute to cancer patients and a wonderful way to witness fashion and philanthropy meet. Modeling the wonderful designs gives these patients a chance to shine, to be pampered and to escape the ravages of treatment while sharing time with others that have a similar diagnosis.

"We are so appreciative that Samina Mughal has given us the chance to not only share our message with the fashion industry but to give us a once-in-a-lifetime experience on the runway," said Suzanne Lindley, co-founder of YES who herself is living with terminal cancer. "Bringing awareness to the fact that we are living with cancer, and not dying from it, is a huge opportunity."

About YES

YES is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides those affected by advanced cancer with awareness, resources, support, and HOPE. For information or assistance, please call 877-937-7478 or visit www.sayyestohope.org.

Media Contact:

Suzanne Lindley

Phone: 877-937-7478

Email: [email protected]

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa5wKtQgoqU

SOURCE Say YES to HOPE

Related Links

http://www.sayyestohope.org


7-Eleven stores' version of the creamy spiced tea was benchmarked against national brands and coffeehouses.

"We worked several months with flavor scientists to develop an exclusive chai recipe that offers the best balance of sweet and spice," said Michelle Cram, 7-Eleven senior category manager of hot beverages. "In blind taste tests, 7-Eleven chai tea compared very favorably against well-known restaurants and national beverage brands. If our customers love it as much as we think they will, chai could become a popular year-round offering."

Although it is known as a specific type of spiced tea in the Western world, the word "chai" is the translation of the English word "tea" and used in much of the world. The traditional Indian drink, masala chai, is the closest beverage to the chai latte that has become popular in the United States. "Masala" means a mixture of spices and, with "chai," describes the beverage made with black tea, spices and milk.

Chai and products flavored with similar spice blends have been growing in popularity and have experienced a dramatic uptick recently  almost 40 percent growth over the past four years. It is particularly popular among women, millennials, Gen Z and Hispanic consumers, and double-digit increases are expected to continue over the next few years.

As with all 7-Eleven proprietary beverages sold in a cup, the new chai tea latte counts toward the 7Rewards "Buy Six, Get the Seventh Free" drink offer and earns 7Rewards points.

Customers can sign up for the 7Rewards loyalty program by (1) downloading the 7Eleven mobile app, (2) using the 7Rewards website, (3) messaging the 7Eleven Bot on Facebook Messenger or (4) securing a physical 7Rewards loyalty card at a store. Members earn points on most purchases and bonus points on select products, multi-packs and promotional offers.

The 7-Eleven hot beverage bars offer lots of choices  flavored and exotic coffees, hot tea, cappuccino and hot chocolate. For no extra charge, customers can conveniently create their perfect cup with sweeteners, plain and flavored creamers, flavored syrups and toppings to suit their tastes.

About 7-Eleven, Inc.

7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience-retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 67,000 stores in 17 countries, including 11,800 in North America. Known for its iconic brands such as Slurpee, Big Bite and Big Gulp, 7-Eleven has expanded into high-quality salads, side dishes, cut fruit and protein boxes, as well as pizza, chicken wings, cheeseburgers and hot chicken sandwiches. 7-Eleven offers customers industry-leading private brand products under the 7-Select brand including healthy options, decadent treats and everyday favorites, at an outstanding value. Customers also count on 7-Eleven for bill payments, self-service lockers and other convenient services. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com, via the 7Rewards customer loyalty platform on the 7-Eleven mobile app, or on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE 7-Eleven, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.7-eleven.com


John Adams is one of the most frequently performed living composers. He receives the prize because he has created a new musical idiom by fusing elements from jazz, pop and classical music. According to the jury, Adams has made contemporary classical music 'communicate' again, important at a time when this genre has increasing difficulty in finding a following. Moreover, Adams often addresses social themes in his work, something he sees as the artist's duty. What distinguishes him furthermore, is the humanistic nature of his themes. Adams is not just a great conductor and composer, he is also a writer who reflects on the social function of classical music. Thus, he calls attention both musically and intellectually to the importance of classical music in our time, reflecting the Erasmian principles that the Foundation seeks to uphold.

Biography John Adams

John Coolidge Adams (1947) has an extensive body of work that encompasses chamber music, orchestral composition and opera. Although his musical roots lie in New England (US), he currently lives and works in California. John Adams grew up with the big bands in which his father played and the musicals in which his mother sang. He saw Mozart as his great idol but was equally carried away by Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. He began composing at the age of ten and went on to study composition at Harvard University. It was there that he distanced himself from the inflexibility and atonality of post-war composers. He felt more drawn to the minimalism that was emerging around that time. A hallmark of his work is the fusion of 'western' musical traditions and popular culture  minimal music first and foremost, but also pop and jazz.

Adams became famous for his music-theatre productions  collaborating for many years with director Peter Sellars  in which he regularly tackles sensitive social issues. His best-known orchestral compositions are Shaker Loops (1978), Harmonielehre (1985), Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), Chamber Symphony (1992) and Naive and Sentimental Music (1999). The operas that established his reputation include Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005). In 2002, he wrote On the Transmigration of Souls, in memory of the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. For this, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music. In recent years he has written a Saxophone Concerto (2013), as an ode to the great jazz saxophonists John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Wayne Shorter. Another recent piece of his is the oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary (2013). In 2015, a new violin concerto, entitled Scheherazade.2, premiered. In this piece he calls attention to the oppression of women around the world. The works of Adams have earned him numerous Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize for music. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale and the Royal Academy of Music.

On 28 February 2019, his opera project Girls of the Golden West  again directed by Peter Sellars  will have its European premiere at the National Opera in Amsterdam.

The Erasmus Prize is awarded annually to a person or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the field of humanities, social sciences or the arts. His Majesty the King is Patron of the Foundation. The Erasmus Prize consists of  150,000 in prize money. The prize will be presented in November 2019. To mark the presentation of the Erasmus Prize, the Foundation is organizing a varied programme of events related to the work of John Adams.

www.erasmusprijs.org

SOURCE Praemium Erasmianum Foundation

Related Links

http://www.erasmusprijs.org/


BOSTON, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Global Advisory , LLC, an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership associated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC), today announced that Timothy Davis, CFP, Managing Director and Partner in the firm's Boston office, has been recognized on the Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" list, which honors top performing advisors in each state.

Out of nearly 25,000 nominations, this year's Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list spotlights 2,000 top-performing advisors across the country who were nominated by their firmsand then researched, interviewed and assigned a ranking within their respective states. Out of the 2,000 advisors selected, only 135 were selected from Massachusetts.

"We are incredibly proud of Tim and his recognition as one of the top performing advisors in the state," said Jim Connors, Divisional President at Steward Partners. "Tim consistently demonstrates what it means to be a leader in this industry through his dedication to client service, and we look forward to supporting his future success."

"I'm excited and humbled to be featured in Forbes' Best in State Wealth Advisors list," added Tim Davis. "My team and I have been working hard to ensure our clients can meet their financial goals, and I couldn't be happier to selected to the Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisor's list. I can't thank my clients and my team for helping to make this possible."

Timothy Davis has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years. Tim started as a Financial Advisor in January of 1998 at Merrill Lynch and over the next 19 years spent time at UBS Financial Services and Morgan Stanley. While at Morgan Stanley, Tim was recognized annually with the Master's Club designation, was a charter member the Business Owners Executive Council and the Corporate Services Group. Tim and his team specialize in helping employees and executives of publicly traded companies with the stock & stock option planning needs. As a Certified Financial Planner, Tim and his team take a planning-based approach to all of their client financial needs.

The Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person and telephone due diligence meetings to evaluate each advisor qualitatively, a major component of a ranking algorithm that includes: client retention, industry experience, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, including: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. Rankings are based on the opinions of SHOOK Research, LLC and not representative nor indicative of any one client's experience, future performance, or investment outcome. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receives compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking.

To view the full rankings on Forbes.com, please click here: https://www.forbes.com/best-in-state-wealth-advisors/.

About Steward Partners Global Advisory

With offices in Newtown, CT., Washington, D.C., Clearwater, FL., Andover and Boston, MA., Baltimore and Bethesda, MD., Portland, ME., Keene, Manchester and Portsmouth, NH., Paramus and Morristown, NJ., Albany and New York City, NY., Houston, TX., and Richmond, VA., Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, is an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multigenerational wealth. For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com .

About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting more than 4,300 independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 7,800 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $764 billion.

Steward Partners Holdings, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, and Tim Davis maintain a separate professional business relationship with, and our registered professionals offer securities through, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC, 1776 I Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006. Toll Free: (844) 801-8268.

Timothy Davis, CFP, One International Place, Suite 3210, Boston, MA 02110. Office: (617) 377-4422.

Raymond James is not affiliated with Forbes or Shook Research, LLC.

Media Contact:

Jesse Chen  Water & Wall Group

212-625-2365

[email protected]

SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC

Related Links

http://www.stewardpartners.com


SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnsonville, LLC announced that a new family member will succeed Ralph C. Stayer as board chair, who had served in that role since 1995.

His wife and co-owner, Shelly Stayer, was appointed as chairwoman and will lead the company's board of directors and growth strategy. She becomes just the third leader in the company's 74 years to serve in this role, behind co-founder Ralph F. Stayer and his son, Ralph C. Stayer.

Shelly Stayer Appointed Chairwoman for Johnsonville, LLC

"Shelly has been my confidant and advisor for the last 25 years, making an impact at Johnsonville in many capacities  from innovation and board leadership, to member and product development, and making our work environment an exciting and attractive place to learn and grow," said Ralph Stayer, who will remain as a board member. "She is as dedicated to our 1,800 members (employees) as I have been and I have great confidence in her ability to lead our board and growth moving forward."

During her two decades at Johnsonville, Shelly Stayer led several new product introductions, with the most recent developments including a branded mustard line and the indoor Sizzling Sausage Grill. She also led Johnsonville's multi-year marketing sponsorship efforts with the Tailgate Village at Lambeau Field starting in 2017 and the Milwaukee Brewers sponsorship that began last year.

"As Johnsonville enters its 75th year of business, Ralph and I are so very proud of all that our members  past and present  have given to this wonderful organization," said Shelly Stayer. "Now that we look to the next 75 years, maintaining our unique culture and family-owned status will continue to be important. I'm honored to serve in this capacity."

Outside her work at Johnsonville, Shelly Stayer has been an active entrepreneur, author and philanthropist. She's served as a board member with the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, and also with Edgewood College and Marian University. Her board experience also includes service on the boards of Artis-Naples, Shelter for Abused Women & Children, and the Golisano Children's Museum in Naples, Fla. She's also been a successful fund-raiser for several nonprofits in both Wisconsin and Florida. The Naples-based magazine e-bella wrote that Stayer "is often sought after and an outspoken voice for fundraising" as it highlighted her latest endeavor in building the Shelly Stayer Shelter in Immokalee, Florida, for survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. Her charitable work in Naples also earned her the Women of Distinction Award by the Community Foundation of Collier County.

In her hometown state of Wisconsin, Stayer recently founded the Reilly's Ranch of Recovery, a working equine farm and addiction ranch in Eden, Wis., for women rebuilding their lives after drug or alcohol addiction. She's also co-authored "The Weight of a Father's Shadow," and two Johnsonville cookbooks.

Press Contact:

Stephanie Dlugopolski (920-453-4826)

[email protected]

SOURCE Johnsonville
Purina employs more than 3,500 people in Missouri and has had a longstanding presence in Bloomfield since 1976. The 500,000-square-foot factory in Bloomfield currently employs more than 340 people in the Southeast Missouri region. The expansion will add a 110,000-square-foot processing and packaging facility and lead to total job growth of approximately 30 positions by mid-2020.

"Purina's job growth in Missouri for 125 years proves the company's commitment to the state and the people who call it home," said Missouri Governor Mike Parson. "Expansions and job growth like this are essential for Missouri moving forward, and we appreciate Purina's significant investment in the state."

Over the past four years, Tidy Cats sales have grown 18 percent. With a total investment of $115 million by 2020, Purina's Bloomfield factory will significantly increase the production of Tidy Cats LightWeight cat litter and Tidy Cats scoop cat litter.

"Tidy Cats is a significant growth driver for Purina's U.S. business as more and more pet owners demand a trusted, high-performing litter product," said Vicki Felker, Vice President & General Manager of Purina's Litter Division. "Purina is proud to produce one of the best performing cat litter brands on the market at our Bloomfield factory. This expansion reflects an investment in our local operations and our commitment to continue delivering innovative and highly effective pet care products for cat owners."

Purina's expansion in Bloomfield is one example of how the company is making investments to grow the business and advance pet care. In 2018, Purina invested $475 million into its factories across the U.S. for projects that help grow and sustain the business, including $180 million in Missouri operations alone. In Missouri, Purina also has a presence in Springfield, St. Joseph and St. Louis, where the company has been headquartered for 125 years.

"For more than 40 years, Purina has provided quality jobs for Southeast Missouri. We're excited to expand our operations and bring even more jobs to the region," said Purina Bloomfield Factory Manager Jeff Goodmanson.

Rep. Herman Morse, District 151 of Missouri, added, "The addition of more high-quality jobs at Purina will be invaluable to the economy of Stoddard County and the surrounding area as it provides more opportunity for our local residents."

In addition to being a top employer in Bloomfield, the factory supports the Scott County sheriff department's K-9 unit with pet food as well as many area pet rescue organizations in the region with pet food and litter. The factory donated nearly 125,000 pounds of litter in 2018.

The facility also recently contributed $15,000 to support the opening of a dog park in Poplar Bluff, which helped provide benches, agility equipment and dog treats during its grand opening, and supports a variety of other local initiatives for pets, veterans and members of the community.

Future job openings at the factory primarily include positions in production and maintenance. Job seekers can visit purinajobs.com/bloomfield to learn more and be among the first notified when new positions are posted.

About Nestle Purina PetCare Company

Nestle Purina PetCare promotes responsible pet care, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. A premiere global manufacturer of pet products, Nestle Purina PetCare is part of Swiss-based Nestle S.A., a global leader in nutrition, health and wellness.

SOURCE Nestle Purina
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A new PRRI/The Atlantic survey of American attitudes about the health of our nation's democratic institutions reveals that partisan divisions over racial diversity and religious pluralism have Americans split. This survey discovered that despite these divides, Americans remain optimistic about the country's ability to work together.

Nearly half of Americans generally support a racially and ethnically diverse vision of the country. When asked to align themselves with a vision of the United States, 47 percent of Americans say they "would prefer the U.S. to be a nation made up of people from all over the world."

"Divergent attitudes about the very desirability of ethnic and religious pluralism are one of the key drivers of partisan polarization today," said PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones. "Compared to Americans who identify with the Republican Party, Americans who identify with the Democratic Party are twice as likely to affirm a preference for an ethnically diverse country and are four times as likely to prefer a religiously diverse country."

Sixty-five percent of Democrats, compared to 29 percent Republicans, mostly prefer a country with racial and ethnic diversity.

Despite these divisions, two in three (66 percent) Americans say they feel optimistic that the country can work across both religious and racial divides.

Forty-five percent of Democrats and more than a third of Republicans (35 percent) say they would be unhappy if their child married someone from the opposite political party. A stark gap has emerged on this question over time: in 1960 only four percent of Democrats or Republicans said they would be displeased if their son or daughter married someone of the opposite party.

Although Americans feel the country is divided on racial lines, they also feel that diversity is a strength.

The vast majority of Americans agree that believing in individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech (91 percent), respecting American political institutions and laws (90 percent), accepting people of diverse racial and religious backgrounds (86 percent), and being able to speak English (83 percent) are somewhat or very important to being American.

The survey also finds that 74 percent of Americans interact with people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds in their workplace  more than any other social gathering place by nearly 30 points.

SOURCE PRRI/The Atlantic

Related Links

https://www.prri.org


Nestle Pure Life has long been known for providing active families with healthy and fun beverages. Research shows that more than 50 percent of U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 19 are inadequately hydrated 1 ; highlighting the need for the consumption of more water. The partnership of these two brands will lead to healthier bodies, minds and communities across the U.S.

"Nestle Pure Life's partnership with Box Tops for Education is a natural extension of our support for families," said Yumiko Clevenger-Lee, Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of Nestle Waters North America. "We are proud to make choosing water a win-win for families who want to keep their children hydrated with a healthy beverage while supporting their local schools."

Schools can earn up to $20,000 per year by clipping Box Tops on hundreds of participating products. More than 70,000 schools use that cash to purchase items such as computers, library books, art supplies, playground equipment and more.

In 2019, Box Tops will be featured on select Nestle Pure Life Purified Water .5-liter 24, 28, 32 and 35 packs and on 8-oz. 12, 24 and 56 packs. The .5-liter bottles are perfect for families on the go, and the convenient 8-oz. size is great for lunchboxes and after-school activities.

"Since 1996, Box Tops for Education has helped schools earn more than $882 million, allowing them to purchase the things they need to help their classrooms succeed. By partnering with Nestle Pure Life, families can now earn cash for their schools just by drinking water and staying hydrated," said Erin Anderson, Box Tops Program Manager. "This partnership ensures that schools will continue to receive unrestricted funding to help meet basic operating needs and programs that would not necessarily be possible otherwise."

Additionally, for a limited time, Nestle Pure Life wants to help schools earn more Box Tops to benefit their local schools. From February 18 to April 1, 10 lucky schools will each be rewarded with 10,000 bonus Box Tops, for a total of 100,000 bonus Box Tops via the Nestle Pure Life Thirst Quenching Sweepstakes.

Nestle Pure Life can be found at major retailers, grocery stores and through online retailers. Box Tops for Education have been clipped since 1996, earning schools more than $882 million.

For more information, visit https://www.boxtops4education.com/nestlepurelife.

About Box Tops for Education

America's K-8 schools have earned more than $882 million through the Box Tops for Education program since it started in 1996. More than 70,000 schools use that cash to purchase items such as computers, library books, art supplies, playground equipment and more. Schools can earn up to $20,000 per year by clipping Box Tops on hundreds of participating products. To learn more visit www.boxtops4education.com.

About Nestle Waters North America

Nestle Waters North America offers an unrivaled portfolio of bottled water brands for healthy hydration, including Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water, Nestle Pure Life, Perrier and S. Pellegrino. The company also owns and operates ReadyRefresh by Nestle, a customizable water and beverage delivery service. Just Click and QuenchSM.

Based in Stamford, Connecticut with approximately 8,000 associates located in North America, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint across our operations. We manage natural resources for long-term sustainability, and we conserve nearly 21,000 acres of natural watershed area. We currently source water for our six regional spring water brands from 47 springs across the U.S. We are also committed to creating shared value and being a good neighbor in the 140 communities where we operate in the U.S. For more information, visit us at www.nestle-watersna.com/en and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: @NestleWatersNA.



___________________________________

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26066941

SOURCE Nestle Waters North America

Related Links

http://www.nestle-watersna.com/company


"We're excited to present our latest LED display solutions at ISLE 2019," said Li Mantie, president of Ledman." Ledman's products have accessed over 100 countries, and we've heard good things from our clients about their reliability and performance. We are making efforts to develop optoelectronic products that deeply affect people's everyday lives with the mission to protect environment and save energy."

Ledman, the first LED display company to be listed in China's A-share market, is a leader in the development and manufacturing of high-quality LED components, energy-efficient LED lighting products, and indoor and outdoor LED displays. The company's groundbreaking COB technology can package multiple chips on a substrate, which allows them to directly place and fix an LED bare chip on PCB board, enhancing the reliability and durability of displays.

Unlike traditional LED displays that might become damaged during transport, a COB display is tougher (anti-shock, anti-collision, moisture-proof, dust-proof, water-proof), more reliable, with higher contrast ratio, better image quality, more flexible and quicker for installing. They are mainly used as large-size high-definition indoor displays of over 80 inches.

Ledman's COB displays have been widely used in professional display settings such as studios, security monitoring centers, traffic command centers, and large video conference rooms. Ledman has also provided display services for stage performance projects in Montreal, Canada, and for automobile museum in Stuttgart, Germany.

A recent Ledman COB installation was completed in a transportation command center in Shanghai, which monitors over 500 operating bus routes with nearly 8,000 vehicles. That accounts for more than 50% of the city's public bus. COB meet the center's needs for large-size screens and are suitable for long-time viewing for the monitoring staff.

About Ledman

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Ledman Optoelectronic Co., Ltd. (Ledman) (SHE: 300162) is a leading manufacturer in the LED industry. Founded in 1993, Ledman's core business covers LED displays, lighting, components, and energy saving products. Ledman is a leader in the development and manufacturing of chip-on-board (COB) display panels, owning nearly 300 related patents.

About ISLE

International Signs & LED Exhibition (ISLE) is a premium business platform of the signs and LED industry, held every year in Guangdong province, China. With the biggest exhibition area in Asia, ISLE expands to over 100,000 square meters, with 1800+ exhibitors. Series of display technology & signs application workshops and seminars are also held during ISLE.

http://www.isle.org.cn/

SOURCE Ledman Optoelectronic Co., Ltd. (Ledman)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor estimates that more than 27 million working-age Americans have started or run their own business. Whether you're a rideshare driver or freelancer, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service recognizes this growing workforce. In recognition of gig economy workers, the tax service is celebrating National Entrepreneurship Week by sharing tax tips for the self-employed and explaining how self-employed taxes have been impacted by tax reform.

"If you're a freelancer, sole proprietor, or small-business owner, you should know that some of the biggest changes from tax reform will impact you this year, including a new deduction: Qualified Business Income Deduction," said Mark Steber, Chief Tax Officer of Jackson Hewitt. "Self-employed workers and small business owners may be eligible for the new 20-percent deduction for pass-through businesses on their qualified business income, saving them money on their taxes."

Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) is available to taxpayers whose taxable income is below $157,500 for individuals or $315,000 for joint returns. Qualified business income (QBI) is income from a trade or business in the United States such as rideshare driving, consulting fees, internet or flea market sales, and reselling income to name a few. Employee wages and business generated capital gains, interest, and dividend income are excluded.

Don't miss out on this deduction. Jackson Hewitt Tax Pros also remind self-employed taxpayers of seven common tax deductions that they may qualify for this tax filing season:

Maintenance and repairs for vehicle upkeep and expenses, including oil, registration fees, insurance, parking fees and tolls, and depreciation (if the taxpayer owns the car or truck), or leasing costs: These may include the fees paid to a cab company for using its cars, or rental fees for a truck driver's trailer. Make sure you keep a log of all your expenses, the miles you drive for business, and your total mileage for the year. You must have all the miles and all the expenses to determine the business portion of the expenses. Travel expenses including transportation, lodging and incidental expenses such as laundry, phones, maid service, and others. Cost and maintenance of special work clothing. To be deductible, the clothing must be required for work and not suitable for everyday use, for example, safety shoes for a building contractor while on the construction site. State and local government licensing and regulatory fees as well as liability insurance premiums. Union and trade association dues as well as subscriptions to trade publications. The expenses associated with a home office as well as equipment and supplies. Continuing education for self and employees.

Individuals who are paid $600 or more in self-employment income can expect to receive a Form 1099-MISC, and individuals who are paid through a third party such as rideshare companies, who are paid at least $20,000 or have at least 200 transactions will receive a Form 1099-K. If a 1099-MISC, or 1099-K is not received the income must still be reported.

Visit jacksonhewitt.com/officelocator to locate the nearest Jackson Hewitt office.

About Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. is an innovator in the tax industry, with a mission to provide its hard-working clients access to simple, low-cost solutions to manage their taxes and tax refunds. Jackson Hewitt is devoted to helping clients get ahead with Maximum Refund and 100% Accuracy Guarantees. With close to 6,000 franchised and company-owned locations, including 3,000 in Walmart stores, and online and mobile tax solutions, Jackson Hewitt makes it convenient for clients to file their taxes. For more information about products, services, and offers, or to locate a Jackson Hewitt office, visit www.jacksonhewitt.com or call 1 (800) 234-1040.

SOURCE Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.

Related Links

http://www.jacksonhewitt.com


DENVER, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading the world's fastest growing real estate franchisors, Denver-based RE/MAX, LLC, tops other real estate franchises in Entrepreneur magazine's 2019 Top Fastest Growing Franchises list.

More than 1,000 franchisors applied to the 40th annual national ranking with RE/MAX named the fastest-growing real estate franchise brand for the sixth consecutive year.

"The RE/MAX model continues to revolutionize the real estate industry, one franchise at a time," said RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos. "Our franchisees are truly the best in the business, and this recognition reflects the success-driven, customer-focused culture they've helped create for the RE/MAX network."

In 2018, Contos led the global real estate franchisor through multiple technology upgrades including the acquisition of Denver-based web design and technology company booj. Earlier this year, RE/MAX announced a new service model better tailored to its U.S.-owned franchises and launched a new national ad campaign that includes an industry-first tool for agents: a customizable video generator.

Also on the Entrepreneur list  Motto Franchising, LLC, a second member of the RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. family of brands, placed #72. Established in 2016, Motto Mortgage sold 50 franchises in its inaugural year, and in just 23 months sold its 100th franchise solidifying its spot on the 2019 fastest growing franchise list.

The fastest-growing rankings are based on the number of new franchise units added in the U.S. and Canada from July 2017 to July 2018, as verified by Entrepreneur magazine, with ties broken based on percentage growth.

Entrepreneur published the latest fastest growing list in its February 2019 issue  a follow-up to the publication's annual Franchise 500 survey, that ranked RE/MAX at #15 on the list. RE/MAX was also ranked as the leading real estate franchise in Entrepreneur's 2019 Franchise 500  the 16th time in 20 years that RE/MAX was ranked number one in the real estate category.

About the RE/MAX Network

As one of the leading global real estate franchisors, RE/MAX, LLC is a subsidiary of RE/MAX Holdings (NYSE: RMAX) with over 120,000 agents in more than 100 countries and territories. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX, as measured by residential transaction sides. Dedicated to innovation and change in the real estate industry, RE/MAX launched Motto Mortgage, a ground-breaking mortgage franchisor, in 2016 and acquired booj, a real estate technology company, in 2018. RE/MAX agents have lived, worked and served in their local communities for decades, raising millions of dollars every year for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities. To learn more about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit www.remax.com/newsroom.

SOURCE RE/MAX, LLC

Related Links

https://www.remax.com


DENVER, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The growth of Motto Franchising, LLC is turning heads. Today, Entrepreneur magazine named Motto Mortgage as one of the fastest-growing franchise brands in 2019.

The ranking of 150 franchises placed Motto Franchising, LLC in the top half of the list, with an overall ranking of 72. This marks the first year the franchisor has been included in the annual list.

With over 100 franchises sold and nearly 80 offices open in 30 states, Motto Franchising, LLC's unique national franchise mortgage brokerage model is the first of its kind in the United States. Motto Mortgage was established in October 2016 and sold 50 franchises in its inaugural year in business, and sold the 100th Motto Mortgage franchise, just 23 months after its launch.

"We are proud to be named as an Entrepreneur magazine 2019 fastest-growing franchise. Earning a place among some of the most respected franchise brands with only two years under our belt is an incredible accomplishment," said Ward Morrison, president, Motto Franchising, LLC. "Our growth really showcases how revolutionary the Motto Mortgage model is. It's an incredibly exciting thing to be part of."

Entrepreneur will publish its latest "Fastest-Growing" list in its March 2019 issue. The rankings were based on the net number of franchise units added in the U.S. and Canada between July 2017 to July 2018 according to Entrepreneur magazine's review of unit lists and Franchise Disclosure Documents of 1,094 participating franchises across all industries.

This is not the first time Motto Franchising has been recognized for its growth. Last year, Franchise Grade named Motto Mortgage among the top 1 percent fastest-growing emerging franchises in 2018, according to an analysis of over 2,500 franchise systems. *

Motto Mortgage, a "mortgage brokerage in a box," continues to create a breakthrough in the mortgage industry by providing more options, transparency and convenience for consumers. This model not only creates an ancillary business for current real estate brokerage firms, but also offers opportunities for mortgage professionals seeking to open their own businesses and independent investors interested in financial services.

About Motto Mortgage

The Motto Mortgage network is breaking the mold by giving the power of choice back to consumers with less jargon, more transparency, and even more options to choose from as they shop for the right home loan. With over 100 franchises sold and nearly 80 offices open in 30 states, Motto Franchising, LLC's unique national franchise mortgage brokerage model is the first of its kind in the United States. Created to disrupt the mortgage industry, the Motto Mortgage network connects loan originators and real estate agents to provide a seamless, personalized experience and one-stop shop for consumers. Motto Mortgage is the second member of the RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. family of brands. Each Motto Mortgage office is independently owned, operated and licensed. To learn more about Motto Mortgage, or for license information for a Motto Mortgage office, email [email protected], or visit www.mottomortgage.com/offices.

*Motto Mortgage is among the top 1 percent fastest-growing emerging franchises in 2018 according to an analysis of over 2,500 franchise systems by Franchise Grade in its review of franchise sales information contained in Franchise Disclosure Documents issued during the 12 months ended August 30, 2018.

This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a Motto Mortgage franchise. It is for informational purposes only. We will not offer you a franchise in states or other jurisdictions where registration is required unless and until we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration requirements in your state (or have been exempted therefrom) and a Franchise Disclosure Document has been delivered to you before the sale in compliance with applicable law. New York residents: This advertisement is not an offering. An offering can be made by prospectus only. Minnesota Reg. No. F-8089; Motto Franchising, LLC, 5075 South Syracuse St #1200, Denver, CO 80237, 1.866.668.8649.

SOURCE Motto Mortgage

Related Links

https://www.mottomortgage.com


MILWAUKEE, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EnSync, Inc. (NYSE American: ESNC), dba EnSync Energy Systems (the "Company"), which is creating the future of electricity with innovative residential and commercial distributed energy resource (DER) systems and Internet of Energy (IOE) control platforms, reported that on February 18, 2019 it received a deficiency letter from the NYSE American LLC (the "Exchange") informing the Company that it is not in compliance with the Exchange's continued listing standards as set forth in Sections 801(h), 804 and 805 of the Exchange's Company Guide (the "Company Guide"). Specifically, given the fact that the Company's four independent directors resigned on February 11, 2019, the Exchange has determined the Company does not meet the requirements of Section 801(h) as it does not have (i) a board of directors consisting of at least 50% independent directors or (ii) an audit committee comprised of at least two independent members. Furthermore, Rule 10A-3 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires an audit committee consisting of one independent member. Additionally, the Company does not have sufficient independent directors to fulfill the requirements with respect to board nominations and executive compensation required by Sections 804 and 805 of the Company Guide. The Company's continued listing on the Exchange is predicated on (i) appointing one independent director to the Company's board of directors and audit committee no later than March 18, 2019 and (ii) regaining compliance with all other corporate governance requirements of Part 8 of the Company Guide no later than April 18, 2019.

In the interim, the Company's common stock will continue to be listed on the Exchange, subject to the Company's compliance with other continued listing requirements, and will continue to trade under the symbol "ESNC," with the added designation of ".BC" to indicate that the Company is below compliance with the Exchange's listing standards. The Exchange also publishes a list of noncompliant issuers and displays the .BC indicator on its website.

On February 20, 2019, the Company received a separate deficiency letter from the Exchange informing the Company that it is not in compliance with the Exchange's continued listing standards as the Company failed to timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended December 31, 2018 (the "Delinquent Report"), which was due to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") no later than February 14, 2019 (collectively the "Filing Delinquency").

As a result of the foregoing, the Company has become subject to the procedures and requirements of Section 1007 of the Company Guide. During the six-month period from the date of the Filing Delinquency (the "Initial Cure Period"), the Exchange will monitor the Company and the status of the Delinquent Report and any subsequent reports until the Filing Delinquency is cured. If the Company fails to cure the Filing Delinquency within the Initial Cure Period, the Exchange may, in its sole discretion, allow the Company's securities to be traded for up to an additional six-month period (the "Additional Cure Period"), depending on the Company's specific circumstances. If the Exchange determines that an Additional Cure Period is not appropriate, suspension and delisting procedures will commence in accordance with the procedures set forth in Section 1010 of the Company Guide.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, the Exchange may in its sole discretion decide (i) not to afford the Company any Initial Cure Period or Additional Cure Period, as the case may be, at all or (ii) at any time during the Initial Cure Period or Additional Cure Period, to truncate the Initial Cure Period or Additional Cure Period, as the case may be. Furthermore, the Exchange may immediately commence suspension and delisting procedures if the Company is subject to delisting pursuant to any other provision of the Company Guide, including if the Exchange believes, in its sole discretion, that continued listing and trading of the Company's securities on the Exchange is inadvisable or unwarranted in accordance with Sections 1001-1006 of the Company Guide.

In the interim, the Company's common stock will continue to be listed on the Exchange, subject to the Company's compliance with other continued listing requirements, and will continue to trade under the symbol "ESNC." The Exchange will make a late filer (".LF") indicator available on the consolidated tape. Each data vendor that disseminates the quotes and trades of Exchange-listed issuers may append this indicator to the ticker symbol of the Company. Each vendor is free to use an indicator of its own choosing so the letter or symbol used to indicate this status may differ from vendor to vendor. The Exchange also publishes a list of noncompliant issuers and displays the .LF indicator on its website.

As previously disclosed in the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on February 12, 2019, the Company has a very short term need for additional financing; however, the Company currently has no commitments to obtain any additional financing and if it does not obtain sufficient financing in the very near term it will likely need to discontinue operations and initiate insolvency proceedings. Accordingly, the Company has continued to actively pursue additional financing and take steps to reduce costs. To this end, on February 14, 2019, the Company conducted a reduction-in-force, impacting approximately 25 employees of the Company.

About EnSync Energy Systems

EnSync, Inc. (NYSE American: ESNC), dba EnSync Energy Systems (EnSync Energy), is creating the future of electricity with innovative distributed energy resource (DER) systems and internet of energy (IOE) control platforms. EnSync Energy ensures the most cost-effective and resilient electricity, delivered from an electrical infrastructure that prioritizes the use of all available resources, such as renewables, energy storage and the utility grid. As project developer, EnSync Energy's distinctive engagement methodology encompasses load analysis, system design consulting, and technical and financial modeling to ensure energy systems are sized and optimized to meet our customers' objectives for value and performance. Proprietary direct current (DC) power control hardware, energy management software, and extensive experience with numerous energy storage technologies uniquely positions EnSync Energy to deliver fully integrated systems that provide for efficient design, procurement, commissioning, and ongoing operation. EnSync Energy's IOE control platform adapts easily to ever-changing generation and load variables, as well as changes in utility prices and programs, ensuring the means to make or save money behind-the-meter, while concurrently providing utilities the opportunity to use DERs for an array of grid enhancing services. In addition to direct system sales, EnSync Energy includes power purchase agreements (PPAs) in its portfolio of offerings, which enables electricity savings for customers and provides a stable financial yield for investors. EnSync Energy is a global corporation, with joint venture Meineng Energy in AnHui, China, and energy project development subsidiary Holu Energy LLC in Hawaii. For more information, visit www.ensync.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding project completion timelines, our ability to monetize our PPA assets, statements regarding the sufficiency of our capital resources, expected operating losses, expected revenues, expected expenses and our expectations concerning our business strategy. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our historical and anticipated future operation losses and our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to raise the necessary capital to fund our operations and the risk of dilution to shareholders from capital raising transactions; our ability to successfully commercialize new products, including our EnSync Smart Home Energy System, Matrix TM Energy Management, DER Flex TM, DER SuperModule TM, and Agile TM Hybrid Storage Systems; our ability to lower our costs and increase our margins; our product, customer and geographic concentration, and lack of revenue diversification; the length and variability of our sales cycle; our dependence on governmental mandates and the availability of rebates, tax credits and other economic incentives related to alternative energy resources and the regulatory treatment of third-party owned solar energy systems; and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequently filed Quarterly Report(s) on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

EnSync Energy Media Contact:

Michelle Montague

[email protected]

(262) 735-5676

SOURCE EnSync, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ensync.com


WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the Foundation for Financial Planning (FFP) today announced the first-ever recipient of the CFP Board and Foundation for Financial Planning Excellence in Pro Bono Award  the University of Georgia (UGA).

"Pro bono work is critical to the advancement of the financial planning profession. The University of Georgia is putting its students on the right path  in school and in their future financial planning careers  by making pro bono a central part of its program," said Kevin R. Keller, CAE, CFP Board's Chief Executive Officer. "The program is to be commended for giving its students this first-hand, real world experience of helping others that will serve them well in their own careers as financial planners."

University of Georgia financial planning students participated in client-facing service activities through the ASPIRE Clinic and the Internal Revenue Service's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to provide "pro bono financial planning and tax filing and services that increase the financial stability and capability of hundreds of individuals and families."

Through collaboration with program faculty, as well as nutrition, legal, and counseling departments across the campus, UGA students were able to meet a need in their community for financial awareness and stability.

In 2018, the UGA VITA program helped clients claim more than $1.6 million in federal and state tax refunds and saved clients nearly $200,000 in tax preparation and filing fees. Clients also received financial planning help in understanding retirement savings and strategies and employee benefits, giving them a foundation for long-term financial stability.

"We are very grateful to receive this inaugural award and thank both CFP Board and the Foundation for Financial Planning for their dedication to the education of the next generation of financial planners and to the advancement of pro bono financial planning," said Joseph Goetz, Ph.D., co-founder of the University of Georgia's pro bono financial planning program and UGA financial planning professor. "Our students are choosing the path of becoming financial planners because they want to help people. Serving their communities through pro bono work demonstrates their commitment to helping those in need. For the past decade, the UGA ASPIRE Clinic and VITA program provided unparalleled experiential learning opportunities for our students and increased the financial stability and capability of thousands of individuals and families. The University of Georgia's financial planning program is committed to continuing to be a leader in experiential learning and pro bono work and helping many more people in the decades to come."

The award is given to an academic institution registered with CFP Board to provide the coursework requirement for CFP certification. Qualifications for the award include a demonstration by the academic institution of exemplary pro bono work that benefits both their students and their community. A call for nominations and eligibility criteria was announced in July 2018.

The award was announced today at the 2019 CFP Board Registered Program Conference. The University of Georgia will receive a $5,000 grant, sponsored by Dalton Education, to be used toward future pro bono activities.

The Foundation for Financial Planning is the nation's only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to advancing pro bono financial planning, supporting a variety of programs that match volunteer CFP professionals to at-risk people who otherwise couldn't access sound financial advice. CFP professionals and other financial planners work with these vulnerable individuals and families to help them with their finances and create a plan of action that will lead to better financial outcomes.

"There is no greater calling than helping people in need, and the University of Georgia has set an example for its students and others through their innovative pro bono program," said Jon Dauphine, Chief Executive Officer of FFP. "The financial planning program at the University of Georgia has fully integrated pro bono work and made it a central tenet of its curriculum. This should be commended as it shows students the powerful impact they can have in the community by using the knowledge they have gained in the classroom."

About the Registered Programs Conference

The conference will bring together program directors and faculty from institutions that deliver professional financial planning education for individuals pursuing CFP certification, offering opportunities to connect with each other and with firms to share best practices for strengthening the talent pipeline. The student track will explore topics such as the path to CFP certification, pro bono financial planning and trending issues in financial planning. CFP Board Registered Programs are offered at regionally-accredited colleges and universities who have met specific criteria for educating individuals pursuing CFP certification. Individuals who meet CFP Board's coursework requirement through a registered program are eligible to sit for the CFP Certification Examination. CFP Board partners with over 330 programs at more than 200 institutions.

ABOUT CFP BOARD

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board sets standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CFP certification  one of the most respected certifications in financial services  so that the public has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board, along with its Center for Financial Planning, is committed to increasing the public's awareness of CFP certification and consumers' access to a diverse, ethical and competent financial planning workforce. Widely recognized by consumer advocates and firms as the standard for financial planning, CFP certification is held by more than 83,000 people in the United States.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING

The Foundation for Financial Planning, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is the nation's only nonprofit solely devoted to supporting the delivery of pro bono financial planning to vulnerable people, including wounded veterans, domestic violence survivors, people with serious medical diagnoses, and many others. Dedicated to Powering Pro Bono Financial Planning, the Foundation has provided $7 million in grants to community-based nonprofits to support local programs; worked with partners to activate more than 20,500 volunteer financial planners to serve their communities; and acted as a leader and catalyst to embed a rich tradition of and commitment to pro bono across the financial planning profession. Visit FoundationForFinancialPlanning.org to learn more.

SOURCE Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
PALM BEACH, Florida, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian cannabis companies are ramping up their operations and are also looking to take their expertise to nations around the world. A recent article in an industry publication, Cannabis Business Times, published a list of what to do and not do while expanding to other countries. The article stated: "Cannabis's future is clearly global. It seems every few months a different country proposes new regulations to allow medical or recreational use in some form. Investors and operators with successful businesses in the U.S. and Canada are understandably interested in continuing this activity abroad, and many are aggressively investigating and pursuing those opportunities, moving into an international market is not always seamless. Cultural, environmental and governmental challenges may outweigh the benefits of expanding internationally. Active companies in the cannabis industry includes: Weekend Unlimited Inc. (CSE: POT) (OTC: WKULF), Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA), Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSX-V: XLY) (OTC: CBWTF), The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE) (OTC: SPRWF), MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN.) (OTC: MMNFF).

Weekend Unlimited Inc. (CSE: POT) (OTCQB: WKULF) (FSE: 0OS1) BREAKING NEWS: Weekend Unlimited having announced the signing of a definitive agreement on 13 February 2019 to acquire R&D Pharma's Jamaican interests, has completed the arms-length acquisition of R&D Pharma.



"We are thrilled to join the tremendous team at Weekend Unlimited under Paul Chu's leadership. With our Tier-3 cultivators license, our active focus is on medical tourism in Jamaica, having designed and constructed the first of our 'Ganja Cafe's' within a short tour bus ride from the cruise ship terminals in Ocho Rios," said Richard Bailey, President of R&D Pharma.



"We just completed a harvest last week on our 98-acre property to stock the Ganja Cafe for first tourism visits beginning on May 15th. The Ganja Cafe will be stocked with branded Jamaican strains, extracts, and infused products that will serve as a precursor to our future wholesale distribution in Jamaica and internationally," added Mr. Bailey



Weekend issued 80 million shares at a deemed price of $0.25 as well as making available 25 million warrants to the shareholders of R & D Pharma. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire an additional share for $0.35 for a period of 2 years. Approximately 49 million shares are subject to a voluntary escrow agreement that sees 20% released at closing and the balance in 6 equal instalments over 3 years. Read this full announcement and more news for Weekend Unlimited at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-pot/



Additional cannabis industry related developments from around the markets:

Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) On February 19 the company announced that independent members of its Board of Directors consisting of Shlomo Bibas , John Herhalt , Tom Looney and Irwin Simon , unanimously approved the early termination and liquidation of a promissory note, option and other agreements (the "Early Termination and Liquidation") related to the Company's previously announced divestment of all interests in Liberty Health Sciences, Inc. ("Liberty").

As detailed on September 6, 2018 , the Company entered into a share purchase agreement with a group of buyers, wherein it completed the sale of the shares making up 100% of its outstanding interest in Liberty, in exchange for a five-year promissory note due September 6, 2023 , bearing interest at 12% per annum and in the amount of $59,097,986 . Aphria retained an irrevocable option to repurchase its shares in Liberty from the buyers for a period of up to five years, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSX-V: XLY.V) (OTCQX: CBWTF) recently announced the appointments of Brian Schmitt as Chief Financial Officer, Jason Sonshine as Vice President, Strategy, and Carla Nawrocki as Vice President, Investor Relations of the Company.

Chuck Rifici noted "We are delighted that Brian, Jason and Carla have joined the Auxly family and look forward to their insight and contributions as we continue to execute on our strategic plan. We are very pleased with the strength of the management team that we've assembled here at Auxly."

The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. (TSX-V: FIRE.V) (OTCQX: SPRWF) last week announced the release of its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018. "We're pleased with our second quarter results, which show meaningful revenue growth quarter-over-quarter and continues to reflect our strong operational execution," said Navdeep Dhaliwal, CEO of Supreme Cannabis. "Since Supreme received its license over two years ago, we have been one of the fastest scaling Licensed Producer's in Canada, demonstrated by one of the strongest first years of revenue in the sector."

"During the second quarter we made our first shipments of 7ACRES-branded product to adult-use markets in six provinces. The consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Cannabis enthusiasts are vocal about their passion for high-quality cannabis. We believe 7ACRES has quickly established itself as Canada's only premier cannabis producer at scale. With construction on the flowering room at 7ACRES scheduled to be completed by the end of March, we're looking forward to increasing our production capacity to help meet consumer demand and drive further revenue growth throughout the year. This quarter validated many aspects of our consumer driven market thesis and demonstrates the strength of our intellectual property around scaled cultivation."

MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN.CN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) recently announced that it has closed its previously announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") of Kannaboost Technology Inc. and CSI Solutions LLC, collectively referred to as "Level Up," two vertically-integrated operations in Arizona. The acquisition includes retail locations in Scottsdale and Tempe, as well as 25,000 square feet of cultivation and production capacity in Tempe and Phoenix. The acquisition also includes a 40 percent stake in top-selling brand K.I.N.D. Concentrates, which is currently distributed in over 90 percent of the dispensaries in Arizona. The Company paid a combination of cash and stock valued at an aggregate of $33.5 million.

With the closing of the Acquisition and following the completion of the pending acquisition of PharmaCann, LLC, MedMen will be licensed for three medical-use cannabis dispensaries in Arizona. The flagship Level Up location in Scottsdale is one of the highest-grossing dispensaries in the state.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com (FNM) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated forty nine hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued above by Weekend Unlimited Inc. by a non affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Contact Information:

Media Contact email:

[email protected]

+1(561)325-8757

SOURCE FinancialNewsMedia.com
These new results both confirm the extent and continuity of the Moroy zone. The diamond drilling campaign also succeeded in defining the Moroy zones M1 and M2. Highlighted drill intersections are provided in the table below.

The Moroy Deposit is a parallel system to the Bachelor Mine and shows similarities with Bachelor in terms of geology, geometry, size and continuity. Located 1 km south, Moroy has been outlined over a strike length of 400 metres and a vertical extent of 600 metres. The mineralized zones consist of hematized brecciated stockwork associated with pyrite. Bonterra will include these results in its upcoming mineral resources estimate and will focus on expansion drilling in the Moroy zones, which remain open to the West and East, along the mineralization plunge.

Drilling highlights:

Hole # From (m) To (m) Length (m)* Grade Au

(g/t) Zone MY18-028 250.4 254.1 3.7 5.0 M2 MY18-082 150.0 152.7 2.7 12.0 M1 MY18-084 123.0 129.0 6.0 6.9 M1 MY18-086 16.8 17.6 0.8 19.3 M1 MY18-089 173.8 188.1 14.3 4.9 M1 MY18-097 104.7 107.7 3.0 7.8 M1 MY18-098 19.6 24.2 4.6 9.3 M2 MY18-099 125.2 128.6 3.4 4.8 M1 MY18-100 108.2 122.1 13.9 4.1 M1 MY18-105 85.4 87.2 1.8 13.3 M1 MY18-106 234.6 238.9 4.3 12.3 M1 MY18-112 116.6 122.0 5.4 8.8 M1 Including 116.6 119.1 2.4 18.1 M1 MY18-115 88.6 106.3 17.7 4.4 M1 Including 98.4 100.4 2.0 12.2 M1 MY18-120 14.1 17.9 3.8 8.5 M1 Including 15.1 17.3 2.2 11.9 M1 MY18-120 105.1 117.2 12.1 7.9 M1 MY18-124 119.4 121.5 2.1 18.3 M1 MY18-127 182.6 185.8 3.2 11.7 M1 MY18-130 251.1 256.1 5.0 9.6 M1 MY18-131 246.7 248.9 2.2 8.9 M1 MY18-135 145.9 154.7 8.8 7.2 M1 MY18-138 123.5 127.6 4.1 15.5 M1 MY18-140 161.6 165.9 4.3 11.4 M1 MY19-146 93.7 95.5 1.8 20.4 M1

*Stated lengths are core width as drilled, true widths vary and average between 75 and 90 percent of drilled widths.

Highlights on the Moroy deposit:

Three (3) defined mineralized structures within the Moroy deposit.

Over 100,000 metres drilled in the Moroy deposit since its discovery in 2015.

Mineralized dimensions are now 400 metres along strike and 600 metres vertically.

Mine development into Moroy deposit, from level 11 of the Bachelor mine, allows for both bulk sampling and underground definition drilling opportunities.

Quality Control and Reporting Protocols

The Company uses a rigorous QA-QC analytical program according to industry standards. The analytical results were done by pyroanalysis (A.A.) at the mine laboratory. Blanks, duplicates and certified reference standards are inserted into the sample stream to monitor laboratory performance. The company's QA-QC analytical verification program requires that a minimum of 5% of the samples be audited at an independent laboratory. These audit assays were sent to ALS laboratory located in Val-d'Or, Quebec. The results of the audits are consistent with those obtained.

Grant of option

Bonterra also announces that it has granted the aggregate of 2,700,000 share purchase options to eligible directors, officers, employees and consultants. Each share purchase option allows the holder to purchase one common share of Bonterra, at the exercise price of $2.00 and will expire February 21, 2024, the whole subject to certain vesting requirements as may be applicable and the terms and conditions of the Company's Stock Option Plan.

Bonterra Resources Quick Facts:

Control of three high-grade gold deposits (Gladiator, Barry and Moroy) and significant regional targets.

100% ownership of the Urban-Barry Mill, the only permitted gold mill in the region.

Strong shareholder base including Eric Sprott and Kirkland Lake Gold .

. Property-wide NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate underway to include the Gladiator, Barry and Moroy deposits.

Pascal Hamelin, P.Eng. has approved the information contained in this release. Mr. Hamelin, Bonterra's VP Operations, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" that is based on Bonterra current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements with respect to Bonterra exploration and development plans. The words "will", "anticipated", "plans" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Bonterra actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related exploration and development; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund exploration and development; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in input costs; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or inability to obtain permits encountered in connection with exploration activities; and labour relations matters. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Bonterra disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Bonterra Resources Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bonterraresources.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Betta4U Brands Inc. today announced the acquisition of high pH alkaline bottled water company NEO Water. The acquisition leads Betta4U's target of $100 million in annualized revenues from a growing and expanding portfolio of beverage companies to be acquired over the next 24 months. The acquisition of NEO Water was comprised of primarily cash and stock with no specific details disclosed.

Betta4U Brands Inc.

NEO Water, founded in 2011 by health and wellness entrepreneur Ben Behrouzi, was one of the first high pH alkaline bottled water brands to achieve national distribution. Since 2011, the brand has seen consistent growth and is carried in over 2,500 locations nationwide from small to large retailers including Whole Foods Market, Giant Eagle, Acme Markets and Fred Meyer stores. NEO Water is primarily distributed by UNFI, KEHE and select Direct Store Delivery distributors to retailers across natural, grocery, convenience, wellness and specialty channels of trade. The company posted over $10 million in revenues at the time of its acquisition.

"It is with great pleasure that we welcome this strategic acquisition and we look forward to the expansion of the NEO brand both domestically as well as internationally," said NEO CEO Ben Behrouzi.

Led by veteran beverage executive Bernard Rubin, Betta4U Brands is a portfolio beverage company targeting a $300 million public offering through the acquisition and organic growth of established brands. Rubin, who has spent 15 years in executive-level leadership positions for beverage companies including Cott Beverages, most recently led the international business division for New Age Beverages. Rubin is joined by a growing team of beverage industry veterans building a portfolio of world-class beverages in the health and wellness space.

"NEO has done a remarkable job in building a strong brand, a rare breadth of distribution and a loyal consumer following," said Betta4U Brands CEO Bernard Rubin. "We are more than excited to integrate this unique brand and welcome NEO as a leader of our water segment."

About NEO Water:

NEO Water is a consumer beverage company founded in 2011 by serial entrepreneur and investor Ben Behrouzi. For more information, contact [email protected].

About Betta4U Brands:

Betta4U Brands Inc. is a Delaware corporation managing a growing portfolio of world-class beverages in the health and wellness space. For more information, contact [email protected].

Related Links

NEO Water

SOURCE Betta4U Brands Inc.

Related Links

http://betta4ubrands.com


HOUSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ammons Law Firm, LLP has joined forces with attorneys in the New Mexico office of Durham, Pittard & Spalding, LLP to seek justice for three people harmed when a defective tire caused a fatal New Mexico bus accident. Attorney Rob Ammons is the author of Tire Defect Litigation, a cornerstone manual for attorneys handling defective tire claims.

The lawsuit is the first case resulting from the accident to name Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC as a defendant. It alleges that Bridgestone's negligence produced a defective tire that caused the fatal crash.

The lawsuit points to several failures on the part of Bridgestone, including a failure to design the tire with the components necessary to prevent tread separation, even though Bridgestone and other tire manufacturers already use these components on other tires. It also alleges that the manufacturing process that created the tire was defective.

As a result of these and other defects, the lawsuit argues, the tire was not safe to use under ordinary roadway conditions  and those injured or killed in the New Mexico accident paid the price.

In August 2018, the tread separated from a semi-trailer's left front tire, causing the semi to cross the highway median on I-40 in New Mexico and crash into a Greyhound bus. Eight of the bus's 48 passengers were killed and 25 were injured, including three young children.

The lawsuit, filed in the First Judicial District Court of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, alleges that various defects in the tire's development, design and manufacture led to the separation of the tread from the rest of the tire.

In a CBS News article published a few days after the accident, the truck's driver said that the truck "locked up" shortly after the tire blew. The tread separation caused the driver to lose control of the truck, which jackknifed across the I-40 median and into oncoming traffic, striking the Greyhound bus.

The accident garnered attention from national news media outlets, including CBS and the Chicago Tribune. While other lawsuits have been filed as a result of the crash, these cases do not focus on the role Bridgestone's actions played in the accident.

The case is Lamar v. Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC, et al., D-101-CV-2019-00098. The Ammons Law Firm can be reached at https://www.ammonslaw.com/.

SOURCE Ammons Law Firm

Related Links

https://www.ammonslaw.com/


"When I had to say goodbye to him, I thought I was going to be okay just saying goodbye and leaving him to another handler, but I broke down the second I hugged him around his neck," Staff Sgt Ogin said of Rrobiek. "After four years you grow together and essentially become family, so I am looking forward to bringing him home and spoiling him as much as I can." Staff Sgt Ogin last saw Rrobiek in December 2017.

American Humane, the country's first national humane organization, has been working to support the U.S. military, veterans, and military animals for more than 100 years. One of its many efforts is working to bring retired military dogs back to the United States and reconnect them with the people who care most about them  their former handlers.

American Humane sent one of its top veterinarians to pick up and escort MWD Rrobiek to Kissimmee. Support was provided by American Humane's Lois Pope LIFE Center for Military Affairs, along with Hallmark Channel and MerriView Hill  Call to Duty.

"American Humane is proud to support our nation's veterans, including military K-9s who play a critical role in protecting our troops," said Robin Ganzert, PhD, American Humane president and CEO. "We were thrilled to help reunite K-9 Rrobiek and Staff Sgt Ogin and wish them the very best."

"Veterans and their military working dogs often develop unbreakable bonds and pairing them back together helps provide much-needed healing," said American Humane Veterinarian Dr. Lesa Staubus. "Escorting K-9 Rrobiek on his journey back into the arms of Staff Sgt Ogin was an incredible honor I'll never forget."

Retired MWDs often have lots of medical issues stemming from their physical jobs. American Humane works on reunifications and helps provide free specialty and preventative medical care to make retired MWDs as healthy and comfortable as possible during retirement. Many dogs also suffer from post-traumatic stress.

About American Humane

Founded in 1877, American Humane is the country's first national humane organization. For more information, visit www.AmericanHumane.org.

Photos from yesterday's reunification are available here.

SOURCE American Humane

Related Links

http://www.americanhumane.org


Millwood Kane International (MKI) an investment consulting firm with real estate at its core announced its partnership with Ayia Napa Marina, Cyprus's flagship development to promote the brand in the Indian market. With a great history of working with partners to deliver strong returns on their real estate investments, Millwood Kane International brings 25 years of knowledge and insight into various industries and markets enabling clients to harness lucrative and creative cross-border opportunities across Europe, Africa and Middle East using Cyprus as a hub.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824981/Harris_Koureas_Nish_Bhatt.jpg )



A 300 million-euro project, Ayia Napa Marina aims to tap into the niche Indian audience looking for attractive investment options along with luxurious lifestyle offerings. Positioned as an ultimate residential yachting destination, Ayia Napa Marina offers an unparalleled lifestyle with the finest nightlife, recreational and shopping experiences, customised at the discerning few who appreciate and desire for the perfect intersection of nature, leisurely comfort, and community living.

Strategically located in the eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - Cyprus is a safe haven blessed by beautiful nature, year-round sunshine, modern infrastructure, a high standard of living and a genuine culture of warmth and hospitality. Fully compliant with EU laws and regulations, Cyprus's simple and transparent tax system is one of the most attractive in Europe. Its modern legal system is widely recognized as being effective and business-friendly and the destination offers a modern, competitive and simple business environment coupled with a high quality of life, making it an ideal place for both visitors and investors. According to a research report by Knight Frank, 20% of the Indian buyer preference is for a villa, since countries such as Cyprus and Sri Lanka are seen more as second home options and holiday destinations. As investment is the prime reason for Indian buyers, a shift in lifestyle and the option to gain permanent residency or citizenship are other factors that attract resident Indian buyers to foreign shores like Cyprus.

Speaking on the partnership, Nish Bhatt, CEO, Millwood Kane International, said, "India is a huge and potential market for us. Indian HNI's are heavily investing in real estate in other countries and the numbers have grown by 166% in the last 10 years. Almost 50% of all India's UHNWI** & HNI* have foreign real estate in their portfolios, which is the highest in the world. Which makes this partnership very meaningful for us as we wish to deliver to our Indian clients the most exclusive options to accommodate their investment decisions. We are trusted by our clients to help them handpick the best cross border investments and with Ayia Napa Marina, we wish to bring Indians one of the most highly sought maritime, commercial and residential developments on the island."

Harris Koureas, Deputy CEO of Ayia Napa Marina Cyprus said, "We are extremely happy to be introducing our most modern integrated luxury marina development today in the Indian market. Cyprus makes for an ideal investment destination for Indians seeking high yield returns, great infrastructure and quality of living. With its uniquely distinct positioning, Ayia Napa Marina marries luxury living with beauty of nature with breath-taking panoramic views of the Mediterranean, the marina, spectacular beaches and a quintessential modern lifestyle. We are very positive to see a high interest level in the Indian market for our very first venture and look forward to revealing the ANM luxury villas and the East Tower today bundled with a limited incentive offer."

About Millwood Kane International

Millwood Kane International has successfully helped individuals and companies grow their wealth, build their legacy and preserve their investments for future generations. Millwood Kane International is an investment consulting firm with real estate at its core. We are committed to delivering strong returns, providing enhanced value through efficiencies that are achieved through a holistic and tailored approach. With in-depth knowledge, a diverse culture and insights into various industries and markets, our clients benefit from unique and creative crossborder opportunities. Millwood Kane International has cultivated global partners and resources allowing individuals and corporations a route to Europe, Africa and the Middle East through using Cyprus as a hub, reaping the benefits of a more efficient tax environment, whilst enjoying one of the best lifestyles in the world.

About Ayia Napa Marina

Rising out of the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, Ayia Napa Marina blends strategic location with striking architecture to capture the true essence of stylish Mediterranean beachfront living, surrounded by the wealth of natural beauty, cultural heritage and welcoming hospitality that Cyprus is renowned for. This exclusive integrated development offers luxurious residences, world-class yachting facilities, a variety of retail boutiques, waterfront fine dining options, recreational and nightlife experiences. It offers all the benefits of elegant modern living in a unique location, with crystal clear seas, stunning beaches and incredible views. With complete privacy and round-the-clock security for homes and yachts, Ayia Napa Marina is the ideal residential, yachting and social destination, offering everything one needs to relax and enjoy the exciting lifestyle of the Mediterranean.

For more information visit: www.marinaayianapa.com/l/millwood-kane-international



For press queries:

Mumbai Office

One Indiabulls Tower 2a,

8th floor, Lower Parel,

Mumbai, 400013

Tel: +91-22-7127-9329



Mohsin Vadgama

[email protected]

+91-8484848485

PR Pundit



SOURCE Millwood Kane International
Joanna will be responsible for driving all aspects of client development and sales as well as Starcount's marketing offering. Starcount was listed in the Financial Times top 30 UK Leading Management Consultancies Report 2019 and has recently grown major accounts with M&S and Holland & Barrett. Joanna will report into Starcount CEO Edwina Dunn (founder of data analytics giant dunnhumby).

Joanna previously held the role of Managing Partner at OMD UK, part of the award-winning Omnicom Media Group. She was responsible for leading the agency's new business, marketing and PR agendas. Prior to this, she was a Management Consultant in Capgemini's Digital Transformation and Business Analytics practice where she worked across a wide range of leading brands, notably in the retail, luxury and FMCG sectors.

Edwina Dunn said: "Joanna's experience means she brings a great deal of insight into solving client's business challenges across a range of disciplines. She will play a major role in the commercial development of our business. Joanna brings experience, energy and enthusiasm that will inspire both our team and our clients."

Speaking of her appointment, Joanna said: "I am thrilled to join the team at Starcount. I am hugely impressed by their products as well as their vision for unlocking actionable insights for clients. Understanding what emotionally drives consumers to interact with brands, enabling prediction of purchasing behaviour is at the forefront of Starcount's offering. This is a very exciting time to join a fast growing and innovative data-science business."

About Starcount, www.starcount.com

Starcount is a data science company, blending proprietary technology and machine learning with a deep expertise and pedigree in data-based insights. Starcount is led by data science pioneers Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby.

Experts in the science of purchase and intent, at Starcount we hand our clients the tools and power to take control of their data, to improve customer understanding and transform business performance.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824782/Jo_Wardle.jpg)

Related Links

http://www.starcount.com/



SOURCE Starcount Insights
GOTHENBURG, Sweden and ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- POA Pharma Scandinavia AB, a market-oriented Boutique Healthcare Company, working in close contact with healthcare organizations, professionals and hospitals in Nordic countries and Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, an innovative Anaesthesia pharmaceutical company, today announced a strategic agreement to launch OZALIN in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

One of the challenges facing paediatric anaesthetists in treating children, either for premedication prior to surgery or during procedural sedation, is the lack of acceptable approved medications. An oral solution for children older than 6 months, OZALIN, has been approved in several markets in the EU.

"The agreement with POA Pharma represents an important achievement for Primex Pharmaceuticals and underscores our commitment to making OZALIN available to anaesthetists across all EU member states," said Alan Knox, Primex's Group CEO. "We are confident that POA Pharma expertise in the field of anaesthesia, coupled with their understanding of the Nordic countries, will benefit children requiring premedication or procedural sedation."

Tina Madsen Sandstrom, CEO of POA, "POA Pharma is looking forward to launch OZALIN to our patients and clinical customers in the Nordic markets. We are happy to once again having the opportunity to introduce new developments within the health care sector."

About Primex Pharmaceuticals:

Primex Pharmaceuticals is a leading global innovative anaesthesia company, expanding in paediatric pharmaceuticals. Primex brings a broad portfolio of anaesthesia products helping patients undergo a wide range of medical procedures, including a novel, oral solution for paediatric sedation now approved in several markets in the European Union. Primex Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Switzerland.

www.primexpharma.com

About POA Pharma:

POA Pharma is a market-oriented Boutique Healthcare Company present in 9 competence areas with offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and US. The home Market is the Nordic countries were POA represents 12 Pharmaceutical producers from 10 countries. POA Pharma contributes to better healthcare, better health and wellbeing and a higher quality of life.

www.poapharma.com

For further information, please contact:

Primex Pharmaceuticals AG

Alan Knox, CEO

Zug, Switzerland

Tel. +41 (0)79 1762420

alan.knox@primexintl.com

POA Pharma Scandinavia AB

Tina Madsen Sandstrom

Gothenburg, Sweden

Tel. +46 (0) 31 788 05 99

tina.madsen@poaab.com

 Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, Zug, Switzerland. All rights reserved

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824543/PrimexPharma_Logo.jpg

Related Links

http://www.primexpharma.com



SOURCE Primex Pharmaceuticals
Daily Mail

February 21 ,2019

Google found itself at the centre of a new privacy scandal yesterday, after it emerged that it has buried a secret microphone in its Nest Secure alarm system.

The microphone is not listed on the specifications for the Nest device, which is designed to keep users safe and protect their privacy and belongings.

It came to light after Google launched a software update allowing users to control the Nest devices with their voices.

The voice activation requires a microphone to work.

Yesterday, the web giant insisted that it had kept the device a secret by accident, as it apologised to customers.

A spokesman said: The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part.

The tech firm added that the microphone was never switched on prior to the software update, but that it included the feature in order to have the potential to pick up the sound of glass breaking.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t



Security systems often use microphones to provide features that rely on sound sensing, a spokesman added.

We included the mic on the device so that we can potentially offer additional features to our users in the future, such as the ability to detect broken glass.

The Nest Security alarm system containing a microphone has been sold throughout the US, but is yet to go on sale in Europe.

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This article was posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 7:54 am

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Chris Menahan

Information Liberation

February 21, 2019

It looks like Jussie Smollett is going to get a mere slap on the wrist for allegedly lying to police and manufacturing a fake hate crime against himself to libel half the country as evil racists.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, the Cook County States Attorneys Office said Wednesday evening. Smollett is due in court in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said CPD detectives will make contact with Smolletts legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. Smollett is not in custody at this time. Guglielmi told ABC News police are not actively looking for the actor because this is not a violent crime, but said the longer this goes, the more we have to do what we have to do.

Smollett faces at most one and a half years in prison. The Nigerian brothers who allegedly helped him stage this fake hate crime are not facing any charges.

WATCH:

EXCLUSIVE: I tracked down surveillance of the Osundairo's buying supplies before "attack" Sources say Jussie Smollet told brothers what to buy. Countless phone calls placed for this. Visited more stores than I wish to admit. @cbschicago https://t.co/GT6h2g6Y9a pic.twitter.com/ULr3UTDe9Q  Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 20, 2019

Reporter Andy Ngo said rank and file officers are angry with the decision:

Source tells me that the rank and file officers at CPD are angry at how their PR is coddling Smollett with comments like this. He is wanted for a felony offense & his location remains unknown. https://t.co/0HXLNfVUuz pic.twitter.com/XgAnmKsBZn  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 21, 2019

This was, allegedly, what amounts to a criminal conspiracy to generate racial animus against around half the country just for the sake of career advancement.

.@JussieSmollett lawyers said, "Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence. You know who else deserved a presumption of innocence? The white male, heterosexuals & Trump supporters who their client smeared as racist homophobes https://t.co/JlsD6HLHhd  David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) February 21, 2019

Smollett may still have to answer for the terroristic letter he allegedly had sent to himself through the mail:

Reminder: Smollett could also face federal charges if it's found he lied to FBI agents or U.S. Postal Inspectors who were investigating that "hate" letter he said he received. https://t.co/mdWPdfIugP  Ben Bradley (@BenBradleyTV) February 20, 2019

Well have to wait and see whether the FBI lets him off with just a slap on the wrist as well.

This article was posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 6:53 am

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Daily Caller

February 21 ,2019

CNN announced Tuesday that they hired a former spokeswoman for Jeff Sessions to serve as a political editor, and the backlash was intense and immediate.

Sarah Isgur Flores, the chief Department of Justice spokeswoman under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a former campaign aide to Carly Fiorina, will help oversee CNNs 2020 campaign coverage. CNN appears to have a habit of hiring former Obama officials to handle coverage  particularly current anchor and former chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto  but the addition of a Trump administration official led to severe criticism of the network from the left.

Tommy Vietor, a host for Pod Save America, complained that the hiring of Flores gave every Democrat in the country a reason to doubt your objectivity.

This is absolutely insane @CNNPolitics. Why on earth would you hire a right-wing hack to oversee political coverage in 2020? You just gave every Democrat in the country a reason to doubt your objectivity. https://t.co/bjRKPqAIm6  Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) February 19, 2019

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter claimed in his Tuesday night newsletter that CNN employees are concerned as well.

CNN employees are concerned, according to numerous people who reached out to me on Tuesday. They are asking what Isgurs role will be and questioning whether her sudden leap from the Trump administration to the CNN newsroom is an ethical breach, Stelter wrote.

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This article was posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 7:59 am

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RT

February 21 ,2019

US President Donald Trumps top foreign policy advisor John Bolton appears dead set on resuming his decades-long stand-off with Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, hinting that Washington-backed regime change may be in the offing.

The Ortega regime has sentenced three farm leaders to 550 years in prison for their roles in protests in 2018, where Ortegas police forces reportedly killed 300 activists. As President Trump said Monday, Ortegas days are numbered and the Nicaraguan people will soon be free, the national security advisor to the US president tweeted on Wednesday.

The Ortega regime has sentenced three farm leaders to 550 years in prison for their roles in protests in 2018, where Ortegas police forces reportedly killed 300 activists. As President Trump said Monday, Ortegas days are numbered and the Nicaraguan people will soon be free.  John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) February 20, 2019

The leaders of anti-Ortega protests were given jail terms this week, after they were implicated in the deaths of four policemen and a teacher during a shootout last July.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t



The Central American nation has been rocked by unrest since April last year, with protesters demanding the resignation of Sandinista party leader Ortega, who has been president since 2007, and convincingly won another five-year term in 2016.

The US has repeatedly backed the uprising against the left-wing government, and last November Bolton made a keynote speech calling for the crumbling of what he called the Troika of Tyranny  Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba  saying the states represented a a sordid cradle of communism in the Western hemisphere.

On Monday, Trump name-checked the same three countries, saying their great potential would be unlocked with the collapse of socialism. To expedite the process, Congress last year imposed financial measures that would make it difficult for the economically-stricken Nicaragua to obtain international loans, as well as slapping sanctions on top officials in Managua.

Revenge served ice-cold

Boltons history with Ortega goes back to the 1980s. Just as now, Ortega was the leader of Nicaragua, first as he spearheaded the revolution in 1979, and when he was elected president in 1985.

The Ronald Reagan administration spent significant financial resources backing the right-wing Contra rebels during the civil war, which lasted nearly the entire decade.

Bolton, at that time a legal specialist, held a number of senior positions in the Reagan White House, and was more than a witness to its shadowy CIA-aided schemes to bypass a Democrat-run Congress ban on helping the opposition militants.

He reportedly played a crucial part in hobbling both the scope of the Iran-Contra investigation and an inquiry into drug- and gun-running militants, who were enabled by Washington.



After he returned to prominence under George W. Bush in yet another chapter of an unsinkable career, Bolton failed to dislodge Venezuelas Hugo Chavez, the Sandinistas, or Cubas Fidel Castro (at one point, he accused Havana of developing biological weapons, without solid evidence). But as a man who with permission from Donald Trump now seems to be steering US foreign policy on dozens of key issues, Bolton has more resources than ever before to settle his lifelong ideological grudges.

This article was posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 8:01 am

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Newsbusters

February 21 ,2019

In 2014, then-college student Hoda Muthana lied to her parents about going on a school trip and ran away to join the ISIS terrorist group in Syria. Now, after spending years with a terrorist group that had attacked America, shes pleading to come back home and says therapy should be her punishment. This was who CBS foreign correspondent Holly Williams decided to sympathize with on Wednesdays CBS Evening News.

Williams appeared to side with Muthana after President Trump tweeted that hed instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country, and [t]he State Department said Muthana had no right to return because she, quote, is not a U.S. Citizen.

But Muthanas family say she is an American citizen. Theyve given us a copy of what they claim is her birth certificate, showing she was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994, and they say she held a U.S. passport, Williams explained. She then unironically hyped a tweet Muthana posted bragging about throwing her passport into a bonfire, while her Twitter handle was Umm Jihad. You cant make this stuff up.

CBS spoke with the familys lawyer, Hassan Shibly:

HASSAN SHIBLY: At the end of the day, shes a U.S. Citizen, and whether Americans make crimes or not, that doesnt deprive them of their citizenship. WILLIAMS: If shes been stripped of U.S. Citizenship, its apparently news to her family. SHIBLY: Shes literally trying to turn herself into the U.S. government to be held accountable to our laws, to pay any debts she may have for society.

Williams failed to disclose that Shibly actually worked for the Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR) a group with known ties to the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

As the National Review wrote about CAIR in 2014:

It is connected to Hamas: Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and many other governments, indirectly created CAIR and the two groups remain tight. Examples: In 1994, CAIR head Nihad Awad publicly declared his support for Hamas; the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Hamas front group, contributed $5,000 to CAIR; in turn, CAIR exploited the 9/11 attacks to raise money for HLF; and, this past August, demonstrators at a CAIR-sponsored rally in Florida proclaimed We are Hamas!

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VGMA22: List of winners for Day 1 Thirteen awards were given out on day one of the 22nd edition of the Vodafone

TB Joshuas wife Evelyn takes over SCOAN megachurch The wife of the late Prophet TB Joshua, Evelyn, is poised to become the head of
Plattsburgh, NY (12901)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Now that COVID-19 cases are declining and the majority of Minnesotans have received vaccinations, what activities are you most looking forward to resuming this summer?

You voted:
Students can help reduce violence in schools

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in 2012, in some years the number of incidents of gun violence on school grounds has grown. Children deserve action to stop this crisis. And we must empower youth to be a part of the solution.

Sandy Hook Promise offers Say Something, a no-cost, easy-to-implement prevention program to teach students in schools and youth organizations how to identify the signs and signals of potential violence, especially in social media, and tell a trusted adult.

As teen suicide rates rise and school shootings get massive coverage, programs like these give me hope. Say Something has already averted countless violent incidents across the country.

By training children with simple steps to look out for their peers and speak up, we can prevent violence before it happens.

Thats why its so important for schools and youth organizations to join the Say Something Call-to-Action Week from Feb. 25 to March 1. This simple step can help bring the change we so badly need.

Laura Hill

Linwood

Congress failed, got paid
The perennial problem became a crisis with the double blow of the shrinking casino industry and the severe U.S. recession. By the middle of this decade, only 26 percent of city homes were owner-occupied, well under half the rate for Atlantic County and New Jersey. Likewise its vacancy rate was double that of the state at 23 percent.

Atlantic City has gotten some help addressing blight from the state in the past. In 2015, for example, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority provided $3 million to demolish a handful of eyesore motels at its entrance.

Egg Harbor Township currently is seeking $2.4 million in federal funding to tear down four more in its West Atlantic City section.

The best hope is New Jerseys comprehensive plan to help Atlantic City recover, which includes reducing blight in one of its seven pillars  planning and development.

The state recovery program is wisely getting input and help from the citys strong neighborhood associations, which already have an interest in blight reduction. The Venice Park Homeowners Association has mapped vacant properties as part of an effort to tell which are salvageable and which should be demolished. The group wants the city and state to develop a citywide blight-reduction plan and find funding for it.
VINELAND  Firefighters discovered a body while battling a blaze that ripped through a mobile home Wednesday afternoon in Cedarcrest Village, Capt. Tony Saltar said.

The person was pronounced dead in the ambulance destined for Inspira Medical Center Vineland, fire officials said.

The Fire Department did not release the name of the deceased Wednesday night. Saltar did not know whether a man or a woman died in the fire.

Neighbor Mike Amico, who has lived in the park for 16 years, watched as firefighters hosed down hot spots.

The whole mobile home is a complete loss, Amico said. It was gutted by fire.

At 3:21 p.m., the call was dispatched, and the first fire engine was on the scene at 3:27 p.m., Saltar said.

Fire was coming out one side of the manufactured home, and heavy smoke was visible when firefighters arrived, Saltar said.

Any kind of manufactured housing, even if it is old or new, its a very fast-moving fire through a manufactured house due to the type of materials that it is made out of, Saltar said. Its like a match.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  Stockton University is moving forward with purchasing off-campus dorms it currently leases, adding about 40 rooms to its permanent housing stock.

The Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing the purchase of 421 Chris Gaupp Drive, which includes 42 two- and three-bedroom dorms, which Stockton has been leasing from D & M Galloway Holding LLC since 2016. The college pays $575,000 per year under a three-year contract that expires at the end of the spring semester, according to university spokeswoman Diane DAmico.

DAmico said a purchase price would not be available until the sale was approved by the board and a purchase agreement was finalized.

Trustee Stanley M. Ellis said the resolution allows the president to negotiate for the purchase of the property in a very attractive way that will benefit the university in a cost-effective manner.

D & M is operated by former Galloway Mayor Don Purdy and, according to the township Tax Assessors office, is valued at $1.8 million. In 2018, the total tax bill was $56,631, the office said.
Police blotter information is supplied by local police departments and other law-enforcement agencies. All people named are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Davis, Lonnette Nicole, 39, of Pleasantville, was arrested on Feb. 6 and charged with theft by unlawful taking/disposition.

Lyons, Kalief William, 29, of Egg Harbor Township, was arrested on Feb. 6 and charged with possession cocaine/heroin.

Sample, Avery, 63, of Trenton, was arrested on Feb. 6 and charged with simple assault.

Cottman, Jovan M, 40, of Pleasantville, was arrested on Feb. 8 and charged with arrest on warrant.

Reeder, Isaiah R., 21, of Pleasantville, was arrested on Feb. 8 and charged with possession marijuana under 50 grams.

Owens, Hameeda, 19, of Somers Point, was arrested on Feb. 9 and charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution.

Brown, Christine Ann, 50, of Tuckerton, was arrested on Feb. 10 and charged with possession cocaine/heroin, possession with intent to distribute heroin/cocaine (more than .05, less than 5 ounces, use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.
Few things feel better than taking control of your own life and crafting your future, and the Family Self-Sufficiency Program is an invaluable tool for public housing residents achieve to just that, said Lynne Patton, HUD Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey. Families make the commitment; and HUD and housing authority staff are there every step of the way to assist with guidance to ensure residents remain on the pathway to financial independence.

FSS participants sign a five-year contract that requires the head of the household to obtain employment and that no member of the household will receive certain types of public assistance at the end of the five-year term. These families have an interest-bearing escrow account established for them. The amount credited to the family's escrow account is based on increases in the family's earned income during the term of the FSS contract. If the family successfully completes its FSS contract, the family receives the escrow funds that it can use for any purpose, including debt reduction in order to improve credit scores, educational expenses, or a down payment on a home.

The average household income of FSS participants more than doubled during their time in the program, from $10,000 at the time of entry to more than $27,000 upon program completion.

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WOODBINE  Mayor William Pikolycky reminds residents that the borough's annual rabies clinic, free to borough residents, will be held Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon March 9 at the Woodbine Ambulance Corps Building/Public Safety facility on DeHirsch Avenue.

For the convenience of residents, licenses may be obtained at Borough Hall the day of the clinic from 10 a.m. until noon. Proof of current rabies vaccination must be presented.

Residents are asked to have dogs on leashes with proper collars and cats in carriers.

Information on low-cost spay and neuter for Woodbine residents will be available at the clinic.

Licensing is required by borough ordinance; licenses can be obtained from the Municipal Clerk at Borough Hall, 501 Washington Ave., 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Because of revenue generated from the required license registration fees, I am pleased that the Borough is able to provide this service noted Mayor Pikolycky.

 All cats and dogs in the Borough must be licensed or owners will be in violation of Borough ordinance.

 License fees for dogs are $8.20 if spayed or neutered; $11.20 if not.

 Cats $5, regardless.
Gary Williams and Noah Fontana decided to put the 5-second rule to the test for their experiment. Fontana said he did not think it made any difference if something just hit the floor and was picked up and that it was probably OK to eat. They used bread for their falling food, letting it hit the floor in different places such as the bathroom and the kitchen and then putting a sample in a Petri dish. After several days of growth, what they found was enough to make them both agree strongly that they will never eat anything that falls on the floor.
Now that Elijah is 18, his next appointment at CHOP will be his last because he would have aged out of attending their facility. He wanted to do something nice for the children who currently receive care at the Mays Landing center. Since Valentine's Day was coming up, and associated with hearts, he decided to donate Valentine's Day gift bags. Elijah took his birthday and Christmas money and purchased coloring books, crayons, and sticker sets to go in each bag. His mother, Jodi Anderson, is a fourth grade teacher at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School Complex in Atlantic City. She thought it would be a great altruistic activity for the fourth grade students at her school to create handmade Valentine's to go in each bag. Elijah came to his mother's school on January 31 and assisted the students with creating the cards, and everyone helped to assemble the gift bags.
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Ahead of Saturdays Presidential and National Assembly elections, security agencies in Anambra said they had uncovered six major flash points in the state.

Rabiu Ladodo, Commissioner of Police in charge of security in the conduct of the general elections in Anambra, disclosed this at a news conference on Thursday in Awka, the state capital.

Flanked by heads of other security agencies, Mr Ladodo named the flash points as Ogidi, Obosi, Nnewi, Onitsha, Ajali and Ihiala.

He said identification of the black spots were made possible by the cooperation of security agencies with police.

He, however, announced that adequate security arrangements had been made to ensure that the elections were peaceful in all communities in the state.

The commissioner called on politicians, especially candidates vying for positions, to play by the rules.

He also appealed to community leaders to advise their subjects against involvement in any act capable of affecting the exercise negatively.

On our part as security agents, we will be professional in the discharge of our duties, he said.

Mr Ladodo also called on the public to massively participate in the elections, adding that enough arrangements had been made by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to make the polls hitch-free.

On my arrival in Awka yesterday, I went straight to Central Bank of Nigeria where the sensitive materials for the elections were distributed to all the local government areas.

The brief I got from the INECs Resident Electoral Commissioner showed that all the 21 local governments have received their materials, and with the support of security personnel we hope to have smooth elections, he said.

(NAN)
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A delegation of pensioners of Enugu State, who have benefitted from the monthly N100 million approved by the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for payment of arrears of gratuities from May 2018, on Wednesday paid a thank-you visit to the governor for rescuing them in their time of need.

The beneficiaries, who described gratuity as the life-wire of every retiree, in an address presented by the State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Damian Udeani, praised God for using Governor Ugwuanyi to perform a miracle in their lives.

They said they could not thank the governor enough for reviving the payment of gratuities in Enugu State, disclosing that over the years, before Your Excellency came on board, pensioners have been denied this life rejuvenating benefit.

According to them, many pensioners have passed on without getting it. But now, Your Excellency has gladdened the hearts of pensioners in Enugu State with the revival of payment of gratuities.

Reiterating their firm support for Governor Ugwuanyis re-election, the jubilant pensioners also appreciated the governor for paying their pensions as and when due, saying, We, our families and our friends will pray and do our part to see that you continue in office.

The retirees, who pointed out that they never lobbied before receiving the gratuities, applauded the governor for the success of the exercise, which they attributed to your order of non-interference in the committees job of disbursement of the monthly released N100 million to the appropriate beneficiaries.

According to the address presented by the State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe, on behalf of the committee supervising the payment of the fund, more than 600 retirees have been paid their gratuity amounting to over N700 million, while outstanding gratuities from January 2009 to March 2010 have so far been cleared.

The committee explained that before the governors approval, arrears of gratuities and revalidation amounted to N16,123, 841, 779.80, adding that this amount covers retirees from January 2009 to May 2018.

The beauty of this exercise is that it is devoid of manipulation from any quarters, not even from His Excellency. Most of the beneficiaries were called unexpectedly to come and pick their cheques while others on routine check saw their names published for payment on the notice board of their Sub Treasury. They could not believe that they could be paid their gratuity without lobbying anybody for it.

Your Excellency, the beneficiaries of this your benevolence have returned like the biblical one leper to say THANK YOU for wiping their tears and bringing succour to them and their families when they least expected it, the committee stated.

One of the beneficiaries, Benjamin Ejibe, expressed joy and gratitude to Governor Ugwuanyi for rescuing him from his suffering, saying that he was in a hospital when I received a call that my name was among those to be paid their gratuity.

In her speech, the Chairman of Association of Retired Permanent Secretaries, Vivian Eze, told the governor that it has never been so before until you came into office, pointing out that all pressure of school fees, hospital bills, rents and others, on them had reduced since May last year.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday began the distribution of sensitive election materials, including result sheets and ballot papers, to various local government areas across Nigeria ahead of the elections opening on Saturday.

In Rivers State, the exercise took place in the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Port Harcourt.

The exercise will end today, said Obo Effanga, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Rivers State. We are on course.

Mr Effanga assured of the commissions readiness for the elections in Rivers State.

PREMIUM TIMES witnessed how ad-hoc staff were loading materials packed in boxes into trucks for each of the LGAs.

The exercise took place in the presence of party agents and security operatives.

These are sensitive materials, said Mr Effanga who further disclosed that each truckload of the materials would be escorted by armed security operatives and followed by INEC officials and agents of the political parties.

Another INEC staff, who asked not to be named, said the commission had received all the materials needed for the elections in Rivers State.

The only thing remaining is the deployment to the local government areas which is what we are doing now, said the staff.

We arranged the materials according to LGAs yesterday.

In Gombe, northeastern Nigerian, the spokesperson for INEC, Mohorret Bigun, also disclosed to PREMIUM TIMES that the commission commenced the distribution of sensitive materials to the LGAs today.

The timely and transparent distribution of sensitive materials to the various local government areas showed that the Commission is willing and prepared to conduct free, fair and credible elections in Gombe state, said Mr Bigun.

The elections were earlier scheduled to open last Saturday. The exercise was however postponed to the coming this Saturday over logistics difficulties.

The commission now assures it is ready for the polls.
Godswill Akpabio, a senator from Akwa Ibom State, has narrated how his surprise stop-over at a church prompted a pastor to openly cry before the congregants.

Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom, said the incident happened in Uyo while he was the governor.

He did not, however, give specific date and location of the incident.

Mr Akpabio narrated the story in a bid to counter a mocking claim by his successor that he was poor before taking up a government appointment.

There is one Mount Zion Light House Church, they had many people there and it was raining. The thatched roof of the church was not done well, so the rain was dripping inside, Mr Akpabio said in an interview he granted a radio station in Uyo, late last year.

PREMIUM TIMES got a tape of the interview just last week.

Mr Akpabio said he was passing by to attend a wedding elsewhere when he spotted the dilapidated church.

So, after the wedding, I was coming out, my convoy had moved on. Being somebody who came by night bus, I dropped immediately and ran inside the thatched building to meet with the people inside the church.

I forgot I was a governor. I used to forget many times. Maybe, I shouldnt have done that by way of the protocol. But I entered the church. The old women held me and they were touching me all over.

The pastor of the church carried a microphone and wanted to welcome me, then he started crying. He dropped the microphone and then went and sat down and started weeping, the senator said.

Mr Akpabio said he persuaded the pastor to stop crying and gave the church N5 million to purchase land so he could help build a new church for them.

The former governor apparently wanted to use his story in the interview to draw a distinction between himself and his estranged protege and successor, Udom Emmanuel.

He wanted to paint himself as one who is always at home with the people, compared with Mr Emmanuel.

He repeatedly joked about the night bus, a phrase Governor Emmanuel used sometimes ago to attack him.

How can a man that came with a night bus and the one that came in a chartered flight (interact)? Mr Akpabio said when asked in the interview if he and Governor Emmanuel were still talking with each other.

They are arriving at two different places  one would arrive at a motor park, while the other would arrive at the airport.

The one that arrived at the airport doesnt have the opportunity of seeing poor people and relating with them, the one that came with night bus can eat groundnut at Ore and can also eat mama put (cheap food sold at roadside) with them, he said.

Nevertheless, the senator dismissed with tact the night bus story as being untrue.

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Yes, the night bus was Overland Airways (a Lagos-based airline). I chattered Overland Airways, landed in Port Harcourt, and my cousin picked me up and I came here (Uyo), the senator said.

I had five brand new cars in Lagos, with three drivers, before I was appointed a commissioner in 2002. I was a managing director of EMIS Telecom (a wireless telecommunications company) with over 700 staff and three offices in Lagos.

Mr Akpabio said he was able to connect with people because he did not come from a privileged family.

I never even had a house when I was born; my home was destroyed during the civil war. And then my father died when I was six-months-old.

I used to sometimes sleep in a primary school building while growing up as a young boy.

Mr Akpabio in the interview did not say if he eventually gave the church the new building he promised.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted a former commissioner, Emem Wills, whom Mr Akpabio mentioned in his story, he said, Very truthful, he has done that several times.

I have witnessed him do that before. When it comes to charity, you cant fault him.

Mr Wills, a medical doctor, served as commissioner under Mr Akpabio. He, like Mr Akpabio, is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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The Akwa Ibom State Government on Wednesday inaugurated its own airline, Ibom Air.

The inauguration, which attracted a large crowd of dignitaries and people from the state, was performed by Nigerias Senate president, Bukola Saraki, at the state-owned airport in Uyo.

The airport was recently renamed Victor Attah International Airport, after the second civilian governor of the state.

Mr Attah was present to witness the ceremony, which is seen as a milestone in the history of the 31-year-old oil-rich state.

Two of the aircrafts in the Ibom Airs fleet touched down at the airport in the afternoon amidst cheers from the excited crowd of onlookers, shortly before Mr Saraki, accompanied by the state governor, Udom Emmanuel, cut the tape to inaugurate the new airline.

Mr Emmanuel, in December last year, hinted that the state was going to launch the airline in order to lessen the problems currently being encountered by numerous air travellers to the state.

Air travel in Nigeria is plagued by several challenges, including frequent flight cancelation and poor customer satisfaction.

Airlines doing business in the country complain of poor returns on investments.

Our dream to open up our state through land, air, and sea will come full cycle, Mr Emmanuel had said.

The launch of Ibom Air, said to be fully funded by the Akwa Ibom government, is coming about five months after the federal government suspended plan to float a new national carrier, Nigeria Air.

It is unclear for now what plans the Akwa Ibom government has put in place to sustain the airline.

For the first time in history of not just in Nigeria but in Africa, no state government has owned its own airline and this goes to show the mind-set and the experience of the governor in terms of business, Gabriel Ukpeh, the chairman, Committee on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the state, said during a radio interview in Uyo.

Without air travels, investors cannot freely come in (into the state). We have had problems with airlines. Initially, we had three airlines flying into Victor Attah International Airport. But as we speak, its just one, which is Air Peace.

You find investors coming in through Port Harcourt, Calabar, and that shows the vision of the governor. It shows he is serious to make this state become an industrialised state, Mr Ukpe said.

The Senate president, Mr Saraki, congratulated the governor on the new airline.

Such projects demonstrate the ingenuity of PDP-led governments, and the commitment of our party to create jobs and encourage commerce across the nation, the Senate president posted on Facebook.
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The Kaduna State Fire Service has attributed Wednesdays fire incident at Abubakar Gumi market to electrical fault.

Paul Aboi, the Director of the State Fire Service, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna, said 31 shops in the market were burnt.

According to him, the fire service received the distress call in the early hours of Wednesday.

He said the fire started from the palm oil sellers section of the market.

On receiving the call, fire fighters got to the scene in less than five minutes; as you can see, we are cleaning our hose due to the palm oil that blocked it, he said.

He called on the public to ensure that all electrical appliances were switched off before closing for the day.

Alfa Hussaini, who is the Cassava Grinders Union Chairman at Bakin Dogo section of the market, told NAN that the 31 shops affected were in his section.

Immediately the fire began, the night guards on duty at the market alerted people close by for their help.

Millions of naira were lost due to this incident because most of the affected shops have two to four grinding machines.

It is only God who can get us out of this mess, most of the occupants of this section are women who struggle to take care of their families.

We are pleading with the government to come to our aid, he said.

An elderly man, who simply identified himself as Baba Ahmed, said he lost everything in his shop to the fire.

We really need help because everything in our shops have been lost. All my grinding machines have been destroyed, he said.

(NAN)
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Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State on Wednesday signed the states 2019 N151 billion budget into law.

Mr Bagudu, while signing the budget at the Government House, Birnin Kebbi, said it would consolidate the gains achieved in 2018.

He said N104 billion of the budget representing 70 per cent is for capital expenditure while N47 billion representing 30 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.

The budget will improve on infrastructure, power supply and exploration of mineral resources.

It will further add value and improve the lives of the people, he said.

The governor also commended the state House of Assembly for the speedy passage of the budget.

Earlier, the states Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Muhammad Yauri, commended the house for passing the budget on time.

The Speaker, Abdulmuminu Kamba, said the house has fulfilled it promised of ensuring speedy passage of the budget with thorough scrutiny.

Mr Kamba also assured that the house would sustain its cordial working relationship with other arms of government in the state

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Bagudu had on December 6, 2018, presented a budget of N151 billion to the house for approval.

(NAN)
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Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on Thursday signed into law the Appropriation Bill of N146.7 billion approved and passed by the State House of Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appropriation bill made up of N71.841 billion for Recurrent Expenditure representing 48.96 per cent and Capital Expenditure of N74.894 billion representing 51.04 per cent was presented to the House on December 24, 2018.

The governor had disclosed during the presentation that the bill tagged, Budget of Consolidation, was N4.941 billion or 3.26 per cent lower than the N151.677 billion for 2018.

Mr Bello, at the signing ceremony in Government House, Lokoja on Thursday, expressed his administrations determination to ensure that the budget translated into provision of infrastrictures and basic amenities for the state.

The governor commended the House of Assembly for the speedy passage of the budget and their sacrifice in resuming from their recess to perform the legislative function, which he termed a sincere and a commendable service to the people.

He also thanked the Commissioner and staff of the Ministry of Budget and Planning for painstakingly preparing the budget within a very short time.

Mr Bello promised to consciously and fully implement the budget to enable his administration consolidate on its achievements in the effort to deliver good governance to the people.

He, however, seized the opportunity to appeal to the citizens of the state to be peaceful during the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled to hold on Saturday.

He also urged them to come out en-masse to perform their civic rights and be vigilant, saying that they should promptly report any form of violence at their polling centres and units to the appropriate quarters.

Speaking at the occasion, Matthew Kolawole, Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, described the signing ceremony as another milestone in the history of the state.

Mr Kolawole urged the governor to ensure full implementation of the budget to enable him consolidate on his achievements.

(NAN)
The Mabushi community in Abuja have itemised a list of infrastructure they need from political leaders, ahead of the general elections.

The residents made their intentions known at the unveiling of the communitys Charter of Demand, on Tuesday, at a town hall meeting in Abuja.

The Charter of Demand tagged: Giving back to the Slum Community, was organised by a non-governmental organisation, HipCITYHUB, in partnership with Heinrich Boll Foundation.

The Deed, by the people of Mabushi communities, contains the need for adequate pipe borne water, health care facilities, roads, school, electricity waste system, toilets, concerns on prostitution and drug abuse.

The event had in attendance residents and leaders of the Mabushi community, political party candidates, and community stakeholders.

The program director of Heinrich Boll Foundation, Donald Ofoegbu, said the Charter of Demand would bring members of the community closer to their political leaders.

He also said it would enable the residents of the Mabushi community demand the kind of solutions they want, ahead of the general elections.

We are looking at how we could actually start to support the Mabushi community to demand the kind of solution, as they have itemised the kind of infrastructural needs they want from their political leaders.

Political parties are here to listen to what the people want. Mabushi community is saying they are not in to sell their votes to politicians coming to throw money all around.

We, as an organisation, think this a very good idea. We are presenting their charter of demand, which they have crafted, itemising key priority problem and we are here to see how we can amplify the voice of the community.

The executive director at HipCity innovative centre, Bassey Bassey, said the presentation was as a result of research work probing urban properties, which was carried out by its organization.

According to him, the organisation deployed ten researchers who lived and stayed and studied the community for six weeks.

What we did was to move into this community for six weeks without them knowing that we were in this community. So we had ten researchers live in Mabushi. The only people who knew about our presence were the community chiefs and we pleaded with them, that we need to get peoples to feedback as honest as possible.

So, they kept our secret. Nobody (knew) we were there. We lived with them and built a relationship and at the end of the day because they were our friends, there are certain things they would not give you as a pressman but they were able to give it to us.

We did not go there with the questionnaire, cameras. We lived with them and we could have this honest experience and their feedback too.

Residents views

Vivan Nwonko a resident of Mabushi community also listed some basic amenities that they lack.

She said the community needs good toilet facility, health centres, and adequate water system.

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The chairman of Mabushi environmental community, Peter Musa, however, lamented that the community has a lot of challenges. He called on the government to come to their aid.

Another resident, Moses John, said the Charter of Demand would help to hold political leaders responsible and accountable.

He said some of the needs are in health, education, water, and a bridge.

As the population keeps expanding, there have been issues of meeting the needs of people in terms of housing, including a pedestrian bridge linking various streets. What the charter is just trying to say is that they should be a road map that would hold those responsible that are meant to fix these things.

And we, the people, are also ready to work with the government, that is why we came up with the Charter of Demand, which shows what the community is lacking.

Political candidates promise

Omagbitse Barrow, running for the House of Representative, representing AMAC-Bwari Constituency, promised to include the Charter of Demand to his economic blueprint beyond the Mabushi community.

I would use the issues they have raised to articulate part of my legislative agenda and work with more communities beyond Mabushi, Mr Barrow, who is contesting under the platform of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party, said.

I like the conversation, particularly around the fact that says we should upgrade and not demolish and partner with each other with our communities. There is a lot of work done at the grassroots.

But what I have found is that in politics, nobody pays attention to the grassroots. We go and take votes from the grassroots and disappear without paying attention to the needs. As a candidate running for the House of Representatives AMAC constituency, I have a lot of commitment to the grassroots. Another candidate, Lois Auta of the Accord party, who is running for the seat of House of Representative, said the Mabushi community Charter of Demand shows what the community is lacking.

She also said the presentation would assist her in the green chambers, if elected.

I am so happy with the organisers for bringing in the critical stakeholders to interact and discuss the needs and challenges of Mabushi community, Ms Auta said.

I am glad Mabushi came up with Charter of demand, which will help me when I get to the green chamber, she added.
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The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Yobe, Sani Inuwa Nguru, has defected to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Nguru was led to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by Mohammed Abuza, a Chieftain of the APC in Yobe, where he met with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Nguru, whose defection came less than 48 hours to the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, told State House correspondents that he came to express his loyalty and desire to return home.

According to him, he was the first chairman of the APC after the merger in the state, adding that anyone who has been a member of ANPP and CPC is one of Buharis loyalist.
When the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, first raised the alarm on Monday over missing result sheets for Enugu West Senatorial District, I am certain many Nigerians must have thought he was stoking propaganda, which is next to nature of the politicians in election season as this.

According to the ranking Senator, Some people intended the Saturday elections for evil, but all things work together for good unto those that love God, those who repose their absolute trust in Him.

Dont forget that some people had earlier boasted how they would overrun us by isolating the State for a staggered election. You must also have read the reports that Enugu State was one of the states that didnt receive any materials or materials were incomplete.

They ensured that the result sheets for the entire Enugu West Senatorial District were missing or not delivered. I have lodged the complaint with the INEC authorities, but the result sheets are still missing as I speak.

But for those, who thought it was mere propaganda, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Enugu State, Dr. Emeka Ononamadu, had a shocker in store for them. Not only did he confirm to Premium Times, an online newspaper, that result sheets meant for some local government areas in Enugu State could not be found until the postponement was announced and that the result sheets for the Aninri Local Government Area (where Ekweremadu hails from) were yet to be found by INEC as at Wednesday, 20th February, he added that result sheets meant for Lagos and Gombe states found their ways to Enugu State.

MAccording to Ononamadu, election materials belonging to other states but which strayed into the state had been returned to the states they belong to, while efforts were on to sort out the result sheets for Ekweremadus senatorial district.

He, however, insisted that it was not a case of missing result sheets, but shortage of result sheets. Whatever that meant.

His words: The problem we had was a shortage not that the result sheets were missing. There were other things belonging to other states that we found in our packages like Gombe and Lagos States but they have been returned to them. Results sheets for Gombe and Lagos States were found in our packages but they have since been moved back. All our result sheets are complete now except for the Aninri local government area. Except that, everything is okay.

Also, as the nation tried to make a meaning out of the befuddling scenario, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Kwara State, Malam Atahiru Madami, released another benumbing details to the effect that both Presidential and Senatorial election result sheets meant for Kwara were found in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He made this known on the sideline of the distribution of sensitive materials to each of the 16 local government areas in Kwara state at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ilorin on Wednesday.

The result sheets for presidential and senatorial elections are with the FCT INEC. It was a mix-up and they will send it to us this evening, he stated, explaining further that result sheets meant for Lagos state senatorial election also found its way to Kwara state. Haba!

Also, at the Ibadan, Oyo State branch of CBN, it was discovered during the distribution of sensitive materials that INEC sensitive forms meant for Kano State were found in the election material deliveries in Oyo.

Confirm the entire story, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had while reacting to a question posed to him on the alarms raised by Ekweremadu, by Samson Itodo of Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA), at INECs daily briefing in Abuja, sincerely admitted the developments.

Mahmood said, About missing sensitive materials, yes, we have received reports here and there. But they are small and, in fact, we are working to immediately respond to this, including the state and senatorial district you mentioned. It is only one form- the EC8D1. We have compiled those and we are going to respond. All materials will be made available to the states where those materials are needed before the election on Saturday.

While this is reassuring, coming from the INEC Chairman himself, comments trending on the missing result sheets affecting Ekweremadus senatorial district and the mysterious landing in FCT of presidential and senatorial election result sheets for Kwara, home state of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, are fraught with suspicions. The reason is not far-fetched. The story of PDPs resurrection after the 2015 defeat can never be complete without the mention of Ekweremadu, a one-man riot, the lion-hearted, and irrepressible opposition leader. The man has been through so much political persecution that only a principled politician like him could withstand.

Also, the story of the All Progressives Congress (APC) present travails will never be complete without the mention of the partys ill-advised determination to see to the political destruction of Oloye himself, cat with nine lives, Dr. Saraki.

So, whereas INECs explanations are well taken, no one would blame Ekweremadu for asking Why me? or his supporters and kinsmen for wondering Why Aninri? A man ever stung by a bee flees at the sight of a housefly.

However, be it conspiracy as conspiracy theorists would want us to believe or sheer mix-up (ineptitude) as INEC prefers us to believe, Caesars wife (INEC) must be above suspicion. Saraki and Ekweremadus political survival and fate should be left solely in the hands of their constituents.

Importantly, in this tension-soaked election season, Nigeria is like a dry grass soaked in petrol and sprayed with gunpowder. Anything capable of igniting Nigeria or any part thereof should be seriously avoided. It is the hope of all lovers of democracy that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, international community, and election observers pay special attention to Kwara and Enugu.

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President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday broadcast to the nation at 7 am with a repeat at 9 pm, his office said Thursday night.

The broadcast will come a day before presidential elections earlier billed for last Saturday.

Mr Buhari made a similar broadcast last Friday in anticipation of the postponed elections, but was criticised after he used the speech to solicit votes.

Many had expected the final presidential speech before the polls would solely focus on encouraging Nigerians to go out and vote, and be peaceful, while assuring voters and observers of their safety.

While the president assured of peaceful elections, he quickly delved into a lengthy enumeration of his administrations achievements and argued why he should be voted back to office.

If they are only hoping to do what we are already doing successfully, we are clearly your preferred choice, Mr Buhari said, in reference to the opposition.

He added, Think carefully and choose wisely. This time, it is a choice about consolidating on growth for Jobs and Prosperity.

Critics said the speech was an abuse of office since other presidential candidates would not be given similar access to reach their supporters via a state apparatus.

Mr Buhari said his government would do its best to ensure that the 2019 elections take place in a secure and peaceful atmosphere.

It was indeed such free, fair and peaceful elections that made it possible for our Government to emerge, despite the fact that we were contesting against a long-standing incumbent party, he said.

And as your president and a fellow Nigerian, I ask that you come out and queue to fulfill this important obligation you have to yourselves and your fellow citizens  and to our common future.

He denounced threats of violence during the polls, saying any such warning did not represent the position of his government.

Any comments or threats of intimidation from any source do not represent the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria, he said.

It was not clear what would be the focus of Fridays broadcast. Presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina, who announced the planned speech, merely enjoined radio and television stations to hook up to the state broadcaster, NTA.
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Twelve presidential candidates in Saturdays presidential election on Thursday endorsed President Muhammadu Buharis re-election bid.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the candidates closed door meeting with Mr Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

The candidates are Shitu Kabir of Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA); Edozie Madu (Independent Democrats); Danjuma Mohammed (Movement for Restoration & Defence of Democracy); Yusuf Nadabo Dantalle (Allied Peoples Movement); Ahmed Buhari (Save Nigeria Party) and Isah B. Dansarki (Mass Movement of Nigeria).

Others are Ikechukwu Nwaokafor (Advance Congress of Democrats); Alista Soyode (Yes Party); Charles Ogbali (Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party); Kenneth Ibe Kalu (United Peoples Congress); Isiyaka Paul Femili (Nigeria Element Progressive Party) and Robinson Akpu of the National Democratic Liberty Party.

The candidates are members of Forum of Presidential Candidates of Political Parties for Good Governance.

Mr Kabir, who is the Chairman of the Forum, confirmed the development.

He said they decided to throw in their lots with Mr Buhari because of advances made in security, economy, fighting corruption, infrastructure development, agricultural revolution and many others.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had cleared 73 presidential candidates for Saturdays election.

(NAN)
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The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has said he has no reason to resign from office.

The chairman said this at a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

I am not under any pressure. Will I consider resign? I see no reason to even contemplate resigning. There is no reason whatsoever. The Commission will do the job that is there for us to do.

Since the rescheduling of last Saturdays election, some Nigerians have urged the chairman to quit.

INEC rescheduled the general elections for presidential and National Assembly elections from February 16 to 23 and governorship and House of Assembly elections from March 2 to 9 due to logistics issues.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will act on INECs controversial action after the polls are concluded.

His planned investigation has also drawn condemnation fro. many who point out that Mr Buharis announcement implies he has already concluded he will win the polls to be able to question the INEC chairman.

The government was also criticised this week after the State Security Service summoned key officials of the electoral body over the postponement.

The secret police, SSS, withdrew the summons after the government was accused of intimidating electoral officials.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday released the final breakdown of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected before Saturdays presidential election.

A total of 72.8 million PVCs have been collected across the country as at February 11, with Lagos and Kano leading.

The INEC boss, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this while speaking at the daily INEC briefing in Abuja.

The breakdown shows that Lagos State leads with 5.5 million (5,531389) PVCs collected. It is followed by Kano which has 4.7 million (4,696,747) PVCs collected.

Lagos and Kano are followed by Kaduna, Katsina and Rivers states respectively. Kaduna has 3.6 million (3,648,831) PVCs collected, Katsina has 3.2 million (3,187,988) PVCs collected while Rivers has 2.83 million PVCs collected.

2019 Elections: Leading States with PVCs collected

The states with the least number of collected PVCs are Ekiti (666,591), Bayelsa (769,509) and Kwara (1,149,969).

The total number of PVCs collected in each state also reflects the maximum number of votes that can be gotten in each state as only registered voters with PVCs are eligible to vote.

However, results from previous elections have shown that having higher registered voters or PVCs does not signify having more people actually voting especially as people can collect their PVCs but still refuse to vote.

2019 Elections: No of PVCs Collected per state

The four states with the highest number of PVCs collected are also considered battleground states by political analysts in the upcoming general elections.

These four states are also controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Apart from Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State, the governors of the other three (Kano, Kaduna and Katsina) are seeking re-election on the APC platform.

Katsina State is also the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is also the state with the highest percentage of registered voters who collected their PVCs (98 per cent).

Regional Spread

In terms of Nigerias six-geopolitical zones, the North-west leads in the number of PVCs collected.

The North-west leads with 18.2 million collected PVCs, followed by the South-west with 12.8 million.

The North-central has 11.5 million while the South-south has 11.1 million.

The regions with the least number of collected PVCs are South-east and North-east with 8.5 million and 10.4 million respectively.

Although there were reported cases of fire incidents in some INEC offices in the South-east, it cannot be said to be the reason for the low number of collected PVCs in the region.

The general election is set to commence on Saturday, February 23, with presidential and National Assembly elections while the governorship and house of assembly elections will hold on March 9.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concern at the huge amount of foreign currency flooding the country which he said is intended to influence the outcome of the general elections beginning on Saturday.

Garba Shehu, the presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said Mr Buhari raised the alarm during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.

The president accused some politicians of flouting money laundering regulations in their desperate bid to capture political power.

He, however, commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for successfully tracking the money in millions of United States dollars.

According to him, the EFCCs success followed the presidential directive to investigative agencies to probe a number of high profile cases.

He reassured the nation of his administrations determination to wage relentless war against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Mr Buhari reiterated his appeal to Nigerians, especially politicians, to place the interest of the country above all others, as they troop out to cast their votes in the coming elections.

(NAN)
The Nigerian government says the UK Commercial Court has granted its request for relief from sanction over the $6.59 billion award against it by the District Circuit Court in Washington DC for alleged breach of contract.

The award issued on March 20, 2013 was in favour of a British engineering firm, Process & Industrial Development Limited (P&ID).



Following Nigerias refusal to enter an appeal for over five years, the award attracted an additional $2.3 billion in accumulated interest at 7 per cent rate per annum.

On January 31, 2017, the three-man tribunal constituted under the rules of the Arbitration Act 1996 (England and Wales) and the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act (CAP A18 LFN 2004), gave the final award of $8.9 billion against Nigeria.

In March 2018, P & ID initiated recognition and enforcement proceedings against Nigeria in both UK and us courts.

But the Nigerian governments defence team, led by the UK Law Firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, had argued in the U.S. proceedings that confirmation and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award against a foreign state would violate the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

The team said confirmation of the award was also against the Federal Arbitration Act and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).

On June 5, 2018, P&ID moved to obtain a clerks entry of default against Nigeria. But the federal government challenged the District Courts jurisdiction in the U.S., demanding the dismissal of P&IDs petition.

In July 2018, a Nigerian government legal team led by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was in Washington DC to ask the court to set aside the award.

The legal team, which also included the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Apata, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, was joined by the team of foreign solicitors.

But, the court presided over by Justice Christopher Cooper denied the teams request for the dismissal of the petition for being belated.

However, a statement from the Attorney-Generals office sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday said the Nigerian governments request for stay of proceedings in the case was granted on October 9, 2018 pending a determination of its appeal.

On its part, P&ID also filed motions asking the court to dismiss Nigerias appeal as frivolous and allow proceedings in the District Court to continue pending determination of the appeal at the Court of Appeal.

The AGF said the US District Court on November 1, 2018 upheld Nigerias request and rejected P & IDs attempt to lift the stay of proceedings.

At the hearing held on December 21, 2018 in the UK, P & ID sought to obtain a default judgement against Nigeria on account of its late filing of acknowledgment of service, which was outside the period prescribed by the Commercial Court.

But the Court of Appeal last week Friday, February 15, dismissed P&IDs motion and summarily affirmed the scheduling order of the US District Court.

The statement said the Court of Appeals ruling will offer Nigeria an extension of time to file its arguments on the merits at a subsequent hearing originally billed for last Friday, but now re-listed for hearing on May 21.

The Federal Government intends to vigorously defend its interests in the United Kingdom. It is entirely proper for Nigeria to raise and to strongly assert all available and proper defences to the claims brought by P&ID, the statement from the Attorney-Generals office said.

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The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata, has always insisted Nigeria did not default in the contract as P&ID never began the construction of the project to warrant its $40 million claim allegedly incurred as preliminary expenses.

HOW THE BATTLE BEGAN

On January 11, 2010, P&ID signed a gas supply and processing agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on behalf of the Nigerian government.

Under the terms of agreement, P&ID was to build and operate an Accelerated Gas Development project at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The federal government was to source for natural gas from oil mining leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 operated by Addax Petroleum and supply to P&ID for 20 years to refine into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.

The lean gas to be produced from the wet gas was to belong to the government, while ownership of the residual hydrocarbons would be vested in P&ID as consideration for processing the wet gas to lean gas.

Initial volume was about 150 million cubic feet of gas per day, and eventually to ramp up to about 400 million cubic feet per day during the 20-year period.

However, P&ID alleged that after signing the agreement, the federal government reneged on its obligation after it opened negotiation with the Cross River State government for allocation of land for the project.

P&ID said the failure to construct the pipeline system to supply the gas frustrated the construction of the gas project, thereby depriving it the potential benefits expected from 20 years worth of gas supplies.

The company said several attempts to settle out of court with the federal government failed.

In August 2012, P&ID served the Nigerian government a Request for Arbitration.

The federal government argued before the tribunal that the failure of P&ID to acquire the site and build the gas processing facilities was a fundamental breach, as no gas could be delivered until this was done.

But the tribunal ruled that the Nigerian governments obligations under Article 6B of the agreement were not conditional upon P&ID constructing the gas processing facilities.

The tribunal upheld P&IDs application requesting damages for alleged breach of contract by government.

Two members of the three-man tribunal, Lord Hoffmann and Anthony Evans, held that P&IDs expenditure and income should have been about $6.597 billion if the GSPA was duly performed by government.

Both officials said the award should be paid together with interest at the rate of 7 per cent from March 20, 2013.

The other member, who is Nigerias former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Bayo Ojo, in his minority ruling said although P&ID was entitled to compensation for the breach, its damages could not have been more than three years from the date of the alleged breach.

Mr Ojo said P&ID should not be paid more than $250 million as damages.

The tribunal said damages were calculated as the present value of 20-year income, minus certain capital and operating costs incurred from building and running the refining facility.

And considering that the award was unpaid since 2013, accumulated uncollected interest at 7 per cent per annum would be about $2.3 billion as of March 2018.

Although the federal government challenged the award, P&ID said Nigeria was bound by a treaty to pay up, having waived its right to immunity as a sovereign nation when it signed the agreement.

On March 16, 2018, P&ID in its application seeking enforcement of the award said The final award is governed by such a treaty  the New York Convention. So, Nigerias status as a foreign sovereign does not deprive the court of jurisdiction to confirm the award, the company said.
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A leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, addressed party members at a crowded public meeting of APC supporters in Lagos last Thursday.

The address has, however, become controversial following reports in the media suggesting that the former Lagos State governor boasted that he stole public funds and planned to induce voters with money.

The Tinubu Media Office in a rebuttal Wednesday said Mr Tinubus statements were misrepresented by mischief makers as the politician never implied that he stole public funds. Take Asiwajus statement for what was truly said, a statement by Tunde Rahman, Mr Tinubus media aide, said Wednesday. He said he would not steal money nor ask for government funds. Instead, he said he would recognise the successful efforts of APC members using only his personal funds.

Mr Tinubu had earlier promised to secure 3 million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Lagos. The Tinubu media office said this objective, and the desire to reward party supporters, was the crux of Mr Tinubus Valentines Day statement on Thursday.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Tinubu spoke in Yoruba while addressing party supporters at the gathering. This newspaper has obtained the audio in circulation and hereby presents a translated version:

==============================================================================================

All of you that come to Bourdillon (Mr Tinubus Lagos home) for mobilization; its mobilization we are doing here right about now. Or dont you understand? This is the reason: we are here for mobilisation. Definitely, if you know where your partner, our (party) member, resides in your neighbourhood, youd be able to call them out. You are a registered member, then go out and cast the vote. Youd vote massively. So after I see the result, thats when I will bring out good money for you folks.

Here is how we did it in the past: they (party members) would surround me like ants surround sugar; they would besiege me like Molue or Danfo, screaming mobilizationmobilization as though they do not reside in the same neighbourhood. This time, when your shoes become worn out, when you deliver the votes, I can guarantee you substantial money that would surprise you. May we not be afflicted by lack.

They abused me when I misspoke (in Osun). The snake never gets imprisoned, or so goes an Ijebu saying. They ask for (an Ijebu mans) tax receipts and he says: the snake does not go to prison. They took him to the zoo and he saw different snakes kept under the net in the zoo. They thereafter asked him: what are these? He replied they are snakes. Then they asked him again, where are they? He replied, Prison. Then he added thereafter: I would be guided in my speeches henceforth.

That explains the analogy of my mouth with which I misspoke, which eventually paid off anyway, in Osun. They accused us of the imposition of candidates in Osun; that we brought Aregbesola and Oyetola from Lagos, and all sorts. Then we said: if we train your sons and they become experienced in the art of governance and understand the know-how, should we not allow them to come back home to develop the state? How much really is your money that I want to loot? That, you do not have my kind of money. Their king was on seat; I said you do not have my kind of money except that I would convert your money into change (render it worthless). Alas, they were recording the entire conversation and thats how it came out in a viral video. So (like the Ijebu man), I would keep my mouth under control so that I do not say a similar thing here today.

But Buhari does not have the kind of money I would steal. He even does not have the kind of money I could take from himHe does not have the financial war chest for election. So, whatever Im promising you is for real  and its coming from my own pocket. I do not need to go to Alausa (Lagos State Government House) before I can get money
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A former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday refuted reports alleging that he boasted that he stole public funds and plans to induce voters with money.

Mr Tinubu, the acclaimed national Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said his statement was misinterpreted to paint him in a bad light, adding that he never uttered any such statement.

There have been reports circulating in the media and on the internet allegedly based on a leaked audio tape of Mr Tinubu at a public meeting of APC supporters in Lagos on February 14. The reports claimed that the former governor boasted that he stole public money and plans to buy peoples votes in the forthcoming election.

But in a swift reaction Wednesday, the Tinubu Media Office debunked the claim, adding that the former Lagos State governors statements were grossly mistranslated to imply corruption and election malpractice. A statement signed by Tunde Rahman, spokesperson to Mr Tinubu, said that the reports were borne out of desperate attempts to paint Mr Tinubu in a bad light.

Politics is an arena where mischief and exaggeration may not be the best craft but are permitted excesses of the trade, the statement said. However, when people engage in willful defamation, they have crossed the line into the impermissible.

The statement said Mr Tinubu addressed a large gathering of people, including journalists, and audio recording of statements made at such a gathering could not be described as leaked.

Even the description of the audio as leaked is desperately illogical. Asiwaju addressed a meeting attended by hundreds of people. The meeting was open to the public at large. Moreover, the media was present and visible.

There can be no leak involved when a statement is publicly made and the media present there. This misrepresentation of the audio as a leak is again part of a larger attempt to distort a normal speech to rally supporters prior to an election into something nefarious. As bad as this misleading description is, it is the least of the wrongs contained in these counterfeit reports.

Mr Tinubu said his words were said in Yoruba and were mischievously translated to mean the opposite of what he said, based on a desperate attempt to soil his name in an election season.

The merchants of this outlandishness use the fact of Asiwaju speaking Yoruba at the meeting as the basis for their falsehood, the statement said. Thus, non-Yoruba speakers are left to accept their translation of Asiwajus words. Had Asiwaju spoken in English they would not have a story to sell for his words clearly do not say what they claim of him. Their allegations are untrue but they figured their lies would still fly because many if not most of their audience cannot understand Yoruba.

If the carriers of this defamation hired someone to translate Asiwajus words, they should demand their money back. The only way the translator could have innocently misinterpreted Asiwajus words so badly is that the poor translator only started to learn Yoruba half an hour before landing the job to make this translation. Give an accurate rendition of what Asiwaju said to 1000 average Yoruba speakers. Each one of them would refute the mistranslation now floating about.

The statement said Mr Tinubu never said or implied, in Yoruba or any other language for that matter, that he stole money but that he would use his own funds for the present electioneering effort. It added that the APC National Leader addressed the issue of reward system for loyal party members and supporters after securing victory for APC in the 2019 elections.

In short, Asiwaju (Tinubu) promised the party faithful, APC supporters and members a reward for their efforts to secure victory in the 2019 elections. He has previously stated the goal of getting 3 million people in Lagos to sufficiently believe in the vision of the APC that they will vote for President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo. This objective was again the crux of his Valentines Day statement.

Take Asiwajus statement for what was truly said. He said he would not steal money nor ask for government funds. Instead, he said he would recognise the successful efforts of APC members using only his personal funds. As such, his statement should not be held up to scorn or criticism but should be welcomed as the manner how things should proceed.

The falsifiers seek to paint his statement as improper. However, it is common practice to give tokens of gratitude to party members for their work. It is feeble to suggest that such a practice somehow amounts to vote-buying. No one was directed to give money to potential voters. Asiwaju made it clear that the token rewards would only take place after the election. As far as any reasonable person can discern, it is somewhat impossible to purchase a vote after an election has already taken place.

The statement added that Mr Tinubu will not be cowed by these ugly attacks because, as a politician, he is used to the bite and venom of those who would hold Nigeria back.

Mr Tinubu, a strong ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, is believed to wield enormous influence in Lagos and Southwest politics. He served as governor of the state twice, between 1999 and 2007. He is one of the strongest supporters of Mr Buhari, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the APC in Saturdays presidential election.
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A former Director of the State Security Service, Dennis Amachree, says the military should stay off the election process in Nigeria.

Mr Amachree said this on Thursday on the Sunrise Daily programme of Channels Television.

He said the primary assignment of the military is to protect the territorial integrity of the nation.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday stirred the hornets nest when he said he had given the military and police instructions to be ruthless with anybody who snatches a ballot box.

Premium Times reported that the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, took the cue and warned those planning to disrupt the upcoming election to desist as the army will not tolerate such actions.

The official said the Nigerian Army would not hesitate to deal with such people appropriately.

But Mr Amachree said soldiers should not be involved in elections, which are a civil process.

The military have been dragged into politics because of the threat we face  Mr Amachree said.

The former director said he believed soldiers will not go close to the pulling units. He assured Nigerians of their safety on the election day.

Ballot box snatching is not the major problem but vote buying, he said.

Mr Buratai also expressed dismay over the attitude of desperate politicians, whose unguarded statements and utterances are already inciting the public against the Army.

He said the presence of the military will scare away voters and can lead to civil disobedience in the country.

Mr Amachree advised that the electoral system should be reviewed to yield better results.
Security operatives, especially the military, should not take part in elections except in states battling with insurgency, the Election Analysis Centre (EAC) of the Centre of Democracy and Development (CDD) says.

The centre said this on Thursday in Abuja at a press briefing on the preparedness of the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the rescheduled elections.

It was in reaction to the statement by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday that the military would deal ruthlessly with those who try to snatch ballot boxes.

The CDD director, Idayat Hassan, who spoke for the group, said capital punishment does not apply to electoral offences.

The laws are quite clear, electoral offenders are either liable to two years imprisonment or N500,000 fine, nothing suggests shooting on sight as mentioned earlier by the President, she said.

Mrs. Hassan also expressed concern about voters apathy.

She said: Voters turnout since 1999 has been on a progressive decline, such that if we get a 45 per cent turnout in these elections, we would have really improved on what was obtainable during the 2015 elections.

The EAC was set up on February 11 as a one-stop shop for rigorous analysis and countering fake news during the elections.

The centre advised the police to stop redeploying their personnel to avoid sending the wrong signals, with voting just a few days away.

In spite of these issues, our assessment based on Prof. Yakubus briefings as well as verified information from thousands of our observers on the field, we believe that the Electoral Commission is ready for Saturdays vote, she said.

Nonetheless, there is a great deal of work to be done, including ensuring that issues concerning every aspect of logistics as well as the movement of materials and personnel from local government areas are completed without any further delay.

The centre also expressed worry over the retrieval and proper dissemination of electoral materials sent to wrong states.

In order to filter information, the CDD and its EAC said they had deployed observers and experts to the field and also conducted focus group discussions and interviewed stakeholders

They said reports of Boko Haram attacks in Yobe State and Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, they got from observers and experts on the field were troubling.

Also through its assessment, the centre said ongoing armed banditry in Zamfara and reports of kidnappings in Shiroro and Raffi LGAs of Niger State could affect deployment of officials for both observer groups and INEC.

It is important and necessary to review security plans for volatile states such as Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Zamfara states, it said.

However, it warned that while it matters to provide security during elections, it equally behooves the authorities responsible are careful and do not unduly deploy excessive security during polls that might frighten votes and depress voting numbers.

After its assessment of the readiness of the commission for the elections, the group made some recommendations.

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It said: INEC must address the status of last week payment of ad-hoc staff to avoid staff shortage

It is essential and necessary to review security plans for volatile states such as Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Zamfara states

While it matters that security is provided during the election, it is equally important that the authorities responsible are careful and do not unduly deploy excessive security during polls that might frighten votes and depress voting numbers.

Police should refrain from re-deploying their personnel a few days into the elections

INEC and all relevant stakeholders must engage in voter mobilization to stave off apathy

INEC should increase its confidence-building measures particularly at the state levels.

The CDD urged civil society organizations and the media to remain vigilant and without partisanship observe all deployment processes, monitor all aspects of the polling from opening to the collation phases.

It called on the political stakeholders to not just talk peace but make and walk peace.

It implored young people to shun violence in the coming days.
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Prominent Islamic scholar and leader of the Tijjaniya Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Dahiru Bauchi, has decried the attitude of followers of some Islamic sects and Muslim politicians, who derive joy in verbally attacking other Muslims over political differences

Mr Bauchi expressed his displeasure when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, paid him a courtesy visit in his residence.

The Islamic scholar told his followers that Islam promotes religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence with other faiths while it abhors fanaticism and bigotry.

He said: A Muslim must respect other people as encouraged by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It will be more preferable to vote for a Christian than a member of the Izala Movement who does not see or regard members of Tijjaniya sect or other Muslims as Muslims because of fanaticism and political differences.

He, however, said, Both Tarika and Izala are under the umbrella of Islam, our religion. But the person they (APC) are imposing on the people is the same man who is well known in insulting our renowned Islamic scholars and elders. Yet, he is calling himself a Muslim. It is like a direct insult to my father, mother, scholars, mentors and spiritual leaders and well never support such a person.

While calling on the people of Bauchi State to reject politicians who use religion to divide them, the Tijjaniya Leader urged the people of Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal constituency in Bauchi State to vote for Mr Dogara in Saturdays National Assembly election for his immense contribution to the constituency as a public office holder.

He said the Speakers track records of religious tolerance, peacebuilding and worthy representation speak for themselves. He noted that Mr Dogara had brought dividends of democracy to his constituency, Bauchi State and the North-east region, hence the need for the people to reciprocate it by re-electing him on Saturday.

Also speaking at the occasion, an Islamic Scholar, Muhammad Ginzum, informed Mr Bauchi that Mr Dogara had built Islamiyya schools in all the three local governments in his constituency, among other interventions aimed at helping the Muslim community.

In his remark, Mr Dogara expressed gratitude for the continued prayers of the cleric for the peace, unity, stability development of Nigeria. Mr Dogara decried that over 1.3 million children are out of school in Bauchi State, stating that the number will keep increasing unless the people elect a government that truly cares about uplifting the standard of education in the state.

He warned that if care is not taken, the number of out of school children may reach five million in the next few years which portends great danger to the society.
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The Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday, refused to review a judgment delivered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, which sacked the senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District, Attai Aidoko of the PDP from the Senate.

Justice Anwuli Chikere struck out the matter filed by Mr Aidoko seeking judicial review of the judgment delivered by Mr Kolawole.

Mrs Chikere held that the judgment delivered by Mr Kolawole and subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal on October 24, 2018, and the Supreme Court still stood.

The Supreme Court had, on January 23, refused to vacate the concurrent judgments of the two courts.

Mrs Chikere held that it was common ground that a court could not sit on appeal or review a judgment delivered by a superior or court of coordinate jurisdiction.

The court noted that the Court of Appeals judgment which upheld the judgment of Mr Kolawole was still valid and subsisting.

In view of the foregoing, Mrs Chikere declared that she had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit because doing so would amount to judicial rascality and insubordination.

Doctrine of stare decisis dictates that courts below are bound to follow decision of the higher court on the same issue and doing the contrary amounts to gross insubordination.

This court cannot set aside judgment of court of coordinate jurisdiction, she held.

Mr Kolawole, before his elevation to the Court of Appeal, delivered judgment in a suit filed by Mr Alfa challenging the emergence of Mr Aidoko as the PDP senatorial candidate for Kogi East.

The judge had maintained that Mr Alfa, and not Mr Aidoko, was the winner of the PDPs primaries held in Idah on December 7, 2015.

Mr Kolawole had ordered the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, to swearin Alfa as the Senator representing Kogi East in the Senate.

He condemned the action of the PDP in discarding the results of its primary elections won by Alfa and its going ahead to use fictitious documents to back Mr Aidokos nomination to INEC.

Consequently, the court held that the nomination of Mr Aidoko by PDP was an exercise in futility.

Mr Kolawole had also ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Mr Aidoko in 2015.

Mr Aidoko then approached the court again for a review of Mr Kolawoles judgment which the court declined.

(NAN)
An oil company executive, James Onuoha, who is standing trial at a Lagos High Court in Igbosere for allegedly raping a 14-year-old niece of his tenant on Thursday has denied any wrong doing.

He, however, said that he gave the girl N1, 000 as a Christmas gift.

Mr Onuoha, an engineer, made the statement while opening his defence.

He was first arraigned sometime in January 2016 at the Igbosere Magistrates Court on a four-count charge, bordering on rape.

Mr Onuoha was remanded in Kirikiri Prisons, pending the director of public prosecutions legal advice.

But when the legal advice was provided, the case was transferred to the high court for trial.

The Lagos State Counsel, headed by Jide Martins, handled the prosecution.

The prosecution opened its case and called witnesses, including the 14-year-old girl.

After the close of the prosecutions case, the defence on Thursday opened its case.

The defendant was led in evidence by the Defense Counsel, Victor Olowonla.

Mr Onuoha narrated to the court how he visited his house at No. 25, Samuel Amoore St., Idowu Estate, Ike-Ira Nla in Ajah, near Lagos on January 4, 2016.

He said he went to the house to inspect the premises but did not meet his tenant, identified simply as Kenneth at home during the visit.

I called Kenneth severally but he did not pick his calls. I decided to meet him at home. When I got there, Kenneth was not there.

I knocked at Kenneths apartment, a young girl came out and said Kenneth was not around. I asked the girl her age, she said she was 16 years old.

She granted me access to enter inside the house and do inspection.

In the past, Kenneth used to hide from me. So, I thought he was hiding. I entered inside only to do inspection.

I did not touch her. It was Christmas period. I gave her N1, 000 as gift, Mr Onuoha said.

The defendant told the court that his tenant later picked his call at 7.00 p.m. that same day.

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I told him over the phone that his rent was due since two years.

Mr Onuoha said that it was two days after his visit to his house that he got a call from his office about a report from his tenant (Kenneth) that he (defendant) raped a girl.

The defendant also narrated how he was called by the police at Lamgbasa Police Station and how he transferred the case to the Zone 2 Police Command.

After the examination-in-chief, the Prosecutor, Martins, cross-examined the defendant.

Mr Martins asked the defendant if he informed the tenant about his visit before going to the house, the defendant said no.

The defendant also said he did not think it was an opportunity for him to visit Lamgbasa Police Station, to explain his innocence when he was invited to the station.

He said he never knew that the girl came recently to Lagos to stay with the uncle at the time of the incident.

After the cross-examination, Judge Adedayo Akintoye adjourned the case until March 28 for the continuation of hearing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecutor earlier told the court that Mr Onuoha committed the alleged offences on January 4, 2016 at 11.30 a.m.

The prosecutor had said that the defendant willfully had an unlawful sexual act with the girl without her consent.

He said the offences contravened Sections 134 (2), 135 (1), 137 and 258 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. (NAN)
Ishaya Bamaiyi has told an Ikeja High Court that he could not recall how much he earned as salary as former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff.

Mr Bamaiyi told the court while being being cross-examined by Fred Ajudua, a lawyer, former Lagos socialite and an alleged serial fraudster, before Justice Josephine Oyefeso of an Ikeja High Court.

Mr Ajudua is standing trial for allegedly defrauding the retired general of 8.4 million dollars.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Ajudua cross-examined Mr Bamaiyi because his counsel, Olalekan Ojo was not in court.

Mr Bamaiyi told the court that he served in the Nigerian Army for 34 years after he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on July 5, 1968.

He said that he served as the Chief of Army Staff from November 17, 1993, to May 29, 1999.

The former COAS testified that he was arraigned in court on November 23, 1999 alongside late James Danbaba and J. B Yakubu over the attempted assassination of the late publisher of The Guardian Newspaper, Alex Ibru.

Responding to questions about his earnings Mr Bamaiyi said: I cannot remember my earnings as the Chief of Army Staff, I was a Lieutenant General for two years and now I am a pensioner.

When I left the Nigerian Army, I was paid gratuity and then a pension which I now enjoy, I cannot remember how much I received as gratuity, as for my pension I receive what the Chief of Army Staff receives.

My Lord, I cannot come here to say how much the Chief of Army Staff receives.

But Judge Oyefeso, however, insisted that Mr Bamaiyi revealed to the court what he earned as COAS.

Mr Bamayi then responded saying as Chief of Army Staff, you receive about N1 million per month; I cannot remember the gratuity as that was many years ago.

While in the Army, we encouraged officers and soldiers to start preparing for their retirement while still in service so long as it does not compromise their normal military services.

I had my own farm which I started in 1984 when I was a Lieutenant Colonel. I have over 450 hectares of farmland which I still own.

I do animal husbandry, I grow fruits, maize, cotton, rice, soya beans and yam.

As a farmer, it is very difficult to make an estimate of earnings because of weather conditions, shortage of rain and stealing by farm workers, he told the court.

Mr Bamaiyi told the court that when he was incarcerated at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, his family visited him but with restrictions while he had access to his legal team.

Following Mr Bamaiyis revelations, Mr Ajudua requested an adjournment to enable his defence counsel to further cross-examine the former Chief of Army Staff.

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Judge Oyefeso adjourned the case until April 3 for the continuation of trial.

Earlier, Mr Oyefeso rejected the defences request for Mr Bamaiyi to produce some documents which included the 2005 visitors book of the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons and additional proof of the source of the $8.4million, the subject matter of the trial.

There is no doubt that the defendant facing a criminal charge should require facilities to assist or aid his defence and in the instant case, the defence has been served with documents and additional proof of evidence.

The prosecution claimed they do not have items two to eight on the schedule of documents.

The court is not compelled to force the prosecution to come up with documents which they clearly do not have.

I am satisfied with the explanation of the prosecution, the application of the defendant is hereby dismissed, Justice Oyefeso said.

NAN reports that according to the prosecution, Mr Ajudua, who was incarcerated at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons had alongside some accomplices allegedly approached Mr Bamaiyi in 2004 to provide him with legal assistance.

The defendant had allegedly convinced Mr Bamaiyi that he could hire the legal services of Afe Babalola to help secure his freedom from Kirikiri with Mr Ajudua allegedly fraudulently receiving $8.4 million as legal fees.

When the alleged fraud came to light, the law chambers of Afe Babalola and Co issued a disclaimer disassociating itself from the case. (NAN)
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The Federal Government will soon begin the enforcement of available immigration laws that allow only foreigners with the requisite residency and work permits to live and work in the country.

The Minster of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this in Lagos on Thursday in a special event, BRF GABFEST organised in his honour.

The Minister said the government is currently undertaking the audit of foreigners working at various work sites and businesses across the country to determine the population of foreigners working in the without a valid work permit.

Every foreigner who has the work permit to come to Nigeria legally is welcome. But, if you dont have the relevant papers, we will take you out, Mr Fashola said.

It the right of every country to exercise by determining who comes or stays to work in its country. But, we (Nigeria) have not been exercising such rights all these years. We are going to begin to enforce it now.

He cited the example of the recent deportation of about 723 Nigerians by the Ghanaian government allegedly for illegal stay, cybercrime, and prostitution between January 2018 and January 2019.

Among those deported are 81 Nigerians accused of involvement in cybercrime and illegal stay in January.

About 115 of the affected Nigerians have so far been deported based on allegations of overstaying their permit and engaging in prostitution.

Mr Fashola said at every worksite or business location during the audit exercise, officials would identify all workers, particularly from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), who live and work in Nigeria without the legal permits.

The Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Michael Abikoye, has since submitted an official protest of the Nigerian government over what he described as inhuman treatment of Nigerians by the Ghana Immigration Service.

Nigeria, Africas most densely populated country, with almost 200 million people is also home to many Africans, particularly those in the ECOWAS region, including Ghana.

Nigeria, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $400 billion, accounts for almost 60 per cent of the over $720 billion (GDP) of the region, controlling over 56 per cent of trade in the region.

The country contributes more money to the ECOWAS than 13 other members states of the regional body put together in the last 12 years.

As a regional leader, Nigeria is in the vanguard of those promoting regional economic integration, with various strategic initiatives to connect the member countries of ECOWAS.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court, Lagos, Thursday, sentenced a former Managing Director of the defunct Integrated Microfinance Bank Ltd, Simon Akinteye, to four years in prison over a $166.9 million fraud.

The court sentenced the convict to four years concurrent term of imprisonment on the nine count charge preferred against him by the Ministry of Justice.

The court, however, gave him an option of fine of N2 million on each of the counts, adding that same shall be computed cumulatively.

Mrs Olatoregun had convicted Mr Akinteye on February 4 after finding him guilty of all nine counts charge bordering on reckless granting of loans without collateral, preferred against him.

Meanwhile, the court had on the same February 4 discharged and acquitted his co defendant, Gabriel Adepoju.

The court had then adjourned Mr Akinteyes sentence until February 21.

When the case was called on Thursday, the court called for addresses from counsel before reading the sentence.

In addressing the court, the prosecutor, O. Ndidi, urged the court to impose the maximum sentence as prescribed by law, adding that a person so convicted of such offence is liable to an imprisonment term of five years.

She argued that in addition, the court is empowered to order a refund of the money.

I submit that the convict be sentenced based on the appropriate law, and that the money be returned to the NDIC, she said.

On his part, the defence counsel, A. O Sherif, in urging the court for a mitigation before sentence, referred the court to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

He urged the court not to impose the maximum sentence on the defendant, adding that he is a first offender with no past criminal records.

He urged the court to temper justice with mercy and impose a light sentence on the convict, adding that same should be allowed to run concurrently.

Delivering judgment, Mrs Olatoregun held that the court had been told that the convict is a first offender with no past criminal records.

She, however, held that the convict betrayed the trust of clients of the bank who had deposited their monies there.

Taking into consideration that the convict is a first offender, the court sentenced the convict as follows.:

On count one, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count two, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

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On count three, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count four, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count five, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count six, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count seven, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count eight, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

On count nine, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.

The judge held that while the sentence is to run concurrently, the fine imposed would be cumulative, adding that the sentence should serve as a deterrence to others.

In the charge marked FHC/L/234c/16, the prosecution alleged that the convict recklessly and without collateral, approved credit facilities running into 166 million dollars and N33.3 million to themselves

The convict was said to have at different times, withdrawn from the banks account N11 million and diverted it to his personal company named Deblad Nigeria Ltd. .

He was also said to have unlawfully withdrawn the total sum of 166 million dollars and paid same into account of one Temitope domiciled with Citi Bank in the United State of America;.

The offences according to the prosecution contravene the provisions of sections 15 (1)(a) ,18() and 18(3)a)(I) of the Banks and other Financial Institution Act Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The convict had pleaded not guilty on arraignment (NAN).
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The newly established Nigeria Army University, Biu, in Borno State has matriculated 1,016 students for the 2018/2919 academic session.

Speaking at the maiden matriculation ceremony in Biu on Thursday, the vice-chancellor, David Malgwi, said the students were admitted based on requirements set by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Mr Malgwi said 202 students were admitted into the faculty of Computing, 180 in Faculty of Engineering, 104 in Faculty of Environmental Sciences, 369 in Faculty of Management and Social Science, while Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences has 161 students.

The Vice-Chancellor said that apart from the students being matriculated, the university also admitted 1,000 students to undergo the institution s remedial Programme.

He urged the students to shun all forms of vices such as cultism, examination malpractice, hooliganism, and indecent dressing.

Mr Malgwi assured the students that the institution had taken measures to ensure the safety of lives and property in the university and host community, and therefore urged them to be security conscious.

Administering the matriculation oath to the students, S. Ibrahim, a brigadier general and the universitys Registrar, said the students were all admitted on merit.

In his speech, Tukur Buratai, a lieutenant general and Chief of Army Staff who is also the Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, commended the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, for ensuring the establishment of the university.

Represented by Chukwuemeka Okwankwo, a major-general and Legal Adviser of the institution, Mr Buratai commended members of the implementation committee of the institution for committing their time and resources to see the university became a reality.

He further called on the newly matriculated students to be law-abiding and be productive citizens of the society.(NAN)
As the world marks the 20th anniversary of the International Mother Language Day on Thursday, UNESCO has called for the recognition and enforcement of rights of the indigenous peoples.

Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO, made the call in a message on the website of the UN agency to celebrate the Day.

The theme for the Mother Language Day is: Indigenous languages matter for development, peacebuilding and reconciliation which is marked annually globally on every February 21.

.For UNESCO, every mother tongue deserves to be known, recognised and given greater prominence in all spheres of public life.

This is not always the case. Mother tongues do not necessarily have national-language status, official-language status, or status as the language of instruction.

This situation can lead to the devaluation of a mother tongue and to its ultimate disappearance in the long term.

On this 20th anniversary of International Mother Language Day, we must remember that all mother tongues count and that they are all essential to building peace and supporting sustainable development.

A mother tongue is vital to literacy because it facilitates the acquisition of basic reading and writing skills as well as basic numeracy during the first years of schooling.

These skills provide the foundation for personal development.

A mother tongue is also a unique expression of creative diversity and identity, and is a source of knowledge and innovation, she said.

According to Ms Azoulay, indigenous peoples have always expressed their desire for education in their own languages as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous peoples number some 370 million and their languages account for the majority of the approximately 7,000 living languages on earth.

Many indigenous peoples continue to suffer from marginalisation, discrimination and extreme poverty, and are the victims of human rights violation.

On this International Mother Language Day, I thus invite all UNESCO Member States, partners and education stakeholders to recognise and enforce the rights of indigenous peoples, she said.

The idea of celebrating International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh.

It was approved at the 1999 UNESCO General Conference and has been observed throughout the world since 2000.

UNESCO believes in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies.

It is within its mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others.

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Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way. (NAN)
A prosecution witness, Seun Shuaibu, on Wednesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that a former Minister of State for Finance, Nenadi Usman, and others transferred N350 million to former Governor Achike Udenwa of Imo in 2015.

The witness, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), gave evidence at the resumed trial of Mr Usman, Joint Trust Dimension Ltd. and others facing N4.6 billion money laundering charge.

Also charged with Mrs Usman is a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Yusuf Danjum, a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

All the defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge of money laundering preferred against them by the EFCC.

They were granted bail.

Court session

At Wednesdays proceedings, Mr Shuaibu, the third prosecution witness, told the court that, on January 13, 2015, N400 million was transferred to the account of Joint Trust Dimension Ltd. from the Ministry of External Affairs.

Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, who led the witness in evidence, asked the investigator to give a synopsis of his findings of Exhibit Eight, a statement of account of the company, and the funds paid into the account on January 13, 2015.

In his response, the witness said that on the same date, January 13, 2015, N120 million was transferred to Mr Udenwa, and also to one Biola.

He said that the commission had invited Mr Udenwa to its office about the transfer, adding that his statement was taken.

According to the witness, the former governor admitted receiving the fund and claimed it was for a political campaign for former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nenadi Usman

The prosecutor then asked: From your investigation, was that the only time Udenwa received fund from Joint Trust?

The witness replied in the negative.

He further testified that the former governor received the sum in instalments.

He said on January 15, 2015, N30 million was paid into his account, while N200 million was paid into his account on January 28, 2015.

He said that all remittances were said to be for the same purpose of the political campaign.

The prosecutor asked, Still on your findings about Joint Trust, can you confirm if you had any contact with a company called Friendship Express?

The witness replied, Yes, and told the court that on January 13, 2015, N80 million was paid to the Friendship Express company from Joint Trust.

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He said that the director of the company was invited to the commissions office, and his statement was taken. He admitted to receiving the fund.

At this stage, counsel to the first defendant, Ferdinard Orbih, raised an objection to the evidence on the grounds that the witness should not give evidence as to the content of a document not frontloaded.

Mr Orbih described such evidence as hearsay, and urged the court to expunge it.

However, Mr Oyedepo argued that the evidence of a witness as to what a suspect under his investigation told him, could not amount to hearsay.

Citing the authority of Olaoye versus State, he described the evidence as direct, and urged the court to accept it.

The judge, Mohammed Aikawa overruled the objection of defence counsel and ordered the witness to proceed with his evidence.

The witness told the court that during investigations, N40 million was recovered out of the N80 million paid to the company.

When asked by the prosecution counsel to confirm if he came across one Musa Mohammed Sada, the witness said, Yes.

From Exhibit Eight, particularly on January 16, 2016, tell the court your findings as to the entry on that date? Mr Oyedepo asked.

The witness said on January 16, 2015, an investigation revealed that N800 million was transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs to the account of Joint Trust Dimension Ltd., without execution of any contract.

M Oyedepo asked, How did you meet Musa Mohammed Sada?

The witness said, On January 19, 2015, the sum of N80 million was transferred from Joint Trust to Musa Sadas account; we invited him, and his statement was taken.

According to the witness, Mr Musa then refunded N25 million.

At the last adjourned date, you identified Exhibit Nine as the instrument for the transaction which are the cheques of Joint Trust. Can you remember? Mr Oyedepo asked.

The witness replied, Yes.

When shown the original copies of the cheques to identify, the witness said they were same cheques.

The prosecution tendered the 21 cheques before the court in evidence.

There was no objection from defence counsel, and the court admitted them in evidence as Exhibits 10 (i-xx).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trial will continue on Thursday.

The EFCC accused the defendants of committing the offences from January 2015 to March 2015.

In counts one to seven, they were alleged to have unlawfully retained over N3.8 billion which they reasonably ought to know formed part of the proceeds of stealing and corruption.

In counts eight to 14, they were alleged to have unlawfully used over N970 million which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of an unlawful act of corruption.

Femi Fani-Kayode

Also, in counts 15 to 17 Mr Fani-Kayode and one Olubode Oke, who is said to be at large, were alleged to have made cash payments of about N30 million, which is more than the maximum amount allowed by law, without going through a financial institution.

Besides, Mr Fani-Kayode was alleged to have made payments to one Paste Poster Co. of No. 125, Lewis St., Lagos, more than the maximum amount allowed by law.

The alleged offences contravene the Sections 15 (3) (4), 16 (2) (b), and 16 (5) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012. (NAN)
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The Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) on Wednesday called on Nigerias president, Muhammadu Buhari, to intervene and ensure justice in the case of the 38 senior army officers wrongly and unlawfully dismissed in 2016.

Okechukwu Nwanguma, the National coordinator of NOPRIN, said at a press conference in Lagos that the Army Council has no powers to punish any officer.

The purported punishment of the Army 38 by way of compulsory retirement without giving any of them the opportunity to defend themselves against any allegation is against the principles of natural justice and fair hearing, Mr Nwanguma said.

He said the pattern of abuse meted on the Army 38  as the dismissed officers have come to be known  by the military leadership showed a deliberate witch hunt of selected officers based on tribal affiliations and pedigree.

Majority of the 38 officers dismissed in June 2016 were sent away without recourse to the rules of disengagement in the Nigerian military, a PREMIUM TIMES report at the time showed.

But Sani Usman, the army spokesperson at the time, defended the militarys action saying the affected officers were sent packing in relation to arms procurement fraud and professional misconduct during the 2015 elections. The government, however, did not raise that claim when the affected officers went to court.

Despite receiving a petition written by some of the dismissed officers since September 2016, Mr Buhari has failed to take any action on the matter.

Late last year, the dismissed soldiers headed to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court in search of justice.

At the press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, Abdul Muhammed, who is a lawyer to the dismissed soldiers, described the armys claims that the officers were guilty of misconduct as untrue.

Mr Muhammed said none or the 38 officers was charged, tried by a court, or found guilty of any offence in line with the Armed forces extant rules and regulations.

18 of these senior officers that were dismissed did not at any time appear before any of the two panels set up or was there any inquiry or investigation, he added.

He further said each of the officers had given, at least, 25 years of service to the nation with years of training.

According to him, out of the 38 affected officers, 24 were from the south with seven from Rivers State.

Mr Muhammed said the officers were not responsible for the offences they were accused of, as many of them were not in the country during the 2015 elections.

Clearly, someone in the leadership of the military was involved in the victimisation of innocent senior officers in the Nigerian Army and its been revealed that the names of innocent officers were substituted in place of the guilty ones in a case of gross corruption and abuse of office.

With the death of one the officers within the first year of denial of justice, the 38 senior Army Officers are crying for justice, he added.
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The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside a decision of the Federal High Court which affirmed the exclusion of the All Progressives Congress candidates in Zamfara State from the forthcoming general elections.

The lower court presided by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu had on January 25 ruled that INEC was right to have excluded the APC from the elections.

The court said the primaries that produced the candidates was flawed.

But in a ruling on Thursday, a three-member panel led by Justice Abdul Aboki described the lower court ruling as an aberration.

The appeal agreed with lawyers representing the APC who argued that the motion brought before the lower court was filed outside of the allowed time.

According to the judges, the application ought to have been brought 14 days from the date when the alleged electoral infraction occurred.

The Appeal Court ruled that the filing of the matter, after 14 days at the lower court, made it impossible for the lower court to have jurisdiction on the matter.

The suit is hereby struck out for lack of want of jurisdiction on the part of the lower court. The judgement of the lower court is hereby set aside, the court ruled late Thursday.

Details later.
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The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Ahmad Abdurrahman, has disowned both figures announced by Governor Nasir El-Rufai as casualties in Gidan Maro an Iri axis of Kajuru Local Government of Kaduna State.

Mr Abdurrahman said the police are still investigating and wont quote or confirm any figure until their probe is concluded.

At first announcement on February 15, Mr El-Rufai said 66 people were killed by criminal elements in various dispersed hamlets in Kajuru Local Government. The army also confirmed the 66 deaths.

In another announcement after an extensive meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and service chiefs on February 19, the governor said the death toll had risen to 130.

Mr El-Rufais first and second claims were followed by criticisms by some people who raised doubts about the figures.

One of such criticisms came from the senator representing the district. What I found out about the killing is that it happened between Sunday and Monday. The figures for the death are within the range of 10 to 15. The state government exaggerated the figures and also timed the announcement of it in view of the fact that that place is remote and beyond the reach of many journalists, Shehu Sani said.

PREMIUM TIMES journalist visited the scene of the killings on Wednesday and on Thursday sought clarifications from the commissioner.

Mr Abdurrahman neither confirmed nor denied the governors figures but said the police had no hand in arriving at them.

Right now, if the governor tells you even 200, he is just quoting figures. It may be more than that or less than that. For example, the areas you have visited where we were told that 36 bodies were buried, It was not under the purview of the security at the beginning of the investigation until when the Fulani victims themselves came out crying after we have secured all the places with our military counterpart. They now approach the military that come and escort us to come and bury our relations. That was when it was uncovered.

The police chief said his men were still investigating the issue and would not identify with any figure until this is concluded.

As I told the governor himself, I said figures in a crisis of this magnitude should be left until all investigations have been finished. All those areas we are getting information are covered. You cannot come up with a figure. You will come and say a figure and later you have to come and say it again. And this is what is happening As far as police is concerned we are investigating and investigation is still at embryonic stage. By the time we reach all areasas Im talking to you now, my men are still in the bush, plus SEMA and other CSOs.

Thats why professionally, we dont come out with figures until when we are sure and concluded our investigation. So, you see that there is no reason to say this one said this figure or that one said this figure, he said.

Mr Abdurrahman said the troubled communities are now in a post-crisis period warning that nobody should stampede investigation.
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A lawyer, Joe Agi, has explained why he paid $30,000 into a domiciliary account belonging to Nigerias Chief Justice, Walter Onnoghen, who was suspended last month.

In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Agi said the cash was given to him by Mr Onnoghen in 2009 to be deposited into the account after it was opened.

Mr Agi also confirmed previous report that he stood as a referee for the suspended judge when the account was opened in 2009.

In the year 2009, I brought to his knowledge that he can open a domiciliary account instead of travelling with cash from Nigeria to abroad on seminars, holidays, conferences or medical trips. My Lord Justice Onnoghen said he had no idea since opening of foreign account was forbidden for public officers. I informed him that domiciliary account is not a foreign bank account as it is opened and operated within the local banks in Nigeria.

It was on this note that I went to my banker, Standard Chartered Bank and obtained account opening forms for him as a friend and senior brother. He completed the forms and I refereed him. He gave me $30,000, being left over of his allowances for overseas seminars, holidays, conferences or medical trips to deposit for him as the first deposit. This I did in 2009, 10 years ago. After that, he operated the account himself without me paying even a cent into that account till date.

Undue harassment

Mr Agi, who had been tried and acquitted on allegations of fraud, alongside a suspend judge, Adeniyi Ademola, described his current investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as an act of undue harassment.

Mr Agi questioned the rationale of accusing him of bribing Mr Onnoghen ten years ago.

Now 10 years after, I am again being vilified and accused of giving Justice Onnoghen bribe. If I may ask; bribe for which case? In the Supreme Court panel, they sit in five or seven persons, was the $30,000 for the Justices? And for which case? This is another huge joke aimed at vilifying my person by the same cabal who are hell bent on tarnishing my image as an aftermath of the exposure of the Paris Club fraud.

Mr Agi said during a subsequent telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES that he could not recall if he had a particular case at the apex court at the time.

He, however, added that Mr Onnoghen was at a lower rank at the apex court, which would have made it difficult for anyone trying to bribe the justice.

During that time, he was number eight in hierarchy at the Supreme Court. Even if they are saying I gave him money, there are seven people who sit at the Supreme Court, was the money for all of them? And for which case? Mr Agi said, repeating his questions in the statement.
Dozens of health advocates on Thursday gathered in front of Asokoro Hospital, Abuja, to protest the death of one of their colleagues, Kafayat Addulazeez, due to alleged medical negligence.

In anticipation of the protest, over 20 police men were stationed at the hospital gate.

Ms Abdulazeez went to the hospital on February 14 for a routine medical check up. She was, however, placed on admission and died in the hospital two days after.

The Ondo State-born 25-year-old was a sickle cell anaemia patient, but her family said she was not going through the crisis associated with the condition at the time she visited the hospital.

The family blamed her death on negligence of health workers in the hospital.

Speaking on the protest, Joseph Osuigwe, Executive Director, Devatop Centre for Africa Development, said the outdoor assembly was not only for Ms Abdulazeez.

He said it was held as a point of contact for other people who have lost their lives because of the negligence and apathy of medical officials.

He said cases such as Ms Abdulazeezs had been happening in Nigeria but nobody has spoken out.

Every life is important. We are doing this as a way to call for national action because our health system has failed us, he said. Instead of the health system to protect lives and save lives, it is even taking away lives.

He called on the government to address the challenges in the health system.

And also for the medical practitioners who are involved to explained to us what happened? What are the tests? What are the result of the tests?

Lets know what happened to Kafayat. You cannot just say you gave a proper treatment and you diagnose with no evidence. She came to the hospital on 14 and died the next two days, he said.

Mr Osuigwe also called on the government to declare a state of emergency on the health sector. He said every Nigerian has a right to medical services and health should be made a national priority.

It is a right of citizen to have a full treatment and that is our anger. We are using this protest as a first step to show our distress because we want to first have an explanation from the hospital and then amplify to the national level.

The next step is to reach out to the respective authorities. We do not want to end it here because if we do not take more action, more people will be lost through this way.

We want to make sure we are having a regular campaign called Fix Our Health System because the problem is not just the doctors, but the whole health care system.

It is not just in Abuja, it has been happening in different states. We are making sure we spread the message that the government should come to the attention of this. There is a need for a state of emergency in the health system.

If health is not a national priority many lives will be lost. In fact they should declare a state of emergency in the health, we have spent many billions of dollars outside the country because of health issues so government should make it a national priority. It should not be an option, there should be money invested in the health system and medical professionals need to be trained again, he said.

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Some of the protesters in front of Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja

Also a colleague and a friend of the deceased, Aisha Zuberu, said she was a remarkable person who worked for humanity all her life.

Ms Zuberu also called for the overhauling of the countrys health system.

Just the way they say education needs to be looked upon, the health system also needs emergency intervention from the government. I have heard so many cases of needless deaths in the hospital.

Though I was not at the hospital at her time of treatment so I cannot ascertain that she was neglected, the statement from her parent or family cannot be wrong either. If truly, the neglected her, the need to check themselves, doctors need to be checked, she said.

Some of the protesters in front of Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja

Ms Zuberu lamented the attitude of some health professionals, citing their use of phones while attending to patients.

There is no point going to the hospital with phones, there is a policy of putting phones on silence when working, it is a good thing to do. Also if a patient is critically ill, they should give the patients their utmost attention and not say that because they are not related to the president, they do not treat them, she said.

Hospital management reacts

The medical director of the hospital, Uche Afiomah, later addressed the protesters.

Expressing her condolence to the protesters, families and friend of the deceased, Mrs Afiomah said the hospital did not neglect Ms Abdulazeez at any point.

She said the management of the hospital was also saddened by her death.

She was duly attended to, Mrs Afiomah told the protesters.

She was here on Valentines Day at 1 pm and the doctor saw her, examined and put her on appropriate management according to all the clinical and ethical guidelines.

She was seen an hour later by the consultant physician who also managed her. The consultant physician was on ground 24 hours later to still see her until she succumbed from the complications of her illness.

The MD said the family of the deceased has requested the hospital to investigate the circumstances under which she died.

She said a clinical audit was ongoing and involved the health and human services secretariat and Servicom.

Every matter regarding issues raised and the outcome will be communicated to the family and to you in due course. If there are any gaps identified they also will be treated with the urgency deserved from the management and also the health and humans services secretariat.

Some of the protesters in front of Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja

Investigation is ongoing and we want to say that Asokoro Discrict hospital discharged every due care to Kafayat, a young lady that everyone loved, is supposed to receive from the Accident and Emergency, she said.

Health expert/advocate reacts

Reacting on the issue, a medical consultant and health advocate, Dale Ogunbayo, called for proper investigation based on the deceaseds background history. He said her death cannot just be concluded as a case of negligence.

He advised people to learn more about the Patients Bill of Rights within the National health Act.

Mr Ogunbayo said every death should be investigated to get the root cause analysis.

He said getting the root cause analysis of every death is the only way the nation can correct things at the health system level and not just on individual case.

He said root cause analysis would determine if the cause of death is either from the patients side, financial root cause or from the physician through shortage of staff, equipment or other hospital services.

As for Kayafats case, doing a root cause analysis is important right now. Nobody knows the full truth on the death of Kafayat and every life is important. They have to investigate not because they want to find someone to blame but to know how to strengthen the system.

The root cause analysis will show necessary steps to be taken to make amendments in the health system. By the National Health Act standard, a root cause analysis should be part of the system to know the root cause of every death in order to bring sanity and development to the system, he said.
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U.S. President Donald Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, will be sentenced for bank and tax fraud on March 8, according to a court filing posted on Thursday.

This was just days before he is due to be sentenced in a separate case for lobbying violations.

Mr Manafort, 69, could spend the rest of his life in prison for charges stemming from his work as an international political consultant and lobbyist.

He is one of the first people in Mr Trumps orbit to face criminal charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Mr Mueller is urging a federal judge in Virginia to impose a prison sentence of up to 24 years and a fine of up to 24 million dollars, after a jury found Mr Manafort guilty of trying to hide millions of dollars.

Mr Manafort trying to hide millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine, and lying to banks to secure loans to fund his lavish lifestyle after that income dried up.

Mr Manafort is also due to be sentenced on March 13 in a parallel federal case in Washington.

He pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy against the U.S. for conduct that ranged from money laundering to unregistered lobbying and admitted to witness tampering as well.

But U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled last week that he violated his plea deal by lying to prosecutors, which removes their obligation to ask for a lighter sentence.

Legal experts say he faces up to a decade in prison for those crimes.

In the bank and tax fraud case, Mr Manafort has until March 1 to submit a filing arguing for a lighter sentence to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mr Muellers office will be able to file a reply to Mr Manaforts memo by March 6.

Russia denies meddling in the election. Trump has said there was no collusion between his Republican campaign and Russia, and has labeled Muellers investigation a witch hunt.

(Reuters/NAN)
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Sudanese security forces arrested at least 12 opposition leaders ahead of a planned protest against the regime of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, an opposition member said on Thursday.

Among those arrested were the Deputy Leader of the National Umma Party (NUP), Mariam al-Mahdi; NUP Secretary-General, Sara Naqdallah; the Political Secretary of the Communist Party, Mohamed al-Khatib and a senior member of the NUP, Um-Salama al-Mahdi said.

The arrests were made minutes before the start of a planned anti-government demonstration in the capital Khartoum, according to al-Mahdi.

The 12 opposition leaders were planning to lead a protest march to the presidential palace to submit a memo demanding President al-Bashir step down when they were arrested, he said.

He said when making the arrests, security forces and riot police fired tear gas at a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators, who had gathered near the Arab Market area in Khartoum.

The East African nation has seen ongoing protests for several weeks, since a sharp hike in bread and fuel prices caused public outcry.

In early January, the Interior Ministry said over 800 demonstrators had been arrested.

While the Sudanese government has confirmed the deaths of 29 protesters, human rights organisations say dozens of people have been killed in clashes with security forces.

The oil-rich countrys economy was badly affected when it split with South Sudan in 2011.

The government is currently facing an economic crisis while also battling several rebel groups.

(dpa/NAN)
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A federal court in Lagos has fixed April 20 for judgment in the suit filed by the Nigerian government seeking to recover $110 million from the Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited.

Mojisola Olatoregun, the judge, adjourned for judgment on Thursday after parties in the suit adopted their final written addresses.

The Nigerian government is accusing the oil company of under-declaring the volume of crude oil it shipped out of the country between January 2011 and December 2014.

According to the government, the company, owned by Italian oil giant, Eni, short-changed the country to the tune of $55 million.

The government is praying the court to compel the oil firm to pay the $55 million with an annual interest of 21 per cent. It also wants the court to award another $55 million against Agip as exemplary damages.

The suit began in 2016, with the Nigerian government closing its case in October last year and the court adjourning for the oil company to open its defence.

The government also instituted similar lawsuits in 2016 against Total E&P Nigeria Plc and Chevron Nigeria Limited.

In the case of Total, the government sought to recover $245 million being the total value of the missing revenues from the shortfall under-declared/undeclared crude oil shipments of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

They sought another $245 million as general damages.

The government said the lawsuits followed a forensic analysis linking the decline in crude oil export and government revenue at the time to the alleged under-declaration of the volume of crude oil shipped out of the country by the oil companies.

The federal government claimed to have uncovered the alleged illegality using high-technology Information Technology system, including satellite tracking systems, which were deployed by its consultants.

The statements of claims were backed with supporting affidavits deposed to by three United States of America-based experts  David Olowokere, a US citizen and Lead Analyst at Loumos Group LLC, US; Jerome Stanley, a lawyer in the law firm of Henchy & Hackenberg; and Micheal Kanko, founder and Chief Executive Officer, Trade Data Services Company, State of Arizona, US.

The deponents said about 57 million barrels of crude oil were allegedly illegally exported by Total and sold to buyers in the US between January 2011 and December 2014 without making due remittance to the Nigerian government.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:53:36

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

With the advent of the various food delivery options, there is a rising demand for innovative packaging options that not only preserves the food quality but are also secure and hygienic. The growing demand from the food service sector has fuelled the need of machines to not only pack food but also provide a significant opportunity to the manufactures to increase their brand value and attractively display the product. Tray sealer machines are one such type that are used to seal trays with liquid, powders, granules etc. The tray sealer machines seals the tray with a peel off film and then cuts and trims it to provide it a finished look. A tray sealer machine improves the product longevity and increases its shelf appeal which directly influences the sales of the product. They are much simpler to use and are robust in approach. The tray sealing machines does not only minimize the production of waste but also make efficient use of material and energy. With the advancement in the food sector, the global try sealer machines market is expected to register a significant CAGR over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4472 Tray Sealer Machines: Market DynamicsAn increasing penetration in the food and beverages sector is one of the key substantial factor driving the growth of the global tray sealer machines market. Moreover, increasing acceptance for ready to eat food and quick service restaurants by consumers is one of the primary factor fuelling the proliferation of the global tray sealer machine market. The growth of the online food service restaurants is further intensifying the demand of the tray sealer machines market. Besides the food safety benefits, consumers also get a convenient packaging option which is impervious, easy to open , and refrigerator ready. Initial high cost of investment for installing machines is one factor restraining the growth of the global tray sealer machines market. Incorporation of computer interface in the machines is likely to create an opportunity for the global tray sealer machine market. Customized printing over the sealed trays is a key trend prevailing in the global tray sealer machines market.Tray Sealer Machines: Market SegmentationThe global tray sealer machine market is segmented on the basis of technology, product type, end use, and geography. On the basis of technology, the tray sealer machine market is segmented into manual, automatic, and semi-automatic machines. Automatic tray sealer machines are gaining more prominence as compared to other segments globally to their fast output rates. On the basis of product type, the tray sealer machine market is segmented into meat & poultry food, sweets & confectionery, vegetables & fruits, and others. On the basis of end use, the global tray sealer machine market is segmented into institutional and non-institutional segments.Tray Sealer Machines Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global tray sealer machines market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Europe. North America is currently leading the global tray sealer machines market due to a large population base inclined toward packaged food. Asia pacific region is envisioned to grow significantly over the forecast period due to significant investments in the food & beverage sector. Europe will witness slow growth over the forecast period due to recession looming over certain parts of the European region. Latin America is witnessing serious economic downturns due to which the growth of the tray sealer machine market is expected to be sluggish over the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4472 Tray Sealer Machines Market: Key playersSome of the key players of the global tray sealer machines are Sealpac UK Limited, G Mondini SpA, MPE UK Limited, Proseal uk Ltd., Mecapack SAS, ULMA Packaging, S.Corporation, and Sealers India Agencies.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 13:06:26

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Trachoma is a bacterial infection which affects the eye of the human body. Trachoma is caused by the bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. Trachoma is the contagious disease and spread through the contact with the infected people. A person suffering from trachoma initially feel slight itching and irritation in their eyes, further swollen of eyes can be noticed. If the trachoma treatment is not taken it may cause to blindness. There are various options available in the market for trachoma treatment such as medication, surgery, and facial cleanness. Medication is considered as the first line for trachoma treatment. For the patient suffering from a severe condition, trachoma treatment is done by surgery. For few patients, facial cleanliness is prescribed in combination with medication for trachoma treatment. World Health Organization has stated the several guidelines for the trachoma treatment with the surgery to manage the associated risk. Antibiotics are more often prescribed by the physician for the trachoma treatment in the initial stagesTrachoma Treatment Market: Drivers and Restraints: The increasing prevalence of trachoma due to rising air pollution is the primary factor driving the growth of trachoma treatment market over the forecast period. The lack of maintenance of personal hygiene by majority people in the under developing countries such as sharing the used towel and clothes has also responsible for the rising prevalence of trachoma which will ultimately fuel the growth of trachoma treatment market. Also, the rising focus of leading pharmaceutical companies to manufacture more innovative drugs for the trachoma treatment will also upsurge the growth of trachoma treatment market. The lack of awareness among the people about the availability of over the counter medication for trachoma treatment hamper the growth of trachoma treatment market over the forecast period. Side effects associated drugs for trachoma treatment which may have an adverse impact on the human eye can be major factor lead to sluggish growth of trachoma treatment market.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8918 Trachoma Treatment Market: Overview: The rising prevalence of trachoma throughout the globe is responsible for the significant growth of trachoma treatment market over the forecast period. World Health Organization is the estimated that around 157.7 million people have trachoma throughout the globe and from them, 2 million people have become blind. World Health Organization also estimated that the prevalence of trachoma is much higher in the African counties due to lack of personal hygiene maintain in these countries. The adoption of trachoma treatment is much higher in the developed countries such as U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan while there is much lower adoption of trachoma treatment in the under developing countries. By drug type, antibiotics will dominate the majority of market share for trachoma treatment market in term of revenue though physician prescribes antibiotics as the first option for trachoma treatment. Among all distribution channel retail pharmacies major revenue share for trachoma treatment market which is then followed by hospital pharmacies.Trachoma Treatment Market: Regional Overview: Based on geographical presence Trachoma Treatment market is classified in eight key regions, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APECJ, China, Japan, and the Middle East and Africa. North America is the leading region for the global trachoma treatment market due to high adoption trachoma treatment among the people. Western Europe and Japan will follow the trachoma treatment market after North America due to the launch of various drugs for the trachoma treatment in these regions. China and APECJ are the will be the fastest growing region for trachoma treatment market in term of revenue due to rising incidences of eye infections. Latin America and the Middle East and Africa are expected to gain less traction for trachoma treatment market owing to lack of awareness among the people about the trachoma treatment.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8918 Trachoma Treatment Market: Key Players: Some of the key players found across the value chain of Trachoma Treatment market are Allergan plc. Fresenius Kabi, Almirall PLC., Novartis AG, Apotex Corporation, Bausch Health, Altimed Pharma Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and others
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Telecom Internet Of Things (IoT) Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Telecom Internet Of Things (IoT) Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 10:58:54

Telecom Internet of Things market is considered as the fastest growing market and it provide enhanced connectivity solutions to numerous smart devices. Technology plays an important role in the development of Telecom Internet of Things market and especially with the innovation of Internet of Things, Telecom Internet of Things market is witnessing the rapid growth. With the growing adoption of intelligent transportation system and rapid increase in number of smartphones and tablets, Telecom Internet of Things market is experiencing the rapid growth.Internet of Things comes with the concept that everything around should be electronically integrated and interconnected. Telecom operators are now using digital platforms that combine connectivity, analysis, mobile, security and cloud to support business and all these empowers great revenue opportunity for them. Major applications such as logistics tracking, traffic management, smart healthcare and others are contributing to the growth of Telecom Internet of Things market.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4968 Telecom Internet of Things (IoT) market: Drivers and ChallengesDriversThe major factor driving Telecom Internet of Things market is the growing need for enhanced connectivity solutions to connect smart devices. Moreover, the increased demand of mobile computing devices and network capacity to access connected services are the drivers which are contributing to the growth of global telecom Internet of Things market. Apart from this, the rising demand of telecommunication cloud for smart network bandwidth management and automation in communication operations are driving the Telecom Internet of Things market. Moreover the enhancement of smart technology and distributed application will increase the demand for Telecom Internet of Things market.ChallengesThe major challenge for the IoT telecom market is that the network operator should be able to offer fast, reliable and uninterrupted connectivity. Also, with the increase of connected devices and management of personal data, the privacy and security of customer information is the significant issue for the companies in Telecom Internet of Things market.Telecom Internet of Things (IoT) Market: SegmentationSegmentation of Telecom Internet of Things market on the basis of Component:Connectivity technology marketNetwork management solution marketServices marketOthersSegmentation of Telecom Internet of Things market on the basis of type of Service:Business consulting servicesDevice and application management servicesInstallation and integration servicesIoT billing and subscription management marketOthersSegmentation of Telecom Internet of Things market on the basis of Application:Smart buildings and home automationCapillary network managementIndustrial manufacturing and automationVehicle telematicsTransportation, logistics tracking, and traffic managementEnergy and utilitiesSmart healthcareOthersRequest Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4968 Telecom Internet of Things (IoT) market: Recent Developments and Competition dashboardIn June 2017 AT&T and China Telecom signed an agreement to expand partnership to develop network services around the world. Telcos such as AT&T, Vodafone, Verizon and others have done various development in Telecom market. For instance in October 2016, Vodafone launches first live commercial NB-IoT network.The key market players in Telecom Internet of Things markets include AT&T, Inc., Ericsson, Verizon Communications, Inc., Sprint Corporation, Vodafone Group, Plc., China Mobile Ltd, Swisscom AG, Aeris, Deutsche Telekom AG and others.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 13:02:14

VANCOUVER, BC, and KNOXVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Solar Alliance Energy Inc. ('Solar Alliance") or (the 'Company") (TSX-V: SOLR) is pleased to announce the promotion of Myke Clark to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Clark has also been appointed to the Company"s board of directors and has been with the Company as its Chief Operating Officer since 2015. Jason Bak will continue as non-executive Chair and as a director, along with Anton Shihoff and Ken Stadlin. David Lamont has resigned from the board to pursue other opportunities. The Company thanks Mr. Lamont for his years of support, service, diligence and strategic guidance as it developed over $1 billion of renewable assets that are currently operational."As a Founder & CEO of this Company it has been my great honour to work alongside numerous professionals as we have developed a number of world class renewable assets. In the last few years we have progressed from seeing returns from development to a focus on growth of revenue and importantly profit. The appointment of Mr. Clark is the outcome of an orderly succession process that has a key goal  profitability. I look forward to supporting Mr. Clark from my role as Chairman," states Bak.Mr. Clark has more than 20 years of experience in media, public affairs, marketing and operations with a variety of public and private companies, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer of Solar Alliance. Prior to joining Solar Alliance in 2015, Mr. Clark was a senior public affairs, branding and strategic communications consultant in the natural resource sector, SVP Business Development for Finavera Wind Energy and a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Clark holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University."I am excited to be taking on the role of CEO at Solar Alliance and look forward to working with our exceptional team of renewable energy professionals to create a stable, profitable business that generates strong returns for shareholders," said Mr. Clark. "We have a strong team that has developed a growing pipeline of commercial solar projects along with an exciting new residential solar product  SunBox  that has the potential to transform the solar industry. I am looking forward to growing Solar Alliance and building on the work done to date. I also look forward to enhancing our investor relations program to ensure our operational successes are recognized in the capital markets," concluded Clark.Corporate UpdateThe Company has seen significant change in its shareholder base over the last year with a high net worth shareholder acquiring over 50% of the Company"s stock. This shareholder has taken a position in the Company to support significant growth via the execution of a clearly defined plan.The Company"s plans for 2019 will build on the substantial ground work laid in 2018. In 2018, we experienced a ten-fold increase in commercial solar installations over the previous year and entered into agreements with a Fortune Global 500 company in the southeast US and a large property developer in California. These agreements total almost 3 megawatts ("MW") of solar projects and set the stage for future large-scale projects. We have also enhanced our sales process for targeting small to mid-sized commercial projects. Finally, we launched "SunBox", a new product offering that provides a simple, efficient solar system specifically designed for architects, new home builders and their customers. These three business units  large scale commercial, mid-sized commercial and SunBox - form the basis of Solar Alliance"s long-term strategy. Each has a different revenue and growth profile that, when combined, have the potential to deliver significant long-term value for Solar Alliance shareholders.The goal of Solar Alliance has always been simple: create a better world through the adoption of renewable energy technologies that allow individuals and businesses to take control of their electricity use. Invest in your home or business while being part of the climate change solution. The path from vision to implementation and profitability, however, is rarely a straight line. While the overall solar industry is growing, that growth has often come at the expense of profitability for many companies. The key is determining where the value lies and how to take advantage as a company. And do it all at scale while maintaining profitability. We see long term, sustained growth occurring in the commercial solar market and the new home residential solar market. And that"s why our resources are focused on those areas.Large scale commercial. During 2018 we signed two large scale commercial projects: a 2.4 MW project for a Fortune Global 500 company in the Southeast U.S and 518 kW project in Los Angeles for the Onni Group, a large property developer. The 2.4 MW project is nearing completion. For commercial reasons, the identity of the Fortune Global 500 customer is not being released until the project"s completion, but our goal is to leverage this project across a large portfolio of facilities owned by the client. The Los Angeles project is expected to begin construction this month. These larger projects can drive significant revenue for the Company and we are targeting the signing of 2-3 new large-scale projects in 2019. The sales cycle for these projects is long, so it is also important to focus on mid-sized projects that deliver faster revenue.Mid-sized commercial. Our team completed the installation of several commercial solar projects ranging in size from 30 kW to 150 kW. Permitting, financing and construction of these mid-sized projects is simpler than with large-scale projects, allowing for faster cycle times and more consistent cashflow. Our goal is to enhance our sales team in an effort to target a 50% increase in project sales in this business line. The combination of large-scale and mid-sized commercial solar projects has contributed to a record ten-fold year over year increase in Solar Alliance"s pipeline of commercial solar projects.Commercial Solar InstallationsYearInstalled (kW)Work in Process (kW)Total (kW)201738738720182893,134*3,423 (3.4 MW)*2.4 MW of work in process projects were substantially completed by year end, 2018 and will reach final completion in Q1, 2019.SunBox. The traditional sales model of utilizing door to door canvass teams to generate leads for individual solar system sales is an expensive way to do business and for many solar companies
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a law extending paid maternity leave to 105 days, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said Thursday.

The new law, which was signed Wednesday, also allows working mothers-- regardless of civil status-- to extend their leave for another 30 days, but without pay. On the other hand, single mothers can have an additional 15-day paid leave.

Seven of the 105-day leave benefit may be transferable to fathers. This may be claimed on top of the seven-day paternity leave provided under the 1996 Paternity Leave Act.

The previous law allows only 60 days paid maternity leave for women for normal delivery and 78 days for caesarean section.

'A win for women'

Politicians and a labor group welcomed the new law.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, author and principal sponsor of the measure, said the new law is a "massive victory" for women and their families.

"The signing into law of the Expanded Maternity Leave Act is a moment mothers, families, and children will not only remember, but a victory generations of Filipinos will reap the benefits of for the rest of their lives," Hontiveros said in a statement.

"Mothers will have more time to rest after giving birth. Children will be better fed. Fathers and caregivers can bond and create more lasting memories with their loved ones, as families everywhere receive the greatest gift of all - time," she added.

Women party-list group Gabriela said decade-long efforts and campaign of female workers have finally paid off.

"Produkto ito ng aming masigasig na kampanya at lobby kasama ang iba't ibang grupo, bilang pagkilala sa ambag ng mga kababaihan sa ating ekonomiya," the group said in a statement. "This is a significant advance in ensuring women's right to maternal health and in upholding the security of tenure of pregnant women workers."

[Translation: This is a product of our continuous campaign and lobbying, together with other groups, to recognize the contribution of women in our economy.]

Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin said the law is a "decisive win" for both women workers and social justice.

Meanwhile, labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the law is a win-win situation for both working mothers and businesses.

"With the faithful enforcement of the law, the TUCP expects the next generation of Filipino workers to be healthier and more productive with the measure ensuring more protection for their working mothers who nurture them," it said in a statement.

No to discrimination

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, on the other hand, issued a warning to companies against gender discrimination now that maternity leaves are longer.

Panelo, in his media briefing Thursday, said companies which would refuse to hire women following the law's enactment will be held accountable.

"Bawal ang discrimination sa atin (discrimination is not allowed here), they will be accountable for that. I don't think they will," the spokesman said. "Regardless of the rules and regulations ng mga (of the) companies, they will have to follow the law now. Wala na silang (they don't have a) choice."

Panelo said companies should consider the granting of long leaves as a "social service."

Vice President Leni Robredo said the measure will be a huge help for mothers who don't have the financial capacity to hire babysitters.

"At least maiiwanan niya iyong kaniyang anak na medyo malaki-laki na. Kaya ito, mahaba-habang pinush ng maraming advocates, at nagpapasalamat tayo na, finally, ngayon ay batas na siya," Robredo said in an interview.

[Translation: At least they would be able to leave their children who would be a little bit older. A lot of advocates have pushed for this, so we're thankful that finally, it's now a law.]

CNN Philippines Correspondent Ina Andolong and Digital Producer Alyssa Rola contributed to this report.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Smart Building Solutions Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Smart Building Solutions Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:09:42

Need of lower operating cost, lower CO2 emissions and scarcity of energy resources are the factor which increases the demand for smart building solutions. The energy monitoring is one of the major solution which help to monitor the energy consumption rate and optimize the energy usage. As the smart building market comes under automation and control sector which is rapidly growing it leads to the growth of smart building solution market which is largely driven by electronic security & safety segment due to increasing demand for CCTV and biometrics based security systems in the buildings.In Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) building, increasing the demand for thermostat, zone and climate control, sensors and keypads which supports the growth of smart building market, while emerging carbon dioxide & combine sensors will have significant impact on overall smart building market.Smart Building Solutions Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe initiatives taken by government for building automation is the primary driver in the global smart building solutions market. In addition to this, the concept enables an efficient energy management system of a building which reduces the wastage of energy consumption. Therefore, it drives the demand for smart building solutions. Furthermore, the connectivity achieved between devices on internet, with the introduction of IoT, will enhance the overall efficiency of smart building. Henceforth, the introduction of IoT will drive the overall growth of global smart building solutions market. The on-going innovation and research for optimizing energy consumption and serving high degree of automation in buildings represents the increasing demand for global smart building solutions market.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5104 High installation and manufacturing cost are the major factors restraining the growth of smart building solutions market.Smart Building Market: Market SegmentationGlobal Smart Building Solution Market can be divided into the following segments - based on type and by end-userSegmentation on basis of Solutions for Smart Building Type Market:The major segments of Smart Building Solutions market on basis of Type include:Building Management SystemElectricity ControlAir Conditioning and Ventilation SystemSecurity SolutionsAudio and Visual EffectsSegmentation on basis of End-User forSmart Building Solutions Market:The major segments of Smart Building Solutions market on basis of End-User include:ResidentialCommercialGovernmentIndustrialManufacturingOthersGlobal Smart Building Solutions Market TrendsMinimizing the usage of wire and implementing a wireless connection for automation of a building is a key tend followed by major vendors. The trend is majorly implemented in Residential building for integrating various connected devices with each other.Global Smart Building Solutions Market Technology Regional OverviewEurope dominates the global Smart Building Solutions market as the government has taken many initiatives in the region, for the same. Europe is expected to be followed by North America and APAC with the increasing awareness in the regions for adopting smart building solutions in their buildings. The availability of resources, innovations in IT and increasing adoption of smart building solutions concept is, furthermore, encouraging new players to step into the market.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5104 Global Smart Building Solutions Market Key PlayersSome of the major Smart Building Solutions global players include ABB, Siemens AG, Intel Corporation, Honeywell International Inc., Schneider Electric, Legrand SA, Panasonic Corporation, BuildingIQ, Cisco Systems Inc. and DELTA CONTROLS
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:52:16

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

Multinational companies are expected to focus on Middle-East region as growing demand for polypropylene woven bags and sacks is expected from construction and building industry of the region. However sales of polypropylene woven bags and sacks across agricultural industries is anticipated to overshadow sales in the construction and building industry. Environmental hazards related to PE (polyethylene) has spurred the adoption of polypropylene woven bags and sacks as comparatively sustainable alternative. Rapid inroads flagged by retail industry in FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector has resulted in increasing retail outlets that is likely to bode well for expansion of polypropylene woven bags and sacks market.Ban on the thin-film plastic bag is rigorously fuelling the demand and adoption of the polypropylene woven bags and sacks. Key players are increasing their focus on increasing manufacturing of polypropylene woven bags and sacks in order to prevail as reliable manufacturers of the custom woven fabric. However, factors such as environment, strength and cost continues to dwarf polypropylene woven bags and sacks from its non-laminated polypropylene woven bags and sacks. Existing regulatory framework regarding manufacturing and usage of polypropylene woven bags and sacks is expected to hinder the growth of market in developed regions such as Europe and the U.S.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4438 Polypropylene is also recognized as polypropene and which is a thermoplastic polymer which is used in various industries that include packaging and labeling, reusable containers, textiles, stationery. The polymer which is made from monomer propylene are used for acids and chemical solvents.The global plastic packaging market primarily includes of packaging for food and beverages  which accounts nearly 70% packaging which is processed by polymers, remaining 30% polymer packaging covers of cosmetics, chemicals & fertilizers, and medical products.Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks have become popular due to their inertness towards moisture, chemical & exceptional resistance towards rotting & fungus attack as they are nontoxic which is also lighter in weight and is more advantages than conventional bags. Polypropylene Woven Bags and sacks laminated with LDPE/PP liner have wider applications.Global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market: SegmentationBased on the types, Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market can be segmented into:UncoatedLaminated (Coated)GussetBOPP bagsPerforatedLiner Woven Bags & SacksSmall BagsEZ Open BagValve BagBased on the end-user industries, Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market can be segmented into:PharmaceuticalsFertilizersChemicalsSugarPolymersAgroOthersBased on the end-user industries, Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market can be segmented into:SupermarketsHypermarketsConvenience StoresOthersGlobal Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of the geographical market segment, it is segmented into seven different regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific region, Japan and the Middle East and Africa.In Regional segments, the USA and Germany are the biggest markets for polypropylene woven bags & sacks industry. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to grow its position during the forecast period for polypropylene woven bags & sacks market mainly due to the developing economies like India and China as the spending by middle-class consumers is rising and rapid pace of urbanization. Moreover, the market growth is attributed to the lifestyle across the developing regions and rising per capita income are also the factors which are boosting Global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market. The Market for Global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks is also rising in emerging markets like South Africa, East European regions over the forecast period.Owing to polypropylene woven bags & sacks contribution in various commodities which are associated with day to day life of human it can be anticipated that market of polypropylene woven bags & sacks is expected to grow substantially over the forecast period.Global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market is expected to witness sustained growth over the forecast period. The growth of the Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market is driven as there is favorable growth in the packaging industry is a major factor which will boost the global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market. Increasing economies, the rising population, and the subsequent disposable income of people are the main drivers for augmented opportunities in developing countries.Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks are used for packaging of a range of products like fertilizers, sugar, cashew nuts, chemicals, maize, animal feeds, and numerous other products. Manufacturers of polypropylene woven bags & sacks on producing biodegradable bio-based polypropylene woven bags & sacks which can be easily recycled so that they do not pose risk to the environment.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4438 Global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market: Key PlayersSome of the players operating in the Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks Market includes Berry Plastics Inc., Da Nang Plastic Joint Stock Company, Shrijikrupa Polypack Pvt. Ltd., Abdos Polymers Ltd., Umasree Texplast, STPGroup, Hanoi Plastic Bag JSC.and Mondi plc and many other regional players. Manufacturers are investing in R&D and also focusing on different strategies to maintain their market share in the global Polypropylene Woven Bags & Sacks market.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:51:04

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

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.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4430 Paper packaging: Market DynamicsPaperboard 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 SegmentationDifferent 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.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 outlookPaper 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%.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4430 Paper packaging Market: Key playersSome 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.
Some of the key players in the global Next-Generation Titrators market are Mettler Toledo, Hanna Instruments, Xylem, Hatch, DKK-TOA, KEM, Metrohm, Thermo Scientific Orion, GR Scientific, Inesa Instrument, Jinan Hanon, Hiranuma Co., JM Science, Cannon Instrument Co., and others.

Next-Generation Titrators Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:45:18

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Titration is an analytical technique that is used to determine substance concentration within a solution. The Next-Generation Titrators can be classified into two types namely, potentiometric and Karl Fischer. The Karl Fisher Next-Generation Titrators are available in both forms coulometric as well as volumetric versions. These Next-Generation Titrators offer a number of automation options and have great accuracy. Increasing number of samples and the time needed for preparation of samples manually in the lab creates a need for automated titrators such as the Next-Generation Titrators. These devices are able to handle a numver of samples and can be left unattended during the process. The Next-Generation Titrators reduces the errors caused during manual titration protocols. The Next-Generation Titrators have a number of other parameters that can be controlled such as the volume of the sample, number of samples and type of titration additionally these instruments require less volume of reagents.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8439 Karl Fischer Titrators are gaining a lot of traction due to a number of applications in industries such as food, pharmaceutical, and semiconductors. A number of products in these industries influence product quality significantly. The Karl Fischer Titrators are used for measuring the amount of water in the sample, making it most suitable to use in most industries. The potentiometric type of Next-Generation Titrators is preferred when accuracy is especially important. And is commonly used for acid-base titrations.Next-Generation Titrators Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncrease in research in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry drive the growth of the Next-Generation Titrators market significantly. Growing automation in laboratory is another factor supporting the growth of the Next-Generation Titrators market. Ease of use of Next-Generation Titrators, as well as accurate results is supporting the growth of the Next-Generation Titrators market. Availability of low cost alternative methods such as manual titration and high cost of instrument may hinderer the growth of the market during the forecast period.Next-Generation Titrators Market: SegmentationThe global Next-Generation Titrators market is segmented by product type, end user and region:Based on product type, the global Next-Generation Titrators market is segmented into:Potentiometric Next-Generation TitratorsKarl Fischer Next-Generation TitratorsBased on end user, the global Next-Generation Titrators market is segmented into:Pharmaceutical CompaniesBiotechnology CompaniesAcademic & Research InstitutionsOthersNext-Generation Titrators Market: OverviewNext-Generation Titrators market is anticipated to grow with a significant growth rate over the forecast period 2018-2028. Next-Generation Titrators are used for research as well as for diagnosis. Next-Generation Titrators generally can be categories based on the type of RNA being tested, such as adenovirus testing kits, Herpes Virus I testing kits, Influenza A&B testing kits and others. Based on the end user, Next-Generation Titrators market is segmented into pharmaceutical and biotech companies, diagnostic centers and academic & research institutes.Next-Generation Titrators Market: Regional OutlookThe global Next-Generation Titrators market is segmented based on geography into eight regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China, and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to hold maximum market share in the global Next-Generation Titrators market owing to the increasing automation of labs in the region. The Asia Pacific Next-Generation Titrators market is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace with the maximum CAGR over the forecast period due to strong and evolving government support towards research in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in the region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8439 Next-Generation Titrators Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global Next-Generation Titrators market are Mettler Toledo, Hanna Instruments, Xylem, Hatch, DKK-TOA, KEM, Metrohm, Thermo Scientific Orion, GR Scientific, Inesa Instrument, Jinan Hanon, Hiranuma Co., JM Science, Cannon Instrument Co., and others.
Some of the key players found across the value chain of motion Stimulation therapy market are, Valencia, CA, USA, Cyberonics, Medtronic, Innovative Neurotronics, Inc. Boston Scientific Corporation; Bioness Inc. St. Jude Medical; Inc., and Nevro Corporation among others.

Motion Stimulation Therapy Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:39:30

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Motion stimulation therapy is a type of physical therapy performed when events as stroke or spinal cord injury occurs resulting in denervation of muscle leading to paralysis or weakness in muscle. Motion stimulation therapy helps in producing the voluntary forces required for joint moment that allows functional performance of daily task. Motion stimulation therapy are beneficial for muscle spasm, pain relief or to reduce inflammation cases. Motion stimulation therapy also helps the muscle in contracting so as to reduce muscle atrophy. Motion stimulation therapy are helpful in Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder which is common in the elder population. Deep brain simulation is a type of motion stimulation therapy used for treating Parkinsons disease.Deep brain stimulation is the most commonly performed surgical treatment for Parkinson's disease. Advanced motion stimulation therapy like functional stimulation and therapeutic electric stimulation therapies are also used widely for better results and fast recovery from muscular dysfunction. These therapy use devices which works by electrically stimulating and contracting muscles with the use of electric impulses.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8419 Motion Stimulation Therapy Market: Drivers and RestraintsRising incidence of Parkinsons disease is the primary factor driving the growth of motion stimulation market. The increasing case of road accidents and muscle injury is expected to drive the growth of motion stimulation therapy market. Motion stimulation therapy can also be used along with regular medication. This phenomenon is referred to as combination therapy and the fact that motion stimulation therapy can be used as add-on therapy is expected to drive market growth of motion stimulation therapy market. Technological advancement in stimulators devices is also positively impacting on growth of motion stimulation therapy market. Moreover, the lack of awareness among the people about the advance therapies for muscle spasm and motion related problems will also deter the growth of motion stimulation therapy market over the forecast period.Motion Stimulation Therapy Market: SegmentationThe global Motion Stimulation Therapy market is classified on the basis of product type, end user, and region.Based on therapy type motion stimulation therapy market is segmented into following:Functional neuromuscular stimulation therapyPeripheral stimulation therapyDeep brain stimulation therapyTherapeutic electrical stimulation therapyBased on end user motion stimulation therapy market is segmented into following:HospitalsSpecialty clinicsOthersMotion Stimulation Therapy Market: Market OverviewThe global Motion Stimulation Therapy market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period due to the rise in funding by government for the development of novel drugs. According to Parkinsons association of Carolinas, nearly 60,000 people in U.S are diagnosed with Parkinsons disease each year and nearly10 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with Parkinsons disease. By therapy type, the functional neuromuscular stimulation therapy segment is expected to gain maximum share in the global motion stimulation therapy market due to rising incidence of Parkinsons disease worldwide. Among end user segment, hospitals are expected to be most dominant segment due to rise in number of patients seeking motion stimulation therapy.Motion Stimulation Therapy Market: Regional OverviewOn the basis of geography, Motion Stimulation Therapy market is classified into eight key regions Such as North America, Latin America, Europe, APECJ, China, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to dominate the global Motion Stimulation Therapy market due to technological advancement and research and development for improving the quality of healthcare facilities. Followed by Europe due the rising geriatric population suffering from chronic pain and other indications. APEC and China is the fastest growing region for global Motion Stimulation Therapy market owing to increasing road accidents cases this region. Latin America and Middle East and Africa is the least lucrative region for motion stimulation therapy market due to lack of awareness among the people about the advance therapies.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8419 Motion Stimulation Therapy Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players found across the value chain of motion Stimulation therapy market are, Valencia, CA, USA, Cyberonics, Medtronic, Innovative Neurotronics, Inc. Boston Scientific Corporation; Bioness Inc. St. Jude Medical; Inc., and Nevro Corporation among others.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:08:45

Introduction of microwave integrated circuits majorly aimed at conducting government-sponsored activities pertaining to military applications. Technological advancements in semiconductor industry led to further introduction of microwave monolithic integrated circuits influencing and enabling an enhanced microwave circuit design for military systems. In addition to this, microwave monolithic integrated circuits have applications in commercial and consumer markets as well. These microwave monolithic integrated circuits enable an efficient satellite communication, airborne radar systems etc. to increase its application range in communications, homeland security scanners, imaging and sensors industries.The small size of microwave monolithic integrated circuits has enabled its mass production resulting into the proliferation of high frequency devices such as cellular phones. The increasing demand of these devices directly increases the demand of microwave monolithic integrated circuits as well.Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market: Drivers and RestraintsMicrowave monolithic integrated circuits provides higher reliability and enhanced reproducibility when compared with conventional integrated circuits. In addition to this, microwave monolithic integrated circuits enables multi-octave operation and these circuits are compact in size and light in weight. These enhanced features of microwave monolithic integrated circuits over conventional integrated circuits are the key drivers increasing the adoption of microwave monolithic integrated circuits. Furthermore, the increased applications of microwave monolithic integrated circuits, because of functioning over higher frequency range microwave range, also drives the growth of microwave monolithic integrated circuits. The increasing adoption is further complimented by the reduction in costs of microwave monolithic integrated circuits.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5102 The on-going research and technological developments will also increase the adoption of microwave monolithic integrated circuits globally.The processing complexity required in the manufacturing of microwave monolithic integrated circuits on a compact circuit is restraining its implementation for short and medium sized vendors with limited technological resources.Adoption of microwave monolithic integrated circuits functioning on SiGe BiCMOS technology is increasing rapidly with innovations in technology.Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market: Market SegmentationGlobal Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market can be divided into the following segments - based on technology type, IC type and applications.Segmentation on basis of Technology Type for Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market:GaAs technology  In this type the microwave monolithic integrated circuits are fabricated using gallium arsenide. Originally microwave monolithic integrated circuits were fabricated using this technology. Majority of vendors adopt GaAs technology in their microwave monolithic integrated circuitsSi Technology  In this type the, microwave monolithic integrated circuits are fabricated by using silicon. Microwaves monolithic integrated circuits functioning in silicon technology provides a faster functioning transistor. The fabrication cost of these are also less compared to that of GaAs. This has led to transition from GaAs type adoption to Si type adoption of microwave monolithic integrated circuitsSegmentation on basis of IC Type for Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market:The major segments of Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits market on basis of IC Type include:Small Integrated CircuitsMedium Integrated CircuitsLarge Integrated CircuitsSegmentation on basis of Application forMicrowave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market:The major segments of Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits market on basis of applications include:Consumer ElectronicsIT and telecommunicationsAutomationAerospaceDefenseOthersGlobal Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Market Technology Regional OverviewNorth America is the most dominant region in the global microwave monolithic integrated circuits market. The region comprises of the maximum number of major players vending microwave monolithic integrated circuits. North America is followed by APAC as APAC experiences an increasing number of emerging players in the market. China is expected to be the key country influencing the microwave monolithic integrated circuit market in APAC region.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5102 Global Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits Key PlayersSome of the major Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuits global players include NXP Semiconductors, Texaas Instruments, Fujitsu limited, Cree Incorporated, OSRAM opto semiconductors, Qorvo, Ya Guang microwave technologies, Avago Technologies1, Freescale, MACOM, RF integration.
global Microplate Luminometer market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA).

Microplate Luminometer Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:38:48

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Microplate luminometer are used to detect luminescence assay that are chemical and enzymatic reactions. These reactions uses a substrate and each time a substrate is acted upon, a luminescence is produced which can be detected and measured by microplate luminometer. Microplate luminometer are used for variety of quality check experiments, for example, microplate luminometers measure the amount of ATP in water sample which gives an estimate about the presence of microbes in the sample. Gene expression studies and protein-gene or protein-protein interactions are precisely studied with microplate luminometers. Differential gene expression in identified infectious disease or cancer hold a promising applications for microplate luminometers. Microplate luminometers are also used for quantitative verification and validation of biomolecules or chemical substances.Microplate Luminometer Market: Drivers and RestraintsMicroplate luminometers finds applications in various biochemical, pharmaceutical, environmental and biotechnological sectors which lure manufacturers in the microplate luminometer market. Increasing biotechnology and biochemical research along with increasing increased research and development expenditure by government and manufacturers is expected to propel the growth of microplate luminometer in the market. Advancing technology and developing biotechnological and pharmaceutical sector is estimated to further fuel the demand for modified and next-gen microplate luminometer in market.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8418 Microplate luminometer is anticipated to play a role in personalized medicine, genetics study and cancer research which will promote the drive of microplate luminometer market even more over the forecast period. Rising demand for other assay quantifier devices such as fluorescence microplate reader, microplate absorbance reader, etc. pose a threat for the growth of microplate luminometer market.Microplate Luminometer Market: SegmentationTentatively, the global microplate luminometer market has been segmented on the basis of treatment type, distribution channel, and geography.Based on component, the global microplate luminometer market is divided into following:MultimodeSingle modeBased on assay type, the global microplate luminometer market is divided into following:Glow Type LuminescenceFlash Type LuminescenceGlow and Flash Type LuminescenceBased on application, the global microplate luminometer market is divided into following:Drug DiscoveryChemical KineticsQuality Control and ToxicologyBioassay ValidationOthersBased on end users, the global microplate luminometer market is segmented as below:Research LaboratoriesAcademic Research InstitutionsBiotechnology and Biochemistry CompaniesFood and Beverage IndustriesMicroplate Luminometer Market: OverviewThe global market for microplate luminometer is expected to experience fast growth due to increasing demand and adoption of the device by end users. The global microplate luminometer market is segmented into single mode and multimode with respect to product type. Multimode microplate luminometer is expected to register maximum market share in the terms of revenue owing to the additional features incorporated and being suitable to a wide range of samples. On the basis of assay, the global microplate luminometer is segmented into glow type luminescence, flash type luminescence and glow and flash type luminescence, out of which glow and flash type luminescence microplate luminometer is estimated to grow with highest CAGR over the forecast years. As per application, the market is divided into drug discovery, chemical kinetics, quality control and toxicology, bioassay validation and others. According to end users, the global microplate luminometer market is categorized into research laboratories, academic research institutions, biotechnology & biochemistry companies and food and beverage industries. Amongst end users, biotechnology & biochemistry companies are expected to contribute highest revenue during the forecast time.Microplate Luminometer Market: Regional Wise OutlookGeographically, global Microplate Luminometer market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to be the leader in global microplate luminometer market owing to the presence of high demand from the end users. Western Europe microplate luminometer marker is expected to register second highest share owing to the increasing adoption of the device and greater expenditure for biological and pharmaceutical research and developmental. The microplate luminometer market in Asia Pacific excluding Japan is expected to expand at good CAGR due to increasing number of end users and presence of manufacturers. MEA microplate luminometer market is expected to register slow growth because of stagnant development in biochemical and therapeutic research.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8418 Microplate Luminometer Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global microplate luminometer market are Promega Corporation, Tecan Trading AG, Danaher Corporation, Berthold Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Luminex Corporation, STRATEC SE, SAFAS and MicroDigital Co., Ltd.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Metallised Polyester Films Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012 - 2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017 - 2027" report to their offering.

Metallised Polyester Films Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:56:12

The global market for metallised polyester films caters to packaging application in market segments such as food, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics etc. Metallised polyester films is a special grade of plastic film with coating of aluminum material. Metallised polyester films have superior gloss when metallised on optically clear base film. Metallised polyester films are one side coated layer whereas other side is either plain or corona treated.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4763 Global Metallised Polyester Films Market  Segmentation:The global market for metallised polyester films is segmented on the basis of thickness, application, and end use.On the basis of the thickness the global market for metallised polyester films is segmented as follows:Up to 15 microns15-30 microns30-60 microns60 microns and aboveOn the basis of the application the global market for metallised polyester films is segmented as follows:PouchesLidsCandy wrappersLabelsOthersOn the basis of the end-use the global market for metallised polyester films is segmented as follows:FoodPharmaceuticalElectricalIndustrialOthersGlobal Metallised Polyester Films Market  Dynamics:Metallised polyester films are in high demand in pharmaceutical and food & beverages sector due to cost effective packaging solution offered by metallised polyester films. However the wide known application also includes wrapping films, labeling films, peelable and non-peelable lidding films, etc. The global market for metallised polyester films is expected to show impressive CAGR during the forecast period 2017-2025.Shift in global packaging market from flexible packaging formats to flexible packaging formats is further expected to boost the global demand for metallised polyester films. In general, the use of metallised polyester films to achieve barrier properties needed for product shelf-life has been increasing over the years. Metallised polyester films offer sleek metallic appearance of a polyester film at reduced weight and cost. Metallised polyester films are used for their high tensile strength, transparency, reflectivity, gas and odor barrier properties and electrical insulation. Manufacturers supply metallised polyester films as per thickness and width specifications required by end customers. Metallised polyester films are applied to aluminum and offer a tough and resilient surface capable of performing many post forming operations. Metallised polyester films are available in large variety of finishes including silver, gold, pewter, and copper.Metallised film are abrasion and corrosion resistant. Metallised polyester films are free of hexavalent chrome, heavy metals, and substances of very high concern. Metallised polyester film is the finest solution when it comes to high gas barrier levels, aroma and flavor preservation. Metallised polyester films manufacturer offers a variety of adhesion promoting polyester films along with combination of plasma gases to get excellent metal adhesion and general gas barrier as well as a significant improvement of the water vapor barrier. Metallised polyester films market is growing in areas of patterned metallising, clear oxide coating, high performance coating, product security and brand authentication. However aluminium is not an acceptable image in some regions such as Germany etc. There is high opportunity of metallised polyester films in labeling with development of new glue applied film bases, and in sustainable films such as PLA (polylactic acid) etc. On February 2015, Cosmo Films launched the highly effective high barrier metallised BOPP film particularly for packed food.Global Metallised Polyester Films Market - Regional outlook:On the basis of geography metallised polyester films region is segmented into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa (MEA), Japan. Among these region, Europe expected to collectively dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Demand for metallised polyester films is increasing in Asia Pacific region.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4763 Global Metallised Polyester Films Market - Major Players:Some of the players operating in the global metallised polyester films market include Ester Industries Ltd., Jindal Polyfilms Ltd., Sumilon Polyester Ltd., SRF Limited, Polyplex, Cosmo Films Ltd., Polinas Corporate, Uflex Ltd., Toray Plastics (America) Inc., and Impak Films USA LLC.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 09:20:44

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc. ( TSX.V: DIA / FSE: M85) (''Margaret Lake'' or the ''Company'') is pleased to report the Company has applied for a Land Use Permit (''LUP'') at its Kiyuk Lake Gold Property (''Kiyuk Lake'' or the ''Property'') located in southern Nunavut. Currently, Kiyuk Lake has a Type B water license that is valid until June 2022. The Type B license allows the Company to access local water sources for camp and drilling use.Upon receipt of the LUP, the Company plans to construct an exploration camp in late March followed by up to 5,000 meters of diamond core drilling in Spring 2019. Ground magnetic surveys to further define high priority drill targets are also being planned. The drill program will focus on expanding high-grade Rusty zone along strike and to depth as well as testing the highest priority drill targets.About the Kiyuk Lake Gold PropertyThe Kiyuk Lake land package consists of 70 contiguous mineral claims encompassing over 59,000 hectares and offers year-round accessibility to a 35-person base camp. Significant past exploration, beginning with Newmont Mining in 2008 and most recently Cache Exploration in 2017, has resulted in over 13,000 meters of core drilling and delineation of four mineralized zones and five additional high priority target areas that have yet to be drill tested. Mineralization has been traced across a 13-kilometer strike length and remain open in all directions. The main focus of exploration to date has been on the high-grade Rusty zone. In 2017, drilling within the Rusty zone returned broad intercepts of gold mineralization including:8m of 26.48 g/t gold from 108m, including 2m of 92.76 g/t gold from 110m, in DDH KI17-00138m of 1.16 g/t gold from 58m, including 8m of 3.98 g/t gold from 68m, in DDH KI17-002122m of 1.82 g/t gold from 188m, including 15m of 3.34 g/t gold from 294m, in DDH KI17-004249m of 1.6 g/t gold from 8.2m in DDH KI13-004 (no cut-off)* Drill intercepts arenot true width. True widths are not known at this time. See Cache ExplorationInc. press releases dated October 12, 2017 and October 26, 2017 and ProsperityGoldfields press release dated April 9, 2013. While the Company believes thehistorical work was performed according to best practices and the explorationdata is reliable, a Qualified Person has not verified the results independently.Figure 1. Kiyuk Lake Project MapQualified PersonThe technical data in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Buddy Doyle, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under the provisions of National Instrument 43-101.About Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc.Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc. ( TSX.V: DIA) is a Canadian junior mining company focused on mineral exploration in Canada's most prolific mining districts. The Company is earning an 80% interest in the high-grade Kiyuk Lake Gold Property located in southern Nunavut and also holds interests in two diamond exploration properties in the Northwest Territories- the Margaret Lake project located adjacent to Mountain Province Diamond's Kennady North project and close proximity to Gahcho Kue, the newest Canadian diamond mine owned by De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds. The Company also has a 60/40 joint venture with Arctic Star Exploration Corp. ( TSX.V: ADD) to explore the Diagras property, which is comprised of 23 claims totaling 18,699 hectares located in the prolific Lac de Gras diamond field.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS''Jared Lazerson''President and Chief Executive OfficerPhone: 1.604.630.2810Web: www.margaretdiamonds.com Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. Actual results and future events could differ materially from anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressed qualified in their entirety by this notice.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:54:46

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

Lotion tubes are flexible squeezable containers which are capable of storing liquids with less viscosity. The surface of lotion tubes encompasses of several polymers layers and other materials. Lotion tubes give excellent barrier protection and increase the shelf life of the product. Due to this features, the lotion tubes are expected to experience a tremendous demand in volume from various industries such as food, personal care & cosmetics and pharmaceuticals over the forecast period. Due to the market penetration in several industries, the tubes manufacturers are focusing on enhancing the quality by creating the product more dependable, puncture resistant, flexible, moisture resistant, etc. which can help to increase the market for lotion tubes. Lotion tubes are available in the market with the size ranging from 5ml to 300ml. Lotion tubes are fitted with a wide variety of caps & closures which provide another good feature which contributes to increasing the demand for both the product. Due to all these features of lotion tubes the market is expected to grow by value and volume over the forecast period 2017-2027.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4478 Global Lotion Tubes - Market Dynamics:Lotion tubes are getting tremendous demand from various industries such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The global pharmaceuticals industry is growing continuously in recent years which has positively impacted the market for lotion tubes. In addition, these lotion tubes are mainly used for storing pharmaceuticals products such as pain relief cream, anti-fungal cream, oral cream, and other ointments. The cosmetic industry has also shown an augmentation for the market over the past few years due to the demand for products such as sunscreen lotion, face wash, skin lotions, etc. Moreover, another factor which is supporting the growth of lotion tubes market is the high barrier protection capability due to the usage of several polymer layers in the tubes. However, the market for lotion tubes is mainly facing the challenge from traditional packaging solutions such as pouches and bottles.Global Lotion Tubes - Market Segmentation:The global lotion tubes market can be segmented by the material type, by packaging type, and by number of layers.On the basis of material type, the global lotion tubes market is segmented into:PlasticPolyethylene (PE)Polypropylene (PP)Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)Polyamide (PA)Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)Ethyl Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH)AluminumOn the basis of applicators, the global lotion tubes market is segmented into:Pin-point applicatorsAirless pumpsRoll-on applicatorsSlant tip applicatorsBrush-tipOthers (sponge base applicators, etc.)On the basis of layers, the global lotion tubes market is segmented into:2 layers3 layers5 layers and aboveOn the basis of end use, the global lotion tubes market is segmented into:PharmaceuticalsPersonal Care & CosmeticsFoodHomecareOthers (Chemicals, etc.)Global Lotion Tubes  Regional Overview:The global lotion tubes market can be divided into seven major regions which are as follows:North AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia-Pacific excluding JapanJapanMiddle East & AfricaNorth America is expected to dominate the market for lotion tubes by volume due to high demand in the pharmaceutical industry in the region. Europe region is also expected to witness a strong growth for lotion tubes market over the forecast period. Asia-Pacific region is expected to show the highest growth for lotion tubes due to the expansion of pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industry in these regions. Furthermore, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa region are anticipated to witness relatively slow growth over the forecast period for lotion tubes market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4478 Global Lotion Tubes  Key players:Few of the key players in the lotion tubes market are Essel Propack Ltd, Montebello Packaging, Alltub SAS,Hoffman Neopac AG, East Hill Industries, Inc, Albea S.A., Jsn Industries Inc, Prisha Tubes Pvt Ltd, Proactive Plast Pvt. Ltd, Auber Packaging Co., Unette Corporation, Eastar Cosmetic Packaging, Ouxinmay Packaging Co., Ltd., Lixin Packaging Material Co., Ltd., Guanyu Plastic Tube Co., Ltd., etc.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:08:31

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

A snack is a portion of food that is generally consumed in casual occasions or in between meals. Snacks are smaller than regular meals and are available in variety of forms such as processed foods and packed snacks food, as well as snacks made from fresh ingredients at home. Kid snacks is a small category which cover the snacks consumed by the children. Processed snack foods which are available in the market is a type of convenience food, that are designed or prepared to be more durable, less perishable, and more portable than food that are prepared at home. Snacks often contain substantial amount of preservative, salt and sweeteners. Beverages, such as cold drinks, juices or dairy products are not generally considered as snacks though it may be consumed in lieu of snack foods. Kids generally love to have salty snacks such as potato chips or corn chips. A study done in 2010 showed that children in the U.S. snacked on average six times per day, which is approximately double as often as American children in the 1970s.This shows the increase in consumption of roughly 570 calories per day than the U.S. children consumed in the 1970s.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4357 Market Segmentation:Kid snacks marketis segmented on the basis of source, type, distribution channel and region. On the basis of source the kid snacks market is segmented into organic snacks and conventional snacks. On the basis of type the kid snacks market is segmented into salty, refrigerated or frozen, confectionary, bakery, vegetable and fruit snacks and nut based snacks.The bakery segment is most popular segment in kid snacks market as bakery segment includes delicious cakes, biscuits and chips.On the basis of distribution channel the market is segmented into supermarket/hypermarket, online stores, specialty stores, grocery stores, and convenience store.Grocery store and convenience store is expected to hold relatively higher revenue share in the kid snacks market, which is followed by the supermarket/hypermarketsegment.Market Regional Outlook:Regional segment for the market of kid snacks is segmented into five different regions: North America, Latin America, APAC, Europe and MEA. Among these region Asia Pacific is expected to have the major market share globally. Moreover, North America has also emerged as a prominent market for kid snacks, as the popularity of organic snacks is increasing to significant level in this region.Market Drivers:Parents these days are more concerned about their childrens health and are willing to buy healthy and nutritious snack products. Companies have become more competitive in terms of launching healthy snacks. Moreover, manufacturers also offers toys inside the snack in order to attract the kids. All these factors are fuelling the growth of kid snacks market globally.International evidence clearly shows that snack promotion influences the consumption of processed snack foodsby the kids. Various kid snack manufacturers are aggressively advertising to promote their products, which is higher traction and in turn bolsters the kid snacks demand all over the world.Moreover , in order to generate more sales, manufacturers across the globe are focusing on expanding product portfolio and production capacity which in turn will drive the market of kid snack in the forecast period. Manufacturers are now targeting both online and offline retailers with the objective to expand its distribution networks, thereby making products easily available to consumers. Through online sales, manufacturers are also providing various offers and coupons to attract more consumers, which could aid sustainable growth of the kid snacks market in the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4357 Market Key Players:Some of the key players in kid snacks market includes Procter&Gamble, PepsiCo, Inc., The Kraft Heinz Company, Conagra Brands Inc., Calbee, Inc., General Mills, Inc., Intersnack, Lorenz Snack-World, and Mondelez International, Inc. among others.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:35:13

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In vitro diagnostics tests are used in laboratories, healthcare settings or directly by consumers at home for the detection of various diseases, infections and other medical conditions. Various companies in the IVD antibodies market are focusing on mergers and acquisitions with regional players. For example, in Sep. 2018, Summa Equity AB acquired Turku-based HyTest Ltd. whose regional presence in the U.S. and Asia is good. Continuously evolving nature of IVD antibodies market further expected to get maximum traction. Superior capability of the IVD antibodies to detect complex diseases such as cancer and use of IVD antibodies in therapeutic monitoring, evaluating blood safety before transfusion further makes it preferred choice of diagnosis test.IVD Antibodies Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing incidence of chronic diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, etc. expected to drive the growth of IVD antibodies market. Incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases is increasing rapidly and hence aging population of world further expected to drive the growth of IVD antibodies market. The ease of use of IVD antibodies for the diagnosis at laboratories, hospitals or even at home further increases patient compliance and makes IVD antibodies preferred choice. The IVD antibodies market is further driven by increasing research and development funding which in turn improving the outcome of diagnostic tests as well as manufacturing of high end quality IVD antibodies for assays. Manufacturers in the IVD antibodies market are focusing on mergers, acquisitions, collaborations and agreements such as Sebia Inc. one of the major IVD manufacturing company signed an agreement with Janssen Biotech to develop multiple myeloma IVD test. Whereas, low product penetration and higher cost of the IVD antibodies may hamper the potential growth of the market. Although manufacturers are focusing on developing novel IVD antibodies for diagnosis of different diseases but time consuming nature of research and development and tedious product approval process may hamper the growth of market.Request Sample Report @ www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8565 IVD Antibodies Market: SegmentationThe global IVD antibodies market is segmented based on the product type, application, end user and regionBy product type IVD antibodies market is segmented as:Cardiac MarkersTumor MarkersKidney Injury MarkersInfection and Inflammation AntibodiesBy application, IVD antibodies market is segmented as:ImmunologyCancerCardiovascular DiseasesBy end user IVD antibodies market is segmented as:HospitalsDiagnostic LaboratoriesHomecare settingsOthersIVD Antibodies Market: OverviewThe global IVD antibodies market is majorly driven by the increasing chronic disease incidence as well as increasing product penetration in the low and middle income countries. By product type, IVD antibodies market is expected to be dominated by the tumor markers due to high adoption for the diagnosis of malignancies. By the application, the IVD antibodies market is dominated by the cancer due to high number of diagnostic procedures. By end user, IVD antibodies market is dominated by the diagnostic laboratories due to high patient footfall for the disease diagnosis. The increasing R & D expenditure by leading biopharmaceutical companies for the development and evaluation of IVD antibodies for different diagnosis of various diseases expected to impact the market significantly.IVD Antibodies Market: Regional OutlookThe global IVD antibodies market is dominated by North America due to higher product penetration. Europe is expected to be the second most lucrative IVD antibodies market due to higher number of diagnostic procedure and favorable reimbursement scenario. Latin America is expected to experience steady market growth due to increasing IVD antibodies adoption for the diagnostic procedures. Asia-Pacific is emerging market in IVD antibodies due to rapidly increasing product penetration, and emerging countries such India and China where healthcare infrastructure evolving rapidly. Middle East and Africa is expected to be least revenue generating IVD antibodies market due to low product penetration as well as limited availability of good healthcare infrastructure in most of the MEA region.Request to View TOC @ www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8565 IVD Antibodies Market: Key PlayersThe key market participants operating in the IVD antibodies market are: Abcam plc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockland Immunochemicals Inc., GenScript, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., SDIX, LLC., Advy Chemical Pvt. Ltd., MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES CO., LTD., HyTest Ltd., Abbott and Others
Industrial paper sacks market revenue to expand at 4.9% CAGR over 2018-2028. Sales of industrial paper sacks to benefit from the rising sustainability quotient.

Industrial Paper Sacks Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 05:37:06

Environmentally sustainable industrial paper sacks are predicted to remain the most preferred, comprehensive, and state-of-the-art packaging solution for powered materials, as per a recent report by Future Market Insights (FMI), a multinational market intelligence firm. The global sales of industrial paper sacks is expected to generate approximately US$ 5.5 Billion, in 2019. Demand analysis indicates a moderate year-on-year growth rate of nearly 4.3 percent, during the same period. Superior functionality, sustainability and cost efficiency associated with industrial paper sacks, makes it a preferred packaging choice for numerous powdered goods such as flour, cement, and animal feed among others, thereby, increasing the sales revenue of industrial paper sacks.Sustainability to Remain a Key Demand DriverIndustrial paper sacks demand is projected to remain promising considering improvement in four key areas, including reduction in electricity consumption, reduction in greenhouse emission, lesser fossil fuel consumption, and continuous improvements in carbon footprint. Packaging manufacturers are increasingly offering safe and effective solutions by incorporating highly sustainable materials in packaging. In addition, manufacturers are optimizing the raw materials and enhancing sack construction to further improve the products sustainability credentials. Stringent government regulations banning plastic sacks will remain a critical factor pushing the demand for industrial paper sacks, in the global market.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8176 Hybrid Industrial Paper Sacks Manufacturing to Open OpportunitiesSince conventional industrial paper sacks tends to be rain and moisture sensitive, it weakens the packaging, thereby, affecting the shelf-life of the product. Manufacturers are increasingly using High-density polyethylene (HDPE) for a protective outer coating of the industrial paper sacksresulting in hybrid paper-plastic sacks. Apart from offering an impressive outdoor performance and easy recyclability, the newly developed hybrid industrials sacks is projected to remain the most preferred packaging solution for construction materials such as cement and gypsum as well as other moisture-sensitive materials. The bag is even suitable for filling up content at temperatures of 90C. Hybrid variants are also likely to streamline supply chain management.Weight-carrying limitations and weather-sensitivity of industrial paper sacks are some pain points being addressed by manufacturers. Billerudkorsnas, a key manufacturer of industrial paper sacks, has added waterproof industrial paper sacks to its product portfolio, thereby eliminating product waste and ensuring fast and higher filling speed, Senior Analyst, Future Market Insights.Industrial Paper Sacks Sales Concentrated in Emerging MarketsDeveloping markets of Asia Pacific (more than 1/4th of the total market share) are expected to exhibit substantial demand for industrial paper sacks, given the expanding urban landscape and building & construction industry. As per FMI analysis, China is predicted to remain in the fore, with a notable growth in production and consumption of industrial paper sacks, over the past decade. India, on the other hand, will remain a key revenue contributor, given the recent economic boom in the region. In addition, high investments in the building & construction and agriculture industries are expected to create ample opportunities for manufacturers of industrial paper sacks, in the emerging markets.Manufacturers Focus on Product Portfolio Expansion to Sustained Market PresenceIn a highly fragmented landscape, tier-3 manufacturers of industrial paper sacks are projected to contribute approximately 70-80 percent revenue to the global market. However, tier-1 manufactures may prove dominance over the global industrial paper sacks market, in terms of their bargaining power, given their application-specific product offerings. On the other hand, given the high competitiveness amongst manufacturers, threat of substitutes in the form of flexible intermediate bulk containers and heavy duty bags, with superior high capacity and strength, remains exceptionally high. The global industrial paper sacks market is most likely to offer opportunities to new entrants, considering expanding application across a host of end-use sectors.Manufacturers are focused on expanding their portfolios to cater to the growing demand from end users. In addition, there seems to be a key focus on design, to enable optimum consumer convenience, such as the temperature-controlled packaging. Industrial paper sacks manufacturers are also ramping up their production lines, designed to be compatible with sack filler machines, Senior Analyst, FMI.Need more information about Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-8176 Key Insights from Segmental Analysis:In terms of grade, unbleached industrial paper sacks is expected to maintain its dominance in terms of both, value and volume during the forecast period, with more than 70 percent market share.Expanding at the most steady CAGR, less than 2-ply segment by thickness will remain the most preferred variant, versus 2 ply, 3 ply, and more than 3 ply categories. The less than 2 ply segment is expected to witness a peak y-o-y growth rate of 5.6 percent, during 2023-2025Pinched bottom open mouth industrial paper sacks will witness maximum adoption given its applicability in packaging expensive or sensitive products.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 10:55:09

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CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comTeam Lead8009610353

Refrigerated vehicles are used for transportation of vulnerable food, pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The increasing population and consumer spending on food products has surged their production globally. Among food products, dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables require cold storage and transportation for their sustainability. The increasing global warming has been emerging as a matter of great concern for the food producers globally which is reducing the shelf life of these products in non-refrigerated conditions. Most of the pharmaceutical and healthcare products need protection from heat and light to maintain their chemical and biological formulation. All these concerns have been driving the refrigerated vehicles market globally and are expected to increase in terms of growth rate during 2014-2020.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3595 Refrigerated vehicles include a large types of vehicles used in several transportation requirements based on loading requirement. Some of their types include refrigerated vans, refrigerated trucks, refrigerated trailers, refrigerated railcars, refrigerated ships, refrigerated transport by air, refrigerated containers, atmosphere controlled containers, intermodal refrigerated containers, insulated containers, integral reefer containers and multimodal temperature containers. The increasing consumer awareness about fresh products is one of the important factors which have been escalating the demand for refrigerated vehicles globally.The developing and underdeveloped countries have an underdeveloped cold-supply chain infrastructure which leads to destruction of a large quantity of food products every year. This also increases warehousing charges of the food manufacturers and the distributors as they have to maintain local distribution points in the area of demand. The growing population and increasing per capita income in these countries is boosting the demand for food products which is further creating demands for the refrigerated vehicles in these countries. The dairy product consumption in Asia Pacific countries have also been increasing to a great extent in recent times. The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries have also been growing at a rapid pace in these developing countries which is creating demand for the refrigerated vehicles in this domain as well. The shortage of skilled labor and unstable fuel prices are the key hurdles for the refrigerated vehicles market. The companies operating in the refrigerated vehicles market are improving the fuel efficiency and noise reduction of these vehicles.There have been several technology development and introduction in the recent times by the refrigerated vehicle manufacturers. They include CorroGuard and ThermGuard by Great Dane, Strip door solution for refrigerated trucks by R.O.M, GRIPTM by RTE, LED based indicator by Carrier, economical cold plates by Johnson, reefer monitoring system by PAR, reefer-trak sentry solutions by Star-Trak, Secureseal system by OEM Group, new alternator by Robert Bosch and Fleetview by Terion.Request TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/3595 Among regions, North America dominated global sales of refrigerated vehicles market, followed by Europe. There are a large number of market players in the refrigerated vehicles market which are operating in a particular country or globally through their subsidiaries. The global refrigerated vehicles market is fragmented however; it is increasingly advancing towards consolidation with a number of companies engaged in merger and acquisition activities.The key market players include Great Dane Trailers, Ingersol Rand Company Limited, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited, Schmitz Cargobull, R.O.M., Thermo King, Carrier Transicold, Johnson, PAR, Star-Trak, GE, OEM Group, Robert Bosch, Terion, Northgate Plc and Fraikin Limited
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:41:29

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Research Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comCEO6317214201http://www.. researchreportinsights.com

Facial injectable aid in rejuvenating facial skin by reducing or eliminating wrinkles, raising scar depressions, and enhancing lips. Facial injectable are products that include collagen fillers, hyaluronic acid fillers, and synthetic fillers such as calcium hydroxyl apatite. The use of injectable products such as hyaluronic acid increases skin hydration, improves skin, and protects from UV damage and has relatively low side effects.Facial injectable, also called dermal fillers, are generally the products that aid in facial transformation. In general, the facial injectable products are widely used to extravagance the early signs of age and wrinkles thereby increasing the visual appearance and the beauty. In addition, changing insight of beauty is demanding the increased use of dermal fillers and other facial injectable all over the world.The global market for facial injectable is expected to reach USD 9.04 billion by the end of the forecasted period and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.2%The global facial injectable market is driven by increasing demand to look young and beautiful. The target age group for the facile injectable products are primarily women age between 35 to 60 years. Nonetheless, both women and men are using facial injectable products to achieve and maintain the young look.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124779/Facial-Injectable-Market The regions covered in the report are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (ROW). The Americas is set to be the leading region for the facial injectable market growth followed by Europe. Asia Pacific and ROW are set to be the emerging regions. Brazil is set to be the most attractive destination, and in Latin America, the popularity and the usage of facial injectable are expected to increase in the coming years.The report is segmented in various types such as based on product type, applications, end users and region. There are two types of facial Injectable which are majorly used in the facial Injectable market. Two types of facial Injectable are dermal fillers and botulinum toxin. Dermal fillers are injected with small gauge injectors into deep dermal area to fill the space and also to induce the body production of collagen. Dermal fillers may be of Hyaluronic acid based, Calcium Hydroxyapatite based, Poly-Lactic acid based, collagen based or Polymethylmethacrylate-based (non-absorbable). Botulinum toxin is a single chain of about 150KD and then is cleaved to form a dichain molecule with a disulphide bridge. Some of the key commercially available botulinum toxin brands include Dysport, Xeomin, Meditoxin, Botulax and Nabota. There are various applications of facial Injectable including aesthetic restoration, dentistry and reconstructive surgery.Request For Report TOC: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/TOC/120124779/Facial-Injectable-Market Some of the prominent key players in the market includes Allergan plc, Galderma S.A., Merz Pharma Gmbh & Co. KGaA, Merck & Co. Inc., Ipsen S.A., and other predominate & niche players. Nestle skin health, Sinclair pharma, zimmer Biomet, Allergan, Anika therapeutics Inc., Merz Pharma, Ipsen, Teoxane laboratories, Prollelium Medical Technologies Inc., Suneva Medical Inc. and others.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124779/Facial-Injectable-Market
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:06:32

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Contact UsFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO3479183531

Chocolate powdered drinks can be mixed with water or milk to prepare instant chocolate drinks. Water based chocolate powdered drinks are generally cold beverages which include soft drinks or energy drinks. Whereas milk based chocolate based drinks include chocolate drinks, protein shakes, cappuccino mixes. Chocolate powdered drinks can be served cold or hot form depends on consumer needs and wants. Chocolate powdered drinks are beneficial for health with good taste and flavor which attracts all age of consumers, especially kids, teenagers and youngsters consume it in large scale. Vigorous aspects of chocolate powdered drinks are low-cost production and have various health beneficial features to the end user. The potential growth of chocolate powdered drinks has a niche market as compared from tea and coffee globally. Chocolate powdered drinks are mainly consumed at breakfast. Due to hot and humid climatic region of the world, the cocoa market is facing a significant challenge for the overall market growth.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4202 Chocolate Powdered Drinks Market: SegmentationChocolate powdered drinks market is segmented on the basis of types, end users and distribution channel. On the basis of product type chocolate powdered drinks are segmented in dark chocolate powdered drink, milk chocolate powdered drinks, white chocolate powdered drinks. On the basis of end users chocolate powdered drinks is segmented in energy drinks, milk beverages, cappuccino mixes, protein shakes and chocolate drinks which can be served hot as well as cold and it also enhances the taste of the drinks, which attracts a large number of consumers. On the basis of distribution channel, the chocolate powdered drinks are segmented into supermarket/ hypermarket, convenience stores, Speciality stores, online and grocery stores. Among the distribution channel segment, hyper/supermarket segment contributes larger market share in terms of revenue. Increasing online purchasing of food and beverage is expected to drive market growth of online segment.Chocolate Powdered Drinks: Region wise outlookDepending on geographic regions, chocolate powdered drinks market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Africa, particularly West African countries (Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon) produce 70% of the worlds cocoa, according to the World Cocoa foundation are the major producer of cocoa seeds. Brazil is the largest market for chocolate powdered drinks. The countries which are global leaders in cocoa products are Ghana, Belgium, The United Kingdom and Switzerland. The markets of the Middle East, North America as well as Asia-Pacific is rising in both consumption and production of cocoa products and growth is mainly expected from emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.Chocolate Powdered Drinks: DriversThe growing impact of western culture, increasing disposable incomes of consumers, rising population are the major factors to fuel the growth of global chocolate powdered drinks in Asia-Pacific region. Innovation in the field of chocolate powdered drinks with health benefits such as fortification with DHA, dry fruits, natural herbs , natural flavours, is driving the demand chocolate powdered drinks in Europe and North America. Organic chocolate powdered drinks remain rare and niche which may offer an opportunity for the entrants of several organic brands.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4202 Chocolate Powdered Drinks: Key playersSome of the key participating players in chocolate powdered drinks globally are Mondelez, Nestle S.A., Gatorade, Mars Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, PepsiCo Inc., Kanegrade Ltd, and others.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 08:35:30

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Research Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comCEO6317214201http://www.. researchreportinsights.com

Connected or smart street light is the intelligent street lightning system that adjusts automatically based on the real time traffic conditions and change according to realistic condition. The conventional street light is one of the major source of electricity consumption owing to the continuous operation of lighting during the night time, thus in order to reduce the unnecessary electricity consumption, the existing conventional system has to be adapted to intelligent lighting system. This smart street lights consists of IR sensor, PIR sensor, low cost embedded controller and memory devices.Countries such as India and China in the Asia Pacific region, along with African countries are heavily investing in solar streetlights. European countries such as U.K and Germany are also implementing the solar-powered lighting which is economical considering their low-power dependency which makes them suitable even for adverse climatic conditions.The global smart/connected street lights market is expected to reach approximately USD XX million by 2025 growing at a XX% CAGR over the forecast period 2017-2025The global connected street lights market can be segmented on the basis of its connectivity and components. Based on the connectivity, the market is segregated into wired and wireless.The wired segment is further sub-divided into power line communication and others. In terms of component, the connected street lights market is categorized into hardware, services, and software. In which, hardware segment is sub-divided into controllers/relays and sensors.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124775/Connected-(Smart)-Street-Lights-Market Technological developments has undoubtedly boosted the demand for connected (smart) street lights market on the international level in last few years. It has enhanced the capacity of street lights, which is more efficient than the regular street lights. The never-ending demand for sustainable lighting solutions has led to significant growth for connected (smart) street lights across nations in both developed and developing regions. In addition, the development of smart cities across nations around the world has forced the government and companies to look forward to smart lighting solutions. As these smart lighting technologies helps in reducing carbon emissions, available at lower cost, and help increase overall efficiency.Depending on the networking technology, the market is sub-segmented into narrowband, medium-band, and broadband technology. The narrow-band technology is further categorized into Sigfox, LoRa, RPMA, and others. The medium band includes PLC, RF mesh, and others, whereas the broadband technology consists of 3G/4G cellular, Wi-Fi, and others.Request For Report TOC: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/TOC/120124775/Connected-(Smart)-Street-Lights-Market Some of the few players in the market are Silver Springs Network Inc., Acuity Brands Lighting Inc., EnGo PLANET, Twilight Citelum S.A., OSRAM Licht Group, Flashnet SRL, Dimonoff Inc., General Electric Co., Philips Lighting N.V., Schreder Group, Echelon Corporation, Toshiba Lighting, Led Roadway Lighting Ltd, and Telensa Ltd.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124775/Connected-%28Smart%29-Street-Lights-Market
The Database Market Report includes a comprehensive analysis of the present market. The report starts with the basic Database Market overview and then goes into each and every detail.

Database Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 19:43:46

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10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064Sales Manager+1-8886316977

The Database Market research report has been curated with meticulous efforts commenced to study the right and valuable information. A database is an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. Where databases are more complex they are often developed using formal design and modeling techniques. Data integration and competences are scrutinized to support the findings and to study the anticipated geographical segmentations. The database management system (DBMS) is the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze the data.The global Database market grow at a CAGR of +24% during the forecast period 2019  2025.It provides in-depth predictions of revenue of the market as a whole as well as each and every application section. The competitive landscape is plotted, reliant on the product and technology. This study also offers a summary of pricing trends and subsidiary factors that will be manipulating the pricing in the global Database Market. The market study, assessment, and market sizing have been done applying a combination of both, top-down and bottom-up methods.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Top Key Vendors in Market:Microsoft,Google, Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, MongoLab, EnterpriseDB, Redis Labs, SAP, Caspio, Oracle, IBM, ClustrixThe term Database Market is also used to loosely refer to any of the DBMS, the database system or an application associated with the database. It provides in-depth predictions of revenue of the market as a whole as well as each and every application section. The competitive landscape is plotted, reliant on the product and technology. The DBMS provides various functions that allow entry, storage and retrieval of large quantities of information and provides ways to manage how that information is organized. Database servers are dedicated computers that hold the actual databases and run only the DBMS and related software.Database Market segment by Regions/Countries:North AmericaEuropeChinaRest of Asia PacificCentral & South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaAsk for discount@The study objectives of Database Market report are: To study and forecast the market size of Database in global market. To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players. To define, describe and forecast the Database Market by type, end use and region. To analyze and compare the market status and forecast among global major regions. To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.For more Information@About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Where counting on a legitimate board company for your selections will become critical. Research N Reports specializes in enterprise evaluation, marketplace forecasts and as a result getting great reports overlaying all verticals, whether be it gaining angle on modern market situations or being in advance inside the cut throat Global opposition.
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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531

Facial implants are a type of medical device used to correct the facial structure or to provide more defined facial features including cheeks or chin & jawline. Facial Implants products are used for cosmetic reasons & are also used in medical crises such as accidents and injuries. Facial implants are also designed for augmentative or reconstructive surgeries. Facial implants give long lasting and permanent results that are a key factor for the rise in cosmetic facial implant procedures. Facial implants come in various shape, size, and material. This type of facial implant is determined on the persons anatomy. Synthetic materials and biomaterials are used in the preparation of facial implants and are available in a variety of size and shapes. Facial implants come in anatomical, oval and round shapes that are used in chin augmentation, maxilla, and mandibular surgeries.Facial Implants Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing virtual representation on social media is expected to propel the growth of the facial implants market throughout the forecast period. The growing concern regarding personal appearance among the general population in both developed and developing economies is estimated to increase the number of cosmetic surgeries this factor is expected to fuel the growth of facial implant market. Product launches in the facial implant market are specifically governed by specific regulations, whose approval is necessary for the launch of new products in the market. For instance, Oxford Performance Materials, Inc. received FDA approval for its 3D printed facial implant in 2015 that brings in a new opportunity for facial implants market players. Growing awareness regarding facial implant surgery and high adoption of facial aesthetic surgery among celebrities are expected to propel the growth of facial implant market. However, the surgical complications, like chances of success rate and excessive bleeding after facial implant procedures hampers the facial implant market.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8923 Facial Implants Market: SegmentationGlobal Facial Implants Market can be segmented on the basis of material type, Shape type, end user and geographyBased on the material type, Facial Implants Market is segmented as:Silicone facial implantsePTFF facial implantsrigid polyethylene facial implantsBased on Shape, Facial Implants Market is segmented as:Anatomical facial implantsOval facial implantsRound facial implantsBased on applications type, Facial Implants Market is segmented as:Chin augmentationCheek bone surgeryParnasal proceduresForehead surgeryBased on the end user, Facial Implants Market is segmented as:HospitalTrauma CenterAmbulatory surgical centersSpecialty ClinicsFacial Implants Market: OverviewBy material type, the silicone facial implant material is expected to hold large revenue share in facial implants market due to the higher adoption rate of silicone implants among the end users. Based on the application type, the chin augmentation is expected to be the dominating application type. According to a report of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 20,680 chin augmentation surgeries were performed in recent years in the U.S. among the end users the hospital segment is expected to be fastest growing segment in the facial implants market during the forecast period.Facial Implants Market: Regional OutlookFacial implants are widely used as they improve the patients self-confidence in their overall appearance, thus baby bloomer in North America go for the facial implant. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, there was 18.4% rise in the number of cosmetic procedures in the United States in 2017. North America is expected to be the most lucrative facial implant market. Latin America is expected to account for the second largest share in terms of revenue due to the availability of skilled medical professional in the region. Latin America is expected to witness high growth in facial implant market followed by Asia Pacific region due to increasing medical tourism in many countries like Brazil, Peru. MEA facial implants market is expected to witness steady growth over other regions because of less healthcare expenditure.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8922 Facial Implants Market: Key PlayersSome of the global key participants operating in Facial Implants Market are: Implatech Associates Inc., Medical, KLS Martin Group, Medartis AG, Stryker, DePuy Synthes, Sientra Inc., Zimmer Biomet, Johnson & Johnson, TMJ Concepts and Osteotec Ltd. among others.
The distance health technologies are driven by the prompt availability of the internet and integration of the smartphone technologies in the daily lives of the users. It has been reported that approximately three fourth of the American population have broadband service and 80% Americans own and use smartphones.

Distance Health Technologies Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:31:28

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

The hi-tech technologies has witness plethora of advances in medical science and the emergence of distance health technologies is been one of the greatest accomplishments by medical science coupled with worldwide networking technologies. Distance health technologies market or telehealth allows the expansion of reach of medical professionals to patients far across the globe, removing the geographical barriers. According to American Hospital Associations report, 65% of hospitals connect to their patients using distance health technologies to provide right care at the right time in the U.S. Moreover, about 90% of healthcare executive have reported to adopt the distance health technologies in 2018 which is an increase by 19 folds compared to 2013.The total patient distance health technologies user account for about 7 million Americans. The primary platform for distance health technologies is internet and connectivity technologies. Exponential increasing utilization of internet for communication through widespread presence of smartphones, personal computers and internet service are the main contributors to the development of distance health technologies. Distance health technologies plays a vital for the disabled, physically challenged and infectious patients to connect with the healthcare provider.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8413 Distance Health Technologies Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe distance health technologies are driven by the prompt availability of the internet and integration of the smartphone technologies in the daily lives of the users. It has been reported that approximately three fourth of the American population have broadband service and 80% Americans own and use smartphones. The distance health technologies are increasingly finding applications for physically challenged and potentially infection carriers as more of them are adopting the technology for right medical care. Additionally, the distance health technologies market is predicted to boost owing the continuous access, easy communication from home and good quality care available on fingertips for the patients and healthcare providers. The reduced healthcare cost by telehealth is anticipated to drive the distance health technologies market as well. The distance health technologies allow medical consultation at a cheaper cost that the actual visit and also saves the travelling expenditure. Time saving is another benefit of using distance health technologies. However, the consultation through distance health technologies can be considered clinically inappropriate causing a restraint for the market. Tricky policies and reimbursement rules create an obstacle in the expansion of global distance health technologies market. Potential viruses and cyber threats pose a risk for privacy and security, restricting the expansion of distance health technologies market to an extent.Distance Health Technologies Market: SegmentationTentatively, the global distance health technologies market has been segmented on the basis of deployment mode, end user, and geography.Based on deployment mode, global distance health technologies market is divided into following:Web-BasedOn-PremisesOff-PremisesHybrid CloudBased on end users, global distance health technologies market is divided into following:HospitalsClinicsClinical Management SystemsOthersDistance Health Technologies Market: OverviewThe global market for distance health technologies is expected to experience exponential growth due to improving communication technology and increasing adoption by end users. Among end users, hybrid cloud approach is expected to grow with highest CAGR in the distance health technologies market over the forecast period owing to the added benefits of security, privacy and cost-effectiveness. Hospital segment in end users is expected to generate maximum revenue due to increasing adoption of the distance health technologies during the forecast years. Due to improving networking technologies and increasing adoption by end users, distance health technologies are estimated to be fastest growing market from 2018 to 2028.Distance Health Technologies Market: Regional Wise OutlookGeographically, global distance health technologies market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to be the leader in global distance health technologies market due to better availability of resources and presence of advance networking technology. The Asia Pacific excluding Japan distance health technologies market is expected to expand at moderate CAGR due to slow adoption of the technology. Europe is expected to take second largest share in the global distance health technologies market throughout the forecast period owing to increasing utilization of internet services for healthcare reasons. MEA distance health technologies market is expected to witness below average growth due to lack of technological reach.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8413 Distance Health Technologies Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global distance health technologies market are Cisco Systems, Accenture, PwC, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (TytoCare Ltd.), Koninklijke Philips N.V., Medtronic plc, InTouch Health, Care Innovations, GlobalMedia Group, LLC and Aerotel Ltd among others.
Dill Oil Market

Dill Oil Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:25:22

Dill oil refers to the essential oil produced from the distillation of seeds or leaves/stems (dillweed) of the Dill plant. The basic components of dill oil includes Limonene, D-Carvone, Eugenol, Dillapiol, Terpinene and Myristicin. Dill oil is known to have high significance owing to its antioxidant, antifungal, to antibacterial properties. It is widely used in treating digestive problems such as constipation, loss of appetite, and indigestion. The soothing effect of dill oil helps in reducing nervousness and relieving anxiety and depression. Dill oil is also used to heal wounds and protect them from infections. Owing to the disinfectant properties of dill oil, it is largely been added in the food items to prevent them from getting spoiled by microbes. Dill oil also brings sweating, thus creates a feeling of lightness. This helps in removal of excess water, salt and toxic substances from the body, lowers down the blood pressure, reduce swelling and protects the skins overall health.Global Dill Oil Market: Market Segmentation: The global dill oil market can be segmented on the basis of application, type, and region. On the basis of application, dill oil market can be segmented into food & beverages, medical, personal care, spa and others. Food and beverage application segment is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period owing to the increasing demand of nutritional food. Personal care segment is expected to witness fastest growth as a result of the rising demand for flavors and fragrances in the personal care products. Based upon type, dill oil market can be segmented into dill seed oil and dill weed oil. Dill seed oil is obtained through the steam distillation of the mature seeds of dill plant while dill weed oil is obtained through the steam distillation of the fresh herbs.Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2398 Geographically, the global dill oil market can be segmented into major regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Globally, among all regions, North America is expected to be the largest market for dill oil. Factors such as on the move life style, increasing disposable income, high living standards, governmental subsidies and tax benefits are expected to expand the growth of dill oil market over the forecast period. Asia Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing market owing to the increased demand of dill oil in the food & beverages and personal care industry.Dill oil Market is anticipated to witness rapid growth during the reviewed period. High growth of dill oil market can be attributed to the increase in demand for essential oils in various applications such as food & beverages, spa, personal care etc. Increasing health consciousness coupled with growing awareness regarding health benefits of dill oil are likely to bring high revenue growth to the global dill oil market. Further, the growing demand for aromatic flavors and fragrances in cosmetics, perfumes, as well as spa and relaxation applications is expected to increase demand in upcoming years. Additionally, the increasing disposable income of the growing middle-class population in developing countries has fostered the demand for dill oil for cosmetics and personal care products. However, increasing concerns regarding resource depletion are expected to limit the market growth over the forecast period.Some of the global key players in the functional flavor market includes Ungerer Limited, Mountain Rose Herbs, Sydney Essential Oils, Young Living Essential Oils, d?TERRA International, Essential Oils of New Zealand, and Moksha Lifestyle Products among others.Companies in the global dill oil market are focusing upon research & development activities to enhance the functional profile of dill oil.Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2398
The global dental fluorescence analyzer market is expected to witness growth over the forecast period owing to the increased adoption of the device for various applications. The dental fluorescence analyzer market is segmented into Forensic Investigations, Archeological Research, Environmental Monitoring, pharmaceutical and medical research, dental practice and others.

Dental Fluorescence Analyzer Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:37:54

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Dental Fluorescence Analyzer display fluorescence using properties of x-rays called as fluorescence x-rays from a material which is bombarded with high energy x-rays. Qualitative and quantitative element analysis has been traditionally done with the x-ray fluorescence generators since years and dental fluorescence analyzer are used for identification of trace elements, calculating the thickness and composition of the dental materials. Dental fluorescence analyzer finds wide applications in forensic science and analysis of dental and medical specimens. This technique is particularly important for the specimens that are wet and possess low resistance which cannot be studied by other element analysis methods. Additionally, dental fluorescence analyzer also help in preserving the scarce specimen while analyzing which can be destroyed by other methods.For tooth analysis, dental fluorescence analyzer efficiently and precisely detect the tooth caries. Teeth accumulate heavy materials from eating, smoking and pollution. Dental fluorescence analyzer finds applications in detecting the trace elements and measuring the pollution index from the dental samples in research studies. Unknown elements identification and detection in pathological specimens by dental fluorescence analyzer holds a very important role as these elements are unique and specific to each patient and case. These specimens should be analyzed without destroying which is successfully attained by dental fluorescence analyzer. In forensic science, dental fluorescence analyzer finds application for identifying the victim and time of death as human dentitions are very unique to an individual just like fingerprints. Dental fluorescence analyzer can efficiently detect the location of dental resins with their brand in cremated and non-cremated individuals.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8417 Dental Fluorescence Analyzer Market: Drivers and RestraintsGrowing popularity and demand for minimal intervention for identifying dental caries is expected to be the prime driver of the dental fluorescence analyzer market over the forecast years. Dental fluorescence analyzer market is predicted to be driven by the increasing adoption of the device for archaeological research of ancient teeth. Advancing technology in the dental fluorescence analyzer market, particularly micro-XRF instruments for elemental mapping and its applications is expected to propel the demand for dental fluorescence analyzer over the forecast years. On the contrary, tricky reimbursement policies pose a threat to the unrestricted expansion of the dental fluorescence analyzer market.Dental Fluorescence Analyzer Market: SegmentationTentatively, the global dental fluorescence analyzer Market has been segmented on the basis of application, end users and geography.Based on application, the global dental fluorescence analyzer market is divided into following:Forensic InvestigationsArcheological ResearchEnvironmental MonitoringPharmaceutical and Medical ResearchDental PracticeOthersBased on end users, the global dental fluorescence analyzer market is segmented as below:Dental ClinicsForensics DepartmentsArcheology Research InstitutesAcademic Research InstitutesDental Fluorescence Analyzer Market: OverviewThe global dental fluorescence analyzer market is expected to witness growth over the forecast period owing to the increased adoption of the device for various applications. The dental fluorescence analyzer market is segmented into Forensic Investigations, Archeological Research, Environmental Monitoring, pharmaceutical and medical research, dental practice and others. Forensic investigations and archeological research are expected to hold a major share in the dental fluorescence analyzer market over the forecast period owing to the increasing implementation of the devices for research purposes and increasing number of clinical trial results. Among end users, the dental fluorescence analyzer market is segmented into dental clinics, forensics departments, archeology research institutes and academic research institutes. Higher adoption by end users are dependent upon the launch of more advance, user friendly and compact devices expanding the dental fluorescence analyzer market.Dental Fluorescence Analyzer Market: Regional Wise OutlookOn the basis of geography, dental fluorescence analyzer market is segmented into seven key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is projected to hold largest revenue shares in the global dental fluorescence analyzer market primarily due to increasing incidence of tooth caries. Moreover, increasing healthcare and research expenditure is also the contributor for North America dominance. Europe dental fluorescence analyzer market is expected to show second highest revenue share in the dental fluorescence analyzer market due to higher healthcare expenditure and fast technological advances. The dental fluorescence analyzer market for China is expected to create a big share in terms of revenue over the forecast years because of high demand of dental fluorescence analyzer.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8417 Dental Fluorescence Analyzer Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global for dental fluorescence analyzer market are HORIBA, Bruker, Olympus Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Helmut Fischer GmbH, Horiba, Ltd., SPECTRO Analytical Instruments GmbH, Rigaku Corporation, Analytical X-Ray Systems Co. Ltd., and FAST ComTec.
Deblistering Machine Sales in Pharma Surge as Focus on Debottlenecking Production Line Increases

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PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 09:19:07

Over 49 thousand units of deblistering machines were sold in 2018, equaling revenue generation worth over US$ 110 million. FMIs new study estimates that sales of deblistering machines will grow at 2.5% y-o-y in 2019. The projected growth of the deblistering machines market can be attributed to,Increased emphasis on quality control in packaging in the pharmaceutical industryIntensifying competition among pharma companies who are vying to shorten time to market for medicinesApplication of a range of deblistering machines to address bottlenecks of the production line in pharma companiesFMI research found that 5 in 10 deblistering machines were sold to pharma manufacturers who heavily rely on efficient, flexible and speedy functioning of the blister packaging process. As the competition among pharmaceutical companies intensifies, manufacturers are attuning to advanced production processes to shorten the time to market of medicines.Request sample of Report with table of contents and Figures @While deblistering machines significantly improve the efficiency of blister packaging, pharma companies will continue to register significant application of deblistering machines in the coming years. Medical waste recyclers are the second prominent end users of deblistering machines and accounted for 3 in 10 deblistering machine sales in 2018.Shift Towards Automatic Deblistering Machines GrowingThe FMI study finds that demand for automatic deblistering machines will continue to rise in the 2019 and beyond. Over 28 thousand deblistering machines are expected to be sold in 2019, with sales expected to grow at 2.3%.Automatic deblistering machines transform a manual and laborious deblistering task into an automated process. Superior operational output of automatic deblistering machines in terms of short-run recovery of delicate and high-value blister packs of different types including alu/alu packs, paper backed, child resistant and senior friendly are influencing adoption among end-users.According to the study, sales of semi-automatic deblistering machines are expected to increase at a considerably higher rate and account for over 29% of all the deblistering machines sales in 2019. Semi-automatic deblistering machines are highly used for tablets and capsules recovery from push-through blisters. Usually, these machines are smaller, portable and used for low-volume deblistering tasks.Deblistering Machines with 30-60 bpm Output Highly PreferredFMI study estimates that nearly 6 in 10 deblistering machines sold in 2018 were with 30-60 bpm output. According to the study, demand for deblistering machines with 30-60 bpm output is estimated to grow at 2.8% in 2019.Ask a question to Analyst @The study also analyzes the demand for deblistering machines with less than 30 bpm and 60 bpm and above output. Collectively, they are likely to account for 4 in 10 sales of deblistering machines in 2019.Europe Continue to Spearhead RallyRegional analysis carried out by FMI reveals that Europe continued to lead demand for deblistering machines. According to FMIs analysis, North America is the second leading consumer of deblistering machines whereas APEJ is estimated to register a rapid rise in demand. Collectively, both regions will account for two fifth of the global deblistering machine demand in 2019.The FMI report tracks the deblistering machines market for the period 2018-2027. According to the report, the deblistering machines market is projected to grow at 2.6% volume CAGR through 2027. For more insights, write in to FMI analysts at press@ futuremarketinsights.com Customize this report as per your requirement @
The Data Center Construction Market Report includes a comprehensive analysis of the present market. The report starts with the basic Data Center Construction Market overview and then goes into each and every detail.

Data Center Construction Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 19:43:57

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10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064Sales Manager+1-8886316977

The Global Data Center Construction Market is a thorough piece of work and is organized by conducting both primary as well secondary research. The data included in the report has been generated by consulting industry leaders and taking inputs from them. The scope of the report is limited to power construction offered by major players involving utility improvements, electrical panels switch gear, transfer switches, generators, enclosures and cabling and data center lighting.The global Data Center Construction Market accounted for US$ 43.7 Bn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of +10% during the forecast period 2019  2025.The report can effectively help companies and decision makers in addressing these challenges strategically to gain the maximum benefits in the highly competitive market. Data pertaining to the recent product and technological developments observed in the Data Center Construction Market, complete with an analysis of the impact of these advancements on the markets future development is included in the report.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Top Key Vendors in Market:AECOM, Arup Group, Corgan, DPR, Fluor, HDR, Holder, ISG, Jacobs, Jones, Nakano, Schneider Electric, SISK, Sweett, TurnerA data center is a group of network computer servers used by organizations for the remote storage, processing, or distribution of large amount of data. Data Center Construction Market report provides an analysis of the market by construction type (general, electrical, and mechanical construction), data center type (Tier 1 and Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4), and geography (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA). The adoption of cloud-based services is increasing on a global level as it eliminates the need for hardware and allows users to access computing resources anytime.The major geographical regions such as North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa are also studied. Top manufacturers from all these regions are scrutinized to give a better picture of the market investment. Production, price, capacity, revenue and much more important data have been discussed precisely. The global Data Center Construction Market is also presented to the readers as an all-inclusive snapshot of the competitive landscape within the given forecast period.Ask for discount@Reasons to Purchase Data Center Construction Market Report Growing data centers act as a driver to the market scenario. Analyzing various perspectives of the market with the help of Porters Five Forces Analysis. The end user that is expected to dominate the market is analyzed in detail. The regions which are expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period are analyzed and estimated for growth.By Application, the market can be split into Internet Finance Telecommunications GovernmentFor more Information@About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Where counting on a legitimate board company for your selections will become critical. Research N Reports specializes in enterprise evaluation, marketplace forecasts and as a result getting great reports overlaying all verticals, whether be it gaining angle on modern market situations or being in advance inside the cut throat Global opposition.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 13:03:01

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531

Body Contouring refers to the medical-surgical procedure that alternates the shape of parts of the body via the removal of fat or skin. Body contouring implants procedures includes reshaping and resizing certain areas so the persons overall appearance is more balanced and in proportion. Body contouring implants are foreign materials that is made and molded prior to the persons surgery and then inserted into the appropriate site. The body contouring implant are inserted in to the patients body so as to change the external appearance of the body part, like toning areas like upper arms, chest, thighs and face and improving the appearance of skin. Body contouring procedures usually include changing the figure by using liposuction, tissue removal techniques and implanting grafts or implants. Nowadays, maintaining the body shape and structure is given utmost importance which is major reason people opt for body contouring implant procedures. The body contouring implants helps to enhance the physical appearance, helps in maintaining skin integrity and helps in maintaining skin elasticity. Body contouring implants are also used in severe medical surgery like bariatric surgery, for sagging body fat and panniculectomy surgery. Cosmetic implant procedures are also popular among females all around the world. According to the Plastic Surgery Statistics report published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons 17.5 million cosmetic procedures were performed all over the world in the year 2017. The body contouring procedures are increased by 2% from 2016 to 2017 as per American society of plastic surgeons. Body contouring implants are used in many applications like facial contouring procedures like rhinoplasty, mandible & maxilla surgery, chin augmentation procedures, as well as other applications are breast lift, brow lift, liposuction, tummy truck procedures etc.Body contouring implants Market: Drivers and RestraintsAdvancements in the field of aesthetics are fueling the growth of body contouring implants market. Modern minimally invasive body contouring implants and new improved surgical methods are considered to be the primary factor driving the body contouring implants market. The growing social media and internet influence is also a key factor for the higher adoption rate of the body contouring procedures which is projected to drive the growth of body contouring implants market during the forecast period. Body contouring procedures are of great help for the people those who are unresponsive to weight loss and suffering from obesity, so increasing obesity is a worldwide concern and people are opting the body contouring implants procedures on a greater extant to overcome this problem. However, the high procedural costs of body contouring surgeries could hamper the body contouring implants market. The reimbursement policies of body contouring procure does not include the cost of implantable products that are used in the process which is one of the reasons hampering the global body contouring implants market.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8920 Body contouring implants Market: SegmentationGlobal body contouring implants market can be segmented on the basis of material type, product type, end user and geographyBased on the material type, Body contouring implants Market is segmented as:Silicone Gluteal body contouring implantsPectoral body contouring implantsGore-tex body contouring implantsMed- Por body contouring implantsBased on application, Body contouring implants Market is segmented as:Facial contouringRhinoplastyMaxilla & mandibular surgeryChin augmentationBreast enlargement surgeryTummy tuck proceduresTesticular surgeryOthersBased on product type, Body contouring implants Market is segmented as:Custom-made body contouring implantsReady-made body contouring implantsBased on the end user, Body contouring implants Market is segmented as:HospitalTrauma CenterAmbulatory surgical centersSpecialty ClinicsBody contouring implants Market: OverviewBy implant material type, the Gore-tex implant material is new material used in implants it is made up of poly-tetrafluoroethylene, which gives it the spongy texture that makes it more comfortable after implanting. In product type, the custom made body contouring implants are more dominant because of patients preferences. By application, the breast enlargement surgery is expected to generate maximum revenue as the number of breast implant surgeries are increasing due to medical tourism across the world. Among the end user, the hospitals are projected to be the fastest growing market from 2018 to 2028.Body contouring implants Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is the most lucrative Body contouring implants Market as the population in this region is conscious about their looks this increases the patient adoption as well. Europe is expected to account for the second largest market share in terms of revenue primarily due to higher spending on healthcare facilities and growing medical tourism in the region. MEA body contouring implants market is expected to witness steady growth over other regions because of less healthcare expenditure. Asia-Pacific is an emerging body contouring implants market and is lucrative owing to the emerging economies and rising awareness of body contouring implants and facial contouring procedures.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8919 Body contouring implants Market: Key PlayersSome of the global key participants operating in Body contouring implants Market are: ALPHA-HEALTH (ASIA) PTE Ltd., Stryker, Allergan Inc., GC Aesthetics, DePuy Synthes, hansbiomed (Thailand) co. ltd, Mentor Worldwide LLC (Johnson & Johnson), Sientra Inc., Silimed, Osteotec Ltd. and others.
The global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented based on geography into eight regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China, and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.

Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:49:01

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Approximately 1.4 million new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year. Obtaining an early diagnosis is critical as it is currently one of the deadliest cancers, totaling more than 600,000 deaths each year. Colorectal cancer molecular diagnostics can speed up the identification of colorectal cancer to provide patients with more treatment options. Individualized and targeted treatments are reshaping the colorectal molecular diagnostics market. Molecular pathology is a key factor to personalized medicine. Increasing adoption of high throughput sequencing technologies and identification of therapeutic targets has led to the development of many colorectal molecular diagnostic tests, which are superior to the conventional colorectal cancer molecular diagnostics tests.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8441 Positive market trends and increasing investor confidence in several key players are helping mergers and acquisition activities in the colorectal cancer molecular diagnostics market. The disruption in the global healthcare market due to political factors such as the Obama Care Act, and regulatory framework changes, and other trade barriers, are anticipated to trigger merger and acquisition activities to drive the colorectal cancer molecular diagnostics market consolidation and further intensify the market competitionColorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncrease in research in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry drive the growth of the Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market significantly. Growing automation in laboratory is another factor supporting the growth of the Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market. Ease of use of Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics, as well as accurate results is supporting the growth of the Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market. Availability of low cost alternative and high cost of instrument may hinderer the growth of the market during the forecast period.Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market: SegmentationThe global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented by product type, technology, end user and region:Based on product type, the global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented into:Colorectal Cancer molecular diagnostic InstrumentsColorectal Cancer molecular diagnostic Reagents & KitsServicesBased on technology, the global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented into:PCRSequencingMass spectrometryTranscription Mediated AmplificationChips and microarraysIsothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology (INAAT)Based on end user, the global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented into:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersDiagnostic LaboratoriesHomecare settingsColorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market: OverviewColorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is anticipated to grow with a significant growth rate over the forecast period 2018-2028. Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics are used for research as well as for diagnosis. Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics generally can be categories based on the type of product, colorectal cancer molecular diagnostic Instruments, and colorectal cancer molecular diagnostic reagents & kits. Based on the end user, colorectal cancer molecular diagnostics market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic laboratories, and homecare settings.Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market: Regional OutlookThe global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is segmented based on geography into eight regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China, and Japan, China, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to hold maximum market share in the global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market owing to the increasing automation of labs in the region. The Asia Pacific Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace with the maximum CAGR over the forecast period due to strong and evolving government support towards research in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in the region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8441 Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global Colorectal Cancer Molecular Diagnostics market are Dako, Gen Probe (Hologic), Cepheid, Qiagen, Roche Diagnostics, Bayer Healthcare, Abbott Laboratories, Grifols, Danaher Corporation, Siemens, Beckton Dickinson, Biomerieux Sa, and Sysmex Corporation.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 13:01:35

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# 753 Words

Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531

Clinical chairs are specifically designed to ensure safety, health, and comfort to the patient and assist the staff during any medical examination or treatment. These clinical chairs are designed specifically to the medical needs of the patient and provide better access of patients to the doctors. Clinical chairs can be manually operated or are powered by batteries. Clinical chairs are extensively being used for mobility purposes. As per to the 2013 data provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 53 million people in the U.S. suffered from some kind of disability. The major cause of disability noted by the CDC, in 2015, was mobility disability, which resulted around 1 in 8 adults among all disabled cases. Clinical chairs assist people with mobility issues and are tremendously used for various other medical procedures, such as dental, ENT, Gynaecology, Nephrology, etc. Clinical chairs are one of the most important aspects of all the medical furniture available for any medical treatment or examination.Clinical Chairs Market: Drivers and Restraints-Increasing incidence of lifestyle-related diseases, like obesity, cardiovascular diseases, paralysis, spinal injuries etc. and rise in geriatric population requiring mobility assistance are two major factors driving the clinical chairs market. Growing healthcare outlays, globally, and innovations of new and improved clinical chairs for better and more efficient treatment or examination of the patient are also expected to boost the demand for clinical chairs, leading to the market growth for clinical chairs during the forecast period. These clinical chairs provide flexibility and ease to the patients. Increasing awareness about the comfort of clinical chairs and increasing healthcare expenditure might also trigger market growth for clinical chairs market over the forecast period. However, lack of trained medical professionals for operating advanced clinical chairs and high costs associated with certain clinical chairs might obstruct the market growth for clinical chairs over the forecast period.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8904 Clinical Chairs Market: SegmentationTentatively, Clinical Chairs Market has been segmented on the basis of application, product type, modality, end users and geography.On the basis of product type, Clinical Chairs Market can be segmented as:Examination ChairsBirthing ChairsBlood Drawing ChairsCardiac ChairsDialysis ChairsMammography ChairsTreatment ChairsENT ChairsOphthalmic ChairsDental ChairsOthersRehabilitation ChairsPediatric ChairsGeriatric ChairsBariatric ChairsOn the basis of modality, Clinical Chairs Market can be segmented as:Manual Clinical ChairsSemi-Automated Clinical ChairsFully-Automated Clinical ChairsOn the basis of end users, Clinical Chairs Market can be segmented as:Acute Care CentersHospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersDental ClinicsLaboratoriesRehabilitation CentersOn the basis of geography, Clinical Chairs Market can be segmented as:North- AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia-Pacific excluding China & JapanChinaJapanMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaClinical Chairs Market: OverviewGlobal Clinical Chairs market has undergone tremendous growth due to growing demand for rehabilitation, emergency, and mobility. Clinical Chairs are being extensively used for acute care, primary care, community hospital care, dental care, and rehabilitation purposes. As per the report published by the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2014, people aged 65 and above were around 46.2 million in number and are expected to reach upto 98 million by the end of 2060. By these estimations, the geriatric population is projected to reach to 1.6 billion globally. Increase in geriatric population is expected to increase the patient base and thus, further boosting the demand for clinical chairs.Clinical Chairs Market: Region-wise OutlookGeography wise, Clinical Chairs market is divided into eight regions viz. North-America, Asia- Pacific excluding China & Japan, China, Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle-East & Africa. North Americas Clinical Chairs market is expanding because of the high rate of adoption rate and installations and it is projected to remain dominant during the forecast period due to an increase in healthcare expenditure. Europes market for clinical chairs is also expected to grow during the forecast period, owing it to good product penetration and the high number of healthcare settings in the region. The Middle East & Africa Clinical Chairs market is anticipated to grow at a moderate rate due to poor healthcare infrastructure and lack of trained professionals in the region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8904 Clinical Chairs Market: Key Market ParticipantsSome of the market participants in the Global Clinical Chairs market identified across the value chain include: ArjoHuntleigh, Stryker Corporation, Hill-Rom, Inc., Graham Field Health Products, Inc., Invacare Corporation, Columbia Medical, HARD Manufacturing Co., Inc., Dentsply Sirona, Fresenius medical care, Danaher, Midmark Corp., and PLANMECA OY.
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 market segments such as geographies, application and industry.

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Chiari malformations are structural defects in the base of the cerebellum and skull. Generally, when a part of the cerebellum, which is known as cerebellar tonsils, is located under the foramen magnum, it is known as a Chiari malformation.Chiari malformation is categorised into four types: Type I Chiari malformation is asymptomatic. No indication is observed for "prophylactic" surgery in type I Chiari malformation. If the Chiari malformation is symptomatic, Chiari malformation treatment is usually recommended. Type II Chiari malformation treatment can be prescribed if the patient is symptomatic.Type III Chiari malformation treatment market is very unusual as a part of the brain stem and the cerebellum stick out through an abnormal opening from the back of the skull.Type IV Chiari malformation treatment market involves an underdeveloped or incomplete cerebellum. Some parts of the cerebellum are missing and portions of the spinal cord and the skull are likely to be visible. Chiari malformation treatment has two approaches: traditional surgery, which includes cervical laminectomies and Chiari decompression surgery. It is a minimally invasive procedure during which the surgeon makes small incisions and there is minimal desruption of the surrounding tissues of the patient. Office of Rare Diseases, National Institutes of Health has listed Chiari malformation as a rare disease. The estimated prevalence of Type I Chiari malformation in the United States is less than one percent, with a slight variance in females.Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2569 Chiari Malformation Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global Chiari malformation treatment market is forecasted to witness high demand. Rising geriatric as well as the global population and increase in injuries & infections due to road accidents are among the major factors in driving the Chiari malformation treatment market. In addition, lack of awareness among people or lack of campaigning by governments and NGOs to spread awareness regarding Chiari malformations among people is likely to hamper the growth of the Chiari malformation treatment market.Chiari Malformation Treatment Market: OverviewThe global Chiari malformation treatment market is expected to witness significant growth in the next couple of years. Growth in the geriatric and diabetic population is boosting the demand of the Chiari malformation treatment market. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the prevalence of Chiari malformation in the general population has been found to be slightly less than one in 1000. The type of Chiari malformation treatment depends upon the exact type of malformation, progression, changes in anatomy and symptoms.Chiari Malformation Treatment Market: Regional OutlookThe global Chiari malformation treatment market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to generate the highest revenue in the global Chiari malformation treatment market due to growth in the geriatric and diabetic population. During the forecast period, Europe is expected to witness steady growth in the Chiari malformation treatment market. Factors, such as the development of new products and the spreading of awareness among people regarding rare diseases & their treatments through campaigns, are boosting the global Chiari malformation treatment market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing Chiari malformation treatment market due to the rising incidence of chronic diseases. The Middle East & Africa Chiari malformation treatment market is expected to witness slow but steady growth due to lack of awareness among people and the limited availability of Chiari malformation treatment facilities.Request for table of content on this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2569 Chiari Malformation Treatment Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players operating in the global Chiari malformation treatment market are Abbott; BD; Novartis AG; Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline plc.For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2569/chiari-malformation-treatment-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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeRockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/
Chamomile Seeds Market

Chamomile Seeds Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:21:48

Chamomile is a perennial herb which is used for preparing herbal tea. Chamomile seeds are used for natural treatments for a number of health problems and also used for production of flavored teas along with contributing to its medicinal properties. It is an herbal plant whose flowers, leaves and seeds are used for medicine and flavoring foods. Medicinally there are two types of chamomile seeds which are used for making medicines i.e. German Chamomile seed (Matricaria recutita) found in North America region and Roman Chamomile seed (Chamaemelum nobile) mainly found in England.Chamomile seeds has been used for its several useful effects which treats number of ailments such as sleeping disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, stomach problems, skin problems, common cold, cardiovascular problems, colic/ diarrhea, eczema, gastrointestinal disorders, hemorrhoids, mucositis, osteoporosis, wound healing, and others. As chamomile seed contains herbal ingredients which are used in many disorders, the global chamomile seed market is expected to increase significantly over the forecast period.Chamomile Seeds: Market Segmentation: The chamomile seeds market is segmented on the basis of type, application and region. The chamomile seed market is segmented on the basis of type which includes German chamomile seed type and Roman chamomile seed type. German chamomile seeds are primarily used in cosmetic industry and in skincare formulations for improving skin disorders. Roman chamomile seeds are primarily used in preparation of essential oil which is applied on skin disorders. The chamomile seeds market is also segmented on the basis of applications such as skincare products, pharmaceuticals such as medicinal drugs, stomach disorders, aromatic oils, flavored teas, and others. The skincare products segment is further sub segmented into creams, lotions, shampoos, and conditioners. Hence, the global chamomile seeds market is expected to significantly increase the revenue contribution over the forecast period.Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2362 Geographically, the global chamomile seeds industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Globally, among all regions, Asia Pacific has developed as the dominant region in consumption in the global chamomile seeds market followed by Europe and North America. Increasing skincare products industry and pharmaceuticals industry, has strengthened the growth of global chamomile seeds market and hence is projected to significantly expand the revenue contribution of the market over the forecast period.Growing health awareness in consumers is the major driving factor of the chamomile seeds market due to the presence of essential ingredients that helps in curing various skin disorders. Chamomile seeds are also used for production of sleeping pills that acts as relax sleeping aid. Medicinal ingredients are extracted from dried flowers of chamomile seeds with help of water, ethanol or methanol as solvents and extracts are used for various applications such as medicinal drugs, skincare products, stomach disorders, and others, are another major factors that is driving the chamomile seeds market during the forecast period. Increasing consumption of chamomile flavored tea in regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe, Australia and North America, the tea industry market is observed to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Growing demand for organic chamomile seeds is also one of the major drivers as the seed extract is used in creams, lotion, ointment, bath teas, shampoos, and others.The key international players operating in chamomile seeds market includes the green seed company, MOUNTAIN ROSE HERBS, Territorial Seed Company, Seattle Seed Company, Applewood Seed Company, West Coast Seeds, Victory Seed Company, The Incredible Seed Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co, and The Good Seed Company. The companies are expected to expand their business by boosting their product portfolio in global chamomile seeds market.Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2362
CCTV Camera Market

CCTV Camera Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 10:50:56

CCTV (Closed circuit television) is the utilization of video cameras to communicate a signal to a particular place, on a limited set of monitors. It is basically a system in which signals are not publicly distributed but are examined, majorly for closed observation and security purposes. The CCTVs are frequently utilized for surveillance in locations that may require regular monitoring such as casinos, banks, military installations, airports, shopping malls, convenience stores, etc. Apart from this, CCTV cameras have wide applications across the globe by government institutions to reduce and avoid domestic and international security threats. The CCTV cameras have gained traction across the world due to inclining concerns for safety and protection. This has ultimately generated the demand for technically advanced CCTV surveillance system, thus strengthening huge growth prospects for CCTV industrialists, distributors and operators. Apart from this, drop in prices and innovative features are intensify the growth of CCTV camera market, making it reasonable for even smaller companies to incorporate CCTV technology. The global CCTV camera market has showcased significant growth over the past few years and is anticipated to generate substantial revenue in future till 2025. The global CCTV camera market is projected to grow at a robust CAGR over the period 2015-2025. Increasing crime rates and terror attacks has fuelled the demand for CCTVs which is likely to be profitable for suppliers and vendors in the global CCTV camera market.Global CCTV Camera: Market SegmentationThe global CCTV camera market is segmented on the basis of type of systems such as analog, hybrid and IP. The global CCTV camera market is also divided by type of styles such as bullet CCTV camera, dome CCTV camera, discreet CCTV camera, and traditional camera. The global CCTV camera is further bifurcated by application areas such as healthcare sector, retail sector, education sector, banking sector, transport sectors and others. The global CCTV camera market is also segmented on the basis of surveillance components which includes camera such as analog and IP cameras, Video surveillance storage including digital video recorder, network video recorder and IP San, video surveillance software and analytics such as video management system and intelligent video surveillance, video servers and video surveillance monitors.Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1009 Global CCTV Camera Market: Growth DriversRising penetration of CCTVs in education, hospital and retail sectors are the major drivers of global CCTV camera market. Besides this, rising terrorism and threat of crime are also fostering the demand for CCTV and thus stimulating the growth of CCTV camera market. The IP based CCTV cameras will bolster the growth of global CCTV camera market over the period 2015-2025. It has been noticed that, IP Storage Area Network is gaining traction over digital and network video recorders for storage as it proposes enhanced scalability, retention and huge storage capacity. Apart from this, high definition and megapixel cameras are rapidly escalating the growth of the global CCTV camera market. In future, the gigapixel cameras are anticipated to intensify the global CCTV camera market during the period 2015-2025.Global CCTV Camera Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global CCTV Camera industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. The Asian region captured the highest share in the overall revenue of global CCTV camera market in 2014. In the coming few years, India and China are expected to be the major market in the Asian CCTV camera market. North America and Europe stood at second and third position in the total revenue of the global CCTV camera market in 2014. North America is one of the most competitive markets across the globe with various regional players and a few large international players. In the next few years, Middle East and Africa is anticipated to attain substantial share in the global CCTV camera market till 2025.Global CCTV Camera Market: PlayersSome of the key vendors identified across the value chain in the global CCTV camera market include Bosch security systems Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Panasonic System Network Co. Limited, Axis Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Samsung Techwin, and Vicon industries. Besides this, other players include Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric, Checkpoint system, Baxawell, and ADT fire and security.Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1009
Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:47:18

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Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing is prescribed by the physician to the patient who has history of cancer in their family. The risk of cancer in the future is diagnosed by performing the Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing. A panel test is performed for Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing to check the mutation of the gene. Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing is always performed under the supervision of a genetic specialist. To perform the genetic testing, a blood sample is taken to perform the panel test and diagnose the mutation in the gene. There are two group of people who require to perform the Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing. Group one people include the patient who does not have cancer but some of their family members have a history of cancer. Group two include the patient who already has cancer and want to know that is cancer occur due to the genetic mutation.Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising prevalence of cancer is the primary factor driving the growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market over the forecast period. The change in the lifestyle of people is responsible for the increasing prevalence of cancer which will ultimately upsurge the growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market. Moreover, increasing awareness among the people about personal health and also the launch of a various awareness campaign by NGO has propelled the growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market. Also, the availability of a various easy method for Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing will also increase the demand for Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market over the next decade. On other hand, very few people suffer from cancer due to genetic mutation which can deter the growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market. Also, less preference of people in under developing economies toward the genetic testing will also hamper the growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8440 Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market: SegmentationThe global Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is classified on the basis of test type, cancer type, service provider, and region.Based on test type Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is segmented into following:Chromosome TestingDNA TestingDirect DNA TestingIndirect DNA TestingBiochemical Genetic TestingBased on cancer type Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is segmented into followingBreast CancerColorectal Cancer,Lung CancerBladder CancerKidney CancerOtherBased on service provider Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is segmented into following:HospitalSpecialty ClinicsDiagnostic LaboratoriesSpecialized Cancer InstitutesCancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market: Market OverviewThe change in lifestyle which increases the incidences of cancer is responsible for the exponential growth of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market over the forecast period. Only 5-10% of cancer cases are related to the genetics which may decline the importance of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services. In general, Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing can be done by two methods i.e. chromosome testing and DNA testing. Chromosome testing of done to analyze the single mutation while the DNA testing is done to analyze the multiple mutations in the gene. The DNA testing can be done by two methods i.e. direct DNA testing and indirect DNA testing. Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing is most common perform to diagnose breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Among all service provider in Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market, hospital segment is expected to dominate the market share in term of value.Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market: Regional OverviewBased on the regional presence, Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is classified into eight key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, APECJ, China, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America region is expected to gain major market share in term of value due to the high acceptance of Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services in U.S. and Canada. The Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market is then followed by Europe and Japan owing to high awareness among the people about the genetic testing. The APECJ and China are anticipated to grow at a greater pace over the forecast period due to high patient pool suffering from cancer. Among all the region, Latin America and Middle East and Africa is the least lucrative for Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services market due to less acceptance of genetic testing and low awareness among the people about the cancer diagnostics.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8440 Cancer-Focused Genetic Testing Services Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players found across the value chain of Cleveland Clinic, Fortis Healthcare, KIMS Hospitals, Rush University Medical Center, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Westerly Hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital, Northeast Medical Group and others.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market Report provides forecasts of current market value as well as projected growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare 2024. The entire supply chain of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare has been described with statistical details that focus on a variety of upstream and downstream components.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 20:41:56

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Vijay Tanna



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Flat# 6, Panchshil Park, Ganpati Marg,



Nigadi, Pune 411044



Website: www.itintelligencemarkets.com/



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Phone:+91 740-024-2424



Vijay Tanna

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+91 740-024-2424

email

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# 516 Words

Vijay TannaSurvey No-9/4,Flat# 6, Panchshil Park, Ganpati Marg,Nigadi, Pune 411044Website: www.itintelligencemarkets.com/Email: sales@itintelligencemarkets.comPhone:+91 740-024-2424Sales Manager+91 740-024-2424

AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be defined as intelligent computers, especially the science and engineering adopted to design intelligent computer programs. The report evaluates the figures of the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market and presents reliable forecasts as to the markets growth prospects over the coming years. According to Research report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market has expected to grow at CAGR of +47 % during the forecasting period.Get Sample Copy of this Report@: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=1309 Some of the Key Players of this Market: Intel Corporation, Nvidia Corporation, Google, IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, General Vision, Enlitic, Next IT, Welltok, Icarbonx, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Koninklijke Philips, General Electric (GE) Company, Siemens Healthineers (A Division of Siemens AG), Johnson & Johnson Services, Medtronic, Stryker Corporation, Careskore, Zephyr Health, Oncora Medical, Sentrian, Bay Labs, Atomwise, Deep Genomics, Cloudmedx.The study also examines the numerous policies that regulate processes in the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare industry, precisely, the ones that are currently active, along with an analysis of the top news stories about the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare industry. This report also offers an important analytical guidance on the trends and developments in this industry. The report also provides a professional and comprehensive analysis on the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market while articulating industry insights into its current state of affairs.Get Special Discount on this Premium Report@: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=1309 This report is a full analysis which includes product type, applications, deployment, verticals, technology and regional segmentations. To gain a clear understanding of the breakdown of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market, the report also reviews the performance of its in the market scenario, power.The report provides statistics for each key segment of the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market in order to shed light on the development patterns exhibited by the market. Latest figures illustrating the performance of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market are provided in detail in the report in order to provide a granular picture of the markets latest conditions.A complete study of the competitive landscape of the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare market have been given, presenting insights into the product portfolio, financial status, mergers and acquisitions, and the SWOT analysis.Table of ContentsArtificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market Research Report 2024Chapter 1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersFor More Information, Visit@: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=1309 To conclude, contemplation of the noteworthy enactment of the Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market is driven by various analysis tools and wide-ranging research reports. Citations are engaged to mount clear results and validate them.
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 market segments such as geographies, application and industry.

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:40:18

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Fact.MR

Office: Dublin 2





Suite 9884



27 Upper Pembroke Street,



Dublin 2, Ireland



Sudip Saha

Head of Marketing

+353-1-4434-232

email

https://www.factmr.com/





# 842 Words

Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232

Bedside monitor is a digital device which used in healthcare to record, view and supervision of physiological changes. Devices are attached with the patient body with the help of wires and send electronic signal to monitor. Basically device are multiple color and different graphical users and used in different ways depending on hospital needs when doctor or nurse wants to measure heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, temperature and breathing rate. Monitor has also alarm which used whenever body function needs any attention. In the ICU, monitor is normally used the entire time and that having modular design with easy interchange, display analysis and printing output. There are many types of bedside monitoring such as brain monitoring, multimodal monitoring, head trauma monitoring, neuro monitoring, on line data analysis, cerebral auto regulation and intensive care monitoring. Global Bedside Monitors Market Insights, Forecast to 2025: Drivers and RestraintsThe bedside monitors is electronic device that helps to provide report of physiological condition of the patient to hospital staff. Medical or hospital staff can evaluate patients condition easy and better with the help of monitors reports. Newly bedside monitors provide wireless monitoring of the patient and cause of this specification patient should be able move around and still monitoring. People can use bedside monitors to find out any healthcare information as well as another monitors alarm status in the network. sBedside monitors dissemble in the ICU and operative room. Bedside monitoring is the integral part of care for patient. Some monitors output may be insufficient for intended application. Neonatal intensive care units is model of bedside monitoring for new born baby with critical condition and in brain hemodynamic. Bedside monitors can access the interbeds monitoring. Due to cross contamination, monitors also contaminated with pathogen. Bedside monitors help to deliver quality care. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2558 Global Bedside Monitors Market Insights, Forecast to 2025: OverviewBedside monitors are classified into different product types according to the working unit it is placed in, with prominent manufacturers involved in bedside monitors market incorporate various products. The products range from bedside monitors providing the access to, peak flow meter, EEG, MEG, TCD, pulse oximeter, fetal monitoring, temperature, MCOT, ECG, , EMG, hemodynamic monitoring. Bedside monitors provides data which guide treatment and these are effortless monitoring. Bedside monitors are used in thermal diffusion cerebral blood flow, infra-red spectroscopy, micro dialysis and others.Bedside monitor is effective because of the sensor used in the manufacturing, with most of the market players also changing the trend of displays and workstations for the device. It provides the measurement and accuracy required in an instrument to be of prominent use. Leading companies will continue to uphold the growth of bedside monitor market. Present manufacturers of bedside monitors are leading their focus to defining the actual scope of the market with quality difference in their product offerings. Advanced technology has resulted in uplifting the market for bedside monitors, like IoT has made it easier in physicians to keep a check on patient with home care setting. Manufacturers focusing on developing bedside monitor, which is proficient of monitoring and directing every required parameters with greater working value, would continue to observe stronger market capitalization in the near future.Request for table of content on this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2558 Global Bedside Monitors Market Insights, Forecast to 2025: Regional OutlookGeographically, bedside market globally focuses on the pulse oximeter, fetal monitoring, temperature, MCOT, ECG, , EMG, hemodynamic monitoring in global market, especially in North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa. These area are still optimistic for investors cause of end users and their high demand of products, Demand of bedside monitors are increasing because of increasing personal and health consciousness for tracking heart rate , respiration rate or any kind of physiological activity. Major factor such as price analysis, supply chain analysis, political, social and technical also provide forecast number of market. Europe and Asia pacific region are also foresees to market moderate rate. Global Bedside Monitors Market Insights, Forecast to 2025: Key PlayersBedside monitors introduced by key players such as Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Roche, Medtronic, Abbott Laboratories, Bayer, Covidien, Becton Dickenson, BIOTRONIK SE & Co., Philips Healthcare, Nihon Kohen, Spacelabs Healthcare, cephalon and many more competes with small fragmented supply side of bedside monitors which features quality support and carry measurements required for patient care.For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2558/bedside-monitors-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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeRockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/
Back Therapy Kits Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:36:52

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Future Market Insights

Future Market Insights



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Umesh

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3479183531

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# 798 Words

Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Back therapy kits are the home used a medical device which is used for the pain management especially of the lower back. Back therapy kits is placed on the lower back of the human body and it is fixed with the help of the strap. Back therapy kits use TENS technology to pass on vibration to the body for the pain management. The vibration from the back therapy kits releases the muscles strain which is results the reduction in the back pain. The back pain patients are prescribed to take 15-20 session everyday with back therapy kits to manage their pain. Back therapy kits are also used by the sportsperson to relax their lower. To reduce the lower back pain due to muscle strain from exercise, back therapy kits are a very useful medical device. Back therapy kits are generally used at home and also at the rehabilitation centers.Back Therapy Kits Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising prevalence of lower back is the primary factor driving the growth of back therapy kits market over the forecast period. The prevalence of lower back is rising exponentially due change in lifestyle of people which is ultimately responsible for the growth of back therapy kits market over the next decade. Also, the attention of the majority of people toward their personal health increases and not doing exercise on a daily basis has also increased the chances of lower back pain, resulting in the rising demand of back therapy kits.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8416 The increasing number of injuries to sportspersons and rising adoption of back therapy kits at a rehabilitation center also fueling the growth of back therapy kits market. The high cost of back therapy kits which could not be afforded by the majority of people in the under developing economies may deter the growth of the back therapy kits market to some extent. Also, the lack of awareness among the people about the positive results of back therapy kits may also hamper the growth of back therapy kits market.Back Therapy Kits Market: SegmentationThe global back therapy kits market is classified on the basis of product type, end user, and region.Based on product type back therapy kits market is segmented into following:Strapped back therapy kitsStrapless back therapy kitsBased on connectivity back therapy kits market is segmented into followingWired back therapy kitsBattery operated back therapy kitsBased on end user back therapy kits market is segmented into following:HospitalOrthopedic ClinicsRehabilitation CentersLong Term Care CentersHomecare SettingsBack Therapy Kits Market: Market OverviewThe change in lifestyle which increases the incidences of lower back pain is responsible for the exponential growth of back therapy kits market over the forecast period. Lower back pain has become common health problem throughout the globe which is the major cause of disability and affecting the day today life of people. According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of back pain range between 15-45% in the adult population worldwide. World Health Organization also estimates that the incidence of lower back pain is very much higher in population between the ages between 25-55. By product type, strapped back therapy kits is expected to gain major market share in back therapy kits market due to its high acceptability in the market. Strapless back therapy kits are the advance version of back therapy kits, hence it expected to gain more traction in the market over the forecast period. Among all end user back therapy kits are most widely used homecare settings which is then followed by rehabilitation centers.Back Therapy Kits Market: Regional OverviewOn the basis of geography, Back Therapy Kits market is classified into eight key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, APECJ, China, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to dominate the global Back Therapy Kits market due to high healthcare spending in U.S. and Canada. After North America Back Therapy Kits market is then followed by Europe due to rising incidences of back pain in this region. APEC and China is the fastest growing region for global Back Therapy Kits market owing to the huge geriatric population this region. Middle East and Africa and Latin America region is expected to show delayed growth for Back Therapy Kits market due to lack of awareness among the people about the advance therapies for available in the market for pain management.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8416 Back Therapy Kits Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players found across the value chain of Back Therapy Kits market are Sanofi S.A., Bayer AG, Hocomo, Polar Products Inc., Tynor, Brooks Life Sciences, Alliance Spine, Amedica, Captiva Spine, Globus Medical and others.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:50:52

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Abhishek Bhudholiya

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531

The rising prevalence of diabetes is the primary factor driving the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market over the forecast period. The change in the lifestyle of people is responsible for the increasing prevalence of diabetes which will ultimately upsurge the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Moreover, increasing awareness among the people about personal health has propelled the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Also, the availability of a various user-friendly and home-based B-Ketone Monitoring System has propelled the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market over the next decade. On other hand, the high cost of B-Ketone Monitoring System and more preference of patient to visit the hospital for blood ketone test may deter the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Also, the chances of error are much higher in B-Ketone Monitoring System which may also decrease the patient preference to use B-Ketone Monitoring System for glucose and blood ketone monitoring.B-Ketone Monitoring System Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising prevalence of diabetes is the primary factor driving the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market over the forecast period. The change in the lifestyle of people is responsible for the increasing prevalence of diabetes which will ultimately upsurge the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Moreover, increasing awareness among the people about personal health has propelled the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Also, the availability of a various user friendly and home based B-Ketone Monitoring System has propelled the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market over the next decade. On other hand, high cost of B-Ketone Monitoring System and more preference of patient to visit hospital for blood ketone test may deter the growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market. Also, the chances of error is much higher in B-Ketone Monitoring System which may also decease the patient preference to use B-Ketone Monitoring System for glucose and blood ketone monitoring.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8581 B-Ketone Monitoring System Market: SegmentationThe global B-Ketone Monitoring System market is classified on the basis of product type, end user, and region.Based on product type B-Ketone Monitoring System market is segmented into following:DisposableReusableOtherBased on end user B-Ketone Monitoring System market is segmented into following:HospitalSpecialty ClinicsDiagnostic LaboratoriesHomecareB-Ketone Monitoring System Market: OverviewThe change in lifestyle which increases the incidences of diabetes is responsible for the exponential growth of B-Ketone Monitoring System market over the forecast period. According to the International Diabetes Federation, currently, 425 million people are suffering from diabetes worldwide. Knowing the blood ketone level of body is the powerful feedback for the people to maintain their health. Most of the people experience most benefit by B-Ketone Monitoring System when their blood ketone level get above about 1.5 mmol/L. By product type, reusable B-Ketone Monitoring System is expected to gain the maximum market share in term of value for global B-Ketone Monitoring System Market. Among all end user homecare segment is expected to the dominant segment which is then followed by specialized clinics. Hospital segment is expected to grow at the greater pace over the forecast period for B-Ketone Monitoring System Market.B-Ketone Monitoring System Market: Regional OverviewNorth America region is expected to gain major market share in term of value due to the high acceptance of B-Ketone Monitoring System in U.S. and Canada. The B-Ketone Monitoring System market is then followed by Europe and Japan owing to high awareness among the people about personal health and fitness. The APECJ and China are anticipated to grow at a greater pace over the forecast period due to high patient pool suffering from diabetes. Among all the region, Middle East and Africa and Latin America are the least lucrative for B-Ketone Monitoring System market due to less acceptance of B-Ketone Monitoring System for blood glucose monitoring in this region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8581 B-Ketone Monitoring System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players found across the value chain of Abbott Laboratories, EKF Diagnostics, Sentest Medical, Leapon Medical, Ubric Acid LLC, TaiDoc Technology Corporation, keto-mojo, Nova Biomedical, Vidan Diagnostics and others.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 10:52:30

The automotive variable discharge oil pump adapts the delivery volume flow to the engine oil demand and avoids the unnecessary pumping of the oil that causes an increased fuel as well power consumption in the vehicle. Even after being a critical factor for engine health, lubrication increases fuel consumption and imposes a kind of parasitic load on the engine. The oil consumption in any engine depends on the bearing clearances, load, operating temperature, speed & state of the wear of the engine. The conventional mechanical oil pump is a function of the operating speed, and there is no control on the oil flow. The automotive variable discharge oil pump can also be combined with the vacuum pump and balancer shaft units.Global Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market: Market DynamicsThe growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles coupled with the growing crisis for crude oil is driving the growth of the automotive variable discharge oil pump market. The increasing fuel prices across the globe is one of the major factor driving the market growth. The growing concerns for sustainable development and reducing carbon footprint, are widening the scope for automotive variable discharge oil pump market. The customization and tailor made solutions available in the form of automobile variable discharge oil pump are also contributing to the market.However , the high initial cost of investment is a restraining factor for the growth of the automotive variable discharge oil pump market.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4689 The use of pilot valve technology to bring an extra fuel economy improvement with accurate pressure control is widening the scope of the automotive variable discharge oil pump market. Since the market as well as governments are pushing the automobile manufacturers to improve emissions and fuel consumption; many manufacturers are evaluating all the opportunities in the engine system to reduce fuel loss. One of the prominent trends in the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market is the advent of 3-stage variable discharge oil pump. Another trend is the engagement of various OEMs (Own Equipment Manufacturers) in developing sustainable powertrain solutions. For instance, the development of electric automotive variable discharge oil pump for cooling transmission in a hybrid car.Global Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market: Market SegmentationThe global automotive variable discharge oil pump market can be segmented by the type of vehicle:Passenger cars (PC)Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV)Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV)Based on the material used in manufacturing, the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market can be segmented into:SteelAluminumBased on the position, the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market can be segmented into:Internal gear pumpExterior gear pumpBased on the type of power used, the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market can be segmented into:ElectricHydraulicPneumaticBased on the type of application, the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market can be segmented into:Idle-Stop SystemsHybrid SystemsGlobal Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market: Regional OutlookThe global automotive variable discharge oil pump market geographically is segmented as North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe hold a significant market share of automotive variable discharge oil pump market owing to the increasing awareness for optimum use of fuel. Furthermore, the increase in R & D activities related to aerospace and automobiles, wherein automotive variable discharge oil pump provide fuel efficiency, aids in boosting the growth of automotive variable discharge oil pump market in the region. The market in the APEJ is more inclined towards the growing demand for automotive variable discharge oil pump because of the increasing demand for cost and fuel efficient vehicles.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4689 Global Automotive Variable Discharge Oil Pump Market: Prominent PlayersSome of the prominent players in the global automotive variable discharge oil pump market are:Aisin World Corp. of AmericaDelphi Automotive LLPDenso CorporationJohnson ElectricRobert Bosch GmbHMagna InternationalNIDEC GPM GmbHHitachi Automotive Systems Americas, Inc.SHW GroupStackpole International
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 market segments such as geographies, application and industry.

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:40:16

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Fact.MR

Office: Dublin 2





Suite 9884



27 Upper Pembroke Street,



Dublin 2, Ireland



Sudip Saha

Head of Marketing

+353-1-4434-232

email

https://www.factmr.com/





# 855 Words

Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232

Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography is also known as Gel filtration chromatography. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography is a form of Liquid Chromatography. When Biomolecules are purified via chromatography techniques that separate them according to the difference in their specific properties such as size, charge, hydrophobicity, isoelectric point, and chemical specificity. Analytical gel permeation chromatography is the type of size exclusion chromatography. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography helps in protein fractionation, purification, molecular weight determination and also helps in determination of quaternary structure of purified protein. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography method is most preferable because it has least amount of matter/sample loss.Pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers use analytical gel permeation chromatography to analyze the biomolecules or products. Analytical gel permeation chromatography market players offer the diverse range of systems for purification and separation of polymer and biomolecule analysis. Analytical gel permeation chromatography market player offers multiple detectors ranging from refractive index to viscometer.Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing research and development for new drugs and biomolecules by pharmaceutical and biotech companies are expected to boost the demand for analytical gel permeation chromatography systems. This technique is broadly used as Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography is one of the most powerful and versatile analytical techniques available. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography technique is readily and quicker to produce the results because it separates mixtures in a single step. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography helps to measure amount of each and every components and relative amount of proportions. This technique is used in academic and industrial for research and development of new compounds; for instance Laboratories. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography is very useful tool to biochemists.Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2559 As there is not any standards for polymer type therefore same standard is used for similar chemistry. Filtration process is used to remove dusts using detectors. Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography creates difficulty because it might happen sometimes that higher molecular weight sample may removed. So this issue should be resolved.Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography Market: OverviewAnalytical gel permeation chromatography market player is focusing on development and introduction of the new column, detectors and systems to meet industry demand. For instance, In 2017 Showa Denko launched five new type of Shodex high-performance liquid chromatography analytical columns for analytical gel permeation chromatography. Increasing launch of new products for Analytical gel permeation chromatography expected to spur the growth of analytical gel permeation chromatography market.Analytical Gel permeation chromatography is a technique which is widely used across the world. As Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography is in great use from user ends therefore it is in demand as well and manufactured at high pace by companies.Analytical gel permeation chromatography cost is most effective because of using gel. Analytical gel permeation chromatography technique is used in each laboratory for the experimental purpose and many researches is using chromatography techniques and for cost effective purpose it is most preferable chromatographic technique to use; thats why Analytical gel permeation chromatography market is in progress. Analytical gel permeation chromatography technique is used for academic purposes as well as in national and private laboratories all over the world especially in North America and in Western Europe. So, it is always in high demand till this education system exists and for future instances its growth rate will be high in upcoming future.Request for table of content on this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2559 Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global analytical gel permeation chromatography market is divided into seven regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. The demand for analytical gel permeation chromatography systems is high in the regions such as North America and Europe due to the huge number of ongoing research and clinical studies. In Asian pacific excluding japan (APEJ) growth rate is impressive of the product due to the presence of giant local manufacturers in countries, such as Japan, China and India. Its experiments in laboratory is going on in high pace and the set-up of numerous research laboratories in this region is further expected to drive revenue generation in the region in future.Analytical Gel Permeation Chromatography Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent market players in the analytical gel permeation chromatography market are Agilent Technologies, Waters Corporation, Showa Denko K. K., Polymer Char, Danaher Corporation, Shimadzu Corp., Angstrom Advanced Inc., SCION Instruments, Malvern Panalytical Ltd., GE Healthcare and Others.For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2559/analytical-gel-permeation-chromatography-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 UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeRockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Aluminium Extrusions Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Aluminium Extrusions Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 12:13:37

Aluminium extrusions are extensively used in automotive, aircraft, toys, home & office furniture, etc. Due to its lightweight (1/3rd compared to copper), corrosion free, good electricity & heat conductivity they are increasingly used in industrial applications. Aluminium pipe market has both organized & un-organized market players. Market is highly dominated by converters, distributors & suppliers. The recent trend in global construction & automotive industry shows that the aluminium extrusions are replacing steel products. This trend is highly contributed to aluminium extrusions lightweight, corrosion free and recyclability. Yearly approx. 60% of the aluminium extrusions are recycled in construction industry alone. The aluminium extrusions replacing steel products is highly visible in construction industry. Overall the global aluminium extrusions market is expected to grow at a lucrative compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over forecast period.Aluminium Extrusions: Market DynamicsAluminium extrusions are used in production of piston tubes, silencers, furniture, doors, panels, windows frames, ladders, and bridges in near term. Aluminium extrusions are also used in power transmission & distribution systems. Aluminium extrusions wont emit any hazardous gases & chemicals when exposed to light, heat or any other contaminations. Due to their high flexibility & tensile strength they can be given any shape. In recent years due to its low cost of production & raw material prices, aluminium extrusions are gaining popularity in different end use sectors, the trend is highly visible in automotive sector.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5463 Country wise, Peoples Republic of China, followed by Russia, Canada, UAE and India represent highest production of aluminium extrusions. Demand from high-end automotive, aircraft and construction sectors for lightweight and high durable solutions is driving the growth of aluminium extrusions market. Peoples Republic of China produced approx. 23,300 tons of aluminium in 2014. The mega construction projects started by China in last six to seven years period is demanding increased supply of aluminium extrusions. Russia, UAE and India export large percent of their aluminium productions. Aluminium extrusions are 100% recyclable compared to other substitutes. The distinctive features make aluminium extrusions highly preferred by consumers: highly corrosion resistant, dissipates heat rapidly and evenly, only one-third the weight of copper, very strong yet lightweight, easy to fabricate, conducts equivalent loads of electric power with one-half as much material weight as copper.Aluminium Extrusions: Market SegmentationThe global aluminium extrusions market is segmented on the basis of product type and end-use. On the basis of product type, the global aluminium extrusions market is segmented into silencers, aluminium window profile bars, bridge & building aluminium pipes or bars, industrial heat exchanger bars, furniture aluminium bars, industrial pipes and others. On the basis of end use, the global aluminium extrusions market is segmented into automotive & mechanical parts, aerospace, building & construction, pharmaceuticals, chemicals & fertilizers & others. Building & construction and automotive sectors to dominate the overall aluminium extrusions market, this is due to their lightweight, high corrosion resistance, high ductile and tensile properties, low cost manufacturing.Aluminium Extrusions Market: Regional outlookAluminium extrusions 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. Aluminium extrusions market in Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the overall global market, where China & India play a vital role in driving the regions growth. MEA and Japan together expected to stand at second position by market dominance, which is driven by United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, South Africa aluminium Extrusions market.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5463 Aluminium Extrusions Market: Key playersSome of the players in the global Aluminium Extrusions market are Sapa Extrusion, China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, Arconic, Constellium, Hindalco-Novelis, Gulf Extrusions Co. (LLC), TALCO, Zahit, Balexco, Qatar Aluminium Extrusion Company, Bonnell Aluminium, Jindal Aluminium Limited, Banco Aluminium Ltd., Champak Industries, weseralu GmbH & Co. KG, AMCO Metall-Service GmbH, Teseo Deutschland GmbH, O'neal Steel, Zhongwang Aluminium Europe GmbH, Novelis Deutschland GmbH Ohler, Schierle Stahlrohre GmbH & CO. KG and others
PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 13:03:11

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog: https://www.fmiblog.com/Web: https://www.fuManager+1-347-918-3531

Aldosteronism is a type of hormonal disorder that occurs due to an imbalance in aldosterone and further leads to high blood pressure. In Aldosteronism, aldosterone is produced in excess by the adrenal gland that exceeds the normal body requirement. This causes the sodium levels to increase and lowers the potassium levels in the body. High levels of sodium in the blood lead to a high volume of blood and ultimately high blood pressure. The Aldosteronism is of various types, primary aldosteronism (Conns syndrome) and secondary aldosteronism. Primary aldosteronism is due to a defect of the adrenal glands themselves, which leads to release too much aldosterone. Whereas in secondary aldosteronism aldosterone is released due to abnormal bodily functions or defect in genes and other medical disorders. Most cases of primary aldosteronism are caused by a noncancerous tumor of the adrenal gland. This condition is most common in people 30 to 50 years old. Hyperaldosteronism is also sever and common type of aldosteronism, it can caused because of hyperactivity in unilateral or both bilateral disease. Hyperaldosteronism leads to hypertension and lowers the potassium levels in body. In case of hypoaldosteronism there are lower aldosterone levels in body which further leads to complications. If the aldosteronism is not treated it can gradually increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, this provides the essential background for the aldosteronism treatment market growth. Various types of aldosteronism treatment are available amongst which the non-surgical aldosteronism treatment is mostly adopted by patients, in case of severe aldosteronism surgery are preferred by most medical professionals.Aldosteronism Treatment Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing prevalence of primary aldosteronism due to sedentary lifestyle is the primary factor propelling the expansion of global aldosteronism treatment market. Besides this, the growing old population is the major driver for the aldosteronism treatment market growth. The rising prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) due to hectic and stressful lifestyle is also expected to create a high demand for aldosteronism treatment market. The growing efforts of research institutes & increasing number of research and development for developing new therapeutic drugs by many leading players in aldosteronism treatment market is expected to fuel the expansion of aldosteronism treatment market. As per the study published in 2016 by International Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism the aldosteronism was projected to increase by 5% in recent years. The low cost of therapeutic drugs and aldosteronism diagnostic test is also expected to increase the demand for aldosteronism treatment market. However, the risk associated with surgical aldosteronism treatment such as excessive bleeding and side effects of the surgical procedure is expected to restrain the growth of aldosteronism treatment market during the forecast period.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8921 Aldosteronism Treatment Market: SegmentationTentatively, the global Aldosteronism Treatment Market has been segmented on the basis of treatment type, end user, and geography.Based on treatment type, global Aldosteronism Treatment Market is divided into following:Surgical aldosteronism treatmentEndocrine surgeryAdrenalectomyNon-Surgical aldosteronism treatmentPalliative careDrugsMineralocorticoid receptor antagonistsCalcium-channel blockersPotassium sparring diureticsBased on end users, global Aldosteronism Treatment Market is divided into following:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersOthersAldosteronism Treatment Market: OverviewThe global aldosteronism treatment market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to the increasing adoption of the treatment by the end users. The technological advancement further aided in increasing adoption rate of therapeutic drugs, as diagnosis of the aldosteronism due to CT scans, PET imaging technique provided the medical professional in brief about the disease situation. On the basis of treatment type, the non-surgical aldosteronism treatment segment is projected to register maximum market share in the terms of revenue over the forecast period owing to the better patient outcomes and availability of specific drugs according to the disease indications in the aldosteronism treatment market. The ambulatory surgical centers' segment in end users is expected to grow with the fastest CAGR in the aldosteronism treatment market owing to the increasing number of outpatient centers.Aldosteronism Treatment Market: Regional Wise OutlookGeographically, global aldosteronism treatment market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to be the leader in global aldosteronism treatment market owing to the high prevalence of hypertension in the region and higher expenditure of healthcare. Europe aldosteronism treatment market is projected to account for the second largest share in the aldosteronism treatment market over the forecast period due to higher spending on healthcare and greater adoption by the end users in the region. Asia-Pacific excluding Japan market for aldosteronism treatment is expected to grow with fast CAGR over the forecast period owing to the rising presence of manufacturers and increasing adoption by the patients.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8921 Aldosteronism Treatment Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global aldosteronism treatment market are Pfizer Inc., Allergan plc., GE Healthcare, Novartis AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Accord Healthcare and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, amongst others.
Alcohol Ingredients Market

Alcohol Ingredients Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:20:07

Alcoholic beverages are manufactured by the fermentation of fruit, vegetables or cereals. The rise in the global consumption of alcohol, especially in developing regions such as Asia-Pacific drives the market for alcohol ingredients. This has resulted in increasing focus of key alcohol manufacturers to provide better functional ingredients by development in the production processes for alcohol ingredients and favorable functionalities of alcohol ingredients in various beverage applications. This will influence the alcohol ingredients market size.Beer is produced by fermentation of malted barley or other cereals with the addition of hops. Wine is made from fermented grape juice or crushed grapes; fortified wines include additional distilled spirits.Distilled spirits originate from sources of starch or sugar, including cereals, molasses from sugar beets, grapes, potatoes, cherries, plums, and other fruits; after sugar fermentation, the alcohol content is increased by means of liquid distillation. Although ethanol can be chemically synthesized from ethylene, the alcoholic beverage industry does not synthesize alcohol for use in beverages, because of the presence of impurities from the synthetic process.Alcohol Ingredients Market: Segmentation,Drivers & Restraints And Key PlayersAlcohol ingredients market is segmented on the type of ingredients which includes yeast, enzymes, colorants, flavors & slats and others. The worldwide demand for alcohol ingredients is on the rise, particularly in the beverage industry. The demand is governed by the performance quality, their incorporation in beverage applications, and regulations imposed by international and local governments in the production of alcohol ingredients and alcoholic beverages.Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2344 The alcohol ingredients market is expected to increase in developing countries due to the presence of emerging economies, rise in expenditure for alcoholic beverages, and the significant influence of traditions and cultures. Also, increase in population and disposable incomes in the developing Asian countries is driving the demand for alcoholic beverages, which in turn serves as a driver for the alcohol ingredients market. Alcohol ingredients market is also segmented on the basis of beverage types, which includes beer, spirits, wine whisky, brandy and others.Distribution channel advancement such as online sales, separate counter for females, outlets in public places like airport are also few important driving factors for alcohol beverage industry.The demand of alcoholic beverages increases with the constantly changing taste preferences among the consumers, high consumer affluence towards drinks and the increasing disposable income in the developing economies. Global leaders in alcohol ingredients suppliers are focusing on new product development and innovation. For example recently flavored alcoholic beverages, cocktails are becoming very popular who are looking for change from the regular plain alcoholic beverages.There exists quite a few restraints in the alcohol industry such as high taxes, stringent government regulations on manufacturing and selling liquor, and ban on advertisements among others. Alcohol consumption is also subjected to the overall economys growth in terms of gross net income per capita and household expenditure. Thus, development in the economy would give a thrust to the alcohol market further but in a less pronounced manner.The alcohol ingredients market is fragmented and competitive, with a large number of players operating at regional and local levels. Some of the major players operating in maternal nutrition products market includes Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Inc, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, Koninklijke DSM N.V, Sensient Technologies, Ashland Inc, D.D.Williamson & Co., Inc., Dohler Group, Kerry Group PLC and Treatt PLC.Request Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2344
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Aircraft Lubricant Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" report to their offering.

Aircraft Lubricant Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-21 11:29:14

Lubrication requirements of an aircraft are generally very critical due to the three factors that dominate aircraft design  need for high reliability, minimizing component weight & volume and ability to withstand extreme environmental conditions. Furthermore, aircraft engines must be lubricated to withstand extreme temperature and friction witnessed during high speed turbine revolution of aircraft engines, which is also capable of destroying aircraft engines. Early gas turbines successfully ran on mineral oil. However, demand for new lubricants increased with the introduction of new gas turbine engines in mid-1900s. With the evolution of technology, turbo oils have shifted their focus from mineral to synthetic oils as unlike mineral oils, synthetic oils can maintain good viscosity and remain stable at high temperatures and are also less volatile.Moreover, minimization of friction losses in an engine can be achieved through correct lubricating oil selection while taking various circumstances, such as ambient temperature, engine design, engine usage, time of year and climate, into consideration. Gas turbine oil type lubricants are estimated to dominate the aircraft lubricant market during the forecast period owing to increasing engine efficiency due to efficient cooling provisions and corrosion prevention as well as the presence of cool and wash away debris, which serves as the diagnostic medium for engine monitoring features and lubricating moving parts. Manufacturers are offering single or multi-grade mineral oils containing ash-free dispersing agents to meet international specifications.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5248 Aircraft Lubricant Market: Dynamics:Rising passenger traffic may lead to increased demand for more aircrafts, which is expected to fuel the demand for global aircraft lubricants over the forecast period. Furthermore, stringent regulations in Europe and North America to enhance safety and increasing investment by Russian, Indian and Chinese aerospace industry on defense are some of the major driving factors expected to contribute to aircraft lubricant market growth during the forecast period. Moreover, lubricants provide engines with added features, such as thermal stability and constant viscosity during escalated operating temperatures and pressure. That apart, aircraft lubricants also grant long life and anti-wear properties, directly effecting aircraft fuel efficiency. This is yet another factor estimated to drive the growth of the aircraft lubricant market during the forecast period. Some aircraft lubricants escape through vent lines or other parts of the oil circulation system and affect aircraft performance. This specific factor is anticipated to hamper the growth of the global aircraft lubricant market during the forecast period.Aircraft Lubricant Market: Segmentation:The global aircraft lubricant market can be segmented on the basis of product type, end-use and grade.On the basis of product type, the global aircraft lubricant market is segmented into:Piston oilGas Turbine OilGrease, andHydraulic FluidOn the basis of end-use, the global aircraft lubricant market is segmented into:PassengerDefenseOn the basis of grade, the global aircraft lubricant market is segmented into:Single gradeMulti gradeAircraft Lubricant Market: Region-wise Outlook:The Asia Pacific is expected to witness substantial growth in the global aircraft lubricant market owing to growing investments in the aircraft industry in China, India and ASEAN countries. With increasing tourism and passenger traffic gaining double-digit growth during the forecast period, the market is expected to touch higher. North America is estimated to dominate the global aircraft lubricants market owing to significant domestic and international aircraft movements in over 2000 airports in the U.S. alone. The U.S. is one of the busiest airports in the world owing to growing tourism, business and domestic travel. Europe is expected to account for over one-fourth of the total aircraft lubricant market due to large aircraft movements in major airports of U.K., Germany, France, Russia and other major countries, which account for over 60% of domestic passengers. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are expected to play a significant role in the growth of aircraft lubricant market during the forecast period.Request Report for TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-5248 Aircraft Lubricant Market: Market Participants:Some of the market participants in the global aircraft lubricant market are:ShellNYCOAviopartsThe Chemours CompanyExxon Mobil CorporationMolykoteKluberRocolEastman Chemical CompanyMorris Lubricantseni S.p.A.Aviation Chemical Solutions.
I have written many times about the unwarranted adjustments to measured past temperatures by government agencies, which serve to inflate the modest warming that has occurred in recent decades. Organizations around the world (NOAA and NASA-GISS here in the U.S.) have done this over and over, usually surreptitiously. The Manhattan Contrarian shares my opinion that this misrepresentation of the historical record is the worst scandal in the history of science. The most recent instance comes from Australia:

For those new to this topic, the Greatest Scientific Fraud Of All Time is the systematic downward adjustment of early-year temperatures in order to create a fake enhanced warming trend, the better to bamboozle voters and politicians to go along with extreme measures to try to avert the impending climate crisis.

***

The latest news comes out of Australia, via the website of Joanne Nova. Novas February 17 post is titled History keeps getting colder  ACORN2 raises Australias warming rate by over 20%. ACORN2 is a newly revised and updated temperature series for Australia, with temperatures going back to 1910 based on records from 112 weather stations on the continent, some 57 of which have records that go back all the way to the 1910 start date. The ACORN2 data compilation is so called to distinguish it from ACORN1, which was only released some 7 years ago in 2012.

***

Once again we find that the oldest thermometers were apparently reading artificially high, even though many were newish in 1910 and placed in approved Stevenson screens. This is also despite the additional urban warming effect of a population that grew 400% since then. What are the odds?!  The new ACORN version has nearly doubled the rate of warming in the minima of the longest running stations.

This simple bar chart shows how the Australian governments adjustments have artificially inflated the warming trend:

Another Australian named Gillham has also worked to uncover the shenanigans at Australias Bureau of Meteorology. He created this chart, which plots the original raw temperature records against ACORN1 and ACORN2. You can plainly see how those responsible for the records have systematically lowered the measured temperatures of earlier years in order to inflate the warming of recent years:

The Contrarian comments:

As you can see, the raw and v1 temperatures tend to be close  sometimes one higher, sometimes the other. But v2 is significantly lower across the board in the earlier years. Then, suddenly, in the recent years, it tracks the raw almost perfectly.

One amusing aspect of this story is the explanation for the latest revisions given by the creators of ACORN2. It is, in a word, incoherent. The Contrarian elaborates:

The one-word explanation is homogenization. OK, we understand what that is. For example, sometimes a station moves, and that causes a discontinuity, where, say, the new location is systematically 0.1 deg C lower than the old. An adjustment needs to be made. But these sorts of adjustments should cancel out. How is it possible that every time some official meteorological organization anywhere in the world makes some of these homogenization adjustments, the result is that earlier years get colder and the supposed global warming trend gets enhanced  always to support a narrative of climate crisis?

Good question! Here, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has released a 57-page explanation of why it altered the historic temperature record:

As far as I am concerned, this is the definitive proof of the fraud. If this were even an attempt at real, credible science, the proponents would put out a document complete with the details of the adjustments  and all of their computer code  so that an independent researcher could replicate the work. Nothing like that is here. This is pure bafflegab. Nova calls it impenetrable, which is way too nice a word as far as Im concerned.

He includes an excerpt from the ABMs document that amply justifies that assessment. It is actually pretty funny, reading like one of the parody articles that Steve has so much fun withthe ones that get published in peer reviewed journals even though they are pure nonsense, larded with cliches.

The excerpt from the ABMs explanation of its work concludes with this:

All of these methods, which use different statistical approaches, have been successfully used across a range of networks since their development. Further details on their implementation are given in Appendix C.

About which the Contrarian comments:

My favorite part is that reference at the end to Appendix C. This document has no Appendix C. There are three appendices, numbered Appendix 1, Appendix 2 and Appendix 3. Thats about the intellectual level we are dealing with.

I dont think there is any mystery about why employees of government agencies around the world systematically alter historical recordsamazingly enough, always in the same direction. But the Contrarian draws a parallel that I think is apt:

And finally: over the years as I have accumulated posts on this topic, several commenters have suggested that I must be alleging some kind of conspiracy among government climate scientists in making these adjustments. I mean, without that, how does it come about that the Australians just happen to be making the exact same kinds of adjustments as NASA, NOAA, and for that matter, as the Brits at the Hadley Center in the UK? If your brain is wondering how that could be, I would suggest that we have the same kind of phenomenon going on here as the hate crime hoax phenomenon. How does Jussie Smollett just happen to fake a hate crime playing right into the progressive narrative of the moment  just as did the Duke lacrosse team hoaxer, and the Virginia fraternity hoaxer, and the Harvard Law School black tape hoaxers, and many dozens of others? (Here is a compilation of some 15 recent hate crime hoaxes.) Did they all coordinate in one grand conspiracy? Or did they all just realize what was needed from them to support their team and its narrative?

There is a great deal of narrative supporting going on these days.
Im struggling with a painful condition that has not yet been subdued by medication. The condition is disrupting my sleep and the medication is suppressing my energy. (I should add that my painful condition is only painful. It does not have any other physical effect.)

Borrowing the heading from the old National Review Notes & Asides column in which William F. Buckley responded to letters from readers  he compiled a selection in Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription  I want to offer a few desultory (Im alluding to Buckley) notes and invite readers to comment on- or off-topic.

 Talking about Thomas Hardys great novel Tess of the dUrbervilles with one of my best friends, my friend asked me what I thought about Hardys use of coincidence (it drives the plot). I think its unrealistic, I said. What do you think?

Its realistic, he said.

My friend was entirely right

 If I hadnt had the good fortune to attend Dartmouth and happen onto Jeffreys Harts course on the so-called Augustan Age in English literature, I might still be a brain-dead lefty. That I happened onto his class was all coincidence (and luck).

 Professor Hart died on February 16 in Fairlee, Vermont. I expressed my gratitude to Professor Hart in Jeffrey Hart: An appreciation, based on the original draft of my contribution to NRs 1997 tribute by WFB and Professor Harts former students in Jeffrey Hart: A teacher celebrated. NR has now placed its 1997 tribute to Professor Hart online. It leads off with Peter Robinsons contribution. I highly recommend Peters contribution. NR has also posted the editorial Jeffrey Hart, RIP.

 The New York Times has published a full-scale obituary of Professor Hart by Sam Roberts. Appearing under the headline Jeffrey Hart, Influential and Iconoclastic Conservative, Is Dead at 88, the obit goes well beyond the scope of his students 1997 appreciations.

 The Times obit includes a photo of Professor Hart posing with his memoir cum history (of the 1950s), When the Going Was Good! The exclamation point put Harts praise of the 1950s in your face. Its a terrific book. Even better, however, was his memoir cum history of the 1940s, From This Moment On.

 The Times obit mentions that Professor Hart wrote speeches for Reagan and Nixon. It does not mention that his contributions were limited to the presidential campaign of 1968, although it gives the correct order of his employment by the candidates. He was for Reagan before Reagan was cool. He contributed this classic if dated line to the 1968 Nixon campaign: Ramsey Clark is a conscientious objector in the war against crime.

 As you might infer, Professor Hart had a devilish sense of humor, but he would not laugh at his own jokes unless you laughed first. Once you laughed, he laughed uproariously.

 The left cannot stand or withstand free speech. Can the very concept even survive? I wouldnt bet on it. See the excellent column by James Kirchick, The self-muzzling of the free world.

 Who could see this coming? Another hate crime hoax: Jussie Smollett attack: Smollett charged with disorderly conduct for filing false police report, prosecutors say. The AP account following this mornings press conference in Chicago is almost painful. John Podhoretz warns: Get set for the claim that Smolletts hoax is still true.' John McWhorter offers the Atlantic essay What the Jussie Smollett Story Reveals.

 Chairman Bernie raised $6 million in the first 24 hours after he announced his 2020 bid for president. Kevin Williamson calls it One last grift for Bernie Sanders. According to Kevin, the antique Brooklyn socialist who represents Vermont in the Senate, is not quite ready to retire to his lakeside dacha and so once again is running for the presidential nomination of a party to which he does not belong with an agenda about which he cannot be quite entirely honest.

 The latest rap on the laws opposing the BDS movement is that they are unconstitutional. Ilhan Omar has of course adopted it in addition to her likening of Israel to apartheid South Africa. David Bernstein now helpfully explains Everything you wanted to know about anti-BDS laws, part 1. Part 2 is linked at the top of his column.

 What happens when you let a bona fide genius loose on the infantile Green New Deal? You get Richard Epsteins The farcical Green New Deal.'

 Vladimir Putin is threatening the United States. Something tells me that Putin is not entirely happy with his investment in our 2016 presidential election.

 Im glad the FBI nipped this one in the bud: Arrested Coast Guard Officer Allegedly Planned Attack On A Scale Rarely Seen.'
It wasnt so long ago that presidential candidates were well advised to deny that they ever smoked marijuana, or at least that they ever inhaled. Those days apparently are past, at least for Democratic candidates.

Kamala Harris appeared on a talk radio show called Breakfast Club. Asked if she opposed the legalization of marijuana, Harris answered: Thats not true. To support her denial Harris said I have [smoked pot], and I inhaled  I did inhale. Harris then added, Look, I joke about it  half joking  half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?

Harris half joke did not sit well with some Jamaicans. Jamaica Global Online scolded:

So, the perception created by Ms. Harris statement is real and has caused some unease amongst Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora. . . . For some, it is more than mere unease; one Jamaican commenting on social media expressed the concern that soon my job will be singling me out to drug test me since I am from Jamaica. What a stereotype. Her concern is not unfounded given the experience of Jamaicans travelling to US ports having sniffer dogs around them in customs halls.

Harris father, Donald Harris, is among the uneasy and the unamused. The New York Post reports that Mr. Harris, a professor of economics at Stanford, said:

My dear departed grandmothers. . .as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their familys name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not, with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics. Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty.

Donald Harris seems like an interesting character and, judging by the above comments, perhaps a bit of a loose cannon. Maybe well hear more from him as the election season rolls on.

In the meantime, the lesson here is that identity politics always holds the potential to devour those who engage in it, and is never a joking matter.
"So I went down to Norristown, I challenged the assessment and got it lowered and then rented it out to Section 8, which is exactly what the borough says they don't want."

-- Property investor Chris Dailey

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.
Some say that the Korean War is the Forgotten War. And understandably so. It is a war that occurred more than seven decades ago. However, the  Read more
The Department of Public Health and Social Services is advising travelers to be cautious about traveling to the Philippines because of a measles outbreak.

The Philippine government is reporting that there were 4,302 cases of measles, including 70 deaths, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 9.

Measles can easily be brought to Guam due to frequent travel of residents between Guam and the U.S. or the Philippines, DPHSS stated.

A majority of the cases come from Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao regions, the Philippine government stated. About one in four of the measles cases have occurred in babies under 9 months old.

Public Health also cautioned of an ongoing measles outbreak in Washington state, as well as other parts of the nation.

'Highly contagious'

"Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. It is primarily spread by person-to-person contact via large respiratory droplets," DPHSS stated. Symptoms are characterized by a generalized rash lasting three days or longer, a fever of 101 F or higher, and a cough, runny nose or red eyes, the release stated.

DPHSS recommends that those traveling to any of the listed destinations ensure they are vaccinated for measles  given in combination with the mumps and rubella vaccines  at least four to six weeks before departing.

Guam residents are urged to review their shot records and ask a physician to ensure they are up to date on all routine vaccinations before traveling to any destination.

To learn more about what vaccines are needed for each country, visit https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list.
Payless ShoeSource customers on Guam and Saipan can continue to shop at the store's local outlets even with a plan to close the company's North American stores as part of a bankruptcy reorganization.

The discount shoe retailer is keeping open stores here and on Saipan, the company stated.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Feb. 18. The company mentioned Guam and Saipan operations are outside of Payless ShoeSource's North American entities that are impacted by the bankruptcy filing.

"Payless' retail operations outside of North America, including its company-owned stores in Latin America, are separate legal entities and are not included in the Chapter 11 or CCAA filings," the release states.

Payless ShoeSource will be closing 2,500 store locations in the states, Puerto Rico and Canada, as well as its e-commerce operations, the company announced.

This will be the shoe retailer's second time to file for bankruptcy in as many years, shedding about 16,000 jobs.

The company exited bankruptcy in 2017 with about $400 million in loans, after slashing its debt pile from over $800 million, Reuters reported, citing court papers.

Founded in 1956, Payless has 420 stores in Latin America, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Saipan, and 370 international franchisee stores across the Middle East, India, Indonesia, Indochina, Philippines and Africa.

"It is important to note that Payless stores throughout Latin America, as well as our international franchisee stores, will continue to operate business as usual in every respect," stated a press release from the company. "We expect continued profitable growth in our Latin American and international operations."
Thats How We Roll , a quirky new dessert shop, is bringing Thai Fried Ice Cream to Rochester. And yes  theyre on a roll.

Owner Sam Hayat opened the rolled ice cream kiosk in Apache Mall (52 US-14, Rochester) last weekend.

The setup (near Build-a-Bear in the mall) iced up the griddle at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15. By 11:30 a.m. the next Saturday, it was already getting plenty of attention.

The process of making each cup of Hayats mouthwatering ice cream is unique  and a little time-consuming.

First, he chooses from the fresh ingredients lined up in jars  berries and fresh fruit, Oreo cookies, and assorted candy pieces are all popular options. Onto an ice pan they go, with a splash of sweet, creamy base, which will freeze into ice cream once everythings mixed in.

Then, the mixing itself. Hayat and his employees spend three or four minutes stirring, scraping, and smoothing out the mixture until its pancake-thin and solid.

Then he scores the top and rolls it up into four tubes, which go into a cup with whipped cream and other toppings.

"It tastes homemade," Hayat says. "It is instant, homemade ice cream. With fresh ingredients, made right in front of the customer."

Rolled ice cream originated in Thailand, called fried or stir-fried ice cream. In the states, its called rolled ice cream, and has only been popular for about a year, Hayat says.

Last summer, Hayat tested out his own small business  with his own recipes and menu  in St. Paul.

"It was popular, so I said, Okay, well start out with a permanent location," he says. Shortly after that decision, Hayats family had a medical emergency that brought everyone to Rochester for a long stay.

Thats when he settled on Apache Mall as the place for the first Thats How We Roll kiosk.

"To be honest, any place would be a good location," he says. Hayat hopes to partner with Brookfield Properties, the Apache Mall owners, to put kiosks in other malls around the U.S.

That is, as soon as this one is a success.

Theres something Rochester customers can do to help, actually, Hayat says: be patient, especially in these first few weeks.

With new employees, a business model that requires at least a few minutes to make a dessert, and a single ice pan at the kiosk, customers who line up can expect long waits.

Hayat encourages curious people to stop by during times that arent as busy at the mall  like mornings and weekdays.

"The process itself is very slow," he notes. "If you want to make good ice cream, its not an instant thing."
Paul Berglund developed his appreciation for good cuisine in Japan while he was stationed there with the Navy.

"The Japanese really prize craftsmanship," he said. "The people there appreciate good food and the way its prepared."

From the Navy, he got a job as a pizza chef and worked his way up the culinary ladder to assistant chef at Oliveto in Oakland, Calif.

Berglund said he enjoys expanding his knowledge in culinary arts and working with new ingredients. After heading the Bachelor Farmer in the Twin Cities for six years, he spent the past year-and-a-half as culinary director for Vestalia Hospitality.

Now, the James Beard Award-winning chef is bringing his experience to Rochester as the new culinary and sustainability director at Fiddlehead Coffee Co.

Berglund is moving to join his fiancee, Tia Chakraborty, a Mayo Clinic neurologist. However, his love of culinary exploration isnt being left behind. Berglund doesnt have to look far to see opportunities to learn. From Fiddleheads new home at Fourth Street and Third Avenue SE, he can view the site of the downtown Rochester Farmers Market.

"Theres no better farmers market in Minnesota," he said, craning his neck from his seat at Fiddlehead, as if checking to see if it was still snow-covered.

"Im so excited for May to come around," he said. "Theres just so much potential  literally across the street."

The market offers new ingredients including Hmong melons, bitter ball melons, sweet potato greens, and other unique produce.

As Berglund was first learning to cook, he was struck by the similarities between Japanese and Italian food philosophies.

"The two share a directness and simplicity," Berglund said.

Both offer more complex dishes, but their staples are few-ingredient efforts of quality, he said.

"If the tomatoes are are great, the oil is fine and the pasta prepared just right ... its a very essential experience," Berglund said.

Good sushi relies on pristine fish, prepared rice, and fresh wasabi. "You dont need anything except maybe a dab of good soy sauce."

Working with fresh ingredients and learning how to present their flavors well is the kind of challenge Berglund can sink his teeth into.

When he explored the area last fall while mulling over his move, he bought some bitter ball melons.

"I didnt really cook them very well," he said with giddiness.

"As a chef whos been cooking for 15 years, to work with new ingredients, thats a treasure," he added. "I live for things like that."

Berglund noted the region is rich in dairy producers and is looking for local and sustainable sources for fruits, honey, and maple syrup.

Hell work with Fiddlehead Chef Brandon Adams to create new dishes for customers. Adams has been working to learn the new kitchen setup and equipment.

Adams tells Berglund he thinks he has the induction range figured out for searing salmon and scallops.

"I have a lot to learn," Berglund said with a smile.
Parts of Minnesota topped February snowfall records Wednesday and many of the states 2,066 public schools canceled classes. But this was just one in a long line of cancellations since the start of January.

Carissa Keister, community engagement manager for Stillwater Public Schools, said shes never seen anything like this.

"Ive been doing this job for 20 years in different districts and I dont recall ever having a winter ... where weve had so many snow days," she said.

Gary Amoroso, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, has experience that goes back twice as far.

"Ive been involved in education 42 years," he said. "And this is the first time Ive ever seen anything of this magnitude."

Stillwater in southeastern Minnesota has had to cancel school for seven days and start classes late an additional day because of winter weather. School officials decided to hold a makeup school day last Monday  Presidents Day  but theyre still looking at adding more two more days to their calendar.

Keister said the situation has gotten so bad that students in the district are starting to complain about the missed days.

"Its amazing," she said. "I have never thought I would say that, but yes, we have been getting messages from our kids of please, dont close schools because its making it really challenging for them to keep up with their coursework. They feel like theyre falling behind, and that can be stressful for some of them as well."

Teachers dont like the missed days either. Keister said its already hard enough for them to fit everything into the school year  and canceled classes only increase the pressure.

Hastings is another public school district that had to hold classes on Presidents Day. Tim Collins, Hastings Public Schools superintendent, said the district typically has to miss one day per year because of winter weather. The most he can remember ever missing is four days.

But this year? Hastings has had to cancel eight days of school.

And Hastings is not alone. Amoroso said hes been talking to school officials across the state, trying to understand how snow and cold weather are affecting their ability to meet state requirements for instructional time. Many districts  including Stillwater  are already realizing they wont meet state requirements.

Minnesota law calls for 165 days of instruction each year for public school students in grades one through 11. Schools that dont meet the threshold dont face financial penalties, but funding problems can arise for some.

"There is a consequence that can come up financially for districts if they dont hit the minimum number of hours," he said. "If you have districts that have summer programs, if you have districts that have other extended day programs  in order for those programs to be funded at the full level  you must have met the appropriate number of hours throughout the year."

Amoroso said hes been talking to lawmakers and the state Department of Education about legislation that would provide relief to districts. But any change to a state statute would have to be passed by the Minnesota Legislature. In the meantime, schools are scrambling to rework their calendars.

And schools arent the only ones struggling with the effects of winter. Other companies that work with Minnesota schools are also affected.

Minnesota Central School Bus Company contracts with Stillwater Public Schools to transport students. And when snowstorms blow in, bus drivers are either out of work from canceled classes or trying to keep their students safe on snowy, slippery roads.

Rita Mortensen, contract manager for the company, said bus companies nationwide are having a difficult time finding and retaining employees. Having snow days and school cancellations is making it that much harder to keep good employees.

"Driving in snow conditions is very scary for anybody," she said. "And to drive a 15-ton vehicle with the most precious cargo in the world definitely takes a professional driver to do that. And so, yes, it is a struggle to keep good employees because they do need to go and get full-time work."
MADISON, Wis.  Financial struggles led Leon Statz to sell his 50 dairy cows, causing the third-generation farmer to become depressed.

Then land next to his 200-acre farm near Loganville, Wis., went up for sale  land his late father had said he should buy. Statz, who didnt have the money, became hopeless.

On Oct. 8, the day the adjacent property hit the market; Statz killed himself on his farm. He was 57.

"He said, How am I going to afford this?" said Brenda Statz, his wife of 34 years. "He would panic about everything when it got to finances."

Wisconsin, which had a record 915 suicides in 2017, may be seeing a surge in suicides and suicidal thoughts among farmers, who are facing some of the worst economic challenges in years, experts say.

Exact numbers of suicides among farmers arent available, and authorities say some deaths reported as farm accidents are actually suicides.

But calls to the Wisconsin Farm Center, which helps distressed farmers, were up last year, including a 33 percent increase in November and December.

"We definitely have seen an increase in folks who are closer to being that desperate," said Angie Sullivan, supervisor of the farm center, part of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. "Theres a major increase in their stress level."

Several years of low milk prices, the high cost of farm equipment, trade wars and other pressures contributed to the closure of 691 dairy farms in the state last year, the highest number since 2011.

About 8,100 dairy farms remain, down from about 15,900 in 2004. The number of cows milked has remained steady at nearly 1.3 million, as many surviving farms have expanded.

In 2017, the Western District of Wisconsin had the highest number of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in the country, according to federal court data. The district that year had 28 bankruptcies, which represent only a fraction of total liquidations. Similar figures for 2018 are not yet available.

Help to cope

Although the forces working against farmers can seem insurmountable, a growing effort based in Dodgeville, Wis., aims to help farmers cope with stress and avoid suicide.

Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program started a farmer suicide prevention project recently. The effort, funded by a $50,000 grant from the UW School of Medicine and Public Healths Wisconsin Partnership Program, was prompted by an increase in stories about suicides or suicidal thoughts among farmers, said Wally Orzechowski, executive director.

"Farmers tend to be pretty isolated and pretty independent," Orzechowski said. "When issues of mental health arise, they tend to just deal with it by themselves."

The project, which also involves the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Iowa County, plans to develop a mobile crisis service, conduct suicide prevention training sessions and establish networks to address suicide in a region stretching from Eau Claire to the state border with Dubuque, Iowa.

"The biggest part is to spread awareness, to say, It is OK to talk about it," said Sue Springer Judd, who runs the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Iowa County, which also serves six nearby counties.

Judd spoke to a group of farmers recently in Loganville, about 50 miles northwest of Madison. Her brother, Donald Springer, killed himself in 2012 at age 41, leaving behind three children ages 10 to 15. He owned a plumbing business and had a hobby farm next to his fathers beef farm near Mineral Point.

"We had no idea he was suicidal; we just thought he was depressed," Judd told more than 40 farmers and others gathered at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Loganville to discuss farmer stress and suicide awareness. "We didnt know he was going bankrupt and losing his plumbing business."

There is always light

For Keith Henneman, from near Boscobel, an outbreak of Johnes disease, a fatal intestinal infection in cows, appeared to be one reason he killed himself in 2006 at age 29, his parents said.

"Its very difficult losing cattle like that," said his mother, Julie Henneman, who with her husband, Phil, sold the 60 cows on their dairy farm, along with the equipment, to their son after he graduated from high school.

The Hennemans continue to live on the 215-acre farm with two other sons, but they arent farming. The couple have other jobs and help lead a Dodgeville chapter of The Compassionate Friends, a support group for parents who have lost children for any reason.

"No matter how dark a day it is, there is always light someplace, and you can continue on," Phil Henneman said, sharing some of what he discusses at the training sessions. If people say theyre suicidal, he added, "ask them open-ended questions and let them talk."
BROOKINGS, S.D.  A new partnership with the University of Minnesota aims to lower tuition costs for South Dakota State Universitys veterinary medicine students and allow them to stay closer to home the first two years of graduate work.

Students accepted into the rural veterinary program would complete their first two years of graduate courses in SDSUs department of veterinary and biomedical services before heading to the University of Minnesotas College of Veterinary Medicine, the Aberdeen American News reported.

Jane Christopher-Hennings, SDSU director, department head and professor of veterinary medicine, said there are bills being drafted in this years legislative session that would redirect subsidies from undergraduate programs. SDSU has requested $275,000 yearly for a three-year period starting in 2020 to cover salaries, according to information provided by Christopher-Jennings.

The program intends to focus on needs in the veterinary students home areas, specifically for large-animal veterinarians. The proposed program would permit SDSU to annually enroll 20 to 22 veterinary students.

There are 4.6 head of cattle for each person in South Dakota, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That is the highest ratio in the nation.

Megan Ernst, a veterinarian at New Horizon Veterinary Service in Glenham, said any program that could retain more veterinary students in the state would be beneficial.

"We really do have a shortage here in South Dakota. Especially in this area there is no competition," Ernst said. "All the vet clinics have more than we can handle. It is not uncommon for us and the surrounding clinics to tell people in need of veterinary service to call another clinic (because) we just cant fit you in."

The University of Minnesota admits 105 veterinary students per year and has enough classroom space to accommodate third-year arrivals from SDSU.

"Providing the infrastructure and clinical skill classes during the last two years of veterinary medical school isnt financially feasible for SDSU," Christopher-Hennings said. "But providing the classes taken during the first two years is an affordable option."
CHARLESTON, Ill.  A plot of Illinois farmland that President Abraham Lincoln once owned has sold at auction for $300,000.

A retired farmer in the central Illinois city of Charleston sold his familys 590-acre farm, which includes the 30-acre plot once owned by the nations 16th president.

The remaining 560 acres sold for $3.9 million, or about $7,000 an acre.

The land once owned by Lincoln went for $10,000 an acre. A representative says the buyer wants to remain anonymous. Plans for the land have not been revealed.

Lincoln bought 40 acres in 1841 from his cash-strapped father. Six acres became part of the current Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. The remaining 34 acres were eventually sold.

Winter storms blamed for 1,600 cow deaths

YAKIMA, Wash.  A series of winter storms that pounded the state of Washington last week are blamed for killing about 1,600 dairy cows in the Yakima Valley.

The Yakima Valley Dairy Farmers Association blames cold temperatures and winds gusting to 80 miles per hour for the cow deaths.

Dairy farmers are preparing for more winter storms by adding extra bedding to insulate areas for cows to lie down, adding extra feed, and thawing water troughs with hot water.

Dairy farmer Alyssa Haak of Prosser, Wash., says they are stacking straw bales to create windbreaks for cows.

Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency because of the storms, a move farmers hope will lead to further assistance.

Mississippi says no to hemp

JACKSON, Miss.  Mississippi lawmakers have turned back an attempt to legalize growing industrial hemp in the state.

The House Drug Policy Committee recently rejected an amendment that would have changed state law to allow farmers to grow hemp.

The U.S. Congress last year approved allowing production of non-intoxicating hemp in heavily regulated pilot programs.

Committee Chairwoman Patricia Willis, a Republican, opposes the change. She says Mississippis law shouldnt change before federal changes take effect later this year.

Republican Rep. Dana Criswell says Mississippi should move now or farmers will miss out.

Hemp supporters could try again to amend the bill later.

Lawmakers call for opening potato industry to China

WASHINGTON  A group of lawmakers are asking President Donald Trumps administration to prioritize the U.S. potato industry in trade talks with China.

Potatoes are a major economic driver in several states, from Idaho to rural Maine and 39 members of Congress say spuds need a place at the table in the talks.

The lawmakers cite the U.S. potato industrys $3.7 billion farm gate value. They say China could become a top market for American potatoes if granted access to the countrys fresh potato market.
BYRON, Minn.  When Curt Tvedt purchased his familys farmland in 1976, it was the start of both a farming and rescue operation.

His father had rented out the land for years and it was in rough shape, so much so that Tvedt said there were parts couldnt get a tractor through.

"The ground was at a point of no return," said Tvedt. "So Ive looked at it as a degraded resource, and Im trying to build it back."

For his passion and advocacy for soil health, Tvedt was honored as one of this years recipients of the Environmental Achievement Award.

Environmental Achievement Awards have been given out since 1992 through a partnership between the Olmsted County Environmental Resources Department and Rochester Public Utilities. Awards honor community members, businesses and organizations that have made a significant contribution to environmental quality in Olmsted County.

Winners are nominated by the community and then selected by a review committee. Tvedt was the only farmer to take home the honor this year.

"Tvedts commitment to bettering his soils health has educated and inspired many throughout the region to alternative farming practices like reduced tillage and cover cropping," said Shona Snater, bridge to soil health organizer for the Land Stewardship Project.

Tvedt discovered years ago how to build soil back relatively quickly, through no-till and cover cropping techniques. He started by planting rye cover crops to use for cattle feed, and has since planted bean crops into the rye. The practice protects the soil from heavy rains and suppresses weed growth. His ultimate goal is to increase soil health to the point where he doesnt need to put extra labor, fuel or fertilizer into the crop.

"Im not at the forefront, Im just retired so I can play around a little bit," said Tvedt.

But it was a long road that brought him to the point hes at today. When asked how many years hes been farming, Tvedt just laughs.

"I started driving tractors 70 years ago," said Tvedt.

After working an office job for about 10 years, he went back to farming and bought the 160 acres of land his dad purchased in 1941. Back then, Tvedt said it was considered the poorest soil in Salem Township.

In 2013, Tvedts eyes were opened when he went with the LSP to Burleigh County in North Dakota to see the success some farmers were having with cover crops and no-till practices. More than half the farmland in Burleigh County is no-till today.

He credits LSP for bringing farmers to other counties and working as a middle man to get the word out about better conservation practices.

"Individual farmers cant afford to bring speakers in," he said of the LSP events, which sometimes bring out more than 100 people.

He decided upon his return that hed start using some of the same methods. That was after hed researched more data, listened to a lot of podcasts and took some day-classes in microbiology. He decided using both cover crop and no-till methods would get him the best results.

Tvedt is now part of a peer-to-peer group of several Byron-area farms. The group includes Martin Larsen, a farmer and employee for the Soil and Water Conservation District in Olmsted County, who shows the benefits of soil structure and water infiltration. It also includes farmer Tom Pyfferoen, who breaks down the dos and donts of starting to no-till farm.

"We share what we did this year, what worked and what didnt work, so we can learn from each other," said Tvedt. "Peer groups are really important, and if you go to the areas where cover crops have really taken off, its because of (peer groups) driving it."

He said there are plenty of tutorials and articles written about conservational farming methods, but hed recommend anyone interested in the techniques to attend a field day and hear from farmers themselves. And to not expect the switch to be simple.

"Youre gonna get knocked on your teeth once in a while whenever you try something new, because its new," said Tvedt.
The latest USDA crop production report and the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report were both released on Feb. 8.

Corn summary

Based on the January WASDE and USDA reports, total U.S. corn production for 2018 is estimated at just more than 14.4 billion bushels, just below the 2017 production of 14.6 billion bushels. The record U.S. corn production of 15.1 billion bushels occurred in 2016.

The 81.7 million harvest acres of corn in the U.S. in 2018 compares 82.7 million acres in 2017 and 86.7 million acres in 2016.

The 2018-19 corn ending stocks are projected to decline significantly from ending stock levels in the previous two years. The 2018-19 ending stocks are estimated at 1.73 billion bushels, similar to 2015-16, and compares to 2.14 billion bushels in 2017-18 and 2.29 billion bushels in 2016-17.

USDA expects total corn usage for 2018-19 to be up slightly from a year earlier, with small increases in the amount of corn utilized for feed and exports, but a slight reduction in the amount of corn used in ethanol production.

USDA is estimating the 2018-19 farm-level market year average (MYA) corn price in a range of $3.35 to $3.85 per bushel, or an average of about $3.60 per bushel. This compares to $3.36 in both 2017-18 and 2016-17, $3.61 in 2015-16, and $3.70 in 2014-15.

Soybean summary

According to the WASDE report, total U.S. soybean production for 2018 is estimated at 4.54 billion bushels which compares to 4.41 billion bushels in 2017-18 and 4.3 billion bushels in 2016-17.

The total harvested U.S. soybean acreage in 2018 was estimated at 88.1 million acres, which is below the record 89.5 million acres in 2017, but far surpasses the 2016 level of 82.7 million harvested acres.

USDA is projecting soybean ending stocks to be 910 million bushels, which is more than double the 438 million bushel ending stocks in 2017-18, and is triple the final ending stocks of 302 million bushels in 2016-17. Soybean export levels are projected to decline nearly 12 percent in 2018-19 compared to a year earlier, primarily due to the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China. Soybean exports to China account have accounted for approximately one-third of total U.S. soybean production in recent years.

USDA is estimating the 2018-19 MYA soybean price in a range of $8.10 to $9.10 per bushel, or an average of about $8.60 per bushel, the lowest price since 2008-2009. The price compares to $9.33 in 2017-18, $9.47 in 2016-17, and $8.95 in 2015-16.

Corn yield summary

The USDA reports the national average corn yield for 2018 to be 176.4 bushels per acre, just lower than the record yield of 176.6 bushels per acre in 2017. Other recent national average corn yields are 174.6 bushels per acre in 2016, 168.4 bushels per acre in 2015, 171 bushels per acre in 2014, and 158.1 bushels per acre in 2013. The January statewide 2018 average corn yield estimates were lowered in nearly every Midwestern State except Illinois and North Dakota, as compared to the December estimates.

In Minnesota, the 2018 average corn yield is estimated at 182 bushels per acre, which is at the lowest in the past four years. The reduced statewide yield was mainly due to the very low yields in portions of southwestern and south-central Minnesota caused by excessive rain. The state record corn yield is 194 bushels per acre reached in 2017.

In Iowa, the 2018 average corn yield is projected at 196 bushels per acre, down from an average yield of 202 bushels per acre in 2017 and well below the state record yield of 203 bushels per acre in 2016.

Average yields in other states included Illinois at 210 bushels per acre; Indiana, 189 bushels per acre; Nebraska, 192 bushels per acre; South Dakota, 160 bushels per acre; North Dakota, 153 bushels per acre; and Wisconsin, 172 bushels per acre.

Soybean yield summary

The USDA reports the national average soybean yield for 2018 to be 51.6 bushels per acre, which is just below the record yield of 51.9 bushels per acre set in 2016. The yield is above the 2017 national average yield of 49.3 bushels per acre.

The estimated yield in Minnesota was 50.5 bushels per acre, an increase from 47.5 bushels per acre in 2017; however, it trails the state record yield of 52 bushels per acre in 2016.

The average soybean yield in Iowa is estimated at 57 bushels per acre, which matches the 2017 yield, but is below the record yield of 60 bushels in 2016.

The estimated yields in other states include Illinois at an impressive 65 bushels per acre,; Indiana, 58.5 bushels; Nebraska, 59 bushels; South Dakota, 46 bushels; North Dakota, 35.5 bushels; and Wisconsin, 49 bushels.
Assistant Columbia bureau chief

Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill.
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.
The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication.
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
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.
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
Michael Majchrowicz is a reporter covering crime and public safety. He previously wrote about courts for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts. A Hoosier native, he graduated from Indiana University with a degree in journalism.
Adam Parker has covered many beats and topics for The Post and Courier, including race and history, religion, and the arts. He is the author of "Outside Agitator: The Civil Rights Struggle of Cleveland Sellers Jr.," published by Hub City Press.
Chloe Johnson covers the coastal environment and climate change for the Post and Courier. She's always looking for a good excuse to hop on a boat.
Gregory Yee covers breaking news and public safety. He's a native Angeleno and previously covered crime and courts for the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, CA. He studied journalism and Spanish literature at the University of California, Irvine.
Are you a master of the Wild West? Find out with trivia.
Harlow Tighe and Matt O'Brien planted hemp on a timberland farm in Fairfield County after receiving one of 20 first-year permits to grow it in South Carolina. South Carolina lawmakers want to lift the cap on how many farmers can grow the crop. File/Staff
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LEBANON  Brenton Wade Richmond, 48, of Lebanon, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder on Feb. 11.

On Feb. 9 at 10:53 a.m., a caller to the Linn County Dispatch Center reported two people were dead at a residence on Shannon Place in Lebanon, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriffs Office.

The Linn County Major Crimes Team, consisting of LCSO, Oregon State Police, Sweet Home Police Department and Albany Police Department, was called to the scene.

Tammy Lee Hopper, 42, of Lebanon, and Erik Cody Jacobs, 48, of Independence, were found dead from apparent homicidal violence, according to the release. Hopper resided at the home.

Investigators worked through the night processing the crime scene. Richmond was identified as the suspect and arrested on Feb. 10 in Southern California near the Mexico border. Richmond is a former Lebanon police officer.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information should call Detective John Lovik II at 541-967-3911.
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The Senate has joined the House in threatening to subpoena all of the Mueller report if Trump and his attorney general try to hide it.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal brought up several ways that the Senate could get the Mueller report

Sen. Blumenthal told CNNs New Day that the Senate Judiciary Committee could subpoena the report, Therell be subpoenas from Congress, including, I hope, from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee also could subpoena Mueller to testify, A Senate or House Committee may subpoena anyone. The Department of Justice may resist it.

The House and Senate committees can also subpoena any parts of the Mueller report that the Justice Department refuses to release. For example, if Trumps AG William Barr tries to redact information that implicates the president in any crimes.

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Video:

AG William Barr has to make a decision  is he going to be the peoples lawyer or is he going to be the Presidents lawyer? @SenBlumenthal says as sources tell CNN that the Justice Department is preparing for Mueller report as early as next week. https://t.co/o1rWjoIe29 pic.twitter.com/ZR9AXMOTqa  New Day (@NewDay) February 21, 2019

House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler has already publicly stated that he will fight the attorney general and subpoena the Mueller report if the Justice Department refuses to release it.

Trump and Barr Cant Hide The Mueller Report

After he realized that he couldnt fire Mueller, Trumps plan seems to have shifted to putting loyalists in place at the DOJ who would bury the report. Congress is not going to allow that to happen. Once Congress obtains the report, it will be entered into the public record and Muellers findings will be out there for all to see.

Trump can delay by fighting with Congress, but his plan to hide the Mueller report has been blown up, and any action the Executive Branch takes will look like a cover-up that is stalling for time.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
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(Reuters)  A North Carolina Republican, whose congressional campaign is under investigation for possible fraud, told election officials on Thursday he was unaware of an illegal effort to collect absentee ballots that might have tipped the vote in his favor.

The State Board of Elections has held off certifying the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, as the victor in the disputed Nov. 6 vote, in which he appeared to prevail over Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes, out of 282,717 ballots cast.

The board has heard four days of testimony on whether the Harris campaign benefited from illegal election manipulation by political consultant Leslie McCrae Dowless.

Harris said on Thursday that he had known that Dowless, on his behalf, was going door to door to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him that he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

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What makes you so special? What do you do?' Harris recalled asking Dowless at a 2017 meeting. Dowless answered, We dont touch ballots, we dont take ballots,' the candidate testified.

If the investigation finds the election was tainted, the five-member board could order a new vote to fill the seat. If Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Residents of at least two counties in North Carolinas 9th Congressional District said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots, and in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for races left blank, a election board official has said.

On Thursday, the Republican candidate said a Bladen County judge introduced him to Dowless, who led a successful absentee ballot program while working for Republican candidate Todd Johnson during a 2016 congressional primary election.

Harris son, John, testified on Wednesday that he suspected Dowless had illegally collected absentee ballots while working for Johnson, and that he had told his father about his suspicions.

Harris sought a meeting with Dowless when he learned of the success of the consultants 2016 absentee ballot program, according to text messages that Harris attorneys turned over to the board on Thursday, moments before the Republican was due to testify.

In those messages, Harris asked the county judge about the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us.

Campaign officials have said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless himself has proclaimed his innocence.

McCreadys lawyer, Marc Elias, one of the nations top election law specialists, said earlier this week the testimony had revealed massive election fraud that justified a new vote.

State Republicans have pushed for the board to certify Harris as the districts representative. The U.S. House of Representatives would then determine whether to seat him.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston and Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO (Reuters)  Actor Jussie Smollett paid two brothers thousands of dollars to beat him in a staged racist and homophobic attack because he was unhappy with his salary on the hip-hop TV drama Empire, Chicagos police chief said on Thursday.

Smollett, who is black and openly gay, was arrested on Thursday and charged with lying to police about the alleged attack on Jan. 29. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was visibly angered as he condemned his actions.

Police did not spell out how the 36-year-old actor hoped to boost his salary by staging the supposed attack by supporters of President Donald Trump. Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career, Johnson told a news conference, adding that the actor paid $3,500 to the brothers to stage the supposed hate crime.

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This stunt was orchestrated by Smollett because he was dissatisfied with this salary. He concocted a story about being attacked, Johnson said. We gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Police did not say anything about the amount of Smolletts salary. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of one to three years.

Smollett had said two apparent Trump supporters struck him and put a noose round his neck while shouting This is MAGA country, referring to Trumps Make America Great Again slogan. It was initially reported that an unknown substance was poured over him, but Johnson on Thursday said that was unclear.

@JussieSmollett  what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA, Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

20th Century Fox Television, which airs Empire, said in a statement that it understands the seriousness of the matter and respects the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options, the statement said.

The Cook County States Attorneys Office approved felony criminal charges against Smollett for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report, police said on Wednesday. He has a bond hearing scheduled for later on Thursday.

A spokesman for Smolletts lawyers, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, said on Thursday in an email, once we are ready to make statement we will do so.

On Wednesday, they had said they were conducting a thorough investigation to form an aggressive defense.

THROUGH THE MUD

Police interviewed more than 100 people, reviewed video from more than 55 surveillance cameras and executed more than 50 search warrants during the investigation.

Johnson told reporters that Smollett had first tried to gain attention by sending himself a threatening letter filled with racial, homophobic and political language.

When that didnt work, Smollett paid $3,500 to stage this attack and drag Chicagos reputation through the mud, the police chief said.

On Feb. 13, police arrested the two brothers who were recognized from surveillance footage of the area where Smollett said the attack occurred. One of the brothers worked with Smollett on Empire, according to police and their lawyer.

Near the end of the 48 hours in which police are allowed to detain potential suspects without charging them, the brothers decided to confess to the entirety of what the plot was, Johnson said. They became cooperating witnesses and were released two days later without charges.

Since the alleged attack, Smollett had received support on social media, including from several celebrities and Democratic presidential candidates. Others were skeptical of the incident, which Smollett said occurred around 2 a.m. on a Chicago street during one of the citys coldest weeks in recent history.

In an interview with Good Morning America last week, Smollett said he was angry that some people questioned his story, and he suggested the disbelief might come from racial bias.

Johnson called for Smollett to apologize to the city and said he was worried that real victims might now be reluctant to come forward.

My concern is that hate crimes will now be publicly met with a level of skepticism, Johnson told reporters, adding that the city had bigger problems.

I just wish that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention, the police chief said.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago and Gina Cherelus in New York; Additional reporting by Brendan OBrien in Milwaukee, Wis.; and by Gabriella Borter and Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis)
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Yesterday U.S. authorities arrested a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who described himself as a white nationalist and amassed a cache of weapons to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.

Today MSNBCs Joe Scarborough started yelling at a conservative guest who tried to say that Donald Trump was not to blame for his followers threatening or committing acts of violence.

The more the truth about Donald Trumps crimes and potential treason and conspiracy against the United States are reported in the media, the more Trump attacks the media as the enemy of the people.

And the more Trump attacks the media verbally, the more his mentally unstable followers decide to attack the media with weapons in order to inflict real bodily harm on journalists.

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Scarborough himself was one of the media personalities who was threatened by the arrested Coast Guard lieutenant as part of his white nationalist plot.

Joe had as a guest today conservative Washington Examiner columnist Kristen Soltis Anderson. She suggested to her host that it was unfair to blame Trump for recent acts of violence toward journalists. She said:

Theres a really big difference between saying, you know, I dont know that I can trust everything I see in the news, and, Im going to go Google search to try to figure out how I can cause physical harm to reporters.

Theres a huge leap there. There are always crazy individuals out there.

We had the newsroom shooting that tragically took the lives of some journalists in Annapolis not too long ago. That was inspired by local issues. The shooting of Gabby Giffords back during the Obama administration, it wasnt inspired by politics, it was inspired by a man with severe mental issues who thought that things like the money was being manipulated.

At this point Scarborough couldnt take it anymore, and interrupted Anderson, asking her what the Coast Guard officers plot was inspired by, or bombs mailed to Trump critics by a fanatical supporter or a Pittsburgh synagogue shooting carried out by a man who cited Trump to justify his actions.

Anderson agreed that some acts could be inspired by rhetoric from the president, but then added:

My point is even in the absence of President Trump, you have individual who are unstable and theyre adding additional comments to that existing recipes is a recipe for bad.

Scarborough then asked his guest to explain how the Pittsburgh shooter and pipe bomb mailer werent inspired by the president.

Joe, you have put words in my mouth, Anderson objected. Im not saying this is not because of the president, Im saying you already have existing layers of crazy, and when you have additional rhetoric added into that it creates a more unstable situation.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski then interrupted to say Anderson was letting the president off the hook. But the journalist argued the point, saying:

I 100 percent think President Trump views this like pro wrestling and no one is going to get hurt. My point is, in the absence of rhetoric, these are already dangerous professions professions  the media, politics  and viewing it like pro wrestling and I can say things like it doesnt matter is a dangerous thing for the president to be doing, and I wish he would stop.

Anderson also said Trump might just not believe he was responsible for the violence committed by his supporters, which Scarborough and Brzezinski immediately dismissed as ridiculous.

He would have to be mentally impaired, Scarborough said, after seeing 11 people gunned down in a synagogue inspired by Donald Trumps words, to see a guy sending pipe bombs around to try to threaten or hurt or kill, again, people that Donald Trump has attacked as his political opponents, his political enemies.

And now this Coast Guard situation where this guy had stockpiled weapons for some time, he added, and had a plan to go out and gun down people that Donald Trump identified as his enemies on Capitol Hill and in the press. How could Donald Trump not be aware that his words have actually led to violence and are inspiring others unhinged to commit further acts of violence?

Donald Trump IS to Blame For Violence, and He Must Take Responsibility For It

One thing that todays Morning Joe interview points out is that the president and his supporters believe that he has no responsibility for the acts of political violence perpetrated by his followers. But this is clearly untrue.

Donald Trump thinks he can win the 2020 election for president by appealing to his racist and white nationalist supporters. In fact he is thrilled when they take his violent rhetoric and act on it, killing blacks, Jews, Hispanics and journalists.

But America is better than Donald Trump, and a great majority of Americans do not support him and his racist views. In next years elections they will have their say, and Donald Trump will be thrown out of office.

CLICK HERE to watch the interview on Morning Joe
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday refused to answer questions about whether he was aware in 2017 about the FBI opening a counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump.

During an interview on NBCs Today Show Pompeo was asked if he knew that the FBI launched an investigation into Trump in May 2017, when Pompeo was serving as CIA director.

Recognizing that any answer he gave would create headlines, Pompeo chickened out and completely ignored the question. Instead he started spewing the party line and attacked former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, knowing that is what his boss Donald Trump wanted to hear.

Wow. Mike Pompeo, who was CIA director when FBI opened counterintelligence investigation into Trump in May 2017, refuses to answer questions about if he knew about it. Bizarrely, he ends his non-answer by referring further questions to Vladimir Putin.

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Wow. Mike Pompeo, who was CIA director when FBI opened counterintelligence investigation into Trump in May 2017, refuses to answer questions about if he knew about it. Bizarrely, he ends his non-answer by referring further questions to Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/9eO6RsYcSa  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2019

I find it sad that Andrew McCabe had the Inspector General from the organization where he worked for forever declare he wasnt credible, Pompeo said. Thats unfortunate, so I dont put a lot of stock into the things Mr. McCabe said. My work at the CIA was always aimed at the singular purpose of keeping America safe.

The Today Show interviewer then pressed further and asked Pompeo whether he was aware of the counterintelligence investigation into the president which McCabe had said he began after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

Pompeo responded:

I dont talk about ongoing investigations or the absence of ongoing investigations. For two years Ive protected that, and Ill protect it again today. But know this: This administration has been tougher on Russia than the previous administration by far.

The only person you really need to ask about that is Vladimir Putin.

Pompeo Makes Clear He Is Working For Trump, Not For the United States

As CIA Director in 2017 Mike Pompeo was in on the meetings that Andrew McCabe said took place to discuss whether Donald Trump was working for Russia. Also in on the meetings were prominent Republican members of Congress.

Now both Pompeo and these Republicans are pretending that the meetings in 2017 never took place. However they not only attended the meetings, they also (by their silence) gave their tacit consent to the FBI investigation into the president.

Everyone feared at the time that Trump may be working for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and those fears are still valid. All thats changed over the past two years is that partisan political operatives like Mike Pompeo have lost their nerve. They no longer are willing to stand up and do whats right for America. Instead they have capitulated to the demands of the autocratic dictator-wannabe in the White House.

History will not be kind to Mike Pompeo and Republicans like him who, when given a chance to do the right thing for their country, did not do it. Pompeo has given in to fear and the desire for power, but someday soon the truth will come out, and his boss, the President of the United States, will be revealed to have been a traitor to his country.

CLICK HERE to watch the entire Today Show interview with Mike Pompeo
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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on Thursday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told him he knew of two Cabinet members who might support invoking the 25th Amendment to oust President Donald Trump but he did not believe Rosenstein was actively seeking support for such a bold move.

McCabe, speaking to reporters to promote his book The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terrorism and Trump, said he could not recall which two Cabinet members Rosenstein mentioned without access to memos of the 2017 conversation.

I at no time got the impression that he had actually sought support or talked to those people about it, McCabe said. It was simply Rod thinking off the top of his head  this is a thing that could be done.

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In September the New York Times reported that John Kelly, who served as Trumps chief of staff, and Jeff Sessions, who Trump dismissed as attorney general, might be persuaded to invoke the 25th Amendment. The amendment outlines how a president can be removed by the vice president and Cabinet members if deemed unable to carry out the duties of the office.

McCabe has recounted in interviews how he decided to open counterintelligence and obstruction of justice investigations targeting Trump shortly after the president fired James Comey as FBI director in May 2017. Trump later said Comeys dismissal was prompted by his concerns about the investigation of possible ties between his campaign and Russia.

Those investigations were soon taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whom Rosenstein appointed a few days after Comey was fired. McCabe is seen as a crucial witness in the obstruction part of Muellers investigation, which Trump has repeatedly called a witch hunt while denying collusion.

A Justice Department spokeswoman on Thursday pointed to a department statement from last week that said based on Rosensteins interactions with Trump, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment and that Rosenstein as deputy attorney general was not in a position to do so.

McCabe was fired in March of last year by Sessions after the Justice Departments inspector general concluded he had lied to investigators about his interactions with the media. McCabe disputes that finding and his attorney said on Thursday McCabe plans to file a civil lawsuit soon challenging his dismissal.

McCabe praised Rosenstein, who is expected to depart the Justice Department in mid-March, for his decision to appoint Mueller, who could deliver a report with his findings to Attorney General William Barr soon.

We should all be grateful to Rod for that decision, McCabe said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Bill Trott)
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The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday praised former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for his recent public comments about Donald Trump, saying he had sufficient basis to think that the president might be a Russian spy.

In numerous media interviews McCabe has explained in detail why he had decided to launch FBI investigations into the president nearly two years ago.

John Brennan, who served as Barack Obamas CIA director, was on MSNBCs The 11th Hour with Brian Williams to discuss the latest in the Trump investigations.

Before interviewing Brennan, Williams played video clips from two interviews that McCabe did on Wednesday on other MSNBC shows.

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Then Williams said:

Director Brennan, Mr. McCabe is out there talking about our president as a possible Russian asset. Some people watching no doubt hear this and chalk it up to crazy talk and perhaps they have heard the attacks on Mr. McCabe from the conservative media, from the president. I wanted to get your take on the possibility that our president is a Russian asset.

The former CIA director then responded:

Well, I worked closely with Andy McCabe for several years and he always impressed me as a very serious, hard-working and competent senior official of the FBI. And I do think he handled the investigation very adeptly and carefully.

And if he decided at that point of the ongoing investigation, that he needed to include Donald Trump as a potential target for the counterintelligence investigation, I do believe there was a sufficient basis,  again, based on my knowledge of Andy McCabe he wouldnt do something like that without a sufficient predicate.

You know, I dont know what has happened in that investigation since I left government in January of 2017. But I know that there was a lot of information that was available when I was there about Russian engagement in the interference in the 2016 election and also a lot of questions about Mr. Trumps actions, his statements, and his behavior  and those around him.

Then Brennan added:

So I do hope that Bob Mueller is going to bring this to conclusion and let us know exactly what the evidence has been able to uncover about Russian engagement as well as the role of U.S. persons in this intrigue.

Robert Mueller Must Tell the American People if Trump Has Been Working as a Russian Asset in the White House

Before special counsel Robert Mueller concludes his work and turns all of his files and evidence over to Trumps Attorney General William Barr, he must let the American people know if their president has been working for Russia during his tenure in the White House.

It is not acceptable to think that all of the work of Muellers team could be buried by the Trump administration Justice Department. If the special counsels work is nearly done, then it is imperative that he very soon issue more indictments which go into detail about the presidents possible crimes and collusion with Russia.

If Donald Trump is a Russian spy, then the American people have a right to know about it immediately.

CLICK HERE to watch John Brennans interview on MSNBC
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  The Department of Interior and Local Government on Thursday said it is monitoring 349 national and local government officials allegedly financing the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing the New People's Army.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano revealed a "watchlist" of politicians supposedly supporting communist groups through extortion money and permit-to-campaign fees.

Without revealing names, Ano said the list includes representatives, provincial governors, and even barangay (village) councilors. He said based on intelligence reports, these officials have been identified as sources of financial aid of some rebels.

"We now have a watchlist, we know you. So if you are supporting communist rebels, in any way, you ascertain yourself as a supporter of terrorism and an enemy of the state, you establish yourself as an accomplice to their cause," Ano said in a statement.

"We cannot win the war against terrorism if these local officials continue funding the very source of terrorism in the first place."

Ano said of the 349 officials, 11 are provincial governors, five vice governors, 10 provincial board members, 55 mayors, 21 vice mayors, and 41 are councilors.

Also in the list are 126 barangay chairmen, 50 barangay councilors, and eight other barangay officials.

Eleven former local government unit officials, 10 incumbent representatives, and one former representative are also on the list.

Ano said based on reports, communist rebels have collected 195.5 million through extortion activities since the 2016 polls.

The Interior department encouraged all candidates to steer clear of "directly or indirectly giving" financial or material support to the CPP-NPA.

READ: Duterte to 'anti-gov't scholars': No harm in dissenting, unless you join NPA
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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  U.S. authorities have arrested a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who described himself as a white nationalist and amassed a cache of weapons to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country, according to court documents.

Christopher Paul Hasson, who is assigned to the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington and lives in a Maryland suburb, had drawn up a list of possible targets, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC television host Joe Scarborough, prosecutors said in court documents.

Calling Hasson a domestic terrorist, the prosecutors said he was arrested on Friday on weapons and drugs charges.

In a draft email in June 2017, they said, Hasson wrote: I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something.

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A hearing on a motion to detain him pending trial was set for Thursday.

In a statement, the Coast Guard confirmed that an active duty member of the service had been arrested. Because this is an open investigation, the Coast Guard has no further details at this time, it said.

The Office of the Federal Public Defender in Maryland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The prosecutors said agents found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in Hassons residence in Silver Spring, Maryland.

They said from 2017, Hasson routinely studied a manifesto by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who in July 2011 killed eight people in downtown Oslo with a car bomb and then shot dead 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a Labour Party camp.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)
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Trump uncorked another bit of anti-Obama revisionist history when he falsely claimed that the EU is meeting with him, but wouldnt meet with Obama.

Trump new strange attack on Obamas legacy

Donald Trump said at the White House, We have a study thats underway, we studied it carefully and we have seen the results. The bottom line result is whether or not we can make a deal with the E.U. Well lose about $151 billion trading with the E.U. This had been going on for many years. They did not meet with the Obama administration, theyre meeting with us so well see what happens.

Video:

Trump claims that the EU never met with Obama on trade. The EU met with Obama 15 times. https://t.co/5fq6D165s0 pic.twitter.com/8bdo5GDQh8  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 20, 2019

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The EU and Obama met 15 times on trade between 2013 and 2016

As Politicos Megan Cassella tweeted:

A few choice quotes here from Trump but most interesting might be that the EU "wouldn't meet with the Obama administration (on trade). They're meeting with us." The U.S. and EU held 15 negotiating rounds to try to wrap up TTIP, a bilateral trade deal, from mid-2013 to late 2016. pic.twitter.com/pWT2Pt0Wls  Megan Cassella (@mmcassella) February 20, 2019

Its not like Trump forgot a meeting. Obama and the EU met 15 times over three years. Some of those meetings happened while Trump was running for president.

Donald Trump was simply things up to make himself look good compared to Obama.

Trumps rampant jealousy of Obama is well documented. It was not even a week ago that Trump was complaining to the press that Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize and he doesnt. Never has a current president been so petty and jealous of their predecessor.

Donald Trump cant measure up to Barack Obama, so he spends his time trying to tear Obama down.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Robert Mueller is completing his investigation, and Attorney General William Barr could make an announcement on Muellers report as soon as next week.

The Mueller Investigation Is Almost Done

CNN reported:

Attorney General Bill Barr is preparing to announce as early as next week the completion of Robert Muellers Russia investigation, with plans for Barr to submit to Congress soon after a summary of Muellers confidential report, according to people familiar with the plans.

The preparations are the clearest indication yet that Mueller is nearly done with his almost two-year investigation.

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The precise timing of the announcement is subject to change.

Will The Mueller Report Be Released To Congress And The Public?

The special counsel rules do not require that the report is released to Congress or the public. Justice Department officials could redact large portions of the report, or decide not to release any of it at all.

If the DOJ refuses to release the report, expect House Democrats to use every possible method to get the report. Attorney General William Barr has refused to commit to releasing the report, and if he refuses to do so, it will set off a political firestorm that will put the country on its ear.

Mueller is almost done, but the political battle over informing the American people of his findings is just getting started.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe might not be in the bureau anymore, but he believes the case that Donald Trump is a Russian asset has only grown stronger since he left.

In an interview with MSNBCs Chris Hayes, McCabe said the FBI believed they had enough evidence to investigate the presidents campaign for two potential crimes: obstruction of justice and conspiracy with a foreign adversary.

It was our belief at that time that we had indicators to believe that both factors might be present, he said. I havent seen anything since May of 2017 that would warn me off of that possibility.

Video:

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Andrew McCabe says Trump is behaving like a man who is owned by Russia. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/cb5zRfbfQ1  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 21, 2019

McCabe said:

We were very confident in May of 2017 that we had facts and information in our possession that clearly put us at the threshold that required that we open a case and that threshold is having an articulable, factual basis to indicate that a federal crime may have been committed. In this case obstruction of justice or that a threat to national security existed. It was our belief at that time that we had indicators to believe that both factors might be present. What Director Mueller has added to that compendium of fact, that complete understanding of whats going on, we can only guess that. But we can pull at those threats that youve mentioned, right, the things weve all observed over the last year. The presidents own conduct, like in the clip you showed from his really inexplicable statements in Helsinki. The things that weve learned about the president attending meetings with Vladimir Putin and insisting that no one else be present and trying to destroy the translators notes of those meetings after the fact. I mean these are very concerning and curious behaviors, these are behaviors that cause counterintelligence investigators to step back and ask themselves why. Why would a president act that way?  I think its certainly possible [that he may be compromised]. I mean that was our concern in May of 2017. I havent seen anything since May of 2017 that would warn me off of that possibility.

The case against Trump continues to build

As Andrew McCabe said on Wednesday, the evidence that Donald Trump was compromised by Russia and obstructing justice was already strong in 2017. Its why the investigation was opened in the first place.

Over the course of the past two years, Trump has done nothing to tamp down these widespread concerns. If anything he has become more shameless in his praise of Vladimir Putin and more committed to derailing the Mueller investigation.

All of it has come amid a string of indictments, court filings, guilty pleas and endless lies from the Trump team about their contacts with Russia.

Donald Trump will likely continue to smear former intelligence officials like Andrew McCabe, but its his own behavior that has him, his family members and associates in Robert Muellers sights.

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Both CNN and The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Robert Muellers Trump-Russia investigation could wrap up as soon as next week.

While this could just mean that Muellers work is finished, Rachel Maddow dropped a chilling warning that Donald Trumps new attorney general William Barr could be behind the special counsels sudden conclusion.

Less than one week into the tenure of President Trumps new attorney general William Barr, its over, the MSNBC host said. William Barr knows thats what he was hired to do.

Video:

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Rachel Maddow floats a chilling theory about why the Mueller investigation is reportedly wrapping up as early as next week. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/iWdmBa9XBl  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 21, 2019

Maddow said:

Less than one week into the tenure of President Trumps new attorney general William Barr, its over. The Mueller investigation is being wrapped up as soon as next week, as soon as Monday. Times up.  So maybe this is just another stone on this long, dumb path of people saying Mueller is done. Weve been hearing that forever. This absolutely could be that. It could also be, on the other hand, on the other range of possibility, it could be that attorney general William Barr has just shut it down. William Barr was hired to be attorney general, A. Because there was a vacancy. Why was there a vacancy? Because Trump fired Jeff Sessions as the previous attorney general. Why did trump fire Jeff Sessions as the previous attorney general? Well, what he said about it out loud for months is that Jeff Sessions wouldnt shut down the Russia investigation, so that made him a terrible attorney general. So William Barr knows thats what he was hired to do.

Did Trumps AG shut down the Mueller investigation?

Since the special counsel investigation was launched, Trump has not even tried to hide his efforts to undermine it, whether it was pressuring witnesses or attacking its credibility via Twitter.

He has openly admitted that he wanted to fire Jeff Sessions because he didnt protect him by shutting down the Russia investigation. Now, just days after William Barr was sworn in as the new attorney general, the special counsel investigation is reportedly over.

While it could be a coincidence and Mueller may just be finishing on his own terms, some Trump loyalists believed this is exactly what would happen after William Barr took over as attorney general.

Tomorrow will be the first day that President Trump will have a fully operational confirmed Attorney General. Let that sink in. Mueller will be gone soon.  Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 14, 2019

Ultimately, the American people have no reason to trust this administration or this Justice Department. The president has made it clear all along that he believes the DOJ is there to protect him.

In other words, the final Mueller report shouldnt just be made public, but so should the circumstances surrounding its completion.

After nearly two years of a special counsel investigation into whether the president is essentially a Russian asset, its critical that the American people can trust the end result.

As of right now, Donald Trump hasnt given them much reason to.

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Former Vermont governor and DNC chair Howard Dean said that he expects indictments and jail time for members of Donald Trumps family  no matter what happens with the special counsel investigation.

In an interview with MSNBCs Ari Melber, Dean said that regardless of whether Robert Muellers report shows conclusive evidence of a conspiracy with Russia, the stench of Trump family corruption will not go away.

I dont see a big change in the status quo, the former governor said. I do think there are a number of people going to jail. And I wouldnt rule out Donald Jr.

Video:

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Howard Dean says Trump and his family are in trouble regardless of what the final Mueller report shows. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/IRYP45YLxj  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 21, 2019

The exchange between Melber and Dean:

MELBER: Governor Dean, big picture. And if there is, quote, unquote, no election conspiracy, no collusion, what do you take from this? Is the Democrats argument yeah, okay, there wasnt an international Watergate election conspiracy, there was just a ton of felonies by all the top people Trump picked? DEAN: I dont think the stench of the Trump family corruption is going to go away no matter what happens. I think if he gets indicted or if many of his people get indicted, there may be impeachment hearings depending on how muh evidence there is. But Trumps label is now corruption. And his base is going to love him anyway and everybody else is going to hate him. And I dont see a big change in the status quo. I do think there are a number of people going to jail. And I wouldnt rule out Donald Jr.

The Mueller report is close to its conclusion

Given the indictments, court filings, guilty pleas and endless lies from the Trump team about their communications with Russia, its hard to envision a scenario in which the Mueller report isnt at least somewhat damning to the president and his corrupt circle of family and aides.

As PoliticusUSAs Jason Easley noted on Wednesday, the report could be completed as early as next week. While there isnt an exact timeline for the release, its clear that Muellers investigation is just about over.

The key remaining question is whether the report will be made available to the public so the country can see the truth about the presidents ties to a foreign adversary.

If the document isnt made public by Trumps new attorney general William Barr, not only will Democrats in Congress raise hell but the American people will take to the streets to demand its release.

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By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters)  A political consultant told North Carolinas elections board on Wednesday he was not aware an operative working for their Republican candidate had devised an unlawful absentee ballot operation that investigators say was an effort to sway a close congressional race.

The state probe into the disputed Nov. 6 election for the 9th Congressional District seat has uncovered a fraudulent absentee ballot scheme by an operative for Republican candidate Mark Harris, according to testimony at a State Board of Elections hearing in Raleigh that could prompt a new vote.

The seat has remained vacant since state officials refused to certify Harris apparent victory over Democratic rival Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast.

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The five-member elections board, which must decide if the evidence warrants a new vote, heard on Monday that Republican operative Leslie McCrae Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballot requests from voters and then return to retrieve the ballots, in violation of state law.

The paid workers in some cases falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank at Dowless home or office, said Kim Strach, executive director of the elections board.

Andy Yates, founder and partner of consultancy Red Dome Group and Harris top strategist, testified on Wednesday he was not aware that Dowless had put his initials on ballot request forms before submitting them.

State investigators said Dowless did that so the local board of elections would notify him and not the voter if there was a problem. Yates agreed that was not permissible under state law.

Yates also said he did not know of Dowless past criminal record when Red Dome hired him in 2017. Dowless served six months in jail after he was convicted of felony fraud in 1992, according to court records.

Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballot requests, among other duties pertaining to the 2018 election, Yates said, adding that he never paid Dowless to collect actual ballots.

Based on what he told me, I had no reason to believe he was not running a lawful absentee ballot program, Yates said on Wednesday.

Dowless lawyer has said he did nothing wrong.

State Republicans have pushed for the board to certify Harris as the districts representative. The U.S. House of Representatives would then determine whether to seat him.

McCreadys lawyer, Marc Elias, considered one of the nations top election law specialists, said the testimony had revealed massive election fraud that justified a new election.

If Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the House after taking control of the chamber from President Donald Trumps Republicans in November.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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In the latest sign that Donald Trumps fake and illegal national emergency declaration is in trouble, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said on Wednesday that she will vote to block the move if it comes to a vote in the Senate.

According to The Hill, Collins told reporters that she would support a resolution of disapproval that was focused on the emergency declaration, saying that she believes its constitutionally dubious.

If its a clean disapproval resolution, I will support it, she said, according to the report.

Earlier in the week, Collins said she is strongly opposed to the president invoking his national emergency powers.

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She added, I dont believe thats what the law was intended to cover.

As The Hill notes, Collins is the first Republican to go on the record saying she will vote to block Trumps declaration, but in the weeks leading up to the presidents emergency decree, a handful of GOP lawmakers have expressed their concern or opposition to such a move to fund Trumps fantasy border wall.

Its unclear how many Republicans will put their money where their mouths are and vote to block Trumps fake emergency. And even if they do, Trump is sure to veto the move once it reaches his desk.

In other words, its fine and well for Susan Collins to cast a vote that would block Trumps emergency declaration, but it could very likely come down to the Supreme Court, where Brett Kavanaugh  who Collins helped confirm  will have a chance to weigh in.

Democrats in Congress and the state level are fighting back

As I noted earlier in the week, Democrats at the state level arent taking Trumps fake emergency lying down. Sixteen states filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging the constitutionality of the move.

At the national level, as PoliticusUSA reported a short time ago, 92 lawmakers have signed onto a resolution that will be introduced Friday to end President Donald Trumps national emergency declaration on border security.

Congress has the power to end Donald Trumps unconstitutional emergency declaration, and Democrats are trying to use it. But given the fact that too many Republicans have given up their power in order to appease Donald Trump, this matter is likely to be settled in the courts.

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Jeanne Petrosky and Dennis Guzenski, both of Pottstown will have their work showcased at the American Craft Show in Baltimore this weekend.
In this Feb. 14 photo Polands Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a group photo during a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Polands prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles collaborated with the Nazis and sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers milk.

 AP Photo/Michael Sohn
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OUTSIDE BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP)  U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, an Iraqi security official said Thursday, marking the biggest repatriation from Syria of captured militants so far.

The official said the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a "safe place" under investigation.

The transfer comes as the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces is involved in a standoff over the final sliver of land held by IS in eastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.

Many believe the IS threat won't end with the pocket's recapture and that an insurgency is underway. In a foreboding sign Thursday, the IS claimed responsibility for back-to-back suicide attacks that hit a village miles away, leaving more than a dozen people dead in a rare targeting of civilians.

A few hundred people  many of them women and terrified-looking children  were evacuated Wednesday from the group's tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, signaling an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants' self-declared "caliphate" that once stretched across a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Some 300 IS militants, along with hundreds of civilians believed to be mostly their families, have been under siege for more than a week in the tent camp in the village of Baghouz. It wasn't clear how many civilians remain holed up inside, along with the militants.

More trucks were sent in Thursday to the tip of a corridor leading to the camp to evacuate more people, but Associated Press journalists on the ground outside Baghouz said no civilians emerged.

"We thought more civilians will come out today and we sent 50 trucks over," said an SDF commander who goes by his nom de guerre, Aram. "We don't know why they are not coming out."

Another SDF official said IS militants closed the roads so the civilians could not come out, citing an absence of military pressure on the group as a possible reason.

Nearly 20,000 people left through a humanitarian corridor on foot from the IS holdout earlier this month but the militants closed the passage and no civilians left for a week until Wednesday. The presence of civilians and possibly senior members of the militant group in Baghouz have slowed the group's defeat.

Hundreds of women and children from Wednesday's evacuation could be seen in the middle of the desert on the way out of Baghouz, in what appeared to be a screening area in an open field. SDF fighters could be seen among them but journalists were not allowed to approach or film them. A large convoy of coalition vehicles, armored and vans, headed in their direction.

The U.S.-led coalition declined to comment on the evacuation.

The issue of captured foreign fighters in Syria poses a major conundrum for European and other countries whose nationals have been imprisoned in Syria. The SDF is holding more than 900 foreign fighters in prisons it runs in the country's north, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.

The Kurdish-led SDF  and more recently President Donald Trump  have called on these countries to take back their nationals. The SDF says it cannot afford to keep the captured foreigners in Syria, but few of their countries want them back.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq will take back all Iraqi IS militants in Syria, as well as thousands of their family members.

The Iraqi security official, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the SDF are holding more than 20,000 Iraqis suspected of IS membership as well as their families in prisons and camps in northern Syria.

An Iraqi intelligence official said among those were around 500 Iraqi IS fighters, adding that these will be transferred back home in batches. The intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the first group of 150 was transferred to Iraqi authorities aboard 16 pickup trucks Wednesday night and that they have been moved to the capital Baghdad for interrogation.

An Alabama woman who joined IS in Syria also made headlines after the U.S. said Wednesday she won't be allowed to return with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen. Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

The 24-year-old Hoda Muthana has said she made a mistake and regrets aligning herself with IS. She is now in a refugee camp in Syria along with others who fled the militants.

On Thursday, back-to-back suicide car bombings in a market in Deir el-Zour province killed 14 civilians and an SDF fighter, a commander said.

IS claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency and said the attack targeted an SDF vehicle.

Adnan Afrin, of the SDF, said the two blasts went off in the village of Shahil, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the al-Omar Oil Field base. He said two suicide bombers stopped their cars and detonated their explosives in the market.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a car bomb that was detonated remotely as a convoy that includes workers and technicians who work at the oil field was passing. The Britain-based war monitor said 20 were killed and others wounded.

Also on Thursday, a French diplomatic official and an SDF official said they are trying to verify reports that Fabien Clain, a Frenchman who is one of Europe's most-wanted members of IS, was killed in an airstrike in Syria.

Clain is considered a key figure in the 2015 attacks in Paris, and it was his voice that claimed responsibility in the name of Islamic State for the deadly onslaught in his home country. Neither official would be named given the ongoing verifications in Baghouz, and a U.S. military spokesman said the coalition could not confirm the reports.

The Baghouz pocket's recapture by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters would spell the territorial defeat of IS and allow Trump to begin withdrawing American troops from northern Syria, as he has pledged to do, opening a new chapter in Syria's eight-year civil war.

___

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed reporting.
When people purchase plane tickets, they have to select a "gender" option: male or female. But those two categories dont cover everyone, so some major airlines are planning to offer more choices.

Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association, two trade groups that represent major air carriers, recently approved a measure that will let their member airlines add "unspecified" and "undisclosed" as identification options. That way, the airlines systems could align with recent changes in some states and countries that allow people to designate their gender as X rather than M or F on government IDs.

The measure, first reported by the Daily Beast, goes into effect June 1. Each airline will be able to decide whether and when to change its own system.

American Airlines is already working on adding the nonbinary option, although its unclear when that will be complete, a representative for the carrier said Friday. Other airlines making the change include Delta, United, and Alaska Airlines, according to the Daily Beast.

U.S. airlines are required to collect name and gender information, though the Transportation Security Administration doesnt have an official policy on processing IDs with gender-neutral markers. California, Oregon, Colorado, Arkansas, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia offer a nonbinary gender marker  X  on drivers licenses and identification cards.

Beck Bailey, deputy director of the Human Rights Campaigns Workplace Equality Program, called the airline trade groups decision "a necessary shift."

In addition to recognizing the reality of nonbinary people and making them feel represented, Bailey said, the decision could pave the way for greater privacy options. As a society, we "tend to ask for data we dont really need. A lot of times we ask for a persons gender and dont necessarily need that piece of information," he said.

The airline trade groups did not describe how they decided to make the change or why its happening now. The International Air Transport Association said in a statement that it acted "at the direction of" its members.

Airlines for America emailed a statement saying: U.S. airlines value a culture of diversity and inclusion, both in the workplace and for our passengers, and we work hard each day to accommodate the needs of all travelers, while delivering a safe, secure and enjoyable flight experience.
Neighborhood revival usually starts with density. The more people who live in an area, the more likely the neighborhood will be able to attract basic retail amenities like grocery stores and coffee shops. If enough of those small shops cluster together, they soon start to form the nucleus of a local business district.

With the completion of its $45 million headquarters on Ridge Avenue in Sharswood, the Philadelphia Housing Authority is trying to flip that script, bringing buildings and retail first, and population density later.

The five-story headquarters, which opened in January, currently stands in virtual isolation, surrounded by parking lots, empty tracts and a scattering of tumbledown retail buildings. In the half century since the Columbia Avenue riots devastated this part of North Philadelphia, the area has lost 65 percent of its population.

That hardly sounds like fertile ground for a retail comeback. But the Housing Authority argues that the situation in Sharswood is so dire that only a big government player can create the conditions for revival on Ridge Avenue, once a bustling commercial center for North Philadelphias African American community. Consider the PHAs investments a test of the if you build it, they will come strategy.

The PHAs strength has always been building houses. Now it has to prove it can do retail, too.

Ironically, its Sharswood master plan started out with housing. Because private housing development has been moving at warp speed along Ridge below Girard Avenue, it was hoped that the PHA could act as a bulwark against gentrification. To realize that goal, the PHA took control of 1,300 parcels between 19th and 27th Streets, from Girard to Cecil B. Moore Avenue, so that it could build hundreds of subsidized homes for Philadelphias poorest residents.

So far, the effort to repopulate the neighborhood has been moving slowly. Since the construction began in 2016, the PHA has completed just 57 subsidized homes. Another 83 are in the works. The PHA also will gain 94 apartments for senior citizens when it completes the renovation of a former public housing tower in the neighborhood.

Now, reviving Ridge Avenue has become the PHAs focus.

Speaking at last months ribbon-cutting, the authoritys president, Kelvin Jeremiah, told the crowd that the new headquarters would provide the anchor that Ridge Avenue has long lacked. He noted that the project brings 400 employees to Sharswood every day, as well as a regular stream of PHA tenants and contractors.

Unfortunately, nothing about the new headquarters makes you want to take a stroll up Ridge Avenue. While the building (designed by BLT Architects) succeeds in projecting the gravitas we expect from government offices, its ground floor is less than welcoming. Neither of its two public rooms can be entered directly from Ridge Avenue. (The door to the PHAs customer service center is on Jefferson.) While the PHAs plans call for a cafe and bank at the eastern end of the site, the authority has yet to secure tenants.

Given that dull streetscape, what happens next could determine the fate of Ridge Avenue. The PHA owns the large vacant parcel bounded by Jefferson, Redner and 21st Streets, and has long hoped to build supermarket there.

Its initial proposal was predictably suburban: a Save-A-Lot store in an asphalt lot. If Ridge Avenue is going to become a walkable urban corridor again, a big parking lot is the last thing it needs. But thanks to a nudge from the citys Civic Design Review board, the PHA went back to the drawing board.

The new design is still a shopping center, but now the layout shows buildings lining two sides of the block, along Ridge Avenue and 21st Street. One is a 24-unit apartment house with retail space on the ground floor. If the PHA can pull off this arrangement, the two buildings will form a much-needed street edge, giving the project an urban feel. Among the tenants that have signed up are an urgent care clinic, a Paganos restaurant, and a hardware store.

Because retail is not the authoritys strong point, it has hired two private developers to manage Ridge Avenues evolution: Mosaic Development Partners and Shift Capital. Both are struggling to ensure that the project sets the tone for the rest of the development, but it has not been easy.

Why? Save-A-Lot, the main tenant, is insisting on having a stand-alone store and a design that breaks up the continuity of Ridge Avenues streetscape, explained Brian Murray, who runs Shift Capital.

Rather than occupy one of the Ridge Avenue buildings, the supermarket will sit at the rear of the site, inside a 200-car garage intended mainly for PHA employees. Although the developers and the PHA say they hope to camouflage the parking structure on 20th Street, where it faces the neighborhood, the development still has too much parking and not enough density.

Worst of all, Save-A-Lot has demanded that the developer leave a large gap between the two buildings on Ridge Avenue. The supermarket wants to be sure that passersby are guaranteed a view of its parking lot.

The developers have tried to explain that the demand defeats their effort to create a true street edge along Ridge Avenue. It also interferes with the retail continuity, something that is crucial to the streets future. But according to Murray, the supermarket has refused to to sign a lease unless it can have its suburban design. And without Save-A-Lot, the whole project falls apart.

Its not like there was a rush of tenants saying, This is where we want to be,  he explained.

The real problem? Not enough population density in Sharswood. Given whats there, this is the best we can do, Murray argued.

He may be right, but its disappointing that Save-A-Lot is forcing this suburban model on a struggling neighborhood like Sharswood at a time when other supermarkets are figuring out how to operate in an urban setting. Giant Heirloom Market just opened a store in the ground floor of a four-story building at 23rd and Bainbridge and plans three more. None have parking lots.

Its worth noting that all four Giant stores will be in affluent neighborhoods. The sharp differences in approach between a store like Giant and Save-A-Lot suggests we are heading to a new form of inequality. In the future, urban-scaled buildings and density could be a luxury for the citys upscale neighborhoods, while Philadelphias poorer areas will be forced to make do with surface lots and sprawl.
Henry Cohn-Geltner was renting a place with his best friend when he and his mother decided she would help him buy a house he could make his own.

Charlie was living with me when I was renting, and he graciously moved with me to help make the house a home, Cohn-Geltner said.

When Cohn-Geltner bought the property in spring 2011, he was drawn to the houses original features and sight lines, which gave the property the feel of an open floor plan, he said. He loved the exposed brick wall spanning the length of the first floor.

I immediately felt like I was at home the moment I stepped through the front door, he said.

Cohn-Geltner said he and his roommate did a moderate amount of work to update the property after moving in.

The second floor was covered in an atrocious red carpet from front to back, he said. Charlie and I immediately ripped out that flooring and installed hardwood.

He also worked to enclose a hallway closet within the master bedroom and installed a new roof.

His favorite part of the home is the living room because of its high ceilings and room for entertaining. It is a great space to host gatherings with friends and family and curl up on the couch and watch a movie, he said.

Although Cohn-Geltner has made plenty of good memories in the home, he said, he recently decided to list the property for sale. He expects buyers will enjoy many of the same things he did about living in the burgeoning Graduate Hospital neighborhood.

The Graduate Hospital area is a hidden gem, he said.

As an example, he recalled that two months after moving in, Hurricane Irene struck, and he discovered dripping wet basement walls. Venturing out into the storm, he found that a drainpipe had detached from his houses gutter.

In a panic, Charlie and I decided that we were going to try to reattach the drainpipe, but we didnt have a ladder, he said.

Not only did a neighbor offer to lend them one, he came outside to help them do the job. That tells you about the people in the Graduate Hospital community, he said.

Cohn-Geltner said he didnt expect to leave his Philadelphia home so soon after buying it.

I never purchased the home with the intention that it would be an investment, he said. I really thought I might live there for a long time.

Romance intervened when he visited his now-partner in San Diego.

I came out to California for a visit, and six years later, we havent left, he said. Carpenter Street helped me learn how to make a home, and now it is going to give Mary and me the opportunity to make a home together here in San Diego.

The home is listed with Holly Mack-Ward at Coldwell Banker Preferred for $372,000.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump has called former FBI acting Director Andrew McCabe a liar, a disgrace to the country and, on Wednesday, "a poor man's J. Edgar Hoover"  the latest example of efforts by the president and his supporters to undercut the credibility of an impending report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The attacks on McCabe in particular serve a dual, if internally contradictory, purpose for Trump: to discredit McCabe's highly critical new book while using it to advance a case that he is the victim of a corrupt "deep state" plotting an administrative coup.

As McCabe promotes his book, "The Threat," in media interviews, Trump and his conservative allies have seized on assertions that McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed options for invoking the Constitution's 25th Amendment to oust the president in 2017. While casting aside McCabe's other allegations as lies, Trump has sought to cite parts of the unflattering book as evidence to his political base that his presidency is under siege by unelected bureaucrats.

"Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged," Trump wrote Monday on Twitter. "He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught."

The escalating attacks and tweets targeting McCabe and other investigators have set the stage for an even more aggressive onslaught from Trump and his conservative allies once special counsel Robert Mueller completes his investigation into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by the president. Mueller could submit his findings to Attorney General William Barr as early as next week.

"As a base play, it certainly makes sense to be talking about the deep state," said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the House leadership and the Republican National Committee. "That fits right into what the base already wants to believe about people in the administration trying to thwart Trump at every instance."

McCabe is the latest official to draw Trump's ire as federal investigators and congressional Democrats probe almost every facet of his life and he gears up to run for reelection.

"I think Andrew McCabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "I think he's a disaster and what he was trying to do was terrible, and he was caught. I'm very proud to say we caught him."

McCabe said in response on MSNBC: "You think someday you'll get used to this, and on some level, you never do. I've been listening to the president lie about me since October of 2016, and he somehow finds new ways to do it."

On Tuesday, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway alternated between calling McCabe a liar and saying his assertions about the 25th Amendment discussions were tantamount to a failed coup attempt. She predicted that Trump would be reelected to a second term, despite his legal troubles.

"Andrew McCabe tried to overthrow a democratically elected president," Conway said on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time." "Hey, folks, Donald Trump's the president. It's been going on for a couple years now, and get used to it because it's going to last another six."

While Trump has long been critical of McCabe, who became acting FBI director after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, his attacks have escalated this week in the wake of McCabe's book release and media tour. The president has interspersed his attacks on McCabe with missives targeting Mueller, attempting to draw a link between the two men who have investigated his possible ties to Russia.

"The Mueller investigation is totally conflicted, illegal and rigged!" Trump tweeted on Sunday. "Should never have been allowed to begin."

In a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday, McCabe revealed the critical role he played in moving forward the investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election. In the days after Comey was fired, McCabe authorized opening an investigation into Trump personally  a case that would explore whether Comey's firing was an attempt to obstruct justice and whether Trump himself was compromised by the Kremlin. McCabe moved so quickly to initiate the case that some at the Justice Department were initially concerned he might have acted out of a desire for vengeance over Comey's firing, people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, have said.

McCabe himself was ultimately fired from the FBI in March 2018, after the Justice Department inspector general found that he had lied four times to investigators exploring a media disclosure about cases related to Hillary Clinton. McCabe has said his firing was politically motivated  retaliation, he says, for his opening the case against Trump. But the evidence the inspector general laid out was so damaging that it convinced federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the matter, using a grand jury. That case is ongoing.

Trump and his allies have seized on the inspector generals report to dismiss McCabe as a liar. But as McCabe has gone on a media blitz to promote his book  doing more than a dozen television and radio hits in recent days, including on The View, as well as The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Morning Joe  the president and his allies have tied themselves into something of a logical knot.

While Trump and his defenders have continued to term McCabe a fabulist, they have accepted as fact his description of conversations with Rosenstein, in which he alleges Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to surreptitiously monitor the president and broached the idea of Cabinet members using the 25th Amendment to remove him.

By labeling McCabe a "poor man's J. Edgar Hoover" on Wednesday, Trump also evoked images of the controversial former FBI director who used the bureau's powers to spy on political activists.

Rosenstein has said he disputes McCabe's account, though his carefully worded statements do not make clear what he says actually happened. Trump said Tuesday that he planned to nominate Jeffrey Rosen, a longtime litigator and deputy transportation secretary, to replace Rosenstein if he steps down.

In his recent interviews, McCabe has offered a bevy of information likely to inflame the president. He told Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday on NBC's "Today" that the FBI worried "the president himself might, in fact, be a threat to the United States' national security," then later told CNN's Anderson Cooper it was "possible" the president was a Russian asset. But McCabe has also been pressed to respond to the president's stream of criticism.

McCabe's book, which describes Trump as a threat to democracy, is the latest insider account to draw angry tweets from the president. Trump has given free publicity to books by Comey, former White House aides Cliff Sims and Omarosa Manigault, and others.

By tweeting and talking about McCabe, Trump is amplifying the book's message, Heye said.

Nobody sells more anti-Trump books than Donald Trump and his Twitter feed, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration that President Donald Trump has issued to help finance his wall along the Southwest border, teeing up a clash over billions of dollars, immigration policy and the Constitutions separation of powers.

Though the effort seems almost certain to ultimately fall short  perhaps to a Trump veto  the votes will let Democrats take a defiant stance against Trump that is sure to please liberal voters. They will also put some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot.

Formally introducing the measure sets up a vote by the full House likely by mid-March, perhaps as soon as next week, because of a timeline spelled out by law. Initial passage by the Democratic-run House seems assured.

The measure would then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where there may be enough GOP defections for approval. The law that spells out the rules for emergency declarations seems to require the Senate to address the issue too, but there's never been a congressional effort to block one and some procedural uncertainties remain.

Should the House and Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a certain Trump veto.

Even so, Republican senators facing tough reelection fights next year in competitive states like Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina would have to take stances that could risk dividing the GOPs pro-Trump and more moderate voters.

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said Wednesday she would back a resolution blocking the emergency declaration, making her the first Republican to publicly state her support for the effort to thwart the emergency. With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority, three more GOP senators would need to vote with Democrats for the resolution to win initial approval.

The votes could also cause discomfort for other Republicans who've opposed the declaration. Many have expressed concerns that Trump's declaration sets a precedent for future Democratic presidents to declare emergencies to help their own favored issues, like global warming or gun control.

The battle is over a declaration that Trump, whose wall was the most visible trademark of his presidential campaign, issued last week to access billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start building border barriers.

Congress approved a vast spending bill last week providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles of border barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown. That measure represented a rejection of Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles.

Besides signing the bill, Trump also declared a national emergency and used other authorities that he says gives him access to an additional $6.6 billion for wall building. That money would be transferred from a federal asset forfeiture fund, Defense Department antidrug efforts, and a military construction fund. Federal officials have yet to identify specifically which projects would be affected.

Aides to Rep. Joaquin Castro (D., Texas) were circulating a letter Wednesday to other congressional offices seeking cosponsors to his one-page resolution. A Castro aide said there were already 102 cosponsors, all Democrats.

We are planning to introduce it on Friday morning, said the letter, obtained by the Associated Press. While Congress is in recess this week, the House has a brief pro forma session Friday for bill introductions but no votes.

Castro's measure describes Trump's emergency declaration and says it "is hereby terminated." Castro chairs the 38-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in a joint statement last week that Trumps moves clearly violate the Congresss exclusive power of the purse, which our founders enshrined in the Constitution. They said lawmakers will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.

Democratic aides said Wednesday that leaders were still deciding exactly what legal action to take, and when.

Outside activists said they understood from conversations with congressional staff that Democrats were likely to file their own lawsuit, rather than simply joining other actions that 16 state attorneys general and liberal, environmental and other organizations have commenced separately.

It also remained unclear whether Democrats would wait for congressional action to play out before going to the courts.

Speaking Tuesday about the attorneys general suit, Trump said he expected to do "very well" in the case and said he had an "absolute right" to make the declaration.

Democrats and some Republicans say there is no emergency at the border. They say Trump is improperly declaring one to work around Congress' rejection of the higher amounts.

Once a resolution of disapproval is introduced, the national emergency law says it must be assigned to a committee, which has 15 calendar days to send it to the full chamber. The House parliamentarian has assigned Castro's measure to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

That chamber then has three calendar days to vote on it. The timing could be shortened, which is why a vote could occur must more quickly.

The same procedure is then repeated in the second chamber. The law requires those timetables unless either chamber votes to do otherwise. If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) tries using that provision to delay the vote on the resolution itself, the vote on slowing the measure will become the key showdown.

A spokesman for McConnell declined to comment on what the leader will do.
For decades, a number of Catholic clergy around the world have used the churchs moral authority both as a cudgel and a cloak to sexually abuse the powerless  children, nuns, lay women, the disabled, and seminarians.

While victims led lives of suffering, often turning to substance abuse and even suicide, clergy were protected by a perverse wall of secrecy which granted them de facto permission to practice sexual and moral cruelty.

The appalling and widespread abuse has torn apart lives, pained the faithful, and undermined the church throughout the world. It is made even worse by the churchs refusal to accept full responsibility for the victims. Only recently was it forced to acknowledge its poisonous hypocrisy by the growing public outcry and criminal investigations.

This week, Pope Francis is meeting with 100 bishops in Rome to discuss what they can no longer hide. While expectations may be high that the pope will end this plague of abuse, there are those who caution that not much may happen. Their skepticism is warranted because victims, and not church leaders, have brought this crisis to a head.

If the meeting fails to deliver credible reform, victims and their sympathizers will be rightly disappointed. But the facts of the abuse should be enough to animate frank conversations among concerned Catholics about how to force reform.

First, practicing Catholics should define the popes call for concrete solutions to the crisis as a call to pressure bishops to give law enforcement all of their secret files detailing abuse. Such files were the basis of the sweeping Pennsylvania grand jury investigation, which found that more than 100 priests abused more than a thousand victims. The August 2018 report was so influential that attorneys general in more than a dozen states and the Justice Department are conducting their own probes.

In New Jersey, for example, while the states five dioceses released the names of 190 priests last week who credibly were accused of abusing children, the bishops have not yet given Attorney General Gurbir Grewal their complete files. Without full public exposure and prosecutions, these victims have little hope of healing.

Second, the faithful should force the church to address whether celibacy is still relevant in the 21st century. Celibacy did not create the perversions of sex and power, but sexual repression must be explored as a contributing factor to the scale of this tragedy. While the pope has said he would maintain the rule, which has been in force since the 12th century, it is not immutable, because it is not a formal church doctrine. The idea of eliminating the rule, stirring for years, has new urgency in the wake of criminal findings.

At a meeting at St. Josephs University in Lower Merion earlier this month, concerned Catholics discussed an end to celibacy as well as the immediate firing of offending clergy, allowing women to become priests, and creating an environment of intolerance for abuse. Thats a good start.

But it is not enough for church leaders to confess misgivings or promise reform. They must challenge some of their bedrock principles  since those principles have victimized so many.
This week, the Philadelphia Inquirers Claudia Vargas reported that Mayor Jim Kenney has a habit of deleting all his text messages. And because he uses his personal phone, not a city-issued phone, to conduct city business, that means that three years of public records on the way Philadelphia has been governed are gone. Kenneys office says there is nothing nefarious about the mayors behavior  he just doesnt have enough memory on his phone so he deletes texts. They further defended Kenneys actions by calling him old school.

Sorry, but those actions are more old fool than old school. This, after all, is the media-savvy mayor were talking about, not some Luddite who insists on using a typewriter or land line. So why is he using his personal phone? Apparently he doesnt want the nuisance of carrying two phones. But he should know better.

By deleting texts, Kenney might have violated the states Right-to-Know Law that allows anyone to request any communication of public officials that pertains to city business. Experts, such as Alex Abdo, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, say that elected officials using personal electronic devices to conduct city business is not unique to Philadelphia.

However, this is emblematic of the perils of politics in which the lines between the person holding the office and the office itself begin to disappear. Best case, that becomes problematic. Worst case, it becomes criminal.

Take, for example, former District Attorney Seth Williams, who is serving a federal prison sentence because he didnt understand that the DAs office is not for him to use to score family vacations in the Caribbean. Similarly, former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah is in prison because he thought he could leverage his access to the White House to settle personal debts. Most recently, Councilman Bobby Henon was indicted by federal prosecutors because he allegedly failed to draw a line between Henon the Councilman and Henon the electrician at Local 98. Last year, Congressman Pat Meehan was exposed for using taxpayer dollars to secretly settle a sexual harassment claim made by a former staffer.

The common theme in all of these incidents is that the line between the powers, duties, and protections of an office and the person holding that office were erased.

The news that Kenney uses his personal phone instead of email or a government-issued phone for official business does not hint that he is corrupt. It does suggest that he needs to draw a bolder line between himself and his office. (And pay more attention to Hillary Clinton.)

Why isnt there a law that requires all city-related communication to happen on city-issue electronic devices that undergo periodic archiving? City Council should move on this immediately.

We should not be learning about corruption only when there is enough for federal prosecutors to bring forth an indictment. We need cultural change in the city  and beyond  that recognizes the warning signs for potential lapses. That starts with as much daylight as possible, including daylight between the official and personal  even on small things like on which phone to make dinner plans.


I am a critical care nurse. I know mistakes happen in medicine  sometimes due to miscommunication, lack of vigilance, and fatigue, but more fundamentally, due to lack of accountability from hospital leadership and flawed systems. As nurses, we take an oath to do no harm. So when I heard a nurse was arrested in Tennessee in connection with a patient death, I was alarmed. Prosecuting health-care workers for errors sets a dangerous precedent: it says that to err is criminal, not human. Even worse, it lets health-care systems off the hook. Rather than criminalize individual employees, hospital administrators across the country should examine their processes to ensure errors never happen.

Thats why the case of nurse RaDonda Vaught and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is troubling. Vaught was indicted Feb. 1 for reckless homicide in the death of Charlene Murphy, a 75-year-old woman admitted to VUMC in December 2017 for a subdural hematoma. Under Vaughts care, Murphy was given a paralytic medication, Vecuronium, which stops the muscles for respiration, during a radiological exam. She was supposed to get Versed, a sedative. The mix-up led to Murphys death. Vaught appeared in court Feb. 20 for her arraignment.

The hospitals initial response highlights why the standard for addressing medical errors must be radically transformed. As the Tennessean reported, VUMC never disclosed to the Murphy family that Vecuronium was the medication that caused Murphys death. The family found out a year later, from the news.

When errors occur, full transparency and an apology should be given to patients and their families. If theyd been honest from the beginning, it would be easier to accept, but theres been so many lies," Murphys son told local news.

VUMC developed a corrective plan only after Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which pays for hospital costs, threatened to suspend reimbursements. The hospital had a lot to lose: Medicare paid VUMC $449 million for inpatient services and outpatient services from 2013 into 2014.

Ignoring the hospitals larger role in the case, the prosecution centers on Vaughts manual override of the electronic drug dispensing machine where she mistakenly retrieved Vecuronium. This framing ignores that while Vaught gave the wrong medication to Murphy, it was VUMCs faulty systems that created risks and brought harm to Murphy.

Even if Vaught gave the correct medication, Versed, an adverse outcome could still have occurred. Doctors prescribed Versed for anxiety because Murphy was claustrophobic in the full body scanner. Versed has similar properties as Propofol, a potent drug. The effects of these drugs are dose dependent, but they can have detrimental effects on blood pressure and respiratory function. For that reason, patients receiving these medications are required to be on a breathing machine and cardiac monitoring. These drugs must be administered by anesthesia providers or critical care nurses in intensive care.

The problem was Vaught, who is not a provider of remote anesthesia, was ordered to administer Versed in a noncritical care setting. Paralytic drugs should come from a pharmacy, not a hospital machine. There was failure to monitor the patients vital signs during a remote test: Vecuronium takes a minute and half to take effect; nearly an hour went by after the drug was ordered for a physician to report that Murphy was pulseless. These were system and collective staff failures.

Yet civil and criminal complaints to these failures only shift money around and end careers. They may achieve temporary change, but the culture of patient safety remains reactionary and litigious, without institutional accountability.

For example, in 2009 the Legal Intelligencer reported that a Philadelphia jury rendered a $3 million settlement for the death of an 87-year-old who had undergone elective knee surgery at Nazareth Hospital. She had received local anesthetic through an unlabeled spinal catheter, when the dose was meant for an epidural catheter. The death pushed Nazareth to change its practices, though the hospital denied culpability.

As a result of Murphys death, I urge hospital administrators to take a holistic approach when responding to errors. Theres a reason almost 80 percent of polled nurses dont think Vaught should have been charged. Yes, Vaught should be held accountable, but so should institutions and their leadership. Healthcare leaders have a moral imperative to change the culture of cover-ups and stop blaming frontline workers when errors occur. Instead, they should uncover unsafe systems in their hospitals. We deceive ourselves if we think locking away individuals and hurting institutions financially will ever end preventable hospital deaths.

Jason Jaewan Lee, CCRN, CNRN, attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and worked at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He currently works at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. jason.lee2@mountsinai.org
Earlier this month, in these pages, Philadelphia writer Ernest Owens argued that we should cancel Black History Month and instead recognize black history  and its people  all year round. I take Mr. Owens point, and while I dont believe that we should cease to embrace February as a month dedicated to honoring and celebrating the many accomplishments of African Americans, I do agree that schools must diversify their curriculums to acknowledge the existence of black people routinely, not merely during one month of the year.

As superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, I am proud to say that we are doing just that. Were working to ensure that our students are exposed to rich, challenging instruction that honors their diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Our citys schools serve a wonderfully diverse student population: as of this year, nearly half our students are African American, roughly one fifth are Hispanic, 14 percent are white, nearly 9 percent are Asian American, and several thousand identify as having multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds. This diversity is not unique to Philadelphia; indeed, Americas public schools are more diverse than ever, especially in large cities, where students of color represent the vast majority of the student population. I believe this growing diversity is a strength, that the varied backgrounds and experiences of our students can contribute to richer and more meaningful learning experiences. To get there, however, we must first ensure that our curriculum and instruction are the best they can be, and that we as educators hold all students to the highest expectations. A challenging, high-quality curriculum can honor the diversity of all students backgrounds; rigor and cultural relevance need not be mutually exclusive.

As an education leader committed to putting the needs of students first, Ive always tried to understand students experiences and hear their perspectives on how we can better support their learning. Thats why I put together the Superintendents Student Advisory Council. In one of our meetings last fall, students said they wanted more cultural understanding from teachers as well as more culturally relevant books and materials. They told me that for students to be set up for success, they must feel that the adults in schools care about their well-being, circumstances, and community. The students said its important for them to have teachers who share their cultural background or who have had similar life experiences, and that they want a chance to see themselves represented in what theyre learning.

Research supports these students voices. We know, for example, that greater diversity in the teaching workforce can significantly improve learning for students of all demographic backgrounds. Thats why were actively recruiting, developing, and supporting male teachers of color through the Black Male Educators Coalition (BMEC). In a district where nearly half the students are African American, only about 4 percent of all teachers are black men  and over the last 10 years, this number has been dropping. Through our partnership with BMEC, we aim to reverse this trend and triple the number of black male educators in Philadelphia by 2025.

In addition, emerging research indicates that students who perceive their classrooms and schools as promoting cultural competence have an increased sense of belonging and take a greater interest in school. A new report by Chiefs for Change, a diverse, bipartisan network of education leaders of which I am a member, highlights the importance of taking an approach to teaching and learning that is both culturally relevant and academically rigorous.

We believe that cultural relevance should be used to promote student engagement, not lower the bar on rigor. In Philadelphia, we are committed to expanding access to high-quality, culturally relevant instructional materials while also diversifying the teacher workforce charged with bringing those materials to life. Weve made African American history a required course in 10th grade, are considering ways to integrate the content into other grade levels, and are exploring the creation of courses focused on Latinx American and Asian American history. For students, the opportunity to be both culturally understood and academically challenged is critical to being engaged, supported, respected  and ultimately successful  in school.

I am grateful to the incredible student leaders of Philadelphia for partnering with me to give all students better opportunities. I strive to honor their diverse backgrounds in the way our schools approach teaching and learning. So while February may be a month to remember the history, culture, and important achievements of African Americans, we can do more to integrate the cultures and backgrounds of all our diverse students into a rigorous, knowledge-rich educational experience. Were doing it here in Philadelphia. I urge education leaders across the country to do the same.

William R. Hite is the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia and a member of Chiefs for Change, a diverse, bipartisan network of state and district education chiefs.
There was another time in America  when a young cadet named Donald Trump was still parading the grounds at New York Military Academy and the Supreme Court consisted of nine old white men  when a gaggle of high-level elected officials declared that journalists were an enemy of the people.

And thats not the worst part. Whats really scary is that attacks on a free press that were centered in Alabama during the early 1960s nearly worked  and that their malicious campaign might have shut down the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., before it got off very far off the ground, thus continuing to deny African-Americans the right to vote or even use the same water fountain as a white person.

In 1960, as King  the well-known leader of the Rosa Parks-sparked Montgomery bus boycott  was looking to expand his movement against Southern segregation, officials in Alabama charged the young minister with perjury. A group calling itself the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South placed a full-page ad in the New York Times calling attention to the case and seeking to raise money for Kings defense. It was headlined Heed Their Rising Voices.

Alabamas white, pro-segregation leaders had other ideas. Having vowed massive resistance to racial integration, top officials  beginning with Montgomerys public safety commissioner L.B. Sullivan, later joined by Alabamas governor  sued the New York Times as well as prominent black ministers for libel over the allegations in the ad. Bringing their cases in state court before all-white juries whod been whipped into a frenzy against outside agitators by their political leaders, Sullivan eventually won a $500,000 judgment  a sum that would have been highly damaging to the Times in those days.

But even worse, the case had a chilling impact on coverage of the civil rights movement by the New York Times and other Northern newspapers right at a critical moment for King and other activists. They desperately needed publicity outside the South  to raise money, rally public support, and woo Northern members of Congress to their cause. But the legal proceedings, and fear of being served with court papers, kept the Times legendary reporter on the civil rights beat, Claude Sitton, out of Alabama for much of a two-year period.

Hank Klibanoff, the former Inquirer journalist who co-authored (with former Inquirer editor Gene Roberts) the Pulitizer Prize-winning book The Race Beat about journalism and the civil rights movement, told me that Sitton chafed under the notion that government officials could prevent him from covering a story. One night, he said, the Times man lost his cool over the phone with his editors as he missed another Alabama scoop. Sitton snapped: How long are you gonna let the damn lawyers run the newspaper!

The answer, it turned out, was until 1964. Thats the year that the case called New York Times Co. v. Sullivan finally reached the U.S. Supreme Court and justices issued a landmark 9-0 ruling that said public officials couldnt sue journalists for libel except in the unlikely event that a newspaper knowingly published a recklessly false story. Subsequent court cases would extend that standard to any public figure.

Today, few people know this story behind New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, but the impact of that ruling has shaped modern American politics, by freeing investigative journalists to expose not only national scandals such as Watergate or the conduct of the Vietnam War but hundreds of cases of local graft and corruption  all without fear of unwarranted libel suits as a form of harassment. This modern notion of this role that an unfettered free press plays in our democracy is now so ingrained its easy to take for granted.

Until the people who run this country threaten to take it away.

Thats why the opinion issued this week by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas  in a libel case involving comedian Bill Cosby and one of his sexual-assault accusers  stating that he wants the High Court to take a second look at New York Times Co v. Sullivan, that the 1964 ruling and later cases that strengthened it were "policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.

Thomas argued that since theres no specific language in the Constitution protecting public figures, the Sullivan case was wrongly decided. Its a point that embraces the justices so-called Originalist view of the Constitution, but Thomas could not have picked a more fraught time to make it. For one thing, Thomas position aligns closely with that of President Trump  a life-long tabloid celebrity who declared as a candidate that he wanted to make it easier to sue journalists for libel. Since then, Trump has appointed two of the other eight justices and one of them, Neil Gorsuch, concurred with Thomas statement.

More importantly, the legal thunder bolt came at a moment when press freedom is under verbal and occasionally physical assault from the president and his supporters. Just hours after Thomas opinion, Trump tweeted that the New York Times is a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, a Stalin-flavored threat that the president has resorted to on nearly two dozen occasions. And shortly after that, an active Coast Guard member with a large cache of weapons was arrested and charged with threatening to kill journalists from MSNBC and CNN (as well as Democratic politicians). Christopher Hasson was stopped in time  but the Trump rally attendee who recently jumped into the press area and pummeled a BBC cameraman was not.

If threats and physical bullying doesnt chill press freedom, the idea that the president of the United States could, at some future date, sue the New York Times over stories he doesnt like, like this weeks report on his alleged efforts to interfere in federal probes of him and his allies, is downright terrifying. Donald Trump and Clarence Thomas long for an America where powerful people like them cannot be held accountable.

Whats more, the notion that the only black member of the Supreme Count  named to the seat as a replacement for civil right icon Thurgood Marshall  wants to blow up the court ruling that aided Martin Luther King in taking down segregation is beyond irony.

Christopher Schmidt, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law who focuses on the Supreme Court, wrote a lengthy history of the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case on its 50th anniversary. He found that pro-segregation Southern officials used a variety of legal tools  tax investigations, student discipline, regulation of protests  in seeking to squelch the civil rights movement. But libel lawsuits  particularly in Alabama  proved an especially effective tactic...for a time.

They used this as a legal tool to send a message to civil rights activists  and to the press, Schmidt told me. Sullivan was just one of five Alabama officials who sued the New York Times over the King ad; in addition, a sheriff sued the Ladies Home Journal seeking $3 million for a story on police brutality, and CBS News and Times reporter Harrison Salisbury, who accused Birminghams white establishment of racism, were also targeted in the courts. That form of harassment-by-lawsuit  and the burdens for news organizations to mount a legal defense  might have lasted for years if not for the Sullivan ruling.

Schmidt said it wouldnt be easy today for Thomas to get the five votes necessary to overturn the 1964 ruling, since two of the Supreme Courts conservative majority  Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito  dont share his Originalist philosophy. But maybe that wasnt so much Thomas point as simply raising the question of whether the role that journalism plays in a democratic society is even essential, at a moment when a president who works to spin his own reality out of fiction is about to seek re-election.

On the other hand, Thomas judicial broadside could backfire  but only if it helps to remind everyday Americans that we cant take it for granted that investigative journalism will always be there to ask tough questions of the high and mighty. Thats why its also important to remember the history of how ill-intention politicians nearly spiked the story of Martin Luther King.

I asked Klibanoff to imagine what America would look like without the bold press protections that were defined in the original 1964 decision. He said, You would see one tombstone after another for all of the stories that never made it to print.
The left complains that conservatives are obsessing over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Well, there is a reason for that: Ocasio-Cortez is driving the agenda of todays Democratic Party  and her economic illiteracy is dangerous.

Case in point: Last week, Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the tanking of a deal negotiated by her fellow Democrats in which Amazon promised to build a new headquarters in Long Island City, N.Y., right next to her congressional district. Amazons departure cost the city between 25,000 and 40,000 new jobs. Forget the tech workers whom Amazon would have employed. Gone are all the unionized construction jobs to build the headquarters, as well as thousands of jobs created by all the small businesses  restaurants, bodegas, dry cleaners, and food carts  that were preparing to open or expand to serve Amazon employees. They are devastated by Amazons withdrawal.

Ocasio-Cortez was not disturbed at all. We were subsidizing those jobs, she said. Frankly, if we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district, ourselves, if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that amount of money if we wanted to.

No, you cant. Ocasio-Cortez does not seem to realize that New York does not have $3 billion in cash sitting around waiting to be spent on her socialist dreams. The subsidies to Amazon were tax incentives, not cash payouts. It is Amazons money, which New York agreed to make tax-exempt, so the company would invest it in building its new headquarters, hiring new workers, and generating tens of billions in new tax revenue.

As New York Mayor Bill de Blasio explained, the Amazon deal would have produced $27 billion in new tax revenue to fuel priorities from transit to affordable housing  a ninefold return on the taxes the city and state were prepared to forgo to win the headquarters. Unlike Ocasio-Cortezs imaginary $3 billion slush fund, that is real money that actually could have been used to hire teachers, fix subways, and put people to work. With Amazon leaving New York, that $27 billion leaves with it. Genius.

Ocasio-Cortez does not seem to understand that by helping to drive Amazon away, she did not save New York $3 billion; she cost New York $27 billion. There is a difference between having bad ideas and not grasping basic facts. Reasonable people can disagree about whether New York should have offered Amazon $3 billion in tax incentives  or anything at all  to build its headquarters in the city. But that is different from not understanding that New York is not writing a $3 billion check to Amazon.

Sadly, Ocasio-Cortez doesnt learn from her mistakes. She made the same kind of error in December when she tweeted, $21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions could not be traced, documented, or explained. $21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon. But, as Pentagon spokesperson Christopher Sherwood told the Washington Post, DoD hasnt received $21 trillion in (nominal) appropriated funding across the entirety of American history. Once again, Ocasio-Cortez did not grasp that the Pentagon did not have a magic pile of $21 trillion in cash sitting in a vault somewhere.

Her economic illiteracy matters because she is the principal author of the Green New Deal, which has been endorsed by most of the leading Democratic candidates for president. From this unschooled mind has sprung the most ambitious plan for government intervention in the economy since Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's train pulled into Petrograd's Finland Station.

If Ocasio-Cortez doesnt understand how tax subsidies work, how can she be trusted to plan the federal takeover of the health-care, energy, and transportation sectors of our economy? Think she and her allies have any idea how to, as her now infamous talking points put it, upgrade or replace every building in America  or replace every combustible-engine vehicle  or connect every corner of America with high-speed rail  or replace all fossil-fuel energy with alternative energy sources  all in 10 years time? Apparently, they think we just have to find all the magic pots of cash the government is hiding.

When this kind of ignorance is driving policy-making in Washington, America is in profound danger. Amazon left New York because Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow democratic socialists created a hostile environment in the city. And if Ocasio-Cortez has her way, Democrats are going to do to the rest of America what they just did to New York.

Marc Thiessen writes a twice-weekly column for the Washington Post on foreign and domestic policy. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. @marcthiessen
Oops! That wasnt supposed to happen.

Thats how Verizon began an email apologizing to customers after the Pennsylvania attorney general sued the communications giant for allegedly failing to deliver on marketing promises.

The email appears to be part of Verizons effort to make good on its promotional offers after Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed the lawsuit against the wireless company last week, claiming customers were unable to obtain promised Amazon Prime memberships and Echo devices.

Weve heard from some customers that they had trouble redeeming their Fios promotion, Verizon wrote in an email on Feb. 14. If you experienced any issues, were sorry about that. We want to let you know that your reward is ready and youre just a few clicks away from redeeming.

Besides the apology, the email, sent three days after the lawsuit was filed, provided customers with a link to redeem the promotional incentives, including Amazon gift cards.

Verizon offered Amazon products to customers who signed up for a two-year contract for internet, television, and phone service, according to the lawsuit filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. But some customers didnt get the promised incentives, and they faced a $350 termination fee for breaking the two-year contract, the suit says.

Shapiro asks in the suit that Verizon stop the marketing campaign and pay unspecified restitution and penalties.

Nearly three dozen Verizon customers have come forward with complaints about the promotion since Shapiro announced the suit, Attorney Generals Office spokesman Joe Grace said Wednesday. In 15 cases, consumers have filed formal complaints with the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and agents are investigating, he added.

Verizon has a legal responsibility to deliver on its promised incentives, yet they are continuing to fail consumers, Shapiro said in a statement. The company has offered repeated assurances that the redemption issues have been resolved, yet my office is still hearing from consumers who havent received their incentives."

Last week, Verizon spokesperson Richard Young said the company was frankly surprised" by the lawsuit.

Weve been engaged in a productive dialogue with the Attorney Generals Office, Young said on Feb. 11. "We had a few technical issues with this promotion, but we have worked hard to address all the issues we know about. Lawsuit or no lawsuit, we will do right by our customers.

Verizon began the marketing campaign in November 2018, according to the lawsuit. The company told customers they would receive an email with instructions for claiming the incentive after their accounts were active for 31 days. However, some customers didnt get the hyperlink needed to redeem the Amazon products, according to the lawsuit.

Consumers who called Verizon to inquire about their inability to claim their items were placed on hold, were transferred to multiple Verizon representatives, were told someone from Verizon would call them back, did not receive a call back, and were forced to call Verizon again and go through the same cycle, the lawsuit claimed.

At that point, customers were locked into the contract and beyond a 30-day window to cancel without an early termination fee, according to the lawsuit.
VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis warned top Roman Catholic leaders Thursday that they would need to emerge with more than just predictable" statements as he opened a highly anticipated summit aimed at defining a worldwide response to clergy sex abuse.

To back up his call for concrete solutions, the pontiff offered 21 proposals to punish predators and keep children safe, including expanding roles for lay experts in investigations and requiring prelates to report abuse to civil authorities in their countries.

The holy people of God are looking at us, expecting not only simple and predictable condemnations but concrete and effective measures to put in place, he said. We need to be concrete.

The assertive tone Francis set at the start of the unprecedented four-day gathering of bishops he summoned from more than 100 countries came as something of a surprise even to some of the meetings organizers. For weeks, the pope has been downplaying expectations that the global summit would end with the implementation of any specific reforms.

Still, there was skepticism among the victims and their advocates  including many from Pennsylvania  who have flocked to St. Peters Square as the conference plays out behind closed doors.

First, they said this meeting was going to be serious. Then they said it was only going to be a teaching lesson. Now they say there will be concrete action, said Mark Rozzi, an abuse victim and state legislator from Berks County who met Thursday with Italian lawmakers and victims. When I heard that there was going to be a meeting to have a meeting, as a Harrisburg politician I laughed at that. It basically means were kicking the can down the road.

The outcome of this weeks summit could shape the legacy of Francis papacy  one that has become overwhelmed by an issue that plagued the church for decades only to reemerge with new ferocity.

In less than a year, the United States alone has seen the defrocking of top Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for his alleged abuse of seminarians and minors and the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report that has since spawned similar investigations in more than a dozen states, including New Jersey.

The popes critics have described him as sluggish to respond to the crisis and, at times, callous toward victims. On the eve of this historic meeting, some took offense at his remarks to a group of pilgrims from an Italian archdiocese.

Those who spend their life accusing, accusing, accusing are  friends, cousins, relatives of the devil, he said, according to an official readout of the Wednesday meeting released by the Vatican. This is not good. Flaws must be indicated so they can be corrected, but at the moment that flaws are noted, flaws are denounced, one loves the Church. Without love, that is of the devil.

Others questioned why Francis has no meetings with victims on his schedule during the conference. But the pope began to hear from them Thursday in other ways.

A handful of survivors from across the globe have been invited to share their accounts during the opening and closing prayers of each days session. One, a woman from Africa, told the gathered prelates Thursday that her abuser forced her to have three abortions as a teenager while he raped her again and again for more than 13 years.

The conferences organizers also met with a dozen of the worlds most outspoken victims Wednesday, including Johnstown resident Shaun Dougherty, whose abuse by a priest who served as his basketball coach in the 1980s was detailed in a 2016 grand jury report on abuse and cover-ups in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

It was respectful, it was very informative, it was frank  at times hostile, Dougherty, 49, said in an interview Thursday. My supreme takeaway: It is up to our politicians back home in Pennsylvania to protect us because this organization is too large to protect itself.

Dougherty said he was humbled by the chance to air his complaints with top officials, such as the Vaticans chief sex-abuse investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, and Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago and the lone American on the summit organizing committee.

Still, he was disappointed that the pope himself didnt make time to meet with them.

I was upset he didnt come to Pennsylvania after the grand jury reports, Dougherty said. Then, to add insult to injury, we have to come to his country and to his office and he delegates to someone else?

While their detractors raged outside the Vatican, the members of the hierarchy spent most of the day cloistered inside, listening to lectures on responsibility and breaking into working groups to discuss Francis proposals.

It quickly became evident, said Mark Coleridge, archbishop of Brisbane, Australia, that wide gulfs exist between church leaders in the West and their counterparts in developing nations, many of whom have not yet had to reckon with public backlash regarding clergy sex abuse.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Coleridge said bishops from Africa and Asia questioned why the church was devoting so much energy to sex abuse when, in their countries, children also face dangers ranging from enslavement to conscription into militia groups.

Even some of Francis own reform proposals might raise eyebrows in the United States. For instance, the pope suggested Thursday that the minimum age for marriage in the church be raised to 16 years  from the current 14  a move that would still keep it two years below the standard in most U.S. states.

And nowhere on the list was the issue that victim advocates most often call for: the worldwide adoption of a zero-tolerance policy for abusive clerics  a measure bishops in the United States adopted nearly two decades ago.

In fact, the U.S. is the only one of the eight largest Catholic countries in the world to have committed to removing any priest with even a single substantiated claim of sexual abuse, according to a report released this week by the watchdog group BishopAccountability.org.

Bishops in many nations have no formal policy on how abuse claims should be handled. Just outside the Vaticans walls, the president of the Italian bishops conference met with victims for the first time last week  at the request of summit organizers.

Its unlikely that those shortcomings will be fully addressed before the summit concludes Sunday, despite Francis assertive tone at its start.

Were not going to solve all the problems in three days, said Scicluna, the Vatican investigator. That is not a reasonable expectation.

Its what will come afterward, as the prelates return home and continue to debate the issues, that will define whether the meeting was a success, he told reporters at a news conference.

Rozzi, the Pennsylvania lawmaker, wasnt willing to accept such pleadings for patience from church leaders anymore.

Standing side-by-side with Riccardo Magi  an Italian lawmaker and member of the Chamber of Deputies, a rough equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives  at the Parliament building in Rome, he said that Italy provides the perfect example of the churchs historic inability to reform itself without the intervention of law enforcement and civil legislation.

He cited the measure he has pushed in Pennsylvania to give victims more time to sue their accusers. The church, as it has done across the United States, has opposed the bill.

Make no mistake about it, Rozzi said. What the Catholic Church, the bishops, the pope are doing is blocking justice for all victims of sexual abuse. That is the real crime.
The last time there was a primary election for City Council in Philadelphia, only three of the 10 district representatives faced challengers.

But this year is shaping up as a different kind of election season. More than 30 people are slated to run for one of the seven at-large seats. And all 10 of the district seat-holders have at least one opponent, with three months to go.

Dual protests this week forecast what could be a stormy race  at least for one incumbent.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell is running for her eighth consecutive term in West Philadelphias 3rd District, and has drawn a challenger viewed as credible. Over the last three days, demonstrators crashed her reelection gala and the weekly City Council meeting to protest the entrenched power of Council members like her.

The latest confrontation unfolded Thursday when several people from the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative walked into Councils weekly meeting and demanded an end to councilmanic prerogative, the long-held but unwritten rule that gives district Council members final say over land use in their districts. One protester, Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, cofounder of the collective, was led off in handcuffs.

In a video of Muhammads arrest, Shani Akilah, another cofounder of the cooperative, can be heard shouting Who are you building for? Not us! as Muhammad is pinned to the ground and handcuffed.

The incident was a reprise from Tuesday evening, when Akilah and about a dozen others protested Blackwells campaign announcement at the Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia. (Muhammad, who is managing Sherrie Cohens campaign for Council at-large was not at the event Tuesday night). Video from that evening shows protesters being thrown out  violently, some said  and threatened by Blackwell supporters.

Aurica Hurst, 28, said Thursday that she was assaulted while being kicked out of the event. They came up behind me, pulled my hair, and hit me, Hurst said.

She said her alleged assailants were wearing buttons in support of Blackwell. One of them said to me, Thats what you get when you come on our territory.

(A supporter of Blackwells, Taleah Taylor, said she saw protesters getting physical with Blackwell supporters.)

A video of Tuesday nights event shows Michael Youngblood, a former aide of Blackwells, shouting, You wanna be raped? and then directing an even more vulgar question at a offscreen protester.

Youngblood, who was in Council chambers Thursday, said hed directed it at a protester whom he had caught in the bathroom of the Enterprise Center having oral sex earlier in the night.

I said, What you need to do is, you need to go to jail, and then maybe they can rape you, and then you can legitimize what youre saying, Youngblood said when asked about the video.

Youngblood, who was convicted of extortion, bank fraud, and tax evasion in 1999, said he is no longer on the councilwomans payroll. Shes a friend. Listen, if you cant protect a friend, who can you protect? he said.

Another member of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, Dominique London, said she witnessed Youngbloods outburst and called his account a lie. She said he had been directing homophobic comments at members of the group.

London, 34, said her organization is trying to protest councilmanic prerogative across all districts, not just Blackwells. She cited recent news reports about Councilman Kenyatta Johnsons approving several city land sales to a friend who flipped the properties for a high profit, and of a judge who bought and sold publicly owned lots making 16 times what hed paid for them.

Blackwell recently was criticized for apparently stalling the sale of the former Provident Mutual Life building at 4601 Market St. to benefit a developer.

Its not about her specifically," London said. Its just that the people who are speaking now just happen to be her constituents. Councilmanic prerogative should be dismantled entirely. The city cant seem to keep track of its land. Theyre not fit to keep track of it, and it should be turned back over the community.

Blackwell brushed Tuesday nights incident off as politics as usual, while acknowledging this reelection bid could be one of the most heated. She was first elected to Council in 1992 after working for years for her husband, Lucien Blackwell, a 16-year councilman who was elected to the U.S. House and is now deceased.

People come up, and they want to create a mess, and I guess thats life in the big city, Blackwell said. Its been a long time since I been in a big one  but in a public place, you have a minority of people who want to create fights.

Blackwell, who is being challenged by Jamie Gauthier, former head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, said she would not accept an invitation to debate her challenger.

I dont owe my opponent anything," she said. "My opponent hasnt run before.  Ive been here since the Rizzo years. Ive been here a long time, and my record speaks for itself.

Gauthiers campaign released a statement after news of Tuesday nights incident broke condemning the way protesters were treated.

The actions reported last night, including threats of sexual violence against women, are deeply disturbing," Gauthier said. All Philadelphians should be able to dissent and exercise their right to free speech without being met or threatened with violence.
The former owner of Old Citys Eulogy Belgian Tavern sent threatening letters last year to two Common Pleas Court judges and 10 other people, signing the letters as someone else in an attempt to frame and possibly cause that person to be sent to jail, according to the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office.

The new details emerged Thursday as Michael Naessens, 54  who was arrested in Las Vegas last month for his alleged crimes in Philadelphia  was arraigned in Municipal Court on charges including threats and other improper influence in official and political matters, terroristic threats, and a dozen counts of criminal use of a communication facility, according to court records.

Ben Waxman, a spokesperson for the District Attorneys Office, said Naessens sent the letters to two judges who had overseen cases involving the person Naessens was attempting to frame. Waxman did not identify the judges or the person Naessens allegedly pretended to be, but said it was possible Naessens was seeking to have his target taken into custody over the threats, which he also sent to 10 of his targets neighbors.

Waxman said that the target was initially taken into custody when authorities believed he had sent the letters, but that the investigation ultimately led authorities to Naessens.

Naessens attorney, Michael Fienman, said Thursday that Naessens maintains his innocence and would fight the case.

Its news to me that hes being charged for allegedly sending intimidating correspondence to two public officials, because the affidavit only listed one judge, Fienman said. I look forward to reviewing the evidence that the commonwealth has to support these allegations, and I am confident that Mr. Naessens will be exonerated after a full trial on the merits.

Naessens bail was set at $350,000, court records say. It was not immediately clear if he paid the 10 percent required to be released.

The Inquirer reported earlier this month that Common Pleas Court Judge Timika Lane received a racist and threatening letter from Naessens. He was arrested Jan. 22 in Clark County, Nev., and was held as a fugitive before being extradited.

Naessens, a former financial executive at Campbell Soup Co. with an MBA from Drexel University, closed Eulogy in 2017, saying he was concerned for his safety because employees had gotten caught up in drugs or criminal charges. He also said that he had been threatened after working with prosecutors on several cases.

Eulogy, 136 Chestnut St., had an extensive beer collection, including many rare or unusual varieties from Belgium.
A 30-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday after allegedly being shot by his 29-year-old brother while in South Philadelphia.

About 5:40 p.m., police were called to the 2200 block of South Bonsall Street, and found the victim in a second-floor bedroom bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to his chest, said Chief Inspector Scott Small. Police transported the man to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.

Police were told at the scene that the victim and his younger brother were involved in a fight when the brother got a gun and shot his sibling, Small said.

The alleged perpetrator was still at the home when police arrived and was taken into custody, Small said, adding that a handgun was recovered inside.

There were three children, ages 3 to 13, inside the house at the time of the shooting, and they were unharmed, Small said.
Use of the drug K2, which can lead to erratic behavior and unpredictable side effects, is on the rise in Philadelphia, cropping up in neighborhoods like Kensington, the heart of the citys opioid epidemic, and at Suburban Station, where officials say it is contributing to a tense relationship between police and people who shelter there.

Twice in two months, SEPTA transit police have come under scrutiny for their interactions with homeless people, including a clash in January that turned violent, in which officers sprayed people with mace and hit them with batons. These incidents prompted an outcry from advocates for vulnerable people who often suffer from serious mental health and addiction issues. Blossoming use of K2  a synthetic compound sprayed on plant matter and smoked  is making the situation more volatile, they say.

Whats happening in Suburban Station right now is very different than what was happening three years ago," said Sister Mary Scullion, executive director of the homeless support nonprofit Project HOME. The big problem is addiction, she said, and K2 is exacerbating the problem.

Transit officers described some people acting almost unresponsive, while others become wild, as if they had taken PCP. K2 is a lab-made cannabinoid that acts on the same brain receptors as marijuana, but has far more unpredictable effects, which can include catatonia, psychosis, and agitation that can lead to violence.

Philadelphia  already dealing with one of the nations worst opioid crises  has no city-funded treatment facilities dedicated to helping people addicted to K2. And its hard to help people who insist on using it to at least protect themselves from its worst impacts, because so little is known about it.

>> READ MORE: SEPTA police used pepper spray, batons in clash with homeless people at Suburban Station

The best we can say is not to use a lot, said Allison Herens, the citys harm reduction coordinator. The chemical makeup is so unpredictable. So we say, Use a little bit, see how you feel, take it with people [around you], stay hydrated.

SEPTA police dont keep statistics on K2 but reported that the most common cause of arrest in the station in 2018 was smoking, with 146 cases. And there were 47 arrests for marijuana use. SEPTA officials said K2-related arrests would be wrapped into those numbers.

The situation at the transit hub is complicated by people who are not homeless coming there at night to buy and use K2. Sales of the drug happen in a little-traveled, concrete hall known there as Sherwood Forest for its many pillars, people at the station said. Suburbans web of corridors offer secluded spots to smoke.

At one time, a variation on the drug  also called spice  could be bought legally at gas stations and corner stores. Though labeled not for human consumption, it gained a reputation as a legal alternative to marijuana. Now, several variations of K2 are federally classified as a Schedule I drug  the same category as heroin  and manufacturers will change their products chemical composition to get around regulatory efforts.

In a lot of ways, its like fentanyl and its analogs, said Pat Trainor, a spokesman for the local branch of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Manufacturers of that deadly synthetic opioid also change that drugs chemical makeup slightly to avoid seizures of their product.

>> READ MORE: Philly overdose drug may have contained toxic designer drug

The compounds in K2, typically brought to the U.S. from China, can vary widely, said Mary Abood, an expert in cannabinoids at the Lewis Katz School of Medicines Center for Substance Abuse Research at Temple University.

You cant really know whats in it, so its very dangerous, she said. Some of the original structures were related to the THC molecule [the active ingredient in cannabis], but now they dont look anything like it.

The tweaks to its composition also can make K2 hard to detect in drug screenings  and some people who use it say they first sought it out to get around a drug test.

Originally, I was trying to get my kids back and I had to take urine tests, Charlene Bennett, 40, said at Suburban Station on a recent night. But I fell in love with the high.

Just after midnight on a recent night in Suburban Station, Bennett and three others sat on suitcases and passed around a thin brown cigar. Nearby, others slept propped against the walls. They knew within minutes police would be along to evict them. Bennett and a friend, Jamal Phelps, weighed whether to find a city shelter or sleep on the street that freezing night relying on the thin blankets they carried to stay warm. Another man, Kenny Solomon, who a week earlier gained attention after a SEPTA officer dragged him in his wheelchair while he was nearly unresponsive, said he would likely sleep near a steam grate on the street.

The K2 blunts, and their acrid, unpleasant smell, were ubiquitous.

Herens said the explosion of drugs like K2 shows how desperate people in addiction can become to avoid the consequences of failing drug screens.

When people dont have safe means to take care of themselves the way they want to and feel like they need to, they will turn to more dangerous options, she said. What are we really doing by drug testing, and doing it in this way  especially in recovery and treatment sites where its used as a form of punishment?

For now, Herens hands out fliers in the Suburban Station tunnels and warns K2 users that their drugs could be cut with deadly fentanyl.

In Kensington, the center of the citys opioid crisis, K2 is also on the rise. The drug was not present in any of the citys fatal overdoses in recent years, but last summer, a combination of heroin, fentanyl, and K2 sold in that neighborhood caused two spikes in nonfatal overdoses that sickened hundreds. The citys health department attributes three overdose deaths since May 2018 to K2.

K2 first gained wide use in Philadelphia around 2011, Herens said, and drug users started displaying some of its more serious side effects, including psychosis, around 2013 and 2014. Some of the the side effects you see now are more severe than what we initially saw, she said.

A man on Kensington Avenue who gave his name as Mark said he began smoking K2 as a teenager because family members on probation, trying to pass a drug test, had begun using it themselves. The first time he smoked it, he said, I thought I was going to die. I had a panic attack.

But it was cheaper than marijuana  a blunt can cost just $1  and stronger, too, and Mark, 31, kept using it. He had struggled with opioid addiction as well and has been doing well on Suboxone, an opioid-based treatment medication, he said. K2, though, has been harder to kick.

Its been part of my everyday routine for 12 years, he said. It sucks. But every chance I get to grab it, I take it.

People who use the drug say it can be a soothing high, and one user, Alex Menendez, 19, who mentioned suffering from back and knee pain related to a construction job, said the drug eased his pain and reduced the agony of opioid withdrawal.

If youre dope sick and you smoke K2, it completely stops you from getting dope sick, Menendez said as he smoked a K2 cigar outside a respite center on Kensington Avenue.

Keith Thompson, 45, has been homeless in Philadelphia for about three months, he said, and tried K2 once, not realizing it wasnt marijuana. He described being terrified by the experience. While affected by the drug, he had trouble getting to his tent nearby and couldnt stand up.

Youve got to be insane to smoke that, he said.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating after a man and woman showed up at a hospital and said they had been shot in their legs when someone opened fire on them while they were in an SUV on I-95 in Port Richmond.

The wounds were not life-threatening, officials said.

Philadelphia police said they were called to Episcopal Hospital in Kensington about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday after two people walked in with gunshot wounds to their legs.

The 25-year-old woman and 24-year-old man told police they were in an SUV on I-95 northbound near Allegheny Avenue when gunfire erupted from another vehicle, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters.

A third person who had been with the pair when they were shot for some reason drove away in the SUV after the gunshot victims arrived at the hospital, officials said. Police later pulled over a black SUV with five bullet holes on the drivers side at Kensington and Lehigh Avenues, not far from the hospital.

Small said the investigation was turned over to the State Police because the shooting reportedly occurred on I-95.

He said State Police are expected to check videos from the interstate to see if any cameras along the highway captured the shooting.

Late Thursday morning, police briefly closed the northbound lanes of I-95 near Girard Avenue so investigators could look for possible evidence on the roadway on foot. There was no immediate word if they found anything.
To hear Donnie McLaurin Jr. tell it, the story is almost magical.

He says Gail Harrison, childless and unmarried, befriended him while he was growing up in Brewerytown. She took him in while his dad was in prison. She was like his stepmother. He called her Mom.

True, he missed her funeral, but he felt close enough to rummage through her house uninvited after she died in 2011. There, he says, he found something amazing.

I ended up coming across this paperwork and the will, he said.

Dated when McLaurin was just 14, the will named him her heir, putting him in line to inherit her newly valuable home in a quickly gentrifying North Philadelphia neighborhood.

Neighbors and friends of Harrison have another word for McLaurins story. They say its fiction.

They scoff at the idea that Harrison, a recluse struggling with mental illness, had any relationship with Donnie McLaurin. They say they called the police when, after Harrisons death, they saw McLaurin crawl through a window and take bag after bag of belongings out of her house. His father, Donnie McLaurin Sr., was there too, in their telling. And they say the father yelled to his son at one point: You find the money yet?

As for the will, McLaurin Jr. filed it with the city four years after Harrisons death. Harrisons signature appears forged, according to a handwriting expert. So does the signature of the wills notary. The notarys stamp appears fake as well. It bears a date when the notary wasnt in business.

Philadelphia Register of Wills Ronald Donatuccis office in 2017 accepted McLaurins claim as Harrisons heir. Upon review, Donatucci now says, the will appears to be a counterfeit.

Harrison died alone at age 59 of heat stress during a heat wave. Her obituary, written by her family, makes no mention of McLaurin Jr., citing only her brother, his wife, and their son, Devin. Neighbors said Harrison was close to Devin and talked of leaving her house to him.

In a recent phone interview, McLaurin Jr., now 28, told of discovering the will and of his friendship with Harrison. Pressed by a reporter, he eventually hung up. His criminal defense lawyer, Derek Steenson, later backtracked for his client. According to Steenson, McLaurin Jr. told him that in fact, his father and a family friend found the will, and that the friend filled out the paperwork to file it. The friend is now dead, Steenson said.

If the will is bogus, it would suggest that Gail Harrison, in death, was the victim of two separate scams designed to ransack her estate, one involving a forged will and the other turning on a forged deed.

As the Inquirer previously reported, a man named William E. Johnson III ended up the owner of Harrisons two-story rowhouse on Seybert Street in 2016, five years after her death, courtesy of a deed bearing her forged signature. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, heralding a crackdown on the entrenched problem of housing theft in the city, announced Johnsons arrest this month on charges of stealing her home and six others.

In investigating Harrisons house, the Inquirer found the will that Donnie McLaurin brought to the Register of Wills Office in 2015.

The document is 11 typed pages and dated April 12, 2004. It shows no involvement of a lawyer. It variously describes Donnie McLaurin Jr. as Harrisons child and her stepson, and names him heir and executor of her estate. The filing lists her house as her only asset.

The will bears the signed names of Gail Harrison and notary Edward R. Gudknecht, who served as Bucks County recorder of deeds for 24 years until his death in 2010. Both signatures appear to differ significantly from other known samples.

The Inquirer asked Joseph Rosowski, a trained forensic documents examiner, to compare the handwriting in the will with Harrisons and Gudknechts signatures on other official documents, such as Harrisons voting registration. Rosowski is a police detective in Northampton Township, Bucks County, and works on the side as a documents expert. He has testified as an expert in nearly 150 trials.

While saying he would prefer to have more examples for comparison, Rosowski cited numerous discrepancies with the signatures. Gudknechts name, for instance, appeared to be misspelled on the will. He said the signatures on the will purporting to be Harrisons and Gudknechts both appeared to be forgeries.

Donatucci, the elected head of Philadelphias wills office for nearly 40 years, agreed. Its so obvious its not the same signature, he said this week, referring to the signed names of both Harrison and Gudknecht.

Gudknechts daughter, Sally Carr, also declared the signature on the will a fraud.

I know my dads signature," she said. "Its definitely not his signature. Theres no question.

The notary stamp on the will declares Gudknecht licensed through 2005. In fact, records show that Gudknecht let his license lapse in February 2004.

Donnie McLaurin Jr. is awaiting trial for allegedly raping a woman last year. Steenson, his lawyer, says the womans account is false. On his bail papers in October, McLaurin listed Harrisons house as his address.

In his interview, McLaurin insisted the will was legitimate. In a separate interview, his father did, too. They disagreed about much else.

The son said his father had dated Gail Harrison for a time. My mom got custody of me while he was locked up, he said of his father. Two years, I was like back and forth.

McLaurin Sr., 52, said he never dated Harrison or served time in prison. I dont know what he told you, the father said of his son. I was never locked up.

There are no state or federal records of him being in prison.

As for the sons living with Harrison, the father said Harrison would help the boy with his homework, but he never stayed with her.

The younger McLaurin acknowledged that about four years after Harrison died, he went into her house to clear it out. He said he had a right to do that. I knew it was still my moms house, he said.

We cleaned it out, he said I found the will inside this little envelope.

The son said he and his father had gone through the house together. Not so, his father said: I wasnt with him.

In any event, the will was a big surprise. The McLaurins said Harrison had never told them she had made McLaurin Jr. her heir.

Residents on the block question the McLaurins account.

In interviews, three said they watched on a hot day as the McLaurins, father and son, went in and out of Harrisons house, carting off her possessions.

They took out, like, appliances. They had stuff in plastic bags, said Terry Robinson. They took a lot of stuff out of there. She had stuff still in boxes that had never been used.

Robinson, 62, and her daughter, Jalena, 26, watched in alarm as the McLaurins and a third man drove up, entered the house though a window, and began passing items out. They included a strongbox for papers.

The McLaurins opened windows to air out the house, they said. While the father was downstairs, Jalena Robinson said, his voice carried across the street as he yelled upstairs to his son, Don, you find the money yet?  a statement denied by McLaurin Sr.

Neighbors also rejected the idea that Harrison was a mentor to McLaurin Jr. She never had people over, said one resident, who did not want to be named. I lived on the block for over 55 years. We looked out for her. I dont even think she knew him.

Few questions asked

McLaurin brought the will to the Register of Wills Office in City Hall in December 2015. The office approved it 14 months later, in February 2017.

Louis DiRenzo, a deputy register of wills, said a key positive factor was that McLaurin attached the required death certificate, certified by the state as an official copy.

By law, death certificates are not public. They generally may only be obtained by relatives.

In practice, the state will mail them to anyone who claims to be a relative, officials acknowledged. We dont have the ability to check, said Nate Wardle, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health. He said the state relies on the honor system, noting that its form requires people to affirm they are being truthful.

For his part, McLaurin Jr. said of the death certificate, My moms family gave it to me. He said he couldnt recall which family member.

Harrisons brother declined to comment.

DiRenzo said the wills office tries to check submissions. People claiming to be heirs are sometimes asked to produce birth certificates. While he agreed the will submitted by McLaurin raised issues, he said he could not fault the offices handling of the case.

Everything on our end looks appropriate, he said.

At this point, under state law, only Harrisons brother can contest the will, Donatucci said. He said he planned to alert the District Attorneys Office to the questions about the will.

Im not happy that my hands are tied, Donatucci said. Im sad that the family has to go through this grief.

From 2015 on, McLaurin appears to have used Harrisons old address as his own. He gave it in obtaining a drivers license that year, records show.

A forged deed

While the will McLaurin presented was under review by the Register of Wills Office in 2016, prosecutors allege, Johnson, 43, stole the house out from under him with a forged deed. They said he faked Harrisons signature and a notarys to steal the property.

He sold the house for $89,000 to a developer, who renovated it and sold it again for $250,000 to Melvin Powell III and his father. The sale apparently didnt faze McLaurin Jr., who was still listing the house as his address in October when he was arrested on the rape charges.

Confronted later by a reporter about problems with Harrisons will, Donnie McLaurin Jr. said he had given up any claim on the house. His father, however, is digging in.

McLaurin Sr. said he had considered suing the Powells, but I came to the conclusion they are just as much a victim as my son."

Now, he said, he might go after the title company that approved the purchase. He recently left a note at the Powells mailbox asking to talk with them.

They say they wont be responding.
Daphne Goggins thinks Philadelphia is ready for a mayor with mental illness. And she suggests that might be part of Gods plan for her and the city.

The controversial candidate, endorsed last week by the citys Republican City Committee and then endorsed again in a second vote Monday, headed to the White House on Thursday to attend a Black History Month reception. But thats not what her fellow Republicans were talking about back at home.

Instead, they were transfixed by an interview she gave to the conservative website the Daily Caller, saying she has received federal disability payments since 2010 because she was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder after she quit snorting cocaine and got sober in 2005.

Why should I be ashamed of having mental illness? Goggins asked, according to the article posted Wednesday evening. I think that the voters of Philadelphia should get to decide. And I think they just might choose me.

Goggins also told the Daily Caller she truly believes that God disabled me to allow her to focus on volunteering in her community, rather than working a job.

She declared herself on Saturday physically, mentally and emotionally able to serve as mayor, in an email to Republican ward leaders, threatening to sue anyone who challenged her candidacy or endorsement.

But Goggins told the Daily Caller shes not absolutely sure she is ready to reenter the workforce if elected. She planned to rely on the cabinet she would appoint as mayor to get the work done.

The mayor is the executive representative of the city of Philadelphia, she told the Daily Caller. The people that mostly do the work are his cabinet, and I have the ability to appoint a cabinet.

Goggins, in a message Wednesday night to the Inquirer, confirmed the article was mostly accurate. But Goggins, a fan of yelling fake news, complained it got a few things wrong. She seemed most concerned about the article quoting her as saying, Everything that Ive done in my life Ive failed at.

I meant to say that I never failed at anything in my life, Goggins message said. Who would say they failed at everything in their life? LOL.

Goggins conceded that the Daily Caller played her an audiotape of her interview and that it sounded as if the news site got it right.

I will never do another phone interview, especially while driving in the car, Goggins told the Inquirer. I will run all of those things through my campaign manager. So please do not contact me anymore.

The Republican primary is in three months; the general election, 8 months.

Its been a short but conflict-riddled campaign so far for Goggins, a North Philly ward leader known previously for appearing on CNN to voice full-throated support for President Donald Trump and to float conspiracy theories.

Michael Meehan, chairman of the Republican City Committee, called the meeting of ward leaders Monday to revoke or maintain their endorsement for Goggins after a Clout column noted she had been on disability since 2010. They voted 29-18 to continue endorsing Goggins, with four abstentions. Later, ward leaders said her disability was not discussed.

Goggins had previously said her disability was the chronic musculoskeletal disorder fibromyalgia. On Monday she said she still has that disease but insisted it was not the source of her disability. She declined to explain.

Goggins is likely to face a primary challenge from Billy Ciancaglini, a defense attorney and Democrat-turned-Republican who has become a needling rival. Ciancaglini has questioned how Goggins could handle the rigors of serving as mayor if shes been on disability for years.

No matter whom Republican voters choose, that victor will face long odds in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 7-1. The last Republican mayor of Philadelphia left office in 1952.
Kitchen experience, or lack thereof, is often readily apparent among the young students undertaking their first recipe  this time, breakfast biscuits with scrambled eggs  in the My Daughters Kitchen cooking program, which last week began its spring session with some 170 urban school children across the region.

For the 65 volunteers leading these classes, the first week is also spent getting to know the kids, introducing them to safety rules of knives and stoves, and assessing their basic kitchen skills, as they begin an eight-week session, teaching them to cook easy, healthful meals on a budget.

And, as Cheryl Pfeiffer, a volunteer at St. Augustine Academy in Norristown, learned, some instructions need to be explained in explicit detail. Working with a student who had never cracked an egg before, Pfeiffer showed her how and then gave the student an egg. She cracked it nicely, Pfeiffer said, right onto the floor.

Pfeiffer advised her to hold the egg over the bowl next time, and the student mastered the egg-cracking skill. Fellow students mastered the skill of cleaning up a dropped egg.

Chopping onions was also new for some, who learned firsthand how onion vapors can sting eyes and start tears flowing. Its just part of cooking; you endure it and learn to chop faster, I told the students at Wissahickon Charter School Awbury campus in Germantown, where I am teaching this semester. Though some students shied away, others embraced the task, insisting the onions were not going to win.

I cant get affected by these onions, said Marsalis Boyd, a fifth grader at Wissahickon Awbury, as he gamely turned a large onion into a pile of -inch dice  without shedding a tear.

Onions dont make me cry, said another gallant student, Khaliyl Ali at LaSalle Academy in Kensington. I make them cry.

The nutrition lesson for the class was the importance of eating a healthful breakfast: how studies show it helps students do better in school, maintain a healthy body weight, and avoid feeling hungry and irritable before lunch.

And though some kids admitted skipping breakfast, others, like Melanie Ronen at Wissahickon, said they regularly cooked eggs for breakfast for themselves. Still others, like classmate Egypt Scott, had grandmothers who cooked eggs before school.

So, for those who already knew how to scramble eggs, baking biscuits from scratch held the appeal  for some.

We are making our own biscuits? But you can just buy them in the store, said AZon Young at Wiggins Elementary in Camden. Teacher Edith Bobb explained how it can be healthier and more cost-effective to prepare your own meals with fresh ingredients, succinctly summarizing the mission of the program.

These biscuits, made with flour, butter, milk, and fat-free Greek yogurt, pack more protein, less fat, and fewer calories than traditional biscuits, without the extra preservatives in fast food and processed varieties. They can also be made with white whole-wheat flour, as one volunteer suggested, to add more fiber.

And though it would be a challenge to make these biscuits in the morning before school, they could be made in advance and frozen, then warmed quickly.

Suzanne Penn, my cooking partner at Wissahickon, supervised the making of the biscuits and let the kids decide whether they would prefer one large biscuit or two smaller ones, even knowing it would complicate the process with varied baking times.

Many students remarked on how much they loved working with their hands, mixing the butter into the flour and getting the dough to the right consistency. Making the dough for the biscuits was my favorite part, said Maeve Taffee at Comly Elementary in Northeast Philadelphia. "It felt weird when it stuck between my fingers.

For me, the joy of teaching kids to cook is seeing understanding building, but also watching them enjoy the sensory pleasures.

Suriyah, come and smell this, it smells so good, Egypt said to classmate Suriyah Washington to take in the lovely aroma as she was stirring the onions and peppers on the stove.

I see how its all coming together in clumps, said Morgan Pettiford, remembering how we had discussed the word curds while reading the recipe.

Another bonus is seeing old traditions through the eyes of another generation. When I showed the students how to set the table, with the fork on the left and knife and spoon on the right, Marsalis wondered why.

Do you have to do it like that?" he asked.

You dont, I said. But it is good to know the proper way to set a table, if you are in a situation where you need to do that.

Oh, I get it, he replied. Like in case you have a fashion party and everyone is uptighty.

Precisely, I said.

In the end, the breakfast biscuits got good marks. From 1 to 10, I think the biscuits are 100,000,000! wrote Egypt. Some loved the addition of onions and peppers to the eggs, but others would rather leave them out, which, of course, is an option when making them at home. Others suggested adding cheese to the recipe, another option.

Perhaps most gratifying to me was the pride of accomplishment as documented by students in their journals:

I learned how to make some good biscuits, wrote Suriyah. I felt proud of myself!

This class made me feel skilled, wrote Morgan, because I read off a recipe book and then I made it right off the bat.

Contact Maureen Fitzgerald at mydaughterskitchen@gmail.com. To read previous stories about the classes, go to philly.com/mydaughterskitchen.

Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches

Makes 12 biscuits, or 6 servings

For the biscuits:

1 cups all-purpose flour or white whole-wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

 teaspoon salt

 cup butter, cold, cut into -inch squares

 cup plain, no-fat Greek yogurt

About  cup whole milk

For the scrambled eggs:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 green pepper, cut into -inch dice

1 onion, cut into -inch dice

One dozen eggs

Salt and pepper, to taste

To make the biscuits, heat oven to 450. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with your fingers. You are finished when the butter pieces are the size of small peas. Stir the yogurt into the flour with a fork. Then add the milk, a little at a time, stirring as you go. If the dough starts to pull away from the bowl and sticks to your fingers, you have enough milk. If the dough isnt sticky, add a little more milk until it is. Using a heaping tablespoon or an ice cream scoop, spoon out the dough and drop it onto an ungreased baking sheet, dividing it to make 12 even biscuits. Bake the biscuits in the center of the oven, until lightly brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. While the biscuits are baking, make the eggs. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chopped peppers and saute, about 4 minutes, then add the onions and saute until soft, about two or three more minutes. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them. Pour the eggs into the skillet. Let them set for 20 seconds and then stir until they form curds and are cooked through. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Take the biscuits out of the oven and let them cool slightly. Slice each biscuit in half and then spoon the scrambled egg mixture between the two halves. Enjoy.

Per serving (for two breakfast biscuits):

309 calories, 11 grams fat, 56 milligrams cholesterol, 225 milligrams sodium, 34 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams dietary fiber, 6 grams sugar, 18 grams protein
Anyone whos spent time exploring Philadelphias Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurants is already well acquainted with the flavors of La Boite spices. The New York company has been working with professional chefs to enhance their recipes since 2006.

But La Boite, founded by Israeli-born chef Lior Lev Sercarz, is also a resource for home cooks. Its website sells more than 40 seasoning blends, such as the zaatar associated with many Middle Eastern dishes, as well as dozens of single spices, and offers suggestions for using them. Some products, like a starter pack of five one-ounce blends, is available through Amazon.

The blends are a great way to start because you can just open a jar and start sprinkling on anything, taste it, see what you like, and explore from there," said Sercarz, adding that most blends are versatile enough to use on everything from fish and meat to vegetables, eggs, and fruit.

Steven Cook and Michael Solomonovs restaurants each sell a custom pack of La Boite spices, like the recent release of a pastrami-goulash-everything-bagel combo designed for Abe Fisher. Suraya, the Lebanese restaurant in Fishtown with a marketplace, stocks a shelf of La Boite spices for sale, and Spice Finch chefs Jennifer Carroll and Billy Riddle also cook with them.  Allison Steele

La Boite spices, $25 for a mini-pack of five at laboiteny.com. Also available at Amazon and local stores; $9 to $15 for individual spices and spice blends.
Update: Period. End of Sentence won the Academy Award for best documentary short subject at the 91st annual Academy Awards.

University of Pennsylvania sophomore Claire Sliney will be in the audience at Sundays 91st annual Oscars.

As a nominee.

Two years past voting age, Sliney is an executive producer of Period. End of Sentence, one of five Academy Award-nominated entries in the documentary short films category.

Period follows a group of girls and women in a rural village outside New Delhi who fight back against Indias deeply-rooted stigma surrounding menstruation. Sliney, a Los Angeles native, has been involved in the project since her freshman year in high school.

When male Penn classmates ask about the focus of the 26-minute film  it debuted last week on Netflix  the conversation often turns awkward.

Some of them dont know what to say, Sliney says. They think its a womens issue, but it actually has larger implications. Were not talking about vaginas 24/7. Women are usually more receptive. They engage more.

While many Penn alums have earned Oscar nods, Sliney is the first Quaker to be nominated while currently enrolled, according to the universitys Cinema & Media Studies Program.

Being up for filmdoms highest honor feels like an out-of-body experience, says Sliney, who majors in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE). Its crazy. This was a very homegrown project. None of us ever expected this.

Period is the result of a grassroots collaboration that began in 2013 among students, teachers, and parents in Slineys Oakwood School, a progressive institution in North Hollywood whose website boasts that its the only school in California with a gorilla as a mascot. You can look it up.

On a field trip to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, members of Oakwoods Girls Learn International club were told about the taboo of menstruation in some cultures. It often leads to girls staying home from school during their periods or dropping out altogether.

None of us had ever heard about the issue, Sliney says. As feminists, we talk so often about womens disempowerment, but its not often we can target an individual systemic cause. We thought it was such a cool issue.

The girls discovered that Indian social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham had invented a simple, low-tech machine to produce inexpensive sanitary products. Pads are a rare and expensive commodity in rural villages, where most women use reusable pieces of cloth.

The Pad Project, cofounded by Sliney, was created to raise money for a pad machine for the women of Kathikera. Action India, another nonprofit dedicated to womens rights, helped with the enterprise.

Fund-raising began in late 2016, with school-sanctioned yogathons, bake sales, and a Kickstarter campaign. (We reached out to Michelle Obama but didnt hear back, Sliney says). The pad machine was purchased, along with a years supply of materials.

The next step was getting the word out. The Oakwood parents, many of whom work in the movie industry, suggested making a short documentary, with a professional director.

At that point, says Sliney, the whole thing snowballed. We were pretty much out of our league. It was never our intention to do a film or get to the Oscars. We didnt understand what the impact would be. It surpassed all our expectations.

When Rayka Zehtabchi (The Lunchbox), a recent University of Southern California film school graduate with a self-described activists heart, was approached by one of the parents, she says she "was totally moved and wanted to jump in.  I felt we were all on the same wavelength.

Working pretty much for free, Zehtabchi and her crew traveled to India in January 2017 to film the pad machines arrival. Many of the women in the village had never seen a sanitary pad, not to mention a film crew. Some did not even know what menstruation was.

Girls dont know about their bodies, says Zehtabchi, 25. Mothers dont talk to their daughters, friends dont talk to each other. 

Six months later, when she returned to Kathikera, I was astonished to see how much progress had been made. Not only were women and girls using the pads, they had paying jobs  many for the first time  running the pad machine.

After Periods April 5 release, it won accolades at film festivals across the country. That qualified it to compete for an Oscar nomination. Netflix later acquired distribution rights.

When the nominations were announced Jan. 22, Slineys screams woke up her housemates, she says. For Zehtabchis part, I never jumped that high in my life.

Sliney plans to attend the Oscars with her mother, Netflix executive, and Period producer Lisa Taback; Oakwood English teacher and club adviser Melissa Berton; and Zehtabchi. Slineys wardrobe choice is not exactly at the top of her to-do list. She may rent a dress.

Despite having grown up around movie celebrities, the Penn undergrad admits shes feeling starstruck about Sunday.

In a sense, Im one of their equals. To actually attend the Oscars and be one of their peers is an incredible feeling.  Im 20 years old. I dont feel like Im an Oscar nominee. Thats something you do when youre, like, 40.
Most academics like to brag about their successes. Doug Webber touts his failures.

He was rejected by the majority of Ph.D. programs he applied to. There were at least a dozen academic projects he started that went nowhere. Most of the research papers he eventually got published were rejected multiple times.

And along the way, there were all those cutting comments from anonymous peer reviewers.

The bar for new and innovative work required for publication in a good journal is pretty high," wrote one. "This paper does not reach that bar.

Webber, an associate professor of economics at Temple University, has laid bare these shortcomings and more, all which came along the road to success. He posted them in August on his Temple web page in a Failure CV. In academia, CV stands for curriculum vitae, an academic resume of sorts.

On the same page, Webber has a regular CV that highlights his successes: All the papers he has had published. His doctorate from Cornell, an Ivy League university. His 2016 Teacher of the Year award from Temples economics department; his research in progress; and his congressional testimony.

The economist hopes his brutal honesty in the alternate CV shows graduate students and junior faculty that they shouldnt get discouraged by the inevitable failures that will come in their careers. Its a rite of passage in academia.

Its really easy to forget that everyone fails, Webber, 33, said. Its perfectly normal to struggle and not get something on the second, third, or fourth time.

Hes not the first one to undertake such an exercise or suggest it. Melanie Stefan, a lecturer at the Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland, floated the idea in a piece published in 2010 in the scientific journal Nature. Subsequently, Johannes Haushofer, an assistant professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton, put out his CV of Failures, and apparently it got a lot of views.

This darn CV of Failures has received way more attention than my entire body of academic work, he notes at the bottom, under Meta Failures.

Joshua Goodman, 40, an associate professor of public policy at Harvards Kennedy School of Government, recounted his failures in a tweet string. He said he wanted to be part of a culture change where people talk about their struggles and break down the isolation and frustration that he has seen in younger faculty members.

What I came to realize is almost everyone goes through a lot of failures for each visible success, and thats something that younger scholars dont know, said Goodman, who joined Harvard in 2009. They dont know the peer review process is largely focused on criticism.

And the acceptance rate for papers at the top academic journals, Webber notes, is something like 5 percent.

These are what you need to get tenure, he said.

Job rejection also poses a harsh reality for beginning academics. Webber said his department got 562 applications for a job it posted this year.

One place where Webber appears to have had nothing but success is in reaction to his failure CV.

At conferences and seminars, "I have people come up to me who I have never met and say, I love your failure CV, said Webber, who also directs Temples graduate program in economics.

Temple student Fatima Mboup felt more at ease after she read it. Webber had told students about it in her graduate class last semester.

It puts everything in a more reachable reality," said Mboup, 28, who is working toward her Ph.D. in economics.

Unlike many academic projects that can take months, even years, Webber put the CV together in a weekend, with his wife, Catherine Maclean, also a Temple economics professor, and four rescue dogs there for support.

Webber acknowledged it was easier as a tenured professor to unveil his earlier failures. And he wasnt quite as zen about failure when he was experiencing it.

But hes certainly not unused to challenges.

Webber is legally blind. His elementary school in Floridas Tampa Bay area, he recalled, tried to send him to a school for the blind, but his parents successfully fought to keep him mainstreamed.

His father, a nursing home administrator, also took him to the University of Florida to meet his former calculus professor, who was blind.

He wanted to show me that there are people with really, really bad vision who can really excel academically, Webber recalled.

The professor soon became a role model for Webber, and he knew he, too, wanted a career as a professor. Webber uses thick glasses to read and carries a monocular, a little telescope, to view things at a distance. At times, his vision made an already challenging path to a doctorate even more challenging.

His adviser at Cornell was impressed with how he met those challenges.

He has certainly made the most of his abilities, said Ronald G. Ehrenberg, an economics professor and director of Cornells Higher Education Research Institute. Hes extraordinary.

It was from Ehrenberg that Webber first recalls hearing about the importance of acknowledging failures, how he told students he never thought hed have another idea worth publishing after his dissertation, and that was more than 100 publications ago.

Most of Webbers Failure CV focuses on research and journal article-related hiccups. But Webber also includes an awkward classroom mishap. In quickly labeling a graph on the board that was supposed to be titled Annual Earnings, he accidentally left an "n" and the "u" out of annual. There was a bit of nervous laughter from the undergraduates.

I very quickly said, Thats not how you spell annual, and completely erased it, he said.

It was one failure quickly flushed.
Hidden away for more than a decade, the vast collection of artwork that once hung on public school walls across Philadelphia will return to the public eye  in school halls or traveling exhibits  as soon as practical, the Philadelphia Board of Education recently promised.

The collection of 1,200 paintings, sculptures, murals, tapestries, and other pieces once optimistically estimated to be worth $30 million was abruptly removed from schools in 2003 and 2004, when officials said the works were too valuable to hang unsecured.

For years, the Philadelphia School District refused to say much about the works it yanked from school buildings, forcing advocates to go to court to find out exactly what was held in a location it refused to disclose. At different times, the powers that be contemplated selling all or part of the collection when financial crisis hit.

That option is now officially off the table.

The school board has pledged, in a new policy, to hold on to the artwork permanently and aims to get it in front of students. Some works could return to school walls if arrangements can be made to display the work safely and under proper conditions, and others might eventually show up in traveling exhibits. Annual reports accounting for the art inventory will be made public, and a committee will work to establish a charitable trust responsible for the preservation, management, and display of the collection.

Board member Christopher McGinley has been concerned about the fate of the art since it was removed and mismanaged from schools. The removal, he said, deflated many schools.

Artwork that was bought for schools was intended to be seen by students, said McGinley. The collection, now valued at about $2 million, may not have great monetary value, but it has great value to the community," he said.

(The $30 million figure was cited during the administration of former schools chief Paul Vallas; officials now say that after evaluation by art experts, the real cash value is much lower.)

The art includes works by Thomas Eakins, N.C. Wyeth, noted African American artists Henry Ossawa Tanner and Dox Thrash, and late 19th- and early 20th-century Pennsylvania impressionists Walter Baum and Edward Redfield. At the time they were removed by the district, some works were proudly displayed with gallery lighting and signs; other pieces were found stuffed in closets or boiler rooms.

Officials had them removed from buildings, sometimes under cover of darkness, and said at the time that they would catalog and restore the art, if necessary, before figuring out how best to display the pieces.

The collection remained concealed, however, save for 15 of the works briefly exhibited at the Michener Museum in Bucks County in 2017. A group of advocates, led by former Philadelphia educators, spent years trying to figure out exactly what was in storage and how to get it back in front of children.

Other districts have wrestled with the same problem; some have formed nonprofits to handle their art, and others have partnered with museums to show it.

Arlene Holtz, retired principal of Woodrow Wilson Middle School, which once had 72 significant oil paintings carefully framed and hung in its hallways, cheered when the board formalized its new policy in December.

When the district removed the works from Wilson and other schools, we lost not just a treasure, we lost an idea  that beautiful artwork belongs not just to the rich, it belongs to all our children regardless of where they live, Holtz said.

Wilsons art collection was amassed by Charles Dudley, the schools first principal, who believed that exposing children to art would inspire good behavior and morals and make the school beautiful. He created a museum-like environment, directly appealing to such artists as Baum to sell him works at a good price. Dudley raised funds by charging a nickel to show visitors the collection.

Another school, Laura Wheeler Waring Elementary, in Fairmount, used to display a work by Waring herself, the African American artist and teacher for whom the school is named.

These collections are inexhaustible and are to be preserved and used to benefit the students and citizens of Philadelphia, the board policy declared. The School District of Philadelphias collections of art shall be held for educational purposes, research, or public exhibition for the community to enjoy or to generate funds for their preservation and not for financial gain.

The new board policy is a victory, but a first step, said Holtz. The art has been cataloged and accounted for, but it remains in storage.

While principals will now be able to ask for the return of artwork to their schools, the reality is that most schools are unable to guarantee that valuable artwork can be kept safe and in proper conditions. And few current school staff have memories of what art used to line their walls, though the district does have records of where each piece came from.

Traveling exhibits or public shows at the districts central headquarters on North Broad Street are a possibility, McGinley said; so is an online teaching tool or other ways to make the art and its history part of the School Districts curriculum.

There is an information-sharing responsibility on the part of the district, said McGinley. We have the ability and the responsibility to have periodic showings of the work.
Publicly traded Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. has moved its headquarters from New Haven, Conn., to suburban Philadelphia. We didnt get any state aid to do this, boasts CEO Joe Truitt. We arent Amazon.

The move to 1777 Sentry Parkway West, Blue Bell, brings to the region the head office for a $350 million (market cap) company  now between products and without revenues, but with $270 million in cash to spend building new products. The move also brings an initial 30 jobs, a modest number, but high-paying management and science posts, the boss added.

We moved here because I needed to recruit a lot of people," Truitt told me. "We came here because of the favorability of this region, based on the most important thing  talent. Biotech development and commercialization talent.

Achillion is developing therapies for orphan diseases, serious conditions that affect a few thousand Americans. Its current focus is on alternative pathways" for factor D, an immune system enzyme whose maladjustment is associated with lethal kidney and blood diseases. The companys therapies are going through later-stage trials in hopes of taking them to market.

Truitt had considered taking the company to eastern Massachusetts, a red-hot biotech-industry center, and a shorter move. But Boston has become so hypercompetitive and expensive, it didnt make sense for us."

Suburban Philadelphia, by contrast, is full of veterans of Merck, Pfizer, GSK, and Johnson & Johnson." Truitt is a former J&J manager, who joined Achillion 10 years ago, before the company sold its hepatitis treatment to his former employer for $225 million (the company eventually stopped development as competing treatments came on the market.)

To be sure, Philadelphia had an inside track for another reason  its home for Truitt, who grew up in Kensington back when my whole family worked for Philco, the now-shuttered battery, radio, and TV manufacturing pioneer. He graduated from what was then LaSalle College (one of his kids now attends the affiliated LaSalle College High School), and, like so many frontline drug marketing managers, got his masters from St. Josephs pharma marketing program. After a decade with Achillion, he became CEO last year.

Truitts chief medical, operations, and regulatory officers are among the Achillion staffers already recruited in the Philadelphia area. Some of them were commuting to Boston on planes every week. They are thrilled to go to a mature biotech company, doing Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials, and well-capitalized, with $270 million on the balance sheet, mostly from the J&J deal, he added.

We have planted the flag, and we are off to the races.
Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Staff reports

The Petoskey News-Review

MACKINAW CITY  Although winter holds sway for now, the Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch is gearing up for spring bird migration.

Owls will be researched at a study site near Cheboygan, while hawks will be counted in Mackinaw City. The hawk count starts soon, since adult golden eagles pass through the Straits in early March on their way to breeding grounds near Hudson Bay and the Maritime Provinces.

Timed for people to see the eagles as well as Rough-legged and Red-tailed Hawks, the major MSRW outreach event, Mackinaw Raptor Fest, runs from April 5-7 in Mackinaw City.

Its chair, Kathy Bricker, invites people to attend any or all of it.

Plenty of space remains, Bricker said. Most events occur on Saturday, with entertaining and educational sessions indoors at the Mackinaw City School. Besides these talks, daily field trips will be held, along with free hawk and waterbird watching.

Saturday April 6 starts with a plenary talk on the conservation of raptors in Michigan, followed by two morning breakout sessions with five choices of programs.

The offer something for everyone. Options for talks include bald eagles, ospreys, snowy owls, California condors, photography of raptors in flight, adaptations of raptors for flight, lead in the environment, wind energys effect on raptors, animal tracking via the internet, the migratory mindset of MSRW and identifying hawks and waterbirds in flight.

After lunch, the keynote presentation will cover golden eagles. MSRW helped prove that golden eagles migrate through Michigan in greater numbers than believed, regularly recording more of them than any other hawk count east of the Mississippi (374 in 2015).

The full fest, including dinner on Saturday night, costs $85. Field trips cost $20 apiece. Registration is available via www.mackinawraptorfest.org, and ends March 22.

Rich Couse, executive director of MSRW and a presenter at the Fest, believes that anyone living in Northern Michigan, including families with school-age children, would enjoy the Saturday evening offerings at St. Anthonys Church.

Its a wonderful chance for people to gather with others who share their love of raptors, and an opportunity to learn more about these magnificent creatures, Couse said.

Starting at 4 p.m. Saturday, Jenny Schroeder of Hawk Hill Raptors near Genesee will bring several of her rehabilitated birds to St. Anthonys Church to talk about raptor adaptations and the role of falconry in conservation.

A pizza and salad buffet and silent auction will follow her live raptor program. The evening ends with the annual Wind Under Wings award for the greatest assistance to birds of prey in the area. Stand-alone tickets for Saturday evening, including dinner, cost $40.

Fest attendees will be treated to an added program on Sunday morning, on learning to identify songbirds by ear. This talk plus the two Owls and Stars and Night Photography field trips will be held at Headlands International Dark Sky Park. The Sunday field trips take people to the Upper Peninsula to search for winter birds.

Each year the Mackinaw Raptor Fest and the bird research of MSRW attract hundreds of people to Northern Michigan. As families enjoy the birds, they learn that the Straits of Mackinac forms a vital resting and feeding grounds for migratory raptors and waterbirds.

In 2019, MSRW hopes to award four $300 Youth Scholarships to attend the Fest. Tax-deductible donations restricted for these students or for general support may be made at www.mackinacraptorwatch.org.

To register for the April 6 Fest, field trips, or evening, visit www.mackinawraptorfest.org.

The Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch conducts scientific studies of hawks, owls, and waterbirds migrating through this region of northern Michigan, educates the public about them, and aids in conserving and protecting the resting and feeding stop-over habitat for birds of prey in the Straits of Mackinac region.

To learn more, visit the MSRW Facebook, Instagram pages, or www.mackinacraptorwatch.org for migration blogs, past press releases, event dates, support options, and Mackinac Raptor Fest photos.

Email info@mackinacraptorwatch.org for more information.
Jillian Fellows (231) 439-9389 jfellows@petoskeynews.com

The Petoskey News-Review

A brand-new caucus within the Michigan Democratic Party was recently authorized, and the group will work to highlight issues of concern to the states Native American community.

Andrea Pierce, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, is one of the co-founders of the Anishinaabek Caucus. The other founders are Julie Dye, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi; Tom Shomin, Grand Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and Desmond Berry, Grand Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Pierce, who lives in Ypsilanti, said she initially took notice of the lack of a Native American caucus while at a political convention last year as a precinct delegate for Ypsilanti Township.

Pierce said she saw caucuses for other population groups but I did not see a Native American or Anishinaabek caucus.

Pierce waited until after the busy election season before asking about a possible new caucus.

Right after the election, I started asking around and found out we do not have a caucus and never had a caucus, she said. Its the first Native American or Anishinaabek caucus in the state of Michigan.

Tony Zammit, a spokesperson for the Michigan Republican Party, said the party does not currently have a Native American coalition, but would be open to anyone who would like to start one.

According to a press release announcing the caucus formation, among the issues the group will address are low high school graduation rates and high rates of imprisonment, suicide and domestic violence. The press release also mentions the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.

The caucus has already passed its first resolution, condemning the use of the word redskins. Pierce said the group hopes to take the resolution further.

As the caucus has just been created, Pierce added that they are also currently looking for new members.

Right now, were very small, she said. We are looking for people to join. Not everybody has to be Native American to join the caucus. You do have to be Native American to hold a chair position.

The press release notes Anishinaabek Caucus membership is open to any Michigan Democratic Party member. Chair positions are reserved for registered Anishinaabek of Michigans federally recognized tribes.

According to the press release, Anishinaabek refers to three tribes in the Great Lake Basin: Odawa (Ottawa), Ojibwa (Chippewa) and Bodewadoni (Potawatomi).

So far, Pierce said the response to the caucus creation has been very supportive and happy and shocked.

People didnt realize we didnt have this, she said. Weve been asking to be at the table and we didnt even know where the feast was at. This is a new venture for our people and so far its been very supportive.

Pierce, who holds a chair position in the caucus, said she is also excited about how the group will help empower Michigans Native American community.

I feel weve been left out of so much, she said. We have so many activists doing so many wonderful things and it goes so far and then stops.

With the advocacy support of the new caucus, Pierce hopes those issues will now continue on to a higher level of government.

Im really excited about the empowerment, she said.
Sean Miller (231) 439-9394 semiller2@petoskeynews.com

The Petoskey News-Review

EAST JORDAN  The Jordan River Arts Council isnt looking for people to read too much into its upcoming exhibit but to rather find an appreciation for the art of altered books.

The exhibit, titled Book, Paper, Scissors, will feature a number of different local artists displaying a variety if art mediums and examples of altered books.

I hope the exhibit shows people a different way to approach books and see them in a new light through alterations, making them and seeing them in a new way, said Babs Young, arts council board co-president.

Young said the arts council was interested in doing an exhibit like this to follow a trend it has been seeing through the art world and the internet.

Even locally, artists were starting to do some things like this, she said. You go on Pinterest now and there are hundreds of these altered books. I dont know why its becoming popular, but it is and is a different approach to mixed media, collages and expression.

The exhibit will open at the Jordan River Arts Council with a reception from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, March 10, with many of the artists present.

Following the reception, and in conjunction with the exhibit, the arts council will be hosting at least one workshop on how to make a book with Dawn Swain later in the month on Sunday, March 24.

Young said other workshops are being planned but have not yet been confirmed.

We are excited for all of it and see peoples perception of this artwork, Young said.

The Jordan River Arts Council is located at 301 Main St. in East Jordan.

More information about the upcoming exhibit can be found by emailing Young at babsyoung41@gmail.com or by calling the Jordan River Arts Council at (231) 536-3385.
Mary Ann Phillips, 65 and a lifelong Wrangell resident, passed away February 5, 2019 in Zihuatanejo, Mexico while on vacation with her family.

She was born on November 18, 1953 in Bishop Rowe Hospital to Maurice and Mary Buness.

She attended Wrangell Public Schools until her family moved to the Tacoma area in 1964. She returned to Wrangell with them in January 1970 and made her home here since. After graduating from Wrangell High School, she attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

She married her high school sweetheart Vern Phillips, of Wrangell, on June 16, 1972 in the First Presbyterian Church. She had to two sons, Dustin and Scott Phillips, both of Wrangell. An important part of Ann's family was Dustin's significant other Kayla, and children Hailey and Michael.

She worked for her family's insurance business, then Vern and Ann bought and worked a fish tender for a few years until the Phillips family established Sea Level Seafoods in 1985. She was a permanent fixture in the office and in June of 2018, she retired after 33 years. She enjoyed running up the Stikine River with Vern, family, music, filling the porch of her home with colorful flowers, friends, sunbathing and vacationing in Mexico.

Taking after her mother, she was locally famous for her wonderful cooking and entertaining. For many years she organized the cuisine for the Stikine Sportsmens' Game dinner and other events; whether it was an intimate dinner party or a reception spread, her guests knew the food would be plentiful, appetizing and delicious. She was a longtime volunteer at Elks Lodge 1595 and a member of the Friends of the Irene Ingle Public Library.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Maurice and Mary Buness of Wrangell and her brothers Steve Buness of Wrangell and Sam Buness of Valdez.

She is survived by her husband Vern; sons Dustin and Scott; sisters Kay Jabusch and Marie Davidson, both of Wrangell; brothers Mike Buness and Scott Buness of Wrangell and Mark Buness of Juneau and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm, Thursday, February 21 at the Harbor Lights Church. A celebration of life gathering will follow at the Wrangell Elks Lodge.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Wrangell Public Library Summer Reading Program.
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP)  The state has signed a $2.1 million contract with ALCAN Timber Inc. for a timber sale on state and federal forest land in southeast Alaska.

The timber sale includes about 481 acres (195 hectares) within the Southeast State Forest and Tongass National Forest on the northwest end of Gravina Island, the Ketchikan Daily News reported Saturday.

State Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige signed the three-year contract Wednesday.

The Vallenar Bay sale involves about 16 million board feet (38,000 cubic meters) of timber from a mix of old- and young-gr...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency held a teleconference last week, on Feb. 15, to discuss the ongoing power issues in the region. The SEAPA Board of Directors is made up of community members from the three cities: Two directors from Ketchikan, one from Petersburg, one from Wrangell, and a fifth seat that alternates between the cities (which belongs to Ketchikan this year.)

The lights are usually kept on in the cities of Wrangell and Petersburg via hydropower from Tyee Lake. However, sometimes power from the lake is sold to Ketchikan, when the power agency feels there is enough to share.

Du...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP)  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...
Next week Kelly Bakos will be screening her award-winning documentary film, A HERD OF ORPHANS, which looks at the lives of young elephants who were abandoned when adult elephants in their herds fell victim to poachers in the African ivory trade.

The 90-minute documentary has been shown in film festivals across the world, including Estonia, Finland, Malaysia and China. Bakos has attended several of the festivals and won four Awards of Excellence from The Accolade Global Film Competition. A HERD OF ORPHANS won the Award of Excellence in Nature/Environment/Wildlife, Viewer Impact: Content/Mess...
The Steelers arent the most likely team to have Antonio Brown in Week 1 of next season, but they are among the favorites.

After general manager Kevin Colbert confirmed the team would look to trade Brown, BetDSI has the San Francisco 49ers as the top team for Brown to play for in Week 1 of the 2019 season, followed by the Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, and Arizona Cardinals before the Steelers.

Youd have to bet $100 on Brown to the 49ers to make $250. The same bet for the Colts pays $300, $400 for the Bills and $500 for the Cardinals and Steelers. The New York Giants have the longest odds at +30,000.

The same site lists a trade of Brown as slightly more likely to not be announced on the first day of the draft than it is to occur on April 25.

Brown is due a $2.5 million roster bonus on March 17.

DSI is also offering a bet on Brown playing in the AAF, XFL or AFL in 2020, 2021 or 2022. A $100 bet on him doing so would pay out $1,500 if he does. Youd need to bet $5,000 to make $100 on him not.

For help with a gambling problem, call the national hotline at 1.800.522.4700
People who claim to be anti-Israel and who support boycotting Israeli products, divestments from Israeli companies and sanctions actually despise Jewish people but cloak their true hatred in anti-Israel rhetoric.

In the Middle East the Muslim countries want to destroy Israel because it is a democratic country in a sea of totalitarian Muslim countries. The Muslim countries hate Israel because it is a Jewish country, and it is all about religion in the Middle East. There is jealousy of the high standard of living in Israel and all of the Israeli accomplishments in science, engineering, medical technology, education, agriculture, business and military prowess.

The United States values its close relationship with Israel, a strategic ally, because we share similar values and strategic interests. Unfortunately, our first two Muslim congresswomen, one from Minnesota and the other from Michigan, are apparently on record opposing Israels right to exist, and they have expressed typical anti-Jewish views.

We must be more careful electing our government officials.

DONALD MOSKOWITZ, Londonderry, N.H.

Penn State University, Class of 1963
Calling his crime selfish and depraved, a federal judge Thursday sentenced a former central Pa. banker to 3 years in prison for embezzling nearly $600,000 from his own family.

U.S. Middle District Judge Yvette Kane chose that penalty for Raymond Patrick Snyder after an hour-long hearing featuring testimony that veered from intense anger to love and forgiveness.

The angriest testimony came from one of the victims, Snyders uncle Christopher Herren.

You destroyed me, Herren said, glaring at Snyder.

Snyder, 36, a former business banker with the First National Bank in York County, pleaded guilty to stealing the money from the estate of his deceased grandfather. The money was supposed to benefit Christopher Herren and Snyders mother, Paula.

Snyder committed the thefts while acting as the estates executor, investigators said. The law intervened only after Snyder reneged on a private agreement to repay the pilfered funds after his uncle discovered the embezzlement.

Did I ever think you would do this? Not in my wildest dreams, Herren said. All you had to do was pay me back.

Paula Snyder called the impact of her sons thefts horrific, but stressed that her love for him is not diminished. She said she has forgiven him.

We figured that the money was lost. The love of our family was more important, she said. I know Patrick is a good guy.

Public Defender Ari Weitzman told Kane that Snyder began embezzling from the estate because he had spent himself into a hole. Even with a $110,000-a-year bankers salary, Snyder was living far beyond his means, Weitzman said.

Part of this had to do with Patrick wanting to keep up with the Joneses, he said. It springs from a lack of self-confidence.

Financial friction at home and an overwhelming desire to make his own wife and children happy were factors as well, Weitzman said. He argued that Snyders scheme was simply too blatant to succeed over the long run.

Snyder was incredibly cooperative with investigators once arrested, Weitzman said, a claim seconded by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Terz.

Weitzman, who sought a 1-year prison term, insisted Snyder has been ruined by his thefts. Snyder lost his job and is banned for life from the banking industry, his attorney noted, and his wife is divorcing him.

The thing that Patrick seems to value most is no longer, Weitzman said.

Snyder was in tears as he apologized to his family. I am disgusted by my actions, he said. Instead of being honest with the ones I loved, I just continued to lie.

Terz said he still regards the motive for Snyders crime as inexplicable. I just cant figure it out, the prosecutor said. He did have a good life. He was successful.

He threw it all away, Terz added.

The people he stole from were his own mother and his uncleHe ripped them off, Terz said. For that, there has to be consequences.

Kane agreed that jail must be the destination for someone who commits such a huge fraud. She expressed concern that Snyder might commit a similar crime again.

The judge ordered Snyder to serve 2 years on probation after getting out of prison. She told him he must payat least $100 a month toward his restitution once hes released.

Snyder is to start his prison term on March 22.
A tractor trailer overturned in the eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and is blocking some lanes.

The crash occurred around 7 p.m., in the area of eastbound mile marker 215.3 which is between the Blue Mountain-Exit 201 and Carlisle-Exit 226. The left and center lanes are blocked, according to the Turnpike alert system.

The Pa. Turnpike said traffic is stopped or slow moving in the area. No detours are in place, according to Turnpike traffic information.
Some but not all road restrictions have been lifted on on Pennsylvania roads following a snow and ice storm that hit the state on Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced the following restrictions were lifted as of 10 p.m.:

The full commercial vehicle ban is lifted on I-70 in Fulton County (from the Maryland state line to the Turnpike). Additionally, the prohibition on empty, straight CDL-weighted trucks; all Large Combination Vehicles (double trailers); tractors hauling empty trailers; any trailers pulled by motorcycles, passenger vehicles, pickup trucks or SUVs; all motorcycles; and all recreational vehicles and RVs is removed on the following roadways:

I-76 (non-Turnpike);

I-78 full length from I-81 to the New Jersey state line;

I-81 from the Maryland state line to I-78;

I-83 from the Maryland state line to I-81;

I-283;

I-476 (non-Turnpike, full length);

I-476 (PA Turnpike, Northeast Ext.) from Mid County (exit 20) to the Lehigh Valley exit;

I-676; and

Route 22 from I-78 to the New Jersey state line.

A full commercial vehicle ban (including buses) remains in place on I-99 from I-80 to the Turnpike.

PennDOT and the Pa. Turnpike are still monitoring conditions on several other roads in the state. Restrictions on only empty, straight CDL-weighted trucks; all Large Combination Vehicles (double trailers); tractors hauling empty trailers; any trailers pulled by motorcycles, passenger vehicles, pickup trucks or SUVs; all motorcycles; and all recreational vehicles and RVs remain on the following roads:

I-80 from the I-79 interchange to the New Jersey state line;

I-81 from I-78 to the New York state line;

I-84 full length from I-81 to the New York state line;

I-180 full length from Route 220/U.S. 15 to I-80;

I-380 full length from I-81 to I-80;

I-476 (PA Turnpike, Northeast Ext.) from the Lehigh Valley exit to Clarks Summit (exit 131); and

Route 33 from I-78 to I-80.

A 45-mph speed restriction is in place on many roadways, with all speed and vehicle restrictions viewable at www.511PA.com .
Juniata Countys district attorney has asked state police to investigate after the recent resignation of a local school district superintendent caused speculation and public concern within the community.

However, District Attorney Cory Snook did not reveal the circumstances surrounding that speculation and concern.

I normally do not comment on pending investigations, but there seems to be broad speculation and public concern regarding this situation, Snook said in a statement. Based on numerous calls from concerned citizens and taxpayers, I asked the Pennsylvania State Police to look into the events surrounding the resignation of the Juniata County School District superintendent, Keith Yarger.

Yarger submitted his letter of resignation last Friday, according to Scott Etter, the districts solicitor.

In his resignation letter, Yarger listed his final day with the district as April 15, but he wont continue serving in an active role until that date, Etter said. Instead, Yarger plans to use up accrued sick and vacation days, Etter said.

Etter said he could not provide any other details about Yargers resignation, including the reason he is choosing to exit the role.

Etter said the local school board is scheduled to vote on whether to accept Yargers resignation at a meeting at 8 p.m. tonight in the Juniata County School District Administrative Building.

Amy Wagner, the boards vice president, said board members intend to make a public statement about the issue at the meeting.

She did not provide specific details about that statement Thursday afternoon.

In his Thursday statement, Snook said school district officials will play a role in the investigation.

We can not and will not prosecute any case based on rumors and innuendo, he said. "PSP has contacted members of the school board for interviews, as well as other individuals. To date, no school board members have been interviewed."

Snook also asked anyone with information about this situation to contact state police in Hollidaysburg at 814-696-6132.

Yarger previously worked as the principal of South Mountain Elementary School in the Northern York County School District. But he left that role in 2011 to take a job as the superintendent of Southern Tioga School District in Tioga County.

He also taught at Jersey Shore Middle School in Lycoming County from 1999 to 2005.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP)  A man has been ordered to stand trial in what authorities allege was a robbery-related shooting in western Pennsylvania that killed three people, including a 10-year-old girl.

The New Castle News reports that the attorney representing 20-year-old Anthony Lavon Cooper argues that Lawrence County prosecutors lack credible evidence against his client in the Oct. 16 slayings.

Anthony Lavon Cooper

Cooper and two other people face charges in the slayings of 31-year-old Nichole Pumphrey, her 31-year-old boyfriend Lawrence Cannon, and her 10-year-old daughter, Amariah Emery. Four other young children in the home were unharmed. Authorities said Cooper was arrested after fleeing to Detroit.

According to the Tribune-Review, the others charged are Jody Hammer, 41, charged with obstruction of justice, criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit robbery and hindering apprehension; and Steven Procopio, 19, of New Wilmington in Lawrence County, charged with homicide.

The victims were shot during a robbery planned by Procopio and Hammer, New Castle police said.

Police had described Procopio as a former babysitter for Pumphreys children.

Coopers defense attorney Antonio Tuddles unsuccessfully sought dismissal of all charges Tuesday, arguing that although a co-defendant allegedly said his client was involved, a child eyewitness named someone else as the shooter.
The getaway driver in a central Pennsylvania bank robbery has failed to convince a state appeals court panel that he didnt know he was participating in a crime.

The fact that Rogoberto Hernandez led police on a chase until he crashed into a chain-link fence belies his claim of criminal ignorance, Senior Judge Dan Pellegrini concluded in the Superior Courts opinion.

The denial of Hernandezs appeal means the Harrisburg man will keep serving a 16- to 49-year prison sentence for his role in the April 2017 robbery of a Fulton Bank branch in Schaefferstown, Lebanon County.

Since Hernandez is 57, that could equate to a life sentence.

Police said Hernandezs accomplice, Orlando Nunez-Flores, robbed the bank at gunpoint. What he and Hernandez didnt know was that a teller had slipped a GPS tracking device into the bag filled with $2,963 of stolen cash.

Officers used that tracker to run down Hernandez and Nunez-Flores. Both men were captured soon after the robbery. Hernandez was still in the crashed car when police collared him.

Pellegrini noted Hernandezs appeal rested solely on a claim that he was wholly unaware of and did not participate in the bank robbery.

Hernandez claimed another man, not Nunez-Flores, asked him for a ride to the bank without telling him about the robbery plan, Pellegrini noted. After the holdup, that man forced him at gunpoint to drive away and try to outrun the cops, Hernandez contended.

Pellegrini found Hernandezs claim of ignorance of the robbery was incredulous, and that a Lebanon County jury had ample grounds to convict him on robbery charges.

Another factor weighing against Hernandezs claim of innocence, Pellegrini noted, is that Hernandez went into the bank a day before the robbery and asked for change for a $100 bill.

Bank employees remembered Hernandez because he had a distinctive limp, investigators said.
Three people from Philadelphia are in jail in Lancaster County on $2 million bail each after being charged in what authorities said was one of the countys biggest-ever seizures of fentanyl.

Moreover, District Judge David Miller said he wont allow them to post bail until after a hearing to determine whether the bail money came from dealing drugs.

The trio facing charges including felony intent to deliver fentanyl are: Eric Moran, 26; Luis C. Mercado, 32; and Katherine Joubert, 27, according to the Lancaster County District Attorneys Office.

Authorities said the three were found in possession of about two pounds of pure fentanyl and a pound of heroin laced with fentanyl during a drug bust in a Manheim Township on Jan. 31. Fentanyl is a powerful man made opioid that has been blamed for a surge in opioid overdoses and deaths. Its stronger than heroin, and is often mixed with heroin, making the dose more potent than the user realizes.
ROME (AP)  U.S. and Italian advocates for victims of pedophile priests are pressing for Italy to overhaul legislation that allows bishops to dodge accountability for predator clergy in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

A Pennsylvania legislator who was a victim of clergy sex abuse joined an Italian lawmaker and other American and Italian victims at the Italian Parliament on Thursday to put a spotlight on what they described as significant gaps in how the Italian justice system handles the problem.

With priests considered respected figures in Italian society, the words of Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi sounded unusually blunt when he told how he was raped by a priest when he was 13, and how every time he showers, he still shudders at that memory.

Rozzi urged Italian lawmakers to open up windows of opportunity in statutes of limitations so adults can denounce abuse suffered as children.

Rozzi drew on his own experience when he wondered aloud whether a 13-year-old would know what is meant by a statute of limitations.

Francesco Zanardi, who heads an Italian survivors' advocacy group, said Italy must revise its 1929 Lateran Treaty with the Holy See. He noted that under that agreement, bishops can refuse to respond to magistrates investigating their alleged roles in hiding pedophile crimes by priests.

Thus, as long as they personally are not being investigated for abuse, bishops "have the right to refuse to answer questions from the judiciary," Zanardi told a news conference in the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament's lower house.

The same treaty, he noted, also requires magistrates to inform church hierarchy they have started investigations of priests, effectively giving bishops more time to possibly discourage witnesses or victims from coming forward.

Italian law doesn't require bishops to denounce cases of abuse by clergy, Zanardi said.

"There is a legislative vacuum," he said.

The Catholic church holds a privileged place in Italian society and wields significant influence in politics. Parishes in small towns and big cities alike run after-school and weekend recreation programs for youngsters, since public schools don't offer them. That gives priests easy access to minors.

A U.S. advocate for accountability for pedophile priests noted that the American Catholic church was forced to "be more transparent" after victims came forward as adults when several states opened windows on statutes of limitations. That nudged U.S. bishops to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy toward abusive priests.

But the Italian church still allows itself to be guided by canon law, which "gives the priest a second chance" and "leaves it to the bishop's discretion" on whether a priest should be punished or removed from children, said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.

17 Pope offers 21 proposals to fight abuse at start of summit

Zanardi said only one pedophile priest is now in prison, out of 144 convictions in the last 10 years. Italian judges tend to let convicted clergy serve sentences under house arrest, he said.

Unlike in the United States, "in Italy, the scandals haven't done anything," Zanardi said.

He and Rozzi embraced in a symbolic joining of forces to change that.

By FRANCES DEMILIO, Associated Press
The Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II started Feb. 19, 1945. It lasted until March 26, 1945.

Iwo Jima is an island south of Tokyo. The United States launched an amphibious invasion on the island that was defended by about 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops.

After more than a month of fighting, the United States was victorious - giving rise to well-known photo by photographer Joe Rosenthal of U.S. Marines raising the United States flag over Mount Suribachi. It was taken on Feb. 23, 1945.

The United States had been clearing land for air bases for the new B-29 Superfortress bombers. Japanese fighters taking off from Iwo Jima were intercepting the bombing runs. For that reason, the United States decided to take Iwo Jima.

According to the National World War II Museum, "The Japanese defenders of the island were dug into bunkers deep within the volcanic rocks. Approximately 70,000 U.S. Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. In 36 days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action. The island was finally declared secured on March 16, 1945. It had been one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. After the battle, Iwo Jima served as an emergency landing site for more than 2,200 B-29 bombers, saving the lives of 24,000 U.S. airmen. Securing Iwo Jima prepared the way for the last and largest battle in the Pacific: the invasion of Okinawa."

According to the museum, 27 Medals of Honor were awarded for action on Iwo Jima - more than any other battle in U.S. history.
Former Beatle Ringo Starr and famed guitarist Carlos Santana will be among the top tier performers for a special concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock Music Festival.

Santana was one of the original performers at the multi-day 1969 concert, which reportedly attracted an audience of more than 400,000 people.

Dubbed A Season of Song and Celebration, the event is scheduled to run Aug. 15-18 at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Other scheduled performers include the Edgar Winter Band, Arlo Guthrie and the Doobie Brothers.

A screening of the documentary Woodstock will also be held on Aug. 15.

A competing music festival, dubbed Woodstock 50, is scheduled to be held Aug. 16-18 by the original Woodstock founder Michael Lang in Watkins Glen, New York. Performers for that event have not been announced yet.
Last week Patently Apple posted a report titled "Former Senior Lawyer who advised Tim Cook on Apples Compliance with Securities Laws, Charged with Insider Trading." It's being reported today that Gene Levoff, Apple's former lawyer was was released on a $500,000 bond after entering a not-guilty plea to insider-trading charges.

Gene Daniel Levoff appeared in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday, a week after prosecutors said he had traded on confidential revenue and earnings filings since 2011.

We very much look forward to defending Mr. Levoff in this case, his attorney, Kevin Marino, said after the brief hearing. For more on this, read the full Bloomberg report here.

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Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked Event just ended and it covered a lot of new product territory. Before the rumors ever got off the ground our Patently Mobile IP Blog has been covering Samsung's display patents for 7 years as they were published. Our archives show Samsung's exploration and research into future foldable, scrollable and flexible displays for smartphones and beyond. Today Samsung unveiled their first to market "Galaxy Fold" smartphone. Next week Huawei will be introducing their first foldable smartphone and it'll be interesting to see and compare the two products of a new smartphone category.

Today's report provides you with 6 videos plus the full keynote below to help you see all of Samsung new products. Watch the full keynote or just skip to the product briefs. See what Samsung will be challenging Apple and Huawei with in H1 2019.

Full Keynote: Galaxy Unpacked 2019

Forward the full keynote video below to around the 31 minute mark to see Samsung's Galaxy folding phone video before SVP of Product Marketing Justin Denison takes to the stage to talk more about the new Galaxy Fold smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S10

The new Samsung Galaxy S10 offers the world's first "Dynamic AMOLED" display that could film in HDR10+. It comes with 42% less blue light that's easier on your eyes. The display delivers the first ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the market. The display is brilliant delivering impressively bright 1200 nits. For more on the new Galaxy S10 and S10 5G, see the video below.

For those that want to dig deeper could do so at this site that covers the Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10+ model designs, cameras, performance, intelligence and more.

Samsung unveils Galaxy Fold Smartphone

At $1,980 U.S. or $2,600 Canadian, the Galaxy Fold is for the Rich and Famous. But if you have the money to burn, it's really a phone and mini-tablet all-in-one. For a first generation folding phone it's quite impressive knowing it will evolve and continually be refined.

Galaxy Buds: Official Introduction

Galaxy Watch Active: Official Introduction

Two Samsung Galaxy S10 Ads

At the end of the day, Samsung has to be applauded for having the courage to bring a new smartphone category to market even if it's not perfect. Many innovations and hard work went into bringing such a product to market and that work should be recognized.

Random Screenshots of the Event





























Our Patently Mobile IP blog posted a report yesterday titled "The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has just published Samsung's Trademark Filing for 'Bixby Routine'." Today Samsung introduced this feature and you could read about it here.

One More Thing: Last summer Patently Mobile posted a report titled "Samsung's Ultrasonic based Fingerprint Scanner for under a Smartphone Display was confirmed in a Patent this week." Today Samsung introduced this very feature. What's unknown is whether Samsung implemented a pure solution from their patent or collaborated with Qualcomm to come up with a custom hybrid solution.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
On Saturday, Apple and its four key contract manufacturers (Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, Compal) along with Qualcomm filed a joint pretrial brief on disputed contract provisions. The 76-page document serves as a preview of various issues.

In a new report today posted by FOSS Patents, Florian Mueller states that hidden costs of a product that consumers aren't aware of only surface through litigation. Case in point: In Saturday's legal filing we learn that Qualcomm charges a 5% wireless patent royalty on iPhone repairs!

Specifically Mueller notes in his report "that "Qualcomm wants a 5% patent royalty (with a $400 cap for the royalty base) on smartphones. 3.25% of that relates to standard-essential patents, though I haven't seen Qualcomm successfully enforce even one of those SEPs in all those years. The related dollar amount will be illusory the moment its wireless SEPs must be licensed at the chipset level. Another 1.75% relates to non-standard-essential patents, and after almost two years of non-SEP infringement litigaton against Apple, Qualcomm has no real leverage. News cycles aren't leverage.

So there's a problem with what they charge, but until I read this pretrial brief, I was unaware of there being another problem with the wide net they cast when actually collecting their royalties.

Apple and its contract manufacturers complain that when Qualcomm performs audits, it insists on getting its 5% on whatever Apple pays to a company like Foxconn: not only the device, but also any services, including repairs. I'll use Foxconn as the example here because I've been able to find articles on its iPhone repair capacity. Quite often, devices are repaired right at an Apple Store (such as an iPhone 7 Plus I took there a few months ago to get a new screen and battery). In that case, Qualcomm probably can't charge patent royalties because it doesn't have a direct agreement with Apple. But some devices are sent to China to be repaired there at a lower cost. And in that case, Qualcomm collects 5% of whatever a company like Foxconn charges Apple."

Below is an excerpt for the document filed on Saturday relating to Qualcomm's excessive greed.

For more details and legal insight into this matter, read FOSS Patent's full report here.

19-02-16 Apple-Qualcomm Joi... by Jack Purcher on Scribd

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There is something soothing about watching television made wholly for a foreign audience. Not a foreign audience+Netflix. Not a foreign audience+PBS. Not a foreign audience+global cult comedy and/or sci-fi fans. Just, television not made with American audiences (or critics, or trending topic hot takes) top of mind. Not only is all the baggage that accompanies watching television made for a native audience absent, the pressure to participate in any hashtag watercooler conversations about it is rendered moot. As much as I love being intellectually, ideologically invested in the art made for my American eyeballs, getting a chance to let that all go and just enjoy a good serial story can be such a relief.

Enter: Acorn TV, one of two major subscription streaming services* available to international audiences explicitly interested in content from across the pond. Well, across several pondsin addition to series from Ireland and the UK, Acorn TV also distributes content from elsewhere in the English-speaking world (Australia, New Zealand, Canada), as well as from elsewhere in Europe (Sweden, Spain, France).

(*BritBox, the international streamer officially from the BBC and ITV, is profiled here.)

With its roots planted more firmly on this side of the pond (i.e., in AMC Networks, whose portfolio also includes BBC America, IFC and Sundance Now), Acorn TV is, on the whole, less comprehensive than its BBC/ITV-backed rivala fact its slightly lower monthly subscription cost reflects. But what it lacks in volume, comprehensive vault access, and next-day soap/news/panel show content, it makes up for in the specificity of its quirky comedy/cozy mystery/gritty thriller curation, the breadth of its international reach, and the speed with which its developing its slate of Acorn Originals. From complex longform murder mysteries to short, sharp sitcoms, Acorn TV has something for everyone whos ever loved British(ish) television.

Cost: $5.99 per month (or $59.99 per year), with a 7-day introductory free trial period. (And yes, annual gift subscriptions are available.)

Pro-tip: Its worth surfing over to the digital services section of your local public librarys website, as many libraries in the U.S. provide free access to Acorn TV for patrons through RBdigital. If your library isnt among them, ask! Your libraries work for you; let them do their magic.

Available on: Roku, iTunes, Google Play, Android TV, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV (on supported devices), as well as online at acorn.tv, and through an Amazon add-on subscription (exclusively for Prime members).

What Makes It Unique: Calling all anglophiles! Well, anglophiles, but also Canada-philes, Aussie-philes, Kiwi-philes, plus all the folks forever casting about for their next gritty Scandi-inspired detective thriller. Scripted dramasmostly mystery, mostly cozyare king (er, queen) here, but so too are contemporary comedies, foreign language thrillers, and rambling, arty reality fare.

What Youll Find on This List: As one of the niche streamers in regular rotation in Paste writers homes, weve got enough outright Acorn favorites to have made this list a classic Top 10-er (ish). That said, the entire Acorn TV catalogue is still small enough that, like most other small streamers out there, its divided its content into a limited number of discrete (but richly populated) categories. To that end, please enjoy the lightning round weve tacked on after the main list, which highlights titles from the streamers major categories that may not have made our final Top 11, but are still important parts of the Acorn family.

Watch Now

Category: Drama, Only on Acorn TV

Hails from: India

This BBC One series, gorgeously directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), is exclusively available on Acorn TV in the U.S. Running for six hourlong episodes, and building in both scope and emotional weight as it goes, A Suitable Boy is indeed filled with many suitable and unsuitable relationships throughout. Crossing class, religious, and prejudicial divides in 1950s India, the story introduces us to a number of interconnected families residing in Calcutta and a small village in the north. But the main focus is on Lata Mehra (Tanya Maniktala), a university student whose very Mrs. Bennett-esque mother Rupa (Mahira Kakkar) is determined to arrange a proper marriage for her.

As Lata works through her feelings for her three very different admirers alongside her feelings of duty to her family, she is surrounded by a dizzying number of plots that investigate the social hierarchies across India, in both cities and the country. The most fascinating is that of a playful son of a politician, Maan Kapoor (Ishaan Khatter), who falls in love with a beautiful singer (Saeeda Bai, played by Tabu) many years his senior. Banished to the hinterlands to work through his own feelings and obligations, the roguish Maan (the sort who casually teases his Urdu teacher reading the Quran by asking any good?) ends up learning important truths about himself and is forced to finally grow up.

This only dips a toe into A Suitable Boys engrossing stories, which do take a little while to get going (especially after introducing so many characters and so many disparate plots to start, which means not all of the land evenly). Despite its short run, though, the series takes its time. In many ways its a languid meditation on love, yet simultaneously full of bustling settings and possibilities. Nair has created an atmosphere that is both foreign and familiar, full of intimate spaces and period flourishes. Its modern, but also bound by the custom of arranged marriage that makes every relationship about much more than just the couple. Allison Keene

Watch Now

Category: Drama, Acorn Original

Hails from: Ireland

Its rare in 2020 to come across an across-the-pond drama whose premise feels entirely freshrarer still to find one that doesnt feature even one (1) depraved small-town murder, or the psychologically battered local detective set to investigate it. So imagine our delight when Acorns newest original series, the Carrigeen-set South Westerlies, hit the streamer in early November. Not even remotely murder-y, The South Westerlies stars Orla Brady (Into the Badlands, Star Trek: Picard) as Kate Ryan, an environmental consultant for a Norwegian wind energy company whos been tasked with embedding in her tiny Irish hometown as an undercover lobbyist for a proposed wind farm the community is staunchly resisting. Nevermind the fact that she fled Carrigeen nearly two decades previous, after she got pregnant by her free-spirited ex, Baz (Steve Wall), whose heart was set on starting a pro-surfing career in Hawaii. And nevermind the fact that she cut every friend she had off when she left. As far as NorskVentus is concerned, shes ideally suited for this extremely sneaky (if environmentally beneficial) role.

Naturally, all the lies Kate has to maintain to pull this job off start unraveling almost immediately, like when her now-grown son, Conor (Sam Barrett), strikes up a friendship with his absentee dad pretty much the minute he meets him. While this familiar, familial drama serves as a solid foundation for the series short, six-episode first season, its ultimately the ways the town works through their feelings about the proposed wind farm, as a community, that make The South Westerlies so compelling. Theres a strong Gilmore Girls vibe throughout, the towns residents regularly coming together to lobby for NorskVentus for the installation of universal broadband, or a sponsorship of the local youth camogie team in the same breath as they air their concerns about the wind farm. Where Gilmore Girls really played up the quirkiness of its small-town personalities, though, The South Westerlies leans deeper into the idea that any change in the status quoeven good ones, like a new wind farm, in the middle of a global climate crisisdemands genuine community buy-in, which means talking to people one-on-one, and taking their concerns seriously. This is a lovely take on Acorns bent towards hyper-local storytelling, and an even lovelier way to end a year as needful as 2020 is of reminders that community matters. So give yourself a giftwatch The South Westerlies.

Watch Now

Category: Mystery, Only on Acorn TV, Acorn TV Original

Hails from: Australia

Acorn bills Mystery Road as Australias answer to True Detective, but if anything, the multiple-award-winning series is even closer in spirit to Bosch, both featuring as it does a sharp, stoic detective (Aaron Pedersen) so driven by a sense of moral righteousness that he ends up a lone wolf in a sea of institutional and cultural corruption, and shot as it is with a cinematically breathtaking sense of sun-baked noir.

We would recommend Mystery Road regardlessjust on a visual level, it has some of the most overwhelmingly gorgeous shots weve ever seen on the small screen. (Unsurprisingly, several of the series many awards nominations have come courtesy of cinematographer Mark Wareham.) That said, theres even greater draw in the dual facts that both Pedersen and Jay Swan (the detective he plays) are Aboriginal, and that the rural crimes he ends up investigating are informed by generations of institutional racism and injustice: The murders in the first season center around the question of who has (or should have) rights to access a cattle stations lone natural water sourcea water source which, not incidentally, is also a sacred site for the local Aboriginal peoplewhile the long-awaited second season, which premieres on October 12 (and will air on a traditional one-a-week episode schedule through the fall), takes the question of colonialisms brutal legacy to a fishing community up north. As will be obvious to anyone scanning the platforms library, Acorn TV can be a pretty white place; for a show like Mystery Road to be made available, and for it to treat the Aboriginal people of Australia with nuance and respect, is important; for it to be a model for similarly diverse and complex shows to come, is even more so.

Category: Acorn TV Original, Comedy

Hails from: Ireland

Watch Now

One of our favorite Acorn TV Originals right from the start, Amy Hubermans anxiety-spiral sitcom, Finding Joy, has finally returned for a second series.

Originally pitched as a comedy about a thirtysomething Irish woman stumbling her way into a kind of professional renaissance at the same time as shes recovering from devastating breakup with a man who just so happens to share a name with her talking dog, it was hard, as an American viewer, to watch the first series without constantly drawing comparisons to Allison Tolmans late, late, great Downward Dog. Series 1 had more differences than similarities, ultimatelyDog Aidan had almost zero bearing on Finding Joys narrative, for onebut Series 2 finds Joys story straying even further into new territory. To wit: Now the would-be star of her own independent YouTube channel, Joy (Huberman) is no longer chasing down existential terror on the whim of her corporate bosses. This time, shes guiding her own ship, spiraling ever deeper into a narcissistic nervous breakdown while sharing a not-at-all-productive WeWork-space with her producer (Ruth Kearney) and cameraman (Paul Reid), a not-at-all comfortable home life with her palm-reading roommate, Christie (Kerry Howard), and an increasingly detached sense of kinship with her lifelong best friend, Trish (Hannah James-Scott)whose new baby and crumbling marriage barely register on Joys anxious me-me-me radar.

These developments often lead to a series that is darker and more stressful to watch than the firstif Finding Joy Series 1 was a spiritual cousin to Downward Dog, Series 2 perhaps finds closer (if mostly less harrowing) reflection in HBO Maxs I Hate Suzieand your mileage may vary as to how deeply that speaks to your soul at this particularly anxious global moment. But as far repping both Ireland and comedy in Acorn TVs bid to build its Britain and Beyond library goes, both Huberman and Finding Joy continue to shine.

Watch Now

Category: Acorn Original, Period Drama

Hails from: Britain

Starring Michael Smiley as Brock Blennerhasset, an antisocial memorial photographer in Victorian-era Ireland whose work seems to be key to solving a series of mysterious murders all over Dublin, Dead Still ranks high among Acorn TVs more tonally surprising Originals. (See also: Queens of Mystery and The Other One, both blurbed below.) With the overarching serial murder plot tying the first season togethercomplete with a dogged detective that drags Blennerhasset into the investigation despite every protestation hed rather be doing literally anything elseDead Still is certainly at home with other mystery procedurals across the platform, but with the little-known Victorian tradition of postmortem portraiture as its framing device, it nevertheless stands apart as something wholly unique. Most impressively, though, is how successful the creative team is at striking a careful balance between comedy, pathos and gothic horror every time they get a new family in Blennerhassets portrait room with their deceased loved ones. Setting up a complex murder mystery that can keep an audiences attention for a whole season is challenging, sure, but Acorn TV could hardly exist if there werent stables of writers around the world to rise to the occasion. Postmortem portraits, though? Thats something else entirely. What a ride.

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Category: Mystery, Comedy, Only on Acorn TV, Acorn TV Original

Hails from: Britain

Maybe you know her from Ugly Betty; maybe you know her from Catastrophe; maybe you know her from The Lobster (we cant imagine youd know her from The Lobster)wherever you know her from, once youve watched the first few minutes of any one of Agatha Raisins film-length outings, Scottish actress Ashley Jensen will be forever tied in your imagination to M.C. Beatons infamous PR guru-turned-Cotswolds sleuth. (Professional PI, shell have you know, as of the start of the third season.) Jensen is excellent in this zingy series, which wrapped its third season earlier this year, and not just because shes mastered the dark art of skipping across cobblestone streets and plush lawns in towering stiletto heels. Jensen is excellent because she is so deeply believable as a sharp business woman whose PR acumen has masked her debilitating inability to fit in with everyday people, a genius/outsider combination that is killer for any young retiree looking to take up unmasking, well, killers. The tone of Agathas outings can tilt a bit towards the Scooby-Doo (to quote the sleuth herself in Season 3s haunted house opener), but thats not a bad thing. In a streaming landscape so full of murder investigations framed only in the grimmest, most visually washed-out ways possible, Agatha Raisins goofy pluck is a breath of fresh Cotswolds air.

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Category: Cozy Mystery, Mystery

Hails from: Britain

Created by Paul Abbott (Shameless) and featuring a clutch of fierce but very different womenJoanna Scanlan (The Thick of It), Elaine Cassidy (The Paradise), Alexandra Roach (Utopia), Claire Rushbrook (Whitechapel), Sarah Solemani (The Wrong Mans), Saira Choudhry (Hollyoaks)at the head of the tightly bonded work-family pack at Manchesters Friday Street police station, No Offence is the funny, no-holds-barred police procedural you didnt know youve long been looking for. Think Brooklyn Nine-Nines good-cop humor, but with Boschs darker, more serialized storytelling. Or Rizzoli and Isles, if Rizzoli and Isles moved to Broadchurch, but Broadchurch was Manchester, and also one of them watched a stag-do bus viciously [spoiler] a suspect they were chasing down in their stocking feet at the end of a long night out.

You know what? Scratch the comparisons. No Offence is exceptional for what it is, in and of itself. Yes, the mysteries that frame each season (the third of which starts with a truly shocking bang) are nuanced, topical and compelling, and yes, the excellence of the performances, across the board, is only matched by the sharpness of the direction and cinematography. At the end of the day, though, its the intense, loving bonds forged under the watch of Scanlans brash DI Deering, Cassidys tenacious DC Kowalska and Roachs clever DS Freersa bond fortified by unwavering support and respect from the departments funny, fierce men, PCs and detectives, alikethat will make you want to slam the keep watching button at the end of each episode.

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Category: Acorn Original, Comedy

Hails from: Britain

Odd Couple pairings have so much comedic potential built into their DNA, you hardly need to tweak the formula to end up with something fun. Still, writers Holly Walsh (a frequent panelist on QI) and Pippa Brown reached for a pair of diametrically opposite twentysomething women with the same name discover theyre secret half-sisters at their shared dads funeral and just ran with itand thank goodness they did. Starring Ellie White as Cathy, the uptight legitimate sister who grew up comfortably middle class (think: private school, rowing team, music lessons, etc.) and has a posh adult job, and Lauren Socha as Cat, the cheerfully chill secret sister who grew up lower class, has a chavvy accent and delivers Postmates, The Other Ones does a good job avoiding the most obvious traps set by its premisecurdling resentment, both between the two Catherines and between their respective momsand giving its characters instead plenty of common ground to want to work towards together. Cat and Cathys burgeoning friendship is the star of the show, but with the big twist in the last few minutes of the Season 1 finale, it also ends up being much closer to the kinds of mysteries shelved alongside it in Acorns digital library than anyone could possibly guess from the trailer alone. With rare half-hour episodes, this is one of the most weekend-bingeable series on this list, so if for whatever reason youre looking for a way to shut out the real world for a solid day (we have some reasons), this would be a great place to start.

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Category: Mystery, Only on Acorn, Acorn Original

Hails from: Australia

(Yes, this one is a bit of a cheat, but with such a close connection between the two generations of Ms. Fisher, we couldnt not include them both.)

Premiering in Australia in early 2012 and reaching the American market via Acorn TV and PBS the following year, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries was the first of a particular subset of plucky lady detective procedurals to hit the small screen. Set in Melbourne in the late 1920s and featuring Essie Davis as Miss Phryne Fisher, international woman of intrigue, adventure and investigative nerve, the series immediately proved how whizbang successful such a specifically feminine take on the private detective business could be, and quickly became a cult hit. Ms. Fishers Modern Mysteries, Acorn TVs zippy Original spin-off series (recently renewed for a second season), takes that cult hit energy and runs with it, kicking its wild what if Phryne, but modern? premise off with Phrynes long-lost niece, Peregrine (Geraldine Hakewill), inheriting her aunts estate after Phryne has gone missing in a plane accident in the mountains of Papua New Guinea. (No word, alas, of Nathan Pages devastatingly taciturn Detective Robinson.) This change of literal affairs established, Peregrine, otherwise alone in the world, finds herself free not only to move into Phrynes house and drive Phrynes sports car, but also to step into Phrynes dangerous shoes as Melbournes chief amateur P.I., butting heads, when she does, with her own handsome local detective James Steed (Joel Jackson, stepping charmingly into Pages more serious shoes). Peregrines adventures have a slightly different flavor than Phrynes, of course, but one thats more than charming enough to turn to Acorn to catch.

That said, all you Miss Fisher diehards who spent the last several years anxious for Phrynes return will be happy to know that the long-awaited Season 4 film, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, officially hit Acorn TV earlier this year. While the unfamiliar format ends up forcing Phryne and Jack into some confusingly cartoonish contortions and series regulars Dottie, Hugh, Bert and Cec get woefully little screentime, it is nevertheless a joy to get to spend any more time at all back in Phrynes world. May we all be half as plucky and justice-oriented in our own lives, globetrotting mysteries beckoning or no.

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Category: Comedy, Only on Acorn

Hails from: Britain

One of the gentlest series on television, the wry and warm Detectorists follows two regular blokes (Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones, wonderfully atypical leading men) who find joy and meaning in their sleepy English village by metal detecting. Its a cutthroat business, turns out, and Crook does a magnificent job of making the smallest details and triumphs and skirmishes feel extraordinary. Detectorists is an unhurried series, one that revels in the rolling hills the men traverse in the hope of finding ancient treasure (before giving up and heading to the pub). Not much happens over the course of three seasons objectively speaking, and yet, the show is wildly compelling and devastatingly lovely. Perhaps Johnny Flynns haunting theme song says it best: Will you search through the lonely earth for me? Climb through the briar and bramble. I will be your treasure  Im waiting for you. With only 19 episodes over three seasons, its a gem well worth seeking out. Allison Keene

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Category: Cozy Mystery, Acorn Original

Hails from: UK

Narrated with arch charm by Juliet Stevenson and featuring idiosyncratic, almost Pushing Daisies-like aesthetics (a comparison only helped by the occasional break from reality), Queens of Mystery is one of Acorns most tonally specific Originals to date. As much a family mystery as it is a case of the week procedural, Queens stars Olivia Vinall as Matilda Stone, a taciturn young detective sergeant who has recently taken a job back in her picturebook hometown, where, it just so happens, Cat, Jane and Beth Stone (Julie Graham, Siobhan Redmond, and Sarah Woodward, respectively), the three sharp-as-a-stiletto crime writer aunts who raised Olivia after her mothers mysterious disappearance when she was young, still live. While Queens first season is tragically brief (just three 2-part mysteries long), what time it has it uses well, each mystery giving space, while Matilda and her constabulary colleagues go about their investigations, for the backstories of Matildas aunts to be teased out one at a time. We want you to watch the whole season, of course, but if you only have time for one, make it Death by Vinyl, which uses the reunion album of a fictional all-girl rock band, Volcanic Youth, to better get to know ex-rocker, bisexual graphic novelist Aunt Cat (Graham). Bonus? Death by Vinyl features a couple of killer original songsStrangled and Death by Vinylcommissioned especially for the episode. Double bonus? The recording studio the band gets terrorized in is set in Britains coolest piece of hidden architecture. We mean, nothing is perfect, but in terms of modern takes on the cozy British mystery? Queens of Mystery comes pretty dang close.

For even more, check out our 

New Releases: Deadwater Fell

Paste logline: The Good Fights Cush Jumbo learns the brutal truth that domestic life in a seemingly perfect Scottish town can be bad, actually.

Most Popular: Delicious

Paste logline: Dawn French and Emilia Fox defy the toxic masculinity that originally bound them together by co-running a hotel kitchen and making gorgeous food.

Acorn Original: Keeping Faith

Paste logline: Torchwoods Eve Myles goes blonde, practices law, turns Good Girl.

Only on Acorn TV: The Hour

Paste logline: Cult-favorite period drama about Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai and Dominic West making news for the BBC in the 1950s. Sorkin whomst?

Drama: Slings & Arrows

Paste logline: With the entertainingly heightened, darkly comic goings on of the fictional New Burbage Shakespearean Festival finally available to stream exclusively on Acorn TV, theres no excuse for you not to catch up on the cult series your theater-loving family and friends are secretly obsessed with.

Period Drama: Murdoch Mysteries

Paste logline: Handsome Victorian Canadian detective invents forensics.

Mystery: Line of Duty

Paste logline: What if corrupt cops, but theyre actually held accountable for their crimes?

For Animal Lovers: Walks with My Dog

Paste logline: Moderately famous British celebrities ramble the countryside with their beloved beagles, bulldogs and black labrador retrievers.

Escape to Wales: Bang

Paste logline: Well, at least SOME countries understand how devastating even a single gun can be to a community. (Bonus points for this one doing so bilingually, in both English and Welsh.)

Down Under Dramas: My Life is Murder

Paste logline: Lucy Lawless compulsively solves crime, bakes pies.

Binge Worthy: Foyles War

Paste logline: Anthony Horowitz makes the brazen suggestion that even as World War II raged on, Brits back home just kept doing crimes. (To put words in DCS Foyles famously laconic mouth: Rude.)

Comedy: Raised by Wolves

Paste logline: No, not THAT Raised by Wolves. Think Stuck in the Middle, mixed with a little Raising Hope, mixed with a little Pete and Pete, but blue, blue, blue, blue. (Which, since the series comes from the minds of the Moran sisters, makes perfect sense.)

Foreign Language: The Simple Heist

Paste logline: The world ignores a couple of old Swedish ladies; a couple of old Swedish ladies take advantage, do crimes.

Feature Film: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Paste logline: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ARE dead.

Okay, lightning round over. What are you waiting for? The American experiment is already crumbling. Go binge whats come of Britains post-empire culture while you still can.

Alexis Gunderson is a TV critic and audiobibliophile. She can be found @AlexisKG.

For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV.
American microdistilleries have a tendency to be built on whiskey dreams, but sustained by vodka and gin realities. Bourbon, after all, remains the kingpin of sexy American spirits. Its the spirit that distillers envision as their companys flagship, the one thats going to make their brand a household name. Its usually a bottle of whiskey that a young distiller hopes will be recognized as his legacy.

But of course, thats easier said than done. Whiskey takes timeyears, if youre doing it the old-fashioned way and not aging in small barrels or otherwise trying to accelerate the maturation process. And even then, what youre left with is a young spirit in a sea of similar young spirits; a bourbon that will likely need many more years before it becomes something unique or grandiose. Who has that kind of time, when youre getting a small, independent business off the ground?

Enter vodka, gin and rum, the building blocks upon which so many young distilleries are builtin addition to the ubiquitous white whiskey/moonshine, which I really wish we could stop pretending to enjoy. Faster and cheaper to produce than anything in the aged whiskey arena, a successful vodka, gin or rum brand can keep a distillery going during the years of waiting for a stubborn first batch of bourbon to arrive. And thats how a lot of distilleries tend to treat their vodka or gin, as a resultas a means to an end, something to occupy them until they get into the whiskey theyve been seeking all along.

Thats not Watershed Distillery. These Columbus, OH mainstays have not only built a successful gin brand; theyve embraced the way that gin has become the public face of their company. Sure, they have a bourbon as wellbut you can feel the pride they have in their gin, first and foremost.

Currently, Watershed produces three distinct gins. And so, in typical Paste fashion, lets run through a simultaneous tasting of the whole gin lineup. All three clock in at 44 percent ABV (88 proof).

Watersheds flagship gin plays up the various citrus peels used among its botanicals, which also include cassia, Jamaica pepper, coriander and the necessary juniper. Its marketing materials seem to style it as a member of what youd call the New Western Gin substyle, which eschew juniper dominance in favor of sweeter or more fruit-forward notes. Most consumers would likely associate the New Western Gin style with the likes of New Amsterdam Gin, which I must remind you we thoroughly detested while blind tasting bottom shelf gin. My initial impression of Four Peel, though, is that this gin really isnt quite so new school as it implies itself to be.

Certainly, Four Peel doesnt have the overwhelming sweetness or candy fruit domination you find in the likes of New Amsterdam. Nor is it at all lacking in the classic juniper notesif anything, it finds itself in a middle ground between styles.

On the nose, Four Peel is sweet and quite grassy, with an intensely perfumey character that implies both fruit and florals in abundance. This stuff is intense and hugely flavorful on the palate, some of which can be ascribed to the higher than average proof, but its also just a bombastic gin in general. Green, resinous and peppery, it actually has a significant amount of bitterness, in the same way you might experience bitterness from citrus pith. As for the citrus, lemon and grapefruit essential oils stand out to me most strongly, but peppery spice is what I keep returning to. Curious how this would compare to a classical London Dry Gin, I sampled a little bit of Gordons next to it, and found that the Four Peel was just bigger in every facetsimultaneously sweeter, more bitter and hotter. Its honestly a little bit much for neat drinking, but this is gin, after allyoure probably going to be using it in cocktails. I can at least say with certainty that this stuff will not be getting lost in a mixed drink. I would expect it to shine through regardless of what you mixed it with.

Watershed refers to this stuff as light, but thats not the word I would use. In comparison with classical gins in the 80 proof range, it comes off as loud and proud.

Watersheds Bourbon Barrel Gin is exactly what it sounds likethe Four Peel, stuck in a bourbon barrel for a year. Not too complicated, but a common trend among microdistilleries these days. You may have tasted bourbon barrel gins at some point and come away a bit confusedwhen they dont turn out well, its often because the barrels have completely overwhelmed the original spirit. Four Peel, though, is certainly assertive enough to stand up to a year in the wood, and I ended up both surprised and pleased with the way that the barrels affected this gin.

On the nose, things dont change too much. Theres a light ribbon of oak/woodiness that is added, and a sweetness reminiscent of wildflower honey and apple juice. Theres also a bit of more savory, herbal quality that reminded me a tad of herbs de provence, in a way.

On the palate, though, this has become a significantly different product. Its sweeter for sure, a golden syrup note of light caramelization that works to bring out the citrus candy qualities of the gin in a way that is surprisingly natural. It drinks surprisingly well neatthe oak has worked to smooth out some of the rougher edges present in Four Peel. It makes me very curious about various cocktail options, such as how its richer, sweeter character would play opposite Campari in a negroni. All in all, I was surprised to find that this was probably my favorite of the gins, and one that I could actually see myself drinking neat, from time to time. I also happened to find the following recipe (pictured above) via the Watershed Facebook page, and it intrigued me enough that Im curious to try it.

RAKE THE LEAVES

Ingredients

1 oz. Watershed Distillery Bourbon Barrel Gin

1 oz. Cocchi Americano

1/2 oz. Allspice Dram

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass or tin and stir with ice to chill. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a lemon or a grapefruit peel. Enjoy!

The distillery is understandably proud of this gin, which was voted Best Flavored Gin at the 2018 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, but it would be a mistake to think of it as a radical departure from the Four Peel. Rather, its basically the Four Peel with a subtle, delicate twist of additional botanicals: Rose petal, nutmeg and chamomile. To my palate, it doesnt really go out of its way to stake claim to its own territoryinstead, its a riff on the Four Peels formula, and one that I like.

The Guild Gin possesses a nose that is quite similar to the Four Peel, with perhaps only an emboldened floral quality derived from the roses. Its fairly similar on the palate as well, with the one big difference being a warming, delicately spicy chamomile tea note that extends will into the finish. Its a subtle distinction, but one I can appreciateit adds an oddly comforting quality to the gin. Overall, of the two, I think I slightly prefer the Guild Gin to the base Four Peel. The warming quality plays well.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I went on and on about gin vs. bourbon above, and here I am tasting the bourbon as well. What was I going to do, leave it off entirely? Besides, Watersheds Bourbon is unique enough that it merits at least a little bit of discussion.

This is an unusual bourbon in a few ways. Its a five-grain whiskey, using BOTH wheat and rye, along with barley and spelt, in addition to the obvious corn. Its aged for up to 3.5 years in newly charred barrels and bottled at a stout 47 percent ABV (94 proof). Inquiring about the addition of spelt in particular, Watershed Distillery CEO and distiller Greg Lehman said the following: The inclusion of spelt in particular is our nod to Ohio, our home state. Ohio is one of the top spelt growing states in the US, and it has a long history here. Including it, we think, pays homage to our roots and to those of the business. The fact that it lends a unique flavor to our Ohio bourbon is even better.

Tasting completely blind, you might actually pick up on the multi-grain quality, because this bourbon does achieve a certain malt complexity that you dont really see in traditional, three-grain bourbons. It has a lot of things going on at oncegrainy, slightly bready and doughy qualities meld well with intense caramelization (for its age) and pronounced maple syrup sweetness. This is a big, rich, viscous dram with a very full mouthfeel and oily texture. Its dessertynot something I always approve ofbut in a good way. Very much a nightcap or after-dinner dram, its a sweet, malty, toasty bourbon that I would probably reserve for neat drinking rather than cocktails, thanks to its richness.

Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident alcohol geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed media reports on her new Washington, D.C., home address on the same day that federal agents apprehended a would-be domestic terrorist who included her in a prospective hit list.

Wednesday, NPR released documents detailing the arrest of Coast Guard Lieutenant and self-professed White Nationalist Christopher Paul Hasson. Hasson, 49, had been stockpiling weapons and ammunition in his Silver Spring, Md., home for over two years. Authorities found 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as a long paper trail detailing his planned use of them.

We need a white homeland as Europe seems lost, Hasson wrote in a letter found in his home that also accused the American government of dismantling the White Nationalist movement by having expertly infiltrated and destroyed from within most [sic] if not all Pro-White [sic] organizations. Hasson was apparently a tremendous fan of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who killed 77 people, citing the Islamization of Europe as the root cause of his actions in a thick manifesto.

Hassons hit list included Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with various media personnel and Ocasio-Cortez. His internet searches revealed look-ups like most liberal senators, do senators have ss protection, are supreme court justices protected and where do most senators live in dc.

Last week, The Washington Free Beacon published an article detailing Ocasio-Cortezs new place of residence in a luxury D.C. complex. Wednesday, the same day that details of Hassons activities were released, outlets like The Daily Mail and The Washington Examiner ran the same story. While the Congresswomans exact address was not revealed in these stories, detailed descriptions of the property and surrounding landmarks were described.

Journalists are sharing stories about where I live the same day its shared that myself + others were targeted by a mass shooter.All this paired w/ amplifying unvetted conspiracy theories. Its reckless, irresponsible & puts people directly in danger. This isnt a game. https://t.co/gcJWcKinxI  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez slammed the journalists responsible for such dangerous tabloid articles, at a time when the President has created such a hostile climate for both the press and his enemies to the left. Last year, 56-year-old avid Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc, Jr. was arrested for sending mail bombs to high-profile enemies of the president, including fake news CNN. Hassons list of prospective targets included nicknames like poca warren, a common Trump prod at Sen. Warrens claims of Native American ancestry.

Ocasio-Cortezs remarks can be understood as a firm condemnation of the kind of dangerous rhetoric that threatens the personal safety of political and media figures with opposing beliefs. Hopefully, repeated instances of thwarted domestic terrorism will prompt a change in media ethics and/or finger-pointing in the nations capital.
A little over two years ago, I left sales to begin my journalism career when Paste hired me to write here full-time. I bring this up because I already have infinitely more journalism experience than CNNs new Political Editor, Sarah Isgur Flores, former spokesman for Jeff Sessions at the Justice Department. You, dear reader, at minimum, have exactly as much experience in journalism as CNNs new Political Editor.

CNN's new political editor has worked for every Republican but hasn't done any journalism pic.twitter.com/2q1oAgj7dB  Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) February 19, 2019

The job of an editor is basically something like a content czar. Obviously the scope of the gig varies from organization to organization, but the basic job description is to assign stories to writers, accept/reject pitches from writers, decide how to cover stories, and obviously edit content that goes up. Every single news organization's coverage is reflective of their editor's priorities, and CNN is openly stating that they want their political coverage to be dictated by a woman with no journalism experience who has frequently trafficked in conspiracy theories that are regular staples of InfoWars's content. Per The Huffington Post:

She [Ms. Flores] knows me well, [Trump supporter, Ed] Butowsky wrote to [Fox News commentator, Rod] Wheeler, according to the suit. Tell her I said hello. Let her know why I was calling her, Seth Rich. Ask her to keep it quiet because we don't knowwho the good or the bad people are anymore. But we know she's one of the really good ones.

Seth Rich was a former DNC operative who was murdered in what the Washington D.C. police determined was a robbery, but that didn't stop people like Sean Hannity from falsely asserting that Rich was murdered by the Democratic Party in order to stop Rich from giving damaging information to Wikileaks.

That's right. CNN's brand new Political Editor appeared in a lawsuit filed by Seth Rich's family against the people who perpetrated this hoax. CNN knew this (or at least they should have, that HuffPo report is from 2017).

Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media correspondent and one of the biggest both-sides offenders in all of media, wrote about Flores' controversial hire (CNN uses words like controversial in instances like this because anything more descriptive could open them up to charges of biaseven if it's factual biasnever forget that cable news will always prioritize its profits over journalism):

CNN says it is hiring Sarah Isgur Flores, who most recently served in the Justice Department as Jeff Sessions' spokesman, to be a political editor in the Washington bureau. Flores is a longtime Republican political operative who previously worked for Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney.

The reaction has been strong. CNN employees are concerned, according to numerous people who reached out to me on Tuesday. They are asking what Isgur's role will be and questioning whether her sudden leap from the Trump administration to the CNN newsroom is an ethical breach.

While Stelter echoes Maxwell Tani's Daily Beast report about how CNN staffers are demoralized, he does not bring up Flores appearing in the Seth Rich lawsuit, nor does he address the fact that she has consistently parroted climate change denial.

These are the same people who think climate change is our biggest national security threat. Sono. https://t.co/TJQCA9NAVr  Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) December 28, 2016

Know who does think that climate change is a major threat that imposes immediate risks to national security? The Pentagon.

Stelter also didn't bring up in his report how Flores vigorously defended Carly Fiorina's outright lie that she saw an abortion-related video that didn't existnor did he highlight tweets like this that certainly would get Robert Mueller's attention given that she worked in Trump's DOJ.

The only 3 words that should be coming out of Donald Trump's mouth this week are: "Clinton" "foundation" "emails"  Sarah Isgur (@whignewtons) August 23, 2016

CNN's chief media correspondent also did not bring up The Washington Post report stating that their new political editor pledged her loyalty to Donald Trump in a meeting where she paid her respects to the president in the Oval Office after criticizing him during the 2016 campaign. This seems quite problematic and vitally important context for Stelter's readers to know given that Stelter did note that soon she'll be working with those reporters and possibly talking with them about sourcing.

A former Department of Justice spokesman who pledged loyalty to Donald Trump talking to reporters about their sources. What could go wrong?

Last night, Stelter took to Twitter to push his brand of braindead both-sidesism in defense of this indefensible hire, and the litany of Twitter's more qualified journalists than CNN's new political editor ratioed him to high heaven.

"GOP operative joins CNN" is getting a LOT of criticism, especially from Dems. But love it or hate it, political insiders have been joining newsrooms for decades. The more viewpoints represented in newsrooms, the better. As for the critiques, @CNNPR declined to comment.  Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 19, 2019

Linda Holmes of NPR is one of the actual journalists who dogpiled on Stelter's vacuous nonsense, explaining how there would be a riot at her news organization if someone like Flores was hired to a vital position like editor.

As pundits, sure. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find examples of campaign operatives without journalism experience becoming editors, expected to exercise news judgment, in the very next campaign cycle. Where I work, there would be a riot.  Linda Holmes (@lindaholmes) February 20, 2019

CNN has a ton of good journalists working for them, but by consistently making hires like this (Stelters not wrong about how normal this practice is), or putting Rick freaking Santorum on TV in the year 2019, it gives proof to the notion that CNN is now more joke than journalism. Combine this hire with the thousands of top-shelf journalists recently laid off from places like BuzzFeed News and The Huffington Post, and there is quite literally no excuse for this hire. CNN actively wanted a Republican disinformation specialist to run their politics coverage. Thats the message this hire sends. They could have picked a recently-laid off name out of a hat and found someone actually qualified for this very important position.

Stop watching CNN. Its actively making you dumber. Read the newspaper. Read your local newspapers. No liberal has any reason to trust the fairness of CNNs political coverage going forward (and frankly, we shouldnt have before), given that they just declared to everyone that when it comes to politics, they want their viewers to see the world through the lens of a possible Seth Rich truther, an active climate change denier, and a fake abortion video defender (among many other far-right hobby horses). This is who CNN is by their own admission, and going forward, they should be treated with the seriousness with which they have treated their own political coverage.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.
100 years ago

Feb. 21, 1919: The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in favor of fireman Fluerry Coltons widow, who sued the city of Bloomington for his pension. Colton suffered injuries in a fire and died long afterward as a result. The high court ordered the case back to circuit court for re-hearing.

75 years ago

Feb. 21, 1944: The Navy will continue its V-12 program at ISNU and other participating colleges around the country. V-12 is an officers training program. There had been rumors the program would be shut down, but itll continue.

50 years ago

Feb. 21, 1969: Shotgun-wielding robbers struck the Chris Keough Tavern in Mount Pulaski. They roughed up the owner, assaulted three patrons and escaped in one patrons car. Taken were $200 in cash and some currency. The car was recovered in Decatur; one suspect is in custody.

25 years ago

Feb. 21, 1994: Pontiacs old city building will be converted to a small business incubator. The target date for completion is May 1. As an incubator, the center will lease small spaces to retail businesses until they get a good start and then move on to larger downtown spaces.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
Imagine if Illinois were the last state to pass a $15 minimum wage law. As a business owner competing against companies all over the U.S., I would welcome that.

Imagine if businesses of all sorts saw a competitive advantage to locating in Illinois due to its lower costs of labor. Imagine how many jobs would be created by those businesses. Imagine paying less for all sorts of goods and services than any one in the rest of the U.S.

Imagine how many people from neighboring states would drive into Illinois to shop due to lower prices. Imagine how much growth that would bring. Imagine the revenue that would flow into state and local coffers due to all of the above.

Imagine having a balanced budget, lowering debt and interest payments, and using those funds to rebuild and upgrade badly needed infrastructure.

Imagine real new dollars and growth coming to Illinois, not just trading local dollars back and forth. Imagine the opportunities this growth would provide to workers who could potentially earn $15 or more in their respective fields, if they were motivated to do so, due to the robust business atmosphere which always drives wages up.

It's too late and it won't happen, but it's not that hard to imagine.

Harvey Meister, Bloomington

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the looniest lefty I've seen elected to Congress in my lifetime.

But Ilhan Omar, her fellow rookie House member from Minnesota, is so radical she scares the pants off me.

After watching Omar in action, it's pretty clear to me that the Muslim Democrat hates America almost as much as she hates Israel.

Before she got to Washington she had already raised eyebrows for her support of the socialist dictator who's wrecked Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and her call to abolish ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

She's also a big fan of sanctuary cities and opposes President Trump's border wall because it's "racist and sinful."

But then Omar got in big trouble for a tweet insinuating that the prime reason U.S. politicians so faithfully support Israel is because they get lots of money from AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in the country.

She apologized profusely, but only after Republicans and the grown-up members of her own party loudly condemned her statements as anti-Semitic and "deeply offensive."

It's too bad Omar didn't take up President Trump's suggestion that she resign from Congress  or at least voluntarily step down from her spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Now it looks like we're going to be tortured by the liberal media's soft coverage of Omar's anti-Americanism and AOC's idiotic Green New Deal for the next two years.

Omar, AOC and their followers would never admit it, but their elections have something in common with President Trump.

All three of them are political outsiders who were elected in part because millions of voters are tired of the do-nothing Democrats and Republicans in Congress who can't  or simply won't  solve the country's most important issues.

Take immigration reform, please.

It's been 33 years since my father signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, which granted amnesty to about 4 million illegal immigrants and was supposed to reform U.S. immigration policy but never did because of Congress.

Since 1986 Democrats and Republicans have done virtually nothing to fix immigration or secure the border.

At one point or another, they each have had control of both the White House and Congress  and still nothing.

The dirty secret everyone in Washington knows is that politicians in both parties don't really want to solve the immigration problem.

Ever.

Both political parties, or groups within them, want the immigration issue to be in a constant state of debate.

That way, during election time, they can use their tough position on a border wall, or their demands for amnesty for illegals, to raise money for themselves and their parties.

It's all about raising money.

If the immigration problem is solved, the politicians will lose millions, so they work overtime for years to make sure they do nothing.

That strategy, combined with blind hatred for President Trump, is why we have this latest crisis revolving around immigration  legal and illegal.

You can take it to the bank that no matter what temporary bandage President Trump and the Democrats sign, immigration and border security will still be a major issue in the 2020 elections.

Until then, thanks to the selfish do-nothings in Congress and despite President Trump's one-man crusade, we won't have a proper border wall with Mexico.

But we'll still have sanctuary cities  and states  where illegals are protected from immigration laws and supplied with free health, welfare and educational benefits.

We'll still have a path to legal immigration that is bureaucratic, expensive, lawyer-intensive and takes so many years to complete that it encourages illegal immigration.

And because the entrenched men and women in Washington refuse to do their jobs and solve important issues like immigration or health care reform, they'll keep the side door to Congress open for more radical socialists and Jew-hating Muslims.

Which is why I'm feeling more scared than ever for the future of my kids and grandkids.

Contact Reagan at Reagan@caglecartoons.com.

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SPRINGFIELD  Illinois Republicans suffered big losses in the 2018 elections, giving up seven House seats and handing a 74-44 supermajority to Democrats.

Now its up to state Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, to try and turn things around, and she has no illusions about how big of a task that will be.

Huge. A huge task, she said in an interview Thursday.

McCombies colleagues this week unanimously elected her to chair the House Republican Organization, the political arm of the caucus that works, and raises money, to elect Republicans to the House.

The goal is to provide political services to the 44 members we have and to grow our members so we can, one, bring balance to Illinois, and, two, hopefully to gain additional seats to gain the majority and put Leader (Jim) Durkin in the speakers seat, McCombie said.

McCombie attributed her partys losses in 2018 to a number of factors, including money and the fact that the Democratic candidate for governor, J.B. Pritzker, had a sophisticated operation. But she also said there were national trends working against Illinois Republicans, including President Donald Trumps unpopularity in the state.

The message right now on the federal side certainly, I think, hurt Republicans in the suburbs, she said.

McCombie is the first woman to hold the chairmanship, and that could be important in 2020 because thats the voting population where the GOP has been losing support, particularly in suburban areas, both in Illinois and nationally.

But McCombie said she doesnt necessarily think its her job to recruit female voters back to the party.

I dont think I was chosen to bring women into the fold because women dont tell women what to do, she said. But I think its certainly necessary to have more women in leadership positions so they can have more open conversations. Because thats one thing that women do better. They will sit down at the table and have a conversation.

McCombie said it will take hard work to reverse the GOPs fortunes in the state, but she said shes optimistic about the partys chances.

We need to rely on work, and we need to rely on our message, she said. If this is about policy, were going to win every time. 

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In his budget address on Wednesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker compared the state's woes to those faced in the early 1930s by a new governor from Chicago, Henry Horner.

Despite challenges including the Great Depression and widespread flooding "Horner approached his job with optimism, with wit and with a dogged work effort," Pritzker said.

So who was Henry Horner?

A probate judge in Cook County for many years, Horner was a Democrat like Pritzker. Horner became Illinois' first Jewish governor when he was elected in 1932. His grandfather had been one of the first four Jews to settle in Chicago, 91 years before.

In his speech Wednesday, Pritzker repeated his call for a graduated income tax that will weigh more heavily on the wealthy. Horner also took on a tax issue, successfully pushing in 1933 for a state sales tax, a 3 percent levy that was roundly denounced by business interests.

An opponent of patronage and corruption, Horner sparred with powerful Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly. In 1936, Chicago's Democratic machine sought to defeat Horner, but with strong Downstate support he won re-election. Two years later, a state ticket he supported in the face of machine opposition "triumphed," the Tribune reported.

But, according to the Tribune, "the successful effort he then made to overcome the bosses cost him his health." Horner suffered a stroke in 1938, and died while still in office in 1940. He was 61.

In the late 1950s, the Chicago Housing Authority named a West Side complex along Lake Street after the late governor. The Henry Horner Homes were decimated by gangs and violence in the 1980s and '90s. Demolition of the last buildings in the Henry Horner Homes was completed about 10 years ago.

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CHICAGO  Lawyers for the white Chicago police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald say prosecutors have no right to challenge his nearly 7-year prison term.

Attorneys for Jason Van Dyke made the arguments in a filing Monday with the Illinois Supreme Court. They say the sentence is consistent with state law.

Illinois' attorney general and the case's special prosecutor have filed a petition to the high court, disputing the legal basis the judge used to sentence Van Dyke.

Van Dyke was convicted last year of second-degree murder and 16 aggravated battery counts. A judge sentenced him last month on just the second-degree murder conviction, ruling it was more serious.

Prosecutors want the 40-year-old sentenced on the aggravated battery counts, which could result in a longer prison term.

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The ink on a new report on Illinois gun laws was barely dry when news broke of a mass shooting in Aurora by a felon who should not have been carrying a handgun.

The report, prompted by Chicago's recent mass fatal shooting at Mercy Hospital, identifies how Illinois remains vulnerable when it comes to ensuring that people who are barred from having weapons don't get them. The report's authors from Johns Hopkins University and the public policy experts at the Joyce Foundation, which commissioned it, then watched as the Aurora shooting unfolded, providing a tragic, real-time blueprint.

"It was right on the heels of the Mercy Hospital shooting, where we also had a shooter who was in compliance with Illinois law until he opened fire in a hospital," Nina Vinik, director of Joyce's gun violence prevention and justice reform program, said of the decision to seek the report. "Fast forward to Aurora, we have a shooter who went through our legal process and obtained a FOID card. It really struck me that for all we hear about Illinois having very strong gun laws, in fact they could and should be stronger."

The 11-page analysis points to Illinois' failure to require fingerprinting for gun permits and its lacking enforcement in seizing weapons from people whose permits have been revoked -- two issues that have been identified as possible explanations for how Aurora shooter Gary Martin bought and kept a gun, despite a felony conviction on his record.

"I always read these stories and the news coverage of a tragic event like this. It's always a little bit overwhelming," said report co-author Cassandra Crifasi. "But when I was reading reports (on Aurora), I was sort of stunned. I was so stunned that so many of the things we were discussing in the report were relevant. There were gaps in the system and this person was able to obtain a firearm he shouldn't have had."

Martin's 1995 conviction in Mississippi did not appear on two background checks that were done in 2014 when he obtained his Illinois firearm owner's identification card and then bought a handgun. His criminal history only caught up with him, that same year, when he applied to the Illinois State Police for a concealed carry license and was voluntarily fingerprinted to expedite the process.

Once his criminal history was found, his firearm license was revoked and notification sent to Martin and Aurora police. He should have surrendered the card and firearms, or transferred them to a legal owner, within 48 hours. Court records in Mississippi also show the Illinois State Police followed up by seeking Martin's record.

But Illinois laws do not require law enforcement to seize weapons from revoked cardholders, and Martin kept the gun for five years before using it to kill five co-workers at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in west suburban Aurora. He wounded several responding Aurora police officers and was killed in the shootout.

The Johns Hopkins report, written by its Center for Gun Policy and Research, was commissioned by the Joyce Foundation in November, days after a man shot dead his ex-fiancee, another hospital employee and a Chicago police officer before dying in a shootout with police. The center is an academic institute in the university's school of public health that studies how policy can reduce gun violence.

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The report concludes that while Illinois has relatively strong laws, there remains several ways it could improve them to try to prevent guns from winding up in the hands of people who commit violence.

Of the nine states that currently require a permit to buy guns, Illinois is among two states that don't mandate an in-person application and three that don't require fingerprinting. In addition, Illinois allows applicants to apply by mail and, barring an infraction caught by law enforcement, to keep their firearm ID cards for 10 years. The study authors recommend in-person applications, fingerprinting and shortening the duration of a gun permit to five years.

"Illinois, arguably, has the weakest of all purchase licensing laws," the report stated.

The report argues that the gaps Martin appears to have slipped through could be closed by mandating fingerprinting for those who want to obtain a gun permit and by instructing law enforcement in Illinois to more aggressively dispossess barred gun owners of their weapons. Crifasi said there is "public safety benefit" to getting guns out of the hands of people who are barred from having them, but the report stops short of mandating dispossession because of existing strains on law enforcement.

"There is more weight behind the revocation if there is some legislative action, but we also recognize that at times there are constrained resources and sometimes law enforcement has to prioritize," she said.

Crifasi also said fingerprinting is a better option because criminal records are sometimes incomplete or miss details of a criminal history that might be key.

The report also points out that studies have shown that stronger licensing laws have impact, citing Missouri, which eliminated all of its licensing requirements and saw a sharp increase in how quickly guns went from a legal retail sale to being recovered at crime scenes.

Vinik, of the Joyce Foundation, said she hopes the report adds to the momentum she feels Illinois already has around tightening its gun laws.

"Illinois passed some good laws last year," she said, referring to a gun licensing bill that was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month. "I am hearing in Springfield that there is an appetite to try and address this."

Gun owners and gun rights lobbyists have fought against past efforts to require law enforcement to seize guns from those who have lost their permits. They are have argued that penalties for failing to relinquish a weapon are already in place.

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BLOOMINGTON  A judge on Thursday granted a man's request for DNA testing on forensic material collected by Bloomington police from a gun used to threaten a woman during an attempted sexual assault.

On Thursday, Judge Scott Drazewski ordered Bloomington police to submit a swab that may contain DNA evidence to the Illinois State Police crime lab in Morton for testing.

Thornton, 45, argued the results of the testing may confirm his claims that he did not possess the gun found at a woman's home after she called police to report an attempted sexual assault.

In April 2018, Thornton was found naked outside the woman's Bloomington home. She told police she'd invited Thornton to her home and the two engaged in consensual sex before he threatened her with a gun after she refused to perform a sex act.

The two tussled near the front door and Thornton was flung outside in the dispute, according to police.

Thornton had a different version of the encounter, saying he went outside to allow the woman to recover from a reaction to drugs, and she locked him out of the house.

"The gun did not contain my fingerprints so I was not in possession of the gun. ... I'm innocent," Thornton told the judge at the hearing in which he served as his own lawyer. He hopes to be exonerated.

Assistant State's Attorney David Rossi opposed the DNA testing, saying, "Identity was not an issue" in the case.

But the judge sided with Thornton, saying, "I believe identification was an issue at your trial. You denied the gun was yours. The identification of the owner of the gun was an issue."

Thornton may be waiting awhile for the test results, the judge said. With a backlog of four to five months, the DNA results may not be ready before summer, Drazewski said.

The judge directed the state to contact BPD to see if the swab is still in the department's evidence storage and, if so, arrange for its transfer to Morton.

A June 21 hearing is set to review the status of the case.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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BLOOMINGTON  An expert on gun laws will be allowed to testify at the murder trial of Kirk Zimmerman, a judge ruled Wednesday.

According to the states theory, Zimmerman grew increasing angry with his ex-wife over his child support obligations.

Days before her death, the 53-year-old victim mailed a demand to Zimmerman for his half of about $6,000 in expenses related to the couple's three children. She threatened to take Zimmerman back to court if the debt was not paid.

In a hearing Wednesday, defense lawyer David Mueller challenged the states plans to call Shae Cronin, an associate professor of criminal justice at Boston University Metropolitan College, as an expert witness on how gun laws influence the flow of weapons between states.

Mueller argued that an article co-authored by Cronin and six others on gun sales is insufficient to qualify him as an expert.

Jurors dont need an expert to explain that differences in state gun laws impact gun sales, said Mueller.

Nothing about this is complicated," said the defense lawyer.

Cronins testimony will help jurors understand how Zimmerman may have been able to easily buy a handgun in Crawfordsville, Ind., shortly before Pam Zimmermans death, argued Assistant States Attorney Aaron Fredrick.

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Cronins opinion will be used to support a report by FBI Special Agent Greg Catey on the suspects alleged travel to Indiana.

Authorities have not recovered the murder weapon.

In his ruling, Drazewski noted that anticipated testimony from Cronin and Catey could be part of the state's circumstantial evidence that Zimmerman purchased a gun in a cash transaction from an Indiana gun dealer.

In a previous ruling allowing Cateys report to be heard by the jury, the judge told prosecutors that an opinion should be provided in support of the states theory that Indianas lax gun laws impact the flow of guns into Illinois.

We do not want any continuances, Mueller said Wednesday.

The trial is expected to last four to six weeks with more than 100 witnesses. The list of exhibits exceeds 14,000, according to the state.

Photos: FBI agent presents cell tower data in Zimmerman murder

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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SPRINGFIELD  Lawmakers and advocates have tried to hike the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Illinois for three years, each time making the push first in the Senate.

This session, advocates are trying a different approach.

What were doing this time is running it through the House first, because we have more people to deal with, House sponsor Camille Lilly, a Democrat from Chicago, said. In the Senate, theres only 56 people  theres 118 in the House. Its easy to get it through the Senate.

During the previous session, both chambers approved the initiative but former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner did not sign it. Only the Senate was able to muster enough votes to overturn his veto  it failed in the House.

Lillys version of the measure increasing the age to purchase products containing nicotine to 21 advanced out of committee this week with only one dissenting vote. It won the approval of the chambers Health Care Availability & Access Committee by a vote of 5 to 1.

One Republican committee member, Tom Demmer from Dixon, voted in favor. His colleague, Thomas Bennett of Gibson City, voted no.

Lilly said after the hearing she is excited to have bipartisan support on her bill.

More are joining the cause because many of them share with me their family experiences in dealing with cancer, living with cancer, or passed away because of cancer, she said.

Rep. Mary Flowers, the committee chairwoman from Chicago, pressed Lilly on why her measure removed penalties for minors caught possessing tobacco products.

Shana Crews, Illinois government relations director with the American Cancer Societys Cancer Action Network, said her organization does not believe in criminalizing kids. Penalties exist in the law, she added, but they target retailers who sell illegally to minors.

Flowers also asked whether the legislation would be making criminals out of (minors) by enticing them to purchase tobacco products in a neighboring state where it would be legal for them to do so.

Crews said local governments near Illinois border that approved a Tobacco 21 ordinance, such as Chicago or Lake County, have seen no evidence of this.

Lilly said after committee this initiative is really moving.

She said she has not spoken with Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker about whether he would sign the measure since he was campaigning. At that time, she said, he understood the importance of young people not having access to tobacco, which long-term will help them lead healthy lives, so he was on board.

The legislation is House Bill 345. Lilly successfully added a housekeeping amendment in committee, cleaning up reference to language she removed elsewhere.

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LINCOLN  A new $27 million state-of-the-art YMCA could open in Lincoln by late next year.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital President and CEO Dolan Dalpoas has told the Lincoln City Council that a coordinated effort between the hospital and the Lincoln YMCA will lead to construction of a new 80,000-square-foot facility on the hospital campus. Dalpoas also is a member of the YMCA Board of Directors.

Because the missions of the hospital and the YMCA are aligned, we can be natural partners to work together, he said. This represents a nearly $27 million investment in our health, in our youth and in our great community of Lincoln and Logan County.

Dalpoas said the goal is to break ground later this summer or early fall. A capital campaign to help raise awareness and money is expected to begin soon.

FWAI Architects, Inc. of Springfield has been hired as the architect on the project, Dalpoas said.

The facility would be built on the site of the former Crossroads Motel at 1305 Woodlawn Road.

The YMCA currently has a facility at 719 Wyatt Ave. in Lincoln and is headquartered at 604 Broadway in Lincoln. Dalpoas said decisions on the future of those facilities is not yet known.

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There is a lot of stuff to do, Dalpoas said. It is not unreasonable to think that we wouldnt be operational by late 2020.

It is a multi-faceted building, said lead architect Paul Wheeler. We have a public sort of grand entry. There will be an operational (community) day care facility for up to 80 kids, and parents will have easy access to drop children off."

He added there will be a physical therapy clinic, locker rooms, a gymnasium, and a lounge with a small cafe for fellowship and gathering. The plan also calls for a swimming pool that can be used by the high school and Lincoln College.

Another pool would be built for exercise and therapy, he said, along with two studios for aerobics and spin classes.

On the upper level, a track will circle the gym, with wellness and fitness centers.

We have a preliminary drawing that shows a lot of glass for a lot of visibility, said Wheeler. We want people to see the multi-faceted usage.

Dalpoas said officials have not yet determined what impact the new facility will have on costs in the future.

It is our intent that this facility be used by as many people as possible of all socio-economic backgrounds, he said. This project, if successful, which it will be, will put the YMCA in a position to be more committed to scholarships so that those less fortunate, can use this facility.

Currently, the YMCA offers health and fitness programs, aquatics, camping, childcare, arts and sports.

Decatur Family YMCA CEO Matt Whitehead is overseeing the Lincoln YMCA on an interim director basis and referred questions to members of the YMCAs board of directors.

Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow

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NORMAL  R MarketPlace, part small-business incubator and part upscale food court, was born five years ago across the country.

"My husband and I were visiting Orange County and went to a food hall in the packing district (Anaheim Packing House), and we fell in love with the variety of food and the atmosphere," said Vivian Doctora of Bloomington. "We thought, 'This would be a great thing for Bloomington-Normal one day.'"

Doctora, who will own and manage the hall with her husband, Redney, hopes it will be 80 percent full when the building opens in 2020. The 13,000-square-foot space will house 10 to 15 businesses.

"We want to bring unique food offerings that we don't have in Bloomington-Normal and let people test a concept before opening their own shop," she said, with French, Filipino, Japanese and Vietnamese cuisine among those lined up so far. "All the independent merchants will be locally owned. ... So far we have seven letters of intent from locally owned businesses."

Doctora encouraged those interested in being part of R MarketPlace to contact her at rmktplace.com.

"We also want to have a bar owned and operated by us, and we'll have a farm stand that will offer people who live nearby basic grocery items within walking distance," she said. "We'll also have a kitchen in the food hall where people can do cooking demonstrations."

Doctora, who has worked for State Farm for 19 years including in marketing, got serious about the concept in 2017 and reached out to the town for help.

After the first floor of the College Avenue Parking Deck proved unsuitable  the town is now soliciting possible users for the space  officials turned to Trail East, said Normal Economic Development Director Sally Heffernan.

"It was originally planned to just be parking, and I thought that wasn't impactful enough," said Bryce Henderson, Bush's vice president of project development, of the ground floor. "We talked to Vivian ... and we said that sounds like a great opportunity to have a local impact, not only for our project but also for the local businesses they're trying to incubate."

R MarketPlace is expected to use the northwest portion of the first floor, though the layout has not been finalized yet.

Doctora said the project wouldn't be possible without another business incubator  the Small Business Development Center at Illinois Wesleyan University, which helped her learn business principles and connect to banks.

"We're extremely excited about the project. I think it's going to bring a lot of excitement to the community," she said. "We really want to drive more economic development in town."

Bloomington-Normal business openings and closings

Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh

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Algiers, Algeria (PANA) - A SU24-type jet fighter crashed on Wednesday evening (22:00 local hours) during a training flight in the commune of Rechaiga of Tiarat Wilaya, northwest of Algiers, a communique from the Algerian Ministry of Defence said on Thursday
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India and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday signed as many as five memorandum of understanding (MoU) in areas of infrastructure, tourism, housing, investments, and exchange of audio visual program.

Besides, the two sides also signed the framework agreement on the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which is an alliance of more than 121 members.

The MoUs were signed in the presence of visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Saudi Prince arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday evening for a two-day state visit at the invitation of Modi.
Niamey, Niger (PANA)  Heads of State and Government of the Sahel region will on 25 February hold a summit meeting on climate change in Niamey to reaffirm their political will in tackling the effects of recurrent drought on food security
Cotonou, Benin (PANA)  Benin has unveiled a 10-year action plan (2018-2027) for the sustainable management of its lands, sources close to the ministry of Environment and Sustainable development said on Wednesday
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The second meeting of the Scientific Committee of the 5 + 5 Training Centre for the Elimination of Mines for Peaceful Purposes ended on Wednesday in Tripoli, according to an official statement from the Libyan government
CCTV footage of a suspect who robbed the Pit Stop on 1221 Link St. in Palestine Thursday. Police urge anyone with information to the identity of this suspect to call the Palestine Police Department at 903-729-2254.
Graveside services for Carroll Dwayne Chaffin will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 27, 2021 at Guiceland Cemetery with Rev. Steven Evers officiating. Arrangements have been entrusted to Bailey & Foster Funeral Home. Carroll Dwayne Chaffin, age 70, went home to his Savior Thursday, June 24
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Saturday, Feb. 16

11:41 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Mount Haley Township.

11:11 p.m. -- Officers responded to a noise ordinance in the 4900 block of Artcrest Drive.

11:07 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a residence in Larkin Township in reference to a verbal argument between a 26-year-old woman and her 52-year-old father and 50-year-old mother. The 26-year-old was moving her bed to a different location in the house and said her parents had gotten upset about it, and the argument had gotten "extremely heated." All parties said they were just going to go to bed and not have any contact with each other for the rest of the night.

11:05 p.m. -- A 73-year-old Midland Township woman said a 41-year-old man claimed to have permission to work on a vehicle of hers. The man contacted her and said she owed him $700 in repairs. She said she had never spoken to the man and had not given him permission to work on her vehicle, and had requested that he stop contacting her. Deputies contacted the man, who said he has a voicemail that said he could work on her vehicle and that she would sign the title over to him. He was advised by deputies to stop contacting the woman and to take her to small claims court.

9:08 p.m. -- Officers responded to a car-deer crash on North Saginaw Road near Dublin Avenue.

7:55 p.m. -- Officers performed a warrant arrest in the 4000 block of Hancock Drive.

7:29 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident on West Buttles Street near Jerome Street.

7:15 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a residence in Lee Township in reference to a death of a 75-year-old woman. She appeared to have died of natural causes.

5:48 p.m. -- Officers responded to an intoxicated driver near the intersection of North Saginaw Road and Orchard Drive.

5 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident in the 1800 block of West Saint Andrews Street.

4:38 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a business in the Village of Sanford for a vehicle crash on private property. The at-fault driver was given a citation for failure to yield.

2:48 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a two-vehicle crash in Edenville Township.

2:47 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident in the 1700 block of West Wackerly Street.

2:05 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash resulting in property damage near the intersection of Dartmouth Drive and South Saginaw Road.

1:52 p.m. -- Officers responded to an animal bite in the 1000 block of West Main Street.

1:30 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Sanford residence to speak with a 16-year-old boy in reference to property that had been stolen from his car after he had left it parked and unlocked overnight, with his wallet in the vehicle. The next morning he found his wallet opened and sitting on the driver's seat, with $30 missing. He said the darkened rain guard around the passenger window was broken, costing about $40 worth of damage.

8:47 a.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash on private property in the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue.

8:23 a.m. -- Officers performed a warrant arrest in the 1800 block of South Saginaw Road.

2:30 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a property damage accident in Ingersoll Township.

Friday, Feb. 15

11:01 p.m. -- Officers responded to a loud party in the 5600 block of Bloomfield Court.

10:54 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Homer Township residence in reference to the death of a 48-year-old Homer Township man. The deputy and emergency services were informed that the man was suffering from possible liver and heart issues for some time, but refused to obtain any type of medical treatment. The Midland County medical examiner released the body to the funeral home.

10:44 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Lee Township business in reference to an alarm. It was discovered that an 18-year-old employee had hit the alarm button by accident.

10:05 p.m. -- A 25-year-old woman called 911 to report a verbal argument she had with a 28-year-old woman, who was related to the caller's boyfriend and did not like her. Every time the two see each other, they end up fighting. Both subjects were advised to stay away from each other and not communicate.

9:20 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of East Parrish Road near North Waldo Road to respond to a single-vehicle crash. Upon investigation is was learned that the vehicle was being repaired at a nearby residence when it gained traction in the driveway, slid across the roadway and into the ditch. There was no damage to the vehicle.

8:30 p.m. -- A deputy made contact with a 43-year-old woman and her 42-year-old husband at a business in Hope Township in reference to a domestic assault. The woman said her husband had assaulted her at their Edenville Township residence. She received minor injuries and the husband was arrested and transported to the Midland County Jail.

8:28 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Jerome Township residence in reference to a suspicious situation, where tree branches were left leaning against the residence. The resident believed that the branches were placed intentionally due to a pending court case a family member is involved in, though there was no evidence to indicate that the branches were placed by an individual.

8:11 p.m. -- Officers performed a warrant arrest in the 900 block of Novak Street.

6:37 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a residence in Edenville Township in reference to a report of a suicidal 15-year-old girl. The deputy made contact with the girl and her 40-year-old father. The girl was feeling depressed because she had recently had a falling out with a friend. The father said they had counselors they were going to call in reference to the situation, and the father was going to keep an eye on the daughter until she spoke with the counselor.

2:11 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the Law Enforcement Center and made contact with a 21-year-old woman and 21-year-old man from Lee Township and a 20-year-old man from the City of Midland, who said they were interested in buying property off of Craigslist. They later found out it was a scam. They had not provided Social Security numbers or banking numbers, and had not sent the scammer any money. They wanted the incident documented.

1:28 p.m. -- Officers responded to a parking violation in the 800 block of East Carpenter Street.

12:09 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident near the intersection of Jerome Street and Larkin Street.

5:25 a.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident near the intersection of Jerome Street and West Buttles Street.

1:43 a.m. -- A 77-year-old Jasper Township woman called 911 to report that someone had "smoothed out" the snow in her yard and she could not find her wallet. She felt that someone was "messing with her." The woman has a history of mental health issues.

12:09 a.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to Lee Township in reference to an unknown subject hitting the "need assistance" button on their vehicle's satellite radio. Deputies checked the area but were unable to locate the vehicle. Central Dispatch tried to get a second ping on the vehicle, but were unable to gather further information.
With decades of experience covering Michigan's government through many news outlets, Tim Skubick knows a thing or two about being politically engaged.

The anchor and producer of "Off the Record" -- a weekly WKAR program covering Michigan's governor's office, political campaigns and state government -- spoke to a crowd of about a dozen local parents Tuesday night at the Herbert D. Doan Midland County History Center to kick off The Legacy Center for Community Success' first "Town Hall" event of 2019.

The topic of the night was "Fostering Politically Engaged Youth," and Skubick had plenty of experience to share with the audience.

"We as parents in this politically-charged environment might not always be setting the right example for our kids," said Jennifer Heronema, Legacy Center president and CEO. "It's a really tough time for us. We want to get (our kids) politically engaged, and its hard as parents sometimes when you know your child is going to vote a different way than you."

Skubick recalled nightly conversations about politics at the dinner table during the adolescence of his daughter Carly. During one of those conversations, Carly proudly announced that she was preparing to vote for Ralph Nader in the upcoming presidential election. Skubick looks back on the chance he had to asked "why" and talk to his daughter about her politic ideals as a huge missed opportunity.

"If you kid brings up anything that has to do with politics, glom onto that like a shark on a piece of red meat, because this is your opportunity to start the dialogue," Skubick said.

Years later, Carly, now a student at the University of Tampa, called Skubick on election day to excitedly tell him that she had just taken her roommates to go vote -- though she was disappointed when "they voted for the wrong guy."

"That didn't happen because Carly read someplace that she was supposed to take her roommates to go vote," Skubick said. "Her mom and I will take credit for those conversations at the dinner which said to (Carly) 'This stuff is important."

Skubick recommends that parents spend at least 15 minutes every night speaking to their kids about their opinions and experiences with politics or other issues facing them in their lives.

Among the parents in the crowd, Martin Brennan, 57, appreciated the clear and concise advice Skubick gave about engaging young people in today's political atmosphere.

Brennan, a third-generation Irish immigrant on his father's side growing up in Bowling Green, Ohio, during the 1960s, witnessed a lot of protests and political demonstrations.

"Coming from an Irish household, we always talked about politics growing up," Brennan said. "I'm not liking what I'm seeing in politic discussions these days. People can't even have civil discussions and debate the issues anymore."

An annual series of events, the "Town Halls" are meant to help parents understand some of the key concerns of parenting in the modern age. All events take place between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at various locations across Midland.

The first town hall, titled "Vaping Among Our Youth Population," was scheduled to take place on Jan. 29, but was canceled due to inclement weather. Heronema said the event has been rescheduled and will now take place on Monday, March 4 in the downstairs community room at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. Attendees will be given a crash course on vapes, including what is in them, what they look like, teen usage rates and what parents can do about them.

The last event of the spring will be a session dedicated to "developmental assets" and will take place March 14 in the downstairs community room at Grace A. Dow Memorial Library.

The "Developmental Assets" system, created by the non-profit Search Institute, consists of proven positive experiences, qualities and preventative measures that can steer children away from "at-risk" behavior.

All events are free, though registration is required through www.drugfreemidland.org/events.
MSU Extension of Midland County and cooperating parent educators sponsor the Parent's Corner. Send submissions to Midland County MSU Extension Educator, Lisa Treiber, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 4864

St. John's Open House

St. John's Lutheran School is hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 9. Applications are being accepted for all preschool classes, including 3-year olds, 4-year olds and Young 5's, as well as kindergarten and students in grades 1-8. Step into the classrooms and visit with the staff to learn how St. John's can help children grow and learn in a safe, Christian environment. For more information, visit www.sjlmidland.org or call the school office at 989-835-7041.

Afternoon at Sugarhouse

Discover the magic of maple syrup season Saturdays and Sundays in March at Chippewa Nature Center, (except Maple Syrup Day, March 16) as families experience the process of making syrup from start to finish. Visitors are invited to peek into buckets of tapped trees, watch the steam rise in the sugarhouse and learn how to change maple sap into sweet maple syrup. The Sugarhouse will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in March. CNC is located at 400 S. Badour Road, Midland.

Cooking Matters for Families

Cooking Matters for Families is a hands-on nutrition program offered by Michigan State University Extension. Parents/guardians with their children, ages 8-18, learn about preparing healthy meals together, food safety, grocery shopping, and budgeting for food. Participants will attend six lessons, lasting two hours each. With the help of an experienced chef and nutrition educator, participants will gain the skills and confidence to make healthy, budget-friendly meals at home as a family. Each week, participants will receive take-home groceries, which they can use at home to practice, as a family, from the recipe they learned in class. The class takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays, March 4-April 15 at Messiah Lutheran Church. Classes are free, space is limited. To register contact Community Nutrition Instructor Sheila at 989-758-2504 or e-mail salo@msu.edu.

Nature Day Camp

Chippewa Nature Center will begin taking Nature Day Camp registration at 8 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, for the 2019 season. After March 5, families may also register by phone or in person. CNC is located at 400 S. Badour Road, Midland.

Kids & Canvas

This gathering is specifically designed for children to experience a fun creative activity even if they "don't do art!" The event takes place from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 2. Kids paint their own version of the featured art on a 12 x 16 canvas. Registration required. $20 for the class, call Creative 360 at 989-837-1885 or online www.becreative360.org.

Beginning Graphite Drawing

Artist Barbara Plezia will take kids age 7-plus on this creative journey. Researchers conclude that "finding ways to encourage everyday creative activities can lead directly to increased well-being." Plezia will teach the basic principles of drawing in this fun and engaging series where kids will work on many quick studies developing a "habit" of viewing and capturing the fascinating world around them in their own style. Bring a sketchbook, pencils, and an eraser. Registration required with Creative 360 by March 8. Class takes place from 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays March 11-April 8. Cost is $38. Call Creative 360 989-837-1885 or register online at www.becreative360.org.

NEMCSA Head Start

NEMCSA Head Start is a free preschool program for qualifying families with children ages 3-4. Head Start also serves children with special needs and/or disabilities. Head Start is a member of the Midland County Regional Preschool Partnership. Your first step to enroll is to complete a preschool interest form online at www.michiganpreschool.org. NEMCSA Head Start offers full day and half-day preschool classrooms that run 4 days a week. Classroom locations in the Midland and Sanford areas include sites at Longview Early Childhood Center, First Baptist Church, M20 Site and Sanford Early Childhood Center. Contact Megan Greer at 989-832-0968 or Kelly Schram-Scoles at 989-832-7520 to schedule an application appointment to learn if your family is eligible for these free NEMCSA Head Start Preschool Program.
The Clarke Historical Library's latest exhibit, The Hemingway Collection at the Clarke, highlights the key resources that have been meticulously chosen over the past 20 years to build a collection that interprets the unique story of Nobel laureate's Ernest Hemingway's relationship with Michigan and how his experiences shaped the man and influenced his writings.

The exhibit opens Thursday, Feb. 21, with a 7 p.m. lecture by Mike Federspiel, CMU history professor, Janet Danek, exhibit coordinator, and Frank Boles, director of the Clarke Historical Library, in the Opperman auditorium at Park Library, where the historical library is located. They will share insights about how the collection came to be.

The exhibit, which continues through August, features the "gems" of the collection, which are at the heart of Hemingway's Michigan story.

"The gems are composed of items such as letters, envelopes, a magazine cover and a first-edition publication," according to text from the historical library's section on the Hemingway exhibit at www.cmich.edu/library/clarke. "All these formats reduce themselves to humble, and in many ways, visually uninteresting text. They are items that might be overlooked if placed among many other objects in one of the Clarke's large exhibit cases."

To distinguish the gems, each was placed in an individual exhibition case set against a translucent, nine-foot tall banner hanging down from the ceiling. The banners feature the artifact's title, text interpreting its significance, and the story of how it became part of the collection.

"These gem-and-banner assemblages were clustered together in the center of the exhibit gallery, parting to create a path to what came to be viewed as the single most important item: the (Jim) Gamble letter," according to the website.

The library explains the letter:

Gamble had been Hemingway's commander in Italy during World War I, where the two had become friends. Gamble had invited Hemingway to spend time in Italy with him, but Hemingway had returned to America. In the spring of 1919, Hemingway wrote Gamble with a similar idea but a significant twist: Gamble, Hemingway suggested, should come to the United States and spend the summer with him around Little Traverse Bay. To persuade his former commander to make the trip, Hemingway wrote several pages describing the delights of Michigan. The letter's glowing descriptions of what Gamble would experience made clear just how much Hemingway loved northern Michigan.

Other items are featured around the perimeter of the gallery, including four enormous wall-mounted images, including one of Hemingway.

The library is part of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.

The exhibit is open during regular library hours. More information, www.cmich.edu/library/hours

Admission is free and open to the public.
 Flash

China expects the upcoming second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to be held smoothly and achieve positive outcomes, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

"It is China's consistent stance that direct contact and dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S. is key to resolving the Korean Peninsula issue," spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing, adding that China always supports the DPRK and the U.S. to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiations.

Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to hold their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28.

Geng expressed hope that the summit would inject new impetus to realizing denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula. "China will continue to make its own efforts and contributions to realizing this goal," he added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said it has required social media outfits to submit validated reports on poll advertisement spending.

COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez said this is a way by which they can regulate campaign spending in the midterm elections.

"Ang tendency ngayon, ipinapasok sa social media 'yung advertising expenses nila. Ang problema po diyan, ang social media ay hindi regulated. Kung hindi siya regulated ay ibig sabihin, makakapagtago sila ng gastos diyan na hindi nila kinakailangang i-report sa SOCE (Statements of Contributions and Expenditures)," Jimenez told CNN Philippines' On the Record.

[Translation: The tendency now is to place advertising expenses in social media. But social media is not regulated, and that's a problem. THey can hide their campaign expenses and avoid reporting in their SOCE.]

Jimenez said they will be able to check which ads will be in support of the candidates. He said COMELEC may backtrack using boosted posts - or social media posts whose reach is increased when paid for.

"Makikita natin 'yan. At dahil ang boosting ay possible only if you have a page, then malalaman din natin kung saang nanggaling 'yung perang pangboost. Kung kaninong account. Kaya natin nire-require 'yung mga kandidato na magbigay ng kanilang social media pages, para alam natin kung saan tayo magsisimulang tumingin," Jimenez explained.

[Translation: We will spot it. And since boosting is possible only if you have a page, then we'll find out where the boosting fund came from, from which account. That's why we require candidates to give out their social media pages, so that we know where to begin our search.]

While Comelec would not be able to check individual activities in support of particular candidates on social media, Jimenez said they can cross-check ad spending of candidates with their submitted Statement of Campaign Expenditures after the elections.

Jimenez, however, admits there will be "guerilla" spending.

But he said Comelec regulations require advertisers and campaign contractors to submit their reports to the poll body. These will cover all personnel who perform services for the campaign, including social media associates such as so-called influencers.
UPDATE 7:20 p.m.: All northbound lanes are now open. Oregon DOT says to expect delays.

A multi-vehicle crash involving trucks has shut Interstate 5 in both directions at the Woodburn interchange.

The Oregon Department of Transportation urges travelers to use alternative routes or expect long delays. Right now just one southbound lane is open, and all northbound lanes are closed.

This report will be updated.

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
One by one, parents, educators and community members approached the microphone. And, one by one, they demanded Portland Public Schools do better.

At communicating.

At managing finances.

At delivering academic outcomes for underprivileged students.

Sixteen people approached the microphone to address the five people onstage at Portland Community Colleges Cascade Campus in North Portland Wednesday night during a town hall meeting on the states recent audit of its largest school district.

But most questioners ignored the four auditors from the Secretary of States office, instead homing in on school board Chair Rita Moore. Signs denouncing the districts recent decision to alter Rosa Parks Elementarys year-round school calendar dotted the audience of about three dozen people.

Staff and parents from the North Portland school said the district did little to advertise public hearings as it mulled the decision, OPB reported. And town hall attendees accused administrators of burying a major decision in a meeting agenda that lumped it in with a slew of other routine business.

The issue was not listed as public agenda. Rather, it was new business. And then, five hours passed in that meeting before this was brought up, said Alisha Carter, a doctoral candidate in education at Concordia University.

The Portland school board typically votes on a business agenda toward the end of its meetings in a single vote on its many items, none of which are typically named aloud.

Carter and others accused Moore of ignoring concerns from the zone that elected her. Zone 4 includes Rosa Parks and other schools that feed into Jefferson High School.

We have not done a good job, Moore said of outreach efforts regarding the school year transition. All I can say is, we are now trying. And I dont think that anyone would have said that two years ago. Its a small change but it is a change.

While the Rosa Parks calendar elicited the most attention during the town hall meeting, there were also school employees and contractors who said the district needs to better address grievances and complaints. One Rosa Parks teacher said Moore hasnt visited the school yet, which the board chair agreed she should do.

Another parent recommended Portland schools hold more town halls, citing overly long waitlists for the public comment period for regular board meetings.

A few had questions for state auditors.

Thomas Lannom, who has a child attending Alameda Elementary School and another on the way, asked auditors why they focused on nit-picking expenses like $13,000 retirement parties or purchasing card protocols. Lannom is a member of the districts volunteer budget review committee and the director of the city of Portlands revenue division.

Why are we talking about pennies and nickels when its obvious theres a huge underfunding problem? he said. Daylighting these teeny little things, thats not actually doing anyone any good.

But most folks who addressed auditors, the majority of whom were people of color, thanked them for publishing a state report that proved what theyd long suspected: That Portland schools systemically shortchange students of color and have done so for decades.

At one point, Moore, at the behest of shouts from attendees, apologized to the crowd for the districts shortcomings.

People are angry and frustrated. And for good reason, Moore told The Oregonian/OregonLive after the event. PPS has for far too long failed too many children.

While the school board has begun to address issues raised in the audit, Moore said consistency in state funding will be key to making headway. She cited a 2018 Oregon Department of Education report that concluded schools would need $2 billion more if they were to help virtually all students meet the achievement standards the state sets.

Moore said its difficult to make long-term plans for initiatives and new programs when districts chase grants to implement them. She said part of a $184,000 Meyer Memorial Trust grant Portland schools recently acquired will help with communication and outreach efforts.

Communication has been a persistent problem with PPS. It remains a problem. And its a problem the board and superintendent have been focusing on, Moore said.

The grant will help. But Moore said shed rather have a guarantee of funding from the state.

We want to talk about accountability? Well, accountability goes both ways, she said.
At first glance, Sundays Non Sequitur comic strip just showed bears dressed up like Leonardo da Vinci. The syndicated strip opens with Bear-Vinci holding a picture of a Vitruvian Bear. It ends with the ursine artist painting a Mona Lisa, who is also, you guessed it, a bear. They are all characters in the Bearaissance, and the format invites readers to color in the drawings.

But much like Leonardo himself, Wiley Miller, whose work often tackles politics and has occasionally drawn controversy, inserted a secret message into his latest work. Hidden at the bottom right corner of the second panel, beneath a drawing of the Italian inventor's flying machine, a semi-legible scribble appeared to read, "Go f--- yourself Trump."

Miller has since apologized, saying he never intended for the public to see the statement. On Monday, multiple newspapers, including The Oregonian, said they planned to drop the comic.

The Butler Eagle, a family-owned newspaper north of Pittsburgh, decided to pull the strip after an irate reader alerted the newspaper.

"One of our readers has a young daughter who reads the comics. This family sits down with this comic, and they stumble across this hidden message," Ron Vodenichar, the paper's publisher and general manager, told The Washington Post.

He said the newspaper has been publishing the comic for a few years and received "Non Sequitur" in a package with other syndicated comic strips that was already laid out. The decision to pull the comic, Vodenichar said, was about the profanity and "has nothing to do with who it was aimed at."

Dallas Morning News editor Mike Wilson accused Miller of going "around his editors and even his own syndicate to publish something he must have known we wouldn't accept."

"We'll have no trouble finding a better way to spend the $8,000 we would've paid for that strip," Wilson said.

According to the comic strip's publisher, Andrews McMeel Syndication, "Non Sequitur" goes out to more than 700 newspapers, including The Washington Post, which ran Sunday's comic in print and online. A spokesperson for The Post did not immediately comment.

(The Sunday Oregonian does not publish the comic; it runs daily. Comics are syndicated and The Oregonians editors are not able to review them in advance. The breach of trust is just too severe, said Therese Bottomly, editor and vice president of content. If we cannot trust the creator and the syndicate to provide appropriate content, then we cannot continue publishing the comic.)

Kansas City-based Andrews McMeel Syndication apologized for the "vulgar language" in a statement Monday.

"We are sorry we missed the language in our editing process," the company said. "If we had discovered it, we would not have distributed the cartoon without it being removed. We apologize to 'Non Sequitur's' clients and readers for our oversight."

Miller, who frequently criticizes President Donald Trump on his Twitter feed, says he forgot all about the scribbled profanity until Sunday.

"When I opened the paper Sunday morning and read my cartoon, I didn't think anything of it, as I didn't notice the scribbling that has now caught fire," Miller said in a statement to The Post, noting that the scribble had been done several weeks ago at a time when he was frustrated by a White House action and forgot to remove it.

"It was not intended for public consumption, and I meant to white it out before submitting it, but forgot to. Had I intended to make a statement to be understood by the readers, I would have done so in a more subtle, sophisticated manner," he said.

But on Sunday, he still teased the "Easter egg" in the "Non Sequitur" comic on Twitter, inviting people to look for a message.

GoComics.com, which hosts Millers comics, had replaced the original cartoon with a version without the Trump insult by Monday afternoon.

This is not the first time a cartoonist has come under scrutiny for their political work in the Trump era. Last year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette fired editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers, who had been critical of the president in his work. The move earned a rebuke from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, though a spokesman for the Post-Gazette insisted to The Post the firing had "little to do with politics, ideology or Donald Trump."

Editorial cartoonists such as Bill Bramhall, Ann Telnaes, Tom Toles, Mike Luckovich and others frequently comment on the Trump administration through their art.

Miller's comics often carry a political message. A July 2016 comic depicted a character wearing KKK robes emblazoned with the message "I'm with Trump."

"Non Sequitur" won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2014. Launched in 1992, the comic has gone through several iterations since.

"I developed the strip to go into any direction my creativity would take me," he told The Post in a 2014 interview. "[It's] very open-ended. It's like creating a new strip all the time."

"I'm always trying to push things," when it came to his art form, he said. "I haven't had to apologize yet."

Miller has faced controversy before for his work. In 2010, some newspapers decided not to run one of his cartoons depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam who is seen as a prophet and holy figure by members of the religion. (The Post ran the edition online but not in print.)

"All I can do is surmise that the irony of their being afraid to run a cartoon that satirizes media's knee-jerk reaction to anything involving Islam bounced right of their foreheads. So what they've actually accomplished is, sadly, [to] validate the point," he told The Post at the time.

On Monday, however, Miller was more apologetic. In all that time, I have never done anything like this, nor do I intend to do so in the future, he said.
The team of journalists who produced the landmark series Ghosts of Highway 20 won the National Journalism Impact Award from the National Womens Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation.

The recognition for the 2018 five-part series goes to reporter Noelle Crombie, videographer Dave Killen and photojournalist Beth Nakamura. The team spent months investigating the previously unknown history of violence against women perpetrated by killer John Arthur Ackroyd. The team from the beginning kept the focus on Ackroyds victims and their surviving loved ones.

The media play a vital role in helping to give survivors a voice and to ensure resources are accessible for communities to help survivors. We applaud the work by The Oregonian, said Michelle Bart, president, NWCAVE.

The Oregonian/OregonLives John Canzano also won the award in 2016, for his story on Brenda Tracy, the survivor of a gang rape.

This years award will be presented March 8 at the No More Summit, an anti-violence conference, in Vancouver, Washington.

We are proud of the teams work, telling the untold story of the victims and survivors of a serial killer. This is accountability journalism at its finest, said Therese Bottomly, editor of The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The family of Andre Gladen, who was killed by a Portland police officer in a Southeast Portland home on Jan. 6, are scheduled to meet Friday with the police chief and mayor, hoping to get many of their questions answered about the deadly encounter.

The policing institutions of the city of Portland failed Andre. I implore you not to fail me and the rest of Andres family, Andres twin brother, Fonte Gladen, wrote to the chief on Feb. 13.. Please meet with us and answer the questions we have about this tragedy we are trying to deal with.

Gladens mother, father, uncle, aunt, brother, two sisters and their lawyer are expected to attend the meeting in the mayors office at City Hall. Oregon Public Broadcasting first reported the meeting.

Fonte Gladen said he wont be able to attend but hopes to learn from his relatives why the officer wasnt wearing a body camera, responded to the call alone and if the knife that Andre Gladen, 36, was reported to have been holding belonged to the officer who ended up shooting him.

DOCUMENT: Fonte Gladens letter to mayor, chief

Portland police have declined to say where the knife came from, but sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive that it belonged to the officer. Andre Gladen presumably got hold of it during his struggle with the officer in the home.

Andre C. Gladen

The confrontation began when Desmond Pescaia called 911 about a stranger sleeping on his front stoop. According to Pescaia, the stranger, later identified as Andre Gladen, told Pescaia that he had been released from a hospital and someone was after him, trying to kill him. It looked like Gladen had a hospital-type gown sticking out of his shirt or pants, Pescaia said.

Pescaia offered Gladen some water and $10 to grab the MAX train and get some food, but Gladen wouldnt leave and fell asleep on the porch. Pescaia called police about 2 p.m. When East Precinct Officer Consider Vosu arrived, Gladen ran into the home in the 9600 block of Southeast Market Street.

Vosu followed Gladen inside. Gladen slipped and fell on the living room floor and the officer tried to turn Gladen onto his stomach to put handcuffs on him, Pescaia said. Gladen then kicked the officer off and into a rear bedroom.

When Gladen reached the entry to the bedroom, the officer ordered Gladen to stand down several times before firing his Taser at him, Pescaia told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Gladen fell but got back up and Vosu, cornered in the rear bedroom, continued to order Gladen to stand down before firing three shots at Gladen with his handgun, Pescaia said.

As Gladen fell down on his back, Pescaia said he saw a knife fall from Gladens right hand and land beside him. Pescaia said he didnt see Gladen with a knife till then. According to his family, Andre Gladen was shot twice in the chest.

Gladen, of California, had been staying with a cousin in Portland since December. He is legally blind and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and had been at Portland Adventist Medical Center less than half a mile away before he showed up on Pescaias doorstep, his family said. Gladen lost an eye at least five years ago when he was shot in the head with a shotgun, according to his brother.

A Multnomah County grand jury hasnt ruled on the case yet.

Andrew Stroth, a Chicago-based civil rights lawyer, is representing the family. Stroth also is representing the family of another man who was killed in a Portland police shooting, John Elifritz. Whether Gladens family files a lawsuit over the shooting will depend on what their continuing investigation reveals, Stroth said Thursday morning.

"I think the fact that the mayor and chief of police are giving the family time is a very good first step,'' Stroth said.

-- 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.
The Mayors Office has relied on a Portland police lieutenant to keep tabs on right-wing protest leader Joey Gibson, sometimes texting him at all hours to ask about Gibsons whereabouts or plans.

It's the same lieutenant, Jeff Niiya, who has come under fire in the last week from Mayor Ted Wheeler and other city officials.

After Niiyas text messages with the Patriot Prayer leader were made public last week, Wheeler called the lieutenants messages disturbing, said they appeared to cross several boundaries and unnecessarily encourage Gibson. Wheeler, who also serves as the citys police commissioner, has requested an independent investigation to review if police acted with bias in their actions leading up to and during demonstrations involving alt-right and anti-fascist protesters.

The Police Bureau on Wednesday released another batch of Niiya's communications as the bureaus crowd control supervisor, this time with Berk Nelson, Wheelers senior policy adviser on public health and safety, in response to a public records request from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The communications start in April 2018 and continue through this month, with Nelson often questioning Niiya before a planned protest about Gibsons plans. They include questions about Gibson and Patriot Prayer in relation to a demonstration outside the federal immigration enforcement building in Southwest Portland, downtown protests and a hearing at City Hall.

READ: TEXT MESSAGES BETWEEN LT. JEFF NIIYA AND MAYORS SENIOR POLICY ADVISER BERK NELSON

Nelson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he often reached out to Niiya to find out about when and where Gibson and Patriot Prayer protesters would be so the city would be prepared for any violence that might occur. Nelson said he needed to alert the mayor of any potential public safety threats and Patriot Prayer has been one of those threats over the last two years.

I knew Jeff was in contact with Joey. I wasnt surprised. I just didnt know to what extent the conversations took place, Nelson said. Jeff is trying to develop a relationship with Joeyhis job is to get as much intelligence as possible, but I didnt know how deep it went.

Nelson added, Im not an expert in how police gather information. I leave that up to them, but he said he could understand how jarring Niiyas text messages with Gibson could be to people who dont understand police tactics.

To the lay person just seeing those texts at face value are concerning, he said.

The mayor and two other city commissioners have complained that Niiya alerted the Patriot Prayer leader to counter-protester movements and said his texts raised questions about consistency in enforcing arrest warrants. In one text, Niiya informed Gibson that one of his followers should take care of his outstanding arrest warrant before he came into Portland.

The police commanding officers union has defended Niiya, saying his job is to maintain an open line of communication with all protest organizers and that police regularly informed the Mayors Office about their tactics.

Certainly the mayors initial comments gave the impression that he was unaware of the communications between Niiya and Gibson, said Lt. Craig Morgan, president of the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association. These texts show that not only was his top aide aware of the conversations, but he was requesting specific information about Patriot Prayer and Gibson as situations developed.

Nelson said the outside investigation that Wheeler is calling for isnt focused on Niiyas text messages with Gibson, but a broader look at how police investigations are handled and how rapport is developed between officers and protest leaders.

The communications between Nelson and Niiya show:

--The day before Patriot Prayer members and counter-protesters squared off in downtown Portland last Aug. 4, Niiya sent Nelson a message.

Heard you are looking for timeline info on Gibsons movements tomorrow, Niiya wrote on Aug. 3. I heard on one of his videos they hope to leave the Fred Meyers in Vancouver with the first bus around 10 am.

-- Four days before another Patriot Prayer protest planned in downtown Portland, Nelson texted Niiya on Nov. 13, Any word on the location of the protest yet? Where PP (Patriot Prayer) is going to locate?

Niiya responded, They have a permit for Terry Schrunk on Sat. They say no march, so this should stay on the area of the parks.

Nelson asked Niiya via another text, But was also checking if you knew what time Gibson was going to show up

Niiya responded a short time later, he has not communicated with me about Sat.

That Saturday, Nov .17, a protest billed as a rally for free speech and campaign event for Gibson, then a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Washington state, saw hundreds of his supporters bused in from across the border. Many wore helmets, crash pads and shields decorated with the Confederate battle flag. They were met by counter-protesters from a coalition of organizations on the left including a group called Popular Mobilization, another group dressed up as clowns and self-described antifascist activists.

Police formed barriers along Southwest Naito Parkway early in the day and kept the groups separated. The biggest skirmish came when police in riot gear ordered a group of counter-protesters to disperse around 2 p.m. The group, clustered near the intersection of Southwest Naito Parkway and Southwest Columbia Street, didnt immediately leave and officers began firing dozens of flash-bang grenades and rushing toward the crowd, shoving some protesters out of the street.

-- Three days before the mayor and City Council were to vote on an ordinance rejecting white nationalism, white supremacy and alt-right hate groups this month, the mayors adviser once again reached out to Niiya about Gibson.

Are you hearing anything on Twittersphere re: Joey Gibson and coming on Thursday? Nelson wrote in a text message on Feb. 4.

A short time later, Niiya responded, Quick search and nothing from Joey specifically but Haley Adams and her group look like they will be there. Adams is a Patriot Prayer supporter.

-- On July 21, as people camped outside the ICE building in Southwest Portland, Nelson texted Niiya, Lt. any dust up or appearance yet?

A minute later, Niiya responded, Joey just showed up with 5 others. Calm right now. Talking with protesters.

-- Last summer, the night before a planned protest at City Hall, Nelson texted Niiya on Aug. 7, How many people are coming to City Hall?

Niiya responded three minutes later, CIU (Criminal Intelligence Division) is believing 30-10. However, Facebook shows 287 going. I could personally see 150ish coming between the 2 protest groups.

The next day, a protest against police use of force turned violent when activists tried to storm Portland City Hall, clobbered one security guard and scuffled with several others. It was the biggest disruption to a Portland City Council meeting in more than a year. Protesters were demonstrating against police crowd control techniques from a demonstration the Saturday before.

3 Lt. Jeff Niiya's messages to Gregory McKelvey

The Oregonian/OregonLive also has requested Niiyas communications with counter-protesters or organizers of other rallies, but the police bureau hasnt released them yet.

In an interview Wednesday, Gregory McKelvey, the leader of a series of protests against the election of Donald Trump and police use of force, said Niiya had contacted him in mid-August 2017, but he didnt want to communicate with police about his demonstrations.

McKelvey shared messages Niiya sent him in August 2017 in which Niiya described to McKelvey his role as "reaching out to event organizers to learn more about their events and then providing information to my bosses so they can make decisions if there is a need for police due to public safety concerns.'' Later, Niiya gave McKelvey information about what actions would draw a police response, such as large groups marching across bridges, entering freeways or impacting mass transit.

"There was no reason for me to establish any communication and many reasons not to,'' McKelvey said Wednesday. "It doesnt make sense to work with the police in protesting the police, which was a bulk of my protest work. They are one of the targets of our protests so why would I need to communicate?''

Police Chief Danielle Outlaw has scheduled what she called a "listening session'' to hear public concerns about the lieutenants text messages with Gibson from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Maranatha Church, 4222 N.E. 12th Ave.

An hour before the gathering, the Portland Democratic Socialists of America and several other groups are hosting a rally outside the church, urging police reform and that Wheeler turn control of the police bureau over to City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

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Updated at 4:47 p.m.

The teen fatally shot by police Tuesday night in Vancouver was an Evergreen High School student who moved to the area last year, according to media reports.

The Clark County Medical Examiners Office on Thursday identified the 16-year-old boy as Clayton S. Joseph, a Vancouver resident who died from a gunshot wound to the chest. The boy moved to the U.S. from the Federated States of Micronesia, reports said.

Joseph brandished a knife at Vancouver police, refused commands to drop it and was shot, according to police.

They said the shooting unfolded after police were called to a reported disturbance involving at least two people  one male, one female  at an apartment complex in the 1200 block of Southeast Ellsworth Road. Witnesses reported two males, both of whom were possibly armed, then became involved in an altercation in the parking lot, according to police.

Officers showed up, and one of the males brandished the knife at them and refused commands to drop the knife, police said. One officer, Corporal Roger Evans, shot him.

A friend speaking on behalf of the teens family said they told him Joseph was attempting to stop someone from attacking their girlfriend when he was shot, according to The Columbian.

They dont want people to get the impression he was a troublemaker. He was trying to prevent a situation from happening, the friend, Conner Bloxham, said.

Bloxham told the newspaper he met the teen and his family while doing missionary work in the Chuuk state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Josephs mother has lived in the U.S. for about three years, Bloxham told the newspaper, and the teen moved to Vancouver in 2018 to get a better education.

He could speak English fairly well, Bloxham told The Columbian.

OPB reports Micronesians can live and work in the U.S. without a visa and that Oregon and southwest Washington are among the top destinations for Micronesians who migrate to the continental U.S.

Evans, 48, is on critical incident leave, which is standard protocol after police shootings. The Vancouver Police Department hired him in 1998, and he was promoted to his current rank in December 2018, according to the agency.

The shooting is under investigation.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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The Christian one body, many parts doctrine includes homeless people, said officials with three Catholic organizations Wednesday. They announced a goal to make sure that 300 people who are living on the street are as safe and healthy as the bodies of parishioners who warm church pews.

Nonprofit Catholic Charities of Oregon will lead an ambitious effort to reduce the number of people living on the street by 20 percent in five years. The organization already houses 1,000 people a year and has operated the womens tiny-house transitional housing village in Kenton for the city-county Joint Office of Homeless Services for more than a year.

While there are more than 4,000 people experiencing homelessness in Multnomah County, the Catholic organizations want to serve the about 1,300 people who are considered chronically homeless, often people with obstacles that make it hard to stay in housing.

Providence Health and Services is a partner for the health side. Lisa Vance, chief executive for the Oregon region, said that not only do people without housing suffer from worse health problems than the general public, but that Providence -- like many hospitals -- doesnt have enough warm, dry places for people to recuperate after being released from the hospital.

Vance wants for people housed through the project to be readmitted to the hospital 50 percent less than they were while homeless. Providence also plans to connect everyone housed through the partnership to physical and behavioral health services within five years.

Living on the street is not health, Vance said.

The initiative, which includes the Archdiocese of Oregon, is part of a national strategy. The three organizations applied together to convince Catholic Charities USA to pitch in resources in the Portland area.

Detroit, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Spokane, Washington, are also involved.

In Portland, the plan is to build a variety of housing that would take advantage of existing Catholic facilities, open land and donations from the public, business, government and nonprofits. Catholic Charities of Oregon Executive Director Richard Birkel said that the money will be cobbled together from a variety of sources as well, with hopes that thatll include the recently passed city and Metro housing bonds.

But Birkel does not have a price tag yet and said that is due to the fact that officials want this to be a community effort led by Catholic parishes in Multnomah County and Oregon.

Now is the time to come together to solve homelessness in Oregon, said Birkel, noting that there are 125 Catholic parishes in Oregon which will be recruited to think of ways they can offer services, money and other help for the program -- but that he hopes non-faith communities also see it as a model to replicate.

There is a community heart here that is ready to make a difference on homelessness.

The initiative will focus on people who struggle to stay in housing even if it is available. Often, those people have been living on the street for at least a year and have problems with mental health or addiction, disabilities or other issues that keep them from thriving in housing without extra support.

Birkel said the initiative will not require anyone to adhere to Catholic faith or teachings to take advantage of the housing.

This is what we do as Catholic people, said David Renshaw, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland.
Seamless Flow will be experienced with Cathay Pacific passengers Passengers traveling with Cathay Pacific can now participate in a trial of facial recognition self-boarding at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. This trial is part of the first phase of Seamless Flow, the program that intends to make paperless travel possible in the long term. After checking in, passengers are invited to take part in the trial. Participants are escorted to one of the special 
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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May made fresh efforts on Wednesday to unlock the Brexit stalemate. Without a breakthrough, as expected, they pledged to talk again before the end of the month.

The two leaders talked about "which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underlines once again its temporary nature and give the appropriate legal assurance to both sides", said a joint statement published on European Commission website.

They reconfirmed their commitment to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and to respect the integrity of the European Union's (EU) internal market and of the United Kingdom, said the statement.

They also discussed the role alternative arrangements could play in replacing the backstop in future and whether additions or changes to the Political Declaration can be made that are consistent with each other' positions while increasing their confidence in the focus and ambition in delivering the future partnership envisaged as soon as possible.

May arrived in Brussels at around 6a.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday. Her latest visit came after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay updated the British cabinet on his talks with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, who reportedly "expressed concerns" over the issue of the Irish backstop.

The backstop is the insurance policy for preventing the return of a hard border in Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union on March 29.

The backstop, which is part of May's Withdrawal Agreement, became one of the main reasons her deal was voted down in Parliament in January. In a vote, MPs later gave their backing for May to renegotiate the policy with the EU.

May is set to return to Parliament in London to update MPs again on Feb. 26. In absence of a deal by then, she will give the House of Commons a say on the next steps in non-binding votes.
Automotive Gesture Recognition Market for Multimedia, Navigation, and Infotainment Application | 2019 Analysis by Key Players Apple, Delphi, HARMAN International, Intel Corporation, Jabil, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments

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Automotive Gesture Recognition Market for Multimedia, Navigation, and Infotainment systems showcased a significant growth rate at around 44% over the study timeframe. Increasing trend towards providing customer comfort along with the requirement for advanced navigation facilities supports the industry expansion. Further, the proliferation of advanced connectivity applications including Android Auto and Apple CarPlay offering higher quality multimedia and navigation content within the vehicle, further accelerates the segment penetration till 2024.Get Sample Copy of This Report @Europe accounted for over 43% revenue share in 2017 owing to the presence of major automobile companies focusing on introducing advanced infotainment systems in their products for improving the driving experience. Further, supporting government regulations for introducing multiple safety standards for vehicles as standard is further supporting the industry expansion till 2024.Hand or fingerprint authentication was valued at over USD 1,400 Million in 2017. This dominance is credited to the proliferating usage of these systems owing to easier operation and incorporation of IR sensors and cameras supporting the segment share. For instance, in 2015, BMW launched the 7-Series model line-up with improved hand and fingerprint sensing technologies for controlling multiple car operations, thereby contributing to the overall automotive gesture recognition market expansion.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Apple Continental AG Delphi Harman International Intel Jabil Melexis NXP Semiconductors Qualcomm, Inc. Renesas Electronics Corporation Synaptics Incorporated Texas Instruments Visteon CorporationMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Automotive gesture recognition market share form touch-based systems accounted for the highest volume share at around 69% in 2017. This dominance is attributed to the increasing usage of such systems in multiple models across various price range. Proliferating usage of capacitive touch screens for controlling multiple car features including music control, phone connectivity, and HVAC controls further strengthens the business expansion.Increasing vehicles demand with technologically advanced features including enhanced navigation and gesture-based infotainment systems are expanding the automotive gesture recognition market over the forecast timeframe. Incorporation of advanced sensors and electronics into the vehicles for improving the overall driving experience will further expand the business penetration till 2024.Increasing adoption of electronic components in vehicles for complying to stringent government norms associated with vehicle safety and emission are supporting the industry expansion. Usage of gestures for controlling various operations within vehicles including changing music, answering phone calls, and control the navigation are further strengthening the industry growth.Browse Report Summery @Few of the players in the automotive gesture recognition market place include Harman International, Delphi Automotive PLC, Sony Depthsensing Solutions, Melexis, Continental AG, and eyeSight Technologies Ltd. Other notable players include Texas Instruments, Intel, Visteon Corporation, and Synaptics Incorporated.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Global Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Is Likely to Witness Tremendous Growth by 2025: Key Players are Endo International, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi-Aventis, Jamieson, Teva (Actavis), Etc.

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Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 105 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 @Cyanocobalamin Spray 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 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Cyanocobalamin Spray 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: Luitpold Pharmaceuticals Luitpold Pharmaceuticals (Daiichi Sankyo) Endo International Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi-Aventis Jamieson Teva (Actavis) Merck Mylan Bayer HealthCare Pfizer ANGELINI Biological E CCEPCD Huaxin PharmaceuticalGlobal Cyanocobalamin Spray Market: Product Segment Analysis: Vitamins SupplementsGlobal Cyanocobalamin Spray Market: Application Segment Analysis: Hospitals Clinics OthersThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Cyanocobalamin Spray 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 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Chapter 6 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Cyanocobalamin Spray Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Cyanocobalamin Spray 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 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Cyanocobalamin Spray 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 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. 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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: Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Cyanocobalamin Spray 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
Busbar Trunking System Market Outlook - ABB Ltd., Eaton Corporation, PLC., GE, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, Larsen & Toubro, C&S Electric Limited, Legrand SA

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Global Busbar Trunking System Market valued approximately USD 5.90 billion in 2016 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 7.23% over the forecast period 2018-2025.Rising energy consumption because of increasing urbanization & industrialization, cost & operational benefits of busbar over cables and increasing concerns towards energy efficiency are the major factors which are driving the growth in the Global Busbar Trunking System Market.Get Sample Copy of this Report atBesides this, the unstable cost of raw material hinders the market growth. A busbar is used in power distribution that conducts electricity inside a switchboard, distribution board, and other electrical devices. Busbar trunking system distributes the electric power by using aluminium or copper busbar with proper protection to provide damage prevention of cables by any means. Busbars are becoming popular because they provide more safety and convenience. The busbar has several benefits over traditional cables, the low trunking and cabling cost and the installation time is also less than traditional cables. Busbar trunking systems are mainly implemented in those applications where a quick electricity supply is required like remote areas.The busbar trunking systems can be categorized on the basis of power ratings which include low, medium and high power, type of insulation of air insulated and sandwich insulation. Some of the developing nations including Africa and the Asia Pacific are increasing investment to expand of distribution and transmission network to fulfill electricity demand in the remote and off-grid areas which has raised the demand of busbar trunking systems.Enquire About Research@The regional analysis of Global Busbar Trunking System Market is considered for the key regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World. North America is the leading/significant region across the world in terms of market share. Whereas, owing to the countries such as China, Japan, and India, Asia Pacific region is anticipated to exhibit higher growth rate / CAGR over the forecast period 2018-2025.The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:By Conductor: Copper AluminumBy Power Rating: Low Power Medium Power High PowerBy End-User: Utilities Industrial Commercial ResidentialBy Regions: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germany Asia Pacifico Chinao Indiao Japan Latin Americao Brazilo Mexico Rest of the WorldFurthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year  2015, 2016Base year  2017Forecast period  2018 to 2025Buy Now@The industry is seeming to be fairly competitive. Some of the leading market players include ABB Ltd., Eaton Corporation, PLC., GE, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, Larsen & Toubro, C&S Electric Limited, Legrand SA, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited, IBAR (EMEA) Ltd., KGS Engineering Ltd., Megabarre Group, Naxso S.R.L, DBTS Industries SDN. BHD., E.A.E Elektrik A.S., Entraco Power, Gersan Elektrik as, Graziadio & C. S.P.A,. Nova Ltd., Pogliano S.R.L and so on. Acquisitions and effective mergers are some of the strategies adopted by the key manufacturers. New product launches and continuous technological innovations are the key strategies adopted by the major players.Target Audience of the Global Busbar Trunking System Market in Market Study: Key Consulting Companies & Advisors Large, medium-sized, and small enterprises Venture capitalists Value-Added Resellers (VARs) Third-party knowledge providers Investment bankers InvestorsAbout Us:Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwide.US / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424, UK :+4403308087757 | Email: info@researchreportsinc.com
Corporate Compliance Training in Europe Market 2019 Analysis By Key Players  City & Guilds Kineo, GP Strategies, LRN, SAI Global, GlobalCompliancePanel

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Corporate Compliance Training in Europe Market 2019 Analysis By Key Players  City & Guilds Kineo, GP Strategies, LRN, SAI Global, GlobalCompliancePanel.Corporate Compliance Training in Europe Industry 2019Description:-The Corporate Compliance Training industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Corporate Compliance Training market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of *% from XXXX million $ in 2015 to XXXX million $ in 2018, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Corporate Compliance Training market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023, The market size of the Corporate Compliance Training will reach XXXX million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the Major Players data, including: shipment, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment etc. cover different segment market size. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the Major Players.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection 2: 800 USDMajor Player Market Share and Market Segmentation by RegionGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalyRussiaSection 3: 900 USDMajor Player DetailCity & Guilds KineoGP StrategiesLRNSAI GlobalGlobalCompliancePanelEI DesignInteractive ServicesSyntrio TechnologiesSection (4 5): 500 USDProduct Type SegmentationBlendedOnline..Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 Corporate Compliance Training DefinitionSection 2 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Major Player Share and Market Overview2.1 Europe Major Player Corporate Compliance Training Business Revenue2.2 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Region Level) Market Size (Value) 2015-20182.3 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market OverviewSection 3 Major Player Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.1 City & Guilds Kineo Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.1.1 City & Guilds Kineo Corporate Compliance Training Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2015-20183.1.2 City & Guilds Kineo Corporate Compliance Training Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 City & Guilds Kineo Interview Record3.1.4 City & Guilds Kineo Corporate Compliance Training Business Profile3.1.5 City & Guilds Kineo Corporate Compliance Training Specification3.2 GP Strategies Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.2.1 GP Strategies Corporate Compliance Training Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2015-20183.2.2 GP Strategies Corporate Compliance Training Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 GP Strategies Corporate Compliance Training Business Overview3.2.5 GP Strategies Corporate Compliance Training Specification3.3 LRN Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.3.1 LRN Corporate Compliance Training Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2015-20183.3.2 LRN Corporate Compliance Training Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 LRN Corporate Compliance Training Business Overview3.3.5 LRN Corporate Compliance Training Specification3.4 SAI Global Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.5 GlobalCompliancePanel Corporate Compliance Training Business Introduction3.6 EI Design Corporate Compliance Training Business IntroductionSection 4 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Type Level)4.1 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Type Level) Market Size 2015-20184.2 Different Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Type Level) Market Size Growth Rate 2015-20184.3 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Type Level) AnalysisSection 5 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Industry Level)5.1 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2015-20185.2 Different Industry Trend 2015-20185.3 Europe Corporate Compliance Training Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 6 Corporate Compliance Training Market Forecast 2019-20236.1 Corporate Compliance Training Segmentation Market Forecast (Type Level)6.2 Corporate Compliance Training Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)Section 7 Corporate Compliance Training Segmentation Type7.1 Blended Introduction7.2 Online IntroductionContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Industry Report 2018 - 2025: Top Key Players are Denso Corporation, Bosch, Amazon, Flipkart, E-bay, AliExpress, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Advance Auto Parts, CARiD, Napa Auto Parts

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In recent years, the automotive industry has embarked on a digital transformation journey, which has significantly fueled the expansion of the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket, leading to a commendable upsurge in its remuneration scale. The manufacturers of authentic components find it easier to reach a broader customer base through online sales channels. Manufacturers sell their products online through popular third-party retailers such as Flipkart, eBay, Amazon, etc. or via their own platform. Of late, automotive market magnates such as Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, and General Motors have established facilities for the online exchange of automotive products, intensifying their foothold in e-commerce automotive aftermarket industry.Request a sample of this premium report at:The advent of E-Commerce is overtly a boon for the automobile sector, making it easier to find and buy auto parts for aging vehicles. As vehicles age, wear and tear of auto parts is common, but todays customers are more knowledgeable and aware of preventive maintenance and scheduled servicing that can maximize the lifespan of their vehicles. According to an article published by the USA Today in 2015, the number of 25 years or older on-road vehicles is about 14 million, depicting a sharp rise as compared to about 8 million in 2002. Thus, the rising number of aging vehicles across the globe will add traction to the e-commerce automotive aftermarket.North America e-commerce automotive aftermarket is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of approximately 17% by 2025. Well established internet infrastructure will pave stable growth prospects to the region's growth. Presence of prominent e-commerce leaders such as Amazon will strengthen the industry growth over the coming years. Asia Pacific is likely to exhibit considerable share of over USD 9 billion over the coming years. The substantial revenue generation can be attributed to growth in automobile industry along with rising internet penetration across the region.Rising production of electric and hybrid vehicles across the globe has resulted in increased complexity of the intricate parts. This has led to increased production of automotive aftermarket parts owing to proliferating Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) customers. The e-commerce automotive aftermarket players are forced to expand their portfolio, to cater to the rising demand, inducing immense potential to the industry till 2025.Steering and suspension is anticipated to dominate the e-commerce automotive aftermarket share over the forecast timeframe. This can be credited to rising demand of components such as control arms, coil springs, and bearings. Availability of numerous options at reasonable price and choice will positively impact the product demand. Spark plugs are expected to exhibit over 21% CAGR till 2025 owing to recommendation of vehicle manufacturers for product replacement after every 30,000 miles. Increased accident rates along with cheaper product availability as compared to its counterparts will further propel the segment's growth.Third party retailers are likely to account for highest revenue share crossing USD 29 billion by 2025. Rising popularity of these retailers such as eBay, Amazon, etc. will primarily drive the industry growth. High revenue generation can also be attributed to the distinct services. Moreover, provision of benefits such as same day delivery will further strengthen the e-commerce automotive aftermarket penetration.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:Direct to customer will exhibit approximately 21% CAGR from 2018 to 2025. This can be attributed to high brand loyalty of the customers and provision of appropriate service facilities. The automotive aftermarket players such as Bosch are expanding their online platforms to enhance their visibility among the customers.B2C will account for maximum revenue share crossing USD 13 billion over the forecast timeline. Shifting preference of customers towards online purchase of these auto-parts will primarily support the industry dominance. This can be attributed to the cost effectiveness of the online portals as compared to conventional stores. Fast query solving, and provision of technologically advanced products will further escalate the revenue generation. B to big B will exhibit over 19% CAGR owing to provision of benefits such as fast delivery services.Napa Auto Parts, Denso Corporation, Amazon, E-bay, Auto Zone, and Advance Auto Parts are among the prominent participants in e-commerce automotive aftermarket. Partnerships and collaborations with online aftermarket players are among the strategies adopted by the industry players to enhance their visibility. For instance, in 2016, Hella Group collaborated with online auto-parts supplier, iParts.pl in order to expand its product line.The growing acceptance of the internet, smartphones, and cellular & wireless communication is slated have a large-scale influence on e-commerce automotive aftermarket size. The distinguished players in the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket are focusing on discriminating their services from competitors. For instance, in 2017, Amazon launched its Prime services in the Netherlands and Belgium. Customers with an Amazon Prime subscription can get their orders delivered for free and can access Prime Videos.Table of Content:Chapter 1. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market Methodology and ScopeChapter 2. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market Executive SummaryChapter 3. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Industry InsightsChapter 4. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market, By E-commerce RetailChapter 5. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market, By PartsChapter 6. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market, By ConsumerChapter 7. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market, By RegionChapter 9. E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket Market Company ProfilesFor more information on this report at:Openpr.com-SPRelated Report:Global E-commerce Automotive Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025This report studies the global E-commerce Automotive market, analyzes and researches the E-commerce Automotive development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAbout Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:
Bone Metabolism Test Market Expected to Grow at a Significant Pace, Reveals a Top Research Firm 2027

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Conflicting to the repeatedly held misinterpretations, bone is a comparatively active organ that experience notable changes as contrast to other organs in the body. Bone metabolism is related with diseases impacting bone and mineral metabolism that includes a wide range of skeletal and soft tissue infection. In general, these infections may be combined as Paget disease of bone, osteoporosis, developmental disorders of bone and hyperparathyroidism. Geriatric population that is nearby 28 million in America get influenced by osteoporosis, and the fetch to treat for osteoporosis-associated fractures was evaluated to be about $14.8 billion every year a short time before. Other metabolic bone diseases are comparatively lacking, but anyhow are a source of notable cost to society and morbidity. Bone is a specific tissue intended to deliver enough potency to resist involuntary forces, but still to be light enough to permit flexibility. It has a complicated composition and experience constant remodeling or metabolism. To treat bone metabolism diseases there are several tests available in market and cost for treatment is much higher as most of the population in the world is threatened by bone metabolism diseases the market will drive towards growth for bone metabolism tests.Request Sample Report@On the basis of test types global bone metabolism test market is segmented into:Bone marker testC-telopeptide marker testP1NP marker testN-telopeptide marker testOsteocalcin testOthersImmunoassayELISARIAOn the basis of application types global bone metabolism test market is segmented into:HyperparathyroidismHypoparathyroidismOsteoporosisPaget's diseaseKidney diseaseOn the basis of end users global bone metabolism test market is segmented into:HospitalsReference laboratoriesSpecialty clinicsOtherOn the basis of test types global bone metabolism test market can be segmented into bone marker test and immunoassay where, bone markers are related with biochemical marker that specify breakdown of bone that can be used to estimate individuals bone fracture risk at the moment when density of mineral measurement does not specify the results and immunoassay is related with a laboratory technique that recognize and evaluate a protein like hormone or enzyme based on capacity to act as an antibody or antigen in chemical reaction. Furthermore, Bone marker tests are categorized into C-Telopeptide marker test, P1NP marker test, N- telopeptide marker test and osteocalcin test. C-Telopeptide marker test used to monitor anti-restoratives therapies like hormone replacement therapy in people with low bone mass and in women with menopause and is peptide fragment from the carboxyl terminal end of the protein matrix. P1NP Marker is for bone formation occurred from osteoblast and it is recommended that the test should be performed before the treatment of osteoporosis and again after 3 to 6 months. N-telopeptide is a peptide fragment used to monitor another marker therapy from amino terminal end of the protein matrix and osteocalcin is form of protein formed by osteoblast this test may be simulated by using drug warfarin. Moreover, Immunoassay is categorized into ELISA and RIA where enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is used to detect the presence of antibody and antigen through a biochemical mechanism and radioimmunoassay (RIA) is in-vitro assay technique to detect antigen in the body with the help of antibody present in the body.On the basis of application types global bone metabolism test market is segmented into hyperparathyroidism, hypoparathyroidism, osteoporosis, Pagets disease and kidney disease. Hyperparathyroidism mostly occur in people having age more than 50 while neonatal or new born babies are highly threatened by hypoparathyroidism. Osteoporosis has dominated the market in bone metabolism diseases and is the most common disease occurring in women on in tenth will have osteoporosis at the age of 60, more than 8.9 million fractures are recorded yearly due to osteoporosis throughout the world. Rising penetrance rate of osteoporosis is driving the bone metabolism test market towards the growth in the forecast period. Pagets disease is most common in men than women in that bone growth is too large and weak.On the basis of geography, global bone metabolism test market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa. North America and Latin America are the dominating market in global bone metabolism test market followed by Europe as penetrance of osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism is increasing in large amount. Asia pacific and Middle East Africa is rising market for bone metabolism test market as volume has increased in last few years. Hence, companies are making strategies to enter in the market.Request to View TOC @Some of the major players in global metabolism test market are: Siemens Healthcare GmbH, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, DiaSorin, bioMerieux SA and Quidel Corporation. Siemens Healthcare GmbH Has largest market share in bone metabolism test market. The increasing competition in key players to develop new therapy and technology for bone metabolism test will drive the market globally.Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. 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Global Lithium Ion Batteries Market is anticipated to flourish at a CAGR of 17.5% by 2023|Top Key Players  Panasonic, Tesla, Samsung, GS YUASA, Koninklijke Philips N.V.

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A recent report by KD market insights titled as Lithium Ion Batteries Market, Size, Share, Trends and Forecast 2018-2023 " provides the key trends, opportunities and challenges market will face in the forecasted period of 6 years i.e. 2018-2023. The study also provides the Lithium Ion Batteries Market. competitors share and region wise analysis around the globe.The global lithium ion batteries market is expected to mask a notable CAGR of 17.5% during the projected period. Wide application range of lithium ion batteries is driving the growth of global lithium ion battery market across all region. Lithium ion batteries are finding strong applications in automotive sectors, especially in electric vehicles. Further, growing production and sales of electric and hybrid vehicles is likely to expand the size of global lithium ion market in upcoming years.Request for Sample@The report begins with an overview for Lithium Ion Batteries market. The research report broadly covers analysis of key market drivers, challenges, opportunities and trends. The study also provides separate analysis to understand market size, projections and macroeconomic indicators of global regions that affects the market share. The report also offers an extensive coverage of various industry players along with their recent product launches and market activities. The report also goes through porters five analyses for getting a better understanding about the forces that shape competition within the industry. There is a timeline considered for useful analysis i.e. 2017 is considered as base year, 2018 as estimated year and 2019-2023 as forecasted year.The market is divided into various segments and further sub-segments to drive the useful insights that can be utilized for company revenue growth and business. The Lithium Ion Batteries market is segmented on the basis of By Type- Lithium cobalt oxide- Lithium Manganese Oxide- Lithium Iron Phosphate- Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide- Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide- Lithium TitanateBy Application- Industrial- Defense- Heavy Industries- Healthcare- Power & Utility- Marine- Others- Automotive- Conventional Automotive- Hybrid Electric Vehicles- Battery Electric Vehicles- Consumer Electronics- OthersThe research also does a separate geographical analysis that comprises both the region wise and country wise analysis. The geography covered in the report is North America (U.S. & Canada), Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia and Rest of Europe) , Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and Rest of Asia Pacific) Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (GCC, North Africa, South Africa and Rest of Middle East & Africa). As per the report, Asia Pacific is likely to be the market giant in the upcoming years.Considering the competition, the major vendors providing Lithium Ion Batteries techniques across the globe are - Panasonic- Tesla- Samsung- GS YUASA- Koninklijke Philips N.V.- LG Chem- Toshiba- Lithium Werks- Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.- Johnson Controls Inc.- Other Prominent PlayersThese vendors have adopted various types of organic and inorganic growth strategies, such as new product launches, business expansions, partnerships and collaborations, and mergers and acquisitions, to expand their offerings and further expand their presence in the global Lithium Ion Batteries market.Browse Full Report With TOC@Table of Contents:Research MethodologyMarket Definition and List of Abbreviations1. Executive Summary2. Growth Drivers & Issues in Global Lithium Ion Battery Market3. Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Trends4. Opportunities in Global Lithium Ion Battery Market5. Recent Industry Activities, 20176. Porter's Five Forces Analysis7. Market Value Chain and Supply Chain Analysis8. Products Average Price Analysis, By Country9. Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310. Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Segmentation Analysis, By Type10.1. Introduction10.2. Market Attractiveness, By Type10.3. BPS Analysis, By Type10.4. Lithium cobalt oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310.5. Lithium Manganese Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310.6. Lithium Iron Phosphate Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310.7. Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310.8. Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202310.9. Lithium Titanat Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311. Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Segmentation Analysis, By Application11.1. Introduction11.2. Market Attractiveness, By Application11.3. BPS Analysis, By Application11.4. Industrial Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.1. Defense Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.2. Heavy Industries Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.3. Healthcare Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.4. Power & Utility Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.5. Marine Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.4.6. Others Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.5. Automotive Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.5.1. Conventional Automotive Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.5.2. Hybrid Electric Vehicles Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.5.3. Battery Electric Vehicles Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.6. Consumer Electronics Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202311.7. Others Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312. Geographical Analysis12.1. Introduction12.2. North America Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1. By Type12.2.1.1. Introduction12.2.1.2. Market Attractiveness, By Type12.2.1.3. BPS Analysis, By Type12.2.1.4. Lithium cobalt oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1.5. Lithium Manganese Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1.6. Lithium Iron Phosphate Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1.7. Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1.8. Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.1.9. Lithium Titanat Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2. By Application12.2.2.1. Introduction12.2.2.2. Market Attractiveness, By Application12.2.2.3. BPS Analysis, By Application12.2.2.4. Industrial Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.1. Defense Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.2. Heavy Industries Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.3. Healthcare Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.4. Power & Utility Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.5. Marine Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.4.6. Others Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.5. Automotive Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.5.1. Conventional Automotive Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.5.2. Hybrid Electric Vehicles Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.5.3. Battery Electric Vehicles Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.6. Consumer Electronics Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.2.7. Others Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.3. By Country12.2.3.1. Market Attractiveness, By Country12.2.3.2. BPS Analysis, By Country12.2.3.3. U.S. Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.2.3.4. Canada Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-202312.3. Europe Market Value & Forecast (USD Million), 2017-2023Continue@.....Check For Discount@About KD Market Insights:KD Market Insights has come with the idea of helping business by intelligent decision making and thorough understanding of the industry. We offer a comprehensive database of syndicated research, customized reports as well as consulting services to help a business grow in their respective domain. At KD Market Insights, we offer our client a deep market research reports accompanied by business consulting services that can help them to reach on top of the corporate world. Our customized reports are built by keeping all factors of the industry in mind.Contact us150th State street,Albany, New YorkUnited states (12207)Telephone: +1-518-300-1215Email: - sales@kdmarketinsights.comWebsite: -
Release Coatings Market to Grow at 5.9% CAGR During 2018 - 2023

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Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Release Coatings Market. This extensive report from Stratview Research, studies the Release Coatings Market over the trend period of 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.Click here to read the detailed description:This Release Coatings Market analysis has been segmented in five ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. by Coating Type (Silicone, and Non-Silicone)  Silicone is projected to remain the largest segment by Formulation Type (Solvent-based, Water-based, Emulsions, and Others)  Solvent is the most commonly used formulation type by Application Type (Labels, Graphical, Film & Tapes, Hygiene and Others)- The label is projected to remain the most dominant application type by End-Use Industry Type (Transportation, Aerospace & Defense, Medical, Food & Bakery, Pulp & Paper, Packaging and Others)  Packaging is expected to remain the largest end-use industry and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)  Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest release coatings market during the forecast period.Go through the detailed TOC:OrGet a free sample:The Global Release Coatings Market: InsightsThe global release coatings market is projected to witness a healthy CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022, driven by increasing penetration of silicone labels in the packaging industry, introduction of more stringent standards related to environment and safety, and an organic growth of the end-use industries, such as transportation, aerospace & defense, and food& bakery.The global release coatings market is segmented based on coating type as silicone and non-silicone. Silicone is projected to remain the largest segment in the release coatings market during the forecast period. It is also projected to grow at a faster rate during the forecast period. Silicone release coatings are relatively inexpensive and offer better resistance to chemical, abrasion, and moisture. It is gaining traction in many applications, such as barcode labels, diaper tabs, packaging tapes, and postage stamps.The global release coatings market is further segmented based on formulation type as solvent-based, water-based, emulsions, and others. Solvent is the most commonly used formulation type in release coatings; however, there would be a continuous shift from solvent based to water based, driven by safety, health, and environmental regulations. The usage of different release coating formations varies from region to region. For instance, water-based release coatings dominate North America and Europe, whereas solvent-based dominates Asia-Pacific.The global release coatings market is also segmented based on application type as labels, graphical, film & tapes, hygiene, and others. The label is projected to remain the most dominant application type in the global release coatings market during the forecast period, driven by increasing use of self-adhesive labels in the packaging applications. The label segment is also the fastest growing application type in the release coatings market, driven by an increasing preference in the fast-moving consumer goods and packaging industries.The global release coatings market is segmented based on end-use industry type as transportation, aerospace & defense, medical, food & bakery, packaging, pulp & paper, and others. Packaging is expected to remain the largest end-use industry for release coatings during the forecast period, whereas medical is expected to witness the fastest growth in the same period. High use of release coatings in healthcare products and increasing use of release coatings in the surgical and analytical instruments will drive the demand for it in the Medical industry.Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest release coatings market during the forecast period. It alone occupied more than 50% of global release coatings market in 2015. The region is also expected to witness the highest growth over the next five years. China, Japan, Korea, India, and Taiwan are acting as the growth engines of the Asia-Pacific release coatings market. There would be a good shift from solvent-based to water-based release coatings in the Asia-Pacific region in the same period.Dow Corning Corporation, Momentive Performance Materials, Evonik Industries AG, Mayzo Inc, OMNOVA Solutions Inc., Shin-Etsu Chemicals Co. Ltd., and Wacker Chemie AG are major players in the global release coatings market. High investment in R&D activities to develop new products meeting unmet market needs, wide geographical network and collaboration with customers are some of the key strategies adopted by major companies to gain a competitive edge over others.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market Trend and Forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, Product portfolio, Product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factorsStratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wivde range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research.We have a strong experienced team of industry veterans and research analysts with a perfect blend of wisdom, knowledge and attitude. 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Future Growth of Pressure Sensitive Tape Market 2019- 2024: Global Analysis by Key Players like - Avery Dennison, Essentra, Adhesive Applications, Adhesives Research, Cardinal Health

Pressure Sensitive Tape Market

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This report offers start to finish examination of "Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market Outlook 2019-2024" using SWOT examination for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the association. The Pressure Sensitive Tape Market report similarly gives an all around survey of key players in the market association.Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market Overview:The Report investigation about market status (2014-2019), venture rivalry example, favorable circumstances and impediments of big business items, industry advancement patterns (2019-2024), territorial modern format attributes and macroeconomic arrangements, mechanical approach has likewise are incorporated. In a word, this report will assist you with establishing a scene of modern improvement and qualities of the Pressure Sensitive Tape showcase.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @Pressure Sensitive Tape so known as because light pressure makes it adhere easily to most surfaces typically is made up of four layers. Two of these layers are easily familiar: the adhesive mass, which is normally composed of a synthetic or natural rubber, and which may contain a wide range of softeners, anti-oxidants, plasticizers, and healing agents, and the backing, or carrier, that is transparency, crpe paper, cloth, cellophane, cellulose acetate, plasticized polyvinyl chloride, or any of numerous other flexible materials, and that could be reinforced with glass or other components.The major Factors of Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market is, such as drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges influencing the growth of the Pressure Sensitive Tape market have also been studied in this report.According Report Analysis, when areas were masked off with paper held in place with fabric surgical tape, the solvents from the newly sprayed paint seeped throughout the fabric and caused it to adhere to also the surface it was supposed to defend. New Pressure Sensitive Tape were developed along with new applications for them were found. Gradually, the adhesive Element was changed to synthetic rubber compounds; along with a brand new transparent backing material was developed from regenerated cellulose, called cellophane. Among the first of those tapes was Scotch Brand. As the growth of tapes progressed and individuals recognized the practicality of using tape to mount, hang, along with mend almost anything that came to hand, questions started to arise about also the stability, removability, and long assortment effects of the materials involved.The report also covers segment data: Product Types, Applications, and Regions.According Regions, The Asia Pacific Pressure Sensitive Tape market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, which can be attributed to the rising demand for Pressure Sensitive Tape which are finding various applications in various end-use industries, such as medical & healthcare, packaging, electrical & electronics, transportation, construction, and others from economies of the Asia Pacific region, including India, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Singapore, among others.Buy this report online with 130 pages rundown of tables and figures and all around list of chapters on @Significant key players:1 Avery Dennison2 Essentra3 Adhesive Applications4 Adhesives Research5 Cardinal HealthPressure Sensitive Tape market, by region:1 North America2 Europe3 Middle East & Africa4 South America5 OthersGlobal Pressure Sensitive Tape market 2019-2024: From unpleasant materials to downstream purchasers of this industry will be desperate down deductively, the segment of thing dissipating and game plans channel will be introduced too. In a word, this report will assist you with setting up an exhibit of mechanical progress and attributes of the Pressure Sensitive Tape market.Snatch your report @This investigation answers to the underneath key inquiries:1 What will be the development rate and the market size of the Pressure Sensitive Tape industry for the estimate time frame 2019-2024?2 What are the significant main impetuses expected to affect the improvement of the Pressure Sensitive Tape advertise crosswise over various country?3 Who are the real main impetuses expected to choose the destiny of the business around the world?4 Who are the unmistakable markets players making an imprint in the Pressure Sensitive Tape advertise with their triumphant procedures?In the end this report covers information and information on limit and generation outline creation piece of the pie investigation deals review supply deals and lack import fare and utilization and additionally cost value income and gross margin of Pressure Sensitive Tape.Significant points in table of contents:1 Pressure Sensitive Tape Introduction and Market Overview2 Industry Chain Analysis3 Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market, by Type4 Pressure Sensitive Tape Market, by Application5 Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Production, Value ($) by Region (2014-2019)6 Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2014-2019)7 Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions8 Competitive Landscape9 Global Pressure Sensitive Tape Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application10 Pressure Sensitive Tape Market Analysis and Forecast by Region11 New Project Feasibility Analysis12 Research Finding and Conclusion13 AppendixAbout usBusinessindustryreports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media contactBusiness industry reportspune  indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Automatic Weather Stations Market to witness an outstanding growth by 2024 | Global Key players: AXYS, Kaizen Imperial, K R Instruments, Vaisala, RS Hydro

Automatic Weather Stations Market

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This report offers start to finish examination of "Global Automatic Weather Stations Market Outlook 2019-2024" using SWOT examination for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the association. The Automatic Weather Stations Market report similarly gives an all around survey of key players in the market association.Global Automatic Weather Stations Market Overview:The Report investigation about market status (2014-2019), venture rivalry example, favorable circumstances and impediments of big business items, industry advancement patterns (2019-2024), territorial modern format attributes and macroeconomic arrangements, mechanical approach has likewise are incorporated. In a word, this report will assist you with establishing a scene of modern improvement and qualities of the Automatic Weather Stations showcase.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @Automatic Weather Stations for recording information that is diverse - for measuring parameters Automatic Weather Stations is made. The AWS may be outfitted with sensors in accord. Customized, individual detectors Integration in existing measuring networks, demonstrating of the data in the browser Qualified service from planning, consulting to servicing and installation of the channel or stations. The Automatic Weather Stations is used anywhere, where a thorough picture of the neighborhood weather conditions is accumulated over a longer duration of time.The major Factors of Global Automatic Weather Stations Market is, such as Automatic Weather Stations showcase improvement, use volume; promote examples and Automatic Weather Stations business esteem structures.According Report Analysis, Diverse commissions from the entire talking alps area, weather solutions, avalanche warning services or meteorologists rely on technology. In addition the Automatic Weather Stations are utilized to defend important infrastructure like roads and rail lines. The Automatic Weather Stations installed can be delivered solution and activated. The channels are connected with a data collection or save the information. Furthermore, a GSM/GPRS connection can be established to the Automatic Weather Stations. The alternative is an automated weather station with picturing the measuring outcomes, collecting, transferring, archiving, archiving and measuring.The report also covers segment data: Product Types, Applications, and Regions..According Regions, Europe is expected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period.Buy this report online with 132 pages rundown of tables and figures and all around list of chapters on @Significant key players:1 AXYS2 Kaizen Imperial3 K R Instruments4 Vaisala5 RS HydroAutomatic Weather Stations market, by region:1 North America2 Europe3 Middle East & Africa4 South America5 OthersGlobal Automatic Weather Stations market 2019-2024: From unpleasant materials to downstream purchasers of this industry will be desperate down deductively, the segment of thing dissipating and game plans channel will be introduced too. In a word, this report will assist you with setting up an exhibit of mechanical progress and attributes of the Automatic Weather Stations market.Snatch your report @This investigation answers to the underneath key inquiries:1 What will be the development rate and the market size of the Automatic Weather Stations industry for the estimate time frame 2019-2024?2 What are the significant main impetuses expected to affect the improvement of the Automatic Weather Stations advertise crosswise over various country?3 Who are the real main impetuses expected to choose the destiny of the business around the world?4 Who are the unmistakable market players making an imprint in the Automatic Weather Stations advertise with their triumphant procedures?In the end this report covers information and information on limit and generation outline creation piece of the pie investigation deals review supply deals and lack import fare and utilization and additionally cost value income and gross margin of Automatic Weather Stations.Significant points in table of contents:1 Automatic Weather Stations Introduction and Market Overview2 Industry Chain Analysis3 Global Automatic Weather Stations Market, by Type4 Automatic Weather Stations Market, by Application5 Global Automatic Weather Stations Production, Value ($) by Region (2014-2019)6 Global Automatic Weather Stations Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2014-2019)7 Global Automatic Weather Stations Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions8 Competitive Landscape9 Global Automatic Weather Stations Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application10 Automatic Weather Stations Market Analysis and Forecast by Region11 New Project Feasibility Analysis12 Research Finding and Conclusion13 AppendixAbout usBusinessindustryreports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media contactBusiness industry reportspune  indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
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U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis for a visit to Washington in March, U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Stephen King announced here on Wednesday.

"I'm pleased to report that President Trump has extended an official invitation to Prime Minister @AndrejBabis to visit Washington on March 7 as a symbol of our strong bilateral relationship. A White House announcement is forthcoming soon," King wrote on Twitter.

Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek is currently visiting the United States.
Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Report 2019 Companies included Argon Medical Devices (U.S.), B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Cardinal Health, Inc. (U.S.), Olympus Corporation (Japan) and Others

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Market Reports Company has recently published 7th edition of Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Report which covers historic data of year 2013 to 2018 along with a forecast till year 2026.For inquiry or free sample pages email us at: sales@marketreportscompany.comThe report provides a comprehensive view on the current state and future prospects of the market which analyzes different strategies for business growth. The global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices market was valued at USD xx Million in 2018 and is anticipated to show significant growth in the near future. In this report, the market can be classified into types, applications, and regions. The report also offers a detailed competitive analysis of all the major players who are active in this market.Request report sample pages prior purchase@Report Coverage:Top CompaniesC. R. Bard, Inc. (U.S.)Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.)Cook Group Incorporated (U.S.)Devicor Medical Products, Inc., (Leica Biosystems) (Germany)Argon Medical Devices (U.S.)B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany)Cardinal Health, Inc. (U.S.)Olympus Corporation (Japan)Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.)FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation (Japan)INRAD, Inc. (U.S.)Medtronic plc (Ireland)Others (Note: We cover all the Top players actively present in the market and you can also request to profile your competitor's data as a part of report customization without any additional cost)Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices market segments by Type:Vacuum-assisted Biopsy SystemsVacuum-assisted Biopsy NeedlesOthers Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices market segments by Applications:Breast BiopsyLung BiopsyColorectal BiopsyProstate BiopsyOthersRegions covered: (we can provide region/country specific report)North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)The Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)(Note: We can provide country or region specific report on request; please contact us at sales@marketreportscompany.com )Our reports are designed keeping in mind the need of all members across the value chain. However, if anyparticular pointer needs to covered to meet your specific requirements, we can provide a customizedreport. The below mentioned customization pointers are available for the report. Detailed Analysis for additional company profiles Specific Country Level breakdown by Application and type Additional Segment Analysis OthersThe said report has been derived by findings drawn from thorough primary research and secondary research. The report covers complete quantitative and qualitative information by analyzing data collected by prominent players across key points in the industrys value chain.How helpful this report will be? In depth analysis on emerging regions, types & Application, and competitive landscape Key parameters which are driving market and restraining market growth. The report will help you understand Industry Dynamics, Market Size and Forecast, Market EntryStrategy, Competitive Intelligence, Pricing Analysis, Consumer Insights, Procurement Intelligence,Next-generation Technologies, etc.Purchase Inquire before Buying @Table of Content:(Request detailed TOC @sales@marketreportscompany.com)Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Size, Status and Forecast 20261 Industry Overview of Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices2 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2019)5 Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2019-2026)12 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Dynamics12.1 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Industry News12.2 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Industry Development Challenges12.3 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Industry Development Opportunities (2019-2026)13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Global Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market Forecast (2019-2026)15 Research Finding/Conclusion16 Appendix........................to receive complete Table of Content @What Does Report Include?Historic Data: What was the Vacuum-assisted Biopsy Devices Market data (Size, competition, company share, YoY growth rate, etc.) from 2013 to 2019.Current Market Status: A comprehensive analysis of current market Size, trends, growth drivers, industry pitfalls, challenges and opportunities for players.Market Forecast: Report will comment and provide details about market growth and forecast till the year 2025.Customization: We can provide following things 1) On request more company profiles (competitors) 2) Data about a particular country or region 3) We will incorporate the same with no additional cost (Post conducting feasibility).About us:Contact Us:Jason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website: marketreportscompany.comEmail: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comPhone: +1-312-376-8303Address: 20 N State Street,Chicago, Illinois, 60602United States
Soft Magnetic Composites Market to Showcase Vigorous Demand during the Period until 2027|| Key players are Rio Tinto PLC, Hoganas AB, Voestalpine Stahl GmbH, Hitachi Metals Ltd, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co.

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Soft magnetic composites are ferromagnetic powder particles surrounded by electrical insulating film. Soft magnetic composites are used in electromagnetic applications. The unique properties of soft magnetic composites are very low eddy current loss, 3D isotropic ferromagnetic behavior, low total core loss at high and medium frequencies, and possibilities for improved thermal characteristics. Soft magnetic composites are compacted like other powder metal part and heated die compaction is used to offer higher density.Request for a Sample of this reportThe report on the soft magnetic composites market provides valuable and actionable insights on the market along with the forecast. Historical data and important factors impacting the growth of the soft magnetic composites market is also offered in the report. Market dynamics including market drivers, key trends, factors hampering growth, and growth opportunities in the soft magnetic composites (SMCs) across regions is provided in the report.Tier 1 Players Hold Over50% Share in Soft Magnetic Composites (SMCs) MarketTier 1 players collectively hold over 50% share of the soft magnetic composites market. Established market footprint of Tier 1 soft magnetic composite manufacturers can be attributed to their robust distribution network and technological expertise. These players are further focusing on production capacity expansion, and mergers & acquisitions with medium-sized players to leverage their innovative development as key expansion strategies. On the other hand, Tier 2 players are competing through new product launches and development of cost-effective alternatives to retain their position in the soft magnetic composites market.Electric Motor Optimization and Miniaturization to Pave AvenuesOptimization of electric motors by using next-generation soft magnetic composites (SMCs) has been a key developmental focus area of manufacturers, with an aim to save on operation cost, and comply with energy efficiency regulations & standards imposed on utility equipment. As adoption of electric motors continues to grow in line with rising emphasis on power consumption  a key aspect linked with lifetime cost of electric motors -- use of soft magnetic composites in new equipment has increased to save on additional upfront costs. Miniaturization has emerged as a cornerstone in equipment associated with power electronic applications, which has further paved lucrative avenues for soft magnetic composites manufacturers. Various industries are also replacing conventional laminated core in electric machines with soft magnetic composites (SMCs) as it leads to no eddy current loss and reduces bearing currents. A paradigm shift to adopt renewable energy sources and rising awareness towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions are also driving the demand for soft magnetic composites to produce high quality electrical machines at lower costs.View complete report with Table of Contents:Emphasis on Compact & Lightweight Components in Electric Vehicles to Fuel DemandAs eco-friendly vehicles, including electric and plug-in hybrid cars, become increasingly palpable worldwide, demand for compact and lightweight auto components has been on an upward spiral. This has further led electric vehicle manufacturers in using soft magnetic composites core to boost the converter of motor drive system in hybrid electric vehicles.Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is gaining popularity as an alternative to the conventional motors, such as DC motor or induction motor, in electric vehicles owing to its low cost, robust, and simple construction, along with fault tolerance attribute. Soft magnetic composites (SMCs) seek application in SRMs to deprive the low frequency torque ripple resulting from asymmetric mutual coupling between adjacent phases.Lack of Skilled Labor and High Cost Associated of Soft Magnetic Composites (SMCs) to Hamper the GrowthSoft magnetic composites continue to seek extensive application in electric micro and small machine cores, owing to their flexibility and efficiency in forming a magnetic core of desired geometric properties. However, the worldwide production of soft magnetic composites is limited, resulting in high material cost. The high cost of the primary raw materials including iron powder and bonding materials used in developing soft magnetic composites is further resulting in a significant increase in its production cost. Magnetic properties of soft magnetic composites depend strongly on its manufacturing process, which in turn is resulting in the increasing need for the highly skilled workforce. However, lack of skilled labor for developing soft magnetic components is hampering continues to remain a key challenge. In a bid to cater growing demand for soft magnetic composites in various applications along with the benefits offered, manufacturers and researchers are focusing on the development of high-quality soft magnetic composites, by decreasing its production cost.For any query get connect with an Analyst:About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at -
Titanium Alloys Market Expected to Secure Notable Revenue Share during 2018-2027|| Key players - Neonickle, Altemp Alloys, Kobelco, High Performance Alloys, Haynes International Inc, Global Titanium Inc.

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Titanium alloys continues to possess lucrative opportunities across the countries with dominating factors like increasing aerospace & defence, automotive, sports, architectural industry worldwide. Moreover, the growth in the power industry and fashion & apparel industry influencing the adoption of the titanium alloy owing to the increase in the demand for good quality and featured titanium alloy from the different end use verticals. The trending use of titanium alloys which has increased and more adoption rate than other alternatives and is further anticipated to create positive growth opportunities for the market.Request for a Sample of this report:Aerospace & Defence and automotive industry have highly impacted the titanium alloy manufacturing sectors, creating demand for different grades of titanium alloys. Increasing demand from all types of titanium alloys creating opportunities for the market.A recent Fact.MR study predicts the titanium alloy market to record an expansion at lower single digit over the forecast period (2019  2027). Titanium alloy continues to witness increased demand from different end-use verticals. However use of titanium alloys in sports and fashion & apparel industry is expected to experience impressive growth during the forecast period.Titanium Alloy Market  Rapid Growth of end-use verticals to create enormous opportunityDifferent grades of titanium alloys are used extensively in a variety of sectors and industries. Easy manufacturing of titanium alloys creates enormous opportunities of growth for the market. Titanium alloys are extensively used in end-use industries like aerospace & Defence, power generation, chemical processing, automotive, marine, fashion & apparel, oil & gas processing, biomedical, architectural, sports etc. With the rapidly expanding end-use industries across the globe is expected to propel the growth of titanium alloy market during the forecast period. Rising Defence & aerospace development activities throughout the globe, increasing demand of titanium alloy in the automotive industry, innovative product development is expected to create ample opportunities of growth for titanium alloy market during the forecast period. Reduction in cost due to technological innovations, technological growth in material science and a wide range of industrial applications of titanium alloys continue to impact positively on the titanium alloys market.View complete report with Table of Contents:Titanium Alloy Market  Exhibiting Properties aim to deliver good growth for the marketThe titanium alloy market is expected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period on account of exhibiting properties such as good thermal stability, excellent mechanical strength, heat, toughness, corrosion and oxidation resistance.Several advantageous properties like high tensile strength, toughness and light in weight makes titanium alloy product very useful for applications of military, spacecraft and aircraft. Such beneficiary properties aim to deliver extraordinary corrosion resistant property and titanium alloys can withstand extreme high temperatures.Titanium Alloys Market  High potential for growth of titanium alloys end use verticals in emerging economiesDemand for titanium alloy is increasing rapidly across the globe. Manufacturers are employing advanced manufacturing technologies in order to enhance efficiency of titanium alloys and increased production. With the addition of innovative product development that have greater performance, manufacturers are gaining high attraction amongst the end-users. Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is also becoming a hub for different end use verticals.Therefore, demand for titanium alloys used in rapidly growing end use industries is anticipated to increase significantly throughout the globe in the near future. Players are targeting a wide range of industries, by introducing more advanced titanium alloys manufacturing technology.High cost of titanium alloys to hamper titanium alloy market salesHigh cost of titanium alloys, especially in developed economies, has been a major obstacle for titanium alloy market. High prices of titanium, its alloys, lack of technology and infrastructure in emerging economies are the primary restraints of the titanium alloys market. Competition and price competitiveness from other high performance alloys like steel also acts as a key draw back for the growth of titanium alloys market. High costs of raw materials and processing of titanium alloys limit their use to medical devices, aircraft, space crafts, military applications and highly stressed components such as connecting rods in expensive automobiles. This has resulted to hinder the titanium alloy market.For any query get connect with an Analyst:About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at -
Agrochemical Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Mosaic Company, Bayer CropScience, The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Monsanto Company

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Agrochemical Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Mosaic Company, Bayer CropScience, The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Monsanto Company.Agrochemical Industry 2019Description:-This report analyzes the agrochemical market by Product Type [Fertilizers (Potassic, Nitrogenous, Phosphatic), Pesticides (Fungicides, Insecticides, Herbicides, Bio-Pesticides)], Crop Type (Food Grains, Cash Crops, Horticulture Crops) and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World); it also studies the key manufacturers in the market.The major players in agrochemical market include: The Mosaic Company (the U.S.) Bayer CropScience Limited (Germany) The Dow Chemical Company (the U.S.) BASF SE (Germany) Monsanto Company (the U.S.) Syngenta AG (Switzerland) Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd (Israel) Nufarm Limited (Australia) Arysta LifeScience Corporation (Japan) Crystal Crop Protection Pvt. Ltd. (India)Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThe market revenue and share have been analyzed with respect to the following regions and countries:NORTH AMERICAUSCanadaEUROPEGermanyFranceRussiaItalySpainUKPolandRest of EuropeASIA-PACIFICJapanAustraliaIndiaNew ZealandRest Of Asia-PacificThe Middle East & AfricaTurkeyIsraelNorth AfricaGCCRest Of Middle East & AfricaLatin AmericaBrazilArgentinaMexicoRest Of Latin AmericaOn the basis of types, the agrochemical market has been categorized into the following segments: Fertilizerso Potassico Nitrogenouso Phosphatic Pesticideso Fungicideso Insecticideso Herbicideso Bio-Pesticideso OthersOn the basis of crop type, the agrochemical market has been categorized into the following segments: Food Grains Cash Crops Horticulture Crops Plantation Crops.Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Of Global Agrochemicals Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Agrochemicals Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact Analysis5.4 Market Challenges6 Market Trends6.1 Introduction6.2 Growth Trends6.3 Impact AnalysisContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Spandex Fiber Market will be Valued at $6750 million by 2023 | Global Key Players (Bailu Chemical, Xinxiang, Highsun Group, Invista, Zhejiang Huafon Spandex Co)

Spandex Fiber Market

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BusinessIndustryReports have new report on Global Spandex Fiber Market 2019-2023. The report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.This Report covers the Major Players data, including: shipment, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size.Get Sample Copy of this Report @with the slowdown in world economic growth, the Spandex Fiber industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Spandex Fiber market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 6.15% from 4230 million $ in 2015 to 5060 million $ in 2018, Market analysts believe that in the next few years, Spandex Fiber market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023 , The market size of the Spandex Fiber will reach 6750 million $.Its usage was found by A spandex as a substitute for rubber in ladies foundation clothing. But spandex known alongside other areas of the world as elastane in Europe, is on the top edge of fashion to get both women's and men's under, and wear. A bizarre that is sensationally polyurethane is a long chain synthetic fiber. Rubbery and soft sections of polyether or polyester polyols permit the fiber to stretch up to 600% and after that recover to its original form. Hard segments urethane ureas or urethanes, provide impart tensile strength and rigidity and restrict plastic flow.The Demand for Spandex is influenced by a number of factors. Steadily increasing population, coupled with an increase in disposable incomes, especially in developing regions and growing preference for and subsequent adoption of spandex-based stretch clothing in these regions are expected to drive growth of the global spandex market during the forecast period.Furthermore, a growth in the penetration of Spandex Fiber in industries such as new energies, oil & gas, automotive and aviation will provide significant opportunities to the industry players across the value chain. Besides, significant investments in research & development activities is expected to provide novel opportunities for the market to grow in the near future.Key Players:1 DuPont,Hyosung Corporation2 Zhejiang Huafon Spandex Co. Ltd.3 Invista4 ZheJiang Huahai Machinery Group5 Highsun Group6 Xinxiang Bailu Chemical Fibre Group Co. Ltd and more.........Purchase this report online with 125 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Spandex Fiber Market Outlook 2019-2023 @The report covers the Segments and sub-segments of the Global Spandex Fiber Market by:Regions:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Product Types:1 Solution Dry Spinning2 Solution Wet SpinningIndustry Segmentation:1 Apparel & Clothing2 Medical & HealthcareKey questions answered in the report include:1 What are the key factors driving the Spandex Fiber market?2 What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global Spandex Fiber market?3 What are the challenges to Spandex Fiber market growth?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Spandex Fiber market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Spandex Fiber market?6 What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global Spandex Fiber market?Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Table of Content:1 Spandex Fiber Product Definition2 Global Spandex Fiber Manufacturer Share and Market Overview3 Manufacturer Spandex Fiber Business Introduction4 Global Spandex Fiber Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Spandex Fiber Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)6 Global Spandex Fiber Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Spandex Fiber Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Spandex Fiber Market Forecast 2019-20239 Spandex Fiber Segmentation Product Type10 Spandex Fiber Segmentation Industry11 Spandex Fiber Cost of Production Analysis12 ConclusionAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Complete analysis of Continuous Delivery Market increasing demand by Atlassian, Chef Software, Accenture, IBM Corporation, CloudBees, Electric Cloud, XebiaLabs, CA Technologies, Puppet, Microsoft Corporation, Flexagon.

Continuous Delivery Market

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Continuous delivery is a software engineering approach in which teams produce software in short cycles, ensuring that the software can be reliably released at any time and, when releasing the software, doing so manually. It aims at building, testing, and releasing software with greater speed and frequency. The approach helps reduce the cost, time, and risk of delivering changes by allowing for more incremental updates to applications in production. With continuous delivery, every code change is built, tested, and then pushed to a non-production testing or staging environment. The benefits of Continuous delivery is the Reduced Deployment Risk, Believable Progress, and User Feedback. The Continuous Delivery Market is expected to reach CAGR +18 during forecast period 2019-2025.The research report named as Continuous Delivery Market has been recently announced by Research N Reports which provides a clear understanding of the subject matter. This report has been made using primary and secondary research techniques and they are now intended towards collaborating accurate and exact data. Additionally, this report also has the SWOT analysis that determines the external segments that impact the overall market.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Top Key Players:Atlassian, Chef Software, Accenture, IBM Corporation, CloudBees, Electric Cloud, XebiaLabs, CA Technologies, Puppet, Microsoft Corporation, Flexagon.The report also elaborates on the opportunities the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America offer. The research report also analyzes the market hierarchy carrying out a SWOT analysis of the key players operating in the Continuous Delivery Market. On the basis of geography, the global market for agricultural enzymes has been categorized into Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The leading region of the global market is further mentioned along with the reason behind its growth. Every region key factors are provided which is attracting this market towards growth.Enquiry before Buying:This Continuous Delivery Market report gives a comprehensively widespread analysis of the market expansion drivers, factors regulating and avoiding market expansion, prevailing business sector summaries, market association, market predictions for coming years. Furthermore, this report distinguishes pin-point investigation of fine-tuning competition subtleness and keeps you ahead in the competition. It offers a fast looking insight on different variables driving or deterring the development of the marketKey questions answered in the report include: What will be the market size and the growth rate by the end of the forecast period? What are the key Continuous Delivery Market trends impacting the growth of the market? What are the potential growth opportunities and threats faced by the leading competitors in the market? What are the key outcomes of Porters five forces analysis and the SWOT analysis of the key players functioning in the global Continuous Delivery Market? What is driving this market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?Table of Content:Continuous Delivery Market Research Report 2019-2025.Chapter 1: Industry OverviewChapter 2: Analysis of Revenue by ClassificationsChapter 3: Analysis of Revenue by Regions and ApplicationsChapter 6: Analysis of Continuous Delivery Market Revenue Market Status.Chapter 4: Analysis of Continuous Delivery Industry Key ManufacturersChapter 5: Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Continuous Delivery.Chapter 6: Development Trend of Continuous Delivery market 2019-2025.......Continue for TOCGet Upto 40% discount@About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact:(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com,
Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Market Analysis with Industry Key Player - Variant Pharmaceuticals Inc., Chemo Centrex Inc., Retro Phin Inc., AbbVie Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca plc., Sanofi S.A.

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently updated its massive report catalogue by adding a fresh study titled Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Market Growth Factors and Competitive Outlook forecast till 2025. This business intelligence study encapsulates vital details about the market current as well as future status during the mentioned forecast period of 2025.The report also targets important facets such as market drivers, challenges, latest trends, and opportunities associated to growth of manufacturers in global market for Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis Market. Along with these insights, the report provides the readers crucial insights on the strategies implemented by leading companies to remain in the lead of this competitive market.Request Free Sample Report @This report on focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market globally. The stakeholders of this report include companies and intermediaries engaged in the manufacturing and commercialization of diagnostic and therapeutic products for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) as well as new entrants planning to enter this market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary along with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the scope of the study. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the global focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market with respect to the leading market segments based on disease type, disease management and geographies.The market overview section of the report explores the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that currently have a strong impact on the focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market and could influence the market in the near future. Market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to explain the intensity of competition in the market across different geographies. The competitive scenario among different market players is evaluated through market share analysis in the competitive landscape section of the report. All these factors would help market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their shares in the global focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market.Based on disease type, the focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market has been majorly segmented into primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and secondary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. In terms of disease management, the focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market has been broadly classified into diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis includes segments such as kidney biopsy, creatine test, and others. Treatment includes segments such as drug therapy, dialysis, and kidney transplant.Each of the market segments have been extensively analyzed based on the market related factors such as incidence and prevalence of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), available treatments, and pipeline products. Moreover, historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ million for each segment has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Geographically, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The market size and forecast for each of these regions has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The report also provides market size and forecast for major countries in the respective regions. A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, porters five forces analysis, and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The key players operating in the focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market are Variant Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ChemoCentryx, Inc., Retrophin, Inc., AbbVie, Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., AstraZeneca plc., Sanofi S.A, GlaxoSmithKline plc. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The global focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market is expected to undergo change after the successful pipeline product launch during the forecast period.The global focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) market is segmented as follows:Global Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) Market, by Disease TypePrimary Focal Segmental GlomerulosclerosisSecondary Focal Segmental GlomerulosclerosisGlobal Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) Market, by Disease ManagementDiagnosisKidney BiopsyCreatine TestOthersTreatmentDrug TherapyDialysisKidney TransplantGlobal Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyFranceItalySpainU.K.Rest of EuropeAsia PacificIndiaJapanChinaAustralia & New ZealandRest of AsiaLatin America (LATAM)BrazilMexicoRest of LATAMMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaEnquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market | Oxygen Therapy, Corticosteroids, Bronchodilators, Augmentation Therapy | Asserts CMR

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market 2019

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This study provides insights about the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market in regards to its uses and benefits. We at Crystal Market Research (CMR) provide updated information that is beneficial in decision making regarding business investments.Firstly the market is divided globally, also the competition between vendors present in the market is leading to growth of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Drugs Market. The competition has led to tie-ups or overtaking of small vendor companies by bigger vendor companies, so its possible to acquire a large market.Strategic Planning:Identification of Market OpportunityMarket Scenario AnalysisMarket Entry StrategyTarget Market Analysis:Product AnalysisGo-To-Market (GTM) StrategyPotential Market AnalysisThe Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market is segmented as follows-By Treatment:Oxygen TherapyCorticosteroidsBronchodilatorsAugmentation TherapyBy Route of Administration:ParenteralInhalationOralBy End User:Hospitals,PharmaciesSpecialty ClinicsBook Your Sample Copy of the Report here @Top Most Leading Players:The leading players of this market are; Grifols, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Shire plc, Pfizer Inc., Kamada Ltd., AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., CSL Behring and LFB Biomedicaments.Industry Overview:The Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market was worth USD 1266.84 million in the year 2014 and is expected to reach approximately USD 2596.43 million by 2023, while registering itself at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.30% during the forecast period. Alpha-1 Antitrypsin is a type of glycoprotein that is created in liver, which has a function of preventing renin, Hageman factor, neutral proteases of neutrophils, elastase, etc. If the percentage of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin decreases in the blood stream then Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is caused. AATD causes various disorders like; skin infections, liver disorders and respiratory problems. It is hereditary diseases passed from parents to their children. The Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market is rising for the due to awareness in the people about the disease.Regional Outlook:North America(U.S., Canada, Mexico)Europe(German, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Rest of Europe)Asia-Pacific(China, Japan, South Korea, India, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)South America(Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, South Africa, Rest of South America)Middle East and Africa(Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Rest of MEA)Asks Any Questions about Report @Table of Contents:1.Introduction2.Executive Summary3.Market Overview9.Company Profiles9.1.Grifols9.1.1.Business Overview9.1.2. Service Portfolio9.1.3.Strategic Developments9.1.4. Revenue and Market Share9.2.Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.9.2.1.Business Overview9.2.2. Service Portfolio9.2.3.Strategic Developments9.2.4. Revenue and Market Share9.3.Shire plc, Pfizer Inc.9.3.1.Business Overview9.3.2. Service Portfolio9.3.3.Strategic Developments9.3.4. Revenue and Market Share9.4.Kamada Ltd.9.4.1.Business Overview9.4.2. Service Portfolio9.4.3.Strategic Developments9.4.4. Revenue and Market Share9.5.AstraZeneca9.5.1.Business Overview9.5.2. Service Portfolio9.5.3.Strategic Developments9.5.4. Revenue and Market Share9.6.Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH9.6.1.Business Overview9.6.2. Service Portfolio9.6.3.Strategic Developments9.6.4. Revenue and Market ShareReason to Buy:Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.Scrutinize in-depth Global Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Treatment Market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.For More Discounts Offers on Report @About Crystal Market Research:Crystal Market Research is a U.S. based market research and business intelligence company. Crystal offers one stop solution for market research, business intelligence, and consulting services to help clients make more informed decisions. It provides both syndicated as well as customized research studies for its customers spread across the globe. The company offers market intelligence reports across a broad range of industries including healthcare, chemicals & materials, technology, automotive, and energy.Contact Us:Judy304 South Jones Blvd, Suite 1896,Las Vegas NV 89107,United StatesToll Free: +1-888-213-4282Email: sales@crystalmarketresearch.com
Global GPS IC Market 2019 - Qualcomm Inc., Broadcom Corp, Texas Instruments Inc

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This new report by Eon Market Research, titled Global GPS IC Market 2019 Research Report, 2015  2025 offers a comprehensive analysis of GPS IC industry at a global as well as regional and country level. Key facts analyzed in this report include the GPS IC market size by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2014-2018 and forecast data 2019-2025. This report primarily focuses on the study of the competitive landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors in global GPS IC market.Make a Request for Sample Pages GPS IC Market 2019 Research Report Here @This report on GPS IC market presents market size in terms of volume and value (or whichever applicable) for the entire forecast period and also offers CAGR for the forecast period under consideration. Key trends analyzed for the prospective readers of this GPS IC market report include major demand drivers, restraints and key opportunities prevailing in the industry. Certain high-level analysis of GPS IC market such as value chain analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, and market attractiveness analysis to cover all the circumstances affecting this GPS IC industry is also covered in this report. Portfolio analysis helps to understand product mix of leading companies in GPS IC industry.This report focuses on top manufacturers in the global GPS IC market, with revenue production, sales, gross margin, and market share for each manufacturer, covering Qualcomm Inc.Broadcom Corp.Texas Instruments Inc.MediaTekCSR Plc.Maxim Integrated Products Inc.RF Micro DevicesAnalog Devices Inc.Consumption, production, capacity, market share, growth rate, and prices are included for each product segment of GPS IC market  Type IType IIConsumption, market share and growth rate for each application segment of GPS IC market Voice-Guided Navigation ApplicationsTracking and TracingLocation-Enabled SearchVoice-Guided In-Car NavigationPeople TrackingAdvertisingInquiry before Buying GPS IC Market 2019 Report and Ask For Discount Here @The GPS IC market report presents all-inclusive information on raw materials suppliers, equipment suppliers, manufacturing cost, capacity, production, profit margin, capacity utilization rate, etc. The Global GPS IC Market report also covers a systematic geographical analysis.Key regions analyzed in the global GPS IC market include; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East Africa. The country-level analysis included for U.S., UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. The GPS IC industry report provides detailed bifurcation of each segment on global, regional and country level. In a word, the GPS IC market report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of direction and control for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse Complete GPS IC Market Report Details and ToC Here @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Us:Eon Market Research is detail and precision oriented market research end business consulting company. To offer factual and sustainable end results derived from a precise and appropriate research that assist our prospective readers to take the key decision and achieve the growth of their organizations.Contact Us:MaxEmail - inquiry@eonmarketresearch.comPhone - +1 703 879 7090Web -
Blood Banking Devices Market Set to Show a Drastic Surge with the Demand till 2026 Appraised By Global Players Abbott Laboratories, Fresenius Kabi AG, Beckman Coulter Inc.

Global Blood Banking Devices Market

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Blood transfusion, a process that is used for various medical conditions, replaces the lost blood components and helps in improving the health of the patient. However, lack of timely access to safe blood transfusion will increase demand for efficient, safe, and real-time availability of blood units by blood banks.Download PDF Brochure Of This Research Report @Therefore, various organizations are involving in activities to launch innovative product solutions in the market. For instance, in March 2018, Strides Software Solutions, an India-based firm that enables the availability of safe and high quality blood components, developed Indias first Aadhaar-based centralized donor authentication and identification application called as D-Health app. This app leverages the power of cloud computing to bring all the key stakeholders of blood cycle management including blood banks, donors, blood camp organizers, hospitals, and patients to one platform.Huge shortage of blood units in various countries is one of the major factors driving growth of the global blood banking devices market. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2012 data findings, only around 9 million blood units are available annually whereas the demand is for 12 million units, worldwide. Furthermore, a significant gap between the , increasing demand for blood units and actual numbers of blood banks present globally; indicates huge opportunity for blood banking devices market over the forecast period. For instance, according to the National Health Profile-2018 prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), as on June 2017, the total number of licensed blood banks in India were 2,903, which majorly includes government owned blood banks and charitable trust blood banks. Moreover, according to same source, there are 23,582 hospitals in India, of which 19,810 hospitals are in rural area and 3,772 hospitals are in urban area.The global blood banking devices market was valued at US$ 26,234 Mn in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 7.4% over the forecast period (2018  2026).Market Dynamics:Blood banking devices market is expected to witness lucrative growth opportunities during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand for blood units in various surgical procedures such as cardiovascular surgery interventions, hematology procedures, bone marrow surgery procedures, and general medicine. Moreover, growing shortfall between demand and supply of blood units in various emerging economies such as India is expected to drive growth of the blood banking devices market in these regions during the forecast period.Engagement by market players to offer technologically advanced blood collection, blood processing, and blood storage devices in the market will lead to an increase in the revenue of blood banking devices market in the near future. Along with this, government and private owned blood banks have been launching mobile application to spread awareness regarding importance of blood donation, and to offer quick, safe, and donor specific delivery of blood units to patients.Increasing demand for blood units is expected to fuel growth of the market:Growing demand of blood and blood components will significantly drives blood banking devices market. For instance, according to the American National Red Cross 2018 data findings, around 7,000 units of platelets and 10,000 units of plasma are required daily in the U.S. and around 21 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S. The Singapore Red Cross Society, (2017); needs around 120,000 units of blood every year, to meet the transfusion needs of patients, which is equivalent to over 400 units of blood per day. Furthermore, according to the same source, from the total volume of blood collected by the Singapore Red Cross Society in 2017, blood was mainly used in surgical procedures (54%), general medicine (31%), hematology and blood diseases (9%), and for accident and emergency cases (6%).Increasing number of blood donations that will fulfill the rising demand for blood units, worldwide is also expected to drive growth of the market. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 112.5 million blood donations were made globally and an increase of 10.7 million blood donations from unpaid donors were reported from 2008 to 2013.Key players operating in the global blood banking devices market include Becton, Dickinson and Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Fresenius Kabi AG, Beckman Coulter Inc. (Danaher Corporation), bioMerieux, Inc., China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc., Immucor, Inc. (IVD Holdings, Inc.), Instrumentation Laboratory Company, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Roche Molecular Systems Inc.)Inquire Here Before Purchase of Research Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
 Flash

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 537 deaths among the 844 cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since last August, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said OCHA reported Wednesday that the DRC Ministry of Health last week requested 147 million U.S. dollar to cover "all aspects of the (Ebola) response for six months."

"As of 18 February, 844 cases and 537 deaths had been reported since the beginning of the outbreak in August 2018," Dujarric told reporters in a regular briefing. "Some 278 people have recovered from Ebola."

"The (DRC) Ministry of Health, the UN World Health Organization and their partners continue to respond to all alerts in the affected areas, and to scale up preparedness in non-affected health zones and in neighboring countries," he said. "Serious security incidents and community mistrust continue to hamper the response to Ebola."

While he did not elaborate on conditions in the eastern outbreak area, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) of the University of Minnesota said the latest cases "underscore that Katwa, a city in the eastern reaches of the DRC, remains the current epicenter."

The CIDRAP also said that since August, over 80,000 people in the DRC and neighboring countries have been vaccinated.

The center also reported security concerns over growing violence in the region.
Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment Market Development Factors and Upcoming Trends 2025 || Key Player - Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., Mylan N.V., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

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The expanding database of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been recently updated by the addition of a new study which is titled as Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment Market Development Factors and Upcoming Trends During forecast till 2025 - MRRSE. The fact based research report on global Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment Market covers various aspects such as trends, drivers, challenges and opportunities that have an influence on the growth and expansion of the global market. All these factors are analysed across key regions of Latin America, North America, Europe, Middle and Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific. In order to provide an accurate forecast, analysts have presented the current market, which forms the basis on how the metal caps and closures market is expected to develop in the future.Request Free Sample Report @This report on the global basal cell carcinoma treatment market analyzes the current and future prospects of the market. The report comprises an elaborate executive summary, including a market snapshot that provides overall information of various segments and sub-segments. The research is a combination of primary and secondary research. Primary research formed the bulk of our research efforts along with information collected from telephonic interviews and interactions via e-mails. Secondary research involved study of company websites, annual reports, press releases, stock analysis presentations, and various international and national databases.A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provide insights into the key trends of the basal cell carcinoma treatment market such as augmentation in clinical trials, increase in private insurance and favorable reimbursement scenario. The key market indicators influencing global basal cell carcinoma treatment market taken into consideration including cost constraints and regulatory landscape.The report provides market size in terms of US$ Mn for each segment for the period from 2015 to 2025, considering the macro and micro environmental factors. Growth rates for each segment within the global basal cell carcinoma treatment market have been determined after a thorough analysis of past trends, demographics, future trends, technological developments, and regulatory requirements. It also includes value chain analysis of the global basal cell carcinoma treatment industry. A pipeline analysis highlighting major pipeline drugs is also included in the report.Market revenue in terms of US$ Mn for the period between 2015 and 2025 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2017 to 2025 are provided for all the segments, considering 2016 as the base year. The year on year growth of global basal cell carcinoma treatment market for each segment is also reflected. Additionally, market related factors such as technological advancements, changing environmental factors, and growing disease awareness initiatives and greater affordability for patients in various geographies and historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size.Based on treatment type, the global basal cell carcinoma treatment market has been segmented into surgical (surgical excision, electrodessication & cutterage (ED&C), Moh's surgery, and cryosurgery), drugs (topical treatment, advanced medication, and other) and others. Based on end-user, the market has been segmented into hospitals, specialty clinics, and others. Hospitals segment is expected to remain dominant during the forecast period.Geographically, the global basal cell carcinoma treatment market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. In addition, the regions have been further segmented into major countries in each of the regions. These include the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, Australia, Japan, Brazil, GCC, South Africa and Mexico.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The report includes market attractiveness analysis of the major segments that provides a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global basal cell carcinoma treatment market. It profiles major players in the basal cell carcinoma treatment market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, SWOT analysis, key business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments.A thorough market share analysis of major companies operating in the basal cell carcinoma treatment market is provided in the report. Key companies profiled in the report include Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Mylan N.V., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., and Merck & Co., Inc.The global basal cell carcinoma treatment market has been segmented as follows:By Treatment TypeSurgicalSurgical ExcisionElectrodessication & Cutterage (ED&C)Moh's SurgeryCryosurgeryDrugsTopical TreatmentAdvanced MedicationOtherOthersRadiation TherapyPhotodynamic Therapy (PDT)Laser TherapyBy End UserHospitalsSpecialty ClinicsOthersBy GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeU.K.GermanyFranceSpainItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificAustralia & New ZealandJapanChinaRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSouth AfricaGCCRest of Middle East & AfricaEnquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) Market 2019: Top Key Players are NXP Semiconductors, Vishay Intertechnology Inc, MediaTek Inc, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation, Toshiba Corporation etc.

Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) Market

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Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) Market 2019 Report analyses the industry status, size, share, trends, growth opportunity, competition landscape and forecast to 2025. This report also provides data on patterns, improvements, target business sectors, limits and advancements. Furthermore, this research report categorizes the market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Get Sample Copy of this Report@ -Scope of the Report:The global Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) market was million US$ in 2018 and is expected to million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of between 2019 and 2025.This report studies the Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) market size (value and volume) by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2014-2018 and forecast data 2019-2025; This report also studies the global market competition landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @ -Market Segment by Companies, this report covers NXP Semiconductors Vishay Intertechnology Inc MediaTek Inc Qualcomm Texas Instruments Broadcom Corporation Toshiba Corporation On Semiconductor Linear Technology .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) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)By the product type, the market is primarily split into Transmitter ICs Receiver ICsBy the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Smart Phones and Tablets Wearable Electronic Devices Medical Devices Automotive OthersOrder a copy of Global Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) Market Report 2019 @ -There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) market.Chapter 1, to describe Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC), with sales, revenue, and price of Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC), in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC), for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit (IC) sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceAbout Us:Research Reports World is the credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. At Research Reports World, 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 MoreEmail: sales@researchreportsworld.comOrganization: Research Reports WorldPhone: +1 4242530807/+44 203 239 8187
Global Translation Services Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023

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Global Translation Services Industry Market Research Report' is an expert and top to the bottom investigation on the ebb and flow condition of Global Translation Services Industry Market with attention on the key patterns of the market. The report gives key measurements available status of Global Translation Services Industry Market players and is an important wellspring of direction and bearing for organizations and people keen on the business.Get sample copy of report:Table of ContentsChapter 1 Translation Services Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Translation Services1.2 Translation Services Market Segmentation by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Translation Services by Type1.2.1 Type 11.2.2 Type 21.2.3 Type 31.3 Translation Services Market Segmentation by Application1.3.1 Translation Services Consumption Market Share by Application1.3.2 Application 11.3.3 Application 21.3.4 Application 31.4 Translation Services Market Segmentation by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Translation Services1.5.1 Global Product Sales and Growth Rate1.5.2 Global Product Revenue and Growth RateChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Translation Services Industry2.1 Global Macroeconomic Environment Analysis2.1.1 Global Macroeconomic Analysis2.1.2 Global Macroeconomic Environment Development Trend2.2 Global Macroeconomic Environment Analysis by RegionsChapter 3 Global Translation Services Market Competition by Manufacturers3.1 Global Translation Services Production and Share by Manufacturers3.2 Global Translation Services Revenue and Share by Manufacturers3.3 Global Translation Services Average Price by Manufacturers3.4 Manufacturers Translation Services Manufacturing Base Distribution, Production Area and Product Type3.5 Translation Services Market Competitive Situation and Trends3.5.1 Translation Services Market Concentration Rate3.5.2 Translation Services Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers3.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionChapter 4 Global Translation Services Production, Revenue (Value) by Region4.1 Global Translation Services Production by Region4.2 Global Translation Services Production Market Share by Region4.3 Global Translation Services Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region4.4 Global Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.5 North America Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.5.1 North America Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.5.2 North America Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.5.3 North America Translation Services Production and Market Share by Application4.6 Europe Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.6.1 Europe Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.6.2 Europe Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.6.3 Europe Translation Services Production and Market Share by Application4.7 China Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.7.1 China Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.7.2 China Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.7.3 China Translation Services Production and Market Share by Application4.8 Japan Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.8.1 Japan Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.8.2 Japan Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.8.3 Japan Translation Services Production and Market Share by Application4.9 Southeast Asia Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.9.1 Southeast Asia Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.9.2 Southeast Asia Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.9.3 Southeast Asia Translation Services Production and Market Share by Application4.10 India Translation Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.10.1 India Translation Services Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.10.2 India Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type4.10.3 India Translation Services Production and Market Share by ApplicationChapter 5 Global Translation Services Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.1 Global Translation Services Consumption by Regions5.2 North America Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.3 Europe Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.4 China Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.5 Japan Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.6 Southeast Asia Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5.7 India Translation Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Translation Services Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6.1 Global Translation Services Production and Market Share by Type6.2 Global Translation Services Revenue and Market Share by Type6.3 Global Translation Services Price by Type6.4 Global Translation Services Production Growth by TypeChapter 7 Global Translation Services Market Analysis by Application7.1 Global Translation Services Consumption and Market Share by Application7.2 Global Translation Services Revenue and Market Share by Type7.3 Global Translation Services Consumption Growth Rate by Application7.4 Market Drivers and Opportunities7.4.1 Potential Applications7.4.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesChapter 8 Global Translation Services Manufacturers Analysis8.1 company 18.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.1.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.1.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.1.4 Business Overview8.2 company 28.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.2.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.2.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.2.4 Business Overview8.3 company 38.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.3.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.3.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.3.4 Business Overview8.4 company 48.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.4.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.4.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.4.4 Business Overview8.5 company 58.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.5.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.5.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.5.4 Business Overview8.6 company 68.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.6.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.6.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.6.4 Business Overview8.7 company 78.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.7.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.7.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.7.4 Business Overview8.8 company 88.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.8.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.8.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.8.4 Business Overview8.9 company 98.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.9.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.9.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin8.9.4 Business OverviewChapter 9 Translation Services Manufacturing Cost Analysis9.1 Translation Services Key Raw Materials Analysis9.1.1 Key Raw Materials9.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials9.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials9.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials9.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure9.2.1 Raw Materials9.2.2 Labor Cost9.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses9.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Translation ServicesChapter 10 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10.1 Translation Services Industrial Chain Analysis10.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing10.3 Raw Materials Sources of Translation Services Major Manufacturers10.4 Downstream BuyersChapter 11 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11.1 Marketing Channel11.1.1 Direct Marketing11.1.2 Indirect Marketing11.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend11.2 Market Positioning11.2.1 Pricing Strategy11.2.2 Brand Strategy11.2.3 Target Client11.3 Distributors/Traders ListChapter 12 Market Effect Factors Analysis12.1 Technology Progress/Risk12.1.1 Substitutes Threat12.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry12.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change12.3 Economic/Political Environmental ChangeChapter 13 Global Translation Services Market Forecast13.1 Global Translation Services Production, Revenue Forecast13.2 Global Translation Services Production, Consumption Forecast by Regions13.3 Global Translation Services Production Forecast by Type13.4 Global Translation Services Consumption Forecast by Application13.5 Translation Services Price ForecastBy this report online:About Market Density:Market Density is your one stop market research and industry analysis reports' library providing business data and intelligence information on thousands of micro markets with global as well as regional coverage.Market Density offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Market Density understands how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Email: Support@marketdensity.comWebsite:Phone: +1 669 264 16564340 Stevens Creek Blvd,Suite # 172,San Jose, CA 95129
Clinical Laboratory Test Market Structure by Size, Shares, Upcoming trends and Topmost Players as AURORA Diagnostics, Laboratory Corporation of America, LifeLabs Medical Laboratories, etc

Clinical Laboratory Test Market

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MRFR Reports Provides Prominent Analysis of Global Clinical Laboratory Test Market report by geographical overview, major products, applications, and key players. The report utilizes historical trends of the Global Clinical Laboratory Test Market and present statistics to derive.Market Overview:Global Clinical Laboratory Test Market is anticipated to develop to USD 324.5 billion by 2022 from USD 206.7 billion in 2016. The market is expected to generate a CAGR growth of 6.5% during the forecasted period of 2016 to 2022.Drivers:The increasing prevalence of diseases and the growing population of the world is the critical driver of the market. The market is getting a boost from the growing screening programs initiated by the major governments. The inclusion of mandatory screening in the affordable healthcare act for newborns is expected to lead to a fast growth. Increasing awareness and growing bias towards evidence based medicines coupled with the growing volume of in-vitro diagnostic tests will also press the market growth.The advent of biotech based tests such as DNA based tests are a large market opportunity as they result in greater selectivity and sensitivity. Growing trends towards self-diagnostic tests is expected to make a positive contribution to the markets. Panel based tests are the latest market trend due to their ease of use and single use systems.Request Sample Copy atAutomation is another trend driving the market as newer instruments have the capacity and capability to be linked and synced with another instruments. One such glaring example, is that of high pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy systems which save time and efforts.Restraints:Stringent government rules and regulations and the high costs of the tests are the critical constraints on the market. The presence of spurious low cost products is hampering the market due to customers loss of faith. False results are other restraints as many older tests have low selectivity and detection limits to their targets.Top Players:Laboratory Corporation of America, LifeLabs Medical Laboratories, Sonic Healthcare, Aurora Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics, and others.Segments:Laboratory type - hospital based laboratories, central/independent laboratories, physician office laboratory (pol) and others. The market segmented by laboratory type is dominated by the hospital based laboratories.Laboratory tests - Complete Blood Count (CBC) and other routine blood tests, anatomic pathology, molecular tests, immunology tests, drug testing and others. On the basis of laboratory tests, CBC and other routine blood tests are expected to hold the largest market share.Regional Analysis:North America is the largest market of global Clinical Laboratory Test market which is expected to grow at the CAGR of 6.2%. North America clinical test market is highest revenue generator. US accounts for the maximum market share of North America Clinical Laboratory testing market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecasted period. Maximum number of laboratories and clinical testing procedures are the major reason for the highest market growth of this region. Canada, is expected to be the fastest growing region with the CAGR of 6.3% during the forecasted period due to increasing cases of chronic disease and also because of new companies providing laboratory services entering Canadian market.Europe is the second largest market for Clinical Laboratory test which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6%.Globally Asia-pacific region is the fastest growing market in clinical laboratory tests mainly because of growing awareness about various medical test, government support in order to improve healthcare sector, innovation of new tests and procedures by major market players.Browse Complete 88 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 89 Respective Tables and Figures atAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Aircraft Composite Enclosures Market Forecasted to Reach US$ 199.0 million in 2023

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Stratview Research has launched a research report on Aircraft Composite Enclosures Market. The objective of this report is to identify the Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity of Aircraft Composite Enclosures Market from 2018 to 2023.This 261-page report is segmented in six ways to provide a 360-degree holistic view. The segments are  by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, and Others) by Shielding Type (Shielded Enclosures, and Others) by Resin Type (PPS Composites, PEEK Composites, and Others) by Fiber Type (Carbon Fiber Composites, and Glass Fiber Composites) by Process Type (Injection Moulding, and Others) and by Regiono North America (Country Analysis: The USA, Rest of North America)o Europe (Country Analysis: France, Germany, the UK, and Rest of Europe)o Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia-Pacific)o Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Latin America, the Middle East, and Others)Stratview Research, has presented the study of Aircraft Composite Enclosures Market over the trend period of 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.Major composite enclosure manufacturing companies are TE Connectivity, Kaman Aerospace (Vermont Composites Inc), Carlisle Interconnect Technologies, AIM Aerospace, Automated Dynamics, and Connective Design Inc. The development of lightweight enclosures and collaborations with OEMs for the joint development of enclosures are some of the strategies adopted by the major players in order to gain the competitive edge in the market.Go through the detailed scope:Market.htmlOrGet a free sample of the report:Organic growth of aircraft productionThe aircraft composite enclosures market is projected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 199.0 million in 2023. Organic growth of aircraft production to support the rising passenger and freight traffic, an increased preference for composite parts over traditional metallic ones, and an increasing use of avionics in the next-generation aircraft are some of the key factors that are proliferating the demand for composite enclosures in the aircraft industry.Enclosures in an aircraft are cases or cabinets used to protect critical electronic components. Reduction in thermal loads, protection against aircraft fluids, protection from the environment, and shielding against EMI as well as static electricity are some essential functions performed by enclosures situated in an aircraft.Switching from traditional metallic components to composite ones is oneThe aircraft industry has always been looking for different ways to reduce carbon emissions and to improve fuel economy. Switching from traditional metallic components to composite ones is one such way to achieve the requirements.A similar trend has also been observed in aircraft enclosures. Metallic enclosures are predominantly used in the aircraft industry, owing to their superior mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties; however, these enclosures are prone to corrosion and bring excess weight to an aircraft. The industry is keen to adopt composite enclosures which are not only lighter in weight as compared to metallic enclosures but also offer higher thermal loads and carry electrical properties.Commercial aircraft to remain the growth engineThe aircraft composite enclosures market is segmented based on the aircraft type as Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, Military Aircraft, and Others. Commercial aircraft is likely to remain the growth engine of the market during the forecast period. Increase in the production rates of key aircraft programs, stringent emission norms for reducing carbon emissions, increase in the use of avionics in the aircraft, and rising penetration of composites are likely to aid growth to the segment in the coming years.PPS is likely to remain the most dominant resin type segmentBased on the resin type, PPS is likely to remain the most dominant resin type in the aircraft composite enclosures market over the next five years. The resin type offers good dimensional stability even at an elevated temperature and in the harsh chemical environment. It also helps in molding complex parts with very tight tolerances and has an outstanding resistance to a wide variety of aggressive chemical environments and stability of dielectric and insulating properties over a wide range of conditions.Carbon fiber composite is likely to remain the fastest-growingBased on the fiber type, carbon fiber composite is likely to remain the fastest-growing segment of the market over the next five years, driven by its long list of advantages including lightweight, higher strength-to-weight ratio, good EMI performance, and better aesthetics. Glass fiber composites also offer a wide array of advantages including low cost, low weight, good product performance, and excellent corrosion resistance, over their rivals including aluminium and other metallic enclosures.Injection molding is the most widely preferred manufacturing processBased on the process type, injection molding is the most widely preferred manufacturing process in the market and is likely to remain the most dominant process during the forecast period as well. It is considered to be an ideal process for mass-volume applications and has the ability to develop complex shapes in a very short cycle time with very fewer scrapes.shielded enclosure to remain the larger segmentBased on the shielding type, the shielded enclosure is likely to remain the larger segment of the aircraft composite enclosures market during the forecast period. EMI shielded composite enclosures provide a combination of reflection and absorption of energy. The radiated energy from internal electronics is absorbed and dissipated in the shielded composite enclosures.North America to remain the largest marketBased on regions, North America is projected to remain the largest market during the forecast period. The USA is the growth engine of the North American aircraft composite enclosures market. Presence of major aircraft manufacturers, tier players, and enclosure manufacturers primarily drive the demand for composite enclosures in the country. The country is not only the largest market in North America, but it is also the largest market in the world. Asia-Pacific is likely to depict the highest growth during the same period, driven by China, India, and Japan. All these three countries would remain the growth engines of the regions market for aircraft composite enclosure over the next five years.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market trend and forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factors. Research MethodologyThis report studies the Aircraft Composite Enclosures Market, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The rich quality of insights is outcome of -o Extensive secondary research,o Rigorous primary interviews with more than 15 industry stakeholders across the value chain.o Validation and triangulation of data with Stratview Researchs internal database and statistical tools.o More than 1000 authenticated secondary sources, such as company annual reports, fact book, press release, journals, investor presentation, white papers, patents, and articles have been leveraged to gather the data.Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Aerospace & Defence Industry:Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research.400 Renaissance Center,Suite 2600,Detroit, Michigan, MI 48243United States of AmericaPhone No. +1-313-307-4176Email-sales@stratviewresearch.com
Bioreactors Market Analysis by Segments like Application, Scale, Material, Control Type and End-Users: Global Players Sartorius, Eppendorf & Danaher

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Bioreactors are used to speed up the biochemical process such as fermentation and antibiotic drug production, where bacteria or yeast are added as inoculum to carry out the reaction. Increase in the shift to single-use technology and an increase in incidences of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cancer that raises the demand for medicine production drives the market.In addition, growth in popularity of single-use bioreactor among biopharmaceutical companies and increase in biologics boosts the market growth. However, low capacity of single-use bioreactor and concerns regarding extractable restraint the market growth.Get Sample Copy of Report @The report segments the market on the basis of product, application, scale, material, control type, end user, and geography. Based on material, it is bifurcated into a glass and stainless steel. Based on application, it is classified into lab-scale production, pilot-scale production, and full-scale production. Based on the scale, the market is divided into 5L-20L, 20L-200L, 200L-1,500L, and above 1,500L.Based on the control type, the market is categorized into manual and automated. Based on the end user, it is segmented into biopharmaceutical manufacturers, life science R&D companies & academic research institutes, and contract research organizations & manufacturers. By geography, the global bioreactor market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.MARKET PLAYERS: PBS Biotech Inc. Danaher Corporation Sartorius AG Eppendorf AG ZETA Holding GmbH GE HealthcareKey Benefits of Bioreactors Market: It presents a quantitative analysis from 2016 to 2023 to enable the stakeholders to capitalize on prevailing market opportunities. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global bioreactor market, with current trends and future estimations to elucidate the imminent investment pockets. Extensive analysis of the market by product type assists to understand the various forms of bioreactors available. Key players are profiled and their strategies are analyzed thoroughly, which predict the competitive outlook of the market.Browse More Details of Report @About Us:Allied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1855550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb:
Green Cars Industry 2019-2025: Market Growth, Technology Impact, New Innovation, Development Trends, Top Companies Study (Tesla, BMW, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, General, Daimler etc.)

Green Cars market

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Global Green Cars Market Research Report 2019 analysis is provided for global market including development trends by regions, competitive analysis of market. This Green Cars market report offers detailed perceptions on the market dynamic forces to enable informed business decision making and development strategy formulation supported on the opportunities present in the market. The report provides the most up-to-date industry data on the actual and potential market situation, and future outlook.Get Sample Copy atGreen vehicle, or clean vehicle, or eco-friendly vehicle or environmentally friendly vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on gasoline or diesel, or one that uses certain alternative fuels. Presently, in some countries, the term is used for any vehicle complying or surpassing the more stringent European emission standards (such as Euro6), or California's zero-emissions vehicle standards (such as ZEV, ULEV, SULEV, PZEV), or the low-carbon fuel standards enacted in several countries.Market OverviewFirstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global market of Router industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and import/export. Revenue and gross margin by regions (North America, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and other regions can be added.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @No. of Pages: 103The report focuses on Global Green Cars Market major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. What's more, the Green Cars industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered. In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Key Companies Analyzed in this Report are: Tesla BMW Nissan Toyota Volkswagen General Daimler Energica BYD Ford Bosch (Robert) Honda Chrysler Mercedes Benz Chevrolet Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Electric and fuel cell-powered Hybrid electric vehicles Compressed air cars, stirling vehicles, and others Improving conventional cars Electric Motor and Pedal Powered Vehicles OtherOn the basis of the end users/applications can be split into Personal CommercialOrder a copy of Global Green Cars Market Report 2019 @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 Green Cars Market Overview2 Global Green Cars Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Complementary DNA Microarrays (cDNA4 Global Green Cars Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)5 Global Green Cars Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Green Cars Market Analysis by Application7 Global Green Cars Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Green Cars Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Green Cars Market Forecast (2019-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout UsOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Contact Us:Ruwin MendezVice President  Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn:
Global Vehicle Alternator Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023

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Global Vehicle Alternator Industry Market are utilized in autos to control the electrical framework and when the motor is running. A Global Vehicle Alternator Industry Market supplies capacity to run vehicle start, hardware, and lights and it additionally charges the battery. The Vehicle Alternator Industry is an essential segment of a car charging framework which controls the motor. The parts of Global Vehicle Alternator Industry Market incorporate the alternator rotor, the stator, the yield diodes, the diode trio, the voltage controller, the field current supply and the alternator or a battery light.Get sample copy of report:Table of Contents1. Introduction1.1 Study Deliverables1.2 General Study Assumptions2. Research Methodology2.1 Introduction2.2 Analysis Methodology3. Executive Summary4. Market Overview and Technological Trends4.1 Current Market Scenario4.2 Technology Trends4.3 Porter's Five Forces Framework4.3.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.3.2 Bargaining Power of the Consumers4.3.3 Threat of New Entrant4.3.4 Threat of Substitutes4.3.5 Competitive Rivalry5. Market Dynamics5.1 Drivers5.1.1 Increasing Vehicle Production and Sales5.1.2 Technically updated product in the updating market5.2 Restraints5.3 Opportunities5.3.1 Increase Demand in Electric and Hybrid vehicle6. Global Automotive Alternator Market Segmentation, by Vehicle Type6.1 Passenger cars6.2 Commercial vehicles7. Global Automotive Alternator Market Segmentation, by Type7.1 ICE Vehicles7.2 Hybrid and Electric Vehicles8. Global Automotive Alternator Market Segmentation, by Geography8.1. North America8.1.1 The United States8.1.2 Canada8.1.3 Mexico8.1.4 Rest of North America8.2 Asia-Pacific8.2.1 China8.2.2 Japan8.2.3 India8.2.4 Australia8.2.5 Rest of Asia-Pacific8.3. Europe8.3.1 Germany8.3.2 United Kingdom8.3.3 France8.3.4 Italy8.3.5 Rest of Europe8.4 South America8.4.1 Brazil8.4.2 Argentina8.4.3 Rest of South America8.5 Middle East & Africa8.5.1 Saudi Arabia8.5.2 UAE8.5.3 Iran8.5.4 South Africa8.5.5 Rest of Middle East & Africa9. Competitive Landscape9.1 Introduction9.2 Market Share Analysis10. Company Profile10.1 Control Power Technology10.2 Denso Corporation10.3 Hella KGaA Hueck & Co.10.4 Hitachi Automotive10.5 Lucas Electrical10.6 Mitsubishi Corporation10.7 Remy International10.8 Robert Bosch GmbH10.9 Valeo S.A.11. Future Outlook of the Market12. DisclaimerBy this report online:About Market Density:Market Density is your one stop market research and industry analysis reports' library providing business data and intelligence information on thousands of micro markets with global as well as regional coverage.Market Density offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Market Density understands how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Email: Support@marketdensity.comWebsite:Phone: +1 669 264 16564340 Stevens Creek Blvd,Suite # 172,San Jose, CA 95129
Diastematomyelia Market See Radical Growth at 8.3% CAGR During 2018-2023 | GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Pfizer Inc., Lineage Medical, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb and Company etc.

Diastematomyelia Market

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Diastematomyelia is a congenital condition where the upper lumbar part of the spinal cord splits. It occurs due to increasing pressure on the ulnar nerve in the elbow. The disease is more common in children, however, sometimes adults are also affected by the disease. Increasing prevalence of diastematomyelia is the major driving factor for the growth of the market. In most cases, the treatment used spinal cord injury are used for the treatment of the disease. According to the World Health Organization, globally, 250,000 to 500,000 people suffer a spinal cord injury every year. Though, diastematomyelia is considered as a rare disease, during last decade there is a sudden rise in the number of the patients suffering from the diseases.A number of diagnostic procedures are available in the market for the diagnosis of the diastematomyelia. Increasing healthcare expenditure and rising government support have supported the growth of the market. According to the Boston Children's Hospital, in 2015, 5% of children across the globe were suffering from sustain spinal cord injuries. Furthermore, rapid development in the imaging technology and continuous improvement in the medical services have fuelled the market growth. The cost associated with the surgeries is very high which is not affordable for the people in developing region. Thus, high cost of surgeries, and lack of the precise treatment may restrain the growth of the market.Get Sample Copy @The Global Diastematomyelia Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% during forecast period 2017-2023.SegmentationThe global diastematomyelia market is segmented on the basis of types, host, therapy, and end users.On the basis of type, the market is segmented into dual dural sac (type 1), and single sac (type 2).On the basis of host, the market is segmented into children and adults.On the basis of therapy, the market is segmented into diagnosis & therapy. The diagnosis is further segmented into imaging techniques, and prenatal ultrasound. Imaging techniques are further categorised into Plain X-ray, CT, MRI and others. The therapy is further segmented into surgical intervention, scoliosis surgery, decompression (surgery), and others.On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into hospital, clinics, ambulatory centers, and others.Key playersThe major key players in the global diastematomyelia market: 3M (US), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (U.K), Pfizer Inc. (U.S.), Lineage Medical, Inc. (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. (U.S.), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Company (U.S.), B. Braun (Germany), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Argon Medical Devices, Inc (the Netherlands), Cook Medical (U.S.)Regional AnalysisAsia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the global diastematomyelia market owing to the presence of huge patient pool, rapidly developing economies, and increasing demand for the better treatment options. Majority of the market is driven by India and China owing to huge patient population.The Americas dominates the global diastematomyelia market owing to large patient population. According to the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation, in 2015, over 259,000 people in the U.S. were suffering from spinal cord injury. Increasing number of patients suffering from diastematomyelia and other spinal disease have driven the growth of the Americas diastematomyelia market. Additionally, high per capita income and increasing government support for research & development will fuelled the growth of the market. Diastematomyelia is considered as a rare diseases thus, government and other private companies are trying to create awareness among the people by conducting different seminars. Increasing awareness among people regarding the disease and well-developed technology will create opportunities for the development of the market.Europe accounts for the second largest diastematomyelia market, which is followed by Asia Pacific. Availability of funds for research, huge geriatric population, and government support for research & development projected to drive the market in Europe. The U.K and Germany are the major contributors for the market.Whereas, the Middle East & Africa owns the least share of the global diastematomyelia market due to the presence of poor economy, especially, in the Africa region. The market of this region is dominated by the Middle East due to a well-developed healthcare sector and huge healthcare expenditure. However, Africa region shows the fastest growth for the market.Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Europe Tractor Market to reach $ 24 billion by 2023: TechSci Research Report

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Rising demand for food across various countries of Europe region along with emergence of autonomous tractors to drive Europe tractor market through 2023According to TechSci Research report, Europe Tractor Market By Power Output, By Drive Type, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013 - 2023, Europe tractor market is forecast to reach $ 24 billion by 2023, predominantly on account of booming agriculture sector in the region. Moreover, major tractor manufacturers are expanding their operations in the region, which is further expected to positively influence the market in the coming years. Furthermore, increasing penetration of autonomous tractors, which reduce the overall cost of farming is anticipated to steer growth in Europe tractor market during the forecast period.Browse 90 market data Figures spread through 99 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Europe Tractor Market"Based on power output Europe tractor market is segmented into under 40 HP, 40 & Under 100 HP and 100 HP & above. Of all road tractors, the 100 HP & above segment is the most popular in Europe and accounted for a volume share of more than 45% in 2017. Continuous business expansions of prominent tractor manufacturing companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Deere & Co, TAFE, etc., is further anticipated to intensify the competition in Europe tractor market over the course of next five years.Download Sample Report @Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.Over the last few years, increasing industrialization, rising number of construction projects and growing e-commerce and agriculture sectors have been pushing demand for tractors across Europe. Moreover, rising demand for packaged foods, premixes, etc., is further contributing significantly towards the growth of Europe tractor market. Furthermore, growing goods transportation and rising inclination towards lower emission vehicles would further propel sales of tractors across Europe in the coming years. said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.Europe Tractor Market By Power Output, By Drive Type, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013 - 2023 has analyzed the potential of tractor market across the Europe region, and provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report will suffice in providing the intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by Europe tractor market.Browse Related ReportsIndia Electric Passenger Car Market, By Vehicle Type (Hatchback, Sedan, and SUV & MUV), By Drivetrain Technology (PHEV and BEV), By Battery Capacity (201 Ah), Competition Forecast & Opportunities, FY2103 - FY2023Global Electric Two Wheeler Market By Vehicle Type (Scooter/Moped and Motorcycle), By Battery Capacity (25 Ah), By Battery Type (Lead Acid and Li-ion), By Region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, etc.) Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013-2023Global Truck Market By Application (Construction, Logistics, & Mining), By Tonnage Capacity (3.5-7.5 Tons, 7.5-16 Tons, 16-30 Tons & Others), By Fuel Type (Diesel, CNG & LNG, & Others), By Region, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2012 2022About TechSci ResearchTechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.ContactMr. Ken Mathews708 Third Avenue,Manhattan, NY,New York  10017Tel: +1-646-360-1656Email: sales@techsciresearch.comTwitter -LinkedIn -TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.B  44, Sector 57, Noida, National Capital Region
Newly-appointed Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi says 2019 will be a crucial year in enhancing the bilateral relationship. And there are good reasons behind her optimism.



Officials from both sides are in negotiations to identify joint projects to be implemented under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), hoping to achieve a breakthrough in selecting the key ones this year.

They are likely to fix the financial modality of the most talked-about Kathmandu-Kerung (Gyirung) cross-border railway considered a potential game changer in the country's economic transformation as well as the enhanced connectivity, growing trade and further integration within the region.

As the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-led government enters its second year in office, China is preparing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In April, it is holding the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to which Nepal plans to send a high-level delegation.

China is one of the largest foreign investors in Nepal. Indeed, the Nepali government is counting on continued strong Chinese investment for building critical infrastructure networks and spurring economic growth, thereby realizing its motto of "Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali."

Since joining the BRI in 2017, Nepal and China have been engaged in the work of deciding the projects that need to be prioritized. However, a section of people, including members of main opposition party, Nepali Congress, have been invoking the debt-trap theory to nip the BRI projects in the bud. This particularly applies to the Kathmandu-Kerung railway.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has dismissed the argument, stating that Nepal is not going to fall into any debt trap. "Instead, BRI will benefit us. We are aware of our national interests and of our priorities," he has stated. He also expressed confidence that construction of the railway, a key component in landlocked Nepal's drive for secure trade routes to the international market, will move ahead as planned.

Meanwhile, Nepal and China have recently witnessed strong economic cooperation, tourism growth and cultural exchanges at the desired pace.

China's Shanghai Construction Group Co. Ltd. has completed the Koteshwor-Kalanki road expansion project and an underpass at Kalanki, substantially improving traffic movement in the capital city of Kathmandu. The Chinese government gave 5.13 billion rupees towards building the 10.5-km eight-lane road as part of improvement on the 27-km Kathmandu Ring Road.

As a symbol of Nepal-China friendship, the Ring Road was first constructed with Chinese financial assistance as long ago as 1977.

Nepal has also become a favored holiday destination for an increasing number of Chinese tourists. Their numbers grew by 48 percent in 2018 over the previous year. Over 153,602 Chinese visited Nepal, coming to enjoy cool weather in summer and comparative warmth in winter.

During the recent Spring Festival holidays, many Chinese tourists flocked to the scenic cities of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.

To mark the Chinese Lunar New Year, cultural troupes from the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu performed traditional dance and song routines in Kathmandu, enthralling a diverse audience comprising politicians, diplomats, business community, social workers and the media, among others.

Ritu Raj Subedi is Deputy Executive Editor of The Rising Nepal of The Rising Nepal.





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.
Biopharma Outsourcing Market Outlook to 2025: Sartorius, Emcure Pharmaceuticals,BioPharma Services, Lambda Therapeutic Research, Baxter Healthcare, Keyrus Biopharma, Quintiles, Aptuit, KBI Biopharm and ICON

Biopharma Outsourcing

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Biopharma Outsourcing market is also presented to the readers as a holistic snapshot of the competitive landscape within the given forecast period. The report also educates about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. The report also focuses on all the recent industry trends. It presents a comparative detailed analysis of the all regional and player segments, offering readers a better knowledge of where areas in which they can place their existing resources and gauging the priority of a particular region in order to boost their standing in the market.Biopharma outsourcing plays an important role in the growth of biopharmaceuticals market. The growth of this market is promising with rapidly expanding biosimilars base.The report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major players in the market. The key players covered in this report: Sartorius, Emcure Pharmaceuticals,BioPharma Services, Lambda Therapeutic Research, Baxter Healthcare, Keyrus Biopharma, Quintiles, Aptuit, KBI Biopharm and ICON.Get Sample of Report atThis market encompasses various contract companies that provide clinical trials, drug discovery, drug development, manufacturing, packaging, software and non-clinical services.This study considers the Biopharma Outsourcing value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments:Segmentation by product type: Claims Management Services Integrated Front-End Services and Back-Office Operations Product Development and Business Acquisition Services Provider Management Services Care Management Billing and Accounts Management Services HR ServicesSegmentation by application: Clinical Trials Drug Discovery API Development Contract Production & Packaging Non-Clinical Services OthersThis report also splits the market by region: Americas APAC Europe Middle East & AfricaIn addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks faced by key manufacturers and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.Inquiry Before Buying atReport Analysis: To analyze the market size of the market and infer the key trends from it. Comprehensive quantitative analysis of the industry is provided for the period of 2016-2023 to assist stakeholders to capitalize on the prevailing market opportunities. Industry Chain Suppliers of Biopharma Outsourcing market with Contact Information To inspect the market based on product, market share and size of the product share. Industry Chain Suppliers of Biopharma Outsourcing market with Contact Information The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Biopharma Outsourcing Market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategiesResearch objectives To study and analyze the global Biopharma Outsourcing consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2023. To understand the structure of Biopharma Outsourcing market by identifying its various subsegments. Focuses on the key global Biopharma Outsourcing manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years. To analyze the Biopharma Outsourcing with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market. To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks). To project the consumption of Biopharma Outsourcing submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries). To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Get More Information atNote: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Us:Research For Markets indulge in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East And Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.com
E-Commerce Packaging Market by Top Key Players - Pioneer Packaging, Arihant packaging, Total Pack, Linpac Packaging, Charapak, Fencor packaging, Commonwealth Packaging

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E-commerce packaging involves the use of materials for safe packaging of products sold by the e-commerce industry. E-commerce packaging plays a vital role in the consumers' perception about the e-retailer. It also indicates the perceived value of the item received. Packaging reflects the value of shipment in the e-commerce supply chain, that is, better the packaging, better the product inside it.Get Sample Copy of this Report @The E-Commerce Packaging Market research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. It provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, regions, and product type and distribution channels.By Market Players: Pioneer Packaging, Arihant packaging, Total Pack, Linpac Packaging, Charapak, Fencor packaging, Commonwealth Packaging, Shorr packaging, Smart Karton, Mondi, International Paper, Sealed Air, Georgia-PacificThe report firstly introduced the E-Commerce Packaging basics: Definitions, segment classifications, outlook and market overview, product specifications, manufacturing processes, company profile analysis, cost structures, raw materials and so on. Moreover, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The regions North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America have been studied in depth to gain better market penetration and assure exact analysis. Top manufacturers have been given prime importance to make sure their strategies are understood and their position in this particular market can be elucidated.This study provides an evaluation of aspects that are expected to impact growth of market in an undesired or constructive method. The E-Commerce Packaging market has been consistently examined with respect to the corresponding market segments. Each year within the mentioned forecast period is concisely considered in terms of produce and worth in the regional as well as the global markets respectively.KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS: The report provides an extensive analysis of the current and emerging market trends and opportunities in the global E-Commerce Packaging market. The report provides detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of current trends and future estimations that help evaluate the prevailing market opportunities. A comprehensive analysis of the factors that drive and restrict the growth of the market is provided. An extensive analysis of the market is conducted by following key product positioning and monitoring the top competitors within the market framework. The report provides extensive qualitative insights on the potential and niche segments or regions exhibiting favorable growth.Get a discount on this research report @Table of ContentGlobal E-Commerce Packaging Industry Market Research Report1 E-Commerce Packaging Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of E-Commerce Packaging1.3 E-Commerce Packaging Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global E-Commerce Packaging Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2014-20241.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of E-Commerce Packaging1.4.2 Applications of E-Commerce Packaging1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.2 Europe E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.3 China E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.4 Japan E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.6 India E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.4.3.7 South America E-Commerce Packaging Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2014-2019)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of E-Commerce Packaging1.5.1.2 Growing Market of E-Commerce Packaging1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies2 Industry Chain Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Material Suppliers of E-Commerce Packaging Analysis2.2 Major Players of E-Commerce Packaging2.2.1 Major Players Manufacturing Base and Market Share of E-Commerce Packaging in 20182.2.2 Major Players Product Types in 20182.3 E-Commerce Packaging Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.3.1 Production Process Analysis2.3.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure of E-Commerce Packaging2.3.3 Raw Material Cost of E-Commerce Packaging2.3.4 Labor Cost of E-Commerce Packaging2.4 Market Channel Analysis of E-Commerce Packaging2.5 Major Downstream Buyers of E-Commerce Packaging Analysis3 Global E-Commerce Packaging Market, by Type3.1 Global E-Commerce Packaging Value ($) and Market Share by Type (2014-2019)3.2 Global E-Commerce Packaging Production and Market Share by Type (2014-2019)3.3 Global E-Commerce Packaging Value ($) and Growth Rate by Type (2014-2019)3.4 Global E-Commerce Packaging Price Analysis by Type (2014-2019)4 E-Commerce Packaging Market, by Application4.1 Global E-Commerce Packaging Consumption and Market Share by Application (2014-2019)4.2 Downstream Buyers by Application4.3 Global E-Commerce Packaging Consumption and Growth Rate by Application (2014-2019)For More Info @:About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world. Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United Statescall answer Direct:+1-971-202-1575call answer Toll Free:+1-800-910-6452email help@bigmarketresearch.com
Global Single Dose Detergent Market 2019 - P&G, Unilever, Henkel, Church & Dwight

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This new report by Eon Market Research, titled Global Single Dose Detergent Market 2019 Research Report, 2015  2025 offers a comprehensive analysis of Single Dose Detergent industry at a global as well as regional and country level. Key facts analyzed in this report include the Single Dose Detergent market size by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2014-2018 and forecast data 2019-2025. This report primarily focuses on the study of the competitive landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors in global Single Dose Detergent market.Make a Request for Sample Pages Single Dose Detergent Market 2019 Research Report Here @This report on Single Dose Detergent market presents market size in terms of volume and value (or whichever applicable) for the entire forecast period and also offers CAGR for the forecast period under consideration. Key trends analyzed for the prospective readers of this Single Dose Detergent market report include major demand drivers, restraints and key opportunities prevailing in the industry. Certain high-level analysis of Single Dose Detergent market such as value chain analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, and market attractiveness analysis to cover all the circumstances affecting this Single Dose Detergent industry is also covered in this report. Portfolio analysis helps to understand product mix of leading companies in Single Dose Detergent industry.This report focuses on top manufacturers in the global Single Dose Detergent market, with revenue production, sales, gross margin, and market share for each manufacturer, covering P&GUnileverHenkelChurch & DwightLionReckitt BenckiserCloroxLibyKaoBlue MoonLam SoonConsumption, production, capacity, market share, growth rate, and prices are included for each product segment of Single Dose Detergent market By TechnologyStain RemovalOdor RemovalFreshnessWhitenessBy FormPowderLiquidConsumption, market share and growth rate for each application segment of Single Dose Detergent market HouseholdCommercialInquiry before Buying Single Dose Detergent Market 2019 Report and Ask For Discount Here @The Single Dose Detergent market report presents all-inclusive information on raw materials suppliers, equipment suppliers, manufacturing cost, capacity, production, profit margin, capacity utilization rate, etc. The Global Single Dose Detergent Market report also covers a systematic geographical analysis.Key regions analyzed in the global Single Dose Detergent market include; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East Africa. The country-level analysis included for U.S., UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. The Single Dose Detergent industry report provides detailed bifurcation of each segment on global, regional and country level. In a word, the Single Dose Detergent market report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of direction and control for companies and individuals interested in the market.Browse Complete Single Dose Detergent Market Report Details and ToC Here @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Us:Eon Market Research is detail and precision oriented market research end business consulting company. To offer factual and sustainable end results derived from a precise and appropriate research that assist our prospective readers to take the key decision and achieve the growth of their organizations.Contact Us:MaxEmail - inquiry@eonmarketresearch.comPhone - +1 703 879 7090Web -
Big Data Analytics in Healthcare 2019 Global Market Key Players  Cisco, Cognizant, Health Catalyst, IBM, McKesson, MEDEANALYTICS, Microsoft, Oracle, SAS Institute, Vizient -Analysis And Forecast To 2025

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Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market 2019Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Big Data Analytics in Healthcare  Global Market Growth, Opportunities, Analysis Of Top Key Players And Forecast To 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:Big data analytics in healthcare is a complete solution package offered by key analytic solution providers, such as IBM Corporation, Cognizant, Health Catalyst, Medeanalytics, Inc., McKesson Corporation, and others, to predict, manage, and maintain various analytical platforms in cloud and on-premise deployment. It also provides intuitive analysis on healthcare-related processes that start from pre-hospitalization to post medical cost calculation.Technological advancements and extensive use of cloud deployment platform have contributed to the adoption of big data analytics in healthcare market in North America. Moreover, increase in the adoption of big data analytics for healthcare-related applications, such as cost-effective medication, insurance planning with respect to population health, and diagnostic approaches in Asia-Pacific, have encouraged vendors to invest in product development in big data analytics in healthcare market.In 2018, the global Big Data Analytics in Healthcare market size was 11900 million US$ and it is expected to reach 48500 million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 19.2% during 2019-2025.This report focuses on the global Big Data Analytics in Healthcare status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Big Data Analytics in Healthcare development in United States, Europe and China.The key players covered in this studyCiscoCognizantHealth CatalystIBMMcKessonMEDEANALYTICSMicrosoftOracleSAS InstituteVizientRequest for Sample Report @Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoSoftwareServiceMarket segment by Application, split intoHospitals & ClinicsFinance & Insurance AgenciesResearch OrganizationMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Content:1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.4.1 Global Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2014-2025)1.4.2 Software1.4.3 Service1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market Share by Application (2014-2025)1.5.2 Hospitals & Clinics1.5.3 Finance & Insurance Agencies1.5.4 Research Organization1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Global Growth Trends2.1 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market Size2.2 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Growth Trends by Regions2.2.1 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market Size by Regions (2014-2025)2.2.2 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)2.3 Industry Trends2.3.1 Market Top Trends2.3.2 Market Drivers2.3.3 Market Opportunities..12 International Players Profiles12.1 Cisco12.1.1 Cisco Company Details12.1.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.1.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.1.4 Cisco Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.1.5 Cisco Recent Development12.2 Cognizant12.2.1 Cognizant Company Details12.2.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.2.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.2.4 Cognizant Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.2.5 Cognizant Recent Development12.3 Health Catalyst12.3.1 Health Catalyst Company Details12.3.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.3.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.3.4 Health Catalyst Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.3.5 Health Catalyst Recent Development12.4 IBM12.4.1 IBM Company Details12.4.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.4.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.4.4 IBM Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.4.5 IBM Recent Development12.5 McKesson12.5.1 McKesson Company Details12.5.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.5.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.5.4 McKesson Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.5.5 McKesson Recent Development12.6 MEDEANALYTICS12.6.1 MEDEANALYTICS Company Details12.6.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.6.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.6.4 MEDEANALYTICS Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.6.5 MEDEANALYTICS Recent Development12.7 Microsoft12.7.1 Microsoft Company Details12.7.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.7.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.7.4 Microsoft Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.7.5 Microsoft Recent Development12.8 Oracle12.8.1 Oracle Company Details12.8.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.8.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.8.4 Oracle Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.8.5 Oracle Recent Development12.9 SAS Institute12.9.1 SAS Institute Company Details12.9.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.9.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.9.4 SAS Institute Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.9.5 SAS Institute Recent Development12.10 Vizient12.10.1 Vizient Company Details12.10.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.10.3 Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Introduction12.10.4 Vizient Revenue in Big Data Analytics in Healthcare Business (2014-2019)12.10.5 Vizient Recent DevelopmentContinued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Christmas Lights and Christmas Decorationsnning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Flex Fuel Engine Market set to grow according to forecasts 2025| Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors, Honda, Nissan

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Flex Fuel Engine Market report provides in depth market scenario includes current market size estimates, market splits by vendors, end user segments and by regions. The report also provides a snapshot of key competition, market trends with forecast over the next 6 years, expected growth rates and the principal factors driving and impacting growth Market data and analytics are derived from a combination of primary and secondary sources.Get PDF report template @Flex-fuel vehicles are segmented in terms of engine capacity such as compact-, mid-size, and full-size.The compact-size segment had the highest market share and dominated the global market. The downsizing of several older generation engines has increased the volume units of engines falling into this segment. Several manufacturers are using technologies like forced induction and direct injection to minimize the size of vehicular engines. This not only makes the vehicle weight lighter but also reduces the friction in the engine. The increasing focus to reduce carbon emission by all major economies across the globe will be a major growth driver for this market segment.Brazil occupies the majority of the global flex-fuel engine market and has the highest penetration rate for flex-fuel vehicles. Flex-fuel is one of the leading technologies implemented across all the vehicle segments in Brazil. The growth of flex-fuel is exclusive to Brazil due to the countrys capacity to generate and dispense massive quantities of ethanol on the retail fuel market at affordable prices. With the growing demand for light-duty vehicle fuel, the country will witness high growth during the forecast period.The global Flex Fuel Engine market is valued at xx million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.Major Key players of Flex Fuel Engine market reports are: Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Fiat, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi, Renault, Toyota, Peugeot,Click to view Tables, Charts, Figures, TOC, and Companies Mentioned in the global Flex Fuel Engine market Report at-The report focuses on various regional markets for each of the segment within the Surgical Lighting market. The major regions include North America, Europe, APAC, EMEA, and Latin America. This report presents a detailed analysis, market sizing, and forecasting for the emerging segment within the Flex Fuel Engine market. The report is thoroughly segmented by product type, application, vertical, and region.Flex Fuel Engine Market Segmentation by Types:Compact-sizeMid-sizeFull-sizeFlex Fuel Engine Market Segmentation by Applications:Passenger CarsCommercial VehiclesGet Customized Report in your Inbox within 24 hours @Highlights from the TOC:Market Overview: Readers are provided with a brilliant overview of the global Flex Fuel Engine market and the scope of products available for commercial sale. Here, the authors of the report also touch on key segments of the global Flex Fuel Engine market and give a glimpse of the market size by value and volume.Competition by Manufacturers: This section of the report shows how different manufacturers are performing in the global Flex Fuel Engine market on the basis of average price, revenue, and production.Production Market Share by Region: It includes market analysis of each region and country studied in the report in terms of gross margin, price, revenue, production, and growth rate.Company Profiles and Key Figures in Business: It lists all players studied in the report on the basis of markets served, gross margin, price, revenue, production, product specification, application, and production sites.Manufacturing Cost Analysis: It covers industrial chain analysis, raw material analysis, manufacturing cost structure, and other key aspects.About Us:QY Research established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.Contact USQY Research, INC.17890 Castleton, Suite 218,City of industry, CA  91748USA: +1 626 295 2442Email  enquiry@qyresearch.comWeb 
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Drugs Market Analysis with Industry Key Player - Basilea Pharmaceutical Ltd., The Medicines Company, Thera Vance Biopharma, Allergan, Merck & Co. Inc., Pfizer Inc.

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A new report titled Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Drugs Market Covering Trends, Market Share and Forecast to 2025 has been included in the enormous research repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) that compiles various facets of the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Drugs Market at a global level portraying a holistic analysis of the marketplace along with intelligence on key participants. The report covers an unbiased analysis on various market aspects, emphasizing major trends giving direction to the market, key opportunities paving new growth avenues, key drivers pushing the markets growth and challenges and restraints hindering the market for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Drugs Market across the globe.Request Free Sample Report @This report on the Global Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Drugs Market analyzes the current and future scenario of the global market. Rise in private and public funding for R&D of novel anti-MRSA drug molecules, increase in prevalence of MRSA infections, and their improved screening are boosting the growth of the global MRSA drugs market. According to CDC, two in every 100 people carry MRSA. Introduction of generic drugs for the MRSA treatment, and upsurge in the consumption of antibiotics in the developing countries are some of the factors expected to drive the growth of global MRSA drugs market during the forecast period.The MRSA drugs market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes market snapshot that provides information about various segments. It also provides information and data analysis of the global market with respect to the segments based on drug class, route of administration, distribution channel, and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints, and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. Additionally, the report comprises epidemiological assessment of MRSA infection, in terms of causes, complications, current & future treatment options for MRSA, along with its prevalence rate in key countries. The report contains comparative analysis of key companies operating in the global MRSA drugs market, in terms of strategic developments, current and future market positioning, and their key differential parameters, to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. Moreover, the global corporate scenario is provided in the report with major pipeline products of emerging and established pharmaceutical manufacturers, and their respective dosage forms. This report also provides market attractiveness and its analysis in terms of geography and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global MRSA drugs market.Based on the drug class, the global MRSA drugs market is segmented into lipopeptide, oxazolidinone, cephalosporin, tetracycline, lipoglycopeptide, folate antagonist, and others. Lipopeptide accounted for highest market share in 2016, owing to the diversified distribution of daptomycin (lipopeptide) across the globe by key distributors in 2016. Others drug class is projected to expand at relatively significant CAGR during 2017-2025, which is attributable to the rising incidence of community-acquired MRSA infection. Different types of route of administration in the MRSA drugs market are oral and parenteral. Parenteral segment dominated the market in terms of market share in 2016, and is expected to continue to lead the global market during forecast period. However, oral segment is likely to expand during 2017-2025, due to presence of numerous oral vaccines against MRSA infection in the developmental phase by key companies. Various distribution channels in the global MRSA market are hospital pharmacy, retail pharmacy, and online pharmacy. Hospital pharmacy held maximum market share in 2016, and is expected to remain dominant by 2025 in terms of revenue. However, online pharmacy is likely to expand with maximum CAGR owing to the rising adoption of the population for digital platform. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Geographically, the global MRSA drugs has been categorized into five major regions and the key countries in the respective region: North America (U.S. and Canada), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (India, China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC Countries, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa). The market size and forecast for each of these regions and the mentioned countries have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The research study also covers the competitive scenario in these regions.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The report also profiles major players in the global MRSA drugs based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, SWOT analysis, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include Basilea Pharmaceutical Ltd., The Medicines Company, Thera Vance Biopharma, Allergan, Merck & Co., Inc., and Pfizer, Inc.The Global MRSA drugs Market has been segmented as given below:Global MRSA Drugs Market, by Drug ClassLipopeptideOxazolidinoneTetracyclineCephalosporinLipoglycopeptideFolate AntagonistOthersGlobal MRSA Drugs Market, by Route of AdministrationOralParenteralGlobal MRSA Drugs Market, by Distribution ChannelHospital PharmacyRetail PharmacyOnline PharmacyGlobal MRSA drugs Market, by RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyU.K.FranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia PacificIndiaChinaJapanRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesSouth AfricaIsraelRest of Middle East & AfricaEnquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Dental Implants Markets to 2023: 3M Company, Bicon Llc., Biohorizons Iph, Dentsply Sirona, Neoss International, Nobel Biocare, Osstem Implants Co. Ltd., TBR Dental Group

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Dental Implants: Global Markets to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports."SummaryThe dental implant market is estimated at REDACTED in 2018, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of REDACTED, and expected to reach nearly REDACTED in 2023.- Untreated tooth decay is considered to be the most prevalent of the 291 conditions studied between 1990 and 2010 in the international Global Burden of Disease Study. - Severe periodontitis, which is estimated to affect between 5 and 20 percent of the population around the world, was found to be the sixth most common condition. Oral cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in the world, and even more prevalent in South Asia, with numbers expected to rise due to increasing tobacco and alcohol consumption.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @- Europe dominates the dental implant market, followed by North America. This is due to the majority of the key players in the dental implant industry being situated in Europe. The high cost of dental implant treatment in Europe and North America, when compared to other countries, as well as increased healthcare spending and disposable incomes are other reasons for the increased market share. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region over the forecast period, and this growth is driven by factors such as increasing oral diseases, a rising geriatric population and growing disposable incomes of the people in this region.- The American Academy of Implant Dentistry has estimated that over 69% of Americans between ages 35 and 44 years have at least one missing tooth. Moreover, as a developed region, the U.S. population has a higher affordability rate for dental implant procedures. High healthcare spending in this region is expected to propel market growth.- The titanium dental implant segment dominated the product market in 2016, owing to the wide use of dental implants made of this material. The biocompatible nature of the pure form of titanium is the main reason for its wide usage in the industry.- The zirconium segment is anticipated to be the fastest growing product segment over the forecast period. Zirconium functions with nearly the same features as those of titanium, but with higher esthetics and a lesser chance for allergy. Titanium implants are generally fabricated either as one-piece or two-piece systems, whereas zirconium implants are made as one-piece systems. Two-piece implants offer better features, such as their use to support overdentures.Implants are manufactured in different sizes (length and width), which enable the dental practitioner to choose the implants according to the patients bone dimensions.""Report Scope:This report provides a detailed analysis of the dental implant market, segmented according to the type of material used, product type, value, end user and region. On the basis of materials, the market is divided into titanium and zirconium implants. On the basis of implant type, the market is divided into tapered and parallel-walled dental implants. Based on the value, they are divided into premium and non-premium dental implants. On the basis of end users, the market is divided into dental clinics and hospitals, dental laboratories and dental colleges and research establishments, and on the basis of region, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South America.The report also includes a discussion of the major drivers and global dynamics, along with the political, economic, social and technological factors that impact the market. The report provides market size estimates for the year 2017 (considered as a base year), 2018, and a forecast for 2023. Market estimates and forecast figures are provided for all major market segments. A discussion of the major players is included in the competitive landscape section, which provides trends in product launches, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and other agreements.The report concludes with a special focus on the company profiles and includes detailed profiles of the major vendors in the dental implant market.Report Includes:- 45 tables- Detailed overview and an industry analysis of the dental implant market- Country specific data and analysis for United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, U.K., China, India, Japan, Middle East and Africa- Segmentation of the global market by type of material used, implant type, end user, and region- Discussion of the major drivers and global dynamics, along with the political, economic, social and technological factors that impact the market- A relevant patent analysis- Examination of the competitive landscape- Detailed profiles of the major market players, including 3M Company, Bicon Llc., Biohorizons Iph, Dentsply Sirona, Neoss International, Nobel Biocare, Osstem Implants Co. Ltd., TBR Dental Group and Zimmer Biomet Holdings"Table of ContentsChapter 1 IntroductionStudy Goals and ObjectivesReasons for Doing This StudyScope of ReportInformation SourcesResearch MethodologyGeographic BreakdownAnalyst's CredentialsBCC Custom ResearchRelated BCC Research ReportsChapter 2 Summary and HighlightsChapter 3 Market and Technology BackgroundIntroductionMarket Definition and OverviewGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Components of Dental ImplantsThe FixtureThe AbutmentThe ProsthesisDevelopments and Advancements in Dental ImplantsCurrent Trends in Dental ImplantologyImmediate Loading Dental ImplantsMini Dental ImplantsAll-on-4 TechniqueZygomatic ImplantsMarket DriversIncrease in Oral Diseases Leading to Tooth LossContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Protease Inhibitors Industry 2019-2025 Market Growth with Key Players Grifols S.A , Octapharma AG, Kedrion S.p.A (Italy), Biotest AG, LFB S.A

Protease Inhibitors Market

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Protease Inhibitors Industry 2019 Research report focused on Market current status, chain structure, future roadmap, industry policy, market leading player, opportunity, market player profile and strategy. This report also provided for the international market including Industry size, share, growth, trend, outlook, supplier, manufacture, regions, product types and end industries.Get Sample copy @Analysis of Key Manufacturers: CSL Ltd. Grifols S.A Baxalta Incorporated Octapharma AG Kedrion S.p.A (Italy) China Biologic Products, Inc. Biotest AG LFB S.A ....Those are profiled in overview of qualities, for example, company portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, recent developments, and share of the overall industry.Key segments covered in this report: Geography segment, end use/application segment, and competitor segment. The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc. For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.Global Protease Inhibitors Industry 2019 Market Research Report is spread across 73 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @Study Objectives of Global Protease Inhibitors Market are:This report provides the business opportunity with supreme insights and defines analysis for changing competitive dynamics.This report provides the business opportunity with supreme insights and defines analysis for changing competitive dynamics.It provides a Technical/ Logical perspective on the various factors driving or detaining the growth of the market.It provides a competitor analysis forecast measured with regards to how the market is projected to grow.It also helps in understanding the key Players segments and their forecast research.It provides an extensive analysis of the changing competitive dynamics and keeps you ahead of the competitors.It helps in business decisions by having Business scenario insights of market and by making a detailed analysis of market segments.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Order a Copy of this Report @Market Segment by Type, covers, Reagent grade Pharmaceutical Grade other.Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into.The report focuses on global major leading Protease Inhibitors Industry player providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Protease Inhibitors industry development trends and marketing channels are.About UsOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Contact Us:Ruwin MendezVice President  Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn:
OFFSHORE DRILLING PLATFORMS GLOBAL MARKET INSIGHTS 2019 FORECAST TO 2025 : Keppel Corporation, Sembcorp Marine, DSME, SHI, HHI, NOV

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Latest Update "Global Offshore Drilling Platforms Market Insights, Forecast to 2025" with Edition 2019 Survey of Related Topic (Industries / Pharmaceutical / Retail / Equipments / Energy / ICT) : Global Current Growth and Future.' 'This report presents the worldwide Offshore Drilling Platforms market size (value, production and consumption), splits the breakdown (data status 2013-2018 and forecast to 2025), by manufacturers, region, type and application.This study also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.In this study, 2017 has been considered as the base year and 2018 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Offshore Drilling Platforms.- The following manufacturers are covered in this report:Keppel CorporationSembcorp MarineDSMESHIHHINOVCIMC RafflesCSIC DalianCOSCOCMHIMaersk Drilling. . Get Sample Report_' '- Offshore Drilling Platforms Breakdown Data by TypeJack-upsSemi-submersiblesDrillships- Offshore Drilling Platforms Breakdown Data by ApplicationOffshore Wind TurbinesOil And Natural Gas DrillingOthers- Offshore Drilling Platforms Production by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions- Offshore Drilling Platforms Consumption by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & Africa- The study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Offshore Drilling Platforms status and future forecastinvolving, production, revenue, consumption, historical and forecast.To present the key Offshore Drilling Platforms manufacturers, production, revenue, market share, and recent development.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.- In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Offshore Drilling Platforms :History Year: 2013 - 2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year: 2018 - 2025This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Offshore Drilling Platforms market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.. . More Clear Details get Full Table of Contents_' '2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Offshore Drilling Platforms Manufacturers2.3.2.1 Offshore Drilling Platforms Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters2.3.2.2 Manufacturers Offshore Drilling Platforms Product Offered2.3.2.3 Date of Manufacturers Enter into Offshore Drilling Platforms Market2.4 Key Trends for Offshore Drilling Platforms Markets & Products3 Market Size by Manufacturers3.1 Offshore Drilling Platforms Production by Manufacturers3.1.1 Offshore Drilling Platforms Production by Manufacturers3.1.2 Offshore Drilling Platforms Production Market Share by Manufacturers3.2 Offshore Drilling Platforms Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Offshore Drilling Platforms Revenue by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.2.2 Offshore Drilling Platforms Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3.3 Offshore Drilling Platforms Price by Manufacturers3.4 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 Offshore Drilling Platforms Production by Regions4.1 Global Offshore Drilling Platforms Production by Regions4.1.1 Global Offshore Drilling Platforms Production Market Share by Regions4.1.2 Global Offshore Drilling Platforms Revenue Market Share by Regions4.2 United States4.2.1 United States Offshore Drilling Platforms ProductionContinue.....21/02About Researchmoz,ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
GDI System Market Demand with Top Key Players Analysis (Robert Bosch, Delphi, Stanadyne, Denso, Hitachi, Continental, Park-Ohio et al) | Business Opportunity During 20192025

GDI System Market

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GDI System Industry 2019 Global Market research report is a professional and in-depth study on the market size, growth, share, trends, as well as industry analysis. It helps to know the size of the GDI System market by value in 2019 and what will be in 2025, How has the market performed over the last five years. In addition, the GDI System market divides into several segments to understand the contribution of each growing segment of the global market. The GDI System market is anticipated to reflect a positive growth trend in forthcoming years and this factor which is useful & helpful to the business.Get Sample Copy of this Report The Global GDI System Market 2019 research provides a basic overview of the Industry including definitions, classifications, applications and Industry chain structure. The Global GDI System Market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares split, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.Segment by Regions: United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South AmericaInquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @Global GDI System Industry 2019 Market Research Report is spread across 119 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.The report strongly emphasizes prominent participants of the GDI System Industry to provide a valuable source of guidance and direction to companies, executive officials, and potential investors interested in this market. The study focuses on significant factors relevant to industry participants such as manufacturing technology, latest advancements, product description, manufacturing capacities, sources of raw material, and profound business strategies.Analysis of GDI System Market Key Manufacturers: Robert Bosch Delphi Stanadyne Denso Hitachi Continental Park-Ohio Keihin Renesas ...Research objectives of this report are: To analyze and study the global GDI System capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2014-2018) and forecast (2019-2025); Focuses on the key GDI System 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. Order a copy of Global GDI System Market Report 2019 @Our research analysts will help you to get customized details for your report which can be modified in terms of specific region, application or any statistical details. Also, we are always willing to comply with the study which triangulated with your own data to make the market research more comprehensive in your perspective.Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoby Component Fuel Injectors Engine Control Unit (ECU) Sensors Fuel Rail Fuel Pumpby Engine Type I3 I4 V6 V8Market segment by Application, split into Hatchback Sedan SUV/MPV Pick Up Truck CoupeIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of GDI System are as follows: History Year: 2014-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year: 2019 to 2025With tables and figures helping analyze worldwide Global GDI System Market, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies+ and individuals interested in the market.Major chapters covered in GDI System Market Research are:Global GDI System Market Research Report 20191 GDI System Market Overview2 Global GDI System Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global GDI System Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2014-2019)4 Global GDI System Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2014-2019)5 Global GDI System Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global GDI System Market Analysis by Application7 Global GDI System Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 GDI System Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global GDI System Market Forecast (2019-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixContinuedAbout UsOrian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our reports repository boasts of over 500000+ Industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We continuously update our repository so as to provide our clients easy access to the worlds most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We also specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our esteemed clients.Contact UsRuwin MendezVice President  Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comWebsite:Follow Us on LinkedIn:
Advanced Technologies : Defoamers Market in Global Industry to 2022| BASF SE, Dow Corning Corp, Lonza Group, Troy Corp, Wacker Chemie AG, Exxon Mobil Corp

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Albany, NY, 21st February : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Defoamers: Global Markets to 2022" globally.SummaryDefoamers, or anti-foaming agents, are used to prevent or reduce foam formation in industrial process liquids. Defoamers have been widely used in various industries such as agrochemicals, coatings, food and beverages, pulp and paper, and water treatment. The basic purpose served by defoamers in these industries is to reduce foam, as foam poses serious threats; for example, foam can reduce container filling efficiency or cause defects in surface coatings.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @In the agrochemicals industry, defoamers are used for the foam caused from mixtures of emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, compatibilizers, and other chemicals. The efficiency of paints and coatings are affected due to excess foaming, and thus defoamers have been widely adopted in the coatings industry. Further, defoamers help to reduce foam in various processes such as production, processing, and packaging in the food and beverages industry. Furthermore, anti-foaming agents are applied in various processes such as bleaching, dyeing, and scouring in the paper industry. Moreover, defoamers are used for water treatment, such as wastewater and effluent treatment, steam generation, distillation, and cooling water systems.The global defoamers market is projected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of REDACTED% during the forecast period of 2017 through 2022. By 2022, total revenues are expected to reach nearly $REDACTED billion, for an increase of $REDACTED million from nearly $REDACTED billion in 2016.The report provides an analysis based on each market segment, which includes oil-based, silicone-based, water-based, and other defoamers. Silicone-based defoamers held the largest market share of REDACTED% in 2016 in terms of revenue followed by water-based defoamers, oil-based defoamers and otherdefoamers. In 2022, total revenues from the silicone-based defoamers segment are expected to reach $REDACTED billion. The water-based defoamers segment is expected to rise at the highest CAGR of REDACTED% throughout the forecast period. Total revenues from the water-based defoamers segment are expectedto reach $REDACTED billion in 2022. The figure below shows expected market revenues of defoamers, by product, for the forecast period of 2017 through 2022.Report Scope:Estimated values used are based on the consumption of defoamers in the North American, South American, European, Asia-Pacific, and RoW regions as well as at the country level. The report scope covers different applications of defoamers in agrochemicals, coatings, food and beverages, pulp and paper, water treatment, and other applications. Projected and forecasted revenue values are in constant U.S. dollars, unadjusted for inflation, and values are expressed in metric kilotons.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Report Includes:- 56 data tables and 80 additional tables- An overview of the global market for defoamers- Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022- Market breakdown by products, applications, and by region- Explanation of major drivers and regional dynamics of the global defoamers market and current trends within the industry- Coverage of various types of products and their potential applications across various industries- Profiles of major players in the industry, including BASF SE, Dow Corning Corp., Lonza Group Ltd., Troy Corp., Wacker Chemie AG and Exxon Mobil Corp.Table of ContentsChapter 1 IntroductionStudy Goals and ObjectivesScope of ReportResearch MethodologyAnalyst's CredentialsBCC Custom ResearchRelated BCC Research ReportsChapter 2 Summary and HighlightsChapter 3 Market and Technology BackgroundHistory of DefoamersRules and RegulationsCommission Regulation (EU)U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationSupply Chain AnalysisDefoamer Manufacturing ProcessOil-based DefoamersMake An Enquiry @Silicone-based DefoamersWater-based DefoamersMarket OverviewMarket DefinitionMarket SegmentationOil-Based DefoamersSilicone-Based DefoamersResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on :
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Global Market will grow by Top Most Industry Leaders as Bayer AG, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

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This Market report Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Research Report 2018provides detailed insight covering all important parameters including Development Trends, Challenges, Opportunities, Key Manufacturers and Competitive Analysis.Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market - OverviewActive pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are defined as the part of any medicine that produces its effects. Unlike excipients that only help in delivering the medication to the system, APIs are the central components that are chemically active.Some medicines, such as combination therapies, have multiple active ingredients to treat different symptoms.Traditionally, APIs are produced by pharmaceutical companies, however, in recent years many companies prefer contract manufacturing (outsourcing of the manufacturing API) to cut costs.GET EXCLUSIVE SAMPLE COPY @The trend of contract manufacturing has caused significant changes to how these substances are regulated, with more rigorous guidelines and inspections.The global active pharmaceutical ingredients market is quadrupling pervasively over the past few years, the reason being the burgeoning pharmaceutical industry med by the healthcare sector.Furthermore, factors such as the growing trend towards personalized medicines, contract manufacturing, and supply chain consolidation are escalating the market on the global platform.Leading Industry Key PlayersPfizer Inc.SanofiBayer AGHoffmann-La Roche AGMerck & Co., Inc.Abbott LaboratoriesBoehringer Ingelheim GmbHNovartis AGEli Lilly and CompanyGlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Detailed Market SegmentsMRFR has segmented the analysis into six key dynamics; for better understanding: -By Manufacturing Process : Captive Manufacturing and Contract Manufacturing.By Type of Synthesis : Synthetic, and Biotech.By API Formulation : Generic API and Innovative API.By Application : Cardiovascular Disease, Oncology, Neurological Disorders, Orthopedic Disorders, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Urology among others.By Molecule : Small Molecule and Large Molecule.By Regions : Europe, North America, APAC and the Rest-of-the-World.Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market - Growth and AnalysisAcknowledging the kind of growth is the market is garnering currently, Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report asserts that the global active pharmaceutical ingredients market will reach USD 215 BN registering approximately 4.93% CAGR throughout the forecast period (20152023).Additional factors driving the market include the emergence of novel therapeutics and the development of advanced delivery systems. Additionally, prominent factors such as the augmenting demand for effective drugs, the rapidly growing pharmaceutical sector, and the rising demand for biological drugs attributing to its immediate effects are leading the market of APIs.On the other hand, factors such as a weak pipeline, long gestation periods for newly-built facilities, alongside the receding tailwinds from high-value drugs revenues that indicate pressures and muted return ratios for manufacturers are restricting the market growth.BROWSE FULL REPORT DETAILS @Moreover, the reluctance of manufacturers to put in adequate investments necessary for the R&D; and depleting funds coupled with growing quality compliance are presenting challenges to the market growth.Nevertheless, the increasing demand for API is expected to support the market growth, prompting the manufacturers to pay little more attention to the R&D.Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market - Regional AnalysisNorth America dominates the global active pharmaceutical ingredients market, holding the significant market share, and the trend will probably carry on in the foreseeable future.Factors influencing market growth include the burgeoning pharma industry, government initiatives & funding, and technological advancements in the region.The US presently controls the significant portion in the regional market. In the US the pharmaceutical industry is among one of the significant and most exceptional ventures. The pharmaceutical organizations in the USA have developed quickly in comparison with other countries.This factor is majorly related to the robust value sustained by the small molecule segment in both Canada and the U.S.The European region holds the position of the worlds second-largest market for active pharmaceutical ingredients following the North American market closely. This market is fostered by the resurging economy in the region that is increasing the healthcare expenses and penetration of healthcare in the region.The Asia Pacific market for the active pharmaceutical ingredients perceives an exponential growth, emerging as one of the promising markets. Growing markets in Indian and China will lead the regional market.About Us:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Natural Gas Compressor Market Data Survey Report 2025

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This report ponders the Global Natural Gas Compressor Market advertise, Natural gas is an imperative asset in the process business. Its vehicle in gas pipe lines or tankers for fluid petroleum gas, additionally its stockpiling underground requires extraordinary flammable gas blowers.A gaseous petrol blower expands the weight of a gas by decreasing its volume. The petroleum gas enters the barrel through the admission valves, where it is compacted and constrained out through release valves.The specialized obstructions of Natural Gas Compressor are moderately high, bringing about abnormal state focus degree. The Global Natural Gas Compressor Market key organizations in Natural Gas Compressor advertise are Ariel Corporation, Ingersoll Rand, Atlas Copco, Siemens and General Electric, and so on. The ventures are gathered in USA, Europe and China. China is the biggest generation territory, involved about 39.43% creation in 2017.Get sample copy of report:Table of Contents1 Natural Gas Compressor Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Natural Gas Compressor1.2 Natural Gas Compressor Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)1.2.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production Market Share by Type (Product Category)1.2.3 Centrifugal Type1.2.4 Reciprocating Type1.2.5 Screw Type1.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Segment by Application1.3.1 Natural Gas Compressor Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application1.3.2 CNG Filling Station1.3.3 Petroleum Refineries Factory1.3.4 Processing/Chemical Plants1.3.5 Industrial Manufacturing1.3.6 Others1.4 Global Natural Gas Compressor Market by Region1.4.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect1.4.4 China Status and Prospect1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect1.4.7 India Status and Prospect1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Natural Gas Compressor1.5.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Revenue Status and Outlook1.5.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production Status and Outlook2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity and Share by Manufacturers2.1.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production and Share by Manufacturers2.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Revenue and Share by Manufacturers2.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Average Price by Manufacturers2.4 Manufacturers Natural Gas Compressor Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Natural Gas Compressor Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Natural Gas Compressor Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Natural Gas Compressor Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region3.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity and Market Share by Region3.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production and Market Share by Region3.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region3.4 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.5 North America Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.6 Europe Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.7 China Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.8 Japan Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.9 Southeast Asia Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin3.10 India Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4 Global Natural Gas Compressor Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region4.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Consumption by Region4.2 North America Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import4.3 Europe Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import4.4 China Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import4.5 Japan Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import4.6 Southeast Asia Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import4.7 India Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption, Export, Import5 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production and Market Share by Type5.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Revenue and Market Share by Type5.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Price by Type5.4 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production Growth by Type6 Global Natural Gas Compressor Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Consumption and Market Share by Application6.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Consumption Growth Rate by Application6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Natural Gas Compressor Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Ariel Corporation7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Ariel Corporation Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Ingersoll Rand7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Ingersoll Rand Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Bauer Compressors7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Bauer Compressors Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Atlas Copco7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Atlas Copco Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Siemens7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Siemens Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 General Electric7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 General Electric Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Fornovo Gas7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Fornovo Gas Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Quincy7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Quincy Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Aerotecnica Coltri7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Aerotecnica Coltri Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Man Diesel & Turbo7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Natural Gas Compressor Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Man Diesel & Turbo Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Ebara Corporation7.12 Tianyi7.13 Kerui7.14 Jereh7.15 Kaishan Group7.16 Shenyang Blower7.17 Xian Shaangu Power7.18 Sichuan Jinxing8 Natural Gas Compressor Manufacturing Cost Analysis8.1 Natural Gas Compressor Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Natural Gas Compressor9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9.1 Natural Gas Compressor Industrial Chain Analysis9.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing9.3 Raw Materials Sources of Natural Gas Compressor Major Manufacturers9.4 Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10.1 Marketing Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend10.2 Market Positioning10.2.1 Pricing Strategy10.2.2 Brand Strategy10.2.3 Target Client10.3 Distributors/Traders List11 Market Effect Factors Analysis11.1 Technology Progress/Risk11.1.1 Substitutes Threat11.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry11.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change11.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change12 Global Natural Gas Compressor Market Forecast12.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production, Revenue Forecast12.1.1 Global Natural Gas Compressor Capacity, Production and Growth Rate Forecast12.1.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast12.1.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Price and Trend Forecast12.2 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production, Consumption , Import and Export Forecast by Region12.2.1 North America Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.2.2 Europe Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.2.3 China Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.2.4 Japan Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.2.5 Southeast Asia Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.2.6 India Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast12.3 Global Natural Gas Compressor Production, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type12.4 Global Natural Gas Compressor Consumption Forecast by Application13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 Appendix14.1 Methodology/Research Approach14.1.1 Research Programs/Design14.1.2 Market Size Estimation14.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation14.2 Data Source14.2.1 Secondary Sources14.2.2 Primary Sources14.3 DisclaimerBy this report online:About Market Density:Market Density is your one stop market research and industry analysis reports' library providing business data and intelligence information on thousands of micro markets with global as well as regional coverage.Market Density offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Market Density understands how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Email: Support@marketdensity.comWebsite:Phone: +1 669 264 16564340 Stevens Creek Blvd,Suite # 172,San Jose, CA 95129
Global Data Center Interconnect Platforms Market to 2026| ADVA Optical Networking, Avaya., Ciena Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., Colt Technology Services Group Ltd., Coriant GmbH, Dell, Fujitsu Ltd.

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Data Center Interconnect Platforms Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.The data center interconnect (DCI) platforms report provides analysis for the period 2016  2026, wherein 2018 to 2026 is the forecast period and 2017 is the base year. The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing an influential role in the markets growth over the forecast period. It also highlights the drivers, restraints, and opportunities for the analysis of market growth during the said period.FREE| Request Sample is Available at:The study provides a complete perspective on the evolution of the global data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market throughout the above mentioned forecast period in terms of revenue (US$ Mn).The market overview section of the report demonstrates market dynamics such as the drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current nature and future status of this market, key trends, regulations and policies, data center interconnect (DCI) platform technologies, ecosystem analysis, Porters Five Force Analysis, and PESTEL analysis of the market. A market attractiveness analysis has been provided for every segment in the report, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the overall scenario in the data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market. The report also provides an overview of various strategies adopted by key players in the market.Global Data Center Interconnect (DCI) Platforms Market: Scope of the ReportThe report segments the market on the basis of component into solutions and services. Solution consists of Layer 2-Ethernet, Open Optical Line Systems (OOLS), Packet Optical Networking, and services consists of managed and professional services. On the basis of application, the market is segmented as Real Time Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity, Federated Data Storage, and Content Delivery. Based on industry, the market is classified into Communication Service Providers (CSP), Carrier Neutral Providers (CNP)/Internet Content Providers (ICP), Government & Public Sector, Banking & Finance, Healthcare, Media& Entertainment, Retail& E-Commerce, and Others (Automotive, etc.).Get complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:The report provides in-depth segment analysis of the global data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market, thereby providing valuable insights at the macro as well as micro levels. Additionally, the report comprises a competitive scenario and trends in which the data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market concentration rate and mergers & acquisitions, and expansions undertaken by companies are provided.The report also highlights the competitive landscape of the global data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market, positioning all the major players according to their presence in different regions of the world and recent key developments initiated by them in the market. The comprehensive data center interconnect (DCI) platform market estimates are the result of our in-depth secondary research, primary interviews, and in-house expert panel reviews. These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, and technological factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the growth of the data center interconnect (DCI) platform market.Global Data Center Interconnect (DCI) Platforms Market: Research MethodologyThe research methodology is a perfect combination of primary research, secondary research, and expert panel reviews. Secondary research sources such as annual reports, company websites, broker reports, financial reports, SEC filings and investor presentations, national government documents, internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases, relevant patent and regulatory databases, market reports, government publications, statistical databases, World Bank database and industry white papers are referred.Make An Enquiry @Primary research involves telephonic interviews, e-mail interactions, and face-to-face interviews for detailed and unbiased reviews on the data center interconnect (DCI) platform market, across geographies.Global Data Center Interconnect (DCI) Platforms Market: Competitive DynamicsThe research study includes profiles of leading companies operating in the global data center interconnect (DCI) platforms market. Some of the key players profiled in the market include ADVA Optical Networking, Avaya., Ciena Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Colt Technology Services Group Ltd., Coriant GmbH, Dell, Fujitsu Ltd.,Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., IBM Corporation, Infinera Corporation, Juniper Networks, Inc., Nokia Corporation, VMware, and ZTE Corporation.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow us on Blogger at :
This is what Pakistan gifted Saudi Crown Prince Salman: A gold-plated submachine gun

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Islamabad, Feb 21: Pakistani senators presented Mohammed bin Salman a portrait and a gold-plated gun as he visited Islamabad on Monday, after signing trade deals worth $20billion with the country.

[Saudi Prince Salman flies back home as India objects to direct arrival from Pakistan]

According to media, a senate delegation went to Bin Salman's apartment in Islamabad to present him with the weapon and a portrait of himself on Monday evening.

Bin Salman was given a fighter jet escort, 21-gun salute and guard of honour as he arrived in Pakistan on Sunday night and was pictured in a warm embrace with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Saudi Crown Prince also popularly known as MBS was given the country's highest honour by the President Arif Alvi.

[Indian firms sign 15 agreements with Saudi]

The highest civil honour was bestowed upon the Saudi Crown Prince in recognition of his efforts and contributions towards enhancing the bilateral brotherly and traditional ties between the two countries.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in lauds India ties before PM Modis visit

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Seoul, Feb 21: South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, February 20, sought efforts to further expand his country's bilateral cooperation with India ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to the East Asian nation starting Thursday, February 21.

In a special contribution to Times of India, President Moon said: "We will spur future cooperation. India is home to a world-class pool of ICT professionals and an innovative business ecosystem in addition to basic science and technology. Korea has advanced information and communication technology as well as manufacturing and commercialization capabilities."

North Korea & South Korea agree to host 2032 Olympics, to formally inform IOC

He also wrote that if the two Asian powers can combine their strengths harmoniously, they will be able to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Moon will meet Modi over a bilateral summit in the South Korean capital on Friday, February 22. This is Modi's second visit to South Korea since he took over the office of the prime minister in 2014. He visited the country in May 2015. Moon himself came to India on his first state visit in July last year.

Relating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi with South Korea's centenary celebration of the establishment of its provisional government and the March 1 Independence Movement, Moon said it was "truly meaningful" to have Modi as the first state guest of Korea in 2019.

Difference between Modi and Nehru jackets: Find out from the designer

Moon said while the two countries' leaderships' agreement over expanding bilateral cooperation may have already shown result as their bilateral trade touched a volume worth USD 21.5 billion last year, he also thanked New Delhi for backing Seoul's efforts to denuclearise North Korea and give peace a chance in the Korean Peninsula.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 11:45 [IST]
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

Addiction is neither cool nor a style statement: PM Modi on International Day against Drug Abuse

PM Modi in South Korea, to be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize for 2018

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Seoul, Feb 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a two-day trip. During his visit, both the countries will discuss co-operation in diverse fields.

[Complicity of Pakistan in Pulwama attack strongly underlined during India, Saudi talks]

PM Modi met with members of the Indian community in South Korea on his arrival in Seoul. During the visit, PM Modi is also scheduled to hold talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and meet with business leaders.

"During the visit, PM will have bilateral & business engagements, unveil Gandhi bust & accept the Seoul Peace Prize conferred upon him," foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Twitter.

Ahead of his visit, the PM said, "the growing depth and variety in our relationship has been accentuated by the harmony between our Act East Policy and ROK's New Southern Policy."

The prime minister also described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two nations share values and vision for regional and global peace.

['Namumkin Ab Mumkin Hai:' Modi sarkar's tagline for 2019 LS polls]

Modi left for South Korea on Wednesday after he was invited by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. This will be his second visit to the Republic of Korea and second summit meeting with President Moon.

About Seoul Peace Prize:

The Seoul Peace Prize was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 24th Olympic Games held in Seoul, Republic of Korea - an event in which 160 nations from across the world took part, creating harmony and friendship and a worldwide atmosphere of peace and reconciliation. The Seoul Peace Prize was established to crystallize the Korean people's yearning for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world.
To stay in Grey List or downgrade to Black List: Key FATF decision on Pak this week

Pakistan will implement FATF's new action plan in 12 months: Minister after country retained on 'grey list'

Pakistan bans JuD, FIF; To accelerate anti-terrorism operations

International

oi-Vikas SV

Islamabad, Feb 21: Pakistan on Thursday decided to accelerate anti-terrorism operations and also reinstated ban on Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, said reports.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) held at the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

[Imran Khan chairs NSC meeting, authorises army to 'respond decisively' to Indian aggression]

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

During today's NSC meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan also reportedly authorised the military to respond "decisively" to any aggression by India.

[Have fulfilled sanctions on Jaish-e-Mohammad says Pakistan]

Pakistan's top security body on Thursday said the country was "not involved in any way" in the Pulwama "incident", which was "conceived, planned and executed indigenously".

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 20:56 [IST]
To stay in Grey List or downgrade to Black List: Key FATF decision on Pak this week

Pakistan will implement FATF's new action plan in 12 months: Minister after country retained on 'grey list'

Pakistan PM eats sitting with Saudi crown prince; president asked to stand up and deliver speech

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Islamabad, Feb 21: Pakistan recently hosted the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), at a high-profile two-day visit during which Riyadh made agreement with Islamabad over investment worth billions.

However, there were instances during MBS's visit that earned the host nation criticism as well.

After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was brutally trolled for personally driving MBS to the PM House in Islamabad, a new video has surfaced on the social media which saw the Pakistan leadership coming under even more mockery.

It is seen in the video that PM Khan is enjoying his meal while seating besides MBS as Pakistani President Arif Alvi delivered a welcome address for MBS.

This is what Pakistan gifted Saudi Crown Prince Salman: A gold-plated submachine gun

Even the president started his address by sitting down and a few seconds into his speech, Alvi was asked to 'stand up' ("khade ho jaiyey") to deliver it by PM Khan. He then continued to read his welcome speech standing up.

The Twitterati had a field day ridiculing the incident. Not only the Pakistani prime minister's act of eating while sitting beside a foreign dignitary earned him a backlash but also the act of the president, considered to be the head of the state, of sitting and reading out the address and then asked to stand up and deliver looked odd for many.

Here are some of the reactions that Twitterati came up with:

My goodness. First @ImranKhanPTI drove car for MBS now this humiliation. #Pity  Asha Bisht (@AashaBisht) February 18, 2019

Did u expect that from any other country around the world..its totally nonsense and only expected in Pakistan...no sense of any protocol...even from President nor from Prime minister  Khushwinder singh (@Khushwi91550150) February 20, 2019

This show the education qualifications of President n P.M .No idea of protocols.  ASHOK J PILLAI (@ASHOKJPILLAI2) February 20, 2019

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 10:22 [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

Is Trump rushing to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia?

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Washington, Feb 21: US lawmakers said Tuesday they were probing whether President Donald Trump is rushing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia to please corporate supporters who stand to profit handsomely.

The House of Representatives committee in charge of investigations, led by the rival Democratic Party since last month, said that "multiple whistleblowers" warned of conflicts of interest "that could implicate federal criminal statutes."

Second Kim-Trump meeting approaches: North Korean leader to reach Vietnam by train

Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked the White House to turn over documents including those related to a meeting two months into Trump's tenure between his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Saudi Arabia's powerful Mohammed bin Salman, who shortly afterward became crown prince.

An initial report by the committee said that "strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively" to transfer sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia.

"These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia -- and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his administration to the present day," the report said.

The United States cannot legally transfer nuclear technology to countries without reaching so-called Section 123 agreements, which provide assurances of peaceful energy use.

The House committee voiced fear that Saudi Arabia -- the world's top oil exporter -- could convert US knowhow into making a nuclear bomb, heightening already severe tensions with regional rival Iran.

The committee said that the leading proponent of building nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia has been IP3 International, a company whose subsidiary in 2016 listed retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as an advisor.

Flynn served briefly as Trump's national security adviser before resigning over lying about secret communications with Russia, for which he was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

The Trump administration in its very first week tried to rush through approval of IP3's bid to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia until a legal adviser ruled that Flynn had a conflict of interest, the committee said, citing whistleblowers.

IP3's influence has apparently not ended, with the committee voicing alarm at a report by news site Axios that Trump personally met with representatives of the company among other firms just last week.

Trump describes Pulwama attack as horrible, asks India-Pak to get along

Another key proponent of transfers to Saudi Arabia, according to the committee, has been Thomas Barrack, a businessman with longstanding interests in the Arab world who organized Trump's inauguration.

He recently drew controversy for playing down Saudi Arabia's killing of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, an incident that has hardened views in the US Congress against Prince Mohammed.

Barrack told a forum that "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse" to those in Saudi Arabia, whose agents strangled and dismembered the Washington Post contributor after he was lured into the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, according to officials. Barrack later apologized.

US lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have been pushing for the United States to distance itself from Crown Prince Mohammed in the wake of Khashoggi's killing and the devastating Saudi-led, US-backed war against rebels in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's most serious humanitarian crisis.

A group of senators including Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, last year jointly appealed to Trump to freeze talks on a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia, questioning the judgment of the kingdom's policymakers.

The United States in 2009 completed a 123 agreement with the United Arab Emirates in which the US ally pledged not to enrich domestic uranium or reprocess spent fuel, steps that could be used to build a nuclear bomb.

Saudi Arabia has walked back from similar promises, although some experts believe Riyadh is talking tough largely to pressure Iran and that it is unlikely to seek nuclear weapons so long as it enjoys US security guarantees.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 7:35 [IST]
India urges ICJ to draw a redline in Kulbhushan Jadhavs case

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

The Hague, Feb 21: India strongly objected to the abusive language used by Pakistan's counsel in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), urging the UN court to draw a "redline" to prevent its repetition.

Harish Salve, the former solicitor general of India while presenting India's case before the ICJ, drew the court's attention to the abusive language used by Pakistan through its counsel Khawar Qureshi on the second day of the hearing.

"The language echoed in this court... Perhaps this court may lay down some redlines. The transcript is peppered with words such as shameless, nonsense, disgraceful, arrogant... India takes exception to being addressed in this fashion in an international court. Indian culture prevents me from using similar language...

"India strongly objects to abusive language of Pakistan's counsel," Salve said as the International Court of Justice began the second round of public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

He said that the criticism of a sovereign state of the case made out of the other state must be in a language consistent with the dignity of other states, he said.

"Humpty-Dumpty has no place in this court," Salve said.

ICJ likely to deliver verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav in summer of 2019

He said that "when you are strong on law you hammer the law, when you are strong on facts you hammer the facts and when you are strong on neither you hammer the table... Pakistan has hammered the proverbial table. India has hammered facts".

Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

On Wednesday, India had a maximum of 90 minutes to submit its final arguments in the case. Pakistan will also get 90 minutes to respond to India's arguments on Thursday.

The ICJ is expected to deliver its verdict in the summer of 2019.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday at the ICJ headquarters in The Hague amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 6:18 [IST]
ICJ likely to deliver verdict on Kulbhushan Jadhav in summer of 2019

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

The Hague, Feb 21: The International Court of Justice on said that it has not received any evidence that the ad-hoc judge for Pakistan is unable or unwilling to continue to exercise his duties in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

Pakistan, which presented its case on Tuesday, asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to adjourn the case, citing the illness of its ad-hoc judge Tassaduq Hussain Jillani who suffered a cardiac attack ahead of the hearing.

Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing: India objects to language used by Pakistan at ICJ

Islamabad submitted a request for the replacement of Pakistan's ad-hoc judge.

ICJ top judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, speaking on the appointment for an ad-hoc judge for Pakistan in the case, said: "In order to clear up any misunderstandings which may have arisen, we assure both parties of the smooth running of these proceedings in accordance of the principal of equality of the parties".

He said it should be noted that once a judge ad-hoc has been chosen in proceedings before the court and in the absence of any objection within the prescribed time-limit, his or her appointment as a judge ad-hoc in the case is confirmed by a letter of the court to the parties under article 35, paragraph 3 of the rules of court.

"Indeed, in the present case, judge ad-hoc Jillani was sent the case file and duly took part in all the previous stages of the proceedings," he said.

"He (Jillani) will receive all transcripts of oral proceedings and may also watch them by a webcast... It follows that the judge ad-hoc chosen by Pakistan for the current proceedings has been participating in the case and may continue to do so.

"Having began his duties, a judge ad-hoc serves the court like all his or her colleagues as an independent judge for the remainder of the case, including all subsequent phases, through to final judgement or until the case is otherwise removed from the general list," the ICJ top judge said.

The court has not received so far any evidence that judge ad-hoc Jillani is unable or unwilling to continue to exercise his duties as a judge ad-hoc in this case, he said.

ICJ top judge Yusuf said it is important to recall that even if a judge ad-hoc is not able to attend the hearing, he or she may be authorised by the court to take part in the subsequent deliberations.

Kulbhushan Jadhav case hearing at ICJ: Demand for Kulbhushan Jadhav's release outlandish, says Pak

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday at the ICJ headquarters in The Hague amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

On Thursday, Pakistan will submit its final arguments.

The ICJ is expected to deliver its verdict in the summer of 2019.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 6:14 [IST]
Hyderabad man shot dead in US

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Florida, Feb 21: A 48-year-old man from Hyderabad was allegedly shot dead in the US by an unidentified man, his family members claimed on Wednesday.

K Govardhan Reddy, a resident of Uppal area was attacked by the assailant at a fuel-filling station-cum supermarket in Florida on Tuesday, according to one of Reddy's friends Ramesh.

Bihar: Former RJD MP Shahabuddin's nephew shot dead in Siwan

"We got the information today morning that a masked man shot dead Govardhan when he was alone at the store and fled away. As per preliminary information, the accused did not take away any cash. The motive of the killing is not known," Ramesh said based on information received from a relative staying in the US.

Goverdhan is survived by a wife and two daughters. He had gone to the US around five years ago and worked as a manager there, Ramesh said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 5:56 [IST]
Speaker: Han Changfu, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, minister of Agriculture and Rural affairs

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. This year's "No. 1 Central Document" entitled "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People" was released yesterday. Today, we are delighted to welcome Mr. Han Changfu, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and minister of agriculture and rural affairs, to introduce this document and answer your questions. We also have with us Mr. Wu Hongyao, a member of the CPC Leading Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and director of the Secretariat of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Han.

Han Changfu:

Ladies and Gentlemen, and friends from the press, good afternoon! Yesterday was the start of the "Rain Water" period, one of the 24 divisions of the solar year in the traditional Chinese calendar.

This was also the day when Xinhua News Agency released the "No.1 Central Document" of 2019, entitled "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People." Now, I would like to give you a briefing about it.

The CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core has always been highly committed to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people (known in Chinese under the name of "San Nong" work), and given top priority to these aspects in the Party agenda.

Last September, President Xi delivered an important instruction on advancing the "San Nong" work in 2019 and 2020 and on the drafting of the "No.1 Central Document" for this year. He stressed the importance to the master plan covering tasks essential to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

Late last year, President Xi also issued an important written instruction to the Central Rural Work Conference. He acknowledged the achievements made in agricultural and rural development in 2018, highlighted the deep significance of the "San Nong" work, and identified the priorities forming the focus for 2019. His instruction set the tone and provided guidance for drafting the 2019 "No.1 Central Document" and the related work in 2019 and 2020. Premier Li Keqiang has also issued clear requirements for its successful performance.

In 2018, China recorded new achievements in agriculture and rural development, took firm steps to further advance poverty alleviation, and got off to a good start in implementing the Rural Revitalization Strategy.

Once again it was a bumper harvest year. Grain output reached 657.9 million tons, registering the seventh straight year above the 600 million ton-level. Sufficient supply of other important produce, including meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables and fish, was also achieved

Farmers saw a steady income rise. The per capita annual disposable income of the rural population was 14,617 yuan, a gain of 6.6 percent in real terms after allowing for the price factor. This represented a higher growth rate than that achieved by the urban population.

Rural development took on a new look. The Three-Year Action Plan for Improving the Rural Living Environment is underway, and the first Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival was successfully held.

All in all, there was steady progress in agriculture and rural development, delivering staunch support to the overall goal of sustainable and sound socioeconomic growth.

The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is a critical year to achieve the First Centenary Goal of securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and a historic juncture in finally winning battle of poverty alleviation and rolling out the Rural Revitalization Strategy. So, it is of particular significance to do well in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

Amid an increase in downward economic pressures, and faced with a rapidly changing external environment and growing risks and challenges, we must hold firm to the strategic status of agriculture, the rural areas in general, and farmers, and enable all three to play a strong stabilizing role for further growth.

However, agriculture and the countryside in general still pose a daunting and demanding challenge in the drive to make China a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Efforts and resources must be pooled to make breakthroughs that ensure the commitments on rural reform and development goals are met. We also need to take preemptive actions to address risks and challenges, so as to lay the foundation for sustained, healthy economic growth and social stability, and realize the First Centenary Goal as planned.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the "No. 1 Central Document" follows through on decisions made by the 19th National Congress of the CPC, the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, and the annual Central Economic Work Conference. It focuses on the rural revitalization strategy, identifies a must-do list in regard to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people to achieve a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and also puts forward new requirements for rural reform and development reflecting the evolving situation at home and abroad.

The "No. 1 Central Document" is designed as a master plan on how to do well in regard to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people, addressing priorities, weakness and essential points. This overall arrangement can be summarized in six aspects.

First, underlining the need for pursuing progress while ensuring stability.

For ensuring a stable market and sufficient supply, it seeks to strengthen the various policies and measures for developing agriculture especially grain production, and clearly specifies ways to stabilize the grain acreage and overall output. For achieving stable employment and increased farmers' income, it stresses the need to support rural industry, tap the employment potential of rural areas, and create more opportunities for rural residents to continue to work locally. For ensuring continued social stability and harmony, it emphasizes the need to increase welfare provisions for rural people, and strive to foster a healthy atmosphere of integrity, harmony and stability in the countryside.

Second, prioritizing implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Based on the timetable, roadmap and assignment book forming the backbone of the strategy, the document determines the annual and phased measures in implementing it in 2019, so as to promote fresh progress continuing in each succeeding year and increase the sense of happiness and gains for the rural population.

Third, emphasizing the accomplishment of critical tasks.

It once again underlines and sets priorities for winning the battle against poverty, ensuring food security and improving the rural living environment. In this regard, it details the measures and enhances accountability guiding all the efforts, investment and policy implementation to focus on must-do tasks to ensure all are completed on schedule.

Fourth, it highlights agricultural supply-side structural reform. In light of the guideline of consolidation, enhancement, improvement and unblocking, it lays out a clear plan for adjusting and optimizing the overall agricultural structure, developing rural specialty industries and promoting integrated development of the primary, second and tertiary industries. There is a strong focus on promoting reform in regard to supply-side agricultural restructuring for further advancement and deeper penetration.

Fifth, it highlights the critical role of rural Party branches. The Document underlines the need for further development and enhancement of rural community organizations across the board, and sets out the overall requirements, key tasks and safeguard measures for building strong and reliable community-level Party organizations throughout the rural areas.

Sixth, it highlights the policy orientation of prioritizing agricultural and rural development. It specifies in detail the institutional arrangement of a five-level Party secretary accountability system for rural revitalization, and stresses that implementation of the "four priorities" is of paramount importance and closely related to government performance evaluation. Finally, it further reinforces policy support.

To sum up, this year's No.1 Central Document is a master plan essential to the task of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and to the completion of the poverty alleviation work and implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, enabling us to get off to a good start with rural reform in a new era after 40 years of reform and opening up. The No.1 Central Document features policies that are forward-looking, targeted and provide better guidance and we should fully carry it out.

The initiative of strengthening and empowering agriculture and rural areas was launched in 2019. We will resolutely implement policies concerning work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers decided by the CPC Central Committee, and roll up our sleeves to work harder. We will make every endeavor to do well in work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and maintain an encouraging momentum as paying tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic China with outstanding achievements.

Thanks for listening to my briefing. Now, I would like to take questions from the press together with my colleague Mr. Wu Hongyao, Director of the Secretariat of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.
Australia shocker: Pilot writes Im bored and draws a couple of penises in sky

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Parafield (Australia), Feb 21: Some times, act of human beings really befuddles us. A pilot from Flight Training Adelaide (FTA), Parafield Airport, South Australia was out for testing a single-propeller aircraft's new engine but it was so monotonous for him that he not only wrote 'I'm bored' but also ended up drawing a couple of penises in the sky!

Oh, cocks.

The pilot was flying for two hours and during this time, he did enough to entertain himself as well as those who tracked his movement.

Speaking to Adelaide Now which reported about the incident, director of FTA Pine Pienaar said: "Young instructors, what can you do?" He also said that neither he nor the company found the action acceptable.

US: Plane lands on highway & pilot seen running in nearby field to pee

The in-air message was though visible to those who were tracking the pilot's live progress.

In 2017, a similar act was committed when one of the pilots of the US Navy used vapour trailers to draw a massive penis in the sky. The navy was forced to issue an apology on that occasion and the concerned pilot was also grounded.

The most monumental thing to happen in omak. A penis in the sky pic.twitter.com/SM8k1tNYaj  Anahi Torres (@anahi_torres_) November 16, 2017

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 11:33 [IST]
Modi in Seoul: 'I'm grateful that South Korea is standing with us in this fight against terrorism'

Seoul says North Korea fires 2 projectiles into sea as it revives its testing activity

Seoul Peace Prize: Here are the winners till date

Infographics

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be awarded the Seoul Peace Prize 2018 during his two-day South Korea visit starting Thursday. Modi, the 14th recipient of the prize, became the first Indian to have been conferred the prestigious award.

What is the Seoul Peace Prize?

Established in 1990, the Seoul Peace Prize was an effort to crystallise the Korean people's yearning for peace in the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world. This year's award commemorates the success of the 24th Olympic.

Why is Modi getting the award?

For his contribution to high economic growth in India and the world through 'Modinomics

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 16:15 [IST]
Withdrawal of security to mainstream political activists is 'retrograde': Omar Abdullah

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Srinagar, Feb 21: In a veiled attack against the BJP, National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah alleged that forces that are acting against Kashmiri have the support of the ruling party. Omar Abdullah was addressing a press conference over Pulwama terror attack.

Omar Abdullah, said, "There are many places from where we were informed that Kashmiris are being targeted. Students who have nothing to do with politics or even Kashmir itself are being targeted. It seems that these forces that are acting against Kashmiri have the support of the ruling party."

To avenge Pulwama, huge standoff, air strikes, limited ground offensive in the offing?

When Naxals kills CRPF forces in Chhattisgarh there was no boycott against the state. No one from Chhattisgarh was shunted away. Are we being targeted only because we are Kashmiris.

We've never been in favor of violence and terror, we've only vouched for solution through dialogue. When we talk of dialogue we're branded anti-nationals but in joint statement with Saudi Arabia, the two leaders talk about composite dialogue.

Withdrawal of security:

Abdullah termed as a "retrograde" step the withdrawal of security to some mainstream political activists in Jammu and Kashmir, noting that it will weaken the political activity in the state.

"Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers & office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the valley. This is regardless of the fact that no one from Nation Conference has had their security withdrawn in yesterday's list," he said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 16:32 [IST]
Will kill non-local labourers if you target Kashmiris says Hizbul

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Feb 21: Take your Army back, that is the only solution, the Hizbul Mujahideen has said.

The operational chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Riyaz Naiko said in a 17 minute audio clip that those people who are regretting the killing of soldiers and calling us terrorists should know that since 2018 alone India killed more than 400 people.

In the wake of reports suggesting that Kashmiris are being targeted in different parts of the country, Naiko has threatened to kill non-local labourers.

He also praised the Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar. He also went on to warn against attacks on Kashmiris outside the Valley. However the worrying part of his audio message is that he has warned of fidayeen strikes in the Valley.

J&K: Now Hizbul speaks of shift in terror strategy

The Hizbul Mujahideen has so far refrained from carrying out fidayeen strikes. Naiko says in the message (yet to be verified) the time is not far when children in Kashmir will wear suicide vests and target security forces in the Valley.

The Pulwama attack was the worst in the Valley since the terror strike on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly complex in 2001.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 6:00 [IST]
Why it is not fair to compare GSLV-Mk-3 and Ariane-5?

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 21: ISRO's GSLV MK-3 and Arianespace' Ariane-5 are both good launch vehicles in their own right. While India GSLV Mk-3 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, Ariane-5 is a heavy lift launch vehicle which has been operating for many years now.

Most of the Ariane-5s launches are for commercial purposes and in fact it was designed to provide satellite launching services to customers across the globe. Arianespace has carved out a sizeable chunk of the satellite-launching market. Especially when it comes to heavier satellite launch contracts, Arianespace almost commands almost 45-50% of the market share.

ISRO, on the other hand, is a state-backed space agency. It has a mandate from the Department of Space to be India's primary launch-services provider and fulfil the needs of both private entities as well as the government, but government first.

Coming to the launch vehicles, GSLV-MK-3 is fairly new and is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Ariane-5 has been in operation for many years now and can carry payloads weighing more than 10 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and over 20 metric tons into low-Earth orbit (LEO).

[Is GSLV MK-3 fully ready to launch heavy satellites from India?]

ISRO successfully conducted the first orbital test launch of GSLV-III on 5 June 2017 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Ariane 5 rockets have accumulated 103 launches since 1996, 98 of which were successful, yielding a 95.1% success rate. Between April 2003 and December 2017, Ariane 5 flew 82 consecutive missions without failure, but the rocket suffered a partial failure in January 2018.

So, it would be quite unfair to compare GSLV with Ariane. Also, before comparing anything one should consider where the starting line was. The funding that went into Ariane's development, the R&D budget and technical expertise are all together in a different league when compared to ISRO developing GSLV.

If India has GSLV then why was GSAT-31 launched on Ariane-5?

The probable reason could be this. Launch contracts are often done a couple of years ahead of the launch for such large satellites. Since GSLV Mark III was then technically still in the developmental phase, ISRO might have taken a decision to go with Ariane-5, in case GSLV Mk III development gets delayed. GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of GSLV Mk II.

[GSAT-31 launch from French Guiana: 10 things to know about ISRO's 2.5 Ton satellite]

GSLV MkIII-D2, the second developmental flight of GSLV MkIII, successfully launched GSAT-29, a high throughput communication satellite on November 14, 2018, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. GSAT-29 satellite weighed 3423 kg, far heavier than GSAT-31.

So, GSLV-MK-3 will be fully operational to carry commercial satellites soon, a crucial step that will enable India's space agency to compete globally in the 3-4 tonne category of satellites.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 5:00 [IST]
Tarun Gogoi was one of my dearest friends from Assam: Manmohan Singh

'No problem' was Gogoi's guiding mantra; Cong stalwart had said it helped him take hard decisions

Was under pressure from NDA govt to go ahead with secret killings says former Assam CM

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Guwahati, Feb 21: Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi claimed that he was under pressure from the previous NDA government at the Centre to continue with the "secret killings", a practice "rampant" during his predecessor Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's tenure.

The BJP rubbished the allegation as "baseless" and accused the veteran Congress leader of doing "divisive politics", while Mahanta hit back, insisting it was under the Congress rule that extrajudicial killings started in the state.

Gogoi, who helmed the state for 15 years from 2001 to 2016, claimed Lal Krishna Advani, who was then the union home minister, wanted to send former Punjab police chief K P S Gill, largely credited with crushing militancy in the northern state, to Assam as governor to quell insurgency.

"We were pressured to continue the secret killings, but we did not do it. When I took over (in 2001), the BJP wanted the secret killings to continue and Advani wanted to send KPS Gill as the governor for this reason," Gogoi said.

He claimed it was because of the stiff resistance by his government that Gill, an IPS officer of Assam and Meghalaya cadre, was not sent to the north-eastern state.

Gogoi was referring to extrajudicial killings of the late 1990s when masked men, allegedly sponsored by the government, would kill suspected ULFA militants and their kin.

"The secret killings in Assam happened when Mahanta was in power. The BJP was in power at the Centre then. Now, Mahanta says that he did it on instructions of the Centre," Gogoi said.

Army chiefs should not be allowed to contest election for 5 years post retirement: Tarun Gogoi

When reached for comments, the BJP's Assam unit general secretary Dilip Saikia trashed the accusation.

"It is a baseless allegation. We have always believed in integrity of India but not at the cost of secret killings of innocent people. Why did he not order an enquiry on secret killings if he was honest? He is doing cheap, divisive politics," Saikia said.

The BJP leader said his party favoured dialogue for lasting peace in the North-East for which its governments held talks with the ULFA, NDFB, NSCN and other insurgent groups.

He claimed it was the Congress that derailed talks with the ULFA.

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of the AGP claimed it was his Congress predecessor Hiteswar Saikia who started the practice of secret killings.

"It is the Congress that started secret killings. It was Hiteswar Saikia....The first victim was Tezpur's Bhupen Bora, who was kidnapped and killed by = the Congress government," he alleged.

Saikia was the chief minister of Assam between 1991 and 1996.

When asked whether such killings continued even after he took over, Mahanta said, "The Unified Command was responsible for all sacurity related issues and it was functioning under the central government."

Gogoi said the NDA 1 government accused him of being "soft" on ULFA as he did not allow the killing of innocent people.

He claimed Mahanta, a two-term former chief minister who led the All Assam Students Union's agitation for idenfication and deportation of illegal migrants that led to the signing of the Assam Accord, had refused to accept 1967 as the cut-off year for detection of foreigners that was suggested by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1980.

"The leaders, including Mahanta, refused to accept 1967 as cut-off year in 1980, but they accepted 1971 as the cut-off year in 1985. Had they accepted the first proposal, 855 people who lost their lives during the Assam agitation would have lived," Gogoi said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 7:42 [IST]
To avenge Pulwama, huge standoff, air strikes, limited ground offensive in the offing?

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: India will respond to Pakistan at a time and place of its closing in the aftermath of the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama. India is currently weighing in the options of what action to take against Pakistan and its proxies.

The respond would need to strong, yet measured and the solution would need to be a long lasting one. A top official in New Delhi tells OneIndia that there would action, without a doubt. The timing and the surprise element is key in such an operation, he also added.

NIA officially takes over probe into Pulwama terror attack

Another source said that there would be some kind of action in March. I cannot get into the specifics at this moment, but there would be action soon, he also added.

Others indicated that there could be a huge military standoff, like what we witnessed in 2001-2002, in the aftermath of the Parliament attack.

During this period, there could be a couple of air strikes, while on the other hand, the Indian Army would up the ante along the border.

The Indian Air Force has already lined up several of its aircraft. Nearly 140 aircraft would be used for this operation and the chances of limited air strikes are not being ruled out. The IAF has already said that it is ready and can strike at very short notice. However the IAF would act with caution and ensure that any such operation that is launched is a complete success.

Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said that the IAF would always be at the forefront in executing its missions. We are showcasing our ability to hit hard, hit fast and also hit with precision, during day, during night and hit under adverse weather conditions through our autonomous bombing capability, he also added.

Pulwama terror attack: Security of 18 Kashmiri Separatists withdrawn

Sources say that there would be military action, without a doubt. The pressure would not been upped only on the diplomatic and economic front, he also added. However, any action would have to be explored below the nuclear threshold, he also added.

Apart from the air strikes, India could also launch a limited ground offensive. This would be done with an intention of destroying terror camps on the Line of Control and also seek control of more position.

In 2001-02, India had mobilised nearly 5 lakh troops. India had also moved ballistic missiles closer to the border. India was confident that this action would succeed as it had learnt through intelligence assessment that Pakistan was not well prepared.
Tired of convincing them says Arvind Kejriwal on alliance with Congress

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the AAP leaders were tired of trying to convince the Congress to form an alliance with the party, asserting the arrangement would result in the BJP losing all the Lok Sabha seats it currently holds in the national capital.

In his speech at a public rally near Jama Masjid, Kejriwal also lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, accusing them of dividing people.

BJP launches 'Kejriwal Bhagao, Delhi Bachao' campaign

"We are tired of convincing the Congress to form an alliance, but they do not understand. If there is an alliance, the BJP will lose all the seven Lok Sabha seats it currently has in Delhi," the AAP national convener said.

The rally was organised in the minority dominated pocket of Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Union minister Harsh Vardhan.

"I don't know what they have in their minds," he said about an alliance with the Congress and alleged that it was "weakening" the AAP in Delhi, drawing comparison with the SP-BSP combine in UP.

Earlier this month, Kejriwal had told reporters that the Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls.

In his attack on Modi and Shah, the AAP leader alleged that if the BJP returned to power, the country would lose its Constitution and democracy.

"Beware of the division of votes. Vote for the AAP because it can defeat the BJP and Modi in Delhi," he told the crowd.

Kejriwal asks PM Modi to grant full statehood to Delhi

He alleged that Pakistan dreamt of fragmenting India and the people and it failed, but Modi and Shah achieved in four years what the neighbouring country could not do in 70 years. "If they come back, the country and its democracy will not survive," Kejriwal alleged.

He said the upcoming Lok Sabha election was not about who becomes the prime minister of the country, it was about removing Modi and Shah. "Those who have any feeling for the country, should defeat them at any cost in 2019," he said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 7:52 [IST]
Telangana buys 32 new costly cars for officers, opposition slams CM KCR for splurge of public money

Rythu Bandhu scheme 2021: How to check online payment of TS Rythu Bandhu status, Eligibility and documents

BJP slams Telangana government over its decision to lift COVID-19 lockdown from Sunday

Telangana Police uses folk songs to curb fake news; Twitterati showers praise

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Hyderabad, Feb 21: Circulation of fake news soared ever since over 40 CRPF personnel were martyred in a dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

False information was being passed around to provoke popular sentiments more and the Internet regulators had a tough time curbing the potentially dangerous trend.

The police in the state of Telangana has come up with a unique method to curb the menace of fake news henceforth.

The method is a traditional one whereby the police department is using 'Janapadam' - a local folk song storytelling tradition to educate villagers about fake news and its evil consequences.

Telangana: 10 ministers inducted in KCR's cabinet

A video has also gone viral showing Police Kalabrundam, a cultural troupe, alerting villagers through folk songs in Dokur village in Mahbubnagar district of the state.

Folk songs to bust #FakeNews



Police Kalabrundam (Cultural Troupe) in Dokur village last night. Using local oral #storytelling tradition called Janapadam my team educates the villagers about social evils, fakenews and safety. #DigitalLiteracy#misinformation pic.twitter.com/SB2Py8jD3i  Rema Rajeshwari IPS (@rama_rajeswari) February 18, 2019

"Storytelling is one of the most effective strategies we use as part of our interventions among rural communities. Be it educating them about exercising 'self-regulation' while using social media or informing them of the various citizen-centric activities we take up," Rema Rajeshwari, Mahbubnagar district police chief, wrote on Twitter.

Earlier this week, the CRPF issued an advisory asking people to not to circulate pictures of severed body parts of the soldiers martyred in Pulwama as it would fuel hatred.

It also issued another advisory on false messages that are being circulated on Internet about harassment of Kashmiri students.

Here is how the Twitterati reacted to the Telengana Police's method of curbing fake news:

Admirable !! Can this be spread over WhatsApp & social media. Specially newly formed District Nrpt.  chup_kar_bc (@srinu55) February 18, 2019

Very nice. Raising Social consciousness is the real policing.

You may want to include aspects of clean living as well in this  D Prasanth Nair (@DPrasanthNair) February 18, 2019

Innovative way to reach out to people and create awareness.  Mitti Ke Rang (@mitikerang) February 18, 2019

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 10:07 [IST]
Even if there is 1 fatality: SCs strong warning to AP on conduct of Class 12 exams

SC agrees to hear plea seeking review of Rafale verdict

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking review of its verdict in the Rafale deal.

When advocate Prashanth Bhushan sought for a review the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said they would do something as it needs to be listed before a Bench.

In December the court had given a thumbs up to the deal.

Ayodhya case: Supreme Court's five-judge Constitution bench to hear case on Feb 26

The court also observed that it is not its job to go into pricing when the need and quality of aircraft is not in doubt. Further the court also said it did not find anything wrong in the selection of the Indian offset partners by Dassault. All the pleas have been dismissed. The court also said that no further review is required, while also adding that no probe is required into the pricing aspect or decision making process for the purchase of the aircraft.

The court added that it did not find any instances of commercial favouritism. There is no occasion to doubt the decision making process in procurement of the aircraft. Minor variations in clauses should not amount to the setting aside of the contract, the Bench also said.

The Bench also observed that a country cannot be underprepared. It is not right for a court to sit as an appellant authority and scrutinise all aspects. The perception of individuals cannot be the basis of roving inquiry in sensitive issues such as defence procurements.

The Bench also said that it cannot compel a government to purchase 126 aircraft and it is not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It is not the job of the court to compare pricing details, the Bench also said.

The court said that the personal perception of the people on the deal matters little. However the judiciary has constrained jurisdiction in examining defence deals of this nature especially when adversaries have inducted 4th and 5th generation fighters compared to none by India.

On the offset partner the Bench said that it is up to the vendor and not the central government to decide on the same. It is not for the court to step into what is appropriate. Mere press interviews cannot be the basis of the same. There is no commercial favouritism and hence there is no need to intervene.

SC holds Anil Ambani in contempt, says pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson or stay 3 months in jail

It is our considered view that in matters of contract there cannot be any uniform view of judicial review.

Scrutiny will have to be made keeping national security in mind. Our country cannot be allowed to be underprepared. It will not be correct for this court to sit and decide on the correctness. It was only after the statement made by former president of France, Fancois Hollande that the petitions were filed, the Bench also said.

The verdict was delivered by a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
Chinese researchers have installed and tested a fluorescence Doppler lidar system at a research base in Antarctica during a mission that was just concluded last week and are now heading home.

The system run at Zhongshan Station had enabled them to simultaneously observe the temperature and the three-dimensional wind field in the atmospheric region mesopause above Antarctica, exploring the middle and upper atmosphere of the polar cusp region.

"The lidar system allows a round-the-clock observation in fine weather with no blockage of large clouds," said Huang Wentao, head of the project and a member of China's 35th research mission in Antarctica.

The mission members are currently on board of the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong on the voyage back home.

"During the over-winter expedition, we will conduct an operational observation of lidar to obtain first-hand data of the temperature and wind field in the middle and upper atmosphere of the polar cusp region," said Huang, a researcher with the Polar Research Institute of China.

The polar circle is among the best places to observe the space environment and weather above Earth. Zhongshan's longitude and latitude are just ideal for conducting atmospheric physical research, said Huang.

"The middle and upper atmosphere above Antarctica is where one can see most of the local noctilucent clouds and the ozonosphere hole," Huang said.

The lidar system at Zhongshan will contribute to "the research on the impact of solar winds on the Earth's atmosphere and the global atmospheric circulation interaction, among other things," Huang said.

Little is still known about the Earth's middle and upper atmosphere, the researcher said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  The Chinese government supports the prosecution of its citizen who threw a soy snack at a Filipino policeman.

Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua made this commitment during a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday night, Malacanang said Thursday.

"He (Zhao) said the Chinese government does not tolerate this kind of behavior. In fact he said that in the Philippines, we should prosecute nationals of other countries including Chinese who violate our laws," Presidential Spokesperson said in a media briefing.

In the meeting that lasted for an hour and a half, Zhao also praised Filipino policemen for exercising restraint when Chinese student Zhang Jiale splashed "taho" on Police Officer 1 William Cristobal for refusing her entry in line with the ban on liquids in the Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3).

"He said he saw the video and Ambassador Zhao said he was impressed by the professionalism and restraint exhibited by the police officers," Panelo said.

Zhang, 23, was placed under the custody of the Bureau of Immigration for being an "undesirable alien" and is facing possible deportation.

READ: Chinese 'taho'-thrower under Immigration custody after posting bail

She earlier posted a P12,000 bail for her direct assault charges, after she was arrested by authorities on February 9, right after she threw a cup of taho at Cristobal.
51-year-old man in Odisha given two doses of COVID vaccine in 30 minutes duration

Odisha bandh: Farmers body call for 12-hour strike; No obstruction in HSC exams

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21: Odisha's leading farmers' outfit will on Thursday observe a 12-hour bandh. The farmers' body Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) has called for a 12-hours bandh in Odisha to protest against the poor policies of the Naveen Patnaik government.

The farmers in the state are demanding adequate price for their produce and pension.

[ NIA officially takes over probe into Pulwama terror attack]

"The state government is ignoring our demands," NNKS convenor Akshay Kumar said, adding that they will create no hindrance in the conduct of the board exams.

While announcing his party's support to the NNKS's bandh call, Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik said,"Farmers are our top priority."

BJP Odisha unit president Basant Panda too backed the bandh. "The farmers have rights to express their opinion and protest in a democracy. The state government has time and again tried to throttle their voice. We will protest the anti-farmer policies of the state government," said Panda.

[Will kill non-local labourers if you target Kashmiris says Hizbul]

The NNKS added that it was "forced" to call a bandh in Odisha after the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government did not pay attention to their "genuine" demands.

No obstruction in HSC exams:

NNKS convenor Akshay Kumar, in the meantime, told news agency PTI that the farmers' outfit has rejected an appeal made by the Odisha government to not organise the bandh on February 21 in view of the annual High School Certificate (HSC) Examination.

Utkal University postpones exams:

Meanwhile, the city-based Utkal University has postponed all the examinations scheduled to be held on Thursday in view of Odisha bandh called by the Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS), a farmers' body in the state.

The Home Department of the state government on February 18 had urged the Sangathan to desist from the bandh saying it would affect students who will appear for their annual high school certificate examinations beginning February 22. However, the farmer's body defied the appeal and decided to go ahead with its plan.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 8:40 [IST]
NIA officially takes over probe into Pulwama terror attack

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the probe into the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama from the Jammu and Kashmir police, officials said.

The agency has re-registered the case and formed a team to investigate the audacious terror strike in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, an NIA spokesperson here said.

Pulwama terror attack: Security of 18 Kashmiri Separatists withdrawn

NIA Director General Y C Modi, accompanied by senior officers of the agency, visited the site of the attack, 33 km from Srinagar, where he was briefed by local police and the CRPF.

The state police had registered a case at the Awantipora police station on February 14 after a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a CRPF bus, which was part of a 78-vehicle convoy carrying over 2,500 personnel on their way from Jammu to Srinagar.

The NIA has already gathered explosive material from the blast site in Lethpora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and has been involved in the questioning of around a dozen people detained by police following the bombing, officials said.

The agency has also met senior police, intelligence and army officers to gather whatever evidence they have, they said.

The NIA will probe the planning and execution of the terror attack, the second such in three decades of militancy in the state.

In 2000, a 17-year-old Kashmiri boy had blown himself outside the Srinagar-based army cantonment in the year 2000, killing two Army men.

Rahul, Priyanka meet Pulwama martyr's families, recall Rajiv Gandhi's assassination

On Monday, three Jaish terrorists were killed in a 16-hour operation in Pulwama's Pinglan area, 12 km from the spot of the February 14 attack. An Army major and four security personnel also lost their lives. Police and the Army announced Tuesday that these terrorists were responsible for last Thursday's attack.

(With agency inputs)

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 6:06 [IST]
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

NHRC issues notice to Rajasthan Govt over death of Pakistani prisoner

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 21: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Rajasthan government over the alleged killing of a Pakistani prisoner by the fellow inmates in a Jaipur jail.

The NHRC has also reportedly asked states to ensure that Pakistani prisoners lodged in other jails across the country are safe.

A Pakistani prisoner, identified as Shakar Ullah, was today allegedly murdered in Jaipur central jail after a quarrel with other prisoners. According to media reports, the Pakistani prisoner was stoned to death by three inmates. He was jailed in 2011 and was serving life sentence.

[Pakistani prisoner lodged in Jaipur Central jail killed by inmates: Police]

Four prisoners were watching TV when a quarrel broke out. As the fight escalated, the three convicts bashed Shakir Ullah's head against a stone on the ground, said Laxman Gaur, Additional Commissioner (Crime), Jaipur, as per a PTI reports.

After the incident, Pakistan issued a statement urging the Indian authorities to "ensure provision of foolproof security to all Pakistani inmates / prisoners in Indian Jails and Pakistani visitors to India".

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 19:30 [IST]
At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

Namumkin Ab Mumkin Hai: Modi sarkars tagline for 2019 LS polls

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: The BJP government at the Centre which is looking to retain power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has been looking for a tagline. This time around the advertisement campaign of the party would go with the tagline, Namumkin Ab Mumbkin Hai (The impossible is now possible).

The advertisement campaign would be launched soon after data and statistics are provided by all the ministries. The various ministries have been asked to compile data relating to the welfare schemes.

The government would begin the campaign before the poll schedule for the Lok Sabha elections are announced. This is aimed at reaching out to the masses and tell them about the various welfare measures that the government has undertaken.

Complicity of Pakistan in Pulwama attack strongly underlined during India, Saudi talks

Among the key highlights would be the Aayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Jan Dhan Yojana and Kisan Credit Card.

Apart from reaching out to the masses through the print, electronic and social media, there would also be messages telecast in cinemas.
Moon meets Modi: Indias Act East and South Koreas New Southern policies back each other

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, Feb 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached South Korea on a brief state visit to receive the Seoul Peace Prize. This visit happens months after South Korea's pro-peace president Moon Jae-in came to India in July last year.

With the international community's focus set to shift to Korean Peninsula ahead of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a few days' time, this visit by Modi also assumes importance beyond being a routine bilateral affair.

India looks East to diversify its foreign policy; S Korea eyes South

PM Modi in South Korea, to be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize for 2018

Modi has emphasised on the 'Act East Policy' ever since he came to power five years ago and visited a number of countries - big and small - to the East to cater to the idea of expanding India's business and security horizons.

With the US not being seen as a too stable an ally and cooperation with China yet to take a solid shape, Southeast Asia and beyond became a natural alternative for New Delhi to look at for meeting its goals in the international fraternity. And among the countries to its East, South Korea - also a democracy - emerged a certain preference.

The friendship between New Delhi and Seoul becomes all the more significant as just like the former, the latter too is ready with its 'New Southern Policy' under the Moon administration to expand its own horizons.

Although South Korea's interest in Southeast Asia and beyond is not new, the Moon presidency has worked doubly seriously to fulfil the potential in the region.

From deployment of a special envoy to ASEAN to the launch of the ASEAN Culture House in Busan to embracing countries like India, Seoul is certainly trying to look beyond its immediate neighbourhood comprising China, Japan and North Korea to serve its aspiration to emerge as a middle-range diplomatic power.

Moon has paid visit to Singapore, a key player in Southeast Asia besides playing a significant role in the US-North Korea rapprochement.

South Korea President Moon Jae-in lauds India ties before PM Modi's visit

It is not for the first time that South Korea has attached significance to India but factors like economic interest and the China factor have made Seoul and New Delhi rework on their relationships even more.

In 2015, when Modi visited South Korea for the first time after becoming the prime minister, the two countries improved their bilateral ties to a "Special Strategic Partnership" and Seoul decided to help India with $10 billion in matters of priority infrastructure.

Both countries will look to build up on the base further this time.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 17:55 [IST]
Modi was busy shooting for film in Corbett, had 'chai, samosa' after Pulwama attack, says Congress

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 21: Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala broke the party's silence on the Pulwama attack on Thursday and said that PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah "have a bad reputation of politicising terror attacks".

Holding a press conference, Surjewala attacked Modi for not giving the issue its due importance. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of politicising the issue.

After free hand to Army post-Pulwama, India back to 'talks with Pakistan'?

Accusing the prime minister of being busy shooting a film in Jim Corbett national park, Randeep Surjewala said, "When the whole country was mourning the loss of lives of our jawans in Pulwama Attack in the afternoon, PM Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film in Jim Corbett park till evening. Is there any PM in the world like this? I have no words really."

"PM Modi even gave a presser on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, dissing the Congress. They were appealing for votes by politicising terror. When the soldiers were fighting terrorists, BJP were busy printing ads," he said.

Congress's statement comes after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned why the CRPF soldiers were allowed to travel in a convoy, to which the state's ex-top cop said that he had proposed to airlift soldiers to avoid Pulwama-like tragedy.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Earlier in the day, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe of the Pulwama terror attack and re-registered the case. The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday, 19 February, had transferred the case to the NIA.

Also, New Zealand became the first country to pass a motion in its Parliament condemning the 14 February attack.

Oratory alright, but Sidhu has a thing or two to learn from his Captain

Meanwhile, France said it will move a proposal at the UN in a "couple of days" to ban Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.
MSP for paddy hiked by Rs 72/qtl to Rs 1,940 for 2021-22 crop year

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Maharashtra: Farmers' agitation called-off after talks with minister

India

oi-Vikas SV

Mumbai, Feb 21: After a meeting between farmer leaders and Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan, the farmers, who marched from Nashik to Mumbai, have reportedly called off their strike.

The state government has sought 2-3 months to fulfil demands, reported ANI.

Accusing the BJP-led governments at the Centre and Maharashtra of betraying farmers, over 50,000 farmers embarked on a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai on Thursday to protest against what they termed as the "betrayal" of peasants. The long march was organised by AIKS (All India Kisan Sabha).

Farmers from 23 districts across Maharashtra had joined the march, flagged off on February 20 to mark the fourth death anniversary of Communist ideologue Govind Pansare.

[Maharashtra: Over 50,000 farmers begin march from Nashik to Mumbai]

Eleven months ago, they had withdrawn their agitation after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis promised to fulfill their demands. Their demands include farm loan waiver and implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations.

In March 2018, the farmers hade taken out the march demanding appropriate price for their produce, loan waiver, relief to drought-hit farmers, allotment of forest department land to STs etc. The farmers have alleged that no demand has been met despite assurances given to them by Maharashtra CM in 2018.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 23:57 [IST]
Will return to India from London in a few days, says Adar Poonawalla

18 dead in fire at Pune sanitiser firm, search on for missing staff

Pune lockdown: Officials release new guidelines for restaurants, religious events and more

Maharashtra: 6-year-old boy trapped in 200-ft borewell rescued

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Pune, Feb 21: A six-year-old boy, who fell into a borewell near Manchar tehsil in Pune, has been safely rescued after about 16 hrs of rescue operation, news agency ANI reported.

Anand Singh assault case: Congress MLA Ganesh to reach Bidadi today

The boy got trapped in a borewell at about 10 feet depth on Wednesday at a village in Ambegaon, Pune. Police and NDRF saved the boy in a joint rescue operation.

Maharashtra: The six-year-old boy who fell into a borewell near Manchar tehsil in Pune yesterday has been safely rescued after about 16 hrs of rescue operation. pic.twitter.com/o1O1Cenxsh  ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019

In photos of the rescue taken by eyewitnesses, an NDRF official in bright orange jumpsuit is seen holding the crying boy, visibly shaken, as he is taken out of a crater that the rescuers had dug where the borewell was.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 10:13 [IST]
Lt Gen DS Hooda to head Congress task force on national security

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 21: Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda, a former Northern Army commander and main architect of the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK, will head a Congress task force on national security.

Party president Rahul Gandhi met Hooda and discussed the modalities of the panel.

"The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country," a party statement said.

Hooda will lead the panel and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts, it said. Hailing the step, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, "Yet another positive and welcome step towards a strong nation and stronger national security by Congress President @RahulGandhi. The experience that Lt Gen (Retd) D S Hooda brings in, will benefit the nation in the long run."

[On surgical strikes, did Lt Gen Hooda walk into a trap: Veterans explain]

In another tweet, she said, "The only thing they will find is Surgical Strike and Hows the josh?! :))"

Reacting to the development, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the Congress couldn't have had a better officer to advise them on national security.

"Lt Gen Hooda is a credit to the uniform he has worn. I had the privilege of having him as my security advisor when he headed 16 corps in Nagrota," he tweeted.

[What the Army veterans say about politicising surgical strikes]

The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of politicising the surgical strikes. On September 29, 2016, the Army had carried out the strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month.

Last December, responding to a question during a panel discussion at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh, Hooda had said that in hindsight, it would have been better had "we done it (surgical strikes) secretly".

He had also said the initial euphoria about the success of the surgical strikes was natural but the constant maintenance of the hype around the military operation was unwarranted.

PTI
Omar takes on Centre, PM Modi over alleged attack on Kashmiris in Lucknow

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Kashmir shawl trader assaulted in Bengal

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Kolkata, Feb 21: A Kashmiri shawl trader was beaten up by a mob in Nadia and one person has been arrested in this connection, police said.

Javed Khan, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, was beaten up at the Taherpur bazar area at around 7 pm on Monday, days after the terrorist attack at Pulwama in Kashmir that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

Since Khan was reluctant to lodge a police complaint, a suo motu case was started which led to the arrest, Superintendent of Police (Nadia) Rupesh Kumar said.

Khan is a shawl trader who used to visit Taherpur frequently, sources said, adding that he owns a shawl counter in the market and many people of the locality knew him.

Kashmiri shawl vendors attacked in train

They said a few Kashmiris stay together at a rented house in the locality and Khan was one of them.

On Monday, a few people attacked Khan when he was in his shop. Soon, more people gathered and beat him up. In the end, it was the police who came to Khan's rescue, officials said.

Khan has been advised by police to temporarily leave the area, sources said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 7:29 [IST]
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China's top environmental watchdog, has launched a campaign to comb the banks of the Yangtze River to map all sewage outlets and identify any that are unregistered.

Water quality monitoring will be done at all sewage outlets, and environmental officers will trace any pollution they find to its source. Tailor-made remediation measures will then be undertaken, the ministry said.

It also said the latest technologies, including satellite remote sensing, unmanned aerial and aquatic vehicles and intelligent robots will be brought into the campaign, which will last for two years.

Chongqing municipality's Yubei district and Taizhou, Jiangsu province, have been chosen as pilot areas for the campaign. The ministry hopes initial work in those places will help establish technical norms and work procedures that can then be extended to all 11 provincial-level regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt beginning in the second half of this year.

The first priority of the campaign is to clarify how many sewage exits there are, where discharges are happening, who is discharging, and what and how much they discharge, said Zhai Qing, vice-minister of ecology and environment, during a video conference on Friday, according to a news release from the ministry.

In the country's latest institutional reshuffle last year, management of sewage exits in rivers was shifted from the Ministry of Water Resources. According to the top water resources authority's survey in 2017, there were 6,092 major sewage outlets along the Yangtze.

Zhai said the outlet survey this time will be "extended and deepened" based on previous work.

"The biggest difference of this campaign from other previous work on sewage outlets is that it will not overlook any exits that discharge into the Yangtze," he said.

The ministry said outlets with direct or indirect pollution discharges will be targeted in the campaign.

Government bodies have increasingly emphasized the protection of the Yangtze since early 2016, when President Xi Jinping urged officials from provincial areas along the river to concentrate on ecological restoration and protection, and avoid large-scale development.

Early this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Development and Reform Commission published a circular on Yangtze restoration and protection, vowing to comprehensively improve water quality by 2020.

The ministry said it will continue its campaigns focusing on solid waste and on water bodies that supply drinking water along the Yangtze.

The Ministry of Water Resources and the National Energy Administration, along with another two government agencies, launched a campaign at the end of last year to eliminate small hydropower stations.
At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

India should be among top 3 countries in 15 years, that's our aim: Modi

India

oi-Vikas SV

Seoul, Feb 21: Highlighting the major changes that his government brought about in the country since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he wants to see India among top three countries of the world in next 15 years. Modi said that is the aim which he and his government is working towards.

Prime Minister Modi is in South Korea was and addressing the Indian diaspora there today. Speaking to the Indian community, Modi urged the Indians around the world to spread Mahatma Gandhi's message and legacy around.

" Our aim is to be among the top 3 countries in the world in the next 15 years," he said.

Prime Minister Modi reached Seongnam Air Base in Seoul early on Thursday for a two-day visit to South Korea. The people of Indian origin were waiting for him in the hotel lobby, waving the tricolour and taking selfies with him.

During the visit, the PM is scheduled to have bilateral and business engagements, unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi bust and accept the Seoul Peace Prize conferred upon him.

"Tomorrow, I will be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize. This prize is not mine, I will only be receiving it on behalf of 130 crore Indians and the 3 crore Indians living abroad. This prize is a recognition of hard work of all Indians," the Prime Minister said.

"In the last four and a half years, we have been stressing to ensure Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business...The entire world is looking upon India with great hopes... Make In India has today become a global brand," he added.

[PM Modi in South Korea, to be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize for 2018]

Asserting that Digital India has transformed lives of many Indians, Modi said almost every Indian now has a bank account.

He also said that India is today the fastest growing large economy and, he added, "Our economic fundamentals are strong." India is swiftly moving towards becoming a five trillion dollars economy.

Ahead of his visit, PM Modi described South Korea as a valued friend for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', Start Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives, and said as fellow democracies the two nations share values and vision for regional and global peace.

The Prime Minister is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is Modi's second visit to the Republic of Korea after the state visit in May 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 19:11 [IST]
Nitin Gadkari takes on Congress for its guarantee to nullify CAA in Assam if voted to power

Instead of just 1, more firms should be allowed to make vaccines: Gadkari

India to reduce water flowing into Pakistan, set to divert Eastern rivers to other parts

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 21: India's share water into Pakistan from three Indus rivers would be reduced and the government has decided to divert water from these rivers to improve the availability of water in the Yamuna, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

At a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat on Wednesday, he had said that once the dams are built, Yamuna river will have more water.

"After formation of India and Pakistan, India and Pakistan got the right to use waters in three rivers each. The water from our three rivers is going to Pakistan. Now, we are planning to build a project and divert the water from these three rivers into Yamuna river. Once this happens, Yamuna will have more water," news agency ANI quoted Nitin Gadkari as saying.

Gadkari also took to Twitter to elaborate on India's plan regarding the three rivers - the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej- that flow into Pakistan.

"The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states," Gadkari tweeted.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India shares the waters of the Beas and Sutlej rivers with Pakistan.

"Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Gadkari, who is the minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, tweeted this evening.

[Indus Waters Treaty: India can construct hydroelectric power plants, says WB]

The World Bank had last year said that India is allowed to construct hydroelectric power plants on the Jhelum and Chenab Rivers after secretary-level discussions between India and Pakistan on the technical issues over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) concluded.

What is the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan?

The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank to use the water available in the Indus System of Rivers located in India. The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960 by the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and then President of Pakistan Ayub Khan.

[India - Pakistan to resume negotiations over Indus Waters Treaty in Lahore]

According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three "eastern" rivers of India - the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej with the mean flow of 33 million acre-feet (MAF) - was given to India, while control over the water flowing in three "western" rivers of India - the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum with the mean flow of 80 MAF - was given to Pakistan.

The treaty also provides arbitration mechanism to solve disputes amicably.Climate change is causing melting of ice in Tibetan plateau, which scientists believe will affect the river in future.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 20:07 [IST]
In Andhra, Amit Shah accuses Cong of using Pulwama attack for political interests

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Rajahmundry, Feb 21: BJP national president Amit Shah who is in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday launched his party's exercise to contact beneficiaries of various welfare programmes of its governments at the Centre and in states. He will later head to Karnataka to attend other political programmes.

While addressing party workers in Rajahmundry, Shah said,''The Narendra Modi government has zero tolerance policy for terrorists. The PM has given the security agencies a free hand to decide on when and where to hit back after the Pulwama terror attack.''

Congress whose leader Navjot Singh Sidhu speaks for Pakistan dares to question PM Modi. Congress need not teach us about patriotism," said Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

[Congress accused Modi govt of disrespecting soldiers', politicising Pulwama terror attack]

"The Congress had today attacked PM Modi over the Pulwama attack. The Congress is targeting a prime minister who spends 18 hours of the day working for the country.

"Congress has used this (Pulwama) attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modi's presence in a programme on the day of attack. But I want to tell them that PM Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours in a day," said BJP chief in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, TDP, Congress workers greeted BJP president Amit Shah with black flags protesting over denial of special status to Andhra Pradesh on his arrival in Rajahmundry.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 14:08 [IST]
In an era of cock and bull intelligence, why migrating to a centralised system would help

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 21: Following every major terror strike, there is always an analysis on whether there was intelligence or not. Was the Pulwama attack a result of intelligence failure?

Some would say that there was intelligence, but it was not concrete enough. First and foremost, intelligence is the cornerstone to deal with terrorism. Intelligence is gathered in various forms such as chatter, chat intercepts and from sources on the ground.

The Intelligence agencies gets thousands of intercepts every day, but the question is whether all of it is actionable or not. There is also the other issue of dealing with cock and bull intelligence, which is deliberately put out by terror groups to confuse the agencies.

After Pulwama attack, Govt allows security forces deployed in Kashmir to travel by air

The key to good intelligence is to piece together all the information and then ascertain beyond doubt whether it is actionable or not.

Six days before the Pulwama attack, there was intelligence provided which suggested that there would be an IED attack and all areas need to be sensitised. However the intelligence was not considered to be operational in nature. The Intelligence Bureau argues that it is extremely difficult to get pin-pointed intelligence. At least 8 out of 10 intercepts, leads, information that are provided are done with an intention of misguiding the agencies. There have been times when we have chased a lead for months and then hit a dead end.

Intel in J&K:

In Jammu and Kashmir, the reason why the Indian Army was able to gun down so many top commanders was only due to intelligence. It was the Jammu and Kashmir police which took the lead in providing the intelligence. IB officials say that the J&K police are the best source of information as they are familiar with the local logistics, the people, culture and also the language. The J&K police did not rely on intercepts, chatter etc.

Instead, they gathered intelligence from the ground and this proved to be effective.

While such intelligence is helpful in eradicating a local menace, it is not good enough to thwart attacks on the scale of a Pathankot or a Pulwama.

The biggest issue is that there are multiple agencies that gather intelligence. The IB, Research and Analysis Wing, Army, local police, all have inputs of their own. The problem begins when it is not shared among each other and more importantly when it is not pieced together to decide on whether the information is actionable or not. We noticed such slip-ups during the 26/11, Uri, Nagrota, Parliament attacks just to name a few. In fact during the 26/11 there were at least 6 to 8 inputs with different agencies. It was not pieced together and this led to the attack. The case was similar in the case of the Pathankot attack as well.

The importance of NATGRID:

Piecing together the intelligence and coordinating with various agencies especially when the input is very general in nature is the need of the hour. Only 1 out of every 100 intelligence inputs are specific in nature, while the rest are general.

Looking at the manner in which terror groups continue to strike with precision, the need of the hour would be to completely migrate to NATGRID or National Intelligence Grid. The primary job of NATGRID is to connect the inputs and data base of the core security agencies and piece it together and ascertain whether it is actionable in nature or not.

The agencies have been arguing for long that India does have a competent policing wing, but they have been handicapped for want of data. Further coordination and ego issues have cropped up in the past as a result of which intelligence has failed.

Security experts point out that with NATGRID, a data base is built and it would not remain the property of one state alone, but would be national property.

To avenge Pulwama, huge standoff, air strikes, limited ground offensive in the offing?

Under this set up, police officials would have to feed information about each person to this data base. This would include credit card details, residential proof, immigration details and all other transactions regarding a person.

An official in the IB says that the police will have a big role to play to ensure that this data is in place. The police not only have to feed in the first bit of the data, but there is a need to keep updating the data.

Natgrid would also help the police and the Intelligence Bureau keep a tab on persons with suspicious backgrounds. The police would have access to all his data and any movement by this person would also be tracked with the help of this data base.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 16:45 [IST]
AAP-Cong colluding with each other, may forge alliance for Delhi Assembly polls

Revocation of Article 370 not in pipeline, but Gupkar Alliance to demand its restoration

Here are alliance and voter equations of Maharashtra

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, Feb 21: With the political alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, the battle of Maharashtra has begun for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The alliance stitched on Tuesday between the historical allies for 48 Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats gives the BJP 25 and the Shiv Sena 23 seats.

BJP's Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis played a very important role in forging the alliance, which seemed in limbo after the Shiv Sena's continuous attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the recent past.

Why Shiv Sena agreed for an alliance with BJP

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by state strongman Sharad Pawar, are also expected to join hands to counter the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.

The current Lok Sabha strength among these parties gives an edge to the BJP, which won 23 seats in 2014. Shiv Sena is on the second spot with 18 seats.

However, BJP's tally was reduced to 22 after its candidate Hemant Patle was defeated by the NCP's candidate Madhukar Kukde in the Bhandara-Gondiya bypoll in May this year.

The bypoll gave a ray of hope to both the Congress and the NCP that a united opposition can defeat the BJP even in its stronghold Vidarbha region.

With this win, NCP's current Lok Sabha tally now stands at five. The Congress had managed to win only two seats in 2014. Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Paksha is the other Lok Sabha member, who is a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The BJP-Shiv Sena have their core voters among 79.83% Hindu population of Maharashtra. Other political players will also be looking for their piece of cake within this Hindu vote bank.

Apart from the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will also seek votes on the basis of their coalition government's works in the state.

Interestingly, this time BJP-Shiv Sena have excluded their 2014 partners: Swabhimani Paksha and Republican Party of India (Athawale).

Miffed Union Minister of Social Justice and Republican Party of India (Athawale) chief Ramdas Athawale has said with this move, BJP- Shiv Sena's Dalit votes will definitely be affected. He is demanding a seat for his party and claims if his party joins BJP-Shiv Sena alliance then they can win 43-44 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Dalits and Dalit Leaders

According to Census 2011, Maharashtra's total population is 11,23,74,333.

The Scheduled Caste (SC) population in the state recorded a growth of 34.3% since 2001. The SC population in 2001 was 98,81, 656, which increased to 1,32,75, 898 in 2011.

At the district level, Akola has the highest proportion of SC population with 20.1 % followed by Latur 19.6 %, Washim 19.2 % and Nanded 19.1 %.

No 'war for poll gain' rhetoric: Sena cautions govt

As per 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population is 1,05,10,213. The growth rate for the ST population during 2001-11 stands to be 22.5 percent and their proportion in the total population is 9.4 percent against 8.9 percent in 2001.

Nandurbar district has the highest proportion of ST population with 69.3 %, followed by Gadchiroli 38.7%, Dhule 31.6 percent % and Nashik 25.6%.

There are 59 sub-castes in the SC population of Maharashtra and among them, the Mahar community is the largest vote bank as it mainly follows Buddhism. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, whose caste was Mahar, along with 365,000 followers had converted to Buddhism in Nagpur on 14 October 1956.

The population of Buddhists in Maharashtra is 5.81%, who are believed to be staunch opposers of the BJP and Shiv Sena for being Hindu parties.

Though there are many claimants of Ambedkarite vote bank, the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of B. R. Ambedkar, seems to be the tallest leader in this segment.

Ambedkar, however, has roped in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), smaller anti-BJP parties, and other marginalised groups under the banner Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).

He is bargaining hard with the Congress-NCP leaders for around 12 seats for VBM candidates in order to join the anti-BJP alliance. He has another condition: the Congress should give in writing that if it is voted to power then it will clip the wings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) under the ambit of several provisions of the Constitution.

Considering the hard posture of Ambedkar, the Congress and the NCP are in dilemma.

Ambedkar, on the other hand, is ready to field candidates on all 48 Lok Sabha seats. On February 13, he announced the names of VBA candidates for five Lok Sabha seats in Western Maharashtra. At the time of the launch of the VBA, it had made it apparently clear that it will fight elections on all the 48 Lok Sabha seats across Maharashtra.

It's notable that the percentage of Muslim population in Maharashtra is 11.54 and both Buddhists and Muslims constitute 17.35% of the population. This equation may not be the winning one but it may change the political math of other players in the fray.

BJP tames the roaring tiger

AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has himself tasted the fruits of Muslim and Dalit vote bank consolidation during 2015 Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections. The AIMIM won 26 seats and was second-largest. Out of 26 corporators, five were Dalits.

Smaller Parties

After BJP-Shiv Sena, and another important alliance of NCP and Congress unfolding; the smaller parties like Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), Republican Party of India (Athawale), etcetera have been lurking.

The MNS is being opposed from state leadership of Congress as well as Samajwadi Party for MNS chief Raj Thackeray's stand against people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The MNS is accused of launching attacks on people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh living mainly in Mumbai.

The MNS performed very poorly in the last Lok Sabha elections, but both the Congress, as well as the NCP, know strengths of MNS Chief, who himself is a very good orator and his party has the capacity to influence around 70000 voters in approximately 10 Lok Sabha seats.

The alliance game has just started in Maharashtra and it will be interesting to watch new what type of new developments come to fore in the coming days.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 9:55 [IST]
Google dedicates Doodle to "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 22: Today's Google Doodle is dedicated to legendary "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife conservationist who died in 2006 while filming an underwater documentary film. Google has dedicated an animated Doodle on what would have been Irwin's 57th birthday. Irwin was born on February 22, 1962.

Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series "The Crocodile Hunter", a wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri.

Irwin also hosted the series Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets. Irwin and his wife Terri also owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 kilometres from Brisbane.

The Crocodile Hunter series debuted on Australian TV screens in 1996 and made its way onto North American television the following year. The Crocodile Hunter became successful in the United States, the UK, and over 130 other countries, reaching 500 million people. Irwin's exuberant and enthusiastic presenting style, broad Australian accent, signature khaki shorts, and catchphrase "Crikey!" became known worldwide.

[Google honors German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge with a doodle]

Over the course of his life, Irwin found worldwide fame as an enthusiastic conservationist. His passion for wildlife started as a child when he would help out at his parents' roadside wildlife park in Queensland.

In 1998, Irwin continued, working with director Mark Strickson, to present The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World. He appeared on several episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

In 2001, Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian government for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism". In 2004, he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year.

[On Valentine's Day, Google dedicates Doodle to Madhubala]

On 4 September 2006, Irwin was on location at Batt Reef, near Port Douglas, Queensland, taking part in the production of the documentary series Ocean's Deadliest. During a lull in filming caused by inclement weather, Irwin decided to snorkel in shallow waters while being filmed in an effort to provide footage for his daughter's television programme. While swimming in chest-deep water, Irwin approached a short-tail stingray in order to film it. Irwin died at after being pierced in the heart by the stingray barb.

What is Google Doodle?

A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages that commemorates holidays, events, achievements, and people. The first Google Doodle honored the Burning Man festival in 1998, and was designed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to notify users of their absence in case the servers crashed.

Subsequent Google Doodles were designed by an outside contractor until 2000, when Page and Brin asked public relations officer Dennis Hwang to design a logo for Bastille Day. Since then, a team of employees called Doodlers have organized and published the Doodles.

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Story first published: Friday, February 22, 2019, 1:43 [IST]
Can never support scrapping Article 370: Nitish Kumar

India

pti-PTI

Patna, Feb 21: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday strongly opposed the demand for abrogating Article 370, amid the clamour for doing away with the special provision granting autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

The assertion by Kumar, who is the national president of the JD(U), came at a time when a Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court with the request for scrapping the article and demands to this effect have been raised by a number of leaders of the BJP, his ally in the state.

We can never think in terms of abrogating Article 370. Our party's stand has been clear on this issue. There has been a terror attack and whatever action is required to punish those guilty besides preventing such incidents in future should be taken, Kumar told reporters here.

But this does not mean that Jammu and Kashmir should be deprived of a provision that has been in place, he added.

[Withdrawal of security to mainstream political activists is 'retrograde': Omar Abdullah]

We can never support such a move, or even demands made to this effect, the chief minister said on the sidelines of a function organised by his party.

The JD(U) chief's statement came barely a few hours after Union minister Giriraj Singh, a firebrand BJP leader, made a strong pitch for scrapping Article 370 at Jehanabad district in the state.

Singh also blamed first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir and claimed that the country was paying the price for the Congress' sin of withdrawing troops from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Meanwhile, Kumar refused to comment on the reports of splurge of public money by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on a bungalow allotted to him when he was the deputy CM. The son of former chief minister Lalu Prasad had vacated the house last week, more than a year after having lost the post, following a Supreme Court order, whereby he was also slapped with a fine.

[Will kill non-local labourers if you target Kashmiris says Hizbul]

Do not drag me into such things. All you journalists here are much younger to me. When I say that it would not be proper for me to say anything, please try to understand, the JD(U) president said.

Interestingly, his current deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader, had on Tuesday taken media persons on a guided tour of the sprawling premises which he shall henceforth be occupying and lashed out at Yadav for having spent public money to decorate the bungalow in a manner that befitted 'Raja-Maharajas'.

Kumar also welcomed into his party, on the occasion, well-known city-based businessman Narendra Singh, whose son Mohit Prakash is associated with the JD(U)s students wing and is at present the president of the Patna University Students Union.

To a query as to whether the induction of Singh was yet another attempt to woo the upper castes, traditionally supporters of BJP or Congress, the chief minister remarked, I have been in this chair not because of any caste arithmetic but by virtue of the work done under my watch.

He also stressed on the need for youngsters taking part in active politics, saying the future belongs to them. In a veiled dig at his arch rival RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Kumar said gone are the days when Bihar used to remain enveloped in darkness.

All villages in the state are now electrified and hence lanterns have become redundant. The lantern is the election symbol of the RJD, which was ousted from power by the JD(U)-BJP combine in 2005.

PTI
Will return to India from London in a few days, says Adar Poonawalla

Bhima Koregaon case: Pune Police files 1,837 page chargesheet

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Pune, Feb 21: Bhima Koregaon case: Pune Police files a 1,837 page charge-sheet against Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and wanted accused Ganapathy, the former General Secretary of banned organisation CPI(M).

Last week the Supreme Court had set aside the Bombay High Court order refusing to grant 90 days extension to Maharashtra Police for filing the charge sheet in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case. The apex court, however, said that the five rights activists may seek regular bail in the case as the Mahasrashtra Police has already filed the charge sheet.

Maharashtra: Over 50,000 farmers begin march from Nashik to Mumbai

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had earlier stayed the Bombay High Court order which had set aside the trial court decision to extend time by 90 days for filing the charge sheet in the case by the state police.

The arrested activists had been alleging that they were entitled for grant of default bail in the case as the Mahasrashtra Police did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90 days period and moreover, the extension granted by the trial court was bad in law.

(With PTI inputs)

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 15:09 [IST]
After Pulwama attack, Govt allows security forces deployed in Kashmir to travel by air

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 21: Days after Pulwama terror attack which claimed 40 lives of CRPF jawans, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces.

Jawans of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to take a commercial flight to join duty or while going on leave as the government issued authorisation orders.

The MHA said that the decision will immediately benefit approximately 780,000 personnel of CAPFs in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable & ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier. This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e; while going on leave from J&K to home and return.

"This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave," MHA has added in a tweet.

It also said,''In J&K Sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Subsequently, the Service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 3) Jammu-Delhi sector in Dec 2017. The number of flights were further extended in Dec 2018. In addition, air support is provided from Indian Air Force as and when required.''

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in J-K, will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force.

It may be recalled that about 2,500 jawans had returned to Jammu from leave and were waiting to be ferried to Srinagar, but couldn't as the highway had been blocked for nearly a week. As the queue of waiting personnel had been getting longer, nearly 78 vehicles started out from Channi Rama transit camp in Jammu for the Valley on Thursday when the terror strike took place.

On February 14, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed and more than 20 others injured in a blast in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursda. The blast was triggered by militants to target two vehicles carrying the CRPF jawans.
At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

After free hand to Army post-Pulwama, India back to talks with Pakistan?

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, Feb 21: After the roar, has India already taken a step back? Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in the wake of the dastardly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir that India has given a free hand to its army to decide on the response to the attack.

He had also assured the countrymen that the sacrifices made by the martyred soldiers wouldn't go waste. His Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan hit back at India on Tuesday, February 19, saying his country won't stop short of retaliating if India took any drastic action.

To avenge Pulwama, huge standoff, air strikes, limited ground offensive in the offing?

Amid all the jingoism, PM Modi and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) laid stress on the importance of "good neighbourly relations" and "agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan".

According to a report in The Telegraph, "The contents of the joint statement -- released over eight hours after the bilateral engagement -- were in sharp contrast with the aggressive post-Pulwama narrative steered by the political leadership and the Right-wing ecosystem in India."

The Ministry of External Affairs nullified speculation that the words "composite dialogue" in the text hinted at a Saudi offer to mediate between the two hostile neighbours and it was reported that the two sides were trying to arrive at a reconciliation over the text pertaining to terrorism, especially when it came to Pakistan.

It was said that both Modi and MBS underlined the significance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their outfits by the United Nations.

However, there was no clear answer when the idea of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists tallied with the Saudi-Pakistan joint statement against the politicisation of the UN listing process.

NIA officially takes over probe into Pulwama terror attack

There is yet to consensus among nations to arrive at a universal definition on terrorism and its practitioners as China has been seen blocking India's way in designating JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist time and again.

American pressure in play?

Did India soften its stand under American pressure? US President Donald Trump recently said that he would like to see India and Pakistan get along and with the US finding things going tough in Afghanistan, a deteriorating security situation in South Asia could mean more trouble and the US certainly doesn't want that to happen before it leaves Afghanistan where it is stuck for over 17 years now.

With a top leader of a close ally on tour of India, it would not be too surprising if Washington conveyed the advice of restraint to New Delhi and choose the friendly way of dialogue.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 21, 2019, 11:38 [IST]
China will hand down more severe punishments to those who commit environmental crimes in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, according to a document issued by five central departments on Wednesday specifying offenses and punishment standards.

The document was issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

It said that those who discharge or dump harmful waste, such as radioactive waste, or waste containing infectious pathogens or toxic substances, in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, or who discharge harmful waste into designated major rivers and lakes, will be severely penalized.

Bie Tao, director of the policies and regulations department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said the document would enhance the collaboration of different departments to solve current law enforcement problems and crack down on crimes related to pollution.

In September 2018, Jinghu District People's Court in Wuhu, Anhui province, sentenced 12 people from Pol Shin Fastener (Zhejiang) Co in Zhejiang province to prison terms ranging from four months to six years and fined the company 10 million yuan ($1.48 million) for serious interprovincial environmental crimes.

From July 2016 to May 2017, the company dumped 1,071 metric tons of pickling sludge into Jiangsu and Anhui provinces from ships or trucks. During the second half of 2017, it shipped and dumped 313 tons of waste Bakelite and 2,525 tons of industrial sludge in Anhui's Tongling city.

Considering the difficulties of the investigation, including evidence collection and judicial authentication in air pollution cases, the document also specified that excessive emissions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides during a heavy pollution warning would be considered severe environmental pollution.

The document also categorized cases applicable for prosecution, probation or immunity from criminal penalties to guide the punishment of environmental crimes.
India stood up Chinas disruptive use of technology and my way or no way attitude: CDS

At meet with PM, CDS says medical personnel of armed forced who retired in last 2 years being recalled

Aero India 2019: In a first, Bipin Rawat flies in HAL's Tejas

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat went on a sortie in the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft- Tejas in Bengaluru on Thursday. This was the first time General Rawat flew in the home-made fighter jet, known for its agility, being the smallest and lightest multirole supersonic fighter jet in its class.

After the sorties, General Bipin Rawat, said, " Flight in LCA Tejas was an experience of a lifetime. From what I could witness, avionics are very good, it's targeting is very good. It's a wonderful aircraft if it gets added to inventory it will increase our air power."

PS Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government, will also fly in the LCA Tejas later today, news agency ANI reported.

Aero India 2019: Lockheed Martin unveils F-21 multi-role combat fighter jet for India

Then Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Arup Raha on18th May 2016 had his first sortie in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), after which he called it a "good aircraft for induction". "It is my first sortie in Tejas, it is a good aircraft for induction into IAF operations," Raha said.

The first squadron was inducted into the Indian Air Force as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited handed over the first two Tejas aircrafts to IAF. In 2017, LCA Tejas made its debut at the 68th Republic Day parade. Three Tejas aircrafts participated in the fly-past.

The logo for Aero India 2019:

The logo for Aero India 2019 is inspired by the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

The Tejas LCA together with its variants, is the smallest and lightest Multi-Role Supersonic Fighter Aircraft of its class. This single engine, Compound-Delta-Wing, Tailless Aircraft is designed and developed to meet diverse needs of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy (IN).The Tejas LCA programme has achieved the rare distinction of completing over 4000 Successful Test Flights.

The tri-colored silhouette of the Tejas LCA with the Ashok Chakra in the centre is the core motif of this logo, reminiscent of the spirit of New India. The defined outlines of the 'A' in Aero is symbolic of a fighter jet while conveying that Aero India is a premier global aerospace exhibition.
Chittenango

House bill could help Clear Path

Congressman Anthony Brindisi makes stop at veterans' resource center to learn more about its mission and needs
Washington, D.C., might be thousands of miles away, but the tariff war playing out there is being felt in Sarpy County.

Oriental Trading Company, which has a distribution center in La Vista, imports a significant portion of its good from China, and president and CEO Steve Mendlik said in an email the company was impacted by the tariffs President Donald Trump placed on $250 million in Chinese goods. (Trump also placed tariffs on goods from Europe, Canada and Mexico last year.)

Mendlik declined to share specifics about how the cost of importing good was affected, but said since the tariffs went into place late in the year, and after much of our holiday merchandise was already received, the impact will be much greater in 2019 than in 2018.

To manage the cost, OTC worked with its business partners in China to redesign products, lowered production costs, took advantage of incentives provided by the Chinese government and timed its shipments to minimize the impact, Mendlik said. OTC also is looking for suppliers in other countries in an attempt to keep its prices from being passed on to customers.
From soft watercolors and vibrant acrylics to expressive writing and dazzling jewelry, an artist organization believes in expressing emotion through art.

Now through the end of March, five members of the Midwest Arts for Vets and Caregivers organization will have their artwork displayed at Sump Memorial Library, 222 N. Jefferson St.

Midwest Arts for Vets and Caregivers is a nonprofit organization that offers free art classes to those in the military, veterans and their caregivers. The classes are aimed at helping with PTSD, anxiety and other military related stressors.

Cara Loken, founder and director of the organization, said she and the five members are excited to share their art with the Papillion Community.

We are absolutely honored to have our veterans and caregivers artwork in the community, Loken said.

This is the first time the group has had their artwork displayed.

This gives our veterans and caregivers a chance to showcase what they have learned and how far they have come by coming to classes, she said.

When library patrons see the artwork display, Loken said she wants them to see the importance of art therapy.
Barney Deden, Omaha

Ethanol not all that

Several Public Pulse letters have touted the wonders of ethanol. The benefits include such things as increased employment, broader markets for farmers, less impact on the environment and less dependence on fossil fuel.

But in terms of the environmental impact, more ethanol requires more corn production. More corn production means more trees need to be removed to make more land available. Trees remove greenhouse gases and provide habitat for wildlife.

Lets also examine the notion that ethanol means less dependence on fossil fuel. For years I ran E-10 in all my vehicles because, like many others, I found the price attractive. I also check my mileage religiously. Never buying the higher priced fuel, I had no basis for comparison and just assumed the mileage I obtained with E-10 was as good as I could obtain.

Some five years ago I quit using any fuel containing ethanol. I soon found that all my vehicles, regardless of vintage, were getting 10 percent-plus better mileage than with E-10. If this is the mileage enhancement I can get from E-10, why would I be convinced that E-15 is an even better idea?
The writer is director of Middle East Cultural and Educational Services of Omaha and a pharmacy professor at Creighton University.

After the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with millions of lives and hopes affected and an estimated $11 billion loss to our economy, our Congress opened for business not to address the concerns of the American people but to protect an occupying foreign country, Israel.

Bill S. 1, Strengthening Americas Security in the Middle East Act of 2019, passed with shamefully 74 out 100 senators voting yea, including Nebraska Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse.

In addition to a newly sponsored arms budget, the bill strips Americans of their First Amendment rights to criticize Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territories and allows a state to punish entities which call for boycott, divestments and sanctions, a strategy called for by non-governmental organizations in Palestine to pressure Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land, similar to moral efforts started in this country to end the apartheid system in South Africa.
Perhaps most important, the Pakistanis seem willing to consider an Afghan government not dominated solely by their Taliban clients.

The Taliban have also made recent gains on the ground, and Afghan Security Force casualties have risen to unacceptable levels. President Ashraf Ghani understands that reaching a deal is urgent.

All this is a sea change, giving a better-than-even chance to land this diplomatically with a settlement that allows Taliban participation in fair elections.

Getting there will require all sides to back off some of their hardline positions. A two-pronged approach can help the U.S. engineer that outcome: let the Afghan government know that patience is running out, and keep the military pressure on the Taliban.

The U.S. experience in Vietnam is instructive: While the vast majority of troops left in 1972, the South Vietnamese held on for three more years because the U.S. continued to finance their military. Saigon fell finally in 1975 when Congress slashed the funding.

It would help to keep the pressure on the Taliban by letting it know that the U.S. learned from that experience and that it plans to keep money flowing to the Afghan military and to maintain a relatively small counterterrorism force to face al-Qaida and the Islamic State.
Fang Fenghui, former chief of the Central Military Commission's Joint Staff Department, was sentenced to life in prison at a military court on Wednesday for taking and giving bribes as well as possessing a huge amount of assets, the origins of which he could not account for.

His political rights were revoked and all personal assets confiscated, according to the ruling. No more details on the former general's trial were disclosed.

Fang was placed under investigation in January 2018 by military prosecutors on graft accusations. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China and the People's Liberation Army later that year.

The military previously said Fang had seriously violated the Party's political discipline and rules as well as military regulations. Investigators linked him to taking and giving bribes and possessing large amounts of assets, the origins of which he could not account for.

Fang's actions were "abominable" and the amount of money involved in his case "enormous", said a statement from the military. It added that he was neither loyal nor truthful to the Party and had hugely jeopardized the Party's cause and tarnished the image of the PLA.

Fang, 67, a native of Shaanxi province, enlisted in the PLA Ground Force in 1968 and moved up through the ranks over more than 30 years at multiple units in Northwestern China.

In 2003, he became chief of staff of the former Guangzhou Military Command and about four years later was appointed commander of the former Beijing Military Command, where he organized the National Day parade in Beijing in 2009.

In late 2012, he was named chief of the former PLA General Staff Headquarters and soon was promoted to membership in the CMC. In early 2016, he became chief of the commission's Joint Staff Department, which replaced the General Staff Headquarters.
LINCOLN  Exasperated by phone calls from scam artists using fake telephone numbers, Larry D. TeSelle came to the State Capitol on Tuesday to ask lawmakers to do something.

The retiree from Milford, Nebraska, said hes gotten calls that show up on his caller ID as originating from a state office, the county clerk and from Medicare, asking for his Social Security number and other personal information. But none of the calls were legitimate, he said.

TeSelle was a victim of neighborhood spoofing, the practice of telemarketers and scam artists using what appears to be a local phone number that shows up on someones caller ID to fool them into answering the phone call. In some cases, the scammers obtain valuable personal data.

He said he gets at least two spoofed phone calls a day and just recently was told that his phone number was used to spoof someone in Alaska. TeSelle said its gotten so bad that hes declined to answer phone calls that were legitimate, such as one from his local doctor.

Help may be on the way.
The Washington Post reported that a judge found her guilty last year of misdemeanor destruction of property for spraying fake blood on the steps of National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Coxs home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Hill appealed that verdict but she said she later pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct because she wanted it over.

Hill is due in court next month on the ticket issued in Lincoln. An online Googley eyes defense fund had raised more than $1,500 on her behalf by late Wednesday afternoon.

In her statement, Hill said the only damage in the case appeared to have been inflicted on the congressmans ego  except she used the altered form of his name.

In a point echoed by many supporters on social media, Hill questioned the law enforcement resources deployed in the case.

Lincoln police were standing by their work.

We are fortunate to live in a country that not only allows free speech, but also encourages open dialogue between differing perspectives, according to the departments statement. LPD is committed to fairly and impartially protecting all citizens right to free speech. However, we will also hold accountable those who participate in unlawful behavior.
Ricketts said that farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists and that its incumbent on farm country to do a better job telling its story, including educating the public about where its food comes from.

Every generation gets a little farther away from the family farm, Ricketts said.

Farm country is hurting these days in large part because of trade disruptions that have helped depress crop prices.

Nebraska farm income for 2018, for example, is expected to be the lowest since 2002, according to the Nebraska Business Forecast Council.

Still, Ricketts said things are looking up, citing deals negotiated by the Trump administration such as a rewrite of NAFTA that still has to be approved by Congress.

Were making great progress, Ricketts said. Id always like to see faster progress.
The World-Heralds Statehouse reporters round up news highlights from the Legislature and state government into the Capitol Digest  a daily briefing for the political newshound with a busy schedule.

Jobs for ex-inmates. Nebraskans with criminal records would have a better chance of finding work under a bill advanced Wednesday by the Legislature.

Legislative Bill 254 cleared first-round consideration on a 39-2 vote, after supporters reached a compromise with the business groups that opposed the original legislation.

As introduced by State Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, the bill would have prohibited most employers from asking people about their criminal history when they first apply for a job. The ban the box proposal would have expanded on a 2014 law that applies only to public employers.

The compromise would allow employers to continue asking job applicants about their criminal history, including on their initial applications, but those who do pose the question would have to give applicants a chance to explain their records and detail their subsequent steps at rehabilitation.
Two new studies of e-cigarettes may bolster the U.S. government's efforts to stem what it calls a growing epidemic of youth vaping.

Children and teens who had used e-cigarettes were four times more likely to have taken up cigarette smoking than those who didn't vape, according to a study published Friday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Almost 179,000 youth who have tried cigarettes and more than 43,000 who are currently smoking would not be if they had never started vaping, the study found.

The link between vaping and cigarette use was particularly pronounced in those thought to be low-risk for smoking given their lack of prior drug and alcohol use, according to the study. That raises the concern "that e-cigarettes may renormalize smoking behaviors and erode decades of progress in reducing smoking among youths," the study's authors wrote.

"These findings strengthen the rationale for aggressive regulation of youth access to and marketing of e-cigarettes to achieve future decreases in the prevalence of cigarette use among youths," they said.

The JAMA study analyzed data on 6,123 youth collected by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2013 to 2016.
The Midland Regional Hospitals in Tullamore and Portlaoise spent a combined 19 million on agency staff in 2018, new figures have revealed.

The figures show that Portlaoise Hospital had the second highest spend on agency staff with 10.8m in 2018 while Tullamore had the fifth highest spend with 8.2m.

Portlaoise was pipped by University Hospital Limerick which had the largest spend. "This is despite the fact that hospitals in Dublin and other cities have workforces that are many times larger than either Portlaoise or Tullamore," Laois TD and future Laois/Offaly election candidate Brian Stanley said.

"The overall figure spent on agency staff in the state in 2018 was 318m, over 6.5m per day on temporary staff. This figure has more than doubled from 151m in 2012, with the increase in last year alone at over 26m."

I have constantly highlighted the fact that Portlaoise is over-reliant on agency staff due to uncertainty around the future of services at the hospital as it reduces the level of interest in seeking employment there. I raised this matter directly with the Tanaiste Simon Coveney TD today," Stanley added.

"The other issue here is the delay by the HSE and the Government in converting agency staff to full-time HSE employees. No regard is given to the fact that agency staff are far more expensive per head than HSE employees. These points were brought to the fore recently by the nursing unions during the strike action. This is one area of huge waste in our health system, and savings from this could be used to employ more badly needed permanent frontline staff."

"Our over-reliance on agency staff is bad for patients, bad for consistency in services and bad for the taxpayer. We need to plan and organise our health service on a sustainable basis, not in the ad hoc chaotic way it is currently run," the Sinn Fein deputy concluded.
A story to tell the grandkids!

An Irish lad in America has thanked Barack Obama for the Barack Obama Plaza in Moneygall after bumping into the former US President at a hotel gym.

Obama famously visited the small Offaly village in 2011 after discovering one of his ancestors had moved from the area to the US in 1850.

Clare man Peter Barron was staying in San Francisco and working out in the hotel gym when he spotted someone with a strong resemblance to the two-term President earlier this week but didn't pluck up the courage to approach him.

He made a few enquiries and heard through a friend that Barack Obama was indeed staying in the same hotel, so when he noticed him in the gym again on Wednesday, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to introduce himself.

Peter told Today FM's Dermot and Dave Show on Thursday morning that he couldn't think of a good opening line, so instead of complimenting him on his presidency, he said, "I kind of panicked a bit and just said you did a great job with the Barack Obama Plaza."

Obama recognised that he was Irish and Peter told him he was from "just over the road" in Clare, prompting Obama to joke that they were family.

Peter says he then went back to his work out but recalled that the former President said "send all my love back to Ireland" before leaving the gym.

Peter did ask him for a picture but he declined saying, 'if I give you a picture, everyone will want one,' a reply the Clare man understood.

He did, however, take a sneaky video of him just to prove to himself and his friends that he did indeed meet the former President of the United States.

He had quite the story to tell and told his followers of his excitement on Instagram.
China's central government will eliminate or delegate to lower-level authorities more items that require government approval and implement nationwide the reform of the construction project reviewing system, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday.

The Chinese government has put high importance on transforming government functions by streamlining administration, delegating powers, enhancing oversight and providing better services. Premier Li stressed the importance of deepening the reform in transforming government functions, especially by delegating administrative powers.

He called for a thorough evaluation of all government review items to see that all existing review items that can be eliminated or delegated to lower-level authorities be duly dealt with except for those involving national security and major public interests.

"Streamlining administration is as important as tax cuts in stimulating market vitality as we tackle the current downward economic pressure. The key task for the government is to foster a better business environment to energize all market players," Li said at the Wednesday meeting, "This will be our important measure for sustaining steady economic growth this year."

It was decided at the meeting that 25 administrative approval items including pre-approval of corporate names before business registration and preliminary review of domestically-produced medicines will be canceled. Six administrative approval items including the practising registration of some professions will be delegated to government departments at or below the provincial level.

"Our reform to transform government functions affects the vested interests of government departments. However, administrative streamlining is a must as excessive and cumbersome reviewing requirements would drive up institutional transaction costs and dampen market vitality," Li said. "Meanwhile, the government must enhance oversight and improve services. Its focus should shift to setting rules and standards."

It was also decided at the meeting the pilot reform of the reviewing system for construction projects will be rolled out across the nation.

Under unified requirements, an inter-agency reviewing process with a single department acting as the lead agency and clear reviewing timeframes will be adopted. Practices such as pledging of notification, district-wide evaluation, and joint drawing review and project inspection upon completion will be implemented. In a word, there will be "a single blueprint" overseeing the implementation of a project, "a single window" providing multi-agency services, "a single checklist" for preparing application materials and "a single set of mechanisms" for regulating the permitting processes. The goal is to halve the time required for reviewing construction projects to 120 working days in the whole of the country within the first half of this year.

"Market players must assume their due responsibilities and recognize that they take primary responsibility for the projects they undertake, and that they will be held accountable for them on a lifetime basis," Li said, "As for the government, it must not interfere in things that do not fall within its purview, and focus on exercising oversight in all the areas necessary. This kind of oversight will help ensure fairness and efficiency."
Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, ripped into Donald Trump at last nights Arthur W. Page awards dinner held at the Grand Hyatt in New York.

The recipient of the Larry Foster Award for Public Integrity discarded his prepared remarks to respond to the presidents tweet earlier in the day that called the NYT a true enemy of the people.

Enemy of the people is not just a tossed-off line that sounds good in a tweet, said Baquet. It's a particularly pernicious phrase with a deep history that surfaced in the French Revolution when it was used to set up a tribunal that would punish the opposition.

The term became so embraced by dictators and despots that former Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev demanded an end to its use because it eliminated the possibility of any kind of ideological fight.



Dean Baquet

Baquet noted that Khrushchev said energy of the people was specifically introduced for the purpose of physically annihilating people who disagreed with the supreme leader.

He said no American president had ever uttered those words in public. I have no doubt that the presidents anti-press rhetoric has inspired a sudden and frightening round of attacks on reporters for The Times and other news organizations.

If he had the opportunity, Baquet would ask Trump how is the Times the enemy of the people when it reported on the abuses of Harvey Weinstein and sparked an international movement or when its reporters risk their lives covering wars in Afghanistan and Syria.

And of course, how is it against the interests of the American people when reporters spend more than a year digging into obscure hidden records to tell the story of the presidents wealth and how his father actually made him a wealthy man, a fact that goes against his lifelong narrative, asked Baquet.

The US media, in the past, could always count on the support of the White House if an American reporter was captured or injured in war, noted Baquet.

You could count on the White House to help because every president, no matter his party, understood our role in the world, even if they didnt always love us. Sadly, Im not sure who I would call today, said Baquet, who received a standing ovation at the end of his remarks.
A California woman swallows about five live Chinese weevils every day as a way to prevent the growth of cancerous tumors and boost her immune system.

Marcela Iglesias, a mother-of three from Los Angeles, California, believes that consuming live Chinese Weevils every day could be the best way to prevent cancer, treat chronic pain, arthritis and various digestive problems. Swallowing them alive is critical as these bugs allegedly release a toxin called coleotoxin when they die, and you want that to happen when they reach your digestive system. This theory is supported by a 2011 study which found that coleotoxin reduced tumor cell growth by more than 70 per cent. That research is heavily contested by many in the scientific community, but Iglesias doesnt really care, saying that even if the bugs dont actually help prevent cancer, they are still a great source of protein.

Photo: YouTube/Dr. Viktor Fursov

The Argentine-born woman who moved to California 20 years ago breeds Chinese weevils in her living room and claims that they are very low maintenance. They live in a small container, and all she has to do is replace their pieces of bread, wheat and the lettuce they get water from every once in a while. They breed like crazy, so she always has an abundant supply to consume.

Iglesias says she learned about the benefits of swallowing live weevils from a close friend who had been battling terminal cancer. After beating it once, the man was given just a few months to live with chemotherapy, but he refused the treatment because it made him feel terrible. Instead, he started consuming about 40-50 live Chinese weevils every day, and hes been cancer free for for six years. Marcela swallows a much smaller dose because she is not suffering from any illness, so she doesnt need to consume too many.

Even though Marcela admits that many of her friends find her weevil-swallowing habit disgusting, she claims that shes not grossed out at all, even when the bugs are crawling all over her tongue. They dont taste like anything, and she just washes them down with a glass of water of celery juice.

The bugs have a lot of health benefits, not only for potentially curing cancer but arthritis, chronic pain, digestive issues and more  in Asia it is very popular to eat bugs, Marcela Iglesias told Storytrender. In my eyes its a win-win situation, for me I take them to see if my body will feel any different. The worst-case scenario is that they dont do anything and its all a lie, but at least Im consuming protein from them as I do not consume animal protein.



Marcela only started consuming live Chinese weevils two months ago, so its too early for her to say if they actually work, but says other people online swear by them. She also considers her bizarre eating habit less disgusting than eating meat. The bugs are easier to digest, contain lots of protein and you dont have to worry about the ethical aspects, like how the animal was mistreated or how it suffered when sacrificed.

Consuming weevils for health benefits has been very popular in Iglesias home country of Argentina, as well as several other South American countries for years, and you can actually find a lot of articles and videos on their alleged benefits online. However, scientific studies are yet to conclusively confirm these claims.
A Dubai-based startup has its eyes set on literally taking coffee roasters to new heights by launching a space capsule full of coffee beans into space and use the heat generated by atmosphere re-entry to roast them.

Anders Cavallini and Hatem Alkhafaji, the two founders of Space Roasters, believe that the absence of gravity could be the secret to roasting coffee perfectly. On Earth, beans tumble around, break apart and are roasted unevenly as some of them come into contact with the hot surfaces of a conventional roaster, but in zero-gravity conditions, beans would float freely in a heated oven, with heat being distributed evenly, resulting in a near-perfect roast. Thats just a theory, but theyre prepared to put it to the test by sending a capsule filled with 300kg of coffee beans to a height of 200km.

Photo: Alexas_Fotos/Pixabay

The two entrepreneurs met while studying space science at the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, and bonded over the idea of reigniting the general publics interest in outer space. Somehow, coffee, a staple of everyday life, just seemed like the best way to do it. So they came up with an ingenious roasting plan that involves sending coffee beans into space to achieve the best possible roast.

Cavallini and Alkhafaji presented the details of their space-roasting concept in a recent issue of the space journal Room. Simply put, they want to create a special capsule, called a Space Roasting Capsule, attach it to a rocket, send it up to a height of 200km and then harness the heat generated by its re-entry into the Earths atmosphere to roast the beans in a zero-gravity environment. Theyve already patented the technology and are reportedly in talks with private rocket companies like Rocket Lab and Blue Origins to launch their capsule sometime next year.

Photo: onuromeryavuz/Pixabay

Space-roasted coffee does sound intriguing, Ill give them that, but if you plan on being one of the first people to try this unique brew, youll want to start saving money for it. In an interview with The National, Hatem Alkhafaji said that a cup of coffee will cost several hundreds of dollars.

Its going to cost around $200 (Dh735) to $400 (Dh1,470) per cup, the Space Roasters co-founder said. We know thats super high for the average person, but there are a lot of people who would pay that much  it is basically the price it costs to make, with the margin. Realistically, the early cost of it would be around $200. But then we still want to reduce that, our aim is to bring the cost down all the way to between $40 (Dh147) and $50 (Dh184).



Cavallini and Alkhafaji want to open a Space Station Cafe by next year, where people will be able to enjoy space-roasted coffee.

via Luxury Launches
Lei Jun, the founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, announced the launch of the Xiaomi 9 smartphone on Wednesday in Beijing, selling at 2,999 yuan (446 U.S. dollars), a slight price hike from previous phones.



"This might be the last time a Xiaomi smartphone is priced within 3,000 yuan," said Lei.

Xiaomi 9 is the first flagship device in 2019 with the Snapdragon 855 processor, fifth-generation in-display fingerprint sensor and supports 20W wireless charging.

Lei revealed that Xiaomi smartphones were priced at 1,999 yuan in the past few years, contributing to high shipments in the low-end market while posing an obstacle. Xiaomi invested 4 billion yuan in R&D from January to September last year due to surging production and material costs as well as research funding required for developing cutting-edge technology.

Xiaomi has been trying to make inroads into the medium to high-end market in the past two years. It raised the minimum price of Xiaomi 6 to 2,499 yuan, Xiaomi 8 to 2,699 yuan and Xiaomi mix to 3,499, while getting positive feedback from consumers.

It is also eyeing overseas emerging markets such as India, Russia and Ukraine.

Data released by Counterpoint show that smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2018 rose by four times year on year and the average price of its smartphones were up by 24 percent, which marks an impressive improvement in winning over the medium to high-end market.
CHAMBERS COUNTY Three Valley residents were arrested Thursday on drug-related charges after drug task force agents searched a home on Plantation Road in Valley.

Richard Nolen Foster, 40, Kimberly Anne Templeton, 39, and Jillian Ray Larkin, 39, were arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (methamphetamine), unlawful possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana, first-degree unlawful possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Each was taken to the Chambers County Detention Facility.

Agents of the Chambers County Drug Task Force, Alabama Drug Enforcement Drug Task Force Region D and the Chambers County Multi-Jurisdictional SWAT Team searched a home located at 1083 Plantation Road, the residence of Richard Foster, according to a news release on Thursday.

Handguns, surveillance equipment, methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia were seized during the search, police said.
Opelika police are seeking the publics help identifying a theft suspect.

Police are investigating a first-degree theft of property incident that occurred at Buena Vista Tires, 2124 Frederick Road, on Feb. 13.

The suspect stole an undisclosed amount of currency from the business and left the scene in a dark-colored Cadillac Escalade, according to a news release from the Opelika Police Department.

The news release describes the suspect as a black male, 45 to 55 years old, last seen wearing a dark-colored jacket and plaid shirt. He is bald, has a mustache, and was driving the Escalade.

Police ask that anyone who recognizes the suspect or the vehicle, or who may have any other information on the case, call OPDs Detective Division at 334-705-5220, or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665.

Callers may remain anonymous if they wish.
China hopes to work with the United States to promote consultation to achieve a mutually beneficial result in the seventh round of high-level economic and trade talks in Washington this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Wednesday.

Experts said it is anticipated that the talks, on Thursday and Friday, will serve the interests of companies in both countries and meet the common aspirations of the international community.

The upcoming round of talks is the latest attempt to ease trade tensions ahead of a March 1 tariff truce deadline.

The talks follow the sixth round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing on Feb. 14-15.

Geng said on Tuesday that China hopes the two nations will jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two presidents during their meeting in Argentina, pick up speed and work together for a mutually acceptable agreement that produces win-win results.

China and the US have been learning and considering each other's rules, needs and problems through previous talks.

The continued high-level talks have shown that the two sides are trying to make the issues more clear and make adequate adjustments, said Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for Economic Exchanges.

"The world economy and global supply chain will benefit if the two sides can resolve the dispute," she said.

The normalization of China-US relations has been one of the important elements contributing to China's process of reform and opening-up, said Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the Beijing-based China Society for WTO Studies.

He said positive developments in Sino-US trade talks could underpin the world economy and help global stock markets start to recover.

China stocks closed higher on Wednesday, aided by hopes that Sino-US trade talks were making progress, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.2 percent at 2,761.22 points..

The trade talks with China have gone well and March 1 is not a "magical date", despite being previously set as the deadline, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

Asked at White House how confident he was that China-US trade talks will be finished by March 1, Trump told reporters that they are complicated talks. "I can't tell you exactly about timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen," he said.

"I can only say that the talks with China on trade have gone very, very well," he said.

The president made the remarks as deputy-level meetings, led on the US side by Deputy United States Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, got underway in the US capital on Tuesday.

They will be followed by principal-level meetings, headed by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, which are scheduled to start on Thursday.

In addition to Lighthizer, the US delegation also includes Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Larry Kudlow and Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, the White House said.

J. Stapleton Roy, former US ambassador to China, said in an earlier interview that whatever agreement is reached between China and the US, it certainly should not result in any increase in tariffs and hopefully will result in substantial reduction or removal of tariffs.
China plans to boost its soybean production capability and also seek a high volume of imports to meet the country's domestic demand, agriculture and rural affairs officials said on Wednesday.



The country will step up efforts to expand cultivation of soybeans, accelerate research on nurturing high-yield crops and improve management of soybean production as part of its plan to revitalize the industry, according to Wu Hongyao, a senior official with the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.

"Farmers in Northeast China and in regions around the Bohai Sea are encouraged to, and guided to, increase farmland for soybean cultivation," he said at a news conference of the State Council Information Office.

Wu added that coordinated efforts will be devoted to cultivate high-quality soybean crops, and new enterprises and industry coalitions will be established to improve the production and sales of the industry.

The plan for soybean revitalization was first released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in January to solicit public opinion. On Tuesday evening, it was also included in the first policy document of 2019 released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. The document is seen as an indicator of policy priorities.

In the document, the plan for raising soybean production is framed as part of the country's efforts to deepen supply-side structural reform in the agriculture sector.

Wu said China requires a total of some 110 million metric tons of soybeans every year, but on average, 90 percent are imported from overseas because of limited domestic output of about 16 million tons annually.

Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said the dominance of imports won't be affected by the latest plan to increase domestic soybean output.

"We are bound to participate in the global soybean trade and seek varied sources that can conduct transactions," he said.

For years, the United States has contributed one-third of the total soybeans arriving in China from overseas. Despite recent trade disputes that led to cutbacks in soybean imports from the US, Han said China still opens its door to US products.

"We intend to keep pushing a mechanism of diversified import sources, and China and the US are set to see partnerships in regard to soybeans," he said.

Wu also stressed the need for the country to open the door wider to global markets and utilize both domestic and overseas production to safeguard its soybean supply.
Medicare for all is popular, and not just among Democrats. Most Republicans favor giving people under 65 at least the choice to buy into Medicare. But when people hear arguments against it, their support plummets. It turns out that most people dont really know what Medicare for all means. Even asking three policy experts might yield three different answers. By our count, there are at least 10 major proposals to expand Medicare or Medicaid. Some, like Senator Bernie Sanderss bill, would create a single health care plan for all American residents. Others, like Senator Debbie Stabenows Medicare at 50 Act, would expand Medicare eligibility, but not to everyone. Still others would make Medicare or Medicaid a health care insurance option for many more Americans without necessarily eliminating private coverage. Collectively the proposals vary in at least five fundamental ways, and you can vote on each category below to compare your responses with those of other readers and to see which proposals come closest to your views. Weve also asked 11 health policy experts to weigh in on each choice. (The ideological composition of the panel spanned generally from center to left because, for now, this is a Democratic intraparty debate.)

1 of 5 Do you support automatic enrollment in universal coverage? Yes No

Panelists verdict Nearly all the experts favored universal coverage. Background Universal coverage is found in every developed country except the United States, where 10 percent to 14 percent (depending on the survey) of the population is uninsured, down from a high of about 18 percent before the Affordable Care Acts coverage expansion. Pro/Con For some panelists, the decision was simple. Universality is essential, said Harold Pollack, a professor of social service administration at the University of Chicago. At bottom, this is a moral issue. Any decent society provides universal health care, said Dr. Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School. While many Americans loathe the idea of losing choice, opting in doesnt always work. Some people will fail to sign up for coverage, even if its free, said Sherry Glied, a health economist at N.Y.U. People who dont sign up may eventually need and benefit from care, and we want them to get it, so we want to make enrolling in coverage as easy as possible. Nuances/Politics Universal may not apply to everyone, perhaps leaving out undocumented residents. Some panelists favor a system in which people can opt out of coverage, which would undermine universality. There is a workaround, though, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, a physician with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Asking people who opt out to pay a tax is a reasonable way to ensure that if they end up having catastrophic spending, society has a pool of funds to pay for it. Universality has trade-offs. Its costly, part of why it has always faced political resistance. Expanding coverage to a subset of the population, for example those nearer retirement age, will be cheaper and more politically palatable, said Ellen Meara, a health economist and a professor at Dartmouth. The desire for incremental approaches led us to create Medicare, Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, each targeted to specific subgroups of the population.

2 of 5 Do you support ending employer-based private coverage? Yes No

Panelists verdict Most agreed that if they were starting from scratch, they would not create a system with employer-based coverage. But most also said plans that eliminate it now are politically infeasible. Background Most adults under 65 get health insurance through their jobs or through a job of a working family member. Many are happy with their coverage and might rebel if forced to drop it. Pro/Con One disadvantage of coverage through work is that it can cause some people to stay in jobs they dont want. One advantage is that private coverage can offer benefits that public plans like Medicare dont. Many other countries, even those with universal public coverage like Canada and Britain, also allow employers to offer additional coverage. Americans like choice, and flexibility, said Elizabeth Bradley, a public health scholar and president of Vassar College. Other experts said it was time for employer-based coverage to go. A profusion of coverage options generates complexity that drives up administrative costs, said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a physician and a professor at Hunter College. We should transition away from employer-based private coverage, Ms. Meara said. Employer-based coverage should be ended, Dr. Angell said. Nuances/Politics From a political perspective, people with coverage from large, high-wage firms are going to be a potent force against taking it away, Ms. Glied said. Although he argued in favor of eliminating employer plans, John McDonough, a Harvard professor who helped write the Affordable Care Act, agreed that doing so would be politically difficult or even impossible: Its hard to turn around an ocean liner. Mr. Pollack concurred: Any proposal to ban employer-based coverage would self-immolate. Nevertheless, job-based coverage has some undesirable features. Employers typically lack the bargaining power with providers to really discipline prices or health care delivery, he said. And the tax subsidization of employer coverage is regressive. Dr. Don Berwick, a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, sees a way to meld work-based coverage within a single-payer system. If employer-based coverage is retained, that does not make a single-payer approach impossible, he said. Employers could contribute to the single, common payment pool, as they do today to premiums for private plans.

3 of 5 Do you support replacing individually purchased private coverage, like Affordable Care Act plans or Medicare Advantage? Yes No

Panelists verdict Mixed Background One major objective of the Affordable Care Act was to give a reasonable option to people who didnt qualify for public programs and could not obtain employer-based coverage. Medicare also has an individual market, through Medicare Advantage  private plans that offer alternatives to the public and traditional Medicare program. Pro/Con Having choices among plans, with insurers competing to provide plans that meet enrollees needs, can be a driver of innovations in benefits that respond to consumer demand, improved quality and lower premiums, said Kate Baicker, a health economist at the University of Chicago. Ms. Meara concurred with these advantages, but brought up a key problem with an individual market with many competitors: Variation across health plans in approaches to quality and costs can translate into a hassle for doctors, hospitals and other health care providers. She pointed out that the large variety of payers in the U.S. system had led to over 1,700 distinct quality measures and a wide variety of billing requirements. A reason to have both public and private options in one market is to provide choice. For a country as large and diverse as ours, a single plan for all would be unworkable, Dr. Jha said. Yet for some, the downsides overwhelm the value of choice. Individually purchased private coverage, like job-based coverage, generates inequality and complexity, Dr. Woolhandler said. I would prefer a single-payment system more like traditional Medicare for everyone, Dr. Berwick said. It would not be a perfect solution at all, but it would have the enormous advantage of simplicity and lower transaction costs. Nuances The A.C.A. marketplaces are quite different from Medicare Advantage, though both are individual markets. Details matter, our experts said. In part, the marketplaces struggle because we didnt throw enough money at them, Mr. Pollack said. Medicare Advantage is a much better experience, largely because both parties have collaborated to support it with generous subsidies. And less competitive Medicare Advantage market areas have the backstop and competition provided by traditional Medicare, a public option for seniors.

4 of 5 Do you support eliminating premiums and having the system financed exclusively by taxes? Yes No

Panelists verdict Most of our experts saw a role for some premiums, in some cases because they thought a no premiums approach was politically unrealistic. Background Americans are accustomed to paying at least some of the premium of a health insurance plan, although some people on Medicaid or with A.C.A. marketplace coverage pay none. Pro/Con Dr. Woolhandler argued for a fully tax-financed system: Everyone could be automatically covered whether or not theyre able to (or remember to) pay their premiums. Additionally, using the existing tax collection system is far more efficient than setting up a duplicative apparatus to collect premiums. Dr. Berwick said: Moving to tax-financed health care makes the most sense logically. One advantage of a tax-funded system is the opportunity to engage in socially progressive financing, with wealthy people bearing a greater share of the costs. Ms. Bradley said a mix is likely necessary. Nuances/Politics Paul Starr, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton, favors tax financing, but a look at the numbers convinced him that it was not realistic. If taxes were to replace all private premiums as well as out-of-pocket spending (as in some single-payer plans), the government would have to nearly double what it now collects in personal income tax. Theres no precedent in American history for a tax increase of that magnitude, he said. Its not going to happen. Mr. McDonough reminded us that when Vermont considered a tax-financed single-payer system, sticker shock killed it. The required tax increase was recognized by then-governor and single-payer champion Peter Shumlin as political suicide. Ms. Meara and Dr. Jha pointed out that premiums become necessary once you allow some choice in coverage through markets. More generous coverage is more expensive and would warrant some premium payment. Finally, Ms. Baicker thought tax financing should be focused on low-income people: My preference would be to have public programs that focus on lower-income populations, rather than using taxpayer dollars for high-income people who could afford coverage on their own.

5 of 5 Do you support eliminating cost sharing  meaning co-payments, coinsurance, deductibles  for everyone? Yes No

Panelists verdict All but two of our panelists supported some type of cost sharing. Background In addition to premiums, most Americans are accustomed to paying for some health care through deductibles and co-payments. High deductibles have become one of the biggest criticisms of A.C.A. plans. Pro/Con Most of the panelists and most of the proposals would keep cost sharing, but Dr. Woolhandler and Dr. Angell preferred to eliminate it. There should be no co-payments or deductibles, Dr. Angell said. Cost sharing penalizes the sick and poor, who forgo vital as well as unneeded care, and suffer grave financial harms, Dr. Woolhandler said. Experience in some nations proves that cost sharing is not necessary to control costs. On the contrary, she argued, collecting co-payments and deductibles just adds a costly, administrative burden. A downside of cost sharing is that it can lead to patients and families delaying necessary care or skimping on prevention, Ms. Bradley said. Nuances Ms. Glied articulated a common sentiment among many of the experts we interviewed: Co-pays deter excessive use of the system, but the biggest effects are moving from zero to something. If that something is too big, it is effectively just a tax on those with pre-existing conditions. So the design of cost-sharing, like any incentive scheme, must be carefully considered so that it reduces overuse without limiting necessary care, Ms. Bradley said. This, known as value-based insurance design, was favored by many experts, including Ms. Meara, Ms. Baicker, Dr. Jha and Dr. Berwick.

Comparing 10 Major Health Care Proposals Proposal Univ. coverage Universal coverage End job plans End employer plans End indiv. mkts End indiv. markets End monthly fees End premiums End cost sharing End cost sharing DeLauro/Schakowsky Schakowsky/Whitehouse Bernie Sanders Jayapal/Progressive Caucus Higgins/Kaine/Bennet Lujan/Schatz Merkley/Murphy Stabenow/Peters Center for American Progress Urban Institute Fellows Expert consensus Your choices

We acknowledge that there are other key variations beyond these five big questions, like which benefits are covered and whether and how the government might regulate health care prices. There are also plenty of nuances among the proposals (which we hope to follow up on). Some plans, including the one offered by Senator Sanders, as well as the Medicare for America Act, backed by Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Jan Schakowsky, would provide universal coverage. Others, like the Healthy America Program from fellows at the Urban Institute, would not necessarily do so. Most proposals would retain employment-based coverage and individual markets. These include Medicare X (Representative Brian Higgins, Senator Tim Kaine, Senator Michael Bennet); the Choice Act (Ms. Schakowsky, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse); and the Choose Medicare Act (Senators Jeff Merkley and Chris Murphy). Most plans would also keep premiums, though some would have subsidies for low-income families. But a few, including from Representative Pramila Jayapal and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, would do away with premiums entirely. Almost all proposals would keep cost sharing, with some shedding it for those below the poverty threshold. Medicare for all is not the only way to achieve major coverage expansion. Several panelists, including Ms. Glied and Mr. Pollack, like the idea of a public option or federal fallback plan  perhaps a Medicare-like plan that competes with other, private coverage. A proposal from the Center for American Progress includes versions of this idea. Ms. Meara suggested a related idea, similar to one that Representative Ben Ray Lujan and Senator Brian Schatz have proposed: A more realistic path would make some basic set of benefits available  like a Medicaid buy-in  leaving open a path for those wishing to spend more to do so. Mr. Starr said the next Democratic president would not repeat the mistake of exhausting his or her political capital on health reform. Mr. McDonough agreed, saying coverage expansion debates have a way of sucking up all the political oxygen. He would like to see space for consideration on education, taxes, climate change, ethics and campaign finance reform, and so much else. If Democrats win in 2020, there is sure to be a tension between ideas reflected in Dr. Woolhandlers declaration that health care is a human right and Mr. McDonoughs warning that pursuing a fully government-run Medicare for all might pre-empt progress on everything else. The Reader Consensus Update: Through February, the aggregate reader response was 1) Yes to universal coverage 2) Split verdict on ending job-based coverage 3) Yes to ending individual markets 4) Yes to ending premiums 5) No to ending cost-sharing.
From the 1970s into the 90s, women made serious progress in the workplace. Then that progress stalled, especially at the top.

More than 40 years ago, the Harvard business professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter published a pivotal book, Men and Women of the Corporation. Kanter showed that the disadvantages women experienced at work couldnt be attributed to their lack of ambition: Women aspired to leadership as much as men did. But organizations often funneled women into jobs that didnt have much of a career ladder.

By understanding gender-based expectations at work, some women were able to overcome them. From the 1970s into the 1990s, women made serious progress in the workplace, achieving higher positions, closing the gender wage gap and moving into male-dominated fields. Then that progress stalled, especially at the top. Why?

To answer that question, I talked with two experts who direct centers for leadership: Katherine W. Phillips, a professor of organizational management at Columbia University, and Shelley Correll, a sociologist at Stanford. Theyve known each other for a long time; they went to graduate school together.

[Why are some of Americas wealthiest professionals so miserable in their jobs? Read more in our Future of Work Issue.]

Emily Bazelon: At this point in our history, what are the major barriers to womens advancement, and how do we dismantle them?

Katherine Phillips: Lets start with the double bind that women face. If theyre perceived as nice and warm and nurturing, as theyre expected to be, they dont show what it takes to move into a leadership position. But when they take charge to get things done, theyre often seen as angrier or more aggressive than men. Its like a tightrope women are asked to walk: Veer just a bit one way or the other, and they may fall off.

Shelley Correll: Yes, women in leadership positions are seen as less likable when they do the same things male leaders do. That was a problem for Hillary Clinton and now Nancy Pelosi.

Bazelon: Im interested in how the double bind affects women when they negotiate salary. In one study from 2003, the starting salaries of men graduating from business school were $4,000 higher on average than those of women graduating from the same program. Other research has replicated this kind of finding. The implication could be that women get what they settle for, as an article in The Harvard Business Review puts it. If women did negotiate, the assumption is that the gender wage gap would go away. But research also shows that when women bargain over salary, they may get paid more but at a social cost.

Correll: Yes, women cant easily overcome the double bind themselves. In another study, when women negotiated their salaries, other people were less willing to work with them, though they didnt feel the same way about men who negotiated. In other words, some people dont want women who ask for more money on their team. Thats the double bind.

Bazelon: I get filled with righteous indignation thinking about this. Though I suppose at the same time, understanding the double bind suggests that if youre a woman who doesnt negotiate, maybe youre picking up on that social cost.

Correll: I think thats right. Research also shows that we dont judge women for negotiating on behalf of someone else. In this scenario, they can be just as aggressive as men and succeed as much, because their actions fit with the gender-role expectations that women should be looking out for other people.

'Women in leadership positions are seen as less likable when they do the same things male leaders do.'

Phillips: Heres an example of a different kind of double bind from research I conducted with Melissa Thomas-Hunt at Vanderbilt. Its a study in the lab where we asked undergraduates, working in teams, how much they valued other participants based on how much knowledge and expertise they had. We asked the students to rank the elements they would need to survive an Australian bush fire, after watching an informational video, and then we told them how they all scored compared with real experts. The women whose rankings exhibited expertise were actually perceived as less influential than the women without expertise  and in fact exerted less influence over the group. For men, the dynamic was the opposite: Men with expertise were perceived as more expert than nonexpert men and also had more influence. Maybe this was because the women acted stereotypically female  we need more research to answer this question.

Correll: Natasha Quadlin, a sociologist at Ohio State University, sent more than 2,000 job applications, with resumes, to employers that advertised they were hiring on a job-search website. About half the resumes had womens names at the top and the other half had mens names. Quadlin found that the employers were only half as likely to follow up or offer job interviews to women with high grades than with men with high grades. The effect was even larger for women who were math majors with top grades. Math is symbolically tied to a certain kind of masculine genius, and to acknowledge women in this realm is a real threat to male power.

Women with high grades were also less likely to be called back than women with average grades. All of this was true for employers all over the country, though the study design does not permit tracking whether men or women were evaluating the applicants. Quadlin also did a survey of employers that suggested  surprise, surprise  that they valued competence more for men and likability more for women. This is what were often up against.

Bazelon: Kathy, can we talk about another study you did, showing that black women may be less subject than white women to traditional expectations about femininity?

Phillips: In this study, we asked people taking an online survey to rate Asian, black and white men and women for their hireability for two jobs: security guard, a traditionally masculine position, and librarian, a traditionally feminine one. Among other things, we found that both black men and women, like white men, were perceived to be good fits for the security-guard position because theyre seen as more traditionally masculine.

Other research has shown that black women may be less subject to the double bind we talked about than white women. I think black women are given some leeway in terms of the way that we express ourselves. We have room to say, I wont take any mess, you have to respect me.

The reality is, I have walked through life in a body where Ive learned that if I do not assert myself, I will be walked over. I will not be treated with any respect if I dont command it. Putting your hands on your hips and saying, I am here and you have to see me  my mother taught me that, and her mother taught her. If they didnt, Im not sure I would be in this seat talking to you right now.

I use that stereotype as a source of power for myself. But it doesnt solve all the problems. It doesnt allow black women to be in leadership roles where they have power over others, especially white men. We can be assertive, but we cant be the boss. Thats clear from the underrepresentation of women of color in executive positions, and research also shows that black women who do become leaders are punished more harshly than men when they make mistakes.

Bazelon: What about the stereotypes and expectations surrounding motherhood?

Correll: They have a great deal of impact. Not surprisingly, the wage gap for mothers explains most of the gender wage gap in the U.S.: Its mostly women who have children who are being underpaid. You can see this in the research comparing mothers and childless women. When they work the same number of hours, in the same type of job, with the same level of education, and are the same in other dimensions, mothers still earn about 5 percent less for each child they have than women without children. In my work I show that even when youre evaluating a woman who has the exact same resume as someone else, if she has children, people see her as less committed to her job, and theyre less likely to hire her. Theyre stereotyping her. Then theres pregnancy  employers make assumptions that women who are pregnant cant do certain things. Its such a visible indication of being a mother.

Bazelon: Is a struggle over power fundamental to understanding why women have gotten stuck on the way to equality?

Phillips: Well, I believe that a lot of people want to uphold the power structure as it stands. I got my Ph.D. in 1999, and I remember sitting at tables with university provosts who were basically saying, Just wait, these white men will be retiring, and they will be replaced by women and people of color. The reality is that here we are 20 years later, and at the top, it really hasnt changed.

'The lesson that diversity enhances team performance can fall on deaf ears when people think about whats best for themselves and their in-group.'

Correll: Only 8 percent of the presidents of universities that grant doctorates are women.

Bazelon: Why is that, do you think?

Phillips: Some folks see change coming, and they say: Wait a minute, where do you think youre going? What does it mean for me? When people earn something, or believe they earned something, taking it away from them is very painful. Ive said to groups of white men, when I work within companies, I understand the situation that youre in. If I was in an organization that has been designed and shaped for me and people like me to be successful, Id also be asking, What do you mean you want to change this? The question is how do you acknowledge for those men that their perspective is understandable, but at the same time show that its not O.K.

Phillips: When teams in the workplace are racially diverse and include men and women, they tend to be more creative, considering more alternatives and searching for novel information. But diversity also requires people to put in more effort than they would prefer. Its easier to stick with your own than to think about other peoples perspectives.

Correll: The lesson that diversity enhances team performance can fall on deaf ears when people think about whats best for themselves and their in-group. So what if Ford Motor Company could be more innovative and productive, if Im not going to be in a position of power?

Phillips: Thats a really good point. I was meeting yesterday with a group of new managing directors at one of the banks here in the city, and one question they asked was, How do you explain to the white man with equivalent qualifications to a woman or a person of color the decision to hire or promote them instead of him? And I said: Well, what do you say to the woman or person of color who was equally capable? Why do you assume that the position belonged to the white man?

Bazelon: Lets talk about potential solutions. I just read a study about how Carnegie Mellon increased the representation of women in its computer-science major to 42 percent from 7 percent in five years. How did that happen?

Correll: For starters, they stopped requiring students to have computer-programming experience in order to apply to the major. Instead, they taught the students how to code. And they began to highlight the uses of technology for making social improvements rather than focusing only on computing itself. The changes made the major appealing to more women, and more of them applied and were admitted.

Were seeing this now in the corporate sector. At the lab I direct at Stanford, we worked with a company, for example, that was hiring a software engineer. Their job ad literally said they were looking to hire a ninja coder who wrestles problems to the ground. Now whom does that appeal to? The company changed their job ad, which increased the number of applications for their position over all and increased the percentage of women in the pool.

Bazelon: What advice do you have for young women?

Phillips: When I talk to young women, I say: I dont want you to think its all on you. Im working with the employers, too. But we as women can do some things. First of all, you need to get your circle of support around you, and in finding people to support you, sometimes you need to take a risk. I guarantee you that in a big workplace, there is a man who can support you. You have to find him. You have to make those connections and build those relationships, as hard as it might be. As many of the messages that were getting these days, that men are essentially afraid to do this, there are men out there who are ready and able to be your champion.

Bazelon: We have to let go of our own stereotypes, too, instead of assuming that the white straight men are not going to be helpful.

Correll: I always say to my graduate students, as they go out to be professors themselves: Were fundamentally changing organizations, but change is slow. In the meantime, you have to mentor people along the way and help them survive in the world that were currently in. Sometimes, younger women point out this puts a burden on them. Yes. But all of us have been helped by the people that came before us.

'Their job ad literally said they were looking to hire a ninja coder who wrestles problems to the ground. Now whom does that appeal to?'

Bazelon: You just made a classic, stereotypically female move, didnt you? Its not just about you, its about everybody else, too. Which Im all for! Its a good instinct.

Phillips: Theres nothing wrong with caring about other people.

Bazelon: True. Where do you see other solutions emerging?

Phillips: If you look at the research thats been done on race, there have been more than 100 papers on whether organizations should frame discussions of race in the workplace in terms of color blindness or multiculturalism. Do you encourage people to ignore racial differences or to be aware of them? The research has shown that having a more aware perspective is helpful both for whites and for people of color.

We started thinking about whether the same logic applies to gender, and we found that it doesnt apply quite the same way. With race, you start with people being segregated, so you have to push them toward respecting the other group. But if you emphasize gender, people tend to focus on biology and innate personality differences, and you wind up reinforcing stereotypes. Organizations are better off giving messages that fade gender into the background a bit. We tested giving people a short article to read with messages such as Social scientists encourage us to appreciate that at our core we are all the same. We found that women who took in these messages became more confident and willing to act. And men became more likely to give women opportunities.

Bazelon: So if you were rescripting the statements companies make about valuing diversity, maybe you would say: As an organization, we value differences, but we also dont assume too much about them. We dont assume that they mean a whole lot. We also dont assume that everyones going to conform to these differences.

Phillips: Absolutely. Lets recognize that weve been talking about gender in a binary way, but in reality, gender is complex. It means a whole lot of things in between the traditional conceptions of male and female. Importantly, we have to recognize that it is differences in experiences and approaches to work that we can benefit from; thats what we need to be aware of.

Bazelon: Shelley, what are you working on?

Correll: Earlier in my career, every one of my projects uncovered a different moving goal post for women. I would teach this material to my students, and I would see them getting demoralized. At this point, I want to use what weve learned about the barriers to equality to drive change.

Members of my lab are working within organizations, with either leaders or middle managers. We help them create tools they can use to more fairly assess talent for hiring or performance assessments. For example, we worked with the managers at one company to develop a scorecard for performance reviews, to set measurable goals for employees in advance, connected concretely to the companys values, and then assess them based on meeting those criteria. For example, a value for an employee like be phenomenal cant be measured, but work collaboratively can be. So on the scorecard, a manager would give a specific example of how an employee contributed to someone elses success.

After we created the scorecard, my team and I went to a meeting where the managers assessed people for promotion. Each manager turned up with the scorecard filled out for every employee. And compared to what we observed before, the managers were talking about the candidates in terms of the goals on the scorecard, no longer criticizing womens personalities, which had been common. And they were no longer disproportionately moving women out of the top bracket of the performance scale when there were too many people to promote or reward.

Its a simple thing, a scorecard. But it got rid of biases in the performance-assessment process. This is what I call a small win.

Once the managers made progress on that particular performance-assessment process, on their own they redid their criteria for hiring. Then they realized there were not enough women and people of color in their applicant pool, so they revised their job ads. Over time, the progress accumulates. The next question is, How do you scale that? We cant go work in every single organization, so we make the tools and methodologies available, and we ask organizations that use them to share what theyve learned. If your job in the morning is to solve gender equality, youll probably go back to bed. But if its to help make a small but real change, you stay motivated.

Interview has been condensed and edited.
Edith Mendoza, 53, left the Philippines 10 years ago. She has cleaned offices for the past two and a half years and joined an N.D.W.A. affiliate in 2016. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

Edith Mendoza, 53, left the Philippines 10 years ago. She has cleaned offices for the past two and a half years and joined an N.D.W.A. affiliate in 2016. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

On a beautiful April day in 2002, a woman named Ai-jen Poo walked into the River Run Playground on New Yorks Upper West Side, where a cluster of Caribbean women had gathered, tending to children who were not their own. Kids ran chattering up the play structures, following the trail of a concrete stream that runs the length of the playground. A woman named Allison Julien pulled her eyes off the little girl she was caring for and watched as Poo walked toward her, pulling fliers out of her bag as she approached. Poo was there, she explained, to talk to the women about their rights. Julien, an immigrant from Barbados and third-generation domestic worker, was ready to listen.

Here was this Asian lady talking to a bunch of Caribbean folk about domestic-worker organizing? Julien recalled. She stood at Poos shoulder and thought to herself: Who are you? A unicorn?

Poo is a lifelong activist with straight hair and a wide, calm face. She was in her late 20s when she first met Julien, already with a voice so steady it could talk down a thunderstorm. She spoke about the meetings her organization was holding. Julien was undocumented and afraid, but she knew she was interested  she had long been frustrated with the hours she worked, the lack of respect she felt and the stories of exploitation she heard from other nannies on the playground. Poo wrote down detailed directions on the back of a flier, in red ink, telling her which trains to take, where to walk and what door to use. Julien went home that night and started worrying about her outfit. It was a meeting, and I didnt know how dressed up to get, she said. Caribbean people, we love to get all dressy and fancy.

[From the 1970s into the 1990s, women made huge advancements in corporate America. Then that progress stalled. Why? Find out in our Future of Work Issue.]

The next week, when the meeting was scheduled, Julien resisted the impulse to overdress and showed up in sneakers. She opened the doors, walked into the meeting and thought: These women are just like me. Julien had spent years convinced that she should never refuse an employers request  that the insecurity of her job was a direct result of her personal situation. As an immigrant, when you arrive, someone in your community introduces you to the work, she explained. They are the ones who tell you how much your wages should be; what hours youre supposed to work; to never say no to an employer. She rolled her eyes. Well, that didnt last long for me.

Audrey Mora, 24, left Mexico five years ago and has worked as a nanny since then. She became a member of the N.D.W.A. in 2015. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

What Julien had walked into was a citywide movement on the cusp of going national. Poo was then the head of New Yorks Domestic Workers United; in a few years, she and Julien would both become founding members of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a network of activist groups across the country. Formed in 2007, the N.D.W.A. has won state legislative victories, started membership services and created a political advocacy arm. Today it includes four local chapters and 63 affiliate organizations in 38 different cities and towns.

The women the N.D.W.A. represents are diverse and scattered. There are more than two million domestic workers in the United States, most women of color and immigrants. They are housecleaners, nannies and health aides working in private homes, a majority making less than $13 an hour. Its a work force that is extremely heterogeneous, largely invisible and subject to abuses that range from wage theft to sexual assault and outright human trafficking. (Poo has organized more than a handful of midnight escapes.)

The diversity of backgrounds and needs among its members is something that the N.D.W.A. seeks to simultaneously honor and overcome. Poo, who has been the director of the N.D.W.A. since 2009, aims to create a community based on shared experiences that does not diminish the challenges that are specific to, say, an African-American worker in Atlanta or a recent immigrant in Seattle. Domestic workers have some of the hardest, least secure jobs in the nation, and Poo wants to make them good jobs  with living wages, benefits, days off and legal protections. A good job, she says, has a safety net. A good job does not end without warning or leave women rationing medication they cant afford.

Poo is pursuing legislation that builds a floor of basic legal protections for domestic workers  a place from which workers and organizers can begin to advocate. The N.D.W.A. is trying to create a new kind of collective bargaining, one where domestic workers have standard contracts and a place to take their complaints. They have built a benefits platform tailored to workers who move from job to job and a political organization promoting candidates who support their causes. They are fighting for immigrants rights and womens rights. There isnt a pre-existing model for organizing these workers  they are creating something new, says Louis Hyman, a labor historian at Cornell University and author of the book Temp, who argues that existing labor and unionization laws have long been insufficient.

We are bringing all the tools and all the creativity we have to do this work, Poo says. We are in a moment where we can either shape the future and be part of how this whole thing unfolds, or we can be victims of it, the way that we have been for generations.

Namrata Pradhan, 53, left Nepal in 2000 to study and has been a nanny for 16 years. She is a member of an N.D.W.A. affiliate, a group that supports low-wage Nepali workers. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

When Poo thinks about what is happening to labor in the United States today, her closest comparison is the transformation that took place during the Industrial Revolution. In the agricultural economy, people largely worked for themselves, or in small groups. With the rise of factories, work was aggregated and made more efficient. In the upheaval that followed, laborers lost out, so they organized and went on strike. In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act was passed, but domestic workers and farmworkers, conspicuously, were left out.

The first professional domestic workers in this country were enslaved black women, Poo says. The nations labor laws were, from the outset, tied to Jim Crow. And with no minimum wage and no ability to bargain  really no legal protections at all  a work force that was at the time largely made up of African-American women was driven even further into the shadows. In Poos view, the problems that face domestic workers today are steeped in this history of exclusion, sexism and racism.

Poo was born in the United States to Taiwanese immigrant parents. She spent her life slipping in and out of new geographies and new contexts. Poo was raised, in part, by her grandmothers in Taiwan. She spent a year of her life there as a baby and then returned to the United States, first to Indiana, where her father was a student, and then to Irvine, Calif. After that, her family took her to New Haven, Conn., where a teacher criticized her California surfer girl attitude (I can barely swim! Poo told me). Through all of this, Poo was cared for by a community of immigrants and students, women she called aunties, who gave her mother the space to raise two children while getting a medical degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Before graduating from Columbia in 1996, Poo started volunteering with CAAAV, an organization serving the Asian community in New York. (The initials originally stood for Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, but now the group uses the acronym only.) It was there that she first started to understand the difficulties that domestic workers faced. CAAAV had begun an effort to reach immigrant women in all kinds of service industries  nail-salon workers, massage-parlor workers, restaurant workers and domestic workers. At the meetings they organized  the health fairs in particular  it was domestic workers who kept showing up. As soon as you started interacting in the immigrant community, you started seeing domestic workers, she said. We were just starting to see the abuses facing domestic workers. And once you started to see it, you couldnt not see it.

Poos work changed accordingly. Soon she was meeting regularly with a group of Filipina domestic workers, many of whom who had come to the United States after laboring in Hong Kong. One of the first questions the women started asking me was, Why dont we have a standard contract?  Poo says. They were asking: What are the guidelines? What are the rules here? And then we would very quickly learn that there were very little protections in place.

Angela Zhanay, 52, emigrated from Ecuador 17 years ago. She has cleaned homes and cared for children since joining the N.D.W.A. in 2013. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

By the time Allison Julien joined the group, Poo had every playground in New York City mapped in her head. She had started this circuit in 1998 and spent hours walking the city every week. She visited playgrounds and commuter railway stops; she was kicked out of the kids sections at Barnes & Noble more times than she could count (back when there were Barnes & Nobles, Poo joked). She talked to care workers wherever she found them. She asked them about their lives and invited them to meetings. This is organizing, she told me  walking, calling, passing out fliers, holding meetings and building relationships upon relationships, creating a collective out of what she calls the crazy, unruly raw ingredients of human beings.

In 2003, Poos organization helped pass a citywide law that required nanny and babysitting agencies to inform workers of their rights. But it seemed like a symbolic victory at best. Even winning that bill there was so little protection under the law, it didnt really mean much  they didnt have many rights to know about, she says. So Poo set her sights on Albany and determined that introducing any new legislation would require input from her members. (Being grounded in the specificity of whats happening to people allows us to see the big picture, she says.) That year, she organized a meeting of more than 200 domestic workers (with simultaneous translation) and asked them what protections they needed. Out of those meetings she developed what would eventually become the linchpin of the entire movement: the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. What they were asking for constituted a bare minimum of overtime pay, one day off a week, three paid vacation days a year and protection under New Yorks Human Rights Law.

Still, it took domestic workers six years to get the legislation passed in 2010. Poo spent years organizing vans and buses from New York City, at least once a month when the Legislature was in session. She and her colleagues found that they had to constantly remind legislators what they were talking about  yanking domestic workers out of invisibility. I ended up telling people: Every time you say no, its just an invitation for me to come back,  Julien told me about lobbying legislators. So if they didnt want to see me back there in their office, they better start saying yes!

While Poo was organizing in New York City, other organizations across the nation were working with nannies and caregivers in their cities. (One group in Los Angeles was printing a cartoon called Super Domestica and passing it out along bus lines.) Poo started reaching out to them to discuss the challenges she faced. Organizing is really hard, she said. We were all struggling with these big questions that were really fundamental and thinking: Theres got to be somebody who knows the answer to these questions. In 2007, a group of around 50 domestic workers and organizers from six different cities came together in Atlanta for the U.S. Social Forum, a gathering of social-justice activists. We met together and decided right then and there, on our first date, to get married, Poo said. They formed the N.D.W.A. in the hope they could work together, build capacity and concentrate power.

Poo is not the first woman to take the lead in organizing domestic workers in the United States. Chief among her predecessors is Dorothy Lee Bolden, an Atlanta domestic worker who helped nannies and maids win inclusion in minimum-wage and unemployment laws during the 1950s and 60s. Despite the successes of Boldens movement, the working conditions for nannies and cleaners have continued largely unchanged across the nation. Today, however, Poo believes that the economic and demographic changes taking place in the United States will make domestic workers and their jobs increasingly important, and the problems they face more difficult to ignore. Today, when I look around, the conditions that define domestic work  the unpredictability of hours, lack of job security, lack of access to benefits, and a safety net  this vulnerability has become defining of more and more of the American work force, she says.

Adela Seally, 43, emigrated from Saint Lucia 16 years ago and has worked as a nanny for the past six. She joined the N.D.W.A. in 2015. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

[Read the Timess obituary for Dorothy Bolden, who helped start the National Domestic Workers Union of America in 1968.]

By 2030, Poo says, care workers  nannies and health aides together  will be the biggest work force in the U.S. Some scholars are predicting that, by then, the nations demand for domestic work will have grown so quickly that it will face a shortfall of nearly four million paid and unpaid caregivers. If we continue to neglect the women doing these jobs, Poo argues, we will struggle to find quality care for our aging parents and grandparents and our children.

At its inception, the N.D.W.A. was run entirely by volunteers, but by 2009 it had grown, and founders asked Poo to become the director of the organization. She approached her national role in much the same way she had organized in New York  working first to develop a full picture of the work force she was representing. In 2012, the N.D.W.A. commissioned a nationwide survey of domestic workers. I think what snapped into awareness really quickly was that this work force, and these people that had been on the margins for so long, was suddenly on the forefront of so much change in our society and our economy, Poo says.

Poo began paying close attention to the diversity of domestic laborers  their different experiences and demands. It was clear, she said, that her organization would have to be at once extremely specific and expansive. It was really important to us to take on the issues that domestic workers care about, said Alicia Garza, a founder of Black Lives Matter Global Network and current strategy director at the N.D.W.A. That includes things like criminal-justice reform. One in two black women have relatives who are incarcerated  not being able to make a fair wage may impact your ability to support a family member in jail. Having a family member in jail may impact your own ability to make ends meet.

Early on in her work at the N.D.W.A., before the organization started growing at hyperspeed, Poo decided to think strategically about power. She identified five arenas she believed were integral to shaping her movement. There were the practical arenas: economic (building the economic power of their members and extending the way that the N.D.W.A. raised funds), political (legislation and voter outreach) and disruptive (protests). Then there were two categories that Poo feels are equally important but more esoteric: narrative (changing the way we think about and value domestic work) and modeling (creating state programs, technology platforms and collectives that work).

Maria Yasmin Serna, 46, emigrated from Colombia when she was 16. She has worked as a nanny and housecleaner for the past 10 years and joined the N.D.W.A. in 2016. Sharif Hamza for The New York Times

Many of the N.D.W.A.s ventures fall into more than one of these categories, and Poo has been aided by a growing team of leaders. She brought on Garza to help expand their organizing, particularly in communities of black domestic workers in the South. She recruited a social innovation and technology expert named Palak Shah to create an innovation lab, who has facilitated partnerships with Silicon Valley and recently introduced a portable benefits platform called Alia, serving housecleaners. Were developing technology commercial markets have not yet solved for, Shah told me.

In the meantime, seven other states have adopted domestic workers rights legislation, while a federal version is being prepared by Representative Pramila Jayapal and Senator Kamala Harris. The N.D.W.A. has launched an initiative focusing entirely on home health aides, as well as an immigrant rights organization called Families Belong Together. Monica Ramirez heads its campaign to promote gender equality. And Poo is continuing to sponsor outreach that will help the N.D.W.A. better understand the domestic-work markets throughout the United States.

Last year, Care in Action, a group allied the N.D.W.A., began its first electoral organizing effort overseen by Jess Morales Rocketto, a 32-year-old alumna of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the A.F.L.-C.I.O. We believe that low-wage women of color should be at the forefront of political leadership, Morales Rocketto told me. They should be the ones we listen to about strategy; they should be on TV; they should be the ones running for office. Here is a constituency who reliably votes for the Democratic Party, Morales Rocketto explained, but their priorities are left off the agenda.

During the 2018 election, Care in Action mobilized in Georgia, supporting the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and a list of other candidates, all women of color. Care in Action had 578 paid canvassers, 1,400 volunteers and more than half a million conversations with voters. Its marquee candidate lost, but Morales Rocketto believes the election demonstrated what domestic workers could accomplish. I think it was proof of concept, she said. We wanted to expand the electorate. We would talk to people who would say: You cant knock those doors. You cant talk to these voters. And we had already done it. One woman, she remembered, ran out of her house and told volunteers she had been waiting for someone to come.

When it came to changing the narrative about domestic work, Poo found that there was no more effective way to spread an alternate portrayal than Hollywood. It was the 2011 movie The Help that sparked the idea to partner with filmmakers and movie stars. Our workers were waiting for the bus and seeing these huge billboards, Poo said. Her team started handing out fliers at movie theaters that said, Do you want to know about the real help? Poo was a guest of Meryl Streep at the 2018 Golden Globes and of the director Alfonso Cuaron this January. During the Oscars this Sunday, stars like Laura Dern and Eva Longoria will help host a ceremony in Los Angeles honoring domestic workers, in conjunction with Cuarons film Roma. Poo calls this a cultural moment in which domestic workers are becoming increasingly visible.

Ai Jen Poo (second from right) with Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Kamala Harris at an event in Washington, D.C. in January. Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times

Poos overarching plan is expansive. People in the N.D.W.A. regularly use the word experimentation to describe what they are doing, and the breadth of their new ventures reflect the ambitions of its leader. What Poo is doing requires bringing all of her so-called vectors to bear  the economics, the politics and the protests. It also requires a shift in public consciousness that is close to seismic. Change the way we value the labor of domestic workers, she is telling us, and we can upend our current hierarchy of privilege and power, bringing our economy in line with our values as human beings. This vision is predicated on the idea that employers  most of them, at least  are her allies; that these are people who are simply unaware of the struggles facing the caretakers they hire, who are steeped in the idea that this is unskilled labor and are so overwhelmed by their own lives that they dont stop to consider how long and unpredictable hours might keep their employees from their own children or partners or parents.

And yet even well-intentioned employers may be allies only to a point. The women and men who rely on caretakers to help them pursue their careers  jobs that themselves require eight hours or more a day in an office  might balk at paying overtime rates every day or cutting down on hours. Today, it is estimated that only around 5 percent of domestic workers in the United States are paid on the books. (Home health aides are a different story; most are supported by Medicaid payments, and there simply isnt enough money in the public system to increase wages and provide the services needed.) Persuading the 95 percent of families who employ nannies to make the jump from under-the-table payments to an aboveboard living wage will require more than a simple narrative adjustment. A publicly funded system is also a difficult sell; in Maine last year, a ballot initiative to provide universal home care was defeated, largely because of a tax increase on those making over $128,000 a year intended to cover the program.

Poo admits that her project is ongoing and perhaps interminable. Organizing and building power for this work force is a never-ending project, she told me. Then she caught herself: I mean, hopefully we will win and everything will be great. But this is an ongoing generational journey.

The N.D.W.A. will soon be introducing a new Bill of Rights in California and other places, and the organization is considering trying to replicate a negotiating and enforcement body established last year in Seattle that represents both employers and workers. Its an experiment in creating a collective, said Mariana Viturro, the N.D.W.A.s deputy director. Were thinking: Is there a way for workers to set up standards without launching a whole other legislative campaign?

In New York, Allison Julien is now working out of the N.D.W.A. offices full time. She spent more than 25 years as a nanny, and many as an organizer, and she believes her work conditions improved after she started pushing back. I started using my voice, she said. I believe my employers saw the value in my experience  they saw the lines of my professionalism. Her dream is that domestic workers will be respected without having to ask for respect. But for now, she is still asking on their behalf.

Despite the lengthy struggle that the N.D.W.A. is facing, Poos ultimate vision would solve the problems of her workers and fill the needs of a changing society; in an idea she calls Universal Family Care, her moral narrative would fuse with her economic and political goals through the creation of a social insurance fund. Everyone in the U.S. would pay into the fund, which would cover care of all types  child care, elder care, paid family leave and services for people with disabilities. It would finance our care infrastructure in a way that we could finally make these jobs living-wage jobs with benefits, she says. Doesnt that sound great? It could totally happen! And then Poo catches herself again. I mean, it will happen. Its just a matter of when.
My first, charmed week as a student at Harvard Business School, late in the summer of 2001, felt like a halcyon time for capitalism. AOL Time Warner, Yahoo and Napster were benevolently connecting the world. Enron and WorldCom were bringing innovation to hidebound industries. President George W. Bush  an H.B.S. graduate himself  had promised to deliver progress and prosperity with businesslike efficiency.

The next few years would prove how little we (and Washington and much of corporate America) really understood about the economy and the world. But at the time, for the 895 first-years preparing ourselves for business moguldom, what really excited us was our good luck. A Harvard M.B.A. seemed like a winning lottery ticket, a gilded highway to world-changing influence, fantastic wealth and  if those self-satisfied portraits that lined the hallways were any indication  a lifetime of deeply meaningful work.

So it came as a bit of a shock, when I attended my 15th reunion last summer, to learn how many of my former classmates werent overjoyed by their professional lives  in fact, they were miserable. I heard about one fellow alum who had run a large hedge fund until being sued by investors (who also happened to be the fund managers relatives). Another person had risen to a senior role inside one of the nations most prestigious companies before being savagely pushed out by corporate politics. Another had learned in the maternity ward that her firm was being stolen by a conniving partner.

[Housecleaners, nannies, health aides and domestic workers are organizing to secure job security. Read about the new labor movement in our Future of Work issue.]

Those were extreme examples, of course. Most of us were living relatively normal, basically content lives. But even among my more sanguine classmates, there was a lingering sense of professional disappointment. They talked about missed promotions, disaffected children and billable hours in divorce court. They complained about jobs that were unfulfilling, tedious or just plain bad. One classmate described having to invest $5 million a day  which didnt sound terrible, until he explained that if he put only $4 million to work on Monday, he had to scramble to place $6 million on Tuesday, and his co-workers were constantly undermining one another in search of the next promotion. It was insanely stressful work, done among people he didnt particularly like. He earned about $1.2 million a year and hated going to the office.

I feel like Im wasting my life, he told me. When I die, is anyone going to care that I earned an extra percentage point of return? My work feels totally meaningless. He recognized the incredible privilege of his pay and status, but his anguish seemed genuine. If you spend 12 hours a day doing work you hate, at some point it doesnt matter what your paycheck says, he told me. Theres no magic salary at which a bad job becomes good. He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. My wife laughed when I told her about it, he said.

When I die, is anyone going to care that I earned an extra percentage point of return? My work feels totally meaningless.

After our reunion, I wondered if my Harvard class  or even just my own friends there  were an anomaly. So I began looking for data about the nations professional psyche. What I found was that my classmates were hardly unique in their dissatisfaction; even in a boom economy, a surprising portion of Americans are professionally miserable right now. In the mid-1980s, roughly 61 percent of workers told pollsters they were satisfied with their jobs. Since then, that number has declined substantially, hovering around half; the low point was in 2010, when only 43 percent of workers were satisfied, according to data collected by the Conference Board, a nonprofit research organization. The rest said they were unhappy, or at best neutral, about how they spent the bulk of their days. Even among professionals given to lofty self-images, like those in medicine and law, other studies have noted a rise in discontent. Why? Based on my own conversations with classmates and the research I began reviewing, the answer comes down to oppressive hours, political infighting, increased competition sparked by globalization, an always-on culture bred by the internet  but also something thats hard for these professionals to put their finger on, an underlying sense that their work isnt worth the grueling effort theyre putting into it.

This wave of dissatisfaction is especially perverse because corporations now have access to decades of scientific research about how to make jobs better. We have so much evidence about what people need, says Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania (and a contributing opinion writer at The Times). Basic financial security, of course, is critical  as is a sense that your job wont disappear unexpectedly. Whats interesting, however, is that once you can provide financially for yourself and your family, according to studies, additional salary and benefits dont reliably contribute to worker satisfaction. Much more important are things like whether a job provides a sense of autonomy  the ability to control your time and the authority to act on your unique expertise. People want to work alongside others whom they respect (and, optimally, enjoy spending time with) and who seem to respect them in return.

And finally, workers want to feel that their labors are meaningful. You dont have to be curing cancer, says Barry Schwartz, a visiting professor of management at the University of California, Berkeley. We want to feel that were making the world better, even if its as small a matter as helping a shopper find the right product at the grocery store. You can be a salesperson, or a toll collector, but if you see your goal as solving peoples problems, then each day presents 100 opportunities to improve someones life, and your satisfaction increases dramatically, Schwartz says.

One of the more significant examples of how meaningfulness influences job satisfaction comes from a study published in 2001. Two researchers  Amy Wrzesniewski of Yale and Jane Dutton, now a distinguished emeritus professor at the University of Michigan  wanted to figure out why particular janitors at a large hospital were so much more enthusiastic than others. So they began conducting interviews and found that, by design and habit, some members of the janitorial staff saw their jobs not as just tidying up but as a form of healing. One woman, for instance, mopped rooms inside a brain-injury unit where many residents were comatose. The womans duties were basic: change bedpans, pick up trash. But she also sometimes took the initiative to swap around the pictures on the walls, because she believed a subtle stimulation change in the unconscious patients environment might speed their recovery. She talked to other convalescents about their lives. I enjoy entertaining the patients, she told the researchers. That is not really part of my job description, but I like putting on a show for them. She would dance around, tell jokes to families sitting vigil at bedsides, try to cheer up or distract everyone from the pain and uncertainty that otherwise surrounded them. In a 2003 study led by the researchers, another custodian described cleaning the same room two times in order to ease the mind of a stressed-out father.

To some, the moral might seem obvious: If you see your job as healing the sick, rather than just swabbing up messes, youre likely to have a deeper sense of purpose whenever you grab the mop. But whats remarkable is how few workplaces seem to have internalized this simple lesson. There are so many jobs where people feel like what they do is relatively meaningless, Wrzesniewski says. Even for well-paid positions, or jobs where you assume workers feel a sense of meaning, people feel like what theyre doing doesnt matter. Thats certainly true for my miserable classmate earning $1.2 million a year. Even though, in theory, the investments he makes each day help fund pensions  and thus the lives of retirees  its pretty hard to see that altruism from his window office in a Manhattan skyscraper. Its just numbers on a screen to me, he told me. Ive never met a retiree who enjoyed a vacation because of what I do. Its so theoretical it hardly seems real.

There is a raging debate  on newspaper pages, inside Silicon Valley, among presidential hopefuls  as to what constitutes a good job. Im an investigative business reporter, and so I have a strange perspective on this question. When I speak to employees at a company, its usually because something has gone wrong. My stock-in-trade are sources who feel their employers are acting unethically or ignoring sound advice. The workers who speak to me are willing to describe both the good and the bad in the places where they work, in the hope that we will all benefit from their insights.

The smoothest life paths sometimes fail to teach us about what really brings us satisfaction day to day.

Whats interesting to me, though, is that these workers usually dont come across as unhappy. When they agree to talk to a journalist  to share confidential documents or help readers understand how things went awry  its not because they hate their employers or are overwhelmingly disgruntled. They often seem to love their jobs and admire the companies they work for. They admire them enough, in fact, to want to help them improve. They are engaged and content. They believe what they are doing matters  both in coming to work every day and in blowing the whistle on problems they see.

Do these people have good jobs? Are they luckier or less fortunate than my $1.2 million friend, who couldnt care less about his firm? Are Google employees who work 60 hours a week but who can eat many of their meals (or freeze their eggs) on the companys dime more satisfied than a start-up founder in Des Moines who cleans the office herself but sees her dream become reality?

As the airwaves heat up in anticipation of the 2020 election, Americans are likely to hear a lot of competing views about what a good job entails. Some will celebrate billionaires as examples of this nations greatness, while others will pillory them as evidence of an economy gone astray. Through all of that, its worth keeping in mind that the concept of a good job is inherently complicated, because ultimately its a conversation about what we value, whether individually or collectively. Even for Americans who live frighteningly close to the bone, like the janitors studied by Wrzesniewski and Dutton, a job is usually more than just a means to a paycheck. Its a source of purpose and meaning, a place in the world.

Theres a possibility, when it comes to understanding good jobs, that we have it all wrong. When I was speaking to my H.B.S. classmates, one of them reminded me about some people at our reunion who seemed wholly unmiserable  who seemed, somewhat to their own surprise, to have wound up with jobs that were both financially and emotionally rewarding. I knew of one person who had become a prominent venture capitalist; another friend had started a retail empire that expanded to five states; yet another was selling goods all over the world. There were some who had become investors running their own funds.

And many of them had something in common: They tended to be the also-rans of the class, the ones who failed to get the jobs they wanted when they graduated. They had been passed over by McKinsey & Company and Google, Goldman Sachs and Apple, the big venture-capital firms and prestigious investment houses. Instead, they were forced to scramble for work  and thus to grapple, earlier in their careers, with the trade-offs that life inevitably demands. These late bloomers seemed to have learned the lessons about workplace meaning preached by people like Barry Schwartz. It wasnt that their workplaces were enlightened or (as far as I could tell) that H.B.S. had taught them anything special. Rather, they had learned from their own setbacks. And often they wound up richer, more powerful and more content than everyone else.

Thats not to wish genuine hardship on any American worker, given that a setback for a poor or working-class person can lead to bankruptcy, hunger or worse. But for those who do find themselves miserable at work, its an important reminder that the smoothest life paths sometimes fail to teach us about what really brings us satisfaction day to day. A core goal of capitalism is evaluating and putting a price on risk. In our professional lives, we hedge against misfortune by taking out insurance policies in the form of fancy degrees, saving against rainy days by pursuing careers that promise stability. Nowadays, however, stability is increasingly scarce, and risk is harder to measure. Many of our insurance policies have turned out to be worth as much as Enron.

Im jealous of everyone who had the balls to do something that made them happy, my $1.2 million friend told me. It seemed like too big a risk for me to take when we were at school. But as one of the also-rans myself  I applied to McKinsey, to private-equity firms and to a real estate conglomerate and was rejected by them all  I didnt need any courage in making the decision to go into the modest-paying (by H.B.S. standards) field of journalism. Some of my classmates thought I was making a huge mistake by ignoring all the doors H.B.S. had opened for me in high finance and Silicon Valley. What they didnt know was that those doors, in fact, had stayed shut  and that as a result, I was saved from the temptation of easy riches. Ive been thankful ever since, grateful that my bad luck made it easier to choose a profession that Ive loved. Finding meaning, whether as a banker or a janitor, is difficult work. Usually life, rather than a business-school classroom, is the place to learn how to do it.
The head of Britain's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) said Wednesday that oversight of China's telecoms firm Huawei is functioning and problems identified with Huawei do not indicate any hostile activity by China.

NCSC is part of Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intelligence agency. And Ciaran Martin, CEO of NCSC, is one of the most senior intelligence chiefs in Britain.

He made the remarks in a speech at a cyber security conference in Brussels, according to a transcript on the website of NCSC.

"Huawei's presence is subject to detailed, formal oversight, led by the NCSC. Because of our 15 years of dealings with the company and 10 years of a formally agreed mitigation strategy which involves detailed provision of information, we have a wealth of understanding of the company."

"Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei," Martin said.

He noted that last July his office found serious problems with Huawei's security and engineering processes. Huawei has since pledged to spend some two billion U.S. dollars on addressing the identified problems.

"As we said then, and repeat today, these problems are about standard of cyber security; they are not indicators of hostile activity by China," the British official said.
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Reshake, a Chinese streetwear brand based in Shanghai, showed their designs as part of the On|Off catwalk show during the London Fashion Week at the BFC Show Space on Feb. 19, 2019.



Under the theme of "Keep it Real," the new collection combines experimental contours with various materials like coated fabrics, PVC and heavyweight knitted fabrics, as well as large pieces of traditional Chinese embroidery, catering to the high-quality fashion and lifestyle attitude of young people passionate about street culture.

Jonny Fu, Reshake's design director, has worked with many lux brands and was also the costume designer for the Chinese movie "Tiny Times."

During the show, many fashion industry celebrities were spotted seated in the front row, including Rafferty Law, Fengli Xu, Chloe, Miny and Nabai Pan.

On|Off is a talent support program and catwalk experience that showcases the work of emerging designers amid the official London Fashion Week schedule.
CAIRO  Israels two leading centrist candidates for prime minister, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, joined forces on Thursday to try to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing leader who has led the country for a decade, in a move that instantly makes the April 9 elections far more competitive.

Mr. Gantz, a retired military chief of staff who entered politics only weeks ago, and Mr. Lapid, a former finance minister who founded the Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) party in 2012, agreed to take turns as prime minister if elected, with Mr. Gantz holding that job and Mr. Lapid serving as foreign minister for the first two and a half years before switching roles.

A winning team needs to be led, Mr. Lapid said at a rollout of their combined slate of candidates in Tel Aviv. I wouldnt be standing here today if I didnt believe that Benny Gantz could lead us to victory and then lead the country. Hell be an excellent prime minister. I believe in him.

Saying that Israel has lost its way under Mr. Netanyahus government of divide and conquer, Mr. Gantz promised a restoration of national unity. From this moment forward, we work together, as a team, to lead Israel toward repair, he told the crowd, who chanted history, as if it were being made.
The authorities in Valencia are investigating the death of a woman who had eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant, its owner said this week, as Spanish news outlets reported that the establishment had been tied to as many as 28 other cases of food poisoning.

The restaurant, RiFF, has closed indefinitely as regional health officials investigate.

Bernd H. Knoller, the owner and head chef of RiFF, said in a statement that the restaurant would be closed until the causes of what happened are established and we can resume work with full guarantees for both the staff and customers.

He said the decision was based on what he had learned from Valencian health authorities about different gastric illnesses in several customers of the restaurant, including the death of one.

Mr. Knoller said that he had offered his full collaboration with the investigation by the regional Ministry of Health to determine what caused the death. The woman, who has not been publicly identified by the authorities, died at her home on Sunday morning, the restaurant said in an emailed statement.
VATICAN CITY  Cloistered inside the Vatican on Thursday, Roman Catholic Church leaders heard searing prerecorded video testimonials from abuse survivors, including one made pregnant three times by a priest who started abusing her at age 15, beat her and forced her to have abortions.

Victims need to be believed, another person pleaded by video, urging bishops and other church leaders to work with civil authorities to hold sexually deviant clerics accountable.

Outside the Vatican walls, clusters of people who have suffered abuse in the Catholic Church hovered near news conferences, gave hours worth of interviews, observed vigils and planned a Saturday march.

Many expressed exasperation and little optimism that an extraordinary four-day meeting of bishops and other participants convened by Pope Francis to grapple with clerical child sexual abuse would lead to even basic changes.
LONDON  Want to see more of Lasse L. Matberg? NATO asked on Facebook last October about an officer who acted as the public face for a recent military exercise. The following week, it said, he was to take part in Trident Juncture 2018, NATOs biggest exercise in decades.

Mr. Matbergs image, sometimes seen with Norways Armed Forces, has appeared prominently on his Instagram account, which has 630,000 followers. He and other NATO soldiers have also been active on Facebook, with 5,000 photos published under the hashtag #Tridentjuncture, showing soldiers posing with guns, in the field or in the cockpit of a military aircraft.

Publicizing exercises like Trident Juncture has become an essential tool for NATO to get its message out and to showcase its military strength  especially in the face of fake news spread online by Russia. But such information published on social media platforms carries risks, researchers from the Strategic Communications Center of Excellence warned this week.

An article published by the independent organization, which provides NATO with advice and expertise and is based in Riga, Latvia, said that during another recent exercise (not Trident Juncture) in a NATO nation, researchers were able to collect sensitive information, track troop movements and find soldiers approximate location via social media.
LIVERPOOL, England  For the 22 years it has existed, Wavertree, a multiethnic, mostly working-class constituency in the northern city of Liverpool, has voted exclusively for Labour. It has been a safe seat in a strongly socialist city; at the most recent general election, the partys candidate took four-fifths of the vote.

So its local leaders were aghast when tiny Wavertree emerged as the locus of the latest feud over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, when its member of Parliament, Luciana Berger, resigned this week after receiving anti-Semitic abuse, and with local Labour activists having called her a disruptive Zionist and a supporter of a murdering government.

It has always been a Labour government that addressed racism, said one of the districts city council members, David Cummings. Im proud of that. Im a socialist. Im an internationalist. When youre a socialist you recognize everybody, you dont judge anyone on anyones background.

The tensions only deepened this week as an eighth Labour lawmaker quit the party, accusing its leader of infecting it with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism.
A series of scandals will be looming large in the eyes of church leaders and Vatican watchers alike when a highly anticipated conference on child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church begins on Thursday.

The meeting was called to address decades of abuse disclosures that have rattled the church, eroded trust in its leadership and driven away some of the faithful.

The gathering is intended to be a moment to realign and move forward, and before it began, in what many saw as a significant step, the Vatican expelled Theodore E. McCarrick, a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, from the priesthood. It was the first time any cardinal has been defrocked for sexual abuse.

But while the church expressed hope that the four-day meeting of 190 participants from across the world, including Pope Francis, would mark a turning point, there is a risk that fresh controversies may overshadow it.
BEIJING  The Chinese government, which has struggled to keep women from leaving the labor force, is taking new steps to combat sex discrimination in the workplace, including prohibiting employers from asking applicants about their marital or childbearing status.

A notice posted online on Thursday outlines specific measures for carrying out existing laws that ban gender discrimination in employment. While gender equality is enshrined in Chinas constitution, the laws on employment discrimination are vague, and enforcement has been weak.

Gender equality is the basic national policy of our country, said the notice, which was jointly issued on Monday by nine government ministries and groups. Promoting equal employment for women is conducive to promoting womens wider and deeper participation in social and economic activities and enhancing social productivity and economic vitality.

The barriers to that deeper participation are numerous. It is not uncommon for employers, concerned about having to cover maternity leave costs, to ask female job applicants about their marital status and childbearing plans.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin defended the high court's decision upholding the third extension of martial law in Mindanao, deferring to the President's prerogative to assess and act based on what he knows.

"Whether that information is true or not is irrelevant. If there was false information and the President did not know it but nonetheless acted upon it, the theory is, it is still within the competence of the President to make a decision on that," Bersamin told reporters Thursday.

Bersamin said the full court found sufficient factual basis for the extension.

"When you note some inconsistencies or weaknesses, that is not sufficient to undo the determination of the president because accuracy is not the question here. The question here is what is the information the president acted upon," he added.

Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court may review "the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ or the extension thereof."

The justices voted 9-4 on Tuesday in favor of upholding military rule in Mindanao until December 31 this year.

Lawmakers and some residents of Mindanao argued that martial law should be lifted since the Marawi siege which prompted the declaration in May 2017 has ended, with the defeat of terrorists led by the ISIS-linked Maute group. The court, however, junked their petitions against martial law.
Last August, Ms. Bishop was one of three candidates who vied for the partys leadership after Malcolm Turnbull, who was then the prime minister, was ousted in a back-room revolt. Despite having higher public approval ratings than her two male opponents, she lost on the first ballot with less than 13 percent of the vote. Scott Morrison, who was then the treasurer of Australia, was elected by Liberal Party lawmakers as the next prime minister.

After the vote, Ms. Bishop opted to leave the cabinet and become a rank-and-file lawmaker.

Ms. Ford said she did not think it even occurred to male party members to elect a woman as their leader. Ms. Bishop was the first woman to formally stand for leader of the Liberal Party.

She was hugely popular with the electorate, Ms. Ford said. To ignore not only her skills and ability and merit, but to do it so blatantly, must have been a huge slap in the face for her.

Ms. Bishops loss in the leadership vote sent waves of relief through the opposition Labor Party, which is favored in polls to win the next election. Though the exact date has not been set, elections must be held this year.

If Ms. Bishop had won, the Labor Party might have had a real fight on their hands in the next election, said Jane Caro, an Australian author and commentator. So the Liberal Party really cut off its own nose to spite its face, but such is the strong belief among many conservative people that women should not be in charge.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand  This week, as New Zealanders worried about rising tensions with China, a Chinese state newspaper published an opinion piece by a former prime minister of New Zealand, apparently hailing Chinas achievements. We need to learn to listen to China, the headline read.

There was one problem with the article: Jenny Shipley, the former leader named in the byline, was not its author.

The publication on Monday of the op-ed piece in Peoples Daily, an official government newspaper, makes Mrs. Shipley the latest prominent foreigner to have been presented in the Chinese state news media as being supportive of the Communist Partys policies at a time that suits Beijings purposes. This and other examples of foreign scholars and journalists depicted as offering glowing praise about China are part of a propaganda effort in recent years to lend credibility to the partys talking points.

In the op-ed attributed to Mrs. Shipley, she appeared to hail Chinas progress on the education, employment and development of women and on reducing poverty. It also said that Chinas Belt and Road Initiative  a major geopolitical campaign by President Xi Jinping to link Asia with more bridges, trains and ports  was one of the greatest ideas weve ever heard globally.
NEW DELHI  India vowed Thursday to cut back on water flowing through its rivers to arid Pakistan, a threat it has made before but now seems more determined to carry out in the wake of a suicide bomb attack last week for which India has blamed Pakistan.

Nitin Gadkari, Indias transport minister, said in a Twitter message that Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

Some analysts said this was the strongest threat India has made yet since the attack in which a suicide bomber killed more than 40 Indian troops in the disputed region of Kashmir.

A full-blown water war could be catastrophic to the hundreds of millions of people in India and Pakistan who depend on river water. But this latest threat was not accompanied by details on when or how India might act to divert more water from Pakistan downstream or how large, in reality, such diversions would be.
HONG KONG  Some would say she cheated. Others would say she found an efficient way to finish her tedious assignment and ought to be applauded for her initiative.

The debate lit up Chinese social media this week after The Qianjiang Evening News reported that a teenage girl had found a loophole for her homework: She bought a robot that mimicked her handwriting. Instead of having to manually copy phrases or selections from a textbook dozens of times, a repetitive task common in learning Chinese, she could just teach the robot to do it for her.

On Weibo, a popular social media platform, commenters who had suffered through endless hours of similar homework themselves were split, though most appeared to be sympathetic or even impressed.

Give her a break. How meaningful is copying anyway? one commenter asked.

The difference between humans and other animals is that they know how to make and use tools, another reasoned. This young lady already knows how to do this.
NEW DELHI  The streets were packed Wednesday night when the first explosion ripped through the air.

A car powered by compressed natural gas was traveling through a bazaar in Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital, when the cylinder stored in the back exploded, witnesses said.

The blast flipped the car. It then ignited several other cylinders that were being used at a street-side restaurant. Then a plastics store on the ground floor of a nearby building caught fire. Then a small shop that was illegally storing chemicals burst into flames.

A wall of fire surged across the street, engulfing bicycles, rickshaws, cars, people, everything in its path. The inferno claimed at least 70 lives in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Bangladesh, a country where hundreds have died in recent years in fires that tore through crowded, unsafe structures, and where a promised crackdown on building violations has fallen short.
Thats Sonia Ruiz. Shes one of millions of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse and oppression  and crossing over here into Colombia. Were in the border town of Cucuta, where theres a tense standoff over the future of Venezuela. The anger is focused on humanitarian aid that the U.S. has sent and that Venezuelas president, Nicolas Maduro, refuses to accept. Its a standoff that could lead to a violent showdown. So, what happens next? First, a quick recap. Tensions started to build in early February, when convoys rushed U.S.-donated food supplies across Colombia to Venezuela, only to be blocked at the border. Maduro sent his troops to barricade the bridge and stop the aid from entering. But Juan Guaido, who in January declared himself Venezuelas rightful president, promised to get the aid through. Then, the United States backed Guaido with more aid shipments, this time arriving on military planes. But the donated help is still stuck. It sits in a tightly guarded warehouse. Beans, oil, pasta, diapers  all packaged and heavily branded by a country that has sanctioned Maduros government So in talking with people crossing the border, its amazing how many people travel hours to cross the border just for toilet paper. And heres the thing. Its not that much aid, really. The basic foods here could feed maybe 100,000 people for one day. In a country of 30 million, its a drop in a bucket. But its enough to strike a nerve  and fuel dissent. There is a real crisis in Venezuela. We came to Cucuta last year and saw thousands of people crossing this bridge on foot each day, looking for a job or even just a meal. Today, things appear to be worse. This food kitchen serves about 4,500 meals a day to migrants. Now, Guaido has announced a hard deadline of Feb. 23 to get the aid across the border, even if it means carrying it over on foot. But all of that hinges on whether Maduros security forces will defy his orders and let the humanitarian aid in. Its a tall order. This man knows. In January, Major Sergeant Harry Solano and dozens of his fellow officers revolted and declared their allegiance to Guaido. Their videos went viral. And Solano has been fleeing from his life ever since. We met him on his first day here, in Cucuta. A Venezuelan human rights group confirmed his case. It took Solano about two weeks to escape to Colombia, relying each step of the way, he said, on help from sympathetic soldiers. We sit with him in the lobby of the Casino Hotel Internacional. The hotel has become opposition central for mobilizing efforts to get the aid into Venezuela. Sergent Solono goes to a local U.N. office to apply for political asylum. We catch up with him later, as the lonely reality of his first night in exile sets in. The U.S. appears confident, too. Senator Marco Rubio has been the strongest advocate for Maduros ouster. Its not a one-time delivery. Were not delivering a refrigerator. Were delivering food. People have to eat every day. President Trump urged Venezuelan generals to defect. You must not follow Maduros orders to block humanitarian aid. And you must not threaten any form of violence against peaceful protest. Guaido offered Maduros officers amnesty. But Maduro has been cultivating loyalty among the military for years. Hes designated over 1,000 generals and given them lucrative ties to the state-owned oil company. For now, theyve stood by him. We see Solano again, waiting in the hotel lobby. Hes received word from an undisclosed source about his family in Venezuela. Pushing the aid across is a gamble, one that could force a larger confrontation inside Venezuela. Perhaps that, in the end, is the point.
I am having trouble putting food on the table and paying the rent, he said.

He said he posted the Instagram image without thinking that a photograph of Judge Jackson that appeared to include the cross hairs of a gun sight might threaten the safety of the judge or others. I cant rationalize my thinking because I wasnt thinking, he said.

The judge firmly rejected that explanation. As a veteran political propagandist, she said, Roger Stone fully understands the power of words and the power of symbols. She added, There is nothing ambiguous about cross hairs.

Judge Jackson said Mr. Stone was so obviously eager for public attention that only a strict gag order would curb him from using his public platform to incite his followers with incendiary comments. Although he insisted he was deeply sorry for his actions, she said his apologies rang hollow. And she said his evolving story about the origin of the Instagram post was not credible.

Mr. Stone could not even keep his story straight on the stand, much less from one day to another, she said. The lead prosecutor in the case, Jonathan Ian Kravis, an assistant United States attorney, also accused Mr. Stone of dissembling when he insisted that he could not remember who might have given him photos of Judge Jackson to choose from.

You cannot remember the names of all the volunteers who worked for you four days ago? he asked.

Mr. Stones post came days after Judge Jackson had restricted Mr. Stone from making public statements on the courthouse steps that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case. Her new order imposes the same restrictions on him that she has placed on lawyers in the case.

From this moment on, the defendant may not speak publicly about this case  period. No statements about the case on TV, radio, print reporters or internet. No posts on social media, Judge Jackson said. She said her order also applied to surrogates who might speak on Mr. Stones behalf.

She said Mr. Stone could continue to seek donations to his legal defense fund, but could note only that he had pleaded not guilty  without commenting on the judge, the prosecutors, the witnesses or anyone involved in the case.
President Trump has been eager to show progress on construction of his long-promised wall on the border with Mexico. So eager that on Wednesday he sent a tweet showing the building of steel fencing in southern New Mexico with the video sped up to add a sense of both efficiency and urgency.

He retweeted himself on Thursday with the all-caps proclamation THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW!

This is misleading.

The government has built about 700 miles of wall and fencing along the border since 2006. The barriers, damaged by migrants trying to get through them or by the elements, need periodic repairs.

The section of the barrier that Mr. Trump showcased this week was not new construction, but rather replacement for existing fencing. The money for the steel-slatted barrier came from a congressional appropriation in 2017, not from newly authorized spending in the recent deal that averted a government shutdown, or from money the president is seeking to take from other federal projects under his national emergency declaration from last week.
WASHINGTON  The new attorney general, William P. Barr, is preparing for the special counsel to deliver a report in coming weeks on the results of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, two officials briefed on the Justice Departments preparations said.

President Trumps legal team and other allies of the administration have incorrectly predicted an imminent end to the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for well over a year. It remains unclear whether Mr. Mueller might take further public action, such as additional indictments, before submitting his report to Mr. Barr.

Once the report is submitted, it is not certain how much of it will become public or when.

The submission of a report by Mr. Mueller would effectively mean his office is closing down. The special counsel would no longer be conducting investigations in conjunction with the F.B.I., and Mr. Mueller would not be opening any new lines of inquiry.

But active cases that have not yet been brought to a conclusion would likely continue. New prosecutors from outside the special counsels operation could pick up cases that remain in progress. And some cases that spun off from Mr. Muellers investigation  including those being conducted by the United States attorneys office in Manhattan involving Michael D. Cohen and Mr. Trumps business  would continue unaffected.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has already said he will bring the plan to the floor, a move to force Democrats  particularly the six presidential candidates in the Senate who have endorsed the blueprint  to cast a vote that Republicans can use to brand them as socialists and extremists. Most 2020 hopefuls standing up for a Green New Deal have done little more than endorse it as a slogan and have rarely been pressed on its specifics.

But while the scope of the Green New Deal is enormous, experts believe that the economic trade-offs  saving trillions on potential catastrophe by spending trillions to prevent it  are worth serious consideration given the scale of the threat, and that a deep policy discussion would help voters and other Americans grapple with the environmental threats.

Technological challenges. And political ones.

The Green New Deal, which is a congressional resolution without the force of legislation, calls for a 10-year national mobilization to make the United States carbon-neutral across the economy. That means, as much carbon would have to be absorbed as is released into the atmosphere. Mr. Holdren, who is now a professor of environmental policy at Harvard University, said the Green New Deals timeline of achieving that goal around 2030 is not feasible.

As a technologist studying this problem for 50 years, I dont think we can do it, he said.

Theres hope we could do it by 2045 or 2050 if we get going now, he added.

Mr. Holdren said worldwide energy infrastructure  an investment of $25 to $30 trillion  turns over every three to four decades, and an aggressive transition to non-carbon energy begun today could achieve zero emissions by midcentury. That is the deadline urged by scientists from 40 countries in last years report from the U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The more ambitious Green New Deal was introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts. Its sweeping targets also include supplying 100 percent of the countrys electricity from renewable and zero-emissions sources within a decade; digitizing the nations power grid; upgrading every building to be more energy efficient; and overhauling factories and transportation, including cars, trucks and trains as much as is technologically feasible to remove greenhouse emissions.
Advances in biological sciences and the availability of progressively more sensitive and rapid assay techniques, along with an aging population, is expected to generate a greater demand among healthcare providers to diagnose medical conditions, such as diabetes and certain cancers, through laboratory procedures according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment for medical laboratory professionals is expected to grow 14 percent between 2016 and 2026, faster than the average for all occupations.
That two leading Democratic candidates have embraced reparations  the concept that the federal government should both acknowledge the ongoing legacy of slavery and discrimination and provide compensatory payment to those affected  is a major shift from past presidential campaigns and a win for activists who have tried to push the issue into the mainstream for decades. Julian Castro, the former cabinet secretary who is also running for president, has also indicated that he would support reparations.

Even among the 2020 Democrats who stopped short of endorsing reparations, several have laid out robust policies aimed at closing the gap in wealth between black and white families. Scholars estimate that black families in America today earn just $57.30 for every $100 in income earned by white families, according to the Census Bureaus Current Population Survey. For every $100 in white family wealth, black families hold just $5.04.

Senator Cory Bookers baby bonds policy aims to help poorer children by giving them a government-funded savings account that could total up to $50,000 for the lowest income brackets. The plan has been praised by liberal scholars, who think it could go a long way in helping lower-income Americans begin to build wealth. And Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has endorsed a proposal to allow Americans without checking accounts to bank at the local post office; a disproportionate percentage of Americas unbanked population are people of color.

Maria Urbina, national policy director for the progressive group Indivisible, said that after years of being pushed by activists, the Democratic Party was getting closer to applying its liberal values to racial equality. Policies like reparations or baby bonds that seek to close the racial wealth gap, she said, should be viewed similarly to idealistic programs that have been embraced by Democrats seeking the presidential nomination, including the Green New Deal and Medicare for all.

We want folks who are being ambitious, not just working within the margins and the contours of what we had before, but sort of reimagining things on our own terms and being really aspirational, Ms. Urbina said.

Sandy Darity, a Duke University professor who is a leading scholar on reparations and the racial wealth gap, said he believes more black Americans may come to see reparations as a defining issue for their support.

There is a point in black Americans making a collective decision to treat a candidates attitude toward reparations as a litmus test for supporting them, Dr. Darity said. I think if folks had paid closer attention to the fact that Barack Obama was against reparations, they would have not been as disappointed by his presidency, because they would have had more realistic expectations about what he was likely to do.
By Mr. Harriss own account on the stand Thursday, it was his narrow defeat in the 2016 race that set a course toward the boards decision. By March 2017, according to a text message turned over to investigators only on Wednesday, Mr. Harris was communicating with a political ally in Bladen County, a rural part of the district, about the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us.

Johnson was Todd Johnson, one of Mr. Harriss rivals in the 2016 race, and the guy was Mr. Dowless, a Bladen County operative with a felony record and a reputation for shadowy work for Democratic and Republican politicians. Mr. Dowless and Mr. Harris met in a furniture showroom about a month later.

How did you beat us so bad? Mr. Harris said he had asked Mr. Dowless about the 2016 race. Mr. Dowless then explained a two-phase effort that concentrated on absentee ballots.

In the first phase, Mr. Harris testified, Mr. Dowless and his associates would help voters submit requests for absentee ballots  an ordinary and legal political activity in North Carolina. In the second, workers would ensure that voters had received the ballots and would inquire whether they needed assistance.

But under no circumstances, Mr. Harris was assured, were the workers to collect the ballots.

Two weeks after the meeting, Mr. Harris pulled out his personal checkbook and paid a $450 retainer. The next month, before Mr. Harris entered the congressional race, he paid Mr. Dowless another $2,890.

Mr. Dowless and his associates, who were often his acquaintances or relatives with little interest in politics but hoping for fast cash, went to work. Mr. Dowless, who refused to testify before the board, has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the 2018 election, nor have any of his workers. Prosecutors are examining the operation, though, and are considering whether to bring any criminal charges.
In Mexicali, his tone turned a bit caustic. He averted his gaze from indigent seniors splayed out on the ground asking for money. He pointed at the irony of a church situated next door to a brothel.

This is what youll find here, he said. Poverty, drugs and prostitution.

If his feelings toward his American citizenship had been fraught in the past, adulthood clarified a few things. He began to wonder what it meant that he was technically American, what opportunities might be open. He started working toward an American high school equivalency diploma, though he admits his lack of English proficiency remains a significant obstacle.

My mom told me a short time ago, Look, I couldnt give you nice things like other people have. But I gave you American citizenship, which is what so many people are fighting for, he said.

He recognizes that now. But I feel Mexican, Im not going to lie to you, he said.

When he turned 18, seeking a foothold to life in the United States, Mr. Posada got a job at one of the nearby farms that supply a large portion of Americans winter vegetables. It was backbreaking work. He would awaken at 1 a.m. and cross the border with other migrant farmworkers and begin picking by 3. He saw the physical toll the work had taken on Mexican men who had done it for decades.

That was not the future he wanted, he thought. Its a job that kills you.

Now, he has a job registering low-income residents of Calexico for government-funded wireless plans on cellphones once colloquially known as Obama phones. Because nearly everyone in Calexico speaks Spanish, Mr. Posada can do the job without language getting in the way.
MIAMI  Prosecutors led by Alexander R. Acosta, who is now the secretary of labor, violated federal law when they failed to tell victims about an agreement not to prosecute Jeffrey E. Epstein, a wealthy New York financier accused of molesting dozens of underage girls, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

The agreement not to pursue federal sex trafficking charges, negotiated in secret while prosecutors told victims that a case against Mr. Epstein was still possible, violated the federal Crime Victims Rights Act, ruled Judge Kenneth A. Marra of Federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Fla. He gave the government and the two victims who sued 15 days to discuss what remedy should apply in the case.

Federal prosecutors had initially drafted a 53-page indictment against Mr. Epstein, but under the deal negotiated in 2008, he pleaded guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months at the Palm Beach County Stockade. While there, Mr. Epstein was allowed to leave custody and work out of his office six days a week.

The courts ruling on Thursday could nullify the non-prosecution agreement and subject Mr. Epstein and any co-conspirators in the case to new federal charges, said Jack Scarola, a lawyer for the two victims who challenged the agreement.
Coalition members filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles in September against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that reviews the applications, challenging the processing delays.

The federal agency has blamed the delays on a sharp rise in applications.

U.S.C.I.S. continues to adjudicate the pending naturalization caseload, which skyrocketed under the Obama administration, more than doubling from 291,800 in September 2010 to nearly 700,000 by the beginning of 2017. Now, despite a record and unprecedented application surge workload, U.S.C.I.S. is completing more citizenship applications, more efficiently and effectively  outperforming itself, Michael Bars, an agency spokesman, said in response to emailed questions.

There have been bigger application spikes in the past, such as in 2007, when the caseload swelled to 1.4 million and the agency was able to work through the backlog by the following year. That has not happened with the current pileup.

A total of 750,793 applications were pending at the end of June, the latest period available. But the rate at which they are being processed is at the lowest in a decade, according to an analysis released this month by Boundless Immigration, a technology company in Seattle that helps immigrants obtain green cards and citizenship. The agency was able to work through only about half its applications in 2017, compared to about 60 percent in 2016. (Data for 2018 is not available.)

Applications for citizenship have surged many times in the past and U.S.C.I.S. was able to bring enough resources to bear to tame them. Wait times have doubled and the agency is barely processing half of their backlog, said Doug Rand, a founder of Boundless Immigration.

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A Feb. 12 letter to the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services that was signed by 86 members of Congress raised concerns about the alarming growth in processing delays for naturalization and other services like green cards and visas.

It noted that the agencys proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year included a request that more than $200 million of its fee revenue be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that rounds up people for deportation.
Id rather they just dont teach anything if they cant be honest, said Susan Lontine, a Colorado state representative who introduced the bill. Ms. Lontine, who filed a sexual harassment complaint against a fellow lawmaker last year, connected the bill to the #MeToo movement. Allegations of sexual harassment rocked Colorados legislature in 2018, resulting in the expulsion of a Democratic lawmaker accused of harassing several women in government.

The sooner we talk to kids about what consent looks like, Ms. Lontine said, the sooner I hope a tide will turn so were no longer hearing stories of people being harmed.

During a 10-hour debate on the bill last month, which was attended by hundreds of people, opponents condemned homosexuality, accused a Democratic lawmaker of being a pedophile and falsely claimed it would allow schools to teach explicit sex acts to 9-year-olds. Much of the outrage was spurred by social conservative groups, which sent emails to their followers that contained incorrect information about the legislation.

Lawmakers opposed to the bill objected to lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, argued that sex education should be taught at home, and claimed that children removed from the lessons would be bullied. The legislation allows parents to withdraw their children from the curriculum.

The backlash follows similar protests nationwide by conservative organizations against comprehensive sex education. After California passed the Healthy Youth Act of 2016, which required school districts to provide comprehensive sex and H.I.V. education, along with lessons on sexual orientations and healthy relationships, parents flooded school boards with accusations that the curriculum was pornographic. Last year, parents opposed to comprehensive sex education staged Sex Ed Sit Out protests in cities around the country, a campaign organized by national conservative groups.

Debra Hauser, president of Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit sexual health organization in Washington, D.C., whose comprehensive sex education curriculum is used widely in California, said the backlash in Colorado fits a pattern of coordinated misinformation campaigns that are used to stoke fear and are promoted on social media.

Ms. Hauser said she has been pleased to see teenagers and young adults mobilizing their communities on behalf of comprehensive sex education. They want to take it into their own hands, she said.
Shrewd, crazy funny and sometimes shattering, its a comedy about constitutional law and inherited trauma that makes the political very, very personal. Could Hamilton write that? (Fine: Maybe.)

Ms. Schreck has been a regular in downtown theater since she and her husband, the director Kip Fagan, moved to Brooklyn from Seattle in 2003. (They live in Park Slope, just above the playwrights Erin Courtney and Scott Adkins and below the director Lila Neugebauer.) Perhaps you saw her as a hula hooper in Annie Bakers Circle Mirror Transformation? Or as an enigmatic office assistant in Anne Washburns The Internationalist?

She is honey blond and sweetly pretty, characteristics she wields like protective camouflage. (While What the Constitution Means to Me marks her Broadway debut, she has had callbacks for half a dozen Broadway roles over the years, usually prostitutes.) She often plays sunny characters with something steelier underneath. Onstage she carries with her a whole bag of contradictions, said the director Leigh Silverman, a frequent collaborator.

In person, shes like that, too: Charisma in the front, intellectual rigor in the back, and what Ms. Silverman calls this kind of dark intense third rail of emotion vibrating underneath.

In 2009 she made her playwriting debut with Creature, about the medieval wannabe saint and champion oversharer Margery Kempe. More plays followed and a few years later she also began to write for television, with stints on Nurse Jackie, Billions and I Love Dick. She often writes about people trying  and just as often failing  to be good in a world that may not be so interested in goodness. Shes drawn to questions of identity, faith, and power, her neighbor Ms. Neugebauer said.

Many actors become writers to generate roles they could play. But that wasnt Ms. Schrecks motive. I was constantly in this flourishing downtown scene where I got to play incredible parts, she said. I had so many parts that were worthy of me.
SAN FRANCISCO  Huawei, the Chinese technology company accused by the authorities in the United States of posing a security risk, is expanding its operations in Canada.

Huawei said on Thursday that it would hire 200 new employees in Canada  an increase of about 20 percent to the companys work force in the country. The new hires are part of an expansion of Huaweis research and development efforts as it works to secure a place in the development of Canadas 5G wireless networks.

Huawei, one of the largest telecommunications technology makers in the world, is fighting to maintain its position under increasing pressure from the United States. American authorities believe that Huawei technology could allow the Chinese government to spy on countries that rely on the companys wireless network systems.

Huawei will increase its investments in Canadian research and development by 15 percent, building on a $136 million investment it made in 2018, the company said.
Wait  is a weekly newsletter in which Caity Weaver investigates an unanswered question in the news and pop culture.

Allow me to ruin your life real quick.

A few days into the new year, someone asked me, as a kind of puzzle: What is a hole? Right now, your brain is protecting you; human brains are poor multitaskers and since yours is occupied with reading, you havent yet had time to sit back and consider the question that has blown across the fecund wasteland of my thoughts nearly every day of 2019. The problem is that your brain cannot protect you forever. If you want to get off this ride, you need to do it now. At the end of this sentence, I will provide a hyperlink to take you to an unrelated page so that you can redirect your attention before any of what youve read thus far sinks in  except, as you can see, I have inserted the hyperlink well before the end of the sentence and you need to go back and click it immediately if you are planning to, since as soon as your brain receives the visual cue that this paragraph has ended it will be too late, because then youre going to have time to start thinking.

What is a hole?

A hole is a portion of something where something is not. Beyond that, holes are slippery. (As a concept  only some in reality.) Is a hole necessarily empty on both sides, like the gaps in a slice of Swiss cheese? Or need it only be empty on one side, like a pit dug into the earth? Is a hole with a bottom less of a hole than one without one? Can a slit be a hole, or must a hole be vaguely round? Does a straw have two holes, as one Reddit user pondered, or just one  a single thicc hole, if you will?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest written attestation of the word hole (kind of) in English (technically) comes from the eighth century (though its actually probably the ninth) in a sort of Latin dictionary and translation guide. Here, the Old English hol is suggested as an equivalent of the somewhat obscure Latin term spiramentum, which later writers translated more specifically as air hole or breathing space.
Tyrannosaurs werent always tyrants. For millions of years, the ancestors of the regal T. rex were relegated to second-class predator status while a different dinosaur dynasty ruled over what is now North America: towering allosaurs.

But the allosaurs went extinct during the late Cretaceous, allowing tyrannosaurs to seize the throne and then evolve into large killing machines like T. rex and Tarbosaurus.

To better understand how and when tyrannosaurs became giants, paleontologists have sought examples of their lineage from when they were small. Their latest discovery is a tiny tyrannosaur that lived in the shadow of larger predators some 96 million years ago.

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Called Moros intrepidus, the new species is the oldest Cretaceous-period tyrannosaur ever found in North America and among the smallest in the world, measuring only about as big as a deer. Because scientists have previously found large tyrannosaurs in North America that date to 81 million years ago, the newly discovered species helps narrow the window of when tyrannosaurs became huge.
All of a sudden I log on to social media Friday, and I saw (that Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore had been made a park), and I had to make plans. The best I could do is come Monday, he said. The thing I wanted to avoid was having it out of date when it came out.
Can a scrappy Israeli nonprofit land on the moon on a $100 million shoestring? Tonight it took the first step as it launched and then set off on a long journey to the lunar surface.

Until now, only three nations  the United States, former Soviet Union and China  have sent robotic landers to the moon. Beginning in 2007, a competition run by the X Prize Foundation and financed by Google was supposed to spur entrepreneurs to send a privately financed spacecraft there, but the competition deadline passed without anyone taking home the $20 million grand prize.

SpaceIL, based in Israel, was one of the finalists and continued its efforts even though there was no money to win. On Thursday night, its spacecraft lifted off on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Florida.
This is our bigger vision, Mr. Damari said. SpaceIL would build the first Israeli spaceship to travel far from Earth, but for todays students, It's their job to build the next one, he said.

As part of SpaceILs parsimonious approach, Beresheet, which means Genesis or in the beginning in Hebrew, tagged along aboard the SpaceX rocket with an Indonesian communications satellite as well as a small experimental satellite for the United States Air Force.

Beresheet will not take the quick, direct path to the moon. That would require a fuel-guzzling firing of a large engine to break out of Earth orbit and then another to slow down at the moon. Instead, with several engine firings, the spacecraft will slowly adjust its orbit, stretching to the outermost point until the moons gravity pulls it into lunar orbit.

That is a long and winding, four million mile-long journey to reach a destination that is a quarter million miles away.

In April, it is to land at a lava plain named Mare Serenitatis, or the Sea of Serenity. An instrument built by the Weizmann Institute of Science will measure the moons magnetic fields as it approaches, and that data could help give clear hints about the moons iron core.

Beresheet is also carrying a durable backup of humanitys knowledge in the form of a disc provided by the Arch Mission Foundation, containing 30 million pages of information, as well as a time capsule with Israeli cultural symbols and a Bible.

Within a few days of its landing, Beresheet is expected to succumb to the heat of lunar noon. Then, its mission will end.
Its been 38 years since scientists last spotted the insect known as Wallaces Giant Bee, a rare species found only in a group of Indonesian islands called the North Moluccas. With a wingspan of 2.5 inches and a body the size of a human thumb, its considered the worlds largest bee, and was feared extinct.

Those fears can now be somewhat laid to rest. In January, an international team of conservationists found a Megachile pluto, as the species is called, in the wild. The team captured the first-ever photos and videos of a live specimen, renewing hope for survival of the species, which is threatened by deforestation.

Its just ridiculously large and so exciting, said Simon Robson, a biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia and a member of the expedition.

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The discovery did not come easily. Despite the bees size, its rarity, remote location and nesting habits make it difficult to find.
Five years ago, after an academic career in Europe, Benedict Beckeld gave up teaching for writing and returned to New York, where he had spent his teenage years. The timing was fortunate. His older brother, Baltsar Beckeld, was newly divorced and living on the ground floor of a two-story, two-family brick house in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Dr. Beckeld, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy, ancient Greek and Latin, moved in with him.

His brother, an actor and former museum director, transformed the unkempt backyard, planting shrubbery and adding strings of solar lights that went on at dusk. The location was close to Dr. Beckelds mother and stepfather, who also rented in Borough Park.

The brothers paid a monthly rent of around $1,400. The landlady, who knew their mother, gave us a friendly price, said Dr. Beckeld, 39, who was born and spent his childhood in Sweden.

Last summer, after suffering from sudden stomach pain, Baltsar Beckeld received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Two months later, he died, at age 42.
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Last August, I was struck by a news article reporting that a historical marker near Glendora, Miss., honoring Emmett Till had repeatedly been vandalized. Erected in 2007 at the spot on the Tallahatchie River where the 14-year-old Emmetts body was recovered after his brutal lynching in the summer of 1955, it was first replaced in 2008, after someone tore it down. Then, over several years, more than 100 rounds of bullets were fired into it. In June 2018, it was replaced a second time  and by July it had been marred by bullets yet again.

Thinking about the juxtaposition of the vandalism with the historical significance of Emmetts murder  which shook America and profoundly shaped the civil rights movement, spurring Rosa Parks to refuse to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., three months later  I became interested in how the local community felt about Emmett Till and how he was remembered in the Mississippi Delta region.
For millions of Americans with children, life is a constant, desperate balancing act. They must work during the day, either because theyre single parents or because decades of wage stagnation mean that both parents must take jobs to make ends meet. Yet quality child care is unavailable or unaffordable.

And the thing is, it doesnt have to be this way. Other wealthy countries either have national child care systems or subsidize care to put it in everyones reach. It doesnt even cost all that much. While other advanced countries spend, on average, about three times as much as we do helping families  so much for our vaunted family values  its still a relatively small part of their budgets. In particular, taking care of children is much cheaper than providing health care and retirement income to seniors, which even America does.

Furthermore, caring for children doesnt just help them grow up to be productive adults. It also has immediate economic benefits, making it easier for parents to stay in the work force.

Over the past 20 years, womens prime-age employment in the U.S. has lagged ever further behind the rest of the advanced world  at this point were well below even Japan. And lack of child care is probably one main reason.
In his Johns Hopkins address, Sanders offered a big-picture reading of this moment in international relations. For him, the ideological struggle of the 21st century doesnt pit a liberal, democratic America against illiberal, authoritarian opponents, but instead pits liberal, democratic peoples everywhere against illiberalism at home and abroad. Its a worldwide movement toward authoritarianism, oligarchy and kleptocracy against one toward strengthening democracy, egalitarianism, and economic, social, racial and environmental justice. In this conception of the world, President Trump is just one of many demagogues who exploit peoples fears, prejudices and grievances to gain and hold on to power.

These movements dont emerge out of nothing. Sanders contends that they are fueled by the enormous disparities of wealth and opportunity that define global capitalism. This is the subject of his Westminster College speech  an attempt to link domestic economic issues to relations among states. This planet will not be secure or peaceful when so few have so much, and so many have so little  and when we advance day after day into an oligarchic form of society where a small number of extraordinarily powerful special interests exert enormous influence over the economic and political life of the world, Sanders said, adding later that inequality, corruption, oligarchy and authoritarianism are inseparable.

As for culprits, Sanders has a list. His Johns Hopkins address lists Vladimir Putin of Russia, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia as part of this global nexus of corruption and autocracy. He also singles out American billionaires like Robert Mercer and Sheldon Adelson for promoting a shared agenda of intolerance and bigotry as part of a common front of authoritarianism. And while Sanders was silent on Venezuela in these speeches, he has criticized the government of Nicolas Maduro in other venues, attacking its authoritarianism and suppression of democracy while rejecting intervention by the United States.

If these are the conditions of international relations, then the aim of American foreign policy should be to stand against this rising tide of illiberalism and oligarchy. For Sanders, the United States must create a global order that can constrain authoritarian states and bring democratic accountability to global capitalism. It must also embrace the cooperation necessary for tackling climate change and other transnational challenges, building partnerships not just between governments, but between peoples and recognizing that our safety and welfare is bound up with the safety and welfare of others around the world.

For this project to succeed, however, Americans must also strive for fairness and equality in their own country. If we are going to expound the virtues of democracy and justice abroad, and be taken seriously, we need to practice those values here at home, Sanders says.
The Constitution, which was drafted and came into force under military rule, does require a lofty 75 percent of the combined houses of Parliament to pass amendments. (For some changes, it also requires the approval of a majority of eligible voters in a national referendum.) And the military holds 166 of the 657 parliamentary seats currently occupied, or just over 25 percent.

But the Constitution sets no quota for military seats in the lower house, known as the Pyithu Hluttaw, only a maximum number. Article 109 stipulates that the Pyithu Hluttaw will have a maximum of 440 representatives, including not more than 330 to be elected and not more than 110 representatives from the defense services personnel to be nominated by the Commander-in-Chief. If the Constitutions drafters had wanted to give the Tatmadaw a 25 percent quota in the lower house, they would have done so, presumably  much as they did for the upper house (Article 141) and the state and regional legislatures (Article 161).

Whats more: There currently are 323 popularly elected representatives in the lower house  less than the 330 maximum. (Polling was canceled in several constituencies because of fighting or instability.) If the number of elected representatives can be less than the maximum set by the Constitution, then the number of military appointees can also be.

And if that number is lowered enough that the Tatmadaw then has less than 25 percent of all parliamentary s eats, the Tatmadaw loses its power to block constitutional amendments.

The N.L.D. holds about 59 percent of all the parliamentary seats currently filled (385 seats, according to the most reliable tallies )  and thats all the majority it needs to amend the Pyithu Hluttaw election law and change the number of military representatives in the lower house, up to the maximum. Even if the N.L.D. voted to give the Tatmadaw no seats at all in the Pyithu Hluttaw, it still wouldnt meet the 75 percent threshold required to pass constitutional amendments on its own. (By my count, it would have about 70 percent.) But it could pass that threshold by making deals with other pro-amendment groups, such as ethnic political parties.
There is no greater pain than shame. I know.

When I was a child, I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Trauma is the devil. It stays in the core of your being. My tears waited nearly a half-century to stream from my eyes. Many victims go to their graves never revealing what they endured. Some take their own life, like one friend of mine. I suffered the pangs of addiction, the subsequent lies, and depression and suicidal ideation, along with bankruptcy and the loss of my job and home.

A childhood lost. The isolation was real. My father had died at only 40. My mother, lonely, drank, fell into rage, and was largely absent. I was prey, vulnerable to being groomed by the priest. The line was crossed.

My sexual development was stunted. I was afraid. I did not know how to break away. Trust was broken. My own brokenness took root.

Sexual violation is at the heart of the churchs crisis today and threatens its sacredness. It is not about priests who are straight or gay. Rather, it is about a void of intimacy. The predator lacks true friendship. His yearning for it takes on unfathomable proportions. He tries to figure out what is missing by violating another  a child.
Seweryn Bialer, who endured persecution by the Nazis in Poland and served in its postwar Communist government before defecting to the West and becoming a leading expert on the Soviet Union, died on Feb. 8 at his home in Manhattan. He was 92.

His wife, the scholar Joan Afferica, said the cause was heart failure.

Professor Bialer, who taught at Columbia University for 33 years, was a sought-after voice on Soviet affairs, testifying to congressional committees, participating in conferences, writing commentaries in journals and newspapers and appearing on television and radio.

He was especially in demand in the 1980s as the Soviet Union went through a series of upheavals, including the deaths of three leaders in rapid succession  Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri V. Andropov and Konstantin U. Chernenko  and the emergence of Mikhail S. Gorbachev. If few Kremlinologists foresaw just how much turbulence Mr. Gorbachevs tenure would bring, Professor Bialer at least realized early on that the new leader was a harbinger of change.

The free lunch period is over, he told The Boston Globe in April 1985, reflecting on the likelihood that the West would no longer be dealing with Soviet stagnation under aging, ill leaders. His comment came just a month after Mr. Gorbachev replaced Chernenko as general secretary of the Communist Party.
The three women were in court Wednesday morning for their initial appearances, standing next to each other in winter coats at the end of the line of the other defendants. An interpreter explained what Magistrate Kathleen Ann Sullivan said during the hearing in Mandarin Chinese to the women.
Its surprising how quickly things appear and disappear. A large stuffed unicorn, on the curb near a yogurt store on Amsterdam Avenue in the late evening had been collected by the time I returned to shoot it in the morning. I saw a red book perfectly set against an orange traffic cone on my way to get a coffee and five minutes later I had the coffee but the book was gone. Doormen constantly sweep papers and cigarettes and other haphazardly discarded objects out of view.
[The race for public advocate: 7 factors that will help decide who wins.]

Of the four people who have held the position since it was created in 1993, two went on to higher office (Letitia James and Bill de Blasio), and one came within a hair of becoming mayor (Mark Green  remember him?).

The fourth, Betsy Gotbaum, didnt run for higher office but took over a nonprofit organization and was recently called the godmother of good government.

The office is vacant, and 17 people are running for it.

There is a special election on Tuesday, and because there is no primary, and no runoff if the top finisher gets less than 40 percent of the vote, it appears that anyone could win. A handful of votes could be decisive.

The election is also nonpartisan.

Am I registered to vote?

Check this state website.

Where do I vote?

Look up your polling location on this site, created by the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Maureen Curtis, who oversees criminal justice and court programs for Safe Horizon, a nonprofit serving crime victims, said Chief Harrisons lack of experience in investigations may not hinder her. Other police leaders have had success without experience in the areas they worked, she noted.

The best leadership in N.Y.P.D. were those that could earn and maintain the respect of the officers theyre supervising, as well as interact in a meaningful way with the communities, she said. Those are the ones who will effect change.

Two weeks ago, the department began quarterly CompStat meetings for Special Victims cases. Mr. ONeill said the effort is aimed at treating sex crimes and child abuse as seriously as murder and robbery.

Still, one of the biggest hurdles facing Chief Harrison is a continuing shortage of staff. The report, which was released before last years spike in rape reports, recommended doubling the size of the divisions sex-crimes squads by adding 74 investigators. Only about 55 investigators have been added so far, bringing the total to 129, including many officers who are working provisionally as detectives.

Chief Harrison said she has pressed her superiors for more investigators.

We need people, and thats forthcoming, Chief Harrison said. I think everybody wants to see Special Victims succeed, and to that end, theyre going to give us what we need to be able to do our jobs effectively.

Chief Harrison must also navigate without some of the tools Chief Osgood utilized. Top Police Department leaders shut down some of the specialized squads he had set up, including one that was investigating some 8,000 stranger rapes that had gone cold and another that was drilling down on drug-facilitated assaults.

Chief Harrison said those cases were still being investigated, but some former members of the division said it would be impossible for investigators to give them the time they need while also handling regular caseloads and helping new detectives.
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Ever since Amazon decided to withdraw its plans to build a corporate campus in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been in attack mode.

He criticized Amazon for abandoning New York, characterizing its decision as an example of the 1 percent dictating to everyone else. He ridiculed the company for not having the patience to work through community opposition, suggesting on NBCs Meet the Press that it showed the maturity of someone who took their ball and went home.

The comments represented an abrupt shift for the mayor, who had helped entice the company to come to Queens, and had recently met in Albany with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to strategize how they might help push aside the political hurdles that stood in the companys way.

Three days after that meeting, Mr. de Blasio got the phone call from an Amazon executive, informing him of the companys decision.
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On a chilly Saturday night in late January, a handful of strangers huddled outside a townhouse on a quiet street in Bushwick. A small neon sign in its window, Cocktails Here, was the only indicator that they had come to the right place. Covert Cocktail Club, a modern, speakeasy-like experience, only accommodates 10 people per evening. Bookings, during which customers are given a date and time to show up and a vague address, sell out months in advance.

At 9 p.m., the front door of the townhouse opened and Matt Levy ushered his guests inside.



Mr. Levy, 38, mixes cocktails for strangers in his home, which he shares with his wife, Jennifer MacFarlane, 41, and their two young daughters. Guests sit around the couples kitchen table as Mr. Levy mixes cocktails from a rotating menu. A prix fixe of $80 will get you four drinks and some assorted snacks prepared by Ms. MacFarlane. Guests are also encouraged to bring their own booze if they want something specific; once, a guest from North Carolina brought her own bottle of house-infused lavender gin.

A couple in their mid-30s, Chris Donohoe and Wesley Loden, actually live down the street from Mr. Levy and Ms. MacFarlane. Weve always been so curious to come here, Mr. Donohoe said. We always see that sign and get jealous. Mr. Loden was actually in the middle of doing Dry January, but when a reservation at the club opened up, he decided to shift his priorities.
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This week, the City of New York, through its Commission on Human Rights, officially banned discrimination based on hairstyle, making it one of the rare municipalities in the country to codify the link between prejudice and personal presentation. What this means, essentially, is that employers, landlords, school principals, gym owners, club managers and other institutions and gatekeepers who engage in a persistent form of racism that renders certain judgments of how African-Americans wear their hair, will now be subject to penalties and civil damages should they harass, threaten, fire or deny admission or affiliation to anyone based on a particular set of grooming choices.

While it may defy belief that such a clarification would be needed in such a progressive part of the world at the close of the second decade of the 21st century, examples of bias expressed through rules or policies against cornrows, Afros, Bantu knots and other means of wearing hair that do not conform to European standards, in fact, abound.

Curly hair, coiled hair, black hair is a trigger, it seems, that reveals the bigotry of people who dont understand themselves as bigoted, people who just imagine themselves as upholding standards.

Two years ago, for instance, a young black woman working at a Banana Republic in Westchester County was told by a white male manager that her braids were not Banana Republic appropriate, that they were too unkempt and urban and that he would not be able to schedule her for more shifts unless she took them out. When she told the manager that they protected her hair from becoming coarse in cold weather, he suggested she try some shea butter. Ultimately, he was let go.
A recent smartphone ad shows two women looking at a photo of their children. Did you bokeh my child? one asks, referring to the blurred background photographers often use in portraits. Nervous but not terribly contrite, the second woman scrambles to adjust the depth of field. See? Bokeh; unbokeh, she says, sliding the f-stop back and forth. The advertisement is for depth control, a feature of portrait mode that lets some smartphones make portraits with shallow focus and fuzzy backgrounds.

But a new exhibit at the International Center of Photography shows that bokeh is hardly a good portraits greatest asset. The ad implies that anyone with the right smartphone can make a quality portrait, rendering a visit to a local photo studio obsolete. But, as is evident in the exhibit Your Mirror: Portraits from the I.C.P. Collection, there is a common motivation.

Part of this was looking at how people have presented themselves and represented other people, throughout the history of photography, said Erin Barnett, director of exhibitions and collections at ICP, who curated the show along with Claartje van Dijk. Before the 19th century, only if you were rich and famous could you be painted. Then, thanks to photography, all different kinds of people could be photographed and represented, sometimes in ways they wanted to be represented, if you commissioned a photographer, but also sometimes in ways that they did not want to be represented
What is the most important thing you have learned in school? How has this knowledge affected your life? How do you think it will help your success in the future?

In The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know, Thomas L. Friedman writes:

A few years ago, the leaders of the College Board, the folks who administer the SAT college entrance exam, asked themselves a radical question: Of all the skills and knowledge that we test young people for that we know are correlated with success in college and in life, which is the most important? Their answer: the ability to master two codes  computer science and the U.S. Constitution. Since then theyve been adapting the SATs and the College Boards Advanced Placement program to inspire and measure knowledge of both. Since the two people who led this move  David Coleman, president of the College Board, and Stefanie Sanford, its chief of global policy  happen to be people Ive long enjoyed batting around ideas with, and since I thought a lot of students, parents and employers would be interested in their answer, I asked them to please show their work: Why these two codes? Their short answer was that if you want to be an empowered citizen in our democracy  able to not only navigate society and its institutions but also to improve and shape them, and not just be shaped by them  you need to know how the code of the U.S. Constitution works. And if you want to be an empowered and adaptive worker or artist or writer or scientist or teacher  and be able to shape the world around you, and not just be shaped by it  you need to know how computers work and how to shape them. With computing, the internet, big data and artificial intelligence now the essential building blocks of almost every industry, any young person who can master the principles and basic coding techniques that drive computers and other devices will be more prepared for nearly every job, Coleman and Sanford said in a joint statement explaining their initiative. At the same time, the Constitution forms the foundational code that gives shape to America and defines our essential liberties  it is the indispensable guide to our lives as productive citizens.

Students, read the entire Opinion piece, then tell us:

 In your opinion, what are the most important things students should learn in school?

 Do you agree with the leaders of the College Board, as explained by Mr. Friedman, that knowledge of coding and the U.S. Constitution are the most critical skills and knowledge young people will need to be successful in college and in life? What aspects of their argument do you find most convincing or effective? Which aspects are less so?

 How much do you know about coding and the Constitution? Does the column persuade you to pursue these subjects more fully? Why or why not?

 Does your school currently teach or emphasize these subjects?

 Mr. Friedman proposes two codes for success in college and life; are there other skills or knowledge that are equally important, in your opinion?

 What are the most important skills and knowledge you have learned in school? What class has been the most beneficial to you?

 How much is your school preparing you for your future?

 Mr. Friedman concludes his column with the following paragraphs:

Sanford grew up in Texas and was deeply affected as a kid watching video of the African-American congresswoman Barbara Jordan arguing the case against Richard Nixon in Watergate. What she remembered most, said Sanford, was how Jordans power emanated from her command of the Constitution.

Understanding how government works is the essence of power. To be a strong citizen, you need to know how the structures of our government work and how to operate within them. Kids are getting it: An A.P. U.S. Government and Politics class at Hightstown High School in New Jersey was credited in a Senate committee report with contributing content to a bill, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act, which was signed into law last month. Sanford cites it as a great example of her mantra: Knowledge, skills and agency  kids learn things, learn how to do things and then discover that they can use all that to make a difference in the world.

How important do you think the last part of the equation is: agency? Has your school encouraged you to use your knowledge and skills to make a positive difference in the world? If yes, please explain. If no, do you think your school should?
2. What cause is Greta advocating and how is she promoting it?

3. What are some of Gretas most notable character traits? How do these traits make her an effective leader? According to her, how do they also make being a leader hard?

4. Why did Greta become an activist for climate change?

5. Greta has suffered from depression throughout her adolescence. What has helped her through it?

6. What kind of impact has her activism had on her family and the world?

7. How has Gretas public role changed her life? Give three examples.

Finally, tell us more about what you think:

What do you think about Greta and her fight to stop climate change?

What issues or causes are you most passionate about? If you were to organize a campaign to bring attention to one of them, what might that look like? What changes would you be willing to make in your personal life to support your cause? How could you spread awareness about the issue to your family, your community and the world? What actions might you take to bring about change?

What impact do you think your efforts could have on your own life? On the world?
Nivi Ahlawat, a senior neuroscience major, tapped the universitys online resources to help her deal with an incident in her personal life. After using the program, she said she was encouraged to start a mindfulness practice and enroll in yoga and art classes to help reduce her anxiety. She has also served as a resilience peer, an experience that has influenced her career path.

This program fundamentally changed who I am and how I approach my life, said Ms. Ahlawat, who plans to pursue graduate work in genetic counseling. I may not remember the structures of all the intermediates of the glycolysis pathway I learned in biochemistry class. But Ill remember what Ive learned about active listening, motivational interviewing and mindfulness intervention for the rest of my life.

Kent State University

Kent States impetus to improve mental health services came from broad university mandates. The university, in Ohio, said it had added nine clinical staff positions across its eight campuses as part of a presidential push to emphasize student and staff mental health and wellness.

The university has provided mental health training to more than 700 students, faculty and staff members, and created programs to help populations that do not traditionally seek counseling. Those efforts helped Kent State win a healthy campus award  last year from Active Minds, a national advocacy group that supports mental health awareness and education.
I would like for them to possibly stop some of these subdivisions from opening, so we can slow the growth, Robson, a Hammond native said. I see the education my kids are getting. And if its as small cost to us...and you dont have to sacrifice programs, then Im for it.
There are numerous reasons students choose a historically black or womens college  many offer first-rate academics, small classes and easy access to professors. In addition, tuition at H.B.C.U.s has traditionally been lower than at other institutions. But few doubt that recent interest is related to the current political climate.

Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, has been studying H.B.C.U.s for decades. She estimates that until three years ago, she would receive about eight phone calls and emails yearly from students and parents asking about such colleges, with questions typically related to academics and whether it would hurt a students future choices to choose an H.B.C.U.

In the past three years Ive received between 80 and 100 a year, she said. Nearly all those phone calls or emails or Facebook messages ask one question: Do you think it would be better for my child to go to an H.B.C.U. in the current political climate? Students ask, do you think I will be safer at an H.B.C.U.? To me, this has really been powerful.

The growing interest in historically black and womens colleges plays into the debate about safe spaces on university campuses  an ambiguous term that some see as a way for students to feel both emotionally and physically secure, while others view it as catering to a generation of snowflakes who melt under the slightest disagreement or negativity.

Research from the Gallup organization shows, however, that graduates of H.B.C.U.s tend to report better college experiences than African-American students at mostly white colleges and are almost twice as likely to agree that their university prepared them well for life outside of college. And other research found that womens institutions  more so than coed ones  have created a climate where women are encouraged to realize their potential and to become involved in various facets of campus life, inside and outside the classroom.

A common criticism, which students can hear from family, friends and counselors, is that they are choosing to attend a place that doesnt reflect the real world.
President Trump has claimed the Green New Deal will take away your airplane rights. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, told Hugh Hewitt, the conservative radio host, that the proposal would confiscate cars and require Americans to ride around on high-speed light rail, supposedly powered by unicorn tears. And Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming and chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, warned that ice cream, cheeseburgers and milkshakes would be a thing of the past because under the Green New Deal, livestock will be banned.

The resolution doesnt do any of those things.

To be sure, there is some confusion about what the Green New Deal does and doesnt say. Thats partially the fault of its sponsors, who botched the resolutions initial rollout.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs office initially sent to reporters, but later disavowed, a fact sheet that included some controversial ideas, like guaranteeing economic security including to those unwilling to work.

The resolution does call on the federal government to make investments in policies and projects that would eventually change the way we design buildings, travel and eat. For example: cows. To reduce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that cows and other livestock emit, the resolution proposes working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible.

The resolution itself also steers clear of endorsing or rejecting specific technologies or sources of energy, something that Mr. Markey said was done purposefully to encourage broader support for the plan.

Whats with the name?

The Green New Deal takes its name and inspiration from the major government makeover, known as the New Deal, launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help the United States recover from the Great Depression.
The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Johnson & Johnson over concerns about possible asbestos contamination of its popular baby powder and other talc-based products, the company said Wednesday.

In a securities filing, Johnson & Johnson said it was cooperating with these government inquiries and will be producing documents in response to subpoenas it had received. In a separate statement, the company said that the inquiries are related to news reports about the welter of lawsuits it faces from consumers who claim its talc products caused cancers.

The New York Times and Reuters reported in December on internal documents that showed decades of communications within the company about the risk of asbestos in its talc products even as Johnson & Johnson fought to keep negative information out of the public eye.

In the days after the reports were published, the companys stock sank more than 12 percent. It had not fully regained the losses as of Wednesday.
By the 1950s, men had been seeking  and failing to find  a remedy for hair loss since at least 1550 B.C., when doctors in ancient Egypt recommended anointing bald scalps with the fat of a Nubian ibex or a crushed black lizard boiled in oil.

Then along came a young dermatologist named Norman Orentreich, who tried an experiment: transplanting hair from the back of the head to the scalp. And lo, the transplanted hair grew.

Thanks in part to his discovery, a multibillion-dollar global hair transplant industry now exists to provide long-term relief for receding hairlines. His breakthrough also established him as a maverick in cosmetic medicine and a magnet for media coverage, and it ultimately embedded hair plugs in American culture as a totem of male midlife crises  as well as the butt of late-night television jokes.

Dr. Orentreich (pronounced OR-en-trike), who died on Jan. 23 at 96, went on to develop other cosmetic countermeasures for aging, but not without controversy. One of his novel treatments  injecting tiny droplets of liquid silicone in the skin to smooth facial wrinkles  raised concerns among some of his peers and drew regulatory scrutiny.
The data flow also went the other way.

Chinese government researchers contributed the data of 2,143 Uighurs to the Allele Frequency Database, an online search platform run by Dr. Kidd that was partly funded by the United States Department of Justice until last year. The database, known as Alfred, contains DNA data from more than 700 populations around the world.

This sharing of data could violate scientific norms of informed consent because it is not clear whether the Uighurs volunteered their DNA samples to the Chinese authorities, said Arthur Caplan, the founding head of the division of medical ethics at New York Universitys School of Medicine. He said that no one should be in a database without express consent.

Honestly, theres been a kind of naivete on the part of American scientists presuming that other people will follow the same rules and standards wherever they come from, Dr. Caplan said.

Dr. Kidd said he was not particularly happy that the ministry had cited him in its patents, saying his data shouldnt be used in ways that could allow people or institutions to potentially profit from it. If the Chinese authorities used data they got from their earlier collaborations with him, he added, there is little he can do to stop them.

He said he was unaware of the filings until he was contacted by The Times.

Dr. Kidd also said he considered his collaboration with the ministry to be no different from his work with police and forensics labs elsewhere. He said governments should have access to data about minorities, not just the dominant ethnic group, in order to have an accurate picture of the whole population.

As for the consent issue, he said the burden of meeting that standard lay with the Chinese researchers, though he said reports about what Uighurs are subjected to in China raised some difficult questions.

I would assume they had appropriate informed consent on the samples, he said, though I must say what Ive been hearing in the news recently about the treatment of the Uighurs raises concerns.
In the Jewish states early years, new immigrants were placed in transit camps because of housing shortages. Women who gave birth in overburdened hospitals or who took their infants to the doctor were told that their children had suddenly died.

Most of the children who disappeared were from the Yemenite and other Mizrahi communities, an umbrella term for Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, and DNA testing has proved that some of them are still alive. A younger generation is demanding answers.

Heres what else is happening

Court curbs asset seizures: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that the Constitution limits the ability of states and localities to take and keep cash and other private property used to commit crimes. The practice, known as civil forfeiture, is a popular way to raise revenue.

Michael Cohen to testify: Mr. Cohen has agreed to publicly appear before Congress on Wednesday to discuss his work as President Trumps personal lawyer.

No return for woman who joined ISIS: Hoda Muthana, an American-born woman who wants to return home after traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State, will not be readmitted to the U.S., President Trump has said.

Prosecutors outline terrorism plot: A Coast Guard lieutenant who was arrested in Maryland last week was planning to kill journalists, Democratic politicians and what he called leftists in general, federal prosecutors have said.

Deadly blaze in Bangladesh: At least 70 people have died after a fire in Dhaka, the capital.

Baby powder safety: Johnson & Johnson said it was being investigated by the U.S. authorities over concerns about possible asbestos contamination of its talc-based products.
1. An end may be in sight: The special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to deliver a report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election within weeks.

The new attorney general, William Barr, will then have to decide how much of it to make public.

In an Op-Ed essay, the acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama argues that the report will most likely act as a road map for more investigations, rather than be the beginning of their end.
The new hires are part of an expansion of Huaweis research and development efforts in Canada as it tries to secure a place in the development of the countrys 5G network.

The U.S. has been pushing its Western allies to ditch Huawei, a company that it claims Beijing uses for espionage.

Trend: Britain has not ruled out using Huawei to build out its 5G network, suggesting that the international alliances the U.S. has damaged with various unilateral actions may be shrinking its influence.

The U.S. perspective: On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the U.S. would reconsider its relations with countries that choose Huawei to build out their networks.

If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we wont be able to share information with them, we wont be able to work alongside them, he said.

That could threaten the so-called Five Eyes security arrangement, in which the U.S. and four other close allies, including Britain and Canada, share intelligence.

Complications: The American effort to shut out Huawei  as well as the arrest of the companys top executive, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada  have added to the intricate nature of U.S.-China trade talks, which continue in Washington over the next two days.
Nadine Labakis movie, the latest Lebanese film to be nominated for an Oscar, follows a young refugee, Zain, and the horrors he faces, from cutthroat traffickers to the realities of being stateless.

The refugee crisis in Lebanon dates back decades, the result of longtime instability in the region. For an overview of the Middle Easts political and cultural upheavals, consider HOUSE OF STONE: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), by Anthony Shadid, a former Middle East correspondent for The Times. Shadid, who died in 2012 on assignment, was of Lebanese descent. His book examines the long-lasting effects of the regions convulsions.

Wendy Pearlmans WE CROSSED A BRIDGE AND IT TREMBLED: Voices From Syria (Custom House) brings together accounts from refugees scattered across the Middle East and Europe, showing the extraordinary heroism of ordinary people.

In her highly personal graphic novel BADDAWI (Just World Books), Leila Abdelrazaq explores the childhood of her father, who grew up in a Lebanese refugee camp in the 1970s.

The Favourite
When Penelope Alvarez caught her teenage son, Alex, vaping marijuana, her distress wasnt just about the pot  not in California, and not when her own mother was off getting legally stoned at the opera.

The reality is, if a white kid like Dylan gets caught with a little weed, he gets a cool story, she told her son, referring to his friend. She and Alex, characters played by Justina Machado and Marcel Ruiz on the sitcom One Day at a Time, are Cuban-American.

You? she went on. You could wind up in prison.

For the writers of Nip It in the Bud  Episode 5 in that shows third season, which hit Netflix this month  the juvenile drug plot was at once a reliable sitcom standby and an opportunity to broaden the kinds of teary-eyed conversations it usually depends on. Gloria Calderon Kellett, the seriess showrunner, said she had been keen to complicate the picture, beyond Just Say No.

One of the things we were talking about was vaping and, in California especially, with pot being legal now, how its confusing for some teenagers, she said.
Police released a surveillance image Wednesday of the man. He is described as between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall, with a slim build, light complexion, handlebar mustache and a goatee, with dreadlocks down to his shoulders, the release states. He was wearing a black jacket and pants, according to police.
The police say Mr. Smollett hired two brothers to carry out the assault and paid them $3,500. They have a copy of the check used to pay them, the police said. Also recovered, they said, were phone records that showed Mr. Smollett speaking to the brothers an hour before the incident took place, and then an hour after.

In a document prepared for the bail hearing, prosecutors said they had video of the brothers at the scene, text messages they shared with Mr. Smollett and their testimony as to how Mr. Smollett had recruited them for the plan. He even had them visit the scene of what investigators contend was the fake attack, a spot near his home, on an earlier night to prepare, prosecutors said.

But, the prosecutors document said, a video camera at the spot that Mr. Smollett had hoped would capture a phony attack was pointed in the wrong direction.

Superintendent Johnson declined to indicate why investigators now believe that Mr. Smollett had also played the chief role in mailing himself a threatening letter. The letter, which arrived a week before the reported assault, contained a white powder (crushed ibuprofen) and a sketch of what appeared to be a man being hanged and phrases, including You will die. The return address said MAGA, a reference to a slogan from the Trump campaign.

Mr. Johnson referred further comment about the letter to the F.B.I., which is investigating that part of the case. The agency declined to comment.

The actor, who surrendered to the authorities on Thursday morning, has insisted the attack occurred and that he has not done anything wrong. The felony disorderly conduct charge he faces carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
When the doors open in April at the renovated Webster Hall  the East Village club, once known as the Ritz, that was renowned for its mix of rock shows and raucous dance parties  music fans will find a revamped entryway and lounge, new bathrooms and upgraded acoustics.

But the most important change may simply be the arrival of an elevator.

Webster Hall, housed in an 1886 building, part of which has been declared a landmark, is a rabbit warren of staircases and anterooms that surround a grand ballroom. But without an elevator, handicapped patrons had to be carried inside and loading equipment was a daily ordeal.

On a regular tour, whatever city they were in, theyd have two or four loaders, said Jim Glancy of the concert promotion company the Bowery Presents, which is one of the new owners. At Webster Hall, the minimum would be 12 people.

The new elevator is one of a number of subtle changes meant to bring the club, just off Union Square, up to contemporary standards, reintroducing it to fans and to an industry that has been hungry for a room of its size  the ballroom holds 1,400 people  in a central part of Manhattan. This room has been needed  we felt its absence, said Marty Diamond of Paradigm Talent Agency, who booked the club in its 1980s iteration as the Ritz.
How many people does it take to summon the multiple talents, decades-spanning career and complicated life of Sammy Davis Jr.?

Laurence Maslon, who wrote the 2017 documentary Sammy Davis, Jr: Ive Gotta Be Me, which had its premiere on PBSs American Masters this week, remembered coming across a 1968 Mad Magazine satire on racial stereotypes that said three black individuals could equal an emerging African nation  but it would take four to represent Davis alone.

Maslon, now the artistic director and writer of Yes I Can: The Sammy Davis Jr. Songbook, running Feb. 23-25 at the 92nd Street Y as part of its Lyrics & Lyricists series, mentioned this to the shows director, Tazewell Thompson, during a rehearsal break last weekend. Thompson ventured, It would take at least four people  or 14, or 40 to match Davis, who died in 1990 at 64, of throat cancer.

For Yes I Can, Maslon and Thompson settled for three: Jared Grimes, who dances and choreographs Daviss steps, and also sings; Max Kumangai, who conjures Daviss vocal skills and dances; and Harriett D. Foy, a woman, cast as the more mature, soulful Davis, as Maslon put it, noting, There was something androgynous about Sammy. Matthew Saldivar plays mentor figures (Frank Sinatra, Steve Lawrence and Eddie Cantor); Betsy Wolfe juggles Daviss female muses (the Broadway stars Janis Paige and Paula Wayne and Daviss wife, May Britt).
Our guide to new art shows and some that will be closing soon.

HILMA AF KLINT: PAINTINGS FOR THE FUTURE at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through April 23). This rapturous exhibition upends Modernisms holiest genesis tale  that the male trinity of Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian invented abstract painting starting in 1913. It demonstrates that a female Swedish artist got there first (1906-7), in great style and a radically bold scale with paintings that feel startlingly contemporary. The mother of all revisionist shows regarding Modernism. (Roberta Smith)

212-423-3500, guggenheim.org

LUCIO FONTANA: ON THE THRESHOLD at the Met Breuer (through April 14). The art of this Argentine-Italian modernist looks a bit like it comes from another planet, and it might as well, given how seldom we see it in New York. The Met Breuer show, with single environments at the Met Fifth Avenue and El Museo del Barrio, is the artists first museum survey here in over 40 years. This wouldnt be especially notable  plenty of his Latin American peers never get seen at all  were Fontana, who died in 1968, not so influential a figure. The threshold in the title refers not only to the early phase of his career, which the Met Breuer exhibition highlights, but also to his position as a forebear of contemporary art as we know it. Things we take for granted  installation, new media and the poly-disciplinary impulse that defines so many 21st-century careers  Fontana pioneered in the 1950s. (Holland Cotter)

212-535-7710, metmuseum.org

THE JIM HENSON EXHIBITION at the Museum of the Moving Image. The rainbow connection has been established in Astoria, Queens, where this museum has opened a new permanent wing devoted to the career of Americas great puppeteer, who was born in Mississippi in 1936 and died, too young, in 1990. Henson began presenting the short TV program Sam and Friends before he was out of his teens; one of its characters, the soft-faced Kermit, was fashioned from his mothers old coat and would not mature into a frog for more than a decade. The influence of early variety television, with its succession of skits and songs, runs through Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, though Henson also spent the late 1960s crafting peace-and-love documentaries and prototyping a psychedelic nightclub. Young visitors will delight in seeing Big Bird, Elmo, Miss Piggy and the Swedish Chef; adults can dig deep into sketches and storyboards and rediscover some old friends. (Jason Farago)

718-784-0077, movingimage.us

FRIDA KAHLO: APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING at the Brooklyn Museum (through May 12). This is not exactly an exhibition of Kahlos art  it contains just 11 paintings, from compelling self-portraits to ghastly New Age kitsch  but an evocation of an artistic life through her elegant Oaxacan blouses and skirts, not to mention the corsets and spinal braces she wore after a crippling traffic accident. Do her outfits have the weight of art, or are they just so much biographical flimflam? Your answer may vary depending on your degree of Fridamania, but the woven shawls and color-saturated long skirts here, as well as gripping photographs of the artist by Carl Van Vechten, Imogen Cunningham, Manuel Alvarez Bravo and other great shutterbugs, suggest Kahlos real accomplishment was a Duchampian extension of her art far beyond the easel, into her home, her fashion and her public relationships. (Farago)

718-638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org
MEDFORD, Mass.  During Black History Month, Massachusetts likes to point out its reputation as the enlightened 19th-century hub of the abolition movement. The state was one of the first to end slavery, long before the 13th Amendment formally banned it nationwide in 1865.

Less well known is that Massachusetts was the first to legalize slavery, in 1641. Even before then, merchants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had enslaved Native Americans, and by 1638 were bartering them for Africans in the West Indies. The slave trade grew from there and soon became a pillar of the colonial economy.

Two professors at Tufts University, Kendra Field and Kerri Greenidge, are among the many scholars who have been tracing the history of Massachusettss African-American residents, from slavery to Black Lives Matter.

Their research, a collaboration with students and nonprofit organizations, has evolved into what they call the African American Trail Project, a website that maps out more than 200 historic sites across the state.
BOUND BROOK, N.J.  While residents of Ukraines capital, Kiev, laid flowers and candles on the square where protesters died in a popular uprising five years ago, the countrys president was in New York on Wednesday to commemorate the anniversary.

In a speech to the United Nations and in meetings with the Ukrainian-American diaspora in New Jersey, President Petro O. Poroshenko expressed gratitude for international backing for Ukraine.

For five years, the Ukrainian people have been living amid the longest hot conflict in Europe in its modern history, Mr. Poroshenko said at the United Nations, speaking of the war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Almost daily, we lose our best sons and daughters.

Mr. Poroshenko is also facing an election next month in which the diaspora vote is seen as pivotal to his hopes. His popularity, dented by accusations of corruption, has dipped sharply at home, but Ukrainians abroad have rallied around the president and his government, with many sending money, warm clothes and even weapons to the Ukrainian Army.
NEW DELHI  A fast-moving fire tore through a crowded neighborhood in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, turning into an inferno that killed at least 70 people, fire officials said Thursday.

Bangladesh has a poor record when it comes to fire safety, with many buildings cheaply made and unsafe, and with risks compounded by poor enforcement and unscrupulous management. In one of the worst disasters, in 2012, 112 people were killed when a fire ripped through the Tazreen Fashions garment factory outside Dhaka.
Someday you wont be saying that, the president said, in what for him was a grandfatherly tone.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Kurz later discussed trade tensions between the United States and Europe, as the White House nears a decision to impose tariffs on German automobiles. Austria is a producer of car parts, and Mr. Kurz has proposed himself as an intermediary between Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel, whose relationship  never warm  has hardened.

The conversation was tough, said Martin Engelberg, a senior aide to Mr. Kurz, who noted that Mr. Trump also pressed his guest on Austrias reliance on natural gas from Russia. Mr. Engelberg said the two leaders did not discuss immigration, and he rejected the suggestion that cultivating Mr. Kurz was a way for Mr. Trump to divide the European Union. The chancellor is absolutely a committed European, he said.

As the leader of a country with fewer than nine million people, however, Mr. Kurz can do little to head off a trans-Atlantic trade war. Mr. Trumps decision to meet with him was mostly about what Mr. Kurz symbolizes in a Europe with which the president has had an increasingly antagonistic relationship.

For better or for worse, he is the chancellor of a German-speaking country that is in a coalition with the hard right, said Constanze Stelzenmuller, an expert on Europe at the Brookings Institution. They might see Kurz as a normalizer of the right.

Shortly after he arrived in Germany, Mr. Grenell enraged his hosts by telling Breitbart News that he wanted to encourage a new generation of conservative leaders in Europe  an obvious dig at Ms. Merkel. He singled out Mr. Kurz, a native of Vienna who rose up in the center-right Peoples Party before seizing on the issue of Muslim immigration to carve out a sharper identity and appeal to nativist sentiments.

He was swept up in the wake of the migration crisis, said Eugen Freund, a member of the European Parliament from Austria. If there hadnt been a migrant crisis, there wouldnt have been a Sebastian Kurz.

Mr. Freund, a former broadcaster who is a Social Democrat, said there were important differences between Mr. Kurz and Mr. Trump, aside from their age. The president is freewheeling and blunt; the chancellor chooses his words carefully. The president vilifies the news media; the chancellor has cultivated journalists in Austria, earning positive coverage.
The public hearing is one of three sessions Mr. Cohen will have next week on Capitol Hill. He is also scheduled to participate in private deposition-style interviews with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, where he is likely to be pressed on matters pertaining to Russia and other potential efforts by foreign powers to gain influence over Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the two intelligence committees about the Trump Organization proposal to build a skyscraper in Moscow.

Before that, in August, Mr. Cohen had pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to tax fraud, making false statements to a bank and the campaign finance violation. He said in court at the time that the last violation was the result of payments he made at Mr. Trumps behest during the 2016 campaign to two women to keep them from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen had been expected to report early next month to begin serving a three-year prison sentence, but on Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan said that he could delay that appearance by two months, to May 6. In requesting the delay, Mr. Cohens lawyers said he had undergone recent shoulder surgery and needed to take part in physical therapy.

If Democrats are hoping that Mr. Cohens testimony will damage Mr. Trumps public image, Republicans have been laying the groundwork to try to undercut Mr. Cohens credibility first. In a letter to Mr. Cummings on Tuesday, the oversight committees top Republicans referred to Mr. Cohen as an admitted serial liar and accused the Democrats of putting on a political show.

When Cohen appears before our committee, we can only assume that he will continue his pattern of deceit and perjury, the Republicans, Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, wrote. Although Cohen falsely attributes his crimes to blind loyalty to Donald Trump, a federal judge correctly noted that Cohens crimes were all motivated by his personal greed and ambition.

Mr. Trump himself has repeatedly suggested that Mr. Cohen lied to prosecutors about him to reduce his own prison sentence. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trumps lawyer, abruptly shifted his own assessment of Mr. Cohens honesty after Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty and began talking to prosecutors.
The number of hate groups in the United States rose for the fourth year in a row in 2018, pushed to a record high by a toxic combination of political polarization, anti-immigrant sentiment and technologies that help spread propaganda online, the Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday.

The law center said the number of hate groups rose by 7 percent last year to 1,020, a 30 percent jump from 2014. That broadly echoes other worrying developments, including a 30 percent increase in the number of hate crimes reported to the F.B.I. from 2015 through 2017 and a surge of right-wing violence that the Anti-Defamation League said had killed at least 50 people in 2018.

Were seeing a lot of bad trends, Heidi Beirich, the director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in an interview on Wednesday. There are more hate groups, more hate crimes and more domestic terrorism in that same vein. It is a troubling set of circumstances.

Ms. Beirich said the increase in extremist activity tracked by her team began in earnest in the early days of the 2016 presidential election, when anxieties over immigration helped propel President Trump to the White House. Before that, she said, the number of hate groups had fallen for three straight years.
A: What we can do is be an important part of the evolution of nonprofit and traditional charity. We can inspire young people and people in the community to be part of this effort. We want to continue to expand our entrepreneurship training for young people. Theyre not getting enough of it. We intend to expand our social entrepreneurship education. The young people who we give the tools will be able to create enterprises, impact communities across the country and other places in the world, and continue to pay it forward.
The F.B.I. has opened a civil rights investigation into the actions of Houston police officers in connection with a drug raid that ended in a deadly shootout last month, the federal agency and the Houston Police Department announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation specified that it was investigating allegations that a search warrant that was executed at the beginning of the deadly Jan. 28 raid was based on false, fabricated information. Chief Art Acevedo has said that one of his narcotics officers, Gerald Goines, lied about using a confidential informant to justify searching the home. The chief has placed Officer Goines on administrative leave.

Chief Acevedo said in an afternoon news conference that the F.B.I.s investigation would be collaborative but also independent of the one his department was already conducting.

We welcome that in the spirit of transparency, he said.

Also on Wednesday, the Harris County District Attorneys Office said it had begun a review of more than 1,400 criminal cases spanning Officer Goiness career, 27 of which are active.
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In their filing, prosecutors quoted a letter that he drafted to friends in 2017 and that the authorities found on his computer. In it, Lieutenant Hasson, who works as an acquisitions officer at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, wrote: I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed / Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something.

In the last month, prosecutors said, the lieutenant used his work computer to draw up a list of prominent figures he called traitors and wanted to kill, including many well-known anchors and hosts on the CNN and MSNBC news networks and a number of Democratic elected officials. The list included, among others, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, Senator Richard Blumenthal, whom he referred to as Sen blumen jew, and many of the senators running for president in 2020.

He had recently performed internet searches seeking information about whether senators and Supreme Court justices receive Secret Service protection, the court filing said.

[The number of hate groups in the United States rose for the fourth year in a row.]

On Thursday, Senator Blumenthal told CNN that the authorities had not warned him that his name appeared on the list. I found out from the news when I heard about it last night, he said.

In the letter quoted by prosecutors, Lieutenant Hasson wrote about wanting to start a race war, and pondered the best way to do it. Much blood will have to be spilled to get whitey off the couch, he wrote.
SAN FRANCISCO  Its hard to imagine how smartphones could get much better. Most are already zippy and equipped with jumbo screens, powerful cameras and face scanners.

So what else can we look forward to?

It turns out, plenty. For a peek at the future of the phone, look to Samsung, the worlds largest handset maker. On Wednesday, the South Korean company showed off a family of four new Galaxy phones that incorporate new technologies and features that may start spreading to other smartphones.

Of the four new devices, one will work on next-generation ultrafast 5G cellular networks, which means it can download a movie in seconds rather than minutes. Three of the models will have slightly larger screens and more complex camera systems than their predecessors.

And Samsung is also teasing a fifth device that can be folded and unfolded like a book to decrease or increase the phones screen size to suit its owner. It is expected to be available in the United States on April 26 and in Europe on May 3.
Eargos chief executive, Christian Gormsen, argues that this makes more sense than the current model he describes as archaic, where dispensers are licensed by state-level boards and can only operate within their state. I believe in a professional thats certified. I dont care whether that person is certified in California or Colorado  Its like saying you cant drive your car outside the state where you got your drivers license. It doesnt make any sense.

However, going around your doctor presents the problem of financing. Insurance companies rarely pay for hearing aids to begin with, but even at a comparatively low price, around $2,00 0 is not always an easy chunk of change to drop. Especially for seniors who may be on a fixed income, or patients who rely on their employer-provided Medicare, Medicaid or disability insurance to cover medical expenses. Like most hearing aids, you can ask your insurance providers if you can get reimbursed for a pair of Eargo hearing aids, but its unlikely to be covered. The expense will have to come out of your own pocket.

To help ease the burden, Eargo partners with both CareCredit and Synchrony to offer financing deals, often without interest if you pay it off over a relatively short time frame. In a 24-month financing deal, for example, the Eargo Max would cost a little over $100 a month, which is easier to stomach than the lump sum all at once. Its still a lot of money, and you dont get assistance paying for it, but financing options at least mean it doesnt hit quite as hard.

For severe hearing loss, Mr. Gormsen believes specialists will always have their place. If we suspect there is too much hearing loss  we will always advise them to contact a specialist. However, millions live with such minor to moderate hearing loss that it goes untreated  and uncovered by your insurance  until it gets worse. The fundamental challenge of this industry is the stigma and if we stay medical I think our likelihood of impacting that stigma is going to be tough, Mr. Gormsen said.

For most customers, Eargo eventually envisions that shopping for a hearing aid would look more like buying a phone than the more rigorous (but also time consuming) search for a medical device. Weve been talking to the likes of Best Buy or so on where maybe you go and talk to a blue shirt and then a blue shirt could show you how the product works. And we could train them.

Family planning as proactive rather than reactive

Modern Fertility is another company aiming to fill in a crack in our modern health care system. For $159, the company offers a fertility test that can help women who are trying to get pregnant  or may want to in the future  find out more about their fertility and plan ahead. It sounds like exactly the kind of basic test you could ask your OB-GYN for.
IP3 officials sent documents to Mr. Flynn for Mr. Trump to approve, before and after the inauguration, despite warnings by career and political staff members that the White House was ignoring laws requiring the president to keep lawmakers abreast of negotiations on nuclear cooperation agreements and submit the agreements to Congress for review and approval, according to the report.

Early in 2017, legal adviser s for the National Security Council agreed that Mr. Flynn had a potential conflict of interest. But despite at least two warnings  by the legal advisers and by H.R. McMaster, Mr. Flynns successor as national security adviser  that the N.S.C. staff stop work on the plan, the White House has continued to pursue it with Mr. Barrack as the designated point man. Mr. Trump reportedly met with nuclear power developers as recently as Feb. 12.

The United States has long been a leader in nuclear technology, the sale of which is governed by bilateral pacts, called 123 agreements, which require adherence to nine nonproliferation criteria. Some 21 countries, the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency have these agreements.

The criteria include guarantees that none of the nuclear materials provided by the United States will be used for explosives, that none of the technology or classified data will be transferred to third parties without American consent, and that the other country involved in the agreement will not enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium, which could be a pathway to a nuclear bomb.

The requirements are intended to prevent another country from gaining nuclear weapons. The Saudis say they want the technology only to produce nuclear power for domestic purposes and thus prolong their oil reserves, not to acquire a weapons capability.

But its hard to trust such assurances, given Saudi animosity toward Iran and Prince Mohammeds 2018 comment, Without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.

Although Iran never produced a nuclear weapon, it had a robust nuclear program until it agreed to an international deal in 2015 that curbed its activities. The deal, opposed by the Saudis, is now hanging by a thread because Mr. Trump abrogated Americas commitment.
To the Editor:

How Mitch McConnell Enables Trump, by Adam Jentleson (Op-Ed, Feb. 19), helps put the power machinations of the Senate majority leader in true perspective.

Senator McConnells talents are not used in the aid of his country, the institutional preservation of the Senate as part of the constitutional system of checks and balances, or ultimately the viability of his own Republican Party. His actions can be understood only through the lens of holding onto personal power at whatever expense.

His obstructionist policies during the Obama administration showed his will to deny beneficial bipartisan legislation to avoid perceptions of President Barack Obama signing popular legislation into law. The bold precedent of blocking the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court was a political coup but a dangerous precedent by any perspective.

As Mr. Jentleson points out, Senator McConnell is selling out the power of the Senate to Donald Trumps political base. Now, by supporting the presidents declaration of a national emergency to build the wall, he tries to hold onto political power by lashing the fate of the Republican Party even tighter to an amoral and incompetent president.
Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and other countries with similar systems vastly underspend the United States. Americans may be concerned that lower spending reflects rationing of care, but research has consistently found that not to be the case. Other high-income countries spend less on health care than the United States because they have lower prices, not because they receive less care. In Germany, sickness funds leverage market power to secure lower prices, coming together regionally to negotiate contracts with doctors and hospitals, and nationally to negotiate drug prices.

Administrative and governance costs in multipayer systems are higher than in single-payer systems  5 percent of health spending in Germany compared with 3 percent in Canada. But there is much room to cut prices. If, for example, insurers were able, on average, to achieve hospital and physician prices at the level of Medicare, and prescription drug prices at the level of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the savings would be significant.

While recent polls indicate that a majority of Americans support so-called Medicare for all, approval diminishes when the plan is explained or clarified. The former Starbucks chief executive, Howard Schultz, who is considering running for president, called the proposal to eliminate private health insurance not American. A German-style multipayer road to universal coverage might receive a much warmer reception.

Americans have long valued choice and competition in their health care. The German model offers both: Patients choose private insurers that compete for enrollees, in the process driving innovation and improving quality. If the United States adopted this model, insurance companies would be more tightly regulated and required to become nonprofits, and some job losses would be likely. But they would not need to be eliminated, an idea suggested, and then retracted, by Ms. Harris in her call for Medicare for all.

The diversity of health financing arrangements globally demonstrates that there are many possible paths to achieving universal health care at an affordable cost  as Ms. Harriss advisers acknowledged after walking back her call for the elimination of private insurance.

Advocates and policymakers should pick carefully among these paths, choosing one that strikes a balance between what is possible and what is ideal for the United States health system. While the single-payer model serves Canada well, transitioning the United States to a multipayer model like Germanys would require a far smaller leap. And that might encourage Americans to finally make the jump.

Jamie Daw is assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health.

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When a journalist for the Illinois Baptist newspaper reported in 2002 on a Baptist pastor who had sexually assaulted two teenage girls in his church, one apparently just 13 years old, he received a furious reprimand.

Glenn L. Akins, then running the Illinois Baptist State Association, offered a bizarre objection: that writing about one pastor who committed sex crimes was unfair because that ignores many others who have done the same thing. Akins cited several other prominent churches where the same sort of sexual misconduct has occurred recently in our state.

In the end, the Baptists ousted the journalist, Michael W. Leathers, while the pastor who had committed the crimes, Leslie Mason, received a seven-year prison sentence and then, as a registered sex offender, returned to the pulpit at a series of Baptist churches nearby. So Leathers is no longer a journalist, and Mason remained a pastor.

That saga was cited in a searing investigation by The Houston Chronicle and The San Antonio Express-News that found that the Southern Baptist Convention repeatedly tolerated sexual assaults by clergymen and church volunteers. The Chronicle found 380 credible cases of church leaders and volunteers engaging in sexual misconduct, with the victims sometimes shunned by churches, urged to forgive abusers or advised to get abortions.
Its an age-old tale: Time and again, federal relief money that is supposed to help people rebuild after a natural disaster is instead subject to fraud.

Unscrupulous contractors swoop in. Insurance scams pop up. Cunning individuals use relief money to repair beachside vacation homes instead of using it on their primary residences.

Now you can add another offender to the list: New York City. On Wednesday, the city reached a tentative settlement to pay back the government more than $5.3 million as a result of having submitted fraudulent claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Sandy.

In the proposed settlement, the city admitted that it had filed false certifications to the federal government in order to receive relief funds for vehicles that the Department of Transportation had claimed were damaged during the 2012 hurricane, but had actually been out of use before Sandy.
[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y.  They descended in droves on the sleepy harbor town, rousing it from its winter hibernation for a solemn ritual. Thousands of police officers in dress uniforms gathered on Wednesday at a Long Island church to say goodbye to one of their own, a veteran New York detective killed in the line of duty.

The officers stretched from the Church of St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays as far east as the eye could see, stacked 10-deep in some places along Montauk Highway. With nothing but the lonely cadence of a bass drum, they stood at attention in stoic silence and raised white-gloved hands as a black hearse quietly passed through town. Clouds of breath rose above their salutes into a steel-gray sky.

Inside the hearse lay the coffin of Detective Brian Simonsen, shield number 3877, who was shot in the chest while responding to a robbery on a frigid night in Queens.
The fire department also provides mutual aid to surrounding communities and, additionally, crews may be called to a neighboring town if they are the closer first responders, Sorensen said. But he did not identify this system as a reason for the rising service calls. Instead, Sorensen pointed to the numbers, which show Park Ridge has received help from other fire departments almost as many times as Park Ridge crews have gone out of town.
How exactly is social media making people feel more connected to each other? Everyone is looking down at their phones instead of looking at each other! And my favorite part of social media is seeing the smiling faces of people who I thought were my friends at the party I wasnt invited to! Is everyone really happy all of the time except for me?

They laugh, but they know Im not joking. I quickly move on to another issue that frustrates me. Like standardized tests? How can we possibly measure everyones ability on a single exam? Can students possibly feel any more stressed than they already are? How is taking classes to study for a test helping anyone? Isnt it difficult enough being a teenager without creating more tests that propose to measure their worth?

At this point in my tirade, my face is starting to get flushed, and they are beginning to understand the fire and fury I am looking for.

I tend to become very dramatic in an effort to motivate them to be argumentative. I have an inclination to be hyperbolic about  everything, but this quality has worked in my favor to infuse excitement in my students. David Brooks may have been talking about me when he wrote that what teachers really teach is themselves  their contagious passion for their subjects and students. I am not faking my enthusiasm about students writing a powerful argument to The New York Times about an issue that matters to them, and I am certainly not faking my enthusiasm about the possibility of them being published. I think its important, and they very well know it.

I press on with the motivational speaking when I share Anne Lamotts words about writing from her book Bird by Bird. She says:

Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If youre a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act  truth is always subversive.

We break down these lines together, and discuss why we have a moral obligation to discuss consequential issues, why doing so may cause people to not like us, and why the truth can be subversive to those who believe otherwise. It is after this conversation that they are ready to begin.

_________

Finding and Narrowing Topics
Huawei may find an ally in Britain

Britain, it seems, isnt overly worried about using technology from the Chinese giant, despite warnings from the U.S. that Huawei is beholden to Beijing and is a proxy for espionage.

The head of Britains National Cyber Security Center, Ciaran Martin, said at a conference in Brussels that any risks posed by using Huaweis technology could be mitigated, citing the strict British security reviews the company has been subjected to for more than 15 years.

Why it matters: By the end of the year, Britain will decide whether to use Huaweis technology in building out its 5G network. Other European countries that are considering Huawei for their 5G networks are watching closely for clues to whether the White Houses claims have been exaggerated.

The U.S. position: American officials have argued that 5G networks are much more complex than existing systems, and that the many lines of constantly updating code make the systems nearly impossible to protect entirely.
[A timeline of the Jussie Smollett case.]

Mr. Smollett had received an immediate outpouring of public support. Many cited his account as an example of another in a rising tide of hate crimes, which the F.B.I. reported last fall had increased for the third straight year.

But the change in thinking by investigators as the case progressed began to unleash criticism against the news media and politicians who many critics said were too quick to embrace a sketchy account in their drive to tarnish the president. It became a nightly topic on Fox News for Tucker Carlson, who called it a case of identity politics run amok. Identity politics is a scam, he said, and it is not so different from the one that Jussie Smollett just pulled.

Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor at National Review, said on Wednesday: I think that the initial reaction suggested that there is a lot of credulity, especially among liberals who were looking at a story that seemed to confirm their impressions about Trump supporters.

Mr. Smollett has continued to vehemently insist the incident occurred just as he reported it.

His lawyers, Todd S. Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, released a statement that said: Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.

From the start, investigators had difficulty corroborating Mr. Smolletts story, even with about a dozen detectives assigned to the case.
Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics.

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Kya Sanchez, high school senior at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, questions Student Ambassador Elizabeth Skelly about her experiences in the Bearcat Marching Band during Distinguished Scholars Day Saturday, Feb. 16. Sanchez plans to attend Northwest and play trumpet in the BMB.
Instead, Nguyen was allowed to post a $1,500 cash bond Sunday, and she walked free from the jail.

The scrambling to explain began Tuesday as court officials scratched their heads in confusion.

Jail officials and other authorities chalked it up to a "misinterpretation" of court documents.

"It was not stated directly to us that her bond was to be changed to a, 'No Bond,'" Porter County sheriff spokeswoman Sgt. Jamie Erow said.

How is that possible?

The order to hold Nguyen without bond was issued in clear language by Bradford last week.

It's part of the case file.

How could an order to hold a defendant without bond not be clearly communicated to the jail?

Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann also noted confusion may have arisen because the classification of felonies Nguyen faces normally come with a preset jail bond.

None of us should be satisfied with that answer either.

A court order was in place to keep a woman  charged with felony crimes against her children  in jail.

She was allowed to walk free in spite of that order.
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.

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.
VALPARAISOAlthough U.S. Sen. Mike Braun will not be coming to Valparaiso as he visits communities throughout Indiana in his first round of mobile office dates, his staffers will be there..

From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 25 Braun staff members will be at the Greater Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce at 162 W. Lincolnway in Valparaiso to talk to the public.

Having access to your elected official is critical, so to better assist the Hoosiers I was elected to serve, my staff will be holding mobile office hours throughout the state," Braun said in a news release. "My staff and I look forward to assisting you and meeting the needs of Hoosiers.

From Wednesday to Feb. 26, Braun will also be visiting Goshen, Anderson, Washington, Batesville and Fishers. For more about Braun's current mobile office dates to future scheduling, visit his website at www.braun.senate.gov.

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Five people died after a hot air balloon they were riding in hit power lines in New Mexico's largest city and the gondola crashed to the groun
VALPARAISO  Middle school students in Valparaiso were held in a delayed release following a report of a man who grabbed a middle school student on their walk home from school. However, police investigations determined the claim was a false report.

Valparaiso police patrolled the area of Ben Franklin Middle School at 605 N. Campbell St. in Valparaiso, where the person who reported the incident claimed they were grabbed by a man at the end of the school day.

Students who walked from the middle school to home were held at the school as police patrolled the area for suspicious people. The school also put out phone calls and notifications to parents.

The individual involved later admitted to police that the report was fabricated, a news release from Valparaiso Community Schools stated.
A $1 million gift from the estate of Valparaiso University alumnus William Bill Schlender 41 has boosted a scholarship fund he established in 2007. The preference of the William E. Schlender Endowed Scholarship Fund is to award need-based scholarships to College of Business students of the Lutheran faith who are in their junior or senior year. Schlender earned a bachelor of arts in business and economics from Valparaiso University. He went on to receive an MBA from the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in philosophy from The Ohio State University. His distinguished academic career included being a faculty member at Valpos College of Business from 1976 to 1986. During that he time, he was the initial recipient of the Richard E. Meier Professor of Management, which he held from 1983 until his retirement in 1986. Previously, he held the Lutheran Laymens League Professor of Business Ethics from 1976 to 1983. Bill Schlenders gift supports Forever Valpo: The Campaign for Our Future, a $250 million endowment campaign that will secure permanent resources for student scholarships, faculty development and programs that prepare students for lives of leadership and service.
INDIANAPOLIS  An exception to Indiana's "Open Door" law all but ensures that Hoosiers may never know why individual Republican senators voted to delete the list of protected classes from legislation authorizing enhanced criminal sentences for bias-motivated crimes.

Senate Republicans met for more than four hours behind closed doors Tuesday to decide prior to the start of the public Senate session how they would vote on the controversial amendment to Senate Bill 12, proposed by state Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis.

State law permits political party caucuses to meet in secret to plan strategy and hold discussions designed to prepare the members for taking official action.

But, in the Senate, 40 of the 50 members are Republicans, which means the decisions made in GOP caucus meetings are, in effect, final, since it takes just 26 senators to approve or reject any motion, amendment or legislation.

Debate and discussion on those proposals is not conducted in public. Instead, caucus members are required to never disclose what is said in caucus at the risk of being barred from future meetings and banished to a back-row seat in the Senate chamber.
PORTAGE  Portage City Councilman John Cannon, R-4th, has stepped forward hoping to fill the mayoral post vacated last week with the federal public corruption convictions of fellow Republican James Snyder.

Cannon announced Thursday he has submitted the necessary paperwork to run as a candidate in the party's caucus to be held at 10 a.m. March 2 at the Portage Public Library, 2665 Irving St.

"I have been preparing for the possibility of stepping up since the indictment was issued in November 2016," Cannon said referring to Snyder.

Cannon said he joined Democrat Councilman Mark Oprisko in January 2017 to call on Snyder to step away from his duties.

Cannon knew of no other Republicans who have yet submitted the paperwork to run in the caucus.

Republican precinct officials from Portage will come together to elect someone from their party to complete Snyder's term through the end of the year, Porter County Republican Party Chairman Mike Simpson has said.

Eligible candidates must be registered Republicans and registered voters who reside within the city of Portage, he said.
CROWN POINT  Lake County commissioners moved forward with plans to upgrade the Sheriff's Departments vehicle fleet on Wednesday, approving specifications for nearly two dozen police cars and accepting bids for an armored rescue vehicle that costs twice as much as the average house in the Region.

The department is seeking 10 marked patrol cruisers, 12 unmarked cars for detectives and administrative use and a van for transporting inmates to and from the county lockup.

It also wants to replace its 30-year-old armored personnel carrier, which requires constant repair work and has become an operational liability for police. In a memorable scene in December, the truck had to be towed away when it broke down shortly after delivering SWAT officers to the scene of a standoff in Highland.

Its on its last legs, Sheriff Oscar Martinez said of the armored vehicle, which was built in 1979 on top of a Dodge chassis.

Martinez broached the need to replace aging vehicles late last year, citing more than 200 high-risk operations where police had used it since 2016. But commissioners pushed back over concerns the sheriff hadnt considered additional options beyond the $365,000 price tag he cited at the time.
CROWN POINT  A Gary mayoral candidate faces ejection from the spring ballot over allegations he is a convicted felon who has adopted a bogus nickname to confuse voters to think he is the incumbent mayor.

The challenge targets Jerry "Freeman" Wilson who came to prominence Tuesday when a random drawing placed his name just above Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson on the May 7 ballot.

Wilson said Wednesday, "I pleaded guilty to get out of the jail. The agreement was I have no record. It was all thrown out when you go through the Veterans Court."

Attorney Jewel Harris Jr., who is confronting Wilson, said he will ask the county elections board Tuesday to remove Wilson because his 2014 guilty plea to a class B felony disqualifies him under state law from running for or holding public office.

The elections board will hear this among 23 challenges Tuesday to candidates running for municipal offices. The board has until the end of this week to make any final changes to the spring ballot.

Wilson, one of nine Democrats challenging the Gary mayor, declared his candidacy two weeks ago, just before the close of filings. He identified himself in his candidate paperwork as Jerry Wilson, with no middle name, but requested he be put on the ballot as Jerry "Freeman" Wilson.
"I wish Gary well. I mean, it's my sister city. But, at the same time, I'm here representing the city of East Chicago, and we truly would like to be held harmless," Copeland said.

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she's not sure tax revenue in the other Region casino cities, especially Hammond, will be negatively affected by a land-based Gary casino.

But she's willing to work with local leaders to figure out a fair formula if a hold-harmless clause is necessary.

"We have never undertaken this initiative to do it on the backs of any community. We are simply being pro-Gary, and being pro-Gary does not mean that we're being anti- anywhere else, and we certainly look forward to having those conversations," she said.

Bad-faith move?

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who did not attend Thursday's committee hearing, said removing the hold-harmless language showed "bad faith" in earlier compromises on the legislation.

"When I testified and Mayor Copeland testified about this bill in Senate committee, they specifically told us there would be hold-harmless language in the bill to keep the Hammond and East Chicago governments whole," McDermott said.
GARY  A landlord entered a home late Wednesday to complete some work and discovered two people dead inside, police said.

Gary police were dispatched about 8:40 p.m. to the 400 block of Jefferson Street, where they met with the landlord before entering the home, Cmdr. Jack Hamady said.

The bodies of a 55-year-old man and 48-year-old woman were found in the home, he said. The woman was identified as Tracy Valentine, of Hobart, Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey said. The man was identified as Timothy Snow, of Hammond.

A coroner's release listed the manner of death as homicide, but said the cause of death was pending further investigation.

The man and woman were pronounced dead about 10:15 p.m.

The deaths of the two people mark the seventh and eighth homicides this year in Gary, records show.

Anyone with information about the double homicide is asked to call Detective Edward Gonzalez of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3855. To remain anonymous, call 866-CRIME-GP.
CROWN POINT  A deputy prosecutor has asked the court to dismiss a motion to suppress evidence in a case against a 17-year-old accused of fatally stabbing her mother because the girl's attorney failed to specify what evidence he believes is inadmissible.

Police did not violate any laws when they issued an Amber Alert for Chastinea Reeves, Deputy Lake County Prosecutor Maureen Koonce wrote in a response to Reeves' motion.

Indiana State Police standard operating procedures  which outline the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert  "do not confer rights" upon Indiana residents or govern state or federal law, Koonce wrote.

"In addition to the defendant's failure to allege that the Amber Alert offended any constitutional or statutory rights, there is no derivative evidence to suppress," the state's response says. "The defendant fails to specify any 'evidence seized,' 'observations made' or 'statements taken' as a direct or indirect result of the issuance of the Amber Alert."

The state filed its response Tuesday to Reeves' motion to suppress.

Reeves' attorney, John Cantrell, asked the court to "suppress all evidence seized, all observations made, and all statements taken as a direct result of the misuse of the Amber Alert system."
GARY  A man allegedly threatened Chase bank employees by implying he had a bomb and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. Gary police say he is still at large.

Gary police responded to a call at 3:53 p.m. about a bank robbery at Chase Bank, 3680 Broadway, according to a news release from Gary police.

Bank employees told police the man was 6 feet, 2 inches tall, African-American, and had a slim build, shoulder length dreadlocks and a handlebar mustache/goatee. The man was reported to be wearing a black jacket and pants when he entered the bank.

The suspect allegedly implied he had a bomb and demanded cash, police said. He then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money. The man was last seen fleeing southbound on Broadway.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the Gary Police Department Sgt. Daniel Callahan at 219-881-1210 or call the FBI Merrillville Office at 219-769-3719.

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A new advisory period will also be created, which will enable the same group of students to meet with the same teacher for their entire four years of high school. As a result, the professional teaching day will be increased from 240 to 250 minutes, which includes supervision of a new 15-minute advisory period each regular school day. Each regular school day will be comprised of eight standard class periods, which will be 47 minutes long, instead of the current 48. Dismissal will now be at 3:11 p.m. instead of 3:04 p.m.
LAPORTE  A former fire chief died in prison after his conviction for trying to lure a 15-year-old into performing sex acts.

David Kaufman, 63, died from natural causes Feb. 5 while incarcerated at the New Castle Correctional Facility, according to the Indiana Department of Correction. No foul play was suspected.

Kaufman began serving his four-year sentence on June 9, 2017, serving about 19 months of his prison time before death, the LaPorte County prosecutor's office said.

With credit earned while in prison, Kaufman could have been paroled as early as July, prosecutors said.

Kaufman, former chief at Lincoln Township Fire Department in Fish Lake, was sentenced for attempted sexual misconduct with a minor, attempted possession of child pornography and child solicitation.

He was tried for propositioning a 15-year-old boy who was a cadet at the Fire Department in 2008 and 2009, while Kaufman was chief.

Prosecutors submitted evidence that he offered cash to take part in a college male anatomy study he falsely claimed to be conducting, which involved Kaufman measuring teenage boys, taking pictures and other activities, according to court records.
The 18th century ensembles in "The Favourite" and the glitzy costumes in "Crazy Rich Asians" were also selected as the best costumes of the year Tuesday.

Carter and fellow Oscar nominee Glenn Close received special honors at the ceremony.

Halle Berry and Danai Gurira presented Carter with the career achievement award. The costume designer thanked "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler, longtime friend and director Spike Lee and those who worked with her to create the costumes for the Marvel superhero film.

Gurira, who starred in "Black Panther" as one of Wakanda's elite warriors, yelled out "This is the year of Ruth Carter" as Coogler looked on and smiled from his seat. Berry made a Wakanda Forever crossed-arm gesture before she called Carter "strong, respectful, opinionated and well-respected."

"Ruth taught me the importance of a costume and how it was a portal into bringing my character to life," said Berry, who was dressed by Carter in the 1991 film "Jungle Fever."

Close was honored with the spotlight award as actor Michael Chiklis praised the actress for her ability to captivate audiences through her roles. He said "You sit up a little straighter. Your senses sharpen, because you know she's about to make everything happen."
The engineering and planning firm MKSK has joined the consulting team that's advising local officials on transit-oriented development around South Shore Line stations.

An MKSK principal described some of the firm's projects to a committee advising the Regional Development Authority at its Wednesday meeting.

Landscape architect Eric Lucas told the Transit Development District Steering Committee, made up of representatives of each community with a South Shore station, that MKSK projects in Indianapolis and Clarksville, Indiana, and Columbus and Akron, Ohio, are similar in footprint, context and other characteristics to the South Shore-related opportunities.

"They've all gone through a similar process," Lucas said, "in terms of engaging the community, engaging stakeholders, looking at best practices, understanding things that are in flight already in the community, how to leverage investment that's already occurring."

The projects include redevelopment of a GM stamping plant site in Indianapolis and another site on the city's west side, property on the Ohio River near Louisville in Clarksville, and projects in downtown Columbus and Akron. Details of MKSK's projects are available on its website at www.mkskstudios.com.
The executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and a developer planning a $164 million project at the former Republic Steel mill site on Chicago's far South Side will address the Calumet Area Industrial Commission at its 2019 kick-off luncheon Thursday.

The group that represents more than 1,500 industrial companies on Chicago's South Side, the south suburbs and Northwest Indiana, including ArcelorMittal and BP, will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Ridge Country Club at 10522 S. California Ave. in Chicago. The program is entitled On To 2050: Helping Communities and the Calumet Prosper.

The featured speaker will be Joseph Szabo, CMAP executive director.

Szabo will discuss 'On To 2050,' CMAP's comprehensive plan for the seven counties of northeast Illinois. The plan "features prioritizing infrastructure investments to improve the regions transportation system, including its freight network," the Calumet Area Industrial Commission said in a press release.

Tom George of NorthPoint Development and Mitch Adams of CBRE also will discuss their plans to build a new manufacturing and logistics campus that's expected to bring 1,300 new jobs to the 197-acre site that was once home to the Republic Steel mill at 116th Street and Avenue O.
ArcelorMittal Global R&D in East Chicago helped develop a new grade of advanced high-strength steel that's used in the Ram pickup truck, Pacifica minivan, Jeep Wrangler and the upcoming Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Luxembourgh-based ArcelorMittal had been importing the steel, known as GI TRIP 690, from Europe to serve automakers here. But the research and development center in East Chicago worked for years with ArcelorMittal Cleveland to start making the specialized grade of steel in the United States to serve Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

This was a challenging product," said Oleg Yakubovsky, R&Ds lead scientist on the development of the new grade. "ArcelorMittal produces TRIP grades for other automotive customers, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' specification imposes a tougher requirement for the steels ductility, along with a higher tensile strength.

The grade is stronger than traditional steel to reduce vehicle weight, lower tailpipe emissions and improve mileage.
NEW MARKET  Town Council members have agreed to administer a grant that will provide funding for 4-year-olds to attend a new daycare center.
Response time is critical in these situations. I think their response time was outstanding, and I think their response obviously saved more lives by getting there so quickly and confronting the gunman, Marshall said. There could have been even more injuries, or more deaths absent the excellent job the first responders from Aurora did by confronting the gunman right away, and they obviously took fire because of that, because they ran towards danger.
Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
When Rep. Sean Eberhart went to the podium Wednesday to present his bill regulating scooters, he went in style: Riding a scooter, of course.

The Shelbyville Republican had rented a Bird electric foot scooter  or e-scooter  for the occasion.

E-scooters by Bird and competitor Lime started appearing in Indiana within the past year and have become a hit for their convenience and ease of use for some, with others aggravated by scooters being ridden on the sidewalks or parked blocking ramps. Their omnipresence in cities have resulted in both fun and frustration, with some complaining about damage to both public and private property.

Eberharts bill, House Bill 1649, seeks to put some brakes on, without pulling the plug on them. It would specify that e-scooters are not the same as a motor vehicle and exempts them from motor vehicle laws, but specifies that bicycle laws do apply to them. That means they have to have a light when ridden at night and can use bike lanes. They are barred from interstate highways under the bill, which also lets local authorities regulate their operation, including on highways, but clears up one issue: They can be parked on sidewalks, but cant be ridden on them.

Eberhart, after scooting down the center aisle of the House chamber to hoots of laughter from his colleagues, said the scooters are a newer technology that a lot of states have not addressed yet. This bill attempts to do is update our code and define what the scooter is.

In addition, HB 1649 exempts e-scooter firms from financial responsibility for accidents, with that burden falling to the operator of a scooter. The bill also limits other aspects of a scooters design such as maximum speed, number of wheels, proper lighting and weight among others.

Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, told the House that scooters have caused more controversy in his college community than President Trumps proposed border wall.

While the rest of the country has been worrying about border walls, and government shutdowns and teacher pay, (in) the city of Bloomington all anybody has been talking about are these things, he said, pointing to Eberharts parked scooter.

People either loved them or considered them the scourge of the earth, he said, and joked that how he voted on the bill could determine if he wins re-election in 2020.

As debate concluded, Eberhart hopped back on his scooter to ride back to his seat. It shut down before he made it.

The bill, though, passed 94-3, with one of those no votes coming from Pierce.

Andrew Longstreth is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
The folks at Pitchfork certainly know what theyre doing when it comes to putting together a music festival.

Since July 2006, the media company has held its annual Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago, regularly curating one of the most eclectic lineups of music on the summer festival docket. While maintaining this three-day affair, the Chicago organization has also thrown a European version of their festival in Paris, maintaining a reputation for lineups that defy mainstream convention.

For their first-ever Midwinter Festival, Pitchfork teamed up with the Art Institute of Chicago, bringing a smorgasbord of ear-grabbing artists together to perform at various locations inside the Institute. Like any event in its first year, Pitchfork Midwinter Festival 2019 was not executed 100% perfectly, as some of the individual venues within the Art Institute were rather cramped and awkward at times. Nevertheless, there were certainly some positive takeaways I had upon heading back to Indianapolis on Sunday night.

First and foremost, I believe its worth noting how refreshing it felt to be in a space like the Art Institute of Chicago for a music festival. In walking from one concert to the next, every festival attendee got a chance to interact with world-class visual art as they headed to their next musical destination. All in all, this made for an experience unlike any Ive ever had, leaving me to ponder how arts institutions in Indianapolis could maybe pull off something similar on a smaller scale.

Although the festivals ticketing seemed rather questionable on the surface (attendees had to buy tickets to individual performances on top of a base entry charge), things made a little more sense after a few quick observations. All Pitchfork Midwinter shows were very intimate due to the Art Institutes limited spacing. This made every performance, from Slowdive to William Basinski, its own unique experience, while also ensuring extremely attentive audiences throughout the event.

In addition to these add-on concerts, the festivals base entry also allowed attendees to experience public performances from artists like Daniel Bachman and Haley Fohr on the Art Institutes beautiful staircase. These shows were equally enthralling, as they wound up feeling like street performances orchestrated for an ornate indoor setting.

As Ive already mentioned, Pitchfork knows what theyre doing when it comes to putting together an interesting lineup, and this was again the case at Midwinter. Personally, a few of my favorite stretches included:

- Going from Bill Callahan to Slowdive on Friday

- Going from William Basinski to Deerhunter on Saturday

- Going from JPEGMAFIA to Oneohtrix Point Never on Sunday

I bring up all three of these in particular because they were both wonderfully jarring and extremely memorable.

I really hope this festival returns again in 2020. While there are certainly things to improve upon, the Pitchfork/Art Institute teaming really did produce some magical moments, while also showcasing how arts institutions can work hand-in-hand with musical entities.
Eleven vehicles were involved in crashes Wednesday morning on Interstate 80 between Giltner and Aurora, the Nebraska State Patrol reported.

About 9:10 a.m., Hamilton County received a 911 call that two semitrailer trucks had crashed and jackknifed, blocking eastbound traffic on Interstate 80 near mile marker 328. As troopers and officers were en route to the scene, additional vehicles became involved in a chain-reaction crash, according to a press release from the patrol.

The first crash scene involved four semis and one passenger vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee.

After the initial incident, a pair of semis that were traveling together came upon the scene and were unable to stop. One struck the other, pushing it into the Jeep Cherokee.

Both occupants of the Cherokee were transported to the Aurora hospital. The passenger, Jason Palmer, 29, of Indiana, was later flown to Kearney with life-threatening injuries. The driver has been released from the hospital. One of the semi drivers, Jeffrey Clark, 56, of Colorado, was also transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Instead of a potential sheriffs sale on March 9  the tax sale certificates maturity date  the chamber will move that day to acquire a treasurers tax deed securing its share of ownership interest, Troshynski said.

He and Person said the chamber will reach out to Jay A. Mitchell of Manhattan Beach, California, who also has an ownership interest through a deed of trust issued in 2007.

Troshynski said the hotel also has been encumbered by several liens for unpaid federal and state taxes and other debts. But he said those debts are owed not by the chamber but by the defunct Pawnee Assisted Living Corp., which owned and operated the hotel in its last years.

When the chamber receives its treasurers tax deed, Troshynski said, that should wipe off the other liens from the real estate.

Person and chamber board President Dr. Ben Lashley noted that members had vigorously debated what could be done about the Pawnee  if anything  in the 5 years since the last residents left.
Jason Taylor has been selected as Superintendent for Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, in Skagway, Alaska. Jason Taylor/NPS

News Release Date: February 20, 2019



Contact: Peter Christian

Jason Taylor, Regional Chief of Natural Resources for the National Park Service (NPS), Alaska Region, has been selected as Superintendent for Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, in Skagway, Alaska.

Jason brings to Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park a proven leadership capacity; a strong commitment to team, and a positive, inclusive work environment; and a passion for the NPS mission and public service, said Regional Director Bert Frost. His focus on building partnerships and his familiarity with NPS operations, and Alaska, well position Jason for his new role.

I consider it an honor to serve the staff, resources, community, and visitors of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, said Taylor. I have heard so many positive comments about park staff, and about the community of Skagway, Im excited to be a part of the team, and to become a contributing member of the community.

Currently, Jason leads the regional office Natural Resource Science and Management Team. This team supports the NPS mission by providing technical expertise and capacity to parks and national programs, conducting and provisioning science to support informed decision making, providing policy interpretations, facilitating collaboration with partners and between parks, and managing the regional wilderness program. Jason also serves as a member of the NPS Natural Resource Advisory Group, is an instructor for the NPS Interdisciplinary Resource Protection and Law course, and recently served as U.S. co-lead for the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP), an international organization that addresses Arctic biodiversity conservation.

Prior to joining the NPS in Alaska, Jason served as Chief of Natural Resource Management and Science at Cape Cod National Seashore. During his time at Cape Cod, a coastal park with over four million visits annually, Jason was a core member of the parks senior leadership team. He led and managed people, programs, and budgets; collaborated with commercial service organizations; engaged communities, visitors, and the local media; and collaborated on innovative solutions for managing the parks resources and cultural landscapes and integrating science and resource management objectives into interpretive and educational programs.

Jason has also held several positions with the Bureau of Land Management, including posts in Alaska and Colorado. All told, he has fifteen years of combined federal and local government service.

Jason earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment; and a B.S. in Biology from the University of MichiganFlint. He enjoys traveling, photography, fly fishing, and most of all spending time with his family, in majestic settings with a strong sense of place.
February 20, 2019

Contact: Veronica Greear, (423) 346-6294

Contact: Christopher Derman

Manhattan Project National Historical Park is partnering with the Childrens Museum of Oak Ridge (CMOR), and the Girl Scouts of USA to celebrate National Girl Scout Week on Saturday, March 9. Beginning at 10:00 AM (ET) at CMOR, individual girl scouts and/or troops are welcome to participate in hands-on activities until 2:00 PM. Admission to CMOR will be free on that day for any girl scout in uniform and their families.This years theme centers around peace, and girl scouts will be making a gift to be sent to our sister city in Naka-shi, Japan. By completing the days activities, each girl scout can earn the Hearts Around the World patch.National Girl Scout week begins March 10, which commemorates the day in 1912, when founder, Juliette Gordon Low, officially registered the organizations first troop. This year, represents the 107th birthday of the Girl Scouts of USA, which was the first youth organization allowed in Oak Ridge, during World War II.For more information on this event, call: (423) 346-6294.
Napoleon, OH (43545)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Dziedzic is alleged to have accepted a $3,000 payment from a Naperville resident to install a deck and patio at the victims residence and then did not perform the installation, police said. He signed a $13,000 contract to complete the work, which he did not intend to perform, constituting fraud, according to police.
Student Complaint Procedure

Northwestern University students may file a complaint with the University by following the complaint procedures outlined in the student handbook.

Online students residing in a SARA state* should attempt to resolve grievances through Northwestern's institutional process for filing a complaint. If a student is not satisfied with the outcome of Northwestern's process, the complaint (except for those involving grades or student conduct violations) may be brought to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. For more information regarding the complaint process for students residing in SARA states, please visit the SARA website.

Students may also file a complaint with Northwestern University's accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) by following the HLC complaint procedure.

*Northwestern University is an institutional participant in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). SARA is a voluntary agreement among member states and U.S. territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of distance-education courses and programs. SARA membership includes all states (and the District of Columbia), except California. Click here to learn more about SARA.

Online students residing in California may direct unresolved complaints to:

California Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education

PO Box 980818

W. Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

bppe@dca.ca.gov

http://www.bppe.ca.gov/forms_pubs/complaint.pdf

For more information please contact Mearah Quinn-Brauner, Director for Strategy and Policy, at mearah@northwestern.edu.
WILLIAMSPORT  BLaST IU 17 is partnering with Pennsylvania College of Technology to host its first annual Transition Conference on from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. March 15, 2019 at Klump Academic Center on the Penn College campus. This event is open to high school students with special needs and disabilities in 10th-12th grades, parents and community agency supporters.

The transition from high school can be daunting for any student, and much more so for students needing extra support, said Amy Wolfhope-Briggs, Director of Student Services for BLaST IU 17. We want to ensure they have the information and resources to help them succeed.

This conference will provide breakout sessions in the areas of postsecondary transition: education and training, employment and independent living. In addition, postsecondary transition vendors will be on site to answer any questions about the services they offer.

Our goal has been to provide a positive and informative event that will help this population of students be successful as they transition and for the rest of their lives, shared Jeffrey Pelly, Transition Consultant for BLaST.

This inaugural Transition Conference would not have been possible without the collaboration and teamwork of the BLaST IU 17, Pennsylvania College of Technologys Disability Services Office, local community agencies and members of the community. The Committee had a vision to create something that specifically focused on preparing students to move from the world of school to the world of adulthood. It is exciting to see it come to fruition, said Kay Dunkleberger, Director of Disability Services.

Adam Blank will be the keynote speaker for the event. Blank is a gifted motivational speaker with challenges of visual impairment, albinism and autism who has an inspiring story to share. His message of being bullied and overcoming has gained him recognition throughout the state of Pennsylvania. You can learn more about Blank by visiting https://bit.ly/2GvIRNj.

Registration information has been communicated to each local school districts Special Education Director. Some schools will be taking students as a group and will register the student. If you are not being registered by a school, you can use the following link to register http://www.pct.edu/transition-conference. The registration fee for the conference is $10.00 (lunch is included). Anyone interested in supporting this conference with a donation is asked to contact Jeffrey Pelly at 570.323.8561 x1007.

BLaST IU 17 is a regional educational service agency serving the needs of public and nonpublic schools in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga counties. IU 17 provides essential support and services in the areas of special education, professional development and technology.

For more information on BLaST IU 17 and the many programs and services offered, please visit their website at www.IU17.org
North Augusta, SC (29841)

Today

A shower is possible early. Mainly clear. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. Mainly clear. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
WASHINGTON, D.C.  The Savannah River Site is healthy and in a competitive position going forward, current and former leaders said at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

"I think we're in a really good place. I've not been at a site that was this exciting to be at since I was part of high-level waste startups back in the mid-90s," Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Stuart MacVean said.

The management and operations chief pointed to "lots of good, steady support from Congress," concrete missions and future opportunities as his proof.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, alongside the U.S. Department of Defense, last year recommended bringing plutonium pit production  longterm in the fullest sense  to SRS, and MacVean himself on Wednesday, Feb. 13 spoke of a serious uptick in tritium operations.

"I think there's a lot of really good, positive stuff going on," MacVean said.

Plutonium pits are nuclear weapon cores, often referred to as triggers.

Savannah River National Laboratory Director Vahid Majidi agreed with MacVean. The director said there's wholesome trust between the national lab and the NNSA, and lab ventures have proven repeatedly successful.

Former SRS manager Jack Craig, who did U.S. Department of Energy work for approximately 30 years, had similar things to say.

"The Savannah River Site in my opinion  has made tremendous progress in a number of very difficult areas," Craig said.

The former manager, who left his SRS post about a year ago, described the site as a "can-do" complex, one that is home to top-tier environmental efforts.

The ongoing liquid waste work at SRS  processing millions of gallons of nuclear waste; closing aging, underground storage tanks; and operating a behemoth waste glassification plant, among other tasks  is unmatched, Craig continued.

The DOE Office of Environmental Management is the SRS landlord; Savannah River Remediation, an AECOM-led team, is the current liquid waste contractor.

Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon, who was on the same discussion panel as Craig, put it simply: "The state of SRS is strong."

The mayor, who publicly endorsed South Carolina-based pit production at the start of 2018, said the site is headed down a path of "great success."

That prosperity, he said, is held up at least partially by a nest of communication, teamwork and familiarity.

"SRS is not just an economic driver for our city," Osbon said, "it is our neighbors, it is friends, it is our community."
Norman, OK (73070)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
An Iowa woman has been charged with five felonies after authorities allege she had stolen $3,535 worth of pull-tab lottery tickets while she worked at a convenience store.

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The woman, from Madrid, Iowa, has been charged in Boone County, Iowa, with four counts of theft of a lottery ticket and one count of second-degree theft.

In September, Iowa Lottery officials conducted a routine audit of a pull-tab lottery machine at a Madrid convenience store. The audit showed that $3,535 worth of tickets were missing from the machine.

Authorities started investigating and identified the woman, a former employee, as a suspect. She told police in a November interview that she had stolen the tickets.
Unfortunately, Ballenger said, she had been told by hospice he was expected to die in two weeks or less. Melicks wife described him as not a suit and tie guy, but even though he knew he could not make the trip, he wanted to be buried in the shirt and jacket given to those taking the honor flights.

Ballenger and others from the organization visited Melicks home on Dec. 30 to thank him for his service to the nation and present Melick with an Honor Flight cap, shirt and jacket. Melick died the following morning.

Although Melick could not talk when Ballenger and the others visited his home, his wife said she is certain that he was aware of their presence. Mileks wife, Marilyn, will go on the flight as a guardian.

What he did really meant a lot, Ballenger said. What the recognition of their service after all these years means to the families of these veterans is important.

Des Moines area Hy-Vee stores donated $100,000 to help underwrite the cost of the May 21 flight. Ballenger said other donations came from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, Ruan Trucking and the Polk County Board of Supervisors.
Legislation detailing the framework of how Louisiana adults will be able to wager on sporting events  perhaps as early as football season  cleared its final legislative hurdle Thursday and is on its way to the governor.
A school bus crashed into a canal Thursday morning (Feb. 21) at the edge of the Pines Village and Seabrook areas of New Orleans East, according to police. No children were on the bus when it crashed.

The crash, first covered by our news partners at WVUE Fox 8, was reported at 8:15 a.m. at Morrison and Foch roads. An Orleans Parish School Board spokeswoman confirmed Thursday morning the bus doesnt belong to anyone of the 79 public schools under OPSB oversight.

NOPD said the driver lost control of the bus and crashed into the canal. The driver was not injured and there were no passengers on the bus. Police said they are investigating why the driver lost control of the vehicle.

Heres live video from Fox 8 of the crashed bus:

Note: This story has been updated with additional information from police.

Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Have an early-bird tip? Send it to her: cwells@nola.com or Twitter @carlie_kollath.
A week after being hospitalized following a French Quarter hit-and-run, WWL-AM radio host Scoot Paisant returned to the New Orleans airwaves on Thursday (Feb. 21).

"I feel lucky to be alive," Scoot told WWL's Dave Cohen in a segment that aired Thursday morning. "As bad as this is for me, I feel so fortunate."

Paisant will also be behind the microphone for "Scoot in the Afternoon" on Thursday, from 1 to 4 p.m.

The longtime local radio host was crossing Canal Street at Bourbon around 1:42 a.m. Friday morning (Feb. 15) -- within sight of his apartment -- when police say he was hit by a blue motorcycle traveling northbound on Canal at what bystanders estimated to be 45 mph. He was knocked unconscious and thrown 40 feet, coming to a short time later with fractures to his ankle, a displaced bone in his knee and a cut on his face that required two stitches, Paisant said.

"While it's painful, my God, so much else could have gone wrong," he said. "So I truly feel blessed and fortunate to be alive."

Police have asked for help in identifying the driver of the motorcycle, who didn't stop.

Anyone with any information on the incident or the identities of the motorcyclists is asked to contact NOPD Eight District detectives at 504-658-6080 or to call anonymously to Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.
We cannot wait for the EPA to do this (testing), Waukegan resident Christy Diaz said. We have to take action now. ... The residents of the west side of Waukegan deserve to have the same action that the residents in Willowbrook did, and have that testing done to ensure the protection of our families.
The hair-metal rock band Motley Crue might be the very epitome of Los Angeles' 1980s rock scene, but New Orleanians have good reason to take a close look at the new trailer for the Crue biopic "The Dirt," which landed online this week.

Based on the tell-all book of the same name, which was subtitled "Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band," the Netflix-produced biopic was filmed in the Crescent City in 2018. And while none of the film is apparently set here, there are at least a couple of glimpses of local scenery.

For instance, there's the infamous 1982 incident in which drummer Tommy Lee threw a TV out of the window of a room at the Sheraton Caravan in Edmonton, Alberta -- a publicity stunt that got Crue "banned for life" from that Canadian city. For "The Dirt," that scene was shot at New Orleans' Le Pavilion Hotel, as evidenced by the Le Pavilion logo clearly visible on awnings that appear in the scene. (To be specific, a frame-by-frame examination of the trailer shows the scene was shot at the rear of the hotel, near the intersection of Baronne and Perdido streets.)

Everybody will love Ray Romano in Netflix charmer "Paddleton"

Another scene shows what appears to be a Crue tour bus cruising on an elevated expressway over a local body of water. Parts of the film were also shot in Country Club Estates subdivision in Covington, although it doesn't appear that any of those scenes made it into the trailer.

What New Orleans locales did you spot in the trailer for "The Dirt" (or witness in person during filming)? Let us know in the comments stream.

Audiences dont have much longer to wait to get a closer look. The Dirt, which was directed by Jackass co-creator Jeff Tremaine and is described by Netflix as an unflinching tale of success and excess as four misfits rise from the streets of Hollywood to the heights of international fame, begins streaming March 22.
Edward Hynes Charter School wants to give the children of University of New Orleans employees enrollment priority at its new Gentilly campus.

New Orleans public charter schools are already required to reserve 25 percent of available seats for students living within a half-mile radius under Orleans Parish School Board policy revised last year. An additional 25 percent are made available first for students who live within a schools area as defined by OPSB. School areas are based loosely on ZIP codes. The planned Edward Hynes UNO Charter School wants to reserve an another 15 percent of its seats for the children of full-time UNO faculty and staff who live in Orleans Parish.

Amanda Aiken, OPSBs senior chief and portfolio officer, said Tuesday that any Hynes UNO seats not claimed by UNO families would be made available to all parish applicants. On Tuesday, board member Sarah Newell Usdin, who represents OPSB District 3, successfully motioned for passage of the charters contract in committee. The contract must get full board approval before plans can move forward. The full board will consider the contract on Thursday.

The proposed priority for UNO children comes after the university committed to providing land for the new Hynes school. The K-8 school is set to open to 75 kindergarteners this August. The campus will open on the Jean Gordon modular campus at 6101 Chatham Drive in Gentilly.

Hynes is one of the most in-demand and high-performing schools in New Orleans, though critics note its Lakeview campus lacks diversity. About 90 percent of residents in the 70124 ZIP code, which includes Lakeview, identify as white, according to 2017 Census Bureau estimates. Aiken said Hynes UNO is intended to provide more access to families living in ZIP codes 70126 and 70122, where, respectively, 92 percent and 80 percent of residents identify as black.

On Tuesday, OPSB Superintendent Henderson Lewis, Jr. told OPSBs accountability committee that so far six UNO families are seeking to enroll children at Hynes UNO. He declined to provide the demographics of the prospective students citing the small sample size.

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The Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System, which manages UNO, will review the universitys plan to lease space to Hynes on Friday. The charter organization would pay UNO a dollar a year to use the space, according to UNOs contract with Hynes.

Hynes CEO Michelle Douglas said the new school aims to serve as a pipeline for Hynes graduates to Benjamin Franklin High School in Gentilly and, ultimately, as a funnel to UNO.

Hynes isnt the first New Orleans charter to seek enrollment priorities for the children of university employees. Tulane University provided $1.6 million to Lusher Charter School to ensure Lusher could reopen its K-12 school in Uptown New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Lusher in turn opened seats to the children of Tulane faculty and staff. A percentage of Lusher openings are still reserved for the children of Tulane employees who meet admissions criteria.

Hynes Charter to open new school in Gentilly in August 2019

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
Its been less than a month since Morning Call vacated the old Casino building in New Orleans City Park, and Robert F. Bob Hennessey, a co-owner of the coffee and beignet business, said his phone is burning up with calls from fans, politicians and property owners.

Everyone wants to know if the century-plus-old restaurant will reopen.

Without a doubt, 100 percent, Hennessey said he tells them.

The next questions: When and where? Those answers arent quite as easy.

The family still is exploring prospective locations.

Weve got mayors from surrounding areas calling us, he said. They want us in their town. Weve got all kinds of people calling with offers of buildings.

Morning Call is an iconic institution, we just dont want to pop it in there anywhere, he said.

In the meantime, Morning Call did a pop-up at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots on Saturday (Feb. 16), during the Risen Star Stakes.

It went well, so Morning Call will return to the Fair Grounds on March 23 for the Louisiana Derby.

They want us to come back and were going to have a little booth where well be making fresh beignets and coffee, Hennessey said, noting that the Fair Grounds also is one of the sites the business is considering for a permanent location.

Were actually looking to do more than one location, he said.

In the meantime, Morning Call has catered a few events for long-time customers, but Hennessey said that is difficult without staff and regular access to a commercial kitchen.

I have some die-hard customers, he said. I recently gave some of them some of my coffee because they were just jones-ing for Morning Call.

Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

In late 2018, Morning Call lost its lease at City Park, where it had operated since 2012, after it was outbid by Cafe du Monde.

Morning Call moved out on Jan. 20 and Cafe du Monde is now selling coffee and beignets from a food truck parked at the old Casino building, which is undergoing extensive renovation.

Cafe du Monde plans to re-open that renovated building in May.

Cafe du Monde wants a long run in New Orleans City Park

The Hennessey brothers owned and operated the City Park location through a company Morning Call in the Oaks LLC, Hennessey said.

Morning Call has remained in family members hands since it was opened by Joseph Jurisich in 1870 in the French Market, Hennessey said. It served food in the Quarter until Josephs grandson, Alvin Al P. Jurisich, the Hennesseys stepfather, moved it to Metairie in 1974.

When Al Jurisich died, he left that business, officially called Morning Call Inc., to his wife, Carol Jurisich. The family matriarch died in 2017 at 91, leaving it to her three children, Karen L. Meyer, sons D. Michael and Robert Bob F. Hennessey. The Metairie shop closed in 2018. At the time, the brothers said a changing market and rising rent prices made staying impractical.

Morning Call: 149 years of history in 40 photos

Hennessey said he and his brother are determined to not only reopen Morning Call, but to expand it.

Were trying to be diligent and want to give Morning Call what it deserves, he said.

It may take a while for the family to find a spot, but Hennessey promises that they will: Its not going to be like Hubigs Pie, another beloved food brand that never re-opened after a 2012 fire destroyed the building in.

We need to keep this brand going, he said. Its not going way.

Missing dessert: The Hubig's Pies fire, five years later
The investigation is continuing into a violent police-involved shootout in the Central Business District Sunday that left one man  a person of interest in an armed robbery  dead and five bystanders wounded, NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said Thursday. However, he said he is confident that the officers that night were forced into this violent confrontation which was initiated by the suspect and unfortunately came to a tragic end."

It is always the goal of the New Orleans Police Department to make an apprehension peacefully and without incident, Ferguson said.

Ferguson gave an update on the case during a press conference Thursday (Feb. 21) about Mardi Gras safety. He said investigators are still piecing together the sequence of events from Sunday, interviewing victims and witnesses and searching out relevant video footage.

The gunfire initially broke out about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, after NOPD officers approached the person of interest, 32-year-old Reginald Bursey, at an RTA bus stop at Canal Street and Elk Place. According to NOPD, the man pulled a weapon and began firing at two NOPD officers, who returned fire. The shootout continued down Elk Place toward Tulane Avenue.

Two of the five bystanders who were injured remain hospitalized, Ferguson said, though their injuries are not expected to be life-threatening. Three others were released soon after the shooting.

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Ferguson said authorities will release more information, such as a full timeline of events, when it is finalized. Police are also looking through video to determine what the department will release to the public.

The New Orleans Police Department will bring this investigation to a just and transparent conclusion, you can count on that, Ferguson said.

It is still not clear whether the five bystanders were shot by police officers, and Mayor LaToya Cantrell declined to answer that question when asked Thursday, saying that matter is still under investigation, adding once the investigation is completed officials will be up front and transparent about what happened and they stages in which they occurred. Bursey was fatally shot by a Louisiana State Police trooper during an exchange of gunfire.

The NOPD officers involved have been reassigned, as per standard protocol, while the investigation is completed, Ferguson said. He asked anyone with more information about the case to contact the Public Integrity Bureau at 504-658-6800 or Crimestoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111.

Man killed in CBD shootout with police didnt see any hope for himself, family says
The 32-year-old man killed in a police shootout in the Central Business District Sunday night (Feb. 17) was wanted by police for two armed robberies, one in which he stole a gun from a womans car the day before he exchanged gunfire with NOPD officers, police say.

Reginald Bursey, 32, was killed after two detectives returned fire when he shot at them as they approached on Canal Street, police said. Five bystanders also were shot as Bursey weaved through a transit hub, police said.

Bursey had two open warrants in Texas and law enforcement believed he was linked to a Houston-area gang, police said. However, the two detectives didnt know that information when they spotted him Sunday evening, nor did they know his name, said Donovan Livaccari, a lawyer for one of the NOPD detectives.

Instead, the detectives recognized Bursey from surveillance footage, where he appeared to be the same man using a credit card in the Central Business District, one that was stolen in a Central City robberies earlier this month, Livaccari said.

According to a police report, one of the NOPD detectives investigating an armed robbery involving Bursey on Feb. 16 matches the the name of one of the detectives who law enforcement sources confirmed returned gunfire in the CBD shooting. Authorities have not publicly identified the officers.

What led to the CBD police shootout: Good police work or a risky stop?

A day before the shootout, a woman told police that after she and another woman got into her car in the 1700 block of Josephine Street, she heard someone say, Maam, Maam at around 1:10 p.m. When she turned, she saw a man, later identified as Bursey, who demanded Both of you give me the purse, according to a police report.

After she refused, Bursey pulled her out of her car, police said. The other woman told police she tried to pull a 9 mm handgun out of the glove compartment of the car. Shortly after her attempt, Bursey pointed a black handgun toward the two women and told them to get out of the car. Bursey then drove off in the car toward downtown, police said in a report.

Police found the car and the womans cell phone in the 200 block of OKeefe Street, according to the report. But her gun and purse, which contained a full bottle of Xanax and multiple credit cards, were missing, police said.

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The woman later told police that a $437 charge was made to one of her credit cards, according to the police report.

On February 8, a woman told police she was getting her purse from her car in the 1700 block of Clio Street around 11:20 a.m., when she saw a man approach her from down the street, police said. She felt something to the right of her back and then saw a man holding a black firearm to her side.

Bursey demanded her property and she complied before running away and calling the police, the warrant stated. Police found her car parked in the same place with the rear drivers side door open and keys in its ignition.

Livacarri said the detectives decision to pursue Bursey Sunday night was an example of good police work in order to protect themselves and others.

But a watchdog group has questioned the risk of stopping a person of interest suspected in a violent felony in such a crowded area, and in engaging in a gunfight with bystanders nearby.

Livaccari, who is representing both the NOPD officers who fired their guns in the shootout, said his clients are very concerned bystanders were hurt in the gunfire exchange, but he believes the officers actions were justified. The officers approached Bursey around the corner from the transit hub, Livaccari said, and it was Bursey who led them to the crowded area on Elk Place that serves as a stop for several bus lines and streetcars.

Livaccari said it was important to take advantage of the opportunity to question Bursey, and stop him from taking public transportation, as they learned he was bound to do.

The Orleans Parish Coroners Office on Tuesday identified Bursey as the man killed in the exchange of gunfire with police.

Amy Polk told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Bursey he is the father of her two children, ages 2 and 8, and that he had been in and out of prison throughout much of his adulthood, starting shortly after the death of his mother, when he was 17. In a statement on Tuesday (Feb. 19), NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said NOPD has contacted Burseys family.
Five years after Jared Hester was fatally shot in Algiers, his family still doesnt have answers.

One of the men charged in his death, Brent Riggins, pleaded guilty to manslaughter this week and was sentenced Wednesday (Feb. 20) to 40 years in prison.

For Hesters sister, the plea wasnt enough.

We still have no idea what took place, she said at a sentencing hearing for Riggins. We were told you would like to give an apology. Instead of an apology, the family would like to know what happened for closure.

Hester, an 18-year-old recent high school graduate, was found dead Oct. 4, 2013, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Southlawn Boulevard around 11 p.m. He was shot 14 times.

Police arrested Riggins and Aaron Thibodeaux, who also were 18, at the time. An alleged third gunman has never been identified.

Details about the shooting and what led to Hesters death were not revealed in court.

Defense attorney Martin Regan said Riggins couldnt identify anyone else involved for the safety of his family, and he offered an apology to Hesters family on behalf of his client.

For him to give you the rest of the story, he will be putting his family in serious jeopardy, Regan said. My client did it, he took responsibility for what he did, and he will spend a long time in jail.

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Riggins and Thibodeaux were charged with second-degree murder in Hesters death, and both pleaded to reduced charges in agreements with the state  Riggins to manslaughter and Thibodeaux to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.

New Orleans police investigators identified Riggins as the suspected gunman after physical evidence showed Thibodeaux did not fire his weapon.

Criminal District Judge Darryl Derbigny sentenced Thibodeaux Wednesday to five years in prison, the maximum penalty for that charge. His defense attorney, Sierra Thompson of the Orleans Public Defenders, said Thibodeaux already had served his time.

Derbigny offered his deepest sympathies to Hesters family. He told Riggins that Hester didnt deserve the kind of death he endured. When someone is shot 14 times, thats something you meant to do, he said.

The only thing I can commend you for  and I have to dig deep to be able to find something  is you had the decency to step up and ultimately acknowledge something you did, Derbigny said.

Derbigny gave Riggins the maximum amount of time allowed by law for a manslaughter conviction.

This is a long sentence, and youre a young person, Derbigny told the 23-year-old Riggins. You may very well see daylight after this. I do hope you find redemption.

Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Dawkins and Eric Cusimano prosecuted the case.
A man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday (Feb. 20) for robbing two Waffle House restaurants in New Orleans in a less than 20-minute span, court records show.

Hao Luu, 31, received the sentence as part of a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery, the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office said.

Luu held up the first Waffle House at 4:51 a.m. Oct. 11, showing a gun tucked into his waistband while robbing the restaurant in the 5800 block of Read Boulevard.

According to initial police reports, a man, later identified as Luu, approached the 58-year-old cashier and said, "I'm getting ready to rob this place.

He then unzipped his jacket, revealing the gun, and demanded money, police said. The cashier complied and Luu fled.

Eighteen minutes later, Luu displayed a gun under his jacket while demanding cash from a manager at the Waffle House in the 11900 block of I-10 North Service Road. According to police, Luu told the 29-year-old manager, "Give me all the money. I have a gun.

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Man accused of robbing 2 New Orleans East Waffle Houses in 18 minutes

The woman complied and Luu headed to his car outside of the restaurant  only to be intercepted by New Orleans police officers. Investigators then found that Luus handgun had been reported stolen.

Luu also pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and to illegal possession of a stolen firearm.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, the state did not file a multiple-offender bill against Luu, who has prior felony convictions. In Orleans Parish, he pleaded guilty in 2013 to simple burglary, court records show.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Olivia Prentzel contributed to this report.
A man accused of shooting two people in a drive-by in the French Quarter last year pleaded guilty Wednesday (Feb. 20) and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Wendell Butler Jr., 31, pleaded guilty as charged to discharging a firearm during a violent crime and to being a felon in possession of a firearm or weapon.

Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman sentenced Butler to five years for the firearm possession charge and to 10 years on the firearm discharge count. She ordered the sentences to run concurrent.

In exchange for pleading guilty as charged, Assistant District Attorney Michael Danon said the state would not file a multiple bill against Butler. Danon said at a previous court hearing Butler was a triple offender.

When he was arrested in the drive-by shooting, Butler was on probation in connection with a 2014 shooting on Bourbon Street, in which he pleaded guilty to accessory to aggravated battery, according to court records.

Defense attorney Michael Kennedy said the decision to plead guilty Wednesday was difficult for Butler. He noted significant issues with the states case, despite witnesses and ballistics evidence.

However, in the face of Louisianas tough stance on multiple offenders, in the end he made the safest decision when comparing the plea with the potential sentence had we lost at trial," he said. As with so many cases that filter through this building, there really are no winners and no easy decisions here.

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Butler was arrested in August, seven months after the Jan. 6, 2018, shooting near Iberville and Royal Streets that police said left two men, ages 29 and 57, injured. One was shot in the arm, and the other in the leg, police said.

The 29-year-old man got in an argument with the passengers in a white SUV, and one of the passengers started shooting out the window, according to a warrant for Butlers arrest. At the time, the 29-year-old was walking in the 100 block of Royal Street with three other men, police said.

Jordan Mitchell, 24, and Devin Green, 30, also were charged in the shooting.

Court records show Mitchell, who prosecutors said was Butlers getaway driver, pleaded guilty to being a principle to aggravated battery last June and was given a three-year suspended sentence and placed on active probation.

Green, the man prosecutors identified as the 29-year-old man who exchanged gunfire with Butler, pleaded guilty to illegal use of a weapon and to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to nine years in prison, according to court records.

Criminal District Judge Franz Zibilich sentenced Mitchell and Green.
A 43-year-old man charged in a fatal Central City shooting pleaded guilty Wednesday (Feb. 20) to manslaughter almost five years after the slaying.

George Short was scheduled to face trial this week for second-degree murder in a June 7, 2014, shooting near Washington Avenue and South Robertson Street that left 36-year-old Danny Disco Nelson dead. Short pleaded guilty to an amended charge of manslaughter, and is expected to receive a 20-year sentence, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaros office.

Short was indicted in Nelsons killing more than a year after his death. Police said a witness told them a man approached Nelson, shot him and fled. The witness identified Short as the gunman from a photographic lineup, police said.

Cannizzaros office said Wednesday Nelson was shot a short time after he returned home from prison. The shooting was in apparent retaliation for an attempt on Short's life some 20 years earlier, according to prosecutors.

Also on Wednesday, Short pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of introducing contraband into a corrections facility.

Criminal District Judge Arthur Hunter is expected to sentence Short Thursday.

Wallace Gilmore also was charged in Nelsons death in a second-degree murder indictment handed up last March. Prosecutors dismissed the charge Oct. 5 as it was deemed unprovable after further investigation.

At the time of his indictment, Cannizzaros office said investigators believed Gilmore helped facilitate the killing, but they did not believe he shot Nelson.
After the call for help came in on Dec. 7, Waukegan officers were sent to an area on South Avenue and the Metra railroad tracks, where they observed a train traveling northbound on the tracks, approaching the roadway. Then they saw a young woman come from behind a mechanical shed and head directly for the tracks and oncoming train.
A Covington man who died Tuesday of a gunshot that occurred five days earlier was identified Wednesday (Feb. 20) as Jarriell Jones, 25, the St. Tammany Parish Coroners Office said.

Jones died of complications resulting from a gunshot to the leg, and his death has been ruled a homicide, the Coroners Office said.

Covington police spokesman Detective Edwin Masters said he could not provide details about the case except to say the shooting occurred Thursday night on 31st Avenue. Officers responded to reports of shots being fired but could find no evidence at the time that anyone had been wounded, Masters said.

Investigators learned after Jones death that he had been wounded in the Valentines Day incident.

While Jones was shot Thursday night, he did not go to a North Shore hospital for treatment until Sunday, authorities have said. Instead, with his leg swelling, Jones first tried to treat the wound himself using peroxide, according to a New Orleans Police Department report.

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After going to the hospital, the man told staffers that he had been shot on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Covington police said. Hospital staffers contacted NOPD, which triggered that departments investigation into the shooting.

But after Jones died, Covington police determined the shooting had occurred in Covington.

Covington police and St. Tammany Parish sheriffs deputies are investigating, police said.

Masters declined to comment on a motive in the case.

Man dies nearly 5 days after being shot in the leg on the North Shore
Passenger traffic at the New Orleans airport hit a new high in 2018, news that comes months before the opening of a new $1 billion airport terminal.

More than 13.1 million travelers flew in and out of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport last year, up 9.3 percent from 2017, according to a news release. This marks a fourth consecutive year of passenger growth at the airport, which in 2017 served roughly 12 million travelers.

Take a look inside New Orleans' new $1 billion airport terminal

Signs of the increased traffic have been building in recent years. Airport parking is often completely full on busy travel weekends and a range of new routes have launched, including flights to Louisville, Sacramento, San Jose and Montego Bay, Jamaica. In addition, the airport added a new airline in 2018, leisure airliner Sun Country Airlines, which specializes in flights from the Midwest to vacation destinations in the U.S. and Caribbean.

Growing traffic is one reason airport officials say the citys new $1 billion terminal comes at pivotal time. The terminal, currently under construction on the north side of the airport property and set to open May 15, will technically have fewer overall gates than the existing terminal. But several gates at the aging facility have been closed for years, including all of Concourse A.

The new terminal will have 35 gates and three concourses behind a single, consolidated security checkpoint. Airport officials have noted the option exists to add gates off Concourse A in the new terminal, which will serve international flights in addition to domestic flight overflow. The new terminal will also add parking, including a 2,190-space short-term garage, a 2,750-space long-term garage and a surface parking lot, which airport officials noted could support an additional garage in the future, if needed.

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Its not yet clear if the new facility will entice airlines to add nonstop flights, though airport officials have said it will put the city in a better position to do so. One looming question, in particular, is whether the city will able to attract more nonstop international flights. The British Airways nonstop flight to London and Condors seasonal flights to Frankfurt, both added in 2017, remain the marquee international wins in recent years. More recent additions include a Southwest Airlines flight to Cancun, launched in March 2018, and Vacation Express service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, launched in May 2018. Vacation Express will also return with seasonal flights to Montego Bay, Jamaica, in May this year.

Overall, the airport saw an average of 159 flights day in 2018, nine more daily flights than the year prior, according to the airports news release. Passenger traffic has increased 60 percent since 2010, with record-breaking years in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Southwest Airlines remains the busiest operator of the 15 airlines that fly into and out of New Orleans, followed by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

Flights launching this year include:

Alaska Airlines daily flights to Seattle, launch in February.

Read more about the new airport terminal.

Jennifer Larino covers residential real estate, retail, tourism and other consumer business news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Reach her at jlarino@nola.com or 504-239-1424. Follow her on Twitter @jenlarino.
The Town of Patagonia offered a public apology to a child journalist on Wednesday night after Marshal Joseph Patterson was video-recorded fals
Brothers Raul and Ricky Robles and their cousin Daniel Robles Larroque are all certain: they saw the headstone of Raul and Rickys father in a
Once the review process is completed, the nominating committee of circuit judges will select the names of two candidates to be placed on a ballot. All circuit judges will receive individual ballots naming the finalists, and they will submit their ballots to the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts in Springfield.
TAMPA  Now that what could have killed him was finally out of him, Thairo Estrada didnt even want to look at it.

The Yankees shortstop doesnt know what doctors did with the bullet fired into him when two teens tried robbing him in his hometown in Venezuela in late January 2017.

Six months later, when it was removed, the 22-year-old simply wanted it to disappear.

Just throw it as far away from me as possible, Estrada said he remembered thinking.

Speaking via the teams Spanish translator, Marlon Abreu, Estrada detailed the process of getting the bullet taken out while standing before his locker at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday.

It was removed in July at a hospital in Tampa during a half-hour procedure that went smoothly, said Estrada, the Yankees No. 19 overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

The plan all along was to get it taken out at some point, though doctors in Venezuela botched the initial surgery immediately after he got shot, Bobby Mitchell said in May. Mitchell was Estradas manager at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

They were trying to get it out. They kind of tore it up a little bit on his thigh, Mitchell said at the time.

Estrada picked July to get it removed because he was told to expect his disabled list stint to get last a long time. He initially went on the DL in April  he dealt with hamstring and wrist problems last year, too  and was told eventually that a left lower-back issue would shelve him until late September.

Thats when he Estrada decided to get it out. He said he thought the left lower-back injury might have been related to the gunshot wound. He may have been favoring his left side in deference to the weakness in his right leg, due to the bullet.

Theres a possibility that after the operation I was putting more stress on my left leg, he said. But I cant tell you for sure.

This spring, Estrada hasnt been limited in any way. He even participated in the Arizona Fall League last year, though his rough performance showed just how much rust he had to shake.

Thank God Im here and for the opportunity, said Estrada, who added that he hasnt been back to Venezuela since and that his wife lives with him here.

Estrada was at a restaurant in Bejuma, Venezuela, with his wife when the teens approached him and demanded cash and his cell phone, Estrada said.

When Estrada told them he didnt have either on him, a fight ensured, and one of them shot him, Estrada said.

When he reported to spring training last year, Estrada said he felt fine, and he didnt think playing with the bullet in his thigh would be a problem.

But now that its out, Estrada said hes healthy move on from last years lost season.

I feel really good, he said. I think Im 100 percent ready to play, ready for anything.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.
New Jersey taxpayers are so far on the hook for more than a quarter-million dollars to pay for a pair of investigations into the sexual assault scandal that has rocked Gov. Phil Murphys administration  although those legal fees arent close to approaching the amounts paid during the Bridgegate scandal.

In all, the inquiries have cost taxpayers more than $311,000. But those totals are preliminary. The final pricetag is expected to be much higher as invoices continue to pile up in the coming months.

The state Legislature has been billed about $289,000 so far by the two law firms it has hired to help a special committee examining how Murphys aides responded to rape allegations against a former top staffer, according to records. Politico New Jersey was the first to report that figure Wednesday.

Thats on top of the $22,500 that Murphys administration has paid so far to the firm it hired to conduct a separate investigation into the matter  a figure first reported by NJ Advance Media on Tuesday.

Overall, that money is just a sliver of what taxpayers coughed up for the multiple investigations into the Bridgegate scandal that plagued former Gov. Chris Christies administration.

That issue cost taxpayers more than $15 million in legal costs, for Christies internal investigation, a separate one conducted by the Legislature, and the federal court case involving Christies allies.

The current investigations are not expected to cost near that much, especially given there isnt an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter, like there was during Bridgegate.

Katie Brennan alleges that Albert J. Alvarez raped her after a Murphy campaign gathering in April 2017, when she was a campaign supporter and he was a top campaign official.

Murphys administration later hired Alvarez as chief of staff to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority even though top members of Murphys staff testified they were aware of the allegations, and Alvarez remained in the job for months despite being told twice to leave.

Alvarez has repeatedly denied the accusations and two county prosecutors have declined to charge him with a crime.

Brennan is now chief of staff to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency in Murphys administration.

Murphy hired Peter Verniero, a former state Supreme Court Justice and member of the law firm, Sillis Cummins & Gross, to lead an internal investigation into how his administration handled the complaint.

The four-month inquiry resulted in a controversial report earlier this month that largely clears the Democratic governors aides of wrongdoing in how they reacted to the allegations, even though the report concludes there were mistakes. It concludes that the system ultimately failed Brennan.

State lawmakers from both parties have heavily criticized the report as being incomplete.

Murphys administration paid Vernieros firm $350 an hour in taxpayer money for the probe. The $22,500 the firm has billed so far is only for the first part of its work.

Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Legislature launched its own, separate inquiry into how Murphys team handled Brennans allegations. The special committee has held multiple public hearings over the last two months, with Brennan and multiple Murphy aides testifying.

State Senate Democrats hired attorney Michael Critchley to help, paying his firm, Critchley Kinum & Denoia, $350 an hour in taxpayer funds. State Assembly Democrats hired attorney Joe Hayden, paying his firm, Pashman Stein, the same hourly rate.

So far, Critchelys firm has billed about $100,300 and Haydens firm has billed about $103,500, records show. But the committee is expected to continue its hearings in the coming weeks.

These figures also do not include lawyers Murphys administration has hired to represent top staffers as they testify before the committee, nor Rosemary Alito, another attorney hired by the Legislature to help.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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State Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he will ask his colleagues Thursday to override Gov. Phil Murphys veto that killed legislation preventing thousands of low-income people in New Jersey, some of them chronically ill and disabled people, from becoming homeless.

The decision to hold the override vote in the Senate significantly amplifies the simmering tension between Murphy and Sweeney, fellow Democrats who have repeatedly clashed over the partys agenda and how it is pursued.

This is the first override attempt in the Murphy era. Democrats who control the state Legislature unsuccessfully tried to overturn Republican Gov. Chris Christies many vetoes.

For politicians who both favor a progressive agenda, the clash of wills over a bill creating a more generous housing assistance program for thousands of chronically ill and disabled people in New Jersey is surprising. But Murphy wrote in his veto message the tab could rise to $100 million or more.

While I certainly support the provision and expansion of affordable housing opportunities, I also believe that the long-term financial implications of the bill, and other bills that directly affect the states finances, must be carefully considered, Murphy wrote in his veto message.

The governor recommended taking up a matter that expensive during state budget negotiations.

In an interview with NJ Advance Media on Wednesday night, Sweeney noted that Murphy just last week signed a bill that spends $20 million every year for five years to subsidize the struggling horse-racing industry in New Jersey.

We did $20 million a year for horse purses but we cant help people being thrown out of their homes? Passing this is the right thing to do," Sweeney said.

Sweeney would need two-thirds of the 40-member Senate to vote yes to override, which is likely, considering the Senate approved the bill by a 35-0 vote last year. The state Assembly, which passed it by a 70-9 vote, would also need to override the veto.

"As prime sponsor, I was beyond upset, Sweeney said. He likes being known as a progressive and I am supposedly the fiscal conservative. How do you veto that bill?

Murphys spokesman Mahen Gunaratna said the governor has demonstrated his support for housing assistance programs. In December, Murphy signed into law (S866), which gives the commissioner of Human Services discretion to renew the 12-month emergency housing assistance for another six months in cases of extreme hardship.

The bill Murphy vetoed (S1965) called for a maximum of 18 months of lifetime emergency assistance payments for low-income people, but would not count any time they spent in the program prior to seven years ago.

The nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services described the financial impact of the bill as indeterminate. Monthly rental stipends range from $600 to $1000 each, according to the offices fiscal note for the bill.

Nullifying Emergency Assistance benefits received more than seven years ago in the manner proposed by this bill would clearly trigger an indeterminate unbudgeted cost potentially amounting to many millions of dollars, Murphy wrote in his veto statement.

Unfortunately, the Senate Presidents plan is neither fiscally responsible nor a comprehensive approach to dealing with the problem, Gunaratna said. "We have made it clear to the Senate President that we want to find a responsible solution, but sadly he has not chosen to do so.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
The state Senate on Thursday abruptly abandoned a planned vote to override Gov. Phil Murphys veto of a bill to help people from becoming homeless in New Jersey.

The decision averted what would have been the first attempt by state lawmakers  the majority of whom are Democrats  to reject one of the Democratic governors vetoes.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a fellow Democrat with whom the governor frequently feuds, said he canceled the vote after Murphys staff pledged to offer a compromise.

State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, another Democrat, also suggested taking a less confrontational path.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, who sponsored the vetoed bill, dismissed questions of whether he had enough votes in the Senate for the override to pass, saying he absolutely did.

Sweeney said Murphys new chief of staff, George Helmy, said the governors office would be willing to do something to correct this.

Look, I dont want to embarrass anybody. I dont want to fight, Sweeney told NJ Advance Media. "If the idea of doing an override got their attention, thats great, but this has got to get resolved by our next voting session, which is March 14.

The disagreement highlights the ongoing tumultuous relationship between Murphy and Sweeney, New Jerseys top two elected state officials.

Murphy spokesman Mahen Gunaratna declined to comment Thursday. Coughlin, D-Middlesex  the third-highest-ranking state official  also declined to comment.

Murphys veto of the measure was surprising considering he has a typically progressive agenda. But Murphy said in vetoing the bill that he price tag ranging from $100 million to $200 million was too high.

While I certainly support the provision and expansion of affordable housing opportunities, I also believe that the long-term financial implications of the bill, and other bills that directly affect the states finances, must be carefully considered, the governor wrote last month.

Instead, Murphy recommended taking up a matter that expensive during state budget negotiations.

The bill would have created a more generous housing assistance program for thousands of chronically ill and disabled people in New Jersey.

Sweeney disputed Murphys fiscal estimate, arguing the entire program cost only $58 million last year. He also noted that Murphy just last week signed a bill that spends $20 million every year for five years to subsidize the struggling horse-racing industry in New Jersey.

We did $20 million a year for horse purses, but we cant help people being thrown out of their homes? Passing this is the right thing to do," Sweeney said.

In my wildest dreams I never thought a progressive governor would veto a bill to help the mentally ill, the homeless and people with disabilities, the Senate president added.

Gunaratna, the governors spokesman, said Wednesday that Murphy has demonstrated his support for housing assistance programs. In December, Murphy signed into law (S866) that gives the commissioner of Human Services discretion to renew the 12-month emergency housing assistance for another six months in cases of extreme hardship.

The bill Murphy vetoed (S1965) goes further by covering a maximum of 18 months of lifetime emergency assistance payments for low-income people, but would not count any time they spent in the program prior to seven years ago.

Unfortunately, the Senate Presidents plan is neither fiscally responsible nor a comprehensive approach to dealing with the problem, Gunaratna said in a statement after NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday night there would be an override vote. "We have made it clear to the Senate President that we want to find a responsible solution, but sadly he has not chosen to do so.

Both houses of the Democrat-controlled Legislature  the Senate and the Assembly  would have had to pass the override for Murphys veto to be overturned. Sources said Coughlin, the Assemblys leader and often a peacemaker between Murphy and Sweeney, had less of an appetite to do so.

State lawmakers havent successfully rejected a governors veto in New Jersey in 22 years.

The last time it happened was 1997, when the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Republican Gov. Christie Whitmans veto of a bill banning partial-birth abortions in the state.

The Democrat-controlled Legislature tried dozens of times to override Murphys Republican predecessor, Gov. Chris Christie, but never succeeded.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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WASHINGTON  Until the federal courts decide whether to block seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean, oil companies should not be allowed to begin the process, seen as a precursor to allowing oil drilling, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

A group of environmental organizations asked a federal judge to block the testing until their lawsuit is heard. The first permits arent expected to be issued before March.

Allowing oil and gas companies to proceed with the activity we are challenging while the case is heard is like letting a city build a highway through a community while that community is trying to stop the construction in court," said Steve Mashuda, the Earthjustice lawyer representing two of the groups, the Sierra Club and Surfrider. Once the damage is done, its done.

They are the same groups that sued last December in U.S. District Court in South Carolina, arguing that the testing, which involves shooting blasts of compressed air into the ocean to try to discover oil and gas deposits, would harm the animals that live in the ocean.

The area in question stretches from Cape May to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Katherine Brogan, a spokeswoman for National Marine Fisheries Service, also known as NOAA Fisheries, said the agency does not comment on ongoing lawsuits.

Jim Benton, executive director of the New Jersey Petroleum Council, an industry group, also wouldnt comment on the suit. He said, though, that concerns about seismic testing were unwarranted.

t is a fact that this scientific process is crucial in helping natural gas and oil operators accurately pinpoint the best locations for new wells that could boost U.S. energy security for decades to come, Barton said. There is no evidence that seismic surveys harm marine mammals or their environment and surveying has been used safely for 80 years  including during the Obama administration  and reduces the need for multiple test wells, minimizing the environmental footprint and impact."

President Donald Trump, who during the campaign called man-made climate change a Chinese hoax and pledged to expand oil drilling, first announced in April that the administration would consider amending the Interior Departments 2017-22 oil leasing plan and open the Atlantic to energy exploration.

Seismic testing is designed to determine whether there are sufficient oil and gas deposits to open the region for drilling. The Trump administration approved seismic testing in November.

Just like the environmental groups did, New Jersey and eight other states sued the following month to block the action.

We cant let this dangerous activity cause a species to go extinct just so the oil industry can open our oceans to offshore drilling, said Diane Hoskins, campaign director at Oceana. "Up and down the Atlantic coast, businesses, communities and bipartisan elected officials are overwhelmingly opposed to seismic airgun blasting. Every East Coast governor and over 90 percent of coastal municipalities in the blast zone are opposed to opening our coast to drilling  this is states versus President Trump.

At risk for New Jersey is a tourism industry that generates $43 billion annually and supports 500,000 jobs, and a fishing industry that adds $7.9 billion a year to the states economy and creates more than 50,000 jobs.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., has said he will use his post as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to push back on the proposal.

Seismic testing risks injuring and killing critically endangered species, severely disrupting economically important fisheries, and threatening the Jersey Shore, Pallone said. "An environmentally sound coast is critical to New Jerseys economy and it is very possible that seismic testing could lead to oil and gas drilling off our coast  threatening public health, coastal communities, and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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WASHINGTON  More than $51 million in military construction projects at two New Jersey military facilities could be in jeopardy if that money is tapped to fund a wall along the southern border as proposed by President Donald Trump.

After Congress refused to fund the wall, Trump declared an emergency and said he would build it anyway, using money already earmarked for other projects, including military construction.

That threatens two projects in New Jersey for which Congress earlier approved funding, according to the House Appropriations Committee. They are $41 million for a munitions disassembly complex at Picatinny Arsenal and $10.2 million for a new refueling system for planes with hazardous cargo at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

There is no emergency, period, and theres no need for the presidents wall  its why the public doesnt support it, why his own party couldnt be convinced to pay for it, and why he specifically said he didnt need to do this,'" said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist., a new member of the appropriations committee.

This power grab will undermine our military readiness and the quality of life of our military and their families, including projects in New Jersey, she said.

Trump signed previous spending bills even after the Republicans who controlled both houses of Congress did not fund his wall. Last December, though, with Democrats poised to be the majority party in the House, Trump declined to approve legislation unanimously approved by the GOP-controlled Senate because it didnt include $5.7 billion for barrier construction. That led to a record-long, 35-day partial government shutdown.

Congress voted to fund the government through Sept. 30, including billions of dollars for border security but not a wall. Trump signed the bill but then declared the emergency.

House Democrats are planning to introduce a resolution Friday to overturn Trumps action, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent a letter to the entire caucus, urging members to co-sponsor the measure.

The presidents decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated, Pelosi wrote. We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the presidents assault."

New Jersey this week joined 15 other states in suing to overturn Trumps emergency declaration. Attorney General Gurbir Grewal called it a manufactured crisis.

On Friday, the President ignored the rule of law and manufactured a crisis - all in the service of his ideological agenda. Today, we're fighting back. pic.twitter.com/ema2hfX0RZ  AG Gurbir Grewal (@NewJerseyOAG) February 19, 2019

Trump fired back on Twitter, falsely claiming that the governors of the states that sued him opposed enforcing immigration laws.

As I predicted, 16 states, led mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019

A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll released Wednesday said most Americans disagreed with the president on this issue. More than six in 10 Americans, 61 percent, disapproved of Trumps emergency declaration, while just 36 percent approved, and by 58 percent to 39 percent, they said there was no national emergency along the border that would justify such a declaration.

On the contrary, by 57 percent to 39 percent, they called the declaration a misuse of his presidential power. And 60 percent of Americans supported a court challenge, compared with 35 percent who opposed it.

Beyond his base, President Trump has never built a convincing case for the border wall, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. Short of that, it is not surprising that many Americans are not on board with his emergency declaration.

The poll of 807 adults was conducted Feb. 15-17 and had a margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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WASHINGTON  This is one time New Jerseys Democrats have lined up on the same side.

Even as Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislative leaders clash on issues such as taxes and funding for the homeless, they are among the more than four dozen Democrats who on Thursday endorsed U.S. Sen. Cory Booker for president.

The list includes not only Murphy and Lt Gov. Sheila Oliver, but state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, all 11 New Jersey Democrats in the U.S. House, and the mayor and entire city council of Newark, which Booker led before being elected to the U.S. Senate.

Even if I were not governor, I would still give Cory my full endorsement because he is the right man at the right time to lead our nation back to where we know we should be, Murphy said.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said Booker will stand strong for the working men and women of America, while Coughlin, D-Middlesex, called him a proven leader who shares our core values.

While it is not unusual for prominent officials to line up behind a presidential candidate of their own party from their own state, the absence of such endorsements would be telling.

New Jerseyans are fortunate to have these Democratic leaders standing up for them, and Im grateful to have their support on our campaign to reignite our countrys sense of common purpose to build a more fair and just nation for everyone," Booker said.

Even while pondering a presidential run and traveling to 24 states to campaign for fellow Democrats, Booker invested plenty of time and effort to re-elect Menendez, D-N.J., who polls showed faced an unexpectedly tough race.

Cory Booker has the ability to bring our nation together at a time when the country is being torn apart by the most divisive president in history," Menendez said. He is someone who is willing to reach out to the other side in common cause to achieve great things, as he did recently on criminal justice reform, but will also fiercely fight on principle.

Bookers successor as mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, endorsed him along with the entire Newark City Council. Baraka came to Bookers aid after Republican President Donald Trump attacked his record running the city. Booker then praised Baraka during an appearance on The Daily Show."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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By Linda Greenstein and Maya K. van Rossum

A new vision for environmental protection is taking hold in America with New Jersey leading the way. The state Senate is proposing the passage of an amendment to the states constitutions or Green Amendment, that will recognize and protect an individuals rights to clean air and water, and a healthy environment as inalienable human rights deserving of the highest constitutional and legal protection.

While state constitutions across our nation guarantee the rights of free speech, freedom of religion, trial by jury, and many other fundamental freedoms, they do not recognize and protect our inalienable right to clean water, clean air and healthy environments. The same is true with our federal constitution.

With the passage of a bipartisan bill (ACR85 and SCR134) being advanced by state Senators Linda Greenstein, a Democrat, and Kip Batemen, a Republican, and its Assembly companion led by Assembly members Nancy Pinkin, John McKeon, and Daniel Benson, New Jersey would be the first state in over 40 years to pass a state Green Amendment bill. The question will then go to voters in the fall.

According to The Green Amendment: Securing Our Right To A Healthy Environment, there are only two states in the nation that recognize and protect environmental rights at this highest level: Pennsylvania and Montana, which both passed provisions in the early 1970s. While other state constitutions talk about the environment in a variety of ways, they do not give it bill of rights recognition and protection.

Constitutional provisions that recognize every persons right to a clean and healthy environment as inalienable; and clearly identify a states obligation to act as trustee to protect the states natural resources are sorely needed. The misplaced focus of current state and federal laws on issuing permits that allow pollution and environmental degradation puts the focus on management rather than prevention. It also opens the door for new administrations, like President Trump or anti-environment governors, to easily weaken the laws on the books with regulatory rollbacks or weakened enforcement.

As a result of the current management approach to environmental regulation, communities continue to be harmed by pollution and environmental degradation. Communities in 27 states have drinking water that is contaminated with a manmade family of chemicals known as Perfluorinated chemicals (PFC), known carcinogens that can also cause developmental delays in children and impact the immune system, liver, prostate or kidneys.

According to the American Lung Association, over 40 percent of people in the United States are living in counties that have unhealthy levels of air pollution (source). In addition, legally discharged pollution is increasing global warming and the severity of dangerous storms impacting communities across our nation. Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate. More than 1,300 toxic superfund sites continue to expose communities and environments to a wealth of harmful chemicals, and the list goes on.

The proposed Green Amendment will require government to prioritize environmental protection when issuing permits, advancing energy creation, approving development, as well as crafting and implementing legislation and regulations. This is what is now happening in Pennsylvania which, through a successful legal action, has been required since 2013 to embrace its state Green Amendment.

Passage of New Jerseys Green Amendment will enhance economic development and job creation. As compared to the fossil fuel industry, there is significant growth and career potential in clean energy sectors with clean energy jobs exceeding coal and natural gas jobs on the order of 5 to 1, including in manufacturing, construction, sales and management. Environmentally protective commercial and housing development projects sell more quickly and for more money than traditional development with the inclusion of trees increasing the market value of homes by up to 15% ; at the same time they help improve community quality of life and reduce runoff that contributes to pollution and flooding.

In addition to preventing new harm, Green Amendments can help address ongoing problems that cause communities to suffer. For example, a Green Amendment in Michigan could have provided a strong constitutional argument for swift and firm action to restore the right to access clean water for the children and families of Flint.

Given that we all depend upon clean water, clean air and a healthy environment to support and sustain our lives and healthy economy, it is right and appropriate that they should be protected with the same legal strength that we protect the other rights we hold dear. That is what New Jerseys Green Amendment will accomplish.

Linda Greenstein is a New Jersey senator.

Maya K. van Rossum is the Delaware Riverkeeper and author of The Green Amendment, Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment.

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There is perhaps no better place to learn about the predilections of voters on the issue of prescription drugs and Medicare than in my own Ocean County.

With that in mind, I headed out to Holiday City Saturday to watch a town hall hosted by Andy Kim, the newly elected congressman for the 3rd District, which includes most of Ocean and Burlington counties.

When Id interviewed the Democrat earlier,he told me that one of his biggest issues is pushing that plan emanating from the current Republican administration that would let Medicare Part B bargain for prescription drugs.

You dont have to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure out that the residents of the massive retirement communities on the south side of Route 37 want to get their prescriptions filled at lower cost.

The 36-year-old Kim is, however. So he wisely pounded on that issue at every chance he got, collecting applause at every utterance.

I would hate to be the politician who got up before such a crowd and defended the current system of having Medicare pay any price the drug companies demand. But thats what a lot of inside-the-Beltway conservatives are advising Republicans to do.

I put that term in quotes because theres a big difference between actual conservatives and the denizens of the various think tanks and pressure groups in Washington.

The genuinely conservative position on Medicare is to call for the entire program to be privatized so private insurance companies can make whatever deals they want with the drug companies.

But if were stuck subsidizing those drugs, the very least we can demand is that the government pay the lowest price possible to the drug companies.

Thats what Donald Trump and Andy Kim both want. Yet in a recent open letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services posted on the site of the American Conservative Union, we are told that a government effort to bargain for the best price represents a form of price control.

The alleged price control in the proposal calls for Medicare to pay for drugs at the price foreigners pay. The current system is better, opines the ACU, because foreign countries frequently utilize a range of arbitrary and market-distorting policies to determine the cost of medicines.

Not the foreign country to the south of us. When I was down in Texas last month reporting on the border wall, I took a couple excursions into Mexican border towns. The first thing you see upon crossing the border is a bunch of farmacias competing for the business of bargain-hunting Americans.

When I spoke with some senior-citizen snowbirds from up north who winter on South Padre Island, they told me they regularly go to Mexico to get their drugs at much lower prices than they would pay in the states - no prescription needed.

South Padre Island, Texas: Like the Jersey Shore but a lot warmer - and with free-market pharmaceuticals just an hour's drive away.

But to hear those Beltway conservatives tell it, these people would be better off paying Medicare prices that are much higher - even after big subsidies paid out of our taxes.

The reason is that foreign governments often force innovators to accept lower prices in a take-it-or-leave it proposition.

Good for them. If I may again invoke the example of those border towns, at one point I got cornered by a serape salesman (see photo below) who insisted I not leave the shop without buying one of those colorful blankets with a hole for your head.

He kept dropping his price, but I didnt bite. It was a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. And I left it.

Bizarrely, the ACU argues that bargaining over drug prices distorts the economically-efficient behavior and natural incentives created by the free market.

Free market? The government controls the testing and production of drugs at every stage and restricts consumer access by enforcing patents and mandating prescriptions.

Imagine the same rules applied to beer. Every new ale and lager would have to go through years of testing. Then the government would pay whatever price the brewers demand and give beer-drinkers a subsidy to make it affordable.

The drug companies argue they need the higher prices to fund research. But one study showed they spend twice as much on advertising as on research.

I prefer an unregulated market. So do a lot of seniors, it seems. Just outside Holiday City I saw a massive billboard advertising CBD in big letters.

CBD is short for cannabidiol, a derivative of the hemp plant that is sold over the counter legally, with no government subsidy or supervision. Its supposed to help with neurological and sleep disorders.

Do it and other forms of medicinal marijuana work?

I have no idea.

All I know is that they dont involve my tax dollars.

And as a conservative, thats all I care about.

BELOW: Heres a photo of me in the serape that my Mexican friend tried to sell me, I tried to get out of the deal by telling him I wasnt a Dallas Cowboys fan but instead liked the New York Yankees. I thought that would work, but in a few seconds he produced one that had the Yankee logo. Finally I just had to tell him Lo siento and make my way out.
Two months after officials declared an end to the deadly adenovirus outbreak at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, the state has yet to lift its restrictions on new admissions.

Department of Health officials told the facility the curbs will remain in place until new guidelines to prevent the spread of infection is approved. They also proposed a $20,965 penalty be imposed in connection with infection control violations identified by the state.

In addition, the health department also wants to know how the facility will address the need to isolate young patients who become ill in the future, according to letters sent to Wanaque administrators.

A cause of the outbreak has yet to be determined. But Wanaque was repeatedly cited for deficiencies in hand-washing and infection control, even after the outbreak, according to state and federal inspection reports. Adenovirus virus is spread through respiratory droplets or contact.

The Department of Health was notified of the outbreak on Oct. 9 and was soon on scene, inspecting the facility and later issuing enforcement orders. But documents released under a public records request shows that the Department of Human Services  which administers the states Medicaid program  did not react to the tragedy until NJ Advance Media broke the story that kids were dying.

The Department of Human Services in an email on Oct. 24 notified insurance carriers responsible for coordinating the care of residents of concerns regarding a viral outbreak, specifically citing an Oct. 6 story on NJ.com that first reported six children dead. They were instructed to get in touch with patients for whom they were responsible.

Asked about the delay in taking action, a spokesman said in a statement that the department responded as soon as it learned about the outbreak.

The Department of Human Services contracts with a number of insurance carriers in New Jersey that serve as so-called Managed Care Organizations, or MCOs, which coordinate the care and needs of patients at facilities such as Wanaque.

The MCOs have been consistently monitoring and collecting details on each of their members prior to and since the outbreak, said Tom Hester, a human services spokesman. The department continues to monitor the situation and coordinate with all necessary parties to ensure a plan of care is in place for all members."

A RAGING INFECTION

The devastating outbreak that swept through the Wanaque Center in Haskell led to the deaths of 11 kids and infected 25 other residents, ranging from toddlers to teenagers. One staff member also was diagnosed with adenovirus, but recovered.

According to health department officials, the first kids to come down with the virus were diagnosed on Sept. 26. Adenovirus includes a number of respiratory virus strains that can cause mild or serious illness.

A series of state inspections of the facility in the wake of the outbreak uncovered failings in infection control. In one incident, a nurse touched the gastrostomy tube (a tube inserted through the abdomen that delivers nutrition directly to the stomach), and then removed her gloves, and touched the tubing connected to the patients tracheostomy tube and the ventilator machine without any hand washing, according to an inspection report. Others failed to change gloves between patients.

Following the inspections, the Department of Health issued an enforcement action temporarily prohibiting new admissions to the entire facility and a directive to immediately hire additional infection specialists.

In a letter to Wanaque, the state said it also is looking for a written plan to show how the facility will isolate residents who become ill should there be another viral outbreak. One of the issues that led to the spread of infections, experts have said, is that there was not enough space on the 92-bed pediatric unit to separate sick kids from those who had not been exposed to the respiratory virus.

Dondre Mills Jr. (l), Amaya Bryant (top right), and Dorcase Dolcin (bottom right), were among the 11 children who died in the viral outbreak. (Photos courtesy of the families)

In a statement through a spokeswoman for the facility, Rowena Bautista, the administrator of the Wanaque Center, did not respond to a list of questions, but said the facility has complied with the states directives.

The outbreak has been over for some time. The Department of Health has found the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation to be fully in compliance with all regulations. In addition, we have submitted a plan to cohort patients in the event of a future emergency, as the DOH requested, Bautista said. Based upon all of these facts, we believe that the curtailment of admissions should be lifted any day.

The state is preparing a report on the crisis at Wanaque and Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, chairman of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee  who has already held a legislative hearing on the outbreak at Wanaque  said he is looking to see the Department of Healths findings regarding the questions of what went wrong. He is also contemplating legislative changes.

When we have the hearing after the report is released, well have answers for all these questions, he said.

Many parents and staff members have unanswered questions as well.

Interviews with those who work at the Wanaque Center, along with family members, complained that the facility had long been beset by chronic understaffing that only grew worse after it was sold in 2014. Two pediatric workers who asked not to be identified over fears of retribution said the lack of adequate help on the pediatric floor often meant kids in soiled diapers, or routinely left unbathed.

Others have alleged that the facility delayed sending sick kids to the hospital because administrators did not want to lose Medicaid funding when they were moved out  an allegation that the facility has strongly denied.

Financial considerations and reimbursements never guide decisions about patient care at Wanaque, said Bautista in her statement.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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As a freelance musician in L.A., you basically are always hoping to someday be considered for motion picture calls. With very few exceptions, it takes many (many) years before your name makes its way to the movie contractors lists. When it does you go in, try to shake off the nerves, keep your head down and do a good job. If youre lucky and everybody is happy, theyll come around to you again and it just grows from there.
A tractor trailer driver from New York pulled a handgun on another driver while on I-80 in Morris County, according to the State Police.

David Fonseca, 27, of Rochester, New York, faces charges of aggravated assault and two weapons offenses.

Police received a 911 call reporting that a tractor-trailer driver pulled next to another vehicle at 11:13 a.m. Friday and brandished a handgun while on I-80 westbound in Roxbury Township, police said. The caller gave police a description of the tractor-trailer, which had New York plates, and troopers found the vehicle minutes later at milepost 32.2, authorities said.

Fonseca was arrested and a .32-caliber revolver was found in the truck, authorities said. He was taken to the Morris County jail.

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A couple must serve six months in jail and pay back thousands after admitting to defrauding the state of disaster relief money after Superstorm Sandy.

Carmine and Lauri Fusco, both 50, owned a beach home in Point Pleasant and lived at their primary home in East Hanover, the state Attorney Generals Office said.

But after Sandy struck, several homeowners filed fraudulent applications for state and federal disaster relief money. The couple received $152,820 after claiming their primary home was their vacation home on West End Drive in Point Pleasant.

More than 125 people have been charged with similar crimes and have received more than $8 million in fraudulently disbursed funds, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement.

The Fuscos each pleaded guilty to one count of theft by deception, a third-degree charge, before Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter in Ocean County. Carmine Fusco is expected to receive 180 days in jail and probation, while Lauri Fusco will only face probation.

Their sentencing is set for April 17.

Carmine Fusco was already known to law enforcement for his role in a scheme to flip properties through fraudulent mortgage transactions. In that case, which focused on 15 properties in Elizabeth, Fusco conducted real estate closings despite not being licensed as an attorney or title agent, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 27 months in prison in July 2015 and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution. Fusco was released from federal prison in August 2017, records show.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Stefanie Babits son Luke is 8 years old, on the autism spectrum and nonverbal, so he cant tell her what his school day is like when he gets home. For years, she has depended on Lukes one-on-one paraprofessional, Denise, to keep her updated on Lukes progress in school and let her know if Luke ever gets hurt.

But that relationship could be in jeopardy, as Old Bridge Townships public school district investigates the possibility of privatizing its paraprofessionals, or paras  teachers aides who specialize in working with kids who have special needs and creating individualized education plans (IEPs).

Knowing he has Denise as his para gives me peace of mind, said Babits, a former human resources professional who leads Old Bridges special education parent advisory group. The paras are angels on earth. Thats why were so angry and frustrated. Budget cuts shouldnt rest on the most fragile students."

Babits and hundreds of other parents and teachers rallied to support their paras, so much that a Tuesday night board of education meeting was relocated to the high school auditorium. A sea of residents, mostly dressed in red shirts to express their solidarity, filled the theaters seats and handed out red flowers to paras, whose jobs they feared could be lost.

Currently at Old Bridge High School, where parents are filling the auditorium dressed in red to support paraprofessionals (#saveobparas) as the district is looking into the possibility of privatizing 100+ jobs. pic.twitter.com/MmfGr1WftX  Gianluca D'Elia (@gianluca_delia) February 20, 2019

I sincerely hope the board knows its a bad idea already, and theyre just looking at options to say that they did, said Tim ONeill, president of the Old Bridge Education Association. When it comes down to it, although the board has tough financial choices to make, the students well-being needs to be a priority.

For the district, its just one of several options to take into consideration as a response to Old Bridge losing a significant portion of its state funding this school year. Old Bridge is among more than 150 districts who are seeing a multi-year reduction in state aid and is now scrambling to cut down on spending. Other affected districts have eliminated jobs and forgone getting new classroom supplies.

In Old Bridges case, the reduction in state aid is to make up for a decade of not cutting aid, even though Old Bridge was losing students. Over the past 15 years, enrollment in the district declined by 13 percent, according to state data.

We value our paraprofessionals and want to work with the paraprofessionals, but we have a responsibility to say weve uncovered every stone and looked for every way to save costs, Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino said at Tuesdays board meeting, reassuring parents that nothing has been finalized or voted on yet. Were fighting every day to fix problems weve inherited from Trenton politics.

I assure you, we looked at everything from the terrible to the catastrophic, Cittadino told parents and teachers. We identified reductions in line costs in everything from supplies to administrative costs.

The district already made its first move to slash spending in January when it announced plans to close one of its 12 elementary schools, Cheesequake Elementary. School officials are also considering staffing cuts and relocating the districts maintenance and property depot, Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Hoeker said in January.

There are about 160 paraprofessionals working for the district, and a majority of them live in the township too, ONeill said. About 18 percent of Old Bridge students  more than 1,500  have disabilities, according to Department of Education data.

This is my son and his para. He is nonverbal and she helps facilitate communication. With her support, Luke is thriving in Gen Ed . Denise is one of the many amazing paras we have in Old Bridge that we cannot lose @OBsepag @SantoraDenise @OBPS_DOSS @OBLombardi @OB_Dougherty pic.twitter.com/XhoXzzMKlx  Stefanie Babits (@stefanie_spannj) February 16, 2019

Thank you to the community and our members for standing strong and telling our BOE #SaveOBParas! pic.twitter.com/sYzXlxgKYg  Old Bridge EA (@oldbridgeea) February 20, 2019

Subcontracting services isnt uncommon in New Jersey, according to Frank Belluscio, deputy executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association. Subcontractors often make accommodations to hire people whose jobs might be affected, he said.

Maintenance, food, child study teams and therapy are among the most common types of subcontract services school districts have implemented in recent years, especially when theyre confronted with a budget crisis, or state aid reductions, Belluscio said. It has been prevalent for the last two decades, and saved schools millions of dollars, which they were able to spend on classroom supplies, education programs and controlling property taxes.

Nancy Cogland, a paraprofessional at Jonas Salk Middle School and a longtime Old Bridge resident, said she understands that choosing where to make budget cuts is never easy, but stressed that privatization could be harmful to both the paras and the students they serve.

Our students know their paraprofessionals are more than a dollar sign," Cogland said. We support them academically, emotionally and socially. Were the reason they show up to class and try when they dont want to. Were their allies, friends and confidants, and most of all, they count on us as they navigate through day.

Gianluca DElia may be reached at gdelia@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @gianluca_delia. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
EDITORS NOTE: Entrepreneurs everywhere are eyeing the billion-dollar legal weed industry, an economic opportunity unrivaled in modern N.J. history. NJ Cannabis Insider features exclusive and premium weekly content geared toward those interested in the marijuana industry. View a sample issue.

WASHINGTON  As more and more states legalize marijuana, their nascent cannabis businesses are running into a problem.

Since cannabis remains illegal on the federal level, dispensaries and other cannabis-related enterprises cant open bank accounts, accept checks or take credit cards. They cant give their employees pay checks because they dont have an account to draw them against. Its a cash-only business.

The current conflict between state and federal law has created a cloud of legal uncertainty for community banks, inhibited access to the banking system for cannabis-related businesses, and created a serious public safety concern, Gregory Deckard, who heads a bank in Spokane, Washington, where cannabis is legal, told the House Financial Services subcommittee on consumer protection and financial institutions.

The subcommittee held its first-ever hearing a week ago on the fact that most cannabis-related businesses dont have access to banking services as other enterprises. Legislation being drafted by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., the Secure and Fair Enforcement or SAFE, Banking Act, would allow banks to treat cannabis businesses like anyone else in states that have legalized the drug, even if it remains illegal on the federal level.

At the hearing, lawmakers heard from witnesses who told of the threats cannabis businesses face because they have to deal in cash.

I fear dispensary employees being at great risk, said retired Maj. Neill Franklin, a member of the board of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. I fear for the safety of those transporting the cash, and I fear for the well-being of employees on payday. Two weeks of pay for one employee can easily exceed a few thousand dollars. That one employee trying to get home safely from work is an attractive score for any criminal, and avery easytarget for those who know what to look for.

Financial institutions fear that they will run afoul of federal regulations if they do business with vendors who sell to cannabis enterprises, said Rachel Pross, chief risk officer of a Salem, Oregon, credit union.

The simple reality is that growers and retailers in the cannabis industry do not operate in a vacuum, she said. Instead, like almost every other business, the industry is dependent upon any number of vendors and suppliers to function. These are everyday businesses like the printing company that makes a business card, the office supply company that fulfills order for pens and copy paper, the housekeeping crew or landlord that cleans or rents office or retail space, and even the utility company that provides that office/retail space or growing location with water or electricity.

Others opposed to the bill altogether. Jonathan Talcott, chairman of the board of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said the legislation was a back-door effort to legalize a drug that should remain illegal. The group, whose co-founders include former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., opposes full-scale legalization out of concern that pot is just another addictive substance like alcohol and tobacco.

The people and businesses who deposit the proceeds from high potency marijuana, concentrates and gummies will still be violating the Controlled Substances Act, Talcott said. That is no small matter and it is very disturbing to me that those businesses would be willing to take that risk and overlook its implications in order to service an industry that is so harmful to public health.

Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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A Jersey City man who authorities say was the mastermind of a drug trafficking network in Hudson County was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Rayfeal Roman, 34, who pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, is also subject to five years of supervised release under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court.

Roman was facing a minimum of five years and a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Roman was initially charged by the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, and Carpenito credited the county agency, along with special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, for the conviction.

Four other people charged in the drug ring have pleaded guilty. Two were admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention program, one was sentenced to probation and the fourth has not yet been sentenced.

Roman admitted that from September 2017 through Feb. 7, 2018, he conspired with others to distribute cocaine. Authorities, who intercepted wire and electronic communications on Romans cellular phone, arrested Roman after hearing a conversation in which a drug deal was arranged.

Police executing a search warrant for Romans apartment in Jersey City found approximately 2.5 kilograms of cocaine, approximately $30,000 in cash, and various other materials commonly associated with drug distribution, such as an electronic money-counting machine, a digital scale and drug-packaging materials.

In all, authorities said earlier that they recovered $249,000 in drug and drug proceeds from the five people involved in the drug ring.
JERSEY CITY  The new city tax collector was named in a 2016 report by the state Commission of Investigation that said as a public official she promoted a company her mother worked for that won no-bid public contracts.

The SCI report says that two towns that hired Tax Collector Constance Ludden later hired the company, Realauction, to run their online tax lien sales; that a third town hired both Ludden and her mother and also hired the company; and that Ludden accepted free meals from the company.

Ludden, who joined the citys payroll last month, declined to comment, saying her response should go through the proper channels. In a letter to the SCI, Ludden noted that other towns have sold tax liens online, that Realauction was the only approved vendor for such sales in New Jersey and that its common for tax collectors to receive meals paid for by vendors.

City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said Ludden was never found to have engaged in any wrongdoing. The report says the SCIs inquiry "turned up no evidence suggesting criminal misconduct or malfeasance.

Asked if the city is planning to hire Realauction, Wallace-Scalcione said the city has no such plans now but if Jersey City moves to auctioning tax liens online, we will engage in a fair and open public RFP process.

The City Council has to approve Luddens appointment.

A request for comment from Realauction was not returned. Its website lists over 130 New Jersey municipalities as clients. A Realauction project coordinator is listed as a reference on the resume Ludden gave to Jersey City.

Ludden, who lives in South Bound Brook, becomes the citys tax collector at an important time. The city is embarking on an ambitious effort to collect a payroll tax, a 1 percent levy on businesses that is intended to fund city schools. City officials say it may take years to create a system to collect the tax, expected to bring in tens of millions of dollars annually, from every affected business.

The SCI report was issued in May 2016 and most of its 26 pages focus on alleged questionable decisions by state officials that led to the 2011 approval of one vendor permitted to manage online tax lien sales for the entire state. The vendor was a partnership between Realauction, located in Florida, and New Jersey-based R.O.K., also known as NJtaxlieninvestor.

This was under a pilot program that a state Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman said Thursday is over. Municipalities can now hire any vendor that meets state requirements, she said.

A two-page section centers around Ludden and her mother, with the report declaring their promotion of Realauction conflicts of interest." Her mother, Alice Anne Pareti, a former tax collector, told the SCI she has been a consultant for Realauction since May 2012.

Red Bank hired Ludden in June 2012 as its tax collector, then hired Realauction to perform the states first online tax lien sale in October 2012, the report says. When Ludden sent state officials the towns application for the online sale, she ccd her mother, according to the report.

Ludden quit Red Bank to become a tax consultant for North Plainfield in 2014, and soon after that town won approval from the state to hold its first online tax sale, also run by Realauction, the report says.

Highland Park hired Realauction to manage its first online tax sale in December 2013. Pareti facilitated a demonstration of Realauction to officials there one year prior, when she was working for the town as a part-time tax consultant. The town hired Ludden as a tax consultant in November 2014, according to the SCI report. Luddens resume says Highland Park hired her as its tax collector in September 2015.

Pareti could not be reached to comment. In a statement to the SCI, she said her work for Realauction is not based on sales; her demonstrations for the company were made to city officials, not to governing bodies that decided whether to hire Realauction; and denied any conflict of interest.

R.O.K./Realauction collected about $1.55 million in 2014 and 2015 for performing online tax lien sales in New Jersey, according to the report.

Jersey City reported $3.6 million in tax sales in 2017.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
A school bus company will pay $7 million to the estate of a South Jersey man killed in a 2018 crash, a law firm announced.

Harry McCracken III, 49, of Williamstown, died on Feb. 12, 2018, when a school bus struck the side of his car at an intersection in Monroe Township, Gloucester County.

The driver of the Student Transportation of America bus, Lisa M. Davidson, of Glassboro, pleaded guilty to a summons for disregarding a traffic signal.

The Gloucester County Prosecutors Office reviewed the case for possible criminal charges, but found no basis to pursue a case and sent it back to the municipal court, officials confirmed.

The guilty plea, entered last November, was with civil reservation, meaning the plea could not be used against Davidson in a civil lawsuit.

In the end, attorneys Larry Bendesky and Robert W. Zimmerman, representing McCrackens estate, negotiated a settlement with STA without filing suit. The parties agreed to mediation in December and worked for two months to reach the agreement.

McCracken, who was married with two teenage daughters, was on his way to work as a warehouse supervisor when the bus struck his car at the intersection of Tuckahoe and Glassboro roads.

McCracken had a green light when the bus, which had no passengers, struck his Honda Accord, the attorneys noted in a press statement.

While Davidson wasnt charged criminally, Bendesky said she should never have been driving a school bus that day.

She had a shocking history of school bus accidents, suspended licenses and terminations, he said in a statement announcing the settlement.

Davidson had been fired by three student transportation companies, including a previous termination from STA, Zimmerman said.

Records provided by the attorneys indicate Davidson was fired by Holcomb Bus Service in 2014, Hillmans Bus Service in 2015 and STA in 2016.

She was found guilty of careless driving involving a November 2014 incident while driving a bus, according to Glassboro municipal court records.

Her first termination from STA came weeks after a May 2016 incident in which she struck the rear of another STA vehicle  a minibus  that had stopped to make a right turn onto Tuckahoe Road in Monroe Township, according to police records. While no charges are listed for that case, the crash investigation report attributed the accident to driver inattention and following too closely.

STA officials did not respond to requests for comment about the McCracken settlement or Davidsons current employment status with the company.

Zimmerman said he believed she had been placed on leave following the 2018 accident.

Mr. McCrackens family is hopeful this settlement will help spur corrective actions, including in hiring practices, at STA to prevent similar tragedies in the future, the attorney added.

STA, which is based in New Jersey, operates more than 13,500 vehicles and serves school districts around the country.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips.

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The Gloucester County Department of Health announced Wednesday there had been a spike in the amount of reported Hepatitis A cases in the southern New Jersey county. County officials said there had been eight reported cases of the disease in the last nine weeks. Typically less than 10 cases are reported a year.

Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that can spread when a person ingests fecal matter, from contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the stool of an infected person.

Hepatitis A patients can be ill with the disease for a few weeks or even longer.

Gloucester County spokeswoman Debra Sellitto said the cases are not connected and the cause of the increase in reported cases has not yet been determined. The Gloucester County Department of Health said those who are at a higher risk of contracting Hepatitis A include the following:

- People who have close, personal contact with someone who has Hepatitis A

- People who are homeless

- People who use injected or non-injected street drugs

- Men who have sex with men

Sellitto also said the county does provide free Hepatitis A vaccinations to people who are uninsured.

It is encouraged that the people who are more prone to contract Hepatitis A get vaccinated, Sellitto said.

According to the New Jersey Department of Health, while final figures are still being determined for 2018, there were 71 cases of Hepatitis A in the state in 2017. In that same year, there were no reported cases of Hepatitis A in Gloucester County.

A Hepatitis A case was reported earlier this month after Cape May County officials announced a worker at an Ocean City Dunkin Donuts contracted the disease. The business was shut down for a few days while workers were tested, and the eatery was sanitized. At the time it was reported, Cape May County officials said between 40 and 50 people sought to be vaccinated.

Some of the symptoms include nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, and dark urine. If anyone has experienced these symptoms, they are encouraged to seek medical attention immediately. For those who need more information, people can visit the Gloucester County Department of Healths website, or call the department at (856) 218-4101.

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
Shes a rapper, an actress, a philanthropist and now a developer.

Hip-hop icon Queen Latifah is returning to her hometown of Newark to invest in a cluster of multi-family town homes along Springfield Avenue and South 17th Street.

The $14 million project is expected to break ground in the summer.

Latifah, a co-president of BlueSugar Corporation, is working with GonSosa Development on the project, which is anchored outside of the citys downtown, spanning the West and South wards.

The project includes 20 three-family town homes and a three-story mixed-used building with an additional 16 units. Plans for the building include a fitness center and 1,900 square feet of commercial space that will be rented to nonprofits. The 60 units in the townhouses will be market rate; the 16 units in the building will be affordable.

A rendering of the 76-unit residential town homes coming to Springfield Avenue and South 17th Street in Newark. Queen Latifah, a Newark native, is one of the investors. (Courtesy: BlueSugar Corporation and GonSosa Development)

Rents for the market rate units will start around $1,800 a month and are expected to open by December 2020. The affordable housing building is expected to be finished in December 2021; units there will be priced according to a persons income.

Cristina Pinzon, a spokeswoman for the developers, said both companies recognize the need for affordable housing in and around Newark.

They understand how difficult it is to make ends meet for many residents and want to be part of the solution. They remain dedicated to making life better in communities like Newark, she said in a statement.

Latifah, who was born in Newark and raised in East Orange, has previously embraced her Jersey roots. As the commencement speaker for Rutgers-Newark last May, Latifah told the graduating class, I couldnt be more proud to be one of Newarks own today, this is home.

Todays Newark is stirring again, stirring because our greatest export was never a product, its always been the people. People like each of you -- unique, strong, creative individuals," she went on to say.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.

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The owner of a Newark grocery store has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for defrauding the federal government out of more than $885,000 in a food stamps scam which lasted nearly seven years, authorities said.

Maria Teresa Venegas, of Newark, will also have to pay restitution of $888,487 and be subject to two years of supervised released when she finishes her stay in prison, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a statement Wednesday.

Venegas father, Manuel Venegas, who was listed as an employee of Jennys Deli, also previously pleaded guilty to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit fraud and will be sentenced March 6. Maria Venegas was 25 when she pleaded guilty in September.

Though SNAP recipients are only allowed to use their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards to buy certain food items, Venegas instead gave some customers cash by entering made-up dollar amounts for their purchases.

Authorities began looking into Jenny's Deli when they noticed an unusually high number of SNAP transactions.

In an example provided in charging documents, a SNAP recipient only bought $5 in items. Maria Venegas, though, debited $75 from the persons account, which was then credited to the delis bank account. She gave the SNAP recipient a portion of the proceeds and kept the rest.

An undercover agent also made 20 purchases at Jennys Deli using SNAP benefits in exchange for cash. Maria Venegas stole the money between 2011 and 2018, authorities said.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Legends: Japans Most Notable Names

Almost 80 years have passed since Donald Keene first happened on a copy of The Tale of Genji in a New York bookstore, sparking off a remarkable career as a translator and scholar of Japanese literature.

Editor's note:

Just three days after we published this article, on February 24, 2019, Donald Keene passed away at the age of 96. We salute his lifetime of achievements in bringing Japan closer to the world through literary translation and analysis and offer condolences to his adopted son, Keene Seiki, and others close to him. May he rest in peace.

In March 2012, consummate scholar and translator of Japanese literature Donald Keene, born in 1922, took Japanese citizenship at the age of 89. He currently lives in the north of Tokyo. Among his plethora of books, his comprehensive four-volume History of Japanese Literature,(*1) also published in Japanese, particularly catches the eye. The broad survey, written entirely by Keene, covers a striking range of works with extensive translations of original texts, many by the author himself. The project began in 1976 and took him until 1997 to complete.

Introducing Japanese Literature to the World





This was not the first grand undertaking Keene executed in style. While still in his early thirties, he introduced the full sweep of Japanese literature to readers around the world as the editor of two volumes, the Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century and Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day. These presented famous works, from early classics like the poetry anthology Manyoshu and The Tale of Genji to the output of such modern authors as Mishima Yukio and Dazai Osamu. They were published in New York in 1955 and 1956, respectively. For the translations, he either used existing versions, asked friends and acquaintances, or wrote them himself. As well as Japanese fiction and other prose, the anthologies include poetic forms like waka and haiku, poetry and prose in classical Chinese, and texts from the performing arts no, kyogen, and bunraku. The well-balanced lineup has a perennial charm.

Keene reflects with a smile. I was fortunate that I managed to complete this work of my youth without making any major errors.

He compiled the anthologies while undertaking postgraduate study at Kyoto University from the summer of 1953. Planning and editing the lengthy manuscript and negotiating its publication were all completed in less than two years, by the time he returned to the United States in May 1955.





A Fateful Encounter



Donald Keene, aged 16, around the time that he entered Columbia University in 1938. (Courtesy Donald Keene Center Kashiwazaki)

Keenes first encounter with Japanese literature came in 1940, when he acquired Arthur Waleys two-volume translation of The Tale of Genji for 49 cents in a New York bookstore. He was spellbound. His excellent academic performance had led him to begin study at Columbia University at the age of just 16 in September 1938. After the outbreak of World War II in Europe the following year, the constant reports of the conflict left him too scared to read the newspaper. At this troubled time, the refinement of Waleys Genji captured his heart.

He went on to deepen his understanding by attending classes on the history of Japanese thought helmed by Tsunoda Ryusaku at Columbia University. Then, in December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, initiating war with the United States. Keene soon learned of the existence of a US Navy Japanese language school at the University of California, Berkeley. Hearing on the radio that the Japanese language was essential to the war effort, but there were not enough proficient speakers, he wrote a letter expressing his desire to enroll at the school and was accepted. From the start, his purpose was nothing more or less than to learn Japanese.

Wartime Experience

Keene studied Japanese intensively at the Navy school from February 1942 until January 1943. Many of the teachers were Japanese-Americans, and Hyojun Nihongo dokuhon (Standard Japanese Reader) by the Japanese educator Naganuma Naoe was a set text. In addition to learning to read and write at the same level as an educated native speaker, students had to master the understanding of handwritten forms in order to decipher letters, diaries, and other such texts that could have military significance. The dedication of the Japanese-American teachers helped to build a firm relationship of trust.

After completing the course, Keene went to Pearl Harbor as a navy intelligence officer, was assigned successively to Attu, Kiska, and Adak in Alaskas Aleutian Islands, and subsequently went on to the Philippines, Okinawa, and Guam. He translated Japanese military documents, read diaries left by Japanese soldiers, and interpreted in exchanges with prisoners of war. His experience with his teachers meant that he bore no hatred toward the Japanese people he met on the battlefield, and he says that he strongly appreciated the feelings of the diaries writers. One of his finest later works is the anthology Travelers of a Hundred Ages, which compiles selections from 1,000 years of Japanese diaries. His interest in the form stems from his wartime experience.



Donald Keene (standing at center) pictured with Japanese-American subordinates during the time he was assigned in Okinawa as a translator and interpreter from April to July 1945. (Courtesy Donald Keene Center Kashiwazaki)

The war ended earlier than he expected, in August 1945. Keene returned to Columbia University for postgraduate study of Japanese literature. In the autumn of 1947, he transferred to Harvard University; in the following year, he began research at Cambridge University in Britain. In 1951, he received his doctorate from Columbia for his research into the bunraku puppet theater of Chikamatsu Monzaemon.

The Lifestyle of an Earlier Japan

Under the Allied Occupation (194552), Japan did not accept any foreign students. It was only after it regained national sovereignty based on the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty that Keene could fulfill his long-cherished desire of studying in Kyoto. With a scholarship grant, he arrived in the historic former capital in the summer of 1953.

Keene stayed in a detached cottage at a traditional minka in Imakumano, eastern Kyoto. It was surrounded by cherry and maple trees, and he could hear the murmuring of a nearby brook. Wishing to experience the lifestyle of an earlier Japan, in the chill of winter he warmed the room with charcoal burned in a hibachi brazier rather than using a stove, and he ate washoku meals prepared for him by the minka owner Okumura Ayako. He also placed a low writing desk on the tatami floors of the study, and worked there sitting in the seiza position. This is where he typed his literature anthologies.

The first, the Anthology of Japanese Literature, was published in September 1955, after he had returned to the United States. Under the terms of the publishing agreement, the Japan Society would purchase any unsold books in the initial 2,000-copy print run. By Christmas, however, the first edition was sold out. The unexpected demand was fueled by the many Americans who had come into contact with Japanese people, or had been to Japan during the war and occupation, and wanted to know more about the culture. The following year, the Modern Japanese Literature anthology was published. Both have gone through numerous editions and remain in print today.

In 2006, Columbia University held a celebration to mark 50 years of the anthologies publication. Teachers, researchers, and translators of Japanese literature gathered from around the world. Keene remembers the joy of people telling him that their first meeting with Japanese literature was in the pages of his book.



Donald Keene performs as the servant Tarokaja in a kyogen performance in Tokyo on September 13, 1956. ( Watabe Yukichi; courtesy Donald Keene Center Kashiwazaki)

A Turn to Biography

Keene moved away from research and translation of Japanese literature with the fresh challenge of a biography of Emperor Meiji, published in 2001. The English version Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 18521912 runs to more than 900 pages. It was only in 1946, after Japan was defeated in World War II, that Emperor Showa formally renounced his divinity. Keenes work was the first biography to treat Emperor Meiji as a man. With quiet composure and respect, based on wide-ranging sources, he wrote the life story of a man who fulfilled the role of a god in modern Japan, yet had an international perspective. Keene has gone on to write further biographies of the painter Watanabe Kazan and the poets Masaoka Shiki and Ishikawa Takuboku.





A New Family

At the same time that he took Japanese citizenship in 2012, Keene adopted as his son a samisen player specializing in music for bunraku. Keene Seiki, also known by his stage name Echigo Kakutayu, is now 68 years old.



Keene shows reporters his official Japanese name in kanji in Tokyo on March 8, 2012, after taking Japanese citizenship. In the background is his adopted son Seiki. ( Jiji)

Kakutayu wrote music for an early bunraku play discovered in the British Museum by a friend of Keenes, which he performed for the first time in 2009. Kakutayu and Keene worked to bring a performance to the British Museum itself in June 2017. The plays manuscript was taken to Europe from Japan in 1692 by Engelbert Kaempfer, a German doctor who worked at the Dutch concession in Dejima, Nagasaki. Its revival brought Keene and his adopted son together.

Kakutayu calls Keene Father as they laugh and joke together. Keene was not blessed with a particularly happy household in the United States, but now, as a Japanese citizen, he enjoys participating as one of the family in lively gatherings of his sons relatives.

At 96, he is still working on his next book. Ive never thought for any of them, he says, that this is the last one Ill write.





(Originally written in Japanese. Banner photo: Donald Keene at his Tokyo home in October 2011.  Jiji.)
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
HAMDEN  Planning and Zoning officials have advised Quinnipiac University to stop work on a temporary construction site built without zoning permits.

In conjunction with renovating the interior of Quinnipiac President Judy Olians home at 305 Spruce Bank Road, contractors wanted to create a temporary access road and contractor parking lot at the southern end of the property, but they didnt follow the correct process, Zoning Enforcement Officer Holly Masi said.

When Quinnipiac submitted site plans for the interior renovation, it didnt include plans for the temporary areas, Masi said, so the access road and parking lot could never have been approved. The zoning permit issued Feb. 5 was for the interior renovations only.

The work occurred within a watercourse, so a wetlands permit would be required to make any site changes.

They could either abandon the temporary parking lot or apply for permits through the process, Masi said.

We have received questions about the temporary parking area at Spruce Bank, Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell said in a statement. We are working with Planning and Zoning to provide additional information to satisfy any concerns.

Masi and Inland Wetlands Enforcement Officer Tomas Vocelli inspected the property after they received complaints from nearby residents about the construction. Vocelli advised the university they needed to apply for the necessary permits or revisit their plans for the temporary lot. Additionally, Masi sent Quinnipiac an informal notice advising the university of the situation and how they could proceed.

Either the university gets the permit application to legitimize what theyre doing or they need to put it back to how it was, Assistant Town Planner Matthew Davis said. He said hopefully by the end of the week theyll have an answer from the university. Quinnipiac agreed not to use the temporary site in the meantime.

Davis noted Quinnipiac has other options on the property where it can store equipment and park vehicles.

Planning and Zoning officials havent sent any formal violation notices to Quinnipiac, in the hope the issue can be resolved first with an informal notice sent last week. Masi said Quinnipiac has given every indication theyre cooperating.

Several residents brought the matter to the attention of Planning and Zoning officials Feb. 12 and 14, the day the building permit was issued. A group of residents whose homes border or sit near Spruce Bank Road said in an email they were deeply concerned about Quinnipiac Universitys recent purchase of the Perotti property...and possible maintenance and development plans which could significantly negatively impact the character and use of Spruce Bank.

According to several residents, contractors cut down a huge, healthy sugar maple at the fence gate without permission. The residents were concerned the construction was related to some other development or that traffic on Spruce Bank would increase significantly since its the primary access road to the university property.

Vice President of Facilities & Capital Planning Salvatore Filardi said in an email to the town that the contractor put down stone and silt fencing for a temporary parking area for construction workers and the site would be restored to the original conditions once renovations are complete on the house this summer.

It is not a parking lot for events and it is not a road to connect to campus, he said in the email. Our plan remains to apply for a rezoning for the entire property as soon as we are able to secure a building permit for the residential renovation.

Filardi also said in an email response to the residents complaints that contractors didnt cut down any healthy trees anywhere on the property since it was purchased. He said they removed fallen, diseased and dead trees as well as trees damaged by the storm, but they completed all the tree work some time ago.

Plans for the interior renovation of the main house, which is estimated to cost close to $1 million, includes new equipment in the kitchen, smart lighting and redoing all the finishes throughout the house. The town issued a building permit for Olians house Feb. 14

The building renovations includes redoing all the lighting with LEDs, and in some areas, occupancy-sensing lights. The plans call for nearly all the houses hardware, plumbing, flooring, wallpaper, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, electrical devices, window treatments, doors and wood baseboard to be removed and replaced.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
Go Hamden! After years of discussion, the towns Legislative Council Tuesday night passed ordinances banning single-use plastic checkout bags at stores as well as plastic straws at restaurants (unless theyre requested at those eateries).

This means that when the ordinances take effect seven months from now, I will no longer see my longtime pet peeve: shoppers at the Stop & Shop in Hamden and at the ShopRite across from it walking out with plastic bag upon plastic bag.

As I noted in a column last July, I, and a very small percentage of other food market shoppers, long ago developed the habit of bringing our own reusable, cloth bags to the store.

Its easy. We can do this!

Hamden has joined the common sense legislators in Westport, Norwalk, Greenwich, Weston, Stamford and New Britain who are showing the rest of Connecticut (and towns and cities in other states) that these plastic bags must be eliminated for the sake of our environment.

During the long public hearing in Hamden Tuesday, several Hamden sixth-graders helped convince their elders that plastic bags have to go. They cited the Pacific Garbage Patch, a gigantic expanse of plastic, mixed with other debris, now killing sea life in the Pacific Ocean. (The United Nations Environment Program estimates that eight million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans each year.)

But you dont have to go that far to see the plastic around us. The bags are blowing around in our streets and getting stuck in our trees, especially in public parks. You also see them blocking storm drains.

Another environmentalist at the Hamden hearing, Craig Machado of the Clean and Green Commission, held up his reusable bag. He said he has used it about 300 times in the past two years rather than hundreds of single-use plastic bags.

What are the other towns and cities in Connecticut waiting for? Legislators in New Haven have been talking about banning plastic bags for years and now are again drafting an ordinance, prodded by the Environmental Advisory Council. Our city actually did have a plastic bag ban in effect from 1991-95, but then the Board of Alders repealed it under pressure from local businesses. Big mistake! This is supposed to be a progressive place, the home of a prominent university, right?

And what are our state legislators waiting for? In a sign of progress, two bills have been submitted; one proposal would ban plastic bags and the other would carry a 5-cent charge for their use. A statewide ban clearly is the way to go, rather than confusing residents as they cross town borders to go shopping. California already has a state law prohibiting those infernal plastic bags. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is pushing for a statewide ban too.

If you think our food store operators oppose this idea, think again. The Connecticut Food Association supports a statewide ban on plastic bags.

Meanwhile, the next time youre at a restaurant and the waitress or waiter dumps several plastic straws on your table (this happened to me within the past week), politely hand them back. Do you really need that straw to drink your water or whatever?

Developing little habits; thats what this is all about.

***

Heres another plastic annoyance pertaining to our daily transactions, although its not nearly as big a deal as the plastic bags: have you encountered some businesses that wont accept cash? I had heard about this starting to happen in New York City but my first experience with it came at Maison Mathis, a la-di-da coffee and pastries emporium on Broadway, the Yale shopping district. I stopped there for a cup of coffee, stupidly veering away from my usual favorites such as Willoughbys  and the Maison cashier informed me I had to pay by credit card, not basic money. I told her this isnt fair to poor people who cant carry credit cards but I stupidly bought the coffee anyway with my plastic card rather than walking out. It set me back $2.50. P.S. The coffee was lukewarm. I shall not return. (Bring back the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop! It was right down that street.)

Im sensing a bad trend here. My brother pointed out a Wall Street Journal story reporting the classic board game Monopoly has gone cashless. Now you can buy a version called Monopoly Ultimate Banking Edition that ditches the paper Monopoly money in favor of buying and selling properties with a bank card. What fun is that?

***

I have received distressing news from the president of the Edgerton Park Conservancy, overseeing my favorite park on the New Haven-Hamden line: Weve had a huge robbery. The metal flashing from 37 bays and from all of the cap stones protecting the north wall has been stripped and stolen, exposing the old wall to rain and snow, etc. Its a disaster.

She said the flashing the thief removed was copper, covered with lead. It was a heist. We are all heartbroken. To fix it would be vastly expensive, an amount neither the Parks Department nor the Edgerton Park Conservancy, nor the city can afford.

She told me, I actually saw the big guy with a crowbar on the wall early one morning and questioned him during my dog walk. Chances are, it had been going on for quite a while and nobody noticed.

***

Pitchers and catchers have reported, so it was time for Simon Rosenthal to call me from his apartment at Bella Vista: Mr Beach, the Yankees are going all the way this year! You can bank on it! He told me the Red Sox wont be able to keep up with the Yanks revitalized roster. He added: The Mets are done.

Contact Randall Beach at 203-680-9345 or randall.beach@hearstmediact.com.
HAMDEN  Quinnipiac University President Judy Olian addressed students Thursday after an online petition to get her fired netted more than 300 signatures.

The petition on Change.org to Get Quinnipiac President Judy Olian Fired closed with 333 signatures. Students ended the petition after Olian took a meeting with the members of student government late Wednesday to explain the presidents home renovation.

Olian stood before students in the universitys cafeteria Thursday at the request of the Student Government Association to explain the spending on the presidents house renovation and other strategic decisions the university has recently made.

What got us here has been remarkable, but to get to the next stage of excellence, the next stage of visibility, we need to be doing some additional things, some different things and to stop doing certain things, Olian said. Theres no way Quinnipiac, or any university, could just layer on top of everything it does. We dont have the resources and sometimes what weve been doing over the last 30 years is no longer as relevant to the future.

The university announced it was reassessing future funding sources for Irelands Great Hunger Museum and wouldnt participate in the 30-year tradition of marching in the New York City St. Patricks Day Parade. Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell also said the university will close the WQUN radio station on Whitney Avenue, which first aired in 1997.

Every change is painful, Olian said, explaining the universitys reallocation decisions. She said the AM radio industry is declining and students are no longer interested in radio internships there. Olian said they want to re-purpose the studio for podcasting for students and faculty.

Looking at the museum, Olian said the messaging around poverty, hunger, food shortages and other is carried out through the Great Hunger Institute and the Albert Schweitzer Institute, so it will remain in the university dialogue.

If we think this is a priority for the community, then it should be philanthropically supported, Olian said. The museum will have until 2020 to become financially self sufficient.

Several students said the Quinnipiac community is in the dark about how the university is spending money and questioned Olian about the renovations to the presidents house while some dorms dont have air conditioning or sufficient space for students.

Olian said the timing of the renovation and the reallocations were running parallel by coincidence. The university first made an offer for the property at 305 Spruce Bank Road in 1990 but lost out to Frank Perrotti Jr., who died Dec. 10, 2016. He supported the university and the school named its hockey arena and mens locker room for him.

Quinnipiac buying the property for $6.5 million in April 2018 after announcing Olian would succeed former President John Lahey was a strategic acquisition, she said. The property borders most of the southern part of campus, which makes it a natural space for the university to expand, as well as be a site to host donors, parents, alumni and others, she said.

We have to think about the acquisition of this land as a critical investment priority, she said. She said the university will make additional investments in facilities, including classrooms and dining facilities, as part of the master plan.

Olian said one of the investments includes redoing the executive suite to accommodate the provost and executive committee with more officers and conference space. When asked about how much money is being spent by the university, Olian said they didnt know yet and some of it will be paid for philanthropically.

Students defended criticisms thrown at Olian about student housing, saying the problems should have been addressed under Lahey. Olian has been president almost eight months. She said money has been budgeted to install air conditioning in some residence halls this summer.

One student said some renovations on the house seem superfluous, such as the catering kitchen, which Olian defended as a fundraising investment.

You need to invest to raise money, she said This is an investment in raising money and I hope, frankly, I have nearly as much success philanthropically here as I did there and this is one way of doing it, having places, event spaces, connections in the community that attract corporate donations, corporate partnerships, investments in your learning, new initiatives.

Olian said she raised $450 million during 12 and a half years as the dean of the Anderson School of Management at UCLA in addition to her global travel for fundraising.

The Change.org petition cited articles detailing spending for Olian when she was a dean at UCLA and news of her house renovations as examples of alleged irresponsible spending on her part.

That is money taken from the pockets of students, that could be used to improve the Universitys dorms, classrooms, dining program, shuttles and among many other things, the petition said. We the students here at Quinnipiac University are not your piggy bank Judy, we are young adults working hard for an education. Give us our money back.

However, Nicole Giordano, who is named as the petitions founder, said in an update on the petitions webpage posted Thursday, that her questions were taken openly and the university explained that the renovation was for a good cause.

This property is on prime land and provides more room for QU to expand and grow, Giordano posted. Improving our school increases the value of our degrees and brings us to a higher standard as students. The house is just a small part of a huge plan to improve our university. Funding has been set aside to improve dining, residential life, and among other concerns. Thank you all for your support, I hope you all understand.

SGAs Vice President for Public Relations Victoria Johnson, who was in Wednesdays meeting with Olian, said the freshman student started the petition because the cost for renovations raised a flag. Word spread around campus when it was shared on social media, so Olian went to the SGA for help in how to address students, Johnson said.

She wants to raise money here, and right now she doesnt have the space to do it, Johnson said. Its a lack of understanding from some students and she clarified that lack of understanding. She has the best interest of students at heart and has done a lot in the little time shes been here and some students didnt treat her with the respect she deserved.

One student thanked Olian for her transparency on the issues in contrast to Lahey, who the student said never came to talk to students.

Im here for the long haul and I want to make this university the best and most the renowned and the forward looking and future looking, Olian said. I think we have a very exciting vision that weve come up with... Every time we make decisions like this I will be out here.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  Mayor Toni Harp just kicked off her 2019 campaign, but until Wednesday there were large gaps in the public accounting of her 2017 election, information her treasurer was required to file.

J. Peter Wilson, the treasurer in 2017 and for the current campaign, was sent an email by the New Haven Register Tuesday detailing information not filed with the city clerks office as required in a schedule put out by the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

On Wednesday, he submitted four reports that still lacked details on a total of $66,032 in contributions by individuals that were contained in earlier reports he had submitted.

In a report filed Jan. 10, 2018, the campaign lists $41,520 in individual contributors, but it does not say who they are. The filing, which covers Oct. 30 to Dec. 31, 2017, has a notation that reads See Attached, but nothing is attached.

The report labeled Feb. 7, 2018, but submitted on June 26, 2018, shows a contribution of $1,000 but it does not name the donor.

A second report submitted on June 26, 2018, but labeled by the campaign as its April 10, 2018, filing, lists a total of $23,956 in contributions, but again there is no breakdown as to who the donors are.

In the reports submitted Wednesday, some contributors were placed in the wrong filing. Also, expenses were carried forward despite the campaign showing interim balances that could have covered some debt.

The campaign didnt show it had a deficit of $32,764 until a February report that was not brought to the city clerks office until June 26, 2018.

The money owed then included: $22,764 for consultant DNA; $6,000 for Enrico (Rick) Melita, campaign assistant manager; $4,000 for Carrington Financial Services LLC for accounting and bookkeeping.

The SEEC rule calls for a campaign to file a report on the seventh of each month if it adds or subtracts more than $500 from its deficit.

The new filings submitted Wednesday by Wilson show DNA was paid $7,000 on its bill on June 2, 2018.

Despite having a balance on hand of $15,695 as of June 30, it did not pay any more expenses until Oct. 10, 2018, when it paid DNA $12,500.

Carrington was paid $2,000 on Nov. 16, 2018, and $2,000 more on Jan. 16 of this year. Melita was paid $3,000 on June 21, 2018, and $1,790 on Jan. 16 of this year.

Melita, who was working as the mayors liaison to the Board of Alders, took a leave of absence to help with the Harp campaign for a little more than a month.

The campaign reported paying off all its expenses as of Jan. 16, 2019, 14 months after the 2017 election.

In its last filing, which it defined as a reporting period from Jan. 1, 2019 to Jan. 31, 2019, it filed a termination report where it paid the last $3,790 on its deficit and made the mayor whole for the $5,000 she had lent the campaign.

The balance at the end was $12.65.

Harp reported raising $303,230 for the 2017 race against Marcus Paca, who was limited in what he could take in as a participant in the New Haven Democracy Fund that provides public grants matched by small amounts donated by individuals.

Records show that Paca, the former labor relations director for the city whom the mayor fired, raised $42,085 for the 2017 race, a campaign he closed out at the end of December 2017.

Harp, who is seeking a fourth term as mayor, has never participated in the public financing option, a decision her predecessor John DeStefano Jr. also made.

Staff with the SEEC cannot comment on the specifics of any campaign. Generally speaking, they said, all contributions and expenditures have to be accounted for and they reiterated the monthly filings on any movement concerning a deficit.

Wilson, in filing the mayors candidate committee for the 2019 election on Feb. 14, incorrectly checked she was also part of a slate. He corrected it the next day.

mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577
NEW HAVEN  Guilford First Selectman Matthew Hoey has been named to an unpaid, part-time position as interim executive director of the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority.

Hoey, a member of the authority board  which unanimously approved his appointment Wednesday  agreed to take on the role temporarily. He said he expects the job to last for a couple of months.

The appointment fills the gap created by the departure of Executive Director Tim Larson, who left to begin a new job within Gov. Ned Lamonts administration leading the Office of Higher Education.

Larson, who began the state job earlier this year but agreed to stay on at Tweed as needed, was paid in the Tweed position through Friday, he said.

Now that Im out, they need someone to basically sign checks and review invoices, said Larson, who attended Wednesdays authority meeting at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport.

Hoey said after the meeting that he doesnt anticipate any conflict with his elected position.

It doesnt affect my other job, Hoey said. It just means that Ill be working more hours during the week.

More News News Consultant says Tweed could do much better with longer...

First selectman is a full-time job, he said.

This (Tweed job) is an interim, acting position and it also supports Guilford, because this is a regional facility that Guilford residents use and benefit from, Hoey said.

Hoey told the authority that he will not take a salary in the position. There are charter issues that preclude the first selectman from holding another paid job, he said.

One reason to name an interim executive director is uncertainty as to Tweeds future since the Connecticut Airport Authority and the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority agreed to set up a working committee to explore the possibility of having the CAA either acquire or enter an operating agreement for Tweed, Larson told the Tweed Authority.

The Tweed Authority unanimously approved a resolution in January committing to participate in the working committee to investigate the feasibility of greater CAA involvement in Tweed.
NEW HAVEN  Liam Brennan, Mayor Toni Harps appointment to the Board of Education and a staff attorney with the New Haven Legal Assistance, indicated Thursday that he would decline the mayors nomination.

The reason, he said, is that he will not be with New Haven Legal Assistance much longer, as he will be starting a new role as executive director of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center. This news was posted first by the New Haven Independent.

I very much appreciate the nomination from the mayor, but with the time commitment necessary, I dont think it would give me the ability to devote the energy the board needs, he said. I look forward to continuing to be involved in New Haven Public Schools in my capacity as a parent, and maybe one day that will be on the Board of Education, but at this initial stage Im taking on a new position and I thought it was better to decline at this time.

Brennan said he was offered the job the day before the mayors nomination went through, and he had been weighing the school board role for a week. Brennan said he will be based out of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Centers office in New Haven, where he will partner closely with veterans in the Veterans Affairs medical center in West Haven.

Brennans name had been floated months ago as a potential mayoral challenger to Harp as she runs for her fourth term this November, and in December 2018 he did not rule out the possibility of a run. He said Thursday that he is not running for mayor, and never was.

The day before Harps nomination of Brennan went through, she nominated child care program director Yesenia Rivera to the school board to complete the term of Frank Redente, who resigned before his term concludes at the end of 2020.

Brennan was nominated to complete the term of Jamell Cotto, who now sits on the board but had his reappointment shot down by the Board of Alders this month. Cotto will continue to sit on the school board until the mayor finds a nominee to earn aldermanic approval.

City spokesman Laurence Grotheer said in an email that Harp has another appointee in mind.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com

Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Brennan was considering both the Board of Education nomination and the job with the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center. He had accepted the CVLC position and was weighing the school board nomination.
NEW HAVEN  A district administrator has sued the New Haven Board of Education, alleging that she was penalized for taking time under the Family and Medical Leave Act to bond with a newborn child.

Gemma Joseph Lumpkin began serving as the districts chief of the Office of Youth, Family and Community Engagement in 2015, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court. This suit was first reported by the New Haven Independent.

A sibling to her adopted daughter was born in September 2018 and she agreed to become the childs foster / pre-adoptive parent.

The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 unpaid weeks of leave per year, according to the Department of Labor. During this time, the employees position and health benefits are to be protected.

Joseph Lumpkin initially attempted to take intermittent leave, allowing her to work and be a team player yet care for the newborn placed with her for adoption and/or foster care, the suit says.

This was initially approved by the districts human resources department. But Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks questioned her entitlement to such leave, and, after consulting with district staffers, Joseph-Lumpkin decided to seek extended leave instead.

She was away from the district from Oct. 10 through Jan. 8.

During this time, despite what the complaint describes as exemplary job performance in the past, multiple responsibilities were taken away from her, allegedly at Birks discretion.

A request seeking comment was sent to Birks. The district acknowledged receipt of the request and said it would be shared with Birks office.

Although her job title remains the same, Joseph Lumpkin was reassigned to the Student Services Department Jan. 30, according to the complaint.

Joseph Lumpkin argues that the board unlawfully retaliated against her for taking leave, violated her rights under the FMLA and breached her contract.

The defendant unlawfully interfered with and restrained the plaintiff in the exercise of the rights provided to her under the federal Family and Medical Act, attorney Thomas Bucci, representing Joseph Lumpkin, said in the complaint. The plaintiff has suffered irreparable harm by the defendants fundamentally altering the position of Chief of the Office of Youth, Family and Community Engagement... for which she has no adequate remedy at law.

Joseph Lumpkin is looking for her position to be restored to its prior powers and responsibilities, monetary and liquidated damages, attorney fees and any other relief deemed just by the court.

The Board of Education received a summons issued in connection with the lawsuit Feb. 7, according to judicial records. A response is due by Feb. 28.

On Tuesday, Joseph Lumpkin presented four contracts to the Board of Educations finance committee, where Birks was sitting in. Staff found Joseph Lumpkin in the building so she could present her contracts when Vice Chairman Joe Rodriguez called on her, and then she abruptly excused herself, citing a need to work on testimony for a hearing with the state Department of Education.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
Several accidents closed a number of lanes on major state highways Thursday morning.

UPDATE: 9:27 AM

GREENWICH - Motor Vehicle Accident (2 Vehicle) on RT15 Southbound between Exits 28 and 27. The left lane is closed.

UPDATE: 8:37 AM

NORWALK: Motor Vehicle Accident (1 Vehicle) on I-95 Northbound between Exits 16 and 17. The left lane is closed. Reported at 8:33 am.

UPDATE: 8:11 AM

GREENWICH - Motor Vehicle Accident (2 Vehicle) on I-95 Northbound between The New York State Line and Exit 2. The left lane is closed. Reported at 8:06 am.

UPDATE: 8:06 AM

Temperatures above freezing have greatly reduced the number of accidents.

Just before 8 am., the temperature was 35 degrees along the I-95 corridor.

Inland temperatures average 33 degrees.

More News News Some schools have delayed openings

High temperatures Thursday will be in the upper 50s and lower 40s; about 10 degrees higher than average.

UPDATE: 7:36 AM

All I-91 lanes have reopened in Middletown.

UPDATE: 6:36 AM

Lanes still closed:

MIDDLETOWN - Truck accident on I-91 Northbound between Exits 20 and 21. The right and center lanes are closed.

UPDATE: 6:30 AM

Norwalk police: There are plenty of slick spots on the roads, so take it slow this morning

UPDATE: 5:41 AM

NORTH HAVEN - Motor Vehicle Accident (Vehicle Fire) on I-91 Southbound between Exits 12 and 10. The left lane is closed. Reported at 5:33 am.

UPDATE: 5:28 AM

Troop I in Bethany is reporting a car fire in the left lane of Interstate 91 south at exit 10 that is delaying traffic. There were no injuries, dispatchers said.

The lane is expected to reopen in about 30 minutes. Otherwise, there are no other problems related to the weather, dispatchers said.

Troop G in Bridgeport and Troop A Southbury are reporting no major problems due to the weather.

UPDATE: 5:19 AM

NORTH HAVEN - Route 103 CLOSED between Mcdermott and Nettleton because of Motor Vehicle Accident (1 Vehicle). Reported at 5:13 am.

EARLIER STORY

Travel on I-91 north in Middletown, just before Exit 21 is down to one lane after a tractor trailer rollover.

There were no injuries in the crash, dispatchers from state police Troop H, said. Traffic is moving slowly through the area. There is no estimate on when the tractor trailer will be removed.

Traffic is also down to one lane on Route 2 in Glastonbury near the exit 10 on and off ramp, Troop H dispatchers said. A tractor trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of copper rolled over and lost its roof, a dispatcher said.

That crash will likely take a while to clean up, the dispatcher said. Otherwise traffic throughout the Hartford region is moving at a normal pace. "Just slow down," a dispatcher from Troop H said.

Troop F in Westbrook is seeing minor accidents but no major problems, dispatchers said.

In Vernon, there is a jackknifed tractor-trailer accident on I-84 Eastbound between Exits 64 and 66. The 2 right lanes are closed. Reported at 2:24 am.
NEW HAVEN  The Black Feathers will perform March 1 as part of CT Folks monthly Folk Fridays series.

Showtime is 7:30 p.m in the First Presbyterian Church of New Haven (704 Whitney Ave.). Admission is $25 at the door or $20 in advance ($10 for students.) Advance tickets are available until 3 p.m. the day of the show at ctfolk.com/events.

The Black Feathers  Ray Hughes and Sian Chandler  are an award-winning Americana, folk, and acoustic indie rock duo from Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom, where they have toured extensively.

In recent years, the U.S. has come to know their songwriting and harmonies as well.

The Black Feathers were selected to play a formal showcase for the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference in 2018.

In their music, Chandler and Hughes combine elements of folk, roots, Americana and southern rock music, among others.

They have performed at festivals all over the UK, including the prestigious Cambridge Folk Festival, Stroud Folk Festival, and Maverick. They were awarded the 5 Valleys Folk Award in September of 2013, and the Folkstock Arts Foundation award for Best Live Performance in February the following year.

2014 also saw the release of Strangers We Meet, The Black Feathers debut 5 track EP.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
WEST HARTFORD  Five of the top blues bands in Connecticut are all on one bill March 2 at the Connecticut Blues Societys annual Blues Blizzard dance party and fundraiser.

The Blues Blizzard will take place at the Hannon-Hatch VFW (83 South St., West Hartford). Music begins at 6 p.m., with doors opening at 5. Admission is a suggested donation of $10. Inexpensive food and drink will be available; the public is requested not to bring coolers.

The bands performing this year, in order, include Dave Robbins & The Incredible Amplifires, the Cole Morson Band, Ryan Hartt & The Blue Hearts, The Mike Crandall Band and Jake Kulak & The LowDown, CTBS Secretary Kent Kirkland said in a news release.

The Blues Blizzard, which has taken place for at least 24 years, is a benefit to raise funds for Connecticut Blues Society events, including the annual Band and Solo/Duo Blues Challenges that the organization sponsors each year.

The other four bands following Robbins and the Amplifires will play 45-minute sets each. Three of the acts  Hartt, Crandall and Kulak  have won the Connecticut Blues Challenge in the past and have represented Connecticut in the Blues Foundations International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

The Blues Blizzard differs from the annual Connecticut Blues Challenge in that there is no pressure to perform among the participating bands, Kirkland said. The whole idea is to have fun, keep the crowd dancing, and for musicians and fans alike to make new friends with a common love for the blues.

To be assured a seat, it is recommended that fans arrive early.

Connecticut Blues Society president Ed Stack has described the Blues Blizzard as the best party in the state!

The Blues Blizzard is organized and presented each year by the Connecticut Blues Society, a nonprofit organization, to raise prize money for acts winning the Connecticut Blues Challenge Band and Solo/Duo competitions that the society hosts each year.

Winners of the two competitions represent the state in the annual International Blues Challenge, which takes place in Memphis each late January and/or early February.

The mission of the nonprofit Connecticut Blues Society is to promote and preserve the blues as a unique art form in Connecticut.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, N.Y. -- A Central New York man was the top hunter and won $2,280 in the 12th Annual Statewide 3-Day Coyote Contest hosted by the Federation of Sportsmens Clubs of Sullivan County.

The contest took place Feb. 8-10 and was open to hunters across the state along with five counties in Pennsylvania. A total of 652 hunters participated, killing 76 coyotes. Last year, 611 hunters signed up and 61 coyotes were taken.

Edward Wright, of Pennellville, N.Y., won this years competition by shooting a 50.60-pound male. He used a .223 caliber rifle and a predator call to lure the coyote within shooting range in Oswego County.

Wrights winning included the $2,000 grand prize for the heaviest coyote in the contest, $200 for the heaviest coyote taken on Feb. 10 and $80 for another coyote he shot. (Every hunter who weighed in a coyote won $80.)

Cody Fronckowiak, of Fleischmanns, N.Y., hunting in Greene County, took second place with his 50.15-pound male coyote. He used a .204 caliber rifle and a FoxPro predator call. He took home a $500 check for finishing second, plus an additional $80.

The third heaviest coyote (a 48.40-pound male) was turned in by Keith Burgher of Olive Branch, N.Y., hunting in Ulster County. Burgher, who won the competition last year, took home $250 for shooting the third heaviest coyote, plus an additional $160 for bagging two more. He used a .223 caliber rifle and hunted over bait.

Billie West, from Elizavile, N.Y., hunting in Columbia County, won the female hunter division with her 44.65-pound male coyote, winning $100, plus a $100 gift certificate from Fur, Fin and Feather Sport Shop in Livingston Manor. She also won $750 for bringing in nine coyotes during the three-day competition  the first time in the history of the competition that a hunter brought in that many coyotes.

Tanner Macumber, 14, of Deposit, N.Y., hunting in Broome County, won the Youth Division with a 33.95-pound male. He won $100, plus a $100 gift certificate from Fur, Fin and Feather Sport Shop in Livingston Manor, along with $80 for his coyote.

At the conclusion of the competition, more than 300 hunters and guests attended at roast beef dinner at the White Sulphur Springs Fire Department in Sullivan County, where the daily weigh-ins took place.

A $35 early entry fee ($45 after Jan. 25) covered the three days of the hunt, plus the dinner Sunday and a free $5 gun raffle ticket that was drawn at the dinner. Those attending the banquet paid $25.

Proceeds from the coyote hunt will go toward a wide variety of activities sponsored by the Federation of Sportsmens Clubs, including paying for fishing derbies and sending youngsters to the state Department of Environmental Conservations summer camp. Read more about coyote hunting in New York.

Are coyotes native to New York or an invasive species?

According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, there are two hypotheses to explain the presence of coyotes in New York.

The first explanation is that coyotes were here before Europeans settled North America. The clearing of the forest for farms and homes forced coyotes to retreat to unsettled areas of the northeast. The return of forested habitats during the 20th century coincided with the return of the coyote.

The second and more widely accepted hypothesis is that Eastern coyotes are a relatively new species in New York. This explanation suggests that coyotes originally inhabited central North America and naturally extended their range throughout the continent in response to human changes to the land. Evidence indicates that coyotes reached New York and the Northeast in the early 1930s and 1940s, with coyote range expansion first reaching the state by passing north of the Great Lakes and into northern New York. Coyotes then spread rapidly across the state over the next 40-50 years.

Read more about coyotes in New York on the DEC website.
If the Tollway agrees to the proposal, that agency would be responsible for rebuilding Franklin Avenue from Runge Avenue to Wolf Road as part of the Elgin OHare Western Access Project, according to Talbott. That project already includes some work on Franklin Avenue near the planned Interstate 490. The villages agreement would simply extend construction to Wolf Road.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  It was a celebration fit for a queen.

People of different ages were out on the streets, braving the scorching heat just to get a glimpse of Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray. Some raised placards with messages on them while others raised their phones to capture the moment. The 25-year-old Filipino-Australian beauty waved back while holding a small Philippine flag.

Gray, donning a Sampaguita and Anahaw-inspired terno pantsuit, was aboard a float resembling her Mikimoto crown and the now iconic Mayon Volcano-inspired gown that she wore when she won the title in Bangkok, Thailand last year.

READ: Catriona Gray blooms in sampaguita-inspired homecoming terno jumpsuit

READ: Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray honors hometown with Mayon Volcano-inspired gown

She tirelessly waved and smiled at throngs along the route, not minding the heat. At some point, the beauty queen would bend to avoid dangling wires along the streets of Manila.

The homecoming parade kicked off at 2 p.m. at the Sofitel Hotel grounds in Pasay. From there, the parade passed through streets in Manila City and Pasay until it reached Ayala Avenue in Makati past 5:00 p.m.

The parade was one of the events organized in celebration of Gray's official homecoming since she won the coveted title.

On Saturday, another parade, organized by the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Incorporated, will take place in Cubao, Quezon city starting at 4 p.m.

She will also celebrate with her fans and several Filipino celebrities during an event dubbed "Raise Your Flag for Catriona Gray" at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday. Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach; singers Jed Madela, Bamboo and KZ Tandingan; as well as comedian Vice Ganda are expected to be a part of the event.

During her stay in the country, Gray is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on top government officials, including Vice President Leni Robredo, Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

She 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 (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Gray is the fourth Filipino to bring home the coveted title, joining Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran and Pia Wurtzbach who won in 1969, 1973, and 2015 respectively.
Levy served on the boards of the Kellogg school and Culver Academies in Culver, Ind., where he also was an alumni, according to information from his obituary and the Kellogg school. He also served on the boards of Temple Sholom, Chicago History Museum and Evanston Hospital.
In 2009, Deborah Rumberger saw homeownership as the key to providing stability for her two young daughters, then 13 and 7. A few days before Halloween that year, after months of house-hunting, she found the one: A 100-year-old Victorian home in Helena, Montana.

It wasn't easy. For starters, her budget didn't allow for a ton of options within a safe neighborhood.

"And I just wasn't interested in a lot of the homes I could afford," she said. It's why she initially thought the two-story property she would later purchase for $173,500 was too good to be true  but she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and bought it anyway.

That first night, after an exhausting day of unpacking, she tucked her kids into bed and crawled under the sheets. Instead of sleep, however, "I got so sick I thought I was going to die," Rumberger recalls. Her heart started pounding and her mouth went dry. All night long, she kept wanting to get up, but she felt so stiff she was barely able to move.

The next morning, a thought made her go white: There's something wrong with this house.

That same day, Rumberger started calling everyone she could think of to try to get out of her mortgage: the realtors, the bank, the title company, everyone.

"Nobody cared," she said. "They chalked it up to buyer's remorse or stress from moving."

By the end of November, after about 30 days in her new home, Rumberger was constantly exhausted  more than the usual fatigue that comes with working and raising two children. One night, her chest hurt so badly that she went to the emergency room, convinced she was having a heart attack. Another time, she rushed herself to the hospital when her limbs went completely numb. By January, she noticed troublesome changes in her daughters, too. Her eldest was acting depressed, complaining of an itchy scalp and had frequent nosebleeds. Her youngest had sinus problems for the first time in her life along with acid reflux and recurring nightmares.

Terrified over what was happening to her family and convinced her house was the problem, Rumberger continued contacting her realtor, her bank, her title company, her inspector and her doctors. Finally, that spring, she found help in a neighbor named Clara Holliday. Holliday introduced her to the homeowner who lived in the house before the family that sold it to Rumberger  and that's when she learned about the home's 20-year history with flooding and mold.

Rumberger learned through this previous homeowner that the second-floor plumbing had once been re-routed through the attic. The problem was the attic wasn't heated, which can lead to frozen pipes. Frozen pipes can crack and leak when they expand in warmer weather, which Rumberger suspects happened during a particularly bad winter in 1989, when no one was residing in the home.

Sotereas Pantazes, co-founder of EFynch, a handyman community in Baltimore, says he's seen basements result in mold just days after a significant flooding. Rumberger, however, was living in the home 20 years after unresolved flood damage.

The old homeowner urged Rumberger to search her home for mold, starting with the tub in her bathroom.

Rumberger didn't have to search long.

"I peeled back the plastic lining and it was filled with mold," she said. Next, she pulled down nearby drywall and tore up part of the carpet. Everything was covered in toxic black spores.

"At first, I felt relief and thought, 'Aha! I knew something was going on,'" she said. "But at the time, I still didn't understand how damaging and dangerous toxic mold is."

Dr. Ann Shippy, a Texas-based physician and author of "Mold Toxicity Workbook: Assess Your Environment & Create a Recovery Plan," says every one of Rumberger's symptoms  fatigue, weakness, headaches, morning stiffness and joint pain  is textbook mold toxicity. "Mold produces chemicals, like microtoxins and microbial volatile organic compounds that have seriously dangerous side effects," Shippy explained. "A lot of people think you're only affected by mold spores if you're allergic to them, but mold makes chemicals that build up in your body." This is why Rumberger's two daughters didn't feel sick until a couple of months after the move  it sometimes takes time to notice the symptoms of mold toxicity.

After discovering the mold in her bathroom, Rumberger convinced a home inspector to come over that very same day. A moisture mirror, which helps identify mold behind the walls, showed evidence of growth all over the house. Her homeowner's insurance didn't cover prior mold or water damage, so she was looking at an $80,000 price tag to remediate her home from top to bottom.

"When I heard that, I knew it wasn't a possibility," she said.

She wasn't ready to give up on her dream house, so Rumberger decided to do the remediation on her own. She rented a negative air pressure machine (which draws the mold spores out of the house), along with suits, goggles and other supplies for a total of $500.

But once she got to work, stirring up the mold made the family's symptoms even worse. By June, they started camping in the backyard, only going inside to use the restroom.

"By July, I couldn't even go inside the house, because it felt like there were so many spores that they would attack anything moist, including us," she says.

According to Shippy, she's right: "When you open up a wall with mold, you send a lot of a very powerful chemicals into the air that you breathe into your lungs, so they go straight into circulation." Just like doctors have found one of the most effective ways to get medication into someone quickly is though the lungs (versus digestion, which filters through the liver first), this makes these chemicals in the air even more dangerous.

Camping lasted a month, until they got rained out. With no nearby family to turn to, they moved into the local YMCA. They spent the next year sleeping in cheap motels, at Rumberger's coworker's house and later, renting two bedrooms over a garage before finally ending up in the apartment where they live today.

In June 2010, around the same time Rumberger was forced to move her family into their backyard, she decided to take legal action.

"I held off for a while, because I thought 'We don't want to do litigation, we can fix this,'" she remembered. But financially, she didn't see any other way out.

Rumberger filed against four parties whom she believes knew about the mold before the sale.

"It took almost six years, I had five or six lawyers during that time, and it was almost as hard as the mold exposure," she said. Even though they settled to the mutual satisfaction of all parties, Rumberger doesn't think she'd do it again.

"We were able to get out of debt, but let's just say we're still tenants and our lifestyle didn't change much," she said. The only positives Rumberger saw from the settlement was being able to afford some much-needed medical treatment and finally being able to put this experience behind her once and for all.

Then, in December 2010, Rumberger also convinced her bank to suspend the mortgage payments she still owed and sold the house (with full disclosure about the mold), ultimately incurring an almost $80,000 loss  about the same amount as the initial remediation estimate, but with a lot more headaches.

The new owners finished remediating the mold, completely rebuilt the interior and turned it into a three-unit rental, which Rumberger still drives by today.

"For the longest time, we'd just avoid that road and wouldn't drive down it," she says. But now, on occasion, she gets the urge to see the house in which she thought she'd grow old.

As for Rumberger and her daughters, they still live in the same apartment they moved into a year after fleeing their Victorian dream home. They've been renting it for more than five years, and even if it was financially feasible, Rumberger doesn't see herself buying again.

"We lost a lot of years of our lives and still have some health issues," she said. "But it's just one of those things we have to come to terms with and move beyond."

Pantazes says if an inspector doesn't see mold with their own eyes, they don't have to disclose it. But that doesn't mean potential buyers can't look for their own clues, such as patches in the walls, discoloration, walls that bow and bend and just general poor home maintenance.

"Little signs will show you if the owner is a person who took care of their home," he said.

Another thing Rumberger says shouldn't be underestimated: your gut.

"My older daughter didn't have a great feeling about the house, but we just shook it off," she said. Today, she wishes she listened to her daughter's instincts, which might have spared them the entire ordeal. "Our American dream became a nightmare, but the biggest lesson I learned is when to hold up, when to fold up and when to run away."
California state lawmakers are trying again to discourage the consumption of sugary beverages, on Wednesday proposing a tax, warning labels, and a ban on soda displays near checkout lines among other measures.

The five bills address what the Democratic lawmakers call a public health crisis leading to an increase in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other ills.

"The soda industry is the new tobacco industry," said Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco as he promoted his measure that would bar restaurants from selling soda in cups larger than 16 ounces. "This is an industry that has used marketing and sales tactics to victimize low income communities, communities of color throughout our country."

One of four California adults is now obese, he said, a 40 percent increase over two decades. More than half of Californians are overweight and more than half have either diabetes or pre-diabetes. The average American drinks nearly 50 gallons of sugary beverages a year, he said, consuming 39 pounds of extra sugar.

Another bill would ban soda discount coupons that Assemblyman Rob Bonta of Oakland said can result in "soda actually being cheaper than bottled water." His bill would ban such coupons.

The proposals include a fee on sugary beverages that would take a two-thirds vote to approve. Health groups are also circulating petitions to put a tax of 2 cents per ounce on the 2020 ballot.

Several measures have failed repeatedly in previous years, including the tax proposed by Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica. He said details of his proposal are still being worked out, but a 2 cents per ounce tax would raise a projected $2 billion annually for prevention efforts.

The beverage industry says such a tax would fall harder on those with lower incomes and would have uncertain health benefits.

California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Julian Canete criticized the package on behalf of the beverage industry, saying that soda makers have already done much to discourage over-consumption. He promoted better health education over a tax.

The American Beverage Association said it is engaged in an "unprecedented commitment to fight obesity" by offering more choices and smaller portion sizes with less sugar or no sugar.
With increasing library use, a building thats no longer brand-new, and skyrocketing health insurance costs, the librarys leadership is looking for a little more help from the town.

The library is proposing a nearly $3 million budget, with more than $2 million of that coming from the town  an increase of 3.6 percent over the towns current year contribution to the library.

The library is a quasi-public institution  it has an endowment and a private board of directors, but the town provides the bulk of its budget and gets to appoint some library board members. Among the librarys sources of income, other than the town, are: its annual appeal; events; passport processing; and trust income.

The librarys $2.9 million budget request represents an overall increase of about $111,000, or 3.9 percent, over the current 2018-19 budget.

The agreement

Back when the library board was seeking support for a $20 million expansion project, completed in 2014, an agreement was reached in which the towns annual support would grow at the same rate as other town departments  excluding the schools.

The agreement with the library was the library would stay with the same percentage increase as the town, said Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark. Were coming in at zero (this year).

Its different this year, First Selectman Rudy Marconi agreed.

Before the towns spending goal was knocked to a zero increase in recognition of many taxpayers being hit with a loss of deductions on their federal income taxes, the towns annual budget work was guided a 2.5 percent spending increase cap set for municipalities by the state legislature.

The library had budgeted with this in mind  and still had exceeded it.

We are requesting a town appropriation increase of 3.6 percent, Library Board chairman Gary Rapp wrote to the selectmen. The library has worked very hard to keep our operational expenses at a minimum. We began this budget request with a 2.5 percent increase in the town contribution, yet we find that our biggest challenge continues to be increases in the cost of health care benefits.

Library staff share in town employees health insurance, which is projected to go up significantly. ...We have been advised to include a projected 15 percent increase in health care costs, Rapp wrote. The difference between a 2.5 percent and a 15 percent health benefits increase is an additional $22,987.

272,000 visits

He touted the librarys popularity, saying 94 percent of Ridgefield households have a library card and more than 272,646 patrons visited the library on the 335 days it was open  814 visits a day.

The library budget lists statistics showing more library use in the last year: 22,700 downloads of digital e-books, audiobooks and magazines  a 13.8 percent increase; 107,900 free wireless sessions in the library  up 15.3 percent; more than 36,800 people attending library programs  up 12.1 percent.

Library Director Brenda McKinley said that while printed book borrowing was down slightly there had been a 13 percent increase in downloaded book circulation.

We have folks who are using it and loving it, she said. But were limiting it to four per month, per patron.

Up on the roof

Meanwhile, a rooftop patio thats a pleasant grace note in the librarys plans will be financed by a state grant and a private donor.

The roof patio plans do not show in the librarys budget or capital budget. It was brought up by Marconi, whod seen it mentioned in library board minutes.

McKinley said the patio  part of the original plans for the building  would be on the Dayton Program Rooms roof.

We were successful in getting a state grant and our generous local matching donor, McKinley said. The grant is $40,000, matched with $40,000, allowing $80,000 for the project.

The state grant is approved, but the library cant get started until the state bond commission meets and releases the money. The work involved is minor, and should take only a few weeks, McKinley said. She had been hoping to get it done this spring, but with bonding commission meetings recently postponed is now thinking sometime this year.

The patio area will be wheelchair accessible and have outlets providing electricity.
UPDATE: Days after this story was published  and the same day Jared was supposed to lose his Husky insurance  the state granted the family a waiver. That means Jared gets to keep his coverage.

BROOKFIELD  Twelve-year-old Jared Carreras cant see or talk but his in-home nurses are there each day to tend to his needs, help him when he has a seizure or fix his feeding tube when he pulls it out while eating.

Beginning Monday, though, the Brookfield boys family wont be able to afford the nurses services since he is losing the state Husky insurance that paid for it.

Now, Jareds mother is scrambling to contact various agencies and departments for help.

Im going to fight and Im going to fight until he gets what he deserves, said Shirley Correia, Jareds mom.

Jared suffers from various brain disorders and a rare form of epilepsy and has undergone seven brain surgeries. He is blind, uses a wheelchair and cannot talk.

A month of care would cost the family $12,000 to $15,000 out-of-pocket, Correia said. Her uncle, Herby Veness, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the family.

It would buy us time, Veness said.

Income guidelines

Six years ago, Correia started in an entry-level position for a construction company in Westchester County. When she earned a raise recently, Jared no longer qualified for Husky A, the states public health care program.

That insurance paid for nurses to come to the home 10 hours a day, as well as the expensive formula for his feeding tube and other necessities.

I work my butt off to get to where I am and then you get slapped in the face, she said. Its almost like youre reprimanded.

The family has private insurance, but this does not cover the nurses. It also might not cover the full cost of another brain surgery, which Correia said will likely be necessary one day.

Correia said childrens health insurance should be based on their medical needs, not their parents income. She said she has spoken to other mothers who have faced similar problems.

They were forced to sell their homes and move back in with their parents as grown adults, quit their jobs, just to maintain insurance and thats not fair, she said.

Correia said she is working with the Office of the Health Care Advocate and other state departments in the hopes of getting Husky reinstated, but she does not know if this will happen before Monday.

She has reached out to the governors office for help.

She also applied for a waiver that allows severely disabled children to be eligible for Medicaid, regardless of their parents income, but has been put on a four- to six-year waiting list.

Valerie Wyzykowski, of the Office of the Healthcare Advocate, said the waiting list is long because of the various needs of children.

Its just an array of services that is being requested and are needed, she said. We just dont have the resources we need sometimes for all these families. Were getting better at identifying and really reaching out with other state agencies to really look at the issues.

Round-the-clock care

Correia said when Jared was born doctors realized he had a stroke sometime in the womb, causing fluid to build up in his brain, preventing it from growing.

Jared had two brain surgeries within about a month of birth and was diagnosed with brain- and nerve-related disorders. He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and had surgeries to deal with a cyst on his brain that caused him to have 30 seizures in an hour. Jared has fewer seizures now, but still often gets them in his sleep, his mom said.

Jared and his stepfather, Jayce Correia, went viral in 2015 when the family posted a video of the stepfather rapping a song he wrote for Jared. In the video, Jayce Correia sings about his pride for Jared, while the boy cheers and shakes his head.

They are quite the amazing family, Veness said. They are strong. They are strongly bonded together.

Without the nurses, the Correias will likely take turns leaving work early to care for Jared. Shirley Correia said she might need to quit her job.

If I cant work, then he can get his insurance back, she said. Its so backward. The system is so backward.

Correia has family members nearby, but they are not equipped to help. (The nurses) are essential for our family to function as a family and not a hospital, she said. You have to be trained and skilled to take care of him. Its a lot of responsibility for someone to just take on.

If the family put Jared in an institution, the state would pay for his care, but Correia said she does not see that as an option.

Hes my child, she said. You dont want to divide a family and you dont know what kind of care he would get.
New Delhi:

February 21 is observed as the International Mother Language Day worldwide to pay tributes to the martyrs of the 1952 historic Language Movement. On February 21, 1952, scores of agitated Bangladeshi youth took to streets in protest against the then Pakistani government's denial of Bangla (Bengali) as the national language and fought for the recognition of their self-entity, culture and heritage. Though February 21 has a special significance for Bengalis, it also promotes the idea of mother tongue-based multilingual education all over the world. In 1999, UNESCO first declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day.

Like every year, in 2019 too, there was a unique theme to commemorate the Mother Language Day. In the view that 2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the nation celebrated the day to raise awareness on indigenous languages as a factor in development, peace and reconciliation. According to Census 2001, India alone has about 22 officially recognised languages, 1635 rationalised mother tongues and 234 identifiable mother tongues.

To mark the International Mother Language day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also took to Twitter and wished netizens Happy International Mother Language Day. She appealed to people to respect all languages but take pride in their mother tongue. "Best wishes to all on International Mother Language Day. Respect all languages but take pride in your mother tongue," Banerjee wrote.

Advocating the concept of learning more languages, President Ram Nath Kovind also said that multilingual education reinforces national harmony and adds value to the country. Stressing on the importance of preserving mother-tongue languages, UNESCO said, "Linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened as more and more languages disappear. Globally 40 per cent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand".

On the other hand, Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka on Thursday remembered with deep reverence the language martyrs namely Shaheed Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar, Shafiur and thousand others who laid down their lives for the cause of their mother tongue back in 1952.

on February 21, 1952, Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and a few other brave hearts lost their lives in police firings after students came out in a procession from the Dhaka University campus breaching section 144 to press home their demand for the recognition of Bangla as a state language of then Pakistan. Since then, February 21 has been celebrated as Bhasha Dibas or Shahid Dibas in West Bengal and Bangladesh.

With the clock striking 12:00 am today, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid homage by placing wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar. They stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memories of the language heroes. Walking barefoot to the Central Shaheed Minar with wreaths and flowers singing 'Amar bhaiyer rakte rangano Ekushey February', people paid tributes throughout the day to the heroes of the Language Movement.

Different political parties, their front organisations as well as sociocultural organisations have taken various programmes to pay their homage to the language martyrs all day long.

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New Delhi:

Melina Thevenot, a volunteer scientist also called citizen scientist working with NASA's Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, has found the oldest and coldest known white dwarf star, the US space administration has announced. The star named J0207 is an earth-sized remnant of a Sun-like star that has died and is ringed by dust and debris. It is located 145 light years away in the Capricornus constellation. Due to its temperature of 5,800 degrees Celsius (10,500 Fahrenheit), NASA believes the star is about 3 billion years old. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

NASA said in a statement on Tuesday that Thevenot's discovery "is forcing researchers to reconsider models of planetary systems and could help us learn about the distant future of our solar system."

"This white dwarf is so old that whatever process is feeding material into its rings must operate on billion-year timescales," said John Debes, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, working with the NASA-led Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project.

"Most of the models scientists have created to explain rings around white dwarfs only work well up to around 100 million years, so this star is really challenging our assumptions of how planetary systems evolve," Debes added as reported by news agency IANS.

White dwarfs slowly cool as they age, and Debes's team calculated J0207 is about three billion years old, based on a temperature just over 5,800 degrees Celsius.

Previously, dust disks and rings had only been observed surrounding white dwarfs about one-third J0207's age.

J0207's ring may even be multiple rings. Debes and his colleagues suggest there could be two distinct components - one thin ring just at the point where the star's tides break up the asteroids and a wider ring closer to the white dwarf.

Thevenot, a citizen scientist from Germany, had been searching for brown dwarfs, which are larger than planets but smaller than stars, while working in the European Space Agency's archives when she found something much brighter and much further away.

Follow-up with future missions like NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may help astronomers tease apart the ring's constituent parts.

"That is a really motivating aspect of the search," said Thevenot as part of NASA's statement. "The researchers will move their telescopes to look at worlds you have discovered. What I especially enjoy, though, is the interaction with the awesome research team. Everyone is very kind, and they are always trying to make the best out of our discoveries."

Kuchner, the leader of the Backyard Worlds project, said working with citizen scientists "always leads to surprises."

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

An assault for a kiss? The girlfriend better make it up for the punches and blows the hapless Romeo received. A 22-year-old ITI student in Chennai in a desperate attempt to receive a kiss from his girlfriend took up a challenge that resulted to him being assaulted by a group of men. According to reports, the student identified as one Shakitvel was asked to walk the road in a burqa-clad attire by his girlfriend after which he was promised a kiss as a reward.

The ITI student took up the challenge and decided to walk down the road from Royapettah to Marina Beach on Tuesday night until a group of men took notice of a strange man in a womans attire when he was at Vasudevapuram near Ice House, two streets away from a police station and took to beating him under clouds of suspicion.

The student is reported to have been assaulted first by the group of men before they dragged him to the police station. No charges were filed against him and the police are reported to have let him go.

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New Delhi:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has always managed to win hearts with her aesthetic fashion choices and style statements. Be it her glamorous red carpet looks or her chic airport looks  Aishwaryas sartorial choices have always left us impressed.

The actress is currently in Doha, Qatar for a bridal shoot, and her latest Instagram pictures will surely drop your jaws. In the snaps, Aishwarya looks ethereal in her red bridal suit. She accessorised her look with golden earrings, open tresses and nude lipstick. Aishwarya's look for the event in Doha was styled by Sukriti Grover, and oh boy, she looks so darn stunning!

Check out the pictures below:

Meanwhile, talking about her next project, Aishwarya revealed, "Normally when it comes to announcing my future projects, I leave it to the prerogative of my directors and producers. I have just very recently okayed a wonderful script and idea and character. So, Ill let them make the announcement. And that is to start much later this year. Theres is also another true life episode that story and Idea that I found interesting and will be hearing it soon. So, if there are announcements, you will surely get to know."

On the work front, Aishwarya was last seen in Fanney Khan alongside Rajkummar Rao and Anil Kapoor.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations. The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of "politicization of terrorism" in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, launched an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike.

In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance), he alleged. "The terror attack happened at 3:10 pm, but the prime minister was busy shooting for his promotional film till 6:40 pm. When the whole country was mourning the loss of lives of our jawans in the Pulwama attack in the afternoon, PM Modi was busy shooting for a film till the evening. Is there any PM in the world like this," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference. "The prime minister also knew about it, yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a pseudo-nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery channel) for self-propagation in Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

He alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there is slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there."The prime minister continues to eat chai, samosas at seven o' clock at government expense in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat their food," the Congress spokesperson said.

On one hand, the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", on the other hand the prime minister was doing his "propaganda and publicity", he claimed. "Can such conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

Surjewala said that the Congress party had shown restraint as directed by party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said.

The Congress leader said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said fundamentals of the Indian economy are sound and it is on the way to becoming a USD 5 trillion economy soon. Addressing the India Korea Business Symposium here, he said India is now a more open economy and has attracted USD 250 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last four years. He said no other large economy in the world has grown at 7 per cent year after year. India, he said, has jumped to 77th spot on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking on the back of reforms and is determined to break into the top 50 next year. The role of the government is to provide a support system, Modi said, adding that India has emerged as a land of opportunities.

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea seeking review of its verdict in the Rafale case. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan had earlier moved the top court, seeking review of its December 14 judgment on the deal. The petitioners alleged that the court relied upon incorrect claims made by the Centre. Prashant Bhushan also sought a hearing on the plea seeking perjury prosecution of some officials for misleading the court in Rafale case.

On December 14, the apex court ruled that it found no evidence of wrongdoing in the governments decision-making process, as it rejected petitions for an investigation into the Rafale deal. The court had rejected a batch of petitions for an investigation into Indias purchase of 36 French-made Rafale fighter jets, saying it found no evidence of wrongdoing in the governments decision-making process or in the choice of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd as the Indian partner and refused to go into pricing details.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said four applications or petitions have been filed in the Rafale matter and one of them is still lying with the registry on account of the defect.

The combination (of the judges) of bench will have to be changed. It is very difficult. We will do something for it, the bench, also comprising Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said when Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petitions in the Rafale case.

Bhushan said that the review petition filed by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was defective and other petitions had no defects to be cured.

He also said that besides the review petition, an application seeking perjury prosecution against some central government employees for giving misleading information to the court has also been filed.

Besides Bhushan, Sinha and Shourie had moved the Supreme Court Monday seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against central government officials for allegedly giving false or misleading information in a sealed cover in the high-profile Rafale case.

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New Delhi:

Amid intense global pressures to act against terror groups, Pakistans National Security Committee (NSC), headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). "It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," a spokesman of the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added. Earlier, these outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

"Pakistan National Security Committee (NSC) orders acceleration of anti-terrorism operations; reinstates ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) & Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) Pakistan," tweeted ANI.

Dawn News: Pakistan National Security Committee (NSC) orders acceleration of anti-terrorism operations; reinstates ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) & Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) Pakistan pic.twitter.com/0MVKger8yL  ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019

According to officials, Jamaat-ud-Dawa - believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people - has a network of 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house, and ambulance service. It was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice. Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground.

With PTI Inputs

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highlights PM Modi is visiting South Korea after an invitation from President Moon Jae-In

The two countries will hold talks on co-operation in diverse fields

Prime Minister described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives





New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Korea on Thursday for his two-day visit. The two countries will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment. He will also participate in various programmes during the visit, aimed at boosting New Delhis trade and cultural ties with Seoul. He was greeted by cheering members of the Indian community at Lotte Hotel in the capital.

PM Modi left for South Korea on Wednesday on an invitation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the visit would strengthen India's special strategic partnership with South Korea and add dynamism to the Look East Policy.

"Continuing the momentum of high-level exchanges. PM @narendramodi emplanes for Seoul on a 2-day State Visit to the Republic of Korea," Raveesh Kumar had tweeted earlier.



This is Modi's second visit to the Republic of Korea and a second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in. Ahead of his visit, the Prime Minister had described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two nations share values and vision for regional and global peace.

In his departure statement, he said his visit is reflective of the importance "we both attach to our relationship".



"We regard the Republic of Korea as a valued friend, a nation with which we have a Special Strategic Partnership. As fellow democracies, India and the ROK have shared values and a shared vision for regional and global peace," the Prime Minister said.



"As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary. South Korea is an important partner for our 'Make in India' initiative as well as in our 'Start Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives," Modi said.

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New Delhi:

In the wake of the Pulmawa terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed, the home ministry on Thursday approved air travel for all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) in Jammu and Kashmir sector. The decision will immediately benefit approximately 7,80,000 personnel of CAPFs in the ranks of constable, head constable and ASI, who were otherwise not eligible earlier. This includes a journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e; while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to their hometowns and a return journey. This facility is, in addition, to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave.

A statement from the home ministry said: "In the Jammu and Kashmir sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Subsequently, the service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 3) Jammu-Delhi sector in December 2017. The number of flights was further extended in December 2018. In addition, air support is provided from Indian Air Force as and when required."

On February 14, 40 CRPF personnel were martyred when their convoy was attacked by an explosive-laden vehicle being driven by a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist. The convoy of over 70 vehicles was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.



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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to Two-day visit of South Korea. The brief tour will include a ceremony where Prime Minister Modi will receive the Seoul Peace Prize from the Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation. BJP National President Amit Shah scheduled to visit Karnataka to convene a meeting of heads of BJP 'Shakti Kendras' from Chikkaballapur, Kolar and nearby constituencies. Five Army jawans feared to be trapped in an avalanche in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district. Congress president Rahul Gandhi to visit Guwahati to boost the morale of party workers and leaders of the northeastern region ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He will address 23,000 booth committee presidents of the party and delegates.

23:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over reservation for Dhangar community, today.



#Mumbai: Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over reservation for Dhangar community, today. pic.twitter.com/mXrxCy05L3

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



17:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Police will take action as per the law, says Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on the arrest of Congress MLA JN Ganesh.



Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on arrest of Congress MLA JN Ganesh (He was absconding after allegedly assaulting another Congress MLA Anand Singh at a resort in Karnataka last month): The police will take action as per the law. pic.twitter.com/agU69rZWK7

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



12:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Laloo Prasad Yadav moves Supreme Court seeking bail in three cases in fodder scam, citing ill health. Yadav had moved SC challenging the order of Jharkhand High Court which had rejected his bail application.

12:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Following incessant rain in Panchari, a bus on its way from Katti to Udhampur is stuck at Latyar Nallah in Jammu and Kashmir. All the passengers have been safely evacuated.





12:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Raigad Police: We received a call yesterday that a bomb like an element was found in a govt bus. Some detonators & electric devices, enough to make a bomb were found. Police, with help of bomb squad, have safely removed it from the bus. Case registered, investigation underway.

11:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Six killed in accident on Lucknow-Agra Expressway

Six persons were Thursday killed and 18 others injured when three vehicles were involved in an accident on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Mirzapur Ajigawan village here, police said. The incident took place at about 2 AM when a truck carrying pipes lost control and hit a divider. As pipes got scattered on the Expressway, a bus coming from behind overturned and hit a car from the back. Three women and two children were among those killed on the spot while 18 others were injured in the incident, Circle Officer, Bangarmau, Ambrish Bhadauria said. The bus was going to Muzaffarpur in Bihar from Delhi, he said and added that attempts were on to identify the victims.

10:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In CB Ananthakrishnan, HAL Director(Finance): The financial condition of the company is very stable and robust, there is no problem as far as finances are concerned. Our reserves and surpluses are good at Rs 12,000 crore, our profitability is growing

10:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court agrees to hear tomorrow a plea filed by an advocate against the alleged attacks on Kashmiri students all over the country after Pulwama attack.

10:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Chhattisgarh: A food stall owner in Jagdalpur is offering a discount of 10 on chicken leg piece to customers who say 'Pakistan Murdabad'. Anjal Singh, stall owner says,"Pak never valued humanity&they never will.That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts".



Chhattisgarh: A food stall owner in Jagdalpur is offering a discount of 10 on chicken leg piece to customers who say 'Pakistan Murdabad'. Anjal Singh, stall owner says,"Pak never valued humanity&they never will.That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts" pic.twitter.com/ugEN8N5L5E

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



10:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested notorious criminal Raju Hakla alias Shyam Sunder from Pushpanjali farmhouse after an encounter. The accused has more than 100 cases against him including murder, extortion and bank robbery.

09:58 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In K Goverdhan Reddy(in pic), a native of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Telangana has been shot dead in Florida,USA. His brother Madhusudhan says 'The local authorities suspect that men who killed him were robbers. We dont know the exact reason yet, waiting for details'.



K Goverdhan Reddy(in pic), a native of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Telangana has been shot dead in Florida,USA. His brother Madhusudhan says 'The local authorities suspect that men who killed him were robbers. We dont know the exact reason yet, waiting for details' pic.twitter.com/uCIO9THKkM

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



09:53 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Uttarakhand: Rishikesh-Gangotri highway blocked due to mountain debris for the last 9 hours at Dhikiyara, Kandisaur.





09:51 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme from Gorakhpur on February 24.

09:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Death toll rises to 69. Dozens of people were trapped when a huge fire tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

08:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu and Kashmir: Pakistan violated ceasefire late last night in Poonch sector along the Line of Control.

08:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In ITBP: Rescue ops to continue shortly. 4 inch fresh snow accumulation on the snow slopes. More than 250 jawans of Army, ITBP & BRO machines to resume the search for 5 jawans trapped in snow after an avalanche hit them in Namgya region of Kinnaur district. Temperature is -15C.

08:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu & Kashmir: Curfew relaxed in Jammu from 7 am to 2 pm today. Restrictions under section-144 still remain imposed. All wine shops and bars to remain closed.

08:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rampur: UP Police Constable Firoz Khan is collecting funds for families of CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Pulwama attack. Khan says 'I requested and got permission to move around the city for 3 days and collect funds, it is the least I can do. I am getting the support of all'.





07:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang quits BJP, joins JDS.



Assam: Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang joined JD(S) yesterday. He says "JD(S)...secular forces are there. Therefore we have decided now we will be together." pic.twitter.com/lQRYQ4E10R

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, during his second visit to South Korea's Seoul, interacted with the Indian Community in the country. Addressing the Indian diaspora, Modi said terrorism and climate change are the two biggest challenges faced by mankind today. Early in the day, the prime minister arrived in Seoul on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea and seek to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment. During his visit, Modi also unveiled Mahatma Gandhi's bust at South Korea's Yonsei University. With this, South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can usher in peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond. Ahead of his visit, PM Modi described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two countries share values and vision for regional and global peace.

"During the visit, PM will have bilateral and business engagements, unveil Gandhi bust and accept the Seoul Peace Prize conferred upon him," foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Twitter.

Here are Highlights from PM Modi's address in South Korea:

18:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In India is considered to be a bright place for investment in the world, the country has received a record USD 263 billion FDI in the last four years: PM Modi in Seoul.

18:55 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In On behalf of 130 million Indians, I assure you that we will eliminate TB by 2015, says the prime minister.

18:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Digital India has brought rapid changes in the lives of the people in India. Optical fibres have been delivered to 1.2 million villages across the country: PM Modi.

18:47 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Under Ayushman Bharat, the world's biggest health insurance scheme, 50 crore people of India are getting free treatment, says the prime minister.

18:46 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Today, India is a part of the GST system. First Sardar Balbhai Patel Patel had united the country, then GST has done the integrated the country financially: PM Modi.

18:43 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In India is moving fast to become an economy of five trillion: PM Modi in South Korea.

18:42 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Today, we are the fastest growing economy in the world. Fundamentals of our Economy are strong, says Modi.

18:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our relations with Korea have been growing steadily with each passing day. The countries are moving forward in promoting peace, stability and prosperity: PM Modi.

18:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our aim is to be among the top 3 countries in the world in the next 15 years. We must popularise the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi in the world: PM Modi in Seoul.

18:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The basis of relations between India and Korea is not just a business contract, but the People to People contact. All Indians living here are the foundations of our relationship: PM Modi in South Korea.

18:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In In South Korea, there is great respect for Indian Medha and skill. You are contributing to research and innovation in Korea. Living in India, you are providing R & D facilities to Korean companies, says the prime minister.

18:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In This contact of affinity between India and Korea is not new. In ancient times, Indian princess Suriratna travelled over thousands of kilometres to visit the country: PM Narendra Modi.

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The March 18 morning session is also the first Coffee with the Mayor chat, in which Village President Steve Ward and other officials sit down with residents to talk about a number of topics. Craig Pierce, a Village of South Elgin spokesperson, said Coffee with the Mayor is somethign Ward has wanted to do for years. The monthly chats will rotate between local businesses and South Elgin gathering centers, and mornings and evenings, said Pierce. Future chats have already been scheduled for April and May, he added.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues.

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University.

"It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," PM Modi said. "This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said. "Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now," he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world address the pressing issues.

PM Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

Earlier today, PM Modi said fundamentals of the Indian economy are sound and it is on the way to becoming a USD 5 trillion economy soon. Addressing the India Korea Business Symposium, he said India is now a more open economy and has attracted USD 250 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last four years. He said no other large economy in the world has grown at 7 per cent year after year.

India, he said, has jumped to 77th spot on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking on the back of reforms and is determined to break into the top 50 next year. The role of the government is to provide a support system, PM Modi said, adding that India has emerged as a land of opportunities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Korea for his two-day visit. The two countries will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment. He will also participate in various programmes during the visit, aimed at boosting New Delhis trade and cultural ties with Seoul. This is Modi's second visit to the Republic of Korea and a second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in. Ahead of his visit, the Prime Minister had described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two nations share values and vision for regional and global peace.

Here are the highlights of the PM Narendra Modi's speech:

15:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Mayor of Gimhae, Heo Seong Gon in Seoul, South Korea. PM Modi gifted a Bodhi tree sapling as a mark of close ties between the two countries. pic.twitter.com/smZQEa21iE

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



13:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South Korea President Moon Jae-in, and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. pic.twitter.com/25WehCsCH6

 ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019



13:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mahatma Gandhi used to say when you are taking any decisions and there is a dilemma in the heart. All you have to think is the person who is standing at the end of the line. Think of that person and take the decision, says PM Modi.

13:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In When you have the bust of Matahma Gandhi in university, it will inspire the students, says PM Modi.

13:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mahatma Gandhi didn't leave any carbon footprint, says PM Modi.

13:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Through his lifestyle, Bapu showed what living in harmony with nature is. He also showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations: PM @narendramodi

 PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 21, 2019



13:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In This becomes even more special because we are doing so at a time when we mark the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu: PM Narendra Modi.

13:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In It is an honour to unveil the bust of Bapu at Yonsei University in Seoul, says PM Modi.

13:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The thoughts and ideals of Bapu have the power to help us overcome the menace of terrorism and climate change, two challenges humanity faces in these times: PM Narendra Modi.

12:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mahatma Gandhi was perhaps mankind biggest gift: PM Modi.

11:36 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Research and innovation would be the driving force in the 4th industrial revolution era: PM Narendra Modi.

11:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Start-up India with 1.4 billion Dollars fund for four years to create a startup eco-system in India: PM Narendra Modi.

11:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In And, we do understand that the role of government is to provide the support system. In this regard, we have introduced flagship program, says PM Modi.

11:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In While aiming for fast economic growth, India is also rooted in the principles of ensuring sustainable economic growth. For example in the Automobile sector, the National Electric Mobility Mission aims for affordable and efficient Electric Vehicles: PM Narendra Modi

11:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In South Korea being a leading manufacturer of Electric Vehicles has a huge opportunity in this sector in India: PM Narendra Modi.

11:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In We are also focused on making our growth inclusive. It is for this reason that we have taken strong initiatives for financial inclusion: PM Narendra Modi

11:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In In the course of the past three years, we have opened over 300 million bank accounts for those who never had a bank account: PM Narendra Modi

11:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 74 percent of these loans have gone to women: PM Narendra Modi

11:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Under the Mudra scheme, we have extended micro-credit worth more than 90 billion dollars to 128 million persons over the past three years, says PM Modi.

11:29 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi makes 'Make in India' push in Korea.

11:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Korean brand is most trustworthy in India, says PM Modi

11:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In India is the 6th largest export destination, says PM Modi.

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highlights The construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river.

Water from 3 rivers entering Pakistan would be directed towards Kashmir.

The moves comes on the backdrop of Pulwama terror attack.

New Delhi:

Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that Modi government has decided to stop India's share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri Narendra Modi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, tweeted Gadkari.

Gadkari said that the construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. "Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states. All the above Projects are declared as the National projects," he tweeted. He said that the water will now be diverted to Kashmir.

Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 21, 2019

Meanwhile, MoS Jitendra Singh said to a private news channel that India wont allow a single drop of water to Pakistan.

According to Indus Waters Treaty, India has a control over the water flowing through the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej, while control over the water flowing the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan. According to the treaty, India can construct storage facilities on these rivers to store up to 3.6 million acre feet (MAF), which it has not done so far. Now, the government is planning to stop the flow of this water to Pakistan.

The development comes days after India revoked the most-favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack, which claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

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.

"As the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has decided to withdraw the most-favoured nation status to Pakistan, the government can take punitive actions under the Customs Act and the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act," sources said. Under these laws, the government can restrict trade of certain goods, significantly increase customs duties and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods, they said. The main items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated. The MFN status was accorded under World Trade Organisation's (WTO) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this, and are members of the WTO.

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.

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 in that fiscal.

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New Delhi:

A group of robbers opened fire on Delhi Police near Akshardham temple on Thursday. They opened fire when they were given a chase by the cops. According to initial reports, two criminals have been arrested by the city police. The incident took place after a robbery incident was reported at the Pandav Nagar police station. The group then tried to flee when they came face-to-face with the police near Akshardham temple and opened fire.

"Robbers fire upon a police team in Pandav Nagar area near Akshardham Temple. One person held," ANI tweeted. Heavy security forces have been deployed in the area.

Robbers fire upon a police team in Pandav Nagar area near Akshardham Temple, Delhi. One person held.



: ANIhttps://t.co/jttHMfva3f pic.twitter.com/6jQ3Ex4gbr  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) February 21, 2019

More details are awaited.

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New Delhi:

At least 40 students between class 1 and 8 of a government school were taken ill allegedly after consuming food under midday meal programme at Bevoor village in Karnatakas Koppal district on Thursday. The students were immediately shifted to the Koppal district hospital after many of them started vomiting. However, all the students of the Bevoor Primary and Middle School are now out of danger and responding well to treatment, District Surgeon Dr Daanareddy told reporters.

"They were initially admitted to the community health centre first and later transferred to the Koppal District Hospital," Daanareddy said, adding that a dead lizard was found in the midday meal prepared at the school in Karnataka's Koppal.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been ordered in a bid to take further action in the matter. In a related note, the midday meal preparation was not contracted to any third-party service provider and was cooked by the school authority itself.

In a similar incident, 10 students of a Bengaluru school fell ill after consuming their midday meals in January. In December 2018, over 100 students belonging to two different schools in Ballari and Bagalkot districts were rushed to the hospital after they had their midday meals.

In another such instance, over 350 children of Government Urdu Higher Primary School in Bengalurus DJ Halli had fallen ill consuming their midday meal in 2014. At that time too, a dead lizard was found in the rice.

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New Delhi:

China has been repeatedly blocking UN Security Councils statement condemning Pulwama terror attack for the last six days, claim reports. Sources also said China did not want any reference to Jaish-e-Mohammad - the Pakistan-based terror group which has accepted responsibility for the attack - in the statement, reported NDTV.

The NDTV report has quoted sources as saying that China wanted the UN Security Council to say the attack took place in 'Indian Administrated Kashmir'. It also has objections to any reference calling upon all member states of the UN to cooperate with India in the matter, claims report.

Meanwhile, the powerful UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned the February 14 Pulwama terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers and underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of "these reprehensible acts" of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

The condemnation by the UN's most powerful 15-nation body named the Pakistan-based terror group.

The 15-nation body includes China as a permanent veto-wielding member that has in the past blocked India's bids in the Security Council Sanctions committee to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in over 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility," a press statement issued by the UNSC body said.

The statement added that members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

"The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of India and all other relevant authorities in this regard," it said.

With PTI Inputs

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New Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at the Congress party for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Pulwama Attack which claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans. "With what face is the Congress raising questions against the Prime Minister? Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the Prime Minister of trading with the soldiers' blood, Congress' Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," Shah said.

The Congress has not even left the issue of terrorism in its futile bid to remove PM Modi, he added. The BJP chief also said that the Congress party was not to going to derive any benefit by politicising the recent terrorist attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama.

Shah said that the Modi government has zero tolerance policy for terrorists and this is why it has given the security agencies a free hand to decide on when and where to hit back after the Pulwama terror attack.

"For Narendra Modi, the nation's security is the top-most priority. He is toiling 18 hours a day for that. Congress... don't teach patriotism to us. We are the ones who are ready to lay down our lives for Bharat Mata," Shah asserted.

Shah said that Kashmir remained an unresolved issue only because former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru tackled it in the wrong way, leading to Pakistan indulging in terrorist acts. "Kashmir remained a problem only because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel tackled Hyderabad and it is now respectfully part of India but Jawaharlal Nehru tackled Kashmir and it continues to be a problem," he said.

"Kashmir is simmering because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Had Patel been the prime minister at the time, Kashmir would not have remained a problem," he added.

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New Delhi:

Salman Khan will make a reappearance in court on April 3rd to hear his appeal against the CJM Rural Court ruling in the 1998 black-buck poaching case. The 52-year-old actor, who had made an appeal against his five-year jail sentence for killing the endangered blackbucks in 1998 will be back in court in April for the verdict.

In a statement to ANI, advocate Sushma Dhara said, "Salman Khan's appeal against the sentencing was supposed to be heard yesterday, but it has been postponed due to the court being busy," further adding, "The date has been postponed to April 3."

Salman Khan was charged with a total of three cases in connection with poaching and one under the Arms Act in October 1998. The appeal against Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre by the Bishnoi community has also been postponed till April 3.

The Bharat actor was charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and others under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Barely moments after the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced the seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav made it clear that he is upset with the alliance forged by his son Akhilesh Yadav with Mayawati. Singh expressed unhappiness over the Uttar Pradesh pact ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, questioning why Akhilesh Yadav gave "half" the seats to Mayawati's party. Addressing the party workers at SP headquarters in Lucknow, Mulayam urged them to approach him if they sought the ticket to contest the parliamentary polls and suggested that he could "change" any decision taken by Akhilesh Singh Yadav.

Now, tell me what is the basis for giving away half the seats. Now we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger," he was quoted as saying. "We are strong; our men are weakening the party. What a strong party we had made, and I became the CM and the defence minister as well," he said, suggesting that the SP had seen better days under him.

BJP's election preparation is better. It has an edge over us, he told party workers and suggested that candidates should be announced soon so that they can begin work on the ground. Mulayam also urged the workers to apply to him for the tickets. "How many of you have given applications to me? Nobody. Then how will you get the ticket? Akhilesh will give the ticket, but I can change it," he said.

Speaking on the last day of the Budget Session 2019 earlier this month, Mulayam Singh Yadav had triggered much speculation when he wished that Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power in 2019 "I hope all members will win and return, and you will become the prime minister again," he was quoted as saying in the Lok Sabha.

Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the SP and the BSP will contest 38 seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, in the list released Thursday, the SP will fight only 37 seats and the BSP 38.

Mulayam and Mayawati have been at loggerheads since 1995 when an unruly mob of SP workers had stormed into the Meerabai Guest House in Lucknow where Mayawati was huddled in a meeting with her MLAs. This led to the break-up of the then SP-BSP alliance which was formed to stop the BJP's winning spree following the Ram temple movement.

In 1993, then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP founder Kanshi Ram had joined hands and succeeded in leaving a mark in the state politics by winning 167 Assembly seats. The BSP had got 67 seats and SP 109.

However, the infamous Meerabai Guest House incident had left an indelible mark in the relationship between the two parties. It was said Kanshi Ram made numerous efforts to revive the coalition, but Mayawati held the fort in her opposition to a possible tie-up.
highlights In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won all the 4 seats in Himachal Pradesh.

In 2017, the BJP won 44 seats in the state with a vote share of 48.7 per cent.

According to NN Opinion Poll, the BJP is likely to get 41% of vote share.

New Delhi:

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has finally sounded the poll bugle and declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on March 10. The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11. The results will be declared on May 23. 91 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 11, followed by 97 constituencies in the second phase on April 18. The third phase will be held on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. 115 constituencies will go for polls in the third phase, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. We are also gearing up for the elections and are coming up with a series: 2019 Lok Sabha Election Analysis: What happened in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls? What will happen this year? Let us look at the political scenario in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The BJP made a comeback in the state in 2017 and defeated the ruling Congress. Party's Jairam Thakur became the chief minister after its chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the Assembly elections. Dhumal was a two-time chief minister. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the state due to 'Modi Wave' and it continued its success in 2017 also. The state is famous for its 'Yo-Yo Politics' and shifts between the Congress and the BJP after every five years. Before 2017 polls, the BJP emerged victorious in 1990, 1998 and 2007 Assembly polls whereas the Congress was successful in 1993, 2003 and 2012 Assembly polls. Congress leader Virbhadra Singh was the chief minister of the state from 1983 to 1985, 1985 to 1990, 1993 to 1998, 2003 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2017. BJP's Prem Kumar Dhumal was the chief minister of the state from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2012. Shanta Kumar was the first BJP chief minister of the state in 1990. He also remained the chief minister between the period of 1977 and 1980 but as a member of the Janata Party. Let's discuss state politics in detail. Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will you vote? Know poll dates of your seat here

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will Himachal Pradesh vote?

Himachal Pradesh will vote in a single phase on May 19. Polling will be held on Shimla, Kangra, Mandi and Hamirpur seats in the seventh and last phase.

What happened in Himachal Pradesh in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections?



In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the state and won all the 4 seats in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP received 16,52,995 votes with a vote share of 53.8 per cent. The Congress drew a blank in the state and received 12,60,477 votes with a vote share of 41 per cent. BJP's Shanta Kumar defeated Congress candidate Chander Kumar in Kangra by over 1,70,000 votes. In Hamirpur constituency, Prem Kumar Dhumal's son Anurag Singh Thakur defeated Congress leader Rajinder Singh Rana by over 98,000 votes. BJP's Virender Kashyap defeated Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakta by over 84,000 votes in Shimla. In Mandi, which is considered to be the stronghold of Virbhadra Singh, BJP leader Ram Swaroop Sharma defeated Singh's wife Pratibha Singh by over 39,000 votes.

According to our analysis, the BJP was ahead in 59 Assembly segments during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress was leading on just 9. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 3 seats whereas the Congress was successful in Mandi. Virbhadra Singh was the lone winner for the party in the state in 2009.

What was the result of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections in 2017?

The BJP carried forward its Lok Sabha success in the Assembly elections also in Himachal Pradesh and trounced the ruling Congress in the state. The BJP won 44 seats in the state and received 18,46,432 votes with a vote share of 48.7 per cent. The total strength of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly is 68.

The Congress was reduced to 21 seats in the state with a vote share of 41.6 per cent. The party received 15,77,450 votes in the state. However, BJP's chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the elections from Sujanpur Assembly seat. In 2012 Assembly polls, the Congress won 36 seats whereas the BJP was successful in 26 seats.

What is the current scenario in Himachal Pradesh in 2019?

The politics in Himachal Pradesh has been revolving around the Congress and the BJP over the years. The BJP is looking forward to winning all the four seats in the state again while the Congress will try to stop the BJP to make a sweep once again. In 1996 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had won all the seats in the state. The Congress has already begun its preparations for the upcoming elections. The party will invite application from aspirants for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state. Former chief minister Virbhadra Singh is likely to be the head of the election committee and several leaders such as Vinod Sultanpuri, Dhani Ram Shandil, Vikramaditya Singh and Kaul Singh Thakur are the contenders for a Lok Sabha ticket.

Virbhadra Singh was the chief minister of the state from 1983 to 1985, 1985 to 1990, 1993 to 1998, 2003 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2017. (File photo: PTI)

The BJP has won the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat 9 times barring 1996 when it lost the seat to the Congress. Kangra is considered to be a stronghold of Shanta Kumar. He has won the seat four times in 1989, 1998, 1999 and again in 2014. The politics in Mandi has been dominated by Virbhadra Singh, Sukh Ram and BJP's Maheshwar Singh as all of them won the seat thrice. Shimla has been the fiefdom of the Congress party but it lost the seat in 2009 and 2014. There is no third force in the state and the battle will be fought between the two national parties in Himachal Pradesh.

What is News Nation Opinion Poll verdict in Himachal Pradesh?

According to News Nation Opinion Poll, the BJP is likely to get 41 per cent of vote share in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Congress may get 35 per cent of votes, predicts the poll. The BJP may win 3 seats, the Congress can win 1 seat in 2019. So, the BJP is projected to lose a seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Himachal. According to the poll, the Congress can open its account this time in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a double-digit lead over Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Himachal Pradesh when the respondents were asked about their favourite Prime Ministerial candidate in 2019. Modi got the backing of 47 per cent people, while only 35 per cent chose Rahul Gandhi.
New Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will be in Karnataka on Thursday where he will convene a meeting with the heads of BJPs 'Shakti Kendras' from Chikkaballapur, Kolar and nearby constituencies. During this visit, he will also hold a meeting of BJPs in-charges of all the 28 constituencies in the state, and other leaders.

This is the second visit of Amit Shah to Karnataka within a span of 15 days as the dates for Lok Sabha election is expected to be announced. He had addressed Booth level workers at Ballari and Raichur recently.

According to the reports, Amit Shah will be in Jammu this Sunday to address a convention of the party's booth-level workers ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, a party spokesperson said. All arrangements for the 'Panna Pramukh Sammelan' have been finalised at a meeting chaired by the general secretary (organisation) Ashok Kaul at the party headquarters here, the spokesperson said.

He said Kaul discussed the details of the event, being addressed by Shah here on February 24, with the party leaders allotted with the responsibility to oversee various arrangements. Kaul said the gathering would also pay homage to the paramilitary personnel who lost their lives in the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama.

"Shah will be specifically talking to the 'Panna Pramukhs' (booth-level workers) about party programmes and the upcoming general elections. "All other party leaders also need to be ready to take the opportunity to learn important skills from the vast organisational expertise of the national president," Kaul said while addressing the meeting.
President Preckwinkle has had no conversations with Representative Martwick about this bill and does not support it. This bill would mean more politics in county government, not less, the statement read. In the past two months, Assessor Kaegi has put ethics, fairness and transparency at the forefront of his work.
New Delhi:

The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Thursday cobbled an alliance with All India NR Congress (AINRC)  a breakaway faction of the Congress party  to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha polls together. The AIADMK has allotted the Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency to AINRC, which won it in 2014 General Elections. AINRCs R Radhakrishnan had defeated the Congress candidate V Narayanasamy, the then Union minister of state and the present Chief Minister of Puducherry.

Radhakrishnan got 2,55,826 votes while Narayanasamy managed to get only 1,94,972. AINRC had fought 2014 Lok Sabha Elections in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). AINRC was formed in the year 2011 by N Rangaswamy, the former chief minister of Puducherry.

Earlier on Tuesday, AIADMK announced an alliance with the BJP and the PMK for the Lok Sabha elections and described it as a mega and victorious combine. As per the understandings reached separately, BJP and PMK would contest five and seven seats respectively out of the total 39 Lok Sabha constituencies at stake in the state. Along with 5 Lok Sabha seats, the Paatali Makkal Katchi will also get one Rajya Sabha seat this year.

The alliance would be under AIADMK in Tamil Nadu while at the national level the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will steer the NDA coalition, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the BJP election-incharge for Tamil Nadu, said.

The PMK, which gave up its earlier policy of not aligning with either of the major Dravidian parties in the state, had held discreet talks with DMK as well, but in the end the AIADMK managed to woo it.

The coming Lok Sabha poll is the first major electoral battle for the AIADMK after the demise of its charismatic leader Jayalalithaa in December, 2016.

It must be noted that the AIADMK, with 37 seats, is the third-largest party in the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress.

With PTI Inputs
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China is planning to build power stations thousands of kilometres out in space.

According to a report in Chinese state media, solar stations in outer space would be six times more efficient than those on the ground.

"The sun's rays will not be weakened by the atmosphere, nor will it be affected by seasonal and day and night changes," reported Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

The energy collected by stations 3D-printed and built in geosynchronous orbit - 36,000km above the ground - would be beamed back to Earth by microwave.

"The fixed-point transmission of energy through the space to the ground provides an inexhaustible source of clean energy," the Daily said.

And it could also mean an end to electric car range anxiety - cars will be able to request energy straight from the power station, and have it beamed down.

The first facility to build parts for the solar plants is reportedly already under construction in Chongquing, with the first launch expected in 2021.

Newshub.
Another article in a Chinese newspaper has drawn attention to New Zealand's shaky relationship with China, warning against the Government's "unethical" behaviour towards Huawei.

The article, published in the Global Times, considered a mouthpiece for the Chinese government, says the New Zealand Government's recent actions go against our interests.

"Blocking Chinese high-tech companies is not only unethical, but also runs counter to the interests of New Zealand," it says, adding: "Blindly following the US in containing Huawei will end up in New Zealand hurting itself."

It was written by Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the Research Center for Pacific Island Countries at Liaocheng University in China. He's written other articles about China's relationship with Australia, also criticising the country's stance on banning Huawei's equipment.

The article followed another piece earlier this month published in the China People's Daily, also considered a mouthpiece of the Chinese state, which claimed tourists are turning away from New Zealand.

New Zealand's relationship with China appears to have soured. The 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism launch set to take place at Wellington's Te Papa museum was postponed by China earlier this month, citing scheduling issues.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's planned trip to Beijing last year was also put on hold, prompting suspicion that China may have taken offence to the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) warning against Huawei building Spark's 5G mobile network.

New Zealand telecom operator Spark wanted to start using Huawei cellphone tower equipment from 2020, and notified director-general of the GCSB Andrew Hampton about the proposal, as is required by law.

And after carrying out an assessment, the GCSB in November identified major network security risks if the technology was to be implemented.
Brett O'Riley, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), said the proposed changes "don't address the Tax Working Group's objectives of reducing over-investment in housing and increasing tax fairness".

He said he's concerned that CGT on business assets could discourage investment and innovation, locking businesses into their current asset holdings.

Sir Michael Cullen, chair of the TWG, admitted introducing a CGT could discourage people from selling their assets, which could stagnate the economy. Investors may also take fewer risks and invest less if there's more tax to pay.

But he said the TWG estimated that if the Government implements its CGT recommendations, it could generate $8 billion over the first five years.

He said the TWG believed tax-free capital gains have been "mostly enjoyed by our wealthiest households", and therefore "taxing them would help reduce the gap between rich and poor".

But not everyone in the TWG was on-board. Business NZ has highlighted how three members - Business NZ CEO Kirk Hope, former Bell Gully tax partner Joanne Hodge, and former Inland Revenue Deputy Commissioner (Policy) Robin Oliver - did not agree on recommending a CGT.

Their view, it noted, is that administration costs and complexity would "outweigh the revenues that could be gained from a comprehensive capital gains tax as proposed", and that it would "not significantly reduce overinvestment in housing or increase tax fairness".

Federated Farmers vice-president and commerce spokesperson Andrew Hoggard said a CGT would impose hefty costs, both in compliance for taxpayers and in administration for Inland Revenue, and it will do little or nothing to ease the housing crisis."

ACT leader David Seymour said the proposed CGT was "offensive to New Zealand values", saying the Government should be encouraging people to invest in assets - not scare them away from it.

"This tax will reduce saving and investment in productive assets - the very assets an economy needs to grow and prosper - by double taxing them."

The Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce also raised concerns about a CGT, with chief executive Leeann Watson saying on Thursday the recommendations of the TWG report were "disappointing".

"We support the Government's review to ensure that our tax system is fit for purpose for a changing business environment," she said.

"However, there is very real concern that taxing both shares and business assets under a comprehensive capital gains tax regime would create double taxation.

"This could disadvantage New Zealanders owning shares in New Zealand and create inconsistencies around overall taxation on investment."

Nevertheless, she said the level of consultation around the proposed changes is a positive sign: "There has been considerable engagement on this issue, with submissions in the thousands from New Zealanders including iwi, businesses and unions."

Support for capital gains tax

There is support for a CGT however, with a body representing over 2000 accountants noting how New Zealand is an "outlier amongst developed nations in lacking a capital gains tax, one of the recommendations of the report".

"In our submission, we clearly stated the most appropriate vehicle for broadening the tax base is via a broader based capital gains tax," Paul Drum, head of external affairs at CPA (Certified Practising Accountant) Australia, said.

It would come as no surprise that the Green Party has also welcomed the recommendation of a CGT. The party's finance spokesperson James Shaw saying the recommendations would enhance New Zealanders' wellbeing.

"New Zealand's tax system has it strengths, but there is plenty of room for improvement," he said on Thursday.

"That is why the Green Party is incredibly pleased to see the Tax Working Group put forward a report that proposes taxation that is fair and progressive."

New Zealand already has a variation on a CGT. The Taxation (Bright-line Test for Residential Land) Bill requires income tax to be paid on any gains from residential property that was sold within five years of purchase.

However, the bright-line test does not currently apply a person's main home, nor does it apply to property acquired through inheritance.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday the Government will give its response to the TWG recommendations once the public has had the opportunity to respond. The official response will be given in April.

Introducing a CGT will be a hard sell for the Prime Minister. She scrapped Labour's capital gains policy a week before the 2017 election in the face of immense criticism and attack ads from the National Party.

She announced in a speech to the business community earlier this month that changes will be made to the tax system this year, but did not elaborate.

A Newshub-Reid Research poll found that the majority of New Zealanders do not want a CGT, with 54 percent saying "no", and just 32 percent saying "yes."

Newshub.
Despite its Kiwi founder and large presence in New Zealand, Rocket Lab is actually an American company based in Los Angeles, with a "wholly-owned New Zealand subsidiary". Its investors include ACC, weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the Australian sovereign wealth fund, as well as various venture firms, including Warehouse millionaire Stephen Tindall's K1W1.

One of Beck's followers sarcastically said it was a "surprise" to see a "complaining millionaire" opposed a capital gains tax. Mr Beck rejected this characterisation of his view.

"A concerned citizen eager to support an economy of high value technology companies that employ lots of people and do great things," he replied.

Economist Bernard Hickey replied to Mr Beck, saying his view shows why a land tax may have been a better way of achieving a more equitable tax system.

Rocket Lab manufactures its rockets in California, though most of its employees are based in New Zealand, NBR reports. Beck says there are no plans to change that setup, with Mahia Peninsula also set to remain its primary launch site.

"Look, we've been an American company and proud of it for many years," he told NBR last year.

"The New Zealand element is very important and very special to us but we never tried to hide the fact we're a US company and this is where New Zealand companies go wrong in the fact that if you want to be a large, successful global company, it's very difficult to be that out of New Zealand."

Mr Beck last year said he hoped the company would be "cash-flow positive" soon, after more than a decade of preparation.

Newshub.
There are warnings people living in the north of New Zealand could see flooding on Friday as Cyclone Oma "streaks" towards New Zealand.

Oma is not expected pass over New Zealand, but will affect the weather.

Both NIWA and MetService have warned the cyclone could be bringing some rough weather to Northland and Auckland as it makes its way past.

MetService has issued a severe weather warning for Northland due to the rain, saying the region could see up to 100mm of rain.

"A low is expected to move across the upper North Island on Friday, bringing rain. The heaviest falls are forecast to affect Northland, and a full Warning is now in force," it said in a statement.

NIWA warned Auckland would be impacted by the weather too, and conditions could become hazardous after weeks without water in the north.

"Heavy rain possible for the extremely dry Northland on Friday as moisture from Tropical #CycloneOma streaks toward the region.

"When combined with dry, concrete-like ground, there may be flooding due to excessive runoff. Auckland will see some rain too."
Women currently make up around 19 percent of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

To talk more about why this is a reality and what it takes to have a career in aviation, engineering officer George Magdalinos spoke to The AM Show.

Watch the video.
British TV star Martin Clunes has savaged New Zealand's zoos in a recent interview, describing them as "awful places for such a modern country".

Speaking to The Telegraph, the actor-turned-nature-documentary-maker said he was unhappy with zoos in New Zealand and they should all be shut down.

"I wish they'd just shut all the bloody zoos, let those animals die, the ones that can't be rehomed," he told The Telegraph.

"You do get some surprises. I would say New Zealand is really backwards with its zoos - awful places for such a modern country."

His controversial comments have angered Wellington Zoo CEO Karen Fifield.

Ms Fifield told NZME Mr Clunes' ideas about New Zealand zoos were ill-informed, and ignored the conservation efforts made by New Zealand zoos.

"I am not sure which New Zealand zoos Mr Clunes visited, but the progressive New Zealand zoos are well-run and have animal welfare and saving species at the forefront of their work," Ms Fifield told NZME.

"New Zealand zoos are staffed by professional experts in animal husbandry and welfare, with more qualifications and experience in this area than I suggest Mr Clunes has."

Ms Fifield said our zoos are all members of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, and therefore are animal welfare accredited.

Newshub.
The New Zealand Defence Force has been called out to a property in Western Springs after a suspicious item was found.

A resident of Finch Street who spoke to police told Newshub the item was believed to be a pipe bomb.

A Defence Force bomb disposal expert was at the scene.

A Defence Force spokesperson told Newshub a potentially hazardous item was found at the property.

They said it was "confirmed as inert and handed over to New Zealand Police for a subsequent investigation".

Newshub.
Footage has emerged of Eminem refusing to perform his Machine Gun Kelly diss 'Killshot' onstage in Brisbane, as he doesn't want to "give that c**ksucker" further attention.

The 'My Name Is' rapper was finishing his concert on Wednesday night (local time) when the crowd began chanting "Killshot" over and over.

The song was the last in a series of back-and-forth diss tracks he and Kelly [MGK] released in 2018 - but he didn't want to sing it for his Aussie fans.

"I would, but I can't give that c**ksucker any more f**king light," Eminem says in the video.

"Brisbane, make it home safe. Make some noise for your-f**king-selves and make nothing for MGK."

Eminem targeted MGK in multiple tracks on his 2018 album Kamikaze, provoking the younger rapper to respond with 'Rap Devil'. That was followed by 'Killshot', which MGK has responded to on social media and in interviews, but not with a subsequent track.

Eminem is heading to New Zealand after his Australian tour dates, where he is scheduled to perform in Wellington on March 2.

Kiwi fans expecting to see him belt out 'Killshot' will likely also be disappointed.

Full track list of Eminem's February 20, 2019 concert in Brisbane:

Greatest Won't Back Down 3 a.m. Square Dance Kill You White America Rap God Sing for the Moment Like Toy Soldiers Lucky You Forever (Drake cover) Just Don't Give a F**k Fall Criminal The Way I Am Walk on Water (with Skylar Grey) Stan (with Skylar Grey) Love the Way You Lie (with Skylar Grey) Majesty (Nicki Minaj cover) Berzerk 'Till I Collapse Cinderella Man Caterpillar (with Royce da 5'9") Fast Lane (with Royce da 5'9") Rainy Days (Boogie cover) (with Boogie) River The Monster (with Skylar Grey) My Name Is The Real Slim Shady Without Me Not Afraid Lose Yourself

Newshub.
It's not just map-makers that frequently leave out New Zealand - game designers seem to have a blind spot where Aotearoa should be too.

A section of web forum Reddit devoted to geographically-challenged maps missing the Land of the Long White Cloud has more than 62,000 members.

And US comedian John Oliver highlighted the phenomenon this week, his TV show Last Week Tonight providing its social media followers with a cut-out New Zealand to stick on "any map that needs it".

Wellington gamer Jarrod Carmichael, who runs popular YouTube channel 3 Minute Board Games, says New Zealand gets the short stick from game designers too.

He's shared some of the most egregious examples on his Twitter account - for example Twilight Struggle, a critically acclaimed game about the 20th century ideological struggle between the US and the Soviet Union.

"Looks like we skipped the Cold War," he noted.
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Who is Shang-Chi and what are the 10 Rings?

The comic book origins of Shang-Chi, the next MCU solo star
Elizabeth DePompei is the digital editor for The News and Tribune. She has degrees in journalism and film from the University of Cincinnati and CUNY's Hunter College and was previously the paper's criminal justice reporter.

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Funeral services were held at 6:00 PM on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at Scott Funeral Home, 2515 Veterans Parkway, Jeffersonville, IN. Visitation was 2 to 6 PM on Saturday.
Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, who has championed the ERA, gave a floor speech Thursday in which she accused the powerful men opposing the ERA of giving in to the same type of fear that fueled Virginias Massive Resistance movement against school desegregation.

Fear has caused this body to be on the wrong side of history too many times and for far too long, Carroll Foy said. ...You can either walk in fear. Or you can walk in faith. And facts. And join the majority of states and our brothers and sisters on the Senate side, and pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, took exception to that characterization, saying ERA supporters had engaged in fear-mongering by portraying Republicans as anti-woman. In other states that have ratified the ERA, Gilbert said, pro-choice groups have used equal protection language as a legal basis to expand abortion rights.

To accuse those of us who have legitimate concerns about this of being merely out to oppress people, to treat them as second-class citizens because we value the sanctity of life, among all these other reasons, is absurd, Gilbert said. And it's unfortunate."
Four other officers who were injured by gunfire  a 24-year-old with shrapnel wounds to the upper body, a 52-year-old officer shot in his upper body and two officers shot in the lower body, one 52 years old and one 53  were all released from the hospital. A sixth officer suffered a minor injury while responding to the shooting. That injury wasnt directly tied to gunfire.
Lynchburg police are investigating a reported robbery attempt at the Family Dollar store at 3516 Campbell Avenue.

Police went to the store at 7:28 p.m. Wednesday. A clerk told officers a man entered the business, "produced a knife in a threatening manner" and demanded money, according to a Lynchburg Police Department news release.

The clerk refused to hand over the money, and the suspect left on foot. No one was injured.

The man is described as black, 5-feet-9-inches to 6-feet-tall, with a thin build, black jacket, blue jeans with white markings, and a black rag covering the lower part of his face, according to the news release.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Det. T.C. Barley at (434) 455-6162 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900. Visit the Central Virginia Crime Stoppers website at www.cvcrimestoppers.org to enter a web tip, or text CVCS plus your message to 274637.

Contact Matt Busse at (434) 385-5534 or mbusse@newsadvance.com.

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He added hell continue to monitor the sites traffic plan and would not support transfer station truck traffic traveling Stonewall Road and the through the traffic light at U.S. 460.

Chad Millner  Falling River District. Voted FOR

Millner asked for clarification before the vote regarding whether County Waste would be responsible for monitoring and cleaning up any trash or debris along all rights of way within 500 feet of each commercial entrance as well as any that has blown elsewhere, with permission from landowners. County Waste would need to abide by that condition as approved by the board.

Requests for comment from The News & Advance via phone call and email to Millner werent returned as of press time Wednesday.

Watkins Abbitt Jr.  Piney Mountain District. Voted FOR

Abbitt said the transfer station will be a good, clean project for the county, also recognizing the Region 2000 landfills limited lifespan.

It seemed like a win for the county. I understand the passion that people had; I dont understand the personal attacks [at the meeting], he said in a phone interview Wednesday, It was the right thing for the county.
One of the goals President Donald Trump announced in his State of the Union address was to stop the spread of HIV in the U.S. within 10 years.

In addition to sending extra money to 48 mainly urban counties, Washington, D.C., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, Trumps plan targets seven states where rural transmission of HIV is especially high.

Health officials and doctors treating patients with HIV in those states say any extra funding would be welcome. But they say strategies that work in progressive cities like Seattle wont necessarily work in rural areas of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Stigma around HIV and AIDS and around being gay runs deep in parts of Oklahoma, said Dr. Michelle Salvaggio, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Institute at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. The institute is one of two federally funded HIV clinics in Oklahoma; the other is in Tulsa, the states second-largest city.

A Long Drive For Anonymity

Salvaggios clinic has six exam rooms where she sees patients, many of whom drive hours for treatment. The clinic used to employ a case manager in rural Woodward County, a little more than two hours drive northwest of Oklahoma City.

But Salvaggio said that ended up being a waste of money. We had to let that position go, because nobody would go see her, Salvaggio said. Because they didnt want to be seen walking into the HIV case managers office in that tiny town  that can only mean one thing.

In Oklahoma, as in much of the U.S., black gay and bisexual men have the highest risk of HIV infection. Other groups with elevated risk in Oklahoma include Latinos, heterosexual women and Native Americans.

Salvaggio applauds the goal of ending HIV transmissions within 10 years but said she doesnt think its feasible in Oklahoma. The plan fails to recognize the particular ways different populations experience the epidemic, she said.

Native Americans in Oklahoma, for example, cant count on the anonymity of a large health clinic.

When they go into an Indian Health Service clinic, it is possible that they will see their cousin behind the desk, and their cousins brother-in-law working in medical records, and their nieces boyfriend working in the pharmacy, Salvaggio said.

Even if Native Americans have access to HIV care at the clinic, she said, they are literally in fear of being outed.

Social Support Services Needed

Ky Humbles hometown is Afton, Okla., which had a population of about 800 when he was growing up. He belongs to the Cherokee Nation and was raised a Southern Baptist. He doesnt remember learning about HIV at all when he was in school.

Even if I did, it clearly wasnt enough, Humble said. I knew I was gay in middle school; I think I would have paid attention.

When he was diagnosed with HIV six years ago, at age 21, Humble felt as if his life was ending.

I knew that that was a thing, [but] I was very ignorant, he recalled. I was two weeks away from graduating from college  youre supposed to be on top of the world. I thought it was a death sentence.

He called his mom right away. She immediately drove across the state to be with him.

We just sat there and cried for six hours straight, Humble said. And then we actually went [out] and bought several books on HIV, and just started reading them  to try to figure out what was going on.

Today, Humble is healthy. His HIV levels are undetectable and he gets regular medical treatment to keep it that way. He now lives in Oklahoma City, but his family still lives in his hometown. He said some people back in Afton know he has HIV, and some dont.

Its like coming out as diabetic, Humble said. I dont necessarily tell people that Im HIV-positive. Its just part of who I am; it doesnt define me.

He said he is cautiously optimistic that the Trump administrations plan could mean more funding for HIV prevention in Oklahoma. But rural Oklahomans, Humble said, also need access to wraparound services  such as food pantries, mental health therapy and transportation assistance  to help them deal with the disease.

I have friends who have HIV and live in rural areas, and just getting to appointments is challenging, he said.

Oklahomas Uninsured Rate Is Second-Highest In U.S.

Exactly how much money the presidents HIV plan will get is up to Congress. But even inexpensive, proven methods for fighting HIV  like distributing condoms  can be a tough sell in a state that doesnt mandate comprehensive sex education.

Informational HIV talks with teenagers often turn into a basic health class for dispelling myths, said Andy Moore, clinic administrator of the Infectious Diseases Institute at the University of Oklahoma.

Weve had teenagers write questions like Ive heard that if you douche with Mountain Dew after sex that it kills sperm,' Moore said. They earnestly want to know if thats true. We have to back way up and explain what sex is, how babies are made, different types of sex  before we can teach them about HIV prevention, he said.

Another issue in Oklahoma, Moore said, is that people aren't getting diagnosed with HIV until they're already sick because of AIDS, or close to that point.

Which indicates that they didn't get tested until they had been living with the disease for six, eight, 10 years, Moore said. We have one of the highest rates of late testing.

Salvaggio said thousands of people across Oklahoma would need to be tested for HIV to reach the administrations goal. And Oklahoma has the second-highest uninsured rate in the nation after Texas  meaning many people dont have a primary care doctor, let alone prescription drug coverage for drugs like Truvada, which can be used to prevent HIV infection.

Its also one of 14 states that havent expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. So, even if more people were tested for HIV, getting those who need it into treatment wouldnt be easy, Salvaggio said.

Health care in Oklahoma is underfunded, she said, and couldnt cope with a sudden influx of new patients. I dont know what wed do with all those new patients, she said. We dont have a facility to see them in, and we dont have [the] providers.

This story is part of a partnership that includes StateImpact Oklahoma, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
Salt apparently affects allergic immune reactions. A team working with Prof. Christina Zielinski at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has demonstrated in cell cultures that salt leads to the formation of Th2 cells. These immune cells are active in allergic conditions such as atopic dermatitis. The team also detected elevated salt concentrations in the skin of patients.

In industrial countries, nearly one in three people are affected by allergies at some point in their lives. One in ten children suffer from atopic dermatitis. T-cells play an important role in immune conditions of this kind. They are a vital aspect of the body's resistance to infections, but, if uncontrolled, can also develop pathological responses and start attacking parts of our bodies or innocuous substances such as allergens.

When such functions occur, Th2 cells, a subgroup of T cells, can cause inflammatory skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis. This involves increased production of the proteins interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 13 (IL-13). It is still unknown what triggers the signalling malfunction.

More Th2 cells under the influence of sodium ions

Table salt, known scientifically as sodium chloride, is essential to the health of humans and animals. In the body it occurs in the form of sodium and chlorine ions. In a recent study, Christina Zielinski, a DZIF-professor at TUM's Institute of Virology, and her team were able to demonstrate that sodium chloride can induce a state in human T cells that causes them to produce increased amounts of the proteins IL-4 and IL-13.

Types of T-cells, which should not cause allergies, can, in the presence of salt, turn into Th2 cells. The changes are reversed when the T cell is again exposed to lower salt levels. "Consequently, ionic signals do play a role in the generation and control of Th2 cells," says Christina Zielinski.

Highly elevated salt levels in the skin of patients suffering from atopic dermatitis

As a medical specialist in the field of dermatology, Zielinski is naturally interested in atopic dermatitis. Her team investigated whether the affected skin regions of atopic dermatitis patients exhibit elevated sodium levels." Measuring sodium concentrations in the tissue is complicated," explains the first author of the study, Julia Matthias. "Dissolved salt in blood can be measured using standard clinical methods. But for the skin, we needed the help of colleagues in nuclear chemistry and physics." They tested the skin samples at the Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) at TUM and at the Institute for Nuclear Chemistry at the University of Mainz by means of neutron activation analysis. The sodium levels in the affected skin areas of patients suffering from atopic dermatitis proved to be up to 30 times higher than in healthy skin.

Ideal conditions for bacteria thriving under salty conditions

"The higher sodium levels in the affected skin neatly match another characteristic of atopic dermatitis," says Christina Zielinski. "It has been known for some time that patients with this condition have elevated levels of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus on their skin. These are bacteria, which thrive under salty conditions - in contrast to other commensal bacteria, which are in fact harmed by salt." Zielinski believes that this insight along with others and the current research results point to a link between salt and the occurrence of atopic dermatitis.

"However, we have not yet been able to show how these large quantities of salt find their way to the skin," she concedes. "For that reason, we are also unsure of how a low-salt or high-salt diet might be related to the appearance and progression of atopic dermatitis or other allergic conditions." Professor Zielinski and her team hope to answer these and other questions in future interdisciplinary studies.
The technology, developed by researchers at Imperial College London and The University of Hong Kong, can be used to measure hormones that affect fertility, sexual development and menstruation more quickly and cheaply than current methods.

The work, published in Nature Communications, took place in the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London and the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. It was tested in patients at Hammersmith Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

A third of women in England suffer from severe reproductive health problems such as infertility and early menopause. Doctors usually diagnose these conditions by carrying out a blood test to measure the amount of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the sample. Current blood tests cannot easily measure the rise and fall of LH levels which is vital for normal fertility - so-called LH pulse patterns that are linked to reproductive disorders. It is not currently feasible to measure LH pulse patterns in a clinical setting as doctors need to take a blood sample from patients every 10 minutes for at least eight hours. In addition, the analysis of these samples is time consuming as the blood needs to be sent to a laboratory and testing is expensive.

The researchers behind the trial have used a novel biosensor linked to a robotic system, which they call Robotic APTamer-enabled Electrochemical Reader (RAPTER). It has the potential to transform the clinical care of patients with reproductive disorders by monitoring the hormone patterns of patients in real-time. In the study, the prototype RAPTER device was used to measure LH in the blood of patients taken every ten minutes to yield an immediate result.

The team believe that it could pave the way for more personalized medicine. They hope that the technology can be developed to give clinicians a clearer picture of LH pulsatility and suggest more effective treatments based on an individual's needs.

Professor Waljit Dhillo, one of the lead authors and NIHR Research Professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Imperial College London, said:

"Reproductive health issues are common amongst women in the UK and around the world. Diagnosis of some of these conditions can be lengthy resulting in delays to treatment. Reproductive health issues can also impact on women's mental and physical wellbeing. There is a clear need for new and better ways to diagnose these conditions more quickly. Our technology will be able to give clinicians a faster and more accurate diagnosis of hormone pulsatility that affects reproductive health, which could lead to better and more targeted treatments for women."

In the study, which took place between 2015 and 2019, researchers used the RAPTER to measure LH pulse patterns from 441 blood samples of women who either had normal reproductive function, were menopausal, or had hypothalamic amenorrhea, a condition where a woman's period stops. The large-scale device then gave an immediate reading.

Working with researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter, the team then used a mathematical method called the Bayesian Spectrum Analysis (BSA) to give an overall score of LH pulse levels. The results were compared with current tests to measure LH levels.

The RAPTER platform was able to detect changes in LH pulse patterns in patients with reproductive disorders. It was also able to distinguish between different patient cohorts for the first time using this new technology. For example, women with menopause have high LH levels compared to healthy fertile women with normal LH levels, or women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea who have low LH levels. Unlike current methods, the test is low-cost and can provide results instantly.

The team will now work on refining the technology to create a smaller sensor similar to a glucose monitoring device that can be used to continuously track changes to LH levels of patients in the clinic or remotely and could be available in the next three to five years.

Professor Tony Cass, a senior author on the study from the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London, said:

"We have developed technology that is able to measure LH pulsatility in patients more quickly and cheaply than current methods. We will now work towards making the technology more accessible for the clinic by reducing the size of the device, which could revolutionize the clinical care of patients with reproductive or other disorders."

Dr Julian Tanner, a senior author on the study from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong, added that the technology could also be developed to monitor other hormones such as cortisol. He added: "The detection methodology that we have developed for LH sensing is widely applicable for real-time monitoring of all kinds of biomolecules that relate to health and wellbeing. Excitingly, with further research this technology could be adapted for implanted sensors that could transform health monitoring in all kinds of contexts."
In a growing number of states, patients who get opioids for serious pain may leave their doctors' offices with a second prescription  for naloxone, a drug that can save their lives if they overdose on the powerful painkillers.

New state laws and regulations in California, Virginia, Arizona, Ohio, Washington, Vermont and Rhode Island require physicians to "co-prescribe" or at least offer naloxone prescriptions when prescribing opioids to patients considered at high risk of overdosing. Patients can be considered at high risk if they need a large opioid dosage, take certain other drugs or have sleep apnea or a history of addiction.

Such co-prescribing mandates are emerging as the latest tactic in a war against an epidemic of prescription and illegal opioids that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over the past two decades.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to recommend naloxone co-prescribing nationally (an FDA subcommittee recently voted in favor), and other federal health officials already recommend it for certain patients. And the companies that make the drug are supportive of the moves. It's not hard to see why: An FDA analysis estimated that more than 48 million additional naloxone doses would be needed if the agency officially recommended co-prescribing nationally.

Most states have limited the volume of opioids doctors can prescribe at one time and dramatically expanded access to naloxone. In California, for example, pharmacists can provide naloxone directly to consumers who are taking illegal or prescription opioids or know someone who is.

In the states with co-prescribing rules, patients aren't required to fill their naloxone prescriptions, and those with cancer or who are in nursing homes or hospice typically are exempted.

Kristy Shepard of Haymarket, Va., was surprised to find a naloxone prescription waiting for her recently when she went to the pharmacy to pick up her opioid meds. Her first instinct was not to fill it. She did so only after the nurse in her doctor's office pressured her to. The doctor had never talked to her about Virginia's new co-prescribing law, she said.

Its so silly. I didnt feel like I needed it. Unless I plan to hurt myself, I'm not likely to overdose," said Shepard, 41, a registered nurse and hospital administrator who can no longer work and has applied for disability benefits.

But it may not be as difficult as some people think to overdose on prescription painkillers.

"You can take pain meds responsibly, and you can be at risk for an accidental overdose even when you're doing everything right," said Dr. Nathan Schlicher, an emergency medicine physician in Washington state and a member of the state hospital association's opioid task force.

Two million Americans have an addiction to prescription painkillers, according to the FDA. And nearly 218,000 people in the U.S. died from overdosing on them from 1999 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During that same period, prescription opioid deaths rose fivefold, the CDC data show.

In California, doctors wrote nearly 22 million opioid prescriptions in 2017 and 1,169 people died that year from overdosing on prescription opioids. Common prescription opioids include Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, morphine, codeine and fentanyl.

To counter this trend, "states are scrambling for any policy lever they can find," said Kitty Purington, senior program director at the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Even before the state mandates, pain specialists considered it good practice to prescribe naloxone along with opioid painkillers for some patients, particularly those with a history of substance abuse.

Doctor lobbying groups typically resist government rules regarding their practice, but medical associations in some states supported or at least remained neutral on naloxone co-prescribing mandates.

The companies that make the drug have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively lobbying for their interests at the state level.

Kaleo, which makes the naloxone auto-injector Evzio, spent $77,200 in 2017-18 lobbying California lawmakers on bills expanding access to naloxone, including the state's co-prescribing law, which requires doctors to offer prescriptions for naloxone to high-risk patients who get opioids.

In December, Kaleo introduced a lower-cost generic version of the injector after a Senate investigation found the company had raised the price of its branded version 600 percent from 2014 to 2017, to $4,100 for two injectors.

Adapt Pharma, which makes the naloxone nasal spray Narcan, spent $48,000 to lobby California lawmakers on the co-prescribing legislation.

One advantage of the co-prescribing rules is that they foster important doctor-patient conversations about the risks of opioids, said Dr. Farshad Ahadian, medical director at the UC San Diego Health Center for Pain Medicine.

"Most providers probably feel that it's better for physicians to self-regulate rather than practice medicine from the seat of the legislature," Ahadian said. "The truth is there's been a lot of harm from opioids, a lot of addiction. It's undeniable that we have to yield to that and to recognize that public safety is critical."

But some doctors  not to mention patients  have reservations about the new requirements. Some physicians say it will be nearly impossible for states to enforce the mandates. Others worry that prescribing naloxone to patients who live alone is useless, because it typically must be administered by another person  ideally one who has been trained to do it.

Patients fear that naloxone prescriptions could unfairly stigmatize them as drug addicts and cause life insurers to deny them coverage.

Shepard, the disabled Virginia nurse and a mother of four, said she worries that her naloxone prescription could affect her chances of getting additional life insurance  a pressing question, she said, as her lupus worsens over time.

Katie OLeary, a pain patient in Los Angeles, is wary of state mandates requiring doctors to prescribe the antidote naloxone along with opioid painkillers to reverse the effects of overdosing. "So many patients already jump through so many hoops to get their meds," she says.

And a Boston-area nurse who worked at an addiction treatment program was turned down by two life insurers simply because she carried naloxone for her patients.

The decision to prescribe naloxone "is something that should be between a doctor and a patient, because every situation is unique," said Katie O'Leary, a 31-year-old movie production company office manager who lives in Los Angeles and was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome about five years ago.

"So many patients already jump through so many hoops to get their meds," O'Leary said. "And if you live alone and don't have family or friends to take care of you, the naloxone might not be something that could actually help."

Opioid addiction and overdoses are a complex problem, and naloxone is just one part of the solution, said Dr. Ben Bobrow, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

"In the past, pain was the fifth vital sign; we thought we were doing a bad job if we were undertreating pain," Bobrow said. "Inadvertently, we were harming people. We ended up getting all these people hooked. Now it's our job to help them find other [ways] of treating their pain."

California Healthline digital reporter Harriet Blair Rowan contributed to this report.
Gift from Semmelweis University Budapest to mark 200th birth anniversary of the "inventor" of hand hygiene

The 200th anniversary of Ignaz Semmelweis' birth was commemorated on 1 July 2018. On Wednesday evening, a statue of the doctor, kindly donated by Semmelweis University Budapest, was unveiled at MedUni Vienna, in memory of the "inventor" of hand hygiene. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Hungarian State President Janos Ader, the first President of Vienna State Parliament, Ernst Woller, Director of Vienna General Hospital Herwig Wetzlinger, Bela Merkely (Rector of Semmelweis University Budapest) and MedUni Vienna Rector Markus Muller. The statue was created by Hungarian artist Peter Parkanyi Raab.

The statue is a gift from Semmelweis University Budapest to mark the 200th birth anniversary of the "inventor" of hand hygiene.

The clinical work, strength of character and determination that characterised Ignaz Semmelweis should serve as an example and inspiration to us all. Ignaz Semmelweis can be counted as one of the ten greatest clinical doctors in the world. He championed his theory throughout his entire life and his insights saved millions of lives. I am delighted that his memorial now stands here at MedUni Vienna  because, after Budapest, Semmelweis's life is primarily associated with Vienna." Bela Merkely, Rector of Semmelweis University Budapest

Ignaz Semmelweis was one of the most important doctors of his time and an ardent champion of medical innovation. Medicine has much to thank him for. If he were alive today, he would certainly be a favorite candidate for a Nobel prize. Sadly, his immense achievements were only recognized after his death at the tender age of 47," said Markus Muller, Rector of MedUni Vienna, underscoring the huge importance of Ignaz Semmelweis.

About Ignaz Semmelweis

The Budapest-born, Viennese surgeon and obstetrician (1 July 1818 to 13 August 1865) is regarded as the pioneer of medical hygiene and a champion of medical progress. In the face of strong opposition, he established the strict hospital hand hygiene regulations in around 1847 at the first Viennese Maternity Hospital. This measure significantly reduced mortality due to puerperal (childbed) fever. Semmelweis observed that the mortality rate on obstetric wards where patients were cared for by nuns or midwives was much lower than onwards where doctors and medical students worked, since the latter also performed autopsies.

Semmelweis discovered that the infections, and hence the associated mortality, were caused by the transfer of infectious material (bacteria were not known about at the time). He instructed the doctors and medical students to disinfect their hands thoroughly with a chlorine solution, and later with chlorinated lime, before each delivery or before examining a pregnant woman. This hygiene measure proved extremely effective and the mortality rate fell from a maximum of around 8% to 1.3%. Later on, Semmelweis tightened up these regulations so that doctors had to disinfect their hands before every examination, with the result that, after a few months, there were no fatalities at all.

About the artist

Peter Parkanyi Raab, Hungarian sculptor, born in Balassagyarmat on 6 September 1967. He commenced his studies at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in 1987, studying old masters Istvan Kiss and Gyorgy Jovanovics. He graduated in 1992 and three years later gained his masters degree at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts. He strives for integrity in his synthetic materials and seeks beauty, grace, inner harmony and truth in his works. He sees the Semmelweis bust as a salute to the man "who saved wives for their husbands and mothers for their children".
Scaling up the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine could eradicate cervical cancer in high-income countries within 30 years, with most other countries following by the end of the century, according to new research.

birdstocker | Shutterstock

In 2018, there were 570,000 new cases of cervical cancer, which represented 6.6% of all female cancers. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that around 90% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) belongs to a family of viruses that affect the skin and membranes lining the body, including the cervix, anus, and the mouth and throat.

HPV is extremely common, and there are more than 100 strains, 14 of which are oncogenic (cancer-causing). These strains have been linked to cervical cancer in women, as well as anal, penis, and some types of head and neck cancer in men as well.

It is believed that the high mortality rate from cervical cancer could be dramatically reduced through prevention, early diagnosis, and effective screening and treatment programs.

Lead author of the study and a professor at the Cancer Council New South Wales in Sydney Karen Canfell said that reaching a point of virtual elimination in all countries will depend on sustaining  and hopefully improving  rates of participation in existing HPV vaccination programs and cervical screening initiatives.

There are vaccines currently available that protect against two strains of HPV: strains 16 and 18. These strains are responsible for 70% of cervical cancer cases.

Without further intervention through vaccination, over 44.4 million women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer across the next 50 years, according to a study published on The Lancet Oncology.

While the vaccine has been rolled out in most high-income countries, middle- and low-income countries do not enjoy the same level of coverage. The World Health Organization has called for global action to scale up vaccination, screening, treatment of pre-cancer, early detection and quick treatment of early invasive cancers, as well as palliative care.

However, The Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine revealed that acceptance rates dropped from over 75% to under 1%.

There has been a backlash against the HPV vaccine after reports of a number of girls in Colombia began presenting adverse psychosomatic symptoms including fainting and unconsciousness after receiving the vaccine.

Epidemiological investigations by Colombian health authorities found no organic association between the HPV vaccine and their adverse symptoms.

With a scale-up of global vaccination coverage to 80 to 100% with a broad-spectrum HPV vaccine by 2020 6.7-7.7 million cases could be prevented, the Australia-based study claimed, but added more than half of these cases will be averted after 2060.

For low- and middle-income countries, the study posited that undertaking screenings twice per lifetime at the ages of 35 and 45 years with 70% global coverage would avert a total of 12.5-13.4 million cases in the next 50 years.

Canfell has said that despite the enormity of the problem, our findings suggest that global elimination is within reach.

But, the study also warns that rates of less than four new cases per 100,000 women wouldnt be achieved by the end of the century in every country with a low human development index.

We should not forget that in some senses the journey towards cervical cancer elimination is only just the beginning... The challenge is even greater in the worlds poorest countries, which not only have had very limited access to these key innovations, but also have some of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. Karen Canfell, Senior Author

She emphasized the situation as a tragedy, not only for women but also for their families and broader society.

In 2020, the World Health Assembly will consider a draft global strategy that aims to accelerate cervical cancer elimination, and findings brought about by this new study have helped to develop elimination targets for the period 2020-30.
Only half of GP practice buildings in England are fit for purpose, with surgeries too small to meet the demands of growing populations, a major survey on practice premises from the British Medical Association (BMA) has found.

The survey of more than 1,000 practices in England asked doctors and practice managers about their experiences with property ownership and management. One of the main findings is that eight out of ten GPs said their premises are not fit to meet anticipated future needs.

The findings present a snapshot of the GP premises landscape, as well as the issues faced by family doctors, staff and their patients. Key findings include:

Only half of practices said their premises were suitable for present needs.

Around eight in ten practices said their practices were not suitable for future needs or anticipated population growth.

GP premises are on average 35-years-old, having been first built or converted in 1984.

Eight in 10 practices are in purpose-built premises.

The last significant modification or extension to premises took place in the mid-2000s (2005), on average, pre-dating many of the increases in patient demand and population growth witnessed over the last decade.

When asked what would make premises more suitable for present needs, most practices noted that more space is needed, including by extending the premises, more consulting rooms to manage a growing patient list, improving access including for disabled patients, and expanded and improved patient waiting and reception areas.

Of those respondents who said they had applied to NHS England for improvement grants, the majority reported waiting in the region of three to six months to receive information on the status of their application. However, some reported waiting more than two years with the process ongoing.

Eight in 10 practices leasing from an NHS organization said they had been invoiced with charges that were inaccurate in the last 12 months, with only 5% reporting these issues had been resolved4.

In light of the surveys findings, the BMA is now urging the Government to use next months spending review to invest in GP premises. The BMA is also calling for health bosses to remove bureaucratic barriers that can often prevent practices carrying out the improvements that they need.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, said:

GPs have been telling us for years that their practice buildings are not up to scratch, and now we have evidence showing just how serious the situation is. Despite their best efforts, GPs and their teams are ultimately limited by space, and cannot meet the growing needs of their patients without an urgent increase in capacity. What is most worrying is how few practices feel their buildings are prepared for the future, with just two in 10 saying they are fit to meet anticipated future demand. Without more space and the ability to add rooms and facilities easily, patients will continue to face long waits for appointments, as GPs and their wider practice staff can only work with what they have. The BMA recently came to a significant agreement with NHS England as part of contract negotiations to expand the primary care workforce  with groups of practices employing pharmacists, physiotherapists and other professionals  but for patients to benefit from this expanded team, they too will require space to work. Our research shows that the solution to this problem is not as simple as partners adding rooms or extending their surgeries to meet demand, with approval processes arduous and NHS grant applications not always running smoothly. GPs who lease their buildings from the NHS face their own set of problems, with rocketing and unwarranted service charges and management fees often not met with adequate maintenance. At a time when GPs are facing extreme financial pressures, these unilateral price rises could push practices to the brink. NHS England is due to publish the findings of its major review into GP practice premises, and we hope that it will provide some solutions to the problems persistently raised by our members. More broadly the government must use next months spending review to urgently invest in practice premises  as well as wider NHS infrastructure  to bring facilities up to 21st century standards and ensure that GPs and their colleagues throughout the health service can guarantee the best care now and in the future.

Dr Roberta King, a partner at the Panton Practice in Bournemouth, said:

When I started in 1991 we had 7,000 patients  that has grown to 15,000. We have been looking for a new site to rebuild for the past ten years but its just been impossible. Even back then we realised that we didnt have enough space and we have continued to grow. I think it does impact patient care and even if we were to have another three more doctors to care for patients and bring down our waiting times, we would have nowhere to put them. We have to optimise our space as much as possible  we even have doctors working in old admin rooms and occasionally in the loft. I would love a bigger building where we can offer all the services that patients need in one place, with district nurses, physios and all staff under one roof. All this talk in the Long-Term Plan of social prescribing and a recruitment drive for more NHS staff but I have no idea where I am going to put them  that is just not happening in my practice.

Tracey Rymer, practice manager at Byfield Medical Centre in Northamptonshire, said:
The fire was outside of the main building at the site, and involved burning pallets and other materials, according to officials.
Researchers at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, provide new evidence supporting an association between elevated levels of enteroviruses in the intestinal tracts of children and islet autoimmunity, a precursor to Type 1 diabetes. The paper appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

Approximately 40,000 cases of Type 1diabetes are diagnosed each year in the U.S. In Australia, where the study cohort originated, almost 60 percent of newly diagnosed cases are in children and people younger than 25 years.

Researchers examined blood and feces collected from 93 children as part of the Australian Viruses In the Genetically at Risk study (VIGR), a prospective birth cohort of children with at least one first-degree relative with Type 1 diabetes. The study used Virome-Capture-Sequencing for Vertebrate-infecting viruses (VirCapSeq-VERT), a viral sequencing tool developed at the CII that is up to 10,000 times more powerful at identifying viruses than conventional high-throughput (next generation) sequencing methods.

A test of fecal samples found 129 viruses that were more abundant in the guts of children with islet autoimmunity versus age and gender-matched controls, including five enterovirus-A viruses significantly more abundant in cases. The enterovirus A species includes viruses that are the source of common infant infections such as hand, foot and mouth disease, but also encephalitis; in most cases, however, infections are asymptomatic or mild. Researchers say further study is needed to pinpoint the specific virus or viruses that can lead to islet autoimmunity and Type 1 diabetes.

Blood samples did not show an association between enteroviruses and islet autoimmunity, a finding the researchers say is in keeping with the fact that the body clears viruses from the bloodstream more quickly than from the gut.

"These findings strengthen the model that enteroviruses can spread from the gut into a child's pancreas and trigger autoimmunity in the cells that regulate blood sugar," says Thomas Briese, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology and CII lead on the project. "Knowing the virus types involved is a critical step toward developing new strategies for prevention and treatment of Type 1 diabetes."
Longview, TX (75601)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Bouquets and Brickbats

Habitat for Humanity congratulated on another home
Past Lake County Blue Coat Award winners

The following is a list of Lake County Blue Coats, Inc. Jorge Medina Distinguished Service Award winners by year:

 1968: William Chamar, a Willoughby patrolman and retired Mentor-on-the-Lake police chief; David D. Chappell, a Painesville lieutenant; and Eldon J. Vogel, a Willoughby detective

 1969: William E. Crosier, a Willoughby detective, retired chief and retired Lake County chief deputy sheriff

 1970: Carl J. Janz Jr. of the Mentor Police Department

 1971: James Rarick, a Wickliffe patrolman; and Daniel Verh, a Wickliffe lieutenant

 1972: Gary Fink, an Eastlake patrolman and retired police chief

 1973: John R. Siebold, Leroy Township assistant fire chief, later chief

 1974: John T. Frisina, former director of the Lake-Geauga Narcotics Unit; and John R. Shook, a Painesville Fire Department captain

 1975: Richard Amiott, chief deputy of the Lake County Sheriffs Department, now retired Mentor police chief

 1977: Daniel A. Dunlap, Lake County deputy sheriff, now Lake County sheriff

 1978: Thomas Doyle, an Eastlake detective; and Leon Hodkey, an Eastlake juvenile justice detective

 1979: Ed Wild, a Mentor-on-the-Lake detective and retired police chief

 1980: David Ard, an Eastlake patrolman

 1981: John R. Urban, a captain of the special sheriffs department dive team

 1982: Richard Greben, a Willowick patrolman

 1983: Charles M. Caldwell, a lieutenant with the Lake County Sheriffs Department and retired Hunting Valley police chief; Eugene A. Rich, a Painesville detective; Dale Flood, a Lake County Sheriffs Department sergeant; Jerry White, Painesville police chief; and Ralph Zappola, a Mentor patrolman

 1984: James S. Fox, a Wickliffe patrolman and retired police chief

 1985: Daniel A. Dunlap, winner a second time; D. Jeffrey Farrone, a lieutenant with the Lake County Sheriffs Department; Dennis J. Soke, a Painesville detective; Michael G. Holly, a Painesville patrolman; Dan W. Llewellyn, a Mentor detective, now Lake Metroparks chief; James E. Foster, a Mentor detective; and Robert A. Varner II, a Madison Township patrolman

 1986: Robert Fisk, a Grand River part-time patrolman

 1987: Leadele Reese, a Mentor patrolman

 1989: Anne Garrison-Goodwin, head of the Drug Awareness Resistance Education program with the Lake County Narcotics Unit

 1990: Ronald Andolsek, a Kirtland patrolman; and Dennis T. Yarborough, Kirtland police chief

 1991: Judith Pugh, a sergeant with the Lake County Narcotics Agency; and Edward Ebert, a lieutenant with the Lake County Narcotics Agency

 1992: Michael E. Fielder, Perry Township Fire Department

 1993: Keith King, Lake County Sheriffs Department detective; Jamie Myers, Lake County Sheriffs Department detective; Lonnie Sparkman, Lake County Sheriffs Department lieutenant; Marilyn Satterfield, a Mentor police officer; and Fred Fuldauer, a Mentor police officer

 1994: Leonard F. Nosse Jr., a Wickliffe police officer; Thomas D. Schmidt, a Wickliffe police officer; Jamie R. Walsh, a Wickliffe police officer; and Sandra M. Zalar, a Wickliffe police dispatcher

 1995: David Luhta, a Painesville detective and retired police chief; Robert Sayer, a Painesville detective; Darryl Dunlap, a Painesville lieutenant; and David Austen, a Willoughby lieutenant

 1996: Alan Zwegat, a Willoughby Fire Department captain, now chief; Theodore Schueren, a Willoughby firefighter; and Kellee McDonald, a Willoughby firefighter

 1997: Matthew Byers, a Madison Township patrolman; and Mark Proud, a Madison Township patrolman

 1998: Keith A. DeWitt, a Waite Hill sergeant, now chief; Mike C. Valenti, a Waite Hill officer; Roger Loveland, a sergeant with the Lake County Sheriffs Department; and Regina Shumaker, a Concord Township firefighter

 1999: Craig Voll, a Wickliffe sergeant; and Rob Gandee, a Kirtland firefighter.

 2000: Carl Dondorfer, a sergeant with the Lake County Sheriffs Department; Mark Pannell, a Lake County deputy sheriff; and Carl Marine, a Painesville firefighter

 2001: Alan Zwegat, winner a second time; Anthony Kosley, a Willoughby firefighter/paramedic; and Nathan Pennington, a Willoughby firefighter/paramedic

 2002: Lt. Denise Mercsak, Patrolman William Smith and Community Service Officer Jeff Baldrey of the Painesville Police Department

 2003: Patrolman Jason Clark of the Madison Township Police Department; Patrolman Daniel Shaw of the Mentor Police Department; Lt. Mike Mahon, Firefighter/Paramedics Brian Lee and John Cumberledge of the Mentor Fire Department

 2004: Lake Metroparks Sgt. James Smallwood and Metroparks Rangers Mark Reid and James Venaleck

 2005: Patrolman Joseph M. Kulnane of the Fairport Harbor Police Department, and Patrolmen Daniel Moreland and Jonathon Bush of the Wickliffe Police Department

 2006: Sgt. Thomas Angelo of the Eastlake Police Department

 2007: Firefighter/Paramedics Jason Duke and Joseph Lamping of the Grand River Fire Department; and Chief R. Mike Warner, Executive Capt. John Kloski, Lt. Michael Fearing and Firefighter/Paramedic Troy Yoder of the Concord Township Fire Department

 2008: Patrolmen Michael Bruening and Paul Fiorilli of the Mentor Police Department

 2009: Firefighters Jeff Kirkner, Greg Mitskavich and Andrew Federer of the Eastlake Fire Department

 2010: Lt. Robert Gonzalez of the Eastlake Police Department

 2011: Lt. Arthur Lagerstedt and Firefighters William Whalen and Robert Vencl of the Painesville Township Fire Department

 2012: Lake County Sheriffs Dept. Capt. Ronald Walters

 2013: Mentor Fire Lt. Brian Bittner and Firefighters/Paramedics Jeremy Szydlowski and Rollin Pachinger

 2014: Fairport Harbor Police officer Timothy P. Novak

 2015: Fairport Harbor Police officer Timothy P. Novak

 2016: Painesville police officers Jesse Cudnik and Elvert Jordan, along with patrolman Christopher Olup and Sgt. Robert Prochazka from the Willowick Police Department

 2017: Grand River Police officers Bryan Keough and James Neal, and Willoughby Hills Police officers Craig Anderson and Cory Planisek
Crime

Euclid woman sentenced for defrauding more than $1.8 million from U.S. Department of Education
Businesses in downtown Aurora are working to help the Aurora Strong efforts to help the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Henry Pratt Co. in the city last Friday, as well as local first responders.
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Theres a new studio in town.

Katharine Kat Manning has opened Hello Studio at 45 Bank St. in New Milford.

Located in the heart of downtown, the studio is aptly named for the greeting that begins most conversations, according to its owner.

I love everything about the photography process, said Manning. I love coming up with the ideas for photo shoots, what to capture, making sure everything someone thought of is captured.

The most fulfilling thing is to see people so happy with the images.

Mannings studio not only offers photo sessions for individuals and events but also provides social media marketing content and website design.

Businesses can have peace of mind knowing that I can come in and create content thats on point with their branding, Manning said.

She said many businesses handle their own social media content, but find it can be overwhelming and draining.

Enter Manning.

She will meet with businesses to learn the product and create quality products to show their brand.

The images will embrace the audience and be interactive, Manning said, of her contributions to social media marketing campaigns. Ill give clients an arsenal of images.

Jeff Schmidt, one of the owners of At the Corner in Litchfield, praised Manning for her professionalism, flexibility and enthusiasm.

Its nice to see someone so young and passionate who mirrors our passion (for what we do), said Schmidt.

Manning is taking photographs and creating videos and blogs for the restaurant and may even do print work down the road.

We have a great partnership, Schmidt said. She is totally willing to help us redo the website to make it more current, and to streamline things.

Website design is another area of focus for Manning, who from start to finish can help businesses develop an online presence.

The photographer works with Roxbury graphic designer Zeb Mayer, who will help her customers create concepts and logos, which can be included in website design and/or social media.

She has a real understanding of how to manage websites, social media and Facebook, said James Barron of James Barron Art in Kent. She knows how to get the word out to a lot of people.

Manning has always had a knack for photography and design.

She said even as a child at age 6, she would crouch down on the floor to get the right angle for a photo.

In her youth, she used her fathers 35mm camera to take photos and found her interest in film and, later in school, large format film.

Her passion for photography led her to the Hartford Art School, from which she graduated with degrees in photography and illustration.

After graduation, she completed a semester in archival photography before launching her own business, Connecticut Art Services.

Manning managed art collections for private collectors and galleries, photographing and compiling a history and data base for artwork for about four or five years.

She eventually found the creative side of doing photo shoots to be more rewarding.

She said seeing the empowerment people feel when they see photographs of themselves was inspiring and sparked her to focus more on photo sessions and led to the opening of Hello Studio.

Photo shoots are more personable, theres more interaction and its more positive, she said.

Barron, who has worked with Manning for about a year, described the photographer as a people person who makes people feel good about themselves.

Shes terrificly talented and developing skills, he said. Shes always imagining new and creative ways she can express herself and enhance the lives of others.
Ruby Bridal Boutique has moved to a new location in New Milford, and will celebrate with a grand opening party March 1.

Owner Allison Eng moved her boutique from 5 Booth House Lane to 50 Bank St.

The opening party will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

For more information, call the boutique at 860-717 4040 or visit www.rubybridalboutique.com.

Klemm Real Estate, which serves the Litchfield Hills, including the Greater New Milford area, has announced it had the highest sale in Litchfield in 2018.

In addition, Klemm handled the highest sale in Bethlehem, Cornwall, Falls Village, Lake Waramaug, Litchfield, Morris, Middlebury, Warren, Washington, Woodbury, Amenia, N.Y., Claverack, N.Y., and Taghkanic, N.Y.

The highest sale in Litchfield County took place in Warren with an asking price of $8.5 million.

It was the second highest sale even in Warren and Klemm Real Estate represented both the buyer and seller.

The highest sale on Lake Waramaug in New Preston 2018 had an asking price of $1.595.

Klemm also handled highest land sale in Dutchess County, N.Y., which was a property in Amenia, N.Y., with an asking price of $5.76 million.

Further, Klemm handled the highest sale in Columbia County, N.Y., in Taghkanic, N.Y., with an asking price of $4.79 million.

Klemm Real Estate has offices located in Washington Depot, Woodbury, Litchfield, Roxbury, Lakeville/Salisbury and Sharon.

The Business Buzz is a Spectrum feature for local businesses to announce openings, anniversaries, personnel changes and other news. Information should be mailed or dropped off at The Greater New Milford Spectrum, 45B Main St., New Milford, CT 06776; faxed to 860-350-6794; or emailed to drose@newstimes.com.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Reigning Miss Universe Catriona Gray blossomed in a locally-made terno jumpsuit embellished with Philippine national symbols.

The Filipino beauty queen wore the creation of Mak Tumang  the same designer behind her iconic lava gown  for her first homecoming parade. The country's national flower sampaguita and national leaf anahaw were incorporated into the outfit.

The designer explained the vision behind the outfit he created for the queen.

"Interestingly, this flower has a lot to do with the concept of 'Coming Home'. You know you are home when its distinct sweet and aromatic fragrance tickles your olfactory sense... Welcome home Catriona! Thank you for the fulfilled promise of making the Filipino people proud! Mabuhay!" he wrote his Facebook page on Thursday.

Aside from the terno, Tumang also created a flapper-inspired dress for Gray.
Hong Kong: Bay area promotion to be boosted

The Government will strengthen promotion of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development following the promulgation of its Outline Development Plan, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today.

Answering lawmakers queries at the Chief Executives Question Time, Mrs Lam said the bay area development is closely related to the Hong Kong people.

She noted that the Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau has already set up a website to introduce the bay area, and will use the Outline Development Plan to further elaborate on the details.

The bureau will be co-ordinating the effort, while most of the other policy bureaus will also take part to help related sectors and stakeholders understand the development plan and explore bay area opportunities.

The Chief Executive said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has a lot to do during the implementation process, including launching initiatives and liaising with the governments of Guangdong and Macau.

She said that more importantly, the HKSAR Government needs to get the support of central ministries and this is where the leading group for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area led by Vice Premier Han Zheng will play a key role.

On a question about the development plans call for a study on the provision of land-based cross-boundary transfer services for non-emergency and non-critically ill patients, Mrs Lam clarified that the development plan refers to Hong Kong residents.

Currently, if these patients want to come back to Hong Kong for medical treatment, they would be transferred by an ambulance to the boundary crossing, then transferred to another ambulance to be sent to a hospital, she said. The proposed arrangement is to facilitate Hong Kong people on the Mainland to return to Hong Kong for medical treatment, Mrs Lam added.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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NEW CANAAN  Police arrested a 46-year-old man from New Milford, N.J. after being summoned to a Harrison Avenue home where he got into a dispute with another person.

On Dec. 9 around 9:30 p.m., police responded to Harrison Avenue to deal with a reported dispute between Edgar Barua of Faller Drive and another party. Upon arrival, officers located Barua and determined he was in New Canaan after driving there from New Jersey.
'There are those for whom it will always be wrong, but, for the majority of us there must be a way forward'

NEWBURY MP Richard Benyon said he has taken a step towards supporting assisted dying in the UK.

He was speaking after hearing emotional testimony from members of the West Berkshire Dignity in Dying group on Saturday, February 2.

Mr Benyon listened intently as Sara Fenton recounted how she had accompanied husband Keith to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, with their children Edward and Charlotte, so that he could have the peaceful and dignified death he deserved and was desperate for.

Mr Fenton was dying from Huntingtons disease.

Lesley Close then told how she accompanied her brother John to the clinic in 2003 when he was dying of motor neurone disease.

Both told how taking back control had given their loved ones peace and the chance to say goodbye.

After receiving a petition of 660 signatures in favour of the campaign, Mr Benyon said how moved he had been and added that he was now on a journey on the issue.

On the one hand, he said, his Christian faith pointed him towards palliative care and maintaining the status quo.

But he added: Ive been incredibly affected, not only by your stories, but also by personal experience.

Mr Benyon revealed he had personally known Robin Cavendish, who was paralysed by polio as a young newlywed and who  after a long and full life  went on to choose assisted dying over a traumatic death.

The tale was the subject of the 2017 film Breathe, directed by Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis.

Mr Benyon said of Robin Cavendish: I knew him. He took control of his death and broke the law.

Mr Benyon said: I'm now on journey on this one. There are those for whom it will always be wrong, but, for the majority of us there must be a way forward.

But there must be adequate safeguards. In that respect Ive been nudged by the arguments today.

He said the Dignity in Dying campaign seems to offer a way forward because it would provide safeguards and securities, ring fenced.

Mr Benyon concluded: When the issue comes before Parliament  as it surely will  I will bear in mind the arguments Ive heard today.

If the legislation is sensible and something I can work with I will be very happy to support it.

Afterwards, Mrs Fenton said: It was incredibly encouraging to hear Richard say that he felt there could be a place for an assisted dying law in the UK, if it didnt go to any extreme either way.

It is extremely encouraging that Mr Benyon is listening to his constituents, keeping an open mind and seems to be moving in the right direction.
One of Chicagos favorite venues hosts one of its favorite parties this weekend, as the Hideout sets the scene for the 13th annual Make-Out Party An Evening of Aural Intercourse. The post-Valentines-Day celebration has fun dancing and toasting to pure love in all its forms. The party spruces up the atmosphere with prom decorations and roses, plus a standout lineup of local musicians belting out originals, arrangements of film music, and other classic love themes from all around the globe, per the listing. Come on down, and feel the love. 8 - 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The Hideout Inn, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave. Tickets: $15. eventbrite.com
Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Opinion

Demonstration, Action, Revolution for what is right

Peter Farley is reacting to last weeks climate change protests by schoolchildren, and suggests that maybe an element of rebellion is justified.

Speaking of the recent demonstrations by mainly children and young people against climate change, a Downing Street spokeswoman was right in saying the disruption to planned lesson time was damaging for pupils.



Right, that is, if you are saying its damaging to encourage youngsters (who are disenfranchised) to protest against policies which chronically damage their future and the future of the planet which they will one day inherit.



Wrong, however, if you consider (as I do) that this is real education, teaching people (even children and young people) to think for themselves and stand up for their rights. For far too long, this country, like so many, has been dictated to by those who have most to lose if the status quo is not conserved.



Lets not kid ourselves, we dont live in a democracy - we live in a dictatorship. A dictatorship is described as: a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in one person or a small clique. Here, as in so many so-called democracies, power is in the hands of the big multinationals and their lackeys, a clique of the rich, who dominate the way our world functions and behaves.



The right-wing domination of our national press serves to perpetuate the notion that we must continue to doff our caps to our self-proclaimed elders and betters - might is right! When will we, as ordinary people, learn that we need to repair the damage done for eons, by an education system, designed, distorted and perpetuated by those with vested interests?



State and Church have done untold damage, by teaching countless generations to genuflect. Why? To protect corrupt and unrighteous systems, which serve only to safeguard and uphold the interests of those whose power and authority is built on the illusion of spurious authenticity. How long are we going to simply accept, This is how it has always been, as reason for doing nothing to change things? Such inertia is irresponsible. No worse than that, its anarchic and socially destructive.



The truth is, not only are conservative interests causing us to commit environmental suicide, they are bringing about the annihilation of all that is humanitarianly valuable  including our freedom of speech, our human rights (even our responsibilities).



As a Christian, I believe in the principle of Romans 13:1-2: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.



That said, I fully concur with Martin Luther King Jr, who writing from prison in Birmingham, Alamba in 1963, concerning civil disobedience stated: I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.



In Genesis 1  there is an implicit mandate from God to mankind to care for the world, to protect the environment, not just for ourselves but for all forms of life. For me, that principle takes preference over being subject to governing bodies, in situations where clearly those authorities are not acting in accord with biblical injunctions, with regard to climate change and how we treat one another.



Today, many thousands of innocents in the UK who are disadvantaged, disabled or downtrodden are paying the price, whilst those responsible for getting the country into a financial debacle got off scot free and the political powers that be, blatantly condoned it!



Can that be right? No! Ought it to be challenged? Yes! We need a demonstration which demands dignity not destruction; action which advocates accord not anarchy; revolution which requires respect not rioting.

The problem is, who is in a position to demonstrate how things should be done? Whose actions are worthy of emulation? Whos fit to lead a revolution?



Any suggestions?





The image above is courtesy of pixabay.com



A Wannabe Word-Weaver, Peter Farley (founder of The Matthew Project) is a father of five and grandfather of thirteen. He lives and worships in Sheringham. He is a town councillor and one of the organisers of Sheringham Shed - a Men's Shed project shortly to open in the town.
As the Latitude Festival confirmed it will go ahead in late July at full capacity as part of the governments Covid Event Research Programme, the team behind the Christian Festival Pastors have appealed for prayer support for their work.

As the Latitude Festival confirmed it will go ahead in late July at full capacity as part of the governments Covid Event Research Programme, the team behind the Christian Festival Pastors have appealed for prayer support for their work.

Evangelists to Norfolk put spiritual footsteps on Via Beata A team from Through Faith Missions are walking the Via Beata across Norfolk without money for the journey, sharing the Good News and praying for healing. Read more

Funds passed on as Norfolk chaplaincy charity closes Ecumenical Norfolk chaplaincy charity, Good Work, will cease to exist at the end of June and will pass on its remaining funds to further other chaplaincy work in the county. Read more

Throw a tea party for Foodbank, says Norwich nurse A retired nurse from Norwich, who has volunteered with the citys Foodbank for over five years, is encouraging local people to throw a tea party in support of the Trussell Trust, which runs Foodbanks. Read more

Norfolk's Jamie set to run for Ethiopia charity It has been a tough year for Ethiopia, but Norfolk-based Hospice Ethiopia UK is doing its utmost to keep up the financial support. Read more

Historic first as woman Bishop of Lynn consecrated The Rt Revd Dr Jane Steen has been consecrated as Bishop of Lynn in front of 250 people at Norwich Cathedral. She is the first woman bishop in Norfolk and Waveney and the first suffragan bishop to have been consecrated in Norwich Cathedral. Read more

YMCA Norfolk - Housing Engagement Worker YMCA Norfolk is seeking a Norwich-based Housing Engagement Worker  Resettlement Coach, to provide an environment for residents with a programme of positive activities. Read more

Leap of faith for Yarmouth cafe volunteers Two volunteers at a community cafe in Yarmouth will be doing a tandem skydive next month to raise money for the cafe outreach. Read more

YMCA Norfolk - Youth and Digital Engagement Worker YMCA Norfolk is seeking a Youth and Digital Engagement Worker to deliver a youth club project, and offer support on our digital youth work platform. Read more

Norwich concert first marks cathedral anniversary A 13-piece orchestra joined the Cathedral Schola singers in a concert made possible by the governments Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage, and which celebrated the anniversary of the dedication of St John the Baptist Cathedral in Norwich. Read more

Pilgrim Fathers writer visits Norwich church American pastor Dr Jason Dees, a contributor to a book marking the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers, will be visiting The Old Meeting House Congregational church in Norwich on July 4. Read more

Treasure hunt to help to make heavenly gardens The Norwich Rotary Club in Blackfriars is organising a walking treasure hunt around gardens in the city to raise funds for the Heavenly Gardens Project. Read more

Norfolk church to celebrate the beauty of creation Always wanting to punch above its weight, the tiny church of All Saints, Hethel, in South Norfolk, has organised a Celebration of Creation weekend on June 26-27 with everyone welcome. Read more

I dont know  but know someone who does Regular contributor Jane Walters has been reflecting that, as we get older, we realise that we have the answers to fewer and fewer of lifes questions. Read more

Miracle MBE for genocide survivor Marie-Lyse Rwandan genocide survivor Marie-Lyse Numuhoza has been made an MBE for services to human rights and the community in Thetford. Read more

YMCA Norfolk Supported Lodgings and Nightstop Hosts YMCA Norfolk is looking for hosts for vulnerable young people and has both paid and volunteer opportunities, from just one night up to two years. Read more

Norwich FGB announces first dinner event of year Norwich FGB has announced its first dinner event of 2021, at the Mercure Hotel in Norwich, on Friday September 10 with special guest Kit Brinkley. Read more

Dippy the dinosaur Norwich visit details revealed With Dippy the dinosaurs visit to Norwich Cathedral only a few weeks away, more details have been being revealed for what visitors can expect from the exhibition. Read more
Authorities are investigating after a Massachusetts police officer was injured after accidentally shooting herself with her department-issued firearm.

Waltham police say the shooting happened outside of Officer June Conway's School Avenue home Thursday morning.

In police audio transmission, Conway could be heard calling for help.

"Accidental shooting in the driveway. Right leg. Right leg is hurt," she is heard saying.

June was taken to an area hospital for treatment where she underwent surgery. Authorities said she is expected to make a full recovery.

Conway, a certified rape investigator and hostage negotiator, is a 35-year veteran of the department.

Investigators said it doesn't appear anyone else was involved in the incident, and no one else was injured.

The accidental discharge is being treated as a "personnel matter," according to Waltham police.

"Accidents happen. I'm just glad she's safe," said neighbor Doug Thomas. "I hope she gets back to work as soon as she can."

The investigation is ongoing.
Prosecutors say a bag of drugs recovered from a toilet at a Massachusetts jail contained fentanyl and not heroin as initially thought.

The Salem News reports that 43-year-old William Cruz, of Lynn, is now facing a charge of trafficking fentanyl-based on the state crime lab results.

Cruz pleaded not guilty Tuesday during his arraignment.

Authorities say they found the roughly one-ounce bag of fentanyl while searching Cruz's cell at the Middleton jail last August.

Cruz's attorney says his client denies he was "in control" of the drugs, but stopped short of blaming Cruz's cellmate.

Cruz had recently completed a five-year prison term for drug and firearms charges when he was taken into custody on drug possession charges last August.

A judge set bail at $25,000.
One person was killed after a multi-vehicle crash involving two tractor-trailers in Blandford, Massachusetts.

State police said the crash happened at 2:40 a.m. Thursday when a tractor-trailer was traveling eastbound on Interstate 90. The driver of the trailer lost control for reasons still under investigation and crashed with another tractor-trailer, a box truck and a pickup truck.

Five people were rushed to Baystate Medical Center, where one person died. The four surviving victims were treated for minor injuries, according to state police.

The eastbound lanes of I-90 remain closed while officials continue their investigation.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The U.S. Forest Service says police are investigating the death of a Mount Washington climber who was hiking up a snowy and icy area of the Northeast's highest peak when he apparently slipped and fell more than 300 feet into a boulder-strewn area.

The Forest Service said 37-year-old Jeremy Ullmann, of Somerville, Massachusetts, a neuroscientist at Boston Children's Hospital, died Feb. 10.

Frank Carus of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center tells New Hampshire Public Radio that Ullmann fell into a boulder field known as the Fan.

He said Ullmann had two ice axes, "one of which dragged quite well through the snow for a long distance." Carus said Ullmann was an experienced rock climber and mountaineer, but "this was an accident that could have happened to anyone."

Ullmann, who obtained his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University before getting his Ph.D. at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, is survived by his wife and 3-year-old son, in addition to his family and friends, according to his obituary.
Following the discovery of asbestos and mold in a Maynard kindergarten class, the school's district has been ordered to pay a hefty fine of more than $40,000 by Massachusetts officials.

The kindergarten wing of Green Meadow Elementary School was temporarily closed earlier this month after asbestos and mold were found in the ceiling. The health of the kindergarten students affected by the dangerous discovery was enough to warrant a fine of $42,500 from the states Department of Labor Services.

"Just knowing that my son was there, I dont know the harm it might have done within that year," said Jonathan Shulman, whose son attended a kindergarten class at Green Meadow. "Its upsetting."

Parents have expressed disappointment with the school committee, who they feel let the problem fester too long. However, school officials said student safety is their top priority.

"The absolute most important element of this is the health and wellbeing of the children in that school," Mike Walden, president of the Maynard Education Association, said. "Im glad that the problem is actually, finally being resolved."

Myles Clancy, a parent whose child attends the school, thinks the superintendent should resign.

"I didnt hear any kind of answers that I felt like hes somebody whos really thinking about really beyond this sort of crisis," he said. "I just sort of hear someone whos kind of in the moment."

The Maynard Department of Public Works is also being fined $20,000 for the asbestos and mold. Both the department and school district are to make the payment by March 8.

The Maynard school committee says it is doing what it can to improve the schools condition.
What to Know Steven Mojer of Nantucket tried to renew his Massachusetts vehicle registration online but his Google search led him to a "mimic website."

Mojer thought he had paid for a $60 RMV registration but ended up paying for an online registration instructional manual.

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles says consumers should make sure they are on the RMV website and avoid sites that charge fees.

If you're trying to renew your driver's license or car registration online, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles has a warning: be on the lookout for mimic websites. These are websites that may look like the real deal, but they don't provide any official RMV services.

Recently, Steven Mojer of Nantucket walked us through the steps he took when trying to renew his vehicle registration online. His Google search led him to a link for what he thought was the official state site for the RMV. He didn't realize it was actually an ad and clicked through.

"It all looked pretty official to me," said Mojer. "There was four pages and I filled them all out, put my credit card number in, and didn't give it another thought."

Mojer thought he had paid for a $60 RMV registration, but a couple days later, he says his bank called, alerting him to a charge from a Texas company on his credit card.

"I thought they were wrong," said Mojer.

Upon inspection, Steven found a $4.99 charge from a company called MyCar-Reg for an online registration instructional manual.

"I called them up and said, 'I don't want your services. I don't need your services,'" explained Mojer. "And they said it's a good thing I called because they were about to charge me another $19.99."

Mojer had entered his credit card information on what the RMV calls a mimic website, a site typically reached by customers using online search engines. You may sometimes see the word "ad" on the site link.

State officials say consumers should be extra vigilant and avoid any sites that charge fees to receive basic information or forms, as well as websites offering to conduct business online for you. Another red flag: sites that reference the DMV in Massachusetts, since the state registry is called the RMV. And be certain that you're on the official website before entering in any personal information.

"If it got me, it probably has gotten a lot of other people," said Mojer.

NBC10 Boston reached out to MyCar-Reg by phone and at three different email addresses, but did not hear back, and the site no longer pops up during a Google search.

Google told NBC10 Boston they won't comment on specific ads but said in a statement, "We have strict policies that govern the kinds of ads we allow on our platform, and ads that intend to mislead or deceive users are a violation of those policies. When we find ads that violate our policies, we remove them."

"I'm happy I got my money back, but that really wasn't the point. It was just making something right that I felt was wrong," said Mojer.

If you've given your money to a mimic site, the state says you should contact them and demand your money back. Also, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and contact the Massachusetts Attorney General's office.
A Massachusetts family is mourning the loss of a young girl who died from complications from the flu.

Sopheak Paak of Lowell was the happiest he could be after moving to the U.S. from Cambodia six years ago. His family joined him this past September.

All was going well until last week, when 4-year-old Puthiraksmey "Raksmey" Sopheak started getting sick.

Paak took his daughter to the hospital, and after a couple days, she started to feel better. So they came home.

But early Saturday morning, she started feeling sick again. He called 911 and she was rushed to the hospital.

She died less than two hours later.

"She is lovely. I love her," Paak said. "My wife, she cried hard. I miss her."

Raksmey Sopheak's death was the third flu-related fatality of the year. Earlier this month, officials said a 4-year-old girl from Framingham and a 12-year-old boy from Milford died from the flu. Both cases were unrelated.
A congressman from New Hampshire is voicing concerns over the Presidents emergency declaration and what it may mean for the 700,000 jobs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Rep. Chris Pappas toured the shipyard Wednesday and spoke with workers who say theyre worried that the president is about to take money from their projects to fund a border wall.

We wanted to make sure to draw attention to whats happening here at the shipyard so that we can protect this asset, Pappas said.

The shipyard is now caught in the crosshairs of the border wall showdown in Washington.

When President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, he said previously approved military construction funds could be reallocated to pay for his border wall.

That means about $160 million for major projects at the shipyard are up for grabs.

From my perspective, were taking money away from real national security interests to fund artificial national security interests, said IBEW Director Paul OConnor.

Pappas and OConnor agree that to interrupt the critical work being done at the shipyard wouldnt only impact jobs on the base but would be a huge blow to national security.

We shouldnt be using workers as political pawns and thats exactly what happened during the shutdown and we need to prevent it from happening here, Pappas said. We need to make sure these dollars continue to flow where they belong and thats to projects right here at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Richard Smith has spent the last twenty years working at the Shipyard, making sure the US Navy fleet stays afloat.

He says if the president yanks any money from local military projects, the Shipyard facilities wont get the necessary upgrades planned for this year.

Its going to backlog stuff and we dont want that to happen, he said.

And Smith says its not just a matter of national security, its also about people  the 7,000 people who rely on the shipyard to make a living.

All the families here, Im worried for them, for their future, Smith said.

The shipyard contributes about a billion dollars a year to the local economy.

So, if the shipyard loses funding, that likely means lost jobs and lost revenue for nearby businesses.
Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley is in Rome to help lead a summit that brings church leaders together to discuss the sexual abuse and cover-up scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church and ignited anger across the country.

Pope Francis is calling on bishops from around the world to the Vatican to end sex abuse in churches. The pope says survivors are standing up and seeking justice for their years of traumatic abuse.

Before O'Malley and three other Massachusetts bishops left to the summit, he sent a letter to parishioners apologizing for the abuse victims experienced.

"The past year has been especially traumatic, and we again apologize to survivors and their families for all they have endured," he said in the letter.

In mid-September, Pope Francis authorized an investigation into allegations that West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield sexually harassed adults. His authorization came after Bransfield resigned from the church and after a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed decades of abuse in six dioceses.

"Any priest or religious order person or cleric or minister thats working in the Catholic Church that has sexually assaulted or abused a child, thats the worst crime you could possibly commit against a human being," survivor Peter Iseley said.

O'Malley, who has been Francis' top sex abuse adviser, met with the pope and other top U.S. bishops in September to discuss the crisis.
Two young children are dead and two others are in unknown condition after a crash Wednesday in Ludlow, Massachusetts.

The three-vehicle crash took place at the intersection of Russell Street and Shawinigan Drive around 2:50 p.m., affiliate WWLP reported.

The Hampton County District Attorney's Office has identified the victims who were killed as 9-year-old Jadyn Lamas and 7-year-old Natalya Lamas of Ludlow.

Two other children and an adult were also hospitalized. The driver of one vehicle has been identified as the father of all four children involved in the crash.

WWLP reported that roads in the area were closed after the crash, but reopened around 7:45 p.m.
As a showdown looms over humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro closed off his country's border with Brazil, vowing on Thursday to block the emergency food and medicine that has rallied his opponents and which he claims is part of a U.S.-led coup plot.

Amid the mounting tensions, opposition leader Juan Guaido set off in a cross-country caravan for the border with Colombia, where much of the U.S.-supplied aid is warehoused and where he has called on thousands of ordinary Venezuelans to assemble Saturday to help bring it across.

A group of lawmakers also headed to the Colombian border were stopped a few hours outside Caracas by national guardsmen in anti-riot gear who positioned a trailer truck in front of a tunnel, blocking the highway westward. A shouting match and scuffle ensued, with the guardsmen firing tear gas before the lawmakers eventually forced their way through and resumed their journey.

Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez's longtime spy chief became the latest and perhaps most-influential military figure to declare his loyalty to Guaido.

Maduro's decision to close the vast, jungle border with Brazil came a day after he blocked air and sea travel between Venezuela and the nearby Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, where the first cargo of relief supplies arrived Thursday, sent by the large Venezuelan exile community in Miami.

Maduro said he was also weighing whether to shut the border with Colombia, where the bulk of aid is being stockpiled and exiled leaders have been gathering ahead of a fundraising concert Friday organized by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, in which several major Latin American pop artists will perform.

"They are committing an international crime because they are endorsing a military invasion," Maduro said of the U.S., speaking Thursday on state TV flanked by his top military commanders. "They wanted to generate a great national commotion, but they didn't achieve it."

Saturday's aid showdown comes exactly a month after Guaido declared himself interim president in a mass rally, immediately drawing the support of the U.S. and 50 other countries.

But while he's managed to bring hope to Venezuelans crushed by years of recession, food shortages and hyperinflation, he's so far been unable to win over the military, which has shown little sign of abandoning Maduro.

In declaring his support for Guaido on Thursday, retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal said Venezuela's military was in as ramshackle a state as the nation as a whole.

Reading prepared remarks in a video on social media, Carvajal, who spent a decade running Chavez's military intelligence agency before stepping down in 2012, urged his former comrades to redeem themselves and abandon their support for Maduro.

"You carry on your shoulders the weight of an army that gave liberty to people in more than five countries," he said, referring to the Venezuelan-born Simon Bolivar's role as the father of South American independence from Spain.

"We can't allow an army, in the hands of a few generals subjugated to Cuban instructions, to become the biggest collaborator of a dictatorial government that has plagued people with misery," he added.

It's not clear what impact, if any, Carvajal's statement will have on the troops. Arrested briefly on a U.S. drug warrant in 2014 while serving as consul general in Aruba, Carvajal broke with the government in 2017 over Maduro's plans to create a constitutional assembly to gut what was left of the opposition-controlled congress.

For now the military continues to obey Maduro's orders even as Guaido tries to bring international attention to the country's hardships.

In recent days, residents of the remote town of Santa Elena de Uairen have reported seeing convoys of military vehicles and troops amassing along Venezuela's southern border with Brazil. Residents of the town, including members of a militant indigenous tribe, are vowing to somehow cross into Brazil to fetch the aid, although it's not clear how they will be able to surmount the military blockade.

"There's a lot of uncertainty because people don't know what's going to happen," said opposition lawmaker Americo de Grazia, who is on the ground in the state.

There were also troop deployments at the opposite end of the country, where workers were busily assembling stages for Branson's "Venezuela Aid Live" fundraiser and a rival concert being put on by the government Friday and Saturday on the Venezuelan side of the border.

Near the Tienditas International Bridge, a worker for the Venezuelan state-owned electricity company said that he was worried that the government's "Hands Off Venezuela" concert would not be ready on time.

"We lack the resources," the man complained, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to publicly criticize the project. About a dozen organizers sat idly in white plastic chairs chatting and listening to Venezuelan folk music on small speakers.

A much-larger stage being built on the outskirts of the Colombian border city of Cucuta is expected to host artists including Spain's Alejandro Sanz, Argentina's Diego Torres and Colombia's Carlos Vives.

Luis Vicente Leon, a Caracas-based pollster, downplayed expectations for any immediate shakeup as a result of the weekend's confrontation.

But he said the Trump administration's surprisingly strong commitment to forcing out Maduro, even if it means inflicting more economic pain on Venezuelans through amped up financial sanctions, means the status quo can't hold.

"In 20 years of Chavismo the chances of a change in government taking place have never been so high," he told a group of business leaders in Caracas, referring to Chavez's socialist revolution.
The Trump administration is exploring the idea of forming a special committee to look at climate change and security risks, with the effort being coordinated by a 79-year-old physicist who rejects mainstream climate science.

A "discussion paper" obtained by The Associated Press asks federal officials from an array of government agencies to weigh in on a proposed executive order that President Donald Trump would sign establishing the "Presidential Committee on Climate Security."

A memo to those federal officials asks them to direct any questions to William Happer, a member of Trump's National Security Council and a well-known critic of mainstream climate science findings.

"Happer would be a fringe figure even for climate skeptics," said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. David Titley, now a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University.

Several climate scientists agreed with Titley, including Georgia Tech's Kim Cobb, who said Happer's "false, unscientific notions about climate change represent a danger to the American people."

Harvard science historian Naomi Oreskes, who wrote the book "Merchants of Doubt" on climate denial, pointed to instances when Happer has claimed that carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from the burning of coal, oil and gas, is good for humans and that carbon emissions have been demonized like "the poor Jews under Hitler."

Happer's bio at Princeton University, where he previously taught, describes him as a pioneer in the field of optically polarized atoms. It notes that he served in the administration of President George H.W. Bush as the director of energy research at the Department of Energy, where he oversaw a basic research budget of roughly $3 billion.

The National Security Council advises the president on security and foreign policy issues. According to the discussion paper, the council would fund and oversee the committee. Among the committee's responsibilities would be to "address existing United States Government reports on climate for scientific accuracy and advise on the national security implications of climate change."

The committee would be composed of 12 members, according to a draft of the executive order. Members would include experts in national security and climate science. The panel would advise the president on how climate "might change in the future under natural and human influences."

A spokesman for the National Security Council declined to comment.

The Washington Post first reported on the proposed executive order establishing the climate security committee.

Trump once tweeted that climate change was a "Chinese hoax." More recently, he used a cold snap that hit much of the nation last month to again cast doubts. "People can't last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming (sic)? Please come back fast, we need you!" he tweeted.

Both the Pentagon and the president's intelligence team have mentioned climate change as a national security threat, and a 2018 National Climate Assessment detailed drastic effects of global warming.

Over about a dozen years, government scientists, military leaders and intelligence experts have repeatedly highlighted climate change as a major national security risk, said Titley, who founded one such study team in the Navy.

Titley said these studies have come to the same conclusions under three presidents, including two Republicans. He said there are "a surprising number of documents from the Pentagon and intelligence community after January 2017 (when Trump took office) that talk about climate and security risk."

"For the Pentagon, it's about readiness," Titley said. "For the intelligence community, it's about risks. We see the risks are accelerating."

Climate change can "push a marginally stable area into chaos," Titley said, mentioning Syria, which suffered a record drought at the same time as a civil war that triggered a migration of a million people.

Francesco "Frank" Femia, chief executive of a think tank that reviews systemic risk to national and international security, expressed concern that the proposed panel was meant to poke holes in future government reports and studies.

"I would welcome a serious study commissioned by the White House on the security implications on climate change that include climate scientists and national security experts, but this is not that," said Femia, the CEO of The Council on Strategic Risks.

A place like the National Academy of Sciences was set up just for that type of study, said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, which monitors global temperatures.

"The ice doesn't care what this administration thinks," Titley said. "It's just going to keep melting and obeying the laws of physics, whatever Will Happer wants."
The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled a hearing to determine the probable cause of a fatal natural gas explosion more than two years ago.

The NTSB said in a news release Tuesday that the hearing is scheduled for April 23 at its conference center in Washington. The hearing was originally scheduled for March 12.

On Aug. 10, 2016, a massive explosion ripped through the Flower Branch Apartments complex. Two children were among the seven killed. Nearly 40 people were injured in the blast, and at least 80 families were left without homes.

Last November, Maryland's two U.S. senators said federal investigators need to wrap up their inquiry. NTSB officials said at the time thorough investigations take time and cited staffing issues.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded the explosion stemmed from a gas leak in a utility room housing the complex's meters.

Meanwhile, lawsuits that could bring relief to some victims are stalled while the NTSB finishes investigating the Silver Spring blast. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded it stemmed from a gas leak in a utility room housing the complex's meters.

The tragedy was still fresh on their minds and those who lost relatives said the pain will never go away at a vigil last spring marking the two-year anniversary.

We never forget that. In my mind I always have a picture of my father when he was still alive, but we have to keep forward, said Erick Jimenez, who lost his father, Augusto Jimenez.

Another woman told News4 in Spanish that she and her relatives still live with stress, trauma and anxiety caused by the explosion.
Update: A judge agreed to release the activist. Go here to see a second story.

A woman demonstrating in Richmond, Virginia, in support of the Equal Rights Amendment will be held without bond for more than a month for exposing a breast in public, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Michelle Renay Sutherland, 45, and another activist were impersonating the two figures on the Virginia State flag on Monday when Sutherland was arrested, the Richmond-Times Dispatch reported.

She was charged with a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure and ordered to remain in jail until her trial, which is scheduled for March 21, the paper reported.

It is highly unlikely for someone to be held without bond on a nonviolent misdemeanor charge. Court records show Sutherland, of Brooklyn, New York, has no criminal record, according to the Richmond-Times Dispatch.

The state seal on the flag, shown in various designs since 1776, depicts the Roman goddess Virtus "representing the genius of the Commonwealth," a state website says. She is dressed as Amazon and rests one foot on top of Tyranny. Her left breast is exposed.

Video published by the Richmond-Times Dispatch shows Sutherland draped in a blue cloth like that of the figure on the flag. She hoists a stick in one hand and a rose in the other.

"I'm not sex. I'm actually dressed up as the woman who's on, like, literally the flag," she can be heard saying before she's arrested.

Groups that support the ratification of the ERA are pushing for Sutherland's release.

"Showing a breast as part of a satirical act of protest is not obscene. The real obscenity at the Capitol is lawmakers standing in the way of constitutional equality against the will of the people," the ACLU of Virginia said in a tweet.

The ERA, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, would outlaw discrimination on the basis of gender. A Republican-controlled committee in the Virginia House of Delegates voted down the measure last month.

ERA proponents had hoped Virginia would become the 38th state to approve the amendment. It would then have met the threshold for ratification in the U.S. Constitution. But even if it's ratified, court battles would likely ensue over a long-passed 1982 deadline set by Congress.
Neal Sales-Griffin: To curb the use of advisory referendums as placeholder ballot questions we should have clear protocols in place for how their results are handled. Currently, the council doesnt have to do anything as a result of the voter response, and many ideas languish or falter even if there is overwhelming support for an initiative. We should require council members to explore and document why a referendum was or wasnt pursued after the public votes on it.
CBD is a budding industry with many hailing its health benefits, and it isnt just for people: Some are using it to help their pets.

When Nina Panageotou's 11-year-old dog got cancer, she decided to give the dog a daily dose of CBD oil rather than chemotherapy or radiation.

I wouldnt give her anything else, Panageotou said. I mean, shes eating, shes playing, she sleeps well.

CBD comes from the extract of a hemp or marijuana plant but lacks the THC in marijuana that people use to get high.

Theres no science to suggest it will cure pets' ailments, but it may improve their quality of life.

It can be used for everything from arthritis and seizures for dogs and cats to simply helping ease their nerves.

To calm their pets  so dogs who have noise aversion or dogs who have a little anxiety it seems to help with, and a lot of people are using it for pain management, veterinarian Dr. Joseph Zuckerman said.

CBD is legal in 47 states, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District.

Its sold at specialty pet stores, natural food stores and online.

But it's an industry not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration with little oversight into what's going inside the product. It's up to companies to police themselves.

Now that I know about it, she has to have it, Panageotou said, adding, Thats all I can do, is give her the best life I can while shes here.

The health benefits and side-effects of CBD are still unclear and have not been studied.
Unions for West Virginia teachers ended their two-day strike Wednesday night after lawmakers did not act on a doomed, broad-based education bill.

Leaders of three unions representing teachers and school service personnel said at a news conference that classrooms would reopen statewide on Thursday.

But the leaders said they reserve the right to call teachers back out on strike before the end of the legislative session in early March to take action as they see fit on other education bills.

The House of Delegates made no mention of Tuesday's passage of a motion that effectively killed the bill.

According to legislative rules, a lawmaker who voted to table the bill had until Wednesday to ask to have the vote reconsidered. The House adjourned until Thursday without such a move being made.

Portions of the complex bill also could still be offered through amendments to other legislation in the final two weeks of the session.

Schools in 54 of the state's 55 counties were closed for a second day Wednesday. The lone holdout again was Putnam County.

Unions for teachers and school service workers went on strike Tuesday over the legislation that they said lacked their input and was retaliation for a nine-day walkout last year. That strike launched the national "Red4Ed" movement, which included strikes in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Washington state, and more recently, Los Angeles and Denver.

The unions and teachers opposed provisions in the legislation that, among other things, would have created the state's first charter schools and allow education savings accounts for parents to pay for private school. Proponents said the moves would have given parents more school choices.

The unions have trust issues with lawmakers, especially becoming wary of leaders in the Senate after actions during the 2018 strike and again this month when the chamber rushed to act on the bill.

Like the House, the Senate, reversing course from its original bill, removed a clause that would invalidate the entire legislation if any part is struck down, and took out language requiring teachers sign off annually on union dues and requiring teacher pay to be withheld during a strike.

"We want to be in the classroom," said Charleston elementary school teacher Danielle Loehr. "But we need to be here and paying attention. It's really scary, but that's politics."

Earlier Wednesday a House committee endorsed a pay increase for teachers, school service workers and state police. The teacher pay raise was part of the original legislation that the House tabled. The House plans a public hearing on the raises Friday. It would give annual salary increases of $2,120 to teachers, $2,370 to state police and $115 per month for school service workers.

Last year state teachers received an average 5 percent raise to end the nine-day strike.
Weather Alert

...DANGEROUS HEAT EXPECTED THROUGH THE REST OF THIS WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK... .Strong high pressure will remain over the Pacific Northwest through this weekend and much of next week. Very hot temperatures, with the potential for record highs are possible from today through the first of next week. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 100 to 110 degrees today then 108 to 118 degrees Sunday through Tuesday. * WHERE...In Washington, Lower Columbia Basin of Washington. In Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT Thursday. * 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 the 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. &&
A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina.

An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted Sunday by a joint expedition of the Galapagos National Park and the U.S.-based Galapagos Conservancy, Ecuador's Environment Ministry said in a statement.

Investigators think there may be more members of the species on the island because of tracks and scat they found. The team took the tortoise, likely more than 100 years old, to a breeding center for giant tortoises on Santa Cruz Island where it will stay in a specially designed pen.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has the Fernandina Giant Tortoise listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

The only other living member of the species was found in 1906, the group said. Since then, expeditions have encountered tortoise scat and bite marks on cacti, and there was a possible unconfirmed sighting in 2009. But Sunday's discovery was the first confirmed sighting and together with the possibility of finding more members of the species has raised the possibility of breeding.

"They will need more than one, but females may store sperm for a long time," said Stuart Pimm, a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University. "There may be hope."

Fernandina is the third largest Galapagos island and features the La Cumbre volcano, one of the most active in the world. The archipelago lies in the Pacific Ocean about 620 miles off Ecuador's mainland.

In listing the Fernandina tortoise as possibly extinct, the conservation group said on its website that the species may have succumbed to "the frequent volcanic lava flows that nearly cover the island."

The Galapagos archipelago hosts unique species and wildlife whose characteristics helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The Environment Ministry said the expedition was financed by Animal Planet for its series "Extinct or Alive."
Amanda Velez heard a loud bang, then screams of her youngest daughter, inside their North Philadelphia home.

"In a matter of seconds, Im using the restroom, I hear a loud bang, and I heard glass shatter, and I heard my youngest daughter, whos 2 years old she was screaming," Velez told NBC10 in an interview Thursday.

Then, she said, "I heard my son say, 'Mommy.'"

Velez picked up her son, Adrian Ortega, and a shard of glass fell to the floor, she said.

"I lift him up and I saw blood," she said.

Adrian, 4, suffered a fatal wound from the piece of broken glass, which came from a large picture frame that had shattered.

Provided

Velez rushed the boy Wednesday afternoon from the house in the 3200 block of North Reese Street to the nearest hospital.

"They tried to do everything," she said. "They said they were trying to stabilize him, so he could go to the surgery room. But he wasn't strong enough."

Adrian was pronounced dead at St. Christophers Hospital shortly before 5 p.m.
What to Know The "Frankford Slasher" raped and killed women in Philadelphia in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A man convicted in the murder of one woman was described at the time as potentially a serial killer.

Investigators have since determined there is no evidence supporting Leonard Christopher as the Slasher. Eight cases remain open and unsolved

Its been nearly 30 years since the "Frankford Slasher" terrorized Philadelphia, killing at least eight women whose murders still remain a mystery. Decades later, police are re-examining existing DNA evidence that could, finally, lead to solving the case.

The Frankford killing spree dominated headlines from 1985 to 1990. With a serial killer on the loose, North Philadelphia residents were always on the lookout, according to Walt Hunter, a longtime city reporter who covered the slayings.

The people who lived in Frankford would find themselves looking at the person next to them on the bar stool or coming down the street, Hunter, who retired after decades with KYW-TV, said in an interview. You had a predator with a sixth sense of the vulnerabilities of these women.

All the victims were similar - white women who frequented bars along three specific blocks of Frankford Avenue between Wakeling and Bridge streets. Each victim was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.

Philadelphia police identified a possible suspect  a middle-aged white man who called himself a minister. He disappeared sometime after investigators questioned him but not before a DNA sample was taken.

FILE

That sample is currently being compared to DNA from the various victims using technology that was not available in 1990, police said.

The Philadelphia Police Department declined to comment on the Frankford slasher case, which remains open.

Despite those efforts, its too late for Leonard Christopher, a black man who was arrested and convicted of murdering 46-year-old Carol Dowd in 1990. Her disemboweled body was found in an alley behind a fish market where Christopher worked. She was the eighth woman who died in a way consistent with homicides associated with the Frankford Slasher.

They were all Caucasian, lived in the area, had a history of mental illness or drug dependency, attorney Marissa Bluestine from the Innocence Project of Pennsylvania said. They were women on the edges of society.

Dowds murder is the only one that ever went to trial, she added.

Christopher maintained his innocence from the beginning. No weapon, motive or blood was ever linked to him during the investigation, Bluestine said. He did not match the description of a middle-aged white man believed to be the serial killer. Yet Christopher became the face of the Frankford Slasher.

During the investigation, two witnesses claimed they saw Christopher walking into an alley with Dowd on the night she died. Another witness said Christopher had been seen with a middle-aged white man matching a police sketch of the Frankford slasher suspect.

In September 1990, while Christopher was in jail awaiting trial, a ninth woman was killed. Bluestine said that should have cast further doubt that Christopher murdered Dowd.

The jury did not have any of that information, Bluestine said.

Christopher was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

This is a man who spent the majority of his life in a prison cell for a crime that he did not commit, Bluestine said. In a way, that bothered him more than the fact that his freedom had been taken away.

Christopher eventually died from cancer behind bars.

Not only was Ms. Dowd never given justice because her murderer was never found and caught, but the other eight women  those murders are still unsolved, Bluestine said.
A woman died after losing control of her vehicle while driving on a snow-covered road and then crashing into a pond in Townsend, Delaware.

The 35-year-old Dagsboro resident was driving a 2016 Hyundai Sonata northbound on the curved portion of State Route 1 Wednesday shortly after 1 p.m. when she lost control.

Her vehicle slid off the east edge of the roadway and went down a snow-covered grass embankment before crashing into a retention pond. The vehicle became completely submerged in water and the woman was unable to get out.

Rescue divers eventually pulled the woman out and she was taken to Christiana Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Police are notifying next of kin before releasing the victims identity.

Wednesdays mixture of snow and freezing rain led to slippery road conditions across the region as well as several crashes.
House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration that President Donald Trump has issued to help finance his wall along the Southwest border, teeing up a clash over billions of dollars, immigration policy and the Constitution's separation of powers.

Though the effort seems almost certain to ultimately fall short  perhaps to a Trump veto  the votes will let Democrats take a defiant stance against Trump that is sure to please liberal voters. They will also put some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot.

Formally introducing the measure sets up a vote by the full House likely by mid-March, perhaps as soon as next week, because of a timeline spelled out by law. Initial passage by the Democratic-run House seems assured.

The measure would then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where there may be enough GOP defections for approval. The law that spells out the rules for emergency declarations seems to require the Senate to address the issue too, but there's never been a congressional effort to block one and some procedural uncertainties remain.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seemed to predict approval, telling colleagues in a letter that her chamber will "move swiftly" to pass it and "the resolution will be referred to the Senate and then sent to the President's desk."

Should the House and Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a certain Trump veto.

Even so, Republican senators facing tough 2020 re-election fights in competitive states like Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina would have to take stances that could risk dividing the GOP's pro-Trump and more moderate voters.

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday she would back a resolution blocking the declaration, making her the first Republican to publicly state her support for the effort to thwart the emergency. With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority, three more GOP senators would need to vote with Democrats for the resolution to win initial approval.

The votes could also cause discomfort for other Republicans who've opposed the declaration. Many have expressed concerns that Trump's declaration sets a precedent for future Democratic presidents to declare emergencies to help their own favored issues, like global warming or gun control.

The battle is over an emergency declaration Trump has issued to access billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start erecting border barriers. Building the wall was the most visible trademark of his presidential campaign.

Congress approved a vast spending bill last week providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles of border barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown. That measure represented a rejection of Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles.

Besides signing the bill, Trump also declared a national emergency and used other authorities that he says gives him access to an additional $6.6 billion for wall building. That money would be transferred from a federal asset forfeiture fund, Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a military construction fund. Federal officials have yet to identify specifically which projects would be affected.

Pelosi and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, circulated separate letters Wednesday to lawmakers seeking co-sponsors to his one-sentence resolution. A Castro aide said there were already 102 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Both letters targeted Friday for the measure's introduction.

While Congress is in recess this week, the House has a brief "pro forma" session Friday for bill introductions but no votes.

Castro's measure says Trump's emergency declaration "is hereby terminated." He chairs the 38-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

"The President's decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated," Pelosi wrote.

Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement last week that lawmakers will use "every remedy available" to defend Congress' powers, including in the courts.

Democratic aides said Wednesday that leaders were still deciding exactly what legal action to take, and when.

Outside activists said they understood from conversations with congressional staff that Democrats were likely to file their own lawsuit, rather than simply joining other actions that 16 state attorneys general and liberal, environmental and other organizations have commenced separately.

It remained unclear whether Democrats would wait for congressional action to play out before going to the courts.

Speaking Tuesday about the attorneys general suit, Trump said he expected to do "very well" in the case and said he had an "absolute right" to make the declaration.

Democrats and some Republicans say there is no emergency at the border. They say Trump is improperly declaring one to work around Congress' rejection of the higher amounts.

Once a resolution of disapproval is introduced, the national emergency law says it must be assigned to a committee, which has 15 calendar days to send it to the full chamber. The House parliamentarian has assigned Castro's measure to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

That chamber then has three calendar days to vote on it. The timing could be shortened, which is why a vote could occur more quickly.

The same procedure is then repeated in the second chamber. The law requires those timetables unless either chamber votes to do otherwise. If McConnell tries using that provision to delay the vote on the resolution, the vote on slowing the measure will become the key showdown.

A spokesman for McConnell declined to comment on what the leader will do.
What to Know A driver has been arrested after plowing into a family outside a 7-Eleven store in Rockland County, killing a 32-year-old woman

Six of the victims were a baby and children; they're expected to be OK

Police said the driver intentionally rammed into the family after some sort of argument; he had to be Tased and arrested at gunpoint

UPDATE: Pregnant Mom of 6 Killed in NY 7-Eleven Rampage Identified



A driver angry after a dispute in front of a 7-Eleven store plowed into a family that included six children outside the store in Rockland County Wednesday, killing a woman, before he was arrested at gunpoint by police, officials said.

Police said the driver intentionally drove into the group of eight people in front of the 7-Eleven at 75 Central Highway in Garnerville just before 2 p.m., then backed over them, smashing into the front of the store.

When officers arrived, the driver, identified as 35-year-old Jason Mendez of Washingtonville, New York, refused to drop a knife he was holding; police had to Tase him and arrest him at gunpoint, officials said at a news conference.

A 32-year-old woman died from her injuries at the hospital. A 35-year-old man was taken to Westchester Medical Center, along with a 2-year-old child, and both have serious but non-life threatening injuries. The other victims, children ranging in age from less than a year old to 10 years old, were taken to Montefiore Nyack Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Mendez was arraigned late Wednesday night on charges of second-degree murder and seven counts of second-degree attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A mangled baby stroller lay on the ground in front of the smashed-in storefront as police investigated. Witnesses said they saw a woman lying on the ground immediately after the crash, and she looked severely injured.

Witness Cindy Schnalzer told News 4 New York, "The baby was was crying, and there was like an 11-year-old girl that came out, and she was with her father out here, and the father was going ballistic wanting to know where the guy was."

"I heard the father, he was telling the cops, 'I told him not to blow smoke in front of my kids,'" she said.

Police said an argument led to the driver ramming into the victims, but haven't confirmed that the dispute was over smoking.

Mendez's attorney said in court his client just lost cellphone repair job a week ago. Mendez himself said nothing to reporters as he was led from a police car and into the courthouse in handcuffs.
The intersection of race, crime and policing is so fraught in Chicago that Johnson surprised us by speaking so bluntly. Gun violence is endemic to impoverished minority neighborhoods. Those are the same communities where too many homicide cases go unsolved and where many residents feel alienated by CPDs troubling history of abuse. Johnson could have kept to the script by only discussing Smollett, but he noted instead how people in those neighborhoods were again being sidelined so he could answer media questions about a Hollywood actors alleged fraud.
What to Know A driver has been arrested after plowing into a family outside a 7-Eleven store in Rockland County, killing a 32-year-old mother

Six of the victims were a baby and children; they're expected to be OK

Police said the driver intentionally rammed into the family after some sort of argument; he had to be Tased and arrested at gunpoint

A driver angry about being asked not to blow cigarette smoke in the direction of children outside a New York 7-Eleven allegedly plowed into a family, hitting six kids and killing their mother, who was pregnant, before he was arrested at gunpoint by police, according to officials and witness accounts.

"Four years ago, I buried my son," said the victim's grieving mother. "Now I have to bury my daughter. No parent should have to do that because of an animal."

Police said the driver, 35-year-old Jason Mendez of Washingtonville, intentionally drove into the group in front of the convenience store on Central Highway in Garnerville just before 2 p.m. Wednesday. He then reversed and backed over them before smashing into the front of the store, authorities said.

When officers arrived, Mendez allegedly refused to drop a knife he was holding; police had to stun him and arrest him at gunpoint, officials said.

The 32-year-old mother, identified by family as Melissa DeLoatch, died from her injuries. Her 35-year-old husband was taken to Westchester Medical Center, along with their 2-year-old child, and both have serious but non-life threatening injuries. The other victims, the couple's children, who range in age from less than a year to 10 years old, were taken to Montefiore Nyack Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

DeLoatch's mother, Joan Christopher, said her daughter had thrown herself in front of the car to shield her children.

"My grandchildren call her 'the hero,'" said Christopher. "'Mommy is the hero.'"

Witnesses of the crash said they saw a woman lying on the ground immediately after the crash, and she looked severely injured. A baby stroller also lay mangled.

Cindy Schnalzer told News 4 New York, "The baby was was crying, and there was like an 11-year-old girl that came out, and she was with her father out here, and the father was going ballistic wanting to know where the guy was."

"I heard the father, he was telling the cops, 'I told him not to blow smoke in front of my kids,'" she said.

Mendez pleaded not guilty late Wednesday to charges of second-degree murder and seven counts of second-degree attempted murder.

His attorney said in court his client just lost his cellphone repair job a week ago. Mendez himself said nothing to reporters as he was led from a police car and into the courthouse in handcuffs.

A vacate order was posted on the store early Thursday, and people were stopping by to leave flowers and candles. Christopher said the support is much needed as the DeLoatch children try to pick up the pieces without their mother.

"My only daughter. My best friend," she said. "She wasn't only my daughter, she was my best friend."
Months after the Trump administration announced an end to its widescale separation of migrant parents and children, the policy remains a heated issue in the courts and at the border as critics contend the government is still needlessly breaking up immigrant families.

The Texas Civil Rights Project released a report Thursday that counts 272 separations at a single Texas courthouse since June, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending widespread separations amid public outrage.

The bulk of those cases involve children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border with relatives other than their parents, such as grandparents, uncles and aunts, or adult siblings.

Thirty-eight cases involved a parent or legal guardian, the majority of whom had criminal convictions, the group said.

In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection argued the group incorrectly categorized cases involving other relatives because the Homeland Security Act "does not make concessions for anyone other than a parent or legal guardian." CBP includes the Border Patrol, which apprehends people entering the U.S. illegally.

The government and the American Civil Liberties Union were due back in court Thursday to discuss what might be thousands of children who were separated before a June court order requiring the speedy re-unification of families.

The government has acknowledged taking more than 2,700 children from their families and has reunited most of them, but a watchdog report last month found that thousands of other children were separated and released before the order.

"What's happening is the government is doing separations unilaterally without any process to contest the separations and without a child welfare expert overseeing the separations," ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said.

One concern, Gelernt and others said, is the fate of children cared for by relatives in arrangements that were never formalized.

In one case discovered by the Texas Civil Rights Project, an 11-year-old boy from Guatemala was separated from his uncle, who was his caretaker because his father had not been involved in his life and his mother had died of cancer, said Efren Olivares, a lawyer for the project.

"Those are very difficult situations, especially because the government takes the position that it is not their responsibility to reunite them because they are not the legal guardian," he said.

Lawyers from the project have gone almost every day since last spring to the courthouse in McAllen to find adults charged with illegally entering the U.S. and ask them if they had brought any children. McAllen is in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal border crossings.

U.S. immigration authorities say that under anti-trafficking law, children crossing the border without a parent or legal guardian must be processed as "unaccompanied," even if they are with an adult who isn't their parent or legal guardian.

"Absent verification that an adult is the parent or legal guardian of a minor, CBP will continue to prioritize the safety of a minor and comply with the statutory requirements," the agency said.

Unaccompanied children and teenagers from Central America are generally sent to government facilities, while the adults could face detention and prosecution for illegally entering the U.S. Authorities can also separate parents and children if it considers separation to be in the child's best interest, with a parent's criminal history often being a factor.

Gelernt said the government should work to determine if an adult relative is the child's caretaker.

"There can't be a presumption that you just take the child away if it's not the biological or adoptive parent," Gelernt said.

Members of Congress on Tuesday visited an emergency facility for migrant children in Homestead, Florida, which has expanded after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services closed a facility in Tornillo, Texas, under public pressure.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Florida Democrat, said she had spoken to a girl who had been detained for nine months after being separated from her aunt. There were 1,575 children at the facility last week.

Another Florida Democrat, U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, said the government's definition of an "unaccompanied minor" was too narrow and leads to unnecessary separations.

"If you don't come with a parent, but you come with an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, or a brother, you are defined as unaccompanied," said Shalala, a former health and human services secretary. "We need to get these children to family members much more quickly."

The government said in December it had separated 81 migrant children at the border since the June executive order. According to the government data, 197 adults and 139 minors were separated from April 19 through Sept. 30 because they were found to not be related, though that could include grandparents or other relatives if there was no proof of relationship.

The Health and Human Services Department's inspector general said last month that 118 children were separated from their parents from July 1 through Nov. 7.

Associated Press journalists Colleen Long, Adriana Gomez Licon and Josh Replogle contributed to this report.
Among more than 50 lawyers in a Miami-Dade County courtroom Wednesday sat Orlando Duran, a man who's already lost more than he can ever hope to recover: his 18-year-old daughter, Alexa, crushed to death when the pedestrian bridge being built at Florida International University came crashing down.

During a break in the proceedings, he recalled to NBC 6 how he went to the collapse scene "to see her body being pulled out from under the bridge that had collapsed, making her car look like a pancake. We couldn't bury my daughter with an open casket. I would have loved to kiss her forehead one last time and tell her I was sorry there was no way to help her out."

Alexa was an FIU freshman with dreams of becoming a lawyer.

As her father watched a platoon of defense lawyers try  and in almost all cases fail - to have some or all of their cases dismissed, he grew frustrated at the amount of money being consumed.

"I think someone needs to put a limit to this," he said. "A settlement, mediation, it needs to take place. They cannot continue, the lawyers, milking the process."

Approaching one year since the collapse, none of the victims has received compensation through their lawsuits, according to court records.

And a lawyer for the bridge engineer is warning millions in insurance coverage otherwise meant for victims could be headed "down the drain" as legal fees and costs climb.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey, who is overseeing the 18 lawsuits filed against 25 businesses connected to the failed project, told lawyers early on her priority is to see that the victims' claims resolved as quickly as possible.

Wednesday she reiterated her concerns, saying the cases have "brilliant and creative lawyers  and that's all a great thing  but your creativity could end up using all the money that's available to settle the cases for legal fees instead."

"There's X dollars" available from the defendants, she noted at a case management conference in August. "How will it be allocated for those for whom no fault can be found?"

That would include the six people who died  five of them in vehicles waiting at a red light when the 950-ton structure came crashing down on SW Eighth Street, the sixth a worker on the canopy of the span who fell to the ground with the rubble beneath him.

But lawyers involved in the case say that pool of money  tens of millions of dollars  is shrinking, as defendants rely on insurance policies known as "wasting policies" to pay legal fees, experts and other costs. It comes from the same pool of money otherwise available to pay judgments or settlements.

The defendants in the wrongful death and negligence suits include everyone from the general contractor, Munilla Construction Management (MCM), to the designer, FIGG Bridge Engineers, down to the company that supplied mats to protect the roadway when the bridge was lifted from a roadside construction area and moved into place five days before the March 15 collapse.

At a December hearing, one of the lawyers for FIGG, Barry Davis, warned that as litigation drags on and gets wider in scope, less money will remain for settlements and judgments.

With depositions set to begin in May, Davis projected as much as $50 million might go "down the drain" if 25 defense lawyers have to depose 75 witnesses over two days each, using experts and other costly resources to prepare.

That money, he said, would come from "wasting policies," which reduce the money available to cover losses as defense costs increase.

Wednesday, the lawyer for one company that supplied $7,000 in material complained his clients would spend $15,000 a week in fees and costs to attend depositions, unless they were dismissed from the suit.

They were not.

In December, Bailey urged defendants "to do what defendants need to do to settle so the policies don't waste," adding, "The whole idea is to settle these cases."

That prompted Davis to raise what he called a "nightmare scenario"  what if "all this money's spent, all the money's gone, some defendants go out of business?"

Judge Bailey's response: "If you don't want to spend the money, settle the case."

And that admonition came before the second phase of the case even starts.

Judge Bailey has managed the first phase as one focusing on mediation and settlement with the victims. She said Wednesday 85 percent of the case remains oriented in that direction.

But, in an order signed last month, she said that focus will shift in July to "managed litigation."

That's when defendants start turning on each other, deciding who they will blame for causing the catastrophe.

Bailey gave them the entire month of July to file those claims and counterclaims against each other.

Wednesday, a lawyer for one of the defendants previewed what could become an attack on another, FIGG Bridge Engineers. The lawyer claimed there is no evidence yet disclosed by FIGG showing it analyzed what would happen if it re-tensioned bars in the cracking structure after it was placed over Eighth Street.

"I find that shocking," the lawyer, for Louis Berger engineering, said. FIGG has declined all requests for comment.

That re-tensioning was occurring when the bridge collapsed.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet ruled on the cause of the collapse but has cited design errors that underestimated forces concentrated on the north end of the bridge, precisely where the failure occurred on March 15. The NTSB said tests on concrete and steel from the rubble indicate they met proper specifications.

Even as a mediator has been trying  so far unsuccessfully  for weeks to hammer out settlements, exactly how much money might be available is not known publically.

Some of the companies being sued have reported they purchased insurance policies with limits in the tens of millions of dollars, while others report policy limits of only $1 million.

And insurance companies are suing some of their clients, asking judges to rule they do not have to cover all or some of the companies' losses.

In some cases, the insurers say the claims against their clients involve "professional services" and, therefore, are not covered by their commercial general liability policies; in other cases, they argue punitive damages, if awarded, would not be covered.

FIU has just been served with papers naming it a defendant, lawyers said Wednesday. As Judge Bailey noted in a September hearing, the university may also become a plaintiff. It was paying for a pedestrian bridge that is not being built, so she said, she expected "at some point" FIU will sue to get its bridge.

"That's a very reasonable assumption on the court's part," FIU's lawyer responded.

The Florida Department of Transportation also was notified last week it will be a defendant, a plaintiff's lawyer announced Wednesday.

As for Duran, he can't understand why he and other families of victims who die or were injured through no fault of their own can't have their claims settled before the defendants start turning on each other, consuming even more money.

And, he said, it's not about the money.

"There is nothing in this world that would bring my daughter alive," he said. "We would much rather prefer to have lived a poor life, but as a family together. But that was not possible. We are after justice and apparently the more the delay it takes, the more the money is reduced, as if they would like to continue using that money, milking the process for their benefit."
Overweight bags at the airport can add up when you travel. It's why we wanted to know what's done to ensure the scales that weigh your bags are accurate.

Tyler Byrd told us his baggage often is heavy when he travels.

"I do wear a size 15, my shoes are usually the weight factor," he told us.

Airlines charge more for a single piece of luggage that weighs more than 50 pounds.

For the Ewing family, that was a problem.

"We went up there put the bag on the scale," Brendan Ewing told us. "It came in at around 59 pounds."

He rearranged baby items and warm weather clothes to drop the weight.

"Shuffle a few things around in the bags, move some stuff to our carry-on, move some lighter weight stuff to the bigger bag, and we were able to get it down to 50," he said.

Heavier planes burn more fuel which cost airlines more money. It is the reason they give to charge you more for overweight bags.

Some airlines charge a $100 fee for overweight luggage, so the accuracy of the scale can mean the difference in what you pay.

The Weights and Measures Division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspects airport scales.

We watched as inspectors tested one scale at a time at Miami International Airport.

They used calibrated 25-pound weights to test each scale up to 500 pounds.

Inspectors also shifted the weight around making sure no matter where you put your bag on the scale you would get an accurate reading.

Inaccurate scales, favoring the airlines, are taken out of service immediately.

During the latest inspection, of the 20 luggage scales inspected at MIA, six failed. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, three of the 21 scales didn't pass inspection.

Once a scale is taken out of service, it is required to be fixed within five business days and a notice of correction must be provided to the state.

The state says it inspects scales every 12 to 18 months, but both airports contract with private vendors to inspect and recalibrate scales throughout the year.

If you question the weight a scale gives you for a bag, you can ask the airline employee to place your bag on a different scale.
A 2-year-old girl whose mother was killed in a South Florida crash just weeks after the girl was born in 2016 was found murdered in Texas allegedly at the hands of her father.

Yovahnis Roque, 26, was arraigned Wednesday on a capital murder charge in the killing of his daughter in Orange, Texas, police Capt. Robert Enmon said.

Roque was arrested Tuesday after the discovery of his slain daughter in their home. Enmon says she was killed in her bedroom with a hammer.

Officers found Roque "completely covered in blood" and discovered the girl's body in a closet, an arrest affidavit said.

Enmon said it was the most horrific crime he's dealt with in his 29-year career, calling it "the crime scene of nightmares."

Roque remained jailed Wednesday on $2 million bond. Jail records didn't list an attorney for him. Orange is on the Texas-Louisiana border about 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

In court Wednesday, a judge was explaining the capital murder charge when Roque exclaimed: "The government made me do it."

Enmon said Thursday that authorities investigated a disturbance at the house several months earlier, but that the call didn't appear to involve the child.

A friend of the suspect, Abner Santiago, told the Beaumont Enterprise that he received a series of messages from Roque on Tuesday, including one in which he told his friend to start digging because there was going to be "an all-out war."

"He was messaging me weird coded messages about the world ending," Santiago said. "He wasn't like this before when I knew him back in Miami."

The girl's mother, 24-year-old Rachel Foster, was killed in a June 19, 2016 crash in Miami-Dade. Roque, who was Foster's boyfriend at the time, was driving when his car broke down on the side of the Palmetto Expressway by Northwest 57th Avenue, and Foster had gone to help him.

Investigators said Foster got out to go to Roque's car when she was hit by another vehicle and killed at the scene. Roque, who was also struck, was badly injured.

Foster's mother, Delia Foster, said the death of her daughter, and now the killing of her granddaughter, brings "a complete emptiness. And it's just so gloomy and so devastating."
What to Know American women are coming forward with stories of sexual assaults at popular vacation resort destinations

Jamaica and the Bahamas are flagged as critical threat locations, according to the State Department

A former State Department special agent urges tourists to research their destinations, especially crime statistics and police response

Turquoise water, white sand beaches, and carefree days by the pool -- these are the images of paradise that vacation resorts want you to see. But a shadow has been cast over some of the top vacation spots in the world as the State Department issues dire safety warnings.

In a story first reported by WNBC, New Jersey couple Ashley and Jeffrey Pascarella learned the hard way when they and their closest friends and family flew to a Sandals resort in the Bahamas to celebrate their wedding.

"It really just one of the most memorable trip of our lives, up until the night of our wedding," said Ashley Pascarella.

After their welcome party, a butler assigned to their room brought up water and snacks. Jeffrey headed to the bathroom with the butler close behind.

"I told him I have to get ready, so we have to go," Jeffrey recounted. "He gets up, follows me. I go to the bathroom and he leaves."

But the butler, they said, snuck back into the room and headed straight for the bed where Ashley was asleep.

"He was standing over me next to the bed," said Ashley. "His hands were in my pants."

Ivy Lee said she was also molested at a Sunscape resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

A man who worked for a beach vendor at the hotel offered to teach her how to swim. She remembers trying to float while he was holding her up in the water.

"He starts touching me, Im like 'no, no, no!'" Lee recalled.

Since 2011, the Embassy in Jamaica has recorded 78 reports of rapes or sexual assaults of American tourists. Year after year, the State Department has issued warnings of "sexual assaults perpetrated by hotel employees at resort hotels."

Jamaica and the Bahamas, where Ashley and Ivy vacationed, are both flagged as "critical" threat locations.

Both women said finding justice is not easy.

Because of their persistence, the Pascarellas say they were able to file a police report and their butler was arrested. He eventually pleaded guilty to indecent assault.

In Lees case, she was on her way to the police, but said she changed her mind after talking to a hotel worker.

"He told me that after I filed the report, the police would go and arrest him and that he would sit in jail until the court date," Lee recalled. "And that I would have to return on my own expense for the trial, but in my heart I knew I would never return."

A spokesperson for Sunsplash said "in any instance, crimes of sexual assault are horrific and our empathy is with the people affected by them."

Former State Department special agent and current Senior Director of Security Risk Management at Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps, Matthew Dumpert says reporting the crime to police is critical, even if its not easy, as well as contacting the U.S. embassy.

"They understand the local culture and the local judicial system," said Dumpert. "They might be able to give you some assistance."

Sandals offered to refund the Pascarellas for the trip but only if they agreed to sign an agreement and to remove all social media posts and online comments about their trip. The couple refused and filed suit against Sandals instead. Their attorney is in the process of serving the lawsuit.

"They were trying to keep it quiet as possible," said attorney John Iannuzzi. "It can be quite damaging if it became widespread and known that these things happen."

In a statement, Sandals, which has 24 resorts in the Caribbean, sent a statement that reads: "The narrative that the Pascarellas are presenting is contrary to the statements collected from them at the time of the alleged incident. These allegations present a self-serving, one-sided and incomplete version of an incident reported in 2016. The plaintiffs have unfortunately embarked to influence the case based on a one-sided narrative in the media. Sandals intends to vigorously defend itself in court against these allegations and looks forward to presenting the full picture of all the facts and circumstances surrounding this reported incident from 2016 within the appropriate legal forum."

Dumpert said doing research can go a long way. Instead of focusing on the hotel amenities, find out the environment of the place you are visiting. What types of crimes are being committed? And are the local police aggressive about making arrests?

"They dont want bad headlines. They dont want bad press and they dont want to deter the foreign income they rely on for tourism dollars."
The day began with an African woman telling an extraordinary gathering of Catholic leaders that her priestly rapist forced her to have three abortions over a dozen years after he started violating her at age 15. It ended with a Colombian cardinal warning them they could all face prison if they let such crimes go unpunished.

In between, Pope Francis began charting a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and cover-up, a scandal that has consumed his papacy and threatens the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy at large.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors on Thursday that their flocks were demanding concrete action, not just words, to punish predator priests and keep children safe. He offered them 21 proposals to consider going forward, some of them obvious and easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

But his main point in summoning the Catholic hierarchy to the Vatican for a four-day tutorial was to impress upon them that clergy sex abuse is not confined to the United States or Ireland, but is a global scourge that requires a concerted, global response.

"Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice," Francis told the gathering. "The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established."

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia, and 20 years after it hit the U.S., bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or play down the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year and the scandal reignited in the U.S.

The tone for the high stakes summit was set at the start, with victims from five continents  Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and North America  telling the bishops of the trauma of their abuse and the additional pain the church's indifference caused them.

"You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed  in some cases  into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith," Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz told the bishops in his videotaped testimony.

Other survivors were not identified, including the woman from Africa who said she was so young and trusting when her priest started raping her that she didn't even know she was being abused.

"He gave me everything I wanted when I accepted to have sex; otherwise he would beat me," she told the bishops. "I got pregnant three times and he made me have an abortion three times, quite simply because he did not want to use condoms or contraceptives."

Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up as he responded to their testimony.

In a moving meditation that followed the video testimony, Tagle told his brother bishops that the wounds they had inflicted on the faithful through their negligence and indifference to the sufferings of their flock recalled the wounds of Christ on the cross.

He demanded bishops and superiors no longer turn a blind eye to the harm caused by clergy who rape and molest the young.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Tagle said. The result, he said, had left a "deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve."

After he offered the bishops a vision of what a bishop should be, the Vatican's onetime sex crimes prosecutor told them what a bishop should do. Archbishop Charles Scicluna delivered a step-by-step lesson Thursday on how to conduct an abuse investigation under the church's canon law, repeatedly citing the example of Pope Benedict XVI, who turned the Vatican around on the issue two decades ago.

Calling for a conversion from a culture of silence to a "culture of disclosure," Scicluna told bishops they should cooperate with civil law enforcement investigations and announce decisions about predators to their communities once cases have been decided.

He said victims had the right to seek damages from the church and that bishops should consider using lay experts to help guide them during abuse investigations.

The people of God "should come to know us as friends of their safety and that of their children and youth," he said. "We will protect them at all cost. We will lay down our lives for the flocks entrusted to us."

Finally, Scicluna warned them that it was a "grave sin" to withhold information from the Vatican about candidates for bishops  a reference to the recent scandal of the now-defrocked former American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick. It was apparently an open secret in some church circles that McCarrick slept with young seminarians. He was defrocked last week by Francis after a Vatican trial found credible reports that he abused minors as well as adults.

Francis, for his part, offered a path of reform going forward, handing out the 21 proposals for the church to consider.

He called for specific protocols to handle accusations against bishops, in yet another reference to the McCarrick scandal. He suggested protocols to govern the transfers of seminarians or priests to prevent predators from moving freely to unsuspecting communities.

One idea called for bolstering child protection laws in some countries by raising the minimum age for marriage to 16; another suggested a basic handbook showing bishops how to investigate cases.

In the final speech of the day, Colombian Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez warned his brother bishops that they could face not only canonical sanctions but also imprisonment for a cover-up if they failed to properly deal with allegations.

Abuse and cover-up, he said, "is the distortion of the meaning of ministry, which converts it into a means to impose force, to violate the conscience and the bodies of the weakest.

Abuse survivors have turned out in droves in Rome to demand accountability and transparency from church leaders and assert that the time of sex abuse cover-ups is over.

"The question is this: Why should the church be allowed to handle the pedophile question? The question of pedophilia is not a question of religion, it is (a question of) crime," Francesco Zanardi, head of the main victims advocacy group in Italy Rete L'Abuso, or Abuse Network, told a news conference in the Italian parliament.

Hours before the Vatican summit opened, activists in Poland pulled down a statue of a priest accused of sexually abusing minors. They said the stunt was to protest the failure of the Polish Catholic Church in resolving the problem of clergy sex abuse.

Video showed three men attaching a rope around the statue of the late Monsignor Henryk Jankowski in the northern city of Gdansk and pulling it to the ground in the dark. They then placed children's underwear in one of the statue's hands and a white lace church vestment worn by altar boys on the statue's body. Jankowski is accused of molesting boys.

The private broadcaster TVN24 reported the three men were arrested.

Jankowski, who died in 2010, rose to prominence in the 1980s through his support for the pro-democracy Solidarity movement against Poland's communist regime. World leaders including President George H.W. Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited his church to recognize his anti-communist activity.
Three men ages 19 and under have been arrested for allegedly stealing Amazon packages from a delivery van in Glendale, police announced Wednesday.

Officers were dispatched about 12:30 p.m. Sunday to the 200 block of West Loraine Street to investigate a report from an Amazon delivery driver who said she saw two male suspects enter her van and steal packages while she was delivering items to a home, according to Glendale Police Department spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

The woman reported the two males got into a black BMW without license plates and fled toward Valley View Road, Lightfoot said.

"While the officers were responding to the call, the Glendale Police Department Communications Division received a separate 911 call from a witness that was following the suspect vehicle," Lightfoot said.

"The witness reported he saw males steal a package from a delivery truck and directed the officers to the suspect vehicle at the Shell gas station located at Kenneth Road and Grandview Road."

Officers arrived at the station and detained three suspects -- later identified as Emajea Porter, 18 and Anthony Henderson, 19, both of Carson, and Jordan Maclamore, 18, of Henderson, Nevada.

"The witnesses positively identified the suspects and they were taken into custody and booked for petty theft and conspiracy to commit a theft," Lightfoot said.

All three suspects were released on Monday after posting $500 bail, according to sheriff's inmate records.

The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing consideration, Lightfoot said.
It's still unclear how Bam Bam got his head stuck in a tire, but what we know is that Orange County firefighters came to the rescue.

Scroll down to read more about Bam Bam and other stories you should read today on nbcla.com

OC Firefighters Rescue Husky From 'Ruff' Situation

Not all heroes wear capes. Some heroes wear overalls and use tools to rescue dogs from their shenanigans. Bam Bam got his head stuck in the rim of a tire, but is now recovering thanks to the OC Fire Department.

Conditions Are 'Epic' at Snow Play

The winter storm turned areas of California into a winter wonderland, and that includes Big Bear. Take precaution and get ready for snowy conditions up in the mountains, but make sure to have fun at Big Bear Snow Play and slide down their glow tubing attraction. Find out their schedule and prices here.



Coffee & Donut Fest Rocks the Dunkable Delights

Can you think of a better combo than coffee and donuts for this cold weather? Neither can we. Head over to the National Orange Show Event Center in San Bernardino this Saturday for a variety of donuts and coffee brews to enjoy at the Coffee & Donut Fest.

It's Popcorn Cake, Your Oscar Treat

Looking for a different spin on your awards night dessert? Milk Bar has it. You can enjoy both salty and sweet as you watch the 91st Academy Awards this Sunday. Here's how much the cake costs.
Help may be on the way for drivers frustrated with gridlock along Interstate 35W in far North Fort Worth.

"It's a big headache," said Rusty Fuller, president of the North Fort Worth Alliance, a group of homeowner and neighborhood associations. "It's just frustrating."

The Texas Transportation Commission has scheduled a vote on Feb. 28 which would authorize bonds to fund the project, said TXDot spokesman Val Lopez.

The plan would rebuild an eight-mile stretch of I-35W, adding two toll lanes in each direction and continuous frontage roads from Highway 287 to Eagle Parkway, he said.

Mayor Betsy Price said Tuesday in her State of the City speech that transportation officials had told her the expansion will happen.

"Most of you know I-35 has been under construction forever," Price said. "The last leg where it necks down now will be widened out and you can keep going up I-35. That's a big win."

Fuller said he can't wait.

"It's desperately needed," he said.
But on Wednesday night, authorities disputed that version of events. The Cook County states attorneys office charged Smollett with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report that described an attack with racist and homophobic elements. If thats true, it would mean Smollett manufactured a nonevent  an elaborate, irresponsible hoax. It would mean he created a sympathetic role for himself as the target of an ugly, bigoted attack. It would mean the two men he identified as his assailants didnt perpetrate any such assault. It would mean Smollett, who appears on the Chicago-filmed show Empire, invented this incidence of evil and then stuck to his story, even as suspicions arose that he was responsible.
A woman and her boyfriend were deployed with the U.S. Army in South Korea when they conspired via Snapchat to kill her husband so she could claim the life insurance money, police in Michigan said.

Berrian County Judge Sterling Schrock ruled Wednesday in a preliminary hearing that the murder trial of Kemia Hassel, 22, and Jeremy Cuellar, 24, will begin April 30.

Both have pleaded not guilty in the Dec. 31 killing of U.S. Army Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III. Cuellar was also charged with a felony firearms count.

Authorities say the 23-year-old Hassel was ambushed while visiting his family in St. Joseph Township. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, according to the autopsy report.

All three were soldiers stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Kemia Hassel told police in a signed statement that she spent months planning how to kill her husband so she could continue her romantic relationship with Cuellar, Township Police Officer Mike Lanier testified Wednesday.

Kemia and Tyrone Hassel married in 2016 and had a 1-year-old son. She told police she was unhappy with her marriage, but didn't want to go through a divorce because she then wouldn't be able to receive any life insurance money, Lanier said.

Hassel and Cuellar began plotting while they were deployed in South Korea last year, Lanier said. The pair communicated through Snapchat because they believed the social media app's temporary messages would make it difficult for police to trace, he said.

Army Specialist Jaquan Hamilton and Army Corporal Tatanya Butler testified that they were aware of Kemia Hassel and Cuellar's affair and their plan.

Edwin Johnson, Cuellar's lawyer, said it would be hard to pin the shooting on Cuellar.

"No one saw him at the scene. He was going to give up on this. He wasn't going to do it. There were several other suspects," Johnson said.

Kaitlin Locke, Kemia Hassel's lawyer, said her client shouldn't be charged with first-degree murder because she didn't pull the trigger. But Schrock said there was enough evidence to prove she aided and abetted.

Tyrone Hassel's father, Tyrone Hassel Jr., said it was difficult to hear the details about the plot to kill his son.

"It's hard to take it in without crying," Hassel Jr. said.
Federal prosecutors in Florida violated the rights of victims by secretly reaching a non-prosecution agreement with a wealthy financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra said in a 33-page decision that victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein should have been consulted under federal law about the deal. Marra stopped short of invalidating the non-prosecution agreement but asked prosecutors and victims' lawyers to recommend in 15 days how to move forward.

"While the government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the (agreement) with Epstein's attorneys, scant information was shared with victims," Marra wrote. "Instead, the victims were told to be 'patient' while the investigation proceeded."

The law, Marra added, "lends itself to only one interpretation; namely, that victims should be notified of significant events resulting in resolution of their case without a trial."

Epstein, now 66, reached the deal in 2008 with then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta's office to end the federal probe that could have landed him in prison for life. Epstein instead pleaded guilty to lesser state charges, spent 13 months in jail, paid financial settlements to victims and is a registered sex offender.

Acosta, now President Donald Trump's labor secretary, has defended the deal as appropriate given what prosecutors knew and could prove at the time, especially with many victims reluctant to testify. Marra said in his ruling he was not passing judgment on whether the deal should have been struck, only that victims' rights were violated.

Bradley Edwards, attorney for two victims who brought the lawsuit, said the decision should mean the non-prosecution agreement is thrown out  possibly exposing Epstein to federal charges once again. The agreement also granted immunity to anyone who assisted Epstein in finding the underage girls or concealing the abuse.

"Rather than work to correct the injustices done to the victims, the government spent 10 years defending its own improper conduct," Edwards said in an email. "It is time for the government to work with the victims, and not against them, to hold everyone who committed these crimes accountable."

The Miami U.S. attorney's office declined comment Thursday. The Justice Department, however, recently opened a separate investigation into the handling of the Epstein case to determine whether prosecutors committed professional misconduct.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department run by Acosta issued a statement saying the secretary welcomes the Justice Department probe.

"For more than a decade, this prosecution has been reviewed in great detail by newspaper articles, television reports, books, and congressional testimony," the statement said, adding that "the actions taken were in accordance with department practices, procedures, and the law."

Court documents show Epstein had a Palm Beach, Florida, mansion where at least 40 underage girls were brought for what turned into sexual encounters. Authorities say he had female fixers who would look for suitable girls, some local and others recruited from Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

Before the scandal broke, Epstein was friends with Trump and had visited his Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump at the time told interviewers that Epstein was "a great guy." Records also show former President Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's jet more than two dozen times on various philanthropic trips. Neither Trump nor Clinton have been implicated in any wrongdoing.

Epstein also has a home in New York City, a ranch in New Mexico and a private Caribbean island.
The Republican in the last undecided U.S. congressional election ignored repeated warnings from his son against hiring a shady political operator now accused of illegally collecting voter's ballots in a rural North Carolina county and casting the GOP campaign into limbo, the younger man testified Wednesday.

Contradicting congressional candidate Mark Harris' public statements that he never suspected his campaign deployed an operative in rural Bladen County who collected ballots by the bundle and turned them in when he wanted, John Harris testified at a special state elections board hearing that he'd warned his father about Leslie McCrae Dowless' operation repeatedly since mid-2016.

John Harris said his warnings were overridden because local Republicans recommended Dowless to Mark Harris, who was gearing up for a primary rematch against incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger. His parents met with Dowless in April 2017, when the operative insisted his method for maximizing mail-in vote results was legal and grounded in local relationships.

"I think they were lied to and they believed the person who lied to them," John Harris said of his parents. "I will also say, they were weighing what I had provided in terms of analysis against other people that they respected who endorsed Mr. Dowless' behavior. Do I agree with their ultimate assessment? No. I thought what he was doing was illegal. And I was right."

North Carolina's elections director said Monday that Dowless conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation while working for Mark Harris during the 2018 election cycle. Dowless' workers in Bladen County testified at the special state elections board hearing that they were directed to forge signatures, collect blank or incomplete ballots voters handed over, and even fill in votes for local candidates who hadn't earned them.

Some Bladen County residents also raised their suspicions in sworn affidavits that Dowless also may have discarded the ballots of Democrat Dan McCready's supporters. He trailed Harris by 905 votes out of about 280,000 cast in November's election, but the race wasn't certified after allegations against Dowless surfaced. The hearing has produced no testimony showing ballots were discarded.

Dowless declined to testify this week after the elections board refused to grant him immunity from prosecution based on what he might say. Dowless has felony convictions for insurance fraud and perjury, but Harris and his chief campaign consultant said those charges were missed in a brief background check.

John Harris said he did not have a significant role in his father's campaign and assumed campaign staffers and consultants had a duty to keep an eye on Dowless' performance.

Mark Harris previously told The Associated Press he sought out and hired Dowless because he delivered votes, including for a Republican rival in the 2016 GOP primary. Harris said he discussed with an attorney after that primary whether to challenge Dowless' incredible results for a GOP rival with mail-in ballots in Bladen County. Dowless' methods in the 2016 general election were referred to federal prosecutors, who took no action.

Since October, John Harris has worked in the civil division of the same U.S. Justice Department office in Raleigh. He said he was testifying voluntarily in his capacity as a private citizen and not as a Justice Department employee. Mark Harris appeared to tear up during his son's testimony.

John Harris testified that he initially warned his parents about Dowless after reviewing voting data immediately after his father's 2016 primary loss. Mark Harris had lost a Republican primary that June in which GOP rival Todd Johnson, who used Dowless in that campaign, scored 98 percent of the mail-in ballots cast in Bladen County.

In November 2016, John Harris forwarded a Republican fundraising email amid a vote-counting fight in the close North Carolina governor's race. The email claimed that a Democratic Party voting fraud scheme in Bladen County had been uncovered, based on a complaint by Dowless of misdeeds by a local black empowerment organization.

Mark Harris reacted to the email with a reply to his son: "Amen! But interestingly enough, the guy who made the claim, Dowess (sic), is the same guy that Johnson paid to run the "absentee ballot program" for him! Guess he didn't like the Dems cutting into his business!"

Mark Harris is expected to testify Thursday. The elections board is expected to either declare him the winner in the 9th congressional district or order a new election after the multi-day hearing.
A Coast Guard lieutenant accused of being a white supremacist who stockpiled guns and compiled a target list of prominent Democrats will remain detained in federal custody after his arrest.

Federal Magistrate Judge Charles Day ordered 49-year-old Christopher Paul Hasson held Thursday but said he might be willing to reconsider later if the government hasn't charged him with more serious crimes in the next two weeks.

The U.S Attorney for Maryland, Robert Hur, told reporters outside the courthouse Thursday that the sheer number and force of the weapons recovered from Hasson's residence, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings, "appear to reflect a very significant threat to the safety of our community," particularly given the position of trust that Hasson held with the U.S. government.

Hasson's defense attorney said the government made a histrionic characterization by filing inflammatory document to attract media attention and pressure the court to assure detention. His lawyer said Hasson is not a danger to the community, has no criminal record, has served the military for 28 years and is a good husband and father who should be with his family pending trial.

Hasson was arrested Friday on gun and drug charges, but prosecutors say those offenses are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg."

In a court filing, prosecutors say Hasson has espoused extremist views for years and drafted an email in which he said he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth."

In a draft of a letter apparently intended for a known white supremacist leader, Hasson identified himself as a white nationalist for more than 30 years who advocated focused violence to create a white homeland, according to charging documents.

Prosecutors say federal agents found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside Hasson's Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment.

Prosecutors wrote Hasson is a domestic terrorist who intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country and must be detained.

They say internet searches show he was targeting top Democrats and created an Excel spreadsheet list of names, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Tim Kaine, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Rep. Beto ORourke. The list also included top names in media, like MSNBCs Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNNs Don Lemon.

"I feel very, very confident that our law enforcement at the federal and local levels is on top of these things and making sure all of us whose names were on the list are safe, Schumer said.

Law enforcement sources told NBC News the feds caught on to Hasson because of searches made on his computer at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.

He is accused of searching the following phrases on Google the morning of Jan. 17: what if trump illegally impeached, best place in dc to see congress people, where in dc to congress people live, civil war if trump impeached and social democrats usa.

His search history also included searches for pro-Russian and neo-fascist literature.

Hasson routinely read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that prosecutors said instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools, court papers said. Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage.
Governor Ned Lamont issued his first budget address to lawmakers, and led with familiar ideas aimed at balancing the state budget.

I will not allow this budget to be another scene from Groundhog Day, where I come to you year after year, hat in hand, lamenting the fact the fact that we still havent addressed our structural deficits, Lamont told a joint session of the General Assembly.

Lamont hinges balancing the budget on negotiating hundreds of millions of dollars in adjustments to state employee and teacher pensions and benefits. Lamont also proposed changing the payment schedule, in an effort to smooth out some of the states payments to avoid spiking costs in the future.

To those who might say that stretching out these mortgage-like payments over a longer time period is just more kicking the can, I would argue that this crisis was generations in the making, he said.

Sal Luciano with the Connecticut AFL-CIO said hes happy the governor has proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, and supporting paid family leave policies, which were included in his budget, but said more givebacks from unionized public sector workers is too much for them to stomach yet again.

We are disappointed that Gov. Lamont has broken his campaign promise to not seek further givebacks from state workers after they made concessions three times over the last decade, Luciano said. Our teachers, fire fighters, nurses, corrections officers, and other state workers have already made concessions worth tens of billions of dollars, and to continue to go after these public service workers is patently unfair.

Lamont says he intends to respect the process at every turn.

Some of you think that Connecticut needs a 'Wisconsin Moment,' where we walk away from collective bargaining and tear up the contracts. I want an anti-Wisconsin moment, a Connecticut moment where we show that collective bargaining works not just for retirees but also for the next generation of state employees and the next generation of taxpayers.

The governor also proposed broadening the sales tax base, by instituting the sales tax for the first time on some services like digital streaming and professional services like legal, real estate, and accounting.

My sales tax proposal would broaden the base so that digital goods are treated equally and more significantly that we are capturing a growing segment of the economy. For instance, movie theaters charge a tax, why shouldnt Netflix be treated the same?

The governor also proposed removing sales tax exemptions from veterinary services, beauty and barber shops, and dry cleaning, among others.

Republicans disagree with that plan.

Rep. Themis Klarides said, Moving Connecticut forward is not hurting the middle class and thats what this does.

Removing sales tax exemptions is not a new concept, and its been discussed for years in the State Capitol, but theyve never actually been changed.

Democrats in control of both the House and Senate acknowledge they may be necessary to close a combined $3 billion combined two year budget shortfall.

It was structured at a time when our whole economy was based upon products and goods. Now its based primarily on services so we have to make that change and have some basic expansion.

Lamont presented his two-year budget plan on Wednesday to the state legislature and his office posted the governor's budget online here.

A fact sheet on the budget is posted here.

The office has also put together a question and answer document on the budget here.
A Stamford woman reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds to share her story when her vacation rental didnt live up to expectations.

Jamie Lamborn said shes a frequent customer of vacation rentals. However, it was her first time booking a reservation with HomeAway.com.

Ive had friends use it before. So, it was recommended to use it, said Jamie Lamborn.

The Stamford resident said she wanted to spend a quiet week with her mom at home nearby that she spotted on the website because she had limited space in her Stamford apartment.

She showed us the receipt, which indicated she spent $1,112 for a week-long stay from November 26 to December 1 of 2018. But on the day that Lamborn checked into the home, she said things felt off.

I was surprised that the homeowner was there greeting me and she seemed a little uncomfortable and I was uncomfortable as well as I had to ask her to show me around the place, said Lamborn.

According to HomeAways policy, it does not allow the homeowner to be present in the property during the rental. Lamborn was also shocked by the condition inside of the property.

The place was dirty. There were dishes everywhere, dog pee padsjust a mess and it seemed really disgusting, said Lamborn.

Lamborn said she picked her mom up from the airport and headed back to the home. Since it was 11:30 that night, the two decided to stay overnight and called HomeAway the next morning.

They said they actually dont host homes with a shared living space like that. So, I was expecting that wed have this private area to ourselves. So that was confusing at first, said Lamborn.

Lamborn said she left the property and filed a claim with HomeAway asking for a refund for the remaining days.

They said that the negotiations on whether I would get my money back or cancellation would be at the discretion of the homeowner, said Lamborn.

HomeAway also instructed Lamborn to file a claim through her bank, which she said she did. A few days later, Jamie said HomeAway informed her that she needed to file a second claim to get the damage deposit refunded.

They told me they were going to reach out to the homeowner and explain what the claim was about on my side and wait to hear their response, said Lamborn.

Lamborn said HomeAway also told her to try and resolve the issue with the homeowner herself while they processed the claim.

Meanwhile, the bank denied Lamborns claim for the damage deposit. After she provided the proper documents, HomeAway sent her confirmation through email stating that the company would refund her $500.

When we contacted HomeAway for comment, the company told NBC Connecticut Responds:

HomeAway does not permit owner-occupied rentals or other types of shared spaces on our site. Once we found out this rental was owner-occupied, we removed it from our site.

As for Lamborn, shes just relieved to have this experience behind her.

It was a horrible experience and I wouldnt want anyone to go through that, said Lamborn.

Some things to remember when booking a vacation home rental: Be sure to read the hosts profile, listing description, pay attention to the amenities, house rules and cancellation policy. Read the ratings and reviews and make sure to protect your personal information.
Steps are being taken on several fronts to help police officers battling mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Police PTSD was the subject of an exclusive NBC Connecticut Investigates story last week.

A survey of almost 8,000 officers on PTSD by the Fraternal Order of Police and NBC owned stations, which included Connecticut officers, took a deeper look at the issues officers reported experiencing after stressful calls.

State Senator Heather Somers says she is taking aim at a state law that says if officers need mental health assistance and go to an inpatient facility, it is mandatory they surrender their gun and badge for a minimum of six months.

People NBC Connecticut Investigates spoke with in its police PTSD piece told us this deters officers from getting the help they need. Or, if they do get help, departments perceive them as a risk and dont always let them go back to work.

Somers has sponsored a new bill that says if officers go to an inpatient facility and get released with a clean bill of mental health, they are entitled to get their gun and badge back immediately, and go back to work. This at least gives an opportunity to get the mental health help that they need. I mean they see things that you and I dont see on a daily basis.

The legislatures public health committee had a hearing on this police mental health bill earlier this month.

It has not been voted on it yet.

Meanwhile, the Connecticut Conference Of Municipalities is urging everyone to hit pause.

CCM has concerns this bill will be too ambiguous and could put limitations on local government leaders.

The organization says it has reached out to people in local government and public safety to craft proposals that could be ready for lawmakers to review in a few weeks.
A man was charged with fatally shooting a fellow resident of a South Loop homeless encampment on Monday afternoon.

George A. Arroyo, 57, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the slaying of 57-year-old Douglas Robinson, according to Illinois State Police.

The shooting happened about 4:45 p.m. at Tent City, an embankment that lies on state-supported property near the 700 block of West Taylor, state police said.

State police officials responded to the scene and learned that Robinson had already been rushed to Stroger Hospital, where he later died, state police said. An investigation revealed that Robinson was shot following an argument with Arroyo.

Both men were living at the encampment prior to the shooting, state police said.

Arroyo took off after the shooting and was later arrested a short time later by Chicago police officers, state police said. CPD officers then transferred custody over to state police officials.

Arroyo was ordered held at Cook County Jail without bail during a Wednesday court hearing, state police said. His next court date was set for March 11.
In the less than four weeks since "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett reported being attacked by two men in Chicago, police detectives followed the case from an alleged hate crime to an apparent staged incident. Smollett has since been charged with felony disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.

Here is how police investigated the actor's claims, interviewing more than 100 people and executing more than 50 search warrants and subpoenas to arrive at the charges. The timeline, as told by Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki, is below.



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Timeline: Chicago Police Investigation of Jussie Smollett Incident





At 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, Smollett reports he was the victim of a hate crime. Detectives respond and interview Smollett at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he reports that two male offenders yelled racial and homophobic and political statements at him. Smollett says the men beat him, put a noose around his neck, threw bleach at him and fled.





Police report Smollett had scratches on his face and bruises but no broken ribs or serious injuries.





Chicago Police begin a full-scale investigation into Smollett's report of a hate crime.





Police quickly find two persons of interest on video that detectives believe were the likely offenders in the case. Police issue a "seeking to identify" and community alert.





Police search the area for video cameras and witnesses that can help with the investigation. During that time, detectives interview over 100 individuals in a canvass of the area and a follow-up canvass as the investigation expands.

Detectives locate about 35 Chicago Police surveillance "pod" cameras and more than 20 private cameras that help determine where the two persons of interest fled after the incident. "The city came together to investigate and help the police with this crime," Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki said.





Cameras reveal the two persons of interest eventually got into a cab after fleeing the scene of the incident. Investigators locate the cab and interview the driver and got video from the cab, which took them to the city's North Side. Cameras show the two persons of interest abruptly stopped the cab, got out and walked on foot.





Detectives begin tracking the two persons of interest "backwards to where they came from" en route to the incident. Police follow them walking around and getting out of a cab. Detectives interview that cab's driver.

Actor Jussie Smollett turned himself in to police Thursday morning, a Chicago police spokesman said, on a felony charge of disorderly conduct in filing a false police report. Lauren Petty reports.

Detectives find the cab was tracked down by the persons of interest in a ride-share car. Detectives follow up on the ride-share car, giving police "the lead that we needed in order to identify the two persons of interest."





Detectives solidify a timeline and name both persons of interest. "It was at that time that we started looking at where they went right after this event."





Detectives track them, identified as two brothers, going to O'Hare International Airport and boarding a flight to Nigeria. The brothers purchased a roundtrip ticket with a return date of Feb. 13 back to Chicago.

Surveillance video taken at 10 a.m. Jan. 28 appears to shows brothers Abel and Ola Osundai shopping at Beauty House at 1041 W. Wilson Ave. in the Uptown neighborhood. Lexi Sutter reports.

While police await the brothers' return, detectives execute more than 50 search warrants and subpoenas, work with the state's attorneys office to obtain phone records, social media records and individual's records "to help us illuminate the likely facts that occurred in this event."





On Feb. 13, police put a team in place with the FBI, customs and airport partners to locate the brothers as they re-enter into the U.S. at customs and take them into custody. Both men ask for an attorney.





The brothers are brought to Area Central Headquarters to be processed. Their attorney arrives.





Their attorney tells police that after speaking with her clients, she says "something smelled fishy" and she doesn't think they are the offenders as reported.





The attorney works closely with police and allows her clients to talk to police in a video interview. "It was at that time that this investigation started to spin in an entirely new direction."





Police substantiate the information from the brothers' interview, working closely with the state attorney's office.





On Feb. 15, after about 47 hours of the brothers being in custody and hours of them meeting with police and telling police their story, they are released without charges. They are now classified as witnesses.





On Tuesday, Feb. 19, police schedule a appointment with the grand jury working with Illinois State Police to lock the witnesses into a grand jury statement.





At the last minute, Smollett's lawyers call and say they had evidence to postpone the grand jury.





Wodnicki meets with Smollett's lawyers and a team of detectives. The lawyers give no new information, Wodnicki said.

While the Rose Parade had many high notes, it also had a bit of a scare when a float caught on fire New Year's Day.
A turkey called Main Street in Peabody, Massachusetts, home for months. The neighborhood named him Ed. He stopped traffic whenever he pleased. Police took back the neighborhood on Wednesday, but Ed didn't go quietly.

"The whole area was chaos," said Sydney Drayton, who lives in the area and saw the turkey almost every day since November. "There was cop cars everywhere, traffic was backed up and it was just like, 'Wow, this is all going down right now, I guess.'"

It's not your typical criminal, but this is one bad bird.

"I would see the lineup of cars. It was getting a little ridiculous," said Drayton.

Peabody Police and environmental police had him surrounded on Wednesday after they got a call from a concerned citizen about Ed's safety.

Rachelle Castricone, who has made Ed the star of her Snapchat stories since November, took a video of his capture that has circulated on the internet.

"I have videos of him walking down the sidewalk  walking down them idle of the street," said Castricone. "I actually got out of my car once to try to get him to safety."

Despite Ed's pesky ways, this bully of a bird has made his way into the hearts of people who live here.

"I guess peace has been restored," said Drayton. "I was kind of rooting for him that we would have a neighborhood turkey."

The turkey showdown ended with Ed in greener pastures. The environmental police said they released him in a state park, but it's their policy not to disclose the location.
This is the case when it comes to many aspects of this whole affair. It's the case on Trump conduct that may have obstructed justice (Trump's repeated efforts to derail the probe may not have crossed over into criminality, but Mueller may have established more detail about it). It's also the case on "collusion" (even if Mueller doesn't find a criminal conspiracy, he may have found more detail about how deep the coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia may have gone).
Officials in the northern Mexico border state of Coahuila said Tuesday they have closed a shelter in the border city of Piedras Negras where about 1,600 Central American migrants had been confined during the past two weeks.

Many of the migrants have been bused to neighboring states, leading to complaints that Coahuila was dumping migrants on other cities to clear out the camp at an empty factory building.

Armando Cabada, the mayor of Ciudad Juarez, to the west, said Monday that he might file a complaint against Coahuila officials. "They are offering them free transportation to bring them here. That kind of thing is not fair," Cabada said.

Jose Borrego, a Coahuila state spokesman, confirmed that the shelter in Piedras Negras, across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, was closed Tuesday, a day earlier than scheduled.

The shelter's population had been steadily falling since last week as migrants who had obtained humanitarian visas were given bus rides to other cities where they would have a better chance of finding work.

The migrants arrived at the border hoping to request asylum in the United States, but Mexican authorities corralled them in the shelter and only about a dozen were allowed to request asylum at the Eagle Pass crossing each day.

Since last week, buses have been taking migrants from Piedras Negras to Ciudad Juarez and to Hermosillo, Sonora, the latter a stepping stone toward the border city of Tijuana, which was inundated with migrants from a previous caravan last year. Other buses have gone to the nearby city of Monterrey and to the border town of Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.

The arrival of hundreds of migrants angered authorities in Ciudad Juarez, which is across from El Paso, Texas. Officials there set up an improvised shelter at a gymnasium, but complained that Coahuila officials had lured the migrants by telling them it would be easier to cross into the U.S. at El Paso.

"They are promoting this by saying that 150 to 200 people are entering here per day, which is a complete lie," said Cabada, the mayor. "They are doing this to shove their problem off on us, and that is not fair."
Two San Francisco residents filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the construction company and contractors involved in a gas line rupture that caused a three-alarm fire earlier this month on Geary Boulevard.

According to the suit, plaintiffs Carina Kouyoumji and Nora Wixom are suing Mastec Services Company Inc.; Mastec Renewables Construction Company Inc.; Kilford Engineering Inc.; and Advanced Fiber Works Inc. Verizon Communications Inc. has also been named as a defendant.

Both plaintiffs live in one of the five buildings badly damaged by the Feb. 6 fire, which ignited after workers installing fiber optic lines near Geary Boulevard and Parker Avenue struck a PG&E gas line.

The lawsuit alleges the explosion was a direct result of the defendants' "reckless and willful violation of California law of using a backhoe to dig a trench near subsurface installations."

The California Government Code requires anyone excavating near a subsurface installation, such as a gas line, to use hand tools like a shovel.

The defendants are also accused of being negligent, causing a nuisance and trespassing.

The suit goes on to allege that because of the blaze, the two plaintiffs' possessions were destroyed and they were left homeless. In addition, the two suffered mental anguish and were forced to take time off work because of it.

"Ultimately you've got contractors doing work near high-pressure distribution gas lines in a high-density area like San Francisco. You would think that every precaution would be taken following state law, including not using heavy machinery near gas lines," said Ara Jabagchourian, attorney for the plaintiffs. "We're lucky here nobody got injured."

Immediately after the gas line was ruptured, flames shot in the air for more than two hours before crews stopped the flow of gas.

Residents in the neighborhood were evacuated. Two buildings were left with major structural damage and three others with extensive water damage, according to police and fire officials.

According to PG&E, the contractors had called 811 to check for any utilities underneath the area before the digging commenced. PG&E then sent crews to the area to make markings.

Days after the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it had started an investigation with help from the FBI into the cause. The investigation was to include interviews with the contractors and subcontractors involved.

Florida-based Mastec and New York-based Verizon were not immediately available for comment. Kilford Engineering could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, Jabagchourian said.
University of California at Berkeley police are asking for help locating a man suspected of injuring another man at a table for a conservative student group on Upper Sproul Plaza.

Someone called police at 3:29 p.m. Tuesday to report a disturbance on the plaza. A UC Berkeley student who witnessed the attack told officers that two men had been fighting.

On the plaza, officers found an injured man who said he had been punched several times. The victim told police he was at a table for the student group Turning Point USA when two men came up to the table and started arguing.

Video provided by Alexander Szarka shows an attack at UC Berkeleys Sproul Plaza.

The victim started filming the argument with his phone and apparently a fight began when one of the two men slapped the phone out of the victim's hand.

The suspect knocked over the table for Turning Point and the pair struggled over the phone. Then the suspect punched the victim several times, injuring the man's nose and eye, police said.

The suspect left the plaza before officers arrived.

On Friday, police said a possible suspect in the attack has been identified. Police said the suspect is not a student or affiliated with the university.

Police are asking anyone who has information about the case or the man in a photo released by the campus Police Department to call them at 510-642-6760.
The battle over Googles plan to build a campus in downtown San Jose has a new flashpoint: a condo formerly owned by the mayors wife.

Now it's the subject of a debate about whether or not Mayor Sam Liccardo should have been involved in the vote on Googles future in San Jose.

Those opposed to Google's planned development in the downtown area say the mayor is compromised by the money he and his family made from the sale of a condominium at 144 Third St. once owned by Liccardo's wife, Jessica Garcia-Kohl. Liccardo says he made the proper disclosures and did not violate the law.

The president of Santa Clara Countys Affordable Housing Network says property values in the area have gone up because of Google's planned 6.8 million-square-foot campus. And the mayor therefore faces a conflict of interest.

But Liccardo says he followed the law when it comes to the condo and denies a conflict of interest.

"Well, this is pretty old news," he said Wednesday. "I disclosed publicly that my wife owned a condo in downtown a year ago. That was 10 months before the council took any vote on the sale of the land to Google."

Liccardo also pointed out that, according to San Joses city attorney, a property has to be within 500 feet of the proposed plan for there to be a conflict.

"In this case, the proposed development is a mile away from the condo," he said. "It would not be a conflict under the law."

Sandy Perry, president of the Affordable Housing Network said: "I know the city attorney may say its legal. Well, it may be legal, but its not right."

San Jose leaders agreed in December to sell the land near the Diridon Station to Google. Liccardo said the condo was sold nine months earlier.
A state appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday upheld the convictions and lengthy prison sentences of two men in the brutal gang rape and beating of a 16-year-old girl outside a Richmond High School homecoming dance in 2009.

Jose Montano and Marcelles Peter were among six men convicted in the attack and were the only two to go to trial; four others pleaded guilty.

Montano and Peter were each convicted in Contra Costa County Superior Court in 2013 of forcible rape in concert, forcible sexual penetration in concert and forcible oral copulation with a special allegation of causing great bodily injury.

Montano was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison and Peter to 29 years to life.

Two men convicted in the gang rape of a teenage girl at Richmond High School learned their sentences Thursday. Marcelles Peter, 20, was sentenced to 29 years to life and Jose Montano, 22, faces 33 years to life in prison for the attack, the maximum sentence possible. Jodi Hernandez reports.

The victim was attacked during a period of more than two hours in a dark courtyard outside the school on Oct. 24, 2009. She was found by police after a passerby called 911 and she was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital, where she was for five days.

Co-defendants Manuel Ortega and Ari Morales pleaded guilty to similar charges and received prison terms of 32 and 27 years. Elvis Torrentes and John Crane were sentenced to six and three years in prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges.

A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal unanimously rejected Montano's and Peter's claims of errors in jury instructions and other procedures in the case.

In 2011, the West Contra Costa Unified School District and a joint powers authority agreed to pay $4 million to settle a civil claim by the victim. Her lawyer said she had relocated.
Rep. Eric Swalwell is at the Oakland Teachers Strike Thursday, but on Wednesday he was in New York.

Swalwell, whos a vociferous critic of President Donald Trump, tweeted out a selfie of him walking the extra block to avoid going into Trump Tower for coffee in the freezing cold, a light dusting of snow visible on his hair and coat: Its snowing in #NewYork. I need coffee. The closest cafe is inside Trump Tower. This is me walking to an alternative.

His over dramatization of the situation wasnt lost to his followers and critics.

Hes standing outside Fendi, which is 57th and Madison. There is a Starbucks at 58th and Madison, on the same side of the street, one person tweeted.

Rep Swalell is a true hero. If you dont believe me just ask him and hell tell you so," another person replied.

FiveThirtyEight editor-in-chief Nate Silver tweeted out a Google map showing Swalwell's three-minute walk, to which Swalwell responded: "Hi, Im from out of town? (Thats the best I got). Im from a place where we drive to and through to get our coffee. This is all overwhelming."

Recent reports claim sources close to Swalwell say he plans to run for president in 2020. The 37-year-old congressman visited Iowa after the midterms in November.

On Thursday, Swalwell tweeted out his support for public school teachers in Oakland who are striking about classroom conditions and pay. For too many teachers in America, their class sizes are too big and their paychecks are too small. Its time we put our kids first, he said.
A female stickleback fish, nick-named 'Mary', has produced offspring from eggs that appear to have been fertilized while they were still inside her, according to scientists at the University of Nottingham.

The team of researchers from the School of Life Sciences collected Mary on an expedition to the Outer Hebrides to gather wild sticklebacks which are fully genome-sequenced models for a wide range of scientific research.

In a paper published in Scientific Reports, they present the first-ever discovery of internal fertilization and development of babies inside a normally egg-laying species, and their successful delivery.

The three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a small fish that is common to both fresh and coastal waters in the Northern Hemisphere. In normal reproduction, the male stickleback builds a nest and, by performing a zig-zagging dance routine, lures a female to lay her eggs inside it. The male then chases the female away and fertilizes the cluster. He then guards and takes care of the eggs by fanning them with his fins to aerate them for around 2 weeks until they hatch.

Mary's unusual pregnancy meant that the 'virgin' stickleback was egg-bound and close to death when her predicament was noticed so the decision was taken to save the lives of her young, by putting her to sleep and delivering the near-complete embryos by Caesarean section. 54 embryos were successfully delivered, hatched into fry and grew to adulthood in the aquaria in Nottingham where around 20 still survive nearly three years on. The team has also successfully bred from Mary's offspring in normal aquarium conditions.

Dr. Laura Dean, from the School of Life Sciences, said: "We were astounded at what we found when we examined Mary in our lab in the Outer Hebrides. She looked like an ordinary egg-bound fish so we couldn't believe it when we found she had almost completely developed embryos inside her ovaries. This is pretty much unheard of in an egg-laying species. The embryos were perfectly healthy, not deformed in any way, and most have gone on to live a normal adult lifespan."

This discovery is currently the only record of this kind of fertilization and delivery of live offspring in any fish ever so the research team was very keen to investigate how this might have happened. There are three known mechanisms by which abnormal type of reproduction in fish can occur. The first is parthenogenesis which is where the fish clones herself, the second is that she could be hermaphrodite with both male and female sex organs.

Laura said: "We were able to rule these two possibilities out because, in parthenogenesis, her offspring would have been genetically identical to the mother, or, if hermaphroditism, they would have only had versions of genes that she had, with no genetic input from anywhere else. So, we did some very simple genetic testing on the offspring and found that they had versions of genes that Mary didn't have and so must have had a father.

"Our theory is that somehow sperm had got into the fish, fertilized the eggs and they developed into normal two-parent embryos. What has probably happened is that she has gone into a nest to lay her eggs where another female had already laid her eggs which had been covered with sperm by a male stickleback. Somehow some of the sperm in the nest must have got into Mary, presumably through her egg tube, and fertilized the eggs inside her but she never laid the eggs."

Andrew MacColl, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology, said:" Although this almost accidental find revealed a vanishingly rare phenomenon, it might help us to understand a really important change that has happened throughout the tree of life. Most animals lay eggs, but some (including almost all mammals, but few fishes) retain their eggs inside and give birth to live young. Although this appears to be a difficult thing to achieve in evolution, this one little fish seems to have got there almost by itself!"

The finding of fertilized eggs inside a stickleback has only been recorded once before, in a paper published in the 1950s, but it was just recorded as a picture of the fish with no delivery of the embryos.

The researchers are now actively looking, on subsequent fishing expeditions to Scotland, for more female sticklebacks who may display the same phenomenon to see if there is a chance it may not just be a freak incident but could be an indication of an evolutionary or genetic change in the reproductive mechanism of the species.

They are also hoping to secure funding to investigate the internal mechanisms which allowed the embryos, which would normally have developed in water and been fanned and cared for by the father, to develop within the ovarian fluid and without this care.
(Natural News) A new investigation into the certification standards of coffee plantations all around the world has revealed that, despite prominently and proudly claiming to support fair trade, many of the bean suppliers for major corporations like Starbucks are still engaging in slave labor practices behind the scenes.

At the Corrego das Almas farm in Piumhi, Brazil, for instance, which supplies beans to Starbucks, investigators uncovered what Waking Times describes as degrading conditions for workers, including substandard housing without sewerage or drinking water. However, this same farm has a sign at its entrance prominently stating, No slave or forced labor is allowed.

Not only does this same coffee plantation claim to offer living wages to its workers, but it also bears multiple international certifications that supposedly verify this and more  including the prestigious UTZ seal, a Netherlands-based sustainable farming certificate that represents the cream-of-the-crop in high-end, sustainably-produced coffee.

Following an investigation into the Corrego das Almas farm by a Ministry of Labor team, the plantations UTZ seal was ultimately suspended. But the farm still holds a C.A.F.E. Practices certificate, which is owned by Starbucks in partnership with SCS Global Services. Both Starbucks and SCS have agreed to review the farms quality certificate following the raid, but as of this writing, that certificate is still in place.

The purpose of such certificates is to verify and maintain a host of good practices throughout the coffee supply chain, including ethical purchases, honest labor practices, and various other criteria carefully selected by coffee chains like Starbucks. But it appears as though not enough is being done to ensure their integrity.

There were lots of bats and mice, one of the rescued workers from the Corrego das Almas farm told reporters. Wed buy food and the mice would eat it. Then we had to buy it again.

We werent paid for holidays, Sundays, nothing, this same worker added. And we worked from Monday to Saturday with no record of the hours. During the week, we would start at 6 am and only stop at 5 pm.

For more related news, be sure to check out Corruption.news.

Starbucks is very good at virtue signaling, but not at actually protecting human rights

In addition to mistreating workers, the owners of the Corrego das Almas farm were also apparently rigging the accounts payable system and stealing the bean crop harvested by workers.

Wed harvest and theyd leave it [the beans] there to be weighed the next day, another of the rescued workers explained to reporters. When we arrived there, the coffee was gone. And then we were humiliated: We complained and they laughed in our faces.

Ive always harvested coffee, and Ive never been through something like that in my life. I wasnt even able to send money home.

Meanwhile here at home, Starbucks continues to pretend as though it actually cares about human rights, with endless virtue signaling ploys aimed at tricking gullible consumers into thinking that the company is all about treating humans equally and fairly.

This is not the first or second time, and it will not be the last time a certified farm is charged with employing slave labor and violating labor rights, commented Jorge Ferreira dos Santos, head of the Coordination of Rural Employers of Minas Gerais, about the fact that the findings at the Corrego das Almas farm are not isolated.

The certification system is weak and not transparent, he added, and fails at taking workers views and reality into account,' hes further quoted as saying.

There was reportedly a second raid at another nearby coffee farm in the town of Muzambinho, where 15 workers were rescued under similar conditions. One of these workers was a 17-year-old who, along with this individuals fellow bean-pickers, says employees were forced to work 90 days straight, up to 14 hours per day, without a single day off.

Read StarbucksWatch.news for more coverage of the evils of the Starbucks company.

Sources for this article include:

WakingTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A team of animal behavior biologists from Harvard University has tracked the exact way neonicotinoids, the worlds most commonly used insecticide, affect the behavior of bees. Their study, published in Science, highlights the dangers of using this class of neuro-active chemicals, especially as they appear to have insidious effects on vital pollinators. Using an innovative tracking technique, the Harvard researchers saw that neonicotinoids significantly reduce the activity in bumblebee colonies, making the insects less likely to care for their young, and being less active in regulating nest temperature.

Previous research on the topic have confirmed that neonicotinoids represent a risk to wild bees and honeybees. In 2013, the European Commission severely restricted the use of three types of neonicotinoids (clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam) to protect honeybees. This was further validated by several studies made the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that concluded that this type of insecticide had a confirmed effect on the behavior and health of bees.

Tracking bees with unique tags

Researchers were stymied by how exactly the insecticide affected the bees, and damaged entire colonies, which can contain hundreds or even thousands of bees, all interacting as one complex superorganism. The difficulties lay in the tracking of the insects themselves.

Lead researcher, James Crall, came up with an innovative solution. He and his colleagues glued 3-by-4-millimeter tags onto the backs of hundreds of bumblebees. The team then adapted robotic equipment from a fruit fly lab to assemble a movable platform with two high-resolution cameras. These cameras were able to spy on up to a dozen bumblebee colonies, picking up the movement of the tags, and then transferring the data into computers for analysis.

Social interactions decreased

Nine colonies were given sugar syrup laced with six parts per billion of imidacloprid, a common neonicotinoid. Bees were allowed to feed on it whenever they wanted. Over the 12-day experiment period, Crall and his team saw that the overall level of social interaction among the bees decreased. They saw that whereas bees in the control colonies spent about 25 percent of the night caring for their young, the pesticide-consuming bees spent less than 20 percent. Worryingly, the lethargy was more profound at night.

Bees regulate their temperature, as well as that of their nest, by flexing their muscles and fanning their wings. It is important that bees work together and keep the hive at a constant temperature so that larvae can develop properly. When bees become lazy, this can have negative effects on their young.

Richard Gill, a bee ecologist at Imperial College London explains, [Their] brood is their future. If they dont take care of them, then theres a likelihood of an effect on the colony. He surmises that neonicotinoid-induced damage could stunt the growth of a bee colony.

On neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoids (neonics) are a class of insecticides that affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. Chemically speaking, neonicotinoids are quite similar to nicotine, hence why the name literally means new nicotine-like insecticides.

Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides, which means that the chemicals are taken up by plants and transported through its entire system (i.e. leaves, flowers, stems, as well as pollen and nectar). Because of this mode of action, neonics represent a potential risk to pollinators.

Sources include:

ScienceMag.org

EFSA.Europa.eu

EC.Europa.eu

BeyondPesticides.org
(Natural News) The Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax was planned at the highest levels of the (Obama) deep state and was intended to foment a race war across America, say multiple sources across the independent media. The official explanation that Smollett masterminded (if you can call it that) the hate crime hoax because he wanted a pay raise for his work as an actor on Empire just doesnt hold water. He is reportedly being paid $65K per episode, bringing in more than $1.1 million per year. Yet we are supposed to believe he would risk his entire career (and significant earnings) to try to push for an increase in his pay?

It doesnt add up, and several independent media investigators are already starting to dig deeper into the Smollett fiasco. Dave Hodges of The Commonsense Show, for example, writes that a Confidential Informant (CI) says a deep state federal agent was actively involved in plotting the hate crime hoax. Via Dave Hodges:

I am in receipt of a federal agency source who claims that they have knowledge that the staged attack upon Smollette had the participation of a federal agent, but not necessarily the federal agency to which he/she belonged The obvious purpose of this fake attack was to promote heated racial division and to bring into drama the participation of LGBT political interests because Smollette is admittedly gay. This also has the fingerprints of George Soros because this is just the kind of thing he does repeatedly to promote civil discord by manufacturing racial incidents and promoting them to incite racial division that culminates in violent public protests.

Hodges explains that the attorney of the Nigerian brothers deserves a closer look, as her actual name appears to be clouded under a bizarre history of various aliases and different last names.

Powerful words from Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. "This morning, I come to you as a black man who spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career." pic.twitter.com/CEMWx5udY1  Shelby Holliday (@shelbyholliday) February 21, 2019

It goes all the way up to Obama, reports Jones

Similarly, Alex Jones from InfoWars announced live on the air this morning that a high-level government source informed him that this attack was crafted and pushed by the Obama deep state. Indeed, the whole thing smacks of precisely the kind of community organizing that Obama is well known to coordinate and promote.

Remember: Everything the Left does is rooted in fakery and fraud. Even the Russia collusion narrative is a complete hoax. Hands up dont shoot was a hoax. The train rape claims against Kavanaugh were a hoax. Many observers say the Charlottesville vehicle attack was instigated or staged, too. Barack Obama and Eric Holder tried to pull off a massive gun crime hoax with Operation Fast and Furious, and there are elements of nearly every mass shooting that raise huge questions about the authenticity of the reports surrounding those events (such as the fact that Broward County sheriffs deputies were ordered to stand down outside the school and did nothing while the shooting took place).

From gun control to toppling Trump, every goal of the radical Left is consistently pushed with the help of faked elements or false flag events. As Alex Jones explained today, This is an Obama operation, referring to the Smollett false flag, for which Smollett has now been charged with a felony. Smollett even faked the hate letter he mailed to himself, according to Chicago police.

The Jussie Smollett story is nowhere near over it has only just begun

Never forget that the fake news left-wing media said anyone who didnt believe Smolletts original claims was a conspiracy theorist. This is how they attempt to shut down any questioning of the false flag hate crime hoax. As a matter of fact, those who questioned Smolletts hoax were the real journalists, while those promoting the hoax were the fakers.

The real questioning has only begun. Many more questions need to be asked on this, such as:

Why was Jussie Smollett allowed to turn himself in with no cameras rolling, while Roger Stone was raided at gunpoint with dozens of heavily armed agents while CNN rolled its cameras after being tipped off?

Why are some members of the top brass of the Chicago PD being so polite and almost apologetic to Smollett? Didnt he just waste thousands of hours of police time in Chicago? Didnt he almost push a nationwide race war?

Why is Fox still defending Smollett? Are people in the Empire production crew involved in helping Smollett help stage the hoax to boost the success of the flailing Empire show, which has plummeted in ratings?

Where is the apology from CNN, MSNBC, The Atlantic and other radical left-wing media propagandists who pushed this hoax in the first place? So far there are zero apologies and zero retractions. Why is that? And why does Google News continue to promote the very same news sources that repeatedly hoax America with lie after lie? (And why does the NewsGuard browser plug-in give its highest rankings for the news sources that publish the most outrageous lies?)

Where is the federal conspiracy charge against Smollett for involving two other people in his hate crime hoax? Where is the charge for using the United States mail to send a threatening letter? Those are federal crimes are there no charges for that? (Possibly those charges are still coming, we will have to wait and see.)

Where is the arrest of CNNs Don Lemon for his role in this nationwide conspiracy? Don Lemon is not a journalist; he is a hack left-wing activist and co-conspirator who helped push this hate crime hoax with the intended purpose of damaging the reputation of Trump supporters and keeping the hate alive in America. In fact, there were a dozen key journalists who led the propaganda push for the Smollett hate crime hoax. Their names, according to Breitbart News, are:

 Eugene Scott (Washington Post)

 Don Lemon (CNN)

 Yamiche Alcindor (PBS)

 Joyce Vance (MSNBC)

 Jamil Smith (Rolling Stone)

 April Ryan (CNN)

 Jamele Hill (The Atlantic)

 Zerlina Maxwell (MSNBC)

 Joy Reid (MSNBC)

 Karen Attiah (Washington Post)

 Amy Siskind (Huffington Post)

 Brooke Baldwin (CNN)

Where are the investigations into these political activists for promoting a dangerous conspiracy that almost pushed America into a bloody race war? Remember, every one of these media hacks conducted zero fact checking and ran with the Smollett claims, touting them as established facts when they were, in fact, fabricated lies. Yet there isnt a single one of these propagandists who has been fired, or criminally investigated for their role in this dangerous conspiracy to deceive America and foment a race war.

Why is the left-wing media allowed to continue pushing utterly fabricated hoaxes at the expense of America?

Its time to expand the criminal investigation beyond Jussie Smollett and look at who really planned it and who catapulted it into public consciousness in a highly irresponsible, dangerous manner.

Could this photo be a clue about who was really involved?

Stay informed. Read HOAX.news.
(Natural News) In 2019 America, the last thing most of us have any tolerance for is the Ku Klux Klan.

The KKK, which was formed in the ashes of the Civil War, endured as a formidable entity fomenting racial hate, violence, and division for at least the next century. It was most prevalent in the South, where the group was formed, and there are remnants of the organization that remain still today.

If that werent true, then a small southern newspaper in Alabama would not have just called for the KKK to return as a political and cultural force.

The editor of The Democrat-Reporter is facing massive criticism from all over the country after writing an editorial in which he called for a return of the terrorist group so it could stop Alabama lawmakers who he claims are scheming to raise taxes.

And oh, by the way, isnt it ironic that the newspaper has the word Democrat in its title  the same political party that founded the KKK in the first place, let us never forget.

The papers editor, Goodloe Sutton, wrote the column from his Linden, Ala., office. In the editorial, he claimed that it is time for the KKK to night ride again as Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.

Talk about inciting violence.

Continuing, Sutton wrote that Democrats do not understand how to eliminate expenses when money is needed in other areas. Continuing, he noted that this socialist-communist ideology sounds good to the ignorant, the uneducated, and the simple-minded people.

But rather than just focus on the Alabama Statehouse where lawmakers meet, the KKK ought to raid the gated communities in Washington, D.C., as well.

He also wrote:

People who do not understand the constitution do not like to be responsible.

Slaves, just freed after the civil war, were not stupid. At times, they borrowed their former masters robes and horses and rode through the night to frighten some evil doer. Sometimes they had to kill one or two of them, but so what.

When can we expect a Democrat apology?

He claimed that is the same so what that was used by Democrats when they got us into World War I and World War II, Sutton wrote, adding that Democrats also got the country into the Korean and Vietnam wars as well, and now into the Middle East war.

Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there in D.C., he added. They call them compounds now. Truly, they are the ruling class. (Related: Left-wing hate group SPLC now being used by Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter to determine  hate groups.)

Its not clear if Sutton was drinking alcohol or smoking something that would have led to an altered state of mind when he wrote his editorial.

That said, when he was asked about it by a reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser, Sutton doubled down on his explosive commentary, comparing the KKK to the NAACP. He added that he wasnt trying to call for lynchings of Americans, but rather socialist-communists.

Oh.

 Its not calling for the lynchings of Americans. These are socialist-communists were talking about. Do you know what socialism and communism is? he said, according to the paper.

When he was asked if he considered the KKK to be violent and racist is when he compared the Democrat-founded terror group to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

A violent organization? Well, they didnt kill but a few people. The Klan wasnt violent until they needed to be, he responded.

Sutton had earned a spot in the University of Southern Mississippis School of Communication Hall of Fame, but the institution booted him after the editorial.

He has also been lambasted by Alabama lawmakers and especially minorities who have called on him to resign and apologize.

He should do both of those things. But when are Democrats going to apologize for founding the Klan in the first place?

Read more about domestic terrorist groups like the KKK at DomesticTerrorism.com.

Sources include:

MontgomeryAdvertiser.com

NewsTarget.com
(Natural News) If youve ever suspected that people are getting dumber by the day, new research has just proven humans really arent as smart as they used to be. Studies show that the average IQ score has been falling with every generation born after 1975  and now, scientists believe that at least one pesticide may be to blame for the sudden drop in intellect  if not more.

Countless studies have linked pesticide exposure to an array of health problems in humans, but scientists are now beginning to identify organophosphates, a class of pesticides, as a particularly malicious threat. Among the myriad of ill effects caused by exposure to organophosphates, evidence shows these compounds are fully capable of damaging childrens brains.

And of course, these kinds of pesticides are used with abandon. Organophosphates are so dangerous that top researchers are now calling for a total ban on these toxins, due to their potential to harm children.

Pesticides linked to brain damage, low IQ

As Waking Times reports, many studies have linked Chlorpyrifos, an organophospate, to brain damage in children. Dow Chemical Company first started making Chlorpyrifos in 1965.

Like other organophosphates, Chlorpyrifos targets the central nervous system by suppressing acetyl cholinesterase, an enzyme essential to neurotransmission. While these chemicals are intended to kill bugs, research has consistently shown organophosphates are toxic to humans. Children are particularly susceptible to the effects of organophosphates like Chlorpyrifos  especially while theyre still in utero.

While Chlorpyrifos is the most infamous of organophosphates, research indicates that the entire class of pesticides is dangerous.

Back in 2013, another organophosphate, monocrotophos, killed 23 children in India.

Estimates suggest some 200,000 people die from organophosphate poisoning annually.

As CBS notes, organophosphates are also used to make nerve gas and other chemical weapons. In fact, before we used organophosphates to kill insects, they were used as weapons of war  intended to kill people.

So, when we spray our crops with organophosphate pesticides, we are literally spraying our food supply with a chemical weapon designed to target the central nervous system. Is it any wonder that childrens IQs have been falling since the 1970s?

Recent research indicates that kids IQ scores have been falling every decade since 1975. Scientists know this, yet our government continues to allow these chemicals to be used, pretty much without restraint.

Fortunately, a growing number of experts are standing up for humanity.

Calling for a ban

Public health leaders say that there is overwhelming evidence of harm related to organophosphate exposure, and many are now calling for a ban on the chemicals entirely. Prenatal exposure, in particular, puts children at a significant risk of developmental disorders.

A team of researchers from University of California-Davis published a paper in PLoS ONE in late 2018, describing the hazards of organophosphates and demanding immediate government action.

Lead author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, professor of public health sciences and director of the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center, states, There is compelling evidence that exposure of pregnant women to very low levels of organophosphate pesticides is associated with lower IQs and difficulties with learning, memory or attention in their children.

Hertz-Picciotto, also a researcher at UC Davis MIND Institute, explains that while Chlorpyrifos is the most recognized, the teams research indicates the entire class of organophosphates is dangerous.

The reviewers say that organophosphates are extremely dangerous, even in very low amounts. Even at levels currently deemed safe, exposure to organophosates prior to birth is linked to poor cognitive, social and behavioral development.

It should be no surprise that studies confirm that these chemicals alter brain development, since they were originally designed to adversely affect the central nervous system, Hertz-Picciotto states.

You can learn more about pesticides and other toxic chemicals at Toxins.news.

Sources for this article include:

WakingTimes.com

CBSNews.com

ScienceDaily.com
(Natural News) When it comes to medications, many people think of Tylenol as being relatively harmless. Because its sold over the counter, even those who would balk at the idea of taking a stronger painkiller, like opiates, usually dont think twice about popping a Tylenol or two for a migraine. Unfortunately, adopting a blase attitude toward this drug could come back to haunt you later.

Tylenols active ingredient, acetaminophen, is our countrys most common drug ingredient, and it has been linked to more than 110,000 deaths and injuries annually. One out of every four Americans takes a drug containing acetaminophen in any given week, according to the AP, and it can be found in around 600 over-the-counter medicines. While some people are aware of the effects it can have on the liver, the damage this drug can cause actually goes much further.

Liver problems just one of many worries

Its effects on the liver remain its biggest drawback. Last fall, the Canadian government called for stricter warnings on products that contain acetaminophen to draw attention to its liver toxicity. Overdosing on drugs like Tylenol is the top cause of acute liver failure and often results in a person needing a liver transplant. In the U.S. alone, liver failure caused by acetaminophen sends around 60,000 people to the hospital each year. Many of these people took a higher dose than recommended without even realizing it, whether they took hidden sources of it or simply took their next dose too early.

Acetaminophen builds up in your liver over time, spurring drug-induced hepatitis. Making matters worse, its often contained in combo drugs like cold medication, so some people dont realize they are getting acetaminophen from more than one place at one time. The risk is heightened if you regularly drink alcoholic beverages.

Tylenol has also been linked to blood cancer. A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that those who took the drug over a long period of time  four days a week over four years  were two times as likely to have certain types of blood cancer than those who took less of the drug or none at all. Another recent study found that people who took acetaminophen had a higher risk of kidney damage, heart toxicity, gastrointestinal injury and death. Suddenly that headache sounds a lot more tolerable, doesnt it?

Believe it or not, this drug also has an effect on your mood. A study from The Ohio State University found that taking acetaminophen reduced peoples empathy and moral reasoning. Other studies have shown that it can diminish peoples ability to experience positive emotions. It can even reduce your ability to notice cognitive errors.

Its a particularly bad idea to turn to Tylenol if youre pregnant. Children who are exposed to the drug in the womb often grow up to have motor skill problems and behavioral issues. Studies have also linked prenatal exposure to acetaminophen to ADHD-like behavior, and even asthma.

Coping with pain safely

Its clear that this a drug that you should avoid, so what can you do if youre in pain and are having trouble coping? This will largely depend on the type of pain that youre experiencing. Acupuncture can be helpful in certain cases. Some people turn to turmeric, while others swear by ginger. Some people find that meditation helps take their mind off of whatever pain they are experiencing. Meanwhile, yogas growing reputation for being an effective way to treat chronic pain has led to the emergence of yoga emergency therapy clinics. There are lots of great ways that you can deal with pain that dont involve putting your liver  or your life  at risk.

Sources include:

GreenMedInfo.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Over 1,000 scientists have now joined the growing movement to challenge prevailing evolutionary theory. Under present scientific dictatorship, theories like Darwinism go virtually undisputed; challenging such a widely accepted belief is almost certainly career suicide. But as the dissent from Darwin movement shows, even the most established of theories should still be subject to scrutiny.

To continue to blindly accept a theory, even with evidence to the contrary, is more akin to brain-washing. The true spirit of science, after all, is to question  not to follow.

The aptly-named list, A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism, surpassed 1,000 names in early 2019. Respected professionals from around the country whove earned doctorate degrees from top-tier universities are joining forces to remind the establishment, and the public, that what scientists know, and what they think they know are two different things.

Dissenting from Darwinism

The Dissent from Darwin list was created in 2001 and is maintained by the Discovery Institute. All 1,043 dissenters have signed the same 32-word statement, which reads:

We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.

This is what radicalism looks like in 2019, and in case you cant tell  its also what common sense used to look like. The very idea that questioning Darwinism could be so controversial is laughable; if no one ever questioned prevailing theory, wed all still believe the Earth was flat. There would be no Darwinism either, for that matter.

And yet, here we are: Living in a world where asking too many questions is considered dangerous.

Discovery Institute Senior Fellow David Klinghoffer, contends in a recent article that the dissenters have all risked their careers or reputations in signing.

Scientific dictatorship

As Klinghoffer notes, the threat of reprisal and retribution is too high for most people to sign the document. But if 1,000 people have signed so far, its reasonable to assume there are many more scientists who agree that Darwinism shouldnt be exempt from scrutiny. Under current scientific dogma, however, such exploration is virtually impossible.

Klinghoffer states further:

Such is the power of groupthink. The scientific mainstream will punish you if they can, and the media is wedded to its narrative that the scientists are all in agreement and only poets, lawyers, and other daft rubes doubt Darwinian theory. In fact, Im currently seeking to place an awesome manuscript by a scientist at an Ivy League university with the guts to give his reasons for rejecting Darwinism. The problem is that, as yet, nobody has the guts to publish it.

Klinghoffer posits further that the dissent from Darwin list is not significant because of the names and institutions standing behind it, but because of what it says about those who are skeptical and do not sign.

By continuing to play ball with the tyrants of mainstream science, skeptical scientists who refuse to sign are propagating scientific dictatorship. Everyone knows that the cost of signing such a document will be great  but the cost of not signing may be much higher.

While those who prefer to fall in line with the mainstream say that questioning Darwinism is anti-science, or even dishonorable, it is arguable that questioning what youre told is where science truly begins.

Failing to be open-minded enough to even reexamine a decades-old scientific theory because thats what they tell us to believe is really the antithesis of scientific spirit. Thought suppression is now commonplace in modern science.

Whether we are talking about vaccines, pesticides, climate change or Darwinism, the mainstream science community, along with their media shills and industry puppet masters, are actively silencing anyone who contradicts the chosen narrative.

See more coverage of suppressed information at Censored.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheCollegeFix.com

DissentFromDarwin.org
(Natural News) Democrats and their propagandists in the mainstream media like to claim that POTUS Donald Trumps tweeting and refutation of every criticism of his presidency is childish and unpresidential, but as usual, they are giving one of their own a pass.

Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is proving to be far more sensitive to criticism than the president ever was, though shes not being called out for her petulance. Whats more, she cant even admit when shes wrong.

Take her recent inane comments celebrating the demise of a deal to lure e-tail behemoth Amazon to her home state and home city. After Jeff Bezos appeared on the verge of building a second headquarters in an economically depressed outlying section of New York City, he scuttled the deal because it looked like the $3 billion tax break negotiated with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio wasnt going to be approved after all, despite the estimated $30 billion in revenue that Amazon was going to generate for a state that is currently facing a $2.3 billion budget shortfall for the current fiscal year.

For her part, Ocasio-Cortez cheered the decision. (Related: AOC celebrates Amazon pulling out of NYC as astonished Democrats finally come face to face with the horror they have unleashed.)

She wrote on Twitter:

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

Granted, Amazons got a record of mistreating some employees and underpaying others. But overall, the company would have provided higher-than-average wages for tens of thousands of New Yorkers who would have been paying some of the countrys highest state income tax rates, more than offsetting the $3 billion break Amazon was getting.

And the only way that Ocasio-Cortezs tweet can be read is that the congresswoman was extremely happy that the deal fell through.

But anyone who read it that way is an idiot, according to her.

Petulance is no substitute for leadership

After being widely criticized by New York politicians and not a few conservatives, Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at her detractors in a series of tweets doubling down on her opposition to the Amazon deal and claiming that yes, she does understand how tax incentives actually work, The Daily Wire reported.

Her defensive tweets were in response to criticism from Erik Engquist, the editor for Crains New York Business, who noted that while he normally defends Ocasio-Cortez for her alleged intelligence, her comments regarding New York invest[ing] those $3 billion instead of giving it to Amazon left him without words.

If we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district ourselves, if we wanted to, she said last week. We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that money, if we wanted to.

Engquist noted, Ive been telling @AOC critics that she is smart, but what do I say when she says nonsense like we could invest those $3 billion in [@amazon tax breaks] in our district. We could hire more teachers. We can fix our subways, we can put a lot of people to work for that money.

She called such criticism knee-jerk and said, Not sure how many pundits talking about Amazon even read the deal or where it was going. $500+ million of the deal was *capital grants.* $2.5 billion in tax breaks. Its fair to ask why we dont invest the capital for public use, + why we dont give working people a tax break.

Theres NO WAY that this deal  one of the biggest giveaways in state history  could possibly have been bad, right? she continued, noting that the debate *must* be over my intelligence & understanding instead of the merits of the deal.

Not sure how many pundits talking about Amazon even read the deal or where it was going. $500+ million of the deal was *capital grants.* $2.5 billion in tax breaks. Its fair to ask why we dont invest the capital for public use, + why we dont give working people a tax break. https://t.co/jUqaugUHYP  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019

Petulance is no substitute for leadership.

Read more about Ocasio-Cortezs antics at CortezWatch.com.

Sources include:

NewYorkCBS.com

DailyWire.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
Scientists say every animal needs sleep. These fruit flies didnt get the memo Science

World Banks pandemic bonds under scrutiny after failing to pay out on Ebola FT

Global Trade Pain Stings Export Economies From Japan to Germany Bloomberg

New bill is clear attempt by MidAmerican to monopolize the sun in Iowa Bleeding Heartland

Volkswagens unequal justice: a Dieselgate employee and a manager Handelsblatt Today

Italy must face up to its fascist past  no amount of revisionism will erase its legacy of suffering Independent

Who Killed My Father by Edouard Louis  a warning to Frances elite FT

Brexit

Chris Leslie interview: Labour have massively underestimated a new centrist party New Statesman

A divided Labour could hand the Tories another 12 years of power The Spectator

Antisemitism: no justification for singling out Labour Jewish Voice for Labour

Venezuela

North Korea

How to End a Forever War Ask a Korean!

Himalayan emergency: Its not too late to prevent melting glaciers Asian Correspondent

China?

Can readers translate to confirm? Thread: any foreign journalist paying enough attention to  No.1 Document (always on agriculture) published yesterday? One inconspicuous but highly siginificant line there spells death sentence for village-level self-governing/democracy across China. (Yes you know you missed it)  imightknowchina (@itrulyknowchina) February 21, 2019 Odd account, good followers. Transnational Carceral Capitalism in Xinjiang and Beyond Made in China Fronting a head, William Gibson calls it: China's Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday unveiled the worlds first female #AI news anchor, Xin Xiaomeng, who will make her professional debut during the upcoming meetings of the country's national legislature and top political advisory body #TwoSessions pic.twitter.com/9gGDpfwfil  People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 20, 2019

Singapore defense minister: Cost of conflict in South China Sea too high Deutsche Welle

Courting change in Malaysia The Interpreter

India

Syraqistan

New Cold War

Trump Transition

Democrats in Disarray

Why Bernie Sanders Matters More Than People Think Benjamin Studebaker. Sanders and his opponents represent two very different ideologies. Each of these ideologies wants control of the Democratic Party so that this partys resources can be used to advance a different conception of what a good society looks like. This is not a matter of taste and these are not flavors of popcorn. For Sanders, 2020 will present challenges that didnt exist in 2016 WaPo. FluffytheObeseCat: Damned with faint praise by those who inhabit the most august quarters. Perhaps Bernie should do the right thing, and quit before he starts.

A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy The Atlantic. AOC as Alexander Hamilton.

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Health Care

Nearly a quarter of rural hospitals are on the brink of closure Modern Healthcare

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

Base Culture n+1

Antidote du jour (Rick):

Rick writes: Cats are fine, butjust sayin. Here are my two Tervuren and their Cardigan sibling. Photo is copyright 2016 Rick Adams, but you are welcome to use it. To me, this is Heaven.

Bonus antidote:

VIDEO:  In Istanbul, stray cats and dogs are not chased from the streets  instead authorities feed them and give them veterinary care, not only improving their health but that of residents who come into contact with them pic.twitter.com/PZPt4hqeVI  AFP news agency (@AFP) February 18, 2019

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost looks to have set up the board for a huge embarrassment. Indeed, this post is doing her a favor of sorts, since the organization will have the chance to abort the approval of election notice for the upcoming board elections that was set to be approved tomorrow.

The election notice calls for CalPERS to provide online, phone, and Internet voting, when CalPERS Internet election vendor Votem, has fired nearly all its staff, including the ones promised to work on its account, and has high odds of not being in business by the time the election rolls around.

We warned in a January 14 post that Votem, like its predecessor, was likely to default on any agreement due to financial distress. This call looks to be correct, charitably assuming that CalPERS has actually managed to sign an agreement with Votem (we described at considerable length then why the way CalPERS wanted to do that was a non-starter). If CalPERS has no agreement with Votem, it is still remiss, because its election notice has details that work only if Votem were to be the vendor, and by having the board approve it with no agreement in place, it would give Votem considerable negotiating leverage.

On Tuesday, Cleveland Scene reported that Votem Corporation had failed but later had to revise the story to say Votem had missed a payroll and fired nearly all its employees. Cleveland Scene also made clear that it doubted some of Votems claims about its current condition:

Update: This articles previous headline stated that Votem had closed and that all employees had been fired. CEO Pete Martin told Scene in an email that while the company had kicked off a restructuring and recapitalization plan on Friday that included major layoffs, Votem is still in operation and actively supporting current customers. Scene can not verify that and sources say that is not the case.

Votems official version does not inspire confidence. From The Block:

Last week the company ran into short-term liquidity issues resulting in restructuring and recapitalization of the company, which included layoffs. The company is still operating with a skeleton crew and although our future is in question, we are working tirelessly on multiple fronts to positively turn around the situation. To be clear, we have employees and are actively supporting our current, active customers, said CEO Pete Martin.

Cleveland Scene also reported that Votem fired all the employees it hired from CalPERS former election vendor, Everyone Counts, which went out of business right before it was supposed to count the 2018 election. This matters because documents we obtained in a Public Records Act request showed that Votem had assured CalPERS that all of the Everyone Counts employees who had been working with CalPERS would be retained.

As we pointed out, because Votem had acquired only the assets of Everyone Counts, the last election was counted by Votem when Votem had no legal relationship with CalPERS. CalPERS misled the board and took steps to give the impression that the former vendor, Everyone Counts, managed the tabulations.

Understand how serious this lapse was. CalPERS member database was in the hands of an outside party with whom CalPERS had no contract whatsoever, no agreement to maintain confidentiality, no agreement to return the records, and no basis for asserting liability if any of that data was purloined or got out into the wild.

The Block reported that Votem had tried to raise funds in a Series B round from a venture capital firm, but that deal appeared to have fallen through. The Block also published this account from a self-proclaimed former employee:

They barely tried and didnt even come close to making a dent. Total incompetence from the leadership team and Pete Martin particular. I hope anybody thinks twice before doing business with him. He is neither competent nor, in my opinion, honest, a user claiming to be an ex-Votem engineer wrote.

How are we sure that CalPERS intended to use Votem? You can see the fingerprints in the election notice at the end of this post. You can also view it here.

Recall that for the last two election cycles, CalPERS had two companies working together via an operating agreement that CalPERS misleadingly called a joint venture. A large printer, K&H Printing, which prints many of the ballot types certified for use in California, has a small side business it operates under the dba Integrity Voting Systems. K&H not only printed and mailed the CalPERS ballots, but its Everett, Washington facility was the return address for the paper ballots. K&H opened and scanned the ballots.

The Internet voting vendor, Everyone Counts, handled the Internet voting, the phone channel and also ran the customer support line (for things like getting a replacement ballot or a PIN for voting online). Remember those ballot images that K&H scanned? They were sent to Everyone Counts to tabulate along with the phone and Internet voting totals. That process, and the announcement of the results, took place at the Everyone Counts office in La Jolla, California.

If you look at the election notice, you see this customer service phone number:

This is an Everyone Counts phone number which Votem apparently acquired when it bought the assets of Everyone Counts. This screenshot comes from a search on Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana + Everyone Counts. Everyone Counts managed an election for the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana:

This part of the election notice shows that CalPERS again intends to open and scan the paper ballots in one place and have the official tabulation in another:

The first address is of a K&H Printing facility in Everett, Washington. CalPERS 2018 election notice listed same street address, but a different suite number. Both the 2018 and 2019 notices show the same La Jolla address for the tabulation.

We will take the liberty of hoisting sections of our January 14 posts on Votem. First, our comments on its obvious financial weakness and the CalPERS failure to do due diligence:

Why Votem Corp. Looks Shakier and Shadier Than Everyone Counts Did Its a safe bet that Everyone Counts was on the verge of bankruptcy. Its hard to come up with any other reason for defaulting on the joint venture when it would have taken Everyone Counts only a few days more to complete its obligations to CalPERS for the 2018 election. The apparent business failure of Everyone Counts should have alerted CalPERS to the fact that Votem, a smaller company with what looks like weaker backing, could also default on any agreement due to running out of money. Yet CalPERS did no financial due diligence on Votem whatsoever. 6 As we indicated at the top of this post, the press has taken up near-universal expert concerns about the integrity of mere electronic voting, meaning the use of equipment not connected to the Internet in local polling stations, as being so tamper-friendly as to necessitate that they generate paper trials or be replaced with voting systems that do. If neither of those can happen, officials need to reinstitute paper ballots to assure election integrity. Internet voting is obviously leagues more risky. That means that Votem now faces a hostile environment and a contracting market for its services. Governments, far and away the biggest targets for Internet voting, are rapidly backing away from insecure voting systems. Parties that run private elections have to be reading the RussiaRussia! press. Many of them wont want to risk criticism by taking an Internet voting flier any time soon. And it is unlikely Internet voting will stand up to more tires-kicing. 7 Everyone Counts was a vastly more substantial business than Votem is. Everyone Counts was founded in 1997, had estimated annual revenues of $15 million, and roughly 90 employees. It also had $30 million of funding. And it had a much higher press profile, as witness that it featured prominently in the Atlantic story we cited earlier. Votem was founded in 2014. It had 24 employees before acquiring the assets of Everyone Counts.8 It appears to have raised under $3 million in funding: less than $1 million from founder Peter Martin. The Fast Facts sheet it gave to CalPERS said it raised $1.2 million in a Series A round from 14 individuals and roughly $360,000 in a Bitcoin-like initial coin offering (ICO) from five individuals. Using an ICO for fundraising for development of its voting platform is a huge red flag. It says Votem had to resort to a gimmick which is widely regarded as a scam and which the SEC has decided to crack down on aggressively, in a marked departure from its usual complacency. Mind you, Votem did make a Form D filing with the SEC saying it was making an unregistered securities offering with its ICO. However, the SEC is taking a very tough stand and has subpoenaed many ICO issuers over whether they complied with the usual exemption cited for making an unregistered offering, that of selling the securities only to accredited investors, meaning individuals with over $1 million in net worth or $200,000 in annual income. The SEC is seeking disgorgement and payment of fines in the event of violations. While CalPERS did ask Votem about past and pending litigation, it didnt ask whether the SEC had subpoenaed Votem, another due diligence lapse. And even if Votem did comply fully with SEC requirements, there is still cause for concern. Votem didnt do a conventional funding with its current investors or try to expand the base of investors in its company. That does not speak well to the confidence of Votems investors in its business. On top of that, at least one of Votems major investors might deter others from joining. We obtained the names of all 14, which Votem did cough up when CalPERS insisted. Earlier, Votem had identified only its >5% investors, in addition to its founder/CEO Peter Martin. Top of that list of major investors, and out of alphabetical order, implying it was the largest, was: Greg Landegger (Parsons Whittemore Family Office) Parsons & Whittmore is an Alabama paper mill family. The patriarch of the Parsons & Whittemore family, George Landegger, pled guilty in 2015 to a Federal criminal charge of hiding assets in a Swiss bank account. It is very likely that some, and probably most, of the money managed by the family office comes from George Landegger. As our Clive pointed out: Even if were generous and say Votem has $3M in funding, that barely covers worker comp. Thirty employees earning 100k a year would burn that in a year. Or sixty people drawing $50k a year [remember, Votem has said it will take the Everyone Counts employees that were serving them, it likely has to make similar commitment to the other four Everyone Counts clients it hopes to convert]. The ICO prospectus lists over ten employees just on the coin side of the business which has no discernible income stream. Theyre likely going to need additional funds to survive to the end of 2019, unless they get some significant sales volumes coming through on the electronic voting platform.

Yves here. Back to the current post. The idea that the even-weaker-than-Everyone-Count company Votem was likely to fail was obvious. It turns out the Cleveland business community was skeptical of the company and its backers, but somehow CalPERS didnt sus that out. From Cleveland Scene:

One local entrepreneur who preferred to remain anonymous because of their connections with Votem told Scene that the companys fate was exactly what [they] expected, and that it was a bad look for both Cleveland and the Blockland initiative [founded by local auto dealer Bernie Moreno]. They admitted that while local entrepreneurs sympathize with the employees losing their jobs, many of them are probably greeting the Votem news with pleasure  Whats the German word? Schadenfreude?  because it validates many of their doubts and warnings about the hype over Blockland and blockchain start-ups generally.

But even worse,CalPERS ignored the risk and appears to have taken no preventive measures.

And this part of one of our January 14 posts on Votem has also held up well:

This mess sits squarely on CEO Marcie Frosts desk. She is setting up Doug Hoffner, whose name is on the signature line of the yet-to-be-signed contract amendment, to get a massive raise, from roughly $187,000 to as much as $312,500. It appears he is to be rewarded for his burgundy-wearing enforcement of staff showing support for Frost having lied about her education, which was evident in an earlier Public Records Act response, and other demonstrations of loyalty. His failure to take notice of and do damage control for this fiasco show that he regards the substance of his job as unimportant. And that is likely an accurate reading of Marcie Frosts priorities.

The board needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Either Marcie Frost shapes up and gets her priorities straight, or she needs to be told to find a new job.
Heavily armed soldiers abduct the Saunyama brothers

Robert Saunyama, popularly known as Jack Roberts, of Zimunya Township in Mutare South and his younger brother and Chikanga-Dangamvuras Ward 6 Councilor, Danmore Saunyama, are reported to have been abducted by ZNA soldiers suspected to be from 3/1 infantry battalion around 2130hrs on Tuesday.

Jack Roberts is the MDC District Chairman for Mutare South, a constituency he contested for representing the MDC Alliance as a parliamentary candidate in the 30 July harmonised elections.

The soldiers are reported to have arrived in an unmarked Toyota double cab truck. They numbered around 8 and were heavily armed. They forced their entry into Jacks house where he was hosting his brother who had visited him with his wife and that of his other brother Jericho. The soldiers started assaulting the wives of the three brothers and their children, together with Clr Danmore.

All this while four soldiers were aiming their guns on Jack Roberts threatening to shoot him should incase he attempted to fight them back.

The victims of this barbaric military brutality bled profusely and suffered various degrees of injuries. The soldiers then bundled the two brothers and took them to an unknown destination.

This brutality is coming only there weeks after we buried Noah Sahumbe of Zimunya Township who succumbed to injuries he sustained after beatings by soldiers from 3 Brigade.

Zimunya Township has been a little hell since the stayaway disturbances. The residents of this sleepy township have not known peace ever since. What is clear from this incident is that Zimbabwe is descending into a dark period of kidnappings, abductions, beatings, murders and extrajudicial killings.

The dark days of gukurahundi and 2008 run-off killings are upon us once again. One cannot fail to link the veiled threats by Mr Mnangagwa over the weekend in Masvingo province with this heinous operation.

Its clear the junta has stepped up the terror campaign against ordinary, peace loving citizens. Is this the new dispensation? Clearly there is nothing new but a continuation of Mugabes legacy of brutality.

Trevor Saruwaka

MDC Manicaland Province Spokesperson

Breaking News via Email

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Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya on Wednesday effectively redenominated your RTGS balances, as well as bond notes and coins into a currency known as RTGS dollars. He also ended the contentious 1:1 peg against the United States dollar.

The value of your RTGS balances and bond notes and coins will now be determined at an inter-bank foreign exchange market.

What does this mean for my deposits?

You have probably already known this for a while now; the money in your bank account  unless of course you are lucky enough to have one of the FCA Nostro accounts introduced in October 2018  is not really in United States dollars. What you have are RTGS dollars. Starting on Monday, February 25, the value of that money in your account, relative to the US dollar, will be determined by the market. Banks and bureaux will buy and sell foreign currency between themselves. It is from all this trading that a rate will be determined. The daily rate will be displayed publicly.

Using current black market rates, your RTGS deposits have already been diluted by a factor of about 4. The market will now decide just how much your money is worth.

Do we have a new currency?

The officials are still averse to calling the RTGS dollars a currency. But the government will soon issue a legal instrument including RTGS dollars within the multi-currency basket. It is, in simple terms, a currency.

Wait, is this even legal?

Announcing the latest policy measures, Mangudya said the central bank had taken into account the accounting, financial, economic, social and legal implications of floating the currency. The planned legal instrument, most likely to be issued in terms of the contested Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, will seek to give legal effect to the new currency policy. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Act of 2017 set the exchange rate of bond notes and the US dollar at 1:1. A legal instrument is required to reflect the new policy thrust.

OK, so what is the starting exchange rate of this new currency?

During his presentation, Mangudya frequently made reference to a parallel market exchange rate between 3-4 RTGS dollars/bond notes to the US dollar. He, however, says the central bank will leave the market, through inter-bank trade, to determine the exchange rate.

He, however, reckons that the RTGS$ will trade stronger on the now established formal market than it did on the black market.

Some analysts believe that the significant mismatch between RTGS balances  there is about RTGS$10 billion compared to forex deposits of about US$450 million  means the local unit will immediately come under pressure once the formal trading starts.

Mangudya counters this argument, saying not all of the RTGS$10 billion money stock is available to chase after the limited forex available.

He gave an interesting breakdown of just how much money is out there. The bulk of the money is tied up in loans and advances (RTGS$4 billion), Treasury Bills (RTGS$2.5 billion), and Savings Bonds (RTGS$1.5 billion). According to Mangudya, available RTGS balances, or the money that can be used to buy forex on the black market, amounts to RTGS$1.8 billion. This is against the available US$450 million deposits and various credit facilities of about US$600 million.

In short, he is saying there just isnt a lot of RTGS$ for people to buy forex with. He believes that this will keep the rate steady.

Will I be able to walk into a bank and get forex?

The inter-bank market will be used for all bona fide foreign payment invoices, except for education fees, Mangudya said. He did not elaborate on why education is an exception. The expatriation of forex to fund offshore accounts is also not allowed.

Bureaux de change will also be authorised to purchase forex at the market-determined rate, but will be limited to selling foreign currency for small transactions such as subscriptions, business and personal travel up to a daily limit of US$10,000 per bureau de change.

What happens to prices?

Thats the question on everyones mind. The RBZ says all pricing for domestic transactions will now be in the local RTGS$ currency, to end the multiple pricing system and the charging of domestic goods and services in foreign currency.

The central bank is turning the economy away from re-dollarisation, which it says would send the economy back into recession.

Should the market prove Mangudya wrong and the exchange rate weakens further than the current parallel market rate, prices will go up.

What about essential imports?

Foreign currency requirements for Government expenditure and other essentials, such as medicines, fuel, electricity, cooking oil and water treatment chemicals will continue to be made available through existing letters of credit and the Foreign Currency Allocation system at the RBZ. Those buying essential goods wont have to compete for forex on the interbank market.

How will the RBZ fund these?

The central bank still maintains various foreign currency surrender arrangements for exporters. The RBZ keeps a portion of the US dollars that exporters get when they sell goods outside the country.

Producers of the number one export  gold  will continue to surrender 45% of their forex earnings to the central bank. This now also applies to small scale gold producers, who previously enjoyed a lower surrender threshold of 30%.

Tobacco merchants get to keep 80% of their export proceeds, while tobacco and cotton farmers now get 30% of their sales in US dollars.

Producers of other minerals, including platinum and chrome, retain 50% of their forex earnings.

Tourism operators, horticulture producers, manufacturers and the transport sector will keep 80% of their earnings in forex.

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The Stones Throw, a midcentury modern masterpiece in Charlottesville, VA, that's listed for $1.5 million, is quite a catch.

Designed by architect Edward Durell Stone in 1952, the three-bedroom home is on the market for only the second time ever. It was first listed in 2015 for $825,000, selling in 2016 for $772,000, according to property records.

The homeowners, Curry and Andre Uflacker, embarked on a major but sensitive renovation with architect Joe Wheeler of HausCraft. They wanted to keep the original design, while refreshing it for the 21st century.

The home features walls of windows and an interior courtyard with a signature perforated block wall. The light-filled open space is as bold and fresh today as when it was built, the listing states.

Interior courtyard realtor.com

Living room with built-in stereo and fireplace realtor.com

Kitchen and dining space realtor.com

Library with built-in bookshelves realtor.com

Bedroom with original furniture realtor.com

"When we did this project, we thought we would be here forever," says Curry. The couple have since moved out of state for work.

"We really put every attention to detail," she adds. "The floor plan is awesome. Theres no dead space in this house. Theres no room that isnt used."

The remodel was inspired by the original architecture, including a bathroom back wall with a design that pays homage to Stone's New York City home.

Other original details that remain include the built-in stereo in the living room, fireplaces, and integrated storage and shelving. One bedroom features the original custom-designed bed and dresser.

Original cork floors were replaced by new cork flooring in a light-gray hue, and all the bathrooms were updated. The Uflackers removed the roof over the interior courtyard, creating a central indoor-outdoor space. The bedrooms open out to the courtyard.

The original galley kitchen is now spacious and sleek, equipped with granite counters and a center island that hangs over the dining table.

"Once we were able to strip away the old carpet and take off the [courtyard] roof, and take down the curtains throughout the whole house, we really just stripped it down and really didnt add much to it," says Curry.

The owners touched everything that needed to be updated, and left everything that was true to the original design, says listing agent Bob Headrick of Nest Realty.

Stone, who died in 1978, is best known for his iconic designs of Radio City Music Hall, the original building for the Museum of Modern Art, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

Stone was inspired to seek new forms that expressed a warmer architecture with American, not European, roots. A trip to San Francisco inspired his interest in using natural materials, according to his website. He designed notable homes across the country, including a Case Study home in Malibu, CA.

The post Catch Stone's Throw, a Restored Midcentury Delight in Charlottesville appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Re: El Chapo found guilty on all counts, faces life, Feb. 13:

El Chapo, a notorious Mexican drug lord recently found guilty in a New York court, earned $14 billion during his career by smuggling up to 200 tons of drugs across the U.S. border.

Were told that he did it via an array of yachts, speedboats, long-range fishing boats, airplanes, cargo trains, semi-submersible submarines, tractor-trailers filled with frozen meat and cans of jalapenos and yet another tunnel (hidden under a pool table in Agua Prieta, Mexico.)

El Chapos organization must be thrilled beyond words at the presidents insistence on a wall as a supposed deterrent rather than on more effective methods of surveillance, detection and interception. A wall is the go-ahead signal for them: business as usual.

Jean Durel

Not sad, not ironic

Re: Oh, the wall irony, Your Turn, Feb. 18:

Unbelievable! This letter claims its sad and ironic that Americans cheered the demise of the Berlin Wall as the communist Soviet Union disintegrated, yet some support a wall on the U.S. southern border.

Neither wall has anything to do with the other. To be clear: Communism bad; border security good.

Glenn Pollick

The color of water

In the 60s, my family went shopping at Sears in Corpus Christi. The two water fountains were labeled White and Colored. At that age I thought it meant colored water, so I ran to it, stepped up and started drinking from it. Surprise! It was just plain water, but when mom turned and caught me, she had a fit.

When she explained later, I asked what the difference was between that and the ice-water can (with one cup for all of us) that all four kids and the hands working for us drank from every day?

In hindsight, I believe it was because Sears was a public place. I am 63 now, and I dont believe my family was or is racist.

I pray for all.

Ted Jolley
The Alamo Colleges Districts plan to provide tuition free community college courses to graduating high school seniors could be a game changer for Bexar County students

It could also provide a major boost to the economy of a community where only 33 percent of adults have an associate degree or higher.

The program, which has been dubbed the Alamo Promise, has the potential to significantly increase the college-going rate, elevate the education level of the workforce, reduce generational poverty and allow for social mobility among those being held back by income stagnation.

READ ALSO: San Antonio ISD's dual credit program gets $1.5 million donation

A college education is a great equalizer and plays a major role in leveling the playing field, but the cost of higher education continue to be a major obstacle for many students. Many cash-poor, middle-class families find themselves with few options. Financial aid is readily available for those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, but many students find they cant qualify based on family income even though they cant scrape together tuition money.

Income would not be a factor in qualifying for the free tuition under the Alamo Promise program. Bexar County graduating seniors would receive up to three years or 60 credit hours of free college tuition. Thats the equivalent of an associate degree if a student meets all core curriculum requirements.

In addition, students would have to maintain a 2.0 grade point average and complete at least 18 credit hours, about six classes, each academic year, among other requirements.

Tuition at the Alamo Colleges runs about $1,200 a semester for a student taking a full course load. By comparison, the cost of tuition and fees at the University of Texas at San Antonio is about $5,000 a semester.

The Alamo Colleges District is still working on the funding and is seeking financial support from the private and public sectors. A steering committee has been formed to explore revenue streams. Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff have voiced their support for the program as they well should.

A better educated workforce keeps municipal and county government costs down. Gainfully employed residents are less likely to be dependent on government social and medical services or end up in the criminal justice system. The free tuition program merits support at all levels. It is a wise investment in the future of Bexar County.

OnExpressNews.com: Alamo Colleges seeks funding to offer San Antonio-area grads free tuition

The Alamo Promise program will be phased in over two school years, starting in the fall, and have an estimated annual operating tab of $13 million when it is fully launched.

The first phase of the program would include 25 high schools in Bexar County with the lowest-income student populations. It is estimated about 70 percent of the approximately 9,400 seniors in those schools would take advantage of the program. The second phase of the program would launch in the 2020-2021 school year and include the remaining 18 traditional public high schools in Bexar County.

The college-going rate varies among Bexar County school districts and ranged from a low of 36 percent at Edgewood ISD to 55 percent at Alamo Heights ISD two years ago.

Data collected on 2014 gradates indicate that after graduation, one-third of Bexar County high school seniors headed straight into the workforce  into retail and hospitality industry jobs with a median income of about $10,000.

They could be doing so much better.
AUSTIN  More than 30 advocacy groups are calling on Senate Democrats to block the confirmation of embattled Secretary of State David Whitley over the offices flawed attempt to purge non-citizens from the voter rolls.

The letter, signed by groups including the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas AFL-CIO, accuses Whitley of having targeted naturalized citizens for disenfranchisement and falsely accused them of committing voter fraud.

Under no circumstances should Mr. Whitley be allowed to continue to serve as the Texas Secretary of State, said the letter, which was released Thursday.

Whitley was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in December, but must still be confirmed by the Texas Senate. A senate committee postponed a vote on his nomination last week.

Spokesman Sam Taylor said Whitley is currently in the Rio Grande Valley meeting with public officials and community leaders, with whom he is committed to working to ensure that all eligible Texans can make their voices heard at the ballot box.

Secretary Whitley deeply respects the Senates role in the nominations process and will continue to seek an open line of communication with Senators to address any questions or concerns, Taylor said.

Whitley has been under fire since his office sent flawed lists of suspected non-citizen voters to county elections officials, who quickly found 20,000 names of voters who had been wrongly flagged. Whitley apologized to lawmakers earlier this month, saying the list should have been more carefully reviewed before being sent out.

The analysis, which began in March 2018, compared driver license records from the Department of Public Safety with voter rolls. It captured, however, voters who had been recently naturalized and others who registered to vote at a DPS office.

Abbott has said Whitleys office had made clear the matches were weak and needed further vetting.

Still, the effort has drawn several lawsuits from civil rights advocacy groups, who said the attempted purge was meant to intimidate minority voters and immigrants.

Many large counties are still reviewing their lists and have not sent notice to the voters who have been flagged. The notices, which were sent out by several smaller counties, warn the voters that they must prove their citizenship or risk being removed from the rolls.

amorris@express-news.net
San Antonio police released a photo Thursday of someone authorities are looking for in connection with an aggravated assault investigation, according to a news release from the department.

The assault was reported on Feb. 8 at 7614 McCullough Ave. on the city's North Side, according to the news release.
Authorities arrested a man and woman Wednesday after they allegedly used a dating website to lure two victims to a West Side bar and then rob them.

Chentel Dancer, 19, and Ervin Jackson, 22, now face two charges of aggravated robbery each. They remain in the Bexar County Jail.
San Marcos police released images of a suspect vehicle Thursday in hopes of finding the motorist responsible for a hit and run that left one father fighting for his life.

On Feb. 9, 54-year-old Pedro Ybarra and his 23-year-old daughter, Larissa Ybarra, were struck by a car while crossing Hutchison Street near North LBJ Drive, according to a news release from police.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

Both were hospitalized following the collision and Pedro Ybarra suffered serious head injuries and possibly permanent brain damage, according to the news release.

Pedro Ybarra was briefly placed in a medically induced coma, but has recently regained consciousness, according to the news release.

"Pedro is now conscious but remains in the hospital and has begun a lengthy recovery process," police said in the news release.

Larissa Ybarra was injured but has been released from the hospital.

RELATED: Woman suspected of drunken driving after crashing into NW side apartments

Police believe the driver who hit them was traveling in a maroon GMC Yukon or a Chevrolet Tahoe.

The car may have damage on its driver side bumper, police said.

Police are hoping the images may lead to new tips on the offender.

Detectives are asking anyone who may know about the incident, including body shops who may have recently completed any repair on similar vehicles with this type of damage, to call police at 512-753-2315.

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
San Antonio Crime Stoppers is offering $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest in a fatal shooting on San Antonio's West Side.

On Jan. 7, police were called to a shooting at an apartment complex in the 8000 block of West Military Drive at about 12:50 a.m.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21)  Is it too late to have children when you're past 50?

Korina Sanchez-Roxas said that she "never stopped believing" that she could, as she welcomed her new children.

She posted on social media a photo of her and husband, senatorial candidate Mar Roxas, showing the feet of their newborn children to the camera.

"I think if you believe hard enough, the miracle you most want can come true. Announcing the arrival of our little boy and little girl," Sanchez-Roxas said on Instagram.

Sanchez-Roxas had previously hinted at having children, having previously posted a photo of her shopping for baby toys.

She also posted another photo of her with her family, with an empty crib at the background of the shot.

Roxas, now 64 years old, has a 25-year old son from his previous marriage.
A man was fatally shot during an argument with three men Thursday afternoon on the West Side.

San Antonio Police said the man was shot at about 4:15 p.m. in the 200 block of Monclava Alley, police said.

SAPD spokeswoman Jennifer Rodriguez said the three men involved in the argument, one of them believed to be the shooter, ran from the scene.

RELATED: S.A. police looking for person of interest in aggravated assault

They were each taken into custody by police around where the shooting occurred by 5 p.m., police said.

Rodriguez said the three men went to a nearby store and then approached the man in the alley.

The shooter pulled out a gun and shot the victim once in the upper torso, investigators said. A weapon has not been recovered, police said

First responders rushed the man to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The victim was in his 50s, Rodriguez said.

Investigators are now examining the scene and working to determine who shot the victim.

Rodriguez said all three men were acquainted with the victim and frequented the area.
A man accused of shooting his 17-year-old stepson at least three times with a pistol was arrested Wednesday, officials said.

Aric Eugene Lucas, 42, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

Lucas was attempting to flee to California but went the wrong way and became lost, Deputy Johnny Garcia, a BCSO spokesman, said.

He turned himself in to authorities in Laredo at around 9 a.m Wednesday, deputies said.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

At about 9 p m. Tuesday, Lucas was arguing with his wife at their home in the 7600 block of Braes Stage, according to authorities.

Lucas allegedly began hitting his wife with a pipe in their bedroom, at which point his stepson intervened to protect her.

(Lucass) stepson came in, defended his mother and was able to hold down the suspect, Garcia said.

This bought enough time for Lucas wife to escape and call authorities, Garcia said.

During the scuffle, Lucas is alleged to have pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and fired several shots, hitting his stepson three times, deputies said.

RELATED: SAPD: Duo allegedly lured men through dating site, then robbed them at gunpoint

Lucas drove away from the scene after the shooting, authorities said

Deputies received a call stating that the teen was lying in the street with gunshot wounds. He was taken to University Hospital with injuries to his stomach, groin and leg, Garcia said.

He did what any stepson would do in this situation, Garcia said.

The teen is now in stable condition after having surgery.

Lucas was quiet and hid the bottom half of his face from photographers as he was led to a deputys vehicle outside the Bexar County Sheriffs Office, 200 N. Comal.

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. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
Elizabeth Conley/Staff

MantecaHTX, a new online directory of Houston's Latinx artists, launched on Thursday as part of the nonprofit, Nuestra Palabra's, Cultural Acceleration Program.

Latinx artists from various disciplines can create profiles on the site to better promote their work and get advanced notice of upcoming arts events and opportunities, according to a statement from the project's leading team.
A San Antonio woman was sentenced to 27 months in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to bank fraud, according to a news release from the US Attorney's office.

Stacy A. Sanders, 52, wrote and signed unauthorized checks on Memorial Presbyterian Church's bank accounts, said US Attorney John Bash and FBI Special Agent Christopher Combs. Sanders worked as the office manager of the Fredericksburg church.
3 1 of 3 Shale Support LLC Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Shale Support LLC Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Louisiana-based Shale Support has entered into a new partnership that will allow the oilfield service company to supply frac sand and other proppants to customers in Argentina' Vaca Muerta shale play.

Shale Support announced on Thursday that it has entered into a partnership with the Swiss shipping company Fracht Group that will the Lafeyette-based company to export frac sand to hydraulic fracturing sites in Argentina.
A Coast Guard lieutenant arrested on federal drug charges named Texas politicians U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and former congressman Beto O'Rourke on a purported hit list for a domestic terrorism plot.

Christopher Hasson allegedly made the hit list in a spreadsheet while watching cable news networks MSNBC, CNN and Fox News, according to federal documents.

Lee and O'Rourke were among the 22 entries in a screenshot of the spreadsheet, which federal agents said was compiled Jan. 17 on his work computer at the Coast Guard's Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Hasson has described himself as a longtime white nationalist, records show. His arrest on Feb. 15 and revelations of the hit list on Feb. 20 were first noted by Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. Hasson is slated to appear in court in Maryland on Thursday.

Capitol Police alerted Lee's office about the supposed hit list on Tuesday, said Lee's chief of staff, Glenn Rushing.

"They said it was no serious threat, at least as far as they know," Rushing said. "They said they would get back to us if that changed. But it just looks like a bunch of names on a spreadsheet."

According to the Associated Press: Hasson's list also included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

Others listed include Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, according to the court filing.

A spokesman for O'Rourke said he was not contacted by Capital Police, likely because he is no longer a member of Congress.

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The FBI has launched an independent civil rights investigation into the conduct of officers involved in the botched no-knock drug raid that left two people dead and five officers wounded, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Wednesday at a City Hall press conference.

The probe is the latest aftershock after last month's deadly drug raid, which left two people dead, thrown the Houston Police Department into turmoil, and sent city and county leaders scrambling to contain a burgeoning scandal.

At the news conference, Acevedo said HPD's criminal investigation into the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas last month would continue, even as he outlined new policies that he said would avoid future fatalities.

"We as a police department have uncovered some malfeasance, we've taken it seriously, and we're not just looking at what's front of us, not just what's at the end of our nose," Acevedo said. "We have cast a wide net to make sure we identify any problems, most importantly procedures and methods so we can avoids things like this in the future."

Standing by the chief's side, Mayor Sylvester Turner touted his confidence in Acevedo - who he described as a "change agent" - and emphasized the value of the ongoing probe.

"What is important is for there to be a full, complete, thorough, and credible investigation," he said. "We want to hold people accountable if there's wrongdoing."

The Independent Police Oversight Board will be conducting its own review into the matter, officials said.

"It's important for people to know that this is not a rubber stamp," the chief added.

At the same time, Acevedo announced the formal adoption of a new policy significantly curtailing the use of no-knock raids, a move he previewed earlier in the week at a town hall meeting. Moving forward, only a handful of top officials in the department will be able to greenlight the risky no-knock warrant requests.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston police to end use of no-knock warrants, chief says

No-knock warrants are going to go away like leaded gasoline in this city, Acevedo said at the town hall Monday, where he also said the department would be equipping undercover teams with body cameras during raids.

IN DEPTH: Houston police officer in drug raid had previous allegations against him. Find the details at HoustonChronicle.com .

Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi said the union backed the policy shift.

We would be supportive of anything thats going to make our officers job safer, he said, while not dealing in absolutes.

The scrutiny comes after a disastrous raid on Jan. 28, when an undercover narcotics squad burst into a home in southeast Houston hoping to arrest a man they said was dealing heroin. Instead, a shootout ensued, killing Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, and wounding four officers. Investigators never found any heroin at the location, just 18 grams of marijuana and a gram of cocaine.

Friends and family of the couple killed disputed allegations they had any involvement in dealing drugs, and no evidence of a drug-dealing operation was found during the search of the home.

IS THIS AN ISSUE? Lack of body cameras limits answers from botched Houston drug raid. Find the details at HoustonChronicle.com.

In the aftermath of the shootout, an internal Houston police investigation discovered that Gerald Goines, the lead officer during the investigation, had allegedly falsified information in the search warrant used to justify the raid.

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st.john.smith@chron.com

keri.blakinger@chron.com
Sacramento, CA  A handful of bills are being introduced at the state capitol designed to discourage the drinking of soda and other sugary beverages.

The proposals would create a new tax, warning labels and a ban on soda displays near checkout lines.

Senator David Chiu of San Francisco stated at a press conference, The soda industry is the new tobacco industry. He is specifically proposing a bill that would cap the size of sugary drinks sold in restaurants and stores at 16 fluid ounces.

Senator Bill Monning of Monterey County would like to see warning labels placed on sugary drinks, similar to those on tobacco products.

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks of Oakland has introduced a bill that would prohibit sugary drinks from being placed near checkout counters.

Assemblyman Rob Banta of Alameda is proposing to ban coupons or promotional deals at stores that would lower the price of sodas.

Assemblyman Rich Bloom of Santa Monica would like to place a tax, of a couple of cents, on sugary drinks.

The lawmakers argue that they are not trying to eliminate sugary beverages, but want Californians to think twice about consuming large amounts of the drinks.
"I thought what he was doing was illegal, and I was right," John Harris said about Dowless. He added: "I had no reason to believe that my father actually knew, or my mother or any other associate with the campaign had any knowledge. I think Dowless told them he wasn't doing any of this, and they believed him."
I will prove in court that any failure of memory on my part was without intent and would be immaterial, he told ABC News after he was arrested on Jan. 25. I am human and I did make some errors but theyre errors that would be inconsequential within the scope of this investigation.
Video footage showed three men attaching a rope around the statue of the late Monsignor Henryk Jankowski in the northern city of Gdansk and then pulling it down to the ground in the dark. The activists then placed children's underwear in one of the statue's hands and a small white lace church vestment worn by altar boys on the statue's body to symbolize the suffering of the young people he allegedly molested.
Evidence, however, indicated that Washington was facing forward trying to start the car when he was shot. The autopsy found powder burns on his head and, in one of the four shots to the back of the head, a muzzle imprint, meaning Clinkscales had placed the barrel of the gun against his skull when she fired. OPS found the shooting unjustified and recommended firing the officer for filing a false report.
Antonio Perez | Chicago Tribune via AP

CHICAGO  Lawyers for the white Chicago police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald say prosecutors have no right to challenge his nearly 7-year prison term.

Attorneys for Jason Van Dyke made the arguments in a filing Monday with the Illinois Supreme Court. They say the sentence is consistent with state law.
BEARDSTOWN  Despite a 6-2 vote by City Council members against the permanent appointment of a new police chief, Mayor Leslie Harris has appointed a temporary chief.

South Jacksonville Police officer and former Chapin Chief of Police Martin Coad was up for consideration for chief at Tuesday nights city council meeting. The item came before the ordinance being constructed by the city and its Police and Fire and Ambulance Committee aiming to set the requested qualifications for the police chief position.

When put up to a vote after an hour-long executive session to deliberate, the council voted 6-2 against his appointment. Aldermen Bob Burget and Tom Penwarden gave yes votes.

However, Harris, exercising her right provided by the Illinois Municipal Code, appointed Coad as temporary chief.

The Beardstown City Code states that The chief of police shall be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the city council.

Still, whenever there is a vacancy in the position of chief, the mayor or president of the municipality may appoint a temporary successor to the officer. City Attorney Jeffery Soltermann said the temporary hire can stay the remainder of the mayors term.

As of Wednesday, Harris could not be reached for comment regarding her appointment.

Alderman Ron Culves, who has been working with the Police, Fire and Ambulance Committee and city councilmen to compile the chief qualifications ordinance, said the council wished Coad luck and congratulations. His no vote, he said, had to do, in large part, with Coads residence. The new chief now lives in Jacksonville.

A lot of communities with first responders in residency, response times are reduced, Culves said. When you have the police chief potentially 30-minutes away, that kind of goes against what were trying to do with the community.

The ordinance currently being drafted would specify the requirements for education, experience, licensing and certification, as well as a thorough background check including a psychological and physical evaluation. It also would set the requirement that any chief hired would need to live in Beardstown.

The whole idea of the ordinance was to elevate the position to meet the needs of the department and the community, Culves said. Unfortunately, we didnt have the support of the mayor on that initiative. We are moving forward with the ordinance.

Police, Fire and Ambulance Committee Chair Tim Harris said that, while he wishes the best for Coad and intends to support him any way he can, he hopes the ordinance will help in the selection of future police chiefs.

I think we gave the chief our blessing and agreed wed work with him, theres no animosity at all, Harris said. I didnt vote because of anything personally against the chief, but one of the main issues is the residency requirement.  I really dont think we reached out far enough to get enough applications to see if anybody would fulfill that.

According to aldermen, several police officers at the meeting did voice their interest in applying for the position of chief. Alderman Gabe Seward said he wishes those candidates had been considered before appointment.

I feel like we should hire within, these guys work closely together, Seward said. Im not saying hes not a good man for the job, but these guys all get along well together.

Coad said he understands where the council is coming from but he is very excited to work with the Beardstown Police Department to give them some stability and to do what he loves. With 37 years of law enforcement experience, 10 of those as chief in Chapin, he said hes looking forward to working with the city and the departments officers.

They havent had a chief for a little while and its been kind of a revolving door with people coming in, being chief, and leaving, Coad said. I want to give them something permanent and Ill stay as long as theyll have me.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
And thats why I believe that one of the things we should do is have a modest increase in the hotel tax so we can expand the amount of moneys that are actually available for grant-making for our artists, she said. And I meant what I said earlier: There should be no reason why artists are leaving Chicago to go to New York or LA or some other place thats more friendly and more livable for them.
Horry County Council recently approved tax and fee hikes that will raise the bill of an owner-occupied $200,000 home by $105.80 in most of the unincorporated areas. Inside the city limits, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay $20 more per year (those residents pay separate city taxes). The hikes in the countys nearly $600 million budget will help pay for raises for county workers, additional 911 dispatchers, firefighters and patrol officers, and new stormwater equipment. Do you think county council should have increased taxes? Choices are:

You voted:
Muskogee, OK (74401)

Today

Cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Localized flooding is possible.
For the election Tuesday  and in any runoff election April 2  you only need to register again if youve moved recently or changed your name, according to Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen. If you moved on or before Jan. 27, youll need to update your registration in your new precinct. If you moved on or after Jan. 28, you can still vote in your previous precinct. You can find out if youre already registered to vote here.
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An unexpected plunge in crude prices in the final months of 2018 knocked the Texas Permian Basin Petroleum Association index off track.

Karr Ingham, the Amarillo economist who prepares the index, -- a product of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers -- said it had been rising for two years before posting consecutive declines in November and December. The index closed the year at 343.8, down from a two-year peak of 349.4 reached in October.

The drop in crude prices resulted in a decline in the growth of oil production values, which narrowed to 6.1 percent in December from December 2017. Joined by a decline in the rig count and drilling permits "combined to knock the regional oil and gas index off its growth track," Ingham said.

RELATED: MMEX Resources seeks to make up for lost time with Pecos Refinery

But he said the decline may not be enough to halt the growth momentum of the region's energy economy.

"Oil has recovered some of what it lost," he said, and Saudi Arabia, other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied countries such as Russia "are in the mood to stabilize prices. That will bode well for us, the U.S. oil economy and the Permian Basin overall economy."

The markets are still favorable to at least modest increases in activity levels, he said. He said the index could record a two- or three-month decline, level off and begin to rise again.

"I hope that's how it plays out," he said.

Before prices sank 40 percent in the final quarter of 2018, he said prospects were more bullish and the consensus was that oil prices would go even higher because Venezuelan oil production was declining and sanctions had been placed on Iran.

"That didn't play out as expected because of the exemptions given to countries importing Iranian crude, and President Trump was pressuring the Saudis to raise production so prices would fall," he said.

As a result, there was a temporary oil supply glut and prices fell.

"All along, the other players were watching U.S. oil production continue to rise, Texas production continue to rise, Permian Basin production continue to rise," he said.

Production volumes in the Texas portion of the Permian Basin posted a 29.6 percent increase in 2018 from 2017 levels, while December production volumes rose 27.8 percent from December 2017.

With weaker oil prices, December oil production values rose 6.1 percent to $4.1 billion, compared to the previous December. For the year, production was valued at $58 billion, up 66.6 percent from $34.8 billion in 2017.

OIL REPORT: Arrington finds challenges, rewards in drilling around, in and under Midland

December crude prices averaged $45.31 a barrel, down 17 percent from $54.57 in December 2017. For the year, prices averaged $61.27 a barrel, up 29.4 percent from $47.36 the previous year. Ingham said prices averaged $67.19 in October, fell to $53.33 in November and fell further to $45.31 in December. The January average has risen to nearly $48 a barrel, he said. Daily posted prices peaked at an average $71.75 a barrel in October and fell by $10 a barrel by the end of the year. Posted prices fell below $40 a barrel, to $39.25 on Christmas Eve, and have recovered to surpass $51 a barrel in early February.

The rig count averaged 382 in December, up 17.5 percent from 325 last December, but down from the November average of 387 rigs and October average of 390 rigs. The 2018 rig count averaged 371 rigs, up 25.3 percent from 296 in 2017.

Drilling permits fell to their lowest level of the year in December, at 475 permits, down 10.7 percent from 532 issued by the Railroad Commission in December 2017. In fact, Ingham said, those 475 permits were the lowest monthly total since September 2016. For 2018, the commission issued 7,875 drilling permits, up 5.8 percent from 7,444 in 2017.

Operators reported 343 oil completions in December, down 17.5 percent from 416 last December. For 2018, operators completed 5,538 oil wells, up 59.6 percent from 3,469 in 2017.

Natural gas suffered a sharp drop in prices, averaging $1.87 per Mcf, down 27.8 percent from $2.59 last December. The price averaged $2.04 per Mcf in 2018, down 24.2 percent from $2.70 in 2017. Though production volumes continued to climb  December 2018 volumes were 25.5 percent higher than December 2017 and 2018 volumes were 27.6 percent higher than in 2017  values dropped alongside prices. December gas production values fell 9.4 percent from the previous December and 2018 values fell 4.1 percent from 2017 totals.

Operators reported 57 gas-well completions in December, 200 percent more than the 19 reported last December. Operators completed 517 gas wells in 2018, up 223.1 percent from the 160 reported in 2017.
But New York is not letting that stop them from attempting to get the information from Airbnb.

We want to see their listings. We want to see which apartments are being rented out. We want to know whats really going on. We want to make sure theres not illegal hotels, de Blasio said. We want to make sure that something that is supposed to be an occasional business is not a full-time business, which would mean it should be listed as a business  it should be regulated as a business.

De Blasio said that Airbnb needs to be more forthcoming and transparent so that they both can start making progress.

People are worried about the loss of housing, the loss of affordable housing. Theyre worried about security. Youve got all sorts of strangers in your building. People want to know what the hell is going on, said de Blasio.

In a letter to de Blasio, Chris Lehane, head of global policy at Airbnb, said that the site is willing to work with the city and the state legislature to enact short-term rental laws that work for both sides.
A former Fannie Mae employee has been found guilty of federal fraud charges for taking bribes and kickbacks.

Shirene Hernandez, 46, was convicted of two counts of wire fraud. Hernandez was a sales representative of Fannie Mae. As part of its operations, Fannie acquires properties through foreclosure and other methods, then manages and sells those properties. Since at least 2012, the profits of those sales, like all of Fannie Maes profits, have gone to the Treasury.

As a sales representative, Hernandez assigned Fannie-owned properties to real estate brokers and approved sales of the properties based on offers the brokers submitted. According to prosecutors, Hernandez approved sales of properties at discounted prices to brokers who paid her kickbacks. She also accepted bribes in return for listings and commissions that brokers earned on real estate sales.
ADEL [mdash] Mr. Richard F. Ellenberg, 87 of Adel, Georgia passed away on June 20, 2021 at his residence. Mr. Ellenberg was born on October 27, 1933 in Pelzer, South Carolina to the late Vernon Monroe Ellenberg and Willie McHugh Ellenberg. He served in the United States Air Force and retired
Neubauer says in the video that she was a 21-year-old college student in 1978 with her friends in Chicago for a concert when one of them was arrested for taking a parking ticket off of a car.


Rate of the day is what we consider the best value mortgage rate for a loan with a loan-to-value ratio below 80%, that is available to new and existing borrowers, and is not limited by the size of the loan.
Montreals soaring residential prices are placing it in a strong position to overtake the Vancouver housing markets pace in the very near future, according to data released late last week by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

As of last month, Montreals benchmark home price stood at $349,300, representing 6.3% year-over-year growth. While the actual price was still well below Vancouvers average of $1.02 million, the annual increases tell a different story, with the B.C. powerhouse city actually posting a 4.5% decline in value from January 2018.

The trend was also apparent in the total dollar value of property transactions (seasonally adjusted) observed in both cities. Vancouvers shrunk to $1.7 billion, falling by 42% year-over-year. On the other hand, Montreals went up to $1.63 billion, which was an 18% gain.

Read more: Montreal continues to enjoy sales acceleration

Sales activity reflected these developments: In January, Montreals total transactions increased by 7.1% month-over-month, marking the highest speed of growth in a decade. CREA attributed this outstanding pace to a vibrant economy giving would-be buyers ample purchasing power in a market characterized by lower prices.

For perspective, the December-January increases in Canadas hottest markets were just around 1.2%, while the overall national upward movement was 3.6%.

Despite the red-hot demand, however, the much cheaper homes in Montreal mean that the city faces a considerably lower risk of a Toronto or Vancouver-style intensification.

Much of the recent price appreciation and sales increases, that really reflects the strength of the economy, Bank of Nova Scotia economist Marc Desormeaux told Bloomberg. Montreal remains relatively affordable.
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
Shortly after 12:30 a.m., the woman got out of a vehicle in the 4700 block of Erie Street and was approached by a male who pulled out a handgun and demanding her property.
Orange County Board of Education Files Motion to Intervene in 9th Circuit School Board Prayer Case Tyler & Bursch, LLP files Motion to Intervene on behalf of Orange County Board of Education in Chino Valley Unified School District v. Freedom From Religion School Board Invocation Case



Contact: Desare Ferraro,



ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Feb. 20, 2019 /



Tyler & Bursch, LLP Senior Attorney, James A. Long explains, "The Ninth Circuit's decision impacts school boards throughout the entire nine state jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit. The Orange County Board of Education has taken this preliminary step to allow it to intervene and appeal this far reaching decision, not only for its own benefit, but for the benefit of school boards like it, who recognize that opening their meetings with prayer is part of a longstanding constitutional expression of good will, rooted in the historic foundations of this country."



On July 25, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that CVUSD's policy allowing invocations before school board meetings violates the Establishment Clause; however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals came to a different conclusion in 2017 in a case titled American Humanist Association v. McCarty.



In August, 2018, the CVUSD voted to allow Tyler & Bursch, LLP to appeal the decision by filing a petition for en banc rehearing. Although the Ninth Circuit denied the petition for rehearing on December 26, 2018, eight Circuit Judges issued two separate dissenting opinions supporting the constitutionality of invocations at school board meetings. On January 17, 2019, a majority of the CVUSD board members voted to not seek review of the Ninth Circuit's ruling.



"Unless the Orange County Board of Education or another entity are granted the right to intervene forthwith, the U. S. Supreme Court will not have the opportunity to consider accepting this case for review...and a conflict will remain amongst the circuits regarding a serious and important constitutional question," said Tyler & Bursch, LLP General Partner, Robert Tyler.



Tyler & Bursch, LLP attorneys Robert Tyler and James Long are available for additional comments and interviews. Please contact Desare Ferraro at 951-600-2733 or 714-348-0808.



About Tyler & Bursch, LLP: With offices in Murrieta and Anaheim, the lawyers and advisors at Tyler & Bursch, LLP have been serving businesses and individuals throughout Southern California for almost 20 years. In addition to their defense of Constitutional and Religious Liberties, their areas of practice include Corporate and Business, Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Family Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Civil Litigation.



Share Tweet Contact: Desare Ferraro, Tyler & Bursch, LLP , 951-600-2733, dferraro@tylerbursch.com ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Feb. 20, 2019 / Christian Newswire / -- At their February 13, 2019 board meeting, the Orange County Board of Education (OCBE) voted to intervene in the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) lawsuit. Like CVUSD, OCBE maintains its own, separate invocation policy. Following CVUSD's vote not to proceed with an appeal, OCBE now seeks to intervene to continue its own invocation policy. OCBE's policy states, "The Orange County Board of Education believes that authorizing invocation at board meetings is consistent with the board's values and has long been a part of our nation's heritage."Tyler & Bursch, LLP Senior Attorney, James A. Long explains, "The Ninth Circuit's decision impacts school boards throughout the entire nine state jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit. The Orange County Board of Education has taken this preliminary step to allow it to intervene and appeal this far reaching decision, not only for its own benefit, but for the benefit of school boards like it, who recognize that opening their meetings with prayer is part of a longstanding constitutional expression of good will, rooted in the historic foundations of this country."On July 25, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that CVUSD's policy allowing invocations before school board meetings violates the Establishment Clause; however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals came to a different conclusion in 2017 in a case titled American Humanist Association v. McCarty.In August, 2018, the CVUSD voted to allow Tyler & Bursch, LLP to appeal the decision by filing a petition for en banc rehearing. Although the Ninth Circuit denied the petition for rehearing on December 26, 2018, eight Circuit Judges issued two separate dissenting opinions supporting the constitutionality of invocations at school board meetings. On January 17, 2019, a majority of the CVUSD board members voted to not seek review of the Ninth Circuit's ruling."Unless the Orange County Board of Education or another entity are granted the right to intervene forthwith, the U. S. Supreme Court will not have the opportunity to consider accepting this case for review...and a conflict will remain amongst the circuits regarding a serious and important constitutional question," said Tyler & Bursch, LLP General Partner, Robert Tyler.Tyler & Bursch, LLP attorneys Robert Tyler and James Long are available for additional comments and interviews. Please contact Desare Ferraro at 951-600-2733 or 714-348-0808.About Tyler & Bursch, LLP: With offices in Murrieta and Anaheim, the lawyers and advisors at Tyler & Bursch, LLP have been serving businesses and individuals throughout Southern California for almost 20 years. In addition to their defense of Constitutional and Religious Liberties, their areas of practice include Corporate and Business, Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Estate Planning and Asset Protection, Family Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Civil Litigation.
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Sheffield Lake man's alleged police officer shooting trial gets off to rocky start
Pitts Road, between state Route 18 and Peck-Wadsworth Road in Wellington Township, will be closed beginning Feb. 25 for the replacement of bridge No. 0187.
Lorain City Schools teachers have no confidence in CEO David Hardy Jr.s ability to lead the district, according to survey results from the Lo
RUTHERFORD COUNTY  Police are searching for a Rutherford County prisoner who was reported missing Thursday morning.

Jeremy Keith Fincannon, 22, is a 6-foot tall white man who weighs 171 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes who is originally from Rutherford County, according to a release from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Fincannon, who was serving a five and a half year sentence as a habitual felon after assault convictions, was first determined to be missing after a 7:30 a.m. routine offender count Thursday morning, the release said.

He was admitted to prison on Jan. 25, 2017, and was scheduled for release on Sept. 16, the release said.

Previous convictions for Fincannon include felony assault by strangulation, assault on an officer or state employee, resisting officer, communicating threats, assault on a female, simple assault and second-degree trespassing, according to the NCDPS website.

Anyone with information on Fincannons whereabouts is asked to call local law enforcement or Rutherford Correctional Center at 828-286-4121.
How to Make an Impression at a Career Fair

Job seekers who shine at career fairs are few and far between. Heres how to take this valuable campus...
February 21, 2019

U.S. Efforts To Block Huawei Gives China An Advantage

For several centuries China had a monopoly on silk. It was exported along the silk road to Persia and from there to Europe. Silk production was highly profitable. The export of silkworms and their production method was prohibited. in the mid 6-th century two monks made their way from Europe to China and found out how silk was produced. They reported back to the Byzantine emperor Justitian I who induced them to secretly acquire silkworms and to smuggle them back home. The monks managed to do that and soon thereafter the Chinese silk monopoly, and Persia's monopoly of silk trade with Europe, were no more.

The U.S. fears that China will soon be able to compete with it in computer chip design and fabrication. It is trying to block China from building its own chip factories and Congress even wants to block chip exports to specific Chinese companies. It is race that the U.S. will lose. Technology and the means of producing it inevitably proliferate.

The 5G mobile data networks will use new frequencies and algorithms to deliver gigabit data streams from, to and between mobile devices. This will allow for completely new applications like direct communication between (semi-)autonomous cars at any road crossing. Worldwide a number of companies are working to provide 5G technology. That involves antennas, base stations, new hard- and software in the periphery and in the core telecommunication systems. Main providers of such systems are U.S. companies like Motorola, Qualcomm and Cisco. Others are Ericsson and Samsung. One of the largest one is the Chinese company Huawei.

Currently Huawei is the most advanced company in the 5G field. It started early and invested huge sums into research and development for 5G technology. It owns some 15% of all relevant patents. It is currently the only provider that can deliver an end-to-end solution for 5G networks. As it serves the huge market of China it can produce on a large scale and sell its equipment for less than other companies do. The other dominant telecommunication equipment provider, including those in the United States, are lagging in 5G technology. They did not invest early enough and are now late to deliver.

Instead of investing in faster development and better technology the U.S. is trying to block Huawei from selling its goods. This hurts the development of other countries that want to provide 5G networks to their people.

The U.S. has long pressed its allies not to use Chinese equipment in their phone networks. It falsely claims that Huawei equipment is a security threat.

Australia and New Zealand followed the U.S. order and prohibited the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks. The U.S. also tried to press the big European countries to shun Huawei. So far it failed. Germany resisted U.S. pressure to not use Huawei stuff. It fears delays in 5G deployment should it ban Huawei. Yesterday Britain also pushed back:

Britain is able to manage the security risks of using Huawei telecoms equipment and has not seen any evidence of malicious activity by the company, a senior official said on Wednesday, pushing back against U.S. allegations of Chinese state spying.

...

Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei, [Chiaran Martin head of Britains National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which] is part of Britains GCHQ intelligence agency, said at a cybersecurity conference in Brussels. Asked later whether Washington had presented Britain with any evidence to support its allegations, he told reporters: I would be obliged to report if there was evidence of malevolence ... by Huawei. And were yet to have to do that. So I hope that covers it.

If Britain, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing group, sees no danger in using Huawei then the U.S. has lost the case.

It is likely that Britain's announcement yesterday prompted this double-pronged U.S. reaction today:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 13:55 utc - 21 Feb 2019

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on.........

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 13:59 utc - 21 Feb 2019

....something that is so obviously the future. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!

Within the same hour that Donald Trump claimed he wants "fair competition" over new mobile technology, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to blackmail U.S. allies into not using Huawei systems:

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday warned that the United States would not be able to partner with or share information with countries that adopt Huawei Technologies Co Ltd systems, citing security concerns. In an interview on Fox Business Network, Pompeo said nations in Europe and elsewhere need to understand the risks of implementing Huaweis telecommunications equipment and that when they did, they would ultimately not use the companys systems. If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we wont be able to share information with them, we wont be able to work alongside them, Pompeo said.

Pompeo's thread sounds harsh. It is certainly not in the spirit of "winning through competition" that his boss promotes. It is also useless.

U.S. secret services exchange information with many other countries. The Five Eyes cooperation with Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand involves a gigantic world wide data acquisition effort known to "collect it all". The results are shared within the group. U.S. services also exchange data with many other spy services on a more limited base. This includes exchanges even with 'enemy states' like Russia or Syria. But these are all two or more sided deals. They are based on give and take. If the U.S. stops providing, for example, information about Islamic State terrorists, others will stop to provide similar information to the United States.

Exchange of intelligence is always done to the advantage of both sides. If the U.S. would stop to provide what it does it would also lose access to the information the counterparts provide. Besides that the use of this or that mobile phone system or technology is irrelevant for exchanging data about security threads. Pompeo's threat is meaningless and will be rejected.

Huwaei is no more a security threat than any other telecommunication equipment provider. The greatest danger from all of them are quality issues with their code that allows various secret services and other criminals to hack into such equipment. The Snowden files provided that the U.S. regularly hacks into and bugs U.S. provided communication equipment. In 2012 the NSA tried to install an exploit on the Cisco routers that run the central Internet node of Syria. It made an error that 'bricked' the routers and cut Syria off the Internet.

Unlike many U.S. companies Huawei gives foreign governments access to the source code for its equipment. It supports special laboratories in Germany, Britain, Singapore and elsewhere, that can inspect and test the code and equipment before its use. It recently announced that it would also open its central 5G development process in China to foreign government inspection.

The only issue that these labs have found so far is that the Chinese programmers at Huawei are as sloppy and error prone as programmers elsewhere are. Their coding is neither more elegant nor of higher quality. The NSA will have little problems hacking into it.

The U.S. attempt to block the deployment of Huawei equipment is obviously made for economic reason. The building of the Internet provided a huge boom to the U.S. telecommunications industry. A move into the 5G markets is supposed to prolong that. Unfortunately U.S. companies dropped the ball. Their leadership wanted to show short term profits and wasted it on share buy backs. The companies invested too little in research and development. Huawei beat them fair and square by being the first to offer the full line of the next generation products.

With hindering Huawei the Trump administration is playing for time so that U.S. companies can catch up. But that is again stupid short term thinking. The real profits in 5G networks will not be made with communication equipment but with the products enabled by it. The U.S. developed the Internet and sold it to the world. Cisco and other hardware manufacturers got rich. But there are also Google and Amazon which became even richer by providing the applications that run on top of the net.

If "the west" delays 5G deployment while China implements it, Chinese companies will have the time advantage to create the products which will run on top of the new global communication layer. It would allow China to incubate the next Google and Amazon like giants before other countries can even test the basic technology. That is the very reason why European countries do not follow the U.S. lead.

It was short term thinking that let the U.S. drop the ball on next generation telecommunications. If it wants to regain the lead it will have to change that attitude.

Posted by b on February 21, 2019 at 20:03 UTC | Permalink

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How theyll use the money? Most said they would use tax proceeds to cover the citys required annual pension payments, which are expected to reach $1 billion in five years. Lightfoot, Mendoza and Preckwinkle said theyd also like to see some of the money put toward local schools. McCarthy said the money could be used to restore city retiree benefits and social services for the South and West sides, while Vallas said some of the money should be put toward economic development in distressed communities. Wilson suggested the revenues could offset his plan to immediately freeze city fees to residents, to hold the line on property taxes, and to not only get rid of the red light and speed cameras but also suspend use of the boot for unpaid parking tickets.
SMITHERS  Twins are shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, separated and believing each other to be dead. To find her way in the strange place, the female twin disguises herself as a boy and goes into the service of the duke. The duke sends her to woo a countess for himself.
I love the words secret and facility when in the same sentence. It makes me think of The Spy Who Loved Me, the classic Bond movie starring Sir Roger Moore.

Part of the movie is shot at a secret, supertanker that forms part of evil villain Karl Strombergs plan to start a nuclear war. Another part is shot at a hidden underwater lair, Atlantis, which Stromberg plans to survive the nuclear war in.

Anyway watch the movie if you havent seen it. Its one of the classic Bond movies. But to me, its the whole idea of a secret facility operating in the shadows thats immensely interesting.

Recently I was browsing through some articles on the legalisation of cannabis in multiple countries. And one of the articles I read talked of a secret facility being built in the South West part of the UK.

Immediately my mind was cast to Strombergs lair. Now, I wasnt exactly picturing an evil villain at this secret cannabis facility. Quite the opposite. But I was thinking of a well disguised, high tech facility with guards, personnel and scientists roaming around.

And immediately I put my best James Bond hat on and thought to myself, I need to find this secret facility.

And for the last few weeks thats exactly what Ive been doing.

Download your free report to learn Three Golden Rules for Investing in Pot Stocks.

Not my first rodeo

You see this isnt the first time Ive found a secret cannabis facility. The first time was accidental. And to be honest, Im not 100% sure the first one I uncovered was actually a cannabis facility. But Im pretty sure.

That was during a road trip from Mansfield in country Victoria back to Melbourne. I was in the car with my Dad and as we were heading along the Whittlesea-Yea road towards Melbourne we passed what looked like a very high security orchard.

At first, I thought, thats some serious fencing to stop people nicking fruit. And then it dawned on me

Theres only one kind of plant youd grow around there and have massive perimeter fencing and CCTV everywhere to protect it.

This kind of security is important for legal cannabis facilities. After all there is still an illegal market for cannabis in Australia. And making off with a plant or two could be a very lucrative outcome for a plant thief.

Of course thats why many legal cannabis facilities are secret. They dont want everyone to know where they are, what theyre doing. It makes them a target. At least, it makes them a target while theres still a black market for recreational cannabis.

We also know there is a secret facility in a warehouse in the Monash region in suburban Victoria. We dont know where, but we know one exists.

As for our secret facility here in the UK. Well weve found it. We know weve found it. But we cant say where it is. We dont think its appropriate to mention it specifically. But we are definitely going to have a look at it, just to confirm our findings.

The reason though is that its further proof that legal cannabis is a massive opportunity. In fact its so big we think weve found the single best ASX-listed pot stock set to boom from the green rush.

And think about it, if were seeing giant, secret warehouse and growth facilities popping up in places like country Victoria, suburban Melbourne and the English countryside, then we know this is something big.

The biggest investment opportunity of the next decade

Of course, as big as the opportunity is, medically the world is really yet to fully understand how the cannabis plant can be used to its full potential. What science already knows is that it reacts with our own endocannabinoid system and has benefits in the management of pain, nausea and use in palliative care.

Whats encouraging is that around the world theres a huge shift in the public perception of cannabis. For many years it was seen as a gateway drug. People would associate the drug with stoners and there wasnt much more beyond that.

We did know that over the Atlantic, Canada had a thriving medicinal cannabis system. And that people had been using it for decades for conditions such as glaucoma, and pain management.

But for a long while it seemed thats where the legal cannabis story would start and end.

The reality however is far from the perception of years gone by. And as we say, that perception is now undergoing a radical change.

Thanks to some (surprisingly progressive) law changes in 2016, Australia decided to change its stance on the access to medicinal cannabis. And in the subsequent years it has created a burgeoning, thriving industry with huge potential for investors to get in early on this global mega trend.

Yet for some reason, we still find pushback from people who dont quite understand the enormity of whats happening. And the thing is this isnt a localised opportunity either.

Much of the current wave of cannabis investment opportunities kicked off in Canada and the US. And thats where a huge portion of the current market opportunity exists. But its also a story that hits places like New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Asia and the UK.

This week an article on the ABC News website explained that:

New data obtained by the ABC revealed just how popular the controversial treatment had become, with more than 3,100 medicinal cannabis scripts approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) from March to January 2019.

Now that might seem like a massively huge number. But remember, thats up from zero just a few short years ago. Its growth, its realisation that in Australia this has the potential to become something really massive.

And we know that New Zealand is set to have a referendum at their next general election in 2020 on the legalisation of recreational cannabis. Imagine if that passes. Then imagine how thats going to benefit cannabis growers in Australia and companies with exposure to cannabis growth facilities in places like the UK and Canada.

Andif New Zealand legalises cannabis recreationally, how long until you think Australia follows suit? Our view is that as we understand the scientific benefits of cannabis more, the tide will change towards recreational cannabis too.

Countries like Canada and large parts of the US have already legalised recreational use. New Zealand may very well be next, then Australia and as we see it, even the UK.

If these dominoes fall the way we expect, the green rush may end up being the single biggest investment opportunity of the next decade.

Regards,

Sam Volkering,

Editor, Secret Crypto Network

Free Report: Check out this free report to learn four of the hottest pot stocks on the ASX right now. Download now.
While the effort at extraditing Vijay Mallya is being pursued with all earnestness, there seems to be no urgency to go after the three major daimantaires who have together caused far bigger losses to the Indian banking system.

The only visible effort is that of tracking the residual Indian assets of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems. Nirav Modis illegally constructed bungalow at Alibaug (in the millionaire row of this distant suburb of Mumbai), is being bull-dozed on court orders, apparently without any thought to extracting value out of the valuables, paintings and artefacts in it. Meanwhile large tracts of illegal land holding of Mehul Choksi, ostensibly worth Rs300 crore, have been traced. However, the effort to have the duo extradited to India appears to be going nowhere.

On the other hand, there is little effort to bring back Jatin Mehta and family of Winsome Diamonds (formerly Suraj Diamonds) who have fled India after duping Indian banks of a massive Rs7,000 crore. Details available in the public domain reveal that the investigation agencies have been dragging their feet over tracking Mr Mehta and six cases were registered only 2017, although the fact that he has fled abroad was known since 2013.

The dates become significant in the politically charged environment of today, because it is important to establish who knew about the fraud and failed to act.

Moneylife has copies of Central Bank of Indias auditors report from the zonal auditor office (1398, Chandni Chowk, Delhi 110006) dated 26th October, which details specific bad loans from the region. The corporate governance review signed by DS Dahiya on bad loans of Rs5 crore and above has Winsome Diamonds and its sister concern Forever Precious Jewellery at the top of the list.

On 30 June 2013, Winsome Diamonds owed Rs710.71 crore to the Central Bank of India and here is what the audit noted: Consortium is proceeding for legal action for recovery of dues. Our bank is not having sufficient security to fall back upon. The promoterdirector of the Group is reported to have shifted abroad and not responding to bank calls.

The report has exactly the same remark about Forever Precious Jewellery, which owed the bank Rs255.62 crore even then.

The Bank filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in 2014. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also conducted a specific investigation into Winsome Diamonds and its group companies and discovered a massive fraud.

According to reports, the March 2014 financial statement of the company admitted to a notice from the EOW of the police, even though the promoters were absconding since 2013.

Media reports later revealed that six months before Central Bank admitted to Mr Mehta having vanished, the company seems to have removed hard disks from computers to hide evidence about its activities by feigning an income-tax raid on the office. It had already begun to default on its loans by then. According to media reports, this is the reason why the CBI (which apparently began to investigate the company in 2014) had not found any evidence.

Astonishingly, the CBI only booked six cases against the group in April 2017. There is however, no action on the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) report or a serious effort to bring Mr Mehta and his family to justice. Like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, they too have obtained citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a tax haven in the Caribbean.

The delay in initiating action is especially scandalous because the modus operandi of Winsome Diamonds was similar to that of Nirav Modi, where Indian banks ended up holding the baby by providing guarantees based on a standby letter of credit.

Had the RBI and investigators gone public with their action against Jatin Mehta, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi scams could have been avoided. On the other hand, one could argue that top management of banks were shockingly negligent about the diamond business, despite having been duped in such a big way by Jatin Mehta. In the Nirav Modi case, top management of Punjab National Bank (PNB) remained careless, despite a specific query from the RBI.

It is also interesting that the government of India, while hot on the heels of beleaguered industrialist Vijay Mallya, who lives in London, has done precious nothing about Mr Mehta, who has reportedly incorporated a company called Diamond Distribution Co (UK) Ltd listing a London address on Bell Street in August 2016.

Jatin Mehta also has a blog, where last post was written on 15 November 2016 about Winsome Diamonds receiving payment from Al Razin Jewellery FZE and Al Faheem Jewellery FZE, as per ruling by a Sharjah court. On the blog, he also has provided links to his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He joined Twitter in October 2016, but has not tweeted even once. On Facebook, his last post is dated 31 January 2017. There is a contact number on this page, https://www.facebook.com/jatinmehta.uk/ , but it cannot be verified. However, the website jatinmehta.com as mentioned on the Facebook page leads to a page written in Chinese language.

According to media reports, PNB, which suffered the heaviest losses due to Jatin Mehtas shady operations, is also reported to have discovered a scam in 2013. But then, this banks officials were again complicit with Nirav Modi, raising some serious questions about its supervision and oversight.

It is also a mystery why none of the agencies has sought the RBIs inspection report, which, according to our sources, had documented how the large overseas operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), claimed by the Mehta group, to justify massive export credit were nothing by jewellery kiosks.

All this raises serious questions about whether there is a deliberate reluctance to go after Jatin Mehta, who owes over Rs7,000 crore to 15 public sector banks which are repeatedly capitalised at public expense.
Read: Appoint non-bureaucrats as information commissioners also: SC ) The Supreme Court went hammer and tongs against the government to direct it once again in its order last week to select information commissioners from diverse fields and not from among former bureaucrats, as in the recent past. (

While delivering the judgement, the bench of Justice AK Sikiri and Justice S Abdul Nazeer observed that, however, a strange phenomenon which we observe is that all those persons who have been selected belong to only one category, namely, public service, i.e., they are the government employees. It is difficult to fathom that persons belonging to one category only are always found to be more competent and more suitable than persons belonging to other categories. In fact, even the search committee which short-lists the candidates, consists of only bureaucrats.

For these reasons, official bias in favour of its own class is writ large in the selection process.

It thus ordered that, We also expect that information commissioners are appointed from other streams, as mentioned in the Act and the selection is not limited only to the government employee/ex-government employee.

This order was a sequel to the PIL (public interest litigation) filed in the Supreme Court regarding non-appointment of information commissioners by the Central and state governments and the lack of transparency in the appointment process which was frustrating peoples right to know; the failure of the Central and state governments to fill vacancies in information commissions in a time-bound manner, leading to huge backlog of appeals and; the need for transparency in the appointment process to ensure that appropriate people are appointed as information commissioners and the process is open to public scrutiny.

The SC in its 15 February 2019 order had observed that state governments should fill existing vacancies in a time-bound manner within six months and where there are huge backlogs of appeals/complaints, the commission should function at full strength for which the Central and state governments should ensure that vacancies are filled without any delay. The process for filling up of a particular vacancy should be initiated one or two months before the date on which the vacancy is likely to occur so that there is not much time lag between the occurrence of vacancy and filling up of the said vacancy.

The judgement also observed that, since RTI empowers citizens to exercise their fundamental right to access information, on proper implementation, it has the potential to bring about good governance which is an integral part of any vibrant democracy.

Attaining good governance is also one of the visions of the Constitution. It also has vital connection with development.

In order to ensure transparency in appointments, the SC has directed that all necessary information including the advertisement, particulars of the applicants, composition of the selection committee and search committee, minutes of meetings of search/selection committee etc. should be put up on the website. It also ordered the government to make public the criteria for shortlisting candidates by the search committee, to ensure that shortlisting is done on the basis of objective and rational criteria. Importantly, even the terms and conditions of appointment of information commissioners (salaries, tenure, etc.), which are defined in the RTI Act, should be specified in the advertisement and put on the website as well.

The PIL was filed by Anjali Bhardwaj, Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd) and Amrita Johri. The petitioners were represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan, Pranav Sachdeva and Rahul Gupta.

General Directions for CIC & SCICs as Scripted in the Supreme Court Order:

(i) Insofar as transparency in the appointment of information commissioners is concerned, pursuant to the directions given by this Court, the Central government is now placing all necessary information including issuance of the advertisement, receipt and applications, particulars of the applicants, composition of selection committee etc. on the website. All states shall also follow this system.

(ii) Insofar as terms and conditions of appointment are concerned, no doubt, Section 13(5) of the RTI Act states that the CIC and information commissioners shall be appointed on the same terms and conditions as applicable to the chief election commissioner/election commissioner. At the same time, it would also be appropriate if the said terms and conditions on which such appointments are to be made are specifically stipulated in the advertisement and put on the website as well. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 436 of 2019 Page 49 of 52)

(iii) Likewise, it would also be appropriate for the search committee to make public the criteria for shortlisting the candidates, so that it is ensured that shortlisting is done on the basis of objective and rational criteria.

(iv) We also expect that information commissioners are appointed from other streams, as mentioned in the Act and the selection is not limited only to the government employee/ex-government employee. In this respect, the respondents shall also take into consideration and follow the following directions given by this Court in Union of India vs. Namit Sharma case, "(iii) We direct that only persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in the fields mentioned in Ss. 12(5) and 15(5) of the Act be considered for appointment as information commissioner and chief information commissioner.

(iv) We further direct that persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in all the fields mentioned in Ss. 12(5) and 15(5) of the Act, namely, law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance, be considered by the committees under Ss. 12(3) and 15(3) of the Act for appointment as chief information commissioner or information commissioners. (v) We further direct that the committees under Ss.

12(3) and 15(3) of the Act while making recommendations to the President or to the Governor, as the case may be, for appointment of chief information commissioner and information commissioners must mention against the name of each candidate recommended, the facts to indicate his eminence in public life, his knowledge in the particular field and his experience in the particular field and these facts must be accessible to the citizens as part of their right to information under the Act after the appointment is made. ((2013) 10 SCC 359 Writ Petition (Civil) No. 436 of 2019 Page 50 of 52)

(v) (v) We would also like to impress upon the respondents to fill up vacancies, in future, without any delay. For this purpose, it would be apposite that the process for filling up of a particular vacancy is initiated 1 to 2 months before the date on which the vacancy is likely to occur so that there is not much time lag between the occurrence of a vacancy and filling up of the said vacancy. We would like to place on record that the aforesaid directions are given keeping in view the salient purpose which the RTI Act is supposed to serve. This Act is enacted not only to subserve and ensure freedom of speech, but, on proper implementation, it has the potential to bring about good governance which is an integral part of any vibrant democracy.

Attaining good governance is also one of the visions of the Constitution. It also has a vital connection with the development. All these aspects are highlighted above. The writ petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. However, the liberty is given to the petitioners to approach the Court again, either by way of filing interlocutory application in this Writ Petition (Civil) No. 436 of 2019 Page 51 of 52 petition or preferring another writ petition, if the occasion so demands. 

J. (A.K. SIKRI)
While prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi has made it his mission to eliminate lakhs of shell companies, isnt it stunning that the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group has over 120 companies with a similar addresses of Santa Cruz (East) Mumbai reveals ZaubaCorp ( https://www.zaubacorp.com/company/RELIANCE-DEFENCE-LIMITED/U74999MH2015PLC263178

A simple search on ZaubaCorp reveals over 122 companies sharing the same address, "502, Plot no. 91/94, Prabhat Colony Santa Cruz (East) Mumbai City MH 400055 IN".

All these companies, like Reliance Aerostructure Ltd, Reliance Helicopters Ltd, Reliance Defence Systems & Tech Ltd, Reliance Defence Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance Naval Systems Ltd, Reliance Unmanned Systems Ltd, which share this address are part of the Reliance ADA group.

According to ZaubaCorp, almost all companies that have a common address also share same email ID for contact, [email protected] or [email protected]

One of the companies, Reliance Defence, has two directors, Lalit Jalan and Sateesh Seth, as per ZaubaCorp. Both are key confidantes of Anil Ambani and are directors of several Reliance ADA group companies.

For example, Mr Jalan is shown as associated with Reliance Defence Systems Pvt Ltd, Reliance SED Ltd, Reliance Defence and Aerospace Pvt Ltd, and Reliance Velocity Ltd as director. He is also shown as a nominee director on BSES Yamuna Power Ltd and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd.

Mr Seth, as per ZaubaCorp, is associated with Reliance Power Ltd, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Ltd, Reliance Internet Services Ltd, as director, among other companies. He is also nominee director on Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, appointed on 20 April 2018. He is a well-known confidant of Mr Ambani and stands to face a jail term in the Ericsson case, if the group fails to pay over Rs453 crore as per Supreme Court orders.

The previous directors of Reliance Defence were Mr Ambani himself and Anthony Jesudasan, an influential lobbyist and media relations person based in Delhi who has been associated with the Reliance group for three decades.

After brothers, Mukesh and Anil, Ambani split their businesses, Mr Jesudasan moved over to ADA group as a key aide to the junior Ambani. Both of them stepped down from Reliance Defence on 3 October 2018.

The directors of other companies that share the address with Reliance Defence are also associated with other ADA group companies. For example, Reliance Aerostructure has Rajesh Kamal Bagga as its director. He is also associated with nine other companies as director including Reliance Unmanned Systems Ltd, Reliance Naval Systems Ltd, Reliance Defence Technologies Pvt Ltd, and Reliance Defence Infrastructure Ltd.

Interestingly, most of these companies have a paid-up capital of Rs1 lakh and less than 10 employees.

In a supreme irony, while the group is weighed down by debt and is battling to salvage some value from its sprawling empire, many of these companies have AAA in their names such as AAA Resources P Ltd, AAA Infoservices P Ltd, AAA Cinecreation Services P Ltd and so onas though to suggest a high rating!

Another interesting aspect is the large number of companies with arms and armaments in their names such as Reliance Ammunition Pt Ltd, Reliance Armaments P Ltd. There is even a Dassault Reliance Aerospace P Ltd. Dassault is the manufacturer of the controversial Rafale aircraft, where ADAGs involvement has turned highly controversial.

We have sent an email to Reliance ADA group about the presence of so many companies of the group using same address. Till writing this story, we have not received any reply from them. We will update this story as and when we receive any reply from Reliance ADA group.
Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) Mutual Fund (MF) has also launched a retirement scheme, closely following the launch of a similar scheme by ICICI Prudential MF. ABSL Retirement Fund is an open-ended retirement solutions-oriented scheme, coming in four variants, with a lock-in period of five years or retirement age, whichever is earlier. The new offer period for investing has already commenced...
NASA has warned SpaceX and Boeing Co of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems, according to industry sources and a new government report, threatening the US bid to revive its human spaceflight program later this year.

NASA is paying SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion to build rocket and capsule launch systems to return astronauts to the International Space Station from US soil for the first time since America's Space Shuttle program went dark in 2011.

Just ahead of the first scheduled un-manned test flight slated for March 2 under NASA's multibillion-dollar Commercial Crew Program, NASA's safety advisory panel cited four "key risk items" in its 2018 annual report earlier this month.

For Boeing, they include the capsule's structural vulnerability when the heat shield is deployed. For SpaceX, the report mentioned the redesign of a SpaceX rocket canister following a 2016 explosion and its "load and go" process of fueling the rocket with the crew already inside the capsule. "Parachute performance" remained an issue for both companies.

"There are serious challenges to the current launch schedules for both SpaceX and Boeing," the report said.

Two people with direct knowledge of the program told Reuters that the space agency's concerns go beyond the four items listed, and include a risk ledger that as of early February contained 30 to 35 lingering technical concerns each for SpaceX and Boeing. Reuters could not verify what all of the nearly three dozen items are. But the sources familiar with the matter said the companies must address "most" of those concerns before flying astronauts and, eventually, tourists to space.

The NASA risk database is updated routinely during the course of NASA's stringent certification process, which includes data collection, tests and collaboration with SpaceX and Boeing, the people said. The Boeing and SpaceX systems have already been delayed several times in recent years, which is common in this sector given the complexity of building multibillion-dollar spacecraft capable of shedding earth's gravity.

NASA spokesman Joshua Finch deferred all technical questions on Boeing and SpaceX systems to the companies, citing confidentiality, but said: "Flying safely always takes precedence over schedule."

Boeing spokesman Josh Barrett said the company "closed out" the capsule's structural vulnerability risk when it completed its structural test program in January. While Boeing is working through a number of other issues, they "are not driving any major architectural system changes."

"Our numbers show we are exceeding NASA's safety requirements," said Barrett.

SpaceX spokesman James Gleeson said the company, working with NASA, has developed "one of the safest, most-advanced human spaceflight systems ever built."

"There is nothing more important to SpaceX than safely flying crew," said Gleeson, calling it "core to our company's long-term goal of enabling access for people who dream of flying to space."

Founded by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX has cut the cost of rocket launches with its pioneering reusable rocket technology, while Boeing traces its space business back to the first US human space missions of the 1960s and is also the world's largest planemaker.

The clock is ticking. The US has been paying Russia about $80 million per ticket for a ride to the International Space Station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth.

There are no seats available for US crew on the Russia spacecraft after 2019 given production schedules and other factors. NASA said last week it was considering paying for two more seats to the space station for this fall and spring 2020 to ensure US access.

The NASA plan for extra seats came a week after its safety panel said Congress should come up with a "mitigation plan" in case delays threaten US access to the space station - echoing earlier concerns from the US Government Accountability Office.

NASA is set to conduct a flight readiness review on February 22 for SpaceX's mission without a crew on March 2. NASA will decide whether to approve the test flight without a crew, while SpaceX addresses the issues raised for a human mission.

PARACHUTE WEAKNESSES

Three people familiar with the project say the US space agency has identified some design discrepancies between earlier SpaceX capsules designed to haul cargo to the International Space Station, and a newer version designed to carry humans.

Some of the risks - such as those identified in the designs of the enormous parachutes that deploy when the capsule plummets back to Earth at supersonic speeds - are uncommon given how close SpaceX is to test flights, two of the people said.

The timing of deployment of the SpaceX parachutes and the interaction of the parachutes themselves have raised concerns about parachute performance, and potentially whether they will be able to slow down the capsule enough to ensure the crew's safety, two people said.

SpaceX has completed 17 parachute tests for the Commercial Crew Program so far, with an additional 10 tests planned prior to Crew Dragon's second demonstration mission, Gleeson said. He also said its parachute systems are designed with redundancy so the vehicle can still safely splashdown in the event that one parachute fails.

NASA's safety panel said in its report that SpaceX may be required to re-design its parachute system. A re-design would likely trigger more testing and potentially weeks or months of extra delays, two of the people said.

NASA also found design problems with the system that helps orient SpaceX's capsule in an upright position once it lands in the ocean, raising the risk of taking on excessive amounts of water, according to two industry sources and confirmed by a NASA official.

SpaceX's Gleeson said Crew Dragon's outer shell is water-resistant, and the spacecraft itself is buoyant and does not pose a risk to crew members after splashdown.

RISK OF MORE DELAYS

NASA announced earlier this month that SpaceX was now targeting March 2 instead of Feb. 23 for its un-crewed Crew Dragon test flight, with its astronaut flight planned for July. NASA explained the delay by citing vague concerns for both contractors, such as the need to complete hardware testing and other work.

NASA said Boeing's un-crewed Starliner would fly "no earlier" than April, with the crewed mission currently slated for August. This is the schedule now at risk, according to the NASA report.

The challenges in front of Boeing include last year's failure during a test of its launch-abort engines, which spilled caustic fuel on the test stand, Boeing's Barrett said. The accident was caused by faulty valves which Boeing has re-designed and re-ordered from the supplier, though the new valves must be re-tested, Barrett said.

The test flights are also part of collecting the data needed to close out some risk items, NASA said.

"SpaceX and Boeing both have challenges, both comparable, from a safety perspective," said one US government source.
Huawei is to open a smartphone flagship store in Vienna, its first such outlet outside China, as part of a charm offensive in Europe where its future hangs in the balance.

The world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment is under scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations of enabling state espionage, with Washington asking allies not to use Huawei's technology.

Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations and did again at a news conference in Vienna on Thursday.

Joe Kelly, Vice President of Corporate Communications said at the news conference: "We have never been asked by any government or any authority anywhere in the world... to do anything that would compromise or jeopardise... the security of customer networks."

"If we ever are asked to do so, we will refuse," Kelly said.

Huawei has deals with all three major Austrian telecoms groups: A1 Telekom Austria, controlled by Mexico's America Movil, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile Austria and Hutchison Whampoa's Drei Austria.

The company is ready to help them build 5G infrastructure for the next generation mobile networks, the CEO of Huawei's Austrian business said.

"We are more than ready to support Austria on its way to becoming a 5G pioneer with our know how and our solutions," Pan Yao said.

Austria, a laggard in the European Union for fast broadband connections, wants to become a 5G pioneer in Europe. It is among the first in the European Union to auction the licences. Results of the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz band auction, which will mainly speed up data services in densely populated areas, are expected within weeks.

The allegations against Huawei have led several Western countries to restrict the company's access to their markets and the European Union to consider proposals that could amount to a de facto ban.

Austria's technology ministry on Thursday reaffirmed it was aiming for a European stance on whether or not to allow the Chinese firm to equip 5G networks.

"Our priority is to protect our networks," a spokesman for the technology ministry said, adding that he was not aware of concrete suspicions against Huawei.

Huawei, which says it is the second biggest smartphone seller in Austria with a market share of 28 percent, said it was considering whether to invest in research and development in the country but did not provide any details.

It plans to open its Vienna flagship store in the summer.
With eight days left in their trade truce, top US and Chinese officials on Thursday returned to the daunting task of bridging a chasm between the world's two largest economies.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed the talks with Beijing are going "very well," but concrete signs of progress have not been apparent in the three months since the two sides agreed to pause their trade war.

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday the two sides would "go a step further in deepening their communication."

But analysts say the distance separating Washington and Beijing and the short time remaining before the March 1 deadline make it likely the outcome will feature banner announcements but fall short of Trump's most far-reaching goals.

"I think the consensus of people that have been following this thing is that they're not making nearly as much progress as the president tweets that they've been making," said William Reinsch, a former US trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Chinese trade envoy Liu He is leading Beijing's delegation in meetings with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other American officials Thursday and Friday as they work to head off an escalation of US tariffs.

This fourth round of negotiations follows two days of preliminary talks at the deputy level.

Trump this week said a March 1 deadline to reach a deal was in fact "not a magical date," raising hopes that he could delay the plan to more than double US duties on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods.

Since July, Washington and Beijing have hit each other with tariffs on more than USD 360 billion in two-way trade, weighing on the manufacturing sectors in both countries.

Washington has demanded that Beijing reverse much of its industrial policy, charging that China has sought global dominance through the alleged theft of American technology, massive subsidies and the promotion of mammoth state-owned enterprises.

US officials have stressed that any agreement must have teeth to ensure that China keeps its promises.

But demands for structural changes to China's economy likely will be far harder to resolve than complaints about the soaring US-China trade imbalance, which has hit record heights since Trump took office.

Trump has said the ultimate bargain will be struck at a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping.

Reinsch told AFP the two sides were likely to strike some kind of deal. "I'm sure they'll come up with something that will be more than cosmetic but less than we're asking," he said.

"It'll probably in the area of intellectual property theft and more open investment in China because they're the things that benefit them as well as benefit us."

But other changes -- such as subjecting China's state-owned enterprises to free-market principles -- could weaken the communist party's hold on power, making Chinese officials very reluctant to budge, he added.

Meanwhile, China's economy has begun slowing sharply as well, eroding prospects for global growth this year. Japan reported Tuesday that China-bound exports had dived 17.4 per cent last month, the biggest drop in three years as demand there tumbled.

Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a former US trade official now at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he expected China to make a mega-bucks offer to buy more American exports -- and possibly even unilaterally remove tariffs on US goods.

"I'm thinking there'll be an eye-catching announcement as to how much China will buy in the next year or so that will enable Trump to say 'victory! victory!'" he told AFP.

But should the agreement fail to hold -- causing Washington to resume imposing tariffs while accusing Beijing of backsliding -- that could pose prove embarrassing for the Americans, he said.
Kim Jong Ale? Rock It, Man? Or how about a glass of Peace Negroniations?

Bars in Vietnam's capital are cashing in on the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week with special concoctions to mark the high-stakes diplomacy.

"This beer was inspired by the pure streams of Mount Paektu between North Korea and China," Nguyen Thi Huong Anh, manager of Hanoi's Standing Bar, said of the "Kim Jong Ale", brewed especially for the summit.

The mountain is the highest on the Korean peninsula at about 2,750 metres (9,000 ft) and the official birthplace of the late North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il.

"It's a volcano so the beer has a hot and spicy flavour with a soft and fresh aftertaste," Anh said.

Trump and Kim will meet on Feb. 27-28, following up on their historic first summit in Singapore in June, when they pledged to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Enterprising businesses hope to cash in on the occasion.

One Hanoi barber is offering free haircuts to anyone wanting to copy Trump and Kim's distinctive locks.

But as in Singapore, where bars mixed up all kinds of concoctions to mark the event, it's Hanoi's bars and pubs where folks are getting creative this time too.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Korea's favourite soju spirit has emerged as the ingredient of choice in Hanoi.

The Tannin Wine Bar In Hanoi's old quarter is offering the "Peace Negroniations", a summit-inspired take on the classic Negroni cocktail, made with pink-grapefruit flavoured soju, vermouth and a drop of Angostura bitters, manager Antoine Ursat told Reuters.

"I hope all the delegations come here and have a cocktail," Ursat said. "It'll facilitate the negotiations - after one or two drinks it's more easy to talk".

The bitters reminded him of Trump, he said.

The nearby Unicorn Pub is offering a special summit drink named "Rock It, Man", which includes soju, bourbon and Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, along with pineapple juice, vanilla and grenadine.

"The Fireball is as strong as Trump. It's sweet but it's also very fiery," said the pub's co-owner, Trinh Xuan Dieu.

"When you drink it, it tastes really hot at first but it ends with sweetness."

And the name of the concoction? Before they broke the ice at their Singapore summit, Trump mocked Kim and his efforts to build nuclear missiles by calling him "Rocket Man".
The Willowbrook ethylene oxide data released by the U.S. EPA today shows a disturbing trend that validates the states decision to suspend operations at Sterigenics, Lipinski said Thursday in a statement. With each new data release, measured EtO levels have increased. When combined with the independent data collected by the village of Willowbrook, these numbers paint a picture of a facility whose emissions are out of control. Unless and until significant changes are made to how the facility controls its emissions, it must not be allowed to reopen. I will continue to pressure the U.S. EPA to join the state in putting the health and safety of the public first.
File image: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari announced on February 21 that India will stop water sharing with Pakistan. He said water from the eastern rivers will be diverted and supplied to the people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

The announcement comes days after a dastardly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir which killed 40 jawans. The Centre has expedited a slew of measures to isolate Pakistan on global platforms and minimise trade with the neighbouring country.

However, government officials clarified that the move was not a direct impact of the Pulwama attack. Rather, it was implementation of a Cabinet decision taken on December 6, 2018.



The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states.

 Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 21, 2019

Gadkari tweeted:

The two nations share the waters of six rivers  Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. In August 2018, India had said that they were open to talks to resolve the dispute over sharing river waters, after Imran Khan took charge as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The dispute was over India constructing two dams on the Chenab.

The six rivers have been a potential source of conflict between the two countries even after a treaty on water sharing was signed in 1960. In 2016, New Delhi had said that India will review the treaty after 17 jawans were killed in the Uri attack in Kashmir.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960, Pakistan has exclusive rights on the western rivers  Indus, Chenab and Jhelum; while India has exclusive rights on the eastern rivers  Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The treaty was signed after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank, which is also a signatory. The treaty allows construction of dams for power generation until they dont affect the flow.
Thousands of farmers have undertaken a march from Nasik to Mumbai for the second time in the last 12 months. The march, organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), backed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was scheduled to start on the evening of February 20, but was reportedly delayed after police stopped a number of farmers from reaching Nasik.

In addition to that, the Minister for Water Resources and Irrigation, Girish Mahajan, reportedly wanted to speak to the organisers of the march to put forward the governments side. However, the meeting, convened late on February 20 evening, remained inconclusive and AIKS leaders had reportedly announced that the farmers march would continue as planned.

Around 50,000 farmers from over 23 districts of Maharashtra are expected to join the march. Reports have stated that the marching farmers will reach Mumbai on February 27.

Why are the farmers organising a long march again?

According to reports, the demands of the farmers are more or less the same as the last time around. The AIKS had taken out a rally in March 2018, as well, when the farmers had walked the 180-km walk from Nasik to Mumbai.

Then, the farmers had demanded waivers of farm loans and power bills and support by the government to the farmers for the losses that they have suffered. Moreover, the farmers have also demanded implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, which addresses the issues of small-scale farmers and provision of minimum support prices.

But weren't the demands accepted last time around?

After the march reached Mumbai, the sea of farmers carrying red AIKS flags had been greeted by citizens of Mumbai with warmth and respect. The farmers had camped at Azad Maidan while talks with the government were on, and, on March 12, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had accepted their demands.

"We have accepted most of their demands and have given them a written letter," Fadnavis had said after meeting a delegation of agitating peasants.

However, according to leaders leading the march, these demands are yet to be fulfilled. The farmers, reports have suggested, are marching in order to protest this "betrayal" by the government.

"A year has passed, but the state government is yet to fulfill its promises. Hence, another long march is being taken out to protest the betrayal of farmers by the BJP-led state and central governments," AIKS leader Ajit Navale said.

Are there any additional demands in Kisan Long March 2.0?

Although the main thrust of the march is that the promises that the government made almost exactly a year ago are yet to be fulfilled, this time around the farmers are also opposing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. According to reports, the farmers fear losing out on land due to the project, and had also approached the court against land acquisition.

What are the political ramifications of the march?

According to reports, the state government had tried to stop the farmers' march by allegedly stopping farmers on their way to Nasik to participate in the march from Thane and Palghar. Farmers from other regions were also allegedly stopped by the police, and authorities had taken Navale into custody a day before the start of the march.

According to the leaders, the police action against farmers signals the nervousness of the government, especially months before the Lok Sabha polls and the subsequent Maharashtra assembly elections.

Moreover, Congress and the Maharashtra unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have come out in support of the marching farmers, calling the state government "draconian" and condeming the alleged police crackdown.

Last year, the marching farmers had been supported by Shiv Sena, and observers state that it would be interesting to see if the party comes out in support of the marching farmers this time as well, considering the recent announcement of the BJP-Sena tie-up.
US President Donald Trump threatened on February 20 to impose tariffs on European auto imports if he is unable to strike a trade deal with the EU.

"We're negotiating. If we don't make the deal, we'll do the tariffs," Trump told reporters in response to a question on new tariffs.

Trump's renewed threat against the EU auto industry takes on a new edge as it came two days after the Commerce Department delivered a report that sources said found European car imports constitute a national security threat to the United States.

The report could set the stage for the White House to impose tariffs within 90 days, a move Brussels has vowed to parry with its own set of counter-tariffs.

Washington already has used the national security argument to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

In one of many aggressive moves against US trading partners, Trump, who boasts that he favours tariffs, has threatened 25 per cent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

Trump reached a truce with the EU following a meeting last July with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker but on February 20 expressed frustration with the state of talks.

"We're trying to make a deal," Trump said. "They're very tough to make a deal with, the EU. They've been very difficult over a period of time, over many, many years."

However, negotiations with the EU have not yet begun.

The European Commission must seek approval from member states on a negotiating mandate before it can enter into talks. EU trade ministers will meet in Bucharest on February 21 and February 22 to review the proposal.

But the sides have differences over what is to be included: the US negotiating goals include agriculture, while EU officials insist that will be off limits, and talks will be restricted to industrial goods and regulatory issues.

The White House is also locked in tough, high-stakes negotiations with China to find a way to resolve the conflict that saw punishing tariffs exchanged between Beijing and Washington.
That cyber attacks have given sleepless nights to individuals and companies around the world wouldnt be an overstatement. Governments are taking every possible measure to strengthen the digital infrastructure. While it is important to have latest malware and spyware removing tools, what is more important is to have a proactive approach to keep attackers at bay.

To act before its too late is the philosophy of Prasanna Mulgaonkar, a cyber security expert who thinks that the world is on a reactive mode to address threats such as anti-malware and virus detection. He says it is time to proactively manage all settings continuously.

Mulgaonkars company Cloud Raxak, which is closely working with Indias banking and financial sector and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, simplifies and automates security compliance.

But what is security automation?

Security automation refers to the use of automatic systems to detect and prevent cyber threats. It also contributes to the overall threat intelligence of an organization in order to plan and defend against future attacks.

The philosophy that we are trying to get people to understand is that by being proactive and doing things in an automated way, it actually improves your security much more than worrying about anti-malware. The biggest void right now is consistently managing your infrastructure so that if a breach does happen, you still have a protected infrastructure, said Mulgaonkar.

With security automation, chances of human intervention is reduced and it also helps in being consistent which in turn becomes cost-effective.

But why does India need to be proactive in terms of cyber security?

According to Mulgaonkar, India is fourth or fifth in terms of cyber attacks against the financial institutions. Clearly there is a large thriving financial sector in India and, particularly in the one year after demonetisation, the number of financial transactions went up 300 percent. In India, there is a huge transformation going on in the digital infrastructure. Lots of companies are jumping into technology and that becomes a right opportunity for a hacker.

He added that, In more mature technology countries, you see less of that because they have processes that are developed over time. In India, thats not true. In APAC also, there is targeted opportunity for attackers.

But he also believes that India has a great opportunity in leading the world in cyber security if it proactively automates management practice of sustained real-time counter-measures on cyber attacks.

In fact, security automation is one of the top trends in the cyber security space in 2019.

Mulgaonkar also explained that it is important to be comprehensive because, for example, a lot of people in India, especially in the financial sector, a lot of fintechs go to e-commerce retailers and ask them to give a server. Very few people understand that the server that the e-commerce retailer gives you, the configuration of that server is very permissive. About 50 percent of the settings are not set correctly in the server and when you put your data on this server you leave room for attacks.

Another problem that needs to be highlighted is that Indian companies due to budget constraints ask auditors to sample a part of the digital environment and using their findings companies only fix a part of the environment and this way rest of the environment remains vulnerable. This is the process in almost every company, said Mulgaonkar.

Saving oneself from cyber attacks is not a choice but a need, especially when the attacks are sophisticated and are done at a large scale.

VK Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, in his paper on cyber security also highlighted the need to be proactive by backing up regularly, updating systems and strengthening real-time defenses. He said if organizations took these simple steps, India could dramatically reduce the impact of ransomware.

A 2018 study titled 'Understanding Cyber Security Threat Landscape in Asia Pacific: Securing Modern Enterprise in the Digital World by Microsoft and Frost and Sullivan pointed out that although cyber security is a boardroom discussion, very few organizations think about it at an early stage.

The report revealed that close to 20 percent of the companies consider cyber security at the beginning of the project compared to over 40 per cent at the latter stages of the project.

The report had also said that in 2017, average economic cost of cyber attacks stood at $10.4 million for organisations across India.
CrowdStrike, the cloud-delivered endpoint protection company, announced the release of the 2019 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report: Adversary Tradecraft and The Importance of Speed.

Key findings in the report point to the escalating activities of nation-state actors and global eCrime actors across all targeted industries, and offer lessons learned from real-life intrusions.

In todays ever-evolving cyber landscape, speed is essential for effective cyber defense. CrowdStrikes Global Threat Report reveals breakout time  the critical window between when an intruder compromises the first machine and when they can move laterally to other systems on the network  for top cyber adversaries.

This ranking offers organizations unprecedented insight into how fast they need to be at detecting, investigating and remediating intrusions (also known as the 1-10-60 rule) to thwart adversaries they are most likely to face targeting their networks.



Russian nation-state actors, tracked by CrowdStrike as Bears, are the fastest adversaries with an average breakout time of 18:49 minutes.



North Korean nation-state actors, tracked as Chollimas, are the second fastest with an average breakout time of 2:20:14 hours.



Chinese nation-state actors, or Pandas, average 4:00:26 hours.



Iranian nation-state actors, or Kittens, average 5:09:04 hours.



eCrime actors, or Spiders, have the slowest average breakout time of all adversaries: 9:42:23 hours, although some of the eCrime actors can move very rapidly and rival even the fastest nation-states.



According to CrowdStrikes visibility, based on more than 30,000 breach attempts stopped in 2018:

Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrikes chief technology officer and co-founder, said, This years report underscores the importance of speed of response in cybersecurity and provides valuable insights into how to defeat some of the most destructive and capable nation-state and eCrime threat actors.

Notable Highlights of the Global Threat Report:

One of the most significant trends in eCrime for 2018 was the continued rise of Big Game Hunting, the practice of combining targeted, intrusion-style tactics for the deployment of ransomware across large organizations.

Another trend identified by CrowdStrike Intelligence was the increased collaboration between highly sophisticated eCrime threat actors. The use of geo-targeting to support multiple eCrime families was observed through a variety of tactics.

The industries at the top of the target list for malware-free intrusions include media, technology and academia, highlighting the need to aggressively strengthen their defenses against more sophisticated, modern attacks.

CrowdStrike identified several targeted intrusion campaigns by China, Iran and Russia, focused on the telecommunications sector and likely supporting state-sponsored espionage activities. Subsequent lures to drive more effective social engineering campaigns resulted in compromising telecom customers, including government entities.

CrowdStrike observed an increasing operational tempo from China-based adversaries, which is only likely to accelerate as US-China relations continue to be strained.
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Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the Indian subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, is banking on self-charging electric vehicles to meet the demand for cleaner vehicular emissions in the future.

Considered worldwide as one of the early starters for such a technology, Toyota has been working on technologies like hybrids for several years.

Its cooperation agreement with Suzuki Motor Corporation for the sharing of vehicles and joint development of technologies is a step towards introducing the self-charging electric vehicle in India.

Responding to a mail from Moneycontrol, Shekhar Viswanathan, Vice Chairman and Whole-Time Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, Powertrain solution like self-charging electric vehicles will offer a more viable option, being a relevant technology from the emission point of view with Euro 6 (BS-VI) norm coming up by 2020.

Both Toyota and Suzuki are working towards bringing out affordable solutions in areas of electric and hybrid vehicles. To this effect, newer areas within the existing technology such as self-charging and range extender are also being explored in addition to the traditional hybrid and fully electric versions.

Toyota currently offers one hybrid model in India with the Camry luxury sedan. Priced at Rs 37 lakh, the Camry hybrid electric vehicle comes powered by dual sources of power  a 2.5 litre, petrol engine and a 245V electric motor.

The electrified Camry is so sophisticated that using the currently available Bharat Stage IV fuels, it meets the applicable emission levels set for the Bharat Stage VI which are due to be introduced in 2020, added Viswanathan.

The Japanese company is also all set to upgrade its entire product portfolio to BS-VI much before the deadline of April 1, 2020. Models like the Corolla, Yaris, Etios and Etios Liva have been laggards for several months. Yet, the company has decided to upgrade them all.

Our products will be upgraded ahead of the scheduled date. When we built our engine plant in 2016 we had planned to make it BS 6 ready with minimal incremental investment and that approach is helping us now, added Viswanathan.

Toyota will start selling a rebadged Baleno supplied by car market leader Maruti Suzuki later in the year. This will be followed by a rebadged Brezza in later months.

Toyota has said that it wants to progressively move to battery-powered cars from 2020. It plans to launch mass-market battery electric vehicles (BEV) in China. These will then be introduced in India and other big markets.
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Until the start of 2017, each of the 43,200 employees at JLR would have felt a higher degree of job security given the scorching pace of growth delivered by the two British brands in previous years.

But in 2018, three percent of that workforce have lost their jobs and soon a further 4,500 are due to get booted, leaving 13 percent of the employee force jobless in little over a year. These losses are part of the recovery efforts pushed by Chandrasekaran Natarajan, who completes two years at the helm of Tata Sons and Tata Motors.

But the Tata Motors that Chandrasekaran inherited looks a lot different than it is today. Back in 2016-17, crown jewels Jaguar and Land Rover, which produce more than 80 percent of Tata Motors revenues, recorded 3 percent growth in profits to 1.2 billion Pounds and 16 percent rise in worldwide volumes to 6.04 lakh units.

When JLR was firing on all cylinders it was Tata Motors stand-alone business that became the trouble child. In that same year Tata Motors India business recorded a loss of Rs 829 crore. Partial reason for the loss was the ill-planned transition to Bharat Stage IV which saw pile up of huge unsold stocks of old and obsolete Bharat Stage III trucks that Tata Motors was stuck with.

Poor demand in the face of strong competition from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai and inordinate delays in introducing new products were also the reason behind a bleeding domestic car business.

Directions from the top

Chandrasekaran called for urgent repairs. He asked the companys managing director Guenter Butschek for daily briefing on the day-to-day affairs. He chaired monthly meetings and suggested ways to overcome challenges. Overhead costs were curtailed even as a HR process was initiated to cut down workforce cost at Tata Motors.

"When it comes directly from the top it helps in reinforcing confidence in the employees. Tata Motors has gone through a transformation seen never before in the last two years," said a top level executive of Tata Motors.

The same year Tata Motors went on a cost cutting overdrive under the 'Fit for Future' programme. Under this, the company axed a series of costly, contentious projects including building of a supercar called Racemo as well as aborting the project for upgradation of Nano.

JLR storm

But at last year's annual general meeting (AGM), shareholders reprimanded Tata Motors senior management again. This time for failing to pay dividend for the second consecutive year. The root cause however was not the stand-alone business but the two crown jewels  Jaguar and Land Rover  which according to Chandrasekaran were facing 'the perfect storm'.

Two financial quarters have passed since that AGM and profits remain elusive. In the recently concluded December quarter, Tata Motors posted the biggest loss by an India company in any quarter of nearly Rs 27,000 crore. A non-cash charge of asset impairment was given to be the reason behind the colossal loss however real issues are equally big if not bigger.

JLR's biggest market - China - is now reduced to a distant third with volumes share of just 15 percent compared to 25 percent three years ago. Among all the luxury brands like Mercedes, BMW, Audi it is JLR that is the most dearly hit in that country. For instance Chinas luxury car market was down 15 percent year-on-year in Q3 but JLRs sales was down 47 percent.

Following poor retail off-takes, JLR was forced to shut production to avoid piling up of unnecessary inventory with dealers worldwide during Q3. In October, a two week shutdown was observed followed by a three-day work week until the two brands welcomed Christmas.

Cutting costs

Chandrasekaran has got down to cracking the whip at JLR too. Tata Motors plans to cut costs by 2.5 billion Pound over the next 18 months and hopes to achieve pre-tax margin of 3-6 percent. In addition to cutting flab and making the workforce leaner through redundancies, JLR has aborted new vehicle projects that does not promise expected returns.

Thus there is no space for exotic versions of some of its top-selling models. The Land Rover Discovery SVX and Range Rover SV Coupe have been culled. This is even after the company promised a commercial launch of them both and even accepting bookings for one of them. JLR has officially not provided any reasons for the withdrawal.

Chandrasekaran has also vehemently rejected proposals of selling off Jaguar, which is considered not to be in the same league as the bigger and profitable Land Rover.

While the Chairman is taking corrective measures within the walls of JLR, there are other bigger and more challenging issues that threaten to undermine his efforts. Brexit has become the single biggest challenge for JLR followed by a trade war in the US, both of which are beyond JLR's control.

But all is not lost for the 55- year-old non-Parsi Chairman. Tata Motors stand-alone recorded profits for the nine months ended December as against a loss in the same period last year. By December 2018, market share in commercial vehicles was the best since FY17 and best in passenger vehicles since FY14.

Chandrasekaran had promised to tighten the screws and stick to launch date targets, something Tata Motors had become disreputable for. Since January 2018 Tata Motors has launched 13 products across PV and CV categories including new models, new variants and limited edition units. After launching the Harrier work is on in full swing to launch the premium hatchback codename 45X in a few months.

"The Chairman is seen at Geneva (Motor Show) and at the Indian Auto Expo. He comes for test drives of production-ready models as well as those which are just prototypes. He does not shy away from giving his views. This lifts the spirits of everyone because he is not just the chairman of Tata Motors but the Tata group as well," said another top executive of Tata Motors declining to be named.

So even as the domestic business has picked up, it will be long before the same could be said about JLR. And for Chandrasekaran, that will be a pain point he wants to remove.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on February 21 termed as a "retrograde" step the withdrawal of security to some mainstream political activists in Jammu and Kashmir, noting that it will weaken the political activity in the state.

"Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers & office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the valley. This is regardless of the fact that no one from @JKNC_ has had their security withdrawn in yesterday's list," he said.

Urging Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to reconsider his administration's decision, the former chief minister said they will approach the court if it is not revisited.

"I would like to encourage @jandkgovernor to reconsider this step. If it is not revisited we will approach the courts & ask them to intervene," Omar wrote in a series of tweets.

He alleged that there seemed to be an element of pick and choose at play in the decision to withdraw the security of some mainstream political activists.

"I have no doubt this step was taken without taking in to consideration inputs from central & state intelligence agencies which can only mean it's been done for political purposes & there is an element of pick & choose at play here," he added.

The state government on February 20 announced withdrawal or downgrading of security of 155 persons, including 18 separatists.

The list included former IAS officer Shah Faesal and PDP youth president Waheed Parra.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on February 21 alleged that the BJP was busy in inaugurations at a time the kin of the CRPF men killed in Pulwama terror attack were morning the loss of their dear ones.

Addressing a press conference at the SP headquarter here along with Patidar leader Hardik Patel, the former UP chief minister said the government should explain how the bus carrying security personnel was hit by an explosive-laden vehicle.

"When the personnel were travelling (in a bus) how was it hit by a vehicle? The government should reply. This (BJP) government is the one which gives certificate (of nationalism) to everyone. Now it should come up with an answer," he said.

Patel too asked, "Why were the CRPF personnel were sent via road."

Trying to corner the NDA government for laying foundation stones and inaugurating projects in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead, Yadav alleged, "When the family of martyrs were mourning, they (BJP leaders) were busy in inaugurations and foundation laying."

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on February 14 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.

About the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, he said, "Youths will come out to finish the forces which have weakened the institutions and the Constitution of the country."

Denying having any plans of contesting the general elections from Uttar Pradesh, Patel, "I am not going to contest polls. I am here to meet Akhileshji and have a tea with him as the prime minister says good things come out while having it."

He, however, indicated that he may contest Gujarat elections in the future and said the objective of his visit to Uttar Pradesh was to know the politics of the country.

"If you understand Uttar Pradesh, you will understand politics of country. I am a 25 year old man. What's wrong if I can develop relations with Akhileshji and others. I had met Rahulji (Gandhi) also in the past," Patel said.

About his support to the Samajwadi Party, he said, "I support all those who are against 'Hitlershahi' (dictatorship) and those who are weakening the democracy and the constitution, while terming those who oppose them anti-national."

Terming the Gujarat model a "failure", Patel said, "In 20 districts of Gujarat there are no irrigational facilities. Farmers are committing suicide. I our state, it is said that prime minister used to lie loud and repeatedly."

Alleging that there was no law and order in Uttar Pradesh, he claimed that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has failed.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives plan to introduce a resolution on February 22 to end President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration on border security, according to aides to Representative Joaquin Castro.

So far, 92 lawmakers have joined Castro in backing the legislation, which under House rules could advance within weeks to a debate by the full chamber, which is controlled by Democrats.

Trump declared a national emergency last week in order to take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

Trump's move came after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter on Wednesday to both Democratic and Republican members inviting them to cosponsor Castro's resolution. She said the House "will move swiftly to pass this bill."

Both the House and the Republican-led Senate could pass a resolution terminating the emergency by majority vote. However, any such measure would then go to Trump, who would likely veto it. Overriding the veto would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

A coalition of 16 US states led by California sued Trump and top members of his administration on Monday to block his decision to declare the emergency.

The lawsuit said Trump's declaration was a misuse of presidential power.
About 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, a brawl broke out among teenagers, police said. Three males at some point headed to the entrance, and one of them turned around and began shooting, police said.
Award-winning American columnist and author Thomas Friedman has warned Indians about the possible meddling of Russia in the upcoming elections through unregulated media like Facebook, exactly the way they did to the detriment of the US in the 2016 presidential polls.

President Vladimir Putin will be "voting" in the summer general elections, the author of the book The World is Flat said here on Thursday.

"If you (Indians) think they (Russians) will not be playing in your elections, you are not paying attention. Believe me, Putin will be voting in your election," Friedman said speaking at a annual Nasscom summit here.

The noted political thinker and author also accused Facebook of "fundamentally violating the trust" that got the US a president like Donald Trump.

When a country like the US, which is a champion of liberal thoughts, talks about building boarder walls and chooses to "go into the dark", it impacts the whole world, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner said, adding Trumps imprint through his policies is spreading "venom and poison" across the world.

The comments come in the light of accusations of Russians using social media platforms like Facebook to spread fake news among the American electorate, which resulted in the surprise defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Trump in the November 2016 polls.

The American national investigation agency FBI is currently probing both Trumps personal involvement in Russian meddling and also Moscows role in the polls.

Similarly, the British also launched a probe against Moscow after it has come to light that the Brexit referendum too was manipulated by Russia using social media. Two years ago, the British in a thin margin of 52 percent voted to leave the EU by March this year.

Friedman said a platform like Facebook has deep insights, courtesy a massive invasion of individual privacy, and said its essential for entrepreneurs to know constitutional morality along with computer codes.

"Mark Zuckerburg did computer coding in college but did not take a constitutional course in the college. He extended the Facebook platform all over the world without thinking about the privacy or election implications. And we are now paying the price for that," Friedman said.

He further said a newspaper like The New York Times, for which he writes, is strictly regulated, unlike a Facebook which revels at zero oversight.

Facebook, however, wants a newspapers advertisers and readers, without the regulation over things like fake news, he said, calling it as a fundamental violation of trust.

When asked about the growth of India and China, he said both the countries have their own strengths. Drawing parallels with a super-highway, he said China has a smooth road with an uncertainty lurking on the political front, where rights are trampled on.

As against this, in India, the journey is very bumpy with a lot of hindrances in between but far on the horizon is something that kindles optimism.

"Whether it is a mirage or an oasis only time will tell," he said, adding the way India has stuck to democracy for so long and how a land of 1.34 billion people votes in a largely free and fair election is nothing but a "miracle".

He said the lack of natural resources is India's biggest strength, which results in all the people being forced to use their minds and work extra.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to address booth-level workers of the party in Goa in the first week of March.

Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar said Gandhi would be speaking to the booth-level workers about the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Chodankar also said the party will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.
Amid outrage in the country over the Pulwama terror attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said "time will come" when people's sentiments and expectations will have "fulfilment".

Addressing a gathering at the inauguration of Delhi's Waste to Wonder Park, he said after the Pulwama incident "mood is still not that one can participate in any programme with enthusiasm".

"But, I am very assured and I want to assure you that time will come when people's sentiments today, their desires, their expectations... those expectations will have fulfilment," Singh said.

The Union minister, however, did not elaborate on his statement that comes amid mounting tension in the India-Pakistan ties.

Forty CRPF jawans were killed in a terror strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14, sparking outrage in the country, with many saying the attack should be avenged.

After the incident, massive protests and candlelight marches were held in different parts of the country against the attack and curfew was imposed in Jammu following violence during demonstrations there.

Two days after the suicide bomber attack, Singh had reviewed the security situation in the country, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, among others.

The home minister had directed the officials to ensure that all possible steps are taken to hunt down terrorists currently operating in the Kashmir Valley.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on February 20 said the prime minister's post has been booked for the next two general elections. Fadnavis was replying to a question asked by actor Riteish Deshmukh during an award ceremony here.

When Deshmukh asked who from Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar and Nitin Gadkari, can become the prime minister, Fadnavis said, "Let me tell you, this question does not arise, because the post for prime minister has already been booked... Not only for this year's election, but also for the 2024 polls."

"Though, I would be more than happy if someone from Maharashtra becomes the prime minister after that," he added.

To another query that which party, the Shiv Sena or the BJP, will stake claim for the chief minister's and deputy chief minister's post if both get equal number of seats in this year's Maharashtra assembly elections, Fadnavis said few things need to remain secret.

"Everything cannot be disclosed at this moment," he added.

He also dismissed reports that BJP workers and leaders were not happy with the alliance as the party would contest only 144 seats in the 288-member House.

"Forging an alliance with our old ally Shiv Sena was necessary and this is the political reality in the present situation when all non-natural allies are ganging up to fight against us. Our workers understand this very well and support the alliance," he said.

Appealing to forget the bitterness, Fadnavis said, "Jo beet gai so baat gai' (Let bygone be bygone).

To another query that what cemented the alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis said in a lighter vein, "When we arrived at 'Matoshree' (Thackeray's) home, Uddhav's better half served us few homemade dishes that were so delightful that we forgot everything and sealed the deal."

Overcoming their strained ties and grandiose declarations of going solo, the BJP and the Shiv Sena on Monday had announced a seat-sharing pact for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had jointly announced that the BJP will contest 25 seats and Shiv Sena 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

The two parties will contest an equal number of seats, after allotting allies their due share of segments, in polls for the 288-member state Assembly, due this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on February 21 alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations.

The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of "politicization of terrorism" in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, launched an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike.

In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance), he alleged.

Citing media reports in Hindi news papers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the the terror attack happened at 3:10 PM on February 14 with the Congress reacting at 5:15 PM.

"The prime minister also knew about it, yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a pseudo nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery channel) for self propagation in Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

He alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there is slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there.

"The prime minister continues to eat chai, samosas at seven o' clock at government expense in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat their food," the Congress spokesperson said.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", on the other hand the prime minister was doing his "propaganda and publicity", he claimed.

"Can such conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

Surjewala said that the Congress party had shown restrain as directed by party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said.

The Congress leader said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".


Amid the din & clamour for war, India - Saudi joint statement on creating conditions conducive for talks btw Pak & Ind is a welcome step. Message for war mongers is loud & clear. Also, by promising investment in both nations, MBS surely knows the art of keeping everyone happy.

 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 21, 2019

Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah on February 21 said their stand on holding dialogue with Pakistan has been vindicated by the India-Saudi joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with oil-rich kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

Earlier, Mehbooba said she failed to understand the outrage over her statement cautioning against any armed confrontation between India and Pakistan.

"Unable to understand the outrage over my statement today. Anybody with half a brain wouldn't advocate war especially between two countries that are nuclear powers. All the tv anchors yelling for war, I suggest you pack your bags and join our troops at the borders," she said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said he was glad to see that Modi government has acknowledged that dialogue was the only way forward.

"I'm glad to see the Modi government acknowledge what some of us in J&K have been saying all along - dialogue is the only way forward & for that India & Pakistan will have to work to create the right environment," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

He said the India-Saudi joint statement talked about "creating conditions for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan".

"When some of us say this we are called anti-national & Pakistani agents in various TV studios.

"When Govt of India acknowledges the need to create suitable conditions for dialogue & that too in a statement with a 3rd country this is suddenly the height of patriotism & nationalism," he added.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The crown prince lauded Modi for the "consistent efforts" made by him since May 2014, including the prime minister's personal initiatives, to have friendly relations with Pakistan. "In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," T S Tirumurti, Secretary (ER) in Ministry of External Affairs said on February 20.
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Senior police officers of four Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit states attended an inter-state co-ordination meeting at Jeypore in Odisha on Thursday to chalk out strategy for smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.

Senior police officials from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Chhattisgarh and BSF attended the meeting which was chaired by Odisha's DIG (south-western range) Himansu Lal.

Officials said sharing of intelligence inputs and better coordination of forces including joint combing operations were discussed in details in the meeting.

"The present Maoist scenario in the region was assessed and discussion was held as to what steps required to be taken for free and fair election," said Lal.

SP (Koraput) Kanwar Vishal Singh said that regular follow up meetings will be conducted at DSP and inspector-in -charge levels of the respective police station areas and sensitive areas will be identified.

Sources said police officers from the three states have decided to focus on Maoist-hit areas like Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts in Andhra Pradesh, Malkangiri and Koraput districts in Odisha and Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.

As the Maoists have been giving frequent calls to boycott the polls, the focus should be on the security of the candidates, political workers, leaders and polling agents during campaign and also on election day, officials said.

On September 23 last year, Maoists had killed TDP MLA from Araku constituency in Andhra Pradesh, Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma in Visakhapatnam district.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have declared their seat-sharing position in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due in April-May.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led SP will contest from 37 parliamentary constituencies, while the Mayawati-led BSP will contest from 38 seats, CNN News18 has reported.

The SP and the BSP, which had announced their alliance for Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, have decided not to contest from Rae Bareli and Amethi, which have traditionally been Congress bastions. However, the SP will field a candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency.

The seat-sharing strategy between the SP and BSP announced on February 21 also puts an end to the speculation that the coalition was reconsidering its posturing in order to accommodate the Congress, after the Grand Old Party brought Priyanka Gandhi into the political arena. Post-poll alliances, however, cannot be ruled out.
Kashmir remained an unresolved issue only because former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru tackled it in the wrong way, leading to Pakistan indulging in terrorist acts, BJP President Amit Shah said here Thursday asking the Congress not to politicise the issue.

"Kashmir remained a problem only because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel tackled Hyderabad and it is now respectfully part of India but Jawaharlal Nehru tackled Kashmir and it continues to be a problem," he said.

Addressing a large meeting of BJP workers here, Shah said Pakistan was indulging in terrorist acts because of Kashmir.

"Kashmir is simmering because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Had Patel been the prime minister at the time, Kashmir would not have remained a problem," he added.

Lashing out at the Congress for "politicising" the recent terrorist attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama, the BJP president said the opposition party was not to going to derive any benefit out of it.

"With what face is the Congress raising questions against the Prime Minister? Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the Prime Minister of trading with the soldiers' blood, Congress' Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," Shah said

The Congress has not even left the issue of terrorism in its futile bid to remove Modi.

"For Narendra Modi, the nation's security is the top-most priority. He is toiling 18 hours a day for that. Congress... don't teach patriotism to us. We are the ones who are ready to lay down our lives for Bharat Mata," Shah asserted.
President Ram Nath Kovind on February 20 said India wishes to be a partner in Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030' as he hosted a banquet for the gulf nation's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Welcoming the crown prince, who is on his first state visit to India, Kovind said India cherishes its cordial and friendly relations with Saudi Arabia and considers the Gulf region as its extended neighbourhood.

The ever-expanding scope of India-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations demands sustained strategic engagement and frequent interactions between the two sides at all levels, a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said quoting Kovind.

The president said there is visible enhancement of bilateral trade over the past few years, while asserting that Saudi Arabia continues to be the most important source of energy for India, it added.

"We need to take the current buyer-seller relationship to a strategic level," the president said, adding that India wishes to be a partner in Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030'.

"We look at Saudi Arabia as a factor of stability in the region and beyond. India wishes to be a strong and reliable partner for the kingdom's growth and progress. Indian companies have invested and created jobs in Saudi Arabia, especially in the technology sector, which is India's strength," Kovind said in his banquet speech.

The president said terrorism is the gravest threat to humanity today and India, Saudi Arabia and the global community must come together to defeat and destroy these evil forces and combat radicalisation.

Those responsible for acts of terror need to be dealt with firmly and decisively, Kovind added.
Swanson lost his pension after the conviction. But the pension board still paid out the higher pensions to others who had seen their final checks boosted. The board argued that, no matter what the suburbs new leaders said, the suburb had agreed to the deal years earlier, and the deal was legal. Among those on the board when it decided to keep cutting fatter checks was Lou Moravecek, who collected an extra $243,926 from the practice, according to Countryside calculations.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prior to a meeting at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma) (PTI2_20_2019_000034B)

The Congress on February 21 hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the document.

The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, it did not name Pakistan in this context.

"Modiji on February 18 said 'the time for talks with Pakistan is over, and now action will be taken'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

"Modiji on February 20 saying --India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014," he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The prime minister "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said.

The Crown Prince "appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan," the joint statement said.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," it said.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
The contentious citizenship bill will be in focus in the budget session of the Nagaland assembly that begins from February 21, with the state government set to adopt a resolution against the proposed legislation.

Minister for Planning and Coordination, Neiba Kronu, said the Nagaland government would table a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, on February 23.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on January 8, but could not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha, meaning it has now lapsed.

The legislation proposes to accord Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the full budget for the fiscal 2019-20 on February 25.

The state government is also scheduled to table the supplementary demands for grants for the fiscal 2018-19 in the budget session that concludes on February 26.
AAP's "drama" over grant of full statehood and the delay in granting sanction for prosecution in the JNU sedition case will be highlighted to corner the government during Delhi Assembly's budget session which starts on February 22, BJP leader Vijendra Gupta on February 21 said.

Gupta, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the House said the BJP will force the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to answer about the delay in granting sanction for prosecution in the JNU sedition case.

The Delhi Police in January filed a chargesheet against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case registered in 2016.

The police also charged former JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event on the university campus on February 9, 2016 to commemorate the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

Delhi Police has sought permission from the city government for prosecution in the case which is still pending.

Gupta said BJP legislators will also raise the issue of telephone calls being made to voters to mislead them that their names have been deleted from electoral rolls in Delhi.

The "drama" of ruling AAP over full statehood will also be highlighted in the budget session, Gupta said.

"This is an excuse by Kejriwal government to avoid answering questions over its failures in past four years," Gupta told reporters.

Non implementation of Ayushman Bharat scheme of central government and issues related with e-PoS system of ration distribution will also be raised by the opposition in the House, he added.
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Union minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale on Thursday expressed his displeasure over the BJP and Shiv Sena not sparing any seat for his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Athawale's party is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, he said, "I took efforts for the BJP-Sena patch-up and worked for the alliance. But they left us in the lurch by not giving any seat to the RPI."

"I had demanded Mumbai South-Central (Lok Sabha) seat, but they refused to give any seat," the Dalit leader added.

Mumbai South-Central constituency is currently represented by Shiv Sena's Rahul Shewale.

Leaving behind the rancour, the BJP and the Shiv Sena Monday announced a seat-sharing pact for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra. As per the seat-sharing deal, the BJP will contest 25 seats and Shiv Sena 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Athwale also hit out at the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, saying the front was keeping people from the deprived castes away from power.

"The future of Ambedkar's front is bleak. Though it has managed to gather large number of people at its public meetings, it won't get translated into votes," he said.

"The alliance of BJP, Sena and RPI is stronger than his (Ambedkar's) Aghadi," the minister said.

He also asked the Vanchit Aghadi leaders to join the RPI. "If you want to be in power, join me," he said.
Months before the nation goes to polls, the Civil Aviation Ministry has "requested" airlines flying on domestic routes to give their passengers a letter written by Suresh Prabhu that enlists various "achievements and initiatives" of the Narendra Modi government in the aviation sector.

The airlines operating on the domestic routes have been sent a note along with the letter written by Prabhu, a copy of which has been accessed by PTI.

"I am directed to forward herewith a letter from Honourable Minister of Civil Aviation (Suresh Prabhu) and to request you to forward it to all the passengers travelling in your airline," stated the note dated February 20, which was sent to all scheduled domestic passengers airlines.

"Further, it is requested to inform the number of letters dispatched on daily basis to this Ministry," the note stated.

The ministry's letter has been titled: "Key achievements and initiatives of Ministry of Civil Aviation."

Prabhu's letter, which has his photograph, states: "Dear Valued Passengers, Under the visionary and able leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji, the country has made tremendous progress in all areas of economic development during the last 50 months or so of this Government and civil aviation sector has not remained untouched in this unprecedented success story."

It adds: "We have thoroughly transformed the aviation sector and today India has emerged as the world's fastest growing aviation market. I would like to share with you some of the key achievements and initatives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the last few months."

Through bullet points, the letter then enlists the achievements and initiatives of the Modi government: "Unveiling of first ever National Civil Aviation Policy in June, 2016; Launch of Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik in October, 2016; Launch of NABH (Next Generation Airports in Bharat) NIRMAN to prepare for 1 Billion passenger trips."

Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik or UDAN seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying affordable.

"Total number of operational airports increased to 100 airports with the inaugration of Pakyong Airport in Sikkim in September 2018; The Government has announced development of six airports under PPP to bring efficiency in airport operations and increase passenger facilities," the letter says.

The letter states that "massive investment is planned for development of airports in next five years" and "six waterdromes are also going to be connected under UDAN-3".

"In the year 2018, almost 1390 lakh passengers were carried by domestic airlines against 1172 lakhs in the year 2017, thereby registering a growth of 19 per cent; Air Cargo Policy which will be announced very soon will further propel the air cargo," it adds.

The letter mentions, "Release of Vision 2040 document to prepare the Civil Aviation Industry in India for sustaining the robust growth by focusing on infrastructure, MRO, Cargo, General Aviation and other related areas."

The letter also lists various other initiatives of the present government in the sector.
Meghalayas United Democratic Party (UDP) on February 20 walked out of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) over The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

It will, however, continue to be a part of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, led by the National Peoples Party (NPP). The BJP also supports the MDA. At present, UDP has seven MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly.

The UDF was part of NEDA since its formation in 2016.

According to a report in The Telegraph, UDP Vice President Allantry Franklin Dkhar said the party decided to quit after seeing 'BJPs aggressiveness to pass the bill'.

BJP National President Amit Shah had earlier said his party would bring the controversial bill back if it retains power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The bill stands to officially lapse on June 3 as it was not passed by the Rajya Sabha till the time the 16th Lok Sabha was been adjourned sine die.

UDPs Working President Paul Lyndoh told The Economic Times: We have decided to leave NEDA as there is a mismatch between UDP and BJP's ideology. BJP wants to bring in the citizenship bill, which is against the indigenous people of the region. We are against the Bill.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the reports.

The saffron part has been pushing for The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal immigrants (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan) eligible for Indian citizenship.

The bill is facing severe opposition from multiple regional parties in the northeast  many of which are BJP allies. Passage of the bill in the Winter Session of Lok Sabha had forced one of its allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) -- to quit the alliance.

Earlier this month, NPP chief and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had threatened that his party will quit the BJP-led alliance if the proposed legislation was passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Besides being in power in Meghalaya, the NPP backs the BJP governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and the saffron party-backed government in Nagaland.

The development comes ahead of the general election expected to happen in April-May. The BJP, along with its partners, is hoping to make major inroads into the northeast to offset some of the losses it is expected to face in the northern India.
February 21, 2019 / 02:09 PM IST

MHA allows entitlement of air travel for all CAPFs personnel

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved the entitlement of air travel to all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces on the Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors.

The MHA has said that the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.80 lakh personnel of the CAPFs in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable and ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier. This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e. while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return.

This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave, MHA has added in a tweet.
Making Triple Talaq a criminal offence: Parliament approved the bill that makes instant triple talaq a criminal offence on July 30, 2019, after the contentious legislation was passed by Rajya Sabha. On August 1, 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the triple talaq bill passed by Parliament, turning it into a law that makes the practice of instant divorce among Muslims a punishable offence.

Moneycontrol News

President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the Triple Talaq ordinance, which makes the practice of instant triple talaq by Muslim men a penal offence.

After the President's nod, the ordinance will come into force for the third time in less than a year.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) bill, which seeks to make the practice of talaq-e-biddat void, is pending in Rajya Sabha. The bill will lapse on June 3 with the dissolution of the present Lok Sabha.

The Cabinet on February 19 had given its nod to four ordinances, including the triple talaq ordinance.

The other ordinances approved include the Medical Council ordinance, the Companies (Second Amendment) ordinance, and the ordinance against unregulated deposits (Ponzi schemes).

The triple talaq ordinance has faced stiff resistance from the Opposition parties. On February 20, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav had said that the ordinance will be used as "a weapon against minorities."

"Social change cannot be achieved through force and arbitrary criminalisation. A narrative of women's empowerment is being used to cover up an ordinance which will be used as a weapon against minorities. We will support an act that implements the Justice Sachar report," Yadav had said.

Despite opposition, the government has asserted it provides justice and equality to Muslim women.

A bill to convert the previous ordinance, issued in September 2018, was cleared by Lok Sabha in December and was pending in Rajya Sabha. Since the bill could not get parliamentary approval, a fresh ordinance was issued.

Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq will be illegal, void and would attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
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The National Green Tribunal has sought an action plan from a committee headed by CPCB to stop discharge of polluted water in the Yamuna river and prosecute the offenders. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed various authorities -- Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Delhi Jal Board, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Noida and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board -- to hold a joint meeting on the issue within a month.

"The Nodal Agency will be CPCB for coordination and compliance.The report of the action taken be furnished to this tribunal within two months by e-mail," the bench said while posting the matter for consideration on May 20.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Noida resident Abhisht Kusum Gupta against disposing of sewer waste in the irrigation canal near Sector 137 in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district.

According to the applicant, sewer waste coming from villages situated near Sector 137, Noida, is being drained into the irrigation canal.

The tribunal had earlier directed the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to submit report on dumping of waste in an irrigation canal.

According to the report, the drain is originating from Kondli in Delhi and other drains are also connected to the said drain.

"Kondli drain carries polluted effluent from Delhi and thereafter joins river Yamuna at Noida Sector 168. Sewage is also being dumped into the drain in Sector 137, Noida. It was found that the water quality was not up to the standards. The Noida has also written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Delhi," the NGT noted.

"In view of the above, action is also required to be taken by the authorities at Delhi including the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and East Delhi Municipal Corporation. The coordination will be required by a central agency as two states are involved in dealing with the matter," the bench also comprising Justices S P Wangdi and K Ramakrishnan, said.
Zhang disappeared while on her way to sign a lease for an off-campus apartment in Urbana, 140 miles southwest of Chicago. She had just missed a bus when Christensen, then 27, lured her into his car, prosecutors say. Her disappearance prompted a massive search.
File Image: Harish Salve (left)

India on February 20 questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to annul Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence, which is based on an "extracted confession".

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

"Annul the decision of the military court and restrain Pakistan from giving effect to the (death) sentence. Release Jadhav and ensure his safe passage to India. If not then direct a trial under normal law before civilian courts with full consular access," Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs, told the ICJ judges.

Making the final submission in the ICJ on the third day of the hearing, Mittal requested the top UN court to declare that Pakistan acted in breach of Article 36 of Vienna Convention, failed to inform Jadhav of his rights and declined consular access to him.

"India requests this court to adjudge and declare that Pakistan acted in egregious breach of Article 36 of Vienna Convention," he said.

Harish Salve, who was representing India in the case, also said that the time has come for the ICJ to make Article 36 a potent weapon for protecting human rights.

Salve said Pakistan has continued to misuse the opportunity provided by the ICJ in the Jadhav case.

"Apart from showing propaganda, Jadhav has become a pawn in Pakistan's tool to divert international scrutiny from itself," Salve said in his arguments during which he mentioned the "dastardly" terror attack in Pulwama and another in Iran last week by Pakistan-based terror groups.

He also said that Pakistan is under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force over terror financing.

Salve said that Pakistan is used as a safe haven by UN proscribed terrorist entities like al-Qaeda, LeT, JeM, Haqqani Network and individuals like Hafiz Saeed and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

He also cited Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's interview to a newspaper in which he acknowledged his country's role in the 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed by 10 LeT terrorists.

"This interview has not been denied," Salve said.

On Pakistan's military courts, he said the International Commission of Jurists and European Parliament have criticised their functioning and added that anything diluting provisions of Vienna Convention must fail.

"India's criticism of military courts, the manner in which they function has been documented even by the European Parliament. If the military courts don't measure up to due process then domestic statutory law is irrelevant...

"India submits that this court should not sanctify trial by military courts of civilians, especially trial by Pakistan military courts. Fair and public hearing? Absent. Competent and independent tribunal? Absent. Counsel of own choice? Absent. Court will have to decide for itself whether it considers that such a system can be sanctified," Salve said, as he tore apart Pakistan's notorious military courts.

"Jadhav's trial was completed in 4-6 months or weeks...What happened to more than 150 people killed in the Mumbai terror attacks?" Salve asked as he raked up the Ajmal Kasab case to highlight the meaning of judicial review.

"In Kasab case, the LeT terrorist who was apprehended and caught red handed by brave police officers, the Supreme Court of India examined materials on record first-hand since it was the case of death sentence. This is called review," he said.

On Pakistan's argument that India did not provide proof of Jadhav's nationality, Salve said Pakistan had no doubt when it arrested Jadhav that he was an Indian national.

"Pakistan is aware that to be an officer of RAW, the primary requirement is to be a citizen of India," he said.

He said Pakistan's claims that Jadhav was an Indian terrorist, sent by India, this is a flying leap of faith.

"Possessing a passport doesn't make you party to those offences, your role in those offences gets you conviction. Jadhav is being sent to the gallows on the basis of an extracted confession," Salve said.

"Pakistan has been reluctant to share with the world and the ICJ the judgement in which Jadhav was convicted. That judgement would show basis for conviction...There could no threat to existence of Pakistan if these documents are made available to India," he said, adding that he has little doubts that there was any substantive evidence of Jadhav's involvement.

Salve said three attempts made by Pakistan to derail proceedings in the ICJ have failed. He also objected to the abusive language used by Pakistan's counsel in the case.

"There was a time when the world respected Pakistan, today the world doesn't have the same respect for Pakistan in its own incarnation," Salve said, taking a dig at Pakistan's counsel Khawar Qureshi, who on Tuesday said 'he has great respect for India but not its present incarnation.'

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

The ICJ is expected to deliver its verdict in the summer of 2019.
India will not submit any evidence to Pakistan on the role of Jaish-e-Mohammad in the Pulwama terror strike, and instead give all such facts to friendly nations to unmask the role of elements based in the neighbouring country in the attack, a senior government official said.

The official was sharing the views within the government, which is not at all in favour of giving any evidence to Pakistan considering the past experience when despite giving multiple dossiers on the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and terror strike in Pathankot airbase, Islamabad did nothing to punish the perpetrators.

"There is no question of giving any evidence to Pakistan. Rather we will share them with friendly countries to expose the role of Pakistan-based elements in Pulwama and other terror attacks on Indian soil," the official said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Iran Khan Tuesday said he would act against the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack if India shares with Islamabad "actionable intelligence".

Fourty CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

In the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, enough evidence was provided to Pakistan but there has been no action against Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafeez Saeed, top leader of the group Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, some ISI officers and others even after 11 years.

In case of the terror attack on Pathankot airbase, a five-member team of Pakistani investigators was allowed to visit the site for gathering first hand information.

However, when the team returned to Pakistan after visiting the sensitive airbase, they claimed that Indian authorities "failed" to provide evidence to prove that Pakistan-based terrorists had stormed the Indian Air Force station.

"When we get these kind of responses from Pakistan, there is no point in engaging with them. Now, our primary task will be to expose Pakistan globally, about its role in aiding and abetting terrorism," the official said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on Tuesday slammed Imran Khan for demanding actionable intelligence from India, saying JeM has publicly acknowledged its hand behind the attack.

"We know its fate," Jaitley said referring to lack of any concrete action from Pakistan against the terror group and its handlers involved in the 26/11 attack.

The Ministry of External Affairs Tuesday rubbished Imran Khan's comments on the ghastly Pulwama attack, saying disclaiming Pakistan's link with terrorist attacks is an oft-repeated excuse by the "nerve centre" of terrorism.

"Promises of 'guaranteed action' ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan," the MEA had said.
Saudi Arabis' Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on February 20 ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in his country's jails on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request as the two leaders held extensive talks here, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

After the talks, it was also announced that India has decided to extend e-Visa facility to Saudi nationals.

In an important development, Saudi Arabia also joined the International Solar Alliance, a move welcomed by the prime minister, MEA officials said.

Both sides noted the potential of cooperation in the renewable energy sector, not only in investment but also in research and development, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

In another significant move, Saudi Arabia has also agreed to resolve issues relating to Indian workers who are currently stranded in the kingdom due to the closure of a foreign company, T S Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, said.
Venezuela is paying heavy premiums for fuel imports from Russia and Europe, with fewer than a dozen sellers seeing the risk as worth the reward after flows from the United States dried up because of sanctions, trading sources said and data showed.

The South American nation exports crude but its refineries are in poor condition - hence the need to import gasoline and diesel for petrol stations and power plants, as well as naphtha to dilute its heavy oil.

Since the United States imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela on January 28, products supplies have mainly come from Russian state oil major Rosneft, Spain's Repsol, India's Reliance Industries and trading houses Vitol and Trafigura, according to sources and vessel-tracking data.

Russia has been a traditional political backer of Caracas, while India and Spain also have long-standing trade ties. But supplies even from those allies are coming at a cost.

"The prices they are charging us are horrifying," said an executive at Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA who is familiar with recent purchases.

The executive said the heavy premiums were partially due to the fact that single cargoes passed through several hands before reaching Venezuelan ports and also involved complex and expensive ship-to-ship transfers.

A trader involved in one fixture said shipowners were now charging a fee of up to 50 cents per barrel to Venezuela versus 15-20 cents before sanctions.

Last year, Venezuela imported most products from the United States with the main providers being PDVSA's own US subsidiary Citgo Petroleum and a US unit of India's Reliance.

Monthly supplies fluctuated but in December alone PDVSA imported almost 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel as its domestic refineries worked at just below a third of its 1.3-million-bpd capacity, according to PDVSA data.

Imports have fallen to some 140,000 bpd of gasoline, diesel, naphtha and other fuels since the end of January, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.

In addition, at least 13 cargoes carrying 5 million barrels of various fuels are heading to PDVSA's terminals or waiting in Venezuelan waters to discharge, according to shipping sources and Eikon data.

TO THE RESCUE

The new US sanctions, aimed at forcing out Socialist President Nicolas Maduro, bar US oil dollars from flowing to Venezuela.

However, the sanctions were later clarified, allowing US persons to purchase and engage in swaps and non-cash deals for petroleum and petroleum products with PDVSA until April 28 in a move aimed at easing flows and averting a fuel crisis.

But even though the clarification meant Washington was still allowing fuel supplies to PDVSA, sellers have been scarce so far.

From Russia, Vitol and Trafigura are taking fuel from the ports of Ust-Luga and Taman to the Caribbean island of Aruba, where PDVSA's unit Citgo operates an oil terminal, according to shipping sources and Refinitiv Eikon data.

Vitol is bringing 30,000 tonnes of Rosneft-produced gasoil in the Orient Challenge vessel, while Trafigura chartered the Elandra Fjord to ship 37,000 tonnes of gasoline produced by Russian oil firm Surgutneftegaz.

Rosneft is also lifting 60,000 tonnes of naphtha in a ship-to-ship transfer off Cyprus, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.

Reliance has booked the 500,000-barrel tanker Albiani to ship naphtha from northwest Europe. Repsol chartered several gasoline cargoes as part of a swap deal for Venezuelan crude with PDVSA, sources said.

PDVSA, Rosneft and Reliance did not reply to requests for comment. Surgutneftegaz declined to comment. Vitol and Repsol said they fully complied with all legislation and sanctions.

"We continue to closely monitor events on a cargo-by-cargo basis," a Repsol spokesman said.

Trafigura declined to comment. The trading house will stop business with PDVSA after completing a small number of already-concluded trades, sources have said.

PDVSA's president Manuel Quevedo travelled to India last week to secure larger sales of Venezuelan oil to refiners as his country needs to divert up to 500,000 bpd of crude once bought by US customers.

Executives from Rosneft have travelled to Venezuela in recent weeks for talks, industry sources said. Rosneft is a major lender to PDVSA and co-owns oil projects in the country.

Some Venezuelan petrol stations have been receiving insufficient fuel from PDVSA in recent weeks, so scarcity of supply has worsened in regions including the south of the country and the Andean states. Venezuela has so far, however, avoided a full-blown fuel crisis.
Tata Starbucks, the equal joint venture between the Tatas and global coffee chain Starbucks, is all set to fully transition itself to use only compostable and recyclable packaging solutions across its stores in the country from next June.

The company on Thursday said it hopes to achieve the objective by the next World Environment Day, June 5.

The company since its entry in October 2012 operates 138 stores across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Pune and Kolkata.

"By the World Environment Day, we will lead the industry in using 100 percent sustainable, compostable, recyclable packaging materials," the newly appointed Tata Starbucks chief executive Navin Gurnaney told PTI.

He was quick to add since day one of its operations here, the coffee chain has been using only those glasses, bags and napkins made from recyclable fibre.

Gurnaney, who took over as the chief executive last month, said the move would prevent 23 million cups, 17 million straws, 27 million lids and 4 million cutlery sets from ending up at landfills in a year.

The premium coffee chain aims to close the financial year at 144 stores. In 2015 it had opened 10 new stores, in 2016 it added 16 more, the next year addded another 25 and in 2018 it opened 30 more stores, he said.

Stating that they will be "thoughtfully aggressive" in its store roll-out he said "we are constantly evaluating opportunities within the metros where we have already established markets but also new cities."

He said India is one of the top five markets for Starbucks globally and the fastest growing market among the emerging economies. "We are very bullish here," and are on track to achieve our target to breakeven by FY20.

The company reportedly had posted a net loss of Rs 30.5 crore in FY18.

According to a Kotak Securities report, revenue grew by 28 percent in FY18 to Rs 342 crore compared to 14 percent in FY17, thanks to higher number of stores and higher sales per store. The same store sales growth was estimated to be 18 -20 percent.

Tata Global Beverages in its annual report for FY18 said Tata Starbucks improved sales by 28 percent with robust in-store performance and new stores added during the year. It had posted Rs 272 crore in sales in FY17.

Food contributes 23-25 percent of total sales at its stores on average.
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Shares of Piramal Enterprises rose 2 percent after Supreme Court of India (SC) ruled in favor of company drug, Saridon.

The Supreme Court of India has ruled in favor of Saridon by exempting its formulation from the list of banned FDCs (Fixed Dose Combinations).

In September 2018, Piramal Enterprises had been awarded a stay order from the Supreme Court on the ban, which allowed it to continue manufacturing, distribution and sale of the FDC.

Nandini Piramal, Executive Director, Piramal Enterprises Limited said, We are pleased with the Supreme Court ruling, as it is an affirmation to our commitment to provide effective and safe healthcare solutions that address unique needs of Indian consumers."

Piramal Enterprises ended at Rs 2,240.15, up Rs 44.05, or 2.01 percent on the BSE.
Saudi Aramco plans to sign preliminary deals to invest in two oil refining and petrochemical complexes in China during Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's state visit to Beijing this week, according to sources familiar with the plans.

Saudi Aramco, the world's top oil exporter, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a refinery and petrochemical project in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning in a joint venture with China's defence conglomerate Norinco, said three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Aramco is also expected to formalise an earlier plan to take a minority stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical, controlled by private Chinese chemical group Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, said two sources with knowledge of this particular deal. Zhejiang Petrochemical is building a refinery and petrochemical complex in eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

The investments could help Saudi Arabia regain its place as the top oil exporter to China, which it has relinquished to Russia for the past three years. Saudi Aramco is poised to bolster its market share by signing supply agreements with non-state Chinese refiners.

It is not clear what new details will be in the MOU with Norinco expected during the visit, as the two companies first announced an alliance in May 2017 during Saudi ruler King Salman's visit to Beijing.

Under that earlier MOU, the companies agreed to build a refinery capable of processing 300,000 barrels per day of crude and a facility that would make 1 million tonnes per year of ethylene, a building block for petrochemicals, at an estimated cost of over $10 billion.

A senior Aramco executive said last June he expected the front-end engineering for the Norinco project to be finished by mid-2019, following which the company will take a final investment decision.

Norinco public affairs officials were not immediately available for a comment.

Aramco officials did not reply to a request for comment sent by email.

Meanwhile, the Zhejiang agreement would give Saudi Aramco control of the 9 percent stake in the project held by the Zhejiang provincial government.

The agreement follows an earlier MOU that Aramco signed in October to invest in Zhejiang's project, which is planned as a refinery to process 400,000 bpd of crude and associated petrochemical facilities in the city of Zhoushan, south of Shanghai.

Reuters was not able to immediately reach Zhoushan Ocean Development and Investment Co Ltd, which holds the 9 percent stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical for the provincial government, for a comment.

The Saudi delegation, including top executives from Aramco, arrived in Beijing on February 21 for a two-day visit, part of the crown prince's Asia tour, during which the kingdom has pledged $20 billion of investment in Pakistan and sought additional investment in India's refining industry.
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Reliance Capital has invited Nippon Life Insurance to acquire up to 42.88 percent stake that it holds in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM), a statement to the exchange revealed.

Nippon Life Insurance already holds 42.88 percent stake in RNAM. The management, however, did not provide any other details.

Further announcements shall be made at the appropriate time, the company said.
Highlights

- After the recent correction, the stock offers value- Traction in the home furnishing segment will be crucial to overall growth- Utilisation rate at the medical packaging facility will have a bearing on the margins- Crude price volatility may impact short-term cash flows

--------------------------------------------------

Shaily Engineering Plastics, a high-precision polymer processing player, reported a weak set of numbers for Q3 FY19. The stock trades close to its 52-week low and leaves enough room for a re-rating, albeit in the long run.

A growing order book in home furnishing, unique product offerings and impetus towards efficiencies in the medical segment, and steady demand trajectory in other verticals (auto, FMCG, lighting) would be the factors to watch out for.

Exports constitute 70-75 percent of Shailys annual turnover. Around 30-35 of the worlds leading original equipment manufacturers procure supplies from the company.

Q3 analysis

- Gross margin expanded because of pass-through of raw material costs, which were on an upmove in Q2 in tandem with crude prices- Sales growth was slower year-on-year (YoY) because of delayed orders and change in inventory policies by the Swedish home furnishing major (SHFM)- EBITDA margin contracted due to lack of operating leverage and higher investments for bagging new orders. Net profit margin dipped because of lower other income and a significantly higher tax rate- Finance costs increased YoY since debt was taken for funding land acquisition and other capex

- The target to achieve $100 million in revenue has been postponed by a year to FY21-end

Observations

SHFM is the worlds largest designer-cum-retailer of ready-to-assemble furniture and home/kitchen accessories. It plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore in India over the next 5-6 years. One of its outlets at Hyderabad is already functional, whereas two more will begin operations over the next two fiscals.This development assumes importance for Shaily for the following reasons:- 50-60 percent of its revenue is attributable to the SHFM- It is associated with SHFM for over a decade

- It possesses technical know-how to manufacture products in accordance with the SHFMs strict standards. So, there are high entry barriers in this category.

Shaily will commence supplies of carbon steel furniture to the SHFM from October 2019. The management expects sales of Rs 100-120 crore from this project (involving a capital outlay of Rs 50 crore) by FY21.

Starting Q4 FY19, Shaily will begin supplying products to another large Europe-based global department store, whose yearly sales are close to $100 billion and network spans 10,000 stores across countries. Going forward, the order size has the potential to increase substantially.The healthcare segment is divided into two sub-segments -- devices (insulin pens, dermatological pens) and CRC (child-resistant closures and bottles) packaging. Since compliance costs are steep and clients (i.e. pharmaceutical companies) are intolerant towards errors, there are not too many players in this space.

Utilisation rates at the package manufacturing facilities will pick up only when new orders are secured from domestic pharma clients. The CRC facility, at optimum utilisation levels, can add Rs 55-60 crore to Shailys top-line. For now, visibility is to the tune of Rs 20-25 crore only.

In the automobile segment, the use of plastics for manufacturing critical components is on the rise within and outside India. The domestic FMCG industry is steadily growing, which results in higher demand for packages. Increasing electrification coverage has helped boost demand for LED lighting. Shaily has business associations with leading brands in these industries.Labour and power expenses, which rose sharply in 9M FY19, are expected to normalise over the next 2-3 quarters. Consequently, the strain on margin should reduce.

Key risks

- Delays in project implementation from the clients end may restrict top-line growth

- Raw material price hikes are passed on the customers, but the amount is received after a lag of 3-6 months. This impacts short-term cash flows

Outlook

- After a poor Q3 performance, the stock is close to its 52-week low- FY19 will end on a subdued note because of sluggish sale volumes- The stock trades at 20.2 times its FY20 projected earnings

- Any meaningful uptrend in valuation multiples may be visible only from H2 FY20 (i.e. when incremental orders in home furnishing start translating into revenue)

Follow @krishnakarwa152

For more research articles, visit our Moneycontrol Research page

Moneycontrol Research analysts do not hold positions in the companies discussed here
Here are stocks that are in the news today:

Results on February 21: Anik Industries, Gopal Iron & Steels

PSU Banks: Government to infuse Rs 48,239 crore in 12 PSU banks - Rs 6,896 crore in Allahabad Bank, Rs 9,086 crore in Corporation Bank, Rs 4,638 crore in Bank Of India, Rs 205 crore in Bank of Maharashtra, Rs 5,908 crore in PNB, Rs 4,112 crore in Union Bank, Rs 3,256 crore in Andhra Bank, Rs 1,603 crore in Syndicate Bank, Rs 2,560 crore in Central Bank Of India, Rs 2,839 crore in United Bank, Rs 3,330 crore in UCO Bank and Rs 3,806 crore in Indian Overseas Bank

IL&FS Financial Services: Company is unable to service obligation on interest payment of NCDs worth Rs 4.2 crore.

Steel: Government extends exemption on some imported grades of steel until April 17, 2019.

JSW Steel: Moody's changes company's outlook to positive; affirms all ratings.

Yes Bank: Moody's affirms bank's ratings; outlook changed to stable from negative.

Innovative Ideals & Services India: Company has bagged a new order for FTTH & Video Door Phones for supplying & executing for EPSILON Tower, SD CORP, Shapoorji Pallonji group. The value of the order is Rs 1 crore which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Diligent Media Corporation: With a view to optimise cost and cut-down losses, the management has decided to suspend publication & distribution of Jaipur Edition of DNA.

Dynamatic Technologies: Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Joint-Stock Company (JSC) Russian Helicopters on Ka-226T Helicopter with an intent to build.

Zuari Agro Chemicals: Board approved raising of funds by way of issue of compulsory convertible debentures to the existing shareholders of the company on a rights basis up to Rs 500 crore.

Sharon Bio-Medicine: Company has received recovery notice under the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act amounting to Rs 11.17 crore for the period April 1, 2015 to November 3, 2015 and Rs 2.47 crore for the period April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012. The liability of the said tax would be addressed in line with the Resolution Plan approved by NCLT and later by NCLAT.

Shipping Corporation of India: Company has given physical delivery of its 1 bulk carrier M V Tamilnadu to its buyer.

Bank of Baroda: Board of directors fixed March 11, 2019 as record date for issuing and allotting equity shares of the bank to the shareholders of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank.

Jubilant Life Sciences: Company issued commercial papers of Rs 75 crore.

Grasim Industries: Company completed acquisition of the chlor-alkali business of KPR Industries.

Tata Steel: Moodys Investors Service has upgraded company's corporate family rating (CFR) by one notch to Ba2 from Ba3.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories announces the re-launch of its Buprenorphine and Naloxone Sublingual Film after favorable ruling in patent litigation

BPCL: Company is planning to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore during the current financial year through private placement of unsecured non-convertible debentures subject to market conditions.

Sayaji Hotels: Tourism Finance Corporation of India has withdrawn the name of Sanjay Ahuja, Nominee Director from the board of the company.

REC: Company announced a consent solicitation exercise in relation to certain Senior USD Notes.

Bulk Deals on February 20

Gretex Industries: Meghkumar Mahendrakumar Shah sold 24,000 shares of the company at Rs 9 per share on the NSE.

Gujarat Raffia-Roll: Sanjaykumar Sevantilal Shah sold 27,010 shares of the company at Rs 13.25 per share.

Punj Lloyd: JM Global Equities Private Limited sold 24,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 1.8 per share.

Tara Jewels: Punjab National Bank sold 1,47,458 shares of the company at 50 paise per share.

Tarapur Transformers: Rita Rajkumar Singh sold 1,25,605 shares of the company at Rs 2.85 per share.

Viji Finance: Vijay Kothari sold 4,87,657 shares of the company at 86 paise per share.

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings

Metalyst Forgings: Board meeting is scheduled on February 27 to consider the un-audited financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 2018.

Corporation Bank: Board meeting is scheduled to be held on February 25 to consider raising of capital by way of preferential allotment of equity shares to Government of India to the tune of Rs 9,086 crore.

Rollatainers: Board meeting is scheduled on February 25 to consider the un-audited financial results of the company for the quarter and nine months ended December 2018.

India Home Loan: Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on March 16.

Magma Fincorp: Company's officials will be attending Kotak Institutional Equities  Chasing Growth 2019 conference on February 21 at Mumbai.

Gujarat Gas: Company's officials will be attending Kotak Institutional Equities  Chasing Growth 2019 conference on February 21 at Mumbai.

JMT Auto: Board meeting is scheduled on February 25 to consider the results for the quarter ended December 2018.

United Bank of India: Board meeting is scheduled on February 25 to consider prior intimation for seeking approvals relating to preferential allotment to government.

Rallis India: Company's officials will meet analysts/investors on February 21 and 22.

Thyrocare Technologies: Company's officials will meet representative(s) of Consortium Securities Private Limited on February 22 and Pragya Equities Private Limited on February 27.

Ambuja Cements: Company's officials will meet analysts/investors on February 21.

Zensar Technologies: Company's officials will be attending Kotak Institutional Equities  Chasing Growth 2019 conference on February 21 at Mumbai.

S Chand and Company: Company proposes to meet Indus Capital Partners from Hong Kong on February 21 in New Delhi.

Vakrangee: Analyst/Investor meeting for the company has been scheduled from February 25 to 28 in UK & Europe.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers: Company's officials will meet HDFC Asset Management Company on February 21.

NIIT: Sapnesh Kumar Lalla, Chief Executive Officer and Kapil Saurabh, Associate Vice-President would be meeting investors in a Non-Deal Roadshow on February 22 in Mumbai.

Great Eastern Shipping: Company's officials will meet Nalanda Capital on February 27.

: Ashish Bharat Ram, Managing Director of the company is meeting certain select investors in the UBS Road Show in London on February 21.
The study is based on comparisons with other states that allow adult use. Citing current shortages of some products in Illinois, it predicts that existing medical growers will not be able to supply the expected increase in demand for recreational marijuana. It found that Illinois has among the fewest licensed growers per patient or per potential recreational customer, and that it has the highest priced marijuana in the country, based on prices from online markets like leafly.com, at slightly more than $3,000 per pound.
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We have collated a list of recommendations from various global brokerage firms for February 21.

L&T | Brokerage: Morgan Stanley | Rating: Overweight | Target: Rs 1,786

L&T's Q4 orders are tracking well, according to Morgan Stanley.

"Guidance implies inflows of Rs 49,000 crore in Q4. Order inflows ex-services are at Rs 41,300 crore," the brokerage said in a research note.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories | Brokerage: Morgan Stanley | Rating: Overweight| Target: Rs 3,197

The company remains at a risk because of the underlying court case, Morgan Stanley said.

Gujarat State Petronet| Brokerage: HSBC | Rating: Reduce | Target: Rs 138

The brokerage slashed the stock's target price to Rs 138 from Rs 152, keeping the Reduce rating.

"Decline in gas volumes may lead to reduced profitability next year," HSBC said.

Nomura on Banks

Nomura said it has a Buy rating on ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India.

The brokerage said it is positive on corporate banks and prefers corporate private banks.

"Capitalisation issues of PCA banks are largely addressed, but will lead to massive dilution," said Nomura.

CLSA on Cement

The scenario in the cement space is improving after a muted third quarter, but there is election uncertainty ahead, according to CLSA.

The election outcome will impact cement stocks, said the brokerage said.

CLSA prefers Ramco Cements, Shree Cements and ACC among the cement stocks.

Shree Cements has been upgraded to Buy from Outperform, and target price raised to Rs 19,000 from Rs 18,275. The brokerage is negative on UltraTech Cement.

The above report is compiled from information available on public platforms. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions
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A breather for D-Street! Indian market snapped its 8-day losing streak and closed with handsome gains led by large-cap names.

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied over 400 points while Nifty50 reclaimed 10700 levels. The Nifty index posted its best daily gain since Jan 31, 2019, when the index rose by 1.68 percent.

The advance-decline ratio was on the whole balanced and therefore the current bounce should be taken with a pinch of salt, suggest experts as the pain may not be over yet.

The market rallied in expectation of dovish minutes from the US Fed and resumption of dialogue between the US and China adding positive vibes for the global market.

Strong inflows from DIIs, appreciation of rupee and value buying in mid & small caps helped the domestic market, experts said.

The Indian rupee has extended gains and trading higher by 24 paise at 71.10 per dollar versus Monday's close 71.34.

On the institutional front, both FPI and DIIs were net buyers in Indian markets for Rs 713 crore, and Rs 113 crore respectively, according to provisional data.

Big News:

The government on February 20, announced final recapitalisation tranche amount of Rs 48,239 crore for as many as 12 public sector banks, in a bid to take them out of Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) prompt corrective action framework.

The 12 banks are Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Central Bank, United Bank, UCO Bank and IOB.

As of December 2018 government has infused Rs 51,533 crore via budgetary allocation and recap bonds.

Reports suggest that the RBI began to place state-run banks under the PCA framework for the first time in September 2016, when their NPAs soared beyond the regulatory tolerance levels.

The lending ability of as many as 11 PSBs was contained by the RBI when they were put under the PCA framework. The restrictions under the framework, which included a restriction on dividend distribution, restriction on branch expansion, restriction on management compensation and directors fees, could be imposed as and when the banks would breach various regulatory threshold limits.

Technical View:

Nifty formed a bullish candle on the daily charts

Considering the current environment, the market is unlikely to cross 11,000 immediately, but 10,900 could be possible which will act as a stiff resistance level, experts said.

Three levels: 10646, 10752, 10850

Max Call OI: 11000, 10800

Max Put OI: 10400, 10700

Technical Recommendations:

We spoke to ICICIDitrect and heres what they have to stay:

Praj Industries: Buy| LTP: Rs 140| Target: Rs 157| Stop Loss: Rs 124| Upside 12%| Time Frame 1 months

Bajaj Finance: Buy| LTP: Rs 2606| Target: Rs 2990| Stop Loss: Rs 2470| Return 15%| Time Frame 6 months

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Kesoram Industries, a BK Birla group company, is expecting to get the SEBI approval of its proposed demerger of its tyre business by February this year, a company official said.

He said the entire demerger process was likely to be completed by July-end.

The official said stock exchanges had given in-principle clearance. "We are waiting for SEBI's approval. Then we will approach the NCLT", he said.

Kesoram was having three business units - cement, tyre and rayon.


Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2019

Elon Musk's tweet on February 20 once again drew attention as the Tesla CEO first tweeted projections for full-year Tesla manufacturing numbers at around 5,00,000 in 2019.

Hours later in another tweet, Musk, however, clarified that he "meant to say" the company's annualised production rate at the end of 2019 could be around 500,000 vehicles  or a production rate of 10,000 cars per week. Total deliveries for the year are still estimated at 400,000, Musk said.



Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for year still estimated to be about 400k.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2019



In contrast to Musk's projection of Tesla's production at 500,000 for 2019, the company's production in 2018 stood at 254,530. In Q4 2018, Tesla produced 86,555 vehicles this past quarter, exceeding its previous record by 8 percent from last quarter.



Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018

Earlier, Musk has come under the scanner of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his tweet about taking the company private.

In some cases, Musk's tweets have have a history of moving the stock as much as 10 percent.

As part of the company's settlement with the SEC in September, Tesla was supposed to create a system for monitoring Musk's statements to the public about the company, whether on Twitter, blog posts or any other medium.

In December, however, Musk told CBS' "60 Minutes" that no one was reading his tweets before he published them.

"It comes back to, the company is still running like a start-up," Loup Ventures founder Gene Munster told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on February 20. "This is a $50-60 billion market cap company. This should not be run like a start-up."
India on Thursday called upon all the members of RCEP, a proposed mega trade deal, to work towards early conclusion of the agreement to boost economic ties.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega trade agreement being negotiated by 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six free trade pact partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said a successful conclusion of RCEP will help deal with the challenges of global trade in terms of increasing trade tensions and protectionism.

"India is constructively engaged in RCEP negotiations and the country believes that ASEAN will remain central to the economic integration of the Indo-Pacific region through RCEP," he said.

"As negotiations are intensifying, members are now engaged in bilateral pairing to achieve mutually satisfactory and balanced outcome keeping in view each other's sensitivities and aspirations," the minister said.

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the fourth India-ASEAN Export and Summit 2019 here.

He said that as directed by the leaders of the 16 countries, "we should all work towards early conclusion of RCEP and create a win-win situation for better prosperity of the people of the region".

Negotiations for the mega-trade deal RCEP need more rounds of talks to sort out issues pertaining to goods and services, Prabhu had said Tuesday.

The agreement aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

The talks are stretched as the member countries have yet to agree on major issues including finalising the number of goods on which duties would be eliminated.

Speaking at the event, Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said all the members need to work together to conclude the negotiations this year.

Sharing similar views, Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak also said the agreement is important and "I hope to see this concluding this year".

Further, Prabhu urged the ASEAN members to engage in the review of free trade agreement with India to resolve implementation issues being faced by business of either side.

The bilateral trade between India and ASEAN increased from USD 65 billion in 2015-16 to USD 81.33 billion in 2017-18.
The Trump Administration on February 20 announced its intent to provide USD 9.5 million in assistance to the Maldives as part of its effort to strengthen its ties with the island nation.

In a meeting with visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed their common interest in deepening bilateral ties and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Shahid underscored the importance of his government's reform efforts to the vitality of Maldives' democracy and future prosperity, according to the State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino.

"Pompeo expressed strong support for the US-Maldives partnership, announcing the intent of the State Department to work with the Congress to provide USD9.75 million in additional assistance for Maldives," Palladino said.

During the meeting Pompeo hailed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enhance aviation security and an intent by USAID to facilitate sustained collaboration with the Maldives.

He also noted that the US is cooperating with the Maldives to share best practices in the areas of debt strategy, public financial management, and combatting financial crimes.

Pompeo also welcomed the Maldives' commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said.
The Maharashtra cabinet on February 20 approved a proposal that seeks to settle all the taxation-related disputes pending before the Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into effect.

This is aimed at recovering the revenue that the government was losing due to litigation and clearing backlog of cases, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

A new legislation will be introduced to ensure that people who come ahead to settle their disputes will get a waiver in the range of 1 per cent to 50 per cent in their penalty amount, it said.

"This is being done to ensure that the revenue that the government was losing due to litigation is recovered and also the backlog of applications as per the old taxation system is disposed of," the statement added.

"Thousands of cases as disputes are pending since years in the state. The cases are related to various taxes such as the Central Sales Tax, 1956, the Bombay Sales of Motor Spirit Taxation Act 1959, the Maharashtra Purchase Tax on Sugarcane Act 1962, the Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act 1975, the Maharashtra Tax on Luxuries Act 1987, the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act 2002 etc," said a senior official from state finance department.

The state cabinet also approved the extension of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) limits.

According to the decision, the MMRDA will now be responsible for development works in Vasai, Panvel, Alibaug, Khalapur and Pen along with Palghar.

A statement from the CMO said that the MMRDA limits have been extended by a total of 2000 sq kms.

The cabinet also decided that if a soldier, a domicile of Maharashtra, receives more than one medal, a separate subsidy will be given to each of his medal under the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar scheme.

A statement issued by the Chief Minister's office said under the scheme, the officer or the soldier was again considered for the subsidy if he receives a higher medal in future.

He used to receive only the difference between the subsidy amount of the earlier and the higher medal. But now, he will be entitled for a separate subsidy for both the medals, the statement said.
DHI Group, Inc. provides data, insights, and employment connections through specialized services for technology professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates Dice that offers job postings of technology and non-technology companies for industries, such as positions for software engineers, big data professionals, systems administrators, database specialists, project managers, and other technology and engineering professionals; and ClearanceJobs, an Internet-based career network, which matches security-cleared professionals with hiring companies searching for employees. It also provides eFinancialCareers, a financial services careers Website for financial services industry professionals from various sectors, including asset management, risk management, investment banking, and information technology. The company serves small, mid-sized, and large direct employers; staffing companies; recruiting agencies; consulting firms; and marketing departments of companies. The company was formerly known as Dice Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to DHI Group, Inc. in April 2015. DHI Group, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.

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I always read these stories and the news coverage of a tragic event like this. Its always a little bit overwhelming, said report co-author Cassandra Crifasi, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. But when I was reading reports (on Aurora), I was sort of stunned. I was so stunned that so many of the things we were discussing in the report were relevant. There were gaps in the system and this person was able to obtain a firearm he shouldnt have had.
And Amara Enyia and LaShawn Ford are in the race, but do they have a realistic shot to win? No. Enyia might do well in a future challenge of U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, who is tired and old and just endorsed businessman Willie Wilson for mayor.
Sweetheart, I know I shouldnt tell you this but I came home and I cried all day long and for two nights already. Today, though, somehow I managed to be brave. Not once did I break down while there and somehow while, dearest, I cant bring myself to believe God, after answering our prayers for a Christian partner and bringing us together, then would part us so cruelly. Oh, I cant believe it and I cry out to God.
Israel's first spacecraft was set to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the United States later on Thursday, Israeli officials said.



In this Monday, Dec. 17, 2018 file ., technicians stand next to the SpaceIL lunar module, an unmanned spacecraft, on display in a special clean room during a press tour of their facility near Tel Aviv, Israel. SpaceIL and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries plan to launch the lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon rocket Thursday night, Feb. 21, 2019, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. [File Photo: IC]

If succeeded, Beresheet, or Genesis in Hebrew, would be the first privately-funded spacecraft to land on the moon.

The 585-kg and 1.5-meter-high spacecraft is designed to land on the moon and eject a robotic vehicle that will tour its surface.

According to a statement by Israel's Science and Technology Ministry, Beresheet is scheduled to take off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 8:45 p.m. local time (0145 GMT Friday).

Its journey to the moon will take a few weeks, with landing expected on April 11, the statement said.

Together with scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and an international team of experts, Beresheet is due to carry out scientific experiments on the lunar surface, including measuring and mapping the moon's magnetic field, the ministry said.

It was built by SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit space venture, and state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with a budget of 100 million U.S. dollars raised mostly by SpaceIL.

SpaceIL Chairman Morris Kahn, a South African-born Israeli billionaire entrepreneur, told reporters on Monday that he hopes Beresheet will herald the beginning of a new area for Israel in space.

"We show our initiative, and we've developed technology, which I think is going to be important. I think we got to take Israel into space," he said.

Meanwhile, Israel's Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis said the launch will mark "national and historic events in the history of the state. The event is one of the greatest prides for the country and a national event in every respect."

"The fact that Israel will be the fourth country in the world, alongside the United States, Russia and China, to land a spacecraft on the moon is cogent proof that we are an international science and technology power," he noted.
Read between the lines of Capotes project, and you intuit that he did not so much see an actress so much as fantasized an alignment between Lee  an astonishingly beautiful and sophisticated woman  and Philip Barrys Tracy Lord, a character that had been tailored to the needs of Katharine Hepburn in 1939. Hepburn appeared in the play on Broadway, but a Hollywood comeback vehicle clearly was top of mind. And that is precisely what happened when George Cukor adapted the play to film in 1940. So close in style were the real Radziwill and the fictional Lord, Capote must have thought, that the two surely could merge. He glossed over the inconvenient truth that his favorite new actress was not really an actress at all. Shed never been on a stage.
Starting Thursday evening, Venezuela is closing its border with Brazil, President Nicolas Maduro has announced. He added the same measure may apply to the border with Colombia, though he does not want to order it.

The Venezuelan military was ordered to enforce the travel ban in airspace and on the sea until further notice, Maduro said during a televised address from a military headquarters.

Speaking about possible cut of border travel with Colombia, Maduro said he didnt want to take such a decision but was considering it.

Both Brazil and Colombia serve as transit counties for Venezuela-bound American shipments.

The restrictions come amid a tense stand-off over US attempts to deliver what Washington describes as humanitarian aid into Venezuela in defiance of the wishes of its government. The US considers Maduro usurper and recognizes as the head of state the self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, whose opposition group is the designated receiver of the aid.

Earlier on Thursday Guaido said he will personally go to the border with Colombia to get the shipment from the US, urging drivers to go with him and defy the border guards ordered to prevent the delivery.

Maduros government is suspicious of the US stated plan to provide humanitarian assistance to Venezuelan opposition. US envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams has a record of using humanitarian convoys to smuggle arms to Latin American countries targeted for regime change by Washington, and Caracas says he is now trying to follow the same script in Venezuela.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Austria will continue buying Russian gas despite US pressure and fear-mongering from Poland and Ukraine about dangers to European energy security. The cost of importing US gas is just not right, says its Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, the 32-year-old chancellor stood up for Austrias continued support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is due to be completed later this year.

Austria wants a secure gas supply, Kurz told local media after meeting with Trump, adding that Vienna has no problem with buying liquid natural gas (LNG) from the US, but as long as the price is better, Russia is more attractive as a partner, as Trump can certainly understand as a former businessman.

The price of US imports is currently not competitive, Kurz said, so the gas for Austria will continue to come mainly from Russia in the foreseeable future.

Also on rt.com No way back for Nord Stream 2 pipeline project  Germany

Germany has also pushed back on US pressure to halt the pipeline in recent days, with the new leader of the ruling CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer describing the project as something that just cant be turned back and adding that Germany has quite legitimate economic interests in energy supply.

Once completed, Nord Stream 2 will have the capacity to stream 110 million cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany, and onwards into Europe. While this makes Berlin and Vienna happy, the prospect is apparently keeping the authorities in Warsaw and Kiev  who currently profit from transit fees on Russian gas  awake at night.

On Tuesday, two Polish diplomats from Warsaws mission to NATO published an appeal for the alliance to treat natural gas supplies as a major security issue, and to throw its weight behind establishing Ukraine as an alternative gas supply hub to counter Russia.

Though ostensibly acting in their personal capacity, Dominik P. Jankowski is a political adviser for the Polish mission to NATO, and Julian Wieczorkiewicz works for the same mission as an expert in energy security. Their pitch appeared on the pages of National Interest, a Washington-based magazine of the think tank that, back in 2016, hosted then-candidate Donald Trumps flagship foreign policy speech.

Once Nord Stream 2 is complete, Russian gas deliveries will be able to bypass Poland and Ukraine entirely, which Wieczorkiewicz and Jankowski obviously find alarming. Ukraine, they point out, earns roughly $3 billion in transit fees per year, which is almost Kievs entire $3.6 billion military budget from 2017. How dare Moscow deprive Ukraine of money to fund its war against 'Russian aggression!

The Russia-hating establishment in the US is also on board with this narrative: a January 2018 report commissioned by Senate Democrats also argued Nord Stream 2 was endangering Ukraines gas revenues. Whats left unsaid, but definitely kept in mind, is that bypassing Ukraine and Poland would deprive Washington of the ability to interrupt gas deliveries to Europe, while blaming Russia for it.

Also on rt.com Polands gas pipeline ambition is just a pipe dream, industry expert tells RT

Wieczorkiewicz and Jankowskis proposed solution is to make Ukraine a depot for natural gas from Norway and the US, arguing that Washington is the worlds largest LNG producer and that in 2018 Poland demonstrated that US-made LNG can compete with Russian gas on European markets. There is only one problem: Norwegian exports are actually declining, and the US simply cant make up the difference.

A year ago, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry argued that Washington is not just exporting energy, were exporting freedom. The choice of where to buy energy offered to allies in Europe is freedom, he said, and that kind of freedom is priceless.

Economic reality does not care about geopolitical pipe dreams, however. Statistics from 2017 show that Europe imported 164 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia, while Europe and Turkey combined accounted for only around 3 billion cubic meters of US LNG. More recent EU data shows that Russian imports only increased in 2018, to over 40 percent, while US imports werent big enough to register by themselves, but rather fall into the other category.

Also on rt.com Russia outmaneuvers US on gas supplies to Europe

A report on the state of Europes LNG infrastructure in 2018, produced by the international law firm King & Spalding, shows Eastern Europe with only one LNG import terminal  in Polands Swinoujscie  and one floating storage and regasification (FSRU) facility in Lithuanias Klaipeda. Thats not exactly a feasible alternative to Russian pipelines, by any stretch of imagination.

While the US is indeed a growing producer and exporter of LNG, it currently has only two operational liquefaction terminals  one in Alaska and one in Louisiana  with two more under construction and one in Texas whose opening was delayed until September 2019 at the earliest, reportedly due to flooding damage during the 2017 Hurricane Harvey.

Then there is old-fashioned supply and demand. In 2018, China and Japan were willing to buy US gas at much higher prices  $8 and up per million BTU  compared to $6 50 in Europe, for instance  so thats where the US LNG went. The trade war between the US and China launched by the Trump administration has since resulted in higher tariffs on US LNG, making Russian gas more attractive to Beijing. Gazproms new pipeline to China is expected to open ahead of schedule in early December 2019. Meanwhile, there is no indication the price of US gas in Europe has become any more competitive.

Also on rt.com Russias Gazprom to start China gas pipeline by December 1

Even the authors of the sanctions bill from hellaimed against Russia have conceded that it does not specifically target Nord Stream 2. Dubbed DASKA, the proposal was reintroduced last week by Senators Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina).

There's no specific provision here on Nord Stream 2, Menendez told reporters in Brussels on Monday, adding that the US was seeking close collaboration with Europe on perfecting anti-Russian sanctions.

Simply put, giving up Russian gas imports would be economic suicide for the EU, as geopolitical expert Dr. Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann told RT last month. EU and NATO allies have already suffered the brunt of economic consequences from Washingtons obsession with sanctions against Russia since 2014. As statements from German and Austrian leaders clearly show, giving up gas would be a step too far.

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Turkey to begin oil, gas drilling off Cyprus in coming days  FM Cavusoglu

Turkey to begin oil, gas drilling off Cyprus in coming days  FM Cavusoglu

Turkey will begin drilling for oil and gas near Cyprus in the coming days, state-owned news agency Anadolu quoted Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying on Thursday. The move could stoke tensions with neighboring Cyprus and Greece. In the coming days we will start drilling with two ships around Cyprus, Cavusoglu said in a speech to a business conference in western Turkeys Aydin province. Let those who come to the region from far away, and their companies, see that nothing can be done in that region without us. Nothing at all can be done in the Mediterranean without Turkey, we will not allow that, Cavusoglu said. Ankara launched its first drillship Fatih in October to drill off the coast of Turkeys southern Antalya province, Reuters reported.Source : RT - Daily news
With sex robot brothels popping up across Europe, Swedish feminists are on the war path with the potential practice on Swedish soil. They claim such android sex workers promote dangerous attitudes towards women.

Writing in the Expressen newspaper on Wednesday, the heads of three Swedish feminist organizations argued that the appearance and attributes of todays sex robots bore the same objectifying, sexualized and degrading attitude that was found in mainstream pornography.

The organizations behind the letter were the Swedens Womens Lobby, the National Organisation for Womens Shelters and Young Womens Shelters (Roks), and Unizon, a womens empowerment group.

Talking about dangerous dehumanization, they argued that the female robots lacked any agency when it came to dealing with the requests of male clients. They also warned that the type of fantasies made possible by the opening of sex robot brothels would lead to real violence against women.

The activists are now calling for the Swedish government to implement a series of measures that would make it difficult for such a brothel to open in Sweden. Similar brothels have already opened for business in neighboring Finland and Denmark. As technology advances to create more lifelike sex dolls, debate has raged over the legal and ethical questions regarding prostitution laws and violence towards women in several jurisdictions.

Also on rt.com Worlds first sex robot resort lets customers pay to take bots' virginity

As technology advances to create more lifelike sex dolls, debate has raged over the legal and ethical questions regarding prostitution laws and violence towards women in several jurisdictions. Plans by a US entrepreneur to open such a brothel in Texas saw him label it as a sex robot showroom in a bid to dodge regulators. That aside, a franchise of The Dolls Hotel in Torino, Italy was shut down after only nine days for what authorities claimed was a lack of hygiene.

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In August 2018, Australian scientists launched a complex international simulation dubbed, Exercise Mataika, which investigated a worst-case scenario for a smallpox bioterrorist attack and the results are horrifying.

Smallpox, one of the most infectious diseases known to man, was officially eradicated in 1980, but two officially known samples of the disease are held in secure laboratories in the US and Russia.

The teams simulation began with a smallpox bioterrorist attack in Fiji; the first case is reported in a private hospital but is not diagnosed properly as doctors are unfamiliar with the (now effectively-extinct) disease. The hypothetical outbreak then spreads to 200 people, of which roughly 40 percent die.

As the virus spreads, local health systems are overwhelmed, mass panic ensues, exacerbated by media reports and a 13-day delay in correctly identifying the outbreak. The number of infected quickly rises to 2,000 cases, including doctors, at which point nurses go on strike. The first wave of 32,000 vaccinations arrive in Fiji just as another, larger attack occurs in a more populous country in Asia.

In the studys worst-case scenario, only 50 percent of people infected with the disease are isolated and only half of the people they had contact with are tracked and vaccinated. This leads to a catastrophic blow-out in the epidemic.

Under these conditions, modelling shows it will take more than a billion doses and 10 years to stop the epidemic, the researchers explain.

The variola genome, which causes smallpox, is fully sequenced and advances in synthetic biology have increased the likelihood of smallpox being synthesized in a laboratory. In addition, roughly one in five people live with some degree of immunosuppression in developed countries across the globe, while a large proportion of the world population today is unvaccinated.

Biosecurity experts previously scoffed at the potential for a smallpox bioterrorist attack until Canadian scientists reconstructed the extinct horse pox virus in a lab using mail-order DNA in 2017.

Worldwide, the World Health Organization has a stockpile of 34 million vaccine doses from member donations, however, it only has roughly two million in its own possession.

As governments and health organizations work to contain the infection in the simulation, the global workforce is decimated, which severely disrupts transport, power, communications and food infrastructure.

Also on rt.com Anti-vax movement among TOP THREATS to global health, with HIV & Ebola, WHO says

Trust in government and authority structures has disappeared, and legitimate attempts at communication by authorities are viewed with suspicion and fuel conspiracy theories, the researchers write of the worst-case scenario.

The results of the exercise are sobering the results and lessons learned should be considered by every country in the world, says biosecurity expert Michael Osterholm, the director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at Minnesota University.

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At the Museum of Contemporary Art, Arthur Jafas 2016 viral video Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death might be the single powerful work of art on view in Chicago right now. (It is the centerpiece of Prisoner of Love, a collections show.) Sitting through its 7-minute entirety is composure destroying and ought to be obligatory viewing for any adult alive in America today. Freedom marchers, police brutality, star athletes, political icons, more police brutality, fervid dancing, raging fires, musical geniuses and yet more police brutality  the video choreographs hundreds of quick cuts of highlights and lowlights of 20th- and 21st-century black life in America into one inextricably devastating, rhythmic whole. Blink and you miss Obama singing Amazing Grace. Watch it again and you find a black teenage girl in a bikini being wrestled to the ground by a white cop. Dont even bother to look for balance, for a middle ground: theres none to be seen here, and where it tries to squeak by it gets wrenchingly abused, like the bewildered mother forced out of her car on the side of a dark highway by the police, who answer none of her pleading questions and terrify her young children, one of whom exits the car with his hands up, because he thinks he has to. Transcendence will not come  not via the soundtrack of Kanye Wests glorious Ultralight Beam nor mesmerizing outer-space footage of a molten star. There is no release, only amplification of emotional, psychological and intellectual reaction until complete meltdown is achieved.
The construction of Russias industrial zone in one of the worlds major transportation routes, the Suez Canal area in Egypt, will be finished soon.

Thats according to the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish, who told TASS the zone will be launched in late 2020  beginning of 2021.

He said factories manufacturing agricultural machinery that is in demand on the Egyptian market will be located in the Russian industrial zone. Such products will be in demand not only on the Egyptian market, but also in the markets of other African countries, as well as the Middle East and Europe.

Also on rt.com Putin discusses free-trade zone with Sisi as Russias trade with Egypt surges 62%

According to the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, 20 Russian companies have already confirmed their interest in locating their facilities during the projects first phase until 2023. In general, the number of companies interested in participating in the project exceeds 50.

The ministry expects that by 2026, resident companies will be able to manufacture production worth US$3.6 billion annually.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, around $7 billion worth of investments will be attracted to the zone.

Also on rt.com Egypt to expand Russian industrial zone in Suez

The decision to build a Russian industrial zone in Egypt was agreed in 2014. The industrial park will have a friendlier tax regime for resident Russian firms and is expected to provide tens of thousands of jobs. The tax rate for businesses in the project and personal income tax will be 10 percent. Sales tax will be abolished.

READ MORE: Egypt becomes biggest market for Russian goods

Five years ago, Cairo announced the modernization of the Suez Canal, with a vast range of services, as well as several industrial parks, including Russian, Chinese, and Italian areas.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
The founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei has thanked the Trump administration for helping him to promote 5G technology in advance of an expected ban on the company operating in the US over concerns about national security.

During an interview on CBS This Morning, Ren Zhengfei said, with a hint of sarcasm, that US officials who have been sounding warnings about 5G were great figures because it was helping to spread the word about the technology.

Zhengfei said that until now, 5G was not widely known about. But now, these great figures are all talking about 5G and were becoming more influential and getting more contracts, he said.

Please tell them  Im actually thanking them for promoting us, he told host Bianna Golodrgya.

Huawei has secured 5G contracts with nearly 30 countries, but the US claims the technology could constitute a threat to national security, even warning its allies that it could reconsider its military relationships with them if they use it.

Also on rt.com Chinese tech a threat? Europe weary of Washington's 'nonsense' allegations against Huawei

Former CIA acting director Michael Morell told CBS that because of its speed and ability to allow such a large data flow, 5G enhances the capabilities of an intelligence service to steal data.

Zhengfei said those concerns were unfounded and that 5G is not an atomic bomb or on the same level as military equipment.

The Trump administrations stance stands in contrast to opinion in Europe, where Robert Hannigan, the former director of the UK intelligence agency GCHQ, said there was no evidence that Huawei was facilitating Beijings spying and dismissed hysteria over 5G.

Italy, Germany and France have also dismissed US concerns over the technology, although Washingtons dramatic warnings have been heeded by New Zealand and Australia, which have both banned Huawei from assisting in developing 5G networks.

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Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for postponing a visit to Russia, saying that he is working tirelessly to incorporate far-right groups into his coalition instead.

Scheduled for Thursday, Netanyahus visit to Moscow was meant to focus on Syria and bilateral security issues, but the Kremlin had to postpone the meeting due to the Israeli PMs domestic political affairs, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said Netanyahu put off the Russia negotiations to hold talks with far-right groups to strengthen his coalition ahead of the April 9 Knesset election.

The prime minister is tirelessly working to ensure the participation of a group of racists in his coalition.

The harsh accusations target Netanyahus Wednesday agreement with two fringe religious-nationalist parties, one of which, the Otzma Yehudit movement, is led by former disciples of the infamous ultra-nationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was banned from taking part in the 1988 Knesset election over racist comments.

Also on rt.com Jack of all trades Netanyahu quits as foreign minister, retains 3 other posts

Thursday is the deadline for the submission of party slates ahead of the parliamentary election. With less than two months before the election, Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from his opponents. In early February, he had to step down as foreign minister after a petition questioning his ability to hold multiple ministerial posts was filed to the High Court. Netanyahu, however, retained his posts of defense minister and healthcare head.

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Prices for gold reached their highest level since April 2018 lifted by investor optimism over trade talks between Beijing and Washington and expectations of a possible rate hike later in the year.

Gold for April delivery on Comex rose 0.2 percent to $1,347.1 per ounce after touching a high of $1,349.80. The contract increased by 1.7 percent to mark the highest close since April 19.

March silver futures rose 1.3 percent to trade at $16.177 an ounce, following a 1.4 percent rise earlier this week. The metal was up 15 percent since summer. Palladium briefly jumped above the $1,500 per ounce mark for the first time ever. The best performer among precious metals, palladium, is up nearly 17 percent on the year and up 80 percent since its August lows.

Also on rt.com Hey UK! It's not just Venezuela, what happened to Australia's gold?

The US dollar moved lower against a basket of six major currencies before bouncing back as the US Federal Reserve rekindled expectations for another rate hike in 2019.

A weaker dollar traditionally boosts gold futures, as the precious metal becomes cheaper for market participants that heavily invest in other currencies. At the same time, investors hopes for positive results of China-US trade talks may boost demand for emerging-market currencies, putting some pressure on the greenback and, thus, supporting prices for gold.

Hopes for a deal between the US and China and the US dollar, which is slightly lower, are offering support to the metal, ABN AMRO analyst Georgette Boele told Reuters.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Berlin must not bow to any other countries dictation on its energy policy, the head of a German trade lobby in Russia has said, as he slammed the politicization of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

As for issues of energy supply and energy security, Germany must not yield to dictation or influence of other countries, whether it is Russia or the US. Germany is not the 51st state of the US, the chairman of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, Matthias Schepp, said in Berlin on Thursday.

Also on rt.com Nothing stopping Russian-German trade turnover's rapid growth

The pipeline, which will deliver gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, is the largest infrastructure project in the EU, according to the trade chamber. It has created 30,000 jobs and is of great importance for European businesses, as around 670 European companies from various industries, including small and medium ones, take part in Nord Stream 2.

The pipeline will make energy more readily available to German industries, as the country has high tariffs for factories. Not only businesses will benefit from the high capacity of the project, but also private households, according to the trade lobby.

The EU demand for natural gas imports will grow, said Rainer Seele, president of the chamber of commerce and chief executive at Austrias oil and gas company OMV.

He explained that the booming demand is based on the reduction of production in Europe as well as phasing out coal by Germany. Thus reliable imports of energy with accessible prices are necessary, which is what makes Nord Stream 2 so important for Europe.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a joint venture of Russias Gazprom and five European energy majors. It is expected to double the existing pipelines capacity of 55 billion cubic meters annually, and is supposed to come into operation by the end of 2019.

Apart from some European critics, including Poland and Ukraine, the project was slammed by the US, which wants to sell more of its own LNG to Europe. US President Donald Trump accused German authorities of being captive to Russia, and Washington later pressed its European allies to abandon the pipeline project, threatening to sanction companies which participate in it.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
UK Chancellor Philip Hammond has ostensibly revealed his annoyance at Defense Secretary Gavin Williamsons threat of sending a warship to the South China Sea, claiming such rhetoric doesnt make relations with Beijing simpler.

British media reported that Chinas vice premier, Hu Chunhua, had withdrawn from trade talks with Hammond as a result of Williamsons fervent speech where he warned Beijing of the UKs hard power.

The defense secretary declared that HMS Queen Elizabeth, the countrys largest warship, would be deployed to the Pacific to show [China] the high price of aggressive behavior.

In an interview with BBC radio on Thursday, Hammond insisted that talk of warship deployment plans were entirely premature, suggesting Williamsons speech was far from helpful at a time when the UK is attempting to strike up crucial post-Brexit trade deals.

Hammond said: It is a complex relationship and it hasnt been made simpler by Chinese concerns about royal navy deployments in the South China Sea.

Williamson is known for pushing Britain to reassert its role as an influential military power. He also often makes headline-grabbing statements. In September, commenting on plans to send British troops to the Arctic, he called the region the nations backyard. At the end of last year, he unveiled plans to build military bases in the Far East and the Caribbean, suggesting that it would help the UK to become a true global player after leaving the EU.

During tensions over the Skripal poisoning case, Williamson went on a fiery tirade against Moscow, saying that Russia should go away and shut up. The comment raised quite a few eyebrows in Moscow, which also suggests that statements such as this do not particularly help ease tensions in bilateral ties.

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One of Chinas biggest ports has put restrictions on shipments of coal from Australia, its top supplier of anthracite, casting a shadow upon Australias second largest export earner.

The Port of Dalian is set to cap overall coal imports from all sources at 12 million tons until the end of 2019, according to an official at Dalian Port Group, operator of the sea transportation hub, as quoted by Reuters.

The indefinite ban on Australian coal imports came into effect starting February with the biggest ports across China reportedly extending clearing times for coal shipments from the country to at least 40 days.

Also on rt.com All Chinese money into Silicon Valley stops after Huawei ban, former Beijing banker warns

Dalian customs currently oversees five harbors, including Dalian, Bayuquan, Panjin, Dandong and Beiliang. The body reportedly wont allow Australian coal to clear through customs, while imports of coal from Russia and Indonesia are not going to be affected, according to the official.

Chinese customs are checking and testing coal imports for safety and quality, according to Geng Shuang, a spokesman at Chinas foreign ministry.

The Australian dollar slid as much as 1.1 percent against its US counterpart on the news.

The goals are to better safeguard the legal rights and interests of Chinese importers and to protect the environment, he told journalists, when asked if the ban was tied to tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

Also on rt.com China-US trade spat may leave American kids without toys

Diplomatic relations between the countries have been deteriorating since 2017, when Australian authorities accused China of interfering with its domestic affairs. Strain in bilateral relations intensified after Canberra cancelled the visa of a Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo, earlier this month, for allegedly promoting Chinese interests in Australia.

Last month, Australia barred Chinese telecoms giants Huawei Technologies from providing 5G technology for their networks, citing national security concerns.

Australia is the worlds number one exporter of coal, while China remains its biggest trade partner, accounting for nearly 30 percent of Australian sales abroad. Apart from coal, main exports to China include iron ore and gold.

Also on rt.com Chinese tourists spend $215 billion overseas

Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said the government was aware of the problem, stressing that the country's ambassador in Beijing was asked to urgently clarify the situation.

We continue to engage closely with industry on matters of market access China is a valued partner of Australia and we trust that our free trade agreement commitments to each other will continue to be honored, he said, as quoted by the agency.

Australian coal manufacturers are increasingly concerned over the current situation and the uncertainty of when the restrictions would be removed, according to Tania Constable, chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia.

We believe an unofficial quota system has been employed since the restructure of customs and quarantine administrative arrangements in October 2018. It would have a significant impact on the industry if restrictions extend for too long, she told MSN.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
US Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is being accused of flip-flopping on her Syria stance and caving to mainstream media pressure after a combative interview on The View.

Questioned aggressively by panelist Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain, Gabbard said there was no disputing the fact that Syrian President Bashar Assad is a brutal dictator who used chemical weapons against his people.

The comments stand in stark contrast to previous statements made by the Hawaii congresswoman, who in the past said she was skeptical about allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on citizens and called US efforts to overthrow Assad an illegal war.

She faced a major backlash from both the media and her colleagues in congress for taking a trip to Syria and meeting Assad himself in 2017.

While Gabbard tried to offer a balanced view of the situation in Syria, it was the antagonistic questioning from McCain that immediately grabbed headlines, with many framing the interviewer in a heroic light for confronting Gabbard, the Assad apologist.

During the interview, Gabbard also said that US military interventions are often begun and waged from a place of humanitarianism despite having previously taken a tougher stance on military adventurism and the reasons behind it.

Gabbard did push back many times against the panel of hostile hosts, saying repeatedly that US interventions have historically made bad situations worse and increased suffering, some of her supporters accused her of folding in the face of bullying from McCain.

Others acknowledged that Gabbard might have been trying to appease the panelists to get her wider point about the human costs of US interventions across, but argued that she risked alienating the people who already supported her in the process  and said that if she starts making concessions now, she will be forced to make more.

When the conversation turned to Venezuela, Gabbard angered the panel again, saying that the US trying to choose the leader of that country was not something that serves the interests of the Venezuelan people, despite co-host Ana Navarros hailing Donald Trump for leading the solidarity and support of freedom-loving Venezuelans.

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Pro-independence activists in Catalonia are venting their anger at Madrids trial of the regions provincial leaders. Baton-wielding police scuffled with some of the demonstrators as people also blocked roads and set tires ablaze.

The group behind the protest is called the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs) and has been involved in demonstrations against Spains central government for months. The goal of Thursdays action is to paralyze everything, as the group put it.

The protesters managed to disrupt traffic on several major roads with barricades of burning tires. They also interfered with the work of local railroads and occupied an office building in Girona, a city some 100km (62 miles) northeast of Barcelona.

Videos posted on social media on Thursday, feature baton-wielding police in full riot gear facing off with demonstrators.

One of the clips captured a group of officiers restraining a proteter, clad in a yellow vest, lying on the ground. The protester is then dragged away as bystanders shout their disapproval.

The CDRs are rallying supporters to defend the jailed leaders of Catalonia, who are currently being tried for organizing an independence referendum in October 2017.

The central government accused them of sedition and rebellion as well as misappropriating public funds to hold the plebiscite. The defendants face lengthy jail terms of up to 25 years if convicted, but their supporters say they are prisoners of conscience.

The 2017 independence vote which Madrid called unconstitutional prompted bloody clashes and mass arrests as police forcibly blocked citizens from entering the polling stations, fired rubber bullets and deployed tear gas. The police crackdown which was condemned by the UN and Human Rights Watch for disproportionate use of force resulted in over 800 people being injured across the region.
Ankara condemns European parliament committee call to suspend Turkish EU accession

Ankara condemns European parliament committee call to suspend Turkish EU accession

Turkey has criticized as unacceptable a vote by the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee calling for the suspension of EU accession negotiations with it. The committee called on the European Commission and member states on Wednesday to formally suspend EU accession negotiations with Turkey, citing disregard for human rights and civil liberties, influence on the judiciary, and disputes over territory with Cyprus and other neighbors. It is absolutely unacceptable that the non-binding, advisory draft report is calling for a total suspension of our accession talks to the EU, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said on Thursday. We expect the necessary corrections to be made and the final report to be more realistic, impartial and encouraging, Reuters quoted him as saying. Only such a report will be taken into consideration by our country.Source : RT - Daily news
The Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, revered as well as hotly debated on the international festival circuit, has never been a filmmaker in step with the rhythms of contemporary life or cinema. Anywhere. Devoted to the spirit of seriocomic inquiry found in Anton Chekhov, among other writers, his movies have carved out a niche for themselves outside many of the usual recognition status symbols. None of his films have ever been nominated for the foreign-language Academy Award. A U.S. distributor  Cinema Guild, this time  acquires a Ceylan title fully aware of its extreme unlikeliness to make anybody any money.
SCHOOLCRAFT, MI  Police in Schoolcraft are looking for a woman who hasnt been seen for a month.

Kristy Ann Williams, also known as Kristy Bishop, 38, was last seen at her home in Schoolcraft.

Williams is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes.

Williams does not have a vehicle, according to Schoolcraft police. She has contacts in Indiana and Ohio. She may have stopped taking medication for her mental health, police say.
SOLON TOWNSHIP, MI -- Aubrianne Moore shot her three children one by one after taking them to a secluded wooded area near her boyfriends home, police say.

There were no apparent signs of struggle. The children had contact wounds, indicating the bolt-action hunting rifle she used was fired at close range.

When Moore was finished, she loaded her young children back into the car, drove to her boyfriends home in the 200 block of 19 Mile Road NE and then shot herself.

About an hour and a half later, around 3 p.m., her boyfriend, the father of the youngest daughter, found the children dead in the car and Moore dead just outside of it.

We dont know what was going through her head: she didnt leave a suicide note or anything like that, Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press on Wednesday afternoon.

LaJoye-Young said in the hours leading up to the triple murder-suicide Monday, Feb. 18, the day appeared normal: Moore picked up the two oldest daughters, 6-year-old Cassidy Rodery and 8-year-old Kyrie Rodery, at school and took them out to lunch with the youngest daughter, 2-year-old Alaina Rau.

Their next trip, LaJoye-Young said, was to the secluded wooded area behind a home in the 300 block of 19 Mile Road NE belonging to a relative of Moores boyfriend.

Investigators believe Moore killed her children and herself due to mental illness, the sheriff said. Months before, in September 2018, she was involuntarily hospitalized on diagnoses of unspecified schizophrenia and psychosis. Clinicians did not believe she was a harm to others.

The hunting rifle police say Moore used belonged to her boyfriend.

LaJoye-Young said statements on social media indicated Moore thought her children were in danger.

Mom appears to have been struggling with pretty substantial mental health issues, LaJoye-Young said. She had some postings on Facebook and things like that that lead to believe she was paranoid and thought that the kids were in jeopardy somehow. We suspect that led to the events this day."

Moore relayed similar delusional fears of harm to her family to a social worker in September 2018, according to hospitalization petition documents in Newaygo County Probate Court.

Aubrianne is keeping her kids home from school because the television told her there would be a school bus accident today, the social worker wrote in the Sept. 17 request to hospitalize Moore. Aubrianne stays awake at night believing people will break into her home. Aubrianne is not eating, believing food is being poisoned.

Moore, with consultation from an attorney and mental health workers, later agreed in late September to further hospitalization not to exceed 60 days with treatment supervised by a private doctor or Newaygo County Mental Health not to exceed 90 days.

There are no further court records indicating involuntary hospitalization in Newaygo and Kent counties. LaJoye-Young said there was no record of child abuse.

In her 29 years with the sheriffs office, LaJoye-Young said the deaths of the three children at the hands of their mother has been among the hardest incidents shes had to handle.

This is one of the hardest cases Ive ever heard about. This is a very difficult case, she said. Our investigators are feeling it. Its heartbreaking that something like this happened in our community. Im heartbroken for the family and for everybody involved and the community at large, because this is not something thats easy for us to not wonder what could have been done differently, what could we have done to help.
KENT COUNTY, MI  Police say a woman shot her three young daughters with a bolt-action hunting rifle then drove them down the street to their home and turned the gun on herself.

Investigation showed that Aubrianne Moore, 28, shot and killed her daughters, Kyrie Rodery, 8, Cassidy Rodery, 6, and Alaina Rau, 2, on Monday, Feb. 18, Kent County sheriffs Sgt. Joel Roon said.

Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young is meeting with reporters this afternoon.

Police said evidence showed that Moore killed her girls in a wooded area in the 300 block of 19 Mile Road NE in Solon Township. After the shootings, she put the girls into her car and drove them home to the 200 block of 19 Mile Road near Division Avenue. She got out of the vehicle and shot herself, police said.

Autopsies were conducted Tuesday and Wednesday.

Searchers found the shooting scene a day after the killings occurred. Police recovered the gun.

The mother suffered mental-health problems, according to Newaygo County Probate Court records.

She was paranoid, and had visual and auditory hallucinations, a social worker wrote in a Sept. 17 petition requesting her hospitalization.

Aubrianne is keeping her kids home from school because the television told her there would be a school bus accident today, the social worker said in Newaygo County Probate Court records.

"Aubrianne stays awake at night believing people will break into her home. Aubrianne is not eating believing food is being poisoned.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A former nurse who diluted Valium needed to control seizures in disabled patients has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Kristie Mollohan, 42, was sentenced to 82 months in federal prison Wednesday, Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

She worked as a home health nurse for a Wyoming company in 2016 when she stole Valium and replaced doses with mostly water or saline solution. She then used the drug.

A 4-year-old born with a degenerative neurological condition, Ryley Maue, suffered a major seizure after receiving days of diluted Valium. He died the day after the seizure, but investigators could not directly link the death to the medication issue because of other possible contributing factors.

In a plea agreement, Mollohan acknowledged that she removed liquid diazepam, or Valium, intended for a disabled 30-year-old patient in Barry County as well as for Ryley Maue and his 8-year-old brother, Kenny Maue, of Allegan County. Tests showed that bottles contained as little as 1 percent of the declared concentration.

She told investigators she took the drug herself because she was depressed about her husband leaving her and her sisters death years ago. Her medical insurance would not cover the cost of a particular medication for depression while an approved drug was ineffective, she indicated.

Licensed health care professionals who not only steal drugs but then render those drugs dangerous or ineffective are committing a heinous offense," U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge said. Patients may not know  and in this case may not be able to express -- that something is wrong with their medication until it is too late and they suffer a serious consequence.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A once-vacant catholic school on the citys burgeoning West Side is now filled with life after a nonprofit renovated the building, transforming it into apartments for low-income residents.

Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corporation and Colliers International hosted a dedication ceremony this week for the new St. James Apartments and Townhomes, 750 First St. NW. The $13.6 million project consists of 36 apartments at the school and 16 nearby townhomes.

The apartments and townhomes are adjacent to the growing Bridge Street corridor, an area that has seen an influx of bars, restaurants and other businesses open in recent years. That growth, neighborhood advocates say, has led to rising rents, putting pressure on low-income families.

John Wynbeek, Genesis executive director, said more than 600 people have submitted applications to live in the 52 units.

We have some tenants who have moved in from some rather precarious situations, he said, recalling how a mother and two children who recently moved into the housing development had previously, for a time, lived in the familys Toyota Camry. Theres a real demand, a real need, for housing at this income level.

As of now, the projects townhomes are fully leased, while the same is true for about half the 36 apartments. Wynbeek expects the remaining units to be leased by the end of February.

The townhomes and apartments are reserved for low-income residents. Thirty-three of the 52 units are reserved for residents whose household income is at or below 60 percent of Kent Countys area median income. That comes to $29,400 for an individual or $33,600 for a couple.

The remaining 16 units are reserved for residents whose household income is at or below 30 percent of area median income. That amounts to $14,700 for an individual or $16,800 for a couple.

The 42,000-square-foot, two-story school was built in 1928, with an addition added to the building in 1959. Genesis purchased the building in late 2013.

In addition to serving low-income residents, the development also includes a focus on serving people with disabilities.

Thirteen of the units are reserved for residents with mental health conditions and intellectual or developmental disabilities. Genesis contracts with Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services to provide support for residents who live at its properties, with the the goal of ensuring that residents can continue to live independently, Wynbeek said.

The development also includes rooftop solar panels on the school and some townhomes. Energy generated by those panels will be used to help power the former schools apartments, cutting Genesis annual utility bill by as much as half, Wynbeek said.

It was a good thing to do for the environment, and it also preserved some affordability for us, he said.

Colliers International helped Genesis obtain a low-income housing tax credit from the state of Michigan for the project.

The repurposing of these historic communities and parish schools like St. James provides many benefits to the neighborhood, George Larimore, Colliers Senior Vice President, said in a statement. St. James not only provides high-quality affordable housing, it preserves a landmark for our community.

Heres a look at how much it costs to rent the units:

For those at 60 percent of area median income ($29,400 for an individual or $33,600 for a couple):

One-bedroom: $787

Two-bedroom: $945

Two-bedroom townhomes: $812

30 percent area median income ($14,700 for an individual or $16,800 for a couple):

One-bedroom apartment: $393

Two-bedroom townhomes: $339

Wynbeek said construction costs, as well as maintenance and operations costs factor into the rental rates.

There are ongoing operating costs, and we want to maintain the property well, we want to have staff in place that can manage it well so that you have overall quality, he said. You can do it on the cheap and skimp on the construction costs and on the management, but thats often where affordable housing gets a bad reputation.
FLINT TOWNSHIP, MI  Michigan voters now do not need a reason for requesting and filling out an absentee ballot for future elections.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Flint Township Clerk Kathy Funk announced at a joint press conference that as part of the citizen-led ballot proposal that passed last November that this is the first day citizens can request absentee ballots for no reason.

In the first election since November ... voters will have the opportunity to vote from home (without providing a reason), Benson said.

Benson added that it is an important change for the state because it helps to bring Michigan in line with most other states in the country who have similar rules.

Before the proposal passed, absentee voters had to provide a reason for needing an absentee ballot like being 60 years of age or older, or expecting to be out of town on Election Day.

Im a local business owner (in Flint Township). I work open to close, Im the only employee in my shop, said Michael Gordon. Waiting in line means lost revenue I was ecstatic that I could vote from work.

This beginning of no-reason absentee voting also expects to help bring up voter turnout across the state as well in places where it can be low.

So we did a study already of looking where the lowest turnout areas are in our state, Benson said, and while there are some parts of Flint, Genesee County, that do vote in significant numbers there are many that do not and the same holds true in parts of Wayne County and rural counties in our state.

Benson added that she will be traveling to those areas throughout her term to talk about how important it is to get higher voter turnout.

Funk, who was elected as township clerk in 2016, said that clerk offices around the state do many tasks for their respective cities and counties but running the election is the most important of all.

The most important one of all is running elections, Funk said. Its like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one, the energy is palpable at our voting locations

Funk said that she would like to see historic voting numbers every election and this new way will help.

She also said they are getting ready for the next election that will take place on May 7.

The era of non-reason mail-in voting has begun in Michigan and Im excited about the potential it has to engage more of our fellow citizens in our democracy, Benson said in a news release.

To download a mail-in ballot visit their website online.
FLINT, MI -- Mark Farner remembers eating coney dogs at Angelos and Starlite.

He remembers grabbing a couple cases of beer with friends and hanging out at his Davison Road home waiting for the cops to bust up the party.

Thats the biggest amount of trouble we ever got in, he said amid chuckles during an interview Wednesday afternoon following the announcement of a new tour. Mark Farners American Band will make its first stop April 20 at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Flint.

The former Grand Funk Railroad frontman and Flint native returned to the Vehicle City to chat about the tour and some other things on his mind Wednesday.

To kick 50 years off in my hometown is ... exciting, he said. Its where I started and even though the factories moved out and the jobs moved out, the people are still here and its the same families that made this a music state.

He attributed the rise of music in Michigan to a combining of cultures, with people moving north from the South to take shop jobs in places like Flint, Pontiac and Detroit.

There was all that Motown and then you had the MC5 and you had Glenn Frey of the Eagles. Youve got Alice Cooper, (Bob) Seger, youve got all these bands, said Farner. Theres never been a state with more music to come outThis melting pot for music produced some great music and itll never be like that again anywhere.

The advent of corporate-owned radio stations and deregulation of media that allowed for conglomeration has changed music the industrys moral consciousness, Farner said.

He recalled heading to Nashville to record a song and going to radio station WTAC to directly asking disc jockey Bob Dell to play it.

You cant do that today. Its crazy what youve got to do, said Farner. The corporate takeover of the media killed us. It sucks. The radio, the corporate controls, those stations suck. They play the same crap over and over. Its fluff.

Flint native Mark Farner, former frontman of Grand Funk Railroad, is set to perform on April 19, 2019 at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)Jake May | MLive.com

People who head to the upcoming shows -- where Farner will be joined by the Guess Who -- should expect to find a cohesive unit.

The band that I have, we are all like-minded, he said. It is emphasized that much more. Its an experience.

One of the songs that may come in the playlist is Im Your Captain, Farners favorite song from over the years.

I prayed for that song," he said. I had no forethought of it. I just got up at 3 or 4 oclock in the morning and started writingin between the state of sleep and consciousness. I was writing these words.

My wife will tell you it doesnt even necessarily have to rhyme like a poem. I just write whatever it is and get it down and get it out.

After finding a new chord, Farner said, It all just fell together, just like I wrote it and I went, Wow. I take it to rehearsal that day and both Don (Brewer) and Mel (Schacher) said, Farner man, that songs a hit.

Farners happy coming back to Flint to share his thoughts and words, while offering a few for young musicians who may want to give music a shot.

Stay with your passion. If its music, stay with it," he said. "Dont let anybody talk you out of it. Dont let yourself talk you out of it. The doubt and fear, get rid of that, because if its love thats motivating you, and its not just wanting to get up and strut your (stuff) across the stage in front of people and let them see how cool you look, if youve got something to say, stay with your heart. Love will lead us if well let it.

Tickets go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 22 at The Whiting, 1241 E. Kearsley St., by phone at 810-237-7333, or online at thewhiting.com.
FLUSHING, MI  Twice a month, 4-year-old Jonathan Strnad has needles poked into his belly button as part of a 45-minute long treatment for his immune deficiency disorder.

It takes a whole lot of blood to make that medication, said his mother Kimberly Strnad. In his case, the medication he takes has tremendously improved the quality of his life.

After being in out of the doctors office because of the illness, Jonathan has not been sick since his infusions began in 2018.

The Strnads learned theres a tremendous need for blood donations used in such medications, not just for people in surgery or who were in accidents.

Blood donation truly saves lives, Kimberly Strnad said. I am so thankful to God for leading us to the answers and for providing a treatment plan that is working, for providing insurance coverage, for paying for the medicine and for surrounding our family in a community that is so supporting and loving. Were doing just fine. Jonathan is thriving.

To show gratitude the family has organized a blood drive from 2 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 25 at Mayfair Bible Church, 5339 W. Pierson Road in Flushing.

The goal is to get 1,000 blood donors for the 70 different hospitals that receive blood through the Michigan blood network.

The Thrive Blood Drive only had one opening left as of Wednesday, Feb. 20. Another drive is set for May 17, Strnad said.

Others wishing to donate can visit Michigan Blood to find other sites.

Our experience with our son is what caused us to have this awareness, Kimberly Strnad said. None of the blood is going to be earmarked for Jonathan. Were doing it because of our experience with him.
LANSING, MI -- The shifting structure of the team in charge of Flint water crisis prosecutions is slowing down at least two of the cases that are pending in Genesee County courtrooms.

Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud said Thursday, Feb. 21, that the Attorney Generals Office is requesting adjournments of preliminary examinations for former emergency manager Darnell Earley and former Flint Department of Public Works Director Howard Croft.

Both men were scheduled to be in court Monday, Feb. 25, and each face potential charges including involuntary manslaughter.

We are in the process of reviewing every piece of evidence .... This is a three-year investigation ... over four million documents along with other pieces of evidence associated with these cases," Hammoud said. Some cases will have to be adjourned. We might have to take different routes" in other cases.

Hammoud, who Attorney General Dana Nessel put in charge of Flint water criminal cases last month, announced Thursday that she and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will jointly oversee the prosecutions and new attorneys will join them while Todd Flood, who has led the cases so far, has been designated a special assistant attorney general.

Hammoud said Thursday that she wouldnt call the changes a complete restart but said it will take time for new prosecutors to become familiar with the cases that are already underway.

At this point in time I think its appropriate for us to look at the investigation and everything associated with it," she said. Were not throwing everything out and starting from zero ... but there is a new leadership. ...We dont just jump into a case and say, 'All right, this is the file, and I trust that everybody did their due diligence ... Its only appropriate that we evaluate that.

Hammoud said shes spoken with attorneys for Earley and Croft about the need to delay the exams.

I think they were expecting this (request for adjournment), he said.

Preliminary exams for Croft and Earley were the last of 15 such proceedings to start in Genesee District Court. Three other cases are still at that early stage of prosecution -- the first step in determining whether those charged will eventually face a jury trial.

Only one witness has been called so far at the exams for Earley and Croft.

35 Michigan Attorney General Nessel updates on MSU, catholic church and Flint water investigations

Unlike others charged with Flint water crimes, Earley, 66, and Croft, 53, were outspoken defenders of the quality and safety of Flint water while the city used the Flint River for drinking water in parts of 2014 and 2015.

Earley is charged with false pretenses, conspiracy to commit false pretenses, willful neglect of duty and misconduct in office, and Flood has told Genesee District Judge Nathaniel Perry that he will also ask him to add a charge of involuntary manslaughter at the conclusion of the former emergency managers exam.

An appointee of Gov. Rick Snyder, Earley allowed the Flint water treatment plant to produce water despite knowing that the plant was not ready for use and that he authorized false and misleading public statements that the city water was safe to drink, prosecutors have alleged.

Croft has also been notified that Flood plans to ask for an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter against him in addition to charges of false pretenses and conspiracy to commit false pretenses.

Crofts responsibilities in city government included water and sewer systems, parks, and streets until he resigned in November 2015.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Distinguished professor and recent Nobel Prize winner Gerard Mourou will discuss some of his acclaimed work in a return to the University of Michigan on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Mourou was one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking inventions in laser physics. In his 4 p.m. talk inside Rackham Auditorium, 915 Washington St., Mourou will discuss the Extreme Light Infrastructure, a European laser project that currently is under construction. The talk is free to attend.

Mourou was awarded for his work alongside Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo in Canada, who is the first woman to have won a Nobel in three years and is only the third to have won for physics.

According the the Nobel Prize website, Mourou and Strickland paved the way toward the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind. Their article was published in 1985 and was the foundation of Stricklands doctoral thesis.

Using an ingenious approach, they succeeded in creating ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the amplifying material," the site notes.

Mourou also was honored for his role in inventing chirped pulse amplification, a technique that eventually led to a safer, bladeless version of LASIK eye surgery, among other advances.

While the initial discovery occurred at the University of Rochester, Mourou did much of the groundbreaking work developing it while he was a UM faculty member for 16 years, retiring in 2004. In 1991, he founded the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science - where bladeless LASIK was developed and HERCULES, the worlds most intense laser, was born.

Mourou is currently a professor at Ecole Polytechnique in France.
Instead, like other kids in Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico, she took on the responsibility of financially contributing to her family from an early age. While she was in elementary school, she sold toys and clothes in the streets with her family. Growing up, she empowered herself by talking openly about the color of her skin, taking it as a point of pride when people on the street said, "Hola morenita!"  a common greeting that's meant to be endearing, although it translates to the brash-sounding, "Hi, dark-skinned one."
ANN ARBOR, MI - Offensive or pornographic content from websites may be blocked in limited locations at the University of Michigan under a revised Internet access policy.

The policy, revised Feb. 12, primarily applies to university childcare centers, Michigan Medicine sites and summer camp programs. In those areas, unfettered access to university information technology may be inappropriate, inconsistent with safety or mission, or both, according to the revised policy in UMs Standard Practice Guide.

Individuals should not be unwittingly exposed to offensive material by the deliberate and knowing acts of others, the policy reads.

The change was developed by a Michigan Medicine medical school faculty leadership group on ways to consistently maintain safe and professional patient-care environments, according to the university. Web access limits thus far apply in clinical areas at Michigan Medicine.

Michigan Medicine is a specific area of campus that is patient focused, Michigan Medicine Spokesperson Mary Masson said. Internet and WiFi filtering in hospitals ensures WiFi networks can be used safely and securely by all users, including minors. Internet filtering on the medical campus decreases the likelihood of malicious activity or viewing unprofessional content in our patient care environment.

The modification of the policy comes a couple of months after a UM researcher was charged with distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography, including some that involved bestiality.

Michael Zeidler, 48, of Ann Arbor was charged in December 2018 after an FBI investigation that began in November when an undercover detective downloaded more than 400 images depicting child erotica, 187 images of child pornography and 51 videos of child pornography from a peer-to-peer network he operated.

During the investigation, an internet user utilized two different IP addresses to distribute child pornography that came back to the UM Ann Arbor campus. Based on information provided to the FBI about dates and times of logins, UM was able to identify Zeidler as the user of the IP addresses, according to the affidavit in support of an arrest warrant.

Another former UM pediatric doctor who was fired and stripped of his medical license amid child sex and pornography allegations was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December.

Mark Hoeltzel, 47, of Ann Arbor, pleaded guilty in September to online enticement of a minor, admitting he created a fake Facebook account in 2017 under the name Ryan Gardner to contact minor girls while pretending to be a teenage boy, court records show.

Hoeltzel lost his medical license and his job as the state investigated claims he was intimate with the patient while at work.

In December 2017, police executed a search warrant on Hoeltzels Ann Arbor home and seized several items, including a flash drive that was later found to contain more than 100 images of child pornography.

UMs Internet access policy notes that illegal material like child pornography will not be tolerated. If reports or complaints regarding possible illegal material are made, UMs Department of Public Safety and Security must be contacted immediately, according to the policy.

Blocking adult websites in our health system helps facilitate a professional environment where our employees can deliver the best health care possible, Masson said.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Police are now calling the death of an Ann Arbor man a homicide.

Richard Fortune, 71, was found dead about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 at his home in the 2600 block of Lillian Road on the east side of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor police Lt. Earle Fox said.

Officials were initially called to the scene for a welfare check requested by the University of Michigan hospital, he said. Details on why the check was requested were not immediately available.

Fox declined to release the manner of the homicide.

Its very key to our investigation, he said. Its a detailed investigation. Were doing multiple leads and conducting interviews.

They initially believed the death to be suspicious based on "how we found the scene," he said.

Neighbors say Fortune was a retired postal worker who rented out rooms.

Police have been in touch with both roommates, as well as others with possible knowledge of the incident, Fox said. Both roommates were being cooperative.

No one was in custody as of midday Thursday.

Fortune, who went by Dick, was known for his vibrant personality and his habit of growing and leaving out dahlias for his neighbors to take, neighbors said.

He had a history of heart attacks and many thought he'd had a heart issue when they first saw ambulances on scene Wednesday.

It was already a busy day on the street, as a water main burst in front of Fortunes home, said neighbor Tom Jackson.

"It's just weird; it's bizarre," Jackson said. "I was shaking out there talking to my neighbors."

Those with information on the death are asked to contact Ann Arbor police Detective Dan Iverson at 734-794-6930 extension 49321 or the Ann Arbor tip line at 734-794-6939.
ANN ARBOR, MI  Theres new leadership on the local Sierra Club board in Ann Arbor.

In a recent election, members voted out all but one of seven board members, replacing them with newcomers who want to take the groups environmental advocacy in a new direction.

The nearly total takeover comes amid criticism of the groups past posturing in city politics and local development matters.

I think its an important sea change in the community, said Jaime Magiera, the new vice chairman of the Ann Arbor-based Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club, which has about 3,400 members in Washtenaw, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

Magiera was one of eight challengers who ran in December against seven incumbents.

Other new board members include Dan Ezekiel, Erica Ackerman, Jason Frenzel, Amanda Sweetman and Anya Dale.

Ezekiel, a retired Ann Arbor science teacher and founding member of Recycle Ann Arbor, is the new chairman.

Ive been a member of the Sierra Club for a very long time and I really am interested in working on whats already been done in the Huron Valley Group. Its a large, thriving group and I want to make it refreshed and revived, he said.

Its all hands on deck right now. We are not interested in rehashing a bunch of past conflict.

For years, the local Sierra Club has regularly interjected in Ann Arbor politics, endorsing opponents of the mayor and his allies in city elections, speaking out against certain new housing developments and opposing the citys plans to build a train station in Fuller Park.

Those positions didnt always sit well with some of the people who are now on the groups board.

There were decisions that were made in terms of endorsements and whatnot over the years that were counter to some of the thinking of some of the membership and some of the people in the community, said Magiera, who ran for Ann Arbor City Council in 2015 and 2017 and twice saw the local Sierra Club endorse his opponent, Jack Eaton, while Magiera had support from Mayor Christopher Taylor and his allies.

I think, though, at our core, that we can focus on some fundamental things that we all agree on, Magiera said, sharing Ezekiels hope that the group can unite behind shared environmental priorities now.

The six board members who lost their seats are Nancy Shiffler, who was chair; James DAmour, vice chair; Kimberly Schlegel, Ginny Maturen, Ed Steinman and Vince Caruso.

The only returning incumbent is Rita Mitchell, an Ann Arbor resident who retained her seat by a narrow margin.

The new board was seated in January and met again Feb. 7, though the election is still being reviewed by the state chapter, said Ann Arbor resident Vince Caruso, one of the ousted board members.

Members are not at liberty to discuss internal matters, but it is not quite over, Caruso said, suggesting there are outstanding issues with regard to the election that need sorting out.

The previous board was very effective and that may have been its downfall, Caruso said, arguing almost all of the new board members were uninvolved in the group before.

Every candidate who ran for the board is passionate about the environment, Ezekiel said.

He believes the group has been fractured over Ann Arbors tribal politics, with passionate environmentalists on each side distrusting anyone who supports the other.

He wants to step away from that. His interest, he said, is building a better local Sierra Club, and he thinks the new board should be wary of making political endorsements that divide the membership.

I would like to think that the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club can be a force for healing some of these divisions, he said.

Ezekiel wants the group to focus on environmental issues such as clean air and water, climate change, renewable energy, non-motorized transportation, solid waste reduction, elimination of toxic chemicals and plastic residue from the environment, habitat enhancement, and planning sustainable growth in the community.

A founding member of Ann Arbors Greenbelt Advisory Commission who now serves on Washtenaw Countys Parks and Recreation Commission, hes also interested in natural area preservation. On behalf of the Sierra Club, he lobbied the City Council this week to preserve a local farm.

And as an avid cyclist, hes interested in expanding local pathways such as the Border-to-Border Trail.

While he suggests maybe skipping local political endorsements for at least a while to give the group some healing time, he thinks most members could get behind making sure Donald Trump doesnt carry Michigan in 2020 and that the state elects an environmentally minded Michigan House. In local races, he says, the group could take an educational role and publicize candidates positions.

A mix of old board members and new board members gathered around a conference room table inside the Ecology Center office in downtown Ann Arbor on Feb. 7 to hash out the groups business and, in some ways, pass the torch.

Maturen, the groups outgoing treasurer, gave a financial report and indicated shell help until Frenzel, a former Ann Arbor City Council member and ally of the mayor, fully takes over the finances. The group has a roughly $13,800 fund balance.

Shiffler remains on the groups conservation committee and says she plans to stay involved. She declined to say how she and the previous board took the election results.

Thats all kind of internal stuff. I just dont want to get into any of that, she said, though she acknowledged the shakeup was unexpected and it presents a steep learning curve for the new folks.

Former members have been generous with their time by helping with the transition, Ezekiel said, noting he and Shiffler have known each other for many years and theyve been sitting down and talking through issues without yelling or name calling.

There are nuances to the issues the local Sierra Club has engaged in over the years and it was not totally anti-development, Shiffler said.

The group only opposed developments when there was a negative impact on natural features, she said.

As for opposing the citys plans for a new train station, the groups ousted leaders argued repurposing parkland for a transportation facility would set a bad precedent.

Magiera said theres been sort of an old guard in place, and he hopes the group can do more outreach to bring in some younger people, including University of Michigan students. Theres also interest in branching outside of Ann Arbor more.

One example of that, our November program is going to be all about Ypsilanti, Ezekiel said, adding they expect to discuss Ypsilanti skatepark plans and solar initiatives.

SolarYpsi is running rings around Ann Arbor right now, and we want to know more about that, he said.

The group is interested in building bridges with anyone who wants to cooperate, Ezekiel said, adding that includes people who have felt alienated from the group in the past.

Hes interested in seeing what a 21st-century citizen environmental advocacy group can look like in Ann Arbor, he said.

We have a lot of energy from a lot of motivated, committed, educated members and volunteers, he said. This group is amazing.

The group is revamping its communications to be more interactive with members, including more social media presence, and the board will be looking to members for advice on where to focus energy, Ezekiel said.

If people are interested in getting involved, they can visit the groups website or social media pages, Magiera said.
Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect that the development is intended to be marketed to young professionals.

ANN ARBOR, MI  Three century-old rental houses on Henry Street are going to be replaced with a three-story apartment building intended for young professionals.

The Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously to approve the 66-bed development Tuesday night, Feb. 19.

The limited amount of automobile parking thats proposed, 18 spaces, was a point of discussion, though some council members expressed hopes that the development lends itself to a car-free lifestyle.

I would live there without a car, said Council Member Elizabeth Nelson, D-4th Ward.

I am hopeful that if problems arise related to the parking, that we will find solutions to address them, but Im going to support this project because I think its appropriate. Its near enough to downtown.

The new building is to include 11 apartments, each with six bedrooms. The site is within walking distance of downtown and the University of Michigan campus, and a stones throw from Luckys Market, a grocery store just down the street.

The plans include 18 automobile parking spaces in a lower-level parking area, one more than required, plus 20 bicycle parking spaces, 17 more than required. There also is on-street parking and nearby access to public transit, and onsite car-sharing vehicles are planned.

Nelson said she was skeptical about the development at first, but she believes it fits into the neighborhood.

When I looked at the neighborhood and I learned more about just sort of the nature of that neighborhood, theres a lot, a lot of rentals. Theres Avalon Housing, she said, referring to low-income housing. Its not particularly homogeneous anyway. Its a real mix.

With some new developments, the idea that people can live without cars is something Nelson acknowledged she has found unbelievable, but in this case she thinks it can work.

She hopes the developer will aggressively market the idea of a car-free lifestyle to prospective tenants.

The 66 residents who move into this place are not going to need cars, not all 66 of them, she said. Im hopeful about that, and I just feel like this is a really good example of a mid-density development thats central to the city and Im hopeful that it wont be disruptive to the neighborhood, so I feel OK about supporting this.

Council Member Ali Ramlawi, D-5th Ward, agreed with Nelson, saying the development does lend itself to a car-free lifestyle.

Its good to see more density in the area to bring more housing to a desperately needed market, he added.

Four individual properties are being combined for the $5.5 million development at 814-830 Henry St.

Its proposed by Prentice Partners, working with architect O-X Studio Inc.

Council Member Jane Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Ward, expressed doubts about the parking situation, saying shes not sure how 18 spaces can be enough for 66 tenants.

"Im not sure there wont be an issue of vehicles spilling into the neighborhoods, she said. Weve seen that in many other locations where the project has not provided the needed parking, and cars just find their way into the neighborhood streets.

Council Member Jeff Hayner, D-1st Ward, expressed other concerns about combining lots for new development.

Whenever we have aggregating of lots to create a single parcel, were taking individual opportunities for affordability, he said, suggesting the city should start a tally to account for whats lost, as well as whats gained, when there are developments like this.

I do have concerns about this lot combination creating something much greater than what was there, especially as it leads to the idea that its a new development and so therefore it is necessarily more expensive, he said. And thats something that we need to account for when we talk about affordable housing across the board.

Ramlawi expressed support for Hayners idea to tally up how much affordably priced rental housing the city is losing with new developments that many folks are priced out of.

The city has seen that in various locations, so new development isnt always all gain, Ramlawi said.

We are losing something, he said.
The Michigan House and Senate dont appear likely to challenge Gov. Gretchen Whitmers second attempt at restructuring the Department of Environmental Quality after voting down the first.

Whitmer signed a new version of her executive order restructuring the Department of Environmental Quality Wednesday, this time keeping two of the three panels created by the legislature shed initially planned to eliminate.

In party-line votes in the House and Senate, Republican lawmakers overturned Whitmers initial executive order on the subject, which would have transformed the DEQ into the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, restructured it, and eliminated a series of entities scattered throughout state government. Republicans objected to the orders elimination of three panels they had recently created, and overturned the executive order because of it.

But both Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, indicated Thursday they appreciated Whitmers changes the second time around.

In a statement, Shirkey said the Senate would not hold hearings on the new executive order and said Whitmers new order preserves the ability for citizens to defend their rights against the overreach of bureaucracy and provides our caucus opportunity for policy development.

The Governor has presented a revised plan for the Department that takes into account many of the concerns expressed by our caucus and I appreciate her willingness to extend this act of bipartisanship, he said.

House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, said on Twitter that he was glad we could reach a consensus."

Thank you, Governor @gretchenwhitmer, for reaching out and working with the Legislature on the important Executive Order and the restructuring of the DEQ (EGLE). We all want clean drinking water and the protection of our Great Lakes, and Im glad we could reach a consensus.  Lee Chatfield (@LeeChatfield) February 21, 2019

The order eliminates one of the three boards Republicans objected to the elimination of, the Environmental Science Advisory Board. The other two -- the Environmental Rules Review Committee and the Environmental Permit Review Commission, remain in place, though the governor noted she was awaiting an Attorney General opinion on the legality of those two commissions.

Like the last order, this one restructures the DEQ into the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; creates an Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team, Office of Climate and Energy and Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate; and makes various organizational changes.
Opening Michigan State Universitys presidential search to public scrutiny could result in a very difficult process, interim president Satish Udpa told lawmakers Thursday.

Udpa testified before a state House Appropriations subcommittee on higher education and community colleges Thursday to give lawmakers an update ahead of the state budget process. He became the universitys interim president last month after former interim President John Engler was asked to resign by the MSU Board of Trustees over comments made about survivors of Larry Nassars sexual abuse.

A search committee is currently searching for a permanent president to lead the university, but that process is closed to the public. The public will not be informed on who is interviewing for the position, and there will be no public vetting of candidates before the name of the person selected is announced.

Many in the MSU community have called for a more transparent process, especially in the wake of the Nassar scandal and subsequent concerns about how the administration handled it.

State Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, echoed those concerns at Thursdays hearing, telling Udpa that its the schools prerogative to conduct the search as they choose, but its happening at a critical time for MSU.

We are not in a typical moment, he said. Its so critical to continue to take the steps...and really make sure that faculty, staff and students feel like they have a meaningful voice in this final decision.

Udpa said he understood the concerns about a lack of transparency, but argued that many top-tier candidates would be unwilling to continue if their names were leaked. He pointed to a recent search by the University of Minnesota where the school released the names of its top three candidates, at which point two of the three candidates dropped out of the running.

The reality remains that it becomes a very difficult process if MSU were to go public with the search, Udpa said. He said he would relay the lawmakers opinions on the matter to the search committee.

Udpa was also asked by lawmakers about the ongoing state investigation into the universitys handling of the Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

At issue are a number of documents the Attorney Generals office has been attempting to get from the university, but that the university claims are protected by attorney-client privilege. The documents in dispute are related to the universitys ongoing battle with insurance companies and are not an attempt to hide information, Udpa told lawmakers.

There is no ulterior motives here other than that, he said.

In a Thursday morning update on the investigation, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessels office reported East Lansing District Court Judge Richard Ball has completed a review of the documents in question.

It does not appear the Attorney Generals office will be getting any additional documents and MSU will be allowed to redact or withhold more than 6,000 documents from the AGs investigation team," according to a press release from Nessels office.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A 28-year-old Detroit man was arrested by U.S. Marshals Wednesday is accused of plotting a mass shooting to occur in Michigan, according to WKBN 27-CBS. Cameron White was apprehended after he allegedly made threats on social media accounts about a possible shooting.

Immediate attention to this dangerous suspect by the Detroit police department and the U.S. Marshals task force in Detroit led to a swift and safe arrest by the task force in Youngstown," said U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott. "We will continue to partner with our state and local law enforcement agencies to keep suspects like White off the streets and our communities safe.

Police believed White was in Youngstown to hide out before he executed his planned attack. A warrant was issued Wednesday morning for Whites arrest and he was taken into custody later in the day. He is being held by police in Ohio until he can be extradited back to Michigan where he is expected be charged with making terrorism threats and computer crimes.
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. -- A Niles Township man could spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of killing his wife at their home in 2017, according to the Associated Press. A jury convicted John Lewis Tuesday for shooting his wife to death inside of a marijuana grow room at their home.

Authorities claimed Lewis shot Carla Lewis before calling 911 and claiming two men broke into their home, killed her and then fled the scene in her car. Prosecutors believed John Lewis stood to receive a payout from a life insurance policy following his wifes death.

His lawyers however argued that no murder weapon was ever found and maintained the two unknown men were the cause of Carla Lewiss death.

John Lewis will be sentenced on March 25.
Sig Sauer made a series of design tweaks to the Army Modular Handgun System last year that have improved the new pistol's reliability when firing 9mm ball ammunition, according to the newest annual report from the Pentagon's weapon's tester.

Both the XM17 and XM18 performed well firing jacketed hollow point ammunition but failed to meet some of the MHS reliability requirements with standard ball ammunition during the initial production verification tests, or PVT-T, the report said.

"The MHS experienced a large number of stoppages in early developmental testing with ball ammunition," according to the Fiscal 2018 Annual Report from the Defense Department's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, released Jan. 31. "To improve the reliability with ball ammunition without degrading any of the other attributes of the weapon, the vendor made adjustments to the magazine spring, magazine follower, slide geometry, and the internal components."

Data from the Army Evaluation Center's analysis of PVT-2 reliability testing show that the changes made to pistol and magazine have led to improvements in MHS reliability with ball ammunition, the report states.

Both the XM17 and XM18 exceed the requirement of an average of 5,000 rounds between failures. The XM18, using both ball and jacketed hollow point ammunition, or JHP, exceeds the requirement of an average of 2,000 rounds between stoppages, according to the report.

The XM17 showed marked improvement during the second round of product verification testing but did not perform as well as the XM18. When using ball ammunition, it achieved an average of 1,566 rounds between stoppages, compared to the PVT-1 results of an average of 431 rounds between stoppages. When using JHP ammunition, the XM17 achieved an average of 1,880 rounds between stoppages, a decline when compared to the average of 2,709 rounds between stoppages it achieved in PVT-1, the report states.

The report states that XM17 demonstrated a 93-94 percent probability of "completing one 99-round mission without a single stoppage."

Just over a year has passed since the Army started fielding the MHS and, so far, the service has received 27,000 of the new striker-fired pistols that will replace the Cold War-era M9s in its inventory.

"At the end of next week, we will be over 30,000" Modular Handgun Systems delivered to the Army, Sig Sauer spokesman Joel Harris told Military.com on Wednesday evening. The company won the MHS contract in 2017.

The service, including Army Special Operations Command, intends to purchase approximately 233,429 MHS pistols, according to the DOT&E report.

Weapons officials recently fielded the new XM17 and XM18 the U.S. Army Military Police School (USAMPS) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

"The [Beretta M9s] we currently have are breaking more often, which causes readiness issues," Mark Farley, deputy commandant, said in a recent Army press release.

One of the most popular features on the MHS is its modular grips, which come in small, medium and large for different hand sizes, Farley said.

"The Military Police Corps is about 16 percent female soldiers, so this is a big deal when you're talking about soldier lethality and accuracy," Farley said in the release. "For all soldiers to be able to hold that weapon with a proper grip and use the right fundamentals of firing -- it's very important in order for them to be able to engage the target and thereafter. One size does not fit all."

Another popular feature of the MHS is its consistent trigger pull, said John Scarbrough, an instructor at USAMPS.

"Your first shot is the same as your 17th shot," he said in the release, adding that trigger pull in conjunction with the modular grips should improve accuracy among students.

"Those are the two biggest things that I think will help out whomever is shooting them," Scarbrough said in the release. "We have had students before who had to use two fingers to pull the trigger due to strength because of their hand position, or they're holding the gun in an awkward position so it's not managing recoil."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Next they set out to conquer amari, the Italian bitter after-dinner liqueurs, eventually landing on three variations of Baltamaro that create a handsome set. Overproofed Fernet (Volume 1), made with rhubarb root, is the most herbal, Alpine version, with a bracing eucalyptus flavor and a whiskeylike finish. The Szechuan (Volume 2) grew from playing with a three peppercorn liqueur  the Szechuan berry shows its citrusy side with caramel notes and heat at the end. The dark aspect of coffee comes out in Volume 3, rich with citrus peel, star anise and cascara, the husk of the coffee berry. Drink this one after dinner  it tastes sweet and creamy, like a white Russian.
Navy leaders want to prevent a repeat of the problems that left the service's latest -- and most expensive -- aircraft carrier without any working weapons elevators.

The Navy will build a new land-based test site for its advanced weapons elevators, Vice Adm. Thomas Moore, head of Naval Sea Systems Command, told reporters this week. The site will be based in Philadelphia, he said, and crews, mechanics and engineers who will work with the elevators will train there.

"We would've been better, frankly, to have had a land-based testing site for weapons elevators on Ford," Moore said. "If that had been the case, we wouldn't be where we are today. I'm convinced of that."

The first round of the service's new state-of-the-art, advanced weapons elevators, which are designed to lift more bombs from below deck faster than the cable versions on Nimitz-class carriers, had major problems. When the aircraft carrier Ford, the first ship in the Navy's latest class of flattops, was delivered to the service in 2017, none of the 11 elevators on board worked properly.

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That was largely due to software and control systems responsible for keeping the platforms level, telling the doors when to close and stopping the elevator from failing.

"In a perfect world -- and hindsight is 20/20 -- we would've built this back in probably 2008 and not today," Moore said.

The Navy has land-based test sites for some of the other new technology used aboard the Ford, including the dual-band radar, arresting gear and the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS. However, sailors have still reported problems with those systems.

In 2017, the Navy's Operational Test and Evaluation Force issued a report stating that the poor or unknown reliability of those platforms could leave the Ford more vulnerable to attack and unable to conduct high-intensity flight operations that would be expected during wartime.

Moore defended the ship, saying he remains optimistic about its future performance. The systems aboard it are complex, he said, which is why the Navy needs to find ways to "iron out the bugs" as sailors are likely to be operating from the ships for decades to come.

The first of the advanced weapons elevators was delivered to the Ford in December. The goal to have all 11 elevators in place and operating by this summer is still on track, Moore said.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said he's so serious about meeting that timeline that he told President Donald Trump that if he doesn't meet it, "you can fire me."

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
The Department of Veterans Affairs approves claims for post-traumatic stress disorder related to military sexual assault at significantly lower rates for men than women -- a gap the former director of the VA's Center for Women Veterans says shows "systematic discrimination" against men in an era of #MeToo.

In an editorial published Feb. 11 by The Hill, Kayla Williams, a senior fellow and director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, said the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has closed a gap that once existed between approval rates for combat-related PTSD and claims for military sexual trauma (MST), but a disparity still exists between the genders for MST-related claims.

The grant rate in 2018 for sexual-trauma PTSD claims was 57.7 percent for women and 44.7 percent for men. While those rates represent a large increase from the respective 41 percent and 26.9 percent approval rates in 2011, they show a continued lack of understanding within the VBA of the scope of the problem among men, Williams said in an interview Feb. 14.

Women in the military, who make up just 15 percent of the total force, do get assaulted at higher rates, statistics show. But more than half of all survivors of sexual assault in the military are men. And male victims are less likely to report sexual assault, often dismissing an incident as hazing or harassment, according to Williams.

Because they are less likely to report, men don't have a paper trail or proof to back their disability compensation claims for MST-related PTSD, which are subsequently dismissed, she said.

She added that there is a cultural bias within the VBA that "doesn't think this happens to men."

"This is thought of as a women's problem," Williams said. "Even when I've talked to senior leaders in the military, I raise certain [hazing] practices -- you've heard of 'tea-bagging' -- and they don't realize it's sexual assault. For someone who has been a victim of sexual assault as a child or anyone who doesn't want someone's genitals pressed onto their face, it is sexual assault."

In 2011, the VA launched a concerted effort to close the gap between PTSD claims granted for military sexual trauma and those granted for combat and other causes. The effort raised the approval rate for MST claims by 20 percentage points. In 2018, the approval rate was 56.6 percent for MST-related claims while the PTSD grant rate for other traumas was 54 percent.

Williams said she noticed the gender disparity for MST claims while serving as director of the women's center from 2016 to 2018, adding that she told VBA officials of the difference but "they didn't believe they had a problem."

She did not raise her concerns with higher-ups, saying that it isn't a secretarial-level concern.

She believes the VBA could solve the problem by training claims reviewers specifically on male military sexual trauma and bias. She also recommends that supervisors conduct spot checks of claims.

"If you look at the improvements that VA was able to make in accepting women's claims, I really think this is a solvable problem. ... Men deserve equitable disability compensation from VA," she said.

The VA did not respond to a request for comment

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Miltiary.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
Like many military physician colleagues, Dr. Richard W. Thomas, a retired Army major general, ear-nose-throat surgeon and current president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), is worried about tentative Defense Department plans to eliminate more than 17,000 uniformed medical billets across the military health system starting in October 2020.

Thomas is sufficiently uneasy to discuss the proposed cuts publicly, in part because medical students at USUHS, aware that uniformed health care staffs could shrink as much as 13 percent over several years, are asking university faculty how the cuts will impact their careers and desired medical specialties.

"We get those questions, and it's a fair question. 'I'm interested in being a pediatrician. Am I going to have a job?' " Thomas said. Likewise, experienced physicians in specialties that don't deploy with combat troops are anxious too.

In a lengthy interview in his office on the Bethesda, Maryland, university campus, Thomas shared his concerns but also his confidence that Army, Navy and Air Force medical leaders are carefully analyzing those initial "meat cleaver" targets and almost certainly will press for more scalpel-like staff reductions.

Related: Military Mulls Medical Personnel Cuts Even as Suicide Rates Rise

"Top-down driven, bottom-up refined," Thomas said of the billet-reduction process he expects as the services reconsider the numbers and types of physicians, nurses, dentists, medics, technicians and support staff they need, following years of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The medical [community's] responsibility is to give them the best analysis they can, to say this is what 'right' looks like from our perspective," he said. If that occurs, if informed advice is heeded as Thomas anticipates, then the medical force review will become a great opportunity to reset requirements.

"After the end of every major combat window, you tend to downsize the force somewhat. There's a certain amount of health in that," Thomas said.

We reported here six weeks ago on a year-long collaboration on medical staff cuts between the Joint Chiefs, service medical departments, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and analysts in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Cuts of roughly 7,300 from Army medical staff and 5,300 apiece from the Navy and Air Force surfaced in draft reports. The intent is to repurpose billets as warfighters and to deepen individual workloads across military medicine so clinical skills stay sharp.

Those goals make sense, Thomas said. It's the size of cuts that concerns him, particularly given the likely impact on graduate medical education pipelines, which he calls the "lifeblood" of military medicine. Graduate education produces specialists, from heart surgeons to primary-care physicians to pediatricians. The right mix ensures deployment readiness and proper staffing of base hospitals.

He also noted that just as Congress directed the DHA to assume central control of all military health facilities, it also has asked for a study of whether USUHS should oversee all graduate medical education now residing with the services. Thomas believes that shift will happen, calling it logical given how other medical functions are being consolidated under a single combat support agency.

Thomas cautioned against staff cuts so deep they force closure of certain graduate medical education pipelines that one day would need to be restored.

"The military is really good about a couple of things. If you give them a target, they will work toward that number. That's the issue. If you look at those overall numbers -- I looked at them the other day, for example, 7,000 for the Army. Over 1,000 of those billets are medical corps. Doctors."

Analyzing the effect of such cuts on the ability to meet mission "is really what the services' medical departments are for. They need to take that and do the analysis," Thomas said. "They may come back and say, 'Hey that number's too large. I can't do it.' But I also think they are going to have to snap link this to a timeline. 'If you want me to attrite certain specialties or personnel numbers, how many of those then become civilians?'

"I'll give you an example: a pediatric endocrinologist," Thomas said. " 'Maybe I don't need one in uniform, but I'll convert that to a civilian billet if I still have that requirement.' That's the analysis that has to be done."

USUHS becomes an occasional target for budget hawks, Thomas said, even as its importance grows as the "foundation of education and training for the military health system." That periodic political threat is one reason Thomas wants to tout the "value proposition" USUHS brings to military medicine. "We don't want to be the best university no one ever heard of," he said.

USUHS is a fully accredited medical school. While universities typically begin as colleges, evolve, and then establish medical schools, Congress reversed that order to create a "West Point for doctors" after conscription ended in 1973. The intent was to ensure a strong cadre of military-trained physicians. Over the years, USUHS added a graduate school of nursing, a dental school and a college of allied health sciences. Today, it has about 1,000 faculty on staff.

The medical school gets 20 applicants for each first-year student billet, a ratio that matches and exceeds most Ivy League medical schools, Thomas said. This year, it will graduate 171 new physicians, each obligated to serve seven years on active duty in the Army, Air Force or Navy.

The school's graduates are only 15 to 18 percent of new physicians the military needs. Civilian medical schools produce the majority of military doctors, enticed to serve by military-paid scholarships or loan forgiveness.

Statistically, USUHS graduates are more career-minded: 80 percent serve 20 years or more to earn military retirement.

"I tell people our graduates stay longer, not because of a longer service obligation [but] because they are more obligated to serve," Thomas said.

Most students enter USUHS because the military pays for their medical degrees. They serve beyond initial obligations for the training opportunities or the desire to deploy, said Thomas, who once commanded the Army's Medical Corps.

"These guys [and gals] would tell me, 'If you deploy me, I'll stay.' Because to many of them, that was the 'it.' That was the real deal for them. They understood why we existed, and it all made sense."

A higher percentage of USUHS graduates train in specialties deemed combat necessary, such as general surgeons, anesthesiologists and emergency medicine, but many also become primary-care physicians or family care specialists. By the time year groups of doctors reach O-6 rank -- colonels in the Army and Air Force, captains in the Navy -- more than a third are USUHS graduates, Thomas said.

Because Congress and the Defense Department prize USUHS graduates, the medical school is set to expand over the next several years to produce at least 30 more doctors annually. A new building of almost 500,000 square feet will be constructed, starting in 2021, to add classrooms, research labs and offices.

Thomas became university president in 2016, bringing deep experience in combat medicine and senior health management. After earning a doctorate in dental surgery, he went to medical school to become a surgeon specializing in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery. He served five combat tours, including as division surgeon for the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq, and surgeon general of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. His last military job was as the first director of health care operations and chief medical officer at the Defense Health Agency.

He noted that the military has been the source of some of "the greatest advances in medicine, whether it's trauma care, infectious disease care, traumatic brain injury care, psychological health.  Combat is the greatest catalyst."

That's always been true and has been so again through 18 years of continuous combat operations since 9/11, he said.

"We've seen a transformation of medicine, military medicine certainly. And the value of military medicine is those advances translate into civilian medicine," Thomas said.

To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120 or email milupdate@aol.com or twitter: @Military_Update.
As the Army steps up inspections of base housing and holds town halls for soldiers and families living in more than 87,000 homes on post, the service's senior leaders are making clear that the private management companies responsible for the housing must fix long-standing problems, starting with customer service.

According to an service release, Army Secretary Mark Esper, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey met with the heads of seven companies this week to discuss how to solve problems, including peeling paint and mold, faulty wiring, rodent and bug infestations and more.

Among the solutions agreed to is a tenant bill of rights that would suspend certain fees and let soldiers withhold rent payments if their housing issues aren't solved. In addition, the companies "made commitments to improve work-order transparency through an online tracking system" and agreed to train enough employees to handle problems when they arise, according to the release.

Esper, Milley and Dailey traveled to Fort Meade, Maryland, last week to conduct an inspection of the privately managed housing on the installation, where they observed what they described as "unacceptable ... deficient housing conditions."

In a letter to the companies, they said they were "deeply troubled," adding that the Army was "failing soldiers and their families by not providing the quality housing they deserve."

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Executives who met with the three Army leaders included those from Balfour Beatty Communities, CRC Companies LLC, Corvias Military Living, Hunt Military Communities, Lincoln Military Housing, Lendlease Corp. and Michael's Military Housing.

Across more than 40 Army installations, base leaders are holding town halls to provide information on the Army's efforts to oversee the housing crisis and receive feedback from personnel and family members living on installations.

An announcement at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for a town hall scheduled for Feb. 26 called the event "an internal forum for installation leaders to personally connect with soldiers, Army families and other residents of Fort Campbell to help ensure they are meeting their obligations to provide safe, quality family housing."

The town hall will be attended by Maj. Gen. Brian Winski, commander of Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division; garrison commander Col. Joseph Kuchan; and representatives from Campbell Crossing LLC, the company that manages the post's housing.

Issues over the safety and health of privately managed military housing were exposed last year in several months-long investigations by Reuters. They included reports of children poisoned by lead in older homes and families falling ill as the result of mold growth in new construction.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing Feb. 14 to understand the scope of the issue and grill housing management executives and Defense Department leadership on their plans to solve the problems.

In the past, housing companies and military leadership have reported satisfaction rates among tenants of military housing as high as 85 percent to 98 percent. Results of a survey released just before the Senate hearing, however, painted a different picture: Of 14,558 qualified respondents, 56 percent said they had a negative or very negative experience living in privatized housing.

Questions of poor oversight by the government and opportunism by the private companies responsible for managing military housing -- a benefit once run by the Defense Department -- come as the DoD is considering outsourcing its system for permanent change-of-station moves.

U.S. Transportation Command is weighing whether contracting with a global household goods shipping company would help solve logistics and quality-control issues experienced frequently by military families when they move between duty stations.

Military family advocates consistently have raised concerns over the Defense Department's ability to adequately provide oversight of private corporations hired to provide services and hold them accountable.

In a release Feb. 13, the National Military Family Association referenced its own congressional testimony in 2001 about outsourcing military housing, when it predicted that "if the services' oversight of developers mirrors their own care of housing, families could be caught in the middle of the new management company blaming failures on the construction company, the services blaming both, and 'those families will suffer.' "

"It saddens and angers us to have to say, 'We told you so,' " said Joyce Raezer, NMFA executive director. "Privatization was supposed to make those problems go away, but military leaders at multiple levels did what we feared they would -- abdicate their responsibility to look out for their people. Shame on them. Congress must hold them accountable."

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
The commanding officer of one of the Navy's coastal riverine squadrons has been fired, service officials announced Thursday.

Cmdr. Randolph Chestang, Coastal Riverine Squadron 3's former commanding officer, was relieved of duty Tuesday "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," said Cmdr. Cate Cook, a spokeswoman for Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Capt. Michael Ray, Coastal Riverine Group 1's commodore, made the decision to remove Chestang from his job.

No additional details were immediately made available as the command investigations associated with this action are not yet complete, Cook said. But commanding officers must meet high standards, she added, and their position requires the utmost in responsibility, reliability and leadership.

"The Navy holds commanding officers accountable in cases where they fall short of those standards," she said. "... The Navy places tremendous responsibility on the leadership triad of Navy commands, and strives to place its best leaders in those coveted positions. The vast majority of the Navy's commanding officers complete their assigned tours successfully."

Cmdr. Bill Swinford, from Coastal Riverine Group Two, is temporarily serving as CRS-3's commanding officer until a permanent replacement is assigned, Cook said.

Chestang, a prior-enlisted sailor, led Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 for just over a year. He has conducted mine-clearance operations in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and previously served aboard the guided-missile cruiser Philippine Sea, according to his official bio.

He completed his master's degree in national security and strategic studies while assigned to Naval War College Newport. His personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal with multiple awards for both.

Chestang has been reassigned to Expeditionary Warfighting Development Center (Detachment San Diego). He's the second Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 commanding officer to be relieved in the last five years.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
VICENZA, Italy -- Clipboard-wielding military officers will be sweeping through family housing complexes throughout Europe in the next month asking residents about mold, rats, repairs and any other possible problems.

The effort to survey residents about conditions at military-owned and military-leased housing comes after a recent investigative series by Reuters found housing provided to military families at many U.S. bases is dilapidated and dangerous, poisoning young children with lead and mold. The series showed that repeated complaints had gone largely unheeded.

On Feb. 15, top military officials ordered commanders to inspect all housing for which they were responsible within 30 days and to hold town hall meetings.

"We will hold our chain of command and private contractors accountable to ensure they are meeting their obligations to provide safe, high-quality family housing," Army Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, Army chief of staff, said in a joint statement last week.

Related content:

In the Kaiserslautern area, home to the largest U.S. military community overseas, Air Force teams planned to start going door-to-door Thursday, said Col. Kevin Parker, 86th Civil Engineer Group commander. The Air Force oversees housing for all services in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.

Twenty, two-person teams will canvass base housing areas on Landstuhl, Vogelweh and Ramstein to reach everyone, including Army families, Parker said. Army officials are responsible for checking barracks' condition, he said.

Three questions will be asked, Parker said:

Are you satisfied with the health and safety of your home;

Do you have any work requests regarding the health and safety of your home that a maintenance team has not addressed to your satisfaction;

Do you have any other health or safety concerns with your home.

Families may also request an in-person walk-through of their home, Parker said. Families also can answer those same questions on a survey that was emailed out, voiding the need for a site visit if there are no issues, he added.

Commanders have been told to document any health or safety risks in each unit using a standard checklist and to "take any needed immediate action ... to ensure the health and safety" of families, according to guidance from top Air Force leaders.

Army officials at U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz have been told to conduct visits to all housing and barracks, but were still awaiting a detailed operational order from the commanding general, said Stefan Alford, a spokesman.

In Vicenza, U.S. Army Garrison Italy was still working out how and when the officers' visits of some 800 housing units on and off base would be done, said spokesman Jim Brooks.

He said that the top officers in Vicenza, including commanders of U.S. Army Africa and the 173rd Airborne Brigade, could be ringing doorbells as part of the effort.

Army captains will be checking on conditions at some 2,350 rooms in the barracks.

But the majority of housing overseas -- private rentals -- will not be checked, officials said.

There are about 1,600 military family housing units in Kaiserslautern, but 85 percent of service members with dependents live off base, Parker said.

More than 2,450 service members assigned to Vicenza live in privately leased houses and apartments, Brooks said. But the military is not responsible for those; local landlords are.

The substandard conditions detailed in the Reuters stories were in privatized military housing -- on-base living quarters owned and managed by private companies with 50-year contracts.

Privatization on U.S. bases began in 1996 aimed at improving housing quality while reducing costs to the services.

In Europe, however, the services own their on-base housing. The chain of command is also responsible for its leased housing.

It's not clear what the canvassing in the overseas housing will turn up, although officials said they expect to find no significant health or safety issues.

"As leaders, we've got to keep our mind open that what we find may not match our expectations, but I don't expect to find anything major," Parker said of his teams' review.

After Reuters' first story documenting that old lead-based paint in housing on U.S. Army bases had poisoned young children, Vicenza officials tested a number of units last autumn and found no problem. That was as expected because most Army-leased housing is new; Italy banned lead-based paint, which causes cognitive deficits in young children, in 1961. On-base housing built before 1961 had been checked in 1997, according to officials, and 38 "findings" of lead-paint had been fixed.

The Defense Department Inspector General's office told the Pentagon three years ago that it had an unsafe housing problem with "pervasive" health and safety deficiencies, including electrical and fire hazards, lead-based paint and mold.

The IG recommended stepped-up inspections and increased oversight of privatized housing. The Defense Department declined to do so, citing "unnecessarily increased costs" and "more government intrusion into a private business enterprise."

-- Stars and Stripes reporter William Morris contributed to this report. Morris and Jennifer Svan reported from Kaiserslautern, Germany.
The patrol boats, which have been in the Persian Gulf region since 2003, have been replaced by two of the service's newest...
Congressional lawmakers and a Japanese-American civil rights group used Tuesday's annual "Day of Remembrance" for the Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps during World War II to warn against President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

"It is not enough for today to be a Day of Remembrance," David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said in a statement.

"It must be a day that we say no more to separating families and imprisoning children, no more spreading lies about immigrants, no more targeting of people because of where they come from or what religion they follow, and no more using the census as a weapon," Inoue said.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that, long after the injustice against Japanese-Americans, "we are seeing the unjust treatment of immigrants and refugees with the discriminatory actions of our president through decisions like the Muslim ban and the insistent requests for funds to build a wall along our southern border."

The Feb. 19 "Day of Remembrance" marks the 1942 signing by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of Executive Order 9066, which sent more than 100,000 Japanese-American citizens and those of Japanese ancestry to 10 internment camps in isolated areas over fears of sabotage that proved to be unfounded.

Then-Gov. Earl Warren of California, who would become chief justice of the Supreme Court, strongly backed Roosevelt on internment. He later would write in his memoirs, "It was wrong to react so impulsively, without positive evidence of disloyalty."

In 1983, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, appointed by Congress to review Executive Order 9066, found that it was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership."

President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1988 the Civil Liberties Act, which apologized for the internments and authorized reparations payments of $20,000 to each internment camp survivor. "We gather here to right a grave wrong," he said in signing the bill.

The White House had no comment on the Day of Remembrance, but Trump briefly spoke to the issue of Japanese internment during the presidential campaign in December 2015.

"I would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer," he told Time Magazine of what his position might have been. "I certainly hate the concept of it. But I would have had to be there at the time to give you a proper answer."

House and Senate Democrats this week pointed to similarities between the WWII internments and the current debate over the wall and the so-called "caravans" heading north to the border, although most of the Japanese-Americans interned were citizens, while the asylum seekers are undocumented.

"As we remember those who suffered in internment camps, I am saddened and disturbed by President Trump's cruel policies targeting refugees and separating immigrant families," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California, said in a statement joining with other members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).

Last week, Rep. Mark Takano, D-California; and Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, introduced the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2019 to prohibit the imprisonment of U.S. citizens "on the basis of race, religion, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability."

"We cannot allow what my parents, grandparents, and 115,000 other Japanese-Americans underwent during World War II to ever happen again in our country," said Takano, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

"The rhetoric and policies being promoted by this administration are a cause for concern and further emphasize the need for this legislation," he said.

Hirono, who was born in Japan, said, "The incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II was deeply wrong, and something like it should never happen again."

"Over the past two years, however, Donald Trump and his administration have pursued divisive policies and rhetoric that demonize the Muslim community and other marginalized groups," she said.

The Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2019 was named for the late Rep. Mark Takai, D-Hawaii, a National Guard lieutenant colonel who served in Iraq in 2009, and the late Fred Korematsu, who at age 23 during World War II resisted relocation to an internment camp and challenged Executive Order 9066 in court.

Takai was honored for his advocacy on immigration issues and Korematsu for taking his case to the Supreme Court. Korematsu lost on a 6-3 decision in a landmark 1944 case. The Korematsu ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
A Coast Guard lieutenant assigned to the service's headquarters in Washington, D.C., has been arrested on drug and gun possession charges, and is accused of plans to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," according to documents filed in Maryland District Court.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, an acquisitions officer for the National Security Cutter Acquisition Program, was arrested Feb. 15 and charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances, and possession of Tramadol, a Schedule IV pain medication.

The documents were first unearthed by Seamus Hughes of The Program on Extremism at George Washington University, and shared with Military.com.

A motion for detention pending trial, filed by U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur, paints a much more menacing portrait of Hasson's crimes and planned crimes.

"The current charges, however, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg," Hur wrote. "The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect government conduct."

The court papers, filed Feb. 19, portray an officer who allegedly is a close follower of Anders Breivik, a Norwegian man who carried out two terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011, killing eight people by detonating a car bomb and then murdering 69 children at a summer camp on the island of Utova.

Breivik drafted a manifesto that Hasson allegedly read frequently and adhered to, stockpiling weapons and human growth hormone to increase his strength for an attack. Found on his computer were lengthy missives to friends about "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful."

Hasson appeared to blame "liberalist/globalist ideology for destroying traditional peoples, especially white. No way to counteract without violence," he allegedly wrote.

From January 2017 to January 2019, the "defendant conducted online searches and [made] thousands of visits for pro-Russian, neo-fascist, and neo-Nazi literature," according to court documents. Other alleged targets on his list included presidential candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts; Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey; and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California.

He is, by his own alleged accounts in emails to friends, addicted to Tramadol.

"Need to come off Tramadol, clear my head. Read and get education have to move to friendly area and start to organize. Get leadership within the community, sheriff, city manager, mayor, lawyer?" he wrote, according to court documents. "Have to take serious look at appropriate individual targets, to bring greatest impact. Professors, DR's, Politian's, Judges, leftists in general. Look up tactics used during Ukrainian civil war ... Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."

Another draft letter to a "known American neo-Nazi leader" identified Hasson as a white nationalist looking for an opportunity for "a little focused violence" to establish racial supremacy.

When Hasson was arrested at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, earlier this month, the document states, law enforcement agents found 15 firearms, including shotguns, rifles and handguns, and "conservatively, over 1,000 rounds of mixed ammunition."

U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride confirmed that Hasson worked in the Coast Guard acquisition directorate and released a statement regarding the investigation.

"An active-duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice," he said in the statement. "Because this is an open investigation, the Coast Guard has no further details at this time."

According to court documents, Hasson is a former Marine who served from 1988 to 1993. He also served two years in the Army National Guard.

A message left for FBI Baltimore did not immediately receive a response.

A detention hearing for Hasson is set for Thursday at 1 p.m.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at patricia.kime@miltiary.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
How detailed either Mueller's report or the attorney general's summary of the findings will be is unclear. Lawmakers have demanded that Mueller's report be made public, but Barr has been noncommittal on that point, saying he intends to be as forthcoming as regulations and department practice allow. He has pointed, however, to Justice Department practices that insist on saying little or nothing about conduct that does not lead to criminal charges.
Gun maker Heckler & Koch made a pair of classic Marine Corps jokes in a Facebook post about a shipment of M27 rifles headed to some Devil Dogs in Georgia.

We wrote about the H&K's "Marine proof" rifles for "crayon eaters" on our Kit Up! blog. Our readers had a blast with this story when we posted about it on our own Military.com Facebook page. Here are nine of their funniest comments.
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Legislators who represent Middletown, Middlefield and Meriden will be meeting constituents at local eateries starting this weekend and running through mid-March.

State Rep. Quentin Phipps, D-Middletown, has scheduled office hours Saturday at Brew Bakers, 169 Main St., Middletown, from 10 a.m. to noon. People are invited to stop by to share their thoughts and concerns on issues facing them and their families in Middletown and across Connecticut.
In December, five militants attacked India's Parliament in the heart of New Delhi, killing nine people before the attackers were shot dead. The brazenness of the attack  in the most secure area of the capital, on a target symbolizing Indian democracy  left India shaken and enraged. India blamed the attack on two Pakistan-based militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, and accused the Pakistani intelligence service of being behind the operation. India massed hundreds of thousands of troops at the border with Pakistan and kept them there for the better part of a year.
MIDDLETOWN  The human resources director for the school department has filed a lawsuit against the city over ongoing pay inequities and derogatory comments she claims Mayor Daniel T. Drew made about her and other women.

The suit was brought by Michele DiMauro in U.S. District Court in New Haven earlier this month. The lawsuit was first reported by the Middletown Eye.

DiMauro, who has worked for school system since 2006, was involved in a protracted debate with Drew over raises she argued she was owed by the city in 2018. She charged Drew blocked the raises she was owed while giving similar increases to three other city employees, two of whom were men.

That matter was eventually settled when the Common Council allocated funds for the raises to DiMauro in June 1018.

However, in her suit, DiMauro contends that she was and continues to be paid less than two men who have served as the citys human resources director.

The men over-see approximately 700 employees, while DiMauro oversees human resources and insurance functions for approximately 1,200 employees, according to her suit.

DiMauro says one of those men, HR Director Thomas Tokarz, unilaterally decided to recommend that (DiMauro) not receive a raise even while approving raises for three men.

In her suit, DiMauro alleges Drew has made derogatory and denigrating comments about women in general including female city employees. She said Drew stated that [DiMauro] is a paper pusher and should be a secretary. She also says Drew referred to DiMauro and other female city employees as witches around a cauldron.

Because she spoke out about gender inequity in the workplace, DiMauro said she has been subjected to increased scrutiny, unwarranted criticism, and micro-management in the performance of her job duties.

Further, DiMauro says Drew made public statementsimpugning (her) credibility and/or truthfulness.

For his part, in a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Drew said, These allegations have been disproven in two independent investigations at a cost of more than $50,000 to the taxpayers.

I value our employees equitably and always have., he said. I have appointed more women to high-level positions than any Mayor before me. Our pay data show no disparities.

Drew said that in 2012, during the first year of his administration, DiMauro was earning $61,318 per year.

Shes had multiple raises since then and her salary today is $116,521 per year, he said. While I value her service to the community and identify with her desire to earn more money, the fact remains that gender played no role in the citys assessment of her pay rate.

I remain committed, as my record demonstrates, to equitable hiring and equitable pay. I have no doubt that these allegations will once again prove unfounded.

The city has taken great steps to ensure DiMauros complaints have been addressed, attorney Michael Rose from the Hartford firm of Rose Kallor said Thursday afternoon.

Over the past 18 months, both the Director of Human Relations and a neutral investigator reviewed the claims and did not substantiate any of these allegations of gender discrimination, Rose said. Ms. DiMauros salary has been adjusted substantially in the past year, and even prior to that. The fact remains that Mayor Drew played no role in setting Ms. DiMauros salary.

Moreover, the statements attributed to the Mayor were unverified by any witnesses and denied by the Mayor, he said. We very much look forward to presenting the facts in a Court of law, and anticipate a finding in the Citys favor.

But according to the suit, the combination of the events DiMauro describes has caused her to suffer anxiety, grief, physical pain, a loss of appetite, interference with her sleep and disruption in her professional and personal life, she claims in the lawsuit.

DiMauro is being represented by attorney Magdalena B. Wiktor of the New London firm of Madsen, Priestely & Parenteau. According to a staff member in her office, Wiktor was taking a deposition Thursday and was not available for comment.

In the 18-page lawsuit, DiMauro is alleging eight violations of federal and/or state laws: violation of the equal pay act; retaliation in violation of the equal pay act; violation of Connecticut General Statues governing equal pay and well as retaliation in violation of the CGS; discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; discrimination in violation of the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act; retaliation in violation of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and retaliation in violation of the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act; and discrimination in violation of the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act.

She is seeking economic damages, including lost wages and benefits, past and future, reclassification of (her) pay grade and pay step; non-economic damages, including but not limited to damages for emotional distress, pain, humiliation and embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of enjoyment of profession, and harm to reputation, as well as compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys fees and court costs, pre-judgment interest  and any further relief the court deems necessary and proper.
HARTFORD  Gov. Ned Lamont may not use the same rhetoric as his predecessor, but his budget is just as harsh on Connecticuts hospitals when it comes to taxing them.

Lamonts two-year $43 billion budget canceled a previously approved tax cut for hospitals and it maintained a much lower rate for inpatient hospital rates that was not expected.

Look folks, there are no easy choices, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw said Wednesday. Theres pain throughout and were looking for all stakeholders to be a part of the solution.

Asked why they tax hospitals McCaws predecessor, Ben Barnes, said because, Its like why do you rob banks?  Its where the money is.

The rhetoric might be different, but the end result is the same.

After two years of paying $900 million annually in provider taxes, hospitals were supposed to see the tax drop to $384 million. Lamonts budget maintains the tax at $900 million and gives them back $453 million as part of a calculation to get more federal Medicaid reimbursement. That ends up being a $43 million loss per year for the hospitals.

In addition the administration doesnt change the calculation for the inpatient hospital rates.

We are not making any adjustments to the rates in the biennium, McCaw said Wednesday.

That means hospitals will lose about 16.8 percent or about $170 million annually. The decision will save the state about $59.1 million in 2020 and $61.8 million in 2021.

The Connecticut Hospital Association is not happy with the proposal.

We are strongly opposed to the proposed budget, Jennifer Jackson, CEO of the Connecticut Hospital Association, said. The current administration is not honoring the bipartisan agreement for this year or next year, and the budget makes additional cuts to hospitals.

Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said Lamonts budget undoes a lot of the progress made by the bipartisan budget agreement.

I dont understand when he says weve got to get together and were not Washington  we did two years ago, Fasano said. Why are you messing with that?

Lamont has pledged to work in a bipartisan way, but Democrats won big last November and no longer need Republican votes to get things passed.
3 1 of 3 Contributed Photo / Milford Fire Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed Photo / Milford Fire Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





MILFORD  Six pet rabbits died from smoke inhalation following a fire at an apartment complex in the city on Wednesday that left the building uninhabitable, fire officials said.

Fire dispatchers got a 911 at 12:05 p.m., reporting a fire in a six-unit structure at 51 Broadway, according to Battalion Chief Anthony Fabrizi. The first units to arrive at the apartment building reported smoke coming from the second-floor windows.
BRIDGEPORT  City officials on Thursday urged a judge to throw out the lawsuit of a local man who claims he is being prevented from becoming a firefighter because he has a medical marijuana card.

Associate City Attorney John Bohannon Jr. filed a motion in Superior Court seeking to dismiss the suit brought by James Bulerin III, contending that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case.

Judge Elizabeth Stewart is scheduled to hear arguments on the motion Monday morning.

Bulerins lawyer, Thomas Bucci, contends that the city is violating state law regarding medical marijuana use by rejecting Bulerins application to become a city firefighter.

On May 31, 2012, Connecticut became the 17th state in the country to approve medical marijuana when Gov. Dannell Malloy signed HB 5389, An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana, of PUMA.

Under the state law, No employer may refuse to hire a person or may discharge, penalize [,] or threaten an employee solely on the basis of such persons or employees status as a qualifying patient or primary caregiver. Nothing in this subdivision shall restrict an employers ability to prohibit the use of intoxicating substances during work hours or restrict an employers ability to discipline an employee for being under the influence of intoxicating substances during work hours.

According to the citys motion, on Jan. 23, City Personnel Director David Dunn removed Bulerins name from the firefighter eligibility list after Bulerin tested positive for marijuana. Bulerin then produced a medical marijuana card.

The city contends that the card cautions against the performance of functions essential to the performance of firefighting duties.

The fact that Bulerin failed to disclose the fact that he was taking medical marijuana during the application process for being a firefighter prompted concerns regarding plaintiffs veracity, the motion states.

More for you News Attorney: Bridgeport illegally scrubbed firefighter...

Bulerin has filed an appeal with the Civil Service Commission of Dunns decision but its not scheduled to be heard by the commission until March 12 when Bucci claims it will be too late for Bulerin to get into the current class at the Connecticut Fire Academy.
BAD AXE -- Many students from all parts of the world will be waiting "Tables for Tips" at Pizza Hut in Bad Axe next week.

The event runs from 4 to 8 pm. on Monday, Feb. 25. The students in the Thumb through the International Student Exchange program and are attending local schools and have become a member of a new family and new community. While the students are here, they must participate in community service hours to give back to the communities for supporting their stay and for welcoming them into their new community.
Its a big deal that the Department of Defense decided that they wanted to partner with us for another five years, said Caralynn Nowinski Collens, co-founder and CEO of UI Labs. Its doubling down. It means we were successful for the first five years and lets do more work together.
"I've known Mehmet Dalman since I've been here and I'm quite sure that the club will deal with it in the right way in the next few days because they've asked for an extension and I think Nantes have agreed to that," Warnock told reporters on Thursday.
Manchester City said Thursday that one of their fans was "in a critical condition in hospital" following an alleged assault after their Champions League match against Schalke.

Pep Guardiola's Premier League leaders sealed a dramatic 3-2 win in Germany on Wednesday despite being down to 10 men after Nicolas Otamendi was sent off.

The victory in the first leg of the last-16 tie leaves them firm favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.

City issued a statement on their website on Thursday saying they were "aware of an alleged assault after the match".

"The club are working with Greater Manchester Police and German Police to ascertain more information," it said.

"Club staff have remained in Germany to support the family of an injured City fan who is currently in a critical condition in hospital."

Belgian forward Eden Hazard was introduced by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez on Thursday, June 13 as the club's newest player in front of nearly 50,000 supporters gathered at Santiago Bernabeu stadium to welcome the former Chelsea star. The transfer fee has not been revealed but reports indicate the move to cost $163.5 million including escalators, a number that would represent the most expensive acquisition in Real Madrid history. (Jose Luis Sanchez Pando) (Jose Luis Sanchez Pando)
On the occasion of assumption of the Chairmanship of the International Tracing Service (Arolsen Archives) for the current year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organising a conference to present the work of the International Centre on Nazi Persecution.

The International Tracing Service, renamed this year as Arolsen Archives, maintains the most significant Archive of Nazi camp prisoners, with the mission to seek information related to the fate of the victims of Nazi atrocities on behalf of their families.

The purpose of the conference, which will be held on 27 February at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Y. Kranidiotis Conference Hall, is to present the Arolsen Archives as well as the objectives and initiatives of the Greek Chairmanship to the Greek public. In this context, the exhibition Stolen Memory will be inaugurated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There will also be a presentation of the process of acquiring remote access to the digitized content of the archived files.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris will give the opening address to the conference, which will be conducted in English without interpreting services.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris today received Metropolitan Bishop Ambrose of Korea at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Issues pertaining to the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea in Seoul were discussed such as its interventions in Korean society, as well as the creation of a Greek Language Department at the University of Seoul, where 150 Korean students are enrolled who will carry out postgraduate studies in our country at the conclusion of their studies.

The Metropolitan Bishop briefed the Deputy Minister on issues of unity between Korean Christians and Slavopohones in Seoul, placing particular emphasis on the need and prospect of establishing a Patriarchal Cultural and Spiritual Centre to house the Theological School, the School of Agiography and Byzantine Music, and also to house the exhibition of the casts of the ancient Greek statues which had received awards during the course of the Olympic Games in Seoul.

The Deputy Minister praised the work of the Metropolis as well as Metropolitan Bishop Ambrose, and thanked him, confirming that he is a strong voice and presence of the Orthodox Church, and of Greece, in Korea, which we must support with all our power.
Services for Charlie Hardy Jr. will be Monday, June 28, 2021, at 1 p.m., at Fellowship Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 12-1 p.m. To view the full obituary go to www.jamesfwebb.com.
Since the devastating Kerala floods, the Pulwama attack in Jammu & Kashmir exactly a week ago has been the second incident of national importance that has managed to bring the entire country together. Regardless of one's class, creed or gender, people from all walks of life have come together to honour the martyrs and stand in support of their families.

However, some people truly deserve a special mention during such a time for their selfless actions. An elderly woman beggar who breathed her last in 2018 happens to be one such individual who made a notable monetary contribution to the funds being collected for the Pulwama martyrs' families.

 Twitter

The late beggar named Nandini Sharma had collected a sum amounting to 6.61 lakh rupees over the years, which was a result of her regular cash deposits at the bank. Nandini had nominated two trustees to safeguard her account upon her death, and left behind a will stating that her savings be used for the society's welfare, according to a TOI report .

Nandini used to beg outside the Ambe Mata Temple at Bajrangarh in Ajmer, and made it a habit to deposit a little sum every other day. The trustees who had been waiting for a good time to put Nandini's savings to good use since her death in August last year, decided to donate it for the welfare of the Pulwama martyrs' families.

 Reuters

Ajmer collector Vishwa Mohan Sharma told TOI, the trustees came to the district administration office on Wednesday and expressed their desire to donate money to the chief minister relief fund for the attack victims. The legal cell completed the formalities following which, the amount was accepted and a certificate was issued to them.

One of Nandini's trustees, Sandeep Gaur told TOI that, despite the fact that her savings came from begging, she wanted it to be of some use to the country and hence, we considered it best to be used for the kin of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama attack.

 Twitter

Regulars at the Ambe Mata Temple were so moved by the news of Nandini's goodwill that they have been holding special prayers for Nandini's soul. Even when she didn't have much, she saved for the welfare of others, and today her savings have been put to best use just as she had desired.

We hope Nandini rests in peace, knowing her last wish has been fulfilled.
MARSHFIELD, Wis.

Feb. 21, 2019

Marshfield

Marshfield

Marshfield

Marshfield

Marshfield

Marshfield

Marshfield

Wisconsin

Marshfield

Marshfield

Wisconsin

Narayana Murali

Jarrett Bauer

Marshfield

$2.4 billion

Wisconsin

Marshfield

Eau Claire

Rice Lake

Neillsville

Ladysmith

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Marshfield Clinic Health System () has launched a new telehealth program with Health Recovery Solutions (HRS).has introduced HRS telehealth software to improve patient quality of life, reduce emergency department (ED) visits, and limit disease exacerbations.During the initial program launch,plans to deliver telehealth to patients enrolled in their Heart Failure Improvement Clinic (HFIC), a service that enrolls approximately 1,500 patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).will select patients who have experienced an exacerbation requiring IV diuretics to participate in the initial stages of their telehealth program.Patients placed on the telehealth program atare provided with 4G tablets pre-loaded with the HRS software. The tablets pair with disease specific Bluetooth biometric devices, which allow patients to take their blood pressure, weight, heart rate, and more. The vital signs are automatically transmitted to the tablet and are electronically delivered to the patient's nurse, allowing clinical staff to address any changes in medical status in a timely manner.The HRS telehealth software also facilitates patient participation and engagement through daily medication reminders and disease specific educational content. Additionally, patients can actively communicate with their clinicians using the tablet's text, phone call, and video chat features.Theteam is particularly excited about the patient education component and its potential to empower patients to take on an active role in the management of their health. The clinical team is also eager to use the live listening stethoscope that pairs with the HRS system, as it provides a unique opportunity to enhance care for the CHF patient population. The addition of a stethoscope will allow patients to be transferred to a nurse practitioner who can perform a thorough remote examination and thus reduce unnecessary trips to the doctor's office.serves over 350,000 unique patients in north, central, and western, and they have long term plans to expand their telehealth program throughout these regions. Therefore, system flexibility played a large role in their selection of a telehealth vendor. The team atfound the HRS system to be a flexible vendor partner who can meet the demands of a large health system. Additionally,appreciated that HRS was willing to customize the technology according to their unique needs."The HRS telehealth technology allows us to provide care for our congestive heart failure patients who live in rural areas and face long drives to receive care. With lengthywinters and inclement weather, eliminating unnecessary physician visits is another way for us to use innovation to provide the best care for our patients and reduce their health care costs," said Marshfield Clinic Health System Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Strategy Officer Dr., CEO of HRS, adds, "We are incredibly excited to launch a telehealth program with Marshfield Clinic Health System.is a leader in patient care and they have demonstrated impressive dedication to the advancement of technology in healthcare. HRS is honored to have been chosen as their telehealth partner."About Marshfield Clinic Health System Marshfield Clinic Health System is aintegrated health system servingwith about 10,000 employees including over 1,200 providers comprising 86 specialties, health plan, and research and education programs. Primary operations include Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield Medical Center hospitals inand, Marshfield Children's Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Security Health Plan and Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation.About Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) supplies leading home care agencies with the most advanced remote monitoring platform focused on changing patient behavior to reduce readmissions and improve clinical outcomes. HRS' disease-specific engagement kits are customized with educational video, care plans, medication reminders while integrated with Bluetooth peripherals to engage Clients. For clinicians, HRS' software allows for the management of high-risk Clients and provides seamless communication with them through video chat, wound imaging and text messaging. For family members and caregivers, HRS' software gives them the ability to be fully involved in their family member's care and well-being. To learn more about Health Recovery Solutions, visit https://www.healthrecoverysolutions.com/ or call (347) 699-6477.SOURCE Health Recovery Solutions
McDonough, GA, one of those easy to forget and hard to spot on the map rural towns. It is also the place I called home. Share on Pinterest Looking back now, I can see how I exhibited all of the behaviors of an addict from an early age. I was the stereotypical Georgia Peach. Living away from the city, I was fascinated by the simplicity of life  or so I thought. Growing up in the Bible Belt, it would be fair to say I was pretty sheltered. I grew up in a typical blue-collar, middle-class family. My parents worked hard to give my brother and I the best life possible. Looking back now, I can see how I exhibited all of the behaviors of an addict from an early age. Even as a little girl, I found solace in isolation. I never felt part of a collective  adapting to my surroundings by subjecting myself to a total victim mentality  and most of my actions were centred on myself. I spent years blaming my genetic predisposition, my experience of trauma, my biological mother for giving me up for adoption, my adopted stepmothers favoritism for my brother, and even the mean girls at school who wouldnt let me join in. However, there was always one common denominator: me. I believe I was experiencing a spiritual malady and the fundamental inability to cope. Retreating from reality, Id indulge in books, writing, and recreating my own story. I was 5 years old when I encountered trauma for the first time. Too young to comprehend the scale of the situation, I went straight to the people I trusted the most and told them about the ongoing sexual abuse. Finally, I thought someone would validate my pain. Looking back, perhaps it was just too painful for them, and I truly believe that they did the best they could with what they had. It was just easier to make the whole thing go away. I share this specific situation because I believe that it produced an avoidant response, which later became my only coping mechanism. I learned that the best way to avoid pain was through utter oblivion. I sometimes believe that for every suppressed emotion, there is a physiological response; I began experiencing excruciating bladder and kidney infections. So, my mom and I would visit the local family practitioners office what felt like weekly. The doctor would write me a prescription for an antibiotic and opiates, and then send us on our way. Essentially, we were treating the symptoms but never addressing the cause. The only options he offered me were reoccurring surgical procedures (requiring anesthesia and more opiates) and medication (which would only be 50 percent effective and come with a 50 percent chance of hair loss). The answer seemed fairly obvious to me, and Ill never forget the doctors reassuring nod as he explained just how painful the condition was. He prescribed me oxycodone and then sent me home. He gave no warning or further instruction, only scheduling a follow-up appointment. I started visiting my specialist multiple times per month. I vividly remember him telling me, Now dont get hooked on these sweetheart  but it was already too late.

I was in complete denial Looking back now, I can see that my prescription validated my illness. After alla doctor prescribed me this medication, and no one could tell me otherwise. I would wear the mask of a chronically ill person at every visit, begging for sympathy and being rewarded with more medication. Nobody called my motives into question, and I was completely naive to my dependence. Every visit was a mutually beneficial business transaction  one that further enslaved me to my addiction. After high school, I ran straight to the beach. Chasing after my first love, I moved to Savannah, GA, and started college. Away from home for the first time, I lived by half measures. With no real idea of what life was all about, I split with my first love and went on a drinking binge. When confronted with the choice to study or head to the local bar for nickel shots, Id always choose the latter. For the first time, I finally felt like Id arrived and was part of something. Bar hopping in borrowed clothes and with a fake ID in hand, I felt as though everything felt great. Then I received my first grade report. I was failing, but again, I found a way out. I withdrew from school  without any real consequences  and returned home. My kidney and bladder issues persisted, so I continued seeing my specialist regularly. By this point I was partying, but I hadnt crossed over the threshold. Then, my mother passed away unexpectedly, and total survival mode kicked in. I could remember the care-free oblivion I experienced with my prescribed opiates and needed more. So, without a second thought, I finished off my prescription and called a local drug dealer to meet me at the hospital. It wasnt long before chaos ensued. My addiction propelled my chronic pain and vice versa. I was stuck in a cycle that eventually led to my downfall. Each medical appointment ended with me grinning from ear to ear with my prescription in hand. I had mastered the art of true manipulation, yet I remained completely oblivious to my own plight. In truth, I was in complete denial. I had no idea of the stark nature of what I was truly up against, and the system that was in place to help me only fuelled my problem further. I thought addiction was an unfortunate lack of self-control  something that only other people struggled with. Uneducated and ridden with stigmatizing ignorance, my addiction progressed, enslaving me to a disease that I refused to acknowledge. As time passed and my personal situation changed, my addiction remained. There were some mornings Id wake up and take my morning dose before Id kiss my son. I lied, cheated, manipulated, and sought to remove any person, place, or object that stood in the way of my beloved opiates. My life had become completely unmanageable  everything I swore it would never be. My physical dependence paled in comparison with the emptiness I felt, and I was willing to go to any lengths to get the next fix. I found a stronger and more expensive, but much more convenient, solution. Oxycontin was able to remove emotional as well as physical pain. Continuously oblivious and increasingly numbed, I once again had the feeling that I had finally arrived. A warmness came over me with each new hit. Opiates ruled my life, and I was submissive every step of the way. Inevitably, I found that I couldnt consume enough poison to numb the pain. I finally backed myself into a corner, and there was no one to save me. I was sitting in a cold jail cell, painfully detoxing, and wondering how I got there.
by Steve Olenski , February 21, 2019

Thanks to the rise of enabled video and audio technology, its now possible to add another level of sensory experience to a brand interaction. Known as audio or sonic branding, this includes video, music, and sound effects that consumers can experience across all channels and interactions with companies that use the strategy.

A standout example of sonic branding is Intels iconic bong sound. Other audio branding moments include ones that can get stuck in your head -- like the McDonalds ba da ba ba ba, Im lovin it song.

As thought leader Gary Vaynerchuk explains in a blog post, Ultimately, sonic branding is the audio equivalent of a brands username. If a company plays their tag alongside advertisements or content that match their brands positioning, eventually that audio tag by itself will conjure up the intended feelings around that brand.

Mastercard's Breakthrough Sonic Branding Effort

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Mastercard has just introduced an evolution of the companys brand identity that encompasses a comprehensive sonic brand architecture, which will become the audio cue for all consumer interactions with Mastercard.

Recognizing the growth in voice commerce and adoption of digital home assistants as well as the move to a smaller screen, Mastercard knew branding had to change to be relevant to the digital and mobile environment, said Raja Rajamannar, the companys CMO and communications officer.

Two years ago, the credit card company began to create a sonic branding strategy.

Adding sound brings another dimension to our brand, Rajamannar said. Since consumers are so bombarded already, this sonic branding and change to a more minimalist design helps keep us top of mind without overwhelming them.

Now, when consumers go online via their mobile device to buy something and checks out with their Mastercard, they will see a more prominent logo without the company name and enjoy the added experience of a melody.

A Sound That Changes with Genres, Applications, and Consumer Mood

Consumers will hear a contextually or regionally relevant version of the sonic brand. Rajamannar added, The sonic brand architecture provides for this flexibility because it has been thoughtfully structured to be pleasant, simple, hummable, and, most importantly, adaptable.

For example, it might be an electronic dance music version or it could be delivered in an operatic style. Overall, there is still a consistent, and recognizable, foundational melody. Its this comprehensive sound architecture that the brand believes will set it apart as breaking new ground in leveraging audio to drive brand recognition.

On a cultural level, Mastercard also recognized the need to create a sonic brand that would be relatable around the world. Weve worked with musicians, artists and agencies from around this world," said Rajamannar. "This team included Mike Shinoda, co-founder of Linkin Park. The result was a melody that offers different instruments and tempos without making it complex and confusing to the listener.

Sonic Branding at Every Touchpoint



Mastercard also recognizes the importance of introducing the sonic brand at every touchpoint -- but in a way that doesnt inundate the consumer.

Rajamannar explained, We have different places and formats where the melody will be used. First, its featured in the ad that we just launched for television and online channels. Second, the melody is now offered as a ringtone for consumers to download and use. Third, it is a brief sound that users hear as a payment confirmation when they do a transaction.

In hearing the new tone from Mastercard, Ive already caught myself humming along. Dont you want your customers to be humming and tapping along with your brand?
A new way of protecting concrete from fire damage using materials recycled from old tyres has been successfully tested by researchers at the University of Sheffield.

The team used fibres extracted from the textile reinforcement commonly embedded into tyres to guarantee their performance. Adding these fibres to the concrete mix was shown to reduce the concrete's tendency to spall - where surface layers of concrete break off - explosively under the intense heat from a fire.

Using man-made polypropylene (PP) fibres to protect concrete structures from damage or collapse if a fire breaks out is a relatively well-known technique. Many modern structures, including large scale engineering projects such as Crossrail, have used concrete that includes PP fibres for protection against fire spalling.

The Sheffield study is the first to show that these fibres do not have to be made from raw materials, but can instead be reclaimed from used tyres.

"We've shown that these recycled fibres do an equivalent job to 'virgin' PP fibres which require lots of energy and resources to produce," explains lead author Dr Shan-Shan Huang, in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

"Using waste materials in this way is less expensive, and better for the planet."

The fibres melt under the intense heat from a fire, leaving networks of tiny channels. This means that moisture trapped within the concrete is able to escape, rather than becoming trapped, which causes the concrete to break out explosively.

"Because the fibres are so small, they don't affect the strength or the stiffness of the concrete," says Dr Huang.

"Their only job is to melt when heat becomes intense. Concrete is a brittle material, so will break out relatively easily without having these fibres help reducing the pressure within the concrete."

Protecting the concrete from fire spalling means that steel reinforcements running through the concrete are also protected. When the steel reinforcements are exposed to extreme heat they weaken very quickly, meaning a structure is much more likely to collapse. The Liverpool Waterfront Car Park suffered this kind of damage during a fire in 2017, leading to the entire structure eventually having to be demolished.

Collaborating with Twincon, a Sheffield-based company that develops innovative solutions for the construction industry, the researchers have also developed technologies for reclaiming the fibres from the used tyres.

This involved separating the fibres from the tyre rubber, untangling the fibres into strands, and then distributing them evenly into the concrete mixture.

The team plan to continue testing the material with different ratios of the fibres to concrete, and also using different types of concrete. They also plan to find out more about how the materials react to heat at the microstructure level. By scanning the concrete as it is heated, they will be able to see more precisely the structural changes taking place inside the material.
by Wayne Friedman , February 21, 2019

Joining the march of internet-delivered services of live, linear TV networks, cable system operator Charter Communications is starting up a low-cost service called Spectrum TV Essentials.

The $14.99 service will include more than 60 live, linear TV networks from Viacom, Discovery, A+E Networks, AMC Networks and Hallmark.

Charter says it will be available exclusively in Charters cable operators footprint for consumers who do not subscribe to Charters traditional Spectrum cable systems services.

The entire TV Essentials lineup will be available through the Spectrum TV app on all supported mobile and connected devices: iOS and Android phones and tablets, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox One, Amazon Kindle Fire, Samsung Smart TVs and desktop computers via SpectrumTV.com.

Spectrum TV Essentials is an OTT offering designed to provide Spectrum Internet-only customers a new low-price, high-value video option, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said.

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In the coming months, Charter plans to introduce a Cloud DVR service on the Spectrum TV App.

Charters efforts come just after NBCUniversal said it would be launching an advertising-supported and advertising-free direct-to-consumer streaming services.

Comcast Cable and Sky plc, the European TV broadcaster Comcast recently acquired, will provide the service to 52 million U.S. and global subscribers. An ad-free version will be available for a fee.

TV Essentials will join other internet-delivered services of live, linear TV networks, such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV, Sony PlayStation Vue, fuboTV, YouTube TV and Philo.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 20, 2019

In a move that might be considered censorship, Pinterest has stopped showing results on the topic of vaccinations as it tries to control what it considers "unsubstantiated" health claims.

The social site, which has been acting more like a search engine of late, toldThe Wall Street Journal that it took this "temporary but necessary measure until it can develop better strategies to sift through" what it describes as "'polluted'" content. Last year it also made a similar decision to block searches for "dubious cancer therapies."

On the site, users can still pin vaccine-related images to their online boards that might lead to suggestions for similar content, but the posts no longer show up in searches.

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Facebook also recently jumped down a similar rabbit hole when it announced it would consider removing or pushing down in recommendations and search results any anti-vaccination content from queries, including Groups You Should Join.

Pinterest and Facebook, along with Google, Bing and others, are grappling with the issue of when to take responsibility for misinformation, so much so that the tech companies need to remove content.

The action might remind some of the death of Wei Zexi, a college sophomore, after he followed bad cancer treatment advice in advertising that served up in its query results.

Chinese government officials charged the search engine Baidu for running misinformed paid-search ads. Baidu had to change the way it displayed search results to more clearly label the ads. They also lack objectivity and heavily favor advertisers.

In addition to changing its algorithm, Baidu set aside 1 billion yuan, or $153 million, to compensate victims of fraudulent marketing information.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, February 20, 2019

LOreal is taking its tech skills to the next level, offering a digital skin diagnostic based on peoples selfies.

The beauty giant, which recently bought AR beauty company ModiFace, says its artificial intelligence is based on 15 years of research, training its algorithm on more than 6,000 clinical images.

It included more than 4,500 smartphones selfies from men and women, age 20 to 80, including Asian, Caucasian and Afro-American, in four different lighting conditions, to make its analyses more accurate.

LOreal says the results even account for different facial expressions and photo conditions.

The algorithm evaluates seven signs of aging, including under-eye wrinkles, lack of firmness and radiance, fine lines, dark spots and deep wrinkles. An analysis provides a skin aging matrix, along with product recommendations.

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The company claims the resulting Skin Aging Atlases are the first exhaustive atlases of facial aging, able to evaluate and predict how people will age, and recommend the best products to slow the process.

The first product using the technology is Vichy SkinConsultAI. Launched in Canada last month, it is rolling out worldwide this year.

The new initiative follows plenty of other digital efforts from LOreal, including augmented-reality apps that let people experiment with makeup and hair color and skin sensors to track sun exposure. Earlier this year, the company introduced a sensor that monitors skin pH, something else it claims is a first.

The Paris-based company recently announced its strongest annual sales gains in more than 10 years, up 7.1%.

And while makeup and hair products are an important part of its mix, it says that consumer demand for skincare brands is especially strong, with double-digit growth. In consumer products, Revitalift Filler by L'Oreal Paris, Garnier tissue masks and Men Expert skincare were strong sellers. And in its luxe division, skincare performance is also driving gains at Lancome, especially with the Genifique and Absolue lines.

And skincare is also powering 12% gains in the companys active cosmetics division, with La Roche-Posay gaining on anti-wrinkle innovation Hyalu B5 and Vichy powered by Mineral 89.
by Tanya Gazdik , February 21, 2019





Millennials are 50% less likely than baby boomers to be brand-loyal to their banks, according to research.

Only one out of six millennials (17%) said they couldnt imagine ever wanting to change from their current banking partner, per research from Marqeta, a fintech startup backed by Goldman Sachs and Visa.

According to Marqetas survey of more than 1,200 U.S. adults, a strong contrast in banking attitudes exists between millennials and the older generations, driven by faster adoption of new technology and digital payments methods among younger consumers.

When asked what the most important service their bank provided was, millennials reflected much different attitudes than older Americans: Millennials were twice as likely as baby boomers to list a mobile app as most important (27% versus 14 %), while baby boomers were twice as likely to list in-person presence (20% versus 11%).

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Not a huge shock: Almost half of American millennials admit they cant remember the last time they wrote a check for anything other than utilities or rent.

Theyre also adopting new forms of payment, and more than half (58%) would switch their banks if tech giants Facebook, Google or Amazon entered into the banking space. Almost half (48%) of millennials said theyd consider moving to an independent digital-only bank.

More than half of Americans aged 18-34 (53%) have used mobile wallets to complete a purchase in-store or on their mobile phone. Thats higher than Americans aged 35-50 (39%) and more than double those aged 51-65 (22%).

More than twice as many millennials (57%) than baby boomers (27%) said they have used peer-to-peer banking apps like Square Cash or Venmo. Millennials (49%) were twice as likely as baby boomers (20%) to pay someone back using a peer-to-peer banking app than a physical currency like cash or check.

More than half of millennials (52%) said they were comfortable using TouchID and FaceID to authorize mobile wallet payments  almost double the number of baby boomers (29%) who said the same.

There has been an explosion in new payments technologies and consumer touchpoints, said Jason Gardner, Marqeta founder and CEO.

With younger generations firmly entrenched in these new tools, this trend can only accelerate, stated Gardner. In this new era of banking and finance, companies need to be innovative about how they solve complex problems for an increasingly diverse set of customer preferences.
An undercounter refrigerator is a specially designed refrigerator used for the preservation of pharmaceutical drugs, medicines, vaccines, plasma and other blood components, temperature-sensitive biologicals and other pharmaceutical supplies. With the help of undercounter refrigerators, breast milk can be stored in patient rooms. Essentially, undercounter refrigerators are small and quiet enough to be used in patient rooms and are available in a wide range of temperature modes for small to medium applications.

Undercounter refrigerators and freezers differ on the basis of basic application and temprature uniformity. The temperature uniformity of undercounter refrigerators is 3C while that of freezers is 5C. Undercounter refrigerators are widely used in hospitals, diagnostic centers, research labs, pharmacies, blood banks and educational institutes. The biological samples stored in undercounter refrigerators necessitate precise conditions for effective storage. The increasing demand for customized undercounter refrigerators with specifications such as glass doors and decorative installations is the key factor anticipated to propel the demand in the coming years.

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Undercounter Refrigerators Market: Drivers and Restraints

The increasing demand for blood transfusion, organ transplant, cellular therapies and the development of custom-made vaccines drives the demand for undercounter refrigerators. In addition to this, the increasing research in the fields of stem cells and medical science is expected to increase the acceptance of undercounter refrigerators. Thus, increasing investments in research activities in pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science sectors are expected to surge the demand for undercounter refrigerators. Market participants are focusing on developing various technologies to offer efficient cooling for medicine, research samples and blood and its components. Attributing to their compact size and advanced cooling features, undercounter refrigerators are a preferred alternative for healthcare and life science facilities, specifically small laboratories where space and funds are limited. Undercounter refrigerators also provide stress-effective solutions as compared to conventional refrigerators. Low awareness regarding the benefits of undercounter refrigerators hinder the growth of the undercounter refrigerators market, especially in under-developed economies.

Undercounter Refrigerators Market: Segmentation

The global undercounter refrigerators market has been segmented on the basis of type of test, end user and region.

Based on the product type, the undercounter refrigerators market has been segmented as:

Top freezer refrigerator

Side-by-Side refrigerator

Bottom freezer refrigerator

French door refrigerator

Counter-depth refrigerator

Mini Fridge

Based on the end user, the undercounter refrigerators market has been segmented as:

Hospitals

Ambulatory surgical centres

Specialty clinics

Retail pharmacy

Pharmaceutical companies

Others

Undercounter Refrigerators Market: Overview

Increasing installations across hospitals and other healthcare facilities due to the development of medical infrastructure are anticipated to spur the demand for undercounter refrigerators and drive the global market. The introduction of advanced technologies and increasing demand from various end users such as hospitals, retail pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies are also expected to drive the growth of the global undercounter refrigerators market over the forecast period. The implementation of stringent rules and regulations by various regulatory organizations regarding the suitable storage of pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines and blood components are anticipated to further boost the demand for undercounter refrigerators and drive the growth of the global undercounter refrigerator market in the long run.

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Undercounter Refrigerators Market: Regional Outlook

North America is expected to be a prominent region in the global undercounter refrigerators market, due to technological advancements, the availability of developed medical infrastructure and rising demand for storage equipment in the region. Europe is also expected to be a lucrative market for undercounter refrigerators, due to the increasing investments by manufacturing companies in the region. Asia-Pacific is expected to be a fast growing market due to the increasing demand for undercounter refrigerators, development of medical infrastructure and rising number of healthcare facilities in the region. The Latin America undercounter refrigerators market is expected to witness steady growth due to the increasing number of medical facilities in the region. The Middle East and Africa region is expected to be the least lucrative market, due to the presence of under-developed healthcare infrastructure in the region.

Undercounter Refrigerators Market: Key Players

Examples of some of the market participants in the global undercounter refrigerators market include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Philipp Kirsch GmbH, Panasonic Healthcare Co., Helmer Scientific, ARCTIKO, VWR International, LLC, Haier Biomedical, Eppendorf AG, , Biomedical Solutions Inc., Terumo Corporation and EVERMED srl.

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.

The 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)

Western Europe (Germany, Italy, U.K, Spain, France, Nordic countries, BENELUX)

Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, Rest of Eastern Europe)

Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (China, India, Australia & New Zealand)

Japan

Middle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, Rest of MEA)

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

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Global Patient Monitoring Device Market  Key Players

There are plenty of large and small market players which operate in this market all over the globe:

GE Healthcare

Roche Diagnostics

BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG

Abbott Laboratories

Siemens Healthcare

Philips Healthcare

CAS Medical Systems, Inc.

Spacelabs Healthcare

Honeywell International, Inc.

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co

Market Drivers and Restraints:

The inclination towards leading a healthy lifestyle and increasing geriatric population are acting as some of the major drivers for the growth of the global patient monitoring devices market. The rise in adoption of wearable monitoring devices by the patients suffering from various disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, sleep disorder, diabetes and others is propelling the expansion of the global patient monitoring devices market.

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Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases due to changing lifestyle and requirement for efficient patient monitoring systems are some of the other vital factors that are fueling the growth of the global patient monitoring devices market. However, low penetration of advanced technology and lack of primary healthcare services in underdeveloped regions are likely to act as restraints on the growth of the global patient monitoring devices market in the coming years.

Industry News:

In July 2018, Snap40, a Scottish startup, has launched an AI-enabled wearable monitoring device to help health professionals to monitor patients remotely or in the hospital.

November 14, 2018-ivWatch LLC (US), a leading global provider of continuous patient monitoring devices announced the partnership with New Medical (Australia), a supplier of medical consumables, devices, and patient monitoring accessories in Australia and New Zealand to manage distribution to support market expansion outside of the United States.

ivWatchs entry into Australia and New Zealand markets is a response to growing awareness and clinical demand. The company also mentioned that it is now poised to meet the ongoing customer requests for its technology as they seek cutting-edge solutions to address the global problem of patient harm caused by peripheral IV infiltration.

Koninklijke Philips N.V is multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Amsterdam focussed on electronics, healthcare, homecare and connected care. In August 2016 Philips launched medical grade Philips Health Watch thus expanding its product offerings in wearables section.

Honeywell International Inc. is a multinational company headquartered in the U.S. which manufactures a variety of commercial and consumer goods, aerospace systems and provides engineering services for broad range of customers. It has broad product segment in health wearable devices. In April 2018, Honeywell Life Care Solutions signed business collaboration with MobileHelp This collaboration will strengthen its brand loyalty and will provide better services for its customer base.

Global Patient Monitoring Devices Market  Segmentation

The Global Patient Monitoring Devices Market has been segmented on the basis of product type and end-users. Based on product type, the patient monitoring devices market is segmented into central monitoring stations, portable bedside monitors, electrocardiogram (ECG) devices, hemodynamic monitoring devices, fetal and neonatal monitors, respiratory monitors, weight management monitors, temperature monitoring devices, and others.

Based on end-users, the patient monitoring devices market is segmented into hospitals and clinics, ambulatory care centers, home care and others.

Global Patient Monitoring Devices Market  Regional Analysis

The North American region is estimated to lead the global patient monitoring devices market with a significant market share. Factors such as the growing prevalence of chronic diseases, patients suffering from different lifestyle diseases, and the increase in the geriatric population are contributing to the growth of the regional market. Huge uptake of continuous monitoring technology alongside the rise in the adoption rate of remote patient monitoring devices is fostering the market growth in the region.

The European region is another lucrative market for patient monitoring devices. Augmenting demand to move to a more wireless and streamlined operation in major health facilities as well as in the homecare settings is predominantly driving the market growth.

Tremendous advancements in medical technologies is a key driving force pushing up the regional market. Countries such as Germany and the U.K. backed by their well-developed medical devices markets which are led by enormous investments account for the major contributors to the growth in the regional market.

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The Asia Pacific region is rapidly emerging as a promising market for patient monitoring devices due to the technological growth in India and China. AI-based remote patient monitoring solutions have become a trend in India, changing the dynamics of healthcare. Foreign investors are getting attracted to India, investing rapidly with aggressive plans of leading Indian healthcare into the digital age. They are designing remote patient monitoring solutions that can provide high resolution, ICU-grade monitoring to all areas of the hospital, throughout the patient care pathway.

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At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.

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Microarray Analysis Market  Synopsis

The global microarray analysis market is estimated to expand at a remarkable CAGR during the forecast period (2018-2027) owing to the increasing prevalence of genetic disorders, asserts Market Research Future (MRFR).

Microarray analysis is a molecular biology technique which uses microchips with attached DNA segments used for gene expression analysis on a large scale. Microarray analysis is used in several experiments such as translation profiling, biomarker profiling, epigenetics, genotyping, pathway identification mutations, and gene expression profiling. It enables scientists analyze several genes at the same time with accurate results.

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Microarray Analysis Market  Competitive Dashboard

The major players operating the global market are Discerna, Illumnia Inc., NextGen Sciences PLC, Roche NimbleGen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Luminex Corporation, Agilent Technologies Inc., ProteoGenix, Biomerieux SA, Applied Microarrays, Gyros AB, Affymetrix Inc., Sequenom Inc., and others

Global Microarray Analysis Market  Segmental Analysis

The global microarray analysis market has been segmented on the basis of application, type, product type, end-user, and region.

By mode of type, the global microarray analysis market has been segmented into tissue microarrays, protein microarrays, glycan arrays, DNA microarrays, phenotype microarrays, chemical compound microarrays, and cellular microarrays. Among these, the segment for DNA microarrays is estimated to account for the largest market share owing to its extensive use in several applications such as diagnostic centers, pharmaceuticals, academic and research institutes, ambulatory care centers, hospitals and clinics, and biotechnology.

By mode of application, the market has been segmented into research, disease diagnosis, genomics, genotyping, proteomics, forensic analysis, drug discovery, and toxicological research. Among these, the drug discovery segment is predicted to expand at the highest CAGR during the assessment period.

By mode of product type, the global market has been segmented into DNA chips, reagents, primers, instruments, reagent kits, and buffers. Among these, the instrument segment has been sub-segmented into hybridization oven, Multi-Channel (MC) instrument, scanner, centrifuge, slide imprinters, target preparation instrument, and others.

By mode of end-users, the global market has been segmented into pharmaceuticals, academic and research institutes, biotechnology, diagnostic centers, hospitals and clinics, ambulatory care centers, and others.

Drivers and Constraints Impacting the Market

With the growing focus on drug discovery and development, increasing prevalence of genetic disorders coupled with growing demand for personalized medicines, the global market is likely to trigger during the forecast period. Microarray analysis is used to understand gene patterns in tumors and also detect cancer biomarker. Thus, the growing prevalence of cancer along with rising investment for cancer research is estimated to fuel the market growth.

On the flip side, high cost associated with diagnosis, inaccurate results, and contamination is estimated to inhibit the market growth in the coming years.

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Industry News

A team of researchers at Lund University, Herlev Hospital, Knight Cancer Center, and Immunovia AB, has developed a blood test that can detect pancreatic cancer at a very early stage. The blood test has been developed on an antibody microarray that comprises hundreds of recombinant antibody fragments.

Microarray Analysis Market  Regional Insights

Geographically, the global market span across regions namely, Europe, America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa.

Among all the regions, the American region is estimated to dominate the global market owing to the higher adoption rate of advanced technology for diagnosis, high investment in research and development, and rising awareness among the people for better diagnostics.

The European region is presumed to hold the second largest position in the global market owing to the increasing focus on personalized medicine, drug discovery, and targeted therapy.

The Asian Pacific market is estimated to register a substantial growth rate due to increasing prevalence of genetic disorders, government initiatives, and increasing awareness among the people. Meanwhile, the Middle East and Africa are estimated to hold the least share owing to the low funding in health and medical research.

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MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for Global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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Cancer Immunotherapy Market  Competitive Dashboard

The prominent players operating the global cancer immunotherapy market are Seattle Genetics Inc., Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Novartis International AG, Merck & Co. Inc., Celgene Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen Inc., and ELI Lilly and Company.

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Cancer Immunotherapy Market  Synopsis

The global cancer immunotherapy market is predicted to garner USD 101.6 billion with a CAGR of 14.8% during the forecast period (2017-2023). Market Research Future (MRFR) asserts the growth in the market is mainly credited to the high consumption of alcohol. Cancer is referred to as a medical condition of uncontrolled cell growth. Cancer immunotherapy allows the immune system to target the cancerous tumor cells, which is the natural tendency of the body but weakens with the advent of infections. Statistics say that nearly 1 out of 6 patients dies due to cancer; where almost 16,90,000 of the global population die due to lung cancer, 788,000 due to liver cancer, 774,000 due to colorectal cancer, 754,000 due to stomach cancer, and 571,000 due to breast cancer.

Drivers and Constraints Impacting the Market

Smoking, deteriorating lifestyle, and increasing consumption of alcohol are some of the major factors accelerating the prevalence of cancer. With increasing cancer population across the globe, the market for cancer immunotherapy is benefitting throughout the appraisal period. Immunotherapy is highly effective and possesses fewer side effects when compared to other therapies. This is considered to propel the market growth during the assessment period. The increasing research and development activities in cancer immunotherapy are resulting in the introduction of advanced treatment therapies. People are shifting their preferences from chemotherapies to immunotherapy which is further estimated to propel the market growth in the coming years. Moreover, the launch of new treatment methods and new drugs are further anticipated to foster the market growth. Also, with the increasing healthcare insurance and healthcare expenditure, the market is expected to boom.

Meanwhile, the high cost of drugs and their adverse effects associated is predicted to dampen the market growth throughout the estimated period. Moreover, prolonged consumption of such drugs can hamper major organs and result in organ failure, thereby impeding the market growth.

Industry Updates

January 22, 2019: A new cancer-busting protein has been developed which has brought hope in cancer immunotherapy. Interleukin-2 is a protein which helps to fight cancer by boosting immunity. Researchers have now designed a brand-new protein that confers the immune-boosting ability to patients without having those dangerous side effects.

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Cancer Immunotherapy Market  Regional Insights

Geographically, the cancer immunotherapy market has been studied under regions namely, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa.

Among all the regions, Europe and North America are considered to be major contributors to the global cancer immunotherapy market. The regions are anticipated to maintain their dominance through the appraisal period owing to their reputation as an appropriate place for research and development activities. Moreover, with advanced healthcare infrastructure, the market in these regions is considered to flourish.

The Asia Pacific region experiences the fastest growth rate for cancer immunotherapy mainly due to the presence of a huge patient population, rapidly developing healthcare technology and high healthcare expenditure in this region. Also, with the augmenting demand for new treatment methods in economies such as South Korea and India, the market is expected to flourish in this region.

Meanwhile, the Middle East & Africa is predicted to experience the least growth rate compared to other regions due to poor economic conditions and poor healthcare infrastructure in these regions.

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Hot Table Panini will become the first business to operate in the new development at Worcesters Trolley Yard plaza when it opens its doors on Friday.

The Springfield-based business offers a variety of signature and build-your-own paninis, as well as soups and salads. The Worcester location at 49 Park Ave. will be its seventh store in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Theres a lot of opportunity in Worcester, a lot of new economic growth, Hot Table President John DeVoie said. Worcester checked a lot of boxes for us  a lot of people work, live and go to college in Worcester.

DeVoie said Hot Table will be the first of several businesses to open in the Trolley Yard development. He said he expects Chipotle Mexican Grill, Starbucks and Sprint to open over the next several weeks.

The plaza will also be home to Alpha Nails, Orange Theory Fitness and Gentle Dental.

Hot Table found success in Springfield when it opened its first location there in 2007, DeVoie said.

Worcester, he said, is very similar when it comes to both density and the number of surrounding colleges.

Theres all kinds of really cool stuff coming into Worcester, but there isnt a whole lot of parking, so I think that will be a draw for customers, he added.

The Worcester Hot Table location will open Friday at 10:30 a.m. All of the chains locations are closed on Sundays.
Update: All lanes of the highway reopened around 8:30 a.m.

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One person was killed and four others were injured after a tractor-trailer lost control on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Blandford early Thursday morning, Massachusetts State Police said.

Authorities said the crash happened around 2:30 a.m. when a tandem tractor-trailer lost control on the eastbound side of the highway.

The tractor-trailer hit a box truck, a pickup truck and another tractor-trailer, according to state police. Five people were transported to Baystate Medical Center, where one was pronounced dead.

State police have not identified the person who died.

State police said the other four victims had minor injuries.

The eastbound side of the Mass. Pike remained closed in Blandford early Thursday morning as officials investigated.

No further information was available.
FORT MYERS, Fla.  Durbin Feltman likely will pitch in major league spring training games despite not receiving a non-roster invite to big league camp.

He threw a bullpen session here at the JetBlue Park complex Thursday. See the video above.

The Red Sox selected the 21-year-old righty in the third round (100th overall) out of TCU in the 2018 June Draft. Hes potentially the Red Soxs future closer.

Some felt he could have helped Boston last September. But the Red Sox opted to take a more conservative approach with his development.

He finished with a 1.93 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 36 strikeouts and five walks in 22 relief outings (23.1 innings) between Short Season Lowell (four games), Low-A Greenville (seven games) and High-A Salem (11 games).

Alex Cora said the Red Sox didnt even think about inviting Feltman to big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

First year, he didnt pitch much last year, Cora said. "It doesnt mean that we cant actually bring somebody from the other side. It happens a lot. Like they start on the other side (minor league camp) and all of a sudden, towards the end, we be like, Hey, get him over here. See what happens.' I think its good for him to go through the whole process and learn people and talk to people and grind it a little bit.

But everybody knows his stuff. Everybody knows how talented he is, Cora added. Everybody knows how important he is for the organization. So well see him a few times.

Ralph Treuel, Red Sox pitching coordinator of logistics, decides which minor league pitchers participate in major league spring training games.

I bet hell be around, Cora said. (Brian) Ellington, the guy we signed from the Marlins, he threw a live BP the other day. Very impressive. I mean, he throws 100 (mph). ... Well see a lot of those guys, especially early. We do a good job bringing a lot of kids here early enough the first week were covered. And obviously if they make an impression, well keep bringing them back."
"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, who said he was attacked by two masked men in what he portrayed as a hate crime, is now suspected of filing a false police report, police said Wednesday.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted the update after the "Empire" actor's attorneys spoke with prosecutors and detectives.

"Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by Chicago Police for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony)," Guglielmi posted. "Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury."

Smollett, who is black and openly gay, told authorities he was attacked in Chicago on Jan. 29 by two men who were "yelling out racial and homophobic slurs." He said one attacker put a rope around his neck and poured an unknown chemical substance on him.

The actor reportedly paid two brothers to attack him a week later and frame it as a racist and homophobic assault, WLS-TV, ABC 7 in Chicago reported.

Brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo worked on "Empire" as extras and one was reportedly Smollett's personal trainer.

Following the reported attack, Smollett's colleagues, employer, civil and gay rights leaders, legislators and President Donald Trump expressed support and outrage at the attack that the actor described.
AMHERST - Aided by a $1.5 million federal grant, a University of Massachusetts researcher is teaming up with the sheriffs in Franklin and Hampshire counties to develop a treatment program for inmates with opioid addictions.

The grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, will fund a three-year project designed to help as many as 500 inmates in the two county jails.

One of the grant recipients, Elizabeth Evans, assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, said the program will work with inmates who agree to participate. They will be provided with medication and treatment to aid them with their addiction, and then connect them to follow-up care through a community reentry program after they are released.

Evans said the project will collect data that will be used to measure outcomes, which can then be used for treatment options at other correctional facilities.

The idea is to distill the lessons learned into a playbook or guide that can be used in jails in Massachusetts and across the nation, she says.

Roughly 40 percent of inmates at each jail has an opioid problem when they arrive at the facility. And studies have shown former inmates have a much likelihood of overdosing right after their release from incarceration.

Evans will help Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan, Assistant Superintendent Ed Hayes and their staff expand and formalize the groundbreaking opioid treatment they began offering inmates in 2015 at the county jail in Greenfield. She also will work with Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane, Assistant Superintendent Melinda Cady and their staff to implement the same program in the Northampton jail.

Each of the jails has a medical director who assesses the need for treatment, prescribes the medication and monitors the detainees who receive it.

The treatment medications include Suboxone, which contains buprenorphine and naloxone to help ease cravings and the severe, flu-like symptoms associated with withdrawal; and Vivitrol, an opiate-blocker given as an injection that lasts about a month. Jail authorities also are seeking U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency approval to offer methadone, a synthetic opioid commonly used to treat opioid use disorder.

People who experience withdrawal develop a fear of ever experiencing that again, Evans says, which helps explain both the cycle of addiction and the high risk of overdose for detainees following their release from jail.

We recognize that the period after release from jail is a high-risk period for overdose and death from opioids, Evans says. The inmates tolerance changes and their bodies cannot withstand the same amount of substances as they could pre-incarceration. They often return to use at the same level, which becomes a lethal dose for them.
A Coast Guard lieutenant from Maryland who authorities called a domestic terrorist created a hit list that included Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as many other prominent Democrats and network newscasters.

Christopher Paul Hasson is expected to face a federal judge in Maryland Thursday.

Hasson was arrested on Feb. 15 on several charges, including unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition as well as possession of an opioid and Schedule IV controlled substance, Tramadol.

The current charges, however, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct, court documents read.

Federal agents found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in Hassons apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland last week, according to court documents.

An investigation also uncovered that Hasson, a lieutenant in the Coast Guard currently assigned to work in headquarters in Washington, D.C., had a hit list of people that authorities believe he was targeting to attack.

On that list appeared poca warren," who authorities say is Sen. Warren. The poca is believed to be a reference to Pocahontas, the nickname President Donald Trump has used for Warren to ridicule her claims of Cherokee ancestry.

Other Democratic congresspeople on the list include Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Beto ORourke, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and others.

The list also included newscasters like Joe Scarborough, Ari Melber and Chris Hayes from MSNBC, as well as CNNs Don Lemon. The investigation found that Hasson allegedly reviewed news websites like MSNBC, CNN, and Fox on his work computer.

Court documents describe that Hasson routinely read parts of the Breivik manifesto, written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring, who is serving 21 years in prison for killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in 2011, according to reports.

Authorities believe Hasson followed parts of the manifesto, such as identifying traitors and piling up on weapons.

In a draft email dated June 2, 2017, which investigators say they found in Hassons Deletions subfolder, they found a violent message that expressed a desire to kill.

Dear friends , maybe thats a bit of a misnomer. Acquaintances more likely. Hope this finds you well. I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something, the beginning of the message read, according to documents filed in court.

Months later, in September 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he allegedly wrote to a known American neo-Nazi leader," court documents read. In the message, Hasson describes himself as a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military.
A reduction in state funding for public higher education in Massachusetts and other New England states has resulted in increased tuitions, fees and student debt, according to a new analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

A report shared by the Federal Reserve of Boston on Thursday, conducted by a team of researchers, found that in 2017, state funding per public college student in New England was lower than in 2008. In that time period, public higher education funding saw a double-digit decline in Massachusetts and every New England state except Maine, according to the report.

Public higher education produces many benefits that are vital to the New England economy, but it is increasingly at risk following years of state budget cuts, the report begins.

In Massachusetts, state funding allocated $12,500 per public college student in fiscal 2001. By 2018, that figure dropped significantly to $8,500 per student, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

The decrease in funding over the last decade is mainly due to the states need to cover short-term budget gaps associated with rising costs of Medicaid and public pensions, according to the report.

That reduction in state funding has increased the costs of tuitions and the amount of loan debt for students attending public colleges in Massachusetts and other New England states, researchers found.

Each dollar of reduced state appropriations leads, on average, to a 17 cent increase in net tuition and fees and a 30 cent decrease in instructional expenditures at public doctoral institutions, the report reads.

The research also suggests that state funding cuts have likely resulted in fewer higher education graduates in New England.

Estimates in this report suggest that community colleges in New England collectively granted 21,388 fewer associates degrees during the 20022012 period than they would have granted if they had received per-student state appropriations at the 2001 level each year since the 2001 recession, the report reads.

In Massachusetts, legislators are tackling the funding issue with new bills like the CHERISH Act, which requests Massachusetts increase funding for higher education by adding more than $500 million into the state budget. The bill would also require public colleges to freeze tuition and fees for a five-year period.

Introduced just last month, the CHERISH Act has dozens of cosponsors in the Mass. legislature and is also supported by the new research shared on Thursday.

In the Federal Reserve report, researchers recommend that policymakers provide robust financial support" for public higher education.

That financial support is especially necessary for community colleges, the report says, where the student population tends to include more racial minorities and low-income students who are more vulnerable to the negative effects of decreased state funding.

If states need to raise more revenues to safeguard public colleges and universities, the social, economic, and fiscal benefits associated with public higher education likely will justify the additional costs to taxpayers, the report asserts.
Buena Vista, CO (81211)

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PITTSFIELD -- A 58-year-old resident accused of setting four buildings on fire and then trying to flee to Canada is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.

Phillip Jordan was arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court this week on four counts of burning a dwelling. His case was continued until March 8, said Dennis Yusko, communications director for Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington.

Jordan is being accused of setting his own house at 112 Appleton St. on fire on Sept. 22. It took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish the blaze, which destroyed the house.

He then allegedly used incendiary devices to set fires at homes at 47 Fort Hill Ave., 85 Ridge Ave. and 42-44 Brown St. The simultaneous fires left the Pittsfield Fire Department scrambling to extinguish four buildings at the same time.

Shortly after the fires, police released information saying Jordan was wanted as a suspect in the arsons. The city resident fled the area and was apprehended a day later by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Vermont as he attempted to cross into Canada.

Officials called for a mental competency hearing which delayed Jordans extradition to Pittsfield until early January.
An advocacy group for medical marijuana patients is pushing the state to eliminate its requirement that medical marijuana dispensaries grow their own marijuana.

Michael Latulippe, of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, said he thinks the medical program should be brought in line with requirements for the states newly legal recreational market, under which retailers do not have to grow the plants themselves.

We think that in order to keep the program strong and growing, its going to need to be in lockstep with the adult use program, Latulippe said. So essentially, if theres a huge differentiation between the two, it could lead to problems down the road in terms of businesses.

Massachusetts voters legalized medical marijuana in 2012, and the first medical marijuana dispensary opened in 2015.

State law requires medical marijuana dispensaries to be vertically integrated, which means dispensaries that sell marijuana must also grow and process it themselves, rather than buy it from a supplier.

But recreational marijuana stores, which were legalized on the ballot in 2016 and started opening in late 2018, do not have that requirement. The states Cannabis Control Commission is issuing separate licenses to marijuana retailers, growers, product manufacturers and transporters.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and Rep. David Rogers, D-Cambridge, who is House chair of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, would eliminate the requirement for vertical integration. It would instead let the Cannabis Control Commission issue separate licenses for medical marijuana product manufacturers, cultivators and treatment centers.

Latulippe said this could make it easier for smaller companies to enter the medical marijuana market and potentially bring medical marijuana to areas like Cape Cod that are underserved.

As of Jan. 31, there were 49 approved medical marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts serving 59,000 patients.

The Cannabis Control Commission has said it will reconsider the rules related to both medical and recreational marijuana this spring to see if any updates are needed, with the goal of promulgating new regulations by June.
LUDLOW  When Shawinigan Drive resident Mark Bushey heard the three-vehicle crash that claimed the lives of two young children Wednesday afternoon he ran outside and into the midst of an unfolding horror.

As soon as I got out of the house I heard Oh my God, oh my God and I heard all this screaming and wailing, he said.

Bushey said the first thing he saw was a woman tending to a young girl lying in the roadway, a short distance away from two vehicles that were totaled and crushed.

The woman was on the phone with a police dispatcher, trying to describe where the crash happened while at the same time imploring the girl, conscious and talking, to remain still.

You have to stay there, honey, the woman said, according to Bushey.

But I am cold, I am cold, I want to get up, the girl replied.

Inside one of the crumpled vehicles, Bushey saw a man giving CPR to a child. From somewhere nearby he heard a man shouting, "Wheres my son? Wheres my son?

Bushey said he took the womans cell phone so she could better tend to the girl. He gave the dispatcher the address of his home, a short distance away from the wreckage.

115 Shawinigan Drive!" Bushey shouted.

The father, perhaps aided by others who had stopped to help, ultimately found his son on the far side of Shawinigan Drive, between the guardrail and a fence, Bushey said.

The first firefighters to arrive worked to free two victims from the second vehicle, he said.

In all, four children and two adults were taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

Jadyn Lamas, 9, and Natalya Lamas, 7, who are siblings from Ludlow, were killed in the crash, said James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden district attorneys office.

The two adults suffered serious injuries, Leydon said. He had no information on the severity of the other two childrens injuries.

The preliminary investigation indicates a father was driving an SUV with four children inside east on Shawinigan Drive when the vehicle crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a tanker truck, Leydon said.

The SUV then continued out of control and collided with a minivan near an intersection where Shawinigan Drive turns into Russell Street.

Thursday morning found Bushey still trying to make sense of it all.

It was one of the worst things I have ever seen, he said. It looked like a mini war zone. Those poor parents.

Bushey praised the quick actions of the man he saw providing first aid to the child inside the wrecked vehicle. He said he believes the man was an off-duty police officer, but did not know his name or department.

He was definitely doing his job, Bushey said. He knew his stuff.

And as to the woman tending the girl in the road: (She) was super trooper, she was just very, very calm, he said.

Bushey echoed other neighborhood residents in saying that the long and straight roadway, which runs parallel to the Massachusetts Turnpike, is dangerous and numerous crashes have occurred there. A serious motorcycle crash occurred in the same general area several years ago, he said.

The street is kind of like a death trap, said Bushey, who lives on a dead-end extension of Shawinigan Drive. Everyone goes flying up and down the road.

Massachusetts Department of Transportation data reviewed by The Republican Thursday shows 32 crashes in the area of the collision since 2003. There were no fatal crashes, according to the data, but there were 19 crashes with injuries.

Six of the crashes occurred where Shawinigan Drive turns into Russell Street, while 24 happened on the straightaway to the west of the crash scene.

Leydon said Thursday the crash remains under investigation and no charges have been filed.

Ludlow police could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Todd Gazda, superintendent of Ludlow schools, said Jadyn Lamas was in the third grade at Chapin Elementary School and Natalya Lamas was a kindergartener at East Street Elementary School.

Our heart goes out to the family of these students," Gazda said. "This is a tragic situation and our whole school community shares the pain of this loss. It is times such as these where academics become secondary for a time as we comfort each other.

Gazda said the District Crisis Intervention Team, made up of professionals trained to help with the needs of students, parents, and school personnel at difficult times, will meet Friday to ensure the appropriate supports are in place when students return from vacation Monday.

That response, he said, will include counselors from across the district who will be available for students who need any type of assistance surrounding this loss.
LUDLOW -- Residents who live near the scene of a three-vehicle crash that fatally injured two young children Wednesday afternoon say accidents are common there.

Jadyn Lamas, 9, and Natalya Lamas, 7, who are siblings from Ludlow, died at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, said James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden District Attorneys office. Four other victims, including two siblings of the children who lost their lives, were also taken to Baystate.

Jadyn Lamas grandmother, Susan Avles Greentree posted on Facebook, I dont even know how to put into words how Im feeling I lost the light of my life yesterday my grandson passed away he was in a bad accident and I just cant seem to feel anything Im so numb he was the smartest most kind little guy you ever want to know. I need prayers to help me through this and my daughter and my family,

She added, Prayers for Jadyns younger sister she passed also.

The crash occurred about 2:50 p.m. on Shawinigan Drive near Russell Street. Two other children and two adults also went to the hospital.

Two adults, who were in a Dodge Caravan, were seriously injured, Leydon said. He had no information on the conditions of the two children.

Gene Basile, who lives on the dead-end section Shawinigan Drive, said crashes are common in the area, especially where Shawinigan Drive and Russell Street meet. Shawinigan Drive dips under Russell Street at that point and comes a dead-end,

The two roadways run parallel to Massachusetts Turnpike.

They come flying through here, you would swear they are the pike, said Basile, who did not see the deadly crash or its aftermath.

Basile said a section of guardrail at Shawinigan and Russell has been replaced at least four times over the 14 years he has lived there.

Terry Bushey, who also lives on Shawinigan Drive, agreed its a dangerous area. We were just talking the other day that weve been lucky we havent had (a crash) in a few months, she said.

The investigation into the crash showed a 2003 Dodge Durango, driven by the father of the four children, was heading east on Shawinigan Drive when it crossed over into the westbound side of the street and collided with a Ford tanker truck, Leydon said.

The Durango then continued out of control, for a significant distance and collided with the Caravan.

Investigators have not released any additional details on the crash.
ST. ALBANS, VT.  Four Springfield, Massachusetts residents are facing criminal charges after St. Albans police found about 170 bags of heroin and 18.5 grams of crack cocaine during a court-ordered raid, authorities in Vermont said.

St. Albans police said officers also seized over $2,000 in cash and a firearm with the serial number ground off.

Springfield residents Kashir Thompson, 21, Xavier Q. Dukes, 25, Keiandra D. Hale, 24, and Caianne A. Cayode, 21 were arrested at the scene, police said.

Nadine Morales, 31, and Erin Rutkowski, 44, both of St. Albans also were arrested, police said.

A list of charges against those arrested was not immediately available.

Officers with the Northwest Regional Special Response Team executed a search warrant at 12 Locke Terrace about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Police Chief Gary Taylor said. The search warrant was the result of an ongoing drug investigation by the Street Crimes Unit for the St. Albans Police Department, he said.

Police jailed Thompson and Dukes at the Northwest Correctional Center in St. Albans Town on $50,000 bail.

Hale and Cayode were released on citations ordering them to appear in criminal court at a later date, police said.

Morales was arraigned on an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear on a possession of heroin charge.

The raid marked the second search warrant executed at 12 Locke Terrace involving drugs in seven months. The first warrant was executed on July 7, 2018 where heroin and crack cocaine seized, Taylor said.

This is an ongoing criminal investigation and additional charges may be forthcoming, he said.

The chief urged anyone with information about the case to contact the St. Albans Police Department at 802-524-2166.
State marijuana regulators are counting on new home delivery companies to help bring social equity into the legal cannabis industry, by considering giving equity applicants and small businesses exclusive access to the initial licenses.

By making delivery licenses exclusive to equity applicants for the first five years, the Cannabis Advisory Board hopes that will actually create more opportunities in the cannabis market for communities disproportionately affected by the drug war, said Matt Allen, field director of the Massachusetts ACLU and a Cannabis Advisory Board member.

Massachusetts state law requires that state regulators make an effort to open up the marijuana industry to communities that were disproportionately affected by enforcement of marijuana laws.

But so far, small and minority business owners have struggled to break into the industry, which is dominated by large medical marijuana companies. This comes despite an economic empowerment program, which gave minorities, applicants from disproportionately affected communities and people with drug convictions priority in licensing.

The Cannabis Control Commission is just launching a social equity program, which will offer guidance and technical assistance to Massachusetts residents who live in a community disproportionately affected by drugs or who have had a drug conviction or have a spouse or parent with a drug conviction.

Two segments of the marijuana industry, still under development, could offer opportunities. The Cannabis Control Commission is planning to write regulations by next summer to allow social consumption sites, like marijuana cafes, and home delivery of marijuana.

The Cannabis Advisory Board, which makes non-binding recommendations to the Cannabis Control Commission, last Thursday voted to recommend restricting home delivery licenses to equity applicants, co-ops, and microbusinesses for the first five years.

Equity applicants would be defined to include communities harmed by prohibition and those with prior marijuana convictions. Co-ops and microbusinesses are categories of small businesses owned by Massachusetts residents.

The board also recommended that the commission develop a program to promote employment of equity applicants in the delivery industry.

In its recommendations, the board noted that delivery companies require less money to open than full-scale growing facilities or shops, so they could provide greater opportunities for applicants who have less cash to start a business.

Michael Latulippe, a member of the Cannabis Advisory Board who is involved with the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance and represents medical marijuana patients, said getting into the industry now feels hopeless to a lot of smaller marijuana entrepreneurs, who struggle with a lack of financing, difficulties getting municipal approval, and the challenge of finding property.

The idea that there would at least be this exclusivity for them would draw a lot more participation, because they would feel like they had a chance, Latulippe said.

Home delivery is likely one of the easiest segments of the industry to get into, since a business owner does not need to pay for a brick and mortar store or an expensive grow facility. Latulippe said there is also the possibility that larger companies with an interest in getting their products delivered could help finance smaller delivery companies.

The current model, Latulippe said, simply is not working. He said many small businesses know they cannot compete with larger companies, and they worry about losing their investment if they try.

At this point, we have had zero equity applicants or economic empowerment applicants (get licenses), Latulippe said. Were at a point now where a carveout makes sense because we dont quite know what the future is.

Allen said research has shown that minority communities were the most affected by the war on drugs, but most legal marijuana dispensary owners are white. A major reason, he said, is that white people are statistically more likely to have access to the money needed to start a business.

Although licensing fees and barriers to entry are lower in the adult-use market than the medical market in Massachusetts, Allen said, Now that we see how few equity applicants have gotten through the application process, its become clear that lowering those licensing fees alone is not enough to make the market accessible for people from communities disproportionately affected by the drug war. So the hope is delivery companies might be a more viable route to start a cannabis business for someone who has less access to capital.

Sira Naturals President and CEO Michael Dundas poses in a growing room at his company's marijuana cultivation facility in Milford. (Kristin LaFratta / MassLive file)

Michael Dundas, president and CEO of the marijuana company Sira Naturals and a member of the Cannabis Advisory Board, said state marijuana regulators are working very hard to try to operationalize the mandate in the statute to create a more equitable cannabis industry.

This is yet another way the Cannabis Advisory Board is recommending that the commission adopt a new policy to try to further those goals, Dundas said.

He added, Its a very difficult problem to fix.

The Cannabis Control Commission is expected to take the recommendations under consideration when it develops draft rules for social consumption and home delivery licenses this spring, with final rules anticipated by June.
A sex offender was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to notify the Sex Offender Registry Board when he moved from Massachusetts to New York.

Angel Luis Morales, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston on Wednesday. Along with the 18 months in jail, he also must serve five years of supervised release, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

Morales registered with the Sex Offender Registry Board in Massachusetts in 2017 while living in Roxbury. In March, 2018 police in New York found Morales had moved to Rochester and failed to register in that community or notify Massachusetts officials of his new address, she said.

Morales was convicted of multiple sex offenses between 2013 and 2014, including indecent assault and battery and open and gross lewdness. As part of his sentence he was designated as a Level 3 Sex Offender and required to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board in any state where he works, lives or attends school, she said.

Morales was arrested in May 2018 Rochester and charged in the Western District of New York with failing to register as a sex offender. Morales was ordered detained without bail. He then requested that his case be transferred back to Massachusetts, she said.
Massachusetts has seen a relatively mild winter so far, and an especially easy winter compared to the weather on Mars.

Thanks to NASAs InSight lander, anyone can now see a daily weather report from Mars.

The weather report includes statistics on temperature, wind and air pressure, all recorded by InSight.

On Sunday, Mars saw what NASA called typical weather for the InSight landers location during late northern winter. There was a high of 2 degrees Fahrenheit, a low of -138 degrees Fahrenheit and a top wind speed of 37.8 miles per hour in a southwest direction.

The weather reports, available online here, indicate that the average temperature on Mars since Feb. 11 has been about -80 degrees Fahrenheit.

The lander records this data during each second of every sol, which is a Martian day, and sends the data to Earth on a daily basis, NASA said. That operation is expected to continue for two years, which will allow researchers to study seasonal changes.

InSights weather tool was developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, with partners at Cornell University and Spains Centro de Astrobiologia. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the InSight mission.

Sensors called the Auxiliary Payload Subsystem allow InSight to provide more around-the-clock weather information than any previous mission to the Martian surface, NASA said.
HOLYOKE - The city of Holyoke has reached agreement with federal and state environmental agencies to take steps to end the release of raw sewage from its sewer collection system into the Connecticut River.

By entering into a consent decree in federal court, Holyoke has agreed to develop an enforceable, long-term plan to control discharge from its sewer system by the end of this year. The city already as begun work on such a plan and has submitted it to state and federal agencies for approval.

The complaint against the city by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection charged that since at least 2012, the city allowed untreated discharges, made up of a mixture of raw sewage and storm runoff, from the sewer collection system to drain onto the river.

By entering into this consent decree, Holyoke will take the important and necessary steps to prevent pollutants from entering the Connecticut River. This resolution will result in cleaner discharges from the citys sewer system and a healthier environment for area communities, said U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling.

This settlement will help us insure that our businesses and families along the Connecticut River have access to clean and safe water, said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

The U.S. Attorney represented the EPA in the court action, while the Massachusetts Attorney General represented the state DEP.

Holyoke own and operates a waste water treatment facility and a sewer collection system that covers roughly 70 percent of the city. Most of the time, sewage is properly carried through the sewers to the water treatment facility. In times of heavy rain, however, the entire system can be overwhelmed.

A 2012 inspection by the EPA identified 40 separate locations where overflow from the sewers was entering the river. In 2015, the city discharged 133 million gallons of untreated effluent into the river. As recently as November, a ruptured sewer line off River Terrace resulted in the discharging of sewage at a rate of 100 gallons per minute into the river.

A consent decree is a legally binding agreement between parties. In cases involving the federal government, a consent degree is commonly used to get one party to follow the law in exchange for the the government not pursing criminal or civil penalties.

Under the consent decree, Holyoke is not assessed a civil penalty for violations of the Clean Water Act. But the city will be require to submit documentation to show its compliance. Failure to do so could result in fines of $2,500 per day.
LUDLOW  Five people, including several young children, were seriously injured in a three-vehicle crash Wednesday.

Multiple ambulances responded to the crash, that occurred at 2:50 p.m., and brought five people to area hospitals, Police Chief Paul Madera said.

"Their injuries were considered serious and their conditions are unknown at this time," Madera said in writing.

The crash occurred at the intersection of Russell Street and Shawinigan Drive near the Chicopee line. Police did not release other details about the accident.

Officers remain at the scene investigating the cause, he said.

The road remains closed and motorists are asked to find alternate routes, he said.

The Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section is assisting the Ludlow Police Department in the investigation, Madera said.
As many as 30 business buildings in Buena Vista may be impacted by historical designations, according to Deon Wolfenbarger of Three Gables Preservation of Nederland.
Melissa Salguero, an elementary school music teacher in New York City, has been named a finalist for a $1 million international teaching award.

The award, the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, honors one teacher each year for outstanding contribution to the profession and impact in the community. Salguero is the only U.S. teacher among the 10 finalists announced today.

The winner receives the $1 million prize money in installments over 10 years and serves as a global ambassador for the Varkey Foundation , an education charity founded by Dubai-based education entrepreneur Sunny Varkey. Only one American teacher has ever won the prize: In 2015, the contests first year, language arts teacher Nancie Atwell received the top honor.

Salguero started teaching at P.S. 48 Joseph R Drake elementary in the Bronx in 2010. When she arrived, the school didnt have any funding for music projects. She built the band program there from scratch, fundraising and applying for grants to buy instruments.

But in 2014, a tragedy at the school set the music program back to square one. The building was broken into and $30,000 worth of equipment was stolen and damaged.

In response to the incident, Salgueros students came to her with lyrics for a song about rebuilding and healing. After a YouTube video of the class singing the song, titled We Will Rise, went viral, Ellen DeGeneres invited Salguero onto her show where she gifted the music teacher new instruments and donated $50,000 toward her music program.

Now, most of the 5th graders at the school play an instrument in the bandabout 7 in 10 students participate. The results from the kids participating in the band program have turned our attendance around, Salguero said, in a video produced by the Varkey Foundation. The video notes that students in the music program have a 95 percent attendance rate.

Because the school provides instruments to those who want to play, none of the students need to rent equipment, Salguero said in the video. I will never say no to a kid, she said. I dont care if the concerts tomorrowI will have that kid participate in some way.

Salguero has also been recognized by the Grammy foundation. In 2018, she won their Music Educator Award.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman announced the finalists in a video today, praising the role that teachers play in society.

When I was a kid there were lots of superheroes that I wanted to be, Jackman, who has played comic book hero Wolverine in multiple films, said in the video. But I can tell you right now, from where I stand, with all my experience, the real superheroes are teacherstheyre the ones that change the world.

All 10 finalists will be invited to Dubai for an awards ceremony to announce the Global Teacher Prize winner in March.

Last year, British art and textiles teacher Andria Zafirakou won the award for her work to support her schools economically and ethnically diverse student population.

Photo courtesy of the Varkey Foundation.
BLANDFORD -- A New York man driving a box truck was killed in a crash that also involved two tractor trailer trucks and a pickup truck on the Massachusetts Turnpike early Thursday morning.

Robert Epps, 41, of Bronx, New York, was taken to Baystate Medical Center, in Springfield, following the crash that occurred early Thursday morning. He later died at the hospital, Massachusetts State Police said.

Three other people, a 55-year-old Buffalo, New York, man and a 38-year-old woman and 55-year-old man from Houston, Texas, were also taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance for treatment of minor injuries, police said.

The crash occurred at about 2:30 a.m. on the eastbound side of Interstate-90. The preliminary investigation showed a 54-year-old man from Portsmouth, Rhode Island lost control of the Volvo tandem tractor trailer truck he was driving and collided with another tractor trailer truck heading in the same direction.

Two other vehicles, the 2016 Isuzu box truck driven by Epps, and a 2016 Dodge Ram pickup truck occupied by the couple from Houston, Texas, were also struck by the trucks, police said.

At the time of the crash, Massachusetts Department of Transportation had instituted restrictions banning tandem tractor trailer trucks and trucks carrying propane from the Massachusetts Turnpike due to a winter storm. The speed limit was also reduced to 40 mph from Wilbraham to the New York border.

"That is part of the investigation," said Police Lt. Tom Ryan.

As part of their routine patrols, state troopers enforce any restrictions called for by the Department of Transportation on the Interstate-90. Ryan said he did not know the penalty for ignoring the restrictions.

The crash remains under investigation with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services Section, and troopers assigned to Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gullunis Office. Trooper Steffan Welch conducted the initial investigation, police said.

Weather and road conditions are believed to have been a factor in this crash. No charges have been filed at this time, police said in writing.

Blandford, Lee and Westfield fire and emergency medical services and Hilltown Community Ambulance all assisted State Police at the scene. Massachusetts Department of Transportation also assisted.
LUDLOW  Two young children were killed in a three-car collision on Wednesday that also sent two other children and two adults to the hospital with injuries.

Jadyn Lamas, 9, and Natalya Lamas, 7, who are siblings from Ludlow, were rushed to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield following the crash that occurred at about 2:50 p.m. The children died at the hospital, said James Leydon, spokesman for the Hampden District Attorney Office.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni offers his sympathies to Lamas family during this tragic and difficult time, he said.

The investigation into the crash showed a 2003 Dodge Durango, driven by the father of the four children, was heading east on Shawinigan Drive when it crossed over into the westbound side of the street and collided with a Ford tanker truck, he said.

The Durango then continued out of control, for a significant distance and collided with a Dodge Caravan. The collisions occurred near the intersection of Russell Street, he said.

The other two children in the Durango were also taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance. Leydon did not release information about the severity of their injuries.

The driver and the passenger of the Dodge Caravan were seriously injured and were taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance, Leydon said.

The driver of the Ford truck was not hurt in the crash, he said.

The investigation is on-going and currently being conducted by the Ludlow Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorneys Office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Also aiding in the investigation are the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services, Collision Analysis and Reconstruction, and the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Sections.

Parts of Shawinigan Drive and Russell Street were closed for nearly 5 hours while law enforcement investigated the accident. The roads were re-opened at about 7:45 p.m.
Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski termed "extraordinary" the four-day summit ,"The Protection of Minors in the Church," that got underway today at the Vatican.

"First of all, this extraordinary meeting of the presidents of bishops' conferences throughout the world illustrates that Pope Francis, the Holy See and the bishops worldwide do take the issue of sexual abuse of minors very seriously," said Rozanski of the meeting designed for bishops to unite collectively behind procedures and codes of conduct to address the abuse that dates backs decades in the Church and continues to make global headlines for the hierarchy's lack of accountability and reform.

"I believe that all clerics, including bishops, will be held to one high standard in terms of conduct and sexual abuse of minors."

The Springfield diocese had 15 abuse reports made in 2018, and Rozanski acknowledged that more allegations have been made since January.

"As of today, we have received three new inquiries," said Rozanski in response to a reporter's series of questions.

"All are in the initial stages of review but I can say none involves any allegation of current abuse. All will be fully investigated."

This diocese has had an independent review commission for such allegations since 1994, one of the first in the country in a state with many high profile cases of clergy sex abuse and cover-ups, said it released 16,000 pages of requested information to a local grand jury investigation in 2004, and recently published an updated report on its abuse cases, though its critics remain.

Its history includes a bishop who resigned just prior to being indicted on child abuse charges, a former priest who remains the only publicly identified suspect in the murder of an altar boy in 1972 and a deceased priest who he took his own life in 2011 after he was confronted with the claims of abuse in 2011.

The diocese under Rozanski has recently updated its 2016 list of "diocesan priests and deacons who have had one or more credible allegations of sexual abuse of a child made against them while they were living" and all of whom have had "their faculties to function as clergy removed."

The list of 20 now includes the late Bishop Thomas Dupre who resigned as Springfield bishop in 2004, just prior to being indicted on charges that he raped two boys back in the 1970s, and former area pastor Eugene Honan whose name in part did not make the list initially as the victim was an adult and not child at the time of the sexual abuse in the 1990s.

Honan is now listed as "diocesan clergy removed from public ministry with a credible allegation of sexual misconduct involving an adult."

Dupre, who was never prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, was removed permanently from public ministry by the Vatican in 2004. He died in 2016 at the age of 83.

"Since last fall when we began to review our policies and procedures, we realized that only priests or deacons with credible allegations of abuse involving a minor were named online," Rozanski said.

"So we knew for a more accurate list the names of Thomas Dupre and Eugene Honan needed to be included. Our review process continues."

Rozanski, who was installed here in 2014, has been holding public sessions to answer questions how the diocese handles allegations of abuse and stresses most of the occurrences "took place years or even decades earlier" with most reported in the 1990s or later.

This month the diocesan magazine published an update on abuse reports dating to 1986 and link to occurrences back to the 1930.

It shows the diocese paid out $14,948,001 million in settling 147 claims since 1992.

It also shows the diocese has paid $2.25 million for therapy and counseling for victims of abuse with more than $150,000 paid in 2018.

"Sexual abuse of minors is an insidious crime and sin that has ramifications for the victims for the rest of their lives," said Rozanski when asked what the cost of counseling expressed to him in human terms.

"I am deeply sorry that any young person has suffered at the hands of a cleric who so terribly betrayed the trust that was given to him. I do pray that counseling does help in the process of healing and realizing that it was not the victims' fault, but that of the perpetrator."

In the following interview, Rozanski was asked to further explain the diocesan's recent abuse report; his reaction to the removal from priesthood of former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Vatican tribunal found him guilty of sexual abuse; his time spent at the seven-day retreat in January Pope Francis asked the U.S. bishops to do at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago; and the feedback he has gotten from his diocesan listening and dialogue sessions on abuse.

Q. Would you explain further the abuse report? There are some 279 reports and they are linked to some 279 occurrences during decades from the 1930s to the 2010s. Do the statistics of when abuse was reported reflect abuse reports that were found credible or are they all reports of abuse within that year?

A. With regard to the abuse statistics, the numbers are intended to reflect reports that were first received during the specified year. The underlying conduct in any individual report may have involved one encounter or multiple encounters between the victim and the abuser.

The encounters may have all occurred in one year or continued over a longer period of time. All of that is entered as a single report. So, the number of reports reflects the number of unique victims, not the number of occasions when someone was abused.

Q.

Similarly, do the occurrences represent incidences of abuse within that number or are they linked to a report that could cover many incidences?

A.

The 'year of abuse' for purposes of creating the list was the year the abuse began, as best that could be determined. In many cases, the details changed over time. So, the initial report could have been that someone was abused beginning in 1972, further investigation/communication might show it actually began in 1969 or 1975 or some other year than what was initially reported.

Whether the person was abused in only one calendar year or over multiple calendar years, only the year the abuse began is recorded in our list. This list includes both reports that were found "credible" and those that were not.

Q. What is your reaction to Theodore McCarrick being removed from the clerical state? How much do you see his laicization by the tribunal Francis established in 2015 within the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith as testimony especially to American Catholics as well as victims that the Church will move more quickly and with more transparency on this issue?

A. Like many of my fellow Catholics, I was extremely dismayed and shocked by the credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors and harassment of seminarians by Theodore McCarrick.

I will say that when the original report was made to the Archdiocese of New York by the victim, now an adult, but 16-years-old at the time of the offense, the process for investigation was followed by that archdiocese, reported to the papal nuncio and made known to authorities in Rome.

As a result of that process, Theodore McCarrick was expelled from the College of Cardinals and, after due process, was laicized. As Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Bishops' Conference, stated, "this shows that no prelate is above the law and is to be held accountable for his actions."

Q. What did you like about the Mundelein retreat and should it be an annual event?



A. I found the retreat at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago at the beginning of January to be a time of deep prayer, reflection and re-commitment to our ministry as bishops. I found the conferences by Father Raniero Cantalamessa to be very insightful, reflective and grounded in the Holy Spirit. When the bishops meet as a body at the conference (of U.S. bishops in spring and fall) , we do not have much time to interact with one another. I found this to be a time when we specifically joined in prayer and mutual support of one another in our episcopal ministry. If not an annual event, I believe it would be helpful to schedule every other year.

Q. You have held two 'listening and dialogue' sessions so far to address parishioners concerns on how the diocese handles cases of allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy. How much interest have the sessions drawn in terms of attendance and what specifically do participants want to know?

A. Each session met capacity seating with around 100 people in Mary, Mother of Hope and 140 attending at St. Joseph in Pittsfield. This is indeed a very emotional issue, fed by the news reports of the past few months on Theodore McCarrick and the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report (that revealed that 300 priests in six dioceses there had sexually abused 1,000 children over seven decades and that the cases were covered up by church hierarchy).

So, I would say that there is a lot of emotion and some people who are asking what is the Church currently doing to prevent sexual abuse of minors and what can they do to help in this.

Also, I believe that the Pennsylvania report was presented as though this is happening today, which is certainly not the case. Many people, including Catholics, are still misinformed on how the Church handles reports of sexual abuse of minors.

For example, many do not know that we report allegations of sexual abuse of a minor to civil authorities.

Much of the feedback (given during the dialogue and listening sessions) has been about the settlement and counseling monies.

Where do they come from?

One adult survivor who attended a listening session wrote to me about being dismayed that the questions from the session focused on the settlements and counseling fees and not enough concern for individual victims.

So, I would guess it is a matter of perspective of those who have read the information sheet.

Based on the first two sessions, those who came tend to be senior members of our Catholic community. Perhaps this is because those parents with children in our schools and religious education programs may be aware of our training and screening of clergy, teachers and volunteers.

The two remain listening and dialogue session with Rozanski are scheduled Monday, March 18, at St. Mary Church, Westfield, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.; and Sunday, March 24, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Northampton, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
SOUTHWICK - Residents will vote March 19 during a Special Town meeting whether to transfer an additional $500,000 of Community Preservation funds to purchase land on North Pond for preservation.

The Select Board Tuesday voted unanimously to hold the meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Southwick Regional School gymnasium.

The town already approved using $1 million in Community Preservation funds toward the land purchase in 2017.

Even with the additional $500,000, the Franklin Land Trust, which is working on the project, would fall $1 million short of the $5 million purchase price. The land is owned by South Longyard Holding Co. and is adjacent to the 267-acre Southwick Wildlife Management Area, and an additional 251 acres of conserved grasslands in Connecticut, which makes this area one of the largest areas of permanently protected grasslands in New England, according to the Franklin Land Trust.

Franklin Land Trust Director of Land Conservation Alain Peteroy said Tuesday that she felt confident the town would support the transfer but added even with the funds there was work to be done.

"This is an enormous amount of money," Peteroy said. "And this is a big project and there's still a way to go."

Southwick Conservation Commission Coordinator Dennis Clarksaid Tuesday he felt good about moving forward.

"I see strong support from the town," he said.

The CPC last week approved sending the request to a special town meeting vote. The was the second time the committee took up the request for funding. On Jan. 30, the CPC failed to approve the request for more funds.

"We are reconvening to reconsider," said CPC member Christopher Pratt.

Committee member Karen DeMaio, who abstained from the vote last Wednesday, asked why they were reconsidering. Pratt cited the outpouring from residents who asked that it be put to the voters.

Supporters of the North Pond project filled the Town Hall auditorium Tuesday night. Select Board Chairman Joseph Deedy noted at the start of the meeting that there was misinformation posted on Facebook regarding the board's intent to send the request to a special meeting. Deedy said after the CPC vote last week there was no question the measure would move forward. Following the Special Town Meeting being set, Selectman Douglas Moglin also referenced the intent of the meeting.

"In short, what we said we're going to do, we've done," said Moglin.
Downtown Easthampton is a community in transition, with the city's Cottage Street "Cultural District" having evolved into a Northampton knockoff, albeit with a personality of its own -- the streets are narrower, the retail spaces smaller, the free-range pedestrians fewer in number. The funky, artsy vibe is nonetheless strong.

Daily Operation, a storefront operation that opened last summer, harmonizes nicely with the emerging "E'ho" ethos. The space the eatery occupies has the high tin ceilings and bumped out shop windows typical of 19th century retail layouts, and that interior has been fitted with a galley kitchen, a walk-up service counter, and a seating area equipped with about a dozen tables.

The Daily Operation's decorative scheme is dominated by mismatched thrift shop treasures; food is presented on disposables. The menu that's displayed on one wall, we noted, was crafted from hardware store stick-on letters.

The bill of fare at Daily Operation might at first seem like an exercise in culinary free association, but there are discernible themes at work. Vegetarian sensibilities, for instance, are accommodated with choices such as a Creamed Broccoli Sandwich ($8.50) and Vegan Chili Mac ($9).

Chinese-influenced spiciness can be found in the likes of a Sichuan Cabbage Salad ($8.50), Kung Pao Cauliflower ($9.50), and Thai-style Khao Soi Noodles ($9.75).

Daily Operation additionally prepares selections with a conventional perspective. Those include a Dry-Aged Cheeseburger ($9.95) and a Fried Oyster Roll ($9.75) as well as sandwich offerings such as Meatloaf ($9.75) and Cajun-style "Blackened" Fish ($9.75).

To start our meal, we shared an order of Pork Dumplings ($6). Although prepared and presented in the familiar Chinese restaurant manner, they proved to be superior in flavor and texture. The three steamed packets had plenty of ground pork filling, with ginger and garlic both unmistakably making their contribution to that mixture known.

Garnished with tiny rings of green onion and served with a sesame-soy dipping sauce, the dumplings had also been dusted with a serious sprinkle of red pepper.

Beef Shank Noodles ($9.75), a bowl-style entree, delivered plenty of satisfyingly goodness. Beef shank is a first-rate choice for making broth, since the shank muscle is full of flavor, while the connective tissue it contains dissolves into the stock and lends it a gelatinous gloss.

Shredded shank meat and egg noodles were the two standout components of the stew-like bowl, with minced scallion and Chinese cabbage contributing vegetal character. Peppery heat also proved to be part of the flavor equation.

The Vietnamese Sausage and Chicken Liver Mousse Sandwich ($9.50) we tried represented Daily Operation's interpretation of a traditional banh mi. Though not assembled from the traditional mini-baguette (a sesame-topped roll was used instead), the sandwich was stuffed with sliced sausage, a generous smear of chicken liver mousse, and pickled veggies.

We found the result surprisingly rich, with an assortment of tastes and textures contributing to the overall between-bread experience.

To accompany our "mains" we opted to try the eatery's Cheesy Fried Potatoes ($5). Coarsely cut and crispy-brown, the spuds were topped with a melted white cheese. Green onions added color and character, while a dusting of red pepper (a Daily Operation commonplace) ensured the potatoes delivered spicy heat.

Though licensed, Daily Operation limits its adult beverage selections to three brands of beer. Bottled seltzer and a turmeric infused "autumn punch" are also currently available.

Daily Operation, we discovered, puts as much effort into its dessert selections as it does its savory fare. The current selection ranges from a Whoopie Pie ($3.50) to a Warm Coconut Pound Cake ($5); Peanut Butter Cream Pie ($5) is also available.

Our two choices, a Maple Black Bottom Pie ($6) and a Lime Cream Pie ($5), were both quite noteworthy. The former, a two-crust creation, had maple mousse layered over a fudgy base, while the lime pie featured a citrus chiffon filling and a garnish of blood orange segments.

Serving casual, sometimes quirky fare in a funky "pop-up" setting,

Daily Operation offers an edgy alternative to "same-old-thing" dining out experiences.

Name: Daily Operation

Address: 42 Cottage Street, Easthampton

Telephone: (413) 203-1541

Website: eatdailyop.com

Hours: Monday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Entree prices: $9 - $9.95

Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa

Handicapped access: Accessible, but restrooms not equipped for wheelchair use

Reservations: Not taken; restaurant is counter service.
A Waltham police officer who accidentally discharged her service weapon was taken to the hospital for medical treatment Thursday morning, police said.

The gun went off at 7:18 a.m. outside of a School Avenue address, Waltham police wrote in a statement.

Police said the officer was taken to the hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

The preliminary investigation revealed that no one else was involved or injured, police wrote in the statement. The incident is being treated as a personnel matter, as such, there will be no further comment.

Police did not identify the officer.

CBS Boston reported that family identified the officer as June Conway. The bullet went through Conways leg, according to the news station.

Conways LinkedIn profile says that she is the Housing Liaison Officer in Waltham and has been with the department for more than 30 years.
James Glover approached the bench in federal court in Boston Thursday smiling, as he shook hands and hugged city leaders, many of whom had a direct role in his arrest and sentencing for drug trafficking just a few years ago.

Glover was in court, along with two other men who had served similar sentences for drug trafficking, for a celebration - a rarity in the vast court house in the citys Seaport neighborhood. The three men were being recognized for their participation in Operation Exit - RENEW, a re-entry program aimed at helping the formerly incarcerated back on their feet.

Glover accepted a wooden plaque from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and turned to address the court.

Wow, he said, adding he was mad emotional.

I hated the government. I thought they were always against me. When I came home from federal prison I didnt think anyone was going to give me a chance, he said. But the police pulled me over the other day and they were so nice to me. I was shocked.

The ordinarily stony courtroom erupted in laughter and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross gave him a quick fist bump.

I have a whole different outlook on everything, he said. By me doing this program...it opened my eyes. They dont hate me. They really want to help.

Glover, along with Carlos Barrientos and Michael McNeill, were honored with a ceremony before their friends and family, court officers, workers from the probation department, prosecutors, and judges.

All three men completed a four month working program, during which they painted, built furniture and gave back to the city of Boston. The program was born out of a partnership between the mayors office, the Gavin Foundation and the probation office.

The mayors and probation offices split the mens $17 per hour pay.

For McNeill, who was sentenced for trafficking heroin and cocaine in 2017, the program was the first paycheck hed ever received.

Judge Mark Wolf, who sentenced McNeill, spoke about the transformation he saw in the man who was formerly known as Murder Mike, according to court documents. He wrote two books while in jail and has maintained his sobriety.

It can often be dispiriting to be a federal court judge, Wolf said, because often the only time you see a person youve sentenced again is when he or she has violated conditions of their probation.

When I sentenced you, you said you were writing a book, Wolf said. And I told you that shows a kind of intelligence. But there is a difference between being intelligent and being wise. I hoped youd be wise in the future. Youve been wise. And thats encouraging.

Walsh gave candid remarks about his own struggle with alcoholism that occupied a large part of his youth. The mayor says he believes in second chances because hes enjoyed one. Walsh said he took his last drink on April 23, 1995, a time when his life was in shambles.

Walsh said he entered a detox program shortly afterward, that transformed the course of his life, he said.

We all have struggles because thats life. Life is not supposed to be simple, Walsh said. But how do you handle that? You have the right support networks around you.

He told the men they are pioneers and he hopes they will bring others with them in their continued success.

The mayor thanked the families who attended.

They might have caused a lot of aggravation in your life like I caused my family, but we make amends, he said, eliciting more chuckles.

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins also addressed the court. She told the men she was proud of them and hopes to have their counsel when setting up future re-entry programs.

She asked their children - the little people in the room - to stand up. Rollins had her niece with her, as well. One woman held up a sleepy toddler who had his arms wrapped around her neck.

All of these people are here because we are proud of you, she said. And we are invested in your success.
Standing inside the spacious Knights of Columbus hall in Bostons North End Wednesday Mayor Marty Walsh announced $26 million in new funding for affordable housing units in the city.

As you know Boston is a city that is growing and thriving, Walsh said. And as you know the growth brings challenges.

Walsh said the city is continuing to battle a housing crisis that was in full swing when he first took office in 2014.

In an effort to push against the rising price of housing, Walsh and Sheila Dillon, the chief of housing and director of the neighborhood development announced intentions to create and preserve 515 units of housing in Brighton, East Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, Mission Hill, North End and Roxbury.

The new funding will also contribute to affordable housing programs like the Acquisition Opportunity Program and the Boston Home Center, and others which were awarded certificates during the ceremony on Thursday.

Holding the announcement in the Knights of Columbus building was a symbolic reminder of community partnership. The owners of the building approached Dillon last year to discuss the future of the building, she said.

They wanted their real estate which is very valuable...to support the city, Dillon said. They didnt want to sell it to the highest bidder.

The Knights of Columbus sold the building on North Margin Street to the East Boston Community Development Corporation to allow for the creation of 23 new units of elderly affordable housing, Dillon said. People in the hall, which was packed with mostly seniors, applauded.

This is a great reuse of a beautiful building and the North End is a beautiful neighborhood. This is going to just add light and vigor to this very beautiful building and put it back into productive use, Dillon said.

Victor Brogna, a longtime North End resident, said his father and grandfather were both part of the Knights of Columbus organization in the neighborhood.

The Brogna name has been a North End name since 1890, he said. [My father and grandfather] would be delighted and warmed and proud to be here today.

He said the new units for elderly residents is a great project and thanked the players involved.

The mayor has set increasing the number of units available for low and middle income families and seniors as a priority.

'We have no problem building high end housing in Boston. It is pretty easy and we see it every day," he said. The question is how can we make sure we can have it affordable and built in our city and targeted correctly.

His plan, which he calls ambitious, is to create 53,000 units of affordable housing by 2030.

It is one unit at a time, he said.
The natural gas disaster that tore through the Merrimack Valley in September, killing a teenager and leaving another two dozen people injured, has cost Columbia Gas more than $1 billion, according to a financial report.

In the 2018 financial report filed on Wednesday, NiSource, the parent company of Columbia Gas, said it recorded a loss of $757 million for third-party claims, including property damage, related to the disaster in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.

NiSource reported another $266 million loss for other incident-related expenses, making the total about $1.023 billion and climbing, according to the report.

This number does not include the costs of settlements from lawsuits family members of Leonel Rondon -- an 18-year-old who died when a house explosion caused a chimney to fall on top of a car he was sitting in -- or other legal actions brought against the company.

The company noted that number could likely rise as it seeks to settle these suits, which have been consolidated in Essex County Superior Court.

On Sept. 13, an over-pressurized gas line caused fires to break out, seemingly at random, across the three communities, terrifying residents and causing many to lose their homes. Thousands of people were displaced as temperatures dropped, living in motels and trailers as the utility company tested gas lines in each residence.

Thousands of people went without gas or heat for months.

The incident remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The U.S. Attorneys office is also looking into whether Columbia can be held criminally liable.

The company revealed that on Nov. 30, 2018 Columbia entered into a consent order with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in connection with a violation issued in March 2018, stemming from a 2016 report.

The Massachusetts DPU found that Columbia violated pipeline safety regulations related to pressure limiting and regulating stations in Taunton. Columbia was fined $75,000. In its report, the company noted that it is unable to predict the timing and amount of insurance recoveries.

Total expenses related to the incident have exceeded the total amount of liability insurance coverage available under our policies, the company wrote in its report. The company collected $135 million in insurance recoveries by the end of last year.

The company spent $167 million replacing pipelines in the area in 2018 and estimates the completion of this task will cost between $220 million and $230 million in total.

Columbia of Massachusetts has provided notice to its property insurer of the Greater Lawrence Incident and discussions around the claim and recovery have commenced, the report reads.
Boston Archbishop, Cardinal Sean OMalley, is among the many Catholic Church leaders attending a sexual abuse summit at the Vatican on Thursday, days after reports surfaced alleging tension between OMalley and Pope Francis.

The landmark sexual abuse summit began Thursday morning and will run until Sunday with the goal of educating church leaders on how to prevent sexual abuse and investigate abuse crimes.

Pope Francis opened the summit by telling a crowd of bishop leaders to listen to the cry of the young, who want justice, and seize the opportunity to transform this evil into a chance for understanding and purification," The Associated Press reports.

As Boston archbishop, OMalley has become a close advisor to Pope Francis over the last decade. In 2014, the pope selected OMalley to lead of the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a committee instituted to protect children from pedophiles in the church.

In a recent interview with The Atlantic, OMalley said he believed the Pope Francis understands the importance of the Catholic Churchs sexual abuse crisis, telling the magazine that the popes encounter with victims has made a very profound impact on his life and his ministry."

But OMalley also told the magazine that he was waiting on a solution from the Vatican that would hold accountable the bishops who allegedly ignored sexual abuse within their diocese.

In 2017, OMalley proposed a special tribunal to try bishops accused of wrongdoing. The archbishop told The Atlantic that Pope Francis, however, was convinced to do it an another way," adding, Were still waiting for the procedures to be clearly articulated.

The Wall Street Journal also reported relationship tension between the pope and OMalley, after the archbishop opposed a move to reduce the penalties for clerical offenders in 2017.

At the time OMalley reportedly told Vatican officials, including Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, If this gets out, it will cause a scandal, according to the Journal. The newspaper reported that OMalleys warning was ignored, and that the archbishop has lost some Vatican influence since that dispute.

OMalley has been a proponent of reforming the Catholic Church to protect and prevent victims of sexual abuse, a global problem first reported more than 30 years ago in Ireland and Australia. Investigations by The Boston Globes Spotlight team revealed in 2002 that clergy sexual abuse was widespread and covered up in Boston.

The summit on Thursday began with talk of cooperating with civil law enforcement, the AP reports, including a step-by-step lesson by the Vaticans sex crimes investigator on how to deal with abuse cases.

OMalley, in his recent interview with The Atlantic, said he feared the February summit at the Vatican would not be enough to curb the nuanced issue at home, : My worry is that the expectations in the United States are that this meeting is going to address all of our local concerns here, he told the magazine, which is not necessarily the case.
McPeak chuckled about various sounds Georges voice was making before coming close to Russian, including French, and there was a pirate phase.

McPeaks parents, Joanie and Steve, have been in many productions, and his mother has directed some. Steve McPeak, who plays Father Drobney, rolled his eyes and said drolly that when he started in theater, he wasnt planning to do much, but by now its just a hobby gone wrong.

Kendra Penn was two weeks into rehearsals for another supporting role when the actress portraying secretary Miss Kilroy left, so she stepped up to the plate. It went OK, said the second-time TheatreWorks actress; her first role in the Black Box was in The Wiz.

Michael Arthur (Kasnar) said he has been in four Patriot Players shows and two productions at Magna Vista High School, and he said having the number of lines he does with TheatreWorks makes him better as an actor.

Myranda Hodges (Burns) said being in theater takes all the stress away at the end of the workday.

The show was the first time TheatreWorks stage veteran Zack McPeak directed.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) met with area leaders Wednesday to learn how he might help accelerate the growth of the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre.

The center, a publicly owned industrial park being developed near U.S. 220 South at the Virginia-North Carolina line, soon will be the home of Press Glass and Commonwealth Centre for Advanced Training.

And Henry County Administrator Tim Hall led a presentation for governmental, business, educational and civic leaders at the New College Institute about how the center is positioned for the future, the stuff Warner wanted to hear.

For instance, Warner said he will look into whether federal dollars could cross jurisdictions, which could help one of the challenges Henry County officials introduced:

How to secure funding to improve the roads leading to the entrance when that entrance to the park will be in North Carolina.

Warner also invoked the magic word Amazon, which is planning to construct its second headquarters in Northern Virginia. Warner said he wondered whether Amazons supply chain might be interested in CCBC.
Troy Jerome Watkins of Martinsville, who was charged with robbery with a deadly weapon, was convicted of robbery in Henry County Circuit Court.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 21 years suspended on conditions including indefinite supervised probation and $40 restitution.

The offense happened on May 15.

Watkins also was charged with grand larceny of motor vehicle but was convicted of an amended charge of felonious unauthorized use of motor vehicle. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with 4 years and 6 months suspended on conditions including supervised probation. The offense happened on May 17.

In other cases processed by the court:

A charge of breaking and entering building with intent to commit crime and four charges of grand larceny against David Scott Guilliams of Bassett were dismissed. The offenses were alleged to have happened on Dec. 13, 2017.

Whitney Renee Oatis of Martinsville pleaded guilty to credit-card theft and credit-card fraud and was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison, all suspended on conditions including supervised probation and $377.01 restitution. The offenses happened Nov. 28, 2017. The prosecution dropped but could reinstate a charge of feloniously obtaining money or property by false pretense against Oatis. The offense allegedly happened on Nov. 28, 2017.

Larry Lamount Ellis of Bassett, who was charged with feloniously eluding police, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor eluding police. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, all suspended, and fined $25. The offense happened on June 13.

Vernard Lee Marlowe Jr. of Axton, who was charged with felonious DUI, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor DUI. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 11 months and 25 days suspended on conditions including a $500 fine. The offense happened July 28.

Sierra Kristin Moorefield of Bassett, who was charged with felonious credit-card fraud, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor credit-card fraud. She was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 11 months and 24 days suspended. The offense happened July 10, 2018.

Bobby Odell Lawson of Stuart, pleaded no contest to grand larceny of firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, and breaking and entering with intent to commit crime. He was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, with 2 years and 4 months active and 12 years and 8 months suspended on conditions including supervised probation. The offenses happened Oct, 3, 2017.

Alexander Shaquille Patterson of Martinsville, who pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possession of firearm by felon, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with 3 years suspended on conditions including 2 years of supervised probation. The offense happened Sept. 19, 2017.

Patterson also was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute but pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possession of cocaine. He was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, all suspended on conditions including supervised probation. The offense happened Sept. 19, 2017.

David Wayne Gilley of Patrick Springs, who pleaded guilty to possession of vehicle with identification number removed or altered and feloniously eluding police, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 60 days in jail, with 2 months active and the balance suspended on conditions including supervised probation and payment of a $200 fine and $1,218.20 restitution. The offenses happened Dec. 30, 2017.

William Leon Spencer Jr. of Spencer, who pleaded guilty to three charges of petit larceny-third or subsequent offense, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 15 months active and the balance suspended on conditions including supervised probation and payment of $610 restitution. The offenses happened June 19 and June 20, 2018.

A judge dismissed a charge of strangulation against Donald Enrique Vasquez of Bassett. The offense was alleged to have happened on July 10.

Brenda Mae Swims of Martinsville, who was charged with feloniously breaking and entering dwelling with intent to commit crime, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor entering the property of another for the purpose of damaging such property or any of the contents thereof or in any manner to interfere with the rights of the owner, user or the occupant thereof. Swims was sentenced to 12 months in jail, all suspended. The offense happened July 22.

Brian Scott Goins of Ridgway pleaded guilty to obtaining money or property by false pretense-third or subsequent offense. A judge set sentencing for Feb. 27. The offense happened on Oct. 31.

Maggie Harris Fleagle of Martinsville pleaded guilty to grand larceny and breaking and entering a dwelling to commit crime. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 13 years and 11 months suspended on conditions including supervised probation and payment of $785 restitution. Fleagle also was charged with felonious breaking and entering dwelling to commit misdemeanor, but she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor entering the property of another for the purpose of damaging such property or any of the contents thereof or in any manner to interfere with the rights of the owner, user or the occupant thereof. She was sentenced to 12 months in jail, all suspended on conditions including supervised probation. All offenses happened July 2.

Timothy Dale Harris of Bassett, who was charged with malicious wounding, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of assault and battery (a misdemeanor). He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 6 months suspended. The offense happened July 9.

Veronica Kay Casab of Martinsville, who was charged with credit-card theft (a felony), pleaded guilty to an amended charge of petit larceny (a misdemeanor). She was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 11 months and 4 days suspended on conditions including 1 year of supervised probation. The offense happened on Aug. 2.

Brittney Delane Bennett of Ridgeway, who was charged with perjury (a felony), pleaded guilty to an amended charge of obstructing justice (a misdemeanor). She was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 11 months suspended on conditions including a $100 fine. The offense happened July 11.

The prosecution dropped but could reinstate a charge of robbery against Kisha Turner Adams of Martinsville. The offense was alleged to have happened on Sept. 13. Adams also was charged with felonious unauthorized use of motor vehicle. She pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor unauthorized use of motor vehicle. She was sentenced to 365 days in jail, with 321 days suspended on conditions including 1 year of supervised probation. The offense happened on Sept. 13.

Ayanna Tenasia Austin of Martinsville, who was charged with felonious violation of a protective order, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor violation of a protective order. She was sentenced to 365 days in jail, with 305 days suspended. The offense happened Oct. 14, 2018.

Bradley Allen Witt of Martinsville, who pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possession or transportation of firearm by convicted felon, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with 4 years and 2 months suspended on conditions including 2 years of supervised probation. The offense happened on May 15.

Tommy Lee Bowers Jr. of Fieldale, who pleaded guilty to feloniously eluding police, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with three years suspended on conditions including two years of supervised probation. The offense happened April 14, 2018.

A judge dismissed a charge of malicious wounding against Richard Terry Jennings of Fieldale. The offense was alleged to have happened April 11, 2018.

Carl Anthony Harding of Martinsville, who was charged with feloniously eluding police, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor eluding police. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail, with 5 months suspended on conditions including a $90 fine. The offense happened Aug. 21.

Delano Alexander Hunt of Welch, W.Va., pleaded guilty to distributing imitation controlled substance and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with 4 years and 6 months suspended on conditions including 2 years of supervised probation. Hunt also pleaded guilty to an amended charge of nonviolent felon possessing a gun and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, all suspended on conditions including supervised probation. All offenses happened Dec. 12, 2016.

The prosecution dropped but could reinstate a charge of possession or transportation of ammunition by felon against Delano Alexander Hunt. The offense happened on Dec. 12, 2016.

James Bradley Young of Martinsville, who was charged with feloniously eluding law enforcement, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of misdemeanor eluding law enforcement. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail, with 5 months suspended on conditions including a $50 fine. The offense happened Sept. 25.

A charge of grand larceny and a charge of obtaining money or property by false pretense against Roger Lee Bartlett Jr. of Fieldale were dismissed. The offenses were alleged to have happened on Jan. 23, 2017.
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Kiwibank says its charity Facebook frame "smashed" its target, with over 50,000 Kiwis joining in on the fundraising effort.

The bank partnered with Mike King's Gumboot Up New Zealand, and announced they would be donating $1 for every New Zealander who attached their 'I AM HOPE' frame to their Facebook profile picture.

'Gumboot up New Zealand' aims to raise funds to help provide children in New Zealand with access to free counselling.

Kiwibank brand manager Kim Waghorn said it was heartening to see Kiwis get behind the cause.

"The fact it has taken off shows how many people care. Gestures count and this simple campaign has inspired people to act," she said.
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Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 21 2019

Ambit Energy Required to Change Practices and Pay $1.5 Million in Penalties for Deceptive Practices.

New York, NY - February 21, 2019 - Today, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that refund checks are being issued to consumers of Energy Plus Holdings LLC and Energy Plus Natural Gas LLC (collectively, Energy Plus) as a result of a Today, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that refund checks are being issued to consumers of Energy Plus Holdings LLC and Energy Plus Natural Gas LLC (collectively, Energy Plus) as a result of a 2017 settlement with the Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General James also announced a settlement with Ambit Energy Holdings, LLC, Ambit Marketing, LLC and Ambit New York, LLC (collectively, Ambit). Both engaged in deceptive practices that resulted in consumers paying more for energy services when they were promised savings.

Thousands of New Yorkers will get their money back after they were deceived into paying for more expensive energy services, said Attorney General Letitia James. Energy Plus and Ambit are just two of the multiple unscrupulous energy service companies that the Attorney Generals Office has challenged in our ongoing effort to protect consumers. We have zero tolerance for companies seeking to defraud New Yorkers out of their hard-earned money.

Over $700,000 in payments are being distributed to eligible current and former customers of Energy Plus stemming from a 2017 settlement with the Office of the Attorney General. As part of its investigation, the Office found that the company engaged in a number of deceptive practices that resulted in consumers paying more for their energy service than they would have paid to their local utilities.

In particular, the investigation found that Energy Plus:

Lured consumers with false promises of savings, then swindled them into paying much higher bills;

Failed to disclose material terms such as conditions for receiving cash back;

Deceptively implied that cancellations could be processed immediately.

The Better Business Bureau Serving Metropolitan New York administered the Attorney Generals restitution program based on claims submitted by consumers who were Energy Plus customers prior to the settlement. Approximately 2,800 residential consumers and small businesses will receive payments.

The payment distribution for Energy Plus customers comes on the heels of a settlement the Office of the Attorney General reached in December with another ESCO - Ambit Energy Holdings, LLC, Ambit Marketing, LLC and Ambit New York, LLC (collectively, Ambit). Ambits settlement, which resulted in a $1.5 million penalty, stemmed from an investigation that found that Ambit:

Misrepresented that consumers would achieve savings;

Signed up consumers with Ambit without their consent;

Switched consumers to a more expensive energy plan without adequate notice;

Promised its marketers high incomes that were not generally achieved.

Because Ambit previously agreed to provide more than $20 million in refunds to its customers in a class action settlement, the Attorney General did not seek restitution in that case.

The Attorney Generals settlements also required Energy Plus and Ambit to take measures to prevent deceptive practices in the future, including adequate training of customer service representatives, refraining from misleading advertising about savings, and implementing appropriate disciplinary procedures for violations of the law.

Energy service companies (or ESCOs) often purchase energy on the open market and then sell it to consumers. Utilities still deliver the energy to consumers, but consumers can choose to purchase their energy directly from the utility or through an ESCO. The Attorney Generals ongoing investigation into ESCOs has returned more than $5 million to consumers, including nearly $2 million to customers of Columbia Utilities Power LLC and more than $1 million to customers of HIKO Energy, LLC.

Consumers can protect themselves from unscrupulous ESCOs by remembering the following tips:

If you receive an offer for energy services, make sure you understand whether the offer is from your utility or an ESCO.

You do not have to choose an ESCO to supply your gas or electricity. You may choose to use your utility as your direct supplier.

Make sure you understand whether an ESCO contract involves an early termination fee and, if so, the fee amount and the length of your contract commitment.

Before accepting any offer, ask the ESCO to show you how its rates have compared with your utilitys rates during each month in the past year. This can help you judge how competitive the ESCOs rates may be in the future.

Remember that you have the right to cancel an ESCO contract with no obligation within three days if you change your mind.

If you are uncomfortable with how a marketer behaves, end the conversation with a request to look over their offer in writing so you can get back to them when you have made a decision free of any pressure.

If you receive a notice that your service is being switched to an ESCO and you did not authorize the switch, contact the utility and the ESCO immediately to tell them to halt the switch. If you are unable to get an ESCO switch cancelled, contact the New York Public Service Commission at 1-888-697-7728.
Jack Lukeman and Pat McCabe join forces for an unmissable performance in Backstage Theatre this weekend.

They will be joined on stage by two local actors, Shane Crossan from Longford and Carol Ann Farrelly from Leitrim who will be reading alongside Pat.

The Lukeman/McCabe collaboration might best be described as old-style village hall vaudeville for the future.

If one could conceive of a cottage fire being raked late at night as a scratchy phonograph playing Joyce and Count John McCormack begins its revolutions somewhere afar in the regions of hyperspace, as the door is knocked and a lady selling scones with human eyes arrives in the rain, then perhaps they might find themselves coming close.

Shane Crossan has been active for many years in the arts life of Longford and Dublin, most recently making a welcome return to the stage in Furthur Theatres production of Tilsonburg.

Carol Ann Farrelly from Aughavas, Co Leitrim has studied and worked in the Arts scene both here in Ireland and abroad.

Most recently Carol starred in Backstage Theatres Canal Studio production of Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth.

Once, in an analysis of the songs of Bob Dylan, Greil Marcus the Rolling Stones journalist spoke of the old weird America.

This is the old weird, indomitable Celtic heart-Ulysses meets The Dandy and Oor Wullie. Or, if you like, The Carter Family on the moon.

Lukeman and Mc Cabe are friends and long-time collaborators, having toured the UK, the USA and Ireland in the nineties. Now they are back with a wailing harmonica. High Lonesome comes to Backstage Theatre this Saturday, February 23, at 8pm. Tickets at 22 are available on 043 33 47888 or www.backstage.ie.

Also read: Longford photographer and artist join up for 'Blood Sisters' exhibition at Atrium Gallery
Works are underway in preparation for a direct provision centre in Rooskey according to the Department of Justice.



Despite two arson attempts in five weeks and damage to the interior, the centre will be used as a direct provision centre for asylum seekers as planned.



Gardai have confirmed that security inside and outside the hotel has increased due to the recent incidents and garda visibility has been expanded in Rooskey. A fence was erected around the hotel this week as repair works begin inside.



A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said they could not provide a specific opening date for the centre due to our responsibility to protect the privacy rights of residents, but revealed that the facility is being prepared for use as a direct provision.



The department official stated: The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of the Department of Justice and Equality is in discussion with the contractor about opening the Shannon Key West Hotel as an accommodation centre. An opening date is dependent on any required repairs after the fire last week being completed and relevant certification received.



A special meeting of Boyle Municipal District will take place this Thursday, February 21 in response to recent attacks and it is expected plans for a joint meeting with Leitrim councillors will be discussed.

Also read: Suspected arson attack at Rooskey hotel 'a sad day for Ireland of a thousand welcomes'

Meanwhile the Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran and Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise issued a joint statement appealing for dialogue surrounding the controversial Rooskey Asylum Centre.



They stated: We join with clergy and parishioners on both sides of the River Shannon in calling all concerned, including civil authorities, to engage in the kind of dialogue and consultative planning that will allow the best possible outcome for refugees and the local community.



Independent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan addressed an anti racism protest on the Roscommon side of Rooskey last Sunday. Between 30 -50 people attended the protest organised by Leitrim Roscommon United Against Racism. The rally was interrupted by a local resident who disagreed with the protest and said they were giving the village a bad name and the people of Rooskey are not racist.



Gardai are still investigating the two acts of arson at the hotel as separate incidents on January 10 and February 11 and are appealing for public information to find the culprits of the attacks.

Also read: Gardai launch investigation into second Rooskey hotel fire
Since her hit Netflix series launched in January, Marie Kondo has become a household name in Ireland. Her goal is the increase the tranquillity in ones space and amongst ones things.

Irish people are embracing her de-clutter mantra and are tackling bursting wardrobes, overflowing cupboards and sagging attics.

Enable Irelands charity shops in Longford are appealing to fans of the series to drop their unwanted items into their shop on Midland Court, where they will be sold to raise funds for Enable Irelands disability services.

In particular, the charity loves to get donations of pre-loved quality mens and womens wear, handbags, shoes, accessories and homewear.

Its wonderful to see charity shops benefiting from the Marie Kondo message. Whilst an outfit or an accessory might not spark joy in you anymore, it most likely will do for someone else. Its a win/win situation  the giver gets to downsize, the charity profits and the buyer gets a perfect look at the fraction of the cost of the high street, says stylist and fashion expert Barbara Stack.

Enable Irelands 21 charity shops nationwide generate funds to support services for 7,500 children and adults with disabilities in Ireland and rely on public donations for stock.

The charity can take donations in multiple ways  through their nationwide chain of textile banks, in any TK Maxx store nationwide, directly into any Enable Ireland shop, through corporate and community Bring Back Days and house collections.

Visit www.enableireland.ie for further information.
Longford man and Congo veteran, Michael Tighe, had a day to remember as he was invited to Aras an Uachtarain to meet President Michael D.Higgins and his wife Sabina.

It was a big shock. I certainly wasnt expecting it, Michael said.

Michael explained that although he had been informed months prior to the event that he may receive an invite, he didnt hold out much hope.

I didnt hold out much hope. I just said pigs might fly.

Also read: Longford Siege of Jadotville veteran Michael Tighe presented with special award

Mr Tighe did eventually receive the invite and did so on the back of his past achievements at the Siege of Jadotville. The Longford native was assigned to Congo in 1960 with the 32nd Battalion, where he stayed until 1963. He then wrote a book on his experiences in Congo.

His book titled The Tiger of Jadotville was released in 2016 and the Annaly Park man was invited along to Aras an Uachtarain last Friday, where he presented the president and his wife with a copy of the book.

After over 50 years of campaigning, the exploits of the men who fought at Jadotville were only officially recognised in 2017.

PHOTO GALLERY: Longford 'Siege of Jadotville' veteran Michael Tighe honoured

Mr Tighe was invited along with this in mind and the Longford man, who turns 80 this coming Friday February 22, described it as the ultimate birthday present.

It was a complete surprise. I was over the moon, he said.

Michael now plans to celebrate his monumental birthday with his close friends and family this coming Saturday. He also confirmed that he and other comrades from the Jadotville Siege have been invited to spend another day at Aras an Uachtarain.

Also read: Longford soldier Michael Tighe on the red carpet at Dublin premiere of The Siege of Jadotville
A crowd of 250 - 300 farmers from counties Westmeath and Longford gathered at Ballymahon Mart for the latest Beef Plan Movement meeting on Tuesday, February 12th.

The message at the recent Beef Plan Movement meeting in Ballymahon mart was clear, unless there is any engagement from processors soon, there beef industry will be no more. Farmers were warned by Committee member, Willie McCormack, that the current return is not sustainable for farmers.

The current return is unsustainable, Mr McCormack noted.

The margin for beef farmers is gone, he warned.

The meeting, which was opened by Westmeath chairperson, David Whelehan, gave attendees an insight into the main reasons behind the formation of the movement, as well as details of some of the progress made thus far. This included details on the groups establishment of county structures, purchasing groups and producer groups.

It was expressed at the meeting that farmers cannot continue to produce a high-quality product that meets all Quality Assurance regulations, whilst accepting a price which is below the cost of production. It was noted that farmers are under no contractual obligations to continue supplying cattle for processors and declining suckler farmers numbers was a focal point of discussions on the night.

One of the main revelations discussed at the meeting was the unreliability of factory carcass trim and grading machines. This is why the Beef Plan Movement is calling for farmer representation on the kill-line, carcass images to be provided, animals to be weighed live, an Appeals process to be introduced and a response from the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC).

Another major talking point from within the meeting was the non-payment of QPS (QA) bonus for many cattle. It was noted at the meeting that stipulations enforced by factories had little to no impact on beef quality of carbon footprint and the group say they are questioning the validity of some stipulations in place.

Also read: Kiernan Milling will be main sponsor of 85th County Longford Ploughing Championships in Granard

The formation of purchasing groups and producer groups were also detailed at the meeting, with the producer group formed to help ensure farmers get a maximum return from their produce. They hope to achieve this through six regional databases of factory fit cattle.

The fifth quarter was another topic which was touched upon at last weeks meeting, as attendees were informed of the true value of the fifth quarter to processors. The fifth quarter is described as the remaining pieces of an animal carcass which is not used in meat production, but in the formation of other products such as cosmetics.

Attending farmers learned that the fifth quarter is estimated to be worth up to 200 to processors. Willie McCormack, committee member of the Beef Plan, warned that although farmers are starting to become more aware of the fifth quarter, the true value of produce from offal remains unknown.

It is starting to become something people are aware of, he said.

The true value of offal was not known by a majority of farmers

Also in attendance at the meeting was Fianna Fail General Election Candidate, Joe Flaherty, who called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, to outline what the Government intends to do to protect beef farmers and ensure their long term viability.

The Longford Cllr said the anger and frustration of farmers in the sector is all too evident.

Farmers are under severe pressure and their stress levels are extremely high. They need the government to provide clarity, concluded Cllr Flaherty.

Speakers at the event also noted the formation of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) subcommittee within the Beef Plan Movement. Members were advised to give their input on the BDGP.

The main take-home message from last Tuesdays meeting was the importance of obtaining improved prices, whilst attending farmers were also urged to stand together and show strength in numbers.

Strength in numbers is the way to go.

Read next: 'Farmers will eventually get sense' if beef prices don't rise, says Longford councillor
The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

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President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday expressed India's wish to be a strong and reliable partner in Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 as he hosted a banquet for the Gulf kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Welcoming the crown prince on his first state visit to India, the President said India cherishes its cordial and friendly relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

India considers the Gulf region as its extended neighbourhood. The ever-expanding scope of India-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations demands sustained strategic engagement and frequent interactions between the two sides at all levels, according to a statement put out by Rashtrapti Bhawan that quoted Kovind.

President Kovind and the crown prince, commonly known as MBS, also held talks on counter-terrorism and bilateral ties between the two countries.

Citing terrorism as the gravest threat to humanity, Kovind said in a statement on his official twitter handle, "India and Saudi Arabia, and the global community must come together to defeat and destroy these evil forces and combat radicalisation."

Earlier in the day, in a joint statement, India and Pakistan have condemned, in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

MBS who arrived with the senior-delegation on his maiden two-day visit on February 19, signed five Memoranda of Understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information and broadcasting.

Addressing the visible enhancement of bilateral trade ties between two countries over the past few years, Kovind said, however, there exists further potential.

"Saudi Arabia continues to be our most important source of energy. We need to take the current buyer-seller relationship to a strategic level," he said.

The President said that India wishes to be a partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030'. "These are complementarities between our economies," he said.

"Indian companies have created jobs in Saudi Arabia, especially in the tech sector. India deeply values Saudi Arabia as a reliable partner for its energy security. We are delighted at Aramco's participation in the upcoming world's largest greenfield oil refinery" the President said.

-ANI
A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Asees Singh Chadha, who was arrested after his speeding Bentley rammed into an autorickshaw killing a foreign national and leaving three persons injured in Lutyen's Delhi.

Additional Sessions Judge Sudesh Kumar granted relief to Chadha on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of the like amount.

A magisterial court had yesterday dismissed his bail plea.

A 51-year-old Turkmenistan national Gulshat Alijanova was killed while three persons -- Raghubir Singh, the auto-driver and a resident of Sangam Vihar, and Turkmenistan nationals Alma Gul Atayeba (33) and Gulia Yyam (55)--were critically injured on Monday after the accident.

A case was registered against Chadha under section 279 (rash driving) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable with life imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code, the police had said.

Chadha is a nephew of business tycoon Ponty Chadha, who was killed along with his brother in 2012 after both sides opened fired at each other.

-PTI
A suspect accused of shooting a San Antonio police officer who was chasing him at a Northwest Side apartment complex last week is facing several charges, including attempted murder.

Jonathan Cruz Garcia, 17, was arrested following a shootout with SAPD officer Drew Matthewson on Feb. 12 in the Chroma Apartments, 5039 Hamilton Wolfe Road.

At about 1:11 a.m., Matthewson had another driver pulled over on a traffic stop near Prue Road and Research Boulevard when he saw a vehicle pass by that matched the description of an SUV involved in a shooting a couple of days earlier, according to a police report.

Police said Matthewson, who has been on the force for one year, aborted the stop and began pursuing the vehicle, a 2016 Honda CR-V.

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The SUV drove to the Chroma Apartments and rammed the gates to get inside, investigators said.

Garcia then bailed out of the SUV and ran toward an apartment building with Matthewson still in pursuit, the report said.

An officer said Matthewson could be heard over the radio announcing that he was chasing the suspect on foot. His next transmission was Im hit, the report stated.

Although no one witnessed the shooting, police said they pieced together what occurred based on radio communications, what they saw at the scene after the incident, and from consulting with one another.

Investigators determined that Garica ran into the well-lit hallways of building eleven, and around a corner, the report said.

RELATED: California-bound suspect in shooting of stepson turns self in after getting lost in Laredo

He then turned and waited with his gun up, pointing in the direction Matthewson was approaching, according to police.

When Matthewson rounded the edge, Garcia opened fire, according to the report. Matthewson was hit in his left shoulder and returned fire, striking Garcia in his right jaw, the right side of his chest, and his right arm, according to the report.

Matthewson and Garcia were taken to University Hospital for treatment, police said.

Garcia was booked by proxy that same day. A booking photo of him still recovering at the hospital was made available Tuesday night.

He faces charges including attempted capital murder of a police officer, evading arrest with a vehicle and theft from $2,500 to less than $30,000. Garcia is still in jail with bail totaling $275,000.

Police said that Matthewson, who was released from the hospital the day of the shooting, was to be placed on administrative duty as per protocol.
A message in a bottle dropped in the Gulf of Mexico by a Galveston laboratory was found by a Corpus Christi, Texas, couple in January, 57 years after it was tossed into the water.

Candy and Jim Duke discovered the artifact on the Padre Island National Seashore.

"My husband and I go out there almost every Saturday morning. We get there before sunrise to take photos, and then drive down the beach to search for treasure," Candy Duke told Chron.com. "That's where we found the bottle, at around marker 22."

Hope for vaccine: Methodist Hospital researchers find flesh-eating bacteria genetic roadmap

At first glance, the Dukes weren't sure if the clear glass container was a worthy addition to their bottle collection.

"This one wasn't colored ... my husband almost didn't pick it up," she said. "But I told him to pick it up anyway."

After inspecting the bottle, the Dukes realized there may be something special about their find. "My husband looked at it and said, 'there's something down in here,'" Candy Duke said.

As it turns out, the bottle, with a message inside, was part of a 1962 "drift study" by the Galveston Laboratory of the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, now known as the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA). The research was an effort to determine the direction and rate of flow of surface waters in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

"The study was done in the early days of shrimp management. It looked at where adult shrimp live, offshore, versus where juvenile shrimp live, inshore. The idea was, if you look at surface currents, you could connect the two," NOAA acting lab director Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., told Chron.com.

Scientists dropped approximately 1,796 bottles across the western half of the Gulf of Mexico over the course of several days between 1962 and 1963, according to NOAA, which is currently working to retrieve more records on the drift study from an out-of-state storage facility.

"After the hurricane, we moved the records to D.C.," Johnson said. "But May 1962 is about when we think this bottle was dropped."

"Someone mentioned that the last bottle found was in 2000 but we haven't been able to confirm that yet," he added.

And the message inside? Each bottle contained a bright reddish-orange card that reads in part:

"These releases are part of a study to determine the role that water currents play in the movement of young shrimp from offshore spawning grounds to inshore nursery grounds. The person finding this bottle should complete the enclosed postcard and mail it at the first opportunity. A fifty cent reward will be sent for each completed return."

Not wanting to break the bottle to get the message out, the Dukes took the relic home and posted a Facebook video with how they managed to pop the cork and slide the card out.

As per the instructions, they mailed the card to the Galveston lab. "I told them not to send us the 50 cents," Candy Duke noted. Before returning it, however, she took a photo of it to keep as a memento. "I want to make a shadow box with the bottle and photo to hang in our house."

At NOAA in Galveston, the card landed in the hands of Johnson, who has been in touch with the Dukes several times since. "We've talked about it and they've sent me reports on the findings," Candy Duke said.

These days, drift studies by NOAA are rare. "With the development of satellite technology, we don't do many bottle studies anymore," Johnson said.

Current projects at NOAA include research on turtle rearing. "It's for restocking efforts. We travel to Mexico or Florida to collect eggs, grow and hatch them, then release them back into environment," Johnson said. "We give them a jumpstart."

NOAA is located at 4700 Avenue U, Galveston, Texas, at the former site of the U.S Army's Fort Crockett.

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
Madison Erhardt

Save-On-Foods said Thursday it is now going the extra mile to reduce food waste.

Through its food waste diversion programs, Save-On-Foods has undertaken initiatives in stores across Western Canada to divert surplus and potentially wasted food away from landfills and redirecting it to the best use in a consistent, safe and measurable way.

In addition to its original full organic diversion programs in areas like Metro Vancouver, Save-On-Foods has partnered with Food Banks BC, Mesh Exchange, Loop Resources and a number of local charity partners in an effort to reach their ultimate goal of having zero surplus and potentially wasted food waste going to landfill.

We have now rolled out our food waste diversion program in nearly 100 of our 170 stores, said Darrell Jones, president of Save-On-Foods.

We have been composting perishable waste where possible for a number of years, but we knew we could do better. This new goal furthers our commitment to insuring all unsaleable food in our operation is put to the best and highest use. We look forward to expanding our initiative across all of our stores in Western Canada.

In the first three months of the FoodMesh pilot, the company has provided perishable food for over 250,000 healthy meals to those in need.

Across the country, over 1,500 family farms and thousands of food insecure residents are benefitting directly from this work.

With close to 1.5 million metric tonnes valued at close to $6.4 billion dollars of surplus edible food wasted each year in BC and close to 100,000 individuals struggling to put food on the table, perishable food recovery with our partner, Save-On-Foods has been a true game-changer for food banks in BC, said Laura Lansink, executive director, Food Banks BC.

Now, fresh, healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry and dairy are made available to every person at risk of hunger rather than ending up as waste.
Curious just how far your dollar goes in Montrose?

According to Walk Score, this Houston neighborhood is quite walkable, is very bikeable and has good transit options. Data from rental site Zumper shows that the median rent for a one bedroom in Neartown - Montrose is currently hovering around $1,289.

So, what might you expect to find if you've got a budget of $1,300 / month? Read on for a roundup of the latest rental listings, via Zumper. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

3600 Montrose Blvd.

Listed at $1,289/month, this 720-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is located at 3600 Montrose Blvd..

In the apartment, you can expect a dishwasher and a balcony. Building amenities include garage parking, outdoor space, a swimming pool and an elevator. Both cats and dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

510 Lovett Blvd.

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment over at 510 Lovett Blvd. It's also listed for $1,289/month for its 700 square feet of space.

When it comes to building amenities, expect garage parking, outdoor space, a swimming pool and an elevator. In the unit, there are a dishwasher and a balcony. When it comes to pets, both meows and barks are allowed. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee.

(See the complete listing here.)

1909 Brun St.

Next, check out this 750-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's located at 1909 Brun St. It's listed for $1,289/month.

In the unit, you'll have a dishwasher and a balcony. When it comes to building amenities, expect garage parking, outdoor space, a swimming pool and an elevator. Good news for animal lovers: both dogs and cats are welcome here. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

606 Marshall St.

Located at 606 Marshall St., here's a 700-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's listed for $1,289/month.

In the unit, you can expect a dishwasher, a balcony, air conditioning and hardwood flooring. The building has garage parking, outdoor space, a swimming pool and an elevator. Luckily for pet owners, both dogs and cats are allowed. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

(Take a gander at the complete listing here.)

Kipling Street, #317

Finally, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo over at Kipling Street, #317. It's listed for $1,250/month for its 720 square feet of space.

When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry, garage parking, outdoor space, a swimming pool, a fitness center, an elevator, storage space, secured entry and on-site management. In the furnished condo, there are hardwood floors, high ceilings, a dishwasher, a walk-in closet, a fireplace and a balcony. Both cats and dogs are welcome.

(See the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela - At Tachira Central Hospital, ceilings are caving in, most ambulances don't work, and antibiotics are scarce. Now harried doctors are stockpiling blood and drafting weekend medics as Venezuela braces for what the opposition is calling the "D-Day" of humanitarian aid.

"This could turn into a dangerous conflict: the armed forces versus the people," said Laidy Gomez, the opposition governor of Tachira, a Venezuelan state abutting Colombia. She has ordered state hospitals to prepare for casualties Saturday, when, in defiance of President Nicolas Maduro, an army of volunteers will seek to break the socialist government's blockade of international relief.

"It would be a crime against humanity to act against thousands of people who are clamoring for food and medicine," Gomez continued. "But I'm worried that Nicolas Maduro is looking for a fight."

Maduro on Thursday ordered the closure of the border with Brazil and weighed sealing the border with Colombia, not far from this western metropolis, as his government scrambled to respond to the planned Saturday operation. Venezuela's National Institute of Civil Aviation issued an order grounding private jet traffic nationwide. Commercial flights were still operating, though Air France said it would cancel flights to Caracas through Monday, given the heightened tensions.

In an apparent bid to counter international criticism of turning away the aid - provided by the United States and other countries advocating for Maduro's ouster - Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, said the government on Thursday had sent the United Nations a list of medicines the country needed for "humanitarian assistance." Maduro also announced that 7.5 tons of medical supplies had arrived Thursday from Russia and the Pan American Health Organization.

Maduro's directives came as the U.S.-backed effort to topple his government is entering a critical and potentially more dangerous phase.

A month after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared Maduro a usurper and claimed to be Venezuela's rightful leader, the government's enemies were in the midst of a risky gambit. By bus, car, boat, plane, motorbike and foot, thousands of Venezuelans, including Guaido, were already mobilizing and heading toward the borders. Their plan: to force open Venezuela's doors by force of numbers.

With Monday also marking the deadline for the Trump administration and the Maduro government - which last month officially broke diplomatic ties - to reach agreement on keeping a handful of diplomats in their capitals, Venezuela was confronting a crisis on multiple fronts. Failure to reach even a temporary deal could escalate tensions when Washington has threatened military intervention and is working with the opposition to coordinate Saturday's operation.

"This message is for the Venezuelan military: You will ultimately be responsible for your actions," Adm. Craig Faller, the head of U.S. Southern Command, said this week after a meeting with the leader of Colombia's armed forces. "Do the right thing. Save your people and your country."

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to be in Colombia on Monday for a gathering of Latin American leaders where, his office said, he would "voice the United States' unwavering support for interim President Juan Guaido and highlight the Venezuelan people's fight for democracy over dictatorship."

The opposition relief plan, which involves flotillas in the Caribbean and caravans through the Andes and the Amazon, is being hailed as a way to ease spreading hunger and disease in a nation on the verge of becoming a failed state. Yet the government's enemies also have another, more political purpose: to use the humanitarian operation to trigger Maduro's downfall.

They are calculating that rank-and-file members of the military and other security forces will not fire on unarmed civilians trying to cart boxes of aid across the border. Should the military disobey orders to stop volunteers, they believe, it could rob Maduro of his key source of power: the threat of brute force to keep the nation in line.

If the security forces or pro-government militias resort to deadly force, it could spark a more direct confrontation with the Trump administration.

"There will be an international response if the armed forces fire on the people," said Eduardo Delgado, 37, an opposition leader who hopes to marshal as many as 40,000 volunteers at the border. "And the U.S. is leaving no option off the table."

Guaido and his team in a caravan of 10 vans were headed Thursday toward San Cristobal, and ultimately to the Colombia border. Four buses traveling ahead of him with opposition lawmakers, journalists and volunteers were stopped in the state of Carabobo by national guardsmen throwing tear gas, said Roberto Campos, an opposition lawmaker who was on one of the buses.

Some of the lawmakers struggled with the guardsmen, who, Campos said, sought to take their IDs. A Guaido spokesman confirmed that his vehicle was still making its way west.

"They're not letting us off the bus right now," Campos said. "They're giving us no information, and we don't know what's going to happen."

Maduro's government deems the aid operation a Trojan horse invasion by the United States and has ordered the severing of sea and air links with three Caribbean islands being used as staging grounds for aid. It also dispatched military reinforcements and warned of "cadavers" on the borders. The bulk of the aid is in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where the opposition's allies, including billionaire Richard Branson, are hosting a benefit concert for Venezuela on Friday.

"We have the armed forces deployed across the nation," Maduro said Thursday in a televised meeting with his top brass.

Colombian officials countered that they were considering taking down border fences to allow Venezuelan volunteers - who were being encouraged to dress in white - to freely enter. Either way, Venezuelan opposition officials said they would start their attempt to move aid at 9 a.m. Saturday and would form human chains and carry out illegal crossings if the Maduro government blocked their way.

"We know what we are confronting," said Gaby Arellano, a Venezuelan opposition deputy speaking Thursday in Cucuta.

As the opposition sought to put its plan into action, San Cristobal, Venezuela's largest metropolis near the Colombian border, was poised to be one of the first to receive humanitarian aid.

A once-wealthy hub of agribusiness, the city of nearly 300,000 now stands as a textbook case of Venezuela's need.

Grocery stores selling at regulated prices were out of chicken, beef and flour this week. Those offering goods at free-market rates were well-stocked, but locals could not afford the exorbitant prices.

Medical shortages are also common. Judith Rico, a 60-year-old house cleaner and single mother of a 23-year-old son with cerebral palsy, says her son has sometimes gone days without his medication.

"My son needs humanitarian aid," she said. "We all need humanitarian aid. The government should not block it. . . . I cry every night because I'm worried I won't be able to pay for the pills."

Yet the humanitarian aid operation is unlikely to offer the assistance the region's largest hospital needs most.

In 2017, the hospital had 3,000 employees; now it is down to half that because so much of its staff has fled the country. Only three of eight ambulances and two of eight elevators are functioning. Its radiation therapy machine for treating cancer has been out of service for the past year.

"Humanitarian aid is wonderful, but it's not going to solve our biggest problems," said Renny Cardenas, the hospital's director.

In a country resting on the world's largest known oil reserves, gasoline shortages are so bad that lines at stations can stretch for more than a mile.

The shortages are partly due to fuel smuggling, but they will only become worse nationwide because of oil sanctions imposed by the United States.

"The sanctions are a measure to pressure the government, and of course we all know it's going to be hard," said Alfredo Ramirez, 31, speaking from his red pickup, after spending 24 hours in a gas line. "But we want the government to hand away power. This country is lost right now."

- - -

The Washington Post's Mariana Zuniga in San Cristobal, Andreina Aponte in Caracas and Dylan Baddour in Cucuta contributed to this report.
Just outside downtown Dunn, North Carolina, a historic antebellum-style house honors Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, a hometown hero often described as the father of the U.S. Army's airborne infantry. The World War II veteran served as the first commanding general for the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," and helped to plan the Allied forces' D-Day invasion of Normandy.

He's a widely respected, if somewhat obscure, military figure - which is why, after anonymous vandals attempted to torch a statue of him last week, museum officials concluded that it had been a case of mistaken identity. They suspect that the perpetrators thought they were burning a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

"This is not a Civil War museum and this is not Robert E. Lee," Mark Johnson, the curator for the Maj. Gen. William C. Lee Airborne Museum, told Raleigh's CBS affiliate WNCN on Tuesday. "This is General William C. Lee from United States Army Airborne from World War II."

Dunn is a city of less than 10,000 people in the greater Raleigh-Durham area, where some of the most heated debates over removing Confederate memorials have taken place in recent years. In August 2017, protesters in Durham took matters into their own hands by toppling a bronze statue depicting a Confederate soldier that sat in front of the city's old courthouse. A year later, activists and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used ropes to pull down the monument known as Silent Sam, originally erected in honor of UNC graduates who died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

While the vandals who targeted the memorial to William C. Lee last week didn't leave anything behind that would explain their motivation, Johnson told the Daily Record that he thought they were trying to make a similar statement about racism and slavery.

"So, just an alert to people who may be thinking about such things," he said, "this is the wrong general."

In a Facebook post, the museum said that the fire had started at around 10 p.m. last Thursday, after some "jerk punks" doused the statue with a flammable liquid. A ring of burn marks on the pedestal appeared to show where the fuel container had been set down. Fire crews responded and put out the flames, which failed to do any significant structural damage to the white marble statue but left it blackened and scorched.

Authorities are reviewing security camera footage from the area to see if they can identify the culprits, Raleigh's NBC affiliate WRAL reported.

Speaking Tuesday to the Daily Record, Johnson said that visitors to the museum sometimes ask him if Dunn's Lee was related to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. But as far the museum is aware, no one has ever uncovered evidence suggesting that the two men share any ancestors - or have anything in common besides being military officers from the South who happen to have the same last name.

"Complete different generation, complete different war, complete different everything," Johnson told the paper. "Everything is different." He added that he believes Lee, the father of the U.S. Airborne, would have been horrified to learn that anyone had mistaken him for a symbol many now consider racist.

"Idiot, missed their history class that day," one outraged woman wrote on the museum's Facebook post. Others suggested that the person or people responsible should be dropped from a plane without a parachute, or beaten by Airborne unit soldiers.

But some doubted that the vandals had really thought the statue was memorializing Robert E. Lee. "I don't give them that much credit," wrote one man. "They probably saw a statue and just said let's burn that. It'll be fun."

Regardless of the intent, the damage to the decorated general's memorial horrified many members of the military community. "Spineless cowards who deface monuments like this have no respect for how our country was founded and no clue about sacrifice, honor or duty..." wrote one woman who identified herself as a former medic with the 82nd Airborne Division.

"I'm sure I speak for every Paratrooper when I say I'm heartbroken," another veteran wrote. "Please let us know if insurance is not going to cover the repairs, I'd gladly donate."

The Dunn Police Department is offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest, WNCN reported.

Johnson told the Daily Record that because marble is so porous, it will take more than just soap and water to clean off the statue. He anticipates that it will cost the privately-run museum several hundred dollars to have a professional fix the damage, which he described as an insult to veterans and to the city of Dunn.

"This really represents the face of the community and there's really no need to come over here and take out anything you're upset about on this guy," he said. "It just doesn't work."
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State will not be allowed back into the United States, prompting an outcry from the woman's lawyer, who vowed to pursue legal action.

Hoda Muthana, 24, left her home in Alabama in 2014 to marry an Islamic State fighter in Syria. She now lives with her young son in a Syrian refugee camp.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!" Trump tweeted Wednesday evening.

In an interview with the Guardian published Sunday, Muthana said she regrets her decision to join the Islamic State and is seeking to return to the United States.

"I look back now and I think I was very arrogant. Now I'm worried about my son's future," she told the newspaper, describing herself as having been "brainwashed."

Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shibly, told The Washington Post Wednesday night that his client is "genuinely remorseful" about her decision.

"I don't know if there are many Americans right now who hate ISIS as much as Hoda does," Shibly said. "Ultimately, I think she's trying to face our legal system, and Trump is trying to give her a free pass by saying she's not in our jurisdiction."

Trump's tweet about the case comes during the same week that another woman who joined ISIS, Shamima Begum, had her British citizenship revoked.

In Muthana's case, both sides are at odds over whether the woman, who was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, was ever a U.S. citizen in the first place.

Earlier Wednesday, Pompeo said in a statement that she "is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States."

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria," he said.

But Shibly, who is based in Tampa, Florida, responded by tweeting a photo of his client's birth certificate, which shows that Muthana was born in Hackensack in October 1994.

He also released a 2004 document from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations certifying that Muthana's father was serving as a diplomat until Sept. 1, 1994, one month before Muthana was born.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a child born in the United States to an accredited foreign diplomat is not subject to U.S. jurisdiction and therefore is not eligible for citizenship under the 14th Amendment.

Muthana previously held a passport and is a U.S. citizen, Shibly said, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to "wrongfully strip citizens of their citizenship." He said he would be taking legal action on behalf of Muthana in the coming days.

A State Department spokesperson declined to discuss the case in detail, citing privacy considerations.

"There are many reasons that an individual previously issued a passport may subsequently be found ineligible for that passport," the spokesperson said. "If it is determined that the bearer was not entitled to the issued passport, the passport may be revoked and/or a renewal application denied."

Muthana recently wrote a letter to her family in which she described how her experience in Syria had changed her.

"In my quiet moments, in between bombings, starvation, cold and fear I would look at my beautiful little boy and know that I didn't belong here and neither did he," she said in the handwritten letter, a copy of which was provided by Shibly. "I would think sometimes of my family, my friends, and the life that I knew and I realized how I didn't appreciate or maybe even really understand how important the freedoms that we have in America are. I do now."

In a 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News, Muthana identified herself as a then-20-year-old ISIS member from Hoover, Alabama. She was born in the United States to strict parents who moved to the country from Yemen in 1992.

Her father, Mohammed, told BuzzFeed he gave his daughter a smartphone after she graduated from Hoover High School in May 2013.

Muthana said her curiosity about religion soon became a major part of her life, and watching scholars lecture about Islam on YouTube led her to memorizing portions of the Koran. What her father didn't know, she told BuzzFeed, was that she had also created a secret Twitter account in which she amassed thousands of followers and eventually "met" ISIS members.

"I literally isolated myself from all my friends and community members the last year I was in America," she told the website, adding she didn't associate with anyone who did not share her interpretation of Islam, which required that every Muslim move to ISIS-controlled territory.

Muthana told BuzzFeed she planned her move to Syria in November 2013. She lied to her parents, telling them she had to go to Atlanta for a field trip as part of a class assignment. Instead, she had secretly renewed her passport and was on her way to the Islamic State in Syria, using college tuition money to pay for a plane ticket.

She married an ISIS fighter who was later killed in battle. She later married two other fighters, according to the Guardian; her second husband, the father of her son, was killed in Mosul.

Muthana's father begged her to come back, to which he told BuzzFeed she replied, "I'm not going to come back. This is the right place for me to live and I am really ready to die, to meet my God as a true Muslim."

In the letter provided by her lawyer, Muthana said she had erred.

"When I left to Syria I was a naive, angry and arrogant young woman," she said in the letter. "I thought that I understood my religious beliefs, and I thought I had good friends, I stopped listening to my family and those who care about me and that was a big mistake."

- - -

The Washington Post's Carol Morello contributed to this report.
Alanna Kelly

The family of a man who was killed in 2016 are reaching out to residents of Kelowna to help solve the cold case on the anniversary of the man's death.

William John Patterson, 37, was found suffering gunshot wounds inside his Edmonton home near Chappelle Drive on Feb. 21, 2016. He later died in hospital.

We are still hoping for some resolution, it is unsolved and the trail has gone cold, said Scott Heaps.

There have been no leads or charges laid in the case.

It has been three years to the day, and his former father-in-law visits his memorial bench at Kelowna's Cedar Creek Dog Park every year on this day and on his birthday.

Today he will spend some time visiting the spot that overlooks Okanagan Lake and he'll leave a single lily on the bench.

He spent a lot of time here, he had a lot of friends here, he said. I am hoping for anything.

Patterson lived in Kelowna from about 2000 to 2013.

John said the best time of his life was his time he spent in Kelowna, said Heaps.

The family placed Pattersons ashes into Okanagan Lake in the summer of 2016.

A $40,000 reward was posted by Edmonton Police last year for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for killing Patterson.

Investigators identified two vehicles of interest that were in the area at the time of the homicide.

The first vehicle of interest is believed to be an older, white Mazda3 with a sunroof and distinct Continental ContiSportContact 5 SSR tires, says the release. The second vehicle of interest is believed to be a dark-coloured, Chevrolet Malibu.

The Malibu came into the Chapelle area and picked up a male from a home which was under construction at the time.

Police said this man was a person of interest in the investigation, but no one identified him.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to contact the Edmonton Police Service at 780-423-4567 or submit your tip online and mention file number 16-27755.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wore a Confederate uniform in a photo published in his 1980 college yearbook, the Tennessean newspaper reported Thursday, in the latest instance of a state leader coming under scrutiny for past actions that critics have decried as racially insensitive.

Lee, R, who won election in November, confirmed to the newspaper through his office that he wore the uniform at an "Old South" party as a student at Auburn University in Alabama.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Lee said he regretted wearing the uniform.

"Although I have never acted to intentionally hurt anyone, I have the benefit of 40 years of hindsight to see that participating was insensitive and I've come to regret it," Lee said.

A Lee spokesman added that the governor has never worn blackface.

According to the Tennessean, the photo of Lee in Confederate garb - of which Lee's office initially said it had no knowledge - appeared in a section of the yearbook dedicated to members of the Kappa Alpha Order. A profile of Lee appears on the alumni section of the fraternity's website; the group also describes Gen. Robert E. Lee as its "spiritual founder."

In 2010, the fraternity's national leadership banned the wearing of Confederate uniforms at its "Old South" parties and parades after complaints from black students. It banned the use of the term "Old South" for its events in 2016.

In a statement, Kappa Alpha Order noted that it has "consistently reviewed and revised" its policies, describing itself as "a moral compass for the modern gentleman."

"For everyone, the collective revelation of these activities have served to educate us all on the past, punctuate the changes that have been made by our Order and in society, and direct us to continue to closely follow our values today," Jesse S. Lyons, an assistant executive director of the fraternity, said in a statement.

Another prominent Kappa Alpha alumnus, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, R, recently came under criticism for taking part in fraternity parties in the 1990s at which members wore Confederate uniforms. Reeves's office has not said whether he wore such a costume at those parties.

The unearthing of the Lee photo comes weeks after the revelation that two top officials in Virginia - Gov. Ralph Northam, D, and Attorney General Mark Herring, D - dressed in blackface during college, prompting a bipartisan outcry.

Both Northam and Herring have rebuffed calls to resign, and Northam has said that he plans to make racial reconciliation a centerpiece of his remaining years in office - although he canceled plans Wednesday to launch a "reconciliation tour" amid criticism from a black student leader at Virginia Union University.
There's a hole new look about Samsung's Galaxy S10.

The camera on Samsung's new flagship smartphone literally punches right through the screen, doing away with the need for borders, notches or other weird cutouts. There's a fingerprint reader in the screen, too, hidden behind the pixels. Flip the screen over and it becomes a wireless charging station for headphones - or a friend's dying phone battery.

I got to spend a little time with the $750-and-up S10 ahead of its unveiling Wednesday, an annual ritual that's become as much about marketing upgrades as showcasing new technology. Samsung's goal: make other smartphones look dated.

And it accomplished that - with new details for the Galaxy Fold, its flip phone that opens up to the size of a 7.3-inch tablet. It arrives in April for an eyebrow-raising $1,980.

But in the meantime, the S10 succeeds at making a statement. Samsung hasn't ever had Apple's luxury sensibility, even though this year's model is available in high-end ceramic finishes at prices well over $1,000. Samsung's advantage is hardware engineering - doing awesomely strange things with screens and squeezing more tech into less space.

That punch-hole screen is a statement: Look what we can do. Many phones now have two cameras on the back, so the S10 comes with up to four. The S10 packs more processing power than some gaming laptops. And its battery weighs in at up to 4,500 mAh, one of the largest I've seen in a flagship phone.

The question is whether any of these hardware evolutions are enough to reignite a smartphone market that's as mature as a "Friends" rerun. People are holding on to phones for three, four or five years now, and with good reason. Old Samsung and Apple phones hold up pretty well, and the tech giants haven't done a great job of addressing more fundamental concerns, like uncrackable screens and distracting, privacy-invading software.

Come April, the Galaxy Fold promises to offer a phone that's both more comfortable to carry, and offers a big surface to watch video or do work. It's a technological accomplishment, but it has challenges as a product. Apps from Google, Microsoft and others have been tweaked to let you start on the smaller exterior display and open up into tablet mode to continue working. That interior screen also lets you run up to three apps at once.

For everyone not interested in spending $2,000 on a smartphone, Samsung's strategy is making S10 at many sizes, and prices. There are enough variations to overwhelm Goldilocks:

- The S10 e is the $750 entry-level option, priced to compete with Apple's iPhone XR. It measures 5.8 inches on the diagonal, and cuts a few corners such as a fingerprint reader that's built into the side power button.

- The S10 is the $900 standard option, measuring 6.1 inches and comes with three back cameras. (More on them below.)

- The S10 + costs $1,000,and measures 6.4 inches. It adds a second front-facing camera.

- The S10 5G measures 6.7 inches, supports next-generation networks (that have yet to arrive most places) and adds a fourth camera on the back. Its price hasn't been announced and it won't arrive until some point later in the year.

Samsung's biggest innovations are in the screen. Forget the notch that Apple uses to hide front cameras - Samsung laser cut circles for its front-facing cameras. The usable screen goes pretty much all the way to the edge on all four sides, so Samsung can finally declare victory in its decade-long war on phone bezels.

The biggest reason to celebrate is the triumphant return of the fingerprint reader. To go for a full-screen design, Samsung banished the reader to the back of the phone in 2017; Apple got rid of it entirely for FaceID. But on the S10 and S10 +, the fingerprint reader comes back on front where it belongs, buried inside the screen with no visible button. Samsung's Chinese rivals did this trick first, but Samsung's version uses some ultrasonic tech that should be more reliable. (Just note, if you like screen protectors, you'll need a special compatible one.)

Apple and Samsung fans with undoubtedly bicker over whether a fingerprint reader or FaceID is a superior way to unlock a phone. I conducted a few unlocking duels, and it was a tie.

There are two other hardware evolutions worth noting: Samsung hid a tech inside the phone to make you a better friend. Switch on a wireless powershare mode, and the phone will charge any other Qi-charging compatible devices you put on top of it - even iPhones.

And on the back of the phone, there are so many cameras it's starting to look like spider eyes. All of the models have one lens for standard shots and another for extra-wide-angle shots. The S10 and S10 + add a third lens for zoom shots. The S10 5G coming later adds one more on the back and the front, both to measure depth.

Now that Samsung phones have all those lenses and sensors, what is it doing with all that data? Not as much as I'd hope. The S10 + comes with an extra depth camera on its front, but the phone still can't read your face to unlock securely. (Samsung used to include an iris reader on the front, but dropped it this year.)

What I found missing from Samsung's Galaxy lineup was discussion of what rivals like Apple and Google say is one of the next big things in tech: augmented reality. That's the ability for phones to scan the depth of the world around them, and overlay digital information on to of the physical world. Only the S10 5G model comes with Samsung's 3-D depth camera on the back, which it says allows the phone to measure physical spaces and add blurry depth effects to video.

It highlights the biggest problem with Samsung's pitch: software. The S10 will sport Samsung's redesigned "One UI" interface which looked much more elegant than its predecessors. Yet Samsung's artificial intelligence assistant Bixby remains an also-ran.

And the competition is proving software and services can be more important than hardware tricks. Google's Pixel phone has gained a toehold in the market for its tightly integrated AI Assistant, faster Android updates, and software-driven camera features such as Night Sight. Apple is locking in loyal customers with a growing array of services like Apple Music and, expected soon, news and video subscriptions.

The S10 is available for preorder Feb. 21 and in stores March 8.
VATICAN CITY - Facing an erosion of trust in the church and in his papacy, Pope Francis on Thursday opened a landmark summit on clerical sexual abuse, saying that Catholics expected "concrete and effective measures" against the scourge - the kind of steps that have eluded the Vatican for decades.

"Hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice," Francis said, noting that the church was beyond the phase of "predictable condemnations."

The pontiff's remarks, issued to the 190 bishops and Catholic leaders who have descended on Rome, set a notably firm tone for the beginning of the four-day meeting - the highest-profile test to date of whether the Roman Catholic Church is equipped to deal with its central crisis.

Outside the fenced-off area where the bishops gathered, victims of abuse from around the world expressed frustration with the church's long-standing pattern of protecting the institution, treating victims with skepticism and burying cases with monetary settlements.

Some of the comments made by church leaders seemed to acknowledge that reality.

"We have to recognize this crisis in its full depth: To realize that the damage is not done by outsiders but that the first enemies are within us, among us bishops and priests and consecrated persons," Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, the archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, told the bishops in one of the day's three official presentations. "We have to recognize that the enemy is within."

The pope and the Vatican face intense pressure to persuade bishops from around the world to confront the issue, even in regions where abuse scandals have not yet surfaced publicly, and where some church leaders are skeptical about the severity of the problem. But church officials have called the meeting one phase in a long process, not a cure-all.

The meeting's first day involved a mix of prayer, emotional appeals and discussions on specifics. In a room that looked like a college auditorium, rows of bishops listened to speeches and took notes. Francis delivered 21 "reflection points" - ideas for handling abuse that one organizer, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, described as a "road map" for discussion in following days.

"It's an understatement to say [these ideas] have to be taken seriously," Scicluna said.

Among those ideas, the pope raised the possibility of establishing rules that incorporate lay experts into abuse investigations. He also suggested creating "specific protocols" for handling accusations against bishops. The pope said that the church - likely at the local level - should consider having a clear contact for victims who want to report crimes.

Though advocates for church reform said some of the ideas would help, they noted that Francis' points stopped short of a change to church law that would force clerics found guilty of abuse to be defrocked. One of the possibilities Francis raised is that the church should assess the crime - with the "traditional principle of proportionality" - and decide whether "priests and bishops guilty of sexual abuse of minors leave the public ministry."

"If a priest assaults a child somewhere, is he going to be taken out of ministry by Monday morning and turned over to civil authorities?" said Peter Isely, a founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse, a global survivors and activists group. "Are they going to make that law, so it's crystal clear to every one of them?"

Despite Francis' call for concrete steps, organizers have said the meeting is designed foremost to be educational - emphasizing the imperative not to bury abuse accusations. They have also said the church is not aiming to draw up a single, global standard for dealing with abuse. Corrupt legal systems or draconian laws in some countries make it unrealistic, church officials have said, for the Vatican to mandate that all bishops report abuse accusations to criminal authorities - a standard that is common within the U.S. church.

"You cannot have a one-size-fits-all that comes out of this," Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago said in an interview. "They won't be told: This is exactly what you have to do."

The pope called for this summit last September amid a resurgent abuse crisis that has eroded the church's credibility - while raising questions about earlier efforts at reform. Scandals over the past year have engulfed the church in Chile, Australia, Latin America and the United States.

Francis has dealt with cases increasingly forcefully - though after some missteps. He is in the midst of a drastic overhaul of Chilean church leadership after earlier defending a bishop there accused of abuse coverup. He also recently affirmed the church decision to defrock former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a onetime church power broker accused of abusing minors and adults.

The notion that the abuse scandal had reached into the highest levels of the church was evident Thursday, starting when Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a Filipino widely seen as a future papal candidate, said bishops have wounded the faith with their behavior on abuse.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them, and covering up the scandal to protect the perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Tagle said.

The event is closed to the press, but the Vatican is live-streaming certain moments, including the remarks from the pope and the three official presentations that are planned for each day. Working-group sessions and question-and-answer periods are not being broadcast.

No survivors of clergy abuse are speaking in person at the summit, but the Vatican played recorded testimony from five victims Thursday. One survivor described the "total loss of the innocence of my youth." Another, from Asia, described abuse as a "time bomb" happening in the region and said the problem could destroy "whole generations" of children. Another victim described receiving a skeptical reception from church authorities after reporting abuse.

"The first thing they did was to treat me as a liar, turn their backs and tell me that I, and others, were enemies of the church," the victim said. "This pattern exists not only in Chile. It exists all over the world, and this must end."

"You need to repair what has been done to the victims, be close to them, believe them and accompany them," the person continued. "You are the physicians of the soul, and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed - in some cases - into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith."

The Washington Post's Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.
Morgan County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Bradley D. Mott, 32, of Goshen, Indiana was booked into the Morgan County jail at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on charges of cannabis trafficking, manufacture/delivery of cannabis and possession of cannabis.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Brandi N. MaFadden, 29, of 6 Hazelcrest Lane was booked into the Morgan County jail at 5:50 p.m. Wednesday on an aggravated domestic battery charge after police say she stabbed a victim that been in a dating relationship with her.

 A 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl were arrested at 10:17 a.m. Wednesday on charges of disorderly conduct after an incident at Lafayette Academy.

South Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Thomas L. Ellis, 44 of 207 S. McDonald St., Murrayville, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 7:31 p.m. Wednesday on charges of driving while license is revoked or suspended and improper lane usage.

Compiled by Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree
WASHINGTON - Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday night that the House will vote in the coming days on a resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, encouraging fellow Democrats to support the effort as they try to stop Trump's push to expand efforts to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a letter, the California Democrat said Trump's declaration "undermines the separation of powers and Congress's power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive."

By invoking a national emergency, Trump is claiming authority to shift federal funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes to be spent instead on his border wall.

Pelosi announced that the House would move "swiftly" to pass a disapproval resolution written by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, though she did not specify an exact date and indicated that it would move through a House committee before coming to the floor.

"All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution," Pelosi wrote. "The President's decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated."

Pelosi's announcement formalizes a strategy House Democrats settled on several days ago. Democratic leaders had been anticipating Trump's emergency declaration for weeks and had been working quietly behind the scenes on a two-pronged approach that would include passing a disapproval resolution to put Republicans on record on the matter - then eventually suing or joining with a lawsuit challenging the declaration in court.

House committee chairmen, including Judiciary chief Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., also anticipate holding hearings on Trump's decision.

The resolution is expected to sail through the Democratic-controlled House. Its fate in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-to-47 advantage, is less certain.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Wednesday became the first Republican lawmaker to say publicly that she would vote to reject Trump's emergency declaration. At an event in her home state, she said Trump's move is of "dubious constitutionality" and pledged to support a "clean" resolution opposing it, according to an Associated Press report.

Castro's resolution is one page long, exercising authority reserved by Congress under the 1976 National Emergencies Act. Under that law, a disapproval measure filed in either congressional chamber is entitled to expedited consideration.

The House, with a sizable Democratic majority and Pelosi's announcement of support, is all but certain to pass the measure. And, while the resolution would need only a simple majority to pass the Senate, it is unclear how many GOP senators would actually rebuke Trump by supporting it.

Indeed, some of the GOP critics who said it would be a bad idea for Trump to get the funding without Congress have silenced their pushback - or even reversed course entirely - after the president's decision to ignore their advice.

Should the measure pass the Senate, Trump officials have already told surrogates that he will veto the bill. Congress is unlikely to have the numbers to override that veto.

The bigger threat to Trump's declaration is the courts. A group of states led by Democratic governors have filed suit against the administration, while other groups - representing border landowners and other potential parties who could be affected by the border wall or the shifting of appropriated funds to pay for it - are either preparing lawsuits or have filed them already.

Democratic lawmakers are expected to aggressively defend Congress' constitutional power to appropriate money in the courts, arguing that Trump cannot unilaterally shift other resources to a project that lawmakers have otherwise refused to fund. But Trump allies argue that Congress itself placed few bounds on presidential emergency powers and that courts should not intervene if the congressional disapproval process fails.

House lawyers have not determined whether the chamber will join or support one of those lawsuits or instead file suit against Trump separately, Democratic aides familiar with the deliberations said last week.
Photo: Kerry Gilbert

Every lecture seat was filled at Okanagan College's Vernon campus Wednesday night as all walks of life came to hear author Tanya Talaga speak.

In 2009, Talaga, working for the Toronto Star, went to Thunder Bay to meet First Nation elders and find out why voter turnout was disproportionately low. Its a story she has yet to finish.

Instead, she investigated the untimely death of youths sent away from small communities to the big city to get a high school education.

Were all here on Turtle Mountain together, now. We have to work together to change things," said Talaga. "Our youth are arming themselves with knowledge. As Senator Murray Sinclair said, Education is what got us into this mess  but education is the key to reconciliation.

Talagas research went deep, putting her on a first-name basis with the wounded families of seven lost youths. The loss was so profound, she wrote two books on the subject: Seven Fallen Feathers, and All Our Relations.

And shes not done yet, as deaths continue to mount.

The lecture began with Okanagan Indian Band elder Patsy Gregoire offering a prayer, pleased that indigenous people such as Talaga are using their pens to amplify aboriginal culture and issues.

Student Dawn Naas sang and drummed a Lillooet welcome song.

Her books are potent enough for English professor Kerry Gilbert to incorporate them into her Canadian Literature course at the college.

Its the layers of all the reasons, the context, which makes it so powerful, Gilbert said.

 Cindy Rhyason
For four years, Bailey Brazzel says, she had employed the same tax preparer, Nancy Fivecoate of Carter Tax Service in Russiaville, Indiana. Fivecoate prepared the taxes without issue each time - until this year, when Brazzel brought her new wife, Samantha.

Fivecoate declined to serve the couple, citing her religious beliefs.

This was the first year the Brazzels, who wed in July, were filing jointly as a married couple. According to Samantha Brazzel, Fivecoate explained that she believed marriage was between a man and a woman and that she would therefore not be able to prepare their taxes.

The incident, which happened on Feb. 12, left the Brazzels feeling "shocked, upset, and kind of hurt," Samantha Brazzel told The Washington Post. "Our marriage is just as legal and valid as anybody else's." She and her wife left the business and posted their story in a local Facebook group to warn other same-sex couples. Samantha Brazzel said the post was removed by the group's moderators but was eventually picked up by local media.

In a statement to NBC affiliate WTHR, Fivecoate presented a similar version of events and said that she "declined to prepare the taxes because of my religious beliefs."

"I am a Christian and I believe marriage is between one man and one woman," she said in the statement. "I was very respectful to them. I told them where I thought she might be able to get her taxes prepared."

She added: "The LGBT want respect for their beliefs, which I give them. I did not say anything about their lifestyle. That is their choice. It is not my choice. Where is their respect for my beliefs?"

The Post was unable to reach Fivecoate for comment, and the number for Carter Tax Service appeared to have been disconnected.

Fivecoate was legally within her right to deny service to the couple, said Steve Sanders, a law professor at Indiana University. In Indiana, he said, "sexual orientation is one of those things that is protected in some places and in other places it is not."

Indiana has no statewide law protecting gay people from discrimination. It is left to individual cities and towns to decide whether to pass their own ordinances. Russiaville, where Fivecoate operates, is not covered by one, according to the Kokomo Tribune and the Indianapolis Star.

This is not the first time questions have been raised over the intersection of gay rights and religious liberties in Indiana. In 2015, then-Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Opponents of the law said it was an attempt to allow discrimination against the LGBT community, and it was later amended to include language stating it could not be used for that purpose by businesses and service providers.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Indiana, as it is nationwide. But gay couples aren't protected from other kinds of discrimination, Sanders said.

In some parts of the state, "You can get married one day and fired the next," he said, adding that the Brazzels didn't appear to have much recourse other than "good-old-fashioned shaming."

"They can publicize the fact they were discriminated against," Sanders said. "In a free market, we believe we should have information about businesses and products. Maybe some people will want to go to (Fivecoate). . . . Some will want to stay away."

Bailey Brazzel, who got the couple's taxes done elsewhere, said she was doing just that.

"We don't wish any harm to her or her business, nor do we think she's terrible," she told The Post. "We just want change because we aren't the only ones this happens to. It happens all the time, and we're speaking out for the bigger picture."
The Vatican is currently convening its first summit on an issue that has long plagued the church - sex and child abuse.

But while the Vatican is the seat of Catholic power, the people who follow the faith - and there are nearly 1.3 billion of them - are spread across the world. Here is how a some primarily Catholic countries are reacting to the Vatican summit.

1. Philippines

Over 80 percent of the population of the Philippines is Catholic, and it has the third largest population of Catholics in the world. One might therefore think that the Filipino leader is deeply troubled by allegations of abuse in the Catholic church, and takes seriously this summit intended to address them.

However, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, who is at odds with the church because of its opposition to his violent war on drugs, appeared Wednesday to deride the summit, which he said Pope Francis had to call because of gay priests. Duterte claimed that Rome had deemed 4 of every 5 priests to be gay - a disputed figure. Widely accepted research suggests that sexuality and abuse are not linked, though they have become intertwined in the Catholic Church's ideological battlefield.

In a twist, the first presentation delivered at the summit was given by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who admitted that the Catholic Church, in ignoring the problem, had hurt the very people who looked to it for help.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve," Tagle said.

2. Ireland

Nearly 80 percent of Ireland is Catholic (the lowest percentage of the population ever recorded), and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has been outspoken on the issue of sex and child abuse by priests.

After the summit was announced, Martin said he was "a bit surprised to hear some comments by the organizers saying that this was something that came to public attention in the United States in 2002. The Irish Church had norms in 1996." Martin met with abuse survivors across the country before the summit, and, before it kicked off, and, in a letter to priests posted Tuesday, wrote, "I write to ask for your prayers and those of your people, for the positive outcome of this meeting and for all survivors of such abuse who will find these days particularly difficult as so much public attention is given to this reality."

But Martin is not the only vocal Irishman, and sex and child abuse are not the only issues the church has neglected to deal with. Vincent Doyle, an Irish activist and child of a priest, met with Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the summit's organizer. Doyle's advocacy and self-help group, Coping International, has worked to make the Catholic powers that be acknowledge the toll that the church's secrecy takes on them. The statement that Scicluna gave Doyle did not say that priests who have children should leave the priesthood, which is the church's default position, and one Doyle has advocated is not necessarily in the best interest of the child.

3. Mexico

Mexico has the second-largest Catholic population in the world, but its president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said just this week that he won't confront the church over sexual abuse allegations.

"If there's a legal process, we can't hide it, we're not going to be accomplices," he said at a news conference. "But we're not going to stoke the fire."

4. Poland

Catholicism plays a major role in Poland. The late-Pope John Paul II was Polish; and Catholicism is a part of the country's identity. But, on Thursday, police in Gdansk shared that a statue of Henryk Jankowski, a priest involved in the Solidarity movement, which overthrew socialism in Poland, had been toppled.

Jankowski was accused of sexually abusing minors. He was never convicted of a sexual crime, but he was defrocked in 2005.

While some had previously argued it was wrong to have the statue up in public, Leszek Slawoj Glodz, Gdansk's bishop, presented attacks on the statue as attacks on the church.

5. Brazil

Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world. But its new president, Jair Bolsonaro, is fighting with the Vatican, not over ignoring sexual abuse - and Brazil's bishops have been accused of failing to address the issue, according to BishopAccountablity - but over the Amazon basin.

The Vatican has called for a synod on Amazon conservation issues to be held in October. Bolsonaro and his right-wing government are apparently upset. Brazil's national security adviser General Augusto Heleno reportedly said of the synod, "it's worrying and we want to neutralize it."
BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. - The little front porch seemed like a pulpit as the Rev. William Barber outlined a path to redemption for Virginia's troubled governor, Ralph Northam.

"What he should do more than resign is he should get the resolve to be serious and take on this project," Barber said, looking toward the nearby stand of pine trees where Dominion Energy plans to build a major natural-gas pipeline pumping station in the middle of a historic black community. "He could lead the nation. He could lead the South."

Next to the civil rights leader, another high-profile activist, former Vice President Al Gore, nodded in agreement. The pair toured the rural community of Union Hill this week to draw attention to the case against the pumping station, which is part of the $7.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Northam's shame over a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook page could be put to positive use, said Gore, a fellow Democrat. "If it resulted in Governor Northam saying, 'I've seen the light, I'm going to change the policy,' then God intends it for good," he said.

That would be a dramatic step for the governor - Dominion is one of his biggest donors and the most powerful corporation in the state.

This is Northam's place now in the national dialogue about race. As long as he promises to work for racial reconciliation instead of heeding calls to resign, he will face mounting pressure on a number of fronts to put actions behind his words.

He's off to a rocky start. The governor abandoned plans to start a "reconciliation tour" Thursday at Virginia Union University after the student body president asked him to reschedule. Some on campus felt Northam's presence would distract from a commemoration of the "Richmond 34," students arrested in 1960 for trying to desegregate a lunch counter. Instead, Northam invited members of the group to visit him Friday at the Executive Mansion.

Black lawmakers were disappointed last week after Northam retreated on calls for expanding low-income tax relief, questioning whether he's too politically wounded to bargain with Republicans. Northam responded by seeking more state money for schools to serve at-risk students, and to prevent evictions of low-income residents.

With the annual General Assembly session in its final week, GOP leaders have signaled willingness to consider the requests. Budget conferees have until Saturday to reach a decision.

The task Northam has set for himself - addressing systemic inequities that deprive African-Americans of equal opportunity - is enormous. Environmental advocates say he has a chance to make a splash with the Union Hill project, which won a key state air permit in January despite years of objections from black and environmental leaders.

Northam has declined to take a position on the pipeline or the pumping station, saying he trusts the state permitting process to act in Virginia's best interest. But he has drawn ire for appearing to interfere in that process, replacing two pollution-board members last year as they were preparing to vote on the Union Hill permit.

Northam's spokeswoman did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the statements from Barber and Gore. Earlier in the week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Northam addressed the compressor project in a written statement, defending the permitting process but calling on Dominion to "listen and respond to the concerns of this important historic community."

With the rest of the 600-mile pipeline hung up on delays and court challenges, opponents say Northam should step in on behalf of the residents of this rural community, which was settled by free blacks and former slaves just after the Civil War.

"It's a horrible injustice," Gore said in an interview, "and it should be stopped."

He and Barber - who heads the Repairers of the Breach activist group and has restarted the national Poor People's Campaign founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. - met with residents at Union Grove Baptist Church on Tuesday night, visited the home near the pumping station site and spoke to a regional audience of about 1,100 cheering people at the local middle school.

While most state and national Democrats have called on Northam to resign, Gore and Barber declined to directly address the question.

Northam initially took responsibility for the yearbook photo, which shows one person in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes, but he later said he's certain it was not him in the picture. He admitted to darkening his face to imitate Michael Jackson in a dance contest later that year.

Barber said in an interview that too much public attention has been paid to blackface and other forms of cultural racism.

"Deal with the systemic racism. Voting rights. Economic inequality," Barber said. "You want to deal with racism - stop getting all excited over cultural things, and let's get down to the real issue about racism."

He and Gore, who have partnered to work on several environmental issues, said a decision by Northam to oppose the Union Hill pipeline project would be particularly powerful because it would defy Dominion. The utility has donated more than $200,000 to Northam over the years and is a major benefactor of Virginia politicians in both parties.

In an effort to build goodwill, Dominion has pledged more than $5 million to Union Hill residents to build a community center, purchase an ambulance and make other improvements. The offer has sparked divisions, though, with some residents saying it shows good faith and others calling it bribery.

Those divisions illustrate the challenge facing Northam as he pursues something as complicated and nuanced as reconciliation. Barber cautioned that pandering won't cut it and slammed Dominion's offer to help Union Hill as part of a systemic problem that needs to be fixed.

At the church, Barber approached former state Agriculture Secretary Basil Gooden, who grew up nearby, and chastised him for hiring on as a Dominion consultant to work with the community.

"You ought to be ashamed, being black and being on the side of environmental racism," Barber told him. "Your soul ain't worth that kind of money."

Gooden followed Barber out the door, saying he believes the pumping station is inevitable; he said he took the position with Dominion to help the community deal with it. But Barber brushed him off.

Northam's status with African-Americans is a political issue for Democrats, who have been counting on support from black voters in their quest to take back majorities in the House of Delegates and state Senate in elections this fall.

The governor has been meeting with civil rights leaders and black lawmakers as he formulates his path forward. Barber said he has not yet spoken with Northam but would like to.

If Northam wants support, the civil rights leader said, he needs to do more than promise to listen. Standing high on the front porch of Ella Rose, 75, whose home is adjacent to the 68-acre site for the natural-gas pumping station, Barber said Northam needs to pay more attention to residents and less to big donors like Dominion.

"All the stuff that he has said - wanting forgiveness, wanting this, wanting to apologize - is suspect until he faces these kinds of systemic problems," Barber said.

Gore said Northam could start by addressing the pipeline and the concerns of residents in Union Hill.

If he did, Barber said, "we'd stand right there with him." He cited the biblical story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who gave half of his possessions to the poor. "(Jesus) said if you really want to show you mean it, restore to the people what you've taken from them," Barber said.

"Pay the debts back," Gore agreed, and Barber repeated: "Pay the debts back."
Lake Houston area business and community leaders were better informed about Houstons humming economy by officials from the Greater Houston Partnership.

Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of research for the GHP, spoke at the annual Economic Outlook Luncheon hosted by the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 19 at the Kingwood Country Club about how the national economy is doing and how it trickles down to the local economy here in Houston.

Theres not a lot of financial stress out there in the market, Jankowski said. The rest of the economy is doing fairly well.

After Jankowski gave a brief explanation about the national economy, he focused more on the Houston area. The senior economist says the national economy is doing well and will continue to do well.

We are not on the precipice of a recession. The economy is actually in much better shape than what you read in headlines, Jankowski said.

Houstons economy is actually in its best shape that its been in since 2014, he added said.

Jankowski said that Hurricane Harvey did have a tangible impact on the local economy, however, the effect wore off within three months.

He pointed out that oil and gas and even retail jobs have slowly been picking up and so have home sales. In 2018, there were about 100,000 homes sold in the Houston area, according to Jankowski.

The energy business is profitable again  its finally making a profit again, Jankowski said.  Oil and gas companies are making a profit now.  The other thing you need to notice is that back in 2012 this region became a net export. We export more to the rest of the world than we import.

Houstons economic growth also benefitted from international immigration, Jankowski said.

In 2017, he said more people moved out of Houston domestically than in because of how weak the economy was. However, Jankowski said more than 43,000 people moved to Houston from overseas in 2017 and that helped stabilize Houstons economy.

If it wasnt for the international migration, we would have had negative migration last year, Jankowski said. If you look at Houston going back in the last 25 years weve never had a year with negative international migration, weve had four years of negative domestic migration.

Jankowski said that Houston will experience growth in every sector of its economy and there will be a long term average of 65,000 jobs this year.

Kevin Brady touts economy

Texas District 8 Congressman Kevin Brady also spoke at the Economic Outlook Luncheon and said the national blue collar employment has surged.

The average median household income has surpassed $62,000 for the first time ever, Brady said.

Brady added that new business startups has increased and U.S. manufacturing companies had their best year in decades. Small businesses can now invest with confidence again, he said.

We need more customers, and we need more workers. We need more customers in free trade and we need more work force for the long term and in the short term as well, Brady said.

The District 8 Congressman said no one ships or sails more around the world than Texas.

We are made for trade and we are good at it, Brady said.

Brady said one major issue the U.S. is currently facing is a shortage of workers.

It is our lack of workers at every level, small business to large, agriculture to technology, it doesnt matter; every corner of this country businesses are starved for workers, Brady said. We are leaving economic growth on the table, and it will only get worse.

While Brady acknowledges how several entities in the Lake Houston area such as Humble ISD, Lone Star College and other major businesses play a major role in the areas economic success, he urges business leaders to scale up the areas workforce.

My recommendation to you as business leaders and community leaders is everyday you and I need to wake up asking, what are we doing right now to create more for my business, my community, our industry because that will determine the economic growth of our country, not just for you but your kids as well, Brady said.

kaila.contreras@chron.com
The Balmoral community in Atascocita hosted a sip-and-see networking opportunity from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, framing its lagoon as the defining point-of-difference to events of the same vein.

The development from Land Tejas is known for its $13 million lagoon  the first in Texas  among other upscale features such as a clubhouse and infinity-edge pool that make up its amenity complex. The lagoon opened in August 2018 with Michael Phelps in attendance.
Photo: The Canadian Press Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick

Canada's top public servant says he is worried someone will be assassinated during the coming federal election campaign given the disturbing tenor of recent public discussion.

Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick is telling the House of Commons justice committee today he is deeply concerned about Canada's politics and where things are headed.

Wernick has been asked by the committee to address the SNC-Lavalin controversy dogging the Liberal government, but he is also voicing grave worries about the overall state of public political dialogue.

He says he is concerned about the rising tide of incitements to violence, with people using terms like treason and traitor in open discussions.

Wernick says those are words that lead to assassination, and he is worried somebody is going to be shot in Canada during the coming federal election campaign.

He also expresses dismay about what he calls the "trolling from the vomitorium of social media" entering the open media arena.
Sonia Nieto and Alicia Lopez agreed to answer a few questions in writing about their new book, Teaching, A Lifes Work: A Mother-Daughter Dialogue .

Sonia Nieto is professor emerita of language, literacy, and culture at the College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The author or editor of 12 books, she has received numerous awards for her scholarship, teaching, and advocacy, including nine honorary doctorates.

Alicia Lopez is an award-winning ESL teacher and former assistant principal in Amherst, Mass. Active in the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, she is the author of a blog, maestrateacher.com, where she reflects on teaching, parenting, and life.

Larry: Sonia, Why wont they listen to me? is a question that you write you asked yourself in your first year of teaching, and its a question that most of us ask ourselves, too, during our own early careers. Can you share how you got through that period and how you recommend new (and veteran teachers with challenging classes) cope with that same feeling?

Sonia:

When I started teaching, I thought students would automatically pay attention to me. Since most of my students were either Puerto Rican or African-American and growing up in circumstances similar to mine, I figured they would naturally relate to me. I learned the hard way that respect and connection arent necessarily automatic; they need to be earned.

I also began to realize that my students circumstances were in some ways quite different from mine. For example, as a young child, my classmates came from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds: Some were Puerto Rican like me, others were first-generation European immigrants, and still others were African-American. Just a few years later, by the time I started teaching, New York neighborhoods had become hyper-segregated, and the schools reflected this segregation. All my students lived in poverty, all were African-American or Puerto Rican, and many spoke Spanish as their native language. The vast majority of the teachers, on the other hand, were middle class, white, and monolingual English speakers. Many probably knew little about their students backgrounds. Low expectations of students were one result.

Even though there was a great deal of diversity among the population, there was little interaction among the various communities, and this lack of awareness and knowledge were also reflected in the curriculum, pedagogy, and other school practices, policies, and traditions. Students sometimes responded to their teachers lack of understanding of their sociocultural realities with disrespect and unruly behavior, though I wouldnt have been able to put it into those words at the time. So, thinking back on it, there were many reasons why the students wouldnt listen to me or most other beginning teachers.

On the day before school started, the day they called New Teacher Orientation (though not much orientation happened), our assistant principal announced that at the end of the previous school year half the teachers had quit. This gave me some inkling of the instability and turmoil in the school. It took me some time to ask myself another question that I hadnt previously considered: Why would they listen to me? What the students mostly yearned for was stability, yet many of these young people had lost all confidence and faith in their school.

How did I cope with the feelings of failure and despair that I felt at the time? There were no shortcuts, of course, but some changes did help. I triednot always successfullynot to blame the kids for the situation. They were for the most part reacting to the school and societal context. But I worked hard and did my best to connect with my students. In spite of the upheaval, within a few months I had earned the respect, and even the affection, of many of my students.

Developing trust took longer. Why should they trust me? They probably wondered if I would return at the end of the year (I did), knowing that so many teachers left each year. I also tried to give due credit and well-earned praise, something that many of them craved but hadnt often heard before. In terms of the curriculum, I tried my first tentative steps at adapting curriculum so that it would be more interesting and meaningful to their lives and realities than the highly scripted curriculum I was given on the first day of class. I recalled how as a child, I had rarely heard any reference to my culture, background, or experiences in school and I began to understand how a more relevant curriculum might have helped me feel that I belonged. This was long before curriculum materials on diversity were available, so I had to create my own. And, of course, experience alone makes a difference because it helps build ones confidence in a way that nothing else can.

Larry: The challenges faced by teachers of color is discussed in the book. What should districts and schools do to provide support to them, and why do you think thats important?

Alicia:

As black, Asian, and Latinx student populations increase in the nations public schools, it is more important than ever for districts to recruit teachers of color. Our students of color need to see themselves represented in the teachers who stand in front of them every day, and in most schools that is not happening. However, supporting teachers of color doesnt stop with recruiting and hiring them. In fact, I think its almost more important to support them once theyre hired and already teaching. Teaching can be an isolating profession, and for teachers of color in majority-white-staffed schools, it can be even more isolating.

Human-resources departments can support their teachers of color by offering support networks within the district or joining with other schools to do so. They can create programs and pathways for teachers to further their education and therefore invest in their futures in the school system. Within schools, administrators can create strong mentoring programs, separate from other programs, for and by teachers of color. Schools can make teachers of color feel welcome in their schools by valuing their professionalism and expertise and getting them involved in leadership roles. But administrators and other staff should be careful about relying only on teachers of color to plan assemblies, displays, or events for Latino Heritage Month, Black History Month, and other such celebrations. At the same time, its important for administrators to recognize that teachers of color probably do want to be involved in such eventsjust perhaps not always to spearhead them. If we want to attract and keep teachers of color, support before and after teachers are hired, even for veteran teachers of color, is crucial.

Larry: Can you elaborate on your point about teacher identity and bringing it into the classroom?

Alicia:

I realized early on in my teaching career the value of sharing my identity with my students. When I started teaching, I was 25 years old, not much older than my students. At first, I thought it was more important for them to like me than for them to see me as a good teacher, and eventually, I figured out how to combine both of those. Gradually, I realized that sharing with them information such as my cultural background, my family (to a certain extent), favorite music or foods, and so on was a great way to connect with my students.

I began to start all my classes by sharing a letter about myself to my students. I found this to be very effective in getting students to share something about themselves. At times, even some of the quietest students would surprise me by writing three or four pages describing themselves or their families and telling me about their favorite music or their pets. It was also, as I hoped, an instant way to connect with my students of color, especially those who had grown up in Spanish-speaking homes. This is a practice I still use to this day with ELL students, and I still find it a great way to share my identity and learn about theirs.

Larry: You write about the need for subversive educators. What does that mean in practice, and why do you think its important?

Sonia:

I know that the very word subversive strikes fear in many teachers. Alicia and I both write about this in Teaching, A Lifes Work. Weve both tried to be subversive in our own way in our respective teaching situations in spite of how different those situations have been. But subversive means different things to different people. I see subversive as being courageous and committed, not as taking crazy risks that can lead to being fired. Although that too can happen, for me being subversive can be as innocent as bringing up questions about a highly prescriptive curriculum at a staff meeting: Why do we use this? Is there an alternative? What can we do to change it?

Being subversive can also mean creating curriculum that is more inclusive, honest, and interesting than the traditional fare. In fact, doing so can sometimes be downright revolutionary if students havent previously had access to such curricula. Being subversive can mean taking a principled stand on practices that are rarely questioned such as homogeneous grouping or disciplinary policies that disadvantage some students over others. In other words, there are many ways to be subversive.

Some of the most subversive teachers I know are also highly collaborative. To them, being subversive means not only taking personal risks but also bringing others along as part of ones commitment to students and equitable education. Ive seen too many cases where educators think that being subversive means being a lone wolf, striking out on ones own to make a point. And though this is certainly needed sometimes, Ive always felt that theres not only safety in numbers but also power in numbers, that is, the more people you can get on your side to help change an unfair policy, the better chance youll have of changing it. Of course, being subversive isnt always easy, so we all have to decide whats possible for us both individually and collectively. Ive met teachers who think nothing of joining a picket line despite the possible risks theyre taking, and others who describe themselves as quiet change agents because they find it difficult to take action in a more public way. Ive met others who end up becoming subversive through an incremental process where one day they just decide theyve had enough and need to take action.

I think that being subversive is a continuum, and nobody has to fit a particular mold. A good example can be found in our book: Mary Ginley, a phenomenal teacher who devoted 42 years to the profession, wrote about how she was distressed by the so-called Honors Assembly in the last school where she taught because of how marginalized it made some students feel. As a result, she quietly boycotted the assembly for several years. Youll need to read the book to find out what happened when she was discovered. This was the case of a teacher facing the consequences of becoming subversive, and its an example of the tremendous courage it sometimes takes to be a teacher.

Larry: You talk about Paulo Freires impact on your teaching. Can you elaborate on it, and what his work might say to todays educators?

Sonia:

I first read Paulo Freire in 1975 when I started my doctoral studies, though its a shame I hadnt heard of him before that because I think it wouldve changed how I taught both my elementary and junior high school students and, later, my preservice and practicing teacher students when I became a teacher educator at Brooklyn College. As soon as I read Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the first book of Paulos I read, everything changed for me. The way he described education as either domesticating or liberating was absolutely new to me, something I had never thought about before. The idea that every decision we make in education is a political decision was also riveting. This idea alone changed how I developed curriculum, how I designed pedagogy, how I related to preservice and practicing teachers, how I selected the texts for my courses, even how I arranged the seating in my classes, and this was true throughout my career.

Paulos description of teachers as transformative intellectuals helped me understand in a way I never had before that what we as educators do is intellectual work. We dont merely follow a syllabus without interacting with it; we question it, adapt it, sometimes even reject it. I had always been attracted to the intellectual work of learning but none of my education professors or, after I became a teacher, my supervisors, had ever described teaching in that way. I welcomed this aspect of teaching; for me, it was like a long drink of water during a drought. I dont think I had ever been as excited about learning until I met Paulo Freire, first in his books and later in person. And I hope that the level of excitement and enthusiasm his ideas unleashed for me were evident to the thousands of students I taught afterwards.

After completing my doctoral studies, I took a position as a teacher educator at the University of Massachusetts where I stayed for 25 years. Paulo Freires philosophy was a constant presence in all the classes I taught. Even though I dont believe he ever mentioned the term multicultural education"which was my fieldI came to realize that his work was profoundly multicultural because it was fundamentally about equity and justice. Not only did I always include his books as required reading in my classes, but also at the end of each semester, I would ask my students to write a letter to Paulo telling him how his work had influenced their thoughts and practices concerning teaching. I sent the first batch of letters to him in his native Brazil sometime in the late 1980s after he had returned from exile. I continued asking students to write him a letter even after he died in 1997. It occurred to me, after rereading some of the many letters I had saved over the years, that this might make an interesting book for other educators to read. The result was Dear Paulo: Letters From Those Who Dare Teach, a book I edited in 2008 that included students letters. It was modeled after his book, Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach.

References:

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.

Freire, P. (1998). Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Nieto, S. (2008). Dear Paulo: Letters From Those Who Dare Teach. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.

Larry: Thanks, Sonia and Alicia!
A suspected Mexican Mafia member has been arrested for a recent robbery that occurred in Zapata County, authorities said.

Alberto Jaime, 24, was charged with robbery. Zapata County Jail records show he remained in custody as of Wednesday evening.
SFGATE is exploring how people's lives change after leaving the Bay Area, for better or for worse, in a new series. Click through the slides above to hear from those who have relocated to Austin, Texas. We'll explore other relocation areas in future articles, so follow SFGATE for more.

Sam Whittington often catches himself daydreaming about Austin, Texas. The affordable housing, the laid-back lifestyle, the Tex Mex  all the stereotypes of Southern living have captured his imagination, he says.

The 28-year-old product designer has lived in the Bay Area for 10 years now, and hes ready for life away from tech and taxes.

There are few cities as weird and wild as San Francisco used to be, Whittington said. Austin, I think, has retained its individual spirit, while SF has been slowly selling its spirit to high bidders.

Like a true millennial, Whittingtons Austin inclinations have inspired some philosophical soul-searching. Is it the growing mediocrity of the city that inspires him to leave, he wonders, or is it a general discontent with the world?

Whichever it is, I wont know unless I leave the bubble, he said.

Theres certainly an air of romanticism inherent to Whittingtons vision of the liberal capital of Texas, but is there truth in it? Can one truly drown his homesickness in queso? SFGATE spoke to folks who left the Bay Area for Austin to find out (see all of their responses in the above gallery).

Curb appeal

After an ill-fated Austin vacation 12 years ago, Emma Massingill said she swore up and down that shed never move to Texas. Things changed after college, when she found herself struggling to save money, even while working long hours at a Santa Cruz newspaper and living with her parents.

I didnt really have a choice, Massingill said of leaving the Bay Area. Who wants to be 23 and living at home?

Six months after moving to Austin, Massingill confidently confided that she does 3/4 the amount of work for almost double the pay. And recently she signed a lease on a three-bedroom house  with no roommates.

Youd have to pay me to move back to the Bay, she said.

VIDEO: The cost of living in Austin vs. San Francisco (story continues below)

The next Silicon Valley? Not so much.

Paul OBrien, 41, has lived in Austin for seven years now, and hes careful not to idealize the city. Life in Austin, like most cities, involves some concessions.

Theres affordable housing, but property taxes are high. Theres less traffic, but also limited public transportation. And coming from San Francisco, you better be ready for a pay cut (although the cost of living is exceptionally lower; Bankrates cost-of-living calculator claims a $100,000 salary in San Francisco metro is the equivalent of $183,750 in Austin metro).

Analysts have been quick to pin Austin as the next Silicon Valley, and with reason. Its a hub for startups, with 105.2 startups per 1,000 residents, according to the Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, compared to San Franciscos 82.7 per 1,000 residents. Its home to major Google, Apple and Facebook outposts. In 2016, Austin businesses garnered $590.4 million in venture capital. And, perhaps most importantly, its still affordable for young tech-minded folks to live (Zillow says the median home value is $321,600).

Media reports back up such sentiments. Realtor.com listed Austin No. 1 on its list of the next big tech hubs, as did CNBC and the Kauffman Foundation (two years in a row). The New York Times was ahead of the trend, asking Is Austin the Next Silicon Valley? back in 1988.

OBrien, an Austin-based serial start up executive, CMO, scale architect, isnt buying it.

Were not the next Silicon Valley, he says. Were where traditional industries are being disrupted and innovated.

Although theres just as much capital and investment in Texas, OBrien says business works differently.

We dont do search engines; we dont do social networks. Investors arent familiar with those kinds of things, he explained. Rather, investors and entrepreneurs are identifying ways to apply technology to industries with which Texas is familiar, such as education, politics, real estate and agriculture.

OBrien admits that venture capitalists are sometimes more hesitant to invest in Texan tech than they are in California, but not because of a discomfort with risk. He says the wild Texan sense of independence means Texans are encouraged and expected to do something on their own.

That lone ranger mentality spills into the office space. Those looking for the traditional stability of a 9-to-5 job might be in for a shock upon arriving in Austin, O'Brien noted, where a culture of freelancing and co-working thrives.

Its just not as easy to follow a corporate career path in Austin, he said, which is a blessing in disguise for some people.

Get down with the honky tonk debate

Though the city has seen a 16.9 percentage point population increase since 2010, Austin retains its Texan flair.

Many of the Bay Area ex-pats interviewed for this story admitted to holding certain stereotypes about Austin before moving, some of which were proven true upon arrival.

Massingill, for example, wishes dates would stop taking her out to the local honky tonk. As a vegan and animal lover, shes also sick of hearing about their guns, and seeing them pop up in profile pictures on Tinder.

And I wish theyd stop calling me Man, she said.

On the flip side, Massingill has found herself surprisingly pleased with the chivalrous attitude: Since moving here, Ive hardly had to open a door for myself.

Austins vegan community was a major plus  and shock  for Natalie Dubovitskaya, 34, who landed there from San Jose four years ago.

Everyone told me Austin was all about barbecue, she recalled. Upon moving, however, she discovered a thriving vegan community in a city that hosts an annual VegFest.

Mexican cuisine, however, is controversial among those who left the Bay Area.

It's garbage, said San Jose native Josh Symons, 36, who moved to Austin a year ago. "Seriously, TexMex doesn't cut it."

For Symons, the TexMex versus CaliMex debate is serious. Although he says has no intention to return to California  even for a visit  he gets sentimental when discussing its Mexican food.

"I miss burritos," he says, before launching into a rant about Texans' queso obsession.

"Cheese is the greatest thing ever," he said, "but it just doesn't belong on everything!"

'Golden handcuffs'

Whittington, the Oakland resident with his eye on Austin, isn't worried about drowning in queso or craving a Mission-style burrito.

For him, that nagging desire to move to Austin transcends such trivialities. Even for a twentysomething single, picking up and moving isn't so simple.

"San Francisco has those golden handcuffs," he said. "Moving to Texas  and taking that Texas-sized pay cut  could be like exiling myself from this place."
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - In 1919, there was a lot of talk in Germany about building a better world. World War I had ended in crushing defeat and political chaos, and so much was literally in ruins.

The need for new homes alone was acute, and it wasn't only a matter of what the buildings should look like, but also how quickly and cheaply they could be built. The talk extended beyond practicalities. The urge to fix things, to put the pieces back together, affected everything. The question wasn't just: "What sort of government do we want?" It was: "What does it mean to be human?" and "How should we therefore live together?"

The Bauhaus art school arose out of all this. Its aim was to revolutionize everyday life. You are living with its legacy. And so, for better or for worse, are the residents of Brasilia, Beijing, Tehran and Tel Aviv.

The Bauhaus, 100 years old this year, is the subject of celebrations and reappraisals around the world. The anniversary is already igniting passionate debates, because no other institution is more closely identified with modernist architecture and design.

If you like airy, light-filled buildings, functional furniture, elegant, affordable design, sans-serif typography and clean-lined graphic design, you care about the Bauhaus. Equally, if you hate boxy, flat-roofed buildings, relentless standardization, the death of curves, ornament, the ironing out of cultural differences and overly rational planning, you care about the Bauhaus.

Harvard Art Museums owns the finest collection of Bauhaus material outside Germany. Its new show, "The Bauhaus and Harvard," illustrates the full range of Bauhaus activities during the school's 14 years of existence in three locations in Germany.

After the school was dissolved under Nazi pressure in 1933, several of its key figures emigrated to the United States, so the show also traces the Bauhaus's impact on education and design here - at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the New Bauhaus in Chicago, Brooklyn College in New York, Newcomb College in New Orleans and Harvard.

There are almost 200 objects in the exhibit - from art class exercises on paper and architectural studies to furniture, textiles, photographs and paintings. There are impressive large-scale works, but the overall emphasis is on small-scale works and ephemera, which might leave you guessing at the scope of the Bauhaus's impact.

It was, in a word, vast.

The Bauhaus opened in 1919 in Weimar, the home of Goethe and Schiller, not 20 minutes' drive from where, 18 years later, Buchenwald, the largest concentration camp within Germany's borders, would be established.

If the crisis from which the Bauhaus emerged was caused by things falling apart - individuals fractured from communities, workers cut off from profits, neighboring nations at war - the solution, it seemed, was to reunify.

"Today the arts exist in isolation, from which they can be rescued only through the conscious, cooperative effort of all craftsmen," wrote the architect Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus's first director. He established the school by merging a fine art academy with an applied arts and crafts school.

In this new, unified take on art and design, the Bauhaus echoed the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement, which cherished handcrafted things as an antidote to factory-made objects and the wider effects of industrialization. The Bauhaus under Gropius initially followed suit. Early influential Bauhaus teachers, such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Johannes Itten, cultivated the intuitive, spiritual side of art and learning.

But by 1923, the emphasis had changed. Gropius announced a determined focus on designing for industry. Factories - the "dark Satanic mills" of the Industrial Revolution - were no longer the enemy. Industry was to be the solution.

And industry also would determine the aesthetic. The boxy buildings Gropius designed, with large windows and open plans, were remarkable for their resemblance to factories. "Enough with thinking, dreaming and hiding away from the world," they seemed to announce. "It is time to live with purpose!"

The Bauhaus's influence on pedagogy was as profound as its impact on actual design. Every student who studied there had to participate in a preliminary course. In the beginning, it was taught by Itten, whose methods were holistic, combining composition and color theory with calisthenics, and later by Josef Albers and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, who both had an outsize impact on the teaching of art and design in the United States.

Their approach exemplified the Bauhaus's search for a new unity - not just of art and craft, but also individual and society. The keynote was simplicity. If you stayed focused on fundamentals, went the thinking, expertise would be less likely to splinter off into areas of specialization.

The Harvard show, curated by Laura Muir, begins with examples of preliminary course exercises. These demonstrate how, in a spirit of experiment, students were encouraged to discover the properties of shape, color and materials - to learn, for instance, how the visual impact of colored pieces of paper could change according to such simple things as the color of the background, the pattern of overlap or shifts in tone, and how illusions of spatial recession or transparency might be similarly affected.

The exhibition continues with a display of the Bauhaus's radical designs for houses and furniture, then sections devoted to the school's weaving and photography classes, as well as its spread beyond Germany, first to Paris and then the United States.

We see works by modernist figures whose reputations transcend their association with the Bauhaus, from the painters Kandinsky and Klee to the architects and designers Marcel Breuer, Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. There also are remarkable creations by such dynamic figures as Albers, Herbert Bayer, Lyonel Feininger and Moholy-Nagy.

The Bauhaus was dominated by men, but Muir has made an effort to foreground the influential textile artists Anni Albers and Gunta Stolzl, as well as works by lesser-known women, among them the weaver Otti Berger and the photographer Lucia Moholy.

"The Bauhaus and Harvard" culminates in a display of murals and wall sculptures commissioned for the Gropius-designed Harvard Graduate Center, erected in 1950. The most impressive is "Verdure," a stunning, 20-foot-wide study in dynamic rolling forms and shades of luminous green by Bayer.

Gropius and his colleagues wanted artists to be useful and to help rebuild society along rational lines. Industry offered Bauhaus designers a chance to conceive anew what it meant to be human - liberated from the humiliating inheritance of the past, from absurd, old-fashioned ornaments and, as Gropius called it, "romantic prettification and cuteness."

But that meant Bauhaus designers were impatient with cultural variations and with the idiosyncrasies of individual lives. "The individual declines increasingly in significance," Mies wrote, "his fate no longer interests us."

Even as we celebrate all that the Bauhaus contributed, these words should sound an alarm for anyone conscious of the course of the 20th century and, for that matter, anyone worried about the conveniences today made possible by algorithms and artificial intelligence. (As Lionel Trilling once warned: "Some paradox of our natures leads us, when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on to make them the objects of our pity, then of our wisdom, ultimately of our coercion.")

Bauhaus modernism is discussed these days as if it were just another style, like Art Deco. But it also was an ideology of conviction. Its roots were in the European Enlightenment, but its founders were convinced it could transcend history. Everything was to be about truth, transparency and the outward manifestation of reason. Outdated symbols were to be jettisoned. The repressed was to be made visible.

The healthy ideal of unification, however, quickly became a ruthless drive toward uniformity. The Bauhaus's progeny produced millions of buildings of unparalleled ugliness, blighting urban environments worldwide. Wherever local differences were encountered, they were suppressed. Behind the Bauhaus's admirable idealism, you sense a kind of disgust with difference, and with humanity as it is.

The Bauhaus itself disgusted not only Hitler's Nazis, who associated it with Communists and Jews and forced its closure shortly after they came to power, but also with Stalin's Soviets, who rejected modernist aesthetics as abstract and elitist. In the long run, persecution by both the totalitarian right and the left helped make Bauhaus-style modernism the preferred aesthetic of the democratic left, magnifying its influence - and perhaps prolonging people's blindness to its inherent flaws.

---

"The Bauhaus and Harvard"

Through July 28 at the Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge, Massachusetts. harvardartmuseums.org.
Photo: The Canadian Press

MP Tony Clement is breaking his social media silence for the first time since a sexting scandal forced him to out of the Conservative Party.

Clement made his first post to Instagram Wednesday since he resigned as a Conservative MP in November.

Wednesday's post includes a picture of him standing in the new House of Commons with a statement thanking his followers for getting him through the "dark valley" after the scandal broke.

In November Clement admitted he shared explicit images online with someone he believed to be a consenting female adult but who then turned around and demanded he pay 50,000 euros to prevent the images from going public.

He initially claimed it was a one-time lapse in judgement but when it became clear it wasn't, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer asked him to resign from the party caucus.

Clement now sits as an independent and says he is getting back to his duties as the MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka.

I had a severe personal crisis and it manifested itself in the irrational behaviour that became apparent and for which I take full responsibility, Clement says on Instagram.

He also says he was getting the counselling I needed and working on my family life during his time away from office.

Earlier this year, two men in the Ivory Coast were arrested and charged with trying to blackmail Clement.

The RCMP is continuing to work with the Ivory Coasts cyber crimes unit.
If you were told to take cover because of an incoming nuclear ballistic missile, would you seriously know what to do? (Or would you run around frantically or ball up in a fetal position?)

Many people in Hawaii faced that very question on Jan. 13, 2018. That morning, at 8:07 a.m. local time, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent out an alert advising residents to seek shelter from an incoming ballistic missile.

Unbeknownst to just about everyone at the time, however, the alert was a false alarm. Even the operator who sent out the alarm, issued over text messages and on TV and radio stations, thought it was real. But it was accidentally sent out during a shift change, and the incoming operator didn't realize that the alert was part of a preparedness drill. [How Do Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles Work?]

Though it was an error, the alert revealed that Americans aren't prepared for an attack and that public health officials need to improve their messaging, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the CDC came to their conclusion after reviewing relevant Twitter responses posted during the 38-minute period before the alert was retracted and the 38 minutes afterward.

Those tweets revealed a lot of confusion and fear, the researchers said. Here's a taste of the tweets (the researchers analyzed 5,880 posts):

"Sirens going off in Hawaii, ballistic missile threat issued. What's happening?"

"Idk [I don't know] what's going on ... but there's a warning for a ballistic missile coming to Hawaii? [expletive deleted]"

"Just got an iPhone alert of inbound balistic [ballistic] missile in Hawaii. Said Not a Drill. @PacificCommand @DefenseIntel @WHNSC"

"there's a missile threat here right now guys. I love you all and I'm scared as [expletive deleted]"

"Woke up and started crying after seeing the Hawaii missile alert. Called my parents and balled [bawled] my eyes out because I was so worried."

After people found out that the terrifying alert was a mistake, Twitter again blew up. This time, the posts revealed anger at the alert, along with more confusion and mistrust of the government:

"How do you 'accidentally' send out a whole [expletive deleted] emergency alert that says there's a missile coming to Hawaii and to take cover. AND TAKE THIRTY MINUTES TO CORRECT?!?"

"To the person in #Hawaii who sent out that false alarm alert message about missile attack TO EVERY [expletive deleted] CELL PHONE  MOVE TO ANTARCTICA NOW! ... #that [expletive deleted] scared everyone @Hawaii_EMA"

"Can you imagine waking up to an alert that says, "Take shelter there is a missile on the way" like Bruh. What shelter is there for a missile? That [expletive deleted] might as well say, "Aye Bruh. Missile on the way. Good luck"

"@Hawaii_EMA We all need to know who is behind this!!!. This is not a joke. . How can we trust the emergency alarm now? #hawaii #missile"

The report not only revealed some holes in Hawaii's dissemination process for such alerts and "all clear" messages, but also showed that the message lacked instructions.

If or when a real alert goes out, the CDC researchers suggested, it "should include clear instructions for persons in the affected area to carry out during an emergency."

(Interestingly, the CDC almost gave a talk last year  scheduled for Jan. 16, 2018  about what people should do in the event of a nuclear detonation. But the agency canceled that talk to instead discuss the severe flu season.)

Still, the CDC does have some guidelines online for "radiation emergencies" if you're interested in being in the know. (Hint: You should go indoors and stay there.)

Originally published on Live Science.
Neutrinos are elusive subatomic particles created in a wide variety of nuclear processes. Their name, which means "little neutral one," refers to the fact that they carry no electrical charge. Of the four fundamental forces in the universe, neutrinos only interact with two  gravity and the weak force, which is responsible for the radioactive decay of atoms. Having nearly no mass, they zip through the cosmos at almost the speed of light.

Countless neutrinos came into existence fractions of a second after the Big Bang. And new neutrinos are created all the time: in the nuclear hearts of stars, in particle accelerators and atomic reactors on Earth, during the explosive collapse of supernovas and when radioactive elements decay. This means that there are, on average, 1 billion times more neutrinos than protons in the universe, according to physicist Karsten Heeger of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Despite their ubiquity, neutrinos largely remain a mystery to physicists because the particles are so tough to catch. Neutrinos stream through most matter as if they were light rays going through a transparent window, scarcely interacting with everything else in existence. Approximately 100 billion neutrinos are passing through every square centimeter of your body at this moment, though you won't feel a thing. [The 18 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics]

Discovering invisible particles

Neutrinos were first posited as the answer to a scientific enigma. In the late 19th century, researchers were puzzling over a phenomenon known as beta decay, in which the nucleus inside an atom spontaneously emits an electron. Beta decay seemed to violate two fundamental physical laws: conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. In beta decay, the final configuration of particles seemed to have slightly too little energy, and the proton was standing still rather than being knocked in the opposite direction of the electron. It wasn't until 1930 that physicist Wolfgang Pauli proposed the idea that an extra particle might be flying out of the nucleus, carrying with it the missing energy and momentum.

"I have done a terrible thing. I have postulated a particle that cannot be detected," Pauli said to a friend, referring to the fact that his hypothesized neutrino was so ghostly that it would barely interact with anything and would have little to no mass.

More than a quarter century later, physicists Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines built a neutrino detector and placed it outside the nuclear reactor at the atomic Savannah River power plant in South Carolina. Their experiment managed to snag a few of the hundreds of trillions of neutrinos that were flying from the reactor, and Cowan and Reines proudly sent Pauli a telegram to inform him of their confirmation. Reines would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995  by which time, Cowan had died.

But since then, neutrinos have continually defied scientists' expectations.

The sun produces colossal numbers of neutrinos that bombard the Earth. In the mid-20th century, researchers built detectors to search for these neutrinos, but their experiments kept showing a discrepancy, detecting only about one-third of the neutrinos that had been predicted. Either something was wrong with astronomers' models of the sun, or something strange was going on.

Physicists eventually realized that neutrinos likely come in three different flavors, or types. The ordinary neutrino is called the electron neutrino, but two other flavors also exist: a muon neutrino and a tau neutrino. As they pass through the distance between the sun and our planet, neutrinos are oscillating between these three types, which is why those early experiments  which had only been designed to search for one flavor  kept missing two-thirds of their total number.

But only particles that have mass can undergo this oscillation, contradicting earlier ideas that neutrinos were massless. While scientists still don't know the exact masses of all three neutrinos, experiments have determined that the heaviest of them must be at least 0.0000059 times smaller than the mass of the electron.

New rules for neutrinos?

In 2011, researchers at the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA) experiment in Italy caused a worldwide sensation by announcing that they had detected neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light  a supposedly impossible enterprise. Though widely reported in the media, the results were greeted with a great deal of skepticism from the scientific community. Less than a year later, physicists realized that faulty wiring had mimicked a faster-than-light finding, and neutrinos went back to the realm of cosmically law-abiding particles.

But scientists still have much to learn about neutrinos. Recently, researchers from the Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago have provided compelling evidence that they've detected a new type of neutrino, called a sterile neutrino. Such a finding corroborates an earlier anomaly seen at the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), an experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Sterile neutrinos would upend all of known physics because they don't fit into what's known as the Standard Model, a framework that explains almost all known particles and forces except gravity.

If MiniBooNE's new results hold up, "That would be huge; that's beyond the Standard Model; that would require new particles ... and an all-new analytical framework," particle physicist Kate Scholberg of Duke University told Live Science.

Additional resources:
For nearly 20 years, a trio of 5-gallon (19 liters) paint buckets sat near the taxidermy exhibit at Grand Canyon National Park's museum collections building. Those buckets, it turns out, weren't holding paint  they were actually loaded up with uranium ore, a naturally occurring rock rich in uranium that gives off potentially dangerous radiation.

Elston "Swede" Stephenson, a health and wellness manager at the park's South Rim, recently described the uranium find and subsequent "cover-up" in a series of email blasts to Congress, his fellow National Park Service employees and the staff of The Arizona Republic newspaper. [Soviets Hid Nuclear Bunkers in Poland's Forests (Photos)]

Stephenson warned that thousands of employees, tourists and school groups who visited the exhibit between 2000 and 2018 were likely "exposed" to dangerous amounts of radiation, especially groups of kids who sat for 30-minute presentations in the uranium's vicinity. These children may have been exposed to roughly 1,400 times the safe radiation dosage allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stephenson wrote. Scary stuff, if true.

However, several experts told Live Science that Stephenson's assessment may be unfounded.

"If the time spent near the ore was short, there is likely little cause for concern," Bill Field, a professor of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Iowa, told Live Science in an email.

See more

Safe ore not safe?

Over time, uranium can break down into radioactive materials like radium and release harmful gas like radon. Studies of uranium miners have shown that prolonged exposure to uranium's decay products can increase the chances of getting cancer  However, Field said, "The risk from a few buckets of the uranium ore is quite different than a career in uranium mining."

According to F. Ward Whicker, a radioecology expert and professor emeritus at Colorado State University, uranium ore emits all three types of radiation  alpha particles, beta particles and gamma particles. Of these, only strong gamma rays would be likely to penetrate the sealed containers and affect bystanders in the room.

Fortunately, Whicker told Live Science, humans are built to withstand this type of radiation in small, regular doses.

"The amounts of radiation exposure from natural terrestrial sources and galactic cosmic rays to people living anywhere is far higher than most realize," Whicker said. "Life flourishes in this constant radiation environment because DNA repair mechanisms operate efficiently and rapidly in cells  provided that intensity of radiation exposure is within certain levels."

The danger, if any, from the Grand Canyon ore buckets depends on a long list of factors, Whicker said, including an individual's distance from the ore, the length of their exposure, the quantity of ore in the buckets, the amount of uranium in that ore, and the amount of shielding provided by the rocky parts of the ore itself and the container.

The ore's relative harmlessness is reflected in a report from the Parks Service, which Stephenson referenced in his emails.

After a teenager with a Geiger counter accidentally discovered the ore buckets in the museum in March 2018, the Parks Service launched a brief investigation to test radiation levels in and around the building. According to their report (which Stephenson quoted to The Arizona Republic), direct contact with the ore resulted in radiation levels at roughly twice the safe annual dosage allowed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission  however, readings taken just 5 feet (1.5 meters) away from the bucket showed zero radiation.

A statement from the Health Physics Society (HPS), released on Feb. 20 in response to the ore incident, also indicated the health risks are negligible. "Uranium ore is a low-risk material that, unless ingested, would not be emitting enough radiation from these three buckets to cause harmful effects," according to the HPS statement.

The next steps

The uranium ore has since been disposed of in a nearby uranium mine. Meanwhile, the Parks Service, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Arizona Bureau of Radiation Control are now investigating the museum and its premises. According to Emily Davis, Grand Canyon National Park Public Affairs Officer, radiation levels at the site are normal and safe.

"A recent survey of the Grand Canyon National Park's museum collection facility found radiation levels at background levels  the amount always present in the environment  and below levels of concern for public health and safety," Davis told NPR. "There is no current risk to the public or park employees. The museum collection facility is open and work routines have continued as normal."

Any long-term effects caused by the ore's 18-year stint in the museum remain to be identified. While it might be negligible, the ore likely did increase the radon levels in the building somewhat, Field told Live Science.

"The facility should have radon testing performed," Field said. "Over the long term, however, the potential exposure from radon from natural sources in the soil and rock under the facility would likely be the greatest source of radiation to the public and workers."

Stephenson did not immediately respond to Live Science's request for comment.

Editors note: This article was corrected to clarify that uranium ore releases alpha, beta and gamma radiation, and to include a statement from the Health Physics Society.

Originally published on Live Science.
The news is dire. Ocean temperatures are at their highest since accurate measurements began in the mid-20th century. And, thanks to human-induced climate change, things are only going to get worse in the coming years.

But even if humans keep spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, could the oceans ever get so hot that they begin to boil? Thankfully, humanity's current practices could likely never heat up the world enough to make that happen.

"Even if we burned all known fossil-fuel reserves, we wouldn't get nearly that warm," Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a temperature data analysis nonprofit organization, told Live Science. "Though, it's worth mentioning that there are plenty of bad climate impacts that happen a long, long way before the surface is literally hot enough to boil water."

Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane raise Earth's temperatures by trapping the sun's energy in the planet's atmosphere and surface  energy that would otherwise radiate away into space. About 93 percent of this extra heat gets absorbed by the surface of the ocean, Hausfather said. The heat quickly mixes through the top 330 feet (100 meters) of water, a region known as the "mixed layer," taking much longer to reach farther down, he added. But in recent years, scientists have observed rising temperatures in even the ocean's deepest realms, Live Science previously reported. [The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted]

Because water is thicker than air, it has the ability to absorb a great deal of heat. "The top 2.5 meters [8.2 feet] of the ocean holds the same amount of heat as the entire atmosphere above it," Hausfather said.

So, it's theoretically possible that Earth's oceans could get hot enough to start boiling. Warm water molecules vaporize from the ocean's surface all the time. Water vapor is itself a greenhouse gas, so greater amounts of water in the atmosphere will create a vicious feedback cycle  and a hotter world overall. Something similar is thought to have happened on Venus long ago, Hausfather pointed out, causing our sister planet's oceans to boil away. But because Earth is farther from the sun than Venus is, it would take a great deal more greenhouse gas for our planet to reach that dismal point, he said.

A 2013 paper in the journal Nature Geoscience suggested that, to induce this "runaway greenhouse" effect, Earth would need an amount of carbon dioxide that's about 10 times greater than what could be released from burning all known coal, oil and gas reserves. While this type of analysis has many caveats and uncertainties, Hausfather said, historically, our planet's oceans have been fairly resilient when it comes to climate extremes. For instance, hundreds of millions of years ago, our world experienced a snowball Earth scenario during which the entire surface was covered in ice, while around 55 million years ago, global temperatures were an average of 9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (5 to 8 degrees Celsius) hotter during the PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), but each time relatively stable temperatures returned, said Hausfather.

Dying sun, dying Earth

But humanity is not the only thing that could possibly do in the oceans. One day, in the far future, the sun will reach the end of its life and begin to expand outward as a giant red star, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com. Over the course of the next 7 billion years, Earth's temperature will slowly rise, astronomer Robert Smith, an emeritus reader at the U.K.'s University of Sussex, told Live Science in an email.

In 2008, Smith, along with his colleague Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico, performed calculations to figure out how Earth would meet its maker. But exactly when the oceans would begin to boil was hard to pin down, Smith said. Instead, this ocean vaporization could happen around 1 billion years from now, but added that there is a great deal of uncertainty in that figure, Smith added.

At that point, humanity might have stopped adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and may have long gone the way of the dodos. But even once the oceans are done for, that doesn't mean life will disappear immediately.

"It's perfectly possible that some simple life-forms might survive for a while without water, but in due course (and don't ask me exactly what that means!) the surface is likely to become molten, which would almost certainly remove the last traces of life," Smith said.

Originally published on Live Science.
Astronomers just got the goods on the meteor that flared up over Cuba earlier this month.

The daytime sky show dazzled thousands of people across western Cuba on Feb. 1. Many of those folks captured footage of the meteor or the trail of debris it left behind when it burned up, permitting the reconstruction of the space rock's path.

"We were very lucky that at least three relatively reliable videos, including one with an incredible quality, could be available on the internet in such a short time," Jorge Zuluaga, a professor at the Institute of Physics (IoP) at the University of Antioquia in Colombia, said in a statement. [How to See the Best Meteor Showers of 2019]

"Reconstructing the trajectory of a meteor requires at least three observers on the ground," Zuluaga added. "Although several satellite images were recorded and also available online, without observations from the ground, the precise reconstruction is not feasible."

Trajectory of the meteor that fell over Cuba on Feb. 1, 2019, as reconstructed by a team of Colombian astronomers. (Image credit: Zuluaga et al./Google Earth)

Trajectory of the meteor that fell over Cuba on Feb. 1, 2019, as reconstructed by a team of Colombian astronomers. Credit: Zuluaga et al./Google Earth

Zuluaga and his team determined that the meteor entered Earth's atmosphere about 47.5 miles (76.5 kilometers) over the Caribbean Sea, at a point 16 miles (26 km) off Cuba's southwestern coast. At the time, the rock  thought to be a few meters wide and to weigh about 360 tons (330 metric tons)  was traveling roughly 40,300 mph (64,800 km/h), the researchers found.

The meteor moved north-northeast in a relatively straight line. When the object reached an altitude of 17.1 miles (27.5 km), it developed a smoky trail of incinerated debris, which caught the eyes of countless observers on the ground.

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper instrument aboard NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured this view of the Feb. 1 meteor over Cuba (small blue patch at bottom center). The larger arc of blue in the upper left is lightning over the Gulf of Mexico. (Image credit: Copyright NOAA/NASA/Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center)

At an altitude of 13.7 miles (22 km), the meteor exploded in an airburst, the researchers calculated. Hundreds of small pieces rained down on the island below. Many of these cosmic bits landed in Vinales Natural Park, near Cuba's western tip, but some chunks hit houses in the region. If a big piece survived the breakup, it probably landed in the ocean off the island's northwest coast, the scientists said.

Zuluaga and his colleagues also extended their model of the rock's path even further back in time. They determined that it originally occupied an elliptical orbit with an average distance from the sun of 1.3 astronomical units. (One astronomical unit, or AU, is the average Earth-sun distance  about 93 million miles, or 150 million km). The rock took 1.32 years to complete one orbit around our star.

The scientists used similar methods to reconstruct the path of the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013. That meteor was about 400 times brighter than the recent Cuba event, and the former's airburst was far more powerful: The shock wave shattered thousands of windows in Chelyabinsk, injuring at least 1,200 people with shards of flying glass.

In the newly submitted study, which you can read for free at the online preprint site arXiv.org, the researchers also tested a method developed last year by Zuluaga and fellow IoP researcher Mario Sucerquia (who's also an author of the present paper).

This method, called gravitational ray tracing (GRT), uses computer algorithms to track mock impactors back to their origins in space. The scientists flagged modeled rocks that ended up in orbits similar to those of real near-Earth asteroids, reasoning that such orbits in real life would have a decent possibility of producing Earth-impacting rocks.

Such work did a good job of "predicting" the Chelyabinsk and Cuba meteors, the researchers said. For example, the GRT models suggested that an impactor hitting Chelyabinsk would likely arrive from a patch of sky to the northeast of that location, at an angle of 20 degrees to the horizon. The actual object came from the east, at angle of exactly 20 degrees.

Two examples aren't nearly enough to prove that the method works, of course. But it's a start, team members said.

"Only after the recent digital boom have we realized how frequent and potentially hazardous could the impact of small meteoroids be on populated areas," Sucerquia said in the same statement. "Sadly, we are not yet able to defend our society against these threats. Our work suggests that, in principle, we could be prepared, at least with some knowledge, for future impacts."

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated byKarl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcom or Facebook.
THIS is a story of many characters, but chief among them is a humble librarian from west Limerick, whose efforts alongside his colleagues in Irish Military Intelligence helped turn the tide of the Second World War.

With these dramatic and arresting words, Marc McMenamin opens the untold story of Richard Hayes, mathematician, polyglot, Director of the National Library, Irelands foremost Nazi code-breaker and an Abbeyfeale man.

And this Friday, the author himself will be the guest speaker at the Rathkeale Historical Society, telling the story of Richard Hayes and of how he came to find out about him.

It began, he explained, by chance. A colleague spotted a Dublin house for sale in the property pages known locally as the Nazi house and said to Marc: Theres a story in that.

That began a long period of research for Marc, a history teacher, researcher and documentary maker.

I had no idea of the extent of German espionage in Ireland, Marc explained following the launch of his book this week.

It was amazing to see what was going on. What I had been taught was that Ireland was neutral and we stayed out of the war. There were rations and butter vouchers and that is it, nothing like this at all.

The information Marc gleaned from various sources became first a radio documentary, and then the book Codebreaker. In it, Marc makes the case that Hayes was responsible for three major and significant breakthroughs.

The first centred around a spy called Schutz who arrived in Ireland armed with a special microdot code where innocuous messages contained secret messages hidden within dots on the page and which were visible only by being magnified. It was Hayes who spotted something amiss with a full-stop which led to this discovery.

The second major breakthrough concerned Herman Gortz who was dispatched to Ireland with one of the most sophisticated ciphers or codes in use by the Germans. At the time, there were 16 people working in Bletchley Park in England trying to break this code and they were having difficulty, Marc explained.

But Richard Hayes broke it and some of the measures he took to do so read like an old-fashioned spy thriller. Gathering up burnt pieces of paper and applying chemicals to them is as James Bond as you can get.

A third significant breakthrough involved the spy from Kilkee, John Francis OReilly, who was trained as a spy in Germany and was parachuted into West Clare. He brought with him a code-cipher wheel or device which Richard Hayes analysed and discovered that Germany had developed an entirely new system of carrying out substitution and transposition ciphers, the keys to any code.

This information was shared with British intelligence and was the break-through in decoding German messages in the build-up to the Battle of the Bulge.

To hear about these and more, come along to the Rathkeale Arts Centre, above the library on the Ballingarry Rd, at 8pm this Friday. Admission is free.
GARDAI were called to a dispute over access to land which took place between members of a well-known Limerick city family linked to criminality and local farmers.

The incident occurred on the outskirts of Doon at around noon on Sunday afternoon. It is understood a landlocked field was purchased by the family in recent times.

On Sunday, when workers, working on behalf of the new owners, attempted to gain access to the field they were met by up to 10 locals. They joined together in a show of solidarity. Gardai were subsequently called by the neighbours and farmers. One source told the Leader that the face-off was over access to the field.

It was over a right-of-way into the land. The workers thought it was in such a place and it isnt in such a place. There has been a lot of talk of heated debate and verbals but there was nothing like that, said the source.

All parties waited for about half an hour for the convicted criminal and his son to attend the scene. Their plans for the field are unknown.

All matters are to be clarified and they are to correspond through their solicitors - thats the way it was left, said the source.

While the dispute lasted around an hour it is understood a garda patrol car stayed in the Doon area for a number of hours.

The incident has been the talk of the parish since Sunday.

Doon is a small place. The guards were around for a good while so we knew something was up. That field has lain idle for a good many years. It is a good seven or eight acre field with an old house on it. It is a good 200 yards in from the road. Rights-of-way can be a contentious issue. It is complicated, said the source.

A garda spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, saying it was a civil matter.
THE parents of a sixth-class Rathkeale boy with poor attendance at school over a couple of years have been fined a total of 1,500 at Newcastle West court.

They were charged under the Education and Welfare Act for failing to ensure their child attended school.

The court heard that the boy missed 60 days out of a total of 162 schooldays while in fifth class and in the current school year had missed school on 25 out of 97 days. He had missed eight days since the end of December.

The reasons given for his absence were a wedding or not bothering, education and welfare officer with Tusla, Liam Rogers told the court. He was watching films with his family or was seen walking around Rathkeale, Mr Rogers explained and was also continually late for school although the family lives close to the school.

School reports says he is a very intelligent boy but he has missed significant amounts of time, Mr Rogers said.

The parents, who live very close to the school, had met with Tusla or the Child and Family Agency a number of times. On the last occasion, Mr Rogers said, it was indicated to him that they were going to take the boy to England after his Confirmation in March.

Solicitor Michael ODonnell acknowledged the childs school record was still bad but stressed there had been a marked improvement.

They do travel a lot, he said.

Solicitor Derry ODonovan, prosecuting on behalf of Tusla, asked Judge Mary Larkin to consider a very severe financial penalty rather than a term of imprisonment.

She fined the parents 750 each with a month to pay.
NEWCASTLE West can expect a bold and ambitious tourism project to come on stream over the next couple of years which will help to attract and keep increased numbers of visitors in the town.

The as yet unidentified project will centre around Fullers Folly, the iconic building located on the bridge and which was bought by Limerick City and County Council in 2017. And the 338,000 funding from the Rural Regeneration and Development Scheme, announced at the weekend, will help get the project off the ground.

Meantime however, the council has invited expressions of interest from local artists, craft workers or business people to run a tourist information service in tandem with a craft shop/artist studio business in Fullers Folly in the upcoming tourist season.

The council is proposing that the dual business would run every day of the high tourist season this year, from May 3 to September 6.

The proposed Tourist Office will be ideally located to serve the increasing number of tourists and visitors who are coming to West Limerick, director of services, Gordon Daly said, adding that the proposal links in with Newcastle West Vision 2023, the towns five-year plan. It also fits in well with the new Limerick Tourism Strategy which will exploit and develop Limericks tourism potential.

This is an exciting opportunity for Newcastle West to become a gateway for tourists in West Limerick, he stressed.

Any craft or artistic discipline is welcome as an anchor tenant, Mr Daly continued. However, he said: Limerick City and County Council is keen to avoid competition with existing retailing outlets in the town, and the product should be complementary to the space and to the existing offer available in Newcastle West.

Since it acquired the building, the council has spent up to 100,000 in securing the Folly, built in 1859, sealing windows and roof and repointing walls. The council has also commissioned an Options Survey, to look at different potential uses for the building.

This survey, Mr Daly explained, had been used to leverage funds from the Rural Regeneration and Development Scheme.

Mr Daly welcomed the338,000 funding announced by Minister of State, Patrick ODonovan at the weekend.  It is great news for the town and a significant vote of confidence in the town, Mr Daly said.

This could be a game-changer, he said. It shows that tourism in West LImerick will be supported and that is good.

The money, he continued, will be used, to kick start a more significant tourism development on the site. This, Mr Daly predicted, would be an ambitious project that would include examining options for linkages with the Desmond Castle and other aspects of the town centre of interest to visitors.

West Limerick has a wealth of tourist attractions and sites, with Newcastle West at its core, Mr Daly continued.

Over the past number of years, visitor numbers to the Desmond Castle complex had continued to grow and reached 15,613 last year, he pointed out. The area also had other local attractions and offerings including the Demesne, the Great Southern Greenway and the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum, he said.

The closing date for expressions of interest in the Fullers Folly proposal is Friday, March 8. Details and further information are available from Caoibhe Duignan at 061 557128 and caoibhe.duignan@limerick.ie.
THE LIMERICK Youth Service team surprised one of its dedicated volunteers with a birthday party to remember as he celebrated a milestone birthday.

LYS volunteer Brendan Dale was surprised at the Lava Java Youth Cafe on Lower Glentworth Street last week, with a party to celebrate his 50th birthday organised by his friends and colleagues.

Brendan, who has Down Syndrome, has been volunteering with the service on Glentworth Street for almost 20 years.

Theres a generation of Limerick people now who would know Brendan having gone through the Limerick Youth Service, LYS youth information officer Dermot Troy explained.

People who would be in their forties now who would have known Brendan in their teens.

Brendan, one of the longest serving members of the LYS team, currently volunteers in the services community restaurant, Mr Troy added.

Brendan has been a volunteer with Limerick Youth Service for 19 years, volunteering between 30 to 35 hours a week.

He came to Limerick Youth Service first through the Daughters of Charity as part of a work experience placement and he loved the place so much, hes stayed here.

There are a lot of young people with special needs and older people with special needs who volunteer with the Limerick Youth Service that come to us through the Daughters of Charity, Mr Troy added.

It's good- its works both ways, for the young and old.

Brendans surprise party was full of music, as his guests danced to some of his favourite songs by ABBA.

He also got loads of presents, Mr Troy added.

A delicious chocolate cake was also baked for the occasion by learners on the Limerick Youth Service bakery team.

Celebrating with his friends meant so much for him. Hes well-known, hes got great friends.

Sheila Walsh, an instructor with the Limerick Youth Service community restaurant, would have organized the party but as a whole all the instructors came together to organise the event.

Limerick Youth Service works with more than 3,000 young people every year, providing a wide range of training across educational, social and personal development programmes.

The organisation was founded in 1973 and has grown into the largest local youth service in the country.

Limerick Youth Service also offers a wide range of volunteering options. For more information on Limerick Youth Service, send queries to lys@limerickyouthservice.com or call 061-412444.
Photo: Jon Manchester

Vernons former fire chief is suing the city for wrongful dismissal.

Keith Green filed the civil claim in Vancouver B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 14.

Green was hired as fire chief in April 2011, and terminated in August 2018.

This followed what the claim refers to as a "work-related psychological disability" suffered in September 2016.

Green was unable to work, but, after exhausting banked sick time and getting long-term disability support from his insurer, he began a plan with WorkSafeBC in June 2018 to gradually return to work.

Two months later, he was fired, and the city hired David Lind as his replacement.

The city refused to comment on personnel matters, but in Green's claim cited his "inability to return to full-time work" as the reason for his termination. It has 21 days to file a response.

The suit alleges the city did not offer to accommodate the plaintiff's disability and to co-operate with WorkSafeBC in an attempt at a gradual return to work.

Green is seeking compensation in the form of lost salary and benefits, plus interest and costs.

The claim says Greens contract required a full years notice if the city sought to lay him off without cause.

Green's salary as fire chief was $136,000 a year.
A RETIRED soldier was attacked and robbed at a laneway in Limerick city centre after he was lured there by a woman who phoned him while he was socialising, a court has heard.

Details of the incident, which happened a year ago, emerged during the sentencing hearing of a couple who have admitted targeting the vulnerable pensioner.

Fintan Lynch, 39, and Christine OGrady, 30, both of Parnell Place, Limerick, have each pleaded guilty to a robbery charge relating to an incident which happened at Hunts Lane, off Dominick Street, on February 22, 2018.

Detective Garda Shane Ryan said the then 75-year-old victim was attending a function at a city hotel when he went outside having received a phone call from OGrady.

He said both walked to the laneway where Lynch then attacked the victim from behind  knocking him to the ground.

A knife was held to his neck and he sustained a cut under his left arm when he was struck with the knife.

Det Garda Ryan told John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, the culprits took the victims wallet which contained around 200.

Extensive CCTV was obtained and the movements of the culprits tracked around the time of the incident.

The mobile phone used to phone the pensioner was also recovered at OGradys home.

In a victim impact statement, the victims daughter said he became withdrawn and very quiet following the incident and stopped going out.

It took a lot out of him, he was just not himself, she said.

Barristers representing each of the defendants said their clients wished to apologise for their actions on the night.

Both, Limerick Circuit Court was told, have previous convictions and suffer from addiction issues.

Jack Nicholas BL said Lynch is now taking a different approach in life and is making efforts to address his addiction issues. Eimear Carey BL said OGrady  a mother of two  is doing well in prison and is now drug free and looking well.

Judge ODonnell said the matter was a very serious case in my view and he adjourned sentencing to June.
There has been much criticism of the decision of An Post to incorporate new branding on Gurteen Post Office, even though the office is due to close on Thursday next, February 28.

Images of the new branding and signage were posted by The Crossbar pub in Gurteen in which they expressed the opinion the decision further highlights a lack of appreciation of matters concerning rural Ireland.

New signage erected today 19-02-19 at the post office which is closing on the 28-02-19.

Does this not prove that those in the GPO dont know whats going on in rural Ireland? #SaveGurteenPostOffice #AnPost @campaignforleo @simoncoveney #512Population pic.twitter.com/lr5uVMMOLl February 19, 2019

The tweet has generated widespread reaction with Gavan Reilly, Virgin News political correspondent describing the post as "tweet of the year."

Tweet of the year 2019: new An Post branding is unveiled at a post office which will cease operating seven business days later. https://t.co/kPbtEDmo9i  Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) February 20, 2019

In reply to a question regarding why the decision was taken to carry out the work at Gurteen Post Office, even though it is to be closed next week, An Post commented that Gurteen, "as a working post office, was fitted with the new collateral earlier this week as were other Sligo post offices."
A man given life for the murder of a prostitutes guardian, in a Co Cavan brothel seven years ago, has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Polish national Przemyslaw Trebacz (39) of Bramble Rise, Killynebber, Cavan had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Costel Catalin Cretu (38) at Connolly Court, Connolly Street, Cavan between October 13 and 14, 2012. However, he admitted causing criminal damage to a door at the Connolly Court apartment complex, in Cavan, on October 13, 2012.

The defence case was that Trebacz was seeking the services of a prostitute while the prosecution case was that Trebacz and another man had gone to the apartment for the purpose of a robbery.

The Central Criminal Court heard Mr Cretu was stabbed once in the chest and once in the back and died at the scene.

A jury of nine men and three women returned a majority guilty verdict of 10-2 after almost 10 hours of deliberations. Trebacz was accordingly given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Barry White on February 17, 2014.

His conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal today.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the accused went to the apartment, with two other men, in a taxi.

The taxi driver gave evidence that he heard reference to a Soviet attack - a term explained by the accused to gardai as an expression in Poland when people want to get aggressive and fight, it comes from fighting the Russians.

The taxi driver described the accused as having had something solid concealed in a sock held in his hand.

He said he saw the accused bang on the front door of the apartment building, kick it in and enter, before two of the men returned five to ten minutes later with their faces covered.

Inside, was the deceased and two females, Florentina Sotir and another person who was not properly identified and could not be found. Ms Sotir made three statements to gardai and contended that the truth of what happened was to found in her second statement, whatever else she may have said.

Mr Justice McCarthy said many deficiencies were apparent in her evidence and perhaps unwisely, the trial judge was moved to described her credibility as being totally shot, in the absence of the jury.

However, he said issues of credibility were matters for the jury, as the trial judge rightly stated when he refused to direct Trebaczs acquittal on the murder charge.

He said the court could see no inadequacy in the trial judges summary of the relevant evidence.

He said Trebaczs counsel, Alan Toal BL, sought to engage extensively with the merits of the prosecution with special reference to Ms Sotirs evidence.

A submission was made on the layout of the apartment, on the basis that Ms Sotir could not have seen the stabbing as described by her because of where she was located at the time.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Patrick McGrath SC, accepted the witness was flawed but the case did not rely solely on her evidence.

Mr McGrath said there was evidence from a taxi driver before and after the attack, who was asked to wait outside while Trebacz and the other man violently broke into the apartment. They came out with their faces covered and could be heard "counting money.

Mr Justice McCarthy, who sat with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, and Mr Justice John Edwards, said there was no reason to believe Trebaczs trial was unsatisfactory or the verdict unsafe.
The patronage of two new Kildare primary schools to be established this year has been announced by the Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh.

Educate Together will have patronage of an eight classroom english speaking primary school in Leixlip and An Foras Patrunachta will be patron of a new eight classroom gaelscoil in Maynooth.

The two are among 12 to be announced nationally with another at Dunshaughlin in Meath.

The Department of Education said that in all cases, the Minister accepted the recommendations of the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG).

The schools were announced in April 2018 to serve a number of locations nationwide under increased demographic pressures.

SEE ALSO: Kildare TD calls for release of Land Commission records

The Department of Education said it is envisaged that these primary schools will be established in interim accommodation initially, pending permanent accommodation solutions being put in place as part of the Departments Design and Build Programme. The Department has appointed a project manager to assist in the procurement of interim school accommodation for the schools opening in September 2019 and interim accommodation solution options have been identified for all of the schools.

Cllr Naoise O Cearuil said the the new primary school in Maynooth is due to open in September this year. The Department have said that they are actively looking for a suitable location for the school.

Cllr O Cearuilsaid parents in the town had a significant input into the awarding of the patronage as they had the opportunity to vote on their preference through a departmental website.

Other bodies that applied for the patronage in Maynooth include the Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board, Scoil Caitriona, the Church of Ireland and Educate Together.

An Foras Patrunachta are an Irish language patron based in Maynooth business campus and are the patron for most gaelscoils in the Country.

Cllr O Cearuil said: I am delighted that the parents of Maynooth and the Department have decided that there should be a second Gaelscoil in the town. My parents established Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich in the town in the 90s and it has grown to such an extent that there is a large waiting list. This decision means that education through the medium of Irish is now more accessible to everybody. This announcement, along with the announcement that a Gaelcolaiste is to be established in 2019 shows the strength of Gaeilge in our community.

Orla Matthews of the Leixlip Educate Together National School campaign group also welcomed the news. She said: 'We are so happy to finally have an Educate Together National School here in Leixlip. Leixlip has a diverse community and we have been campaigning for years for a multi denominational school to cater for all beliefs, we are just so relieved it is an Educate Together and now we cant to enrol my son for September."

Minister McHugh said the establishment of these new schools forms an essential part of plans to ensure that sufficient new school places are available to cater for the growing cohort of pupils at primary level over the coming years. Additional places will also continue to be provided by extending existing provision, as included in the Six Year Programme of Capital Investment in Schools 2016-2021, he said.

The Minister also said: Parental preference has become a key determinant in deciding the patronage of new schools and Im pleased to say that the views of parents as expressed through the process are strongly reflected in the decisions I have made.

The patronage process for new schools is overseen by the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG). This independent advisory group was set up in 2011 to advise the Minister on the patronage of new schools following its consideration of a report prepared by the Department on the applications received. Minister McHugh accepted the recommendations of the Group in all cases in respect of the four post-primary schools due to open in September 2019.

The members of the NSEG are Joe Hamill (Chairperson), Retired Secretary General of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Professor Gerry Mac Ruairc, Head, School of Education, National University of Ireland Galway and Professor Sarah Moore, Professor of Teaching and Learning, University of Limerick.
Theresa Murray takes a look back through the Leinster Leader archive.

What became known as the Collon tragedy in this county for which no one has yet been made amenable, possesses all the elements of a first class mystery, reported the Leinster Leader on February 1, 1919.

Read also: Bus Eireann says sorry to Kildare customers

Laurence and Mary Hayden, a sister and brother in their 70s, were known in this isolated district to have been of meagre habits of living and to have accumulated a large sum through their frugality and thrift.

One morning in 1915 they were both found murdered in their house and there was evidence that an attempt had been made to cover the crime by an act of incendiarism.

This box supposed to contain their savings had been rifled.

An arrest was made and a trial took place with an abortive result, the Crown thereon dropping the case.

At the time there was a very strong local feeling that the wrong man had been apprehended

Last week it was reported with a circumstantiality which compelled credulity that a Collon resident who had taken refuge in the forge next to the Haydens house on the night of the murder had been admitted to Baltinglass hospital in a dying condition, and had made a statement to the clergyman before entering into confession.

Sensational story

The story created a great sensation but inquiries showed that it was an invention and that the priests in attendance on the workhouse hospital knew nothing of the alleged circumstances.

On Wednesday morning one of the Dublin daily papers stated The mystery of the Collon Co. Kildare murder is again actively engaging the attention of the police.

The rumour now is that a tramp labourer has made certain statements implicating others, the paper reported.

And there, for the present, the mystery rests.
Kildare North TD Catherine Murphy wants Land Commission records to be made available to the public as part of the Decade of Commemorations  marking the 100th anniversary of significant Irish historical events including the War of Independence and the Civil War.

The Social Democrat representative has asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan to start making the records available, due to their historical and cultural importance.

Deputy Murphy has previously indicated to the Minister that these records have a particular significance given the decade of centenaries and the commemorations currently underway.

This vast trove of up to eight million individual records form an integral part of helping us understand our past and for those with a particular interest in genealogy and social history they are can be a key research source to unlock many outstanding questions regarding our past and how that has shaped our present and indeed, future, she said.

The records exist within the Department of Agriculture and I have asked the Minister to initiate a dialogue with the Department with a view to making these records publicly available in this State, the counterparts of which are readily available publicly in Northern Ireland.
Bus Eireann has apologised to customers in Kildare for service failings.

Read also: Permission refused for massive 180 home Newbridge estate due to flooding and design concerns

The company told the Leader that it has recently provided additional resources in both the morning and evening peak on the 115, 120 and 126 services.

The Leader asked Bus Eireann comment on specific incidents whether the National Transport Authority (NTA) has been in contact with Bus Eireann about the service/s and whether extra buses or staff are being recruited.

John Sheridan, Bus Eireann, said: While service delays and disruptions are unavoidable at times, Bus Eireann recognise the impact of such disruptions to our customers and would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

In order to mitigate some of the recent customer experience issues along the 115, 120 and 126 corridor, Bus Eireann have recently provided additional resources in both the morning and evening peak.

We continue to monitor all service and we will be implementing a number of internal measures to further improve service performance within the resources available.

Service user Enda Kiernan said buses sometimes did not stop at Ovidstown Cross and are often full going to Celbridge. A lot of the time the bus is full. They need more buses, he said.

Mr Kiernan is sceptical about the issue.

They get large tax revenues from cars. There is not much revenue in buses for public transport.

Colm Kevitt, from Kill, said the 126 to Dublin is always not turning up in Kill, late or too early on occasions.

Mr Kevitt said that despite complaints to Bus Eireann nothing is acknowledged as being wrong or bad by them.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit Thursday by warning senior Catholic figures that the faithful are demanding concrete action against predator priests and not just words of condemnation. Victims then told the bishops of the searing emotional pain of their abuse.

Francis opened the four-day summit by telling the Catholic hierarchy that their own responsibility to deal effectively with priests who rape and molest children weighed on the proceedings.

"Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice," and seize the opportunity to "transform this evil into a chance for understanding and purification," Francis told the 190 leaders of bishops conferences and religious orders.

"The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established," he warned.

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the U.S., bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or downplay the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse coverup case in Chile last year. Realizing he had erred, he has vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

The summit is meant as a tutorial for church leaders to learn the importance of preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims and investigating the crimes when they occur.

The Vatican's senior sex crimes investigator delivered a step-by-step lesson Thursday on investigating abuse cases, citing the example of Pope Benedict XVI, who turned the Vatican around on the issue two decades ago.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna told bishops they should co-operate with civil law enforcement investigations and announce decisions about predators to their communities once cases have been decided.

He said victims had the right to damages from the church and that bishops should consider using lay experts to help guide them during the sex abuse investigations.

The people of God "should come to know us as friends of their safety and that of their children and youth," he said. "We will protect them at all cost. We will lay down our lives for the flocks entrusted to us."

Finally, Scicluna warned them that it was a "grave sin" to withhold information from the Vatican about candidates for bishops  a reference to the recent scandal of the now-defrocked former American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick. It was apparently an open secret in some church circles that McCarrick slept with young seminarians. He was defrocked last week by Francis after a Vatican trial found credible reports that he abused minors.

In the summit's opening keynote speech, Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up as told the bishops that the wounds they had inflicted on the faithful through their negligence and indifference recalled the wounds of Christ on the cross. He demanded bishops and superiors no longer turn a blind eye to the harm caused by clergy abuse and coverups.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Tagle said in his speech. The result, he said, had left a "deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve."
This prime 4.2 acre development site in Caragh could accommodate up to 40 homes.

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The site is close to the centre of Caragh village, approximately 4km from Naas and the M7 Motorway (Junction 10), 10km from Newbridge and 8km from Clane.

Caragh is a sought-after village environment with primary school, shops, church and pub. The entire has approximately 50 metres frontage onto the R409 and is surrounded by a stand of mature trees.

The site is partly elevated with excellent views of the surrounding countryside. It is close to the existing developments of Caragh View, Caragh Lawns and Old Chapel Wood. A new development, Caragh Heights is located directly opposite.

The site is zoned Existing Residential & New Residential in the Kildare County Development Plan 2017 - 2023. Caragh is designated as a Village with an indicative density of about eight to ten units per acre.

There are no previous applications on the lands. The tender date is Friday March 15 at 3pm in the offices of Byrne & Sullivan Solicitors, Edenderry (unless previously sold).

Jordans are issuing a guide price of 1.4m for the entire. Additional information is available through Clive Kavanagh or Paddy Jordan on 045  433550.
Portlaoise hospital had the second highest spend on agency staff in the country, according to figures from Sinn Fein TD, Brian Stanley.

The spend of Portlaoise Hospital on agency staff, at 10.8 millon was the second highest in the country, with Tullamore hospital in the fifth spot at 8.2 million.

"Portlaoise was pipped by University Hospital Limerick which took first place. This is despite the fact that hospitals in Dublin and other cities have workforces that are many times larger than either Portlaoise or Tullamore," noted Deputy Stanley.

"The overall figure spent on agency staff in the State in 2018 was 318m, over 6.5m per day on temporary staff. This figure has more than doubled from 151m in 2012, with the increase in last year alone at over 26m.

I have constantly highlighted the fact that Portlaoise is over reliant on agency staff due to uncertainty around the future of services at the hospital as it reduces the level of interest in seeking employment there. I raised this matter directly with the Tanaiste Simon Coveney TD this Thursday," stated Deputy Stanley.

"The other issue here is the delay by the HSE and the Government in converting agency staff to full-time HSE employees. No regard is given to the fact that agency staff are far more expensive per head than HSE employees. These points were brought to the fore recently by the nursing unions during the strike action. This is one area of huge waste in our health system, and savings from this could be used to employ more badly needed permanent frontline staff.

"Our over reliance on agency staff is bad for patients, bad for consistency in services and bad for the taxpayer. We need to plan and organise our health service on a sustainable basis, not in the ad hoc chaotic way it is currently run.
The Slieve Bloom Mountain Bike trail in Laois and Offaly is part of a tourism project which is set to benefit from a 10 million cash injection.

The project is part of a multi-county Coillte-led project to get a slice of the 62 million Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, announced by Michael Ring, Minister for Rural and Community Development.

A total of 10,262,900 will be split between the Slieve Bloom Trail and similar projects around Ireland.

This flagship national project will develop international standard mountain biking trails which will provide recreational, health and tourism benefits. The locations include: Slieve Bloom (Offaly & Laois); Collaney (Sligo); Ballyhoura (Limerick and Cork); Ticknock/Ballinastoe (Wicklow and Dublin), said a statement.

Coillte is leading the development of all the projects and the Laois Offaly trail has the support of local authorities in both counties.

Minister Ring's department believes the development of the national mountain-biking project will create recreational facilities in four locations across seven counties, promoting economic tourism potential in the process.

The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund aims to revitalise rural Ireland.

These investments will have a transformative effect on many rural towns, villages and outlying areas. These projects are ambitious and strategic in nature. The funding will transform communities by delivering projects in sectors such as tourism, agri-food and recreation, said Minister Ring.

Orla Carroll, Director of Product Development at Failte Ireland was present for the announcement.

This funding will greatly enhance attractions throughout rural Ireland which will boost visitor numbers to the regions and support local job creation in the tourism sector, she said.

Laois TD and Minister Charlie Flanagan welcomed the funding for the Slieve Bloom trail the second such fund developed by Coillte.

Outdoor recreational and adventure tourism is a key growth sector worldwide and it has been identified as a priority for Irish tourism, he said.

Coillte aim to have the Slieve Bloom trail open for business by April.
Tom Phelan was a child growing up in Mountmellick when Eamon de Valera paid a political visit to to the town in the early 1950s.

He distinctly remembers the day former Taoiseach and President of Ireland visited the town because his parents would not allow him to attend the event and instead he went farming with his father who said: de Valera will not sow our turnips.

Tom told the Leinster Express this is just one of his many memories of growing up in Mountmellick that he wrote about in his latest book We Were Rich and We Didnt Know It which will be published in New York, where Tom now lives, and online on March 5.

The book is the Laois natives seventh with the previous six all being novels.

He set out writing a personal memoir to try to understand why he became a Catholic priest when he was younger.

This led to unearthing many stories about his upbringing and family life in Mountmellick.

When we were growing up in Mountmellick we were living in a farm outside the town and were pretty much isolated. Socially, I was backward and was unused to the dynamics of group situations. It was this that started me on the memoir with the idea of figuring out why I became a priest, an occupation that necessitated an outgoing personality.

That theme stays in the book but also as I wrote it the emphasis shifted more towards my father and the life that he led as the head of the family on a wet and poor farm, how he managed to make a living out of it and how he influenced all the members of the family. He had a work ethic that was extreme, to say the least, and we all worked on the farm it was a family enterprise.

So I came out of that and I went to the seminary and when I was a couple of weeks on the job in Brighton in England I realised I had made a mistake. I was trying to figure out what had led me to become a priest and that started it out and it evolved into more of a family saga about my father, he said.

Tom shared one of the memories shared between him and his father JohnJoe Phelan that is written in the pages of the new book.

There is one memory in particular that involved my father and myself. We were sowing turnips on a Saturday evening around 8 oclock and it was bright of course and at the same time there was a political meeting in the town and Eamon de Valera was coming to the town to talk on behalf of some people who were up for election.

At that time de Valera was the great hero he has escaped from a British prison and he had escaped execution in 1916 and he was regarded as a hero by a lot of people but my father hated de Valera because when he was prime minister in the 30s he began an economic war with the British and the British closed off Ireland from exporting farm goods to England, especially animals, and all the farmers were caught with these animals on their farms with nowhere to sell them and I didnt know that this was the reason why my father detested de Valera.

On the night de Valera was coming to town and the week preceding it, I kept saying that everyone was going to be there to see de Valera and I am going to be the only one in school who is not there. I kept pestering and trying to get going.

On the night de Valera was coming to town I ended up driving a pony which my father didnt need me there at all because he was very good with animals.

I was driving a pony and he was handling the turnip barrel and sowing the turnips. Eventually at 8 oclock we could hear the loudspeaker in the town and huge cheering and we guessed de Valera had come on the scene and I dared make a last request of my father to let me go and he said de Valera will not sow our turnips and that was the end of my effort to get to de Valera so that is the name of one of the chapters, he said.

'We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It' is available for pre-order on Amazon now ahead of its release on March 5 and will be released in the UK by Simon and Schuster in early April.
There are lots of streets named after presidents or trees. But what about local heroes?

Two Warren County towns recently decided to mark their streets -- some officially, some not -- after residents who meet the subjective qualifications. One was from an influential family. Another led a life of service to his town. And another, a World War II veteran, was just honored on his 99th birthday.

That's how you get your name on a street sign.

The veteran

Robert Reed was seated in front of everyone at Tuesdays Phillipsburg Town Council meeting. Next to him was a small cake with 99 on it -- it was his birthday.

A town proclamation was read that documented the life of the towns oldest living veteran: Born in 1920, a Phillipsburg resident since he was 6, a merchant marine at 16, an Army soldier in 1944. He was drafted with his three brothers for World War II and helped allied forces take control of Germanys Rhine river. Reed returned home to Phillipsburg in 1945 and worked for Bethlehem Steel.

Following the proclamation, he was given a mockup of a decorative street sign that will be put up on Wilson Street, where he has lived for 60 years.

The family

Generations of the Alleger family have lived in the borough of Washington for about 200 years, some serving as mayors, fire chiefs and business leaders, according to borough manager Matthew Hall.

So it was a little surprising that the sign on the small, dead-end street named after them has been misspelled "Allegar" for years.

The error was recently discovered when the borough updated its 911 database. The borough council has officially corrected the spelling and plans to hold a renaming ceremony March 8, with Allegers in attendance.

The public servant

That same day, Washington will hold a second, similar and likely more solemn ceremony on what will now officially be known as Richard W. Thompson Jr. Way.

That road, a previously unnamed access road for the public works garage, is named for a borough councilman who died Oct. 30. Thompson was a longtime member of the borough fire department and emergency squad.

This sad occasion presented an opportunity, Hall said, and council was unanimous in their desire to honor Councilman Thompsons many years of service by dedicating the roadway in his honor.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveNovakLVL and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A study by Education Voters of PA, a progressive advocacy group, says cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania are receiving much more public tax support than they need to operate.

Under state law, cyber schools receive the same reimbursement as brick-and-mortar charter schools, even though cybers offer learning over the internet and have lower operating costs.

Pennsylvanias 15 cyber charter schools receive taxpayer-supported tuition ranging from $7,300 a year for a regular student to more than $40,000 for a special education student, the report says. Scaling that back to $5,000 per regular student and $8,865 per special education student would save Pennsylvania taxpayers $250 million a year, the group says. The Lehigh Valleys share of that savings is pegged at $11 million a year.

The report cites the academic performance of the charters, saying none of those authorized by the state earned passing grades during the five years when the state issued School Performance Profile scores. In 2018 most of the cybers were in the bottom 5 percent for educational performance in the state, according to state Department of Education data.

Ana Meyers, executive director of the PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools, called the report a slanted attack by a group working on behalf of public school districts, many of which have challenged tax money going to charter schools. Myers said cyber schools afford parents a needed choice, and could not exist on a per-pupil tuition of $5,000 a year. The schools must pay for students computers and online access, among other expenses, she said.

Supporters say cybers save public schools money by educating children who otherwise would be in public schools. Public school officials challenge that, saying it doesnt make up for costs of maintaining buildings, faculties and diversified curricula.

Many Lehigh Valley school districts now offer their own cyber school programs, hoping to lure back private cyber school students. A bill introduced in the state Senate would free school districts of paying cyber school tuition if they provide comparable cyber programs.

What do you think? Are taxpayers paying too much to private cyber charter schools? Have a say in our informal, unscientific poll  and before casting your vote, read staff writer Sara Satullos in-depth report on this issue.
The developer turning West Bethlehems historic armory into an apartment complex has revealed its plans for the drill hall in a zoning application.

Peron Development wants to convert the large drill hall in the National Historic landmark armory building into an artists studio and residence. But thats going to require some more zoning relief.

The historic Floyd Simmons Armory, 301 Prospect Ave., sits in a residential district at the corner of Second and Prospect avenues, tucked between the downtown historic district and the residential Mount Airy Historic District.

Bethlehems zoning code does not allows work-live uses like the studio and residence in a residential area, so Peron has applied to the zoning hearing board for a use variance. Peron is owned by local attorney and developer Michael Perrucci.

Peron representative John Callahan did not return a message seeking comment on the project, but the developer has filed its request with the city. The zoning hearing board is set to review the request on March 7.

Back in December of 2017, the zoning board granted Peron 11 variances, including one involving parking, allowing it to redevelop the property into a four-story, 70-unit apartment and office complex.

At the time, Peron had not landed on a final reuse for the drill hall, raising concerns from the Mount Airy Neighborhood Association and residents. The board required Peron to return with its plans for the main armory building as well as the overall parking demand.

In a letter to the board, attorney Seth Tipton explained that the basement of the building will be modified to provide two garage spaces for the unnamed artist. Peron wants to then move the loading dock from the west side of the building to the east side of the building in the garages.

This will allow the former loading dock space to be converted into parking spaces, increasing the total number of offsite parking spaces for the project, Tipton writes in his letter. Sketch plans of the drill hall apartment show two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a kitchen, office, living room and lounge area.

In March 2018, Bethlehem City Council approved vacating part of Second Avenue and Flibert Street to allow Peron to build 42-parking spaces. At the time, the project called for a total of 99 on-site spots and 25 public on-street spaces along Second Avenue.

It is not clear how many more spaces moving the loading dock could add.

Parking has been a top concern for residents who worried about the demand the $13 million project could generate, especially with the final use of the drill hall unknown.

The developer is also seeking zoning board approval to add one more residential unit to the project.

Plans calls for building a total of 70 market-rate apartments by converting two existing garages into six units and then building a four-story, L-shaped addition off the back of the property with 64 units. The prior zoning approval limited the project to 70 units divided into a max of 20 two-bedroom and 50 one-bedroom units.

Peron was selected in July 2016 by the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority to tackle the rehab of the armory.

Peron plans to pay the authority $322,000 for the property with historic covenants attached. The city has a deal with the state to buy the armory for $272,000.

The authority and Peron want all of the land development approvals in place before finalizing the simultaneous sale.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
- A military operation code  named Operation YANCIN TAFKI has been launched against Boko Haram insurgents in Lake Chad and other African countries

- The operation comprises troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Nigeria

- The aim of the operation is to take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of Boko Haram terrorists

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) which comprises troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Nigeria have commenced a military operation code named operation YANCIN TAFKI to defeat Boko Haram insurgents.

In a statement by Colonel Timothy Antigha, chief military public information, MNJTF, the force stated that the operation would take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of the terrorists.

The statement read: "The aim of the operation is to take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of Boko Haram Terrorists within the designated area of responsibility of the MNJTF and subsequently rout the terrorists.

READ ALSO: I have not resigned - Osinbajo

"It would be recalled that a couple of months ago, a summit of the heads of states and governments of states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, chaired by President Buhari, met in NDjamena, Chad, to fine tune bilateral engagements aimed at dealing with the Boko Haram problem.

"This operation is therefore expected to give concrete and far reaching expressions to the resolutions of that summit.

"Furthermore, the MNJTF recognizes the challenges of effective coverage and reportage of a conflict, especially in the age of fake news.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

"The force is confident that the media in the affected countries will remain resolute and committed to professionalism and the common goal of eliminating terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin, as well as the stabilization of the area for the millions of its inhabitants currently displaced."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Major General Chikezie Ude, Field Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force on Boko Haram insurgency, said operations of the team were currently being executed by 10,250 military personnel.

He told some Nigerian journalists in Ndjamena, Chad, on Friday, February 8, that the number of the personnel, drawn from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, the four countries involved in the task force operations, rose from 7,600 in 2015.

Ude, therefore, said that the operations did not have challenge of personnel, adding that the size of the troops had led to the huge decimation of the insurgents in the Lake Chad Basin.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

Leadership of Nigeria is not meant for our forefathers| - on Legit TV:

Source: Legit
- A military operation code  named Operation YANCIN TAFKI has been launched against Boko Haram insurgents in Lake Chad and other African countries

- The operation comprises troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Nigeria

- The aim of the operation is to take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of Boko Haram terrorists

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) which comprises troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Nigeria have commenced a military operation code named operation YANCIN TAFKI to defeat Boko Haram insurgents.

In a statement by Colonel Timothy Antigha, chief military public information, MNJTF, the force stated that the operation would take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of the terrorists.

The statement read: "The aim of the operation is to take the battle to the remaining last hideouts of Boko Haram Terrorists within the designated area of responsibility of the MNJTF and subsequently rout the terrorists.

READ ALSO: I have not resigned - Osinbajo

"It would be recalled that a couple of months ago, a summit of the heads of states and governments of states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, chaired by President Buhari, met in NDjamena, Chad, to fine tune bilateral engagements aimed at dealing with the Boko Haram problem.

"This operation is therefore expected to give concrete and far reaching expressions to the resolutions of that summit.

"Furthermore, the MNJTF recognizes the challenges of effective coverage and reportage of a conflict, especially in the age of fake news.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

"The force is confident that the media in the affected countries will remain resolute and committed to professionalism and the common goal of eliminating terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin, as well as the stabilization of the area for the millions of its inhabitants currently displaced."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Major General Chikezie Ude, Field Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force on Boko Haram insurgency, said operations of the team were currently being executed by 10,250 military personnel.

He told some Nigerian journalists in Ndjamena, Chad, on Friday, February 8, that the number of the personnel, drawn from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, the four countries involved in the task force operations, rose from 7,600 in 2015.

Ude, therefore, said that the operations did not have challenge of personnel, adding that the size of the troops had led to the huge decimation of the insurgents in the Lake Chad Basin.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

Leadership of Nigeria is not meant for our forefathers| - on Legit TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- The Calabar Court of Appeal has ruled that Usani Usani, the minister of Niger Delta affairs, remained the APC gubernatorial candidate

- The appeal court verdict came as a recognition of the earlier judgement by the Federal High Court

- The judgement also refused a prayer by APC faction challenging a stay of execution recognising Etim John-led state executive committee

With confusion still growing as regard the authentic candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Cross River state, the Calabar Court of Appeal has ruled that Usani Usani, the Niger Delta affairs minister remains the APC gubernatorial candidate.

Giving its verdict on Wednesday, February 20, Justice Mojeed Owoade-led panel also refused a prayer before it by a faction of the party challenging a stay of execution recognising the Etim John-led state executive committee, Channels TV reports.

Legit.ng gathers that the warring factions in the state were urged to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the appeal filed by the faction of the party led by John Ochala against the judgement of the Federal High Court.

Appeal Court recognises Buhari's minister Usani as APC governorship candidate in C/River

Source: UGC

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Justice Owoade in his judgment also granted the Ochala faction of the party leave to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court.

It would be recalled that prior to the February 20 judgement, the Federal High Court, in a judgement by Justice S. A. Amobeda upon a suit with number FHC/CA/CS/73/2018, recognised the Etim John faction as the authentic APC leadership in Cross River.

Amobeda had also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the list of candidates presented by the Etim John led leadership in the general elections, which included Pastor Usani Usani as the party governorship candidate.

Appeal Court recognises Buhari's minister Usani as APC governorship candidate in C/River

Source: UGC

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, had overturned an earlier judgement of the state high court over the authenticity of the chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the state.

While making his judgement, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, ruled that the lower court had no jurisdiction in entertaining the case in the first instance as matters relating to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not be heard by a state high court.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

2019 Election: Atiku may win and Buhari will be declared winner| - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
Photo: The Canadian Press Police monitor the scene outside of a house where a young girl was found dead in Brampton, Ont. on Friday, February 15, 2019. A man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter has reportedly died in hospital. Roopesh Rajkumar died on Wednesday, according to media reports, after spending days in hospital with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Ryan

A man accused of killing his daughter on her 11th birthday died in hospital on Wednesday evening, police said, noting that their investigation into the girl's death is not over.

Roopesh Rajkumar had been hospitalized with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound since shortly after his arrest.

His daughter, Riya Rajkumar, became the subject of an Amber Alert late Thursday night after her father allegedly indicated to her mother that he planned to hurt both the child and himself.

Shortly after the alert was sent out, Peel regional police knocked down the door to her father's home in Brampton, Ont., and found Riya's body.

Officers have not released her cause of death, and note that the homicide unit will continue its investigation.

Rajkumar was arrested by provincial police more than 100 kilometres away in Oro-Medonte, Ont., and was charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators have said that after Rajkumar was transferred into the custody of local police, they discovered he was injured and took him to hospital. The province's police watchdog declined to investigate the circumstances leading to the gunshot wound.

The day Riya died  Valentine's Day  was also her and her mother's birthdays.

"She was so excited for her birthday, looking forward to having dinner later that evening," Riya's mother, Priya Ramdin, said in a statement Tuesday. "Never did I think that my daughter would not return back to me."

Riya's funeral was held earlier Wednesday.
- The deployment of military personnel to monitor the next general elections has been condemned by Gani Adams

- The Aare Onakakanfo of Youruba land said though there are ecurity challenges across the country, nobody can use that as a ploy to use military to undermine the nation's democracy

- According to the Yoruba leader, in a civilised clime, the police and the civil defence corps are used to monitor elections, while the military is used during wars

Iba Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, has condemned the use of military personnel to monitor the forthcoming general elections.

In a statement signed by Kehinde Aderemi, the special assistant on media to the Yoruba leader, he said that the use of military in elections is not logical and only a means to undermine the countrys democracy, Independent reports.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Friday, February 22 as public holiday

He said: We are not in a banana republic, whereby the FG will, strategically, foist the military on us during elections. I agree there are security challenges across the country; however, nobody can use that as a ploy to use military to undermine our democracy.

What we are experiencing since last Saturday is not too good for us as a nation, because some politicians have perfected their plans to truncate this democracy through the back door. The whole world is watching us. Many of us put our lives on the line for us to have this democracy.

Many people lost their lives for us to have this democracy. Our democracy came with a lot of sacrifices. In a civilised clime, the police and the civil defence corps are used to monitor elections, while the military is used during wars. The coming election is not a war, so why the directive to use military to monitor election processes?"

Adams also added that the presence of the Army during election will only contribute fear and lead to unrest, saying that it could make Nigerians lose their right to vote.

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He said: It is scary and will definitely lead to chaos. This election should be peaceful, free and fair. We dont want bloodbath. However, with this development, I have a feeling that many Nigerians will be disenfranchised and that can taint Nigerias image and it will send a wrong signal to the international community.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Adams, on Wednesday, February 6, warned the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, not take away his right to vote.

He said he is yet to get his Permanent Voters Card (PVC) many months after he registered, saying that the delay is suspicious. He, however, encouraged Nigerians to be intimidate but be determined in carrying out their civic duties.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: We have updated to serve you better!

Nigerians express total disappointment with INEC over election postponement | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- The Nigerian Army has dissociated itself from the viral picture of some of its officials doing the 4 + 4 sign in support of President Buhari's re-election

- The Army has also promised to investigate and sanction the four soldiers in the picture

- The investigation is to ascertain the source and authenticity of the pictures and the "soldiers' involved

The Nigerian Army on Wednesday, February 20, reacted to a viral picture of four of its officials endorsing the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, by doing the party's 4 + 4 campaign sign.

The Army dissociates itself from the picture and promised to investigate and sanction the erring officers if they are found guilty of being partisan.

In a statement signed by its acting public relation officer, Colonel Sagir Musa, the Army said it's Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has made clear that Army personnel will remain neutral.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Friday, February 22 as public holiday

The statement reads: "The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a picture of four armed men dressed in what looks like military camouflage in a 4 x 4 finger sign supposedly connoting a campaign symbol of a political party which is against the rules and regulations of the Nigeria Army.

"The Nigeria Army wishes to dissociate itself from the picture even as it has commenced immediate investigation with the view to ascertain the source and authenticity of the pictures and the soldiers' involved. If the outcome of the investigation confirm this to be true, appropriate sanctions would be provided. Nigeria Army of today under the command of Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai do not condone or encourage indiscipline and any form of professional misconduct.

"On many occasions, the Chief of Army Staff has made it strongly clear that Army personnel will remain neutral, totally apolitical and will not compromise its constitutional roles under any guise."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that LT Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai stated that those seeking to undermine the 2019 general elections would be treated as enemies of Nigeria.

The Army chief made the comment on Wednesday, February 20, during a meeting with principal staff officers, general officers commanding and directors at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

6 things that 'may' happen on Election Day - on Legit TV:

Source: Legit
- The dean, Faculty of Law of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Ezeilo, has been appointed by United Nations

- Professor Ezeilo was appointed as a member of seven distinguished experts to serve on the Civil Society Advisory Board on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse

- The legal luminary was a member, Board of Trustees for the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking from 2013 to 2016

United Nations has appointed Professor Joy Ezeilo as a member of seven distinguished experts to serve on the newly established Civil Society Advisory Board on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Ezeilo confirmed the appointment in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday, February 20.

Legit.ng gathers that Ezeilo, who is the dean, Faculty of Law of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, made the announcement in New York on Tuesday, February 19.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

She listed other members of the committee to include Rosa Freeman from the United Kingdom, Pablo de Grieff from Colombia and Adrijana Hanusic Becirovic from Bosnia Herzegovina.

Other members are Dr Najat Maalla Mjid from Morocco, Vitit Muntarbhorn from Thailand and Muna Ndulo from Zambia.

The functions of the board include advising the secretary general on ways to strengthen preventive measures and accountability mechanisms to address sexual exploitation and abuse.

The advisory board will also foster closer interaction with civil society and external experts and organisations as part of UN efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse.

Members of the board will serve in their personal capacity and will not receive any compensation or remuneration.

Prof Ezeilo is also the national chairperson, Sexual Assault Referral Network Nigeria and was a member, Board of Trustees for the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking from 2013 to 2016.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the United Nations said Nigeria lost an estimated 2.8 billion dollars in revenues in 2018, mainly due to oil-related crimes.

This was according to a new report by the secretary general on the activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) on Monday, January 7, in New York.

The report, which covered from July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, said maritime crime and piracy off the coast of West Africa continued to pose a threat to peace, security and development in the region.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

What is working well and what needs improvement in Nigeria? | Legit TV

Source: Legit
Jagdalpur, February 21: Restaurant owners and food vendors are offering discounts to customers shouting anti-Pakistan slogans, days after the Pulwama terror attack. A street vendor in Chhattisgarh has started offering a discount to those who chant 'Pakistan Murdabad'. Anjal Singh, a food stall owner in Jagdalpur, offers Rs 10 discount on a chicken leg piece to any customer who shouts 'Pakistan Murdabad'. He started this offer days after the Pulwama terror attack in which over 40 CRPF jawans were martyred. Jammu And Kashmir: Suicide Attack Kills 40 CRPF Jawans in Pulwama, JeM Releases Terrorist Aadil Ahmeds Photo Who Carried Out Fidayeen Strike.

"Pak never valued humanity and they never will. That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts," Singh said while speaking to ANI.

Chhattisgarh: A food stall owner in Jagdalpur is offering a discount of 10 on chicken leg piece to customers who say 'Pakistan Murdabad'. Anjal Singh, stall owner says,"Pak never valued humanity&they never will.That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts" pic.twitter.com/ugEN8N5L5E  ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019

Meanwhile, a restaurant in Navi Mumbai's Kharghar is also offering a 10 per cent discount on total bill to customers shouting 'Pakistan Murdabad'.

WATCH: Kharghar Restaurant Offers 10% Discount to Customers Who Shout This

As many as 40 CRPF personnel were martyred in Awantipora in south Kashmirs Pulwama district in a terror attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based and Pakistan backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14. The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack around 3.15 pm on the ill-fated day.

There has been anger and hatred for Pakistan across India following the dastardly attack. A shoe seller also went viral for finding an innovative way to protest the attacks and sell his wares at the same time. A video on Twitter shows him shouting Pakistan Murdabad (Death to Pakistan) in a bustling market, while hes selling shoes.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 21, 2019 10:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Photo: CTV News Amjed Jamo

An ICBC-approved translator is accused of helping hundreds of people cheat on driving knowledge tests, CTV News reports.

An investigation by the RCMP and ICBC alleges Amjed Jamo, for a fee, directed hundreds of mostly Arabic speakers to the correct answers with codes and hand gestures.

Of the close to 300 drivers that had to re-take their test as a result of the investigation, a quarter failed a re-test. Some licenses were voided.

Its disturbing, Kurtis Strelau of Young Drivers Canada told CTV Driving is a serious business.

This affects their decision-making, their understanding of the rules of the road. If youre looking over here and the car is coming from over there, thats a recipe for disaster.

CTV News says ICBC also prosecuted another translator in November. Inderjit Singh Sandhu, of Vernon, pleaded guilty to making a false or misleading statement in connection to a smaller case.

with files from CTV Vancouver
New Delhi, February 21: The Intelligence has sounded a fresh alert, warning of more gruesome terror attacks in India near the future. Intercepts of the phone conversations between the Pakistan-based terror handlers and their operatives in Kashmir has revealed that Jaish-e-Mohammed is planning an attack of a "bigger" magnitude after the "success" of Pulwama, said a report in a leading English daily on Thursday.

The intercepts, accessed by TOI, pointed out to conversations in which Jaish operatives said the casualty count would be higher in their next set of attacks. A senior Intelligence official, which spoke to the publication, said the inputs gathered by the agencies indicate the next JeM target could either be Jammu or outside J&K. Jaish-e-Mohammed Terrorist Releases New Video, Says 'We Can Carry Out Pulwama-Type Attack Anytime'.

The intercepts further suggested that the Jaish is planning to release a detailed video of their preparations for the Pulwama attack, in which they will "glorify" militant Adil Ahmed Dar who rammed a car full of explosives into the CRPF convoy. The attack on February 14 led to the death of 40 Indian security personnel.

Intelligence agencies have been kept on edge following the Pulwama strike. Security has been escalated in all sensitive regions, with curfew being imposed in parts of Jammu & Kashmir over the past six days. To ensure military convoys are not targeted, the CRPF, Army and BSP convoys would move together in the frontier state.

The fresh intel alerts comes amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, with the latter denying any role in the Pulwama terror strike. Islamabad, on the contrary, has asked the Indian government to share "actionable intelligence" to crackdown on groups or individuals it suspects to have orchestrated the attack.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 21, 2019 01:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Rome, February 21 - Italy's antitrust authority on Thursday fined Ryanair three million euros and Wizzair one million euros for unfair commercial practices in misleading the consumer on the actual price of the ticket, no longer including in the basic tariff an essential element of the air transport contract that is large hand baggage," the authority said. The airlines denied the charges.
Rome, February 21 - The House on Thursday approved a motion from government partners the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the League committing the government to "wholly rediscuss the Turin-Lyon high-speed rail (TAV) line project, applying the accord between Italy and France". A tussle between the government coalition partners over the controversial rail link continued on Thursday. Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio's M5S has long been against the project and its calls for the project to be ditched have increased after a new report commissioned by the transport ministry said it has a negative cost-benefit balance of seven to eight billion euros. But fellow Deputy Premier, Interior Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini reiterated on Thursday they he thinks it should go ahead. "The aim is to revise the project, save where it is possible to save, and move forward," Salvini said. Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio, a League member, said that he would "ask if the TAV has effectively been put on ice" at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. However, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano of the M5S said the project should be terminated. "It's a project that would cause the Italian people to lose seven billion euros," he said. "As far as we are concerned, it should be stopped completely". Transport Minister Dario Toninelli said Thursday the M5S would find a solution on the TAV with the League "at most in two weeks". "At most in two weeks time we will communicate the solution. We'll find a solution with our government allies," he said. Toninelli added: "Enough talking about the TAV. The citizens want to hear about so many other projects". European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday that it was up to France and Italy to decide whether to press ahead with the TAV. "It's a decision that the two republics, France and Italy, must take," Juncker told reporters. "We'll see who wins".
Foligno, February 21 - Education officials in the central Umbria region said Thursday that they were looking into reports that a supply teacher had bullied a black pupil. The Tuttoggi.info site reported that the teacher made the boy stand in front of a window with his back to the class at a school near Foligno and said to the other children "look how ugly he is". The teacher's reported defence was that it was all part of a social experiment. "We have been informed of this alleged case and we are running all the necessary checks," Antonella Iunti, the director of the regional school office, told ANSA.
Palermo, February 21 - Palermo Archbishop Corrado Lorefice on Thursday called for an end to the infiltration of the mafia into religious organisations. He said the heads and members of confraternities of the Palermo diocese must not have a criminal record, especially mafia crimes, and cannot be Freemasons. Msgr Lorefice's call was put into a decree published Thursday on the archdiocese website.
Brussels, February 21 - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday that it is not up to Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini when asked about the latter's confidence Italy will not have to pass an additional budget in the near future to put the public finances in order. "Salvini is not the finance minister," Juncker said. Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said Wednesday "speaking about a possible corrective budget is rather premature just over two months after the talks with the European institutions which positively evaluated the (2019) budget following the negotiations". Tria added that two billion euros had been set aside as a back-up. On Thursday Rome-based daily La Repubblica reported that the Commission will soon release a country report critical of the government's two flagship measures, the 'citizenship wage' basic income for job seekers and the 'quota 100' pension reform bringing down the retirement age for some people. The report will say these measures deflate growth, with negative effects on Italy's GDP, deficit and debt, according to La Repubblica. Juncker's spokesperson said Thursday that the Commission had not discussed the country reports, nor had it made any decisions on Italy's public finances.
Photo: Toronto Sun

Last week, I summarized the developing situation surrounding the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould from PM Justin Trudeau's cabinet.

There are growing questions around the criminal prosecution case against SNC-Lavalin and allegations of pressure from the Prime Minister's office to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement instead.

Since that time some significant new details have emerged.

Later last week, Liberals on the parliamentary Justice Committee blocked Ms. Wilson-Raybould and staff from the Prime Minister's office from appearing at the committee to answer questions.

Over the recent Family Day long weekend, we learned that Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau's most trusted adviser, was resigning, claiming he did not want to become a distraction in this growing controversy.

This week, Liberals on the Justice Committee have done a flip flop and now will support Ms. Wilson-Raybould to appear at the Justice Committee, although it is unclear what questions she will be able to answer as Mr. Trudeau has thus far refused to waive client/solicitor privilege.

To date, the reasons why Ms. Wilson-Raybould resigned remain unknown.

As Mr. Trudeau still refuses to waive privilege and has ducked questions about calling an inquiry, Canadians remain in the dark.

From my perspective, this is quite alarming considering that Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Mr. Butts have resigned over an issue that Mr. Trudeau continues to hide behind privilege to avoid the truth from coming out.

I use the term "hide" to make a comparison to the fact that when the Senator Mike Duffy investigation was underway, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper waived client/ solicitor privilege to assist the investigation in a transparent and accountable manner.

My question this week does not involve this situation, but rather pertains to a recent funding announcement made by the Liberal government.

Last week, the Liberals announced $40 million in funding to Blackberry to help develop autonomous vehicle technology.

Full credit to CBC who covered the event and then asked the CEO of Blackberry if his company needed the government subsidy.

The answer was no.

In other words, $40 million was just given away by Mr. Trudeau to a company that did not require the subsidy.

More recently, we learned that the Liberal government has appointed a retired Radio Canada journalist to be the director of the two debates for the upcoming federal election.

The leadership debates, one in English and the other French for upcoming Oct. 2019 election is a part time position with a term that expires in March of 2020 and a reported salary between $124,000 and $187,000.

My question this week:
(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 21 - A law firm has filed a suit in the Rome civil court against Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on behalf of 41 migrants who were rescued at sea and brought aboard the ship Diciotti, sources at the interior ministry said. In the lawsuit, the migrants are asking for damages between 42,000 and 71,000 euros for having been forced to remain aboard the ship for several days. Sources at the interior ministry said 16 of the 41 migrants in the lawsuit have a birthdate listed as January 1. After the migrants disembarked from the Diciotti, they took refuge at structures run by the Baobab Experience refugee association.(ANSAmed).
Rome, February 21 - A tussle between the government coalition partners the League and the 5-Star Movement (M5S) over the controversial TAV Turin-Lyon high-speed rail link continued on Thursday. Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio's M5S has long been against the project and its calls for the project to be ditched have increased after a new report commissioned by the transport ministry said it has a negative cost-benefit balance of seven to eight billion euros. But fellow Deputy Premier, Interior Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini reiterated on Thursday they he thinks it should go ahead. "The aim is to revise the project, save where it is possible to save, and move forward," Salvini said. Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio, a League member, said that he would "ask if the TAV has effectively been put on ice" at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. However, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano of the M5S said the project should be terminated. "It's a project that would cause the Italian people to lose seven billion euros," he said. "As far as we are concerned, it should be stopped completely".
Photo: Colin Dacre

A city councillor is hoping to join forces with the Penticton Indian Band to explore the viability of the local governments generating their own renewable energy.

The city is perfectly positioned to take advantage of renewable energy production, especially for solar, hydro and wind  with the city owning its own utility, Coun. Julius Bloomfield said Tuesday.

Bloomfield brought a notice of motion forward on the issue to ensure the matter to debated in full at the next council meeting March 5.

The draft 2019 budget has set aside $75,000 to explore power generation possibilities, but Bloomfield said hed like to see the project fast-tracked.

Penticton hosts a Federation of Canadian Municipalities directors meeting March 12-15, which would present an excellent opportunity to track down funding options, he said.

I want to get councils opinion on taking the idea to the Penticton Indian Band to see if they are interested in pursuing any joint-venture ideas regarding renewable energy production in this valley.

The District of Summerland is currently in the process of finding a home for a $7M solar array there, funded primarily by the federal government.
Photo: Pixabay

The Town of Osoyoos could soon be stuck rapidly upgrading their water system, since they received a heads up from authorities that acceptable levels of manganese in drinking water are likely to change this year.

The town currently draws water from six wells, all but two of which show elevated levels of the element manganese. Currently, manganese is only classified as an aesthetic water quality issue  meaning it may cause discolouration or sediment in water but is not considered a health risk.

But council heard Tuesday that an early look at at the upcoming Health Canada review shows they are likely to lower the acceptable level, meaning Osoyoos water would no longer be acceptable under federal guidelines.

"There's going to be a water quality advisories resulting from this that will be in the paper and stuff, it's going to be a problem to comply with. IHA once it converts is going to start coming after us," said Steve Underwood with True Consulting Ltd., who prepared the report to council on potential solutions.

The water can be treated with chlorine, but first the residual manganese coating every single pipe in Osoyoos needs to be removed. Then, a new water treatment program will need to be implemented from the ground up, a momentous task that True Consulting Ltd. estimated could cost anywhere from $12.2 million to $24 million, depending whether council wants to adapt current facilities or build a whole new treatment plan on Osoyoos Lake.

Council members balked at the price tag, but were reassured that up to 90 per cent of the cost could potentially be provided by the Rural and Northern Communities Funds, should Osoyoos apply.

Underwood said the purpose of sharing the informational document with council at Tuesday's meeting was to start laying the groundwork for any of those grants. The cheapest option involves a pipeline under Osoyoos Lake but Underwood says that has proved problematic.

"We've had some difficulties getting that pipeline under the lake at the bridge which has caused us to kind of step back, and work with the OIB and ourselves and just try and decide if we're not going to choose option one, which seemed to be the most economical, which way are we going to go?" he said.

Manganese removal processes were piloted in 2014 to success in some areas. Underwood said that putting together the research now in an extensive report, like the one he presented, will help with grant funding when the regulations switch over, since the groundwork will be done and the pressure will be on.

"Interior Health is getting quite grumpy," said Jim Dinwoodie, director of operational services with the town. "When it does become a rule, they will insist that you do something about the manganese. And we do have the technology to do that, it just takes time and money."

The end of the nearly hour-long presentation was greeted with an audible sigh.

"It's overwhelming for any of us to think about," mayor Sue McKortoff said. "So obviously our staff needs to do more thinking about this and see what are the next steps to this."
Chelsea Powrie

Obi Oniah knew from a young age that he wanted to be involved helping others living with mental illnesses.

"It's something I'm really passionate about, I really care about," Oniah said. "I've had people that I grew up with that I know that died through their mental health, and I feel now that I'm in a good position to be an advocate."

On Wednesday, Oniah launched the eighth annual Penticton Defeat Depression campaign, the second year in a row he's been at the helm. He and the rest of his team will be working tirelessly for the next few months.

"It's basically to raise an awareness for people living with or affected by mental illness, so that we can have better services for people in our community," Oniah explained. "Mental health is a really big problem in our community."

Last year's campaign raised over $6,500 for Penticton's Martin House, which organizes events and services for people 15 to 30 years of age living with mental illness.

"Normally people who have mental illness kind of feel like they can't do anything, there's nothing they can do, but Martin House offers them the chance and the opportunity to engage with other similar people, and just enjoy fun activities," Oniah said, adding that Martin House hosts social nights and evenings out to movies, among other options.

The 2018 campaign saw Oniah and his team reaching out to the public at the local farmers and community markets, at fundraising events and at the annual May Walk to Defeat Depression.

This year, Oniah wants to expand the outreach to local workplaces, offering free workshops to interested companies looking to educate themselves and their employees about good mental health practices.

"A lot of people are afraid to tell their bosses or tell people at work that they maybe have a mental illness, so we want to kind of go and advocate to this people and talk to them and support them as well," Oniah said. "So we want to go to many businesses and get them on board with our campaign and what we're doing to create that awareness so that people would get that support."

Months of campaigning will all lead up to this year's Walk to Defeat Depression at Rotary Park on May 25. Participants can collect sponsors, with money going to Martin House. Oniah is hoping to beat last year's total donations.

"We really want to invite and appeal people to sign up," he said. "Come and see me, come to the Mental Wellness Centre."

More information on the walk or how you can get involved in other ways can be found online here.
Photo: Contributed

A new event coming to Penticton this spring will give the whole family a chance to get involved.

The Centre for Exception Learning  a local charity that supports, educates and challenges students with high-functioning autism  is hosting a soapbox derby April 6. Sponsored by Greyback Construction, the event will feature an appearance by Austin Riley, the worlds first professional race car driver with autism.

Building and racing soapbox cars is a great family activity, says Carrie Ferguson, event organizer and executive director of the centre. We hope to get a lot of participants in the derby and welcome the whole community to watch the races and enjoy all of the activities we have planned.

For the first year, the course is being designed to be fun for beginners and anyone is invited to enter. There will be prizes for the fastest car and most creative design as well as cars for the public to try out.

Austin Riley has been touring North America with his race car and a autism reality experience trailer to raise awareness of autism and help people understand what its like to live with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Activities will be held between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the centre at 3547 Skaha Lake Road. More info can be found here.
The teachers union for Puerto Rico and the islands education secretary cannot agree on where the growth of charter school officially stands.

On Tuesday, the Asociacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, or AMPR, alleged that Secretary of Education Julia Keleher has essentially kept teachers, parents, and the public in the dark about the possible conversion of 30 traditional public schools into charters. However, Keleher has responded that the allegation results from a misunderstanding or confusion about the process.

The disagreement over even basic facts of the situation highlights ongoing tension between the two parties. The islands government, with Kelehers support, approved the creation of charters last year through a new education law , with supporters saying creating more school choice would make the islands educational system more attractive. (The islands public schools currently enroll just over 300,000 students.) The first charter opened in Puerto Rico at the start of this school year. However, AMPR, which is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, opposed the law, saying it would allow private interests to control whats supposed to be public education . The law also created a new voucher system slated to start in the next school year.

See Our In-Depth Coverage: Putting Puerto Ricos Schools Back on Track

In a statement issued Thursday, AFT President Randi Weingarten said AMPR had received inquiries from teachers and parents who she said had informally learned that the 30 schools would be converted into charter schools.

In a separate letter to Keleher, AMPR President Aida Diaz wrote that, This lack of transparency and access to information contributes to a climate of uncertainty that could later foster the loss of students to the system and an exodus of professional talent. Teachers are blindfolded regarding their future. Parents are in the uncertainty with no participation on the educational processes of their children.

But Keleher said the anger from Diaz and Weingarten is simply off base. On Thursday, she said the department had received applications for charter school conversions for 30 traditional public schools from school leaders or outside partners with these schools, but that no decisions had been made about those applications. Keleher said her department simply publicized that it had received these applications.

We shared information, and they thought I was rendering a decision, Keleher said.

Two applications to start new charter schools have already been approved by Kelehers office, and they are due to open in the 2019-2020 school year, she added.

To learn more about Puerto Ricos first charter school, called Vimenti, watch the Education Week video below:

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Andrew Ujifusa half of Politics K-12 @AndrewUjifusa.
Re: Hydro deals cost us billions

As the Official Oppositions critic for BC Hydro, Id like to offer some perspective from the other side of this important debate.

Independent power projects have been around since the 1980s. They existed through the NDPs period in office in the 1990s, as well as during the BC Liberals time in government from 2001-2017, through to today.

This report commissioned by Energy Minister Michelle Mungall misinterprets what our former government was trying to achieve with IPPs. British Columbians were looking for B.C. to be energy self-sufficient, so we had to look at areas like wind, solar and run-of-river projects. Yes, these independent clean-energy projects are more expensive than gas-fired power plants or coal, at about $100 per megawatt hour  but that is the trade-off necessary to ensure B.C. is 98 per cent powered by renewable energy.

Despite this fact, Minister Mungall has publicly stated that energy needs to be purchased at market rates of $25 per megawatt hour. That makes the ministers Clean Energy Plan impossible to achieve. Its clear Mungall did not consult her cabinet colleague before making these contradictory remarks.

Meanwhile, the clean power industry has attracted more than $8.6 billion in investment and established valuable partnerships with local communities and First Nations. With jobs and prosperity on the line for them, the minister should reveal what the path forward will be.

She should also reveal the tender process for the report on IPPs that she commissioned, given that its author worked for the NDP government in the 1990s.

B.C. currently has the fifth lowest rates in North America, thanks to investments made by our former government, but our system is aging and our population is growing. This means we need to invest more than $2 billion per year in new and upgraded infrastructure. But the NDP is now delaying $2.7 billion in investments and upgrades, including the Revelstoke Unit 6 dam improvement, which would have generated 436 person-years worth of total employment. Deferring capital investment means British Columbians will pay the price in the future.

Greg Kyllo, Shuswap MLA
U.S. Senator Steve Daines hosted a healthcare roundtable downtown to address the rising costs of healthcare, in an effort to prevent insurance companies from price fixing.

Senator Daines, along with Senator Leahy from Vermont, recently introduced the "Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act."

The act aims to hold insurance companies accountable for drug prices by allowing to government to more strictly enforce anti-trust laws.

Many members of the dental insurance community expressed their concerns to Senator Daines about the problems they're facing with insurance companies.

One local dentist said insurance companies are changing their requirements everyday. One example given was an insurance company asked for a picture of a completed operation in order for the patient to be covered.

Daines said dental companies are especially vulnerable because they have to deal with these insurance companies more directly as a small business.

"They're really a small family business often times, and so what we're providing help here is they don't have big legal departments, big compliance departments need help from United States Senate, to pass a law, so they will have some recourse frankly in taking on some of these insurance companies that have been giving frankly dentists and patients the runaround," Senator Daines said.

Senator Daines said the bill should increase competition, therefore lowering prices for Montana patients and increasing the level of customer service by insurance companies.

The bill, once supported by President Obama, and now by President Trump, has already passed in the house. Daines and medical providers at the meeting said they expect very little opposition to the bill.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Liberals used their majority Wednesday to defeat an opposition motion calling for a public inquiry into allegations that the Prime Minister's Office pressured Jody Wilson-Raybould to help SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution.

The former attorney general herself abstained, telling the House of Commons she didn't think it appropriate to vote on a matter in which she was personally involved. And in so doing she created yet more problems for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"I understand fully that Canadians want to know the truth and want transparency," said Wilson-Raybould, who has cited solicitor-client privilege to refuse comment on the matter since the allegation from anonymous sources first surfaced two weeks ago.

"Privilege and confidentiality are not mine to waive and I hope that I have the opportunity to speak my truth."

Her comments were greeted with applause from opposition benches and added fuel to their demands that Trudeau waive solicitor-client privilege to allow Wilson-Raybould to finally speak freely. And they prompted opposition accusations that Trudeau and his current justice minister, David Lametti, were in conflict of interest when they voted against the motion, since they too are personally involved in the controversy.

The vote came a couple of hours after Wilson-Raybould attended her first Liberal caucus meeting since the furor over SNC-Lavalin erupted, prompting her resignation from cabinet last week and the departure of Trudeau's principal secretary, Gerald Butts, this week. For the most part, Liberal MPs maintained it was a good meeting.

"We had a fantastic meeting today," caucus chair Francis Scarpaleggia said in an interview. "There's complete solidarity and the mood was great."

There was not, however, complete solidarity a short time later when it came to the vote on the NDP motion for a public inquiry. Two Liberal backbenchers  Toronto's Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and New Brunswick's Wayne Long  joined with opposition parties in supporting the motion. It was defeated on a vote of 160-134.

"I want to highlight something I said at caucus this morning," Trudeau said on his way into the Commons. "I apologized to Jody Wilson-Raybould because I wasn't quick enough to condemn in unequivocal terms the comments and commentary and cartoons made about her last week. They were absolutely unacceptable and I should have done it sooner."

Earlier Wednesday, on his way into the caucus meeting, Trudeau insisted he wants a full airing of the accusation that his office pressured Wilson-Raybould to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin  a kind of plea bargain in corporate corruption cases that forces a company to pay restitution but avoid a criminal conviction that could bankrupt it. But he said he has confidence that inquiries already begun by the federal ethics commissioner and the House of Commons justice committee can get to the bottom of the affair.

The justice committee was to have begun hearings Wednesday but that was put off until Thursday due to the unavailability of the witnesses.

During question period, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer peppered Trudeau with questions about the Sept. 4 refusal by the director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin, which faces charges of bribery and corruption related to government contracts in Libya.

Sheer demanded to know whether Trudeau knew of Roussel's decision when he met with Wilson-Raybould on Sept. 17 and assured her it was her decision alone whether to intervene with the public prosecutor. He also wanted to know whether it was Trudeau or Wilson-Raybould who initiated that meeting. And he wanted to know whether Trudeau ever expressed a preference to Wilson-Raybould for a remediation agreement in the SNC-Lavalin case.

Trudeau did not directly respond to any of those questions, repeatedly saying that he simultaneously stood up for the jobs at stake in the SNC-Lavalin case while respecting all the laws and rules that guard against political interference in the justice system.

"This is a file that touches tens of thousands of Canadians right across the country, including 9,000 direct jobs," he told the Commons. "Of course we are going to be very careful about how we move forward in protecting those jobs but we are also going to, at the same time, make sure that we are standing up for the independence of our judicial system and all the processes that keep our democratic institutions safe."

Scheer shot back: "It is so telling that the prime minister cannot even answer this kind of simple question. These are not the actions and this is not the behaviour of someone who is innocent of what he is being accused of."
Dear Premier Horgan and members of the BC legislature,



Its encouraging to see the government of British Columbia attempt to resolve some of Canadian natives' rights and to write them into legislation.



A very important part of that process will be to determine who will be representing the other 4.6 million British Columbians, who consistently have been excluded from all of those one-on-one and group consultations that have been conducted over the years between governments and the natives.



They have the same statutory rights to participate in those discussions and to be consulted on an equal basis.



And how do we balance their rights against those millions of people who have entered Canada and British Columbia in good faith over the millennia, allowing them to believe we are all equal under the law?



Maintaining a massive inflow of people into Canada from virtually every country in the world, and another generation is being started about every 30 years, the dilution factor is so high there eventually could be very few people with more than that paper thin 1/16th (6.25 per cent) of Indian blood in their veins required to maintain that indigenous status.

Andy Thomsen, Kelowna
Weather Alert

...LAKE WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING... ...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO MIDNIGHT MDT THURSDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...For the Lake Wind Advisory, northeast winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. For the Heat Advisory, Temperatures will rise into the mid 90s by Tuesday, with 95 to 105 expected for much of the rest of the week. Overnight lows in the mid 60s or higher will be common in several lower elevation areas. Daily record highs and monthly records for June may be broken. All time record highs and streaks of consecutive days at or above or 100 may be threatened as well. The heat may last through the July 4th weekend. * WHERE...Pocatello, Blackfoot, American Falls, Shelley and Fort Hall. * WHEN...For the Lake Wind Advisory, until 9 PM MDT this evening. For the Heat Advisory, from noon Tuesday to midnight MDT Thursday night. * IMPACTS...Strong winds and rough waves on area lakes will create hazardous conditions for small craft. Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Boaters on area lakes should use extra caution since strong winds and rough waves can overturn small craft. 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. &&
Photo: Contributed

Two new studies say the federal and provincial governments must do more to reduce alcohol consumption after determining damages from drinking have surpassed tobacco use.

As part of the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, researchers graded the federal, provincial and territorial governments on policy efforts to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Tim Stockwell, director with the University of Victoria's Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said the federal government earned a 38 per cent grade while the provinces and territories collectively achieved 44 per cent.

Ontario scored the highest grade with a C, although Stockwell said it has "gone backwards" after Premier Doug Ford moved to lower the price of alcohol with his "buck-a-beer" legislation.

"We're used to people being disinterested in these policies but what's unusual with Ontario is that they're deliberately, and publicly, and with glee, and relish going in an opposite direction that will create more problems," he said.

"I guess that's populism for you, isn't it."

About 80 per cent of Canadians drink, and most enjoy a drink or two, so making alcohol cheaper is a quick, popular thing to do, he said.

But people forget there's a bill at the end of making alcohol cheap and readily available, Stockwell said, noting that some of the tragic consequences include death, economic costs, and more people with cancers and liver diseases.

"But that happens quietly in the background and claiming success in those areas doesn't get you elected as well it does giving people cheap beer," he said.

Norman Geisbrecht, a senior scientist at the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said while the impact of alcohol is more noticeable in accidents, behaviour and certain chronic diseases, there may also be an indirect impact on people's mental health.

Heavy drinking practices will have an impact on the workforce, absenteeism and affect performance at work because people may come in when they are hung over or semi-intoxicated, Geisbrecht said.

"If you make alcohol more widely available it becomes a challenge with regard to people who are maybe addicted or maybe in recovery," he said.

Tobacco comes with graphic warning images of "people dying in hospital beds," black teeth and diseased lungs, while there's a "whole slew of warning messages" about pregnancy, schizophrenia and impaired driving on cannabis packages, Stockwell said.

"With alcohol we get lovely images of rolling vineyards or images of people looking intoxicated, strange names of drinks that encourage intoxication  so the opposite of health information," he said. "There's an absence of health information."
Petition calls for US to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion to reduce national debt
Cow elk left to waste on private property near Scio; OSP asking for public's help
Houston police will do away with no-knock warrants, Chief Art Acevedo told residents at a testy town hall dealing with a drug raid that left two people dead and five officers hurt. (FILE)
A volunteer citizen scientist working with a NASA project has found the coldest, oldest-known white dwarf, and it's surrounded by rings of dust and debris, according to a study published Tuesday. Full credit: Scott Wiessinger/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Photo: The Canadian Press

The B.C. Review Board has ruled that the man who killed his three children while severely mentally ill remains a threat to public safety, although it recommends Allan Schoenborn should be assessed for supervised outings within six months.

Schoenborn, who's now 50 years old, has been held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital since before a 2010 court decision that found him not criminally responsible for killing his daughter and two sons.

In a written decision released Wednesday, the three-member panel says Schoenborn is making progress in treatment, but it's delayed by the risk of harm to him because he's a target for others in the institution.

The Crown had asked that the review board remove the condition that Schoenborn be considered for escorted outings until he was mentally stable and his risk was manageable.

The panel members say in their decision that detention remains necessary, but note that Schoenborn is no different than others at the hospital who are granted access to the community.

The ruling says the unique obstacles to Schoenborn in this case are the acute level of threat to him and his public profile, something the man has no control over.

"Mr. Schoenborn has properly been subject to the full weight of the criminal justice system for close to a decade. There exists no principled reason or basis why he should be deprived of the policy objectives and presumptions Parliament has seen fit to entrench in the code for all (not criminally responsible) accused persons."

The former Conservative government used Schoenborn as an example when it changed the law implementing a designation for a so-called high-risk accused.

The law would prevent offenders from being released from care and force them into treatment.

A judge ruled Schoenborn didn't meet the criteria of a high-risk accused in 2017.

The review board ruling says if the recommendation to consider outings for Schoenborn isn't implemented, then it may want to hold another hearing to reconsider mandating outings for Schoenborn.

In a partial dissenting ruling, board chairman Bernd Walter said he would have been persuaded to order highly limited outings for Schoenborn under strict conditions.

"I cannot recall another accused who, having demonstrated the clinical response and the therapeutic progress that Mr. Schoenborn has, would after nine years in custody continue to be denied such a modest step."
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm this evening, then some lingering showers still possible overnight. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm this evening, then some lingering showers still possible overnight. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Photo: Contributed

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is pleased there were no surprises like last years speculation tax in Tuesdays provincial budget  but it remains concerned about the bloated tax burden it says businesses are still carrying.

The Kelowna chamber held an analysis breakfast Wednesday at the Coast Capri Hotel for the local business community, outlining the highs and lows of the NDPs second budget. The chamber also brought in a pair of Crowe Mackay accountants, Brian Sanders and Elvin Law, to dig deeper into the details.

Some of the concerns that we had before are still relevant, chamber executive director Dan Rogers said. Weve seen an increase over the last year of some significant taxes that are impacting businesses, so were flagging that as a concern going forward. Theres more spending thats on the backs of businesses, and that threatens potentially to dampen our economic future.

Overall, the chamber gave a B-minus grade to the budget, which focused heavily on child-care and housing needs. The chamber, though, doesnt want those funds coming from big taxes on business.

For more on this story, visit Okanagan Edge.
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Manitoba government says it is "pausing" its relationship with Gordon Campbell following an allegation in a British newspaper that the former B.C. premier groped a woman in the United Kingdom.

Campbell was hired by Manitoba last fall to review two major hydro projects that have added billions of dollars to the provincial debt.

The government says that appointment is on hold until the allegation is investigated.

Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported that London police are investigating a complaint from a woman who was an employee at the Canadian High Commission when Campbell was high commissioner to the U.K.

The newspaper said the woman alleges she was groped in 2013 and filed a complaint with police in January.

Campbell has declined comment, but in a statement he says the allegation had previously been investigated by the Canadian government and was ruled unfounded.

"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," Campbell says.

The Telegraph reported that Scotland Yard issued a statement that confirmed it is investigating the allegation. The statement said a 54-year-old woman alleges she was sexually assaulted at an address in Grosvenor Square and that no arrests have been made.

The woman declined to comment on the allegations when reached by The Canadian Press.

The Manitoba government says it will wait for the results of the U.K. police investigation.

"The province of Manitoba is committed to being a leader in policies and practices that prevent and address harassment in the workplace," says a statement from Crown Services Minister Colleen Mayer

"In the interest of reserving judgment until the facts come to light, we are pausing Mr. Campbell's role in the review until the responsible authorities have completed their review of these allegations."

Campbell was the Liberal premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011, and served as Canada's high commissioner to the U.K. from 2011 to 2016.

Manitoba hired him last October to look at whether the Keeyask generating station and Bipole Three transmission line  projects built under the former NDP government  were based on sound economics.

His final report was expected by the end of this year.

Communications marketing firm Edelman had already suspended its consulting arrangement with Campbell in light of the U.K. allegation.

The company said the suspension was "mutually decided" with Campbell.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new policy directive Tuesday laying out his administration's long-awaited plans for establishing a Space Force.
Photo: Contributed

A Saskatchewan man who triggered an Amber Alert when he stole a running SUV with a disabled girl in the back seat has been sentenced to 31 months in jail.

Johnathan Gunville had pleaded guilty to several charges, including theft of a vehicle and abandoning a child.

With credit for time served, Gunville still has two years less a day remaining in his sentence.

The six-year-old girl had been left in the back of her parents' Mercedes when Gunville stole it last September from outside a North Battleford, Sask., strip mall.

The girl, who is autistic, epileptic and non-verbal, was found unharmed 14 hours later, still in the SUV, a few kilometres away.

Court heard that Gunville, who was 19 at the time, has an intellectual disability and didn't know the girl was in the vehicle when he took it for a joy ride.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Bauer recommended that Gunville complete addictions programming, see a psychiatrist and serve time at the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford.

Gunville also received three years of probation once he is released and faces a five-year driving ban.

Outside court, defence lawyer Bill Archer said it was a sad case.

"There were two kids inside the car that day," he said Wednesday. "He is a six- or eight-year-old trapped in a 20-year-old body."

The Crown, citing public safety concerns, recommended that Gunville serve three years at a federal penitentiary.
'It's like the world's dumbest criminal sort of thing'; Thieves steal tip jar from South City ice cream shop
51 countries have now recognised Guaido as President of Venezuela, and a further seven recognise the National Assembly as the legitimate institution.

Of the 36 OECD members, 30 have rejected Maduro. Only Turkey supports him. NZ sits with just Switzerland, Mexico, Norway and South Korea in refusing to say which side they support.

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* French business survey surprises to the upside

* Euro zone yields rise, Bund yield hits 1-week high

* UK MPs may get vote on new Brexit deal next week

* Manufacturing fears linger, cap rises

* ECBs Praet to speak, market looks for details on LTROs

* Euro zone periphery govt bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Adds details on Brexit, quote, updates prices)

By Abhinav Ramnarayan

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond yields rose after surveys showed business activity was surprisingly firm in February, particularly in France, and on news that British lawmakers could vote on a new Brexit deal as soon as next week.

French business activity rose more than expected as manufacturing growth helped offset slack in services that has dogged firms in the wake of anti-government protests, the French purchasing managers index (PMI) showed.

Corresponding surveys for Germany and the euro zone as a whole showed more of a mixed picture, overshooting expectations but at the same time cementing concerns around the manufacturing sector.

Evidence of a decent February for the euro zone is mounting... In an economy close to stagnation, this is a welcome sign and suggests continued, albeit slow, growth in the first quarter, said Bert Colijn, an economist at ING.

However, Germanys manufacturing sector continued to be a cause for concern, he added.

Yields were pushed even higher after UK finance minister Philip Hammond said British lawmakers could be given a vote on a revised Brexit deal as soon as next week, raising hopes a disorderly exit from the European Union can be avoided.

The assumption in the market is that the new agreement will be solid enough legally to alleviate concerns that some members of parliament had, and the deal would get approved, said Mizuho strategist Antoine Bouvet.

Euro zone government bond yields, which have compressed partly because of concerns around what effect a no-deal Brexit would have on the European economy, rose 2-4 basis points across the board.

Germanys 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the region, was up 3 bps to a one-week high of 0.135 percent.

Economic growth in Europe has slowed considerably in recent months, with Italy falling into recession and Germany narrowly escaping a recession at the end of last year. With concern mounting over potential U.S. tariffs on cars, it could be hit even harder.

Germany recorded the worlds largest current account surplus for the third year running in 2018. The countrys strong exports vex U.S. President Donald Trump, highlighting the risk of U.S. tariffs on German cars.

Also capping the broad rise in yields, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday signalled it would soon lay out a plan to slow the runoff of its balance sheet.

Earlier, sources suggested to Reuters that the United States and China had sketched the outlines of a deal to end their trade dispute.

European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet is due to speak later on Thursday. Comments he made last week on potential cheap loans to euro zone banks boosted demand for southern European bonds, Italian debt in particular.

Italian yields edged lower on Thursday, bucking the wider trend, with 10-year yields dropping 2 bps to 2.84 percent. (Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan, editing by John Stonestreet and Susan Fenton)
Photo: Contributed

During these recent Arctic temperatures, the thought of wrapping up in a cozy, ultra-insulating, fluffy fur seems somehow less appalling and more appealing.

But is fur the ultimate fashion faux pas?

Animal pelts are one of the oldest forms of clothing, and Indigenous cultures in cool climates have always relied on the heat-trapping properties of fur to survive harsh conditions.

A key function of fur is thermo-regulation, keeping fur-bearing animals cool in heat and warm in the cold. Some animal pelts, such as elk and deer, actually have hollow hairs that trap air for insulation.

Marine mammals such as seals have pelts that are waterproof.

So it is little wonder that our ancestors relied on fur to cloth and protect themselves.

It has only been within the past century that inexpensive synthetic insulation has been invented, causing fur to fall out of fashion.

In the 1950s and 60s, fur coats were considered the height of luxury.

Mink and fox were the most popular choices among those who could afford them, while muskrat, beaver, lamb and wolf fur were cheaper.

Then, in the 80s and 90s, several anti-fur campaigns, some involving celebrities, were launched calling out fur as cruel and unnecessary.

In Canada, many were disgusted by the images of baby seals being clubbed to death during the annual seal hunt.

So real fur is pretty much out, right? Actually not so.

Though it is rare to see anyone local donning fur, sales of animal pelts have actually skyrocketed worldwide in the past two decades, in large part due to increased wealth in Russia and China.

Fur is still part of the traditional clothing in Baltic and Scandinavian countries, and Japan.

Most of the worlds fur is now bred at 5,000 mink, fox, and rabbit farms located across 22 countries in the European Union, and China is opening new farms.

Though there is always controversy, farm operators claim the animals are treated humanely and killed without pain, often using carbon monoxide.

Their carcasses can be used to create pet food, organic compost and fertilizer.

Compare this to any other livestock used for food or products. If the animals are purpose-bred, treated well, and dont die suffering, is wearing fur really any different than wearing leather, or using a goose-down duvet, or eating a hamburger?

I cant answer that question; people have their own opinion and moral compass. But what got me thinking about it is because Ive inherited my mothers short mink coat.

It saddens me that I cant wear this beautiful vintage piece without fear of insults or getting paint thrown on me. And it would be a tragedy, even an insult to the creatures that once lived to make this coat, to throw it out.

For those in a similar quandary there are online consigners that will convert your fur into funds, including the appropriately named BuyMyFur.com and CashForFurCoats.com.

As for those who love the look of fur but dont want real, of course there are tons of faux options.

Though it is ironic that some items made to look like exotic animals such as tiger or zebra are actually cowhide, which technically is real fur.

And there is still much debate whether faux products are truly more environmentally-friendly and sustainable.

It depends on factors such as how the synthetic fibres are produced, if the farmed animals are herbivores or carnivores, or if the fur is wild or from an invasive species. Some enterprising companies are even making accessories from the hides of roadkill.

It may seem easier to say I love animals and therefore Im anti-fur, but it must also be recognized that non-biodegradable acrylic fast fashion hurts the earth and all the animals on it in other ways.
(Updates with share price, CEO comment, analysts)

By Arathy S Nair and Barbara Lewis

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Anglo American reported on Thursday better than expected core earnings, driven by higher copper and coal prices, but said no financial performance was "worth a life" and its biggest challenge was eliminating danger at its mines.

The mining industry is under scrutiny following the collapse of a dam operated by Vale in Brazil in January, which has rocked confidence in the sector just when balance sheets had been repaired after the commodities crash of 2015-16. Of the major companies, Anglo American was one of the worst hit by the commodity market slump and has made the strongest recovery.

Its shares have risen around 14 percent this year and were trading down 0.5 percent by 1030 GMT on Thursday as some analysts said the payout to shareholders of $0.51 a share was low. Other major miners have announced buybacks to keep investors on side. Anglo American's underlying 2018 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of $9.16 billion was up 4 percent from $8.82 billion a year earlier and beat analysts' average estimate of $8.7 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

As investors focus on sustainability, CEO Mark Cutifani said Anglo American was an industry leader and backed calls from BHP earlier this week for an independent body to oversee the tailings dams that store increasingly high volumes of waste generated by mining. He said Anglo American's accident rate was at a record low as the rate of recordable incidents had fallen to 2.66 injuries per million hours worked. The goal, however, is zero harm.

"No degree of financial performance is worth a life," Cutifani said in a statement. "Our determination to reach and sustain zero harm is our most pressing challenge."

"I think we're on the right journey, but we need to get there quicker," he added on a call with journalists.

BRAZIL STILL APPEALS

In 2018, five Anglo American workers died in safety incidents. The company has also suspended operations at a coal mine in Australia after one worker died and several were injured on Wednesday. Cutifani said on Thursday investigations continued into the cause, which he said may have been "related to health issues".

Anglo American's profitability was driven by higher prices for some of its commodities, notably copper and coal, and efficiency improvements.

Copper is particularly in demand for electrification and some of Anglo American's share price gains have resulted from its copper projects in Latin America. It is developing a mine in Peru and is exploring in Brazil, where Cutifani said Anglo was assessing drilling results that have struck copper.

Asked whether the Vale dam disaster would make it harder for miners to operate in Brazil, Cutifani said tailings legislation would be tightened but Brazil should still be attractive.

"We don't expect the changes to be such that we change our view on Brazil," he said.

On the possibility of buybacks, Stephen Pearce, Anglo's finance director, said he was open to considering them "at the right time".

Analysts said Anglo's final dividend of $0.51 per share was not a generous payout compared to its rivals.

"As a shareholder you'd be forgiven for asking when you were going to see the benefits of the turnaround Mark Cutifani has manufactured at the mining giant," Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a note.

(Additional reporting by Samantha Machado in Bengaluru; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
(Reuters) - Republican Mark Harris asked North Carolina's elections board on Thursday to order a new election in his congressional race, saying evidence from an investigation into possible ballot fraud had undermined confidence in the vote.

The request came as a surprise, as for months Harris had said he should be declared the victor in the 9th Congressional District after he led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast on Nov. 6. Elections officials, however, had refused to certify him as the winner due to allegations of irregularities in the vote.

"Through the testimony I've listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called," Harris said at a hearing in Raleigh. "It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th district seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted."

Harris' request came on the fourth day of a hearing into whether his campaign benefited from what state investigators called illegal election manipulation by political consultant Leslie McCrae Dowless.

Earlier on Thursday, Harris said he had known Dowless was going door to door on the candidate's behalf to help voters obtain absentee ballots, a process that is legal. Harris said Dowless assured him he would not collect the ballots from the voters, which would violate state law.

But residents of at least two counties in the district said Dowless and his paid workers collected incomplete absentee ballots and, in some instances, falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for contests left blank, according to testimony at the hearing.

Kim Strach, executive director of the state's election board, earlier this week called the operation a "coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme."

According to text messages Harris' attorneys turned over to the board on Thursday, Harris sought a meeting with Dowless when he learned that Dowless had led a successful absentee ballot program for Republican candidate Todd Johnson during a 2016 congressional primary election.

In those messages to a Bladen County judge, Harris asked about "the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us."

Harris campaign officials have said they did not pay Dowless to do anything illegal, and Dowless has maintained his innocence.
(Kitco News) - Gold prices pared early losses slightly after a Commerce Department report showed U.S. durable-goods orders rose by 1.2% in December, with spot gold was last down $1.70 to $1,336.10 an ounce.

The metal had been at $1,335.30 five minutes ahead of reports on durable goods, weekly jobless claims and a Philadelphia Fed survey.



Consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations called for durables to be up by somewhere between 1% and 1.4%. The December data were previously delayed by the U.S. government shutdown.

Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1%, the government said. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.8%. Transportation equipment, up four of the last five months, led the increase, rising 3.3%.

The governments durables report covers items with an expected life of at least three years, such as kitchen appliances, computers, furniture, autos and airplanes.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has rejected Credit Suisse Group AGs bid to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the Swiss bank of defrauding shareholders about its risk appetite and risk management before taking $1 billion of writedowns on souring debt.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan was made public on Wednesday.

Schofield said investors who lost money in Credit Suisses American depositary receipts could pursue claims that the bank, Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam and other defendants intended to mislead them, by touting its comprehensive risk controls and binding limits on its exposure to risky and illiquid debt.

Credit Suisse took two writedowns in early 2016 on $4.3 billion of collateralized loan obligations and distressed debt, contributing to its first full-year loss since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The banks share price fell 11 percent after news of the first writedown. Other defendants included Chief Financial Officer David Mathers, and Thiams predecessor Brady Dougan.

Schofield dismissed some claims in the lawsuit. Credit Suisse said in a statement it was pleased with the dismissals, and had strong legal and factual defenses to the remaining allegations.

A lawyer for the individual defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lead plaintiffs are four pension and retirement plans in suburbs of New York City and Chicago, and in Birmingham, Alabama. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Since becoming chief executive in 2015, Thiam has repositioned Credit Suisse as a bank for ultra-wealthy and entrepreneurial customers, while shrinking its investment bank.

But the judge cited Thiams own statements about the banks rising risk appetite in explaining why the case should proceed.

Thiam himself stated that continually raising the internal risk limits led to larger exposures to illiquid CLO and distressed debt investments and resulted in the writedowns, Schofield wrote. Thiam stated to the Wall Street Journal, A limit that keeps moving is not a limit.

Schofield said statements such as these could suggest that investors were lulled into believing that the risk levels were contained and acceptable.

The defendants had said there was no fraud or intent to defraud, and that prior courts had found no liability for similar actions by other banks and corporate officers.

The case is City of Birmingham Firemens and Policemens Supplemental Pension System v Credit Suisse Group AG et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-10014.
MASON CITY, Iowa  Authorities say a January search found more than 800 grams of marijuana in a Mason City womans home.

Brooke Loren Anthony, 22, is charged with two counts of controlled substance violation and failure to use a drug tax stamp.

Law enforcement says it searched Anthonys home in the 800 block of 12th Street SE on the morning of January 10 and discovered the marijuana along with drug packaging and a digital scale.

Criminal charges were filed against Anthony on February 12 and she was arrested in Mason City on February 14.
ALBERT LEA, Minn.  A man accused of leading law enforcement on two chases is pleading guilty to one.

Weston William Zuehl, 36 of Albert Lea, has entered a guilty plea to two counts of fleeing a peace officer. Court documents state Zuehl got into a car chase with law enforcement in Freeborn County on August 20, 2018, nearly causing several crashes, before leaving his vehicle and escaping on foot.

Zuehl was later caught in November 2018. His is now due to be sentenced on March 25.

Zuehl is still facing charges for a 2017 high-speed chase that started in Lake Mills, Iowa, and ended in a Minnesota cornfield. Hes accused of eluding and possession of marijuana-1st offense. Zuehl pleaded not guilty but failed to appear for an October 2018 trial in Winnebago County.
MASON CITY, Iowa  Many are tired of seeing the snow while others are just beginning to enjoy it.

Dozens of children were finally able to enjoy the slippery slopes of East Park on Wednesday afternoon thanks to a generous donation from the Hy-Vee Drugstore. They gave out 30 sleds to children who were without sleds, allowing them to join in on the fun.

Renae Aukes tells KIMT the sleds werent doing any good just sitting outside of the store with spring just around the corner.

Honestly, it was just a random thought, said Aukes. The sleds were just sitting there collecting snow so we hopped into the Hy-Vee van and headed down to East Park.

While at the park, all 30 sleds were given away in a short time. Timmeon Pate says he and his friends were excited to have new sleds.

We were coming down here (East Park) and I got a sled from Hy-Vee, said Pate. This person was giving them out for free and my friends and I started sledding and went a lot faster.
GARNER, Iowa  An accused arsonist is pleading guilty in Hancock County.

Dontau Tahrel Smith, 43 of Garner, has entered a guilty plea to threat of arson and reckless use of fire or explosives. He was arrested in April 2108 after law enforcement was called to Smiths home by a woman who says Smith talked about burning them while they sleep after they had an argument.

The woman says she was upstairs in the home when she smelled smoke and saw Smith starting a small fire at the bottom of the stairs. The woman put out the flames with some shoes.

Law enforcement says Smith was found hiding in the basement under some clothes.

A sentencing date is now set for March 29.
KIMT NEWS 3- Freeing the snow from your windows on your car is getting a little exhausting.

It is kind of tiring doing it constantly, said Tiffany Hanson of Clear Lake.

Some are calling in the kids to give a helping hand others are coming up with unique ways to get their car as clean as possible.

With the shovel I thought it would scratch my car so I use the broom said Hanson. I dont think the broom with scratch it has much.

But no matter how it get done you need to get your windows free of snow.

Every time I go to Mason City for School I have cars with blowing snow coming off the windshield and its so frustrating, said Hanson.

Thats why the Iowa State Patrol says they are cracking down on those who dont follow the law and completely clear off their windows. If snow blocking visibility is the reason for a crash they will ticket you, $50 for the ticket and $75 in court costs. Troopers say they still see too many snow coated windows.

I wasnt working, but I saw a car turning on to 122, said Sgt. Mindy Coe with the Iowa State Patrol. He actually had to open his door to turn because of all the ice on his side windows.

Though it has been a long winter, you still need to keep your car free of snoweven if you are using a broom.

I dont want snow flying off my car and I end up liable for an accident, said Hanson.

Though Iowa Code says you have to clean all of your windows of snow it says nothing about cleaning off the roof of the vehicle. But if the snow coming off your car does cause an accident you are liable.
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Photo: Contributed - ministry of Transportation Southbound traffic currently being stopped and turned around at Britton Creek and Box Canyon and sent north to Merritt. Northbound traffic is being stopped and turned around at Portia and sent south to Hope. (BC Ministry of Transportation)

Update 11:50 a.m. Friday Feb. 21: Highway 5 Both directions between Hope and Merritt is still closed because of a high avalanche hazard.

Highway 3, the Hope Princeton is still open. The other route to the coast, Hwy. 1, via Merritt and Hwy. 8, is also closed due to a vehicle incident.

DriveBC does not have an estimated time of opening for Hwy. 5 or Hwy. 1.

UPDATE 6:15 P.M. Thursday Feb. 20:

A major avalanche hit the Coquihalla Highway late Thursday morning, closing the highway yet again after recently being reopened from a previous avalanche.

The class four  on a five point scale  avalanche is blocking the highway in both directions approximately 33 km north of Hope.

This current avalanche cycle resulted in slides on paths that have never before reached the road in the 27 years that the Coquihalla Highway has been open, said B.C. Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Robert Adam.

Photos

[Coquihalla Avalanche]

An avalanche left a metre deep, 100 metre wide pile of debris blocking the Coquihalla Highway around 11 a.m. Thursday. Check DriveBC.ca for the latest details. (BC Ministry of Transportation)

[Coquihalla Avalanche]

Southbound traffic currently being stopped and turned around at Britton Creek and Box Canyon and sent north to Merritt. Northbound traffic is being stopped and turned around at Portia and sent south to Hope. (BC Ministry of Transportation)

[Coquihalla Avalanche]

Highway 5 is closed 6km south of Box Canyon due to high avalanche hazard. Too windy for helicopter bombing/avalanche control at this time. Assessment continues. Estimated opening time still isn't available. (BC Ministry of Transportation)

Crews were able to confirm no one was injured in the incident and no vehicles were in the area at the time.

Time-lapse video in the area shows near whiteout conditions at the time of the slide, which a left 1 metre deep swath of snow and debris covering a 100 metre stretch of the highway.

Once conditions allow, transportation ministry officials will carry out further avalanche control and start the cleanup.

The highway will remain closed until the risk of further avalanches decreases and the cleanup in finished  no word on when that will be.

The Canadian Avalanche Centre has issued a special public warning about the potential for large, destructive avalanches in all B.C. mountain regions, except for the area just north of Vancouver.

The centre's Karl Klassen says fresh snow is sitting atop one of the weakest surface layers they've seen in years after an extended dry period in late January and early February.

Klassen says the weakness is currently between one and two metres deep and could result in very big slides.

Continued low temperatures also create the potential for this new, dry snowpack to fall faster and further than usual.

The recent drought has created pent-up demand for powder by recreational backcountry users, the weak layer will persist for the foreseeable future, according to Klassen.

Everyone in a group venturing into terrain is being urged to carry an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel and have a good knowledge of rescue skills.

The centre is also recommending backcountry enthusiasts take an avalanche skills training course and check the avalanche bulletin regularly to stay informed of conditions in their area.

Transportation ministry officials recommend travelers check DriveBC.ca for up-to-date highway information.

-with files from Canadian Press

Update 5:26 p.m.:

The provincial government is warning motorists to steer clear of the Coquihalla Highway.

A high avalanche risk closed the road between Hope and Merritt on Thursday.

Robert Adam with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says the current storm cycle on the Coquihalla corridor has resulted in avalanche conditions that have not been seen during the 27 years the highway has been open.

"It is unlikely that the ministry will complete its assessment and control work before nightfall. Once conditions allow, avalanche control work will take place to ensure the safety of the traveling public," he says.

Detours are available via Highway 1 at Kamloops and Hope or via Highway 8 at Merritt.

Check DriveBC for updates.

Update 1 p.m.:

Highway 5 is closed again in both directions from Exit 202, Portia Interchange to Merritt (88.3 km) because of High Avalanche Hazard. Estimated time of opening currently not available; assessment in progress.

DriveBC has issued a travel advisory for Highway 5, the Coquihalla, between Merritt and Hope.

The advisory was issued in response to forecasts calling for heavy snowfall on the stretch of highway Thursday.

A special weather statement issued by Environment Canada warns of more heavy snowfall in the region Thursday.

Heavy snow expected this morning and early afternoon.

The last in a series of Pacific weather systems is currently over the Central Interior and producing snow over the mountain passes. Snow will continue through early this afternoon with further amounts of 10 to 15 cm for the Coquihalla Highway. The snow is expected to ease to scattered flurries later in the day as the system weakens and tracks into Alberta.

In the wake of this system a much drier northwesterly flow will become established bringing about an end to the recent bout of heavy snowfalls.

The highway had been shut down for about 24 hours due to avalanche concerns. It re-opened to traffic Wednesday evening.
"What's in it for me?" "that's how you pick up which to vote for?" My Western mentor told me that.

Well, I guess that's my practice: I'll vote for her -

"GDP Advisers President Seth Denson on how Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said that she strongly believes that the U.S. needs a Medicare-for-all system."

  2019-02-21 16:37:22

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  2019-02-21 16:35:22

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======   2019-02-21 15:54:50   2019-02-21 13:11:55



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FOX News Videos Kamala Harris dad slams his daughters use of 'identity politics' FOX News Videos

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Fox Business Videos Kamala Harris supports Medicare-for-all Fox Business Videos

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More home and business owners than ever across Kilkenny availed of excellent support schemes available to help people adapt to a more climate sensitive lifestyle and save on fuel costs, according to Fine Gael Junior Minister, John Paul Phelan, TD.

New figures released show that across 2018 in Kilkenny: 90 home owners availed of home energy grants totalling 148,700; 73 free upgrades were performed on energy poor homes at a cost of 355,177; 3 deep retrofits were carried out; 18 electric vehicles were registered and they received grant aid of 80,000; 10 home chargers were installed and they received 6,000 in supports; 13 school workshops were upgraded; 4 lighting grants were financed, totalling 15,976 and 3 dairy grants were funded, costing 10,000.

Commenting on the works, Minister Phelan said: Climate change is the existential challenge of our generation. We must protect our planet. Fine Gaels guiding principle is that we intend to hand over guardianship and stewardship of our planet to future generations in a much better state than we inherited it.

Range anxiety is a problem for Electric Vehicle (EV) drivers, but the government has just awarded a 10m grant to the ESB.

The upgrading of standard chargers to fast chargers at 50 locations and the replacement of 528 standard chargers that are currently in use with new standard chargers will significantly improve the reliability of the charging network.

The expanded network will support 40,000 EVs, about four times the present number. By 2025, every employer with more than 20 parking spaces will also be required to have an EV charger.

As a community we need to think more about choices like these. I am seeking to develop momentum for Climate Action in a plan which is now in preparation.

Many of our homes have very poor building energy ratings. Big savings in energy, in greenhouse gases and in comfort can be achieved by taking up these schemes, Minister Phelan said.



Minister Phelan commended Kilkenny County Council, the not-for-profit 3 Counties Energy Agency (3CEA) as well as Kilkenny LEADER Partnership and other bodies which are working together to reduce harmful emissions and help home owners, businesses and the wider Kilkenny public think and go green.

One of the biggest projects undertaken in Kilkenny saw the project partners Kilkenny County Council, SSE Airtricity, Lissann and 3CEA working together. It cost just over 1,014,000. Of this, almost 370,000 was grant aided.

A total of 8 energy poor homes and 13 non-domestic buildings (7 community, 1 private and 5 public) are included. The non-domestic buildings include Mount Carmel Nursing Home, Kilkenny Library Service Castlecomer, Kilkenny Fire Service Callan, Kilkenny County Hall, Kilkenny Public Lighting Project Phase 2, Catering Foods & Packaging Ltd, Watershed, Droichead Childcare Callan, Windgap Community Hall, Ballyragget CYMS Hall, Thomastown Community Centre, St. Mary's Cathedral, Cois Abhann Centre Inistioge.

The upgrades include: lighting upgrade, cassette heating system upgrade, windows and doors upgrade, insulation, heating controls upgrade, heat pump upgrade, pool cover installation and biomass boiler upgrade (Watershed building), boiler upgrade and solar PV panels.

The home upgrades include: air to air heat pump with fully integrated heating controls upgrade, LED lighting, and a solar PV system

Even though a Home Charger Grant of 600 is available, it was only taken up by 10 people in Kilkenny last year, this is disappointing which is why we need to get the word out on these progressive initiatives.

There are over 250 community energy schemes in operation across Ireland. All of these schemes are administered by SEAI and funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

I would encourage everyone to consider availing of a scheme most suitable to your needs, more on how to avail of these grants can be found on https://www.seai.ie/,

We are a small country but we have a big role to play in meeting this challenge at home and on the world stage, the Fine Gael Minister said.
21 solicitor firms in Kilkenny have five or fewer solicitors. The Law Society of Ireland has today launched a report and strategic plan to support and develop these smaller firms.

Launching the report, Law Society of Ireland Director General Ken Murphy said, Small law firms and sole practitioners are in almost every town and village across Kilkenny and throughout Kilkenny City and are absolutely vital to the sustainability and success of their communities.

Smaller law firms are the engines of the Kilkenny economy and local economies across rural and urban Ireland and provide effective legal solutions to their clients in all of lifes major milestones. If you are buying a home, making a will, or negotiating a difficult family law situation, it is more than likely that you are working with a small firm or sole practitioner.

Lifeblood of local communities

The report, authored by Crowe, is based on an extensive body of research involving a survey of hundreds of smaller firms from all over Ireland, focus groups and in-depth case studies. It makes eleven strategic recommendations to assist sole practitioners and smaller practices to grow their businesses and achieve greater success for themselves, their staff and their local communities.

Smaller firms and sole practitioners are the lifeblood of their local communities, Mr Murphy explains.

Solicitors employ thousands of people in sustainable, high-quality professional jobs, provide effective legal solutions for neighbouring SMEs and individuals and help steer their clients through the major milestones of business and of life.

The distribution of firms across the country in even the smallest towns and villages is something that must be protected, said Mr Murphy. As local post offices and bank branches close, the local solicitors office is more vital than ever.

When these law firms succeed, the communities they serve are more successful.

Key economic drivers across rural and urban Ireland

Smaller law firms arent simply like small businesses  they are small businesses. They have unique characteristics; a sole practitioner, for example, is a business owner as well as a solicitor and must be adept at running a business as well as practising law. Many of the challenges smaller firms face are similar to those faced by other business owners and SMEs. The Law Society is working to support smaller firms as businesses as well as lawyers.
The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton T.D. has announced that all An Post deliveries in Kilkenny, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford will be zero emission by next year, as part of the companys Post Eco plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050.

Under the ground-breaking Post Eco Plan, An Post will deliver:

Zero emission postal deliveries in Dublin City Centre by year-end 2019

Zero emission postal deliveries in Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick & Waterford by year end 2020

750 Electric Vehicles (delivery vans & cycles) to replace urban fleet by 2022, 200 of which will be on the streets this year.

A number of trials  including public charging points for electric vehicles outside post offices as well as installing solar panels on its buildings and sharing the financial benefits with local community-based environmental initiatives.

Eco-Driving training for all drivers to ensure best practice driving in all vehicles and for all road and weather conditions.



Altogether, initiatives being introduced in 2019 will save 1,000 tonnes of carbon annually.

Announcing the Plan, Minister Bruton said: We must step up Irelands response to climate disruption. It is vital that every aspect of our society seek ways to reduce their carbon impact and the public service and our semi-state bodies must be the first to show that it takes policies for sustainability seriously, if we are to persuade the rest of society to make the step changes which we need to make.

Todays announcement shows that An Post is taking the lead and recognising the urgency of taking action in adapting to the changes that are needed. By placing sustainability at the core of their business strategy, they are leading by example.

An Post CEO, David McRedmond said: As An Post moves from the old world of mail to the new world of e-commerce, sustainability has to be the guiding principle for the business. An Post is transforming for generations to come: as a major employer with a huge fleet footprint, this demands responsible climate action with this commitment to carbon-free delivery.

Minster Bruton and Mr. David Redmond launched the Plan in the Houses of the Oireachtas today. For their part, the Houses of the Oireachtas are fully committed to its own sustainability initiatives, and with this in mind two charging points have already been installed to date with further points to be rolled out in the very near future. These measures mean that An Post electric delivery vans can charge up at Leinster House.
Weather Alert

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110. * WHERE...Portions of North and North Central Idaho. Portions of Central, East Central, North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Washington. * WHEN...Until 7 PM PDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events. 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. 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 move to hospice was like the difference between night and day. The hospice had every tool that Dad desperately needed  a really comfortable bed, pain medications, a tranquil environment, and nurses who seemed to have unlimited time to dispense palliative care. Out of habit, I started to nag, Dad, come on  youve got to drink the rest of that Ensure. Not this time. I had finally accepted what was happening. Instead, Dad, are you comfortable? Let me tell you about your grandsons, my job search, the prayer I just placed in the hospices prayer wall. The final days in hospice was a time of forgiving, remembering, and looking toward what was inevitable.
However, we remain supportive of medical cannabis, and want to make sure it is accessible to people who need it manage chronic pain and other diseases. Right now, state law allows just two dispensaries per state senatorial district. Carroll is mainly composed of Senate District 5, with slivers of Districts 4 and 9 shared with Frederick and Howard counties, respectively. With three of the four companies already establishing locations in District 4 and 9, three dispensaries is the most Carroll would see under existing state law, meaning current zoning restrictions likely arent limiting access here.
EUGENE, Ore. -- U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden spoke Tuesday with the students, teachers and families about his work to provide more funding and resources to alternative schools.

Wyden talked about rewriting the "Every Student Succeeds Act" that focuses on raising graduation rates in Oregon and across the country. He visited Kalapuya High School, an alternative school in the Bethel School District in Eugene.

"It was really nice that he came because it just shows us the people in the state do care about our schools, and that there are people rooting for our alternative schools," said student Delaney Aguirre. "There's I think 150 students here at the most and it's cool that people are acknowledging us."

"It's really inspirational," said student Galen Hartzell. "We're just here learning and then, it's really nice that he would come and support that, and have us extend on our education a little bit."

Kalapuya High School is an alternative school with a diverse population of at-risk students, providing an education that is different from a traditional high school.
EUGENE, Ore. -- A new study released by the Oregon Center for Public Policy says 68.7 percent of Oregon families living in poverty are working families, meaning they have at least one parent who works.

The study shows that nearly 160,000 Oregonians in working households live below the poverty line, including nearly 100,000 children. For example, a family of four that makes less than 25,100 yearly is considered impoverished in Oregon.

Representatives with the Oregon Center for Public Policy told KEZI 9 News that even full-time work is not enough to pull a family out of poverty.

One Eugene mom said many working families have a lot less than those who don't work and that the system is broken. She said people need to be rewarded based on how many hours they put in rather than giving food stamps to people depending on their gross income.

"One time when my kids were much younger, I worked seven days a week for maybe three years straight just to eat, just to pay my bills. It's very, very depressing," she said.

Janet Bauer, a political analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy, said more people are able to work but the jobs they are able to find aren't paying enough, which causes a lot of stress on children in these families.

"We know that poverty harms normal cognitive development and social development and creates stress that probably accounts for some of those serious concerns, and it limits the ability of kids to do well in school," Bauer said.

Bauer said there are steps that Oregon can take to fix this problem -- through an increase in the earned income tax credit.
BEND, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon woman was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for hitting and killing a cyclist while driving under the influence.

KTVZ-TV reports Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler sentenced 42-year-old Shantel Witt on Tuesday, telling the court that it was the "most extreme reckless endangerment case" he had ever seen.

Witt was convicted earlier this month of first-degree manslaughter and other charges for the death of 38-year-old Marika Stone.

The Bend dentist was riding with two friends east of the city when Witt slammed into her in December 2017.

Prosecutors say Witt was on nearly a dozen prescription drugs, including her dog's anxiety pills, at the time of the crash.

Witt apologized in court, telling Stone's family that she hopes one day they can forgive her.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Wednesday was Exclusion Day in Oregon, and health officials said 73 students in Eugene School District 4J couldn't go to school because they weren't up to date on their shots.

Officials said as long as children received the proper shots Wednesday, they can go to school Thursday.

RELATED: Kids getting vaccinated as exclusion day draws near

Robin Wellwood, a nurse in the 4J school district, said vaccinations are more important now than ever.

"Most people that were born after 1957 haven't experienced measles outbreaks, they haven't experienced rubella birth defects, so all these immunizations are important to children's health now as well as their future," Wellwood said.

Eugene parent Jaime Whitsett took her son to get vaccinations at the last minute. She said her son was afraid to get a shot and that's why she waited so long.

"Especially with the measles outbreak, I wanted to make sure he was up to date with his vaccines and make sure he's healthy," Whitsett said.

Wellwood said the number of exclusions in the 4J district is actually higher than last year, but not dramatically.

"Last year, we were just at 53, so it's pretty much on par as last year. When we have immunization changes, those numbers go up," she said.

Wellwood said if your child hasn't gotten their measles vaccine, you're putting your child and others at risk.

"Let's say you go to, I don't know, science factory laser program on a Friday night ... there's a case," she said. "If your child isn't immunized and there's someone there that's coming down with it, you run the risk."

The Lane County Public Health office and other health offices had walk-in vaccination clinics Wednesday so any child that was excluded from school could quickly get up to date on their shots.

If your child still needs a vaccine, call public health to set up an appointment.
SPRINGFIELD, Ore -- Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management in an effort to stop a logging operation in the Thurston Hills.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal court by Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wilds alleges the planned 100-acre logging operation that was purchased by Seneca Sawmill Company could increase the risk of wildfires. The land is owned by the BLM.

Seneca Sawmill Company is not named in the lawsuit, and officials plan to add miles of hiking and biking trails as part of the project.

Samantha Krop with Cascadia Wildlands said the BLM didn't take a hard look at the potential environmental impacts and didn't thoroughly review other options.

"Our goal would be to see them do a fire-wise thinning project or to just build the trail system and not tack on their timber revenue generating addendum," Krop said.

A spokeswoman for the BLM said they could not comment on pending litigation.

Casey Roscoe with Seneca Sawmill Company said they are going to keep moving forward with the project as the lawsuit plays out but said it could take up to a year before the site is ready for harvest.

"We're so disappointed in (Cascadia Wildlands') stance," Roscoe said. "The BLM we think has bent over backward to try to meet them in the middle."

Officials at Cascadia Wildlands are planning a roundtable discussion on local forest management. Its scheduled to happen April 18 at Springfield City Hall.
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Douglas County Public Health officials are looking into possible measles cases within the county.

On Wednesday morning, a Douglas County mother told KEZI 9 News doctors had confirmed her 4-month-old son has the measles. The county health department also heard that information and began an investigation.

However, the mom later told KEZI she had just been contacted by a specialist in Portland, who told her it's a virus similar to the measles.

Even though those doctors are clarifying that case, Southern Oregon isn't completely out of the woods just yet.

According to Douglas County Public Health Officer Bob Dannenhoffer, there are still cases under investigation.

He said until they turn a year old, babies rely on their parents' immunity to prevent diseases like measles.

So for babies and others, when outbreaks happen, looks can be deceiving.

"During the times when there are outbreaks like this, there are people that have diseases that it's a little hard to know exactly what it is," Dannenhoffer said. "Especially in young babies and others, it's a little hard to know if this is really the measles or not."

As of Wednesday evening, there are no confirmed cases of the measles in Douglas County.
NORTH BEND, Ore.  A Coos Bay resident has been charged with two counts of arson following fires at houses in North Bend and Coos Bay on Wednesday.

Chad Bunnell, 30, is also charged with one count of attempted arson and three counts of unlawful manufacture of a destructive device.

Firefighters responded to the first fire Wednesday morning at 10:33 a.m., after receiving reports of a possible explosion at a house on Brussells Street in North Bend.

Police and firefighters discovered a broken window and a small fire at the residence. Further investigation determined that the house on Brussells Street was struck with a manufactured explosive device.

At 11:05 a.m. on Wednesday, Coos Bay police and fire departments responded to a house fire on 17th Avenue in Coos Bay. A resident of that house was injured in the fire and taken to Bay Area Hospital. Investigators said the cause of that fire was also a manufactured explosive device.

An investigation led officers to identify and arrest Bunnell, and charge him with two counts of arson, one count of attempted arson and unlawful manufacture of a destructive device. He was arrested and taken to Coos County Jail.

The investigation was conducted by the following agencies: Oregon State Police, Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Coos Bay Police and Fire Departments, North Bend Police and Fire Departments, State Fire Marshalls Office, Southwestern Oregon Fire Investigation Team, and the Coos County District Attorneys Office.
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During the recent winter break, I went home and visited my yearly slew of doctors for check-ups: vision, dental, gynecology, etc. In the exam room, my new gynecologist instructed me to put my feet up in the stirrups. I had recently learned in a seminar at school that new guidelines on Pap smears suggest spacing them every three years for women at my age, and I wondered, Do I even need a Pap smear this year? Before I could finish calculating how long since my last Pap, though, the procedure was over. Before I could ask a question, before I could decide whether I wanted the procedure, it was done.

Of course, Pap smears are routine and important to screen for cervical cancer. I knew exactly what my doctor was doing, and in no way am I implying that she acted unprofessionally or did anything medically unsound. On the contrary, Im making an observation about the standards of conduct in the physician-patient relationship that have been historically regarded as professional.

As a patient, its never bothered me before to operate in this way: Lay down, feet in the stirrups, relax, let the conversation distract me. However, now that Ive begun practicing the physicians role of the physical exam, I see that transaction differently. My doctor had reminded me not to worry, adding, This shouldnt cause any pain, but she never asked me if I wanted the procedure. It was assumed that I would cooperate, and I did. What transpired between my doctor and me was an implicit, rather than explicit, practice of consent.

Before medical school, in the dorms at my undergraduate university, I received formal training in the culture of explicit consent in relationships. Yes means yes, insisted one of our resident assistants during a house meeting, and consent is sexy. We learned that proper consent is not the absence of a No. Instead, proper consent is permission in the form of a resounding Yes.

Considering and practicing consent was a part of our campus culture. Every exchange, from borrowing someones pencil to hugging a friend at a party, technically required asking for permission before engaging in the activity. At first, changing my behavior was difficult  I was raised in a big, affectionate, Italian family in which trying to exit a family party requires 30 minutes of hugging and kissing goodbye to every baby, grandma, and neighbor. Though difficult, this change in my day-to-day practice helped me learn an explicit way of showing respect to other people. When I entered medical school, I brought with me my new understanding of explicit consent.

I now recognize that our medical training is still based on an old-school dynamic between patient and doctor. We are taught to gently assert, Im going to take a listen to your lungs, rather than ask, May I ? Were reminded to focus on sounding less nervous and more confident. Asking permission is treated like a fleeting formality. In medicine, consent is often assumed.

In one practice patient encounter in class, the patient and the physician assessing my performance both gave me feedback that I asked my patient too often for her consent. I was told, Its awkward when you keep saying what youre going to do. The patient knows youre going to touch them. Just do it. A reasonable person might agree with her, because medicine almost always operates in this way. My patient also nodded along to this sentiment.

I guarantee that my reviewers were right about me being awkward  Im new to the whole doctor thing  but I cant say that I agree to ask for permission less. Medicine has a long history of paternalism and compliance, and the entire paradigm of health care delivery is shifting from that of a giver-receiver model to a new framework of shared decision-making. Every action we take in the exam room, such as the practice of asking for consent, might be our opportunity to create a partnership with our patients.

As a student, it feels like a clash of cultures. The culture I brought with me to medical school taught me to ask for permission. Is it OK if I take notes during this visit? May I take a listen to your lungs? The culture Im encountering in my medical training encourages something entirely different. Im not sure about which approach is better or worse  especially given that my patient didnt like my approach  but I am sure that this is one of the many parts of medicine that Ill question throughout my career.

Lauren Joseph is a medical student who blogs at Scope, where this article originally appeared.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Frank Stronach, founder of the company that owns Pimlico Race Course, has sued his daughter Belinda, who had taken the reins of the business in recent years. Frank is trying to wrest control from Belinda, who is expected in Baltimore in 10 days for the Maryland Million at Laurel.
Kellogg launches 12 new courses on evolving global business trends

New courses provide an immersive, analytical look into some of todays most pressing global business issues.

Kellogg launches 12 new courses on evolving global business trends

New courses provide an immersive, analytical look into some of todays most pressing global business issues.

Kathleen Hagerty named interim dean

Senior associate dean to lead business school as search for permanent dean continues

Kellogg Celebrates Ongoing Commitment to Womens Leadership By Convening Global Womens Summit

Summit brings together more than 800 alumnae, faculty and students for robust discussion on challenges women face.

Kellogg celebrates alumni leaders at May 3 With Gratitude

Dean Sally Blount 92 honored Roslyn M. Brock 99, Ann M. Drake 84 and Richard H. Lenny 77
I was saddened by last weeks news in the Kearney Hub that Lee Radziwill, stylish sister of Jackie Kennedy, had died at age 85. It seems as if the entire era of Camelot has passed on. Lee Radziwill was very much like her older sister, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

Both women had a flair for fashion and jet-setting.

Jackie Kennedys husband, JFK, was assassinated, but Lee also was struck with bad luck. Two of her three marriages ended in divorces and annulment. Her son Anthony, age 40, died a month after the death of young JFK Jr.,who died at age 38.

Lee Radziwill knew her share of grief. She was probably happiest during her younger years with her sister Jackie.

I was amused when the article quoted her: I can see how people found him (Mick Jagger) sexy. But I found him a little repulsive. That type of unvarnished candor, without being absolutely mean-spirited, is refreshing. It gave a balanced appraisal of the man from her viewpoint, based on personal experience.
Parshall said the testimony shared at the meeting was powerful, and reaffirmed student senators opinions who were in favor of the resolution.

Typically, according to Krejdl, the Student Senate voices its opinion on a few bills each session.

As its not too often that the Student Senate passes a resolution like this, Parshall believes the action generates attention.

Showing that such a large body of students and voters support the bill should have an impact on the (state) legislators votes because we are the people theyre representing. When we show our opinion, it should be heard and taken seriously and thats why we decided to pass this resolution, Parshall said.

The resolution will be sent on to state Sen. John Lowe of Kearney, Pansing Brooks and the Legislatures Judiciary Committee

Unfortunately, this issue is a political one to the establishment in Lincoln. But frankly this isnt political for studentsits just common-sense, Leach said. This resolution will help reinforce that young people across the state support LGBTQ Nebraskans, and we dont agree that LGBTQ livelihood should be some chip in some political game.
KEARNEY  The Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, an agricultural safety and health center in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, recently awarded five pilot program grants, including one to a professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

UNK associate professor Christine Chasek, an addiction counseling certificate coordinator, received funding for her work on Investigating Opioid and Alcohol Risk and Misuse Among Rural Agricultural Workers.

CS-CASH provided a total of $100,000 in funding for the five projects through a partnership between UNMCs Vice Chancellor of Research, Jennifer Larsen, M.D., and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development.

Applications for the next round of research awards will be due in May. Contact ellen.duysen@unmc.edu for information on the application process.
KEARNEY  Kearney Public Schools today named Chelsea Feusner as the director of student services, pending school board approval in March.

In this role, Feusner will be responsible for leading the districts student support programming that includes school nursing, mental health initiatives, enrollment, preschool and various daily operations focused on student support services. Feusner will begin the position in July. She will replace Carol Renner, who is retiring after a distinguished 27-year career at Kearney Public Schools as associate superintendent and director of student services.

Feusner has served as principal for Buffalo Hills Elementary since 2012. She has coordinated the district multi-tiered system of supports process for social, emotional and behavioral student needs, participated in district safety and emergency response teams, and coordinated school district nurses, counselors and social workers.

While I will miss my Buffalo Hills family, I am excited to begin serving all families in Kearney Public Schools in this new capacity, Feusner said. I am committed to the KPS mission and vision and am looking forward to supporting students, staff, teachers and the community.
As a child, Strindberg faced many challenges. As an adult, those challenges increased.

He insisted upon marrying actresses which always got him into trouble, Garrison said. That is, sort of, reflected in the play. This is the first of what we now call The Theatre of the Absurd. He wrote it in 1907 and, of course, that term didnt exist then. Strindberg termed this play, Theater of the Grotesque.

The play avoids any sense of realism. Instead, The Ghost Sonata distorts reality.

What Strindberg did with the production is to go against what audiences normally expect in a play, Garrison said. He doesnt really keep in time with a literal understanding of the passage of time. Its not chronologically accurate. The relationships among the various people in the play  its like two universes that collide with each other during the production.

While The Ghost Sonata marks a historical place in the world of theater, Garrison feels that audiences can come and enjoy the show without specific knowledge of theatrical history.
Admission to the concert is $10. Students need to obtain a free ticket for admission.

Kahn will perform Suite for Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio by French composer Claude Bolling.

Used to be that we wouldnt call it jazz unless the rhythms were swing-based, Kahn said. Now there are so many influences from around the world that that definition doesnt necessarily apply. So I would say that improvisation needs to be part of it in order to call it jazz.

Bolling, a composer best known for his Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio, wrote the score to Suite for Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio in 1983. He also has scored more than 100 films.

For Kahn, improvising requires a special touch with music.

I think it is the ability to lucidly spin a personal narrative in a musical way, he said of the skill of improvising. Theres the trap of being overly technical with things, but I think that has diminishing returns. Youre the architect of a landscape and you hope that the listener gets to know you better during the course of it.

While making up music on the spot, the pianist keeps two goals in mind.
The following real-estate transfers from May 10 to June 7 were compiled from deeds recorded at the Buffalo County Register of Deeds Office. Ad
SALEM, Ore. -- A new bill would require Oregon schools to teach students about the Holocaust and genocide.

SB664 would take effect July 1, 2020. It is currently being debated in the Senate Committee.

The bill wants to "enable students to evaluate the morality of the Holocaust, genocide and similar acts of mass violence and to reflect on the causes of related historical events."

It also hopes to "develop students respect for cultural diversity and help students gain insight into the importance of the protection of international human rights for all people."

There is no statement yet on the fiscal or revenue impact of the bill.

For a full copy of the bill click here.
Analytics Summit 2019 focuses on analytics and data science content to support the growth and development of analytics efforts in business, government and non-profit organizations.

Sponsored Post.



The UC Center for Business Analytics Analytics Summit 2019 will be held on April 1-3, 2019 at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. This three day event will feature four two-day training sessions (April 1 & 2), a half day training session (April 2), and one all-day Conference (April 3). Training sessions include Advanced MS Power BI, Machine Learning with R, Advanced Tableau Training, Big Data with Hadoop and Spark, and the  day Analytics for Executives.

The Conference Day on April 3 will feature three keynote speakers; Zeynep Tufekci, a techno-sociologist, TED speaker, contributing opinion writer to the New York Times, and an internationally recognized authority on the social and moral implications of how we use big data and algorithms to make decisions; Todd Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, Cincinnati Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation who will cover the FBI's view of Big Data Security: and Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, a leader in digital supply chain management.

In addition to the keynote speakers, there are five all-day track sessions with three speakers in each track. These sessions will focus on Financial/Risk Management Analytics, Marketing Analytics, Operation Analytics, Analytics Management and Leadership, and Analytics Tools. Presenting companies include Boeing, FICO, 84.51, Fidelity Investments, SAS, KNIME, ICCT, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, InfoTrust and many others.

Event sponsors SAS, Teradata, Lingaro, KNIME, DOMO, denodo, ICCT, and Bitwise will be demonstrating their data and analytics solutions and a start-up showcase will feature small Cincinnati analytics companies.
OLATHE, KS (AP) -- An Olathe man who is charged with first-degree murder told investigators that he didn't seek medical care for his ailing mother before she died weighing just 58 pounds and suffering from open bed sores, according to court records.

Raymond McManness, 51, also faced a charge of mistreatment of a dependent adult in the death of 75-year-old Sharon McManness, The Kansas City Star reports. He was jailed on $1 million bond. His attorney didn't immediately return phone or email messages from The Associated Press.

His mother, who had dementia, was pronounced dead in January in her Olathe home after McManness called police to report that she wasn't breathing. Police described her as "very emaciated" and said one of her bedsores was "open to the bone," according to the charging documents released Wednesday.

McManness told police that he was his mother's primary caregiver and that she refused to be treated by doctors. He said he had been living with her but moved out about six months before she died because she kept him awake at night. He told police he checked on her before and after work, bringing her food as she became bedridden and forcefully opening her mouth in an attempt to get her to eat on the day before she died, the documents say.

Weeks earlier, McManness went to the Kansas Department of Aging and was told he needed to take his mother to a doctor, the records said. But he told police he didn't take her "because he was busy due to the holiday season, and he was scared because he had not been taking adequate care of her," according to the records.

Police who searched her home found no medications, no clean clothing, no working telephone and minimal food. They found dog feces and urine throughout the house. Court records say soiled clothes that appeared to be cut off the victim were found in a trash can in the driveway.

Preliminary findings from the medical examiner's office said the woman likely died from an infection caused by bed sores. She also was malnourished and dehydrated, and the examination showed she had bruising on her jaw area, wrists and the upper part of her head.
Police say graffiti has scarred more than a dozen different businesses over the past two days. The word flaco covered buildings from Southwest Boulevard at I-35 west to where it turns into Merriam Lane and then down Roe Lane.
A large storm that came through Thursday night has caused some damage at the Country Stampede Festival Grounds. Organizers say they will be assessing the damage and whether this will delay Friday's festival schedule.
Does context matter when a racial slur is used? Thats whats at the heart of a hearing Wednesday night over whether a Lees Summit teacher and coach should be fired.
Robbie Smith will present a program on shorebird hunting Friday, Feb. 22 during Taste of Core Sound. Southern Salt on the Morehead City waterfront will host the event while major repairs are still underway at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island. (Contributed photo)
Once offered the scholarship, students must agree to work full-time for one year in Maryland for each year they received the scholarship. If they do not meet this requirement, the scholarship will convert to a loan payable to the state. If you are interested in this scholarship, the first step is to submit a FAFSA or Maryland State Financial Aid Application (MSFAA) by March 1.
We keep going down this line. Whether its a passport or its a birth certificate, this is an identification card, this is to identify you, and there are certain scientific things that they are what they are.  We want to be sympathetic, but these are ID cards, Serafini said. And the question is: Where will it go next?
This review of the Marinda Airport in Waisai is for anyone who plans to fly from Sorong to Waisai in the Raja Ampat Regency if West Papua.



You should know that there is currently one daily flight from Sorong to Waisai, and this is the closest airport to entering the main Raja Ampat area.





From other major cities in Indonesia, all the flights will land at the Domine Eduard Osok Airport in Sorong, West Papua.



Usually, travellers will opt to take the ferry or boat to Waisai before catching the local boats to your resort in Raja Ampat.





For those who get seasick, flying from Sorong to Waisai would be your best option, as it only takes a 30-minute flight.



If you take a ferry or fast boat from Sorong, it will take you around two hours by sea, and this all depends on sea conditions, which are usually not that bad.

Review of Marinda Airport Waisai

The welcome sign as you walk into the Marinda Airport in Waisai, Raja Ampat





On my trip to Raja Ampat in late 2017, I was fortunate to have experienced flying from Makassar to Sorong, and then catch a connecting flight to Marinda Airport here in Waisai.



Therefore, I am doing this airport review for anyone who plans to do this same route, in order of cutting some travel time.









This is also the closest airport to the Waisai Harbor where you catch your boat to the resort you are staying at.



The Marinda Airport officially opened in May 2012, which is due mainly to the increase in tourism to Raja Ampat.



Currently, the airport is undergoing structural renovations to better the facilities and load of the terminal.



The renovations include extending the airport runway to accommodate larger wide-bodied aircraft like the Airbus A320's and Boeing 737's. At the moment, only the ATR turboprop planes can land here.



Arriving lets you walk to the main terminal building



The Marinda Airport (RJM) is considered to be one of the very small airports in this part of Indonesia, which is a Class 3 domestic airport.This is also the closest airport to the Waisai Harbor where you catch your boat to the resort you are staying at.The Marinda Airport officially opened in May 2012, which is due mainly to the increase in tourism to Raja Ampat.Currently, the airport is undergoing structural renovations to better the facilities and load of the terminal.The renovations include extending the airport runway to accommodate larger wide-bodied aircraft like the Airbus A320's and Boeing 737's. At the moment, only the ATR turboprop planes can land here.

The Indonesian transport ministry is hoping to turn the Marinda Airport into an international airport, to receive more guests into Raja Ampat. Originally initiated in 2015, renovations were ongoing when I visited this place.





The current runway is only 1,200 meters long by 30 meters wide, and a very small terminal with a total size of 120 square meters.



This is the old format of small remote airports in Indonesia, but with tourism leading the way here, it is only right to renovate this airport for the future.



Surprisingly in 2017, a total of 40,000 tourists visited Raja Ampat, making this one of the up and coming places to visit in Indonesia.





Bupati), where his name is Marcus Wanma and also vice Bupati Inda Arfan.



So they simply named the airport after both of them calling it Marinda.



The baggage collection area is still manual here



Here is a fun fact - The unique name of Marinda Airport (Bandar Udara Marinda) is also adopted from the combination of West Papua regional leader (), where his name is Marcus Wanma and also vice BInda Arfan.So they simply named the airport after both of them calling it Marinda.

Facilities at Marinda Airport Waisai





When you arrive, be prepared to go back in time. The aircraft will make a quick landing and then a quick turnaround, before stopping about 10 meters from the airport entrance.



Sorry, there is no shuttle bus or aero bridges here, you exit the aircraft and take a nice slow walk to the terminal building.





The airport is so small, there is only one door leading into the arrival room. Luggage is still manual and dropped through a hole in the wall.



You pick up your own bags as the staff put them through the hole. Honestly, this was so old school, as I have seen this at some other remote airports in Borneo too.









Here you will be greeted by the local drivers or 'supirs' who will ask you if you need a taxi service or if you are a confirmed guest.



Before you exit, there are some general notice boards with signs indicating how much it will cost to travel around Waisai.



The one and only gift and general store at Marinda Airport



Once you have collected your luggage, it will take you five steps, and you are outside the arrival entrance.Here you will be greeted by the local drivers or '' who will ask you if you need a taxi service or if you are a confirmed guest.Before you exit, there are some general notice boards with signs indicating how much it will cost to travel around Waisai.

Sorry to say, there is no coupon or taxi counter at this small airport. You will find only locals dressed in their everyday attire, waiting to pick up confirmed guests or act as taxis.



If you have arranged a pick up with your resort, they would most likely send a modern-day air-conditioned van to pick you up. Well, I did see a couple that used one of the services.









But do not attempt to shower or drink the local water from the bathroom taps. Just buy a bottle of mineral water from outside the general shop.



Promotional banners on Raja Ampat are the only colours you see just as you exit the airport



There are toilets, but they look like a scene from the 1980s. They are overall clean and usable, as some of us had to go after landing.But do not attempt to shower or drink the local water from the bathroom taps. Just buy a bottle of mineral water from outside the general shop.

Yes, there is only one little shop that sells coffee, tea, some local snacks, and instant noodles. This is located just outside the arrival hall by the entrance.



From what I saw, only the locals will frequent this place for their daily coffee fix or a quick meal while waiting for guests to arrive.









The transportation service from the Marinda Airport to various places in Waisai



Outside, minor renovations are still ongoing, but I guess at a very slow pace as debris and construction materials are seen lying around the area.



Well, they are doing upgrading works, and according to the locals, the new Marinda airport should be ready by the end of 2018 or early 2019, if it all goes smoothly. There is nothing modern in terms of Starbucks, souvenir shops or any kind of shop. Just one local general shop, so if you need to buy anything, please do so at the Sorong airport in West Papua before you come here.Outside, minor renovations are still ongoing, but I guess at a very slow pace as debris and construction materials are seen lying around the area.Well, they are doing upgrading works, and according to the locals, the new Marinda airport should be ready by the end of 2018 or early 2019, if it all goes smoothly.





Marinda Airport is a stand-alone airport and located about 20 minutes out of the Waisai Harbor. My group was decently large with about 15 people, hence a local bus from the 1980s was arranged to send us to the harbour.





It was a classic design with no air-conditioned, and slide up windows, this was truly a trip down memory lane.



The bus ride took us through a pristine rainforest, which was so raw, just like those I have seen deep in Borneo.









You can imagine the look on my face when I saw it. This is truly Raja Ampat.



By the way, if you are planning to visit this exotic place in West Papua, please don't forget to get your



Wings Air ATR-72 aircraft that flies to the Marinda Airport



Airlines that fly to Marinda Airport in Waisai I sat at the last seat by the window to capture anything out of the ordinary on my camera, and to my surprise, as the bus was travelling, an eagle was flying next to the bus after being startled.You can imagine the look on my face when I saw it. This is truly Raja Ampat.By the way, if you are planning to visit this exotic place in West Papua, please don't forget to get your Raja Ampat Marine park permit from Sorong before you come to Waisai.





As of April 2018, only two airlines fly to Marinda Airport in Waisai. They are Susi Air which uses a Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft since 2012, and Wings Air which started once a day flights in January 2017.





Wings Air uses an ATR 72-600 aircraft for this flight which operates four cities. The flight route is Manado, Waisai, Sorong, and Manokwari which is a once a day flight. This means the airport only operates from 8.00 AM to around 5.00 PM.









There are a total of 17 flights a week operating this route, but you should double check the schedules, as, at times, other airlines may cancel or reschedule.



News also surfaced in 2018 that there may be



Once AirAsia starts flying here, the airline will most likely land at the Sorong Airport due to the aircraft size used, unless the Marinda Airport is ready to accept larger aircraft. Apparently, Nam Air and Sriwijaya Air are to operate flights to Marinda Airport from the Sorong Airport as well.There are a total of 17 flights a week operating this route, but you should double check the schedules, as, at times, other airlines may cancel or reschedule.News also surfaced in 2018 that there may be AirAsia flights to Raja Ampat soon, but it was only verbally announced.Once AirAsia starts flying here, the airline will most likely land at the Sorong Airport due to the aircraft size used, unless the Marinda Airport is ready to accept larger aircraft.





Marinda Airport Waisai

Address: Jln. Marinda Waisai Raja Ampat.

GPS Coordinates: 00  25'56,3 "S130  46'22,33" E

Contact: marinda.airport@gmail.com



Final Thoughts to the Marinda Airport Review









The destination also contains the richest marine biodiversity on earth, making this place one of the best places for snorkelling and scuba diving in the world.



To travel here, you can read my other article on



Overall, I would say that you should not be booking a three or five-day trip here as it is not worth it. You really need to spend at least a week in Raja Ampat to fully enjoy this amazing place. Raja Ampat is home to 75 per cent of the worlds corals, with a whopping total of 553 coral species and 1,437 coral reef species.The destination also contains the richest marine biodiversity on earth, making this place one of the best places for snorkelling and scuba diving in the world.To travel here, you can read my other article on how to get to Raja Ampat , as I share the most common ways to travel here.Overall, I would say that you should not be booking a three or five-day trip here as it is not worth it. You really need to spend at least a week in Raja Ampat to fully enjoy this amazing place.



Again, for those who plan to take a flight from Sorong to Waisai, this is the main airport that you will arrive at, and I hope you got some valuable information from my review Marinda Airport in Waisai.
Through his defense attorney, Ryan Hollebon, 40, had tried to argue that his sentence of life with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Jhalandia Butler interfered with his ability to receive mental health treatment while incarcerated. Hollebon entered an Alford plea on Jan. 16, 2018, effectively pleading guilty to the crime but allowing him not to admit guilt, only that the evidence would likely find him guilty.
Cargill executive, philanthropist James Haymaker to receive honorary degree from Kansas State University



Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

MANHATTAN  A longtime Cargill executive and Kansas State University alumnus will receive the university's highest honor, an honorary doctorate, in May.



James "Jim" Haymaker will receive the honor at the Graduate School commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday, May 17, in Bramlage Coliseum. He also will serve as the commencement speaker.



The university's request to recognize Haymaker with the degree was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents at its Feb. 20 meeting.



Haymaker earned bachelor's degrees in economics and French from Kansas State University in 1969, studying abroad at Paris-Sorbonne University during his junior year. He received an MBA in finance and international business from the University of Chicago in 1971 and a master's degree in applied economics from Belgium's University of Louvain in 1972.



"It is fitting that Kansas State University recognize James Haymaker with this high honor," said Charles Taber, university provost and executive vice president. "He exemplifies how higher education can truly make a difference, using his K-State degrees to have a successful lifetime career with Cargill both domestically and internationally. He also has been an active supporter of his alma mater, serving on several advisory boards and funding numerous scholarships in academics and research and for first-generation students that are helping K-State students in their quests for their own successful careers."



Haymaker joined Cargill, a provider of food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world, in 1973 as a financial analyst and retired in 2011 as its corporate vice president of strategy and business development, a position he held for 11 years. Haymaker's Cargill career also included serving as project manager in its consumer marketing department from 1976-1978 and then working overseas as associate manager and then general manager of Cargill's DuFruit Food and BMBH & Co. in Mannheim, West Germany, from 1978-1980 and as executive supervisor/director of swine operations for Cargill's Piensos Hens S.A. in Barcelona, Spain, from 1981-1987. He returned to the U.S. to be the global corporation's vice president/general manager of Sunny Fresh Foods from 1987-1988 and as vice president/manager of Cargill's financial services department from 1988-2000 before being elected to the corporate vice president position.



With his wife, Kathy, Haymaker has established several scholarships at Kansas State University that support students in economics and students conducting cancer research through the university's Johnson Cancer Research Center. The Haymakers also have supported funds for faculty support and a new scholarship fund, the Raghunath Chakrabarti Dare to Dream Scholarship, for first-generation students.



Haymaker's service to the university includes being a member of the KSU Foundation board of trustees and the Department of Economics Advisory Council since 2012 and the Johnson Cancer Research Center and Education Advisory Council since 1997.



Recognized by the College of Business Administration as its 2005 Outstanding Financial Executive of the Year, Haymaker also received the 2011 Merit Award for Entrepreneurship from the College of Arts and Sciences; was named the 2013 College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Fellow, which is selected by the Dean's Council, President's Office and K-State Alumni Association; and was the economics department's 2015 Distinguished Economics Alumnus.



Since retiring, Haymaker has devoted his time to his family, philanthropy and angel investing, which is early-stage funding of new company startups.






Five types of indicators can be distinguished illustrating judicial initiatives before European courts related to international crimes committed in Syria since 2011: effective trials, ongoing investigations and cases, prosecutions against private companies and their executives, filing of complaints by victims and NGOs, issuance of international arrest warrants.

Germany is the only country where these five modes of action can be identified. It is the country with the highest number of trials to date, the highest number of suspects already awaiting trial and the highest number of complaints. German actions were also used as a model by the complainants in Austria and, this week, in Sweden. It was Germany that led the way again by issuing the first international arrest warrant before France followed suit.

With five trials to its credit (six if one considers the fact that one of the accused has undergone two separate trials), at least sixteen individuals awaiting their trial, three international arrest warrants against a senior leader of the Assad regime and against two Daesh commanders, repeated complaints filed between 2016 and 2018 (one of which targeted a Syrian telecommunications company and a German surveillance equipment company), Germany offers the image of a liberal and determined use of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows it to prosecute alleged perpetrators of international crimes regardless of their citizenship or the place where they were committed.

Germany, Sweden and France on the front line

In terms of trials, Sweden is doing just as well, with five individuals tried since 2015 in four cases, and two suspects awaiting trial. France is lagging further behind, although it just recorded its first arrest last week, and its specialized war crimes unit is investigating about 25 cases. For the time being, this country stands out especially on the issue of lawsuits against private companies. An investigation has been launched against the surveillance equipment company Qosmos, for complicity in torture and crimes against humanity. Most importantly, there is the case of the Lafarge industrial company, a world leader in building materials, of which eight senior officials, including two former chief executive officers, are being prosecuted under criminal law, while the company itself is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity, financing a terrorist enterprise and endangering the lives of others.

Belgium has also been vigilant against three Flemish chemical companies, which were sentenced this month to several hundred thousand euros in fines for illegal exports to Syria, with two of their executives facing prison sentences, including one of them being sentenced to one year in prison.

Behind the countries at the forefront of the judicial effort, the landscape is much more modest. Austria has completed a trial, which is on appeal, and is investigating a second case against a former intelligence general in Rakka, eastern Syria. The Netherlands, after having tried one of its citizens, has just opened a trial in absentia against two other Dutchmen who went to fight in Syria. The country is forced to limit itself to its own nationals. So did Latvia, which also judged one of its citizens. Switzerland, whose war crimes services are criticised for their low ambition, has had an investigation opened in 2016 against a Syrian asylum seeker. As for Spain, the only complaint it registered was eventually dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Indiscriminate targets

Judicial initiatives and the number of trials are expected to continue to increase, particularly in the three flagship countries, Germany, Sweden and France. It should be noted that, while complaints filed by victims and NGOs mainly target officials of President Assads regime, trials are more indiscriminate. Islamist groups Jabhat al-Nusra, Daesh, Ghuraba al-Sham, Suleiman Company, as well as members of government forces or the Syrian Free Army have been targeted in the trials conducted so far.
Highlights:

ML18-090 & 100: 38m @ 2.58 g/t gold & 7.6m @ 3.61 g/t gold, below pit & east

ML18-102 & 103: 32m @ 2.1 g/t gold & 22.9m @ 2.24 g/t gold, west, down dip FCF

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corvus Gold Inc. (Corvus or the Company) - (TSX: KOR, OTCQX: CORVF) announces it has received results from eight holes targeting the eastern, western and below pit bottom resource expansion potential at the Mother Lode deposit in Nevada (Table 1). Results continue to show high potential for expanding the deposit both to the west and east as well as at depth. In addition, many of the holes have ended in mineralization and have thickening oxide zones at depth (Figure 1). Resource expansion drilling at Mother Lode is ongoing with 15,000 metres planned during the current phase.

Below Pit Bottom

Gold mineralization in hole ML18-090 (38.1m @ 2.58 g/t Au) is immediately below and east of the old pit bottom, extending mineralization to the east of the initial resource (east of ML17-024 with 15.2m @ 2.76 g/t Au). Hole ML18-091 also intercepted two zones of oxide mineralization (9.14m @ 1.08 g/t Au & 6.1m @ 1.13 g/t Au) below and to the east of the pit (east of ML17-023 with 7.6m @ 2.69 g/t Au). Hole ML18-099 returned an encouraging intercept (41.2m @ 1.02 g/t Au) approximately 150 metres east of the old pit confirming the extension of thick good grade mineralization and the favorable host rock horizon. These new holes support continued exploration to the east of the main Mother Lode deposit where additional grid drilling will take place this spring.

Western Extension

The western extension of the deposit has been tested with two additional holes which have returned positive results from the Fluorspar Canyon Fault (FCF) Zone (ML18-102 with 32m @ 2.10 g/t Au and ML18-103 with 22.9m @ 2.24 g/t Au). These results show increasing grade with depth and continue to support the deep target along the FCF feeder structure and the potential for the down dropped western half of the Mother Lode deposit. This deep target is now over 500m in length and remains open along strike and at depth. Corvus is planning core drilling in the near future to test the deep potential of the Western Zone.

Eastern Extension

Gold mineralization in hole ML18-089 (30.5m @ 1.30 g/t Au), ML18-100 (7.6m @ 3.61 g/t Au) and ML18-101 show eastern expansion potential in the main part of the deposit and south toward the old pit. Historical drilling in this area was vertical and shallow and not deep enough to reach the projected gold deposit. In addition, follow-up drilling is planned to the north of hole ML18-101 in the NE target area which had a past hole ML18-049 (NR18-07, Mar. 22, 2018) that intersected a northeast trending high-grade zone with 7.6m at 21.77 g/t gold.

Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus, said, The eastern expansion of the Pit and Main Zone is further confirmed with these latest results that open up a large new area to expand our existing deposit. Additionally, intercepts testing the down dip expansion of mineralization along the FCF continues to support the deposit growing at depth. Mother Lode is the key new cornerstone discovery in the Bullfrog Gold District, which is seeing expanding exploration activity from our neighbors, AngloGold and Coeur around our commanding, core land package. As we begin our expanded New Discovery exploration program at several priority targets on our large land package, we expect to continue to unlock the potential for this re-emerging, Nevada gold District.

Table 1

Phase III - Mother Lode Drilling Results

(Reported intercepts are not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation in space. Mineralized intervals are calculated using a 0.3 g/t cutoff unless otherwise indicated below)

Drill Hole # from (m) to (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Comment ML18-089 179.83 210.31 30.48 1.30 n/a East of ML18-080

Eastern Zone inc 179.83 198.12 18.29 1.66 n/a 1 g/t cut 252.98 274.32 21.34 1.69 n/a inc 252.98 263.65 10.67 2.94 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 090 dip-70 318.52 323.09 4.57 0.53 n/a

ML18-090 0.00 38.10 38.10 2.58 n/a East of ML17-024

East Pit Area inc 0.00 19.80 19.80 4.51 n/a 1 g/t cut 44.20 53.34 9.14 0.51 n/a AZ 090 dip-60 60.96 68.58 7.62 0.55 n/a 172.21 175.26 3.05 0.47 n/a

ML18-091 65.53 70.10 4.57 0.98 n/a West of ML17-023

East Pit Area 74.68 83.82 9.14 1.08 n/a inc 80.77 83.82 3.05 2.25 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 090 dip-70 96.01 102.11 6.10 1.13 n/a





Drill Hole # from (m) to (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Comment ML18-099 271.27 312.42 41.15 1.02 n/a East of ML18-090

Eastern Zone - ox inc 272.80 280.42 7.62 1.25 n/a 1 g/t cut - oxide inc 288.04 300.23 12.19 1.72 n/a 1 g/t cut - oxide AZ 090 dip-50 320.04 323.09 3.05 0.50 n/a oxide

ML18-100 269.75 277.37 7.62 3.61 n/a East of ML18-084

Eastern Zone 301.75 304.80 3.05 0.61 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 090 dip-65 338.33 344.42 6.09 0.63 n/a 350.52 353.57 3.05 0.33 n/a 1 g/t cut

ML18-101 281.94 298.70 16.76 0.61 n/a East of ML17-003

Eastern Zone AZ 090 dip-70 359.66 368.81 9.15 0.43 n/a

ML18-102 176.78 190.50 13.72 0.61 n/a West of ML17-012

Western Zone 220.98 228.60 7.62 0.71 n/a inc 222.50 225.55 3.05 1.16 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 090 dip-80 243.84 275.84 32.00 2.10 n/a inc 245.36 274.32 28.96 2.26 n/a 1 g/t cut

ML18-103

AZ 085 dip-85 345.95 368.81 22.86 2.24 n/a West of ML18-086

Western Zone

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance

Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE 008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has coordinated execution of the work outlined in this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

The work program at Mother Lode was designed and supervised by Mark Reischman, Corvus Golds Nevada Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Reno, Nevada, for preparation and assaying. AAL is independent of the Company. AALs quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to AAL and an ISO compliant third-party laboratory for additional quality control. Mr. Pontius, a qualified person, has verified the data underlying the information disclosed herein, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information by reviewing the reports of AAL, methodologies, results and all procedures undertaken for quality assurance and quality control in a manner consistent with industry practice, and all matters were consistent and accurate according to his professional judgement. There were no limitations on the verification process.

Mr. Scott E. Wilson, CPG (10965), Registered Member of SME (4025107) and President of Resource Development Associates Inc., is an independent consulting geologist specializing in Mineral Reserve and Resource calculation reporting, mining project analysis and due diligence evaluations. He is acting as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, and is the primary author of the Technical Report for the Mineral Resource estimate and has reviewed and approved the Mineral Resource estimate and the Preliminary Economic Assessment summarized in this news release. Mr. Wilson has over 29 years of experience in surface mining, resource estimation and strategic mine planning. Mr. Wilson is President of Resource Development Associates Inc. and is independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

Mr. Wilson, a qualified person, has verified the data underlying the information disclosed herein, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information by reviewing the reports of AAL, methodologies, results and all procedures undertaken for quality assurance and quality control in a manner consistent with industry practice, and all matters were consistent and accurate according to his professional judgement. There were no limitations on the verification process.

Metallurgical testing on North Bullfrog and Mother Lode samples has been performed by McClelland Analytical Services Laboratories Inc. of Sparks Nevada (McClelland), McClelland is an ISO 17025 accredited facility that supplies quantitative chemical analysis in support of metallurgical, exploration and environmental testing using classic methods and modern analytical instrumentation. McClelland has met the requirements of the IAS Accreditations Criteria for Testing Laboratories (AC89), has demonstrated compliance with ANS/ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, and has been accredited, since November 12, 2012. Hazen Research Inc. (Hazen), an independent laboratory, has performed flotation, AAO testing and cyanide leach testing on samples of sulphide mineralization from the YellowJacket zone and Swale area of Sierra Blanca, and roasting tests on Mother Lode flotation concentrate. Hazen holds analytical certificates from state regulatory agencies and the US Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA). Hazen participates in performance evaluation studies to demonstrate competence and maintains a large stock of standard reference materials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET), the EPA and other sources. Hazens QA program has been developed for conformance to the applicable requirements and standards referenced in 10 CFR 830.120 subpart A, quality assurance requirements, January 1, 2002. Pressure oxidation test work on Mother Lode concentrate samples was performed by Resource Development Inc. of Wheatridge, CO.

For additional details, see technical report entitled Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Integrated Mother Lode and North Bullfrog Projects, Bullfrog Mining District, Nye County, Nevada, dated November 1, 2018 and amended on November 8, 2018, with an effective date of September 18, 2018 on the Companys profile at www.sedar.com.

About the North Bullfrog & Mother Lode Projects, Nevada

Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 86.6 km2 in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 1,057 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right. The Company also controls 445 federal unpatented mining claims on the Mother Lode project which totals approximately 36.5 km2 which it owns 100%. The total Corvus Gold 100% land ownership now covers over 123.1 km2, hosting two major new Nevada gold discoveries.

The combined Mother Lode and North Bullfrog Projects contains a Measured Mineral Resource for the mill of 9.3 Mt at an average grade of 1.59 g/t gold, containing 475 k ounces of gold and Indicated Mineral Resources for the mill of 18.2 Mt at an average grade of 1.68 g/t gold containing 988 k ounces of gold and an Inferred Mineral Resource for the mill of 2.3 Mt at an average grade of 1.61 g/t gold containing 118 k ounces of gold. In addition, the project contains a Measured Mineral Resource for oxide, run of mine, heap leach of 34.6 Mt at an average grade of 0.27 g/t gold containing 305 k ounces of gold and an Indicated Mineral Resource for, oxide, run of mine, heap leach of 149.4 Mt at an average grade of 0.24 g/t gold containing 1,150 k ounces of gold and an Inferred, oxide, run of mine, heap leach Mineral Resource of 78.7 Mt at an average grade of 0.26 g/t gold containing 549 k ounces of gold.

About Corvus Gold Inc.

Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining project at the North Bullfrog and Mother Lode Districts in Nevada. In addition, the Company controls a number of royalties on other North American exploration properties representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new discoveries and the expansion of its projects to maximize share price leverage in an advancing gold and silver market.

On behalf of

Corvus Gold Inc.

(signed) Jeffrey A. Pontius

Jeffrey A. Pontius,

President & Chief Executive Officer

Contact Information: Ryan Ko Investor Relations Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 1-844-638-3246 (toll free) or (604) 638-3246

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding the advancement and development of our Mother Lode project and the expansion of our drill program; potential for additional mineralization; updates on the development progress at the Mother Lode project; the potential for new deposits and expected increases in a systems potential; anticipated content, commencement and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, the Company's inability to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2018 filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and the Companys most recent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). All of the Companys Canadian public disclosure filings in Canada may be accessed via www.sedar.com and filings with the SEC may be accessed via www.sec.gov and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Companys mineral properties.
I'm a little surprised that O'Rourke figured out this game. Watch him speak, and you'll see that this guy is never going to make the honor roll.

In January, when the former congressman was asked about immigration by The Washington Post, he treated the topic as if it were advanced calculus. Asked what we should do about visa overstays, O'Rourke said: "I don't know."

Right. Because growing up in El Paso, and representing it for six years in Congress, when would a guy have a chance to think about immigration?

O'Rourke meandered his way through an answer before declaring that the issue is "something that we should be debating." This is his standard line with the thorniest subjects: Let Americans argue and figure it out, and they'll eventually do the right thing.

Imagine if John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson did that same thing with civil rights.

The Enigma actually seems to consider this outsourcing of leadership to be an enlightened approach instead of what it is: a cowardly one.

When asked by the Post why he doesn't have firm stances, O'Rourke said: "The genius is we can nonviolently resolve our differences, though I won't get to my version of perfect or I, working with you, will get to something better than what we have today."

Funny. If there's one word I don't associate with O'Rourke, it's genius.

Ruben Navarrette (ruben@rubennavarrette.com) is a columnist for The Washington Post.
Now that North Carolina is investigating what could be systematic election theft, you'd think people so committed to seeing fraud where it doesn't exist would be sounding the alarm. What's alleged in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District is not an occasional individual registering to vote when she is ineligible, but a sustained program to steal the votes of others. (An attorney for the Republican operative at the center of the investigation, Leslie McCrae Dowless, said Dowless "has not violated any state or federal campaign laws and current ongoing investigations will prove the same.")

Yet these self-styled "guardians of election integrity" are largely silent. Kobach says he is "concerned," but hasn't called for any additional action; our former commission colleague von Spakovsky is taking the dubious position that the North Carolina experience vindicates his to-date unproved claims of widespread voter fraud. Despite Trump's unfounded claims that "millions" of people voted illegally, costing him the 2016 popular vote, the president, too, has remained silent.

The news out of North Carolina is certainly distressing, but elements are also heartening. This incident verifies the response that I and others have long made to assertions of the voter-fraud vampire hunters: At the individual voter level, fraud is so rare that it effectively does not exist.
Omar said she meant no offense to Jewish Americans and that we have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. Trump, meanwhile, said she should resign, which is ridiculous. She, like Trump, was duly elected.

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 U.S. supports Israel in large part because it is surrounded by countries, including Iran, that deny its right to exist, as well as other states 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.

But Omar is right on the money when she expresses broad concern about the degree to which legislators do receive contributions intended to curry favor. In her apology, she said she is being educated on anti-Semitic tropes  and is listening and learning, which is good advice for all concerned. Republicans, rather than trying to villainize these three new congresswomen and make them the faces of the Democratic Party, should bow to the positive while drawing important distinctions.
He's in a bit of a political trap this time around. His dystopic description of America and call for a "revolution" is likely to turn off moderate voters, who don't have to, as they did in 2016, gravitate to a highly problematic alternative. Those voters have plenty of appealing candidates from which to choose. From the other end of the spectrum, it's hard to see what he is offering that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., isn't doing in a wonkier way or Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., of Kamala Harris, D-Calif., isn't. It's not clear in a Democratic primary what the rationale for picking an old, white male with his agenda over younger, friendlier women (including a nonwhite woman). His message has become ho-hum on the left-flank of the party while his personality hasn't gotten any sunnier.


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Fisher has made her unhappiness with the States Attorneys Office clear. She has said prosecutors said they would follow the familys lead as to whether to bring the case to trial, only to make a last-minute decision to negotiate a plea agreement against the familys wishes.
A team of archaeologists in the United Kingdom says it has traced dozens of Stonehenges massive rocks to two quarries in west Wales. The rocks were transported 180 miles  dragged on wooden sleds, the scientists suggest, by teams of strong men. These stones, called bluestones after their bluish-gray hue, form the inner circle of the monument that towers over the Salisbury Plain.

Two bluestone quarries, named Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin, were excavated around 3000 B.C., according to the authors of a study published this week in the journal Antiquity. Expeditions at the quarries from 2014 to 2016 recovered ancient charcoal and stone tools. In some places, the charcoal was mixed with dirt and stones to form flat platforms, which may have been used like loading bays to distribute the massive pillars, said Michael Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at University College London and an author of the new study.

Among the Welsh hills, bluestones erupted from the ground. Here, millions of years ago, sheets of magma slowly cooled into columns. Eons passed and softer rock around the magma eroded. Only the jagged bluestones remained.

Prehistoric workers probably exploited natural weaknesses in these structures, Parker Pearson said. Theyre nearly vertical, he said. All youve got to do is get a lasso around each one and pull.
It would allow for the use of a cellphones GPS as long as the address was entered before operating the vehicle.

There would be a $100 fine for the first offense, $150 fine for the second offense and $200 for the third offense. There would be the issuance of one or two insurance points for second and third offenses, as set by state statute.

However, the motorists wireless device cannot be seized or forfeited as part of enforcing the law.

The legislation would provide exemptions for communicating in emergency situations to emergency responders, a public or private ambulance service, as well as hospital, fire department and law enforcement personnel. The exemption also applies to those individuals in the course of their official duties.

The bill, if signed, would go into effect Jan. 1. The bill allows for the issuance of warning tickets for the first six months following the legislation becoming law.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has conducted research that revealed distracted driving, especially cell phone use, can be just as dangerous, or even worse than drunk driving.
The zoo was closed for the event, but exhibits featuring the fishing cats, penguins and reptiles were open.

Visitors were given a map showing which areas had loud sounds (though softened for the event), bright or dim lighting and even strong smells (near the cafe)  all of which can trigger negative responses. Backpacks containing items to help participants better cope with exhibits, such as noise-canceling headphones, fidget spinners and a timer with instructions for a breathing exercise, were available.

Quiet areas were designated for visitors who needed to take a break. One of these rooms featured a weighted lap blanket, a Hokki stool  designed to encourage children with the wiggles to sit  and puzzles.

A penguin mascot also was present, but hung out at the end of a long hallway to allow visitors time to decide if they wanted to approach the figure or not.

We want them to have a feeling of control, to have strategies, Regester said. Several employees and docents, who received special training from UNCs TEACCH Autism Program, were stationed throughout the museum to explain exhibits and answer questions.

Kamala Jones had her hands full keeping up with her 5 year old, Micah, as he raced from one exhibit to another. Micah has Down syndrome.
Cracker Barrel Old County Store Inc. of Lebanon, Tenn. may open a combined restaurant and store in southeastern Winston-Salem near Kernersville, local planners say.

Design and Engineering Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn., has submitted a building permit application for Cracker Barrel for a site at 1750 Pecan Lane, which is off Union Cross Road and near Interstate 40, said Desmond Corley, a land-use coordinator for the City-County Planning and Development Services. The project consists of an 11,139-square-foot building, Corley said.

The site would have a parking lot, utilities and landscaping, said Donna Beck, the permit office supervisor for the Inspection Division within the planning and development services office.

That agency will need to approve the building permit before Cracker Barrel could begin construction at the site.

It will cost Cracker Barrel an estimated $1.5 million to build the restaurant/store at the site, said Dan Dockery, an assistant director of the City-County Planning and Development Services.

Cracker Barrel officials wouldnt say Wednesday whether they are planning to build the restaurant and store in southeastern Winston-Salem.
This is the right thing for our economy and people, and Gov. Cooper will continue to work with members of both parties to get it done, Porter said.

A group of Democratic state legislators submitted identical Medicaid expansion bills, N.C. House Bill 5 and N.C. Senate Bill 3, on the first formal day of this session of the General Assembly. The primary sponsors of the House bill said all Democratic members support it.

Bill sponsors said their legislation represents the fastest and best way to expand Medicaid. They also said that North Carolina has been sending tax revenue to Medicaid-expansion states for seven years.

There is definitely momentum that is growing for Medicaid expansion in this state, said state Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, a co-sponsor of SB3. I am doing everything I can to move the state and legislature in this direction.

Bergers statement may be designed to puncture momentum that either bill may gain after the January breakup of the Republican supermajority rule in both chambers.
Daniel's 15 second PSA focused on Annapolis; it will air between commercial breaks sometime in November. In the video, he encourages viewers to visit the capital city which he notes is home to the Naval Academy and was once the capital of the U.S. He also reported, "it's the sailing capital of the world."
A 26-year-old male friend of the victim told police the man and Tiscareno became involved in an argument that turned physical. The friend told police he attempted to break up the fight but was punched in the face by Tiscareno.
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Localized flooding is possible.
Cody Cottier covers town and state government. He grew up with a view of the Olympic Mountains, and after graduating Washington State University he traded it for a view of the Tetons. Odds are the mountains are where youll find him when not on deadline.
Emily Mieure covers criminal justice and emergency news. She also leads the News&Guides investigative efforts. She has reported for WDRB TV in Louisville, Ky., WFIE TV in Evansville, Ind., and WEIU TV in Charleston, Ill.
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.
Yes. Our bridges and roads are crumbling.

No. It is too expensive.

Yes but the current price tag is too high. I support it but for less money.

No. States should pay for this, not the federal government.

I haven't really thought about it.

Vote

View Results
State Farm Scholars Celebrated at Annual Luncheon

Corey Schieler 97 of State Farm addressed scholarship recipients during the annual State Farm Scholars Luncheon.

Feb. 20, 2019

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  Corey Schieler 97, an Illinois Wesleyan University alum in his 22nd year as an investment professional at State Farm, is part of a team that manages approximately $300 billion in assets for the Fortune top 40 company headquartered in Bloomington.

On Wednesday, Feb. 20 during the annual State Farm Scholars Luncheon, Schieler spoke to Illinois Wesleyan student-scholarship recipients about State Farms significant investment in their education and future.

At State Farm, when we look to invest in a company, we first ask ourselves two basic questions: Is this an essential business? and What makes the business special? Schieler said.

As your speaker today, representing the annual investment that State Farm has made in you, Schieler continued, I challenge you  whatever your major  to find a way to -- one -- be essential to advancing your chosen profession, and -- two -- find a way to be special in that profession.

IWU State Farm Scholars were recognized during the annual State Farm Scholars Luncheon.

Schieler, who majored in Risk Management and Economics, reflected aloud upon his crucial time as an Illinois Wesleyan student, citing career-shaping experiences including his portfolio class and a financial analyst internship at the World Trade Center in New York City.

IWU taught me to think critically and be an effective communicator  both skills I need in helping State Farm manage its large and growing investments portfolio, Schieler said.

Schieler concluded his remarks by congratulating the State Farm Scholars for their achievements and contributions to the University, and he praised Illinois Wesleyan for continuing to serve as an essential and special place in the realm of higher learning.

State Farm scholarship recipient Grainne Kelly 19 (Orland Park, Illinois), a psychology major and first-generation college student, thanked State Farm for their investment which made IWU accessible. She shared her personal story with luncheon guests who included students, faculty, staff, and current and retired State Farm employees with Illinois Wesleyan connections.

State Farm scholarship recipient Grainne Kelly 19 expressed her gratitude for State Farm's support during the annual State Farm Scholars Luncheon.

With the support of State Farm and their passion to provide students with what I now know to be some of the greatest years of my life, my fellow students and I have been blessed with so much more than just the experiences that come along with a four-year college education, Kelly said.

Kelly, who is also a four-year member and two-year captain of the IWU womens lacrosse team, said that she and her fellow senior classmates are prepared to pursue their passions, spread their knowledge and achieve their goals upon graduation.

It is impossible to convey just how thankful we are for all that Illinois Wesleyan has given us, Kelly said. None of this would be possible without the help and support of State Farm, and for that, we are eternally grateful.

President Eric Jensen echoed Kellys gratitude to State Farm for the companys continued support of, and collaboration with, Illinois Wesleyan.

State Farm, through its commitment to this institution, has made a difference in the lives of our students through this scholarship program and in so many other ways, Jensen said.

Thank you.

By John Twork
More than a thousand miles away in Bowie, the 140-acre training facility that closed in 2015 and track closed in 1985 sits vacant, with neighbors complaining about its appearance. Stronach said the funding will allow them to build something similar to Palm Meadows in Bowie. There would be new barns, and possibly a community cafe where people could get breakfast in the morning and watch the horses train.
New digital threats that could topple business, government, military and political institutions is moving cybersecurity to the top of the congressional agenda. The newly seated 116th Congress has so far seen 30 bills introduced in the House of Representatives and seven bills introduced in the Senate that directly deal with cybersecurity issues. That does not include other pieces of legislation that have at least some provisions that deal with information and digital security.

A key problem in grappling with such a complex issue as cybersecurity in Congress  and in Washington in general  is the diffused responsibility spawned by the wide-ranging, interconnected nature of the topic. Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI), a member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, and one of the founders of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, flagged this stumbling block at the 2019 State of the Net conference in January by calling for consolidation in Congress over cybersecurity.

Noting that around 80 groups within the legislative branch claim some jurisdiction over cybersecurity matters, Langevin said, We as a Congress are going to have to move with greater agility to respond to the cybersecurity threats we face going forward, and we cant do it under the current construct. Langevin wants the House Homeland Security issue to take the lead on all matters related to cybersecurity.

For the time being, the multiplicity of congressional committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over cybersecurity combined with the complexity of the topic, which bleeds into other issues such as privacy and national security, makes it difficult to gain the momentum needed to actually pass meaningful cybersecurity legislation.

To clarify the current legislative state-of-play, the following are the broad-brush arenas in which congressional action of some kind will likely occur over the next two years.

Critical infrastructure legislation

With looming threats to the nations water, electric, transportation and other critical infrastructure sectors, a number of bills have been introduced. They tackle protecting the essential services that many believe are outdated and ripe for exploitation by malevolent actors. Several pieces of legislation dealing with critical infrastructure that failed to pass in the last Congress have already been teed up again for possible enactment during this session.

H.R.359 -- Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act: Representative Jerry McNerney (D-CA) introduced this bill, which directs the Department of Energy to facilitate and encourage public-private partnerships in order to address and mitigate the physical security and cybersecurity risks of electric utilities.

H.R.360  Cyber Sense Act of 2019: Introduced by Representative Robert Latta (R-OH), this bill creates a voluntary Department of Energy Cyber Sense program to identify and promote secure products in the bulk power system and establishes a testing and reporting process for cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

H.R.362 -- Energy Emergency Leadership Act: Introduced by Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL), this legislation requires the Secretary of the Department of Energy to assign energy emergency and energy security functions to an Assistant Secretary, including responsibilities with respect to infrastructure and cybersecurity.

H.R.370  Pipeline and LNG Facility Cybersecurity Preparedness Act: Sponsored by Fred Upton (R-MI), this bill requires the Department of Energy to implement a program to ensure the security, resiliency, and survivability of natural gas pipelines, hazardous liquid pipelines, and liquefied natural gas facilities. In the Senate, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has introduced S.300 - a bill to require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program relating to physical security and cybersecurity for pipelines and liquefied natural gas facilities.

H.R.680 -- Securing Energy Infrastructure Act: Representative Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) introduced this bill, which allocates $10 million for a two-year program within the Department of Energy National Laboratories to identify cyber vulnerabilities in energy sector non-digital systems and to test technologies that could defend the grid against cyberattacks. On the Senate side, Senator Angus King, Jr., (I-ME) introduced the 2019 companion edition of this bill in that chamber.

Workforce cybersecurity legislation

Given that (ISC)2, the nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals, estimates that there is now a shortage of almost three million cybersecurity professionals globally, its no surprise that the lack of cybersecurity expertise, particularly in the federal government, is a top topic for lawmakers.

S.3437 -- The Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Act: This bill was recently reintroduced by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and John Hoeven (R-ND). It would complement the 2015 Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Act by establishing a program where cybersecurity specialists within the federal government would be able to lend their expertise to whichever agency has a need. The bill would empower the Office of Personnel Management to develop an operational plan for the program and put together a list of open rotational cyber workforce positions where agencies have identified a need.

H.R.334 -- The New Collar Jobs Act of 2019: Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) revived his bill from the last Congress to establish an employee cybersecurity education tax credit, up to $5,000 a year per employee, for an employer who incurs costs for an employee who earns a certificate or degree at the undergraduate or graduate level or an industry-recognized certification listed in the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education's Cybersecurity Workforce Framework. The bill also increases the bid score for companies bidding on federal government contracts if they use the tax credit. It cancels up to $25,000 in student loans for workers who paid off 36 consecutive months of those loans and hold a cybersecurity job in an economically distressed area during at least 12 months of payments.

Supply chain cybersecurity legislation

In the midst of high-profile and controversial bans on the use of foreign technology by U.S. government and military offices, its no surprise that legislation tackling supply chain cybersecurity threats.

S.29 -- A bill to establish the Office of Critical Technologies and Security: Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced this bill early in the new Congress. A companion bill in the House, sponsored by Representative Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) H.R. 681, quickly followed. The legislation proposes a new Office of Critical Technology and Security to coordinate technology supply chain security efforts. The office, which would report to the President, would be assigned the task of stopping the transfer of critical emerging, foundational, and dual-use technologies to countries that pose a national security risk and developing a strategy to inform the private sector about critical supply chain risks.

Election cybersecurity legislation

H.R. 1 -- For the People Act of 2019: This was the first bill introduced in the new Congress. It was sponsored by John Sarbanes (D-MD), features a number of election security and modernization provisions, including cybersecurity standards for voting machines, an election bug bounties program, guidelines issued by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) for states, and best practices to prevent and deter attackers. The bill also provides grants to state and local government for election security and standards for election technology vendors to receive grant money.

H.R.52 -- the SAFETi Act: Introduced by Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), this bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to submit to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congress a report on actions taken by DHS relating to terrorist threats to the integrity of the 2016 federal election.

The Global Electoral Exchange Act: Senator and presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) recently reintroduced legislation from the last Congress. It would establish an international information sharing program on election administration and security at the State Department, enabling the U.S. to work with its international allies to strengthen election security by sharing best practices on audits, disinformation campaigns, and voter database protectionsamong other issues.

H.R.598 -- the Georgia Support Act: Introduced by Representative Gerald Connolly (D-VA), this bill offers, among other things, a series of actions to assist the State of Georgia with election-related cybersecurity matters. Georgia experienced a host of cybersecurity-related problems during the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 mid-term election, including an alarming and still murky last-minute allegation of partisan hacking by the successful gubernatorial candidate. The bill offers Georgia whatever assistance may be necessary to secure government computer networks from malicious cyber intrusions, particularly such networks that defend the critical infrastructure of Georgia

Bug bounty legislation

As mentioned earlier, H.R.1 has provisions for bug bounties, but another cybersecurity bill, one that the full Congress has already passed:

H.R.328, Hack Your State Department Act, sponsored by Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), offers bug bounties to hackers who undergo background checks in exchange for reports about vulnerabilities in the State Departments websites and other Internet assets. The Hack Your State Department Act follows a similar bill passed in the last Congress that established a bug bounty program for the Department of Homeland Security.

Even with this ambitious agenda, expect even more cybersecurity-related bills in the coming weeks and months. In particular, Senator Ron Wydens planned introduction of the Consumer Data Protection Act, is worth watching. That bill would empower the FTC to establish minimum privacy and cybersecurity standards, impose steep fines (up to 4 percent of revenues) on companies that violate privacy and security standards and even permit prison sentences for senior executives for their companies privacy and security violations.

Finally, Representative Langevin said he plans to reintroduce a bill he sponsored in the wake of Equifaxs massive data breach in 2017, the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, which provides for a single national breach notification standard, giving companies 30 days to disclose any breach of consumer data.
Available either as a hardcover book or via free download, the NASA book "Earth" presents some of the most dramatic images captured from space.

Using a mix of sources, including the International Space Station, Landsat and the Earth Observing-1 satellite (amongst others), the team at NASA has collated 69 of the most striking images and included some background scientific information to add interest.

Cloud-filled valleys in Peru. Image: NASA

According to the book's lead author, Michael Carlowicz in the foreword, "This book stands at an intersection of science and art. From its origins, NASA has studied our planet in novel ways, using ingenious tools to study physical processes at workfrom beneath the crust to the edge of the atmosphere. We look at it in macrocosm and microcosm, from the flow of one mountain stream to the flow of jet streams.

"Most of all, we look at Earth as a system, examining the cycles and processes  the water cycle, the carbon cycle, ocean circulation, the movement of heat  that interact and influence each other in a complex, dynamic dance across seasons and decades.

"We measure particles, gases, energy, and fluids moving in, on, and around Earth. And like artists, we study the lighthow it bounces, reflects, refracts, and gets absorbed and changed. Understanding the light and the pictures it composes is no small feat, given the rivers of air and gas moving between our satellite eyes and the planet below.

"For all of the dynamism and detail we can observe from orbit, sometimes it is worth stepping back and simply admiring Earth. It is a beautiful, awe-inspiring place, and it is the only world most of us will ever know.

"NASA has a unique vantage point for observing the beauty and wonder of Earth and for making sense of it. Looking back from space, astronaut Edgar Mitchell once called Earth 'a sparkling blue and white jewel, and it does dazzle the eye. The planet's palette of colors and textures and shapes  far more than just blues and whites  are spread across the pages of this book.

"We chose these images because they inspire. They tell a story of a 4.5-billion-year-old planet where there is always something new to see. They tell a story of land, wind, water, ice, and air as they can only be viewed from above. They show us that no matter what the human mind can imagine, no matter what the artist can conceive, there are few things more fantastic and inspiring than the world as it already is. The truth of our planet is just as compelling as any fiction."

Mount Taranaki on New Zealand's North Island. Note the circular national park boundary. Image: NASA

The book is available for purchase via the Government Printing Office bookstore for US$74.20 or may be downloaded without cost here.

The book is highly recommended.
Toyota Australia has suffered what it says is a cyber attack that is believed to have affected its website and mail systems.

Sections of the site are still down as can be seen from the screenshot below.

The company said in a statement: "Toyota Australia can confirm it has been the victim of an attempted cyber attack.

"At this stage, we believe no private employee or customer data has been accessed.

"The threat is being managed by our IT department who is working closely with international cyber security experts to get systems up and running again.

"At this stage we have no further details about the origin of the attack.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank customers for their patience."

The company was made aware of the attack on Wednesday, according to radio station 3AW's Rumour File.

News of the Toyota attack comes on the same day that the Melbourne Heart Group was revealed as being the victim of a Windows ransomware attack.

A number of security professionals were quick to offer comment on the Toyota hack. Geoff Andrews, regional director, APAC for identity provider Ping Identity, said: "As we are commonly seeing in all industries, and reported in Mandatory Breach Notification reports from OAIC, credential abuse is one of the major vectors of cyber attack.

"At the same time, increasingly, we are also seeing API infrastructures as an attack vector, and one where exploits known to evade web application firewalls and API gateways themselves are becoming more prevalent.

"A robust security posture requires organisations of all types to have strong, continuous and adaptive authentication and authorisation as part of their strategy to keep their business data, and that of their staff, customers and partners, secure. Additional security measures should be considered for API-forward organisations."

CQR Consulting co-founder and chief technology officer Phil Kernick said the recent breaches indicated it was time for Australian business to get on the front foot with their cyber defences.

"For too long businesses have claimed that they accept the risk of cyber attack without really understanding what it means, and only start responding after their systems have been breached and their data stolen," he said.

"In 2019, this is no longer good enough. Businesses need to proactively assess and protect against increasing cyber threats. The Australian Cyber Security Centre has already provided excellent advice to Australian businesses. Its time for Australian businesses to act."

Michael Warnock, Australia country manager of Aura Information Security, expressed surprise that businesses were still being caught by surprise.

"Given the potential for serious financial losses in the event of a cyber security breach, you might think that Australian businesses were fully on-board with doing whatever has to be done to mitigate harm. Unfortunately, that is not always the case," he said.

"While the majority of businesses have some sort of structure in place to keep the board and senior management apprised of security issues, our survey late last year found that one-fifth of Australian IT professionals report that senior managers dont regard cyber security as a key concern.

"Buy-in from senior management is essential for any company-wide process. Complacency on cyber-security from management puts the whole organisation at risk and organisations really do need to develop processes for monitoring and managing their cyber health.

LogRhythm APAC sales director Simon Howe said the data held by Toyota was extremely valuable. "The automotive industry holds design and customer data which are extremely valuable while at the same time, the cyber threat landscape is always evolving and hackers are getting more sophisticated with their methods of attack," he said.

"We must remember that if we are using technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning for cyber security, so are the hackers. Organisations simply dont have the means to block off every attack especially when hackers are targeting valuable information and the data stored and collected as they go digital.

"Instead, they should be looking at minimising the time to detect, respond and remediate a threat rather than just preventing a breach."

Sean Abbott, country manager of Australia and New Zealand for disaster-recovery firm Zerto, said: The ransomware and cyber attacks on Toyota Australia and Melbourne Heart Group serve as a strong reminder of the importance of data protection and having an IT-resilient strategy in place.

"With cyber attacks getting bolder and more sophisticated and hitting organisations when they least expect it, businesses need to ensure that theyre able to withstand and rebound from incidents that can potentially cripple their organisation. The ability for Australian organisations to respond to service disruptions and downtime and how fast they get back up and running is key to ensuring that the business financial and reputation is not compromised.

"More importantly, Australian businesses need to be available to their customers 24/7 and ensure that customer confidence in the organisation continues to remain high following a disruption. When it comes to data loss, continuous data replication is critical and a system that can capture every change, every second and allow for fast recovery is crucial to an organisation.
One year since the Australian Government put in place a data breach notification law, the only visible change is that the workload of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has increased - it has to issue quarterly breach list, But nobody is any the wiser as to how the man in the street is affected by the various breaches that are reported periodically.

The law seems to have been put in place merely to have something, anything  even tiny New Zealand had one long before Australia  rather than to be seen to be lagging behind the rest of the world.

Unlike the General Data Protection Regulation which was put in place by the European Union in May last year, the Australian law only caters for breach notification of pre-existing rights. The GDPR, on the other hand, recognises specific additional rights, including the right of reasonable access to enforcement.

The Australian law has no requirement for companies that are duty-bound to report a breach to the OAIC - there is a requirement that this should be done if turnover is more than $3 million - to also make it public.

Any companies that have gone public have done so to control the flow of information as the story was going to become common knowledge anyway.

There is no better example of this than the case of human resources firm PageUp People. The company provided highly sanitised versions of information after it suffered a massive breach, and the last time one looked, its chief executive Karen Cariss was claiming that no data had leaked to the public.

The company hired forensic investigator Klein & Co to find out the details of the breach but the only insight it offered to the public was that, "It [the investigation] concluded that while an attacker was successful in installing tools that could exfiltrate data, no specific evidence was found that data was exfiltrated." (emphasis mine).

So was there any general evidence that data was exfiltrated? (Emphasis mine again). Cariss did not mention the report anymore, but spent a good deal of the rest of a fairly long email wallowing in self-pity, outlining the strain that the company's staff were put under but having little regard to being open about the incident.

That theme  "we were hacked [due to our own incompetence] but yet we are to be pitied"  is also visible in the case of property valuation firm LandMark White which, said on its website, "Although LandMark White is one of the victims of this cyber crime, we take responsibility for this incident and deeply and sincerely regret that this incident has occurred."

In part, this is due to the authorities, and in particular the head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Alastair MacGibbon, who at one stage looked to be playing a PR role for PageUp.

An AFR article put it this way: "Earlier this week Australia's national cyber security adviser, Alastair MacGibbon, described PageUp as being effectively 'victimised' as a result of having to out itself to Australian customers before it even knew for certain there was a problem."

With sentiments like that being expressed by those who are supposed to be the guiding lights, it is no wonder that the legislation Australia is like a limp biscuit. A system that sees the powerful as the victims and the masses as those who deserve to remain ignorant can do no better.
Google has provided the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission another good reason to investigate the algorithms it uses for its ad network after its YouTube network was found to be harbouring paedophiles who share videos showing the exploitation of children.

A number of well-known companies, such as AT&T, Nestle, Disney, Fortnite maker Epic Games and German food giant Dr August Oetker pulled their ads after a report highlighted the issue with YouTube, more or less a repeat of what happened two years ago.

The head of Google Australia, Mel Silva, argued in a blog post on Thursday, that some of the ACCC's recommendations like an algorithm regulator would provide a poor outcome in its probe into the dominance of online companies in advertising and the impact it has on journalism in Australia.

YouTube also uses algorithms to try and find out unsuitable videos, but some of the technology it uses has produced less than stellar results leading to the banning of perfectly legitimate videos, mostly from smaller contributors who often make a living through the enterprise.

The New York Times ran a story in 2017, which began, "Over the years, Google trained computer systems to keep copyrighted content and pornography off its YouTube service." Obviously those systems are not up to scratch if paedophiles are using YouTube to indulge themselves and exploit children.

Last year, the non-profit Campaign for Accountability exposed the lax policing of Google's ad service by buying divisive ads on the search engine's service using Russian roubles and a Russian IP address.

The British division of the American website Wired also ran a story on the YouTube issues. It said, in part: "Videos of children showing their exposed buttocks, underwear and genitals are racking up millions of views on YouTube  with the site displaying advertising from major cosmetics and car brands alongside the content.

"Comments beneath scores of videos appear to show paedophiles sharing timestamps for parts of the videos where exposed genitals can be seen, or when a child does the splits or lifts up their top to show their nipples...

"The videos are also being monetised by YouTube, including pre-roll adverts from Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Fortnite, Grammarly, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Metro: Exodus, Peloton and SingleMuslims.com. Banner advertising for Google and the World Business Forum also appeared alongside some of the videos."

Given the lax manner in which the parent company Alphabet polices its properties, the ACCC should lead the way by hitting Google really hard and where it hurts. And that's by regulating the algorithms it uses. Nothing else will keep the company in line.
Several of Samsung's heralded features have been seen in last year's Mate 20 Pro from Huawei, but it is important for Samsung to catch up  and Apple, too.

An article over at News Corp shows an iPhone XS Max being wirelessly charged on the back of one of the new Samsung Galaxy S10 models, and apparently this is "bad news" for Apple.

This is supposedly because Apple doesn't have this feature, which Huawei was first to introduce to a mass market premium flagship smartphone with last year's Mate 20 Pro.

Of course, rumours appeared last week that Apple would be introducing such a feature, too, in its 2019 iPhone range, and if true, it would be most welcome.

That said, iPhones rip through battery life like there's no tomorrow, primarily because phones in 2019 are running so many apps, with so many background processes, with power-hungry screens, with Siri listening for wake-words and more.

It really makes me wonder whether I want to be charging other people's phones or my devices direct from my smartphone when it doesn't have enough battery life as it is, necessitating that I carry around a portable battery.

Naturally, it will be handy, and I would find uses for such a feature on a future iPhone, as would anyone whose phone is capable of such a feat.

The Mate 20 Pro's capability in this regard certainly is useful when needed, and with the Mate 20 Pro stopping the use of this feature once its battery hits the 40% mark, you can be sure you won't lose all of your power to other people who might want to wirelessly receive it from you.

Then there's the under-screen fingerprint reader. Huawei had this in the Mate 20 Pro, too, and whether we'll ever see it in an iPhone is yet to be seen, but with 3D infra-red face recognition even faster than a fingerprint reader, it's use is less relevant in 2019.

Well, except when your phone is flat on the table, and it can't read your face from that angle. In those cases, a fingerprint reader can certainly be handy to have, too.

As for 5G, the models that arrive this year will be the first generation models. Ever faster flavours of 5G will arrive each year, and while you will future-proof yourself to some degree, the new 5G models certainly won't be budget-friendly, but will be super premium priced to start with.

If you want the fastest 5G speeds and either live and work (or both) in capital city CBDs and absolutely must have the very fastest download and upload speeds, you will convince yourself that you need this feature and will pay for it.

For the rest of us, super fast 4G will do the job, and our next smartphone purchase will likely come with a more advanced version of 5G than this year's models will offer.

Next up are the three cameras on the back of some of the new S10 models, although not all.

This allows widescreen photos, something LG actually pioneered, and which is extremely handy when taking photos.

No more do you need to step backward when trying to capture a very wide canvas in front of you  just activate the widescreen mode and presto  great, wide photos!

Huawei owned this feature throughout 2018, and as noted it was pioneered by LG on smartphones, with Samsung launching one of its lesser galaxies with such a feature in late 2018, too.

Now some S10 models can do it too, and we can hope that Apple has finally seen the light in this regard and will offer this in 2019, too  something that it should certainly have done earlier, like in 2018, or even earlier still given LG's introduction of the feature three or four years ago.

The biggest question for smartphone buyers in 2019 is whether or not they need to buy a new model this year.

We can plainly see that each year brings ever more advanced models at flagship premium prices, while ever cheaper mid-range models keep on getting those advanced features trickling down and becoming standard on a regular basis.

If you purchased a new phone last year, will you really buy a new one this year?

If you're made of money and don't mind spending it, then sure! You probably will!

But for the rest of us, buying a smartphone is done when a contract expires at the earliest, or if one is lost, broken or stolen.

iOS 12 has made iPhone 5s models and above viable for longer than ever with actual security updates, while there are still people using old and out-of-date Androids and iPhones out there, even though those numbers would be low.

With flagship phones now costing well over $1000 and even well over $2000 in Australia, it really can pay to buy strategically, saving up and buying when you feel the time is right.

That's because each month that passes after a launch is one month closer to the next major model launching, and because smartphones cost more than laptops, notebooks and cheap second-hand cars.

Samsung's newest S10 and Fold models definitely look impressive, and will be clearly desirable by Samsung owners of older models, other Android owners who want to trade up to the newest models and even Apple device owners that are tempted to switch.

But the eventual sales figures will tell the tale of just how successful Samsung has been in selling its latest and greatest, with records released by Samsung showing the S8 and S9 weren't anywhere near as successful as Samsung wanted  even though they did sell in the millions upon millions.

Will you be buying one of these new models from Samsung? Or the new Huawei arriving in March? Or the new Samsung Note arriving in six months? Or one of the inexpensive Nokias in the market, including the new 8.1 model which launched earlier this week? Or the new iPhones later this year?

Whatever you choose to do, good luck  and may your smartphone be even smarter than you expected!
Australia is "a very attractive place for us to invest", GoCardless director of international expansion Pranav Sood told iTWire.

Direct-debit payments processor GoCardless announced Xero integration last August and opened its Melbourne office in September.

The company soon outgrew those premises and moved to a larger office in December, Sood said. GoCardless is still hiring, and expects to double the size of its Melbourne workforce  which mostly comprises sales and marketing roles  by the end of 2019.

GoCardless is attracted to Australia because of its healthy fintech ecosystem, the growing incidence of recurring payments, and the appetite for change for the better, Sood told iTWire.

While Xero has a "fantastic ecosystem" covering various business cases, GoCardless works with some 150 software providers around the world. Some  like Xero  offer horizontal products, others serve specific verticals. For example, GoCardless integrates with a system designed for window cleaners in the UK.

Sood said the partnership with Xero is proving successful, but GoCardless also works with other accounting systems that are well known in Australia and New Zealand, including Sage, Quickbooks and subscription-focussed Zuora. GoCardless supports recurring and one-off payments.

The company works closely with the best platforms to deliver products that customers will value, Sood said.

GoCardless has two new products to help businesses.

"Cash flow is a problem everybody has", so GoCardless intends to give its users the option of instant (same-day) settlement rather than having to wait two to five days for payments to clear. Sood would not be drawn on the question of an additional fee being charged for instant settlement.

The GoCardless foreign exchange service already allows users to receive payments via direct debit in 35 countries (Europe, Australia and New Zealand), with planned expansion to the US by the end of 2019.

The company processes US$10 billion of payments a year, with 40,000 merchants a month using its services.

This volume of transactions means there is a lot of data for the company to use in order to detect merchant or customer fraud, and to time debit requests to maximise the chances of transactions succeeding.

From a merchant's perspective, the advantages of collecting payments via direct debit from bank accounts instead of credit cards are that transaction fees are lower (1% with a maximum charge of $3.50, as opposed to credit card charges of around 2% or more with no cap), and a higher success rate because individuals' and businesses' bank account details change much less frequently than their credit card details.

GoCardless recently secured a US$75 million capital injection. In this round, existing investors Accel Partners, Balderton Capital, Notion Capital and Passion Capital were joined by Adams Street Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Salesforce Ventures.
A majority of Southwest Florida residents believe that climate change will personally affect their health and homes, and they want the government to do something about it.

Those are the results of the first-ever Southwest Florida Climate Metrics Survey revealed Wednesday morning by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, EcoAmerica, and the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.

In September, they conducted a survey of 401 residents in Southwest Florida to gauge the publics current attitudes about climate change, as part of a national survey of 800 people.

Sometimes you hear anecdotal stories that people are doubting its happening or some people think its real or not real. This is the first thing that sort of objectively quantifies what peoples beliefs are around climate change, said Rob Moher, CEO of the Conservancy.

Jennifer Roberts, director of EcoAmericas Path to Positive Communities program, said the main takeaway from the survey is that 7 in 10 Southwest Florida residents are concerned about climate change.

(Hurricane) Irma was really a wake-up call for this community, she said, noting that 67 percent of people locally said they feel affected by extreme weather and flooding, compared to 49 percent nationally.

The major areas where Southwest Florida residents are more aware and concerned is being affected by damage and harm from extreme weather, said Roberts.

Ninety-three percent of those surveyed said that the government should do more to protect our mangroves and wetlands, and 69 percent of Southwest Florida residents recognize the link between climate change, pollution, and toxic algae outbreaks.

There is a marked difference in the publics awareness of what their local government is doing to battle climate change, and what they wish their government would do.

Nineteen percent say their city is taking action to prepare for impacts, and three-quarters wish their city would prepare, Roberts said.

The survey also revealed strong environmental values.

Ninety-one percent said they feel a moral responsibility to keep the climate healthy, and 92 percent said clean water is a critical right for all people.

There was also strong support for expanding clean energy and eco-friendly public transportation systems, and 82 percent said they would support charging corporations a fee for the pollution they create.

The majority of respondents reported that they get their information regarding climate change from the news media, and their most trusted sources for information are scientists, health professionals and environmental organizations.

Over half have switched to eco-friendly appliances in their homes and are discussing climate change with their friends and family.

The survey shows us that people are ready for action, they are looking to leaders to help guide them, and they are willing to make personal changes, said Roberts.
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:
Analysis Rising Public Concern Over Vacant Land Law Amendment Goes Unaddressed

An ethnic Kayan woman on her farm in Demoso Township, Kayah State on June 2017. / The Irrawaddy

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  The six-month window for the registration of vacant, fallow and virgin land for the use of agribusiness in accordance with the newly amended Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Land Management Law will come to a close on March 11.

One month after the amended law was passed by the Union Parliament last September, the government began efforts in raising awareness about the law, using state-run media to urge the public to register land despite a lack of information on specific bylaws.

The law gave rise to public outcry from those who condemned it as unfair and a threat to land rights of the ethnic minority groups who practice traditional customary tenure and who fear losing their lands which they own without legal statutory tenure.

Last week, the Chin Land Affairs Network (CLAN), with members from all nine townships of Chin State, urged for the law to be revoked, saying it would ignite conflict in the area.

Mang Za Khup, CLANs spokesperson, said Chin people are the original owners of lands in Chin State and this must not be changed without explicit consent from the indigenous Chin people. He told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Chin people have lived and worked on freehold lands in the state for thousands of years and that the 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law and its 2018 amendment would cause them to lose their freehold land rights.

Likewise, hundreds of civil society groups and land rights networks from ethnic Karen, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Karenni and Mon communities have been expressing their concerns over the laws.

In December, the Karen National Union (KNU), a signatory of the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), publically objected to the law and urged for it to be revoked, saying it goes against the principles of the NCA which stipulates that the drafting of land policies is to take place at sessions of the Union Peace Conference.

Padoh Mahn Ba Tun, head of the KNUs forestry department, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the KNU would hold negotiations with the government on the issue as the governments principles on land issues are based on a state-owned approach, while the Karen practice community ownership.

Many of those in the ethnic areas want to continue their practice of shared land ownership which includes freehold lands, community forest reserves and customary tenure for rotational farming practice.

For example, in KNU-controlled areas in Tannitharyi Region and Karen and Mon states, there is an estimated 3 million acres of land regarded as community forests, wildlife sanctuaries and forest reserves, according to Padoh Mahn Ba Tun.

Which amendments to the law are causing concern?

The amended law stipulates that lands under customary tenure do not need to undergo registration. Article 30 (a and b) of the amended law specifically mentions that lands to be registered would not include (a) those under customary tenure of the local indigenous people or (b) public land including religious compounds, socio-economic buildings and roads.

Members of the ethnic minorities have decried the lack of details on how the customary tenures would be exempted and through decades of experience with difficult bureaucratic structures, many do not trust on the laws.

What we want is for the customary tenure and freehold lands to be protected under the law, not to be destroyed, Mang Za Khup, who is a resident of Chin States Tedim Township.

He added that there have been cases of outsiders who are not Chin nor from the state trying to register Chin lands so they may use them for their own agriculture businesses and this affects their traditional rights to customary tenure.

Lands in Myanmar are constitutionally owned by the state in accordance with the 2008-military backed Constitution and every land user is required to seek registration from the land records department.

Some 45 to 50 million acres of land in Myanmar is regarded vacant, fallow or virgin. Some 82 percent of this land lies in the ethnic states, according to a November statement published by Land In Our Hands, a non-government land rights group which cited data from the governments department of farmland management and statistics.

The law says the government is carrying out the land registration process with the aim of boosting economic development in the country and to create job opportunities for landless citizens by using the vacant, fallow and virgin lands for agriculture, animal husbandry, mining and other legal businesses. The main crop is to be rice grown for both export and domestic consumption.

As of May 2018, figures from the agriculture ministry show 5.9 million farmers were given certificates to use 24.86 million acres of farmland after they registered their lands.

The amendment to the law stipulates that the Central Committee may grant rights to the use VFV land for 30 years of lease for areas covering 3,000 to 30,000 acres for the growing perennial plants, farming and industrial crops, bringing the figure down from 5,000 to 50,000 under the previous law.

The law says small hold farmers can apply for up to 50 acres of land for their home business of agriculture or animal husbandry.

The law stipulates punishments for those who fail to register their landthose found working or living on unregistered land will be considered trespassers and could also face a punishment of up to two years imprisonment or a 500,000-kyats fine.

Those with existing businesses in agriculture, livestock or mining may continue their businesses by seeking an extension permit where necessary. Under the amended law, anyone using lands for a use different to its registered within four years of registration would have their land seized.

The deputy permanent secretary of the agriculture, livestock and irrigation ministry U Myo Tint Htun recently told The Irrawaddy that the ministry is doing their best to get the information about the updated law to the people in rural areas because many are still unaware of the amendment.

The rush to claim lands of the displaced

The law also concerns those who are currently internally displaced (IDPs) from conflict zones in Kachin, Shan, and Rakhine states. Some 106,290 people in Kachin and Shan states are still seeking shelter in both government- and ethnic armed group-controlled areas, according to the UNOCHAs January 2019 figures. In Rakhine State, nearly 128,000 people are currently displaced. Some 100,000 long-term refugees residing at the Thailand-Myanmar border are still unable to reclaim their lands as they have not been able to return to their home villages despite the peace process being in motion for the past seven years.

U La Dee is one of the IDPs who has been taking shelter at the Baptist church in Moemauk Township, Kachin State since fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army was reignited in June 2011. More than 70 households from his village, Takaw in Moemauk, fled their homes and joined some 3,000 IDPs sheltering at the churches in Moemauk.

He is worried that the requirements to register their lands for agribusiness or commercial use would make them lose the rights to their lands. Last year, the villagers of Takaw were outraged when they heard about interest from a number of companies in registering their lands as vacant or virgin land in order to secure them for use as tissue-culture banana plantations. He said the companies have already planted some 700 acres of banana tissue-culture plantations in the neighboring village of Nam Seng. Chinese companies earning the rights to use lands for their agribusinesses have been widely reported across many townships in Kachin State.

As for lands belonging to Kachin IDPs, the Kachin State government says it is aware of business operators rushing in to claim rights to the lands for their own agribusinesses and that it has instructed that permission to use land in such ways should not be authorized.

During my meeting with the Kachin State Chief Minister [U Hket Awng], he said he does not allow these lands to be used for those businesses, said N-htung Hka Naw Sam, a lower house lawmaker from Myitkyina, Kachin State.

The lawmaker told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the chief minister firmly said the state government does not allow such actions on the lands of the IDPs, who he said will soon be able to return home if the militarys four-month ceasefire continues.

Despite the IDPs hopes of returning to their own lands, the continued presence of military troops near civilian villages makes their returnand thus their efforts in registering their landsimpossible.

We want to go back to our village but the military are still camped near the village, said U La Dee, If fighting were to break out again, we would be the war victims again, therefore we hope for stability and peace in our areas, said U La Dee.
World Britain Managing Huawei Risks, Has No Evidence of Spying: Official

A woman poses for a photograph in front of a Huawei Mate 20 series sign at a launch event in London, Britain, on Oct. 16. / Reuters

LONDON/BRUSSELS  Britain is able to manage the security risks of using Huawei telecoms equipment and has not seen any evidence of malicious activity by the company, a senior official said on Wednesday, pushing back against U.S. allegations of Chinese state spying.

Ciaran Martin, head of Britains National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said Britain had yet to decide on its security policy for national 5G networks, but that Huawei equipment was subject to detailed oversight and strict government controls over where it was used.

Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei, Martin, whose NCSC is part of Britains GCHQ intelligence agency, said at a cybersecurity conference in Brussels.

Asked later whether Washington had presented Britain with any evidence to support its allegations, he told reporters: I would be obliged to report if there was evidence of malevolence  by Huawei. And were yet to have to do that. So I hope that covers it.

Huawei, the worlds biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations of enabling state espionage, with Washington calling for allies not to use the companys technology.

No evidence has been produced publicly and Huawei has repeatedly denied the claims, but the allegations have led several Western countries to restrict the companys access to their markets.

Martin said it was for the U.S. government to comment on what information it had about the company but added: From our point of view  if you look at the detailed paper were publishing, we set out the way we manage the risks.

The White House did not return a request for comment and the Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, responded by saying he wanted to more fully understand the UKs reasoning.

The United States and its allies need to maintain a common front against the supply chain risk of equipment from countries that do not respect the rule of law and that routinely place extra-judicial surveillance demands on domestic firms, he said.

Huawei under fire

Britain is a key battleground for Huawei in its campaign to resist U.S. pressure in Europe.

Any decision by London to allow the Chinese company to participate in building next-generation 5G networks would be watched closely by other nations because of Britains membership of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group along with the United States.

But the company has come under fire in Britain since a government report in July last year found that technical and supply-chain issues with its equipment had exposed national telecoms networks to new security risks.

Vodafone, the worlds second-largest mobile operator, said last month it was pausing deployment of Huawei equipment in core networks until Western governments give full security clearance.

Other operators in Europe, including Britains BT and Frances Orange, have already removed Huaweis equipment or taken steps to limit its future use.

Commenting on the report, Martin said: As we said then, and repeat today, these problems are about standards of cyber security; they are not indicators of hostile activity by China.

A Huawei spokesman said the company would spend $2 billion on efforts to address the problems. We remain committed to designing and producing technology to the highest standards of security and safety for customers in 170 countries around the world, he said.

Martin said Huawei had accepted the findings of the report and pledged to address them, but acknowledged that doing so would take some years.

We will monitor and report on progress and we will not declare the problems are on the path to being solved unless and until there is clear evidence that this is the case, he said.

We will not compromise on the improvements we need to see from Huawei.
Burma Woman, 18, Killed in Her Home as Army Opens Fire on Village in N. Rakhine

Ma Kay Thi Soe, 4, who was wounded when Myanmar Army soldiers reportedly fired indiscriminately into her village, appears with her mother at Sittwe General Hospital on Thursday. / Than Tun / Facebook

YANGONAn 18-year-old woman was shot dead, a 4-year-old girl was injured and two villagers were arrested by the Myanmar military in Myin Hpu village of northern Rakhine States Rathedaung Township on Wednesday, village administrative officials and residents said.

Myin Hpu village administrator U Moe Kaung, who attended the funeral of the dead woman, Ma Ye Ye Soe, on Thursday afternoon, told The Irrawaddy over the phone that she had been shot in the face, with a bullet shattering her cheek.

He said that at about 10 oclock on Wednesday, about five fully equipped soldiers led by a major and a captain questioned him at his home, while about 40 other soldiers took up positions in the village.

A mine exploded near the village at 11:30 a.m.. Though no one was hurt in the attack, the blast prompted the Army troops to randomly shoot into the village, sending locals fleeing to safer locations.

Some villagers were able to escape the indiscriminate shooting, but Ma Ye Ye Soe was struck by the gunfire in her home. Although there was no gunfire coming from the village, the Army unit fired on the village for almost one hour, leaving some homes riddled with bullet holes.

U Moe Kaung was tied up with a rope for several hours but set free by the soldiers when the situation returned to normal. He said two villagers, U Than Pe and Ko Wai Soe Tun, were detained by soldiers and taken away from the village at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday. U Moe Kaung said he reported the Armys arbitrary arrests and reckless firing on the village to the General Administration Department (GAD) as well as to local legislators.

I witnessed with my own eyes that Army soldiers were the only armed group shooting at the homes, U Moe Kaung said.

On Thursday evening Yanghee Lee, the UNs special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, re-tweeted a photograph apparently showing Ma Ye Ye Soes dead body with a large bullet wound in her face. Lee wrote above the image: Civilians must never be targeted!

U Bar Daung, father of Ma Kay Thi Soe, 4, confirmed that his daughter was injured in the shooting and was receiving medical treatment in the Rakhine state capital at Sittwe General Hospital on Thursday. He also said the shooting was entirely one-way, following the mine explosion near the village.

After the shooting, soldiers detained about 100 men on the shore of a nearby lake from about 11.00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ko Maung Than Win, one of the detainees in Wednesdays raid, claimed that the villagers were ordered to kneel down on the shore and not to look at the soldiers faces. At about 5 p.m., the soldiers freed all of the villagers except U Than Pe and Ko Wai Soe Tun.

They did not allow us to drink a sip of water or eat anything. No one dared to speak or glance up, even as the soldiers kicked them in the face, Ko Maung Than Win said.

Primary school teacher Daw Moe Kyi from Myin Hpu village said some soldiers followed three local residents into the compound of the village school and fired several rounds. Mobile devices were grabbed by soldiers and later returned to the teachers.

The school exam was also halted, Daw Moe Kyi said.

Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief could not be reached for comment on Thursday. On Wednesday, he told The Irrawaddy he had no information about the incident in Rathedaung. Some locals told The Irrawaddy that the military unit belongs to the Myanmar Armys 22nd Division, and transported the two detainees to Zay Di Pyin Police Station on Thursday.
Burma Ta'ang Teen Shot Dead by Military in Shan State, Rights Group Says

People prepare a coffin for Mai Aike Zaup, who was shot dead by Myanmar military sholdiers on Monday in northern Shan State, according to the Ta'ang Women's Organization. / Tar Kaga Tim / Facebook

Mon State  The Myanmar military shot dead an ethnic Taang teenager in northern Shan State on Monday night and compensated the family after apologizing, according to the Taang Womens Organization (TWO), a local rights group.

Mai Aike Zaup, 17, was returning home from a pagoda festival with a friend when they met a group of soldiers at the entrance of their village of Okk Mann Lee, in Kutkai Township, at about 9 p.m., according to TWO researcher Lway Che Sa Nga. She said her group spoke with village officials and the teens family but no eyewitnesses to the shooting itself.

According to the family and village officials, she said, the soldiers told them they opened fire as the teens were running away from them, thinking they might be members of the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic armed group active in the area. She said Mai Aike Zaup was hit several times and died at a local hospital, and that his friend escaped.

When they left the village, there was no army. But they met the army on their way back. They were afraid of the army, so they tried to run away, Lway Che Sa Nga told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

She said the soldiers were from the militarys Light Infantry Battalion 361, under Military Operation Command 10. Mai Aike Zaups family said the soldiers apologized for killing their son and paid them 2 million kyat ($1,311) in compensation.

Lway Che Sa Nga said TWO was considering how to take legal action against the military for the teens death but would consult with the family on its wishes.

A person who answered the phone of Col. Tun Nay Win, a spokesman for the military in northern Shan State, said the colonel was in a meeting and could not comment.

The military has been fighting with a number of ethnic armed groups in the area for several years, including the TNLA, and is accused of numerous related human rights abuses.

It late December the military announced a unilateral four-month ceasefire in the north and east of Myanmar, but there have been some clashes since. The TNLA says it fought with military soldiers on Monday in Namkham Township, also in northern Shan State.
Burma In a First, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Lectures at National Defense College

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addresses an audience in Shan State. / State Counselor's Office

NAYPYITAW  State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto leader and foreign minister, for the first time spoke at the National Defense College in Naypyitaw on Tuesday.

It was her first time. She lectured representing the Foreign Ministry. I heard that she also explained the current situation in Myanmar. She had lunch with the trainees, a military officer told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

The officials said she also touched on Myanmars foreign policy and that her appearance at the college was a sign of positive relations between the military and her civilian government.

The military had invited the Foreign Ministry to deliver a series of lectures at the college.

The college trains many of the militarys colonels and has a reputation for taking in officers with leadership potential. Much of their studies focus on the politics and economies of other countries.

Other senior government officials have lectured at the college before, including Investment Commission Secretary U Aung Naing Oo, but the state counselors turn was especially significant, said one colonel, who asked not to be named.

Relevant scholars have delivered lectures on politics and economics. There were also some ministers who came and lectured. But this is the first time the state counselor has lectured, he said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyis lectures came amid her ruling National League for Democracy partys attempts to amend the military-drafted Constitution in Parliament. The military has been resisting the move, claiming the party is not following proper procedures, which the party denies.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Asia Malaysia to Put Former Goldman Sachs Banker on Trial Before U.S. Extradition

Men walk past a 1MDB billboard at the fund's flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 1, 2015. / Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR  Malaysia may postpone the extradition to the United States of a former Goldman Sachs banker wanted over a multibillion-dollar scandal at the state fund, as he has to face criminal charges in the Southeast Asian nation first, its home minister said.

Roger Ng has been detained in Kuala Lumpur since Nov. 1, soon after the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) filed charges against him for allegedly laundering funds siphoned from the fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Last week a Malaysian court ruled for Ng to be extradited to the United States, pending an order from the Home Affairs Ministry.

We will carry out the extradition, but we want to make sure that this case in Malaysia will be completed first, Home Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Tuesday.

Malaysias attorney-general had advised that Ng remain in the country until he has been tried on the separate criminal charges, he added.

That is the advice of the attorney-general and we will likely follow it, Muhyiddin said in an audio recording of his news conference heard by Reuters.

Ngs lawyer, Tan Hock Chuan, was not immediately available to comment. The attorney-generals office did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Malaysian authorities and the DoJ are investigating Goldman Sachs for its role as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB.

Ng was charged in Kuala Lumpur with four counts of abetting the bank to provide misleading statements in the offering prospectus for the bonds the bank helped sell for 1MDB.

The DoJ has estimated that a total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated by high-level 1MDB fund officials and their associates between 2009 and 2014, including some of the funds that Goldman Sachs helped raise.

Goldman Sachs has consistently denied wrongdoing and said certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to it about the bond sale proceeds.

Tim Leissner, another Goldman Sachs official, and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho have also been charged in the United States over the scandal. Leissner has pleaded guilty.
Two recent fires at The Shannon Key West Hotel have caused significant upset to parishioners on both sides of the River Shannon in Rooskey.

It is all the more disturbing since it is suggested that the fires are a response to the proposed use of the hotel to house refugees.

Militant opposition, expressed in the destruction of property, is simply not consistent with the Gospel.

Every civilised society is bound under international law to provide shelter for refugees. Jesus teaches us that we will be judged, among other things, on how we respond to the needs of those who are without shelter.

The Catholic Church in Ireland has frequently expressed concern about the negative aspects of Direct Provision Centres where asylum seekers often live for many years, without the possibility of a normal family life. Refugees need their own personal and family space. They also need to be supported in becoming part of the wider community in which they live. We believe that many of our parishioners would want to welcome refugees and offer them such support.

The wellbeing of local communities and of refugees alike requires that the provision of facilities for those who have lost everything must be carefully planned, in consultation with all the stakeholders, including local schools and health services. We join with the clergy and parishioners on both sides of the river in calling on all concerned, including the civil authorities, to engage in the kind of dialogue and consultative planning that will allow the best possible outcome, both for refugees and for the local community.

Francis Duffy

Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois

Kevin Doran

Bishop of Elphin

If you would like to have your say on the issue of the day then visit here or send your submission to digitaldesk@examiner.ie
To want to see yourself in others is natural.

For those fortunate enough to grow up surrounded by birth family the concept of 'genealogical bewilderment ' as used by British researcher H.J.Sants in 1964 to describe a sense of disconnectedness, a feeling of being cut off from your heritage, will seem alien.

Feelings of belonging and security are nurtured by looking like the people around you - this is particularly relevant for people adopted from outside of the country.

In my own experience as an adoptive parent to two intercountry adopted children - the finding of birth information was key. This involved employing a searcher to travel to Russia and Kazakhstan, a monumental task in itself, but the information was thankfully available.

Particularly welcome was a medical history, a crucial part of any adoptee birth information search. Distance and language differences have made reunion with my children's birth family challenging - so far it hasn't happened.

However, having photographs and messages from the birth families helped fill a missing jigsaw piece and was enough to fulfil deepseated wondering and centre my children's world in some way.

My point is that just because an adopted person is searching for information does not automatically mean they will show up on a birth mother or father's doorstep. Often, knowing who and where you sprung from, what a birth mother or father looked like and a medical history, are enough. A search is not always a reunion. The fear, however, that the adoptee will show up on an unsuspecting birth parent's doorstep is at the heart of the sealing of adoption records.

The adopted person has already had someone else make a life changing decision on their behalf in which they had no say. The act of adopting a child is one of love but adoption is far from an all round celebration.

The child grows up and asks "Where did I come from?" and "Why was I adopted?".

It is now widely accepted that every adopted person wonders about their birth roots. Not every adopted person acts on this but many do. The need to know your identity and who you sprung from is primal and human and absence of that information can inflict trauma.

On a more practical level, medical information: hereditary diseases et al, is the pragmatic side of wanting to gain birth information.

Studies of adoptees' who searched for birth family information, suggest that needing medical history is the top motivator rather than reunion with birth family.

The concept of placing need for medical history at the forefront of the adoptee request for information may well be the way forward.

Until then, the adoptee who presents to their G.P. with a condition that may be hereditary is faced with uncertainty and may nurse understandable resentment at the prevention of what seems like a natural right: knowing your birth and medical history, by what can be deemed archaic legislation badly in need of update.

The protection of the privacy of one group of people at the expense of the wellbeing of another, while presenting a dilemma for legislators, is a serious matter for those impacted.

For people who may feel they have already endured the loss of identity through adoption, the additional hurt of being disallowed to access personal information including vital medical history is an injustice keenly felt.

Mari Gallagher, Newbridge, Kildare

If you would like to have your say on the issue of the day then visit here or send your submission to digitaldesk@examiner.ie
Midwife Philomena Canning has been battling the HSE in court for years. Now, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, she says her fight is over, writes Michael Clifford

PHILOMENA Canning isnt going to get her day in court. She has a terminal illness, but even if she manages to defy the odds, its unlikely that her case will ever go to a hearing.

Ms Canning is a midwife of considerable repute. She is suing the HSE over what she considers a serious injustice. More than that though, she believes the safety of mothers was compromised by the HSE in a manner that has gone unacknowledged.

She was determined that these matters would receive a public airing which would highlight both the nature of her grievance and the safety issues which she believes are paramount.

Now that prospect looks to have been denied to her.

Ive run out of time, she told the Irish Examiner. The HSE strategy since I said I wouldnt settle has been to prolong, to drag their heels, and this has been going on since 2014.

I was diagnosed [with ovarian cancer] last year and the only thought on my mind since that day was, am I going to last till I get to court with this case?. The idea of going to my grave without getting to the end is unbearable.

Ms Canning is greeted by supporters as she arrived at the High Court in 2014

Ms Canning, a native of Co Donegal, worked in Australia and New Zealand before returning to this country 20 years ago and establishing herself as an independent midwife.

In that capacity, she delivered around 500 babies in homebirths. She had an exemplary safety record. Those who have availed of her services speak in terms that vary from affection and respect to veneration. She was also a public advocate for homebirths, which reflected her vocational dedication to the service.

By August 2014, she had advanced plans to open a homebirth centre, a facility that is common in the UK and Europe. The HSE wasnt keen on the idea and rejected it.

The following month, she received a call on a Friday evening. Her indemnity insurance was being cancelled without notice as two cases involving safety risk had come to the attention of the HSE. One of these involved a post-partum haemorrhage, a loss of blood soon after childbirth.

Ms Canning was stunned. Neither of the two mothers had complained and were perfectly happy with their midwife. In fact, both only became aware that the midwife was under investigation when they were informed some months later.

At the time of the suspension, she had up to 30 expectant mothers at different stages of pregnancy.

All were forced to seek alternative midwifery services.

Ms Canning applied to the High Court to have her indemnity reinstated. The judge ruled in favour of the HSE. In preparation for a Supreme Court appeal, her legal team commissioned two expert reports  from an obstetrician in the UK and midwifery expert in Trinity College  to examine the cases at issue. The HSE commissioned its own expert report. All three came to the conclusion that she had not in any way acted unprofessionally or with negligence.

Faced with such a body of evidence, the HSE backed down just before the scheduled Supreme Court hearing in February 2015 and agreed to reinstate her indemnity. There was, however, a sting in the tail.

The HSE was conducting a systems analysis into what had occurred in the two cases. This was supposed to be completed in March but went on for another six months.

So I had to wait for the systems analysis because they might decide to suspend me permanently, she says. In those circumstances, I couldnt take any mother on and start providing care for her in the knowledge that I might have to drop her.

During this time, then minister for health Leo Varadkar met Ms Canning. Afterwards, he said he had asked the HSE to hurry up its investigations.

Parallel to the systems analysis, the HSE conducted a peer midwifery review of Ms Cannings practice. Again, this found entirely in her favour apart from a minor issue over interpersonal relations with a HSE official.

Notably, at no point was Ms Cannings practice referred to the professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, which investigates fitness to practice. If there were genuine concerns about Ms Cannings practice, that was the body to determine whether they were valid.

The systems analysis was a different matter. It was conducted by two individuals, an administrator and a physiotherapist. It was overseen by the official who had suspended Ms Canning.

The analysis ultimately laid the blame for the post-partum bleed with Ms Canning, a finding that was completely at odds with all the professional reports into the matter.

Despite that, she was free to resume practice, but what she had been through had left its mark.

It was all over, she says. I was never going to be able to go back into practice as a midwife in that context because I couldnt trust them  I would be continually looking over my shoulder.

You need support. Any clinician needs to be in an environment of support and there was no way I was going to put a mother and babys life at risk.

She had by then received the first tranche of discovery in her legal action which, she says, reinforced her belief that the HSE had not acted with propriety in the matter. A settlement offer was made, but she rejected it.

I said no. Of course I wanted money to compensate me for my loss of earnings but the overriding thing for me was that it would be known publicly what they did in my case and that I believe a serious safety incident was covered up here for which I was to be blamed.

Philomena with children she helped deliver as she challenged the withdrawl of indemnity cover from her practice.

THE HSE has not conceded liability in the case Philomena Canning is bringing against it. Since 2015, the case has dragged on, despite Ms Cannings urgency to have it brought to court.

Discovery from the HSE has been painfully slow.

Meanwhile, she was forced to sell her home because she couldnt make the repayments. Then last year, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which has now advanced to a terminal condition.

Her only hope, she believes, is access to the immunotherapy drug, Pembro.

This costs 6,000 per treatment  money she doesnt have. She feels she has no choice but to get the matter settled so she can access money for the drug that may help prolong her life.

I dont know how long I have but I want it settled now, she says. I fear it could be weeks but I dont have weeks. I want my lawyers to get their fees and whatever money I can get out of it to fund my own treatment.

Theres no way Im going to get a hearing now. I always wanted a hearing. I wanted the public to understand what was done to me and how I believe there was mismanagement at a high level. I wanted the story to go into the public domain so it would be there for all to see.
| BY Lynchy |

Lisa Hezila will be stepping down from her role as Group Managing Director for VMLY&R Malaysia after 15 years to pursue personal interests.

Hezila will leave the business at the end of March to support the transition to Eric Ho, who took on the reins as Managing Director on January 1, 2019.

Hezila started her journey with VMLY&R in 2004, as General Manager of ParagonY&R, before being promoted to Managing Director, Y&R Malaysia in 2012. Lisa is known for her commitment and dedication to her team and clients, and her proven track record of driving innovation, digital and creativity. During her time with VMLY&R she has forged deep relationships with clients and has been instrumental in building the Malaysia business from the ground up.

Hezila said, VMLY&R is a fantastic company with a strong culture of creativity and business know-how that always delivers for clients. For the last 15 years the team has been my family  it has been a fantastic journey, and I am proud of what myself and the team has achieved during this time, working to build the Malaysia office into the robust digital-first agency it is today. This is an exciting time for VMLY&R, and I am happy in the knowledge that I am handing over the reins to an incredibly strong, passionate and talented team who always strive to go the extra mile for the client.

Incoming Managing Director, Eric Ho, moved to Malaysia from VMLY&Rs Regional Headquarters in Singapore. He has been in the communications industry for more than 10 years on both the agency and client-side, and brings with him a wealth of experience.

Specialising in integrated communications, Eric previously led new business development for VMLY&R Government Practice for VMLY&R Singapore and Market Development for VMLY&R Malaysia.

Lisa has been a bundle of energy, enthusiasm and optimism for us over the decades. She helped put VMLY&R on the map and has been a trailblazer in the industry, having been part of many industry bodies. We will dearly miss her, and I do want to take this time to thank Lisa for putting her heart and soul into building an agency whose continued success is going to be her legacy, said Tripti Lochan, co-CEO of VMLY&R Asia (pictured above).

This is an exciting time for VMLY&R as we continue to match leadership, talent and skillsets to help our clients futureproof their businesses by building truly connected brands. Eric is an exceptional leader, who comes with over 10 years of experience in future oriented digital marketing  and we look forward to his continued dedication in providing clients with the most relevant and contemporary agency offering in the market today.
A FARMED field of seven acres, in the heart of suburban Douglas in Cork city is being sold for about 10m, or 1.4m an acre, to rapidly-expanding developers Centurion Homes, currently active in Dublin and Cork.

The truly prime site made considerably over expectations of 1m per acre, or 7/8m all-in when it went to market in November with Savills Cork: its understood to have attracted interest from up to eight bidders, both locals and from Dublin/nationally, with best bids sought by December.

Its likely to take a development of 150 homes, in a mix of houses and apartments, which may be pitched at the Build to Rent sector, on a site 750 metres from Douglas village, and 2.5kms from the city centre.

Centurion Homes have emerged as the successful preferred bidders, in a sale by licence, of the highly-valuable prime residential development land, between the main and south Douglas roads.

Headed in Dublin by Mark Leonard, and in Cork by director Noel Barry, Centurion Homes completed the 27-unit Kinsale development Cluain Mara last year, and have projects in Dublin at The Rise in Mount Merrion, and at Irishtown.

They are currently active on the former Eir site, at Ballintemple next to Cork Constitution RFC, developing around 70 units at Aylesbury. That launched via Savills in October, at prices from 290,000 for two-bed apartments, to detacheds in the mid 700,000s. A second show unit, a townhouse, launches Aylesburys next phase in about a months time.

Centurion Homes paid 4m or 800,000 per acre for the five-acre Ballintemple site: thats in contrast to the 1.4m per acre for the larger 7.2 acre Douglas site.

This was offered for sale by licence agreement, attracting interest to deliver Corks first, purpose-built high-density PRS apartment development, with apartments assured of high-end rents, according to agents Peter OMeara and James ODonovan of Savills Cork.

Owned by the Whitaker family, and set just south of their Douglas Johnson & Perrott garage dealership, the majority of the 7.2 acres is zoned residential and includes the period, 3,000 sq ft over-basement bow-ended Ballincurrig Villa, vacant for 30 years.

Mark Whitaker said the site at Douglas Road was originally acquired by William Perrott in 1917 and has been part of our family business heritage ever since.

It is bounded on the east by Tramore Lawn, and to the west by Rathmore Lawn/Rhodaville Estate, comprising rows of two-storey semi-detached homes in the main.

No proposed heights for the sites development is yet publicly indicated.

Mr Whitaker said the decision to sell by licence meant they had input at the early planning stages to ensure the quality of any residential scheme being developed next to their own private family homes and to the existing, 40-job motor dealership on the Douglas Road, which remains unaffected by the land sale.

On sales launch in November, Savills said its one of, if not the best greenfield residential development site to come to the city market in the past 10 to 15 years.

Its capable of accommodating a large number of residential units in the short term, and has the potential to deliver Corks first purpose-built PRS development, subject to planning permission, in one of the most desirable residential addresses in the city.

DETAILS: Savills 021-4271371
HES the charismatic dancer who enchanted celebrities and viewers alike over several series of Strictly Come Dancing. Now Ian Waite and fellow Strictly dancer Vincent Simone and returning to the stage to trip the light fantastic.

Their show The Ballroom Boys will begin a major tour of Ireland and the UK this spring and summer, with dates in Corks Everyman on June 8 and Dublins Helix Theatre on June 7.

Its very much a variety show, he says. Its got a bit of everything really. Weve known each other for about 25 years, a very long time, we used to compete against each other and weve always had great fun and camaraderie.

Vincent is one of the funniest people I know and so far in the shows that hes done, hes never had the chance to show that.

So were looking forward to that side of it, telling stories about Strictly, and also theres going to be lots of dancing in there.

Ian, who lives in Berkshire with husband Drew Merriman and their labradoodle Ollie, has incorporated dance into fitness with fellow dancer Natalie Lowe and swimmer Mark Foster, setting up their own business, FitSteps.

Years ago when I was living in Holland I would see fitness class going on but I knew that ballroom dancing gets you really, really fit.

When I left Strictly it was one of my missions to create the dance programme using ballroom and thats what we did. We have about 1,000 instructors, quite a few in Ireland. I go a few times a week, it keeps me fit if Im not touring.

What Shape Are You In?

Im in better shape now. After Christmas, and then I went on holidays to the Maldives, I was 5kg heavier than normal and now Im just about back into fitness again. Ive pretty much stayed the same weight for the last 20 years. If I go much over Im always a bit concerned. But I do recognise when I go on tour I get underweight. Its just the way my body is because youre doing two hours of dancing every night on tour.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

About six months ago I went vegan for two weeks and I actually really enjoyed it. So I decided to be flexitarian, which means occasionally Ill eat vegan. Just to be a little bit more healthy.

What are your guiltiest pleasures?

Oh it has to be chocolate. I must say I get given a lot of chocolate. I cant remember the last time I bought it, but Ive got a cupboard full. People buy it for me for Christmas and my birthday.

What would keep you awake at night?

Where I live is very, very quiet. You cant hear anything at night. Any sort of noise would keep me awake at night and I think if my dog wasnt well or something like that. Recently we got our house renovated and it was supposed to take six months but it ended up taking over a year and that was very stressful.

How do you relax?

I have Ollie, my labradoodle and I take him for long walks which helps. I go to the gym occasionally and that clears my mind. I love the feeling of having a workout.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood, Im very good friends with Craig and weve been weve been on a lot of dinner dates together and hes just hilarious. If Gene Kelly was still alive, he was my ultimate dance god. I used to be a big fan of Tom Cruise so that would be cool. And maybe Madonna.

What is your favourite smell?

I love puppies.

What would you most like to change about your appearance?

Im quite happy in my own skin. Being a dancer your feet take quite a battering. So maybe my feet.

When Is the last time you cried?

I watched a movie called A Dogs Purpose. You can see the theme running through this, I love dogs. The most amazing film and I think I cried about three or four times.

What traits do you least like in others?

Dishonesty.

What traits do you least like about yourself?

Sometimes I procrastinate a lot. I actually get a lot of things done but there are certain things I procrastinate about and I really move forward on.

Do you pray?

Well I wouldnt say Im particularly religious but some times Ill pray to myself, Ill ask for some sort of help. Some sort of reformation.

What would cheer up your day?

When the sun comes out. I love the outdoors.
Wondering what youll be wearing next season? Paul McLauchlan unveils six key trends from London Fashion Week.

Its a worrying time for London Fashion Week. The future is uncertain. The British Fashion Council, the UK fashion industrys governing body, and some 80 plus designers on the official schedule are preparing for a worst-case-scenario situation as UK prime minister Theresa May continues to navigate a political impasse.

The cost of Brexit for the 32 million (37m) UK fashion industry? The freedom of movement and trade, delivery delays and tariffs for retailers and suppliers, and the loss of labour and production centres to other countries. Livelihoods are at stake.

However, the designers at LFW continued as normal, offering one of the mightiest attempts to ensure they are worth listening to and worth believing in.

Here are the top six emerging trends.

Brexit is coming, its time to wrap up

Mary Katrantzou (Brexit is coming, its time to wrap up)

As the reality of no-deal Brexit looms, over the UK, Ireland, and the EU, there wasnt a designer in sight who didnt refer to the uncertainty of the times we live in. It produced collections that invoked a sense of warmth and stability when the rest of the world cant provide any. Its time to wrap up, Brexit is coming.

Take for example Molly Goddard, a new name to add to your list, typically valued for her saccharine, frothy tulle ballgowns and cocktail dresses  she switched things up and she swaddled her models in grand coats and headgear.

Mary Katrantzou had a similar idea to rebuff the incoming political maelstrom with clothes that consume the body, fusing form with fabric. They were swathed in voluminous dresses and coats bursting with ruffles, feathers, and faux fur.

But it was Margaret Howell who questioned what it means to be British in todays climate and expanded on the themes that cemented her as one of Britains longstanding purveyors of perfunctory style.

Howells conduit differed radically from other designers at LFW: she collaged sturdy outerwear with streetwise tailoring and baker boy hats to make clothes that are sensible and practical, but wholly delectable. She mixed androgynous styles for women with a few floaty dresses here and there. It acknowledged the reality of needing to be rough-and-ready for the world.

Brighten up your day

In the ritzy ballroom of a Park Lane hotel, it was the American designer Michael Halpern who posed an optimistic response to the tumult of today  swap black for every shade imaginable. He expressed himself in jewel tones and embellishment  it might seem silly, but such propositions of wild colour and glamorous shapes in dark times feels as political as wearing a slogan tee reading, Peoples Vote.

The opening look at Mary Katrantzous show was a canary yellow gown bursting with plumes. Elsewhere, there was a panoply of colour, splendid multi-coloured feather-embroidered jackets, and twinkling, embellished evening wear with constellations of Swarovski crystals. Molly Goddards show concluded with a puffy highlighter-pink dress which looked like a layer cake of tulle, an Oscar-worthy dream.

A new form of sportswear is on the rise

Burberry (A new form of sportswear is on the rise)

Weve reached peak sportswear, but if you want to buy into the trend, two London designers stood out as offering modern interpretations. Jasper Conran aimed to evoke the ease and comfort of sportswear. He took the key items  the jumper, the straight skirt, the sweat top, and the shirt  and rendered them with elegant restraint. Conrans effortless simplicity was an innovative take on sportswear for those not interested in tight-fit tracksuits and logos. It arrived in a palette of walnut, cedar, scarlet, and yellow. Everything came with pockets and shoes were flat  Conrans women are ready for the real world.

Burberrys new designer, the Italian Riccardo Tisci, paid homage to London youth culture. For his sophomore outing, he mostly replaced formality with a sense of urgency: street-ready propositions. Firstly, he introduced Burberrys take on the designer trainer  these will be sure to drive sales. He issued takes on tracksuit pants, windbreakers, polo shirts and more, updating them with leather jackets, accessories and evening coats. Tisci is giving customers a reason to spend hundreds on Burberry: Haute sportswear is coming, just you wait.

Power to womankind!

Ashley Williams (Power to womankind!)

In the Times Up-era, theres been an emphasis on empowering women through fashion. At LFW, these five designers  all of them young and relatively new to the scene, you mightnt have heard of many of them, but you should  responded to the moment.

Take a walk on the wild side with London-based Ashley Williams, where it was about sex and comedy. Between sperm-print fleeces and brazen femininity, Williams recommends you channel bad girl cool with aplomb. (Her show notes noted Tobi Vail, Kate Bush, and Velma from Scooby-Doo as muses). Not only this but she interpreted sex in a way that fashion wouldve previously scorned.

Ryan Lo and Natasha Zinkos visions were at loggerheads, but both were driven by the same impetus: to make women feel great. Lo draped his models in demure, ladylike shapes, while Zinko opted for an eclectic mix of outerwear.

Paula Knorr and Edeline Lee made grand feminist gestures. Knorrs presentation was about the power of the female body. Her unwavering point of view once again brought her to a conversation between fabric and bodies, and how one can uplift the other. This produced gorgeous disco-inspired party dresses.

Meanwhile, Edeline Lee invited guest speakers from various disciplines  law, nursing, human rights activism. The speakers were introduced by models in sublime, flesh-coloured, ladylike frocks.

Get ready to party

Erdem (Get ready to party)

The mood at Osman, designed by Osman Yousefzada, was bold and romantic. He styled his usual tailoring-meets-cocktail-dressing style with skin-tight, tattoo-like tops resulting in a flamboyant edge.

It was at Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, where the disparate worlds of British folk and Irish dancing, and rave cultures converged.

Our show is inspired by the culture of dance and music and to the impact, it has had on us, the designers stated. Irish dancing dresses got an update with sparkles and bright colours.

Ashishs reference was also niche: he summoned film noir of the 1960s to make glittery sequin dresses which shimmered spectacularly under a spotlight.

Erdems party princesses recalled Rome in the 1960s  specifically the world of Princess Orietta Doria Pamphilj and her trip to London. He juxtaposed the voluminous grandeur of her Papal ancestry and the nipped-in, undone glamour that seduced her in the streets of London. As always, his flair for gorgeous cocktail dressing shone through with regal silhouettes and florid patterns.

Ditto, Christopher Kane, one of Erdems peers. He also showed cocktail dresses but with a much kinkier prerogative. Kanes girls were accented with leather, latex, and humorous fetish references Rubberised emblazoned on dresses along with a print of rubber gloves  thats one way to be the life of the party.

New tailoring

Victoria Beckham (New tailoring)

The tailoring trend has been done to death but, in London, the designers proclaimed a new vision.

At the Central Saint Martins MA graduate show, there were plenty of creatively futuristic ways forward but mainly for men. It was subtler options that stuck this London Fashion Week. Take, for example, Alice Archers crimson corduroy tuxedo with floral embroidery inspired by mediaeval woodcuts. Polish designer Marta Jakubowski posited sharp tailoring with a 1990s edge.

Irish designer JW Anderson presented his best show to date. His tailoring mimicked the couture proportions of Cristobal Balenciaga but for a contemporary client. He showed asymmetric capes and multi-textile blazers. Simply divine.

Or Roland Mouret, who offered oversized iterations, mixing fabrics and colours, and styling dresses over pooling trousers  it will arrive in stores, available in sizes UK 8 to UK 20. At the Italian label Ports 1961, the message was clear: layer skirts and dresses over trousers, throw a large camel coat over the top for added finesse. This is a modern take on the three-piece suit, especially for women.

It was Victoria Beckhams show that solidified the tailoring message for London. Her show was one of the highlights of LFW for its clean lines, pointed collars, and minimal dresses. She contrasted check suiting with block-coloured turtlenecks in baby blue and lilac.

Cashmere sweaters and midi-length skirts were enhanced with pointy-collar white shirts. From the palette to the styling, everything was slick and sharp. This answer to the maximalist bombast of the past few years in fashion was a welcome breath of fresh air. Strip back the theatrics, clarity stands for something. Just ask Beckham.
Missing out on an Academy Award does not mean you cant rule best-dressed lists forever more. Rachel Marie Walsh spotlights the Oscar losers who were best in show.

Gowns are more interesting than gongs, this is just how the Oscars are now.

The definition of best in any given category seldom relates to consumer opinion  only three of the top 20 grossing films of all time have received best picture nominations. Moreover, with the Harvey Weinstein allegations revealing an industry rife with abuse and both #OscarsSoWhite and Sony email hack of 2014 showing dated attitudes towards race, celebrating industry opinion seems at least questionable.

Still, we love a great gown. That perfect red carpet moment connects the contemporary ceremony to a time when stars were really stars (ie, distant and unknowable), and had that magic that helped suspend disbelief. Plus, if your favourite does not get that little gold guy, she can still look better than the star who does in images that stay online forever. Here are ten losers who pipped Oscar winners with style.

Renee Zellweger in Jean Desses, 2001:

This was an especially competitive year, fashion-wise, with Halle Berry making a star of then-newcomer Elie Saab and Bjork dressing as a swan. Renee still gets maximum style points for her vintage find from Lily et Cie, a well-respected LA vintage emporium. Zellweger showed off her post-Bridget Jones figure in canary yellow Desses. This gown is typical of the Egyptian designers post-war style, which was big on Grecian drapery and chiffon and very popular with European royals (Queen Sophia of Greece and Denmark married King Juan Carlos I in Desses in 1962). Hes hardly a red carpet staple, though, so she looks a rare bird as well as beautiful.

Jennifer Lawrence in Christian Dior, 2016:

Jennifer Lawrence has yet to put a foot wrong at the Oscars, at least where fashion is concerned. She stunned in 2016 with this sheer lace Christian Dior couture gown adorned with sequins and tiers of black feathers. Nominated for Joy, she could hold her own next to winner Brie Larsons blue Gucci on multiple best-dressed lists.

Reese Witherspoon in Tom Ford, 2015:

Best actress Julianne Moore was chic in Chanel in 2015 but there were better gowns in her category. Nominated for her vanity-free performance as Cheryl Strayed in Wild, Reese Witherspoon looked Old Hollywood-glam in this sleek white gown. Tiffany diamonds and youthful Chantecaille makeup made her look like a winner.

Rosamund Pike in Givenchy Couture, 2015:

Rosamund was another style winner in 2015. This split-front, hourglass-sculpted Givenchy is exquisite. It is deeply unfair that actresses should feel pressure to get in pre-baby shape just weeks postpartum yet also amazing that this photo was taken two months after the Gone Girl star gave birth. She showed extreme commitment to looking flawless, this gown has a visible corset.

Saoirse Ronan in Calvin Klein Collection, 2016:

Saoirse has worn some stunning gowns to the Oscars but this Elvira-from-Scarface-inspired Calvin Klein is extra-special. The patriotic emerald colour and connection to previous nominee Michelle Pfeiffer were great references for her stylist to use for her Brooklyn moment. Chopard emeralds added some frosting.

Anna Kendrick in Elie Saab, 2010:

Annas charming performance in Up in the Air got the then-ingenue a best supporting actress nomination and some couture. In Scrappy Little Nobody, she writes that her stylist was paid more for dressing her to promote the film than she herself was to act, though this look was surely worth the fee. Her pink Elie Saab is perfectly fitted and oh so pretty. Suede Sergio Rossi platforms ensure the draped skirt does not drown her.

Jessica Chastain in Alexander McQueen, 2013:

Best supporting actress winner Octavia Spencer has great style but to claim Kanye Wests dogmatism from another context, Jessica had one of the best Oscars looks of all time. This Alexander McQueen gown by Sarah Burton is Met Gala-standard spectacular. With hand-applied gold-brocade scrollwork on the sculpted bodice and through the chiffon skirt, it could only be accessorised with $2m worth of yellow diamonds and princess-like hair extensions.

Ruth Negga in Valentino, 2017:

Emma Stone accessorised her Givenchy Couture with an Oscar for La La Land but there was no outshining Mega Negga, on the red carpet. Stylist Karla Welch called this her pagan goddess look. She wore a custom Valentino lace dress with an Irene Neuwirth crown and earrings covered in Gemfields rubies. Her ACLU blue ribbon signalled opposition to Donald Trumps un-American stance on civil liberties.

Rooney Mara in Givenchy, 2012:

Rooney collaborated with then Givenchy creative head Riccardo Tisci on her dream dress in 2012. This pearl-coloured lace mermaid-gown had a skin-toned satin bra and broad straps. It looks like one of the most comfortable Oscar gowns ever, in stark contrast to winner Meryl Streeps wayward Lanvin.

Diane Lane in Oscar de la Renta, 2003:

The wonderful Diane Lane has had too few nominations in my view, and while Nicole Kidman beat her to best actress in 2003 there was no topping her Oscar de La Renta. The feathered skirt, ribbon-detailed back and crystal-studded bodice combine for a look so delicately beautiful an Oscar might wreck it.
The countrys social workers will today call for the urgent reform of the Mental Health Act, claiming that the current laws are not fit for purpose.

The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), which represents more than 4,000 social workers, said the current laws did not comply with international human rights law. Its call coincides with the launch by the Mental Health Commission of its strategic plan, entitled Protecting Peoples Rights, which will set out the commissions ambitions for the next three years.

Todays IASW event at Blackhall Place in Dublin will include a range of speakers on issues including mental health tribunals and service user experiences of involuntary admission.

Ahead of the event, the association said the law in its current form it is outdated, outmoded and is not based on a progressive, rights-based approach to mental health care.

It said the current laws needed urgent review and that serious attention needs to be paid to the human rights of mental health service users in terms of capacity and consent to treatment.

Advanced healthcare directives, for example, must be given a legislative basis to allow people using mental health services to have their express will and preferences followed through on if they are unable to advocate for themselves at any point.

The key to progressive, recovery-focused mental health services is the need to hold the voice and experience of service users and their families at its core.

Interactions with the legal system surrounding the mental health services can be difficult for both individuals and their supporters.

People must be truly listened to and their wishes in relation to their mental health and recovery journey acknowledged.

Following todays event, the Social Workers in Adult Mental Health (SWAMH) group within the IASW will put together a position paper on the reform of the Mental Health Act 2001.

The IASW passed a motion in 2017 calling for the Government to establish a statutory social work service for vulnerable adults, warning there was no single agency responsible for their welfare.
A midwife who is suing the HSE over being wrongfully accused of malpractice is appealing for her action to be settled so she can access drugs that may save her life.

Philomena Canning, who was the leading independent midwife and homebirth advocate in the State, has terminal cancer and has only weeks to live. She is hoping her life may be prolonged by the immunotherapy drug, Pembro. The drug is available on the public health system to those afflicted with cervical cancer, but Ms Canning is suffering from ovarian cancer.

She was suspended in 2014 and reinstated the following year, but has not practised midwifery since, despite being cleared of any wrongdoing in four separate expert reports, two of which were commissioned by the HSE.

The HSE offered to settle her action in 2015 but Ms Canning refused, as she wanted a full court hearing over what she regarded as critical safety issues in midwifery.

The Irish Examiner understands the settlement offer was in the region of 250,000. Ms Canning refused to accept any settlement and she believes the HSE has been dragging out the pre-trial process for the last four years.

However, she now has been given weeks to live, following a terminal diagnosis. I dont know how long I have, she told the Irish Examiner.

It [the action] will drag on and on. One thing I know is, I want a settlement now.

Chemo isnt working and the only treatment where there is hope is immunotherapy, but as an ovarian [cancer] sufferer I must pay for it and the rate is 6,000 every three weeks. I simply dont have the money. I want it settled. I want my legal peoples fees paid and whatever money there is to access the treatment.

She says she does not regret refusing the previous offer, as circumstances were different then and she remains passionate the public should be informed about what she claims are shortcomings in the HSEs safety record with expectant mothers. Since turning down the settlement, she did not return to work, as she felt she could not trust the HSE, in light of her experience.

Last year, she was forced to sell her home, because she was unable to keep up the mortgage payments.

At this stage, I think there is no way Im going to get a court hearing, so I want the public to understand both what they did to me and the mismanagement in the HSE, particularly concerning the safety of mothers and babies.

The HSE is understood not to have conceded liability in the case.

Ms Canning claims the discovery process related to her action has reinforced the earlier expert reports that she acted professionally and that there were attempts to blame her for mistakes within a hospital setting.

She was, effectively, suspended in September 2014 with no notice, due, it was alleged, to issues arising from two cases where she acted as midwife.

The High Court upheld the suspension, but ahead of an appeal both she and the HSE commissioned a number of expert reports

into the cases at issue. All of the reports stated she had acted entirely professionally.

As a result, the HSE dropped the appeal three days before the scheduled hearing. Her indemnity insurance was reinstated, but the HSE conducted a systems analysis into her practice, which found she had made errors in her practice.

Unlike the four expert reports, the systems analysis was conducted by an administrator and physiotherapist, neither of whom had experience or qualifications in maternity care.

The official who oversaw the systems analysis was the same individual who had directed her suspension.
A marble bust of former Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney has been presented to the Cork Public Museum.

It is one of two pieces of hugely significant artefacts relating to the War of Independence handed over today, with a Cork Republican Silver loving cup also presented to the city.

They were presented to Lord Mayor, Cllr Mick Finn and will join the permanent collection in Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald's Park.

The Terence MacSwiney bust, sculpted by renowned Irish sculptor Albert Power, was donated to the city by the family of Corks first female Lord Mayor, Jane Dowdall.

A poignant and breath-taking link with our citys history and march to nationhood...the death mask of Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney...presented to the city today by members of the Dowdall family (Jenny Dowdall being the first ever female Lord Mayor, 60 years ago). pic.twitter.com/attt1zhMKY  Mick Finn (@mickfinn01) February 21, 2019

Deborah Dowdall, her granddaughter was at City Hall for the formal handover. Power sculpted the bust from a death mask he had made of MacSwineys face, after his death on October 25, 1920, following 74 days of hunger strike in Brixton Prison.

The bust is a very unique and important piece, as for many, this portrait captures the serenity and acceptance MacSwiney had about his death.

The second piece is a Republican silver Loving Cup, made by William Egan of Cork. There are only about 60-80 pieces of Cork Republican Silver known to exist so this is a particularly important acquisition for the museum.

Some local legends, and members of the Bun Gang in City Hall tonight. Great interest in artefacts brought in by Dan Breen (Cork Public Museum)...pillow on which Terence MacSwiney died in Brixton Prison and Tomas MacCurtains luger. Living history. pic.twitter.com/9xcWPB78Gl  Mick Finn (@mickfinn01) February 20, 2019

During the War of Independence and Civil War, it was not safe to send silver produced in Cork to Dublin to be assayed to determine its silver content and quality. Instead, Cork silver makers stamped their own silver with a hallmark of a ship between two towers - as depicted on the Cork Coat of Arms.

This object was purchased using funding from Creative Ireland. Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Mick Finn said: "These two artefacts are hugely significant links to the history of Cork and the birth of a nation which will come more and more into focus as the decade of centenaries start to centre on the War of Independence and Civil War period.

"The role of iar-ardmheara Terence MacSwiney in those events was known internationally following his death on hunger strike in London. That the city now owns a sculpture of Terence MacSwineys death mask  which is both extremely startling and poignant to view  is so significant at a time when we need to invest in our history."
A man who ended up crashing through a shop window when he tried to mug a US military policeman using a roll of tin foil has being jailed.

Brian Kavanagh (33) was on a cocktail of drugs when he attacked Christian Escobar who was on holidays in Dublin.

Kavanagh came up behind Mr Escobar and tried to pull his backpack off him. The soldier believed Kavanagh was armed with a silver bar but this later turned out to be a roll of tin foil.

Mr Escobar held onto the bag and during a scuffle the two men crashed through the window of a retail shop causing around 2,000 of damage, including 600 to dresses on display in the window.

Garda Theresa Brady told John Quirke BL, prosecuting, that she arrived at the scene and saw security men restraining Kavanagh. He was behaving in an extremely violent manner and tried to headbutt the security guards and later headbutted a glass partition in the garda station.

She said Kavanagh wasn't fit to be interviewed for another six hours but later offered an apology to the victim. Mr Escobar sustained severe tendon damage to his wrist as a result of falling through the window.

Kavanagh of St. Columbanus Rd., Dundrum, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery at Johnson's Place in Dublin city on July 15, 2018. Counts of assault causing harm and violent behaviour in a police station were taken into consideration.

Andrew King BL, defending, said his client had had difficulties with alcohol and heroin and had a litany of previous convictions including burglary and robbery.

Judge Karen O'Connor noted Kavanagh has 147 previous convictions. She said his previous efforts to address his addictions had been unsuccessful.

She jailed Kavanagh for two years and nine months. Judge O'Connor had offered Kavanagh the opportunity to engage with the Probation Services before passing a sentence but he had declined the invitation and insisted on being sentenced today.
| BY Lynchy |

72andSunny Singapore and Lasalle College of the Arts, one of Southeast Asias leading contemporary arts and design institutions, have joined forces in a partnership that aims to diversify the learnings and opportunities for both students and the team at 72andSunny.

The partnership builds on the global mission of 72andSunny to expand the creative class and

Lasalles desire to nurture enterprising and employable graduates who will become cultural influencers and leaders.

This collaboration with 72andSunny is a strategic initiative that will give students exposure to the whole breadth and depth of working in a creative agency. Students will learn from 72andSunny creatives through in-class lectures, and then to apply these learnings directly to actual client briefs in the office. The holistic nature of the partnership makes it an incredible opportunity for our students, said Steve Golden, Director, Division of Industry and Community Engagement, Lasalle College of the Arts.

As part of the collaboration a number of Lasalle graduates will be offered an internship at 72andSunny, working on client briefs and projects over three months. At the end of the programme, one student will be offered a contract by the Singapore office.

Throughout the year, current students will also be given the opportunity to work on live briefs as part of their course, and members of the 72andSunny team will give guest lectures to students across a range of areas including the benefits of failure, the art of storytelling in the creative world, and creating work that works.

Were excited about this partnership and the opportunities it opens up for us in the region. Establishing links to the super smart and talented creatives of the future is inspiring  both for our people and for the kind of work we want to be doing for our clients, said Chiewling Tan, Director of Talent & Operations, 72andSunny Singapore.

You cant overstate how exciting it is to work with fresh new creative talent in this country. And Lasalle simply has a wealth of them. This partnership not only allows us to diversify the creative class, it also lets us learn from each other and grow, said Johnny Tan, Executive Creative Director, 72andSunny AsiaPac (pictured above).
A man walking home through Cork city centre in the early hours of the morning thought he was going to be killed by two young men who subjected him to a frenzied attack.

John ODriscoll, 45, was stabbed twice, had his jaw broken and was kicked in the head while on the ground after he was confronted by two males who demanded money from him.

It was not until he held up a beer barrel to fend them off that his attackers walked away.

An eight-year sentence with the last two years suspended was imposed on Jamie Crowley, of 24 Nutley Road, Mahon, Cork, who pleaded guilty to robbing Mr ODriscoll of 100 at South Mall, Cork, on September 5, assault causing harm, production of a knife and possessing cannabis. Crowley had previous convictions.

His accomplice, Peter Carroll, aged 21, of 51 Corrib Lawn, Mayfield, Cork, had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to robbing the man and assault causing harm. He got a sentence of five years with the last two years suspended.

Mr ODriscoll stated: I was kicked on the ground while the other one was stabbing me in the back.

I really thought I was going to be killed.

I was in shock. I dont know how I managed but I picked up a keg to use as defence. This action saved me as they both ran off.

Mr ODriscoll said he was left to wonder if the attack would have occurred at all if one of the men  who was out on bail on other charges  had been denied this bail. Mr ODriscoll described it as a life-threatening attack.

After the assault, he managed to walk to Anglesea St Garda Station from where he was taken to Cork University Hospital.

He received treatment for a double fracture to his jaw as well as the two stab wounds. He underwent surgery to place a plate in his jaw and will require further surgery.

Judge O Donnabhain described the attack as vicious and frenzied where there was a determination to cause injury to the man who was walking home from work.

This man thought they were going to kill him. Except for the beer barrel, that is the risk he was in, he said.

Both defendants expressed their shame, remorse and apology for what they did to the victim on the night.
There are fears that food prices could rise by 45% in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker admits he's "not very optimistic" about Britain's chances of getting one.
The trickle-down effect of a recession on children can mean poorer quality relationships with their mums and dads, particularly where parents feel the mental strain of trying to make ends meet.

A report, published today, on the lives of children who were three-years-old at the height of the great recession, found considerable variation in the extent to which families experienced changes in their economic circumstances from 2008 to 2011.

However, by far the greatest impact of economic strain was having to cut back on basic necessities and not being able to afford luxuries, as well as being in arrears on rent or mortgage and utility bills.

Interestingly, fathers associated their inability to afford luxuries with higher levels of warmth.

It was a small effect, but it raises an interesting question  what is it that lies behind positive parent/child interactions, said the studys lead author Dr Elizabeth Nixon.

We did find in families where fathers had to cut back that they were having more rewarding interactions with their children. Maybe its because they were there more and were playing with the children, as opposed to buying them things.

While some parents were better able to cope with the recession, others were more vulnerable.

For instance, among families in arrears on rent or mortgage payments, the proportion of mothers classified as depressed was more than double (24%) those not in arrears (10%).

The strongest economic predictor of fathers depressive symptoms was being in arrears on utility bills.

The findings of the report, the latest from the Growing up in Ireland series, reveal the negative impact on the child/parent relationship where depressive symptoms or marital dissatisfaction are the among the spillover effects of economic hardship.

Where parents were not coping, interactions with children could be more hostile.

What our research shows is the psychological effect of economic strain. We need to go beyond saying recession is bad. We need to understand the trickle-down effect it has on childrens development, Dr Nixon said.

The report found that childrens socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties were greater where the mother experienced depressive symptoms.

Dr Nixon said the reports findings suggest that parents should be supported during times of hardship.

Interventions to support the wellbeing of parents are likely to be particularly important when they are facing economic stress, she said.

As well as dealing with the underlying problem (eg the loss of employment or drop in income), the research indicates that supports for parents mental health are also likely to facilitate positive parenting.

The findings of the report indicate that the strongest predictors of economic strain were being behind with mortgage/rent and utility bills and having to cut back on basic necessities.

The report says if the policy objective is to minimise the impact of economic strain on children and their parents, actions to safeguard these basic necessities for families should be a priority.

Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone said the findings highlight the need to address economic strain in families and support parental mental health.

She said those were among the issues that are core to First Five, Irelands first cross-Departmental strategy to support babies, young children and their families, being led by my Department.

The Effects of Economic Recession and Family Stress on the Adjustment of 3-year-olds in Ireland: is published on esri.ie
The European Union saw an additional 800,000 hectares of certified organic land in 2017, according to the latest figures announced at the worlds largest organic trade fair Biofach last week.

This brings the EU total to 12.8m hectares, with Spain (2.1m ha), Italy (1.9m ha) and France (1.7m ha) the top three countries in terms of area.

The figures, compiled by research FiBL (the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture) and Agricultural Market Information Company (AMI), show an increase of 6.4% in the European Union

in 2017  the latest available year. This means that there is now 7.2% of the EUs farmland area certified organic, some 12.8m ha  an increase in 67% over 10 years.

Austria reached 24% utilisable land area certified organic and Sweden 18.8%, while eight EU countries now have over 10% useable land area dedicated to organic.

The top organic arable crops in the EU currently are green fodder (2.2m ha), then cereals (2m ha) and dry pulses, with France and Italy leading the way.

Italy has the largest number of producers and processors in the European Union, with over 66,000 and 18,000 respectively.

Though not all countries supply data, at least 2.5m hectares of land is in conversion to organic, much of it in Eastern Europe (Romania, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria in particular.)

For retail, Germany and France are considerably ahead of others, with markets of 10bn and 8bn respectively; Italy is way back at just over 3bn in third. France saw the fastest of all retail growth  up 18% in a single year.

The EUs organic retail market is now valued at 34.3bn.

Organic sales in Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland are currently at 13.3%, 9.1% and 9% respectively. These three also have the highest per capita consumption.

The FiBL report emphasises two trends: On the one hand, the market showed a double-digit growth rate again on the other hand, organic farmland growth continued to be slower than that of the market, but it was considerably faster than in the first years of the previous decade  production is still not keeping pace with consumer demand.

There is, however, more specific analysis offered on this concerning conundrum by Helga Willer and colleagues: The total organic area is only one factor. When comparing the development of the organic area with that of the retail sales, it is more important to look at land use and crop patterns, the types of livestock husbandry, and, most of all, the production value. It is also important to note in this context that growth rates of more intensive production like fruit and vegetables, or milk production have increased significantly over the past years.

Looked at over a 10-year period in fact, cereal land area growth is only at 50%, whereas dry pulses along with oilseeds are at a whopping 223% and 231% respectively  vegetables in general are at 69% land area growth.

In the context of faster growth in retail, the number of importers of organic produce into the EU has grown faster than the number of either producers or processors  up by 15.5% in one year, to 4600.

In many of the charts in this 356-page report, Ireland is close to the bottom end of listed countries, often with very small or very unusual and specific countries below us. The exception is in aquaculture: incredibly, only China has larger organic aquaculture production than Ireland globally.

Ireland  along with the Netherlands  has the lowest number of organic producers in the EU: both with under 1800, though in the case of the Netherlands, this represents 3% of the total number of farmers: its less than 2% in Ireland.

When a large area of bog is converted to organic, which is reportedly in the pipeline, Ireland will then have a good land area score. But it will mean little in real terms.
A humble food truck in Co. Down has beaten off stiff competition from some of the most popular burger joints in the country to be crowned Irelands Best Burger as part of BurgerFest 2019 in association with Ballymaloe Foods.

The Hatch, owned by chef Colin Johnstone and Bronagh Johnstone, takes home the Golden Burger trophy this year, with two-time winners Son of a Bun on Corks MacCurtain Street missing out on a hat trick by a sprinkling of customer votes.
As the Irish Government puts together legislation to deal with the potential fallout from a no-deal Brexit, the situation in the UK becomes more farcical by the day.

Donald Tusk made a fair point a few weeks back when he queried as to what part of hell is reserved for the Brexiteers who ploughed ahead without any plan or notion as to how the UK might disentangle itself from a legal and economic arrangement that has prevailed since 1973.

The notion that the UK could exit easily and painlessly was always ridiculous, but those who voted for and pushed Brexit had as much understanding of how the world works as a Catholic priest has about marriage.

It is becoming more apparent, by the day, that the toll being taken on the UK economy could be quite serious.

Nissan, Toyota, BMW and Ford have already made significant announcements about how a no-deal Brexit will impact on their activities in the UK.

This week Honda announced that it was ceasing manufacturing in Swindon by 2022, with the loss of 3,500 jobs.

While Honda has made it clear that this decision was not motivated by Brexit, the truth is that when decisions are being taken about where to locate mobile manufacturing investment, why would one want to invest in a country that is walking away from free access to a market of 500 million people and a trading bloc that has, and is continuing to, negotiate trade deals with many other third countries.

Furthermore, the farcical nature and behavior of UK politics over the past three years would not exactly entice investment in the jurisdiction.

The future of car manufacturing in the UK is now under serious threat.

Over the past couple of years I have generally believed that the UK would eventually do a deal with the EU and that at that stage, the UK economy would rebound strongly as the paralysis caused to business investment and consumer behavior by the intense uncertainty would dissipate.

However, with just 35 days to go to the exit date, we are no nearer a resolution and the damage being inflicted is becoming more permanent in nature.

It is hard to know what Theresa Mays strategy is, or indeed if she has one at all. Perhaps she will take it to the wire and then present parliament with a choice between her withdrawal agreement and a hard Brexit.

If that is her strategy, then it is a very risky one that could backfire very badly.

The resignation of the seven Labour MPs from that dysfunctional party due to a combination of anti-semitism and the partys handling of Brexit is too little too late.

The dysfunctional leadership of Jeremy Corbyn has been very obvious over the past couple of years, and he has always been strongly anti-EU.

Why it took those seven until now to stand up and walk away from the party is anybodys guess.

More bizarrely, Mr Corbyn has just re-admitted that radical left firebrand from my youth, Derek Hatton, to the party.

Then three brave Tories jumped ship to follow the Labour renegades.

One could not make it up, but it does not bode well for the UK and its reputation.

Only a fool or a charlatan could claim wisdom on what happens next, but the long-term damage to the UK economy and, more particularly, its reputation as a place in which to live, work, invest and do business, remains to be seen.

From Irelands perspective, the shenanigans across the Irish Sea, makes us look positively sane and sensible at this juncture.

In a few weeks, Ireland looks set to become the only English-speaking country in the EU; Malta aside.

Cork will be the second largest English speaking city in the EU and Waterford will be the fifth largest.

That surely will mean something positive for us?

Last week, the CSO published merchandise trade data for the full year, and it makes for pleasant reading.

Overall merchandise exports expanded by 14.8%, with sales to the eurozone expanding by 20.5%, and the region accounted for 35.8% of our total exports.

Mind you, the increase of 38% in exports to Belgium does show how exports of pharmaceutical produces through that country distort the picture.

Exports to the UK declined by 2.2%, and the UKs market share for Irish exports declined to 11.4%.

However, for food and live animal exports, the UK still accounted for 36.8% of total export sales from the sector.

Therein lies the challenge, particularly given the comments by Michael Gove this week in relation to the imposition of tariffs on agri-food imports into the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The Irish SME Association (ISME) is calling on the next EU Competition Commissioner to take on powerful vested interests among the big US tech companies.

ISME believes that the incoming EU Commission will need a political heavyweight to take over the Competition portfolio.

ISME CEO Neil McDonnell

ISME CEO Neil McDonnell believes that the issue is not merely their commercial and market dominance but the fact that "the dominance of these transnational corporations is now producing significant and negative political, commercial, and social effects in Western democracies, which allow them free rein; unlike the authoritarian countries which know how to control and exploit them."

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has had some success with the Google Shopping Case.

However according to Mr McDonnell, "the real problem with Google/Alphabet is that this conglomerate is now so great, and its dominance in so many background fields of the web is so unchallenged, that even billion-euro fines from the EU will not significantly impact it.

"Its many acquisitions such as Android, YouTube, Doubleclick, Postini, Admob, Slide, Admelt, Motorola Mobility, Waze, Nest Labs and many more, show that Google long ago ceased to be a search engine.

"Its commercial dominance is arguably much greater than that of Standard Oil when the US Supreme Court ordered its dissolution in 1911."

Mr McDonnell said that the current Commissioner demonstrated a fixation on taxation, pointing to the 'Apple Tax' case as one example.

"Whatever the failings, if they be so, of the Irish Government in relation to Apple, they are immaterial in the great game of tax avoidance by US multinationals," said Mr McDonnell.

"The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report in Washington DC has noted that Amazon enjoyed a negative tax rate in the US in 2018. That is not a misprint.

"On $10.8bn of US profits in 2018, Amazon got a tax rebate of $130m, equivalent to an effective tax rate of -1.2%.

Mr McDonnell concluded: "If small businesses and normal politics are to survive, the next Competition Commissioner will have to not merely control, but break up the US tech giants.

"The CCCTB and Irelands Apple Tax case are mere sideshows to that greater issue.
Shares in struggling British regional airline Flybe soared as much as 115% after it said it had received an alternative financing offer aimed at keeping it in business.

However, Flybe has already said the new offer is not a viable offer.

The airline operates a number of routes to and from Ireland via Dublin, Cork, Knock and Belfast airports.

Flybe said the new preliminary financing proposal was from Bateleur Capital, Mesa Air Group with support from Stobart Group former boss Andrew Tinkler.

Flybe said the proposal was highly conditional and it does not believe it could be workable in the timeframe required to enable Flybe to continue to trade.

The optional financing proposal, which includes other undisclosed institutional shareholders, could look to inject cash into Flybe and replace the current funding.

The offer would also include new debt facilities and potential asset sales, bringing the total new funding to Flybe to about 120m (138m).

Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital agreed to buy Flybe, Britains biggest domestic airline in January, through a joint venture company called Connect Airways for an initial 2.2m.

The deal was later revised to sell the airlines main trading company Flybe Limited and online operation Flybe.com Ltd to the consortium for 2.8m without needing shareholder backing.

The consortium, which had won the backing of Flybes board to buy the airline, had also agreed to pump in as much as 100m to keep the airline afloat, including a committed credit facility of up to 20m.

Flybe yesterday said it had drawn down the first 15m of the facility, adding that it continues to regard the arrangements with the consortium as being the only viable option available to the company.

The arrangements with Connect Airways preserve the interests of Flybes stakeholders, customers, employees, partners and pension members, it said.

In November, Ryanair was named as a possible beneficiary  though not an outright buyer  from a sale of Flybe; with landing slots in British and Dutch airports seen to be an attraction.

Ryanair has since said it wouldnt be interested in any large-scale acquisitions but could vie for airport slots when available.

Meanwhile, Air France-KLMs share price jumped more than 6% after the group reported a 150% rise in annual profit to 409m and said it would tighten links between the two airlines.

-Reuters and Irish Examiner
| BY Ricki Green |

In a reflection of the tremendous creative opportunities now possible in todays outdoor ad market, The One Club for Creativity announced a partnership with Outfront Media, Inc, who will serve as exclusive sponsor for The One Show 2019 Out-of-Home category. Deadline for entry is 21 February, 2019.

Outfront Media is one of the largest out-of-home media companies in North America. Headquartered in New York, the company connects brands and consumers in the real world on giant creative canvases. Their focus on creative, through in-house creative boutique Outfront Studios, has been recognized across the media industry.

As part of the partnership, Eddy Herty, national creative director, Outfront Studios, will lend his creative expertise to judging entries from around the world as a member of The One Show Print & Outdoor jury, which includes the OOH category.

In addition, The One Club will help co-promote an upcoming recognition program from Outfront, to be announced shortly, which celebrates personal artistic work done by members of the ad industrys creative community.

Says Herty: The One Show and Outfront share a passion for big creative ideas and quality of execution. As a company focused on creative, Outfront is excited to partner with The One Club as a way to highlight the world-class creative work thats now being done in todays OOH market.

Says Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity: Some of the most exciting recent examples of great creative thinking to win at The One Show have come in the OOH category. Whether using the latest giant video screen technology or a simple but brilliant line of copy on the side of a bus, One Show Pencil winners in OOH have demonstrated a world of creative possibilities. Were thrilled to have Outfront as a partner to elevate and celebrate the great work being done in the category around the world.
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Ocean Springs will host its 10th annual St. Patrick's Day celebration in the downtown area, but with just over three weeks until the event, City officials seem unsure as to when it will actually take place.

Tuesday night, aldermen approved a special event permit for the St. Pat's celebration on March 16, a Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a section of Government Street closed from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. for the annual "pub crawl."

Ward 2 alderman Ricky Authement, who represents the downtown area, said they approved the event for March 16 because of potential conflict with chamber of commerce events on March 17. The calendar on the chamber website, however, shows no events scheduled for Sunday, March 17.

While the event is fun for those coming to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the City sets up the event as yet another way of bringing additional business to the downtown area.

Downtown business owners have for years indicated that special events which fall on a particular date, including St. Patrick's Day and Halloween, are welcome on days other than Friday and Saturday, when businesses already enjoy strong patronage.

Over the prior nine years since the inception of the St. Pat's celebration, only twice has Ocean Springs held it on a day other than March 17 -- in 2013 (March 16) and 2014 (March 15).

The event has been held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, as well as Fridays and Saturdays.

Holding St. Patrick's Day on the actual date, March 17 -- a Sunday -- would provide what amounts to a "bonus day" for many downtown business owners.

Chris Collier, owner of The Office lounge at the corner of Washington Avenue and Government Street, said he welcomes the event either day, but understands having the event on a Sunday would drive additional businesses.

"I get the thinking that not having it on a Saturday to drive business on another day," said Collier, who is typically closed on Sundays but opens for special events.

"Certainly I welcome the St. Patrick's Day event no matter what day of the week it is, so we'll fully participate no matter what they decide."

Both Authement and City Special Events Planner Chic Cody said that, although the board approved the event for March 16, a special call meeting is planned for next week, at which time they will revisit the St. Patrick's celebration.

"I thought it was a better idea to move it to Saturday," Authement said, "but we haven't publicized that yet, so it could still be moved to the 17th. Monday being a work day, I thought Saturday would be better, but we certainly want to do what's right for our business owners."

Cody agreed.

"I agree that having it on a Sunday would be a bonus night for them," he said. "We need to talk about that. I think we'll probably end up moving it to Sunday the 17th. We want to do it right, but the most important thing are the businesses down there, because they're the ones who benefit from it."

Collier noted that, if the City does move the celebration to March 17, they might want to consider changing the times of the pub crawl to earlier in the day, perhaps from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., rather than having it run until 9 p.m. at night.
Hong Kong: Vaccination scheme to be regularised

The Department of Health will regularise the School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme to extend its coverage as its implementation has seen more schools arranging for the outreach vaccination service.

Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan made the remarks in response to questions from lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan at the Legislative Council today.

The pilot programme was rolled out in the 2018-19 school year to reach out to primary schools and provide seasonal influenza vaccinations for students through government or public-private-partnership teams.

The vaccination subsidy amount was also increased.

Prof Chan said the new measures proved to be effective, noting as at February 17, the number of primary schools that had arranged for the outreach vaccination service increased from 65 in 2017-18 to 402 in 2018-19.

The coverage rate for primary school students reached 55.3%, she added.

Prof Chan said the programme will be regularised from next year onwards, covering more primary schools and extending its coverage to kindergartens and child care centres on a pilot basis.

Various options will be assessed in implementing the enhancement measures in consultation with relevant stakeholders to come up with the best mode in providing the outreach vaccination service at kindergartens and child care centres.

The Department of Health will announce the details in due course so that interested private doctors, private medical institutions, primary schools, kindergartens and child care centres can make early preparations.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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According to a recent announcement, The Hague will be the first Dutch city to receive full 5G coverage. This will enable the city to further expand its Smart City ambitions, according to the statement from Saskia Bruines, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of The Hague and Sren Abildgaard, CEO, T-Mobile Nederland. T-Mobile Nederland reportedly is to start the roll-out of 5G in The Hague this year.

In a Smart City, new digital applications are used to support the government and citizens and the introduction of 5G will likely play an important role. In addition to higher speeds from the mobile data network, 5G also enables simultaneous connection of many more devices to a network.

Equipping the city of The Hague with good connectivity will enable the municipality to push through further innovations in safety, mobility and the use of public spaces, the city said. Resolving social problems is a key issue here, with the aim of developing a safer, more efficient and more sustainable city. T-Mobile and the Municipality of The Hague will be collaborating in various 5G pilots in the city in advance of the 5G roll-out. T-Mobile is providing the connectivity for this large-scale 5G experiment, expected to be completed by 2020.

Abildgaard said, Together with the municipality we are searching for partners within and outside the city to test 5G applications that benefit the city and its residents. We are working together to investigate how we can offer residents, students and companies the best possible access to 5G and stimulate innovation in The Hague. In this first phase, we will be working on 5G applications regarding logistics and industry. This includes applications that improve the citys accessibility by offering extremely local traffic and parking information, based on a fast and reliable 5G connection.

The Hague is facing a tremendous growth challenge in terms of residents and employment in the coming years, said Bruines. The arrival of super-fast mobile internet will open many new doors for The Hague residents and companies. By being the first city to switch fully to 5G, The Hague is demonstrating its pioneering role in this area. This is important for the business environment and for employment in the city. The development of new digital innovative concepts is crucial to ensure that the city remains accessible, sustainable and liveable. Of course, during these developments well continue to focus on issues such as safety and health.

An initial important step within the project is the establishment of a new 5G Field Lab. This lab will be designed to offer schools and companies the opportunity to experiment with 5G-based applications. To ensure that applications really are workable on 5G, T-Mobile Nederland is offering local 5G connectivity and support experts. 5G events will also be organized regularly by T-Mobiles Future Lab. Interested parties can obtain help and support in developing their own applications and in testing concept designs.

Edited by Ken Briodagh
Thunder Bay, Ontario - February 21, 2019 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. (TSXV: ZEN) ("ZEN" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the Albany Graphite Project tailings test work for potential application as a partial cement replacement material recently initiated at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan Campus ("UBC-O"). (Please see the Company's news release dated December 17, 2018)

This test work is being carried out as part of the Company's market development strategy with the goal of utilizing the tailings as a partial cement replacement. Early results show promise and if successful would reduce tailings disposal costs and create a potential by-product revenue stream. In addition, ZEN will also be initiating new research test work where Albany graphene will be added to project tailings material to potentially create an innovative new enhanced cement material and concrete that could have higher strength, faster curing time and increased durability as well as significant environmental benefits through reduced CO2 emissions.

Francis Dube, Co-CEO of ZEN, commented, "Cement production from limestone is a significant source of CO2 emissions accounting for approximatively 8% of global emissions. Every ton of cement that we can replace with our tailings material would potentially save up to approximately one ton of CO2 emissions."

The research work is being conducted by Dr. Ahmad Rteil at UBC-O where ZEN's tailings material was successfully tested as a partial cement replacement. Dr. Rteil replaced 10 and 20 percent of a cement mixture with ZEN's tailings material and after 28 days, the results showed the 10% replacement had a compressive strength rating of 46.1 MPa, less than a 2% difference from the control at 47 MPa. The 20% replacement had a compressive strength rating of 37.9 MPa, about 20% difference with the control sample.

These results are significant as currently most of the concrete used by the construction industry (e.g. for low and mid-rise buildings, bridge decks, foundations, etc.) has a compressive strength requirement ranging between 20 MPa and 40 MPa. These highly encouraging initial and unoptimized results show significant promise for ZEN to push forward with further development work. The Company now plans further tests that will optimize the use of Albany Graphite tailings as a partial cement replacement including the potential of adding ZEN graphene to the tailings material.

Dr. Rteil stated, "These results are very promising. Partially replacing cement with tailings materials could have a significant financial and environmental impact on the concrete industry by being able to deliver a better product while reducing its carbon footprint."

About ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd.

ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. is an emerging graphene technology solutions company with a focus on development of the unique Albany Graphite Project as a precursor graphene material product opportunity and product market development. The Albany Graphite Project provides the company with a competitive advantage in the potential graphene market as independent labs in Japan, UK, Israel, USA and Canada have demonstrated that ZEN's Albany Graphite/Naturally PureTM easily converts (exfoliates) to graphene, using a variety of simple mechanical and chemical methods.

For further information:

Francis Dube, Co-Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +1 (289) 821-2820

Email: fdube@zenyatta.ca

To find out more on ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd., please visit our website at www.ZENGraphene.com. A copy of this news release and all material documents in respect of the Company may be obtained on ZEN's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.ca.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "potential", "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to ZEN and ZEN provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although ZEN believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. ZEN disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Company's full disclosure can be found at https://www.zenyatta.ca/disclaimer/

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A Florida woman has been arrested for alleged unlicensed practice of public adjusting and grand theft related to Hurricane Irma, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Financial Services.

Mary Bruce is accused of attempting to steal more than $68,000 in fraudulent insurance claims. This is Bruces second arrest for insurance fraud this year. Officials said she bonded out of jail in January and was arrested again on separate charges.

DFS investigators claim Bruce approached homeowners whose home sustained roof and interior damages from Hurricane Irma in September 2017. Bruce allegedly told the homeowners that she was an independent claims adjuster that could negotiate settlements with insurance companies. Bruce required the homeowners to pay $3,500 and to sign a power of attorney. Bruce, however, is not a licensed attorney, public adjuster, nor is she a general contractor.

According to officials, Bruce then submitted fraudulent cost estimates for roofing work to the insurance company. In total, she submitted $68,000 in fraudulent insurance claims to the homeowners insurance company.

Bruce was arrested and booked into the Brevard County Jail and charged for rendering services as an unlicensed public adjuster, as well as for grand theft.

If convicted, Bruce faces up to 10 years in prison. Her previous arrest was on charges of unlicensed public adjusting and filing of false and fraudulent lien in Orange County.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths these scam artists will go to steal your hard-earned money, CFO Jimmy Patronis, who oversees Florida DFS, said. My detectives caught this criminal once, and they have arrested her again.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Florida Fraud Hurricane Homeowners
One of Alabamas largest coal companies has agreed to pay $775,000 in penalties related to air pollution violations near Birmingham.

Al.com reported Feb 12. that the proposed Drummond Company settlement comes nearly eight years after violations were discovered during a facility inspection.

Jefferson County Board of Health inspectors and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that the foundry coke facility was releasing over 10 times its reported amount of benzene.

The EPA considers benzene a known carcinogen. It has said that the excess release of benzene was related to unidentified or unrepaired facility leaks and miscalculations based on facility waste streams.

The settlement proposal filed last week allocates half the settlement to the county health board and half to the EPA. It says the company also must check for leaks semi-annually.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Pollution Alabama
Houston-based insurance broker, Frank Medina, has launched Insurance Agent Near Me, an online tool that connects customers with reputable insurance agents in their vicinity.

Insurance Agent Near Me lists all the major insurance products that are being searched online daily and pointing customers to agents based on their proximity and relevance to the customers search terms. The tool uses a search algorithm based on users current IP address to determine which agents are nearby. Like a directory, it then lists only local agents with the product that customers search for.

Agents registered on the directory have access to a user-friendly dashboard where they create tailored listings that help customers find them for specific services they offer. Unlike general Google listings, insurance agents using the directory have the ability to include announcements, events, ads and even generate leads that show up in their inbox, all from using one dashboard.

All listings are manually verified to ensure customers are connected only to reputable local insurance agents.

Source: Insurance Agent Near Me

Topics Agencies
A federal judge ordered a shipping company to pay $2 million in fines after one of its tankers illegally dumped oily waste into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

Interorient Marine Services Limited was fined Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court in Lake Charles after the company pleaded guilty to a felony charge of failing to accurately maintain the ships oil records.

Federal prosecutors said the waste dumping was no accident. The Justice Department said in a news release that senior officers aboard one of the companys ships, the oil tanker Ridgebury Alexandra Z, intentionally tampered with the ships pollution prevention equipment in order to dump waste directly into Gulf waters.

Prosecutors said the ships record book was falsified to show 87,705 gallons of oily waste had been disposed of properly.

Tankers are required to offload their waste oil at disposal facilities at ports and not into the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Attorney David Joseph said in a statement. This case should serve as a deterrent to other individuals and companies that ignore our laws, pollute our waters, and damage our environment.

In addition to the fine, the shipping companys plea deal requires it to serve four years on probation. During that time, all ships operated by the company that call on U.S. ports will be required to implement an environmental compliance plan.

Criminal charges are also pending against the ships captain, Vjaceslavs Birzakovs. He was indicted in November on six counts relating to the waste dumping and falsified records.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by two Pennsylvania boys and an environmental group seeking to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from rolling back regulations addressing climate change, saying the court does not have power to tell the White House what to do.

Disagreeing with a judge overseeing a similar case in Oregon, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia ruled on Tuesday that the Constitution does not guarantee what the boys and the Clean Air Council called a due process right to a life-sustaining climate system.

Court Allows Trial in Childrens Lawsuit Against U.S. Over Climate Change

Diamond also said the boys, who were 7 and 11 when the lawsuit was filed in November 2017, could not trace their respective severe allergies and asthma to White House policies.

He said this meant the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue Trump, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and other defendants who had moved to dismiss the case.

Plaintiffs disagreement with defendants is a policy debate best left to the political process, wrote Diamond, an appointee of President George W. Bush. Because I have neither the authority nor the inclination to assume control of the Executive Branch, I will grant defendants motion.

Joseph Minott, executive director of the Clean Air Council, said the plaintiffs will review their options as the White Houses deliberate indifference to climate change increases the frequency and intensity of its life-threatening effects.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has long cast doubt on the science of climate change.

He has announced his intention to withdraw the United States from a two-year-old global agreement to combat climate change, and a proposal to overhaul former President Barack Obamas Clean Power Plan with new rules that would ease pollution controls.

In November, Trump rejected findings in a congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, which said climate change could reduce U.S. gross domestic product more than 10 percent by the end of this century.

The Eugene, Oregon case was brought by 21 children and young adults also challenging government policies affecting climate change.

Diamond accused U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, the appointee of President Bill Clinton overseeing that case, of contravening or ignoring longstanding authority by finding a due process right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life.

The case is Clean Air Council et al v U.S. et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 17-04977.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Related:

Topics Lawsuits USA Pollution Climate Change Numbers
A lawsuit says a northern Indiana city shares responsibility for a crash that killed two children and a man who were walking along a sidewalk.

Authorities say Leonard Grosswiler was driving in August 2017 when his vehicle struck five pedestrians in Elkhart, killing 8-month-old Dolly Thomas, 11-year-old Courtney Smith and 22-year-old Shawn Wolcott. He was sentenced in December to 15 years in the hit-and-run crash, with 10 years to be served in prison.

The Elkhart Truth reports the lawsuit on behalf of the two surviving pedestrians and the families of the dead says Elkhart didnt properly maintain the sidewalk and was aware vehicles had gone over the curb in the area.

Courtney Bearsch, Elkhart director of communications, says attorneys representing the city plan to file the appropriate legal response.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Indiana
The University of Illinois Gies College of Business has named Lynne McChristian and Corrie Proksa to lead its insurance and risk management programs.

McChristian has been named director of the Office of Risk Management and Insurance Research (ORMIR), Proksa and will serve as the new director of the AXIS Risk Management Academy (ARMA).

McChristian joined Gies College of Business in January after more than three years at Florida State University (FSU). There she served as executive director of the Center for Risk Management Education & Research, where she was responsible for insurance industry engagement through career fairs, mentoring and internships. She was also a faculty member teaching principles of insurance and enterprise risk management.

McChristian brings more than 25 years of insurance experience to the Office of Risk Management and Insurance Research, where she will focus on enhancing the strong existing relationship between the insurance industry and faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ORMIR was established to respond to the needs of its corporate partners through the design and direction of research on the most critical issues faced by the insurance industry and to provide expertise on initiatives to engage students in seeking careers in insurance.

Proksa comes to Gies College of Business after spending three years as an actuarial science advisor at the University of Illinois. She takes over leadership of the AXIS Risk Management Academy, which launched in Spring 2018. The Academy is open to students from across the Illinois campus, and it provides them with professional development resources and experiences to support their interest in risk management.

The AXIS Risk Management Academy was established in collaboration with global specialty insurer and reinsurer AXIS Capital Holdings Limited. As part of the agreement, AXIS is contributing $1.5 million over the course of five years to fund the development and management of the AXIS Risk Management Academy in partnership with the ORMIR. A portion of the funding agreement supports ARMA and the ORMIRs focus on encouraging and preparing students for careers in risk management and insurance.

Source: Gies College of Business

Topics Market Education Illinois Universities Risk Management
| BY Ricki Green |

Photoplay Photography has welcomed Libby Hams (right) to the family, taking on a newly created producer role to help manage the photography houses burgeoning stable of local and international photographers and content creators.

Hams comes to Photoplay after 20 years working for some of the top advertising agencies in Australia, heading up production departments for Saatchi & Saatchi, BMF and M&C Saatchi, and most recently in her role as creative operations director at DDB Sydney.

Equipped with exceptional production and organisational skills, Hams has a passion for all things photography.

Says Hams: Im really excited to be producing again and creating great work with the lovely Photoplay team.

Hams joins executive producer Alison Lydiard and producer Ross Colebatch at the brand new Photoplay offices in Alexandria, sharing with sister companies Photoplay Films and Playtime.

Says Lydiard: We are very proud to have Libby on-board. Her production experience and deep understanding of the creative process makes her an invaluable part of the Photoplay Photography process.

Libby Hams can be contacted on libby@photoplay.co or +61 410 452 425.

See Photoplay Photographys roster and work at http://photoplay.co/photo.
The North Dakota Insurance Department has appealed a ruling from a U.S. District Court invalidating a law protecting individuals with health insurance from receiving large and unexpected balance bills to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread announced.

The appeal is in response to a federal judges split decision regarding a consumer protection law enacted by the state during the 2017 legislative session.

Leading up to 2017, the department had received a number of complaints from North Dakota consumers with health insurance who had received balance bills from air ambulance companies averaging more than $35,000. The resulting law was designed to protect consumers with health insurance from receiving balance bills from air ambulances, prohibit air ambulance subscription agreements from being sold and require hospitals to inform patients in non-emergency situations about which air ambulances have contractual agreements with the patients health insurance company.

The district court decision invalidated the portion of the law that protects North Dakotans from receiving balance bills from air ambulances.

I will continue to fight to protect North Dakotans from the completely unfair practice of air ambulances balance billing individuals with health insurance, Godfread said in the departments announcement. No one deserves to face financial ruin because of something as out of their control as an air ambulance ride.

A final decision from the 8th Circuit is not expected for at least a year.

Source: North Dakota Insurance Department

Topics Legislation North Dakota
Typically, brokers are paid a commission of about 3% to 6% of the total premium employers pay for the health plan; as the client pays more in premiums, the brokers commission increases in turn. But NPR found that commissions can be even higher  as much as 40% or even 50% of the premium  on supplemental plans to cover for things such as dental costs, cancer care, or long-term hospitalization.

Brokers can even receive additional commissions, which are sometimes marked confidential on the websites of insurance companies and broker agencies. These bonuses are usually baked into the overall cost of health plans as hidden additional fees.

These commissions influence which plans brokers sell to their clients, argued University of Colorado Center for Bioethics and Humanities director of research Eric Campbell.

Its a classic conflict of interest, Campbell remarked.

Campbell likens the group health broker bias to a similar predicament facing the pharmaceutical industry. He highlighted that there is a large body of virtually irrefutable evidence that shows drug company payments to doctors influence the way they prescribe medicines.

Denying this effect is like denying that gravity exists, he said, adding that there is no reason to think brokers are any different.

Apart from the conflict of interest created whenever an insurer incentivizes brokers, another issue within the benefits industry that could be enabling the problem is the lack of transparency.

Earlier this year, ProPublica sent a questionnaire to 10 of Americas largest broker agencies  Alliant, Aon, Arthur Gallagher, BB&T, Brown & Brown, HUB International, Lockton, Marsh & McLennan, Willis Towers Watson, and USI  asking whether they took bonuses and commissions from insurers, and whether they disclosed them to their clients. Four firms declined to answer, while the others never responded despite repeated requests for comment.

Insurers also do not see anything wrong with their current commission models, believing that there is nothing wrong with rewarding brokers for their work, ProPublica found. Although trade groups such as Americas Health Insurance Plans claim that insurers must incentivize brokers above all else for helping clients, some insurers clearly reward brokers for their devotion to them instead.

To thank you for your loyalty to Humana, we want to extend our thanks with a bonus, an online brochure from Humana pitched to brokers said.

Another brochure from Empire Blue Cross in New York told brokers that it would deliver new bonuses for bringing in large group business ... and for keeping it with us.
Commercial cannabis sales in California got started in January 2018. The south-western state generated roughly $300 million in cannabis sales taxes and fees in its first year, according to data released by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. This is lower than the states initial projections for 2018, but also greater than the totals reported by other states that legalized adult-use cannabis in the same year as California (2016).

Budget-makers in California initially hoped to collect about $665 million in cannabis taxes in 2018. However, that had to be revised down because about 70% of counties and local authorities in the state continue to ban cannabis commerce. In the Californian cities and counties that are allowing cannabis commerce, there has been quite a bit of conflict with regards to distribution, [as well as] significant delays in licensing, Stewart told Insurance Business. There are companies literally dying on the vine as they wait to have their licenses granted.

While California has quite an inclusive and entrepreneurial model for its legal cannabis industry, other states are much more constrained. Florida, for example, has a medical cannabis market worth approximately $250 million, but so far it has only approved 14 licenses and the market is dominated by seven huge businesses. Both models have their faults and have resulted in complex legal battles.

Another thing to consider beyond whats going on at a state level is that I think there will continue to be the usual slew of cannabis bills coming forward at a federal level, said Dean Rocco, partner at Wilson Elser and co-presenter at the Cannabis Cover Masterclasses in Denver and Los Angeles. As more and more states opt for recreational legalization, more countries around the world update their cannabis policies, and the United Nations prepares to potentially lower the scheduling status of marijuana, there will likely be a major movement forward in the US at a federal, state and local level, Rocco added.

The 2018 Farm Bill, which became law in December 2018, highlights some progress at a federal level, despite the overall recreational pot market remaining criminalized. The new laws state that hemp will be managed by the US Department of Agriculture as a crop, rather than by the Justice Department as an illegal drug. The bill also enables banks, payment processors and credit card companies to service the hemp industry.

This, alongside the current review of the Safe Banking Act, in which Congress is being asked to give banks permission to do business with the cannabis industry, could be major boon for the insurance industry. Rocco commented: I think the issue of cannabis being illegal at a federal level is no longer the key barrier to insurance organizations entering the cannabis market. For the larger insurers, the main concern at the moment is losing the support of the banks.

Get more updates about regulation in the expanding commercial cannabis market by attending one of Insurance Business Americas Cannabis Cover Masterclasses in Denver (March 19) and Los Angeles (March 28). To register, click here.
On behalf of the board of directors and the executive committee, and on my own personal behalf, I would like to thank Victor Peignet wholeheartedly for his immense contribution to the SCOR group over the past 35 years, commented SCOR chairman and chief executive Denis Kessler, who expressed the groups warmest thanks to the 62-year-old.

I salute his visionary leadership, his great intelligence, his exceptional work ethic, and his strong passion for reinsurance, which have positioned SCOR Global P&C in the top tier of the industry. Victors career path has been exemplary in every way.

Meanwhile Conoscente, who will also become part of the groups executive committee, came onboard more than a decade ago as chief underwriting officer for the Americas at SCOR Global P&C. His experience includes spending time as an AON Benfield reinsurance broker in London and Paris as well as global head of property at AXA Re.

I am very pleased that Jean-Paul Conoscente is taking the reins of the SCOR Global P&C division, said Kessler. Jean-Paul joined the group in 2008 in New York, where he headed SCOR Global P&Cs North American business, before taking charge of all reinsurance business across the division.

The SCOR boss added: With his deputy CEO Laurent Rousseau, I know that Jean-Paul will continue Victor Peignets work successfully, while bringing his own vision to the SCOR Global P&C division and the wider group.
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| BY Ricki Green |

Publicis Groupes Digitas, the Connected Marketing agency, has announced the appointment of James Hudson who arrives as new head of media based in Sydney.

With over 16 years experience in digital, Hudson joins Digitas with the remit to further develop and grow the agencys offering in Australia and New Zealand. Supporting clients across the region, his team is responsible for all strategy, implementation and management of media, including programmatic, SEO and social.

Hudson will report into Digitas Australia CEO, Adrian Farouk, and will work across all client accounts, including GSK, FCA and EA Games.

Says Hudson: Digitas has an amazing offering across a number of different areas including tech, creative, strategy, content, data and analytics. Media is an integral part of this and therefore a best in class media division is being formed to support the business.

Increasingly clients want their agencies to help navigate the ever more complex digital ecosystem and this requires different skillsets and capabilities to work in an integrated way in order to deliver innovation. Just named Campaigns Australian Digital Agency of The Year, Digitas has a pedigree of doing this extremely well.
Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a Top Employer 2019 for excellence in its employment practices, and has been ranked among the top three employers in Europe and the Middle East.

This is the second year in a row that Infosys has been recognised across Europe as a Top Employer, with certification in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and France, and for the first time in Sweden and Belgium.

This years certification emphasises Infosys strategic commitment to localisation and growth within Europe. As well as highlighting the companys dedication to, and investment in, employees professional development and personal wellbeing, it also illustrates Infosys commitment to providing competitive benefits through best in class HR policies and practices.

Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, We are delighted to be recognised as a Top Employer for the second year in a row, and this is a validation of our strong focus and commitment to localisation, one of the fundamental pillars of our strategic approach to help clients navigate the next in their digital transformation journeys. As we continue to drive business growth in the region, we are committed to developing the best work environment for our people and sharpening our HR practices to build the best workplace of the future.

David Plink, Chief Executive Officer, Top Employers Institute, said, We believe that the 2019 certified organisations demonstrate exceptional employee conditions and encourage the development of these practices by putting their people first. Companies such as Infosys, help enrich the world of work with their outstanding dedication to HR excellence and because of this, it is recognised as an employer of choice.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our future business opportunities and growth prospects. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
Canada-based North American Lithium has halted production of lithium spodumene at its La Corne mining operation in Quebec, eastern Canada, because of the lower spodumene prices in China, the company announced on Wednesday February 20.

The operation has been closed temporarily because lithium spodumene prices have fallen to $600 per...
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (left) shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) as India's President Ram Nath Kovind (center) looks on during a ceremonial reception at the presidential palace in New Delhi on July 10, 2018. (Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images)
The short film Laddoo is about an inquisitive boy who sets out to give a pandit food and dakshina (donation) on the occasion of his grandfathers death anniversary. (YouTube screenshot photo)
Getting from New York to Paris in one hour flat is no longer a dream, thanks to Virgin Atlantic's mind-boggling speed.

Twitter

A Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles to London reached the ground speed of 1289 km/h with the help of strong winds, according to reports.

While the speed of sound is 1234.37 km/h the Virgin Atlantic touched a whopping 1289 km/h. So, it basically went faster than the speed of sound!

Never ever seen this kind of tailwind in my life as a commercial pilot, tweeted Peter James, a jet captain.

Almost 800 mph now never ever seen this kind of tailwind in my life as a commercial pilot !! (200 mph tailwind ) pic.twitter.com/0XGTkEP9EB  Peter James (@jetpeter1) 19 February 2019

"The typical cruising speed of the Dreamliner is 561 mph," CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave said.

"The past record for the 787 is 776 mph set in January 2017 by a Norwegian 787-9 flying from JFK to London Gatwick. That flight set a record for the fastest subsonic transatlantic commercial airline flight  5 hours and 13 minutes, thanks to a 202 mph tailwind."

The Virgin Atlantic flight arrived in London 48 minutes early!
Snowfall can turn any place into a winter wonderland - Niagara Falls looked like Elsa's Castle when parts of it were frozen and Paris looked like something out of a fairytale after the snowfall. But just imagine if the snow that fell was black in colour, will it still be fun?

You don't have to imagine it because Siberia is living it for real.

Prokopyevsk, Kiselyovsk, Leninsk-Kuznetsky - these three coal-mining cities of Siberia have turned into ghostly dark snowscapes after being covered with black snow. The coal plants which failed to filter their fumes are being blamed for this. Here's what it looks like:

Instagram

The black snow indicates how the coal mining industry can harm the environment and pose serious health hazards. Vladimir Slivyak, a member of the Ecodefense environmental group, said in a report by The Guardian: Its harder to find white snow than black during winters."

Local residents blame the coal plants for their lack of regulation. No cleansing systems, all the waste, dust, and dirt, coal lay in the area. Our children and we are breathing it. Its just a nightmare, a local said.

Residents around these cities have been posting pictures and videos of the streets that are being covered in black snow and it is really alarming:

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Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was gifted a gold-plated submachine gun by Pakistani senators during his visit to Islamabad on February 17, The Guardian said. The prince was welcomed by Pakistan in a very unique way - he was escorted with a fighter jet.

Dailymail

Special arrangements were made in Islamabad to extend a warm welcome to the prince. Big portraits of Mohammad bin Salman, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Alvi were displayed at the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad. A portrait measuring 120 feet tall and 45 feet wide was also installed in the Parliament building.

Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI and HRH Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman witnessing the signing of MoUs in Islamabad.#CrownPrinceinPakistan pic.twitter.com/s1bn4g6kTv  PTI Rwp Official (@PTIOfficialRWP) February 18, 2019

Banners and posters inscribed with slogans of Pakistan-Saudi friendship and fraternity were also put alongside the roads.

The countries also signed agreements and Saudi Arabia is set to invest $20 billion Pakistan. The Saudi prince also announced the release of more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners from their jails.

After his Pakistan visit, the prince arrived in India on February 19 night where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mohammad Bin Salman agreed to tackle the menace of terrorism and increase pressure on the countries supporting it.

Twitter

After Pakistan and India trips, Saudi crown prince began his visit to China this morning.
A pilot based in Adelaide, Australia, took the pain to map out a flight path just to convey how bored he was on duty. He wrote, 'Im bored' across one kilometre in the sky with his plane on Tuesday. He also took the time to draw some penises.

ICYMI: Pilot writes I'm bored (among other things) in their flight path over SA https://t.co/1En8yZUt7V pic.twitter.com/Ufy5srM4ry  The Advertiser (@theTiser) 20 February 2019

Australia Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesperson Peter Gibson told ABC All pilots plan a track for their aircraft to get between where theyre going from and to." And this drawing stunt is pretty common.

According to PerthNow, the pilot in question is thought to be a newly-qualified instructor. The cheeky in-air message was only visible to those who were monitoring his live-progress.

"Young instructors, what can you do? Pine Pienaar, the director of Flight Training Adelaide, told local news reports.

The most monumental thing to happen in omak. A penis in the sky pic.twitter.com/SM8k1tNYaj  Anahi Torres (@anahi_torres_) 16 November 2017

Pinar said he didnt condone the pilots actions, and said, apparently he got bored.
India is making consistent efforts to empower its transportation with an electric drivetrain. So much so that the automakers are taking note and that is why many of them have already announced their upcoming EV portfolio in India.

Joining the growing list is Italian two and three-wheeler maker Piaggio Vehicles, which has now announced that the company will be coming up with a fully electric three wheeler in India by the middle of 2019.

This is the company that initiated its operations in India in 1999 with a lineup named Ape. Ring any bells?

Piaggio Ape Calessino model is seen at the Piaggio factory in Pontedera. (Image: Reuters)

A top official of the firm confirmed on Wednesday that the automaker wants to be ready in advance for the upcoming BS-VI emission norms. For this, it also seeks to upgrade most of its existing line up of products, mostly including small commercial vehicles (less than one-tonne load) both in cargo and passenger segments.

"India is one country which is investing more on electric mobility. We are preparing for this right in advance ...demand at the moment is not very big but we expect it to increase quite fast so we plan to introduce our fully electric three-wheeler by the middle of this year," Piaggio Vehicles MD & CEO Diego Graffi told reporters.

Piaggio plans to assemble the electric three-wheelers within the country, with some of the components like lithium-ion battery cells being procured from external suppliers. Meanwhile, the engine and battery management system will be produced completely within India.

Pope Benedict walks past a pair of Piaggio Ape vehicles (Image: Reuters)

For now, the Piaggio MD has confirmed that the firm will be sticking to the all-electric vehicles for India, avoiding any focus on hybrid vehicles which are currently under operations in Europe.

Even if it is not for Piaggio, electric motors are finding an increased adoption in the three-wheelers segment in India. Recently, Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. and SmartE promised a rollout of 1000 electric three-wheelers for the Delhi-NCR region. As per SmartEs plans, the final count is supposed to reach 10,000 by 2020.

(With inputs from PTI)
| BY Ricki Green |

CB Exclusive  This year, ANZ is spreading its support for LGBTIQ+ inclusion beyond inner-city Sydney by transforming Oxford Street signs across the country into fabulous Mardi Gras sculptures as part of a campaign created by TBWA\Melbourne and Revolver/Will ORourke.

With 84% of LGBTIQ+ individuals believing there are still parts of Australia where they feel unsafe*, the Festivals celebration of diversity and commitment to social equality can feel a long way away for those living away from the famous Oxford Street parade-route.

Realising there are Oxford Streets all over Australia (123 to be exact), ANZ and TBWA\Melbourne together with Revolver/Will ORourke have transformed Oxford Street signs countrywide into unique representations of LGBTIQ+ culture, from rainbows and love hearts to sailor flamingos and fiercely proud unicorns.

Popping up on Oxford Streets from Bunbury to Berry Springs, the campaign culminates in a massive 123-sign, 6-metre tall, 4-tonne Signs of Love sculpture unveiled today at Sydneys iconic Bondi Beach (and fave Mardi Gras hot spot) to draw attention to ANZs push for an #equalfuture for LGBTIQ+ individuals across Australia.

Says Carolyn Bendall, head of marketing Australia, ANZ: Were letting everyone know that no matter how far from Oxford St Sydney you are, were supporting you as we strive for inclusive communities and an #equalfuture for all.

The campaign also sees ANZ working with Google to help display the street signs and artwork on Google Street View so people around the world can view the images of the installations.

Says a spokesperson from TBWA\Melbourne: As principal partners for Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, ANZ has a remarkable history of support for LGBTIQ+ inclusion and this years campaign is no exception. Everyone, no matter where they live, deserves to feel celebrated and included.

The campaign is supported by an integrated PR strategy which reveals local signposts across Australia and sees much-loved entertainer Courtney Act (alongside a number of other LGBTIQ+ influencers) lend their voice to the initiative.

Installations:

Sydney  Signs of Love, Bondi Park.

Mittagong, NSW  Eternal Flame, Oxford St & Bourne Cl.

Deep Lead, Vic  Coming Out, Oxford St & Battery Rd.

Rockhampton, Qld  Pink FlaminGo-Go, Oxford St & Talford Street.

East Launceston, Tas  Love is Love Oxford St & Abbott St.

Bunbury, WA  Im Spinning Around Oxford St & Austral Pde.

Port Pirie, SA  Turn the Party, Port Pirie Regional Tourism and Arts Centre.

Berry Springs, NT  Were Not in Sydney Toto Oxford Rd & Cox Peninsula Rd.

*YouGov Galaxy Research, Feb 2019

ANZ Australia

TBWA\Melbourne

Revolver/Will ORourke and The Glue Society

Thrive PR

Google Australia
Days after she made an appeal to the UK government to let her to return to the country raise her child, teenage Islamic State terrorist Shamima Begum has been stripped of her citizenship. The 19-year-old who ran away to Syria when she was 15 to join ISIS was found in a refugee camp in northern Syria late last week, pregnant with her third child. She had given birth earlier this week to her third child and wanted to return to UK where she could bring up her child, after losing the two previous children.

AFP

"I'm afraid he might even die in this camp," Begum said of her newborn. "I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I've been through," she told Sky News.

Despite her appeal to let her return, the Jihadi bride had shown no remorse about her choice and wasn't apologetic for her involvement with the terror group.

Shamima's plea to let her return was received with much contempt by the relative of the Manchester Bombing victims, which was carried out by the Islamic State.

On Tuesday the UK Home Office has sent a letter to Begum's mother, received notifying the family of the decision to revoke her citizenship.

In light of the circumstances of your daughter, the notice of the Home Secretarys decision has been served of file today (19th February), and the order removing her British citizenship has subsequently been made, the letter read.

The familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said they were disappointed with and that they will appeal against the decision.

AFP

Earlier Shamima who gave multiple interviews to international media houses had claimed that she did not actively take part in any terror activity and was mostly a housewife.

They dont really have proof that I did anything that is dangerous, he had claimed.

Shamima had made headlines in February 2015 after the then 15-year-old school along with two colleagues ran away to Syria to join ISIS. She was reportedly 'inspired by' the beheading videos of ISIS.
Emboldened by its success in the Pulwama suicide bombing, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) plans to carry out another fidayeen attack of a much bigger magnitude, intelligence intercepts of conversations on February 16-17 between JeM leadership in Pakistan and its terrorists in Kashmir have revealed.

As per the intercepts, exclusively accessed by TOI, Jaish terrorists resolved to execute another bombing to cause massive casualty to Indian security forces. On Wednesday, a top intelligence official said various inputs from different quarters indicated that there could be a major attack either in Jammu or outside J&K.

AFP

Quoting intel sources, TOI had reported on February 19 that a 21-member JeM squad, including three suicide bombers, had infiltrated into Kashmir in December last year to launch three attacks, including two outside the Valley.

The intercepts picked up by the agencies also revealed that JeM is to release the video of the preparations of the Pulwama suicide bombing preparations. Intelligence analysts said the release of the video is intended to glorify 20-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar, who rammed his explosive-laden Maruti Eeco van into one of the buses of the 78-vehicle CRPF convoy, killing 40 jawans on February 14. The video could help Jaish recruit more gullible and radicalised Kashmiri youth into suicide bombing missions, an analyst said.

JeM has also claimed that it was the terror groups former operational commander Mohammad Waqas Dar who had planted the IED at Nowshera in Rajouri last week in which Army Major Chitresh Bisht was killed.

AFP

However, police officials said the entire communication among Jaish terrorists seemed to be a psychological operation targeted at terrorizing India. But since we have intercepted the communication, we cannot ignore it. We are on high alert and trying to corroborate the threats through other means too, a senior police officer said.
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, ordered the eviction of over 10 lakh families of tribals and other forest-dwellers from forestlands across 16 Indian states. This comes after their claims of the right to live in forests or their homes were rejected under the Forest Rights Acts.

According to the apex court order, the state governments have been directed to carry out the evictions by July 12 and asked the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India to submit a satellite-image based report on the encroachments removed.

Some citizens, including wildlife conservation NGOs, filed a petition challenging the Forest Rights Act. The Act was passed in 2006 and grants forest-dwellers, many of whom belong to marginalised communities, official access to forest places they have called home for centuries.

Close to 11,72,931 (1.17 million) land ownership claims made by scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act have been rejected under various grounds, including lack of proof that the land was under their possession for at least three generations. The law provides for giving land rights to those living on a forest land for at least three generations before December 31, 2005.

BCCL/File

The petitioners demanded that those whose claims over traditional forestlands are rejected under the new law should be evicted. According to a report by Business Standard, the government failed to present lawyers before the court to defend the Act.

States like, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are the biggest losers. These states have the highest numbers with 20 per cent claiming land ownership submitted under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Forest activists and advocacy organisations for tribal and forest-dwelling groups, were highly critical of the order for its unfavourable approach towards some of Indias most vulnerable communities.

BCCL/File

The court made public on Tuesday, the apex court directed Forest Survey of India to make a satellite survey of land. Let the Forest Survey of India make a satellite survey and place on record the encroachment positions and also state the positions after the eviction as far as possible, it said.

The court order comes a few days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi wrote to chief ministers of Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan asking them to reopen the rejected cases and help plaintiffs secure their rights.

We must honour the peoples mandate by effectively implementing the Forest Rights Act, Gandhi said.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is known to pick up the most intense and life changing topics and show them on silver screen. For the last couple of years, Akshay has been making thought provoking films like Padman, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Gabbar Is Back.

Kesari Poster

And now Khiladi Kumar is back with yet another movie. Like all period films, Akshay too will be seen in a war drama. Based on a true story, Kesari revolves around Havildar Ishar Singh who participates in the famous battle of Saragarhi. Yes, a one of a kind war where an army of 21 Sikhs took on and fought against 10,000 Afghans back in 1897.

Watch the trailer

For those who don't know, the Battle of Saragarhi was fought on 12 September 1897 between Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and Pashtun Orakzai tribes-men. It all started when the British Indian contingent comprised 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikhs (now the 4th battalion of the Sikh Regiment), who were stationed at an army post and were attacked by 10,000 Afghans.

Twitter/AKshay Kumar

The Sikhs were led by Havildar Ishar Singh and he fought till his last breath. The post was recaptured two days later by another British Indian contingent. Sikh military personnel commemorate the battle every year on 12 September, as Saragarhi Day.

Directed by Anurag Singh, the movie will showcase the bravest battle ever fought. The film is scheduled for release on March 21, 2019 and also features Parineeti Chopra.

The film is scheduled for release on March 21, 2019.
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is speaking out after a train carrying coal derailed on the reservation in northern Minnesota.

Chairman Kevin DuPuis said the tribe wasn't told until about five hours after the derailment on Saturday morning . He said Burlington Northern Santa Fe initiated a response without respecting the tribe's sovereignty.

"Because this incident occurred on reservation land, BNSF's cleanup operation is subject to the band regulatory authority, ordinances, and policies," DuPuis said in a letter on Tuesday to the rail company.

The derailment caused coal to spill on the frozen waters of the St. Louis River. As of Tuesday morning, some train cars were still on the ice, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

"We have jurisdiction. It's within the confines of our reservation. It's within our lands. We are the lead agency and we should have been contacted," DuPuis said at a news conference that day, MPR reported.

In a statement to Wisconsin Public Radio, BNSF did not outright dispute the chairman's concerns. Instead, the rail company said it contacted 911 "within 30 minutes of the incident" and engaged in "subsequent communications" throughout the day.

"Weve been working with the Fond du Lac leaders, providing regular briefings and safe access to the site since the derailment as our crews have been responding to the incident," the statement read.

According to The Duluth News Tribune, more than 4,000 tons of coal were dumped on the frozen river.

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The Citizen Potawatomi Nation donated more than $100,000 to local schools in Oklahoma, The Shawnee News-Star reports.

The tribe donated $51,243.76 in January and another $52,475.64 in February, the paper said. The money went to the 14 public school districts in Pottawatomie County.

Since 2016, the tribe has donated $497,944.59 to schools. Another $4,979.45 has gone to the Family Justice Center in Shawnee during that same time.

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Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia says his forthcoming film "Milan Talkies" will not release in Pakistan.

After the Pulwama terror attack earlier this month, some Indian filmmakers decided against the release of their films like "Luka Chuppi" and "Arjun Patiala" in the neighboring country.

Asked whether he will release "Milan Talkies" in Pakistan, Dhulia told the media here on Tuesday: "No. It will not be released in Pakistan. There are two reasons for that. First one is that we stand in solidarity with the martyrs' families.

"The second reason is that piracy of Hindi films takes place from Pakistan so, I feel that we should never release our films in Pakistan for that specific reason."

Dhulia was interacting with the media at the trailer launch of "Milan Talkies" along with the film's cast Ali Fazal, Shraddha Srinath, Ashutosh Rana, and Sikandar Kher.

In the wake of the terror attack, the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) announced a total ban on Pakistani actors and artists working in the Indian film industry.

Reacting to AICWA's decision, Dhulia said: "At this juncture, I feel it's the right decision and we should ban Pakistani artistes but if the situation gets better then we will welcome them with open arms."

"Milan Talkies" is releasing in India on March 15.
CONCORD  This years Congressional Art Competition will be held in remembrance of legendary NASCAR artist Sam Bass who recently passed away. The event is sponsored by Rep. Richard Hudson.

This years competition is bittersweet as we celebrate the talents of our students and pay tribute to my good friend Sam Bass, said Rep. Hudson. Sam was a big supporter of the art competition and he even hosted it once at his gallery. Our district is home to incredibly gifted students, and I look forward to showcasing their artwork again this year.

Each spring, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsor the Congressional Art Competition to recognize the artistic talents of students in North Carolinas Eighth District and throughout the nation. The competition began in 1982 to provide an opportunity for Members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. Since then, more than 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nationwide competition.

The Eighth District winner will be selected by an Arts Advisory Committee made up of artists from the district and announced at a reception hosted by Congressman Hudson.
The Kentucky teenager at the heart of an encounter last month with a Native American activist is suing The Washington Post for $250 million (192 million).

He is also threatening legal action against The Associated Press and other news organisations.

In papers filed on Tuesday in federal court in Kentucky, Nicholas Sandmann and his parents alleged that the Post had engaged in targeting and bullying and modern McCarthyism.

President Donald Trump cheered the lawsuit, tweeting that Covington student suing WAPO. Go get them Nick. Fake News!

The legal action, and possible future ones, comes at a time of intense scrutiny of President Trumps relationship with the press, which he has repeatedly labelled the enemy of the people.

The actions of Mr Sandmann and his Covington Catholic High School classmates have been intensely debated since video and photographs emerged of them wearing Make America Great Again hats and facing off against Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips.

Both Mr Sandmann and Nathan Phillips say they were trying to defuse tensions that were rising among three groups on a day Washington hosted both the anti-abortion March for Life, attended by the Covington students, and the Indigenous Peoples March.

But video of Mr Sandmann and Mr Phillips standing very close to each other, with Mr Sandmann staring and at times smiling at Mr Phillips as he sang and played a drum, gave some who watched it a different impression.

Interpretations changed over the days following the incident as witnesses released more video footage.

Mr Phillips had approached Mr Sandmann, but well before that, both his group and Mr Sandmanns were confronted by a third group that appeared to be affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.

Videos show members of the religious group yelling disparaging and profane insults at the students, some of whom shouted back.

Video also shows the Native Americans being insulted by the small religious group.

Mr Sandmanns legal team has released its own video, Nick Sandmann: The Truth in 15 Minutes. It shows scenes from the confrontation, clips from news coverage and interviews, and examples of harsh Tweets and comments aimed at Mr Sandmann and his high school.

Mr Phillips did not immediately return efforts to reach him for comment.

First Amendment lawyers were hesitant to comment without reading the full legal complaint.

Floyd Abrams, who worked on the landmark Pentagon Papers case of 1971, wrote in an email that the press does get a good deal of leeway in voicing opinions about matters they have seen and are commenting on.

One legal question might be whether Mr Sandmann would be treated in court as a public or private figure.

Mr Abrams observed that sometimes individuals involved in newsworthy events are treated as involuntary limited purpose public figures, meaning they would have to meet a higher legal standard than would a private citizen.
President Donald Trump said he was behind the decision banning Hoda Muthana from returning the US (Susan Walsh/AP)

An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria will not be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US has said.

Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States, he said.

She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.

But her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, insisted Ms Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014.

Expand Close Hassan Shibly, lawyer for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria (Chris OMeara/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Hassan Shibly, lawyer for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria (Chris OMeara/AP)

He said she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

Shes an American. Americans break the law, said Mr Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and thats all shes asking for.

Ms Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Mr Shibly said that the administration argues that she did not qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status for months before her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

President Donald Trump said later on Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision, tweeting that I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!

The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the US has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Ms Muthanas lawyer said she was just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman when she became enamoured of Islamic State, believing it was an organisation that protected Muslims.

Mr Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was brainwashed by IS and compelled to marry one of the groups soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she became disenchanted with the marriage and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Expand Close US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the woman could not return to the US (Czarek Sokolowski/AP) / Facebook

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Mr Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the governments decision to deny her entry to the country.

Ms Muthanas status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one US official.

The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Ms Muthanas case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the US to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.

However, Ms Muthanas case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a US passport.

During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed meHoda Muthana

In a handwritten letter released by Mr Shibly, Ms Muthana wrote that she made a big mistake by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me, she wrote.

To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly.
Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has led a march of thousands of Belgian students who skipped classes for the seventh Thursday in a row to march through Brussels and draw more attention to fighting climate change.

The 16-year-old first addressed a European Union conference, chiding adults for their inaction in the face of such climatic global dangers.

aI am glad to see that young people are taking to the streets in Europe to raise visibility of the issue of climate change.

Their movement has spread to many cities and can bring about change.

Our goal is to allocate A of the EU budget to climate change mitigation.a

- @JunckerEU pic.twitter.com/aJB3wSQhva  European Commission  (@EU_Commission) February 21, 2019

She said youngsters are being forced to skip school and protest because adults are not addressing climate issues quickly enough.

Greta told the European Economic and Social Committee plenary session that we are school striking because we have done our homework on the dangers facing the Earth.

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The teenager has become her generations voice on climate change after inspiring students around the world to go on strike to express their anger and angst over global warming.

Also at the conference was EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who said he was glad to see that young people are taking to the streets for climate change.

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It can in fact bring change, Mr Juncker said, notwithstanding the fact that Greta had chided his class of politicians for negligence in the face of such challenges.

Now Greta wants the adults to move immediately.

There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge, she said.

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The march itself amid wintry sunshine gathered some 7,500 protesters in Brussels.

Thousands more were marching in large provincial cities.
Revolut is lobbying the Government to create fast-track visas for EU technology professionals in a bid to preserve Londons status as the global centre of fintech after Brexit.

Chief executive and co-founder Nikolay Storonsky warned that Britain could risk losing talent to Germany and France if the country does not streamline immigration policy for tech professionals.

With nearly three quarters of Revoluts software engineers and data scientists recruited outside of the UK, Mr Storonsky bemoaned the serious lack of homegrown technical talent in the UK.

Rival fintech hubs have stepped up efforts to lure investment and jobs from London to the European Union since Britains 2016 vote on membership of the bloc.

Revolut recently secured a European banking licence from Bank of Lithuania in order to provide financial services in the EU.

Mr Storonsky said: Right now, there is no doubt in my mind that London is the best place to build and grow a fintech start-up.

However, there is a serious lack of homegrown technical talent here, which is why around 70% of our software engineers and data scientists are recruited from abroad.

With all of the political uncertainty kicking off right now, lengthy immigration processes and bureaucracy will only slow down the UK fintech industrys growth and we risk losing out on the best talent to other EU countries such as Germany and France.

He said fast-track visas for technology professionals would give a much needed boost to the UK skills market and allow UK-based tech companies, such as Revolut, to create more jobs and scale our operations globally.

Revolut has grown rapidly since it was launched in 2015 by former investment bankers Mr Storonsky and Vladyslav Yatsenko providing digital bank accounts and cards with free foreign exchange transactions.

The firm now has more than four million customers with over 10,000 new accounts opening a day.

It also processes over seven billion US dollars (5.4 billion) a month in transactions.

Mr Storonsky said Revolut is targeting 50,000 new accounts opening in Europe a day by the end of the year, but that the company needs to double its London workforce in order to achieve the goal.

For years now, weve been asking ourselves why the UK has not been producing as many global tech companies as the United States.

In my opinion, itll be UK-based fintech companies who go on to achieve this status, but well need fast and easy access to talent to do so, he said.

Revolut is seeking support from other UK tech companies and to engage further with the Government having already visited Downing Street and held talks with Margot James MP, the minister for digital and culture.

Mr Storonsky said: Over the coming months, well aim to gather wide scale support among the UK tech sector and actively engage in discussions with the relevant UK Government departments.

The Prime Minister has previously stated on record that boosting the UK technology sector is a key focus for the government, so Im optimistic that we can find some common ground here.

The company intends to launch in a number of markets this year including the US, Canada and Japan.

Last April it acquired the coveted unicorn status for a private company with a valuation of 1.7 billion dollars, but was recently taken over by German rival N26, which is worth 2.7 billion dollars.
'The defamation lawsuit, filed by Covington Catholic High School pupil Nick Sandmann, claims the newspaper 'bullied' him due to its 'bias' against Donald Trump' (stock photo)

A student involved in a viral confrontation with a Native American man is suing the 'Washington Post' for $250m (220m) over its coverage of the incident.

The defamation lawsuit, filed by Covington Catholic High School pupil Nick Sandmann, claims the newspaper "bullied" him due to its "bias" against Donald Trump.

The 16-year-old from Kentucky was wearing one of the president's signature "Make America Great Again" (Maga) hats when he attended an anti-abortion rally in Washington along with classmates.

The teenagers became involved in a confrontation with Nathan Phillips, an elderly Native American activist.

A viral video, showing Mr Sandmann standing face-to-face with Mr Phillips and smirking as the protester sings and plays his drum, sparked outrage on social media.

Lawyers claimed the paper targeted Mr Sandmann "in furtherance of its political agenda", because he was "white and Catholic".

A 'Washington Post' spokeswoman said: "We plan to mount a vigorous defence."
SDF fighters take a rest in the frontline Syrian village of Baghouz in February last year. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Isil appeared closer to defeat in its last enclave in eastern Syria as a civilian convoy left the besieged area where US-backed forces estimate several hundred jihadists are still holed up.

Its capture will nudge the eight-year-old Syrian war towards a new phase, with American President Donald Trump having pledged to withdraw troops, leaving a security vacuum that other powers would seek to fill.

A witness near the front lines at Baghouz on the Iraqi border saw dozens of trucks leaving the village and a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they were bringing out civilians.

The US-led coalition said it could not verify reports about militants surrendering.

On Twitter, it said the SDF was continuing to evacuate civilians and the "most hardened" fighters remained within Baghouz, the final scrap of ground left to Isil in the Euphrates valley region which became its last major stronghold in Iraq and Syria.

Its fall marks a big moment in the terror group's trajectory, from winning control over vast territories in 2014 and proclaiming the creation of a caliphate to rule over Muslims, to its stubborn demise under concerted military attacks.
Nicolas Maduro says he is the victim of a US coup attempt. Photo: Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

Venezuela's opposition is trying to convince ruling Socialist Party officials to join a transition government, shifting focus as it seeks to unseat President Nicolas Maduro, who has clung to power in the face of growing international pressure and US sanctions.

Last month, Venezuelan opposition leader and Congress chief Juan Guaido invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency after declaring Mr Maduro's re-election last year illegitimate. He swiftly received recognition from the US and Latin American powers.

In an effort to secure the backing of Venezuela's military, Mr Guaido proposed an amnesty for those who turned on Mr Maduro's government.

But defections have been minimal and top brass has declared allegiance to Mr Maduro, dimming hopes of a quick end to an economic disaster that has fuelled a regional humanitarian crisis.

Amid fears the changes have stalled, opposition leaders have begun to talk about bringing ruling Socialist Party stalwarts into a potential transition government.

"This requires a large national agreement between the country's political forces," Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the opposition-run National Assembly, said.

Mr Zambrano said any transition must include Chavismo, the left-wing movement founded by Venezuela's late leader Hugo Chavez, who picked Mr Maduro as his successor.

It was not immediately clear how actively the opposition is building bridges.

Opposition leaders say they maintain contact with government officials and military officers, but keep such talks confidential to avoid affecting those involved.

Mr Maduro says he is the victim of a US-orchestrated coup bid and has refused to resign.
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson on Wednesday said he hopes a concert in Colombia aimed at raising money for crisis-wracked Venezuela will encourage the country's soldiers to defy orders from President Nicolas Maduro and let humanitarian aid cross the border.

Some 250,000 people are expected at Friday's concert in the Colombian border town of Cucuta that organizers say will raise about $100 million to buy food and medicine for Venezuelans suffering widespread shortages.

Branson, who is backing the show, dubbed "Venezuela Aid Live," told Reuters he expects money to flow in from many countries if the Tienditas Bridge crossing from Colombia to Venezuela can be opened.

"I think that if we can persuade the soldiers to open the bridge, that's the ideal outcome from this concert," he said in an interview via satellite link from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. "That will then mean that people who are dying from cancer because they're not getting the right pills, or other illnesses, they will be able to get help medical help."

The United States and scores of other countries have openly backed Maduro's rival, opposition leader and congress chief Juan Guaido, who last month invoked constitutional provisions to declare himself interim president.

The opposition plans to send aid into Venezuela on Saturday from collection points in neighboring countries including Colombia via sea and land, despite Maduro's refusal to let it in, setting up a possible clash with authorities.

Maduro, who is facing growing international pressure to step down after his disputed re-election last year, denies there is a humanitarian crisis and has blocked the bridge leading from Colombia to prevent aid getting through.

The presidents of Colombia and Chile have publicly said they will attend the free concert, which has evoked comparisons to Irish rock star Bob Geldof's 1985 global "Live Aid" concert to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Two other world leaders may attend, organizer Fernan Ocampo told reporters in Cucuta earlier on Wednesday, without naming them.

"We've got quite a few presidents from South America coming to the concert who have pledged to put a considerable amount of supplies into Venezuela once we can get the bridges opened," he said.

The event will feature performances from at least 35 artists including Alejandro Sanz, Maluma, Luis Fonsi and Carlos Vives.

While still unclear how the aid will get across the border, Branson said 1 million people are expected on the Venezuelan side of the bridge, led by Guaido, to distribute the aid.

Branson also responded to comments made on Tuesday by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, who criticized the concert as a U.S.-backed effort to tarnish Maduro's socialist government, saying there was no mayhem, no murder, no apparent dictatorship in Venezuela.

"I don't think that Roger Waters is the best expert when it comes to what's going on in Venezuela. He says that it's a democracy, people are not suffering, and it's just not true," Branson said. "Anybody who knows anything about Venezuela should know that that is a load of a rubbish and Venezuelans need help."

Donations to the event will be received online and via direct deposits.

Hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian aid from the United States and other countries are being stored in warehouses in Cucuta.

Maduro is planning rival concerts on the Venezuelan side of the border on Friday, and the Venezuelan government says it will distribute aid to poor Colombians.
Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit by warning senior Catholic figures that the faithful are demanding concrete action against predator priests and not just words of condemnation.

Victims then told the bishops of the searing emotional pain of their abuse.

Francis opened the four-day summit by telling the Catholic hierarchy that their own responsibility to deal effectively with priests who rape and molest children weighed on the proceedings.

"Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice", and seize the opportunity to "transform this evil into a chance for understanding and purification", Francis told the 190 leaders of bishops conferences and religious orders.

Expand Close Two men talk in front of the Saint Peter's Basilica ahead of a four-day meeting on the global sexual abuse crisis, held by Pope Francis, at the Vatican, February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Remo Casilli / Facebook

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"The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established," he warned.

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the US, bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or downplay the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year.

Realising he had erred, he has vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

The summit is meant as a tutorial for church leaders to learn the importance of preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims and investigating the crimes when they occur.

The Vatican's senior sex crimes investigator delivered a step-by-step lesson on investigating abuse cases, citing the example of Pope Benedict XVI, who turned the Vatican around on the issue two decades ago.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna told bishops they should co-operate with civil law enforcement investigations and announce decisions about predators to their communities once cases have been decided.

He said victims had the right to damages from the church and that bishops should consider using lay experts to help guide them during the sex abuse investigations.

The people of God "should come to know us as friends of their safety and that of their children and youth", he said.

"We will protect them at all cost. We will lay down our lives for the flocks entrusted to us."

Finally, Archbishop Scicluna warned them that it was a "grave sin" to withhold information from the Vatican about candidates for bishops - a reference to the recent scandal of the now-defrocked former American cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

It was apparently an open secret in some church circles that McCarrick slept with young seminarians.

He was defrocked last week by Francis after a Vatican trial found credible reports that he abused minors.

In the summit's opening keynote speech, Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up as he told the bishops that the wounds they had inflicted on the faithful through their negligence and indifference recalled the wounds of Christ on the cross.

He demanded bishops and superiors no longer turn a blind eye to the harm caused by clergy abuse and cover-ups.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Cardinal Tagle said in his speech.

The result, he said, had left a "deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve".

Abuse survivors have turned out in droves in Rome to demand accountability and transparency from church leaders and assert that the time of sex abuse cover-ups is over.

At the summit, the church leaders heard five videotaped testimonies from victims about the trauma of their abuse and the cruel, additional pain the hierarchy's indifference caused them.

Their names were not released to protect their privacy.

One woman from Africa told the summit that the priest who began raping her at 15 forced her to have three abortions over the following 13 years.

"He gave me everything I wanted when I accepted to have sex; otherwise he would beat me," she said.

A survivor from Chile told the churchmen they had inflicted even more pain on victims by discrediting them and protecting the priests who abused them.

"You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed - in some cases - into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith," the man said.

On the eve of the summit, Phil Saviano, who helped expose the US abuse scandal by priests two decades ago, demanded that the Vatican release the names of abusers and their files.

"Do it to break the code of silence," he told the organising committee.

"Do it out of respect for the victims of these men, and do it to help prevent these creeps from abusing any more children."

The Vatican is not expecting a final document to come out of the summit.

But organisers said it marks a turning point in the way the Catholic Church has dealt with the problem, with Francis's own acknowledgment of his mistakes in handling the Chile abuse case a key point of departure.
Controversy: Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of priests at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican. Photo: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

Decades of cover-ups of sex abuse in the Catholic Church are intrinsically linked to the fact that so many cardinals, bishops and priests are gay, the author of a new book said yesterday.

Bishops were so terrified of being outed that they were reluctant to report paedophile priests, said Frederic Martel, author of 'In the Closet of the Vatican'.

His claims were made as victims demanded a policy of zero tolerance from the Vatican, and Pope Francis likened critics of the Church to "the Devil".

The book, alleging the majority of clergy in the Vatican is homosexual, is published today in 20 countries and coincides with Pope Francis opening an unprecedented four-day conference on how to deal with the abuse scandal.

"Abuses are protected by this culture of secrecy," Mr Martel, a journalist and sociologist, said during a presentation of the book in Rome. "The two things are intrinsically linked.

"Bishops may not be abusers themselves but they protect priests because they are terrified that if there's an investigation or a trial, then their own homosexuality may be revealed."

There had been thousands of cases of bishops protecting priests who had raped and molested children, he said.

The book took four years to research. The author interviewed 41 cardinals, 50 bishops, 45 Vatican ambassadors and 11 Swiss Guards, nine of them retired but three who are still serving in the Pope's personal protection corps.

He quotes a priest who estimates that 80pc of Vatican clergy are gay, although Mr Martel conceded he had no way of verifying that figure.

According to the book, a leading figure in this hidden world was Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, a Colombian cardinal who in public was stridently anti-gay and pro-family but in private slept with male prostitutes. Once head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, he died in 2008.

"The more homophobic they are, the more likely they are to be gay. That's the number one rule of the Vatican," said Mr Martel. For the Vatican conference, about 200 bishops, archbishops and other senior officials will discuss the themes of responsibility, accountability and transparency. But victims of clerical abuse say that was inadequate, and called for concrete reform, not "lofty rhetoric and vague promises".

Peter Isely, an American who was abused by a priest as a boy, said: "We've heard a lot of words from Pope Francis since he was elected but now is the time to do the right thing. We want zero tolerance. Any priest who has sexually assaulted a child should be removed from the priesthood - and the same goes for bishops or cardinals who cover up for them."

Mr Isely, from the survivors' group Ending Clergy Abuse, added: "Pope Francis can order it with the stroke of a pen. What's the hold-up?"

Several survivors met the organisers of the Vatican summit yesterday.

Phil Saviano, whose story of abuse by a priest was portrayed in the Oscar-winning film 'Spotlight', urged the Vatican to name predatory priests so children could be protected from them.

The Pope did not meet the victims.
Breakaway: Ex-Labour MP Joan Ryan (left) links arms with former Tory MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston who quit the party yesterday. Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty

Three pro-European MPs quit the ruling Conservative Party to join a new centrist group of independents who oppose the government's determination to take Britain out of the European Union with or without a divorce deal.

Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston resigned to join eight ex-opposition British Labour Party MPs in an alliance dubbed the Independent Group.

The defections involve only a small fraction of the 650 politicians in the House of Commons, but mark the biggest shake-up in decades for Britain's political parties.

The breakaway MPs hope to gain members from disgruntled pro-Europeans in both the Labour and Conservative parties and forge a new force at the centre of British politics.

They are inspired in part by the "En Marche" movement of French president Emmanuel Macron, which dominated France's most recent presidential and legislative elections at the expense of the country's mainstream parties.

"Both our parties are broken. We are going to #ChangePolitics for the better," the group tweeted yesterday.

In a letter to prime minister Theresa May, the three ex-Conservatives accused party leaders of abandoning the political centre, and said "the final straw for us has been this government's disastrous handling of Brexit".

Britain's departure from the EU is scheduled for March 29, but no deal on divorce terms has been agreed on yet by British MPs.

The three departing politicians accused Mrs May's government of allowing the Conservatives' hardcore pro-Brexit wing to push the country to the edge of an economically damaging "no-deal" exit from the bloc.

Ms Allen said Mrs May had been "bullied into submission" by Brexiteers and was "dragging the country and Parliament kicking and screaming to the edge of a no-deal abyss".

Ms Soubry said attempts to modernise the right-of-centre party by encouraging a more diverse membership and tackling social problems had been wiped out by the all-consuming obsession with Brexit.

"I'm not leaving the Conservative Party - it has left us," she said.

Mrs May said she was saddened by the decision, but said the government was "doing the right thing for our country" by implementing voters' decision to leave the EU.

The three join eight British Labour rebels who quit the main opposition party this week over its direction under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour defectors accuse him of mounting a weak opposition to Mrs May's plans for leaving the EU and of failing to stamp out anti-Semitism in the party.

Joan Ryan, one of the ex-Labour MPs, said the party had become "infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism" under Mr Corbyn, a long-time supporter of the Palestinians.

With the clock counting down to Brexit and no deal in sight, members of the Independent Group want to hold a new referendum on the issue that could keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc.
Emiliano Sala signed a potentially invalid contract with Cardiff City in the days before he died when his light aircraft crashed, it has emerged.

Lawyers working on behalf of the Premier League have written to the Welsh club this week confirming that their record signing was not fully registered to play in the competition last month.

This remarkable latest twist further muddies a legal row over whether Cardiff should pay Nantes the full 17m transfer fee for the Argentine forward.

Sala's problematic contract came to light after Cardiff sought clarification as part of an attempt to stave off threatened legal action by Nantes over freezing of payments.

It is understood Sala's Cardiff contract was deemed non-compliant with Premier League rules and was returned to them for him to sign an amended one.

Neither the club nor the league would comment last night on the nature of the discrepancies, though it is understood that such issues are not uncommon.

Cardiff plan to use Sala's Premier League registration status to argue he was not their player when he died a month ago. They have also written to Nantes seeking evidence that the French club had fully deregistered the Argentine prior to the January 21 crash.

As of yesterday, Nantes had yet to carry out threats issued earlier this month of legal action against Cardiff if the latter did not pay the first instalment of Sala's transfer fee. Sala, whose body was recovered from plane wreckage two weeks ago, died from "head and trunk injuries".

Pilot David Ibbotson is still missing but searches are set to be resumed for his body.

The Welsh club is continuing to build a negligence case against their French counterparts over the crash.

More than one source said their case had been strengthened by an explosive interview given by Willie McKay this week in which he confirmed that his agent son, Mark, had been contracted to work for Nantes.

The McKays, who helped broker Sala's deal, arranged his trips to Cardiff and back during transfer talks and the club plan to hold Nantes vicariously liable as a result if an official report finds that any flight regulations were breached on January 21.

That could include rules governing safety equipment.

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Shares fell in BAE Systems after the defence giant warned that Germanys ban on selling arms to Saudi Arabia may affect its ability to provide combat aircraft support services to the kingdom.

At the end of last year BAE Systems reached a deal with Saudi Arabia to extend its support services for Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft.

The company said it is reliant on the approval of export licences by a number of governments in order to continue supplies to Saudi Arabia.

In this context, the position on export licensing currently adopted by the German government may affect the groups ability to provide the required capability to the kingdom.

Expand Close BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn (Andrew Matthews/PA) / Facebook

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BAE Systems said it is working closely with the UK Government to minimise the risk of any such occurrence and the impact it would have on financial performance, the supply chain and relationships.

Shares fell 6% to 474p on the news.

Meanwhile, the company posted a 14% rise in annual profits and said it expects earnings to grow in 2019.

Pre-tax profits came to 1.22 billion for 2018 compared with 1.07 billion the previous year.

However, revenue slipped to 16.82 billion from 17.22 billion due to lower production of Typhoon aircraft.

Charles Woodburn, CEO on 2018 financial results "We achieved some major campaign wins across the Group which really underpins the future of our business". Watch the full video and read Charlesas blog at: https://t.co/UwyE5rXAbQ pic.twitter.com/i7oBBqm8d8  BAE Systems (@BAESystemsplc) February 21, 2019

BAEs order intake increased to 8.28 billion from 20.26 billion, with the company having an order backlog of 48.4 billion.

For 2019, the group expects underlying earnings per share to grow by mid-single digits compared with 42.9p per share last year.

Chief executive Charles Woodburn said: The group made good progress in strengthening the outlook and geographic base of the business, with a number of significant contract wins.

Delivering a strong operational performance and continued investment will enable us to meet our growth expectations and underpin the long termCharles Woodburn, BAE Systems

The defence order backlog is now at a record high with visibility on many of our key programmes through the next decade.

Delivering a strong operational performance and continued investment will enable us to meet our growth expectations and underpin the long term.
Brian O Driscoll and Amy Huberman at the premiere of Papi Chulo, the opening gala of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 at Cineworld, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Matt Bomer at the premiere of Papi Chulo, the opening gala of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 at Cineworld, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Amy Huberman at the premiere of Papi Chulo, the opening gala of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 at Cineworld, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Matt Bomer at the premiere of Papi Chulo, the opening gala of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 at Cineworld, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Brian O Driscoll and Amy Huberman at the premiere of Papi Chulo, the opening gala of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2019 at Cineworld, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Brian O'Driscoll and Amy Huberman made a stylish appearance at the opening night gala for the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival.

Amy, one of Ireland's most popular tv stars, was on hand to support the 12-day event - a celebration of Irish and international film - alongside her husband at Dublin's Cineworld last night, dressed in matching all black. The Finding Joy star (39) opted for skinny jeans, a black polo knit and leather jacket with a pair of boots from her Bourbon Footwear range and an embellished hairband; while BOD was dressed in a similarly muted ensemble.

The couple, who have been married for eight years, were among the celebrity guests for the premiere of Papi Chulo, an Irish-American comedy starring Magic Mike's Matt Bomer, who flew to Dublin for the occasion, alongside Alejandro Patino. This wasnt Bomers first time in Ireland though as he told the Irish Independent he was once a barman in one of Galways most popular food and nightlife hotspots, Busker Brownes and Kirbys on Cross Street in the city.

I lived in Galway when I was 21 and I worked in Busker Brownes and Kirbys next door, he said.

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The Golden Globe winner (41) said working with an Irish crew in LA was a jovial experience, "That was really fun, they brought the Irish crew over and producers and there was such a lovely atmosphere on set, so collaborative, connected and fun. It was just a really fun, great shoot.

Speaking about his character in the film, a gay TV weatherman who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a migrant worker from Mexico, he said it was story that showed how a compassionate person save another.

Hes a man on the verge of collapse who has suppressed himself off from reality in order to preserve his own psyche. An unlikely friendship develops with a migrant worker who barely speaks English but happens to be an amazing compassionate person who saves him in a way.

And he seemed eager to work with more Irish talent, name-checking Black 47 and Rosie actress Sarah Greene, from Cork, as someone he would like to share the screen with.

Meanwhile, Butler was delighted to be bringing his work home.

It is so great to open the festival, Ive closed it twice. Irish audiences are important if youre an Irish film maker  you can play it anywhere, weve been to Palm Springs, LA. But Ireland matters.
Actress Abigail Spencer arrives for the baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at The Mark Hotel Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is seen in the Upper East Side on February 19, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

Gayle King arrives for the baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at The Mark Hotel Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

Amal Clooney leaves after attending the baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at The Mark Hotel, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

Fashion designer Misha Nonoo arrives for the baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Mark Hotel Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

Jessica Mulroney arrives for the baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Mark Hotel Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel following her baby shower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Designer Misha Nonoo exits after a baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Mark Hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Stylist Jessica Mulroney exits after a baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Mark Hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Amal Clooney exits after a baby shower for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at the Mark Hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel following her baby shower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" was the theme of Meghan Markle's much-hyped trip to New York City to celebrate her pregnancy with her nearest and dearest.

Britain's Duchess of Sussex flew to the Big Apple to meet 20 of her closest friends over the course of five days for a private trip, to catch dinner with Serena Williams and enjoy a baby shower being thrown by the likes of Amal Clooney and designer Misha Nonoo and for at least one day, it it remained as discreet as intended. A royal scoop by Omid Scobie for Harper'sBazaar.com alerted the world's media that the former actress was in town and within a few hours, her five star accommodation at The Mark Hotel, home to the most expensive per-night hotel room in the world, was a media frenzy.

On Monday night, a discreetly dressed duchess went virtually unnoticed with best friend and stylist Jessica Mulroney at Laduree, and she was pictured holding a cap in her hand and it was clear she hadn't intended on being photographed. By the next day, her hotel was blocked to the public and she was being chauffeured in vehicles owned by the US State Department. On Tuesday night, she was dressed to the nines in a Victoria Beckham coat, Tamara Mellon boots and a Stella McCartney tote for dinner at the Polo Bar with Markus Anderson, Soho House's global membership director, and Mulroney.

Earlier in the day, pictures of her looking impeccably glamorous in all black - including a Courreges vintage haute couture coat - went viral. It was a far cry from the low-key trip she had planned, which was always going to draw attention, but to the point of causing a scrum outside her hotel. She didn't engage as she normally would during official engagements as this still remained a personal trip, although not much privacy was left.

Expand Close Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel following her baby shower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly / Facebook

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Whatsapp Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, exits The Mark Hotel following her baby shower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The day of the baby shower was prime for celebrity spotting as star after star arrived at the five-star hotel, including actress Abigail Spencer and Gayle King. The visit was planned several months in advance and New York was chosen as a neutral base for all the guests, not to mention the fact that New Yorkers rarely get fussed over A-listers, except, apparently, except in the case of royals.

"The trip is a lovely chance to catch up with friends and spend time in a city she loves," a source told Harper's. "This will be the last time a lot of them will see Meg until after the baby is born so its nice to share precious moments."

Meghan flew back to the UK this morning and will begin a tour of Morocco with husband Prince harry for three days on Saturday.

"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," a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.
A judge has set a $100,000 (77,000) bond for Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who is accused of staging an attack against himself in Chicago last month.

The 36-year-old actor said little other than giving his name at the beginning of Thursdays hearing.

The actors attorney asked Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr to release Smollett on his own recognisance.

Expand Close Surveillance video shows two people of interest in an attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett (Chicago Police Department via AP) / Facebook

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However, the judge said that would be inappropriate.

Police allege that Smollett hired two brothers to help stage an attack on him late last month in downtown Chicago.

He told police that two masked men beat him and hurled racist and homophobic slurs during the attack.

Prosecutors say Smollett gave detailed instructions to two brothers who helped him in stage the alleged attack, including giving them specific slurs to yell and telling them to shout Maga country  and to drape a rope around his neck.

Assistant States Attorney Risa Lanier said at a news conference that Smollett even pointed out to the brothers a specific surveillance camera that he thought would capture footage of the January 29 incident.

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Police say the camera was pointed another way during the staged attack.

Smollett is charged with felony disorderly conduct.

Police allege that Smollett hired the two brothers to help stage the attack, which he described to police as racist and homophobic in nature. Smollett is gay and black.
Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with filing a false police report (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career, Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson has said.

Mr Johnson said Smollett sent a racist and homophobic threatening letter to himself at the Fox studio lot before an alleged attack.

Speaking at a news conference, Mr Johnson said Smollett was dissatisfied with his salary.

Smollett, who is accused of filing a false police report, was charged on Wednesday with felony disorder conduct and turned himself in early on Thursday.

The actor told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop at around 2am local time on January 29.

Smollett, who is black and gay, said they beat him, made racist and homophobic comments, poured some unknown chemical substance on him and looped a rope around his neck before fleeing.

Police said the investigation shifted after they questioned two brothers who were in the area that morning.
Abigail Spencer has been left stranded in New Jersey after the Duchess Of Sussexs baby shower.

Meghan was in New York City to celebrate her impending birth with a selection of A-list friends including close friend and fellow actress Spencer.

But Spencer was stranded as she tried to fly out from Newark Liberty International Airport.

She took to Twitter to vent her fury at United Airlines, having been first held up in the airport, then grounded on the plane.

Boo @united ... delayed the flight for 6 hours, got us all to the board the plane; we wait another hour then cancel our flight not because of weather but because you are short staffed & didnat plan?  Abigail Spencer (@abigailspencer) February 21, 2019

She wrote: Boo @united  delayed the flight for 6 hours, got us all to the board the plane; we wait another hour then cancel our flight not because of weather but because you are short staffed & didnt plan?

Things got worse for the actress, who posted an Instagram story of her dancing to pass the time, as even when the plane turned up there was no progress.

Then have us run to another plane that hasnat left yet to have us reticket, board again only to hear now that the pilot on this flight might time out too?



Really bad @united  Abigail Spencer (@abigailspencer) February 21, 2019

Two hours after her first post she wrote: Still havent left @united been sitting on plane for an hour. no one is telling us anything.

Meghan and Spencer starred together in Suits after meeting at an audition, and Spencer contributed to Meghans lifestyle blog.
In front of around 500 people, Jeremy Corbyn strode on to the stage to the sound of about six hands clapping. "Thank you so much for that warm reception," he said. The reception had not been warm at all, but these were the words he had already decided to say, and so say them he did. It was, in its way, a beautifully clear window into the Corbyn psyche, which is best understood as that of a wasp.

When a dying wasp flies to the top of a window for the 100th time, then stumbles to the bottom and tries again, it is not because it is stupid, as such, it is because it is biologically incapable of learning. It is born and it will die with all the cognitive function it will ever have. It is, quite literally, stubborn by nature.

Jeremy Corbyn has opinions that were bequeathed to him 40 years ago by Tony Benn. The software can no longer be updated. There are whole areas of cognitive function that he simply does not have access to, and chief among them is the idea that he could ever, possibly, be in the wrong.

Because Jeremy Corbyn is a socialist, and Jeremy Corbyn is on the side of the little guy against the big guy, there can, on Planet Corbyn, exist no scenario in which Jeremy Corbyn is the bad guy.

Which is why he can turn up to a manufacturing conference, and mumble his way through a boilerplate speech, and not feel it necessary to address with any more than 10 words the fact that seven of his MPs, some of them among the most respected in his party, walked out. He has since lost another. They did so claiming he had made the Labour Party not merely unfit for government but also institutionally racist, and beset with a culture of bullying and intimidation.

Asked about this at the end, not once but twice, he could only offer the following words: "I hope they realise they were elected to parliament on a manifesto that was based around investment in the future; that was based around a more equal and fairer society; that was based around social justice - and it is that programme that we are going to put to the electorate in the future, that does have enormous support. They were elected to carry out those policies. They decided to go somewhere else."

It's never me, in other words. It's always you.

There are, we are led to believe, more resignations to come, for which Corbyn will also not be to blame, at all. These words come as John McDonnell says Labour must launch "a mammoth listening exercise".

If it is to do so, it will have to do something about the fact its leader is as deaf as a post.

One of his now former colleagues, Luciana Berger, served in his shadow cabinet at first. Now she's been bullied out of the party by racists, and here was her leader, impervious as ever to the idea that any of the blame should land on him.

His deputy leader, Tom Watson, said yesterday: "I love this party, but sometimes I don't recognise it."

It's a wonder, really. It's been almost three and a half years now since Jeremy Corbyn was elected its leader, in this very same room, as it happens. It is entirely recognisable now, as Corbyn's Labour Party. Its transformation is complete.

It is the party in which Jeremy Corbyn is always right, and all who disagree must yield before him.

A long passage of his speech, by the way, was on the subject of lifelong adult learning. It's a subject he evidently feels passionate about.

"It makes no sense for people to only be educated for the first quarter of their life and then work for the rest of their days with outdated or insufficient qualifications," he said.

It's an interesting observation, especially when placed next to something he said within a few weeks of becoming Labour Party leader in 2015.

"Because I've never had any higher education of any sort, I've never held in awe those who have had," he said then. "Some of the wisest people you meet are sweeping our streets."

It is one of the most stubborn things I can ever recall any politician, or indeed any person, saying.

Jeremy Corbyn had an immensely privileged upbringing, and excellent schooling, from which he emerged with meagre qualifications.

His response has been to deploy his own inadequacies to reduce others to his level. To rebadge his failings as some kind of kinship with those who have faced obstacles he has not. If he is such a believer in lifelong learning, he'd better get cracking.

He has got his eye on a job he is hopelessly unqualified for, and, as things stand, he is far too arrogant to consider that he might need to do something about it. ( Independent News Service)
The collapse of the prosecution case against Patrick Hutch for the alleged murder of drug dealer David Byrne undoubtedly represents a major setback for the gardai who have been battling valiantly to end the gangland feud.

The decision by the DPP to enter a nolle prosequi was the denouement of one particular chapter in this story of betrayal, hatred and murder which has so far claimed up to 18 lives.

Patrick Hutch is a wholly innocent citizen in the eyes of the law - but not, unfortunately, in the eyes of the Kinahan cartel.

And the cold, brutal truth is that while Patrick Hutch is legally innocent of the murder of David Byrne, he left the Special Criminal Court with a hefty bounty suspected to be on his head.

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He will be forced to spend every hour of his life looking over his shoulder for as long as this unprecedented gang war rages on.

In reality, he has been under sentence of death, like the rest of his family, since the day three years ago that a five-man hit team stormed the Regency Hotel and David Byrne was gunned down.

Expand Close Two men, one disguised as a woman and both carrying handguns, flee the scene of David Byrne's murder. Photo: Sunday World / Facebook

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Whatsapp Two men, one disguised as a woman and both carrying handguns, flee the scene of David Byrne's murder. Photo: Sunday World

It was the murder of his brother Gary in Spain in September 2015 by former associates in the Kinahan cartel that kicked off this completely disproportionate bloodfest, which has claimed 18 lives, including two innocent men shot in error.

And despite what he may have been in life, David Byrne was still a human being - and no one deserves to be gunned down without mercy.

The anger and grief expressed by the victim's family, which compelled them to protest with placards demanding justice, is totally understandable.

But while members of the family placed their hopes of getting justice in the legitimate courts, the same cannot be said for Byrne's former friends and associates, the psychopathic thugs who have been responsible for 16 of those 18 murders.

The Kinahans can no longer try to claim they are merely seeking an eye for an eye - they have been engaged in what amounts to a deliberate attempt to wipe out an entire family.

The DPPs decision to abandon the case was the result of the tragic death on February 10 last year of Detective Superintendent Colm Fox, the lead investigation officer. Mr Fox had a long and distinguished service behind him when, for reasons no one will ever really understand, he took his own life.

It is understood he left correspondence behind including one in which he admitted being responsible for a "grave error of judgement".

This resulted in an immediate adjournment of the trial while a major investigation took place to establish what those words meant. My sources tell me nothing was found that was capable of confirming any serious error of judgement, but it did create a doubt - and someone can only be convicted if it is "beyond all reasonable doubt". The DPP was left with no choice but to discontinue the trial.

Mr Fox is one of the people on the very thin blue line who stood in the gap, honouring his oath to protect and serve the people of Ireland.

This unconscionable tragedy should serve as a reminder to everyone, especially the highest ranks of An Garda Siochana and their Government masters, of the sometimes overwhelming pressure placed on the shoulders of the few on that front line.

The release of Patrick Hutch has upped the ante in this ongoing blood feud: he and his father Patsy and uncle Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch are still the prime targets of the murderous Kinahan machine.

In the meantime, we should remember that if it wasn't for the likes of Colm Fox, whose investigations have prevented at least 50 more planned revenge hits, the body count in this gang war would be much higher.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please contact: Samaritans 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie; Aware 1800 80 48 48; Pieta House 1800 247 247 or email mary@pieta.ie
The El Chepe train trundles along, old-school big windows and bendy walks between carriages, clickety clacking above canyons, snaking rivers and isolated farmsteads straight out of The Little House on the Prairie.

Indigenous native tribes people sell their wares in the sleepy villages or stations along sections of its 665km route.

Welcome to the true Wild West.

When it comes to cowboy movies, we think of the United States, but you can really get a feel of that era south of the US. Borders are the big talking point nowadays, but back in the 1800s, Mexico swept from the humid climes of Central America right up through states such as Texas and California, along the Rocky Mountains as far up as the edge of Oregon.

Ironically, for a place best known as the home of some of the worlds smallest dogs, Chihuahua, home of El Chepe, is the largest of Mexicos 31 states. And at three times bigger than the island of Ireland, it packs in a host of things to experience.

Situated off the beaten track, bordering Texas and New Mexico, its not a tourist-filled trap and this is a huge part of its attraction. Now, though, its getting much easier to reach, with a one-stop connection from Dublin via Dallas, and then a flight of an hour and a half from the single-terminal US airport (see panel).

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Mark Evans on top of the stunning Copper Canyon Divisadero Barrancas in Copper Canyon Mark Evans with Mennonite Abraham Peters Cowboys outside the Best Western Hotel in Creel Zipliners over the Copper Canyon A conductor on the El Chepe train / Facebook

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El Chepe is an ideal way to reach the states crowning glory, Copper Canyon  Mexicos answer to its better known neighbour, the Grand Canyon, across in the States. The area is a huge system of ridges, spanning 25,000 square miles, dwarfing Nevadas version.

As the express train only travels part of the route, youll have to take the slower train from the states major town, Chihuahua City (more on there later). Its over six hours, but the journey  argued to be the best train journey in the Western hemisphere  is worth it. The Divisadero station stop is handy, dropping you at the top of Copper Canyon. And theres nothing more I like to do than zipline or walk on ropes above rock faces with a 1.1 mile drop to the bottom. Kidding, but I did it anyway!

The Barrancas Del Cobre park is a must-do  even if youre not mad about heights. It boasts the longest system of ziplines in the world 5km in all  with riders travelling at speeds of up to 110km per hour. If thats not creepy enough, it has a system of walking rope bridges, with only the exotic birds for company up there. If youre a wuss, theres always a cable car, but dont forget to bring the camera.

I stayed at the nearby Hotel Divisadero Barrancas, right on the top of a cliff and a stones throw from the train station. With its wilderness setting, its one of the best places Ive been to for stargazing, with the Milky Way opening up as the hotel lights dimmed and I sat on my balcony.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Cowboys outside the Best Western Hotel in Creel Divisadero Barrancas in Copper Canyon Mark Evans with Mennonite Abraham Peters Mark Evans on top of the stunning Copper Canyon Zipliners over the Copper Canyon A conductor on the El Chepe train / Facebook

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Nearby is Creel (an hour on the train), one of Mexicos designated Magic Towns  so-called because of their attractions for visitors. In an area thats home to the native Raramuri people (many of whom still live high up in the mountains, along cliff edges, preserving their way of life), youll hear their ancient language along with Spanish on the streets.

The town itself is pure small-town America, and cowboy hats are still firmly in fashion in these parts. But Creel is also a great base for visiting local attractions, such as the nearby Valley of the Monks.

The area is home to rock formations that are sacred to the Raramuri. Guide books call them mushroom-like; locals  and me  think they look more like male, well, you get the idea... The local 3 Amigos centre offers three-hour guided tours of the rocks for around US$100. And the best part? You get to ride your own giant ATV  basically a souped-up quad bike, with room for a passenger behind you. Definitely recommended.

What you wont expect to find in Mexico are people who, to the untrained eye, are straight out of the Eighties movie Witness, starring Harrison Ford as a cop out of place in a rural Amish community. But Chihuahua is home to 90,000 Mennonites, who have the same roots in 16th-century German Protestantism as the better known Amish. Originally from Central Europe (old West Prussia to be precise), they moved down from Canada in the 1920s with the promise of good land and freedom of religion.

Theyre still here today, and live the simple farming life of the Amish  their cheese is renowned  and you can visit them if you like. I met up with Abraham Peters, a grandfather farmer who lives with his wife Katharina about an hour and a half, but an era away, from the big city.

Its an area of horses and buggies, but many Mennonites have also embraced technology, and SUVs and computers are commonplace, even in lives dedicated to farming, family and simplicity. Theyre so modern, in fact, that Mennonites own pizzerias, and the local one, Los Arcos, is excellent.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Mark Evans with Mennonite Abraham Peters Zipliners over the Copper Canyon Divisadero Barrancas in Copper Canyon Cowboys outside the Best Western Hotel in Creel Mark Evans on top of the stunning Copper Canyon A conductor on the El Chepe train / Facebook

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If arriving from Ireland, or preparing to fly home, spare at least a day and a half for the big city of Chihuahua. About three-quarters of the size of Dublin. At first glance, it looks like a bit of Spain, with grand boulevards, Belle Epoque buildings and charming squares. But you know youre on the other side of the Atlantic when you see Stetson-clad guys and their well-dressed gals dancing to country and Mexican tunes in front of the sprawling 18th-century cathedral.

The city is also home to a museum dedicated to national hero Pancho Villa, possibly best described as the countrys Michael Collins, who led a revolt on behalf of the countrys peasants. And watch out for a picture of Anthony Quinn, a friend of Villas widow. Born in Chihuahua to a Mexican mother and Cork-born father, the Hollywood actor is still a legend in these parts. A far away place, but theres always a connection to Ireland...

Get there

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Although exotic, Chihuahua City is almost directly west of Houston in Texas, and farther north than cities such as Miami. Getting there is easier from June 6, with non-stop flights from Dublin to Dallas with American Airlines (aa.com), which has great short-hop connections to Mexico, including Chihuahua City.

Watch out for specials given that its a new route.

DIY to Mexico is easy, but a little Spanish goes a long way. If you want the ease of an organised package, specialists, including trailfinders.ie, with offices in Dublin, offer all-in choices.

Where to stay

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Mark stayed at Copper Canyons Divisadero Barrancas, bookable through all major hotel sites, including Booking.com and TripAdvisor.

In Creel, I recommend the Best Western, which although a chain hotel, has been lovingly created in Wild West log-cabin style with all the creature comforts, in the heart of the tourist town. bestwestern.com.

In Chihuahua City, I stayed at the mid-range Quality Inn Chihuahua San Francisco, in the city centre beside the cathedral. qualityinnchihuahua.com

Activity-wise, you can check out the Copper Canyon park at parquebarrancas.com. Its Spanish-only, so translate via Google Chrome.

El Chepe train fares start from around 15 return, and increase depending on length of journey and whether you want to go standard or first class. Tickets are bookable in advance or on the day of the journey.

Find the 3 Amigos tourist centre at amigos3.com.

For more details on the region, check out visitmexico.com

This feature originally ran in The Herald.
Ripe, juicy and delicious in jam, fresh blackberries are a joy for foragers. But in the Galapagos Islands, they only leave a sour taste in the mouth.

Following a trail around the twin sinkholes of Los Gemelos on Santa Cruz Island, my naturalist guide, Blanca, explains how native scalesia forest was attacked by brambles, suffocating the broccoli-like trees endemic to this biologically sensitive archipelago.

And then there were the feral goats, she continues, as we peer into a crater almost 700 metres deep, where the animals once resided. They too wreaked havoc on the delicate landscape. Yet when they disappeared, one of their food sources, blackberries, flourished.

In a scenario akin to the 'Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly', it's just one of the many unfortunate chain reactions caused by disrupting nature, a problem the Galapagos Islands know only too well.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A marine iguana crossing the road on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Blue-footed boobies at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Scalesia Lodge on Isabela Island in the Galapagos. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Marine iguanas on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion sleeping on a bench on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Boobies resting on a rock in Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. / Facebook

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Unwittingly or not, invasive species were introduced to this far-flung Ecuadorian archipelago, 600 miles off the west coast of South America, by humans, who - some might argue - were the most damaging addition of them all.

It's a dichotomy environmentally-conscious visitors to Galapagos now face; as much as we want to witness the unique creatures and plants that thrive on these volcanic outcrops in the Pacific Ocean, our mere presence potentially does them harm.

One organisation hoping to restore and maintain balance is the Charles Darwin Foundation, an NGO set up in 1959, which celebrates its Diamond anniversary this year.

The visitor centre on Santa Cruz is also the resting place of Lonesome George, the sexually ineffectual Pinta Island giant tortoise, whose death in 2012 marked the extinction of his sub-species.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A marine iguana crossing the road on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Blue-footed boobies at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Scalesia Lodge on Isabela Island in the Galapagos. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Marine iguanas on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion sleeping on a bench on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Boobies resting on a rock in Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall.

I was lucky enough to see George alive shortly before he died; now the embalmed wrinkled rarity stares back at me from a glass cabinet in a humidity and temperature-controlled room, which visitors can only enter for six minutes at a time. What could be interpreted as a macabre showpiece turns out to be something far more chilling; an example of what might happen to other island inhabitants unless we all take note.

Protecting the islands' native residents is a daily struggle, science director Maria Jose Barragan Paladines tells me, on a private guided tour the centre.

The latest major threat is the Philornis downsi fly, whose larvae hatch in the nests of mangrove finches and crawl into the nostrils of young chicks. The number of these feathered creatures, found only on Isabela island, now stands at less than 100, making them the most endangered bird in Galapagos. In this case, survival of the fittest doesn't seem fair.

Another issue is plastics, currently the scourge of our wild planet. Debris is not only potentially poisonous when ingested by birds and marine creatures, it also carries invasive algae in its crinkles and folds.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A sea lion sleeping on a bench on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A marine iguana crossing the road on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Blue-footed boobies at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Scalesia Lodge on Isabela Island in the Galapagos. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Marine iguanas on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Boobies resting on a rock in Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. / Facebook

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Whatsapp A sea lion sleeping on a bench on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall.

Influenced by three ocean currents, Galapagos has become a dumping ground for rubbish washed into the sea, and beach clean-ups are one of the key priorities for the Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT). Over the course of last year, plastic bags, straws and Styrofoam cups were banned, part of a growing movement to make the Galapagos Marine Reserve plastic-free.

But, admits Anne Guezou, outreach and education coordinator for the GCT, it's not that straightforward. Bans are only guidelines and no penalties have been put in place. In fact, when I landed at Baltra airport only days earlier and purchased a coffee in the neighbouring kiosk, I was presented with a plastic teaspoon, and several stores I pass continue to stock drink cartons with plastic straws.

These shortfalls shouldn't detract from the bigger picture, though; both the Ecuadorian authorities and residents of Galapagos have made great progress in protecting this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A shining example is Isabela, one of the four inhabited islands, which now uses 100% renewable energy thanks to a new hybrid electricity generation system combining solar power and, bizarrely, a biofuel derived from a tropical nut.

Although only 1% of land is for human habitation, with the remainder devoted to National Park, tourism here has boomed in the last decade and there's even talk of direct flights launching from the mainland.

For now, though, it's the wild island; a sentiment perfectly summed up in the four (canvas) walls of Scalesia Lodge, a collection of luxurious safari-style tents pitched on platforms in the forested highlands, with a dining and lounge area in a modernist concrete building, that could have been masterminded by the Bauhaus school.

Entwined rose pearl trees form a tunnel leading to the entrance; their pom-poms of white flowers paving the way with a carpet of fallen petals. Very soon, after some strict negotiations with Isabela's Arnaldo Tupiza Tortoise Center and the promise of 24-hour surveillance, general manager Felipe de la Torre tells me a giant tortoise sanctuary will open on the property, with a view to eventually releasing the animals into the wild.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Boobies resting on a rock in Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Marine iguanas on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Scalesia Lodge on Isabela Island in the Galapagos. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. Blue-footed boobies at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion at Los Tuneles on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A marine iguana crossing the road on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. A sea lion sleeping on a bench on Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Boobies resting on a rock in Isabela Island. PA Photo/Sarah Marshall.

The largest of the archipelago's 19 islands and scores of islets, Isabela is a mass of twisted lava and five active volcanoes, including Sierra Negra, which erupted last year. There are no roads in the northern sector, with several landing sites accessed only by expedition cruise ships, but the south has a buzzy community of bars at Puerto Villamil, overlooking flamingo-filled lagoons and beaches sprawled with marine iguanas.

One of the area's geological wonders is Los Tuneles, a series of flooded lava tunnels and archways, where reef sharks navigate an aquatic maze and blue-footed boobies dance around pillars of cacti. Nearby, an area has been designated for snorkelling, presenting some excellent opportunities for marine wildlife viewing.

Green sea turtles casually glide alongside me, unperturbed by the human-shaped obstacle in their path, and a circus of rainbow wrasse, yellow-tailed surgeonfish and panamic sergeant major perform a somersault of colours before my eyes.

Duck-diving into a cave, I discover a shiver of white-tipped reef sharks sleeping and circling; again, not one of them seems to notice I'm there.

But the best surprise comes in the smallest form - a male Pacific seahorse, anchored to the seabed by its prehensile tail. Like a cartoon caricature, it doesn't look real; a fantasy form only nature could create.

It's proof, that sometimes little things can have the greatest impact. When it comes to conservation on the Galapagos Islands, baby steps hare maturing into giant strides.
On December 5, 2018, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov, commander of the Southern Military District (SMD), stated that the basis of an inter-forces troop contingent including sea, air and coastal components has been established in Dagestan. According to Dvornikov, fighters of the 4th Army Air Force and the SMDs Air Defense have been put on alert at one of Dagestans airfields. Strengthening its high precision strike capabilities in the Caspian, Russia also intends to improve its ability to block the Basin to outside actors in support of its strategies regarding the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East. The Caspian holds immense strategic value to Russia, given its geographical proximity to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

BACKGROUND: Since 2010, Russia has sharply increased its military presence in the Caspian. According to Russias defense planning, the Caspian Flotilla will be reequipped with almost 76 percent new models of military equipment in 2020. Currently, the flotilla includes more than 70 ships and vessels and consists of several brigades and divisions of ships, units of marine infantry, coastal missile and artillery troops. In 2018, a regiment of marine infantry was formed in Dagestan. Moreover, the MoD plans to complete the construction of a new military port in Kaspiisk in 2020.

The main drawback of Russias current naval base in Astrakhan is its geographical location. The northern part of the Caspian Sea freezes during the cold season and naval activities in winter requires the use of icebreakers, which is the main weaknesses of the flotilla. The new facility in Kaspiisk will be designed to for deployment of large surface ships equipped with high-precision weapons. After construction is completed, it will be Russias main naval base in the Caspian. The relocation of vessels to Kaspiisk started in December 2018.

The Russian MOD has not declassified the total cost of the new base, however, it has announced that half a billion rubles was spent only on research and design work. The flotilla is also awaiting substantial replenishment in the coming years. According to the commander of the Caspian Flotilla, Rear Admiral Sergey Pinchuk, this includes two missile boats and two air-cushioned landing crafts. By the end of 2018, work was still ongoing to complete a berth for warships and support vessels in the dry cargo harbor of Makhachkala.

According to Russian experts, the relocation to Kaspiisk will provide several advantages to the Caspian Flotilla. In addition to the southern location, Kaspiisk provides a mooring front protected from waves, dry docks, areas for repair, and bases with material resources. Moreover, the relocation will increase combat readiness and make it much easier to move ships into active service positions.

IMPLICATIONS: Despite Moscows continuously peaceful statements and its insistence on the importance of keeping the Caspian as conflict-free basin, Russia has in recent years increased its military presence in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian is a valuable asset for the Russian military due to its location in close proximity of the Middle East and directly adjacent to the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Caspian Flotilla could be utilized for military operations in the Middle East and for muscle flexing in the Sea of Azov and in the Black Sea.

In 2018, Russias Caspian flotilla exercised a new tactical method. According to the head of the SMDs press office, the Wall method, a special system relying on formations of reconnaissance ships, aircraft and fighter jets, together with the capabilities of the coastal air defense systems, allowed for a significantly increased detection range of low-flying targets, including cruise missiles. Moreover, the new tactic opened up new possibilities for the Podsolnux-E surface-to-surface radar station and the use of Buk-M3 (SA-17 Grizzly) surface-to-air missile systems at sea. The exact technical characteristics of the Podsolnux-E version utilized by the Russian Armed Forces are classified. Yet, the best export options can locate aircraft at a range of 200-500 kilometers and at an altitude of 5 meters.

Nezavisimaya gazeta termed the tactic a Caspian Wall against U.S. Tomahawks and stressed that the method currently piloted in the Caspian could be used by Russias naval forces in the Mediterranean in case of a new U.S. missile strike operation against Syria. In 2018, exercises in the Wall tactic was one of the main elements of joint drills involving different-type forces in the SMD. According to the SMD, systematic joint training of the air forces of the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla has enabled the development of new inter-group combat capabilities, and also to improve the system of combat training. Moreover, the Black Sea Fleet, the Caspian Flotilla, the Air Forces and the Air Defense Forces of the SMD established anti-missile lines along the Black Sea and Caspian coasts during a joint day of combat against cruise missiles.

Since April 2018, MiG-31 fighter jets armed with Kinzhal hypersonic rocket systems have been patrolling in the Caspian Sea region. The Russian MOD stated that the patrolling is carried out within the framework of strategic deterrence. Moreover, four Russian carriers of Kalibr cruise missiles are deployed to the Caspian Sea (a missile ship of the 2nd rank of the project 11661K Dagestan, as well as small rocket ships of the 3rd rank of the project 21631 Uglich: City Sviyazhsk and Great Ustyug, with a total salvo of 32 missiles). The radar company Kaspii, armed with P-18RT radars, recently started to operate in Kaspiisk. The radars are capable of detecting targets at altitudes from a few meters to tens of kilometers, and most importantly, they can direct airplanes and air defense weapons at the target. The new radar has capabilities similar to long-range radar detection aircraft.

Thus, Russia could use its forces in the Caspian basin not only to establish a conventional defensive deterrent but also for offensive operations, demonstrated by the launch of cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea during Russian operations in Syria.

It should be underlined that these activities are not targeted against littoral states, whose limited military capabilities do not warrant the aforementioned exercises or the development of the Wall method, but against strong adversaries such as NATO. Recent activities also suggest that Russia may plan to expand its A2AD capabilities in the Black Sea towards the Caspian in coming years.

CONCLUSIONS: The strengthened Russian military presence in the Caspian is driven mainly by the geopolitical and economic importance of the basin. The Caspian is a valuable asset for the Russian military, given its close proximity to the Middle East and its direct adjacency to the Caucasus and Central Asia. As the operation in Syria demonstrated, the Caspian Sea is a safe launching pad for cruise missiles, and naval forces equipped with high-precision weapons play an important role in the Kremlins Middle East strategy. Russia seeks to block access to the basin for outside actors, i.e. the U.S. and the EU. The Caspian is also rich in oil and gas resources and plans exist for the construction of an alternative energy corridor from Central Asia to the West through the South Caucasus across the sea. The region also has several international transportation road routes. In addition, Russias military presence in the Caspian allows it to control the former Soviet republics among its littoral states as well as the North Caucasus. Smaller littoral states can only cautiously observe the process of power balancing in the region between Russia and the West, which will unavoidably affect the security situation around the Caspian Sea as well. Moreover, in the recently signed Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, Russia not only legalized its military hegemony in the Caspian; it can also legally prevent the military presence of outside powers in the region, while reserving the option of using the basin as a testing ground and even to conduct military operations in the region. Russias forces in the Caspian protect its interests not only in the region itself, but could also participate in military operations in the Middle East, in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea if needed.

AUTHORS BIOS:

Nurlan Aliyev is a PhD Candidate and Researcher at the Institute of International Relations of the University of Warsaw. He received the Visegrad Fund Scholarship for 2018-2019. From 2000 to 2017, he worked as an expert at various government, non-government and international institutions. His research focuses on political and security processes in Russia, post-soviet countries and asymmetric warfare threats.

Image Source: kremlin.ru accessed on 2.21.2019
Q My eight-year-old daughter is having a very difficult time at school. She's caught in a three-way friendship where more often than not she is the outsider. One of the girls can be quite nasty to her. She whispers about not liking my daughter, she doesn't let her play, she ignores her if she asks to play and runs away. This issue is ongoing for over two years now. The school (small and rural) has done very little to sort it bar telling me that I should teach my daughter resilience so she's not so bothered by the goings-on of this other girl! My daughter has lots of friends through camogie, soccer, swimming and drama but none of them go to her school. Should I be trying to change my daughter?

David replies: The short answer is no, I don't think you should be trying to change your daughter. It sounds like your daughter has all the skills to be able to make and sustain friendships, but just isn't being given the chance to do so. I could imagine that your email, and your dilemma, will strike a chord with many parents around the country, as I am sure there are many experiences for children of "two's company and three's a crowd".

If the third girl in the threesome is sick or absent, I would guess that the girl who can be mean changes her tune and becomes your daughter's best friend. She will probably be happy to play with your daughter if it is just the two of them, but then will pick the other girl as her preferred friend, if the three of them are together.

At the heart of this girl's issues is a core insecurity and a need for control. While this may not help you daughter, you might like to know that the girl isn't doing it to be mean. She is excluding your daughter, as a way of coping with her own anxiety.

That said, there is nothing that your daughter can do in a situation like this. No amount of self-esteem building, or teaching of resilience (not that it can be taught anyway) will help her. If she struggled with friendship building, I'd suggest that this would be worth learning some skills in, but it's clear from her extra-curricular activities that she knows how to make and keep friends. The issue is with the other girl and the only solution is for adults to intervene.

Since it is happening at school, the school needs to take a much more active role in supervising, managing and encouraging a healthier friendship. Some adult needs to see the actual interactions between them and then intervene to correct the ways (both overt and subtle) that the other girl uses to reject or exclude your daughter. The school could also decide to adopt a whole class approach and talk to the pupils about friendship, kindness and inclusiveness.

This seems to me to be a case of bullying and warrants the school following its anti-bullying and code of behaviour policies, since this girl is treating your daughter badly. I think there is an onus on the school to address the situation. I am mindful, however, that you say the school has done very little, and is in fact, "victim blaming" by telling you that you need to toughen your daughter up. I am also conscious that this has been going on for two years and you have not seen any resolution.

That all suggests to me that there is either a lack of willingness, or a lack of ability, within the school to deal with this little girl and her behaviour. I am not sure why the school has not responded more proactively to your concerns. However, unless the adults in school intervene, the current situation cannot change. If there will be no change, then maybe you need to actively consider changing school to give your daughter a "normal" school environment in which she can thrive.
TRANSPORT Minister Shane Ross has confirmed that he sought crisis talks after proposals for a reroute of the Metrolink suggested closing part of the Green Luas for up to four years.

It now appears that only alternative left to the NTA will be on proceed with the north side element of the metro while more discussions take place on how to route the south side lien beyond Charlemont.

Independent.ie revealed yesterday that the National Transport Authority has come up with new suggestions for how to keep a roadway in Ranelagh open to placate local concerns.

However, Mr Ross has moved to quickly to warn the NTA and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) against a cut and cover plan because it would be too disruptive.

A spokesperson for Mr Ross said proposals to go underground through Ranelagh emerged following last years extensive public consultations, to specifically cater for the concerns of residents.

Regrettably, this section of the development was heavily politicised by local representatives.

Minister Ross warned his agencies that any plan which brings the Green Line to a standstill for a significant period is unacceptable.

A route from Swords to Sandyford announced almost a year ago proposed having the underground metro line come above ground at the Luas Charlemont stop and then continue along what is currently the Green Line.

The route is being remodelled following complaints from some residents in Ranelagh who object to the closure of Dunville Avenue and Beechwood Road to facilitate the metro.

Mr Rosss spokesperson said the minister wants to assure the public that any plan which requires an unacceptable level of shutdown to their Luas service will not be tolerated.

The dispute has led to fresh calls for construction on the Metrolink to begin on the northside of the capital while officials figure out a route for southside.

In a statement the Rethink Metrolink group said they are concerned by the continuing delay in the publication of the NTAs review.

We believe the sensible way forward is to start with the Northside link from the airport. The Southside route is new and clearly needs a full rethink based on public feedback to date.

Fine Gael TD for Dublin North West said the project should now be split in two.

He also called on the NTA to publish its new route plan.

We have had enough delay on this project. Its time to get the revised proposals out into the public, let the consultation begin, and lets get started with this project. The Northside needs it, and the link between the City Centre and the airport, he told the Herald.

Mr Rock said he fears the 2027 completion date will be delayed unless work begins soon.

That is not good news for anybody, he said.

Objections to the route through Ranelagh is supported by a number of high-profile politicians including Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, former justice minister Michael McDowell and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has been accused of attempting to destroy the reputation of people who built up the CervicalCheck system.

Ahead of a motion of no confidence in the Dail, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin claimed the minister gave a cavalier dismissal of the team during a radio interview on Saturday.

He said people had done exceptional work over a decade in building up CervicalCheck and saving lives  but Mr Harris chose to launch an attack on them.

Mr Martin also blamed a decision by the minister to extend a free out-of-cycle smear test to women at the height of the CervicalCheck controversy last year for massive backlogs now being experienced.

Around 90,000 women availed of the free re-test. As result the average waiting time for results has risen from dramatically, with some people waiting 27 weeks.

The reason the new HPV test is not deliverable is because of the backlog, the Fianna Fail leader said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the test would be launched as soon as possible but could not provide a timeline.

He said the decision to offer a free smear test was backed by the Chief Medical Officer and had been called for by some opposition TDs.

It has caused problems. There is a backlog. The HSE is working very hard now to try clear that backlog, he said.

Mr Varadkar acknowledged that he people who built Cervical Check did a good job.

Those who built it and managed it did a good job and saved a lot of lives, he said.

However the Taoiseach added: But they also made a lot of mistakes too. Among the mistakes they made was to carry out a botched audit. They did not share the information about that audit with the women affected. Yes, they did do a good job but they also did something very wrong.
Amid fiery rows over treason, love-bombing, political arse-covering and baying mobs, Health Minister Simon Harris survived a no-confidence motion by five votes.

For more than two hours, the Dail played host to mudslinging from all sides that contained very little debate about how to resolve the crises facing the health service.

Sinn Fein placed the motion in Mr Harris, claiming he was "out of his depth" in the Department of Health.

But in truth, Mary Lou McDonald's main target was the Fianna Fail party, which abstained under the Confidence and Supply Arrangement.

Her objective of splitting Micheal Martin's party actually served to unite it in return verbal attacks over Sinn Fein's political record.

There was one exception when Carlow/Kilkenny TD John McGuinness went rogue to question why his party wasn't backing the motion.

Although he ultimately abstained, Mr McGuinness told Fine Gael: "I actually don't know any more why we support you.

"I don't know why we sit on our hands."

A string of ministers spoke in defence of Mr Harris, who has been embroiled in controversy over the escalating costs of the National Children's Hospital.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accused Sinn Fein of being "trigger-happy" with such motions and insisted he did not want his minister to give in to the "baying mob".

He argued that if it had any experience in government it would not be so quick to judge.

Mr Varadkar said being Health Minister "is one of the tough jobs in Government" and "one of the most important jobs in the country".

He praised Mr Harris's efforts to make inroads into the various crises in health, including the trolley crisis and overspend at the National Children's Hospital.

"I know major errors were made in calculating the true cost [of the hospital]. As head of Government, I accept responsibility for that," the Taoiseach said.

In his own contribution, Mr Harris launched a scathing attack on Sinn Fein for engaging the "politics of division".

"Sinn Fein doesn't change. To the ballot box and the armalite, they have added the soap box and the no-confidence motion.

"Their stock in trade is still competitive anger and cultivated division.

"Devoid of ideas, their contribution to this chamber can only be measured in decibels."

Ms McDonald denied her motive in calling a vote was to force a general election.

The Dublin TD said the Confidence and Supply deal "covers the blushes of the Fianna Fail leader" who is in a coalition with Fine Gael "in all but name".

"Today Supply and Confidence is exposed.

"It's not about stability, it's about stagnation," she said.

Fianna Fail's Stephen Donnelly was highly critical of the Government's record on health - but said an election before Brexit would be "madness".

He said Sinn Fein doesn't take seats in Westminster, brought down the Northern Ireland Executive, and was seeking to "complete the hat-trick" by collapsing the Dail.

Labour's Alan Kelly referred to sniping between Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail in their contributions and said it was "the most bizarre no-confidence vote ever" where the minister was not the focus.
Fianna Fail and the SDLP have issued a joint statement urging pro-remain parties across Ireland to form an alliance.

The statement, which was issued by party leaders Micheal Martin and Colum Eastwood, sets out five core principles for parties across the island to agree on, in order to counteract the consequences of Brexit.

The release is one of the first statements sent from the parties on a joint basis since they announced their partnership in late January.

"It is just 36 days until Brexit and with each passing day the UK edges ever closer to crashing out of the European Union without a deal," the statement reads.

"The arithmetic in Westminster no longer allows us to leave anything to chance.

"Brexit can only be stopped by actions, not words or placards. Extraordinary times call for more than ordinary measures.

"Together, pro-remain parties must agree and act upon a set of principles that ensure the protection of people across this island, from Derry to Cork.

"Together, the SDLP and Fianna Fail agree that all pro-remain parties must recognise and invoke five core principles necessary to stave off the worst outcomes of Brexit.

1. The key to forming a pro-remain alliance worthy of more than joint press statements lies in the restoration of Stormont. An Executive is vital if we are truly to protect our economy, farms and businesses from the fall-out of Brexit.

2. We must stand firm on the backstop.

3. It is simply not enough to oppose a no-deal Brexit - it must be voted down. All pro-remain parties have a duty, whether it be in the Assembly, the Dail or in Westminster to make every vote count.

4. We must recognise that both unionists and nationalists voted to remain. And of course, the impacts of Brexit will adversely impact everyone regardless of political affiliation. Therefore, pro-remain parties must commit to reassuring unionists that constitutional change can only come about through the mechanisms outlined in the Good Friday Agreement.

5. Pro-remain parties must recommit to reconciliation. We must work to ensure that peace, through the spirit that delivered the Good Friday Agreement, is a priority we never let slip."

Talks about a possible merger between the two parties had been ongoing for a number of months prior to the announcement, however the current partnership is on the basis of a programme of public engagement and common policy proposals on economic development, Irish unity, Brexit, education, health, and housing.

The fallout of the decision had an impact on the SDLP, which saw a number of figures resign from leadership positions within the party.

The chairpersons of the SDLP Youth, Women and LGBT+ branches quit the roles, as well as south Belfast MLA Claire Hanna, who left her role as the party's Brexit spokeswoman, and resigned from the party whip.

Ms Hanna wrote on social media: "I remain unconvinced that an exclusive partnership with Fianna Fail is the right vehicle with which to deliver the non-sectarian, transparent and social democratic new Ireland I believe in."
The Public Accounts Committee are to call board members of the National Children's Hospital and Department of Health officials for further questioning in relation issues with the hospital including the 450m overspend.

The PAC has previously quizzed officials over the hospital overspend, but the committee has expressed concerns over the relevance of that meeting due to new information in the public domain since then.

Department of Health officials and the Government's chief procurement officer are also expected to be called to attend with PAC committee members raising concerns over potentially wider issues with how major contracts are awarded.

Labour TD Alan Kelly told the committee that the hospital's board would have to return given the volume of new information in the public domain saying that answers previously given "no longer are the totality of what we need to know and certainly we need to go back there again".

Mr Kelly said that there are wider issues that need to be investigated "form a process point of view" over potential wider issues on how major contracts are being awarded.

He called on the head of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), Robert Watt, to attend the PAC meeting as well as Paul Quinn, the Governments chief procurement officer, the individuals over spending in DPER, the hospital board and senior officials within the Department of Health "who did all the work on this".

The proposal to call in the various groups and Department officials for questioning was agreed by the Committee. The National Children's Hospital is at the centre of controversy over construction costs that have escalated by 450m.

Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane said any previous discussions before the PAC relating to the National Children's Hospital were "insignificant" due to the large amount of new information made public since that committee meeting.

"At some point there will be a report on the initial hearing we had with the Department and the board, and I can't sign off on that as I don't think we were able to do our job. Whatever discussions we had are insignificant and we have to have that meeting again. I can't sign off on a periodic report that deals with the National Children Hospital," Mr Cullinane said.

He added that they should set a session aside for "the board to come back in with the Secretary General of the Department so we can put the questions that we should have been able to put to them the last time...if anything as an example as what happens when they don't give us the information they should give us".

The Dails spending watchdog previously heard that a civil servant on the board overseeing the building of the National Childrens Hospital had a responsibility to tell minister Paschal Donohoe if there were serious concerns over the project.

The Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy said in a previous PAC meeting that civil servants on boards like the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board do have an obligation to raise issues with ministers.

He said this is the case under a 2010 government circular that applies to civil servants on the boards of non-commercial State bodies.

He also said Mr Donohoe and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were totally inaccurate to say that the official was on the board in a personal capacity.
A sign warning of drone uses after a confirmed drone sighting forced the temporary suspension of operations at Dublin Airport. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Transport Minister Shane Ross has said weve done whats prudent by temporarily suspending flights from Dublin Airport over a drone sighting.

Flights at Dublin Airport have resumed after operations were earlier suspended when a drone was spotted over the airfield.

A spokesperson for the airport confirmed on Twitter that operations were suspended "for safety reasons".

However, the airport confirmed shortly after noon that flights had resumed.

Flight operations have now resumed @DublinAirport following an earlier drone sighting. We apologise for any inconvenience. The safety and security of passengers is always our key priority.  Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) February 21, 2019

Mr Ross described the incident as a matter of concern but said the fact the airport reopened swiftly is encouraging.

Expand Close Phil O Connor from Canada and living in Dublin pictured with his son Stephen (2) at Dublin Airport after his flight had to go into a holding zone after a confirmed drone sighting Pic:Mark Condren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Phil O Connor from Canada and living in Dublin pictured with his son Stephen (2) at Dublin Airport after his flight had to go into a holding zone after a confirmed drone sighting Pic:Mark Condren

The existing arrangements are in fact that the safety of passengers will be most important, our priority, and thats why the airports been closed, he said.

Mr Ross said the threat risk group on drones will be sitting again next week.

He added that were as prepared as we can be.

A spokesperson for DAA said a pilot reported a drone sighting to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which operates air traffic control at Dublin Airport, at about 11.30am.

"A 30-minute suspension of flights was implemented by air traffic control at that point, which is the agreed procedure in such cases. As there were no further drone sighting within the 30-minute suspension period, Dublin Airport resumed flight operations shortly after noon," the spokesperson added.

"The Gardai and other State agencies were informed of the incident immediately. It is illegal to fly drones within five kilometres of an airport in the State and all drones that weigh more than 1kg must be registered with the IAA.

"The safety and security of airport users is daas key priority at all times and staff at Dublin Airport, the IAA, and other agencies continue to remain vigilant in relation to drone activity in the vicinity of the airport.

"Three flights were diverted due the suspension of flight operations and there will also be some knock-on delays to flights today."

Aer Lingus has advised passengers to check for potential delays this afternoon.

"Some delays may be experienced today as a result, but we'll be doing everything possible to minimise these," a spokesperson said on Twitter.

Last year, thousands of passengers were hit with delays after flights were suspended at Gatwick Airport over drone sightings.

Two drones were spotted flying near its airfield, triggering the biggest disruption to its operations since a volcanic ash cloud grounded flights in 2010.

Nothing moving off the ground Dublin Airport after a #drone was spotted on runway. Airlines telling us that they have no idea when operations will resume. #Breaking pic.twitter.com/70FuMq1JUK  Kevin Doyle (@KevDoyle_Indo) February 21, 2019

Fianna Fail's spokesperson on transport Robert Troy this afternoon said that the Minister for Transport must "wake up to the threat of drones".

"In the first instance I am glad that the disruption to flights in Dublin Airport was kept to a minimum and that all flights have resumed, however let there be no doubt about it, it could have been much more chaotic.

"Minister Rosss previous comments that the likelihood of a drone attack in Ireland was low clearly shows his lack of understanding of the seriousness of the issue.

"Following the drone sightings at Gatwick Airport, he was at pains to stress that the regulatory provisions in place in Ireland, which control and restrict the use of drones were stronger than those of the UK.

His dismissive attitude and the failure of the Government to progress the Fianna Fail Bill to regulate drone usage which was brought forward by my Party colleague James Lawless, will lead to further disruptions such as was seen in Dublin Airport today.

"Having our airspace compromised by the threat of drones is not something they can continue to ignore."

In January, Transport Minister Shane Ross called a special meeting of the National Civil Aviation Threat and Risk Group to advise him on the recent incidents in the UK and their implication for Irish airports.

Mr Ross previously said: "There are already strict rules in Ireland around the use of drones, including an exclusion zone of 5 kilometres around airports.

"The misuse of drones is an offence, and flying drones in controlled Irish airspace or within 5 kilometres of an airport is a very serious matter."
A teenager has been hospitalised following a stabbing in Limerick in the early hours of this morning.

The victim, who is in his late teens, suffered serious injuries during the assault along Father Russell Road at around 1am.

Emergency services were alerted to the scene and the male was rushed to University Hospital Limerick.

His injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening, and it is understood he suffered a knife wound to his back.

An investigation into the stabbing has been launched by detectives at Roxboro Road garda station.

A garda spokesman said that they are appealing for anyone who witnessed the stabbing to come forward.

"Gardai are investigating an assault incident that occurred at Father Russell Road on February 21, 2-19 at approximately 1am.

"A male, late teens, has been brought to University Hospital Limerick with an apparent stab wound. His condition is not believed to be life threatening.

"No arrests have yet been made and the investigations are ongoing.

"Gardai are appealing for witnesses to contact Roxboro Road Garda Station on 061-214340."
If enacted, it will ensure that workers are protected by the law and require businesses to display their tipping policy (stock photo)

A BILL that will make it illegal for employers to take their workers tips has passed the Committee stage of the Seanad with all-party support.

The bill, which would give workers a legal right to their tips, was proposed by Sinn Fein in the Seanad last night.

If enacted, it will ensure that workers are protected by the law and require businesses to display their tipping policy, to ensure customers have full transparency as to how their tip will be shared.

Sinn Fein Senator Paul Gavan, who introduced the bill, welcomed the passing last night and thanked the "fantastic grassroots support" from groups that spoke to those working in the hospitality industry and "listened to the horror stories of bad employers".

Irish research shows that 1 in 3 workers experience the regular withholding of tips and this must be addressed," he said.

"We understand that most employers are good employers. This Bill will change nothing for them. The only people who have anything to fear, are those employers who dip their hand in the tips jar.

Sinn Fein will now be looking to move this Bill again through its final stage in the Seanad, to ensure that workers have a legal right to their tips before this summers busy season.

Currently, workers have "no legal express right" to take home the tips intended for them.

Labours Employment Affairs Spokesperson, Senator Ged Nash, said that the National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017 would help workers get their own "hard-earned customer tips and gratuities".

"In some cases, the tip jar is raided by the owner of a restaurant and out straight into the till. When employees complain, there is no legal recourse and they often find that their hours get reduced or they are simply shown the door," he said.

Mr Nash added that many low-paid workers rely on tips to subside their wages, and that it is important that customers are aware of tips policies.

"I have come across too many cases where tips are used to supplement turnover and inflate profit, rather than go into the pockets of staff.

These tips support families, contribute towards college expenses or help to pay towards other cost of living expenses such as childcare and insurance.

"Labour fully supports this Bill which will help protect low paid workers in the hospitality sector who do not currently have the legal right to those tips which they earn and we look forward to facilitating its passage to the next stage."

The bill also received support from students and hospitality unions across the country, including OneGalway.

A spokesperson for the group said: "Tonight is a huge success for Trade Unions, Students Unions, community groups and most importantly the hospitality workers who are one step close to having full legal protection of their hard earned tips.

"Its for the Dail next and we are primed and ready to go."
The failure to include anyone with a medical background on the new board of the HSE was described as "astonishing" at the Oireachtas health committee.

Fianna Fail spokesperson on health Stephen Donnelly questioned the expertise of some of the eight people recently appointed by Health Minister Simon Harris to the revamped nine-member board.

The committee was discussing the HSE Governance Bill 2018.

It was also told that the new board would be able to recommend the salary and conditions of the new chief executive - although the figure would have to be approved by the Health Minister and also the Minister for Finance.

Later, Mr Donnelly said he succeeded in forcing through changes to the new Bill to mandate that the HSE board has clinical, financial, and patient advocacy expertise.

Mr Donnelly added: "The amendment I put forward would provide for one patient advocate, two clinical experts and one financial expert to sit on the HSE board along with four other members.

"We need a health service where nurses, doctors, midwives and all allied health professionals are given a say."

The meeting was also told that the new legislation allows for the new chief executive to hold another post, but it must be with the permission of the board.

A search is currently under way for a chief executive of the HSE following the decision of the former director general to step down.

HSE executive Ann O'Connor is interim Director General.
Gardai are treating as a tragedy the death of an 88-year-old woman who was found lying in a critical condition in a stream by the side of a busy Cork road.

It is feared the woman may have tripped and fallen into the stream by the roadside at Rylane, in mid-Cork, after becoming disorientated and confused in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The woman was discovered lying unconscious by the side of the road at Annagannihy Bridge, outside Macroom, shortly after 6.40am.

She was spotted by a passing motorist, who was shocked to see what he thought was an arm and hand extending out from undergrowth by the side of a ditch and stream.

The man stopped, discovered the elderly woman lying in the stream in a semi-conscious state and alerted gardai and paramedics.

The woman was immediately rushed to Cork University Hospital.

However, she tragically died several hours after being admitted.
The strain that the recession caused marriages, parents' relationships with their young children and to children themselves was laid bare today.

The stresses triggered depressive symptoms for some parents, which affected marital satisfaction and made them more likely to be hostile towards their children and less likely to give them a hug or to praise them.

Children's socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties were greater when the mother experienced depressive symptoms, according to the study.

After the crash hit in 2008, many families faced unemployment, difficulty in paying mortgages or household bills, had to cut back on basic necessities and were unable to afford luxuries.

Some families weathered the changed economic circumstances better than others, but 61pc of mothers reported economic strain in 2011, up from 44pc in 2008.

The insights emerge in one of two reports, reflecting the lives of nearly 9,800 children, when they were three in 2011, and again in 2013, when they were five.

The reports are based on data gathered by researchers from the Economic and Social Research Institute and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for the Government-funded 'Growing up in Ireland' study.

The Effects of Economic Recession and Family Stress on the Adjustment of Three-year-olds report revealed 65pc of families endured a cut in household income after 2008, 14pc were in arrears on their utility bills and 9pc in arrears on their rent/mortgage.

By far the greatest impact on economic strain came about as a result of having to cut back on basic necessities, not being able to afford luxuries, and being in arrears on the rent/mortgage and utility bills.

For mothers, being in arrears on the rent or mortgage was a significant source of strain, with 24pc in that bracket classified as depressed, compared with 10pc where the family was not in arrears.

Dr Elizabeth Nixon, assistant professor in TCD and lead author of the report, said the findings suggested that economic hardship had important negative effects on the mental health of parents and the quality of the relationship between parents, which may spill over to affect how parents interact with their young children.

She said support for the well-being of parents was particularly important when they were facing economic stress, and the research indicated that it would facilitate positive parenting.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said First Five, Ireland first-ever cross-departmental strategy to support babies, young children and their families, was committed to tackling early childhood poverty and developing a new model of parenting support.

The second report, 'The Lives of 5-year-olds', presents a generally positive picture, but lead author Dr Aisling Murray said it also highlighted how early inequalities - linked to socio-economic disadvantage - were already detectable in areas such as health, learning and well-being.

As noted in previous waves of 'Growing up in Ireland', the percentage of five-year-olds who were overweight is a cause of concern, with 20pc unhealthily heavy - 15pc were classed as overweight and 5pc obese.

Mothers described 18pc of children as having a longstanding illness, condition or disability, although not necessarily diagnosed.
Maynooth University (MU) is celebrating a tradition in teacher training that goes back more than 90 years, with the opening of a new 14m school of education.

From a modest six students on the higher diploma in education at Maynooth in 1926 , an average of 600 teachers a year now qualify in Maynooth and it has more than 12,600 graduates on the Teaching Council register

The new building is providing capacity for the rapid growth in student enrolment to the universitys three education departments, where more than 2,000 students are currently pursuing education courses, as well as research activity.

Maynooth offers 15 different professional qualification courses covering the full spectrum of teacher education, including early childhood, primary, second level and higher education, guidance counsellors and school leadership

MU president Professor Philip Nolan said the new building would serve as an academic hive, and would help the college to develop a teaching profession and infrastructure to serve Irelands needs over the coming decades.

Education Minister Joe McHugh and junior minister, Mary Mitchell OConnor, who has responsibility for higher education, both graduates of Maynooth, were on hand to mark the event.

Mr McHugh said Maynooths record in Irish education was a long and proud one and said its influence reached into every county in Ireland.

The 14.1m building was funded by a combination of University resources, the European Investment Bank (EIB), and a donation from the Dominican Sisters following the transfer of Froebel College of Education to Maynooth University.

The School of Education is part of the planned expansion of the MU on its North Campus.
A young woman claimed she was raped by a 15-year-old boy, after she was badly beaten by another girl for refusing to have sex with him in a B&B during a St Patrick's Day outing.

The 19-year-old woman said the teen removed her clothing and raped her on the floor of a Kerry B&B.

The boy has denied charges of rape and attempted rape on St Patrick's Day in 2017 before a Central Criminal Court trial in Cork.

Opening statements were made in the trial before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men. The boy has maintained it was entirely consensual sex, with the young woman having accompanied him back to his B&B.

The complainant was 19 at the time, while the defendant was just 15.

Alice Fawsitt SC, for the State, said both were visiting Killarney from outside Kerry to celebrate St Patrick's Day.

The young woman travelled there with two female friends after getting her hair and make-up done.

All three young women booked into a B&B, consumed some vodka and whiskey before heading into town where they visited a pub and then a nightclub.

Ms Fawsitt said the complainant met the defendant in the nightclub. She went into a smoking area with him and twice rebuffed his attempts to kiss her.

However, she became separated from her friends and eventually went back to a different Killarney B&B where the defendant had booked a room. Over the course of the evening, a total of seven people arrived at the B&B, including the defendant and complainant.

Ms Fawsitt said during the evening a confrontation erupted between the complainant and one of the other young women. "Two causes have been given for this...[the complainant said] it was because she would not have sex with [the defendant]. This was why she was assaulted."

However, Ms Fawsitt said the other explanation was that the complainant was in a bed which she had not paid for in the B&B and then refused to leave the bed, giving "cheek" to the young woman whose bed it was.

Ms Fawsitt said the complainant suffered an assault in which she sustained a bad bite mark as well as injuries to her face and arms.

"She will say that after the beating she was lying on the floor between the two beds," Ms Fawsitt said.

It will be claimed the defendant then approached the young woman, unzipped her trouser suit from behind, pulled down her underwear and attempted to rape her.

The complainant will say the bedroom door was locked at this point and that she was raped. Ms Fawsitt said the jury will hear that, after sex, the complainant will say the defendant stood up and "smirked" before getting into one of the beds.

The young woman will say she got dressed, found the bedroom door to now be unlocked and immediately left the room.

She got a taxi back to her own B&B and, because she was in a very distressed state, her friends alerted the gardai.

The trial heard the young woman was eventually taken to the sexual assault assessment unit in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork.

Ms Fawsitt said a subsequent DNA test matched semen to the defendant. The defendant had voluntarily given a DNA sample to gardai.

The jury was told the defendant will maintain the sexual intercourse that evening was entirely consensual.

It is expected the trial will last three days.
A MAN is due to appear in court on Friday charged in relation to the seizure of 250,000 worth of drugs and 20,000 in cash.

This follows a number of garda searches at residences in the Tallaght, Enniskerry and Ballymun areas of Wicklow and Dublin on Wednesday.

They seized 250,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis herb and around 20,000 worth of cash.

Three males were arrested and one of the men, aged 28, has been held at Ballymun Garda Station.

He has been charged in relation to the seizure and is due to appear before Court No 4, The Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.30am on Friday.
Paddy Lyons: 90-year old had a deep laceration on his head

A man accused of murdering a 90-year-old retired farmer, who only had the use of one arm, had injuries that included marks on his hands and bruising to the inside of his thigh, a trial jury has heard.

In his opening address, prosecuting counsel John O'Kelly SC said the jury will hear evidence the accused told gardai he repeatedly struck Paddy Lyons in "self-defence".

Ross Outram (28), of Ferryland, Waterford Road, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Mr Lyons at Loughleagh, Ballysaggart, Lismore, Co Waterford, between February 23 and 26, 2017.

Detective Garda Joe Wyse told prosecution counsel John O'Kelly SC that he went to Ballysaggart on February 25 after he was made aware there were suspicious circumstances surrounding a sudden death at Mr Lyons' home.

There was a damaged padlock at the entrance to Mr Lyons' property and "skid marks" visible outside his house, he said. He observed what he believed to be fingermarks on the front door and "blood-like substance" around these marks.

Det Gda Wyse said paramedics told him Mr Lyons had a "deep laceration" to his head. He looked in the front door where he saw an elderly male slumped in a chair.

Det Garda Martin Keohane said he went to Mr Lyons' house on February 25 where he noted a "fingerprint in blood" above the handle of the front door.

Det Garda Keohane said he arrested Mr Outram on suspicion of Mr Lyons' murder on February 27.

Det Garda Shay Keevans gave evidence that he searched Mr Outram's house in the aftermath of his arrest.

The witness said a blue Volkswagen Passat was concealed at the rear of his house and no number plates were displayed on the car.

There was damage to the front bumper as well as to the sides of the vehicle, he added.

Furthermore, Det Garda Keevans said a grey hoodie with "possible blood-stains" was found in the accused's bedroom during the search and he later became aware that Mr Lyons' DNA was on this hoodie.

Det Garda Wyse said he took photographs of Mr Outram's injuries in Dungarvan garda station on February 28.

The first photo showed "a mark" on the knuckle of Mr Outram's left hand.

Det Garda Wyse agreed the second photo showed bruising and a scrape to the inside of the accused's thigh.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Coffey.
Martin Hanudel, of Athlumney, pleaded guilty to ghost broking at Trim Circuit Court in Co Meath

A so-called "ghost broker" who sold fraudulent insurance policies to motorists is a "small part of a much bigger operation", a court has heard.

Martin Hanudel (26) of Tubberclaire Meadows, Athlumney, Co Meath, faced 12 charges of fraud under section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act in relation to the sale of fraudulent motor insurance policies.

He is the first person to be prosecuted for "ghost broking" offences in Ireland.

Trim Circuit Court heard how ghost brokers act "as a middleman" to falsify details to bring the price down of genuine policies and then sell them to customers for a fee.

Garda George Thurlow told the court Mr Hanudel had been advertising cheap policies in various Facebook groups, describing him as "the face of the operation".

Mr Hanudel charged each person a fee of 500 and then obtained policies through underwriters after giving false information.

He gave incorrect details regarding no-claims bonuses to get cheaper premiums, and then sold the policies to foreign nationals from Romania and Slovakia.

Mr Thurlow said the 12 policies were subsequently voided, representing a potential loss of 10,000.

Mr Hanudel - who pleaded guilty to all charges - was on bail for firearms offences when he sold the fraudulent policies. He was also before the court yesterday over the possession of four stun guns which were delivered to his home in February 2016.

During a search of his home, gardai also found six gas canisters, knuckle dusters and 150 worth of cannabis.

Mr Hanudel pleaded guilty to possessing the stun guns, and the court heard how this case was adjourned due to the ongoing investigation into the ghost broking activities. He was arrested in April 2018 and initially denied selling the fraudulent policies, but later presented himself and admitted to being involved.

Breffni Gordon, counsel for the defendant, said it was fair to say, based on Garda Thurlow's evidence, that Mr Hanudel was a "small cog in a big wheel" and was "operating for a bigger man" within an organisation.

He used his real name and phone number when advertising the policies in online groups targeting the Slovakian and Romanian communities.

Garda Thurlow said Mr Hanudel "manipulated his knowledge of the insurance industry" in a bid to make financial gain.

The court heard how he has two previous convictions - including one for having no insurance, which he was fined 750 for.

The case was adjourned until March 19 for sentencing.
Duluth, MN (55816)

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Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

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Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
The dramatic collapse of the Regency Hotel murder trial essentially revolved around two key issues.

The first related to defence concerns over the manner in which Patrick Hutch was identified as a suspect in the murder of David Byrne.

The second related to the death during the trial of Detective Superintendent Colm Fox, the officer who led the investigation.

Identification evidence was a key battleground when the trial got underway in January last year. It was the State's case Mr Hutch was the man photographed outside the hotel wearing a woman's wig and brandishing a handgun.

This was denied by the accused and his defence team raised questions over how Mr Hutch was identified.

During lengthy legal argument over the admissibility of identification evidence, two gardai said they identified Patrick Hutch as the man in the photograph.

They said they identified him separately, but defence lawyers said they believed there was evidence to suggest they did so in each other's company. The prosecution denied there was any collusion.

The three-judge court found the identification evidence was admissible.

Expand Close Two men, one disguised as a woman and both carrying handguns, flee the scene of David Byrne's murder. Photo: Sunday World / Facebook

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Whatsapp Two men, one disguised as a woman and both carrying handguns, flee the scene of David Byrne's murder. Photo: Sunday World

But the defence was also told it had the right to revisit the issue later in the trial.

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Mr Hutch's lawyers then sought the disclosure of email exchanged between four gardai involved in the case.

The court had been due to recommence hearing evidence on February 20 last year, but never did.

On February 10, Det Supt Fox was found dead in his office.

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Foul play was ruled out and his death was treated as a personal tragedy. It is currently being investigated by the Garda Ombudsman.

The trial was delayed while gardai investigated the circumstances and whether they had any bearing on the case.

Notes written by Det Supt Fox were handed into the court, but their contents were not publicly disclosed.

The case was adjourned from time to time while, as prosecution counsel Sean Gillane SC put it, "a comprehensive analysis of the evidential matters" was carried out.

He said this "exhaustive analysis" had to be guided by the State's obligation to ensure evidential matters potentially relevant to the trial could be fairly explored through examination and cross examination.

Mr Gillane said the death of Det Supt Fox had resulted "in a situation where the prosecution is not in a position to lead evidence on a number of evidential topics".

While one informed source told the Irish Independent the examination threw up an issue which had the potential to make a successful prosecution problematic, the nature of any such issue was not revealed in court. An Garda Siochana has also declined to comment.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he had asked the Garda Commissioner to conduct a review to ascertain what lessons could be learned.

The deeply unsatisfactory outcome has left the Byrne family distraught and looking for answers. It may not be the end of the matter, however.

The investigation is still open and unlike many other countries, Ireland no longer has a double jeopardy law prohibiting someone from being tried for the same serious offence twice.

But the State can only have a second bite of the cherry if new and compelling evidence emerges.
Communications Minister Richard Bruton is insisting that the National Broadband Plan will not experience major cost over-runs in the same way as the National Children's Hospital.

There is still no date for when an evaluation process on the final bid from consortium Granahan McCourt will be concluded.

But Mr Bruton defended the delay, saying it was a "very complex" project. "We need to check that the technology is robust," the minister said.

"We need to make sure that the governance will be adequate. We need to look at the cost elements."

He said an "exceptional evaluation process" was being conducted because there was only one bidder to deliver high-speed broadband to more than 500,000 premises.

Asked whether there was potential for the costs to rise in a fashion similar to the National Children's Hospital, Mr Bruton replied: "This is a very different process. This is a final tender, where all of the due diligence is being done."

He added: "Normally, in a tender process you have a number of people tendering. There was only one final application standing.

"As a result, the department established a process of evaluation that was much more invasive than you would have in the normal tender process.

"That level of scrutiny was necessary because we needed to have assurance the taxpayer was getting value for money."

Mr Bruton also confirmed he was assessing whether decisions by Eir and Imagine to expand their services might affect the broadband plan.
The Dublin International Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday, opening with the latest film from John Butler (The Stag, Handsome Devil), a charming Los Angeles-set drama called Papi Chulo. That will be on wide release shortly, and theres plenty of other interesting Irish films on the festival programme, from Neil Jordans helter-skelter thriller Greta to Alexandra McGuinnesss soulful road drama Shes Missing and the documentaries Prisoners of the Moon (about the Nazi rocket scientists who worked for NASA) and the self-explanatory When Hitchcock Met OCasey.

Otherwise, the Festival is the usual eclectic mix of international mainstream and arthouse fare, but with upwards of 120 movies to choose from, prioritising your outings isnt always easy. This, then, is our personal pick of movies you should look out for over the coming week, and dont worry too much if you miss one youre particularly keen on, because the best of the Dublin Film Festivals programme tend to get subsequent releases.

Shadow

With a palette inspired by the ancient yin and yang visual symbol, Zhang Zimous splendidly made historical epic tells the story of a great warrior and commander who hires a lookalike to continue his legend after hes badly disfigured in battle. As youd expect from the maker of House of Flying Daggers, there are some impressive combat sequences, but above all Shadow is a visual treat.

Saturday, February 23, Light House, 11am

Donbass

Winner of an Un Certain Regard award at Cannes, Sergei Loznitsas angry drama is inspired by the 2014 war between the Ukraine and Russian backed insurgents. The themes of propaganda and ultranationalism are explored as a group of actors prepare to take part in a TV segment that turns out to be a carefully crafted piece of fake news. Furious, funny, absurd insight into a senseless ongoing war.

Saturday, February 23, Light House, 8.20pm

Transit

Christian Petzolds stylish and paranoid noir thriller is set in Nazi-occupied France in 1942. A young man called Georg escapes Paris and flees south to Marseille, where he assumes the identity of a dead writer called Weidel, whose papers could come in handy. Hes waiting for passage when he meets a beautiful young woman who turns out to be Weidels widow. What are the odds?

Sunday, February 24, Light House, 8.40pm

Loro

Paolo Sorrentino and actor Toni Servillo renew their partnership in this scathing satire based on the life of Italian tycoon and four-times Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. When an unscrupulous young businessman comes to Rome to get close to the reins of power, he worms his way into Berlusconis inner circle, where only the most ruthless survive.

Monday, February 25, Cineworld, 6pm

The Little Comrade

This tender, heartbreaking story is set in Estonia during the Stalinist tyranny and tells the story of a little girl called Leelo, whose mother has been sent to a labour camp. Haunted by the mothers advice that she be a good girl, Leelo does her best to please those around her in a dysfunctional and indifferent world. Moonika Siimets wrote and directs this touching little film.

Tuesday, February 26, Light House, 8.15pm

The Sisters Brothers

A Jacques Audiard film is always something to look forward to, and in this darkly comic drama the Frenchman spreads his wings, traveling back to 1950s California where a pair of hitmen (Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly) are puzzled by their latest job. A wealthy and sinister mogul called The Commodore asks them to kill a man who stole from him, but the task turns out to be anything but straightforward.

Tuesday, February 26, Cineworld, 8.30pm

An Elephant Sitting Still

Hu Bos mesmerising drama is four hours long but worth every moment. In a grimy northern Chinese industrial city, multiple characters struggle to find meaning and hope but are constantly tricked and disappointed by others. A brooding atmosphere evokes a cruel and alienated society, and sadly this was Hu Bos first and last feature - the hugely talented 29-year-old died by suicide shortly after finishing it.

Wednesday, February 27, Light House, 1.45pm

Ash is Purest White

China provides some of the strongest films at this years festival, and none stronger than Jia Zhang-kes magnificent slow thriller built around a tough and resourceful young woman called Qiao. She comes from a gloomy coal-mining town, and has fallen for a local hoodlum called Bin: when hes attacked, she fires a gun to protect him, binding their fates for what turns out to be a dark journey. Exceptional.

Thursday, February 28, Cineworld, 6pm

Jesus

By no means a perfect film, but a very promising one, Hiroshi Okuyamas debut feature tells the story of a lonely nine-year-old boy who feels all at sea when his parents move from Tokyo to a small and snowy mountain town. Hes initially bewildered when sent to a Catholic school, but will soon acquire a real friend, and an imaginary one. Quirky, but interesting.

Thursday, February 28, Light House, 6.30pm

Gaza

All we ever see of Gaza is footage of rioting and violence on the news, but what is it like to actually live there? In Gaza, Garry Keane and Andrew McConnells beautifully photographed documentary, we find out, through the stories of ordinary Palestinians who try to remain cheerful while making the best of a bad lot. Sold out at time of going to print, but is probably the standout Irish film at the Festival and will definitely get a cinema release.

Saturday, March 2, Cineworld, 2pm

Wild Rose

Tom Harpers Glasgow-set comic drama might as well have been called A Star is Born, because after this film Jessie Buckleys going to be a big one. The Kerry-born actress is sensational as Rose-Lynn Harlan, a young working class woman with a lot on her plate. Recently released from prison, and with two young kids to look after, her dreams of becoming a country music star seem hopeless until she meets a bored and wealthy woman. Irresistible.

Sunday, March 3, Cineworld, 8pm

For programme information and ticketing check out www.diff.ie
Nicole Kidman has said Hollywood must act to correct gender imbalance in the film industry.

The actress and outspoken campaigner in the wake of the Me Too movement said direct action must be taken to address inequalities.

During an interview for her Bafta: A Life In Pictures event, which reviewed her successful career in film, Kidman outlined her plan to tackle gender issues in the industry.

She has pledged to work with women on a regular basis to help balance the statistics on male to female directors.

Our @BAFTA specials continue with another Australian great, Nicole Kidman talks about her life on the big and small screen. Most recently with smash hit show Big Little Lies. Great show and even better performance! pic.twitter.com/EkJhuw9rbU  Sky Arts (@SkyArts) February 21, 2019

Kidman said: I always just look at the statistics. The statistics are not good. I made a pledge a couple of years ago to work with a female director every 18 months because youve got to act to change the statistics.

I have to do something. We can all talk about it or I can actually just get out there and do it.

And that, at this stage of my life and my career is what Im trying to do; change the statistics.

Kidman said that there are difficulties for women in the film industry, and they must try to avoid the pitfalls presented to them.

She said: Its hard as a woman in this industry and its hard to keep forging ahead and not get typecast. Its constantly putting your hand up and being willing to try things and change.

Bafta: A Life In Pictures with Nicole Kidman is on Sky Arts tonight at 9pm.
Former Emmerdale star Leah Bracknell has said she is fed up with living with terminal cancer and that she wants to feel normal again.

The actress, who played Zoe Tate in the soap for 16 years until 2005, was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal lung cancer in 2016.

In a new post on her blog, Something Beginning with C, Bracknell has told of how she feels trapped in a cage due to a number of issues linked to the disease that have impacted her life.

She wrote of her guilt over having a moan and a whinge to have her life back, as she understands there are people out there who are enduring much worse circumstances than I.

She added: But that little part of me that is feeling sorry for myself just wants to be seen and heard.

She wants to jump up and down shouting Its not fair, I want my life back, I want to feel normal again.'

Bracknell, 54, said that normal to her would mean not having the state of your health on your mind, or at least lurking around the periphery 24/7 and to have independence, to not have to rely on other people to complete simple functions that you once took for granted.

She said she wants to be able to do simple stuff with ease again, like driving, walking and breathing, and that she would like to not have to plan her life around hospital appointments.

She described the last time she felt normal in October last year, when she visited Devon to see friends before heading to Brittany in France with her husband Jez Hughes.

Recalling the trip, she said, was a joy, the delight of getting out and about, worries pushed to the back of my mind, and the sheer bliss of normality.

However, on her return to the UK, she was immediately admitted to hospital in London, before having to be readmitted to another one nearer to her home several days later.

In the blog, Bracknell told of developing more physical issues in her spine due to the cancer, how she had to do by necessity, absolutely nothing over the Christmas period.

She then tripped over her washing, a pain that she likened to giving birth, and that she has not cooked a meal in months, or done the washing, or done any housework, or shopped.

Bracknell, who is also a yoga teacher, said she recently had a vision of normality peeking over the horizon recently, before an abnormality concerning her heart was discovered, putting her cancer treatment on hold.

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The TV star said she set herself the challenge of sharing her experiences in order to not feel alone in her journey, and to help others.

It is an unexpectedly cathartic process, she wrote.

But if there is one thing that it has taught me above all else is that we are not alone, and together we lift each other up.

Bracknells battle with cancer came to light in October 2016 when her husband launched a Go Fund Me page to raise money for her to undergo treatment overseas, due to a lack of options available on the NHS.

She had been diagnosed in September after rapid weight gain around her abdomen and breathlessness prompted her to seek medical help.

After Bracknell was diagnosed, fans helped her raise more than 50,000 to undergo groundbreaking treatment in Germany.

She started taking new medication, but later revealed that it had failed.
'The EMA said after the ruling that it will consider an appeal that could ultimately lead to the EU's Court of Justice in Luxembourg' (stock photo)

A London judge gave landlords a bit of good news in a difficult environment, ruling that the European Medicines Agency couldn't use Brexit as an excuse to break its 500m (574m) lease in Canary Wharf.

Judge Marcus Smith ruled in favour of the Canary Wharf Group, the EMA's landlord, yesterday, saying that the European Union agency remains obligated to honour the lease even though it's relocating to Amsterdam.

The case is one of the first in the UK to grapple with the commercial ramifications of Britain's departure from the bloc.

The ruling "will be welcome news in the property and legal market, bringing greater certainty as to the impact of Brexit on contracts", Ben Hatton, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who represented Canary Wharf, said.

The EMA said after the ruling that it will consider an appeal that could ultimately lead to the EU's Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The EMA "has no choice but to leave London", a spokeswoman said. The agency, which may sublet the office space with the landlord's consent, still hopes for a "mutually satisfactory solution", she said.

The EMA had argued that Brexit "frustrated" its 25-year lease, which has 21 years left to run. The agency pays 13m a year to occupy more than 10 floors in the east London financial district.

"We have always firmly believed that Brexit did not amount to a frustration of EMA's lease," George Iacobescu, Canary Wharf Group CEO said. "A victory for EMA could've "set an unfortunate precedent".
'The Paris criminal court ruled on Wednesday that UBS illegally provided customers with banking services to hide assets' (stock photo)

Switzerland's UBS was ordered to pay more than 4.5bn by a Paris court which found the bank guilty of helping wealthy French clients stash funds in undeclared Swiss accounts. Shares of UBS fell as much as 4.8pc.

The Paris criminal court ruled on Wednesday that UBS illegally provided customers with banking services to hide assets.

The judge fined UBS 3.7bn and added another 800m in compensation to the French government.

"The criminal wrongdoings were of an exceptionally serious nature," said Judge Christine Mee. "These acts were committed behind the veil of opacity."

The bank has denied criminal wrongdoing and said it will appeal the ruling.
Funding gap: With several big deals stripped out, the year-on-year decline was 40pc, according to IVCA chairman Alex Hobbs. Stock image

Cash support: Irish Venture Capital Association director-general Sarah-Jane Larkin says VC backing is the main source of funding for innovative Irish SMEs. Photo Chris Bellew/ Fennell Photography

Venture capital for tech companies fell by more than 250m last year as industry experts warn of structural factors preventing access to cash for startups.

Despite two huge individual funding rounds of 100m, the overall venture capital outlay was down a quarter on the same period in 2017.

And excluding 'megadeals' of 100m or more, the funding levels are down by almost half on 2017, with the last three months of 2018 seeing an accelerated decline of 35pc on the same period a year before.

In all, the tech and biotech industry attracted 739m in funding from venture investors in 2018, down from almost 1bn in 2017, according to figures released by the Irish Venture Capital Association in association with William Fry.

"If you strip out the two investments in 2018 and the one in 2017 of more than 100m then the decline year-on-year was 40pc," said Alex Hobbs, chairman of the IVCA.

Irish venture capital firms have recently complained about rules that limit their ability to raise money from institutional funds. A number of investors and business owners have also begun lobbying for greater tax breaks aimed at tech entrepreneurs and their staff in Ireland, claiming that lower UK tax rates now make it less attractive to start a business in Ireland.

"I know that this [Irish startups using the UK as a financial base] has happened already," said Brian Caulfield, a venture partner with Draper Esprit and one of Ireland's most experienced venture capitalists.

The average deal size in 2018 fell from 3.5m to 3.2m driven by a decline in larger investments of more than 10m. These were down 30pc on 2017 levels with companies in this category raising 432m in 2018 compared to 610m in 2017. Only 12 companies raised more than 10m in 2018.

Despite fourth-quarter funding down 35pc to 115m, Mr Hobbs said that there were "green shoots" on the horizon.

"Seed funding rebounded strongly in the final quarter, achieving its highest quarterly total of nearly 20m across 50 companies," he said.

"But this has not compensated for a decline overall, which is a concern at a time of international uncertainty when we should be investing in indigenous tech companies."

Two companies, Dublin-based Intercom and Limerick-based AMCS, registered funding rounds of 100m in 2018, according to the figures.

Sarah-Jane Larkin, director-general of the IVCA, said: "The Irish venture capital community continues to be the main source of funding for Irish innovative SMEs - both through direct investment and as the local lead investor for international syndicate investors who accounted for 50pc of the funding raised by Irish SMEs in 2018."
Irish tech firm Strencom has signed 2m worth of deals with 140 credit unions across Ireland to provide increased connectivity and security for branches and their members.

The partnerships will see the Irish tech firm connect credit unions with their multiple branches and host financial data through its cloud hosting platform.

Strencom's platform, which is specifically designed for financial services, will provide the secure service to credit unions with assets in excess of 8bn.

The sensitive financial and personal data of members will be hosted in the company's Irish-based data centre, backed up by a secondary data centre here.

Large numbers of credit unions have merged in the last few years. The overall number is down to 264, from around 400 a few years.

These agreements are expected to support the increased M&A activity in the sector as Strencom's scalable solution can be adapted for multi-branch credit unions.

CEO Tim Murphy said that smaller credit unions often dont have the resources to implement the necessary IT infrastructure, regulation and compliance requirements that are now part of Central Bank regulation.

"With recent regulation, credit unions are now like small banks and they need a system that is similar to what the pillar banks are getting: private secure connectivity linking all of the individual branches together," he told Independent.ie.

"Previously, the vast majority of credit unions had only one site and didn't require that connectivity, but with the recent M&A activity there are now multiple outlets under one branch, there needs to be a secure managed connectivity solution."

Strencom now provides services to credit union branches including Tipperary, Drogheda, Croi Laighean, Mullingar, Tower, Ballygall, Member First, First Choice, Thurles, Health Services Staffs and Mallow.

"We had been dealing with a number of credit unions a number of years who were very forward thinking and they basically pushed us for bespoke solutions for them," said Mr Murphy.

"Then when regulation came in, other credit unions were looking for a similar solution and we already had a ready made package that had been tried and tested."

Shortly before Christmas, Strencom announced the creation of an additional 20 jobs at its offices in Dublin and Cork as part of a 6m investment in the growth of the firm.

Mr Murphy said that the credit union deals reflects the organic growth of their two pronged strategy, the other approach being through acquisition.

"We're looking for new acquisitions that give us scale or new capability; we're expecting to make an announcement in this regard in the next few weeks. "

Strencom has said that it expects to acquire up to three companies within the next three years, and has plans to expand its enterprise customer numbers to over 300 by 2020.
Buffalo, WY (82834)

Today

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 57F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 57F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
European insurer Allianz is increasing the size of its tech investment fund to 1bn, making it one of the largest corporate-backed venture funds in Europe.

Allianz X was launched in 2016 with a 430m chequebook and has done about 15 deals in total, including an investment in Indonesian taxi-hailing firm Go-Jek, German mobile bank N26, and US insurance startup Lemonade.

The new funds will target startups where Allianz sees some future cross-selling or use case, the company said yesterday.

Prior to its investment last year, Allianz Indonesia was offering insurance products to Go-Jek's riders and customers.

Allianz X now has the option to make larger investments, said company CEO Nazim Cetin, and has plans to hire new staff.

The fund did not disclose any performance figures, but added that the current value of the portfolio exceeds the initial investment.

Some of Europe's other major corporate-backed VC funds include that of BMW, which in 2016 announced it was creating an investment vehicle to spend up to 500m over a 10 year period. The same year saw Siemens pledge 1bn for startups via its Next47 venture. The increased appetite for venture deals mirrors the desire of Allianz CEO Oliver Baete to hunt out acquisition targets.

Originally conceived as away of backing startups, Allianz X switched focus in late 2017 to later-stage firms in areas such as mobility, wealth management, and cybersecurity.

Insurers have been grappling with how technology will impact them. Deloitte, in its 2019 insurance outlook report, warned that "most insurers have long struggled with innovative product development".

Allianz X is targeting how people may change their driving behaviours - and therefore how they take out policies - as a key market.

It has invested in Nauto, a startup that makes technology to help develop autonomous cars, and Urgent.ly, an app-based startup that provides breakdown cover.

Bloomberg
Worldwide web: John and Patrick Collison are said to be worth up to $3bn each, but the brothers eschew ostentatious displays of wealth and are focused on building Stripe and expanding online trade globally Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

They're now regularly portrayed as the poster boys for Ireland's potential in the tech world. Patrick (30) and John (28) Collison have created one of the most talked-about tech companies in the industry. Stripe is an online payments system that lets online stores accept payments through ordinary means (such as credit cards) without any special measures being taken. The success of the system is largely down to the relative ease by which it can be installed by tech people setting up a company's online shop. It's basically a few lines of code that slots in without any fuss.

But it's a 'back end' system, meaning that it's not presented as a customer payment option in the same way as PayPal or a credit card system.

This is probably the reason why, outside the tech industry, it's not a well-known brand like PayPal.

Stripe's business model is to take a small cut of the transaction (in Europe, it's 1.4pc plus 25c for European cards or a little more for non-European cards) from those using it to sell.

But it's Stripe's scale that is its strength. Stripe is now one of four pre-eminent online payment companies in the world. The biggest, and still the best known, is PayPal. The other two are the Chinese outfit Alipay (which isn't directly comparable) and the Dutch firm Adyen.

Stripe has lots of big companies using it, including Uber, Uber competitor Lyft, Salesforce, Shopify and millions of others.

How did this all happen? Both Patrick and John have followed a familiar pattern among high-performing tech founders.

Having been accepted into Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard respectively, both brothers dropped out to focus on building companies. Their first success was a small company called Auctomatic, sold to a Canadian company for $5m.

In 2010, at the age of 21 and 19, they founded Stripe. The next year, they got a $2m seed funding round from a handful of Silicon Valley's A-list investors, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. The year after that was their big breakthrough, with two rounds of $18m and $20m.

Autonomy and independence was a strong theme from an early age. Their parents let Patrick go to California for a couple of months as a secondary-school age teenager. Similarly, they were encouraged to seek the best experiences in the best colleges, with Patrick sitting American SATs at the age of 13.

Fast forward to 2019 where, in a 12-month period, the company's valuation has climbed from $9bn to $22.5bn because of two rounds of finance worth $345m led by the US venture fund Tiger Global. It got that funding because of its rapid expansion.

It is growing in two ways. First, by opening offices all over the world in a race to become the default international payments provider. And it is also extending into things like issuing, global fraud prevention and physical stores with its Stripe Terminal.

One reason why the company has attracted so much in funding is that online commerce is still seen as one of the most reliable future bets in tech.

Unlike the saturated businesses of smartphones or social media, less than one in 10 trading transactions happen online. Most economic forecasters predict that this will increase at least threefold over the next decade. This is largely the reason that Amazon, which makes a relatively small profit, is still valued at such a high multiple compared to earnings (and why Jeff Bezos's company is measured by markets as the most valuable publicly traded firm in the world, making him the richest man in the world).

While Irish people like to claim the Collisons as our own, Stripe is firmly a Californian-headquartered company. Yet its burgeoning Irish office is one of its biggest and most important elsewhere in the world. It has more than 100 people now and regards the Dublin facility as one of its key engineering 'hubs', close to a par with the one it has in San Francisco.

This is an unusual thing for a multinational tech company to do in Ireland, partly because it's the type of centre that is difficult to hire for anywhere in the world, given the level of tech expertise required.

"There's often this broader tension around companies moving operations or support to Dublin and not necessarily treating those offices as real research and development centres," said Patrick Collison. "But we've spent time now in Dublin and are struck by how much real engineering and tech talent there is now, and how that's trending upwards. So we took a broad view on where we might base this European engineering office and have decided to place our bets on Ireland and on Dublin."

Part of the plan, he says, is to hire advanced tech engineers from "every corner of the globe", as well as locally, to create an elite engineering unit in Dublin.

There are now persistent questions around how long Stripe can remain a private company. By most normal rules of Silicon Valley, Stripe would be close to an initial public offering. Venture capitalists and large private investors of the sort that Stripe has attracted usually look to realise a gain of some sort with six or seven years. It has now been eight years since the firm took its first major round of private funding ($38m), with seven significant rounds since then, totalling nearly $800m.

Three or four years ago, both brothers would regularly say that there was no immediate plan for an IPO because they were still firmly focused on expansion. The tone has changed a little lately. In an interview with the 'Los Angeles Times' earlier this month, Patrick discussed several elements of the company's goals but declined to comment on plans for a flotation. This doesn't mean that Stripe is currently planning an IPO. But it is common for founders thinking of a possible IPO to stop saying that one isn't imminent.

Along the way to making Stripe one of the biggest tech companies in the world, the Collisons have become investors too.

Stripe has made significant investments in other startups over the last two or three years. Earlier this month, the company jointly led a $40m funding round into a US-Israeli fintech company called Rapyd, described by its CEO as a "fintech as a service" startup.

Last year, Stripe led an $8m round (with participation from Visa and China's ecommerce giant Tencent) into a Nigerian-based payments startup called Paystack, which processes over 15pc of online payments in Nigeria and acts as a payment engine for tens of thousands of businesses in the country with Africa's largest population (200 milliion).

Just how wealthy are the Collison brothers? While this is a shallow question, it's a source of interest to a great many people in Ireland and beyond. Most estimates put the brother's wealth at somewhere between $1bn and $3bn each. Forbes, which is often referenced in such matters, has them at $2.1bn each, even after the company's most recent funding top-up and increase in valuation to $22.5bn.

But the truth about these estimates is that they are really just guesses. Unless (or until) the company files for a public offering or agrees to being acquired (which seems very unlikely), that's what they'll remain.

Even if most of the Collisons' valuation might be tied up in company valuation, there are no signs of opulence.

The Collisons typify a certain breed of successful tech founder. There are no Larry Ellison-style yachts, big parties or other ostentatious displays of wealth.

Both brothers like to pilot planes, although it's limited to small aircraft of the type that thousands of enthusiasts choose. The Collisons appear to follow the kind of lifestyle aesthetic naturally favoured by Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffett, both of whom chose ordinary suburban houses and a relatively modest way of life over glitz and shiny things. This is not to say that it might always be thus. Bezos famously drove an old car for years and hung on to an 'ordinary guy' lifestyle until he hit his mid-40s. Now he has a number of lavish properties around the world and indulges some super-rich hobbies, like using a submarine.

The money issue has always been a source of confusion for many Irish commentators, used to associating wealth with industries such as property, where developers rush to cover themselves with Rolex watches and other initial trappings of cash.

In all of the interviews that this newspaper has done with the Collisons over the years, one theme has stayed fairly consistent: they're obsessed with cutting through a lot of the blockades that stop meaningful trade happening online.

"The promise of the internet is around this transcendence of physical geography," said Patrick Collison. "To a large degree, the internet has delivered on that promise, but when it comes to the movement of money and the ability to start and operate a business or needing to purchase from a business, it really hasn't. You have this balkanised landscape of European internet companies and American internet companies and Chinese internet companies and so forth. Entrepreneurs in the US or western Europe can really easily start an online business, but somebody in Peru or Indonesia or India cannot. That should not be acceptable to us."
The majority of small firms say they are being hit with huge increases in business and motor insurance premiums, but these hikes are not being captured by official statistics.

Lobby group ISME said a survey it has compiled shows that 85pc of firms have experienced a rise in employers' liability insurance. A third of firms are seeing premium rises of between 6pc and 15pc.

It said the fact that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) does not capture insurance costs for firms needs to be rectified.

Businesses suspect that insurers have stopped increasing private motor and home premiums, as they are captured by the CSO. Instead, insurers are hiking business insurance and commercial motor premiums as these rate changes are not reported by the State statisticians.

In its latest quarterly business trends survey, ISME - headed by ISME CEO Neil McDonnell - found that 81pc of member firms have been hit with a rise in business insurance, such as employer liability and public liability cover.

And 77pc of firms surveyed reported having to pay higher premiums for their motor insurance cover.

Junior minister with responsibility for insurance reform Michael D'Arcy said recently that insurers are now refusing to cover businesses in many sectors due to the high levels of awards.

He said the high level of insurance payouts in Ireland is encouraging members of the public to "lawyer up".

Children's play centres across the country are facing huge hikes in premiums - when they can get a quote.

Linda Murray, who runs Huckleberry's Den in Navan, has claimed exaggerated insurance claims will force children's play centres to shut down.

She has vowed to go down fighting after failing to get insurance renewed on her own play centre, where premiums have spiralled from 2,500 to 16,500 in just five years.

She has two claims pending, and has been refused cover and may now have to close her Co Meath facility, with the loss of 12 jobs.

The CSO said it is preparing to publish a feasibility study on collecting price information on the cost of business insurance. It hopes to publish this study within the next two weeks.

The feasibility study focuses on employers' liability and public liability insurance.

Its research has found that very few other countries are compiling statistics on business insurance and it is a difficult area to measure, said CSO director of business statistics Joe Treacy.
Ryanair has been hit with a 3m fine by the Italian competition authority in relation to its hand luggage policy, while Wizz Air was fined 1m for its policies.

Since January last year Ryanair customers have only been able to take a small, personal bag on board for free. Theyve had to pay extra for priority boarding in order to take two items into the cabin  a small carry-on case, and a personal bag.

Passengers without priority boarding initially had their larger carry-on case stowed in the aircraft hold free of charge. However, Ryanair later changed its policy, charging non-priority passengers for any small carry-on case that had to be placed in the hold. However, it also increased the size of the personal bag that passengers could take on board for free.

Last autumn, the Italian regulator requested the two low-cost airlines to suspend their new baggage policies.

The regulator subsequently opened investigations as Ryanair did not apply the required suspension and because Wizz Air passengers signalled it had not followed the request.

The airlines could have been fined up to 5m each.

The request for supplementary pay for an essential element of air transport, such as hand baggage, provides a false representation of the real ticket price ... misleading the consumer, the watchdog said last autumn.

With additional reporting from Reuters
An Irish company that makes money by cutting its clients' lighting bills aims to make it easer for businesses to save with the launch of a new online calculator.

Energy start-up UrbanVolt said that the tool allows its customers to calculate a quote for an LED lighting upgrade, complete with potential savings details and CO2 emissions reductions, in less than a minute.

The Dublin-based company, which markets itself with the tagline "Light as a Service", funds, fits and maintains LED lighting solutions for large commercial properties.

The objective of the upgrade is to enable companies to save up to 75pc on their lighting costs, with a portion of the energy saving then paid to UrbanVolt as a service charge for the first five years.

UrbanVolt was founded in 2015 by former Merrill Lynch corporate financier Kevin Maughan together with business partner Graham Deane and Declan Barrett who previously owned and ran facilities management business Complete Property Management.

The new calculator, which went live on December 21, has generated a significant amount of interest, with a 36pc increase in new users.

CEO Maughan said that the most important thing for UrbanVolt's customers is the ease with which they can access accurate information on what a lighting upgrade looks like.

"Chief Financial Officers dont want a sales pitch. They want to see figures and a detailed breakdown of the savings they will make by upgrading to LED," he said.

"Thats what our calculator gives them without the hassle and cost of traditional type surveys."

In December, UrbanVolt won Google's latest Adopt a Startup competition, making the development of the calculator one of its key goals as part of the competition.

The company is continuing its expansion into overseas markets, with plans to recruit 100 new employees in the US over the next three years.
The country's hotels appear to have so far avoided the expected fallout from a controversial Vat hike in the last Budget, new figures show.

The data shows that the revenue per available room at hotels outside the capital jumped 4.9pc in January, while in Dublin the figure edged 0.9pc higher.

The increases came as occupancy in the capital dipped 0.8 percentage points, and edged 0.5pc higher outside it.

Despite intensive lobbying and dire predictions that it would result in job cuts and unprofitability, the Government decided in last October's Budget to return a special 9pc Vat rate it had introduced during the downturn for certain sectors, to 13.5pc.

The reduced Vat rate had applied from 2011 and applied to a range of activities and services, such as hotel rooms, hairdressers, newspapers and restaurants.

However, the Revenue Commissioners had argued last year that returning the rate to 13.5pc would raise an extra 527m for the Exchequer in a full year.

But Pat McCann, the CEO of Ireland's largest hotel group, Dalata, insisted yesterday that the figures for January couldn't be interpreted as a trend.

"It's far too early to say," he said. "I'd always urge caution in drawing any conclusions [from trading in January or February]."

However, he conceded that traffic through Dublin Airport continues to grow strongly, while tourism figures for the country are also rising.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Hotels Federation also insisted it was too early to say if the January performance was indicative of a general trend for 2019.

Although the latest figures show that occupancy in Dublin declined last month, the average daily rate in the capital rose 2.1pc. The average daily rate outside the city was 3.9pc higher in January.

Davy Stockbrokers noted that the total number of visitors to Ireland rose 6.8pc in 2018, to 10.6 million, which was a record.

Mainland Europeans now make up the largest proportion of visitors to Ireland - 36pc, compared to 35pc from the UK.

The number of visitors from Germany to the island of Ireland soared 20pc last year to about 780,000, according to Tourism Ireland. Davy Stockbrokers pointed out that airline seat capacity between Germany and Dublin rose 12pc in 2017 and increased by an additional 24pc in 2018.

"The strength in European visitors is also positive for hotels given higher spend and greater usage of hotels versus UK visitors," it added.

The broker said that despite headwinds including Vat, increasing room supply and strong comparatives, Dalata should continue to outperform the market. It releases full-year results next week.

The decision to return the Vat rate for hotels and other sectors to 13.5pc has prompted vociferous outbursts from the sector.

At the Irish Tourism Awards this month, Tourism Minister Shane Ross was heckled by some attendees as told the audience that the Vat hike was a "vote of confidence in yourselves rather than anything else". He said his remarks resulted in a "buzz of barracking from the big hotel price-gouging brigade at the dinner".

European hotel investment reached a record high of 23bn in 2018, according to a report from CBRE this month, with Ireland accounting for 747m of that activity.
Glanbia has contingency plans to deal with a hard Brexit next month, but said that the impact of such an exit on the group would be marginal.

The group generates about 3pc of its revenue in the UK, and also manufactures products there that are exported to mainland Europe.

"We're making sure as we work with our customers that we have some inventories in the right place so we can work through, depending on how a transition would occur," said chief financial officer Mark Garvey.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Glanbia CEO Siobhan Talbot confirmed that the group had been positioning its UK activities to deal with a possible hard Brexit.

"We have a team that is effectively taking a co-ordinated approach across the entire group, mindful obviously of the facility that we have in the UK for performance nutrition," she said.

"We have two Glanbia cheese plants in the UK and clearly, as we all know well, it's an important route to market for Irish dairy, not least Irish cheese.

"The big issue for us, like any corporate, is the level and the protracted nature of the uncertainty," she said. "That's what makes the planning most difficult - will it be an orderly transition, or a disorderly Brexit, and neither do we know what tariffs might look like post either event.

"We are ensuring as best we can that we have raw materials in the right place, that we have finished product in the right place. That involves warehousing, we've had discussions with our customers on supply chain issues and constraints they might have."

Ms Talbot was speaking yesterday as Glanbia reported full-year results for 2018 that beat expectations, sending its shares more than 10pc higher during the day.

It also announced a significant board reshuffle, and the $89m (78m) acquisition of family-owned US firm Watson, a non-dairy ingredient-solutions business that generated revenue of $101m last year.

Glanbia's revenue from wholly-owned units rose 4.5pc on a constant currency basis to 2.38bn last year, and was flat on a reported basis. Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation were up 5.2pc on a constant currency basis, at 284.9m.

Revenue at its performance nutrition (GPN) division jumped 9.5pc on a constant currency basis to 1.17bn, and was up 5.2pc on a reported basis.

At its nutritionals arm, which includes cheese-making operations in the United States, revenue dipped 0.6pc on a constant currency basis to 1.2bn, and was down 4.7pc on a reported basis. Glanbia said that a chunk of that decline was a result of lower dairy markets.

North America accounted for 61pc of GPN's revenue last year, versus 65pc in 2015. Ms Talbot said that the North American share in some ways overshadows what she said was a strong performance in other markets, including India, South East Asia and Mexico.

In order to limit the impact of tariffs, she said Glanbia was also involved in planning a co-manufacturing arrangement in India. "We're well advanced on what I would call a supply-chain solution to help us mitigate some of the tariff increases that we've seen in the region," she said.
The Department of Agriculture in Ireland said it was unaware of any inspections into companies involved in farming Atlantic salmon being carried out here (stock photo)

European competition authorities carried out a number of unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies involved in farming Atlantic salmon, the Commission announced yesterday.

The Department of Agriculture in Ireland said it was unaware of any inspections being carried out here.

The inspections were carried out across an unspecified number of member states on foot of EU Commission concerns that inspected businesses may have violated European Union competition rules banning cartels and restrictive business.

A spokesperson for the Commission said it does not comment on the names of the companies or on the member states where inspections took place.

Unannounced inspections are a preliminary investigatory step into suspected anti-competitive practices. "The fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself," the Commission said.

"The Commission respects the rights of defence, in particular the right of companies to be heard in antitrust proceedings."

There is no legal deadline to complete inquiries. Duration depends on a number of factors, including case complexity, the extent to which the companies concerned co-operate with the Commission, and the exercise of defence.
Denis Large at his farm at Urard, Urlingford, Co Tipperary. Photo: Dylan Vaughan

Denis Large is a third-generation beef and tillage farmer outside Urlingford, in Co Tipperary.

He has spent the last 30 years building up his farm and raising a family of four daughters with his wife, Anne.

Today, Mr Large has 150 suckler cows on his farm and 100 acres of tillage, producing most of the fodder that is used on the farm himself.

"From the day the calves are born on this farm, they don't leave until they go, between 16 and 22 months, to the factory," he said.

"I'm involved in a number of schemes, all designed to help breed more efficient cattle and reduce emissions.

"We're producing beef as efficiently and environmentally friendly as possible.

"I don't understand how importing beef from South America is an option for any European country," he said.

Mr Large has invested in buildings, machinery, stock, land and hard work over the past 30 years in order to get his farm to where it is today.

He feels that he's being left in the lurch.

"Our best market is possibly gone, and I expect the EU and Irish Government to stand by farmers.

"All farmers, not just the beef guys.

"I have done my part to keep the economy of this country going for the past 10 years," he said.

"Farming has done its part," he added.

"Now the farmer must be looked after."

He says that if the Government and EU do not support the beef sector, then it's finished.

"At the moment, compared to this time last year, when I was not making a big profit, I'm making 200/head less on cattle," he said.

"I have a total of 450 animals on the farm at the moment, with 120 to be sold in the next three months."

At the moment, the 120 heifers are worth in the region of 160,000.

But if the factory has got no market for them, then it might not even take them off his hands.

"It's a liquidation job if the EU and Government do not help us," he added.
Calf prices have taken a hit this week with shipping-type Friesian bulls dropping back 40-60/hd as the numbers on offer rose sharply.

Mart managers in the south reported a definite easing in the trade over the last week as the number of plainer Friesians increased and shippers replaced farmers as the primary buyers.

The prices being offered for calves out of farmyards has also fallen this week, with farmers contacted by the Farming Independent reporting that 45-50/hd was the general offer for two to three-week-old Friesian bulls.

While farmers continued to give 80-120/hd for stronger Friesian bulls in some marts this week - and even up to 150/hd in exceptional cases - managers said this category of stock accounted for just 10-15pc of overall numbers and the calves had to be five to six weeks old. Shippers dominated the trade for plainer Friesian bulls, with 40-60/hd taking out the vast bulk of those bought for export.

A two-tier market was also reported by Jim Bushe from New Ross Mart. Mr Bushe said a significant price differential has opened up between "strong calves" and "soft" or younger calves.

The bulk of the shipper-type Friesian bulls sold for 40-60/hd, with poorer calves making as little as 30/hd and exporters paying a top of 80/hd. Stronger Friesian bulls made up to 120/hd, while six-week-old square British-Friesians made from 120/hd to 220/hd.

There was lively demand for continental bulls, with farmers generally paying 170-350/hd. However, up to 500 was paid for top quality Belgian Blue and Charolais bulls. Although 600 calves were on offer on Saturday last, Mr Bushe said numbers have been slower coming out than anticipated. In Kilkenny Mart shippers generally paid from 30-80/hd for Friesian bulls, depending on their age. Auctioneer, George Candler said 120-140/hd was paid by farmer buyers for the stronger Friesians, with Hereford bulls making 280-310/hd.

Seamus Scallan of Wicklow Calf Company attributed the drop in calf prices to increased numbers and the continuing uncertainty surrounding live exports.

Mr Scallan said he paid between 50 and 110/hd last week for calves, depending on age, breed and the market for which the calves were destined.

Mr Scallan called on the Department of Agriculture to seek solutions to the restricted lairage capacity in Cherbourg which he claimed would seriously impact on the calf export trade from early March.

Lairage capacity at the port is limited to 4,000 calves per sailing or 12,000 calves per week. While this capacity level was not exceeded last year - when the maximum weekly number of calves shipped from the Republic was 11,700 during the second week in March - Mr Scallan predicted exports will be significantly higher this spring.

He pointed to compact calving patterns which mean more than 550,000 cows will be calved by the end of the month, slower farmer demand for dairy stock, and increased calf numbers out of Northern Ireland as the main drivers in what he claimed is likely to be a shorter export season. He warned that calf prices could be seriously hit if the lairage problems were not addressed by the end of the month.
Macra na Feirme National President James Healy has said that a smooth transition from the current CAP to its successor is essential to avoid creating another group of forgotten young farmers.

Mr Healy was reacting to the news that CAP 2020 will not be decided upon before European elections take place in May this year.

"This is history repeating itself, when we consider past CAP reforms, negotiations have always proven to be complicated and protracted. Added to this current round of negotiations there are Europe elections, Brexit and a MMF (Multi-Financial-Framework) to consider.

"From a young farmer perspective, consistency and continuity of young farmer schemes and supports remains our priority and a smooth transition from the current CAP to its successor is our primary concern, we believe this is essential to avoid creating another group of forgotten young farmers."

He said the ambition, budget and tools to support young farmers must be greater in CAP 2020, in what will be a pivotal decade for generational renewal both in Ireland and across Europe.

"The European Parliament Committee on Agriculture will vote on the CAP reform motions in April. They must then wait a month before the motions can be brought to plenary level where they will then be voted on by the full European Parliament. However, in this instance they will have to wait until the new European Parliament sits following elections at the end of May this year."
Over my career in agency, I encountered several land-owning clients who wanted to maximise the value of their assets without selling land.

Some were wealthy and wanted to create a long-term, income-producing asset, rather than sell and suffer capital gains tax. Others had a strong generational connection to the land and simply wanted to stay involved. But in all these cases, the individuals would have neither the capital, the experience, nor the appetite for risk, necessary to undertake a development themselves. The solution in these cases was often a joint venture with a developer.

A great advantage of joint ventures is their flexibility, and I was involved in cases where the landowner ended up either owning individual buildings which were then rented out, or with a pre-determined share of the income stream from the overall development - or a combination of those with capital payments.

However, these agreements are complex and can be a recipe for the courts, where the landowner does not take expert advice. The big advantage for the developer is he doesn't have to fund the site purchase all through the development process, which is very attractive when site values are high. Thus, joint ventures are an easy way into a site, and a cynical observer might say the developer has too much control. If the development is going well, the developer keeps going and reaps the rewards. If it's not going well, the developer can slow things down and tie the landowner up in so many knots that they eventually agree to rescind the deal.

In the State sector, a form of joint venture is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) which can also unlock development. The State owns the land, and has the need to create buildings for the public benefit, while the private-sector partner provides capital and development expertise. PPPs have had a chequered history, both here and in the UK, but, where properly run, they can be the perfect formula for success. Examples of successful PPPs here include the Criminal Courts of Justice buildings at Parkgate Street and DIT's new Grangegorman campus.

When one considers the shortage of new housing supply, despite the State's ownership of suitable land, and the planned national infrastructural works such as hospitals, which, as we have seen, are capital intensive and require expert management, it is clear PPPs can play an important role. Also, the recently-established Land Development Agency (LDA) has been tasked with identifying State-owned land suitable for development, and PPPs can be a good solution there. The benefits to the State can be pre-determined, whether it be ownership of individual houses or the creation of infrastructure that benefits the public, which also reduces criticism that State assets will be 'sold off' to the private sector.

One significant PPP specialist is UK-headquartered PLC, U+I, which is focusing on London, Manchester and Dublin as three "high-growth urban regeneration markets". U + I opened an Irish base last year, headed by Dublin development director Arlene van Bosch. The company, which has an 11bn development pipeline, has three prime office redevelopment projects underway in Dublin.

Richard Upton, U + I Deputy CEO, thinks Dublin is ripe for PPPs, "which can work well and deliver for both communities and the public purse." He believes the Irish form of PPP adheres to a narrow style of partnership and takes a "design-build-finance-operate" form. Public contracts usually favour the lowest bidder, rather than the proposal that could deliver the project to completion, and difficulties can arise.

Upton believes the key to a successful PPP is to regard it as akin to a marriage, based on trust, openness, communication and pursuit of a shared vision. Both parties must be fully aware of costs and spending. Two keys to U + I's success, he says, have been its high standards of corporate governance and community engagement. "Trust," he says "is the glue that binds PPPs together."
New home: Barclays Bank is moving 190bn of its assets to its Irish operation. Barclays Bank Ireland has new offices at One Molesworth Street

In Paris, an empty Art Deco postal office is on its way to becoming Bank of America's HQ for its European brokerage arm. Where telegraph operators once tapped out messages, hundreds of traders and sales people will be working by this spring.

In Frankfurt, Morgan Stanley's European hub will double its staff of 200. Germany's financial centre is welcoming investment bankers from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

The financial landscape of Europe is changing as banks shift employees and hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of assets from London to new subsidiaries across the bloc in time for Britain's divorce from the EU on March 29. Banks are adjusting contracts with 'Brexit clauses' to protect themselves if the separation is chaotic. Lawyers are checking regulations, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, to gird for possible future contractual disputes.

Cities across Europe have been vying for a piece of an industry that represents about 7pc of Britain's gross domestic product and more than a million jobs there. Frankfurt, Paris, Dublin and Luxembourg will be the first to secure new business as financial services companies gauge how profitable London remains.

In the next months, these cities, along with Madrid and Milan, will find more traders, compliance teams, human resource managers and technology workers in their midst. Amsterdam will become home to more European markets.

One big Brexit beneficiary is Dublin, where Bank of America, Citigroup and Barclays are expanding their ranks. "Dublin is our HQ for our European bank now, full stop," said Anne M Finucane, vice chairwoman of Bank of America, which employs more than 800 people there.

"There isn't a return. That bridge has been pulled up," Ms Finucane told the European Financial Forum last week. "From a trading perspective, likewise Paris would be the European trading arm."

Since January, there have been near-daily revelations about what Britain stands to lose after Brexit. Britain's Office for National Statistics showed growth last year was the weakest since 2009, and growth in the last quarter was 0.2pc. Brexit uncertainty was blamed, in part. Many financial companies are redeploying staff by the dozens - not the hundreds - because they are waiting to see whether the end is a messy break-up or a phased withdrawal, said David Pascoe, senior vice president for Europe at Cartus, a relocation company that moves 162,000 people a year.

So far, US banks have relocated fewer than 1,000 employees from London. But the number could grow to 5,000 as the March deadline approaches, said banking officials and analysts.

"We're seeing such a diverse range of cities because banks are saying they're not going to be caught out again by having all their operations in one city," Mr Pascoe said. "They don't want one country upsetting their operations again."

Few expect London, a dominant player in cross-border lending and foreign-exchange trading, to lose its might overnight. But international banks will no longer view London as their best gateway in or out of Europe.

The fragmentation of the industry will weigh on companies and Europe's wider economy. The cost of building and running operations in different locations could filter through to clients, making financial services more expensive. Bank of America alone has spent $400m moving assets and workers to Dublin and Paris.

The effects could be worse in Britain if the economy deteriorates significantly and borrowing becomes more expensive. The country is staring down Brexit but also trying to end austerity measures that have been in place for over a decade.

In a worst-case scenario, the Bank of England calculated last November that Brexit could shrink the economy by 8pc and send house prices plunging by 30pc. British banks could suffer if a souring economy leads to non-payment and defaults on mortgages, according to S&P.

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, last week said the "fog of Brexit" and its uncertainty were "weighing more heavily on activity, predominantly through lower business investment and tighter financial conditions."

What is certain is that London is poised to lose some ability to move money around easily between its neighbours.

Passporting, which allows firms in one European member state to offer their services across the entire bloc, will no longer be available to Britain after Brexit. This has prompted banks to open subsidiaries and offices in well-positioned EU capitals.

Lenders have spent hours writing through lending agreements to mitigate the loss of passporting rights. Countries including France, Germany and Italy have legislation in the works to give banks some leeway if their transfer arrangements are not completed in time, a sort of "mopping-up exercise to make sure nothing falls between the gaps," said Susanne Whitehead, a lawyer specialising in corporate lending at Hogan Lovells in London.

There are also forecasts that the entire EU will suffer. By 2030, the new barriers between the British and EU markets could shave some 60bn a year from financial firms' productivity, according to an estimate by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"From the perspective of the banks, it is layering on another cost of doing business," Barney Reynolds, a financial services lawyer in London with Shearman & Sterling, said of Brexit.

Still, bank executives in the US have sounded a calming note. They have characterised the political brinkmanship and stuttering negotiations as inconsequential to their operations. Most began planning for a no-deal exit soon after the 2016 referendum that set Brexit in motion.

Last month, Morgan Stanley's chief executive, James Gorman, said that he hardly worried about Brexit: "That's not in my top 200 issues today." Morgan Stanley's new German-based securities trading subsidiary won provisional approval from credit rating agencies last year, along with several other banks. Still, it could be a different story if the economic fallout is severe.

"The real risk is the macroeconomic risk rather than a regulatory risk," said David Pinto-Duschinsky, who works in London for Promontory Financial Group, a consulting firm. "If there is no deal, it will be large shock to the economy."

Global banks are expected to be resilient. But volatile markets and weaker economic activity could eat away at earnings, said Moody's, the credit rating agency.

The potential fallout has some banks inserting clauses into new contracts to guard against a no-deal exit. Such clauses are intended to secure a process for handling unforeseen events related to Brexit, said Jennifer J. Kafcas, a finance lawyer in London at McGuireWoods. Banks too have been careful with framing the language of such clauses: they want to retain the right to recover loans further down the line.

"If that borrower loses access to markets or its supply costs rocket, the banks would not want to see that their carve-out stops them taking action," Ms Whitehead said. "Knowing that Brexit is on the horizon, they would've thought about what impact it would have on their business going forward. But nobody has a crystal ball."

The EU has prepared legislation, in the case of a no-deal Brexit, for transactions like derivatives clearing. Many banks in London have protectively asked their clients to sign over derivatives contracts to new jurisdictions. Britain and Switzerland have also signed a deal to recognise each other's insurance regulations.

These measures are the beginning of what could be a decade of realignment. "At the moment, they're working on the solutions to allow them to continue servicing clients in the hard Brexit scenario," said Vishal Vedi, a partner in the risk advisory practice at Deloitte.

But, he added, "the footprint will look very different in five years."

Emily Flitter and Michael J de la Merced contributed reporting.

(New York Times)
On the pig's back?: Some British politicians are divided on how best to deal with food imports, such as pork, after Brexit. Photo: Reuters

Brexit has become a swamp. The British political classes charged into it. Ireland has been dragged into it. But nobody really knows how to get out of it.

The Brexit process has lost all forward momentum, if indeed it ever had any. It is now completely bogged down in the rhetoric of past glories for Britain, past political border nightmares for Ireland and as things stand this may be just the beginning.

Take away the distraction of the backstop debate and virtually no progress has been made in the UK on the substantive issues of what Brexit will lead to. Some progress has been made through Irish efforts on securing all of the rights connected with the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the UK.

But most of the substantive work conducted between the EU and the UK on the withdrawal is tied up in a wider agreement that now looks like a dead duck.

Agreements reached on the value of the so-called divorce bill, the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, etc, are part of a deal that has no realistic chance of progressing in the short-term.

On the wider economic issues, there is no more clarity today than there was 24 hours after the referendum result in June 2016.

In the days after the vote Brexiteers played up the value of free trade deals around the world to the British economy. Brexit was not about turning their backs on free trade by leaving the largest international single market in the world but embracing global trade.

Whither the global trade miracle now? It pops up from time to time such as in a comment piece on the 'Daily Telegraph' last Thursday. It said: "The best route to prosperity for post-Brexit Britain is to use leaving the EU as a chance to become a world leader on trade. To that end, it would be a powerful and symbolic step to host a 'Manchester Round' of multilateral free trade negotiations, kickstarting the latest round of talks that stalled in 2015 and emulating the spirit of the great 19th century northern industrial free traders."

At the start of the Brexit EU negotiations former British Brexit secretary David Davis, said a deal with the EU could be done quite quickly. Shortly after that the UK could use its new freedom from the EU to negotiate new free trade deals around the world, on better terms which would increase trade.

When Remainers highlighted the threats to Northern Ireland farmers from exiting the EU, Leavers like the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson pointed to new beef export deals with places like Egypt, or wider free trade deals with the likes of Brazil.

These half-baked plans aren't even being quoted anymore, but instead the focus is on getting rid of the backstop and the "constitutional threats" to what Theresa May has referred to as "our beloved union".

The British government is struggling to convince major trade partners to even roll over existing EU trade deals with the UK after it leaves, never mind cut better deals. Bear in mind the UK exports more to Ireland than it does to India, Brazil and Russia combined.

We have seen with Japan where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated he would like to get a better deal for Japan than it currently has with Britain through the EU.

EU Commissioner Phil Hogan was in Australia this week saying that when it comes to trade, size matters, and the UK will not be able to get better terms on trade deals if and when it goes it alone.

Trade deals mean give and take. Better deals mean giving more to get more. The realities of this problem for a post-Brexit Britain were shown starkly in two ways in recent weeks.

Firstly, the EU has 54 separate trade agreements with outside countries and the UK is seeking to re-arrange those deals, or better them, on a bilateral basis. Just a handful have been concluded as the March 29 deadline looms.

Secondly, British trade secretary Liam Fox is said to favour cutting tariffs on food to allow British consumers to enjoy cheaper food prices after Brexit.

If the UK crashes out in a few weeks, food prices will rise almost instantly. Senior food industry executives, including the head of the company that makes Birdseye fish fingers, has said food prices will rocket by 20pc.

Brexiteers might argue this would be a short-term consequence of a no-deal exit and the country would be free to negotiate new trade agreements to replace that temporary arrangement.

That is where a 'cheap food' policy could be pursued to the benefit of British consumers, they might argue. Yet, Michael Gove, environment secretary and leading Brexiteer in the referendum campaign, said he will protect British farmers by using tariffs.

In other words, make sure that foreign food coming into the country is very expensive so the produce of British farmers would be more competitive. Any loss of international markets for British farmers, would be offset by them selling more British produce in Britain.

Logical? Fantasy? Contradictory to a Brexit world view of increasing trade through new deals?

There is absolutely no policy cohesion even among Brexit-backing Tory ministers sitting around the Cabinet table more than two and a half years after the referendum.

In Ireland we are reminding ourselves of the tragedy of border violence in the past and thereby backing our Government's tough stance on the backstop. In the UK economic debate is splintering, fracturing and if anything getting worse. Behind the backstop rhetoric, nothing is moving in British politics.

There is a compelling political logic in the Irish Government pursuing the backstop. I say that as somebody who stands to be greatly affected by a crash out no-deal Brexit. I live just minutes from the Border and cross it at least a dozen times a week.

At the same time, it has come to dominate the Brexit debate on both sides of the Irish Sea. All the while, politicians in the UK are slugging it out in the Brexit swamp.

Airbus management has warned about the serious implications for the UK of a no-deal Brexit. Car manufacturers are delivering stark warnings about their future investment plans.

News this week from Honda that it is to close its Swindon plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs is a Brexit story, despite the company saying it was not Brexit-related. The logic for pulling that plant out of Britain is very clear without Brexit.

There are global factors in the sector and an EU/Japan trade deal enables the Japanese to sell cars made in Tokyo directly into the EU market.

But, as commentators have pointed out in the UK, the Swindon Honda plant had never really delivered what it promised for the Japanese car maker. Yet, despite the disappointments, it stuck with it. Brexit has been a factor in heightening business uncertainty for major investors and that is where the Brexit factor come in.

We are constantly told that businesses can handle adversity but prolonged uncertainty is what gets them in the end.

If you look at the Brexit swamp today, there is a clear and logical chain of events that leads to a no-deal Brexit in which everybody gets remains stuck where they do not really want to be. Equally, British MPs might not let that happen. They could opt for a delay or time-out, but then what?

They would use that additional time to achieve what? Workable or realistic scenarios are hard to find.

It is far more difficult to see the clear logical sequence of events that leads to a soft Brexit or a reversal of Brexit. It isn't impossible but it is more difficult to construct a future narrative that ends with something less painful for Ireland.

Despite the British government actually agreeing a comprehensive withdrawal agreement, when you strip out the backstop noise, the political establishment in London is no further on than it was in June 2016. The UK may not crash out next month, but Brexit is only getting started.
Britain has upped the ante in the battle over the Brexit backstop, by threatening to favour Brazilian beef over Irish using a system of tariffs and quotas.

The British plan, which echoes tactics used against the government of Eamon de Valera during the Anglo-Irish trade war of the 1930s, aims to allow beef-producing countries like Brazil to dodge the brunt of the new import taxes, or tariffs, after Brexit.

It will mean a huge quantity of low-priced Brazilian beef being pushed into the UK market, with quality Irish beef being priced out.

UK Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove is leading the charge to protect British farmers, this week warning of onerous tariffs on produce flowing into the UK. But in a further escalation, it is understood Mr Gove is planning tariff rate quotas to allow certain amounts of produce into the UK without tariffs.

This would apply to products like poultry and beef  and would benefit massive producers such as Brazil at Irelands expense. Brazil produces huge amounts of beef cheaply so would be able to flood the UK market.

But currently it is subject to World Trade Organisation tariffs when it sends beef to Britain, while Ireland is exempt as part of the EU single market, giving farmers here a 3 advantage per kilo of beef.

It is believed that Mr Gove is using the threat of tariffs on Irish farmers as leverage as the UK seeks a favourable deal. He hopes that the sizeable rural lobby in Ireland will exert pressure on the Government here to yield on the issue of the backstop.

The threat of harsh trade conditions has chilling echoes of the bitter Anglo-Irish trade war of the 1930s which saw 20pc tax duties on some imports including cattle.

In the case of a no-deal Brexit, the UK will fall back on WTO trading rules.

Read More

When it comes to agri-food, the WTO tariffs that would have to be imposed on Irish goods to the UK are severe, especially for the beef sector.

It would mean that Irish beef being exported to the UK would be subject to tariffs in the region of 70pc. Add in trade costs, veterinary checks and paperwork, and industry figures suggest the real cost could be in the region of 84pc.

That additional price will be added onto the product on the shelf, in effect pricing Irish beef out of the market.

The same will happen to other sectors.

But Mr Gove's latest proposals will propose a massive tariff-free quota for beef.

This will "level the playing field" meaning that Irish producers would have to massively reduce beef prices to compete with the likes of Brazil - with huge economic consequences.

Ireland's agri-food industry is responsible for 128,000 farms and accounts for more than 12pc of Irish exports - worth 12bn a year.

Ireland is hugely reliant on the UK market and more exposed than any other EU country to the impact of Brexit. The UK is Ireland's closest and best trading partner, with 37pc of all food exports going to the UK last year, up 2pc on 2017.

Ireland exports 90pc of the beef it produces - 556,000t - and, of that, 51pc (253,000t) goes into the UK. This is worth 1.3bn to the economy.

There are around 100,000 farmers involved in beef production, all reliant on the UK buying our beef.

While France remains our top market for lamb, the UK takes 24pc of Irish exports, worth in the region of 51m, while 56pc of our pork exports go the UK and are worth 400m.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has pledged to seek EU support if a no-deal Brexit comes to pass.

However, Meat Industry Ireland warned the industry here would suffer huge damage, "even if the UK decided to keep tariffs at zero and this applied to all global suppliers".

Cormac Healy, MII senior director, warned that "the suggestion of the imposition of import tariffs by the UK as alluded to by Mr Gove is extremely concerning and would be particularly damaging to Irish agri-food exports and our beef exports.

"The Irish Government and European Commission will need to introduce a tariff support mechanism to offset the detrimental effects on trade."

As a net importer, the UK has little choice if it leaves the EU with no deal but to sort a trade deal as quickly as possible or face food shortages.

While some firms have been stockpiling to alleviate a worst-case scenario, fresh food has a short shelf life and cannot be stockpiled.

Read More

UK farmers may enjoy an initial price boost, driven by supply shortages, but the obvious solution to meet the UK's food requirements will be to negotiate trade deals with countries outside the EU.

Meanwhile, Ireland would have to find a home for those excess exports that are so reliant on the UK. Only around 5pc of Irish beef exports go to countries outside the UK and EU, despite a dedicated food promotion agency, Bord Bia, whose remit is to promote Irish produce abroad.
A woman who this week received a letter for a hospital appointment - ten months after she found a lump on her breast - has said she'd "probably be dead" if she hadn't sought private treatment.

Mother-of-three Angela Dobbs Gordon, from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, discovered a lump on April 27, 2018 after returning from a trip with friends.

This week, she received a letter from University Hospital Waterford, dated February 19, 2019 asking if "you still need to attend for your initial out patient consultation", adding "we regret that it has not been possible to provide you with an appointment date as of yet".

Ms Gordon (38) recently finished chemotherapy and said she "nearly got sick" when the letter from UHW arrived in the post.

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She said she probably could have died or the cancer would have spread to other areas if she relied on the public health system.

Speaking to Independent.ie, she described what unfolded the week she found the lump.

"I immediately rang the local care doctor and was advised to go to her GP the next morning. Following an examination, he then sent a referral letter to University Hospital Waterford to arrange an appointment at the Breast Care Department."

After days of hearing nothing, Ms Gordon phoned the hospital and was told the earliest appointment might be May 23, but "there was no guarantee".

The lump started to grow bigger and she still had no confirmation of an appointment.

"That Friday, I completely lost the head and googled breast cancer. When I did, a number for a doctor in Dublin came up on the search, so I rang it. His wife answered the phone and I explained everything that had happened and how I was losing sleep," Ms Gordon said.

The doctor asked for a referral letter and arranged an appointment at the Hermitage Medical Clinic, a private hospital.

The fee was 100, which was like "gold dust" to Ms Gordon at the time as she had just split from her partner.

"He told me I was in trouble and organised for me to come up for an ultrasound and mammogram, which cost 350. I had to borrow the money... my three kids need me and I knew I had to try and fight this."

By now, the tumour had grown to 5cm and Ms Gordon was informed she would need a biopsy, which could cost 1,200 in the Hermitage Clinic.

"I would have needed a loan to pay for it but I managed to get put back onto the public system and attended St James's Hospital in Dublin," she said.

"I lost my hair, my eyebrows... and then to have gone through all this and to only get a letter now about a possible consultation, it's so frustrating.

"It's bad enough finding a lump, without not knowing whether you're going to get an appointment at a hospital or not.

"If I hadn't went to that doctor in Dublin, I'd be in a different predicament... I'd probably be dead."

Ms Gordon shared the letter from University Hospital Waterford on Facebook and says she has been inundated with messages from other cancer sufferers who received similar correspondence.

A HSE spokesperson said they were sorry to hear about Ms Gordon's experience, but "cannot comment on individual cases."

"When a client or family makes personal information public, this does not relieve the HSE of its duty to preserve/uphold client confidentiality at all times. A member of a patient's medical team however will be happy to discuss any aspect of a clients care directly with them or their family members."
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Today

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
TANAISTE Simon Coveney said it would be "crazy" if tariffs were to be imposed on agri-food products post-Brexit, adding: "we can't allow it to happen".

Mr Coveney said he still believes it can be avoided.

He made the remarks at the Oireachtas committee on the Good Friday Agreement and ahead of the government publishing emergency legislation needed for a no-deal Brexit tomorrow.

Mr Coveney said: "Nobody should pretend that we can have such a comprehensive contingency plan in place that a no-deal Brexit can be managed easily. Its nonsense. It cant."

He said jobs would still be created here, but not as many and warned that Ireland would likely be plunged into deficit in the case of a no-deal Brexit and be forced to borrow to fund and protect vulnerable sectors of the economy.

Mr Coveney singled out the agri-food sector.

He said: "Weve had confusing messages over the last number of weeks on imposition of tariffs under WTO [World Trade Organisation] rules that could be triggered in the context of a no-deal Brexit.

"Again whether youre a farmer in Northern Ireland or youre a farmer down here the impact is hugely significant.

"Imagine the consequence of milk being produced in Northern Ireland - 40pc of the milk being produced in Northern Ireland is actually processed south of the border  having to potentially implement tariffs somewhere in the early 40s in terms of percent.

"This would be a lose for everybody.

It would be crazy and we cant allow it to happen and I dont believe it will happen.

But we dont control all the levers here and so we need to plan for that worst case scenario just in case and we are."

Mr Coveney said that the government will publish its omnibus bill for a no-deal Brexit tomorrow which has 15 different parts.

In relation to cross border healthcare arrangements he said: "Just to reassure you even in a no deal worst case scenario we will have emergency legislation in place to ensure that cross-border healthcare provision can continue".

He among a "myriad" of health services that are covered children from Belfast will still be able to come to Dublin or specialist paediatric care, that people in Donegal will be able to cross the border to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry for treatment.

He said there will be measures to protect:

The all-island electricity market;

Supports for third level students;

Pension payments between the two jurisdictions.

Cross-border train and bus services.

Mr Coveney said the impact of a no-deal Brexit would be "very dramatic" and he believes it won't be allowed to happen because of the consequences.

He said he believes a Brexit deal will be done but insisted the current Withdrawal Agreement won't be reopened for negotiation.

Mr Coveney said there may be other ways to provide reassurance on the so-called backstop to avoid a hard border which is that cause of much of the opposition to the current deal in Westminster.

He said no one wants the backstop to be used and if it was it would only be temporary. But he warned that the time limits and unilateral exit clauses won't be agreed to.

He said there's been absolute solidarity in Europe on this.
Today, Dublin had a glimpse of the disruption that Gatwick Airport faced in December of last year.

A reported sighting of a drone caused Dublin Airport authorities to temporarily suspend flights. Thankfully, the disruption was brief, unlike the chaos caused at Gatwick two months ago.

But its a timely reminder of what could so easily happen here now with the proliferation of drones in Ireland.

According to the IAA, there were no significant incidents involving drones and airports in Ireland in 2018. In 2017, there was one such incident, when Cork Airport was briefly closed due to a drone flying in its airspace.

As a rule, airports take sightings of drones very seriously. The potential for catastrophic damage from a 500 consumer toy is very real. We dont yet know what the effects, for example, of a drone getting into an airplanes engine would be.

I know a thing or two about drones as I have been flying them in Ireland  and abroad  for some years. You could describe me as an enthusiast. So I know what theyre capable of and also how easy it might be to cause outsized disruption with one.

Today's typical consumer drone has a range of up to 4km from its remote controller.

In Ireland, there are countless urban facilities within that distance of our major airports.

Almost all such drones now have powerful video cameras onboard, with live footage beamed back to the user's smartphone or tablet and which sits on top of the remote control unit.

So you don't need to be looking up in the sky to fly it, observable by patrolling police. You can steer it while being out of sight, hidden behind a bush, a house, or anything else, several kilometres away.

I own two such drones. One is a Phantom 4, with a range of around 3km. The other is a DJI Spark, that travels about 1.5km.

I fly them well away from populated centres or sensitive air space. I never let them out of my sight. But a drone in the wrong hands would be capable of very great mischief.

To be clear, drone manufacturers do incorporate so-called no-fly zones into their systems. This means that the flying devices are programmed to know, via GPS, where airports are located and not to fly into them. However, as one might expect in this internet age, it's not difficult to find workarounds for those determined to cause trouble. And such no-fly zones are not in place in other places where they could do damage.

In Ireland, you don't need a licence or qualifications to fly a drone. You simply need to register it with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). It's a bit like getting a dog licence, but cheaper.

But because registering them is a manual process online after you buy the drone, it's a fair bet that many people never bother.

So while the IAA says there are currently over 11,000 drones in Ireland, the real figure is probably much higher.

Besides, you only strictly have to register your drone if it weighs over 1kg.

In the Gatwick incident last December, the UK police suggested that the Gatwick drone was not a consumer model. This means, among other things, that it could have started its flight from further away and have a longer battery life. (Consumer drones typically fly for between 15 and 35 minutes per charge.)

But that still doesn't mean that a consumer drone could not cause damage or disruption.
Maybe it is because the wests great global bogeyman has been pretty quiet recently that his state of the nation address this week seemed to come somewhat out of the blue.

Vladimir Putins apparent reticence over the winter could, of course, simply reflect the all-consuming preoccupation with Brexit in the UK, and the extent to which other countries  France with its gilets jaunes, new Europe with its constitutional quarrels, Donald Trump with his wall and a new congress  have been otherwise engaged.

But I dont think the impression of a more quiescent Putin is completely false. In the international context, at least  and not just from the currently exceptional perspective of London  Russias president has been unusually absent from the headlines.
With coverage of Shamima Begum dominating headlines, and debate about her return to the United Kingdom taking over social media, my thoughts turn towards her family here in the UK. Like them, my child chose the wrong path. Like Shamima, my sons vulnerabilities were exploited by evil Isis terrorists who persuaded him to travel to Syria.

Not a day goes by when I dont ask myself if I could have, or should have, done more to spot the signs that my son Rasheed was at risk.

Looking back there were subtle clues that he was being radicalised: my funny, light-hearted boy slowly turned into an aloof 18-year-old. He was feeling low and unfulfilled at work. He wanted to change his clothing to a more devout form of Islamic dress, growing out his sleek haircut into an unruly mane. It was these vulnerabilities, among others, that were exploited by Isis, which had developed sophisticated techniques to groom and exploit young people.

Some of the signs are clearer with hindsight, but they were unique to him and each vulnerable individual who is radicalised behaves differently when it happens. At the time it simply did not cross my mind that my son could join such a heinous and vile group.

Rasheed had been missing for a few days. Suddenly, my world fell apart with one phone call notifying us he had travelled to Syria.

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

Rasheed and I were incredibly close. He was clever and adventurous, doing an apprenticeship, and in many ways he was a typical teenager with a future full of potential ahead of him. Isis lured him from me with false promises, which he was of course wrong to believe and act on.

Far from entering a paradise, Rasheed became a pawn for the terrorists who callously put him in harms way with a total disregard for his life. I still struggle to come to terms with this. In the end, my son paid the ultimate price for his mistake: he was killed only months after he had arrived in Syria. His death will always be a painful reminder to my family and I about the wickedness of the warped ideology of Isis Islamists.

Like Rasheed, Shamima Begum is a teenager who has undoubtedly made the wrong choices but those choices have been manipulated by malicious forces. Her comments about the Manchester Arena attack, in particular, are abhorrent. I fully understand the hurt, betrayal and dilemma her parents must be going through.

For a long time I blamed myself when Rasheed left. I didnt sleep for weeks, constantly thinking about what I could have done differently and wondering how I had failed as a mother to protect him.

What Ive learned is there is no instruction manual for parents; as much as you lead your children on a path of kindness and growth, you cant predict who they come across, or fully protect them from those who might influence them.

And what would I say to Shamima herself? It is important that young people realise actions have lifelong consequences. Had Rasheed survived, and been fortunate enough to have returned to the UK  as Shamima Begum wishes to  I would have fully expected him to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for his actions.

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I dont want other families to go through what I did and to lose any of their loved ones. That is why in the aftermath of Rasheeds death I created Families for Life, an organisation that offers non-judgemental advice and support to those concerned about someone affected by extremism.

One positive thing that can come from difficult situations like this is an increase in families reaching out for advice and support to help build critical thinking skills and resilience to combat extremist ideologies. Early intervention and examining motivating factors is essential work to help prevent another Rasheed or Shamima from becoming radicalised in the first place. If through Families for Life we can help stop just one person from succumbing to extremism and radicalisation, my sons death will not have been completely in vain.
The newly formed Independent Group of MPs has good reason to fear Britains first past the post (FPTP) voting system. It has long been the bane of political startups and breakaways.

The experience of the SDP-Liberal Alliance is a stark warning. In the 1983 general election, they took over 25 per cent of the vote to Labours 28 per cent. Yet Labour won nine times as many seats as their new rival. Similarly, in 2015, the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Ukip won almost a quarter of the votes between them, but ended up sharing 1.5 per cent of seats in the commons.

This warped logic has shaped parties policies towards electoral reform. Not all who have been over-represented by FPTP support it (the SNP, a third of Labour MPs, and even the occasional Conservative support change). But everyone who has fallen victim to FPTP believes it should be scrapped.

Could this be about to change? It is true that Chuka Umunna  a key figure in the Independent Group  has long been a vocal campaigner for proportional representation (PR). In 2016, Umunna was the primary sponsor of a cross-party early day motion calling for just that.

Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Show all 12 1 /12 Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Change UK Details on the individual MPs are in the following photos Reuters Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Heidi Allen Anti-Brexit MP for South Cambridgeshire resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chuka Umunna MP for Streatham since 2010 and prominent People's Vote supporter PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Anna Soubry The prominent anti-Brexit MP for Broxtowe resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Luciana Berger MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010, resigned from the Labour Party over bullying and anti-semitism PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Sarah Wollaston Anti-Brexit MP for Totnes resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Joan Ryan MP for Enfield North resigned from the Labour party on February 19 citing its tolerance of a "culture of anti-Jewish racism" PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Ann Coffey MP for Stockport since 1992 Chris McAndrew / UK Parliament Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Gavin Shuker MP for Luton South since 2010 Getty Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chris Leslie MP for Nottingham East since 2010 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South since 1992 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Angela Smith MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge since 2010

However, not all of the group have shared this enthusiasm. Mike Gapes publicly rebuffed the opportunity to sign Umunnas early day motion, tweeting: I do not support PR for Westminster elections. And I don't agree with this EDM. Gavin Shuker is known in Labour circles as an ardent supporter of the status quo, arguing that FPTP is a superior system, which gives voters a fair chance of the result they want.

Joan Ryan previously wrote that we should proudly preserve our electoral system, while just three years ago Anna Soubry said, I do not believe we need electoral reform, as the current system of FPTP is satisfactory. Others, like Luciana Berger and Heidi Allen, have been lukewarm towards PR at best.

This lack of support, let alone consensus, among the breakaways raises the prospect of the new parliamentary group backing FPTP by default. This is all the more likely if they aim to recruit more defectors from the Conservative party, among whom support for PR is less rare.

The Independent Group announced themselves to the world under the slogan Politics is Broken. Lets change it. To many, it would be a facepalming irony if they remained committed to the system responsible for so much of the breakage.

Besides, there is every reason to expect FPTP to destroy any party that emerges out of the Independent Group to contest elections. The only party to have truly broken through the system in recent decades is the SNP, who benefit from the natural concentration of their voters in Scottish constituencies. Already spanning Streatham to Liverpool, this new group has no such advantage.

With its potential voters thinly spread, the voting system is far more likely to punish than it is to reward the upstarts. Maybe this is why Anna Soubry struck a different tone on LBC last night, saying that FPTP does have its inadequacies and that the systems of PR that keep the current constituency link (used in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, as well as in Germany and New Zealand) are quite interesting.

But FPTP will also punish whichever of the two largest parties it manages to take most votes from. According to Electoral Calculus, a 2 per cent swing from Labour to a left-leaning splinter group (based on the 2017 results) would be expected to produce almost no representation for the new party. It would, however, hurt Labour enough to hand the Conservatives an outright majority. A larger swing could put the Tories into landslide territory, just as it did in 1983.

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Of course, it is not political parties but the voters who are the real victims of FPTP. As Theresa May herself has said, many British people feel ignored by politics and for decades have not trusted that their votes would count.

This is the unavoidable consequence of massive voter inequality; of general elections hard fought only in a handful of marginal constituencies and new ideas shut out of parliament even as they attract millions of votes. With governments routinely taking power with the support of 40 per cent of the voters or less, it is not surprising that most people end up unhappy with the policies imposed on them.

Umunna undoubtedly understands the dangerous gamble he is taking with our voting system: that instead of freeing the electorate from the status quo, a new party could end up entrenching its power. The Independent Group may give the politically homeless something to vote for, but until we have PR, no party can promise the public that their votes will matter. Perhaps we will see some Damascene conversions among the rest of the group as they too wake up to this realisation.

Joe Sousek is the Co-Chief Executive of Make Votes Matter: the movement for Proportional Representation.
When Anna Soubry says that if she and her fellow Conservative defectors do their job properly there wont be a Tory party, these are no idle words. For starters, they will soon get their chance to bring down the Conservative government.

Never forget that Theresa May leads a minority administration. It would take a few more Tory rebels (they may arrive sooner than we think) to eliminate the prime ministers nominal majority  that is, the one she cobbled together with the help of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) after her disastrous snap election in 2017. Every Tory MP who decides they have had enough and joins the Independent Group is liberated from the duty to vote against any formal vote of no confidence in Her Majestys government.

Indeed, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston can now be safely counted as among the most determined to bring Mays ill-starred administration down.

The fall of the government, in other words, is now a much more realistic prospect than it was even a few weeks ago when Jeremy Corbyn last had a rather quixotic go at toppling the prime minister. The irony is that he might now pull his punches (for reasons known only to himself) when he could actually force an election.

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Even more potent, in reality, is that the mere threat to bring the government down and force a general election will force May and her cabinet to listen to the vast majority of the House of Commons that wishes to rule out a no-deal Brexit  and to do so immediately. It also brings closer, for that reason, a Final Say referendum, if Labour can be persuaded to support such a policy in return for an early general election.

It would be strange, though not inconceivable, that Corbyn and his team could come to some sort of accommodation with Chuka Umunna and his band of merry Labour rebels, though tribal instincts and the sheer raw emotional damage caused by the Labour split doesnt augur well for it. The Independent Group, for their part, are determined to prevent Corbyn becoming prime minster. And Corbyn is actually pro-Brexit anyway.

Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Show all 12 1 /12 Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Change UK Details on the individual MPs are in the following photos Reuters Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Heidi Allen Anti-Brexit MP for South Cambridgeshire resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chuka Umunna MP for Streatham since 2010 and prominent People's Vote supporter PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Anna Soubry The prominent anti-Brexit MP for Broxtowe resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Luciana Berger MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010, resigned from the Labour Party over bullying and anti-semitism PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Sarah Wollaston Anti-Brexit MP for Totnes resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Joan Ryan MP for Enfield North resigned from the Labour party on February 19 citing its tolerance of a "culture of anti-Jewish racism" PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Ann Coffey MP for Stockport since 1992 Chris McAndrew / UK Parliament Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Gavin Shuker MP for Luton South since 2010 Getty Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chris Leslie MP for Nottingham East since 2010 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South since 1992 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Angela Smith MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge since 2010

Where all that resolves itself is anyones guess. At any rate, both sides will have to ask themselves whether their personal animosity and differences over issues such as antisemitism are more or less important than what they might hope to achieve on Europe.

The optimistic point here, though, is that they all (with a handful of Labour MPs excepted) genuinely reject either a no-deal Brexit or Theresa Mays Brexit deal.

In the event of a vote of no confidence in the government, all the opposition parties and factions can be expected to vote together as a bloc. They are within touching distance of being able to deprive May of power. That is why the loss of only three Conservative MPs from her strength carries such a huge significance for the prime minister.

The three amigos possess, almost literally, 10 times as much leverage as the hard men and women of the European Research Group. They do so because they reflect a balance of opinion in the Commons that is stacked, on a rough guess, at about 100 MPs at most in favour of no deal, and the remaining 550 (give or take the speaker, a vacancy, a suspension and absentionist Sinn Fein) against it: a majority of well over 400.

The Brexit brake lever is right there in front of them, ready to pull. Question is: will they use it before it is too late?
Once again, Donald Trump has done something absurd, cruel, inhumane, which calls into question legal precedent and sparks outrage among anyone with even an inkling of liberal sensibilities. Except this time, horrifyingly, it was the UK that softened the blow for him.

Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old woman from Alabama who joined Isis four years ago, has been refused entry back into the US, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claiming she has no legal basis to claim American citizenship, and Trump taking credit for the decision. Muthanas lawyers say she was born on US soil and holds an American passport, meaning she should have an absolute right to return to the country, where it would then be decided whether she should be tried for criminal actions.

For anyone in the UK this provokes a profound sense of deja vu as the similar case of Shamima Begum continues to dominate the national conversation. These two women are not the same, of course. Begum was just 15 when she fled to join Isis, which calls into question her ability to understand the real repercussions of her actions, not to mention consent to become the Isis bride everyone keeps referring to her as. At 19, Muthana was an adult when she left America, making the case arguably more murky, yet unlike Begum she has expressed seemingly genuine remorse and denounced extremism in much more certain terms.

Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Yet really all this is irrelevant. Exiling citizens for their thoughts or beliefs is the work of despots, not democratic societies; punishing someone for a presumed crime while denying them any kind of due process goes against everything the American justice system  and the British one its largely modelled on  stands for.

If Trumps decision had come a month ago, he would have been pilloried by the British people, quick to judge Americans for voting for a president so seemingly intent on setting aside even the most basic modicum of humanity for people who lack his level of privilege. Yet now its looking a bit awkward isnt it? Because not only did we vote in a government so cruel and idiotic that it would take Trump-like measures and strip a British woman of her rightful citizenship, but according to the latest YouGov poll, 76 per cent of the population support the decision and so would presumably support Trumps too.

For all his shortcomings, its worth remembering that it is Trump who got the ball rolling on criminal justice reform in the US, a much-needed reversal of decades of mass incarceration focused more on punishment than on rehabilitation, and disproportionately targeting people of colour. He seems to tacitly acknowledge that the main problem with the archaic system of locking people up is that it refuses to face up to the reality of crime  it always comes from somewhere.

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These young women, and many more from across Europe, have somehow been brainwashed into giving up their entire lives in order to fight for an ideology many of them were not brought up to believe in. Much like in the case of the recruitment of children to gangs, individuals are specifically targeted for being vulnerable and easily coerced or brainwashed, as Muthana describes. There is something seriously wrong with a society failing its citizens to such an extent that they fall prey to this kind of extremist rhetoric and are willing to give up everything to follow it through.

In the US, Trumps increasingly divisive and xenophobic rhetoric has led to levels of Islamophobia that are worse than in the aftermath of 9/11. In the UK were seeing a similar marginalisation of Muslim communities, which disproportionately impacts women. Governments are creating an environment where people feel unwelcome, unsupported and systematically discriminated against, and its under this backdrop of intolerance that people are left vulnerable to radicalisation. By treating the victims of this situation as pariahs were simply reinforcing the very situation that led to women like Begum and Muthana to join Isis in the first place.

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That saddest thing about it, is that governments are willing to circumvent the law in order to pander to popular opinion, which reserves unparalleled disdain for women who have been so let down by society that they are left vulnerable to being indoctrinated into a reprehensible ideology. Citizens of both the UK and the US repeatedly commit unspeakable acts of hate, terror and criminality, yet we do not deny them their basic rights to citizenship, a fair trial and rehabilitation.

The inhumane treatment of women like Begum and Muthana is not only immoral, its counterproductive. It shows that governments care more about indulging the flawed and bigoted public perception than they do about protecting the rights all of us are entitled to, and it propagates the very cycle of disenfranchisement which leads to radicalisation in the first place.

Its the sort of backwards logic based upon shortsighted soundbite politics that weve come to expect from the Trump administration, but I expected better from the UK. With his actions this week Sajid Javid has not only paved the way for the dangerous Trumpian style of governing, but also endorsed it. He should be ashamed, and we should all be terrified.
Israeli historian Benny Morris doesnt do things by half. The footnotes of his new book on the 30-year genocide of Christians by their Turkish rulers, cowritten with his colleague Dror Zeevi, take up more than a fifth of the 640-page work. It was nine years, a long haul, he admitted to me this week, with an audible sigh over the phone. And he talks about the involvement of Ataturk in the later stages of the genocide of around 2.5 million Christians of the Ottoman empire; how religions do drive people to excessive violence  he has in mind the Turks, Isis, the Crusades  and even condemns the Arabs for their inability to criticise themselves.

The mere title of the Morris-Zeevi book, The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkeys Destruction of Its Christian Minorities 1894-1924 (to be published by Harvard University Press in April) is going to have the Turks enraged, from Erdogan down. The Armenians and other Christians will dispute his apparent claim that he has only just discovered that their slaughter lasted for 30 years  others have talked of the Armenian genocide of 1915 bookended by the late 19th-century massacres in Turkey and the post-1915 killing of surviving Armenians and Greeks, Assyrians and others. And the Arab world will challenge his view that the holocaust (my word) of Christians was more motivated by Islam than Turkish nationalism.

Having written about the genocide of the Armenians for 35 years, I have doubts that the actual call for jihad in the Turkish Ottoman empire unleashed at the start of the First World War was as ferocious as Morris makes it out to be. Muftis were indeed told they were in a holy war against Christians  but not against German Christians, Austro-Hungarian Christians, neutral Christians or allies of the Central Powers (Bulgaria, for example). Many Muslim worshippers, sitting on the carpets of mosque floors, must have shaken their heads in puzzlement at these caveats. Well, one way was to notice the German officers training the Ottoman army, the German diplomats and businessmen who witnessed the genocide of the Armenians with their own eyes, and wrote home about it. Hitler asked his generals who now remembered the Armenians just before invading Poland in 1939.

But again and again, I was brought up short by the sheer, terrible, shocking accounts of violence in Morriss and Zeevis work. Strident religiosity moved through the Muslim lands, write the authors.

The date: 1895. The place: Severek. The witness: Armenian survivor Abraham Hartunian. The first attack was on our pastor [Mardiros Bozyakalian]. The blow of an axe decapitated him. His blood, spurting in all directions, spattered the walls and ceiling with red. Then I was in the midst of the butchers. One of them drew his dagger  Three blows fell on my head. My blood began to flow like a fountain  The attackers [were] sure that I was dead  Then they slaughtered the other men in the room, took the prettier women with them for rape 

Now it is July 1915. The place: Merzifon. The witness: missionary JK Marsden. They were in groups of four with their arms tied behind them and their deportation began with perhaps 100  in a batch  they were taken about 12 miles across the plains, stripped of their clothing and, in front of a ditch previously prepared, were compelled to kneel down while a group of villagers with knives and axes quickly disposed of them. For a week, this was repeated until 1,230 of the leading Armenian men had been disposed of.

Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Show all 10 1 /10 Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people carry torches during a march to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people take part in a march in commemoration of the 101th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide People hold a flag during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide President Serzh Sargsyan and actor George Clooney attend the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian clergymen, US actor George Clooney, center, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, second right front, and guests attend a ceremony at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, in Yerevan AP Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (C,R) and US actor George Clooney (C) attend a ceremony at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide A general view of attendees and mount Ararat during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Lebanese of Armenian descent burn an effigy of Turkish president Erdogan during a protest in front the house of Turkish Ambassador to mark the 101st anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, near Beirut, Lebanon EPA Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters

In January 1920, YMCA secretary CFH Crathern was in Marash. The wife of an Armenian pastor had reached his hospital. She was bleeding  from three bullet and three dagger or knife wounds while a child of 18 months had been taken from her breast and slain with a knife, and an older girl killed with an axe. To add to the sorrow of it, this woman was pregnant and had a miscarriage as soon as she reached the hospital. The woman died the following day.

I have repeated above only a few of the less bloody episodes from the 30 years. I will spare readers the chopped off fingers, the thousands of raped girls, the priests beheaded or burned on crucifixes.

In the final annihilation of the Armenians, an American missionary spoke of minds obsessed with Muslim fanaticism seven times heated. Turks, he wrote, had become drunk with blood and rapine, and plunder and power, and he will be a different man from what he was before the atrocities. Benny Morris thinks it was more to do with a mixture of modern nationalism and the decline of Islamic polity.

I discussed all this with him. Is it possible for a people to be so inured to cruelty that they changed, that their acts of sadism could alter their humanity? Religions drive people to excessive violence, he said again, and then repeated this as excessive sadism. Morris agreed that the Romans were cruel, but they were pagans. In terms of religion, the Romans were amateurs. Abrahamic religions drive people to excess. Jews had avoided this. Palestinians will disagree.

There is certainly a frightening geographical scope to the killings. Many thousands of horrors were perpetrated in Mosul, Raqqa, Manbij and Deir ez-Zor, names grimly familiar from the Isis torments of 2014 onwards.

Why, one keeps asking, didnt the Christians leave after 1924? But of course, they had been urged to return to settle in Cilicia and in Mesopotamia and Syria by the French and British  who left; and thus the Christian descendants waited for the next generational bloodletting.

The Turks were not the only killers, and Kurds also killed the Christians for the Turks, as Ukrainians killed the Jews for the Nazi Germans. At one point in Morriss text, a group of Circassians plait a rope 25 yards long from the hair of young women they have killed, and send it as a present to their commander.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk gets pretty well trashed in this volume. There are accounts of him saying in 1922 that, Our aim is to get rid of the Christians  he said this in a number of conversations, Morris contends. He gave orders, and men in his later government were responsible. But if this 30-year history of blood was fuelled by Muslim fanaticism, there are good Turks in the book. In the first massacres, government officials arrested Essad Bey, an honest, impartial and tolerant judge who tried to help the Christians. There is a heroic Turkish doctor who throws out his sick Turkish soldiers from a hospital and replaces them with Armenian refugees. Missionary Tacy Atkinson hoped to meet the doctor one day in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are others. Its true that the Greek Christians have fewer historians than the Armenians. Tens of thousands of Greeks were transported to Greece in return for an equal number of Muslims  official agreements kept the massacres a trifle smaller  but Morris and Zeevi give too little attention to the awe in which the Nazis held Ataturks people.

Ataturk himself cared little for Islam: he smoked and womanised, and was a nationalist before he was a Muslim. The Nazis admired his Turkified non-minority republic. When he died, the front page of Volkischer Beobachter was fringed in black.

The authors briefly compare the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian genocide  I prefer the terms Jewish Holocaust and Armenian Holocaust  and there are some already published parallels. Armenians might be spared if they would convert to Islam or marry Muslim men. Jews could not save their lives by converting. The Turkish massacres were more sadistic. I rather think the German-inspired slaughter could be just as bad in the Second World War: witness the head-chopping at the Jasenovac camp on the Croatian-Bosnian border. Persecution of the Jews under the Nazis lasted at most 12 years, but persecution of Christians in Ottoman territories 30 years.

German civilians played little role in the Jewish Holocaust. Turkish civilians played a far greater role. If 2.5 million Christians is the correct figure for those murdered in the 30 years  Morris warned me that it cannot be accurately tallied, and Im sure hes right  at least six million Jews were killed in the 1939-1945 period, and so it took the Nazis five times as few years to slaughter more than twice as many human beings. The Turks simply didnt have the industrial tools to kill more Christians more quickly, because these mechanics were unavailable at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. But working on this basis, how many people will be killed in the future  and how quickly  with new technology?
Some legitimate states embrace terror and terrorists  North Korea, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Gaddafis Libya  but it is unusual to witness a terrorist group creating their own viable nation state.

Or caliphate as Isis once styled its vast domains. At its height, this medieval death cult, astonishingly, ruled over large oil-rich swathes of Syria and Iraq, stretching from the border with Turkey almost to Iran and Jordan.

It was this scale of ambition that took almost every intelligence agency and observer by surprise (though not Patrick Cockburn, who warned the world about this terrifying new force in 2014).

No longer. The last few slivers of territory have been surrendered, and the fighters, as well as their wives and children (prominent among them Shamima Begum and her son) have been rounded up and placed in camps, there to await their fate.

It is unlikely that Islamic States warriors will be looked upon with great compassion by the Syrian, Kurdish or Iraqi authorities. After all, Isis burnt prisoners of war alive.

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

It would, though, be a mistake to declare victory, as Donald Trump has. Just as it was a grievously hubristic error of judgment for president George W Bush to plaster the slogan Mission Accomplished across an aircraft carrier after what he though was the end of the second Iraq war, so too is it now an error to think that these Islamists, the most extreme of the extreme, the most bloody of the bloody, will go quietly back to their homes and farms.

Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, Isis is far too well embedded in sections of Middle Eastern society, and thought, to ever be eradicated. All that can be done is to control and monitor them.

That is why it would be far safer for western security and regional peace to have the former Isis soldiers and their families  the likes of Ms Begum  repatriated to their countries of origin, distasteful a prospect as that might seem.

It is, quite plainly, the lesser of the two evils. In resisting their return, as the British and American governments seem to, is to invite them to become a permanent guerrilla army, pursuing asymmetric terrorist tactics against the regimes in Damascus and Baghdad, but also export their terror far and wide across the world.

Isiss elimination from the map, paradoxically, will only make it go global, operating as the sort of terror franchise that al-Qaeda once did (and indeed Isis grew out of al-Qaeda). Isis can easily inspire without directing, copycat attacks of brutal cruelty anywhere and everywhere, from Londons Borough Market and the Manchester Arena to Morocco and the Philippines.

So Isis has not been defeated. Militant Islamist violence is capable of mutating into many forms, in order to take advantage of circumstances and evade destruction.

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It has, in truth, already spread its ideology globally, via video nasties and the web. Why else would so many young people from Europe, North Africa and the Caucasus travel to fight its wars?

As has long been the case with the war on terror, this is no moment for rejoicing, still less for triumphalism and complacency. We are in no position to declare victory and move on. The best methods that can be deployed against Isis now are not bombs but intelligence and disruption to their supplies of recruits and funding.

The world  including Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and China  also needs to try and find a way of helping the Syrian people to rebuild their country without either subsidising president Assads government nor inadvertently seeing funds channelled to the continuing Isis, whatever it may call itself or its successors.

There are some 20,000 to 30,000 jihadis ready to serve their cause, trained and battle hardened, and unwilling to go home from Syria and Iraq. So long as Assad is in power they will have a ready focus for their activities. We have not heard the last of them.
One of the many unintended consequences of Brexit is that Global Britain seems curiously friendless. We have proved remarkably inept at taking back control of our foreign policy, though the British fancy themselves as expert negotiators and diplomats (theyre even offering paid courses in it).

We are, in fact, losing friends we will dearly need in future.

The latest example is Bangladesh. Now, I realise that Bangladesh is hardly a superpower, but then again neither is Britain. That doesnt really matter. What matters is that the British home secretary, Sajid Javid, stupidly decided to revoke Shamima Begums British citizenship on the assumption that she would be eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship instead  but without consulting the Bangladeshi authorities about whether they wanted her as a citizen.

Predictably enough, they didnt. Thus did the British government render her stateless in an almost carless fashion. Thus did Britain breach international law. Thus did the Home Office gift Begum  no-ones notion of an ideal citizen of anywhere  a strong case for substantial compensation for the abuse of her human rights.

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Between the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, we have botched even this comparatively minor exercise in effective foreign policy.

Other fiascos are more serious. Japan, for example. Having sent decades building as strong, confident relationship with the Japanese as their principal parent in Europe, on the expectation that we would be members of the European Union and enjoy stable government, we have now comprehensively trashed our relations with the third biggest economy in the world.

Japans diplomats, highly unusually, let it be known they were miffed and bewildered to receive a letter from Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox that told them to get a move on with the UK-Japan trade deal, the one we will need if we crash out on 29 March.

Being told to get their act together by these two, the Japanese might have been forgiven for thinking that the British were turning a little hypocritical, if not mad. Brexit has broken their trust in the UK. It is difficult to see how it could be rebuilt.

Still more difficult are our relations with the worlds second largest economy, China. Again, successive British governments have been to and fro Beijing trying to build up our pitifully small trade with the country, buttering up the leadership and generally trying to flog them more Range Rovers and bottles of Scotch.

 No deal supporter James Delingpole fails to explain how post-Brexit trade deals would work

But then along comes Gavin Williamson, absurdly, vowing to send our one and only aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, which the Chinese basically regard as theirs, all theirs.

Global Britain apparently means making silly gestures and pretending to be more powerful than we are, at enormous cost to our economic well-being. No wonder they told the chancellor, Philip Hammond to postpone his planned goodwill trip. Once again three departments of state  the FCO, HM Treasury and the Ministry of Defence combined to send badly mixed messages. If there is a cabinet committee on foreign policy it is either not doing its job properly or doing it very badly indeed.

This leaves our relations with the EU, which can never be as close as they are now. No divorce is ever as amicable as the former partners would wish, and this is no exception. Our EU neighbours feel bewildered and abandoned by the UK, and regret what is happening for our sake as well as theirs.

We have lost the important bargaining power and close relationships we once enjoyed with Ireland and Spain over vital national interests in Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, quite apart from routine EU support at the UN on contentious matters. The Poles and Lithuanians dislike what we are going to do to their ex pat citizens.

The Germans dont understand what is going on. Where once the EU was family, on the contrary, we now find ourselves in a more and more uneasy relationship with our largest trading partner and strategic allies. We will lose, most likely, access to intelligence and security planning as well as crucial export markets whichever way Brexit goes.

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Donald Trump's protectionist America doesnt seem likely to become our firm and steadfast ally either. The special relationship always meant more on the British side of the Atlantic, and most Americans have, truth to tell, never heard of it, and, if they have would think it refers to Saudi Arabia or Israel.

This president already said that the current Brexit deal precludes a trade deal with the US. Even if there was one theyd demand we take their chlorinated chickens in return for opening up their markets.

And Trump has also made it perfectly clear he is more than a little bored of having to have US forces defend Europe, begging the question for the first time since 1941, would the United States really send their boys to die to save Britain from the Russians?

And, of course, our relations with Vladimir Putin could hardly be worse, and those with the likes of Iran and Saudi Arabia are pretty awkward (not that these failures, for obvious reasons, can be fairly blamed on the British government).

Reductions in overseas aid spending, constantly demanded by the Tory hard right, should finish off whatever other goodwill we enjoy in the developing world.

The thought, then, occurs that, insofar as he is supposed to be running foreign policy and co-ordinating the disparate efforts of different departments Hunt might actually be worse than Boris Johnson. Its a funny old world.


Mr. Praveen Pathak, Chief GM (Mkt. Prom. & Export) & Corporate IT HoD, BrahMos Aerospace being bestowed with the honorary State Order of MoD by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. A Brahmand Photo.

BENGALURU (BNS): The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has honoured Mr. Praveen Pathak, Chief General Manager (Mkt. Promotion & Export) & Corporate IT HoD, BrahMos Aerospace, with a State Order signed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for his invaluable contribution in strengthening defence cooperation between India and Russia.



Mr. Pathak, who has been associated with the highly prestigious BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile programme since its inception, has been awarded with the medal of Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation under a Presidential decree signed on 4th Sept 2018.



As the marketing head of the BrahMos JV project, Mr. Pathak has made incredible contribution towards making BRAHMOS a globally-reckoned missile system. Today, BrahMos Aerospace has established its leadership position among worldwide cruise missile makers.


Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet one-on-one at the start of their second summit in Vietnam  a detail that could raise concerns following the presidents solo meeting with Vladimir Putin when he asked for the interpreters notes.

That initial meeting next week in Hanoi will be followed by a meal and expanded talks with each countrys delegation, a US official has revealed.

President Trump is looking to, after really in some respects breaking the ice in June, to talk in more depth about the kind of future North Korea could enjoy if it follows through on its commitment to final and full denuclearisation, the official, insisting on anonymity, told reporters in a briefing call on Thursday.

The official said this was an important step toward that ultimate goal of denuclearisation.

Mr Trump was criticised by some for failing to secure any solid committment from North Korea after their first, historic meeting last June in Singapore.

Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Show all 20 1 /20 Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim leave following their historic meeting AFP/Getty Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim sign a document committing to peace between their nations, amongst other things EPA Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump holds up a document that both he and Mr Kim have signed AFP/Getty Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un The two leaders reach out to shake hands for the first time AP Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim shake hands as they meet for the first time Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim walk off stage, following their historic meeting Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim take a stroll after their meeting on June 12 Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim interrupt their stroll to talk to the media AP Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Kim and Mr Trump look out over a balcony at the Capella hotel, where they held their meeting on June 12 Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump takes questions at the press conference following his meeting with with Mr Kim AP Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump appreciates the crowd in the press conference following his meeting with Mr Kim Getty Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump travels to the Istana ahead of the summit with Kim Jong Un on June 12 Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Kim Jong Un travels to the Istana ahead of the summit with President Trump on June 12 Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Kim poses for a photo with Singapore's Finance Minister Vivian Balkrishnan and Education Minister Ong Ye Kung ahead of the summit with Mr Trump Twitter/Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump shakes hands with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, meeting on Monday June 11 in the Istana, Singapore's presidential palace AP Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un At a working lunch on Monday, Singapore's Prime Minister surprised Mr Trump with a birthday cake, in early celebration of his 72nd birthday later in the week EPA Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo answers questions about the summit at a press briefing in Singapore on Monday, June 11 Getty Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un US President Donald Trump arrives at the Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore on June 10, two days prior to his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Reuters Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump and Mr Kim met on Tuesday June 12 in the Capella hotel on the island resort of Sentosa, just off the south coast of Singapore AFP/Getty Singapore Summit: historic first meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un Mr Trump boards Air Force One following the summit AFP/Getty

In addition president Trump is looking to, after really breaking the ice with Kim in June, to talk in more depth about the kind of future that north korea could enjoy if it follows trough on its commitment to the final and full denuclearisation.

Mr Trump announced details of his second meeting with Mr Kim doing his state of the union address last month, suggesting his personal engagement with the North Korean leader  the first by a sitting US president  had already reaped dividends.

As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months, he said.

If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-Un is a good one.

 North and South Korean leaders Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in sign joint agreement on denuclearisation

The fact Mr Trump will initially meet the North Korean alone could trigger concerns among some. Earlier this year it was reported he had gone to extraordinary lengths to keep details of a 2017 conversation with Mr Putin secret from officials in own administration.

The Washington Post said after a meeting with the Russian leader at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, the US president took his interpreters notes and told him not to discuss the meeting with anyone.

After his meeting with Mr Kim last summer, the president was criticised by some for obtaining very little in exchange for a meeting that helped project his image on the international stage. The two men issued a joint statement that reaffirmed the Norths commitment to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and gave US guarantees of security to North Korea.

Yet Democrats, and others, said the agreement was light on detail. One trip and its mission accomplished, Mr President? North Korea still has all its nuclear missiles, and we only got a vague promise of future denuclearisation from a regime that cant be trusted, congressman Adam Schiff, said at the time.

Observers hope the second summit will be more productive and that work behind the scenes may have already nailed down some details that would suggest concrete progress.

Possible scenarios of progress include an agreement to ease some sanctions in exchange for North Korea forfeiting certain ballistic missiles or freezing nuclear production, said Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action, a Washington DC-based non-profit organisation.

Another potential path forward is a declaration announcing the end of the Korean War, which President Moon of South Korea has urged the US to support. That would be an elegant step towards a formal peace agreement and towards meeting North Koreas desire for security guarantees that could change its calculus on the value of its nuclear arsenal.
An offensive to capture the final Isis enclave in Syria is expected to be launched in the coming days, after the last civilians still remaining there are evacuated to safety.

Over the past week, thousands of women and children have poured out of the village of Baghouz, but an unknown number still remain.

They have been surrounded in a tent city on a plot of farmland on the edge of the village, along with a few hundred mostly foreign jihadis who are refusing to surrender.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed militia that is leading the fight against the extremist group, said it expected to evacuate the last of the non-fighters by the end of Thursday, and that an offensive would follow.

But the evacuations did not go ahead as planned, and trucks that had been brought to bring civilians out left the area empty.

We cant get into details, but today no civilians came out, SDF official Mustafa Bali told Reuters.

Some 2,000 women and children, and dozens of suspected male fighters, left the area on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of some 20,000 who have fled in the past three weeks alone.

Recommended Europe pushes back on Trump demand to repatriate Isis fighters

Those who have managed to escape the desolate camp in recent weeks have arrived on the other side of the frontline in poor health and suffering from malnutrition.

Up until now, suspected fighters have been taken to prisons run by the SDF, while women and children go to camps for processing and questioning. But on Thursday the SDF took the unusual step of handing over 150 mostly Iraqi fighters to the Iraqi army.

The deal, first reported by Reuters, appears to be an attempt by the SDF to relieve pressure on its overcrowded jails, which are packed with thousands of captured Isis fighters.

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

The Kurdish-led group has spoken out in recent weeks over the refusal of European countries to take back citizens who came to Syria and Iraq to join Isis, arguing that it does not have the resources to hold the fighters and their families indefinitely.

Early this morning, 10 trucks loaded with Daesh fighters and their families were handed over by SDF forces to the Iraqi army, Ahmed al-Mahallawi, the mayor of Iraqi border town Al-Qaim, told Reuters.

The majority of them are Iraqis and the convoy was under maximum security protection headed to the Jazeera and Badiya military headquarters.

There are thought to be at least six British fighters currently held by the SDF, and around 20 women and children. The UK has so far refused to take back any of the detainees, including Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old British woman who was one of three schoolgirls from east London who went to join Isis in 2015.

Iraq has been criticised by Human Rights Watch for conducting show trials of suspected Isis members. The Associated Press previously reported that Iraq had detained at least 19,000 people for alleged Isis ties, and sentenced more than 3,000 to death.
More than 2,500 children from more than 30 countries are living in three camps for people displaced in north-eastern Syria, Save the Children says.

The agency revealed the figure as it argued for Isis bride Shamima Begum, who is living in a camp, to be allowed to return to Britain.

Ms Begum, 19, who left her home in London to join Isis as a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was stripped of her British citizenship after she asked to come back with her newborn baby.

Save the Children says the 2,500 youngsters, from families with perceived or actual links with Isis, are separated from the rest of the population in the camps, which hinders their access to aid and services.

Most are living with their mothers, while unaccompanied children are with temporary caregivers, the charity says. In some cases, foreign girls recruited by Isis as children are now mothers themselves.

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 children in the camps are facing life-threatening risks, according to aid workers.

Kirsty McNeill, of Save the Children UK, said: All children with perceived and actual associations with Isis are victims of the conflict and must be treated as such.

We believe the best interests of the child are paramount and this means a child and mother should remain together whenever possible.

Shamima Begum was radicalised as a child. She is now in a camp with her baby, surrounded by former Isis members. It is crucial we get her back to Britain and a safe place to understand more completely what has happened to her.

As the territory held by Isis shrinks, civilians have flooded out. More than 20,000 have escaped over the past month, according to an official.

Since January, 560 foreign families, with more than 1,100 children, have entered the camps alongside thousands of Syrian families.

The shrinking Islamic State caliphate has been under intense bombardment and cut off from food supplies since December.

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Escapees have told how they had not eaten for days when they reached the camps.

The International Rescue Committee said 62 people had died en route from hypothermia, hunger and illness. Fifty of them were children, most under the age of one.

Save the Children is calling on countries to repatriate overseas families with children.
A youth-led protest movement in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, which saw riots last summer over failing services and soaring unemployment, has found an artistic outlet in the words and beats of homegrown rapper Ahmed Chayeb.

The 22-year-old rapper, also known as Mr Guti, says his generation is fed up with the false piety of politicians and religious authorities who preach about faith and duty but have let Basra fall apart.

"We need to be critical of everything that's not right," Mr Chayeb told The Associated Press in a recent interview in his home studio, where he recorded This is Basra, lashing out at the powerful Shia religious establishment.

Mr Guti's expertly produced music videos have drawn tens of thousands of YouTube viewers but his new-found fame has also brought danger: threats from hardliners are common and two of the city's protest organisers have been killed in recent attacks. Their killers remain at large.

Basra, long known around the Gulf for its drinking establishments and its maritime vibe, fell under conservative rule after Shia preachers and militias took over the city in the vacuum caused by the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Show all 6 1 /6 Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Oil spills in Qayyarah, northern Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Plumes of black smoke from burning oil wells hung over Qayyarah for several months Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq The burning of oil wells and oil spills have caused long term damage to the environment in Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Experts still do not know the extent of the damage from Isis's burning of oil wells and polluting of rivers Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq Soil and water pollution is high in northern Iraq and impacting agriculture Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isiss scorched earth tactics damaged northern Iraq There are fears if environmental damage is not taken seriously agriculture in northern Iraq could be destroyed Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX

Once renowned for its canals and markets, Basra's waterways today are clogged with waste, and its drinking water is filthy. The city erupted in violent unrest last summer that led to demonstrators burning down government and party-affiliated buildings.

Amid the revolt, rap offered Basra's youth  tired of joblessness and failed services  an opportunity for lyrics blistering with criticism.

In "This is Basra", Mr Chayeb raps against the backdrop of a march around the city's burning municipal building during last summer's protests, asking why his generation has been called on to fight a war for leaders who cannot secure water for the city.

The conflict he refers to is the four-year war against the Isis group that the US-backed Iraqi government forces ultimately won. Many young Shias followed a call in June 2014 by Iraq's top Shia religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for volunteers to fight against Isis. Thousands died in that fight.

"We were martyred for this war, I fell, and the authority has forgotten my loyalty," he raps.

"You're not associated with Hussein," he goes on, invoking the revered Shia imam and grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who died in the 7th century Battle of Karbala, and whose example Iraq's leaders have asked their youth to follow.

Mr Chayeb, mindful of the dangers, is circumspect about where and when he performs. He says most of his concerts are arranged through private contacts; he stopped recording at a professional studio in 2016. He said he has received death threats that have grown more intimidating in recent months.

But he will not stop rapping.

"If we stay afraid, nothing will change," he said.

As a teenager, Mr Chayeb watched US and British rappers on YouTube, then got together with friends to perform his own rhymes. He also followed a string of Arab rappers and sees Klash, from the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah, as one of his greatest influences.

"My aim is to explain what is happening to Basra because of the people who are corrupt," he said, adding that rap is a way "to release my pain."

Corrupt politicians and clerics should watch out, he says.

"Beware of Basra," he raps. "We won't be quiet until our demands are met.

Associated Press
A British army veteran jailed in Dubai for months without being charged has pleaded to come home.

Andrew Neal appealed to the British government for help in securing his return to his wife and children.

The 44-year-old, from Nottingham has spent the last four-and-a-half months in prison despite allegedly never being charged with a crime.

He was arrested at his flat in Dubai on 4 October after he was accused of handling drugs  an allegation he denies.

Legal advocacy group Detained in Dubai claims he unwittingly signed a confession admitting he handled drugs, despite denying the allegations, because allegedly it was in Arabic and he was told it reflected his denials.

Army recruitment posters target millenials Show all 6 1 /6 Army recruitment posters target millenials Army recruitment posters target millenials Me Me Me Millennials MoD / Crown Copyright / PA Wire Army recruitment posters target millenials Selfie Addicts PA Army recruitment posters target millenials Binge Gamers PA Army recruitment posters target millenials Snowflakes PA Army recruitment posters target millenials Class Clowns PA Army recruitment posters target millenials Phone Zombies PA

Speaking from prison in an audio recording obtained by Sky News, Mr Neal said: I have been detained for the last 140 days - four and a half months - without charge. I would have thought that the Dubai prosecutors would have released me after all allegations of being involved in this case were removed and statements to that effect were signed.

I just want to go home to the United Kingdom to be with family and friends. I hope that the government in the UK can intervene and get me back to loved ones as soon as possible, please.

Although no drugs were found in his possession, Detained in Dubai say Mr Neal was told someone had identified him as having handled drugs.

(Detained in Dubai (Detained in Dubai)

The group claims the witness then denied doing so at a court hearing in January and that his statement was officially withdrawn by prosecutors.

Mr Neal moved to Dubai in 2015 with his wife Angela and their six-year-old daughter and two-year-old son to run a dog training business.

He spent 24 years in the British Army from 1991, serving in the infantry before transferring to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps as a dog trainer and handler in 2009.

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He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on his most recent deployment to Afghanistan, the group said.

In total, he received 14 medals during 24 years in the army serving on a number of tours, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

Mr Neals parents Maurice and Sue said they had barely slept since their son was arrested and just want him home.

Radha Stirling, founder of Detained in Dubai, who is representing Mr Neal, said: Its time for the Dubai police and prosecutors to admit their mistake and release Andrew.

"Enough damage has been done to this innocent family.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told The Independent: We are providing assistance to a British man following his arrest in Dubai. Our staff have visited him on several occasions and are providing updates to his family. We remain in contact with the UAE authorities regarding his case.

The Independent has contacted the UAEs embassy in the UK for comment.
Jehovahs Witnesses have alleged abuse including suffocation and electric shock torture at the hands of Russian security forces.

Dozens were arrested in dawn raids and seven were allegedly tortured when authorities intensified a crackdown on Jehovahs Witnesses in the western Siberian city of Surgut.

In interviews with The Independent, several of the alleged victims described extreme violence in shocking detail.

Jehovahs Witnesses have been forbidden from practising since 2017, when Russias Supreme Court branded the local branch of the global church to be an extremist organisation. Many have been intimidated and arrested. More than 120 followers now face criminal investigation, a number that is increasing every month.

But this is the first time the church has reported such serious violence against its members.

Weve become used to the arrest of innocent people, but this goes beyond the realm of good and evil, said Yaroslav Sivulskiy of the European Association of Jehovahs Witnesses. It is the Inquisition of the 21st century.

The Siberian arrests started just before dawn on 15 February. Most of the 40 men and women arrested  all believed to be followers of the local Jehovahs Witnesses organisation  were taken from their homes in the first wave of morning operations. Others were arrested later, as they walked from work. One video shows a SWAT team of a dozen operatives jumping out of three cars on a central intersection to detain two men.

Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Show all 29 1 /29 Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election St Petersburg, Moscow Station Russia's imperial capital is the starting point of our journey Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Chudovo market Chudovo was one of the first stops of Radishchev's journey Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Chudovo market "They say the fish rot from the head down" Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election On the way out of Chudovo Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Polling station "We choose our president, we choose our future" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Sergei Mikhailov "People have become fussy and want clear water" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Radishchevo village "Life is just great" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Veliky Novgorod Once the seat of a forward-looking republic  Russia's first experiment with democracy Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Veliky Novgorod Once the seat of a forward-looking republic  Russia's first experiment with democracy Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Veliky Novgorod Once the seat of a forward-looking republic  Russia's first experiment with democracy Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Veliky Novgorod Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Navalny HQ Navalny's activists continue campaign despite their leader being barred from the elections Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Navalny HQ Fake election newspaper "Putin's Pravda" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Roadside cafe, Proletary, Novgorod Oblast "Thatcher was a bitch, but I liked her. This one is just a bitch" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Service station, Valdai Propaganda  keeping pace every step of the way Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Trucker's cafe, Yedrovo Two years ago, truckers staged a protest against new road taxes. Today, many of them are choosing to stay away from the elections Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Trucker's cafe, Yedrovo Two years ago, truckers staged a protest against new road taxes. Today, many of them are choosing to stay away from the elections Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Trucker's cafe, Yedrovo Two years ago, truckers staged a protest against new road taxes. Today, many of them are choosing to stay away from the elections Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Some roads lead to Moscow Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Along the road to Vyshny Volochyok Mikhail, an Afghan veteran, is proud of his mushrooms Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Along the road to Vyshny Volochyok Pensioners are the group most likely to vote on Sunday  and most of them for Vladimir Putin Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Vyshny Volochyok The Soviet Union is still viewed by many as a golden era  with social welfare and stability Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Nelle's Shop, Tver "People have cut back on the fags, but you won't see them turning away from alcohol  they'd sooner steal it than go without" Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Polling Station, Tver Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Car scrapyard, Tver Peace to the world! Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Proletarian Courtyard, Tver Rats, black mould and communal living Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Proletarian Courtyard, Tver Rats, black mould and communal living Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Proletarian Courtyard, Tver Rats, black mould and communal living Dmitry Markov Welcome to the real Russia, on eve of election Grandma Masha "Help me! Ill get on my knees to beg you" Dmitry Markov

Sergei, 41, who asked for his surname to be withheld, said there were no immediate signs that his arrest would take such an ugly turn.

Unlike some of the other victims, he said, police decided against a violent entry into his apartment. They simply knocked on the door at 6am, and he opened the door without resistance. Everything was quite peaceful  right up to the point that he was delivered to the local branch of the State Investigation Committee.

It was there, inside an office on the ground floor, he said, that the crimes began.

At first they made me split my legs. Then they tied my legs up and tied my arms behind my back. They hit me in my kidneys. They put a bag over my head and taped it up around my neck so that I couldnt breathe."

There was a point that I was breathing in this polythene bag. Then they started applying electric shocks.

Sergei said he never gave up hope, but there were moments in his 40-minute ordeal when he felt things slipping away. He said he has no idea why he was singled out for torture.

Perhaps they didnt like the explanations I gave.

Others got off lighter. Timofei Zhukov, 39, a lawyer, said he received blows to the head during his detention  but avoided the worst excesses later. He was not, however, spared the trauma of listening to the cries of his friends from the investigators office further up the corridor. Some of the sessions lasted up to two hours, he recalled, adding: It was just too much for some.

"One of our members is over 70 and the very threat of this happening to him made him faint. In the end, they let him go, saying he they didnt need an old mattress and a death on their hands, he said.

Mr Zhukov said he couldnt understand the logic of a crackdown that targeted and broke law-abiding, honest citizens.

Yegiazar Chernikov, a lawyer representing the alleged victims, tells The Independent he had never come across a case so savage in over 10 years of practice in Russia.

They electrocuted them in their arms and private parts, pouring water over them to intensify the experience, he said. Then they threatened rape and did beat them. The police might have got the statements they wanted, but their behaviour reminds you of fascism and Hitlers concentration camps.

The lawyer said he had seen clear evidence of torture on his clients, including burns and suffocation marks. But documenting it may not be straightforward. On the one hand, the officers had done a good job covering up their tracks  they were obviously experienced in such affairs. On another, his clients have been placed on a no-travel list by investigators, making the task of obtaining independent medical expertise near impossible.

We are still quite concerned about the security of these people, he added.

On Thursday, another of the arrested men reported that he had been summarily fired from his job as a firefighter.

Igor Trifonov, a veteran with more than two decades in the service, told The Independent he was ordered to sign his own resignation letter. My three kids have been crying ever since the operatives barged down the door, he said.

Now I dont have a job, but Im certain my God will show me a way through.

In comments to the Tass news agency on Thursday, a representative of the local State Investigative Committee rejected allegations of torture.

Officers had acted entirely within the realm of the law, said Oleg Tasshykh, and without using psychological, physical or mental pressure. The committee knew of no statement or complaint about torture.

Weve become used to the arrest of innocent people, but this goes beyond the realm of good and evil. It is the inquisition of the 21st century. Yaroslav Sivulskiy of the European Association of Jehovahs Witnesses

A document published on the Jehovahs Witnesses Russian website suggested that might not be entirely true, with a request to remove the officers apparently sent on Saturday.

European spokesperson Yaroslav Sivulskiy told The Independent that the group had also appealed to the presidential representative on human rights, Mikhail Fedotov, his ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, and to the presidential administration.

At one point, the beleaguered religious group had hoped that in Vladimir Putin they had found an unlikely advocate. Speaking at a meeting with his human rights council in December, the president described the decision to declare the Christian organisation as nonsense, and said he didnt understand why it was being persecuted.

But the subsequent conviction of a Danish-born Jehovahs Witness for extremist behaviour alongside these latest developments seem to offer clues about how Mr Putins own system resolved to interpret his words.
Two men have died after a shooting in the southern German city of Munich.

Locals reported shots being fired at a building site, police said.

There were no indications it was a terrorist attack, spokesman Sven Mueller said.

He said one of the two dead men had fired the shots, adding nobody else appeared to have been hurt in the shooting.

There is no danger for people there anymore, Mr Mueller said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The Munich daily tzquoted an unnamed police spokesperson saying authorities are working on the assumption one man shot the other dead and then killed himself.

Germany has been on high alert since December 2016, when a Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed it into a crowded market place in Berlin, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens.
Hungary has accepted around 300 refugees from crisis-hit Venezuela, according to media reports from the country  surprising observers of its usually anti-immigration government.

The refugees, who are thought to have Hungarian ancestry, are understood to have been welcomed into the country with the tacit support of the Orban administration and the help of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.

The news has come as a surprise in the conservative central European state, given the anti-immigration stances and refugee crackdowns of premier Viktor Orban.

We are speaking about Hungarians and we do not consider Hungarians migrants, Mr Orbans chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, told a press conference in response to the report.

Confirming that the programme began in April 2018, he added: They, like any other Hungarian, have a right to return home.

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

A controversial law passed by the Orban government last year restricted the activities of NGOs and charities that provide assistance to migrants. The law was de facto targeted at those groups helping people arriving by land from the Middle East and Africa.

The Hungarian opposition seized on the latest developments, claiming the government was acting hypocritically.

Viktor Orban has made a name for himself as an anti-immigrant populist (AFP)

We call on the government to register itself as an organisation supporting migration and to pay the tax, said MEP Csaba Molnar from the liberal DK party at a press conference.

Just to be clear: we have no problem with refugees and with welcoming them, we support that. What we object to is the government treating Hungarians like idiots, not least its own supporters.

As well as its own domestic crackdowns, Hungary has been engaged in running battles with Brussels over whether it should have to take its share of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe from conflict zones.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said late last year that at least three million people had left Venezuela, mostly on foot, because of the turmoil in the country. Neighbouring Colombia has taken one million refugees, Peru around 500,000, and Ecuador 220,000.

Several thousands of Hungarians are thought to have immigrated to Venezuela after the Second World War.

The charity, which is said by the Hungarian media to be providing plane tickets, housing and work permits, is declining media requests for comment on the programme, which is apparently operating with government support.

It says it will not comment on the matter because of the interests of the people involved  leading to speculation it does not want to cause a backlash against the scheme.
Germany has refused to bow to pressure from Britain to start selling arms to Saudi Arabia again.

Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, had written to Berlin to ask the government to soften its stance, saying it is imperative that it exempt big defence projects from its arms sales halt to Saudi Arabia or face damage to its commercial credibility.

But Germanys foreign minister Heiko Maas said the government was sticking to its weapons exports freeze.

We are not delivering any weapons to Saudi Arabia at the moment and we will make future decisions depending on how the Yemen conflict develops and whether what has been agreed in the peace talks in Stockholm is being implemented, Mr Maas said after meeting Mr Hunt in Berlin.

Germany banned arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and human rights concerns about the conflict in Yemen, where the Saudi-backed government is fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

In separate remarks, German finance minister Olaf Scholz declined to say if the German government would extend the freeze beyond 9 March.

The children wounded in Yemen's war Show all 15 1 /15 The children wounded in Yemen's war The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Ali Ashwal / Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Save the Children The children wounded in Yemen's war Save the Children

We review it regularly and then make new decisions on that basis, he said.

In his letter to Mr Maas this month, first reported by Der Spiegel, Mr Hunt said he had grave concerns about the effect Germanys arms freeze was having on the supply chains of UK and European defence industry and may ultimately have on Europes ability to fulfil its Nato commitments.

Berlins decision was delaying deliveries of Eurofighter Typhoon, Tornado and Hawk warplanes, and could result in contractual penalties for 500 companies in the supply chain of Britains BAE Systems, he said.

Mr Hunt also said he saw a risk that Saudi Arabia would turn to Russian or Chinese supplies in future.

Referring to the conflict in Yemen, Mr Hunt said he was deeply concerned the freeze would dent the ability to influence key figures in coming months in the cause of peace.

Berlin and London have stressed in recent months that cooperation on defence and security must remain a pillar of Anglo-German cooperation even after Brexit at the end of March.

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Andrew Smith from the Campaign Against Arms Trade told The Independent: It is totally inappropriate for Jeremy Hunt to act as a lobbyist for BAE Systems and the Saudi dictatorship. The German government is absolutely right to have stood up to his pressure and demands.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is the worst in the world. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in this brutal and devastating war, and yet the main goal for Downing Street and the foreign secretary has been to maximise profits for arms companies. That tells us everything we need to know about their priorities.

Germany should never have been arming the Saudi regime in the first place, but by sticking to the policy it has set a vital precedent. If Jeremy Hunt, Theresa May and their colleagues want to do the right thing for the people of Yemen then they must follow Germanys lead and end the arms sales.

The Independent has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
Emmanuel Macron has declared anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism as he ramps up Frances crackdown on racism against Jewish people.

Speaking at the 34th annual dinner of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, Mr Macron said a surge in antisemitic attacks in his country had not been seen since World War Two.

He promised a new law to tackle hate speech on the internet and said France would adopt the definition of antisemitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

The IHRA definition does not use the phrase "anti-Zionism" but does say denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination "e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour," is antisemitic.

Some critics of Israel, its occupation of territory internationally recognised as Palestinian, and its isolation of the Gaza Strip, say they risk being unfairly branded antisemitic, although the IHRA definition says: "criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country" is not.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Macron's words were well received from the World Jewish Congress which said: "This is just the beginning of a long road ahead. Adopting this definition of anti-Semitism must be followed by concrete steps to encode into law and ensure that this is enforced."

The IHRA definition is not legally binding but does serve as an international guideline.

Germany and Britain adopted the definition in texts in 2016, though the European Union adopted a softer tone, calling the IHRA definition a "guidance tool" amid concern from some member states that it could make criticism of Israeli policy, particularly with regards to Palestinians, difficult.

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Mr Macron said France would not change its laws relating to antisemitism and that recognising the IHRA's definition must not be seen as a means of preventing people from criticising the Israeli government.

Additional reporting from agencies
Protesters who are backing Catalonias secession from Spain have blocked major highways, train tracks and roads across the northeastern region.

A 24-hour general strike organised by small unions of pro-independence workers and students is underway to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders.

On paper, the strike is demanding improved social policies, including a 35-hour work week and a higher minimum wage, but protesters carried pro-secession flags and chanted slogans for the release of the 12 separatists currently on trial in the Madrid-based Supreme Court of Spain.

Strikers formed human chains to stop traffic on several highways across Catalonia, it has been reported.

There have also been some reports of clashes, with one protester arrested for hitting an officer in downtown Barcelona, police said.

Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Show all 11 1 /11 Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers work to remove burning tires that were placed in the road by demonstrators during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers work to remove burning tires that were placed in the road by demonstrators during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Graffiti reads 'February 21st National Strike' during the Catalan general strike EPA Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers remove demonstrators who are blocking a road in Barcelona during Catalonia's General Strike AP Strikers light fires and clash with police in Catalonia Police officers work to remove burning tires that were placed in the road by demonstrators during Catalonia's General Strike Reuters

Strikers, many of whom covered their faces, threw objects at a police line in a standoff on a rural highway before agents in riot gear advanced to disperse them.

Protesters elsewhere burned tyres on some highways. The main unions in Catalonia did not back the strike.

In Barcelona, students and the pro-secession group ANC were planning separate marches later on Thursday.

ANCs protest slogan is self-determination is not a crime. The Spanish government says regions cannot independently secede, according to the constitution.

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The trial into the roles played by the 12 separatists in Catalonias failed 2017 secession attempt is in its second week.

Former Catalan government member Santi Vila and activists Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart are scheduled to testify at the court on 21 February. The trial is expected to last for at least three months.

Election results and polls indicate Catalonias 7.5 million residents are equally divided over the secession issue.

Additional reporting from agencies
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been rebuked after one of its members was accused of implying that women were naturally unfit to serve in parliament.

The comment was allegedly made during a speech on gender equality on Thursday by Green party politician Britta Hasselmann.

When Ms Hasselman mentioned that she had noticed women made up only a small proportion of AfDs representatives, an unknown deputy is said to have blamed natural selection.

The Independent understands that the incident was reported to deputy speaker Claudia Roth, who then called on AfD to respect parliamentary protocol; however, it is not clear who made the complaint.

Digitisation minister Dorothee Bar, of the Christian Democratic Union party, tweeted about the interjection and said she was stunned by it.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The Independent has contacted AfD for comment.

Just 10 of the party's 91 representatives in the Bundestag are female, according to the body's website.

The controversy comes two years after Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke outraged fellow politicians by claiming that women should earn less money than men because they are weaker" and "less intelligent.

Additional reporting by AP
Taiwan has proposed a draft law to allow same-sex marriage in Asia's first such bill, but the legislation was criticised by rights activists and conservative groups amid a heated debate over marriage equality.

Voters opposed marriage equality in a series of referendums late last year, defining marriage as between a man and a woman and asking for a special law to be enacted for same-sex unions.

The draft law unveiled by cabinet on Thursday would give same-sex couples similar legal protections for marriage as heterosexuals, but marriage in civil law would remain defined as between a man and woman.

Premier Su Tseng-chang said the bill respected the referendum results, although activists had said a separate law for gay marriage was discriminatory.

"Controversies are expected about the proposal, but I really hope our homosexual friends can wait a bit longer," Mr Su said in a statement.

Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Show all 35 1 /35 Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants take part in the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taipei, Taiwan, 27 October 2018. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands of people attended the march in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants walk in the parade. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The march took place ahead of a landmark vote next month on LGBT+ rights in Taiwan. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan On May 24 2017, the Constitutional Court in Taiwan ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in the state. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan After making its ruling on same-sex marriage in May last year, the court stated that its decision must be implemented in two years. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan On November 24, a public vote will be held in Taiwan on same-sex marriage. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant of the march poses next to a wedding studio. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A young woman from Chongqing in mainland China holds a fan reading "free writers" before the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants with Pikachu-styled costumes pose as they gather at the square outside the presidential office for the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands took part in the parade in support of same-sex marriage. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants in the square outside the presidential office before the start of the parade. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A couple take part in the march with their baby. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Members of Tokyo Rainbow Pride walk in the parade. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The parade was awash with rainbow-coloured paraphernalia. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant of the march poses with a fan. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant from Japan holds a banner before the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Young women display rainbow flags. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A person taking part in the march waves a rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man, decorated with balloons and a rainbow flag, takes part in the celebrations. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan An American man and his Japanese partner, both wearing headbands saying 'Japan' in Japanese, kiss each other during the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands of people attended the annual march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Taiwan gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei attends the march. Chi became the first person in Taiwan to come out as gay on national television in 1986. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants take part in the march, organised by Taiwan LGBT Pride. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants hold up a large rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan People walking in the parade. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A person stands in front of a rainbow-coloured flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A Japanese couple hold a sign saying 'You Are My Safe Harbour' in Chinese. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man, decorated with balloons and rainbow flags, takes part in the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The first Taiwan Pride march was held in 2003. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants display a huge rainbow flag during the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Two men take a selfie in front of a rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man waves a rainbow flag during the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The annual Taipei Gay Pride March is the largest in East Asia. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The Rainbow City Symphonic Band performs during the march. EPA

"This might fall short of expectations, but after all it's a start," he said.

Jennifer Lu, coordinator of Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, said the draft did not give complete legal protections to same-sex couples. She acknowledged the pressure on the government from all sides, but said activists will continue to fight for equal rights.

Taiwan's parliament is expected to vote on the draft bill by late May, a deadline for legislation set by the constitutional court in May 2017 when it ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry.

The divisive issue has been a challenge for President Tsai Ing-wen, whose party suffered a major defeat in local elections in November amid criticism over her reform agenda, including marriage equality.

Conservative groups that opposed same-sex marriage during the referendum said they will fight the draft bill too. The Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation has called the draft "unacceptable".

Reuters
As Pope Francis opened a four-day conference on Thursday to address the issue of sex abuse in the Catholic clergy, one of the churchs most senior figures was accused of failing to act when incidents of abuse were called to his attention.

Indian cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Mumbai, is himself due to open the second day of the summit in Rome with a conversation about accountability in the church.

He was also among a group of church leaders who met with abuse survivors in a two-hour meeting on Wednesday night, to hear their personal accounts and inputs on the eve of the conference.

Cardinal Gracias was forced to admit he did not call the police immediately when a family came to him in 2015 saying their son had returned from Mass saying he was raped by a parish priest.

A BBC investigation found the cardinal left for Rome that night without alerting the authorities, and only later phoned his bishop to discuss the matter and be told the family had already gone to the police themselves.

Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Live and let live.' GETTY IMAGES Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Proceed calmly" in life' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Be giving of yourself to others' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Sunday is for family' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Respect and take care of nature' OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Stop being negative' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: Respect others' beliefs' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive' FP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness AFP/Getty Images

In doing so, Cardinal Gracias may have broken Indian laws protecting children from abuse. Specifically, the regulations require the head of any company or institution to report a possible offence committed by a subordinate under his or her control.

The incident was one of two cases where families expressed dissatisfaction with the cardinals response to allegations. In the other, a priest was able to continue offering prayer retreats despite a woman coming forward with claims that he sexually abused her during one of them.

At the time of the 2015 incident, the cardinal was president of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India and Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. And aside from the key roles he is playing at this weeks summit, Cardinal Gracias has been repeatedly tipped as a possible contender to be the next pope.

Asked if he regretted not immediately calling the police over the 2015 allegations, Cardinal Gracias told the BBC: "You know I'm being honest, I'm not 100% sure but I must reflect on that. I admit whether immediately, the police should have got involved, sure." He described the second set of claims, from 2009, as a "complicated case". The Independent has approached the Archdiocese of Bombay for comment.

It comes as the survivors at Wednesdays round-table meeting demanded transparency, zero tolerance for abuse and accountability for religious superiors who cover up for rapists at Pope Franciss high-stakes summit.

They have demanded the church adopt a zero-tolerance approach across the board, with the US bishops' conference considering a model where any priest found guilty of molesting a child would be permanently removed from ministry.

Jamaican survivor Denise Buchanan, who attended Wednesday's meeting, asked what is the holdup in implementing zero tolerance?. She said: "It is like, 'Oh, we already have the laws, we just need to implement the laws.' Obviously, the laws are not working because children are being raped right now.

Though survivors were disappointed that he did not attend the meeting himself, Pope Francis called in his opening remarks on Thursday for the summit to find "concrete and efficient measures" and not simply more condemnations.

"Faced with the scourge of sexual abuse committed by men of the Church against minors, I wanted to reach out to you," Francis told the assembled bishops and heads of religious orders, asking them to "listen to the cry of the little ones who are seeking justice."

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Some victims' groups said the conference was merely meant to cleanse the image of the 1.3 billion-member Church tainted by child rape and molestation by priests, and cover-ups by Church authorities.

But Anne Barrett-Doyle of bishopaccountablity.org, which tracks abuse cases around the world, said she was pleasantly surprised by the pope's opening remarks.

"They said this was going to just a teaching session but he is now talking about concrete measures. That's good but let's see how it ends up," she told the Reuters news agency.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, the Vatican's top sexual abuse investigator, said the church had to look at how priests and bishops are appointed.

"The question of future screening of candidates for the priesthood is fundamental," he said in a speech steeped in legal details about how bishops must collaborate with civil authorities, adopting a "culture of disclosure" and for society to know that "we mean business".

Scicluna insisted that summoning church leaders from all continents to Rome was "in itself a very important message".
A huge fire has killed at least 81 people in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, as flames spread through a historic, closely packed district of the city and fire crews struggled to bring it under control.

The blaze started in a single building in the Chawkbazar neighbourhood but very quickly spread to others as gas cylinders used for cooking exploded one after another.

Fire officials said many of the dead found themselves trapped in their homes by the rapid progress of the fire, while some pedestrians were also killed when the fire spread to cars trapped in the areas narrow streets.

The death toll could yet rise further, with at least 50 more injured victims and of those at least nine critically burned.

As of Thursday afternoon, the blaze was mostly under control following more than 10 hours of frantic work from firefighters. Engines had struggled to reach the area through traffic that was busy at the time, hampering their efforts.

Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Show all 19 1 /19 Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters try to douse flames of a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Flames and smoke rise from a building after a fire broke out in Dhaka, Bangladesh AFP/Getty Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters try to douse flames of a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters try to douse flames of a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters and local people help douse a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh. AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Flames and smoke rise from a building after a fire broke out in Dhaka, Bangladesh AFP/Getty Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters try to douse flames of a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Flames and smoke rise from a building after a fire broke out in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters work at the scene of a fire that broke out at a chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters work at the scene of a fire that broke out at a chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters work outside the burnt warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Rescue personnel stand at the site of a late Wednesday night fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Rescue personnel stand by a car destroyed by the fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures A man takes a picture outside the burnt warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Firefighters and locals try to extinguish the fire at Chawk bazar's Churihatta area, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh EPA Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Cosmetic containers are seen outside the warehouse where the fire started in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Cosmetic containers are seen outside the warehouse where the fire started in Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Locals and firefighters gather around buildings that caught fire late Wednesday in Dhaka, Bangladesh AP Deadly blaze tears through historic district of Dhaka: in pictures Burnt buildings are seen after the fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh AFP/Getty

Mahfuz Riben, a control room official of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Dhaka, said: Our teams are working there but many of the recovered bodies are beyond recognition. Our people are using body bags to send them to the hospital morgue, this is a very difficult situation.

One man whose shop was destroyed in the fire explained how quickly it spread as he narrowly escaped the blaze when he left to go to a pharmacy.

When I was at the pharmacy I heard a big bang, Haji Abdul Kader told the AFP news agency.

I turned back and saw the whole street in flames. Flames were everywhere... I got burned and rushed to hospital.

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The Chawkbazar area is crammed with buildings separated by narrow alleys. The neighbourhood is a mix of residential and commercial, with buildings that commonly have shops, restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors.

Many buildings are used both for residential and commercial purposes despite warnings of the potential for high fatalities from fires after one had killed at least 123 people in 2010. Authorities had promised to bring the buildings under regulations and remove chemical warehouses from among the residential buildings.

The district dates back to the Mughal era 400 years ago, and is famous for selling traditional goods each year for people to celebrate iftar, when the daily fast is broken during Ramadan.

A government eviction drive in Chawkbazar and other areas of Old Dhaka was met with protests last May right before Eid, the beginning of Ramadan, by business owners and residents.

Dr Md Manjur Morshed, an urban planning professor at Khulna University, said government regulations are routinely flouted in the district. This is a historic area with a distinct culture, he said. They are not really abiding by the governments rules.

Additional reporting by AP
Police in Virginia are responding reports of an active shooter at a school.

The police department in Henrico County said on Twitter that officers were on scene at the Academy at Virginia Randolph, a school located in Glen Allen, close to Richmond.

There are currently no reported injuries and no confirmed reports of gun fire, according to the department.

Call 911 (text if you cant) in case of emergency, police advised on social media.

A spokesperson for Henrico County Public Schools said police are going door to door on the school campus and conducting a check.

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

So far no ones been hurt, and theres no evidence that a weapons been used, spokesperson Andy Jenks said.

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School officials are planning on dismissing students the same way they got here, which would mean on their bus, or perhaps in a car, Jenks added in his statement.

A family reunification area has been set up for students to meet up with their relatives.

The school district later confirmed it had been given the all clear by officers.

"Henrico Police have given us the all clear," it said on Twitter. "Police have inspected the full campus, and theyve gone door-to-door. Investigators tell us no weapons were fired, no one was hurt, their investigation continues, but for now its time for students to go home."
 Close Donald Trump could possibly be Russian asset, says former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe

FBI special counsel Robert Mueller could hand in his report into allegations members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 US presidential election as early as next week, according to reports on Wednesday.

As that report was hypothesised about, Donald Trumps former confidant, the flamboyant political consultant Roger Stone, appeared in court after posting an image on Instagram appearing to threaten a US district judge overseeing his criminal trial, itself instigated by Mr Muellers investigation.

The judge, who he repeatedly apologised to, then issued a full gag order on him and warned him that he would not be given another chance to keep his freedom as he awaits trial.

House Democrats will meanwhile file a resolution tomorrow against Mr Trumps controversial decision to declare a national emergency over illegal immigration from the southwestern border in order to bypass Congress and get his wall built.

As all of that Washington drama swirled, Mr Trump weighed in on a number of issues on Thursday, including the case of Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who was charged in Chicago on Thursday for filing a false police report.

Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs

"What about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?" the president tweeted, referring to Smollett's claims that he was attacked by two men who told him he was in "MAGA country", referring to the president's popular slogan. Chicago police have said that Smollett's attack was staged and orchestrated by the actor.

The White House also detailed on Thursday the president's upcoming trip to Vietnam, where he will have his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

That summit is scheduled for next week.

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A climate change denier who once compared the demonisation of carbon dioxide to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany is set to lead a White House panel assessing whether global warning poses a threat to US national security.

Donald Trumps administration is working to assemble a Presidential Committee on Climate Security headed by scientist William Happer, leaked documents have revealed.

Mr Happer, a senior director for the National Security Council and former physics professor at Princeton University, rejects mainstream climate science and has claimed a rise in carbon emissions should be viewed as an asset rather than a problem.

In a 2014, he drew parallels between climate science and Nazi propaganda.

The demonisation of carbon dioxide is just like the demonisation of the poor Jews under Hitler, he told US news channel CNBC. Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews.

Glacier collapse shows climate impact Show all 20 1 /20 Glacier collapse shows climate impact Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Meltwater pools on top of the Helheim glacier near Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Safety officer Brian Rougeux works with student Febin Magar to assemble a radar dome while working in a science camp on the side of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Airplane Mechanic, David Fuller, left, works with a local worker to move a Nasa Gulfstream III during a pre-flight inspection before a flight to support the Oceans Melting Greenland research mission Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Meltwater pools on top of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Earth Science Flight Programs Director at Nasa, Eric Ianson, looks out at the Greenland ice sheet Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Glacial ice is seen from the window during the Nasa flight Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Oceanographer David Holland's science camp on the side of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact A large crevasse forms near the calving front of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Safety officer Brian Rougeux uses a drill to install antennas for scientific instruments that will be left on top of the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Tabular icebergs float in the Sermilik Fjord after a large calving event at the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Radar Engineer, Ron Muellerschoen, monitors data collection inside a NASA Gulfstream III flying above Greenland to measure loss to the country's ice sheet Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact GPS tracking equipment is left on top of the Helheim glacier REUTERS Glacier collapse shows climate impact Sunshine lights up the Helheim glacier Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact A glacial terminus above the east coast of Greenland REUTERS Glacier collapse shows climate impact Student Febin Magar watches as leftover wood burns in a research camp Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Tabular icebergs float in the Sermilik Fjord after a large calving event Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact Oceanographer David Holland repairs a broken GPS module at his research camp Reuters Glacier collapse shows climate impact An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Tasiilaq Reuters

Mr Happers proposed role came to light in a leaked discussion paper in which federal officials asked government agencies to weigh in on plans to establish the committee through an executive order.

The memo says that any questions should be directed to Mr Happer who was appointed senior director for emerging technologies on the National Security Council in September.

The 79-year-old's proposed appointment to lead a panel on global warming has been met with dismay among climate scientists.

Kim Cobb, professor in School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said his false, unscientific notions about climate change represent a danger to the American people.

David Titley, professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, added that Mr Happer "would be a fringe figure even for climate sceptics."

His colleague Michael Mann, director of the university's Earth System Science Centre, said: As a Jew I'm deeply offended by his exploitation of the Holocaust as he shills for fossil fuel interests. Happer shouldn't be in charge of a book club let alone a presidential panel on national security.

According to the discussion paper, the National Security Council would fund and oversee the committee, which would be asked to "address existing United States Government reports on climate for scientific accuracy and advise on the national security implications of climate change.

The panel of 12 national security and climate "experts" would advise Mr Trump on how the climate "might change in the future under natural and human influences.

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The establishment of the panel under Mr Happer's watch is likely to be seen as attempt by the president to cast doubt on the findings of federal agencies that have warned about the threat of climate change.

For years, government scientists and military leaders have repeatedly highlighted global warning as a major national security risk.

Last month a Pentagon report said nearly half of US military sites worldwide were at risk from extreme weather linked to climate change, while Mr Trump's own intelligence team have cited global warning as a national security threat.

But the president has repeatedy dismissed concerns about climate change, which he once suggested was a "Chinese hoax".

Last month, in an apparent fundamental misunderstanding of science, he suggested cold weather in the US was evidence global warming was not happening.
Donald Trump has called on American companies to become leaders around the world in "5G, even 6G" technology in a series of tweets.

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible, the president tweeted on Thursday morning. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind.

There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future, he continued. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!"

The president's tweets arrived as Finland is scheduled to take part in the largest mobile event in the world next week. The rest of the global economy has only just begun to adapt to the idea of implementing 5G technology, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

In a statement, Finlands Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner said, Finland plans to be a forerunner as a user and developer of 5G technology. Our Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, has created a 5G ecosystem that will accelerate the development of new innovations and services through collaboration with other 5G experiments.

Still, the 6G technology Mr Trump is tweeting about is not due until at least 2030, according to Network World.

Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 30 1 /30 Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Threatening to shut down Twitter after being fact-checked After the president tweeted that voting by post would be "substantially fraudulent", Twitter attached a warning label to his tweet and referred readers to a site which explained how the claim was "unsubstantiated". Trump then said Twitter was "stifling free speech" and that he may have to shut it down, something which he would not have the power to do AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: Number one, shes not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?" AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Sadiq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a "terrible job"as mayor and that he is a "stone cold loser" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The president's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the president has faced difficulty in raising the required $5bn at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and Congress's refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet from 13 November 2018, the president mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Railing against the Mueller investigation The president has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Trump Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the president claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it would not have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Colouring in the US flag wrong The president coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The president announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the president made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the president reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape". Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying: There are a lot of killers. You think our countrys so innocent? Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Asking for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump couldnt help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzeneggers show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of The Apprentice  which buoyed Trumps celebrity status years ago Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the worst call he had had so far Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Trumps travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administrations argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the president picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be little Rocket Man as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising Khan for saying there was no reason to be alarmed after the attack. Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Trump mocked MSNBCs Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to join him. He noted that she was bleeding badly from a face-lift at the time, and that he said no MSNBC Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of fake news Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Trumps firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Trump accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Trumps White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didnt mention jews or even the word jewish in the written statement Getty Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Anger over Inauguration crowd size Trumps inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didnt, the day was very dreary Reuters

The trade magazine spoke to Ari Pouttu, professor for Dependable Wireless at the University of Oulu in Finland, who said "6G will emerge around 2030 to satisfy the expectation not met with 5G" and "will eventually offer terabits per second." The technology remains in the very beginning stages of research and development.

The Academy of Finland, which is funded by the Finish government, has reportedly dedicated $290m (221m) towards a new programme called 6Genesis, which will conduct developmental efforts towards 6G capabilities.

Finland is the perfect environment for 5G trials, because our pro-trialing legislation and flexible regulation encourages trialing of new technologies and innovations, Ms Berner continued. The ecosystem has already almost seventy different member entities that include for example cities, ports, aviation and research centres.

It's unclear whether the White House plans to announce new measures towards 5G or even 6G developmental research. A request for comment was not immediately returned.

While the 5G standard has been set and networks are slated to continue rolling out in the coming years, what impact the advancements may have on the US and global economies, workplaces and more remains to be seen. Study groups spearheading research into the future technologies are currently exploring products and capabilities that do not yet exist, PC Magazine reported last year.

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The tweets were just a pair of social media posts the president published on Thursday. Mr Trump also  once again  shared a video of barrier construction along the US-Mexico border in New Mexico.

THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW! he wrote.
Nancy Pelosi has said that the House will vote in the coming days on a resolution rejecting Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, while encouraging fellow Democrats to support the effort as they try to stop the president's push to expand efforts to build a barrier along the US-Mexico border.

In a letter, the California Democrat said Mr Trump's declaration "undermines the separation of powers and Congress' power of the purse, a power exclusively reserved by the text of the Constitution to the first branch of government, the Legislative branch, a branch co-equal to the Executive."

By invoking a national emergency, Mr Trump is claiming authority to shift federal funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes to be spent instead on his border wall.

Ms Pelosi announced that the House would move "swiftly" to pass a disapproval resolution written by Texan Democrat Joaquin Castro, although she did not specify an exact date and indicated that it would move through a House committee before coming to the floor.

"All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution," Ms Pelosi wrote. "The President's decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated."

Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Show all 7 1 /7 Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate President Trump Donald Trump, whose firing of the FBI director James Comey in 2017 sparked concerns among senior government officials Getty Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate James Comey The former director of the FBI, James Comey, whose firing by Mr Trump sparked the crisis in 2017 EPA Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate James McCabe James McCabe, the former acting director of the FBI, who has made the explosive accusations in a TV interview AFP Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Rod Rosenstein The deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who allegedly discussed which cabinet members might back invoking the 25th Amendment Reuters Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Lindsey Graham Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally who has pledged to hold an investigation into the affair AFP Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Christopher Wray The new director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, who took over after Mr Trump fired Mr Comey AP Will Trump fall to the 25th Amendment? The key players in the debate Mike Pence The vice-president Mike Pence, who has dismissed suggestions Mr Trump is not capable of discharging his duties AFP

Ms Pelosi's announcement formalises a strategy House Democrats settled on several days ago.

Democratic leaders had been anticipating Mr Trump's emergency declaration for weeks and had been working quietly behind the scenes on a two-pronged approach that would include passing a disapproval resolution to put Republicans on record on the matter - then eventually suing or joining with a lawsuit challenging the declaration in court.

House committee chairmen, including Judiciary chief and New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, also anticipate holding hearings on Mr Trump's decision.

The resolution is expected to sail through the Democratic-controlled House. Its fate in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-to-47 advantage, is less certain.

Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins became the first member of her party to say publicly that she would vote to reject Mr Trump's emergency declaration. At an event in her home state, she said Mr Trump's move is of "dubious constitutionality" and pledged to support a "clean" resolution opposing it.

Mr Castro's resolution is one page long, exercising authority reserved by Congress under the 1976 National Emergencies Act. Under that law, a disapproval measure filed in either congressional chamber is entitled to expedited consideration.

The House, with a sizeable Democratic majority and Ms Pelosi's announcement of support, is all but certain to pass the measure. While the resolution would need only a simple majority to pass the Senate, it is unclear how many Republican senators would actually rebuke Mr Trump by supporting it.

Indeed, some of the party's critics who said it would be a bad idea for Mr Trump to get the funding without Congress have silenced their pushback - or even reversed course entirely - after the president's decision to ignore their advice.

 Former White House ethics chief, Richard Painter: Donald Trump is 'mentally unwell'

Should the measure pass the Senate, Trump officials have already told surrogates he will veto the bill. Congress is unlikely to have the numbers to override that veto.

The bigger threat to Mr Trump's declaration is the courts. A group of states led by Democratic governors have filed suit against the administration, while other groups - representing border landowners and other potential parties who could be affected by the border wall or the shifting of appropriated funds to pay for it - are either preparing lawsuits or have filed them already.

Democratic lawmakers are expected to aggressively defend Congress' constitutional power to appropriate money in the courts, arguing that Mr Trump cannot unilaterally shift other resources to a project that lawmakers have otherwise refused to fund.

But Trump allies argue that Congress itself placed few bounds on presidential emergency powers and that courts should not intervene if the congressional disapproval process fails.

House lawyers have not determined whether the chamber will join or support one of those lawsuits or instead file suit against Mr Trump separately, Democratic aides familiar with the deliberations said last week.

The Washington Post
A Republican politician in Missouri wants to add Bible classes to public school curriculums, and a bill to do just that is moving forward in the states legislature.

The measure was introduced by state Representative Ben Baker, and would require state officials to come up with curriculum guidelines for elective courses on the Old Testament and New Testament.

The Bible is simply a part of the fabric of life, Mr Baker told his colleagues on Tuesday, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mr Baker is also an employee at Ozark Bible College in Neosho, Missouri. The classes he has proposed are among three similar proposals that are being considered in the statehouse.

On Tuesday, he said he expected the measure to be controversial, with critics likely to claim the classes would violate the constitutional protections between church and state.

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. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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This is something, for whatever reason over the course of time, has caused a lot of controversy, he said. Obviously, there is going to be controversy.

Some of that criticism came from Brian Kaylor, a pastor at the Second Baptist Church in Jefferson City, who testified before the committee considering the bill.

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I oppose this legislation not because I oppose the Bible, Mr Kaylor said. The Bible cannot be reduced to merely an elective high school class. The Bible is inherently religious and we cannot pretend otherwise.

He continued: I do not need the state teaching my son the Bible.
Donald Trumps refusal to let an American-born woman return to the US after she ran away to join Isis amounts to a dangerous overreach by a president who wants to operate by executive fait, immigration lawyers and critics say.

The criticism comes after the Trump administration announced this week that 24-year-old Hoda Muthana would not be allowed to return to the US saying she has no legal basis to be in the country, in spite of her lawyers and familys claims that she was issued a US passport in 2014 before leaving the country.

She is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday in a statement.

Ms Muthana is among roughly 13 individuals identified as Americans who are currently being held by Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, and who have encountered similar issues with repatriation into the United States recently as Isis has lost nearly all its significant geographical strongholds.

Men in similar circumstances have reportedly been subject to sealed indictments, and sent back to the US for charges.

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

24-year-old Ms Muthana was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1994, just after her father left his job as a former United Nations diplomat from Yemen, according to documentation presented by the family and their lawyers.

In 2014, she is said to have left her studies at an Alabama school to travel to Turkey, and then was smuggled into Syria to join Isis. Before that trip, she reportedly renewed her passport that she had been first issued as a child. After she went missing in Syria, her family says they received a letter indicating her passport had been revoked.

Documentation they said the presented to prove their daughter was born after her father stopped receiving diplomatic protections  protections that would have disqualified Ms Muthana from US citizenship even if she were born on US soil  were not returned.

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David Leopold, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told The Independent that denying Ms Muthana the ability to return to America and argue her case denies her an essential right laid out in the US Constitution, which protects an individuals right to due process. Regardless of what heinous crimes she may have committed if she joined forces with Isis, he said, the US government is required to grant her due process before the courts.

The possession of a passport creates an irrefutable presumption of citizenship, he said. It is proof of citizenship. If I need to prove my US citizenship, I show my US passport.

It goes right to the fundamental rights of our democracy  due process, Mr Leopold continued.  We dont just strip someone of citizenship.

Cesar Garcia Hernandez, an associate professor of law at the University of Denver says that the US State Department is very careful when issuing passports to citizens, to the point that individuals sometimes have to take the US government to court in order to be issued the documents.

The fact that the government did issue her a US passport  means that she should at the very least have the ability to challenge the State Departments decision to ban her from returning to the United States, Mr Hernandez said.

He continued: Citizenship is the most fundamental legal tie between a person and the country and it should not be up to an individual person to sever that tie, even if that person is the secretary of State.

There are few instances in which an individual can give up their citizenship, or have it revoked, but Mr Hernandez and Mr Leopold say that those are relatively long, involved processes. One route would be to declare allegiance to a foreign state  which Isis is not  while another would be to be convicted of treason  which would require repatriation and a trial.

Mr Leopold said that the efforts by the Trump administration to keep Ms Muthana out of the US fall in line with the way the president has treated the federal government writ-large.

Were dealing with the mindset of an authoritarian. And this is the kind of thing that you see in authoritarian countries, Mr Leopold said, noting that the president is also attempting to circumvent normal legal practice by declaring t state of emergency in the US to build a US border wall after Congress refused to fund the effort.

We dont just make declarations based on what we see on Fox News or in the newspapers, he continued. The president unfortunately does.
Bernie Sanders battle to become the president has received almost $6m in just 24 hours - apparently setting a new record and catapulting him high above his Democratic rivals.

The 77-year-olds campaign said it had collected $5.9m in the first 24 hours of the Vermont senator declaring his plan to run again for the White House. The money came from 220,000 small donors, with Mr Sanders  as in 2016  refusing money from corporate sources.

By contrast, the campaign of Kamala Harris raised $1.5m within the first 24 hours of her announcing she was running on January 21. It also broke Mr Sanders own efforts from 2016, when he gathered $1.5m in online donations on the first day of his bid to secure the Democratic nomination.

The only way we will win this election and create a government and economy that work for all is with a grassroots movement  the likes of which has never been seen in American history, Mr Sanders said of the donations.

They may have the money and power. We have the people.

Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn  has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

But raising money is not the only challenge the former mayor of Burlington faces as he looks to nail down the Democratic nomination.

When he challenged Hillary Clinton in 2016, he was very much the outsider. In this cycle, he will start among the frontrunners.

While he may not part of the establishment overseen by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), many of his progressive ideas are now in the ascendancy among the party  especially with fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren also entering the race, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who worked for Mr Sanders 2016 campaign, being elected to congress.

 Comedian Liza Treyger says 'unlikeable and pushy' Bernie Sanders 'shouldn't be leading anybody'

Another factor Mr Sanders has to counter is his age. He he were to be elected president, the senator would be 79 when he assumed office, and 86 when he left, if he served two terms.

By contrast, Donald Trump  the man Mr Sanders is seeking to beat  is 72, while Joe Biden, the other septuagenarian among the top of polls for potential Democratic challengers, is 76. House speaker Nancy Pelosi is 78.

We rarely elect oldsters: since 1828, only three Democratic presidents have been in their 60s when inaugurated  and none came close to Sanders, who would be 79 if elected in 2020, wrote Axios Mike Allen.

The average age of every previous Democratic president in history on inauguration day is 52.
A Coast Guard officer and self-identifying white supremacist who was accused of plotting to kill top Democrats and journalists was stockpiling weapons, court papers have revealed.

Christopher Paul Hasson worked at the Coast Guards headquarters in Washington and had allegedly expressed extremist views for several years.

Court papers detail a June 2017 draft email in which Mr Hasson wrote that he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth," and pondering how he might be able to acquire anthrax and toxins to create botulism or a deadly influenza.

In the same email, he described an "interesting idea" that included "biological attacks followed by attack on food supply" as well as a bombing and sniper attacks, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

When authorities searched Mr Hassons basement in Maryland they found 15 weapons  including several rifles  and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs

They also found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labelled as human growth hormone, court papers said.

Prosecutors have described him as a domestic terrorist and he will appear in federal court in Maryland on 21 February.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," prosecutors wrote in court papers .

In September 2017, Mr Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland," prosecutors wrote.

He routinely read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that prosecutors said instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools, court papers said.

Mr Hasson has also expressed admiration for Russia and prosecutors say during the past two years he has regularly searched online for pro-Russian as well as neo-Nazi literature.

Prosecutors allege Mr Hasson visited thousands of websites that sold guns and researched military tactical manuals on improvised munitions.

Mr Hasson "began the process of targeting specific victims," including several prominent Democrats in Congress and 2020 presidential candidates.

His list of prominent Democrats included Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

The list  created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet  also included mentions of John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, along with Beto O'Rourke, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, according to the court filing.

He was arrested on gun and drug offences, but prosecutors say those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg."

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Mr Hasson appeared to be a chronic user of the opioid painkiller Tramadol and had purchased a flask filled with four ounces of "synthetic urine" online, prosecutors said.

Authorities suspect Mr Hasson had purchased fake urine to use in case he was randomly selected for a drug test.

The chief at the federal defender's office in Maryland  which is representing Mr Hasson  declined to comment on the allegations.

The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr Hasson's arrest.

Additional reporting from agencies
Veronica was just three years old when her parents, who live in a desolate village in South Sudan, booked her marriage to secure a dowry of a few cattle to feed their starving family.

There was little they could do when the groom, in his 40s, returned just over a decade later to claim his by then 14-year-old bride.

That day Veronica remembers cowering behind her mother as she fought hard to keep her at home.

But the groom threatened to return with backup and arms and so, like an increasing number of minors in South Sudan, the little girl was married. Within a few months she had a baby, after hours of gruelling childbirth which saw her hospitalised.

There is no rest, the baby is disabled, I am hungry and weak, the emaciated 16-year-old says, her unresponsive child swaddled in a cloth carrier on her back.

There is no day I have eaten properly in my whole life, and Im finding it hard to breastfeed. My baby is unwell, she adds.

Early enforced marriage has long been practised in South Sudan, the worlds youngest country, and so despite the legal marital age being 18, it suffers from one of the highest child marriage rates in the world.

According to United Nations figures, compiled before the countrys civil war erupted in 2013, just over half the female population are married before they turn 18.

The issue hit the headlines in November when a 17-year-old South Sudanese girl was auctioned off on Facebook, sparking fears other families would use social media to demand bigger dowries for their daughters.

The highest bidder, a wealthy businessman, reportedly gave the girls father more than 500 cows, three luxury cars and 7,500 as dowry.

While an auction of this size is extremely rare, it shed light on the issue: rights groups now believe that the percentage of child brides has soared as women and children have borne the brunt of a five-year civil war that has ravaged the country, sparking one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises.

More than 7 million people, or two-thirds of the population, are in need of humanitarian aid. There are over 5 million going hungry. This is despite a peace deal signed in September between rebel factions and the recognised president, Salva Kiir Mayardi.

This week Oxfam warned that rising hunger and poverty has forced families like Veronicas to promise their daughters in exchange for supplies and food.

In areas like Nyal, in the north, Oxfam said new data they have gathered showed that as much as 71 per cent of all girls were married underage, making it the second highest rate in the world after Niger.

We get anecdotal reports that child marriage is actually increasing because of the crisis  one of the major factors related to that is poverty, Elysia Buchanan, Oxfams policy adviser in South Sudan tells The Independent.

Because we have this dowry system in the country where men pay a bride price to the brides family in order to marry her, people are increasingly talking about it as a coping mechanism for hunger, she adds.

A woman sells firewood in Pibor market, South Sudan. Women risk being assaulted gathering wood (Bel Trew)

It was the reason that Veronicas family booked her aged just three.

My family needed food, the teenager says, with an air of acceptance, sitting in the back of a car as we drive her four hours down a dirt track to the nearest clinic.

The day my husband came, I was very scared. My mother didnt want me to go but my father insisted. It got violent. The cattle had already been given, she adds.

Violence and instability are contributing to the phenomenon. Internal displacement of more than 2 million people has seen parents marry off their young daughters to help the family integrate with host communities.

Meanwhile, the militarisation of the population and a huge proliferation of small arms over the last few years has also led families to use early enforced marriage to protect their daughters against sexual violence, rape and pregnancy before marriage.

Lydia Agolory, Pibor's minister of gender, says violence against women is one of the biggest challenges they are facing (Bel Trew)

In the past, there were community authorities to judge and intervene in such cases but those too have broken down amid the ashes of war.

Back in Boma state, where Veronica is based, local officials say they are struggling to follow up on the worst cases.

Last year the South Sudanese government adopted a strategic national action plan on ending child marriage by 2030. But Lydia Peter Agolory, the local minister of gender for Pibor, Boma's capital, believes this is ambitious.

She said it is near impossible to stamp out the practice when the country is faced with such deeply ingrained cultural beliefs and limited resources.

They are kind of selling their daughters to get food Lydia Agolory, Pibor's minister of gender

She estimates that in some villages the percentage of children forced into marriage could even be as high as 95 per cent. She says it causes knock-on problems within the community, including health issues for the young mothers and even inter-tribal fighting over women.

The maternal mortality rate in South Sudan is already one of the highest in the world and a spike in child marriage will only see that increase.

Now they are kind of selling their daughters to get food because everyone is so desperate, Ms Agolory tells The Independent.

This young woman in Pibor regularly faces assault on her way to collect water, firewood and food (Bel Trew)

She adds that there are many cases of fistula, when an infection causes an internal passageway to form between organs, because the girls are too young and not ready to give birth. Ive heard some stories of women who have committed suicide because there is so much shame attached to it, she adds.

When a fistula occurs in childbirth, it causes lifelong incontinence. It can prove fatal if not properly treated.

One woman, Muchut, now 23, was hospitalised and nearly died when she gave birth at 13 because her cervix was too small.

I was booked when I was four years old, she explains. Because the dowry of 50 cattle was already paid, as soon as I got my period, aged 13, he came to collect me.

I cried but I was taken anyway. I was too little to give birth, so I had to go to hospital, it was extremely painful.

Muchut, now 23, who was hospitalised and nearly died when she gave birth at 13 because her cervix was too small (Bel Trew)

Ms Agolory says the practice also puts girls at greater risk of sexual, physical and emotional violence, and the vast majority of young brides regularly experience sexual violence from their husbands.

Basically the biggest problem we face here is gender-based violence, she says. It is very hard to combat because it is considered a cultural norm. If you speak against it you are destroying the culture.

The UN and ceasefire monitors say rape has been used as a weapon of war in South Sudan, and that women and girls have been routinely abducted and forced into sexual slavery.

At a release of child soldiers last week in Yambio, a southern town, all but a handful of the girl soldiers who were waiting to be freed were balancing babies on their knees.

Sitting on the dirt-floor of a squalid school hall back in Pibor, women from the local community spoke out about the escalating daily violence they are subject to.

Niyadit, 37 who was just 16 years old when she had her first child, said violence towards woman has become part of daily life (Bel Trew)

Every one of them was married under the age of 18, and of the 20 or so in the room, at least 15 say they have been sexually or physically assaulted while trying to complete the daily tasks expected of them.

Niyadit, 37, and a mother of nine, was just 16 years old when she had her first child. She says violence towards women had become part of daily life in South Sudan.

We are attacked when we get firewood, when we need to cut grass in the bush, and get the water, she explains, while breastfeeding her youngest.

I was ambushed in February 2016 when gathering wood and nearly beaten to death. Its normal.

Women walk for hours and risk assault to earn a living at Pibor market, South Sudan (Bel Trew)

Oxfam this week urged the South Sudanese authorities to take urgent action by investing significantly to end child marriage. They told the government to address the wider systemic problem that women are simply not sufficiently represented in society. The government promised in a peace agreement to ensure that 35 per cent of the country's executive positions were filled by women  but that has yet to happen.

Donor fatigue is another problem for international aid agencies. South Sudans humanitarian response plan last year was only two-thirds funded and this year they need more money to reach more in need.

Oxfam has had to end specific programmes focused on gender-based violence and child marriage early, due to plunging budgets.

Back on the long dirt track ride to the clinic, Veronica looks more like a little girl carrying her baby sister than a mother with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Women sell their wares at Pibor market in South Sudan (Bel Trew)

The baby, who is struggling to breathe, stares at the ceiling of the car.

I live off tapping the blood of live cattle to survive, she says, staring blankly ahead.

I dont need much  I dont want to be a burden. I just need the international community to help me find a job, so I can sustain myself and survive.
Theresa May has held crisis talks with potential Tory defectors as she launched a bid to stave off further resignations from her party.

The prime minister met former ministers Phillip Lee and Justine Greening separately as she tried to avoid a further walkout of Conservative MPs furious at her handling of Brexit.

It comes after three pro-EU Tories  Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen  quit the party on Wednesday to join the new Independent Group.

The Independent can reveal that Ms May initially refused to meet with pro-EU Conservatives but backed down after Mr Lee wrote her a scathing letter warning that more MPs could quit the party if she continues to ignore pragmatic arguments and instead pander to a faction.

The former justice minister and several other supporters of a fresh Brexit referendum in the Right to Vote group had requested a meeting with Ms May last week but she refused, saying her opposition to another poll has not changed and suggesting they instead meet with Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary.

But writing after the three Tory MPs resigned, Mr Lee told the prime minister: We backed your leadership bid in 2016 because we saw you as the best candidate to unite the party and country and we want you to succeed in doing so.

However, your Brexit deal, which we know was hard-fought, has united Leavers and Remainers in the country against it.

Your refusal to meet us to discuss a way forward is, therefore, deeply shocking. You have rightly berated Jeremy Corbyn for his refusal to engage seriously in a discussion about the future of the country.

In a damning assessment of Ms Mays leadership, he accused her of putting the long Conservative tradition of pragmatism, common sense and sound economic management ... at serious risk and said her government had alienated a swathe of the electorate  particularly the younger, socially liberal voters we have worked so hard since 2005 to persuade we were not indeed the nasty party.

And warning that more Tory MPs could quit unless she takes notice, he said: We have seen this week in the Labour Party the shattering consequences for a leadership which closes its mind to pragmatic arguments in the centre and instead panders to a faction.

Against this background, your refusal to meet not only entrenches divisions in the Conservative family, but more importantly is not in the national interest.

Ms May responded by inviting Mr Lee to a meeting the following day. After the discussions, a Right to Vote spokesperson said: Talks were open and we are encouraged she listened to our case. Mr Lee said he would be staying in the Conservative Party.

Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Show all 12 1 /12 Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Change UK Details on the individual MPs are in the following photos Reuters Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Heidi Allen Anti-Brexit MP for South Cambridgeshire resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chuka Umunna MP for Streatham since 2010 and prominent People's Vote supporter PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Anna Soubry The prominent anti-Brexit MP for Broxtowe resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Luciana Berger MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010, resigned from the Labour Party over bullying and anti-semitism PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Sarah Wollaston Anti-Brexit MP for Totnes resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Joan Ryan MP for Enfield North resigned from the Labour party on February 19 citing its tolerance of a "culture of anti-Jewish racism" PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Ann Coffey MP for Stockport since 1992 Chris McAndrew / UK Parliament Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Gavin Shuker MP for Luton South since 2010 Getty Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chris Leslie MP for Nottingham East since 2010 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South since 1992 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Angela Smith MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge since 2010

The prime minister also responded to the joint resignation letter from Ms Soubry, Ms Wollaston and Ms Allen to insist that her government shows the Tories are the moderate, open-hearted Conservative Party in the One Nation tradition that you speak of.

She said she was determined that under my leadership the Conservative Party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve.

As speculation about further resignations swirled around Westminster, one of those tipped to be on the verge of quitting, former education secretary Justine Greening, admitted she would not be able to stay in the party if there was a no-deal Brexit.

Speaking hours before meeting Ms May in Downing Street, she told BBC Radio 4s Today: It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment.

I dont think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union.

 'Anti-EU squad that have destroyed every leader for 40 years now running the Conservative Party,' says Anna Soubry

Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, also said he would resign if the government pursues a no-deal Brexit.

He told the BBC: The government which I am supporting implementing a no-deal Brexit  what would I do?

I would not be able to maintain my support of the government. I would have to leave the party.

Ms Wollaston told Today that up to a third of the cabinet could walk out if Ms May allows the UK to leave the EU without an agreement.

She said: I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit.

Certainly I think that a third of the cabinet, Im pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.
Philip Hammond has risked reopening a cabinet rift with Gavin Williamson by suggesting the defence secretary has damaged UK relations with China.

The chancellor said the relationship with Beijing has not been made simpler by Mr Williamsons threats to send a royal navy aircraft carrier to the Pacific.

The pair clashed last week after Mr Williamsons comments prompted China to pull out of trade talks with Mr Hammond.

The defence secretary had insisted the UK should be ready to use lethal force against countries that flout international law. He said the new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier would be deployed in the Pacific, close to an area where China is involved in territorial disputes over islands in the South China Sea.

Mr Hammond told BBC Radio 4s Today that decisions on where to deploy the aircraft carrier would be made by the National Security Council, and admitted Mr Williamson had caused a diplomatic row with China.

Asked if relations with Beijing had been damaged by the defence secretarys comments, the chancellor said: Its a complex relationship and it hasnt been made simpler by Chinese concerns about royal navy deployments in the South China Sea.

However, Mr Hammond said he was disappointed that the Chinese have reacted in the way that they have.

He added: This is entirely premature. The aircraft carrier is not going to be at full operational readiness for another couple of years. No decisions have been made or even discussed about where its early deployments might be.

And when those decisions are made, they will be made by the National Security Council.

Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Show all 5 1 /5 Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Jaguar Land Rover Britain's largest automotive manufacturer announced in January that it plans to cut 4500 jobs from its 40,000 workforce Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Nissan The Japanese car company announced early in February that it would no longer be making the new X-trail model at its Sunderland factory Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Honda Honda has announced that it is planning to close its Swindon plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Michelin Michelin announced in November that it will close its Dundee tyre factory which employs over 800 people by 2020 PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Schaeffler Shchaeffler's Llanelli plant is to close by the end of 2019. The company provides automotive and and industrial parts worldwide and the Llanelli plant employs over 200 people. Juergen Ziegler, chief executive for Europe, said that while Brexit was not the only factor, it has "brought forward" the decision to relocate Google

Asked if Mr Williamson should button his lip, Mr Hammond said: I think that it is very important that we manage this relationship with China very carefully and that we do it through the National Security Council.

Responding to the row last week, sources close to Mr Williamson insisted his speech had been signed off by No 10, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.

Theresa Mays official spokesperson said: Our relationship with China is a very important one. We have strong and constructive ties on a range of issues and we will continue to do so.
An Italian far-right party has been admitted to the Conservatives EU-wide political group  putting the post-fascist outfit in official alliance with Theresa Mays MEPs.

The Brothers of Italy, or Fratelli dItalia, on Thursday joined the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, which was set up in 2009 by David Cameron as a Eurosceptic breakaway.

The Italian party is a descendent of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, which was set up by supporters of Benito Mussolini in 1946. It is resolutely anti-immigration, anti-Islam, and anti-LGBT rights.

It is led by Giorgia Meloni, a former leader in the youth wings of the Italian Social Movement and its defunct successor the National Alliance.

Today, with the support of Giorgia Meloni, the conservative and sovereign pole is strengthened to change and make a change in Italy and in Europe, said Raffaele Fitto, vice-chair of the alliance.

The admission of Fratelli dItalia, whose MEPs have been sitting with the Tories in the European parliament since the autumn, is not the first controversial alliance the Conservatives have made in Europe.

The Tories European parliament group also includes anti-immigration outfits such as the Danish Peoples Party, the Finns Party and Sweden Democrats. Polands governing right-wing populist Law and Justice party is the largest member after the Tories, and will dominate the group if it survives Brexit and the next European elections.

Theresa May was earlier this month urged to condemn her most senior MEP after he was photographed sharing a platform with Mattias Karlsson, the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats in the Swedish Riksdag.

A spotlight was also shone on the Tories associations with the far right last year after their MEPs defied the European mainstream and voted against sanctions on the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban.

The latest move attracted criticism from other parties.

Yet again the Tories show their true colours by aligning with a fascist party, Julie Ward, a Labour MEP, said.

Not content with getting into bed with Victor Orbans illiberal Fidesz party they seem horribly at ease with other dodgy politicians. When will they say enough is enough?

With fascism on the rise across Europe now is the time to wake up and remember our history. We know that such right-wing alliances do not end well.

Political movements that scapegoat migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are responsible for the xenophobia that threatens our liberal and open societies. We must defeat this disease of bigotry, racism, and hate that is fuelling politics.

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. 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Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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However, the Conservatives dont seem to be interested in promoting peaceful tolerant and respectful societies, which is hugely irresponsible and immoral. Theresa Mays hostile environment is their contribution to the international order of things.

David Cameron pulled his party out of the mainstream centre-right European Peoples Party in 2009 under pressure from the right of his party because of the groups pro-EU stance. He set up the Conservatives and Reformists group as the new home for the Tories and like-minded parties across Europe.

The Independent has contacted the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe for comment.
The president of the European Commission has said he is not very optimistic that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided, following a meeting with Theresa May in Brussels.

Jean-Claude Juncker said recent events had suggested there was no majority in favour of a deal in the British parliament.

The meeting with the prime minister appears to have failed to reassure Brussels that Ms May has control of the political situation  a perception made worse by the Conservatives loss of a trio of MPs on Wednesday.

If no deal were to happen, and I cannot exclude this, this would have terrible economic and social consequences in Britain and on the continent, so my efforts are oriented in a way that the worst can be avoided. But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue.

Because in the British parliament every time they are voting, there is a majority against something, there is no majority in favour of something, Mr Juncker told a session of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

Ahead of yesterdays meeting Mr Juncker said he did not expect a breakthrough. Senior Tories were reportedly upbeat however, trailing the prospect of the prime minister returning to London with concessions, but the message was not matched by officials in Brussels.

The UK government wants the EU to make legal changes to the Irish backstop policy, which Brexiteers are implacably opposed to in its current form. However the EU says the backstop is necessary to preserve the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Behind the scenes, EU officials are sceptical that anything they could offer would be enough to placate Tory rebels. Instead, Brussels figures have suggested the prime minister should try to work with Labour to construct a deal the opposition party could back.

To that end, Jeremy Corbyn visited Brussels on Thursday for meetings with Michel Barnier, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, and his team. He told reporters in Brussels the talks were useful and informative.

Mr Corbyn said the meeting had left him in no doubt that people across the EU were absolutely exercised about the threat of no deal and that it needed to be taken off the table.

A joint statement by Ms May and Mr Juncker after talks broke up late on Wednesday said the pair discussed what extra reassurances could be given to MPs, and both reconfirmed their commitment to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and to respect the integrity of the EUs internal market and of the United Kingdom.

Speaking on her way out of the meeting, the prime minister told reporters: Ive had a constructive meeting with President Juncker this evening. Ive underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop which ensure it cannot be indefinite, thats what is required if a deal is going to pass the House of Commons.

Weve agreed that work to find a solution will continue at pace, time is of the essence and its in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly way. And so weve made progress and the secretary of state for exiting the EU, the Brexit secretary, and the attorney general will be in Brussels tomorrow for further talks.

Stephen Barclay and Geoffrey Cox are not expected to speak to the media during their visit.
 Close Brexit: What will happen in 2019?

The government has been accused of breaking its promises after it emerged that key trade deals would not be ready by Brexit day in a no-deal scenario.

Whitehall documents reveal agreements with Japan, Algeria and Turkey will not be rubber-stamped by March 29  despite Liam Foxs assurance that deals would be ready at one second after midnight.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: Brexiters promised that voting Leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.

Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members.

The news emerged as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was not very optimistic that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided after meeting Theresa May.

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

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay travelled to Brussels with attorney general Geoffrey Cox as the government scrambles to secure a deal, while Jeremy Corbyn and his top team were also in the Belgian capital for crunch talks.

Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives were both braced for fresh walkouts after 11 MPs formed a breakaway group in protest at the direction of their parties.

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See below for our coverage of events as they happened
MPs could be given a second vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal as early as next week, Philip Hammond has said.

In comments likely to fuel speculation that a revised agreement with the EU is close, the chancellor said another "meaningful vote" could take place before the end of February if progress is made in talks this week.

Theresa May has promised to give MPs some form of vote on Brexit by 27 February but is under heavy pressure from pro-EU ministers to put a revised deal before the Commons and rule out a no-deal Brexit.

No10 is hopeful that such a vote could happen by the end of February if talks with the EU this week go well. If not, MPs would simply debate what should happen in relation to Brexit and would vote on an amendable motion.

Senior backbenchers would use that opportunity to try to pass a plan that would force the government to hold a vote on extending Article 50 if no deal is in place by mid-March.

Amid reports of progress in negotiations with Brussels, Mr Hammond told BBC Breakfast: "There may be an opportunity to bring a vote back to the House of Commons but that will depend on progress that is made over the next few days. These discussions are ongoing."

He added: "If we do not have a meaningful vote next week there will be another amendable motion tabled which will allow the House of Commons to once again debate how it wants to go forward.

"We have got frankly a problem in the House of Commons. The House of Commons knows what it is against - it is absolutely against a no-deal exit but it has struggled to come up with a clear message to the government about what it, as a House of Commons, wants as a way forward to avoid that outcome."

He later told BBC Radio 4's Today that Ms May was "making progress" and was "crafting a package" that would address concerns on the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, as well as Labour demands for more concrete guarantees on worker and environmental rights.

Mr Hammond dismissed claims made by Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston, who resigned from the Conservatives on Wednesday, that hardline Eurosceptics were in control of Tory party.

Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Show all 5 1 /5 Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Jaguar Land Rover Britain's largest automotive manufacturer announced in January that it plans to cut 4500 jobs from its 40,000 workforce Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Nissan The Japanese car company announced early in February that it would no longer be making the new X-trail model at its Sunderland factory Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Honda Honda has announced that it is planning to close its Swindon plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Michelin Michelin announced in November that it will close its Dundee tyre factory which employs over 800 people by 2020 PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Schaeffler Shchaeffler's Llanelli plant is to close by the end of 2019. The company provides automotive and and industrial parts worldwide and the Llanelli plant employs over 200 people. Juergen Ziegler, chief executive for Europe, said that while Brexit was not the only factor, it has "brought forward" the decision to relocate Google

Of the European Research Group of Tory Eurosceptics, he said: "There is a small hardcore that have a very hardline view and are not likely to be flexible or want to compromise"

But he denied the group was "winning", saying this was "clearly not the case" given the government's commitment to securing a Brexit deal.

Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, will hold fresh talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Thursday.

Ms May will travel to an EU-Arab League summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday to hold further talks with EU leaders.

The prime minister met European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday as part of her efforts to convince the EU to offer fresh guarantees on the backstop.

In a joint statement released afterwards, the two leaders said they had held "constructive" talks on "which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature".

They also discussed "the role alternative arrangements could play in replacing the backstop in future", and agreed that the "tight timescale" made rapid progress crucial.
The outline of a potential compromise deal on Brexit has begun to emerge in Brussels with both sides now working towards a new route out of the deadlock.

EU diplomats confirmed they were looking at a new kind of legal instrument to sit alongside the existing withdrawal agreement, giving clarity over the temporary nature of the Irish backstop so hated by Tory backbenchers.

They were in meetings with the UKs attorney general Geoffrey Cox, who has already done groundwork on similar instruments before heading to Brussels for meetings alongside Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay.

Brussels officials also signalled they were ready to redraft the language in the political declaration on future relations  the other half of the Brexit deal  with Mr Barclay having indicated earlier this week that Tory backbench proposals might be fed into it.

But the difficulty of reaching a final deal still weighed heavily on talks on Thursday, with EU officials said to be holding firm against Mr Coxs ongoing drive for a specific end date to the backstop.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker also poured cold water on hopes of strong progress when he said he was not very optimistic that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided.

The sticking point to Ms May winning full support from her party for her deal has always been the backstop, an arrangement to ensure the Irish border remains open after Brexit, but one that would see the UK potentially locked into an indefinite customs arrangement at the end of 2020 if no new trade deal is signed.

The Independent reported earlier this week that Mr Cox had prepared draft proposals for a legally binding codicil, which would be attached to the existing withdrawal agreement, offering additional clarity as to the temporary nature of the backstop.

Recommended UK public finances in record surplus for January

EU diplomats confirmed on Thursday that both sides were now moving towards some kind legal instrument separate to the main agreement.

They spoke of a parallel declaration or interpretative instrument, though it was unclear at this point exactly what it would say and if it could ever be enough to satisfy Tory eurosceptics and Ms Mays DUP allies, who want the backstop removed from the main agreement altogether.

One EU official told The Independent that Mr Cox is still pushing for an end date on the backstop as part of his proposals, but the commission is understood to be holding firm against the demand, but open to some clarificatory language.

The government may be hoping it can allay some anger from members of the Brexiteer European Research Group of backbench Conservative MPs by building some of its favoured proposals into the future trading framework.

One EU diplomat who deals with Brexit said: We are also looking at updating the declaration on future EU-UK ties after Brexit to give more prominence to the alternative arrangements sought by Britain.

 Giant billboard showing Theresa May tweet about Brexit put up in Brussels ahead of her arrival

But the diplomat stressed that it was unlikely any of the changes would be finalised by next week, dashing any hope that Ms May could put a new deal to the Commons before the end of the month.

Instead she will face another round of attempts by backbenchers to put forward alternative plans to be voted on on 27 February.

If, as last time, there is a motion placed that would allow MPs to seize control of the parliamentary agenda and seek to delay Brexit, she could face resignations form the ministerial ranks if she stops frontbenchers backing it.

The prime ministers aides hope that enough progress can be secured in the coming days to allow them to put a motion down on 27 February backing her strategy instead, in a bid to cement support behind it and avoid cross-party groups of MPs seizing control.

Ms May will head to Sharm el-Sheikh for a two-day EU-League of Arab States summit, where she is expected to hold a series of one-to-one meetings on the margins of the main event with EU leaders including German chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish premier Leo Varadkar.
Only one in 10 jihadis returning from Syria to the UK have been prosecuted, it can be revealed.

Amid calls for the government to repatriate Shamima Begum for criminal investigation rather than remove her British citizenship, police have warned it is no easy task to evidence a suspects activities abroad.

Ben Wallace, the security minister, said around 40 people have been successfully prosecuted so far  either because of direct action they have carried out in Syria or, subsequent to coming back, linked to that foreign fighting.

But more than 400 people of national security concern are believed to have returned from conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

The Home Office would not provide a breakdown of what offences the returnees were charged with or what groups they fought for, but the total includes at least one man convicted of trying to join Isis.

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

Mr Wallace announced the figures during a parliamentary debate over expanded terror laws, which the government hopes will make prosecuting returning jihadis easier.

Of more than 900 people who travelled to Syria and Iraq from the UK, he said at least 20 per cent are believed to have been killed.

The Independent understands Ms Begum and her baby are among around 20 British women and children being held in Syrian camps, along with six suspected fighters.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick admitted that security services do not know how many of Isiss surviving British recruits intend to return.

Ms Dick said evidence of a criminal or terrorist offence was needed to prosecute, adding: The very fact of going is not an offence.

Some people returned from that area in the early days who had almost certainly done nothing other than humanitarian aid work. We talked to them and assessed their risk ... Many people have come back and just gone on with peaceful lives.

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, home secretary Sajid Javid said all Isis fighters who re-entered the UK had been investigated and the majority have been assessed to pose no or a low security risk.

None of the four fatal terror attacks launched in London and Manchester in 2017 were carried out by returnees from Iraq and Syria, although Manchester bomber Salman Abedi had fought in Libya.

 Shamima Begum's child could retain British citizenship, admits Sajid Javid

And the Parsons Green bomber had been forced into an Isis training camp as a child, before coming to the UK as a refugee from Iraq.

Assistant commissioner Neil Basu, the head of UK counterterror policing, said security services had previously seen foreign fighters as the biggest risk, but the threat was already here.

But he said security services had been planning for returning jihadis and are using a wide range of measures and powers available to us to mitigate this threat.

Recommended British man jailed after going to Syria to join Isis

Anyone who returns from Syria or other conflict zones, having gone in support of any proscribed terrorist group  whether thats fighting for or against Isis  or for any other illegal purposes, can expect to be investigated by the police, he added.

This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless of their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UKs national security.

Mr Basu previously told The Independent he was concerned that people will either get back without our knowledge, because thats entirely possible, or that we will not have a case we can prosecute.

Proving what someone has been doing in a theatre of war is no easy task, he added. Were very lucky, weve only seen a trickle of people [returning from Syria]. Most of these people dont want to come back here.

Raffaello Pantucci, the director of international security studies at Rusi, said that British jihadis involved in previous conflicts like Afghanistan and Bosnia had moved to other foreign battlefields.

(Statista (Statista)

Some do head back home but not all do  were probably going to see odd cases turning up over the next decade or so, he told The Independent.

A lot of the returnees went and came back from Syria very quickly, and some were possibly disillusioned ... Those that were dedicated enough to stay have the potential to be more dangerous.

The danger is not only that they might come back and do something, but that they can build future networks that might produce other groups and more potential terrorists.

Convicted terrorists can be put through the Home Offices Desistance and Disengagement Programme in an effort to deradicalise them, but Mr Pantucci said its success was very difficult to gauge.

While some returnees are still being monitored by police and intelligence services, others are not under active surveillance or restrictions.

The most stringent measures  Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims)  are only in force for eight people according to the most recent government statistics.

The Home Office spent almost 5m on 23 of the orders, figures obtained by The Times revealed, including on accommodation, poling and surveillance.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: When there is enough evidence, we wont hesitate to prosecute cases such as those involving alleged Isis fighters returning from Syria or other countries.

In the year to September 2018, 91 individuals were prosecuted for terrorism-related offences, a 15 per cent increase compared to the previous 12 months. We obtained convictions against 81.
Sajid Javid has defended his decision to strip Shamima Begums British citizenship amid a diplomatic row with Bangladesh.

The home secretary insisted he would not leave anyone stateless after officials in Dhaka said the 19-year-old mother was not a Bangladeshi national and would not be allowed to enter the country.

"I'm not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless, Mr Javid told ITVs Robert Peston. "My number one job is to do whatever I can to keep this country safe and I admit that sometimes when you make these decisions they are not easy decisions.

"They can be very tough decisions, so many things to weigh up about the mortality of a decision, the legality of a decision, how it can have a huge impact on someone's life.

His comments came after MPs questioned why Ms Begum was not being repatriated to Britain for potential prosecution.

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

Labour MP David Lammy wrote on Twitter: Stripping individuals of citizenship sets a very dangerous precedent. We should take responsibility for our own citizens and try them for crimes in British courts, not leave them stateless. This is the rule of law.

Radio presenter and counter-extremist Maajid Nawaz said the order had made British people of immigrant heritage second-class citizens.

He said: If citizenship is revocable for people like me, it was never citizenship to begin with  it was nothing but a visa."

Lord Anderson, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said deprivations effectively bring about two classes of citizenship.

Speaking on Radio 4s Today programme, he pointed out that if he fought for Isis in Syria he would retain the legal right to return to Britain, but someone of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage would not.

Fahad Ansari, a lawyer who represented two men of Bangladeshi heritage who won appeals against citizenship deprivation last year, said the application of the power had been inherently racist and discriminatory.

Mr Javid said he would consider other tools when possible but in some circumstances, the only reasonable way left to protect this country is to make sure someone cannot re-enter it.

(Statista (Statista)

He added: I will not hesitate to remove their nationality if it is the only option left for me to protect everyone that lives in the UK."

A lawyer representing Ms Begums family said they would be launching a legal challenge.

Tasnime Akunjee told The Independent that the teenager had been left to all practical purposes stateless.

She was born in the UK and never visited Bangladesh or possessed a passport from the country, he added.

Ms Begum meanwhile, told ITV News she was shocked by the move and suggested she would explore how to gain Dutch nationality through her husband, who is an Isis fighter from the Netherlands.

Dhakas ministry of foreign affairs said Ms Begum was not a Bangladeshi citizen and there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh.

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Mr Javid had earlier insisted that all citizenship deprivations were not only conducive to the public good, but legally proper and correct, and compliant with both international and any relevant domestic law.

He suggested that Ms Begum's baby will remain a British citizen, telling MPs: If a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child.

The shadow home secretary Diane Abbott highlighted that Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says everyone has the right to a nationality and that no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality.

The number of people stripped of British citizenship for the public good has soared by more than 600 per cent in a year.

Ms Begum is one of more than 150 people subjected to the measure since 2010, with the number rocketing from 14 people in 2016 to 104 in 2017.
The Jamaican high commissioner has called on the UK government to halt deportations to the country until matters over Windrush and other immigration issues are resolved.

Commissioner Seth George Ramocan told relatives of deportees on a recent charter flight to Jamaica that he would be holding talks with his government and the Home Office about the unlawful removal of people who are entitled to be in Britain.

Twenty-nine individuals were deported to Jamaica on 6 February in a move that was described as a slap in the face for Britains Caribbean community, 10 months after the Windrush scandal broke last April.

It has since emerged that  while the home secretary claimed all deportees had been found guilty of very serious crimes such as murder and rape  the majority had been convicted of lesser crimes such as drug offences and dangerous driving.

Many had also come to Britain as children, and some had children of their own who were born in the UK.

During a highly charged meeting at the Jamaican embassy on Thursday, parents, children and partners of those deported, and those who remain at risk of deportation, gave emotional accounts of losing their loved ones and their fears for the future.

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

The mother of one man on the flight explained how her son had arrived in Jamaica with no one to care for him.

"He came here when he was 11. All of our children who came here when they were young should be here. This is degrading. Our children need to come back," she said.

A girl aged 12 told of the traumatising effect of witnessing immigration officers break down the door to her family door at 5am to arrest her father, who narrowly avoided deportation earlier this month.

"Having to say bye to my dad when he's in handcuffs just hurts my heart. My dad is an innocent man and he has done his time so there is no need for him to be re-detained again and again," she said.

Speaking at the meeting after hearing the personal accounts, the high commissioner said: We need to look into whether people are descendants of the Windrush generations, and know that the lessons learned team have done their work.

"All of that is in process right now and I think it is only reasonable that we allow the process to be completed, because we may very well be deporting people who are entitled to be here, he said.

We also need to look at cases of people who have been here since they were children and people who have mental issues. These should all be considered. We need to look concretely at what happens in these cases.

Lawyers and campaigners called on the high commissioner to do more to coordinate with the Home Office ahead of removal or deportation flights to ensure that due process is followed.

They also highlighted that while the Home Office considers Jamaica to be a safe country, deportees often face attacks on returning to the island because they are immediately perceived as serious criminals.

An unknown but significant number of those who were due to be deported on the 6 February flight were granted a last-minute reprieve following widespread media attention and intervention from lawyers.

Karen Doyle, of the campaign group Movement for Justice, backed the commissioners calls to suspend charter flights, describing a structural injustice at the heart of charter flight system.

She added: This is not about individuals its about an evil system  this system is flawed. There needs to be a serious investigation of the facts.

A Home Office spokesperson said: The UK, like many other countries, uses charter flights to return people to their country of origin where they no longer have a right to remain.

The law requires that we seek to deport foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK. This ensures we keep the public safe.
A man who was physically and mentally abused over a three-year period by his ex-girlfriend said he would have died if police hadnt found him.

Alex Skeel, 22, recently shared his story of domestic violence in a BBC documentary Abused By My Girlfriend, where he described the horrific details of the abuse he endured at the hands of Jordan Worth, the mother of his two children.

On Thursday, Skeel, from Bedfordshire, appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss the pervasiveness of domestic abuse, as well as the reasons victims find it difficult to leave, and warning signs people can look out for.

According to Skeel, who said he received many offers to tell his story after his ordeal went public, he decided to share because he knows that there is a lot of people out there suffering how I did and I didnt want one more person to suffer even a percent of how I felt.

The 22-year-old father also explained that despite suffering abuse nearly the entire relationship, he never really thought about leaving because he was thinking about his childrens safety.

Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Show all 4 1 /4 Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta with her son, William, in hospital recovering from the shooting Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta shared a picture of her home after her ex-husband shot her and her father, Robert Ranta Kate Ranta Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta in hospital recovering from the shooting Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Gun violence and domestic abuse activist Kate Ranta

It was survival mode, Skeel told the hosts. I was genuinely just waiting to die.

I kept hoping one less hit on the head or one less stab or I didnt get boiling water because if that was the case, it would be a far better day than the day before.

Alex Skeel discusses domestic abuse on Good Morning Britain (GMB)

Skeel also recalled the warning signs in his relationship, which started early on - such as when Worth would disappear when the pair was away on holiday before reappearing laughing in the reception area.

From there, Worths behaviour gradually grew more controlling and abusive.

It escalated and escalated, Skeel said.

Skeel was eventually rescued in June 2017 when officers from Bedfordshire responded to a call from a concerned neighbour whod overheard screaming.

According to Skeel, the police intervention saved his life.

When asked what would have happened to him if police hadnt come, Skeel said: I would have died.

Ive worked it out, a thousand times I was hit on the head and I never had a fracture on my skull but what if one of them gave me brain damage or a stab on my wrist was a little bit to the left and hit the main artery. Anything could have happened but I wouldnt be here now if it werent for them.

Disturbingly, Skeels experience is not unique.

According to Mark Brooks of the Mankind Initiative, who appeared on GMB alongside Skeel, domestic violence is far more common than we think and one man in every six will suffer domestic abuse.

Men also make up one in three of all victims, Brooks said.

As for what can be done to help victims in domestic abuse situations, Brooks said friends and family need to be aware of red flags - such as complete isolation of their loved one, changes in behaviour, and changes in physical demeanor.

When police found Skeel, he had burns from having scalding water poured on him, knife wounds from a bread knife, and various other injuries from being hit repeatedly by things such as hammers and hairbrushes by Worth.

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In April 2018, Worth was convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour and grievous bodily harm and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

For more information on domestic violence, you can go to http://www.resolution.org.uk/.
It has puzzled them since the days of Charles Darwin, but now scientists have established why Zebras have stripes - and it's not just for looks. They also stop blood-sucking flies from landing on the animal and protect them from deadly diseases, according to new research.

To test the theory they put striped coats on horses and found that fewer flies landed on them, than when they wore single-colour coats.

We showed that horse flies approach zebras and uniformly coloured horses at similar rates but that they fail to land on zebras  or striped horse coats  because they fail to decelerate properly, said behavioural ecologist Tim Caro, who led the research which was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The insects either flew past or bumped into them and bounced off, he added.

Previous theories have suggested stripes evolved in zebras because they helped with temperature regulation, camouflaged them from predators or performed a social function, such as individual recognition.

Wildlife photographer of the year Show all 26 1 /26 Wildlife photographer of the year Wildlife photographer of the year A polar bear's struggle - Highly Commended Justins whole body pained as he watched this starving polar bear at an abandoned hunter's camp, in the Canadian Arctic, slowly heave itself up to standing. With little, and thinning, ice to move around on, the bear is unable to search for food. Justin Hofman / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Curious Encounter - Shortlisted Cristobal Serrano, Spain. Any close encounter with an animal in the vast wilderness of Antarctica happens by chance, so Cristobal was thrilled by this spontaneous meeting with a crabeater seal off of Cuverville Island, Antarctic Peninsula. These curious creatures are protected and, with few predators, thrive. Cristobal Serrano / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Bond of brothers - Winner David Lloyd, New Zealand / UK. These two adult males, probably brothers, greeted and rubbed faces for 30 seconds before settling down. Most people never have the opportunity to witness such animal sentience, and David was honoured to have experienced and captured such a moment.The picture was taken in Ndutu, Serengeti, Tanzania. David Lloyd / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Fox meets fox - Highly Commended Matthew Maran, UK. Matthew has been photographing foxes close to his home in north London for over a year and ever since spotting this street art had dreamt of capturing this image. After countless hours and many failed attempts his persistence paid off. Matthew Maran / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Three Kings - Highly Commended Wim Van Den Heever, South Africa. Wim came across these king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands just as the sun was rising. They were caught up in a fascinating mating behaviour the two males were constantly moving around the female using their flippers to fend the other off. Wim Van Den Heever / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year One toy, three dogs - Highly Commended Bence Mate, Hungary. While adult African wild dogs are merciless killers, their pups are extremely cute and play all day long. Bence photographed these brothers in Mkuze, South Africa they all wanted to play with the leg of an impala and were trying to drag it in three different directions! Bence Mate / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Clam Close-up - Shortlisted David Barrio, Spain. This macro-shot of an iridescent clam was taken in the Southern Red Sea, Marsa Alam, Egypt. These clams spend their lives embedded amongst stony corals, where they nest and grow. It took David some time to approach the clam, fearing it would sense his movements and snap shut! David Barrio / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year The Orphaned Beaver - Shortlisted Suzi Eszterhas, United States. A one-month-old orphaned North American beaver kit is held by a caretaker at the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center in Arlington, Washington. Luckily it was paired with a female beaver who took on the role of mother and they were later released into the wild. Suzi Eszterhas / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Ice and Water - Shortlisted Audun Lie Dahl, Norway. The Brasvellbreen glacier moves southwards from one of the ice caps covering the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Where it meets the sea, the glacier wall is so high that only the waterfalls are visible, so Audun used a drone to capture this unique perspective Audun Lie Dahl / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Teenager - Shortlisted Franco Banfi, Switzerland. Franco was free diving off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea when he witnessed this young male sperm whale trying to copulate with a female. Unfortunately for him her calf was always in the way and the frisky male had to continually chase off the troublesome calf. Franco Banfi / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Resting Mountain Gorilla - Shortlisted David Lloyd. The baby gorilla clung to its mother whilst keeping a curious eye on David. He had been trekking in South Bwindi, Uganda, whenhe came across the whole family. Following them, they then stopped in a small clearing to relax and groom each other. David Lloyd / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Painted Waterfall - Shorltisted Eduardo Blanco Mendizabal, Spain. When the sun beams through a hole in the rock at the foot of the La Foradada waterfall, Catalonia, Spain, it creates a beautiful pool of light. The rays appear to paint the spray of the waterfall and create a truly magical picture. Eduardo Blanco Mendizabal / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year The Extraction - Shortlisted Konstantin Shatenev, Russia. Every winter, hundreds of Steller's sea eagles migrate from Russia, to the relatively ice-free northeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan. They hunt for fish among the ices floes and also scavenge, following the fishing boats to feed on any discards. Konstantin took his image from a boat as the eagles retrieved a dead fish thrown onto the ice. Konstantin Shatenev / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Shy - Shortlisted Pedro Carrillo, Spain. The mesmerizing pattern of a beaded sand anemone beautifully frames a juvenile Clarkii clownfish in Lembehstrait, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Known as a 'nursery' anemone, it is often a temporary home for young clownfish until they find a more suitable host anemone for adulthood. Pedro Carrillo / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Red, Silver and Black - Shortlisted TinMan Lee, USA. Tin was fortunate enough to be told about a fox den in Washington State, North America, which was home to a family of red, black and silver foxes. After days of waiting for good weather he was finally rewarded with this touching moment. Tin Man Lee / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Isolated - Shortlisted Anna Henly, UK. Snapped from a helicopter, this isolated tree stands in a cultivated field on the edge of a tropical forest on Kauai, Hawaii. The manmade straight lines of the ploughed furrows are interrupted beautifully by natures more unruly wild pattern of tree branches. Anna Henly / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Sound Asleep - Shortlisted Tony Wu, USA. This adult humpback whale balanced in mid-water, headon and sound asleep was photographed in Vavau, Kingdom of Tonga. The faint stream of bubbles, visible at the top, is coming from the whales two blowholes and was, in this instance, indicative of an extremely relaxed state. Tony Wu / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year All That Remains - Shortlisted Phil Jones, UK. A male orca had beached itself about a week before Phils visit to Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands. Despite its huge size the shifting sands had almost covered the whole carcass and scavengers, such as this striated caracara, had started to move in. Phil Jones / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Ambush - Shortlisted Federico Veronesi, Kenya. On a hot morning at the Chitake Springs, in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Federico watched as an old lioness descended from the top of the riverbank. Shed been lying in wait to ambush any passing animals visiting a nearby waterhole further along the riverbed. Federico Veronesi / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Gliding - Shortlisted Christian Vizl, Mexico. With conditions of perfect visibility and beautiful sunlight, Christian took this portrait of a nurse shark gliding through the ocean off the coast of Bimini in the Bahamas. Typically these sharks are found near sandy bottoms where they rest, so its rare to see them swimming. Christian Vizl / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Otherworldly - Shortlisted A school of Munk's devil ray were feeding on plankton at night off the coast of Isla Espiritu Santo in Baja California, Mexico. Franco used the underwater lights from his boat and a long exposure to create this otherworldly image. Franco Banfi / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year The Bats Wake - Shortlisted Antonio Leiva Sanchez, Spain. After several months of field research into a little colony of greater mouse-eared bats in Sucs, Lleida, Spain, Antonio managed to capture this bat mid-flight. He used a technique of high speed photography with flashes combined with continuous light to create the wake. Antonio Leiva Sanchez / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Under the Snow - Shortlisted Audren Morel, France. Unafraid of the snowy blizzard, this squirrel came to visit Audren as he was taking photographs of birds in the small Jura village of Les Fourgs, France. Impressed by the squirrels endurance, he made it the subject of the shoot. Audren Morel / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Unique Bill - Shortlisted Rob Blanken, The Netherlands. The pied avocet has a unique and delicate bill, which it sweeps like a scythe, as it sifts for food in shallow brackish water. This stunning portrait was taken from a hide in the northern province of Friesland in The Netherlands. Rob Blanken / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year Family Portrait - Shortlisted Connor Stefanison, Canada. A great grey owl and her chicks sit in their nest in the broken top of a Douglas fir tree in Kamloops, Canada. They looked towards Connor only twice as he watched them during the nesting season from a tree hide 50 feet (15 metres) up. Connor Stefanison / Natural History Museum Wildlife photographer of the year A dog jumps to catch a disc during a dog frisbee competition in Poznan via REUTERS

The idea that stripes help zebras thwart biting flies has previously been suggested and Mr Caro said it was the only one that "stands up to scrutiny."

He added: "Most biologists involved with research on mammal colouration accept that this is the reason that zebras have stripes."

African horse flies carry diseases such as trypanosomiasis and African horse sickess, which can cause wasting and can be fatal.

We think theres a real strong selective pressure against being bitten because it could be a matter of life or death, University of Bristol biologist and the study's co-author Martin How Dr Martin How told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

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Researchers recorded horse flies as they attempted to prey on captive zebras and domestic horses at a livery in North Somerset, England.

Although stripes did not deter flies from a distance, they landed on zebras less than a quarter as often as they did on horses.

Zebras are close cousins to horses and donkeys and their distinctive stripe patterns are unique to each individual.

 Rare cross between donkey and zebra known as zonkey born on Somerset farm

The research could also be useful for humans who want to avoid being bitten by some insects.

We found that while we were doing our research, if we wore dark black clothing we tended to get attacked far more often by the horse flies than if we wore stripes, Dr How said.

In addition to their stripes, zebras exhibited more preventative behaviour towards horse flies, such as running away or tail swishing at a far higher rate than horses.

"Zebras are constantly swishing their tail and may run off if horse flies do land successfully, so they are also using behavioural means to prevent flies probing for blood," Mr Caro said.

The researchers are now conducting tests to see what it is exactly about stripes that stops flies, by testing coats with different patterns, contrasts and thickness.

Agencies contributed to this report
Ancient volcanoes may have triggered a period in Earths history when temperatures plummeted and the planet turned into a giant snowball, according to scientists.

Remains of lava flows unearthed in Mexico revealed previously unknown volcano activity that appears to have played a role in massive fluctuations in global temperature.

The discovery of these 600 million year old rocks helps explain a period of the planets history when its surface froze and became covered in glaciers.

Volcanoes are a critical component in the systems that keep the Earths temperature swinging between periods of heat and cold over millions of years.

Mass eruptions belch out huge quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, causing short-term global warming by the same mechanism as greenhouse gas emissions from human sources.

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

However, this effect is then balanced out as the rocks that form from cooling lava break down, and the minerals within them react with CO2.

While the weathering process of rocks takes millions of years, it effectively locks the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere and makes temperatures dip.

That guarantees long-term stability of Earths temperate surface conditions in comparison to the hostile environment of its cosmic neighbours, hot Venus and cold Mars, said Professor Axel Schmitt of Heidelberg University.

Professor Schmitt said a disturbance in the equilibrium between the two processes has taken place at various points in Earths history causing it to resemble a snowball from space.

Over timescales of millions to tens of millions of years, the weathered rocks can sequester sufficient CO2 to plunge Earths climate into an extreme ice age, he said.

After studying sheets of Mexican rock that are the only remnants of long-eroded lava flows in the region, Professor Schmitt and his colleagues found they were identical to other rocks found in Canada and Norway.

Dating of rare minerals found in the rock revealed the sheets were the same age as those found whole continents away.

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The discovery of such an enormous stretch of ancient lava flow suggests this could have been the trigger for temperatures plummeting around 40 million years later in an event known as the Gaskiers glaciation.

The new findings were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

While the ability of some minerals to absorb CO2 and cool global temperatures is well established, harnessing this to tackle climate change has limited potential due to the long timescale it operates on.

However, there have been some efforts by scientists to speed up the process in order to suck some of the climate-warming gas from the atmosphere.
British oak trees are under threat from a disease known as acute oak decline (AOD). Mainly affecting mature trees, it can kill them within four to five years of symptoms appearing.

However, while researchers like myself have been looking into what causes it, and trying to find a way to prevent it, our work has been hindered in part by the fact that we have to follow a set of scientific rules known as Kochs postulates.

For more than 100 years, scientists have identified which single organism causes a disease according to these postulates. However, more recent research into both plant and animal illnesses has shown that these are too strict, and that we need to start considering how multiple bacteria interact to cause a disease in what is called a pathobiome.

A pathobiome is essentially a community of interacting bacteria that together cause a disease in animals and plants.

AOD, for example, arises from several bacteria which together degrade the trees vascular tissues, preventing transport of water and nutrients to the branches and leaves. We have recently identified two bacteria as causative agents of AOD  Brenneria goodwinii and Gibbsiella quercinecans  while others, including Lonsdalea britannica and Rahnella species, have been detected, although their role is currently unclear.

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Alone, the bacteria which form the pathobiome are harmless, or are less severe. But when alongside other organisms the likelihood, incidence and severity of disease is increased. This gives rise to emergent property, meaning that the disease causing property is greater than the sum of the combined organisms.

The postulates problem

Prior to the pioneering work of 19th-century German biologist Robert Koch, the causes of disease were unknown. In 1890, building on the work of scientists Louis Pasteur and John Snow, Koch identified his postulates as standardised guidelines to prove disease causation. These are:

The parasite occurs in every case of the disease in question and under circumstances which can account for the pathological changes and clinical course of the disease. The parasite occurs in no other disease as a fortuitous and non-pathogenic parasite. After being fully isolated from the body and repeatedly grown in pure culture, the parasite can induce the disease anew.

The postulates were later adapted to incorporate viruses, and the occurrence of asymptomatic carriers  individuals who are infected but present no symptoms, such as Typhoid Mary.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. 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An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. 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In the 1980s, the postulates were extended again, to acknowledge the discovery that a single gene can be responsible for disease. Pathologists have since exploited this discovery to find that removing a gene from a bacterial cells DNA causes it to lose its disease-causing abilities.

Bacterial communities

However, as mentioned above, bacterial diseases in both animals and plants are increasingly being recognised as being caused by a community of bacteria and not a single organism. In Bangladesh, a 2014 study investigated why some people fall dangerously ill with cholera (caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae) while others have much reduced symptoms. It was found that the bacterial species Ruminococcus obeum is highly abundant in those who have recovered from the disease  because it was able to outcompete V cholerae using a communication system known as quorum sensing.

V cholerae mass in the human gut by releasing small diffusible molecules, which talk to other bacteria and recruit them to the site in large concentrations. But R obeum disrupts V cholerae signalling by releasing its own signal, which prevents V cholerae from reaching sufficient quantities to release toxins and cause disease. This means that the human guts bacterial community can dictate whether an individual falls victim to cholera or remains healthy.

Like humans, plants host multiple species of bacteria. They form intricate host-bacterial relationships which can be beneficial, passive or detrimental to plant health. Plants can directly shape their resident bacteria in favour of growth promoting species, by releasing hormones into the soil which encourage colonisation. But unhealthy plants are less able to do this  which leads to a changed community of resident microbes that can contribute to disease.

The opportunistic human and plant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, for example, colonises and persists in host environments which would have previously been protected by the immune system or excluded from the environment by resident bacteria. This makes disease causation difficult to prove under the postulates as the passive bacterium can only cause disease in an already compromised host.

Taken together, it becomes clear why we need to start considering the pathobiome as a central factor in disease. Each bacterium can cause different levels of disease according to whether other bacteria are present, and the level of disease can be measured on a scale. Perhaps scientists need a new set of postulates, ones which take into account the accumulated knowledge from the more than 100 years of scientific research since Kochs original work.

James Doonan is a postdoctoral research officer at Bangor University. This article first appeared on The Conversation
It is odd that the two main parties should be splintering now. It looks as if the imminent crunch of leaving the EU has finally forced party loyalties to break. But the paradox is that, as Anna Soubry admitted, none of this weeks defections changes the parliamentary arithmetic on Brexit. What is more, the last thing this country needs is a general election to change that arithmetic, Soubry added.

But the causes of the defections from both main parties go beyond Brexit, and the implications of the launch of the Independent Group of MPs are more for Jeremy Corbyn than for the prime minister.

After all, the Conservative Party doesnt intend to fight the next election under Theresa Mays leadership, whereas Labour Party members are eager and hopeful to see Corbyn try to repeat the trick of exceeding expectations that he pulled off last time.
Barclays has set aside 150m to prepare for Brexit-related disruption, following similar announcements from HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland in recent days.

The British bank said the provision was to deal with a predicted slowdown in economic growth to 0.3 per cent and a spike in unemployment ot 5.7 per cent. The scenario is the better of two possible Brexit outcomes the Bank has planned for.

Stripping out legal costs and conduct charges, Barclays' profit before tax for 2018 rose 20 per cent to 5.7bn.

However, reported profits annual profits edged 1 per cent lower to 3.5bn due to conduct and legal charges. Shares rose 4 per cent on Thursday morning.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Brexit casts a shadow over valuations of all banks at present.

Indeed Brexit uncertainty has prompted Barclays to put aside 150m in case of deteriorating economic conditions in the UK.

That could prove to be insufficient or over-cautious, depending on proceedings in Westminster and Brussels.

Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Show all 5 1 /5 Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Jaguar Land Rover Britain's largest automotive manufacturer announced in January that it plans to cut 4500 jobs from its 40,000 workforce Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Nissan The Japanese car company announced early in February that it would no longer be making the new X-trail model at its Sunderland factory Getty Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Honda Honda has announced that it is planning to close its Swindon plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Michelin Michelin announced in November that it will close its Dundee tyre factory which employs over 800 people by 2020 PA Car manufacturers cutting UK jobs Schaeffler Shchaeffler's Llanelli plant is to close by the end of 2019. The company provides automotive and and industrial parts worldwide and the Llanelli plant employs over 200 people. Juergen Ziegler, chief executive for Europe, said that while Brexit was not the only factor, it has "brought forward" the decision to relocate Google

Therein lies the puzzle of the UK banking sector which explains lowly share prices; like Schrodingers cat, no-ones quite sure what state its in.

HSBC said this week that economic uncertainty in the UK had meant more of its loans had gone bad in 2018 than expected.

The longer we have the uncertainty the worse it's going to be for the customers, chief executive John Flint said on Tuesday.

Customers are absolutely postponing investment decisions and that's been the part of this slowdown that we have seen in the UK.

RBS also warned on Friday that Brexit risks lowering demand for loans while increasing the number of defaults. The majority taxpayer-owned lender has set aside 100m to prepare for disruption as the UK leaves the EU.

Barclayss reported profits were reduced by 2.2bn of legal and conduct costs, including a 1.4bn settlement with US authorities over its sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis and 400m for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling.

Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, said: 2018 represented a very significant period for Barclays.

In the course of the year, having resolved major legacy issues and reduced the drag from low returning businesses, we started to see the earnings potential of the bank, as the strategy we have implemented began to deliver.

Mr Staley was paid 3.4m for 2018 down from 3.9m in 2017 after 500,000 of previous bonuses was clawed back because of his attempts to uncover a whistleblower.

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Six Barclays employees took home more than 6m last year and 430 earned over 1m.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered announced on Thursday that it has put by $900m (688m) for fines relating to investigations in the UK and the US stretching back more than a decade.

The provision includes a fresh 102.2bn penalty from the UKs Financial Conduct Authority, while also covering historical violations of US sanctions laws. Standard Chartered is in ongoing talks with US authorities over alleged sanctions breaches.
Nasa is well on its way to finding alien life, its boss has said.

The space agency is involved in a whole host of projects looking for traces of life elsewhere in the solar system, and has regularly speculated on how far away it might be discovering it.

On various planets and places throughout the universe, it has said there might be the possibility that life could flourish. But now it says that it is getting close to actually detecting traces of life.

As the space agency said goodbye to the Opportunity rover  which helped show that Mars is more active and interesting than we might have suspected  administrator Jim Bridenstine said that Nasa would continue to search for such life.

And, he said, it wasnt that long away from discovering it. Future missions should allow scientists to collect samples from the Martian surface and hopefully bring them back to Earth, allowing them to look through in the hope of finding biosignatures left behind by living things.

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

Were going to be able to look at samples and determine if theres a biosignature in there, Bridenstine said in comments first reported by Space.com. The goal is to discover life on another world; thats what were trying to achieve. And because of so many great people in this room, friends, we are well on our way to doing that.

Recommended Nasa says goodbye to Mars rover with touching final message

He noted that a whole host of observations from Mars showed that it could be a promising place for life to have once lived  or still be. It has been found to have the building blocks of life in complex organic molecules, as well as water floating beneath its surface.

Nasa hasnt ever found evidence that life exists or even could exist on Mars or anywhere else in the universe. But they do suggest that it could be a better than expected place for it to be, and makes the discovery more likely.

All of these things collude to say there is a lot we need to learn, and friends, were going to do it quickly, Bridenstine said.
Silvia Venturini Fendi cried as she took an emotional bow at the end of the Fendi autumn/winter 2019 show following the death of Karl Lagerfeld.

After model Gigi Hadid closed the show, an emotional Venturini Fendi - who is the granddaughter of Fendi's founders and creative director for accessories, menswear, and children - walked out onto the runway to the applause of the attendees.

As she left, a screen played a video of Lagerfeld sketching the outfit he wore on his first day working at Fendi in 1965.

In the clip, the camera focussed in on the sketch as the German-born designer can be heard describing his ensemble in the image which featured a Norfolk jacket, French style culottes, boots and a bag.

"I found [it] in Milan," he said of the accessory.

All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Show all 14 1 /14 All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Gigi Hadid AFP/Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Kaia Gerber AFP/Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Olivia Palermo Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Olivia Culpo Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Alessandra Airo Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Bella Hadid AFP/Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Adut Akech AFP/Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Sita Abellan Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Lee Sung Kyung Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Xenia Adonts Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Jasmine Sanders Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Amy and Aya Suzuki Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Caroline Vreeland Getty Images All the celebrities at Fendi's autumn/winter 2019 runway show Valentina Ferragni and Chiara Ferragni Getty Images

Ahead of the show, Fendi described the collection as a love letter to Karl Lagerfeld.

Gigi Hadid closes the Fendi autumn/winter 2019 runway show. (AFP/Getty Images)

Each attendee at the show was greeted with a card on their seat featuring the date the designer passed away (19 February) alongside his signature.

The show notes for the collection also noted a number of references to Lagerfeld including pointed shirt collars and the use of his curling Karligraphy FF logo that appeared on cabochon buttons and intarsia fur.

Venturini Fendi also penned a heartwarming message on the cards, writing: The bond between Karl Lagerfeld and Fendi is fashions longest love story, one that will continue to touch our lives for years to come.

Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Show all 13 1 /13 Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs 70s chic at Chloe Before he worked at Chanel, Lagerfeld designed for bohemian-inspired label Chloe. Here, he's pictured alongside a model ahead of showcasing his spring ready-to-wear collection in 1974 for the French fashion house. While there, Lagerfeld became renowned for cementing the label's romantic roots via bold prints and flowing dresses. Rex Features Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs His first collection for Chanel Lagerfeld presented his first collection for Chanel in January 1983, which was widely praised by the press at the time for reinvigorating the brand by bringing hemlines up and adding some pizzazz to the label's accessory line. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The power suit Thanks to Chanel, the suit has become one of the most adored silhouettes during the 21st Century, with a focus on bolero jackets, tweeds, and chiffons. Following years experimenting with denim, faux rips, hot pants, and concrete beads on the suits, for his spring/summer 2016 haute couture collection the designer hinted at the brands focus on sustainability, adorning one suit from the collect with finely cut pieces of wood. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The interlocking logo It's one of the most recognisable logos in the world, but the famous interlocking "C" logo might not be on Chanel's products today had it not been for Lagerfeld. The designer modernised the label when he took over as artistic director in 1983, proceeding to put the now-iconic logo on a whole host of Chanel garments and accessories. Some believe the double "c" stands for Coco Chanel, in reference to the brand's founder. But others claim it was inspired by a visit by Chanel herself to Chateau de Cremat in Nice, where she's believed to have attended several parties hosted by her friend, socialite Irene Brez. Here, the logo is seen on one of Chanel's most sought-after products: the chain-strap handbag. Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The pink ruffle gown It was the gown that sparked a thousand "oohs" and "aahs". Lagerfeld ended his spring/summer 2017 show with a thrilling ruffled pink gown as modeled by Lily Rose Depp, whose casting in the show was made all the more significant given that her mother, Vanessa Paradis, was also a model for the brand. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Fendi 'baguette' It is probably Fendi's most famous item. The slim, baguette bag was designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, who is the only family member still working at the Italian label. But under Lagerfeld's reign, it has become a cult fashion item, having been reworked season to season with new designs continuously emerging. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs CC-logo-ed guitar At Chanel's spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection, the designer sent one model down the runway carrying a CC-logo-ed guitar and matching case. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Dying Swan dress Lagerfeld might be better-known for his fashion designs, but he also dabbled in costume and produced this tutu for the English National Ballet in 2009 as part of a special production by the dance company Ballets Russes, for whom Coco Chanel was a benefactor. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The 'lampshade' dress Keira Knightley struck a distinctive silhouette in this Chanel dress, which she wore to Paris Fashion Week in 2014 to attend the brand's autumn/winter show. The corseted layer dress was from the brand's couture spring 2014 collection. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The multi-layered pearl necklace One of Lagerfeld's most contemporary contributions to Chanel was accessories. The multi-layered pearl necklace continues to be a prominent feature of his collections, and have been firm favourites among celebrities, too. In 2006, it even made an appearance in the cult fashion film "The Devil Wears Prada", in which it was worn by lead actor Anne Hathaway to illustrate her character's newfound fashionable taste. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Karl Lagerfeld x H&M collaboration In 2004, Lagerfeld was the first designer to collaborate with the Swedish retailer, who has been partnering with major fashion brands ever since. The collection prompted huge excitement among Lagerfeld's fans as they reveled in the fact that they could now purchase his designs as a lower price point. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The pregnant bride For the Chanel autumn 2014 couture show finale, Largerfeld walked hand-in-hand with a seven-month pregnant model down the catwalk. The model was dressed in a crepe de Chine dress with a gold, brocade cape and a line of buttons along the bodice. The models hair was teased into a quiff. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Cara Delevigne's space-age outfit for the Met Gala The model has been a Chanel muse for several years and chose to support the brand at the 2017 Met Gala by wearing a dramatic sci-fi-inspired suit. The suit featured a plunging neckline and bold shoulders, contrasting with the star's smooth metallic-painted silver bald head. The model-turned-actor accessorised the look with a dusting of silver body glitter and a wide silver belt at the waist.

I am profoundly saddened by his passing and deeply touched by his constant care and perseverance until the very end.

When he called just a few days before the shoot, his only thoughts were the richness and beauty of the collection.

Its a true statement to his character. He shall be so missed.

Vanessa Friedman, fashion director and chief fashion critic at The New York Times, who attended the Fendi autumn/winter 2019 show shared a number of sketches that are thought to be Lagerfelds last.

Others posted pictures of the set design which included a handwritten sign above the runway that read: Love Karl."

It has been suggested that Venturini Fendi will take the helm at the luxury fashion house. However this has not yet been confirmed.

A Fendi spokesperson told The Independent that the autumn/winter 2019/2019 collection was Largerfelds last.
The creative director of Gucci has paid tribute to the late Karl Lagerfeld.

On Wednesday, Alessandro Michele presented Guccis autumn/winter 2019 collection as the first show of Milan Fashion Week.

And, while the collection delivered on the brands usual eclectic take on high-fashion  it included everything from creepy face masks to gilded ear clips the passing of Chanels creative director didnt go unnoticed.

Speaking backstage after the show, Michele reminisced about his relationship with Lagerfeld, for whom he worked with at Fendi at the beginning of his career.

He was obsessed with everything, Michele told The Telegraph.

Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Show all 13 1 /13 Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs 70s chic at Chloe Before he worked at Chanel, Lagerfeld designed for bohemian-inspired label Chloe. Here, he's pictured alongside a model ahead of showcasing his spring ready-to-wear collection in 1974 for the French fashion house. While there, Lagerfeld became renowned for cementing the label's romantic roots via bold prints and flowing dresses. Rex Features Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs His first collection for Chanel Lagerfeld presented his first collection for Chanel in January 1983, which was widely praised by the press at the time for reinvigorating the brand by bringing hemlines up and adding some pizzazz to the label's accessory line. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The power suit Thanks to Chanel, the suit has become one of the most adored silhouettes during the 21st Century, with a focus on bolero jackets, tweeds, and chiffons. Following years experimenting with denim, faux rips, hot pants, and concrete beads on the suits, for his spring/summer 2016 haute couture collection the designer hinted at the brands focus on sustainability, adorning one suit from the collect with finely cut pieces of wood. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The interlocking logo It's one of the most recognisable logos in the world, but the famous interlocking "C" logo might not be on Chanel's products today had it not been for Lagerfeld. The designer modernised the label when he took over as artistic director in 1983, proceeding to put the now-iconic logo on a whole host of Chanel garments and accessories. Some believe the double "c" stands for Coco Chanel, in reference to the brand's founder. But others claim it was inspired by a visit by Chanel herself to Chateau de Cremat in Nice, where she's believed to have attended several parties hosted by her friend, socialite Irene Brez. Here, the logo is seen on one of Chanel's most sought-after products: the chain-strap handbag. Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The pink ruffle gown It was the gown that sparked a thousand "oohs" and "aahs". Lagerfeld ended his spring/summer 2017 show with a thrilling ruffled pink gown as modeled by Lily Rose Depp, whose casting in the show was made all the more significant given that her mother, Vanessa Paradis, was also a model for the brand. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Fendi 'baguette' It is probably Fendi's most famous item. The slim, baguette bag was designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi, who is the only family member still working at the Italian label. But under Lagerfeld's reign, it has become a cult fashion item, having been reworked season to season with new designs continuously emerging. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs CC-logo-ed guitar At Chanel's spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection, the designer sent one model down the runway carrying a CC-logo-ed guitar and matching case. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Dying Swan dress Lagerfeld might be better-known for his fashion designs, but he also dabbled in costume and produced this tutu for the English National Ballet in 2009 as part of a special production by the dance company Ballets Russes, for whom Coco Chanel was a benefactor. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The 'lampshade' dress Keira Knightley struck a distinctive silhouette in this Chanel dress, which she wore to Paris Fashion Week in 2014 to attend the brand's autumn/winter show. The corseted layer dress was from the brand's couture spring 2014 collection. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The multi-layered pearl necklace One of Lagerfeld's most contemporary contributions to Chanel was accessories. The multi-layered pearl necklace continues to be a prominent feature of his collections, and have been firm favourites among celebrities, too. In 2006, it even made an appearance in the cult fashion film "The Devil Wears Prada", in which it was worn by lead actor Anne Hathaway to illustrate her character's newfound fashionable taste. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The Karl Lagerfeld x H&M collaboration In 2004, Lagerfeld was the first designer to collaborate with the Swedish retailer, who has been partnering with major fashion brands ever since. The collection prompted huge excitement among Lagerfeld's fans as they reveled in the fact that they could now purchase his designs as a lower price point. Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs The pregnant bride For the Chanel autumn 2014 couture show finale, Largerfeld walked hand-in-hand with a seven-month pregnant model down the catwalk. The model was dressed in a crepe de Chine dress with a gold, brocade cape and a line of buttons along the bodice. The models hair was teased into a quiff. AFP/Getty Images Karl Lagerfeld's most iconic designs Cara Delevigne's space-age outfit for the Met Gala The model has been a Chanel muse for several years and chose to support the brand at the 2017 Met Gala by wearing a dramatic sci-fi-inspired suit. The suit featured a plunging neckline and bold shoulders, contrasting with the star's smooth metallic-painted silver bald head. The model-turned-actor accessorised the look with a dusting of silver body glitter and a wide silver belt at the waist.

He was mad about music and he always asked me what I was listening to. He called me The DJ because I always had some new music and hed play it very loud. It wasnt just music, Michele continued.

He was interested in everything. Being with him was sometimes like being with a very clever 14 year old. He had such a big enthusiasm for life.

Michele responded to the news of Lagerfelds passing earlier this week by posting a photograph of the designer alongside a black heart emoji on Instagram.

Tributes to the late designer have poured in from around the world since his passing on Tuesday, including designers Donatella Versace, Henry Holland and Caroline Rush, chief executive at the British Fashion Council, who said: We are deeply saddened to learn the news of Karl Lagerfelds passing today.

British Vogue editor Edward Enninful also released a statement to say he was deeply saddened to hear of Lagerfelds passing, while TV presenter-turned-designer Alexa Chung praised his wit and generosity.

Similarly, Chanel CEO Alain Wertheimer said: Thanks to his creative genius, generosity and exceptional intuition, Karl Lagerfeld was ahead of his time, which widely contributed to the House of Chanels success throughout the world.

Today, not only have I lost a friend but we have all lost an extraordinary creative mind to whom I gave carte blanche in the early 1980s to reinvent the brand.

Fendi is expected to show the last collection designed by Lagerfeld at Milan Fashion Week on Thursday.
Icelandic authorities have announced plans to kill more than 2,000 whales over a five-year period, in a move that has angered environmental groups.

Despite a declining global market for whale meat and falling public support, the government opted to remain in defiance of the international ban on whaling.

Whalers will be authorised to harpoon 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales in Icelandic waters every year until 2023.

The nations fisheries minister, Kristjan Thor Juliusson, said these numbers were sustainable and based on the latest scientific research.

Last summer Iceland was at the centre of controversy after reports it had killed two rare blue/fin whale hybrids and at least a dozen pregnant females.

Tragic photos show beached whales Show all 15 1 /15 Tragic photos show beached whales Tragic photos show beached whales A dead sperm whale lies on Hunstanton beach in Norfolk on 5 February 2016 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Volunteers pour buckets of water over the 80 remaining live pilot whales found stranded on remote Ocean Beach on New Zealand's southern-most Stewart island, 8 January 2003 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Contractors clear away the body of one of the dead 48ft sperm whales that were washed-up on a beach near Gibraltar Point in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 2016 PA Tragic photos show beached whales People pass by a beached whale at the Pointe de la Torche, near Brest in France on 29 November 2011 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A woman touches the tail of a large whale carcass on Wattamola Beach at the Royal National Park in Sydney on 25 September 2018 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Beached humpback whale in California, 2015 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Dead long fin pilot whales at Hamelin Bay on Australia's west coast on 23 March 2009 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A 36ft sperm whale lies dead on the beach at Sutton Bridge, in The Wash, off the Lincolnshire coast, where it became stranded in 2004 PA Tragic photos show beached whales A female fin whale opens its mouth as it lies stranded and alive on the beach at Carlyon Bay, Cornwall on 13 August 2012 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales The lower jaw of a dead sperm whale that stranded itself on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales One of the five sperm whales that were found washed ashore on beaches near Skegness, Lincolnshire over the weekend on 25 January 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Employees at work to skin the remains of a beached 60ft whale on 25 January 2013 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Two long-finned pilot whales are stranded on a beach in the northern French city of Calais on 2 November 2015 AFP/Getty Tragic photos show beached whales A sperm whale lies dead after becoming stranded on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty Tragic photos show beached whales Crowds gather as a sperm whale lies dead after becoming stranded on a beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk on 5 February 2016 Getty

However, hopes that this bad press would bring an end to the practice were dashed with the latest announcement.

The Icelandic governments decision to continue to kill whales  amongst the most peaceful and intelligent beings on the planet  is morally repugnant as well as economically bankrupt, said Vanessa Williams-Grey, a campaigner for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Announcing its new quota, the government cited the economic benefits of whaling, as well as official figures showing populations of the once endangered fin whale were recovering.

During the most recent count in 2015, their population in the central North Atlantic was estimated at 37,000, or triple the number from 1987, it said in a statement.

This was supported by the recent conclusion by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that fin whale numbers were on the rise.

But given the uncertainty about global whale numbers and multiple threats facing these marine mammals, campaigners said this should not be taken as a green light for more hunting.

Authorities also pointed to recent reports, including one by an economist linked to the pro-whaling Independence Party, which found that whaling brought sizeable benefits to the Icelandic economy.

However, many in the country  including those involved in the whale tourism industry  have hit back at these claims and argued that whales are worth more alive than they are dead.

Whale watching revenue was 3.2 billion krona (20m) in 2017, while whaling only brought in 1.7 billion krona, according to a University of Iceland report.

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Along with Norway, Iceland has continued to challenge the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) ban on commercial whale hunting, which has been in place since 1987.

Japan has also defied these rules, although it has used a loophole that allows some whaling for scientific purposes, and at the end of 2018 the nation announced it would leave the IWC altogether.

The Independent has contacted the Icelandic government for comment.
Jussie Smollett staged his own attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary, according to police.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson spoke to the press on Thursday morning, delivering a powerful statement about the case in which Smollett is now accused of orchestrating and paying for his own assault.

According to Johnson, the Empire actor sent a racist and homophobic letter to himself at the Fox studio lot before the attack.

Smollett, who is accused of filing a false police report, was charged on Wednesday with felony disorder conduct, following three weeks of mounting speculation. He turned himself in at central booking early Thursday. The charge could bring up to three years in prison and force the actor to pay for the cost of the investigation.

While speaking to the press, Johnson accused Smollett of taking advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.

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

This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didnt earn and certainly didnt deserve, Johnson later added.

Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop at around 2 am on 29 January. The actor, who is black and gay, said they beat him, made racist and homophobic comments, poured some unknown chemical substance on him and looped a rope around his neck before fleeing.

Police say the investigation shifted after they questioned two brothers who were in the area that morning.

Actor Jussie Smollett (pictured in a mugshot) has been charged with disorder conduct. (Chicago PD)

Johnson said Smollett allegedly paid the brothers $3,500 to stage the attack, [dragging] Chicagos reputation through the mud in the process.

The superintendent, who acknowledged Chicagos problems and racial divide, said he was delivering his statement not only as the superintendent of the Chicago police department, but also as a black man whos spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago.

Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? Johnson later said during the news conference.

How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?

How can an individual who has been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims?

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The felony charge emerged on the same day detectives and the two brothers testified before a grand jury. Smolletts attorneys met with prosecutors and police, but it was unknown what they discussed or whether Smollett attended the meeting.

In a statement, attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked.

Additional reporting by agencies.
Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson made his film debut more than 40 years ago and returns to cinemas in February with Cold Pursuit.

A leading man in Schindlers List (1993) and Rob Roy (1995) and a quality supporting player for the likes of Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan, Neeson has done it all, appearing equally at home in lavish blockbusters such as George Lucass Star Wars prequels as he is playing a Portuguese Jesuit missionary tortured into apostasy in feudal Japan in Silence.

Most recently, he brought his suave authority to two of this awards seasons most critically acclaimed dramas: Steve McQueens Widows and the Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from Joel and Ethan Coen.

Aside from voice acting, his real bread-and-butter in recent times has been the action genre, in which he has led some of the most ludicrous mid-market thrillers ever shot, many with Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra at the helm.

Heres our selection of his 10 most implausible outings.

Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films Show all 10 1 /10 Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 10. Clash of the Titans (2010) This remake of the 1981 romp through the annals of Greek mythology replaced Ray Harryhausens celebrated stop-motion effects with iffy CGI. Neeson stands in for Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus and only an actor of his calibre could successfully suppress a smirk after bellowing: Release the Kraken! Warner Bros Pictures Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 9. The A-Team (2010) This reboot of the cult 1980s action series about a fugitive commando unit didnt particularly need to exist but when did that ever stop Hollywood? Neeson led the pack as cigar-chomping John Hannibal Lynch. Bradley Cooper has come a long way since. 20th Century Fox Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 8. Battleship (2012) Following the commercial success of Michael Bays Transformers (2007), executives naturally wondered which other toy franchises might be adapted into lucrative CGI blockbusters. This laboured expansion of the Hasbro travel game saw Neeson squandered as a disapproving admiral blasting alien ships in the Pacific. Only the presence of Rihanna redeems Battleship as a curiosity. Universal Pictures Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 7. A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) In this moodily directed (but cheap) serving of neo-pulp from Scott Frank, Neeson stars as haunted ex-cop turned unlicensed private eye Matthew Scudder. He is hired by a drug boss to find out who murdered his wife and is inevitably drawn into a tangled web of intrigue. See also Denzel Washingtons Equaliser franchise. Universal Pictures Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 6. Run All Night (2015) Jimmy The Gravedigger Conlon must save his son (Joel Kinnaman) after Ed Harriss grieving Irish mobster takes out a hit on him in revenge for the killing of his own boy. Jaume Collet-Serra delivers a pacey chase narrative with plenty of Danny Boy sentiment. Myles Aronowitz/Energy/Vertigo/Kobal/Rex Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 5. The Grey (2012) Joe Carnahans survival thriller casts Neeson into the snowbound Alaskan wilderness, his suicidal corporate marksman forced to fend off lupine adversaries after he and a team of anxious oil drillers are brought down in a plane crash. Universal Pictures Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 4. Taken (2008) The film that marked Neesons transition to lethal veteran with a very particular set of skills. In his original outing as ex-CIA man Bryan Mills for director Pierre Morrel, Neeson races to rescue his daughter kidnapped by Albanian traffickers in Paris. The original bad guys father seeks revenge in the sequel, before Mills is framed for the murder of his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) in the third. A fourth entry arrives later this year. The Mills family apparently has no luck whatsoever. Europa Corp/Kobal/Rex Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 3. Unknown (2011) Dr Martin Harris (Neeson) suffers a car accident in Berlin. Waking from a coma, he is shocked to find his wife (January Jones) no longer recognises him and that hes been replaced by an imposter. Collet-Serra here revives an atmosphere of Cold War paranoia and riffs on Roman Polanskis Frantic (1988). Warner Bros Pictures Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 2. The Commuter (2018) Everyman insurance salesman Michael MacCauley (Neeson) is tasked with finding a person who does not belong on a busy morning train in exchange for $75,000 cash prize by a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga), only to become embroiled in a murderous conspiracy. Jay Maidment/StudioCanal/Kobal/Rex Liam Neeson's 10 most ludicrous films 1. Non-Stop (2014) In what must be his silliest undertaking so far, Neeson plays Bill Marks, a US marshal on a transatlantic flight who receives threatening texts from a killer warning he will take out a passenger every 20 minutes unless a $150m ransom is paid. Trying to track down the terrorist, Marks finds himself the chief suspect. While these films often carry surprisingly-impressive supporting casts, having Julianne Moore slumming it here is surely luxury to the point of decadence. Gloriously ridiculous. Moviestore/Rex

Theyre still throwing serious money at me to do that stuff, the actor told an audience at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017, with refreshing honesty. Im like: Guys, Im sixty-f***ing-five. Audiences are eventually going to go: Come on.

Interpreted as a hint he was about to holster his Beretta for the final time, Neeson delighted fans when he subsequently clarifed the remark: Im going to be doing action movies until they bury me in the ground. I'm unretired.
USS Donald Cook en route to Black Sea

Dardanelles Strait - The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) began its north-bound transit of the Dardanelles Strait, en route to the Black Sea February 19 to conduct maritime security operations and enhance regional maritime stability, combined readiness, and naval capability with our NATO allies and partners in the region.

The ship last visited the Black Sea in January 2019, during which it visited Batumi, Georgia and conducted an exercise with two Georgian Coast Guard ships. During its time in port the ship's crew was warmly received by their Georgian hosts and were greeted on the pier with an arrival ceremony that included a traditional Georgian dance.

"Each visit here affords us the unique opportunity to work with our regional maritime partners," said Cmdr. Matthew Powel, commanding officer of Donald Cook. "The crew and I look forward to experiencing the rich history and culture in this region."

The ship's operations in the Black Sea will strengthen interoperability with NATO allies and partners and demonstrate collective resolve to Black Sea security under Operation Atlantic Resolve.

The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea consistent with the Montreux Convention and international law.

Donald Cook, forward-deployed at Naval Station Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
President Trump and Federal Chancellor Kurz of the Republic of Austria Before Bilateral Meeting

Washington, DC - Remarks by President Trump and Federal Chancellor Kurz of the Republic of Austria Before Bilateral Meeting:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hello, everyone. Thank you very much. And its great to be with the Chancellor of Austria. We have a tremendous relationship, long term, with Austria. And were going to be discussing numerous things  immigration  today. But were also discussing trade. We have a very big trade presence and a very good relationship on trade. We do a lot of business with each other.

And, Chancellor, its very nice to have you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please.

CHANCELLOR KURZ: Thank you, Mr. President, for receiving us here in the U.S., in the White House. Its a pleasure for my delegation and for me to be here.

Austria, as you probably know, is  compared to the U.S.  a very small country, but we are a beautiful country.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thats true.

CHANCELLOR KURZ: We are a, economically, quite strong country. You would probably say a great country. We are in the heart of the European Union, an active member state of the European Union. Its a small country. We need international cooperation, and therefore I hope that we can discuss now our bilateral relations, but also the relations between the European Union and the United States of America. Of course, trade and how we can gain economic growth for the U.S., but also for Europe. And probably international issues like Middle East, Korea 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

CHANCELLOR KURZ:  and probably also Russia. Thank you for receiving us.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Q Mr. President, are you going to impose auto tariffs on the Europeans?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, its something we certainly think about. Were trying to make a deal. Theyre very tough to make a deal with  the EU. Theyve been very difficult over a period of time  over many, many years. And so its something we think about, and were negotiating with them. If we dont make the deal, well do the tariffs.

Q The new report hasnt changed your mind about it at all? Theres a new report from the Commerce Department.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The new report is not that kind of a report. Its just really a study thats underway. Weve studied it very carefully. Weve seen the results. But the bottom-line result is whether or not we can make a deal with the EU thats fair. We lose about $151 billion trading with the EU. Thats a lot of money. And this has been going on for many years. They wouldnt meet with the Obama administration, and theyre meeting with us. So well see what happens. Well see what happens.

Q Mr. President, should the Mueller report be released when youre abroad next week?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thatll be totally up to the new Attorney General. Hes a tremendous man, a tremendous person, who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department. So thatll be totally up to him, the new Attorney  the new Attorney General, yes.

Q Should it be public? Should the report become public, do you think?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I guess, from what I understand, that will be totally up to the Attorney General. Okay?

Q Mr. President, on your push to decriminalize homosexuality, are you doing that? And why?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it?

Q Your push to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I dont know which report youre talking about. We have many reports.

Anybody else?

Q What do you expect the Austrian Chancellor to do in European policy?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, were just going to have a great meeting. We have a great relationship and our countries have a great relationship.

And hes a very young leader, I have to tell you. You are a young guy. Thats pretty good.

CHANCELLOR KURZ: But the problem with the age is getting better from day to day.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thats right. Someday you wont be saying it.

But we have a very good relationship and we have a great trade relationship, and thats pretty much what were going to be talking about today.

Q Are you considering replacing Dan Coats as your Director of National Intelligence?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I havent even thought about it.

Q Mr. President, you spoke to the Prime Minister of Japan today.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I did.

Q How hard is it going to be to get North Korea to completely, verifiably denuclearize, which I think you 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I spoke with  this morning, with Prime Minister Abe. I had a long conversation with him. We talked about the trip next week to Vietnam, which will be, I think, very successful. I think the first trip to Singapore was extremely successful.

Well be meeting with Chairman Kim for two days, and I think well accomplish a lot. We started off with a very good meeting, and I think well continue that along. I dont think this will be the last meeting by any chance, but I do think that the relationship is very strong.

When we started, as you know, there were a lot of problems. There was the missiles going all over. There were hostages that were being held. There were remains that we wanted to get back. There were many, many things. Now theres no nuclear testing, no missiles going up. And we have a good relationship  a very good relationship, Id say.

So I spoke with Prime Minister Abe of Japan about that, and we compared notes. And I think we are very much on the same wave length. It was a good meeting. A good conversation.

Q They seem very reluctant  the North Koreans  to denuclearize. Do you think youll be able to make any 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, I dont think theyre reluctant. I think they want to do something. But I  you know, youve been talking about this for 80 years. Theyve been talking about this for many, many years, and no administration has done anything. Theyve gotten taken to the cleaners. And I think we have a really meaningful relationship. Well see what happens.

The sanctions are on in full. As you know, I havent taken sanctions off. Id love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something thats meaningful on the other side.

But Chairman Kim and I have a very good relationship. I wouldnt be surprised to see something work out. I really believe that, as an economic power, because of its location in between. I mean, if you look on a map and you see Russia, China, and right in the middle of everything is South Korea, but North Korea right smack in the middle. So you have Russia, China, and then South Korea. And this is right in the middle. Tremendous potential for economic wellbeing, long term. And I think he understands that very well. I think he might understand that better than anybody.

So they have a great, great potential as a country, and I think thats what theyre looking to do. Well see. But weve made a lot of progress. Weve made a tremendous amount. That doesnt mean this is going to be the last meeting, because I dont believe it will. But we have subjects to discuss which will be very fruitful, I believe.

Q Do you have a comment on Andrew McCabe briefing McConnell and Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes, telling them about the investigation into you?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think Andrew McCabe has made a fool out of himself over the last couple of days, and he really looks to me like sort of a poor mans J. Edgar Hoover. Hes a  I think hes a disaster. And what he was trying to do was terrible and he was caught. Im very proud to say we caught him.

So well see what happens. But he is a disgraced man. He was terminated, not by me; he was terminated by others. The IG report was a disaster  a disaster, from his standpoint. Anybody reading the IG report would say, How could a man like this be involved with the FBI? And the FBI has some of the greatest people  some of the finest people youll ever meet. But this man is a complete disaster.

Thank you all very much.

Q Are you going to Japan, Mr. President? Are you going to Japan in May?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I will be, at a certain time.
Imperial Valley News Center

Mission to Mars

West Lafayette, Indiana - Decades after the last human set foot on the moon, NASA is contemplating setting up a permanent base there or sending astronauts to Mars. Accomplishing those goals, however, will require a few green thumbs.

The cost to send a pound of anything into low Earth orbit is estimated at about $10,000, and much more than that beyond. That makes sending food to feed astronauts for months extremely expensive. However, if they could grow their own food and use closed systems to recycle water and oxygen, trips to the moon and Mars would become much more feasible.

Thats where Purdues Cary Mitchell comes in. For more than 40 years, he has led efforts to improve human ability to grow food in space  from improving lighting for crops to testing the ability to grow leafy greens, fruits and vegetables that will keep astronauts nourished and satisfied on their long trips.

Mitchell began his career at Purdue interested in the effects of mechanical stresses on plant growth. He noticed that shaking a tomato plant caused it to dwarf, and touching the near side of a plants stem caused it to grow toward him. NASA invited him to speak at a symposium in the 1970s and eventually introduced him to the agencys new space biology program, which funded his research for an extended period.

We were looking at very basic questions back then. We wanted to know how plants would orient in space, for example. Without gravity, how would roots know to grow down and shoots up? said Mitchell, a professor of horticulture. Since then, weve spent a lot of time working on how to light plants in space and on particular varieties of plants that are feasible to grow there.

Soon, Mitchell became involved in more projects through NASAs Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) program, which had a goal of closing loops for advanced life support systems and using plants not only for food, but for production of oxygen and reclamation of water. While many scientists were interested in growing grains and protein, Mitchell thought astronauts might enjoy a fresh salad from time to time, so he focused on identifying lettuces that would grow well in the conditions one might find in a space shuttle or on a space station.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the space agency started NASA Specialized Centers of Research and Training (NSCORT). Mitchell led the universitys efforts and was instrumental in having the first and third NSCORTs led by Purdue. These centers brought together researchers in agriculture, engineering, and science to answer fundamental questions about advanced life support in space.

One of those fundamental questions is about how to light plants in space. The traditional supplemental lights used in greenhouses tend to be hot and consume significant amounts of energy. Plants in space need to be packed closely together since the growing area is at a premium. Mitchell thought there had to be a better way to get light to all parts of the plants, so he experimented with LED, or light-emitting diode, lights that could be placed under plants canopies.

Youre really limited in lighting plants overhead in space. When you have branching plants growing together, you get no light from overhead underneath, Mitchell said. We did the first proof of concept with blue and red LED lightsicles that could light plants from the side within the canopy. The LEDs were cool enough that you could touch them and they wouldnt scorch the plants. And they gave us 50 percent to 75 percent energy savings for the same growth.

Michell is working on LED arrays that focus light in specific places on plants to optimize energy use. Gioia Massa, who did postdoctoral research in Mitchells lab and assisted with this project, now works as a life sciences project scientist at NASAs Kennedy Space Center. They are working together with leafy greens and dwarf tomatoes, and astronauts on the International Space Station are taste-testing the fruits of their labor - literally.

Massa said Mitchell has been instrumental in many of the most important research areas regarding advanced life support and food in space.

Hes really been there from the beginning of space biology research and space horticulture research. Hes kind of the founding father in this area, Massa said. His research has changed over the years as new technology has become available, and he has been influential in deciding the direction of the field.
(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
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS), in condemning the move and has written to United Nations General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, and the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, urging them to strongly reject the use of journalists in Yemen as hostages and bargaining chips.

The journalists being referred to the court are Abdulkhaleq Ahmad Omran, Akram Saleh Al-Walidi, Al-Hareth Saleh Hameed, Tawfeeq Mohammed Al-Mansouri, Hisham Ahmad Tartoum, Hisham Abdulamalek Al-Yousefi, Haitham Abdulrahman Raweh, Issam Ameen Balgheith, Hassam Abdullah Anab and Salah Mohammed Al-Qaidi.

In its letter, the IFJ urges the UN special envoy to Yemen to bring their full authority and the powerful array of legal tools at their disposal to demand the immediate and non-negotiable release of them.

During the last four years of their illegal detention, those who hold them have broken all international conventions and norms on the treatment of prisoners. They were subjected to physical and psychological torture, denied health care, family visits and other basic needs. A few days ago, we were hopeful that their ordeal was coming to an end and that they would be reunited with their families and colleagues. Instead they are now facing an unjust and bogus court.

In October 2018 the IFJ launched a specific campaign on Yemen following our grave concerns about impunity of crimes against journalists. So far, 36 reporters have died in the country since 2011. The last one was Ziad al-Sharaabi, a cameraman killed in a bomb attack on January 28. In addition, 53 media workers have been kidnapped or arrested since the conflict began. Most of these crimes were perpetrated by the Ansar Allah and the government. Furthermore, according to IFJ and the YJS, 135 cases of press freedom violations were registered since January 2018 until the end of September of the same year.

In this context, the IFJ also requested the UN to pursue any investigation following the violations committed against the journalism community and press freedom in Yemen so that those responsible will face justice if necessary and the victims of these attacks would be secure full restitution.

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate made a statement yesterday condemning  The continuous repression of journalists, refusal to release them, fabricating false charges against them as well as the refusal of the Political Security Agency to allow union leaders and their defence team to visit them contradicting the orders of the chief judge of the criminal court to all the visit.

Safety is the major issue that journalists and media workers face when reporting in Yemen. For this reason, the IFJ and YJS have been working closely for years to improved safety and promote a culture of safety among journalists and the media in Yemen. The programme includes providing safety trainings for journalists. Over thirty journalists had the chance to participate in safety trainings in Taiz and Aden during the last two weeks, another workshop will take place in the south east of Yemen in the coming days.
IEA Chief Modeller Laura Cozzi launched the latest World Energy Outlook in Beijing on 23 January. The China launch brought together over 120 officials and experts drawn from government, academia and the power industry to discuss the latest global energy trends, and the outlook for the electricity.

During his opening remarks, Li Ye, Executive Director General of Chinas National Energy Agency noted the strong IEA-China relationship that has delivered key results across a range of important areas of reform for China including: power market reform, distributed energy, renewables and gas market design.

At the IEA Ministerial meeting in 2015, China became one of the first countries to activate Association status with the Agency. Since then the IEA and China have been working closely together to achieve energy reform in China. In 2017, the IEA and China agreed a Three Year Work programme to boost energy policy analysis, promote clean energy systems, build capacity on energy regulation, and improve exchange of data on renewable energy and other resources. The launch in Beijing was organised by the China Electricity Power Planning and Engineering Institute, which hosts IEAs China Liaison Office.

The IEAs work with China includes collaboration to draw upon best international practice in carbon emissions trading, and power market reforms that enables renewable energy to make a greater contribution to electricity supply. Work is ongoing with Chinese counterparts as the new Five Year Plan, and longer-term plans, are put in place to accelerate Chinas clean energy transition. The IEA will launch its latest work on Chinas Power System Reform in Beijing on 25 February.

The Chinese version of the WEO 2018 Executive Summary can be downloaded on the IEAs Chinese website.

IEA Chief Modeller Laura Cozzi (center) with staff of the IEA's China Liaison Office in Beijing (Photograph: IEA)
Ambassador Hiroshi Oe was welcomed today as the new Chair of the IEA Governing Board. Mr Oe is a career diplomat who has held a number of high-ranking positions including serving as Japans Chief Negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Ambassador Oe is the third Japanese national to serve as IEA Governing Board Chair in the Agencys 45-year history. He takes over the role from Mr Noe van Hulst, Hydrogen Envoy for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Netherlands.

It's a delight to welcome Ambassador Hiroshi Oe, said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEAs Executive Director, The entire IEA Family appreciates him taking on this responsibility during such a critical period for global energy markets.

As Governing Board Chair, Ambassador Oe will play a critical role in the IEAs first comprehensive modernisation programme since its creation in 1974. This effort which is now underway focuses on three pillars: opening the doors of the IEA to include major emerging countries; broadening the IEAs security mandate to natural gas and electricity as well as oil; and making the IEA the global hub for clean energy technologies and energy efficiency.
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Brexit uncertainty hits UK fishing industry

by Damon Embling

February 20,2019 | Source: euronews

Nestled off Scotlands west coast, the isle of Islay is rich fishing territory.



It sustains jobs, income for families and helps keep the islands economy alive.





Islay Crab Exports is a family-run business, exporting crabs, lobsters, scallops and winkles. The vast majority goes to other EU countries.



Brexit weighs heavy on the minds of bosses, who turn over almost seven million euros a year.



Most of our sales are going to France, Spain, Portugal," Fiona McFarlane, the company's Secretary, told Euronews. "So, a huge amount of our business is done with these countries. And all our workers are coming from Romania and Bulgaria, so this Brexit thing is going to have a huge impact on our company.



Under the European Unions Common Fisheries Policy, all European fishing fleets have equal access to EU waters. It's something that has become a battle-line in Brexit.



Britains fishing industry in general has long supported Brexit, with voices demanding the UK takes back control of its waters," Euronews' Damon Embling reported from Islay.



The thinking is that in the future, after Brexit, foreign vessels could still be allowed to fish in places like Scotland, but Britain would dictate the access.



In Scotland, its claimed 60 percent of what would be Scottish fish is currently caught by other EU nations.



But to maintain frictionless exports to the continent in future, restricting other European boats may well hit the rocks.



Companies like Islay Crab Exports fear a no-deal Brexit outcome could be devastating.



Im sure theres going to be a considerable extra cost for us. Theres going to be time delays with the transport, with all the customs controls, lots of extra paperwork, catch certificates, all sorts of things," said Fiona McFarlane.



To keep trading or not, who knows.



And, on what she hopes will now happen with Brexit, McFarlane said: Just get it sorted, as quickly and as easily as possible.



Gabriel Ilkov, 25, left his home in Bulgaria to process shellfish on Islay.



He's banking on Brexit allowing migrant workers like him to keep coming to the UK to earn money.



If they exit, I hope we will keep our work here, they will allow us to stay here," he told Euronews. "We are here because Bulgaria doesnt have so much work for us. The payment is not so good. And for young people like me, its hard to make a family.



Brexit could bring mixed fortunes for the fishing industry in Scotland and the rest of the UK. An industry that brings so much to communities like Islay.

 euronews 2019

Theme(s): Post Harvest Technology and Trade.
How local fishing communities in India are protecting the endangered olive ridley sea turtle

by BASUDEV MAHAPATRA

February 20,2019 | Source: LifeGate

Fishing communities in eastern India are setting an example by protecting endangered olive ridley marine turtles during their annual mating and nesting activities, and helping millions of tiny hatchlings reach the sea safely.



As the nesting season begins, the beach between Podampeta village in Ganjam district of Odisha, India, and the Bay of Bengal gets thickly dotted with thousands of olive ridley marine turtles. Female sea turtles visit the beach en masse for the annual nesting activity called arribada, which is a synchronised, large-scale nesting of sea turtles on any single beach.



Nearby beaches at Gokharkuda and Purunabandh villages also receive similar number of turtles that cover thousands of kilometres in the sea from the Indian Ocean to the coasts of the Bay of Bengal in Odisha, for mating and nesting activities. In 2018, beaches at the Rushikulya river mouth received nearly 500,000 mother turtles. This year, though, the activity is delayed at these places, maybe, because of changes in climatic and beach conditions.



The eastern Indian province of Odisha has three known mass nesting destinations. While the Gahirmatha and Rushikulya river mouths attract hundreds of thousands of turtles every year, regular sporadic events are spotted at the Devi river mouth. According to official estimations, Odisha witnessed the mass nesting of over 1.2 million female sea turtles in 2018.



As turtle nesting starts after midnight and continues until morning, threats to the turtles and their eggs from scavenging animals like dogs and birds including crows and kites are always around the corner. But activities can go on undisturbed thanks to local fishing communities who protect the eggs and help mothers return to the sea.



Trapped in the nets used by fishing trawlers, many of these mothers come with injuries in their legs and neck. We need to take care of such mothers, Magata, a volunteer from the fishing community says while helping an injured turtle.



As millions of hatchlings emerge from the sands after about 45 days of nesting, women, children and men of the communities come together to ensure that the hatchlings reach the sea before the sun goes high and the sand becomes too hot.



In the past these communities were predating on the marine turtles and their eggs, tells B. Chittamma, the leader of coastal fisherwomen. Now, they regulate the use of fishing nets and respect governments ban on fishing within five kilometres from the coast for seven months, from November till May.



We feel proud of these turtles. They have made our beaches important, says Sunita, a villager of Puruna Bandha near Rushikulya river mouth.

 LifeGate SpA

Theme(s): Others.
Iran to release 3 Jordanian fishermen

by Laith al-Junidi

February 20,2019 | Source: Anadolu Agency

Iran has released three Jordanian fishermen held by Tehran for violating the countrys territorial waters, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.



In a statement, ministry spokesman Sufian al-Qudah said Iranian authorities informed the Jordanian Embassy in Tehran with the decision.



The fishermen had been held by Tehran since late 2018 for entering the countrys territorial waters.



The spokesman said the fishermen were only fined for illegally entering and fishing within Iranian territorial waters.

Theme(s): Communities and Organisations.
Indonesia invites Japanese firms to invest in fish shipment

February 14,2019 | Source: Eleven Myanmar

The government has invited Japanese companies to invest in fish shipment and cold storage services to take advantage of Indonesias growing fish production, especially in the eastern part of the country.



The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry held a meeting recently with 13 Japanese companies, including trading company Hanwa, temperature-controlled logistics company Nichirei Logistics Group and logistics transport provider PT Seino Indomobil Logistics Services.



The meeting was part of a visit organized by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), which assisted the companies in exploring investment opportunities in Indonesia.



After the meeting, Rifky Effendi, director general of product competitiveness at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said the government was exploring opportunities to establish a transshipment hub for fish exports in Makassar, South Sulawesi.



"We are planning to develop direct shipment [infrastructure] in eastern Indonesia, such as in Makassar, he said in Jakarta.



Rifky said the lack of direct shipment had often hampered fish exports as fish from the eastern part of Indonesia should first be shipped to Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, Bali or Jakarta before being shipped overseas.



By establishing a shipping hub in Makassar, the fish from the eastern regions can be directly exported to Indonesias main fish buyers, such as Japan and China.



Aside from visiting Makassar, the Japanese trade delegation was scheduled to visit Bitung and Manado, both in North Sulawesi, to explore opportunities to invest in shipment and cold storage services, Rifky said.



JETROs Jakarta office president director Keishi Suzuki said Indonesias fishing industry was attractive because the government had implemented stern measures, including a fishing moratorium and crackdown on illegal fishing, to protect marine resources in the archipelago.



Japanese investors see the governments move in making fisheries sustainable. Our investors will explore more business opportunities in the sector, Suzuki said.



Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said earlier in the meeting that with the development of a direct shipping hub, Indonesia could further increase its fish exports, especially tuna, to Japan and other countries.



According to the ministry, Japan is the third biggest investor in the fishery sector in Indonesia after Singapore and the Philippines. Rifky said Japans investment in the fishery sector, mainly in aquaculture, fish processing and trading, stood at Rp 500 billion (US$35.6 million) as of 2017.



The ministry said fish production had been growing over the last three years. Its data shows that fish production in 2018 was 6.7 million tons of fish, a 5 percent increase from a year earlier.



As for fish exports, seafood products were worth $4.89 billion last year, an 8.18 percent increase from 2017. The products have been exported to various countries and regions, such as the United States, Japan, China, Europe and ASEAN.



The US is the biggest importer of Indonesias shrimp and tuna, while China is the biggest for squid and seaweed.



Rifky said Japan was also a big importer of Indonesia's shrimp and tuna.



Between January and November last year, shrimp and tuna exports stood at $312.66 million and $94.55 million respectively.



We hope that the Japanese will invest more so we can also increase our fish exports to Japan, he said.

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
An agreement to sell the Windsor Mill fell apart last week. Of the six properties put up for sale in 2017, only the City Yard is close to closing. Three other properties are under contract.

North Adams Properties in Real Estate Limbo

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  It was two years ago the city set out to sell off municipal property that's not needed or really never wanted.

But the city's attempts to divest itself of unwanted properties has not so far been terribly successful. Some smaller lots have been auctioned off or sold to abuttors, but the larger parcels seem to be in real estate limbo.

Only one appears headed toward a resolution soon: the former City Yard that is under contract with Cumberland Farms. The convenience store and gas station chain has requested extensions but has also moved ahead to line up permits and approvals to build a large new location on the Ashland Street property.

Still, Mayor Thomas Bernard is hoping the Mohawk Theater will solicit enough interest to get it off the city's books.

"Even if the result is not viable at least we can't say then that nobody has done anything," he said in an interview a few weeks ago.

The theater on Main Street is arguably the "jewel in the crown" of the properties the administration is trying to get into hands that can develop and rejuvenate them. It's important enough that the City Council on Tuesday voted to continue discussion before authorizing the mayor to proceed.

Of the others, the potential buyer for the Windsor Mill has dropped out after the latest test findings at the former textile factory. The salt shed on Ashland Street and Notre Dame church have purchase-and-sales agreements and no bids have been received for Sullivan School.

Simeon Bruner of Cambridge Development Corp., and principal of Bruner/Cott Architects, had offered $465,000 for the historic Windsor Print Works mill , assessed at $1.1 million, with the pledge to invest a minimum of $400,000 on facade and capital improvements within the next three years. That was back in July 2017.

Former Mayor Richard Alcombright, who'd pushed to divest the city of unused properties , had advocated for the developer, pointing to Bruner's work at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and other similar mill-repurposing projects.

The city was working to get the sale through early in the new year but Bruner called the deal off last week.

Bernard said his office had been in contact with the developer in trying to set a timeline. Environmental testing was being done at the mill but Bernard said on Tuesday he had not fully reviewed the results. The developer, he said, had determined it wasn't worth or didn't want to deal with clean up of the property.

Councilors were somewhat irritated that they were not kept in the loop on the deal and City Councilor Benjamin Lamb on Tuesday asked for a formal reporting structure and access to studies done on the property.

"It's disappointing we get these from the media," Lamb said. The failed purchase was first reported Monday in The Berkshire Eagle.

The New York group that purchased Dowlin Block and Porter & Tower Building had also offered $500,000 for the mill with similar plans.

The city purchased the mill in 1976 for $163,625 with hopes to develop an arts and crafts center and a number of artisans along with light manufacturing do operate in the mill. The former Windsor Print Works closed in 1956.

It was one of several properties taken over by past mayors to prevent their deterioration. Bernard described them as being "held in trust" until viable operators could be found. The Mohawk is one such trust item.

The city has owned the theater since 1993 but has been unable to cover the burgeoning cost of restoration work or settle on a use for the long-vacant structure. Bernard is hoping another entity -- private or nonprofit -- will be able to revive the landmark moviehouse and Main Street's fortunes with it.

The parcel consists of three lots on just under a half acre; the front of the building where the lobby was, the theater space and a paved parking area in the rear. Together, all three pieces are valued at $446,400.

At least two or more entities have evinced interest in the theater. Museum maestro Thomas Krens, who considers it part of his North Adams cultural project, brought along some of his Hollywood friends to look it over a few years ago and a local group has been brainstorming ideas for the 80-year-old theater's resurrection.

Bernard said during the same interview that he had been in contact with Emily Daunis and Dan Wallis, who are proposing to construct an $18.5 million, 64-room hotel complex in the Notre Dame church building and its adjacent school.

Another "trust" property, a wary City Council authorized the purchase of the closed church in 2007, largely as a way to preserve the church's steeple. A purchase-and-sale agreement was approved for $253,000 but the deal has not closed. Notre Dame Church closed in 2005 and is assessed at $605,000 total.

"The last conversation I had with the folks doing Notre Dame is they are moving forward with their stuff," Bernard said. "Everybody is moving forward deliberately."

The mayor was confident that the sale of the old City Yard would happen and the salt shed as well.

"The City Yard is moving forward, they've extended option one more time but they've also come before the Planning Board and the City Council for all the things they need to do," he said of Cumberland Farms. "So I see that project as going forward."

Cumberland Farms in October 2017 offered $575,000 for the Ashland Street property, $100,000 more than the appraisal. That price includes an agreement for the city to share up to half the purchase price in cleanup costs. The company almost two weeks ago filed its special permits with the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds and the Ashland Street property is on the demolition list going before the Historical Commission on Thursday.

The Department of Public Works moved out the older complex and into the former anodizing plant the city purchased at Hodges Cross Road.

B&B Micro Manufacturing put in a winning bid for the city's old salt shed at $75,000 but has not closed on the property. Bernard said that had worked somewhat in the city's favor because the salt shed is still being used.

"The timing on it gets us through the winter because if they had closed faster, we would have had to do some kind of lease-back agreement or share," he said.

As for the vacant Sullivan School on Kemp Avenue, which has elicited no responses, Bernard said it's worth putting out RFPs once a year or more "until somebody sees the potential and ... if it's a credible bid, let them deal with it."

"I can appreciate from a development perspective how difficult it would be to make that compliant," he said of the hillside structure and its four levels. "It's built on a weird level."
Article Index Ivan Sutherland - Father of Computer Graphics SketchPad and Sword of Damocles Many achievements Page 1 of 3 Computer graphics wasn't invented by one man, but Ivan Sutherland had a lot to do with it and his is the name you generally think of first in connection with its development. Today we live in a world of where we take computer graphics for granted. It is inconceivable that we could go back to the days when the only interface was character-based - even if there are lots of Linux programmers who claim the command line is all you need. What you might find remarkable is that in those bygone days we even managed to find games, like Star Trek, that could be played on an entirely graphic-less computer  and they were judged exciting, addictive even. Many people have been involved in bringing us this graphics revolution but perhaps the one who deserves to be called the father of computer graphics is Ivan Sutherland. When asked, "How could you possibly have done the first interactive graphics program, the first non-procedural programming language, the first object oriented software system, all in one year?" Ivan replied: "Well, I didn't know it was hard." Ivan E Sutherland, born 1938, Hartings , Nebraska Ivan Sutherland was born to middle class parents of Scottish and New Zealand descent. His father was a PhD in civil engineering and his mother was a teacher and this environment instilled an interest in learning into him and his brother Bert. Of the two Ivan was probably the more academically oriented but Bert was also deeply involved with computers and technology. Sutherland's first experience with a computer was with SIMON, a relay-based mechanical computer that was lent to the Sutherland household in 1950 by its designer, Edmund Berkeley. His first big computer program was to make SIMON divide. To make division possible, he added a conditional stop to SIMON's instruction set. His brother Bert helped with the modifications to the hardware. Ivan and Bert must certainly have been among the first high school students to learn to program and it seems to have had almost as much effect as it did on that other great teenage computer enthusiast, Bill Gates. The relay computer was programmed using punched tape and Ivan's division algorithm was the longest program ever written for SIMON - a paper tape about eight feet long. Despite being good at many subjects Ivan had problems with the written word. Many years later he described his spelling as original and his writing as illegible. This caused him great embarrassment but he never refrained from expressing himself despite the risk. After high school Ivan Sutherland went to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University ) to study Electrical Engineering. From there he moved on to the University of California to do a Masters in Electrical Engineering and then on to MIT to work on a PhD. His supervisor was Claude Shannon, the inventor of information theory, one of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th century. The first problem was what to do work on there as there were so many exciting challenges. At the time the SAGE air defence project needed computers that were fast and had graphical inputs and output. The light pen was invented for the SAGE project but the output displays were crude adaptations of radar displays. MIT had been paid to develop an all-transistor computer, the TX0, to replace and upgrade the Whirlwind valve based machine used in the early days of the SAGE project. In doing so MIT learned not only how to build computers but how useful they were. Soon after they went on to build the TX2, which not only used transistors but also had an array of real time input and output devices. The TX2, completed in 1959, was a 38-bit word machine with a 68Kword main memory. It was slow by todays standards but very fast for the time with a clock speed of around 0.16MHz. It had a light pen, 16 words of switches that could be tested, 4 digital control knobs, a microphone and speakers. Its graphical output was a 9 inch 1024 x 1024 pixel direct access device that lacked any hardware character generator. For software it had virtually nothing  no operating system just a macro assembler. The TX-1 and TX-2 were the starting points for DECs PDP1 and PDP 6 machines  but thats another story. TX-2




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Houston, MO (65483)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Localized flooding is possible.
Weather Alert

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING... The Flash Flood Watch continues for * Portions of southeast Kansas, including the following areas, Bourbon, Cherokee and Crawford. Portions of Missouri, including the following areas, Barry, Barton, Benton, Camden, Cedar, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Dent, Douglas, Greene, Hickory, Jasper, Lawrence, Maries, McDonald, Miller, Morgan, Newton, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, St. Clair, Stone, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Webster and Wright. * Through Sunday morning. * Additional rainfall is expected to occur over areas that have already received 1 to 5 inches of rain. * Expected rainfall rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour in areas that are already saturated will lead to rapid rises and flash flooding in low lying areas. Low water crossings, creeks and streams will be susceptible to flooding. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued. &&
Unlike former Texas congressman and potential Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, California Sen. Kamala Harris says she does not support tearing down existing barriers on the southern border.

During a Wednesday night appearance on "The Daily Show," the 2020 presidential candidate was asked by host Trevor Noah whether she supports O'Rourke's call to tear down the existing 700 miles of fencing on the U.S. border with Mexico.

"No, I believe that we need border security," Harris said. "But we need smart border security. We can't have open borders, we need to have border security, all nations do. All nations define their borders, but we should not have a policy and perspective that is grounded in keeping people out for the sake of this nationalistic kind of thing this president is trying to push."

MORE KAMALA: Kamala Harris wants to change Columbus Day to 'Indigenous People's Day'

During an interview with MSNBC last week, O'Rourke said he would "absolutely" tear down the border wall in El Paso, Texas, if he could.

"Absolutely, I'd take the wall down," O'Rouke said. "Here's what we know: After the Secure Fence Act, we have built 600 miles of wall and fencing on a 2,000 mile border. What that has done is not in any demonstrable way made us safer."

O'Rourke said that existing barriers have forced migrants to travel more dangerous parts of the southern border, "ensuring their suffering and death."

"They're dead, over the last 10 years, as we have walled off their opportunity to legally petition for asylum to cross in urban centers, like El Paso," he said. "To be with family. To work jobs. To do what any human being should have a right to be able to do."

LIST: Who is running for president in 2020 so far?

Harris said that while she believes in border security, she wants borders that "allow people to come in."

"That is part of the strength of our nation," she said. "We are a nation that was founded and has grown because we have always welcomed immigrants. We are a nation of immigrants. Look, if you are not Native American, your people are immigrants, well except for those who were kidnapped and brought over on a slave ship."

Harris' rhetoric is consistent with her past remarks on immigration, where she resisted calls from the progressive wing of her party to completely abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and instead hoped to reform it.

"I think there's no question that we've got to critically re-examine ICE and its role, and the way that it is being administered and the work it is doing," she told MSNBC in June 2018. "And we need to probably think about starting from scratch, because there is a lot that is wrong with the way that it's conducting itself, and we need to deal with that."

You can watch Harris' full interview with Trevor Noah here.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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After the deadly Pecan Park no-knock drug raid that left five undercover narcotics officers injured, Houston Police Officers Union president Joe Gamaldi looked into the television camera and offered a single, striking message: Enough is enough.

Since then, civil rights advocates and concerned citizens have echoed Gamaldis message, but not in the way he intended it.

Enough with no-knock raids, theyve said. Enough with a failed war on drugs. Enough of a police union head who threatens critics.

Two Houstonians, Dennis Tuttle, a 59-year-old Navy veteran, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and their dog, were shot to death in that raid. Police Chief Art Acevedo now says at least one officer, veteran narcotics case agent Gerald Goines, lied to get the search warrant for the home. The two bags of heroin supposedly bought at their house, according to undercover officer Steven Bryant, were taken from Goines police car.

Confidence in the Houston Police Department took a hit as a result of that botched drug raid, and Gamaldis comments only made things worse.

The people of Houston deserve a police department they can trust to protect and serve. Police officers deserve a union head who has their backs  and that means working to improve community trust rather than undermining it.

Gamaldi has failed them in that respect, and he now has the responsibility to apologize. Doing so will help rebuild confidence in HPD. If he cant do that, then our police deserve a new union leader  one who understands that backing the blue means building trust, too.

When news of the chaotic raid broke, the only thing people knew was that a shootout had sent officers to the hospital. The whole city worried that wed soon be mourning over somber notes of bagpipes and the blast of a 21-gun salute at yet another police funeral. Thankfully, the officers survived.

In that moment of maximum sympathy, Gamaldi should have sought to deepen the bond between Houstonians and the officers sworn to protect us, but he escalated tensions instead. After paying rushed lip-service to that sense of unity, Gamaldi quickly launched into an bizarre and angry attack on the perceived enemies of law enforcement.

Enough is enough, Gamaldi said. If youre the ones out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, well just know weve all got your number now. Were going to be keeping track on all of yall, and were going to make sure to hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers.

Not only were his comments tone deaf, and threats of keeping tabs on police critics wildly inappropriate, his entire presumption has been undercut by what we now know about the disastrous  and quite possibly illegal  raid.

Gamaldi told the editorial board this week that he wished he had been more specific in his initial comments, which he said were targeted at extreme activists he says call for the deaths of police officers. Obviously, anyone calling for dead cops only works to exacerbate hate and violence.

But thats not the message many Houstonians heard from Gamaldi. And when he was asked to clarify his comments on Fox & Friends after the raid, Gamaldi broaded his statement further: Im talking to the talking heads on some of these mainstream media outlets, he said. Im talking to the activists who have severely just made our officers the enemy.

A vast majority of Houstonians just want a police department that works to keep the city safe. The best way to elevate officers good acts is to ensure theyre not tarnished by the crimes of a few. That means taking criticism seriously and investigating dirty cops. It means police admitting when theyre wrong.

To her credit, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has said her office will review more than 1,400 criminal cases in which Goines was involved  including 27 active cases. Goines and the other narcotics officers have done more to damage the public perception of law enforcement than any foul-mouthed activist could ever hope. Soon well know how many other Houstonians have been the victims of wrongful raids and dishonest warrants. Gamaldi should by now recognize that sometimes, the critics are right  and they should be heard rather than attacked.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said as much during a press conference Wednesday. For those who have been in this city for quite some time when it comes to police relations with the community, we have come a long way, he said. And that is why it is important for us to work extra hard to hold onto the trust of the people in this city, to work to build a relationships between police and community, because quite frankly were all on the same team.

For the sake of that trust, Gamaldi needs to show that hes on the team.
The Texas Houses first LGBTQ Caucus gathered Wednesday in support of efforts to make Texas laws more inclusive of same-sex relationships and transgender rights.

The five-member group was joined by faith leaders and heads of LGBTQ chambers of commerce in a display of unity after Christian advocacy group Texas Values challenged bills that would make it illegal to discriminate against people in housing, public accommodations and employment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In Texas, there are no state laws protecting those groups from discrimination, though some cities  including Houston, Austin and San Antonio  have adopted anti-discrimination ordinances.

The Bible I read does not tell me to discriminate against my neighbor, but to love my neighbor and to treat everyone as I would like to be treated, said the Rev. Michael Diaz, associate pastor of Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas, at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol. Like the majority of Texans, I believe its time our state laws reflect the same sense of respect to gay and transgender Texans.

The group Texas Values says the efforts of the caucus and its supporters amount to an attack on religious freedom.

Texas Values is also challenging bills authored by LGBTQ Caucus members state Reps. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, and Celia Israel, D-Austin. The bills include penalties for counselors and therapists who attempt to change a childs sexual orientation or gender identity.

These Ban the Bible bills at the Texas Legislature are an aggressive effort to create excessive government control over peoples lives. Creating more government control and threatening Christians with jail time or fines is putting personal politics over constitutional liberty, said Jonathan Saenz, Texas Values president.

State Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, D-Dallas, a member of the LGBTQ Caucus, responded:

"Religious liberty is a fundamental American value. But 'religious liberty' does not mean that certain people get special rights to discriminate against others," she said. "A license to discriminate is not necessary for anyone to live their faith."

The bills Texas Values opposes include:

House Bill 1190 by Hernandez and House Bill 517 by Israel, which would provide penalties for mental health providers who engage in unprofessional conduct by attempting to change the sexual orientation of a child.

House Bill 978 by state Rep. Michelle Beckley, D-Carrollton, which would amend the Texas Family Code to use gender-neutral language when discussing marriage  changing references to man and woman or husband and wife to two individuals or spouses. The bill would also amend the Health and Safety Code to remove provisions regarding the criminality or unacceptability of homosexual conduct.

House Bill 244 by state Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, House Bill 254 by state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, and Senate Bill 151 by state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in jobs, public accommodations and housing.

Senate Bill 154, by Rodriguez, which would allow an individual to apply for a new birth certificate with a change to their name and sex by providing a sworn affidavit by a physician instead of a court order, as mandated under current state law.

Other LGBTQ Caucus members includes state Reps. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso; Julie Johnson, D-Carrollton; and Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood.

sami.sparber@chron.com

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from state Rep. Jessica Gonzalez.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office launched a massive review of more than 1,400 criminal cases handled by Houston Police Officer Gerald Goines, the narcotics agent accused of lying on an affidavit used to justify a no-knock raid that left two civilians dead.

The exhaustive inquiry came as the FBI announced a rare independent civil rights investigation into officers' handling of the search warrant at the center of the controversial case and as Police Chief Art Acevedo halted use of no-knock warrants without special review by his office.

The developments are the latest aftershocks from the Jan. 28 drug raid in Pecan Park, which sparked a shoot-out that left two people dead, threw the Houston Police Department into turmoil and sent city and county leaders scrambling to contain the burgeoning scandal.

"We want to hold people accountable if there's wrongdoing," Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday. "What is important is for there to be a full, complete, thorough, and credible investigation."

BACKGROUND: Houston police officer in drug raid had previous allegations against him

The Pecan Park bust  and the case agent's actions  drew close scrutiny after the raid failed to deliver the expected heroin and investigators realized they couldn't find the confidential informant reportedly behind the undercover drug buy.

The District Attorney's Office will review cases - including 27 that are active - stretching over Goines' 34-year history with the department. Even before the current investigation, the veteran undercover officer had a troubling history of lawsuits, shootings, disciplinary complaints and allegations of falsified evidence.

"Our duty is to see that justice is done in every case," District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "Although the criminal investigation of Officer Goines is ongoing, we have an immediate ethical obligation to notify defendants and their lawyers in Goines' other cases to give them an opportunity to independently review any potential defenses."

Defense attorneys lauded the district attorney's decisive actions, though some voiced suspicions that one allegedly falsified warrant might be the tip of an iceberg.

COP'S VOICE: Attorney for Houston officer speaks out on "set-up"

"It's not his first rodeo," said Doug Murphy, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. "It's a systemic problem. This is not new. It's new to the public, but it's not new to the criminal justice system."

On Jan. 28, a Houston narcotics squad burst into a home in southeast Houston hoping to arrest a man they said was dealing heroin. Instead, a shootout ensued, in which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, died. Five officers were injured. Investigators found just 18 grams of marijuana, a gram of cocaine, and several firearms.

In the aftermath, friends and family of the slain couple disputed allegations they had ever dealt drugs.

Goines remains hospitalized after being shot in the neck during the drug raid.

Waiting for answers

The criminal cases now under review include one indecency with a child case, a weapons charge and a slew of drug charges ranging from minor possession to drug-dealing arrests. At least five of the defendants are still in jail.

In one case  that of Jarrad Alexander  attorneys have raised concerns for months about Goines' handling of the matter.

The 40-year-old, who has a long history of drug convictions, was arrested in 2017 on a cocaine charge. That May, narcotics officers forced their way into a home on Tuam and handcuffed everyone there. In a search, police found drugs and a gun.

As with the Tuttle case, the search warrant was based on an affidavit written by Goines. And, as with Tuttle, questions arose about the warrant and the confidential informant used to justify it.

Last year, defense attorney Brock White filed a motion to toss out the evidence collected from the search, arguing that Goines had based the affidavit on a vague claim from an informant who said Alexander sold marijuana. There was "no corroborative investigation" of the tip, he alleged, and no indication where the tipster got the information.

OBSCURED: Lack of body cams limits answers from botched raid

Initially, Alexander pleaded guilty. But after some legal wrangling over the plea deal, the court granted him a motion for a new trial. He's out on bond while his case is pending.

The attorney now handling the case, Norm Silverman, was pleased to hear of the review but hoped it would lead to more scrutiny.

"I'm concerned generally that the present interpretation of the laws governing supervision of the use of informants do not provide for verifiable transparency," he said. "We should never have to take the officer's word for anything."

Goines and another squad member  Steven Bryant  have been relieved of duty, but so far only Goines' cases are up for review.

'Uncovered some malfeasance'

Amid community calls for an independent investigation, the FBI announced it would probe the circumstances leading to the execution of the warrant.

Federal authorities will not, however, be taking over the criminal review into allegations of police misconduct, officials said.

"The FBI is an independent investigative entity whose sole purpose is to find details of an incident and prepare a fair collection of the facts so prosecutors can decide whether federal criminal charges are warranted," Special Agent-in-Charge Perrye K. Turner said in a statement.

EDITORIAL: Cops lied, people died. Here's how HPD can restore Houston's trust

Also Wednesday, Acevedo told reporters at a news conference at City Hall that his department has implemented a new policy restricting the use of controversial no-knock raids as it continues to investigate the circumstances behind Tuttle's and Nicholas' death.

"We as a police department have uncovered some malfeasance, we've taken it seriously, and we're not just looking at what's in front of us, not just what's at the end of our nose," Acevedo said. "We have cast a wide net to make sure we identify any problems, most importantly procedures and methods, so we can avoids things like this in the future."

The new policy which the chief hinted at earlier in the week  requires officers seeking a no-knock warrant from a judge to first seek specific approval from Acevedo or his two highest-ranking subordinates, Executive Assistant Chiefs Matt Slinkard and Troy Finner.

"I know people want to do away with (no-knock raids) 100 percent of the time, but you simply can't do that," Acevedo said. "You have to maintain this ability to do this in exigent circumstances."

Acevedo said the department would also be equipping warrant teams with body cameras.

The mayor acknowledged Wednesday the damage the shooting caused, even as he expressed support for Acevedo and the department.

"All these questions and possibly others must be answered with a full, complete, thorough, honest and credible investigation," Turner said.

Turner said he had asked the city's Independent Police Oversight Board to conduct its own review of the shooting.

"I want all these investigations to move along as quickly as possible so we can begin to restore the trust and heal our city," he said.

st.john.smith@chron.com

keri.blakinger@chron.com

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Fort Bend ISD announced Thursday that it would halt its legal actions and avoid construction on a site where 95 African-American remains were discovered last year. The decision all but ensures that the remains, believed to be those of laborers in the state's convict-leasing system, will stay in their longtime resting place as activists sought for months.

"In order to show our good faith and commitment to working toward a comprehensive solution, the district will halt all further court action while we explore all available options with the county," Jason Burdine, school board president, wrote in a statement. "The district's plan to build the portion of the building that is within the cemetery area has been cancelled."

School district officials had argued that it would cost $18 million to change course on the project. They filed a petition in November to move the remains to the nearby Old Imperial Farm Cemetery.

HUMAN LIVES WERE NOT OF VALUE: African-American remains awaken history of convict-leasing system

A shift in the district's position began to emerge on Monday, when the school board authorized the superintendent to start negotiations with county officials on the project. Fort Bend County commissioners voted unanimously Feb. 12 to authorize talks with the school district.

These discussions could lead to a memorial and cemetery for the remains, believed to have been prisoners contracted to perform cheap labor across the state. The school district's James Reese Career and Technical Center is still scheduled to open this fall, but the district has decided not to build on the part of the site where the remains were discovered.

Although activists involved in the process were pleased with the news, they expressed disappointment it had taken so long to reach a resolution. Samuel Collins, who served on the city's cemetery task force and has watched the process unfold for months, also questioned the cost the district has cited for redisigning the construction project.

"It never was going to cost that much," said Collins. "That's what the public needs to realize. This was a made-up figure to scare the general public."

Reginald Moore, a longtime activist who has spoken out for years about Fort Bend County's ties to the convict-leasing system, agreed that the school district should have come to this conclusion earlier.

"I'm grateful that they finally made a good choice, but again, those choices cost people money," said Moore.

The saga seemed to take a turn earlier this month, when elected officials sent a letter to school board members asking them to halt construction and keep the remains at the site.

District Attorney Brian Middleton, who signed the letter, said he believes the involvement of the elected officials helped change the direction of events.

"I think that's evident because the community activists have been saying the same things we were saying," said Middleton. "It wasn't until the elected officials stepped up that they became receptive to the exact same argument."

At a school board meeting on Monday, U.S. Rep Al Green, D-Houston, implored board members to come to an agreement. While he voiced his plea to school board members, elected officials stood in solidarity around him, including Middleton.

"I think it was important to not just send a letter," said Middleton. "It was important to meet face to face because what we're talking about is humanity. It's easy to type on a computer and say things. It's more effective to say it in person."

Precinct 4 Commissioner Ken DeMerchant, who organized the meeting among elected officials that led to the signed letter, said the latest development was "good news."

"The goal was to show that they had the allies in the area that were willing to help and to get this out of the courts," said DeMerchant. "It looks like it's succeeding with that. I'm pleased."

The school district's statement Thursday reflected an upbeat tone.

"We are hopeful and optimistic that by working together with the county these bodies can be reinterred so they can rest in peace," the statement said. "Should we encounter any obstacles to this solution, we will look to the State of Texas, other elected officials, as well as lawmakers, to assist us in finding a solution."

Despite the change in events, Collins said the experience focused on the wrong themes.

"This whole experience should've been about truth and reconciliation, but it became about money and power," said Collins. "Those in power did not want to spend the money and fought those that they thought were not in power and silenced their voices by trying to control the narrative, but the bones would not allow it to happen."

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Alone/Together

What happens when a female college student who falls for a guy with very different sensibilities? Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil star in this Philippine production.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston.

Arctic

Denmarks Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange) stars in this Icelandic-shot adventure film about a man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash.

Rated PG-13. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston.

Everybody Knows

When Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (Oscar-winning A Separation) decides to make his first non-Persian language film, he goes all out. For Everybody Knows, a drama about a Buenos Aires woman who attends a sisters wedding in Barcelona and discovers family secrets, is largely in Spanish even though Farhadi doesnt speak the language. Penelope Cruz and Jarvier Bardem star.

Rated R. Playing at Landmark River Oaks, Houston.

Fighting with My Family

Dwayne Johnson, Florence Pugh and Vince Vaughn star in this biopic of the female British WWE wrestler known as Paige.

Rated PG-13. Playing throughout Houston.

Gully Boy

Mumbais hip-hop scene is the setting for this drama about a poor Muslim young man trying to make it as a rapper.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston; Cinemark Memorial City, Houston.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

This third film in the animated franchise about a boy and his dragon features the voices of Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harrington, Gerard Butler, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara and many more.

Rated PG. Playing throughout Houston.

Run the Race

This Alabama and Florida-shot indie film focuses two competitive brothers at a high school in a small Southern town who learn how to strengthen their bond. Mykelti Williamson and Frances Fisher star.

Rated PG. Playing throughout Houston.

Total Dhamaal

The third entry in the comedic Dhamaal Indian franchise takes the four friends from the previous films and puts them in a jungle.

Unrated. Playing at AMC Studio 30, Houston.
I wasnt born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could, says Brett Mitchell, quoting a favorite bumper sticker of his. Thats kind of like me. Any excuse to come back to Texas is great.

Originally from Seattle, the music director of the Colorado Symphony received his masters and doctoral degrees at the University of Texas at Austin and later worked as the assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony from 2007 to 2011.

On Saturday, Mitchell will return to Houston to make his debut with another local ensemble, leading the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Ticket to Ride at the Church of St. John the Divine.

The concert will take its audience on a train trip across Europe in a program featuring Ethel Smyths The Wreckers, Wojciech Kilars Orawa, Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1, Mozarts Symphony No. 35 (also called Haffner Symphony) and a new commission by composer Jim Stephenson titled ROCOmotive, in which a celesta (a percussion instrument resembling a piano) produces the sounds of trains.

In a way, the programming was devised through a back-and-forth dance between Mitchell and artistic director Alecia Lawyer, whose father collects miniature trains  a fitting theme that ties into ROCOs overall season, Games People Play.

ROCO in Concert: Ticket to Ride When: 5 p.m. Saturday Where: The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd. Details: $35 (student and senior rates available); 713-665-2700, roco.org See More Collapse

One of Lawyers suggestions was the overture of Smyths three-act opera, which was re-scored by composer Mark Buller to fit the smaller orchestra. Highlighting works by women has long been a part of the ensembles mission, and its an initiative that Mitchell fully supports, saying, Its about damn time that we start having more female composers on our series.

Little-known composer

The concert marks the first time that Mitchell is performing The Wreckers, transporting his audience to England and Germany, but its also the first time he will be conducting music in any capacity by the 20th-century British composer and champion of womens rights.

I can give you the biography of all these standard composers, but for somebody like Smyth, the first place I went  like everybody else, God bless 2019  was Wikipedia, he says. Not only am I trying to learn her piece, Im just trying to learn as much as I can about her because I do find that helps inform my approach to the music.

For this reason, although Smyths opera debuted over a century ago, it presents a challenge for Mitchell, much like Stephensons new commission. Fortunately, he enjoys the challenge and finds inspiration in working on world premieres. In fact, its why he became a conductor in the first place, he says, rather than following the paths of a pianist or a composer.

I came to realize that I didnt really feel like I personally had anything compelling that I needed to say through my own music, he says. What I really love doing is finding other composers that I feel like do have something to say and giving those works a voice, breathing life into them for the first time.

For others, such as Kilars Orawa, he continues to breathe life into them.

While a graduate student, Mitchell attended a concert by the Austin Symphony Orchestra that opened with this particular piece  one that he had never heard of. Yet it made such a big impact on him that he cant recall anything else on the program from that evening, and for the better part of 15 years now, he has presented it around the world.

Its this really cool piece, very energetic, very 1980s in the best possible way, he says.

Poland, Austria and France

The work takes its listeners to the composers home country of Poland, while the two classical pieces by Mozart and Saint-Saens, the latter of which features ROCOs principal cellist Richard Belcher, reflect train stops in both Austria and France, respectively.

Besides travel, the only other connective tissue between the pieces is what they dont share. The program is as diverse a collection of composers and works as the weather forecast in Denver, Mitchell says, laughing.

Instead of being a creative artist, I consider what we do in orchestras being a re-creative artist, he continues. Priority number one for me always, the person that I am working the hardest for, its not the orchestra. Its not the audience. Its not even me. Its the composer. Without the composer, none of us have jobs. I take my obligation to that incredibly seriously, and its so incredibly rewarding when you get to bring something to life like this.

Lawrence Elizabeth Knox is a Houston-based writer.
2 1 of 2 Shale Support LLC Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Shale Support LLC Show More Show Less



Louisiana-based Shale Support has entered into a new partnership that will allow the oilfield service company to supply frac sand and other proppants to customers in Argentina' Vaca Muerta shale play.

Shale Support announced on Thursday that it has entered into a partnership with the Swiss shipping company Fracht Group that will the Lafeyette-based company to export frac sand to hydraulic fracturing sites in Argentina.
An unprecedented number of grounded planes, a spate of maintenance problems and an especially bitter labor dispute could be the latest signs that Southwest Airlines has come of age, running into the same controversies that have beset older airlines that the quirky and beloved Dallas carrier has long tormented.

Southwest canceled more than 350 flights late Tuesday and Wednesday due to storms and unspecified maintenance issues, which company executives have linked to years of contract squabbling with the mechanics union. At Hobby Airport, Southwest canceled nine outbound flights and six inbound flights Wednesday due to maintenance.

The out-of-service aircraft, primarily at four of the airlines 20 maintenance locations, follow the Wall Street Journals report on Southwests widespread miscalculation of the total weight for checked bags loaded onto planes, which the Journal said could result in discrepancies when pilots calculate takeoff weights. And these problems come 10 months after an engine on a Dallas-bound plane failed. Engine fragments struck the planes wing and fuselage, damaging a cabin window and causing fatal injuries to one passenger.

Southwest may want to paint itself with this love image on the outside and very folksy and cute and funny, said Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel research company Atmosphere Research Group. But on the inside, the corporate culture is rather dismal right now.

Hot pants and peanuts

Southwest started by sketching the Texas Triangle  San Antonio, Dallas and Houston  on a cocktail napkin. It won over passengers with low fares and a fun attitude. Even as it grew, and cast aside gimmicks including hot pants and peanuts, the airline developed customer loyalty partly by eschewing baggage and other fees that its competitors began heaping on passengers. Southwest, known and respected for its family culture in the workplace, avoided much of the labor strife that has been part of the airline industry for decades.

Continental Airlines, for example, endured years of rocky employee relations until 1994 when former CEO Gordon Bethune famously improved labor relations, thanks in part to improved channels of communication and employee bonuses tied to the airlines on-time performance. Those labor tensions resurfaced in 2010, when United Airlines completed its merger with Continental, but failed to reach new labor agreements with its mechanics and flight attendants until 2016, after CEO Oscar Munoz took the reins.

December 2016 marked an important occasion  all United work groups had labor contracts in place for the first time in nearly 10 years. But labor issues resurfaced last year, when Uniteds non-union catering workers voted to join the Unite Here union.

Related: Southwest Airlines' goodwill helps withstand crisis

Southwest has been negotiating a contract with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents the companys nearly 2,400 mechanics, for more than six years. The two sides came to a tentative agreement last year, but rank-and-file rejected it. The number of out-of-service aircraft skyrocketed on Feb. 12, just days after their last negotiations session.

Southwest said it had an unprecedented number of out-of-service aircraft and late last week enacted a staffing protocol to maximize the availability of its mechanics across all scheduled shifts. The high number of groundings led the company to declare an operational emergency, according to media reports.

AMFA has a history of work disruptions, and Southwest has two pending lawsuits against the union, Mike Van de Ven, chief operating officer for Southwest, said in a statement. We will be investigating this current disruption and exploring all possible remedies. Southwest prides itself on its reliability and works hard each day to get its customers where they want to go. We apologize to our customers who have been inconvenienced by this disruption.

The union responded that the airline is scapegoating its mechanics.

Less fearful

For Southwest's leadership to connect the airlines self-declared operational emergency to collective bargaining negotiations is simply an attempt to divert attention away from the airlines safety issues, the union said in its statement. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has condemned the carriers capitulation of airworthiness and Southwest has confessed that it has flown passengers in unairworthy aircraft.

A union spokesman said in an email that Southwest mechanics have become less fearful to write up legitimate maintenance issues. And that leading up to the operational emergency, mechanics attendance and overtime were at normal levels. They did not call out sick at an increased level or decline overtime work, he said.

No matter how small an issue we may find with an aircraft, we have an obligation mandated by operation of our FAA-issued licenses to repair it and make the aircraft airworthy, the spokesman said It is our hope that the Southwest management will join this commitment to restoring our safety culture and looking at this transition not as an operational emergency but rather the beginning of a new normal.

This spat is testing a belief that Southwest would avoid the union-management disagreements seen at other companies, said Rob Britton, a former airline executive who is an adjunct professor of marketing at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

The family culture that the late Herb Kelleher and others worked so hard to build and nurture is becoming harder to sustain, Britton said in an email.

He said companies in any industry become more complex and harder to manage as they grow. Yet Southwest has built up a respect that will help customers accept operational hiccups, especially if they are clearly explained and deftly resolved.

Need for compromise

Harteveldt said the airline and union must find a compromise, as the fallout could only intensify. For instance, if Southwest thinks out-of-service planes will become more of a permanent problem, the airline might reevaluate its services and stop operating some flights.

Thats going to frustrate everybody, Harteveldt said. No one wins in that scenario.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/andrearumbaugh

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Most retailers strive to sell flawless products, uniform in shape, size and color. Imperfect Produce prides itself on selling fruits and vegetables too ugly for supermarket shelves.

The San Francisco startup, which entered the Houston market last month, sources produce that is too big or small, misshapen, scarred or discolored and sells it to consumers through a subscription box service. The company aims to reduce food waste, help farmers capitalize on a full harvest and make healthy food more affordable and accessible to consumers.

Its all perfectly good and delicious produce, said Reilly Brock, Imperfect Produces content manager. A lot of produce gets excluded from grocery stores because of superficial cosmetic issues. We try to find a home for this stuff, because how it looks doesnt matter when its cooked.

Imperfect Produce is one of several ugly produce companies that have sprouted in recent years, including Misfits Market and Hungry Harvest, that seek to rescue perfectly good but not necessarily photogenic produce from ending up in landfills. An estimated one in five pieces of fruit and vegetables  or 20 billion pounds  are plowed under or thrown away on American farms each year, according to ReFed, a California food sustainability think tank.

Imperfect Produce, which launched in Austin and San Antonio last year, is the first major ugly produce company in Texas. Since its founding in 2015, the California company has expanded to eight cities nationwide, recovering 30 million pounds of produce.

The company sources its fruits and vegetables from across the country, including citrus from California and apples from the Pacific Northwest. In Texas, the company is working with five farms in and around McAllen to source citrus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli and mushrooms that it sells across the country.

The startup said it can ship its produce direct to consumers for at least 30 percent less than grocery store prices. Subscriptions start from around $11 for a small, 7- to 9-pound box to $25 for an extra-large, 23- to 25-pound box. Organic produce costs between $15 and $40 per box, depending on the size.

The produce is shipped in a cardboard box and delivered weekly or bi-weekly from a warehouse in Spring Branch. Consumers can choose the fruits and vegetables they wish to receive, with options in Houston so far including dates, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mangos, oranges and snap peas harvested largely on the West Coast.

A matter of taste

Katharine Shilcutt, 38, was scrolling through her Instagram feed one morning last month when she came across an advertisement for Imperfect Produce. Although she avoids ordering groceries online, Shilcutt signed up for a small box of produce to be delivered weekly to her West University home.

For $21 per box, Shilcutt said she received a bevy of veggies, including sweet potatoes and avocados that were a little smaller than usual, a fennel bulb with one stalk broken off and a carrot that looked like it had a little nipple. The former food critic made Buddha bowls, roasted veggies on top of greens, with her haul.

I was surprised by the quality, Shilcutt said. I kept wondering, Whats imperfect about it?

Holly Hunsicker, 64, heard about Imperfect Produce from her daughter, a vegan living in Chicago who had signed up for the service. Hunsicker, a Bellaire-area resident, said she wasnt put off by the imperfections.

I dont mind the different shapes of things, Hunsicker said. They all taste the same. Its really about helping the environment and the planet.

Imperfect Produce has partnered with local food banks to donate any produce that couldnt be sold in each city. In Houston, the company is working with Second Servings, which picks up surplus food from restaurants and conventions and delivers it to local soup kitchens and shelters.

Barbara Bronstein, president of Second Servings, said one in five Houstonians dont have access to affordable nutritious food, adding that Imperfect Produce represents a new source of donations for the group she founded.

We dont want to see any perfectly edible food go to waste, Bronstein said. Theres too many people who dont have affordable access to food. This will really help.

Farmer concerns

Some farmers, however, are nervous about Imperfect Produce taking market share from community supported agriculture businesses, which sells boxes of locally-grown produce to members.

Loam Agronomics, a 288-acre farm founded nearly three years ago in Richmond, has 300 members in its CSA and is looking to expand to at least 2,000 members. The farm  the largest CSA in the Houston area with 140 crops  includes ugly produce in its boxes.

Co-founder Scott Snodgrass said he views Imperfect Produce as a competitor, but also believes the startup can help expand the local market for fresh produce. He estimated there are only about 500 CSA members in the Houston region.

There may be some competition, but Imperfect Produce should bring awareness and grow the market as a whole, Snodgrass said. Theres still a massive untapped market.
Though Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly's beef initially came to a head in September of 2018, the remnants are still being felt to this day. Yesterday, footage surfaced of Em's recent performance at Brisbane Stadium, where he was met with an eager chant of "Killshot!" Though a clear fan favorite, Em decided against debuting a live version of the MGK diss track, opting to fire off a few shots instead. "I would but I don't want to give that cocksucker any more fuc*ing light," he says. "Make some noise for your-fuc*in-selves and make nothing for MGK."

It didn't take long for Machine Gun Kelly to catch wind of Em's remarks. From the look of it, they seemed to agitate the rapper slash actor, who took out his frustrations on a fan's drum skin- moments after autographing it, no less. Afterward, Kelly took to Twitter to fire back at Em. "Ay @ Eminem u made the right decision not dropping that weak ass song in concert and putting everyone to sleep," he writes, once again bringing forth the #RapDevil hashtag.

While many thought the beef had died down, it seems to have picked up life once again. One has to wonder if either party will take their frustrations to the booth. Em doesn't exactly seem like the Twitter-beef type, and lest we forget, Benzino got two diss tracks for his troubles. As Kelly is Em's first real opponent in years, it's entirely possible that Slim makes time for another round. As for Kelly, it wouldn't be surprising to see him double down; say what you will about the man, but he doesn't appear even remotely concerned about a potential response. In fact, it seems as if he'd welcome the challenge.
In just a few short days, the victim has officially turned into the suspect. When Jussie Smollett was attacked in the streets of Chicago, fans were empathetic toward the Empire actor. The beatdown was reported to have been a homophobic and racist assault. In the past week, crucial details were revealed about the case that insinuated the purported attack was actually staged. Finally, Smollett has been arrested and taken into police custody according to CNN.



Cindy Ord/Getty Images

The actor was taken into custody at around 5:00 AM today ahead of a 1:00 PM bail hearing. Yesterday, it was reported that he was facing a felony charge for filing a false police report. Jussie was hesitant to even file a report at first, according to the police, and even admitted as much in his "tell-all" interview with ABC News.

In that same interview, Jussie revealed the details of his alleged attack, claiming that two men with "MAGA" hats hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him, before proceeding to punch him in the face, which led to a fight between all three. He claimed the two men left him with a noose around his neck and threw bleach on him. The police investigation led them to detain two Nigerian brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, as suspects in the alleged hate crime-- but the story started to unravel when the Osundairo brothers told the police that they were paid to "attack" Jussie, and even practiced the routine prior to the fateful Chicago night. What's more, video footage has since surfaced showing the two brothers purchasing ski masks, red hats, sunglasses and gloves.

Jussie Smollett's attorney had previously maintained his innocence. How do you think he will plea in court?



Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
A party ain't a party unless Donald Trump has said his piece. The President-elect is the latest high profile American to comment on the ongoing Jussie Smollett fiasco, by calling out the Empire actor for what he deems "racist and dangerous" commentary. If you've been following the case, you know that Smollett was taken into custody after the information he provided law enforcement officials in the initial police report was proven false.

The Chicago PD adamantly believes that Smollett orchestrated his own kidnapping because he wanted Empire showrunners to empathize with his plight, and consequently sign off on a raise in salary.

Trump's Twitter, however unjustified, is based around the fact Jussie Smollett used the term "MAGA" in the incident report that was proven fraudulent. Back then, Smollett indicated that his attackers yelled "MAGA," short for "Make America Great Again," as they poured a cleaning agent over his body, and tied a noose to his neck.

So in short, Trump is mad that his hardwon slogan was used against him yet again, and secondly: you get a sense the Republican chair resents the fact, left-leaning political figures sided with Smollett before the incidental facts could be disseminated. I'd score this one a majority draw Smollet - 0, Trump - 0, with zero chance of reprisal.
50 Cent is calling out Jussie Smollett for allegedly lying about his attack. Since the skepticism around his hate crime case escalated over the past few days, it was only a matter of time. Now that the actor is reportedly facing prison time for filing a false police report, Curtis has come through with some commentary.

He shared an edited image of 2Pac's All Eyez On Me cover art with Smollett's face placed over the celebrated emcee's and a reimagined moniker referring to the actor's proclamation as "the gay Tupac." The LP's title was also altered for good measure, appearing as "All Liez On Me."

The montage alone clearly points to 50's perception of the recent developments in Smollett's case. Still, he added some heat in the post's caption: "Its 2019 people, things are a little different now," he wrote. "Commander Emanuel Gonzalez would say, if you see him shoot him on sight."

As previously reported, Jussie Smollett risks prison for his apparent dishonesty.
Things are heating up between 50 Cent and Teairra Mari, and not in a good way. If you remember, Mari named the rapper in her revenge porn lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend, Akbar Abdul-Ahad. An explicit sex tape was leaked on social media last year and Mari claimed that both Abdul-Ahad and 50 Cent conspired to humiliate her. According to Mari, her ex logged into her Instagram account without her knowledge and posted the sexually-explicit video. Even though Mari quickly removed the clip from her Instagram page, 50 Cent would later repost the video to his social media with the caption, "Get the strap." Mari stated that she interpreted the caption as being the rapper's way of encouraging his fans to inflict harm on her. 50 Cent refuted Mari's accusations and said that he only uploaded the photo after it was already circulating on the internet.

A judge disagreed with Mari's accusations against 50 Cent and not only dismissed her claims against him but also stated that Mari was responsible for paying his $30,000 attorney fees. Now, The Blast reports that the Get Rich or Die Tryin' rapper is coming for his coins and looking to collect his debt. Recently, 50 filed court papers demanding that the Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood star turn over her financial documents to prove her income, including bank records. Mari has to show up in court on April 22 with information in hand and if not, she could be held in contempt of court and even arrested. Hopefully, this doesn't get any messier than it already has been.
Voters in Long Beach, California passed an initiative in November 2018 that affects all hotels in Long Beach with more than 50 hotel rooms. The Hotel Workplace Requirements and Restrictions Initiative Ordinance, known as the 'Panic Button Initiative' places new requirements and restrictions on hotel owners and puts non-union hotels at a disadvantage.

Voters in Long Beach, California passed an initiative in November 2018 that affects all hotels in Long Beach with more than 50 hotel rooms. The Hotel Workplace Requirements and Restrictions Initiative Ordinance, known as the Panic Button Initiative places new requirements and restrictions on hotel owners and puts non-union hotels at a disadvantage.

Marta Fernandez, Hotel Lawyer and a partner in JMBMs Labor & Employment department, discusses Panic Buttons and the new ordinance below and describes what Long Beach hotels should do to prepare for compliance and potential union organizing.

What hotel owners need to know about unions and the "Panic Button" ordinance in Long Beach, CA - By Marta M. Fernandez, Hotel Lawyer and Labor & Employment Partner



Passed by voters last November, the Panic Button Initiative  which was placed on the local ballot after the hotel workers union submitted 46,000 signatures to the City Clerk in Long Beach, California  has become a new chapter in the City of Long Beach Municipal Code, titled Hotel Working Conditions.

The new code mandates that all hotels with 50+ rooms in Long Beach, California must

Provide panic buttons for workers to protect them against sexual assault

Require notices regarding the use of panic buttons to be posted in guest rooms

Give workers who are assaulted the right to reassignment and paid time off for reporting and consultation

Unrelated to potential assaults on hotel housekeepers, the ordinance also requires hotels to

Place limits on overtime and make overtime voluntary

Limit the amount of space that housekeepers can clean per shift

Keep certain records relating to the above

Why the hotel union spent resources on an initiative that does not apply to union hotels

The Panic Button Initiative (also known as Measure WW) tellingly included a significant carve-out for unionized hotels  all provisions of the new ordinance may be waived for union hotels through the collective bargaining process.

Under the guise of protecting workers, the ordinance gives an unfair advantage to union hotels in Long Beach.

The unions message to union-free hotel owners in Long Beach is loud and clear: If you want the same advantages as union hotels, you have to negotiate neutrality agreements with us.

What we see in the passing of Measure WW is also a very clever use of the legislative process to promote union membership.

The unions message to hotel workers is clear: We have the power to get a new law implemented  dont you want to be a union member?

Protecting hotel workers

The Long Beach hotel workers ordinance also gives the false impression that hotels will not protect their workers without a mandate to do so. But a report prepared by BAE Urban Economics prior to the passage of Measure WW, which was prepared at the request of the City of Long Beach to determine the potential economic effects of the ordinance, states:

Currently, many of the provisions contained in the November 2018 Ordinance are already in place: at least 11 Long Beach hotels comprising more than 3,200 rooms, for example, already require their housekeepers to wear panic buttons, representing over 52 percent of hotel rooms in the City.

It also reported:

Generally, most [hotel] operators indicated that they were fully supportive of panic buttons if they help make their workforce feel safer and more comfortable.

What should hotel owners and operators do?

The Long Beach Business Journal reported that the California Hotel & Lodging Association, in response to the new law, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Long Beach alleging that voters cannot implement workplace rules, as this infringes on the authority of the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal OSHA). It will take time for the litigation to be resolved, but hotel owners and operators will want to monitor the progress of the lawsuit and its outcome.

In the meantime, hotel owners and operators in Long Beach need to examine the requirements of the ordinance and implement policies and procedures that fully comply with the new law.

Additionally, union-free hotels need to implement an action plan to examine workforce satisfaction, and ensure measures are in place to keep winning the hearts and minds of their employees. They also need to educate their workers as to the benefits that accrue to them as a union-free hotel, and on the overall positive working conditions at their hotels.

*The City of Long Beach has included hotels and motels with 49 rooms or less in the mandate to provide panic buttons but has exempted them from the limits on overtime and amount of space cleaned per shift.

This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any issues or development that affect your hotel interests. We would like to see if our experience might help you create value or avoid unnecessary pitfalls. Whos your hotel lawyer?

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Revenue per available room up 3.0 Percent to CAD88.57

The Canadian hotel industry recorded positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 10-16 February 2019, according to data from STR.

In comparison with the week of 11-17 February 2018, the industry reported the following:

 Occupancy: +1.5% to 59.4%

 Average daily rate (ADR): +1.4% to CAD149.12

 Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +3.0% to CAD88.57

Among the provinces and territories, Nova Scotia reported the only double-digit increases in occupancy (+10.5% to 53.4%) and RevPAR (+12.6% to CAD67.51).

Quebec posted the highest jump in ADR (+5.1% to CAD158.07) and the second-largest rises in occupancy (+4.3% to 66.4%) and RevPAR (+9.5% to CAD104.97).

The Northwest Territories experienced the only double-digit decline in occupancy (-15.5% to 80.4%), which resulted in the steepest drop in RevPAR (-13.8% to CAD135.71).

Alberta registered the largest decrease in ADR (-5.1% to CAD132.37).

New Brunswick saw the only other double-digit drop in RevPAR (-10.0% to CAD56.33), due primarily to the second-largest decline in occupancy (-9.6% to 47.5%).

STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com.

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InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a Management Agreement with Indroyal Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd for Crowne Plaza Amaravati. The 300 rooms hotel will be the first IHG hotel in the city and is expected to be operational by 2024.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a Management Agreement with Indroyal Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd for Crowne Plaza Amaravati. The 300 rooms hotel will be the first IHG hotel in the city and is expected to be operational by 2024.

Amaravati, the soon to be capital of Andhra Pradesh is being rapidly developed as a world class city and is expected to attract high-value manufacturing and service industries, creating strong economic growth opportunities in the years to come. Connected to the major cities in India by land, rail and air through its neighbouring city of Vijaywada, Amaravati is expected to attract both domestic and international travellers.

Strategically located, Crowne Plaza Amaravati will be approximately 3 kilometres from the city centre, adjacent to various government offices and the business park zone, making it a perfect destination for business travellers and a great venue for MICE events. Along with well-appointed rooms, the hotel will feature 20,000 sqft of meeting space, a business centre, outdoor pool and a gymnasium. Additionally, featuring an all-day dining outlet, a specialty restaurant, a lobby lounge and bar, the hotel will offer guests a number of food and beverage options to choose from.

Commenting on the announcement, Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG said: "We are delighted to partner with Indroyal Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd. for our first hotel in Amaravati. Amaravati is being developed as a world class capital city, offering a business-friendly environment, and we are confident it will emerge as an important destination for corporate travellers. Our brand Crowne Plaza with its business ready services, is a perfect fit for the city's future, and we are very pleased to be one of the first hospitality companies to establish our presence in this upcoming city.

He added: This signing is testament to our growth momentum in the country, and we are pleased to be expanding our presence across our brands, including Crowne Plaza which is a well-established brand and is loved by travellers, both internationally and in India."

Sugathan Janardhanan, Group Chairman, Indroyal Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd, said: "We are pleased to once again partner with a leading hospitality company such as IHG for their world-renowned brand Crowne Plaza. We started our journey with IHG in 2011 with Holiday Inn Kochi and we are excited to be growing with an existing partner and building on a successful relationship.

He added: Amaravati is fast developing as the capital city of Andhra Pradesh and there will soon be need for quality branded accommodation and MICE venues in the city. With best in class facilities and amenities, we are confident that Crowne Plaza Amaravati will meet the requirements of the guests upon opening in 2024."

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Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with NIAM Investments to develop a six-story, 119-room Cambria Hotel in Spartanburg, S.C. The upscale hotel is slated to open in summer 2020.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with NIAM Investments to develop a six-story, 119-room Cambria Hotel in Spartanburg, S.C. The upscale hotel is slated to open in summer 2020.

Located at 167 N. Church St., the new Cambria Hotel will be in the heart of downtown Spartanburg, near several corporate headquarters, including Denny's, Milliken & Company, and JM Smith Corporation, as well as the world's largest BMW manufacturing facility. The hotel is a short distance from local attractions like the Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg Art Museum, Ballet Spartanburg, and the Spartanburg Little Theater. The Spartanburg Medical Center and seven colleges and universities, including Wofford College, are also nearby.



"Choice continues to expand the Cambria Hotels brand in desirable markets with strong demand for both business and leisure travel. The Southeast region of the country has proven itself as an especially ideal location for our growing upscale portfolio," said Mark Shalala, vice president, franchise development, upscale brands, Choice Hotels. "The Cambria Hotel Spartanburg will join several other Cambria hotels in South Carolina: the brand's first hotel in the state opened last year in Mount Pleasant and several more are in the pipeline, including a second hotel in the Charleston market, as well as in Ft. Mill, Greenville, and Summerville."

The Cambria Hotel in Spartanburg will feature upscale amenities that appeal to modern travelers, including:

Immersive, spa-style bathrooms with Bluetooth mirrors

Contemporary and sophisticated guestrooms, complete with modern fixtures, abundant lighting, and plush bedding

An outdoor swimming pool

Onsite dining featuring freshly made food, local craft beer on tap, wine, specialty cocktails, and small bites

Multi-function meeting space

State-of-the-art fitness center

Locally inspired design

NIAM Investments is a Greenville-based development company that specializes in real estate and hospitality development.

"Spartanburg is booming with cultural attractions and thriving businesses," said Suraj Mistry, Managing Principal, NIAM Investments. "Whether in town for work or leisure, visitors will enjoy the Cambria Hotel Spartanburg's tailored amenities just as much as exploring all the city has to offer."

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Opinion Article

21 February 2019

When it comes to curating an exceptional guest experience from top to bottom, pre-stay to post-stay, hoteliers must pay mind to a number of factors and touch-points. What matters most to guests? Is it the property itself? Is it the local experience? Is it the room? Do they crave a more high-tech experience, or traditional high-touch service? What inspires guest loyalty in 2019?

Within the modern hospitality climate, hotels are expected to offer a balance between high-tech and high-touch service, a personalized experience with data-backed insights, a share-worthy property aesthetic, mobile communications, luxury upgrades and so much more. And yet, a quick glance through TripAdvisor reviews will reinforce the understanding that, when it comes to hospitality, the bottom line is just as important as those more obvious elements of a guests' stay. You know what they say; the devil is in the details, and the guest experience is no exception.

Gone are the days where travelers are simply looking for a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, guests today crave an enhanced, novel experience that either encompasses all the comforts of home (and more) or allows them to indulge in uncommon luxury. What does this mean? Well, just as hotels need to invest in their property, their staff and their operational technology, they absolutely have to invest in their amenities.

In fact, PwC's Consumer Intelligence Series Report on hotel brand loyalty revealed that room quality is the #1 reason both business and leisure travelers choose a hotel.

Let's put this theory to work. In the first scenario, imagine you've checked-in to your hotel which features a modern, sprawling lobby, speedy self-service check-in and friendly, thoughtful staff. As you make your way to your room, you take in the surrounding view while a staff member tells you about an incredible restaurant on the property that you must try while visiting. Once you enter your room, you set aside your luggage and scan your surroundings. The room is clean and laid out nicely, but you're disappointed to realize there is no in-room coffee maker. As you make your way to the bathroom, you also notice that you've only been given one small bar of soap to be used between the sink and the shower. You shrug this off, kick off your shoes and take a seat on the bed to turn on the TV. Unfortunately, you only have access to 10 or so channels and none of them seem to be playing anything of interest. Naturally, you turn over to your phone to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi and scroll through social media, but the Wi-Fi seems to be spotty and pages simply aren't loading as quickly as they should. At this point, it's getting late and you realize you haven't eaten since the flight, so you skim through the room service menu and decide on a glass of Cab Merlot, steak and vegetables. Around 20 minutes later, you finally hear a knock at your door and intercept your dinner along with a cling-wrapped glass of wine.

Now, let's consider a second scenario. Your check-in process remains the same, only when you arrive at your room you realize it's equipped with an in-room Nespresso as well as an in-room wine appliance. Your bathroom is decked out with high-end shampoo and body wash, and the TV even has complimentary Netflix. The Wi-Fi is free and fast, and you've even been provided with an in-room iPad to control features such as the TV, alarms, lighting and temperature. Even better? Rather than waiting for your glass of wine to arrive with dinner, you're able to serve up a glass immediately, using the in-room wine appliance.

While the hotel in both scenarios manages to capitalize on a positive property experience, the first hotel is lacking in terms of in-room amenities. Sure, these might seem like minor details in theory, but let's face it, guests often judge a hotel by the amenities it keeps. Ask yourself  if you were the guest, which experience would you be more likely to rave about to friends and family, or write a positive review about? Ultimately, those hotels which invest in high-end amenities are making a brand statement that modern guests are extremely receptive to, and which contribute to a memorable stay.

After all, in an age where consumer loyalty is especially difficult to earn, it becomes more important than ever before for companies to go above and beyond in their delivery of customer service. For those hotels hoping to curate a more luxurious guest experience, this could mean:

Complimentary pick-up/drop-off chauffeur service

Plum in-room wine on demand

Complimentary Netflix or streaming service on a SmartTV

Extra charging ports and/or an in-room iPad

Alexa or Google voice-activated assistant

Pillow menu

Ultimately, paying mind to the bottom line to curate a seamless and thoughtful guest experience (throughout every touch-point) allows guests to feel comfortable and at home, while experiencing memorable luxury both in-room and on the property. While this may represent one piece of the guest satisfaction puzzle, amenities represent an important opportunity to invest in an enhanced guest experience and truly differentiate your hotel.
Press Release

21 February 2019

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Following the recent launch of Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts' new Live Unforgettable concierge offerings, Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah is bringing the campaign to life in the Middle East with the introduction of a Jet Lag Guru. Unique to this property, the complimentary service will provide guests with advice on how to combat jet lag and help arrange tailored experiences including a relaxing Neom Tranquillity Bath on arrival and a special Jet Lag Menu at Vietnamese restaurant LAO. Renowned for anticipating travellers' every need with its 'True Waldorf Service,' Hilton 's iconic luxury brand makes strides to elevate and personalise the 'Live Unforgettable' campaign even further.

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A recent global study of luxury travellers conducted by Hilton1 highlights a surprising reliance on concierges, with nearly one-third of leisure travellers reporting that they plan little to none of their trip prior to their arrival, and an additional 47 percent reporting they intentionally leave some details of their trip unplanned until they arrive at their hotel. In response to guests and their travel aspirations, a survey of 2,000 luxury consumers2 found that more than one-third of travellers (36 percent) wanted to experience a 'Jet Lag Guru' when they travelled.

"As luxury travel continues to evolve alongside a growing desire for bespoke experiences, it's key for the luxury sector to keep up with the rising demands and expectations from global travellers. With the launch of new Jet Lag Guru, we're taking our True Waldorf Service to the next level, to ensure guests' needs are catered to from the moment they step on property to guarantee a truly unforgettable experience," said David Wilson, general manager, Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah.

Jet Lag Guru

Located on the iconic Palm Jumeirah, Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah offers a haven within the vibrant city of Dubai and creates a sense of calm that allows guests to visiting Dubai to disconnect and recharge. Travellers exhausted from long journeys and time zone differences can now book a complimentary personal consultation with an on-property Jet Lag Guru who will advise guests on how to recover from a long-haul travel and make the most of their stay through wellness and fitness initiatives.

From setting the perfect room temperature for optimal sleep, talking through the pillow menu at check-in, suggesting healthy in-room dining options and arranging an unpacking service by the hotel team, the Jet Lag Guru is there to ensure guests breeze into holiday mode from moment they arrive. See below for the Jet Lag Guru experiences available at Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah:

Wellness:

Before guests step into their suite, the Jet Lag Guru will spray a calming Neom room mist to create an instant feeling of calm and relaxation upon arrival. Travellers wishing to prolong the therapeutic benefits of aromatherapy can also opt to purchase an in-room Neom Diffuser to use throughout their stay, or a Neom Wellbeing Kit to help continue their Waldorf Astoria Spa journey at home.

Available to pre-book through the Jet Lag Guru, a private in-room Neom Tranquility Bath can be drawn ahead of guests' arrival to ease away any post-travel stiffness and help create a relaxed state of mind to encourage a deep night's sleep. Taking place in the comfort of Waldorf Astoria's stylish marble bathrooms, the Neom Tranquility Bath features a blend of 19 pure essential oils, including English lavender, sweet basil and jasmine, all known for their relaxing qualities. For guests who wish to extend their spa experience during their stay, the Jet Lag Guru can also recommend additional treatments available at the award-winning Waldorf Astoria Spa including Neom's De-stress and Energy treatments, to help shift any lingering signs of jet lag.

The Jet lag Guru can also arrange a complimentary Tea Journey at the spa to discover the spa's luxury facilities. Combining a sense of opulence with warm golden hues, guests begin with a guided walk through the spa, where they can discover the Himalayan salt stone sauna, aromatic steam room, and herbal sauna and experience showers. During the guided tour, guests can enjoy a signature chilled ice tea to reinvigorate the body.

Fitness:

The Jet Lag Guru can book a specialised fitness class at Waldorf Astoria's sun-lit gym to help overcome fatigue and re-energise the body. Specialized personal trainers are at hand to guide travellers through a tailored routine that begins with a 20-30 minute brisk walk in the Dubai sun, to breath in fresh air and soak up some Vitamin D, which is directly linked to improved sleep quality. Once warmed up, guests are then guided through a workout using lightweights, followed by gentle yoga stretches and breathing exercises to loosen limbs and improve blood flow. Guests are then handed an in-room stretch sheet that utilizes their room furniture to keep up the routine during their stay, along with a running map for those looking to exercise and take in the spectacular grounds and iconic location of the Palm Jumeirah.

Food and Beverages:

Waldorf Astoria's Vietnamese restaurant, LAO, has created a special Jet Lag menu with dishes that are designed to ease the side effects of flying across time zones. As Vietnamese cuisine is known for healthy and nutritious qualities, this menu provides a lightweight yet fulfilling meal post-travel to help aid smooth digestion and ensure a restful night's sleep.

To try out the latest concierge services, and for more information about Waldorf Astoria, visit waldorfastoria.com.

1Hilton partnered with a third-party research firm, Survata, to survey nearly 1,500 luxury consumers over the age of 25 in eight countries.

2Waldorf Astoria partnered with third party research firm One Poll to survey 2,000 luxury consumers over the age of 22 in the UK

About Live Unforgettable

Earlier this year, Waldorf Astoria announced the debut of the 'Live Unforgettable' campaign - a bold repositioning of the brand to highlight Waldorf Astoria's unique experience and deepen connections with today's luxury travellers. Backed by extensive consumer insights, the campaign pairs the brand's legacy with an unexpected, playful take on True Waldorf Service.
Appointment

21 February 2019

Framed by the soft ridges of the nearby mountains and sprawling Napa Valley vineyards, Solbar at Solage, Auberge Resorts Collection is thrilled to announce the appointment of Gustavo Rios as executive chef. Rios has over 20 years of experience working at luxury properties and some of the best restaurants in the U.S., including a previous stint of seven years at Solbar where he mastered his culinary skills. During his previous tenure at Solbar, he played an integral role in achieving the Michelin star award with the team that successfully launched the restaurant and inspired top selling dishes that became menu mainstays making the restaurant one of the most sought-after dining destinations in the region. In his new role, Rios will draw on his deep, longstanding relationships with top Napa Valley farmers and winemakers to further elevate the food and beverage program as well as oversee all culinary operations on property including Solbar restaurant, the heart of this Calistoga resort and a neighborhood hot spot.

Prior to his return to Solbar, Rios joined forces with Solbar veteran, Chef Brandon Sharp to create the concept for Calistoga-based French bistro, Evangeline where he also served as the executive chef and helped open the restaurant in 2015. He also held culinary leadership roles at Michelin star-rated, Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, AAA Five Diamond property, The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia and at the award-winning Peninsula Beverly Hills.
Appointment

21 February 2019

OTO Development, part of The Johnson Group, has appointed Denise Beers-Kiepper as Vice President of Human Resources. She is tasked with leading and developing the Spartanburg-based hotelier's human resources team, which supports ~2,400 employees across the country.

OTO recruited Beers-Kiepper through a nationwide search for not only human resources expertise but also entrepreneurial spirit. This HR veteran certainly fits the bill, with a diverse background in business, human capital strategy and organizational development at companies ranging from tech start-up to Fortune 500.

An alumna of The Ohio State University, Beers-Kiepper has spent 20+ years creating positive cultures and impacting organizational success. She joins OTO from MadDog Technology, a start-up focused on Cloud-based platforms designed to improve business revenue; prior to that, she was Senior Vice President of Regional Human Resources at Fifth Third Bank, one of the largest banks in the United States.

Beers-Kiepper's most recent career move was inspired by OTO's Guiding Principles - integrity, partnership, humility, principled entrepreneurship, initiative and fulfillment - which inform how the company makes decisions and executes strategies.

As a hotel developer and hospitality management company, OTO Development offers on-property positions - management, sales, operations, food service and facilities engineering - along with corporate functions such as IT, eCommerce, revenue management and accounting/finance. Other opportunities within OTO include real estate, development and construction management. The company provides competitive pay and a full array of benefits such as health insurance, wellness incentives, industry training, career development and tuition reimbursement.
Pipeline

20 February 2019

Located at 167 N. Church St., the new Cambria Hotel will be in the heart of downtown Spartanburg, near several corporate headquarters, including Denny's, Milliken & Company, and JM Smith Corporation, as well as the world's largest BMW manufacturing facility. The hotel is a short distance from local attractions like the Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg Art Museum, Ballet Spartanburg, and the Spartanburg Little Theater. The Spartanburg Medical Center and seven colleges and universities, including Wofford College, are also nearby.

The Cambria Hotel in Spartanburg will feature upscale amenities that appeal to modern travelers, including:
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Staff reports

The Reporter Times

MARTINSVILLEUnsafe Building

The Martinsville Unsafe Building and Hearing Authority will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.

BZA

The Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.

Planning Commission

The Martinsville Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.

TOWNSHIPSWashington Township

The Washington Township Board will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.

MORGAN COUNTYSoil and water

The Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District will have its annual meeting for county land occupiers at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville. The meeting will include a full report of the districts activities and financial affairs, and to elect supervisors for the district. For more information, call 765-349-2060.

Sewer Board Executive Session

The Morgan County Regional Sewer District will hold an executive session at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22, at the Mooresville Education Center, 11 W. Carlisle St., Mooresville. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss strategy with respect to pending litigation.

Sewer Board Regular Session

The Morgan County Regional Sewer District will hold a regular session at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22, at the Mooresville Education Center, 11 W. Carlisle St., Mooresville.

Drainage Board

The Morgan County Drainage Board will meet at 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 4, in the Lucille Sadler Room of the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.

Commissioners

The Morgan County Commissioners will meet at 9:30 a.m. Monday, March 4, in the Lucille Sadler Room of the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.

County council

The Morgan County Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the Lucille Sadler Room of the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.

Data Board

The Morgan County Data Board will meet at noon on Wednesday, March 6, in the second floor conference room of the Morgan County Administration Building, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.

SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGSNHJ work session

The Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson United School Corporation board of trustees will meet in a work session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the board room of the NHJ Administrative Building. The meeting is to analyze RFPs for construction manager as constructor.

Eminence

The Eminence Community Schools board will hold an executive session at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, followed by a regular meeting at 6 p.m. at the Junior-Senior High School Media Center, 6760 N. State Road 42, Eminence.

MSD meeting

The MSD of Martinsville School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 at Green Township Elementary School, 6275 Maple Grove Road, Martinsville.

MONROVIATown Council

The Monrovia Town Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25 at the Monrovia Administration Center, 140 E. Main St.
Julie Varnell |

Reporter-Times

Imagine youve been transported back to 1959 where rock n roll is king and ducktails, leather jackets and pompadours are the fashion of the day for boys and pedal-pushers, bobby-sox and curls were popular for the girls.

Judging by the attire of some of the audience members at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatres production of Grease, those days are alive and well in peoples minds and are also on stage through March 31.

Greaser Danny Zako and new girl in town, Sandy Dumbrowski, enjoyed a summertime romance and both end up going to the Rydell High after Sandy is rejected from a Catholic school. Danny claimed he went to a private academy and tension mounts after Sandy realizes Danny doesnt want to acknowledge their relationship to his friends.

Rydell Highs class of 59 alternates between the school cafeteria, a pajama party, prom, drive-in movie and the Burger Palace and the T-Birds and Pink Ladies reigned supreme.

Cast members are high energy and the songs and dancing are fun to listen to and watch.

Sarah Daniels plays the role of Sandy, while Kaleb Lankford stars as Danny. Joining them are Josh McLemore as Doody, Andy Kear as Roger, Nate Willey as Kenickie, Casi Riegle as Rizzo, Adee David as Jan, Kristina Kastrinelis as Marty, Nikki Miller as Patty Simcox, Mariel Blatt as Cha-Cha, Logan Moore as Sonny LaTierri, Jenny Reber as Frenchy, Chris Trombetta as Eugene, Joshua L.K. Patterson as Teen Angel, Jeff Stockberger as Vince Fontaine and Karen Pappas as Miss Lynch.

The songs from the stage version are slightly different than the movie, since it was released seven years prior, but theres no shortage of songs to take you down memory lane. And if youre wondering if they can revive the sound of the 50s, Im here to tell you they nailed it, especially Sarah Daniels as Sandy. Her vocals were incredible and showed off an impressive range.

Youll easily recognize songs like Summer Nights, Look at Me, Im Sandra Dee, Greased Lightnin, Born to Hand Jive, Youre the One That I Want, and We Go Together.

(Admit it. You sang, or at least hummed, some of those songs.)

Miss Lynch, played by Karen Pappas, is a highlight in the show. She pulls off the strict, no-nonsense teacher perfectly, but delights the audience when she loosens up in the dance contest and reveals a wild side.

I personally enjoyed the interaction between Jan and Roger. Their romance was sweet, but funny, both of which were highlighted in the song, Mooning.

One of the best parts about this show is that it transports you to a place of fun, wheres theres minimal tension and a lot of rapid-fire dialogue that flawlessly transitions into songs and leaves no time for your mind to wander. Its a great way to unwind and still enjoy an outstanding show.

It goes without saying, but the food was amazing as well.

At the end of the night, I was left wanting more, which is a tribute to the whole production.

Grease is directed by Eddie Curry and choreographed by Ron Morgan.

About Grease

Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on William Howard Taft School in Chicago, Illinois) and follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values, and love. (Source Wikipedia)

The stage version of Grease debuted on Broadway on Feb. 14, 1972 and was adapted into an Academy Award nominated film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The stage version was nominated for seven Tony Awards.

A look ahead

Beef and Boards will present 42nd Street April 4 to May 19.

Aspiring chorus girl Peggy Sawyer lands her first big job in the ensemble of a glitzy new Broadway show. But when the leading lady breaks her ankle, will Peggy be able to step in and become a star? The famous score includes Dames, Were In the Money, Shuffle Off to Buffalo and Forty-Second Street.
Anthony Woodside |

Reporter-Times

MORGAN COUNTY

The Morgan County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program works with volunteers who get to know children in Morgan County that have been removed from their home by the Department of Child Services (DCS) due to abuse or neglect, and the CASA program recently honored Lesa Dunn for her work with the organization.

CASAs work by talking with everyone who impacts the childs life including parents, foster parents, teachers, medical professionals, attorneys and social workers, before using the information they gather to help the court understand what the child needs. The special advocates mission is to help guide children towards a safe, permanent homes.

The Morgan County CASA Program recently honored Dunn, a Camby resident, as the Outstanding Morgan County CASA of 2018 at its annual banquet.

According to a news release from the CASA program, Dunn had advocated for 18 children since she first took the oath of a CASA for Morgan County almost seven years ago. Dunn was named CASA of the Year for her dedication and commitment to go above and beyond for her CASA children and was recognized by CASA Coordinator Candice Carter, Judge Matthew G. Hanson, Judge Brian H. Williams, Judge Sarah Dungan, and Judge James Harris, who were all in attendance at the banquet.

Dunn said that she was glad to have been recognized and noted that all volunteers in the CASA program should be acknowledged for their work as well.

Im honored, said Dunn. I feel like any CASA who gives their time for a child in need should all be honored. We all do the same thing. We all care about children.

Dunn said that she first heard about CASA will working for the Indiana Business Journal and looked more into the program once she retired. Dunn will have been with the program seven years in September and said her experiences serving as a CASA have been incredibly fulfilling.

Its been the most rewarding thing that I have ever done, spending my time with children and people who care for children, said Dunn. Its an amazing program. I really feel like Morgan County has got there finger on the pulse, taking care of children.

According to Dunn, while she has worked to help children, serving has a CASA has also benefited her, as it helped her learn about some of the struggles of those in Morgan County.

Its helped to give me perspective on people that do have challenges and what those challenges are and how we can work with them, said Dunn.

Dunn encouraged others to consider volunteering as a CASA, noting that the rewarding experience helped children and didnt require much of volunteers.

It doesnt take much time to really make a lot of difference in someones life, said Dunn.

CASA classes are beginning soon. For information about CASA classes, contact Candice Carter, CASA Coordinator, at 765-342-1082 or email her at ccarter@morgancounty.in.gov.
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPolitics.Org. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Indiana media outlets. He can be reached at abdul@indypolitics.org.
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.
Lima, OH (45805)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, becoming more isolated later in the day. High 87F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Today the Lima Literacy council hosted its 14th annual Scrabble fundraiser, bringing in more teams than ever before.

Close to 90 community members came out this afternoon to play scrabble at the Mercy Health-St. Rita's Auxiliary Conference Center.
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D ie-hard commuters have their routine polished to perfection. They know where to wait on the platform to be in pole position for the least-busy carriage on the morning train, where to stand in a carriage to be first to nab a vacated seat, and which carriage doors line up perfectly for a swift exit.

For newcomers to longer-haul commutes, gaining a little local knowledge is the first step towards cheaper, faster travel  so always talk to your new neighbours to find out how they get to work. Here are some more money- and time-saving tips...

Commuting from the Cotswolds

On the northern tip of the Cotswolds, eight miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon, the village of Ilmington has chocolate-box looks. But a glance at the timetable for London trains from the nearest station, Honeybourne, is a shock: its an eight-mile drive to the station, the train takes almost two hours each way, and an annual season ticket costs 9,464.

However, by driving to Banbury, 18 miles west, it is possible to pick up trains to Marylebone taking less than an hour, while the annual season tickets 6,840.

Ilmingtons charms include its honey-coloured stone cottages, and it is good value for money compared to better-known Cotswold villages. Theres an outstanding village school, two pubs, a community shop and cafe, and homes to suit most budgets. A two-bedroom cottage in Ilmington or one of its neighbouring villages would cost about 250,000; a modern three-bedroom house would be about 320,000, and a four-bedroom house is about 500,000 to 650,000.

Commuting from Buckinghamshire

Little Brickhill in Buckinghamshire is an ancient, sleepy village with a good pub and Italian restaurant, though no shop. Technically it is part of Milton Keynes, but you are more likely to find a Victorian townhouse or manor here than a boxy modern house.

Another technicality about Little Brickhill, and neighbouring Great Brickhill, is that though the closest station is Bletchley, four miles away, locals prefer to head to Leighton Buzzard station, six miles south, because trains are slightly faster and fares significantly cheaper. Rush-hour services to Euston take from 32 minutes, and an annual season ticket costs 5,616. This price compares with 6,384 from Milton Keynes. There is a huge range of property to be found in and around Little Brickhill, from multimillion-pound mansions with land, to four-bedroom detached Thirties houses priced from 700,000 to 750,000, to red-brick three-bedroom cottages at about 300,000 to 350,000.

Parking problems

Dont just consider train fares, think about parking charges.

Living in the country might entail station car parking. Before moving, check out local parking costs and availability or you could get thoroughly caught out.

Haslemere, Surrey

This is a very popular station for commuters and because of this there is currently a three-year waiting list for the station car park, warns Bill Spreckley of Stacks Property Search. Some wily commuters are using Liphook station, he says. Its just two miles away and one stop before Haslemere on the way into London. It has parking spaces and you are more likely to get a seat.

Parking at Liphook costs 680 a year and an annual season ticket costs 5,200, bringing total transport costs to 5,880.

Cambridge
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A UK girl of Bangladeshi descent, who fled to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria in 2015 and married an extremist, has been stripped of her British citizenship, which the teen said was unjust. Shamima Begum, 19, who had expressed desire to return to the UK with her newborn son, was banned on Tuesday from entering the country.

In a letter dated February 19, UK home secretary Sajid Javid wrote to Begums family informing them that he had made an order revoking her citizenship. Please find enclosed papers that relate to a decision taken by the Home Secretary, to deprive your daughter, Shamima Begum, of her British citizenship, the letter reads.

Begum, who is currently in a Syrian refugee camp, described the move as unjust. I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. Its a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like its a bit unjust on me and my son, she told ITV News channel from the camp.

Begum claimed that she was being treated harshly because I was on the news four years ago, saying that she heard of other people being sent back to Britain. I dont know why my case is any different, she added.

She said she was weighing up her options and could try to apply for Dutch citizenship on the basis of the nationality of her ISIS-recruit husband, who is currently in prison.

Another option I might try with my family is my husband is from Holland and he has family in Holland. Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland. If he gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison, she said.

Under the 1981 British Nationality Act, the UK home secretary has the power to deprive a person of their citizenship if satisfied that it would be conducive to the public good and they would not become stateless as a result.

It is believed that because Begums mother is Bangladeshi, she could apply for citizenship of that country. However, her familys lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, confirmed plans to legally challenge the order because the teenager did not have dual nationality and had never visited Bangladesh. We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision Our position is that to all practical purposes she has been made stateless, he said.

A UK Home Office spokesperson said that while it would not comment on individual cases, any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly.

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday, Javid had revealed that more than 100 people have been barred from entering Britain due to their status as foreigners, or by having their British citizenship stripped if they are dual nationals because they posed a security threat.

They all supported a terrorist organisation and in doing so they have shown they hate our country and the values we stand for, he said, vowing that where individuals did manage to return, they will be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.

The governments move to strip Begum of her citizenship has been attacked by the Opposition Labour Party, with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott calling it a failure of the UKs security obligations and breach of human rights law.

Potential citizenship rights elsewhere are entirely irrelevant. Our fundamental freedoms do not need to be compromised; they are perfectly compatible with our safety, she said.

Meanwhile, an e-petition started last week since Begums case hit the headlines has attracted nearly 45,000 signatures calling for preventing her return to the UK.

Shamima Begum has clearly stated she has no regrets, and only wants to return to the UK, as she is pregnant and wants free health care and benefits. Shamima Begum should never be allowed to return to the UK, the petition on Change.Org reads.

In February 2015, Begum was a student of Bethnal Green Academy in east London alongside Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana when the three teenagers became on-the-run jihadi brides  women who choose to marry Islamist extremists to bear them children to carry on the fight. The girls flew from Gatwick Airport near London to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day and later crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, Begum recalls staying at a house with other newly-arrived jihadi brides-to-be. The jihadi bride was married off to Yago Riedijk, 27, a Dutch convert to Islam, 10 days after arriving in Raqqa.

In her interview from the refugee camp in Syria, she talked about losing two babies  one to malnutrition and the other to illness  an experience she says was a big shock. With her third pregnancy at its final stages, she said it was her concern for her unborn child that contributed to her decision to leave Baghuz, the last ISIS stronghold.
Investigators searched for decades for the killer of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared while walking home from summer school in a case that gripped a California seaside community.

A photo of a smiling Linda OKeefe has hung for years on the wall of the police department in Newport Beach, reminding investigators to keep pressing forward on cold cases like hers.

More than four decades later, authorities in Southern California said Wednesday that a Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973. The announcement came the same day authorities said they charged a man with killing an 11-year-old boy near Los Angeles in 1990.

In Lindas case, authorities said they got a hit last month from a genealogical database that matched a DNA sample taken when her body was found strangled in a ditch a day after she went missing. Increasingly, investigators have found a powerful tool in databases made up of DNA samples submitted by people seeking to learn about their ancestry.

The detectives dogged this case, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters, declining to say whether the suspect or his relatives submitted DNA for genealogical purposes. We have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday and charged with murder with special circumstances, Spitzer said.

He seemed like a good guy, Neals landlord, Michael Thulson, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. I had no indication he was capable of anything even 10 steps less than this, which just shows you what you dont know.

Neals son-in-law told the newspaper that the family was not ready to comment. It was not immediately clear if Neal had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and the voicemail was full on a number listed for him.

Neal was due to appear in court in Colorado on Thursday.

In Los Angeles County, authorities said Edward Donell Thomas, 50, has been charged in connection with kidnapping and killing William Tillett. The boy disappeared in 1990 while walking home from school in Inglewood, and his body was found in a dark carport later that day. The coroner determined he had been suffocated.

A combination of old evidence and advanced technology led to Thomas, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta told reporters without releasing details.

Fronterotta said investigators dont believe Thomas acted alone. He and the boys brother urged anyone with information to come forward.

I just want to keep the momentum going so the family can have closure, Hubert Tillett said.

The police chief was on the force at the time and said the case left an indelible mark in my mind, in my heart.

Thomas was being held without bail, and it wasnt known if he had an attorney. His arraignment is scheduled for April 4.

In Newport Beach, OKeefe was walking home from summer school in July 1973 when she vanished. She was last seen talking to a stranger in a van and never made it home, police Chief Jon Lewis said.

Her family and friends searched for her and called police. The next morning, her body was found.

Authorities said they never gave up the search for her killer, even after decades passed and her parents had died. The suspects DNA profile was uploaded to a criminal database in 2001 but there were no hits for years, authorities said.

They got a hit this year on a genealogical database, leading investigators to obtain a DNA sample from Neal, and it matched, Spitzer said.

Neal lived in Southern California at the time of OKeefes killing and moved to Florida soon afterward, where he changed his name, Spitzer said. The prosecutor declined to say whether Neal has a criminal record.

OKeefes two living sisters have been told about the arrest, authorities said. Over the years, hundreds of people have worked on the case, the police chief said.

One of them was now-retired Newport Beach police Officer Stan Bressler, who said OKeefes death stunned the community and was never forgotten.

Every once in a while, you just think, Gee, I wonder if well ever find him, he said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday authorised the military to respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India as the government denied any involvement in the Pulwama terror attack that has sent tensions soaring.

A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Khan in Islamabad also decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations and to notify Hafiz Saeeds Jamaat-ut-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as banned groups, an interior ministry spokesman said.

There was no official word on action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama that killed 40 troops. The action against the JuD and FIF appeared to have been taken with an eye on the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force in Paris that is reviewing Pakistans steps to counter terror financing.

India has pledged a response to the Pulwama attack and dismissed Khans earlier offer to aid investigations into the attack and to take action if New Delhi provides actionable intelligence.

The National Security Committee meeting was convened to discuss the situation arising from the Pulwama attack, and the forum noted that the state of Pakistan is not involved in any way, means or form in the said incident, an official statement said.

The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously, the statement added, reiterating Pakistans offer to investigate the attack and of dialogue on the issue of terrorism among other disputed issues.

At the same time, the Prime Minister authorised armed forces of Pakistan to respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India, the statement said.

Pakistan will take action against anyone found using it soil on the basis of the investigation or any tangible evidence provided. The statement said India needs introspection to realize that why people of (Jammu and Kashmir) have lost fear of death.

Khan told the meeting that this is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State. He added that terrorism and extremism had affected Pakistan and the region, and that was why Islamabad framed a National Action Plan in 2014 to counter terrorism.

After addressing the direct threat to Pakistan, the government is acting to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted out from society. In this regard, Khan directed the interior ministry and security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground, the statement said.

As part of this accelerated action, the meeting decided the JuD and FIF be notified as proscribed organisations by the ministry of interior, the spokesman said.

In February 2018, former president Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated an ordinance to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act to ban terrorists and organisations sanctioned by the UNs 1267 Committee. The move had resulted in the outlawing of JuD and FIF but the ban ended when the ordinance lapsed. Before the official ban, the two groups were only on a watch list of the interior ministry.
The headgate to the Farmers Canal is the start of a large system of irrigation ditches used to transport water from the Gallatin River to farm lands in the valley.
A propaganda app that puts Chinas powerful president Xi Jinping in anyones pockets has become a hit in the country -- with a helpful nudge from Communist Party officials.

Millions have downloaded the app, which tracks the amount of time users spend browsing inspirational quotes from the Chinese leader and watching short videos of his speeches and travels.

People are rewarded with points for sharing articles or answering quizzes on Communist heroes, and one day they may be able to redeem their scores for gifts such as pastries and tablets.

But its not all fun and games. Some people say they felt pressured to download it, others hope it can help their careers, and local government officials have been heavily promoting it.

The apps name -- Xuexi Qiangguo or Study to Make China strong -- is a pun as the Chinese word for studying, Xuexi, can also be read as Study Xi.

It has been downloaded nearly 44 million times on Apple and Android devices since its launch in January, according to Beijing-based statistics provider Qimai Technology.

Its a perfect example of propaganda in the Xi era... that appeals to Chinas large online population, said Manya Koetse, who tracks social trends in China as editor of Whats on Weibo.

The party will go wherever the people are. Xi, who could rule indefinitely after parliament lifted presidential term limits last year, has enjoyed a level of officially stoked adulation unseen since Communist Chinas founder Mao.

The partys propaganda arm has become tech-savvy in its battle for the countrys hearts and minds, delivering its message through rap songs, comics and stickers on popular messaging app WeChat.

Last May, it launched another free app called Learn about China, featuring Xis first book along with academic papers analysing his views.

The new app gives users access to thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, university publications and TV serials and movies.

Users must register with their mobile phone number and name their employer.

An employee at a state media company said she posts her scores on her WeChat social media account because she is in line for a promotion and hopes her bosses will see she has the right mindset.

Its a way to get some brownie points, she told AFP.

One state worker said she felt under pressure to use the app, although it was not officially mandatory for civil servants.

A doctor at a state hospital in Beijing, who only gave her last name Xu, said she had her parents use the app to take quizzes and read articles on her behalf.

Our scores are valid for two years and I am not sure whether theyll be useful (for my career) later, she added.

Li Xin, who works for a state-run oil company, said it promotes a Xi cult.

Dozens of provincial and county governments across the country have held workshops to promote the app in recent weeks, local media reports showed.

Beijings municipal propaganda department chief Du Feijin told a workshop last week that the app was a powerful starting point for implementing the spirit of the important instructions of General Secretary Xi, state-run newspaper Beijing News reported.

Even Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma is a Communist Party member, is making a contribution: job ads on the companys website shows it has been hiring software developers to work on the app.

While Study Xi became the top app in Apples China app store last month, it only managed to get an average rating of 2.4 stars out of five. Ratings and reviews for the app were disabled last week.

But analytics firm App Annie has preserved nearly 500 reviews -- many with a hint of sarcasm -- submitted by Apple users in previous weeks.

Its totally voluntary, quipped one reviewer who gave the app one star.

My employer wants us to learn enough to get 35 credits every day... So we have no choice but to carry our children with one hand and our phones with the other and chase points with no life, wrote another.
Special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which ended in the conviction of several associates and advisers of President Donald Trump, is winding down, according to multiple media outlets, and its report is expected next week.

Trump, who has slammed the probe as a witch-hunt, said attorney general will decide if Mullers findings should be made public.

Thatll be totally up to the new Attorney General, President Trump told reporters when asked if Muellers report should be made public. Hes a tremendous man, a tremendous person, who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department.

Under the rules, Mueller will give a confidential report to Willam Barr, the new attorney general, specifying those who should be prosecuted and those who shouldnt, and why. The attorney general is then required to send a summary of the report to Congress, which should, according to rules, be brief notifications, with an outline of the actions and the reasons for them.

During his confirmation hearing Barr had said he favours releasing as much information  from the report  as he can consistent with the regulations. Experts have taken that as a a significant caveat as justice department guidelines prohibit releasing information not leading to prosecution. And, under justice department guidelines, a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.

Mueller was handed FBIs Russia meddling probe in May 2017 with the brief to investigate any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and other matters.

Over the next nearly two years, the special counsels team has pressed criminal charges against 34 people. And six associates and advisers of President Trump, from his campaign and the administration have pleaded guilty since, including former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

President Trump has obsessed about the probe from the day it was launched and he has attacked the team and Mueller repeatedly and called the investigation a witch-hunt. There were indications from his aides it could be shut down, forcing lawmakers, from both parties, to consider a legislation protecting the investigation.

There was no official confirmation of the probe winding down, which was first reported by CNN. But signs of Mueller wrapping up have been around. Matt Whitaker, the acting attorney general before Barr took over, once said it would be over soon. And in recent weeks new cases, such as the one Roger Stone a long-time Trump associate, was led by regular officials and prosecutors. Muellers team has has also shrunk in size, it has been noted, from 17 lawyers to 12.
A former top Chinese general has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption, state media has reported.

A military court announced this week that General Fang Fenghui, the high-profile former chief of joint staff of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), had taken bribes and amassed huge unaccounted wealth.

Fang was also a member of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), headed by President Xi Jinping.

Fang, 67, had accompanied President Xi in his first meeting with US President Donald Trump in 2017; the disgraced general had also met the visiting the Indian army chief General Dalbir Singh during his China tour in November 2016.

And in March 2017, a few months after Xi was announced as the core of the Communist Party of China, Fang coined the phrase Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman responsibility system and said this chain of command must be ensured.

Fangs fortunes, however, tumbled soon after and in 2018, he was put under investigation.

Earlier this week, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Fang was found guilty of accepting and offering bribes, as well as holding a huge amount of property from unidentified sources, according to the court ruling. He was also deprived of his political rights for life and had his personal properties confiscated, official news agency, Xinhua said in a report.

The illicit money and properties confiscated will be turned over to the state coffers, the report added.

Fangs case was transferred to the military prosecution authority for suspected bribery in January 2018.

The same year, in October, he was expelled from the CPC, the PLA and stripped of his rank of general for seriously violating discipline and law.

At the time, the CMCs statement on Fang was unusually harsh, even calling him duplicitous.

Neither loyal nor honest to the CPC, Fang was found to have been duplicitous, disintegrated politically and grown greedy economically, severely damaging the Partys cause and the image of the military, a government statement had then said.

Fang severely violated political discipline, the political code of conduct, the eight-point frugality code of the CPC Central Committee and the regulations and discipline of the military, the statement read.

He was suspected of offering and taking bribes and possessing a large amount of property from unidentified sources, which are extremely serious violations involving a huge amount of assets and had caused an extremely bad influence, the CMC said.
A new centrist party in the United Kingdom is on the cards as three MPs from the ruling Conservative Party joined eight former Labour MPs who quit their party to form what is called The Independent Group in the House of Commons.

A realignment in British politics prompted by Brexit-related reverberations since the 2016 referendum is likely to see more MPs joining the new formation. Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Brussels again on Wednesday for talks on leaving the EU on March 29.

The three Conservative MPs  Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen  cited various issues with the party in their joint resignation letter to May, but added, The final straw for us has been this Governments disastrous handling of Brexit.

The immediate objective of the new 11-strong formation is to reach the figure of 36, which will make it the third largest groupin the House of Commons, upstaging the Scottish National Party that won 35 seats in the 2017 mid-term elections.

The MPs wrote to May: We also reject the false binary choice that you have presented to Parliament between a bad deal and no deal. Running down the clockamounts to a policy of no deal and we are not prepared to wait until our toes are at the edge of the cliff.

We can no longer act as bystanders. We intend to sit as independents alongside The Independent Group of MPs in the centre ground of British politics.

Earlier on Wednesday, Labour MP Joan Ryan resigned and joined seven of her former party colleagues who resigned on Monday. The buzz in Westminster is that at least one minister in the May government and several MPs from both major parties are likely to resign shortly.

Responding to the resignations, May wrote: I am saddened by this decision  these are people who have given dedicated service to our party over many years, and I thank them for it.

Of course, the UKs membership of the EU has been a source of disagreement both in our party and our country for a long time. Ending that membership after four decades was never going to be easy.

But by delivering on our manifesto commitment and implementing the decision of the British people we are doing the right thing for our country. And in doing so, we can move forward together towards a brighter future.
A Gurugram-based man was booked by the Gautam Budh Nagar police for allegedly raping the 16-year-old foster daughter of his live-in partner. The girl is currently staying at a womens shelter home in Noida.

Police said the teenager was found roaming the streets of Noida a month ago and was taken to the Sector 39 police station from where police handed her over to a womans shelter home. It was during her counselling sessions there that the alleged abuse came to the fore, police said.

She is from Assam and after her parents demise, about three years ago, she was being fostered by a couple in the neighbourhood. They then moved to Kathmandu and almost two years ago, they came to Gurugram. The girl started going to a school in Gurugram, but, soon afterwards, the couple separated owing to some issues, the in-charge of the shelter home, Naini Singh, said. It was Singh who filed the police complaint in this case.

She said the woman then moved in with a person who lived near her home in Gurugram. She claimed that he was her brother. The girl stayed with them for nearly two months and, during that time, she was sexually abused by the man multiple times. She then ran away from home with the help of a man who brought her to Noida. She started living with a family in Noida, but fled from there as well as she had started feeling unsafe there. She has stayed at a shelter earlier as well, Singhs complaint to the police said.

After fleeing from the Noida family, the girl was found roaming the streets and handed over to the police. A case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station against the Gurugram man under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC and sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

We have taken the statement of the girl. She is doing well at the shelter home. An investigation is on and the case officer will question the suspect. Due action will be taken soon, Uday Pratap, station house officer, Sector 39 police station, said.
Dawood Ibrahim, Indias most wanted criminal who is accused of masterminding the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, may still be living in Karachi, Pakistan, a close relative of his wife told a special court on Wednesday.

The court, formed under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), recorded the testimony of 71-year-old Salim Ibrahim Shaikh  who claimed to be the paternal uncle of Ibrahims wife, Mehzabeen  in connection with a 2004 case against two gutkha barons for having links with the underworld.

It was alleged that the two gutkha barons took Ibrahims help to settle a business dispute in Mumbai and in return, helped Ibrahims brother, Anees, establish a gutkha company in Pakistan.

Shaikh, one of the prosecution witnesses in the case, said he had visited Ibrahims family in Karachi in August 2004 to meet an ailing relative. He claimed Jamiruddin Ansari, an accused in the gutkha case, had asked him to deliver a parcel to Anees while he was in Pakistan.

Shaikh said he was received by Mehzabeen at the Karachi airport and later went to Dawoods bungalow in the affluent Clifton area in the city. Shaikh said he handed over Ansaris parcel to Dawood, saying they were meant for Anees.

According to the prosecution, the parcel contained gutkha packets and not household items as Shaikh was made to believe. Shaikh claimed Dawood called Anees over the phone and abused him for sending the items through him.

Shaikh also told the court that Mehzeeban called him every fortnight since early 2018 to check on his health but had stopped communicating for the past six to eight months.
The Congress in Maharashtra has drawn up its own strategy to take on the freshly minted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

The party has compiled videos and statements of BJP and Shiv Sena leaders attacking each other in the run-up to finalising the deal. BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sealed the alliance, under which the BJP will contest 25 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and the Sena 23.

Some of these videos and statements have already been put out on social media to expose the fault lines in the alliance. These will be shown at election rallies and public meetings, a Maharashtra Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

The Congress and Sharad Pawars Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are expected to announce a tie-up soon and are banking on anti-incumbency against the government, apart from the uneasy ties the BJP and the Shiv Sena have long shared.

The leaders and workers of the two parties have abused and criticised each other so much that it is like living together after a bitter divorce, claimed senior Maharashtra Congress leader Anant Gadgil. There is a visible discontentment among the workers of both parties, which will be advantageous to the Congress and the NCP.

His party colleague, Amit Shetty, agreed. There is a huge disconnect between the BJP and Shiv Sena workers on the ground. They have been at each others throats for the past several years. How will they now explain their reunion to the people of the state? he asked. But there is reason for the proposed Congress-NCP combine to worry given that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is likely to prevent the division of votes between the two parties.

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam termed the partnership an unholy alliance. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in a public meeting recently called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a thief and shouted slogans such as chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief). He also repeatedly attacked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The BJP too made counter-attacks. So, our campaign will highlight the governments failures and also the internal conflict of the two parties and how they have been fighting against each other for the past many years. They cant fool the people anymore, he claimed.

Also read| Rahul Gandhi to launch Congress Lok Sabha poll campaign in Maharashtra with rally on March 1

By coming together, the Congress and the NCP hope to consolidate the opposition vote and prevent a repeat of 2014. The two had a bitter parting ahead of the 2014 assembly elections, allowing the BJP to win the polls. The Congress first partnered with the NCP in 1999 to form the governing coalition. Despite winning more seats in the 1999 and 2004 assembly elections, the NCP conceded the chief ministers post to the Congress in return for more ministerial berths. The alliance continued for the 2009 polls as well.

Also read| Will go alone if Congress-NCP doesnt give us one Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra: Samajwadi Party
Internal assessments that predicted a tough contest in the Hindi heartland, which it swept in 2014; a desire to retain the partys base in the west; and the compulsion to make inroads into new territories have prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party to seal pre-poll alliances with existing and new partners, senior leaders of the party said on condition of anonymity.

The BJPs focus will now shift to working out the fine-print of agreements in Bihar, Maharashtra and Tami Nadu; ironing out differences in the Northeast; and prospecting for possible pre-and post-poll alliances in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, the BJP leaders added.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have become a tight contest against a united opposition. We needed to firm up alliances, one of the BJP leaders said. We ceded space to allies such as the Janata Dal (United), buried differences with the Shiv Sena, and kept our ambitions under check in Tamil Nadu to forge alliances that can help us return to power.

Also read| Not helpless, gave it another shot, Shiv Sena on alliance with BJP

The Bihar deal is the oldest, and was struck in December 2018. The BJPs deals with the Sena in Maharashtra and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu were finalised earlier this week.

The BJP has now turned its attention to other states.

Our alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab remains intact and there is no major issue over number of seats we will contest, the BJP leader added. Of the 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab, the Akalis got 10 to contest in the last election and the BJP 3. The numbers will remain the same, a second BJP leader said. The party may also cede a seat or two to alliance partners in Jharkhand, where all opposition parties have joined hands, the second leader added.

The BJPs Kerala unit is in talks with the Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena, an outfit with following among the OBC Ezhava community. They want about half a dozen seats and discussions are on, a third BJP? leader said. The BJP may also support a couple of independent candidates in the state. Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and despite fielding candidates in 18 in the last parliamentary election, the party could not win even a single seat .

The BJP continues to flirt with actor-politician Pawan Kalyan (of the Jana Sena) in Andhra Pradesh, but he continues to remain non-commital.

The party has, meanwhile, suffered a setback in the North-east with the Asom Gana Parishad walking out of the National Democratic Alliance over the citizenship amendment bill, which intends to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The BJP was relieved after the Bodo Peoples Front, another ally from Assam, decided to remain with the NDA, but 11 other regional parties gave it the jitters by openly opposing the proposed law.

We did not press for the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha and we hope this will help assuage the feeling of other allies. They are certainly not supporting the Congress. We are hopeful they will stay with us and help win 20 out of 25 seats of the North-east, a fourth BJP leader said. The BJP won 8 out of the 25 Lok Sabha seat in eight states in the region in 2014 and was looking to offset some of the losses it will suffer in the Hindi heartland here. BJP won 71 out of 80 in UP, 22 out of 40 in Bihar, 27 out of 29 in Bihar, 10 out of 11 in Chhattisgarh, 12 out of 14 in Jharkhand and all 25 in Rajasthan.

The citizenship bill has brought parties in the region together and has given them more bargaining power with the BJP . Whether these parties will continue their alliance with it depends a lot on how Narendra Modi and Amit Shah work in coming days said H Srikanth, head of political science department in North Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

Also read| Agreed to alliance as BJPs way of treating allies has changed: Uddhav Thackeray

A senior cabinet minister said the BJP also expects gains in Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal three states where it is pitted against regional players and has worked tirelessly to expand its presence in the last five years.

The first BJP leader said theres also the issue of fine-tuning the seat sharing arrangement in Bihar. The BJP and the JD(U) have decided to contest 17 seats each, leaving 6 for the Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan. Since JD(U) contested separately in the last election, there is some overlapping of seats both of us want to contest, he said. There are 4-5 seats which are yet to be sorted out.

DM Diwakar, a social scientist at AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, said, It (the seat-sharing deal) is victory of JD(U), and also indicates that BJP is getting weak. The BJP was desperate not to lose the JD (U).

Analysts say the AIADMK and BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu is a marriage of convenience and makes overt what was till now a covert relationship. The induction of a powerful regional ally like AIADMK though signals that NDA continues to be an attractive front , they add.With the absence of a charismatic leader, AIADMK is rudderless but retains a very large vote base nurtured over decades and BJP will be hoping to cash in on that.

This is specially so as BJP has had very little success in the Dravidan bastion.

According to G Palanithurai, Professor, Gandhigram Rural University, there are some question marks over the alliance. Can the AIADMK retain its own vote base and transfer it to its partners BJP and PMK where required? Can the partners smoothly sort out issues like identifying constituencies?

C Lakshmanan, Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) says this alliance will consolidate OBC votes but lose scheduled caste and minority ones.

The alliance in Maharashtra also comes at a political cost for the BJP as it had to concede almost equal status to the Shiv Sena in the assembly even after it won 122 seats in 2014 as compared to Senas 63.

Also read| Saffron allies see red, barbs fly day after polls deal

The tie up also includes a power sharing agreement wherein the partners will share equally posts and responsibilities, if they win power in the state. The Sena says this refers to the chief ministers post, while the BJP denies it.

The turn around or the fresh start as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray called it, reflects changing ground realities for both the parties.

The BJP is aware that the Modi wave has receded and in the face of a united opposition, it will need the Sena , said Prakash Bal, political analyst.

Also read| Uddhav Thackeray drives hard bargain with BJPs Amit Shah, gets more seats than 2014 in poll pact
Modi scheme will benefit 13-15 crore farmers: Amit Shah

In 10 years of UPA, the Congress waived loans of 3 crore farmers for total amount of Rs 53,000 crore. But Modi scheme will benefit 13-15 crore farmers. In 10 years Modi would have given Rs 7.5 lakh crore for farmers, says Amit Shah.

Congress has betrayed the farmers: Amit Shah

The Congress declared to waive off farm loans amounting to around Rs 48,000 crore. However, they only waived off Rs 1,600 crore.

Rahul mocked this asking instead for loan waiver. What about their waiver promise here. Of 48,000 crore only 1,600 crore has been written off. They have betrayed the farmers. Let him first waive the loans in Karnataka before promising waiver across the country, says BJP chief Amit Shah.

We will remove illegal immigrants from across the country: Amit Shah

JD(S), Congress, Mamata Bannerjee, Communists dont want to remove such immigrants. They can only see their vote banks in them. But for us they are just a threat to the nation. No matter how many opposition leaders criticise this but vote Modi for five more years and we will remove illegal immigrants from across the country, says Amit Shah.

Modi government will provide Rs 75,000 crore to the farmers every year: Amit Shah

Modi government has brought the 10% reservation quota for economic weaker sections for the general category without altering the existing reservation system in the country.

Congress government waived off Rs 53,000 crore loans of farmers in 10 years. On the other hand, Modi government will provide Rs 75,000 crore to the farmers every year, says BJP chief Amit Shah.

Our government has also worked to secure the country: Amit Shah

Our government has also worked to secure the country. For 60 years illegal immigrants kept coming into the country. But we have brought in the NRC. Only in Assam 40 lakh such immigrants have been identified and the BJP is working to get them removed, says Amit Shah.

When we came to power, 60 crore people didnt have bank accounts: Amit Shah

When we came to power, 60 crore people didnt have bank accounts. 10 crore families didnt have toilets. 10 crore people didnt have homes, 2.5 crore people didnt have electricity connections, 10 crore families didnt have gas connections.

In the past four years, 6 crore houses have got gas connections, 8 crore poor households have got toilets, 2.5 crore people have got houses, 2.5 households got electricity for the first time since independence. 50 crore people have been included in Ayushman Bharat with Rs 5 lakh cover, says BJP chief Amit Shah.

For 55 years, the Congress couldnt develop the nation: Amit Shah

For 55 years only one party ruled. But they couldnt do anything to benefit the poor and develop the country, says Amit Shah.

To make Modi Prime Minister again, we need to ensure a majority to BJP: Amit Shah

In 2018 there might have been some deficiencies but we have another opportunity now. To make Modi Prime Minister again we need to ensure a majority to BJP. As important as it is for BJP, it is equally important for the country that we win this election, says Amit Shah.

Mayawati ji says she wants a Majboor government but we want a Mazboot government: Amit Shah

Mayawati ji says she wants a Majboor (weak) government but we want a Mazboot (strong) government, says BJP chief Amit Shah.

2.5 Chief Ministers rule is there in Karnataka: Amit Shah

Kumaraswamy calls himself a clerk, Siddaramaiah is super chief minister and Parameshwara is half chief minister. This kind of 2.5 CM rule is there in Karnataka, says Amit Shah.

In Karnataka, BJP sitting in oppn due to unholy Congress-JD(S) alliance: Amit Shah

In Karnataka, BJP sitting in oppn due to unholy Congress-JD(S) alliance, says Amit Shah.

Our booth level workers are our strength: Amit Shah

Unlike other parties where the leaders or particular castes are the basis for winning elections, for BJP it is the booth level workers who are our strength, says Amit Shah.

We pay our respect to the soldiers killed in Pulwama: Amit Shah

Some days back, Pakistani terrorists attacked in Pulwama and killed 40 jawans. We pay our respect to them and their families, says BJP chief Amit Shah.

Amit Shah is addressing Shakti Kendra Pramukh Sammelan in Devanahalli, Karnataka

BJP chief Amit Shah is addressing Shakti Kendra Pramukh Sammelan in Devanahalli, Karnataka.

Naidu must sit on dharna outside his party office: Amit Shah

Chandrababu Naidu goes on sitting on dharna in Delhi, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If he wishes to sit on dharna then he should sit in front of his party office which in the past five years did not work for the development of the state, said BJP chief Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

CM Chandrababu Naidu says that the development and growth was stopped by BJP. However, 10 of 14 tasks of Andhra Reorganization Act have already been completed in five years by the Modi government, he further said.

Naidu trusts Pakistan PM, and not Indias: Amit Shah

Chandrababu Naidu trusts the prime minister of Pakistan and not the prime minister of his own country. One should not stoop down to this level for their political interests, said BJP national chief Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

Congress used Pulwama attack for political interests: Amit Shah

Congress has used this (Pulwama) attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of attack. But I want to tell them that PM Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours in a day, said Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

I would like to tell Congress Party not to politicize this attack as it is not going to benefit them, he added.

Congress need not teach us about patriotism: Amit Shah

The Congress had today attacked PM Modi over the Pulwama attack. The Congress is targeting a prime minister who spends 18 hours of the day working for the country.

Congress whose leader Navjot Singh Sidhu speaks for Pakistan dares to question PM Modi. Congress need not teach us about patriotism, said Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

PM has zero tolerance policy for terrorists, forces free to hit back

The Narendra Modi government has zero tolerance policy for terrorists. The PM has given the security agencies a free hand to decide on when and where to hit back after the Pulwama terror attack, said BJP chief Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.

NDA govt backed out from promise of special status to Andhra

Chalasani Srinavas, president of Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi, a committee for Andhra Pradeshs special status, said he will go round all states including Gujarat ahead of elections to expose the betrayal of NDA government by backing out from its promise of providing special status to Andhra Pradesh.

TDP, Congress workers protest with black flags

TDP, Congress workers greeted BJP president Amit Shah with black flags protesting over denial of special status to Andhra Pradesh on his arrival in Rajahmundry.

Amit Shah to launch Labharthi Sampark Abhiyan from Andhra Pradesh

BJP president Amit Shah will on Thursday launch from Andhra Pradesh his partys nation-wide exercise to contact over 22 crore beneficiaries of various welfare programmes of its governments at the Centre and in states as part of its campaign for the coming Lok Sabha election.

The party aims to cover every beneficiary household under the programme as it seeks to retain power at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership.
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday accused the opposition Congress of trying to politicise the Pulwama terror attack. The Congress has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy with a film shoot when he should have chaired a cabinet meeting on security.

Amit Shah said the Congress has no moral right to question the BJP on patriotism. Congress has used this attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of attack. They should know that PM Modi works for 18 hours in a day for the nation, said Shah who was addressing a public rally in Andhra Pradeshs Rajahmundry. (Follow live updates here)

The BJP boss said the Congress may continue to politicize the Pulwama attack but it will not benefit them. Amit Shah wondered how a party whose leader Navjot Singh Sidhu spoke for Pakistan dared to target the Prime Minister.

The Congress had asked why PM Modi had not announced a national mourning in honour of the deceased CRPF jawans. At 3.10 pm when the Pulwama attack took place and was all over the news, PM Modi was shooting for a film till 6.45 pm in Corbett national park. For 4 hours after the terror attack, PM Modi indulged himself in a film shoot, went on boat rides and had his tea and samosas, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

BJP president Amit Shah said the Narendra Modi government has a zero tolerance policy towards terrorists. He said the Prime Minister has given the security agencies a free hand to hit back after the Pulwama attack.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu was also came under attack from his former ally Shah.

Chandrababu Naidu goes on sitting on dharna in Delhi, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If he wishes to sit on dharna then he should sit in front of his party office which in the past five years did not work for the development of the state, said Amit Shah in Andhra Pradesh.
A womans detailed account of a co-passenger on her recent flight has gone all kinds of viral. Twitter user Lizzie Thompson took to Twitter to share her shock after a passenger seated next to her on an Air France flight first removed his pants and then also took off his shoes and socks during the journey. Her tweets, shared with pictures, have collected quite a few reactions from people on the micro-blogging site.

The man in the seat across from me has taken HIS PANTS OFF for the flight and is just in his boxers. Flight attendants seem unconcerned. This is going to be a long flight, Thompson tweeted on February 18. Her tweet was accompanied with a picture of the passenger.

The man in the seat across from me has taken HIS PANTS OFF for the flight and is just in his boxers. Flight attendants seem unconcerned. This is going to be a long flight @AirFranceFR #CDG to #LAX pic.twitter.com/Z0EfktDwpD  Lizzie Thompson (@Lizzie_Thompson) February 18, 2019

Minutes later, she posted another tweet:

He has also removed his socks. pic.twitter.com/0cmhtlFxOi  Lizzie Thompson (@Lizzie_Thompson) February 18, 2019

This, however, was just the beginning of her long flight.

He just shouted at a man who boarded with a ukulele (also have questions) to COME SIT WITH ME AND MAKE SOME MUSIC, she tweeted.

Thompson eventually alerted the flight attendant about the situation. But things didnt quite go the way she expected them to:

Update @AirFranceFR - alerted the flight attendant. He offered to move me (which would mean losing my bulkhead legroom) but just shrugged when I suggested he ask the man to put his pants back on.  Lizzie Thompson (@Lizzie_Thompson) February 18, 2019

Thompsons ordeal eventually came to an end.

Finally, his pants went back on. Good news: nothing bonds a group of passengers like a man half naked in your section. Shout out to the flight attendant who slipped me extra wine and did keep checking in to make sure I was good.  Lizzie Thompson (@Lizzie_Thompson) February 18, 2019

She also answered some of the questions Twitter posted about the incident.

1. He took pants off in the plane bathroom pre-takeoff. He put them back on pre-landing in aisle right next to me. 2. He was neither American nor French 3. No ukulele was played, sadly, she tweeted.

Twitter couldnt help but post their reactions to Thompsons tweets:

There wasnt a brief apology? jokes one Twitter user. Total lack of civility. I usually travel with Clorox wipes and wipe down the armrests and tray table but seeing this Im gonna have to do the upholstery too. Yuck, posts another.

  Ed Parsons (@edpar3) February 19, 2019

Meanwhile, heres what the airline has to to say about the incident.

Air France regrets the customers feelings and confirms that the passenger boarded in shorts and sandals, an Air France representative told Insider, adding that the crew handled the incident according to protocol.

The company reminds us that it is not the responsibility of cabin crew to require customers to wear acceptable clothing, except of course in the event of indecent dress. Having solicited the crew whose role is to ensure the comfort and well-being of the passengers, the customer was offered another seat of the same type and with the same comfort that she refused, the representative added.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday spoke against the attacks on Kashmiri students across the country after last weeks Pulwama terror attack, saying they were being targeted under a well thought out conspiracy.

Several Kashmiri students have been suspended from their colleges and even arrested for alleged anti-national activities across India.

Some have even alleged they were harassed and asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations, fearing attacks on their properties after the strike in Pulwama. Forty CRPF personnel were killed in the south Kashmir district on February 14, in a terror attack allegedly carried out by banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Omar Abdullah slammed the government as well as the Congress party, asking why were they silent on the incidents reported in various states of India.

There was no condemnation from the Prime Minister on Kashmiri students being attacked. If he was busy, then the home minister could have said something. Even Congress didnt say anything comforting, the National Conference leader said during a press conference.

An entire community is being given a bad under a well thought out conspiracy. Kashmiri girls and boys who are studying in universities in other states are being targeted, Omar Abdullah said.

Our children who are studying in universities have nothing to do with politics and they just want an education, he said.

Omar Abdullah praised Captain Amarinder Singh and Mamata Banerjee, chief ministers of Punjab and West Bengal respectively, for extending help to Kashmiris being attacked in their states. They are not pushing the incidents under the carpets, he said.

He has earlier raised the issue of a Kashmiri shawl vendor who was attacked on Tuesday in West Bengals Nadia district. He said Mamata Banerjee has assured of action against those who beat up Javid Amad Khan.

The video of Khan, in which he is seen being forced by a mob to raise anti-Pakistan slogans in Taherpur and asked to leave West Bengal along with other Kashmiris working in the state, has become viral on social media.

The Kashmiri leader also criticised the joint statement issued by India and Saudi Arabia during the visit of its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans to New Delhi. It had called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. It made no mention of Pakistans role in this regard  something India has been pushing for with its key allies after the February 14 attack.

We have never supported violence and terrorism. We have talked about peace and brotherhood. We have only vouched for a solution through dialogue. When we talk of dialogue we are branded anti-nationals but in a joint statement with Saudi Arabia, the two leaders talk about composite dialogue, he said.

Omar Abdullah also talked about the withdrawal of security to 18 separatist leaders from the Hurriyat, including SAS Geelani, and 155 political personalities and activists in the restive state.

On one hand, youre telling us that we have to be prepared for the parliamentary and assembly elections and on the other hand, youre telling us that we no longer deserve the protection of the state.

Before this, Omar Abdullah and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti had urged the Union government on Monday to ensure the safety of Kashmiris amid continuing reports of attacks and threats.

Intimidating Kashmiris is aimed at creating a wedge between different communities in India. We should not allow the terror to divide us. By using such incidents to divide us, we fall into the trap of those behind the attack on CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] soldiers; we are wittingly or unwittingly playing to the tunes of our enemies, the leaders said in a statement.

Also read: Ensure safety of Kashmiris, say ex-CMs Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah

The matter has also reached the Supreme Court, which on Thursday agreed to hear a PIL seeking a direction to authorities to protect Kashmiri students on Friday.
A joint team of Army and Indo-Tibetan -Border Police is on standby to restart the operation to search for remaining five Army jawans who were trapped in the snow avalanche in Himachal Pradeshs Kinnaur district, officials said on Thursday.

Six jawans of the 7 JAK Rifles of the Army unit  four from Himachal Pradesh, one each from Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir  were trapped in the avalanche that occurred near Shipki La border outpost on Wednesday. One of them identified as havaldar Rakesh Kumar was rescued but succumbed to injuries . The search and rescue operation has been adversely affected as Pooh witnessed 4 to 5 inches of snowfall even as more snowfall occurred at Shipki La and adjoining areas on Wednesday night, the officials said, adding it has been raining heavily at the spot since morning.

Army launched an operation early on Thursday to rescue those buried under the snow, but the inclement weather conditions hampered the operation, deputy commissioner Kinnaur Gopal Chand said.

The ITBP patrolling party had tried to alert army men fixing water pipes near Namgia Dogri post when they were hit by the avalanche.
Those attacking and intimidating Kashmiris in West Bengal in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack will not be spared, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said.

A Kashmiri shawl vendor was heckled. A Kashmiri doctor practising for years here was intimidated. How dare they? What audacity! How dare they label people hailing from a particular state as pro-Pakistan? remarked a visibly angry chief minister while addressing an event to celebrate International Mothers Language Day in Kolkata on Thursday.

I had to speak up because there are people plotting riots. I do not hate them but I have a fire burning inside me. Those who are spreading hatred in Bengal will not be spared. People who are trying to decide on other peoples language, culture and food preferences must have to be resisted, she said.

Her remarks came in the aftermath of a video showing an assault on a Kashmiri shawl vendor in Nadia district went viral, following which former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah contacted her.

Having seen the video doing the rounds on social media of a young Kashmiri man being beaten up in Kolkata Ive been in touch with @derekobrienmp and @MamataOfficial regarding the matter. The culprits have been identified & strongest possible action has been assured, Abdullah tweeted on Wednesday.

Prominent intellectuals from West Bengal, including Jnanpith winner poet Shankha Ghosh and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee actor Saumitra Chatterjee issued a statement condemning divisive politics targeting people from a particular religion or state in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

We must pledge not to degrade our humane values by pointing fingers at fellow citizens belonging to a particular religion or hailing from a particular state, the statement read. We seek an end to the politics of dividing people that has spread to different states.

The list of intellectuals who signed the statement included poet Joy Goswami, writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, national award winning filmmakers Goutam Ghose and Kaushik Ganguly and vocal maestro Pandit Ajay Chakraborty.

However, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, We cannot blame people who are agitated after the Pulwama attack and are expressing their grievances before the Kashmiri people. They see that the Kashmiri people always disrupt the armys operations against terrorists. They see the Kashmiri people as those who harbour terrorists.

Over the past few days in Bengal, an LIC agent was suspended in Durgapur and a teacher was sacked by a private school in Kolkata after their social media posts on the Pulwama incident triggered controversy.

There were also a few incidents of groups of people encircling residences of some who questioned government policies on Kashmir.
The Supreme Court has asked the governments of 17 states to evict an estimated one million tribal and other households living in forests after their claims of the right to live in forests were rejected under the Forest Rights Act.

The court has asked the evictions to be carried out by July 12 and directed the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India to submit a satellite-image based report on the encroachments removed.

According to affidavits filed by the states in the top court, about 11,72,931 (1.17 million) land ownership claims made by scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act have been rejected on various grounds, including absence of proof that the land was in their possession for at least three generations. The law provides for giving land rights to those living on forest land for at least three generations before December 31, 2005. The claims are examined by a committee headed by the district collector and having forest department officials as members.

The Forest Rights Law itself has been criticised by both wildlife activists and those fighting for the rights of tribespeople and forest-dwellers, albeit for different reasons. The former believe giving people rights to live in forests will eventually harm the forests themselves and also wildlife. The latter believe that the implementation of the law is far from perfect and that deficiencies in this have resulted in many valid claims being rejected by the states. The latter also allege that the government didnt exactly put up an effective defence in the case, which was brought by wildlife NGOs and activists.

The rejectionsMadhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha have the biggest numberscomprise 20% of the total claims for land ownership submitted by those residing in forests across India under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The law was enacted by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to undo the historic injustice done to forest dwellers under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which termed them encroachers on the land they had been tilling for generations.

In an order uploaded on its website on Tuesday evening, the apex court specifically issued directions to the chief secretaries of each of the 17 states to ensure that in all cases where land ownership claims have been rejected, eviction is carried out on or before the next date of hearing (July 12, 2019).

In cases where verification/re-verification/review is pending, the state must complete the process within four months and submit a report, the court said. Let the Forest Survey of India make a satellite survey and place on record the encroachment positions and also state the positions after the eviction as far as possible, it said. The court order came a few days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi wrote to chief ministers of party-ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, asking them to reopen the rejected cases and help claimants to secure their rights under the Forest Rights Act. We must honour the peoples mandate by effectively implementing the Forest Rights Act, Gandhi said, in similar letters written to the three chief ministers. He pointed out that several environmental NGOs have challenged the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights Act and the legislative competence of Parliament to enact it. Given the significance of the case, I request you to ensure competent legal representation for the above-mentioned matter and to review the implementation of the Act, the letter read.

Kishore Rithe, one of the petitioners who runs Nature Conservation Society, a wildlife protection non-government organization, said the court has rightly asked state chief secretaries to evict encroachers. If the chief secretaries fail to implement the court order due to political reasons, only God will be able to save them. The order has nothing to do with elections, he said, referring to Gandhis letter to the three chief ministers. Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a network of NGOs working for the welfare of those living in forests, said the Forest Rights Act contains no clause for eviction of rejected claimants and, in fact, section 4(5) specifically prohibits eviction until the process of implementation of the law is fully complete in an area.

But this order can become a pretext for forest officials to attack lakhs of forest dwellers and do another historic injustice to tribals and other forest dwellers, the NGO said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the 2011 census, there are an estimated 104 million tribespeople in India. But civil society groups estimate there are around 200 million people from the scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers living in 1,70,000 villages in forest areas, which cover about 22% of Indias geographical area.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said on Thursday that he would consider requests for early listing of pleas seeking a review of the Supreme Courts verdict on the Rafale jet fighter deal.

A bench led by CJI Gogoi had on December 14 dismissed a bunch of public interest petitions seeking an investigation into the 59,000-crore deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was one of the petitioners in the case, mentioned the matter before the CJI who said four applications or petitions had been filed in the Rafale case and one of them is still lying with the Supreme Court registry because it contains a defect that needs to be cured.

The combination (of the judges) of bench will have to be changed. It is very difficult. We will do something for it, he told Bhushan.

The lawyer informed the CJI that a review petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was defective.

He told the bench of the recent perjury prosecution application he filed along with his co-petitioners, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, seeking action against central government employees for allegedly misleading the court. The government, too, has filed an application seeking a clarification of the December verdict in which the court had then recorded that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had been seized of the matter.

SC had in December dismissed the petitions, saying there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Centre in the procurement of the 36 Rafale jets from France.

The fresh application for perjury accuses central government employees of giving false evidence. Referring to the CAGs audit of the deal, the plea mentions that there had been no CAG report at the time of the verdict. The government misled the court into relying on a non-existent fact/report as the basis of its observation on pricing in the judgement, it alleged .

The information that has come into the public domain after the judgement of court was delivered prima facie shows that government misled the court on various counts and the basis of the judgement of the court is more than one untruth submitted by the government and suppression of pertinent information, the application reads.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to look into request for for early hearing of a plea filed for the review of judgment on Rafale deal. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi told petitioner Prashant Bhushan that he would consider his plea for early hearing in the Rafale case.

CJI Gogoi, however, refused to give a specific date for the hearing saying that an appropriate bench of the Supreme Court is yet to be constituted in the matter. CJI Gogoi told Bhushan that he would do something for the listing of the case.

India and France signed a defence deal in 2016, replacing the one being negotiated during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The deal ran into controversy with the opposition parties led by the Congress alleged irregularities and favouritism in the Rafale contract.

The government rejected the allegations leveled by the Congress and other opposition parties saying that the Rafale deal was in the best interest of the country.

Some people including former Union ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, and Bhushan filed petitions seeking the Supreme Courts direction for a probe into the Rafale deal. The Supreme Court had delivered its judgment in December last year. The apex court ruling virtually vindicated the governments stand that due process was followed in finalising the Rs 59,000 crore deal with France.

Also Read | Rafale verdict: Government asks SC to correct error, says court misinterpreted wording

The court refused to order a probe into the deal and also ruled out commercial favouritism in the defence contract. The apex court ruling fuelled more controversy over reference to the Rafale deal pricing details having been seen by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

The Congress leaders including party president Rahul Gandhi countered it saying the CAG report on Rafale had not come to the PAC. Fresh media reports gave more ammunition to the opposition, which tried to corner the government over the issue.

The government blamed the reference to CAG in the Supreme Court ruling on typographical error and moved a plea for correction in the judgment.

Later, more petitions were filed in the Supreme Court seeking review of its judgment in the case. Bhushan is one of the petitioners seeking review of the Supreme Court judgment on Rafale deal alleging that the government misled the court and tried to hide information from it.

The apex court is yet to constitute a bench for hearing the petitions for review of the December ruling in Rafale deal case. Meanwhile, on February 15, the Supreme Court expressed unhappiness with some of the review pleas pointing out that defective petitions were filed with the intention of seeking publicity in media.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said the prime ministers post has been booked for the next two general elections. Fadnavis was replying to a question asked by actor Riteish Deshmukh during an award ceremony here.

When Deshmukh asked who from Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar and Nitin Gadkari, can become the prime minister, Fadnavis said, Let me tell you, this question does not arise, because the post for prime minister has already been booked... Not only for this years election, but also for the 2024 polls. Though, I would be more than happy if someone from Maharashtra becomes the prime minister after that, he added.

To another query that which party, the Shiv Sena or the BJP, will stake claim for the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers post if both get equal number of seats in this years Maharashtra assembly elections, Fadnavis said few things need to remain secret.

Everything cannot be disclosed at this moment, he added.

He also dismissed reports that BJP workers and leaders were not happy with the alliance as the party would contest only 144 seats in the 288-member House.

Forging an alliance with our old ally Shiv Sena was necessary and this is the political reality in the present situation when all non-natural allies are ganging up to fight against us. Our workers understand this very well and support the alliance, he said. Appealing to forget the bitterness, Fadnavis said, Jo beet gai so baat gai (Let bygone be bygone).

To another query that what cemented the alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis said in a lighter vein, When we arrived at Matoshree (Thackerays) home, Uddhavs better half served us few homemade dishes that were so delightful that we forgot everything and sealed the deal. Overcoming their strained ties and grandiose declarations of going solo, the BJP and the Shiv Sena on Monday had announced a seat-sharing pact for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had jointly announced that the BJP will contest 25 seats and Shiv Sena 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

The two parties will contest an equal number of seats, after allotting allies their due share of segments, in polls for the 288-member state Assembly, due this year.
The Congress on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the government over the Pulwama attack and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for, as the opposition party put it, going soft on Pakistan in the joint statement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

The Prime Minister appears to have forgotten to mention Pakistan in the statement, said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on the joint statement that condemned the Pulwama terror attack but did not mention Pakistan or the Jaish-e-Mohammad which had taken responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama attack.

The joint statement between PM Modi and the Saudi crown prince condemns the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest terms and says that all countries must renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. The statement mentions neither Pakistan, nor the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Referring to PM Modis February 18 statement, Surjewala went on to say, At one time the PM says time for talks with Pakistan is over and now is the time for action, but then he says India and Pakistan will hold discussions. He was referring to the joint statement which states that there is a need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Surjewala said that the PM should have chaired a cabinet meeting on security immediately after the Pulwama attack.

Instead of being busy with a film shoot in Corbett national park, he should have been holding a cabinet meeting on security, Surjewala said.

Watch: Modi continued shooting for film in Corbett after Pulwama attack: Congress

At 3.10 pm when the Pulwama attack took place and was all over the news, PM Modi was shooting for a film till 6.45 pm in Corbett national park. For 4 hours after the terror attack, PM Modi indulged himself in a film shoot, went on boat rides and had his tea and samosas, Surjewala said.

He also questioned why the PM had not announced a national mourning in honour of the deceased CRPF jawans.

From February 14, we mourned for our slain soldiers and stayed silent in honour of their sacrifice. Unfortunately, PM Modis thirst for power has today made him forget his humanity and play politics on our soldiers martyrdom, Surjewala said.

He also accused the PM of tardiness in paying homage to the deceased jawans.

On February 16, 2019, when the soldiers bodies were lying at the airport, the PM reached an hour late to pay his homage. Upon his return from Jhansi, where he had gone for political campaigns, the PM first went to his home and then came to the airport to pay his respects. He made the soldiers wait, Surjewala said.

Surjewala also criticised PM Modi for having gone to South Korea.

At such a sensitive time, if the PM is travelling abroad, it shows how wrong the priorities of the Modi government are, he said.

Raising a series of questions, Surjewala asked the PM was not taking responsibility for the failure of the NSA, the home minister and the intelligence apparatus in preventing the Pulwama attack.

He also questioned how the suicide bomber who attacked the CRPF convoy had got hold of hundreds of kilos of RDX and how the vehicle was allowed to carry such a huge amount of explosives through the security.

Questioning the PM on why the CRPF jawans were not airlifted to Srinagar as had been asked for, Surjewala asked why a video released by the Jaish-e-Mohammad warning of the attack was ignored.

He also accused other BJP leaders such as Sakshi Maharaj and union tourism minister KJ Alphons for their conduct towards the deceased soldiers.

Waving a photograph of Sakshi Maharaj at the funeral of one of the killed jawans, Surjewala said, that the Sakshi Maharaj was smiling at the funeral procession. This is not the place where smile and ask for votes, Surjewala said.

He also criticised tourism minister KJ Alphons for having taken a selfie with the coffin of one of the deceased soldiers.
CRPF jawans deployed in Jammu and Kashmir can now take commercial flights if they go on leave or come back to join duty. The Union home ministry on Thursday, exactly a week after the deadly terror attack on paramilitary forces in south Kashmir, approved entitlement of air travel on the relevant sectors. This will benefit about 7.80 lakh paramilitary jawans, a release by the home ministry said.

The home ministry order said that it has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).

The jawans in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable and ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier, can now fly in commercial flights while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh said the latest order of his ministry is a path-breaking decision for the security forces. This is a path-breaking decision. Its going to be a huge relief and also a show of respect to our security personnel, news agency ANI quoted Singh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, as saying.

This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave, the government order said.

Also Read | Will avenge each teardrop, says PM on terror attack, calls for restraint

This comes in the wake of Pulwama terror attack last week when a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was targeted by the terrorists. At least 40 jawans of the paramilitary force lost their lives in the attack that took place when the convoy of 78 vehicles was carrying more than 2,500 jawans from Jammu to Srinagar.

The convoy was targeted on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in south Kashmirs Pulwama. After the latest government order, the jawans will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued notices to Rajasthans chief secretary, Devendra Bhushan Gupta, and director general (prisons) NRK Reddy over the killing of a Pakistani prisoner at the Jaipur Central Jail on Wednesday.

It has asked them to look into the allegation that Shakir Ullah, 45, was killed in retaliation to the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force men in an attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district last week.

The NHRC took cognisance of the murder on the basis of media reports and directed the states and Union territories to ensure the safety of Pakistani nationals lodged in jails. The commission condemns all such incidents and has called for stringent action against the miscreants to ensure that the right to life of the prisoners is not violated while they are in lawful judicial custody, the NHRC said in a statement.

Reddy said they have made special arrangements to ensure the safety of 17 Pakistanis lodged in jails across the state. He added Ullahs post mortem was conducted on Thursday and his body will be buried if nobody claims it in the next seven days.

Ullah was convicted in a terror case and had been lodged in the Jaipur jail since 2011. Four prisoners allegedly killed him after an argument on Wednesday.

Reddy said action has been taken against three jail officials and inspector general (prisons) has been asked to conduct an inquiry into administrative lapses. Jaipur central jail superintendent Sanjay Yadav and deputy jailor Jagdish Sharma were removed and head warden of ward number 10, where Ullah was lodged, Baidyanath Sharma, was suspended.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday conducted a memorial fly-past at the Yelahanka air base for Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi, a day after the fighter pilot was killed in a mid-air collision between two British-origin Hawk advanced jet trainers while practising aerobatic manoeuvres for the five-day Aero India-2019.

Three IAF fighter jets  a Sukhoi-30 fighter flanked by a Jaguar and a Tejas light combat aircraft  flew the time-honoured missing man formation to honour Gandhi at the inaugural fly-past of Asias biggest air show.

The formation pays tribute to the fallen pilot. If he was alive, he would have been flying too in the finger four formation, said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Major.

Gandhi, 37, was part of the IAFs renowned Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT), which consists of the countrys finest pilots trained to perform complex stunts. Two other pilots injured in the twin Hawk crash - Wing Commander VT Shelke and Squadron Leader TJ Singh - are recuperating in an IAF hospital.

A Rafale aircraft of the French air force also made a low pass during the flying display as a mark of respect to Gandhi, who hailed from Haryanas Hisar. A radio call given by the French pilot announcing this was broadcast over the PA system on the ground. Captain Nativel Babouc, who flew the Rafale in a low pass to honour Gandhi, said, It was my way to pay homage to the fallen pilot. We fighter pilots are one big family no matter which country we come from.

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said it was too early to say what went wrong and only an investigation would reveal the cause of the accident. The jets were in a mirror manoeuvre  one flying inverted above the other  seconds before the collision that has become the major talking point at the 12th edition of the air show. While SKAT is not taking part in the air show any longer because IAF wants to pinpoint the reasons for the accident, the display teams Hawks were seen parked outside an apron near the main runway of the air base.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared the air show open, asserting that it intended to put India on the global map as a runway to a billion opportunities.

The IAFs Sarang helicopter display team performed a string of breathtaking manoeuvres amid cheers and applause from the spectators, including ministers from foreign countries, and top military officials including the three service chiefs.

Another highlight of the biennial show was a fly-by performed by a B-52 Stratofortress bomber that came from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

Of the seven fighter jets competing for an Indian programme to build 114 planes locally under the strategic partnership (SP) model, only Rafales, F-18s and F-16s were part of the flying display.
A 22-year-old man was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court after he was arrested on charges of sedition by Assam Police for allegedly writing Pakistan Zindabad in a comment on Facebook.

This is the second incident in Assam this week where sedition charges have been slapped for pro-Pakistan comments on posts related to the suicide bomb attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama that killed at least 40 personnel.

Diloar Hussain, who works in a bakery in Guwahati was arrested by the Kamrup (rural) police on Wednesday and produced before a magistrate on Thursday, according to officials.

According to Nabajit Nath, officer-in-charge of Baihata Chariali police station of Kamrup rural district, Dipankar Deka, the general secretary of the Rangia unit of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal approached police on Tuesday with details of Hussains Pakistan Zindabad comment on a Facebook post which said Pakistan Muradabad condemning the Pulwama incident.

The complaint said the comment was anti-national in nature. So we registered a case under section 124(A) of the IPC, Nath said.

On Monday, in Ledo town of Tinsukia district, three youths were arrested by Assam Police and charged with sedition and waging war against the state for pro-Pakistan comments on Facebook.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Congress has refused to have an alliance with his Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections. He claimed if the Congress agrees to the alliance offer, the Bharatiya Janata Party will lose all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

Tired of trying to convince Congress for alliance but they refuse to understandIf today our alliance with Congress is done, the BJP will lose all seven seats in Delhi, news agency ANI quoted Kejriwal as saying at a public function in Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency.

Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit didnt agree with Kejriwal and said has never talked about an alliance. I want to ask Arvind Kejriwal on what basis has he said this? Because he has not talked about it even once, Dikshit was quoted as saying by ANI.

Kejriwal had said there should be only one candidate against every BJP candidate so thet votes arent divided. The BJP had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in 2014 parliamentary polls.

Earlier this month, the AAP convener had said the Congress has more or less ruled out an alliance with the party for the Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May this year. Kejriwal made this comment a day after he and Congress president Rahul Gandhi participated in a meeting of opposition leaders at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawars residence in Delhi.

The AAP has been calling for an alliance with the Congress, which has preferred to remain non-committal to offer. The Congress has, on the other hand, maintained that its priority is to strengthen its organisation in Delhi, where it had government for three successive terms between 1998 and 2013, when Kejriwal-led AAP defeated the party.

The 2013 Delhi election in Delhi resulted in a hung assembly. The single-largest party, the BJP, refused to stake claim to power and the AAP formed government with the outside support from the Congress. The government fell after 49 days. When the Lok Sabha polls were held in 2014, Delhi was under the central rule. In 2015, AAP won 67 of 70 seats in Delhi assembly election to form government in the national capital.
The Narendra Modi government has decided to stop Indias share of Indus waters from flowing into Pakistan, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

Under the leadership of Honble PM Sri Narendra Modi Ji, our government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, Gadkari, the Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, tweeted.

The move comes a week after a car suicide bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Pulwama. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had owned responsibility for the attack but Prime Minister Imran Khan said Islamabad no role in it.

A spokesperson for the water resources ministry, however, clarified that there was nothing new in what Gadkari said. This is not a new decision. He (Gadkari) is simply reiterating what he has always said. He is talking about diverting Indias share of Indus waters which was going to Pakistan  and he has always been saying this. Nothing new has been decided.

Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, the six rivers in the Indus river system  Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Jhelum, Indus and Chenab  were divided between the two countries. While India got full rights for utilisation of the waters of the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, it had to allow the three western rivers to flow unrestricted into Pakistan.

Gadkari said a dam was being constructed at Shahpur-Kandi on the river Ravi in Punjab. Moreover, Ujh project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from second Ravi-Beas Link to provide water to other basin states.

The project was approved by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in December 2018. It was aimed at minimizing some of the water of the river Ravi from going waste as it flows through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan
The highest decision-making body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will discuss the increase in number of terror attacks, locals joining terror outfits, and the situation in the Kashmir valley at its upcoming meeting in Madhya Pradeshs Gwalior, according to functionaries familiar with the matter.

The meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), scheduled from March 8 to 10, will come weeks before the 2019 general elections. It also comes in the backdrop of the recent attack in Kashmirs Pulwama, where a suicide bomber attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, killing 40 troopers. The Sangh has condemned the attack and asked the government to bring its perpetrators to justice; the Sangh cadre, too, has been instructed to raise funds for the families of the soldiers killed in the attack.

Also read| In huge move, J&K govt scraps security for 18 separatists, 155 politicians

Kashmir has always been a sensitive issue for the Sangh. Developments in the recent months are worrisome. The issue is likely to be discussed and there could be a resolution on the Kashmir situation if the decision making body arrives at a consensus on the issue, said a senior Sangh functionary who asked not to be named. Traditionally, the ABPS, which is attended by senior functionaries of the Sangh and its affiliates, discusses issues of national importance. On the last day of the meeting, resolutions are passed on issues that the Sangh thinks are of importance to the nation.

This wont be the first time the Sangh is weighing in on Kashmir. In the past, issues pertaining to the situation in Kashmir; cross-border terrorism; and attacks on the security personnel have been part of resolutions passed .

After the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly passed a resolution in 2000 for the restoration of autonomy to the state and demanded that the Union and the state governments take positive and effective steps for its implementation, the Sangh responded by calling it a resolution fraught with disastrous consequences. It is clear that this resolution is a fallout of the Kashmir policy, pursued by various governments at the Centre -- a policy characterised by mindless drift and thoughtless appeasement, in utter disregard of our overall national interests. Every opportunity to fully integrate the state, like all other states that signed the Instrument of Accession, was thrown to the winds, it added.

Also read| Masood Azhar should be sanctioned if theres enough evidence: Saudi deputy foreign minister

In 2008, the ABPS resolution highlighted the porous nature of our borders and the concomitant threat looming from all sides. Chinese incursions came up for mention, too, and the ABPS demanded that all posts along the China border be fully and strongly fortified . With large tracts including Aksai-chin in Ladakh and Kailash Mansarover already under its occupation after it became our neighbour following its annexation of Tibet in 1959, China started making fresh claims over many more areas like Arunachal Pradesh making the border question a much more serious one, the resolution said.

The following year, when the country was gearing for the Lok Sabha elections, the ABPS called for crushing terror networks. Making a pointed reference to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks; it said the Mumbai attacks have once again established the fact that Pakistan is the epicentre of global terrorism. It asked the government to prepare the internal and external security mechanism to effectively tackle the impending danger from across the western border. The Sangh also criticised the lack of political will in taking strong and effective measures even after such major incidents at a time when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power.

On the contrary, after the Pulwama attack, the Sangh did not question the government but expressed hope that the perpetrators would be punished.

Also read| NIA chief visits Pulwama attack site; fresh case filed by agency

Another senior RSS functionary, who asked not to be named, said the other issue that could come up this time is the Abrogation of Article 370 and reclaiming Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

The Sangh has consistently raised the demand for abrogation of Article 370 itself. ..There should also be efforts made to reclaim Pakistan occupied Kashmir , the second functionary said. Article 370 grants special status, and a degree of autonomy, to the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

In 2014, when the last general election was held, the ABPS called for reinforcing security at our borders by developing all needed infrastructure.

Our neighboring countries are trying to create an impression that the borders are disputed. So, we should not only counter their arguments in definite and unequivocal terms, but also think of measures to get them vacated from our areas, forcibly encroached on by them, it added.

Also read| Not just cricket, cut off all sporting ties with Pakistan: Sourav Ganguly
The Indian Air Force could place a Rs 50,000-crore order for an advanced version of the indigenously produced Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, in the next two to three months, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman R Madhavan said at Aero India 2019 on Thursday.

Madhavan said the first flight of LCA Mk-1A was likely to take place three years after the contract was signed, followed by production a year later. The air force plans to buy 83 Mk-1A jets, taking the total number of LCA variants ordered to 123.

Of the 123 planes on order, 20 each are in the initial operational clearance (IOC) and the more advanced final operational clearance (FOC) configurations. The LCA Mk-1A will come with additional improvements over the FOC aircraft, making it the most advanced Tejas variant so far. The Tejas received FOC for induction into the IAF as a combat-ready fighter at a ceremony held here on Wednesday.

The Mk-1A will come with digital radar warning receivers, external self-protection jammer pods, active electronically scanned array radar, advanced beyond-visual-range missiles and significantly improved maintainability. Madhavan said HAL was exploring opportunities to export the LCA to countries in north Africa and the Asia Pacific. The IAF plans to order more than 210 LCA Mk-2 fighters in the long term.

Madhavan said the state-owned plane maker was also expecting an order for 18 more Sukhoi-30 fighters from the IAF. Compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war, the count of the IAFs fighter squadrons has shrunk to 31, the lowest in over a decade. The IAF is planning to buy 21 MiG-29 fighters from Russia to arrest the steep decline in its combat potential.

Asked to comment on Congress president Rahul Gandhis allegations that the government had ignored and ill-treated HAL, Madhavan said that was not the case. Had we been ignored, we wouldnt have got orders. And we look forward to more orders, he said. Amid a flurry of reports that HAL was facing a financial crisis and had been borrowing from banks, the company said it was financially stable.

HALs director (finance) CB Ananthakrishnan said the firms reserves were healthy and the only issue was pending payments from the armed forces. That is being sorted out, he said.

On the controversy surrounding the Rafale fighter jet deal, Madhavan said the issue was a fight between others and HAL didnt want to be dragged into it.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said the government is working on project to divert water from three rivers flowing into Pakistan from India in order to improve availability of water in the Yamuna. He said both the countries hold the right to use water flowing in three rivers each under the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960. But India has not utilised river waters it is permitted to use under the agreement, he said.

After formation of India and Pakistan, India and Pakistan got the right to use waters in three rivers each. The water from our three rivers is going to Pakistan. Now, we are planning to build a project and divert the water from these three rivers into Yamuna river. Once this happens, Yamuna will have more water, news agency ANI quotes Nitin Gadkari as saying at a public event in Uttar Pradeshs Baghpat on Wednesday.

Watch: Post Pulwama, Gadkari talks of diverting water from 3 rivers back to India

On Thursday evening, Gadkari took to Twitter to say that all the three projects have been declared as national projects. Under the leadership of Honble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, the minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation wrote on the microblogging site.

Also Read | Paramilitary jawans deployed in Kashmir allowed air travel; govt issues order after Pulwama attack

In another tweet, Gadkari said, The construction of dam has started at Shahpur - Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states.

Gadkaris comment has come at a time when India has mounted pressure on Pakistan in the wake of a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama last week. At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed in the attack, for which Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility.

India responded by revoking the most favoured nation (MFN) status accorded to Pakistan in 1996. It also hiked tariff on imports from Pakistan by 200 per cent.

Also Read | In backdrop of Pulwama terror attack, resolution on Kashmir situation likely in upcoming RSS meet

In an aggressive diplomatic move, the ministry of external affairs reached out to more than two dozen countries including P5  the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, which has repeatedly used its veto to block sanctions against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar at the United Nations.

This is not the first time, however, when Gadkari has spoken about construction of projects on these rivers, whose water is going unutilised into Pakistan. In January this year, Gadkari had said Indias share of water has been going to Pakistan without being utilised asserting that we have decided that we will stop the flow and divert the water which is rightfully ours.

According to the Indus Waters Treaty, subject to certain conditions, India has the right to use water flowing in eastern rivers, namely, the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej while Pakistan controls the right to use water in western rivers, namely, the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab.
The Election Commission (EC) has received a unique request  whether the summer general elections can be held in a single phase on the same day in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The YSR Congress has suggested that only single-day balloting in the two Telugu states can prevent possible double-voting by a large number of people who belong to Andhra Pradesh but live and work in Telangana capital, Hyderabad, or other parts of that state.

Telangana chief electoral officer Rajat Kumar told reporters on Wednesday he had written to the EC requesting whether polling in the two Telugu states could be held in a single phase.

The conduct of polls simultaneously in both states on the same day would avoid a lot of expenditure, apart from addressing the concerns of parties on duplication of votes in both states, Kumar said.

Before Telangana was formed in June 2014, general elections in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh were held in two phases  on April 30 in Telangana and on May 7 in Andhra Pradesh.

This time, the YSR Congress, the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, has lodged a complaint with the EC that the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the state was allegedly misusing its power to manipulate the electoral list.

In a representation to chief election commissioner Sunil Arora on February 4, YSRC president YS Jaganmohan Reddy claimed there were large-scale discrepancies in the state electoral list. A detailed analysis of the list had thrown up that of a total of 3.69 crore voters in the state, as many as 59.18 lakh were duplicate votes that had allegedly been included at the behest of the TDP, he alleged.

Of these 59.18 lakh bogus votes, as many as 20,07,395 voters have their names registered as voters both in Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh, he claimed.

For example, one Shashi Kumar, wife of Krishna Murthy, got her name registered as a voter in polling booth no. 40 of Tirupati constituency in Chittoor district with serial number 100. She has another vote in polling booth no. 256 of Jubilee Hills constituency in Hyderabad with serial number 129. Surprisingly, in both cases, the voter has the same electoral photo identity card number MZT5438635, the YSRC leader pointed out.

The apprehension of the opposition party is that a large number of voters belonging to Andhra Pradesh continue to stay in Telangana, particularly in and around Hyderabad, even now.

Though they stay in Hyderabad, they have their properties and families in Andhra and they keep travelling to their native places during holidays. Similarly, more than 5,000 employees have moved to Amaravati and Vijayawada after the bifurcation, but they have their families and houses in Hyderabad and every weekend, they come back to the city. They must have got their names registered in both states, a YSRC leader argued.

The TDP, however, rubbished such apprehensions. We dont have any objections if the elections are held in a single phase in both states. But the allegation that there would be double-voting by pro-TDP voters in both states has no meaning. The number of such double-voters will be very few and the EC has the mechanism to prevent such double-voting, TDP official spokesman Y Babu Rajendra Prasad said on Thursday.

Author and independent political analyst Sriram Karri said there was nothing wrong in conducting elections in both Telugu states in a single phase, if the EC could make adequate security and other arrangements.

But it will be stupid if it does it on the grounds of double-voting. If a voter exercises his franchise in one state, he cannot vote in another state because of indelible ink. If he can still do it, then the mistake lies with the EC for lacking a mechanism to prevent double-voting, he said.
A 43-year-old man, involved in at least 113 cases, including those of murder, dacoity, robbery and extortion, was arrested following a brief encounter near a farmhouse in southwest Delhis Kapashera on Wednesday. One bullet was fired from each side, but no one was hurt in the firing, police said.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajiv Ranjan said Raju Khandelwal alias Hakla, a wanted criminal fired a bullet at head constable Brij Lal in a bid to escape when his car was intercepted by the police. Lal ducked and he escaped unhurt.

The bullet hit the wall of the farmhouse. In retaliation, constable Dharam Raj fired in the air. The other police personnel then overpowered Raju. They also snatched his countrymade pistol, the additional CP said, adding Raju has cases against him at the Anand Parbat police station.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Bhisham Singh said Raju was also wanted in a case of attack on crime branch officers, which took place during a raid in Dwarka on February 2.

Police had then arrested a suspected criminal Sunny Dogra, after he fired at the police party when asked to surrender. Dogras interrogation revealed that the pistol he used to fire on the police personnel was supplied to him by Raju, the DCP said.

DCP Singh said his team received information about Rajus movements in Kapashera area. On Tuesday night, the team learnt that Raju would be going towards Dwarka in a car and he would be using the Kapashera Bijwasan road that connects to Dwarka Link Road.

Our team laid a trap and intercepted Rajus car. He was caught after a brief encounter, he said.
Thousands of farmers began their eight-day protest march on Thursday from Maharashtras Nashik to Mumbai to press for their demands, including loan waivers, minimum support price and land rights, 11 months after a similar agitation in the state.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), which has organised the approximately 200 kilometre Long March, has said the protest will start even as they are holding talks with the BJP-led government in the state.

The organisation affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said its meeting with state water resources minister Girish Mahajan late on Wednesday night was satisfactory but they want the state government to take action accordingly.

Mahajan has said he will consult the chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) and solve this tangle. However, we have decided to start our march and will withdraw only when we get a proper guarantee and timeline [to resolve the issues] from the state government, said AIKS president Ashok Dhawale.

The farmers march, which was supposed to start on Wednesday, was deferred by a day after police detained vehicles carrying the farmers to the venue in places like Palghar, Kasara, Dahanu and Jawhar.

In addition, Nashik Police denied them permission for the march and gave them the green signal just for the meeting at the venue. However, the farmers have started their long march disregarding the permission saying they were exercising their democratic right to protest.

The farmers have been demanding a revision of the river linking agreement to ensure that water is not diverted to Gujarat, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, transfer of forest land to tribals and pension scheme for farmers.

In March last year, a similar protest was organised by AIKS in which 30,000 farmers participated. They withdrew the protest after the state government assured it will fulfil their demands.

However, they claim that they were cheated as a majority of their demands are yet to see the light of the day.

Also read: What Maharashtra farmers demanded, and got, from the Fadnavis govt

Lok Sangharsh Morcha, an outfit that works for the rights of tribals and farmers in Maharashtra and Gujarat, held a similar march in November last year to demand, among other things, transfer of land rights to 2.31 lakh eligible tribals and relief to drought-affected farmers.

They withdrew their protest following a written assurance from the state government that their demands would be met within three months.

Also read: Temporary truce: Maharashtra tribals, farmers withdraw stir on governments written assurances
A Gurdaspur court on Thursday awarded former superintendent of police (SP) Salwinder Singh a jail term of 10 and five years in a case of rape and bribery.

Both the sentences will run concurrently. Also, the court of additional sessions judge Prem Kumar imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Salwinder (55) who it held guilty on February 15 in the rape case registered against the former cop in 2016.

In August 2016, Salwinder was booked after a state government employee accused him of taking Rs 50,000 bribe to remove his name from an FIR (first information report) in a false rape case and also developing illicit relations with his wife on the pretext of visiting his house in connection with probe. The case was registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 (2) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the Gurdaspur city police station. Police said the man was booked in February 2014 for rape on a complaint that Salwinder was investigating.

Salwinder was declared a proclaimed offender in the rape case, after his bail plea was rejected in the Punjab and Haryana high court in September 2016. He remained underground for months and was suspended from service. He surrendered in a Gurdaspur court on April 20, 2017. On Thursday, Salwinder was sent to the Amritsar central jail where he was brought from after the court pronounced its verdict. The Gurdaspur jail authorities had refused to keep him there for security reasons and he was taken to Amritsar. He was taken in custody on February 15 as he was out on bail. Salwinder had shot into the limelight after he was purportedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016. He was quizzed repeatedly by investigative agencies and was finally given a clean chit.

Later that year, the Punjab government proceeded with his compulsory retirement citing his controversial conduct throughout his service in the Punjab Police, starting as an assistant sub-inspector (ASI).
Thousands of young Kashmiri men are lining up outside an Indian Army camp in north Kashmir to participate in a recruitment drive of the force, after the deadly attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama last week.

The men from Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts have been assembling at the armys 161 Territorial Army camp with their job applications every day since Monday even as Kashmiris outside the state have been assaulted and harassed following the suicide bomb attack in Pulwama on February 14.

Colonel Ved Beniwal, commanding officer of 161 Territorial Army camp in Baramulla, said they have received thousands of applications for 111 posts of soldiers.

To fill these posts we started a recruitment drive from February 18 which will continue till February 23. Almost 3,500 people have applied so far and many more are still coming, Col Beniwal said.

He said the applicants immediately are put through some grilling physical tests.

You can yourself judge the response going by the numbers. It is a good response, the army officer said.

Read| In backdrop of Pulwama terror attack, resolution on Kashmir situation likely in upcoming RSS meet

The army said that those who have cleared their Class 10 examination, the basic qualification, could apply for the job. We got a fair number of graduates and a few postgraduates as well who applied for the job, Beniwal said.

After the physical tests, the army will check the documents of those who passed the physical tests and that will be done after the completion of the drive.

A long queue of men looking for a job could be seen outside the camp in Baramulla.

It is a good job opportunity. I am a graduate, have crossed 30 years of age and am still without a stable source of income, an applicant from Kupwara district, who did not want to be identified, said.

I know many people will dislike my decision but ultimately my life is my baby to take care of. They wont be earning on my behalf, he said.

There has been anger among Kashmiris over the revenge attacks on local students and professionals in other states after a local Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Adil Ahmad Dar rammed a car filled with explosives into a CRPF convoy killing 40 personnel. The attack caused rage across the country with mobs going hostile against many Kashmiris.

Also read| In huge move, J&K govt scraps security for 18 separatists, 155 politicians

The dearth of jobs in the Valley and the security of a government job at a young age are factors that pull the Kashmiri youth  despite many with a pro-freedom sentiment  to police and the army.

Such a presence of young Kashmiris for government jobs are not new in the restive valley.

After the 2016 unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander Burhan Wani, thousands had donned the olive and khaki uniforms as the state held many recruitment drives, especially for special police officers (SPOs) across the state.

Also read| NIA chief visits Pulwama attack site; fresh case filed by agency
BJP on Thursday hit back at Congresss criticism on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Pulwama attack, saying the grand old party has shown its true colours and its content had a striking resemblance with those of Pakistani PM Imran Khan.

The Congress has alleged that Modi was busy with a film shoot when he should have chaired a cabinet meeting on security.

Congress has shown true face today. When the whole country is one, when country after country passing resolution condemning Pulwama attack and standing firmly with India, at that critical moment the true face of Congress party appears, seeking to weaken the morale of the country, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Congress had raised the issue of PM Modi not mentioning Pakistan or Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide bomber attack on February 14 that killed 40 CRPF personnel, in his joint statement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Also watch: Amit Shah accuses Congress of trying to politicise the Pulwama attack

Noting that such attacks are never politicised, Prasad took on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

When the body of martyrs came, Rahul Gandhi was doing something with his phone. Did we make that an issue? We could have done if we wanted to, Prasad said.

The minister went on to say that the Congress had a strong resemblance with Pakistani PM Imran Khans statements.

Their style may be different but the content of what the Prime Minister of Pakistan spoke and what the Congress party spoke today bears a striking resemblance. Pakistan must be happy today after listening to Congress pressers, he said.

The Congress must understand that regardless of their canards, the country believed in his leadership and his ability to lead the country, Prasad said.

Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah also had hit out at the the Congress, saying it has no moral right to question the BJP on patriotism.

Congress has used this attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of attack. They should know that PM Modi works for 18 hours in a day for the nation, Shah said at a public rally in Andhra Pradeshs Rajahmundry.
A week after a suicide car bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama, the opposition Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shook off their self-imposed restraint on Thursday and flung themselves into a political slugfest over the deadliest terror attack in three decades of insurgency in the state.

The Congress alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had continued to shoot for a documentary in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand for his propaganda and publicity the same evening after the attack had taken place on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the afternoon of February 14. It also wondered whether an intelligence failure was responsible for the attack.

The BJP hit back, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and party president Amit Shah rising to the defence of the party and the Prime Minister. The Opposition party has shown its true colours after maintaining a facade of standing alongside the government following the terror strike, Prasad said.

He accused the Congress of trying to weaken the morale of the armed forces at a time when the whole world is behind India. Prasad said Modi was in Uttarakhand on the day of the attack in connection with a tiger conservation programme, saying the Congresss attack on Modi was shameful.

The Congress attack on the Modi government would have pleased Pakistan, he alleged, adding that what Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and the opposition party had said may have been different in style but their content bore a striking resemblance.

The slanging match is perhaps an indication that after exercising restraint in the immediate aftermath of the attack in Pulwamas Awantipora, which has been claimed by Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), both parties are going back to campaign mode ahead of the upcoming general election.

A joint statement issued after Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans visit to New Delhi also gave occasion to the Congress to take a swipe at the government on the grounds that it did not mention Pakistans role in the Pulwama attack and come just days after the princes visit to Pakistan.

The brave are martyred. Their families struggle.40 Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of Shaheed. While this man has never given & only taken. Hes gifted 30,000Cr of their money & will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modis NEW INDIA, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Citing reports in some Hindi newspapers to back the allegation he levelled over the Saudi Princes visit, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: In his hunger for power, the Prime Minister has forgotten raj dharma [duty of governance].

Surjewala said the suicide bomber had rammed the bus carrying CRPF troopers, one in a 78-vehicle convoy, at 3:10 pm and Congress reacted to it at 5:15 pm. What is unpardonable is that as the entire nation was stunned by the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday, February 14, 2019, at 3.10 pm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy picnicking in Corbett National Park, Ramnagar, Naitnital, and was participating in a photo shoot of Discovery Channel and staring at crocodiles till 6:30 pm, and had tea and snacks in the Circuit House till 6.45 pm. Not only this, PM Modi was enjoying a boat ride from Kalagarh dam to Dhikala along with the Discovery Channel head and the camera crew who were filming Shri Narendra Modi. Its horrific that as our jawans were getting martyred in Pulwama, the Prime Minister was busy doing self-promotional photo shoots.

What is even more painful is that despite the horrific Pulwama terror attack, PM Modi didnt announce national mourning so that political rallies and inauguration sprees at the expense of public exchequer would not be cancelled. Not only this, PM Modi came an hour late at Delhi airport, on February 16, 2019, to offer homage to Pulwama martyrs as he was busy politicking in Jhansi. the Congress spokesperson said.

Surjewala said the Congress had exercised restraint on the directive of party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise such issues.

The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today, he said.

The Congress also attacked the government and national security adviser Ajit Doval over the suicide bombing in Kashmir and questioned whether an intelligence breach had led to the attack.

Is our Intelligence so weak under Ajit Doval that terrorists were able to carry 350kg of explosives through the most protected highway in the country? Surjewala said. How did the terrorists know the exact route of the CRPF jawans? Was there an intelligence breach? If so, why has no action been taken against those responsible in the intelligence agencies?

The Congress took objection to the joint Saudi-India statement not mentioning Pakistan in the context of the Pulwama attack. The statement, issued hours after Modi held talks with the Crown Prince, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The Prime Minister forgot to write the name of terror nourisher Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said on Twitter, also protesting against Modi breaking protocol by going to the airport to receive Salman, calling it a glaring diplomatic failure for which Modi must answer to the nation.

On Thursday, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradeshs Rajahmundry city, Shah hit back at the Congress and accused it of using the Pulwama terror attack to further its political interests.

They created an issue of PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of the attack. But I want to tell them that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours a day, the BJP national president said.

The BJP chief asked the Congress not to teach patriotism to the BJP, saying the party had no moral right to question Modi or the BJP when it had raised doubts over the September 2016 surgical strikes conducted by the army on terrorist camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He said Modi had given a free hand to the armed forces to choose a time and place for avenging the attack on CRPF.
A juvenile court in Rohtak on Wednesday denied bail to a class 4 student who was apprehended for allegedly raping a four-year-old girl. While the counsel for the accused sought bail on grounds that he is just eight years old and not capable of raping a girl, the court rejected the plea in view of pending investigation in the case.

The incident took place two weeks ago when the class 4 boy, along with two others, aged 13 and 14, allegedly lured the girl and sexually assaulted her at a secluded spot near her house. The girl later narrated the incident to her parents following which a case was registered.

The three boys were arrested and sent to borstal jail. They were booked under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 376DB (punishment for rape of woman less than 12-year-old) and Section 6 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The girl was admitted to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, from where she was discharged on Tuesday.

The girls counsel, Chetna Arora, argued that the girl, in her statement to the magistrate, had specifically blamed the eight-year-old boy, stating that he was the one who lured her and attempted sexual assault. Arora further said the accused were using the eight-year-old to file the bail plea at first to set ground for bail for the other two accused who are older than him.

The court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of the accused on the grounds that the investigation is going on.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a preliminary enquiry involving unknown officials of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) for alleged irregularities and misconduct in the 2010 examination for the post of additional private secretary.

Agency sources said the PE was registered on February 14 on the request of the Uttar Pradesh government in September 2018.

The Centre also issued an order in the matter in January this year.

A source said that in the 2010 examination conducted by the UPPSC, unknown officials showed undue favours to candidates which resulted in selection of non-deserving candidates who did not fulfil the eligibility criteria.

Some of the selected candidates were close relatives of the then UPPSC officials, the source added.
Police in West Bengals Durgapur have arrested a 16-year-old boy, who is writing his Class 10 board examination, on charges of raping a Class 1 student, officials have said.

The boy allegedly committed the crime on Sunday, a day after he wrote his geography exam and a day before he appeared for the mathematics test.

We nabbed the boy after a complaint was lodged on Monday. The crime was committed on Sunday. We took the boy to the exam centre according to the court order. The minor victim is undergoing treatment, Avishek Modi, deputy commissioner of Asansol Durgapur Police, said.

According to police, the victim a medical test confirmed she was raped.

We have heard about even 15-year-old boys being accused of rape, but never heard of anyone committing such crime in the midst of board exams which is an occasion causing tension among students, said a senior district police officer.

Also read| Gurugram man booked for allegedly raping live-in partners 16-year-old foster daughter

The boy took the six-year-old, who lives close to his home in Durgapur, to an abandoned house in the area on Sunday and forced himself on her. The resident of Durgapur Municipality was arrested on Monday and produced in a court the next day.

He wrote the tests at his designated exam centre as a policeman kept a watch on him.

The exams ended on Wednesday and he was taken to a shelter home in Burdwan.

Also read| 4-day probe, 5-day trial lands man in jail for life for raping 4-year-old in Rajasthan

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, West Bengal accounted for 11.31%, 10.11% and 9.6% of all the crimes against women in the country in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.

In 2012, West Bengal accounted for 12.67% of the total cases, making the state the worst offender in the country on this count.
Cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia in intelligence-sharing and strategic security and defence matters is set to get a boost thanks to measures proposed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, people familiar with development said on Thursday.

During his interactions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the prince brought up real-time intelligence-sharing to counter terrorists threats and closer cooperation on maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, the people said on condition of anonymity.

The prince underlined Saudi Arabias strength in intelligence and information and how we can work together on intelligence-sharing on a real-time basis, one of the persons said.

The prince indicated his understanding of the threats India is facing, and in this context, both sides agreed to set up a comprehensive security dialogue with the NSAs (national security advisors) and a joint working group on counter-terrorism, the person added.

The joint statement issued at the conclusion of the princes visit on Wednesday said the two sides had agreed to start a comprehensive security dialogue of their NSAs and to set up a joint working group to boost counter-terrorism efforts.

The people quoted above said there has been good and substantial intelligence-sharing in the past and the new measures are aimed at making the cooperation more structured. Indias National Investigation Agency has benefited from information provided by the Saudis, they added. Saudi deputy foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir also told journalists on Wednesday that intelligence provided by his country had helped stop terror attacks. He did not give details.

The two sides also agreed to cement their strategic partnership through a high-level monitoring mechanism called the Strategic Partnership Council that will be led by the Indian premier and the Saudi crown prince. This council will be supported by two or three ministerial groups that will focus on economic issues, defence, foreign policy and security issues, and socio-cultural ties, the people said.

India also accepted the Saudi princes proposal for the two sides to work closely on maritime security.

He mentioned that in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf, the two countries should work with other countries and they can be net security providers. This is a recognition of Indias prowess in maritime security, the person quoted above said.

The people said the joint statement also reflected Saudi Arabias acknowledgement of the common threat of terrorism, as well as greater sensitivity for Indias concerns related to terrorism and its position on Jammu and Kashmir.

They said this marked a significant change in the kingdoms appreciation of the threats faced by India. The reference in the joint statement for the creation of conditions for the resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue reflected Riyadhs understanding of New Delhis position that talks can he held only if Islamabad renounces terrorism, the people said.
The wait for the Bengaluru suburban rail network will get longer as the Railway ministry is unhappy with the Karnatakas government conditional approval to the project, according to people aware of the developments.

The network of four corridors is aimed at decongesting Bengaluru. Rs 17,000 crore were allocated for the project in the 2018-19 Union budget ahead of the Karnataka election. But the project got stuck after the election. In January, the Karnataka government gave approval to the project with 19 conditions.

Railway board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav has now written to the Karnataka chief secretary, TM Vijay Bhaskar, saying the railway minister has agreed to most of the conditions. He and asked the state to withdraw the conditions that were not agreeable.

I am surprised to learn that state government gave in-principle approval to the project subject to as many as 19 conditions on a proposal initiated by the state in the first place. It is discouraging to note that state government has deviated from the original understanding and sought for a much bigger scope of the project and backtracked from its commitment made on various occasions with respect to various aspects of the proposal, Yadav said in his letter dated February 8. HT has seen the letter. Bhaskar said the state had addressed some of the Centres concerns. We are examining some of the conditions and will take a decision on this soon, he said. The completion cost for the dedicated Bengaluru Sub Urban Rail Corridor is estimated to be Rs 23,093 crores.

On Karnataka governments condition over the extension of proposed corridor to suburban/satellites of Bengaluru, the railway board chairman has said that the description of the corridor should be kept within the study zone and other expansions should be examined separately in future.

There is also a dispute over the cost of railway land as the Karnataka government has put a condition saying the cost of railway land to be used for the project is to be taken as on nominal lease basis at Re 1 per acre.
Heavy snow and rainfall in Himachal Pradeshs Kinnaur district on Thursday hit the operation to rescue five soldiers of the Indian Army, who went missing after an avalanche, near a border post along the border with China.

The five soldiers were a part of a 16-member patrolling party of the army and ITBP personnel which was hit the avalanche near Namgia Dogri near Shipkila village in the tribal district on Wednesday morning. They had gone towards the Shipki La border post from Namagya on Wednesday to repair a damaged water supply line when the avalanche hit them around 11am.

Ten personnel were able to rush to safety but the five army men were trapped in the mound of snow after the avalanche was triggered by fierce snow blizzards in the area. One of them, identified as havaldar Rakesh Kumar from Bilaspur, was rescued but he succumbed to his injuries in the civil hospital in Pooh.

The joint team of about 150 personnel of the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police, as well as those from the local administration and police, are looking for the five soldiers, officials said. Those who went missing included naik Videsh Chand, rifleman Govind Bahadur Chatri, rifleman Rajesh Rishi, rifleman Arjun Kumar and rifleman Nitin Rana.

All the five men belonged to the 7th Jammu and Kashmir Rifle, Kinnaurs deputy commissioner Gopal Chand said.

The army launched an operation to rescue them at the break of dawn. But the inclement weather conditions after fresh snowfall hampered rescue operations, Chand said.

The body of the dead soldier will be brought by road as a helicopter will not be able to fly in the bad weather. Snow triggered avalanche at Pooh nullah and Tinku nullah has also hampered the traffic.

Five other men were also injured in the avalanche and have been identified as sepoy G Belargim, Rajnish Kumar, Mohammad Jishan, Ram Baran and havaldar Tele Lal Chand.

An army spokesperson said that the rescue and search operation would continue till the last man is retrieved.

The search was called off for the night on Wednesday when the area witnessed four to five inches of snowfall, news agency PTI reported. Shipki La is at a height of around 13,000feet and located around 300km from state capital Shimla.

Also read: 11 killed as avalanches strike parts of Kashmir

Himachal shares 260km of porous border with China. Of the total border length, 140km lies along Kinnaur and 80km of the border is along Lahaul and Spiti districts. The international border is jointly manned by the army and ITBP.

Himachal Pradesh is likely to receive moderate to heavy rain and snowfall in the next 24 hours till Friday, according to the met department.
Pakistan used its final round of arguments in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice to question Indias stance that the matter should be decided on the grounds that he hadnt received a fair trial and his rights under the Vienna Convention were violated.

The 48-year-old former navy officer was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017, a year after he was arrested and charged with alleged involvement in spying and subversive activities.

India has denied the charges and said Jadhav was abducted from the Iranian port of Chabahar. The ICJ stayed Jadhavs execution after India approached it last year.

Pakistans counsel Khawar Qureshi contended during the second round of oral arguments that India had not replied to arguments and instead tried to distract and to shift the spotlight from its unlawful conduct.

Qureshi also claimed India was misreading the 2008 bilateral agreement on consular access and that it was wrong for India to disparage the military courts of Pakistan, which have procedures and standards similar to those of civil courts.

India has already said the 2008 agreement cannot be applied in Jadhavs case and that the matter should be decided according to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Pakistan attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan, in his concluding remarks, said the countrys civil, special and military courts had robust procedures for review and reconsideration which Jadhav could avail of. He also argued that some trials, such as Jadhavs case, cannot be made public because they involve state security and state secrets.

New Delhi has said Jadhav did not have a proper defence during his secret trial by a military court and this was a violation of his rights.

Khan also sought to link the case of Afzal Guru, the bombing of the Samjhauta Express, the 2002 riots in Gujarat and the Pulwama attack to Jadhavs case. He added there was also a FIR against Jadhav in the civilian domain and a case of terrorism is to commence against him.

Following the arguments, the ICJ bench announced it will inform both parties in due course about the date on which the judgement will be pronounced. It is expected the court will take several months to give its ruling.
Former chief of the armys northern command, Lt Gen DS Hooda (retired), under whose watch the 2016 surgical strikes were conducted, will head a Congress task force on national security, a party statement said on Thursday.

The Congress president is setting up a task force on national security to prepare a vision paper for the country. Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) will lead the task force and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts, the statement read.

Hooda, however, maintained that he has not joined the Congress party and there is no such plan in the near future.

Hooda was the main architect of the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army on September 29, 2016, on terror launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.

He had met the Congress president some time ago and agreed to head the panel that will also comprise professionals such as diplomats and senior police officers.

I will head the task force which is basically going to look at national security challenges, give recommendations and prepare a national security strategy for the next five years, Hooda said.

Asked if there is a specific timeframe to submit the report, he said, There is no timeframe but I am looking at one month.

Hooda will now pick the members of the task force with relevant expertise in the area. We are looking at a mix of security professionals, including diplomats, uniformed people and police members, he said.

In December, Hooda had remarked that it would have been better if the 2016 surgical strikes were carried out secretly. The Congress president used the remarks as a handle to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he used the strikes for political capital.

In hindsight, it would have been better had we done it secretly, he had said, responding to a question during the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh on December 7 last year.

He had also said that it was natural to have initial euphoria about the success but the constant maintenance of hype around the military operation was unwarranted.

Hooda had underlined that the military leadership must guard against becoming a tool in the hands of politicians.

Gandhi took to Twitter to hail Hooda. Spoken like a true soldier General. India is so proud of you. Mr 36 has absolutely no shame in using our military as a personal asset. He used the surgical strikes for political capital and the Rafale deal to increase Anil Ambanis real capital by 30,000 Cr, he tweeted.

Hooda retired from service a few months after the surgical strikes.

Last year, when the National Security Advisory Board, which analyses internal and external security issues, wanted someone to take a hard look at ways to optimise resources for the armed forces, it had turned to Hooda.

In his report, the officer had recommended the possibility of cutting down the size of Indias 1.2-million strong army by creating a reserve force and making the special forces a strategic resource.
In a first, Army chief General Bipin Rawat took off in Tejas fighter jet for an aerial tour and witness the capability of the light combat aircraft during Aero India 2019 show in Bengaluru on Thursday. General Rawat described the Made-In-India combat jet as a wonderful aircraft that will enhance firepower of the Indian Air Force.

Its a wonderful aircraft. If aircrafts like this get added to the IAF inventory, it will increase our air power, General Rawat said after taking a sortie in Tejas.

General Rawat occupied the seat behind the pilot in the two-seater trainer variant of the Tejas, an indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and took to the skies above Yelahanka Air Force Station.

Flight in LCA Tejas was an experience of a lifetime. From what I could witness, avionics are very good. Its targeting is very good, said the Army chief adding, We were doing normal maneuvres. We did not do the loop.

Tejas was cleared on Wednesday for induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it got final operational clearance (FOC) from military aviation regulator Cemilac as a weaponised fighter jet. Tejas is capable of carrying a range of weapons and fired them with precision at the target.

It is a major milestone for the LCA to get the final operational clearance. The aircraft could fly in many sorties and has demonstrated the precision with which it can deliver weapons, said Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal BS Dhanoa after FOC and release-to-service documents were handed over to him at the Aero India air show.

The aircraft got clearance after performing air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAFs Vayu Shakti air display at Pokhran in Rajasthan on February 16, Air Marshal Dhanoa told the reporters on Wednesday.

Tejas combat jets have been manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has been one of the focal points for the opposition to target the Narendra Modi government amid row over Rafale deal. The Congress has alleged that the Rafale deal that was signed by the Modi government with France in 2016 denied the HAL contract to manufacture the fighter jet under transfer of technology agreement with its original manufacturer, the Dassault Aviation.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue accusing him of taking away the Rafale contract from HAL and giving it to his friend Anil Ambani, whose firm the Reliance Defence is an off-set partner of the Dassault Aviation.

India and France signed an intergovernmental agreement for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The deal replaced the one being negotiated during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime for 126 Rafale jets including 18 in flyaway condition.
Twenty four hours on, five Army soldiers are still trapped under snow after their patrol party was hit by avalanche near the China border in Shipka La sector of Himachal Pradeshs Kinnaur district.

Sixteen jawans had gone towards the Shipki La border post from Namagya on Wednesday to repair a damaged water supply line when the avalanche hit them around 11am. A jawan died in the incident. He was identified as Rakesh Kumar, 41, of Ghumarpur village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh.

The soldiers belonged to the 7JAK Rifles unit.

Heavy snow and rain has hampered the rescue operations on Thursday. The area witnessed 4 to 5 inches snowfall on Wednesday night, news agency PTI reported.

A team of about 150 people, including Army and ITBP personnel, is searching for the trapped jawans, along with the police. The search was called off for the night on Wednesday.

The avalanche was triggered by fierce snow blizzards in the area. Shipki La is at a height of around 13,000 feet and is located around 300 km from state capital Shimla.

Also read| 11 killed as avalanches strike parts of Kashmir

In another development, a glacier has slid in Pooh nullah area of Kinnaur. PTI, quoting a district official, said no damage has been reported.

Himachal Pradesh is likely to receive moderate to heavy rain and snowfall in the next 24 hours till Friday, according to the Met department.
Kareena Kapoor made it abundantly clear where her black pantsuit ensemble is from. On Thursday, the Veere Di Wedding actor stepped out for an event in Mumbai with her friend, billionaire heiress Natasha Poonawalla, wearing emblazoned separates by opulent Italian brand, Armani. Reader, take note: Kareenas fitted tuxedo jacket that buttons at the navel, came complete with an immediately recognisable tone-on-tone Armani logo a the waist. It was paired with a pair of relaxed-cut black pants. Check out photos of Kareena Kapoor wearing a modern pantsuit that offers something fresh and exudes a #bosslady aesthetic, without being boring:

Going sans shirt has become quite the norm for risk-takers and celebrity suit wearers: Only days ago, Priyanka Chopra spearheaded the trend with an embellished ivory blazer with a plunging neck that went all the way down to her belly button. Kareena Kapoor too owned the no-shirt pantsuit trend and pulled off the bold outfit in the most charming way possible. Though much more demure than Priyankas recent outfit choice, Kareenas black pantsuit is no less noteworthy.

The fitted blazer and cropped pants flattered Kareena Kapoors figure, while the plunging neckline and shirtless style felt of-the-moment. Kareena finished her look with sleek black stilettos and a glossy nude lips. Need a little more convincing or some ideas on how to wear a pantsuit for your everyday look? Take a cue from Kareena Kapoor on how to wear this trend in and out of the office.This new Kareena Kapoor look will make you want to wear a chic pantsuit for all the formal occasions or for whenever you need a confidence boost.

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German designer Karl Lagerfelds death in Paris on Tuesday left a void among the members of the fashion fraternity across the world. Karl had been the Creative Director of French fashion house Chanel since 1983, and Fendi since 1965. Under his creative vision both the brands became eponymous to high-end luxury fashion. Here, members of the Indian fashion fraternity share their fondest memories of the iconic designer.

From left: Manish Malhotra, Rina Dhaka, Rahul Mishra, Sunil Sethi and Nachiket Barve. (File Photos)

Manish Malhotra, designer

The end of an era... 19th February 2019 #monsieur #chanel #karllagerfeld #legendary #restinpeace

Rina Dhaka, designer

Karl was truly like a fashion God, and fashion is no longer going to be the same without him. The way he shaped up Chanel and Fendi under his leadership was truly inspiring. I am not just mourning his loss but will feel his loss everyday.

Rahul Mishra, designer

It takes a lot of creativity and courage to stay relevant for six decades, and Karl inspired us all with his energy. He was a super human being, who was active even at the age of 85. It was his passion that drove him and his larger-than-life personality will keep inspiring several generations to come.

Sunil Sethi, FDCI President

I was seeing an interview yesterday where renowned fashion journalist Suzy Menkes was asked to describe Karl Lagerfeld in one word and she called him a genius. I think no one but a genius only can pull off such huge brands and make them so successful. Karl was a visionary and he stayed relevant with time. He defied the logic that fashion is only for the young and showed us that experience is always what matters the most.

Nachiket Barve, designer

Karl was so committed to his work even at this age. His death is the end of an era in fashion. The longevity of his career and the prolific nature of his work are proof enough that such iconic personalities are born very less. Wish I imbibe some of that prolific way of working! RIP @karllagerfeld you are a LEGEND!

Watch: Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel and Fendis creative director dead at 85

A barrage of condolences and tributes filled social media, following the death of Karl Lagerfeld:

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Remembering Karl Lagerfeld. His brilliance and path breaking contribution to the world of fashion will continue to inspire young minds everywhere.

Athiya Shetty

RIP to the best there was #KarlLagerfeld.

Sushmita Sen

What a brilliant Man & a celebrated life!!!??Godspeed @karllagerfeld Rest in peace THE LEGEND!!!?? #respect #love #remembered #cherished #chanel #fendi #class #fashion #timeless ?? #biggestfanever #duggadugga.

Neha Dhupia

RIP #KarlLagerfeld ... fashion just lost an icon ... I am very much down to earth, just not this earth ...

Himansh Kohli

Dont sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much theres nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you. Remembering the legendary fashion icon, or say, fashion re-inventor, #KarlLagerfeld with a quote as strong as his presence. #RIPKarlLagerfeld.

Huma Qureshi

Farewell Karl ?? #legend #icon.

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Indian students and experts will be able to apply for fellowships and places on post-graduate courses in Artificial Intelligence from later this year as part of a major government-industry package to meet skills gaps in this growing sector.

Official sources said on Wednesday that the 110 million-government funded package includes 200 new places at the postgraduate level in universities funded by companies such as Deepmind, QuantumBlack, Cisco, BAESystems and Indian IT major Infosys, in collaboration with the Industry of Coding and British Computer Society.

A spokesperson of the department for digital, media, culture and sport confirmed that the fellowships and places under the package announced by digital secretary Jeremy Wright and business secretary Greg Clark will be open to students and experts from India and other non-EU countries.

Nearly 1,000 students will be able to enrol for PhDs at 16 dedicated UK Research and Innovation AI Centres for Doctoral Training across the UK. Five fellowships have also been created in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute to attract and retain the best research talent from around the world, the sources said.

The first wave of scholarships will enable mid-career and senior AI researchers to develop a transformative programme over five years, covering a range of AI applications across mathematical sciences, statistical sciences, computational sciences and engineering, the sources added.

Examples of research areas of particular interest are: AI ethics (including fairness, interpretability, privacy); AI safety (including robustness, adversarial learning, security, control); robotics, vision, sensing, and visualization; reasoning and autonomous decision making with uncertainty.

The area also include multi-agent systems and agent-based modeling; machine learning; language (including Natural Language Processing); applications of AI across a range of disciplines e.g. engineering, finance/economics, manufacturing, medicine, science, the environment and transport.

Wright said: The UK is not only the birthplace to the father of artificial intelligence, Alan Turing, but we are leading the way on work to ensure AI innovation has ethics at its core. We want to keep up this momentum and cement our reputation as pioneers in AI.

Clark added: Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy, from more effective disease diagnosis to building smart homes.

As companies throughout the UK increasingly use AI in processes from manufacturing to fashion and construction to medical imaging, upskilling people to develop and maintain the new technology is crucial to its success in boosting productivity.
Calcutta University on Thursday declared the results of Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BSc). The results have been declared for BA/BSc Semester 1 ( Honours/General/Honours) Examination (Under CBCS) 2018 and BA/BSc Part I (Honours/General and Major) Examination 2018 (Under 1+1+1 System).

The results were declared at 3.30 pm on the West Bengal examination results 2018 website at wbresults.nic.in.

Calcutta University BA/BSc results: Steps to check

1) Visit the official website of West Bengal Examination results 2018

2) Click on the link for B.A / B.Sc Semester - I ( Honours / General / Honours) Examination ( Under CBCS ), 2018 or B.A./B.Sc.Part-I (Honours/General & Major) Examination, 2018 (Under 1+1+1 System) as required

3) Enter your roll number on the login page that opens

4) Submit

5) Result will be displayed on the screen

6) Take a printout of the result and save it on your computer

Note: Visit the official website of University of Calcutta for latest updates.
At least 16,60,609 examinees would appear in the class X examination conducted by Bihar State School Examination Board (BSEB), which begins across the state on Thursday.

Last year, nearly 50% candidates had failed in matriculation exam.

Elaborate arrangements have been made by the BSEB and district administration for conduct of fair examination, which ends on February 28.

This time, some changes have been made in the examination process.

For the first time, the examinees would get their roll number, name and other details printed on the answer sheets. The candidates have been asked to verify details like roll number, name, subject code, registration number and examination date mentioned in answer sheets with OMR sheet.

The BSEB has asked the students to enter their examination centres 10 minutes before the schedule, after which they would be denied entry. They won't be allowed inside the exam centres in shoes and socks. They have been asked not to use whitener, eraser, blade etc on answer sheets and OMR sheets. No candidate would be allowed inside the exam hall without admit card.

In the first and second shifts, the examinees would enter their examination centres at 9.20 am and 1.35 pm, respectively.

States education minister Krishnandan Verma said the state government was committed to conducting a fair examination. He appealed to parents, students and common people to cooperate in conducting the examination smoothly.

The state government has imposed prohibitory orders around the exam centres.

A glance

16,60,609: number of examinees

1,418: number of exam centres

Feb 28: last exam

74: exam centres in Patna

Changes this time

Examinees would get their roll number, name and other details printed on the answer sheets

Candidates must verify these details with OMR sheet

No entry into exam centres in shoes and socks

No use of whitener, eraser, blade on answer sheets
A Delhi court has convicted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Prakash Jarwal and two others in a 2013 rioting and unlawful assembly case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal convicted Jarwal and two others  Salim and Dharam Prakash  under various sections dealing with rioting, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, and assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty.

The court also convicted them under the provisions of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The order was delivered on Tuesday and released on Wednesday. The court has listed the matter for March 13 for hearing arguments on the point of sentence.

The Delhi Police have alleged that on August 30, 2013, an incident of rioting occurred near Vayusenabad on MB Road in New Delhi. In the incident, some police personnel trying to control the rioting were assaulted and two vehicles damaged, including a DTC bus.

Police said Jarwal and the two other convicts were part of the mob that indulged in rioting.

Since all the three accused were part of the unlawful assembly, which committed these offences in prosecution of its common object, all the three accused shall be liable for the commission of the aforesaid offences with the aid of Section 149 IPC (unlawful assembly). These accused also assaulted ASI Ratan Lal, constable Vineet and Manish. They are liable for their overt acts in assaulting them, the court said.

The court also noted that the prosecution witnesses have clearly deposed about the incident and identified the accused on the spot.
A 21-year-old Delhi University student was arrested from his residence in Anand Vihar, near Loni border, Ghaziabad, on charges of bludgeoning his 55-year-old mother to death with an empty LPG cylinder on Wednesday morning. The police said that the man has been arrested and booked for murder.

The police said Manoj Kumar, a BA student at the School of Open Learning( SOL), Delhi University, allegedly brutally assaulted his mother Ramwati, resulting in her death around 6am on Wednesday. His neighbours helped police nab Kumar. The murder weapon has been seized, police said.

Early Wednesday, there was some altercation between the mother and the son. As tension grew, Kumar, in a fit of rage, repeatedly hit his mother on her head with an empty LPG cylinder. She sustained critical injuries and died soon after. We have arrested her son and booked him for murder after a complaint was submitted by the womans elder son, SP Singh, station house officer, Loni Border police station, said.

According to police, the family has four bighas of land in Aligarh and a dispute over this land could have triggered the altercation that ended in the murder. Sources said Kumar allegedly kept hitting Ramwati with the cylinder till she fell unconscious and died subsequently.

Ramwatis elder son, Yogesh Kumar, who lives in another house in the locality with his family, got the First Information Report (FIR) lodged against his brother.

Police said the neighbours who heard the noisy fight came out and saw Kumar hitting Ramwati with the LPG cylinder. They immediately latched the main door of the house from outside and informed the police about the incident.

The body has been sent for a postmortem examination, police said.

The mother and son used to run a shop near the Behta crossing area and had been staying at the house where the incident took place on rent.
In October 2017, Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa used the Chambers of Commerce platform in Karachi to convey to Islamabads neighbours on either side that their destinies are inextricably linked. We are making a deliberate and concerted effort to pacify the western border through a multitude of diplomatic, military and economic initiative. We have also expressed and demonstrated our genuine desire to have normal relations with India; however, it takes two to tango, he said.

The much-feted Bajwa doctrine on Islamabads pacifist approach towards its neighbours exploded on three consecutive days this month, posing serious questions on the nature of the Pakistani state itself. On February 13, a car borne suicide bomber belonging to anti-Shia Jaish al-Adl group, which has its Sunni roots in Pakistan, targeted a bus transporting Iranian revolutionary guards in Sistan-Baluchistan province, killing 27 troopers.

The next day, Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed group used a brain washed car borne bomber to target a CRPF bus in Lethpora, Kashmir in Pulwama killing 40 personnel and injuring many others. On February 15, the Afghan government wrote to the United Nations to complain that the Imran Khan government was trying to hold talks with the Taliban behind its back. The three separate incidents reveal that Pakistan based groups and their ISI handlers are out to wage Sunni jihad against their neighbours while talking about peace for the region.

There is a deliberate attempt by these groups, aided, abetted and nurtured by the Pakistani Army and its sword arm, to destabilize the countrys neighbours through bloodletting and force an international crisis. The groups involved all have international Islamic jihad links through Al Qaeda with a history of spilling innocent blood in the name of Sunni dominance. It is evident that Pakistan is out to target three out of its four immediate neighbours, while looking the other way on the suppression of Muslims in Chinas Xinjiang region.

Pakistans relationship with iron brother China is clearly tactical with no ideological or religious basis barring Beijings antipathy to India. With the global community refusing to address the malignancy in Pakistan, neighbouring Afghanistan will never see peace in the near or distant future as Taliban insurgents will continue to attack Kabul and then retreat for R&R across the Durand Line. When we blame Indian agencies for missing out on Pulwama attack, it is rather sobering to see what Taliban insurgents and their Salafist friends have done to powerful US and coalition forces in Afghanistan through targeted bombings and asymmetric warfare.

The future prospects for the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India are no different as Pakistan based groups will be used alternatively to bleed the state while Rawalpindi GHQ through its civilian proxies will talk peace and harmony. To add to this bloody mess will be the targeting of Iran by Sunni groups with roots in Jundallah to gain brownie points with the west, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Israel by default.

The inconvenient truth is that the entire region and the world at large is held hostage to a group of people from Punjab province of Pakistan with keys to a nuclear arsenal provided by the most powerful as also the rogue regimes of the world in the 1990s.

The recent escalation in the region has been brought about by the introduction of vehicle borne IEDs and sniper rifles, which were used by US forces in Afghanistan. With the Pakistani state reduced to penury due to poor economy and over ambitious projects, the jihadi beast is now being used by the countrys military masters as leverage  come to our aid or else. The Pakistani gun and RDX will ensure that all political solutions initiated by the Indian government is sabotaged by their proxies; just as the Taliban shura or high council in the hands of Rawalpindi will turn Afghanistan again into a feeder factory of jihad in the region and beyond. The security situation in the region and Pakistans current posture is virtually a mirror to the events and situations during the dawn of 21st century and just before the dastardly 9/11 attack.

This was also Jaishs first active years. It used a car borne suicide bomber to target the Chinar corps in Srinagar, and the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and then launched an attack against the Indian Parliament  before going into R&R mode for the following four years with Lashkar-e-Tayebba holding the jihadi flag in the interregnum.

Back then too, the same doctrine of hypocrisy prevailed with the Pakistani leadership; the then military dictator offered to solve the so called Kashmir issue in one sitting. While nothing in Pakistan has changed, there has been a change in India with a majority government in power and enough money and boots to power the worst-case scenario. The India of 1990-2000 was where a lowly US joint secretary was feted as a rock star with the entire leadership on Raisina Hill ready to come to terms with the swagger of the official. That can never happen today. The time has come for Pakistan to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi very seriously post-Pulwama.

Modi, as even his worst detractors will affirm, has an uncanny knack of delivering. And he has repeatedly said the time for action has come.
Tanushree Dutta, who triggered the #MeToo movement in India, may have moved back to the US but she continues to make waves in India. The former model-turned-actor was recently at the Harvard Business School as a guest speaker.

The special session was curated by journalist Pankaj Pachauri. A video clip of him introducing Tanushree to the audience is now online. He introduces her with a small preface of notions of beauty in Indian culture and the inherent colour bias in Hinduism.

Tanushree too shared a picture of herself with friends at the universitys cafetaria. Sharing the picture, she wrote: Brunch at Harvard with @gunjankuthiala iala and @alina_dar_ shooting a panel discussion for social media with #nrilife productions. At the Grille cafetaria HBS.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai looks like a new bride in latest pics from Qatar. We wonder what husband Abhishek Bachchans reaction is

In an earlier interview with IANS, she had said that she was both excited and nervous about speaking at Harvard. She said: Im quite excited as it will be a new kind of experience as my audience will be quintessentially American. Im also a bit nervous as everyone else on the platform is highly accomplished and experienced so, I hope I hold up well.

Tanushree Dutta was part of a panel discussion at the US university.

Last year, Tanushree set into motion the MeToo movement in India when in an interview she accused actor Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the sets of her 2009 film, OK Horn Please. After that a number of women, primarily from Bollywood and Indian journalism, accused powerful people like Rajkumar Hirani, Alok Nath, Sajid Khan, Rajat Kapoor, Anu Malik, Vikas Behl and journalist MJ Akbar among a host of others of sexual misconduct.

Tanushree had recently come out in support of actor Kangana Ranaut over her many fights with co-stars and director Krish for Manikarnika.

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Rishi Kapoor and wife Neetu Singh have been stationed in New York since last September where the Mulk actor is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed illness. A number of Bollywood A-listers have paid them a visit in the period; the latest to call on them was actor Aamir Khan.

Neetu shared a picture of them together and wrote: Its not how many hours one spends with a person its how much u give in that time !!! Aamir gave so much n more Love Respect Warmth Laughter !! He is a true superstar.

In the picture, a rather bulked-up Aamir can be seen with Rishi and Neetu. Rishi looked frail but healthier than in the recent past.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai looks like a new bride in latest pics from Qatar. We wonder what husband Abhishek Bachchans reaction is

Last September, Rishi took to Twitter to inform his fans that he was leaving for the US for medical treatment. He didnt disclose the nature of his ailment.

During their stay there, their children Ranbir Kapoor and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni have also visited them a number of times. In fact, the entire family was in the Big Apple for New Years celebration. In many of these visits, actor Alia Bhatt too tags along with boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor.

Among the many Bollywood celebs who have visited them are Anupam Kher, Priyanka Chopra and Javed Akhtar. Sonali Bendre, who was undergoing treatment for high grade cancer in New York, and Neetu Singh even attended Priyankas bridal shower in New Yorks Tiffanys outlet.

Rishi recently opened up about his illness. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Rishi had said that he hoped his treatment, which is currently on, would end soon and he would return. My treatment is on, hopefully I will recover soon and God willing I will return.

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Sridevi and Boney Kapoors younger daughter Khushi Kapoor recently made it clear that she intends to forge a career in Bollywood and if her latest photos are anything to go by, she is almost there. The photos of Khushi show her attend a wedding in Jaipur and she looked resplendent in Indian wear.

Khushi was in Rajasthan to attend a wedding and sported two different looks  while she wore a rose gold lehenga on one day, she shone in a yellow embellished lehenga and net dupatta. Her photos were shared by her stylist.

The 18-year-old was recently seen with sister Janhvi Kapoor on a chat show, BFF with Vogue. Janhvi had revealed that Khushi is also preparing for her screen debut and had won a scholarship at New York Film Academy after acing her auditions. The jury enjoyed her auditions so much, that they gave her a scholarship instantly, Janhvi revealed.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai looks like a new bride in latest pics from Qatar

Khushi also said that she hopes Karan Johar would take her under his wing, just like Janhvi who made her debut in the filmmakers production Dhadak. She went on to say that she trusted Karan blindly but said the decision of who to cast opposite her will be taken by dad Boney Kapoor. On asked about who would be the lead opposite her in her debut, she said, I will find out with you, because that Pappa will only decide

Earlier, there was speculation that Khushi might be seen with Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan but the superstar has said that his sons interest lies in direction and not acting at this point. Janhvi, meanwhile, is acting in Gunjan Saxena biopic and Mughal era film Takht.
Akshay Kumars Kesari trailer celebrates the bravery and valour of a handful of Sikh soldiers as they took on 10,000 Afghans in the Battle of Saragarhi. However, it is not just the Pathans that Akshay is fighting against in the trailer that establishes kesari (saffron) as the colour of valour and sacrifice but the British as well.

Kesari trailer begins with Akshays Havildar Isher Singh talking about a British officer calling India the land of cowards. As the events of the trailer establishes, it is anything but. The trailer is impressive with rustic war scenes, an unseen technique of sword fighting and catchy dialogues as the Sikh soldiers wearing saffron turbans go on to face the enemy in the battlefield.

The trailer also shares a glimpse of the female lead Parineeti Chopra, who looks helpless but filled with pride as Akshay heads into battle.

Watch Akshay Kumars Kesari trailer

Kesari is based on the battle of Saragarhi fought between the British Indian armys Sikh Regiment and Afghan tribesmen in September 1897. The British Indian contingent comprising 21 Sikh soldiers were attacked by around 10,000 Afghans and decided to fight to death, which is considered by some as one of historys greatest last-stands. Akshay plays the turban-clad Havildar Ishar Singh who leads the small group of soldiers to fight a war with not just their meagre weapons but their valour.

Also read: Deepika Padukone reveals Ranveer Singhs secrets

Akshay had earlier shared three teasers of the film to pique the curiosity of the moviegoers. From the captivating background, amazing music and action scenesthe teasers came in for a lot of applause.

The film has been directed by Anurag Singh, who last directed Diljit Dosanjh in Punjabi film, Punjab 1984. Kesari will release on Holi on March 21 this year.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Bollywood had a busy two days on Wednesday and Thursday as they went around town, promoting their films or being part of a noble cause. While some were spotted on their way to gym, others had a lovely time at weddings.

Actor Kareena Kapoor attended the Swasth Immunised India announcement on Thursday. She is the campaign ambassador for a nationwide vaccination and immunisation campaign. She was joined at the event by her friend Natasha Poonawala. Kareena was seen in a black powersuit. This is a special and personal project for me because I am also a young mother and Taimur is going through the process of vaccination. But at the same time, I would also like to mention that female literacy is equally important to get success in this campaign, she said at the event.

Actor Akshay Kumar also gave his support to a worthy cause. He was in Thane on Wednesday where he taught self defence to school girls. He even shared a video from the event on Instagram, which showed him teaching a young girl a few self defence techniques.

Also read: Aishwarya Rai looks like a new bride in latest pics from Qatar

Indias Got Talent judge Malaika Arora was also seen at an event with her sister Amrita Arora. Both the ladies looked stunning in their day-time outfits. Actor Disha Patani and director Karan Johar were seen at the airport and Shilpa Shetty was seen at Bollywoods favourite restaurant, Bastian, with her husband Raj Kundra. Shilpa looked fit as ever in a red shirt and blue shorts.

Also spotted at a restaurant was actor Parineeti Chopra with a friend. She dragged her friend in front of the camera they shared a hearty laugh. Check out more celebrity pics:

Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra at a restaurant. (Varinder Chawla)

Kareena Kapoor launches the Swasth Immunised India campaign. (Varinder Chawla)

Parineeti Chopra with a friend at a restaurant. (Varinder Chawla)

Kareenas son Taimur with his nanny. (Varinder Chawla)

Karan Johar and Disha Patani at the airport. (Varinder Chawla)

Akshay Kumar at a self defence workshop. (Varinder Chawla)

Gully Boys breakout star Siddanth Chaturvedi. (Varinder Chawla)

Malaika Arora and her sister Amria Arora at an event. (Varinder Chawla)
Xem them

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Tin bai cuoi cung

Khong con du lieu e load
Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan may not be a regular on the silver screen but continues to make headlines with her stunning public appearances. The former Miss World is the chosen one when it comes to national as well as international brand endorsements, which keep her busy throughout the year. The Devdas actor recently flew to Doha to attend the Qatar Show 2019 and the pictures are proof she ruled it with her presence.

Aishwarya shared a few pictures of her appearance in Doha on her Instagram account. Looking beautiful in a red Indian dress with the blue waters in the background, the actor was beauty personified as she posed for the cameras with her hair open. Needless to say, the actor looked no less than a young bride in the attire.

The actor was spotted at the Mumbai airport a day before while leaving for Qatar. She stole the spotlight in a colourful coat paired with black casuals. However, her usual companion and daughter Aaradhya Bachchan has not accompanied her on this tour.

Aishwarya Rai at the Mumbai airport. (Varinder Chawla)

Apart from dominating the fashion scene, Aishwarya is also working on her film projects. While there is no word on her next film Gulab Jamun with husband Abhishek Bachchan, she has reportedly signed Mani Ratnams next dream project where she is said to unite with her Raavan co-star Vikram.

Also read: Vicky Kaushals Uri is second Hindi film on IMDbs list of top Indian films after Amitabh Bachchans Anand

According to a report in DNA, her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan may also star in the film. A source quoted in a report said, Its a big-budget historical drama, which is being planned on the lines of the Baahubali franchise. Its likely to be a bilingual project and star several other big names from the South Indian film industry.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
On February 11, 2019, a local court in Sikar, Rajasthan sentenced a 28-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a four-year-old girl. This was among the most expedited convictions in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case where the accused was held guilty within 12 days of filing the First Information Report (FIR).

In my experience of working with survivors of sexual abuse in Madhya Pradesh (MP), I realised that the only way to prevent sexual violence against children and women is through swift convictions and by ensuring that the maximum number of sexual offenders get punished.

Sexual violence against women and children remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations. In 2016, the number of reported cases of crimes against women in MP was 26,604; for children, the number stood at 13,746. Most victims do not report cases of abuse due to fear and a general lack of trust in authorities.

The solution is rooted in the psychological concept of deterring demand. The Massachusetts Treatment Centre Rapist Typology, one of the most robust typological systems, uses motivation as a dimension to describe different types of sexual offenders, such as: opportunistic, angry, sexually non-sadistic, sexually sadistic and vindictive, among others. A deeper look into these motivations suggests that a majority of offenders have the intelligence to differentiate between right and wrong. Experts believe that while multiple programmes and interventions can be designed to assist the victim and prosecute the offender, the victims remain mentally scarred throughout their lives. But can deterrence prevent the crime before its committed? Deterrence, a theory in behavioural psychology, talks about preventing or controlling actions or behaviour through fear of punishment or retribution. Taking from this theory, we believe that a higher probability of conviction, severity of punishment and public condemnation can actually help deter crimes of this kind.

My experience in MP also showed that capital punishment can lead to underreporting of such cases. It was observed that the fear of death sentences pressures victims to drop their cases. A recent survey by the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan reveals that out of 150 children and women victims of sexual violence, 95% did not report it to authorities  despite the fact that the reporting rate has gone up in past few years. In cases of community-based prostitution, the community itself pressures the victims to drop the case as offenders  who sometimes are relatives of the child victims  could get the death penalty under the POCSO Act. We learnt that the only way out of this is through fast convictions as it was proved that news about fast convictions and a higher rate of them have proved to deter offenders.

Some of the basics need to considered are: Training of the police officers to file the correct charge sheet, mentioning the POCSO Act in the FIR; sensitising the legal fraternity to ensure faster convictions; supporting survivors through legal aid; better funding and setting up of more POCSO courts to decrease the case-pendency rate across all states.

Ashif Shaikh is convener of Rashatriya Garima Abhiyan and has led campaigns for eradication of the practice of manual scavenging, and empowerment of the Dalits, especially Dalit-Muslims and women

The views expressed are personal
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Susurros del Corazon Breaks Ground in Riviera Nayarit

Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico - The global luxury brand Auberge Resorts Collection has begun construction on its latest property, Susurros del Corazon (Whispers of the Heart), located in the exclusive area of Punta de Mita in the Riviera Nayarit.

This is a luxury boutique development of only 30 beachfront residences with a view of Banderas Bay and a tentative opening date for 2020.

The ground breaking ceremony took place last Friday on the beach at El Banco - the site of the residential complex - and was attended by investors, development executives, municipal and state authorities, and members of the region's business community, among them, the Secretary of Tourism for the State of Nayarit, Ana Cecilia Llanos, and the Managing Director of the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the Bahia de Banderas Hotel and Motel Association, Marc Murphy.





"We're very pleased with the trust the investors and developers have placed in us by creating these new tourism projects in the Riviera Nayarit," said Murphy. "Susurros del Corazon by Auberge Resorts is the type of investment the Bahia de Banderas Hotel and Motel Association and the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau truly enjoy welcoming."

"These are high-end, low-density hotels with specialized clientele: the type of tourist who likes to leave the hotel, go out to dinner, go shopping, and who generates important economic revenue. There's no doubt this type of investment is a stimulus," he added.

Meanwhile, Mark Cooley, partner, SV Capital Partners, developers of the resort and residences, stated it was very important for the company to preserve the natural beauty of the land and it is being conscious during the development to create a community that is in harmony with its surroundings.

"Punta de Mita is such a special place. "We wanted to bring something totally unique to this area and the new Auberge resort hotel suites and stunning oceanfront villas deliver on our vision," said Cooley. "The entire ethos of this property," he added, "is to combine a rustic simplicity that feels very authentic with the world-class amenities expected from a quality Auberge resort."

By the same token, Craig Reid, executive director of Auberge Resorts Collection, pointed out that Susurros del Corazon will be an entirely new experience in Punta de Mita, one that embraces a laid-back beach spirit and perfectly balances luxury and approachability.

"We could not be happier to partner with SV Capital in another exceptional resort and residential project. The ground breaking is an exciting milestone moment in the journey of bringing this vision to life," he said.

About Susurros del Corazon

Upon opening in late 2020, Susurros del Corazon will comprise 59 hotel guest suites, four distinct culinary concepts, a 3,000-square-foot fitness center and yoga studio, kids' club with daily activities, and 4,600 square feet of event space, including an outdoor patio and spacious event lawn, offering an idyllic setting for picturesque gatherings. Tucked among lush gardens, an Auberge Spa will feature 11 treatment rooms and a variety of treatments inspired by the rich heritage and healing properties of the surrounding Riviera Nayarit region. The resort's private beach spans 1,850 linear feet of pristine sand, perfect for swimming and paddle boarding. For more information, visit susurrosresidences.com.
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Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said there are no updates in the investigation of the murder of two men in Stony Point.

The investigation is ongoing, Bowman said.

Chad Lee Kennedy, 38, of the residence and Mark Jefferson Furey, 57, of Taylorsville were found dead at the residence on Mt. Wesley Church Road on Feb. 9 by a man who used to live there. The two men died in separate rooms in the house and suffered from numerous rifle bullet wounds fired from inside the house, according Bowman.

Bowman said law officers were no strangers to the house. Officers made several visits in reference to domestic and drug calls, he said.

Four neighbors said they heard knocking on their doors and sides of their homes around 1 a.m. Feb. 9, Bowman said.

Neighbor Ola Sheets said she heard knocks Feb. 8 around 11:30 p.m. Sheets son-in-law said Sheets may have heard gunshots.

Contact the Alexander County Sheriffs Office at 828-632-1111 or Alexander County Crime Stoppers at 828-632-8555 if you have any information regarding the investigation.
Police are searching for a Rutherford County prisoner who was reported missing Thursday morning.

Jeremy Keith Fincannon, 22, is a 6-foot tall white man who weighs 171 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes who is originally from Rutherford County, according to a release from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Fincannon, who was serving a five and a half year sentence as a habitual felon after assault convictions, was first determined to be missing after a 7:30 a.m. routine offender count Thursday morning, the release said.

He was admitted to prison on Jan. 25, 2017, and was scheduled for release on Sept. 16, the release said.

Previous convictions for Fincannon include felony assault by strangulation, assault on an officer or state employee, resisting officer, communicating threats, assault on a female, simple assault and second-degree trespassing, according to the NCDPS website.

Anyone with information on Fincannons whereabouts is asked to call local law enforcement or Rutherford Correctional Center at 828-286-4121.
Stow - Passed away suddenly on Friday, June 4, 2021. Mary was the loving wife of Donald R. LeBlanc. Born in Haverhill, on May 3, 1942, Mary was the daughter of the late Joseph and Helen (Levis) Bresnahan. Mary was raised and educated in Haverhill, graduating from Saint James High School, Cla
'Promised Lands' Exhibition at OPC Puerto Vallarta

UPDATE: Due to the popularity of "Tierras Prometidas," the exhibit has been extended through July 27, 2019.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Oficina de Proyectos Culturales organized Promised Lands, an exhibition about the global refugee crisis. Opening February 23, Promised Lands examines issues of global migration, often forced, from Syria to Cuba, to the recent refugee caravan from Central America through Mexico.

Mexico and the European Union faced similar situations as tens of thousands of Honduran refugees flooded the southern Mexican border in a march to seek political asylum in the United States. The motivations and challenges for these migrants are comparable to those in other parts of the world: war, violence, and extreme poverty push them on a dangerous journey that often ends in tragedy.

It is crucial that we as a society begin a dialogue and become aware of these experiences; OPC would like to start that conversation through this exhibition.





As part of 'Promised Lands,' OPC will be participating with Fly the Flag, an initiative to give human rights a symbol through a flag designed by the artist Ai Weiwei. In a far-reaching and unique collaboration, arts organizations and human rights groups will fly the flag to mark the 70th-anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights.

The global refugee crisis is worsening daily, and 70 million refugees have been forced to leave their homes by war and poverty. Our living environment is constantly being degraded, and the ecological balance is ever more fragile. Armed conflicts persist and potential political crises lurk; regional instabilities grow more acute; autocratic regimes brutally impose their will, while democratic governance is in decline.

The end result is that individuals are deprived of the right to live, denied freedom from fear, and freedom of expression, or denied the rights to maintain their living environment and develop. . . The concept of human rights needs to be revised. - Ai Weiwei, 2019

The exhibition will also include a video installation titled Mare Clausum, a powerful and dramatic work by Forensic Oceanography and Forensic Architecture that documents the November 6, 2017 rescue by the NGO Sea Watch as it confronts a Libyan Coast Guard patrol vessel, both ships were simultaneously directed towards a migrant boat in distress in international waters.

The migrant caravan, as its come to be known, has made headlines across the world since October of 2018, when thousands of Central American refugees, including men, women and children, set off walking through Mexico in the hope of reaching the U.S. in an attempt to escape from the extreme violence, crime and poverty in their home countries. Photographers David Taylor and Sean T. Hawkey have been documenting the caravan as it traveled through Mexico and reached the U.S. border and both artists present commanding images of those seeking a promised land.

Artists Fernando Llanos and Jessica Herreman, edited a video with the audio testimonies of people who live on the border and were recorded in Tijuana by the famous Argentine journalist Leonardo Tarifeno for the realization of his book, No volvas (Don't come back). The video includes impeccable aerial shots of the border wall by Tijuana filmmaker Ricardo Silva (director of Navajazo).

Local artist Davis Birks has constructed an installation, titled Dream Home, which includes a floor plan of a house, useless keys on a single cot, and mirrored walls that reflect the sparse contents of the room; the viewer becomes a participant in a space which strives to create personal empathy with the escalating number of refugees and their plight.

Mobile Consulate by Tijuana based artist Omar Pimienta, is a participatory art action that challenges the notions of citizenships by inviting its participants to become free citizens of a conceptual colony. In order to do so, one must exchange a physical expired passport for another which grants the citizen free entry into "Colonia Libertad."

In his series, Migration, photographer Jose Hernandez-Claire documents the migratory experience in Mexico. His black & white photos show a human perspective, the long journey that migrants from Central America go through to reach the unattainable American dream.

Also included is a 2006 video of a performance by Francis Alys. For Bridge/Puente the artist lined 150 boats from Key West, Florida in the direction of Havana, thus suggesting a floating, yet incomplete, bridge between the two shores in the midst of major conflict.
Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  A 48-bed, long-term residential drug-treatment facility that is being planned for a building once used by the U.S. Coast Guard and the IRS is now projected to cost $3.6 million, about 20 percent higher than budgeted.

In a progress report scheduled to be reviewed on Thursday with the Berkeley County Council, Jonathan Hartiens of Mountaineer Behaviorial Health PLLC noted that his company is seeking additional capital investments, grants, and means of costs savings as renovation continues to insure timely completion of facility and opening to the public.

Full completion of the project at 3094 Charles Town Road for the Mountaineer Recovery Center is expected to occur between July and September, according to Hartiens report.

Mountaineer Behaviorial Health received a $3 million Ryan Brown grant from the state to build a residential substance abuse treatment facility in Berkeley County little more than a year ago.

The center will be the first residential treatment facility in the Eastern Panhandle, according to Hartiens.

In reviewing the history of the project, Hartiens noted in his report that he first had a contract to buy property off Williamsport Pike at the former Miss Irenes Child Care Center north of Martinsburg at the time the state grant was awarded.

Limitations at that property, as well as advantages of the current Kearneysville-area site  including its larger size and existing infrastructure  led to the move to buy it instead, according to Hartiens report.

Mountaineer Behavioral Health purchased the 4.1-acre former government property for $1 million in September, but only after overcoming hurdles associated with the property as a foreclosure, according to Hartiens, who is a clincial psychologist.

Plans for the facility, in addition to a 48-bed wing on the buildings left side, include a multipurpose room, dining room, office and medical and outpatient services on the right side of the facility.

George Harne of Myersville, Md., is the project architect and Minghinis General Contractors, Inc., of Martinsburg is the general contractor.

In September, Hartiens said he expected to hire about two dozen full-time staff members for the facility. Hartiens launched Mountaineer Behavioral Health in 2015.

The future drug treatment facility near the Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center last was occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard Operations Systems Center and the IRS before that.

The Coast Guard moved into a new facility off Coast Guard Drive in Kearneysville that was dedicated in September 2014.
Then there is the matter of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. If he proves that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia (and directly between Presidents Trump and Putin), will our punishment for Russia exceed its crimes? Mr. Trump has been the first person to remind us that we should want to establish better relations with that nation. Yet, in the wake of the IMF withdrawal, relations between our two nations are predictably deteriorating.
The Herald-Mail

ANNAPOLIS  Local lawmakers are trying again this year to prohibit possession of medical cannabis at local jails in Maryland, citing issues with federal law and distribution of the drug.

Del. William Wivell, R-Washington, appeared before the House Health and Government Operations Committee on Wednesday to present his bill to prohibit the substance at local correctional facilities.

A companion bill filed in the Senate by Sen. Andrew Serafini, R-Washington, is scheduled for a hearing next week.

Wivell told the committee that while medical marijuana is prohibited in state prisons, an oversight in legislation legalizing medical marijuana in Maryland left no provision in the law to prohibit it in local jails.

Washington County Sheriff Doug Mullendore sought legislation to clarify the law last year. He noted that a patient registered in the states medical marijuana program threatened to sue the sheriffs office. The patient was incarcerated in the Washington County Detention Center and was refused the drug.

But the bill offered last year failed in two House committees on the last day of the General Assembly session, after the Senate passed.

Wivell told the committee that last years measure began as a local bill pertaining only to Washington County. But because of widespread support, its being offered as a statewide bill this year.

Harford County Detention Center Warden Michael Capasso spoke in favor of the bill, telling committee members that local detention centers are vigorously battling controlled dangerous substances in the facilities. We do everything in our power to ensure theyre not being used, he said.

That includes keeping cannabis off the premises, he said.

Every correctional professional concurs, added Brandon Foster, director of the Charles County Detention Center. Our greatest challenge every day is fighting against introduction of contraband in our facilities.

In response to a question by Del. Matthew Morgan, R-St. Marys, Foster said detention centers provide alternative pain relievers through its contracted health care provider. But he assured Del. Karen Lewis Young, D-Frederick, that the jail doesnt provide opioid-based pan relievers.

Wivell said Mullendore and Washington County Detention Center Warden Craig Rowe planned to attend Wednesdays hearing, but were prevented by inclement weather.

No one spoke against the bill. The committee will now vote on whether to take the bill to the full House for consideration.
Dan Dearth

ddearth@herald-mail.com

CASCADE  A two-story house on Springdale Avenue sustained more than $200,000 in damage when fire spread through the home Wednesday morning, fire officials said.

One occupant injured his wrists when he jumped from the second story to escape the fire, according to the Maryland State Fire Marshals office.

The fire started in an interior wall in the living room, and investigators have concluded that a preliminary cause was an electrical event in wiring, according to a news release from the fire marshals office.

There were smoke alarms in the house at 25303 Springdale Ave., but an occupant discovered the fire before the alarms were activated, the release said.

A family of five was displaced. The fire marshals office said the weather prevented the American Red Cross from immediately helping the family.

The fire resulted in $170,000 in damage to the home and $50,000 in damage to contents, the fire marshals office said.

The home is owned by Kimberly Brooks.

Smithsburg Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Danny Gibson said two adults and three children were home when the fire started at about 6 a.m.

He said at least one person was taken to Waynesboro (Pa.) Hospital to be treated for a minor injury.

A kitten was also rescued from the house. It was turned over to the Humane Society of Washington County for treatment and seemed to be doing well, Gibson said.

Fire crews from Washington and Frederick counties in Maryland and Franklin and Adams counties in Pennsylvania responded. Nearly 50 firefighters battled the blaze.

It took about 45 minutes for firefighters to bring the fire under control, Gibson said.

Gibson said firefighters had no problems getting water to the scene. There was a hydrant nearby, and at least one tanker truck also responded.

A portion of the roof in the center of the house collapsed, and it appeared the second floor was gutted.

Gibson said the fire also burned several holes in the floors.

Firefighters remained on the scene for several hours to ensure the fire was out.

In addition to Smithsburg, firefighters from Fountaindale, Waynesboro and Blue Ridge Summit responded to the scene.

Staff writer Dave McMillion contributed to this story
Provo, UT (84601)

Today

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.
Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have pledged to oppose Trumps declaration using every remedy available, and they should certainly use this one  despite the fact that it comes with a huge disadvantage: Trump retains the power to veto a joint resolution. Therefore, Congress could terminate the emergency only by overriding his veto, with a two-thirds vote of both houses.

As much of a long shot as this may seem, Congress must pursue a joint resolution for two reasons. First, it is the remedy for executive overreach prescribed by law. And who knows? Eight Republican senators have said they oppose the emergency declaration; a number of others, as well as GOP House members, have expressed misgivings. After a debate in which the full negative implications are made clear  including, for them, the political repercussions and the precedent set for future presidents  its just barely conceivable a presidential veto could be overridden.

But only barely  which brings us to the second reason Democrats should use their control of the House to initiate a joint resolution of disapproval: No one in the House or Senate should be allowed to avoid voting on this presidential power grab, and being held accountable for it by the voters. Legal scholars may disagree, legitimately, as to the proper role for judges in protecting legislative prerogatives against alleged executive usurpation. Surely, though, members of Congress should have to stand up and be counted.
There seems to be plenty of data given from other schools where this has been effective, and finally the more qualitative comment that a local police force may not be good for community relations is not backed up by any data whatsoever. However, my only personal non-mathematical comment here would be that I dont want this police force to improve relations with criminals, but only law abiding citizens.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn.  Tony Galloway said hes preached the significance of local history for several years, and as Sullivan Countys new historian, his goal is to educate as many as he can on what that history is.

What really defines us as a people is heritage and history, Galloway said. Im passionate about it. Its part of who I am.

Galloway, 67, who has taught high school and college level history courses for more than 30 years, said he has loved learning about history since he was a young child and is passionate about sharing it with others. Its important, he added, to learn about history through experiences by visiting historical sites, which is what hes done for his students over the years.

Sullivan County Department of Archives and Tourism Executive Director Shelia Steele Hunt said the county historian works with the department to verify and write histories about the county.

Galloway said he plans to find out what students in Sullivan County are learning in school about regional history and be a resource on the subject for the school systems. He also wants to encourage groups that work in historical preservation to continue coming up with projects.

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KINGSPORT, Tenn.  A former Sullivan North High School teacher has filed a $21 million lawsuit against the Sullivan County Department of Education and several school officials over health issues he claims were caused by black mold in the school.

Michael Kevin Upchurch, of Johnson City, filed the suit in Sullivan County Circuit Court in Kingsport on Tuesday. It claims the department, Director of Schools Evelyn Rafalowski, Maintenance Supervisor Charlie Hubbard, former North Principal Brent Palmer and current Principal Josh Davis intentionally failed to remediate contamination of property, concealed biohazardous exposure, inflicted emotional distress, and fraudulently and intentionally misrepresented him.

Rafalowski declined comment on Wednesday, but she did say Upchurch was employed as a career and technical education teacher at North from Aug. 1, 2017 to Feb. 7 of this year. The suit states that he asked how to end his employment on Feb. 7 and left the school.

Upchurch began getting sick a week after he moved to a different classroom in the school in January 2018 that hadnt been used since May 2017, according to the suit. He had a fever, flu-like symptoms, and a rash on his chest and armpits so he took four days off work and felt better. When Upchurch returned to work, the symptoms returned and perpetually lingered, the suit states.
A short distance from bustling Interstate 81, a country road lined with dense woods takes many twists and turns before one final curve delivers visitors on top of a hill overlooking a vast estate of nearly 12 acres of grapevines and an inn reminiscent of a modern farmhouse. The land is beautiful. The resources are beautiful, said Tariq Zaidi, who manages marketing for Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards. In many ways, [its] a very cultural, lifestyle-type property that is going to become a destination.
The brother-in-law of Joseph Klye Stephens, who is charged with murder in connection with the shooting death early Monday morning of his son, Demontre Diquincy Red Washington, is asking the public for understanding about the tragic situation.
In Baltimore, once known as "Monumental City" because it had more public statues per capita than any other town in America, Mayor Catherine Pugh took it upon herself to dismantle statues of Lee and Roger Taney, the latter of which had long stood in Mount Vernon Square, a half-block north of the nation's first monument to Washington. Taney is now known primarily for his Supreme Court opinion in the 1857 Dred Scott case, which declared that black people "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." (In fact Taney was personally opposed to slavery and freed his own slaves early in his career.)
Education & Special Projects / Royse City Reporter

Hojun Choi is a native of Houston and a graduate of University of Texas at Austin, where he studied journalism and worked as a reporter at The Daily Texan. To reach him outside of business hours, email HChoiReporter@gmail.com.
But the other possibility that both Stronach and the city need to consider is that the General Assembly just doesnt care about horse racing or even the Preakness as much as it once did. The presiding officers of the House and Senate may be the same ones who agreed to carve out money for horse racing in the legislation that legalized slots back in 2007, but there has been massive turnover in the composition of both chambers since then. Just as horse racing has struggled to attract younger fans to the tracks, its traditions hold much less sway over the new legislators who increasingly fill the seats in the General Assembly. How long will it be before someone starts asking why the state is handing $71 million a year to the horse racing industry at a time when it is scrounging for money to fund education?
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This business has been her baby for 70 years," said her son. She had the personality to greet her customers. She was down to earth and liked people. They would come in and ask if she remembered them  remembered them after they bought a bedroom set 50 years ago. It was amazing.
A digital Safety Commissioner (DSC) cannot be appointed until the State finds a workable definition of "harmful content", Communications Minister Richard Bruton has said.

Legislation aimed at clamping down on inappropriate social media posts is currently before the Oireachtas - but Mr Bruton has indicated it will be some time before it is implemented.

The minister is working with the Attorney General "to work out the sort of definition of harmful content that we would apply in this legislation".

"Without that definition, a Bill can't be enforcement. That's the difficulty. We need to nail that down," he said.

The Oireachtas Communications Committee is considering legislation brought forward by Sinn Fein TD Donnchadh O Laoghaire for a DSC who would be a key arbitrator of internet activity in Ireland.

It is proposed that the DSC would have powers to order internet companies to remove offensive material.

The idea is supported by the Government but Mr Bruton said that the legislation is not detailed enough to work in practice.

He said people want legislation to proceed quickly but "if we proceed with legislation that's not robust and it falls at the first challenge, it will serve nobody".

Deceive

Pressed as to when a safety commissioner might be in place, Mr Bruton replied: "Setting a date when you don't have a robust vehicle to carry it would be to deceive people. I'm not going to do that."

He added that discussions are taking place with the Australian government in relation to social media laws introduced there.

"I would love to say that we have cracked this but it is really important to get it right," he said.

Some major internet companies have expressed concerns about the appointment of a safety commissioner.

Facebook has previously said any efforts to restrict harmful or offensive activity online need to balanced.

While saying that it "understands the motivation" behind wanting to establish a single body that is authorised to pass judgment on alleged harmful content, it could result in the Irish courts issuing orders for incidents outside of this country.

Facebook's head of public policy, Niamh Sweeney, previously told the Oireachtas committee that a DSC would be useful in cases "where there is disagreement between a platform and an affected user about what constitutes a 'harmful' communication".

She said Facebook "very much sees the benefit in a single office having the ability to oversee and co-ordinate efforts around the promotion of digital safety throughout communities".

However, she argued that the proposed Bill is "unclear" as to what constitutes "harmful communication".

No definition is included in the draft legislation, but it "appears that this concept is intended to be broader than content that is clearly criminal in nature".

"The exact parameters are left undefined, however, and this will lead to uncertainty and unpredictability," Ms Sweeney told TDs and senators.
Brianna Parkins said the so-called high spirits of a man who put her in a headlock in a bar should be classified as assault

The 2016 Sydney Rose of Tralee, Brianna Parkins, says she had to fight off a man who put her in a headlock at a bar in Kilkenny last weekend.

The 28-year-old claimed the man went on to try to kiss her against her will, forcing her to push him away from her and her friend.

Speaking on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTE Radio One yesterday morning, the Australian said "in a perfect world", the incident on Saturday night would have been seen at the time as an assault.

Grabbed

"The plan was to head down to Kilkenny, great to drive through the town, the craic was moderate to high, we were all excited, tanning each other's backs in the Airbnb before heading out," she told Tubridy.

"We get to the first bar and within 10 minutes - I hadn't even ordered a drink yet - I get put in this headlock by this massive sort of rugby-built dude.

"He grabbed me in a headlock in one arm and my friend around with the other arm and just goes in for the shift. It was like being cuddled by an Alsatian, slobbering all over you.

"This was maybe 9.30 or 10pm - not too late for being that sloppy."

She said that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened to her on a night out in Ireland, but what shocked her further was that no one stepped in to help when they saw her forcibly release herself from his grip.

"In a perfect world, it would be assault but I'm 28, I've been going out for years, it's kind of sad that I am almost desensitised to that - you expect that now on a night out," she said.

"But what I didn't expect was, I reacted like a normal person, grabbed him by the back of the head, reefed him off me and my friend, gave a few solid good shoves for good measure and he kept coming back at us.

"I just had to keep responding more and more aggressively and everyone in the bar turned to look at me as if I am the person causing the problem, but this bloke had a good 30kg on me - physically, we weren't evenly matched.

"No one helped, his mates didn't help, they thought it was funny and the bouncer looked at us like they were going to almost consider kicking me out."

She moved on with her group of friends to another bar after they finished their drinks, and while they were approached by men, nothing happened when they refused their company.

However, she added that there was a further incident in another bar later in the night when a man "screamed into her face" when she turned down his advances.

Screamed

"We don't even stay half an hour, a big group of guys are dancing around us, dancing on us quite aggressively," she said.

"They're trying to cuddle us and put their arms around us and you're like 'no thanks' - as a girl you try give the polite 'no', because you're told not to be bitter or aggressive.

"He got up into my face and screamed, 'You're on a night out, love' and I'm like, 'I know, I'm dancing with my friends and having a good time and I don't want to be bothered by you guys'.

"I've been in rough, outback pubs in Australia but I've never had that level of carry-on happen."

She said it made her consider that these kinds of incidents should be reported to gardai.
Dublin City Council (DCC) has blamed "onerous requirements" to pay for archaeological digs among a litany of reasons for abandoning rapid-build homes estimated at costing 600,000 each.

Construction had been due to begin this month on the five-home site at Fishamble Street and finish by September.

In a report seen by the Herald, the council's housing manager Anthony Flynn said the project "did not represent value for money".

However, he added that such costs would come with any development on the site, though DCC is looking at alternatives to develop it.

Significance

Among other issues with the project, DCC said there was a narrow two-way road and footpath with limited opportunity for site facilities or enclosures.

It said it was located within the zone of "critical archaeological significance in Dublin".

"The cost of developing the site for five apartments was deemed to be high and not value for money and alternative proposals are being considered," Mr Flynn said.

He added that the other sites earmarked for volumetric homes are not expected to have the same cost associated with them because they will not be subject to the same factors.

Local Independent councillor Mannix Flynn said he was disappointed that the homes will not be built, but added that "you couldn't justify that amount of money".

It comes as it emerged that the council failed to meet its target for building social homes last year. It is the only local authority in the capital to miss the targets set by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.

A total of 850 social homes were built in the area covered by DCC - the country's biggest local authority - falling short of a target of 1,045 and representing a delivery rate of 81pc.

The other councils, South Dublin, Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, exceeded their targets, with 1,107 homes.

Nationally, 14 out of 31 local authorities failed to reach targets, according to figures from the Department of Housing.

Galway City Council came bottom of the delivery table, achieving only 25pc of its target for social housing builds.

The figures include homes built directly by local authorities; others built by Approved Housing Bodies (AHB); units delivered by developers under the Part V scheme; and some voids brought back into use with the help of Department of Housing funds.

In the Dail, Mr Murphy ack- nowledged that national social house-building delivery was "marginally below target" but argued it was up 85pc on 2017.

In total, 8,422 new homes were brought into the social housing stock through builds, acquisitions, voids and leasing programmes in 2018.

Just 2,022 of these were homes that were built directly by local authorities.

Last night, Fianna Fail housing spokesman Darragh O'Brien said the figures were "not a cause for cheer". He said that homes "the minister is claiming were delivered by local authorities were in fact brought on by Approved Housing Bodies".

A spokesman for Mr Murphy said many AHBs are building on council land with their assistance "so to say it is not social housing delivery equivalent to local authority-build is nonsense".
Patrick Hutch spent more than two-and-a-half years in custody before walking free following the collapse of his trial for the murder of David Byrne.

However, legal sources said there would be little basis for him to seek compensation for his time behind bars, and were he to seek it he would be highly unlikely to succeed.

The only avenue open to him would be to bring a malicious prosecution lawsuit. However, were he to do so, this would be hotly contested by the State, and there is no suggestion any investigator behaved maliciously against him.

It is also a very difficult allegation to prove.

The State would only have to show it had probable cause to believe Mr Hutch was one of those responsible for Byrne's murder at Dublin's Regency Hotel in February 2016.

"The fact the prosecution didn't succeed would not be enough of a basis for someone to make a claim," one experienced criminal barrister told the Herald.

Jeopardy

"You would basically have to show that you were completely stitched up."

Lawyers also said the collapse does not necessarily mean Mr Hutch cannot still be pursued in connection with the murder.

Yesterday's outcome was a discontinuation of his trial rather than an acquittal; and unlike many countries, Ireland no longer has a double jeopardy law prohibiting someone from being tried for the same serious offence twice.

The State can have a second bite of the cherry if new and compelling evidence emerges.

Although it does not necessarily apply to this case, Irish law allows for a retrial where it is shown the judge in the initial trial erred in law by, for example, excluding certain evidence.

Three years ago, the Supreme Court ordered the retrial of an arson case where the accused was initially acquitted.
My sister was a neighborhood favorite. She walked her dogs several times a day along Roland Avenue and frequently visited the Tuxedo Pharmacy, said her sister, Ann Ashby Thompson of Baltimore. Jody was the oldest of three daughters and she, along with her mother and sisters, enjoyed travelling each year, She was known for her loving smile and good nature.
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FEARLESS, rebellious and ferociously dedicated to her work, the late Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin is among the most celebrated war correspondents of recent times.

She was killed  many say assassinated  in 2012 at the age of just 56, while reporting on the Syrian civil war that still rages today.

Yet Colvins spirit lives on  and now a film has been made that aims to honour both her memory and her remarkable life story.

Based on the acclaimed Vanity Fair article Marie Colvins Private War by Marie Brenner, the action takes us from the rubble and bombed towns to the glittering events where Colvin was garlanded with press awards, to the hospital where she was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. To arm herself for the daily private war she fought in the mirror, Colvin swigged down vodka martinis, dragged on cigarettes and used sex to numb her nightmares.

In what is being hailed as a career-best (and Golden Globe-nominated) turn, Rosamund Pike nails Colvins complexities with an unflinching, bare-all performance, capturing her remarkable strength and tenacity, as well as her mischievous humour and ragged vulnerabilities.

Colvins thwarted maternal instincts are touched on, as are her trust issues with the various men in her life. I always go for the psychos! she eye-rolls to her lover (Stanley Tucci).

Certainly Libyas Colonel Gaddafi enjoyed flirting with her, according to one intriguing scene set just before his downfall.

Her most defining male relationship, however, was her platonic one with Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan), her loyal Liverpudlian photographer who was also seriously injured in Homs when Colvin was killed.

His best-selling account of that time, Under The Wire, was recently turned into a documentary.

That Conroy acted as a consultant on A Private War gives it a further seal of accuracy, and the film possesses the visceral authenticity that you might expect, given its the narrative feature debut by Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated director Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, City of Ghosts), who ensured that many of the victims of war portrayed in the film were actual survivors of the events.

As the end credits sombrely inform us: Over 500,000 Syrian civilians have been killed since Maries death.

With last years killing of a dissident Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, making global headlines, the events of A Private War could not be more relevant or more urgent viewing today.

 A Private War is at the Henley Regal Picturehouse cinema from Friday (February 22).
Brantley honored as top assistant manager

Amy Brantley was named assistant manager of the year by the N.C. City and County Management Association

Amy Brantley, assistant county manager for Henderson County, has been honored as assistant county manager of the year in North Carolina. The N.C. City and County Management Association presented the award to Brantley during its annual convention on Feb. 7 in Winston-Salem.

A graduate of Illinois State University with a masters degree in public administration from Western Carolina University, Brantley worked her way up from her first job as deputy clerk to the board, a post that Commissioner Grady Hawkins gave her 19 years ago. She was a budget analyst when County Manager Steve Wyatt promoted her to assistant manager five years ago.

The award was "a recognition from her peers based on many applications," Wyatt said. "I can certainly say it's well deserved. She has been a great person to work beside, to work with ... We're very fortunate to have her."

Hawkins also praised Brantley.

"Every day you're doing something keeping the county running and we're very fortunate to have you," he said.

Known for her ability to instantly find and report to the penny the most arcane budget facts, Brantley has been a loyal second-in-command under Wyatt, taking on special projects, mastering the financial side of things and occasionally enduring her boss's cracks about her budget skills.

Brantley told the board it was the people around her, from Wyatt to the elected commissioners and department heads, that account for her success.
The researchers also claimed a noticeable improvement in the engagement and wellbeing of employees. When compared with the results of a 2017 trial, stress levels went down from 45% to 38%. Participants also showed better work-life balance scores from 54% to 78%.

Perpetual Guardian founder and CEO Andrew Barnes urged other organisations to also switch to a four-day work week. His team published the findings along with a how-to guide for companies looking to implement a similar schedule.

This is an idea whose time has come, Barnes said. We need to get more companies to give it a go. They will be surprised at the improvement in their company, their staff and in their wider community.

Employees also welcomed the results of the trial, pointing out the positive impact it has had on their wellbeing.

Weve been treated like adults and I think as a result everyone is behaving like adults, Tammy Barker, a branch manager and one of the participants of the trial, told media outlet The Guardian.
Family photos, awards and ornaments are displayed on a wall in a back room at Western Trailer and Marine Sales in Havre Wednesday.

Long-standing business Western Trailer and Marine Sales LLC is on its third generation of family members involved with the business.

"We are a family business," Clyde Thomas Jr. said.

Brandy Kurtz, daughter of Thomas, said that she has no particular favorite memory of working with her father and brother, Clyde "Duke" Thomas III, because, to her, they were all good. Every day, she said, she gets to see them and work together.

Thomas said his mother's family homesteaded in the Bear Paw Mountains and his father's family homesteaded at Fresno, farming and ranching. He said his father, Clyde...
The Hill County Council on Aging held a public meeting Tuesday at North Central Senior Citizens Center to get input on items for its three-year plan of services.

Information and Referral specialist Marci Bergren said during the meeting it is her job to tell people where to go for service.

She added that the Council on Aging is developing a three-year plan of services to submit to the Hill County commissioners and the state for what is needed at the center. She said the plan used to be a four-year plan but has recently changed to a three-year plan.

We need to know what you guys think i...
Editor: Well I see someone has decided that you must read the 1619 project in orde
Published on 2019/02/20 | Source

Seolhyun was spotted in Milan, Italy. She was seen walking about freely in the exotic streets in casual clothes.

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Seolhyun was seen departing from Incheon International Airport on the 19th to attend a fashion show in Milan.

Meanwhile, Seolhyun is coming back with the JTBC drama "My Country: The New Age" later this year. "My Country: The New Age" is an action historical drama in which she stars in as an intelligent and adventurous woman.
By Vasia Orion | Published on 2019/02/20

"Doctor Prisoner" is getting ready to shake the ward with star-studded stills and some more character information on our key players. The upcoming KBS 2TV drama is described as a prison and medical suspense piece about the life and death battle of a genius doctor who becomes a medical director at a prison after being ousted from his hospital.

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Namgoong Min plays our unlucky, but tenacious protagonist, Na Yi-je. In order to portray the character, Namgoong Min reportedly learned basic medical terminology, and also practiced the technical aspects of surgery. On the other protagonist end we have Kwon Nara as Han So-geum, a psychiatrist who will become involved with Yi-je and villain Seon Min-sik (Kim Byung-chul) after volunteering at the prison.

Kim Byung-chul's aforementioned Seon Min-sik is the medical director who holds absolute power over the prison. The man referred to as the King of this establishment has built it with the money and power gathered by its VIP crowd, which includes all the loaded categories of people, such as politicians, chaebol, and gangsters. He is described as a cunning negotiator who utilizes his opponent's desires, and uses all and any means to get what he wants.

Lee Jae-joon (Choi Won-young) is the General Manager of Taegang Group, one of the nation's top conglomerates and the company which owns the hospital where Yi-je works. Jae-joon gains wide media attention when it is announced that he will succeed his father due to the elderly man's battle with Alzheimer's disease. Unlike his refined and warm public image, he is devious and meticulous.

Last, but not least, we have Park Eun-seok as Lee Jae-hwan, the second son of the Taegang Group chairman, and a thoracic surgery ace who has a double board certification alongside Yi-je. According to the production, the scene depicted in the shared stills will become a pivotal point in Yi-je's life. I'm personally burned out on power play scenarios, but the prison theme and cast might just draw me in. "Doctor Prisoner" will be premiering on March 20th.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Sources (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
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East End Tick Control The East End's only New York State licensed dedicated tick and mosquito control specialists!



Southampton Masonry-Visiting the Southampton or the Wainscott locations is an exciting experience. Southampton Masonry has been serving Long Island's masonry and tile needs since 1975. Delivering quality products from Manhattan to Montauk for over three decades. The company's continued success is due primarily to their number one priority: customer satisfaction, with a promise of prompt and courteous service from the professional, knowledgeable staff. Southampton Masonry has the largest inventory on the east end. As direct importers they can offer a large variety of the finest quality products at the most competitive pricing for both your interior and exterior projects.



Southrifty Drug 54 Jagger Lane, Southampton Village Southrifty Drug is a small, neighborhood pharmacy with limited shelf space, and we have to be very selective about which over-the-counter items we carry. As a result you'll find a no nonsense concentration of very effective, high quality and useful products on our shelves. In this new section, we feature a number of these products that we feel are especially worthy of your consideration.



Hamilton Hoge As the owners representative our practice encompasses all aspects of a project from pre-purchase property due diligence, program development iterations, advisement on systems, analyze contracts/vendors, critical path analysis, feasibility and schedule. The strength of our approach is in facilitating organized communication. We strongly analyze all representations and warranties for the protection and benefit of our client.


The districts ethics policy forbids a school board member from being employed by the system for at least one year following their departure. But that doesnt apply to people who have been previously employed by the district, like Kannam, who was a city school teacher in the 1990s.




Haiti - News : Zapping...





14 deputies lay charges against President Moise

14 deputies of the minority opposition (Joseph Manes Louis, Roger Millien, Jean Robert Bosse, Romial Smith, Bertrand Sinal, Printemps Belizaire, Ketel Jean-Philippe, Abel Descollines, Deus Deronneth, Jean Marcel Lumerant, Vikerson Garnier, Jean Fequiere Julien, Frank Lauture et Reynald Exantus ) have sent a request for an indictment of President Jovenel Moses, to Deputy Gary Bodeau, Speaker of the lower house, claiming to grant this request the benefit of urgency "It remains to President Bodeau to give the necessary follow-up" declared the deputy of Grand-Goave Jean Marcel Lumerant (KID).



PetroCaribe : The case in the hands of justice

Tuesday evening, the Assembly of Senators approved, the report of the Superior Court of Auditors on the partial record of PetroCaribe by 16 votes for, 0 against and 2 abstentions. Kedlair Augustin and Herve Fourcand are the 2 senators abstaining. The document was subsequently entrusted to Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant who handed it to the Minister of Justice, Jean Roody Aly who is responsible for transmitting it to the Government Commissioner for the necessary follow-up.



Unidentifiable escapees

The Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Ruben Dario Paulino Sem, lamented that the Haitian authorities 9 days after the escape of 78 prisoners from the civil prison of Aquinas https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26918-haiti-flash-great-escape-to-aquin-south.html , have still not sent photos of the detainees to allow the Dominican Republic their identifications at the border.



Garcia Delva thinks about the presidential elections

Senator Artibonite Garcia Delva (AAA) announced on the radio that he was studying the possibility of running for the presidential election of 2022 to get the country out of the quagmire...



FUSION welcomes the decisions of the Government

The Fusion Party of the Haitian Social Democrats (FUSION) welcomes the decision announced by the government to fight corruption, reduce the State of life and break the price of rice in the national market, considering it necessary to work to increase the purchasing power of the population through job creation, especially in the agricultural sector.



Food distribution at the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes

Saturday, February 16, a team of the NGO "Food For the Poor" organized a distribution of food at the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes (Military City). Most of the beneficiaries were elderly women and single mothers.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Security : A polcie officer coldly shot in Martissant





Earlier Wednesday morning in Martissant, Simon Jackson, an officer 1 of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), accompanied by two of his colleagues was shot in his private vehicle, while on his way his place of work.



The incident occurred when a dozen unidentified armed individuals intercepted at Matissant, the vehicle and demanded the police officers to give them their service weapon "It's when Simon refused to give his weapon, that one of the bandits coldly shot him," said one of his colleagues who was traveling with the victim and handed over his weapon to the attackers under threat.



Moreover, that same day, 2 other dead bodies were reported to Martissant, one of the two victims would be a driver of public transport. The two victims were reportedly shot dead for unknown reasons by unidentified individuals who fled, witnesses said.



TB/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Humanitarian : 900,000 people supplied with drinking water thanks to UNICEF





Between February 7 and 15, as the protests paralyzed the economy and limited access to basic services and goods such as fuel, electricity, water, domestic gas and food, UNICEF and its partners, have supplied approximately 900,000 people with drinking water, in metropolitan areas and in other departments of the country https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26904-haiti-crisis-protests-affect-the-water-supply-of-the-capital.html



UNICEF provided 18,000 gallons of fuel to the National Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) for the operation of 18 pumping stations in the metropolitan area to supply water to neighborhoods in several cities. "These gallons of fuel will produce 300,000 cubic meters of water to meet the needs of 178,000 families who will receive water by tanker or through the drinking water system," explained Charles-Edouard Jean, General Coordinator of DINEPA.



In addition, when unrest erupted, the 754 children's homes (25,000 child beneficiaries) and prisons experienced a water supply disruption. Under such conditions, the use of water was rationed by limiting showers, reducing drinking water consumption or even drinking untreated water. UNICEF provided emergency support to juvenile detention centers, juvenile prisons and childcare facilities and distributed some 4,200 water purification tablets to children's homes.



In recent days, maternity hospitals have had difficulty providing neonatal care while health workers can not get to work. Problems of supply of fuel and health consumables have been reported in health centers. The Ministry of Health, PAHO/WHO and UNICEF identify the priority needs of the most affected hospitals and health centers in order to plan a rapid health response in the event of a major crisis.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26956-icihaiti-notice-gradual-recovery-of-the-drinking-water-supply.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-26819-haiti-politic-access-to-drinking-water-and-sanitation-far-from-reality-in-the-country.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : The 7 foreign of commandos have left Haiti, without handcuffs for the USA





Wednesday late afternoon, the 7 foreign commandos heavily armed, arrested Sunday in Port-au-Prince https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26963-haiti-flash-a-mysterious-commando-of-heavily-armed-foreigners-arrested-in-port-au-prince.html including 5 Americans : Talon R Burton, Kent Leland Kroeker, Christopher Mark Kinley MC, Christopher M. Osman and Dustin Daniel Porte as well as 2 foreigners having residence American : Bajagic Danilo (Serb) and Vlade Jankovic (Serb), left Haiti Wednesday on the flight of American Airlines 1059 and without handcuffs, to the United States where they will be prosecuted according to US authorities.



Only the 8th member of the commando, of Haitian nationality Michael Estera, remain Haiti in the hands of justice.



According to a police source, the National Police of Haiti (PNH) had requested in this case the assistance of the "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (FBI) but according to the agents of the FBI, because of the socio-political troubles, the investigation into the ground proved very complicated and the political dimension that could take this business following the declaration of conspiracy to make by Prime Minister Ceant, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26981-haiti-flash-mess-at-the-palace-around-the-commandos-of-foreigners-arrested-at-pap.html increased the risk of impartiality of the investigation in Haiti... This source reminds that it was difficult to oppose the Americans and to maintain these individuals in Haiti at the hands of justice...



Government Commissioner Paul Eronce Villard has not commented on this transfer of prisoners, just as the Government..



This transfer raises questions, these individuals were not wanted by the American justice and when getting on the plane, these men were not handcuffed, as was the case, during the transfer of Guy Philippe in the USA in the past...



In the opinion of jurists, justice in Haiti was fully competent in this crime committed under its jurisdiction and these individuals should not have been transferred as easily and as quickly to the US...



In this business, the mission of this mysterious commando remains intact for the moment, like the real reasons of the American Government, beyond the unfounded explanations of the FBI.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26981-haiti-flash-mess-at-the-palace-around-the-commandos-of-foreigners-arrested-at-pap.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26972-haiti-flash-the-mystery-remains-around-the-mission-of-the-commando-of-foreigners-arrested-to-pap.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26963-haiti-flash-a-mysterious-commando-of-heavily-armed-foreigners-arrested-in-port-au-prince.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















The closure of Howard County schools on Wednesday due to the snow storm could complicate the systems academic calendar, especially since officials already announced last week that school year would be extended four days because its inclement weather make-up days had been used up.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On February 21, Chinese automaker Qoros Auto names Kazuo Yajima, former Renault-Nissan Alliance global director of EV and HEV engineering as its CEO. Meanwhile, Li Feng, executive vice president of Baoneng Auto, will no longer be president of Qoros Auto.

According to published records, Kazuo Yajima has joined automobile industry for nearly 30 years and had long worked at Nissan. With rich experience of NEV strategy planning and commercialization, he is one of developers for the Nissan Leaf BEV and the Nissan Fuga PHEV.

Moreover, Qoros Auto also appointed Nagahara Oki, former Renault-Nissan Alliance's global director of vehicle connectivity technology strategy, as its new COO, assisting CEO with the company's operation and management. Toshiro Hirai, the former Infiniti's head of entire vehicle lineup development, has been named as Qoros Auto's co-CTO who will be responsible for R&D of new energy vehicle. Besides, the automaker introduced Liu Qiang, former Nissan's chief technology officer of EV development, as its vice president to preside over product layout and the management of vehicle life cycle and programs.

Qoros Auto said the introduction of Japanese executives is in line with the company's globalization strategy and current industrial transformation. By adding new blood to the management group, it wishes to further improve Qoros's abilities in technology R&D, operation and management, and consolidate its position as a China-owned mid-/high-end car brand.
There really is a national emergency and we must stand up and confront it. It is not at our southern border. It is in a much more serious and dangerous place  at the doorstep of our democracy.

We have known since our earliest school years that the Constitution consists of a series of so-called checks and balances. However, we often forget why these checks and balances were woven into the Constitution and why they are so vital to our democracy. We forget that the founders, with the experience of an oppressive king firmly in their minds, carefully crafted, through the first three articles of the Constitution, an elaborate system to ensure no single branch of government would overstep its prescribed function. That finely devised plan is now being tested in ways that, if accepted, threaten the core precepts of our democracy.

Most scholars and political theorists agree that President Donald Trump has already undermined critical democratic institutions in a number of ways. Providing alternative facts (lies), attacking a free press as the enemy of the people and dividing people along racial and ethnic lines are just a few. These attacks are out of the playbook of dictators and are precisely the kinds of concerns the men in Philadelphia addressed in the Constitution.

But we are faced with a new and more insidious threat from an imperial presidency  the decision to ignore the will of the people through their elected representatives (Congress) in favor of a fabricated National Emergency.

The Constitution expressly charges Congress with allocating money raised by taxes. Congress determined that it was not fiscally prudent to spend billions of dollars on a wall on the southern border as the executive requested. (Indeed, even when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, they did not approve of such spending.)

By ignoring Congress decision and reallocating money to build a wall, the president is usurping and overriding the role assigned to Congress by the Constitution. He is elevating the executive branch over the Legislative. This is, unfortunately, one more step  the most brazen to date  toward an authoritarian form of government.

When a president simply ignores the Constitution, we no longer have a democracy.

We could devote several paragraphs here citing a multitude of authorities that a) the wall is a publicity stunt to satisfy talk show hosts , b) no one (including each Intelligence, Defense, etc., Secretary) considers the southern border a threat to the Unied States, c) walls are not best practices in actually dealing with issues at the border, d) smugglers go through ports of entry or through tunnels, e) and our personal favorite, Trumps tweet: 45 year low on illegal border crossings this year. ICE and Border Patrol Agents are doing a great job.

In short, the overwhelming evidence is that the sole emergency at the southern border  the devastating and heartbreaking plight of children and families fleeing death, torture and extreme poverty  is a moral one that cannot be addressed by a wall.

The focus of this op-ed is not the absurdity of the National Emergency declaration. Rather it is on the effect of that declaration on our democracy. Congress has said no to funding the wall the president wants. And the president has overridden Congress, thus abrogating Constitutional checks and balances.

For those who say what does all this have to do with us in Greenwich, the answer is everything. Every American who wants to live in a democracy is called upon to stand up and label the conduct for what it is  a threat to our way of life. The Economist Intelligence Unit has now downgraded our democracy from a full democracy to a flawed democracy. Reporters Without Borders placed the United States on its list of most dangerous countries for journalists. Slowly, we are sliding away from being a democracy and it is up to us to demand Congress stop this president and this slide toward an imperial presidency.

Indivisible Greenwich will continue to stand against this abuse of power and the continued assaults on democracy. Regardless of your party affiliation, we hope everyone in this town will come together in sending the message that we care about and want to protect our democracy. We hope Greenwich residents will call their members of Congress regularly, let them know that we do not want to live under a king or authoritarian who thwarts the will of the people or their elected representatives and ask them to terminate this emergency order. Each of us will be called upon to answer someday, when our children and grandchildren ask, what did you do when President Trump attacked democracy and took power from Congress?

This op-ed was submitted by steering committee of Greenwich Indivisible members Joanna Swomley, Nerlyn Pierson, Wendy Kalan, Tim Alexander and Phyllis Alexander.
Every once in a while, something takes place that, as far as I am concerned, is just marvelous. I could not get to the extraordinary opening of the Greenwich Historical Societys new renovation last fall. Recently I was taken on a fabulous trip to view the new campus, and it is truly an amazing piece of work.

I have always enjoyed the Bush-Holley House and environs, as it is a true history of our town. However, I want to tell you about something I found on the bookshelf at the historical society, An American Odyssey, the Jewish Experience in Greenwich, by Ann Meyerson, guest curator and author.

The first settlers arrived in New Amsterdam, as the Dutch colony was called then and which is now New York City. The Dutch West India Co. said the Jews could stay as long as they did not become a burden on the community. Then New York was founded as a multireligion colony, a principle the English maintained after they conquered the city from the Dutch.

Some of the first Jewish families who moved to Greenwich were merchants who came to open stores. In the book, Jennie Marks Levine recalls in 1974 how her father founded the Marks Brothers Newspaper business in Greenwich in 1907. There was this business in Greenwich for sale He knew nothing about it, but he bought the newspaper business and from then on, you know, if a Jewish person has a little business, they get a bigger one. So we opened up a stationery store.  They all came in and bought retail shops and made a living out of it.

Others who started businesses in town included I. J. Weiss, Mayer Cohen, Michael Taylor, Barney Tunick and Mayer Bennett  all as far back as the first decade of the 20th century.

Each fall as school was about to start, one of my favorite things to do was to purchase new shoes. Of course, the favorite shoe store was the place to go, and hopefully say hello to the owner, Mr. Weiss. The delightful gentleman was born in Hungary, and he came to East Port Chester, where he had an uncle. Then in 1906, with a brother-in-law, he opened my favorite shoe store, at 92 Greenwich Ave., which stayed in business for 91 years. Believe it or not, they used to stay open until 11 at night to help those who lived in the backcountry.

Mr. Weiss was about 24 when he started out, peddling fruits and vegetables by horse and wagon. What an amazing way to start one of the most successful Greenwich Avenue businesses.

Then there was the Marks family, who had a well-known stationery store at the top of Greenwich Avenue. That is where one picked up the newspaper on the way to the train. The daughter of Philip and Sophia, Jennie was the first Jewish child born in Greenwich in 1895. In 1904, Philip purchased a newspaper route in Greenwich, and like others, he became sole owner of Marks Brothers Newspapers, a stationery store.

I enjoyed Jennie Levines comment in 1974, I remember my father on a Sunday morning getting up at 2 in the morning going to the station and getting the papers, and delivering them in Greenwich, and then came home at 12, changed horses and went out to Round Hill. He used to say the horse knew when to stop to deliver a paper, but a car never knew.

I would have liked to have known that gentleman.

Thank you for an An American Odyssey, the Jewish Experience in Greenwich and to Debra Mecky, the executive director, for a fascinating tour of the new work by the amazing people at the Historical Society.

Greenwich native Norma Bartol, a former Greenwich Time reporter and columnist, lives in the backcountry.
"I like creating in Harford Countyespecially my larger work as I have more space. It's much more peaceful, and the landscape in Churchville is beautiful," she adds. And her jewelry, which she describes as being influenced by the Egyptian and Byzantine empires, is sold in Bel Air at several boutiques. Beale said shes worked with the owners of Urban Pearl since 2016.
Contributed /

GREENWICH  U.S. troops deployed overseas are enjoying some of the comforts of home, thanks to members of the Local 1042 union of Greenwich firefighters.

A committee led by firefighter Mike Varanelli sold RED  remember everyone deployed  shirts to firefighters in the union, who wore them every Friday. The sales raised a total of $2,500, which was used to purchase food and supplies for troops, and paid for the shipping costs to send the packages overseas.
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A recently revealed report confirms the worst: that former N.C. Rep. Mel Watt misused his position as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency by attempting to coerce or induce a relationship with a female employee seeking a promotion, The Washington Post reported last week.

It marks a disappointing end to what had been a distinguished career.

Simone Grimes, an FHFA supervisory program management analyst, told members of the House Financial Services Committee in September that Watt made dozens of sexual advances toward her, withheld a promised pay raise over her refusal of his advances and was protected by senior agency officials.

According to Grimes, Watt had been harassing her for several years, starting in 2015, when he approached her during a party and asserted that there was an attraction between them that needed to be explored, she said.

Over the next two years, Watt repeatedly asked Grimes to meet him outside the office, sometimes at his vacation home in North Carolina. She described meeting with him so she could talk about her pay and her responsibilities, but said the conversation would inevitably turn to Watts attraction to her.
I have a gripe with the term settled science. A real scientist should require very strong evidence to declare this. The Egyptian mummies are dead. The Earth is spherical. These are safe to call settled science because any new data to contradict these is highly unlikely.

When discussing the climate on the Earth, using the term settled science is absurd. This is a very complex, dynamic system, influenced by numerous factors: atmospheric layers, ocean currents, magnetic pole migration and sunspot activity among them. Gathering new data to influence this debate is practically guaranteed.

Thirteen years ago Al Gore called global warming (since revised to climate change) settled science and made his predictions for doom in 10 years. Miami is not awash; polar bears are still around; there is no ice age in Europe. This debate, unfortunately has been politically influenced even to the point of manipulating data.

I agree that we should lower pollution, preserve rain forests, check population growth, etc. But I dont want to lower our standard of living to 100 years ago.

Be very wary of a scientist (or anyone else) who calls climate change settled science. That is simply a discussion-ending attempt.

Paul Camp

Greensboro
The purchase of the Friendly-Hobbs corner property by Roy Carroll, a local developer with a sense of community, illustrates what can be done with a project.

First, Carroll has cleaned the parcel, the first time since the Atlanta company that sold it to him, Halpern, purchased it. Second, Carroll is quoted as saying in Taft Wirebacks article (Jan. 30), The truth is that no one was happy with the current plan.

The current plan represents City Council member Nancy Hoffmann ignoring thousands of opponents of the development, many in her district, to join the council in changing the propertys zoning to commercial.

Carroll is further quoted: I dont blame the neighbors. I would not want to live next to a strip center either. ... I will still not build the strip center that is currently approved.

Now we will see what Carroll does with the property.

As regards Trader Joes, I was a member of the executive committee of the Friendly Coalition that opposed commercial zoning. Our committee contacted management of Trader Joes. The store never indicated any interest in the Hobbs corner for a store location.

A new building in a strip center is not where Trader Joes locates.
SALISBURY  The adoptive parents of a North Carolina teen who was missing for years before her body was found in South Carolina will be tried separately on murder charges.

News outlets reported the defense attorneys for Casey and Sandy Parsons agreed last week with Rowan County prosecutors to hold separate trials.

The two are charged in the death of Erica Parsons, who was reported missing in July 2013. She had last been seen alive in 2011, when she was 13.

In 2016, Sandy Parsons led authorities to Erica's body in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

Attorneys scheduled a trial for Casey Parsons the week of April 6, 2020. They declined to set a trial date for Sandy Parsons.

Sandy and Casey Parsons face charges that include first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
RALEIGH  The Republican in the country's last undecided congressional election testified Thursday that a political operative now accused of ballot fraud assured him "again and again" that he wouldn't collect absentee ballots in violation of state law.

GOP congressional candidate Mark Harris described during a special state elections board hearing how he accepted the word of political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless that he was able to get results for candidates because of his relationships in rural Bladen County.

Harris said he met with Dowless in person before hiring him and came away thinking the operative used a labor-intensive process to convince people to request and send mail-in ballots. He said Dowless assured him his operatives would never touch the completed absentee ballots.

"I'll never forget. He said it again and again. He said: We do not take the ballot," Harris testified. He was "convinced that it all comes down to relationships."
MICA was not the only area school to exclude blacks. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who grew up in Baltimore, was denied admission to the University of Maryland in 1930 because of his race. He attended Howard University instead, and would go on to help overturn the legalized segregation of schools in Brown v. Board of Education. It was that decision in 1954 that prompted MICAs board to vote to allow all races.
In 1613, Mikhail Romanov, 16, was unanimously chosen by Russias national assembly to be czar, beginning a dynasty that would last three centuries.

In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men.

In 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlems Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all were eventually paroled.)

In 2013, Drew Peterson, the Chicago-area police officer who gained notoriety after his much-younger fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

In 2018, the Rev. Billy Graham, a confidant of presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died at his North Carolina home; he was 99.

For other highlights from this date, see On This Day in the gallery area of greensboro.com. You can search the News & Record Historical Archive at greensboro.com/archive.
HIGH POINT  Aetna is expanding its operations facility here, a move expected to bring 300 new jobs by the end of 2020.

It marks the second expansion at the health care company's High Point location in the past year. Aetna late last year added 80 full-time equivalent jobs.

Gov. Roy Cooper, in announcing the expansion at an event Thursday, characterized the jobs as "good paying" and "above the median average."

A representative from Aetna said she did not have specific salary figures, however, she did say Aetna is "meeting the median wage for High Point." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2017, the most recent year listed, was $43,310.

The new space will be used for clinical care management and customer service positions. The company is investing about $2.5 million in building upgrades and equipment.
The deluded pursuit of a masculine ideal is just one of many ways in which prosecutors say Breivik, who received Norways maximum sentence of 21 years in prison when his trial ended in 2012, was a model for Hasson, an avowed white nationalist who wrote that he was dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. For the 49-year-old resident of Silver Spring, those reportedly included CNN and MSNBC personalities as well as lawmakers such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whom Hasson identified as poca warren, borrowing President Trumps epithet. Hasson was arrested Friday on weapons and drugs charges.
The man was outside in the 3500 block of Dolfield Ave., near the West Coldspring Metro station, around 8 p.m. Police say two unknown assailants robbed the man, shot him, then fled.
Our Collections is a display of artwork from the private collections of members of the Sweetwater County Library System Exhibit committee. Both library staff and community volunteers promote and arrange the rotating exhibits at both Sweetwater County Library in Green River and White Mountain Library in Rock Springs. Several of the members are artists and have been acquiring art for a number of years. The collections will be on display at the White Mountain Library.

This is an opportunity to share with others the artwork that for one reason or another we were drawn to and have hanging in our homes, Debora Soule, committee member and Community Fine Arts Center director, said.

Angie Bennett, Deon Quitberg and Donna Ragsdale volunteer their time in assisting with the libraries exhibits and are artists themselves.

I enjoy all forms and styles of art, Bennett said. The original paintings are from people I have known and allow me to remember the artists as special people who shared their creative vision with me and others who view their work.

Many of the committee members agreed when Bennett shared that these paintings have become part of her everyday visual world. They bring good memories that inspire her with shapes, design and color and she hopes the public will enjoy them and find them interesting.

Quitberg has two pieces, an oil Painted Daisies and a paste Bearly Friends, both painted by her mother, Barbara Dowdle, who currently lives in Salt Lake City. Dowdle exhibits at the Lamplight Art Gallery in Bountiful, Utah.

These paintings are among my favorites. I love the colors she used and the subject matter, Quitberg said.

Ragsdale is attracted to light and color in artwork. She also enjoys having art from people I know such as local artists Jill Hartley and Florence McEwin.

The painting Fall by Marla Barnum is special, Ragsdale said. Marla was a founding member of our art co-op Local Color which opened many years ago in Rock Springs. I was looking forward to knowing her better when she and her husband were killed in an automobile accident. The painting is a memorial to a lost friendship.

There are many reasons I am attracted to a particular piece of art  subject matter, colors, the style or techniques the artist used, Soule said. But many times it is getting to know the artist behind the work that makes it personal.

The large oil painting of a band of wild horses was for sale at the first Wild Horse Art Show that ran for several years in Rock Springs. While setting up the show, Soule said she keep looking over at the piece because of the way the artist caught the evening light.

This exhibit will be on display now through the month of March. Local artists are encouraged to apply to have their work considered for future exhibits at both libraries.
Whether celebrating a relationship or longing for something more, Valentines Day has a way of turning our heads and hearts to finding that special someone. In todays world, it is perfectly acceptable to go looking through online dating sites, social media, and mobile apps in search of love. While these sites and apps can be a great place to meet people, it is important to recognize that not everyone is who they say they are online.

The FBI tells us that reports of romance scams have grown from around 5,000 in 2012 to nearly 15,000 in 2016 with reported losses of $220 million. Today there are an estimated 25,000 romance scammers online worldwide, according to one cybersecurity expert. Between 5 percent and 25 percent of online daters could be fakes or scammers, says another.

So the question becomes, how to protect yourself and yet feel free to find that special someone online? Heres a few tips.

The first is to check the persons photo using Googles search by image, feature. If the same picture shows up elsewhere with a different name attached to it, thats a sign a scammer may have stolen it. Next, be wary of flirtatious and overly complimentary emails. Copy and paste the text into a search engine and see whether the same words show up on websites devoted to exposing romance scams. Finally, take it slowly. Ask the person lots of questions and look for inconsistencies that might reveal an impostor.

Its also a good idea to be weary if someone you are chatting with wants to immediately leave the dating website and use a personal email or IM; professes love too quickly; claims to be from the US but is traveling overseas; and if the person asks for money for a variety of reasons (travel, medical emergencies, losses from a financial setback).

We also recommend doing a self-check of where you are in your own life before talking online. AARPs 2019 survey results suggested scammers tend to succeed when their target is someone has recently experienced a major life event, such as a change in financial status or family relationship problems.

Even the US military is being pulled into these scams. According to a story written by Katherine Skiba for AARP, hundreds of times a day, women here and overseas complain about being scammed by con artists posing as U.S. service members, according to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. In her story, Skiba quotes Chris Grey, spokesman, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, as saying typically a swindle starts with a scam artist stealing a service members name and photos from various sites online, and it advances to requesting money from the fake love interest for some phony, dire need.

According to Grey, theres an easy step to avoid getting swept off your feet by a military impostor: If youre on a dating site or app with someone claiming to wear this countrys uniform, ask to be sent an email from his or her military account. It will not end in .com or .org, but in .mil. Privates to generals all have such emails, Grey says. And dont fall for the Im on a secret mission,  or I dont have a computer, line, either. He recommends not sending money, especially if it is to someone asking you mail something to an African Country, or for what is purported to be a service members transportation, medical, or communications fees.

We hope you find that someone special, but do warn, that 17 percent of those asked in our 2019 online romance survey said they or someone they know have been the victim of an online romance scam, so keep yourself safe.

AARP Wyoming wants to remind you to take advantage of the AARP FraudWatch Network Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 if you have questions or think a loved one has been a victim of this or other scams. The help is free.
Discussion about whether or not the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County will take over Sweetwater Countys ambulance service took place at the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting.

Representatives from MHSC, Sweetwater Medics and members of the Ambulance Service Board were on hand to answer questions the Commissioners had about the hospital possibly getting into the ambulance service business.

Scott Kitchner, chairman of the ambulance service board, said Sweetwater Medics and the hospital have had come discussions about the hospital taking over the ambulance service. Kitchner said if that was the case, they would like their current contract with the county extended for one year so they could have time to pursue this possibility.

Hospital CEO Irene Richardson said at this time she doesnt know if this is something the hospital is going to pursue. Before making that determination, an investigation would need to be conducted by the hospital. Richardson said they cant take on something that would create a loss in revenue.

We just dont have the information, she said.

However, she did know that in order for something like this to work it would need to be a county-wide service and something that can be sustained. They also need to determine what is best for the county and the patients needs.

We cant make this decision lightly, Richardson said.

Thats why they want enough time to investigate it and see what other hospitals are doing. It was determined that the contract extension for Sweetwater Medics and the Request For Proposals is something the county can deal with separately.

Richardson said they have spoke with Castle Rock Hospital District representatives, but Farson and Wamsutter will also need to be brought into the conversation.

MHSC board president Richard Mathey said this is something the hospital will look into and report to his board. It would need to be approved by both boards. It will need to be as close to county-wide as possible if it is going to work, he said.

The hospital is the key to this whole thing, Chairman Wally Johnson said.

If the hospital doesnt want it, then the whole deal is done.

I think it has tremendous potential, Johnson said.
Half a million dollars will be added to the citys budget to provide seed funding for economic development.

Tuesday night, the Green River City Council approved a mid-year budget amendment to provide additional funding to city budgets, with the $500,000 earmarked for economic development taking up the lions share of the $725,000 approved. According to finance manager Chris Meats, sales-tax revenue received by the city was larger than anticipated, allowing the city to provide additional funding to several city departments. Outside of economic development, expenditures listed include $150,000 from the citys risk management fund to pay for repairs to the solid waste transfer station and $25,000 to the citys streets department for more ice slicer, as the department has used most of their supply.

Meats said the fund would be used to provide funding for initiatives aimed towards economic development in Green River. Examples he gave include providing extra funding to the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition or other projects which could help bring businesses to Green River. City Administrator Reed Clevenger said economic development isnt just focused on SEDC, but also the chambers of commerce in Sweetwater County and the citys main street organization.

Discussion amongst the Council focused on how much money could be spent from the account without consent from the Council, with the group deciding upon a $5,000 threshold.

Mayor Pete Rust also addressed rumors circulating throughout Green River that the Council has turned away businesses from establishing in the city. Councilwoman Lisa Maes said she was told directly the Council had prevented a Fred Meyer from moving into Green River. Rust said the Council has not turned away any businesses from Green River. Rust said city representatives have actively worked to recruit businesses, but Green Rivers population, as well as its close proximity to Rock Springs and its Wal-Mart have worked against them.

If you dont have 15,000 people, theyre not going to talk to you, Rust said.

Other business

While Wyoming Waste Systems admits the last year had its bumps, the private solid waste management company has completed its first year of service in Green River.

According to Valerie McCoy, office manager for Wyoming Waste Systems, the company acknowledges there were problems with its phone lines, including dropped calls, and service as it expanded into the city, but has worked hard to alleviate those issues.

McCoy spoke to the Council Tuesday night, presenting a 2018 overview and update.

Overall, the company has accepted 1,212 gallons of oil and antifreeze, 65 batteries, 66.65 tons of cardboard, 75 car and truck tires, 1,155.82 tons of green waste, 274 gallons of paint, 230 televisions and computer monitors and 4,392.8 tons of standard solid waste, of which 3,866 tons were sent to the landfill before its closure.

During the year, 1,926 people used the transfer station, with 87 people exceeding the 1,800-pound limit.

McCoy said the company is still working on a pricing model for a senior discount requested by members of the Council and requested a workshop meeting with the Council in March to discuss options.
The day our daughter Laura was killed, our family was robbed of not one, but two generations. But there will be no justice for our grandson Reid when the jury hands down its verdict in the case next month. Md. law only charges fetal homicide if the fetus is at least 24 weeks old; Reid was 14 weeks.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering are seeking to improve the efficiency of jet engines by identifying and developing thermoelectric materials that can harness excess energy.

Patrick Hopkins, professor and a director of Ph.D. studies in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UVA, is leading the work. Hopkins is a mechanical engineer as a specialist in microscale heat transfer and high-temperature materials science. He identified the potential of the voltage, which comes from a temperature change in the engines coating material, to provide the increased efficiency.

We soon discovered that, if we produced a coating that could not only survive in the hot environment but also produce current, we could harvest electricity that is then used to support the aircraft. The efficiencies that come from harvesting even an incremental amount of energy can lead to millions of dollars in savings for our airline industry. Patrick Hopkins

Rolls-Royce, one of the worlds largest manufacturers of jet engines, has signed on as a critical partner in this endeavor. UVA is one of only three universities in North America that participate in the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center Network.

Hopkins teamed up with Dr. Ann Bolcavage, a Rolls-Royce Engineering Associate Fellow in Coating Materials, to translate the idea to reality. The team went on to secure a nearly $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundations Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program to explore this idea.

This NSF program, which focuses on promoting collaborations between academic research institutions and industry that enable technological breakthroughs and address critical needs, presents opportunities for companies to explore transformative ideas that they would not normally pursue.

Hopkins and Bolcavage are setting out to design a material with poor thermal conductivity that creates this reserve of energy. In exploring thermal barrier coatings in great detail, they also hope to develop coatings that are less expensive to produceanother area of savings for the industry.

Hopkins recent research on thermal properties of novel coatings is published in Advanced Materials.



Resources
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced an increased demand for renewable natural gas (RNG) from the refuse sector, particularly in California, where refuse trucks can be fueled by the very solid waste they haul.

The City of Fresno signed a two-year agreement with Clean Energy for renewable liquified natural gas (RLNG) to power approximately 140 refuse trucks with its Redeem brand RNG for an anticipated annual total of 1.6 million LNG gallons, the equivalent of just over one million GGEs.

Redeem is the first commercially available RNG vehicle fuel. It is derived from capturing biogenic methane that is naturally sourced by the decomposition of dairy and landfill waste. Redeem enables at least 70 percent reduction in carbon emissions when displacing diesel or gasoline, according to California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimates.

The City of Long Beach has entered into a new two-year contract to fuel 77 vehicles with an expected 225,000 GGEs of Redeem, including its 35 LNG refuse trucks.

NASA Services in Montebello has opted to power its growing CNG refuse fleet of 50 vehicles with an approximate 400,000 GGEs of Redeem, while neighboring Arrow Services in La Puente will fuel 30 trucks with an anticipated 250,000 GGEs.

Burrtec in Riverside County has inked a deal to fuel its transfer truck fleet with an anticipated 350,000 GGEs of Redeem from a public access station that Clean Energy operates in Riverside.

Outside of California, the City of Spokane, Wash. has renewed a second option for operations and maintenance, along with an expected 250,000 GGEs of Redeem annually to power 40 waste trucks.
He also questioned the judges opinion that Ruby was protected by qualified immunity, which attorneys say should be determined earlier in the legal process, not after the trial has ended. Whether a police officer or other public official qualifies for this immunity, attorneys say, should be answered as early as possible because the intent is to spare them from having to go through the trial if theyre not liable for damages anyway.
A handgun was found in a Maryland mans luggage in a security screening at BWI Marshall Airport this weekend  the eighth gun found at the airport in the first eight weeks of the year, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
But historical maps only go so far. Most contain errors or anomalies. Many are development maps, meaning they show where things were planned to be, rather than where they actually were at the time. Finally, a few are so distorted that they cant be used at all.
VANCOUVER, Feb. 21, 2019 - New Pacific Metals Corp. (New Pacific or the Company) (TSX Venture: NUAG) (OTCQX: NUPMF) today announced its unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018.



This news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's management discussion & analysis, financial statements and notes to financial statements for the corresponding period, which have been posted under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and are also available on the Company's website at www.newpacificmetals.com. All figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

FINANCIALS

Net income attributable to equity holders of the Company for the three months ended December 31, 2018 was $473,838 or $0.00 per share (three months ended December 31, 2017 - net loss of $1,096,699 or $0.01 per share). The Companys financial results were mainly impacted by the following: (i) income from investments of $65,926 compared to income of $68,533 in the prior year quarter, (ii) operating expenses of $592,796 compared to $1,162,214 in the prior year quarter, and (iii) foreign exchange gain of $1,065,279 compared to gain of $59,635 in the prior year quarter.

For six months ended December 31, 2018, net loss attributable to equity holders of the Company was $278,745 or $0.00 per share compared to net loss of $2,647,798 or $0.02 per share for six months ended December 31, 2017.

Income from investments for the three months ended December 31, 2018 was $65,926 (three months ended December 31, 2017  income of $68,533). Within the income from investments, $150,525 was gain on the Companys equity investments and $125,677 was loss from fair value change on bonds offset by interest earned.

For the six months ended December 31, 2018, income from investments was $183,123 compared to loss of $508,411 for the six months ended December 31, 2017.

Operating expenses for the three and six months ended December 31, 2018 were $592,796 and $1,006,872, respectively (three and six months ended December 31, 2017 - $1,162,214 and $2,246,608, respectively).

Foreign exchange gain for the three months ended December 31, 2018 was $1,065,279 (three months ended December 31, 2017 - $59,635). The Company holds a large portion of cash and cash equivalents and bonds in US dollars while the Companys functional currency is Canadian dollar. The fluctuation in exchange rates between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar will impact the financial results of the Company. During the three months ended December 31, 2018, the US dollar appreciated by 5.4% against the Canadian dollar (from 1.2945 to 1.3642) while in the prior year period the US dollar appreciated by 0.5% against the Canadian dollar (from 1.2480 to 1.2545).

For the six months ended December 31, 2108, foreign exchange gain was $720,437 (six months ended December 31, 2017  foreign exchange loss of $409,669).

SILVER SAND PROPERTY

The Company started the preparation work for the planned exploration program after the acquisition of the Silver Sand Property. In October 2017, the Company successfully received exploration permits required by the relevant Bolivian government authorities and immediately commenced its exploration drilling program on the property. By mid-December 2018, a total of 55,010 metres in 195 HQ size diamond core drill holes had been completed. On January 22 and February 20, 2019, through two separate news releases, the Company released the results of 195 drill holes that had assay results received and analyzed, of which 190 holes intercepted silver mineralization. For details of the drill program, please follow the links at https://newpacificmetals.com/news-and-media/2019/1/22/new-pacific-reports-first-results-from-2018-drill-program-at-silver-sand-bolivia and https://newpacificmetals.com/news-and-media/2019/2/20/new-pacific-reports-remaining-drill-results-from-2018-drill-program-at-silver-sand-bolivia. For the three and six months ended December 31, 2018, total expenditures of $3,413,976 and $6,593,939, respectively (three and six months ended December 31, 2017 - $966,651 and $1,354,399, respectively) were capitalized under the property. These expenditures were mainly related to the drilling program, site and camp preparation, maintaining a regional office in La Paz, and building a competent management team and workforce for the property.

As part of the Silver Sand Propertys expansion plan, on January 11, 2019, the Company announced that through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Empresa Minera Alcira S.A., it had entered into a Mining Production Contract (the MPC) with Corporacion Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) granting the Company the right to carry out exploration, mining, and production activities in the area of up to 56.9098 square kilometres adjoining the Silver Sand Property. In addition, in July 2018, the Company entered into agreements with private owners to acquire their 100% interest in certain mineral concessions located adjacent to the Silver Sand Property. For the six months ended December 31, 2018, the Company acquired total mineral concessions valued at $2,631,200 (US$2,000,000) by cash payments of $1,315,600 (US$1,000,000) and issuance of 832,000 of its common shares.

ABOUT NEW PACIFIC

New Pacific Metals Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company which owns the Silver Sand Project, in the Potosi Department of Bolivia, the Tagish Lake Gold Project in Yukon, Canada and the RZY Project in Qinghai Province, China.

For further information, please contact:

New Pacific Metals Corp.

Gordon Neal

President

Phone: (604) 633-1368

Fax: (604) 669-9387

info@newpacificmetals.com

www.newpacificmetals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as expects, is expected, anticipates, believes, plans, projects, estimates, assumes, intends, strategies, targets, goals, forecasts, objectives, budgets, schedules, potential or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information.

Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, risks relating to: fluctuating equity prices, bond prices, commodity prices; calculation of resources, reserves and mineralization, foreign exchange risks, interest rate risk, foreign investment risk; loss of key personnel; conflicts of interest; dependence on management and others.

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Companys forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information are statements about the future and are inherently uncertain, and actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in the Companys Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2018 under the heading Risk Factors. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

The Companys forward-looking statements or information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this news release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements or information if circumstances or managements assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
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MELBOURNE, Feb. 21, 2019 /CNW/ - OceanaGold Corp. (TSX: OGC / ASX: OGC) (the "Company") announces changes to the Board of Directors (the "Board") including the succession of the Chairman role and appointment of a new Non-Executive Director.

After nearly twelve years, Non-Executive Chairman, Mr. Jim Askew, will retire at the June 2019 Annual General Meeting. With Mr. Askew's planned retirement, the Company has appointed Ian Reid as the new Non-Executive Chairman of OceanaGold, effective June 2019, and Mr. Craig Nelsen as a new Non-Executive Director.

Mr. Askew said, "This Board renewal strategy has been carefully planned to ensure the smooth transition to a new Chairman. Ian has been a valued member of the Board since his appointment last year and the current Board fully endorses his promotion to Chairman.

"We are also pleased to welcome Craig, who brings extensive exploration, management and capital markets experience. Craig will be invaluable in championing our meaningful commitment to organic growth and exploration.

"I am enormously proud to have been associated with OceanaGold from my entry in 2007. From a Company with only the Macraes mine in operation, to today where we have four high quality operations. The Company has established a strong record of environmental stewardship and community engagement and has delivered solid shareholder returns along the way. I've no doubt the culture our CEO Mick Wilkes and his team have established will continue to deliver growth and success."

Mick Wilkes, President & CEO said, "Jim Askew is a leader in the mining industry having achieved a tremendous amount of success for several mining Companies, creating a significant amount of wealth for investors and delivering life-changing, socio-economic benefits for dozens of communities in which he has established a mining footprint in, including New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States. Jim has been a mentor and friend and I will miss his leadership, friendship and guidance."

"We move forward under Ian's valued leadership and direction with optimism and the solid foundation that Jim has established. We also welcome Craig who we believe will be an important member of the Board particularly as we advance our organic growth opportunities and further expand our exploration footprint globally."

About Mr. Askew's tenure as Chairman, Mr. Reid and Mr. Nelsen

Mr. Askew has held the role of Chairman since 2007 following the merger between OceanaGold and Climax Mining, which brought the Didipio Project into the OceanaGold asset portfolio. During his tenure on the Board, Mr. Askew has seen the growth of OceanaGold into a multinational gold producer that has generated consistent profits and returns and created significant value for shareholders both organically and through acquisition.

Under Mr. Askew's tenure as Chairman, the Company developed the Reefton Gold Mine and Frasers Underground operations in New Zealand, the Didipio Gold-Copper Mine in the Philippines and the Haile Gold Mine in the United States, which came into the OceanaGold portfolio through the acquisition of Romarco Minerals in 2015. Additionally, the Company acquired the Waihi Gold Mine located in New Zealand in 2015 through an acquisition with Newmont.

Mr. Reid, joined the OceanaGold Board as a Non-Executive Director in 2018. He is a professional company director with a deep background in mining services, executive management of global companies and performance improvement. In 2008, following a highly successful 30-year career, Mr. Reid retired from Finning International, Caterpillar's largest dealership serving markets in Canada, South America and the United Kingdom. Since his retirement, Mr. Reid has served or is currently serving as a Non-Executive Director for companies in mining, construction, tire services, engineering consulting, financial services and energy service industries.

Mr. Nelsen has over 40 years in exploration, resource development and mine development experience. He was Vice President of Exploration for Lac Minerals Ltd., the founding CEO and Chairman of Metallica Resources until its merger into New Gold where he served as Chairman and Director. He also served as Executive Vice President of Gold Fields Ltd. and is currently a Non-Executive Director with Golden Star Resources.

About OceanaGold

OceanaGold Corp. is a mid-tier, high-margin, multinational gold producer with assets located in the Philippines, New Zealand and the United States. The Company's assets encompass the Didipio Gold-Copper Mine located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. On the North Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the high-grade Waihi Gold Mine while on the South Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the largest gold mine in the country at the Macraes Goldfield which is made up of a series of open pit mines and the Frasers underground mine. In the United States, the Company operates the Haile Gold Mine, a top-tier, long-life, high-margin asset located in South Carolina. OceanaGold also has a significant pipeline of organic growth and exploration opportunities in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions.

OceanaGold has operated sustainably since 1990 with a proven track-record for environmental management and community and social engagement. The Company has a strong social license to operate and works collaboratively with its valued stakeholders to identify and invest in social programs that are designed to build capacity and not dependency.

In 2018, the Company produced 533,286 ounces of gold and 14,999 tonnes of copper with All-In Sustaining Costs of $767 per ounce on gold sales of 532,716 ounces and copper sales of 14,527 tonnes. In 2019, the Company expects to produce between 500,000 to 550,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 to 15,000 tonnes of copper at All-In Sustaining Costs ranging between $850 and $900 per ounce sold.

Cautionary Statement for Public Release

Certain information contained in this public release may be deemed "forward-looking" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information relate to future performance and reflect the Company's expectations regarding the generation of free cash flow, execution of business strategy, future growth, future production, estimated costs, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities of OceanaGold Corp. and its related subsidiaries. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and information. They include, among others, the accuracy of mineral reserve and resource estimates and related assumptions, inherent operating risks and those risk factors identified in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form prepared and filed with securities regulators which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's name. There are no assurances the Company can fulfil forward-looking statements and information. Such forward-looking statements and information are only predictions based on current information available to management as of the date that such predictions are made; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing the Company, some of which are beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release is based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual outcomes or results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The information contained in this release is not investment or financial product advice.

SOURCE OceanaGold Corp.
In 1924, Goldman Sachs participates in a US$20 million bond offering for Paris-Lyons Mediterranean Railroad Company amid postwar reconstruction in France.

Reconstruction in Europe after World War I, particularly in Germany and France, was hampered by disputes over war reparations and repayment of war debts. In 1924, progress was made on several fronts. In particular, French government debt was restructured, helping to spur lending in Europe and around the globe.

The Paris-Lyons Mediterranean Railroad Company, the largest railroad in France, accounted for almost one-third of all railroad receipts in France. In September of 1924 Goldman, Sachs & Co. and the Bankers Trust Company (jointly with Lehman Brothers, Halsey, Stuart & Co., Inc., and the Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh) offered US$20 million in Paris-Lyons Mediterranean Railroad Company External Sinking Fund Gold 7 percent bonds. Guaranteed by the French government, this offering would fund the electrification of the rail lines that connected Paris with the Riviera, Marseilles, parts of Italy, and ultimately, Europe and Constantinople.

With greater access to capital, the recovering French economy strengthened and gained momentum throughout the latter part of the 1920s.

This article was originally published as part of a series commemorating the 150th anniversary of Goldman Sachs' founding in 1869.
Go read it yourself and tell me whether you think making the kinds of claims it does without clearly acknowledging that you are basing it only on allegations was sound journalism for a platform with the history of GQ. It might not be a go-to source for hard news, but it has long been an influential cultural voice.
Councilman Fred Shanks asked if the group would be leasing any of the properties.

Deputy City Manager Earl Reynolds told the Danville Register & Bee on Wednesday that the Danville Neighborhood Development Corporation  as the citys land bank  will not hold onto or lease properties. However, as a group apart from just being the citys land bank, it would have the option of acquiring properties theyre interested in and leasing them out or rehabilitating them on their own, but not as part of the citys land-bank program.

Councilman Gary Miller expressed concerns about taxpayers left with the bill when outside funding for the land-bank entity runs out.

Theres plenty of money now, but outside funding dries up with city taxpayers left on the hook, Miller said. If we dont keep a close eye on this, the taxpayer will be paying more and more for the bill.

Reynolds said Wednesday that money provided by the city for the group would come from funds already allocated for blight eradication. There would be no extra costs to the taxpayer, he said.
Jesus the man vs. the Christ of faith

To the editor:

I would like to make a response to Neal Morris response to my Feb. 11 Community Viewpoint in the Register & Bee, Americas an open, secular society.

First of all, his insinuation that I was assuming Christians need a lesson on the Constitution may or may not be true. I was responding to another letter by someone who apparently did. Moreover, in his Feb 13 letter, Mixing the sacred and the secular, Morris seems to believe that the Constitution can mean different things depending on whether it is interpreted from a liberal or conservative point of view. In some cases, I have no doubt that his observation is true. At the same time, I wonder what he thinks No Law (the phrase in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights) and No religious test (the phrase in Article Six) mean? I also would like to know what he thinks the meaning of the adverb no is.

He also claimed that the rise in violent crime in the U.S. is the result of more Americans becoming nones where religion is concerned. Until he can cite major sociological/criminal statistics to support his claim, it is simply his undocumented opinion, and he is free to make as many such claims as he wishes.
Although Blackstock made the motion to pass the pet centers budget, he voted against his own motion. He said the proposed budget didnt have the projected $50,000 of fundraising that McLaughlin mentioned in the work session noted as a line item.

Therefore, I didnt vote for it, he said.

Barber and Farmer said they voted against the budget because they felt there were other spending priorities that were more important.

Farmer said he supported the pet center but wanted to see more of their cost covered by fundraising.

I just felt like the priority should be placed in other directions for that amount of money, he said.

Barber pointed to the needs of the volunteer rescue and fire squads and the schools, saying the pet centers current cost was unsustainable.

Theres only so much money to go around, he said. You have to be very careful where and how you spend your money.

He said he thought the past board, knowing it would probably cost around between $700,000 and $800,000 to operate, should have slowed down to figure out how to cover the shelters budget.
Vanessa Coffey said they prefer to drive an extra mile up to the overpass, where its safer.

We use the other one up there because of all the accidents over there, she said.

When he learned the project was finally in the running to receive funding, Steve Coffey said, This is all a really good idea, and this is something that needs to be done.

Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors member Elton Blackstock, who represents the Staunton River district, said he was excited that the project could receive approval for the final funding.

The community itself has in the past demanded changes, and we had a number of public meetings with public input, said Blackstock. I think this is a result of all those meetings and public outcry.

With the caution lights in place, Blackstock said the implementation of the relocation would be the second phase of those conversations coming to fruition.

Im hoping that we would see less accidents and certainly fatalities at that intersection and help everyone who has been involved in that process, he said.

The Coffeys noted the northern end of Pittsylvania County is often forgotten when it comes to improvement projects and development.
Ankara Commits to S-400, Turkish Official Says US Patriot Offer Not Good Enough

Sputnik News

16:55 20.02.2019

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed dissatisfaction over Washington's unwillingness to implement Ankara's two basic conditions for acquiring Patriot interceptors related to providing a loan and joint production.

Speaking to the Turkish broadcaster NTV, Ismail Demir, chairman of Turkey's Defence Industry Directorate, said that it is impossible for Ankara to accept Washington's offer to sell its NATO partner US Patriot missile systems as it currently stands.

"We submitted a request to the US on buying the Patriot air defence systems, and we received an answer a year and a half later. Some details of this proposal don't suit us at all", Demir noted.

He added that the "negotiations [on the Patriot deal] continue because there are issues that have yet to be clarified".

The statement comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that "although they [the United States] are positive for early delivery [of the Patriot systems], they can't promise to provide [the systems-related] loan and joint production".

Last week, US Permanent Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison urged Turkey not to continue the implementation of its agreement to buy Russian S-400 missile systems, something that she said would not allow Washington "to deliver the [Patriot] air defences to Turkey which we could install there".

The remarks followed the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News citing unnamed senior US officials as saying that Washington will halt the process of selling US Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey if it proceeds with the purchase of the S-400s.

In January, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pointed out that Ankara is ready to consider a US proposal on deliveries of Patriot interceptors, but that it refuses to abandon the S-400 deal with Russia as a potential precondition for the Ankara-Washington agreement.

The US State Department approved a possible $3.5 billion sale of Patriot systems to Turkey in December 2018, in a move that was followed by a US delegation making an official offer to Ankara in early January detailing the sale of the Patriots.

 Sputnik
Director Amy Berg Berg (West of Memphis, the Oscar-nominated Deliver Us from Evil), brings a fresh eye to the case and offers interviews with key players, many of whom were not featured in the original podcast. Bringing the story to life visually, she revisits the crime and follows unfolding developments from 2014 to today. The series presents new information that questions the states case, and draws on exclusive access to essential characters, including new audio recordings of Syed from prison, the defense team, the Syed family, friends and teachers of Hae Min Lee, private investigators and members of Baltimore City law enforcement, examining how Syeds trial and subsequent conviction in 2000 raised as many questions as they answered.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Great Wall Holdings Limited recently inked an agreement with Taizhou government of Jiangsu Province to build a new complete vehicle base at Taizhou Port Economic Development Zone, according to local media. This is the eighth vehicle base in China for Great Wall Motor following the bases at Yongchuan, Zhangjiagang and Rizhao.

Involving an investment of RMB8 billion for early stage, the Taizhou program contains such manufacturing projects as complete vehicle, exterior & interior as well as chassis. Besides, the automaker and government also plan some supporting businesses like automobile finance, automobile insurance and car-sharing service for the new base to build a complete automotive industry chain there.

Great Wall Motor is accelerating the construction and deployment of vehicle production bases. It vehicle plant at Yongchuan, Chongqing, which focuses on the production of Great Wall-branded premium pickups and the Haval H9, is set to be completed at the end of 2019. Apart from the latest Taizhou base, the automaker has already had a total of 7 completed car bases and under-construction programs in the Bohai Economic Rim, the Yangtze River Delta Economic Region and Southwest China, covering SUVs, picks and new energy vehicles.

In the meantime, the automaker is also expediting the plants construction outside China, having hands in 19 key markets across the world. Its self-owned vehicle plant in Tula, Russia will start production this year.
Taiwan's president rejects potential opp. deal with China

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 08:17AM

Taiwan's president says she is opposed to a potential peace initiative with China launched by the island's major opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Party.

"Taiwan society will not accept any treaty that harms Taiwan's national sovereignty and democracy," Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday following the KMT's announcement that it could sign a peace deal with China next year if it were to win in the upcoming presidential election.

The chairman of the Beijing-friendly KMT, Wu Den-yih, said last week that his party could sign a peace deal with China if it won the 2020 elections. Tsai's so-called Democratic Progressive Party suffered heavy losses against the KMT in mayoral and local elections held in November last year.

Tsai also said that if China wanted to use force against Taiwan to bring it under its control, then there would never be real peace between the two.

China sees Taiwan as inseparable Chinese territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control what it sees as a wayward province. Beijing has ruled out "independence" for Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned in October last year that Taiwan's "independence" bid posed a grave threat to peace and stability across the region.
US-Backed Forces Warn Last Islamic State Fighters in Syria to Give Up or Die

By VOA News February 20, 2019

A U.S.-backed militia in Syria is warning the last remaining Islamic State fighters there to surrender or die.

Dozens of trucks appeared on the outskirts of the village of Baghouz on Tuesday to evacuate any Islamic State fighters who decide to give up, along with their families.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they will attack after evacuating civilians.

But U.N. human rights officials said they are concerned about the estimated 200 families holed up in Baghouz. They said IS fighters are actively preventing women and children from leaving.

Thousands of people, including civilians and some suspected foreign fighters who had joined IS, have streamed out of Baghouz in the past several weeks.

The Trump administration wants European countries to take back their fighters who fled home to join the militants.

Britain has refused and is stripping them of their citizenship. France has also shown little enthusiasm for repatriating ex-Islamic State fighters.

Kurdish forces who have been fighting IS with the support of U.S. forces said they expect total defeat of IS in Syria by the end of the week.

"In a few days, we will announce a great victory over the largest terrorist organization that waged war on the world," a senior Kurdish fighter said Tuesday.
More Civilians Escape Baghuz, but 'Most Hardened' IS Fighters Remain

By Jeff Seldin February 20, 2019

U.S.-backed forces are one step closer to liberating the last patch of Syrian territory held by the Islamic State terror group, but a final assault could still be days away.

"The most hardened of ISIS fighters still remain," the global coalition tweeted Wednesday, using an acronym for the terror group, adding that U.S.-backed forces "continue to receive civilians attempting to escape to safety."

The coalition statement came hours after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces broke a stalemate with IS fighters still holed up in the village of Baghuz, securing the release of hundreds of civilians, including women and children.

"After many days of trying, we were able to evacuate the first batch today," SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told the French news agency (AFP).

Witnesses said they saw a convoy of about 10 trucks leave the Islamic State's last enclave, a patch of land covered with tents spanning no more than several hundred square meters.

They said the trucks carried hundreds of people. At least two of the trucks carried men identified as IS fighters who had surrendered.

A senior SDF official said an initial estimate shows that in all, as many as 2,000 people made it out of Baghuz Wednesday. But he said possibly 1,000 more remain, all of them IS fighters or IS families, and that the majority are originally from Iraq.

But SDF officials said they are hesitant to move in on the remaining fighters until all the civilians can be evacuated.

"SDF can't launch the last offensive with them remaining in the camp," SDF Commander Zana Amedi tweeted Wednesday. "Operations to rescue civilians are likely to continue in coming days, since thousands remain trapped."

Rumors of a deal between the SDF and the remaining IS fighters have been circulating for days. The SDF first sent the trucks into Baghuz on Tuesday to evacuate civilians, but SDF commanders said they were prevented from leaving when IS fighters opened fire.

Late Tuesday, witnesses reported two coalition airstrikes targeting parts of the IS enclave.

SDF and coalition officials estimate there are still about 300 IS fighters in Baghuz, and there have been ongoing attacks by small groups of IS fighters  some thought to be part of sleeper cells  on SDF positions throughout the area.

"Most of them are seriously wounded or sick," SDF commander Zana Amedi tweeted Tuesday, adding the IS holdouts were facing the "beginning of the end."

"SDF made final warning to remaining militants to surrender," he added.

Thousands of people, including civilians and some suspected foreign fighters who had joined IS, have streamed out of Baghuz over the past several weeks.

Many have ended up in camps like al-Hol in northeastern Syria, unsure of what will become of them. And SDF officials have said they have at least 800 foreign fighters in custody.

Repatriation

The U.S. is demanding that its European allies, like Britain, France and Germany, repatriate any citizens who joined IS and prosecute them. But many of the countries have pushed back.

Britain announced Tuesday that it was stripping the citizenship of 19-year-old Shamima Begum, who ran away to join IS in 2015.

On Wednesday, Germany's interior minister said in a newspaper interview that his country would need to certify the identities of any German IS fighters and their families, and know what they allegedly did with the terror group "before anyone gets put on a plane."

U.S. troops

The impending end of IS's physical caliphate could also hasten the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump first announced the pullout in December, and tweeted Saturday "We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory!"

Kurdish forces say they expect total defeat of IS in Syria by the end of the week.

"In a few days, we will announce a great victory over the largest terrorist organization that waged war on the world," a senior Kurdish fighter said Tuesday.

But U.S. defense and intelligence officials have warned that even after the terror group's self-declared caliphate falls, there are still up to 30,000 IS fighters spread across Syria and Iraq, many of whom have already begun engaging in a full-scale insurgency.
US-led coalition evacuates Daesh militants, families from last redoubt in eastern Syria: Report

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 07:12PM

The US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has reportedly withdrawn dozen of the extremists and their family members from their shrinking enclave in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr and near the Iraqi border.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that more than 50 trucks belonging to the military alliance and covered tightly with tarps carried the terrorists along with their family members out of Baghouz village east of the Euphrates River on Wednesday.

Informed sources, requesting not to be named, told the Britain-based monitoring group added that US-led military helicopters were hovering in the skies over the area as the exit took place.

The Observatory had earlier reported that negotiations were underway between the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Daesh remnants, with the latter demanding a safe passage to an unknown area believed to in the desert areas of Iraq's western province of al-Anbar.

The SOHR has learnt that no agreement has been reached up until now.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Saturday that SDF forces had captured Daesh's last remaining enclave in eastern Syria.

The monitoring group stated the last few hundred terrorists, many of them foreigners, had surrendered in the past two days to the US-backed forces. It said some militants may still be hiding in underground tunnels.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Syria's official news agency SANA on Saturday that US-led military helicopters landed in Syria's eastern provinces of Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr, and transported dozens of Takfiri commanders and militants to unknown locations following a deal.

The sources added that the extremists, in return, directed the US-led forces to their caches of stolen gold east of Shaddadi town.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes and operations against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a United Nations mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

On February 12, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in two separate letters addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the rotating president of the Security Council, Anatolio Ndong Mba, denounced the coalition strikes conducted against Baghouz town a day earlier, saying the US-led warplanes had pounded a refugee camp.

Local sources told state-run Ikhbariyah Syria television news network that 16 civilians, including seven children, were killed as a result of the raid.

"This new crime is in line with the series of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the US-led coalition has perpetrated against Syrian people, its continued support for terrorism, and its use of terrorists and separatist militia forces to advance its fiendish plots aimed at Syria's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity," said the letters.

The ministry also called on the UN Security Council to stand up against such attacks and crimes.

It also demanded that the Council assume its responsibilities regarding the establishment of international peace and security, conduct an international probe into these criminal acts, condemn them, and put an immediate halt to these air raids as well as the "aggressive" presence of US and other foreign military forces on the Syrian soil.
UK Foreign Secretary Warns Germany Over Stop in Arms Sales to Saudis  Reports

Sputnik News

04:05 20.02.2019

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has slammed Berlin's embargo on arms sales to Saudi Arabia for hurting British exports, in a letter to his German counterpart seen by media.

Hunt said he was concerned about the impact of Germany's decision on the UK and European arms industry and Europe's ability to live up to its NATO commitments, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

In a letter to Heiko Maas, dated February 7, the UK top diplomat described the plight of 500 UK arms suppliers who risked breaching contractual obligations because the weapons they sell have German-made parts.

Hunt warned Maas that the freeze on sales affected exports of joint European projects, such as the Tornado jet and a Eurofighter model Typhoon, and threatened Germany's image as a trusted partner.

Germany banned weapon sales to Saudi Arabia last fall following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey after previously criticizing Riyadh for its role in Yemen war.

 Sputnik
House Launches Inquiry Into U.S. Nuclear Plans In Saudi Arabia

By RFE/RL February 20, 2019

A new congressional report says that senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials.

The report by the Democratic-led House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform is based on accounts by whistle-blowers within U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and documents of communications between administration officials and nuclear power companies.

It notes that an inquiry into the matter is "particularly critical because the Administration's efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing."

The Committee opened an investigation on February 19 into the claims by several unnamed whistle-blowers who said they witnessed "abnormal acts" in the White House regarding the proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across Saudi Arabia.

Representative Elijah Cummings, the Committee chairman, asked the White House to turn over documents including those related to a meeting two months into Trump's presidency between his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Saudi Arabia's powerful Muhammad bin Salman, who later became crown prince.

The report said that "strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively" to transfer sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia.

"These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia -- and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his administration to the present day," the report said.

Washington is not allowed to legally transfer nuclear technology to other states without reaching so-called Section 123 agreements that provide assurances of peaceful energy use.

The report expressed concern that Saudi Arabia could use American nuclear technology to build an atomic bomb, adding to already high tensions with regional rival Iran.

It includes a timeline of events and names other administration officials who have been involved with the matter, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump's inaugural committee chairman Tom Barrack, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Flynn was found guilty of lying about Russian contacts by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and BBC

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/house-launches -inquiry-into-u-s-nuclear-plans- in-saudi-arabia/29780498.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.
UK lashes out at Germany over Saudi arms sales ban

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 09:50AM

Britain has strongly objected to Germany's recent decision to bar arms and military cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia, warning that the new policy damages Berlin's security commitments while adversely affecting the British military industry.

Germany announced in November that it would no longer issue arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia following the Riyadh regime's murdering of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The ban was first seen as nothing but a symbolic move as Germany accounted for just under two percent of Saudi Arabia's total arms imports. However, it raised concerns among British arms makers who rely heavily on German parts for their products.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported Tuesday that British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had raised the issue in a letter to his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.

"I am very concerned about the impact of the German government's decision on the British and European defense industry and the consequences for Europe's ability to fulfill its NATO commitments," Hunt wrote, according to the magazine.

Hunt said British defense firms would not be able to fulfill several contracts with Riyadh including those for the sale of advanced fighter jets and missiles that use German technologies.

The decision is expected to postpone a proposed 10-billion-pound deal by the British weapons maker BAE Systems to sell Riyadh 48 new Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets.

It would also delay shipments of Meteor air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia developed by MBDA, an arms making company jointly owned by France's Airbus, BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo. German companies are charged with producing the missiles' propulsion system and warheads.

Hunt further warned that the decision could cost the German military industry around 2.3 billion euros by 2026.

Airbus Defense and Space chief Dirk Hoke told Reuters that uncertainty about the issue had undermined Germany's credibility, and could threaten future Franco-German defense projects.

"This is a serious problem," Hoke said. "We're facing constraints in many projects, and many problems have been put on ice."

Hans Christoph Altzpodien, head of Germany's defense industry association BDSV, told Reuters that the letter showed how Berlin's policies "are costing it the ability to partner with its closest European allies."

The German ban does not include previously authorized contracts.

Last year alone, Berlin approved 400 million euros of exports to the oil-rich country, making Saudi Arabia the second-biggest purchaser of German arms after Algeria.

The UK, on the other hand, has licensed over 4.7 billion worth of arms exports, including missiles and fighter jets, to Riyadh since the deadly war on Yemen began in 2015.

London has so far rejected international calls for a ban on the weapons sales despite the growing humanitarian disaster in Yemen.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May and other British officials are planning to expand military deals with Saudi Arabia and other repressive Arab regimes as a source of income after leaving the European Union.

Overall, European countries have approved arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE worth more than $86.7 billion since 2015, when the two allies launched an all-out war against Yemen, according to the online news outlet Middle East Eye.

Their contribution in aid to the impoverished nation amounts to just two percent of their revenues from the arms sales, the website reported in November.


Iran decries US 'hypocrisy' over planned nuclear sale to Saudi Arabia

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 02:10PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced Washington's "hypocrisy" after reports said the administration of US President Donald Trump was seeking to advance the sale of nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia.

"Day by day it becomes clearer to the world what was always clear to us: neither human rights nor a nuclear program have been the real concern of the US," Zarif wrote on his official Twitter page on Wednesday.

Zarif also pointed to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents in October, saying it further exposed the US double standards for human rights.

"First a dismembered journalist; now illicit sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia fully expose #USHypocrisy."

The Trump administration came under fire for acting with equivocation in the wake of Khashoggi's murder and after evidence showed the Riyadh government's role in his slaying.

Zarif's remarks came after a new report by a congressional committee revealed Tuesday that the Trump administration was trying to bypass the US Congress to transfer sensitive nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia.

The House of Representatives' Oversight Committee, which compiled the report, said it was now "launching an investigation to determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump Administration are in the national security interests of the United States or, rather, serve those who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in US foreign policy."

"The Trump Administration's interactions with Saudi Arabia have been shrouded in secrecy, raising significant questions about the nature of the relationship," the 24-page report said.

It also said that efforts inside the White House to "rush" the transfer of "highly sensitive US nuclear technology" to Saudi Arabia were "in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law."

The White House has not commented yet.

The report involved documents, emails and a number of concerns raised by former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, White House attorneys and whistleblowers within the Trump administration.

Back in May, Trump withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and announced reimposition of the sanctions against Tehran that had been lifted as part of the agreement.

The US has also been pressuring the European signatories to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to pull out of the JCPOA.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has, however, said that the bloc is determined to preserve the "full implementation" of the deal, saying it was vital to European security and an effective guarantor of peace.

A few days after the US left the JCPOA, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS that the kingdom would make nuclear weapons if Iran does so.

Iran has always said that it has no intention of developing nuclear arms and the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program has repeatedly been confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Putin Announces Social Handouts in Bid to Stop Opinion Poll Slide

By Jamie Dettmer February 20, 2019

A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin sailed to victory in what challengers dubbed a "filthy election." Facing weak candidates  some likely encouraged to run by a Kremlin eager to give the poll a veneer of greater competitiveness  Putin basked in his re-election, promising a flag-waving rally of loyalists off Moscow's Red Square that "success awaits us."

But with less than a month to go before marking the anniversary of his re-election, Putin faces rising public frustration with his rule and unprecedented dips in his approval ratings. In a recent opinion poll, nearly half of those surveyed said the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Putin, who has held power since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 1999, had always been guaranteed victory in an election timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea. Many pro-Putin voters interviewed by VOA last year said they were backing him because he had restored Russian strength and transformed the country from a regional power to a global player.

The domestic political landscape has changed since then, and the spell of Russian foreign adventurism doesn't have the pull it once had, say analysts. The 66-year-old Russian leader appeared to acknowledge that Wednesday in his first address to parliament since his re-election.

Shift in focus

He went much more lightly on foreign and military issues in contrast to his last annual address in which he saber-rattled and unveiled a raft of new missiles, bragging about their stealth and speed. This time, he focused more on domestic challenges.

In response to rising public anger at the country's economic malaise, Putin pledged to increase spending on development and social benefits, announcing a jump in child benefits along with tax breaks for families. He also pledged to almost double disability support payments. Putin boasted that for the first time, the country's currency reserves cover external debt obligations and said economic growth should exceed 3 percent by 2021.

"Thanks to many years of common work and the results achieved, we can now direct and concentrate enormous financial resources on our development goals for our country," Putin said.

"Nobody gave these funds to us; we did not borrow them. These funds were earned by millions of our citizens, the whole country," he added.

"In the near future, this year, people should feel real changes for the better," Putin pledged.

A tough sell

Whether Putin can deliver and reverse his growing unpopularity waits to be seen.

Analysts say Russians are unlikely to be satisfied with just words when it comes to quality of life issues, including the delivery of public services, municipal amenities or, more often than not, their absence, and on health and safety issues. It is the everyday "parochial" issues that worry them, including the potentially deadly consequences of shoddy and unsafe municipal housing and the reckless discarding of trash as Russia runs out of landfill sites.

Last year, thousands protested when dozens of children, in the town of Volokolamsk near Moscow, were hospitalized with suspected poisoning, the result of noxious gases emanating from an overfull local landfill.

In the past, when his political star has waned, Putin has turned to adventurism abroad to shore up support, offering foreign policy triumphs to whip up his domestic standing. That is unlikely to work moving forward, say analysts such as Mikhail Dmitriev.

Urban-rural divide

Dmitriev says polling data suggest the Kremlin is heading for a rocky few months with signs that dissent is likely to mount, and not just among the usual middle-class Putin skeptics and critics in the Russian capital and St. Petersburg, but in non-metropolitan Russia, in the smaller towns and villages, which traditionally have been the backbone of his support.

Raising the retirement age last year triggered the slide in Putin's popularity. Cuts to salaries and sluggish economic growth added to the drag on his approval ratings, pollsters say. Real incomes have fallen by more than 10 percent since 2014, and nearly 40 percent of Russians say their material well-being has worsened just in the last 12 months.

Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research institution, noted in a commentary earlier this month that ordinary workers are becoming more vexed with the Kremlin's failure to deliver higher standards of living, as Putin promised he would do during the election campaign.

"Increasingly he is getting into fights with real Russians who want to complain about government policies. Last September, when he visited the Zvezda shipyard in the Russian Far East, the president got into an argument with the workers there about their salaries. (The transcript of their conversation in which Putin massively overestimated what they were paid was subsequently removed from the Kremlin website)," according to Baunov.

Baunov says the Putin system is increasingly being found wanting and the Russian president will not be able to deliver on the growing demand for economic redistribution "at the expense of the country's rich capitalists," in effect the friends of Putin and businessmen close to the Kremlin.
Putin Threatens US with New Weapons if Missiles Deployed to Europe

By Pete Cobus February 20, 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow plans to target the United States with new hypersonic weapons if Washington deploys intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

"Russia will be forced to create and deploy weapons that can both be used on the territories from which the direct threat to us originates, as well as the territories where the centers of decision-making are located," Putin said during his 15th State of the Nation address before the federal assembly in Moscow on Wednesday.

Putin's frequent references to the moribund 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty came amid record-low approval ratings for the fourth-term Russian leader.

Putin rejected U.S. assertions that Washington's decision to withdraw from the landmark arms control pact was triggered by Russian violations of the agreement. He charged that the U.S. made false accusations against Russia to justify its decision to opt out of the deal.

"The U.S. directly and crudely violated the rules of the [INF] agreement; they have had launchers in Romania for a long time," he said, repeating a well-worn Kremlin talking point that refers to a Romania-based U.S. anti-ballistic missile system capable of firing Tomahawk medium-range cruise missiles.

The United States has long said that system is designed to defend against "rogue" states such as Iran and provides no protection against Russia's nuclear arsenal.

"Russia doesn't intend to deploy new missiles in Europe first," Putin added. "If the U.S. really is going to deploy missiles on the European continent, it will exacerbate the international situation and create a genuine danger for Russia, as there will be missiles with a 10-12 minute flight time to Moscow."

He then seemed to taunt the U.S., calling on leaders to calculate the range and speed of Russia's most advanced weapons.

"It's their right to think how they want," he said about U.S. leaders. "But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing.

"The tests of Poseidon, an unmanned submarine with unlimited range, are going well... This hasn't previously been said, but today I can say that by the spring of this year, the first atomic submarine will have been launched into the water.

"We are ready for disarmament talks, but we are no longer going to knock on a closed door," he later said.

Russia began voicing skepticism about the value of a sustained bilateral arms treaty more than 10 years ago, when Kremlin officials asked the administration of then-President George W. Bush to consider expanding the treaty to bring rising nuclear powers such as China into compliance.

The majority of China's nuclear arsenal is classified as intermediate range, meaning Chinese compliance with the INF would be tantamount to a wholesale forfeiture of its arsenal.

In December, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced U.S. plans to withdraw from the INF, he gave Russia 60 days to come back into compliance with the terms of the nuclear weapons pact, leaving the door open to reverse the withdrawal process.

"Russia has not taken the necessary steps to return to compliance over the last 60 days," Pompeo said in a prepared statement on February 1. "It remains in material breach of its obligations not to produce, possess, or flight-test a ground-launched, intermediate-range cruise missile system with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

"The United States has gone to tremendous lengths to preserve the INF Treaty, engaging with Russian officials more than 30 times in nearly six years to discuss Russia's violation, including at the highest levels of government," he added.

According to terms of the original INF agreement, Moscow and Washington are obligated to six months of negotiations over differences, which, if unresolved, constitute full withdrawal from the treaty.

If the U.S. puts additional weapons in European host countries, Putin warned that Russia would not only target those nations, but field new weapons that will target "U.S. decision-making centers."

Some information for this report is from AP and Reuters.
Russia, China to Sign Contract on Creation of Heavy Helicopter - Rostec

Sputnik News

08:18 20.02.2019

BENGALURU (India) (Sputnik) - Russia and China will sign a contract on creation of a heavy helicopter within 30-60 days, Viktor Kladov, the director of international cooperation and regional policy at Russian state-owned corporation Rostec, told reporters on Wednesday.

"The contract on creating and manufacturing a heavy helicopter is being prepared now. It will be signed within the next month, or two months," Kladov said on the sidelines of the Aero India exhibition in the Indian city of Bengaluru.

According to Kladov, the heavy helicopter will be able to carry up to 15 tonnes of payload.

Kladov also said that Russia is going to open a plant in India that will conduct licensed overhaul of engines of Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters.

"Now we are preparing one more project on overhaul of engines of Russian Mi-17 helicopters that will take place here, in this country," Kladov said on the sidelines of the Aero India exhibition in the Indian city of Bengaluru.

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Putin: Russia-US INF Tensions 'No Reason to Create New Cuban Missile Crisis'

Sputnik News

19:47 20.02.2019(updated 20:40 20.02.2019)

Earlier, the Russian president warned that Moscow would be "forced" to respond in kind if the US deployed new medium- and short-range missiles in Europe in the wake of its withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Competing interests between Russia and the United States are not a legitimate reason to rehash old historical conflicts thrusting the world into crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

"Yes, there are problems, [the US] creates more and more of these problems, but there are also mechanisms and tools for working together on these problems," Putin said, speaking to reporters on Wednesday.

"I hope that they will be used to prevent new crises in the world like the Caribbean crisis. There is no reason for that," the Russian president stressed, using the Russian term for what is known in many Western countries as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Putin pointed out that Russia and the US have established good contacts between their military forces, in Syria for example, in the joint struggle against terrorism.

"Is there some kind of serious confrontation between two systems, as there was during the Cold War? Of course not. Yes, there are reciprocal claims, different approaches to solving various problems, but this is not a reason to elevate the matter to some kind of confrontation like the Caribbean Crisis of the 1960s," the president reiterated.

Russia, Putin said, does not want to see something like this take place. "If someone [on the US side] wants it, by all means. I have simply said here today what will happen," Putin said.

Earlier, during his annual address to Russian lawmakers, Putin warned the US not to deploy medium and short-range nuclear missiles in Europe, saying it would "dramatically exacerbate the international security situation" and create serious challenges to Russia.

"This is a very serious threat to us. In this case, we will be forced  I want to emphasise this  forced to take tit-for-tat steps," Putin said.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 16-28 October 1962 was a military standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, which came about after the Soviet leadership made a decision to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba to deter a possible American nuclear first strike and counter the deployment of US Jupiter medium-range ballistic missiles in Turkey.

Historians worldwide consider the Cuban Missile Crisis to have been one of the most dangerous episodes of the Cold War, with the crisis thought to have brought humanity to the brink of nuclear apocalypse.

 Sputnik
Putin warns of retaliation if US deployed missiles in Europe

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 02:25PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States against deploying intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, saying his country will target the US itself and not just the countries where those missiles are stationed.

In his annual address to Federal Assembly on Wednesday, Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to send missiles in response to Washington's decision earlier this month to withdraw from a historic Cold War-era nuclear arms control treaty.

However, he warned of a "resolute" reaction to any deployment, saying the US policy-makers, some of whom he said were obsessed with US exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps.

"It's their right to think how they want. But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing," Putin said.

"Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on February 1 that Washington would suspend the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) for 180 days and fully withdraw from it later if Moscow did not stop what he called "violations."

US President Donald Trump announced last year that Washington would withdraw from the treaty, which was signed toward the end of the Cold War in 1987 by then US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Under the treaty, both sides were banned from creating ground-launch nuclear missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers and led to the elimination of nearly 2,700 short- and medium-range missiles. The pact also banned either side from deploying short and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe.

Washington insists that Russia's new 9M729 missile is in violation of the treaty and should be dismantled immediately.

Russia rebutted the claim last month by unveiling the missile and its key specifications. Major General Mikhail Matveevsky, the Russian chief of missile and artillery troops, said the missile's maximum range is about 480 kilometers, well within what is allowed under the INF.

Putin on February 2 responded to the US move by suspending the agreement, authorizing his military forces to push ahead with the development of new missiles.

However, he said that Moscow will not deploy any new missiles unless Washington does so, because Russia does not want to enter a new arms race with the US.

On Wednesday, Putin said he was ready, reluctantly, to escalate if the US escalated, adding that Russia was continuing to actively develop weapons and missile systems to ensure it was well prepared for such an eventuality.

The Russian leader said any US move to put new missiles in Europe would pose a direct threat to his country and would leave it with no choice but to respond as such deployment would drastically reduce the time it took US missiles to reach Russia.

He said Moscow wanted good ties with Washington, but was ready with its defensive response if necessary. "We know how to do this and we will implement these plans immediately, as soon as the corresponding threats to us become a reality."
Japan Self-Defence Forces Lose Contact With F-2 Fighter - Reports

Sputnik News

05:04 20.02.2019(updated 07:39 20.02.2019)

TOKYO (Sputnik) - The Japan Self-Defence Forces lost contact on Wednesday with one of their F-2 fighters off the coast of the Yamaguchi Prefecture, local media reported.

The contact was lost when the fighter carried out a training flight, the NHK broadcaster reported. The jet is assigned to the Tsuiki air field, located in the Fukuoka Prefecture.

There were reportedly two officers on board of the disappeared plane. According to Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya, both officers are alive.

"Concerning the two crew members of the Japan Self-Defence Forces' F-2 fighter that disappeared from radars, it turned out that they are alive," the minister said addressing to the country's parliament.

However, Iwaya has not provided any other details of the incident.

 Sputnik
Japan to Host US Missiles Despite Russian Claim That They Violate the INF Treaty

Sputnik News

16:24 20.02.2019

Tokyo has acquired Aegis Ashore air defence systems and plans to install them within four years in order to mitigate the nuclear threat from North Korea. Moscow believes that the deployment of these systems contradicts the Cold War-era treaty because they can be used to launch cruise missiles.

Japan has reiterated its position on the upcoming deployment of Aegis Ashore missile-defence systems, saying that it cannot qualify as a violation of the US-Russia INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty because the agreement does not apply to Tokyo.

"Our country is not a party to this treaty. Therefore, Japan has no obligations under it," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told members of parliament on Wednesday.

His statement came nearly two weeks after Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that Japan would introduce Aegis Ashore to intercept ballistic missiles but will not upgrade the systems to be able to launch cruise missiles.

Japan approved the deployment of two land-based Aegis Ashore systems in December 2017, ostensibly to build an anti-missile shield against North Korea. The government plans to install the systems in the northern prefecture of Akita and the southern prefecture of Yamaguchi by 2023.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Aegis Ashore is tantamount to the US-made Mk-41 launching systems that have already been deployed in Romania and Poland.

He voiced concerns that these systems, which the US and its allies claim to be intended for defensive purposes only, could be used to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles, in breach of the INF Treaty.

The pact, which was signed by US President Ronald Raegan and USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, banned missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.

Russia and the United States have repeatedly traded accusations of non-compliance with the agreement. Specifically, Washington claimed that Moscow had tested the ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile (NATO designation SSC-8) in ranges exceeding the limit set by the INF Treaty.

In January, the Russian Defence Ministry revealed the missile to foreign military attaches for the first time, but US representatives, along with military officials from a spate of other countries, did not attend the briefing.

On 1 February, the United States announced that Russia had failed to stop the alleged violations; Washington said it would suspend its own obligations under the treaty and tear it up in six months unless Moscow complies with the deal. Russia responded in kind, vowing to pull out of the accord in six months.

 Sputnik
Israel Near Completion of Long-Range Bunker Buster Missile

Sputnik News

00:55 21.02.2019(updated 00:58 21.02.2019)

A new air-to-surface missile featuring an extended range will limit the exposure of Israeli aircraft to ground threats, according to reports.

The new missile, designed by Israeli defense technology firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is capable of targeting high-value, stationary targets as well as targets which change positions in GPS-denied environments.

Dubbed simply "Rocks," the air-to-surface missile can be armed with a penetration warhead or blast explosive warhead depending on whether targets are beneath the surface or above ground.

"We have completed full-scale development and testing  including airborne and homing  but we have not yet completed the qualification of the missile," Gideon Weiss, deputy general manager for business, development and marketing at Rafael's Air & C4ISR division, told IHS Jane's on Wednesday.

Putting the weapon through qualification testing "will be the final part of the development process, which will be completed according to our customer requirements," Weiss told the defense publication.

Details about the customers who will fire Rocks have not been unveiled, and the weapon's weight also remains undisclosed.

Weiss noted in comments to IHS Jane's that the weapon has been certified on an Israeli Air Force F-16I aircraft testbed.

Earlier this month, an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander vowed that Tehran would "raze Tel Aviv and Haifa" to the ground if the US attacks Iran, Sputnik News reported.

 Sputnik
Commander of Israeli elite forces 'retires' in rare move

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 06:43AM

In a rare move, the commander of the most elite unit of the Israeli military's special forces has decided to "retire" towards the end of his term, months after an operation by the commando unit inside Gaza went badly wrong.

Israeli news and media outlets identified the commander as Colonel H., who heads Sayeret Matkal or the Israeli military's General Staff Reconnaissance Unit.

The elite force is known for slipping behind enemy lines to gather intelligence or hit targets.

"During his service, he made a decision to retire at the end of his position in order to pursue personal goals unrelated to the security realm," a spokesman for the military said in a statement.

"In the last three years in which he commanded the Sayeret Matkal, the unit carried out many operations and was awarded the Chief of Staff's medal," the statement added.

With the exception of Colonel H., who will finish his 26-year term in two months, all those appointed to the position so far have returned to the military at the end of their terms.

Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post called the move "rare," and Israel's Arutz Sheva media network described it as "unusual."

The reports did not provide any reason for the decision, but said it came following a botched mission by the special forces, which left a seniory Israeli military official, identified as Colonel M., dead.

The commando raid that took place on November 11 saw the forces infiltrating into the Gaza city of Khan Yunis in civilian cars for an undercover operation.

The intruders were, however, found out soon afterwards at a Palestinian security post.

Intense firefight ensued between the Israelis and Palestinian forces. Seven Palestinians also lost their lives in the clashes.

The Israelis were forced to retreat under the cover of air raids in the face of the Palestinian counter-operation, later dubbed "Operation Edge of the Sword."

They were evacuated back into the occupied territories by helicopter.

The botched Israeli mission triggered the worst flare-up of violence since the regime's 2014 war on Gaza.

Those tensions came to an end when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a truce with the Hamas resistance movement in defiance of his then minister of military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman.

Lieberman then stepped down in a show of protest, triggering a crisis in Netanyahu's coalition administration.
Iran's Rouhani Says Tehran 'Will Eventually Win' in 'Battle of Wills' With US

Sputnik News

17:59 20.02.2019(updated 18:04 20.02.2019)

Earlier, amid an investigation by US lawmakers into alleged plans by the Trump administration to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blasted Washington over what he said was its "hypocricy" on the world stage.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran has been "employing its maximum determination, hope and self-confidence" in the confrontation with Washington.

"We have no doubts that the great Iranian nation's resolve will eventually win against the US," Rouhani emphasised, saying that unity between the government and the people was the key to victory in this "battle of wills."

According to Rouhani, tensions between Tehran and Washington have reached a historic maximum. "Today, the struggle between Iran and America is currently at a maximum. America has employed all its power against us," he said.

Commenting on the recently concluded US-organised Middle East conference in Warsaw, Rouhani described it as a "failure," echoing Foreign Minister Zarif's earlier description of the summit as the "Warsaw circus." He added that the Trump administration had suffered a "humiliating political defeat" after failing to achieve its goal of getting its European powers to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Warsaw conference, held on 13-14 February, was hosted Polish officials and attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as officials from close to a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Most of the US' European allies however skipped the event, or sent low-level representatives.

Iran itself, as well as Russia, China and Turkey snubbed the meeting, characterising it as a ploy to try to build an anti-Iranian alliance and create new "dividing lines" in the Middle East.

Washington pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal last May, slapping Tehran with a series of sanctions. The JCPOA's other signatories, including Russia, China, France, Germany and the European Union, refused to go along with the US withdrawal, and have put in considerable effort to try to save the landmark treaty.

Last month, France, Germany and the UK created a special purpose vehicle known as INSTEX to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that Moscow would be interested in participating in the deal.

Iran-US relations have been poor for decades, with the two powers having no formal diplomatic relations since 1980, following the 1979 Iranian revolution which toppled the pro-US Shah regime, which was installed with CIA help in 1953.

Washington has accused Iran of being a major state sponsor of terrorism, and alleged that the country poses a threat to US allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. Tehran has countered, alleging that the US was planning to attack Iran or meddle in its internal affairs, and blasting Washington for maintaining a ring of military bases along the Middle Eastern country's borders.

 Sputnik
Rohani Says Iran-U.S. Tensions At 'A Maximum'

By RFE/RL February 20, 2019

Tensions between Tehran and Washington are at "a maximum" rarely seen in the decades-long antagonistic relations between the two countries, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on February 20.

Animosity between the United States and Tehran -- bitter foes since Iran's 1979 revolution -- has escalated since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in May from a landmark 2015 international nuclear agreement with Tehran and reimposed sanctions lifted under the deal.

Trump said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran's development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq.

"The struggle between Iran and America is currently at a maximum. America has employed all its power against us," state broadcaster IRIB quoted Rohani as saying during a cabinet meeting.

The Iranian president asserted that U.S. economic sanctions amounted to "economic terrorism," arguing that "when...they threaten companies with punitive measures for doing business with a country, they're in fact creating fear in the banking and commercial sector."

Rohani also said that a conference on the Middle East focusing on Iran organized by the United States in the Polish capital Warsaw last week did not achieve its goals.

Senior officials from 60 nations gathered at the conference, where U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on Washington's European allies to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that Iran was the "greatest threat to peace and security" in the Middle East.

However, foreign ministers from major European powers still committed to the 2015 nuclear deal did not attend the Warsaw conference, and neither did Russia and China, who are also signatories of the agreement under which Tehran pledged to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Rohani claimed that attendance at the conference reflected "another failure of...U.S. regional policies."

With reporting by Reuters, IRNA, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rohani-says-iran-u-s- tensions-at-a-maximum-/29780674.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 unilateralism cannot harm Iran, China: Larijani

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 09:20AM

In Beijing, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has said America's hostile unilateral policies, including the imposition of sanctions and trade tariffs on other countries, will fail to harm other nations, including Iran and China.

Addressing students and professors at Renmin University of China in Beijing on Tuesday, Larijani said that unbridled unilateralism is not acceptable to world nations, paticularly Iran and China, in the 21st century.

"The US has adopted a hostile approach toward other nations - in the form of various economic mechanisms such as imposing unilateral, illegal and extra-territorial sanctions or slapping tariffs on other countries' exports - in an attempt to damage those nations. That includes the civilized Chinese and Iranian nations, but the policy will not succeed," he added.

Both Iran and China have been the target of Washington's stepped-up economic pressure tactics under President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal  to which China is also a signatory  last May and unleashed and the "toughest ever" sanctions against Tehran.

China  along with other parties to the deal -- has repeatedly defended the nuclear deal and expressed its resolve to keep the accord in place.

Washington has also been engaged in economic tensions with Beijing over the past months, in what observers fear could turn into an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies.

The tensions escalated last year when the Trump administration applied tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, while Beijing retaliated with its own duties on $110 billion worth of US merchandise.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani stressed that Iran expects the remaining parties to the Iran deal to fulfill their obligations under the nuclear agreement, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"Although the parties to the JCPOA have turned down the illegitimate US request [to leave the deal] and tried to save it, we expect them to protect the agreement, honor multilateralism, completely meet their commitments and not to succumb to force," he said.

The top Iranian parliamentarian also condemned the US for providing support to international terrorists and extremists in an attempt to topple independent governments and bring, instead, illegitimate regimes to power.

"Such US meddling in other countries' domestic affairs constitutes a serious danger," he warned.

Larijnai further described Washington as the main supporter of terrorist groups, which have, for years, been sowing chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

"Since the onset, the Islamic Republic has responsibly backed political solutions to the conflicts in those countries," added the top Iranian parliamentarian.

Larijani further blasted the Israeli regime for its adventurism and attempts to fuel chaos in the Middle East with the aim of keeping Palestine under occupation.

On Wednesday, Larijani held talks with Lee Shoe Young, chairman of Iran-China parliamentary friendship group.

During the meeting, he said that friendly ties between the two states date back more than 2,000 years.

"No country can damage the Iran-China relations," he added.
Its that time of year  the sun is out, the weather is warming up and you finally have a reason to break out the grill in your backyard. While there are so many great dishes to cook on the grill, few things beat a backyard burger. Now, maybe youre a tong-twirling grill master who makes your own marinades from scratch , but if youre like most folks, your grill skills may be a little rusty after a long, cold winter and a gray, dreary spring. Though burgers seem like they should be easy to cook on the grill, there are some tips and tricks you can use to ensure you have a restaurant-quality patty on your bun.
President Rouhani: Iran-US tug of war at maximum level

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:26AM

President Hassan Rouhani says the tug of war that is currently underway between Iran and the United States is at its "maximum level," but that the Islamic Republic will undoubtedly emerge victorious in "this battle of wills."

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Rouhani made mention of the consecutive failures suffered by the US in its anti-Iran schemes.

"Today, the tug of war between Iran and the US is at a maximum level, meaning that they (the Americans) have been doing their utmost against the Iranian nation; while Iran has been employing its maximum determination, hope and self-confidence vis-a-vis (the Americans)," he said.

"We have no doubts that the great Iranian nation's resolve will eventually win against the US," Rouhani noted.

The president further described the unity between the Iranian nation and the three branches of the government as the key to their triumph in the face of the US pressure campaign.

He also said that the US administration was dealt a blow last year, when the European states refused to follow its example in withdrawing from the nuclear agreement, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The US has unleashed the "toughest ever" sanctions against Iran following its pullout from the JCPOA. The White House has also warned its European allies against seeking to circumvent the anti-Iran bans.

However, France, Germany and Britain defied US threats and recently launched the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX), a financial mechanism meant to protect Tehran-Europe trade ties against the sanctions.

The Iranian president noted, "We are ready for cooperation and interaction with the world, but the countries doing business with us must be careful not to pursue excessive demands, because the Iranian nation does not retreat from its principles and does not favor such demands when it comes to outstanding issues involving its national interests."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani touched on a recent US-organized conference in Warsaw, Poland, saying the Americans were forced to make changes in the event's anti-Iran agenda under pressure.

He also noted that Washington's attempts to persuade other countries to oppose the JCPOA had led to "a humiliating political defeat" for America at the UN Security Council.

During the Warsaw meeting, the Americans were seeking two objectives, namely spreading Iranophobia and consigning the issue of Palestine to oblivion, but they failed to achieve either of those goals, the Iranian president said.

Most global leaders snubbed the Warsaw meeting which was held on February 13-14. The US had initially said the forum would focus on the "important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence."

Later, as officials from various countries indicated their refusal to participate, Washington claimed that the summit was "not a venue to demonize or attack Iran," in an apparent about-face.
Iran's oil exports rise despite US sanctions: Report

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:46AM

Iran's exports of crude oil are soaring higher than expected as customers use US waivers to increase purchases, Reuters has reported citing new tanker data.

According to Refinitiv Eikon data, shipments are averaging 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in February after between 1.1 and 1.3 million bpd were exported in January, higher than first thought.

Reuters said energy experts had predicted Iranian crude exports would stay below 1 million bpd last month, a similar rate to that in December.

The news agency cited a source at a company that tracks Iranian exports as saying that shipments in the first 10 days of February were above 1.1 million bpd and on a rising trend.

Iran's main customers are in Asia. On Tuesday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the country's refiners imported $101.2 million in Iranian crude last month.

The imports were the first in five months after South Korean companies stopped buying Iranian crude oil in September, two months before the United States imposed new sanctions on Tehran.

South Korea is one of the eight countries allowed in November by US President Donald Trump to continue buying Iranian oil for six months.

Earlier this month, Iran's Minster of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said Asian customers of Iranian oil were steady in taking supplies from the country but the Europeans were refusing to buy any.

"No European country is buying oil from Iran except Turkey," he told a news conference in Tehran. "Greece and Italy have been granted exemptions by America, but they don't buy Iranian oil and they don't answer our questions."

Analysts have said the United States is likely to extend waivers from sanctions in May but will reduce the number of countries receiving them to placate top buyers China and India.

China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey are likely to be given waivers after they expire in May, Reuters cited US-based analysts at Eurasia Group as saying last month. That would remove Italy, Greece and Taiwan from the current waivers list.

According to Amos Hochstein, the former international energy envoy who ran Iran sanctions under the Obama administration, the real reason Trump is giving the waivers is because he is unable to force the biggest customers of Iranian oil to stop buying oil from the country.

"There will 100 percent be exemptions in May," Hochstein said, adding Trump's refusal to do so would raise the prospect of the US sanctioning Chinese and Indian companies and getting embroiled in yet another trade dispute.
China says will boost 'strategic' partnership with Iran regardless of global developments

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 04:33PM

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged his country's determination to boost "strategic" partnership with Iran regardless of global and regional developments.

"No matter how the international and regional situations change, China's resolve to develop comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged," Xi said during a Wednesday meeting with visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Under the new situation, the two countries need to further deepen "strategic mutual trust" and provide mutual understanding and support on issues related to each other's "core interests" and major concerns, Xi added.

"We support Iran in playing a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability and are willing to closely communicate and coordinate with Iran on regional issues," he added.

The Chinese president also underlined the need for more anti-terrorism and security cooperation between Iran and China.

For his part, Larijani said Iran took a "strategic and long-term" view to develop relations with China.

Strengthening bilateral friendly cooperation is not only in the interest of the two countries but also important for peace and stability in Asia and the world.he said.

He added that Iran was keen to deepen political mutual trust and promote pragmatic cooperation with China and underscored the need for Tehran and Beijing to support each other in international and regional arenas.

The Chinese president also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, during which the two sides discussed latest regional and international developments as well as expansion of bilateral ties.

Larijani arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a two-day official visit following his last week's trip to Tokyo, where he held talks with senior Japanese officials on the expansion of commercial and economic cooperation.

Both China and Iran have been targeted by the US economic pressure.

Back in May, the administration of US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and announced reimposition of the sanctions against Tehran that had been lifted as part of the agreement.

The US and China have been engaged in economic tensions over the past months, in what is feared to turn into an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies.

The US has already imposed tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese goods, and China has imposed duties on $110bn of US products in tit for tat.
US unilateralism cannot harm Iran, China: Larijani

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 20 February 2019 / 15:43

Tehran (ISNA) - In Beijing, Parliament Speaker, Ali Larijani has said America's hostile unilateral policies, including the imposition of sanctions and trade tariffs on other countries, will fail to harm world nations, including Iran and China.

Addressing students and professors at Renmin University of China in Beijing on Tuesday, Larijani said that unbridled unilateralism is not acceptable to world nations, paticularly Iran and China, in the 21st century.

"The US has adopted a hostile approach toward other nations - in the form of various economic mechanisms such as imposing unilateral, illegal and extra-territorial sanctions or slapping tariffs on other countries' exports - in an attempt to damage those nations. That includes the civilized Chinese and Iranian nations, but the policy will not succeed," he added.

Both Iran and China have been the target of Washington's stepped-up economic pressure tactics under President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal  to which China is also a signatory  last May and unleashed and the "toughest ever" sanctions against Tehran.

China  along with other parties to the deal -- has repeatedly defended the nuclear deal and expressed its resolve to keep the accord in place.

Washington has also been engaged in economic tensions with Beijing over the past months, in what observers fear could turn into an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies.

The tensions escalated last year when the Trump administration applied tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, while Beijing retaliated with its own duties on $110 billion worth of US merchandise.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani stressed that Iran expects the remaining parties to the Iran deal to fulfill their obligations under the nuclear agreement, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"Although the parties to the JCPOA have turned down the illegitimate US request [to leave the deal] and tried to save it, we expect them to protect the agreement, honor multilateralism, completely meet their commitments and not to succumb to force," he said.

The top Iranian parliamentarian also condemned the US for providing support to international terrorists and extremists in an attempt to topple independent governments and bring, instead, illegitimate regimes to power.

"Such US meddling in other countries' domestic affairs constitutes a serious danger," he warned.

Larijnai further described Washington as the main supporter of terrorist groups, which have, for years, been sowing chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

"Since the onset, the Islamic Republic has responsibly backed political solutions to the conflicts in those countries," added the top Iranian parliamentarian.

Larijani further blasted the Israeli regime for its adventurism and attempts to fuel chaos in the Middle East with the aim of keeping Palestine under occupation.

On Wednesday, Larijani held talks with Lee Shoe Young, chairman of Iran-China parliamentary friendship group.

During the meeting, he said that friendly ties between the two states date back more than 2,000 years, Press TV reported.

"No country can damage the Iran-China relations," he added.

End Item
INSTEX launch to open up new opportunities for Russia, says Ryabkov

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 20 February 2019 / 11:41

Tehran (ISNA) - The European mechanism will also open up "opportunities for trade between Iran and third countries, including China and Russia," deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov said.

The upcoming launch of INSTEX, the European mechanism of foreign trade settlements aimed at facilitating trade with Iran bypassing American restrictions, is going to open up more opportunities for Russia as well, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.

Eventually, "the full-fledged functioning" of the mechanism will also "open up opportunities for trade between Iran and third countries, including China and Russia," he said.

In this respect, the countries that founded INSTEX, "stick to their word," he emphasized.

On January 31, the UK, Germany and France (the European Union signatories of the nuclear deal) launched a special purpose vehicle (SPV) dubbed the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) in order to facilitate legal trade with Iran. France agreed to take the SPV under its jurisdiction, while Iran is expected to establish a similar entity. The vehicle should support technical opportunities of making transactions with Tehran and does not relieve those using it from US sanctions.

End Item
Trump says 'in no rush' to denuclearize North Korea as 2nd Kim summit nears

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 06:21AM

US President Donald Trump says there is no need to rush the denuclearization of North Korea as he prepares to meet the Asian country's leader Kim Jong-un for the second time next week.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his plans to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear program but said he wouldn't force anything upon Kim as long as he puts the brakes on his nuclear tests.

"I'm in no rush, as long as there's no testing, I'm in no rush. If there's testing, that's another deal. But there has been no testing." he said. "I'd just like to see ultimately denuclearization of North Korea."

Earlier this month, Trump confirmed in a tweet that he would be meeting with the North Korean leader in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28 to further discuss diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the country and end its missile program in exchange for the removal of all economic sanctions.

The American head of state  who had once sarcastically labelled Kim "Little Rocket Man" for his many test-launches of ballistic missiles in defiance of the US -- showered the North Korean leader with praise in another tweet, saying that under his leadership, North Korea "will become a different kind of Rocket - an Economic one!"

He told reporters on Tuesday that "North Korea and Chairman Kim have some very positive things in mind" about denuclearization and "we'll soon find out" what they are.

Trump's envoy heads to Hanoi

The US State Department said that Trump's special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, was traveling to Hanoi later in the day to continue preparations for the summit.

Biegun visited Pyongyang earlier this month, a trip he said was aimed at agreeing on "concrete deliverables" for the summit. He admitted then that while the talks were "productive," there was "hard work to do" before the summit.

Kim has long been seeking relief from harsh international sanctions, mostly spearheaded by the US, over its nuclear and missile tests.

In June 2018, he agreed to meet with Trump in Singapore, putting an end to a period of hostility that saw the two leaders exchange threats about a nuclear apocalypse.

Despite the media frenzy, however, the meeting only produced a vague denuclearization agreement, where the two sides refused to set any deadlines for the process. Trump specifically took a lot of flak at home for failing to persuade Kim to stop developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The North has since taken several steps toward denuclearization by suspending missile and nuclear testing, demolishing at least one nuclear test site, and agreeing to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility and another nuclear testing site.

The follow-up diplomacy between the two sides has borne little fruit, with North Korea complaining that Washington has yet to reciprocate its actions.

US not too keen on sanctions removal

Prospects of an amicable solution to the issue faded down the road as the US kept the previous sanctions in place and proceeded to introduce new sanctions against North Korean officials.

It was revealed last week that the US had even blocked attempts by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to revitalize North Korea's aviation system.

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told a news briefing on Tuesday that Washington would only consider removing sanctions once it receives guarantees "of a fully, finally verified denuclearization."

"We've been clear on sanctions. These are the world's sanctions and that is something that ... will continue to be maintained until we've achieved our final result of a fully, finally verified denuclearization," he said.

Pyongyang has denounced the Trump administration's "gangster-like behavior," accusing Washington of betraying the spirit of the June summit by making unilateral demands while keeping the sanctions in place.

Trump talks to South Korean president

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump discussed the upcoming Kim summit with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, whose country has taken a central role in the diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the North.

The South Korean president told Trump that Seoul was ready to resume economic engagement with Pyongyang if it helps accelerate the denuclearization process, Moon's office said, according to Reuters.

"We're determined to take up that role if President Trump asks, if that's the way to lessen the US burden," Moon said.

Moon and Kim have held multiple meetings in recent months. The two leaders have agreed to cooperate on a wide range of issues from reducing border tensions to launching a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics.

Trump planned to talk to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the meeting on Wednesday.
Trump says "no rush" on DPRK denuclearization

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 14:43, February 20, 2019

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he expected to see the ultimate denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula while pointing out that he had no pressing schedule for that objective.

Trump told the press Tuesday that he was looking forward to meeting Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), next week in Hanoi, Vietnam. "I think a lot of things will come out of it," he said.

Trump said he would like to see the ultimate denuclearization of the DPRK, but at the same time noted that he was "in no particular rush" given that the sanctions remain in effect and Pyongyang has refrained from nuclear and missile testing.

"As long as there's no testing I'm in no rush, if there's testing that's another deal ... I hope that very positive things are going to happen," he said.

Trump also said he discussed "probably every aspect" of the second U.S.-DPRK summit with his Republic of Korea (ROK) counterpart Moon Jae-in during a phone conversation the same day.

According to the Office of President Moon, the two leaders intensively discussed ways to cooperate for the success of the upcoming second U.S.-DPRK summit over the phone for about 35 minutes.

The ROK leader said his country was ready to assume any role, if Trump demands, to offer corresponding measures to facilitate denuclearization on the peninsula.

Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, was on his way to Hanoi in preparation for the summit between Trump and Kim, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said Tuesday at a press briefing.

Trump announced on Feb. 8 that his second meeting with Kim would take place in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. He met with Kim for the first time in Singapore in June 2018, reaching several consensuses which have led to the improvement of U.S.-DPRK relations.

However, differences on such key issues as the road map of denuclearization, U.S. lifting sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration still haunt the two sides and hinder negotiations.
EU Extends Belarus Arms Embargo

February 20, 2019

BRUSSELS -- EU ambassadors on February 20 extended for another year an arms embargo against Belarus and sanctions on four Belarusian citizens.

The embargo, which has been extended annually since its introduction in 2011, does not provide for any new exemptions.

During the rollover process in the last two years, Hungary managed to exempt biathlon rifles and other arms used in sports.

This year, Hungary initially wanted to link the extension of the embargo with 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 earlier in February, 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 four people who are on the visa-ban and asset-freeze list are considered to have played key roles in the unresolved disappearances of four Belarusians in 1999-2000.

With reporting by Rikard Jozwiak

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-extends-belarus- arms-embargo/29780722.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.
Russia Completes Engine Tests of Soyuz Rocket's 2nd Stage Using New Fuel - UEC

Sputnik News

10:12 20.02.2019

BENGALURU (Sputnik) - The engine for the second stage of the Soyuz-2 rocket using the new naphthyl rocket fuel instead of kerosene was successfully tested, a spokesperson for the United Engine Corporation told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Aero India exhibition in the Indian city of Bengaluru on Wednesday.

"On February 12, 2019, the first 'marketable' RD-108A liquid rocket engine of the central bloc of the Soyuz-type rocket based on new naphthyl fuel was tested," the spokesperson said.

Naphthyl fuel was first used instead of kerosene during the launch of the third stage of the Soyuz-2 rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome in November 2017. Tests for the engines of the first and the second stages of the carrier rocket have not been carried out before. The first launch of a Soyuz-2 with all engines using naphtyl is scheduled for 2019.

First and second stages of the Soyuz-type rockets have being equipped with RD-107 and RD-108 engines since 1958. These engines are produced by JSC Kuznetsov, the largest enterprise of aviation and space propulsion engineering that is part of the United Engine Corporation.

The transition to naphthyl from kerosene is carried out as part of the modernization of the Soyuz-2 rocket for launches from Vostochny Cosmodrome.

 Sputnik
China Faces Challenges in Containing Swine Flu Infection

By Joyce Huang February 20, 2019

The Year of the Pig is getting off to a rough start in China as the world's largest consumer of pork and home to half the world's pigs struggles to contain the spread of the African swine fever (ASF) virus.

Recent incidents, where traces of the virus were found in samples of frozen pork dumplings, suggest the outbreak is more widespread than has been reported, analysts said.

They add that the disease could have devastating socioeconomic consequences for both Chinese consumers and the global pig industry.

Latest outbreaks

Over the weekend, food safety regulators in southern Hunan and northwest Gansu provinces identified traces of the virus in pork products, including frozen dumplings.

The first outbreaks of African swine flu showed up in the northeastern province of Liaoning in August of last year.

Since then, China has reported more than 100 outbreaks from 25 of the country's 34 provincial-level administrative units, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization under the United Nations.

Of China's population of 430 million pigs, nearly one million have been culled because there's not yet a vaccine to prevent and halt the spread of the virus.

The losses have added pressure to local pig farmers, who are already be set with rising feed costs brought on by U.S.-China trade frictions.

Food scare

Chinese authorities have worked with food manufacturers to address the latest outbreaks, but it remains unclear if all contaminated frozen pork products have been located and destroyed.

Although the virus poses no risk to human health, people are likely to be one of the carriers of the disease and can spread the virus through contaminated water or waste food.

The disease is highly contagious among domestic and wild pigs and the virus is very difficult to eradicate. It can survive for an hour at boiling temperatures, days in the environment, weeks in meat or even months in frozen meat products.

It has taken some European countries more than a decade to eradicate the virus after it was first introduced to Georgia in 2007.

Under control?

Prior to recent outbreaks, Chinese authorities claimed the country's infection had been brought under control an assertion analysts find unlikely.

"This is not impossible, but unlikely given the enormously high density of domestic pigs in China over a geographical space larger than France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands combined," Dirk Pfeiffer, the chair professor of One Health from the City University of Hong Kong's college of veterinary medicine and life sciences, said in an email to VOA.

Another challenge is China's "high proportion of small to medium size pig farms with low biosecurity which don't have the financial means to invest into better facilities," he added.

The professor expressed concern over the possibility of under-reporting by Chinese farmers as they may not be provided an adequate level of compensation when pigs are culled.

China offers $179 (1,200 yuan) for each culled pig.

The dilemma lies in the balance, he said. If the compensation is too low, farmers are less likely to report. But too high, some may be incentivized to introduce the disease themselves and collect the fee.

Chinese officials have called on all stakeholders in the industry to cooperate with its efforts in stopping the virus' spread.

Although few of its neighbors, such as Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia, import pork from China, the epidemic still puts many other Asian countries at high risk. Vietnam, in particular, is one of the 10 largest pork producers in the world and shares a border with China.

Cross-border transmission

On Tuesday,the Animal Health Department of Vietnam, confirmed the country's first outbreaks of the infection on three farms located in Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces, southeast of the capital, Hanoi, claiming that all pigs had been culled.

Analysts said the epidemic will change the landscape of pig industries in China and globally.

"There will be a shift towards larger farms which can afford better facilities and that also means they are able to implement better biosecurity," professor Pfeiffer said.

The feeding of waste food to pigs will decline because the practice is a common mechanism for spreading this virus, he added.

Deng Jinping, an animal science professor at South China Agricultural University, said he's confident China has taken all necessary steps, including a ban on kitchen waste to pigs.

Enforcement, however, is always key for a sprawling country like China.

But the crisis, he added, will present opportunities for the country's massive pork industry to foster a better future.

"The butchery industry may be forced to seek a better development. Many would hope that the [long distance] transport of live pigs will be replaced by the use of refrigerated transportation. That will better manage risks for the third parties or across different regions. So, big changes to the industry can be expected," Deng said.
US Hate Groups Hit Record Number Last Year Amid Increased Violence

By Masood Farivar February 20, 2019

The white supremacist group Identity Evropa more than doubled the number of its chapters.

The violent neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division grew from one chapter to 27.

The white nationalist group and podcasting site The Right Stuff boasted 34 chapters.

American hate groups had a bumper year in 2018 as a surge in black and white nationalist groups lifted their number to a new record high, the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report issued Wednesday.

The Alabama-based legal advocacy organization recorded 1,020 active hate groups last year, up 7 percent from 2017. The previous record tallied by SPLC was 1,018 in 2011 amid a white extremist backlash against the presidency of Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president.

The increase was driven by growth in both black and white nationalist groups, the SPLC said. The number of white nationalist groups jumped from 100 to 148, while the number of black nationalist groups  typically anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and anti-white  rose from 233 to 264.

The SPLC defines a hate group as "an organization that, based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities, has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

The number of hate groups has grown every year for the past four years, the SPLC said, a 30 percent increase roughly coinciding with President Donald Trump's election campaign and presidency. The increase followed three years of decline toward the end of the Obama administration.

Hate crimes

Hate crimes have followed a similar trajectory in recent years. After falling for three consecutive years, attacks on blacks, Jews, Muslims and other minorities increased by 30 percent in the three-year period ending in 2017, according to the latest FBI data.

The uptrend continued into last year, with hate crimes in America's 30 largest cities surging by an additional 10 percent, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The majority of hate crimes are nonviolent, but some incidents were deadly. White supremacists in the U.S. and Canada killed at least 40 people last year, up from 17 people the year before, according to the SPLC's tally.

While most bias-motivated offenses are not committed by members of hate groups, the perpetrators of hate crimes draw inspiration from ideas put out by hate groups, said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project and author of the report.

'Go-ahead' from Trump

Beirich blamed Trump's anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim statements and policies for heightening deep-seated white nationalist fears of an impending white-minority country.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that more than half of the nation's children are expected to be nonwhite in 2020, while the U.S. population is slated to become majority-minority in 2044.

"Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it with both his rhetoric and his policies," Beirich said. "In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Black nationalist groups, which advocate separate institutions or even a separate nation, made up about a quarter of hate groups tracked in 2018.

But the SPLC said the black extremist groups "lagged far behind the more than 700 groups that adhere to some form of white supremacist ideology," the report said.

Among white extremist groups, the SPLC counted 112 neo-Nazi groups, 148 white nationalist organizations, 63 racist skinhead groups, 36 neo-Confederate outfits and 17 Christian Identity organizations.

KKK falling

But not all white hate groups thrived last year. The number of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) chapters fell for the third straight year, dropping to 51 in 2018 from 130 in 2016.

With its outdated traditions and penchant for white robes, the KKK, the nation's oldest racist organization, has failed to appeal to young white tech-savvy racists, the SPLC said.

"It may be that the KKK, having somehow endured since 1866, is finally on its last legs," the report said.

The SPLC started tracking KKK chapters in 1987 and later expanded its list to include other hate groups. In recent years, as it has put new groups on its list, including anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ organizations, conservative groups have accused the SPLC of unfairly labeling them.

Last month, the Center for Immigration Studies sued the SPLC in federal court in Washington for "falsely designating" it as a hate group in 2016, saying the SPLC has produced no evidence that the group maligns immigrants as a class.

Beirich said the SPLC is standing by its hate group listings.
Saudi Arabia to Cooperate with India on Terrorism

By Anjana Pasricha February 20, 2019

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in New Delhi that terrorism is a common concern and his country would cooperate with India in combating terrorism and extremism.

On a visit to New Delhi, Prince Salman said Wednesday that there were potential opportunities for investment of $ 100 billion in India.

His trip to New Delhi has coincided with spiraling tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of a terror attack that killed 40 paramilitaries in Indian Kashmir.

Prince Salman's meetings with Indian leaders came two days after he went to Pakistan. He did not mention the attack on Indian soldiers, but at a joint press appearance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi he said "we reaffirm to India that we are ready to work in the intelligence sharing and political arenas to coordinate our efforts on terrorism."

Referring to the recent "barbaric" attack in Kashmir, Modi said that the two countries had agreed that "it is extremely important to increase all possible pressure on countries supporting terrorism in any way." The Indian leader said that destroying the infrastructure of terrorism, and punishing terrorists and their supporters is necessary.

New Delhi, which accuses Pakistan of giving sanctuary to terror groups that carry out strikes in India, is trying to build diplomatic pressure against Islamabad. It gave Prince Salman a warm welcome with Modi breaking protocol to receive him personally at the airport on Tuesday.

The Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, who also was warmly welcomed in Pakistan, had pledged investment deals worth $ 20 billion during his Islamabad visit.

Modi said that India and Saudi Arabia had agreed to to strengthen cooperation on counter-terrorism, naval and cyber security.

As both leaders hailed deepening ties, they also sounded an optimistic note on building business and trade ties. The Saudi Crown Prince, who came to New Delhi with a large business delegation, said that Riyadh had invested $44 billion in India since 2016. He said that there were opportunities for investment of $ 100 billion in India in areas such as energy, agriculture and technology.

Two-way trade totaled over $ 27 billion last year. Saudi Arabia is a top supplier of oil to India, which is one of the world's largest oil importers and provides about one fifth of its crude.

The two countries signed five agreements in the areas of investment, tourism, housing and communications.

Prince Salman said that his visit to India will improve centuries-old ties between the countries, which he said are "in our DNA." Ties between the two countries have been on an upswing since Modi visited Riyadh in 2016 as part of efforts to strengthen ties with Middle East countries.

The Saudi crown prince is on his first major overseas tour since the storm over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. He is expected to visit China after India.
Treasury Sanctions Indian Narcotics Trafficker Jasmeet Hakimzada and His Network

February 20, 2019

WASHINGTON  Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified Indian national Jasmeet Hakimzada as a Significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). OFAC also designated two Indian nationals and four entities registered in India or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that form part of the narcotics trafficking organization run by Jasmeet Hakimzada. As a result, any assets in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and 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 persons.

"Jasmeet Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world," said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "This action is a result of years of effort with our U.S. and foreign partners to disrupt the activities of this significant narcotics trafficking organization. We are leveraging extensive international partnerships to deploy a multilayered, coordinated approach to secure our borders and deny narcotics traffickers access to the United States."

Indian narcotics trafficker Jasmeet Hakimzada, who resides in the UAE, runs a global drug trafficking network that smuggles heroin, cocaine, ephedrine, ketamine, and synthetic opioids into the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Since at least 2008, Jasmeet Hakimzada has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit proceeds using his UAE-based company Maiwand General Trading Company LLC through financial institutions in the United States, Brazil, India, Panama, the UAE, and the UK.

OFAC also designated two individuals who also reside in the UAE, for their roles in Jasmeet Hakimzada's criminal organization: Harmohan Hakimzada, Jasmeet's father, is his primary partner in the drug trafficking and money laundering operation; and Eljeet Kaur, Jasmeet's mother, who serves as an officer in two front companies in India.

The four entities designated today include three entities based in India  Maiwand Exim Private Limited, Maiwand Tobacco Limited, and Maiwand Beverages Limited  and UAE-based Maiwand General Trading Company LLC, which operates as a front for an array of illicit activities to include shipping narcotics and illegal pharmaceuticals as well as laundering large sums of narcotics proceeds.

On April 5, 2017, a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee indicted Jasmeet Hakimzada on 46 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering. Over the course of three years from 2014 through 2016, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an extensive investigation into Jasmeet Hakimzada's global narcotics and money laundering operation uncovering dozens of drug trafficking and money laundering-related transactions transiting the United States involving numerous U.S. banks, as well as drug shipments directly to the United States using commercial international courier services.

OFAC coordinated closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee and HSI in order to execute today's action.

"This investigation highlights the hard work of HSI in Tennessee, working in cooperation with our Treasury partners, and also the global investigative presence HSI brings to the fight against international drug trafficking. Jasmeet Hakimzada's criminal organization is profiting by importing these dangerous illegal drugs into the United States. HSI is committed to using wide ranging investigative authorities to target these criminals and their finances," said Derek Benner, the Executive Associate Director for HSI.

Since June 2000, more than 2,200 individuals and entities have been named pursuant to the Kingpin Act for their role in international narcotics trafficking. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1,466,485 per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals could face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.

For identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today.

####
Microsoft Says Russia-Linked Hacking Group Targeted European Think Tanks, NGOs

By RFE/RL February 20, 2019

Software giant Microsoft says it has uncovered a series of cyberattacks by hackers linked to Russia targeting democratic institutions, think tanks and nonprofit organizations in Europe, highlighting concerns of possible interference in European Union elections in May.

The attacks occurred between September and December, targeting employees of the German Council on Foreign Relations and European offices of The Aspen Institute and The German Marshall Fund, the company said in a blog post.

Microsoft said the activity targeted more than 100 employee accounts in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Serbia. The attacks were discovered through Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center and Digital Crimes Unit, the company said.

Many of the attacks originated from Strontium, one of the world's oldest cyberespionage groups, which has been previously associated with the Russian government.

Strontium has also been called APT 28, Fancy Bear, Sofancy, and Pawn Storm by a range of security firms and government officials.

Security firm CrowdStrike has said the group may be associated with the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.

Microsoft's cybersecurity service AccountGuard will be expanded to 12 new markets in Europe including Germany, France, and Spain, to help customers secure their accounts, the company said.

The AccountGuard service will also be available in Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, and Slovakia.

The announcement comes as EU officials are bracing for attempted meddling ahead of the bloc's elections in May, when far-right parties appear set to make gains.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and bloomberg.com

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-linked- hacking-group-targeted-european-think-tanks- ngos----microsoft/29781000.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.
Al-Shabab Claims Killing of Somali Deputy Attorney General

By Harun Maruf February 20, 2019

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the assassination of Somalia's deputy attorney general on Wednesday in Mogadishu.

Authorities say the attack took place in the Hodan district as Mohamed Abdirahman Mursal left home for work.

Witnesses told VOA Somali that two men on a motorcycle blocked his way, ordered him to exit the car and shot him dead. The reason for the attack was not known, although al-Shabab has in the past assassinated government officials, civil servants, soldiers and elders.

The men, who were armed with pistols, fled the scene in the car. Police later found the vehicle abandoned.

Somali officials condemned the attack on Mursal and described him as a rising attorney who studied Islamic law in Saudi Arabia. One official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Mursal was planning to go to Qatar later this year to take courses for an advanced law degree.

In September 2017, al-Shabab gunmen assassinated Mursal's mother, Anab Abdullahi Hashi, who was secretary general of a Somali women's organization.

Explosions

Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and seven wounded in two roadside explosions in Bardhere, one of the biggest towns in Somalia's Jubaland regional administration.

The deputy leader of the administration, Mohamud Sayid Aden, told VOA Somali that the explosions targeted Ethiopian soldiers and that two were among the wounded. Ethiopian soldiers serve in the African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM to help the Somali government defeat al-Shabab.

Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
US, Allies Demand Stop to New Fighting in South Sudan

By VOA News February 20, 2019

The United States and European allies say a new flare-up of fighting in South Sudan violates that country's peace agreement, and are demanding the clashes end immediately.

A joint statement Wednesday from the U.S., Britain and Norway, known as the Troika, says the fighting around the town of Yei represents a "flagrant breach" of a December 2017 cease-fire and the revitalized peace deal signed by South Sudan's government and several rebel groups last September.

The U.N. refugee agency reported last week that clashes between government forces and the rebel National Salvation Front have displaced some 13,000 people and prompted about 5,000 to flee across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"This renewed violence risks undermining the peace agreement and lowers confidence of the Troika and other international partners in the parties' seriousness and commitment to peace," said the Troika statement.

The U.S. and allies also called on the parties to ensure the safety of civilians and allow unrestricted access to Yei for humanitarian groups and cease-fire monitors.

South Sudan's conflict, which began in December 2013, killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 4.5 million from their homes, with two million fleeing to other countries.

A reduction in fighting has allowed some refugees to return home and enabled the country to resume oil production, raising hopes South Sudan can rebuild its ruined economy.

State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report.
CRW delivers agile mobility expertise during exercise Green Flag Little Rock

By Tech. Sgt. Liliana Moreno, 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs / Published February 20, 2019

FORT POLK, La. (AFNS) -- The sound of gunfire echoed across the open field at the Geronimo Landing Zone as Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing based out of Travis Air Force Base, California, responded to a simulated base attack during a training mission in support of Green Flag Little Rock exercise, Feb. 6-17.

The primary objective for all participants of the exercise was to support the Joint Readiness Training Center and provide the maximum number of airlift crews, mission planners and ground support elements to a simulated combat environment with emphasis on joint force integration.

To support the wing priorities, contingency response Airmen tested a few capabilities to accomplish operations in contested, degraded and operationally limiting environments.

"During the exercise, we tested having the smallest footprint possible and brought enough equipment to open a second location as we transitioned from our initial airfield to a forward deployed location," said Capt. Jonathan Van Pinxteren, contingency response element commander. "There are a lot of moving parts involved and this trial run gave us good insight into the difficulty but plausibility of the agile basing concept. Additionally, getting the opportunity to do field training is necessary practice for us all, from setting up tents to directing cargo and airflow."

Lt. Col. Taylor Johnston, 921st Contingency Response Squadron commander, said agile basing is essential to contingency response operations within the full spectrum of operations from humanitarian aid to combat operations.

"Agile basing enhances our viability as it provides combatant commanders with the capability to open an air base anytime, anywhere, without having to worry about significant logistical constraints," Johnston said. "We provide combatant commanders with near immediate basing solutions based on the ever-evolving scheme of maneuver. In humanitarian scenario, it ensures that the contingency response is capable of moving quickly to emerging disasters, and in combat operations it allows us to be as close to the front lines of conflict as possible."

Once on the ground at the Geronimo Landing Zone, the contingency response team had to quickly establish security around the perimeter, build defensive fighting positions and place concertina wire around the area, all while maintaining communication and airflow operations.

"This type of training allows CR Airmen to train together to develop a unified security-centric mindset. As members of a contingency response group we have the potential to deploy as a small and lean force to austere environments with little to no support and it may come down to only having ourselves to rely on," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Berreles, 921st CRS security forces assistant flight chief. "The realistic training has allowed us to hone our skills as a team to better defend ourselves, our resources and our base."

The CRT's strategic defense plan was put to the ultimate test Feb. 14, when simulated enemy forces threatened to overrun the compound.

"During the attack, my team was off shift when we were suddenly awakened to the sound of multiple weapons firing. Without hesitation, my team woke up, kitted up and tactically moved from their tents to predetermined defensive fighting positions," Berreles said. "The entire team, to include non-security forces members, quickly jumped into action and engaged the threat. As a leader, I was pumped to see members from various job specialties work together to defend the base. We have drastically improved our defense capabilities on a daily basis while out here and I am extremely proud of everyone."

While JRTC provides tactical-level training, the joint training received during the exercise was also invaluable to participants.

"Working with our allies is always a great idea, as we would be together in any global operation," Van Pinxteren said. "Having the Royal Canadian Air Force here gives us the opportunities to see each other at work and learn from each other."

Johnston agreed, and said the ability to operate in a joint environment is more crucial today than ever in the past.

"JRTC exercises allow us to work hand in hand with deploying army units and integrate our tactics, techniques and procedures with them," he said. "Each side is learning from each other and fostering relationships between services. The learning and relationship building provides greater synchronicity during operations in everything from humanitarian aid to combat ops."

Col. Ryan Marshall, 621st CRW commander, emphasized how it is essential the CRW is ready to deliver at the speed of war because the defense of our nation rests on each team's ability to integrate while trying to meet and maintain the pace of the future.

"In order to remain relevant warfighters, we must look at ways to ensure continuous capability in the face of adversaries employing technological advances to create contested and reduced or denied access environments across all operating domains," he added. "CRW Airmen will overcome this friction by employing agility and innovation, while providing cornerstones to create difficult dilemmas for our adversaries."
Prospect of lasting peace 'fading by the day' in Gaza and West Bank, senior UN envoy warns

20 February 2019 - The spectres of violence and radicalism in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are growing, and the prospect of sustainable peace is fading by the day, a senior UN envoy in the region told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The Council was briefed by Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, as well as Ursula Mueller, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

In a sombre assessment, Mr. Mladenov characterized the hope of a peaceful two-state solution as "slim." Extremists are on the rise and that the risk of war looms large, he explained.

Against this backdrop, the immediate challenge is the prevention of an economic and humanitarian implosion in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Palestinian people, he continued, need the support of the international community more than ever, as a range of issues are exerting a "heavy toll" on those living in Gaza and the West Bank. These include ongoing violence, the lack of progress towards peace, financial pressures and unilateral measures by the Government of Israel.

Mr. Mladenov cited a recent decision by Israel to withhold some $140 million in Palestinian tax revenue transfers (the equivalent of money paid to Palestinians convicted of terrorism or security-related offences, and their families), and the decision of the United States Government to halt funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as factors driving financial instability in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Ms. Mueller also described the "rising vulnerability" of Palestinians in Gaza, with salaries for public sector employees reduced or withheld, including in the health and education sectors, unemployment at over 50 per cent, and the fact that most citizens are dealing with food insecurity.

Funding cuts have forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to suspend assistance to some 27,000 people and reduce rations to another 166,000 beneficiaries. There is still, she continued, a considerable funding gap, and she urged Member States to step up and increase their support for humanitarian operations.

A number of political steps, said Mr. Mladenov, are necessary for the establishment of peace, including an end to the designation of land for exclusively Israeli use, as well as the cessation of Israeli settlement construction and expansion, and the creation of opportunities for Palestinian development in the West Bank. Demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures have continued across the West Bank, with some 900 Palestinians in East Jerusalem facing eviction.

The Special Envoy condemned violence and terror in the region over the past few months, which has seen the deaths of 40 children killed by Israeli forces, and the firing of 18 rockets towards Israel by Palestinian militants. There has been an upsurge in settler violence over the past year, he reported, with 20 recorded incidents of Israeli settlers injuring Palestinians or damaging their property.

The casualty figures are "stretching the capacity of health care providers" in the territory, said Ms. Mueller, putting the entire system at the risk of collapse: "Since the start of demonstrations in March 2018, over 27,000 Palestinians have been injured, more than 6,000 of them by live ammunition. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 122 amputations have taken place since the start of the mass demonstrations, including 21 paediatric amputations."

An international community committed to supporting both parties, leadership, and political will for change are, contended Mr. Mladenov, of primary importance and, until they are found, "Palestinians and Israelis will continue to slide into increasingly hazardous territory."
Joint Statement on Escalating Conflict in South Sudan

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 20, 2019

The text of the following statement was issued jointly by the Governments of the United States, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

The members of the Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) are alarmed about the escalating conflict around Yei, which represents a flagrant breach of the December 2017 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement. These military actions, and the trading of blame, must stop.

We are particularly disturbed that fighting by all parties in the Yei area has severe humanitarian consequences for the local population. Thousands of South Sudanese have been displaced and fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent days to escape fighting and violence against civilians, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees has confirmed.

This renewed violence risks undermining the peace agreement and lowers confidence of the Troika and other international partners in the parties' seriousness and commitment to peace at a critical time of the pre-transitional period of the revitalized peace agreement.

We are concerned that if the situation escalates, the progress made in implementing the peace agreement will be irrevocably set back. In addition, if violence against civilians continues unchecked, it could fuel further cycles of violence and atrocities.

All parties -- the Government of South Sudan, the SPLM-IO, and National Salvation Front -- must end the violence immediately in line with commitments they made in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. Namely, they must ensure the safety of civilians and their freedom of movement, and guarantee safe routes for civilians to leave conflict areas. The parties must allow unrestricted access to Yei and the surrounding area for the UN Mission in South Sudan, the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, as well as all humanitarian actors, to enable them to effectively carry out their roles.

Regional leadership will be essential to securing progress on this matter. We urge the region to respect the UN Arms Embargo and to hold those responsible for violations of the peace agreement and Cessation of Hostilities Agreement to account in line with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) statement of 31 January that called for all parties to "cease hostilities and military preparations immediately." The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) has a central role in holding the parties to these agreements accountable to their commitments. We urge IGAD to appoint a credible and empowered R-JMEC Chair as a matter of urgency.
Official: NATO Doesn't Plan to Deploy New Ground-Based Nuclear Weapons in Europe

Sputnik News

18:03 20.02.2019(updated 18:42 20.02.2019)

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - NATO believes that its missile defence is exclusively defensive in nature, and the facilities in Romania and Poland fully comply with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, NATO Deputy Spokesperson Piers Cazalet told Sputnik.

"Russian claims against NATO's missile defence system are a blatant attempt to distract attention from its breach of the INF Treaty. These claims are long-standing and unfounded. As we have repeatedly made clear, the Alliance's missile defence is purely defensive. The Aegis Ashore sites in Romania and Poland are fully compliant with the INF Treaty," Cazalet said.

He said NATO was assessing the situation around the INF, adding that the alliance's response would be well-considered, but that NATO did not plan to deploy new ground-based nuclear weapons in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier Wednesday that the United States was directly and grossly violating the INF Treaty, launching target missiles and deploying launchers in Romania.

The senior official said further that NATO took note of the Russian leader's address to the parliament on Wednesday, and considers Russia's statements threatening the allies unacceptable.

"We have noted President [Vladimir] Putin's address of 20 February. Russian statements threatening to target Allies are unacceptable. We call on Russia to focus on returning to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. NATO is a defensive alliance, which stands ready to defend all members against any threat," Cazalet said.

"We do not want a new arms race, and Allies have repeatedly called on Russia to verifiably destroy its intermediate-range missiles," he added.

Addressing the Russian Federal Assembly earlier in the day, Putin said that Moscow would be forced to provide an adequate response to the possible deployment of intermediate and shorter-range ballistic missiles in Europe by Washington.

Putin stressed that Russian weaponry, in this case, could target not only areas posing a direct threat to Russia but also those areas where decision-making centers on the use of missile systems are located.

 Sputnik
UN Chief Asks India & Pakistan to Exercise Maximum Restraint - Reports

Sputnik News

21:43 20.02.2019(updated 21:44 20.02.2019)

Pakistan's permanent mission to the UN approached the United Nations urging the world body to step in to defuse tensions between the nations arising as the fallout of the Pulwama terror attack on Indian soil. It also requested a meeting with the secretary-general.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Expressing deep concern over increasing India-Pakistan tensions in the last few days, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday asked the two nations to act immediately to de-escalate hostilities in the aftermath of the Pulwama suicide bomb attack.

He reiterated that his "good offices" are available if both sides want and ask for it, reported NDTV.

"The secretary general stresses the importance for both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalation, and his good offices are always available should both sides ask," the UN chief's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

A deadly bomb attack was carried out in Pulwama region of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 40 Indian security forces for which India blamed Pakistan. The Jaish-e-Mohammed l(JeM) terror group, led by Azhar Masood and based out of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Masood was arrested in India a couple of decades ago but later freed in a hostage-exchange in the Kandahar hijacking incident. Since then, Masood engineered the attack against the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and was instrumental in many other terror attacks on Indian soil.

In the aftermath of the recent attack both countries have recalled their envoys.

"Looking at the situation in general between India and Pakistan, we are deeply concerned at the increasing tensions between the two countries in the wake of the attack on Indian security personnel on February 14 in Pulwama," Dujrraic added.

 Sputnik
India & Pakistan Attempting to Drum Up Support Following Pulwama Attack

Sputnik News

22:03 20.02.2019(updated 22:04 20.02.2019)

As tensions between India and Pakistan skyrocketed after a suicide car bombing in Kashmir, claiming the lives of more than 40 Indian security personnel, the New Delhi has been trying to isolate the Islamabad in the world stage, accusing the government of harbouring and assisting terrorist forces.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Following the deadly suicide car bombing in Pulwama in Kashmir  a region split between Indian and Pakistani control  the two nuclear-armed neighbours are currently engaged in hectic diplomatic parleys with different power to sway opinions in their respective favour. On Tuesday, throwing its weight behind India, the New Zealand parliament passed a motion  the first such in the world  condemning the terror attack.

"This house condemns the attack on Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Pulwama on 14 February leading to a very large loss of life. We offer condolences to the people and the government of India and offer solidarity with the government of India in this difficult time as well as offer our deep sympathies to those grievously affected," Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said, addressing parliament.

The motion introduced by Peters was passed with an absolute majority.

US President Donald Trump termed the attack "horrible" while suggesting that the two countries should resolve the dispute amicably.

"I have watched. I have got a lot of reports on it. We will have comment (on it) at an appropriate time. It would be wonderful if they (India and Pakistan) get along," Donald Trump was quoted as saying by the PTI.

Meanwhile, amid speculation that France might table a proposal in the United Nations to proscribe Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the terror outfit that claimed responsibility for the attack, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua met with French Ambassador Marc Barety to brief him on the human rights situation in disputed Kashmir. She also met with the German Ambassador Martin Kobler.

The European Union's Sub Committee on Human Rights hosted an official exchange on Kashmir at the European Parliament in Brussels and highlighted the need for a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir issue through dialogue between Pakistan and India, and with the full participation of the Kashmiri people.

On Tuesday, in a televised announcement, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan offered to investigate the JeM's involvement in the Pulwama attack "if India provides proof." However, the Indian side rejected the offer with a strong retort.

"This is a lame excuse. In the horrific attack in Mumbai on 26/11, proof was provided to Pakistan. Despite this, the case has not progressed for the last more than 10 years. Likewise, on the terror attack on Pathankot Airbase, there has been no progress. Promises of "guaranteed action" ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan," Raveesh Kumar, a spokesperson at India's Ministry of External Affairs said during a press briefing.

The situation in Kashmir has been simmering since India's independence from British colonial governance and simultaneous partition of the Indian mainland into the two countries of India and Pakistan in 1947. Several rebel outfits are operating in the region, allegedly with support from Pakistan.

 Sputnik
Kabul Rebukes Pakistan Envoy Over Remark About Peace Talks

By RFE/RL February 20, 2019

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Pakistani ambassador to Kabul over his remark that Afghan peace talks could be affected if India resorted to violence against Pakistan in response to last week's deadly suicide attack on Indian troops in disputed Kashmir.

After the February 20 meeting with Ambassador Zahid Nasrullah, the ministry said in a statement that it deemed his comment to be "in contradiction with Pakistan's commitments with regards to realizing peace in Afghanistan."

Amid rising tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi, Nasrullah said on February 19 that any attack by India would "affect the stability of the entire region and impact the momentum" of the Afghan peace effort.

India has blamed Pakistan for the February 14 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed more than 40 soldiers and warned its neighbor of a "jaw-breaking response."

Islamabad has denied any involvement and vowed to retaliate if it comes under attack.

The attack on Indian troops was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) militant group.

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.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry said the Kabul government "once again calls on Pakistan to act upon its commitments with regards to Afghanistan, particularly those in relation to peace and refrain from making irrelevant statements that do not help solve any problem."

Afghanistan "has always wanted a reduction in any tension in the region, and the differences to be resolved through dialogue and peaceful means," the statement also said.

The Afghan Taliban has held a series of direct talks with U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in recent months to put an end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

As an important player in the region and an Afghan neighbor, Pakistan is seen as potentially having a key role in any settlement.

During his news conference in Kabul on February 19, Nasrullah said that Islamabad wants a "peaceful, stable, prosperous, sovereign Afghanistan."

"We have always said that we have influence -- but limited influence -- on the Taliban, and we would use that to the best effect. We are working sincerely on that," the Pakistani ambassador added.

With reporting by Reuters and TOLOnews

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kabul-rebukes -pakistan-envoy-over-remark-about- peace-talks/29781488.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.
Afghan Loya Jirga To Convene Next Month To Discuss Peace Talks

By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan February 20, 2019

KABUL -- Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders are set to meet for at least four days next month to discuss negotiations with the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani's special peace envoy has said.

Omar Daudzai said on February 20 that the gathering, known as a Loya Jirga, will be held from March 17-20, adding: "If the discussions continue, it will be extended."

Daudzai said that the consultative Loya Jirga will discuss the government's "values and red lines" and will aim to come up with a framework for the Western-backed government in Kabul to engage in peace negotiations with the militant group.

The Taliban, which now reportedly controls nearly half of Afghanistan, has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with the Afghan government, calling it a Western puppet.

However, it has held a series of direct talks with U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in recent months to put an end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

Speaking at an event organized by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Kabul, Daudzai said that most Afghan politicians want these talks to lay the groundwork for direct negotiations between the Taliban and Kabul.

AIHRC head Sima Samer warned that using human rights as a bargaining chip in the talks with the Taliban would undermine any peace agreement.

U.S. Ambassador John Bass emphasized that the final goal of the talks was "peace and dignity" for the people of Afghanistan.

Khalilzad is scheduled to meet Taliban negotiators for talks in Qatar on February 25.

During their previous round of talks in Doha, the Qatari capital, U.S. and Taliban negotiators reached the basic framework of a possible peace deal.

The agreement calls for the Taliban to prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan and for the United States to withdraw its forces from the country.

U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since an October 2001 invasion that brought down the Taliban government after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for launching the September 11, 2001, in the United States.

Taliban leaders, who took control in 1996, imposed a harsh form of Islamic law that denied education and work to women and girls as they cracked down on other social activities.

With reporting by AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-loya -jirga-to-convene-next-month-to- discuss-peace-talks/29781362.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.
UN chief urges India, Pakistan to de-escalate tensions

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 05:50AM

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on India and Pakistan to immediately take measures to de-escalate tensions following a deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir that has increased the risk of violent conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Tensions escalated between the two neighboring long-time adversaries following a bombing attack in Kashmir that left more than 40 Indian troops dead on February 14.

The attack stirred intense anti-Pakistan furor in India, with people burning Pakistani flags on the streets. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for harboring terrorists, and the two countries were soon exchanging heated threats at the highest levels.

"We are deeply concerned at the increasing tensions between the two countries," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday.

The secretary general "stresses the importance of both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps" to de-escalate, Dujarric added.

He said that the UN was ready to act as an intermediary if both sides agreed.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has already called for the UN to step in.

On Tuesday, Indian Commander General K.J.S. Dhillon said the attack "was being controlled from across [the frontier] by ISI and Pakistan and JeM commanders," using a shorthand for the Inter-Services Intelligence, which is Pakistan's main spy agency, significantly raising the stakes.

Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said his country would give a "strong response" to the attack. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan later said his country would not hesitate to retaliate any attack.

In an international response to the flare-up of tensions, France, Britain, and the United States have also been considering a new push at the UN Security Council to place the leader of the so-called Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)  Masood Azhar  on the UN terror list, but have faced opposition from China, diplomats said, according to AFP.
Israel approves construction over 4,000 new settler units in Jerusalem al-Quds

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 02:03PM

Israeli officials have approved plans for the construction of thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime's land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday that the authorities have given the green light for 4,416 units to be built in Jerualem al-Quds, adding that 23,576 square meters of land would be expropriated for business projects and 4,253 for other purposes.

The report further noted that 464 settler units will be constructed in Gilo settlement, 180 units in Kiryat HaYovel, and 375 others in Kiryat Menahem settlement.

Earlier this month, Ir Amim, an Israeli NGO opposing Israel's settlement expansion activities, published a new map, describing an "accelerated, intensifying chain of new facts on the ground in the most historically contested and politically sensitive part of Jerusalem [al-Quds]: the Old City and adjacent ring of Palestinian neighborhoods."

The map pointed to a mounting number of Israeli regime-sponsored settlement campaigns inside Palestinian neighborhoods, as well as "settler-initiated evictions of Palestinians, takeovers of their homes, and the expansion of settler compounds," in addition the use of "touristic settlement sites" as "key points along a ring of tightening Israeli control."

Ir Amim said tourism and supposed archaeology projects "assume a central role in Israeli settlement policy."

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council in December 2016 adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem" al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

Trump backtracked on Washington's support for a "two-state solution" in 2017, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.

"Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I'm very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one," the US president said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 15, 2017.
US pushes Pakistan to punish perpetrators of Kashmir bombing

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 20, 2019 04:56PM

The United States has pressed Pakistan to punish those behind a deadly bombing in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that claimed the lives of 44 Indian paramilitary troops last week.

During a briefing in Washington on Tuesday, US Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino demanded that Islamabad cooperate with New Delhi in investigating the bombing.

"We urge Pakistan to fully cooperate with the investigation into the attack and to punish anyone responsible."

Palladino said Washington has been in contact with New Delhi since February 14, when the bombing was carried out.

"We have been in close communication with the government of India to express not only our condolences but our strong support for India as it confronts this terrorism."

"We call on all countries to uphold their responsibilities pursuant to the United Nations Security Council resolutions to deny safe haven and support for terrorists," Palladino added.

The bomb attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) militant group.

Meanwhile, France and Britain along with the US have been considering a new push at the UN Security Council to place Masood Azhar, the JeM leader, on the UN terror list. The group itself was added to the terror list in 2001.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a letter sent on Monday, appealed to the UN to step in to defuse tensions. Although the attack was claimed by JeM, Qureshi said "attributing it to Pakistan even before investigations is absurd."

"It is imperative to take steps for de-escalation. The United Nations must step in to defuse tensions."

India has warned Pakistan of a "jaw-breaking response" to the bombing, the deadliest attack in the region in decades.

New Delhi has called on the government in Islamabad to take "credible and visible action" against the perpetrators of the attack, rejecting Prime Minister Imran Khan's offer to investigate any evidence offered by New Delhi.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed a strong response to the attack.

Also, Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon, the top Indian military commander in Kashmir, has said Pakistan's main spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), was involved in the attack. He said two of the militants were Pakistanis, including the group's "chief operations commander" in Kashmir.

"JeM is the son of Pak Army. It was being controlled by Pakistan Army and ISI. So, Pakistan Army is definitely involved in the incident and there is no doubt in that. The complete (Pulwama) attack was masterminded by Pakistan, ISI and JeM," Dhillon claimed on February 19.
Joint press point with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

20 Feb. 2019

(As delivered)

President Pahor, dear Borut,

It is great to see you here at the NATO Headquarters again. So really warm welcome to you.

And also thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality in Ljubljana in October when I met you there.

Slovenia is a highly valued Ally. You contribute to our shared security and to our collective defence in many different ways.

And not least you play an important role in the Western Balkans. You help to address the challenges we face in that region. You are contributing significantly to our mission in Kosovo, KFOR, and you play an important role in bringing the region closer to the rest of Europe and the transatlantic family.

You also contribute to our training mission in Afghanistan, where we help to train, assist and advise the Afghan forces so they can fight terrorism and make sure that Afghanistan doesn't once again become a safe haven for international terrorists.

This really reflects your strong commitment to our collective security, and our efforts to manage crises beyond our borders.

NATO is of course also committed to Slovenia's security.

Allies ensure the safety of your airspace, because solidarity is at the core of our Alliance.

Mr. President, we just had an excellent discussion about the adaptation of NATO.

After the end of the Cold War, NATO Allies reduced defence spending for many years, but now we see that Allies have started to invest again in defence, increase defence spending, because we live in a more unpredictable and uncertain security environment.

As we reduced spending when tension went down, we now have to increase spending again when tensions are going up. And I welcome the fact that Slovenia has started to increase its investments in defence. This is contributing to the overall efforts of European Allies and Canada.

And we know that by the end of next year, European Allies and Canada, with the support of Slovenia, would have added one hundred billion extra US dollars for defence spending.

We also appreciate very much your contributions to our enhanced readiness of our forces. And the fact that you participated in the Trident Juncture exercise in Norway shows the quality and the interoperability of the Slovenian forces.

So once again, welcome to the NATO Headquarters. Always good to see you.

Borut Pahor [President of the Republic of Slovenia]: Distinguished Secretary General, dear Jens, ladies and gentlemen.

As President of the Republic and as the High Commander of Armed Forces in Slovenia, I was the first president to formally visit the NATO Headquarters. And this is a tradition that I would like to keep in the future as well. Now, this year, the meeting with the Secretary General is to be understood as a symbolic gesture. Why? Because we are celebrating 15 years of membership of Slovenia in NATO. As I said at the beginning of our discussion, of our talk to the Secretary General today, Slovenes held a referendum on our accession to EU and NATO on the same day. This was in March, 16 years ago. And I think that this is quite an important political message. I was of that opinion 16 years ago, and I still believe that's the case.

My opinion was and still is that Slovenia is part of the Western world; that it belongs there, politically, economically, culturally, traditionally and in terms of military as well. When we decided on whether to join the EU and NATO, we were actually saying that Slovenia is part of the Western world entirely, that it's part of its active role and that we want to co-shape it, we want to contribute to it. I would like to thank the Secretary General for his leadership, for his leadership in the troubling times that we are dealing with. Right now, it looks like the security situation in the world is worsening. The predictability itself of global issues is not what we would like it to be. And I think that in this respect the Secretary General is doing an excellent work. He is finding a balance between different interests of different Allies and reinforces the Alliance at the same time.

Often, especially back home, we pay a lot of attention to the fact that NATO expects Slovenia to reach, or keep its promise, of 2 percent of GDP for spending. Now, this is a legitimate expectation and requirement of NATO. And I told the Secretary General today that, based on the government projections, Slovenia will be raising its public spending to NATO from a level that, not so long ago, was below 1 percent, to 1.5 percent. And this will be done by 2024. Now this is a significant increase and since Slovenia is enjoying quite a high economic growth, this means a lot of nominal funds, that we will contribute to the Alliance. And in this respect, let me say one thing: we are not increasing our military spending, because we would be under threat, because we are not. We are increasing the spending for military because the world today is less safe than it used to be. And we are part of this world.

As I said 15 years ago, and I'm still of this opinion, we have to understand this: military expenses should not be seen only in the light of meeting our obligations towards NATO. We are meeting our obligations towards our own safety. Slovenia is one of the safest countries in the world. We are not under any direct military threat, but we are part of the Alliance and we have to invest in our common security, military as well. Now, let me conclude by saying that I welcome the inclusion or the accession of North Macedonia to the Alliance. I am saying this in light of the talks that I will still be having in Brussels this afternoon. The enlargement of NATO to Western Balkans is going to help our joint security and NATO here is doing better than the EU. NATO welcomed Montenegro and soon North Macedonia will be following. So, in this respect  of course, it's easier for NATO than it is for the European Union, we understand that  but NATO is actively involved in the aspirations of Western Balkan countries, as far as their military and economic desires are concerned. So in this respect, my compliments to NATO. Thank you. Thank you very much. Questions now if I may.

Moderator: We have time for a couple of questions, yes please, the gentlemen.

Question [Igor Juric, Slovenian National Television]: Igor Juric, Slovenian National Television. Secretary General, I would like to hear one comment from you regarding preparedness of Slovenian armed forces in the last two, couple of years. That was negative, could this effect on Slovenian missions abroad? And how do you comment that Slovenia is still not fulfilling the commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defence? Thank you.

Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: So, we greatly appreciate and value the contributions of Slovenia to NATO, to our collective defence, to our missions abroad. And I have met Slovenian troops and I've seen their commitment and their professionalism and the key role they play in different ways, especially, for instance, in Kosovo. Then we are aware of that, we had some problems with readiness some time ago. But the reason why NATO is certifying and testing the troops that are going to participate in NATO missions and operations, or in the NATO Readiness Force is exactly to identify whether there are some problems and if there are problems, then NATO together with the Ally address those problems. And that's exactly what Slovenia did.

So now we have seen that this problem has been addressed, the problem of readiness and, for instance, the Slovenian forces participated in the big Trident Juncture exercise in Norway, which was a high readiness, Article 5, demanding exercise. And the Slovenian forces performed excellent in that exercise. You are also part of our Battlegroup, our Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia. We have Slovenian forces there, which we appreciate very much, they contribute to our presence in the Baltic region and Slovenia is also part of our mission in Afghanistan. So yes, NATO has some standards and we certify and test; sometimes not all troops pass the tests, then we address that and then they pass next time. And that's exactly what has happened in Slovenia, so we are extremely grateful for the Slovenian contributions to NATO missions and operations.

When it comes to spending, I welcome the fact that Slovenia has stopped the cuts after years with reducing defence spending, as many other Allies. Slovenia has now started to invest more. And just as the President alluded to, you have quite good economic growth, meaning that just by increasing as part of the GDP; it's a significant increase in actually substantial absolute numbers. Of course, I would like and expect also Slovenia to do more, as I also expect all other Allies who don't spend 2 percent of GDP on defence to do more. But I welcome very much and appreciate the fact that Slovenia has started to increase.

Moderator: Yes please?

Petra Wullerstorff [Slovenian News Agency]: Yes, hello, Petra Wullerstorff, Slovenian News Agency. I have a question, actually two questions, for Secretary General about Kosovo. First one is concretely about the possibility, idea of changing the borders. The Slovenian President supports the idea of finding an out-of-the-box solution that wouldn't be based on the principle of ethnicity. I would like to ask you what's your position, opinion about this issue, about changing the borders and finding the out-of-the-box solution? And second, NATO is reassessing its engagement with Kosovo Security Forces. The decision is expected in spring. Could you maybe tell us in what direction the debate is going, what kind of changes can we expect. Thank you.

Jens Stoltenberg: What NATO has said and stated is that we will now assess our level of engagement with Kosovo. We do that because Kosovo decided to go on with the transition of the Kosovo Security Force into a Kosovo army. And that was against the advice of many Allies and many Allies find it ill-timed to take that decision now. And we are also seeing that many Allies have criticised the fact that Kosovo has imposed new tariffs, hundred percent tariffs on the goods coming from Serbia and from Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is not helpful to solve the political issues and to make progress on the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue.

We need a political solution, as NATO strongly supports the efforts to find a political solution, and therefore we support the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but the recent decisions by the authorities in Pristina has, of course, made this more difficult. We call on both sides to refrain from actions or rhetoric, which can only make it even more difficult and increase tensions. We will, as a consequence of all this, then assess our level of engagement. It's too early to say what the outcome will be, so I will not speculate on that, but I think it's important to make clear the following, and that is that NATO is in Kosovo in different ways. We are part of the KFOR mission, we're actually leading and we are responsible for the KFOR mission, with NATO Allies and partners. That will continue, because that's based on the UN Security Council mandate. So that will continue. But then NATO also has some engagement with Pristina outside the KFOR mission, and that's what we call enhanced interaction and some capacity building.

These are other activities, and when we speak about adjusting our level of engagement, we speak about these other activities outside the KFOR mission. The KFOR mission will continue. It helps to secure a safe environment and stability and also protect all people in the region. So KFOR will continue. We will assess the level of engagement in the other areas.[inaudible] Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. No. We welcome Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, but I think we will not dictate, or it's not for us to go into the different elements of such a dialogue. We just support the idea of Pristina and Belgrade being able to solve their outstanding issues.

Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.
Taliban attack kills 5, injures 2 in northern Afghanistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Feb 20, IRNA -- Taliban attack on a police station in Faryab, northern Afghanistan, has claimed the lives of 5 security forces and injured 2 others.

The incident happened in Gheisar district, Afghan media quoted Abdolbaqi Hashemi - member of regional council - as saying.

Meanwhile, director of the province for security affairs said in a statement that in the wake of Taliban attack, Afghan security forces killed 18 members of Taliban.

Taliban has so far released no statement in this regard.

Earlier, a suicide attacker targeted Logar governor's car with a bomb-laden vehicle killing 5 people and injuring another 5 , the province's Police spokesman Shahpour Ahmadzei said adding that the governor survived from the assassination.

He added that the governor and his delegation were on their way to Kabul when the accident happened.

Meanwhile, 27 Taliban forces were killed in an operation in Ab Kamari District, Badghis Province.

9376**1424
New storm could dump more than 2 feet in mountains, few inches in GJ
NASA scientist discovers oldest white dwarf with dust rings News oi-Vishal Kawadkar NASA's new discovery will help understand the distant future of our solar system.

A NASA scientist has discovered the oldest and coldest known white dwarf - the Earth-sized remains of a dead star - ringed by dust and debris. Astronomers believe this could be the first known white dwarf with multiple dust rings.

The star, LSPM J0207+3331 or J0207, is forcing researchers to reconsider models of planetary systems that will help understand the distant future of our solar system. "This white dwarf is so old that whatever process is feeding material into its rings must operate on billion-year timescales," said John Debes, an astronomer working with the NASA-led Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project.

"Most of the model's scientists have created to explain rings around white dwarfs only work well up to around 100 million years, so this star is really challenging our assumptions of how planetary systems evolve," Debes added.

J0207 is located around 145 light years away in the constellation Capricornus. As time passes, the white dwarfs slowly get cooler, and Debes's team calculated J0207 is about three billion years old, after monitoring the temperature level just over 5800 degrees Celsius.

J0207's ring may even be multiple rings, and the team suggests that there could be two distant components - one thin ring where the star's tides break up the asteroids and a wider ring close the white dwarf.

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Nokia 6 (2017) stable Android Pie update released News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The Android Pie update for the Nokia 6 (2017) is being rolled out as OTA (over-the-air) update.

HMD Global the house of Nokia smartphones is one of those few brands which rolls out timely updates and security patches for its smartphones. The major highlight of the Nokia smartphones is their stock Android UI which brings them first in line to receive the Android firmware updates. A bunch of Nokia smartphones have received firmware updates recently such as the Nokia 2, Nokia 5.1, Nokia 6.1 and Nokia 8 etc. Now, the company is rolling out the stable version of Android Pie update for its affordable smartphone Nokia 6 (2017).

The Nokia 6 (2017) smartphone was launched back in 2017 and it shipped with Android v7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. The smartphone received its Android Oreo update last year and is now receiving the latest Android Pie flavor. Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global, took it to his Twitter account to announce the latest Android update for the Nokia 6 smartphone. He said "Keeping up with our promise of 2 years of Android updates, Nokia 6 (2017) is now officially running on Android 9, Pie! Nokia phones get smarter over time."

The Nokia 6 (2017) smartphone's Android Pie update is being rolled out as an OTA (over-the-air) and is expected to reach all the users gradually. Users can also check for the update by heading to the Software update tab in the Settings menu. The update will bring along the Android Pie elements such as gesture navigation, adaptive battery, and adaptive brightness etc.

To recall, the Nokia 6 (2017) smartphone comes with a 5.5-inch PS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The smartphone packs a single lens primary camera setup comprising of a 16MP lens with f/2.0 aperture. The device has an 8MP front camera that has an aperture of f/2.0. It runs on an octa-core Snapdragon 430 chipset which is clubbed with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.

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Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 51F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 51F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
The often-proposed carbon tax would be far more effective in the redistribution of income than in the reduction of carbon dioxide. Presumably, the reduction would occur because the increased cost of carbon-based energy would so curtail its use that fossil fuel suppliers would go out of business. But few drive for the pleasure of it nor do people heat their homes or cook their food because they enjoy paying bills.

When gasoline cost far more than it does now there was little reduction in driving, we just paid more; there was simply no alternative. Nor would there be, if even a prohibitive tax were imposed. Wind and solar can supply but a small fraction of the need for many years to come and we are told that hydropower and nuclear energy may not count as suitable alternatives, although they are carbon-free.

Moreover, should the entire United States miraculously emit zero carbon dioxide, the effect on global temperature over the next 50 years would be a reduction in its expected rise of less than a tenth of a degree. This estimate was made by a panel of distinguished climatologists, briefing Congress on the effect of withdrawing from the Paris Accord. They made this computation using the same climate model developed by the IPCC of the United Nations.
Some (rare) good news today! The United Nations has appointed Danish economist and environmentalist Inger Andersen to be the head of an important agency in this age of climate change: the United Nations Environmental Program, based in Nairobi. Ms. Andersen is recognized for structuring a career around innovative environmental initiatives around the globe.

More good news: I've written to Ms. Andersen with a request: Please send a UN delegation to judge the environmental impact of the proposed barrier between the US and Mexico. My impression from reading numerous papers on the subject is that the "Trump wall" will be totally devastating for many of the species accustomed to traveling freely across the international border. Ms. Andersen is highly qualified to assess the potential damage created by the barrier.

It's too early to celebrate, but we can hope that common sense will prevail on our border, and that UN troops won't be necessary to stop the proposed barrier.

Kirk Nevin

Corvallis (Feb. 15)

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Go online to find the complete version of the Movie Scene and reviews of new films.

NEW

ARCTIC

3 stars

Mads Mikkelsen is terrific in this tense story about a man whose plane crashes in a brutal polar landscape; his task becomes more difficult when a rescue helicopter crashes as well, and he has to tend to another survivor. The movie feels both timeless and innovative, so its a shame that it relies on the tired trope of the vulnerable, wordless female character as merely motivation for male action. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service)

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

3 stars

(Biographical drama, R, 108 minutes, playing at the AMC Corvallis 12) British siblings try to break into the world of professional wrestling. With Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Written and directed by Stephen Merchant. An entertaining gloss on a true story that sands off some of the rougher edges but remains engaging. (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD

3  stars
Gainesville, TX (76240)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Low 72F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Low 72F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Fort Wayne, IN (46808)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.




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1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 800/514-3849; TheNationalDC.com

Finding Neverland follows playwright J.M. Barrie as he struggles to find inspiration until he meets four young brothers and their beautiful widowed mother. Recommended for ages 7 and up. Feb. 26 to March 3. $54-$114.

RICHMOND TRIANGLE PLAYERS

Robert B. Moss Theatre, 1300 Altamont Ave., Richmond. rtriangle.org

An Act of God, the Broadway comedy adapted from David Javerbaums The Last Testament: A Memoir By God. Feb. 27 to March 23. Part of the Acts of Faith Festival. $10-$35.

RIVERSIDE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Off U.S. 17 in Falmouth. 540/370-4300; riversidedt.com

La Cage aux Folles, a heartwarming comedy about a gay couple and the madness that ensues when their son announces his engagement to the daughter of an ultraconservative couple. Through March 3. $45$69.

SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY

Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW, Washington, D.C. 202/547-1122; shakespearetheatre.org
AfricanAmericans have been involved in major wars from the American Revolution to World War II, but their service has often been ignored or forgotten.

"Untold Stories 2019: "Looked for in the Hour of Dangerbut Trampled Underfoot in the Time of Peace" will give people a chance to experience some of this history firsthand through a series of vignettes at downtown Fredericksburg churches beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. The rain date is March 1.

This will be the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield's second annual Black History Month "Untold Stories" event, and is being held in conjunction with the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center and the churches. Each vignette will feature local actors portraying scenes based on real people and their service before and after one of four major wars.

AfricanAmericans performed with honor during these wars, and many died in service to their country. They fought on both sides during the Revolutionary War with a promise of freedom from slavery after the conflict ended. During the Civil War, nearly 180,000 blacks served in the Union Army and Navy. Twice that number (350,000) joined the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I, and over 700 AfricanAmericans died in the European and Pacific theaters during World War II.
It's difficult to believe, given the volume of Trump's questionable actions with regards to people involved in the investigation, that we wouldn't get this information somehow. But it's not clear how - or even that - we will.

One key thing to remember in all of this, though: Barr did say he believes a president can commit obstruction of justice. What that means for what he can report about it, who knows?

3. Does it come with any big indictments - possibly for Jerome Corsi or even Donald Trump Jr.?

One of the frustrating things about the submission of Mueller report is that, whatever we learn, it may not come right away. Assuming we learn that it has been submitted to the Justice Department, it will then take some time for Barr et. al. to write their own summary (or summaries) for Congress and the public.

In the meantime, though, it seems possible Mueller could offer more indictments, and we could learn plenty through them. Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi has seemed a likely candidate for an indictment for months now - he even predicted he would be indicted. Donald Trump Jr. has also reportedly told friends that he worries he could be indicted too.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The Emgrand GSe is an all-electric SUV that was launched by Chinese automaker Geely in June 2018. With prices ranging between RMB119,800 and RMB145,800 after subsidy, the entire lineup of the NEV model features a battery range of 353km.

The name of new Geely Emgrand GSe appears in the latest Catalogue of Recommended Models for New Energy Automobile Popularization and Application released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), according to local media.

The MIIT's document reveals that the new Emgrand GSe will boast an energy density up to 182.44Wh/kg, which is by far the highest one among all BEV models that enters the Catalogue. Besides, the Aion S to be launched by GAC New Energy Automobile will feature a range of 180Wh/g.

Compared with the outgoing Emgrand GSe, the combined range of the new model will be increased to 450km from 353km. Besides, the maximum power and peak torque of the new SUV's electric motor will be upgraded to 130kW/270Nm from 120kW/250 Nm. The acceleration time from 0-100km/h is expected to be further shortened from the current 9.9 seconds.

Apart from the upgrades in powertrain and range, the measurement, exterior and interior of the new model will basically remain unchanged from the existing model. Such improvement might be the active adjustment for Geely to cope with the challenge caused by the NEV subsidy phase-out in 2019.
Department stores and florists take center stage at Easter. Mothers make sure their little girls have cute Easter dresses and if they can find one for themselves, well, why not walk out Easter morning in the latest spring fashion.

Card companies and florists love Mothers Day, too. And it used to be that telephone companies experienced a boost in earnings on this holiday because so many people would call their mothers long distance. (Im probably going to have to explain long distance to millennials with cellphones but the long and short of it was that long-distance calls cost extra in the days of landlines.)

Department stores sell all their ugly ties on Fathers Day; oh, and a few screwdrivers, too. Long-distance calls were never a concern on Fathers Day. Kids dont bother to call old dad, unless they need money.

Fireworks are the big sellers on the Fourth of July. Tents and trailers filled with fireworks magically appear overnight on empty lots around the end of June and then disappear July 5. Independence Day keeps the fireworks companies in business.
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AI-based technologies are fundamentally transforming almost every sector, from production of goods to logistics through to medical technology. The large number of possible applications alone is reason enough for public interest. In Dresden Fraunhofer has now founded the Center for Cognitive Production Systems, and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has joined the Technische Universitat Dresden in signing an MoU on the founding of the Center for Explainable and Efficient AI Technologies. The signing was attended by German Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, Minister-President of the Free State of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, and by Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, State Minister for Higher Education, Research and the Arts in Saxony.

Expanding research in a strategically important field

German Federal Minister Karliczek commented: Digitalization will shape our working world even more strongly in the future. Theres a strong call for greater impetus in production technology if we want to stay in the lead against global competition. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is taking on this challenge by founding the Research Center for Cognitive Production Systems. Beyond the leading-edge technologies driving forward this fundamental transformation, Fraunhofer is also instrumental in pursuing another very important perception: the need for dialog with the public.

As Minister-President Kretschmer observed, Innovations in industry and specifically in production technologies are crucial to prosperity and employment in our state of Saxony. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft plays an important role in this context as a major research organization because of its close ties to both companies and topics that will shape our future. The new research center symbolizes the dynamism and optimistic spirit we need to take our industry forward. The Free State of Saxony makes targeted investments in future-oriented projects that build bridges between research and industry, as is the case here in Dresden. Kretschmer expressly thanked Minister Karliczek and the German federal government for their support.

Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, Saxonys State Minister for Higher Education, Research and the Arts, added: The exceptionally equipped Fraunhofer institutes in Dresden are highly sought-after partners in the scientific community and in industry, in Saxony, in Germany and internationally. In this regard, we need only look at the great potential attached to the topics artificial intelligence and cognitive production systems at the heart of Industrie 4.0, which we want to support together. Working with its partners, the Fraunhofer IWU can apply its expertise and wide range of production technologies at many places along the process chain, making essential contributions to tomorrows production facilities.

Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, commented: Cognitive systems play a crucial role in the future transformation of the economy and society. This will lead to fundamental structural changes in both international business and industrial value-creation chains. In view of these developments, it is of primary importance that Germany secure its place as an industrial location at the vanguard of technology and innovations. Founding the Fraunhofer Center for Cognitive Production Systems and the Center for Explainable and Efficient AI Technologies jointly with the Technische Universitat Dresden is an important step toward further progress in these strategically important research fields.

Fraunhofer Center for Cognitive Production Systems

The Fraunhofer Center for Cognitive Production Systems will consolidate the expertise of Chemnitz and Dresden as centers of research and industry in the fields of mechanical engineering and production technologies, as well as in microelectronics and information technologies, creating an interdisciplinary space focused on innovation. Prof. Welf-Guntram Drossel, executive director of the Fraunhofer IWU, said: Cognitive systems allow us to combine the productivity of series production with the resource-efficiency of individual production, taking the best possible path toward sustainable value creation. Being able to offer technology and system knowledge together with the tools and algorithms of artificial intelligence is of primary importance. This is especially true for small and medium-sized companies that can advance Saxonys international competitiveness through new business models and service portfolios. The objective is to connect traditional and innovative production techniques with their respective digital counterparts (digital shadows and digital twins). New and established production methods are being combined to manufacture innovative products with high degrees of design freedom. This results in highly interactive and flexible process chains that must be represented digitally, networked, and rendered manageable using cognitive production systems. Smart microsystems for machines and production plants provide a foundation for achieving this in terms of communications, sensor technologies and actuator technologies.

German federal, state and EU funding totaling 40 million euros is supporting the establishment of the Research Center for Cognitive Production Systems.

Center for Explainable and Efficient AI Technologies

The Center for Explainable and Efficient AI Technologies CEE AI is being sponsored jointly by TU Dresden and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Participation by the TU encompasses the Excellence Cluster Center for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop CETI and other university departments. Participation by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in CEE AI comprises the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS (with its new institute site in Dresden) in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU. They are joined by the newly founded Fraunhofer CPS, the Engineering of Adaptive Systems Division EAS of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI.

The joint center consolidates activities relating to the topic of artificial intelligence in the region. This strengthens particularly the mechanical engineering and microelectronics sectors, both of which are highly concentrated in Dresden. The topical focus of the CEE AI covers explainable AI, in particular modeling of knowledge, and efficient AI, which drives forward High Performance Computing, Big Data and the efficient integration of AI algorithms in company-internal hardware systems.

The Center is headed by Prof. Frank Fitzek of the TU Dresden and Prof. Jens Lehmann from the Fraunhofer IAIS. The establishment of the new institute site enables the Fraunhofer IAIS to bring its leading expertise in the development of artificial intelligence to the Dresden region. The new group led by Prof. Jens Lehmann will focus its research on the area Conversational AI, i.e. the development of intelligent dialog systems, in particular for corporate applications.
Monster Tree Service Awards Territory in Northwest Arkansas

Cindy Capobianco and Mike Jones Bring Nations First and Fastest-Growing Tree Service Franchise to Fayetteville, Rogers and Surrounding Areas

February 21, 2019 // Franchising.com // Rogers, Ark. - Monster Tree Service, the nations first and fastest-growing tree service franchise, is expanding to Northwest Arkansas. Recently featured by SUCCESS Magazine, Thrive Global, and Franchise Times, the Monster Tree Service franchise continues to build on its rapid three-year franchise system growth.

Business entrepreneurs Cindy Capobianco and Mike Jones have purchased the rights to a Monster Tree Service territory in Northwest Arkansas, covering Fayetteville, Bentonville and surrounding areas. The husband-and-wife team aims to officially launch their business in early March.

Capobianco and Jones each possess unique business backgrounds that will contribute to their long-term success at Monster Tree Service. Capobianco has a degree in Food Marketing and worked for Kelloggs for more than 12 years. Throughout her career, she primarily focused on marketing and sales. Jones also worked at Kelloggs, although his background is in supply chain and operations. After earning his MBA, Jones traveled around the country working his way up the corporate ladder with Kelloggs.

The couple was living in Northwest Arkansas when they decided they were ready for a change. After several years of saving, Capobianco and Jones decided to break away from the corporate world and travel full time. For two years, the couple visited 39 states and even lived in Japan and South America for a while. Now, the husband-and-wife team is ready to pursue their next adventure of small business ownership.

We are thrilled to be diving into this new chapter, says Capobianco. We were eager for a new challenge, and franchising just seemed right. We initially heard about the Monster Tree Service franchise opportunity from a franchise broker, and we were intrigued right away. After learning more about the business model and talking with the team at corporate, we felt confident that this was the right investment for us.

Josh Skolnick, CEO and Founder of Monster Tree Service, is confident Capobianco and Jones will be a tremendous asset to the Monster Tree Service franchise.

Mike and Cindy are a perfect fit for the Monster Tree Service franchise opportunity, says Skolnick. He has a good head for business and an entrepreneurial spirit that cant be stopped. She has a great understanding of the needs of their community and can take on any challenge that comes her way. I am confident they will thrive as the newest members of the Monster family. We are glad to have them on our team.

Monster Tree Service is the only franchise tree company capitalizing on the under-served $17 billion tree service industry. Monster Tree Service has achieved consistent year-over-year, five percent growth since 2009, resulting in a $10+ million business. Because its a high-upside opportunity, and a recession-proof business, Monster Tree Service expects to achieve $100 million in sales by 2021.

Monster Tree Service is the perfect franchise for us. The business model plays to both of our strengths and allows us to spend time outdoors, which we love, says Jones. We are very impressed with the amount of corporate support weve received so far  they really are experts in this industry! We cant wait to start giving back to our community through our wide array of services, including tree and limb removal, plant health care, tree maintenance and more.

For more information about Monster Tree Service, please visit http://www.whymonster.com/.

To learn more about CEO Josh Skolnicks vision for Monster Tree Service, please visit https://www.monsterfranchising.com/vision-story.

About Monster Tree Service

Founded in 2008 in Fort Washington, PA by Founder and CEO Josh Skolnick, Monster Tree Service is the first and only national franchise brand serving the $21 billion tree care industry. Over the past decade, Skolnick has aggressively built Monster Tree Service into a thriving national franchise system working day and night to build the company into a $15+ million business with more than 50 franchise partners and 120 territories sold in 25 states. Each Monster Tree Service franchised outlet offers full-scale tree pruning and removal services, including tree pruning and trimming, tree removal, stump grinding, shrub maintenance, emergency services, plant healthcare, and various secondary services.

In stark contrast to various mom and pop style tree service companies, all Monster Tree Service franchise owners are dedicated to Making the world a more beautiful place, one tree at a time by providing homeowners with unparalleled service completed by certified professionals. Monster Tree Service is committed to educating all customers on the natural conditions, diseases and infestations that impact the health of their plants/trees and treating all issues with an environmentally friendly, Do Not Harm approach. Its all part of the Monster Tree Service vision to partner with homeowners across the country to make their trees healthy, strong, and vital.

For more information about Monster Tree Service, please visit http://www.whymonster.com/.

Media Contacts:

Graham Chapman

919-459-8157

gchapman@919marketing.com

SOURCE Monster Tree Service

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The American president will be in the Asian country in May, for the coronation of the new emperor, and at the end of June for the G20 summit. In this way the White House rebalances the Asian allies and dilutes the fears of those who see "too much dialogue" with North Korea.

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - US President Donald Trump will be in Japan twice, on a tight schedule, by early summer 2019, the White House confirmed this morning.

Trump had a long phone call yesterday evening with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and confirmed the dates: at the beginning of May to meet the new emperor (he will be the first foreign leader to have this honor) and at the end of June for the summit of the G20.

The current Crown Prince Naruhito will take possession of the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1st. The dignitaries and foreign leaders present will not be admitted to the formal ceremony - where only some members of the imperial family and members of the Abe government will be present - but will have the opportunity to meet the emperor soon after. Donald Trump will be the first, a decided honor to emphasize the closeness between Japan and the United States.

The confirmation of the two trips also has a high symbolic value. The liberal-democratic government of Tokyo is following the rapprochement between Washington and Pyongyang, historical adversary in the Asia-Pacific, with concern and would like to see a harsher attitude of the Americans towards the North Koreans.

Next week Trump will be in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he will meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Abe yesterday reportedly asked his US counterpart again to "press Pyongyang" to resolve the (suspended) issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea and stop threatening Tokyo with intermediate-range missile drills.
Keller Williams Named Among Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies

Franchise was ranked No. 1 in the real estate category

AUSTIN, Texas - (BUSINESS WIRE) - February 20, 2019 - Keller Williams, the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count and the U.S. leader in units and sales volume, has been named to Fast Companys prestigious annual list of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies (MIC) for 2019.

Keller Williams ranked No. 1 in the real estate and urban development category on the new ranking.

We are excited and honored to be named one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies in 2019, said Gary Keller, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Keller Williams. We are developing our technology in close partnership with our associates  from ideation to design and iterating together through release.

It is this collaboration that drives our greatest opportunities for innovation. As technology continues to reshape our industry, I have never been more excited for the future of our company, said Keller. This is just the beginning.

The Worlds Most Innovative Companies is Fast Companys signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts each year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

This year, Fast Companys editors and writers sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries and every region. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that weve generally associated with startups, said David Lidsky, deputy editor, Fast Company.

In 2015, Keller Williams began its evolution into a technology company, now building the real estate platform that agents' buyers and sellers prefer.

In August 2017, Keller Williams announced a $1 billion fund to fuel all the R&D and M&A required to build the real estate industrys preferred platform. With resources in place, the company remains focused on building technology that allows for the best agent-driven consumer experience.

In Q4 17, the franchise launched KW Labs, the innovation hub of Keller Williams. The company, via Labs, now builds technology that empowers agents to provide the best consumer experience.

In mid-February 2018, Keller Williams debuted Kelle, an AI-powered virtual assistant, created for real estate agents, by real estate agents. At the same time, the company also launched an agent-to-agent referrals network, a skill within Kelle that has since become the largest, most powerful network of real estate professionals.

In partnership with the largest real estate sales force in the world, we are delivering technology that provides our industrys first personalized, one-to-one experience for todays consumer, said Josh Team, president, Keller Williams. Its an exciting time when a company such as Fast Company recognizes us as one of the most innovative companies on the planet, around building better consumer experiences.

In March 2018, the company announced a data partnership with Nextdoor, the trusted communications platform for neighborhoods. Keller Williams is leveraging data insights from Nextdoor to build new powerful experiences for homeowners, home buyers and home sellers exclusively.

With Nextdoor's insights and Keller Williams' artificial intelligence platform, agents are now further empowered to be the local expert, staying abreast of local neighborhood happenings and trends.

Kelle won the Most Innovative Real Estate Technology of 2018 award from Inman News in July 2018. The company has since released many Kelle features and benefits; details available here. By year-end 2018, more than 151,000 Keller Williams associates had downloaded Kelle.

In 2018, Keller Williams also acquired Smarter Agent, the most widely used mobile SaaS platform in real estate. The franchise also announced key technology R&D partnerships with KUNGFU.AI and CognitiveScale. In addition, KW Labs won the inaugural National Association of REALTORS Hackathon.

During 2018, through the Labs process, the company began an iterative rollout of Command  a smart CRM-plus solution for agents to power their business. More than 20,000 agents participated in early beta versions of Command, which became generally available to all KW associates at Family Reunion, an annual user conference for Keller Williams in February 2019.

Keller Williams is also releasing a new consumer app in late Q2 19. The new home search experience will empower agents and consumers alike, uniting them inside one central point for communication, on-demand information and collaboration.

Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies issue is available online and in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning February 27.

Congratulations, Keller Williams. You are a technology company, said Keller at Family Reunion.

About Keller Williams

Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams, the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count, has more than 1,000 offices and 180,000 associates. The franchise is also No. 1 in units and sales volume in the United States.

In 2015, Keller Williams began its evolution into a technology company, now building the real estate platform that agents' buyers and sellers prefer. Since 1983, the company has cultivated an agent-centric, technology-driven and education-based culture that rewards agents as stakeholders. For more information, visit kw.com.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies and thinkers on the future of business.

Since 2011, Fast Company has received some of the most prestigious editorial and design accolades, including the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) National Magazine Award for Magazine Of The Year, Adweeks Hot List for Hottest Business Publication, and six gold medals and 10 silver medals from the Society of Publication Designers. For more information, visit fastcompany.com.

Media Contacts:

Darryl Frost

Office: (254) 466-3627

Darryl.frost@kw.com

SOURCE Keller Williams

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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.
The event was held between 15 and 17 February. The seminar began 10 years ago as a way for men and women religious in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu to work together. Five years later, organisers opened it to other dioceses in the country and abroad. Six female religious congregations and eight male orders are present at this year's edition.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/HeraldMalaysia)  A seminar on vocations was held at the Pace Bene retreat centre in Kampung Purak, Papar District (Sabah State) between 15 and 17 February.

It brought together 162 religious (62 men and 100 women) from various parishes in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, the Diocese of Keningau and even neighbouring Brunei.

Fr Thomas Paul, of the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St Gabriel (SG) led the event, which was organised by the Council of Religious (COR) of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu.

Organising committee member Fr Valentine Gompok (OFM Cap) said that COR started this vocational seminar ten years ago as a way for the various congregations to work together to serve the Archdiocese and promote vocations.

Five years later, the Committee invited more congregations from other Malaysian dioceses. This year, for the first time, the Order of the Pious Schools (Scolopi) obtained permission from the archbishop to participate.

Six female religious congregations and eight male orders were present in Kampung Purak to show or share their respective charisma and mission.

The seminar began with an opening Mass, concelebrated by six priests from different religious communities.

The following day, Fr Gompok held a symposium on the topic of vocation to the consecrated life in which he stressed the importance of prayer and vows. Br Egbertus Jaikol FSC contributed by speaking about vocational discernment. On the last day of the seminar, Fr Raphael (OFM Cap) Involved the participants in another discussion about spiritual life.

During the seminar, participants shared the task of cleaning the refectory and washing the dishes after each meal.

The event also included group activities, praise and worship, personal and community prayers, an hour of adoration and other time dedicated to spiritual direction.
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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- It's been one year since the shooting death of Mobile Police Officer Justin Billa. Gunned down in the line of duty on February 20, 2018 -- the Port City is reflecting on his service and ultimate sacrifice.

FOX 10 News is also looking back on those intense days from last February, through the eyes of two of our former reporters who were a big part of our extensive coverage: Alexa Knowles and Devan Coffaro. Both have moved on -- Alexa in Greenville, South Carolina and Devan at home in Tampa.

"It's hard to believe it's been a year. The whole month of February I've been thinking about it... Anticipating the one year mark of such a sad day," recalled Devan.

Alexa was the first one on the scene.

"We were at the first crime scene where a woman's body was found. It was a homicide. Then all of a sudden all of the officers left in a hurry, so we followed," recalled Alexa.

Amid the blue flashing lights -- she recalls the chaotic moments following the shooting.

"The second we got there -- I saw the ambulance and I saw what I thought was an MPD officer being loaded into an ambulance and I had no idea what was going on," said Alexa.

It didn't take long to figure out something very serious had went down.

"I could feel it. I could feel the danger. It was in the air. It was really hard to explain... I remember looking at my photographer saying -- I think we are going to be here all night... And we were," said Alexa.

Hours later -- they learned MPD was mourning one of their own.

"Officer Justin Billa did not survive his injuries," Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste told the media in the early morning hours of February 21st.

Something Alexa recalls already knowing.

"I had that feeling... Because I could see it in the officers' faces that were on the scene, who were securing the scene. They knew but the weren't telling us, but they didn't have to because I could see it in their faces," said Alexa.

Billa was shot and killed while assisting in the apprehension of Robert Hollie, 72, who had barricaded himself inside his home on Avondale Court after killing his ex-wife 58-year-old Fonda Poellnitz. Her body was found earlier that night on West Ridge Road at Redmond Street. According to police, Hollie stole her vehicle and drove to his home on Avondale Court, where he shot and killed Officer Billa. After a standoff with police, Hollie was found dead inside his home.

Like most people, Devan found out early the next morning.

"I just remember waking up that morning and I had all of the push alerts from FOX 10, the app, saying what had happened. First it was a homicide investigation, then a double homicide involving an officer. I just remember throughout the day, every single new detail was just more and more heartbreaking," said Devan.

The community learned Officer Billa had a wife Erin and one year old son Taylor. He also had the heart of a hero. FOX 10 News interviewed him when he was just 6 months on the job a little more than a year earlier. In the interview he told us he always wanted to be a police officer and to help people.

"We need to go back toyou know helping people instead of just taking them into jail -- and creating bigger problems," said Ofc. Billa.

In the days that followed, the Port City stood still, Mobile lighting up blue -- as people lined the streets for Billa's honor escort.

"I kind of have chills again because there were at points no words to describe what I was seeing. There were so many people and there were so many signs and people were in tears. I just felt like the camera was not capturing evrything," said Alexa.

"Us being in the news business... It was our job to cover it and I remember just almost being on an adrenaline rush that day trying to find out what happened, and trying to find out the details," said Devan.

It was clear officer Billa's death had an impact on so many people including 3-year-old DJ Rogers from Jackson, Alabama. He too saw the story. According to his parents every time Billa's photo would come on tv, DJ would pray. DJ wants to be a police officer and they took a picture of him praying dressed in a police uniform with Officer Billa's picture on tv in the background. The picture caught our attention after the family posted it on social media.

I remember seeing it on Facebook. It was so sweet. He was in his little police uniform," said Devan. "We went up to Jackson and interviewed him. We talked with him about it. He was so young you could tell he didn't really grasp 100% what happened. He was looking through the mind of a child, just how he looked up to him and how he wanted to pray for him and his family. And that is really what touched me. You saw him at the end -- he did his little salute at the end for Officer Justin Billa and his family and said he wanted to pray for him," said Devan.

A year later, answers are hard still to come by. While no longer in the business, both Alexa and Devan tell us it's a story they'll never forget and hope as the years go by Officer Billa's sacrifice is always remembered.

"I don't think there has been anything that has brought our community in so much solidarity than that. Unfortunately -- we saw that because an officer died," said Alexa.

"You know I hope as the years go by he's not forgotten and I don't think he will be because Erin's doing a great job with her foundation," said Devan. "I also hope people respect the officers who are putting themselves in danger to protect the community. Here is an officer who was doing just that -- trying to help people and died while doing his job."
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- Mobile is marking one year since the death of police officer Justin Billa.

Officer Billa was killed in the line of duty on February 20, 2018. He was shot during a standoff with a man who had killed a woman earlier that night.

Billa had just joined the Mobile Police Department in January 2016, and six months later was named Officer of the Month.

Public Safety Director James Barber said at the funeral, "At the end of his watch, a part of that which is America died with him."

Billa was eulogized as a hero who talked of his vocation with family and friends.

Wednesday, a Mobile business honored Officer Billa and Officer Sean Tuder, who was killed in action this year.

Yellowhammer Coffee gave free coffee and beverages to police officers, saying it wanted to do something, even in a small way, to say, 'Thank you.'

Manager Samuel Wyatt said, "We can't understand what they go through every day, what their families go through every day and, you say 'hello' to them in the morning, you kiss them goodbye and, then, they're gone, and they could come back, they could not."
UPDATE at 1:45 P.M.: The accident scene is clear, and all travel lanes of the I-10 Bayway are open.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Interstate 10 eastbound lanes at mile 29.8 on the Bayway were completely blocked at mid-morning Thursday because of an accident.

Conditions were quite foggy at the time of the accident, around 10 a.m. Shortly before 11 a.m., one lane had reopened.

At 1 p.m., wreck vehicles were not yet cleared from the right lane.

This is between the Wallace Tunnel and Causeway Exit 30.

Mobile Fire-Rescue reported via twitter that the accident involved an entrapment. An 18-wheeler and multiple vehicles were involved, MFRD said.

An MFRD spokesman told FOX10 News that one person was transported by private ambulance to University Hospital with a minor leg injury.

Motorists were warned to expect heavy delays and advised to avoid the area to "allow responders to safely operate the emergency scene."
MOBILE, Ala. -- For the second time in two days a student in Mobile County Public Schools has been found with a gun.

The latest incident happened Wednesday afternoon involving a 16 year old student found with a gun on a school bus.

Both Mobile Police and Mobile County Public School Officials say the gun was found aboard a school bus in a parking lot at Azalea Road and Airport Boulevard about 3 pm.

Police say the incident involved a 16 year old from Chastang Middle School.

School system officials say the student brought an unloaded gun onto a school bus Wednesday.

They say the student got the gun from somewhere off campus and another student saw him get it, put it in his waistband, and get on the bus.

School officials say, at some point, the student put it in a book bag and thats where police found it.

A parent, however, did tell FOX10 she was upset she wasn't notified about the incident Wednesday.

Rena Philips, the Director of Communication for the Mobile County Public School System, said, "The administration at the school acted quickly. They were able to get the bus route supervisor on the phone with the bus driver and, within minutes, they told the bus driver to just act calm, there's a student with a gun on your bus, just pull over, act like its a mechanical issue. He did. Police met him here we were able to retrieve the gun with no incident and the student was arrested."

The school system's Director of Security, Andy Gatewood, said, "We always tell the students if you see something, say something, and that's exactly what happened in this particular situation."

A parent, however, did tell FOX10 she was upset she wasn't notified about the incident Wednesday.

Francis Parker said, "I felt like the guy called his supervisor, the guy that was on the bus called his supervisor, the supervisor should have informed the school and the school should have informed the parents. Anything could have happened.

School system officials say the principal did notify parents on an automated system.

They say the unloaded gun never made it into the school building itself, no one was threatened, and the student, per policy, is suspended and recommended for expulsion.

On Tuesday, a Murphy High School student was arrested for having a gun on campus.

School officials say the tenth-grader was in a bathroom with other students playing dice when he was found with the gun.

They say the gun was not loaded.
Pope Francis introduces the meeting (21-24 February) on the protection of minors from abuses perpetrated by members of the Church. Courage and concrete measures arrived at in a "synodal way". The testimony of an abused boy: "Why did God not listen to me?".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice ": this is the appeal with which Pope Francis opened the meeting on "The protection of minors in the Church", which from today to February 24th would like find ways to "face this evil that afflicts the Church and humanity", or the "plague of sexual abuses perpetrated by men of the Church to the detriment of minors".

190 new people are gathered in the new Synod hall, including presidents of world episcopal conferences, heads of Eastern Churches, representatives of the Union of Superiors General and of the International Union of Superiors General. Also present were members of the Roman Curia and the Council of Cardinals.

The Pope emphasized that the three days of the meeting, conducted "in a synodal manner", must respond to the " The holy People of God who looks to us, and expects from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to be undertaken. We need to be concrete." He asked everyone for "great parrhesia", "courage and concreteness". And he concluded with a request that "the Holy Spirit to sustain us throughout these days, and to help us to turn this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification".

The meeting began at 9am this morning with a prayer. After a short reading a brief testimony of a young man who had been abused: "Nobody listened to me; neither my parents, nor my friends, nor later the ecclesiastical authorities. They did not listen to me and my tears. And I wonder: why? And I wonder, why did not God hear me? ". A deep and long silence fell on the assembly. Each day will hear with video-testimonials. The pontiff asked that the meetings be first of all moments of "listening to the victims".
AUBURN, Ala. -- The deceased female suspect connected by police to last week's officer-involved shooting in Auburn has been identified.

WRBL-TV in Columbus, Ga., reports that the Lee County Coroner's Office in Alabama identified the deceased woman as 36-year-old Erica Renee Miller, whose last known residence was in Eufaula.

Authorities believe Miller died in a murder-suicide along with 38-year-old Christopher James Wallace while the two were inside an apartment building surrounded by police. The two were tracked to that nearby location after they allegedly were involved in a shootout with an Auburn police officer on Friday, Feb. 15.

The wounded officer is Justin Sanders, 30, who was shot while in the 1100 block of Opelika Road, where he had stopped Wallace and Miller, who were suspected in a robbery, according to officials.

Police said 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.
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- A West Mobile couple was arrested and charged with trafficking marijuana after undercover narcotics deputies raided their home and found 60 marijuana plants in their shed.

The Mobile County Sheriff's Office said it executed a search warrant after receiving an anonymous tip. Deputies raided the home on Maryknoll Drive on Wednesday morning.

Investigators arrested Jaclyn Forbes and Jessie Forbes after they said they found the plant, marijuana candy, and vape oil. Along with the trafficking charges, the couple was charged with chemical endangerment of a child because a child under the age of 16 was also in the home.
CHICKASAW, Ala. (WALA) -- Chickasaw Police are searching for a man who broke into four vehicles over two days.

Investigators said the first crime was on Monday, February 18, when the man stole items from a vehicle parked at Chickasaw High School.

The next day, Police believe the same person broke into three vehicles parked at Danhart Inc. on Highway 43. Officers said the man stole a 9mm handgun from one of those vehicles.

Police said the suspect was seen in a blue Nissan Altima with an unknown type of decal on the passenger window.

Anyone who can help identify the man is asked to call Chickasaw Police at 251-452-0571. Investigators said you can remain anonymous.
Ford Motor Company's (NYSE:F) rolling global restructuring has arrived in South America. The Blue Oval said on Tuesday that it will close a truck factory in Brazil and discontinue sales of heavy trucks in the region, the latest step in its ongoing effort to improve profitability in its operations around the world.

What Ford said: Another unprofitable product line is cut

Ford said after "months of pursuing viable alternatives," it has decided to stop selling heavy commercial trucks in South America, and to close the factory in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, that builds the trucks, because it sees no clear path to sustainable profitability in the business.

Ford's Sao Bernardo Assembly Plant employs about 2,800 people. In addition to commercial trucks -- the Ford Cargo line, the F-4000, and an older version of the F-350 Super Duty that is sold as a work truck -- the factory also builds the subcompact Fiesta for the South American market. Production of all of those vehicles will end later this year, Ford said, and sales of those models in South America will cease once inventories are sold.

Ford said that it explored alternatives that would have kept the plant open, including partnerships with other automakers and an outright sale of the operation. But, the company said, it concluded that it would have to make significant investments in its heavy-truck business to keep pace with the market, and those investments would not have made the business profitable.

In a statement, Ford South America chief Lyle Watters emphasized that the decision does not mean that Ford is leaving the South American market.

"Ford is committed to the South American region by building a sustainable and profitable business with strengthened product offerings, outstanding customer experience, and a leaner more agile business model," Watters said. "We know this action will have a major impact on our employees in Sao Bernardo and we will be working closely with all our stakeholders on the next steps."

Watters said that Ford will continue to provide parts and service in the region for the models that are being discontinued.

What it means: The "redesign" is underway

Ford CEO Jim Hackett has been working to "redesign" the company to make it leaner, more nimble, and more profitable. As part of that effort, Ford has already begun rolling out major changes to its operations in North America, China, and Europe.

It has been clear for at least several months now that Ford would give its South American operation a similar overhaul. Ford lost $678 million in the region in 2018, despite significant cost reductions and pricing gains -- a clear sign that more action was needed.

Check out the latest Ford earnings call transcript.

In a presentation to investors in January, Ford global markets chief Jim Farley said that Ford's business model in the region "needs to fundamentally change." He said that a "redesign" of Ford's South American operation was already in progress.

"We have been very focused on reducing structural cost and improving efficiency [in South America]," Farley said, noting that Ford South America reduced its headcount by 20% in 2018, and that it will move ahead with plans to discontinue the compact Focus in the region this year. "You can expect further news from us in South America over the course of this year," he said.

The decisions to close the Sao Bernardo Assembly Plant, to exit the commercial-truck business, and to discontinue the Fiesta all count as major moves. But Ford isn't done revamping its South American business: As Farley said, expect further news as the year unfolds.
After years of being stuck behind the curtain of prohibition, the legal cannabis industry is finally thriving. In October, Canada became the first industrialized country, and the second overall behind Uruguay, to legalize recreational pot. It was followed not long after by a handful of U.S. states legalizing or expanding access to cannabis in the November midterm elections, and President Trump signing the Farm Bill into law in December, giving the green light to hemp and hemp-based products.

Just how big could the legal weed industry be? While estimates are all over the place, investment firm Cowen Group offers the most robust sales prediction of $75 billion in worldwide sales by 2030. Meanwhile, a co-authored report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics is calling for $31.3 billion in global sales by 2022, up from $12.8 billion in 2018.

Figures like these are what has made Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) the most popular stock among millennial investors on free-trading app Robinhood. However, there's probably also no stock that's more polarizing to investors as a whole than Aurora Cannabis. You either think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, or you find it grossly overvalued, with few if any investors taking a middle-of-the-road stance.

Three very good reasons Aurora Cannabis could make you rich

With this in mind, below you'll find three arguments in favor of buying one of the largest publicly traded pot stocks in the world. Afterwards, I'll tackle three arguments against buying Aurora Cannabis.

If there's a clear top reason to buy into the Aurora Cannabis growth story, it's the company's peak production potential. Although Aurora's management team has guided to "in excess of 500,000 kilograms" annually when running on all cylinders, it's hard to see the company near a figure this low. Rather, management had been calling for 570,000 kilos prior to the purchase of ICC Labs in South America for 264 million Canadian dollars late last year. With 92,000 square feet of existing production and 1.1 million square feet of under-construction greenhouse capacity, ICC Labs should help push Aurora close to 700,000 kilograms per year.

Even though production isn't everything, the company's sheer amount of annual output should help lead to ample long-term supply deals with domestic provinces and overseas countries where medical weed is legal. Also, the cannabis industry tends to benefit from economies of scale. This suggests that as production rises, Aurora's per-gram production costs should fall.

Also, Aurora has perhaps the most impressive overseas footprint of any marijuana grower. Having recently reported its quarterly results, Aurora now has a presence in 23 countries on five continents. Being able to export weed to overseas markets will become incredibly important by early next decade when growers are fully operational and licensed, and domestic output handily outpaces Canadian demand. In order to avoid a serious decline in per-gram dried flower pricing, growers need foreign outlets to sell their product. Aurora has done a remarkable job of finding these outlets, which should help somewhat shield it from a decline in dried cannabis flower pricing.

The third reason Aurora Cannabis looks to be a buy is the company's focus on the medical marijuana community. Whereas a substantial majority of Canopy Growth's sales in its most recent quarter were from the recreational side of the business, Aurora still counted more medical weed sales (CA$26 million) than adult-use sales (CA$21.6 million) in its latest quarter. Though the consumer pool is smaller for medical marijuana, the product margins tend to be significantly higher. That's because medical weed patients are more willing to purchase higher-margin alternative consumption options, such as softgel capsules, oil products, and eventually cannabis-infused beverages and/or edibles. By making medical marijuana patients a priority, Aurora appears to be setting itself up for superior operating margins.

Three arguments why Aurora will send its investors to the poor house

Of course, there are two sides to every argument. Here's a look under the hood at why Aurora Cannabis may not be such a blazing-hot buy.

To begin with, it's a company that's been blessed with a couple of quarters of profitability due to one-time benefits, but that's been losing money hand over fist on an operating basis. As an active acquirer and company that's aiming to expand overseas, Aurora's expenses to construct and retrofit greenhouses, and establish overseas sales channels, are immense. Mind you, this doesn't include growing costs for sales and marketing, the addition of new employees, and the ongoing focus on branding and innovation. In other words, it could be some time before Aurora Cannabis is generating a meaningful per-share profit, and an operating profit without the aid of one-time benefits.

Secondly, Aurora Cannabis remains in the shadows in the partnership department. Whereas Canopy Growth landed a $4 billion equity investment from Constellation Brands, Cronos Group snagged a $1.8 billion equity stake from Altria, and HEXO formed a joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing, the largest producer by peak output is still by itself in the corner. There were reports that Coca-Cola was interested in a partnership or possible equity stake in Aurora this past September, but a deal was never reached. Without a brand-name partner with a keen marketing prowess, Aurora could struggle to gain the same validity as its peers.

Third and finally -- and you knew this was coming -- there's the ongoing share-based dilution. Until recently, pot stocks have had minimal or no access to nondilutive forms of financing, such as lines of credit or bank loans. Instead, they've often turned to bought-deal offerings, which involve selling common stock, convertible debentures, options, and/or warrants to raise capital to undertake their expansion strategy. While these offerings are successful, they also wind up ballooning a company's outstanding share count, which weighs on existing investors and pushes down the earnings per share of profitable companies. Aurora's outstanding share count is now just a stone's throw from 1 billion when it was at 16 million less than five years ago.

The only question left to ask is: Which side of the aisle do you fall on with Aurora Cannabis?

Check out the latest earnings call transcripts for companies we cover.
Investors with a portfolio of high-quality, high-yield dividend stocks are poised to generate impressive returns over the long run. But not all dividend stocks are created equal, and some high-yield stocks might not be sustainable.

Because it can be difficult to pick top dividend stocks, three Motley Fool contributors suggest you take a look at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY), and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F). Here's why.

Check out the latest earnings call transcript for Ford, Coty, and BofA.

Bank on this dividend

Jordan Wathen (Bank of America): Bigger is better in the banking industry, and investors would be well-served to take another look at the United States' second-largest bank (by assets).

Bank of America as we know it today isn't the Bank of America of years gone by. In the decade since the 2008 financial crisis, the bank has de-risked its balance sheet by cutting back on riskier consumer loans like credit cards, which were responsible for some of the bank's largest losses in the last downturn, largely replacing them with safer commercial loans.

What Bank of America lacks in organic growth potential (large banks can't grow assets much faster than growth in gross domestic product), it makes up with efficiency. In each of the last 16 quarters, Bank of America's revenue has grown at a faster rate than operating expenses, leading to wider margins and larger profit.

Like many large banks, Bank of America pays out nearly all its income to shareholders. Last year, it returned about 95% of its income to shareholders in the form of dividends (20%) and share repurchases (75%). Dividend growth should be powered by a gradual increase in the dividend (the bank could comfortably pay out 30% of earnings in cash) and a reduction of shares outstanding, which will drive earnings growth on a per-share basis.

A turnaround play in cosmetics

Jeremy Bowman (Coty): One stock I've been intrigued by lately is Coty, a global cosmetics maker and the parent of Cover Girl and Max Factor. It also makes cosmetics and fragrances under licenses from brands such as Calvin Klein and Tiffany.

Coty offers a dividend yield of 4.5%, and the stock is in the midst of a turnaround after new management came on board last month. In fact, the stock has surged nearly 50% after the company's second-quarter earnings report topped expectations, and it then received a tender offer from JAB Holding Co., the European investment giant that controls Keurig Dr Pepper, Panera Bread, and a number of other food and beverage companies. JAB sought to up its stake in Coty from 40% to 60% at a price of $11.65, about a 6% premium from where the stock trades at this writing.

JAB's bid should, at the very least, put a floor on the stock over the near term. And there's a good chance of it being accepted; Coty's new CEO came from another JAB-held company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, a diversified coffee company where he was also CEO.

Coty's recent rally may lead investors to think they've already missed out, but the stock is still down significantly over the last three years, as the company has struggled to integrate the 43 brands including Cover Girl that it acquired from Procter & Gamble in 2015. Nonetheless, its luxury segment remains strong, and the overall industry is experiencing tailwinds, as recent results from P&G's beauty division and Estee Lauder indicate.

Coty remains a risky bet, but with JAB's backing, the stock could easily climb, and investors can take advantage of a generous dividend yield.

A juicy dividend yield

Daniel Miller (Ford Motor Company): Investors looking through the markets for top dividend stocks should take a second look at Detroit's second-largest automaker, Ford. There's no doubt that Ford faces challenges overseas, especially in China, and its North America profit engine is currently slowing down this cycle. However, its dividend is a very enticing 6.8% yield and its consensus forward price-to-earnings ratio of 7 suggests that much of the global negativity is priced into its stock already.

The important thing for investors is that Ford's dividend should be sustainable despite its high yield and current global headwinds. Remember that Ford ended 2018 with cash and liquidity balances above its respective targets of $20 billion and $30 billion. Also recall that Ford will be using more cash generation from Ford Credit to fund its capital expenditures and dividend, rather than reinvesting that cash back into Ford Credit as it has in the past, making the dividend more sustainable.

To help offset current headwinds, management is also making a number of moves to help improve its financial results. One example was its recent announcement to exit the heavy-truck business in South America, which it considered a milestone in the global redesign of Ford and a step toward turning a profit in the region. Ford is also reducing structural costs across its business, freshening its vehicle portfolio, and doubling down on its most profitable vehicle segments while improving or exiting less profitable segments and markets.

Ford is cheap for a reason; its North America profit engine is slowing down this cycle, and it's struggling to turn a profit overseas. But its juicy 6.8% dividend yield is well-supported, and investors can scoop up shares right now at a cheap price-to-earnings ratio.
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At the Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit 2018 OnePlus announced that its next flagship will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform and the company will release a commercial 5G smartphone with carrier network EE in the UK in 2019. Earlier this week it announced that it will showcase its first 5G prototype smartphone at MWC 2019 next week. Today the company has announced a partnership with leading Finnish telecommunications network carrier Elisa to launch a 5G device during the second quarter this year, making it among the first 5G devices in the Finnish market.

Elisa was OnePlus first-ever carrier partner, and OnePlus has been the best-selling device for the last 26 months. Elisa will also be amongst the first to launch a commercial 5G network in Finland 5G network since it has 5G-ready networks in Tampere, Jyvaskyla, Turku and Helsinki in the city centers, and is building 5G networks in different parts of Finland.

Pete Lau, CEO and founder of OnePlus, said:

5G is a revolution which can bring change far beyond the technology industry, for people everywhere, for everything from gaming through to mixed reality apps, healthcare, and much more. Weve worked hard to lead 5G innovation as this new era starts, working closely with partners like Elisa to create something special. 5G is the catalyst which allows us to reimagine the future.

Elisa director Antti Ihanainen, said:

Elisa has one the most developed networks, and we started building 5G network among the first in the world. We want to offer our customers the best possible devices to enjoy the benefits of 5G. OnePlus is a good and natural partner to us, they offer an excellent operating system and devices that are for example great for gaming. 5Gs improved speed, better latency, and increased capacity unlocks a new world of possibilities. Cloud gaming will become a reality with high-end graphics delivered by a combination of cloud computing and device-side processing  high quality gaming will no longer be limited to your home or on expensive laptops/consoles. Combined with powerful OnePlus devices, people will be able to play advanced games on the fly with the power of 5G.
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Geographic area Afghanistan Africa Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia Central America Central Asia China East Asia East Timor Europe Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Macau Malaysia Middle East Mongolia Myanmar Nepal North America North Asia North Korea Oceania Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South America South Asia South East Asia South Korea South West Asia Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
Samsung has started rolling out the Android 9.0 Pie beta update based on One UI to the Galaxy A7 (2018). Owners of the phone can register for the Android Pie/One UI beta program in India, as the over-the-air update has already started rolling out.

The Galaxy A7 (2018) is the first mid-range phone that Samsung started testing Pie for. While Samsung has not officially announced anything about the beta update, screenshot for the Pie beta OTA on various forums act as proof for the reports that Samsung is indeed rolling out the Pie beta update and allowing owners of the phone to test the next version of Android.

If you are an A7 (2018) user, head over to Samsung Members app and go into the Notices section. Here, you would see a notification of the beta program. list. Tap that, then use the Register button to enroll in the beta. Once youve registered, you should be able to download the first Pie beta from the Software update menu of the Settings app by tapping the Download updates manually option. The first beta includes the February 2019 security patch.

Source
The public sector is saturated and cannot absorb employment requests. For 2019 the government will spend 52 billion in salaries and pensions, an increase of 15% over the previous year. It is essential to relaunch private individual businesses and industry, taking advantage of modern technologies. Appeal to banks: interest-free loans and aid for young people.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Trapped between an endless waiting list for government work and a still fragile private sector, Iraqi entrepreneurs - especially young people - are trying to respond to high unemployment by creating their own start-ups.

The first signs of this new creative spirit - now widespread in the West, but still in its infancy in different areas of the Middle East (excluding Israel) - had emerged in 2013; however, the rise of the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis) had led to the suspension of many projects ready to leave.

Now, with the military defeat of the Caliphate, coworking spaces grow to flourish in a nation where the unemployment rate is around 10% and the public sector is already overloaded - and in debt  with perseonnel. And many of the new entrepreneurs and innovators start their journey into the business world in a glass building in central Baghdad: The Station.

Inside, between a cup of coffee and shelves full of books - that the jihadists wanted to burn - new ideas and projects take shape, discussions are held around the shared desks, while young fashionable Iraqis click on their laptops. "We are looking to create a new generation - underlines the executive director Haidar Hamzoz - with a different mentality".

In an interview with the AFP he says "We want to tell the young people that they can start their projects, reach their dreams, and not just rejoice for a government job that, perhaps, they do not even want". Moreover, the youth population in Iraq accounts for 60% of the total of 40 million inhabitants and, after graduation, most wait years waiting for a call from a public office or for a government contract, the country's main employer .

According to the World Bank, in recent years four out of five new jobs come from the public sector. For the 2019 budget, the government expects to spend $ 52 billion in salaries, pensions and social assistance for its workers, an increase of 15% over the previous year and equal to half of the total budget.

However, the state cannot meet all the demands and again according to data from the WB 17% of the males and 27% among the women (of young age) remain without work. A long-standing problem relaunched in recent days also by the Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, in his speech at the 55th edition of the Security Conference in Munich (Germany), in which he invoked new "job opportunities for young people".

When the Islamic State conquered power and territory in northern Iraq in 2014, raising Mosul to capital, Saleh Mahmud was one of hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee to escape jihadist folly. As he left, he had to forcefully close one of the very few start-up coworking hubs in the northern metropolis. With the expulsion of the militia in 2017, he returned and re-opened his doors. "About 600, 700 young people - says the 23 year old - have already passed through Mosul space" to take part in seminars or meetings to start up the business.

Another start-up, Dakkakena, tries to capitalize on the spirit of rebirth. It is a network marketplace specialized in home delivery of goods and products, for dozens of families who have returned after the war. "On the web - underlines the 27 year old founder Yussef al-Noaime, who borrowed the idea during the years of exile in Holland - we can sell at lower prices than shops, because we have lower costs". A similar service, Miswag, was born in Baghdad in 2014 and last year had hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.

The industry pioneers explain that there are two elements to start with: the public sector is saturated and oil is not the only resource for Iraq. "The banks - concludes the 26 year old startupper Tamara Raad - play an essential role. They have to make loans without interest and help young entrepreneurs ".
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...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 8 PM EDT SUNDAY... * WHAT...Heat index values of 95 to 99 degrees expected. * WHERE...Monroe, Wayne, Northern Cayuga, Oswego, Genesee, Livingston, and Ontario counties. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 8 PM EDT Sunday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. &&
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday a woman born in the United States who joined the Islamic State militant group did not qualify for U.S.

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday a woman born in the United States who joined the Islamic State militant group did not qualify for U.S. citizenship and had no legal basis to return to the country.

Hoda Muthana, 24, travelled to Syria over four years ago to join Islamic State, also known as ISIS. She married a succession of Islamic State fighters and went on Twitter to encourage attacks on the West.

In media interviews this week from a detention camp in Syria, Muthana said she was sorry for her actions and wanted to return to her family in Alabama with her toddler son.

Pompeo said Muthana was not a U.S. citizen and would not be admitted into the United States.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," Pompeo said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter he had directed Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!"

Pompeos statement did not explain why the State Department did not consider Muthana a U.S. citizen.

The action followed Britain's move to revoke the citizenship of a teenager after she joined Islamic State, citing security concerns.

14TH AMENDMENT

The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but U.S. officials appeared to be basing their position on an exception in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

Muthanas father was a Yemeni diplomat, working in the United States. Children born in the United States to accredited diplomats, under the 14th Amendment, do not acquire citizenship since they are not "born ... subject to the jurisdiction of the United States," according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Hassan Shibly, a representative for the Muthana family and a staff member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tweeted that she was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in October 1994, months after her father informed the U.S. government he was no longer a diplomat.

Charles Swift, director of the Constitutional Law Centre for Muslims in America, said her father's revocation of his diplomatic status meant Hoda Muthana was a U.S. citizen. Swift said he planned to file a lawsuit over her case.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
by Sumon Corraya

The flames broke out in the area of Chawkbazar overnight, the historic district of the capital. The area is packed with shops and perfume factories. In 2010, the authorities banned warehouses.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - At least 70 confirmed dead and 41 wounded: this is the toll from a fire that broke out overnight in the Chawkbazar area, in Dhaka.

Although the causes of the fire are still to be ascertained, an editorial in the local newspaper The Daily Star already speaks of "pre-announced disaster": the flames spread from the ground floor of a building used as a warehouse for highly flammable chemicals.

At the scene of the accident, besides the bitter smell of charred remains, there is a heavy smell of perfume. Speaking to AsiaNews, Shydul Hossian, owner of a destroyed shop, said: "At the time of the fire I was not in the shop. I heard people screaming 'Fire, fire' and I rushed. Everything was on fire. One of my employees is missing. I do not know what happened to him. "

The flames broke out around 10:30 pm last night. It took 37 firefighting teams to put it out around 3am this morning and they are still searching for missing people. The bodies of the victims were transported to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Relatives are gathering in the hospital area, but for now the authorities do not allow them to see the dead. Families are desperate and cry for pain. Dalwar Hossain reports that his brother died in the flames. "He worked in a shop in Chawkbazar. We are waiting to see the body of my beloved brother ".

Chawkbazar is a historic district of the capital, in the Old Dhaka area. The area is packed with shops, factories and warehouses, mainly used to store the chemical components used in the cosmetics industry, which is flourishing here.

Although in 2010 the authorities banned warehouses such as the one that went up in flames, poor controls and poor regulation facilitate accidents. The most serious is that occurred at the Rana Plaza complex in 2013, in which a fire and the subsequent collapse of the building caused the death of over 1,300 people.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that 'I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!'

Washington: An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria won't be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US said Wednesday. Her lawyer is challenging that claim. In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

"Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States." But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," said Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for." Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State. Shibly said that the administration argues that she didn't qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

He released a copy of the woman's birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on 28 October, 1994, to support his claim. The lawyer also provided to The Associated Press a letter from the US Mission to the United Nations to what was then known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services attesting to the fact that the woman's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission to the UN from 15 October, 1990 to 1 September, 1994.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that "I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!" The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the US has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq. Muthana's lawyer said she was "just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman," when she became enamoured of Islamic State, believing it was an organization that protected Muslims. Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was "brainwashed" by IS and compelled to marry one of the group's soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she "became disenchanted with the marriage," and decided to escape, the lawyer said. Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the government's decision to deny her entry to the country. Muthana's status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one US official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official would not elaborate but said Pompeo's statement was based on the lawyers' conclusions. The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Muthana's case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the US to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.

However, Muthana's case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a US passport. Passports are only issued to citizens by birth or naturalization, according to Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who has studied the phenomenon of foreign Islamic State fighters and families. Hughes said the decision is also unusual because it comes just days after the Trump administration urged European nations to repatriate extremists from Syria as the Islamic State nears collapse. "If you are trying to make the case that others should take back their people, it stands to reason that you would do that, too," he said.

Muthana, who says she dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son, her lawyer said. In a letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made "a big mistake" by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State. "During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me," she wrote. "To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."
Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday

Washington: A US Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a target list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures has been arrested on firearms and drug charges.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday.

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," US District Attorney Robert Hur said in a motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," Hur said.

Hasson, who was arrested on Friday, is being held on drug charges and for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition. The US Attorney's office said 15 guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hasson's cramped basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with illegal drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone.

Prosecutors said Hasson identified himself as a "White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland."

Hasson routinely perused portions of the "Breivik manifesto" on amassing firearms and how to compile a list of targets, they said.

Among the documents seized, according to prosecutors, was a draft letter to an unidentified American neo-Nazi leader in which Hasson described himself as a "long time White Nationalist" and a "man of action."

A spreadsheet of potential targets compiled by Hasson included Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats in the House and Senate.

Media personalities on the list included CNN's Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo and MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough. Prosecutors said Hasson's internet searches included such queries as "most liberal senators," "where do most senators live in DC" and "are supreme court justices protected." He also routinely perused "pro-Russian, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi literature."

In a draft email, Hasson wrote that "Liberalist/globalist ideology is destroying traditional peoples esp white. No way to counteract without violence."

According to prosecutors, Hasson began obtaining his cache of firearms in 2017 and had also expressed a desire to obtain biological weapons.

Hasson, a lieutenant in the US Coast Guard, has been working at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016 as an acquisitions officer, according to prosecutors.

He served in the US Marine Corps from 1988-1993 and also spent two years in the US Army National Guard. Hasson is to appear before a court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday.

Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, is serving a 21-year sentence for the July 2011 massacre of 77 people, most of them teenagers who were attending a youth camp.
The French government has also said that it will move a similar proposal under UNSC Resolution 1267, as has the US, which has already named Pakistan behind the carnage. In all, 58 countries have condemned the dastardly attack

In a major embarrassment to Pakistan, the United Kingdom has moved a resolution with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to name Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, reports News 18. The report comes a day after New Zealand passed a resolution condemning the attack that was orchestrated by JeM in Pulwama, killing 40 CRPF personnel on 14 February.

The French government has also said that it will move a similar proposal under UNSC Resolution 1267, as has the US, which has already named Pakistan behind the carnage. In all, 58 countries have condemned the dastardly attack.

A DNA report had earlier stated that three key countries in the five members UNSC are all set to move the United Nations in a couple of days. This would be the third time that these powerful nations from the P5 (five permanent members of international body) would move such a proposal in the UN. A similar one was moved in 2017 too after the 2016 attack on the Indian Brigade headquarters in Uri, also conducted by the Jaish.

A dossier is also being prepared by India to nail Pakistan's culpability in the Pulwama attack that will be submitted to nations "supportive of the Indian position" in exposing Pakistan's lies. India is also expected to submit the dossier on Pakistan-backed JeM to Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force in Paris (FATF) in its forthcoming meeting.

Pakistan has already been placed on the grey list of the anti-terror finance watchdog since July 2018. Now, France is also expected to lobby to retain the neighbouring country on the grey list.

After Pulwama, US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster had said that his country has bolstered its resolve to cooperate with India on counter terrorism matters and work with it to get to the bottom of the terror attacks. The US had also called on Pakistan to end immediately its support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on Wednesday met India's envoy to the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia  Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ajay Bisaria and Ahmad Javed  who were given the dossier that will be shared with Indian embassies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have arrested a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who described himself as a white nationalist and amassed a cache of weapons to 'murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,' according to court documents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have arrested a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who described himself as a white nationalist and amassed a cache of weapons to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," according to court documents.

Christopher Paul Hasson, who is assigned to the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington and lives in a Maryland suburb, had drawn up a list of possible targets, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC television host Joe Scarborough, prosecutors said in court documents.

Calling Hasson a "domestic terrorist," the prosecutors said he was arrested on Friday on weapons and drugs charges.

In a draft email in June 2017, they said, Hasson wrote: "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something."

A hearing on a motion to detain him pending trial was set for Thursday.

In a statement, the Coast Guard confirmed that an active duty member of the service had been arrested. "Because this is an open investigation, the Coast Guard has no further details at this time," it said.

The Office of the Federal Public Defender in Maryland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The prosecutors said agents found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in Hasson's residence in Silver Spring, Maryland.

They said from 2017, Hasson routinely studied a manifesto by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who in July 2011 killed eight people in downtown Oslo with a car bomb and then shot dead 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a Labour Party camp.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham and Eric Beech; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Australian wildlife conservationist and TV presenter Steve Irwin's 57th birthday has been marked with an elaborate Google Doodle that encapsulates the highlights of the famed 'Crocodile Hunter's' life and work.

Australian wildlife conservationist and TV presenter Steve Irwin's 57th birthday has been marked with an elaborate Google Doodle that encapsulates the highlights of the famed 'Crocodile Hunter's' life and work.

Irwin's death in 2006, at the age of 44, shocked the world; he had been filming a series on the ocean's deadliest creatures off Batt Reef, Queensland, when he suffered a fatal attack from a stingray. He was survived by his wife and partner in wildlife conservancy work, Terri Raines, and children Bindi and Robert.

Irwin was born on 22 February 1962 in Victoria, Australia, and was trained to handle reptiles at a very early age by his father, who is described as "a wildlife expert with an interest in herpetology". Steve Irwin handled his first snake by the age of six, by nine he was wrestling crocodiles.

The Google Doodle post for Steve Irwin notes:

During the early 1970s, the Irwins moved to the Sunshine Coast in the Australian State of Queensland and opened Beerwah Reptile Park.

Learning to wrestle crocodiles since the age of nine, Irwin volunteered with Queensland's East Coast Crocodile Management Programme, helping to capture and relocate endangered saltwater crocodiles  the largest of all living reptiles  to protect them from being harmed. He was involved in all aspects of managing his familys park, which was renamed Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, and eventually the Australia Zoo.

Australia Zoo  which now covers over 1,000 acres  houses more than 1,200 animals. Terry Raines Irwin notes: "We protect nearly half a million acres of habitat, and our non-profit organisation supports conservation projects around the world. We even have a Wildlife Hospital that has treated over 82,000 sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife, solely to return them back to the wild."

Terri, a naturalist, met Steve Irwin when she visited the Australia Zoo in 1991. She remembered being struck by his courage and enthusiasm in dealing with crocodiles; they married the next year. Instead of a honeymoon, the couple went on a mission to rescue a crocodile  that would become the very first episode of The Crocodile Hunter.

Bindi, born in 1998, and Robert, in 2003, were frequently seen in Steve and Terri's wildlife adventures on TV and film too. The family have continued Irwin's work after his death, championing the causes that Steve and Terri espoused, and the charity they founded  Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.

The Google Doodle  by guest artist Shanti Rittgers  honours a man and his family who "dedicated their lives to the preservation and appreciation of earths wildlife and wild places".
The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June, 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December, 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground.
The country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle

Islamabad: At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure on terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, a media report said. The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Salman during his first official visit to Islamabad. The News International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the crown prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait and a gold-plated gun.

The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister. In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Imran at the Prime Minister's Office. Imran had thanked him for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi crown prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 42 CRPF soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad. The international community led by the US has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth $20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan. Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability. China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country. Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his "outstanding support" in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries.
The belated discovery of the mass graves near Syria's Raqqa is the biggest example yet of how the violence IS sowed during the reign of its 'caliphate' will be harvested for years to come, diggers and activists said.

Raqqa: Two feet deep, below a plot of farmland outside the Syrian city of Raqqa, lies a large and deadly legacy of the Islamic State group: a mass grave holding an estimated 3,500 people.

First responders learned of the burial site in the al-Fukheikha agricultural suburb last month, more than a year after US-backed forces captured Raqqa from IS and as they closed in on the group's final redoubt of Baghouz further south.

The belated discovery is the biggest example yet of how the violence IS sowed during the reign of its "caliphate" will be harvested for years to come, diggers and activists said. Several dozen mounds of dirt line one side of the al-Fukheikha plot, marking the more than 120 bodies already dug up by the Rapid Response Division of Raqqa's civil defence service.

"These are individual graves, but behind us, by the trees, are the mass graves of those executed by Daesh (IS)," said Asaad Mohammad, the 56-year-old forensic assistant at the site. "There are some 2,500-3,000 bodies estimated there, plus between 900 and 1,100 bodies in the individual graves, so at least 3,500 total."

Eight other mass graves have already been identified around the northern Syrian city, including one nicknamed "Panorama," from which more than 900 bodies had been exhumed.

"Al-Fukheikha is the largest grave since IS came to Raqqa" in 2014, said Mohammad.

'Unidentified'

Earlier this week, diggers in flimsy medical masks excavated a small bundle wrapped in greying, damp cloth. They peeled away the fabric to reveal a decomposing body with a detached blackened jawbone, which Mohammad examined.

"Estimated 35 years. Third-degree burns," he said.

Apart from his stoic partial-autopsy, the only sounds to be heard were the grating of hand shovels against the dirt, and the rustle of the wind through the nearby fir trees.

His colleagues carefully placed the bundle in a white tarpaulin body bag onto which Mohammad scrawled the date, location, and a word he has become accustomed to writing: "Unidentified." By noon, his team of 10 had dug up eight bodies. Some had been dead so long there was little left of them, and the diggers had to weigh down the body bags with rocks to keep them from flying away in the wind.

They logged any identifying details into a ledger and loaded the bodies into a white pickup to be re-buried about 10 kilometres away at a proper cemetery.

It has become a macabre routine, said Mohammad  one he was sure will eventually be played out again in Baghouz, the last speck of IS territory further south. "The same thing that happened here will have happened there," he said. "Maybe it's even worse there, because the fighting is more intense as they've got nowhere else to go."

Missing foreigners

Since the Raqqa division began its work in January 2018, it has exhumed more than 3,800 bodies, said the force's supervisor Turki al-Ali. Among them are 560 that were identifiable and were handed over to their families for a proper burial, he told AFP.

The site at al-Fukheikha could help identify even more of the several thousand people whose fates remain unknown, including foreigners imprisoned by IS.

"We've heard accounts from residents of al-Fukheikha that they would see people gathering with someone in an orange suit," said Ali, referring to the garb in which IS would typically dress its executed captives.

US journalist James Foley was wearing such a suit when he was killed, and analysts believe footage of his death indicates he may have been killed around Raqqa.

Another American captive, Kayla Mueller, is thought to have died near Raqqa as well. Their bodies have never been recovered. "These mass graves hold the answers to the fate of people who had been executed by IS fighters, who died in coalition air strikes, or who have been missing," said Sara Kayyali of Human Rights Watch.

Even as the battle against IS as a territorial force comes to an end, she told AFP, there was much more to be done. "No matter how much we try to deny it, the work against IS is by no means over. It's likely the hard work is just starting."
By Andy Sullivan and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, will be sentenced for bank and tax fraud on March 8, according to a court filing posted on Thursday, just days before he is due to be sentenced in a separate case for lobbying violations. Manafort, 69, could spend the rest of his life in prison for charges stemming from his work as an international political consultant and lobbyist

By Andy Sullivan and Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, will be sentenced for bank and tax fraud on March 8, according to a court filing posted on Thursday, just days before he is due to be sentenced in a separate case for lobbying violations.

Manafort, 69, could spend the rest of his life in prison for charges stemming from his work as an international political consultant and lobbyist.

He is one of the first people in Trump's orbit to face criminal charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Mueller is urging a federal judge in Virginia to impose a prison sentence of up to 24 years and a fine of up to $24 million, after a jury found Manafort guilty of trying to hide millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine, and lying to banks to secure loans to fund his lavish lifestyle after that income dried up.

Manafort is also due to be sentenced on March 13 in a parallel federal case in Washington.

He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy against the United States for conduct that ranged from money laundering to unregistered lobbying and admitted to witness tampering as well.

But U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled last week that he violated his plea deal by lying to prosecutors, which removes their obligation to ask for a lighter sentence. Legal experts say he faces up to a decade in prison for those crimes.

In the bank and tax fraud case, Manafort has until March 1 to submit a filing arguing for a lighter sentence to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia. Mueller's office will be able to file a reply to Manafort's memo by March 6.

Russia denies meddling in the election. Trump has said there was no collusion between his Republican campaign and Russia, and has labeled Mueller's investigation a witch hunt.

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven Venezuelan diplomats in the United States have defected from President Nicolas Maduro's government since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president last month, a representative of Venezuela's opposition said on Thursday. Gustavo Marcano, senior aide to the Venezuelan opposition's envoy to Washington, told reporters that Maduro's diplomatic network in the United States had ceased to function and said the opposition was working to restore consular services in the United States. (Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Luc Cohen; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven Venezuelan diplomats in the United States have defected from President Nicolas Maduro's government since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president last month, a representative of Venezuela's opposition said on Thursday.

Gustavo Marcano, senior aide to the Venezuelan opposition's envoy to Washington, told reporters that Maduro's diplomatic network in the United States had ceased to function and said the opposition was working to restore consular services in the United States.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Luc Cohen; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
At the Vatican meeting, Card Tagle highlighted "our lack of response to the sufferings of the victims", as well as the fear of getting involved and touching "the wounds of humanity". Justice and forgiveness can heal wounds. Offenders too must be treated. For Mgr Scicluna, established protocols must be implemented and civil laws obeyed. More attention should be paid to the candidates in the selection process for the priesthood. Bishops should be closer to their priests.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  The meeting in the Vatican on the protection of minors from the abuses perpetrated by members of the Church focused this morning on the responsibilities of bishops and religious superiors in listening to the victims, judging offences, engaging in reconciliation and working on prevention.

Two reports were presented after Pope Francis delivered his address. The first one by Card Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, stressed "Our lack of response to the suffering of victims". The second was by Mgr Charles J Scicluna, archbishop of Malta, assistant secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and member of the meetings organising committee.

Taking a more theological approach and a "faith and ecclesial perspective", inspired by the risen Jesuss apparition before the fearful disciples, showing the wounds (see John 20:19-28), Card Tagle stressed the importance of approaching the wounds of Christ, without fear, for they are also "the wounds of humanity" and those our world through which one becomes certain of His resurrection. Often this does not happen because "of fear" since not only "the wounds of the Risen Christ carry the memory of innocent suffering, but they also carry the memory of our weakness and sinfulness. [. . .] Only by drawing close to His wounds could they (the disciples) be sent on a mission of reconciliation and forgiveness.

Card Tagle insisted on the value of achieving justice, but also raised the question of how to "help the victims to heal from the effects of the abuse". Quoting scientific research, he said that in addition to justice, forgiveness is necessary for it is a "powerful and even scientifically supported pathway for eliminating pain, resentment, thus breathing life into the heart again.

Helping victims remains necessary. Regarding victims, we need to help them to express their deep hurts and to heal from them. Regarding the perpetrators, we need to serve justice, help them to face the truth without rationalization, and at the same time not neglect their inner world, their own wounds.

Learning from the Risen Lord and his disciples, we look at and touch the wounds of victims, families, guilty and innocent clergy, the Church and society. Beholding Jesus wounded by betrayal and abuse of power, we see the wounds of those hurt by those who should have protected them. In Jesus we experience the mercy that preserves justice and celebrates the gift of forgiveness.

Mgr Sciclunas report is a kind of handbook, a look at all the stages needed to proceed in cases of child abuse. Citing Benedict XVI in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics in Ireland (19 March 2010) and that to the bishops of Ireland in 2006, the prelate calls on all bishops and superiors to act "without unnecessary delay" in implementing established protocols" and obeying" civil or domestic laws".

Mgr Scicluna suggests that bishops evaluate matters together, inform the Christian community, and insist that charges against those convicted be promptly implemented. Serious cases of abuse of children under 18 should also involve the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Part of the report is dedicated to the "prevention of sexual misconduct" by the clergy. This must be done with careful "screening of future candidates". Child protection should be included in training courses, and candidates should be carefully taught about human freedom and sound moral doctrine."

Underlining the importance of a "culture of disclosure" and not concealment, the Archbishop of Malta noted that pastors to be close to their priests and religious and get to know them.

I ask you to be attentive to the spiritual and moral lives of each one of your priests. Set them an example by your own lives, be close to them, listen to their concerns, offer them encouragement at this difficult time and stir up the flame of their love for Christ and their commitment to the service of their brothers and sisters.
Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday authorised the military to 'respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure' by India, amidst heightened tensions between the two sides following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers

Islamabad: Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday authorised the military to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure" by India, amidst heightened tensions between the two sides following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Days after the terror strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said security forces have been given free hand to avenge the dastardly act.

Khan, who chaired a key meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) here on Thursday, said the Pakistan government was "determined to demonstrate" that it is capable of protecting its people.

He authorised the armed forces of Pakistan to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India," said a statement issued after the meeting.

"This is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them," Khan said.

The country's top civilian and military leadership, which discussed the situation arising after the Pulwama attack, said that "Pakistan is not involved in any way, means or form in Pulwama incident and it was conceived, planned and executed indigenously", according to the statement.

It said Pakistan has sincerely offered an investigation of the "incident" and dialogue on the issue of terrorism among other disputed issues with India.

"We expect India to positively respond to these offers," it said, adding that based on the investigation or any tangible evidence provided, Pakistan shall take action against anyone found using its soil.

The NSC urged the global community to play its part in resolving the Kashmir issue.

In a video message on Tuesday, Khan assured India that he would act against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack if New Delhi shares "actionable intelligence", but warned against any "revenge" retaliatory action.

India rubbished Khan's comments, saying disclaiming Pakistan's link with terrorist attacks is an oft-repeated excuse by the "nerve centre" of terrorism.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Tuesday said India was not surprised that Khan refused to acknowledge the attack on India's security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism, adding his offer to investigate the attack if provided proof is a "lame excuse".

Ahead of the NSC meeting on Thursday, Khan and Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa held a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed the region's security situation.

The NSC meeting was attended by Army chief General Bajwa, services chiefs, heads of intelligence agencies, security officials and federal and state ministers for finance, defence, foreign affairs and interior.

Khan also directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on the ground to ensure that militancy and extremism are routed from the society and the country.
Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for Begum's family, earlier said the teen was born in Britain and had never had a Bangladeshi passport.

Dhaka: A British teen who joined the Islamic State group has no claim to Bangladeshi nationality, Dhaka's foreign ministry said on Wednesday after the UK government decided to revoke her citizenship.

Shamima Begum, who travelled to Syria in 2015 and now wants to return to Britain after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last week, was stripped of her UK citizenship on Tuesday. The Home Office reportedly believed that Begum was entitled to claim citizenship in Bangladesh  a claim disputed by the South Asian country.

"Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage. So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh," it added.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for Begum's family, earlier said the teen was born in Britain and had never had a Bangladeshi passport.
Press Trust of India

Scientists have developed an 'astrocomb'  a tool that precisely measures frequencies (or colours) of light. The instrument can help widen the search for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life.

The custom-made frequency comb developed by researchers from National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) in the US provides the precision needed for discovering and characterising planets that orbit red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs comprise 70 percent of the stars in the galaxy and are plentiful near Earth.

"These improved tools should allow us to find habitable planets around the most ubiquitous stars in our galaxy," said Scott Diddams from NIST.

A star's nuclear furnace emits white light, which is modified by elements in the atmosphere that absorb certain narrow bands of colour.

To search for planets orbiting distant stars, astronomers look for periodic changes in this characteristic "fingerprint," that is, very small variations in the apparent colours of starlight over time.

These oscillations in colour are caused by the star being tugged to and fro by the gravitational pull of an unseen orbiting planet. This apparent wobble is subtle, and measurements are limited by the frequency standards used to calibrate spectrographs.

Hundreds of exoplanets have been discovered using star wobble analysis, but a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth and orbiting at just the right distance from a star  in the so-called "Goldilocks zone"  is hard to detect with conventional technology.

Data collected by the team show the astrocomb will make it possible to detect Earth-mass planets that cause colour shifts equivalent to a star wobble of about one metre per second  at least 10 times better than previously achieved in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Infrared light is the main type emitted by red dwarf stars.

While the idea of using frequency combs to aid planet discovery has generated a lot of interest around the world, NIST's astrocomb is the first in operation at near-infrared wavelengths, researchers said.

Other combs currently operating on a telescope, such as the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) in Chile, are dedicated to visible light measurements, they said.
tech2 News Staff

While we're all looking forward to seeing the likes of Samsung, LG and others bring their best to MWC 2019, Vivo just launched a new smartphone today which is reminiscent of the pop-up selfie camera sporting Vivo NEX.

The Vivo V15 Pro is the Chinese smartphone company's successor to the V11 Pro launched last year. Priced at Rs 28,990, Vivo does appear to be asking quite a lot in terms of money, but that's because the V15 Pro does quite a number of things right.

Apart from bringing the pop-up camera back from the grave, Vivo's also thrown in a triple rear-camera setup at the back of the V15 Pro. The phone also happens to be the first smartphone in the world to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset.

However, the competition is definitely stiff and we're here to see just that in an out and out specifications comparison.

Smartphone Vivo V15 Pro POCO F1 OnePlus 6T Nokia 8.1 Display Size (inch) 6.39 6.18 6.4 6.18 Resolution (pixels) 1080 x 2316 1080 x 2246 1080 x 2240 1080 x 2280 Pixel Density (PPI) 400 403 402 408 Display Type IPS LCD IPS LCD AMOLED IPS LCD Dimensions(mm) 157.3 x 74.7 x 8.2 155.5 x 75.3 x 8.8 155.7 x 75.4 x 8.2 154.8 x 75.8 x 8 Weight (g) 185 182 177 180 Dual SIM Yes Yes Yes Yes (hybrid) SIM Type Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Nano-SIM Connectivity Types GSM / HSPA / LTE GSM / HSPA / LTE GSM / WCDMA / LTE GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 CPU Cores Octa-core Octa-core Octa-core Octa-core CPU Clock Speed (GHz) 2x2.0 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver 4x 2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x 1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver 4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver 2x2.2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver GPU Adreno 612 Adreno 630 Adreno 630 Adreno 616 RAM 6 GB 6,8 GB 6, 8 GB 4 GB Ruggedness   Splashproof  On-Board Memory 128 GB 64, 128, 256 GB 64, 128, 256 GB 64 GB Expandable Memory Yes, up to 256 GB Yes, up to 256 GB No Yes, up to 400 GB Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Infrared face recognition, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Face unlock, In-display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Primary Camera 48 MP, f/1.8, 8 MP and

5 MP, f/2.4 12 MP, f/1.9 16 MP f/1.7; 20 MP (16 MP effective) f/1.7 12 MP, f/1.8 and 13 MP Optical Image Stabilization No No Yes Yes Camera Array Triple-camera Dual-Camera Dual Camera Dual Camera Autofocus System Phase detection autofocus Phase detection Phase detection autofocus Dual-pixel phase detection Secondary Camera 32 MP pop-up camera 5 MP, f/2.0 16 MP f/2.0 20 MP, f/2.0 Video Capture 1080p@30fps 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS), 1080p@240fps, 720p@960fps 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps Flash LED Dual-LED Dual-LED Dual-LED OS Version Android 9.0 Pie Android 8.1 Oreo (Android 9.0 Pie arriving soon) Android Oreo 8.1 Android 9.0 Pie AI (Smart Assistant) Google Assistant Google Assistant Google Assistant Google Assistant GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth v5.0, A2DP, LE, EDR 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD v5.0, A2DP, LE v5.0, A2DP, LE NFC Yes No Yes Yes Infrared No No No No Fingerprint Scanner Yes, in-display Yes, Rear button Yes, In-display Yes, Rear button 3.5mm jack Yes Yes No Yes Radio No Yes, FM Radio No No USB Type microUSB 2.0 Type-C Reversible connector Type-C Reversible connector Type-C Reversible connector USB Standard USB v2.0 USB v2.0 USB 2.0 USB v2.0 Battery (mAh) 3700 4,000 3,700 3,500 Fast charging Yes Yes Yes Yes Colors Topaz Blue, Coral Red Graphite Black, Steel Blue, Rosso Red, Armored Edition with Kevlar Midnight Black, Mirror Black, Thunder Purple Blue, Silver, Steel, Copper, Iron, Steel Prices in India Rs 28,990 Rs 19,999 Rs 37,999 Rs 26,660

Conclusion

The Vivo V15 Pro brings with it a ton of features that you would expect a Nex successor to pack. However, the only apparent weak point on the V15 Pro is Vivo's choice of sticking with a Snapdragon 675 chipset. While it may be perfect for daily use, it will struggle to compete with the gaming potential of the likes of the POCO F1.

Do head to our in-depth review of the Vivo V15 Pro to find out more.
Reuters

India will hold wide consultations with internet companies before finalising rules to regulate content on social media but will not hold back from framing laws that safeguard national interest, the countrys technology minister said.

India, one of the worlds biggest internet markets, in late December proposed rules that will compel platforms such as Facebook, its WhatsApp messenger service and Twitter to remove within 24 hours unlawful content, such as anything that affects the sovereignty and integrity of India.

The draft rules have prompted intense lobbying by technology companies, which say the proposals impose burdensome obligations.

The rules, if implemented in their current form, are also likely to raise costs for companies by requiring them to monitor online content around the clock.

New Delhi, which is in the process of finalising the so-called intermediary rules, will be fair to all stakeholders, technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of an IT conference in the financial capital of Mumbai on Wednesday.

Well be fair, well be objective, but Indias sovereign right to frame rules and laws will always be there, he said.

The draft rules also come at a time when India, the worlds largest democracy, heads for a general election before May and social media becomes a hotbed for circulation of fake political news.

Social media giant Facebook this month said it is toughening its advertising policies to create more transparency ahead of the vote. It also expanded its fact-checking network.

Rival Google has also conducted scores of workshops across the country to train journalists to verify news.

As a minister, I want to assure that a social media company shall not be allowed to abuse the data of Indians to influence elections, Prasad said.
Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee

After months of waiting, Samsung's finally launched the company's tenth-anniversary edition of the Galaxy S series of smartphones. The Korean tech giant faced quite a lot of criticism last year for a dull refresh of the Galaxy S8 lineup, but this year, the Galaxy S10 series definitely showcases the best Samsung has to offer.

The Galaxy S10 series does not only pack a gorgeous new display (with an actual hole) but also introduces a number of industry firsts which will definitely catch the eye of Samsung's competitors. These include the introduction of the world first ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, which is expected to be considered fast and reliable than existing optical sensors.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 family includes a core set of shared features, such as multiple cameras, with only minimal tweaks differentiating the various models. More importantly, the various sizes and price points mean it will be easier than ever to find the right phone. However, the source of inspiration to expand to three phones this year is quite evident and would be a cause of worry for Apple, that has been struggling with iPhone sales this year.

But Samsung's competition isn't limited to its iOS counterparts. The top of the line, Galaxy S10 Plus will be up against formidable Android competition with the likes of the feature-packed Huawei Mate 20 Pro and the dull but beautifully optimised Google Pixel 3.

While we wait for the Galaxy S10 series to arrive in India, here's how the premium Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus fare against the Pixel 3 XL, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max.

Bear in mind that we're still not done testing some of these smartphones, so we're currently comparing them going only by their specifications on paper.

Smartphone Samsung Galaxy S10 Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus iPhone XS iPhone XS Max Google Pixel 3 XL Huawei Mate 20 Pro Display Size (inch) 6.1 6.4 5.8 6.5 6.3 6.39 Resolution (pixels) 1440 x 3040 1440 x 3040 1125 x 2436 1242 x 2688 1440 x 2960 1440 x 3120 Pixel Density (PPI) 550 526 458 458 523 538 Display Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED Super AMOLED P-OLED AMOLED Dimensions(mm) 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8 157.6 x 74.1 x 7.8 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 157.5 x 77.4 x 7.7 158 x 76.7 x 7.9 157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6 Weight (gm) 157 175 177 208 184 189 Dual SIM Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes SIM Type Hybrid Dual Hybrid Dual Nano-SIM + eSIM Nano-SIM + eSIM Nano SIM Nano-SIM Connectivity Types GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE GSM / HSPA / LTE/ VoLTE GSM / HSPA / LTE/ VoLTE GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE GSM / HSPA / LTE Processor Exynos 9820 Exynos 9820 A12 Bionic A12 Bionic Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 HiSilicon Kirin 980 CPU Cores Octa Core Octa Core Hexa-core Hexa-core Octa-Core Octa-core CPU Clock Speed (GHz) 2x 2.7 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2x 2.3 GHz Cortex-A75 & 4x 1.9 GHz Cortex-A55 2x 2.7 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2x 2.3 GHz Cortex-A75 & 4x 1.9 GHz Cortex-A55 2x2.5 GHz Vortex + 4x1.6 GHz Tempest 2x2.5 GHz Vortex + 4x1.6 GHz Tempest 4x 2.5 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x 1.6 GHz Kryo 385 Silver 2x 2.6 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2x 1.92 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4x 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 GPU Mali-G76 MP12 Mali-G76 MP12 Apple GPU Apple GPU Adreno 630 Mali-G76 MP10 RAM 8 GB 8, 12 GB 4 GB 4 GB 4 GB 6, 8 GB Ruggedness IP 68 IP 68 IP68 dust/water resistant IP 68 dust/water resistant On-Board Memory 128/ 512 GB 128 GB/512 GB/ 1 TB 64, 256, 512 GB 64, 256, 512 GB 64/128 GB 128, 256 GB Expandable Memory Yes, up to 512 GB Yes, up to 512 GB No No No Yes, up to 256 GB Sensors Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 Face ID, Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, Barometer Face ID, Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass, Barometer Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer Face ID, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass Primary Camera 12 MP, f/1.5-2.4; 12 MP, f/2.4 and 16 MP, f/2.2 12 MP, f/1.5-2.4; 12 MP, f/2.4 and 16 MP, f/2.2 12MP f/1.8; 12 MP f/2.4 12MP f/1.8; 12 MP f/2.4 12.2 MP, f/1.8 40 MP, f/1.8; 20 MP, f/2.2 and 8 MP, f/2.4 Optical Image Stabilization Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Camera Array Triple Triple Dual Camera Dual Camera Single Triple camera Autofocus System Dual Pixel PDAF Dual Pixel PDAF Phase detection autofocus Phase detection autofocus Dual pixel PDAF PDAF/Laser AF Secondary Camera 10 MP, f/1.9 and 8 MP, f/2.2 10 MP, f/1.9 and 8 MP, f/2.2 7 MP f/2.2 7 MP f/2.2 8 MP, f/1.8 and 8 MP, f/2.2 24 MP, f/2.0 Video Capture 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@240fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS) 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 1080p@30fps (gyro-EIS), 720p@960fps Flash LED Flash LED Flash Quad-LED Quad-LED Dual-LED Dual-LED OS Version Android 9.0 Pie/ One UI Android 9.0 Pie/ One UI iOS 12 iOS 12 Android 9.0 Pie Android 9.0 (Pie AI (Smart Assistant) Bixby, Google Assistant Bixby, Google Assistant Siri Siri Google Assistant Google Assistant GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual, band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual, band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX v5.0, A2DP v5.0, A2DP v 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD v 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE NFC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Infrared No No No No No Yes Fingerprint Scanner Yes, in-display (ultrasonic) Yes, in-display (ultrasonic) No No Yes, Rear button Yes, in-display 3.5mm jack Yes Yes No No No No Radio No No No No No No USB Type Type-C Reversible connector Type-C Reversible connector Lightning Port Lightning Port Type-C Reversible connector Type-C reversible connector USB Standard v 3.1 v 3.1 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 v 3.1 v 3.1 Battery (mAh) 3400 4100 2658 mAh 2658 mAh 3430 4200 Fast charging Yes (support wireless fast charging as well) Yes (support wireless fast charging as well) Yes Yes Yes Yes Colors Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow, Flamingo Pink Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow, Flamingo Pink, Ceramic Black, Ceramic White Space Gray, Silver, Gold Space Gray, Silver, Gold Clearly White, Just Black, Not Pink Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, Black Prices in India $899.99 $999.99 Rs 94,900 Rs 1,04,990 Rs 83,000 Rs 69,990 Conclusion

The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are definitely smartphones that Samsung has not played a safe card with. Both smartphones offer nothing short of what you would expect from a premium flagship worthy of being compared to the best iPhones. When compared to its Android counterparts, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro surprisingly matches the Galaxy S10 series offerings, while the Pixel 3 XL feels a little dated. However, we will have to reserve our judgement for the detailed review. But at this point, things do look well poised for an exciting neck-to-neck showdown.
Press Trust of India

Scientists at IIT Madras have developed an algorithm that can help manage dense crowds using minimal manpower, and prevent deadly stampedes in massive public gatherings like the Kumbh Mela and the Hajj.

Using a computer simulation, researchers can intelligently plan where to place police personnel to quickly quell disturbances in a crowd that could otherwise lead to panic and chaos.

The research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, can also help design safe evacuation procedures for events and locations that witness high footfall.

"Couple of years ago the Elphinstone bridge tragedy took place in Mumbai. It was a very unfortunate event that we thought could have been prevented by understanding the physics of stampede," said Mahesh Panchagnula, a professor at Indian Institute of Technology or IIT Madras.

"If we know how these events start and how they propagate through a crowd, there are ways of mitigating it," he told news agency Press Trust of India.

"These kinds of stampedes have clear patterns in how they start. We wanted to understand those early signs and figure out how you place the police people, or what we call ''game-changers'', who then direct the crowd in a way that would prevent a stampede," Panchagnula said.

The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage at Prayagraj (Allahabad), is the world's largest religious gathering. Crores and crores of people taking a dip in the river Ganga on some days, making the event a hot spot for possible mishaps that could put thousands at risk.

In 2013, at least 42 people died after a stampede broke out at the train station in Allahabad during the festival.

Similarly, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Islam's holiest city, is visited by millions of pilgrims every year. In 2015, a stampede caused deaths of over 2,000 pilgrims during the annual pilgrimage -- the deadliest Hajj disaster in history.

Such events call for better methods of crowd control. The physics community has been looking at this problem for a while now, researchers said.

"For example, they have investigated the idea of placing barriers at certain places that would make the flow of crowd easier. It may sound counter-intuitive, but it works," he said.

"It is all about streamlining the crowd. It looks like you have placed barricades at certain places, but it helps easing the crowd flow," he added.

The research team, which includes Sumesh P Thampi and Ajinkya Kulkarni, analysed what happens when a dense crowd - about 3-4 people per square metres - fills into a confined space.

They said that in such gatherings the movement of the crowd resembles that of any fluid, and hence laws of fluid dynamics can be applied to predict where disturbances can arise.

"If we look at the areal videos of people circumnavigating the Kaaba in Mecca, it looks exactly like water swirling in a bucket," Panchagnula said.

The researchers tried to capture the simple rules that a person follows to navigate in a crowd into a mathematical model. The predictions of the model adhered well to experimental observations, they said.

"Let's say a gathering is set to take place in Marina beach. The police will set up barricades to control the crowd. All we need is a drawing of where the barricades are being placed, and what is the size of the expected crowd," Panchagnula said.

"The simulation can predict at which points a stampede is likely to start, and the optimal points where police personnel should be deployed to quickly prevent a stampede," he said.

This would allow the police to design the best strategy for crowd control, with the minimum personnel. The model can also help design a better barricade system, researchers said.

Apart from helping the police personnel place themselves at strategic locations even before an event begins, the algorithm can be incorporated in future drones that can monitor crowds in real time.

"We are getting into an age where we will see more use of drones to monitor crowd motions in these large gatherings. With our model, real time feedback from such drones would be very useful," Panchagnula said.

The researchers are keen to partner with government agencies to develop intelligent crowd management strategies for future religious, political or sporting events.

The cost of implementing the predictive model in a real life scenario is very minimal, say scientists, as it simply informs authorities on how to best use their existing resources.
Agence France-Presse

Hundreds of orange robots zoom and whiz back and forth like miniature bumper cars  but instead of colliding, they're following a carefully plotted path to transport thousands of items ordered from online giant Amazon.

A young woman fitted out in a red safety vest, with pouches full of sensors and radio transmitters on her belt and a tablet in hand, moves through their complicated choreography.

This robot ballet takes place at the new Amazon order fulfilment centre that opened on Staten Island in New York in September.

In an 80,000 square-meter (855,000 square-foot) space filled with the whirring sounds of machinery, the Seattle-based e-commerce titan has deployed some of the most advanced instruments in the rapidly growing field of robots capable of collaborating with humans.

The high-tech vest, worn at Amazon warehouses since last year, is key to the whole operation  it allows 21-year-old Deasahni Bernard to safely enter the robot area, to pick up an object that has fallen off its automated host, for example, or check if a battery needs replacing.

Bernard only has to press a button and the robots stop or slow or readjust their dance to accommodate her.

Human-robot 'symphony'

Amazon now counts more than 25 robotic centres, which chief technologist for Amazon Robotics Tye Brady says have changed the way the company operates.

"What used to take more than a day now takes less than an hour," he said, explaining they are able to fit about 40 percent more goods inside the same footprint.

For some, these fulfilment centres, which have helped cement Amazon's dominant position in global online sales, are a perfect illustration of the looming risk of humans being pushed out of certain business equations in favour of artificial intelligence.

But Brady argues that robot-human collaboration at the Staten Island facility, which employs more than 2,000 people, has given them a "beautiful edge" over the competition.

Bernard, who was a supermarket cashier before starting at Amazon, agrees.

"I like this a lot better than my previous jobs," she told AFP, as Brady looked on approvingly.

What role do Amazon employees play in what Brady calls the human-robot "symphony?"

In Staten Island, on top of tech-vest wearers like Bernard, there are "stowers," "pickers" and "packers" who respectively load up products, match up products meant for the same customers and build shipping boxes  all with the help of screens and scanners.

At every stage, the goal is to "extend people's capabilities" so the humans can focus on problem-solving and intervene if necessary, according to Brady.

At the age of 51, he has worked with robotics for 33 years, previously as a spacecraft engineer for MIT and on lunar landing systems of the Draper Laboratory in Massachusetts.

He is convinced the use of "collaborative robots" is the key to future human productivity  and job growth.

Since Amazon went all-in on robotics with the 2012 acquisition of logistics robot-maker Kiva, gains have been indisputable, Brady says.

They've created 300,000 new jobs, bringing the total number of worldwide Amazon employees up to 645,000, not counting seasonal jobs.

"It's a myth that robotics and automation kills jobs, it's just a myth," according to Brady.

"The data really can't be denied on this: the more robots we add to our fulfilment centres, the more jobs we are creating," he said, without mentioning the potential for lost jobs at traditional stores.

The 'R2D2' model

For Brady, the ideal example of human-robot collaboration is the relationship between "R2D2" and Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars."

Their partnership, in which "R2D2" is always ready to use his computing powers to pull people out of desperate situations "is a great example of how humans and robots can work together," he said.

But despite Brady's enthusiasm for a robotic future, many are suspicious of the trend  a wariness that extends to the corporate giant, which this month scrapped high-profile plans for a new New York headquarters in the face of local protests.

Attempts by Amazon employees to unionize, at Staten Island and other sites, have so far been successfully fought back by the company, further fuelling criticism.

At a press briefing held last month as part of the unionization push, one employee of the facility, Rashad Long, spoke out about what he said were unsustainable work conditions.

"We are not robots, we are human beings," Long said.

Sharing the benefits

Many suspect Amazon's investments in robotics centres aim to eventually automate positions currently held by humans.

For Kevin Lynch, an expert in robotics from Northwestern University near Chicago, the development of collaborative robots is "inevitable" and will indeed eventually eliminate certain jobs, such as the final stage of packing at Amazon for instance.

"I also think other jobs will be created," he said. "But it's easier to predict the jobs that will be lost than the jobs that will be created."

"Robotics and artificial intelligence bring clear benefits to humanity, in terms of our health, welfare, happiness, and quality of life," said Lynch, who believes the public policy has a key role to play in ensuring those benefits are shared, and that robotics and AI do not sharpen economic inequality.

"The growth of robotics and AI is inevitable," he said. "The real question is, 'how do we prepare for our future with robots?"
The Raiganj and Murshidabad parliamentary seats are held by the CPM. These are the only two seats that the Left has in West Bengal, its erstwhile stronghold.

Kolkata: The Congress' Bengal unit is miffed with Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) as both the parties are keen on contesting Raiganj and Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituencies, leading to an impasse in seat-sharing talks between them.

The Raiganj and Murshidabad parliamentary seats are held by the CPM. These are the only two seats that the Left has in West Bengal, its erstwhile stronghold.

A senior Congress leader said, "We want to contest in those two seats. Raiganj and Murshidabad have always been a stronghold of the Congress. The CPM won them in 2014 due to a four-cornered contest." The CPM has to be practical and need to understand that it can't win these two seats without the support of the Congress. The political situation has changed a lot since 2014, another Congress leader said.

The CPM, on the other hand, does not want to relinquish the seats and Mohammed Salim and Badaruddoza Khan, its MPs from Raiganj and Murshidabad, are keen on contesting the seats this time too. "These two are our seats. If we let go these seats it will have a negative impact on the morale of party cadres," a senior CPM leader said.

Congress leader Pardip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan last week held few round of talks with CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty and Rabin Deb for seat sharing. According to Congress sources, state unit president Somen Mitra and CPM state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra will sit for talks within the next week.

Mitra sounded hopeful on the matter and said it's too early to comment.

The Congress, sources said, wants to contest around 20 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats, and the Left Front, which has to distribute seats among its constituents, is keen on fielding candidates in at least 26-28 seats.

The Congress won four seats in 2014. Mausam Benazir Noor, the Congress MP from Malda, defected to the TMC in January.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance highlights two significant developments: The BJP's nervousness and the Shiv Sena's ability to arm twist the 'world's biggest political party' into submission.

All said and done, the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena highlights at least two significant developments: One, the BJP's nervousness, and two, the Shiv Sena's ability to arm twist the "world's biggest political party" into submission. The Sena managed to get an equality in status with a party that once was only piggybacking it. The two saffron units, on Sunday, announced that the BJP will contest from 25 Lok Sabha seats and the Sena from 23 seats in the upcoming general elections, while the parties will fight it out in an equal share for the polls to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly a few months after the parliamentary elections.

But that's only part of the story. One part of the narrative is the question of how reliable would the Shiv Sena be once the results of the Lok Sabha elections are declared. From what Uddhav Thackeray told his party leaders and cadre on Wednesday, the alliance is not a done done but one that has several nuggets of mystery. While the BJP made it clear that the chief ministerial nominee would be from the party that wins the highest number of seats, the Shiv Sena said it would want to be at the helm of the state regardless of the numbers.

The most telling comment from Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday was that the Shiv Sena had won the battle with the BJP by working out an alliance, but the war has yet to be fought. It now appears that the so-called war will be fought after the results of the Lok Sabha elections are declared. The uncertainty of government formation and the post-poll reworking of parties other than the BJP will, indeed, offer a very nice battleground. Should it win enough seats to sway the fortunes of the BJP-led NDA to its advantage, that would be the trump card. The quid pro quo for support would be the chief ministership of Maharashtra.

Poll after poll conducted by TV stations has shown that the BJP's popularity is on the decline, and that the party will need support to form a government again. That BJP president Amit Shah had to make two visits to Thackeray abode Matoshree  an index of the self-importance the Sena assigns to itself  betrayed the national party's nervousness; it was forced to form an alliance with a party that has needled it all along, leaving no opportunity to make jibes, including attending Opposition rallies. It was an optics that certainly left the BJP in dismay. Although Thackeray politely said he was "only guiding" the government, his comments are hurting the image the BJP has built over the past five years.

The BJP may well mock the Opposition's "mahagatbandhan" as "maha milavat", but the party itself has scurried around trying to forge alliances with any outfit that has not already quit the NDA. Unlike the in-your-face confidence the BJP exuded in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it is now buying insurance. And as far as the Sena is concerned, the BJP has also taken a significant risk on board. Earlier, when the BJP was a subordinate party, the Shiv Sena had no issues. But when the roles were reversed in 2014, its displeasure has been evident  the Sena is a partner, not a trusted ally.

The Shiv Sena has never been interested in national politics and had not expected much presence in the Lok Sabha till it won 18 seats in alliance with the BJP in 2014. Its political business model was simple: Let the BJP do what it wanted in Delhi as long as the Sena had a free run to oversee the government and major civic bodies in Maharashtra. It wanted the BJP to always remain the younger brother, but Modi's sway over voters had a positive impact on the Sena, too, that year, and ambition overwhelmed its historic equations with the BJP with regard to state politics.

Ahead of the last Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Sena broke its alliance with the BJP and contested on its own. Despite the absence of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and its old ally, Uddhav managed a good hit rate. The Sena secured 63 Assembly seats. In 2009, it had won only 44 and the BJP, 46; 62 to BJP's 54 in 2004; 69 to BJP's 56 in 1999; and its best, 73 to BJP's 65 in 1995. Looking at these numbers, the Sena scoring 63 can be considered spectacular, given the circumstances in which it fought the 2014 Assembly elections, after severing ties with a party that pushed it to a significant number in the Lok Sabha just months earlier.

This makes the Sena's game plan is simple: Regain its primacy in Maharashtra with respect to the BJP. It will, again, fight the Lok Sabha elections with the BJP, and should the BJP fail to get a sufficient number to retain the NDA it is trying to stitch together, it may scout for newer opportunities to arm twist both Amit Shah and Narendra Modi to get an upper hand in Maharashtra politics.

The Shiv Sena has been visibly chafing since the day it realised it could be left out in the cold if the party did not get included in the government. The Sena then found an interesting, and even viable, strategy of being the Opposition, with all the advantages of being in the government.
Shamima Begum, who now wants to return home after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last weekend, said the order was unjust.

London: A British teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria in 2015 said on Wednesday she was shocked by a government decision to revoke her citizenship.

Shamima Begum, who now wants to return home after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last weekend, said the order was unjust.

I am a bit shocked, she told ITV News after learning of the move which was announced in a letter on Tuesday from Britains interior ministry to her mother in London.

Its a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like its a bit unjust on me and my son. Begums fate has stirred controversy since she and two friends fled her east London home to join the terror network four years ago when she was aged just 15.

The case highlights a dilemma facing many European countries, divi-ded over whether to allow jihadists and IS sympathisers home to face prosecution or barring them over security concerns as the so-called caliphate crumbles. A spokeswoman for the interior ministry said on Tuesday it would not comment on individual cases, but any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly.

She added that interior minister Sajid Javid was intent on prioritising the safety and security of Britain and the people who live here. To protect UK, he has the power to deprive someone of their citizenship where it will not render them stateless.

Begum gave birth to her third child at the weekend, and appealed to British authorities to show compassion by allowing her to raise the baby in Britain  while expressing no regret over having joined ISIS. In the ministry's letter sent to Begum's mother, it said the teen had the right to appeal the order.

A lawyer for her family said it was disappointed with the move.

(The) family are very disappointed with the... intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship, Tasnime Akunjee said on Twitter.
Earlier in February, Kejriwal had told reporters that the Congress has 'more or less' ruled out an alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi: Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit said Thursday she was never approached by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to forge an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as claimed by him and asserted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has reached the "stage of frustration".

"He has not spoken to us. He does not know what he is saying. AAP has reached the stage of frustration," Dikshit, a three-time chief minister of Delhi, told reporters in Delhi.

Addressing a public rally near Jama Masjid on Wednesday, Kejriwal had claimed that the AAP leaders were tired of trying to convince the Congress to form an alliance with the party.

In his speech, Kejriwal on Wednesday had said, "We are tired of convincing the Congress to form an alliance, but they do not understand.

If there is an alliance, the BJP will lose all the seven Lok Sabha seats it currently has in Delhi."

The rally was organised in the minority dominated pocket of Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Union minister Harsh Vardhan.

"I dont know what they have in their minds," he said about an alliance with the Congress and alleged that it was "weakening" the AAP in Delhi, drawing comparison with the SP-BSP combine in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier in February, Kejriwal had told reporters that the Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said the prime minister's post has been booked for the next two general elections

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said the prime minister's post has been booked for the next two general elections.

Fadnavis was replying to a question asked by actor Riteish Deshmukh during an award ceremony here. When Deshmukh asked who from Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar and Nitin Gadkari, can become the prime minister, Fadnavis said, "Let me tell you, this question does not arise, because the post for prime minister has already been booked... Not only for this year's election, but also for the 2024 polls."

"Though, I would be more than happy if someone from Maharashtra becomes the prime minister after that," he added.

To another query that which party, the Shiv Sena or the BJP, will stake claim for the chief minister's and deputy chief minister's post if both get equal number of seats in this year's Maharashtra assembly elections, Fadnavis said few things need to remain secret. "Everything cannot be disclosed at this moment," he added.

He also dismissed reports that BJP workers and leaders were not happy with the alliance as the party would contest only 144 seats in the 288-member House. "Forging an alliance with our old ally Shiv Sena was necessary and this is the political reality in the present situation when all non-natural allies are ganging up to fight against us. Our workers understand this very well and support the alliance," he said.

Appealing to forget the bitterness, Fadnavis said, "Jo beet gai so baat gai' (Let bygone be bygone).

To another query that what cemented the alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, Fadnavis said in a lighter vein, "When we arrived at 'Matoshree' (Thackeray's) home, Uddhav's better half served us few homemade dishes that were

so delightful that we forgot everything and sealed the deal."

Overcoming their strained ties and grandiose declarations of going solo, the BJP and the Shiv Sena on Monday had announced a seat-sharing pact for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

BJP president Amit Shah and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had jointly announced that the BJP will contest 25 seats and Shiv Sena 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

The two parties will contest an equal number of seats, after allotting allies their due share of segments, in polls for the 288-member state Assembly, due this year.
Referring to the withdrawal of security to Kashmiri separatist leaders, Omar Abdullah said it was a 'regressive step' and he was not aware of anybody misusing security.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the silence of the prime minister on the incidents of violence against Kashmiris in various parts of the country in the aftermath of the 14 February terror attack in Pulwama.

Addressing the media in Srinagar, Abdullah claimed that it seemed forces that "demonise" Kashmiris have the support of the ruling party.

"It has come to our knowledge that Kashmiri students in the universities of Dehradun and West Bengal, who have nothing to do with the 14 February terror attack, are being targeted, threatened, and even ousted, " said the National Conference leader.

#PulwamaPolitics  It seems that these forces that are acting against Kashmiri have the support of the ruling party: @JKNC_'s @OmarAbdullah addresses media over #PulwamaTerrorAttack. pic.twitter.com/j87J9lWj8Y  News18 (@CNNnews18) February 21, 2019

However, he expressed gratitude to Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for ensuring safety of Kashmiris in their states.

Condemning the "systematic attacks" directed against the Kashmiris, Abdullah also took a potshot at Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, who tweeted on Tuesday, asking for a blanket boycott of "everything Kashmiri". Roy had also asked people not to visit Kashmir for the next two years.

Taking a dig at Roy's remark, Abdullah said: "When in Chhattisgarh, even a greater alarming situation than Pulwama strikes and many brave CRPF jawans are killed, nobody talks about the economic boycott of Chhattisgarh, the people of Chhattisgarh are not locked up in hotel rooms, no governor protested that boycott of tourism should take place in the state. Are we being targeted only because we are Kashmiri."

He also said talks with Pakistan cannot be held in the backdrop of attacks such as the one in Pulwama.

"Our prime minister has talked about a muh tod jawab, but such a reply is not possible in the current situation," said Abdullah.

He also asked Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure the security of Kashmiri students who were forced to return home following alleged threats and attacks in the wake of the Pulwama terror strike.

Referring to the withdrawal of security to Kashmiri separatist leaders, he said it was a "regressive step" and he was not aware of anybody misusing security.

"My concern is about the withdrawal of security to mainstream political operators. On one hand, youre telling us that we have to be prepared for Parliament and Assembly elections, on the other hand, you're telling us that we no longer deserve the protection of the state," Abdullah said.

The state government on Wednesday announced withdrawal or downgrading of security of 155 persons, including 18 separatists. The list included former IAS officer Shah Faesal and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth president Waheed Parra.

Castigating the prime minister over his recent meet with the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad bin Abdullah, he said, "We've never been in favour of violence and terror, we've only vouched for solution through dialogue. When we talk of dialogue we're dubbed anti-nationals and pro-Pakistan, but in joint statement with Saudi Arabia, the two leaders talk about composite dialogue."

The NC leader also lashed out at the Congress over its silence on violence attributed to Kashmiris: "Even the greatest Opposition leadership in the nation kept silent. We expected them to lend moral support. Congress held a press conference today, they could have at least talked about the protection of Kashmiris."

With inputs from PTI
The upper castes, which constitute 12 to 15 percent of the population, have been the epicentre of NDA's vote bank.

Patna: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has been engaged in caste arithmetic and in the process, he literally hijacked the RJD agenda to provide more reservation for the backward castes but planned the same for the upper caste instead.

In the just concluded Bihar Legislative Assembly Session, he got the 10 percent quota bill passed for the non-reserved category in government jobs and educational institutions amid ruckus raised by RJD legislators over the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case.

"Those opposing this bill will face the music in the elections. I know a lot of RJD legislators who support the move. But they have got a message from Ranchi (read Lalu Prasad) to oppose it," the Bihar chief minister said.

Nitish followed the bill with a unanimous resolution passed by the Assembly calling for the Union government to hold a caste census in 2021 so that quota could be given in proportion to the population. After that Nitish announced doles to Tola Sewaks by increasing their monthly salary from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month.

The Tola Sewaks were recruited by the Nitish government to aid and help families belonging to the Mahadalit and extremely backward castes. The opposition has called them government paid JDU workers who assist the party during polls.

With this move, the Bihar chief minister has put the RJD on the backfoot.

"The chief minister was making it sound as if we were opposing the bill and the resolution. The fact was that we were questioning the role of the chief minister in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case," said senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

However, even RJD leaders privately agree that Nitish has blunted a political agenda the party was thinking of raising in the coming Lok Sabha polls. The RJD is the only political party to have opposed the non reserved category quota. It has angered its ally particularly the Congress but the party has dug in its feet.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav recently undertook the 'Berojgari Hatao, AArakshan Barhao' (Remove unemployment, increase quota) in three districts of North Bihar in which he demanded increase of quota to 90 percent.

"Nitish has ensured that NDA does not face a backlash for upper caste quota," said a RJD MLA.

Ever since he parted ways with Lalu Prasad to form his Samata Party with George Fernandes, Nitish has come to realise the importance of caste as his party won only seven of the 324 seats of joint Bihar largely because it was perceived as a party of Kurmis-a section of backward caste, to which Nitish belongs to. Since then along with development agenda he has been tinkering with caste. Just before the 2005 Assembly polls, he got the Extremely Backward Castes -- a group of 150 castes which constitute 29 percent of the population to vote for the NDA. In the 2010 assembly polls, Nitish played the Mahadalit card, taking away 21 of the 22 Dalit sub-castes and offering them doles. On both occasions, his moves paid rich electoral dividends.

The upper castes, which constitute 12 to 15 percent of the population, have been the epicentre of NDA's vote bank. However, when Nitish split with the BJP, the upper castes sided with the BJP which proved disastrous for Nitish as the JDU won only two of the Lok Sabha 40 seats in Bihar.

"The upper castes had been lately angry with NDA over the SC/ST Atrocities Bill of the Union government. BJP leaders had to face black flags. Nitish realises that the NDA cannot afford to lose the upper caste votes if NDA is to win Bihar. The upper castes influence votes more than their population. Yet at the same time, Nitish knows the danger of the polls becoming an upper caste versus backward caste battle. In the 2015 Assembly polls, it was Lalu Prasad who lapped up a statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and turned it into a caste referendum. The RJD is trying to bring in the same effect," said a JDU minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shooting for a documentary on the afternoon of Pulwama on 14 February, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shooting for a documentary at Jim Corbett National Park on the afternoon when a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on 14 February, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a media interaction on Thursday.

Displaying pictures of Modi from the national park and detailing his itinerary, Surjewala said that Pulwama attack was reported around 3.10 pm on 14 February. Citing news reports, he said that Modi was in Jim Corbett till 6.30 pm and exited from the Dhangarhi gate at 6.40 pm, having made no statement on the dastardly attacks till then.

"When the country was mourning the loss of lives of jawans in the Pulwama attack, Narendra Modi was busy shooting a film till the evening. Is there any Prime Minister in the world like this?" Surjewala said.

He further said that Modi was at the Ramnagar PWD guest house for tea at 7.10 pm, accounting for four hours of silence on the Pulwama attack at his end.

The Congress spokesperson also hit out at BJP chief Amit Shah politicisation of terrorism, when the latter said in Assams Lakhimpur that the sacrifices of the slain CRPF jawans will not go in vain with the BJP government at the Centre.

He further said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of the government, questioning the priorities of the prime minister who has gone on a tour of South Africa instead of tackling terrorism.

Surjewala also lashed out at Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam for posting a selfie on Facebook with the dead body of a CRPF jawan who lost his life in the Pulwama attack.

Alphons visited Havildar Vasantha Kumar VVs home in Kerala and laid a wreath on his coffin.

The Union minister, however, later said that it was not a selfie and someone else have clicked it even asking the Kerala DGP to investigate into the matter.
The SP will contest 37, and the BSP 38 seats in the 80-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, due in May 2019.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday announced their seat-sharing formula in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls: The SP will contest 37, and the BSP 38 seats in the 80-seat Assembly.

Reports have previously said that the SP-BSP coalition will leave the Lok Sabha seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi to United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, respectively.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati & Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav have decided that SP will contest on 37 seats while BSP will fight on 38 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019. pic.twitter.com/k2Gee6iFyy  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 21, 2019

In addition, the SP will field a candidate who will contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, CNN News18 reported.

The development comes amid talks of a potential deal between the SP-BSP alliance and the Congress against the ruling BJP. However, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has previously said that despite his "immense respect" for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party was kept out of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh to correct "poll arithmetic" in order to defeat the BJP.

The Congress had announced that it would go it alone in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav's father and veteran SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has called the SP-BSP alliance "inappropriate and against the interests of Uttar Pradesh." Mulayam has also extended support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the polls.
The Crown Prince 'appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan,' the joint statement said

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the document.

The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, it did not name Pakistan in this context.

"Modiji on 18 February said 'the time for talks with Pakistan is over, and now action will be taken'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

"Modiji on 20 February saying  India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014," he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The prime minister "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said.

The Crown Prince "appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan," the joint statement said.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," it said.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the 14 February attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Congress sources said party president Rahul Gandhi met DS Hooda and discussed the modalities of the panel. 'The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country,' a party source said.

New Delhi: DS Hooda, a former in charge of the armys Northern Command and main architect of the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, will head a Congress task force on national security.

Congress sources said party president Rahul Gandhi met Hooda and discussed the modalities of the panel. "The Congress president is setting up a 'task force on national security' to prepare a vision paper for the country," a party source said.

The source also said that Hooda will lead the panel and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts.

Hailing the step, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, "Yet another positive and welcome step towards a strong nation and stronger national security by Rahul Gandhi. The experience that retired lieutenant-general DS Hooda brings in, will benefit the nation in the long run."

In another tweet, she said, "The only thing they will find is surgical strike and How's the josh?!"

The Congress has been accusing the Modi government of politicising the surgical strikes.

On 29 September, 2016, the army had carried out the strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in retaliation to an attack on its base in Uri earlier that month.
While the BJP has said that the alliance partner winning more seats would get the chief ministerial post, the Shiv Sena has maintained that the pre-poll alliance was made with an agreement to share the post.

Mumbai: Just two days after their parties inked a pre-poll deal, senior ministers of the BJP and Shiv Sena Wednesday offered differing opinions over "sharing" the chief minister's post.

BJP minister Chandrakant Patil said his party is of the view that the alliance partner winning more seats (after this year's Assembly poll) would get the chief ministerial post.

Rubbishing Patil's contention, Sena minister Ramdas Kadam said his party forged the alliance with the BJP after there was an agreement to share the chief minister's post. If the BJP does not wish to fulfil its commitment, it is free to break the pre-poll alliance immediately, he said.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday night told party workers at his residence in Mumbai that he had rejected the formula proposing that the party winning a maximum number of seats in assembly elections would get the post of chief minister.

"This formula was used by both parties (Sena and BJP) in the last 25 years. I have rejected it. What I have demanded is that both the parties get to share all posts equally," Thackeray said. "The BJP has agreed to this, hence I have decided to forge the alliance."

As per the tie-up announced on Monday, the BJP will contest 25 seats and Sena 23 of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. For the assembly polls, the two parties will contest an equal number of seats after accommodating allies.

The BJP and the Sena had contested the 2014 assembly elections separately. Of total 288 seats, the BJP had won 122 seats and the Sena 63.

Kadam said as per the alliance agreement, all Constitutional posts will be equally shared by Sena and BJP. "This means the chief minister's post will also be equally shared. If this formula isn't acceptable to BJP leaders, we will ask Thackeray to call off the alliance. We are capable of contesting polls alone," he added.
In Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry to launch a Bharatiya Janata Party connectivity programme, party chief Amit Shah blamed political parties in the Opposition for politicising the Pulwama attack and claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for the Kashmir issue.

In Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry to launch a Bharatiya Janata Party connectivity programme, party chief Amit Shah blamed political parties in the Opposition for politicising the Pulwama attack and claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for the Kashmir issue.

"If Sardar Patel was the prime minister, then we would not have the problems we are witnessing in Jammu and Kashmir. Look at how Sardar Patel handled Hyderabad," Shah said, referring to the role played by India's first deputy prime minister in annexing Hyderabad to the country.

The launch of the Labharthi Sampark Abhiyan, a nationwide campaign by the BJP to contact the beneficiaries of schemes brought by its governments in states and at the Centre, Shah also lashed out at Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. "Chandrababu Naidu trusts the prime minister of Pakistan and does not trust the prime minister of India. One should not stoop down to this level for their political interests," he said.

He also said Naidu should work for Andhra Pradesh more. "Chandrababu Naidu is sitting on dharnas in Delhi, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If he so wishes to sit on a dharna then he should sit in front of his party office, which in the past five years, has not done any work for the development of Andhra Pradesh," Shah said.

He also said Naidu had betrayed Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi, ostensibly for shifting loyalties after having allied with the BJP while the two leaders were in power.

Shah also charged Naidu with spreading the allegedly false fact that development efforts in Andhra Pradesh have been stopped by BJP. "But 10 of 14 tasks of the Andhra Reorganisation Act had already been completed in five years by the Modi government," he said.

Touching on the terror aspect, Shah said he would like to ask the Congress not to "politicise the attack" as it "was not going to benefit them". "They created an issue out of Prime Minister Modi's presence at a programme on the day of the attack. But I want to tell them that Shri Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours in a day," he said.

Shah told BJP supporters that central schemes have had the most effect under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and listed what the Centre has done especially for Andhra Pradesh. "The government has given 20 major institutions, including IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM, AIIMS and HPCL to Andhra Pradesh in the last five years," the BJP chief said, to mild applause.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to meet May once again.

London: Three MPs quit Britains governing Conservative Party on Wednesday in protest at its disastrous hard line on Brexit, joining a rebellion in parliament that is redrawing the countrys political landscape just weeks before it leaves the EU.

The resignations by the pro-European trio posed a fresh and embarrassing headache for Prime Minister Theresa May as she headed to Brussels for talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston said they planned to sit in parliament alongside eight former Labour MPs who, also citing their Opposition to Brexit, resigned from the main opposition party this week to form the new Independent Group.

Im not leaving the Conservative Party; its left us, Ms Soubry said at a press conference flan-ked by her colleagues following the announcement of their decision, arguing its anti-EU wing was now setting the agenda.

Also on Wednesday, An eighth Labour MP quit the party in protest against leader Jeremy Corbyn, joining a mounting rebellion sparked by rows over anti-Semitism and Brexit.
Opposition to the demand from the Congress comes at a time when the AAP has announced a statewide movement demanding full statehood for Delhi.

Congress shows no support for Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals demand for full statehood for New Delhi, raised in a bid to corner the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.

While speaking to Firstpost, Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief, on Wednesday questioned the timing of the demand made by Kejriwal.

Why has the issue been raised now when there is no Parliament session scheduled and the present government at the Centre is also about to end its term? asked Dikshit, the former Delhi chief minister, hinting that the demand is only a political gimmick.

Opposition to the demand from the Congress comes at a time when the AAP has announced a statewide movement demanding full statehood for Delhi.

Congress' thumbs down to the demand is seen as a setback for the party, debilitating the movement before it even started. It also raises questions on the possibility of the proposed alliance between the Congress and the AAP before Lok Sabha polls, as it shows that the parties are yet to come together on basic issues.

Kejriwal had on Wednesday tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

Sir. Delhi is also waiting for its statehood day. U had promised to the people of Delhi that you wud grant full statehood to Delhi. Kindly do it sir. People of Delhi have faced injustice for 70 years now. https://t.co/qj9AyIrL8X  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 20, 2019

Earlier on Monday, Kejriwal had demanded full statehood for Delhi and Puducherry while participating in a protest led by Chief Minister V Narayanasamy against Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi.

Narayanasamy on Monday had ended his six-day long sit-in protest after a meeting with Bedi, with whom he had a tug of war over the powers of the elected government.

Later that day, AAP  in an official statement announcing agitation  had said, AAP will take to the people all the manifestos of BJP released in every previous election including the latest Delhis specific manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP had promised statehood for Delhi, if it was voted to power. Delhi voters gave them all seven Lok Sabha seats in 2014 only to be deceived by the Modi-Shah duo which does not like Delhi at all.

Dikshit said that to grant full statehood to Delhi, amendment to constitutional provisions is required and hence, the demand cannot be fulfilled without the approval of the Parliament. Further casting doubt over the practicability of the demand, she wondered what would be the financial condition of the Delhi government in case the capital city is granted full statehood.

Interestingly, former DPCC chief Ajay Maken had expressed his reservation on the demand of full statehood for Delhi, claiming it would bring about extra financial burdens for Delhiites.

He had said that if full statehood means losing the national capital status, Congress is opposed to it. He had also said that the expenditure for Delhi Police is borne by the Centre, which might not remain the same if Delhi becomes a state. He also said that funding received from the Centre for the universities in Delhi and super-specialty hospitals may also be jeopardised if Delhi becomes a full-fledged state.

Towing a line similar to Maken, Dikshit also said, We cannot say what would be the fund status of the Delhi government if it becomes another state. At present, we get funding from the Centre easily because it is an Union Territory and also the National Capital. But the same cannot be said if it becomes a full-fledged state.

She added that even Congress had earlier wanted full statehood for Delhi but eventually, the demand was dropped.

When we were in power, we also tried for it. But the Constitution has to be amended for that, she said.

Significantly, Delhi is currently governed by the 69th amendment to the Constitution which inserted Articles 239 AA and 239 AB and came into on 31 January, 1992. This provides for a council of ministers and a legislature in Delhi but gives the Centre control over law and order, land and services.

Kejriwals tweet aimed to remind the prime minister of BJPs promise in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls manifesto to grant Delhi full statehood.

Significantly, the same demand was not seen in the saffron partys 2015 Delhi assembly manifesto.
DMDK party general secretary Vijayakant has pitched for not less than 9 Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat. 'The AIADMK has been tactfully planting stories that the DMDK will get only three or four Lok Sabha seats. This is unacceptable to us, the leader was quoted as saying.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK-BJP front in Tamil Nadu is busy holding parleys on seat-sharing with the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), which is demanding no less than the number of seats offered to Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), according to several media reports.

This comes after the ruling AIADMK and BJP on Tuesday firmed up their alliance and announced a tie-up with the PMK. Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam said the PMK will contest seven Lok Sabha seats and a Rajya Sabha seat will be allocated to it as well.

The Hindu quoted a DMDK leader as saying party general secretary Vijayakant pitched for not less than 9 Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat. "The AIADMK has been tactfully planting stories that the DMDK will get only three or four Lok Sabha seats. This is unacceptable to us, Vijayakant was quoted as saying.

AIADMK and BJP leaders have been in touch with DMDK deputy general secretary LK Sudheesh. The New Indian Express reported that the DMDK was particular about getting one Rajya Sabha seat and at least seats "on par" with PMK, but the AIADMK was only ready to increase the seats from two to three. However, the report further added that AIADMK and BJP sources were confident that a decision would be taken soon since BJP national president Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Ramanathapuram on Friday.

BJP's in-charge for Tamil Nadu Piyush Goyal met Vijayakanth at his residence in Chennai on Tuesday. His visit triggered speculations though Goyal claimed his visit was to enquire about the actor-turned-politician's health. "Everything in life is not about alliances and politics. There are some personal human relationships also," he told reporters after the meeting.

Apart from the PMK  which has a strong base in the northern region of Tami Nadu  and the DMDK, the ruling front is also approaching other parties to be a part of their alliance. The AIADMK and BJP are holding these negotiations in a bid to gain an upper hand against the DMK, which is siding with the efforts for a "grand alliance" of the united Opposition front.

With inputs from PTI
Those dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Aila spoke of flooded and destroyed homes, lack of potable water for up to a week and the painful attempts to salvage or rebuild

Editor's Note: Kolkata and the Sundarbans face a deadly melange of climate change impacts: intensifying heat waves and rainfall extremes, an exceptionally rapid rise in sea levels and intensifying cyclones. Chirag Dhara, a climate physicist, visited Kolkata and the Sundarbans in November 2018. He interviewed a wide cross-section of people  college students and professionals, taxi drivers and street dwellers  on their experience of changes in their citys climate. He also spoke to experts and activists working in health, science and environment.

This five-part series integrates public perception with expert opinion. It contextualizes local climate trends within country-wide and global trends, using photographs, videos, satellite imagery, infographics, concept schematics and the latest developments in climate research. Important scientific concepts have been simplified to better explain the causes and consequences of these changes. This is part four of the series.

Read all the stories in the series here

Tropical cyclones are one of the most awe-inspiring displays of the natures raw power. They are also among the deadliest and costliest natural disasters we routinely contend with.

It has been ten years since Cyclone Aila furiously hit the Sundarbans in the summer of 2009. Leaving hundreds dead and millions displaced in India and Bangladesh, memories of the destruction left in its wake continue to haunt the Sundarbans.

I spoke to several people in the town of Sona Khali, about 100 kilometres south of Kolkata in the Sundarbans, on their experience with Cyclone Aila. Everyone spoke of their flooded and destroyed homes, lack of potable water for up to a week and the painful attempts to salvage or rebuild after the storm passed. These were from just the immediate aftermath of the storm, whose long-term destruction is far worse. It remains the most recent destructive storm to have hit the Indian part of the Sundarbans as of 2018.

How severe was Aila?

Aila formed over the Bay of Bengal in late summer of 2009 and made landfall on 25 May in the Sundarbans before progressing north to hit Kolkata. At landfall, Aila was so massive that it simultaneously spanned a vast area of the Bay of Bengal as well as India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Despite its scale and destruction, the peak wind speed that Aila sustained was only 110 kilometres per hour (kmph), making it a Severe Cyclonic storm: a mid-level category on the scale of the Indian Meteorological Department. Two further categories above this level exist, the most powerful storms being the Super Cyclonic Storms that have sustained peak wind speeds above 220 kmph.

Aila may be the most destructive storm to have hit Kolkata and the Indian Sundarbans in the past decade, but there is an unrelenting threat of far more powerful storms to hit in the future, as Bangladesh with its nearly identical low lying coastal geography, will attest to.

Indias cyclone-prone east coast

The Bay of Bengal is a hot spot for cyclonic activity. Several cyclones hit Indias eastern coast and Bangladesh every year wreaking havoc on lives, livelihoods, and the environment. Most cyclones occur in April/May or October/November when weather conditions align in a manner most favourable for storm genesis and sustenance. Despite not being nearly as active as the Pacific and Atlantic basins in frequency, many of the deadliest tropical cyclones in recorded history have been in the Bay of Bengal.

The Super Cyclonic storms that hit Bangladesh in 1991 and Odisha in October 1999 were among the most powerful with sustained wind speeds up to 260 kmph, bringing storm surges up to 6 metres (18 feet) and inundating up to 35 kilometres inland with saline water.

The 1991 storm killed over 100,000 people in Bangladesh while the 1999 storm was estimated to have killed about 10,000 in India. Millions were left homeless.

Devastating as these storms were, they pale in comparison to the cataclysmic 1970 Bhola Cyclone that killed half a million in Bangladesh, at a time of political turmoil and much lower disaster preparedness.

In the past two centuries, 70 percent of all cyclone-related deaths have occurred in Bangladesh and India alone.

For a given size of storm, the Sundarbans are at a considerably greater risk than most other places because of several developmental and geographical factors: high levels of poverty, high coastal population density in this fertile river delta, poor infrastructure, large-scale mangrove deforestation, a funnel shaped coastline, and a nearly flat terrain with an average elevation above sea level of less than one metre (3 feet) that storm surges can intrude deep into.

What powers a cyclone and how does is relate to climate change?

A fully formed cyclone is so powerful that it can span hundreds of kilometers in diameter, extend 15 kilometres into the atmosphere and travel up to 10,000 kilometers before dissipating.

An average cyclone consumes millions of Megawatts of power during its lifetime of a few days, far exceeding the entire worlds electricity generation capacity during that time.

Where could cyclones possibly draw such immense power from and what implications does global warming have for this power source, hence for future cyclone intensities?

All tropical cyclones form over warm ocean waters and eventually dissipate after making landfall. While details include favourable wind and humidity patterns, cyclone genesis and sustenance fundamentally draws its power from water evaporating from the ocean, which gets cut off once they progress over land.

Cyclones vacuum up the evaporating water, which delivers huge amounts of heat energy and moisture that keeps the storm raging. The collected moisture is transported over vast distances and dumped in intense spurts of rainfall over land.

The warmer the water, the faster the rate of evaporation, contributing to making storms more severe. While the relationship is more complex in the real world, this explains not just the role of global warming in intensifying storms, but even the (partial) reason why Indias eastern coast sees many more cyclones than the western coast.

Q&A: Why are there more cyclones on Indias east coast?

Temperatures in the Bay of Bengal are generally about 1 to 2 degrees Celsius higher than in the Arabian Sea. Small as this difference may seem, it has an outsized effect on elevating the rate of evaporation, and consequently, cyclone intensities.

One major feature distinguishing the Bay of Bengal from the Arabian Sea is the massive influx of fresh water from the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers into the Bay that effectively help sustain higher surface temperatures there.

Some of the cyclones hitting Indias east coast dont originate in the Bay at all, but have their genesis all the way in the cyclone-active Pacific ocean. They can travel thousands of kilometers into the Bay because there are no large land masses en route to cut off the moisture supply that powers them.

Cyclones will intensity in a warming world

Aligned with what we would expect from how storms gather power, climate model simulations project that the frequency of the most severe cyclones will increase with global warming.

Severe cyclones in the Bay of Bengal have, in fact, increased by about 26 percent in the previous century, as they have in the rest of the world. Powerful cyclones also intensify quicker than they did 30 years ago.

Recent research on some of the most destructive hurricanes (another word for cyclones) in the Atlantic basin such as Katrina, Irma and Maria found that they brought 5 to 10 percent greater rainfall than they would have in a pre-industrial world (cooler by merely 1C than the present).

It is still being debated in scientific circles as to how much of these changes can be attributed directly to anthropogenic global warming since there are long-term periodic natural variations that affect cyclone intensities. Historical data records on cyclones arent yet long enough to be conclusive.

Despite these data limitations, the basic physical concept of how cyclones are powered is clear and there is no scientific doubt that cyclones of greater intensity will become increasingly more common as our planet continues to warm.

The range of cyclone impacts and the existential threat that the Sundarbans faces due to global warming

Cyclones impacts occur for three major reasons:

Strong wind: High wind speeds associated with cyclones cause severe damage to dwellings, infrastructure and communications systems, and nature and environment.

Torrential rainfall and flooding: Cyclones can gather up prodigious amounts of moisture from the ocean (billions of kilograms!) and dump much of it in a very short span of time on land. The massive flash floods that follow can drown cities, cause massive soil erosion, destroy crops and damage critical infrastructure such a roads and railways making relief work challenging or impossible as we recently witnessed in Kerala.

Storm surge: Storm surge is an abnormal (but temporary) rise in sea level that can be up to 20 feet higher than normal for severe cyclones caused by high wind speeds. It can inundate low-lying coastal areas, drown people and animals, render fresh water bodies saline, and destroy crops.

In the low lying biodiverse and densely populated Sundarbans, storm surges are a leading cause of death among both humans and wildlife. Aside from the human fatalities, many crocodiles, deer and tigers were believed to have been drowned or swept away during cyclone Aila.

Saline water intrusion on the fertile soils also made farming difficult or impossible for years, leaving agricultural livelihoods in tatters.

Cyclone impacts have serious health implications because of fresh water contamination and is discussed at greater length in the next article of this series.

Prognosis for the future of the Sundarbans

The impact of even a relatively moderate strength cyclone like Aila were so severe that many families in the Sundarbans were forced to abandon their lands and migrate permanently inland to seek livelihood.

The Indian Sundarbans, as well as Kolkata, have been fortunate to not have witnessed a storm as powerful as Aila since 2009. However, the cyclone-prone nature of the region combined with increasing cyclone intensities and a disproportionately rapid sea-level rise means that it is merely a matter of time before storms more powerful than Aila strike with much greater potency.

It is estimated that the most severe category cyclonic storms may double in number in the next 80 years and the rainfall they bring may increase by 30% if the present rate of global warming continues unabated.

Better cyclone warning systems and shelters have been put in place since Aila. The IMDs cyclone forecast predictions have also greatly improved. While these may save lives, they may do little to save livelihoods and the unique and endangered wildlife that the Sundarbans is home to.

Pro-active, visionary adaptation measures couched in principles of risk minimisation are essential to this region. In this regard, there are lessons to learn from mechanisms successfully deployed in Bangladesh in recent decades such as an effective early warning system, extensive community awareness campaigns, cyclone shelters, coastal embankments, extensive mangrove reforestation, and a decentralised yet connected disaster response system.

The author is a climate physicist currently freelancing for Firstpost. You can get in touch with him on chirag.dhara@protonmail.ch
Surendra Jain, who is the VHP international joint general secretary, also cautioned the Centre about Saudi Arabia, saying 'its role in dealing with terror is not unquestionable'.

Kolkata: Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain on Thursday claimed that the entire country wants revenge against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack but leaders of 'mahagathbandhan' don't want "stern action" against Pakistan.

Jain, who is the VHP international joint general secretary, also cautioned the Centre about Saudi Arabia, saying "its role in dealing with terror is not unquestionable".

"We should teach such a lesson to Pakistan that it doesn't forget in days to come. We think there should be a final and ultimate war against Pakistan," he told reporters in Kolkata.

Hitting out at the Opposition, Jain said when the country is united, the leaders of the "so-called mahagathbandhan" are opposing stern action against Pakistan and are calling for peace.

"Their real intentions can be understood from this," he said.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the airport when Saudi Arabia did not name Pakistan while condemning the terror attacks, Jain said "We should not forget that the role of that country (Saudi Arabia) is not unquestionable when it comes to dealing with terror".

The visit came days after a suicide bomber belonging to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Terrorism and extremism are "common concerns" and Saudi Arabia will extend all cooperation to India and other countries in the region to deal with them, Saudi crown prince said on Wednesday after holding extensive talks with Modi.

The Congress had criticised the prime minister for receiving the Saudi crown prince at the airport and had asked whether according a grand welcome to "those who praised" Pakistan's "anti-terror efforts" was the prime minister's way of remembering the Pulwama attack martyrs.

On Kashmiris being allegedly attacked in various parts of the country after the Pulwama attack, Jain said when the entire country is angry over it, Kashmiri youths are making statements against the security forces which has not gone down well with the people of the country.

A Kashmiri shawl trader was beaten up by a mob in West Bengal's Nadia district and one person has been arrested in this connection, police said on Wednesday.

A Kashmiri doctor, who has been living in the city for last 22 years, was also allegedly asked to leave the city by some youths.
Warning Indians of Russia meddling in the Lok Sabha Election, noted political thinker and author Thomas Friedman said, 'If you think they will not be playing in your elections, you are not paying attention.'

Mumbai: Award-winning American columnist and author Thomas Friedman has warned Indians about the possible meddling of Russia in the upcoming elections through unregulated media like Facebook, exactly the way they did to the detriment of the US in the 2016 presidential polls.

President Vladimir Putin will be "voting" in the summer general elections, the author of the book The World Is Flat said here Thursday.

"If you (Indians) think they (Russians) will not be playing in your elections, you are not paying attention. Believe me, Putin will be voting in your election," Friedman said speaking at an annual Nasscom summit in Mumbai.

The noted political thinker and author also accused Facebook of "fundamentally violating the trust" that got the US a president like Donald Trump.

When a country like the US, which is a champion of liberal thoughts, talks about building border walls and chooses to "go into the dark", it impacts the whole world, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner said, adding Trump's imprint through his policies is spreading "venom and poison" across the world.

The comments come in the light of accusations of Russians using social media platforms like Facebook to spread fake news among the American electorate, which resulted in the surprise defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Trump in the November 2016 polls.

The American national investigation agency FBI is currently probing both Trumps personal involvement in Russian meddling and also Moscow's role in the polls.

Similarly, the British also launched a probe against Moscow after it has come to light that the Brexit referendum too was manipulated by Russia using social media. Two years ago, the British in a thin margin of 52 percent voted to leave the EU by March this year.

Friedman said a platform like Facebook has deep insights, courtesy a massive invasion of individual privacy, and said it's essential for entrepreneurs to know constitutional morality along with computer codes.

"Mark Zuckerburg did computer coding in college but did not take a constitutional course in the college. He extended the Facebook platform all over the world without thinking about privacy or election implications. And we are now paying the price for that," Friedman said.

He further said a newspaper like The New York Times, for which he writes, is strictly regulated, unlike a Facebook which revels at zero oversight.

Facebook, however, wants newspapers advertisers and readers, without the regulation over things like fake news, he said, calling it as a fundamental violation of trust.

When asked about the growth of India and China, he said both the countries have their own strengths. Drawing parallels with a super-highway, he said China has a smooth road with an uncertainty lurking on the political front, where rights are trampled on.

As against this, in India, the journey is very bumpy with a lot of hindrances in between but far on the horizon is something that kindles optimism.

"Whether it is a mirage or an oasis only time will tell," he said, adding the way India has stuck to democracy for so long and how a land of 1.34 billion people votes in a largely free and fair election is nothing but a "miracle".

He said the lack of natural resources is India's biggest strength, which results in all the people being forced to use their minds and work extra.
Kashmiri students across the country have been facing threats to their safety in the wake of the terror attack, in which 42 CRPF personnel were killed. Fringe elements targeted Kashmiris, especially students, in several states up north.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea seeking protection for Kashmiri students who have been facing threats across the country since the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on 14 February. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi agreed to hear the petition on Friday after Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves raised the matter before the court, Live Law reported.

Kashmiri students across India have been facing threats to their safety in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, in which 42 CRPF personnel were killed. Fringe elements have targeted Kashmiris, especially students, in several states up north.

The petitioner in the case is practicing lawyer Tariq Adeeb, Bar and Bench reported. It prays for directions to be issued to heads of institutes to take steps to protect Kashmiris, as well as prosecution of persons indulging in hate speech.

The plea has also sought the appointment of a senior officer as a nodal officer in every state and Union Territory and sensitise districts to prevent acts of violence and vigilantism and ensure prosecution of offenders.

On Monday, students from Kashmir at Maharishi Markandeshwar University in Ambala were forced to leave their rented accommodations after protests by villagers.

On Saturday, four paramedical students of NIMS University in Jaipur were suspended for posting an "anti-national" WhatsApp status allegedly supporting the attack.

Kashmiri students across Dehradun were also targeted after a medical student studying there allegedly shared an objectionable comment on a WhatsApp group on the attack.

Chaos ensued in Dehradun after the incident, with reports of 20 Kashmiri students allegedly locking themselves in their hostel out of fear of the angry mob outside. The Uttarakhand Police had issued an alert on Sunday urging citizens to not believe the "rumours". The next day, the Dehradun Police registered an FIR against former JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) leader Shehla Rashid in connection with the incident.

Meanwhile, in Jammu, mobs set ablaze dozens of vehicles belonging to Kashmiri drivers ferrying tourists and local residents across the Pir Panjal. The violence forced authorities to impose a curfew and increase police patrol around areas inhabited by Kashmiri Muslims.

In other places, landlords threatened Kashmiris tenants, who are mostly students, with eviction.

With inputs from agencies
People reacted with surprise after discovering that the Bihar Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), which had invited applications for the post of a junior civil engineer, had published Bollywood actor Sunny Leone's namesake on top of the merit list of registered candidates.

When the Bihar Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) invited applications for the post of a junior civil engineer, little did it think that the online application system would result in a strange prank that would lead Bollywood actor Sunny Leone's namesake to top the merit list of registered candidates.

Not only has the topper's name elicited responses on social media from the likes of Leone herself and Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, the bizarre arrangement of letters that make up the name of the third ranked engineer has also drawn questions on the legitimacy of the PHED ranking system.

The third rank in the list is occupied by someone whose name was entered as "bvcxzbnnb" and whose father's name was listed as "mggvghhnnnn". The second ranking Nirmal Chakraborty's father is, oddly, called Om Puri, like the Bollywood actor who died in 2017.

"Courtesy to CM Nitish Kumar's 'farzi topper banao, farzi naukri pao' education and recruitment policy, 'Sunny Leone' tops Bihar junior engineer merit list with 98.5 marks. Another candidate named, 'BVCXZBNNB' has also made it to the top 3rd rank of the list," Tejashwi tweeted.

As many as 18,000 people had applied for about 200 posts in the PHED. For this particular job, applicants were ranked in order of system-generated scores that were automatically arrived at after their engineering diploma marks and experience points were added. "Sunny Leone", whose father's name is listed as "Leona Leone", received 98.5.

The actor herself was one to see the hilarity of the situation and tweeted in jest that she was glad an alter ego had done well.

HAHA, Im so glad the OTHER me has scored so well !!!!! lol... https://t.co/dV1RTQTN5J  Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) February 20, 2019

However, there is no confirmation on whether the candidate is genuine, or whether a prankster had made an application, reported Hindustan Times.

Ashok Kumar, joint secretary (management) of PHED Bihar, told the newspaper that while they had indeed received the application, verification of the candidate, in fact of all candidates, is pending. "Yes, we received an application for the post with the name Sunny Leone whose fathers name is Leona Leone... But we cannot confirm whether this application is genuine. This can be confirmed only after certificate and document verification is done."

A notice issued by PHED Bihar said that the list was a draft, and candidates can raise objections till 24 February.

PHED minister Vinod Narayan Jha told PTI that the department will examine the genuineness of candidates who would have to submit required documents for verification before an interview.

The department's special secretary, Satish Chandra Mishra, told the news agency that he "did not know" who Leone is. "I do not know who is Sunny Leone. But it does sound like a name that might have been uploaded on the website by way of mischief. We will get it sorted out," he said.

Bihar is no stranger to exam results controversies. In 2016, the arts topper of the Bihar School Examination Board, Ruby Rai, science topper Saurabh Shrestha and the third-ranking Rahul Kumar of the science stream had all failed to answer basic questions asked by TV journalists in interviews. Rai had famously said that political science was a subject on cooking skills.
Analysis of previous NSSO rounds shows that the Indian labour market lost 1.96 crore women workforce between 2004 and 2011 and 53 percent of this drop occurred in rural India

Female labour-force participation (LFP) in India has been declining over the last decade. This was even before the recent kerfuffle over the NSSO jobs report . Analysis of previous NSSO rounds shows that the Indian labour market lost 1.96 crore women workforce between 2004 and 2011 and 53 percent of this drop occurred in rural India.

There is no similar trend for male LFP, suggesting that the boom in economic growth and development in recent years may be characterised by disparate outcomes for men and women. Dwindling female LFP in the backdrop of increasing female education and household incomes suggests that the decision to leave the labour market is not a straightforward one. To a large extent, the decision (and the autonomy to make them) hinges on a number of communal , familial and cultural norms .

When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women is a statement to which participants in the World Values Survey (WVS) are asked to respond. The respondents are asked to agree, disagree, or neither. One of the key values this question attempts to capture is the emancipative value of women in the domain of employment. Arguably, the more you disagree with this, the higher the value you place on womens empowerment and emancipation when it comes to employment and work.

Using global data on WVS and LFP, we correlate responses to the WVS question on labour force participation with male and female LFP across countries. A higher value on the scale here implies more emancipative value towards women in jobs and vice versa. We find that the measures seem to be negatively correlated with male LFP, and positively with female LFP. However, this does not appear to be the case across countries. For instance, in South Africa, the value appears to be neither correlated with male or female LFP.

Figure 1: Emancipative value for women  jobs with male and female LFP globally (average percentages across countries)

Looking closer at India, and using data from the national employment-unemployment surveys, we map state-wise data on LFP in Figure 2 (below). Apart from a few states (notably the northeastern states such as Nagaland, Tripura, and Mizoram), female LFP is indeed on the decline. Data from the NSSO also shows larger fluctuations over time in the female LFP figures compared to the stable trends that we see in male LFP.

Figure 2: Male and female LFP in India (percentage across states and years)

How does this compare with the WVS measure? We ran a simple correlational analysis to show the overall correlation between the two variables. In the case of Indian states, it would appear that the average emancipative value for jobs (over time) for women is not significantly associated with female LFP, but is negatively associated with that of male LFP (as we saw in the country-wise comparisons). However, when we disaggregate the data into year-level aggregates for each state, we find a positive correlation between female LFP and emancipative values across states as observed in the country-level statistics.

Consider, a few states where a strong positive correlation exists (ie, a higher value on the scale is associated, over time, with a higher female LFP). These are the southern states that typically have distinct cultural beliefs and social norms about women working: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. There are a few notable outliers: Punjab, Jharkhand, Delhi, and Bihar  part of the low female LFP could be explained by a lower sex ratio. This could imply that regardless of the emancipative value attached to females working, rising above the India average (for example) may only be possible over a much longer time period. Similarly, Chhattisgarh has a high sex ratio and could explain its higher female LFP despite a low score on the emancipative values scale.

How can social norms be adapted or even leveraged to encourage the economic participation of women? Luckily, there is mounting evidence of a cost-effective way to do this within India and abroad. For instance, providing men information to correct their inaccurate beliefs in Saudi Arabia increased their wives participation in the labour market.

Another measure is to provide women with the opportunity to improve their negotiation skills as was done by a team of researchers in Zambia. The adolescent girls targeted in this study were able to bargain with their parents to do household chores at less conflicting times and improve their investment in education.

Evidence from Uttar Pradesh has shown that increasing womens self-efficacy increases their labour participation which in turn increases their self-efficacy.

It is also important to increase the perceived value of womens labour hours by providing households with better information about employment opportunities for women. Awareness and availability of recruitment services led to more women opting into the labour market, schooling and post-school training and delaying marriage and children.

Behaviour change communication has proven to be successful through classroom intervention multiple times in the Indian context whether it is gender equality workshops in Haryana or afterschool training in Maharashtra . Finally, evidence has suggested that television media in India has not been as effective as in Latin America: programmes like Hum Log (1984) appear to have had limited impact on changing gender norms. However, recent shows such as Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (2014) could offer more insights.

At present, the national labour policy discourse is inordinately focussed on skilling and placements, without addressing the gender gaps in the job market. Women-oriented job-roles in vocational training schemes perpetuate the same gendering that excludes women from the industries experiencing job growth. Behaviour change communication, improving bargaining power (non-cognitive skill training) and correcting societal beliefs deserves further prioritisation in labour policy design.

Sneha Menon is co-founder and researcher at InsightsApplied and Anirudh Tagat is research author at the Department of Economics, Monk Prayogshala in Mumbai
Their rekindled bonhomie notwithstanding, the Shiv Sena Thursday questioned the BJP-led government's response to the Pulwama terror attack, asking it not to wait 'till the eve of polling (for Lok Sabha)' to act against Pakistan.

Mumbai: Their rekindled bonhomie notwithstanding, the Shiv Sena on Thursday questioned the BJP-led government's response to the Pulwama terror attack, asking it not to wait "till the eve of polling (for Lok Sabha)" to act against Pakistan.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana also asked the Modi government not to depend on the US and European countries to condemn the attack. "We have to fight for ourselves instead of looking at America or the European countries for support," the Sena said. The Sena said a war between India and Pakistan is underway on social media, adding this marks the start of election campaigning. This social media war has to be stopped, it said.

"The martyrdom of soldiers and terror attacks becomes a tool to win elections. How will such a nation face enemies? There are rhetorics of teaching Pakistan a lesson. First, do it and then speak. We are only giving warnings since Pathankot, Uri and now Pulwama (terror attacks)," the Sena said. "We are busy patting our backs over what Donald Trump, France and Iran had to say over the attacks," the party said.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena had on Monday announced a seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, overcoming their strained ties and previous declarations of going solo. The Sena said Sri Lanka ended the menace of LTTE and the world commended the island nation for it. The US killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and the world appreciated that

country's courage, the party said.

"However, we are patting our backs even after doing nothing. It is different for countries like the US and France to condemn the terror attack in Pulwama and another thing to openly say Kashmir is a part of India," it said. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that his country will retaliate if India takes action over the Pulwama terror attack. Unless countries like the US and France tell Pakistan that it will be the loser (in case of conflict with India), such nations can't be considered a true friend of India, it said.
The decision to raise the number of Haj pilgrims was announced by the Ministry of External Affairs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with visiting Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman at New Delhi.

New Delhi: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday increased India's Haj quota by about 25,000, the third hike in three years, taking the number of pilgrims from the country who can perform the pilgrimage to 2 lakh.

The decision was announced by the Ministry of External Affairs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with visiting Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman here.

While TS Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, said the implementation of the enhanced quota will depend on logistical and other things, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it will be effective from this year.

The Saudi Crown Prince announced the increase in quota for Indian Haj pilgrims to 200,000 at the request of Prime Minister Modi, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Naqvi hailed the decision and thanked the prime minister, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the crown prince, and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"This is the third hike in consecutive years. When the Modi government came to power in 2014, India's Haj quota was 1,36,000, which has now been increased to 2 lakh. This will be the highest number of pilgrims going for Haj from India since independence," Naqvi told PTI.

He said this was possible because of Modi's "very cordial and friendly" relations with the Saudi leadership.

This year, 2,340 Muslim women from India will go for Haj without 'Mehram' or male companion. Also, India will be sending the second highest number of pilgrims for Haj after Indonesia, he said.

The government had last year allowed women to go on Haj without 'Mehram', which saw about 1,300 women going without any male companion. They had been exempted from the lottery system.

Last year, Saudi Arabia had increased India's Haj quota by 5,000 to 1,75,025, while in 2017 it was increased by about 35,000.

The Haj subsidy provided by the government was removed last year in the light of a Supreme Court order of 2012.

Naqvi had earlier said that digitising Haj-related processes has ensured that the annual pilgrimage remained inexpensive despite the absence of subsidy and made the system "pro-pilgrim".
The barber would normally charge a whopping USD 43 for the Trump dye-job, a steep fee in a city where most haircuts cost a few dollars

Barber Le Tuan Duong has been overrun with customers since word got out about his free dos, a gesture he's offering out of sheer excitement for the February 27-28 meeting in Hanoi. (Photo: AP)

Hanoi: Shorn on the sides, thick on top for the Kim Jong Un look; bright and blonde for the Donald Trump-loving customers: a creative Hanoi barber is offering free cuts ahead of the leaders' meeting in the Vietnamese capital next week.

Barber Le Tuan Duong has been overrun with customers since word got out about his free dos, a gesture he's offering out of sheer excitement for the February 27-28 meeting in Hanoi.

But one style has come out on top.

"Over the past three days, I have made 200 Kim style haircuts, but only five for Trump," he told AFP in his cramped Tuan Duong beauty academy in Hanoi.

He would normally charge a whopping USD 43 for the Trump dye-job, a steep fee in a city where most haircuts cost a few dollars.

No matter that Trump's infamous coif has come under fire, some Hanoians are delighted with the do.

"I want the Vietnamese to know more about Trump, through my hairstyle. For me, Trump is an excellent man and that's why I want this hairstyle," a freshly dyed Vuong Bao Nam said.

The barber is not the only artist in Hanoi paying tribute to the leaders.

Painter Tran Lam Binh has been busy churning out technicolour peace portraits of the men, including one emblazoned with red hearts and the word "L-O-V-E".

His colour palette may not be true to life, but Trump's blonde locks and Kim's full cheeks in the 10 or so paintings he has created so far are unmistakable.

"I really want the two leaders, or just one of them, to come and see my works here... I dream of giving one of the portraits to them," Binh told AFP from a Hanoi cafe where he has been working on the series.

The self-proclaimed Trump obsessive started painting the American president after the election, and has about 50 portraits of him in his studio -- some that he displayed in the US capital outside the White House in 2016.

"When I paint him, I feel like I understand his inner feelings through his eyes, his face," the 36-year-old artist said, standing next to several easels displaying his technicolour works.

He has even sculpted a nearly two-metre (six-foot) statue of the brash US leader, and while Binh's admiration for the reclusive Kim who has overseen North Korea's nuclear ambitions has been slower to emerge, he has grown fond of him.

"I like his humour and his exhibitionist nature," he said.

The meeting between Trump and Kim is aimed at building on their summit in Singapore in June, the first ever face-to-face between sitting leaders from the US and North Korea, which have never formally ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
A major volcanic event could have triggered one of the largest glaciations in Earth's history - the Gaskiers glaciation, which turned the Earth into a giant snowball approximately 580 million years ago.

Researchers from Heidelberg University and colleagues from Mexico have discovered remnants of such a large igneous province that resulted from vast lava flows. At the time, it extended over three continents, which today comprises the Earth's crust in parts of Mexico, North America, and northern Europe. The basaltic eruptions must have covered an area of at least a thousand kilometres in diameter. The results of the research were published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters".

Volcanism is a natural process that releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Weathering of silicate rocks on Earth's surface traps atmospheric CO2 and sequesters it in carbonate rocks. "That guarantees long-term stability of Earth's temperate surface conditions in comparison to the hostile environment of its cosmic neighbours, hot Venus and cold Mars," explains Prof. Dr Axel K. Schmitt of the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University. Disturbances of this equilibrium, however, are known to have occurred throughout Earth's history. "At the end of the Proterozoic Eon, there were three worldwide glaciations. From space, the Earth would have resembled a snowball," adds the geoscientist.

Extreme volcanic outpourings resulting in so-called large igneous provinces could be responsible for these Snowball Earth global glaciations. When continental land masses break up, it causes a volcanic binge that also releases massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, which can cause short-term global warming. Then, however, the lava rock begins to weather. "The weathering process is especially intense at tropical latitudes. Over timescales of millions to tens of millions of years, the weathered rocks can sequester sufficient carbon dioxide to plunge Earth's climate into an extreme ice age," explains Prof. Schmitt.

The German-Mexican team which included researchers from the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenda (CICESE) studied basaltic dike rocks from the Novillo Gneiss in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. These dikes are the roots of lava flows that have been long eroded. The research team demonstrated that dike rocks from Mexico are indistinguishable in their trace element and isotopic compositions to dated rocks from Canada and Norway. Moreover, the Heidelberg team was successful in retrieving microscopic mineral grains of baddeleyite from the Mexican samples.

Baddeleyite exclusively crystallises in magma and thus is a reliable indicator for the timing of volcanism. In this case, with the help of a high spatial resolution ion microprobe at the Institute of Earth Sciences, the rare mineral was determined to be 619 million years old. According to Prof. Schmitt, this date perfectly matches the time when the rocks found in Canada and Norway were formed. The researchers speculate that the long-term climate effects of this large igneous province led to the Gaskiers glaciation approximately 40 million years later.

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It is imperative that New Delhi take notice of this threat of Wahhabi extremism from Saudi Arabia and not sweep the menace under the rug, as governments at the Centre often have when it comes to its policies concerning the Muslim community.

In the backdrop of the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman condemned the suicide bombing in the "strongest terms" during his visit to India on Wednesday. Calling terrorism and extremism a "common concern", he also said his country will "cooperate with India and neighbouring states" on the matter.

The irony of the Saudi Crown Prince's statement is not lost here. It came days after the Saudi Crown Prince endorsed Pakistan's so-called "achievements" in "combating terrorism" and infused the country's coffers with more funds, the same country that has been greylisted and even threatened with being blacklisted for not taking enough action against terrorist groups on its soil and the network that funds terror activities.

If we look at a recent report that reviewed terror financing, we may be able to understand why Saudi Arabia is backing a country that has been denounced by many others for providing a safe haven for terrorists. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  the same watchdog that has grey-listed Pakistan  recently reviewed Saudi Arabia's efforts to fight terror financing and found a number of glaring shortfalls. The FATF has asked Riyadh to present an action plan outlining measures it will take to address these problems. A good start towards that would be to not back a country that has been denounced by many for providing a safe haven for terrorists.

At the root of these deductions is the Wahhabi doctrine the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia follows. Wahhabism, with its purist interpretation of Islam, is essentially a sect of Islam that has an extreme perception of the Sharia, leaving a very thin line between religious beliefs and views and extremism. This form of Wahhabism eventually leads to the use of violence to meet an end. In fact, one could say that Wahhabism is just a mere step from Islamic extremism, and it is radicalisation through this Wahabism that poses a great threat. Even in India.

The Saudi Crown Prince's efforts to project Saudi Arabia as a more moderate state now, one where its Wahhabi doctrine is less entrenched than it was in the past, is evident to the world now. But even the all-powerful Prince Salman cannot subdue the clout of the Wahhabi clerics in the country.

These clerics, in fact, the entire country, was forced to take a more tolerant stand after the 11 September, 2001, attacks in the US, which brought Saudi Arabia in the international spotlight for the wrong reasons. After it emerged that most of the hijackers were Wahhabi Saudis, the Kingdom had little choice but to allow criticism of Wahhabism and curb the powers of the religious police in the West Asian country.

With counter-terrorism measures in focus, and Saudi Arabia taking a very grey stand on the matter, extending support to both India and Pakistan, the question of Saudi-sponsored terrorism and its roots in Wahhabi extremism arises.

In 2017, the US Department of State had designated 61 groups as terrorist organisations, a great majority of which were Wahhabi-inspired and Saudi-funded groups. Moreover, the US may have its oil interests in the West Asian nation and the two countries may have been part of the same coalition fighting the Islamic State, but the American government has still maintained that Saudis extending financial aid for terrorist activities "remains a threat to the Kingdom and the international community".

The Indian context

Saudi Arabia may agree with India that "extremism and terrorism threaten all nations", but what it fails to address is that this extremism is embedded in the very ideology it follows. The concern now is that the effects of this doctrine are making their way to India and gradually penetrating the Indian Muslim community.

The ideology of Wahhabism lays the foundation for radicalisation, leading to the development of an intolerant and a hateful mindset towards non-Muslims and those Muslims who dissent from this strain of religious thought. Though it must be clarified here that Wahhabism in itself is 'not' synonymous with terrorism.

So far, Indian Muslims have not been majorly swayed by the jihadi lure of the Islamic State as only 75 Indians have joined the terror outfit even though India has the second largest Muslim population in the world. But this might no longer be the case. There has been a steady rise in the number of reports of Islamic State recruiters being arrested in the country and of authorities unearthing cells of the terrorist organisation.

According to an Indian Intelligence Bureau report, between 2011 and 2013, 25,000 Wahhabis visited India for missionary work. In those two years, they pumped $250 million into the country in instalments to propagate Wahhabism, $460 million to set up madrasas and $300 million for other expenditure, such as alleged bribes to authorities at mosques. According to the report, Wahhabis from the oil-rich country also allocated a whopping $1.2 billion into a project to set up four universities to spearhead Wahhabi operations across India.

Furthermore, Wahhabis also hold an appeal to the more educated class. This is why the Islamic State has mostly recruited Muslims from the comparatively richer sections of Kerala, Karnataka and Hyderabad, where they are better off politically, educationally as well as economically.

But the problem in India is that the threat of Wahhabi extremism goes mostly unnoticed, shrouded by the more dominant incidents of Muslim radicalisation that have been taking place, along with the spike in Hindu nationalism since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014.

There is also the obstacle that no such direct link can be established between the radicalisation of Indian Muslims and Saudi-funded efforts to promote Wahhabism. But the one thing that can be construed with surety is that the growing trend of targeting Muslims leaves massive room to push them towards radicalisation, regardless of whether or not they take the Wahhabi route. It makes them soft targets for a double onslaught from both extremist ideologies from abroad and increasing alienation in their own country.

India's bloody anti-Muslim history that's slowly seeping into its present makes it imperative that New Delhi takes notice of this threat from West Asia and not sweep the menace under the rug, as governments at the Centre often have when it comes to its policies concerning the community. Currently reeling under the spread of an extreme form of Hindutva, the simultaneous spread of such Wahhabi extremism would not bode well for the country.
Supreme Court said it would consider listing of pleas seeking review of its 14 December verdict dismissing the need for an investigation into the Rafale deal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday said it would consider listing of pleas seeking review of its 14 December verdict dismissing the need for an investigation into the deal to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said four applications or petitions have been filed in the Rafale matter and one of them is still lying with the registry on account of defect.

"The combination (of the judges) of bench will have to be changed. It is very difficult. We will do something for it," the bench, also comprising Justices LN Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said when lawyer Prashant Bhushan sought urgent listing of the petitions in the Rafale case.

Bhushan said that the review petition filed by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was defective and other petitions had no defects to be cured. He also said that besides the review petition, an application seeking perjury prosecution against some central government employees for giving misleading information to the court has also been filed.

On 14 December last year, the apex court had dismissed a clutch of PILs, including the one filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and Bhushan, saying there was "no occasion to doubt" the decision-making process of the Centre in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

The trio had moved the apex court Monday seeking initiation of perjury proceedings against central government officials for allegedly giving "false or misleading" information in a sealed cover in the high-profile Rafale case.

The prosecution of the officials has been sought under IPC sections 193 and 195 dealing with the offences of giving false evidence, contempt of lawful authority of public servants and giving false documents in evidence.

"The information that has come into the public domain after the judgement of court was delivered prima facie shows that government 'misled' the court on various counts and the basis of the judgement of the court is more than one untruth submitted by the government and suppression of pertinent information. The untruths and suppression of information in the notes' constitute perjury and also contempt as the notes' were submitted pursuant to the orders of the court," the plea read.

It also said that the note on pricing was not shared with the petitioners. "From the notes on the 'decision making process' and 'offsets', and Judgement of the court based on notes' submitted by the government, more than one untruth and suppressions are apparent," it said.

The suppression of information by the government deprived the court of complete facts and it led to dismissal of the PILs, the plea said, adding that the errant officials who misled the court be identified and suitably dealt with.

Referring to the CAG's audit of the deal, the plea said, "There was no CAG report at the time. The government misled the court into relying on non-existent fact/report as basis of its observation on pricing in the judgement. "Instead of admitting that it misled the court, by way of an application for 'correction', government imputes that Justices ...have misinterpreted tenses in English grammar in like manner individually and severally."

The government's act of stating "untruth" to the court in a sealed cover on 'pricing' and its subsequent "scandalous" plea for modification have lowered the "sanctity of judicial proceedings", it said.

The plea also referred to recent media reports and alleged suppression of "unauthorised parallel negotiations" by the by the PMO and bypassing of the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Negotiating Team.

Advocate ML Sharma was the first petitioner in the case. Later, another lawyer, Vineet Dhanda, moved the apex court seeking a court-monitored probe into the deal. AAP leader Sanjay Singh also filed a petition.

After the three petitions were filed, Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan moved the apex court seeking a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.
Kashmiris have been attacked in Jammu, as have Kashmiri students in northern states who've returned home over the past few days

The situation remains tense in the Valley. Kashmiris have been attacked in Jammu, as have Kashmiri students in northern states who've returned home over the past few days. Even as the authorities relaxed the curfew for three hours on Wednesday, restrictions on freedom of movement remain in force in Jammu on Thursday. Scores of students who returned to Srinagar called the situation scary.

Shahid Rehman, a Kashmiri student pursuing an engineering degree in Dehradun, returned to his home at the southern district of Anantag after the attacks on Kashmiri students in Uttarakhand. Rehman said his family was worried. He said he contacted a senior official of Jammu and Kashmir government to facilitate his travel home, but got a frosty response. The officer said 'I have not taken a contract to bring back all the Kashmiris who are at different places outside the state', Rehman alleged. I left for Srinagar with four other friends,

Another Kashmiri student in Dehradun said, We faced a lot of harassment. Landlords evicted us and goons even barged into some apartments where students were put up. A large number of students returned home, he added. Rehman said he travelled by road and after reaching Bathindi in Jammu city, he returned to Srinagar through the Jammu-Srinagar Highway.

Police were seen outside the flats of government employees. Earlier, some government employees said their homes were pelted with stones, their vehicles were destroyed or windows of their cars damaged. Civil Secretariat Employees Union president Ghulam Rasool Mir said, The employees resumed duty after the situation in Jammu city witnessed a relative improvement today. However, employees have asked the government for transport facilities so that they can move their families back to Srinagar. Employees said they were worried about their families  especially women and children  facing attacks while they were on duty.

Gujjar activist Javid Rahi said the administration earlier called a meeting of different civil society members in Jammu which was attended by leaders of different faiths who vowed to maintain and ensure peace in the region. The administration also reached out to political leaders and asked them to help establish peace by convincing the members of their religious communities to shun violence.

Many residents of Jammu said the city earlier saw clashes between two communities at Gujjar Nagar in which both sides pelted stones. Scores of vehicles were burned by a mob with government employees accusing the police of providing cover to the arsonists who damaged our vehicles. Some residents said the public was angered by pro-Pakistan slogans being shouted during the demonstrations held to protest the killing of CRPF personnel on 14 February.

Earlier, violence spread to Khatika Talab and mobs also pelted stones at the flats of Kashmiris in Janipur. Jammu residents fear that violence may erupt again. We never expected violence after the Pulwama attack or that the situation would turn so grim, said a resident of Gujjar Nagar, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The clashes have further fractured relations between the two communities, which deteriorated after the 2008 agitation over the transfer of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). Chief patron of Panthers Party, professor Bhim Singh said that violence in Jammu was part of the politics of BJP to create communal divide. Both Muslims and Hindus have maintained a tradition of communal harmony. In Kashmir, Hindus were protected in 1947 when there was religious violence elsewhere, Singh said.
MHA 's decision comes in the wake of a deadly attack on 14 February when a local Jaish-e-Mohammad militant rammed a jeep full of explosives into a CRPF convoy which was in transit,

In the aftermath of the deadly attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday decided to sanction air travel entitlement to all the jawans of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the new notification, all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces will be entitled to travel by air on government expenditure between Delhi and Jammu/Srinagar and between Jammu and Srinagar. The decision will immediately benefit approximately 7,80,000 personnel of CAPFs in the ranks of constable, head constable and ASIs who were otherwise not eligible for the benefit. This includes the journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e. while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home, or when coming back to join duty.

The CAPFs include armed battalions of Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), National Security Guard (NSG), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Unlike the air force, naval and army commands which fall under the Ministry of Defence, these forces fall under the ambit of home ministry.

The decision comes in the wake of a deadly attack on 14 February when a local Jaish-e-Mohammad militant rammed a SUV full of explosives into a CRPF convoy, carrying jawans who were coming back to resume duty. Questions were raised about the security of the convoy, and the tactical intelligence of exposing such a large number of personnel in a militancy-ridden area.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs further pointed out that in Jammu and Kashmir, Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Subsequently, the service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 3) Jammu-Delhi sector in December 2017. The number of flights was further extended in December 2018. In addition, air support is provided from Indian Air Force as and when required.

With inputs from ANI
The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations - 2,936 - by Pakistani troops in the last 15 years along the India-Pakistan border.

Jammu: The Pakistan Army fired on forward posts and civilian areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Thursday, thereby violating the ceasefire for the third consecutive day, officials said.

"The Pakistan Army resorted to mortar shelling and small arms firing on the forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector from 01.00 hours," they said.

According to officials, Indian troops retaliated strongly.

"There were five ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army during the past 24 hours along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts," they said.

On Wednesday, the Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by resorting to heavy shelling with mortars and firing of small arms along the LoC in Kalal sector of Rajouri district.

The Pakistan Army had resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on Tuesday as well.

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.

"Pakistan continues to violate the ceasefire understanding of 2003 despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the agreement during flag meetings between the border guarding forces of the two countries," the officials said.

Amid mounting tension between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack and increasing ceasefire violations, the people along the LoC and the International Border (IB) in this region are living under intense fear.
Pakistan on Thursday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to 'dismiss or declare inadmissible' India's claim for relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on a death row in the country

The Hague: Pakistan on Thursday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to "dismiss or declare inadmissible" India's claim for relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on a death row in the country.

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India on Wednesday questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the top UN court to annul Jadhav's death sentence, which is based on an "extracted confession".

Making the final submission in the ICJ on the last day of the hearing, Pakistan's counsel Khawar Qureshi said, "India's claim for relief must be dismissed or declared inadmissible."

"India's claim for relief (in the Jadhav case) remains as far fetched now as it was then (8 May, 2017)," he told the judges in his concluding remarks.

Closing the arguments, Pakistan's Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan said, "India seeks relief which they cannot claim from this court."

Asserting that the military court in Pakistan works according to the Constitution, he asked the ICJ to "dismiss India's request" in the case.

Khan also assured the court that the process of judicial review in Pakistan was robust and Jadhav can avail it if he chooses.

"Jadhav has been charged with terrorism for which an FIR has been registered with the police that is a civilian agency. The military courts have sufficient proof of espionage and the said military court on the available evidence and the judicial confession proceeded to convict him despite he being given the option of going for a judicial review, he has refused to do so," Khan told the court.

He said India claims consular access, "surely (it) was not allowed for good reason in terms of the agreement of 2008, especially for the reason that commander Jadhav being involved in espionage".

Khan also raked up the Kashmir issue and said Pakistan was awaiting India's response on Samjhauta train blast case and has sought evidence on his country's role in the Pulwama terror attack.

After his submission, ICJ top judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf adjourned the hearing and said a date for the judgment would be announced later.

On Wednesday, Harish Salve, who was representing India in the case, said that the time has come for the ICJ to make Article 36 a potent weapon for protecting human rights.

On Pakistan's military courts, he said the International Commission of Jurists and European Parliament have criticised their functioning and added that anything diluting provisions of Vienna Convention must fail.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.
The avalanche occurred at around 11 am near Shipkala on the Sino-India border in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, where six Indian soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles unit were feared dead.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): One jawan of the Indian Army's Jammu and Kashmir Rifles unit died and five others are trapped in an avalanche on the India-China border in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district on Wednesday, officials said.

"The body of one jawan had been found, whereas five bodies were yet to be traced," Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Gopal Chand said.

"The avalanche occurred at around 11 am near Shipkala on the India-China border," he added.

Several jawans of the India-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were also trapped in the avalanche. However, they had been rescued, Chand said.

According to Army officials, 16 jawans were patrolling the India-China border area when the avalanche struck, burying six of them alive. One of them was rescued, but he succumbed to his injuries subsequently.

A spokesperson of the Army said the search-and-rescue operation would go on till the last man was retrieved. A team of about 150 persons, including Army personnel, is searching for the trapped jawans, along with the police.
Eric Trappier said, There is no scandal with Rafale. We were asked for 36 Rafale jets which we are going to deliver to India in the next two years. The first jet will be delivered this year in September and then one fighter jet will be given every month.'

Bengaluru: There is no scandal with Rafale deal and 36 fighter planes will be delivered to the Government of India in next two years, said Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier on Wednesday.

There is no scandal with Rafale. We were asked for 36 Rafale jets which we are going to deliver to India in the next two years. The first jet will be delivered this year in September and then one fighter jet will be given every month, he said. Talking to media persons in Bengaluru, Trappier said: We will deliver more Rafale planes if India wants so. We will be more than pleased to deliver and we feel confident for the future. If India wants to buy more and strengthen its defence capability, then 100 is a good number, he said.

I wanted to be an in-charge of the industrial process in the company as I have the capability to master the quality, standards, and timing of delivery. We are more than proud to show today in our stand what we have produced in Nagpur, the first Falcon 2000 cockpit manufactured under the 'Make in India' policy in one year, he said.

On being questioned when will begin the offset from India to France as a part of this deal, Trappier said: The offset was signed at the same time of the contract G-to-G. Then we started to work with these partners. For instance, we started the process in Bengaluru. I conducted meetings with mid-size companies to set up a partnership in India. We started to buy from Indian companies and other places here. We are working and we are on time.

Trappier further said that revealing about the pricing details is the responsibility of the Government of India, and not his. I have been working for India for the last 30 years. I was never nervous. I am even more confident as we are working straight, he said. Replying to a question if he has any message for Congress president Rahul Gandhi who has been targeting the Centre for the scam in Rafale deal, Dassault Aviation CEO said: I don't have a message for Rahul Gandhi. I have a message to the partnership between India and France and India and Indian Air Force.

Earlier in the day, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler rejected the charge of corruption in multi-billion US dollar Rafale jet deal and said that "very good" aircraft is expected to join the Indian Air Force within six months.

Speaking to ANI, he said: I do not see any scandal. What I see is a very good aircraft which has been purchased by the Government of India. The aircraft will probably come here (Bengaluru) first and will join the Indian Air Force within six months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Central government had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The fighter jet is a twin-engine medium multi-role combat aircraft, which security analysts believe can be a game-changer for Indias defence system. Attacking Prime Minister Modi-led government, the Congress and other opposition parties have alleged that there was corruption in the high-profile deal and Reliance Defence, owned by industrialist Anil Ambani, had been signed as the offset partner by aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation even though the company had no previous experience.
With respect to the Nellie massacre, we have arrived at the stage of decline. One needs to ask, what is the politics of erasure of Nellie? Whose purpose does it serve?

Much of the violence in Assam over the years has been tied to the questions of identity, sovereignty and social distinction. An instance of large-scale violence in the state was the Nellie massacre that took place on 18 February, 1983.

The years leading up to the incident were very tense, as the region was gripped by an anti-foreigner movement popularly known as the Assam movement. The objective of the movement was to detect and deport foreigners living illegally in the state. The leaders of the movement argued that this was to secure the rights of the indigenous population of the state, which was projected to be in danger due to alleged land-grabbing by migrants. It was also claimed that migrants were becoming a large vote bank. Slowly, this outlook took a chauvinistic turn, and the Muslim community and anyone with ancestry in East Bengal were seen with suspicion. These communities were projected as common enemies. The Nellie massacre was a product of such communal and xenophobic politics.

On that fateful day, close to 2,000 Muslims were killed in Nellie in a matter of hours with machetes and country-made guns. Unofficial figures put the number of victims to be close to about 3,000. It is not just the numbers that should worry us, but the point about what made such a heinous crime possible. The massacre will remain as one of the darkest days for Assam, a day which should remind us of the tales of the horrors of violence. However, the Nellie massacre has been removed from our public memory, and it should worry us all.

Remembering affects our consciousness in many ways and forgetting signals a denial of such a sordid event. The latter devalues the victim and dehumanises suffering. Have we forgotten about Nellie? Are the victims deaths any less meaningful than those whom the state identifies as martyrs of the Assam movement? Why are the martyrs as identified by the state turned into heroes and the victims of Nellie erased from public memory?

Remembering Nellie will make us better human beings. We can learn a great deal from not only the event, but also its survivors. Makiko Kimura, who has written about the Nellie massacre, expresses surprise on how the victims and perpetrators went on to live side by side. We can remember the incident by building an archive of the events of that fateful day. We can also publicly commemorate the victims and the event itself. It can go a long way in healing the pain of the victims.

We can also build our collective memory by forming a repository of the testimonies of the victims and perpetrators. The former group constitutes the ones who have been subjected to violence, and are also witnesses to that violence. Through their testimonies, we can create scope for remembering the Nellie massacre. Survivors are intellectuals, notes Francois Laruelle, and their testimonies are the most direct representative democracy of the victims.

Laruelle attempts to create a theory of the victim and in doing so, he makes a very powerful claim. He argues that philosophy has been more interested in force, power and domination. Not only do our public emotions and public intellectuals move in these three directions, but they also become fixated on these overarching categories, at the cost of the victim.

To add to them, we have a strong tendency to celebrate our heroes, not once, but twice  once at the stage of victory and later, as a reminder that the victory was indeed performed by someone or a group. In this process, there is a momentary amnesia as far as the victim is concerned. But that momentary forgetfulness is erased in the form of public offending of the criminal. There was an abundance of such social media lynching during the NRC process. It is an effacement of the victims, whereby they undergo double death. In essence, we celebrate our heroes twice and also make victims suffer a double death.

There is a certain direction which the victim takes before being dissolved into the mundane world. It is a curve which is inevitable for a victim. Laruelle notes four stages of this process. First, there is a stage of expansion. It is a stage of shock and solidarity. It then moves to a state of nausea, which can be a result of overrepresentation of the criminal, of misrepresentation of the victim and negative nationalism. The next stage is of ascendance, where there is critical thinking, self-reflection and solidarity. It is a stage where we might find a chronicler of the victim or even an ideology of the victim and the survivors of the crime. The last stage is of decline or erasure, where the victim and the event are erased from public memory and there is a denial of such crimes.

On 18 February each year, we mark the anniversary of the Nellie massacre. This year too, the local media and intellectuals are silent. This deafening silence is the product of a collective attempt to look away from the sordid event and the victims. With respect to the Nellie massacre, we seem to have arrived at the stage of decline. One needs to ask here, what is the politics of erasure of Nellie? Whose purpose does it serve?

The absence of voices from intellectuals is also due to the fact that the testimonies of the survivors are suppressed or do not find adequate representation. However, Primo Levi, a prominent intellectual has detailed the horrors of the massacre, with testimonies. Why are the testimonies of Nellie lost on us?

We do not have a chronicler of Nellie, nor do we have defenders of the victims. Instead, as Tzvetan Todorov would say, we juggle the balls of our identity with effortless ease.

Suraj is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the National University of Singapore.
On Thursday, the Grand Old Party's national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala lashed out at Narendra Modi over the inadequacies of the joint statement signed by the prime minister and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday

Not for the first time this week  or indeed, this day  will you read the following five words on this website: The Congress' outrage is misplaced.

On Thursday, the Grand Old Party's national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala lashed out at Narendra Modi over the inadequacies of the joint statement signed by the prime minister and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday. Surjewala questioned why, among other things, the statement did not name and shame Pakistan as a 'terror nourisher'.

The real question Surjewala  and for that matter, anyone contemplating the reason for the exclusion  should be asking is: Would it have made a difference?

Let's assume for a moment that the statement had in fact, 'in the strongest terms', condemned Pakistan for fostering, grooming, nurturing, feeding, clothing, educating, organising the wedding of, babysitting for (feel free to add any other verbs that you deem apt) terrorism. Apart from causing a mild ripple in relations between Riyadh and Islamabad for the short term  do recall how Saudi Arabia's anger at Pakistan for opting not to join its anti-Yemeni Houthi forces coalition in 2015, soon evaporated and that both sides settled their differences  things will return to normal. The mere mention of Pakistan in a joint statement, that by its very nature is not legally binding, would do very little else than that.

That 'very little' being to cry itself hoarse at the UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about how it was a victim of terror and was being demonised at big bully India's behest. This simulation could continue for a few paragraphs more, but what's the point? We've seen it all before and much too often.

As it stands, the statement contains no mention of Pakistan, which seems as good a point as any for India to wake up, smell the coffee and make sense of this latest reality check. Two reality checks, to be precise.

Different strokes for different folks

First, India-Saudi relations are largely economic in nature. While there was a sprinkling of tourism-, housing- and culture-related content in the MoUs/agreements signed on Wednesday, the biggest thrust of the crown prince's visit was investment. Aside from the MoU between the Financial Intelligence Units of both countries to cooperate in the exchange of 'Intelligence related to Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Related Crimes', this was also the case when Modi visited Saudi Arabia in April 2016. That 2.7 million Indian expats  whose efforts in 'building Saudi Arabia' were lauded by Salman  work across industries in the Kingdom and New Delhi's energy dependence on Riyadh further the point that the bilateral is, for the most part, an economic relationship. To expect the relationship to suddenly transform into a strategic one is premature and unrealistic.

Second, India and Saudi Arabia might be economic partners, but Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are strategic partners... and more. There's a deeper link between the two that becomes a bit clearer upon looking at the following lines in the Saudi-Pakistan joint statement:

- (Salman) praised Prime Minister Imran Khan's agenda of transforming Pakistan into a welfare state, based on Islamic socio-economic principles...

- The Pakistani side appreciated the leadership and positive role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in resolving the issues facing Islamic Ummah worldwide.

- The Saudi side lauded Pakistan's important positions in the Islamic world and its efforts for regional peace and security.

- They strongly condemned the atrocities and human rights violations committed against Muslims around the world.

Coupled with the faith-based connection, the joint statement refers to the two nations in three instances as "brotherly countries". Whether or not India chooses to accept it, Riyadh will always be closer to Islamabad than New Delhi. But, such is the nature of geopolitics, and India, as a country that proudly speaks of its 'strategic autonomy', should realise that Saudi Arabia too has its own strategic autonomy, which allows it to pick and choose what it wishes to do in partnership with whom.

But let's return to the topic at hand.

On terrorism

Barring the infinitesimally small vague possibility that Salman was unaware that India-Pakistan tensions have been greatly heightened by the Pulwama attack on 14 February  an incident acknowledged in the joint statement that bears the signatures of Modi and Salman, the Saudi crown prince had the opportunity, as this article points out, to play peacemaker. Contending that Salman could have invited the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers to Riyadh, a neutral(ish) venue, for talks, the article notes, "But he offered just vague observations about terrorism being a 'common concern', and an equally unspecific promise to share more intelligence with India. Plainly, the prince is not prepared to play peacemaker."

And a look at the joint statements he signed on his visits to the two South Asian neighbours takes this notion a step further.

The statement signed in Islamabad reads that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan "reiterated their commitment to continue combating extremism and terrorism and expressed their deep appreciation for the achievements and sacrifices made by the two sides in the war against terrorism. They also applauded the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in order to confront this serious scourge and called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to join all international efforts to combat global terrorism. They also underlined the need for avoiding politicisation of UN listing regime".

A few points stick out like a sore thumb:

- 'achievements... in the war against terrorism'?

- 'called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to join all international efforts to combat global terrorism'?

- 'the need for avoiding politicisation of UN listing regime'?

(emphasis added)

Whether a display of wilful ignorance or something far more insidious, these remarks  the third in particular that is an unveiled dig at India's efforts to have Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar designated a 'terrorist'  look a lot like a mockery of India's position made clear across fora, domestic and international, bilateral and multilateral.

Let's move on to the India-Saudi Arabia statement. It does note that the two sides "condemned in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian security forces on 14 February, 2019 in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir". A little earlier in the communique, came the following paragraph:

"Affirming that the menace of extremism and terrorism threatens all nations and societies, the two sides rejected any attempt to link this universal phenomenon to any particular race, religion or culture. Both sides called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists perpetrating terrorism from all territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice. The two sides also noted the need for concerted action by the international community against terrorism including through early adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN."

And here's a look at an excerpt from the 2016 joint statement:

"Affirming that the menace of extremism and terrorism threatens all nations and societies, the two leaders rejected totally any attempt to link this universal phenomenon to any particular race, religion or culture. They called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists operating and perpetrating terrorism from their territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice. The two leaders agreed to further strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism, both at the bilateral level and within the multilateral system of the UN. The two leaders called upon the international community to strengthen multilateral regimes to effectively address the challenges posed by terrorism. The two sides agreed to work together towards the adoption of Indias proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations."

Whether boilerplate text or a quick bit of Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V action is as-yet-unknown, however, there are a few important differences (emphasised in the lengthier section contained in the 2016 document). Agreeing to strengthen cooperation and calling upon the international community to do something is as much a part of any joint statement as fruit is a part of any healthy breakfast. However, underlining the "importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN" is undoubtedly a noble thing to underline, but when one has signed a statement 48 hours or so earlier decrying the 'politicisation' of the UN listing regime, it begins to look increasingly like a cruel joke. After all, how do you sanction that which you cannot list or designate?

Another interesting point to note is the absence of the word 'totally' in the 2019 iteration. Make of that what you will.

Elsewhere, the line expressing "strong condemnation of the phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, irrespective of who the perpetrators were and of their motivations" is absent in the 2019 edition, while a welcome addition is the line "Both sides called up on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of State policy". Ultimately, all of this flies out of the window when looking at the statement signed with Pakistan. Strategic autonomy, it would seem, goes hand-in-hand with the autonomy of logic. The most heartening part of the whole section on terrorism was the plan to constitute a 'Comprehensive Security Dialogue' at the National Security Advisor-level and the setting up of a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism. It's probably best not to speculate on how useful all of this will be.

But one glaring aspect sticks out like a sore thumb.

Playing the CCIT both ways

Both the 2016 and 2019 joint statements call for the early adoption of the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). The convention has faced pushback from a number of nations and multilateral groupings for a handful of reasons. One of the biggest sources of disagreement, however, is the way the CCIT defines terrorism and terrorists. As noted in 2014, on the occasion of Modi attending his first UN General Assembly as Prime Minister of India with a view to pushing the CCIT, "the OIC  comprising 57 countries  [is] opposed to the CCIT... [because it] feels the draft does not adequately distinguish movements of self-determination from terrorism."

Bearing in mind that the OIC has not changed its stand and that Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest players in the grouping, it seems downright bizarre that Salman would back the CCIT in a bilateral setting, but oppose it as part of a multilateral grouping.

Also, consider at this point that Saudi Arabia's 'brotherly nation' Pakistan views the acts of terror being perpetrated in what it gallingly refers to as "Indian-occupied Kashmir" as part of a self-determination movement for Kashmiri 'azaadi'. It suddenly appears highly unlikely that Riyadh is going to oppose Islamabad, ergo, unlikely that Riyadh is truly going to get behind the CCIT. Perhaps the fact that said convention is unlikely to get the unanimous and global approval any time soon, it's probably a safe, no matter how insincere, line to throw into joint statements.

The bottomline

At the end of the day, the Congress' outrage is indeed misplaced. But, at least now India can unburden itself of unrealistic expectations from its bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia. After all, when you have a myriad basket of natural partners, economic partners, strategic partners and partners-linked-by-DNA, you tend to have a lot of partners for all sorts of purposes, just not a lot of friends.
US woman who joined ISIS won't be allowed back says Donald Trump

Hoda Muthana said she was brainwashed by social media messages and headed to Syria in 2014. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is barring a US-born former ISIS propagandist from returning home, making the highly unusual case that she is not a US citizen.

Trump's refusal to admit 24-year-old Hoda Muthana comes just as he is pressing Europeans to repatriate their own ISIS fighters and will likely face legal challenges, with US citizenship extremely difficult to lose.

Trump said on Twitter he has "instructed" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country" -- a break with usual US protocol not to comment on individuals' immigration issues.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Pompeo said in a terse statement.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," he added.

The US generally grants citizenship to everyone born on its soil and the Alabama-raised Muthana is believed to have traveled to Syria on a US passport.

But a US official said a later investigation showed that she had not been entitled to her passport, adding: "Ms. Muthana's citizenship has not been revoked because she was never a citizen."

Officials declined further comment but in a loophole that could boost the government case, Muthana's father had been a diplomat from Yemen -- and children of diplomats are not automatically given citizenship.

Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shilby, showed a birth certificate that demonstrated she was born in New Jersey in 1994 and said her father had ceased being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.

"She is a US citizen. She had a valid passport. She may have broken the law and, if she has, she's willing to pay the price," Shilby told AFP at his office in Tampa.

He said Muthana wanted due process and was willing to go to prison if convicted.

"We cannot get to a point where we simply strip citizenship from those who break the law. That's not what America is about. We have one of the greatest legal systems in the world, and we have to abide by it."

US-Born And Radicalized

Just this weekend, Trump took to Twitter to chastise European allies that have not taken back hundreds of ISIS prisoners caught in Syria, where Trump plans to withdraw US troops.

Comparatively few Americans have embraced radical Islam, with the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University identifying 64 who went to join the ISIS group in Syria or Iraq.

Muthana, raised in a strict household in Hoover, Alabama, said she was brainwashed by social media messages and headed to Syria without her parents' knowledge in 2014.

Shortly afterward, Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of herself and three other women who appeared to torch their Western passports, including an American one.

She went on to post vivid calls on social media to kill Americans, glorifying the ruthless extremist group notorious for its beheadings that for a time ruled vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

But with the ISIS group down to its last stretch of land, Muthana said she has renounced extremism and wants to return home with her toddler son, born to one of her three jihadist husbands.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly," she said in a handwritten note to her lawyer.

Tough To Lose US Citizenship

The US decision on Muthana comes amid rising debate in Europe on the nationality of extremists. Britain recently revoked the citizenship of Shamina Begum, who similarly traveled to Syria and wants to return to her country of birth.

Britain asserted that she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship due to her heritage, but the Dhaka government on Wednesday denied that she was eligible, leading her to become effectively stateless.

US citizenship is significantly more difficult to lose. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War as slavery was abolished, establishes that anyone born in the country is a citizen with full rights.

The US Supreme Court in the landmark 1967 Afroyim decision rejected the government's attempt to revoke the nationality of a Polish-born naturalized American after he voted in Israel.

And last year a federal judge rejected a bid to strip the nationality of a Pakistani-born naturalized American who was convicted in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.

But Trump has campaigned on a hard line over immigration and raised the prospect of ending birthright citizenship ahead of last year's congressional elections.

In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes that killed two Americans in Yemen -- prominent Al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son -- but did not believe it was possible to revoke citizenship.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Seoul on Thursday on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea and seek to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

Seoul: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Seoul on Thursday on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea and seek to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

Ahead of his visit, the prime minister described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two countries share values and vision for regional and global peace.

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in. Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said the visit would strengthen India's special strategic partnership with South Korea and add dynamism to the Look East Policy.

During the visit, Modi will have bilateral and business engagements, unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi and accept the Seoul Peace Prize conferred upon him, Kumar said in a tweet.

Earlier in his departure statement, Modi said his visit is reflective of the importance "we both attach to our relationship". "We regard the Republic of Korea as a valued friend, a nation with which we have a Special Strategic Partnership. As fellow democracies, India and the ROK have shared values and a shared vision for regional and global peace," the prime minister said.

"As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary. South Korea is an important partner for our 'Make in India' initiative as well as in our 'Start-Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives," Modi said. He said collaboration between the two in the field of science and technology is encouraging, with joint research ranging from basic to advanced sciences.

"Our people to people ties and exchanges, as always, provide the bedrock of our ties of friendship, he said. "Working together, we are determined to take our relationship forward as a 'future-oriented partnership for People, Prosperity and Peace'," the prime minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be awarded the Seoul Peace Prize 2018 during his two-day South Korea visit starting Thursday. Modi, the fourteenth recipient of the prize, became the first Indian to have been conferred the prestigious award.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was awarded the Seoul Peace Prize 2018 during his two-day South Korea visit starting Thursday. Modi, the 14th recipient of the prize, became the first Indian to have been conferred the prestigious award.

Why is Modi getting the award?

The prime minister received a plaque and an honorarium cash prize "for his contribution to high economic growth in India and the world through 'Modinomics'", the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The selection committee of the award recognised "his dedication to improving international cooperation, raising global economic growth, accelerating the human development of the people of India by fostering economic growth in the world's fastest-growing large economy and furthering the development of democracy through anti-corruption and social integration efforts".

The committee also credited the prime minister for his contribution towards regional and global peace through a proactive foreign policy with countries around the world under the 'Modi Doctrine' and the Act East Policy.

What is the Seoul Peace Prize?

Established in 1990, the Seoul Peace Prize was an effort to crystallise the Korean people's yearning for peace in the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world. This year's award commemorates the success of the 24th Olympic Games held in Seoul, Republic of Korea  an event in which 160 nations from across the world, including Seoul's belligerent neighbour Pyongyang took part  creating harmony and friendship and a worldwide atmosphere of peace and reconciliation.

The Seoul Peace Prize is awarded biennially to those individuals who have made their mark through contributions to the harmony of mankind, reconciliation between nations and to world peace.

Past laureates include distinguished global personalities like former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and renowned international relief organisations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

After assessing over a hundred candidates proposed by over 1,300 nominators from around the world, the Award Committee decided to bestow the prize on Modi, calling him "the perfect candidate for the 2018 Seoul Peace Prize".

In October 2018, Modi had received the United Nations' highest environmental honour, the Champions of the Earth Award, from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his "unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022". He was among the six winners of the award.

South Korean groups protests against conferring prize on Modi

National Herald, a newspaper associated with the Congress party, quoted Korean reports to claim that at least 20 South Korean nonprofits, including human rights groups, had raised strong objections to Modi being awarded the prestigious prize. The activists referred to the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying: "Modi's win is a disgrace to the past laureates of this prestigious award."

"We demand (the Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation) retract its decision to give the Seoul Peace Prize to Modi... He deliberately allowed anti-Muslim riots in India that killed more than a 1,000 people in 2002," the newspaper quoted 26 groups, including the Centre for Refugee Rights in Korea and the Korean House of International Solidarity, as saying.

The government had told Parliament in 2005 that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 more people were reported missing and another 2,500 were injured during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

In October 2017, the Gujarat High Court had upheld the clean chit given to Modi and 58 others by the Special Investigation Team, saying there was "no prosecutable evidence" against them. However, this has been challenged in the country's Supreme Court, and the matter is due to come up for hearing in July 2019, well after the Lok Sabha elections due in May.
Religious women, priests and laymen who supported a nun after she filed a police complaint of rape against Franco Mulakkal are being targeted in Kerala.

Religious women, priests and laymen who supported a nun after she filed a police complaint of rape against Jalandhar ex-bishop Franco Mulakkal, are being systematically targeted by the Catholic Church in Kerala.

Nuns, who form the most vulnerable community in the Church, are facing most of this oppression. While five nuns who took to streets demanding the arrest of the bishop are being put under pressure and threatened, another nun who was an important witness in the case was harassed and tortured under wrongful confinement in a convent this wee. Another who participated in the protest has been served a canonical notice of expulsion from her Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC).

Sister Lucy Kalappura, who has been given time up to 10 March to give reasons not to initiate expulsion proceedings against her, is least deterred by the move. The 53-year-old nun, who works in a government-aided school under the management of the Mananthavady diocese in Wayanad district, talks about the reasons in this interview. Here are the edited excerpts of the conversation:

Why are you confident that the present move to oust you from the congregation will not succeed?

Because I have not done anything wrong. They cannot oust me for supporting a fellow nun while she was suffering physical, mental and spiritual pain and five of her colleagues came out on the streets demanding justice. The FCC authorities have, therefore, cooked up flimsy grounds by raking up old issues for proceedings against me. The charges they have levelled against me will not stand legal scrutiny. Therefore, I am not afraid of their moves.

If you feel so, why do you think your superior general has served you with a canonical notice with a threat of dismissal from the congregation?

I think it is part of a larger plan by those supporting the bishop to intimidate the witnesses and silence those supporting the nuns. A similar warning was issued to priests and laymen, who came out in the open against the bishop. Many others are being harassed and tortured.

I feel this is aimed at torpedoing the case. I dont know why the supporters of the bishop are resorting to these tactics if they believe that he is innocent. The case is in the court. The bishop will get ample opportunity to prove his innocence if he is really innocent.

Do you personally think the bishop is guilty of rape?

I do not know either the bishop or the nuns. I have not seen any of them before. I came to know about the incident only after I read in the media about the protest staged by the five nuns, who stayed with the rape survivor at the Kuravilangad convent at Kochi. Such a street protest by nuns was unprecedented in the history of Catholic Church. When the nuns resorted to such a protest, I believed that they had a strong reason to do so. I am not trying to judge anybody. Let the court bring out the truth.

Why did you then decide to join the protest?

There are thousands of nuns in the Catholic Church across India. I thought they will stand by the protesting nuns after they came out of their convent demanding justice. I felt they had a moral responsibility to listen to these nuns in their hour of crisis. When none came forward, I stepped out. I am an ordinary nun. I dont have the power or resources to provide any material support to the protesting nuns. But I felt at least my presence would give them strength to continue their fight for justice. I will continue to support them as long as they fight for justice.

Has your decision got to do anything with similar sexual abuse you have faced while serving as a nun?

I have personally faced sexual advances not only from priests but also members of the laity, but I have not succumbed to them. At least two priests tried to sexually abuse me in my workplace. While I was teaching in a school in Rajasthan, the headmaster of the school, who was also a priest, made sexual advances against me when I approached him to clear a doubt in the subject I taught. I could overcome such advances as I held my vow of chastity strong. I could avoid similar situations later in life by keeping safe distance from such people.

Do you think sexual abuse is a serious issue in the Catholic Church?

Yes. Sexual abuse is rampant in the Catholic Church. It is hidden under the iron walls of the Church.

There are several nuns who are silently suffering the sexual exploitation. Many have told me about their experiences after I came forward to support the Kuravilangad nuns. The priests who preach the Ten Commandments in the Church violate them without any scruples.

Why is sexual abuse rising in the Church now?

I think it is because of the influence of materialism that is gripping the Church. It is running after money. The Church charges money for every sacrament and service it renders from poor and rich alike. Why does the church need so much money for its spiritual activities? The money is not used to help the poor and the needy as Jesus Christ taught, but to help priests and prelates to lead a luxurious life. The pursuit for luxury has been leading to corruption and other aberrations. There is no love left in the Church anymore.

Why do you think nuns are not coming out against the sexual exploitation they are suffering within the Church?

I think it is because of lack of financial independence. The nuns fear they may be ousted from the congregation if they speak out. Once they are ousted, they have nowhere to go and have no means to sustain their lives.

While they have surrendered their share of the family property after joining the religious order, whatever they earn from the job as a nun is taken away by the congregation.

They are totally dependent on their superiors for their personal needs. The nuns have to beg for money they need for even simple things like recharging a phone. Most often, these requests are not considered sympathetically. This forces nuns to seek support from outside the congregation. Since their immediate contact is a priest, many nuns approach them for money. Some priests misuse this opportunity. Thus, lack of financial independence not only forces them to suffer the abuses silently but also makes them vulnerable to abuses.

Can you blame the priests alone for the sexual abuse happening in the Church?

Certainly not. There are many among the nuns who seek sexual pleasure. This is because they dont have the true religious calling. I cannot blame them because they have been pushed into religious life at a very young age. I dont think any woman who has chosen religious life after attaining the age of maturity will break the vow of chastity. I have been, therefore, demanding raising the age of girls for entering the religious life from the present 15 to 21. This is one of the charges against me.

Have you chosen the religious path on your own volition?

I had felt the religious calling while I was studying in Class 10. However, I waited till I passed my pre-degree to enter the nunnery. I tried to sustain the calling by joining a Christian college and staying in a hostel run by the nuns while studying for pre-degree. My main motive behind the decision was to do good for the people. If I had chosen a married life, I thought I would not have been able to do things I wanted to because of family obligations.

Do you regret your decision in light of the several bitter experiences you have faced in your 33 years of life as a nun?

I have thought many times that I could do better by remaining outside the cloistered life. I chose the religious order as I wanted to do good for the people. But after joining the convent, I realised it was not easy. I needed permission from higher authorities for anything I wanted to do.

I have to beg them for money to even give alms to a beggar. I could do better as an ordinary woman.

I have seen many ordinary people doing a lot of good for the society. The nuns, on the other hand, are confined to the convents. Though many convents have large sums of money, they are not spent for the needy. In spite of this, I do not regret my decision to join the religious order. I am fully satisfied because I have not allowed anybody to subjugate me, any pain to tire me and no regulations to enslave me. Therefore, I have no prick of conscience. I am holding my head high.

What is the message you have for fellow nuns?

I love all my fellow nuns. What I have to tell them is that we are not supposed to remain subjugated. We are entitled to get all reasonable benefits which the priests get. We should get happiness and satisfaction within the convent. We should fight for financial freedom so that we can help a poor person we come across the society without going through the rigorous process of seeking permission from the authorities.

We should not need permission to do good for the people. We should not bow down to the priests. If any of the nuns find chastity difficult to observe, they should quit the order and lead a married life instead of violating the vow.
The 19th International Mother Language Day is being observed today world over, as the UNESCO-recognised event seeks to celebrate the linguistic diversity in the world.

The 19th International Mother Language Day is being observed today world over, as the UNESCO-recognised event seeks to celebrate the linguistic diversity in the world.

Conceptualised and approved in 1999, the event was a result of an initiative by Bangladesh to celebrate the many languages and cultures found around the world. Yet, due to globalisation processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. UNESCO believes that when languages fade, so does the world's rich tapestry of cultural diversity.

The need for a world-wide event

Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage - UNESCO data

The UNESCO website states that at least 43 percent of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world. It recognises any language that is spoken by less than 10,000 people is potentially endangered.

In India alone, there are at least 600 potentially endangered languages and are down to a last handful of speakers, research of literary critic and activist Ganesh Narayan Devy shows.

Among his interesting discoveries were  200 words describing snow in the Himalayan region alone. Devy, who has documented close to 780 languages being spoken in India, revealed that over 250 languages in India had already died over the past 60 years. He said that when a language dies, a unique way of looking at the world disappears.

How is the event celebrated in India and abroad?

In India, often labelled Bhasha Diwas, or Matribhasha Diwas, the event sees various events being held at schools, colleges and government offices to foster tolerance and respect for other linguistic cultures.

The Central Board of Secondary Education, issued a notification directing all its nodal offices to ensure that schools falling under them mark the event. The University Grants Commission of India also directed all central universities to promote the dissemination of various languages spoken in India and create awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions of our country. The UGC notification also told varsities to encourage the use of not only the prevalent language in their respective regions but also other Indian languages as well.

Internationally, this year the day aims at bringing indigenous languages at the forefront. The theme of UNESCO celebrations this year is 'Indigenous languages matter for development, peacebuilding and reconciliation'. The international body will mark the event with speeches by two Permanent Delegates to UNESCO and a Representative of la Francophonie. A short video screening and a UNESCO brief presentation of linkages between the International Year of Indigenous languages and International Mother Language Day will also follow. A debate entitled "Languages count" will conclude the event.

Moreover, the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services also came up with an interesting initiative, inviting people from world over send them your favorite proverb in your mother tongue on the following topics: peace, harmony, conflict resolution/competence to deal with conflict, mindfulness, resilience, well-being. The proverbs will be compiled, and the most appropriate ones will be selected to be published on its website and other digital communication tools.
The growing depth and harmony between the two nations can be attributed to the synthesis between New Delhi's Act East Policy and South Korea's New Southern Policy.

In the past four years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited South Korea twice and held two summit meetings with President Moon Jae-in. Economically, diplomatically and defence-wise, both India and South Korea only have to gain from each other's company. Especially with an aggressive and very observant China in the fray. Deepening of ties between India and South Korea is a pragmatic and plausible outcome for the two nations which are seeking to upgrade their position in the global map.

A paradigm shift in diplomatic behaviour was seen as recently as 2017, immediately after Moon assumed office. He had sent a special convoy to meet Modi. The prime minister had then "recalled" his visit to South Korea in May 2015 to upgrade bilateral relations via the Special Strategic Partnership and emphasised on the deepening defence partnership. A year later, Moon's four-day visit to India in July 2018 was one of the longest by any leader of the two countries. Moon had attended a total of 18 events, of which he was accompanied by Modi in 11 of them.

While Seoul wants to reduce dependence on China and the United States, for India's burgeoning market, South Korea is the stepping stone.

New Delhi's Act East Policy and South Korea's New Southern Policy

This growing depth and harmony between the two nations can be attributed to the synthesis between New Delhi's Act East Policy and South Korea's New Southern Policy. India's Look East Policy focuses on strengthening economic, cultural and civilisational relations and new strategic partnerships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Moon's New Southern Policy aims to strengthen economic-cooperation and strategic relations with India and other countries of Southeast Asia. This is perhaps the first time that South Korea has made a foreign policy initiative for India and officially documented it.

Moons New Southern Policy aims to strengthen the economic cooperation and build a prosperous and people-centric community of peace while Indias Act East Policy, as articulated by Modi, focuses on promoting deeper economic engagement, reinvigorating cultural and civilisational relations, and developing new strategic partnerships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral as well as at multilateral levels. Both these policies show convergence in their objectives and should further strengthen the Special Strategic Partnership between India and South Korea.

Forging ties based only on economic gains would snap them soon after they are forged. Both nations are aware of this. A cultural relationship would provide the much-needed glue to this bond.

In November, 2018, South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook was the chief guest of the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh during the Deepotsava celebrations. She had come with a purpose  to revisit the "deep" connect that South Korea has with Ayodhya. An ancient Korean text 'SamgukYusa' details how a princess from Ayodhya, Suriratna, had married King Kim-Suro. Together, they stated a ruling dynasty, the lineage of which is known as the Karak in South Korean history. Kim Yoon-ok, wife of former president Lee Myung-bak, two former presidents  Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam as well as former prime minister Kim Jong-pil trace their ancestry to this royal couple.

A month after the visit, in December, 2018, India began visa on arrival facility for South Koreans.

Not surprising then that President Moon had in July, 2018 signed an MoU regarding the Queen Suriratna Memorial Project.

Robust, rising China

The New Southern Policy was rolled out after South Korea's diplomatic row with China over the deployment of the US terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea. Beijing targeted South Korea's business interests over this deployment, exports to China were curtailed. Seoul soon realised that it needed to expand and diversify its trade destinations.

According to the Observer Research Foundation, South Korea's trade relations with China increased manifold due to its "economic liberalisation" and the rise of the Chinese economy. China soon emerged as its top export destination. But things changed in the late 2000s when a controversy over the origins and legacy of Koguryo dynasty emerged. The people and policymakers of South Korea came to believe that Beijings claim to a "territory which was part of the ancient Korean kingdom reflected Chinas imperialist mindset".

The report further states that a survey conducted in 2006 had revealed that 58.8 percent of South Koreans viewed Chinas economic rise as "an opportunity," while 41 percent saw it as a "threat".

Booming markets, technological advancement

In his speech before leaving for South Korea on Thursday, Modi spoke about how the country is an important partner for India's key initiatives such as the 'Make in India' initiative.

"As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary. South Korea is an important partner for our 'Make in India' initiative as well as in our 'Start Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives," he pointed out.

In 2018, Moon Jae-in and Modi participated in the completion ceremony of the newly-built cellphone major Samsung Electronics' mobile phone factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The Korean company had also announced that it was investing $760 million in the expansion, making the unit the largest in the world. Firms such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai are familiar names in the Indian market, and also make a remarkable contribution to our economy.

According to a report in The Diplomat, Indias total exports to South Korea stand at $4.95 billion, which is just 1.03 percent of South Koreas total imports. On the other hand, Indias imports from South Korea are $15.1 billion  3.3 percent of Indias total imports. The report also mentions that there are approximately 500 South Korean companies currently operating in India, many of which are involved in Modis flagship initiatives such as Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start-up India, Building Industrial Corridors, and Smart Cities.

During Moon Jae-in's last visit, it was announced that India and South Korea have agreed to raise bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.

The two nations will need each other not only to enhance their respective economies but also to curb terror and boost military strength.
We are missing the forest for the trees by focusing too much on body language to define bilateral ties on the cusp of a close strategic partnership

Much has been made of Prime Minister Narendra Modis protocol-breaking gesture of hugging the visiting Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) while receiving him at the airport on Wednesday. The Congress jumped on to it, interpreting it as some sort of an endorsement by the prime minister of Pakistans heinous crime. The logic apparently is that since MbS was canoodling with Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan the day before in Islamabad and promising investments worth $20 billion in its economy (not to speak of singing Pakistans tune in the joint statement) hugging MbS is tantamount to insulting the memory of jawans killed in the car bomb attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Politicians will say what they must, but some commentators have taken great umbrage at Modis gesture which they have interpreted as a blatantly immoral act because MbS has the blood of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in his hands. One article in Firstpost argued that Modi should have refrained from embracing him in light of the Khashoggi incident and also because Saudi Arabia is widely acknowledged to be the global sponsor of Wahhabi brand Islamist terror.

On balance, perhaps the prime minister should have avoided embracing the Saudi crown prince, but a careful look at the footage shows that it was MbS who extended his hands and the prime minister refusing it at that stage would have been plain rude, considering the fact that he is known for hugging world leaders. But perhaps we are missing the forest for the trees by focusing too much on body language to define bilateral ties on the cusp of a close strategic partnership. To restrict the scope of India-Saudi Arabia ties within the ambit of energy security or equation with Pakistan would be a criminal mistake of the kind both nations cannot afford. And to make morality the fulcrum of foreign policy is the kind of mistake India did at the early stages of its journey as an independent nation at a great cost to own interests.

Conditions exist for a strong bilateral partnership based on shared interests and quid pro quo, and the trajectory of Indian economy coupled with Saudi Arabias need to shift away from a purely oil-based economy should eventually make for a mutually beneficial relationship, unlike the client-state dynamic between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Given this reality, we should not spend too much time on who hugged whom, or did not. After all, foreign policy is defined by a nations self-interest, not moral posturing. Had that been the case, China wouldnt have thrown a perennial spanner in Indian efforts in designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the United Nations, or the US wouldnt have sidelined India (and even the elected Afghanistan government) while holding talks with the Taliban and Pakistan to end an unwinnable war.

It is too much to expect Saudi Arabia to pivot away or publicly chide Pakistan because it is complicit in multiple terror attacks on Indian soil. Such expectations may have arisen in India because of two reasons. One, the crown princes visit to Pakistan coincided with the worst attack on Kashmir by Pakistan-backed terrorists. MbS came to India soon after, but not before taking a detour of Riyadh to avoid hyphenating the tour in deference to Indian sensibilities. India was perhaps expecting the India-Saudi joint statement to reflect at least part of the anger and frustration felt by the people instead of anodyne statements against terrorism.

Two, growing slowly confident of its economic expansion and getting used to be taken seriously in the global comity of nations, India perhaps expects bilateral relationships to reflect that new reality. If Saudis want to court us, they must respect our interests and bring pressure on Pakistan over whom they wield considerable influence, goes the new thinking.

It is not an unreasonable expectation, but perhaps the modalities of it need to change. Indias objective is to make Pakistan refrain from using terror as a foreign policy tool against it. If New Dehli wants Riyadh  by virtue of its leverage over Islamabad  to force a change in Pakistans behaviour, that strategy has a better chance of success if Saudi Arabia takes the private route in convincing Islamabad instead of handing it a public admonition. It is also unreasonable for India to expect Saudi Arabia to abandon its historical, theological, security and even familial ties with Islamabad even if it wants to deepen its ties with New Delhi.

There is also the question of leverage. As ORF fellow Kabir Taneja wrote in The Wire, New Delhi is not yet in any position to leverage its offerings in order to convince Riyadh to pivot away from Pakistan. Indias diplomatic levers at play in West Asia that allow it to have good relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel alike, the three poles of power at loggerheads with each other in the region, gives next to no precedence to Saudi Arabia to bend over backwards for New Delhi over Pakistan.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has no strategic compulsion in using Pakistan as a containment strategy against India  unlike the Chinese  so a betterment of ties with New Delhi and creation of new opportunities for its oil-based economy may be a more convincing logic for the Saudis to act against Pakistan than any argument posed by India.

The India-Saudi joint statement hints at the new opportunities in the fields of infrastructure, mining, energy including renewables, food security and technology transfer, and to further consolidate cooperation in the areas of skilled human resources in information technology, electronics and telecommunications.

The signing of five MoUs in the fields of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, tourism, housing, enhancing bilateral investments and exchange for audio visual programme strikes the right notes.

It was also interesting to note in the joint statement of the veiled reference to China and the pledge of working together with other Indian Ocean Rim Countries for enhancing maritime security, vital for the security and prosperity of both countries and safe passage for international trade. The reference to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, that is now at the receiving end of a global backlash, was also evident in the lines where both nations with regards to regional connectivity projects, agreed that they should be based on international law including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.

Much has been made of the lines on terrorism and whether they refer to Pakistan, Iran or both. There has likely been a quid pro quo as is the norm in such statements and it is pointless to go into the text, much of which has been plain lifted from the document issued by both countries in 2016 when Modi was in Riyadh. The pointed reference to Pulwama, however, indicates the willingness of the Saudi delegation to strike a balancing act.

Notwithstanding the joint statement or the hugging, the realities of the bilateral relationship should dictate outcomes. While ties with Riyadh remain important for India in terms of energy security and huge expatriate population (not to speak of bilateral trade where at $28 billion Saudi stands as Indias fourth-largest partner), for the House of Saud this relationship is important in more ways than one. In expanding its economy beyond oil, Indian reluctance to tie foreign policy with moral posturing, in terms of being a better destination for investment and Indias relationship with the key players in West Asia, Riyadh too will act in self interest, as Brookings Fellow Tanvi Madan pointed out on Twitter. Ultimately, it is the convergence of mutual interest that may change the geopolitical reality of this volatile region.
With the Jaish-e-Mohammad attack which resulted in the death of 42 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, the call for doing away with Article 370 has been rekindled.

In 2018, when Minister of State for several portfolios, Jitendra Singh, had pitched for a repeal of Article 370, a controversy had been triggered with many political leaders criticising the brazenness of what has until now been only the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand. Cut to 2019, the debate to abrogate Article 370 is now as normal as conversation on a war on Pakistan.

With the Jaish-e-Mohammad attack that resulted in the deaths of 42 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, the call for doing away with the article has been rekindled.

Article 370 gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was originally meant to be a temporary arrangement, brought at the time of Independence with the understanding that it was to be repealed later. However, successive mentions of the article, especially by the Supreme Court which has upheld its validity in the state several times, has given it a kind of immovable authenticity.

In 2015, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court observed that Article 370 is a "permanent" provision of the Constitution and said it could not be "abrogated, repealed or even amended". The court, reported Indian Express, also described Article 35A as one "giving protection to existing laws".

"(The) Article 370, notwithstanding its title 'temporary provision' is a permanent provision of the Constitution. It cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended as mechanism provided under Clause (3) of Article 370 is no more available," the court had observed.

In 2016, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Kurien Joseph had said, "...Article 370 makes it clear that this article shall cease to be operative only from such date as the President may by public notification declare. And this cannot be done under the proviso to Article 370 (3) unless there is a recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State so to do."

Article 370, says Indian Express, was then nothing more than a goodwill gesture by Jawaharlal Nehru that "no longer serves its original purpose of making Kashmiris embrace the accession to India". Its critiques argue that all it has done is to create a lawless sense of entitlement in the Valley.

With the talk on Article 370 is the question on the necessity of Article 35A, which came to be in the Constitution of India through a 1954 Presidential Order. Article 35A confers special status to the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property or jobs in the state.

As many as five petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against Article 35A, with the lead case filed in 2014 by a little known Delhi-based NGO, We The Citizens, reported Kashmir Observer.

Yet only four days after the 14 February attack, the Supreme Court on 19 February agreed to look into a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging Article 370. The PIL, filed by BJP leader Ahwini Upadhyay, said the court must decide on the President of India's jurisdiction and thereby delineate who exactly can rule over Jammu and Kashmir, reported Indiatimes.

Attempts have been made to abrogate the article and facilitate a seamless transition of Jammu and Kashmir into India. This, many feel, will reduce the militancy in the area and the idea that Kashmir belongs to separatists and is separate from India.

In the current political climate, not only leaders but also everyday civilians have increased the pitch demanding the abrogation of Article 370. The demand is also no longer limited to the BJP. Hisar MP and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala and actor Kangana Ranaut have called for the move, as has JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal and spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev.

His reaction drew massive support from Twitter users. Anupam Kher said he has signed an online petition for the Article "to go". Underneath the tweets of the likes of Vivek Agnihotri, Subramanian Swamy and Tarek Fatah, were clarion calls from thousands of social media campaigners who claimed that taking down the article was the one path to ensuring the safety of people and the Armed forces in the state. Narendra Modi's forgotten 2014 poll promise was back to haunt him again.

I signed an online petition about it. Article 370 has to go. https://t.co/i8rDOIbAll  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) February 20, 2019

Rajasthan Soldier Welfare Minister and Congress leader Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh have also asked for the scrapping of the article, reported the Daily Excelsior.

However, like Khachariyawas told the newspaper, many who are in favour of removing Article 370 are vouching for it because they feel the legislation will bring a change in Pakistan's attitude towards India. This draws the people in Jammu and Kashmir, the ones reportedly benefiting from the article's provisions, to question as to whether its repeal will indeed serve any other purpose than ensure the Indian government's mental peace, observed Legal Services India.

This is probably why, while in the whole of India a clamour grows for doing away with the article, a strike was called by the Joint Resistance Leadership of separatists in Kashmir in support of Articles 35A and 370 on the same day when the Pulwama attack took place. While the strike was withdrawn, leaders had argued that should the two articles come up in the Supreme Court, it would jeopardise their very existence.
Harish Salve, the former solicitor general of India while presenting India's case before the ICJ, drew the court's attention to the abusive language used by Pakistan through its counsel Khawar Qureshi on the second day of the hearing.

The Hague: India on Wednesday strongly objected to the abusive language used by Pakistan's counsel in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), urging the UN court to draw a "redline" to prevent its repetition.

Harish Salve, the former solicitor general of India while presenting India's case before the ICJ, drew the court's attention to the abusive language used by Pakistan through its counsel Khawar Qureshi on the second day of the hearing.

"The language echoed in this court... perhaps this court may lay down some redlines. The transcript is peppered with words such as shameless, nonsense, disgraceful, arrogant... India takes exception to being addressed in this fashion in an international court. Indian culture prevents me from using similar language...

"India strongly objects to abusive language of Pakistan's counsel," Salve said as the International Court of Justice began the second round of public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

He said that the criticism of a sovereign state of the case made out of the other state must be in a language consistent with the dignity of other states, he said.

"Humpty-Dumpty has no place in this court," Salve said.

He said that "when you are strong on law you hammer the law, when you are strong on facts you hammer the facts and when you are strong on neither you hammer the table... Pakistan has hammered the proverbial table. India has hammered facts".

Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

On Wednesday, India had a maximum of 90 minutes to submit its final arguments in the case. Pakistan will also get 90 minutes to respond to India's arguments on Thursday.

The ICJ is expected to deliver its verdict in the summer of 2019.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday at the ICJ headquarters in The Hague amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.
HAL chairman R Madhavan told reportersthe political fight over Rafale has not affected the company's morale and business prospects.'Yes, we do feel bad when there are bad things said, but it has not affected us,' he said.

Bengaluru: Steering clear of the political slugfest over the Rafale deal, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Thursday said it was not interested in the French fighter jet project offsets anymore and asserted it was not being ignored by government.

The defence public sector undertaking (PSU) also said the political fight over Rafale has not affected its morale and business prospects."Yes, we do feel bad when there are bad things said, but it has not affected us. Our staff and middle management are more enthusiastic. This does not affect our business either," HAL chairman and managing director R Madhavan said.

He also said the company was not interested in "offsets and direct purchases". "That was the government's decision to take it as a direct purchase and we are not interested in it," he added.

"If it's coming as a business to us, we will be interested in it," Madhavan told reporters at the Aero India 2019 air show at the Yelahanka IAF air base, north of Bengaluru.

On the issue of the HAL's man-hours for manufacturing the Rafale, Madhavan said there is always a learning curve and there should not be any comparison of HAL's first aircraft with the 100th aircraft of others.

"You cannot compare our first aircraft with somebody's 100th aircraft. There is always a learning curve for the first one. If you look at the Su-30, our man-hours is lesser than the original equipment manufacturer. So you must compare our 50th aircraft with their 50th and so on," he said.

"Also, our manpower cost is very low compared to them, and, moreover labour cost is a very small component of the project," he added.

India has signed an inter-governmental agreement with France for purchase of 36 off-the-shelf Dassault Rafale twin- engine fighters, dropping the earlier proposal to buy 18 jets with 108 others being assembled in India by HAL.

The HAL chief also brushed aside the remarks of Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Mirage 2000 crash, saying the incident was not the way it was reported in the media and he would await completion of court of inquiry.

"Our capabilities are on par with anybody else. There is no shortage on these fronts. Anyone can make such comments. There were media reports after the Mirage crash, but we decided not to say anything until the CoI (court of inquiry) is complete," Madhavan said.

"The crash was not the way it was reported in the media and people have blamed the HAL without knowing the full facts," he added.

Singh, a retired Army chief, had flayed the HAL after the recent crash of Mirage 2000 in Bengaluru, saying, "Look at the condition of HAL. Our two pilots died. Sorry to say, but the programmes at HAL are running late by three-and-a-half years.

"Parts of aircraft are falling off on the runway. Is this capability? On the other hand, we say that HAL is not getting the (Rafale) work," he had said.

The crash had killed two pilots  squadron leaders Samir Abrol and Sidhharth Negi  who were attached to the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE).

The two were on a test flight of the Mirage upgraded by the HAL.

Madhavan rejected the contention that HAL was being ignored, as alleged by the Opposition, particularly Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been accusing the Modi government of sidelining the PSU and favouring Anil Ambani's firm.

Asked if the PSU was being treated badly or ignored, Madhavan said if that was the case the company would not have got a lot of orders. "If we were ignored, we wouldn't get orders that we are getting," he said.

Replying on the not-so-good financial condition of the HAL, senior HAL officer Shekar Srivatsa said there were no issues on this front with regard to cash flow, which was hit due to the delay in repayments by four of its customers including the army, navy and the air force.

However, things would look up after the announcement of the new budget, he said, adding the company was working on utilising the working capital available.

Srivatsa also said the HAL was having a lot of export clients who are happy with it.
Speaking to ANI in Bengaluru, he said, 'I do not see any scandal. What I see is a very good aircraft which has been purchased by the Government of India. The aircraft will probably come here (Bengaluru) first and will join the Indian Air Force within six months.'

Bengaluru: Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler on Wednesday rejected charges of corruption in the multi-billion USD Rafale jet deal and said the "very good" aircraft is expected to join the Indian Air Force within six months.

Speaking to ANI in Bengaluru, he said, "I do not see any scandal. What I see is a very good aircraft which has been purchased by the Government of India. The aircraft will probably come here (Bengaluru) first and will join the Indian Air Force within six months."

The Narendra Modi government had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The fighter jet is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, which security analysts believe can be a 'game-changer' for India's defence system.

Attacking the Modi government, the Congress and other opposition parties have alleged that there was corruption in the high-profile deal and Reliance Defence, owned by industrial Anil Ambani, had been signed as the offset partner by aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation even though the company had no previous experience.
More than 4 decades later, authorities in Southern California said that Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973.

This undated photo provided by the Newport Beach Police Department shows Linda O'Keefe. James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973.(Photo: AP)

California: Investigators searched for decades for the killer of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared while walking home from summer school in a case that gripped a California seaside community.

A photo of a smiling Linda OKeefe has hung for years on the wall of the police department in Newport Beach, reminding investigators to keep pressing forward on cold cases like hers.

More than four decades later, authorities in Southern California said Wednesday that a Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973. The announcement came the same day authorities said they charged a man with killing an 11-year-old boy near Los Angeles in 1990.

In Lindas case, authorities said they got a hit last month from a genealogical database that matched a DNA sample taken when her body was found strangled in a ditch a day after she went missing. Increasingly, investigators have found a powerful tool in databases made up of DNA samples submitted by people seeking to learn about their ancestry.

The detectives dogged this case, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters, declining to say whether the suspect or his relatives submitted DNA for genealogical purposes. We have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday and charged with murder with special circumstances, Spitzer said.

He seemed like a good guy, Neals landlord, Michael Thulson, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. I had no indication he was capable of anything even 10 steps less than this, which just shows you what you dont know.

Neals son-in-law told the newspaper that the family was not ready to comment. It was not immediately clear if Neal had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and the voicemail was full on a number listed for him.

Neal was due to appear in court in Colorado on Thursday.

In Los Angeles County, authorities said Edward Donell Thomas, 50, has been charged in connection with kidnapping and killing William Tillett. The boy disappeared in 1990 while walking home from school in Inglewood, and his body was found in a dark carport later that day. The coroner determined he had been suffocated.

A combination of old evidence and advanced technology led to Thomas, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta told reporters without releasing details.

Fronterotta said investigators dont believe Thomas acted alone. He and the boys brother urged anyone with information to come forward.

I just want to keep the momentum going so the family can have closure, Hubert Tillett said.

The police chief was on the force at the time and said the case left an indelible mark in my mind, in my heart.

Thomas was being held without bail, and it wasnt known if he had an attorney. His arraignment is scheduled for April 4.

In Newport Beach, OKeefe was walking home from summer school in July 1973 when she vanished. She was last seen talking to a stranger in a van and never made it home, police Chief Jon Lewis said.

Her family and friends searched for her and called police. The next morning, her body was found.

Authorities said they never gave up the search for her killer, even after decades passed and her parents had died. The suspects DNA profile was uploaded to a criminal database in 2001 but there were no hits for years, authorities said.

They got a hit this year on a genealogical database, leading investigators to obtain a DNA sample from Neal, and it matched, Spitzer said.

Neal lived in Southern California at the time of OKeefes killing and moved to Florida soon afterward, where he changed his name, Spitzer said. The prosecutor declined to say whether Neal has a criminal record.

OKeefes two living sisters have been told about the arrest, authorities said. Over the years, hundreds of people have worked on the case, the police chief said.

One of them was now-retired Newport Beach police Officer Stan Bressler, who said OKeefes death stunned the community and was never forgotten.

Every once in a while, you just think, Gee, I wonder if well ever find him, he said.
The farmers' long march from Nashik to Mumbai will continue after their leaders' late night parleys with Maharashtra government to address their demands remained inconclusive, the march organisers said on Thursday.

Mumbai: The farmers' long march from Nashik to Mumbai will continue after their leaders' late night parleys with Maharashtra government to address their demands remained inconclusive, the march organisers said on Thursday.

Farmers have embarked on a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai for the second time in the last 12 months to protest against what they termed as the "betrayal" of peasants by the BJP governments at the state and centre. The Kisan Long March-2, expected to take over nine days to complete, is being organised by the CPM-backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

The march could not be taken out Wednesday as police stopped many farmers from reaching Nashik, the AIKS claimed. Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan met some AIKS representatives in Nashik Wednesday night. "We held talks with the minister for over three hours. The government appeared positive to 80 percent of our demands.

The minister said he would speak to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis first," AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said. Dhawale said Mahajan informed AIKS representatives that the assurances would be given in writing. "The AIKS has decided to go ahead with the march beginning Thursday morning till the government does so," he added.

Dhawale said police were also present during the meeting with Mahajan. They (police) are not going to stop the farmers now, he added. Mahajan could not be reached for his comment. The AIKS has accused the government of not fulfilling assurances given to farmers last year after they marched between the two cities, seeking farm loan waiver, minimum support price for crops, irrigation facilities and provision of pension to agriculturists.

The AIKS also said it is opposed to the multi-billion dollar Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project which has seen several farmers along the proposed route approach court against land acquisition.
Questioning the previous Congress governments for not taking such a step, Union minister Jitendra Singh said the Centre's decision has corrected a long-standing anomaly.

New Delhi: Hailing the government's decision to stop India's share of river water from flowing to Pakistan, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said the excess water not utilised by Jammu and Kashmir will now be used by Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Questioning the previous Congress governments for not taking such a step, he said the Centre's decision has corrected a long-standing anomaly.

"The earlier governments have to answer why they sat over this (Shahpur-Kandi) project for nearly half a century. It (the decision to stop water going to Pakistan) is a correction of a long-standing anomaly which remained unattended by the earlier governments," the minister said.

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said the construction of the Shahpur-Kandi dam on River Ravi was started due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"When completed, the entire water of River Ravi, which was flowing into Pakistan despite being India's share of water under the Indus Water Treaty, will now be utilised in the border districts of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Gurdaspur in Punjab," he said.

Singh, who is a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, said a pragmatic decision has now been taken by the government to simultaneously construct a canal system so that water, which is not utilised by Jammu and Kahsmir, can be used by neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan instead of flowing into Pakistan.

"Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, over government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Union water resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a tweet.
Today's top stories: Security of 18 Hurriyat separatists withdrawn; fourth and final day of the Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing at the ICJ; Maharashtra government clamps down on farmers marching from Nashik to Mumbai; and more.

Security of 18 Hurriyat leaders, 155 politicians withdrawn

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday withdrew or downgraded the security cover provided to 18 Hurriyat separatists and 155 political leaders, including Wahid Parra, a close aide of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, and former bureaucrat Shah Faesal.

Among the leaders whose security has been downgraded or withdrawn are Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Aga Syed Mosvi, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Yaseen Malik, Saleem Geelani, Shahid ul Islam, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Farooq Ahmed Kichloo, Masroor Abbas Ansari, Aga Syed Abul Hussain, Abdul Gani Shah and Mohd Musadiq Bhat.

On Sunday, the government had announced that it will withdraw security provided to five separatist leaders, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 42 CRPF personnel were killed.

Farmers' long march: Maharashtra govt clamps down on protesters

More than 50,000 farmers from across 23 districts of Maharashtra are expected to gather outside the Maharashtra Assembly in Mumbai on 27 February, to remind the Devendra Fadnavis government of its promise to fulfil their demands following a similar protest march in March 2018.

The farmers began their protest at from Nashik on Wednesday, but the Maharashtra government has announced that it will not allow farmers to continue their march.

In a clampdown on the farmers' leaders, the police not only denied them permission to march but also started the process of stopping and fining vehicles seen ferrying farmers from various places to Nashik and Palghar.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra cabinet minister Girish Mahajan has flown down to Nashik to hold a meeting with the protesters.

Fourth and final day of ICJ hearing in Kulbhushan Jadhav case

Thursday is the last day of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) four-day public hearing in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav that began on Monday. India presented its arguments first on Monday and Pakistan on Tuesday. The hearing will end with Pakistan's closing arguments.

On Wednesday, India questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the ICJ to annul Jadhav's death sentence, which it claimed was based on an "extracted confession".

Jadhav, a 48-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. India had approached the ICJ the very next month.

India submits dossier on Pak involvement in terror funding

India has submitted its dossier claiming Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama terror attack to global terror financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). India seeks to blacklist Pakistan for allegedly funding terrorist activities.

Led by the Secretary of Finance and the Director General of the Counter-Terrorism Department, Islamabad will now have to explain how groups linked with globally-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed function within the country, among other counter-terror glitches.

Narendra Modi in South Korea

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day State visit to South Korea for talks with President Moon Jae-in. India and South Korea will aim to strengthen their special strategic partnership. Modi will also receive the 2018 Seoul Peace Prize.

He will be awarded the prize "in recognition of his dedication to improving international cooperation, raising global economic growth, accelerating human development of the people of India by fostering economic growth in the world's fastest growing large economy and furthering the development of democracy through anti-corruption and social integration efforts," a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Shashi Tharoor to stand trial in Sunanda Pushkar death case

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will be tried for abetment to suicide in the case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death.

Earlier in February, a Delhi court had sent the case against Tharoor to a sessions court for further proceedings as offences that attract punishments of seven years or more are tried by this court.

Tharoor has been charged under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) and also under Section 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code, but has not been arrested for the latter charge.

Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup announced

Following successive information leaks, Samsung has officially taken the wraps off its 10th anniversary Galaxy smartphone line and a number of accessories.

Unveiled at an event in San Francisco were the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus smartphones, a cheaper Galaxy S10E, a foldable smartphone called the Galaxy Fold, a Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch, a Galaxy Fit smart band and Galaxy Buds wireless earbuds. The devices are expected to go on sale by 8 March.

Grammy-winning artist Dua Lipa leads Brit Awards nominations

Dua Lipa, Anne-Marie and George Ezra lead the nominations for the UK music industry's Brit Awards, set to be handed out at a ceremony featuring performances by The Greatest Showman star Hugh Jackman and DJ Calvin Harris.

Lipa, whose star status was cemented by two Grammy awards earlier this month, is up for four trophies, including Single of the Year for both "One Kiss" and "IDGAF".
Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in his country's jails on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request as the two leaders held extensive talks here, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

New Delhi: Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in his country's jails on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request as the two leaders held extensive talks here, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

After the talks, it was also announced that India has decided to extend e-Visa facility to Saudi nationals.

In an important development, Saudi Arabia also joined the International Solar Alliance, a move welcomed by the prime minister, MEA officials said.

Both sides noted the potential of cooperation in the renewable energy sector, not only in investment but also in research and development, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

In another significant move, Saudi Arabia has also agreed to resolve issues relating to Indian workers who are currently stranded in the kingdom due to the closure of a foreign company, TS Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, said.

Bin Salman had ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners from the kingdom's jails during a high-profile visit to Islamabad on Monday.

Prince Mohammed had arrived in Pakistan on Sunday at the beginning of an Asian tour, which will include China and is seen as an attempt by him to rebuild his reputation after the murder of Saudi critic and journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
While the Odisha government requested NNKS to refrain from the bandh in view of the annual HSC examination, the farmers' body said it was forced to call the bandh after their demands were ignored.

Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Congress and BJP extended their support to the state's leading farmers' outfit's call for a 12-hour Odisha bandh on Thursday. The Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) has given the call for the bandh demanding proper minimum support rice on paddy, pension and prestige for the farmers.

Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik Tuesday announced his party's support to the NNKS's bandh call. "Farmers are our top priority," Niranjan said.

BJP Odisha unit president Basant Panda said the saffron party will extend support to NNKS, which has been demanding pension and proper price of the agricultural produce. Panda on Monday said: "The farmers have rights to express their opinion and protest in a democracy. The state government has time and again tried to throttle their voice. We will protest the anti-farmer policies of the state government."

Meanwhile, the NNKS convenor Akshya Kumar told PTI on Tuesday that the outfit has rejected the state government's appeal to refrain from organising a 12-hour bandh on 21 February in view of the annual high school examination. "We have given a 12-hour bandh call on Thursday. The government's plea is aimed to foil our agitation. The NNKS is sensitive towards the examination and therefore vehicles carrying examination-related materials will not be detained," Kumar said.

The state government in an appeal to the agitating farmers' body had requested it to refrain from the bandh in view of the annual high school certification examination. The NNKS said it was "forced" to call an Odisha bandh after the state government ignored their "genuine" demands like price, pension and prestige for farmers. They have been demanding proper minimum support price (MSP) on paddy and other agricultural produce.

As question and answer sheets will be transported to different places on 21 February, the bandh may affect the examination process, the government said requesting the NNKS to refrain from its bandh in the interest of six lakh students who will appear in the examination.

Kumar, however, said that they will not halt the vehicles carrying examination related papers. "As such our bandh will be observed during the day time and they can transport the examination materials after 6 pm," he said.

The CPI(Maoist) have also supported the NNKS's bandh call. The police have recovered banners at Baliguda in Kandhamal district where, the Maoists appealed to the people to support the NNKS bandh call and termed the state's BJD government as "anti-farmer."

With the NNKS adamant with going ahead with the strike, the Odisha government on Tuesday said it would take action as per law. "If the Sangathan still persist with their planned Bandh programme, the state government will be compelled to take all necessary measures to ensure smooth conduct of the examination. Action will be taken as per provisions of the law," a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.

The statement said the state government hoped that the organisers of the strike will realise their action could cause inconveniences to the public, especially the student community, and withdraw their call citing larger public interest.
Minister for Planning and Coordination, Neiba Kronu, said the Nagaland government would table a resolution against the Citizenship Bill on 23 February.

Kohima: The contentious citizenship bill will be in focus in the budget session of the Nagaland Assembly that begins from Thursday, with the state government set to adopt a resolution against the proposed legislation.

Minister for Planning and Coordination, Neiba Kronu, said the Nagaland government would table a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, on 23 February. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on 8 January, but could not be tabled in the Rajya Sabha, meaning it has now lapsed.

The legislation proposes to accord Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the full budget for the 2019-20 financial year on 25 February.

The state government is also scheduled to table the supplementary demands for grants for the 2018-19 financial year in the budget session that concludes on 26 February.
'The style and content of what the Congress party's spokesperson said today and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan were very similar,... they will be happy seeing our principal opposition attacking and questioning our own prime minister,' Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

In a counter press conference to Congress media address earlier in the day, BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the facade of unity which the Opposition had put immediately after the Pulwama attack has come crumbling down with the grand old party launching into political mudslinging and rhetorics days after the terror strike which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Prasad said that "when the whole country is one, when its morale is high, when countries after countries are passing resolutions condemning the Pulwama attack and standing by the government, at that juncture the Congress is raising vacuous questions and trying to puncture the morale of the country and specially of the armed forces." He said that this is the same party that called the army chief names, demanded proof for surgical strikes and conducted a dubious press conference in London in the presence of one of its senior members without raising a single question, who is now in turn raising questions on the prime minister's conduct and the intentions of the ruling dispensation. "What can we expect from such a party?" he asked.

"The style and content of what the Congress party's spokesperson said today and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan were very similar,... they will be happy seeing our principal opposition attacking and questioning our own prime minister."

He talked about the valour of the soldiers and their families while mentioning Major Vibhuti Dhoundhiyal's wife's courage who said in her parting salute to the slain officer that the nation should not budge and despite the families of soldiers showing such courage, the Congress is casting aspersion on the fervour of the nation.

"Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the country will not budge nor will stop," Prasad remarked. he said that it is shameful that the Congress would want to convey this message to the terrorists that the country has stopped functioning completely or there has been a total administrative breakdown in the nation in the wake of such a tragedy. "This is not the message the Centre wants to give to the terrorists," he said.

Prasad said that the prime minister conducted a meeting despite from Ramnagar when the tragedy struck and travelled far to get back to Delhi to hold talks in its aftermath. "We all, in BJP, went to pay our last respect to the killed soldiers and other party leaders and members also followed suit," he said.

Launching a direct attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Prasad asked if the saffron party created an issue out of the footage showing the Congress chief using his phone during the wreath-laying ceremony of the soldiers at the Palam airport in Delhi. "We request Congress to not spread fear and hatred in the country and not to try demoralising our forces."

Prasad further congratulated the armed forces for eliminating the Pulwama attack mastermind and his Pakistani aide within 190 days despite being pelted by stones from some Kashmiri youth. "Those whose security cover has been withdrawn are getting pestered but this is permanent and won't be revoked," Prasad asserted. He also highlighted how due to Indian government's efforts for global isolation of Pakistani and freezing trade ties, there is a complete lockdown of trade surplus at the Attari border. "Their traders are getting troubled ever since India raised the customs duty to 200 percent and this is how it should be. Trade ties can't be normal if there is a propagation of terror from the other side," Prasad said.

He also cited the reports of mass army recruitment drive in Kashmir's Baramulla district in which thousands of Kashmiri youth participated. "We want to convey to the Congresss party that country believes in Modiji, his leadership and his ability to secure India," Prasad emphasised.

Prasad stated the number of terrorists killed in the Valley over the years to compare the casualties during the UPA and NDA rule. From 2015 to 2018, 728 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir, whereas only 349 were killed during UPA-II.

The Congress had said that Modi did not announce national mourning and arrived an hour late when coffins of jawans arrived at the airport. Senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala also questioned as to why BSFs proposal for air courier was ignored.
In the wake of the Pulwama attack, a series of high-level meetings were called to examine issues ranging from comprehensive security around the camps of forces in the Valley to expediting shifting the Srinagar Central Jail to outside the city.

New Delhi: In the wake of the terror attack in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, a series of high-level meetings were called to examine issues ranging from comprehensive security around the camps of forces in the Valley to expediting shifting the Srinagar Central Jail to outside the city. After deliberations on the security situation in Kashmir, authorities concluded that moving the jail from downtown Srinagar to the suburbs needs to be accelerated as the prison has turned into a hub where terrorist activities are planned, sources said.

"Last year, some hardcore terrorists were shifted to prisons outside the state. But the jail still has militants who are suspected of planning terror attacks using mobile phones smuggled inside with the help of terror sympathisers. We cannot go on postponing it ad infinitum," the sources said.

"Using jammers poses a practical problem because the jail is located within the city. Specific threats to camps of security forces in the Valley were also analysed," they said, adding that the meeting took note of a recent threat issued by terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, which has warned of suicide attacks similar to the one carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pulwama.

As far as long-term strategy is concerned, officials deliberated on governance deficit and general administrative lethargy resulting from political instability. Although security forces have been considerably successful in neutralising terrorists in the past couple of months, the Pulwama attack is being perceived as the revival of a foreign terrorist network that is getting logistical support from local residents.

A senior official said they had also discussed the urgent need to counter the terror support system in the Valley, along with measures they could take to enhance the security framework.

"The possibility of utilising the services of militants who have been released and those who have surrendered was also suggested. We will not show any leniency in dealing with financiers and supporters of terror activities. There has been a huge drop in the number of people indulging in stone pelting, and that is a good sign. Now, it is imperative to deliver results on the ground.

"Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM are using various channels to finance separatists and terrorist activities. Sympathisers of terrorists and separatist should know that the security establishment are closely monitoring them," the official said.

Sources said that in 2017, JeM had carried out six to seven terror attacks in Kashmir, but the figure had significantly risen in 2018. Sources suspect that Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar and his deputy Abdul Rouf Asgar planned the Pulwama attack.

Citing the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) inquiry into the 2016 Nagrota terror attack, sources revealed that JeM, with the help of local commanders, continues to provide training, money, equipment and other logistics to terrorists, including fresh recruits. The NIA investigation had revealed that the JeM deputy chief chalks out a detailed plan, including the modus operandi to be adopted for the infiltration of their men and logistics. Area commanders are trained at the JeM terror training centre at Manshera in Pakistan and provided with hi-tech gadgets to communicate with handlers across the border, the investigation had found.
In hindsight, Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion, for a company whose balance sheet is bleeding, is way above any sensible valuation

Walmart chief executive officer Doug McMillon said it was disappointing that the Indian government had changed norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) in ecommerce without consultation and hoped for a more collaborative process going forward.

The government had in December 2018 tightened norms that came into effect on 1 February of 2019, prohibiting marketplaces from selling products of affiliates and stipulating that such entities cannot exercise ownership or control over inventory. E-commerce firms including Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon were also asked to provide services such as warehousing, logistics and advertising to all sellers in a fair manner as opposed to favoring their own group companies with such supporting services.

It also barred e-commerce companies from entering into pacts for the exclusive sale of products. Upfront discount on select products as well as cash back were also prohibited.

Each one of the above is nothing but a reiteration of fair trade practice expected of e-commerce firms the world over. In fact, the very definition of marketplace modelfor which 100 percent FDI is allowed under the automatic routeas opposed to the inventory model which is not simply allowed in our country even under the approval route is playing the role of facilitator through information technology platform, period.

Selling products of affiliates and subsidiaries goes against the very grain of marketplace model when they are pampered with logistics and other supporting services not extended to others. Ergo, the government cannot be faulted for waking up late and enforcing the marketplace model both in letter and spirit strictly. When the e-commerce portal invites anyone interested in selling to use its portal for a fee, obviously there must be a level playing field.

This is violated when discounts and cashback are offered only to select sellers, the ones promoted and propped up by the e--commerce platform. Ergo again the government cannot be faulted for waking up late and enforcing the marketplace model strictly.

There is a cynical view that the Narendra Modi government capitulated to the bricks and mortars lobby that has been the traditional vote bank of the BJP which felt threatened by the loss of market share to deep-pocketed e-commerce firms that did not mind the burn rate inevitable in massive discounts to consumers with a view to making them their compulsive and regular patrons. The recent defeats for the BJP in recent assembly elections have fortified this view. Whatever the motive, nobody can cavil at the strict enforcement of law.

Even smaller e-commerce portals such as Snapdeal had welcomed the tightening of norms because they couldnt compete with the deep-pocketed Flipkart and Amazon. Yes the consumers would be missing the huge discounts and cashback offers but they couldnt have gone on and on in any case.

Walmart is not only tilting at the windmills but also using the stricter enforcement of norms as a punching bag to cover its own frustration at paying $16 billion to Flipkart promoters to acquire a 77 percent stake therein. But then one would have expected a savvy investor like Walmart to read the tea leaves carefully before committing its moolah.

It could not have gone on and on because the manifest abuse of marketplace model was known to everyone. Why the government gave them such a long rope all these years is of course a million dollar question. For Walmart it is a billion dollar question because the strict enforcement of the rules came almost back-to-back with its massive inorganic investment in the e-commerce space.

In hindsight, the $16 billion for a company whose balance sheet is bleeding is way above any sensible valuations especially when there was no competitor to oust it from the race with a pre-emptive price. Walmart could easily have entered into multi-brand retail in the brick and mortar segment with a fraction of this mind-boggling and ruinous investment.

The FDI policy mandates a minimum $100 million investment, half of which needs to be invested in back-end operations (read cold storage, etc) within three years of entry. The onerous condition of course was unlike 100 percent ownership in e-commerce. In brick and mortar, there is a FDI cap of 51 percent that would have necessitated scouting for a local partner. All these were doable for half the investment made mindlessly (may be in retrospect) in Flipkart.

Indeed, Walmart won the hearts and minds of consumers world especially in the USA with its ubiquitous brick and mortar stores. It could have done the same in India winning the hearts and minds of farmers as well in the process. In any case let Walmart not blame the government for its own folly---folly both in forking out an overblown premium for a controlling stake in Flipkart as well as in expecting the government to indulge in perpetuity the apparent violations of the marketplace model.

(The author is a senior columnist and tweets @smurlidharan)
He said a special chief minister's dashboard has been created to monitor all the projects and schemes centrally, and added that the war room on infra projects also uses a lot of technology to monitor progress.

Mumbai: Maharashtra has found as many as 10 million fake ration cards using technology tools, Chief

Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.

He also announced the new model request for proposal (RFP) while tendering out IT contracts, developed by industry lobby Nasscom and the Union ministry of electronics and IT.

"The public distribution system (PDS) has changed through technology initiatives. With all the digital

initiatives, we have actually found out 10 million fake ration cards," Fadnavis told the annual National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) leadership forum here.

The Western state, having a population of over 11 crore, is using technology across all spheres to drive efficiency and for better allocation of resources, he said.

Technological tools have taken down malnutrition related deaths to zero in Harisal village of Amravati district, Fadnavis said.

On the industry's long-standing demand of tender contracts structuring, Fadnavis announced that the model RFP will be adopted in two months by the state.

It can be noted that the IT industry has had concerns regarding selection of bidders and payments for IT contracts. The industry says an IT contract is different from other works and the government cannot insist on aspects like lowest bidder and also payments only at the end of the work.

Fadnavis said 55 million transactions have happened using the state government's citizens portal, Aaple Sarkar, which has benefitted one million citizens.

He said a special chief minister's dashboard has been created to monitor all the projects and schemes centrally, and added that the war room on infra projects also uses a lot of technology to monitor progress.

The government demand for paper is also coming down and has halved over the last few years, the chief minister said, adding that the broad objective is to be paperless in future.

Fadnavis said technology will help bring equity in the society through democratisation, and will be used more aggressively as the government goes about meeting its social sector goals.

He said the state is targeting to be a $1 trillion economy by 2025 from the present $400 billion.

The services sector will have to grow at 15.5 percent, industry at 13 percent and agriculture at 6 percent to

achieve this target, he said, inviting the tech industry to set up base in the state.

NASSCOM president Debjani Ghosh said the domestic IT industry has become a $180 billion behemoth, employing four million people directly and serving 75 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.

She said four global sourcing centres got added in 2018, taking the total number of such centres to 1,000.

The challenges before the IT industry are trust, governance, maintaining a balance between privacy and

innovation, and the huge talent crisis, she said.
Britain has not seen any evidence of malicious activity by Huawei.

The fact that the company is subject to Chinese intelligence laws is worrying, European Commission Vice-President Ansip said. (Photo: AP)

The European Union must assess the risk of using Huaweis telecoms equipment despite the absence of evidence of spying by the Chinese company, EU digital chief Andrus Ansip said on Wednesday.

Huawei, the worlds biggest telecoms equipment company, is facing intense scrutiny in the West over its ties with Chinas government and US-led allegations that its devices could be used by Beijing for spying.

The fact that the company is subject to Chinese intelligence laws is worrying, European Commission Vice-President Ansip said.

Yes, we have to deal with risk assessment. They say you do not have solid evidence. Sorry, that is another topic, he told a cybersecurity conference.

Because of these intelligence laws, we have to deal with risk assessment. It is too late for us when we will have enough solid evidence made available publicly, Ansip said.

The EU is counting on its cybersecurity act, the directive on the security of network and information systems (NIS) and foreign direct investment screening regulation to stave off cybersecurity threats.

Britain has not seen any evidence of malicious activity by Huawei, the head of its National Cyber Security Center told the same conference.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Reliance Communications Ltd chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court.

New Delhi: The following is the chronology of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Wednesday held Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court.

Observing there was a 'wilful default', the Supreme Court Anil Ambani also ordered the debt-laden company to clear the Rs 453 crore dues to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson within four weeks or face a 3-month jail term.

Besides Ambani, the court held Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd Chhaya Virani as well as their three companies guilty of contempt of court.

- 25 January, 2013: Ericsson, RCom enter pact to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network.

- 7 May, 2017: Ericsson issues three notices to three Reliance companies to pay Rs 9.78 crore in dues.

- 19 May: The companies state performance of Ericsson had been inconsistent.

- 7 September: Ericsson terminates agreement, asks them to pay outstanding amount in full.

- 8 September: Ericsson files three applications under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as operational creditors.

- 15 May, 2018: National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admits Ericsson's plea for beginning of insolvency proceedings against RCom.

- 18 May: NCLT appoints three Interim Resolution Professionals for the process.

- 30 May: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) stays bankruptcy proceedings, RCom says it has agreed to pay Rs 550 crore dues within 120 days.

- 17 July: 3 Reliance companies file plea in SC seeking quashing of corporate insolvency resolution process in view of settlement of disputes between them and Ericsson.

- 3 August: Supreme Court approves settlement between RCom and Ericsson, allows RCom to sell assets worth about Rs 25,000 crore.

- 9 August: Undertakings given by chairmen of companies says dues will be paid upon sale of company's assets.

- 27 September: Reliance firms seek extension of 60 days.

- 1 October: Ericsson files contempt plea against RCom and the group companies.

- 23 October: The Supreme Court grants RCom till 15 December for paying Ericsson.

- 12 December: RCom moves second application in the Supreme Court for extension of time.

- 13 December: The Supreme Court refuses any such extension.

- 21 January, 2019: Three Reliance companies inform the Supreme Court Rs 118 crore had already been deposited with the apex court's registry.

- 1 February: RCom group writes to stock exchanges, making it clear that they will not resist the corporate insolvency resolution process that had been stayed.

- 20 February: The Supreme Court holds Anil Ambani and others guilty of contempt of court.
RCom owes a total Rs 571 crore to the Swedish telecoms equipment maker, including a one-time settlement of Rs 550 crore and interest payments of Rs 21 crore.

Business tycoon Anil Ambani is planning to use a payment from his brothers company and the sale of real estate assets to pay what he owes to Swedens Ericsson following a court ruling this week, a source familiar with the matter said.

Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Ambanis Reliance Communications Ltd and two of its directors to pay Ericsson Rs 453 crore ($63.30 million) within four weeks or face a three-month jail term for contempt of court.

RCom owes a total Rs 571 crore to the Swedish telecoms equipment maker, including a one-time settlement of Rs 550 crore and interest payments of Rs 21 crore.

The company said in a statement on Thursday it has already deposited Rs 118 crore with the Supreme Court and has sought approval from its lenders to release tax refunds of a further Rs 260 crore to Ericsson.

Since the company is in bankruptcy court for debt resolution, it needs lenders approval for any such transaction.

RCom is confident of raising the balance ... well within the time of four weeks allowed by the Honourable Supreme Court, the company said in the statement.

A source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said RCom is looking to sell its real estate assets in Chennai and Kolkata to raise the remaining funds.

It is also likely to urge Reliance Jio, controlled by Anils elder brother and Asias richest man Mukesh Ambani, to speed up payments owed for fibre assets acquired from RCom, the source added.

RCom said in August that it had struck a deal to sell Jio its optical fibre and ancillary telecom assets for Rs 5,000 crore.

We have received only Rs 780 crore from Jio. We can ask Jio to pay up sooner, the source said.

The court order comes at a time when Anil Ambanis Reliance Group, a diversified business empire, is facing falling valuations of group companies and a loss of goodwill, sparking heavy selling of pledged shares.

Reliance said earlier this week that the company plans to sell part of its power assets. On Thursday it said it would also sell its 42 percent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Insurance to pay its debtors.
In a regulatory filing, the company said the apex court has ruled in favour of Saridon, which is a heritage brand from its healthcare product portfolio.

New Delhi: Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) on Thursday said its pain relief tablet brand Saridon has been exempted from the list of banned fixed dose combinations (FDCs) by the Supreme Court.

In a regulatory filing, the company said the apex court has ruled in favour of Saridon, which is a heritage brand from its healthcare product portfolio.

"In September 2018, PEL had been awarded a stay order from the Supreme Court on the ban, which allowed it to continue manufacturing, distribution and sale of the FDC," it said.

Commenting on the court order, PEL executive director Nandini Piramal said, "We are pleased with the Supreme Court ruling, as it is an affirmation to our commitment to provide effective and safe healthcare solutions that address unique needs of Indian consumers. We were confident that the law would prevail in our favour."

Last year in September, the government had banned 328 FDCs, which were termed 'irrational' on the basis of safety issues and lack of therapeutic justification.

Stating that Saridon is a "heritage brand trusted by customers for the last 50 years in India", Piramal said, "This exemption from the banned list of FDCs validates our intent to serve our customers with the highest levels of integrity."

Piramal further said, "We continue to expand our healthcare product portfolio with an aim to be amongst the top three over the-counter (OTC) product companies in India by 2020".

Citing a study by AC Neilson, PEL said the addressable analgesic market is Rs 6,450 crore, of which analgesic tablet market is Rs 2,050 crore as of December, 2018. The popularity of the brand is widespread with 31 tablets being sold every second.

PEL said Saridon is available across a distribution network of 9 lakh outlets in India.
Opposition from farmers has prompted Maharashtra to move the location for what would be the country's biggest oil refinery

The proposed $44 billion (Rs 3 lakh crore) refinery and petrochemicals project at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra may be shifted to neighbouring Raigad district, according to media reports.

Raigad is located in the Konkan region of Maharashtra.

They (the state government) are looking to shift the Ratnagiri refinery project to Raigad district," an official said, according to a report in Mint. A five-member committee of government officials, including those from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), was set up in January to look at alternative land for the mega refinery.

State-run oil companies and Saudi Arabian Oil Company known as Saudi Aramco have teamed up to build the $44 billion (Rs 3 lakh crore) refinery, which is aimed at giving India steady fuel supplies while meeting Saudi Arabia's need to secure regular buyers for its oil.

Earlier, Nanar village in Ratnagiri district, some 400 km south of Mumbai was the site for the world's biggest integrated oil refinery and petrochemicals complex with a capacity to process 60 million tonnnes.

Opposition from farmers has prompted Maharashtra to move the location for what would be the country's biggest oil refinery, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

Nearly 14 villages and 850 families were likely to be affected due to the project. Thousands of farmers refused to surrender land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.

After their protests, land acquisition was stopped for the refinery at the proposed site at Nanar,

The refinery will be now built at a place where local population won't oppose the project, he said in a press conference, without identifying a new location.

Fadnavis made the announcement after the BJP forged an alliance with Shiv Sena for the upcoming general election.

The location of the refinery was one of the contentious issues between the parties, with Shiv Sena opposing the refinery.

The entire Konkan belt is ecologically sensitive and is home to one of a large varieties of flora and fauna apart from animal, bird and reptile species and is tagged as one of the most fragile ecological zones in the world.

The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to arrive in India on Tuesday and is expected to announce investments in energy and infrastructure during the visit.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), which is running the project, says the 1.2 million barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery, and an integrated petrochemical site with a capacity of 18 million tonnes per year, will help create direct and indirect employment for up to 150,000 people, with jobs that pay better than agriculture or fishing.

RRPCL, a joint venture between Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, has said suggestions the refinery would damage the environment were baseless.

Land acquisition has always been a contentious issue in rural India, where a majority of the population depends on farming for their livelihood.

In 2008, for example, Tata Motors had to shelve plans for a car factory in an eastern state after facing widespread protests from farmers.

--With inputs from agencies
Exhorting Korean businessmen to invest in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has emerged of a land of opportunities and the country seeks like-minded partners and among them South Korea is seen as a truly natural partner.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said fundamentals of the Indian economy are sound and it is on the way to becoming a $5 trillion economy soon. Addressing the India Korea Business Symposium in Seoul, he said. India is now a more open economy and has attracted $250 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last four years. He said no other large economy in the world has grown at 7 percent year after year.

Exhorting Korean businessmen to invest in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has emerged of a land of opportunities and the country seeks like-minded partners and among them South Korea is seen as a truly natural partner.

Reeling off statistics, Modi said that India is among top 10 trade partners of S Korea and the sixth largest export destination for Korean goods. India's trade volume has reached $21.5 billion for calendar year 2018.

The prime minister outlined the various decisions taken by the government for Korea with regard to ease of doing business with India. The negotiations to upgrade comprehensive economic partnership agreement have been fast tracked to achieve bilateral trade target by $50 billion in 2050, said.

Trade in investment terms is seeing a positive turn, he said. The sixth Korean trade office was recently launched in Ahmedabad, Modi said. The government has stared visa on arrival for Korea recently, he said.

Inviting South Korean businessmen to invest in India, Modi said: We are one of the most open countries for foreign direct investment. Over 90 percent of FDI is done through the automatic route for approval. India has received over $250 billion over the past four years, he said.

India, he said, has jumped to 77th spot on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking on the back of reforms and is determined to break into the top 50 next year. The role of the government is to provide a support system, Modi said, adding that India has emerged as a land of opportunities.

--With PTI inputs
Observing there was a 'willful default', the Supreme Court ordered RCom to clear the Rs 453 crore dues to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson within four weeks or face a 3-month jail term.

Reliance Communications (RCom) said on Thursday it has urged its lenders to allow release of Rs 260 crore ($36.55 million) directly to telecom equipment maker Ericsson.

RCom said that it had received the sum as income tax refunds and is lying in its bank account.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday found Anil Ambani, chairman of debt-laden RCom, guilty of contempt of court for willfully failing to pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson.

Observing there was a 'willful default', the Supreme Court ordered the debt-laden company to clear the Rs 453 crore dues to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson within four weeks or face a 3-month jail term.

In a verdict that came as a setback to Ambani, the apex court also pulled up the industrialist for his "cavalier attitude" demonstrated through the affidavit filed in the court and said any "unconditional apology" given must be rejected.

Besides Ambani, the court held Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd Chhaya Virani as well as their three companies guilty of contempt of court,

"The RCom group is directed to purge the contempt of this court by payment to Ericsson the sum of Rs 453 crore within a period of four weeks from today (Wednesday). In default of such payment, the chairmen who have given undertakings to this court will suffer three months imprisonment," said a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran.

It directed the registry of the apex court to pay Rs 118 crore deposited by the RCom group to Ericsson within a period of one week from Wednesday.

The court said there is no doubt that the three Reliance companies have "willfully not paid the sum of Rs 550 crore plus interest and have thus breached the undertakings given to this court".

"We are also of the view that in the facts of the present case, willful default is made out...," the court said, adding it is not a case of accidental or unintentional disobedience.

It also imposed Rs 1 crore fine on each of the three companies and directed the amount to be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks from today and in case of default the chairmen of these companies will have to undergo one month's imprisonment.

Shortly after the pronouncement of the verdict, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Ambani, said he respects the decision of the apex court and expressed confidence that the group will honour the directions on payment of dues to Ericsson.

"We respect the Supreme Court's order. We have faced our difficulties. However, the court ruled the way it has ruled," Rohatgi told PTI.

"I am sure RCom will honour the Supreme Court's order," he added.

The 41-page verdict by the apex court came on three contempt petitions filed by Ericsson for non-payment of its Rs 550 crores dues for the work of operation, maintenance, and management of RCom's network the telecom equipment maker has done since 2013.

 With inputs from agencies
(ASX:AUL)

Hello Im Rachael Jones for the Finance News Network. Joining me now from Brisbane, from AuStar Gold Limitedis Chairman, Frank Terranova. Frank, welcome back to FNN.Hi Rachael and thanks for the opportunity to tell your viewers about AuStar.AuStar Gold is focused on goldmining in eastern Victoria, between Woods Point and Walhalla. Can you tell us more about this?The Companys at a very exciting time in its development, having recently announced that were about to commence mining and producing gold, from our historic Rose of Denmark and Morning Star goldmines. The Woods Point Walhalla goldfield was one of the most prolific goldfields in Australia in its day, posting some very high grades of gold in the ground. The Morning Star mine itself produced over 830,000 ounces of gold at its peak, with ore averaging more than 26 grams a tonne. And thats a very impressive grade.Over recent years, AuStar has consolidated many of the holdings in the area. And now has a modern, efficient processing plant at the Morning Star mine, the only one in its region. So weve carried out extensive drilling and identified some very exciting high-grade underground zones. And were now going to mine and produce some gold.Now to your projects in more detail. What can you tell me about the Morning Star goldmine?With respect to the Morning Star goldmine, Rachael, we have already commenced underground development work. Processing ore through the Morning Star gravity plant is expected to be undertaken, towards the latter part of this month. The bulk of the material for plant feed initially will come from the newly discovered McNallys Reef, at Morning Star. And then additional feed will come from the Rose of Denmark mine, whilst we continue to develop our next reef, being Stones Reef, at the Morning Star mine.Whats happening with exploration?With respect to our exploration efforts, we continue to routinely deliver high-grade hits from our newly discovered McNallys Reef. Weve had intercepts running as high as 170 grams per tonne of gold, over reasonable lengths. Including small sections approaching 1,000 grams per tonne. So were reasonably confident that our exploration team continues to build, a valuable mining inventory.We also have extensive land holdings in the region and have carried out a major independent review, over the tenement package. Which has helped us understand better, the geology and identify areas of greatest prospectivity. This will enable us to prioritise our exploration program. Our near-term focus relies very much on the exploration team, continuing to put in place a pipeline of mining inventory, so that we can maintain steady supply of high-grade ore to the mill.Now to strategy and financials. Where is the company headed and how is progress?We fully expect that our mining operations and processing efforts will generate, positive cash flows for us. They maybe initially modest at the outset, but as we build our production volume, over time we expect to build cash flows up. And this will help us to fund additional exploration and development efforts. We also believe that we have a major opportunity, to participate in potential regional consolidation of gold projects, as we have the only operating and permitted processing plant in the area.Last question now before we let you go Frank. Is there anything else youd like to add?I think from an AuStarperspective, I have absolute confidence in our operational and exploration team, to continue to source high-grade gold for the plant. And continue to grow the prospects at the Morning Star and Rose of Denmark mine. I think the development is moving at the right pace. The Aussie dollar gold price is at close to record levels and the outlook remains positive. So in essence, were taking the approach of crawl, walk, run. But I think the near-term prospectivity of AuStar, remains very positive.Frank Terranova, thanks for the update.Thank you very much for your time.
First FDD Massive MIMO solution to deliver 2.5X capacity increase in live, highly loaded LTE networks.

First in the industry to demonstrate vertical beamforming to improve indoor coverage in high-rise buildings.

Expands technology capability to TDD LTE, starting with 2.5 and 3.5 GHz bands.

Blue Danube Systems, a provider of intelligent wireless access solutions that help mobile operators address the challenge of explosive data growth, is today announcing significant results from multiple new FDD deployments in commercial networks with live traffic. These multi-unit installations show more than 2.5 times higher cellular capacity and significantly increased user throughputs for both legacy LTE terminals as well as new generation smartphones.

Blue Danube's BeamCraft 500 antennas were deployed in 4G LTE networks in dense urban megacities and other areas with high traffic load nearing full bandwidth utilization. The systems exploited intelligent analytics-based multi-site optimization, and the performance was measured directly from the operators' network performance management systems. The results exhibit increasing gains with the number of units deployed and highlight the benefits of multi-site optimization and coordination. Consistent performance improvements were observed across all multi-site deployments where BeamCraft units faced each other and intercell coordination can be fully exploited, with capacity gains reaching and exceeding 2.5X over the whole cluster. In addition, the Blue Danube deployments increased average user download speeds and extended 4G LTE service to previously underserved areas, providing improved indoor coverage to high demand location including hospitals, mass transit terminals and high-rise buildings with vertical beamforming.

Blue Danube's unique Coherent Massive MIMO system has been deployed by five 4G LTE operators worldwide and has been in commercial network operation in North America since 2016 serving thousands of users and carrying hundreds of gigabytes of data traffic daily. In addition to solving capacity challenges in today's 4G LTE networks, Blue Danube's products are fully compatible and software upgradable to support 5G NR. The company is extending the technology capability to support TDD bands, starting with 2.5 and 3.5 GHz frequencies, and enable FD-MIMO operation in future products.

"These results re-enforce why Blue Danube remains a Massive MIMO vendor to be watched," said Daryl Schoolar, Practice Leader at Ovum. "FDD spectrum bands remain the primary spectrum bands in use today. The ability to add more capacity to those bands is of utmost importance to mobile operators."

"Today's results clearly showcase the unmatched performance of our Coherent Massive MIMO technology," said Mark Pinto, President and CEO of Blue Danube Systems. "There are no other solutions available in the market with the same level of performance in live commercial operation. The flexibility of our solution enables unique capabilities from vertical beamforming to on-demand capacity with dynamic time-of-day beamforming. We have proven our technology for FDD mode and are now expanding our capability to TDD as well as higher frequency bands."

Blue Danube is participating at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 25-28. Blue Danube can be found in Hall 2, hospitality stand 2M63.

About Blue Danube Systems

Blue Danube Systems designs intelligent wireless solutions for mobile communication providers and other applications. Our portfolio of active antenna array products is based on an innovative technology that assures RF coherency at any frequency and form factor. The solutions are implemented on a cost-effective and flexible hardware architecture with software enabling highly accurate and agile beamforming. Combined with cloud-based AI/ML algorithms for network optimization, our Massive MIMO solutions enable a significant increase in capacity on today's cellular networks and smartphones while being fully extensible to future 5G networks. Blue Danube Systems is a privately held start-up backed by Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake along with other investors including AT&T. For more information, please visit www.bluedanube.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221006022/en/

Contacts:

Sue Stein

Blue Danube

510.507.0350

suestein@bluedanube.com
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Kapuskasing Gold Corp. (TSX-V:KAP) ("Kapuskasing" or the "Company") and Linceo Media Group Inc. ("Linceo") have entered into an agreement, under which the Company has agreed to acquire 100% of certain industrial mineral rights on mineral tenures with respect to the Gala claims and an undivided 100% right, title and interest in and to the Granny Smith and Fuji claims on the property located near Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, B.C, (collectively the "Gala Property"), in exchange for 24,000,000 pre-consolidated common shares of the Company to certain vendors of the Gala Property. On or before closing of the acquisition of the Gala Property, the Company intends to consolidate its common shares on a 1 new share for every 6 old shares basis, which will result in the vendors of the Gala Property holding 4,000,000 post-consolidated common shares. The original vendors of the Gala Property will retain a 4.5% production royalty on the Gala Property.

The transaction is subject to receipt of all approvals required by the parties, including that of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities to be issued in connection with the transaction will be subject to a four month hold period from the date of issuance.

About the Property

The Gala Property

The Gala Property is located within the Nanaimo Mining District immediately adjacent to the past producing aluminosilicate Apple Bay (PEM100) Mine. The Apple Bay mine is located approximately 25 km southwest of Port Hardy, British Columbia on Northern Vancouver Island. It has produced approximately 871,355 tonnes of aluminosilicate for the production of cement between 2003 and 2015 until It was put on hold in early 2016 pending resolution of a contract dispute between the mining lease and mine permit holders.

The Gala Property consists of all the industrial mineral rights of the North Isle Copper & Gold Inc. mineral claim tenures directly adjacent to the Apple Bay (PEM100) quarry in both a northwest and southeast direction. The tenures cover approximately 18,248 ha and trend for roughly 40km. The Property covers all the documented areas of known silica and aluminosilicate occurrences (at least seven which are well known), north of Holberg Inlet, along trend with the Apple Bay Mine.

Granny Smith and Fuji Claims

The Granny Smith and Fuji claims are located in the Nanaimo Mining District on the west coast of Northern Vancouver Island near the mouth of Quatsino Sound, approximately 42km southwest of Port Hardy. The Granny Smith claims covers approximately 1029 ha and the Fuji Property 1357 ha.

Both claim groups are underlain by Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group rhyolitic to dacite felsic volcanic flows which are known to host advanced argillic alteration zones characterized by the presence of aluminosilicates (often referred to in the local area as geyserite and/or chalky geyserite). These zones are similar in nature to the geological environment of quarries at Apple Bay (PEM100) north of Holberg Inlet and Monteith Bay north of Kyuquot on Vancouver Island.

Aluminosilicate material is used in the manufacturing of cement. Each cubic meter of cement produced is comprised of up to 30% aluminosilicate. The silica acts as a sinter imparting strength and the alumina acts as a flux lowering energy cost and speeding up the setting time of concrete.

Regional demand for aluminosilicate and high grade silica is estimated to be in excess of 500,000 tonnes per annum. The primary consumers are large cement manufacturers and cement board manufacturers. Regional availability of high grade silica and aluminosilicate products has recently decreased due to the removal of production from the market of the PEM 100 Quarry and the limited production out of Scatter Creek deposits. The regional supply is primarily constrained to one producing asset in Abbottsford, British Columbia called Sumas Mountain. New sources of material with favourable logistics for bulk materials are required to fill the gap which exists in the market.

Mr. Garry Clark, P.Geo, (Exploration Manager and a director of the Company) a Qualified Person ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical content of this release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kapuskasing Gold Corp.

Jonathan Armes

President & CEO

Phone 1 (416) 708-0243

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Kapuskasing Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536374/Kapuskasing-and-Linceo-Media-Group-Enter-into-Property-Acquisition-Agreement-for-the-Gala-Aluminosilicate-Property
Raina brings over 19 years of telecommunications business experience

Company's first expansion of its global sales team to India

Blue Danube Systems, a provider of intelligent wireless access solutions that help mobile operators address the challenge of explosive data growth, is announcing that Sundeep Raina has joined the company as the Country Sales Director of India. Mr. Raina joins Blue Danube with over 19 years of industry experience in telecommunications equipment sales and key account management most recently with ZTE Corporation and previously at Ericsson India. Mr. Raina will be responsible for developing new business relationships, managing current engagements and sales expansion in India. He will be based in Mumbai close to Blue Danube's customers and partners.

"We are excited to have Sundeep on board and look forward to Blue Danube's continued progress in India," said John Shelnutt, Blue Danube's Vice President of Sales. "With the recent positive developments and increasing interest towards our solutions we decided to increase our presence in India to better serve our key customers. Sundeep has demonstrated the ability for driving exceptional strategic business growth and his in-depth knowledge and experience in the local market are instrumental in growing our business in India."

Blue Danube is participating at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 25-28. Blue Danube can be found in Hall 2, hospitality stand 2M63.

About Blue Danube Systems

Blue Danube Systems designs intelligent wireless solutions for mobile communication providers and other applications. Our portfolio of active antenna array products is based on an innovative technology that assures RF coherency at any frequency and form factor. The solutions are implemented on a cost-effective and flexible hardware architecture with software enabling highly accurate and agile beamforming. Combined with cloud-based AI/ML algorithms for network optimization, our Massive MIMO solutions enable a significant increase in capacity on today's cellular networks and smartphones while being fully extensible to future 5G networks. Blue Danube Systems is a privately held start-up backed by Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake along with other investors including AT&T. For more information, please visit www.bluedanube.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005971/en/

Contacts:

Sue Stein

Blue Danube

510.507.0350

suestein@bluedanube.com
The BJP's decision in both Bihar and Maharashtra, however, would have caused immense heartburn within the local units.

Earlier this week the BJP sealed its alliance in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena after speculation for long over whether the saffron party's oldest partnership would continue or not. A day later, Piyush Goyal travelled to Chennai and finalised his party's pact in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). There are some indications that Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) too may join the bandwagon.

On the face of it, also given that the BJP recently settled the tricky matter of allocation of seats among National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in Bihar, it appears that without tom-tomming, as is its usual wont, the party had begun sealing well-worked out pre-poll alliances which are going to be crucial in the elections to the 17th Lok Sabha. This development assumes greater importance because the Opposition remains divided on crucial issues and unsure about alliances in several frontier states to prevent the division of the anti-BJP vote. Pre-poll alliances are going to be particularly crucial this time compared to 2014, because of the presumption that the BJP is going to win fewer seats than in the previous election. In the event of no party securing a majority on its own, the President is then likely to ask the leader of the largest pre-poll alliance to form the government even if it does have the required majority at that time - the precedent of 1996 can be used in this case when the BJP was asked to form the government but also told to show its majority in Lok Sabha within a stipulated period.

The eagerness with which the BJP has been sealing poll pacts with estranged allies is in sharp contrast with its approach towards them in 2014. Back then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that the willingness of allies - between 2004 and 2014 many of its former partners had deserted the party - to enter into a pre-poll accord with the BJP was directly proportionate to their assessment of the BJP's winnability. In other words, if the allies concluded that they stood to gain by aligning with the BJP, they would even accept terms which otherwise they would not have. The BJP adopted a "take it or leave it" attitude in 2014 as it was certain that it was the winning horse, and that the only question remained over the extent of its victory.

In 2019, however, the situation is the reverse, and it is not the allies that are dependent on the BJP but it is the other way around - the BJP has come to realise that its survival in these elections and getting to within striking distance of forming the next government is going to be completely depended on strategic alliances. Thus the party has chosen to eat humble pie and accepted a status in the alliance which is not commensurate with either its past record or its relative strength in the state.

Clearly, the BJP has decided to take two steps backward in the hope that it will enable the party to take one step forward after the general election and hence become the only non-Congress government to get a second successive term in office after completing its tenure during the first stint.

The BJP's decision in both Bihar and Maharashtra, however, would have caused immense heartburn within the local units. After all, in Maharashtra, prior to the alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress being swept away by the Narendra Modi tidal wave of 2014, the two parties had handsomely won three Assembly elections. Even though the BJP and the Shiv Sena fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 together, the two of them decided to go their separate ways in the Assembly polls that were held immediately afterwards that year. After years of playing second fiddle, the BJP established its leadership position in the state and although it sought the assistance of its erstwhile ally, the mantle of senior partner had passed to the BJP. The decision to accept the Sena's insistence for equal status in the Assembly polls due later this year and the agreement to even keep the issue of chief minister open underscores the necessity of the BJP to seal the pact.

Likewise in Bihar, where the BJP was initially the junior partner but after Nitish Kumar's "homecoming", the dominance of the BJP was never in doubt although the state chief minister remained the local face of the coalition. The BJP national leadership has worked overtime to convince its cadre in the state to accept equal sharing of seats with the Janata Dal (United). This entailed giving up some seats that the party currently holds - it won 22 seats in 2014 from Bihar, when the JD(U) was not a partner of the BJP. By accommodating the JD(U) and giving it an equal status, the BJP leadership has underscored the necessity of the alliance if the challenge led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and its allies is to be surmounted.

The BJP's eagerness for alliances in the three states, besides the indications that it is also in the process of sealing pacts in several other states, is a clear indication of the party's realisation that it faces a tough challenge due to questionable delivery of promises, the agrarian crisis, rising unemployment and a sluggish economy. By accepting terms that it would not have accepted in 2014, the BJP has accepted its decline since then. Significantly, the alliance in Maharashtra especially was announced days after the Pulwama terror strike and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of retributive action against terrorist groups and Pakistan. This is indicative of an early assessment that the P-card is not going to yield too many votes in the elections, and thus the BJP has to go back to old-fashioned politics of consolidating blocks at the state level.
CLEARWATER, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Spartan Securities Group, Ltd. ('Spartan') and its affiliated company, Island Capital Management, LLC, doing business as Island Stock Transfer ('Island'), are disappointed in the decision by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission ('SEC') to file this Complaint.

Spartan, Island, and their principals vehemently deny any wrongdoing and look forward to taking this case to trial. Contrary to what is alleged and/or insinuated in the Complaint, neither Spartan nor Island (nor any of their employees) were involved in the creation or operation of any of the 19 named companies listed in the Complaint. Those 19 companies - which it is important to note represent a miniscule fraction of the thousands of legitimate issuers that Spartan and Island have worked closely with over the years - were, unbeknownst to Spartan and Island, operated by alleged fraudsters.

According to the SEC, those fraudsters went to great lengths to make everyone - including Spartan and Island, as well as the SEC itself - believe that they were real businesses with actual operations.

In fact, before Spartan or Island provided any services to any of these 19 companies, each company prepared and filed a registration statement with the SEC. In turn, each registration statement was declared effective by the SEC. The representations the companies made to the SEC in support of their respective registration statements - i.e., the representations on which the SEC relied and which it accepted - were the same those companies made to Spartan and Island, and the same ones on which Spartan and Island relied. In short, Spartan and Island - just like the SEC - were victims of the fraud that these individuals behind these 19 companies were committing, and not, as the Complaint alleges, themselves perpetrators of any fraud.

Spartan and Island appreciate all of the expressions and offers of support already provided by a multitude of our friends and colleagues, including law firms, other financial institutions and issuer clients alike. We have always strived to create and maintain a stellar reputation for service in our industry, and will continue to do so.

The micro-cap and small-cap industry has endured an inordinate amount of regulatory assaults over the last ten years. Alan Wolper, partner with Ulmer & Berne LLP in Chicago, longtime outside counsel for Spartan and Island, stated, 'My clients and I look forward to our day in court, as we are confident that any reasonable judge or jury will conclude that the SEC is unable to carry its burden of proof.'

Spartan and Island wish to reassure their clients that this litigation will not affect the services our 500+ issuer clients have come to expect and our services will continue with the same great staff that our clients have come to appreciate.

Media Contact:

Alan M. Wolper / Heidi VonderHeide

Ulmer & Berne LLP

312.658.6564

SOURCE: Spartan Securities Group, ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536366/Spartan-Securiities-Group-Island-Stock-Transfer-Statement-Regarding-Recent-SEC-Litigation
CHESTER, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Repro Med Systems, Inc. dba RMS Medical Products (RMS Medical) (OTCQX: REPR) today announced that Brian Schiller, PhD, has been hired as the Vice President of Medical Affairs.

'Dr. Schiller is a proven leader within the pharmaceutical medical affairs and clinical research space,' said Don Pettigrew, President and CEO of RMS Medical. 'His past experience will allow him to excel at RMS Medical while we pursue deeper relationships with potential pharmaceutical partners to expand our market opportunity; a key component of our growth plans.'

RMS Medical also announced that the company's management team will be attending the 7th Annual BTIG Medical Technology, Tools and Diagnostics conference in Snowbird, Utah.

About Brian Schiller, PhD

Brian Schiller, PhD, is a senior leader with diverse medical affairs and clinical research experience spanning global strategic development, product launch, legal, regulatory and compliance alignment, recruitment and leadership of field medical teams, professional medical education, publication planning and medical communication strategy, company- and investigator-sponsored clinical research, medical marketing and health outcomes research. He has demonstrated success across a wide array of specialty areas including internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, immunology, neurology/neuropsychiatry, dermatology, orthopedics, general and gynecologic surgery.

Prior to joining RMS Medical, Dr. Schiller was Senior Director and Head of Field Medical, North America Medical Affairs at Sanofi (Genzyme) since 2009. From 2005-2008 Dr. Schiller worked at Avanir Pharmaceuticals; initially as an Associate Director of Medical Affairs, and later as Associate Director of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs. Dr. Schiller also held leadership roles at Amgen from 2002-2005 and at Bristol Myers Squibb from 1999-2002.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained herein may include prospects, statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, identified by words such as 'believe' and 'plan'. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. RMS Medical undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

About RMS Medical Products

RMS develops, manufactures and commercializes medical products used for home infusions. The FREEDOM Syringe Infusion System currently includes the FREEDOM60 and FreedomEdge Syringe Infusion Drivers, RMS Precision Flow Rate Tubing and RMS HIgH-Flo Subcutaneous Safety Needle Sets. These devices are used for infusions administered in professional healthcare settings as well as at home. For more information about RMS Medical, please visit www.rmsmedicalproducts.com.

Contact

CG Capital

Rich Cockrell

877.889.1972

investorrelations@cg.capital

www.cg.capital

SOURCE: Repro Med Systems, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536355/RMS-Medical-Products-Announces-Hiring-of-Dr-Brian-Schiller-Plans-to-Attend-the-6th-Annual-BTIG-Medical-Technology-Tools-and-Diagnostics-Conference
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - Miramont Resources Corp. (CSE: MONT) (OTCQB: MRRMF) (FRA: 6MR) ("Miramont" or the "Company") announces that it has granted stock options to acquire up to 1,145,000 common shares of the Company, 900,000 of which were granted to certain directors and officers of the Company. Each of the stock options is exercisable for a five year term expiring on February 21, 2024 at a price of $0.415 per common share. On February 20, 2019, the last day that the Company's common shares traded prior to the granting of the stock options, the closing trading price of the common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange was $0.415. The options are subject to vesting provisions, with one-third vesting on the date of grant, an additional one-third on the first anniversary of the date of grant and the remaining one-third on the second anniversary thereof. The stock options are non-transferable. Any common shares issued pursuant to the exercise of the stock options will be subject to a four month hold period expiring on June 22, 2019.

About Miramont Resources Corp.

Miramont is a Canadian based exploration company with a focus on acquiring and developing mineral prospects within world-class belts of South America. Miramont's two key projects are Cerro Hermoso and Lukkacha, both located in southern Peru. Cerro Hermoso is a diatreme-hosted copper dominant polymetallic prospect. Lukkacha is a classic copper-porphyry prospect.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

MIRAMONT RESOURCES CORP.

"William Pincus"

William Pincus, President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 398-4493

info@miramontresources.com

www.miramontresources.com

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42976
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today sees the launch of Art UK's unique sculpture project. The first thousand sculptures are now available online, free of charge, to people in the UK and all over the globe via www.artuk.org. An estimated 150,000 more will follow by the end of 2020.

These first images, and their associated digital records, form part of the largest sculpture cataloguing project ever undertaken in the UK. Most sculptures in the national collection have never been photographed before. By the project's conclusion, the UK will become the first country in the world to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of its publicly owned sculpture, for everyone's enjoyment, learning and research.

Seeing the nation's sculpture collection online will prompt a re-examination of some of the burning issues affecting society today, raising complex questions. Why are there so few sculptures of women, and what is being done to redress the balance? Is it time to rethink how we display female nude sculptures in the post-MeToo era? How do we talk about the difficult legacies of slavery and colonialism in Britain when sculptures commemorate those who profited from them? With the backdrop of Brexit, what does our sculpture say about us as a nation?

The first records include a sublime statue of Eve by Auguste Rodin outside Nando's in Harlow, a sculpture of the head of the Italian heiress and legendary patron of the arts, Marchesa Luisa Casati Stampa di Soncino, created by Sir Jacob Epstein, and a sculpture by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement.

The new sculpture records will join the 200,000 oil paintings already digitised by Art UK, and a growing number of works on paper. The project is part of Art UK's ambitious drive to democratise access to the nation's art collection, much of which is in store, and is often not accessible.

A diverse, global collection

The UK's national collection of sculpture is drawn from across the globe, comprising works from almost every country and era over the last thousand years. The sculptures represent a wide range of diverse cultures, from fifteenth-century Nigeria and Buddhist sculpture from south-east Asia to Italian Neoclassicism and twentieth-century America.

Transforming access to sculpture

Many sculptures in the national collection have not been catalogued or photographed before. Currently, only an estimated 1% of public collections have their full sculpture collection online, while many public monuments are not fully recorded and are at risk. The project will throw into sharp relief questions about how society cares for public art.

Opportunities to engage with sculpture are also scarce. This ambitious project will transform the way people discover and learn about their sculptural heritage and provide opportunities to visit sculptures - both in person and online.

An ongoing digitisation project

Art UK began photographing sculpture in April 2018 and new sculptures are being added to the website all the time. The digitised works are located inside galleries, museums and public buildings, as well as outdoors - in parks, streets and squares across the UK. A large team is travelling across the country to complete the project - dedicated and enthusiastic project staff, photographers and hundreds of volunteers.

The Art UK website shows information about the sculptures in public ownership across the country and additional information about the artists, the objects and subject matter. A range of writers will continue to tell the stories behind the works through online articles.

The project brings together sculptures from the length and breadth of the UK, from Shetland to the Channel Islands, from Northern Ireland to the Isle of Man. Art UK is collaborating with national collections including the V&A Museum, Tate, National Trust, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales and National Galleries of Scotland, as well as thousands of regional and local institutions.

Learning and engagement

The project's extensive and ongoing learning and engagement programme is taking place across the country. Sixty sculpture-related films are being made with and by young people, linked to the National Curriculum. The Masterpieces in Schools initiative is taking 125 sculptures into primary and secondary schools for the day, inspiring a passion for art from a young age.

Project partners and funding

Seven partners are working alongside Art UK to deliver the sculpture project. Art UK is collaborating closely with major partner the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA) to catalogue and photograph outdoor public sculpture. Other key partners include the BBC, Culture Street, Factum Foundation, the Royal Society of Sculptors, the Royal Photographic Society and VocalEyes.

The total cash cost of the project is expected to be 3.8m (including in-kind partner contributions this amounts to 5.2m). The National Lottery Heritage Fund has generously agreed to provide 2.8m of the funding, and Art UK successfully raised the remaining 1m from a range of donors including the Scottish Government, Arts Council England, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

About Art UK

Art UK is a cultural education charity on a mission to make the art in UK public collections accessible to everyone, for enjoyment, learning and research.

www.artuk.org
New architecture makes Zinwave's indoor wireless solution fully ready for 5G and future networks

Zinwave, a leading global provider of Distributed Antenna System (DAS) solutions for in-building wireless connectivity, announced today a new system architecture that fully supports 5G networks and Open-RAN capability to support future growth in indoor deployments. The new architecture will allow Zinwave to provide its customers with complete, 5G-ready indoor connectivity networks with minimal deployment time regardless of which spectrum (low, mid or millimeter wave) wireless operators choose to deploy.

O-RAN, short for Open Radio Access Network, is a developing open source technology that has the potential to allow building owners to use any operator-approved radio base stations to bring connectivity indoors. Thus, O-RAN will allow end users to source a full end-to-end solution from a single party.

Solving for the base station is the final piece of Zinwave's industry-leading distributed antenna system (DAS), which provides all components and support necessary for indoor wireless connectivity. The overall system is highly hardware efficient due to its ability to provide full spectrum support on a single layer.

Support for 5G is a natural evolution of Zinwave's patented DAS technology. Zinwave's all fiber, all-active at the edge DAS solution is a perfect fit for seamless integration of mid-spectrum in the 3.5GHz-6.0GHz and millimeter wave ranges in which the end users bear the cost and disruption of cabling infrastructure only once. Enterprises who invest in deploying systems with Zinwave's DAS stand to reap the immediate benefits of reliable, full-spectrum connectivity, with compatibility for future technologies without costly or burdensome additions.

"The new all fiber ultra-wideband 5G architecture and inclusion of O-RAN is the latest example of how Zinwave's trailblazing in the wireless industry ensures our customers are ready for future changes and technologies from day one," said Slavko Djukic, CTO, Zinwave. "Zinwave has a track record of anticipating tomorrow's industry trends and accounting for them in today's solutions."

Djukic will also be presenting at the FierceWireless Executive 5G Panel Series on Monday, February 25 at 1 p.m., where he will be discussing the topic "Taking 5G Indoors." The talk will feature the current state and trajectory of 5G technology, as well as how to prepare wireless infrastructure to take advantage of future, fully fleshed 5G networks.

Zinwave will be entertaining media, analysts and business partners from meeting room 2C40 in Hall 2 at Mobile World Congress. For more information about Zinwave's unique and forward-thinking DAS solution, please visit https://www.zinwave.com/.

About Zinwave

Zinwave is a Dallas-based technology company focused on providing in-building wireless solutions for cellular and public safety connectivity that are essential for business. Solutions include a five component Distributed Antenna System (DAS), featuring Zinwave's patented 3F advantage fiber cabling throughout, full spectrum support on a single hardware layer, and future ready for the next generation of wireless technology. Zinwave's refined technology offers the lowest total cost of ownership, and the Cellular as a Service option enables connectivity by converting it into an operating expense. Zinwave customers come from around globe and span a wide array of industries. For more information, please visit www.zinwave.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005771/en/

Contacts:

Jeffrey More, Tech Image for Zinwave

jeff.more@techimage.com

312.673.6049
PAREF announces the signature of the refinancing of the Group

PAREF Group announces the signature of a corporate financing of a total of 100 Mn today1 to refinance the whole debt of the Group.

This financing is composed of a 30 Mn loan drawdown as from today2 and a confirmed undrawn credit line of 70 Mn. It is a 5-year maturity financing with a margin of 145 bps over 3-month Euribor.

"Following the release of the 2018 full-year results showing a strong growth, we are delighted to announce the signature of this refinancing which will allow PAREF Group to significantly increase its investment capacity while decreasing the average cost of debt. We warmly thank our bank partners HSBC, Credit Agricole Ile-de-France, Credit Agricole Brie Picardie and Banque Populaire Rives de Paris, as well as the counsels (A&O and Wargny Katz for PAREF Group, Gide and 14 Pyramides notaires for the banks) for this operation and their trust in our strategy."

Antoine Onfray - CFO

Financial agenda

April 25, 2019: Financial information as at March 31, 2019

About PAREF Group

PAREF operates in two major complementary areas: (i) Commercial and residential investments owned by SIIC PAREF primarily in corporate real estate in the Paris region (138 Mn asset as at December 31, 2018) and (ii) Management on behalf of third parties via PAREF Gestion (1,426 Mn funds under management as at December 31, 2018), an AMF-certified management company.

PAREF is a company listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment C, under ISIN FR00110263202 - Ticker PAR.

More information on www.paref.fr

Contacts

Antoine CASTRO

Chief Executive Officer Antoine ONFRAY

Chief Financial Officer

info@paref.com

Phone: 01 40 29 86 86

Press Contact

Citigate Dewe Rogerson, Alexandre Dechaux

01 53 32 84 79

Alexandre.dechaux@citigatedewerogerson.com

1 All existing debt and hedging have been terminated except financial leases on the assets located in Dax and Saint-Paul-Les Dax.

2 With an indirect mortgage on Levallois asset owned by the company Polybail.

------------------------



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Regulatory News:

CLASQUIN (Paris:ALCLA):

2018 2017 2018 2017

(at current

scope) 2018 2017

(like for like

change) T4 2018 /

T4 2017

(at current scope) CONSOLIDATED (unaudited) Number of shipments 264,179 246,657 +7.1% +7.4% +2.5% Sales(M) 308.3 290.6 +6.1% +8.5% +1.2% Gross profit (M) 68.9 62.9 +9.5% +11.2% +3.5%

*Note: Sales is not a relevant indicator for assessing activity in our business, because it is greatly impacted by changing sea and air freight rates, fuel surcharges, exchange rates (especially versus the $), etc. Variations in the number of shipments, the volumes shipped and- in terms of the Group's finances-gross profit are relevant indicators.

BUSINESS REVIEW

Q4 confirmed the slowdown in international trade volume growth seen in Q3.

The France air freight import market was particularly impacted, as the traditional end-of-year spike benefited only very little from replenishment orders.Sea freight however recorded Q4 growth in line with the first 9 months.

Amidst these diverging trends, growth in Group air freight volumes slackened towards the end of the year (Q4 tonnage: down 15.4% 12 months: up 9.5%), while sea freight volume growth remained robust (number of containers in Q4: up 13.4% 12 months: up 11.8%).

Growth in the number of shipments at constant perimeter (adjusted for the early July acquisition of Favat and late October sale of ECS US) slowed in Q4 (up 3.7%) but remained robust for the full year period (up 7.4%).

This growth was driven by:

the launch of new business lines ("Fairs Events", "Road Brokerage", etc.) which account for 1.8% on a full-year basis,

significant development with key accounts, and,

the acquisition of new clients thanks to the powerful sales organisation deployed by the Group.

The 2018 surge in gross profit (up 11.2%) like-for-like (adjusted for the acquisitions of Cosmos in January, Favat in early July and the sale of ECS US in late October), despite a slight slowdown in Q4 (up 5.0%), was due to:

the increase in the number of shipments

improvement in the air freight unit margin due to the increase in the average weight shipped and favorable market conditions in H1 2018

the launch of new business lines ("Fairs Events", "Road Brokerage", etc.) which account for 2.5% of growth in the Group's gross profit.

The RO/RO business (truck transport on special-purpose vessels) operated by the subsidiary LCI CLASQUIN recorded strong growth to Northern Africa, in particular Morocco.

DETAILS ON ACTIVITY BY BUSINESS LINE

VOLUMES GROSS PROFIT (in M) At current exchange rate 31.12.2018 31.12.2017 31.12 2018/

31.12 2017 Q4 2018/

Q4 2017 31.12.2018 31.12.2017 31.12.2018/

31.12.2017 Q4 2018/

Q4 2017 Sea freight 119,246 111,946 +6.5% +3.0% 30.5 30.2 +1.2% -0.2% Air freight 81,437 80,153 +1.6% -3.8% 23.5 20.7 +13.3% -2.1% RO/RO* 40,596 38,299 +6.0% +6.4% 7.2 6.6 +7.7% +3.3% Others 22,900 ** 16,259 +40.8% +19.7% 5.9*** 4.2 +39.5% +37.4% TOTAL OVERSEAS ACTIVITY 264,179 246,657 +7.1% +2.5% 67.0 61.7 +8.6% +2.4% LOG System 2.8 2.6 +7.0% +11.2% Consolidation entries -1,0 -1.5 NA NA TOTAL CONSOLIDATED 68.9 62.9 +9.5% +3.5%

*: Roll On/Roll Off (truck transport on special-purpose vessels)

**: including in 2018 the 2 new business lines "Fairs Events" and "Road Brokerage" (Variation: 4,403 shipments in 2018)

***: including in 2018 the 2 new business lines "Fairs Events" and "Road Brokerage" (GP variation: 1.6m in 2018)

VOLUMES 31.12.2018 31.12.2017 31.12.2018/

31.12.2017 Q4 2018/

Q4 2017 Sea Freight 199,473 EVP*(1) 178,488 EVP*(1) +11.8% +13.4% Air freight 69,466 T** 63,446 T** +9.5% -15.4%

* Twenty Equivalent Units

** Tons

(1) Including groupage containers

Q4 2018 HIGHLIGHTS

Continued deployment of Cargowise One transport management software with the launch of CLASQUIN US, CLASQUIN Singapore, CLASQUIN Malaysia and CLASQUIN Germany.

Group scope covered: 80% of planned scope.

Opening of new locations in Lille and Nantes by LCI CLASQUIN to handle a new partnership with a Moroccan operator. Solid growth expected in 2019.

to handle a new partnership with a Moroccan operator. Solid growth expected in 2019. Opening of two offices in the United States (Atlanta and Miami) in line with Group plans to ramp up its expansion in North America.

(Atlanta and Miami) in line with Group plans to ramp up its expansion in North America. Opening of two sales offices in Africa (Dakar and Bamako) in order to share the Group's expertise in France and Europe with companies trading in this region and, above all, meet their requirements for managing international trade with China and Asia.

(Dakar and Bamako) in order to share the Group's expertise in France and Europe with companies trading in this region and, above all, meet their requirements for managing international trade with China and Asia. Sale of ECS US on 31/10/18 to the historical minority shareholder.

to the historical minority shareholder. Company operations put on hold at CLASQUIN Australia due to its poor financial performance.

due to its poor financial performance. Return to "monthly" breakeven at CLASQUIN Germany.

EVENTS AFTER 31 DECEMBER 2018

Change in Group governance as of 1 January 2019: Separation of the duties of CLASQUIN's Chairman and CEO Appointment of Hugues MORIN as CEO of the CLASQUIN Group. Yves REVOL retains his position as Chairman of CLASQUIN's Board of Directors and becomes Executive Chairman. Born in 1969, married, a graduate of the European Business School, Hugues MORIN joined CLASQUIN in 1992 and was successively posted to Sydney, Osaka and Tokyo. He returned to France in 2002, where he was appointed Regional Director for the South of France and later promoted to Managing Director France, Italy and Germany.

Since 1 st January 2016, he has been responsible for all worldwide front office functions (operations and sales) as Group Executive Vice President.

In January 2018, his remit was extended to back office functions (finance, HR, IT, etc.) under the direction of Group Corporate Secretary Laurence Ilhe.

Hugues MORIN is a key shareholder, holding 5.2% of the share capital both directly and indirectly via his personal holding company.



2019 OUTLOOK

Market

Estimated volume growth:

Sea: +/- 2/3%

Air: +/- 2/3%

CLASQUIN

Growth significantly higher than market growth.

UPCOMING EVENTS (publication after-market closure)

Wednesday 20 March 2019: 2018 Annual results

Monday 29 April 2019: Business report as at 31 March 2019

Thursday 29 August 2019: Business report as at 30 June 2019

Monday 23 September 2019: 2019 Half year results

Wednesday 30 October 2019: Business report as at 30 September 2019

CLASQUIN is an air and sea freight forwarding and overseas logistics specialist. The Group designs and manages the entire overseas transport and logistics chain, organising and coordinating the flow of client shipments between France and the rest of the world, and more specifically to and from Asia-Pacific and the United States. Its shares are listed on EURONEXT GROWTH, ISIN FR0004152882, Reuters ALCLA.PA, Bloomberg ALCLA FP.

For more information, see www.clasquinfinance.com

CLASQUIN confirms its eligibility for the new share savings plan for MSCs (medium-sized companies) in accordance with Article D221-113-5 of the French Monetary and Financial Code established by decree number 2014-283 of 4 March 2014 and with Article L221-32-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code which set the conditions for eligibility (less than 5,000 employees and annual sales of less than 1,500 million euros or total balance sheet of less than 2,000 million euros). CLASQUIN is part of Enternext PEA-PME 150 index.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005682/en/

Contacts:

CLASQUIN CONTACTS

Philippe LONS Deputy Managing Director/Group CFO

Domitille CHATELAIN Group Head of Communication



CLASQUIN Group 235 cours Lafayette 69006 Lyon

Tel: +33(0)4 72 83 17 00 Fax: 04 72 83 17 33
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today sees the launch of Art UK's unique sculpture project. The first thousand sculptures are now available online, free of charge, to people in the UK and all over the globe via www.artuk.org. An estimated 150,000 more will follow by the end of 2020.

These first images, and their associated digital records, form part of the largest sculpture cataloguing project ever undertaken in the UK. Most sculptures in the national collection have never been photographed before. By the project's conclusion, the UK will become the first country in the world to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of its publicly owned sculpture, for everyone's enjoyment, learning and research.

Seeing the nation's sculpture collection online will prompt a re-examination of some of the burning issues affecting society today, raising complex questions. Why are there so few sculptures of women, and what is being done to redress the balance? Is it time to rethink how we display female nude sculptures in the post-MeToo era? How do we talk about the difficult legacies of slavery and colonialism in Britain when sculptures commemorate those who profited from them? With the backdrop of Brexit, what does our sculpture say about us as a nation?

The first records include a sublime statue of Eve by Auguste Rodin outside Nando's in Harlow, a sculpture of the head of the Italian heiress and legendary patron of the arts, Marchesa Luisa Casati Stampa di Soncino, created by Sir Jacob Epstein, and a sculpture by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement.

The new sculpture records will join the 200,000 oil paintings already digitised by Art UK, and a growing number of works on paper. The sculpture project is part of Art UK's ambitious drive to democratise access to the nation's public art collection, much of which is in store, and is often not easy for people to find and see.

Sculpture is often seen as the poor relation of 'flat' art - the American artist Ad Reinhardt famously teased that 'Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.' Art UK's sculpture project will give this underappreciated medium the same status as the oil paintings already on the site. This will change people's perceptions and allow sculpture to take its rightful place at the centre of the art world.

A diverse, global collection

The UK's national collection of sculpture is drawn from across the globe, comprising works from almost every country and era over the last thousand years. The sculptures represent a wide range of diverse cultures, from fifteenth-century Nigeria and Buddhist sculpture from south-east Asia to Italian Neoclassicism and twentieth-century America. The collection reflects a strong global influence compared to the oil paintings in the national collection, which are primarily part of a European tradition.

Transforming access to sculpture

Many sculptures in the national collection have not been catalogued or photographed before. Currently, only an estimated 1% of public collections have their full sculpture collection online, while many public monuments are not fully recorded and are at risk. The project will throw into sharp relief questions about how we care for our public art.

Opportunities to engage with sculpture are also scarce. Art UK's ambitious project will transform the way people discover and learn about their sculptural heritage. It will allow audiences to share knowledge, exchange opinions and visit sculptures - both in person and online.

An ongoing digitisation project

Art UK began photographing sculpture in April 2018 and new sculptures are being added to the website all the time. The sculptures that are being digitised are located inside galleries, museums and public buildings, as well as outdoors - in parks, streets and squares across the UK. A large team is travelling across the country to complete the project - dedicated and enthusiastic project staff, photographers and hundreds of volunteers.

On the Art UK website, people can see records of the sculptures in public ownership across the country and photographs of many of the key works. The site also includes additional information about the artists, the objects and subject matter. A range of writers will continue to tell the stories behind the works through online articles.

The project brings together sculptures from the length and breadth of the UK, from Shetland to the Channel Islands, from Northern Ireland to the Isle of Man. Art UK is collaborating with national collections including the V&A Museum, Tate, National Trust, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales and National Galleries of Scotland, as well as thousands of regional and local institutions.

Learning and engagement

The sculpture project's extensive and ongoing learning and engagement programme is taking place across the country. Sixty sculpture-related films are being made with and by young people, linked to the National Curriculum. The Masterpieces in Schools initiative is taking 125 sculptures into primary and secondary schools for the day, inspiring a passion for art from a young age.

Project partners and funding

Seven partners are working alongside Art UK to deliver the sculpture project. Art UK is collaborating closely with major partner the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA) to catalogue and photograph outdoor public sculpture. Other key partners include the BBC, Culture Street, Factum Foundation, the Royal Society of Sculptors, the Royal Photographic Society and VocalEyes.

The total cash cost of the project is expected to be 3.8m (including in-kind partner contributions this amounts to 5.2m). The National Lottery Heritage Fund has generously agreed to provide 2.8m of the funding, and Art UK successfully raised the remaining 1m from a range of donors including the Scottish Government, Arts Council England, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Yinka Shonibare CBE, Art UK's 2019 Patron, said, 'Art UK gives incredible access to public collections of art and I am especially pleased that Art UK will be launching the new database of sculpture online. Public sculpture is the most democratic way to share art. It transcends race, class or economic status. I very much look forward to contributing to the work of Art UK as its new Patron.'

Andrew Ellis, Art UK Director, added, 'Art UK is all about democratising access to the art owned by the British public. This project will enable a global online audience to learn about the UK's extraordinary collection of sculpture - held both inside institutions and in our streets and squares. What is immediately obvious from the sculptures now appearing online is the incredibly rich variety of artworks owned by the nation. We are very grateful to our funders for the support that has enabled this project to happen.'

Stuart Hobley, Head of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, London, said, 'Wherever you are in the UK, you can find public sculpture, quietly existing within our parks, museums and squares, yet many of us are unaware that this sort of world-class art is on our doorstep and free to access. We're delighted to support this digital platform that will make it so much easier for the public to find and engage with their nearest work.'

Sir John Lewis OBE, Chairman of the PMSA, said, 'It has long been the ambition of the PMSA to provide a complete listing of public sculpture in the UK for all to access, as easily and inexpensively as possible. Our partnership with Art UK will ensure that sculpture is given its due recognition on this digital platform that showcases the nation's art to the world.'

Press images

High-resolution images are available via Dropbox: https://bit.ly/2UUG5mY

Supporting content

Browse our sculpture-themed stories and news at Art UK

About Art UK

Art UK is a cultural education charity on a mission to make the art in UK public collections accessible to everyone, for enjoyment, learning and research.

We enable global audiences to learn about the UK's public art collection. We digitise artworks, tell the stories behind the art and create exciting opportunities for public interaction with art, both online and offline. We play a major role in supporting public art collections, by improving their accessibility and sustainability. Although we are a relatively small charity, our platform is shared by over 3,250 UK art collections and over two million people use our website each year.

Between 2003 and 2012 Art UK digitised over 200,000 oil paintings from locations across the UK - a unique national achievement. Since September 2016, works on paper - watercolours, prints and drawings - have been progressively added to the website. The award-winning Masterpieces in Schools and Art Detective initiatives provide online and offline opportunities for learning and participation and contribute to collection knowledge.

Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (109685) and Scotland (SC048601).

To find out more, visit

www.artuk.org

@artukdotorg ArtUKSculptureProject

facebook.com/artukdotorg

instagram.com/artukdotorg

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Thanks to National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund invests money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk

About the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association

The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association aims to heighten public appreciation of Britain's public sculpture, and to contribute to its preservation, protection and promotion. www.pmsa.org.uk

About R K Harrison

R K Harrison designs insurance solutions for private collectors, museums, gallery owners and art dealers. We are proud to provide insurance cover for the sculpture project, in particular the Masterpieces in Schools initiative. www.rkharrison.com

About Hiscox

Hiscox is a global specialist insurer, headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). We are proud to provide insurance cover for the sculpture project, in particular the Masterpieces in Schools initiative. www.hiscoxgroup.com

For more information please contact:

Katey Goodwin - Deputy Director, Head of Digitisation and Public Engagement, Art UK

+44(0)-1782-363242

katey.goodwin@artuk.org

Louise Pavoni - Digital Marketing Manager, Art UK

+44(0)-20-7927-6255

louise.pavoni@artuk.org

Available for interview

Andrew Ellis, Director of Art UK

Professor David Ekserdjian, Art UK Trustee

Katey Goodwin, Art UK Deputy Director, Head of Digitisation and Public Engagement

Clare Lilley, Director of Programme, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Art UK Trustee

Yinka Shonibare, artist and Art UK Patron 2019

Bob and Roberta Smith RA, artist and Art UK Trustee

Press images

High-resolution images are available via Dropbox: https://bit.ly/2UUG5mY
AMSTERDAM, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded the 2019 Erasmus Prize to the American composer and conductor John Adams (b. 1947). The theme of this year's Erasmus Prize is 'Composing for today'.

John Adams is one of the most frequently performed living composers. He receives the prize because he has created a new musical idiom by fusing elements from jazz, pop and classical music. According to the jury, Adams has made contemporary classical music 'communicate' again, important at a time when this genre has increasing difficulty in finding a following. Moreover, Adams often addresses social themes in his work, something he sees as the artist's duty. What distinguishes him furthermore, is the humanistic nature of his themes. Adams is not just a great conductor and composer, he is also a writer who reflects on the social function of classical music. Thus, he calls attention both musically and intellectually to the importance of classical music in our time, reflecting the Erasmian principles that the Foundation seeks to uphold.

Biography John Adams

John Coolidge Adams (1947) has an extensive body of work that encompasses chamber music, orchestral composition and opera. Although his musical roots lie in New England (US), he currently lives and works in California. John Adams grew up with the big bands in which his father played and the musicals in which his mother sang. He saw Mozart as his great idol but was equally carried away by Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. He began composing at the age of ten and went on to study composition at Harvard University. It was there that he distanced himself from the inflexibility and atonality of post-war composers. He felt more drawn to the minimalism that was emerging around that time. A hallmark of his work is the fusion of 'western' musical traditions and popular culture - minimal music first and foremost, but also pop and jazz.

Adams became famous for his music-theatre productions - collaborating for many years with director Peter Sellars - in which he regularly tackles sensitive social issues. His best-known orchestral compositions are Shaker Loops (1978), Harmonielehre (1985), Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), Chamber Symphony (1992) and Naive and Sentimental Music (1999). The operas that established his reputation include Nixon in China (1987), The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) and Doctor Atomic (2005). In 2002, he wrote On the Transmigration of Souls, in memory of the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. For this, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music. In recent years he has written a Saxophone Concerto (2013), as an ode to the great jazz saxophonists John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Wayne Shorter. Another recent piece of his is the oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary (2013). In 2015, a new violin concerto, entitled Scheherazade.2, premiered. In this piece he calls attention to the oppression of women around the world. The works of Adams have earned him numerous Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize for music. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from Harvard, Yale and the Royal Academy of Music.

On 28 February 2019, his opera project Girls of the Golden West - again directed by Peter Sellars - will have its European premiere at the National Opera in Amsterdam.

The Erasmus Prize is awarded annually to a person or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the field of humanities, social sciences or the arts. His Majesty the King is Patron of the Foundation. The Erasmus Prize consists of  150,000 in prize money. The prize will be presented in November 2019. To mark the presentation of the Erasmus Prize, the Foundation is organizing a varied programme of events related to the work of John Adams.

www.erasmusprijs.org

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824748/John_Adams_Riccardo_Musacchio.jpg )
Ultivue, a developer of tissue biomarker identification and quantification assays for pathology and translational research labs, today announced that it has expanded its commercial footprint with a wholly-owned European subsidiary and appointed Luigi Pirovano as General Manager. Mr. Pirovano is an international executive with significant experience managing European Diagnostics and Life Science operations and will be responsible for managing the new subsidiary, Ultivue EMEA Srl, located in Milan, Italy.

"The establishment of a European subsidiary provides an excellent structure to support Ultivue's expanded commercial activities across Europe and engage deeply and efficiently with the biomedical community," said Philippe Mourere, Ultivue's Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. "Ultivue will capitalize on Luigi's demonstrated success leading both Life Science and Diagnostics activities to continue driving strong execution of its business plan."

Luigi Pirovano has more than 30 years of experience in regulatory, business development, commercial operations and general management activities. Prior to joining Ultivue, Mr. Pirovano held various senior management roles in Europe, most recently as Managing Director for Advanced Cell Diagnostics acquired by Bio-techne in 2016 and for Panomics Inc., acquired by Affymetrix in 2008. Prior to that, Mr. Pirovano served for over 20 years as Managing Director for Italy at Bio Rad Laboratories, a global developer of products for the life science research and clinical diagnostics markets.

"Ultivue EMEA is a fully operating organization with direct scientific and commercial presence in UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy. I am delighted to lead Ultivue's activities in Europe, and together with the outstanding European team already in place, I am fully committed to delivering excellent support and user experience to our customers and scientific collaborators," stated Luigi Pirovano, General Manager Ultivue EMEA.

Ultivue EMEA welcomes the opportunity to meet with the biomedical community at the upcoming Next Gen Immuno-Oncology Congress in London, UK from March 14 to 15, 2019.

About Ultivue

By developing a single set of novel, proprietary reagents used both for biomarker discovery (higher content, low throughput) and translational use (lower content, high throughput), Ultivue is connecting the insights gained from research directly into the pathology lab. Ultivue's UltiMapper multiplexed assays applied to tissue biopsy samples enable simultaneous quantitation of multiple biomarkers with sub-cellular spatial resolution and fit completely within traditional IHC workflows. Translational and clinical researchers leverage UltiMapper assays to elucidate complex biology and demonstrate their clinical utility as precision medicine research tools. Ultivue is expanding its UltiMapper assay product portfolio and menu of contract research services to provide a comprehensive set of personalized medicine solutions for oncology research and focus in other therapeutic research areas.

Ultivue is based in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit www.ultivue.com

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005252/en/

Contacts:

Louis Levy

+1-617-945-2662

contact@ultivue.com
A video of the incident went viral on the social media, which shows the Yuva Sena activists questioning the students where they are from.

The attackers forced the students to shout slogans like Vande Mataram and Hindustan Zindabad. (Representational Image/File)

Nagpur/Mumbai: Four Kashmiri students studying in a college at Yavatmal were attacked and threatened by members of the Yuva Sena members, the youth wing of Shiv Sena.

According to local police, the incident happened on Wednesday night when the students of the Dayabhai Patel physical education college were returning to their rented accommodation in Vaibhav Nagar on Waghapur Road.

A video of the incident went viral on the social media, which shows the Yuva Sena activists questioning the students where they are from.

As the youths said that they come from Kashmir, the Yuva Sena mem-bers slapped, beat the-m up and also thre-atened with them dire consequences.

The attackers forced the students to shout slogans like Vande Mataram and Hindustan Zindabad.

Yavatmal superintendent of police M. Rajkumar said, The Kashmiri students were returning home after having dinner outside, when Yuva Sena activists intercepted them and slapped them.

The victims lodged a complaint at Lohara police station on Thur-sday. The Lohara police identified the culprits and have apprehended the main accused in the incident.

A victim of the attack said, We were asked to say Vande Mataram if we want to live here. The attackers asked us to vacate our rooms and return to Kashmir within four days. We were warned that if we failed to return to Kashmir in this time frame, they will kill us.

However, Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray shrugged off the responsibility for thrashing of Kashmir students by his organisation members.

Mr Thackeray said that one should understand that people are not troubled while teaching a lesson to Pakistan.

Condemning the attacks, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan said the police should take immediate action against the Yuva Sena activists who committed hooliganism by taking law into hands.

Meanwhile, the Yuva Sena has said if those involved in the act are found to be activists of the organisation, action will be taken against them.

The patriotic Kashmiri youths are our brothers and Yuva Sena will stand by them, Varun Sardesai, secretary of the organisation.
Sherman Oaks, California--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSXV: PQE) (OTC Pink: PQEFF) (FSE: PQCF) (the "Company"), a fully integrated oil and gas company, is pleased to announce that it has completed its first maintenance turnaround at its oil sands processing facility (the "Plant") located near Vernal, Utah, and has recommenced the production of oil from the Plant at 300-350 barrels/day. During the recent maintenance turnaround, the Company focused primarily on upgrading the front-end and recovery processes at the Plant, which we believe will ensure year-round production capability. The oil currently being produced at the Plant is more consistent than previous oil produced and represents a higher quality heavy oil than our initial production during the second half of calendar 2018. The Company anticipates increasing production to 700 barrels/day by the end of February and reaching 1,000 barrels/day by the end of March.



Petroteq's Oil Sand Processing Facility



To view an enhanced version of Petroteq's Oil Sand Processing Facility, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5581/42975_07aef050d4a6ea3a_001full.jpg

Working with Crosstrails Engineering, a subsidiary of Valkor, LLC, the Company recently completed a series of operations maintenance, enhancements and upgrades at the Plant as part of a US$2.5 million expansion. These process and enhancement upgrades are intended to facilitate a more seamless integration with a proposed 3,000 barrel/day expansion at the Plant as we continue to expand production capacity. This in turn should facilitate our ability to process and produce, on a more consistent basis, a higher quality heavy oil for regional refineries located in Utah.

"Petroteq executed its first maintenance turnaround during the Christmas break, during which our analysis of Q4 2018 operations confirmed that there were process efficiencies needed to increase the integrity of the older pilot plant equipment," said David Sealock, CEO. "Our main focus during the recent turnaround was on the Plant's solvent recovery processes, distillation processes, and our front-end feedstock mixing operations that have been brought online. The maintenance and upgrades that we completed in these areas will allow us to run at higher production levels."

The Company intends to continue its efforts to maximize the production of high-quality heavy oil at the Plant over the next several months. Production sales will be reported in upcoming news releases and quarterly financials as the Company brings on line the second processing train at the Plant and has fully commissioned the new recovery process equipment. For more information please refer to the website where the Company has recently posted an updated corporate presentation.

About Petroteq Energy Inc.

Petroteq is a fully integrated oil and gas company focused on the development and implementation of a new proprietary technology for oil extraction. The Company has an environmentally safe and sustainable technology for the extraction of heavy oils from oil sands, oil shale deposits and shallow oil deposits. Petroteq is engaged in the development and implementation of its patented environmentally friendly heavy oil processing and extraction technologies. Our proprietary process produces zero greenhouse gas, zero waste and requires no high temperatures. Petroteq is currently focused on developing its oil sands resources and expanding production capacity at its Asphalt Ridge heavy oil extraction and processing facility located near Vernal, Utah. For more information, visit www.Petroteq.energy and on Twitter @petroteqenergy.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Words such as "may," "would," "could," "should," "potential," "will," "seek," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, including: the Plant producing year-round; the Plant producing 700 barrels/day by the end of February and reaching 1,000 barrels/day by the end of March; a proposed 3,000 barrel/day expansion at the Plant; the Company's continued development of its oil sands mining and production operations and its existing oil processing and extraction facility; and the Company successfully producing at its current or future plants; are intended to identify forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of its oil sands and mineral resources. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, based on information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information, including: the technology producing as expected; and stabilized oil prices. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet the Company's expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of the Company to differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the "risk factors" that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation: uncertainties inherent in the estimation of resources, including whether any reserves will ever be attributed to the Company's properties; changes in laws or regulations; the ability to implement business strategies or to pursue business opportunities, whether for economic or other reasons; status of the world oil markets, oil prices and price volatility; oil pricing; state of capital markets and the ability by the Company to raise capital; litigation; the commercial and economic viability of the Company's oil sands hydrocarbon extraction technology, and other proprietary technologies developed or licensed by the Company or its subsidiaries, which are of experimental nature and have not been used at full capacity for an extended period of time; reliance on suppliers, contractors, consultants and key personnel; the ability of the Company to maintain its mineral lease holdings; potential failure of the Company's business plans or model; the nature of oil and gas production and oil sands mining, extraction and production; uncertainties in exploration and drilling for oil, gas and other hydrocarbon-bearing substances; unanticipated costs and expenses, availability of financing and other capital; potential damage to or destruction of property, loss of life and environmental damage; risks associated with compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations; uninsurable or uninsured risks; potential conflicts of interest of officers and directors; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's disclosure documents, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Petroteq Energy Inc.

Alex Blyumkin

Executive Chairman

Tel: (800) 979-1897

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42975
WILTON MANORS, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / LifeApps Brands Inc., (OTC PINK: LFAP) ('LifeApps'), an emerging growth digital media company, has agreed to a Letter of Intent (LOI) with ProcureAM LLC. This LOI represents LifeApps Brands interest and general terms for a partnership to create the first-ever LGBT Loyalty 'Preference' Index Traded Fund. As a new client of ProcureAM's Procure Asset Launchpad ('PAL') platform, LifeApps Brands would be the Sponsor of the ETF and index licensor for the LGBT focused index. ProcureAM would license the index and provide specific services for a ProcureAM listed ETF on the NYSE-ARCA or other US equity exchange.

'Working with ETF industry leaders Robert Tull and Andrew Chanin is extraordinary as we will benefit greatly from their time-tested experience and loyal relationships. Our common goal and passion to make a difference for the LGBT community alongside our LGBT allies of family, friends and supporters we share together at this very important time in history,' said Bobby Blair, CEO of LifeApps Brands.

'We are excited to start this new venture with our first PAL partner. We believe LifeApps' unique strategy will not only create a benchmark for purchasing/loyalty preferences but also help to promote social and human rights causes for which LifeApps and its affiliates have championed for years,' said Andrew Chanin, CEO of ProcureAM.

About LifeApps Brands Inc.

LifeApps is an authorized developer, publisher and licensee for Apple iOS iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android tablets on Google Play and Kindle Fire and Androids via Amazon Mobile Marketplace. Moving forward we will focus on the development of niche demographic media networks. We are creating a LGBT Loyalty 'Preference' Index Traded Fund. We are also in development of a LGBT Advertising Agency and a LGBT Media Distribution Network to assist businesses and brands in the creation and distribution of specific content. For more information please visit: http://www.lifeappsbrands.com.

About ProcureAM, LLC

ProcureAM is an innovative Exchange-Traded Product ('ETP') company led by industry veterans Robert Tull and Andrew Chanin. ProcureAM aims to develop unique solutions for its proprietary models and collaborative efforts. ProcureAM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Procure Holdings, LLC. Procure Holdings, LLC is a diversified parent company with subsidiaries specializing in ETP servicing, ETP consulting and financial intellectual property.

Company Contact:

LifeApps Brands Inc.

2435 Dixie Highway

Wilton Manors, FL 33305

info@lifeappsmedia.com

(954) 947-6133

ProcureAm, LLC

16 Firebush Road

Levittown, PA 19056

www.procuream.com

(215) 454-2540

Forward Looking Statements:

This release contains 'forward-looking statements' as that term is used under the federal securities laws. Such statements may be identified by the use of words such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'expect,' 'future,' 'may,' 'will,' 'would,' 'should,' 'plan,' 'projected,' 'intend,' and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause LifeApps actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated, including risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business, product development, marketing and distribution plans and strategies. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 20, 2018. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: LifeApps Brands Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536317/LifeApps-Brands-Enters-LOI-with-ProcureAM-to-Create-the-First-Ever-LGBT-Loyalty-Preference-Index-Traded-Fund
Global growth fueled by new regulations and consumer demands for privacy protection

ATLANTA, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTrust, the largest and most widely used dedicated privacy management technology platform, today announced year-over-year growth across product offerings, customers and employees. In 2018, OneTrust customers grew to surpass 2,000 worldwide. To meet this demand, OneTrust more than doubled global headcount to exceed 600. OneTrust's international growth continued with expanded key offices in Atlanta, London, as well as a new local office in Melbourne. OneTrust also invested heavily in product expansion of its privacy management platform and as a result was awarded 16 new patents by the USPTO for significant first-to-market capabilities to simplify the organizational task of managing privacy compliance.

2018 also brought independent recognition to OneTrust's position as a leader in the market. According to Forrester in The Forrester New WaveTM: GDPR and Privacy Management Software, Q4 2018 report, OneTrust "Leads the pack for vision and execution." Additionally, Fast Company has recently named OneTrust among the world's most innovative companies.

Read more: OneTrust "Leads the Pack for Vision and Execution" in GDPR and Privacy Management Software Evaluation

Innovative and Intelligent Products Powered by 16 Awarded Patents in 2018 Alone

The last year brought major changes to the global privacy landscape. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Brazilian LGDP were passed and several other countries and regions promoted similar privacy-focused bills. Managing privacy in today's evolving global regulatory landscape can be a complicated, time-consuming and risky process. OneTrust's products integrate legislation from around the world into repeatable processes, analytics and actionable intelligence.

In the last year, OneTrust launched more than a dozen new or updated solutions, including Vendor Risk Management, Incident and Breach Response, Universal Consent Management, Mobile App Consent and Targeted Data Discovery. OneTrust's products are supported by a massive regulatory intelligence database to fuel the automation of privacy and security compliance. OneTrust's privacy database maps over 500 global privacy and data breach laws into the platform, Cookiepedia provides details and categorization insight on more than 6.5 million cookies and tracking technologies and Vendorpedia provides active security and privacy certifications as well as security and trust registrations for over 4,000 global vendors. Learn more about OneTrust products.

Growth Surpassing 2,000 Customers, Including 200 of the Global 2,000

OneTrust's customer base surged past 2,000 in 2018, and includes 200 of the Global 2,000, 80 of the Fortune 500, the world's largest airline, hotel company, beverage company, retailer, publisher, consulting firm, car manufacturer and more. Learn more about OneTrust's customers.

In 2018, OneTrust hosted the world's first user conference dedicated to privacy technology, PrivacyTech, to bring together this global customer base to learn about the latest technology and innovations driving global privacy compliance. PrivacyTech is expanding in 2019 with events in both Atlanta and London. OneTrust also hosted more than 100 local PrivacyConnect events in over 80 cities globally throughout 2018 and is continuing the series this year, focusing on the CCPA, GDPR and the growing list of global privacy laws.

The Most Awarded Privacy Management Technology Company

OneTrust's product line and executive team have been recognized by more industry and global awards than any other dedicated privacy management technology. Honors include Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019, four 2019 Info Security PG Global Excellence Awards, 2018 Cyber Defense Magazine Global Awards for Privacy Management Software and Privacy Expert of the Year (CEO, Kabir Barday) and IDG CIO's Ones to Watch 2019 (Blake Brannon, VP Product). See all OneTrust awards.

Read more in the Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March-April 2019) now available online, on the Fast Company App and on newsstands beginning February 27

Empowering Customers with the World's Largest Dedicated Privacy Technology Team

Regardless of privacy team size or budget, customers are supported by the shared knowledge of 600 OneTrust employees across six global locations, with two-thirds dedicated to product and customer success. The OneTrust team holds more than 300 privacy and security certifications to create automated and efficient products that help organizations of all sizes make privacy a reflex of their business.

Deep Partnerships with the Industry's Leading Organizations

OneTrust's success is fueled by relationships with the industry's top consultants, law firms and trusted advisors. In addition to a large partner network of resellers and outsourcing, OneTrust forged several new partnerships in 2018. For example, OneTrust and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced a strategic partnership, including a free Vendor Risk Management Tool for CSA members, translations for CSA CAIQ, CCM and GDPR code of conduct templates and collaboration on building the CSA GDPR Centre of Excellence in Berlin.

"Throughout the last year, we partnered with our customers to build a platform that is flexible to adjust to the world's proliferating privacy regulations, and our growth in product, customers and employees is a testament to our vision and ability to execute," said Kabir Barday, OneTrust CEO and Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP). "We've created the world's most comprehensive solution to tackle these growing privacy challenges, whether it's a small business to a complex multinational scaling a global privacy program. We're excited about our continued growth and success and will continue to deliver the most feature rich, easy-to-use, and cost-effective solutions for our customers."

For additional information, or to request a live OneTrust Privacy Management Software demo, visit OneTrust.com or email Info@OneTrust.com.

About OneTrust

OneTrust is the largest and most widely used dedicated privacy management technology platform for compliance with global privacy laws. More than 2,000 customers, including 200 of the Global 2,000, use OneTrust to comply with global data privacy regulations across sectors and jurisdictions, including the EU GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), ePrivacy (Cookie Law) and more.

OneTrust helps organizations implement global privacy requirements, including Data Protection by Design and Default (PbD), Data Protection Impact Assessments (PIA/DPIA), Vendor Risk Management, Incident and Breach Management, Records of Processing (Data Mapping), Consent Management, Cookie Consent Banners, GDPR Data Subject Rights and CCPA Consumer Rights.

The comprehensive platform enables privacy and security teams automate recordkeeping and demonstrate compliance to regulators and auditors through a combination of intelligent scanning, regulator guidance-based questionnaires, automated workflows and developer plugins. Consumer-facing modules empower marketers to create on-brand experiences for users to customize and manage privacy and marketing preferences. The platform is enriched with content from hundreds of templates based on world-class privacy research conducted by our 300+ in-house certified privacy professionals. The software, available in 50+ languages and can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.

The OneTrust Global Privacy Community brings together thousands of professionals each year to share best practices and breakdown the latest technology innovations driving global privacy compliance. Events include PrivacyConnect, free workshops in 80+ international cities focused on practical implementation of global privacy laws and PrivacyTech, OneTrust's global user conference.

OneTrust is co-headquartered in Atlanta and in London with additional offices in Bangalore, Melbourne, Munich and Hong Kong. The fast-growing team of privacy and technology experts surpasses 600 employees worldwide. To learn more, visit OneTrust.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Media Contact:

Gabrielle Ferree

Public Relations

+1 770-294-4668

Media@OneTrust.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/478210/OneTrust_Logo.jpg
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. ("Viridium" or the "Company") (TSX-V: VIR) (OTC PINK: VIRFF) is pleased to announce its wholly owned subsidiary, Experion Biotechnologies Inc. ("Experion"), a licensed cultivation and processor under the Cannabis Act, has completed its first shipment of Adult-Use cannabis to the province of British Columbia.

Experion's retail band Citizen Stash has now been shipped to the distribution center and will be available online and at selected retail locations. Citizen Stash's first retail strain Lemon Zkittle is a hybrid with approximately 60% sativa with mid to high THC levels with a sour citrus aroma and a distinct lemon taste. The strain will offer recreational adult users a product that is relaxing and consistent in its quality and effects. Lemon Zkittle will be available in dried flower, however, Experion is actively working on pre-rolls and oils to complement the offering.

Jay Garnett, President and CEO commented "the launch of our first retail product marks a significant milestone in our business and operations. Lemon Zkittle was selected due to its profile, balance and overall consistent experience for the Adult Use market."

About Viridium

Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. is the parent company of operating subsidiaries involved in horticultural production (Experion Biotechologies Inc.), medical product production (EFX Labs), property development (Fish Trap Ventures Ltd.), and human resource management (Stave Lake Services Ltd.). Experion Biotechnologies Inc. is a Health Canada licensed producer of cannabis which operates in an 8,300 square-foot indoor facility outside of Mission, BC.

More information about Viridium can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information:

Viridium Pacific Group Ltd.

Jarrett Malnarich

Tel: (604) 837-8688

info@viridiumpacific.com

www.viridiumpacific.com

Disclosure

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities; recent market volatility; the Company's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; the risks identified in the Filing Statement, and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Filing Statement dated September 25, 2017 and/or the most recent annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Viridium Pacific Group Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536278/Experion-Completes-First-Shipment-to-the-Province-of-British-Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - Viscount Mining Corp. (TSXV: VML) (OTCQB: VLMGF) ("Viscount" or "the Company") conducted a two-hole reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) drill test totaling 434 meters (m) or 1,425 feet (ft) on the Cherry Creek property in late November and early December 2018. Hole numbers are CC045 and CC046. The purpose of the drilling was to test the Star Vein and the Exchequer Vein systems in the vicinity of their namesake historic mines for continuity of the veins at depth, and to better understand the nature of the mineralization in the veins and host geology. The holes were drilled utilizing a Foremost Explorer 1500 RC drill supplied by Boart Longyear of Elko, Nevada.

Mark Abrams, Viscount Director and geologist, stated: "The two-hole reconnaissance drill test program accomplished the objectives we hoped to achieve. First, hole CC045 established that the South Star Vein extends much deeper than previously known from review of existing underground mapping. Further, the vein possibly widens at depth, although more drilling is required to confirm this. Hole CC045 also successfully tested the upper level of the lesser known North Star Vein and established gold and silver mineralization is present within 132 m (434 ft) of the surface, even though the vein has not been mapped on the surface. We are encouraged by this and intend to explore for the North Star Vein on the surface. Additionally, both hole CC045 and CC046 appear to have identified quartz vein stockwork alteration which we plan to investigate further. Stockworks are a common feature in many mineral deposits and mines worldwide. They consist of swarms of thin discontinuous veinlets that can host mineralization."

RC Hole CC045 test of the Star Vein System

The Star Vein system is comprised of the South Star Vein and the North Star Vein emplaced about 9 m (30 ft) apart and are subparallel to each other. Both veins have a production history, with the South Star Vein having the greatest production. Mineralization in the Star veins is hosted in a black phyllite and grey/tan quartzite of the Precambrian Prospect Mountain Formation.

Hole CC045 was drilled across the North Star and South Star veins. The hole was designed to test the deeper portion of the South Star vein, as well as, the North Star Vein. It was drilled to 261 m (855 ft) on an azimuth of 204 and at a -65 angle to horizontal.

After encountering an underground working from 123.4 to 125 m (405-410 ft), hole CC045 intersected 7.6 m (25 ft) to 132.6 m (435 ft) of quartz-veined black phyllite interpreted to be an unmined portion of the North Star Vein and its footwall. This intercept of 4.5 m (14.76 ft) estimated true thickness assayed 1.6 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) or 0.051 oz/ton and 24.88 grams of silver per tonne (g/t Ag) or 0.796 oz/ton. The intercept includes two higher grade intervals: 3.26 g/t Au (0.10 oz/ton) and 36 g/t Ag (1.15 oz/ton) over 1.52 m (126.49-128.01 m or 415-420 ft) and 2.42 g/t Au (0.08 oz/ton) and 27.5 g/t Ag (0.88 oz/ton) over 1.53 m (131.06-132.59 or 430-435 ft), respectively of estimated true thickness 0.90 m (2.95 ft) and 0.91 m (2.97 ft).

Hole CC045 also intersected what is interpreted from the presence of quartz and sulphides in several sections to be an unmined portion of the South Star Vein from 230.1 m (755 ft) to 260.6 m (855 ft) where caving backfill in historic mine workings caused the hole to be terminated. The 30.5 m (100 ft) interval has an estimated true thickness of 19.59 m (64 ft) whereas the historic production width was in the 0.5-2.0 m range.

Included in the above interval was 1.52 m (5 ft) of quartz-veined black phyllite from 240.79 to 242.31 m (790-795 ft) that assayed 0.822 g/t Au (0.026 oz/ton) and 30 g/t Ag (0.96 oz/t). Estimated true thickness is 0.9 m (2.95 ft).

RC Hole CC046 test of the Exchequer Vein System

The Exchequer Vein system is comprised of the Exchequer Vein (also known as the New Century or Imperial Vein) and the Blue Vein. The Exchequer and Blue Veins are distinct, subparallel, approximately 9 to 18 m (30 to 60 ft) apart along the Exchequer Fault and separated by quartz monzonite which hosts disseminated gold and silver mineralization as reported in Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 14, Spruce Mountain District, Elko County and Cherry Creek (Egan Canyon) District, White Pine County, F.C. Schrader (USGS), August 1, 1931. .

Hole CC046 was drilled to 174 m (570 ft) across the Exchequer and Blue veins at an azimuth of 200 and angle of -65. It was designed to test the deeper portions of both veins as well as the intervening mineralized intrusive.

The geology encountered by hole CC046 is complex due to the Exchequer Vein's propensity to "feather out" in quartzite of the Precambrian Prospect Mountain Formation. This Formation in the Exchequer Mine area hosts numerous veins as well as a mix of intermediate intrusive dikes that have intruded parallel to the veins. A "feathered" appearance noted in drill sample chips of the Exchequer Vein may indicate potential for a stockwork type of mineralization surrounding the main veins and, if so, suggests the possibility for a much larger mineralization target. Surface rock sampling of stockwork quartz veining along the strike of the Exchequer Vein in an area of no historic mining or drilling has yielded sample results up to 1.69 g/t Au (0.054 oz/ton) and 320 g/t Ag (10.24 oz/ton), also providing encouragement to search for a nearby bulk tonnage target.

Based on the amount of quartz vein and fine-grained sulfide in the chips, the Exchequer Vein is interpreted to have been intersected from 91 to 110 m (300-360 ft) in hole CC046. The true thickness is estimated at 12 m (39.3 ft). A dark porphyritic dike from 126.5 to 129.5 m (415-425 ft) is likely the quartz monzonite dike noted in the literature as occurring between the Exchequer Vein and the Blue Vein. The Blue Vein, as evidenced by the abundance of blue-green chlorite in a 90% quartz matrix, was cut from 166 to 174 m (545-570 ft for an estimated true thickness of 5 m (16.4 ft). Assayed intervals from both veins were not anomalous.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") Measures, Chain of Custody

The Company has implemented a rigorous QA/QC program using best industry practices at the Cherry Creek Property. Drill cuttings samples are split down on the rig to 3-4 kilograms and placed in securely-sealed bags for transportation to the ALS laboratory in Elko, Nevada; for sample preparation and subsequent analysis at ALS Canada Ltd. in Vancouver. A small "B split" of each of drill cutting sample interval was collected at the rig and archived in secure storage. The sample pulps and rejects will be retrieved from ALS. The insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates as well as logging was conducted by Viscount personnel at the property site.

Assays for gold are completed at ALS using the Au-ICP21 method. This method includes a fire assay fusion of a 30 gram sample charge that has been pulverized to 85% passing 200 Mesh, followed by ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). Analysis for silver and pathfinder elements was also completed at ALS using the ME-ICP41 method. This method utilizes a 0.5 gram sample charge that has been pulverized to 85% passing 200 Mesh followed by Aqua Regia dissolution and then analyzed by ICP-AES.

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dallas W. Davis, P.Eng, FEC, an independent consulting geologist who is a "Qualified Person" (QP) as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). It is noted that seasonal weather conditions have prevented a field inspection which will be conducted by the QP as soon as possible in the Spring.

About Viscount Mining (TSXV: VML) (OTCQB: VLMGF)

Viscount Mining is a project generator and an exploration company with a portfolio of silver and gold properties in the Western United States, including Silver Cliff in Colorado and Cherry Creek in Nevada.

The Silver Cliff property in Colorado lies within the historic Hardscrabble Silver District in the Wet Mountain Valley, Custer County, south-central Colorado. It is located 44 miles WSW of Pueblo, Colorado, and has year-around access by paved road. The property consists of 2,319.48 acres where high grade silver, gold and base metal production came from numerous mines during the period 1878 to the early 1900's. The property underwent substantial exploration between 1967 and 1984.

The property is interpreted to encompass a portion of a large caldera and highly altered sequence of tertiary rhyolitic flows and fragmental units which offers potential to host deposits with both precious and base metals. This has been demonstrated in the mineralization historically extracted from the numerous underground and surface mining operations. Drilling in the 1980s by Tenneco resulted in a historical pre-feasibility study on which basis it was planned to bring the property to production. The plan was abandoned following takeover by another company.

The Cherry Creek exploration property is in an area commonly known as the Cherry Creek Mining District, located approximately 50 miles north of the town of Ely, White Pine County, Nevada. Cherry Creek consists of 293 unpatented and patented claims as well as mill rights and is comprised of more than 2,442 hectares. Cherry Creek includes more than 20 past producing mines.

For additional information regarding the above noted property and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.viscountmining.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Jim MacKenzie"

President, CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

Viscount Investor Relations

Phone: 1 844 863 3622

Email: info@viscountmining.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Viscount Mining Corp. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Viscount Mining Corp. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Viscount Mining Corp. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42963
Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. and Canadian cannabis companies, witnessing the CBD-rush, have started developing their own strategies to tap the plant's potential. Just recently, Canopy Growth Corp. announced it would spend $150 million to set up a hemp facility in New York state, where hemp-derived CBD would be extracted and sold to consumers there. If CBD becomes one of the biggest priorities for a cannabis company in North America, then many believe going the hemp route could just be the cheaper option. An increasing number of wellness products are now promoting CBD, a part of the cannabis plant proponents say is rich in medical benefits as an anti-inflammatory and anxiety reducer. Emboldened by the federal legalization of hemp - from which many CBD products are based - oils and CBD-infused waters have started showing up in local stores and even restaurants. Active companies in the markets this week include The Yield Growth Corp. (CSE:BOSS) (OTC:BOSQF), VIVO Cannabis Inc. (TSX-V: VIVO) (OTC: VVCIF), Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (TSX-V: EMH) (OTC: EMHTF), iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (CSE: IAN) (OTC: ITHUF), CV Sciences, Inc. (OTC: CVSI).

In a recent Motley Fool article it was reported China led all countries in 2018 with almost $1.2 billion in hemp sales, followed by the U.S. at $1 billion, all of Europe at $980 million, and the combination of Central and South America at $220 million. However, by 2022, New Frontier Data's report estimates U.S. hemp sales will have jumped to $2.6 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate of 27%. Of this $2.6 billion in hemp sales, half ($1.3 billion) will be generated from hemp-derived CBD products.

The Yield Growth Corp. (CSE:BOSS) (OTCPK:BOSQF) BREAKING NEWS: Yield Growth Corp is pleased to announce that it has completed formulations and initial testing for 10 new products to be infused with cannabinoids: 4 facial skin care products, 4 essential oil wellness blends and 2 foot creams.

Yield Growth subsidiary Urban Juve has developed 4 new products that it intends to add to the Urban Juve product line later this year. These include an eye cream, a cream cleanser, a liquid face cleanser and facial cleanser pads. Each of these products has been created using the highest quality natural ingredients.

Further, Urban Juve has developed 4 exotic essential oil wellness blends for everyday use. These blends contain Urban Juve's patent pending hemp root oil which promotes superior transdermal absorption. They are tentatively entitled "Energy Boost", "Headache", "Sleep" and "Stress". All are designed to easily be blended with THC or CBD oils  Yield Growth subsidiary UJ Topicals has developed two foot creams that are intended to be infused with cannabinoids. The first is intended to relieve pain and provide moisturizing for dry, cracked feet. The second cream is intended to contain a higher concentration of THC to relieve pain from blisters, bruises, inflammation, sore heels, bunions, corns or calluses. UJ Topicals next steps are to infuse the creams with THC through licensed cannabis manufacturers so that the products can be brought to market.Read this and more news for The Yield Growth Corp. at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-boss

Other recent developments and major influences in the healthcare/biotech industry include:

Pyramidion Technology Group, Inc. (OTCPK:PYTG) On February 20, the company announced that during the final quarter of 2018, Pyramidion Technology Group, Inc. ( PYTG ) (PYTG) acquired NxGen Brands, LLC and became the proud owner of LeafyWell ( LeafyWell.com ), and shortly thereafter announced the finalization of a contractual agreement to provide custom cannabidiol (CBD)-product formulations to Emergent Health, Corp., including the first product of its kind for both companies consisting of an ingredient trifecta designed to aid in sleep, anxiety, and mood: CBD, Melatonin, and GABA. Additionally, during the final quarter of 2018, PYTG announced the execution of a binding letter of intent to acquire Renaissance Health Publishing, LLC. - a private Florida-based company specializing in health and wellness supplements.

Carlos Hurtado, CEO of PYTG, stated, "We anticipate that our current shareholders will be equally elated to learn the news that we are on target to successfully surpass our final-quarter 2018 revenues of our CBD hemp-derived supplements, including those manufactured by LeafyWell, solely during this short period of time in 2019. As a company, we expect to continue to move forward on many fronts, and we expect that this news is just the tip of the iceberg of what is ahead in a big way."

VIVO Cannabis Inc. (TSX-V: VIVO) (OTCQX: VVCIF) On February 11, the company, a licensed cannabis producer offering premium medical and adult-use products and services, announced that the Company's subsidiary, ABcann Medicinals Inc. ("ABcann"), has received approval from Health Canada for its most recent license amendment request allowing for the sale of cannabis oil.

The cannabis oil sales license allows the Company to significantly expand its product lines for medical cannabis patients and adult-use consumers. ABcann's high-quality oil products are expected to be a core component of the Beacon Medical and Lumina brands, in addition to the cannabis oil already offered by the Company's Canna Farms brand.

Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (TSX-V: EMH) (OTCQX: EMHTF) On February 20, the company announced the launch of Verdelite Sciences Inc. ("Verdelite"), a wholly-owned, Quebec-based production subsidiary licensed by Health Canada. Formerly known as Agro-Biotech, Verdelite currently produces high-grade dried cannabis for medical and adult-use purposes.

Emerald is nearing completion of its over $100 million investment to secure and expand its multi-purpose facility to 88,000 square feet and enable the complete cycle of indoor cultivation, product development and automated packaging of cannabis products. Upon reaching full production levels in mid-2019, Verdelite projects it will have created approximately 140 jobs.

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. (CSE: IAN) (OTCQX: ITHUF) On February 20, the company, which owns, operates, and partners with best-in-class regulated cannabis operations across the United States, announced that it has opened its second New York dispensary, located in the Dutchess County town of Wappingers Falls. The dispensary will operate as "Citiva Hudson Valley" under iAnthus' "Citiva" New York dispensary brand.

The 2,600 sq. ft. dispensary is located at 1147 Route 9 in Wappingers Falls, a short drive from Beacon Train Station on the Metro-North Railroad, Marist College, Vassar College, and a collection of New York historical sites. The retail location initially will offer more than 30 locally-sourced, lab-tested products, including vape cartridges, tinctures, capsules, and powders, dispensed by highly-knowledgeable patient care representatives.

CV Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: CVSI) On February 20, the company, a preeminent supplier and manufacturer of industry-dominating hemp CBD brand, PlusCBD Oil, announced that its best-selling product, PlusCBD Oil Gold Softgels, has been named a "Top Pick" by ConsumerLab.com, LLC (CL), a leading provider of independent test results for the supplement industry. PlusCBD Oil Gold Softgels received this recognition based on the product's industry-leading purity and value, as well as its label accuracy.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated forty nine hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by The Yield Growth Corp. by a non-affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Media Contact:

editor@financialnewsmedia.com

+1(561)325-8757
TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. ("Cobalt 27" or the "Company") (TSXV: KBLT) (OTCQX: CBLLF) (FRA: 27O), a battery metals streaming and royalty company offering direct exposure to cobalt, nickel and lithium, integral elements in key technologies of electric vehicles and energy storage systems, today announced its participation in the following investment conferences:

BMO 28 th Global Metals & Mining Conference

Anthony Milewski , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 , at 11:30 am ET , and hosting one-on-one meetings, at the BMO Capital Markets 28 th Global Metals and Mining Conference, to be held in Hollywood, Florida . The presentation, part of BMO's expanded New Age Metals Stream , will provide an overview of global electrification adoption and the strategic value of Cobalt 27's asset portfolio.





, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present on , at , and hosting one-on-one meetings, at the BMO Capital Markets 28 Global Metals and Mining Conference, to be held in . The presentation, part of BMO's expanded , will provide an overview of global electrification adoption and the strategic value of Cobalt 27's asset portfolio. PDAC Convention

Anthony Milewski will participate in the panel discussion Electrification revolution: EVs, energy storage and commodity inputs on Tuesday March 5, 2019 , from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm ET , as part of the Capital Market Program at the 2019 PDAC Conference in Toronto .



Justin Cochrane , President and COO, will chair the panel discussion Metal streams and royalties: Funding projects and repaying debt on Tuesday March 5, 2019 , from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm ET , as part of the Capital Markets Program at the 2019 PDAC Conference.



will participate in the panel discussion on , from , as part of the Capital Market Program at the 2019 PDAC Conference in . , President and COO, will chair the panel discussion on , from , as part of the Capital Markets Program at the 2019 PDAC Conference. Bernstein Electric Revolution 2019 Conference

Anthony Milewski will participate on the Materials Panel, as part of the Bernstein Thematic Research Conference Series, Electric Revolution 2019: What's Next?, to be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 , in London, UK .

About Cobalt 27 Capital Corp.

Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. is a leading battery metals streaming company offering exposure to metals integral to key technologies of the electric vehicle and energy storage markets. The Company owns physical cobalt and a 32.6% Cobalt Stream on Vale's world-class Voisey's Bay mine,? beginning in 2021. Cobalt 27 is undertaking a friendly acquisition of Highlands Pacific which is expected to add increased attributable nickel and cobalt production from the long-life, world-class Ramu Mine. The Company also manages a portfolio of 11 royalties and intends to continue to invest in a cobalt-nickel-lithium-focused portfolio of streams, royalties and direct interests in mineral properties containing battery metals.

For further information please visit the Company website at www.cobalt27.com or contact:

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Betty Joy LeBlanc, BA, MBA

Director, Corporate Communications

+1-604-828-0999

info@cobalt27.com
Move is Part of Growing Sales, Marketing and Strategic Partnership Activities in the United States

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - CardioComm Solutions, Inc. (TSXV: EKG) ("CardioComm" or the "Company"), a leading global provider of consumer heart monitoring and electrocardiogram ("ECG") acquisition and management software solutions, confirms it has retained Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. to assist in software licensing and intellectual property business matters on a go forward basis.

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston includes over 170 attorneys in sixteen offices located in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and is one of the mid-Atlantic's leading law firms.

As new opportunities develop in the US, the Company will be well served with representation from a firm located in the United States with experience in identifying, protecting, expanding and leveraging the Company's technologies and IP assets. Further, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston meets the Company's need for guidance from a firm with expertise in working with a medical software company that does business in both hospital and large institutional environments, as well as the consumer health and wellness sectors.

To learn more about CardioComm's products and for further updates regarding software releases and new device integrations, please visit the Company's websites at www.cardiocommsolutions.com and www.theheartcheck.com.

About CardioComm Solutions

CardioComm Solutions' patented and proprietary technology is used in products for recording, viewing, analyzing and storing electrocardiograms for diagnosis and management of cardiac patients. Products are sold worldwide through a combination of an external distribution network and a North American-based sales team. CardioComm Solutions has earned the ISO 13485:2016 certification, is HIPAA compliant and holds clearances from the European Union (CE Mark), the USA (FDA) and Canada (Health Canada).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Etienne Grima, Chief Executive Officer

1-877-977-9425 x227

egrima@cardiocommsolutions.com

investor.relations@cardiocommsolutions.com

Forward-looking statements

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of CardioComm Solutions and certain of the plans and objectives of CardioComm Solutions with respect to these items. Such statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. By their nature, forward-looking statements and forward-looking information involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and forward-looking information.

In evaluating these statements, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information contained in this release other than as required by applicable laws, including without limitation, Section 5.8(2) of National Instrument 51-102 (Continuous Disclosure Obligations).

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42973
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: EVAHF) (the "Company") announces that it has appointed Mr. Chris Brown as President of the Company.

With over 20 years of practical business experience in both private and public enterprises, Mr. Brown has developed a keen eye for branding and effective corporate sales strategies. Most recently his business efforts have been focused on developing product lines, along with sales and marketing opportunities within the CBD (cannabidiol) marketplace.

Mr. Brown is also director and President of Western Agri Supply Solutions Corp. ("WASSC") which was acquired by the Company in 2018 and continues as one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

WASSC is an agricultural supply company focused on sourcing and processing industrial hemp. Through utilization of a proprietary industrial-grade extraction system, WASSC is setting up to offer CBD based health and wellness products based on extracts from industrial hemp. Through initial testing, WASSC has predicted its production capacity to be in excess of 200 Kg of CBD isolate per month with an estimated market value currently of $4,000 - $8,000 per Kg.

Management is extremely pleased to have Mr. Brown join the executive team. His deep connections in the industrial hemp and CBD markets is expected to be an asset for realizing the potential of the Company's personalized health system and projected operating plans for revenues.

Contact:

EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.

(formerly Auxellence Health Corporation)

Email info@evahealthsystems.com or ceo@auxellence.com

Website http://www.evahealthsystems.com

CSE Micro-site: http://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/evitrade-health-systems-corp

US OTC Markets (OTCQB): http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/EVAHF/news

About EVITRADE Health (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: EVAHF)

EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (formerly, Auxellence Health Corporation), is a technology company specializing in the Health and Life Sciences sector looking to deliver effective personalized health solutions with a higher degree of predictability and consistency.

The Company is focused on the following areas to help improve health: personalized medical care (including CBD usage monitoring and effects on the cardiovascular system), molecular biology, nutraceutical solutions and genetic tailoring.

Through its subsidiaries' focus on technologies involved in extracting and purifying CBD extracts for its personalized healthcare system, the Company may be the first to offer a complete quality assured vertically integrated "CBD Health System" for monitoring and recording the effects of CBD on your cardiovascular system.

Disclaimers

This news release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators and on the OTC Markets website which is posted on www.sedar.com, http://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/evitrade-health-systems-corp, and http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/EVAHF/filings.This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), or any other regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Company does not undertake to update this news release unless required by applicable law.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

SOURCE: EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536281/EVITRADE-Announces-the-Appointment-of-Chris-Brown-as-President
NORTH MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Between Dandelions, Inc. (OTC: HOPS) ('BD'), a Florida publicly traded, socially-driven, lifestyle and branding company, announced an update today that due to market conditions that the following will apply from the FINRA rule manual 11140. Transactions in Securities "Ex-Dividend (b) Normal Ex-Dividend, Ex-Warrants Dates (2) In respect to cash dividends or distributions, stock dividends and/or splits, and the distribution of warrants, which are 25% or greater of the value of the subject security, the ex-dividend date shall be the first business day following the payable date. This rule now applies to the approved dividend and the ex-date effectively will be March 1, 2019. To receive the approved US $0.34 per common share dividend, shareholders must own the stock as of market close on March 1, 2019 or they will not be eligible for the dividend.

Summary of Dividend:

On February 10, 2019 its board of directors declared a special one-time cash dividend of US $0.34 per share payable to its shareholders of the company's common stock. Additionally, the Preferred B series class will be eligible for the dividend per the 2016 Annual Meeting which approved the asset sale provisions. The dividend payment date is February 28, 2019 to all shareholders of record as of the market close on February 21, 2019 and the ex-date is now March 1, 2019 due to FINRA's rule stated above.

Any further questions regarding the dividend and applicable dates please contact your broker for any further information.

Sean Spiegelman, CEO and Chairman, restated, "With the sale of the beer related assets businesses our board is pleased to announce our first ever special cash dividend. We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders when and where it is applicable while maintaining the financial flexibility to continue to invest in our growth opportunities and to explore strategic M&A including but not limited to the Hemp and CBD fields. Under the advisement from the Strategic Advisory Board the company has continued to focus on executing its core strategy under its most recent announcement of the 'Joint Venture' with Hempleton Investment Group www.hempleton.com. The company is focused on deploying an "asset light" model for its US operations.

Dr. Richard Drucker, Board Member again commented, "This is a proud moment for the company and by approving a special one-time cash dividend it clearly demonstrates our commitment to maximizing shareholder value, and we believe it is an appropriate way to reward our shareholders for their support."

About Between Dandelions, Inc.:

BD is a Florida publicly traded, social-purpose driven lifestyle and branding company which is currently developing a line of high-end proprietary Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products to be grown and processed in North Carolina by United States Military Veterans and extracted and tested in North Carolina as well. The company's Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products are expected to be distributed in North Carolina in the beginning half of 2019 and expand thereafter. BD's line of products will be aimed at supporting alternatives to opiates and focus on giving back to our country's veterans thru multiple programs like OVAAT and Backpacks for Life. BD will initially operate thru an e-commerce platform that will facilitate both retail and wholesale business and strive to be a vertically integrated Hemp and hemp-derived CBD company. BD and its partners will perform cultivation, manufacturing, processing, testing, sales, marketing and distribution of Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products. The company will continue to investigate opportunities to work with other socially-minded businesses that are looking to bring their brands to market and give back to our country's veterans. For more info: www.ovaat.org and www.backsforlife.org and www.hempleton.com

Investor Contact:

Justin Kulik

Radius, Inc.

jk@consultradius.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of Between Dandelions, Inc. (BD, hereafter) and its subsidiary companies, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on BD's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on BD. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting BD will be those anticipated by BD. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual actions taken or results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. BD undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. **These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

CONTACT: sean@betweendandelions.com

SOURCE: Between Dandelions, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536301/Between-Dandelions-Inc-Announces-Update-on-Special-One-Time-Cash-Dividend-Ex-Date
Bravery lies in fighting our own war than looking to America or Europe, the party said.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has said that India should fight its own battle against terrorism instead of depending on other countries for their support. Bravery lies in fighting the war on our own instead of looking to America or Europe, the party said.

"Despite the terror attacks on Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama, we are only making threats. We are busy patting our backs over what Donald Trump, France and Iran had to say about the attacks," said the Sena in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana' Thursday.

"The world commended Sri Lanka after it ended the menace of the LTTE. The US killed Osama Bin Laden inside Pakistan and the world appreciated that country's courage. However, we are patting our backs even after doing nothing. It is one thing for countries like the US and France to condemn the terror attack in Pulwama and another thing to openly say that Kashmir is a part of India," the editorial said.

The Sena said that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that his country would retaliate if India took action over the Pulwama terror attack. Unless countries like the US and France told Pakistan that it would be a loser in case of conflict with India, such nations could not be considered true friends of India.

The party also raised questions over the BJP-led government's response to the Pulwama terror attack, asking it not to wait "till the eve of polling" to act against Pakistan.

The Sena said that a war between India and Pakistan was underway on social media, adding that this marked the start of election campaigning. This social media war had to be stopped, it said. "The martyrdom of soldiers and terror attacks becomes a tool to win elections. How will such a nation face enemies? There is the rhetoric of teaching Pakistan a lesson. First do it and then speak. We are only sounding warnings since Pathankot, Uri, and now the Pulwama (terror attacks)," the Sena said.
Denmark Will Use Esri Software to Update Outdated Data and Modernize Chart Creation

Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, today announced that it has contracted with the Danish Geodata Agency (GST) to implement a modern workflow to more efficiently create and maintain nautical charts of Danish and Greenlandic waters. Esri will assist with installation of and training for the new enterprise production system. Because maritime traffic is increasing significantly and new routes are opening due to melting ice, it is crucial to have accurate charts in support of safe navigation and environmental protection.

GST turned to Esri for a solution when the organization needed to convert the production of navigational charts from a file-based system to a database and to combine cross-agency chart production into one inclusive system. By partnering with Esri and Geoinfo A/S (Esri's Danish distributor) to implement this new chart production system, GST expects to reduce the time it takes staff to produce charts of all Danish waters and enable them to share information across departments and multiple agencies. GST recently created nautical charts for Greenlandic waters using Esri's ArcGIS for Maritime: Charting solution and found that it was able to automate up to 70 percent of the paper chart production work.

"We are very much looking forward to this collaboration with Geoinfo A/S and Esri, who support the Geodata Agency's vision of being the driving force in the digital development in the marine area," said Pia Dahl Hjgaard, GST director.

GST is committed to delivering updated and enhanced navigation safety products for use in the waters surrounding Denmark, Greenland, and the Faeroe Islands. The data that the agency produces is used for navigation in support of activities such as shipping, fishing, recreational use, and military marine operations.

"Esri is happy to be a partner in GST's initiative to modernize its maritime charting system," said Rafael Ponce, Esri global maritime consultant. "GST has the vision to become a hydrospatial agency, and the data it produces can ultimately be used to support a complete maritime 'blue economy' for Denmark and beyond."

Maritime: Charting is a complete structure for efficiently generating and managing maritime information for navigation and a wide variety of GIS purposes, including planning, analysis, and data sharing. To learn more about how Esri is modernizing maritime charting, visit esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-for-maritime-charting/overview.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, offers the most powerful geospatial cloud available. Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world's largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com.

Copyright 2019 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005321/en/

Contacts:

Jo Ann Pruchniewski

Public Relations, Esri

Mobile: 301-693-2643

Email: jpruchniewski@esri.com
Aerostructures Assemblies India Pvt. Ltd. (AAI), a joint Venture between Aequs Aerospace and Saab AB (publ), has been awarded a contract from Saab Aerostructures to manufacture the structural assembly for the Over Wing Doors (OWD) on the Airbus A321neo program. The Over Wing Doors are a critical part of the aircraft used for emergency exits. There are 4 Over Wing Doors on the A321neo aircraft. The structural assembly is comprised of machined aluminum parts which will be assembled by the AAI team in Belagavi, Karnataka, India and delivered to the Saab Aerostructures Assembly Line in Linkoping, Sweden.

AAI has evolved into a strong supply chain player for producing aerostructures assemblies in India. AAI has been delivering door plugs for Airbus' A321neo Cabin Flex configuration since 2017 and produced wing panels and D-nose assemblies for the A380 program since 2014. Besides end products, its capabilities also include development of assembly tools, jigs, and fixtures.

With this award, Saab and AAI further cement its strong partnership. Production deliveries will begin at the end of 2019 and ramp up in subsequent years.

The AAI facility is located within the Aequs SEZ, the country's first Notified Precision Engineering Special Economic Zone (SEZ), at Belagavi, Karnataka. Aequs has been recognized by Airbus as a top Detailed Parts Partner (D2P) since 2016. The company has vertically integrated multiple stages of the supply chain from forging and machining, to assembly and surface treatment at its SEZ spanning 250+ acres.

Lars Jensen, Vice President and Managing Director of Saab Aerostructures, added, "It is a great privilege to be able to place this work package with AAI. It is a result of hard work and joint efforts and we are pleased to both support the growth of the company and Airbus' position in India with this award."

Aravind Melligeri, Chairman CEO of Aequs Group, said, "Our journey with Airbus has come a long way and our enduring partnerships are strengthened by the recognition we have received over the years. This contract, in partnership with Saab, represents another critical element in our support of Airbus. It further establishes our competence in delivering aerostructure assemblies to global clients while creating value in the supply chain."

Headquartered in Belagavi, India, Aequs has manufacturing facilities in the US and France as well. It also holds the distinction of being India's fastest growing precision manufacturing company and among a handful of Indian companies with the capability to deliver to global clientele such as Airbus, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Safran, Eaton, Honeywell Aerospace, Bombardier, Dassault, to name a few. Aequs continues to consolidate the supply chain and embrace state-of-the-art technologies that would further boost the ecosystem.

Currently, Aequs Aerospace is showcasing this unique award-winning ecosystem at Hall C, Booth 2.7at Aero India 2019.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005049/en/

Contacts:

Devjeet Majumdar| devjeet.majumdar@aequs.com | +91 7022221951
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - Great Bear Resources (TSXV: GBR) (the "Company" or "Great Bear"), today reported drill results from the Dixie Hinge Zone ("DHZ") at its 100% owned Dixie Project in the Red Lake District of Ontario.

Great Bear has discovered one of the widest near-surface occurrences of veining and alteration hosting high-grade gold reported on the project to date, and has also successfully extended the Hinge Zone at depth. Highlights of current results include:

Drill hole DHZ-023 intersected a 42-metre-wide (138 feet - approximate true width) zone of increased hyrdrothermal alteration, sulphide mineralization and multiple quartz veins hosting significant gold mineralization from 121 to 158 metres vertical depth, approximately 50 metres to the west of previously reported Hinge Zone drill holes.

Gold-bearing vein intercepts from DHZ-023 include 3.40 metres of 31.60 g/t gold, which includes 1.75 metres of 61.05 g/t gold, and 2.80 metres of 9.91 g/t gold, which includes 1.50 metres of 17.88 g/t gold. A summary of drill results is provided in Table 1.

Hole DHZ-017 was drilled as a significant 50 metres down-plunge step-out from the deepest previous Hinge Zone drilling. It intersected 1.50 metres of 28.01 g/t gold including 0.50 metres of 80.44 g/t gold. This hole extends the down-plunge depth of the Hinge Zone to 281 metres.

All (100%) of the 38 drill holes completed by Great Bear along 330 metres of strike length of the Hinge Zone that has been drilled to date have intersected gold mineralization.22 of 38 drill holes (58%) have intersected intervals containing greater than 10 g/t gold.

Chris Taylor, President and CEO of Great Bear said, "We continue to be surprised by the strength and scale of the gold system at Dixie. Our latest drilling shows the Hinge Zone vein and alteration system swells to 138 feet (42 metres) in approximate true width, includes individual veins over 45 feet (14 metres) in width, and contains multiple gold-bearing veins in 4 of the latest 8 drill holes. We will continue to drill to extend the strike length, depth, and number of gold zones at the Dixie Hinge through 2019 and 2020. In addition, a second drill rig is now operational and will test a number of new targets across the property that the Company feels have strong potential to host new gold discoveries."

Table 1: Most recent results from Hinge Zone drilling. Multiple gold veins were intercepted in 4 of 8 drill holes.

Hole From To Width* Gold Gold

Vein Vertical Depth

(m) (m) (m) (m) (g/t) DHZ-015 237.3 238.5 1.20 9.23 202 including 237.9 238.5 0.60 15.57 202 DHZ-016 207.9 210.5 2.60 1.57 192 including 207.9 208.9 1.00 2.39 193 and including 207.9 208.4 0.50 3.47 193 DHZ-017 45.35 50.7 5.35 4.82 Vein 1 42 and including 48.65 50.7 2.05 9.15 45 and including 49.4 50.25 0.85 20.69 45 and 102.7 103.4 0.70 2.48 Vein 2 96 and 235.75 237.25 1.50 28.01 Vein 3 222 including 236.25 236.75 0.50 80.44 222 DHZ-018 196.2 197.7 1.50 7.61 167 including 196.2 197.2 1.00 11.18 167 DHZ-020 182.75 190.2 7.45 4.21 Vein 1 152 including 182.75 183.25 0.50 18.62 152 and including 189.55 190.2 0.65 21.27 157 and 200.85 201.85 1.00 13.37 Vein 2 166 and 244.5 245.35 0.85 10.18 Vein 3 202 DHZ-021 52.6 53.1 0.50 3.01 Vein 1 38 and 90.0 92.45 2.45 4.80 Vein 2 67 including 91.4 92.45 1.05 11.08 68 and including 91.4 91.9 0.50 21.53 68 DHZ-022 54.0 54.9 0.90 3.21 44 DHZ-023 57.4 58.0 0.60 3.95 Vein 1 49 and 142.85 145.85 3.00 1.92 Vein 2 121 including 142.85 143.4 0.55 5.78 122 and 171.5 174.3 2.80 9.91 Vein 3 145 including 171.5 173.0 1.50 17.88 146 including 171.5 172.0 0.50 51.60 146 and 185.1 188.5 3.40 31.60 Vein 4 157 including 185.1 186.85 1.75 61.05 158 including 185.7 186.85 1.15 86.02 157 including 185.7 186.35 0.65 128.14 158

* width is determined to be 90-95% of true width based on intersection points of the drill hole intercept with the geological model and oriented drill core data.

An additional drill hole, DHZ-019 was drilled off plunge of the primary mineralization to test for additional parallel zones and intersected a massive basalt unit with anomalous gold values of up to 0.28 g/t gold.

The new discovery of the thickened near surface vein zone demonstrates the "South Limb" and Hinge Zones form one continuous vein set. The Hinge Zone name will be retained going forward. Apparently continuous, gold-bearing quartz veins swell and narrow, as well as merge and divide along the 330 metres strike length of the Hinge Zone vein system drilled to date. An updated cross section of the Hinge and Dixie Limb Zone is provided in Figure 1.An updated long section through the Hinge Zone is provided in Figure 2. An image of core boxes from the vein zone is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 1: Cross section of Hinge Zone (left) and Dixie Limb Zone (right) showing drill results to-date. New results highlighted in yellow.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5331/42966_f4e21a2a44803842_002full.jpg

Great Bear is currently undertaking a fully-funded 30,000 metre, approximately 150 drill hole program that is expected to continue through 2019 and 2020. A second drill rig was added to the project in early February 2019 to accelerate this work and is now drilling additional gold targets.

Options Grant

The Company also reports it has granted an aggregate of 500,000 stock options to employees, directors, consultants and advisors of the Company, exercisable at $3.72 per share for a period of five years. The options are subject to a four month hold period.

Figure 2: Long section through the DHZ as drilled to-date showing currently reported drill results. New results highlighted in yellow.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5331/42966_f4e21a2a44803842_003full.jpg





Figure 3: Image of the total vein zone in DHZ-023. Down-hole metre marker blocks are shown overlain on the core boxes.





To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5331/42966_greatbear2.jpg

About Great Bear

The Dixie property is located approximately 15 minutes' drive along Highway 105 from downtown Red Lake, Ontario. The Red Lake mining district has produced over 30,000,000 ounces of gold and is one of the premier mining districts in Canada, benefitting from major active mining operations including the Red Lake Gold Mine of Goldcorp Inc., plus modern infrastructure and a skilled workforce. The Dixie property covers a drill and geophysically defined 10-kilometre gold mineralized structure similar to that hosting other producing gold mines in the district. In addition, Great Bear is also earning a 100% royalty-free interest in its West Madsen properties which total 3,860 hectares and are contiguous with Pure Gold Mining Inc.'s Madsen property. All of Great Bear's Red Lake projects are accessible year-round through existing roads.

Drill core is logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located in Red Lake Ontario. Core samples from the program are cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw, and are sent to SGS Canada Inc. in Red Lake, Ontario, and Activation Laboratories in Ancaster Ontario, both of which are accredited mineral analysis laboratories, for analysis. All samples are analyzed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 3.0 g/t gold are analyzed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Selected samples with visible gold are also analyzed with a standard 1kg metallic screen fire assay. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and field duplicates are routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Great Bear's quality control/quality assurance program (QAQC). No QAQC issues were noted with the results reported herein.

Mr. R. Bob Singh, P.Geo, Director and VP Exploration, and Ms. Andrea Diakow P.Geo, Exploration Manager for Great Bear are the Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of technical information contained in this news release.

For further information please contact Mr. Chris Taylor, P.Geo, President and CEO at 604-646-8354, or Mr. Knox Henderson, Investor Relations, at 604-551-2360.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Chris Taylor"

Chris Taylor, President and CEO

Inquiries:

Tel: 604-646-8354

Fax: 604-646-4526

info@greatbearresources.ca

www.greatbearresources.ca

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



This new release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

We seek safe harbor

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Former Sanofi U.S. Chairman to provide guidance and assistance to ProMIS business development strategies and partnering plans

TORONTO, Ontario and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (TSX: PMN) (OTCQB: ARFXF), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, welcomed Mr. Timothy G. Rothwell to its Business Advisory Board today. Mr. Rothwell is a highly accomplished pharmaceutical leader with more than three decades of experience directing the development and commercialization of new therapies. In his advisory role, Mr. Rothwell will work with ProMIS to provide guidance for business development, particularly as it relates to partnering of ProMIS' neurodegenerative disease programs, which aim to provide disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS by selectively targeting the toxic oligomer, a shared root cause.

Timothy G. Rothwell has been the Chairman of Emisphere Technologies Inc. (OTC: EMIS), since early 2012 and prior to that a Director of the Company. Mr. Rothwell is also the Chairman of Speracura LLC, a healthcare consulting company.

Mr. Rothwell was formerly U.S. Chairman of Sanofi from February 2007 to October 2009. He also served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Sanofi-Aventis from September 2004 to February 2007. Prior to that Mr. Rothwell was President and Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi-Synthelabo, Inc. and was instrumental in the formation of Sanofi-Aventis U.S. in 2004. Mr. Rothwell served in various capacities at Pharmacia, including as President of the company's Global Prescription Business. Mr. Rothwell also served as worldwide President of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals and President of the company's Global Pharmaceutical Operations. In his long career, Mr. Rothwell was Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales at Burroughs Wellcome and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the U.S. for Squibb Corporation which later became a Division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In addition to having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Archimedes Pharma LLC, Tim has held board positions with several pharmaceutical companies, served as a trustee at the Children's Health Fund, on the Institute of Medicine's Evidence-Based Medicine roundtable, and as Chairman of the Pheo Para Alliance, a non-profit organization serving patients with pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma.

Mr. Rothwell holds a Bachelor of Arts from Drew University and earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University.

Mr. Rothwell joins ProMIS' accomplished board of business advisors, each of them recognized leaders in the fields of biotech business management, diagnostic product development and monoclonal antibody design and manufacture. Advisory Board members currently include:

Mara G. Aspinall, MBA, a diagnostic industry pioneer, and Executive Chairman of GenePeeks, a company leading a paradigm shift at the intersection of personalized medicine and computational genomics with genetic testing. Ms. Aspinall is also CEO of Health Catalysts, a healthcare investment firm. Aspinall is former President and CEO of Ventana Medical Systems, a leader in cancer diagnostics. Mara previously spent 12 years as President of Genzyme Genetics and Genzyme Pharmaceuticals.

Nigel Burns, PhD., a 20+ year veteran of the biotech sector, particularly in the field of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of chronic disease. Dr. Burns has held a series of industry leadership roles including Senior Vice President of Cambridge Antibody Technology, and most recently, CEO and Founder of SweetSpot Therapeutics Ltd. He was entrepreneur-in-residence for Imperial Innovations and has served on multiple national and international scientific and industry advisory boards and committees.

Michael Higgins, MBA, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Polaris Partners. Previously, Mr. Higgins held a variety of leadership roles at Genzyme, including Vice President of Corporate Finance and Vice President of Business Development, and was involved with multiple business units, including Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy and Orphan Diseases.

In addition to its Business Advisory Board, ProMIS has assembled and consults the Scientific Advisory Board to help guide the successful advancement of its disease-modifying programs. Last month, ProMIS announced that renowned neuroscientist Dr. Rudy Tanzi joined its team of scientific advisors. Dr. Tanzi is one of the world's leading scientists in research aimed at preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease.

Commenting on Mr. Rothwell's appointment, ProMIS Executive Chairman Eugene Williams said: "We're thrilled that Tim will contribute his tremendous experience and wisdom to our mission, which benefits not only ProMIS but the larger neurodegenerative diseases community as we collectively bear down on these diseases, finally targeting their root cause. Crossing the finish line to disease modifying therapies requires the expertise and fortitude of the best minds in the field. We're honored to be working with many of them, including Tim and also Rudy, who joined our SAB last month, to help get us there."

Neurodegenerative diseases affect tens of millions of people worldwide. Alzheimer's disease in particular presents one of the most vexing public health challenges of both the past and future decades. Numerous studies show that the root cause of Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative diseases, is the toxic oligomer, a misfolded protein that derives from naturally occurring proteins in the brain. Using its novel drug discovery engine, ProMIS can create antibodies that uniquely and selectively target the toxic oligomer, filling a critical gap for drug developers: traditional approaches to developing antibodies are unable to isolate and target the toxic oligomer with adequate precision. The company's lead antibody candidate, PMN310 for Alzheimer's disease, demonstrates a high degree of binding to toxic oligomers without binding to non-toxic forms of naturally occurring amyloid beta protein. Its Parkinson's disease program is based on the development of several potential antibody therapeutic candidates selectively targeting toxic forms of the protein alpha-synuclein, considered a root cause of Parkinson's disease. ProMIS has also identified antibody candidates that selectively target toxic forms of the protein TDP43, considered a root cause of ALS.

About ProMIS Neurosciences

ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. is a development stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing antibody therapeutics selectively targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The Company's proprietary target discovery platform is based on the use of two complementary thermodynamic, computational discovery engines -ProMIS and Collective Coordinates - to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique precision approach, the Company is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and PD. ProMIS is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ProMIS is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PMN, and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol ARFXF.

Visit us at www.promisneurosciences.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

For media inquiries, please contact:

Shanti Skiffington

shanti.skiffington@gmail.com

Tel. 617 921-0808

For Investor Relations please contact:

Alpine Equity Advisors

Nicholas Rigopulos, President

nick@alpineequityadv.com

Tel. 617 901-0785

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release contains certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - IAMGOLD Corporation (TSX: IMG) ("IAMGOLD" or the "Company") announced today that a Form 40-F report has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, consisting of the 2018 annual audited financial statements, management discussion and analysis and the annual information form ("AIF"). These filings are available through EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

The AIF and the 2018 annual audited financial statements and management discussion and analysis have also been filed with the appropriate Canadian regulatory bodies. These filings are available for viewing and retrieval through the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com.

Canadian and U.S. regulatory filings are also available on the Company's website at www.iamgold.com. Hard copies of the audited financial statements and accompanying notes are available, free of charge, to shareholders upon written request.

About IAMGOLD

IAMGOLD (www.iamgold.com) is a mid-tier mining company with four operating gold mines on three continents. A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented by development and exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive acquisition opportunities. IAMGOLD is in a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

For further information please contact:

Indi Gopinathan, Investor Relations Lead, IAMGOLD Corporation

Tel: (416) 360-4743 Mobile: (416) 388-6883

Martin Dumont, Senior Analyst Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation

Tel: (416) 933-5783 Mobile: (647) 967-9942

IAMGOLD Corporation Toll-free: 1 888 464-9999 info@iamgold.com

Please note:

This entire news release may be accessed via fax, e-mail, IAMGOLD's website at www.iamgold.com and through Newsfile's website at www.newsfilecorp.com. All material information on IAMGOLD can be found at www.sedar.com or at www.sec.gov.

Si vous desirez obtenir la version francaise de ce communique, veuillez consulter le http://www.iamgold.com/French/accueil/default.aspx

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42956
VANCOUVER, BC, and KNOXVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Solar Alliance Energy Inc. ('Solar Alliance") or (the 'Company") (TSX-V: SOLR) is pleased to announce the promotion of Myke Clark to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Clark has also been appointed to the Company"s board of directors and has been with the Company as its Chief Operating Officer since 2015. Jason Bak will continue as non-executive Chair and as a director, along with Anton Shihoff and Ken Stadlin. David Lamont has resigned from the board to pursue other opportunities. The Company thanks Mr. Lamont for his years of support, service, diligence and strategic guidance as it developed over $1 billion of renewable assets that are currently operational.

"As a Founder & CEO of this Company it has been my great honour to work alongside numerous professionals as we have developed a number of world class renewable assets. In the last few years we have progressed from seeing returns from development to a focus on growth of revenue and importantly profit. The appointment of Mr. Clark is the outcome of an orderly succession process that has a key goal - profitability. I look forward to supporting Mr. Clark from my role as Chairman," states Bak.

Mr. Clark has more than 20 years of experience in media, public affairs, marketing and operations with a variety of public and private companies, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer of Solar Alliance. Prior to joining Solar Alliance in 2015, Mr. Clark was a senior public affairs, branding and strategic communications consultant in the natural resource sector, SVP Business Development for Finavera Wind Energy and a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Clark holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University.

"I am excited to be taking on the role of CEO at Solar Alliance and look forward to working with our exceptional team of renewable energy professionals to create a stable, profitable business that generates strong returns for shareholders," said Mr. Clark. "We have a strong team that has developed a growing pipeline of commercial solar projects along with an exciting new residential solar product - SunBox - that has the potential to transform the solar industry. I am looking forward to growing Solar Alliance and building on the work done to date. I also look forward to enhancing our investor relations program to ensure our operational successes are recognized in the capital markets," concluded Clark.

Corporate Update

The Company has seen significant change in its shareholder base over the last year with a high net worth shareholder acquiring over 50% of the Company"s stock. This shareholder has taken a position in the Company to support significant growth via the execution of a clearly defined plan.

The Company"s plans for 2019 will build on the substantial ground work laid in 2018. In 2018, we experienced a ten-fold increase in commercial solar installations over the previous year and entered into agreements with a Fortune Global 500 company in the southeast US and a large property developer in California. These agreements total almost 3 megawatts ("MW") of solar projects and set the stage for future large-scale projects. We have also enhanced our sales process for targeting small to mid-sized commercial projects. Finally, we launched "SunBox", a new product offering that provides a simple, efficient solar system specifically designed for architects, new home builders and their customers. These three business units - large scale commercial, mid-sized commercial and SunBox - form the basis of Solar Alliance"s long-term strategy. Each has a different revenue and growth profile that, when combined, have the potential to deliver significant long-term value for Solar Alliance shareholders.

The goal of Solar Alliance has always been simple: create a better world through the adoption of renewable energy technologies that allow individuals and businesses to take control of their electricity use. Invest in your home or business while being part of the climate change solution. The path from vision to implementation and profitability, however, is rarely a straight line. While the overall solar industry is growing, that growth has often come at the expense of profitability for many companies. The key is determining where the value lies and how to take advantage as a company. And do it all at scale while maintaining profitability. We see long term, sustained growth occurring in the commercial solar market and the new home residential solar market. And that"s why our resources are focused on those areas.

Large scale commercial. During 2018 we signed two large scale commercial projects: a 2.4 MW project for a Fortune Global 500 company in the Southeast U.S and 518 kW project in Los Angeles for the Onni Group, a large property developer. The 2.4 MW project is nearing completion. For commercial reasons, the identity of the Fortune Global 500 customer is not being released until the project"s completion, but our goal is to leverage this project across a large portfolio of facilities owned by the client. The Los Angeles project is expected to begin construction this month. These larger projects can drive significant revenue for the Company and we are targeting the signing of 2-3 new large-scale projects in 2019. The sales cycle for these projects is long, so it is also important to focus on mid-sized projects that deliver faster revenue.

Mid-sized commercial. Our team completed the installation of several commercial solar projects ranging in size from 30 kW to 150 kW. Permitting, financing and construction of these mid-sized projects is simpler than with large-scale projects, allowing for faster cycle times and more consistent cashflow. Our goal is to enhance our sales team in an effort to target a 50% increase in project sales in this business line. The combination of large-scale and mid-sized commercial solar projects has contributed to a record ten-fold year over year increase in Solar Alliance"s pipeline of commercial solar projects.

Commercial Solar Installations Year Installed (kW) Work in Process (kW) Total (kW) 2017 387 - 387 2018 289 3,134* 3,423 (3.4 MW)

*2.4 MW of work in process projects were substantially completed by year end, 2018 and will reach final completion in Q1, 2019.

SunBox. The traditional sales model of utilizing door to door canvass teams to generate leads for individual solar system sales is an expensive way to do business and for many solar companies it doesn"t make economic sense. The residential solar industry is inundated with outdated sales techniques that drive customers away instead of bringing them on board. That"s why we decided to invest the time and resources in developing a new model that we believe will drive residential solar in the coming years. Over the last year we have developed a comprehensive product offering called SunBox that has the potential to revolutionize the residential solar sales model. Solar Alliance is selectively partnering with architects, developers and homebuilders that will integrate this solar offering into their existing home designs for new construction, with the primary customer base consisting of developers building large, multi-home communities . It took time to develop the SunBox business plan, product components and finalize supply chain logistics. In the long run, we believe this investment of time and resources will reap significant benefits.

Solar Alliance will initially offer SunBox in Tennessee, followed by entry into the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and California markets. The addressable market is significant, and California has already mandated all new homes are required to have solar starting in 2020. The table below outlines the number of new single-family home permits applied for in each of these states, representing a rough estimate of the potential market Solar Alliance is targeting. It also illustrates the potential revenue available if 1% of the addressable market was captured.

State New Home Permits (2017) Potential revenue

from 1% of

Addressable Market Tennessee 27,119 $6,779,750 North Carolina 49,366 $12,341,500 South Carolina 28,851 $7,212,750 Georgia 40,311 $10,077,750 Kentucky 7,967 $1,991,750 California 57,132 $14,283,000 Total 2017 New Home Permits 210,746 $52,686,500



Corporate Outlook. According to the latest Renewable Energy Industry Outlook from Deloitte, the fundamental drivers of solar industry growth are poised to continue in 2019, supported by three trends coming into sharper focus that are likely to shape renewable growth in the coming year. Those trends include emerging policies that support renewable growth, expanding investor interest in the sector, and advancing technologies that boost solar energy"s value to the grid, asset owners, and customers. The Deloitte report notes that increasing customer demand for renewable energy across almost all market segments continues to expand opportunities. While the current US administration is not focused on decarbonization, states, cities, communities, and businesses with increasingly ambitious sustainability goals are driving renewable growth.

The solar industry remains strong. But for Solar Alliance shareholders, how does that translate into shareholder value? The Company had operational success in 2018, but our share price hasn"t kept pace with that operational success. Our goal is to increase our visibility in the coming year to ensure the market is aware of the progress we"ve made and the exciting developments still to come. More importantly, we believe the fundamental improvements we"ve made to our business will increase shareholder value. Those improvements have resulted in us setting the following goals for 2019:

Sign 2-3 large scale commercial projects.

Increase our commercial sales team to realize a 50% increase in sales of small- to mid-sized commercial solar projects.

Fully launched SunBox in the following markets: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky.

Achieving these goals in 2019 would result in a material increase in revenue. Long term, we are also pursuing options for Solar Alliance ownership of solar systems to ensure recurring revenue. The marketplace has seen the issuance of green bonds to support company ownership and that is an option is we are looking closely at. Extracting the full value from solar system sales, including ownership and recurring revenue, are goals Solar Alliance is committed to.

Solar Alliance sees long term, sustained growth occurring in the commercial solar market and the new home residential solar market. The Company has focused its resources on three business units: large scale commercial, mid-sized commercial and SunBox. It"s been a challenging journey to reach this point but we are now in a position for sustainable success.

Myke Clark, CEO

For more information:

Solar Alliance Sales

(865) 309-4674

Solar Alliance Investor Relations

Myke Clark, CEO

(604) 288-9051

mclark@solaralliance.com

About Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (www.solaralliance.com)

Solar Alliance is an international energy solutions provider focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations. The Company operates in California, Tennessee, North/South Carolina and Kentucky and has an expanding pipeline of solar projects. Since it was founded in 2003, the Company has developed $1 billion of wind and solar projects that provide enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Our passion is improving life through ingenuity, simplicity and freedom of choice. Solar Alliance reduces or eliminates customers' vulnerability to rising energy costs, offers an environmentally-friendly source of electricity generation, and provides affordable, turnkey clean energy solutions.

Statements in this news release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute Forward-looking statements. The words "would", "will", "expected" and "estimated" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company"s actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different than those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include but are not limited to: uncertainties related to the ability to raise sufficient capital, changes in economic conditions or financial markets, litigation, legislative or other judicial, regulatory and political competitive developments and technological or operational difficulties. Consequently, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

SOURCE: Solar Alliance Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536297/Solar-Alliance-Appoints-New-CEO-and-Provides-Corporate-Update
However, findings uncover that only 23% have achieved this maturity so far

NEW YORK and LONDON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Periscope By McKinsey, which offers a suite of Marketing & Sales Analytics Solutions to help companies achieve sustainable revenue growth, today announced the findings of a survey it conducted of more than 200 senior insights professionals from a wide variety of industries. The research, entitled 'The Customer Insights Function is Ripe for a Boost', uncovered that the overwhelming majority of respondents aim to make customer insights (CI) a reality for their businesses. However, less than a quarter describe their CI unit as currently serving as a "thought partner" to their organization which is defined as highest stage of CI maturity, while more than three quarters of organizations are still in earlier maturity stages ("CI as a counselor" or "CI as a service provider", respectively).

Understanding customers is crucial to develop winning strategies, create a superior customer experience and drive innovation. Insights tell a company what their customers value, to what extent their business delivers it, how market trends and consumer needs evolve, and which levers they can pull to improve their performance relative to competitors. In the survey, respondents widely recognize the commercial relevance of insights but are struggling with attaining that level of CI wisdom:

44 percent said that CI is a top marketing and sales priority in their organizations, well ahead of trending topics like digitization (18 percent) and omnichannel (13 percent).

On average, 65 percent say that CI should be a true thought partner of the entire organization and a driver of transformational change. However, just 23 percent say that their companies have already achieved this level of CI maturity.

46 percent say that the CI function is at least a recognized counselor, while 31 percent say that it is no more than a service provider with little or no systematic connection to commercial decision making.

Only 36 percent have the impression that their companies are already fully geared towards customer centricity.

32 percent cite "technology and tools" as a weakness, saying that they needed more innovative methods to develop and leverage insights.

30 percent say that "processes" at their companies are insufficient to integrate CI systematically with decision making, and that they don't have the agility it would take to take continuous advantage of insights.

Despite some negativity from respondents, the majority believe that their companies have both the right strategy and people to unleash the power of insights. People (46 percent) and strategy (39 percent) are perceived as strengths by a clear majority of respondents. This is backed up with how companies define the role of insights employees or the way it is integrated in the hiring process:

36 percent consider the majority of their insights employees to be insights consultants, who not only generate and interpret the data, but also act as thought partners for business units.

74 percent say that a customer-centric mindset is either "critical" (26 percent) or "very important" (48 percent) during the hiring process.

"Organizations really need to build a stronger, more agile Insights muscle, leveraging not only the latest technologies but ensuring such insights will be used for decision making. Only that will enable them to actively steer towards customer centricity and growth." said Oliver Ehrlich, Partner at McKinsey & Company. "Furthermore, to carry Big Data & Analytics from hype to impact, companies need to realize that world-class Customer Insights go hand-in-hand with analytics skills, and build the respective customer insights capabilities."

To read more about the survey's findings, visit: https://www.periscope-solutions.com/customer-insights-report/download.aspx?fileID=3718.

Study Methodology

Conducted in December 2018, Periscope By McKinsey's survey included 221 respondents representing a variety of industries. 41 percent are employed by large corporations (10,000 employees or more), with the remaining 59% being from small and medium-sized enterprises. The sample spans all hierarchical levels, including the C-Suite.

About Periscope By McKinsey

Founded in 2007, the Periscope By McKinsey platform combines world-leading intellectual property, prescriptive analytics and cloud based tools with expert support and training. It's a unique combination that drives revenue growth, both now and into the future. The platform offers a suite of Marketing & Sales solutions that accelerate and sustain commercial transformation for businesses. Periscope leverages its world-leading IP (largely from McKinsey but also other partners) and best-in-class technology to enable transparency into Big Data, create actionable insights and new ways of working that drive lasting performance improvement, and typically sustain a 2-7% increase in return on sales (ROS). With a truly global reach, the portfolio of solutions is comprised of: Insight Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Customer Experience Solutions, Category Solutions, Pricing Solutions, Performance Solutions and Sales Solutions. These are complemented by ongoing client service and custom capability building programs.

To learn more about how Periscope's solutions and experts are helping businesses continually drive better performance, visit http://www.periscope-solutions.com/

For further information please contact:

For Periscope: General information, Christian Koestler, Christian.Koestler@periscope-solutions.com , +43-1-5370 6342.
Exicure, Inc. (OTCQB: XCUR), the pioneer in gene regulatory and immunotherapeutic drugs utilizing spherical nucleic acid (SNA) constructs, announced today that its CEO, Dr. David Giljohann, will present a corporate update at the 12th Annual European Life Sciences CEO Forum being held February 25-26, 2019 at the Hilton Zurich Airport Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. The presentation will occur on Monday, February 25, 2019 at 12:00 pm GMT+1.

A live audio webcast will be available on the Investors section of Exicure's website: www.exicuretx.com. The webcast will be archived for approximately 30 days following the event.

About Exicure, Inc.

Exicure, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new class of immunomodulatory and gene regulating drugs against validated targets. Exicure's proprietary spherical nucleic acid (SNA) architecture is designed to unlock the potential of therapeutic oligonucleotides in a wide range of cells and tissues. Exicure's lead programs address inflammatory diseases, genetic disorders and oncology. Exicure is based outside of Chicago, IL. www.exicuretx.com

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended) concerning the Company, the Company's technology, potential therapies and other matters. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "look forward," and other similar expressions among others. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, without limitation: unexpected costs, charges or expenses that reduce cash runway; that Exicure's pre-clinical programs do not advance into the clinic or result in approved products on a timely or cost effective basis or at all; the cost, timing and results of clinical trials; that many drug candidates that have completed Phase 1 trials do not become approved drugs on a timely or cost effective basis or at all; possible safety and efficacy concerns; regulatory developments; and the ability of Exicure to protect its intellectual property rights. Exicure's pipeline programs are in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical development, and the process by which such pre-clinical or clinical therapeutic candidates could potentially lead to an approved therapeutic is long and subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Risks facing the Company and its programs are set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC. Except as required by applicable law, 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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005084/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts:

MacDougall Biomedical Communications

Karen Sharma

781-235-3060

ksharma@macbiocom.com

Investor Contacts:

The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.

Robert Prag, President

858-794-9500

bprag@delmarconsulting.com
TORONTO, ON / ACCESWIRE / February 21, 2019 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY; OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has secured DTC eligibility for its OTCQB-listed common shares.

The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") manages the electronic clearing and settlement of securities of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through the DTC are considered "DTC eligible". This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash, and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors and their brokers.

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Bay, stated: "The Company is implementing a strategy to expand our regional footprint, reduce seasonality in our exploration and broaden our shareholder base. The Company recently acquired U.S.-based Blue Ridge Mining Inc, and appointed Don Taylor as geological advisor to direct exploration, including the anticipated upcoming drill programs in Virginia. The current step of adding electronic settlement capability will simplify the trading of our shares in the U.S. market, and thus be an important step to broadening investment appeal to U.S. investors."

The Company's common shares trade on the OTCQB under the symbol "ATBHF". U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for Aston Bay at http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ATBHF.

The Company's shares continue to trade on the TSX-Venture exchange under the symbol "BAY".

ABOUT ASTON BAY HOLDINGS LTD.

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for large, high-grade, copper, zinc and precious metal deposits in Nunavut, Canada and Virginia, USA. The Company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration directed by Chief Geologist Dr. David Broughton, the award-winning co-discoverer of Kamoa-Kakula and Flatreef, in conjunction with the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayler Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona.

The Company is 100% owner of the 1,024,345-acres (414,537-hectares) Aston Bay Property located on western Somerset Island, Nunavut, which neighbours Teck's profitable, past-producing Polaris (Pb-Zn) Mine just 200km to the north. The Aston Bay Property hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Deposit with drill-confirmed presence of sediment-hosted copper and zinc mineralization.

The Company has also acquired the exclusive rights to an integrated dataset over certain prospective private lands at the Blue Ridge Project, located in central Virginia. These lands are located within a copper-lead-zinc-gold-silver mineralized belt, prospective for sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) and Broken Hill (BHT) type base metal deposits, as well as Carolina slate belt gold deposits. Don Taylor, who led the predecessor company to Blue Ridge and assembled the dataset, has joined the Company's Advisory Board and will be directing the Company's exploration activities for the Blue Ridge Project. The Company's public disclosure documents are available on www.sedar.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this press release, including those regarding the completion of the acquisition, management objectives, forecasts, estimates, expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute "forward-looking statement", which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such verbs as "believe", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "plan", and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this press release, Aston Bay's expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by securities legislation. We seek safe harbour.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:



Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer

thomas.ullrich@astonbayholdings.com

Telephone: (416) 456-3516

Sofia Harquail, IR and Corporate Development

sofia.harquail@astonbayholdings.com

Telephone: (647) 821-1337

SOURCE: Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536298/Aston-Bay-Announces-DTC-Eligibility-for-OTCQB-listed-Shares
TAIPEI, Taiwan, February 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Foresee Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (6576.TWO) ("Foresee"), announced today the topline results of FP-001 LMIS (Leuprolide Mesylate Injectable Suspension) 25 mg phase 3 clinical trial, an open-label, single-arm study in subjects with Prostate Carcinoma. LMIS 25 mg is a 3-month depot injection. The primary efficacy end point was achieved in 97.9% of subjects.

The primary efficacy end point is the percentage of subjects with suppression of serum testosterone (= 50 ng/dl) by day 28 and from day 28 to day 168 in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population. The targeted efficacy end point was that the lower limit of the 2-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) for suppression to be >90%.

In this study, a total of 144 subjects were enrolled and received a minimum of one dose of the study drug (ITT population), and 132 subjects received 2 doses without major protocol violations that would affect the primary efficacy endpoint (per-protocol population (PP)). Based on ITT population, the 95% CI from Kaplan-Meier estimates was (93.5%, 99.3%).By day 28, mean testosterone concentration was suppressed below castrate levels to 17.8 ng/dL, the suppression rate was 98.6% (141 out of 143 subjects achieved medical castration). No mean increase in testosterone was observed after the second injection. Three subjects did not achieve successful suppression of testosterone by the primary efficacy end point analysis, of which two did not achieve castration level on day 28, and one showed transient testosterone escape after the second injection.

A total of 217 treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) from 90 subjects were noted during the study period, of which 165 events from 79 subjects (87.8%) were in grade 1 severity and 43 events from 28 subjects (31.1%) were in grade 2 severity. Only 9 TEAEs from 7 subjects (7.78%) were classified as severe in severity.

The most common adverse events reported (> 5%) in this study include "hot flushing" (24.31%), followed by "hypertension" (11.11%), "increased body weight" (7.64%), and "injection site hemorrhage" (5.56%). Most of TEAEs were in mild or moderate intensity. Overall, treatment with LMIS 25mg injection every 3 months was safe and well tolerated.

These data are similar to those of LMIS 50 mg (6-month formulation) and other marketed LH-RH agonists in the same patient population.

"We are very excited about the successful topline results of FP-001 LMIS 25 mg, which put us in a very strong position as we prepare regulatory submissions for both LMIS 50 mg and LMIS 25 mg in the US, EU, Taiwan and other key jurisdictions and maximize the value of a highly promising program," said Dr. Ben Chien, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foresee, "We are very confident in our ability to maximize the commercial success of our FP-001 LMIS franchise with its differentiated ready-to-use profile, leveraging the commercial strength of our partners, particularly our recently announced partner Accord Healthcare. Our focus moving forward, in addition to the regulatory submissions, will be to enter into a partnership for the US market in the near future and also seek partnerships for Japan, Taiwan and mainland China."

About Foresee Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Foresee is a Taiwan and US-based biopharmaceutical company listed on the Taipei Exchange. Foresee's R&D efforts are focused in two key areas, namely its unique stabilized injectable formulation (SIF) depot delivery technology and derived drug products targeting specialty markets, and its transformative preclinical and clinical first-in-class NCE programs targeting disease areas with high unmet needs. Foresee's product portfolio includes late stage and early stage programs such as FP-001, 6-month and 3-month, stable, ready-to-use versions of leuprolide mesylate depot for injection, for which regulatory submissions are planned in 2019; FP-025, a highly selective oral MMP-12 inhibitor targeting inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, currently in a Phase 2 proof-of-concept study; FP-045, a highly selective oral small molecule allosteric activator of ALDH2, a mitochondrial enzyme, for which a Phase 1b/2 study is currently in planning (Fanconi Anemia; mitochondrial-mediated diseases); and FP-004, a novel, subcutaneously injectable depot product in development for the treatment of opioid use disorder and pain. www.foreseepharma.com
In April 2014, a sessions court held five persons guilty in the case, of which Siraj Khan got life imprisonment.

Mumbai: The hearing in the Shakti Mill rape case began Thursday in the Bombay high court. The accuseds lawyer Yug Choudhary started arguments against the newly-included IPC section 376 (E), under which, repeat gang rape offenders can be awarded the death sentence. Advocate Choudhary argued that this section was arbitrary and unconstitutional.

Mr Choudhary further argued that the death sentence awarded to Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari was bad in law since there existed an enormous difference between the harm caused by them and the punishment meted out to them.

In April 2014, a sessions court held five persons guilty in the case, of which Siraj Khan got life imprisonment.

The second accused, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility. And Jadhav, Bengali, and Ansari were sentenced to death under the then newly-introduced section 376 (E) of the IPC.

The trio moved the high court, challenging the constitutional validity of the law under which they had been sentenced to death for a repeat offence.
The European Investment Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

The European Investment Trust plc ("the Company")

The Company announces that on 20 February 2019 it purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of 25 pence each on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Ordinary Shares:

Date of purchase: 20 February 2019 Number of ordinary shares purchased: 10,000 Lowest price per share 805p Highest price per share 805p

The Company intends to cancel the purchased shares.

Following the above transaction, the Company has 40,852,769 ordinary shares in issue. Each of the Company's shares carries one vote. Accordingly, the total number of voting rights of the Company is 40,852,769.

21 February 2019

LEI: 213800QNN9EHZ4SC1R12

Enquiries:

Kenneth J Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

Beaufort House

51 New North Road

Exeter

EX4 4EP
BEIRUT, Lebanon, February 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Promising EdTech startup wins second place in award organized by the distinguished Queen Rania Foundation

Kamkalima, finalist in the Queen Rania Award for Education Entrepreneurship 2019 comes in second place. The prestigious award, organized by Queen Rania Foundation (QRF), aims to recognize and celebrate education startups in the Arab world who combine social impact with sustainable business models.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824995/Kamkalima_Logo.jpg )

From over 400 applications admitted to the competition, three winners were recognized for their outstanding efforts made in educational reform. The winners were selected by an esteemed judging panel of entrepreneurs, educators, and influencers.

"We are both humbled and energized by the recognition we are receiving," says Siroun Shamigian, CEO of Kamkalima. "This comes in addition to the regular feedback we get from students- our youngest users- and their inspiring teachers who are using the platform to re-engineer Arabic classrooms into hubs of excitement, creativity, and critical thinking. These are signs that what we are working hard to deliver is both needed and appreciated."

This win follows a string of successes for the startup, as Kamkalima had recently won Kryptolabs' "EdTech Innovation Start-up Contest 2018" in the Curriculum Applications category. Kamkalima's CEO Siroun Shamigian has also received the prestigious Cartier Women's Initiative Award for the MENA region in 2018.

Kamkalima continues to draw massive attention in the education industry, reaching over 65 schools in 7 countries across the Middle East. It expects to continue scaling and growing to more markets, hoping to reach all Arabic classrooms in the Middle East.

To learn more about Kamkalima, visit the following link: http://www.kamkalima.com

About Kamkalima:

Kamkalima is an Arabic educational platform for learning and teaching in schools. We empower Arabic classrooms with the needed tools, resources, and support to raise a generation of students armed with 21st-century skills, and to inspire teachers to do what they do best, teach. Visit http://www.kamkalima.com for more information.

About the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development:

The Queen Rania Foundation aims to be a leading regional resource and incubator for new and innovative ideas and initiatives in education. We believe that education is the foundation of economic, political and social development. That is why we are focused on identifying gaps and opportunities for developing new education programs, with the aim of influencing policy and creating transformational change on the ground.

If you would like more information, please contact Siroun Shamigian at siroun@kamkalima.com

Contact: Nour El Mofti, Marketing Officer

Company: Kamkalima

Phone: +961-78-827-929

E-mail: press@kamkalima.com


Unified RCS Messaging API and low-code toolset available in IMImobile's enterprise cloud communications platform IMIconnect will enable businesses to launch RCS customer journeys up to 10 times faster

LONDON, Feb. 21, 2019, today releases a unified RCS Messaging API alongside its low-code toolset, in its enterprise cloud communications platform, IMIconnect, to drive the adoption of RCS business messaging by leading enterprises globally.



Rich Communication Service (RCS) has been widely anticipated as the evolution for SMS messaging to deliver rich customer experiences to today's digitally savvy consumers. According to Mobilesquared, there will be 1.01bn people using RCS messaging across 168 mobile operators globally by the end of 2019. This is expected to grow to 3.23bn across 486 mobile operators by the end of 2023.1

With the release of its unified RCS API in the IMIconnect platform, enterprises can rapidly design, build and launch RCS messaging journeys with the low-code, drag and drop workflow builder. The unified RCS API reduces the complexity of integrating with multiple carriers whose implementations often differ in areas such as authentication, media management and response processing.

"Interactions between businesses and consumers are increasingly shifting to messaging channels. Our unified API and drag-and-drop tools allow businesses to easily incorporate RCS into their communications strategy and rapidly deliver richer, interactive customer communications enabled by AI-powered bots and human agents seamlessly working together to create a frictionless customer experience", said

Sudarshan Dharmapuri, SVP Product Management.

The RCS API provides the ability to perform capability lookups, send messages (including rich cards and carousels), receive messages, process customer actions and typing indicators as well as supporting Universal Profile (UP) 2.0 version of the GSMA specification. For devices and carriers that do not support RCS, IMIconnect enables an automatic fall-back to other channels such as SMS or MMS, therefore ensuring deliverability of critical communications.

Customers such as Hermes, DPD, Pizza Hut, Shell and Barclays that have used IMImobile's unified RCS Messaging API will be showcasing their RCS Messaging experiences at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 25th to 28th February.

To sign up for IMIconnect and start using IMImobile's unified RCS Messaging API, visit the website here .

___________________________

1https://mobilesquared.co.uk/2019/01/04/brands-will-spend-18-04-billion-rcs-business-messaging-2023/

Notes to editor: Image approved for distribution alongside press release.

Caption to read: An example of Shell RCS Petrol Station Finder

About IMImobile PLC

IMImobile is a cloud communications software provider whose solutions enable enterprises to automate digital customer communications and interactions to improve customer experience and reduce operating costs.

IMImobile's enterprise cloud communications software platform manages over 42 billion messages a year across the world. Organisations that trust us to deliver smarter digital customer engagement include Hermes, Centrica, AA, O2, EE, BT, Foxtons, Pizza Hut, Vodafone, MTN, three of the major retail banks in the UK and public-sector organisations globally.

IMImobile is headquartered in London with offices in Hyderabad, Toronto, Little Rock, Dubai and Johannesburg and has over 1,100 employees worldwide. IMImobile is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market with the TIDM code IMO.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/30c8740f-dad2-40bb-a874-958a45a74ff4
Paris, February 21 2019 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, announces that its supercomputer, the BullSequana X1000, is now operational at CALMIP (Calcul en Midi-Pyrenees), one of the biggest multi-scale inter-university supercomputing centres in France. Christened Olympe, the supercomputer will be used as part of the CADAMIP project over the period 2018-2022, to enable the university community to advance on over 200 projects in the sectors of materials, fluid mechanics, universe sciences and chemistry.

Achieving a world-first in HPC

The BullSequana has already enabled CALMIP to achieve two major challenges - one related to the manufacturing of plastic with a world-first result in terms of calculating precision, and the other on oceanography, and more specifically on the ocean circulation in the Mediterranean Basin.

The supercomputer has a peak performance of 1,3 petaflop/s (1,3 million billion operations per second) bringing 5 times more computing and processing power than that of the previous supercomputer, for the same energy consumption.

Installed at the Espace Clement Ader in the heart of the Toulouse Aerospace Innovation Campus site, the new supercomputer ensures that Toulouse remains one of the most efficient university computing centres in France.

"We are very proud" said Agnes Boudot, Senior Vice President HPC & Quantum at Atos "to provide Calmip with this supercomputer designed with the latest technologies and to offer a reliable, high-performance tool to researchers and scientists to support their research and innovation projects."

"For the next 4 years, this new Olympe machine should allow our traditional HPC users to be more ambitious in the complexity of the research they undertake. It will also make it possible to broaden the opening towards new themes such as Life Sciences or Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence, thanks in particular to its latest generation accelerator cards", explains Jean-Luc Estivalezes, CALMIP Director.

Find out more about how CALMIP is using Atos' supercomputer in this interview with Jean-Luc Estivalezes, CALMIP Director; Nicolas Renon, CALMIP Operations Manager, Herve Neau, Research Engineer at CNRS/IMFT and Claude Estournel, Research Manager at CNRS, Oceanographer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL2P2QrA-yE&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL2P2QrA-yE&feature=youtu.be)

***

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of  13 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Syntel, Unify and Worldline. Atos is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Press contact:

Laura Fau | laura.fau@atos.net (mailto:laura.fau@atos.net) | +33 6 73 64 04 18 | @laurajanefau (https://twitter.com/laurajanefau)





Click here for the pdf (http://hugin.info/143359/R/2235954/880390.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

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

Source: ATOS via Globenewswire


Small and Medium Business Corporation (SBC) Youth Entrepreneurship School in Korea will attend MWC 2019 to run a joint hall with 9 students and graduates.

Nine companies run by the graduates and students of Youth Entrepreneurship School including Smart Wellness, RGB Lab, Asvals, VOIXATCH, UFirst, SLM, Archidraw, Artda, and PurrSong will showcase their products.

Smart Wellness is exhibiting its smart toy 'Cubroid,' made by the combination of coding and AI.

RGB Lab will introduce its LTE network-based autonomous driving drones. Its drone solution consists of the universal mainboard, on-ground control program, and LTE network control.

Asvals will showcase the solution of which the small-sized drone and GIS technology are integrated to collect the geographical information on the facilities and structures.

VOIXATCH will exhibit its one-unit earset smartwatch that can be separated in the ring bezel part of the smartwatch, enabling the earset to be used alone.

UFirst will exhibit its neckband hearing set that can notify the direction of high-pitch sound by vibration for hearing-impaired people.

SLM will introduce its bi-directional laser measurement device, unlike other laser devices that can only measure in one direction. It not only converts the distance units but can also convert the numbers into volume.

Archidraw will be exhibiting its 3D space scanner. Integrated with smartphones, it can scan the space inside the room and make blueprints, and users can place virtual furniture, wallpapers, and floor in their taste.

Artda will show its online artwork trading platform. This platform connects artists and customers.

PurrSong will show its smart pet toilet which automatically disposes pet's excretion by sand and excretion activity monitoring app that manages the animal's health and device.

SBC Youth Entrepreneurship School continuously introduces Korea's competent startups by encouraging startup companies to participate in the exhibition activities. Its main mission is to help the companies find new and overseas sales channels.

Eun-kwang Kim, the organizer of MWC 2019 Youth Entrepreneurship School joint hall, said, "By running the joint hall, we are looking to promote the performance of the outstanding startups in Korea," and, "For the young entrepreneurs who have both the technical skills and creativity, we are looking to find various ways to help them with SBC."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005389/en/

Contacts:

SBC Youth Entrepreneurship School

YOOLRI LEE

+82-31-490-1174

yllee@sbc.or.kr
Brillio to sponsor and exhibit at Chief Data, Analytics Officers & Influencers, UK 2019

SAN RAMON, California, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Brillio, a global digital technology consulting and solutions company, today announced its participation in Chief Data, Analytics Officers & Influencers, UK 2019 (CDAOI UK 2019) conference from February 26 -28, 2019. CDAOI UK 2019 brings together leading data and analytics decision makers across Europe to network and share ideas on how to overcome emerging data and analytics challenges to strengthen business value.

Brillio's Analytics Practice Head Yogesh Jain will deliver the keynote address on "Soup to Nuts of Modern Data Ecosystem" on February 27 at 12:05PM GMT, along with Caroline Carruthers, co-author of "The Chief Data Analytics Officer". The session will be a deep dive on building, adoption and sustenance of the modern data ecosystem within an enterprise.

As enterprises are dealing with increased variety, velocity and volume of unstructured data at unprecedented levels, these organizations need to re-examine their best practices to manage data in a more cost-effective and scalable way. Jain and Carruthers will share a roadmap to the enablement of an organization model that serves the modern data ecosystem in the right way and creates synergies between data and enterprise vision. "For any enterprise to remain competitive and outperform, data analytics must be at the core of its business strategy," said Jain.

About CDAOI UK 2019

Chief Data, Analytics Officers & Influencers, UK 2019 brings the conversations in data and analytics space from key innovators and leaders. With over 60 expert speakers and 200 data and analytics leaders, the event focuses on strategies for overcoming the core emerging data and analytics challenges. The event enables experience and approach sharing on a CDO level to understand solutions, practices and business value from enterprise data. Engage in discussion groups, case study driven keynote presentations and panel discussions.

Meet us to get a deep dive into how Brillio has partnered with leading enterprises in their data led digital transformation journey. Click here to for a briefing with team Brillio at the event.

About Brillio

Brillio is a leading global digital consulting and technology services company focused on implementation of digital technologies for the world's leading companies. Brillio uses proprietary methodologies to help customers re-imagine their businesses and competitive advantages and then rapidly develops and deploys disruptive industrial-grade digital solutions using UX design, digital applications, big data analytics, cloud, security and digital engineering. The 1,500+ strong Brillio team is based in seven offices across three continents and considers world-class customer satisfaction as its true north. To learn more follow us @brillioglobal and visit our website at brillio.com.

Media Contacts

Brillio:

Nancy MacGregor/Beth Trier

415-309-5185/415-285-6147

nancy@triercompany.com / beth@triercompany.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/217233/brillio_logo.jpg
NORWICH, England, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Norfolk-based digital media company, BizClik Media , has launched its latest brand, FinTech Magazine.

As the finance industry continues to be disrupted by the advent of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, cashless payments and open banking, this new platform, based on the success of Gigabit Magazine, aims to bring you the latest insights from top-tier CTOs, CIOs and more.

FinTech Magazine explores the digital transformation journeys of leading global businesses and find out how the experts are navigating this exciting new financial landscape.

The cover star this month is global insurance leader Marsh, which has just released its latest CMT (communications, media and technology) study, outlining what the adoption of disruptive technologies like AI and IoT will mean for the industry. CMT Practice Leaders Alexander Chao and Thomas Quigley explain how the risks involved in digital transformation can be successfully navigated.

Meanwhile, the magazine team sat down with software solution provider Finastra's Senior Director, Smita Gupta, a powerful woman in fintech who is responsible for the firm's marketing across the APAC region. Gupta discussed Finastra's newly-launched open banking readiness index and how financial institutions can best prepare for the future.

Be sure to check out the company reports on Santander, Generali, Nationwide, Adyen and more, as well as the top 10 this month examining which fintech startups are the ones to watch in 2019.

Read the latest issue here .

About FinTech Magazine

FinTech Magazine is an innovative content platform and community providing industry-leading insight, news, analysis and reports for digital and IT leaders in the world of finance as it undergoes a significant technology transformation.

A digital media platform aimed at executives and business leaders, the FinTech brand encompasses a website which is regularly updated with the latest news and insights from the worlds of technology and finance, as well as a monthly magazine featuring interviews with experts in the fields on topics ranging from blockchain and mobile payments to cybersecurity and insurtech.

As the industry continues to be disrupted by the advent of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, cashless payments and open banking, look no further than FinTech Magazine where we grill top-tier CTOs, CIOs and more about the digital transformation journeys of leading global businesses and find out how the experts are navigating this exciting new landscape.

FinTech Magazine is powered by BizClikMedia, a dynamic and disruptive digital media company. Please send any inquiries or advertisement requests to info@fintechmagazine.com.

About BizClik Media

BizClik Media Ltd is a diverse, multi-platform digital media company focusing on the global B2B marketplace.

We have a passion for great content and we collaborate with the world's most inspiring and innovative business leaders to deliver only the best, most engaging and relevant content to you.

With a trusted and recognised publishing portfolio that is home to over 16 brands, including e-magazines and web platforms, combined with our social media marketing and data marketing tools, we have the experience, approach and know-how, to deliver your brand in front of the people that matter.

Media Contact

FinTech Magazine:

Olivia Minnock

Olivia.minnock@bizclikmedia.com

Phone: +44-(0)-1603-215-070


Press Release

Industry's first 5G Maturity Index guides operators on how to align technology investments with business objectives to succeed with 5G-enabled services

Nokia 5G Future X portfolio additions unveiled in advance of Mobile World Congress support operator priorities to enhance customer experience, reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and develop new 5G enabled revenue streams

21 February 2019

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the results of the Nokia 5G Maturity Index, produced in partnership with Analysys Mason, which providesoperators with best practices for planning and deploying 5G services. The industry's first benchmark of 5G operator maturity revealed that two-thirds of operators expect 5G to create new revenue streams, while more than 70% of operators are focused on 5G to help improve existing consumer services. The research also found that those operators most advanced in 5G transformation are focused on six to eight use cases.

Key findings of the Nokia 5G Maturity Index:

The most popular 5G use cases identified by operators include: multi-gigabit mobile connectivity, connected cars and autonomous vehicles, tactile internet experiences such as augmented and virtual reality, critical healthcare monitoring, smart city apps like lighting, and smart home services

Most operators plan a limited commercial launch of 5G services by 2019-20

Operators planning early 5G commercial launches are the furthest ahead with network virtualization and cloud-based deployments.

Operators rated as the most advanced in 5G closely align their technology and business development and link digital transformation with 5G.

"It is clear from the first Nokia 5G Maturity Index that operators have plenty of ambition for 5G. Many also understand that its impact will be far stronger if it is deployed hand-in-hand with platform transformation, in order to support a wide array of new revenue streams," said Caroline Gabriel, Principal Analyst from Analysys Mason.

"However, most acknowledge they are uncertain about the actions they must take to achieve their goals. We believe Nokia 5G Maturity Index will be a valuable support as they make these critical decisions, allowing them, for the first time, to plot their own 5G progress against an objectively assessed index, and learn from the best practice of others."

To take advantage of the promise of this next generation of network technology, Nokia continues to build out its 5G Future X portfolio and today has announced enhancements to its packet core and radio access network solutions. Nokia's end-to-end portfolio helps operators meet their immediate priorities of enhancing the customer experience and reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), as well as supporting their strategic objective of developing new 5G-based revenue streams.

Nokia cloud packet core (CPC) is augmenting its Cloud Mobility Manager (CMM) and Cloud Mobile Gateway (CMG) products with new 3GPP Release 15 5G Core standalone networks functions and also enhancing the previously announced non-standalone core capabilities. With its cloud-native architecture and these augmented capabilities, the CPC solution provides operators a seamless upgrade path, combined with the deployment flexibility to support both virtual and physical high-performance network functions, to deliver services across multi-technology wireless (2/3/4/5G, unlicensed, shared) and fixed access deployments. Read more (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/packet-core)

The new Nokia AirScale all-in-cloud base station for both 4G and 5G virtualizes real-time functions in the cloud. This enables real-time processing to be hosted at the network edge, close to the radio site to meet extremely low latency demands, with capacity where it is needed. The new architecture enables operators to launch and monetize the lowest latency applications/services with ultra-low latency. With AirScale Cloud RAN's built-in flexibility operators can locate functions depending on their needs in a given area - depending on desired application needs and latency targets. Read more (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/airscale-cloud-ran)

The Nokia AirScale future-proof site solution provides multiple features for simpler, faster and lower-cost rollout of 5G in smart cities using a common Future X architecture for deployments of all mobile technologies and spectrum bands. Capabilities such as the world's first liquid-cooled 5G base station, including liquid-cooled 5G massive MIMO adaptive antenna, eliminate the need for expensive cooling systems, reducing site space, lowering energy consumption and cutting carbon emissions by up to 80%. Read more (https://networks.nokia.com/products/airscale-base-station)

Sanjay Goel, President, Global Services at Nokia said: "We essentially asked 50 operators: 'How ready is your network and business for 5G?' Their answers provide valuable insights into the best practices for operators as they design, deploy and operate 5G networks and services. We are already working with all the major operators in the lead 5G markets of North America, Korea and Japan and have the industry's only end-to-end portfolio that is available globally. The 5G Maturity Index offers important data that we can share with our customers as we continue to work with them to achieve their 5G goals."

Nokia is a global leader in 5G with the industry's only end-to-end portfolio that is available globally. With near to 100 engagements, our 5G solutions, software and services allow our customers to take advantage of the promise of this next generation of network technology. Learn more about Nokia 5G (https://networks.nokia.com/5g).

To learn more about Nokia's product and services portfolio, visit the Nokia Experience Center in

Hall 3, stand 3A10 at Mobile World Congress, Fira Gran Via, in Barcelona, Spain from 25 to 28

February 2018. https://www.nokia.com/mwc (https://www.nokia.com/mwc).

Join the MWC19 discussion and get real-time updates via Nokia's social media channels.

Resources

Download Nokia 5G Maturity Index White Paper (https://pages.nokia.com/T003NB.Nokia.5G.Maturity.Index.html)

Watch Nokia 5G Maturity Index Webinar (https://pages.nokia.com/T003ND.5G.Maturity.Index.html)

Blog: 5G is here already. Capturing the promise with Nokia (https://www.nokia.com/blog/5g-here-already-capturing-promise-nokia/)



Read more about Nokia solutions:

Nokia 5G Acceleration Services (https://networks.nokia.com/services/5g-acceleration-services)

Nokia 5G (https://networks.nokia.com/5g/5g-future-x)

Nokia AirScale (https://networks.nokia.com/products/airscale-base-station)

Nokia AirScale Cloud RAN (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/airscale-cloud-ran)

Nokia Cloud Packet Core (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/packet-core)

Telco Cloud (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/telco-cloud)

Nokia Edge Cloud (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/edge-cloud)

Nokia Cloud Mobile Gateway (https://networks.nokia.com/products/mobile-gateway)

Nokia Cloud Mobility Manager (https://networks.nokia.com/products/mobility-manager)

Zero Emission (https://networks.nokia.com/products/zero-emission)







About Nokia

We create the technology to connect the world. We develop and deliver the industry's only end-to-end portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing that is available globally. Our customers include communications service providers whose combined networks support 5.7 billion subscriptions, as well as enterprises in the private and public sector that use our network portfolio to increase productivity and enrich lives.

Through our research teams, including the world-renowned Nokia Bell Labs, we are leading the

world to adopt end-to-end 5G networks that are faster, more secure and capable of

revolutionizing lives, economies and societies. Nokia adheres to the highest ethical business

standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. www.nokia.com (http://www.nokia.com)

Media Inquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Phone: +358 10 448 4900

Email: press.services@nokia.com (mailto:press.services@nokia.com)

Notes

1 Analysys Mason and Nokia conducted a global survey to assess the 5G maturity of a sample of 50 operators, accounting for 35% of world mobile subscribers. The research identified 12 business and technology maturity factors as relevant to the overall success of 5G. The Index ranks operators from least mature 'measured follower' profile to most mature 'complex use case monetizer'.

This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

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

Source: NOKIA via Globenewswire


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NetCents Technology Inc. ("NetCents" or the "Company") (CSE: NC) (Frankfurt: 26N), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a five-year ISO/Reseller Agreement with Results by Design, LLC ("RBD"). RBD is now partnered with NetCents to begin deploying the NetCents cryptocurrency payment platform to financial institutions, merchant acquirers and card issuers globally.

RBD's extensive experience in all aspects of the merchant acquiring, payment technology and card-issuing industries, compliment NetCents customer acquisition, distribution and revenue model.

For 30 years, RBD's executives have been instrumental in building and serving some of the largest brands like VISA, with the underlined technology and business processes which interface with financial institutions protocols, now used by todays leading payment gateways, payment terminals, POS Systems and enterprise applications.

RBD has worked with Ingenico, Verifone, Visa, US Bank, MasterCard, Mobil, IBM, Kodak, Disney Store, Gap, World Duty Fee Group, Epson, and others.

In addition to the appointment of RBD President Don Sieb and Consultant Eric Turille to the Company's Board of Advisors, NetCents welcomes Business Development Manager, Sharon Predes and Senior Partner, Jim Troy to the Advisory Board. Sharon's 25 years of business development and management experience with MasterCard International and Wells Fargo Bank brings NetCents tremendous insight into merchant and consumer behaviors. Sharon also provides a deeper perspective to NetCents credit card program, rolling out this year in North America followed by Asia and Europe.

Jim Troy's tenured payment industry experience and reputation compliment his business acumen and essential relationships with payment processors, international terminal manufacturers and independent sales organizations (ISO's).Jim Troy stated, "Introducing new payment methodologies to the payment industry is not an easy task. Our firsthand experience working with NetCents has given us tremendous confidence to deploy the NetCents platform to our network of strategic partners and financial institutions."

As a former VP of Indirect Channel Development at Ingenico, Jim was responsible for developing Ingenico's channel strategies, offering integrated payment solutions to Original Equipment Manufacturer's "OEM's", Independent Software Vendor's "ISV's", and Value-Added Resellers "VAR's" who provide POS solutions for North American tier one and two retailers. Jim's insight and experience compliments NetCents 30 technical integrations including, (15) POS systems, CRM's, payment gateways POS terminal manufacturers, and leading e-commerce platforms like Shopify.

"We couldn't be more excited to be working with RBD and adding such experienced payments executives to our Advisory Board who have decades of experience working with some of the largest companies in the payments and financial services industry. As we continue to roll out our technology and platform, this partnership validates our vision of being a disruptive player in the payment processing industry." stated NetCents CEO, Clayton Moore.

Sharon Predes further stated, "NetCents understands our marketplace and has delivered a cryptocurrency platform any payment technology company or payment processor should consider implementing, and they make it easy to license or resell to their merchants."

About RBD

Results by Design provides subject matter expertise, business process outsourcing and advisory services to payment industry organizations. RBD specializes in integrating current and future based payment technologies with legacy technologies which streamline consumer and merchant buying experiences. RBD delivers custom designed strategies and product delivery methods that enhance revenue modeling, user-expectations and cost reductions opportunities to consumer and payment industry steak-holders.

RBD works with firms to maximize their potential by:

Analyzing product pricing and cost to identify areas of improvement that significantly impacts market readiness and business bottom lines.

Leveraging ties to banks, processors, financial institutions, ISO/MSP, enterprise merchants to drive new business in multi-national and emerging market industries.

Business and resource planning for sales and distribution channel execution

https://www.resultsbydesignconsulting.com

About NetCents

NetCents is a next-generation online payment processing platform, offering consumers and merchants online services for managing electronic payments. The Company is focused on capturing the migration from cash to digital currency by utilizing innovative Blockchain Technology to provide payment solutions that are simple to use, secure and worry-free. NetCents works with its financial partners, mobile operators, exchanges, etc., to streamline the user experience of transacting online.

NetCents Technology is integrated into the Automated Clearing House ("ACH") and is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC, which ensures our consumer's security and privacy.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com

or contact Investor Relations at Investor@net-cents.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

NetCents Technology Inc.

"Clayton Moore"

Clayton Moore, CEO, Founder and Director



NetCents Technology Inc.

Suite 1000 - 1021 West Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC, V6E 0C3

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com

Gordon Jessop, President / COO

gord.jessop@net-cents.com.

+1-604 676-5249
"2018 has been an exciting year for AroCell with several major events. In April, AroCell signed a global non-exclusive license agreement with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Roche). Roche is the market leader in diagnostics and the diagnostics part of the company has sales of just over SEK 100 billion and a global market share of around 20%. The license agreement gives Roche global sales rights for which AroCell receives royalties from future sales. Through the license agreement and the future cooperation with Roche, AroCell has very good prospects of making TK1 a standard biomarker in diagnostics and treatment primarily on analysis platforms intended for larger central laboratories."

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Officials managed to rescue the big cat after 6 hour operation.

Mumbai: A leopard was seen lurking near Korum Mall located on the Eastern Express Highway at around 5.30 am in Maharashtras Thane district on Tuesday. The forest officials managed to rescue it after an operation of six long hours.

The leopard was first spotted near the fencing wall of the mall and later it moved around for sometime before finally taking refuge inside the basement of a three star hotel, officials said.

The CCTV cameras showed the leopard hiding behind a staircase, before running into a dark corridor. Residents and passersby in the area were told not to venture out, an official said.

The feline was first thought to be a panther but after the forest officials reached the spot, they confirmed that it was indeed a leopard. After starting the operation early in the morning, the leopard was taken into custody at around 11.50 am. The operation also involved Thane police, said a senior forest official said.

The police and forest department were immediately informed about the same. After their teams reached the spot they launched a hunt for the leopard inside the mall premises. However, the search was called off after three hours as the officials failed to spot the big cat.

The leopard was later spotted at a housing complex and then in the basement of the hotel near the mall. The forest officials finally managed to tranquilise the feline in the hotel basement before taking it away.

The police had cordoned the area and kept the hotel staff off bounds while the operation was underway. The traffic movement on the EEH and Pokhran roads were not affected, officials said.

The hapless leopard will undergo a medical check and would be released in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, forest officials said.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
GOTHENBURG, Sweden and ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- POA Pharma Scandinavia AB, a market-oriented Boutique Healthcare Company, working in close contact with healthcare organizations, professionals and hospitals in Nordic countries and Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, an innovative Anaesthesia pharmaceutical company, today announced a strategic agreement to launch OZALIN in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

One of the challenges facing paediatric anaesthetists in treating children, either for premedication prior to surgery or during procedural sedation, is the lack of acceptable approved medications. An oral solution for children older than 6 months, OZALIN, has been approved in several markets in the EU.

"The agreement with POA Pharma represents an important achievement for Primex Pharmaceuticals and underscores our commitment to making OZALIN available to anaesthetists across all EU member states," said Alan Knox, Primex's Group CEO. "We are confident that POA Pharma expertise in the field of anaesthesia, coupled with their understanding of the Nordic countries, will benefit children requiring premedication or procedural sedation."

Tina Madsen Sandstrom, CEO of POA, "POA Pharma is looking forward to launch OZALIN to our patients and clinical customers in the Nordic markets. We are happy to once again having the opportunity to introduce new developments within the health care sector."

About Primex Pharmaceuticals:

Primex Pharmaceuticals is a leading global innovative anaesthesia company, expanding in paediatric pharmaceuticals. Primex brings a broad portfolio of anaesthesia products helping patients undergo a wide range of medical procedures, including a novel, oral solution for paediatric sedation now approved in several markets in the European Union. Primex Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Switzerland.

www.primexpharma.com

About POA Pharma:

POA Pharma is a market-oriented Boutique Healthcare Company present in 9 competence areas with offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and US. The home Market is the Nordic countries were POA represents 12 Pharmaceutical producers from 10 countries. POA Pharma contributes to better healthcare, better health and wellbeing and a higher quality of life.

www.poapharma.com

For further information, please contact:

Primex Pharmaceuticals AG

Alan Knox, CEO

Zug, Switzerland

Tel. +41 (0)79 1762420

alan.knox@primexintl.com

POA Pharma Scandinavia AB

Tina Madsen Sandstrom

Gothenburg, Sweden

Tel. +46 (0) 31 788 05 99

tina.madsen@poaab.com

 Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, Zug, Switzerland. All rights reserved

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824543/PrimexPharma_Logo.jpg
Regulatory News:

BIOCORP (Paris:ALCOR) (FR0012788065 ALCOR PEA-PME eligible), a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of medical devices and smart drug delivery systems, and DreaMed Diabetes, developer of personalized diabetes management solutions, announced today that they are partnering concerning a global solution for diabetes compliance.

While exhibiting at ATTD Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes in Berlin, BIOCORP and DreaMed Diabetes present the content of their collaboration about diabetes compliance.

Since 2015, BIOCORP has been developing a smart cap for pen injectors newly renamed Mallya (formerly known with the project name Easylog). The device is now taking an important step forward since attending an introduction to the market by end of H1-2019. For the record, Mallya automatically captures data (dose, date and time) and sends the information in real time to a companion software thanks to Bluetooth technology, with a very high level of accuracy and repeatability.

For its part, DreaMed Diabetes has developed DreaMed AdvisorTM Pro, a cloud-based digital solution generating insulin delivery recommendations by analyzing information from CGM, self-monitoring blood glucose, and insulin pump data. Applying event-driven adaptive learning, Advisor Pro refines its understanding for each individual and sends recommendation to the healthcare provider on how to optimize a patient's insulin pump settings for basal rate, carbohydrate ratio and correction factor. DreaMed intends to expand the capabilities of DreaMed Advisor to include decision support tools for healthcare professional treating persons with diabetes under basal or multiple daily injections therapy.

Mallya is therefore completing the DreaMed Advisor concept by providing data related to insulin injections. Mallya will be integrated to DreaMed Advisor for basal or multiple daily injections delivery by data collection, analysis and generating recommendation for the healthcare professional and person with diabetes. Mallya will be used in clinical trials of DreaMed during 2019.

"This partnership is a real opportunity for our two companies and especially for final patients since it is a real progress concerning the management of diabetes treatment. This new step is significant for BIOCORP since 2019 is a major year for our connected devices: the launch to market of Mallya is close and this partnership is one of the numerous milestones that will support our commercial success in the future ", declared Eric Dessertenne, COO of BIOCORP.

For years, DreaMed Diabetes is dedicated to empowering people with diabetes and their care providers with innovative and person-centric digital treatment decision support technologies in order to improve health and quality of life", said Eran Agmon, DreaMed Diabetes Chief Product Officer. "This partnership will allow us to offer innovative decision support solutions for people with diabetes under basal only or multiple daily injections based on an accurate and reliable insulin dosing information."

ABOUT BIOCORP

Founded in 2004 in Issoire (near Clermont-Ferrand), France, BIOCORP is a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of medical devices and innovative drug delivery systems. It is listed as 'Innovative Company' by the French public investment bank Bpifrance. With over twenty years of experience and more than 30 manufactured products, BIOCORP is a key player in the industry, providing drug delivery solutions that meet the evolving needs of patients. Today, BIOCORP continues to innovate in medical plastics, its core business, and to market traditional devices (alternative to aluminum capsules, syringe and vial administration systems) that have been an important source of recurring income. Its solid expertise and capacity to innovate have allowed the company to develop new Internet-connected products, including Easylog, a smart cap for pen injectors that captures injection data and automatically transmits data to a mobile app, helping patients to manage their treatment. The company has a team of 45 employees. BIOCORP is listed on Alternext since July 2015 (FR0012788065 ALCOR).

For more information, please visit www.biocorpsys.com

Follow us on Twitter @BIOCORPSystems

ABOUT DREAMED

DreaMed spun out of Schneider Children's Medical Center in 2014, following seven years developing its artificial pancreas technology. Since then, DreaMed Diabetes develops solutions and personalized decision support solutions for the optimization of insulin therapy for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The Company's first product, GlucoSitter, was developed for closed-loop insulin therapy and was licensed to Medtronic Diabetes. The Company then developed Advisor, a portfolio of decision support solutions for patients and healthcare providers dedicated to transform dynamic, real-world patient data into actionable treatment insights with its unique, cloud-based cognitive technology. Investors in the Company include Medtronic Diabetes, Norma Investments and OurCrowd. For more information, please visit https://ww.dreamed-diabetes.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220005514/en/

Contacts:

BIOCORP Contacts

Jacques Gardette

Chief Executive Officer

investisseurs@biocorp.fr

Eric Dessertenne

Chief Operating Officer

Sylvaine Dessard

Marketing Communication Director

rp@biocorp.fr

+ 33 (0)6 88 69 72 85

DREAMED Contacts

Eldad Postan-Koren

Director of Business Development

eldad.postan@dreamed-diabetes.com
 Annual revenues down 2.4% to EUR 502.0 million

 Pro forma operating income of EUR 23.3 million (4.6% of revenues)

 Q1 2019 outlook: revenues EUR 124 - 134 million; Pro forma operating income 0% - 4% of revenues

Munich, Germany. February 21, 2019. ADVA Optical Networking (ISIN: DE0005103006), a leading provider of open networking solutions for the delivery of cloud and mobile services, reported financial results for Q4 and full year 2018 ended on December 31, 2018. The results have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Q4 2018 financial summary*

(in thousands of EUR) Q4 Q4 Change Q3 Change 2018 2017 2018 Revenues 131,513 117,238 12.2% 126,178 4.2% Pro forma gross profit 48,665 42,465 14.6% 47,304 2.9% in % of revenues 37.0% 36.2% 0.8pp 37.5% -0.5pp Pro forma operating income 8,106 4,496 80.3% 6,776 19.6% in % of revenues 6.2% 3.8% 2.4pp 5.4% 0.8pp Operating income (loss) 6,332 2,294 176.0% 4,994 26.8% Net income 3,633 -948 n/a 3,908 -7.0% (in thousands of EUR) Dec. 31

2018 Dec. 31

2017 Change Sep. 30

2018 Change Cash and cash equivalents 62,652 58,376 7.3% 53,949 16.1% Net liquidity (+) / Net debt (-) -26,832 -38,185 29.7% -38,656 30.6%

*Potential differences due to rounding

Q4 2018 IFRS financial results

Revenues for Q4 2018 increased by 4.2% to EUR 131.5 million from EUR 126.2 million in Q3 2018 and increased by 12.2% from EUR 117.2 million in the same year-ago period. Revenues for Q4 2018 were within the guidance forecast the company provided on October 25, 2018 of between EUR 126 million and EUR 136 million.

Pro forma operating income for Q4 2018 was EUR 8.1 million (6.2% of revenues), compared to EUR 6.8 million (5.4% of revenues) in Q3 2018 and a pro forma operating income of EUR 4.5 million in the same year-ago period. Pro forma operating income for Q4 2018 was at the upper end of the company's guidance range of between 3% and 7% of revenues.

Operating income for Q4 2018 increased to EUR 6.3 million, compared to operating income of EUR 5.0 million reported for Q3 2018, and improved significantly from the operating income of EUR 2.3 million in the same year-ago period.

Net income for Q4 2018 was EUR 3.6 million, down from EUR 3.9 million in Q3 2018 and significantly improved in comparison to the same year-ago period net loss of EUR 0.9 million.

At quarter-end, the company's cash and cash equivalents totaled EUR 62.7 million, representing an increase of 16.1% compared to EUR 53.9 million in Q3 2018.

The company's net debt decreased by EUR 11.8 million to EUR 26.8 million from EUR 38.7 million at the end of the prior quarter.

Net working capital at quarter-end was EUR 120.5 million compared to EUR 131.0 million at the end of Q3 2018.

2018 annual summary*

(in thousands of EUR) 2018 2017 Change Revenues 501,981 514,471 -2.4% Pro forma gross profit 185,621 174,377 6.4% in % of revenues 37.0% 33.9% 3.1pp Pro forma operating income 23,266 19,522 19.2% in % of revenues 4.6% 3.8% 0.8pp Operating income (loss) 14,989 4,403 240.4% Net income 9,678 -4,228 n/a (in thousands of EUR) Dec. 31 2018 Dec. 31 2017 Change Cash and cash equivalents 62,652 58,376 7.3% Net liquidity (+) / Net debt (-) -26,832 -38,185 29.7%

*Potential differences due to rounding



For the full year 2018, revenues decreased by 2.4% to EUR 502.0 million from EUR 514.5 million in 2017. The decline is mainly attributable to the lower revenue base with one of the world's largest internet content providers (ICP) in North America, which could not be fully compensated in 2018. Nevertheless, revenues in the past financial year continuously increased over all quarters.

Albeit, revenues declined in 2018, pro forma gross profit increased by 6.4% from EUR 174.4 million in 2017 to EUR 185.6 million in 2018. This improvement resulted mainly from changes in the customer and product mix.

Pro forma operating income for 2018 was EUR 23.3 million (4.6% of revenues), compared to EUR 19.5 million

(3.8% of revenues) in 2017. Operating income for 2018 was EUR 15.0 million compared to EUR 4.4 million in 2017 and was increased significantly by EUR 10.6m. Operating income for 2018 was EUR 15.0 million compared to EUR 4.4 million in 2017 and was increased significantly by EUR 10.6 million.

In 2018, ADVA generated a net income of EUR 9.7 million, after a loss of EUR 4.2 million in the prior year.

Basic and diluted earnings per share in 2018 amounted to positive EUR 0.19 both compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of negative EUR 0.09 in 2017.

Management commentary

"We have steered a steady course in these turbulent times, remaining focused on our key goals to ensure both stability and continuity," said Uli Dopfer, CFO, ADVA. "In all four quarters of 2018, we were able to increase our revenues sequentially. Our profitability also developed in a positive direction. In addition to successfully developing existing customers, we have won important new projects in all regions. At the same time, consolidation in our industry has further reduced the number of competitors, further sharpening our profile as an innovative telecommunications supplier with a unique blend of innovation and customer focus."

"Digitization continues to transform networks and drive the investment focus towards us," commented Brian Protiva, CEO, ADVA. "The rapid development and rollout of artificial intelligence, edge computing solutions, IoT and 5G require a robust and scalable telecommunications infrastructure with greater optical transmission capacity, new models for providing communication services, and increasingly precise network synchronization. Our key investments address each of these issues and clearly underline the value of our acquisition strategy. From this solid base, we're creating new growth opportunities that we will capitalize on."

Q1 2019 financial outlook

For Q1 2019, ADVA expects revenues to be in the range of EUR 124 million and EUR 134 million and a pro forma operating income of between 0% and 4% of revenues.

ADVA performs quarterly reviews of expected business development with respect to all intangible assets, including capitalized development expenses. In case of adverse business prospects, these reviews may result in non-cash impairment charges in Q1 2019 and beyond, which are excluded from the above guidance.

The company will publish its financial results for Q1 2019 on April 18, 2019.

Conference call details

ADVA will hold a conference call for analysts and investors today, February 21, 2019, to discuss these results and management's outlook. The company's CEO, Brian Protiva, and CFO, Ulrich Dopfer, will host the call at 3:00 p.m. CET (9:00 a.m. EST). A question and answer session will follow management presentations.

To participate, please dial the appropriate number at least five minutes prior to the start time and ask for the ADVA conference call.

International number: ?+49 69 201 744 210

US number: ?+1 877 423 08 30

Pin Code: 77 99 17 44#

A corresponding presentation is available on ADVA's website:

https://www.advaoptical.com/en/about-us/investors/financial-results/conference-calls

The complete 2018 Annual Report

A replay of the call will be available here:

https://www.advaoptical.com/en/about-us/investors/financial-results/conference-calls

Forward-looking statements

The economic projections and forward-looking statements contained in this document relate to future facts. Such projections and forward-looking statements are subject to risks that cannot be foreseen and that are beyond the control of ADVA. ADVA is therefore not in a position to make any representation as to the accuracy of economic projections and forward-looking statements or their impact on the financial situation of ADVA or the market in the shares of ADVA.

Use of pro forma financial information

ADVA provides consolidated pro forma financial results in this press release solely as supplemental financial information to help investors and the financial community make meaningful comparisons of ADVA's operating results from one financial period to another. ADVA believes that these pro forma consolidated financial results are helpful because they exclude non-cash charges related to the stock option programs and amortization and impairment of goodwill and acquisition-related intangible assets, which are not reflective of the company's operating results for the period presented. Additionally, expenses related to restructuring measures are not included. This pro forma information is not prepared in accordance with IFRS and should not be considered a substitute for the historical information presented in accordance with IFRS.

About ADVA Optical Networking

ADVA is a company founded on innovation and focused on helping our customers succeed. Our technology forms the building blocks of a shared digital future and empowers networks across the globe. We're continually developing breakthrough hardware and software that leads the networking industry and creates new business opportunities. It's these open connectivity solutions that enable our customers to deliver the cloud and mobile services that are vital to today's society and for imagining new tomorrows. Together, we're building a truly connected and sustainable future. For more information on how we can help you, please visit us at: www.advaoptical.com .

Published by:

ADVA Optical Networking SE, Munich, Germany

www.advaoptical.com

For press:

Gareth Spence

t +44 1904 699 358

public-relations@advaoptical.com
Huawei Enterprise will present at the event for the first time to demonstrate four star products and digital platform to drive ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive intelligence for enterprises

LONDON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei announced yesterday that its Enterprise Business Group (Huawei Enterprise) will make its first representation at the world's largest mobile event, MWC19 Barcelona. Under the theme of "Building a Fully Connected, Intelligent World", Huawei Enterprise will host a Digital Transformation of Industries Summit, demonstrate four of its star products, and outline its digital platform to accelerate digital transformation.

Qiu Heng, President of Global Marketing, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said: "Huawei Enterprise is experiencing robust business growth, with annual revenue in 2018 exceeding USD 10 billion. MWC19 Barcelona is our first representation at the event, and we are excited to share our learnings about digital transformation with our peers there.

"We look forward to demonstrating the transformative power of ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive intelligence for the enterprise market through four of our world-leading flagship products, including the world's first commercial Wi-Fi 6 AP, the world's first AI-powered data center switch, the world's fastest intelligent OceanStor Dorado all-flash storage, and the world's first software-defined AI camera, the X series.

"We will also launch our digital platform. We believe implementing a digital platform integrated with new ICT is the key to help enterprises achieve digital transformation."

Three exhibition areas and four star products to demonstrate Huawei Enterprise's comprehensive strength in intelligence and connectivity

During MWC19, Huawei Enterprise will demonstrate four flagship products for the enterprise market, highlighting how in an interconnected world, governments and enterprises require ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive intelligence to meet the needs of citizens and customers:

World's first commercial Wi-Fi 6 AP : 802.11ax is the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology, and is known as Wi-Fi 6 in the industry. This product marks the first time the industry has implemented the 8x8 MU-MIMO technology, OFDMA space division multiplexing technology, and 1024QAM modulation and demodulation technology in Wi-Fi. This enables the total access rate of a single wireless access point (AP) to exceed 10 Gbps for the first time and improves the number of concurrent users by four times. In addition to offering greater speed, Wi-Fi 6 reduces the network latency from 30ms to 10ms, satisfying the low latency requirements of VR and enterprise networks. Huawei's Wi-Fi 6 AP has already been deployed, and with Huawei's third-generation smart antenna technology and SmartRadio air interface technology, the coverage radius of Wi-Fi 6 signals is increased by 40%.

: 802.11ax is the latest generation of Wi-Fi technology, and is known as Wi-Fi 6 in the industry. This product marks the first time the industry has implemented the 8x8 MU-MIMO technology, OFDMA space division multiplexing technology, and 1024QAM modulation and demodulation technology in Wi-Fi. This enables the total access rate of a single wireless access point (AP) to exceed 10 Gbps for the first time and improves the number of concurrent users by four times. In addition to offering greater speed, Wi-Fi 6 reduces the network latency from 30ms to 10ms, satisfying the low latency requirements of VR and enterprise networks. Huawei's Wi-Fi 6 AP has already been deployed, and with Huawei's third-generation smart antenna technology and SmartRadio air interface technology, the coverage radius of Wi-Fi 6 signals is increased by 40%. CloudEngine16800, the world's first AI-powered data center switch : The product is embedded with Huawei's AI chipsets. The unique intelligent lossless switching algorithm, iLossless, perfectly solves the packet loss issue of traditional Ethernet networks, improving the AI computing power from 50% to 100% and the data storage IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second ) by 30%. In addition, the product provides the industry's highest density 48-port 400GE line card per slot and its switching capacity exceeds the industry average by five times. A fully-equipped single frame saves 320,000 kilowatt-hours per annum.

: The product is embedded with Huawei's AI chipsets. The unique intelligent lossless switching algorithm, iLossless, perfectly solves the packet loss issue of traditional Ethernet networks, improving the AI computing power from 50% to 100% and the data storage IOPS (Input/Output Operations ) by 30%. In addition, the product provides the industry's highest density 48-port 400GE line card per slot and its switching capacity exceeds the industry average by five times. A fully-equipped single frame saves 320,000 kilowatt-hours per annum. OceanStor Dorado, the world's fastest intelligent all-flash storage : These high-end storage products are tailored for the enterprise market. They boost the world's fastest performance (7,000,565 SPC-1 IOPS) and high reliability (0.5ms stable latency). To date, OceanStor Dorado has achieved large-scale commercial use in seven of the world's top 20 banks.

: These high-end storage products are tailored for the enterprise market. They boost the world's fastest performance (7,000,565 SPC-1 IOPS) and high reliability (0.5ms stable latency). To date, OceanStor Dorado has achieved large-scale commercial use in seven of the world's top 20 banks. World's first software-defined AI cameras: Huawei's X series cameras, equipped with Huawei AI chipsets, can define scenarios as required, implement layered intelligence, sense their own status, adapt to scenarios, and ensure continued service. Using a one-to-many connection function, the software-defined AI cameras can also "lend" their AI computing power to traditional cameras, effectively upgrading them to AI cameras.

Huawei's Digital Transformation of Industries Summit, a platform to discuss new opportunities

Huawei Enterprise aims to bring digital to every organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. To explore how customers can address ever-changing market needs in a new mobile era and achieve success in digital transformation, Huawei Enterprise will hold the Digital Transformation of Industries Summit in Theatre B, Hall 8, Fira Gran Via on February 25, 2019 at 14:00. Together with global customers and partners, Huawei Enterprise will share with the audience what makes digital transformation possible, and outline its digital platform strategy.

Huawei Enterprise's "Platform + Ecosystem" strategy is designed to help governments and enterprises unlock the power of ICT to succeed in the digital economy. As part of this strategy, Huawei is committed to providing ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive intelligence to drive growth, innovation and value in this fast-evolving digital world.

More than 700 cities around the world and 211 Fortune Global 500 companies, including 48 of the top 100, have already chosen Huawei Enterprise as their partner in digital transformation.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824895/Huawei_Qiu_Heng.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824921/Huawei_pre_MWC_19.jpg


Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 20, 2019) - TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (FSE: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce to announce that it has appointed Haywood Securities Inc. ("Haywood") to act as lead agent on behalf of a syndicate of agents to be formed, including Gravitas Securities Inc. (collectively, the "Agents") to sell, by way of a private placement on a best efforts basis, up to 5,000,000 units of the Company (each a "Unit") at a price of $2.00 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds of up to $10,000,000 (the "Offering"), subject to receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals.

Each Unit will comprise one common share of the Company (each a "Share") and one half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire an additional Share at a price of $3.00 for a period of 36 months from the date of closing of the Offering (the "Closing Date").

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to partially fund the acquisition of the 196,000 sq ft cannabis facility as announced on February 4, 2019 and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The Company still anticipates it will seek a commercial lending facility to secure the full purchase price for the facility and once it has executed definitive documentation for such a facility, it will provide a further update on the progress of the acquisition. The completion of the Offering will be conditional upon the Company being in a position to complete the facility acquisition.

The Company will, upon the closing of the Offering: 1) pay the Agents a commission equal to 8.0% of the gross proceeds of the Offering, payable in cash or in Units at the discretion of the Agents; and 2) issue to the Agents compensation options (the "Compensation Options") equal to 8.0% of the Units sold, subject to compliance with all required regulatory approvals. The Compensation Options will entitle the Agent's to purchase Units at an exercise price per Compensation Option that is equal to the Issue Price and have a term of 36 months from the Closing Date. The Company will also pay to the Agents a corporate finance fee of $250,000 of which 50% will be payable in cash and 50% will be payable in Units at the Issue Price.

The Offering may be completed in multiple closings, with the final closing expected to occur on or before March 28, 2019, subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

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 size and terms of the Offering, the Closing Date and the ability of the Company to complete the Offering and the facility acquisition. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42958
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is currently gearing up for the release of his controversial film Lakshmi's NTR, which revolves around the relationship between the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and his second wife Lakshmi Parvathi. The film's trailer released on February 14, 2019, and it became the talk of the town in no time. Lakshmi's NTR reportedly shows Chandrababu Naidu and the Nandamuri family in bad light. The 'reel biopic of NTR' will hit screens after NTR Mahanayakudu, which releases tomorrow (February 22, 2019).

Lakshmi's NTR has diluted the buzz around NTR Mahanayakudu and has become a problem for Balakrishna. Now, here is some more unexpected news for NBK fans.

RGV just took to Twitter and praised Rana Daggubati's look as Chandrababu Naidu.

"Hey @RanaDaggubati ..U are KILLING IT ..U are looking more original than original," he added.

Replying to this tweet, Rana thanked him for his kind words.

Rana shares a decent rapport with RGV and even acted in his Hindi film Department. As such, there is nothing too surprising about the exchange. However, in light of the Lakshmi's NTR controversy, Nandamuri fans might not approve of Rana's actions.

Either way, we wish Rana Daggubati good luck for NTR Mahanayakudu and hope that he makes an impact with his performance.
Kangana Ranaut requests PM Modi to scrap Article 370; Check Out | FilmiBeat

The ghastly terror attack in the Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir where more than 44 CRPF jawans were martyred has left the entire country in deep shock and grief. Kangana Ranaut has requested PM Modi to scrap article 370 that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir and also limits the powers of the Parliament for making laws concerning the state.

When asked to comment on the Pulwama Terrorist Attack, the 'Manikarnika' actress said, "First of all we should stop calling it an attack on soldiers, it's an attack on each one of us because soldiers are our defence and they martyred for us.

Any Indian, who is presently feeling that they are doing some 'ehsaan' on the soldiers by showing sympathy, they should just remember ki hamla hum par hua hai. Defence of your house is for you and our soldiers made the supreme sacrifice for us and our anger is justified."

"We should use this time to do something constructive and it's my sincere request to our Prime Minister to scrap article 370. There shouldn't be a state in the country, whose people, even after so many years of independence, are still confused as to which side do they belong. They don't know which country they belong to. I think all Indians should come together and request our Prime Minister and make sure that it happens," Kangana further added.

The actress also spoke about the ban on Pakistani artistes and said, "People in Pakistan love our films and love us but somewhere we need to draw the line. There is a religion for everything, war also has its own religion. In this, we are with our country. And the people of Pakistan should be inspired. They are with their country and we are with ours. There are no two ways about it. We are with our soldiers, our government and our soil." She further added, "There should be no conflict. If families of the soldiers are hurt then why should we entertain Pakistani artists? Emotions of the families are most important right now."

Total Dhamaal Box Office Prediction: This Ajay-Anil Starrer Expected To Collect Rs 13 Crore On Day 1
Aamir Khan meets Rishi Kapoor in New York during his treatment; Here's the PROOF | FilmiBeat

Rishi Kapoor and his wife Neetu Kapoor are currently stationed in New York for the former's medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment. While rumours are rife about Rishi suffering from cancer, the Kapoor clan are tight-lipped about his health. Amidst all this, Aamir Khan recently paid a visit to Rishi and Neetu in Big Apple.

Neetu shared a picture of Aamir's visit on Instagram with a heart-warming caption for the 'Thugs Of Hindostan' actor.

Framed! Posting this picture on Instagram, Neetu wrote, "It's not how many hours one spends with a person, it's how much you give in that time. Aamir gave so much and more - Love, respect, warmth and laughter. He is a true superstar." Laughter & Smiles Earlier, Priyanka Chopra too had paid a visit to Rishi-Neetu in New York. The 'desi girl' had shared this click and captioned it as, "Was so good seeing you both Neetu Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor. Laughter and smiles as always!" Posing For The Camera Sonali Bendre too had dropped by with hubby Goldie Behl to visit the Kapoors. Picture-Perfect Meanwhile, their son Ranbir Kapoor's girlfriend Alia Bhatt too celebrated the New Year with Rishi and Neetu.

Before flying off to US for medical treatment, Rishi tweeted, "Hello all! I am taking a short leave of absence from work to go to America for some medical treatment. I urge my well wishers not to worry or unnecessarily speculate. It's been 45 years "plus"of wear and tear at the movies. With your love and good wishes,I will be back soon!"

When rumours about him being diagnosed with cancer started floating around, his brother Randhir Kapoor was quoted as saying, "I don't know much about it but this much I can tell you that Rishi is doing well. Let people say whatever they want to. That he is doing is well is evident from the photo that I, too, have seen. He is having a good time with everyone and has stepped out to enjoy a good meal."

He had further added, "He will soon be coming back to India. We are looking forward to that right now."

Katrina Kaif Has The Sweetest Reaction On Deepika Padukone's Goofy Pictures With Her Mother!
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The Senegal police arrested Pujari on January 22, this year on the basis of red corner notice issued against him.

Mumbai: After gangster Ravi Pujaris arrest in Senegal, the Mumbai crime branch has moved an application before the special MCOCA court seeking issuance of warrant against Pujari in prominent lawyer Majeed Memon firing case. The agency has already received issued warrants against him in a few extortion cases.

In July 2005, two gunmen had shot at advocate Memon outside his residence at Almira Road in suburban Bandra but he escaped unhurt. Later, the Ravi Pujari gang owned responsibility for the attack on Memon.

Pujari, who was earlier an associate of gangster Chhota Rajan, while taking responsibility of the attack had told a television channel that he was upset over Memon defending the accused in bomb blast cases.

The Senegal police arrested Pujari on January 22, this year on the basis of red corner notice issued against him. Pujari has been on the run for the last 15 years.

The crime branch in its application, filed before the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court earlier this week, said, that Pujari has been arrested in Senegal on basis of red corner notice. In light of these you are kindly requested to issue fresh non-bailable warrant against him for extradition process in Majid Memon firing case in 2005.

Special Judge S.M. Bhosale has adjourned the hearing on the application till Thursday.

Pujari has been named in several extortion cases and the probe agency has managed to get issued few arrest warrants against him in few of the cases.
Gov. Jim Justice, somewhat belatedly, has come around to admit that the states vaccination effort has hit a wall and that, at its current pace, we will not reach herd immunity anytime soon.
The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS.

We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover.

We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.
Police are appealing for witnesses after a gunman shot a sheep in the face, leaving the vet with no other option but to put it down.

The sheep was shot in the right side of its face and was found with part of its face and jaw missing in Totley Moss, Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Police are now appealing for witnesses or from anyone who is aware of anyone who shot the sheep.

A statement by the police said: We are appealing for witnesses or from anyone who is aware of anyone who has shot the sheep in the image or any sheep in the area.

This sheep has been shot in right side of its face. The sheep was not killed outright and was found by the farmer the next morning with part of its jaw and face missing as in images.

The sheep has now been put down.

Data shows rural crime cost the UK 44.5m in 2017 with the future trend showing a rise in this form of crime as thieves become more brazen as they target the countryside.

Anyone with any information is being asked to call 101, quoting the incident number 364-190219.
Farmers have backed the launch of a public consultation on livestock worrying which works to provide protection against the crime.

At the Scottish Parliament on Thursday (21 February), Emma Harper MSP launched a public consultation ahead of a proposed Members Bill to tackle incidents of dogs attacking livestock.

The proposed bill aims to give police, courts and potentially other agencies more powers to properly tackle offences of dogs attacking livestock.

Livestock attacks continue to be a blight on the farming industry. According to figures revealed last year by NFU Mutual, the number of dog attacks on sheep has risen by 67% in two years in Scotland.

And last year, Police Scotland had 338 incidents of attacks on livestock by dogs reported to them.

NFU Scotland launched a campaign earlier in February to influence a change in behaviours of irresponsible dog owners and encourage them to keep their dogs on a lead when walking on farmland.

Out of 340 responses from a recent survey undertaken by the union, 72 per cent of farmers said they had an issue with livestock worrying on their land.

Meanwhile, 84 per cent of responses felt the outdoor access code requiring on a lead or under close control didnt provide sufficient protection to them or their livestock.

Martin Kennedy, Vice President of NFU Scotland said: Last year the union outlined key asks that it would like to see within a bill  in particular higher fines, a ban on owning dogs and additional powers for the police  so we are delighted that some of these asks are included within the proposed bill from Emma Harper MSP.

Irresponsible dog owners need to realise the impact they are having on farmers and crofters and their livestock. It is not necessarily about the financial losses they face, but the trauma for livestock and their offspring, as well as the emotional impact on the farmer and their family.

He added: We would encourage as many farmers and crofters as possible to fill out this consultation within the 12-week window to provide a true reflection of the extent dog attacks on livestock continue to have on our industry.
Farmers must be prepared to dedicate time and resource to health and safety standards to avoid falling foul of government inspections, an agricultural risk expert has warned.

Farmers risk serious or face severe penalties if they are found to have flouted regulation following the launch of the latest raft of targeted on-farm inspections by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The initiative will see inspectors visiting hundreds of farms up until March 2019, as part of HSEs continued efforts to crackdown on high rates of death and serious injury in the industry and change attitudes to risk.

Agriculture represents just 1.2 per cent of the workforce in Great Britain but accounts for 20 per cent of reported work-related fatalities each year.

HSE has previously estimated the economic cost of workplace injury and ill health in agriculture to be 293m.

In 2017/18, 33 people were killed in agriculture  around 18 times higher than the all industry fatal injury rate  and 13,000 people are estimated to suffer from a non-fatal injury  double the all industry rate.

Additionally, there are estimated to be 15,000 cases of occupational ill-health reported to be caused or made worse by work each year.

Richard Wade, risk specialist for Farmers and Mercantile Insurance Brokers (FMIB), urged farmers to take workplace risk seriously.

Agriculture is an industry in which risks are poorly managed, evidenced by persistently high rates of death, serious injury and ill-health, he said.

There are a number of factors that make managing risk a challenge  more farmers are having to work alone, to an older age, and with more high-powered machinery.

More and more farmers are also under financial strain, so dedicating precious time and resources to managing risk may be a low priority for them  particularly if they are self-employed.

Mr Wade said farmers cannot afford to 'pay lip service' to health and safety. A lax attitude to health and safety policies, letting standards slip or ineffectively managing risk is a false economy; if breaches are found during inspections or after workplace incidents, farmers will find themselves in hot water, facing huge fines or even jail-time.

Key risk areas

During farm visits, inspectors will look at key risk areas, including machinery, falls from height, and livestock  which account for many of the fatal and non-fatal injuries  as well as child safety.

Two children were killed in agriculture last year  the youngest being just four years old.

Mr Wade said that farmers should not be panicked by these inspections and that it presents an opportunity to implement robust risk management procedures, if they are not already in place.

The best way to deal with a HSE inspection is to ensure that you are compliant with health and safety law. We know farmers are incredibly busy and may feel they do not have the time to review, implement and enforce better health and safety standards.

But farmers can take simple, practical steps to improve their performance. Firstly, they should identify the risks posed by their business and create health and safety policies aimed at reducing these risks.

He added: Farmers who are hard-pressed for time should consider appointing someone within the business to look after health and safety policies and procedures, ensuring they have the training and knowledge required, or seek support from an external expert, who can identify gaps and missed opportunities, as well as make recommendations for improvements.

Tougher penalties

Mr Wade said that farmers should also bear in mind the tougher penalties imposed on those who breach health and safety laws.

Following a shake-up to sentencing guidelines, farming companies with a turnover of up to 2m who are found to have breached the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 can now expect to pay fines of up to 450,000.

Individuals found guilty of breaching the law can be handed unlimited fines or face a two-year prison sentence.

In 2017/18, the HSE issues 272 improvement notices and 68 prohibition notices to businesses in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Out of 17 prosecution cases, 16 resulted in a guilty verdict. The fines from these prosecutions totalled around 300,000  an average finer per case of 19,000.
Catholic Church's regulations for investigation of, both priests accused of molestation and superiors accused of covering up, explained.

Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of priests at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican recently. (Photo: AP)

Vatican City: For centuries, the Vatican's canon law system busied itself with banning books and dispensing punishments that included burnings at the stake for heretics. These days, the Vatican office that eventually replaced the Roman Catholic Inquisition is knee-deep in processing clergy sex abuse cases.

The procedures of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be on display this week as high-ranking bishops summoned by Pope Francis attend an unprecedented four-day tutorial on preventing sex abuse and prosecuting paedophile priests.

In countries where clergy are required to report child abuse, bishops and superiors of religious orders are supposed to notify police when someone alleges that a priest molested a child and they are supposed to cooperate with any investigations.

However, the policy is non-binding and only was articulated publicly in 2010 when the Vatican posted it on its website. Prior to that, the Vatican long sought to prevent public law enforcement agencies from learning about abusers in the clergy.

Irish bishops who considered adopting a mandatory reporting policy in 1997 received a letter from the Vatican warning that their in-house church investigations could be compromised if they referred cases to Irish police.

Nowadays, the Vatican justifies not having a binding policy that requires all sex crimes to be reported to police by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority.

Once a bishop or superior receives an allegation of abuse by one of his priests, he is supposed to conduct a preliminary investigation. If the claim has a "semblance of truth" he sends the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for review (CDF).

The superior often will remove the priest from public ministry pending the outcome of the investigation. The CDF, has a staff of 17 canon lawyers who process the cases. There has long been a case backlog, however and at one point Francis acknowledged it had topped 2,000 with cases taking years to reach a verdict.

Usually, the CDF sends the case back to the bishop to investigate more fully, either through a full canonical trial or via an expedited administrative process. If the evidence is overwhelming and serious, the CDF can send the case straight to the pope to decide the priest's fate.

Penalties can range from the mild, a temporary suspension from publicly celebrating the sacraments or exercising ministry, to the more serious, such as defrocking, which is removing a cleric from the priesthood. Elderly priest abusers often have been spared defrockings, even for heinous crimes. Instead, they were given a lifetime of "penance and prayer."

Just last week, though, Francis defrocked 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick, the once-prominent American cardinal who was convicted by the Vatican's canon law tribunal of sexually abusing minors and adults.
A report by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives' Oversight Committee notes how the White House is putting pressure on lawmakers in order to sign plush contracts with the Saudis. In the past, negotiations ended in failure because of Saudi opposition to safeguards. The president is directly involved in the matter.

Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Trump administration is putting pressure on Congress to facilitate the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, despite the risk that Riyadh could produce its own atomic bomb.

House Democrats are saying the White House is lobbying hard to get congressional approval to supply Saudi Arabia through corporate interests close to the US president. Ostensibly, the aim is to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia.

However, this is likely to "destabilise" even more the region and trigger an escalation with Iran, which agreed in 2015 to put on hold its nuclear ambitions in a deal reached with then US President Barack Obama. Trump scrapped the deal in May 2018.

A report by the House of Representatives' Oversight Committee notes that an inquiry into the matter is "particularly critical because the Administration's efforts to transfer sensitive US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing.

The White has not yet said anything about the report. However, President Trump has met with nuclear power developers at the White House on 12 February to discuss building plants in Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia.

Trump's son-in-law, White House adviser Jared Kushner, plans to tour the Middle East this month to discuss the economics of the Trump administration's peace plan.

The White Houses willingness to transfer nuclear technology to the Saudis is a further sign of the close economic and diplomatic link between Washington and Riyadh against Iran.

Last November, the two countries signed a US$ 15 billion contract to sell the THAAD anti-missile defence system to the Saudis. In March 2018 they had already inked a deal to sell weapons to the kingdom, despite congressional opposition and criticism from human rights groups.

Many US lawmakers have been critical of the plan as it would violate US laws guarding against the transfer of nuclear technology that could be used to support a weapons programme.

They also believe giving Saudi Arabia access to nuclear technology would spark a dangerous arms race in a region already affected by sectarian violence.

Saudi Arabia has said it wants nuclear power in order to diversify its energy sources and help address growing energy needs as well reduce reliance on oil.

Previous negotiations for US nuclear technology ground to a halt when Saudi Arabia refused to agree to safeguards against using the technology for weaponry, but this is no longer an issue for the Trump administration, which does not seem interested in imposing restrictions.

Congressional Democrats, who have been critical of Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi murder and the Yemen War, control the committee that issued the report. The latter is based on whistleblower accounts and documents showing communications between Trump administration officials and nuclear power companies.

It states that "within the US, strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively for the transfer of highly sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia".

These commercial entities could "reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia". Mr Trump is reportedly "directly engaged in the effort".
The Countryside Alliance has written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid to warn that proposals for the UK's immigration policy outside the EU create a real risk of labour shortages in the rural economy.

The warning was issued in response to the governments White Paper on immigration which was published at the end of the last year.

A 12-month period of consultation between the Home Office and interested groups has now commenced.

The White Paper is focused on high skilled migration, but the Countryside Alliance has highlighted the need in rural areas for low skilled workers, particularly at important times of the year.

It sets out a route for short-term low skilled workers but will be subject to tightly defined conditions. The government will also set restrictions on nationalities, duration and possibly numbers.

This route is also only intended to be a transitional measure to enable employers to change their ways of working, but the Countryside Alliance has stressed that for many rural businesses, reliance upon low skilled workers cannot be avoided.

Seasonal scheme

The rural organisation has called for the reintroduction of a seasonal agricultural workers scheme, or equivalent scheme, to allow farmers and rural businesses to access labour from abroad after the UK leaves the EU.

The government has announced plans for a pilot scheme, to commence in April this year, but this will only allow 2,500 workers to enter the UK from outside the EU.

The UK requires approximately 80,000 seasonal agricultural workers every year and the Office for National Statistics has stated that 99 per cent of these workers come from countries within the EU.

Countryside Alliance's James Somerville-Meikle said rural areas 'must not be overlooked' in this process.

The proposals set out in the White Paper make it even more important that the government introduces a seasonal agricultural workers scheme, he said.

There is no certainty about access to the EU labour market for low skill workers and the government must recognise the particular needs of farming and rural employers to ensure that a living a working countryside can be sustained outside the EU. The government must make sure its proposals are rural proofed.
The government has urged farming businesses to prepare for changes to animal imports and exports in the event of a 'no-deal' Brexit.

New guidance has been published by Defra to ensure import and export trade in animals, animal products, food and feed can continue in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

This guidance aims to help minimise disruption for businesses and allow the continued movement of goods, while helping to maintain the UK's biosecurity, food safety and animal welfare standards.

In the event of a no-deal, to continue to export to the EU the UK will need to be listed as a third country.

Negotiations are currently under way to secure this listing, and the government says it is 'confident' that it will be in place before the UK leaves the EU.

However, it could take months for such a status to be granted to the UK. And despite confidence from the government, the farming industry is overwhelmingly against leaving the EU with no deal.

The lamb industry would be particularly impacted. In 2017, 31% of domestic sheep meat production, the equivalent of 4.5 million sheep, was exported and 94% was destined for the EU.

The NFU is concerned that such a scenario would be 'catastrophic' for food production in Britain and that it would bring farms to the 'brink of collapse'.

Export Health Certificate

According to Defra's new guidance, businesses exporting animals and animal products to the EU will need to apply for an Export Health Certificate (EHC) before they export in the event of a no-deal.

This will make them the same as businesses who export these goods to the rest of the world who already have to apply for EHCs.

They will also need to make sure their trade route passes through a Border Inspection Posts when entering Europe as well as being aware of wider customs requirements, the guidance says.

For those businesses importing to the UK, there will not be any new checks or requirements, but importers will need to notify authorities using a new process.

Businesses will need to use a new system called the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS), which aims to minimise disruption for businesses, allow the continued movement of goods and help to maintain biosecurity and food safety.

Businesses importing animals and animal products from within the EU will need to use a separate interim system until the summer.

Defra's Minister for Food and Animal Welfare, David Rutley said: Our top priority remains delivering a negotiated deal, but it is the job of a responsible government to ensure we are prepared for all scenarios, including no deal.

If you or your business export or import animals and animal products or imports high risk food and feed you will need to prepare for a number of changes in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019.
CHARDON, Ohio  The Geauga Beef and Swine 4-H met Feb. 3, at 4 p.m. It was Super Bowl Sunday and during role call, everyone stated who they wanted to win.

Four members gave reports on a topic related to their 4-H project. After reports, they learned about swine breeds, beef breeds, tips to keep animals warm in the winter, tips for raising meat birds, how to select 4-H pigs and about having passion in your life and 4-H project.

The club will be competing in the Geauga County Window Display Contest March 3-9, to promote the 4-H program. The display will be at Mapledale Farm in Hambden Township. If you have any questions, contact Nancy Wetzel at 440-286-8671.

  

WELLINGTON, Ohio  On Jan. 13, the Lorain County Saddle Horse Banquet was held in Wellington. Macy Paller was recognized for being eighth, in-state horse bowl team, and as the third overall/honorable in beginner showmanship, fifth overall in walk trot western pleasure, and fifth in walk trot horsemanship.

Callie Finnegan was recognized at this banquet, as well, for state achievements and also for earning reserve champion in the 9-13 year-old showmanship, reserve champion walk trot English equitation, reserve champion walk trot English pleasure, and various other high finishes.

At the end of the banquet she was awarded the revolving trophy as the Champion Walk Trot Horseman for 2018. The Walk/ Trot Award was originally donated by the Lorain County Junior Horse Council and is now funded by Amherst Critters & Such 4-H Club.

  

ELLSWORTH, Ohio  The Western Reserve Rangers 4-H Club recently elected club officers for 2019. President is William Reph; vice presidents, Emma Reph and Isabel Schors; secretaries, Olivia Haid and Collin Meehan; treasurers, Natalia Kresec and Olivia Reph; and recreation learders, Thomas Collier and Abigail Schors.

Livestock members were reminded about Quality Assurance workshops on March 2, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m, at South Range High School. Club officers explained the importance of the 4-H Code of Conduct and gave examples of good behavior both on social media and during all 4-H activities.

Youth with clothing and quilt projects will meet with Kathleen Moser and Robin Reph at the Joann ETC Store in Boardman Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. The members voted to donate funds to the 4-H sponsored Berlin and Ellsworth Townships Community Easter Egg Hunt to be help on April 19 at the Western Reserve School.

Serving on the committee for the egg hunt are Emma Reph, Olivia Reph, William Reph, Abby Schors and Isabel Schors. The Rangers 4-H Club will meet again on March 14 at 7 p.m., at the Ellsworth Fire Hall.
WILMINGTON, Ohio  Small farm owners who want to learn more about how to make their farms work better for them, expand their operations, or find ways to utilize acreage can attend two small farm conferences this spring.

 Seeds to Success, March 16, Northwest State Community College, 22600 state Route 34, Archbold.

Participants will be able to choose from 24 sessions with Ohio State and industry experts, and attend a trade show for small farmers.

 Opening Doors to Success, March 29 and 30, OSU South Centers, Piketon.

Friday activities will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the PSA Grower Training Course to satisfy the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement.

On Saturday, the conference will feature 31 sessions from Ohio State and industry experts, and a trade show for small farmers.

The two conferences will not cover all the same speakers or topics. Some topics include poultry production, forages and hay, livestock production, and aquaculture.

The conferences are an outgrowth of the Ohio New and Small Farm College, an eight-week program created by OSU Extension that offers an introduction to the business of small farming for those new to the industry.

For more information, visit agnr.osu.edu/small-farm-programs or contact Tony Nye, Ohio State University educator and Small Farm Program leader, at 937-382-0901 or nye.1@osu.edu.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.  Widespread adoption by dairy farmers of injecting manure into the soil instead of spreading it on the surface could be crucial to restoring Chesapeake Bay water quality, according to researchers who compared phosphorus runoff from fields treated by both methods.

However, they predict it will be difficult to persuade farmers to change practices. In a four-year study, overland and subsurface flows from 12 hydrologically isolated research plots at Penn States Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center were measured and sampled for all phosphorus constituents and total solids during and after precipitation events.

During that period, from January 2013 to May 2017, the plots were planted with summer crops of corn and winter cover crops of cereal rye. Half the plots received broadcast manure applications, while the others had manure injected into the soil.

Researchers evaluated loads of total phosphorus, dissolved phosphorus, particulate phosphorus and total solids against flow volumes to learn how phosphorus and sediment losses differed between plots.

Diluting nutrients

Shallow-disk injection of manure was found to be more effective than broadcasting manure in promoting dilution of dissolved phosphorus and to a lesser extent, total phosphorus. The broadcast manure plots experienced more runoff of particulate phosphorus than did the injection plots.

Importantly for no-till advocates, no difference was detected between application methods for total solids in the runoff  meaning manure injection, with its slight disturbance of the soil surface, did not cause sedimentation.

No-till practitioners, who constitute slightly more than half of the dairy farmers in Pennsylvania, have been slow to adopt manure injection due to concerns about the practice causing sedimentation and muddying streams.

Variability

However, the precision and accuracy of the study, recently published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, was constrained by hydrologic variability, conceded Jack Watson, professor of soil science and soil physics, Penn State.

His research group in the College of Agricultural Sciences conducted the study. Watson pointed out that the findings demonstrate that, even at a small scale, the effectiveness of a practice in accomplishing water quality benefits varies.

This has been the case with previous phosphorus-mitigation field studies, as well, he said. Even studies done with carefully constructed research plots like ours, which allow us to collect, measure, test and contrast runoff, are confounded by hydrologic variability.

But despite the variability, the findings showed that manure injection decreased the overall phosphorus losses, according to lead researcher Melissa Miller, a masters degree student in soil science when she conducted the study.

When we looked at the total phosphorus losses from the plots, we were able to see a strong trend, she said. It was revealed in both overland and subsurface flows following rain events. That variability, however, complicates efforts to convince dairy farmers they should convert to manure injection, noted research team member Heather Gall, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering.

Manure injection

She suggested that the practice, widely adopted, could help states comply with total maximum daily load stream regulations set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect the Chesapeake Bay from nutrient pollution and associated algal blooms and dead zones.

When we make recommendations to farmers about what they can do to improve runoff quality, we want to be able to tell them how well it will work, she said. But how much manure injection will reduce the amount of phosphorus loss on a particular farm can depend on site characteristics, such as what kind of soil it has, what kind of crops are growing and the slope of the landscape. And so, we might not be able to tell a farmer definitively what to expect in terms of load-reduction benefits, making it difficult to make a compelling case that an investment in shallow-disc manure injection equipment will be worthwhile.

Costly investment

Watson explained that manure injection equipment is expensive and that it takes longer and requires more fuel for farmers to apply manure to their fields using injection than broadcasting or spreading it.

For shallow-disc manure injection to be broadly implemented in the Chesapeake Bay drainage, he said, it will require substantial financial support from government or other off-farm sources. But it needs to be done, Watson believes.

In the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, we have a lot of dairy animals concentrated in a small area. We have all this manure that has to be gotten rid of and all the nutrients that go with it have to be disposed of on a small amount of land. It must be done in a way that will protect the Chesapeake Bay, he said.

And even if the phosphorus reductions are uncertain due to site variability, Watson added, there are the additional benefits from manure injection, such as reducing ammonia volatilization and reducing odor emissions, which have significant value as well.
CANFIELD, Ohio  Robin Adams has been named the 2019 National Excellence in EFNEP Award winner. Adams will receive the award at a recognition celebration at the 2019 EFNEP Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 12.

Adams is well known in Mahoning County for successfully teaching EFNEP nutrition education classes to limited resource families and her work in food security issues. She is employed by the Ohio State University Extension office in Canfield.

Outstanding individual

The Excellence in EFNEP Award recognizes outstanding teaching, creativity to improve program reach and effectiveness in EFNEP programming and positive influence in the community.

Robin consistently provides high-quality programming, said Ohio State University EFNEP director, Maria Carmen Lambea states. She is passionate about her work and the participants in her classes.

EFNEP is active in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Micronesia and American Samoa. EFNEP is administered by USDA and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) in cooperation with the State Cooperative Extension Services via 76 land grant universities, including Ohio State University.

EFNEP focuses on limited-resource families with an emphasis on parents and other adult caregivers who have primary responsibilities of feeding young children, as well as specialized programs for moms-to-be and new parents.

The program also contains a youth component for ages 5-19 delivered in classrooms.

Adams resides in Berlin Center with her husband, Steve. She is the mother of two sons and grandmother of two grandsons.

She is a long-time active 4-H club adviser and assists in coordinating the Carteens program at the Ohio State Extension office in Canfield.
WOOSTER, Ohio  With more than two dozen facility projects approved or under construction, the agricultural campuses at Ohio State University are taking on a new look.

Projects are underway at the main campus in Columbus, at the Wooster campus and at locations across the state  in an effort to modernize facilities and keep them relevant for todays students and faculty.

More than $100 million is earmarked for new buildings and renovations, the largest construction effort within the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in decades. But those leading the project say its more than brick and mortar, especially given the diversity and complexity of modern agricultural research.

Graham Cochran, associate dean for operations, said facilities being built range from traditional classroom buildings to laboratories, greenhouses and outdoor research environments, like livestock barns and crop fields.

Science building

One of the highlights of the Wooster campus, with a groundbreaking planned for April or May, is the $33.5 million Wooster Science Building. This massive, 60,000 square foot building will be located near the front of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center property, serving as a centerpiece for the existing colleges Agricultural Technical Institute, and the OARDC.

The Wooster Science Building will include an entomology research unit, laboratories, multi-function space, a bug zoo and a cafe and patio  intended to serve both undergraduate and graduate students.

This is really the first building on this campus that becomes, in my opinion, an integrated building on campus, said Dave Benfield, associate vice president of agricultural administration, and director of the OSU Wooster campus.

Benfield said faculty and students have wanted a cafe on campus for as long as he can remember, and now its going to happen.

And there are other lifestyle-focused improvements happening, including a new graduate housing complex, that will provide up to 10 guest rooms, and serve as a model for future campus housing.

Benfield and Cochran said its important to offer students and faculty a top-notch experience, with facilities that fit their needs.

We recruit bright graduate students, so we want to make sure were giving them good living space, Benfield said.

Other projects

Improvements also include a controlled environment food production and research building planned at the OSU Waterman property in Columbus, and a new, multi-species learning center, to be built on the same property.

In Wooster, a new farm operations and beef facility have been approved, at $4.3 million, and improvements have already been made to the Wooster swine facilities, and to cattle and caving and housing barns at the Eastern Ag Research Station, in Noble County.

Cochran said the new farm and livestock facilities are needed to keep pace with the changing livestock and crop industries. The way animals are raised and cared for has changed, with a focus on technology. And crop farming has also changed, with the need for buildings to house bigger equipment, he said.

What weve heard from a lot of our stakeholders is its about time, Cochran said.

Making progress

Change doesnt happen quickly, partly because of the cost, but also because of the planning and input required. The colleges administration is working with Facilities and Capital Planning Director Brian Hanna, as well as facility and barn managers, to design and prioritize the best solutions for now, and for the future.

Benfield and Cochran said its a process of give-and-take, not everyone gets everything they want, but that the project is being guided by the same set of goals, with similar expectations. The main goal is preparing students for careers in the ag and environmental sciences  something they say they can do better with buildings that are more in-line with industry standards.

Its very critical that the industry gets involved in this, Benfield said. What were doing is for their benefit.

The projects are being funded through OSU capital improvement funds, the Ohio Legislature, donations and private industry support.

Student exposure

Benfield and Cochran said theyre hoping the new facilities will expose more students, including those who might not come from a farming background, to career opportunities in food and agriculture.

The $35 million Controlled Environment Food Production Research Center, approved for the Waterman property in Columbus, will provide state-of-the art indoor growing space and food research. The $5.4 million Waterman Multispecies Animal Learning Center will include an indoor livestock arena, with seating for students or for special events.

Benfield and Cochran said the Waterman property is unique, because it allows the university to market ag careers in one of the countrys largest cities, and in a convenient place where plant research, animals, and people can coexist.

We need to continue to do a better job of getting young people that arent coming from rural areas and arent coming from farm backgrounds, interested in agriculture, Benfield said. We can do a better job of that with first-class facilities.

  

List of projects (values rounded):

Projects completed since 2017:

 Howlett Hall and ag administration labs, classrooms and offices (Columbus) $3.4 million

 Ag Engineering roof replacement (Columbus) $2 million

 Selby Greenhouse improvements (Wooster) $1.6 million

 ATI Greenhouse replacement (Wooster) $1.5 million

Eastern Ag Research Station cattle calving/housing barns (statewide) $750,000

ATI residence hall demolition (Wooster) $527,000

ATI construction and landscape lab (Wooster) $519,000

4-H Center fifth floor buildout (Columbus) $411,000

GDAL swine gestation, farrowing and nursery facilities (Wooster) $387,000

Distance learning classrooms (Wooster) ($235,000)

Research Services conference room (Wooster) $215,000

Miscellaneous projects under $200k $3.6 million

Total completed: $15 million

Active projects as of October 2018:

Waterman Controlled Environment Food Production Research (Columbus) $35 million

Science Building (Wooster) $33.5 million

Waterman Kunz-Brundige Franklin County Extension Building (Columbus) $5.5 million

Waterman Multispecies Animal Learning Center (Design only, Columbus) $5.4 million

Farm Operations Building and Beef Facility (Wooster) $4.3 million

Williams Hall HVAC (Wooster) $3.6 million

Stone Lab Research Lab Improvements and Equipment (Lake Erie) $2.7 million

Secrest Welcome Center (Wooster) $2 million

2017 tornado recovery (Wooster) $1.2 million

Parking replacement/improvements (Wooster) $1 million

Waterman chemical storage and handling facility (Columbus) $1 million

Agricultural Administration Restroom Improvements (Columbus) $821,000

Agricultural Administration Auditorium (Columbus) $800,000

Selby Hall Cabling (Wooster) $750,000

Graduate housing (Wooster) $708,000

Campus identification (Wooster) $500,000

Pounden Hall Research Lab (Wooster) $400,000

Agronomy/Lindsey Soybean & Small Grain

Research Program Relocation $350,000

Rough accumulation of projects under $200k: $2.38 million

Total active projects today: $102 million
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.

Trade wars

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.

That means, on average, American agriculture exports 20 percent of everything it grows.

Given our farm policy, in fact, we must export 20 percent of everything we grow if U.S. farmers and ranchers are to have a fair shot at profit.

It also means that todays frozen standoffs between the White House and our biggest, most dependable ag customers must thaw to head off another year of melted margins.

Last year, according to a Feb. 7 Wall Street Journal front page story on a recent wave of farm bankruptcies, (M)edian farm income for U.S. farm households was a negative $1,548despite record productivity

But the fuel for any thaw with any tariff-targeted nation is anyones guess. In fact, todays trade fights with our biggest customers require moves by the White House that the White House isnt prepared to make.

European Union

For example, the EU recently reinforced its strong stand against including agriculture in any upcoming U.S.-EU bilateral trade talks.

Weve made it very clear that agriculture would not be included, the EU trade commissioner repeated Jan. 9.

The White House refuses to acknowledge the EUs stand and, until it does, the talks will remain just that  all talk, no deal.

Thats standoff one; standoff two is equally frozen.

Canada and Mexico

Mexico, the U.S. and Canada continue to operate under the 1993 NAFTA deal even though the White House tariffs against both  and their retaliatory tariffs on U.S. ag goods  have everyone eyeing each other with deep distrust.

Yes, there is the pending NAFTA 2.0 deal awaiting approval by all three but, say Mexico and Canada, American tariffs must be removed before any endgame begins.

Even if the Trump Administration did remove the tariffs  it requires but a presidential nod  approval of the new trade deal must go through the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives.

The chances of Democrats handing Donald Trump a political victory with the 2020 presidential campaign season well underway is roughly equivalent to the old snowball surviving in, well, you know where.

China

Last, but not least, is China, which, ironically, may be the easiest trade nut for the tariff-loving White House to crack. The reason is arithmetic: The U.S. buys nearly $400 billion more of Chinese goods than China buys of U.S. goods.

As such, any prolonged trade fight between these consumer giants threatens Chinas economy four times more than ours.

In mid-February, that reality began to take root in China-U.S. talks. A wild card, however, is the White House overplaying its advantage.

Still, both appear ready to extend their March 1 deadline if a path to reopen trade channels can be seen.

It cant come soon enough, because if trade relations with our best ag export customers remain frozen after farm country begins to thaw, its going to be a long, hot summer for ranchers, farmers and politicians alike.
by Brendan Tuma | Vikings Correspondent | Wed, Feb 20th 10:35pm EST

Adam Thielen and the Vikings are working on a contract extension for the 28-year-old wideout. (ESPN)

Fantasy Impact:

Thielen signed a four-year contract prior to 2017 that pays him peanuts to what he would command now on the open market. Minnesota doesn't appear to have a problem compensating star wideouts as just last off-season they handed Stefon Diggs a five-year, $72 million deal. Thielen is owed just over $10 million combined over the next two years.
To capture ten thousand words in a blink of the moment.

Different sections were coverd in this exihibition from science to nature to the polluted Yamuna.

A picture is worth a thousand words- this is the motto of a photojournalist. It is their objective to produce, direct truthful and bold images that tell the story for those who have no voice.

All India Working News Cameramen's Association (WNCA), the largest national body of print and electronic visual media organised 5th bi-annual photo exhibition - The Big Picture 2018-19.

General Secretary of the WNCA and curator Sondeep Shankar said "we made this association long time back in 1978. I came into running of this thing in 2009. For us it was like a creative outburst. So I thought why don't we bring pictures to the gallery wall. We organised our first show in Aug 2010. We approached Lalit Kala for the show. and there were some 220 pictures at that time.

This year 68 photographers took part in this exhibition. With 296 photographs it was quite a challenge for Sondeep to give a direction to the exhibition.

Different sections were coverd in this exihibition from science to nature to the polluted Yamuna. The Big Picture is the collective work of its members. Although the basic assignments of participants have centered on news events- the lifeblood of the media they work for.

Talking about his photographs, Abhisek Saha said "Bamboo is the most important non-wood forest product and in India is known as the 'poor man's timber'. A vast population of mainly tribals in the northeastern region of India depend on bamboo cultivation and trading to earn a living.

These photographs are moments in life capturing fleeting moments. To shoot a candid picture, outside the realm of photojournalist assigned field, as the masters of photographer Henri Cartier Bresson called it, is nothing but a reflex action.

Vajpayee was in the Lok Sabha for a trust vote. He had taken oath as prime minister just 13 days earlier, after Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single-largest party in the general elections. But the BJP, with its 161 MP's, was short of the halfway mark of 272. Still, then President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited Vajpayee to form the government and gave him two weeks to cobble together the support of enough number of MPs. This sequence of photographs show Vajpayee coming out of Parliament to submit his resignation to the President. Vajpayee served as PM three times. Kamal Narang said, descibing his photographs.
Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in residential real estate development in the People's Republic of China, the United States, and internationally. It develops residential projects, such as multi-layer apartment buildings, sub-high-rise apartment buildings, high-rise apartment buildings; and auxiliary services and amenities, such as retail outlets, leisure and health facilities, kindergartens, and schools, as well as office, mixed-use, and commercial properties. The company also acquires development sites through public auctions of government land and direct negotiations. In addition, it provides property management services for its developments and other real estate-related services. Further, the company offers landscaping engineering and management, real estate consulting and marketing, leasing management, management consulting, and technical services; operates retail stores; and installs intercom systems. Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

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Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in integrated energy, chemicals, and petroleum operations worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment is involved in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as operates a gas-to-liquids plant. The Downstream segment engages in refining crude oil into petroleum products; marketing crude oil, refined products, and lubricants; transporting crude oil and refined products through pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacturing and marketing commodity petrochemicals, and fuel and lubricant additives, as well as plastics for industrial uses. Chevron Corporation is also involved in the cash management and debt financing activities; insurance operations; real estate activities; and technology businesses. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corporation and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in San Ramon, California.

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FAIRFIELD  The town allocates more than half of its entire budget toward education, and residents often tout the quality of Fairfield schools as a primary reason for moving into town.

But with a 5 percent increase in their budget ask  totaling $182.3 million and the largest in 10 years  for the 2020 fiscal year, town officials are looking at how all the pieces will fit to also keep taxes low.

First Selectman Mike Tetreau, said the department heads have worked in order to accommodate shrinking state aid and unfunded mandates.

Its a challenge. The 5 percent increase is not easy, Tetreau said.

Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones proposed budget was approved unanimously by the Board of Education on Jan. 24.

Jones praised her teams work and advocated that the budget focuses on what matters with a majority of the increase allotted to contract increases, utilities and maintenance projects.

Its hard to find a top-level economist who doesnt acknowledge the importance of great schools on local economy, Jones said.

To accommodate the schools budget request of 3.1 percent last year, the town cut down on asphalt paving and sidewalk maintenance, which went down by $500,000 and $20,000, respectively. This year, the town cant put off efforts to maintain the sidewalks.

The No. 1 question for this budget year is can the town afford that?  Tetreau said, also referencing a nearly $4 million decreasein state aid in recent years. Im certainly a longtime supporter of our educational system.

Tetreau makes his budget public Feb. 26, with a presentation to follow March 4.

When asked about an estimate on a possible budget increase for the towns side, Tetreau said he was not yet ready to provide one.

This year, the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance will hold separate budget hearings during March. The Representative Town Meetings hearings will take place in April.

Board of Finance Chairman Tom Flynn said the board considers three things as they pore over numbers: is it fair to the taxpayer, what state actions could impact the budget and does it provide appropriate town services.

Its always important to go to the table with open minds and hear from individual department heads regarding their budget requests, Flynn said.

Regarding the education budget, Flynn said he had asked the Board of Education in previous years to look at structural changes regarding their services.

Flynn also cited decreases in state aid toward wealthier towns in Fairfield County and that the state budget, which is approved after the towns, would also have an impact.

We dont know how the pieces will fit together yet, Flynn said.

humberto.juarez@hearstmediact.com
They were also seen consoling the members of the bereaved family.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the partys UP unit chief Raj Babbar meet the family members of the slain CRPF jawan Pradeep Kumar, who lost his life in the Pulwama terror attack, at his residence in Shamli, UP, on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Sending across a subtle message of solidarity with the families of the martyrs of the Pulwama attack, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday attended a prayer meeting in western Uttar Pradeshs Shamli for CRPF jawan Amit Kumar Kori, who was killed in the attack.

Wednesday's visit though is just a precursor to around more such proposed visits by Mr Gandhi and Ms Vadra to families of martyrs in the coming days in Uttar Pradesh.

According to party sources, both the leaders are likely to visit families of the remaining Pulwama martyrs who belong to Uttar Pradesh between February 23 and 24, 2019 and offer their condolences to them.

They later also visited the family of another martyr from Shamli, constable Pradeep Kumar.

Out of the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed when a suicide bomber belonging to Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad had rammed an explosives-laden SUV into a bus carrying them on February 14, 12 belonged to Uttar Pradesh alone.

On Wednesday, both Mr Gandhi and Ms Vadra paid tribute to the slain soldier Amit Kumar. They were also seen consoling the members of the bereaved family.

In these moments of grief, we are with you... His (Kori's) father told us that he is sad, but at the same time proud (of his son). And I want to say that we are sad, but at the same time we are proud that a family of this country gave love to its son and educated him. The son gave his love, body and heart to the country. We can never forget this thing, the Congress president said.

He further said, my sister said that in a way our father (former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) had also met the same fate. We understand your pain and agony. We are here to sit only for five minutes with you and to tell all of you that we want to share your grief."

The Congress president said India is a country of bravehearts and no power in the world can push it backwards. "From the bottom of our heart and on behalf of the country, I thank you, your son and the entire family," Mr Gandhi added.
FAIRFIELD  A lawsuit between the town and Julian Enterprises will continue with an arbitration hearing, despite a last-minute effort by the town to restore the case to court.

The lawsuit  which spans back to May 2017  is centered around a fill pile at Richard White Way, a site that has been reported to contain contaminated materials and is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by Fairfield police.

Currently, the parties are in arbitration to resolve the conflict outside of court.

Heres what we know about some frequently asked questions regarding the fill pile and the ongoing lawsuit.

What is the fill pile?

The fill pile, a site where construction debris and other materials were disposed of, at Richard White Way had been in place for decades. The town hired Julian in 2013 to manage the size of the pile.

In early 2017, a low amount of lead and PCBs were found at the pile, discovered by an environmental professional hired by the town. The site was shut down and a cleanup was completed in February of 2018.

Currently, the fill pile is essentially out of the neighbors view after it was covered by a green berm in July of last year.

How did the lawsuit begin?

The town sued Julian for breach of contract and for $3 million back in May 2007. The town claimed that the company had not abided by its contract to reduce the level of the fill pile at Richard White Way.

Julian, days after, filed its own lawsuit against the town for defamation, claiming that town officials had made false comments against the company. The company also alleged that the Department of Public Works had dumped contaminated products into the landfill.

What and when is the arbitration hearing?

Arbitration hearings are typically a closed-door affair, according to Town Attorney Stanton Lesser, who said such at a Board of Finance meeting back in January.

The arbitration agreement was originally agreed to by both the town and Julian on Nov. 15. The document states that the arbitrator can issue any award and that the parties agree that the decision is final and binding and reviewable under only limited circumstances by statute.

According to Tom Cotter, an attorney representing Julian Enterprises, the new arbitration hearing is scheduled for June 6-7. Judge Elaine Gordon, formerly a Connecticut Superior Court judge from 1988 to 2011, will be the arbitrator.

First Selectman Mike Tetreau, after pushback from town officials and board members, said that they have instructed their attorneys to request the arbitration hearing be made public and hire a court reporter to make a record of the proceedings.

What is the criminal investigation about?

Also in the summer of 2007, Fairfield police received complaints from town residents about the volume of material at the fill pile and the excessive truck traffic traveling in the beach area according to Chief of Police Chris Lyddy.

The investigation is active, open and ongoing according to Lyddy. If the investigation merits probable cause, a warrant application will be submitted to the States Attorney Office for review.

What else should I read to understand this story?

Fairfield works to cut down pile of debris at DPW site

Fill pile activity set to decrease

PCBs, lead found at fill pile

Fairfield seeks $3 million in suit over contaminated fill pile

Julian suing town for defamation over fill pile

Contaminated material gone from fill pile

Town, Julian Enterprises agree to withdraw lawsuits

Fill pile the center of criminal investigation

Who is covering this story?

Fairfield Citizen reporter Humberto J. Rocha can be reached at 203-842-2584, by email at humberto.juarez@hearstmediact.com or on Twitter at @hjrocha94.
STAMFORD  It was a social media post that got Westhill High School senior Alyssa Goldberg thinking about how to improve her classmates mental health.

Social media is normally associated with an increased risk of depression, but Goldberg, 17, saw a post encouraging students to push for placing the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on the back of their student ID cards and decided to bring the same to her school.

I think its something cool to have, Goldberg said. This is a way for every student to have it in their wallet.

Placing the hotline number on Westhill student IDs seemed like a natural choice: the cards already contain other important information like the number for the school and its website. But it also made sense to have it available to teens.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there are an average of 129 suicides daily in the United States, making it the 10th leading cause of death in the country. And the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports suicide is the second leading cause of death for children, adolescents and young adults.

Suicide also hits close to home. In 2013, two Stamford high school students committed suicide within months of one another. And earlier this month, 16-year-old Hailey Nailor of Danbury committed suicide after a long battle with mental illness and trauma.

For Goldberg, bringing mental health and illness out of the shadows has always been a passion. Her freshman year, she joined the Mayors Youth Leadership Council, a youth activism organization dedicated to public awareness activities, volunteer programs and social change campaigns. Shes now risen to the executive board of the group, which is focused on addressing mental health.

Ive always had a personal drive to talk about mental health, she said. Everyone experiences mental health, whether you have mental illness or have a bad day.

Goldberg said MYLC gave her the opportunity to address mental health, but getting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on student IDs was a personal effort. Goldberg approached Westhill Principal Michael Rinaldi with the idea a few weeks ago when Rinaldi was greeting students outside school in the morning.

She asked if we could have this suicide prevention hotline number put on the back of student IDs going forward, Rinaldi said. I thought it was a wonderful idea. ... Thats very helpful. It was different a student would come to me and say how about this?

Rinaldi said the process of putting the number on the ID cards is simple: it can be done through the company that takes students class photos and also distributes the cards. But the impact can be massive.

In my view, its important, Rinaldi said. When kids get their ID, theyre going to look at it and see that its there. And they may never think about it again. But if they happen to get involved with a friend having difficulties or theyre feeling affected themselves, they know that resource is right there. They dont have to worry or wonder about it. Its simple in its concept, but I think Alyssas idea is profound.

In addition to the hotline number and advocacy from MYLC, Rinaldi said Westhill also continues to provide traditional services to students including offering them assistance from guidance counselors and social workers.

The MYLC chapter at Academy of Information Technology and Engineering also got approval to add the hotline number to the back of student ID cards for next year.

According to Joe OCallaghan, the district department head for social work, the district has been looking systemically at how it addresses mental health and what programs and supports are working for students.

Theres been a trend over a longer period, over the last 15 years, of a real uptick in kids mental health issues, OCallaghan said. Its a national issue, but its affecting us here as well.

In addition, OCallaghan said students have undertaken running awareness activities to help reduce stigma.

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata
BRIDGEPORT  A former city official at the center of a federal investigation into possible municipal corruption apparently used a tree-lined vacant lot as the address for two of his companies.

Jose Tiago  recently fired as the citys deputy public facilities director over scrap metal sales under investigation by the FBI  for years listed 1581 Seaview Ave. in Bridgeport as the physical and mailing address for two companies: Tiago Construction and Citywide Properties, state business filings show.

Gabe Rosenberg, a spokesman for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, whose office records business registrations and maintains those documents, said giving a false address on a business registration form is a potential crime.

Knowingly providing false information on a registration document is a Class A misdemeanor, Rosenberg said. A class A misdemeanor carries a prison sentence of up to one year and a $2,000 fine.

A visual inspection of 1581 Seaview revealed the property has no buildings or structures and offered no evidence that any buildings had ever been there. The lot is dominated by large trees likely decades old and a fence surrounds the generally messy property.

There are several piles of what appears to be landscaping rubble scattered about.

After a representative for Tiago was contacted last week by a Hearst Connecticut Media reporter, the physical and mailing addresses for Citywide Properties was changed to 65 Herkimer St. in Bridgeport, a multifamily home owned by Tiago.

The change was made Tuesday, state records show, and the business filings were updated back to 2014  the year Tiago sold 1581 Seaview Ave. to Luis and Jose Vaz.

The Vaz family owns two Bridgeport companies under investigation by the FBI over no-bid contracts from the citys public facilities department.

Under state law, limited liability companies such as Tiagos must pay a fee to register with the state. The companys owners or agents are required to provide a physical and mailing address that matches where company records are maintained.

Tiago did not return calls seeking comment on his companies and their business filings.

John Gulash, a Bridgeport attorney representing Tiago, said no laws were broken and it was misinformation regarding the Seaview Avenue property.

I think you are operating under misinformation that laws were violated under companies he once operated and no longer operates, Gulash said.

Asked what that misinformation is, Gulash declined to elaborate.

Tangled web

Federal authorities have subpoenaed records for Bridgeports scrap metal sales and no-bid contracts given to VAZ Quality Works and Seaview Equipment Sales & Rental, both owned by the Vaz family.

Contracts awarded to G. Pic and Sons Construction, owned by Michael and Guido Picarazzia, of Trumbull, also were subpoenaed by the FBI.

In August 2014, Tiago sold 1581 Seaview Ave. to the Vaz family, along with adjacent property at 640 Crescent Ave. and 600 Crescent Ave. City land records list the .8 acre lot as vacant land.

Seaview Equipment Rental is housed at 640 Crescent Ave., which abuts Tiagos former Seaview Avenue property.

The Vazs paid $845,000 for the Seaview Avenue lot, providing Tiago $740,000 above his 2005 purchase price of $105,000, city land records show.

That transaction took place about four months after Tiago was hired by then-Mayor Bill Finch as a $91,304-a-year project manager in the citys public facilities department overseeing road construction.

State records show Tiago listed 1581 Seaview as the physical and mailing address for Tiago Construction until the company was dissolved in May 2015  nearly a year after he sold the property to the Vaz family.

Sudden updates

The business filings for Citywide Properties that were updated Tuesday to show the Herkimer address also list the company as active, meaning it can conduct business in the state.

Prior to this week, those registration documents had not been updated since 2013, and that years filing, as well as previous years, listed the Seaview Avenue address.

The new 2014 filing submitted to the state on Tuesday acknowledges 1581 Seaview Avenue as the companys previous address and changes the address to 65 Herkimer Street.

State Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport and co-chairman of the legislatures judiciary committee, is listed as the agent for Tiago Construction. He declined comment on the company.

Attorney Louis Afonso, who is listed as the agent for Citywide Properties, did not return calls seeking comment.

Over the years, other addresses have been attached to Citywide Properties.

For example, some web pages list the companys address as either 65 Herkimer St. or 2445 Park Ave. Apt. 50, both in Bridgeport. The Park Avenue property is a condo owned by Tiago, city records show.

Zoning activity

In 2010, Citywide Properties, using 1581 Seaview Ave. as its address, won a zoning appeal before a state Superior Court involving a contractor storage facility proposed for the Seaview Avenue property.

The citys Planning and Zoning Commission had previously denied permits for the facility and the court reversed that decision.

The storage facility was never built.

Citywide Properties in May 2010 received permission to expand its building at 640 Crescent Ave. by adding a second floor. Minutes of the meeting show Tiago recused himself from the hearing on the application submitted by his own company.

City records show in Tiago served on the P&Z Commission from 2009 to 2014.

Despite being dissolved in 2015, Tiago Constructions website still pops up in Google searches.

A Dunn and Bradstreet report lists Tiago Constructions address as 2445 Park Avenue in Bridgeport and noted the firm had annual revenue of $414,926, five employees and specialized in new construction, single-family houses.

Phone numbers listed on web pages for both Tiago Construction and Citywide Properties no longer work.

Rosenberg said the secretary of the states office does not verify the accuracy of addresses and information listed on company registration forms.

Even if we did do an address verification, that would only help a little because all it would do is verify that the address provided is a valid U.S. postal service address, but not that the business is actually located at that address, Rosenberg noted.

Our office doesnt have any investigatory power with respect to an issue like this, Rosenberg said. But they have to provide a street address to our office when they form the business.

bcummings@ctpost.com
State Police have identified the carjacking suspect who was killed during an exchange of gunfire with troopers and Willimantic police Wednesday as a 39-year-old Hartford man.

Kyron Marcel Sands was shot by police after a multi-town chase that including carjacking attempts and gunfire at officers and civilians, state police said.

A chase through several towns began in Norwich where Sands allegedly shot at Norwich officers as they were trying to make contact with him after a suspicious incident at about 10:52 a.m., state police said.

Sands fled leading Norwich officers on a chase onto Interstate 395, police said.

Norwich police called Troop E to report that a suspect had fired shots at local officers who they now were chasing, state police said.

The suspect later identified as Sands allegedly began attempting to carjack vehicles and shoot at civilians on the highway as he was trying to flee, reports said.

No civilians were struck by gunfire or injured during the chase, state police said. Sands did carjack one vehicle and engaged police in a second pursuit which led to Willimantic where officers successfully deployed stop sticks to stop his car, police said.

His vehicle crashed with Sands fleeing on foot while shooting at Willimantic and state police, reports said.

The officers fired back, striking Sands at least once in the abdomen, state police said. No officers were injured, police said.

Officers immediately rendered medical aide but Sands was pronounced dead at Windham Hospital a short while later, police said.

Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime detectives have taken over the investigation into the fatal shooting at the request of the states attorneys office, state police said.

Sands death is the third fatal police-involved shooting since Dec. 31.
The Department of Economic and Community Development is looking to help Bridgeport officials with plans to renovate Stratford-based Sikorsky Memorial Airport.

The DECD recently submitted a notice with the Council of Environmental Quality that says state officials are looking to help fund improvements to Sikorsky  and offering 47 percent matching funds to private investors.

The scoping notice is the first step in a required evaluation that provides decision makers with information to help determine whether to proceed or not.

The citys proposal would bring back commercial airline services to the airport after decades of serving primarily for corporate and charter flights. It also calls for developers to renovate the airports taxiways, runways and parking lots and to build a new 20,000 square-foot terminal building.

If all goes according to the citys plans, Sikorsky Memorial would offer mid-range flights along the Eastern Seaboard by 2020. If completed, the expansion is expected have five to eight flights daily accommodating up to 150 passengers.

Plans also may include renovating an existing 8,000 square-foot abandoned structure as an operations center.

City official set out in the fall to secure $7 million in state aid to help renovate the site as part of a new airport master plan officials had been drafting. The master planning process, funded largely by the Federal Aviation Administration, includes an updated study of noise and noise management at Sikorski.

The FAA provided $450,000 for the master plan and $170,435 for the noise study. Bridgeport is chipping in $53,632 and the airport $51,822.

While the city has secured funding approvals for the project, there is still plenty left to do. To receive the state funding, the city is supposed to provide the matching funds needed to complete the renovation.

Daniel Roach, a mayoral aide, said the city has found a private investor willing to put at least $8 million into the airport renovations  with possibly more to come.

Its a private investor that is very interested and they have indicated that they are fully in once the FAA gives the necessarily approvals, he said.

Roach declined to name the investor

Plans to revitalize Sikorsky marks a change in approach for Mayor Joe Ganims administration, which discussed selling the airport during his 2015 mayoral campaign.

Along with reviving commercial flights, Roach said, the strategy for the past couple years has been to eliminate the airports $500,000 operating deficit.

Comments from the public will be accepted by DECD until March 6.

Jordan.grice@hearstmediact.com
GREENWICH  A Brooklyn, N.Y., man who allegedly sold a batch of heroin that killed a Greenwich man in 2017 was taken to court Thursday morning to face a charge of first-degree manslaughter.

Henderison Vargas, 20, of Havemeyer Street, appeared before Judge John Blawie in Superior Court in Stamford, while his family members and infant daughter sat in the courtroom.

Vargas was arrested in connection with the death of Michael Turzilli, 24, an aspiring comedian and musician, on Oct. 27, 2017.

Police were called that afternoon to a residence on Valleywood Road in Cos Cob, where Turzilli was found dead. Investigators had little to go on at the death scene, besides the victims cellphone and two wax folds containing heroin and stamped with the name World Star.

After that, Greenwich police detectives carried out an extensive investigation  delving into phone and computer records, networking with the New York City Police Department and conducting a skillful interview with the suspect  to make an arrest, according to the arrest-warrant application on file in Superior Court.

Police determined that the victim had been using a popular classified-advertising website, looking to buy heroin using various street names for the drug, according to the court papers. A seller using the name French Montana appeared to be interested in making a sale, according to the affidavit. Turzilli eventually went to Hope Street in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn to purchase heroin from the alleged dealer, according to court papers, on Oct. 27.

During the investigation, police were challenged by the use of aliases and a burner phone allegedly used by Vargas, court papers stated. But the technical obstacles were overcome, and detectives developed a suspect, the affidavit stated.

Greenwich police then connected with the NYPD. The city cops arranged a buy-and-bust operation in November 2017 that brought Vargas into custody  as well as seizing 160 wax folds of heroin stamped World Star and a handgun with its serial number scraped off, the affidavit stated. An NYPD undercover officer made the buy.

Greenwich police detectives interviewed Vargas in Brooklyn, and without telling him about the heroin death, succeeded in obtaining information from the suspect that the he had met Turzilli in Brooklyn for a drug sale, according to the court papers.

An arrest warrant was later obtained, and Vargas was extradited from New York to Connecticut on Wednesday. He had been held in custody in New York earlier in the month in conenction with the Greenwich warrant. Bail was set at $250,000.

At his court hearing Thursday, Vargas defense lawyer, Audrey Felsen, asked Judge Blawie for a lower bail, less than the $250,000 that had been imposed this week.

Vargas has a full-time job as a dispatcher at a Brooklyn radio-car service, where his brother also works, Felsen said. She noted he was part of a close-knit family, highlighting the presence in the courtroom of his parents, his infant daughter and girlfriend. She said he was not a flight risk.

Felsen called the fatal overdose tragic.

Blawie declined to lower the bail, which would allow Vargas to remain free if he posted a $25,000 cash surety bond. He had not posted bail as of Thursday afternoon.

In an obituary for Turzilli that appeared after his death in 2017, he was described as bright, caring and talented. The notice stated, It is never too soon to reach out to someone who is struggling with drugs. Turzilli was studying at Fordham University at the time of his death.

Vargas was given a court date of March 27.

Greenwich Police Capt. Robert Berry wrote in a statement, This investigation continues one aspect of the Greenwich Police Departments efforts in addressing the epidemic of opiods impacting our community. In addition to focused enforcement efforts on those who deal, sell or distribute illegal drugs, the department also collaborates with other community stakeholders, such as the Greenwich Together initiative, in order to provide life-saving efforts in the field, and connection to service providers for those facing addiction, and education. Those collaborations include professionals in the medical, education and counseling fields.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
BRIDGEPORT  Infowars host Alex Jones, who is being sued for calling the Sandy Hook shooting a hoax, will be able to provide some information in the case in secret, a judge ruled on Thursday.

But I dont see documents being dumped into this category, Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis warned.

Following a brief hearing the judge granted a limited protective order to Jones and his co-defendants in the civil case.

We respect the courts decision and appreciate the judges consideration of sensitive issues. We have confidence that the public will have full access to the evidence when we present it in court, said Christopher Mattei, the lawyer for the families of the children killed in the Newtown tragedy.

Jones lawyer, Jay Wolman, had sought a far-ranging protective order seeking to keep secret the documents they have been required to file in the case having to do with Jones finances and the finances of companies that ran his internet and television programs.

Such sensitive information must be protected; such is especially necessary where plaintiffs have repeatedly communicated with the media about this case and it is likely that proprietary information may be revealed to the press absent a court order, Wolman argued.

While Bellis agreed that some of the information should not be made public, she said she was not agreeing with everything Wolman wanted to keep secret.

Wolman declined comment on the judges decision.

Jones is being sued by the parents and family of some of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed in the mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In his former television show Jones claimed the shooting was staged by paid actors who faked the childrens deaths.

Earlier this month, Bellis gave families the right to interview Jones under oath for five hours as part of the lawsuit discovery process. She also recommended the case be moved to the complex litigation docket in Waterbury Superior Court where she will be sitting, beginning Sept. 1.
STAMFORD  The ambitious Atlantic Street bridge replacement in the citys South End, which just started detouring traffic this week, isnt the only multimillion-dollar bridge swap in town.

Just head 1.5 miles east on Interstate 95 and you will come across another replacement in the works, although it wont change traffic patterns until late spring.

There, where Route 1 spans five lanes of I-95, the state Department of Transportation is now working in a nearby field erecting the superstructure of a new bridge. Those odd looking yellow towers in the middle of the off ramp circle are the temporary supports. The agency will slide the bridge spans into place over two weekends in late May and early June.

The steel and concrete bridge being swapped  built in 1958 and structurally deficient, according to a national bridge database  carries 16,900 vehicles a day on average, according to the state DOT.

Similar to the bridge swap over Atlantic Street, the project is an accelerated bridge construction, or an ABC, where the bridge is built nearby and then moved into place as the old one is concurrently demolished to speed the project along.

Each span, weighing 900 tons, will be trucked in on the weekends of May 31 and June 7, said project manager Louis Eveno. Thats when that sliver of Route 1 will close to traffic.

Heres the timetable for the bridge replacement.

Once the work begins,both northbound and southbound drivers will be forced to travel on Hamilton Avenue and Courtland Avenue, where, yes, the state is now working on another congestion-inducing project.

That project, to add a left-turn-only lane at the busy intersection of Courtland and Route 1 while adding sidewalks to the west side of Courtland and making other intersections  with Seaton Road and Hamilton Avenue  handicap accessible.

Eveno said the plan is for work on Courtland to cease before his project begins.

For more information, visit www.i95exit9.com or email info@i95exit9.com.

barry.lytton@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2263; @bglytton
NEWS FLASH

The Croatian Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, has hinted that Croatia Airlines' various divisions could be divided and sold off separately to increase the carrier's privatisation prospects. Mr Butkovic noted that "several scenarios" were in play and being considered. The minister believes that a special committee will be formed today at a government session which would, together with the company's management, work on finding a strategic partner. The management board should soon select a financial adviser who should offer models that could be applied to find a future partner. Mr Butkovic noted that foreign investors have expressed their interest in the airline.
House Bill 357 filed by state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, will allow anyone to openly carry a firearm without training, without a background check and without a concealed handgun license.

Stickland calls it constitutional carry, yet there is nothing in the Constitution that allows for the open carrying of firearms. The bill defies common sense. It makes many wonder, What idiot thought of this idea? and What idiot would vote for this idea?

As the saying goes: No place but Texas.

John R. Cobarruvias, Houston

Price to go online

Re: In this capitalism, your data is their profit, Feb. 11:

Rafael Castillos article is a well-thought-out evaluation and reporting of professor Shoshana Zuboffs vision of our changing times and the use of our personal data by Amazon, Facebook and Google. Everyone is condemning these organizations for mining our private information and selling it to third parties, who pay these internet services huge sums of money while manipulating our buying habits.

My view is slightly less condemning. I have not paid any money to these organizations. No annual, monthly or user fees. So how do people expect these companies to make a profit and pay for their computers, facilities and thousands of employees?

We, as users of their services, have bilateral choices: Use their services, and you will lose your privacy. Dont use their services, and you can remain obscure to their prying and business models. The real issue is, shouldnt they ask our permission before they use our personal information?

Mike Horridge
The BJP chief defended the Prime Minister, saying that he was leaving no stone unturned in ensuring the safety and security of the nation.

'How did terrorists acquire a huge amount of RDX and rocket launchers? 48 hours before the attack, JeM released a video warning of attack. There was an intelligence report also on February 8. Why were these warnings ignored?' he asked. (Photo: File)

Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh): Accusing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu of having faith on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that one should not stoop down to such a level for political gains.

"Chandrababu Naidu, you trust Pakistan PM but you do not trust the Prime Minister of India. You are taking Imran Khan's side. One should not stoop down to this level for political interests," said Amit Shah while addressing a gathering.

Asserting that the Narendra Modi led government is committed to ensuring the country's security, the BJP president said, "BJP is the only political party in the country to have a zero tolerance against terrorism.

The Prime Minister has given a free hand to the Army to choose place and time. The entire country is standing rock solid with the families of those who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack."

The CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into their convoy in Awantipora area of Pulwama in Kashmir. Pakistan-based and backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.

Attacking Naidu further, the BJP president alleged that the former has done no work in the last five years for the development of the state.

"Chandrababu Naidu is sitting on dharna in Delhi, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If he wishes to sit on dharna then he should sit in front of his party office as he has not worked in the last five years for development of Andhra," he added.

Accusing Naidu of levelling false allegations on the BJP government, Shah said: "Chandrababu Naidu is saying that the development and growth were stopped by BJP. But 10 of 14 tasks of Andhra Reorganization Act have already been completed in the last five years by Modi government."

The BJP president also alleged that the TDP and Jagan Babu's party are corrupt and dynastic parties who can't do any good for Andhra, while the Modi government has given 20 major institutions to the state in the last five years.

"Modi Government has given 20 major institutions, including IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM, AIIMS, HPCL, Central and Tribal Universities to Andhra Pradesh in the last five years."

BJP president Amit Shah on Friday slammed Congress party for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not giving due importance to Pulwama terror attack.

The BJP chief defended the Prime Minister, saying that he was leaving no stone unturned in ensuring the safety and security of the nation.

Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Modi of not giving due importance to the Pulwama terror attack and shooting a film at a time when the entire nation was mourning the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers.

"Our Prime Minister works for 18 hours out in a day. No comments on his intentions to keep the nation safe will make any difference. No allegations in this connection will affect the nation," Shah said.

"Today we are bearing the brunt of the mistake committed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Had Sardar Patel been the first Prime Minister of the nation, the situation would have been different," he said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday morning said that February 14 incident was an "attack on the integrity" of the nation.

"How did terrorists acquire a huge amount of RDX and rocket launchers? 48 hours before the attack, JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) released a video warning of attack. There was an intelligence report also on February 8. Why were these warnings ignored?" he asked.

Highlighting the steps taken by the Indira Gandhi government against Pakistan, he said: "We defeated Pakistan in 1971. Not only did Indira Gandhi help free Bangladesh. She also got 91,000 Pakistani soldiers to surrender. She made Pakistan to face the defeat."

The CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into their convoy in Awantipora area of Pulwama in Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror group JeM claimed the responsibility for the attack.
President Donald Trumps national emergency should be acknowledged for what it is  a ruse to wring the federal budget for money that Congress has allocated for other purposes. This, after Congress already denied the funds, to build a wall to address a crisis that exists only in imagination on what is already one of the most secure borders in the world.

The president says the wall is needed to stop a deluge of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs. But the federal governments own metrics say there is no deluge  immigration is at near historic lows  and those drugs generally slip through legal ports of entry. That influx of Central Americans  you know, the caravans? They, too, are mostly appearing at legal ports of entry and surrendering to begin an asylum process to which they are legally entitled.

Congress specifically denied the president the funding he wanted for the wall. In other words, Congress, through its normal legislative process, has essentially rejected that there is an emergency. That clearly makes the presidents declaration an end run around Congress constitutional power of the purse.

The president asked Congress; it said no. If it is an emergency now, it was when Trump first took office. Now, it is a naked power grab.

Yes, other presidents have declared national emergencies, but mostly to impose sanctions on perceived enemies, to seize property and to call up the National Guard.

The situation on the ground at the U.S.-Mexico border warrants none of that. There is, plainly and simply, no emergency.

Yes, President Barack Obama  who declared an emergency for a threatened H1N1 swine flu pandemic  has used executive actions. But these were mostly to enact policy  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA  in an area over which he clearly had broad discretion. Or, similarly, to curtail emissions under an existing act. But on this last point, whatever your thoughts on its constitutionality, this at least addressed a genuine emergency. Climate change is the existential threat of our time. Our border is not.

So, no, Trumps national emergency isnt just like those previous actions. It is dramatically different. He asked Congress for the money. It denied him. He says he will now divert it from the military budget and other sources.

And his own words make clear there is no emergency: I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didnt need to do this. In other words, the only emergency the president perceives here is that Congress didnt give him all of his wall money.

Congress must resist this for the sake of its own relevance. But Congress should do so not just because the president is usurping the power of the purse that properly belongs to the legislative branch and not just because there is, in fact, no discernible emergency, but because Congress helped create the problem here.

In enacting the National Emergencies Act, or NEA, in 1976, Congress didnt define emergency.

There are two necessary courses of action here for Congress. It should use the authority it has reserved for itself under the NEA to rescind the presidents declaration. And it should tweak the NEA to make clear what constitutes an emergency.

The House, with its new Democratic majority, is already considering a resolution to stop the presidents declaration. Its unclear if the Senate will go along, but the House bill, if approved, would force the Senate  unless it changes its rules  to go on the record opposing or supporting the presidents case for a national emergency.

Of course, if both houses of Congress approve the measure, the president could still veto, which would require a two-thirds majority to override. The same would be true of any measure in which Congress revisited the language of the NEA when it comes to emergencies.

Congress  both houses  should proceed anyway. On tariffs and the ability to wage war absent a declaration, Congress has already abrogated much of its authority. It should recapture it at the very least when it comes to the powers it has left  the power of the purse and legislating a definition of emergency.
After reading a column by O. Ricardo Pimentel (What makes a real Latino or American? Feb. 8), I would suggest Tom Brokaw is not an expert on whether Latinos assimilate quickly into American society.

Is Brokaw fluent in any language other than English? I would surmise the answer is no; this is important to note because he is not able to penetrate the complexities of Hispanic culture from a solely monolingual perspective.

In addition, I commend Pimentel for trying to perfect his Spanish-speaking skills by stating, Lo siento. Mi espanol sufre un poco (Im sorry. My Spanish is lacking a bit).

Does this inability to speak Spanish fluently define Julian Castro, who is running as a Latino candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, or other Mexican-Americans as non-Latinos and non-Americans? No, it does not.

However, it puts politicians at a disadvantage because they only represent the English-speaking Latinos of our nation. How would Castro identify with Spanish-speaking and bilingual Latinos in the United States? Could he also relate and communicate with leaders like Nicolas Maduro, the totalitarian president of Venezuela, for example, in Spanish? Catchphrases like the one Castro delivered at the 2016 Democratic Convention  Que Dios los bendiga! (God bless you!)  would not be sufficient.

Internationally, it would be important to be able to dialogue in Spanish with someone like Maduro and to state: El gobierno de los Estados Unidos esta en contra de la opresion que impone Ud. sobre su gente (The U.S. government is against the oppression you are imposing upon your people).

Of course, they could dialogue in English, but I believe it would be more effective to do so, in this instance, in Spanish. Knowing the political history of a country like Venezuela well and confronting this rogue regime on its human rights violations would be the answer. A relationship could be established by further acknowledging a Latinoamerica unida (unified Latin America), which was initially espoused by Simon Bolivar, the 19th century revolutionary leader of Venezuela and Colombia.

Furthermore, the observation of whether Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren are white candidates or candidates who happen to be white is incongruous. Of course, they are white and speak English. But wouldnt it be something if they spoke Spanish fluently? Being bilingual, whether or not one is Latino, would be a wonderful litmus test, the metaphorical image suggested by Pimentel. In this area, Biden and Castro are similar because neither one is fluent in Spanish; therefore, they cant relate to bilingual and Spanish-speaking Latino Americans and to Spanish and Latin American politicos.

Its great that Castro is a Mexican-American who speaks English fluently, but its unfortunate he was not taught Spanish growing up on the West Side. Generations of Latinos immigrating to the United States should assimilate and learn English. This should be encouraged, but a Latino American who does not preserve his native language  in this case Spanish  is contributing to a monolingual America. This would be detrimental to the U.S. in a world that is in need of global assimilation. This lack of linguistic inclusion would create a more devastating cultural wall than any physical wall that Castro and others oppose along the Mexican-U.S. border.

Lane Carnes is the author of The Archs Prism (El prisma del arco) in 2014, Solitary Impressions in 2016 and City of Voices (La ciudad de las voces) in 2018.
Black History Month should remind us that Americas greatness resounds in the ability of ordinary people to transform the status quo of racial segregation and oppression into a new dawn of racial justice, freedom and citizenship. The study of the black freedom struggle  from slavery to Jim Crow to the modern civil rights era and the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement  underscores how Americans might enable a brighter future by coming to terms with our racial past.

But many students in Texas learn only some, if any, of this history because the Texas education system does not require students to take at least one annual unit of black history. This needs to change. Our nations history is a melting pot of races and cultures that contributed equally to what America is today. And it doesnt matter whether the school is public or private. Simply put, more Texans need to learn more about black history. And this includes colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning.

Perhaps no figure loomed larger in Texas as a trailblazer than Houston-born Barbara Jordan. Jordan represents one of the most important political leaders in American history. She broke color lines and gender barriers as the first black Texas state representative since Reconstruction and as the first Southern black female U.S. representative ever. Jordan distinguished herself, using her inimitable crisp and sonorous voice, during the Watergate hearings as a passionately erudite defender of the Constitution. She co-sponsored voting rights legislation in 1975 that helped extend voter access to Spanish speakers in Texas and the Southwest. The next year she became the first black person to deliver the keynote address to a major party convention. That speech made her a national icon and helped pave the way for more racial breakthroughs, most notably the election of President Barack Obama, who first gained national attention after his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

But despite this progress, race continues to impact the lives of American citizens and institutions. The most recent example is the controversy over the admission by elected officials in several states that they appeared in blackface. Blackface is intimately connected to black history and histories of racial segregation, Jim Crow and white supremacy that continue to harm our democracy. These officials, most notably Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, should resign. Our political leaders have an ethical and moral duty to support equal citizenship and justice for all. Blackface, through its dehumanization of African-Americans, reinforces segregation politically and racial violence at the local level.

Black History Month is, most profoundly, American history. Every student in public and private schools across Texas should be required to take a unit of this history annually. In doing so, we could accelerate not only knowledge of African-American history and the struggle for black citizenship but also enable the deep empathy that comes from recognizing strangers as part of the wider human family.

Texas racial history is filled with examples of both racial oppression and racial justice. Students need to understand the impact of racial slavery on the Lone Star State, how the attempt during Reconstruction to guarantee black citizenship failed amid racial violence, and how the modern civil rights struggle helped open doors for not only African-Americans but all people. Black history is a pivotal key to unlocking the relationship between race and democracy in Texas historically and how it continues to shape where we live, how we vote, and how we are treated by the criminal justice system.

In times of racial crisis, politicians, educators and community leaders often talk about the need for racial dialogue or a national conversation about race. Such a dialogue should be built on the extensive knowledge of that history and the way it courses through the veins of our larger national identity and collective memory. By requiring every student to actively engage in the study of black history, Texas could lead the way toward the long-term goal of transforming American race relations for the better.

Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and a professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is telling supporters he is bracing for a re-election fight with Democrat Beto ORourke, even as most of the speculation around the former El Paso congressman has him running for the White House in 2020.

Cornyn, one of the top Republicans in the Senate, sent out a fundraising plea Wednesday saying U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and ORourke recently sat down to talk about running for the U.S. Senate in 2020. He said the two are collaborating to paint a target on my back.

In his letter, Cornyn says all signs point to another well-funded, high stakes challenge from Beto in 2020. We need to be ready for anything. Thats why weve started a STOP BETO FUND - and thats why I need you to chip in as soon as possible.

Clicking on the link sends donors to Cornyns re-election fund.

Republicans nationwide have long used names like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama to make such appeals. But after raising $80 million and coming within three percentage points of beating Sen. Ted Cruz in November, ORourke also has the name recognition to catch the attention of conservative voters.

ORourke is expected to make an announcement about his political future in the next week. Cornyn is striking before that suspense is gone.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Cornyns fundraising plea marks a big change from three months ago when Cornyn cast doubt on ORourke running against him in 2020. When radio host Hugh Hewitt in November asked Cornyn about ORourke, Cornyn said I think Betos got stars in his eyes, and hes going to go for the big one.

But a week ago, Politico, citing unnamed sources, said Schumer had talked to ORourke directly about running for Senate  a report ORourkes camp has not confirmed.

Small dollar donors respond to urgency

Getting ORourke in the conversation is a good way to catch the attention of Republican donors, says Matt Mackowiak, a veteran campaign strategist and the chairman of the Travis County Republican Party.

Small dollar fundraising is all about creating urgency to get a response, he said.

Fundraising emails often have an alarmist quality to them. Gov. Greg Abbott in 2018 warned in emails that Democrats were going to try to turn Texas red, and that liberal billionaire George Soros was contributing to Texas races. At the same time, Democratic groups were using fears of President Donald Trump and other Republicans to raise money for their candidates  and Cruz was raising alarms about Californians flooding ORourke with money in a plot that would surely bring tofu to Texas.

For subscribers: Sen. John Cornyn faces new threats in 2020 re-election bid

Many Texas Democrats see the challenging Cornyn as the perfect fallback position for ORourke, who may be the only real threat to the incumbent in Texas.

But whether ORourke enters the race or not, 2020 already appears to be a tougher election cycle than his previous three campaigns for the U.S. Senate. Cornyn said 2018 showed Republicans have work to do in Texas.

The message of the 2018 midterm elections was that you better be prepared, and that Republicans need to lose their complacency and realize that Texas is evolving and is no longer a reliably red state, he said.

Cornyn, 67, a Houston native, has a long history in Texas politics. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, he was the Texas Attorney General for four years. Before that, he was an elected member of the Texas Supreme Court.

Oprah to release more footage Feb. 24

Oprah Winfrey, whose interview with ORourke aired on Feb. 16, apparently held something back.

Winfrey, on her OWN channel, pressed ORourke on whether hed run for president.

I have been thinking about running for president, ORourke confirmed to a standing ovation from her audience.

ORourke said he would decide by the end of the month. The prospect of running for the Senate did not come up in excerpts released by the OWN network.

But the full interview with ORourke is scheduled to air on Sunday.

ORourke has been traveling the country over the past few days.

Last weekend he was in Wisconsin, a state Hillary Clinton lost to President Donald Trump, and in Chicago, where he spoke at an event for Latino leaders. On Tuesday, he was back in El Paso for a ceremony that honored him as the El Pasoan of the Year.

At that event, ORourke told reporters that hes still trying to figure out how he can best serve the country. That, he said, may include running for president or it may involve something else, according to the Texas Tribune.

Cornyn, meanwhile, is all in on running for re-election in 2020. He starts the race with more than $5.8 million in his campaign account.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is telling his supporters he is bracing for a re-election fight with Democrat Beto ORourke, even as most of the speculation around the former El Paso congressman has him running for the White House in 2020.

Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, sent out a fundraising plea on Wednesday saying U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and ORourke recently sat down to talk about running for the U.S. Senate in 2020. He said the two are collaborating to paint a target on my back.

In his letter, Cornyn says all signs point to another well-funded, high stakes challenge from Beto in 2020. We need to be ready for anything. Thats why weve started a STOP BETO FUND - and thats why I need you to chip in as soon as possible.

Clicking on the link sends donors to Cornyns re-election fund.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Its a big change from three months ago when Cornyn cast doubt on ORourke running against him in 2020. When radio host Hugh Hewitt in November asked Cornyn about ORourke, Cornyn said ...I think Betos got stars in his eyes, and hes going to go for the big one.

But a week ago, Politico, citing unnamed sources, said Schumer had talked to ORourke directly about running for Senate  a report ORourkes camp has not confirmed.

Oprah Winfrey, on her OWN channel, earlier this month pressed ORourke on whether hed run for president.

I have been thinking about running for president, ORourke confirmed to a standing ovation from her audience.

ORourke said he would decide by the end of the month. The prospect of running for the Senate did not come up in excerpts released by the OWN network. The full interview with ORourke is scheduled to air on Sunday.

Cornyn, meanwhile, is all in on running for re-election in 2020. He starts the race with more than $5.8 million in his campaign account.

For subscribers: Sen. John Cornyn faces new threats in 2020 re-election bid
The man who leads the controversial program to remove non-citizens from Texas voter rolls acknowledged Wednesday that days after he sent county registrars a list of voters believed to be ineligible, he learned that 20,000 of them were U.S. citizens.

Keith Ingram, director of elections in the Texas Secretary of States office, testified in U.S. District Court in San Antonio that he learned about the error from the Texas Department of Public Safety shortly after he sent out an advisory Jan. 25 warning county election officials that more than 95,000 registered voters were believed to be non-citizens and that 58,000 of them had cast ballots in elections.

The advisory directed county officials to request proof of citizenship from those voters. Attorney General Ken Paxton touted the news in a VOTER FRAUD ALERT on Twitter, and Gov. Greg Abbott thanked Paxton and Secretary of State David Whitley for uncovering and investigating this illegal vote registration. The governor added: I support prosecution where appropriate.

OnExpressNews.com: LULAC disgraced president may prove difficult to unseat

It soon became clear that the numbers behind those claims were exaggerated.

The advisory went out on a Friday. Ingram testified that on the following Monday, he learned that 20,000 of the names on the list were those of American citizens. He said his office began informing county registrars of the mistake the next day.

The important thing from our perspective is to send them the information as soon as possible, Ingram said during a half-day of testimony in a lawsuit brought by the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Campaign Legal Center. We learned about that (the 20,000) on Monday afternoon  late. Thats why we called the counties Tuesday morning.

Ingram said the effort to remove non-citizens from the rolls was not a voter purge, and that there was no discriminatory intent. He said it was not something we were hiding.

This is not something new or different, Ingram testified. This is regular list maintenance. We want to make sure a legitimate vote isnt canceled by an illegitimate vote.

Nevertheless, his testimony added to the impression of a hasty and confused effort based on flawed information.

Ingram was the lone witness for the state, which rejects the plaintiffs claims that the effort was intended to suppress the minority vote in violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the process.

Its all aimed toward immigrants, nobody else, said Luis Vera Jr., LULACs national legal counsel. They create the program and then they try to throw all the responsibility to the counties.

OnExpressNews.com: LULAC sues Texas over claims that nearly 100,000 voters are not U.S. citizens

Ingram defended the effort as part of the regular duties of his office. He said changes in state law in 2013 called for scrutiny of voter rolls to determine whether any registered voters were not U.S. citizens.

But he said the program wasnt rolled out until last spring, after some state senators pushed for a more proactive approach to preventing voter fraud.

To identify possible non-citizen voters, Ingram and his staff worked with DPS to identify people on the voter rolls who were non-citizens at the time they obtained or renewed Texas driver licenses. But the process failed to take into account that many of those people subsequently became naturalized. As a result, thousands of U.S. citizens were mistakenly flagged for scrutiny.

Ingram said counties were told they could do nothing in response to the lists  or they could investigate the information his office provided and then send notices asking voters to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days. Those who dont respond are removed from the voter rolls.

Ingrams account clashed with testimony a day earlier from registrars in Kerr and Blanco counties, who said they immediately sent notices to all the people on the states lists  without doing any investigation.

Ingram said he was clear in his Jan. 25 advisory and in emails to counties detailing how they should proceed. He also said his office provided in-person or web-based training for local election officials late last year and in early January. Ingram said the county registrars appear not to have followed instructions or to have read the correspondence fully.

He said 43 people have since come forward asking to be removed from voter rolls because they are not U.S. citizens. Thirty-seven others asked to be removed without giving a reason, he said.

The process is working the way its supposed to be working, Ingram testified. But some counties rushed. They didnt follow our training.

Ingram said that even if a voter is removed for not responding within 30 days to a letter requesting proof of citizenship, they can be reinstated after showing proof to the country registrar. Alternatively, they can cast provisional ballots and present proof of citizenship later.

Ingram acknowledged his office knew as far back as April that there might be some problems with the voter lists because those identified as non-citizens could have become citizens since obtaining or renewing their driver licenses.

A DPS analyst testified on Tuesday that figuring that out would have been a cumbersome manual process.

Ingram testified that officials at first tried to clean up the data, but opted to let the counties do it.

Ingram was asked by plaintiffs lawyer Chad Dunn about Betsy Schonoff, who was the point person for the program. Ingram said that Schonoff resigned from the Secretary of States office Feb. 6 without giving a reason and that he has not spoken to her since.

The plaintiffs have been trying to serve her a subpoena to testify, but Dunn said it appears she is evading service. Ingram said he had nothing to do with that.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said he would like to hear from Schonoff. Noting that U.S. marshals have ways of finding people, the judge suggested he might issue his own court order to have her appear.

But late Wednesday, a spokesman for Paxton said by email that its our offices understanding that, despite not having been served, the former employee of the Secretary of States office is willing to voluntarily appear at the next scheduled hearing and will do so.
This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

'It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today,' Modi said. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi/Seoul: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues.

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," Modi said.

"This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said.

Photo: ANI | Twitter

"Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now," he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world address the pressing issues. Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.
The most critically injured survivor of an intentionally set fire at Iconic Village Apartments said he is very, very confident he did not hear any smoke detectors beeping when he awoke to flames roaring through the building July 20.

In his first interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Zachary Sutterfield, 20, of San Angelo, recalled what happened in the minutes after he and his roommates realized they were in imminent danger that morning.

He suffered third-degree burns and a traumatic brain injury after he ran from the apartment and leapt from a second-story balcony to escape the inferno. His friends, Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, of San Angelo, and David Angel Ortiz, 21, of Pasadena, fled the apartment with him, but died in the fire.

Also killed were three others living in separate apartments on the second floor of the same building  Dru Estes, 20, of San Antonio; Belinda Moats, 21, of Big Wells; and James Phillip Miranda, 23, of Mount Pleasant.

On ExpressNews.com: A fire killed Zachary Sutterfield's friends. A leap saved his life. After 23 surgeries, his recovery is grueling but with significant victories.

The catastrophe led to a flurry of lawsuits against the owners and managers of Iconic Village Apartments in San Marcos, accusing them of safety lapses. The defendants have denied any wrongdoing.

Shortly after the fire, some residents said their smoke detectors didnt go off or sounded alerts too late. Investigators reviewed video footage of the fire, which revealed some smoke detectors worked at the time of the emergency. But authorities couldnt say in which apartments those working devices were located.

The Sutterfield, Frizzell and Ortiz families joined together in one lawsuit against the apartment owners and managers. Three other lawsuits were lodged by families of the other victims killed and by other survivors who escaped.

All of those lawsuits have been consolidated into one case. The first hearing will be held in Travis County on March 4.

In recent weeks, demolition crews have been removing the three apartment buildings that were damaged or destroyed.

The owners are planning to rebuild. They recently presented plans to the San Marcos Zoning Board of Adjustments to construct two three-story buildings containing a total of 60 apartments.

Fire sprinklers must be installed in the newly constructed buildings. The owners also are exploring ways to make the remaining older buildings at the complex safer. Those are not required to have sprinklers under the citys fire code, but each apartment was recently equipped with fire extinguishers.

Peggy OHare is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHare
A poised Sheryl Sculley took her seat in the city managers chair at City Council for the last time Thursday, marking the end of a 13-year era at San Antonios City Hall.

Speaking to a crowded audience in the councils chambers, Sculley reminisced about her tenure and long list of achievements. She was recruited from the City of Phoenix to become San Antonios city manager in 2005, with a mandate to overhaul the citys organization and fix the broken spokes, as she put it.

Together, weve accomplished what we set out to do in 2005, I think, Sculley said. Add value. Deliver the best service for dollars paid by the taxpayers. Always do whats in the best interest of the residents that we serve. And leave the city a better place than when we started.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg praised Sculleys legacy. He presented her with a plaque from the council to commemorate her service.

The example you set is that ... you can be tough, you can be kind, you can be effective and you can be resilient, the mayor said. But it takes a little bit extra to be the very best city manager in the country, and thats exactly what youve been for 13 years.

On ExpressNews.com: Texas Power Broker: Change-maker Sheryl Sculley

Sculleys legacy Here's a look-back at some of her successes: Brought city's finances into order, maintaining a AAA bond rating for nine straight years. San Antonio is the only city with a population of 1 million or more to earn the top rating. Implemented the voter-approved Pre-K 4 SA, a national model for early childhood education. Played a vital role in the plan to reimagine the Alamo, intended to bring historic reverence and context to the Shrine of Texas Liberty. Helped spur a burst of downtown investment, notably the new Frost Tower. Helped create hike-and-bike trails and other attention-grabbing amenities that will attract young professionals. Overseeing the city's three largest bond issues for improvement projects that has streets in better condition and a solid drainage system to mitigate flooding, among others. See More Collapse

During her time in the citys top appointed job, Sculley has been credited with stabilizing city finances and grooming a talented staff within the citys ranks. She has managed the day-to-day operations of the countrys seventh-largest city for more than a decade, overseeing an annual budget of $2.8 billion and a staff numbering more than 12,000, while working to implement the policies laid out by four mayors and 47 council members.

I hired Sheryl Sculley, former Mayor Phil Hardberger said from the dais. It was the best thing I ever did for the City of San Antonio.

It was her fiscal stewardship that led San Antonio to become the largest city in the country with a Triple-A bond rating. She was steward over the three largest bond programs in the citys history  $550 million in 2007, $596 million in 2012 and $850 million in 2017  bringing substantial improvements to city infrastructure. And she led the implementation of major, innovative programs that have become models, including PreK 4 SA and the Decade of Downtown revitalization.

Outside Municipal Plaza, Sculley is an avid runner who was key in bringing the Humana Rock n Roll Marathon to San Antonio in 2008. She regularly runs at least part of the course herself.

But she also became an increasingly contentious political figure, as many came to see her as imperious and forceful in her guidance of city staff. That culminated with the approval last year of significant charter amendments  pushed by the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association  targeting City Hall. One measure, which drew the strongest voter support, set pay and tenure limits for Sculleys successors. Though it didnt apply to her, it was widely seen as a referendum on Sculley and her $475,000 salary.

About a month after voters approved that charter amendment, Sculley announced she would retire. The longtime executive said she had been considering retiring for two years and wasnt being forced out by voters. Her last day is Feb. 28, but council does not meet next week.

That tension didnt go unnoticed Thursday. Sculley acknowledged the personally demanding nature of the job and its resulting scrutiny in her remarks.

City management is tough business, especially in big cities, she said. The complexities and issues and tremendous responsibilities are reason to think twice about such a career, and we get to do it all in the media spotlight  God help us.

On ExpressNews.com: Sculley announces retirement after 13 years

Despite the recent rancor, observers on both sides noted Sculleys accomplishments are considerable.

Even Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who helped lead the push for the charter amendments and touts Sculleys departure from City Hall as one of his personal accomplishments, said he knows Sculley made San Antonio proud, despite the muck of politics.

I dont have many regrets up here on this dais, I let it fly like theres no tomorrow, Brockhouse said. One regret I do have is not including, with you, enough of your accomplishments, and I sometimes let politics get too far in it. I do not say this lightly, you are the finest city manager this city has ever had.

Hardberger read a quote from a 2005 Express-News story in which Chris Steele, the president of the fire union that spearheaded the charter amendments, praised her performance. Hardberger said Sculleys value far exceeded her cost.

The former mayor said it became a popular sport in some circles to criticize Sculleys salary, but he again recalled that Sculley, during her initial weeks as city manager, found millions of previously unaccounted-for dollars in the citys coffers, which he has pointed out covered her compensation across her tenure.

Sarah Baray, PreK 4 SAs chief executive officer, called Sculley a visionary. The city manager helped enact the program under former Mayor Julian Castro. Baray brought employees, parents and students from the pre-kindergarten program to Thursdays meeting to mark the occasion.

Each council member also heaped praise during the tribute. Rey Saldana, who played baseball at Stanford and is the longest-serving member on the current council, equated working with Sculley to playing alongside the best pitcher in the country. Rebecca Viagran said it was the end of an era in which Sculley elevated the expectations of San Antonians. Manny Pelaez said he doesnt know how Phoenix let Sculley slip through their fingers.

Art Hall, the District 2 councilman who had previously served on the council when it was recruiting Sculley, yielded his time to five members of that council.

Former Councilwoman Elena Guajardo said she vividly remembers meeting Sculley. She recalled telling Hardberger: That handshake is the handshake of our future.

It didnt take long for Sculley to prove her mettle, Hardberger said. When Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, before Sculley took office in November, she came to San Antonio  unasked and unpaid, the former mayor said  to help evacuees coming to the city.

I knew then, without a single doubt: This partnership is going work, Hardberger said. It did, beyond all expectations.

On ExpressNews.com: Why Erik Walsh was chosen as San Antonios next city manager

City Council officially tapped Erik Walsh, one of Sculleys top two deputies, to succeed her last month. The citys process to find Sculleys successor was mostly concentrated at City Hall. Six of the eight finalists were on Sculleys executive management team, which Nirenberg said was testament to her ability to spot and groom talent.

I am more than confident he is the best man for the job. You did well, Sculley said of Walsh. Erik, Im vested in your success and will be cheering you from the sidelines.

Walsh takes office March 1.

Several members of Sculleys family were seated in the audience, including her husband, Michael; daughter, Courtney, one of their two children; her sister, Melanie Engerski; and her mother, 87-year-old Marilynne Engerski, who was beaming. Looking at her mom from the dais, Sculley said: I think you sat in that exact same seat back in 2005 when I was sworn in.

A crowded City Council chambers gave Sculley a lengthy and robust standing ovation.

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as your leader, Sculley said, her voice shaking slightly. Thank you.

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
Diego Bernal was at a meeting last summer with Beacon Hill Elementary School parents when he heard someone mention their familys public housing apartment  run by the San Antonio Housing Authority  didnt have air conditioning.

The state representative and former city councilman assumed their AC unit must have been broken, but the person clarified that they didnt have any air conditioning at all.

In a city that had 27 days last year that surpassed 100 degrees, Bernal said, thats unacceptable.

I said, youre (expletive) kidding me, Bernal said. I couldnt believe it. I couldnt wrap my head around it.

OnExpressNews.com: City of San Antonio, firefighters union trade a few blows in the latest round of negotiations, but agree to noncontroversial contract provisions

He started looking into the issue and discovered it was more common than most would have guessed. As many as 2,500 of SAHAs 6,000 public housing units dont provide air conditioning, according to the agency. An unknown number of residents have procured their own appliances, but one third of those affected are elderly or disabled  the most vulnerable among us, Bernal pointed out.

The city is closer to rectifying the situation at Bernals request. He and Deputy City Manager Peter Zanoni forged a partnership between the city, SAHA and philanthropist Gordon Hartman to put $1.4 million into making sure those apartments get window air conditioning units before summer. Most of the public investment would come from redirected federal grants.

A City Council committee unanimously approved the plan Wednesday; the full council is expected to vote March 21.

Its not even a quality-of-life issue, its a life issue, Bernal told the Express-News. He said the lack of air conditioning in public housing raises questions about public health and dignity in a place like South Texas.

OnExpressNews.com: San Antonio approves $5.7M in incentives to East Side tech redevelopment project

Pastor Jimmy Drennan of St. Margaret Mary Church on the Southeast Side said hes witnessed the effects at the nearby Fair Avenue Apartments, a high-rise SAHA property directly across from his church.

Unfortunately they struggle with that all the time, he said. Many times they come to the church to try to stay cool.

David Nisivoccia, SAHAs chief executive officer and president, said the agency was aware of the issue but consistently faces a dearth of resources. The agencys last physical needs assessment indicated close to $500 million of necessary improvements.

Its very difficult to manage an aging portfolio that requires such investment when we only received  $11 million a year, he said. Our first priority usually are life safety items.

Bernals project had the support of all five council committee members Wednesday.

The city would redirect grants it gets from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to devote $500,000 to the cause. SAHA would chip in $500,000 from its own HUD grants and other resources, and Hartmans philanthropic venture would provide the rest.

Its not often in these jobs that we get to do something that really changes someones life, day-to-day, Bernal said, and I think this could do that.

dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net

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
Most San Antonians have long ago bid adieu to antique cast iron gas heaters. But Michaele and David Haynes still celebrate them. Ive never lived with anything else, she says. I think they are pretty. And, she adds with an impish smile, you can back up to them and warm your nether parts.

Passed down from both their families, they handle all the heat needed in the Hayneses 1916 house except for the coldest times, when, she says, we just close up rooms.

When the Hayneses were house hunting in the early 1970s, prerequisites were that it be frame and not updated. They found both in a high-ceilinged duplex near the Monticello Park Historic District. David converted it into a single living space, providing the perfect backdrop for their paean to the past featuring inherited objects and new old things accumulated thanks to estates sales, thrift shops, friends and their now-grown daughter, Victoria.

The genius of the space, brimming with artwork and memorabilia, is that its carefully curated. Which makes sense given that Michaele worked as a curator at the Witte Museum and David oversaw exhibits at the Institute of Texan Cultures before they retired.

House rules Dealing with large amounts of display items takes artistry to create a coherent decor without looking cluttered. Here are some ways David and Michaele Haynes managed that. Classify: Organize pieces according to subject and size. The Hayneses grouped folk art collected in Mexico that was roughly the same size and lined it atop book shelves in the library. In the living room she displayed tiny ceramic figurines, mostly of women, on a small shelf. Uncommon object: To keep it interesting, juxtapose something different into your displays. For example, David placed a clay pulque bottle amongst a grouping of smaller objects atop a cabinet in the dining room that included collections of bottle openers and turtle figures. Contain the clutter: Display groups of objects together on table tops, on walls and in shelves. The Haynses hung some old Mexican masks down the side of a book shelf. But they have no clutter on the floor, in walkways or around seating areas. Go to the corners: The Haynses clustered some large old Mexican urns in one corner of the dining room. In the living room, two corners have groupings of pictures hanging face to face. Edit: If something just doesn't fit in, don't jam it in somewhere. That way what's on display has meaning and coherence. See More Collapse

The front room, furnished with antique wicker pieces and an old Pullman sleeper sofa that came with the house, is accented with a vintage studio camera on a tripod in a corner. Picture groupings face each other in two other corners. They feature work by Michaeles commercial artist father, Davids grandmother, and artist friends. Shelves above the television hold assemblages of tiny figurines, including Victorian naughties and vintage ceramic brides and grooms.

Juxtaposition is what I really like, and I do it intentionally, she explains. Another example of Haynes-style juxtaposition can be seen in the dining room atop an old glass-front ribbon display case from Davids familys dry goods store in Hope, Ark. There, his play pretties range from an early Mexican pulque bottle in the shape of a monkey to collections of old corkscrews and turtle figures.

More of Davids treasures grace his library, where shelves hold volumes on herpetology (hes a turtle expert), history of photography (he is the author of an index of early Texas photographers) and vintage encyclopedias. Atop the shelves is Mexican folk art the Hayneses collected in the 1970s and 80s, including a Jesus Aguilar baptism scene. In an adjoining room, his floor-to-ceiling collection of old cameras and movie projectors covers two walls.

The kitchen is Michaeles. Painted parrot green after her favorite bird, it has a jungles worth of parrot paintings on baskets, parrot advertisements (remember Poll Parrot shoes?), parrot prints, parrot statues in a small wall cabineteven parrot refrigerator magnets. Filling in the blanks is a miscellany of old Mexican comales and platters, large utilitarian baskets and childrens play ovens, to name a few.

While most of the funky old wallpaper has fallen from ceiling and walls, the entry halls paper makes a fine backdrop for a faux coronation robe stitched by Witte Museum volunteers as a gift when Michaele retired. Along with the myriad other objects of interest in the Hayneses museum-like home, it suits the decorand in winter, she confides, serves double duty as weatherproofing.

I have an amazing ability to be totally blind to things around me as long as they are totally functional, she says of any inconveniences of living in the past. I love my house. It has problems, but I love it.

Mary M. Fisher is a San Antonio freelancer.
Giovanna DiZurita has showcased her colorful paintings from as near as the San Antonio Zoo to as far away as Barcelona. Now the Alamo City artist can add Macys to her list of exhibition spaces.

Starting next month, and for a limited time, a Macys store in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City will feature DiZuritas brand of T-shirts with pop-art depictions of an astronaut and the Statue of Liberty and leggings with vibrant doodles and patterns. Shoppers also can hang her art on their walls with prints for sale at the Macys locations.

Im glad that my art is now expanding to the eyes of everybody, DiZurita said. Not only art lovers and art collectors, but people that in a normal, regular day will be going to buy some clothing. And now they can purchase clothing with a purpose.

DiZurita joins a select group of San Antonians who have taken their fashions to the racks of a major retailer.

On ExpressNews.com: Meet San Antonios leading fashion Instagram star, Shear Bear

Nilgun Derman and her daughter Ayse Derman of Niche modern apparel in San Antonio sell their airy dresses and other separates at dozens of Dillards stores as well as at their flagship boutique at the Pearl. And sisters Suzan and Lindsey Lambillotte, who launched Lambillotte womenswear in San Antonio, market their posh separates at Anthropologie stores nationwide, according to their website.

Its the kind of rare fashion show most designers never pull off, let alone those who call San Antonio home.

In general, being able to get your designs out there, get them manufactured and then to be able to sell them, to get someone to notice your design to the point of getting into a big box store, is a million hurdles, said Calley Rivera, fashion designer and consultant for Texas Pattern & Sample Services in San Antonio.

Rivera started designing custom clothing for her own brand, Couture by Calley, before switching to helping private labels get off the ground with Texas Pattern & Sample Services. She said its especially tough for a San Antonio designer because the city lacks the fashion infrastructure and resources of New York or Los Angeles.

Then theres the business side to big-box fashion. A designer has to want to take that path, Rivera said, since price points at department stores and chains are much lower than if they sold more high-end fashions straight to the consumer. Thats why most successful San Antonio designers tend to stick to custom couture and direct sales.

For instance, bridal and cocktail wear designer Roger Canamar has shown in Paris but only sells at the Sloan/Hall stores in San Antonio and Houston. And Project Runway All Stars winner Anthony Ryan only sells his modern womenswear at his boutique Couleur + Blinde in Alamo Heights.

On ExpressNews.com: S.A. Project Runway winner opens Alamo Heights boutique

DiZurita, who has a studio at The Alley on Bitters, sees Macys as simply another way to expand her brand. She still can sell her dynamic acrylic paintings to collectors for upwards of $7,000 apiece, she said, but why not sell her art on leggings for around $50 a pair, too?

This platform (at Macys), what its going to do is it will put me on another level, DiZurita said.

Besides, theres something special about seeing your brand on such a big stage.

Its wonderful for us because we get a national audience for our collection, said Niche creative director Ayse Derman, who began working with her mother two years after she started the wholesale clothing company in 1996.

Derman said about 40 Dillards locations carry Niche, including the stores at North Star Mall and The Shops at La Cantera. Having a platform such as Dillards empowers a small business, she said, but it also requires that a brand deliver a consistent and quality product.

It takes a certain professionalism to get to the point where you can work with a major over the years, Derman said.

Then again, branching out to shopping mall mainstays isnt exactly fashionable these days as more retailers shut their doors. Business Insider estimates more than 1,500 stores, including nine Macys locations, will close this year alone.

Its that very volatile market that forced Kalliope Kids to shift gears when it comes to its vintage-inspired childrens clothing.

Founded in San Antonio in 2012, Kalliope Kids used to sell at around 50 boutiques across the country. Now the brand focuses on direct sales online via Amazon, Zulily and online boutiques, as well as Facebook Live sales through its Facebook page, @KalliopeKids.

Kalliope co-founder Nicole Campbell said the company didnt want to move away from wholesale. But too often a store would place an order six months in advance, only to go out of business before delivery.

Obviously the goal of any designer is to have their clothing in stores, Campbell said. We had aimed for that.

On ExpressNews.com: Where to find San Antonio-made streetwear

Nevertheless, Derman sees any brick-and-mortar presence as a sign of success. She doesnt want to discredit online shopping, she said. But she does want to highlight the experience of fashion shopping in person instead of on a screen. Its a big reason why Niche does not sell direct online.

I think that walking into a store and being delighted by the things that you see and the environment that is created  make a big difference, she said.

Which is why DiZurita has more in store for her Macys run than just garments on hangers.

As part of her promotional tour, DiZurita will custom paint dresses and other items at each location. Her New York and Las Vegas sites also will feature a mural perfect for Instagramming.

The whole point is that they get lost in my world, DiZurita said. Theyre surrounded by color and happiness.

And for an artist whose motto is make your life art and become a walking masterpiece, what better way to express that passion than with some clothing that truly illustrates it.

Rene A. Guzman is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
The first job of the man behind one of the worlds most sought-after architecture firms was selling womens shoes at the now-closed Windsor Park Mall.

Craig Dykers, the co-founder and principal of the renowned firm Snhetta, spent his formative years as an Army brat here, where he developed his interest in culture and architecture. He mowed lawns in Alamo Heights to earn money and had a close encounter with the Fiesta sniper in 1979.

The Wall Street Journal has called Snhetta one of the worlds most sought-after (architectural) firms. Based in New York and Oslo, Norway, Snhetta is responsible for such high-profile projects as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria Library) in Egypt, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum entry pavilion, the remaking of Times Square in New York City and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion.

The company redesigned Norways currency, making it reflect the importance of the sea to that nations identity. Its design for the new Central Library in Calgary, Canada, helped make it one of the New York Times picks of the top 20 places to visit in 2019.

And its currently working on the futuristic El Paso Childrens Museum, which is expected to open in late 2021 or early 2022.

On Wednesday, his accomplishments will be celebrated in Austin, where he will receive a Texas Medal of Arts Award. Established in 2001, the biennial award honors Texans who have achieved greatness through their creative talents, as well as those whose generosity has opened doors to artistic opportunity for Texans of all ages, according to the website for the Texas Cultural Trust, which puts on the awards.

Dykers, who calls himself a citizen of the world, said he loved his time in San Antonio.

Theres an interesting mix of Mexican and American cultures there, said Dykers, who, with partner Kjetil Trdal Thorsen, founded Snhetta in 1989. Today, the firm has more than 240 employees. I loved visiting the River Walk, going to HemisFair when I was younger, sneaking into the 50/50 Club (now Broadway 5050) when I was still underage to listen to jazz.

Not all his time in San Antonio was pleasant. In 1979, Dykers and his girlfriend were waiting for the Battle of Flowers Parade to begin when Fiesta sniper Ira Attebury opened fire, killing two people and wounding at least 50 others in one of the countrys first mass shootings.

We were right near his trailer, and I saw the barrel of a gun sticking out the trailer door, he said. I didnt understand what was happening at first, and then this woman grabbed me and threw me to the ground.

Dykers wasnt hurt, but he said it took hours to find his girlfriend afterward.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios new Frost Bank Tower gets likened to drill bit, Bart Simpson

Born in Germany, Dykers was 6 when his father was posted to Fort Sam Houston during the late 1960s. After four years here, the family moved back to Germany, eventually returning to San Antonio when Dykers was 16.

Dykers graduated from Roosevelt High School, where he was on the debate team, in 1979. He went on to study architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he did editorial illustrations for the Austin Chronicle and the Daily Texan.

It was at UT that he met his future wife, Elaine Molinar. Molinar, who hails from El Paso, also is receiving a Medal of Arts Award. She has been with Snhetta since its founding and serves as managing director for the Americas.

Dykers, now 57 and living in New York, still makes it back to Texas from time to time. His mother lives in Houston, and in 2017, he spoke on the topic of Habitat Large and Small during an American Institute of Architects San Antonio Lecture Series at the McNay Museum.

He has fond memories of his time in San Antonio: mowing neighbors lawns in Terrell Hills and Alamo Heights, selling womens shoes at the Margos la Mode ladies wear shop in Windsor Park Mall. And hes developed a retrospective appreciation for a number of San Antonio landmarks.

I love the way so many of the shops and restaurants on the River Walk are on different levels, which is a very powerful design, he said. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Hes also a big fan of architect ONeil Ford, one of San Antonios most famous and influential architects, and is particularly fond of the work Ford did in designing many of the buildings on the Trinity University campus.

Fords use of brick, the craftsmanship, the way he was able to finesse bridging the past and the future, were all very important, he said. I have several books of his on my bookshelves.

Other favorites include the stately homes in the King William District and the less stately (but still historic) Esquire Tavern downtown. Told that the Esquire recently added a downstairs speakeasy that serves dishes such as charcuterie plates and oysters, Dykers laughed and said, When I used to go there, youd run into an actual cowboy or two.

On ExpressNews.com: Home inspired by ONeil Ford undergoes massive, careful renovation in Alamo Heights

Edward J. Sidor started working with Dykers on the 9/11 museum project in the mid-2000s. Back then, Snhetta was a hip, up-and-coming firm.

Snhetta translates to Snow Cap and refers to a mountain in central Norway said to be the location of Valhalla, where, in Norse mythology, worthy Viking warriors go after they die.

Its been amazing to watch them grow and get these major projects in the U.S. and elsewhere, said Sidor, the senior vice president of buildings and grounds for the memorial. And when you look at their portfolio, every project looks different. When you hire Frank Gehry, you know youre going to get a building that looks like a Frank Gehry building. Craig takes the time to understand what the client needs instead of just doing something in their style.

In addition to Dykers and Molinar, the other 11 Texas Medal of Arts Award honorees include Jennifer Holliday for theater, Boz Scaggs (music), Matthew McConaughey (film) and Stephen Harrigan (literary arts).

Texas has a lot to be proud of, and the awards are a way of highlighting the incredible work being done by people who come from here, said Heidi Marquez Smith, executive director of the Texas Cultural Trust.

Its not easy to get one. Marquez Smith said the trust receives more than 1,000 nominations each year, with honorees chosen by a distinguished selections committee.

Dykers said that through the years hes made several bids on projects here, including the design and renovation of the park at Hemisfair.

Unfortunately, we were not chosen for that job, he said. One day, I do hope to work in San Antonio.

If that happens, itll be an interesting architectural homecoming.

Richard A. Marini is a features writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron CEO who spent the past 12 years in prison for his role in masterminding one of most notorious corporate fraud cases in history, was released from federal custody on Thursday, the Bureau of Prisons said.

In August, Skilling was released to a halfway house at an undisclosed location from a minimum security federal prison camp in Alabama.
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The agency had told the court that it had received information about various new properties in London that belonged to Mr Vadra.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in connection with a money laundering case.

According to sources Mr Vadra reached the agency's office at Jamnagar House in Central Delhi at around 10.30 am along with his lawyers and left after about three hours of questioning. Mr Vadra told the investigating officer (IO) of the case that he was unwell and hence the recording of his statement was discontinued, sources said, adding that he is expected to join the probe again on Friday.

On Wednesday, it was a scheduled appearance of Mr Vadra before the ED in a criminal complaint related to allegations of money laundering to purchase assets abroad, sources said. A group of Mr Vadras supporters raised slogans in his favour outside the ED office, before being dispersed by the police. Mr Vadra had skipped the summons on Tuesday, citing bad health.

He was questioned by the ED sleuths in connection with the case for 23 hours over three days of deposition earlier this month. He has been asked by a Delhi court to cooperate in the probe being conducted by the central probe agency. The ED case against Mr Vadra relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property, located at 12, Bryanston Square and worth 1.9 million pounds, which is allegedly owned by the businessman in a benami way.

The agency had told the court that it had received information about various new properties in London that belonged to Mr Vadra.

These include two houses  one worth 5 million pounds and the other valued at 4 million pounds  six flats and other assets. Mr Vadra has denied the allegation of possessing illegal foreign assets and termed it a political witch-hunt against him. He has said he is being hounded and harassed to subserve political ends.

The statement of the businessman is being recorded under section 50 (powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents and to give evidence) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His first appearance before the ED earlier this month acquired political overtones after his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, recently appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, accompanied him to the investigating agencys office and picked him up after questioning another time.
Thursday, February 21, 2019

Alexa, make me coffee.. in my Audi?

In 2015,

Elon Musk

and Google predicted self-driving cars would be swerving in the streets by 2018. According to CES, were not there yet (and thank goodness). But this statement can be hard to believe when you walk the

floors of CES

and see autonomous cars, shuttles and taxis from companies like

Audi, Kia, GM, Ford and Mercedes

with Alexa and Google Home assistant built in. In reality, AI experts predict it

may be decades

(they are calling this reality check the AI Winter) before a fully autonomous self-driving system can navigate without accidents.

Once cars and shuttles are fully autonomous and able to navigate us without danger, we can spend our time in vehicles doing other things 

like shopping, watching movies

, playing games, warming up before the gym, making coffee (

Thanks Lavazza

) or getting some work done. The most mind-boggling new mode of transportation? That would be the massive

Bell

Nexus helicopter, which you will be able to order as a flying taxi. Drivers can also navigate it without a pilot license (not frightening at all).

Rock a bye, baby.

Baby Tech and Sleep Tech blew up this year at CES, and rightfully so. According to Pew, more than a million millennials are becoming moms each year, and

90% of us sleep

with our phones nearby. From the mom side, CES had

everything from wristbands and apps

to help moms manage their

fertility

, perform

in-home sonograms

or

monitor their babies

to

wearable breast pumps

to help them better manage their lactating experience. For those looking for better sleep theres a

rocking bed

thats right, it rocks your entire bed so you can sleep like a baby. Theres also a

headband

that tracks your sleep behaviors to help you get higher quality sleep and

blood pressure watches

to monitor your steps and stress.

AI isnt driving cars yet. So what exactly is it doing?

AI is

making music

, detecting

diseases

,

screening resumes

, make our

photos look instagrammable

and even assessing our

credit scores

. Scientists are even

training AI

to diagnose mental illness. According to WHO, about 300 million people are afflicted with depression and 60 million with bipolar disorder. Doctors and scientists are questioning whether our current diagnosis methods are accurate or viable (especially in communities where access to care is limited). Will the machine learning approach prove superior?

Trying to understand what AI is and what it can or cant do? Cool.

Verge put together a reading list

(short stories and books) just for that purpose. Let us know what youre reading!

Is this too weird?

Sundances New Frontier, designed to feature new storytelling forms that leverage technology got extra weird this year. Oculus released

The Under Presents

, a social VR game that will teleport you from your seat to an absurd universe that combines VR, remote live actors and an immersive theater. While VR has been failing to find the perfect-use case, Oculus believes that

The Under Presents

may be weird enough to work. If the Oculus experience isnt odd enough, you can always

fine dine in VR

, sing

karaoke with a digital puppet

, use

AR

to

solve a murder mystery

or collaborate with

Mica

, an artificial personality noted as the human center of AI and mixed reality.

Poppy, the 22 year old YouTube star (

12 million views

) called part bubblegum, part robot, part pop princess, was a standout at New Frontier. She has her own online church and stars in her own AR film,

A Jesters Tale

, created by

RYOT and 1RIC

. Weird or not, Sundances New Frontier signified a shift in storytelling and emphasized the evolving play between us (no longer just the audience), characters, our reality, universes and stories.

Another profound part of Sundance this year was a product from the #MeTooMovement and its founder, Tarana Burke. At the tail end of #OscarsSoMale,

four deeply moving PSA videos

released by the

were screened, with one voiced by actor Terry Crews. Read more about her vision and the

four PSAs here

.

What is happening in media?!

If youve been on social media, then youve felt it  the awkward and

bizarre number of layoffs

. BuzzFeed laid off 250 workers because its raised $500 million over the last decade without turning a profit. HuffPost is laying off 20 writers and two sections. Verizon is cutting 800 jobs. Gannett plans to cut over 20 jobs, including several Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, as it prepares for a possible buyout. Oy. On the plus side, the internet world is trying to help them out. Check out this

aggregate of the talented BuzzFeed

folks that just got laid off and are ready for their next opportunity!

Policymakers are struggling over copyright rules for the internet age.

Europe is in conflict over two articles

: Article 11 simply gives publishers the right to ask for paid licenses when their news stories are shared by online platforms. This means every time you share an article on social, someone has to pay a licensing fee/tax. Should it be you or the social platforms? Article 13 says that online platforms are liable for content uploaded by users that infringes copyright. This means that platforms like Facebook & Instagram would be more liable for what you upload and would have to monitor whether there was copyright infringement. Wherever Europe lands on this issue, it will affect many companies  and it may require the U.S.to make some changes of its own.

Its a wild time to be in the advertising, technology and media industries. From massive layoffs at BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and other publishing giants to advancing AI that can track pregnancy and sleep, the one constant is change. Join Ad Council Director of Innovation, Ariba Jahan as she breaks down the biggest innovation trends swarming the interweb!The post Autonomous Cars, Baby Tech and Media Layoffs appeared first on AdLibbing.org
UPDATE: Edging lower from earlier session highs, the Pound-to-Dollar exchange rates traded on support at around $1.3027 overnight and was last seen at $1.30320, failing to significantly pull away from the local support.

Euro-Dollar (/$) meanwhile edged 0.12% higher in early Friday trading and was last seen at $1.13488 with local support around $1.132 - $1.1325.

While hard economic data for the Greenback is lacking on Friday, a host of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members are expected to speak at the US Monetary Policy Forum in New York later in the session (from 1515 GMT on).

The Feds latest monetary report is also expected to be released at some point through the session but unless the report contains as-yet-undisclosed information, the market impact is likely to be muted, having already been priced in following earlier Fed releases and Fed officials commentary.

Fed Philly Manufacturing Posts Multi-Year Low, Firms Remain Optimistic

The US Dollar (USD/$) remained subdued against the Euro (EUR/) and pound Sterling (GBP/) on Thursday afternoon in the wake of the late releases of the latest Census Bureau core and non-core durable goods orders data and the latest Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) of Philadelphia manufacturing index release, all of which missed forecasts.

The Euro-to-Dollar (EURUSD) was last seen trading up 0.22% from the session open at $1.13640, at the top-end of the $1.132 to $1.137 range which has constrained price action for the cross since late Tuesday.

The Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) meanwhile traded at $1.30797, up 0.24% and in the vicinity of Wednesdays two-week best of $1.31090.

On the data-front, core durable goods orders, expected to rebound from a previous -0.4% printing to a positive 0.3% failed to hit their target with a 0.1% printing. Durable goods orders overall increased by 1.2% (month on month), building on last months 0.7% increase but failed to hit forecast of 1.6%.

Meanwhile the Philly Fed manufacturing index declines into negative territory, indicative of worsening operating conditions faced by manufacturing firms, for the first time since July 2016 to print a -4.1, the lowest figure since December 2015.

Assessments of the current conditions generally fell with the notable exception of employment conditions. From the release Manufacturing conditions in the region weakened this month... The indicators for general activity, new orders, and shipments fell into negative territory, but the indicator for employment remained positive.

Measures of forward-looking sentiment remained upbeat with The surveys indexes for future conditions were mostly steady, with firms remaining generally optimistic about growth over the next six months.

Above: Fed Philly Current & Future General Activity Indexes

Summarising the release, firms responses indicated weaker conditions in the regions manufacturing sector this month. The surveys broadest measures (for activity, new orders, and shipments) were negative, yet firms reported continued increases in employment this month. The surveys future indexes indicate that respondents continue to expect growth over the next six months.

Flash manufacturing and services PMI figures are due for release later in the session (1445 GMT) with the manufacturing figure expected to print static at 54.9 while the services measure is forecasted to edge 0.2 points higher to 54.4.
UPDATE: The Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBPCAD) exchange rate saw gains capped at around the $1.762 level through Thursday and into Fridays session with the cross last seen edging lower at $1.72288, down 0.1%.

Realised wholesale and retail sales figures are due in the UK (1100 GMT) with a forecast of 4 representing a rebound into rising sales volume following previous printings of 0 (no change) and -13 (reduced sales).

Core and non-core Canadian retails sales figures are expected later in the session (1330 GMT) with core sales forecast to print a further 0.5% fall in the volume of sales at the retail level while the non-core figure is anticipated to print a nil change 0.0%.

GBP/CAD Exchange Rate Sturdy, Canadian Dollar Rudderless on Lack of US-China Consensus

The Pound Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate edged ever so slightly higher today to trade in the region of CA$1.7213.

With the Canadian Dollar a trade-correlated currency, and particularly sensitive to any trade tensions between the US and China, CAD has remained vulnerable today on any lack of any further developments between the two nations.

However, there have been reports that a deal may potentially be reached by 1 March  the deadline for the US-China trade truce.

The Pound, meanwhile, was able to gain on the Canadian Dollar today following Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman quelling fears sparked by the President of the European Commission, who indicated that a no-deal Brexit isnt off the table.

Mays spokesman said:

We have been making progress but there is clearly a lot of hard work still to do. But we absolutely do want to bring back the meaningful vote as soon as possible.

Sterling was further strengthened by public sector borrowing figures which hit a record surplus today, with tax receipts being much stronger than expected.

Pound Sterling to Canada Exchange Rate (GBP/CAD) Rises despite Corbyns No-Deal Warnings

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also raised concerns over a possible no-deal Brexit today, saying:

The problem is the prime minister is insisting on her deal, which has already been defeated very heavily in parliament, and running down the clock by trying to keep the threat of no-deal on the table with all the damage that does.

This came after two senior Conservative MPs, Dominic Grieve and Justine Greening, threatened to leave the Tory party if May insists on leaving a no-deal option on the table, with Greening even saying she has considered joining the newly-formed Independent Group.

Grieve stated:

I would certainly cease to take the whip if I thought the government was about to take us into a no-deal Brexit. I am absolutely clear about that.

Further signs of factions within Parliament are causing many investors to remain jittery.

GBP/CAD Exchange Rate Forecast: Loonie Could Rise if Retail Sales Improve

The GBP/CAD exchange rate will likely remain fixated on Brexit developments for the rest of this week, with any signs of a consensus emerging proving beneficial to the Pound.

The Canadian Dollar, meanwhile, could find some uplift if retail sales for December show any signs of improving tomorrow.

Loonie investors will also be paying close attention to signs of a trade agreement emerging from the US-China negotiations in Washington as the week closes.
STERLING UPDATE 22-02: The Pound-to-Dollar exchange rates drifted from the session high just shy of $1.31 during late Thursday trading with the cross finding support around $1.3027 and trading in the vicinity overnight. At the time of writing, the Cable remained non-directional, trading at $1.30370.

Aside from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) realised retails and wholesale sales volume release, the schedule is otherwise sparse with Brexit remaining a key driver of GBP rates.

Sources close to the continued UK-EU talks have reported legal concessions regarding the Irish backstop could be in the offing but UK and EU officials have downplayed the potential of securing an imminent deal.

Meanwhile for the Greenback, a host of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members are expected to make speeches and participate in panel discussions at the US Monetary Policy Forum in New York (from 1515 GMT on).

Pound Sterling US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate Edges Higher as US Manufacturing Slips to 17-Month Low

The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate remains up on the days opening levels and is currently trading in the region of $1.3043.

Although conflicting reports about Brexit progress are keeping the Pound on its toes, the US has published some mixed data this afternoon.

For starters, the US flash Markit composite PMI came in at an eight-month high, rising from 54.4 to 55.8 in February, mainly due to the surge in the services sector, which jumped to 56.2.

However, the gauge of manufacturing output dipped to 53.7, a 17-month low.

This points towards a slower pace of growth, which has been linked to concerns about trade tensions and uncertainty across supply chains.

Commenting on the data, Associate Director at IHS Markit stated:

February data provides a positive signal for first quarter economic growth, with US businesses reporting the fastest output expansion since the middle of 2018. Service sector firms led the way, supported by solid improvements in business and consumer spending.

[] The main worrying development was the loss of momentum reported by the manufacturing companies in February. Businesses that experienced a soft patch for production cited a range of factors holding back growth, including adverse weather, worries about the global economic outlook and ongoing international supply chain uncertainty.

US Dollar (USD) Slips as Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Contracts for First Time Since 2016

US durable goods orders data also disappointed slightly, with factory orders rising by a less-than-forecast 1.2% in December, although this was still the best increase since August.

The strength of this reading is said to come from a surge in orders for commercial aircrafts.

However sentiment for USD slipped following the release of the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing survey, which contracted to a worse-than-forecast -4.1 from 17.

The index fell into negative territory, something that has not occurred since May 2016, with indicators for new orders and shipments also falling into negative territory.

UK Public Finances Hit Record Surplus, Buoying the Pound (GBP)

Meanwhile, the Pound derived support from data released this morning which showed that UK public finances hit a record surplus of 14.9B in January as a result of a surge in income tax payments.

This was the strongest January since records began in 1993.

The Pound was also boosted by reports that MPs could be given the chance to vote on a revised Brexit deal sooner than originally planned.

With Brexit discussions in Brussels being labelled constructive, it has been suggested that the second meaningful vote could be as soon as next week, with UK Finance Minister, Philip Hammond commenting:

There may be an opportunity to bring a vote back to the House of Commons  there may be an opportunity, but that will depend on the progress that is made in the next few days.

GBP/USD Outlook: Will USD Rise on a Hawkish Fed?

The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is likely to fluctuate towards the end of this weeks session, with Brexit to remain one of the main catalysts.

The Pound could see an upswing in support if there are further reports that progress is being made in Brussels and the second meaningful vote is likely to be dragged forward.

We may also see US Dollar movement before the weekend as a result of Fed speeches. A hawkish tone from policymakers would be USD supportive.
The Pound Sterling (GBP/) softened against the US Dollar (USD/$) and Euro (EUR/) through Fridays session amid mixed Brexit-related messages with the EU downplaying progress in the area but remained up against both peers on a weekly time-frame.

Fridays session saw the Pound-to-Euro (GBPEUR) exchange rate slide by 0.36%, to trade at 1.1461. On a weekly timescale the cross remained up 0.46%

Following three consecutive weeks of declines and despite losses of 0.39% to lose the $1.3 handle and trade at $1.29834, the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) was up 0.77% over the course of the week overall.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) In their latest FX outlook, CIBC analysts cited a continuation of the Brexit uncertainty to limit GBP upside near-term. Nevertheless, CIBCs forecast calls for the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) x-rate to rise to $1.34 by the end of Q2 and continue to appreciate over the course of the year in the wake of an anticipated UK-EU Brexit deal being struck and a softening US Dollar to see the cross hit $1.45 by year end. CIBC analysts wrote The longer that the Brexit paralysis persists, the longer we can expect BoE policy inertia. With the risks of an Article 50 delay continuing to increase, any post-Brexit monetary tightening will be pushed further into the future  if, for no other reason, than there is insufficient time for the passage of necessary legislation. They added Sterling appreciation has been pushed backed, with GBPUSD expected to reach 1.34 in the months ahead. They forecast the Pound to Canadian Dollar (GBPCAD) rate to rise steadily over coming months, reaching CA$1.76 by Q2 before extending gains to CA$1.92 by year end and peaking at CA$1.97 by end of Q2 2020.

Swissquote Citing GBP rallies as opportunities to reload shorts, Swissquotes Peter Rosentreich is distinctly bearish on the pound Sterling near-term in anticipation of limited Brexit progress as PM May continues to seek concessions from the EU. Rosentreich wrote UK Prime Minister Theresa May is heading back to Brussels for what we see as a way to collect air-miles. There is zero evidence that anything has changed on either side of Brexit: concessions from the EU are highly unlikely. He added As Brexit nears, UK manufacturers are stockpiling supplies and slowing production in expectations of cuts in orders. While politicians and investors seem oblivious to the risks of Brexit, main street is fully aware. We see rallies in GBP as opportunity to reload shorts.

Hantec Markets Hantec Markets Richard Perrys technical Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) analysis points to a neutral outlook following the GBPs recent gains. Perry wrote Since Tuesdays hugely strong bull candle the market has been settling down again, once more into more of a wait and see mode. The mildly negative, but very small bodied candle yesterday reflects an uncertainty within the move higher. He added It is interesting to see the RSI turning back from just under 60, and having picked up from 40 recently, this suggests a more neutral outlook is taking hold suggesting limited potential for further technically-driven GBP upside against the Greenback.

Rabobank Analysis from Rabobanks Jane Foley suggests the recent GBP gains in the face of worsening domestic political turmoil is indicative of persistent optimism with respect to the Brexit outcome and underpins the likelihood that while GBP could see a moderate rally on a soft Brexit. Foley added that markets are woefully unprepared for a no deal outcome. Providing forecasts for both the best (soft Brexit) and worst-case (no-deal Brexit) outcomes, Foley sees the Euro-to-Pound virtually unchanged with respect to the former outcome and spiking towards a rate of 1.0 in the case of the latter. Foley wrote We maintain our view that on a soft Brexit EUR/GBP is likely to settle down in the 0.85 to 0.87 area in the coming months. On a hard Brexit, we would expect EUR/GBP to spike up towards parity.

ACLS Global While the recent Westminster resignations reflect growing schisms within Parliament, chief FX strategist, Marshall Gittler of ACLS Global, suggests that should the newly formed independent group garner enough support to have an effect on the Brexit route ahead it could result in further GDP appreciation. Gittler wrote Im not yet ready to turn bullish on sterling, but if more people join the Independent Group, it would be like MPs mutinying against their captains in order to steer the ship away from the iceberg. That could be extremely positive for GBP.
Study among the first to appear in Critical Care Explorations, the Society of Critical Care Medicine's new open-access journal

February 21, 2019 - Both CT angiography and transcranial Doppler have limited accuracy in detecting cerebral vasospasm and predicting delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to ruptured aneurysm, reports a study in the inaugural edition of Critical Care Explorations, the official open-access journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

"Cerebral vasospasm is frequently present on CT angiography and transcranial Doppler, lacking accurate prediction of DCI or unfavorable outcome after six months," according to the report by J. Joep van der Harst, MD, and colleagues of University of Groningen, The Netherlands. The paper is among the first to be published in the new open-access journal Critical Care Explorations (CCE), which will premiere at SCCM's 48th Critical Care Congress, opening today at the San Diego Convention Center. Designed to complement SCCM's flagship journals Critical Care Medicine (CCM) and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM), CCE provides additional articles and information that encompass the broad scope of critical care.

Study Compares Two Screening Tests for Cerebral Vasospasm after SAH

The prospective study included 59 patients with aneurysmal SAH treated at the authors' neurocritical care unit and neurosurgical ward between 2013 and 2016. At five and ten days, the patients underwent both CT angiography and transcranial Doppler.

The study is the first to directly compare the diagnostic performance of the two tests, which are commonly used for early detection of cerebrovascular spasm (CVS) to detect the "dreaded secondary complication" of DCI. "The optimal screening modality for detecting symptomatic CVS is a matter of debate," the researchers write. (They also note that the causative role of CVS is unproven.)

On both days, CT angiography showed CVS in at least one vessel in nearly all patients. In contrast, transcranial Doppler showed CVS in less than half of patients. Agreement between the two tests was just 0.47.

Sixteen patients had DCI, while 12 patients had unfavorable outcomes at six months. CT angiography was highly sensitive in predicting DCI for prediction of DCI, but it had "extremely low" specificity compared to transcranial Doppler. On day five, accuracy in predicting unfavorable outcomes was 61 percent with transcranial Doppler versus 27 percent with CT angiography.

The results suggest that CVS after aneurysmal SAH is a common finding, and that neither test is an accurate predictor of DCI or unfavorable outcome. "Our study does not support a prominent role of screening with TCD or CTA," Dr. van der Harst and coauthors conclude. "Detection of CVS that does not become clinically manifest likely leads to overtreatment and prolonged hospital stay."

Critical Care Explorations Debuts at the 48th Critical Care Congress 2019

"This prospective study on pressing clinical question is an excellent example of the discovery-centric, evidence-based focus of our new open-access journal," comments CCE Editor-in-Chief, Timothy G. Buchman, PhD, MD,

MCCM, from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "The open-access journal offers especially timely review, quick publication, and global dissemination of new ideas and syntheses that practitioners can bring to the bedside."

Critical Care Explorations is designed to facilitate rapid communication of innovations and new information with the potential to influence critical care research and practice. It features a prestigious international Editorial Board with the same rigorous peer-review process as CCM and PCCM.

"As a fully open-access journal, CCE's content is available all the time and is truly global, offering greater opportunities for exploring international perspectives on issues related to critical care," Dr. Buchman adds. Also available to read now are an introductory editorial, describing the vision behind CCE and providing practical information on the submission and publication process; as well asas well as a tribute to the late Vladimir ('Vlad') Kvetan, MD, FCCM, renowned for his leadership of Disaster Medicine and for the innovative concept of the 'ICU Without Walls.'

###

Click here to read "Transcranial Doppler Versus CT-Angiography for Detection of Cerebral Vasospasm in Relation to Delayed Cerebral Ischemia After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage"

DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000001

Note to editors: For further information, contact Curtis Powell, Director of Marketing and Communications for SCCM: phone +1 847 827-7282 or +1 312 285-6551; or email cpowell@sccm.org.

About the Society of Critical Care Medicine

The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is the largest nonprofit medical organization dedicated to promoting excellence and consistency in the practice of critical care. With members in more than 100 countries, SCCM is the only organization that represents all professional components of the critical care team. The Society offers a variety of activities that ensures excellence in patient care, education, research, and advocacy. SCCM's mission is to secure the highest quality of care for all critically ill and injured patients. Visit sccm.org for more information. Follow @SCCM or visit us on Facebook.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, finance, risk & compliance, and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer, headquartered in the Netherlands, reported 2017 annual revenues of 4.4 billion. The company serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide.
1,000 new PhDs created to drive AI transformation across industry, healthcare and climate change

16 new centres will work with 300 partners including Google, Rolls-Royce and AstraZeneca

Future leaders will ensure ethical questions are a key component of developing new technologies

One thousand new research and business leaders will be created to ensure the UK leads the global revolution in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This new generation of PhD students will use AI technology to improve healthcare, tackle climate change and create new commercial opportunities, thanks to a 100m investment from UK Research and Innovation announced today, Thursday 21 February 2019.

They will be trained at 16 new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) based at 14 UK universities with 300 partners, including AstraZeneca, Google and Rolls-Royce, and NHS trusts. Project partners are investing 78 million in cash or in-kind contributions and partner universities are committing a further 23 million, resulting in an overall investment of more than 200 million.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: "The UK has long been a nation of innovators and today's package of AI skills and talent investment will help nurture leading UK and international talent to ensure we retain our world-beating reputation in research and development.

"Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy, from more effective disease diagnosis to building smart homes. Today's announcement is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, investing in skills and talent to drive high skilled jobs, growth and productivity across the UK."

Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright said: "The UK is not only the birthplace to the father of artificial intelligence, Alan Turing, but we are leading the way on work to ensure AI innovation has ethics at its core.

"We want to keep up this momentum and cement our reputation as pioneers in AI. Working with world class academic institutions and industry we will be able to train the next generation of top-tier AI talent and maintain the UK's reputation as a trailblazer in emerging technologies."

AI has the potential to further transform the way we work and live, allowing complex tasks to be completed quickly and useful insights to be gleaned from large quantities of information.

One example is in healthcare, where AI is being developed to analyse information and images, such as X-ray scans, to pick up abnormalities at an earlier stage and ensure that patients can receive life-saving treatment.

The investment will sustain a pipeline of talent and ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of emerging technologies, supporting the commitment in the government's AI Sector Deal. Also announced today are 200 new AI Masters places at UK universities and up to five new research fellows, created in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute to retain and attract top AI talent in UK academic institutions.

UK Research and Innovation Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said: "Artificial intelligence is a disruptive technology in a range of sectors, enabling new products and services and transforming data science. It allows us to develop new approaches to challenges as diverse as early disease diagnosis and climate change.

"To maintain its leadership in AI, the UK will need a new generation of researchers, business leaders and entrepreneurs equipped with new skills. Working with partners across academia and industry, the centres announced today will provide the foundations for these future leaders."

A full list of the UKRI Centres for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence:

UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Foundational Artificial Intelligence

Led by: Professor David Barber, UCL

As we become increasingly reliant on automation it is vital that the UK remains at the forefront of developing and exploiting AI for the benefit of society, science and industry. Whilst progress has been rapid, for AI systems to progress beyond existing tools they must be able to handle vast cultural, physical and emotional knowledge. To address this challenge and to expand on the significant industry investment in AI in the UK, the CDT will train students to be leaders in creating new AI technologies. Each foundational advance creates both scientific and commercial opportunities - societies that can create next generation AI will have an economic advantage. The promise of AI is vast and by training students to make foundational advances the CDT aims to unlock the potential for AI to transform society for the better.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI-enabled Healthcare Systems

Led by: Professor Geraint Rees, UCL

The CDT will use AI to transform healthcare by extracting more information from patient data to accelerate diagnosis and improve patient outcomes. Graduates will be trained by world-leading AI researchers and work in NHS organisations, creating adaptive and flexible systems that improve how healthcare organisations operate and delivering personalised and targeted treatments for patients. This integration will enable rapid real-world piloting of AI on hardware embedded in hospitals and GP practices. The CDT will not only apply AI to healthcare but apply healthcare to AI, generating novel large-scale open datasets driving methodological innovation in AI. The Centre will align with broader health data science initiatives and will be fertilised by leading academics who combine clinical with AI expertise and have commercial connections including companies that have already succeeded in deploying their products in the NHS.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Environmental Intelligence: Data Science and AI for Sustainable Futures

Led by: Professor Gavin Shaddick, University of Exeter

The vision of the CDT is to enhance society's resilience to changes in our environment through Environmental Intelligence (EI): the use of AI to understand complex interactions between the environment, climate, natural ecosystems, human social and economic systems, and health. This EI will increase our understanding of environmental challenges, provide evidence for informed decision-making and provide personalised information that can inform business decisions and support behavioural change.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Natural Language Processing

Led by: Professor Mirella Lapata, University of Edinburgh

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of AI that is developing a greater AI understanding of human language processes to allow it to respond to the reality of human speech. The CDT will equip a new generation of experts in NLP, developing future leaders and producing cutting-edge research with relevance to a wide range of applications that translate text, recognise or produce speech, answer questions, retrieve documents or facts, respond to commands, summarise articles, and simplify texts for children or non-native speakers.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence and Music

Led by: Professor Simon Dixon, Queen Mary University of London

The core area of the CDT is in Music Information Research, or Music Informatics, a research area of importance to the UK's Creative Industries focusing on the development of new approaches to understand and model music and to develop products and services for creation, interaction and experience of music and music-related information. Research at the CDT will focus on music understanding, intelligent instruments and interfaces, and computational creativity, guided by real application needs from partners across the digital music world.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Speech and Language Technologies and their Applications

Led by: Professor Thomas Hain, University of Sheffield

The vision of the CDT is to create a world-leading centre for training Speech and Language Technologies (SLT) scientists and engineers, providing advanced training in the theory and application of computational speech and language processing. The CDT will foster interdisciplinary approaches, innovation and engagement, with partners including Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Research projects will focus on researching and developing robust methods for natural language and speech processing in challenging real-world scenarios; making SLTs scalable, adaptable and interactive; and stimulating novel applications of SLTs in areas such as health, robotics and manufacturing.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare

Led by: Dr Aldo Faisal, Imperial College London

AI in healthcare can provide more accurate decisions faster, while reducing cost and suffering across society. In collaboration with clinicians, technology companies and patient organisations the CDT will focus making healthcare provision more efficient and effective by increasing the productivity of nurses; developing AI-based diagnostics and monitoring that can detect disease earlier and monitor health with more precision; develop AI-based decision support systems that can empower patients to be active agents within decision-making through explaining; and biomedical discovery such as drug development.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Accountable, Responsible and Transparent AI

Led by: Professor Eamonn O'Neill, University of Bath

Decisions in the development of AI, and how and when to use it or not, must be informed and ethical decisions. The pervasive impact of AI means that we need individuals making those decisions to be trained not only in AI but also in the applications and implications of AI across domains from engineering to public policy. The CDT aims to produce interdisciplinary graduates who will be able to act as leaders and innovators with the knowledge to make the right decisions on what is possible, what is desirable, and how AI can be most safely, ethically and effectively deployed.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Advanced Computing

Led by: Professor Gert Aarts, Swansea University

Research in science, health and engineering relies on AI to support a wide range of activities, from the discovery of gravitational waves to the detection of breast cancer and development of autonomous decision-making. The CDT will engage with data from large science facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory; biological, health and clinical sciences; and novel mathematical, physical and computer science approaches to train doctoral researchers who can make an impact across a wide range of disciplines and industries.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Machine Intelligence for Nano-electronic Devices and Systems

Led by: Professor Tim Norman, University of Southampton

The use of AI through systems of interconnected devices in the Internet of Things is increasingly important, with applications including connected health and smart homes and cities. The CDT will train researchers to lead the development of a next generation of intelligent, embedded systems, with its cross-disciplinary programme crossing emerging AI algorithms and models with advances in device technologies.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Biomedical Artificial Intelligence

Led by: Professor Guido Sanguinetti, University of Edinburgh

AI techniques hold huge promise to extract knowledge from biomedical data sets, with a significant potential impact for public health and the UK bioeconomy. The CDT aims to spearhead the development and deployment of AI techniques in the biomedical sector, focusing on the technical, biomedical and socio-ethical aspects of biomedical AI which could be used in biomedical applications.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Social Intelligent Artificial Agents (SOCIAL)

Led by: Professor Alessandro Vinciarelli, University of Glasgow

Artificial Social Intelligence is the area of AI focusing on endowing machines with the ability to interact with human users in the same way that people interact with each other. As well as training in key areas of AI such as human-computer interaction and machine learning, students will be trained by specialists in fields such as psychology, social sciences, ethics and neuroscience. Research will be developed in collaboration with industry partners to address real-world industry problems.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence

Led by: Professor Peter Flach, University of Bristol

Many AI challenges of tomorrow revolve around the need for interactive intelligent systems in which humans play an essential role, from users interrogating the system to seek assurance of its trustworthiness and fairness, to operators requiring confirmation that a system's performance remains within acceptable limits. Building on Bristol's unique strengths in intelligent systems, machine learning, and human-computer interaction, the Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence will equip researchers with the skills needed to design and deliver AI systems that satisfy the fundamental need for meaningful and productive interaction with humans.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER)

Led by: Professor Simon Redfern, University of Cambridge

AI will transform our ability to understand, monitor and predict the environmental risks associated with population and economic growth, which place increasing demands on a finite planet. Climate change and ever more complex urban lifestyles are amplifying our vulnerability to floods, earthquake, and volcanic eruptions, while biodiversity plunges. Yet AI methods, applied to new and ever larger data sets, can tell us more than we have ever known or understood about the world around us. This programme will train a new generation of innovation leaders to tackle the challenges faced by societies living in the face of environmental risk. It will develop new methods to exploit AI's potential to analyse complex environmental data and thus help plan sustainable pathways to the future.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe and Trusted Artificial Intelligence

Led by: Professor Michael Luck, King's College London

The CDT will train scientists and engineers in model-based AI approaches and their use in developing safe and trusted AI systems. This means some assurance can be provided about system behaviour and we can have confidence in the decisions these systems make and the reasons for making them. CDT researchers will also be versed in the implications of AI for wider society including, for example, how self-driving cars might reason about interactions with people and the actions they should take.

UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence for Medical Diagnosis and Care

Led by: Professor David Hogg, University of Leeds

In future, AI could automatically identify those at risk of cancer before symptoms appear and suggest lifestyle changes that would reduce long-term risk, greatly speed up and increase the reliability of diagnostic services such as radiology and pathology, and help doctors and patients select the most appropriate care pathway based on personal history and clinical need. With a focus on cancer and in partnership with key partners from the NHS and industry the CDT will train researchers to lead the transformation of healthcare through the use of AI.

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Notes to Editors:

For further information contact James Giles-Franklin, Media Manager, UKRI, on james.giles-franklin@ukri.org and 07702 611906, or email press@ukri.org

UK Research and Innovation is a new body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas.

Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than 7 billion, UK Research and Innovation brings together the Arts and Humanities Research Council; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; Economic and Social Research Council; Innovate UK; Medical Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; Research England; and Science and Technology Facilities Council.
A scientist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has received a prestigious three-year, $1 million award from the William M. Keck Foundation to develop a new and better way to map out the submicroscopic world. This information helps us understand biological processes and aids researchers in developing new drugs to battle disease, among other benefits.

Michael Wiener, PhD, a professor (and first-generation college grad) in UVA's Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, is seeking to create a simpler, more reliable method to determine the structures of molecules far too small for traditional light microscopes to see.

"Our genes provide instructions for the design and construction of approximately 20,000 different molecular machines, which are called proteins. These proteins, individually and in complex with other proteins, carry out the functions of life on a molecular level," he said. "By determining the structures of these protein machines, we can learn about how they cause biological processes and disease. Also, these structures can be used to discover and design novel and effective drugs. These structure-based approaches have been used to develop powerful and effective drugs for AIDS, flu, cancer and many other diseases. So, there are very strong fundamental, clinical and economic motivations to be able to determine these structures quickly, easily and cheaply."

Into the Atomic Realm

For researchers seeking to determine the structure of molecules or molecular complexes, very powerful methods exist, either by using intense beams of X-rays on three-dimensional crystals made up of protein molecules or by using recently emergent methods with microscopes that use beams of electrons. However, each of these methods requires significant time and money to prepare suitable samples, and the high risk involved in successful sample preparation often makes the chance of failure very high.

Wiener, working with Professor Lei Wang at the University of California, San Francisco, and Professor Ken Dill at Stony Brook University, proposes something entirely new. Instead of seeking to obtain lots of information from a single, hard-to-make specimen, he aims to collect small amounts of information from many easily prepared samples. He has named this new paradigm "Serial Solution Scattering Structure Determination," or S4D.

The new approach could let scientists determine structures as both isolated entities and also in the context of living cells, and it could dramatically accelerate how quickly scientists can determine the structure of molecules. That would allow the field of structural biology to better keep pace with the tremendous amounts of information being generated in the field of genomics, the study of genes, and proteomics, the study of proteins.

"I've proposed an alternative approach, based on simple physical theories more than a century old, and updated with the most modern, cutting-edge laboratory and computational methods. This high-risk, high-reward approach is not something that conventional federal funding sources have traditionally been highly eager to support. Some programs exist, but they are extraordinarily competitive," Wiener said. "The William M. Keck Foundation, however, specifically solicits these ideas, ideas that have the potential to be truly transformative to science."

He expressed his gratitude to the Keck Foundation for making his work possible. "I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue what I consider to be eminently realizable scientific dreams, with the ultimate goal of determining macromolecular structures, to high resolution and detail, in living cells themselves. As only the third UVA recipient of this award, and the first from the School of Medicine, I am appreciative of the support that I have received from the UVA Office of the Vice President of Research, Dr. Joel Baumgart in particular, as well as the support from the School of Medicine. We could really be onto something here!"

About the Grant

The funding from the Keck Foundation's Medical Research Grant Program is a tremendous recognition for Wiener and his work. When the university was notified of the award, the letter, mailed to UVA President James Ryan, was actually accompanied by a check for $1 million.

The California-based Keck Foundation seeks to fund "pioneering discoveries in science, engineering and medical research," according to its website. "By funding the work of leading researchers, the establishment of unique laboratories and research centers, and the purchase of sophisticated instruments, we are laying the groundwork for breakthrough discoveries and new technologies that will save lives, provide innovative solutions to complex problems and add immeasurably to our understanding of life on Earth and our place in the universe."

To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at http://makingofmedicine. virginia. edu .

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The Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation at The University of Texas at Arlington has extended its collaboration with the Apache Corporation to study surface and groundwater quality in the company's Alpine High play in West Texas.

Apache's continued sponsorship provides CLEAR support for targeted monitoring efforts throughout Reeves County that will cover thousands of organic, inorganic and biological constituents that may be found in water. Apache's sponsorship of CLEAR's research team started in 2016. The CLEAR team has been utilizing this funding to perform an independent analysis of water quality in the region and is in the process of preparing their findings for publication in a forthcoming peer-reviewed scientific journal.

"The water resources in and around Balmorhea are vital to the arid Trans-Pecos region," said Zacariah Hildenbrand, co-founder of and scientific contributor to CLEAR. "Given the ecological, societal and economic significance of San Solomon Springs, we are fortunate to have this opportunity to comprehensively monitor these waters."

"This has been an extremely fruitful collaboration," said Professor Kevin Schug, Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry and co-founder and director of CLEAR. "Apache has provided the CLEAR team with full autonomy to conduct our measurements independently. Apache is simply facilitating our sampling efforts by providing access to regional water well sites for testing. A leading producer has willingly partnered with an independent academic research group to provide continual environmental monitoring of an area in West Texas that has rich resources, but also delicate ecosystems. There are few industry-academic partnerships of this type."

"Apache values the work of CLEAR and its ongoing study of water quality in the Alpine High region," said Navneet Behl, Apache's vice president of operations. "Apache is committed to ensuring development is done in an environmentally responsible manner, and we've taken a deliberate approach to ensure that. The work of capable, third-party institutions such as CLEAR is important to us and of benefit to all stakeholders in the region."

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Offering teachers a retention bonus to stay at low-performing schools may increase test score gains among students in both reading and mathematics, according to a new study.

Walker Swain, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, along with researchers at New York University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, examined the effects of offering a one-time, $5,000 selective retention bonus to teachers at high-poverty schools in Tennessee.

"We initially found compelling evidence that top-rated teachers who received bonuses, especially reading and math teachers, were more likely to come back than near-top-rated teachers who just barely missed being eligible," said Swain, who teaches in the College of Education's department of lifelong education, administration and policy. "That sort of sharp eligibility cutoff is great for evaluation, but it also is an important reminder that differentiated pay can be pretty arbitrary."

In 2012, the Tennessee Department of Education designated $2.1 million from the federal Race to the Top Competition to a one-year pilot program, which offered the highest-rated teachers at "priority schools"--or schools that had the lowest test scores in the state--a retention bonus to decrease turnover rates and elevate student performance.

High-performing teachers who were offered retention bonuses received top scores on Tennessee's evaluation model, which includes principal observations in class, student perception surveys, reviews of prior evaluations, as well as student test score growth.

Those who received the bonuses were required to stay at their schools the following year. After the first year of the program, Swain and his colleagues evaluated the impact of the pilot program on both teacher turnover rates and later student learning growth in high-poverty schools. Of the 473 teachers who were eligible for the bonus, 321 were retained and paid the $5,000 bonus.

"What we saw on the math side was this increase in teacher retention initially, and then it goes back to normal, when the extra money goes away," said Swain, who was recently quoted on the study by Education Week. "On the reading side, you see an increase and then it drops off a little bit, but is still better. It's possible some of the stickiness of the effect could be that staying one more year increased the teacher's connection to the school."

Often, schools--particularly high-poverty schools--have a harder time retaining science, technology, engineering and math teachers, since many of them hold advanced degrees in their subject areas, said Swain. Because of this, along with a general shortage of STEM teachers, the program's $5,000 retention bonus may not have been enough to keep these instructors from leaving.

Despite this finding, priority schools that participated in the bonus program saw a significant improvement in reading test scores among students compared to similar non-participant schools in subsequent years, even after the retention bonus was removed.

While impacts on math scores were only marginally significant, students still scored higher in this subject area in the years following the bonus distribution.

"Part of what we try to do as policy analysts is to think about this program, its core underlying theory and whether it worked," said Swain. "In this case, we can say the underlying theory worked, but we're seeing some limits."

The turnover rates of effective teachers at high-poverty schools are nearly double the rate of similar teachers at low-poverty schools, and if schools are losing a quarter of their best teachers every year, it is very difficult for them to build a stable school environment, said Swain. Low-performing schools that offer retention bonuses to their best teachers tend to improve student learning by lessening reliance on replacement teachers, who are often less effective and less experienced than their peers.

While some critics argue that identifying and replacing low-performing teachers can help improve student achievement, often, at high-poverty schools, these teachers are replaced by instructors who perform well below average. According to Swain, a more promising strategy is to retain the most effective teachers to help enhance the learning environment.

"We try to figure out what are the challenges and what problem this policy highlights," said Swain. "And here, I think it highlights the fact that turnover of some of the most successful teachers is a big problem in our schools that are struggling the most. And when you address that, one tool that can be used is conditional compensation where you ask teachers to stay and be a leader. Then, you're ultimately putting the decision in the teacher's hands."

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Most of them were escorted back home by the volunteers of Khalsa Aid.

Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday denied that the Kashmiri students were targeted in many parts of the country. (Photo: PTI | File)

SRINAGAR: More than 4,000 Kashmiri traders, students and workers allegedly hounded out of various places across the country in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack reached the Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Most of them were escorted back home by the volunteers of Khalsa Aid, an international NGO of Sikhs, with the aim to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones around the world.

Former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, "I salute our Sikh brethren who came to the aid of young Kashmiris all over the country. Admire their exemplary spirit to serve with utmost dignity & fortitude."

Similar words of appreciation have come from various political parties - both separatist and mainstream, social and religious groups of the Valley and their leaders. Also, many people took to social media platforms to express their gratitude to Khalsa Aid and various other local Sikh bodies of Jammu and other parts of the country for helping the Kashmiris in distress.

Union human resources and development minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday denied that the Kashmiri students were targeted in many parts of the country in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack and said, There is no threat to Kashmiri students as it is being made out to be. Countrymen are angry because of the Pulwama attack, but no Kashmiri student has been assaulted.

But many students who reached home during the past two days narrated many horror stories and said how they were attacked or harassed by locals, mainly activists of right-wing groups in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and in some other states. They also said that they were harassed and asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations.
Fairy circles are round gaps in arid grassland that are distributed very uniformly over the landscape and only occur along the Namib Desert in southern Africa and in parts of Australia. Various theories circulate about the actual cause of these unusual spatial patterns, ranging from poisonous Euphorbia plants or rising gases, to ants, termites or plant competition for sparse water resources. Scientists from the University of Gottingen, Australia and Israel have now got to the bottom of their cause with soil investigations and drones. The results suggest that the fairy circles in Australia were caused by processes such as the weathering of the soil by heavy rainfall, extreme heat and evaporation. The extensive data collected by the researchers argued against a causal relationship to underground termite structures.

So far, fairy circles are only known from southwestern Africa around the Namib Desert and from Western Australia near the miners' town of Newman. While the origin of Namibia's fairy circles has been puzzled over since the early 1970s, the Australian fairy circles were only discovered in 2014. Despite a distance of around 10,000 kilometers, both occurrences have an identical spatial pattern, which makes them direct "relatives".

Supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the scientists now dug a total of 154 holes in 48 fairy circles east of Newman over a length of twelve kilometers in order to assess the possible influence of termites objectively and systematically. With the help of drones, they mapped areas of 500 by 500 meters to compare typical vegetation gaps - such as those caused by harvester termites in large parts of Australia - with typical fairy circle gaps. In addition, they investigated the soil conditions in the area of the fairy circles and in adjacent reference areas, where no grass grows over large areas.

"The vegetation gaps caused by harvester termites are only about half the size of the fairy circles and much less ordered", explains Dr Stephan Getzin from the University of Gottingen. "And in most cases, we didn't even find any hard subterranean termitaria that elsewhere in Australia prevent the growth of grasses". According to the researchers, however, the high soil compaction and clay content in the investigated fairy circles and vegetation-free reference areas are indications that the fairy circles are formed by abiotic processes such as mechanical weathering of the soil by heavy rain in cyclones, extreme heat and evaporation.

"Overall, our study shows that termite constructions can occur in the area of the fairy circles, but the partial local correlation between termites and fairy circles has no causal relationship", explains Getzin. "So no destructive mechanisms, such as those from termites, are necessary for the formation of the distinct fairy circle patterns; hydrological plant-soil interactions alone are sufficient."

In Namibia, research has so far concentrated on typical fairy circles in homogeneous landscapes. With the support of the Schimper Foundation, in a pilot study the scientists now for the first time focused on extraordinary fairy circles in atypical environments in order to better understand the actual threshold conditions for circle formation. Using Google Earth imagery, they found unusual circles - huge ones more than 20 meters in diameter, chain-like oval ones more than 30 meters long in drainage lines, circles in car tracks and circles in particularly dry, disturbed or Euphorbia-rich areas.

"Here our soil moisture studies showed that under such varied conditions the fairy circles function less as water reservoirs than under typical homogeneous conditions where they are extremely well ordered", says Getzin. With this work, the scientists intend to open up a new thematic field, as they hope to gain further insights into the formation and persistence of the fairy circles from studying "extraordinary" fairy circles.

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Original publications:

Stephan Getzin, Hezi Yizhaq, Miriam Munoz-Rojas, Kerstin Wiegand & Todd E. Erickson. A multi-scale study of Australian fairy circles using soil excavations and drone-based image analysis. Ecosphere 2019. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1002/ ecs2. 2620 .

Stephan Getzin & Hezi Yizhaq. Unusual Namibian fairy circle patterns in heterogeneous and atypical environments. Journal of Arid Environments 2019. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1016/ j. jaridenv. 2019. 01. 017 .

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Noncaloric sweeteners may substitute sugar because they mimic its sweet taste but have a negligible impact on daily energy intake and are frequently sweeter than sucrose

The study, carried out by the UGR professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Angel Gil and his research team, has been published in the scientific journal 'Advances in Nutrition'

There is not enough evidence related to the effects of noncaloric sweeteners on appetite, short?term intake, and risk of suffering from cancer or diabetes, according to the conclusions of this review

Noncaloric sweeteners may substitute sugar because they mimic its sweet taste but have a negligible impact on daily energy intake and are frequently sweeter than sucrose

There is currently not enough evidence related to the effects of noncaloric sweeteners on appetite, short?term intake, and risk of suffering from cancer or diabetes, as shown by a study recently published in the scientific journal 'Advances in Nutrition'. This study has reviewed prior evidence about the effects of sweeteners on gut microbiota through experimental research and clinical trials.

According to this review, "it's necessary to carry out further research on the effects of sweeteners on the composition of human gut microbiota as well as confirming any effect that may have been proven in clinical trials on animals," says Angel Gil, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Granada (sUGR) and President of the Iberoamerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT, from its abbreviation in Spanish).

On this matter, "every sweetener approved in the European Union is safe and its impact on macrobiota is negligible as long as its daily intake is under the ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake). Furthermore, low?calorie sweeteners seem to have beneficial effects since they act as true prebiotics."

Worldwide increase in sugar consumption, especially sucrose or fructose and glucose syrups, has raised concern about its possible adverse effects on human health and the development of chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. So much so that institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended a reduction in the consumption of these free sugars.

Thus, sweeteners may substitute sugar because they mimic its sweet taste but have a negligible impact on daily energy intake and are frequently sweeter than sucrose.

Critical analysis of the evidence

The main goal of this review has been to critically discuss the evidence supporting the effects of nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs), both synthetic sweeteners (acesulfame K, aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, neotame, advantame, and sucralose) and natural sweeteners (NSs; thaumatin, steviol glucosides, monellin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, and glycyrrhizin) and nutritive low?calorie sweeteners (polyols or sugar alcohols) on the composition of microbiota in the human gut.

One of the main discoveries is that "the only nonnutritive and noncaloric sweeteners that significantly alter microbiota are saccharin and sucralose, although their impact on human health is unknown and further research should be carried out in order to confirm said alteration," professor Gil explains. "The same could be said about steviol glucosides, although only for intakes greater than the ADI."

"In this sense, sweeteners based on amino acid derivatives don't exert great changes on gut microbiota due to their low concentration and because those amino acids are absorbed by the duodenum and the ileum," emphasizes the president of the FINUT. "With respect to polyol sweeteners (such as isomaltose, maltitol, lactitol, and xylitol), which are poorly absorbed or even not absorbed at all, they may have prebiotic actions and can reach the large bowel and increase the numbers of bifidobacteria in animals and humans."

Besides this study, another review has been recently published in the journal 'Food and Chemical Toxicology', carried out using only in vivo trials. Likewise, "that paper also came to the conclusion that there is no evidence of low?calorie sweeteners exerting adverse effects on gut microbiota," says Gil.

Strict safety control

Noncaloric sweeteners, like the rest of alimentary additives, are subject to a strict safety control carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the U S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other international institutions such as the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Thus, "the use of sweeteners, which are subject to strict controls by these organizations, is safe as long as they are consumed within the Acceptable Daily Intake," the UGR professor concludes.

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Some professors shine most brightly in the lab. Others are particularly excellent mentors, inspiring students and other faculty members to reach new heights in their careers. Then, there are those who excel at both.

Dawn Elliott, chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware, is being recognized as one of those multitalented academics. Elliott, a Blue and Gold Professor of Biomedical Engineering, is the inaugural recipient of the Orthopaedic Research Society's Adele L. Boskey, PhD Award.

"The University of Delaware Department of Biomedical Engineering started only eight years ago, and we have already had tremendous research and discovery impact on health and disease," said Elliott. "Moreover, we are educating the next generation of biomedical engineers who will go on the make the world a healthy place and improve the quality of people's lives."

This new award was established in memory of the late Dr. Boskey, a past president of the Orthopaedic Research Society who was committed to mentorship and made important contributions to the fundamental understanding of biomineralization and bone disorders. The Adele L. Boskey, PhD Award recognizes a mid-career member of the Orthopaedic Research Society for outstanding and sustained commitment to mentorship and a demonstrated track record of an upward trajectory and impactful research program.

"Dr. Elliott exemplifies the traits Adele inspired us to achieve, including integrity, being a strong role model for mentees, and inclusiveness in research, and she is clearly very deserving of this honor," said Nancy Pleshko, professor of bioengineering at Temple University. "Dr. Elliott has been an exemplary mentor to her students, and has been committed through outreach and education to inspire women to join and be successful in both engineering and orthopaedics. Through her leadership, including as department chair at University of Delaware, and as current president of the Biomedical Engineering Society, she has gone above and beyond expectations to create educational opportunities and a diverse intellectual community."

Elliott is a distinguished researcher, leader and mentor. After 12 years on the faculty in orthopedic surgery and bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, she joined UD in 2011 as the founding director and sole primary faculty member of the biomedical engineering program. The program achieved departmental status and received national accreditation four years later.

Today, UD's biomedical engineering department has 12 faculty members, including two National Science Foundation Career Award winners, and over 40 affiliated faculty. In fall 2018, the biomedical engineering program at UD had 240 undergraduate students and 45 doctoral students. Alumni of the program have gone on to found startups, work for companies such as Siemens or W.L. Gore, pursue graduate degrees at schools such as Stanford and Columbia Universities, and much more.

In addition to her role as chair of a fast-growing biomedical engineering department, Elliott is president of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a professional society for biomedical engineering and bioengineering with more than 7,000 members. She assumed the role of president in October 2018 and will serve for two years. She has also held leadership roles in the Orthopaedic Research Society and the Bioengineering Division of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

While serving as a leader in her field, Elliott has continued to maintain an active research program in the biomechanics of fibrous tissues such as tendon and spine, including injury, aging and restoration. For example, in a new paper in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, she and colleagues at UD described a new framework for modeling viscoelasticity, deformation and damage in soft tissue. Elliott and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania also recently described the development of tissue-engineered intervertebral discs that could someday be used to help people with back or neck pain.

In 2015, Elliott received the Van C. Mow Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for contributions to the field of bioengineering. That year, she also received the Inaugural Outstanding Achievement in Mentoring Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society. Elliott is heavily involved with the Perry Initiative, a nonprofit organization aimed at inspiring women to become leaders in orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering.

Elliott received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, a master's degree in engineering mechanics at the University of Cincinnati and a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering at Duke University.

Elliott is a fellow of both the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and ASME.

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AURORA, Colo. (Feb. 21, 2019) - Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in collaboration with several other institutions, have discovered a genetic defect linked to Biliary atresia (BA), the most common pediatric cause of end-stage liver disease, and the leading indication for liver transplantation in children.

Their findings were published January in the journal Hepatology.

"We don't know the cause of Biliary atresia, which interferes with our ability to treat affected children," said study co-author Ronald Sokol, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Children's Hospital Colorado and Director of the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) at CU Anschutz.

By identifying a genetic mutation linked to the disease, Sokol, along with researchers from Emory University, University of Utah, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Washington University at St. Louis, and others, may finally determine the cause of this devastating condition. The group used next-generation gene sequencing to discover that a genetic defect of the gene PKD1L1 was linked to BA in a subset of patients.

Some children with BA also have splenic abnormalities and cardiac malformations called biliary atresia splenic malformation syndrome or BASM. Researchers hypothesized that the genetic factors causing an asymmetric position of organs in the body could also cause the development of BA in BASM patients, and that the genes involved could be discovered using whole exome sequencing.

So they sequenced DNA specimens from 67 subjects with BASM, including 58 patient-parent trios. Researchers looked at 2,016 genes - a subset of the full genome - that were associated with proteins that were candidates to cause a disease like BA. The study found five patients who had two copies of mutations in the gene PKD1L1 and three additional patients who had one mutation in the gene.

"The importance of this is that researchers have never identified a gene, when mutated, that causes BA," Sokol said. "This is the first time it has been found."

The CCTSI's Pediatric Clinical and Translational Research Center played a key role in the study. The patients who were participants came from a liver disease research network, which Dr. Sokol chairs, the Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN). This network has been funded by the NIH for 15 years and includes 14 centers across the nation, Canada and the UK.

The gene that was identified may be the first of other genes to be found to be linked with BASM or BA. Understanding what causes BA is a breakthrough that could lead to new therapeutic approaches that would ultimately avoid liver transplantation.

In the first analysis of the data, researchers looked at more than 2,000 genes. Now that they have the data from the whole exome sequencing, researchers can go back and analyze the other 18,000 genes for other genetic causes of BA.

"What we learn about what causes the disease could translate into new therapeutic targets and strategies," Sokol said.

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In just one year, researchers from the University of Copenhagen's Department of Computer Science have developed an advanced customer service and support system built on artificial intelligence and provided it to several Danish companies

Researchers from the Department of Computer Science and tech startup SupWiz have just won first place and a one million kroner grant from Innovation Fund Denmark's Grand Solutions programme. The computer scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) driven customer service and support system built around what they call, "the world's best chatbot".

"What makes it the world's best chatbot is that it is deeply integrated within a company's systems. It can solve problems, understand user queries and ask follow-up questions, rather than spitting out generic FAQ style one-liners," explains computer scientist Sren Dahlgaard, who knows of no similarly robust customer support technology in Denmark or abroad.

Besides assisting customers through written dialogue, the system can also lend a hand when human intelligence is needed, by quickly finding the right employee to resolve an issue and equipping them with the tools to do so.

The core of the chatbot is an artificially intelligent language model developed to analyze an enormous number of common questions specific to a given companies' customer service experience. The language model ensures that variously worded queries of the same subject matter are perceived identically by the computer. The result for end users is a far more accurate and rapidly resolved service experience, where customers needn't repeat themselves or wait in long queues during times of heavy service traffic.

Company: The project has surpassed our expectations

The computer scientists have tapped Novo Nordisk IT, the Municipality of Copenhagen and One.com, among a number of other firms and public institutions, to serve as cases in the development of their customer service and support AI. One.com has been greatly impressed by the system. And, in a single year, the company has used it to help thousands of customers on a weekly basis.

"The project has surpassed our expectations. The chatbot is intelligent and quick to hone in on a customer's needs. It can check servers, reset customer passwords and ensure that we are engaging with the legal proprietor of a domain," according to Mikkel Nedza, Customer Success Director at One.com. The company sells internet domains, hosts websites and provides email services for approximately one-million customers in 149 countries.

One.com has experienced a clear optimization of their customer service during the past year of the research project. Along with its ability to resolve numerous simple tasks on its own, the chatbot can also be deployed to manage sudden spikes in customer service traffic. It is also able to screen cases, making them quicker to expedite.

"In slightly more complex cases, the chatbot can identify preliminary issues before handing over the case to an agent, who is then better prepared to rapidly serve a customer's needs," says Nedza. He points out that the best service results from a combination of the bot function and a live customer service agent.

Language models and machine learning

Each and every day, the customer service sector fields many different questions revolving around the same topics, formulated differently, with spelling errors and domain specific language. While one customer writes, 'I no longer want to be a customer', another may write, 'I would like to cancel my subscription.' Addressing linguistic variation has been a key nut to crack in the work to develop intelligent customer service.

"Language varies greatly. We have created a solution that converts semantically similar formulations to numerically identical output. In other words, we have created an algorithm that translates human language to numbers that are readily understood by a computer," explains Sren Dahlgaard.

The researchers have also focused on using artificial intelligence to address queries in a smarter way and accurately direct them through a complex organization. For the time being, the chatbot dialogues with customers in writing. But in the future, researchers hope to bless the bot with a voice so that it can communicate by phone.

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Irvine, Calif., Feb. 20, 2019 - Astronomers from institutions including the University of California, Irvine have begun routine science operations with the Habitable Planet Finder, a new high-precision spectrograph to help detect worlds outside our solar system.

The team demonstrated the effectiveness of the HPF through confirmation and observations of a recently discovered super-Earth orbiting Barnard's star - one of our sun's closest neighbors - during the commissioning of the new detector. Its findings are detailed in a study published today in Optica.

Coupled to the 10-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas, the HPF operates in near-infrared wavelengths, making it a powerful tool for astronomers looking for rocky planets orbiting M-dwarfs, relatively cool, small and dim stars that are highly abundant in the Milky Way.

"About 70 percent of the stars in our galaxy are M-dwarfs like Barnard's star, but the near-infrared light they emit has made it difficult for astronomers to see their planets with ordinary optical telescopes," said Paul Robertson, UCI assistant professor of physics & astronomy, who began working on this approach to exoplanet hunting as a researcher at Pennsylvania State University. "With the HPF, it's now open season for exoplanet hunting on a greatly expanded selection of stellar targets."

The HPF helps astronomers discover and confirm the existence of exoplanets by measuring subtle changes in a star's color as it is influenced by an orbiting object. The instrument was designed and built to seek out low-mass planets in stars' habitable zones where surface water - a key requirement for life - might exist.

Previously, the chief method for exoplanet discovery was based on Doppler spectroscopy, which picks up on a shift in a star's emitted light spectrum caused by the back-and-forth tug of an orbiting planet. Combined with photometric measurements of the exoplanet as it crosses in front of the star, astronomers have been able to use this technique to obtain the mass and density of an exoplanet, as well as its closeness to its star.

But because of stellar activity and the magnetism of M-dwarfs, as well as their intrinsic dimness, even instruments of the highest precision have not been useful in studying their companion planets.

Even the HPF needs a little extra help while seeking new worlds in the inky blackness of space. "It's actually part of a suite of instruments attached to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope," Robertson said. "Another crucial component is a laser frequency comb, developed by our collaborators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology."

The device is a calibrator that provides "tailored light" to the HPF spectrograph, letting it glean the most useful information from M-dwarfs' infrared emissions. Robertson said the bundle of instruments enabled him and his colleagues to receive highly stable measurements at Barnard's star, better than any ever achieved in that wavelength.

"The project proved to us that the HPF has the capability to detect Earth-mass planets around other M-dwarf stars," he said. "To me, that's the most exciting thing about this result."

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The National Science Foundation funded the development and implementation of the Habitable Planet Finder suite of instruments.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www. uci. edu .

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.
Amiskwia was originally described by the famous palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) in 1911 who compared it to the modern arrow worms (chaetognaths) - a group of ocean-dwelling worms that are fierce predators, equipped with an array of spines on their head for grasping small prey.

Such organisms are found world-wide at sites like the famous Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies, where their soft bodies are preserved intact.

The strange anatomies exhibited by these animals led the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) to speculate that these organisms represented extinct body plans that are no longer seen today and that if we were to wind back the clocks to the Cambrian, more than 500-million-years-ago, and re-run the tape of life, then perhaps the animals alive today would look very different.

More than 50 years after Doolittle Walcott came up with his theory about Amiskwia, scientists investigated its affinities and rejected his interpretation as they could not find evidence of the canonical grasping spines.

Instead, they suggested it could be a ribbon worm, or its own distinct lineage only distantly related to anything that resembles it today.

When Dr Jakob Vinther from the University of Bristol's Schools of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences and Luke Parry, now at Yale University, studied specimens of Amiskwia, kept at the Smithsonian Institution they found something that had been missed before.

Dr Vinther said: "I coated the specimen with ammonium chloride smoke to make the relief of the fossil stand out and then I could see that in the head was a pair of robust elements."

Interpreting these structures as a set of jaws, their resemblance led him to think of a group of animals, called gnathiferans, which include rotifers, gnathostomulids and micrognathozoans. These animals are microscopic worms, with a distinctive internal jaw apparatus.

The scientists realised that Amiskwia suddenly had a jaw of a gnathiferan, but a body of an arrow worm.

Dr Vinther said: "The bizarre combination of anatomy seemed altogether alien back in 2012.

"Some people have proposed that there could be a relationship between arrow worms and gnathiferans based on their shared possession of a jaw apparatus, both made of a substance called chitin.

"However, there was little other evidence to suggest a relationship, such as evidence from phylogenetic analyses of DNA."

Luke Parry added: "It altogether seemed like heresy to propose that gnathiferans and arrow worms may be related back then so we held off publishing our intriguing results out of fear of criticism from our peers.

"However, new DNA studies have since emerged that found arrow worms to be more and more closely affiliated to the Gnathifera in the Tree of Life.

"In particular, some researchers found that arrow worms share a duplication of the important Hox genes with a gnathiferan, the rotifers. We suddenly felt no more in a deadlock situation."

Now the authors have published their findings in the journal Current Biology. The study follows a new phylogenetic study, which finds robust support for arrow worms forming an evolutionary group with gnathiferans.

Luke Parry said: "We were excited to see that these researchers found a relationship between arrow worms and rotifers.

"Our phylogenetic analysis, based on anatomical features, strongly suggest a relationship between these two groups of animals as well."

The researchers find that Amiskwia is a stem lineage to arrow worms that possess the jaw apparatus seen in gnathiferan worms.

This jaw evolved into the fearsome grasping spines in living arrow worms, which now is an important link in the marine food chain. Small crustacean larvae have evolved long protective spines to protect themselves from being swallowed by arrow worms.

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UCL and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have entered into a new partnership which will enable much closer research collaboration and will explore opportunities to increase academic and student exchange between the institutions.

As part of this commitment, UCL (University College London) is pleased to announce AIIMS has joined the new International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Diseases (ICGMN), which is led by UCL.

The ICGMN is a 5m initiative, bringing together skills and resources from five countries and aims to advance the genetic diagnosis and therapy for patients with muscle wasting neuromuscular diseases, including motor neurone disease and muscular dystrophy, which affect at least 17m children and adults globally.

As a part of the Centre's research, AIIMS will soon launch its first patient trials. These trials will provide a better understanding of the different genes present in India's populations, which affect neuromuscular diseases, and this insight could lead to better treatments.

On Friday 22 February, 2019, a Letter of Intent was signed between UCL's President and Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, and AIIMS' Director, Professor Randeep Guleria.

"We are delighted to have signed a 'Letter of Intent' with AIIMS, agreeing to explore further how we might build on our strong relationship. Our existing collaborative activities span a range of areas in health and engineering, developed over a number of years," said UCL President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur.

"Through closer collaboration and sharing of our complementary expertise, UCL and AIIMS will gain a deeper insight into ground-breaking research and seek to fulfill our joint ambition to address some of the biggest challenges facing society today.

"Jointly seeking to further academic and student opportunities to work together more closely, will also enrich both UCL's and AIIMS' communities, enabling them to develop and grow intellectually, culturally and socially.

"This sits really well with UCL's approach to global engagement - building mutually beneficial partnerships, based on trust and respect, in this case between UCL and AIIMS."

In 2018 the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology led a successful 3.66m bid to the Medical Research Council (MRC) to establish a brand new International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Diseases. An additional 2m was contributed by UCL and UK collaborators Newcastle and Cambridge Universities.

The aim of the Centre is to develop an international fellowship programme in genomic medicine, to increase the number of neuromuscular disease patients with an accurate genetic diagnosis, and to build "trial ready" cohorts and ultimately improve health outcomes for patients.

Staff and resources from international centres in India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Zambia will be central to the partnership.

Director of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Director of the ICGMN Professor Michael Hanna, said: "Our vision is to create a transcontinental genomics research and capacity building partnership between the UK with excellent centres such as AIIMS.

"We will discover new disease genes, define the genetic variants in known neuromuscular genes, understand comparative genetic architecture in different populations and explore disease mechanisms.

"We will dramatically increase the number of patients with an accurate genetic diagnosis, build "trial ready" cohorts and ultimately improve health outcomes for patients with this unmet health need drawn from a combined population of over 1.5 billion people."

AIIMS investigators will recruit, phenotype and genotype around 1000 Indian patients during the next 5 years creating a unique highly phenotyped trial ready patient cohort. In addition, the partnership will support a unique clinical training fellowship programme for Indian neurologists to become the genomic medicine experts of the future in India.

Professor of Neurology at AIIMS, Padma Srivastava, said: "The AIIMS neurology team is delighted to be part of this major new MRC funded international genomics initiative with UCL.

"It will enable us to jointly train Indian fellows in genomic medicine, to understand the genetic architecture of neuromuscular diseases in India and to build "trial ready" cohorts of patients.

"We believe this collaborative initiative will enable a step change in genomic medicine in neuromuscular diseases and will be a template for genomic understanding other neurological diseases in India."

Professor Hanna added: "I am very pleased to be working with outstanding principal investigators at AIIMS to ultimately advance genetic diagnosis and therapy for patients with neuromuscular diseases, diseases which affect at least 17m children and adults globally."

Last year UCL academics specialising in medical research, healthcare technologies and frugal innovation welcomed AIIMS colleagues to London to discuss this future collaboration.

Dr Dame Nicola Brewer (UCL Vice Provost-International) said: "This initiative connects experts in the UK, India, Turkey, South Africa and Zambia in a significant global partnership.

"This international partnership will help to train a new generation of clinical academics who we hope will become leaders of genomic medicine and specialist care delivery in each of the partner countries - making a reality of co-creating wise solutions to global challenges as well as developing independent research capability on a global scale."

The new International Centre will be official launched by Professor Fiona Watt, CEO of the Medical Research Council at a reception hosted by Lord Kakkar at the House of Lords on 3rd April 2019 and senior colleagues from AIIMS will attend.

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SIMPLE CHANGE TO STANDARD ORDERS REDUCES URINE TESTING IN ASYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS

Title: Effect of changing urine testing orderables and clinician order sets on inpatient urine culture testing: Analysis from a large academic medical center

Conclusions: Changes to standard urine orders in a computer physician order entry (CPOE) system, resulted in a 45% reduction in unnecessary urine cultures ordered, a change that is expected prevent unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic patients whose bacteria counts are above normal.

Background: Urinalysis and urine culture are commonly ordered tests among hospitalized patients suspected of urinary tract infection (UTI). However, these tests are often ordered for patients without clinical suspicion of UTI, leading to unnecessary testing and increased hospital costs. Positive urine cultures are a major driver for antibiotic treatment. Despite research and professional society recommendations against antibiotic prescriptions for asymptomatic bacterial infections, treatment is still common. This study looked at the impact of simple changes to inpatient urine orders in a computer physician order entry system on the urine culturing practices in a larger urban medical center.

SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS ARISE FROM PATIENT'S MICROBIOME

Title: Surgical site infections and the microbiome: An updated perspective

Conclusions: Almost all Surgical Site Infections arise from the patient's microbiome. The occurrence of surgical site infections can be viewed as a perioperative failure to control the microbiome.

Background: A literature review examining recognized sources of bacteria causing surgical site infections showed that, depending on key assumptions, approximately 70 to 95 percent of all SSIs arise from the microbiome of the patients' skin or nose. Data suggest that the infecting bacteria were present at the incision site at the time of surgery.

BEDSIDE NURSES ROLE IN ANTIBIOTIC STEWARDSHIP

Title: Integrating bedside nurses into antibiotic stewardship: A practical approach

Summary: A growing number of medical professional organizations and public health agencies endorse the role of nurses as partners in antibiotic stewardship, but practical guidance of how to best integrate nurses into stewardship is lacking. Authors present specific examples of the potential role of bedside nurses in antimicrobial stewardship activities, and provide a framework for integrating bedside nurses into stewardship activities, including elements needed to integrate nurses into stewardship efforts as well as obstacles.

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About ICHE

Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and Cambridge University Press, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The 2019 Toyota Mirai electric vehicle touts zero emissions, thanks to a fuel cell that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline. But the Mirai has barely left California, partly because today's fuel cell electrodes are made of super expensive platinum.

Cutting down on the platinum would also cut costs, allowing more electric cars to hit the market.

A new method borrows some thinking from "Goldilocks" - just the right amount - for evaluating how much metal would be required for fuel cell electrodes. The technique uses the forces on a metal's surface to identify the ideal electrode thickness.

"There is exactly the right amount of metal that will give fuel cell electrodes the best properties," said Jeffrey Greeley, professor of chemical engineering at Purdue. "If they are too thick or too thin, the main reaction for deploying a fuel cell doesn't work as well, so there's sort of a Goldilocks principle here."

The study, to be published in the Feb. 22 issue of the journal Science, was a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins University, Purdue University and the University of California at Irvine.

The researchers tested their theory on palladium, a metal very similar to platinum.

"We're essentially using force to tune the properties of thin metal sheets that make up electrocatalysts, which are part of the electrodes of fuel cells," Greeley said. "The ultimate goal is to test this method on a variety of metals."

Fuel cells convert hydrogen, combined with some oxygen, into electricity through a so-called oxygen-reduction reaction that an electrocatalyst starts. Finding exactly the right thickness stresses the surface of the electrocatalyst and enhances how well it performs this reaction.

Researchers in the past have tried using outside forces to expand or compress an electrocatalyst's surface, but doing so risked making the electrocatalyst less stable.

Instead, Greeley's group predicted through computer simulations that the inherent force on the surface of a palladium electrocatalyst could be manipulated for the best possible properties.

According to the simulations, an electrocatalyst five layers thick, each layer as thin as an atom, would be enough to optimize performance.

"Don't fight forces, use them," said Zhenhua Zeng, a Purdue postdoctoral researcher in chemical engineering, and co-first and co-corresponding author on this paper. "This is kind of like how some structures in architecture don't need external beams or columns because tensional and compressive forces are distributed and balanced."

Experiments in Chao Wang's lab at Johns Hopkins confirmed the simulation predictions, finding that the method can increase catalyst activity by 10 to 50 times, using 90 percent less of the metal than what is currently used in fuel cell electrodes.

This is because the surface force on the atomically thin electrodes tunes the strain, or distance between atoms, of the metal sheets, altering their catalytic properties.

"By tuning the material's thickness, we were able to create more strain. This means you have more freedom to accelerate the reaction you want on the material's surface," Wang said.

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The study was supported by multiple entities, including the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center and the National Science Foundation.

The work aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the university's global advancements made toward a sustainable economy and planet as part of Purdue's 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration's Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.
8-day farmers protest in Maharashtra delayed due to police intervention.

Mumbai: After eleven months, thousands of Maharashtra farmers on Thursday began their protest from Nashik to Mumbai to push for their unfulfilled demands by the state government.

The farmers demands include loan waiver, minimum support price, provision of pension, irrigation facilities and land rights.

The 8-day long march is organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Farmers will cover the distance of over 180 kilometres between Nashik to Mumbai on foot and are expected to reach Mumbai on February 27.

The march towards Mantralaya, Mumbai initially was about to commence from Nashik on Wednesday evening, however, due to the police intervention the protest got delayed.

In a three hour meeting between Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan and AIKS representatives in Nashik on February 20 night, the minister assured to fulfil the demands of the farmers.

However, the farmers want Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action immediately.

The farmers have agitated for the second time in last 12 months against what they termed as the betrayal of peasants by the BJP governments at the state and centre.

In March 2018, the All India Kisan Sabha had organised a long protest march, led by over 30,000 farmers, from Nashik to Mumbai.
Work has begun on a new CubeSat mission that will demonstrate for the first time a new, highly promising technique for measuring soil moisture from space -- data important for early flood and drought warnings as well as crop-yield forecasts.

The technology-demonstration mission, SigNals of Opportunity: P-band Investigation, will validate a remote-sensing technique called signals of opportunity. Although scientists have proven the concept in ground-based campaigns, SNoOPI, as the mission is also known, will be the first on-orbit demonstration when it's deployed into a low-Earth orbit in 2021.

Ultimately, scientists want to fly a constellation of tiny satellites, all employing the same technique, to determine the amount of water stored in snowpack and that which is present in soil in the root zone -- measurements not possible with current space-based technology.

To gather this data, SNoOPI will operate a little differently than other missions. Instead of generating and transmitting its own radio signals toward Earth and then analyzing the returned signal, it will take advantage of already-available telecommunications signals.

Specifically, SNoOPI will retrieve the P-band radio signal, which is sensitive to moisture levels, in transmissions from a telecommunications satellite orbiting 22,000 miles above Earth's surface. As with visible light, these signals hit Earth, interact with the environment, and literally bounce back into space where SNoOPI's sole instrument lies in wait to collect the P-band frequency. By analyzing the returned signals, scientists can derive moisture readings.

Ideal Application

For the SNoOPI mission, the signals-of-opportunity technique is ideal, said Jeffrey Piepmeier, one of several engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, involved in the mission led by Purdue University Professor James Garrison. NASA's In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies, or InVEST, program is funding SNoOPI's development.

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, mission is currently gathering moisture data. However, instead of P-band, it employs another radio frequency -- the higher-frequency L-band -- to map the amount of water in the top two inches of soil everywhere on Earth's surface. However, SMAP can't gather moisture readings at the root level. It also encounters difficulties when measuring soil moisture in forested and mountainous areas.

Lower frequencies, like the P-band, can travel four times deeper into the soil or snowpack, thereby overcoming the L-band limitation. But P-band has its own shortcomings. Because traditional P-band instruments are prone to radio interference caused by signal spillover from neighboring spectrum users, they require a large antenna to actively transmit and receive signals to obtain sufficient spatial resolution.

Because SNoOPI reuses already-existing telecommunications signals, it doesn't need a transmitter. Furthermore, the telecommunications signal SNoOPI ultimately captures after it bounces back into space is extremely powerful, eliminating the need for a large antenna, Piepmeier explained.

"The signal efficiency makes this technique very cost effective," Piepmeier said. "Because we eliminate the need for a large antenna, it enables the technique's use on a CubeSat, which can be the size of a loaf of bread."

Goddard and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are building SNoOPI's instrument and an external vendor will provide the CubeSat bus. Garrison, who conceived the P-band signals-of-opportunity technique, is managing the overall mission-development effort.

Should the technique prove effective in space, the team believes NASA could fly as many as nine small satellites along a polar orbit to build root-zone maps needed by weather forecasters, water managers, farmers, and power-plant operators.

Small satellites, including CubeSats, are playing an increasingly larger role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA, including: planetary space exploration; Earth observations; fundamental Earth and space science; and developing precursor science instruments like cutting-edge laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement capabilities.

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JILA researchers have made a long-lived, record-cold gas of molecules that follow the wave patterns of quantum mechanics instead of the strictly particle nature of ordinary classical physics. The creation of this gas boosts the odds for advances in fields such as designer chemistry and quantum computing.

As featured on the cover of the Feb. 22 issue of Science, the team produced a gas of potassium-rubidium (KRb) molecules at temperatures as low as 50 nanokelvin (nK). That's 50 billionths of a Kelvin, or just a smidge above absolute zero, the lowest theoretically possible temperature. The molecules are in the lowest-possible energy states, making up what is known as a degenerate Fermi gas.

In a quantum gas, all of the molecules' properties are restricted to specific values, or quantized, like rungs on a ladder or notes on a musical scale. Chilling the gas to the lowest temperatures gives researchers maximum control over the molecules. The two atoms involved are in different classes: Potassium is a fermion (with an odd number of subatomic components called protons and neutrons) and rubidium is a boson (with an even number of subatomic components). The resulting molecules have a Fermi character.

JILA is jointly operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder. NIST researchers at JILA have been working for years to understand and control ultracold molecules, which are more complex than atoms because they not only have many internal energy levels but also rotate and vibrate. The JILA team made their first molecular gas 10 years ago.

"The basic techniques for making the gas are the same ones we've used before, but we have a few new tricks such as significantly improving the cooling of the atoms, creating more of them in the lowest-energy state," NIST/JILA Fellow Jun Ye said. "This results in a higher conversion efficiency so we get more molecules."

The JILA team produced 100,000 molecules at 250 nK and as many as 25,000 molecules at 50 nK.

Before now, the coldest two-atom molecules were produced in maximum numbers of tens of thousands and at temperatures no lower than a few hundred nanoKelvin. JILA's latest gas temperature record is much lower than (about one-third of) the level where quantum effects start to take over from classical effects, and the molecules last for a few seconds--remarkable longevity, Ye said.

The new gas is the first to get cold and dense enough for the matter waves of these molecules to be longer than distances between them, making them overlap with each other to create a new entity. Scientists call this quantum degeneracy. (Quantum matter can behave as either particles or matter waves, that is, waveform patterns of the probability of a particle's location).

Quantum degeneracy also means an increase in the repulsion among fermionic particles, which tend to be loners anyway, resulting in fewer chemical reactions and a more stable gas. This is the first experiment in which scientists have observed collective quantum effects directly affecting the chemistry of individual molecules, Ye said.

"This is the first quantum degenerate gas of stable molecules in bulk, and the chemical reactions are suppressed--a result that nobody had predicted," Ye said.

The molecules created in this experiment are called polar molecules because they have a positive electric charge at the rubidium atom and a negative charge at the potassium atom. Their interactions vary by direction and can be controlled with electric fields. Polar molecules thus offer more tunable, stronger interactions and additional control "knobs" compared with neutral particles.

These new ultralow temperatures will enable researchers to compare chemical reactions in quantum versus classical environments and study how electric fields affect the polar interactions. Eventual practical benefits could include new chemical processes, new methods for quantum computing using charged molecules as quantum bits, and new precision measurement tools such as molecular clocks.

The process for making the molecules begins with a gas mixture of very cold potassium and rubidium atoms confined by a laser beam. By sweeping a precisely tuned magnetic field across the atoms, scientists create large, weakly bound molecules containing one atom of each type. This technique was pioneered by Ye's colleague, the late Deborah Jin, in her 2003 demonstration of the world's first Fermi condensate.

To convert these relatively fluffy molecules into tightly bound molecules without heating the gas, scientists use two lasers operating at different frequencies--each resonating with a different energy jump in the molecules--to convert the binding energy into light instead of heat. The molecules absorb near-infrared laser light and release red light. In the process, 90 percent of the molecules are converted through an intermediate energy state, to the lowest and most stable energy level.

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The research is supported by NIST, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.

Paper: L. De Marco, G. Valtolina, K. Matsuda, W.G. Tobias, J.P. Covey and J. Ye. 2018. A Fermi Degenerate Gas of Polar Molecules. Science. Feb 22, 2019 issue. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau7230
A newly discovered, diminutive - by T. rex standards - relative of the tyrant king of dinosaurs reveals crucial new information about when and how T. rex came to rule the North American roost.

Meet Moros intrepidus, a small tyrannosaur who lived about 96 million years ago in the lush, deltaic environment of what is now Utah during the Cretaceous period. The tyrannosaur, whose name means "harbinger of doom," is the oldest Cretaceous tyrannosaur species yet discovered in North America, narrowing a 70-million-year gap in the fossil record of tyrant dinosaurs on the continent.

"With a lethal combination of bone-crunching bite forces, stereoscopic vision, rapid growth rates, and colossal size, tyrant dinosaurs reigned uncontested for 15 million years leading up to the end-Cretaceous extinction - but it wasn't always that way," says Lindsay Zanno, paleontologist at North Carolina State University, head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Sciences and lead author of a paper describing the research. "Early in their evolution, tyrannosaurs hunted in the shadows of archaic lineages such as allosaurs that were already established at the top of the food chain."

Medium-sized, primitive tyrannosaurs have been found in North America dating from the Jurassic (around 150 million years ago). By the Cretaceous - around 81 million years ago - North American tyrannosaurs had become the enormous, iconic apex predators we know and love. The fossil record between these time periods has been a blank slate, preventing scientists from piecing together the story behind the ascent of tyrannosaurs in North America. "When and how quickly tyrannosaurs went from wallflower to prom king has been vexing paleontologists for a long time," says Zanno. "The only way to attack this problem was to get out there and find more data on these rare animals."

That's exactly what Zanno and her team did. A decade spent hunting for dinosaur remains within rocks deposited at the dawn of the Late Cretaceous finally yielded teeth and a hind limb from the new tyrannosaur. In fact, the lower leg bones of Moros were discovered in the same area where Zanno had previously found Siats meekerorum, a giant meat-eating carcharodontosaur that lived during the same period. Moros is tiny by comparison - standing only three or four feet tall at the hip, about the size of a modern mule deer. Zanno estimates that the Moros was over seven years old when it died, and that it was nearly full-grown.

But don't let the size fool you. "Moros was lightweight and exceptionally fast," Zanno says. "These adaptations, together with advanced sensory capabilities, are the mark of a formidable predator. It could easily have run down prey, while avoiding confrontation with the top predators of the day.

"Although the earliest Cretaceous tyrannosaurs were small, their predatory specializations meant that they were primed to take advantage of new opportunities when warming temperatures, rising sea-level and shrinking ranges restructured ecosystems at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous," Zanno says. "We now know it took them less than 15 million years to rise to power."

The bones of Moros also revealed the origin of T. rex's lineage on the North American continent. When the scientists placed Moros within the family tree of tyrannosaurs they discovered that its closest relatives were from Asia. "T. rex and its famous contemporaries such as Triceratops may be among our most beloved cultural icons, but we owe their existence to their intrepid ancestors who migrated here from Asia at least 30 million years prior," Zanno says. "Moros signals the establishment of the iconic Late Cretaceous ecosystems of North America."

The research appears in Communications Biology, and was supported in part by Canyonlands Natural History Association. Lecturer Terry Gates, postdoctoral research scholar Aurore Canoville and graduate student Haviv Avrahami from NC State, as well as the Field Museum's Peter Makovicky and Ryan Tucker from Stellenbosch University, contributed to the work.

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A video about this specimen and this research, for media use, can be found here: https:/ / youtu. be/ V2QMxFiN4eA

Note to editors: An abstract follows.

"Diminutive, fleet-footed tyrannosauroid narrows the 70-million-year gap in the North American fossil record"

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-019-0308-7

Authors: Lindsay Zanno, Terry Gates, Aurore Canoville, Haviv Avrahami, North Carolina State University; Peter Makovicky, Field Musem; Ryan Tucker, Stellenbosch University

Published: Communications Biology

Abstract:

To date, eco-evolutionary dynamics in the ascent of tyrannosauroids to top predator roles have been obscured by a 70-million-year gap in the North American (NA) record. Here we report discovery of the oldest Cretaceous NA tyrannosauroid, extending the lineage by ~15 million years. The new taxon--Moros intrepidus gen. et sp. nov.--is represented by a hind limb from an individual nearing skeletal maturity at 6-7 years. With a ~ 1.2-m limb length and 78 kg mass, M. intrepidus ranks among the smallest Cretaceous tyrannosauroids, restricting the window for rapid mass increases preceding the appearance of colossal eutyrannosaurs. Phylogenetic affinity with Asian taxa supports transcontinental interchange as the means by which iconic biotas of the terminal Cretaceous were established in NA. The unexpectedly diminutive and highly cursorial bauplan of NA's earliest Cretaceous tyrannosauroids reveals an evolutionary strategy reliant on speed and small size during their prolonged stint as marginal predators.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Today's data centers eat up and waste a good amount of energy responding to user requests as fast as possible, with only a few microseconds delay. A new system by MIT researchers improves the efficiency of high-speed operations by better assigning time-sensitive data processing across central processing unit (CPU) cores and ensuring hardware runs productively.

Data centers operate as distributed networks, with numerous web and mobile applications implemented on a single server. When users send requests to an app, bits of stored data are pulled from hundreds or thousands of services across as many servers. Before sending a response, the app must wait for the slowest service to process the data. This lag time is known as tail latency.

Current methods to reduce tail latencies leave tons of CPU cores in a server open to quickly handle incoming requests. But this means that cores sit idly for much of the time, while servers continue using energy just to stay powered on. Data centers can contain hundreds of thousands of servers, so even small improvements in each server's efficiency can save millions of dollars.

Alternatively, some systems reallocate cores across apps based on workload. But this occurs over milliseconds -- around one-thousandth the desired speed for today's fast-paced requests. Waiting too long can also degrade an app's performance, because any information that's not processed before an allotted time doesn't get sent to the user.

In a paper being presented at the USENIX Networked Systems Design and Implementation conference next week, the researchers developed a faster core-allocating system, called Shenango, that reduces tail latencies, while achieving high efficiencies. First, a novel algorithm detects which apps are struggling to process data. Then, a software component allocates idle cores to handle the app's workload.

"In data centers, there's a tradeoff between efficiency and latency, and you really need to reallocate cores at much finer granularity than every millisecond," says first author Amy Ousterhout, a PhD student in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Shenango lets servers "manage operations that occur at really short time scales and do so efficiently."

Energy and cost savings will vary by data center, depending on size and workloads. But the overall aim is to improve data center CPU utilization, so that every core is put to good use. The best CPU utilization rates today sit at about 60 percent, but the researchers say their system could potentially boost that figure to 100 percent.

"Data center utilization today is quite low," says co-author Adam Belay, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and a CSAIL researcher. "This is a very serious problem [that can't] be solved in a single place in the data center. But this system is one critical piece in driving utilization up higher."

Joining Ousterhout and Belay on the paper are Hari Balakrishnan, the Fujitsu Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and CSAIL PhD students Jonathan Behrens and Joshua Fried.

Efficient congestion-detection

In a real-world data center, Shenango -- algorithm and software -- would run on each server in a data center. All the servers would be able to communicate with each other.

The system's first innovation is a novel congestion-detection algorithm. Every five microseconds the algorithm checks data packets queued for processing for each app. If a packet is still waiting from the last observation, the algorithm notes there's at least a 5-microsecond delay. It also checks if any computation processes, called threads, are waiting to be executed. If so, the system considers that a "congested" app.

It seems simple enough. But the queue's structure is important to achieving microsecond-scale congestion detection. Traditional thinking meant having the software check the timestamp of each queued-up data packet, which would take too much time.

The researchers implement the queues in efficient structures known as "ring buffers." These structures can be visualized as different slots around a ring. The first inputted data packet goes into a starting slot. As new data arrive, they're dropped into subsequent slots around the ring. Usually, these structures are used for first-in-first-out data processing, pulling data from the starting slot and working toward the ending slot.

The researchers' system, however, only stores data packets briefly in the structures, until an app can process them. In the meantime, the stored packets can be used for congestion checks. The algorithm need only compare two points in the queue -- the location of the first packet and where the last packet was five microseconds ago -- to determine if packets are encountering a delay.

"You can look at these two points, and track their progress every five microseconds, to see how much data has been processed," Fried says. Because the structures are simple, "you only have to do this once per core. If you're looking at 24 cores, you do 24 checks in five microseconds, which scales nicely."

Smart allocation

The second innovation is called the IOKernel, the central software hub that steers data packets to appropriate apps. The IOKernel also uses the congestion detection algorithm to quickly allocate cores to congested apps orders of magnitude more quickly than traditional approaches.

For instance, the IOKernel may see an incoming data packet for a certain app that requires microsecond processing speeds. If the app is congested due to a lack of cores, the IOKernel immediately devotes an idle core to the app. If it also sees another app running cores with less time-sensitive data, it will grab some of those cores and reallocate them to the congested app. The apps themselves also help out: If an app isn't processing data, it alerts the IOKernel that its cores can be reallocated. Processed data goes back to the IOKernel to send the response.

"The IOKernel is concentrating on which apps need cores that don't have them," Behrens says. "It's trying to figure out who's overloaded and needs more cores, and gives them cores as quickly as possible, so they don't fall behind and have huge latencies."

The tight communication between the IOKernel, algorithm, apps, and server hardware is "unique in data centers" and allows Shenango to function seamlessly, Belay says: "The system has global visibility into what's happening in each server. It sees the hardware providing the packets, what's running where in each core, and how busy each of the apps are. And it does that at the microsecond scale."

Next, the researchers are refining Shenango for real-world data center implementation. To do so, they're ensuring the software can handle a very high data throughput and has appropriate security features.

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ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

ARCHIVE: Faster page loads http://news. mit. edu/ 2017/ faster-webpage-loads-data-center-bandwidth-0328
The CRISPR Journal announces the publication of its February 2019 issue. The Journal is dedicated to validating and publishing outstanding research and commentary on all aspects of CRISPR and gene editing, including CRISPR biology, technology and genome editing, and commentary and debate of key policy, regulatory, and ethical issues affecting the field. The Journal, led by Editor-in-Chief Rodolphe Barrangou, PhD (North Carolina State University) and Executive Editor Dr. Kevin Davies, is published bimonthly in print and online. See http://www. crisprjournal. com (https:/ / home. liebertpub. com/ publications/ the-crispr-journal/ 642 ) for more information.

This press release is copyright Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Its use is granted only for journalists and news media receiving it directly from The CRISPR Journal. For full-text copies of articles or to arrange interviews with Dr. Barrangou, Dr. Davies, authors, or members of the editorial board, contact Kathryn Ryan (kryan@liebertpub.com) at the Publisher.

1. CRISPRtrack: a computation pipeline for strain tracking based on CRISPR arrays

The microbial immune system integrates short sequences of invader genomes within their CRISPR array to prime them for future immunological encounters. These variable spacer sequences have proven to be an invaluable tool for strain typing. In a new report, researchers at Indiana University present a computational pipeline, CRISPRtrack, for strain tracking based on CRISPR spacer content. Their results demonstrated the potential use of CRISPR arrays as an effective tool for donor strain tracking in fecal transplantation, as well as a generalized tool for quantifying microbiome similarity.

Contact: Yuzhen Ye (yye@indiana.edu) (Indiana University)

2. Single step CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in human fibroblasts

Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) have a poor prognosis with a median survival of only three years post-diagnosis. There is now a push to understand the underlying disease mechanism, which has important implications for therapeutic development. In the February issue of The CRISPR Journal, researchers from GlaxoSmithKline present a novel genome editing workflow which employs CRISPR-Cas9 editing in primary fibroblasts from IPF patients, without performing any selection or clonal expansion of the cells. This approach enables scientists to overcome many of the inherent challenges associated with primary cell editing, with the authors reporting almost 100% knock-out generation.

Contact: Klio Maratou (klio.x.maratou@gsk.com) (GlaxoSmithKline, United Kingdom)

3. Chromatin modulating motifs enhance diverse Cas9 orthologs in mammalian genome editing

In genome editing, the precision of even the most well-crafted nucleases (such as Cas9) is susceptible to genomic site-specific inhibition. However, in a new study published in The CRISPR Journal, scientists at MilliporeSigma have devised a strategy that utilizes a modified Cas9 to relieve this inhibition, enabling the nuclease to edit otherwise inhibitory genomic sites several-fold more efficiently. These enhancements were shown to be effective for improving other Cas9 orthologs, demonstrating a compelling strategy for improving established Cas9 nucleases as well as facilitating the exploration of novel Cas9 orthologs.

Contact: Fuqiang Chen (fuqiang.chen@sial.com) (MilliporeSigma, St. Louis, Missouri)

4. The CRISPR/anti-CRISPR evolutionary arms race

The constant selective pressure exerted by phage (bacterial viruses) on bacteria, and vice versa, has led to the evolution of a wide range of defenses including the bacterial CRISPR-Cas system and potent CRISPR-Cas inhibitors known as anti-CRISPR proteins. These phage-derived inhibitors exhibit a wide range of mechanisms of activity which are detailed in a riveting review penned by anti-CRISPR expert, Karen Maxwell. This article - the cover story in the February issue of The CRISPR Journal - delves into the exciting evolutionary arms race occurring between bacteria and their phage foes.

Contact: Karen Maxwell (karen.maxwell@utoronto.ca) (University of Toronto)

5. Interview: a rendezvous with Emmanuelle Charpentier

In 2012, French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, in collaboration with Jennifer Doudna's lab, launched a new era in genome editing with the development of CRISPR-Cas9 as a "programmable DNA scissors." Charpentier, who is now a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, has won a string of major scientific awards for her pivotal work, including a share of the 2018 Kavli Prize in nanoscience (with Doudna and Virginijus Siksnys). In a candid interview with executive editor Dr Kevin Davies in New York late last year, Charpentier reflects on her nomadic career, the landmark events en route to her CRISPR discoveries, and her future plans.

Contact: Emmanuelle Charpentier (pr-charpentier@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de) (Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin)

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New insights into the mechanisms of changes in red blood cells subjected to various types of effects will help to develop optimal treatment regimens for patients with atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and arterial hypertension

Various stress effects make an integral part of modern life, and their minimization is of particular relevance. Currently, much attention is being paid to the study of the structural-metabolic and functional status of erythrocytes, since they serve as a kind of "cell dosimeter" to signal stress reactions and the action of facultative and obligatory exogenous and endogenous factors that cause various diseases.

Erythrocytes (red blood cells) make up about 40-45% of the total blood volume of an adult. They are among the most numerous cells in the human body accounting for approximately 10% of the total cell volume of an adult organism. Under the action of oxidative stress, somatic shock, various medicinal substances, xenobiotics and pathologies, erythrocytes may be subjected to damage that triggers their programmed death (eryptosis). The deterioration of the erythron state plays a significant role not only in the specific gas transport function, but also in the regulation of the acid-base state, the water-electrolyte balance, the micro-rheological status of the blood, in immune reactions, in the binding and transfer of infection agents and medicinal substances.

According to Anna Deryugina, Head of Department of Physiology and Anatomy at the Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky University of Nizhny Novgorod, the study of the state of erythrocytes and early diagnosis of their changes is very important for analyzing the state of microcirculation. Microvasculature disorders are characteristic of a number of diseases, including atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and arterial hypertension. Further understanding of the mechanisms behind the changes in the state of erythrocytes under various types of effects will enable the development of optimal treatment regimens for patients and the implementation of timely preventive measures.

A group of scientists from Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg is currently searching for new methods to analyze the state of cells. One of the promising modern approaches allowing a detailed study of the morphological and functional state of cells is the method of phase-modulation laser interference microscopy, which is used to study the dynamics of changes in the shape of the cell and its structure, as well as the functional state of erythrocytes.

"In our studies, visualization of erythrocytes using phase-modulation laser interference microscopy showed a change in the erythrocyte nanostructure under stress, which was accompanied by the emergence of morphologically altered cells. By constructing phase pictures of erythrocytes (3D models), we were able to estimate the intensity level of oxidative processes, which are inevitable companions of stress," notes Anna Deryugina.

In the course of the research, the relationship between changes in the erythrocyte morphology and modification of the membrane protein-lipid structure was shown, which manifested itself in a change in the electronegativity of the erythrocyte surface. In turn, the analysis of the electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes, depending on the direction of the process, made it possible to judge about the development of stress with an increase in cytotoxicity or about adaptive changes in the body with genetic damage repair.

"Thus, the analysis of the electrokinetic characteristics of erythrocytes and their visualization can provide a diagnostic criterion for the homeostasis of the organism as a whole. In other words, by using phase-modulation laser interference microscopy, one can quickly visualize membrane deformations and evaluate the state of the cells. This method can be used to diagnose and study the functioning of erythrocytes," concludes Anna Deryugina.

Scientists note that erythrocyte visualization can become a form of rapid diagnosis of the body's condition that can be used successfully in clinical laboratories.

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In an effort to further individualize therapy and avoid over-treating patients, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report a new study using PET scans has identified a biomarker that may accurately predict which patients with one type of HER2-positive breast cancer might best benefit from standalone HER2-targeted agents, without the need for standard chemotherapy.

An estimated 1 in 5 women with breast cancer have a mutation in their tumor cells that produces excess amounts of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), a protein that promotes cancer growth.

"Although further studies are needed before the PET scan biomarker can be reliably used on a wide scale, the results of this study have the potential to advance the options for precision medicine in women with breast cancer," says Vered Stearns, M.D., professor of oncology, co-director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program at Johns Hopkins and senior author of the manuscript published in the February 2019 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology. "This study, coupled with other complete and ongoing investigations at the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program at Johns Hopkins, is at the forefront of providing true precision medicine to patients with breast cancer."

For the study, investigators fully evaluated 83 of 88 women with stage II or stage III estrogen receptor (ER)-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer recruited from nine Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) medical facilities across the United States, including The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

PET scans that use radioactive tracers to detect sugar uptake in cancer cells were conducted prior to and 15 days after patients were given the first of four cycles of pertuzumab and trastuzumab (without chemotherapy) over a 12-week period. Those two drugs are monoclonal antibodies that precisely target particular proteins on HER2-positive cancer cells and are widely used to treat HER2-positive breast cancers, usually in combination with chemotherapy drugs that poison such cells and carry more toxic side effects.

The researchers sought to evaluate whether early changes on a PET scan -- images taken during the first stages of targeted therapy -- can help determine whose tumor will disappear completely following HER2-targeted treatment.

After two weeks of treatment, researchers found they could predict whether a patient would respond to HER2-targeted treatment without chemotherapy. In approximately 56 percent of cases (44 patients), a predictive biomarker was identified that could have the potential to be a useful early response assessment tool.

Lead author Roisin Connolly, M.B.B.Ch., M.D., associate professor of oncology at the Kimmel Cancer Center, said the change in sugar uptake on PET scans from baseline to two weeks after starting treatment, and the value at the two-week time point itself, had the best ability to predict response to HER2-directed therapy with high sensitivity and very high negative predictive value. High sugar levels two weeks after treatment, says Connolly, indicate the tumor likely will not fully respond to antibodies alone and will need chemotherapy.

She said there is great interest at this time in "de-escalation" of treatment strategies in breast cancer, which aim to minimize toxicity while maintaining the efficacy.

"Based on our findings, if the sugar uptake shown on the scans is below a certain level at two weeks, antibody therapy may be enough to induce a complete response, and those patients may be spared the toxic e?ects of chemotherapy."

ER-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer accounts for about 8 percent of all breast cancers. Standard treatment calls for a combination approach of surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor, and a combination of antibody therapy to cut o? the ability of the HER2 gene to support the growth of breast cancer cells and chemotherapy to directly kill the cancer cells.

"So in the future, we may be able to offer this as a chemo-free approach. Further research is still required to investigate this before it can become standard practice in the clinic to make treatment decisions, but it is extremely promising," Connolly says.

The 88 women enrolled in the study were treated between January 2014 and August 2017, and 83 were evaluated for the primary study. All four cycles of targeted therapy drugs were completed in 85 percent of cases (75/88), and all 83 patients who completed follow-up had surgery after the therapy.

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In addition to Connolly and Stearns, other study authors included Jeffrey Leal, Lilja Solnes, Chiung-Yu- Huang, Ashley Carpenter, Katy Gaffney, Vandana Abramson, Lisa Carey, Minetta Liu, Mothaffar Rimawi, Jennifer Specht, Anna Maria Storniolo, Vicente Valero, Christos Vaklavas, Ian Krop, Eric Winer, Melissa Camp, Robert Miller, Antonio Wolff, Ashley Cimino-Mathews, Ben Park and Richard Wahl.

The research was supported by TBCRC and its foundation partners (The AVON Foundation, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure), an SKCCC Core Grant (P30-CA006973), an NCI Quantitative Imaging Network contract (5U01CA140204) and Genentech Inc., including supply of pertuzumab and trastuzumab. Grant funding was obtained from the American Society of Clinical Oncology Conquer Cancer Foundation Career Development Award (2013) and the AVON Center of Excellence.

COI: Connolly has received research grants to institution from Novartis, Puma Biotechnology, Merck, Merrimack, Genentech and Macrogenics. Solnes has received research grants to institution from Progenics and Endocyte. Wolff has received research grants to institution from Myriad Genetics and Pfizer, is named inventor on one or more issued patents or pending patent applications relating to methylation in breast cancer, has assigned his rights to The Johns Hopkins University and participates in a royalty sharing agreement with the university. Cimino-Mathews has received research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Park has stock and a consulting role with Loxo Oncology Inc.; a consulting role with compensation to his institution from Foundation Medicine, Casdin Capital, H3 Biomedicine, Roche and Lilly; speakers' bureau to disclose with Astra Zeneca; research funding to institution from Foundation Medicine Inc., Bristol Myers Squibb and Biocept; and patents or intellectual property to institution from Horizon Discovery, LTD. Stearns has received research grants to institution from Abbvie, Biocept, Pfizer, Novartis, Medimmune and Puma Biotechnology, and served as a consultant to Iridium Therapeutics, Inc.
Assessing the accuracy and value of an increasingly popular and free online patient management app, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and other institutions say that physicians with more training and experience perform better in selecting appropriate diagnoses for sample patient scenarios.

In a report on the study, published in the Jan. 11 issue of JAMA Network Open, the investigators conclude that the app, called The Human Diagnosis Project, or Human Dx, can reliably be used to determine physicians' skills in forming accurate, efficient diagnoses.

"Doctors are constantly trying to stay up to date on current best practices to better provide patients with high-value care," says study co-author Reza Manesh, M.D., assistant program director for clinical reasoning for the Osler Medical Training Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an assistant professor of medicine. "We do this by reading new research, staying apprised of clinical practice guidelines and attending educational conferences; however, there is no way for doctors to self-assess how well they incorporate that new knowledge into how they make decisions for patients. There is an urgent need to objectively evaluate a physician's clinical reasoning and ensure they are making the right decisions for their patients."

While there is no ideal or single metric to assess diagnostic performance, Manesh adds, "This online tool is a step in the right direction."

Medical "board" exams, for example, feature multiple choice questions to test diagnostic skills, "but if you think about it, patients don't come in to the hospital or the clinic with a list of multiple choice questions," Manesh notes.

Human Dx, free online, combines physician crowdsourcing of expert knowledge with machine learning, merging the collective wisdom of the worldwide medical community for benchmarking and mimicking real-world practice decisions in which clinicians must rule in or rule out dozens of possibilities and symptoms to make the right diagnosis. The tool is designed to facilitate these so-called "differential diagnoses" without the limitations posed by multiple choice.

Manesh and his co-investigators set out to test the ability of Human Dx to assess users' diagnostic skills based on their reported level of experience.

To do that, the investigators analyzed a total of 11,023 Global Morning Report cases solved by U.S. physicians and medical students using Human Dx between Jan. 21, 2016, and Jan. 15, 2017. Cases were solved by 1,738 users (239 attending physicians, 926 resident physicians, 347 intern physicians and 226 medical students) across 170 individual scenarios. The average number of cases solved by each participant was 74. Investigators used three key metrics to assess diagnostic performance: (1) efficiency, a percentile score calculated based on the proportion of findings revealed before the user included the correct diagnosis; (2) accuracy, analyzed by how high on the differential diagnostic scale the correct diagnosis was listed, and by how often the correct diagnosis was listed first; and (3) diagnostic acumen precision performance (DAPP), calculated from a weighted average of the percentiles of both accuracy and efficiency for each attempt to get the right diagnosis.

To use the diagnostic portion of Human Dx, physicians or students log on to the app to view sample cases that offer basic information about a simulated patient case, as well as X-ray or lab test results. Human Dx provides immediate feedback to users who suggest a differential diagnosis listing potential causes.

Cases cover a range of inpatient and outpatient scenarios from general adult medicine to subspecialty disciplines. All cases and diagnoses offered are first peer-reviewed for accuracy by a member of an independent editorial board comprising attending physicians at academic medical institutions. Johns Hopkins physicians contribute to this peer-review process.

Human Dx has been used by over 16,000 subscribers.

Based on the ranking of the correct diagnosis compared with all users who solved the cases, the highest average score for attending physicians (assumed to be the most highly trained and experienced group overall) was 76.9 (the highest possible score any one user could get was 100). For residents, the highest average score was 76.8, and for interns it was 74.7. Students--the least experienced group--showed a highest average score of 68.8.

Overall, investigators found that attending physicians had higher accuracy scores than medical students (difference of 8.1 percent), residents (difference of 8 percent) and interns (difference of 5.9 percent). Attending physicians also had higher efficiency compared with residents (difference of 4.8 percent), interns (difference of 5 percent) and students (difference of 5.4 percent); and significantly higher DAPP scores than residents (difference of 2.6 percent), interns (difference of 3.6 percent) and students (difference of 6.7 percent).

Forty percent of participants (496 people) were affiliated with one of the U.S. News and World Report top 25 medical schools. DAPP scores were highest for attending physicians affiliated with one of these top 25 schools compared with attending physicians for other institutions, a difference of 80 versus 72. In addition, residents affiliated with one of these schools had higher DAPP scores compared with their nonaffiliated peers (75 versus 71), as did interns (75 versus 69).

Thirty-two percent of participants (417 people) were affiliated with one of the top 25 institutional recipients of National Institutes of Health research grants. Again, DAPP scores were higher among attending physicians, residents and interns affiliated with these institutions compared with their nonaffiliated peers (81 versus 72 for attending physicians, 75 versus 71 for residents, and 76 versus 69 for interns).

The Institute of Medicine, in its 2015 report "Improving Diagnosis in Health Care," estimated that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, and that "getting the diagnosis right" is a crucial component of effective health care, Manesh says. It has been estimated that $100 billion or more may be wasted annually in the U.S. as a result of inaccurate diagnosis, Manesh adds. "Diagnostic errors affect an estimated 12 million Americans each year, and likely cause more harm to patients than all other medical errors combined."

The authors caution there were several limitations of the study, including that poor-quality attempts to solve the cases were dropped from the data set, so effort by users likely varied. In addition, unlike actual patient encounters, in which clinical information must be gathered and synthesized over time, the case simulations provide clinical data up front. There also may have been performance bias in favor of more technologically advanced individuals.

Manesh and colleagues also are studying the ability of Human Dx to identify master diagnosticians compared with those with good or average abilities. This could help institutions identify their best diagnosticians.

Human Dx was launched in 2015 as a partnership among public and private organizations involved in medical education and practice, including the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Medical Association, boards of medical specialties and academic medical centers such as Johns Hopkins, Harvard, the University of California, San Francisco, and MIT. Financial support has come from the MacArthur Foundation, Moore Foundation and others. The Human Diagnosis Project says it has thousands of users in 80 countries and 500 medical institutions involved in building the project, and that ultimately they plan to give any physician, organization or patient direct access to its toolbox.

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Co-authors of the published study results were Sanjay Desai, M.D., and Scott M. Wright, M.D., of Johns Hopkins; Souvik Chatterjee, M.D., of Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C.; Junfeng Sun, Ph.D., of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; and Shantanu Nundy, M.D., of The Human Diagnosis Project in Washington, D.C., and the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

The project was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (Chatterjee); the Jeremiah A. Barondess Fellowship in the Clinical Transaction of the New York Academy of Medicine, in collaboration with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (Manesh); the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Nundy) and the Anne Gaines and G. Thomas Miller Professorship through the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovative Medicine (Wright).

COI: Manesh reported personal fees from The Human Diagnosis Project outside the submitted work.
In an effort to produce vaccines where they are needed most, IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) is collaborating with the Cape Town, South Africa, based biotechnology startup company Afrigen Biologics, founded by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and IDRI, and its production partner the Biovac Institute (Biovac), a vaccine manufacturer also located in Cape Town, to produce a vaccine for tuberculosis.

IDRI's TB vaccine, ID93 + GLA-SE, is composed of a recombinant fusion-protein antigen, ID93, plus IDRI's proprietary adjuvant, GLA-SE. In 2018, IDRI released results from a Phase 2a clinical trial in South Africa, which demonstrated that the vaccine was well tolerated, had an acceptable safety profile and induced a specific immune response, supporting further development and clinical testing. The vaccine candidate is now being developed, in conjunction with the Wellcome Trust, European Union and India's Department of Biotechnology for a therapeutic application.

This work is part of a worldwide effort to develop a new vaccine for the control of TB. There are 1.7 billion people across the globe who are already infected with TB; therefore, a vaccine that blocks progression from the precursor phase of TB (latent infection) to active disease, is critical. Each year, more than 10 million people develop TB disease and 1.7 million die from TB.

A vaccine produced on site in Africa has a number of potential advantages. Making a vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa can increase local trust in receiving the immunization, enhance preparedness for disease outbreaks, reduce the cost of production, and expedite local regulatory review. Afrigen Biologics is the first ever adjuvant formulation laboratory in Africa and has acquired the manufacturing and distribution rights for ID93 for Africa. Afrigen has partnered with Biovac, which formulates, fills, finishes and distributes vaccines already produced in bulk. Biovac was recently awarded a manufacturing license by a South African regulator, taking it one step closer to producing vaccines in Africa. IDRI has transferred technology for producing ID93 + GLA-SE to Afrigen and Biovac; the materials produced by the two South African companies showed good results.

"The transfer of technology into countries that have the highest burdens of infectious disease is an important part of IDRI's mission," said Steven Reed, PhD, IDRI President, CEO and Founder. "We believe that enabling countries to produce their own vaccines will not only improve health and ensure preparedness in case of a disease outbreak, but also build capacity for a growing biotech industry. We are pleased to partner with Afrigen and Biovac to produce vaccines on the African continent, and the successful replication of the ID93 antigen by Biovac and the formulation of GLA-SE by Afrigen is a great start. The specialized capacity that we are helping to build will be relevant to our current candidate as well as to all similar technologies developed in the future."

Prof Petro Terblanche, Managing Director of Afrigen Biologics, notes that the "vaccines and adjuvant formulations for Africa are developed and manufactured outside of Africa, except for the fill and finish production of a limited number of vaccines on behalf of multinational pharmaceutical companies. We have not fully capitalized on the opportunity to ensure local value add, even though 1 in 5 children in Africa does not receive basic life-saving vaccines. The partnership with IDRI, supported by our shareholders, the IDC and Avacare, enables us to build local capacity and capabilities in Afrigen and Biovac to meet current unmet needs in a sustainable manner. Aligned with the TB burden of disease challenge in South Africa, it is very appropriate for Afrigen and Biovac to focus on ID93 as a first collaborative production technology transfer."

In South Africa, 50-80% of adults are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, creating one of the highest burdens of TB in the world

"As a South African private public partnership, Biovac has been working diligently towards being a center of excellence in Africa for the development and manufacture of vaccines," said Morena Makhoana, MD, CEO of Biovac. "The partnership with IDRI and Afrigen for the transfer of the ID93 manufacturing technology has afforded us the opportunity to demonstrate capacity to absorb technology for the manufacture of potential TB vaccine in a productive partnership with local and international companies. This is the second recombinant protein technology project we've successfully transferred into Biovac. Given the high burden of TB in South Africa, Biovac is pleased to the partner of choice in Africa for the manufacture of a new generation TB vaccine as it enhances our position as a developer and manufacturer of vaccines relevant to Africa and the developing world."

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About IDRI: As a nonprofit global health organization, IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) takes a comprehensive approach to combat infectious diseases, combining the high-quality science of a research organization with the product development capabilities of a biotech company to create new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. Founded in 1993, IDRI has 125 employees headquartered in Seattle with nearly 100 partners/collaborators around the world. For more information, visit http://www. idri. org .

About Afrigen Biologics: AFRIGEN BIOLOGICS (Pty) Ltd is a South African based biotechnology company dedicated to the local development and production of adjuvants for human and animal vaccines, as well as biologics critical for Africa's healthcare challenges. Afrigen was founded by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in South Africa and IDRI in 2014 with laboratories based in Cape Town. Afrigen has successfully in-licensed proprietary formulation technology from IDRI and completed a full technology and knowledge transfer program. Afrigen currently has built strategic partnerships with local and international partners to apply its adjuvant formulation capabilities in the development of novel vaccines. Afrigen and has a portfolio of veterinary and human health products in early development. Recently, Avacare Health, a pan-African health care company acquired a controlling stake in Afrigen(http://www. afrigen. co. za ).
Project presented at FAPESP Week London identifies genes that allow bacteria to survive in the digestive tract of poultry and thus infect humans

A group of researchers from the School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, at the State University of Sao Paulo (FCAV-UNESP) in Jaboticabal, are investigating genes that are important for the survival of the bacterial species Salmonella in the intestinal tract of poultry. The goal is to prevent foodborne infections in humans.

There are more than 2,600 known serotypes of Salmonella. Some are responsible for many cases of infection in animals and humans. The presence of certain serotypes in Brazilian poultry products has caused the European Community to block containers exported by Brazil. European law is quite restrictive when it comes to the presence of these bacteria.

"Salmonella easily colonizes the digestive tract of poultry and may or may not cause disease. Even when they do not affect the chickens themselves, they are able to infect humans who eat the chicken," said Angelo Berchieri Junior, a professor at FCAV-UNESP during a session at FAPESP Week London held February 11-12, 2019.

Berchieri is responsible for a Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP funded Thematic Project that will test the effects of deleting ttrA and pduA genes from three serotypes of Salmonella: Salmonella Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium and S. Heidelberg.

"We selected these three serotypes because they are frequently found in poultry and may cause foodborne infections in humans," said Berchieri.

The researcher explained that of the three, S. Heidelberg is the least common among humans. However, it was found in the Brazilian poultry shipments that were not accepted in Europe. "The serotype is widespread in Brazil and could compromise Brazilian exports," he said.

Brazilian law specifically restricts serotypes Enteritidis and Typhimurium. However, depending on the country of import, other serotypes of Salmonella in exported poultry products may also come under restrictions.

Also taking part in the project is post-doc Mauro de Mesquita Souza Saraiva and biologist Gabriele Tostes Gricio, recipient of a technical training scholarship.

To determine which genes cause the bacteria to become resistant to the immune system of poultry, the researchers infected one group of chicks with a wild type bacterium [without genetic modification] and the other group with Salmonella whose ttrA or pduA genes had been deleted. Then they compared the two groups for the presence of bacteria in feces, the cecum [a pouch that forms the first part of the large intestine], the liver and the spleen.

By identifying the genes that allow the bacteria to survive, the researcher is able to generate mutant forms that may be used as a vaccine. When the immune system comes in contact with a variety that does not kill the animal, but survives in the organism for a period of time, that animal establishes an immunological memory. In the event the animal is later exposed to a harmful version of the bacteria its defenses will be ready to attack it.

"Understanding and combating the serotypes that may infect poultry is therefore critical for the health of consumers and Brazil's trade balance," said Berchieri.

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About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
There would have been celebrations in Pakistan as our leading opposition party has said same things as Pakistan PM, said RS Prasad.

RS Prasad speaking to media on Thursday. 'All ministers including myself had gone to visit the families of those who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack. But, it is our firm belief that the country should not stop progressing and there should be no halt in any developmental work,' said Union Minister RS Prasad. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Hours after Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government hit back alleging that the party has taken the same line as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and was trying to weaken the morale of the country.

"Intentions might be different but the tone of Imran Khan and the Congress spokespersons was the same. Today, there would have been celebrations in Pakistan as our leading opposition party has said the same things as their Prime Minister," said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing the media on Thursday.

Sharpening his attack at the Congress party, Prasad added, "When the whole country is one, when country after country is passing resolutions condemning the Pulwama attack and standing firmly with India, at such a critical moment, the true face of Congress party appears, seeking to weaken the morale of the country."

The minister also accused the Congress party of not taking a firm stand when Election Commission of India was being questioned by a man in London.

"Rahul Gandhi asks for evidence of the surgical strikes but does not ask for any evidence when a man of questionable character in London, in the presence of Kapil Sibal, questions India's elections. What can we expect from them?" he added.

Lauding his government, the minister told the media that from 2015 to 2018, 728 terrorists have been killed and also claimed that it is the current government which has broken the backbone of terrorism.

"There is a basic difference in our thought process and that of the Congress. All ministers including myself had gone to visit the families of those who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack. But, it is our firm belief that the country should not stop progressing and there should be no halt in any developmental work," stated the minister.

Terror attacks should not be politicised, said Prasad. When the body of martyrs came to Delhi, Rahul Gandhi was caught on camera doing something with his phone. Did we make that an issue? We could have done if we wanted to, said Prasad.

Earlier in the day, Congress party had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not giving due importance to the Pulwama terror attack and shooting for a film at a time the entire nation was mourning the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers.

Congress has used this attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of the attack. They should know that PM Modi works for 18 hours in a day for the nation, BJP president Amit Shah said at a public rally in Andhra Pradeshs Rajahmundry.

More than 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 after a suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar rammed a car laden with explosives into their convoy in Awantipora area of Pulwama in Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The latest lithium-ion batteries on the market are likely to extend the charge-to-charge life of phones and electric cars by as much as 40 percent. This leap forward, which comes after more than a decade of incremental improvements, is happening because developers replaced the battery's graphite anode with one made from silicon. Research from Drexel University and Trinity College in Ireland now suggests that an even greater improvement could be in line if the silicon is fortified with a special type of material called MXene.

This adjustment could extend the life of Li-ion batteries as much as five times, the group recently reported in Nature Communications. It's possible because of the two-dimensional MXene material's ability to prevent the silicon anode from expanding to its breaking point during charging - a problem that's prevented its use for some time.

"Silicon anodes are projected to replace graphite anodes in Li-ion batteries with a huge impact on the amount of energy stored," said Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach Professor in Drexel's College of Engineering and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who was a co-author of the research. "We've discovered adding MXene materials to the silicon anodes can stabilize them enough to actually be used in batteries."

In batteries, charge is held in electrodes - the cathode and anode - and delivered to our devices as ions travel from anode to cathode. The ions return to the anode when the battery is recharged. Battery life has steadily been increased by finding ways to improve the electrodes' ability to send and receive more ions. Substituting silicon for graphite as the primary material in the Li-ion anode would improve its capacity for taking in ions because each silicon atom can accept up to four lithium ions, while in graphite anodes, six carbon atoms take in just one lithium. But as it charges, silicon also expands - as much as 300 percent - which can cause it to break and the battery to malfunction.

Most solutions to this problem have involved adding carbon materials and polymer binders to create a framework to contain the silicon. The process for doing it, according to Gogotsi, is complex and carbon contributes little to charge storage by the battery.

By contrast, the Drexel and Trinity group's method mixes silicon powder into a MXene solution to create a hybrid silicon-MXene anode. MXene nanosheets distribute randomly and form a continuous network while wrapping around the silicon particles, thus acting as conductive additive and binder at the same time. It's the MXene framework that also imposes order on ions as they arrive and prevents the anode from expanding.

"MXenes are the key to helping silicon reach its potential in batteries," Gogotsi said. "Because MXenes are two-dimensional materials, there is more room for the ions in the anode and they can move more quickly into it - thus improving both capacity and conductivity of the electrode. They also have excellent mechanical strength, so silicon-MXene anodes are also quite durable up to 450 microns thickness."

MXenes, which were first discovered at Drexel in 2011, are made by chemically etching a layered ceramic material called a MAX phase, to remove a set of chemically-related layers, leaving a stack of two-dimensional flakes. Researchers have produced more than 30 types of MXene to date, each with a slightly different set of properties. The group selected two of them to make the silicon-MXene anodes tested for the paper: titanium carbide and titanium carbonitride. They also tested battery anodes made from graphene-wrapped silicon nanoparticles.

All three anode samples showed higher lithium-ion capacity than current graphite or silicon-carbon anodes used in Li-ion batteries and superior conductivity - on the order of 100 to 1,000 times higher than conventional silicon anodes, when MXene is added.

"The continuous network of MXene nanosheets not only provides sufficient electrical conductivity and free space for accommodating the volume change but also well resolves the mechanical instability of Si," they write. "Therefore, the combination of viscous MXene ink and high-capacity Si demonstrated here offers a powerful technique to construct advanced nanostructures with exceptional performance."

Chuanfang Zhang, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher at Trinity and lead author of the study, also notes that the production of the MXene anodes, by slurry-casting, is easily scalable for mass production of anodes of any size, which means they could make their way into batteries that power just about any of our devices.

"Considering that more than 30 MXenes are already reported, with more predicted to exist, there is certainly much room for further improving the electrochemical performance of battery electrodes by utilizing other materials from the large MXene family," he said.

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The study was led by Zhang, a post-doctoral researcher at Trinity College who was a PhD student in Gogotsi's lab. It was a collaborative effort between Gogotsi and Trinity professors Jonathan N. Coleman and Valeria Nicolosi, recognized European leaders in the field of 2D materials. Sang-Hoon Park, Andres Seral-Ascaso, Sebastian Barwich, Niall McEvoy, Conor S. Boland, from Trinity College, also contributed to this research.
Scientists with the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health report motor skills problems in children exposed during pregnancy to plasticizer chemicals known as phthalates that are widely used in personal care products like moisturizers and lipstick, as well as plastic containers and children's toys.

Results of the study of 209 New York City children are published in the journal Environmental Research.

The researchers measured levels of phthalates and their metabolites in urine collected from women during late pregnancy and from their children at ages 3, 5, and 7 years. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency short form (BOT-2), a screening test for motor problems, was administered at age 11 to assess motor skills.

The findings suggest that maternal exposure to phthalates in late pregnancy could have long-lasting adverse effects on motor function in children in later childhood, particularly in girls. There was also evidence that childhood exposure to phthalates may have more harmful effects on motor function in boys.

"Almost one-third of the children in our study had below or well-below average motor skills," says senior author Pam Factor-Litvak, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School. "Children with even subtle motor problems often have difficulty participating in daily activities of childhood, particularly sports. Children with motor problems may also experience low self-worth and self-esteem, high rates of anxiety and depression, as well as behavioral disorders, such as ADHD."

Phthalate exposures likely occurred when expecting mothers and their children unknowingly ingested small amounts of products like lipstick or plastic food containers or packaging. They may also have absorbed these chemicals through their skin.

"This study adds to the substantial body of evidence on the health risks of phthalates for children, which also includes elevated risk for asthma and cognitive issues," says Julie Herbstman, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of CCCEH. "To the extent possible, expecting mothers should minimize their exposures to products like lipstick and moisturizers that contain these chemicals by paying attention to product labels. In addition, policymakers and manufacturers should consider steps to limit or eliminate the use of these chemicals. No chemicals should be this widely available until they are proven to be safe."

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The study's first author is Arin A. Balalian, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School. Co-authors are Robin M. Whyatt, Xinhua Liu, Beverly J. Insel, and Virginia A. Rauh--all of the Columbia Mailman School. The research is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS grants ES013543, ES014393, ES08977, ES009089) and by NIEHS/United States Environmental Protection Agency grant ES09600/RD 83214101.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) The replacement of animals as test subjects is one step closer to reality with the successful testing of multi-organ "human-on-a-chip" models to recapitulate the 28-day experiments typically used in animals to evaluate the systemic toxicity of drug and cosmetic compounds. As published and featured as a frontispiece in the prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, the microfluidic device with interlinking modules containing human-derived heart, liver, skeletal muscle and nervous system cells was able to maintain cellular viability and record cellular function in real-time for 28 days.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) in collaboration with the Florida biotech firm Hesperos, Inc., has shown that one of its innovative four-organ in vitro (out of body) model systems is able to realistically replicate in vivo (in body) responses to sustained drug dosing of human cells.

"The technology could allow us, in the very near future, to move chronic drug experiments from animal models to these novel human in vitro models," said Hesperos Chief Scientist James J. Hickman, who is a Professor at UCF's NanoScience Technology Center.

This is important because the toxicity and efficacy of new compounds are studied upon both acute (single administration at high concentrations, over a short-term period) and chronic (repeated or continuous administration at lower concentrations, over an extended period) exposures. While organ-on-a-chip models have previously been used for mechanism of action validation (efficacy) and acute toxicity screening, they have not been suitable for long-term studies due to short half-lifes, lack of organ-organ communication, and outcomes that are difficult to extrapolate to human organ functions.

The Hesperos system overcomes these limitations with a model that allows interaction between its tiny organs, cultured in a serum-free blood surrogate solution from real human cells, in a way that realistically replicates system body responses to any compounds introduced to it. It can also non-invasively evaluate the electrical activity of neurons and cardiac cells, as well as the mechanics of cardiac and skeletal muscle contractions. Such monitoring of cellular function is crucial in chronic toxicity testing as it emulates in vivo function.

In order to reach the 28-day testing milestone, Hesperos engineers used computational fluid dynamic modeling to modify their existing multi-organ models. They made them smaller, improved their flow characteristics, and incorporated more functional measurements.

"We have created a valuable tool to model the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profile of known drugs, in line with ICH (International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use) guidelines," Hickman added. "In the future, it could also be used to generate mechanistic models to predict the outcome of unknown drugs, and in other precision medicine applications."

The tool would be especially valuable to the cosmetics industry, where the use of animals to evaluate toxicity of ingredients has already been banned in the EU, and more recently in some parts of the United States.

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About Hesperos:

Hesperos, Inc. is a leader in efforts to characterize an individual's biology with human-on-a-chip microfluidic systems. Founders Michael L. Shuler and James J. Hickman have been at the forefront of every major scientific discovery in this realm, from individual organ-on-a-chip constructs to fully functional, interconnected multi-organ systems. With a mission to revolutionize toxicology testing as well as efficacy evaluation for drug discovery, the company has created pumpless platforms with serum-free cellular mediums that allow multi-organ system communication and integrated computational PKPD modeling of live physiological responses utilizing functional readouts from neurons, cardiac, muscle, barrier tissues and neuromuscular junctions as well as responses from liver, pancreas and barrier tissues. Created from human stem cells, the fully human systems are the first in vitro solutions that accurately utilize in vitro systems to predict in vivo functions without the use of animal models, as featured in Science. More information is available at http://www. hesperosinc. com

Media contact:

Michelle Linn

Bioscribe

774-696-3803

michelle@bioscribe.com
Physicists from Petrozavodsk State University have proposed a new method for oscillatory neural network to recognize simple images. Such networks with an adjustable synchronous state of individual neurons have, presumably, a dynamics similar to neurons in the living brain.

Oscillatory neural network is a complex interlacing of interacting elements (oscillators) that are able to receive and transmit oscillations of a certain frequency. Receiving signals of various frequencies from preceding elements, the artificial neuron-oscillator can synchronize its rhythm with these fluctuations. As a result, in the network, some of the elements are synchronized with each other (periodically and simultaneously activated), and other elements are not synchronized. In this manner, a space-time picture of the synchronization distribution is formed. It has commonly been assumed that such processes are responsible for the processing and transmission of information in the human brain, and therefore are of particular interest for the study.

The scientists of the Department of Electronics and Power Engineering of Petrozavodsk State University have set the goal of pattern recognition based on coupled oscillators networks implemented on vanadium dioxide structures. Physicists have developed a synchronization registration method with high sensitivity and selectivity. By applying it in practice, it is possible to create a network capable of recognizing images in the same way that biological neural systems do.

In the study, the input images in the form of 33 dimension tables were transmitted to the network by changing the supply currents, and currents changed the oscillation frequencies of oscillators. As a result, the network reacted to each received image in a specific dynamics. The idea of the new method was by selecting key network parameters to train the system to synchronize only for a specific input image, which means to recognize it.

The synchronization state of the output neuron-oscillator relative to the rhythm of the main neuron-oscillator was chosen as the output recorded signal. The authors demonstrated that synchronization can be observed not only at the fundamental frequencies, but also at their multiple parts (subharmonics). An increase in the number of synchronous states due to subharmonics is called a high order synchronization effect. Having simultaneously several states of synchronization, the neuron becomes multilevel neuron. Therefore, an oscillatory network of a small number of neurons can perform complex operations, such as speech, images and video recognition, and be capable of solving prediction, optimization, and control problems.

Using this property, the researchers managed to configure the network in a way that different input images caused different synchronization patterns of the oscillatory network. It was discovered that the network was able to recognize simultaneously up to 14 figures (by 33 dimension) out of 102 possible variants, while having only one oscillator at the output.

"In the future, compact neural network chips with nanoscale oscillators can be created on the basis of these networks. The distinctive feature of the neural network technology that we are developing is a fundamentally new information processing system. The effect of high order synchronization of pulsed signals allows utilization of multilevel neurons with a high degree of functionality. The advantage of such oscillatory neural networks is the prospect of creating neural networks using a wide variety of physical oscillators, including magnetic and electrical oscillators. At the same time, the trained network no longer needs computer calculations, and operates independently as a separate neural organism, " says the principle investigator of the research grant, associate professor at Petrozavodsk State University, Andrei Velichko.

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BEER-SHEVA, Israel...February 21, 2019 - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have found that the age puberty hits is based on the gap between the parents' and child's ultimate height, not genetics.

In the study, published in the PLOS ONE journal, Dr. Yehuda Limony and Dr. Michael Friger of the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences, together with Slawomir Koziel at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, discuss the significance of this "height gap" and their new prediction model for determining onset of puberty.

"We found that the age a child reaches puberty is based on how the body responds to the child's individual growth needs," Dr. Limony says. "When a 'tall' child seems to be exceeding a parent's height, he may begin puberty earlier than his fellow peers to slow his growth and ensure that his final adult height is in the 'target' range.

"The opposite is also true: 'short' children don't reach puberty until later than the societal average because their bodies are giving them extra time to grow in order to reach a parent's height."

The researchers said that while there is a wide variation for what is considered a "normal" age for puberty to begin, scientists have not been able to validate the prevalent assumption that genetics plays a major role in determining when an individual will begin puberty.

BGU's observational, retrospective study focused on groups of Israeli and Polish children. The Israeli group of 110 boys and 60 girls had been referred to an endocrinology clinic in southern Israel from 2004 to 2015 because of a "normal" but below average or short stature, or early or late puberty. The Polish group of 162 girls and 173 boys attended Warsaw elementary schools. Researchers followed the boys from ages 8 to 18, and the girls until age 17.

"A child who hits puberty earlier than his peers, but at a time consistent with a parental height gap model, should be considered 'healthy'," Dr. Limony says. "We believe having the ability to determine normal ranges more accurately will reduce the need for unnecessary diagnostic procedures and help doctors better explain the emergence of early- or late-onset puberty to concerned parents."

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About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more.
The United States administration is fervently promoting the IndoPacific as an alternative geopolitical construct to mobilise a large number of countries in the AsiaPacific region to contain Chinese and Russian influence. However, India under the Narendra Modi administration has become a strategic contraption by yielding to the pressures of the Donald Trump regime for a programmed IndoPacific ploy. In the emerging scenario, New Delhis rhetoric on strategic autonomy has become a political liability.

The geopolitical construct of IndoPacific has gained considerable significance in international relations recently. Scholars, policymakers and think tanks across the world argue that the locale of AsiaPacific has been substituted more realistically by an appropriate category encompassing two oceanic political and strategic heritages of both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Leaders and policymakers from Japan, Australia, the United States (US), to India and Indonesia have frequently deployed IndoPacific in their speeches, statements and writings. However, the construct of the IndoPacific has a much wider meaning and implication today against the background of the changing US strategy in the region with a view to containing China as a rising power, both economically and militarily.

The US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enunciated this construct within the framework of their countries strategic and economic interests. While Trump has been more explicit in his position on the potentials and challenges of the region, Modi talked about strategic autonomy and free, open, prosperous and inclusive IndoPacific Region at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore (MEA 2018a). However, just before the commencement of the Shangri-La Dialogue, it may be noted, Washington had rechristened its military command in charge of the AsiaPacific region from the Pacific Command to the IndoPacific Command.
Ex-air force officers get life terms for defeated coup

3 former senior officers sentenced for attempting to abolish constitutional order.

Three Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) suspects, who had been detained on terror-related charges pending trial, were given aggravated life sentences on Wednesday for actions during the defeated coup in 2015.

THEY HAD DIVERTED F-16S TO ANKARA

The 8th High Criminal Court in eastern Diyarbakir province sentenced former air forces officers Maj. Gen. Atilla Darendeli, Brig. Gen. Deniz Kartepe and Col. Bulent Gurdogan to life in prison for attempting to abolish the constitutional order.

They were based at Diyarbakir air base at the time of the coup and were alleged to have diverted six F-16 jets to patrol the skies of Ankara on the night of the defeated coup.

Darendeli, commander of the 8th Main Jet Base, and Kartepe were accused of having met three days before the coup attempt to plan sending urgent, same day service flights to Dalaman air base in the Aegean province of Mugla.

The flights were outside the routine schedule and are said to be linked to the assassination attempt on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was vacationing in nearby Marmaris at the time.
Brazil, US cooperate in sending aid to Venezuela

South American country to be supplied with humanitarian aid on Saturday at request of opposition leader Guaido.

Brazil is preparing logistics to provide humanitarian aid to Venezuela in cooperation with the US at the request of opposition leader Juan Guaido, said the Brazilian government.

COOPERATION WITH THE US GOVERNMENT

"The Brazilian government is mobilizing a ministerial task force to define the logistics of providing humanitarian aid to the people of Venezuela as of Feb. 23," Otavio Rego Barros, spokesman for the Brazilian government, told the reporters on Tuesday. He added that the operation is being organized in "cooperation with the US government".





Meanwhile, Guiado called on National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. However, early February, the Nicolas Maduro government blocked Tienditas Bridge on the countrys western border with Colombia to prevent US aid from entering into Venezuela.

On Saturday, the "Venezuela Live Aid", a group of charity concerts, will be held in Colombia to raise $100 million for those affected by the political and economic crisis in the country.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when President Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.
India has always maintained it is open to a dialogue with Pakistan but only in an atmosphere free from terror.

New Delhi: Jointly condemning the recent Pulwama terror attack on Indian forces in the strongest terms, India and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, without naming Pakistan, called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructures and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists perpetrating terrorism from all territories against other states. Importantly, the two sides also underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN, in what seems a veiled reference to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. This came as India clearly conveyed to Saudi Arabia Pakistans complicity in the Pulwama terror attack during talks at Hyderabad House here between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Both sides also called up on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

Pakistan, however, found mention in the joint statement in a different context, with New Delhi and Riyadh agreeing on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan. It also mentioned that the Saudi Crown Prince appreciated consistent efforts made by PM Modi since May 2014, including the Prime Ministers personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan, a clear reference to Mr Modis invitation to then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing-in in May 2014, and also PM Modis brief visit to Pakistan in December 2015. India has always maintained it is open to a dialogue with Pakistan but only in an atmosphere free from terror.

The joint statement, which was delayed by several hours and eventually released late Wednesday night, sparking much speculation, also mentioned that Mr Modi welcomed the announcement of the Saudi Crown Prince to invest in the areas of energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, minerals and mining, manufacturing, education and health potentially worth in excess of $100 billion. After a request from Mr Modi, Saudi Arabia also decided to increase the quota for Indian Haj pilgrims to two lakhs from the current 1.75 lakh pilgrims. Riyadh also ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails. The two sides also inked five pacts in the spheres of investment, tourism, housing and broadcasting and also decided to establish a Strategic Partnership Council, besides instituting a comprehensive security dialogue at the NSA-level as well as setting up a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism.

Recognising the importance of the energy security as a key pillar of the strategic partnership, the two sides acknowledged Saudi Arabia as the worlds most reliable supplier of oil & gas and the key supplier to India. The two sides will also carry out joint naval exercises in a strengthening of their defence ties.

Incidentally, the Saudi view on sanctioning of terrorists  which is being seen in the context of Pakistan-based terror outfit JeMs chief Masood Azhar  is being seen as a softening of stance, especially after an earlier joint statement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that had called for avoiding politicisation of the UN listing regime at a time when New Delhi was stepping up efforts to get Azhar banned by the UN. Pakistan is a close friend of Saudi Arabia. In an interview to PTI, meanwhile, Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said any terrorist or anyone who supports and finances terrorism must be proscribed by the UN, even as he rejected suggestions that Riyadh was opposed to Indias efforts to get Azhar banned by the world body.

Speaking in the presence of the Saudi Crown Prince without naming Pakistan, Mr Modi said: Last weeks barbaric Pulwama attack was a symbol of the shadow of the inhuman danger hovering over the world. To deal with the scourge, we have agreed that there was a need to ramp up pressure on countries extending any sort of support to terrorism. It is necessary to put a stop to support to terrorism and destroy the infrastructure of terrorism and to punish terrorists and those supporting them. On his part, Saudi Crown Prince Salman said: As far as terrorism and extremism are concerned  which are common concerns  I want to tell India that we will extend all cooperation to you  be it intelligence-sharing... not only with India but also with neighbouring countries. We will work together so that we can ensure a bright future for the generations to come.

The joint statement issued by the two sides said: The Prime Minister and His Royal Highness condemned in the strongest terms the recent terrorist attack on Indian security forces on 14 February 2019 in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir. Both sides called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists perpetrating terrorism from all territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice.

It added: The two sides also noted the need for concerted action by the international community against terrorism including through early adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN... Both sides called up on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

On economic ties in the field of energy, the two sides agreed to transform the buyer-seller relationship in the energy-sector to strategic partnership focusing on investment and joint ventures in petrochemical complexes. The two sides also expressed satisfaction at the first Joint Venture West Coast Refinery and Petrochemical Project estimated to cost $44 billion and both sides agreed to expedite the implementation of the project, which will be the largest greenfield refinery in the world to be implemented in one phase. In addition, $10 billion through the Public Investment Fund and its technology partners, and other investments opportunities potentially worth $26 billion being explored.

On investment opportunities, Saudi Crown Prince Salman said: We understand that there are opportunities for more than $100 billion investment in India... We want to strengthen investment and economic ties to ensure useful returns for both countries. The five pacts included an MoU on investing in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a Framework Cooperation Programme between Invest India of the Republic of India and Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Enhancing Bilateral Investment Relations.
Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Braddan Collision: Woman transferred to Aintree Hospital



 Copyright Eirian Evans and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

A woman left with serious injuries after a crash in Braddan has been transferred to a UK hospital.

The pedestrian sustained broken legs and fractured vertebra following the collision with a car on Braddan Road last Friday.

Police say the woman is receiving further treatment at Aintree University Hospital in Merseyside.
Men charged over Merseyside drug link

Five men arrested as part of an investigation into the production of controlled drugs to the Isle of Man have been charged.

The men have been charged with conspiracy offences in relation to drug trafficking.

All defendants will appear at Douglas Court house later this morning.

One further male has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.
Elkhart, IN (46516)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
According to reports, HAL is expected to manufacture two additional aircraft from the facility by the end of 2019.

According to sources, the IAF is planning to procure eight new Sukhoi Su-30MKI from HAL. The total cost of the order is estimated to be more than Rs 30 billion (USD 421.03m). (Photo: File)

Bengaluru (Karnataka): Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Thursday said that it has proposed to the Defence Ministry to procure a new squadron of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets.

"We have put up a proposal and we hope to get a new squadron of Sukhois (Sukhoi-30 fighter jets) in the future," HAL Chairman and Managing Director (MD) R Madhavan told media at Aero India show here.

This came following media reports that the central government is planning to increase the overhauling capacity of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to 25 per year from the existing 12 aircraft.

The Bengaluru-based HAL has been manufacturing and overhauling Su-30 fighter aircraft at its Ozar unit in Maharashtra's Nasik district since 2004.

According to reports, HAL has manufactured 260 Su-30 aircraft to date and is expected to manufacture two additional aircraft from the facility by the end of this year.

According to sources, the IAF is planning to procure eight new Sukhoi Su-30MKI from HAL. The total cost of the order is estimated to be more than Rs 30 billion (USD 421.03m).

The Su-30MKI aircraft is developed by Russias Sukhoi Aviation and built under licence by HAL in India.
by Mathias Hariyadi

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia was involved in underground activities seeking to impose Sharia and a caliphate. The administration of President Widodo banned the extremist movement in May 2017. The Administrative Court had already rejected as inadmissible an appeal against the government decision.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  After a legal battle of nearly two years, the Indonesian Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung) rejected an appeal by the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) against the government's decision to dissolve the organisation.

In May 2017, the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo banned the extremist movement, because its ideology contradicts the values of Pancasila, Indonesias foundational political doctrine, which stresses diversity and pluralism.

On 24 October of the same year, the Indonesian parliament approved Government Decree (Perppu) 2/2017 to regulate mass organisations that threaten the country's secular nature. The law now allows the government to avoid a lengthy process to declare them illegal.

HTI filed an appeal to the Supreme Court after the state administrative court in Jakarta ruled the appeal against the government decision inadmissible in May 2018.

Ismail Yusanto, spokesman for the Islamist group, told Indonesian media that they had not yet read the Supreme Court decision. Nevertheless, Yusanto accused the Court of discrimination, saying that the group would present new evidence to counter the verdict.

Meanwhile, HTI will vet the ruling with Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a former Indonesian Minister for Legal Affairs and Human Rights under President Yudhoyono.

Last month, Mahendra called for the release on humanitarian grounds of radical Islamic leader Abu Bakar Baasyir, a request that was first approved and then cancelled by the government following criticism.

Hizbut Tahrir was founded in 1953 in Palestine as an Islamic political party. In Indonesia, it changed its name to Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and has been active since 1980.

Under the authoritarian rule of General Suharto, who was staunchly anti-communist and anti-Islamist, HTI was legally and politically marginalised.

In recent years, it has been involved in underground activities with a single goal: the imposition of Sharia and a caliphate in Indonesia.
Hong Kong: Transfer measures for HK patients

The proposed provision of land-based cross-boundary transfer services for non-emergency and non-critically ill patients are for Hong Kong people, Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said today.

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has called for a study on the provision of the transfer services.

Prof Chan told reporters that Hong Kong people living in the bay area have expressed the need for a better arrangement to facilitate non-emergency Hong Kong patients on the Mainland to return to Hong Kong for medical treatment.

The plan proposes to explore ways on taking the transfer measure forward, she added.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Effingham, IL (62401)

Today

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
When it comes to student learning, money matters. But when it comes to how that money is spent, the vast majority of states K-12 funding is parceled out in outdated, inefficient ways, to the great frustration of teachers, district officials, and state politicians.

Replacing a states school funding formula, however, is both complicated and politically contentious, and past efforts have fallen flat in many states.

This year could be differentor so advocates hope. Its a year free of election pressure in most states. Some, including Idaho, Kansas, and Wisconsin, have huge surpluses that could offer a psychological safety net for skittish lawmakers. And teacherswith significant public supportare demanding higher pay and more school resources.

That makes for the right political climate to push through a funding formula, school finance experts say. So what are some of the hot spots this year as legislatures and governors get down to the business of deciding how best to allocate billions of dollars in K-12 funding?

Idaho

Last month, legislators from both chambers heard a two-hour presentation on a proposal to replace a formula crafted more than 20 years ago and instead distribute money to districts based on how many students are enrolled in their schools. Many K-12 students in the mostly rural state today attend charter schools, take classes at local community colleges, or are home-schooled, something that the existing funding formula doesnt account for. The proposed formula, being championed by newly elected Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, is already getting pushback from some districts that stand to lose millions of dollars under the plan.

Maryland

Maryland actually has one of the nations newest funding formulas and features many of the elements advocates in other states want to replicate. Established in 2002, the formula provides more money to schools that serve at-risk students, such as those with special needs and who are poor.

But a task force led by former University of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan has said that the way the state funds its schools still leaves certain student groups with fewer resources than other students. Among the task forces findings: that the more black students attending a school, the less funding the school can expect to receive, even though the current formula was devised expressly to prevent that.

Kirwan, in a bluntly worded presentation to the legislature last month, said the state needs to provide more than $3.8 billion to its schools over the next decade in order to provide students with an adequate education.

Marylands NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union chapters followed that presentation with a strongly worded letter to Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, urging the state to adopt the commissions recommendations. The two organizations successfully sued the state in 2000 over the way it finances its schools.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts has gotten lots of praise for its efforts a quarter century ago to upend how it distributes K-12 funds and holds schools accountable. Many policymakers and researchers say its why the state consistently lands at the top of national academic rankings, including Education Weeks annual Quality Counts report.

But within Massachusetts, frustration has built in recent years over that very formula, which many educators say leaves schools serving its most at-risk populations without the necessary resources to provide an adequate education. A 2015 study showed that the state is annually underfunding the states public schools by $1 billion.

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has proposed a new formula that would provide in total over the next five years an additional $1.1 billion to schools. A separate bill working its way through the legislature would cost the state $1.5 billion over the next five years and change the way money is distributed to charter schools and Bostons public schools.

New Mexico

Last year, a New Mexico district judge ruled that the state doesnt give enough money to its schools to provide an adequate education for low-income children, English-language learners, Native American students, and students with disabilities. The state has until April 15a month after the legislative session endsto prove to District Judge Sarah Singleton that it has made improvements to its system. She did not specify how much the state needs to provide schools. Recently elected Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said last month that she wants to overhaul the funding formula to address those concerns and increase the states K-12 spending annually by more than $500 million.

Nevada

School finance experts recommend state funding formulas be replaced once every decade, even though most states formulas are more than 20 years old. Nevadas formula was established in 1967 and is, arguably, one of the nations oldest. The state evenly divvies up money among its 11 counties. But that money is too little and fails to account for the different needs of student groups such as children with special needs and English-language learners, advocates say.

The funding formula is equitable because everyone is actually equally poor, Michelle Alejandra Booth, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Educate Nevada Now said.

A new funding formula is being pushed by recently elected Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, that would result in, among other things, a 3 percent raise for K-12 teachers and more money for supplies, higher education, new buildings, scholarships, and increased school safety. But the proposal is already getting pushback from the rural districts that would stand to lose money.

Texas

The state has long been known for the way it takes money from its oil-rich school districts and gives it to its resource-poor districts, whats commonly referred to as the Robin Hood effect. The Texas supreme court ruled in 2016 that even though the state doesnt give enough money to its schools to provide an adequate education, it isnt the courts place to tell the legislature how to spend taxpayer money.

Last month, the states House of Representatives released a plan to scrap the Robin Hood system and replace it with one that would be heavily reliant on state funds instead of local funds. It would ultimately provide schools with $9 billion more over the next two years. The proposal would also result in decreased property taxes for many of the states residents, something the states Republican Party has promised to do for several years. The state senate is expected to release a plan of its own in the coming weeks.

Leaders of a committee tasked with coming up with a new funding formula declined late last year to provide a price tag for a new formula. Doing so, they said, would set up a court battle in which they would have to defend spending less than a recommended amount.

Wisconsin

Newly elected Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat and former state schools superintendent, campaigned on a new funding formula that would pump more than $1.4 billion into schools over the next two years. The states GOP-controlled legislature has promised to propose a separate school spending plan. But Evers recently got a political boost after a bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel came out with recommendations that effectively said the governor is right: The states schools are severely underfunded. Among the panels recommendations is that the state provide significantly more money to schools to serve students with special needs, English-language learners, and those from low-income families. The state has a $588 million surplus, and its residents have been historically hostile toward taxes.
The Atlantic called it, "The Vatican's time for a deeper reckoning."

Pope Francis opened a summit Feb. 21 on preventing clerical sexual abuse, saying Catholics were looking to church leaders not for "simple and predictable condemnations" but for "concrete and effective measures" to deal with the scourge.

(Reuters)

"May the Virgin Mary enlighten us as we seek to heal the grave wounds that the scandtal of pedophilia has caused" in both children and believers, Francis said, according to an official Vatican translation, The Washington Post reported.

The Pope called sexual abuse a "scourge" and urged the prelates in attendance "hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice."

He said the assembled Catholic leaders were obliged to discuss, frankly and in depth, "how to confront this evil afflicting the Church and humanity."

The Post said the pontiff's brief address kicked off one of the most critical points of his papacy, a gathering of the world's leading bishops to discuss a problem that the Catholic Church has struggled for decades to curb  and that has now damaged the Pope's own reputation.

The Atlantic said Vatican officials said the meeting's themes will be responsibility, accountability, and transparency, and they hope that it will be a turning point.

But they've also tried to manage expectations, saying that while the gathering is an opportunity for discussion and reflection, it might not yet yield concrete measures.

"This is not going to be a three-day wonder, and we're not going to solve all the problems. Follow-up will be of the essence," Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna, the archbishop of Malta and one of the Vatican's longtime top investigators of sexual-abuse cases, said on Monday. Before the meeting begins, and before the crisis can be solved, here before the meeting began, and there are some questions that still need answering.

The New York Times reported that scandals have repeatedly emerged around the world even decades after the problem first came to light in the United States, where the systemic shuffling of predatory priests from parish to parish spread abuse like a virus.

But some of the victims of church predators are not convinced.

Some of the victims who had traveled to Rome, where they hovered outside news conferences, gave hours' worth of interviews, observed vigils and planned a Saturday march through the city, expressed exasperation.

Same old, same old," said Tim Law, president of the survivor's support group, Ending Clergy Abuse. "For six years of his papacy he has said, 'zero tolerance, zero tolerance,' " he added. "He's backed down."

Advocates for other victims of abuse and secrecy in the church, including for the children of priests and for nuns raped by clerics, also came to Rome to meet with top officials and take advantage of the intense media interest.

The meeting itself included the presidents of many of the world's bishops' conferences, men's and women's religious orders and powerful cardinals from his committee of top advisers, said the Times.
(Photo: Royal Commission)Judge Peter McClennan and Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald arrive for a hearing of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on September 19, 2014.

An Australian inquiry into child sex abuse is looking into how Melbourne's Northside Christian College handled complaints against a teacher accused and convicted of sexually abusing his students.

The teacher, Kenneth Sandilands, 69, was jailed for two years in 2000 for 13 counts of indecent assault of eight victims, the Guardian reported.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has far reaching powers to call witnesses, was examining the abuses committed by Sandilands in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Margaret Furlong, who still teaches at the college, said three children complained that Sandilands was touching them.

One girl, Emma Fretton, said she wanted to be transferred to another class "because he did bad things" to her.

Now 34, she told the commission that Sandilands abused her for three years, "touching her, beating her with a wooden paddle and making her sign obscene stories which the teacher dictates to her."

Furlong said she reported the complaints to the then principal but there was no action. She said the victims as well as the teachers got no support from the administration and a "climate of fear" pervaded the school.

She said at the time she trusted "godly men" to do the right thing.

Pastor Dennis Smith, a senior Pentecostal pastor, was asked why he did not question a report about the abuse.

"I was again being guided by the educators, the principal, because they would know what is right and what is wrong," he said. His answers also reveal that it did not occur to him that the reported contact may be a sexual contact with a child.

Smith also told the commission he had no reason to suspect Sandilands was touching children inappropriately because it was not his job to check previous employments of teachers.

On 10 September 2014, Sandilands was jailed for 26 months on a further six counts of indecent assault at St Paul's Anglican primary school in Frankston, Victoria, where he had worked in the 1970s before he joined Northside.

The commission was sitting in Sydney on Wednesday.
A rare species of giant tortoise, feared extinct for more than 100 years, was sighted on the Galapagos island of Fernandina Sunday, the Ecuadorian government announced.

The tortoise, an adult female of the species Chelonoidis phantasticus, was found during an investigation by the Galapagos National Park and the U.S. environmental group Galapagos Conservancy, The Associated Press reported.

The researchers also thought that the tracks and faeces they had observed on their trip indicated there might be other members of the extremely endangered species living on the island. Up until Sunday's discovery, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had listed the tortoise as critically endangered and possibly extinct, but noted that there was an unconfirmed sighting in 2009, and previous expeditions had found faeces and bite marks on cacti on the island.



"This encourages us to strengthen our search plans to find more tortoises, which will allow us to start a captive breeding program to recover this species," Galapagos National Park Director Danny Rueda said in a park Facebook post.

The tortoise, who is likely more than 100 years old, was moved to a tortoise breeding center on Santa Cruz Island, The Associated Press reported.

"They will need more than one, but females may store sperm for a long time," Duke University Conservation Ecology Professor Stuart Pimm told The Associated Press of a potential breeding program. "There may be hope."

The last confirmed sighting of Chelonoidis phantasticus was in 1906, when one was found by an expedition of the California Academy of Sciences, according to The Independent.

Fernandina is the youngest and most volcanically active of the Galapagos islands. The IUCN listed "the frequent volcanic lava flows that nearly cover the island" as the force that might have driven the species close to extinction.



There were once 14 species of giant tortoises on nine Galapagos islands, but now that number has fallen to 10 species on six islands, The Independent reported.

Ecuadorian Environment Minister Marcelo Mata Guerrero was quoted on the Galapagos National Park Facebook page as saying the park could "count on all the backing of the national government and the Environment Ministry to conduct the necessary investigations to guarantee the conservation and preservation of the species that call the Galapagos home."
By Jennifer Skene and Shelley Vinyard

For most people, toilet paper only becomes an issue when it unexpectedly runs out. Otherwise, it's cheap and it's convenient, something we don't need to think twice about. But toilet paper's ubiquity and low sticker price belie a much, much higher cost: it is taking a dramatic and irreversible toll on the Canadian boreal forest, and our global climate. As a new report from NRDC and Stand.earth outlines, when you flush that toilet paper, chances are you are flushing away part of a majestic, old-growth tree ripped from the ground, and destined for the drain. This is why NRDC is calling on Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of Charmin, to end this wasteful and destructive practice by changing the way it makes its toilet paper through solutions that other companies have already embraced.

The Canadian boreal forest is the largest intact forest in the world, holding immense value for Indigenous Peoples, species and the climate. It is home to over 600 Indigenous communities whose cultures have remained inextricably linked to the forest for millennia, and is habitat for iconic species like the boreal caribou, Canada lynx and American marten. In addition, the forest is critical in the fight against climate change, storing the carbon equivalent of nearly twice the world's recoverable oil reserves in its soil.

Yet, this forest is under severe threat from industrial logging operations that push further into intact boreal forests each day. Between 1996 and 2015, more than 28 million acres of boreal forest were logged, an area roughly the size of Ohio. Each year, boreal logging emits hundreds of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere, dramatically accelerating the pace of climate change.

Much of this logging goes to feed global demand for tissue pulpespecially in the U.S. The Canadian boreal is a major source of northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp, the U.S.'s most favored grade of virgin softwood pulp for tissue products. The U.S. is a particularly voracious consumer of tissue. Over the last 150 years, since toilet paper was first invented, Americans have developed an insatiable demand for these coiled white rolls. The average four-person household in the U.S. uses over 100 pounds of toilet paper a year, far outpacing the rest of the world and driving a dangerous "tree-to-toilet pipeline" whereby trees are converted into pulp, turned into toilet paper, and flushed away.

Fortunately, alternatives to the "tree-to-toilet" pipeline already exist. Tissue products made from recycled materials are far more sustainable because they do not rely on clearcutting forests and they emit one-third the greenhouse gases as tissue products made from virgin fiber.

Cut your toilet paper use with the best bidet toilet seats and attachments.



NRDC and Stand.earth have developed the scorecard below to inform consumers of which brands lead on sustainability, and which lag behind. Companies like Seventh Generation and Natural Value have brands that perform well because they use a high percentage of recycled material. The biggest tissue producersProcter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and Georgia-Pacificperform poorly because their brands like Charmin contain zero recycled content, irresponsibly relying exclusively on virgin pulp even as threats to our forests mount.

Consumers have power in their pocketbooks and can make a big difference through their toilet paper purchasing decisions. By following this scorecard, you can minimize the environmental toll your everyday toilet paper use is having on the planet. In addition, you can urge Procter & Gamble, which produces Charmin, to transition to a more responsible alternative by embracing tissue made from recycled content and sustainable alternative fibers for their at-home toilet paper.



Now, more than ever, we need to protect our remaining forests. Given toilet paper's extreme cost to Indigenous Peoples, the global climate, species and forests like the boreal, tissue companies need to act as global citizens and usher the world into a more sustainable, sensible paradigm that does not rely on trees for creating their products. Just as we need to abandon coal, plastic straws and other devastating practices, the tree-to-toilet pipeline must end. For the good of communities, species, and the climate, we cannot afford to keep flushing our vital forest ecosystems away.
An indigenous environmental activist was killed in Morelos, Mexico Wednesday, three days before a referendum on the construction of a gas pipeline and two thermoelectric plants that he had organized to oppose, the Associated Press reported.

Samir Flores Soberanes had challenged the words of government representatives at a forum about the so-called Morelos Comprehensive Project a day before his murder, The Peoples in Defense of Land and Water Front (FPDTA), the group Soberanes organized with, said in a statement.

"This is a political crime for the human rights defence that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [project] and for people's autonomy and self-determination," the group said in a statement reported by The Guardian.

The Morelos state government, however, challenged whether Soberanes' murder was politically motivated. State prosecutor Uriel Carmona said that the murder was not related to the upcoming referendum and that investigators were considering the involvement of organized crime.



Soberanes and the FPDTA opposed the energy project, which would have run a pipeline through Soberanes' home village of Amilcingo, because of concerns about how it would impact the health, safety and water of the largely indigenous communities in the surrounding area, the Associated Press reported.

Newly elected Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the murder "vile" and "cowardly," but said the vote would take place when planned.

"I'm very sorry about the murder," Lopez Obrador said, as the Associated Press reported. "The consultation we have to continue because it is a process that was already agreed to."

The FPDTA said Soberanes had been murdered Wednesday morning around 5 a.m. after two vehicles parked outside his home. The people inside the vehicles called to him to come out and then shot him when he emerged.

Soberanes was an indigenous Nahuatl, a community radio producer and a human rights activist, The Guardian reported.

The project he opposed was first proposed in 2011, but had been recently taken up by Lopez Obrador as a means of reducing electricity prices. The new president has also called for referendums on major projects like a new Mexico City airport and a train in southern Mexico. The airport project was defeated and the train, between Cancun and Tulum, was approved, The Associated Press reported.

The FPDTA wrote a letter to Lopez Obrador warning him that the referendum would lead to violence in their community.

Lopez Obrador promised to address the frequent murders of human rights and environmental activists in Mexico. However, he also made remarks about civil society Tuesday that concerned some activists, calling it "conservative" for opposing his projects and planning to militarize the police.

"All those who oppose the [project]  we are for Lopez Obrador radical ultra-conservatives," FPDTA told The Guardian.
Reliance Communications chief faces 3-month jail if he doesnt pay within 4 weeks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications, guilty of contempt of court for disobeying the orders to pay Rs 550 crores to Ericsson as per the undertakings given to the court.

A bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran also held guilty of contempt three Reliance Companies RCom, Reliance Telecom and Reliance InfraTel  and slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore each on them, failing to pay the fine will result in one month imprisonment.

The Bench has given an opportunity to Reliance companies to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crores (which includes interest) to Ericsson within 4 weeks, failing which Anil Ambani will be sent to prison for three months. The Bench asked the Registry to give it to Ericsson Rs 118 cr deposited by the contemnors in the court.

The contempt petitions have been filed alleging that Reliance companies violated the undertaking made before court to pay off debts due to Ericsson worth `550 crores. The company failed to honour the two deadlines of September 30 and December 15, 2018 fixed by the court leading to the filing of two contempt petitions.

Ericsson alleged that Reliance group has wilfully and consciously defied the order dated August 3, 2018 and the undertaking given before it to pay up by September-end. The apex court had on October 23, 2018 as last opportunity to RCom for clearing the settlement amount, by setting December 15 as the deadline. When this deadline was also missed, contempt notice was issued to Ambani on January 6.

Writing the judgment Justice Nariman said, We are of the view that any unconditional apology given that there was no intention to make any wrongful undertaking or that the undertaking was submitted bona fide must be rejected.

Their reply clearly demonstrates the cavalier attitude of the deponent of this affidavit to the highest court of the land.

The Bench said We have seen that right from the beginning, the sum of Rs 550 crore was undertaken to be paid, without having to depend upon any act or omission of a third party. To say that the sum of INR 550 crore would be paid only out of sale of assets of the three Reliance Companies is a deliberate misstatement made in the undertakings as well as the applications for extension of time filed before this Court, which was done with the purpose of circumventing the orders of this Court.

The Bench said it is clear that the three Reliance Companies had no intention, at the very least, of adhering to the time limit of 120 days or to the extended time limit of 60 days plus, as was given by way of indulgence, by the order dated 23.10.2018. The undertakings given on the footing that the amount of INR 550 crore would be paid only out of the sale of assets was false to the knowledge of the three Reliance Companies. This itself affects the administration of justice, and is therefore, contempt of court.

The court held that this is also not a case of accidental or unintentional disobedience. As is clear from the letter dated 21.01.2019, the Reliance Companies are able to pay this amount, but are willfully refusing to do so. This was written by the advocates of the three Reliance Companies, who stated that on 09.01.2019, INR 118 crore had already been deposited with the Registry of this Court, and that the total outstanding, as on date, together with interest, would be roughly Rs. 570 crore. This letter specifically states that the net figure of Rs. 453 crore would be paid by 31.01.2019. There was clear contempt in disobeying the undertakings and held the three companies and their chairmen guilty of contempt which can be purged by paying Rs. 453 cr in four weeks.
The White House is assembling a climate change panel to be headed by a known climate denier who once took money from a coal company to testify at a hearing and who has compared criticism of carbon dioxide to Hitler's demonization of the Jews.

William Happer, a Princeton physicist who has never trained as a climate scientist, joined the Trump administration in September 2018 as senior director for emerging technologies at the National Security Council (NSC).

"The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler," Happer said on CNBC in 2014, as CNN reported. "Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."

Happer would head a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, a claim most recently made by a Pentagon report released in January. The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security would be formed by executive order, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and reported Wednesday.



"This is the equivalent of setting up a committee on nuclear-weapons proliferation and having someone lead it who doesn't think nuclear weapons exist," Chief Executive of the Council on Strategic Risks and co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security Francesco Femia told The Washington Post. "It's honestly a blunt-force political tool designed to shut the national security community up on climate change."

The panel represents the latest attempt by the Trump administration to cast doubt on climate risk assessments produced by its own government, like the Pentagon report and volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment released in November 2018. The NSC discussion paper describing the panel obtained by the Washington Post acknowledges these reports only to undermine them.

"[T]hese scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security," it reads.

It is not clear how much support the panel has within the administration, however. No major agency agreed to comment, and the deputies of various agencies have been summoned to discuss the matter Friday.

Happer, who also worked for the Energy Department during the first Bush administration, has never published a peer-reviewed paper on climate science, according to Media Matters . He has served on the board of CO2 Coalition and the George C. Marshall Institute, two groups that question the threat posed by climate change. In March 2018, he admitted to receiving $10,000 to $15,000 from Peabody Coal to testify at a hearing of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing, The Washington Post reported.


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AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have sold access to subscribers' real-time location data to aggregators, which in turn have sold it to about 250 bounty hunters and related businesses, Motherboard reported Wednesday.

In some cases, the data allowed users to track individuals to their specific locations inside a building.

Some companies made thousands of location requests to data brokers; one company made more than 18,000 such requests in just over a year.

The news, which sparked widespread outrage, prompted a range of responses, including the following:

A letter from 15 United States senators to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) demanding action;

A tweet from FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel saying that the agency needs to investigate the issue; and

Promises from the carriers that they either have ceased the practice or planned to do so shortly.

"What's in it for the carriers is money," remarked Michael Jude, program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

There are legitimate uses for such data, he told TechNewsWorld. For example, Google Maps uses location data to search for nearby locations such as cafes or restaurants, "so there are social goods that derive from allowing your location to be shared."

Once data leaves the wireless carrier, however, "there are many places along the value delivery chain that can leak," Jude pointed out. "Just because a business says it will use the location data for one purpose doesn't mean it might not use it for another -- or even sell it."

The location data has been resold to buyers on the black market who were not licensed to use it, Motherboard found.

Breaching the Rules

By allowing that type of data use, the carriers might have breached the telecommunication industry's own best practices and guidelines for location-based services.

Location-based services (LBS) providers must tell users how their location information will be used, disclosed and protected, the guidelines state. Further, users can choose when or whether location information will be disclosed to third parties, and they can revoke authorizations.

Location aggregators are not LBS providers, but the wireless carriers and the third parties that make the services available to end users are.

In the interest of child safety or business needs, authorization by a wireless carrier's account holder, rather than an account user, may be required for an LBS to be used at all, or to allow locations to be disclosed to a third party, based on the guidelines.

The data sharing might be in breach of the FCC's Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) regulations, which apply to customer-specific information stored on users' devices, as well as on the carrier's network.

"The key question is not whether these networks sold data to third-party aggregators -- it's what type of data they sold," remarked Doug Henschen, principal analyst at Constellation Research.

Companies that monetize their data "have an obligation to ensure that their own standards of privacy and data protection are upheld by partners," he told TechNewsWorld.

Carriers Pledge Crackdown

Sprint said it has ensured that MicroBilt, which offers a wireless location tracking service to several industries, no longer will have access to its data. It also has terminated its contract with Zumigo, an aggregator supplying MicroBilt with phone subscriber data.

AT&T has promised to eliminate all location aggregation services, "even those with clear consumer benefits," by March.

T-Mobile said that it was in the process of ending all of its location aggregator services by March, with an eye toward making sure emergency uses would not be impacted.

The issue of customer location data sharing surfaced last year, after The New York Times reported that Securus had been selling local police forces throughout the U.S. access to the precise location of any cellphone across all the major U.S. mobile carriers' networks. Securus got its data from 3Cinteractive, which got it from location tracking firm LocationSmart.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., at the time asked AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to detail their real-time customer location data-sharing agreements with third-party data aggregation firms. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all said they planned to terminate agreements with aggregators.

Demand for Government Action

This time around, Wyden and 14 other lawmakers demanded an investigation by the FCC and the FTC into the sale of Americans' location data "by wireless carriers, location aggregators and other third parties," pointing out that the carriers last year had pledged to stop doing so.

"It is clear that these wireless carriers have failed to regulate themselves or police the practices of their business partners, and have needlessly exposed American consumers to serious harm," the letter says.

The letter, which was sent on Jan. 24, requested a response by Feb. 5.

"This is a murky area," Jude said. "The FCC does have jurisdiction, and the wireless carriers are common carriers. Yet the rules are somewhat different so that wireless service delivery can be encouraged."

The services based on data sharing "are too valuable to society as a whole" to be eliminated, he maintained.

Still, "probably the best remedy would be for someone to file a class action lawsuit against the carriers," Jude suggested. "If the plaintiffs win, then the industry would tighten up."

Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology. Email Richard.




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Authorities can't force people to unlock their biometrically secured phones or other devices, a federal judge in California ruled Thursday.

"The Government may not compel or otherwise utilize fingers, thumbs, facial recognition, optical/iris, or any other biometric feature to unlock electronic devices," Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore wrote in an opinion for the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

An attempt by law enforcement authorities in Oakland, California, to force two suspected extortionists to unlock their mobile phones with biometrics violated Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination, Westmore found.

Passcodes used to unlock devices already are protected by the Fifth Amendment, which prevents the government from forcing people to testify against themselves, she explained.

"Biometric features serve the same purpose of a passcode, which is to secure the owner's content, pragmatically rendering them functionally equivalent," Westmore wrote. "It follows, however, that if a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is a testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to provide one's finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device."

More Than Physical Evidence

While compelling someone to give up their fingerprints or DNA to law enforcement is an accepted practice, Westmore argued they're not the same as compelling someone to unlock a phone with a biometric security feature.

"Requiring someone to affix their finger or thumb to a digital device is fundamentally different than requiring a suspect to submit to fingerprinting," she wrote.

"A finger or thumb scan used to unlock a device indicates that the device belongs to a particular individual. In other words, the act concedes that the phone was in the possession and control of the suspect, and authenticates ownership or access to the phone and all of its digital contents," Westmore noted.

"The act of unlocking a phone with a finger or thumb scan far exceeds the 'physical evidence' created when a suspect submits to fingerprinting to merely compare his fingerprints to existing physical evidence (another fingerprint) found at a crime scene, because there is no comparison or witness corroboration required to confirm a positive match," she wrote.

"Instead, a successful finger or thumb scan confirms ownership or control of the device, and, unlike fingerprints, the authentication of its contents cannot be reasonably refuted," Westmore found.

Step Forward for Privacy Rights

The protection of personal phone data and control over biometric information are two of the most important emerging privacy issues in the criminal justice system, said Alan Butler, senior counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

"The decision from the Northern District of California is an important step forward for constitutional privacy rights," he told TechNewsWorld.

"The judge rightly recognized that traditional constitutional principles must be adapted as technology changes in order to preserve privacy and other rights ensured by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments," Butler said.

"Law enforcement officials are charged with upholding the Constitution and cannot act contrary to its limitations, so there cannot be any legitimate law enforcement activity that violates these important Constitutional rights," he maintained. "The government must use legitimate means subject to proper judicial oversight if they want to obtain evidence for an investigation."

Think Outside the Phone

Although Westmore rejected law enforcement's reasoning for forcing suspects to unlock their phones by using a part of their anatomy, she wasn't insensitive to law enforcement's position.

"While the Court sympathizes with the Government's interest in accessing the contents of any electronic devices it might lawfully seize, there are other ways that the Government might access the content that do not trample on the Fifth Amendment," she wrote.

In the case before the court, Facebook Messenger was used in a suspected extortion attempt. Law enforcement officials could have obtained the information they wanted from Facebook under the federal Stored Communications Act or through a warrant based on probable cause, Westmore suggested.

"While it may be more expedient to circumvent Facebook, and attempt to gain access by infringing on the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, it is an abuse of power and is unconstitutional," she wrote.

"Law enforcement is creative and diligent," said Justin Kay, an attorney in the Chicago law office of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

"Law enforcement will find a way to get in even when they can't get in through cooperation," he told TechNewsWorld.

SCOTUS Bound?

Although Westmore's opinion doesn't have the weight of a higher court decision, it could be very influential.

"Defendants and potential defendants are going to be citing this," Kay said, "and other courts will invoke its reasoning."

For the most part, the issue of passwords and unlocking electronic devices has been kicking around lower federal courts and state courts -- but that could change.

"As the judge in this case acknowledges, there have been other decisions concerning compelled disclosure of passwords, and this decision is consistent with many earlier judgments," EPIC's Butler observed.

"However, this issue does come up more frequently each year, given the widespread use of mobile devices with biometric locks," he observed. "So I would expect that courts of appeals -- and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court -- will weigh in on this in the near future."

Legislative Inertia

The reason the courts have had to take an aggressive stance on electronic device privacy is that lawmakers have failed to address the problem.

"Our legislative system is not keeping up with the rate of technological change," said French Caldwell, CFO of The Analyst Syndicate, an IT research and analysis group based in Washington, D.C.

"The courts are saying, 'We can't wait for the legislature to sort all this out,' so they're being forced into a position of creating new law because there's no law on this," he told TechNewsWorld.

The issue eventually will land before the Supreme Court, Caldwell sid, and "it's going to take a long time before it gets to the Supreme Court, which gives legislators time to act."

Aside from protecting citizens' rights, there may be a security lesson to be learned from Westmore's decision.

"Biometric authentication is just one layer in what should be multifactor authentication," said Drinker Biddle's Kay. "The technology should be used with a passcode. It should be used to make sure that the person inputting the passcode is the person that should be inputting the passcode."

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.




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Apple on Monday suspended its Group FaceTime application following reports that a bug in the software allowed callers to eavesdrop on the people they were calling.

The flaw let a person making a FaceTime call listen through the phone of the person called before the call was accepted or rejected.

It also allowed access to the front-facing camera in an iPhone, both 9 to 5 Mac and BuzzFeed reported.

After making a FaceTime call from an iPhone X to an iPhone 8, a user could hear audio from the iPhone 8 before any action was taken on the call, BuzzFeed explained.

Then, when the volume down button was pressed, video streaming from the front-facing camera could be seen on the iPhone X, even though the call on the iPhone 8 hadn't been acted upon.

A user could activate video functionality from a called phone by pressing the power button from the lock screen, 9 to 5 Mac reported.

The eavesdropping bug didn't seem to work on phones in "Do Not Disturb" mode, BuzzFeed noted.

Serious Issue

Although Apple acted quickly once news of the bug went viral, the flaw is a grave one.

"The bug is serious, but thankfully Apple was in a position to mitigate it by forcing the feature to be inoperable on their server-side end," said Will Strafach, president of the Sudo Security Group, an iOS security company in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"I don't see a long-term impact, since Apple has now disabled the functionality and is quickly pushing an update," he told TechNewsWorld, "but I am sure this will be joked about for some time, similar to the 'goto fail' bug a few years ago."

What makes the bug so serious is that it allows any user to be spied on without their knowledge, said Mike Murray, chief security officer for Lookout, a San Francisco maker of mobile security products.

"All software has bugs and every company makes mistakes. What impacts a company's reputation in the long term is their ability to respond to these issues," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Apple has already published an initial mitigation and rumors have a patch being released in short order," Murray continued. "This is what should be expected from a company that takes user privacy and security seriously."

Sky Not Falling

Not everyone is wringing their hands over the "fly on the wall" bug.

"According to the rest of the world, the sky is falling right now," observed Tyler Reguly, manager of security R&D at Portland, Oregon-based Tripwire, a cybersecurity threat detection and prevention company.

"This FaceTime bug is the most critical defect we've ever encountered if social media is to be believed. I'm not sure I buy into that," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Is this bug a really stupid mistake and evidence that maybe Apple doesn't put as much thought into features as they should? Definitely," Reguly continued.

"As a colleague put it, 'How do you design a communication protocol such that it allowed communication before the connection is established?" he wondered.

"There is no doubt that Apple has some egg on their face over this one," Reguly said. "The simple fact is that stupid bugs exist everywhere because code is written by people, and people make mistakes and bad choices. It would be nice if we lived in an infallible society, but we don't."

Twitterverse Speaks

The FaceTime bug became a source of levity on Twitter.

"I am not responsible for #FaceTime's bug. Although, I do intend to take full advantage of it," wrote @immortalhuey.

Another user imagined what the bug could do for family relations. "I love this #facetime bug," wrote @Pornhub. "Imma call you and spy on you while you ignore me....MOM."

@Taylorownsme13 added this tongue-in-cheek comment to the bug feed: "So are you telling me that my friends will hear me talk about how much I hate them and how their calls annoy me before I answer and be a fake bitch?"

Other denizens of the twittersphere, though, had more serious thoughts about Apple's snafu.

"So everyone freaks out over this #FaceTime bug that basically let's anyone turn your phone into a listening device, BUT nobody gives a fuck that the Government does this to almost ALL 'smart' devices as a matter of course," declared @Socal_crypto.

"Never wanted iPhone. After this never will," added @theBeganovich.

Delayed Reaction?

Twitter is also where questions about Apple's responsiveness to bug reports have been raised.

"It has been alleged that this bug was reported days ago," Sudo's Strafach explained.

"My hope is that this will be a teachable moment on how their bug report triage processes can be improved in order to get reports to the right people more quickly," he said.

"I believe this bug serves as a reminder that mobile phones may be powerful tools these days, but they are created by humans who can make mistakes sometimes," Strafach added. "I think a lot of people already understand that, but incidents such as this bug serve as a visceral reminder which can be easily understood."

Pocket Protection

While access to Group FaceTime has been suspended, Lookout's Murray still recommends disabling the application until Apple provides a more permanent fix to the problem.

"More important than this single issue is to remember that the phone in our pocket is a powerful computer with access to all of your private life, and it should be protected like it," he cautioned.

"Many mobile malware families have the ability to listen in through the microphone, just like this Apple bug," Murray added. "A vulnerability like this reminds us how easily phones can be used to steal personal information. The malware authors and nation-state attackers already know that."

The FaceTime bug illustrates that even the most diligent companies can falter from time to time, noted George Gerchow, CSO of Redwood City, California-based Sumo Logic, an analytics company focusing on security, operations and business information.

"Even though Apple has gone through great strides to protect their users' information," he told TechNewsWorld, "this latest bug is yet another reinforcement that privacy continues to remain a major concern, regardless of your company's size or security and privacy investments."

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.


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Many overseas clients have shown an interest in buying from India, says Sitharaman.

Panaji: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked public sector defence undertakings in India to look at the world as a market for their products.

She was speaking at Vasco town after launching a Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel (OPV) of the Goa Shipyard Limited, a public sector undertaking.

"I want not just the Goa Shipyard but every defence public sector undertaking to look at manufacturing of international class. Not just look at your captive market like the defence forces, but look at world as a market which you need to reach out to and compete globally," she said.

Internationally there is an immense interest in buying defence products like the OPVs from India, she said.

Many overseas clients have shown an interest in buying from India, the minister said.

"I want the management (of defence PSUs) together with experts to capture those markets which are appreciative of your work. If they are appreciative of your work, half the work is done. You need to go and negotiate," she said.

"You should have the confidence to get up and say that there is a market and can the government help us to get there and get it. You are capable of producing more. Please put on that attitude to say that we are able to compete globally and help us in that," the minister said, adding, "We will still support you."

Prime Minister Narendra Modis call is not just to Make in India but also to export, the minister said. "The PM is looking at India as a manufacturing hub," she said.

Coast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh said launching of the OPV is essential considering the ever dynamic security scenario.

"The presence of Indian Coast Guard addresses twin objectives of deterrence and reassurance," he said. The Yard 1233 ship isa new generation OPV equipped with sophisticated sensors and equipment. It is also capable of operating a light combat helicopter," Singh said.

Goa Shipyard Chairman and Managing Director Commodore B B Nagpal said launching of the vessel within two years of laying the keel is a significant achievement.

The 'Sachet' vessel is the first of five such OPVs being built by the yard. The project of constructing the five OPVs for was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2016.

The OPV will be assigned the work of patrolling and policing Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), an official said.

The vessel is 105 metre long and has a displacement of 2,350 tonnes at full load and an endurance of 600 nautical miles. A team of 14 officers will be commanding it with a crew of 133 personnel.
Homebuying event set to help Berkshire buyers

With recent figures showing that first-time buyers now make up half of all approved mortgages in the UK, it is evident that Generation Rent is fast becoming Generation Buy. Berkshire remains a popular location for aspiring homeowners looking to get on the property ladder, offering the right balance between bustling towns and rolling countryside. Local housebuilder Berkeley Homes is offering help to buyers looking to get a foot on or up the housing ladder in Berkshire, hosting a specialist Help to Buy event at its Woodhurst Park development in the county.

Completely free to attend, the event will be held from 10am - 5pm on Saturday 23rd February at Woodhurst Park in Warfield. Homebuyers will be able to speak to independent Mortgage Advisors to receive free impartial advice, including information on purchasing schemes such as the Government-backed Help to Buy Scheme.

Visitors will also be welcome to view the showhome, which has been designed to provide potential buyers with a visual aid of what living within each thriving community could be like. The Help to Buy event at Woodhurst Park has been timed to coincide with the launch of a brand new three-bedroom showhome, complete with luxury specification throughout.

Benjamin Ivey, Director of Sales and Marketing at Berkeley Homes (Oxford and Chiltern), comments: We understand that homebuying can be a stressful experience, no matter what stage you are at on the property ladder. Thats why at Berkeley we believe that homebuying events, such as our upcoming Help to Buy event, are crucial in providing buyers with the opportunity to ask questions and educate themselves on all aspects of purchasing. With a particular focus on homebuying schemes such as Help to Buy, we want to ensure that aspirational buyers in Berkshire are making the most of the support that is available to them.

Fiona Fullilove has benefitted from using Help to Buy at Woodhurst Park and says Without it, we wouldnt have been able to secure our ideal home now. When we discovered the properties at Woodhurst Park, we were drawn to the vast greenery and open space. Whats more, everything with Berkeley Homes is included in the cost, so we knew that we didnt need to raise extra funds for additional fixtures and fittings. As first time buyers this was particularly important to us.

Designed to create the feeling of a quintessential English village, Woodhurst Park is a development of 750 homes, where core elements of the English idyll have been recreated, including a country park, traditional village green, duck pond, childrens play areas, orchard park, tree-lined riverside cut and nature trails. Current availability consists of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, and three-, four-, and five-bedroom houses. Prices start from 270,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. Help to Buy is available on all properties priced under 600,000, with five per cent deposits starting from 13,500.

Buyers interested in attending either of the Help to Buy events should call visit woodhurstpark.co.uk or eldridgepark.co.uk.
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The company is expected to close the current fiscal with an AC turnover of Rs 1,220 crore.

It is also looking at over 30 per cent increase in distribution outlets for air conditioners (AC) to 12,000 in two-years' time as against 9,000 in the current financial year. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Consumer electronics major Panasonic India is eyeing 15 per cent growth in air conditioners sales to Rs 1,400 crore in the next fiscal driven by new premium products, a company official said.

The company is expected to close the current fiscal with an AC turnover of Rs 1,220 crore.

It is also looking at over 30 per cent increase in distribution outlets for air conditioners (AC) to 12,000 in two-years' time as against 9,000 in the current financial year.

"After a flat sales growth in the current fiscal due to factors including climate..we are looking 15 per cent sales growth in AC business in the next fiscal. We expect a hot summer in 2019 which will help the industry," Gaurav Sah, Business-head, Air Conditioners Group, Panasonic India told PTI.

Premium products with superior product features like invertor technology and higher energy efficiency will drive sales growth for the company, Sah said.

"Premium products account for 60 per cent of our total sales," he added.

Panasonic India Thursday launched new products ahead for the summer season, which accounts for bulk of sale of the air conditioner companies.

It has launched new products under Advance and Arch series. The products are priced between Rs 39,900 and Rs 53,990 in 3-star and 5-star categories across 1, 1.2, 1.5, 2 ton variants.

Post this launch, Panasonic India will have 54 AC products in its portfolio.
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Louth TD Declan Breathnach has revealed that he has received word that an allocation of 300,000 has been provided to Louth County Council for a proposed park and share facility close to Junction 16 of the M1 motorway.

Deputy Breathnach said he had raised a Parliamentary Question in relation to the provision of a Park & Ride facility on the M1 at two busy interchanges (J16 Dundalk South and J14 Ardee) where cars are parked dangerously near these junctions on a daily basis.

He said today: I have today received a response from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to say that they have provided an allocation of 300,000 to Louth County Council for a proposed park and share facility close to Junction 16 of the M1 motorway.

They go on to say that Consultants have been procured by the Council to progress planning and design work on the scheme and they say that subject to planning approval, they hope to commence construction before the end of the year.

This is great news, and something I have been requesting for years. I hope that the funding announced is sufficient and that it will indeed commence and come into operation in the shortest time-scale possible. I will continue to request a similar facilities at the busy J14 and J17 interchanges.
The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: The Digital Communications Commission in its meeting scheduled on Thursday is likely to discuss the Rs 3,050 crore cumulative penalty recommended by Trai on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The telecom watchdog in October 2016 recommended imposing total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

"DCC may discuss Rs 3,050 crore cummulative penalty that Trai had recommended for Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone," an official source told PTI.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.

The Trai's recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient number of PoIs.

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.
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Care for local veterans and the local economy could receive a massive boost if Veterans Affairs determines it will build an assisted living facility in Ozark.

Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship said several interested parties have combined resources to present VA an offer to construct the 175-bed facility near U.S. Highway 231 on the northern side of Ozark. Dale Medical Center has offered to donate land near its surgery center at the intersection of Roy Parker Road and U.S. Highway 231, and all interested parties  including utilities companies  have filed letters of support for the project, he added.

The Houston County Commission will also consider a proclamation Monday pledging its support of the project.

The VA operates several assisted living/nursing home facilities in Alabama, but none are near the Wiregrass, Blankenship said. Houston County District 4 Commissioner Brandon Shoupe said Thursday that the VA is looking at establishing the facility in Troy or Ozark, though Blankenship said he is unsure which other cities are competing for the facility.

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Even though he stumped in front of the locally famous Table of Knowledge Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne repeatedly reiterated the importance of values.

Our values and (Washington, D.C.) values are two different things. We need someone to fight for our values, he told a crowd gathered at Rays Restaurant.

Byrne, who has represented the Mobile area in Congress since 2014, pledged to represent Alabama values if elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020. Byrne announced his intention to challenge Democrat Doug Jones for his seat Wednesday night in his hometown of Mobile.

While he respects the accomplishments Jones had as a federal prosecutor, Byrne expressed concerns about his leadership as a senator.

We dont believe in killing babies in the last trimester of a womans pregnancy. We believe that all of us have a right to own guns, Byrne told the media before addressing supporters. We want conservative judges like Judge (Brett) Kavanaugh, and Doug Jones voted against (Judge) Kavanaugh. We want to build a wall on the Southern border. Doug Jones is against the wall.

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When youre a senator, youve got to represent the values of the people that sent you there. I dont think hes doing that.
This is a horrible epidemic and if you dont think your kids are doing it, youre wrong, Houston County Sheriffs Deputy Chris Summerlin said. Theyre all doing it.

The Houston County Sheriffs Office estimates 60 to 75 percent of the middle school and high school student population are using e-cigarettes. Student resource officers have confiscated hundreds of devices in the hands of children as young as 11, and warned Rehobeth Elementary teachers of the possibility of the habit reaching their students as well.

JUUL pods, an interchangeable component that holds the e-liquid in JUUL vaporizers, have already been found in the parking lots of Houston County elementary schools.

But, where are they getting these tobacco products when they can only be sold to people 19 and older in Alabama?

Summerlin said they can be found in a multitude of places, but the most alarming origin is probably the parents of some of these students.

Summerlin has encountered at least one parent who said they bought it for their child to help him or her quit smoking cigarettes. He said while he understands, he doesnt think parents understand all the dangers of vaping, mostly because the long-term effects are largely unknown.
A Houston County grand jury will hear the cases of two suspects whose capital murder charges in a 2016 slaying were dismissed.

Pamela Whitaker, of Cottondale, Florida, and Eric West, of Slocomb, were charged along with two others in the 2016 fatal shooting of Paxton Kennedy.

However, according to Houston County District Attorney Pat Jones, those charges were dismisses and both cases are waiting to go back before a grand jury. Whitaker and West are both currently out of jail on bond.

Joshua Steven Nance of Panama City, Florida, and Dama Nell Clark of Dothan, were also charged in the murder. Nance was found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter on Feb. 7; Clark is scheduled for a June 10 trial on a capital murder charge.

Nance provided testimony during his trial the shooting was not intentional, that he accidentally shot Kennedy when Kennedys truck jumped out of gear, causing the door or the door frame to strike his arm, causing the gun to discharge. He also testified that West was searching for someone to beat up Kennedy for the money he owned Whitaker, not kill Kennedy.
The company had not opted for any community meetings ahead of the public hearing for the proposed deep injection well, but did eventually engage with the public at the urging of state Sen. George Gainer, R-Panama City, who then participated in the ensuing talks.

On Tuesday, the company explained the evaporation process and showed pictures of similar evaporation tanks in operation at other facilities.

The tank proposed for Springhill would be enclosed in a building, with a plume of vapor emitting from it as leachate is heated and then released as a vapor. Because the proposed tank would not always have enough capacity to handle all the leachate generated, and because installing a second tank would not be cost effective to handle the remaining amount, the company plans to continue sending the excess to wastewater treatment facilities. The company says roughly 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of leachate is generated every day on average, and that the evaporator tank proposed would be able to handle a 45,000 gallon per-day capacity. Associated storage tanks can old 120,000 gallons each.
Wright said he spent several weeks researching companies before settling on CivicPlus, which focuses strictly on municipal and county government websites. They handle Coffee Countys website and various websites throughout Alabama and beyond.

The website will be highly customizable and allow the city to include agendas, form requests, a community calendar and various other features.

Wright said it will be an improvement over the current problematic website.

Weve had issues (on our current website) where one is not compatible with cellular devices, and well do things like put up minutes, put up documents and put up news stories, Wright said. (They) will sit there for a few days and then just automatically fall off. Cant get an answer of why.
The City of Enterprise honored the Enterprise High School Big Blue Marching Band for excellence during Tuesdays council meeting, according to a proclamation from Enterprise Mayor Bill Cooper. The band was honored for consistent superior ratings and numerous appearances at community and nationwide events. Present at the proclamation signing were (from left) Sophia Compton, middle school band director, Adam Brumberg, Camille Bonura, auxiliary captain, Korynn Hill, brass captain, Bobby Williams, assistant band director, Sean Weiler, EHS band director and Cooper. Cooper said the 248-member band has proven its professionalism and musical proficiency and has been a cornerstone of the Enterprise community.
A Donegal midwife who is suing the HSE over being wrongfully accused of malpractice is appealing for her action to be settled so she can access drugs that may save her life, according to the Irish Examiner.

Independent midwife Philomena Canning from Glenvar in the Fanad peninsula was the leading independent midwife and home birth advocate in the State. She has terminal cancer and has only weeks to live.

She is hoping her life may be prolonged by the immunotherapy drug, Pembro. The drug is available on the public health system to those afflicted with cervical cancer. Ms Canning is suffering from ovarian cancer.

In the Irish Examiner Michael Clifford reports that Ms Canning was suspended in 2014 and reinstated the following year, but has not practised midwifery since, despite being cleared of any wrongdoing in four separate expert reports, two of which were commissioned by the HSE.

The HSE offered to settle her action in 2015 but Ms Canning refused, as she wanted a full court hearing over what she regarded as critical safety issues in midwifery.

She told the Irish Examiner: It [the action] will drag on and on. One thing I know is, I want a settlement now. She told the paper that she is not sure how long she has to live

The HSE is understood not to have conceded liability in the case.

In a video which she posted this morning from her hospital bed this morning Ms Canning says she is being treated for ovarian cancer and has been given a terminal diagnosis.

She states that it would not be her wish to make a video at this time, but feels she has"no choice but to, because time has run out for me on a legal action I took against the HSE in 2014, after I was unlawfully suspended from my independent midwifery practice despite no due process, and not a single piece of expert evidence against me. That day, 12th September 2014, signalled the end of my professional life, my livelihood and my reputation, in one fell swoop."
Ingredients for water could be made on surface of moon, a chemical factory

When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind careens onto the Moon's surface at 450 kilometers per second (or nearly 1 million miles per hour), they enrich the Moon's surface in ingredients that could make water, NASA scientists have found.

Using a computer program, scientists simulated the chemistry that unfolds when the solar wind pelts the Moon's surface. As the Sun streams protons to the Moon, they found, those particles interact with electrons in the lunar surface, making hydrogen (H) atoms. These atoms then migrate through the surface and latch onto the abundant oxygen (O) atoms bound in the silica (SiO2) and other oxygen-bearing molecules that make up the lunar soil, or regolith. Together, hydrogen and oxygen make the molecule hydroxyl (OH), a component of water, or H2O.

"We think of water as this special, magical compound," says William M. Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who helped develop the simulation. "But here's what's amazing: every rock has the potential to make water, especially after being irradiated by the solar wind."

Understanding how much water  or its chemical components -- is available on the Moon is critical to NASA's goal of sending humans to establish a permanent presence there, said Orenthal James Tucker, a physicist at Goddard who spearheaded the simulation research.

"We're trying to learn about the dynamics of transport of valuable resources like hydrogen around the lunar surface and throughout its exosphere, or very thin atmosphere, so we can know where to go to harvest those resources," said Tucker, who recently described the simulation results in the journal JGR Planets.

Several spacecraft used infrared instruments that measure light emitted from the Moon to identify the chemistry of its surface. These include NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, which had numerous close encounters with the Earth-Moon system en route to comet 103P/Hartley 2; NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which passed the Moon on its way to Saturn; and India's Chandrayaan-1, which orbited the Moon a decade ago. All found evidence of water or its components (hydrogen or hydroxyl).

But how these atoms and compounds form on the Moon is still an open question. It's possible that meteor impacts initiate the necessary chemical reactions, but many scientists believe that the solar wind is the primary driver.

Tucker's simulation, which traces the lifecycle of hydrogen atoms on the Moon, supports the solar wind idea.

"From previous research, we know how much hydrogen is coming in from the solar wind, we also know how much is in the Moon's very thin atmosphere, and we have measurements of hydroxyl in the surface," Tucker says. "What we've done now is figure out how these three inventories of hydrogen are physically intertwined."

Showing how hydrogen atoms behave on the Moon helped resolve why spacecraft have found fluctuations in the amount of hydrogen in different regions of the Moon. Less hydrogen accumulates in warmer regions, like the Moon's equator, because hydrogen atoms deposited there get energized by the Sun and quickly outgas from the surface into the exosphere, the team concluded. Conversely, more hydrogen appears to accumulate in the colder surface near the poles because there's less Sun radiation and the outgassing is slowed.

Overall, Tucker's simulation shows that as solar wind continually blasts the Moon's surface, it breaks the bonds among atoms of silicon, iron and oxygen that make up the majority of the Moon's soil. This leaves oxygen atoms with unsatisfied bonds. As hydrogen atoms flow through the Moon's surface, they get temporarily trapped with the unhinged oxygen (longer in cold regions than in warm). They float from O to O before finally diffusing into the Moon's atmosphere, and, ultimately, into space. "The whole process is like a chemical factory," Farrell said.

A key ramification of the result, Farrell said, is that every exposed body of silica in space -- from the Moon down to a small dust grain -- has the potential to create hydroxyl and thus become a chemical factory for water.
India has potential for 'nose-to-tail' aircraft production: defence minister

India has established itself as a hub for manufacture and export of quality aerospace components, and now has the competence for nose-to-tail production, defence minister Nirmala Sitaraman has said.

Speaking after inaugurating the 12th edition of the biennial Aero India 2019, Sitharaman said the Make in India initiative has provided a strong impetus for more investments in the countrys defence sector.

She said the defence ministry has signed 150 contracts worth about Rs1,27,500 crore with Indian vendors over the past four years for procurement of defence equipment.

During the period, the government accorded acceptance of necessity to 164 proposals worth about Rs2,79,950 crore under various categories of capital procurement as per the Defence Procurement Procedure; this means Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued only to Indian vendors.

The value of production of the Ordnance Factory Board and defence PSUs has grown from Rs43,746 crore in FY14 to Rs58,163 crore in FY18, she said. Of this, 40 per cent of the production was outsourced to the private sector.

According to Sitharaman, the government has also facilitated the manufacture of seven types of ammunition by the private sector, backed by long-term contracts.
SC orders eviction of a million forest dwellers nation-wide by 24 July

The Supreme Court today directed eviction of all ineligible forest dwellers, numbering over a million, across 21 states, on or before 24 July 2019, that is, before its next hearing in the case.

In its order of 13 February, the apex court rejected all claims of people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) across the country under the Forest Rights Act of 2006 and directed their eviction.

The law provides for giving land rights to those living on forest land for at least three generations before 31 December 2005. However, a bulk of these forest dwellers were found to be of recent origin and hence not eligible to be considered as forest dwellers.

A three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee ordered state chief secretaries to evict those whose claim as forest dwellers have finally been rejected under the law. It also directed that the eviction should be carried out on or before 24 July 2019, that is, the next date of hearing.

The bench cautioned the states against any failure to carry out evictions within the stipulated time, saying, the matter would be viewed seriously. It also ordered chief secretaries to also file affidavits by 12 July explaining the reasons for allowing rejected claimants to stay put.

The court also ordered the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to make a satellite survey and place on record the "encroachment positions". It directed the FSI to also place on record the position "after the eviction as far as possible".

Section 6 of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006 shows a multi-layered and hierarchical procedure for recognition or rejection of forest-dweller claims starting at the gram sabha level with multiple appellate committees at the State level.

He bench observed that in Andhra Pradesh not a single order of eviction has been made though 66,351 claims across 1,14,400 acres of forest land have been rejected. "Once orders of eviction have been passed, the eviction ought to have taken place," the Supreme Court said.

Likewise in Assam, 22,398 claims of STs and 5,136 claims of OTFDs across 10,128 hectares and 561.4 hectares, respectively, were rejected.

In Tamil Nadu, 7,148 claims of STs and 1,881 claims of OTFDs were rejected. In Karnataka, the number of rejected claims of OTFDs far surpass that of STs at 1.42 lakh to 35,521.

Over 82,000 claims of STs were rejected in Telangana alone.

In Kerala, out of 39,999 claims, 894 were rejected.

West Bengal reported rejection of 50,288 claims of Scheduled Tribes and 35,856 claims of OTFDs.

Other states under the SC lens include Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Gujarat.
Saab expands ties with Indian firms for Gripen aerostructures

Swedish defence firm Saab AB, which is seeking to sell its Gripen fighter jets to the Indian Air Force, has offered to make 96 of the 110 fighter jets in India by setting up a production facility in one of the southern cities.

Saab, which is pitted against Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin Corp and Dassault Aviation SA in the bidding for the 110 fighter jet contract from the Indian Air Force, a deal worth more than $15 billion, said it has expanded ties with local aerospace firms for manufacturing Gripen aerostructures.

Saab said it has signed new memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with three of the countrys leading aerospace manufacturers - Dynamatic Technologies Limited, CIM Tools Private Limited and Sansera Engineering Limited.

Saab said the MoUs with CIM Tools and Sansera expand the existing working relationships on commercial aerostructures to the Gripen fighter and other defence-related products in the Saab portfolio.

The MoU with Dynamatic is a starting point to explore future joint opportunities in commercial and defence-related aerostructures work, including Gripen.

Saabs Aerostructures business unit has had a successful relationship with CIM Tools and Sansera for several years. Based on that experience we see these two companies can add great value to our Gripen Make in India offer, says Mats Palmberg, VP Industrial Partnerships and Head of Gripen for India. The MoU with Dynamatic adds the capabilities of complex airframe assembly to Saabs Make in India offer for Gripen, he added.

I am pleased that the fruitful co-operation we have established over several years with CIM Tools and Sansera can be further developed for the Gripen fighter. The MoU with Dynamatic has the potential to further develop our ecosystem for commercial aerostructures as well as Gripen, Lars Jensen, managing director and head of Saab Aerostructures, said.

The new MoUs announced today will enable Saab to work with these Indian companies to establish an indigenous, efficient, tailor-made manufacturing system that will develop, deliver and support state-of-the-art Gripen fighters in India for the Indian Air Force.

Dynamatic Technologies Limited designs and builds highly-engineered products for automotive, aeronautic, hydraulic and security applications at various locations in India and Europe. Dynamatic is firmly established as one of the leading private aerospace companies in India, with a wide range of capabilities, including complex structural assembly, detailed parts manufacturing and engineering services.

CIM Tools Private Limited is well-established as one of Indias leading aerospace manufacturing companies, providing components, detailed parts and sub-assemblies for aerospace primes worldwide. CIM Tools has experienced continuous business growth thanks to its dedicated owners and skilled workforce.

Sansera Engineering Limited has its roots in the automotive industry providing highly efficient manufacturing and engineering of forged and machined components to prime global automotive companies. In 2010, Sansera started production of aerospace components for leading companies in the aerospace sector.
SC tells Anil Ambani to pay Ericsson Rs453 cr in 4 weeks or face jail

The Supreme Court has held industrialist Anil Ambani guilty of contempt for failing to pay up Rs453 crore dues to its contractor Ericsson as directed by the court, but said he would get exemption from imprisonment if he pays up the amount in four weeks.

The court pulled up Reliance Communications chairman for what it called a "cavalier attitude" and fined him and two of his directors Rs1 crore each.

"Anil Ambani and others breached their undertaking," the court said, calling it "willful disobedience" of its order that they should repay Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson. In a statement, a Reliance Communication Limited spokesperson said: "We respect the Supreme Court judgement. The RCom Group shall comply with the same."

Accordingly, the Supreme Court ruled that the Rs180 crore already deposited by Reliance Group in the court registry be given to Ericsson. It also said any unconditional apology given by Reliance will be rejected as the company had "breached the undertaking and order".

Ericsson India signed a seven-year deal with RCom in 2014 to manage and operate its network. Last year, it went to the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani's company over unpaid dues of Rs550 crore.

Ericsson had argued before the court that while the Reliance Group had the money to invest in the Rafale jet deal, it had failed to clear its dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.

Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence is one of the offset partners of Dassault, the maker of the Rafale jets for which India and France signed a deal in 2016.

Anil Ambani had told the top court that with the failure of an assets sale deal with older brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, his company had entered insolvency proceedings and was not in control of the funds. The assets sale was stalled after the government refused to provide immunity to Mukesh Ambani's firm from any past-payment liabilities.

RCom had also told the court that it had tried to move "heaven and earth" to ensure Ericsson gets its dues but was unable to do so because of the failed assets sale.

Ericsson filed the contempt petition against Anil Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani.

On October 23, the court had asked RCom to clear its dues by December 15, warning that delayed payment would mean an interest of 12 per cent a year.

Ericsson had sought a court direction to Anil Ambani and the lenders forum to follow its order and hand over Rs550 crore with interest from the asset sale proceeds.
LCA Tejas is now fully combat-ready

Indias first home-made light combat aircraft, Tejas, has received all operational clearances and is now fully combat-ready. The country's military aviation regulator CEMILAC handed over the final operational clearance certificate and other release-to-service documents to Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa in Bangalore today.

The country's military aviation regulator CEMILAC handed over the final operational clearance certificate and other release-to-service documents to Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa at a special ceremony at the Aero India 2019, India's biennial air show, in Bengaluru.

The induction of LCA Tejas into the Air Force as a fully-weaponised fighter jet with the final operational clearance is a "landmark day" in India's defence capability.

"It is a major milestone for the LCA (Tejas) to get the final operational clearance. The aircraft could fly in many sorties and has demonstrated the precision with which it can deliver weapons," Air Marshal Dhanoa told the press in the presence of defence secretary Ajay Kumar.

"LCA Tejas performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF's Vayu Shakti air display at Pokhran in Rajasthan on February 16," the air chief added.

"The grant of final operational clearance to LCA Tejas is a landmark day for India's aeronautical engineers, scientists, the Indian Air Force, the defence industry and allied businesses," DRDO chairman and defence R&D Secretary G Satheesh Reddy said while speaking at the function.

"HAL had already responded to the request for proposal (RFP) floated by the Indian Air Force for procuring 83 LCA Tejas Mk-1," R Madhavan chairman and managing director of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, said.

The final version of LCA Tejas has several additional capabilities compared to the earlier version, or IOC aircraft, and has advanced missile capability with a significantly enhanced range.

Listing some of the more advanced capabilities of the FOC aircraft of LCA Tejas, an official release stated that it has more advanced features like: Beyond Visual Range Missile capabilities, Air-to-Air Refuelling, Air-to-Ground FOC earmarked advanced weapons and delivery system, and general flight envelope expansion.

The Indian Air Force recently placed an order of 83 advanced FOC aircraft of the LCA Tejas. Speaking about the order and the air force's future plan, Air Marshal BS Dhanoa said: "Not only will we have to induct the LCA Tejas MK II, we will, in the days ahead, replace the Jaguar, Mirage and MiG 29 fighter jets." The air chief added that "After that we will go ahead with the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft."

The military aviation regulator had given the initial operational clearance or IOC to LCA Tejas in 2013, and inducted it into the Indian Air Force's 45 Squadron in July 2016 to prepare for combat readiness.

"The 45 Squadron has since flown over 1,500 sorties during the trials without a single hitch," the document said.

Calling the LCA Tejas's FOC aircraft a "major milestone", Air Marshal BS Dhanoa said, "You saw how much the aircraft could fly, the number of sorties it could generate in exercises 'Gagan Shakti' in April 2018 and in 'Vayu Shakti' in February this year."

"In the Vayu Shakti exercise we showed you how accurately this fighter jet could dispense weapons on the target. We also demonstrated how the aircraft can not only sustain a very high sortie rate, but can also carry out very accurate weapons delivery," he said.

"It is a fighter jet and behaved like a fighter. It did well both in air-to-air combat, as well as air-to-ground combat," the air chief said.
"We will send him to Mozambique and believe that this is the easiest thing to do for everyone," said Lindiwe Sisulo, in an interview with South African newspaper Daily Maverick.

Sisulo said that South Africa's government takes the view that it is best for Chang to be tried in Mozambique for his role in the taking out by public enterprises of more than $2 billion in loans, with state guarantees, unbeknownst to parliament.

"As soon as everything is dealt with with Interpol, we shall allow Mozambique to have its former minister back," Sisulo said. He added that South African officials are looking at the implications for relations between the US and Mozambique of such a decision, given that Chang was detained in South Africa at the request of the US courts.

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"We received a request from Mozambique and accepted it," he noted.

Sisulo argued that the US authorities will have the possibility of pressing ahead with their own court case after Chang answers to justice in his own country for the crimes of which he is accused.

Chang is to be heard in court in South Africa on 26 February on the extradition request made by the US, where the former minister is charged with online fraud, computer fraud and money laundering, for his participation in the proceedings that resulted in the so-called hidden debts.

Chang was detained on 29 December in South Africa when he was preparing to embark for Dubai.

As part of the hidden debt case in Mozambique, eight people were last weekend detained in Maputo. Only one is currently free on bail.

Among the detainees are Ndambi Guebuza, a son of Mozambique's former president, Armando Guebuza, as well as a former private secretary of the head of state, Ines Moiane, and former agents of the State Information and Security Services (SISE).

Lusa
Hercules Capital, Inc. is a business development company. The firm specializing in providing venture debt, debt, senior secured loans, and growth capital to privately held venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development from startups, to expansion stage including select publicly listed companies and select special opportunity lower middle market companies that require additional capital to fund acquisitions, recapitalizations and refinancing and established-stage companies. The firm provides growth capital financing solutions for capital extension; management buy-out and corporate spin-out financing solutions; company, asset specific, or intellectual property acquisition financing; convertible, subordinated and/or mezzanine loans; domestic and international corporate expansion; vendor financing; revenue acceleration by sales and marketing development, and manufacturing expansion. It provides asset-based financing with a focus on cash flow; accounts receivable facilities; equipment loans or leases; equipment acquisition; facilities build-out and/or expansion; working capital revolving lines of credit; inventory. The firm also provides bridge financing to IPO or mergers and acquisitions or technology acquisition; dividend recapitalizations and other sources of investor liquidity; cash flow financing to protect against share price volatility; competitor acquisition; pre-IPO financing for extra cash on the balance sheet; public company financing to continue asset growth and production capacity; short-term bridge financing; and strategic and intellectual property acquisition financings. It also focuses on customized financing solutions, emerging growth, mid venture, and late venture financing. The firm invests primarily in structured debt with warrants and, to a lesser extent, in senior debt and equity investments. The firm generally seeks to invest in companies that have been operating for at least six to 12 months prior to the date of their investment. It prefers to invest in technology, energy technology, sustainable and renewable technology, and life sciences. Within technology the firm focuses on advanced specialty materials and chemicals; communication and networking, consumer and business products; consumer products and services, digital media and consumer internet; electronics and computer hardware; enterprise software and services; gaming; healthcare services; information services; business services; media, content and information; mobile; resource management; security software; semiconductors; semiconductors and hardware; and software sector. Within energy technology, it invests in agriculture; clean technology; energy and renewable technology, fuels and power technology; geothermal; smart grid and energy efficiency and monitoring technologies; solar; and wind. Within life sciences, the firm invests in biopharmaceuticals; biotechnology tools; diagnostics; drug discovery, development and delivery; medical devices and equipment; surgical devices; therapeutics; pharma services; and specialty pharmaceuticals. It also invests in educational services. The firm invests primarily in United States based companies and considers investment in the West Coast, Mid-Atlantic regions, Southeast and Midwest; particularly in the areas of software, biotech and information services. It invests generally between $1 million to $40 million in companies focused primarily on business services, communications, electronics, hardware, and healthcare services. The firm invests primarily in private companies but also have investments in public companies. For equity investments, the firm seeks to represent a controlling interest in its portfolio companies which may exceed 25% of the voting securities of such companies. The firm seeks to invest a limited portion of its assets in equipment-based loans to early-stage prospective portfolio companies. These loans are generally for amounts up to $3 million but may be up to $15 million for certain energy technology venture investments. The firm allows certain debt investments have the right to convert a portion of the debt investment into equity. It also co-invests with other private equity firms. The firm seeks to exit its investments through initial public offering, a private sale of equity interest to a third party, a merger or an acquisition of the company or a purchase of the equity position by the company or one of its stockholders. The firm has structured debt with warrants which typically have maturities of between two and seven years with an average of three years; senior debt with an investment horizon of less than three years; equipment loans with an investment horizon ranging from three to four years; and equity related securities with an investment horizon ranging from three to seven years. The firm prefers to invest through its balance sheet capital. The firm formerly known as Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. Hercules Capital, Inc. was founded in December 2003 and is based in Palo Alto, California with additional offices in Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; Elmhurst, Illinois; Santa Monica, California; McLean, Virginia; New York, New York; Radnor, Pennsylvania; and Washington, District of Columbia.

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The Samsung Galaxy Fold might have stolen the show at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2019 event in San Francisco. But at $1980, its as Samsung admitted, a luxury device. Along with that, Samsung also announced a major upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S lineup with the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10E. While the flagship phones arent foldable in any way, they come pretty darn close. Like all Samsung flagships, the Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10E pushes the envelope in terms of smartphone technology. Only this time around, Samsung has categorised the experience in three distinct smartphones.

The top of the line is of course the Samsung Galaxy S10+ with a larger screen, a bigger battery and five cameras on the body . The Samsung Galaxy S10 sits in the middle with a single front camera, smaller display and a smaller battery. Then theres the new Samsung Galaxy S10e( 50999 at amazon), aimed at taking on the iPhone XR with skimped down specs.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10 launched with Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED display with HDR10+

The Samsung Galaxy S10+ stretches edge to edge and even folds along the edges. Its all screen with a dual camera module integrated inside the panel, placed on the top right corner. When placed side by side to a Samsung Galaxy S9+, it looks the same size but with a little more screen. The Galaxy S10+ has a 6.4-inch Edge display, while the Samsung Galaxy S10 has a smaller 6.1-inch panel. Because of the two punch-hole cameras, its called the Infinity-O display. Samsung claimed to have used proprietary laser cutter to install the camera components in the screen.

More importantly, the display, Samsung claimed, is the most colour accurate display ever on a mobile device. It supports 16 million colours at 100 percent colour volume and is HDR10+ certified, the first such smartphone to be certified the higher HDR standard. Samsung calls this Dynamic AMOLED.

The display is also notable for being the first to implement an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. It uses ultrasonic sound waves to scan your fingerprint, and Samsung said it doesnt need the extra force. Its also protected with machine-learning based anti-spoofing algorithms to protect fingerprint spoofs, both in 2D and 3D. Furthermore, the ultrasonic nature allows one to unlock the phone in any conditions. Its also apparently faster than previous optical in-display fingerprint sensors. Whether you can put a protective glass on top of the display remains to be seen.

Triple cameras on the back, two on the front, powered by AI

Samsung introduced dual aperture on the Galaxy S9 lineup a year ago. This time around, Samsung rejigged the rear cameras by adding another ultra-wide sensor. Both the Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10 have it and the specs include 12MP standard wide and telephoto cameras, and a 16MP ultra-wide sensor. The ultra-wide sensor has fixed focus with f/2.2 aperture while the wide-angle sensor has the same f/1.5 and f/2.4 dual aperture as the Galaxy S9. The 12MP telephoto lens has PDAF and OIS with a f/2.4 aperture lens.

On the front, the Galaxy S10+ has two cameras while the Galaxy S10 has just one. The Galaxy S10+ has a 10MP Dual Pixel sensor with f/1.9 aperture alongside a 8MP fixed-focus wide-angle selfie shooter with f/2.2 aperture. The Galaxy S10 only has the 8MP ultra-wide selfie camera.

The Galaxy S10 cameras are also assisted by a neural processing unit which allows the camera to recognise 30 different scenes. It changes mode automatically and adjusts the final result based on the learnings. Theres also new feature  Composition Assist. It suggests how to frame the scene you want to shoot, something we saw on the Vivo NEX Dual Display phone and was quite useful.

The cameras also shoots in HDR10+ thanks to hardware-based tone mapping and has a Super Steady Video mode to shoot stable videos which reportedly uses the ultrawide sensor to reduce the cropping. The front camera also shoots in UHD.

Samsung also teamed up with Adobe to create a mobile-version of Adobe Premier Rush optimised for Galaxy smartphones. Samsung also announced the camera SDK is available for third-party developers to leverage the cameras capabilities. Theres a dedicated Instagram mode in the camera which lets you shoot Instagram stories and put stickers, etc. right within the camera app.

Instead of specs, Samsung used two big partnerships with Adobe and Instagram to promote the Galaxy S camera this time. Is this the end of the camera spec-war?

7nm Exynos 9820 SoC under the hood with up to 12GB RAM and 1TB storage.

7nm Exynos 9820 SoC with 8GB or 12GB RAM on the Galaxy S10+ and up to a whopping 1TB onboard storage. Its not clear whether its the UFS 3.0 storage Samsung introduced in the Galaxy Fold. The Galaxy S10 is also powered by the same processor with 8GB of RAM and upto 512GB storage. Both have support for a microSD card as well.

Thanks to the new processor, theres a 29 percent bump in CPU performance and 37 percent boost in graphics processing. Samsung also said its working with Unity to bring more powerful mobile games to the flagships.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10+ can also wirelessly charge compatible devices. Samsung calls it Wireless PowerShare technology and works with most Qi standard devices.

AI also features in the phones performance. The Samsung Galaxy S10s AI software optimises the CPU, RAM and even the device temperature based on how you use the phone. Samsung claimed it gets better over time. Theres Intelligent Wi-Fi that seamlessly switches between Wi-Fi and LTE and even notifies if the Wi-Fi connection is unsecured. The phone also supports the new WiFi-6 standard.

The Galaxy S10+ has a larger 4100mAh battery while the Galaxy S10 has a 3400mAh powerhouse. Both supports wireless charging which is 36 percent faster than the Galaxy S9.

Galaxy S10E: The Budget Galaxy Flagship

Samsung also launched a more affordable Galaxy S10E. It has a smaller footprint with a 5.8-inch flat AMOLED display and but has the Dynamic AMOLED branding indicating it is HDR10+ certified. Theres FullHD+ resolution with a 19:9 aspect ratio. On the back, theres two cameras instead of three  a wide-angle 12MP sensor with 77-degree field of view and another ultra-wide 16MP fixed focus sensor with 123-degree field of view. On the front is a 10MP selfie shooter integrated into the display on the top right corner.

The Galaxy S10E also skips on the in-display fingerprint sensor, choosing to settle for a side-mounted one.

It has the same hardware under the hood with the Samsung Exynos 9820 in global markets and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 in the US. Its offered in 6GB and 8GB RAM variants with 128GB or 256GB onboard storage with the option of expanding it.

The Galaxy S10E also supports wireless charging and has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Theres a 3100mAh battery inside to keep the lights on.

The Galaxy S10E is offered in a plethora of colours including Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Green, Prism Blue, Canary Yellow, Flamingo Pink.

Availability and price

The Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G are certainly the showstoppers. But the Galaxy S10 phones are not much less premium. Samsung announced the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10E will be up for pre-order starting February 21. The phones will start shipping in the US on March 8th.

The unlocked version of the Galaxy S10 will start from $899 (roughly Rs 63,900) while the Galaxy S10 Plus starts from $999 (roughly Rs 71,000). The Galaxy S10E starts from $749.99 (roughly Rs 53,300).

India prices and availability will be announced soon.

Related Reads:

Samsung unfolds Galaxy Fold with two displays, six cameras and app optimisations

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Fit activity tracker and Galaxy Buds cord-free earphones launched alongside new Galaxy smartphone lineup
The 5G future is here, or so we are hearing sitting here in India, trying to make our 3G and 4G connections work. Weve been hearing about the Fifth Generation of network technology for a couple of years now, and it will be a couple more before India finally gets to enjoy the low-latency, high speed network on devices powerful enough to handle it. On the other side of the world though, countries like the US, UK, Japan and others are preparing to roll out commercial 5G networks as early as this year and device makers are hurriedly preparing phones and experiences that are 5G compatible.

A large chunk of the responsibility of making 5G work rests on the shoulders companies like Qualcomm and Intel, as well as network equipment manufacturers and suppliers like Samsung, Nokia, Huawei and others. This year, all these 5G stalwarts are expected to descend on the MWC showfloor and make 5G truly come alive. Some are deploying usable 5G networks within the event, while others are showcasing multiple use cases of the technology.

Take Samsung for instance. The South Korean tech giant will be live broadcasting GSMAs Mobile World Live TV (MWL), the official media channel of MWC19 Barcelona, using its own 5G network and equipment. During the event, Samsungs 5G technology will be used to broadcast MWL across the Fira Gran Via venue as well as across 280 hotels in Barcelona city. Samsungs 5G solutions, including a radio access unit (5G Radio) and a 5G router (CPE), will be used to broadcast HD content for MWL from a booth on the MWC showfloor.

Beyond the 5G network technologies Samsung plans to showcase at the event, the companys newly launched Galaxy S10 5G, Samsungs first 5G handset, is also slated to be make an appearance on the showfloor. While the device will not go on sale immediately, at least until 5G networks are deployed internationally, it will enable ultra low latency and blazing fast download speeds using 5G when it hits the market. The technology is also touted to help create immersive AR and VR experiences and make for uninterrupted, high quality video calls.

Galaxy S10 5G

Over at the Intel setup on the MWC event floor, one can expect to see multiple 5G use cases across client, cloud, network and edge. Intel is working towards improving machine-to-machine communication using 5G networks in warehouses and production units. The company will also showcase 5G use cases across virtual reality and augmented reality gaming. A cool use case Intel plans to demonstrate is its first 5G network which will be deployed at the Olympic Winter Games. The company will partner with KT, NTT Docomo and Toyota to give audiences an early view into the future of 5G. Were also expecting to see smart city use cases powered by 5G at the Intel MWC booth.

Like Intel, Qualcomm also has a big stake in 5G commercialisation. Most 2019 flagships will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset which offers 5G support with X50 Modem. While all SD855 phones may note be 5G ready, smartphone makers like Xiaomi, OnePlus and Samsung will be showcasing their 5G-ready devices at MWC in partnership with the chipmaker. We expect to get our hands on the OnePlus 5G smartphone prototype and the Galaxy S10 5G, connected to working 5G networks, at the event. Xiaomis 5G device is not yet confirmed, but we think the company will announce its Mi 9 X Alita edition powered by the Snapdragon 855 and the X50 5G modem or a Mi Mix 3 5G variant.

Qualcomm is also expected to discuss updates on its RF front-end (RFFE) solutions that make multi-mode, multi-band smartphones practical, as well as impact a devices battery life, display size, network reception, call quality and data speeds.

Nokia might not have a 5G smartphone at MWC, but the companys 5G solutions will definitely show up at the event. Ahead of MWC19, Nokia has announced two new AirScale small cells which basically help extend 5G performance indoors and outdoors. These are more enterprise-centric and public sector tools that will help businesses and places like airports, stadiums and busy pedestrian zones make better use of 5G networks once they are commercialised.

Lastly, Huawei is expected to jump on the 5G and foldable smartphone bandwagon in one go at MWC. The company is expected to announce a 5G enabled foldable smartphone at an event on February 24. Nothing really is known about the said device, but Huawei recently unveiled its 5G multi-mode chipset Balong 5000 which supports 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G connectivity on a single chip. Accompanying the Balong 5000, a 5G CPE Pro router was also announced by Huawei, and the company claims that together, the duo will provide the fastest wireless connectivity in the world. The company says that the Balong 5000 can achieve download speeds up to 4.6 Gbps on low frequency Sub-6 GHz band and up to 6.5 Gbps on high-frequency mmWave spectrum.

Huawei is also a major equipment provider for 5G and recently claimed that it has already shipped upwards of 40,000 5G-ready base stations. The company also reportedly made the worlds first multi-operator 5G video call recently, creating a 4-way conversation between 5G networks from Ding, BT, Three and Vodafone.

So clearly, the future of connectivity is 5G, even though we in India have to get in line to get our share of the pie. Cisco predicts that 5G will dominate networks across the globe by 2022, generating nearly three-times more traffic than a typical 4G connection. According to the company, North America is expected to have the highest proportion of of 5G connections (9 per cent), followed by Western Europe (6 per cent) and Asia-Pacific (4 per cent) by 2022. The countries with the largest share of devices on 5G connections by 2022 will be Japan (12 per cent), Sweden (11 per cent) and the US (10 per cent). The India 5G story is yet to unfold.

Keep is with Digit.in for all the latest from Mobile World Congress 2019. Visit our dedicated MWC page for all the live coverage.
Highlights:

Gmail Material Design rolled out to all Android users.

The red accents are now gone and the inbox now wears an all white design.

The position of navigation drawer and avatar have also been changed.

Google has been streamlining the UI of all its apps and services by introducing the Material Design across all platforms. In January, the company had announced that it has started to release its all white redesign for Gmail for Android, and reportedly, the roll out is now complete. With this update, Gmail for Android now joins other apps like Google Photos, Google Messages and Google Contacts that have already got the white paint job in previous months.

Today, were kicking off the year with a new look for Gmail on mobile, too. As part of the new design, you can quickly view attachmentslike photoswithout opening or scrolling through the conversation. Its also easier to switch between personal and work accounts, so you can access all of your emails without breaking a sweat. And just like on the web, youll get big, red warnings to alert you when something looks phish-y, Google had said in a blogpost.

The update to Gmail for Android essentially brings features from the web app to the mobile app. This includes the machine learning-based Smart Compose feature on Gmail. Users can now reply to messages quicker with suggested responses generated by Smart Reply, and also follow up on emails with reminders in the inbox as well. Some of these features were previewed at the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco last year.

After the update, we can notice that Gmails thick red accents are gone and there is a search bar on the top of the screen. The search bar has the navigation drawer on the left corner and a profile avatar at the right. You can tap the avatar to switch between multiple accounts, add other accounts and manage them. At the bottom-right corner is a new multi-colored Floating Action Button (FAB) to compose an email.

Just like it is in the web version, the new inbox in Gmail for Android also lists images, files, and other attachments for quick access. The overall interface and animations are smoother than before, and the interface has brought a cooler tone to the colours that are not harsh on the eyes. The company had also said that the redesign will also be rolled out to Gmail for iOS. We will update you once there is an official confirmation on the same.

Related Read:

Google Maps added to list of apps with new Material Design
Tanaistes opening statement to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the GFA

Speech

***Check against delivery***

1. Introductory remarks

Chair,

Thank you for the invitation to meet with the Committee today.

It is very good and timely to have this opportunity for a discussion on the full range of issues related to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the Peace Process.

There are a number of areas that I would like to address in my opening statement and then I look forward to a discussion with Committee Members.

I want to acknowledge at the outset the very important and constructive role that this Committee plays

- in expressing in a very tangible way the cross-party support in the Oireachtas for the Good Friday Agreement;

- in working to support the full implementation of the Agreement; - and in engaging with stakeholders, North and South, East and West, to consolidate peace and deepen reconciliation.

I know that the Members of this Committee have a deep commitment to the Agreement, with countless hours of engagement with those working in communities and at interfaces in Northern Ireland; with the Committee seeking always to build understanding across communities, and to encourage and facilitate steps forward in the process of reconciliation which is at the heart of the Agreement.

As Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I know what this involves, what it demands, and I see the impact and value of the Committees engagement on behalf of both Houses in supporting the process and the Agreement through whatever challenges arise.

This Committee - with the important provision for MPs representing Northern Ireland constituencies to participate - is also of course a very practical expression of the all-island engagement that the Good Friday Agreement enables. It is very good to see many Northern representatives here today together with Oireachtas colleagues.

2. Impact of Brexit

Chair,

Although we have many settings now in the Oireachtas through which we are addressing the challenges of Brexit, the protection of the Good Friday Agreement and the achievements of the Peace Process is one of the Governments most fundamental concerns, as it is for everyone here, so I want to address this today first.

As Members are aware, the Government remains firmly of the view that the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal and protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts is to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, agreed between the EU and British government.

The Taoiseachs recent joint statement with President Juncker was clear that the backstop is an integral part of the Withdrawal Agreement. It was also clear that the backstop is not a bilateral issue, but a European one.

I reaffirmed this with Michel Barnier once again at our meeting in Brussels on Monday.

It is important always to be clear that the backstop is intended as an insurance policy for avoiding a hard border in all scenarios.

We hope it will never need to be used, or, if it is, that it will be replaced quickly by a future relationship agreement. But the Government remains convinced that it is necessary, and I know that this view is shared across this Committee.

The EU is committed to exploring and seeking to agree alternative arrangements with UK to replace the backstop in the future. We want a comprehensive future relationship in place by the end of 2020 so that the backstop never needs to be used, and we want to get on with that work once the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified.

However, there are currently no credible alternative arrangements, put forward by anyone, inside the negotiations or elsewhere, which achieve the shared goal of the UK and the EU to avoid a hard border.

The backstop is a necessary guarantee, based on legal certainty, and not just wishful thinking.

As well as ensuring that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland, we believe that these arrangements represent a good outcome for Northern Ireland.

This view is shared by a number of political parties in Northern Ireland and by business, farming and trade union leaders from both communities. Their cross-community engagement to explain the importance of the backstop as the necessary insurance for jobs and the economy is most important and welcome.

In November, the British Government signed up to the Withdrawal Agreement, including the backstop as it now stands, and to the other important provisions to provide for the protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts.

The EU has listened to British concerns - the European Council in December, and the joint letter from Presidents Tusk and Juncker, provided important reassurances.

If the UK's proposals for the future partnership were to evolve, the EU would be prepared to reconsider its offer and adjust the level of ambition of the Political Declaration, while respecting its established principles.

A no deal Brexit is of course the worst possible outcome and would not be in anyones interests.

The Government is preparing comprehensively for this scenario and we are advancing no deal legislation, with vital cooperation from Opposition parties, which will be published tomorrow. This will ensure that we can deal domestically with the undoubted serious challenges a no deal exit would raise.

However, the focus of our engagement at EU level remains on securing the deal that has been reached with the British Government through the Withdrawal Agreement.

It is important to recall as well the protections in the Protocol for the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts:

- The Protocol expressly and fully respects the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and the principle of consent as guaranteed by the Good Friday Agreement.

- The Protocol also underpins North South Cooperation and protects the all-island economy including through the avoidance of a hard border; and it provides for the maintenance of the Single Electricity Market on the island.

- The Protocol makes legally-binding the commitment by the UK to ensure no diminution of the rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity set out in the Good Friday Agreement, including through the maintenance of EU Directives in the area of non-discrimination.

- Consistent with the Citizenship provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, the Protocol confirms the EU citizenship of Irish citizens in Northern Ireland, and that they continue to enjoy access to EU rights, opportunities and benefits.

- Ensuring the access of those entitled to Irish citizenship in Northern Ireland to specific EU benefits, such as in the areas of healthcare and education, will be addressed during the period of transition and in the context of the future relationship; this is reflected in the preamble of the Protocol.

- The Protocol also importantly provides for the maintenance of the Common Travel Area, ensuring that the current bilateral arrangements can continue whereby Irish and British citizens can live, work, study and access healthcare, social security and public services in each jurisdiction.

- In addition, the Protocol confirms the EU and UK commitment to the PEACE and INTERREG programmes, which have contributed in such significant ways to supporting the Peace Process in all its dimensions over the last 25 years, and which are a major practical expression of the European Unions solidarity and support for peace and reconciliation.

- The Government warmly welcomes the Commissions proposal for a special new PEACE PLUS programme to build on and continue the work of the successive PEACE and INTERREG programmes; the firm commitment of the UK government to the PEACE PLUS Programme is also welcome.

So the Protocol - as the Government, the EU as a whole, and the UK have always sought - protects the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts from the challenges that Brexit poses.

3. Restoring the GFA Institutions to full operation

Chair,

The commitments and obligations of the Good Friday Agreement remain for both Governments under any scenario.

The Government continues to engage with the British Government - as co-guarantor - to secure the full implementation of the Agreement and the effective operation of all of its institutions, including the Northern Ireland Assembly and power-sharing Executive, and the North South Ministerial Council.

The continuing absence of these vital institutions of the Agreement is a source of deep concern for the Government, as it is for the British Government.

Since the Assembly elections in March 2017, the Government has worked tirelessly with the British Government and the political parties in the North  in successive phases of talks - to secure an agreement that would see the devolved institutions fully operational once again.

We have also consistently engaged to seek progress with the implementation of outstanding commitments from previous Agreements, including an Irish language act as envisaged under the St Andrews Agreement.

Unfortunately, as everyone here knows, the necessary agreement between the parties has to date not been secured. However, we will keep working until all the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are operating effectively again.

The two-year absence of the devolved institutions cannot continue.

As everyone here is acutely aware, there are pressing decisions and issues across a range of areas, which require a functioning Executive and Assembly.

These Institutions are also urgently needed to represent the interests of all of the people of Northern Ireland, most significantly at present on the challenges raised by Brexit.

These institutions are the most powerful symbol and expression of what the Good Friday Agreement has achieved in Northern Ireland - cooperation and power-sharing between both communities on the basis of equality, respect and parity of esteem.

There could be no more persuasive advocates - in Brussels, in London, in Dublin and indeed in Washington and beyond - for the unique interests and needs of Northern Ireland, than a power-sharing Executive working to address the interests of everyone they represent.

No one says this is easy, but there is no other available way to address the political and identity divisions in Northern Ireland, and to deliver for all the people. We must get the power-sharing institutions back working again.

The Government is equally anxious to see the North South Ministerial Council operating again  in order to oversee and develop North South cooperation on matters of mutual interest, including the resumption of that constructive engagement to address the all-island challenges raised by Brexit that was commenced at the NSMC in the second half of 2016.

So, the Government will continue to do everything possible, in accordance with our responsibilities as a co-guarantor of the Agreement, to secure the effective operation of all of its institutions.

To this end, Secretary of State Bradley and I met with the leaders of the five main political parties at Stormont last Friday, further to our respective consultations with each of the party leaders in recent weeks and months.

This meeting sought the parties views, at this stage, on how a new talks process could most constructively be commenced in the period ahead.

Each of the party leaders confirmed their wish to participate in the Institutions again and provided views on the necessary basis for an effective talks process.

It was agreed that the two Governments will engage further with the parties to seek an urgent way forward with a new political process that can secure an agreement for a functioning Executive and Assembly, and NSMC.

Following these further consultations, I in no way underestimate the way to go to achieve a resolution.

However, I continue to believe that an agreement can be achieved and that there is an increasingly urgent need for talks with a credible basis to commence.

I will continue to work with Secretary of State Karen Bradley and with each of the party leaders to get the necessary political process underway as soon as possible.

4. Constitutional issues

Chair,

I am acutely conscious of a view currently being expressed that - because of the ongoing challenges of the Peace Process, or because Brexit is raising so many challenges for the island as a whole  therefore, now is a moment to move ahead with consideration of constitutional status issues as provided for under the Good Friday Agreement.

I respect, and the Government respects, everyones right on this island to make the case for the constitutional future that they wish to see for Northern Ireland - whether you are nationalist, unionist or neither.

The Good Friday Agreement  and the two sovereign Governments - explicitly recognise and validate the legitimacy of both of these constitutional positions, which are deeply held.

And people of course have the right to take part in discussion and dialogue and engagement on the kind of future theyd like to see.

The Government hears, and shares, and is working to address the real concerns, worry and frustration that people in the North feel about the acute challenges that Brexit raises.

However, the Government is also very clear that we cannot and will not seek to use Brexit to advance any kind of constitutional agenda. These are separate and distinct issues.

At present, the Government does not believe that sufficient support exists for a border poll that would result in constitutional change.

The Governments priorities are therefore, firstly, to secure the effective functioning of the devolved institutions and the North South Ministerial Council and, secondly, to ensure the protection of the Agreement and the achievements of the Peace Process, as the UK leaves from the EU.

That is our only agenda as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, and the Government believes that this is an important message to clearly convey at this time.

5. Promoting Reconciliation

Chair,

One aspect of the Good Friday Agreement that is perhaps less prominent in political exchanges but no less important for the future of everyone on this island is the commitment to the achievement of reconciliation, following the tragedies and suffering of the past.

I recognise that this has always been a major area of focus for the Committees engagement - as it has been a continuing priority for successive Irish Governments.

Reflecting this, the Government has provided for a substantial increase of 1m for my Departments Reconciliation Fund this year, bringing the total budget to 3.7m.

In 2018, the Reconciliation Fund made grants to over 150 projects, supporting organisations across the community and voluntary sector. The vast majority of funding goes to projects and organisations in Northern Ireland because this is where the greatest need for reconciliation lies.

The groups supported by the Fund are building meaningful links across communities, addressing the issues that are impacting on their lives - including sectarianism - and working to create better understanding between people and traditions on this island, and indeed between Ireland and Britain.

Reconciliation is a vital component of the Peace Process and the Government is committed to supporting this work at community level through the Reconciliation Fund, and through Ministerial engagement with representatives of different community traditions.

6. Dealing with the Legacy of the Past

Finally, Chair, I would like to speak about the pressing need to deal with the legacy of the past and address the suffering of victims of violence.

This was envisaged under the Agreement when it was signed almost twenty-one years ago, but victims and survivors are still waiting for a system that can deal comprehensively with their legitimate needs and expectations.

Addressing the past is also necessary element of reconciliation, particularly for those individuals and communities who suffered most through the dark days of the Troubles.

The new policing dispensation in Northern Ireland also cannot continue to be weighed down with legacy issues, when the PSNIs focus needs to be on policing for today, and in ensuring that cross-community confidence in the new policing arrangements achieved through the Patten reforms is maintained and advanced.

We saw once again last week the almost endless difficulties that legacy issues raise with the concerning announcement that the PSNI have discovered significant new material for investigations being conducted by the Police Ombudsman.

My thoughts are first and foremost with all of the families affected, as they have to wait now for even longer to see the reports of the Police Ombudsman.

This development makes clear once again that the Stormont House Agreement framework  agreed by the two Governments and political parties - is urgently needed to provide a comprehensive process for addressing legacy investigations and issues in Northern Ireland, focused on the needs of victims and survivors.

We are still working to get this in place - it must be achieved.

Significant progress was made in the political discussions that took place since 2014, and a public consultation on draft UK legislation was conducted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the latter part of last year.

There was significant engagement with this consultation from individuals and groups across Northern Ireland, and importantly also from victims and survivors in this jurisdiction and indeed in Britain.

The responses to the consultation are now being reviewed by the British Government and I am informed that this process is nearing completion.

The Governments concern is to see that the process continues to advance to implement the Stormont House legacy framework in full, including with a move ahead to legislative phases in both jurisdictions as needed and as soon as possible.

We also continue to press for confirmation of the necessary resourcing for legacy inquests to proceed in Northern Ireland, consistent with the Article 2 obligations on the UK government.

I will continue to proactively engage with the Secretary of State and with all of the political parties to secure the implementation of the Stormont House legacy framework as speedily as possible.

The drafting of legislative proposals in this jurisdiction to support and implement the Stormont House framework is also advancing, led by the Minister for Justice and Equality.

The Government has already published a general scheme of a Bill to provide for enhanced cooperation with legacy inquests in Northern Ireland, and a draft Bill is currently being finalised. This legislation will be of immediate relevance for the ongoing inquest into the Kingsmill massacre at the Belfast Coroners Court.

Draft legislation is also being advanced to provide for the establishment of the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, which will conduct its work on an all-island basis.

There are also a number of cases which remain of particular concern for the Government and the Dail. These include:

- the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and other attacks in the South, where the Government continues to pursue the request to the British Government set out in successive Dail Motions;

- the Ballymurphy massacre where an inquest is continuing in Belfast; and

- the case of Pat Finucane, whose 30th anniversary was marked last week. The Governments position remains that an independent public inquiry should be established into the murder of Pat Finucane, in line with the commitments made at Weston Park in 2001.

The Taoiseach and I have been glad to have the opportunity to meet with many of the victims families in these cases in recent months.

We have reaffirmed the Governments unwavering commitment to seeking progress and supporting their right to truth and justice, consistent with the supporting Motions adopted by the Dail in each case.

More broadly, the Government will keep working to secure the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement framework, which can provide victims families with a way to access whatever truth and justice is possible in their case. Implementation would be

an important step towards achieving a truly reconciled society in Northern Ireland.

I believe that can be achieved, and I strongly welcome the Committees ongoing engagement on legacy issues, which are of such importance for people directly affected by the violence and conflict, and integral to the Peace Process founded on the Good Friday Agreement.

Thank you Chair, and I look forward to discussing these and any other issues of interest on the Agreement with the Committee now.

ENDS

Press Office

21 February 2019

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Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) has signed an agreement to provide carrier-class mmWave connectivity to MAXnet, the leading wireless internet service provider (WISP) in Sudan.

This will enable MAXnet to underpin its corporate and business Internet access services with carrier-grade service levels backed up with performance guarantees. CBNL is working with MAXnet to provide reliable, high-performance, ubiquitous connectivity capable of delivering high throughput, highly stable services with network slicing and the ability to offer performance guarantees on a per service basis. To achieve this, CBNL is delivering a 28GHz FWA network using its VectaStar platform, which will enhance MAXnets existing network and provide business-class internet services.

MAXnets network footprint in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan, covers the three major cities within the capital: Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North, an area home to more than one third of the population of Sudan. By leveraging the benefits of FWA with CBNL, MAXnet will add another layer of coverage to the network with more capacity and interference free frequency bands.

The network deployment means MAXnet will be able to provide deeper support to the growing businesses community in these cities by providing them with higher capacity, carrier-grade enterprise connectivity. This new layer of connectivity will be ideal for organisations, such as government entities and e-services, financial institutes and universities, where secure and highly reliable connectivity is key. The extended network from CBNL will also provide a foundation for creating dedicated VPNs and for supporting a range of business-critical applications delivered over the internet.

Mohamed Ahmad Idris Abdulmagid, Planning Manager, MAXnet, said: This enterprise class network is hugely important to this region. It will scale with us to become a highly-reliable source of connectivity for businesses, educational institutions and public services now and in the future.

Kariem Zakaria, Account Director (Middle East & North Africa), CBNL, said: Fibre deployments are not yet ubiquitous in Sudan, so wireless technology is the key to developing the countrys communications infrastructure moving forward. Point-to-multipoint technology using mmWave spectrum is the most CAPEX- and OPEX-effective way to deploy a highly reliable network in Sudan, and we look forward to enabling MAXnet to deliver this enhanced PMP network for its customers.
Millicom is acquiring Telefonicas units in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua for $1.7 billion.

The group is shifting its focus towards Latin America while seeking additional revenue streams. In a statement, it described the buy as a perfect complement to its cable operations already present in all three markets, noting that it would bolster its recent purchase of Panamas Cable Onda.

Telefonicas units in Nicaragua and Panama lead their respective markets, while its Costa Rican unit is the countrys second-largest. On the back of the acquisition, Millicom has forecast yearly run-rate opex and capex synergies of $35 million to $50 million, which it anticipates will be largely realised by 2021 and fully realised by 2023.

In a statement, Telefonica said: : This transaction is part of the Telefonica Groups asset portfolio management policy based on a strategy of value creation, improving return on capital and strategic positioning. It also complements the objective of organic debt reduction and strengthening the balance sheet in a growing cash flow scenario, which allows us to maintain a sustainable and attractive shareholder remuneration.

Last year, it was reported that Telefonica was considering a full divestment of its Central American units. In January this year, it began to act on this, selling its Movistar units in El Salvador and Guatemala to America Movil for $648 million.

Millicoms acquisition will require approval from each markets regulator, although it anticipates closing the deal in H2 2019.
The Real Story Of The Battle Of Saragarhi That Has Inspired Akshay Kumars Kesari!

The trailer of Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra starrer Kesari dropped today. From the trailer itself, we can be lest assured that this will be a story of valour and courage, where the fighters continued to oppose the efforts of their rivals till their last breath. It is also almost known to all that the film will be based on the Battle of Saragarhi that took place between the Afghans and a handful of Sikh warriors. But what was so significant about the fight that it inspired a film?

Well, there have been many versions of the story of the battle, like all popular folklore. But what is known for a fact is that just 21 soldiers martyred themselves while protecting the heliographic post at Saragarhi against some 10000 Afghan soldiers! This small post was important as it connected two major forts overlooking the modern day Khyber Pakhtunwa area. It was the northwest frontier of the British India that was frequently attacked by the Afghans!

To capture the entire area, the Afghans had set their eye on the Fort Lockhart. However, they had to go through Saragarhi. There were just 21 sepoys put in the area and it was the weakest point. So, the Afghans decided to attack this point first. One of the sepoys, Gurmukh Singh realized that they were under attack and sent signals to the commander at Fort Lockhart. However, he could not send force at such a short notice. Then these soldiers, under Ishar Singh decided to put up a brave fight!

21 soldiers taking on 10000 is something only the bravest of the brave can think off. The Sikh regiment had put up a brave fight and had been able to kill as many as 180 Afghans. In fact, they sacrificed their lives to the battle one by one, but they delayed the capture for so long that before the Afghans could even go for Fort Lockhart, the English Army arrived and recaptured it within 2 days!

Such was their valour in the face of death that their tale still lives on. Like Kesari, a TV series too was made with Mohit Raina as Ishar Singh and there is another film- Battle of Saragarhi, on the pipeline that has Randeep Hooda in the lead.

Are you excited to see Akshay Kumars intense act as Ishar Singh? Let us know in the comment section!
Chinese street brand RESHAKE presented their Fall Winter 2019.20 2571 Collection, inspired by a passage in the Buddhist King Kong Sutra, exploring the spiritual inclination of young people to pursue the Buddha lifestyle. The collection was presented on February 19th, during the recently finished London Fashion Week.

Trying to spread the traditional Chinese elements and present a more profound spiritual symbol of Buddha in a more modern way. Thereby playing a positive role in guiding the confused young people. The power of the heart is the true meaning of todays trend. In this seasons fashion week, RESHAKE uses an unconventional approach to interpret the core concept of Nirvana. The representative traditional craftsmanship and clothing production methods were disrupted and reorganized, and then presented in a high fashion manner. Large pieces of embroidery interpret traditional Chinese techniques. The slogan of Nirvana, Made in China and Famous in the early days is a very direct and powerful presentation of the theme of the work. The design concept uses the environmental concept of second-hand clothing redesign and utilization. The design combines experimental contours with differentiated materials such as coated fabrics, PVC, and heavy-weight knitted fabrics. It shows the collision and unification of the high street fashion sense and the Chinese style.

Nowadays, the heat of following the Chinese style is getting higher and higher. RESHAKE teamed up with several local well-known brands to showcase the Shanghai culture on the creative stage of London Fashion Week. RESHAKE unexpectedly invited the Shanghai phenomenon-level gourmet brand Xiao Yang Sheng Jian in London Fashion Week to collaborate in a very interesting and imaginative way. Writing the unique human fireworks and market culture that belongs to Shanghai. RESHAKE x Xiao Yang Sheng Jian series mainly uses high saturated bright yellow, pink blue, rose red and bright orange. Combining the totem lines of Xiaoyang Shengjians first Wujiang Road store in the 1990s. The Chinese localized food brand has been transformed into a full-fledged international fashion visual feast. In addition, the joint series also uses many new fabrics, combined with manual multi-color tie-dyeing techniques and multi-level embroidery process. Expressing the cultural core of All rivers run into the sea and tolerant heart is generous. In addition, Chow Tai Fooks co-branded jeweler brand MONOLOGUE and RESHAKEs cooperation is also full of points. MONOLOGUE also follows the theme of the show and the culture of the market. The Chinese culture around the people is eating for the sky.





All images courtesy of RESHAKE.

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SALT LAKE CITY  Disney's got some major live-action projects in the works this year, and today we know a little bit more about them, including the much-anticipated "Lion King" reboot.

What happened: In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter this month, Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said he has seen four cuts of Disney's upcoming live-action "Lion King" reboot and it is a tear-jerker.

"Bring a handkerchief," Horn said. "It's so emotional."

Horn said the film, which is directed by Jon Favreau of Disney's live-action "The Jungle Book" reboot, has CGI animation so solid, "you cannot tell these animals aren't real."

Disneys "Lion King" reboot has a star-studded cast including Donald Glover, Beyonce Knowles-Carter and James Earl Jones, and it joins a chorus of big Disney projects set to release later this year. Horn touched on a few of Disney's projects in his interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

"Star Wars: Episode IX": Perhaps Disney's most highly anticipated film, alongside "Avengers: Endgame," is "Star Wars: Episode IX."

Horn said he's spent time on set with the cast, and though he hasn't seen a cut of the film yet, he's seen "dailies every weekend" and says "it's going to be terrific."

"Aladdin": Horn had several things to say about Disney's spinoff and live-action projects, including the upcoming "Aladdin" movie, which he said he thinks is "a terrific film."

"The thing about these big movies is they get a lot of attention, whether positive or negative. So when they don't work, like "Solo," the media says it's a failure. I think it was a pretty good movie," Horn said.

Disney Plus: Horn said staff members at Disney Animation and Pixar Studios are wearing more hats now to prioritize Disneys upcoming streaming platform Disney Plus.

"Netflix and companies like Amazon represent the great disruption in our business and a seismic shift in consumer offerings and viewing patterns," Horn said. "The interesting thing, which is not resolved yet, is how big is the consumer appetite for these incremental services? I like our chances."

Horn said Disney producers may have three or four films released on the platform per year. Marvel is already planning a Loki series for the platform that follows Tom Hiddlestons character, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Disney's "Lion King" reboot will release July 19.

"Aladdin" will release May 24, and "Star Wars: Episode IX" is slated for release on Dec 20.
SOUTH SALT LAKE  A South Salt Lake man was charged Thursday with stabbing his 26-year-old girlfriend to death.

Angelo Terry Kirstine, 24, is charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony. Bail was set at $1 million for Kirstine, who was sent back to the Utah State Prison for parole violations after his arrest.

On Jan. 15, the body of Ashley Vigil, 26, was found in an apartment at 820 W. 3900 South. During the night, Kirstine asked his 15-year-old sister if she would drive him to their grandmother's house. When the teen returned to the apartment, she walked through Vigil's bedroom on her way to the bathroom and noticed that Vigil was on the floor, according to charging documents.

"She initially thought Ashley had rolled off the bed  and was just sleeping," the charges state.

But after discovering blood on the light switch and the bathroom sink, the girl looked at Vigil more closely.

"She observed a hole in Ashley's throat. She said it looked like her throat had been slit and Ashley was unresponsive," according to the charges.

After arriving at his grandmother's house, Kirstine allegedly said "he needed a mental health evaluation" and was driven to the University Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of Utah. When questioned by staff members, Kirstine said, "The cops were at my house, and they found a dead body at my house," according to charging documents.

South Salt Lake police had earlier stated that while half the family went to the hospital, the other half went to the apartment where Vigil's body was discovered and officers were called. Police arrested Kirstine at the hospital.

A motive for the killing was not provided in court documents.

When he was arrested, police noted in an affidavit that "(Kirstine) was reported to have suffered from mental health-related disorders and had violent tendencies as a result of those mental health-related issues."

Kirstine was on parole at the time of his arrest. He was convicted in two separate cases of robbery in 2013 and was sentenced to one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison, according to court records. He was released from prison on parole in October.

In 2012, Kirstine was charged twice with aggravated assault in a pair of domestic violence-related incidents. Both cases were eventually thrown out when witnesses failed to come to court.

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the confidential statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online at udvc.org.
SALT LAKE CITY  The House Education Committee voted unanimously Thursday to hold HB273, a bill that would have prohibited instructional fees in Utah secondary schools.

The bill was held at the request of its sponsor, Rep. Adam Robertson, R-Provo.

Robertson asked the committee to hold the bill after educator, school board, school administrator and charter school representatives urged a slower approach.

"The feeling we're having is, let's not be hasty," said Terry Shoemaker, who represents the state's school boards and public school district superintendents.

Royce Van Tassell, executive director of Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, said there have been ongoing conversations about what Utahns should expect from their schools and the impacts of the loss of revenue if schools cannot charge instructional fees.

"It may be premature to pull the Band-Aid off completely," Van Tassell said.

Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, said she was more comfortable with the approach of HB250 because it leaves decision-making to local entities and the State School Board. HB250 is before the Utah House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Syracuse, is "mainly a compliance and definitional bill," Robertson said, noting his bill would eliminate instructional fees.

Robertson said his goal in sponsoring HB273 was to return to original intent of the Utah Constitution, which says elementary and secondary education should be free, although it was later amended to allow secondary schools to charge fees.

"In the past decade, school fees crept up and really got out of control," Robertson said.

Recent audits estimate Utah public schools charge an estimated $71 million a year in school fees, although legislative auditors have said they believe the figure was "significantly understated."

There is a need for ongoing conversation about what Utahns expect from their public education system, Robertson said.

"I do still feel very strongly we owe our students a free education and we still need to get there," he said.
SALT LAKE CITY  The much-anticipated tax reform plan that calls for adding sales taxes to services while lowering the state rate could be hit hard by a downward revision in anticipated state revenues.

But even as legislative leaders wait for the latest calculations due Friday on how far a predicted $1.3 billion budget surplus has fallen, there's optimism a tax reform plan can pass before the 45-day session ends in mid-March.

They say there's still time to give the consideration needed to a bill expected to extend sales taxes to everything from Uber rides to at least some costs related to housing and health care to stabilize the shrinking share of the tax base.

"It's something that no matter when you do it, it is not going to be an easy lift. Its going to be hard. I think it's still something that can get done," House Majority Whip Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said.

Schultz said reports that income tax collections fell 10 percent in December and another 7.7 percent in January are complicating the tax reform effort. That data is being used to revise previous revenue estimates for the coming budget year.

With Senate Budget Chairman Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, already warning that could reduce the additional money available this session by some $300 million, Schultz said there will be an impact on the planned tax cut in the bill.

Little about the plan being put together behind the scenes has been made public, although GOP lawmakers have said Gov. Gary Herbert's proposal to reduce the state's current 4.7 percent sales tax rate to 1.75 percent is not realistic.

Schultz told the Deseret News that number is more likely to be around 3 percent.

"We would like to get somewhere around 3 percent. I think thats a lofty goal. But again I think a lot of it depends on where our revenue estimates end up being on Friday," he said.

Even though that's not as low as the governor wants to go, Schultz said he believes most Utahns will be on board "if we can can get to a place where ultimately, it is a true tax cut and people are sending less of their money to the state."

The governor followed the lead of House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, in backing a $225 million tax cut, up from what he proposed in his budget released in December.

That's the number that will likely fluctuate with the decline in revenue growth.

Herbert called for the cut to be in sales taxes, to ensure the rate is as low as possible to lessen the impact of taxing services, but his fellow Republican legislative leaders have said they'd rather reduce the 4.95 percent state income tax rate.

Now, though, Schultz said at least some of the tax cut in the bill will come from slicing the sales tax rate.

Just what the impact of the new revenue estimates will be on a "combination of an income and sales tax reduction" remains to be seen, the House leader said.

"To be able to predict whether or not it's off the table, I think, is hard. I'd say it's not off the table," Schultz said. "But it certainly does make things more difficult to get to a landing spot. But not impossible."

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he's "more concerned about the policy. If it is a broad enough base, and we do a good enough job, I think we can afford a tax cut" even with the revenue revisions.

As for whether the sales tax rate will be in the 3 percent range, Senate Majority Whip Dan Hemmert, R-Orem, said reaching a certain number has never been the intent of tax reform.

"The goal hasnt been so much the rate. The goal has been how far you can go expanding the base. The rate has been a mathematical outcome," Hemmert said. "I don't disagree with what Schultz is saying."

The Senate majority whip said tax reform remains "full steam ahead" regardless of what the revenue estimates turn out to be.

But Hemmert said it will factor into what happens with a tax cut on top of the proportional decrease from broadening the sales tax base. He said a decision on cutting the sales tax rate further has not been finalized.

You "do not want to kill yourself to lower" the sales tax rate by a small amount, he said. "It depends on how far you can go on the broadening aspect. Thats going to be an integral part of the decision of whether you can look at a tax reduction."

The drop in estimated revenues is concerning enough to lawmakers that there's now the possibility the numbers could be updated a second time before the session ends.

"The question is, is this a trend," Stephenson said, or the result of the federal tax changes causing many Utahns to pay their income taxes later than anticipated. "If its a trend, weve got a real problem."

The Senate budget chairman said a second update could help answer that question.

The sponsor of the tax reform plan, Rep. Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, said he expects the bill to be ready by the first of next week.

Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, said it may take until the final hours of the session to finalize a tax reform plan, but she believes something will pass this session.

"I think we may find out the last day what that product is," Mayne said. "We can do anything that we choose to do. I've seen bills move in hours. There will be a product and as soon as there is some type of agreement, it will move."
OGDEN  A Roy father has pleaded guilty in the beating death of his newborn son, part of an agreement with prosecutors that spares him a possible death sentence.

Investigators said Matthew Daniel Graves, 24, punched his month-old son Brayden repeatedly in September 2017 because the child was crying and it made him angry. Graves later told police he was a "monster" who waited to seek help for the infant even though he knew the child was having difficulty, according to prosecutors.

Graves admitted in January to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony and potential capital offense, court records show. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of at least 25 years and up to life in prison.

Two remaining charges were dropped in the deal. They include allowing a child to be exposed to controlled substances, a third-degree felony, and drug possession, a class A misdemeanor.

Graves was criminally charged a day after police responded to a Roy home on a report of an infant not breathing, court documents state. Doctors later determined the child had significant brain trauma, skull fractures and separated vertebrae.

Graves is scheduled to be sentenced on March 5.
SPANISH FORK  A Herriman man was charged Thursday with attacking a Utah County Jail clerk in an attempt to escape.

Ian Walter Berg, 30, is charged in 4th District Court with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated escape, first-degree felonies; plus aggravated assault by a prisoner and possession of prohibited items in a correctional facility, second-degree felonies.

On Feb. 13, Berg was arrested for investigation of shoplifting. He was taken to the Utah County Jail where, after being booked, police say he would have been eligible to bail out with a relatively low bail.

But while Berg was in the holding area waiting to be processed, he went into a secured area of the jail, waited until no deputies were looking, then snatched a pen and scissors from a counter and grabbed the booking clerk, according to charging documents.

"Berg approached the female victim from behind and put her in a headlock, choking her from behind. He then placed the scissors on her neck and pressed them in and told her, 'I need to get out of here,'" the charges state.

The clerk called for help and Berg was quickly surrounded by deputies.

"Berg pressed the scissors into the victim's neck in an aggressive manner and yelled repeatedly, 'I will do it,'" according to the charges.

The deputies took Berg to the ground and placed him into custody. Bail was set at $30,000 cash only.
SALT LAKE CITY  After visiting with several formerly homeless veterans on Wednesday, Gov. Gary Herbert encouraged Utahns to donate to the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund on their 2018 Utah state tax returns.

New this year, Utahns can also donate online at jobs.utah.gov/htf.

Herbert and Atkinson, a community advocate, toured Freedom Landing, meeting with several residents who had been homeless and now live in the Housing Authority of Salt Lake Citys 109-unit permanent supportive housing facility.

Veterans are more likely to experience homelessness than civilians, and we need to do our part to help break that cycle, Herbert said.

According to the 2018 Point-in-Time Count, an annual state data collection effort required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were 222 veterans experiencing homelessness in Utah on that one night. A total of 2,876 people were found to be homeless statewide. During the course of the year, approximately 15,000 Utahns experience homelessness for some amount of time.

Having a safe place to stay makes a world of difference for someone experiencing homelessness, said Atkinson. Your donations help support these housing opportunities and other services that can literally save lives.

Herbert said when Utahns donate to the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund on their state tax form, they are helping to critical services for vulnerable homeless populations. All of the donated funds are distributed to agencies statewide that provide vital resources for those who are experiencing homelessness.

In addition, the homeless trust fund is leveraged with other state funding to provide the maximum impact for emergency services, supportive services, and housing services.
SALT LAKE CITY  A bill aimed at forcing the BYU Police Department to follow the same open records rules that all other law enforcement agencies are subject to or risk decertification has been introduced in the Utah Legislature.

SB197 modifies the definition of a "law enforcement agency" in Utah to include "a private institution of higher education whose law enforcement entity or division is certified by the Commission of Public Safety," and that law enforcement agencies fall into the category of "governmental entities that are subject to government records provisions," according to the bill.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the bill is in response to the recent controversy surrounding the BYU Police Department's contention that it is not subject to state public records laws.

"This bill was a result of the ongoing litigation between BYU and the media related to GRAMA," he said. "The bottom line is a private entity that has a police department, that police department will be subject to the Government Records Access and Management Act."

BYU spokesman Todd Hollingshead issued a brief prepared statement in response to the bill on Thursday, simply stating, "Weve been aware that Sen. Bramble intended to bring forward this legislation and we are following it closely."

The controversy stems from a GRAMA request made by the Salt Lake Tribune seeking emails sent by BYU police regarding rape allegations made by a 19-year-old student in 2016.

The university declined to release the emails, arguing it is a "privately funded, managed and operated police department within a private university." University attorneys contended the "stated purpose of GRAMA is to allow access to certain government records held by governmental entities  not to allow access to private records of private institutions such as BYU, or internal departments of private institutions, such as University police."

But in July, 3rd District Judge Laura Scott ruled that because BYU is a state-certified police force, it has to comply with the state's GRAMA rules. About a week after the court's decision, BYU announced it was filing an appeal. The case has since been appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, which has not yet set a date to hear the case.

If BYU is forced to comply with open records laws, it could be required to release information on how BYU police communicated with the school's Honor Code Office and Title IX Office regarding sexual assaults.

The bill spells out that "a private institution of higher education whose law enforcement entity or division is certified by the Commission of Public Safety" has to adhere to the same requirements as other law enforcement entities.

On Thursday, SB197 was assigned to the Senate Rules Committee.

Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche
PROVO  The fire that destroyed a popular Provo Mexican restaurant last week started when towels in a basement sink spontaneously ignited, fire officials said Wednesday.

The Feb. 11 blaze at Los Hermanos restaurant, 71 E. Center, was caused by newly-laundered towels that were placed in the sink, according to a statement from Provo Fire and Rescue officials. The fabric of the towels in the sink can "become embedded with oils over their lifespan" and can self-generate heat.

The fire was accidental, officials said.

Fire Marshal Lynn Schofield said that type of fire is "fairly uncommon."

"There are lots of factors that have to come into perfect alignment for this type of fire, and in this case they did," according to the statement.

The basement location of the fire made it difficult and dangerous for crews to battle. One firefighter sustained a minor shoulder injury after falling down stairs, Provo Fire and Rescue officers said in a Facebook post.

A neighboring apartment building was evacuated twice as firefighters battled flames shooting through the roof. Residents took shelter from the cold in a Utah Transit Authority bus brought to house them temporarily.
SALT LAKE CITY  Fast Company unveiled its annual list of the country's most innovative companies. And it looks like esports are making headway among the tech industry.

Fast Company called Allied Esports the most innovative company in the country.

"It is an honor to be recognized by Fast Company and have Allied Esports listed among some of the most creative, pioneering and influential companies in the world," said Frank Ng, co-CEO of Ourgame Holdings International, owner of Allied Esports, in a press release on the announcement. "We take innovation and creativity seriously, and with a strong global strategy for delivering incredible, revolutionary esports experiences and content around the world, we are excited to exceed the great expectations placed on us with this award."

Allied joins other esports-inspired companies such as Twitch, which livestreams esports, and Unity Technologies, which builds video games.

Fast Company releases the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies list every year to identify the businesses that are making a profound impact on business and tech culture.

Fast Company breaks down the list by sectors, or business types, too.

Utah: At least two Utah companies appeared in the list.
New research from the Pew Research Center further cements the reality of the impact depression and anxiety have on todays teens. Concerns about mental health seem to be the one thing that all teens have in common, with 7 in 10 reporting depression and anxiety as a major problem among their peers.

Mental health concerns stand out from worries about post-high school plans, teen pregnancy and drugs. Roughly the same amount of teens from various demographics share the same concern over mental health.

This is not a problem isolated to one area or group  mental health issues have a legitimate hold on teens.

The Deseret News spent a year reporting on why teens are more anxious than ever, as well as what families and communities can do to help. Reporting included findings about why anxiety is on the rise, the difference between boys and girls, the stressors that affect them most and where solutions can be found.

Mounting pressure from college and career plans, technology and dating are few factors among many that contribute to the rising rates of anxiety and depression. The unprecedented rise in mental health issues among youths can be frightening and overwhelming, but there are ways to fight it.

Deseret News reporting found that the biggest help for overcoming teen anxiety could be found in three places: At home, in schools and through community resources. That means everyone is responsible in helping reduce the grip anxiety and depression have on the rising generation.

A teen struggling with anxiety or depression needs support from the family and the community. A strong structure of attending school and having counselors there to help adjust scheduling, workload and even find school programs to help is beneficial to teens as well. Community resources, such as churches, therapists and doctors, are all important factors in effectively combating this issue.

To see an entire generation dealing with this issue in an unprecedented way is not something to treat lightly. Anxiety can result in loss of motivation, lack of sleep and panic attacks and can otherwise prove completely debilitating. Serious mental illness, unaddressed, can lead to severe individual harm or suicide. The problems facing these people are real and painful, not imagined or overblown.

To ensure youths get the appropriate help they need, communities must first stamp out any residual stigma surrounding mental health issues. Simply listening with empathy to the pains of one affected can cultivate a hopeful environment and help others understand the real effects of mental illnesses.

Second, schools should reassess the roll of counselors. School counselors often perform clerical tasks on behalf of the student body, but their unique training could be better used supporting youths affected by mental illness. A bill before the Utah Legislature would direct the State Board of Education to adopt new rules for counselors and prohibit them from doing certain menial duties. Thats a good start, and it deserves the governors signature.

And while state efforts are necessary, everyone has a responsibility to reach out in love, compassion and understanding, treating youths not as a cohort of whiners but as a group of dedicated young people who have bright futures.
Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt served during the states longest economic expansion. He once told me, Decisions more than circumstances really shape our lives and our communities. Its a profound statement. We become our actions, not our inheritance. Utah policymakers would do well to keep this aphorism in mind as they grapple with tax reform this legislative session.

Utah faces a structural sales tax challenge. Taxable sales as a percent of the economy are shrinking, declining from 67 percent in 1980 to 42 percent today. Thats a dangerous trend even in good economic times, but in a downturn could compromise the states long-term prosperity and life quality.

To their credit, Gov. Gary Herbert and lawmakers are asking two important questions: Can we use this prosperous time to address the structural problem in Utahs sales tax? If we act now, can we avoid making even more difficult decisions during hard economic times?

Theres a public policy rule that applies here. When you kick cans down the road, they pile up. The federal government is doing that with entitlement reform. Congress knows we need to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but nobody exerts the political will to rein in spending. The problem gets worse and solutions get harder the longer policymakers wait. Look no further than our nations $16.1 trillion of debt owned by the public.

Utah leaders are different. They dont let the cans pile up. Throughout Utahs history, governors and legislators have made tax and expenditure decisions with an eye to the future. These past decisions propel our current prosperity.

During the 1980s a significant and lasting surge in school-age population and a recession impacted state finances. Utahs two largest employers  Kennecott Copper and Geneva Steel  shut down. State policymakers made the difficult decision to raise sales and income taxes to address the needs of public education. It worked and helped kick off a sustained economic expansion.

During the 1990s the governor and Legislature leveraged revenue surpluses from a booming economy into substantial investments in water, highway and transportation infrastructure. The state even advanced funding, which was eventually repaid, for Olympic venues before winning the bid. Policymakers also funded the preservation of the State Capitol Complex. They did all this and also cut the state sales tax rate twice. Decisions determine destiny.

During the 2000s the Legislature and governor made sizable sales, personal income and corporate income tax cuts and reduced the sales tax rate on food while significantly expanding the personal income tax base. They allocated funds to major transportation projects like the I-15 expansion and Legacy Parkway. When state revenue dropped severely during the Great Recession, lawmakers mitigated the impacts because they had already reformed public pensions, set aside surplus funds for public education, and cash-funded infrastructure to preserve debt capacity. Choices matter.

Since 2010 the Utah Legislature has addressed revenue volatility and stocked up the state rainy day funds, which have more than doubled since 2011. We stand ready for a change in the economic winds.

But theres another important decision. The powerful structural trends of aging, growth in the service economy, remote (internet) sales, and rising health care costs are eating away at Utahs sales tax base. Policymakers face a growing gap between available revenues and the needs of a growing population and economy. This challenge will intensify with the next economic downtown.

Im proud to live in a state where we think long term and practice fiscal responsibility. Modernizing Utahs sales tax structure will require deft policymaking. Lawmakers will need to find the right policy mix. Some people will have to accept new taxes, as the tax system overall becomes more fair, efficient and revenue-sufficient. As they do so, theyd do well to remember another mantra, frequently quoted by former Gov. Leavitt: Utah can fight change and lose, accept change and survive, or lead change and prosper.
SALT LAKE CITY  Seven years ago, Brian Bench, who taught at Fortis College, became caught up in a tragedy when one of his students committed a horrendous act.

On the day that the student fatally shot his girlfriend, Bench was the last person to see the student's girlfriend alive. And he experienced a trauma that would cost him everything.

"I kind of found out that they had a toxic relationship, tried to get her help, tried to get her out of it. Couldn't do enough, fast enough. I took it hard, took it like I could've done more to help her. Took all that blame and shame and guilt," Bench said.

He testified in the student's trial, and though he didn't see the shooting itself, Bench says he was close enough to the situation that he suffered PTSD and turned to drugs to help with the pain.

"That's the funny thing about addiction, is the reasons why you start using. Then it turns into an addiction, the lifestyle of dependency. It takes everything away. Lost my home, lost relationships, lost touch with my family," Bench told the Deseret News as he and hundreds of others walked around the state Capitol building Wednesday evening to remember those who have lost their lives to mental illness or addiction.

The attendees gathered for the 11th annual Rally for Recovery, hosted by Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness, meant as a celebration for those who are overcoming their addictions.

Mary Jo McMillen, executive director of Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness, promised Wednesday, "I know they fight for recovery, for their own recovery, for other's recovery, and we're not gonna forget them. We won't forget them."

"This is an illness that so many people face. We have no more stigma left in us. We're gonna love these people, whether they're fighting for their life or their long-term recovery," McMillen said.

Nathan Sorenson's addiction to heroin started at age 16.

"It just kinda took over. I was just chasing that for four years, and because of that, I was homeless, couldn't hold down a job, so I couldn't keep a roof over my head or food in my belly. And then, I also have children, and so I wasn't able to be there for them," said Sorenson, 21.

Like Bench, he is now in a residential treatment program and looking ahead with hope for the future. "And so I'm kind of just beginning my story, really," Sorenson said.

He said he wants people to understand that addiction doesn't only affect addicts but those close to them as well.

"It's extremely sad. I've been through a lot because of it, and I've put a lot of people through a lot because of it.  And now my job is just to do better, but also to make right what I've wronged," Sorenson explained.

Of addiction, Bench said he wants people to understand "just not to give up on people who are struggling with this, and to try to change their perception about the stigma of it all. It's huge," he said.

"But there are some really  brilliant people. They're talented people. And for some reason or another, just for a coping mechanism, they chose to go to drugs." But those who are ready to overcome it, "we just want our lives back," Bench said.

During the rally, advocates, recovering addicts and legislators offered their support for those going through similar difficulties. Many speakers also celebrated the partialMedicaid expansion in Utah that will go into effect in April.

Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, said, "This plan that we've made for Medicaid  this is the moment that we change in Utah from thinking about this and saying, 'Well, do you fit in a category that we think deserves to have coverage or not?  And now we have a plan for everyone to have coverage. It may still not be perfect, but the way we think about it from here on out will be different."
No one wants to live next to a public dumpster. They smell bad, look atrocious and can probably decrease their propertys value. This is why cities have written laws to enforce standards for homes (and front yards). But many of these laws go a step too far.

City ordinances often regulate the looks of ones property, such as banning individuals from keeping trash or old cars and metal scraps in their front yard. Some of the laws are more extreme, regulating the type of foliage that can be grown and how high they can grow.

Over time, these local laws have extended to regulate not only exterior property, but also the type and number of pets one can own, and even the activity that goes on inside the home, such as business activity and short-term room rentals. While these laws are typically passed with good intentions in order to keep people from experiencing harm from a select few problematic residents, they end up restricting the freedom for homeowners to utilize their property as they wish, provided they bother no one.

Sen. Lincoln Fillmore is sponsoring SB107 in order to keep the peace without trampling over individuals property rights  allowing homeowners more freedom and flexibility.

Just because something is a law, doesnt mean that its right. These are the words of Stephen and Karina Palmer of St. George, Utah. The Palmers rented out part of their home through Airbnb to tourists and travelers. For them, it was a good way to supplement their income without having to sacrifice much. The city had never received a complaint about their rental, and had a good experience doing it  but it didnt last long. The Palmers were shocked to receive a cease-and-desist order from the city of St. George, informing them that they were breaking the law by renting out their home, and if they didnt stop, the consequences would be severe.

The Palmers were among over 200 other St. George residents who were punished for violating the short-term rental code within the past five years. Although St.George may penalize its residents more frequently than other cities, other cities usually substantially restrict individuals from renting their homes for short periods of time.

Many of these laws were passed in order to ensure residents wouldnt have to deal with disruptive party houses causing problems for nearby residents. But by implementing blanket bans on activity that isnt inherently harmful or bothersome, local governments have effectively curbed the ability of homeowners to peacefully use their own property as they wish.

Localities already have general nuisance laws in place to address and penalize the possible negative symptoms that could arise from short-term rentals, such as noise, sight or smell. If renters arent harming anyone, than why should they be banned? This same principle follows for most property regulations  from animal restrictions to grass coverage requirements. If harmful actions do arise, neighbors can easily and anonymously report the nuisance violations to city officials who will send law enforcement officers to take care of the problem.

SB107 helps restore this balance to make sure that arbitrary city ordinances get revised promptly to identify actual harms, and focus enforcement only on those negative results. Municipalities would have to prove that the use of an individuals property constitutes an actual negative impact, such as noise. This would stop local code enforcement officers from arbitrarily penalizing individuals for utilizing their property. In effect, this law would raise the standards to ensure an actual problem is occurring before anyone is fined or criminalized.

Cedar City has recently implemented a similar concept with a law in regards to animal ordinances, but with higher standards for penalization. Now, if animals arent being a nuisance to anyone, residents can own as many dogs and cats as they like. However, if the animals do become a noticeable problem, and three violations occur, then code enforcers can criminally punish and force the rules on pet ownership. This strikes a better balance than simply arbitrarily restricting a homeowners activity.

Property rights are a fundamental freedom that we are entitled to under the Utah Constitution. Local governments should respect these rights and only penalize those who have created an actual nuisance problem for their neighbors. If their actions arent harming anyone, lets leave them alone so they can peacefully use their property as they see fit.
SALT LAKE CITY  A Utah Senate committee will take its first look at a so-called hate crimes bill today.

SB103, titled "Victim Targeting Penalty Enhancements," goes before the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee at 8 a.m. The bill provides for an enhanced penalty for a criminal offense if the offender acted against an individual because of the offender's perception of the individual's ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

READ MORE: 'This is not over yet': Utah hate crimes bill clears first legislative hurdle, heads to Senate floor

Other issues expected to be discussed at the Statehouse during the day include:

A bill aimed at forcing the BYU Police Department to follow the same open records rules that all other law enforcement agencies are subject to or risk decertification has been introduced in the Utah Legislature.

READ MORE: Utah lawmaker wants to require BYU police to follow open records rules or risk decertification

The House Business and Labor Committee is scheduled to hear HB267, which would require the Utah Department of Health to design a prescription drug importation program that would allow medication to be sent in from other nations.

READ MORE: Import cheaper Canada drugs to Utah?

The House Education Committee will be looking at modifying rules on school fees proposed in HB273.

READ MORE: Utah lawmakers hold bill intended to prohibit instructional fees in secondary school

The Utah House of Representatives on Thursday voted 45-27 to pass school safety legislation created in the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018. The latest version of HB120, sponsored by Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, is intended to enhance students' physical and emotional safety through initiatives to hire more support personnel and add safety improvement to schools.

READ MORE: School safety bill passes Utah House on vote of 45-27

Lawmakers have also scheduled two sessions of floor time to debate and vote on bills in each chamber.

Here's what happened on Feb. 20, the 23rd day of the 2019 session:
SALT LAKE CITY  Although its sponsor was wary of a fight in the House, the bill that would leverage state transportation dollars to encourage more cities to pave the way for affordable housing has cleared its next legislative hurdle without major changes.

The bill, SB34, won a unanimous endorsement from the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee on Wednesday, but only after a long and lively debate. It now goes to the House floor.

While some voiced opposition to SB34, concerned about it going too far to force cities to include affordable housing in their master plans, most of the misgivings lawmakers and others shared about the bill was that it didn't go far enough.

"You've watered it down so much," House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, told the bill's sponsor, Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi. "Are we really going to achieve what we want to achieve?"

Or, Gibson wondered, will the state simply "reward mediocrity?"

Anderegg's bill  the product of the state's newly created Commission on Housing Affordability  is the Legislature's biggest attempt this year to address what Utah policy experts call a housing "crisis," a growing statewide shortage of more than 54,000 housing units that's causing a supply and demand crunch and fanning home prices.

The bill dangles a "carrot so big it almost feels like a stick," in Anderegg's words, by requiring most cities to fulfill at least three requirements from a list of options to allow moderate-income housing within their communities, from waiving impact fees to allowing mother-in-law apartments.

That carrot? Eligibility for the state transportation dollars  a fund of more than $700 million that the state controls.

Catching word that some in the House wanted to make "crazy changes" to give the bill more teeth, Anderegg on the Senate floor last week agreed to strengthen it slightly by increasing the required threshold in certain circumstances to "take the bullet out of the House's gun."

It appears it worked  at least for now, until the bill makes it to the House floor.

Anderegg admitted to Gibson that even to him the bill didn't go far enough, but in bringing all stakeholders together to find a workable version of the bill, he had to "dance that dance."

"I'm the first to say this is not a silver bullet," Anderegg said. "But it's a good first step."

Business organizations including the Salt Lake Chamber and Utah's largest homebuilder, Ivory Homes, have been heavily pushing the bill to encourage more cities to work with developers to zone for affordable and high-density housing.

"We think it does move the needle and it does move it in the right direction," said Chris Gamvroulas, president of Ivory Development. "You can't take two steps until you've taken one. We would like to see it go a lot further."

While no cities have formerly opposed the bill, some local elected officials and residents are wary about the impact it could have on cities already under pressure of the housing crunch, but faced with neighborhoods fighting tooth-and-nail against high-density developments they fear will crowd their communities.

"Our communities are concerned about quality of life," said Herriman City Councilwoman Sherrie Ohrn, noting she was speaking neither in support or against the bill, but "there is no guarantee" that cities will get the state dollars, even if they fulfill all requirements listed in the bill.

"We might not get a dime," Ohrn said.
SALT LAKE CITY  While coworking spaces have exploded along the Wasatch Front in recent years, rural Utah has been mostly left out of the mix on the new, flexible office space opportunities that are often equated with tech startups and outboard employment known as "remoting."

But a proposal that won the unanimous support of a Utah legislative committee this week and passed onto the House's third reading calendar Wednesday is aiming to kickstart interest in the concept for cities and towns off the I-15 corridor via a new $2 million grant program.

Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, said his HB296 complements other recent state programs aiming to give rural Utah communities, which have lagged well behind the Wasatch Front in economic successes, a "shot in the arm."

"Once we get people trained, and get employers interested with the (Rural Economic Development Initiative) program, then the third portion, of course, is a place for them to get together and work as a team," Albrecht said. "And, that's this bill."

Abby Osborne, vice president of public policy and government relations for the Salt Lake Chamber, told the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee Tuesday that Albrecht's proposal would help address one of the most daunting obstacles for businesses considering rural Utah communities for investment.

"One of the big things we see as an impediment to businesses growing, expanding or relocating to rural Utah is infrastructure," Osborne said. "That actual building space. A lot of times it takes 16 to 24 months (to develop a new workspace) if a company is interested in relocating to rural Utah."

Salt Lake City's Impact Hub was among the first coworking efforts in Utah and has been operating for about 5 1/2 years. The five-story downtown location includes a variety of flexible spaces including private offices, individual and group work areas, shared conference rooms and larger gathering spaces that can accommodate events.

Impact Hub Director Heidi Gress said the effort is connected to a global network of similar hubs and, unlike many other coworking operations, has embraced a committment to positive social impacts and caters to businesses and individuals that are engaged in mission-driven efforts with a social good component. Gress noted coworking spaces up and down the I-15 corridor have proliferated over the past few years with a variety of operators catering to different clientele.

On Tuesday, Kirsten Johanna Allen, publisher and executive director of Torrey House Press, a nonprofit publisher that specializes in "conservation through literature in the West," was working with her team in a cozy corner of the Impact Hub space. Allen said her operation, which publishes eight to 12 titles a year and hosts numerous public events around the state, is mostly based in Salt Lake City, but Torrey is a secondary work hub for the company. She was pleased to hear of the state's consideration of incentivizing coworking space development in rural Utah and views it as a positive effort that would likely find support in the smaller communities.

"Torrey and Teasdale are interesting parts of Wayne County where lots of people are coming to investigate and participate in what I think of as the new economy, not extraction-based but information-based," Allen said. "And there are a lot of people who would like to relocate out of the more expensive Salt Lake City and Wasatch Front areas and be able to make a go of it elsewhere in our state.

"For us, having an accessible and compatible coworking space in Wayne County would allow us to do more workshops and events in the area."

Access to coworking space has helped drive the success of V School, a coding school founded in Provo in 2013 that has been operating in Salt Lake City, at the Impact Hub space, for most of its existence. Mo Reeder, V School co-founder and chief marketing officer, said he and fellow co-founder and V School CEO Michael Zaro found a kindred energy in the purpose-driven mission of Impact Hub.

"We wanted to choose a partner that essentially had the same ideals and same social goals that we did," Reeder said. "And we found that at the Impact Hub."

Besides the copacetic operating ethos, Impact Hub's flexible offerings have accommodated V School's growth from a one-room operation to its current space needs, occupying the entire fifth floor of the building. Reeder said the school draws interest from around the country, and the world, but about half of its students coming from Utah communities. V School has committed to working with displaced peoples, recently completing a remote coding camp for Syrian refugees, and is one of the few coding institutions that have been approved for funding for veteran students via the GI Bill.

Reeder said the school also has a unique partnership with Adobe, via the tech giant's Digital Academy program. The Adobe scholarship program was created to foster diversity in the company's workforce through creating opportunities for nontraditional students to acquire digital workplace skills and potentially connect with Adobe employment opportunities.

Reeder said legislators were making a wise move in recognizing how coworking space could help add to employment and economic opportunities for rural residents.

"I think it's a brilliant idea," Reeder said. "For people like V School graduates, anywhere you have a hotspot you can do the work of a technologist.

"There are a lot of smart people who live in these smaller communities and coworking space could help accelerate their success. Working in close proximity with other people, collaborating on projects creates synergy and opportunities for all involved to grow their businesses."
SANDY  Mayor Kurt Bradburn announced Wednesday his director of public utilities will be on paid leave while an independent investigation probes the inadvertent release of concentrated fluoride into a portion of the city's drinking water system.

Bradburn said the move regarding Tom Ward is best for the city as the "fact gathering process plays out."

Standing at the mayor's side during a brief news conference and without taking any questions, Ward said Wednesday he is confident that safety has been restored to the city's water system.

"To restore public confidence, however, in the water supply I support bringing in an independent investigator to conduct a full analysis of the recent incidents. Due to the distraction of the media, I feel my ability to direct the public utilities department is being hampered, so I will be stepping away while the investigation is being conducted," Ward said.

He voiced his trust in the mayor and city staff to serve Sandy residents in his absence.

Bradburn said Ward will remain on paid administrative leave "until we get a better understanding of what happened."

The decision follows action by the Sandy City Council to pursue the formation of a three-member independent panel to probe what happened and why, as well as how the situation was administratively handled.

Earlier Wednesday, the city announced it had 1,100 results from water tests, with only one test showing poor water quality. That home has already been notified, officials said.

The city is conducting a systemwide check of its 11 fluoride injectors after the release of concentrated chemical into a section of town potentially impacting 2,200 homes, some schools and other facilities.

The Utah Division of Drinking Water issued the city a citation for excess levels of fluoride and is investigating whether it engaged in adequate public notification.

Officials say a snowstorm overnight on Feb. 5-6 led to a power outage, ultimately causing the injector to malfunction. The city has been criticized by residents for how it handled notification. A news release was first issued Feb. 15, with updates on possible elevated levels of lead and copper the next day.

Adding fluoride into drinking water systems occurs in Salt Lake and Davis counties in Utah, with some self-contained water providers that opted out under an exemption.

Some of those areas include Woods Cross in Davis County and Holladay and White City in Salt Lake County.

In 2000, voters approved the introduction of fluoride in Salt Lake County and it was implemented three years later.

Any problems with Sandy's system is not causing Salt Lake County officials to undertake any review, the county said Wednesday.

"Salt Lake County elected officials do not have the legal authority to change the countys fluoridation status; only the voters do," Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said.

As a kid growing up in the '70s, my dental health was much different than children today. Its wonderful to me, as a mom, to hear No cavities! every time my kids leave the dentist, and that good oral health is thanks in part to fluoride in the water of Salt Lake County.

Wilson's comments come even as one Utah lawmaker said earlier this week he is exploring legislation to enact a moratorium on fluoride delivery until community safety is assured.

Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton, said a review might be appropriate given concerns.

A Davis County commissioner did say because of concerns brought to her attention, she is planning site visits to water system distribution locations for fluoride.

"I am happy to go look at all of these," said Davis County Commissioner Lorene Miner Kamalu. "It never hurts to look at things freshly."

Fluoride was introduced in Davis County as a result of a voter initiative as well.

Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said his office is aware of complaints and concerns raised over fluoride in water.

"Our civil division is working with the health department and county commission to address those concerns," he said. "We want to make sure what is happening in Davis County is in compliance with state and federal laws, rules and regulations."
SALT LAKE CITY  The Senate Education Committee has endorsed a bill that would allow teachers to give class credit to students for their efforts on standardized tests.

HB118, sponsored by Rep. Mike Winder, R-West Valley City, "legalizes the carrots while prohibiting the sticks," he said.

The legislation doesn't penalize students who opt out of standardized testing. But for students to take the tests and give their best efforts, the bill allows those "hours of test taking count for something, Winder said during committee discussion Wednesday.

Currently, state law prohibits schools from encouraging participation on the year-end tests. Under HB118, teachers could give extra credit to students who perform well but hold harmless students who elect to opt out or score poorly.

The bill does not prescribe how class credit would be offered but if a student's test results indicate mastery of subject matter, a teacher could offer to drop a classroom exam in which the student performed poorly and give credit for the student's standardized test score instead, Winder said.

The bill, which passed the House on a 58-14 vote, moves to the Senate after a 4-2 committee vote.
SALT LAKE CITY  The Utah House put its collective foot on the gas of moving a proposal forward that would clear the lanes for autonomous vehicles on state highways.

HB101, supported on a unanimous House vote on Wednesday, would allow for operation in Utah of all levels of autonomous vehicles, which are rated from 0, designating a vehicle with no automated assistance whatsoever, to a 5, which is a vehicle that can pilot itself regardless of conditions.

The highest level of automation in vehicles currently available to consumers, like those sold by Tesla, Volvo or Mercedes-Benz, is level 2.

The proposal not only allows for automated vehicle operation but creates a matrix for determining liability in the event of an accident. Sponsor Rep. Robert Spendlove, R-Sandy, said in a committee hearing earlier this month that safety figures largely into the debate.

"Every year, over 30,000 people die in traffic accidents," Spendlove said. "This is the price we pay for driving  and 94 percent of those accidents are caused by human error."

HB101 now moves to the Senate for that body's consideration.
SALT LAKE CITY  A man who allegedly attacked three Hispanic men at Salt Lake tire store because they are from Mexico faces federal hate crime charges, and the city's mayor is calling for tougher state laws to deal with those kinds of offenses.

A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Alan D. Covington, 50, for allegedly hitting and trying to hit the men with a metal pole because he believed they were Mexican.

Covington, who is homeless, walked into Lopez Tires, 1621 S. Main, last November shouting that he wanted to "kill Mexicans" and then struck L.G.L. in the head with a metal pole, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. The indictment alleges that the attack against him included an attempt to kill.

Covington also struck J.L. with a metal pole and swung the pole at A.L. in an attempt to injure him, according to the indictment.

If convicted of the federal crimes, Covington faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

State prosecutors charged Covington with aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and drug possession charges last December. A 3rd District judge ordered him to undergo a psychological evaluation to determine whether he is competent to go to trial. Covington is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail.

Salt Lake police sent the case to the FBI after the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office told investigators it couldn't pursue hate crimes charges against Covington based on current state law.

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said the attack "sowed fear into our community" and the police department "rightfully" reached out to the FBI after finishing its own investigation.

It is time Utah adopt comprehensive hate crime legislation to give law enforcement and investigators the tools they need to prosecute these types of crime," she said.

Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown said his department would continue to work with other law enforcement agencies to "ensure justice is available to everyone in the capital city."

The department has also asked that an alleged hate crime be screened for charges following an incident caught on video involving a man who was allegedly hit by another man Sunday after he stated he was gay.

Utah lawmakers are considering a "victim targeting" law that would enhance penalties for offenders who commit a crime against another person based on a belief or perception about their ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Hate crimes bills have failed or not received hearings in the Legislature the past few years. A hearing on SB103 is scheduled for Thursday in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee.

Veronica Lopez told the Deseret News last December that her brother Luis Gustavo Lopez, 18, and her father Jose Lopez, 51, were at work eating breakfast and getting ready to open their tire store for the day when Covington entered and asked if they were Mexican.

"I  hate Mexicans. Are you in the Mexican mafia? I'm here to kill a Mexican. Im here to kill you guys, Lopez said Covington told the group.

Charging documents in state court say Covington went into the store saying, "I'm going to kill someone" before swinging a "four-sided metal pole."

Luis Lopez was not responsive and was bleeding from his face when emergency crews arrived. He was taken to a local hospital where during a three-hour surgery a metal plate was put in place of his shattered cheekbone, according to his sister. The plate was also used to hold his eyeball in place, Veronica Lopez said.

Jose Lopez received eight stitches and numerous bruises on his back from blocking the blows to his son, she said.

After he was arrested, Covington told Salt Lake police that "the Mexican mafia had been after him since 2008" and he went to the tire store because "all of them know each other," according to the state charges.

Veronica Lopez said in December she was told because of the way Utah laws are written that with two felonies being filed against Covington, a hate crime charge could not be filed.
BRIGHAM CITY  A Tremonton man accused of shooting and killing another man who he claimed had threatened his family has admitted to reduced charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

A trial had been set to begin this week for Brandon Keith Thompson, 31, who originally faced the possibility of the death penalty. He was initially charged with aggravated murder, a potential capital offense, in the shooting death of 33-year-old Michael K. Hogenson.

As part of a bargain with prosecutors, Thompson pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to a lesser charge of murder, a first-degree felony; possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a second-degree felony; and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

About 3:45 a.m. on April 16, Thompson called 911 to report he shot a man in self-defense at 3625 W. 1000 North, court documents say, because the man threatened him and his family. Thompson said he fired warning shots but the man charged him so he fired.

He called in the shooting about two hours later and "took significant steps to hide, destroy and alter evidence," Tremonton police wrote in an affidavit.

The Tremonton Leader has reported it was the first homicide there in 53 years.

In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to seek sentences for each conviction to run concurrently, meaning at the same time. Under the terms of the agreement, Thompson faces at least 15 years and up to life in prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced April 30.
SALT LAKE CITY  Politicians are routinely mocked on social media for offering "thoughts and prayers" instead of policy action in the midst of crisis.

After a mass shooting, for example, many Americans say they want new gun control laws, not kind thoughts. After a natural disaster, they ask politicians to increase federal aid, not tweet their heartfelt concern to those who lost their homes.

Religious leaders are starting to face similar complaints when they fail to address the issues facing their communities, said Zac Davis, an associate editor at the Catholic magazine America who has written on prayer and the Catholic sexual abuse crisis. Some people of faith want better policies, not more prayers.

"I think we've got a sour taste in our mouth with thoughts and prayers," Davis said.

And yet this week's high-profile gatherings of Catholic bishops on sexual abuse and Methodists on LGBTQ rights may end with few accomplishments beyond group prayers. Already, the Vatican has warned people to lower their expectations for the Summit on the Protection of Minors, a first-of-its-kind meeting of leaders of the world's bishops' conferences from Feb. 21-24.

"The pope wants the February summit to be an assembly of pastors, not an academic conference  a meeting characterized by prayer and discernment," America magazine reported last month.

At the United Methodist Church's special session of general conference on sexuality, taking place from Feb. 23-26 in St. Louis, participants have just four days to decide how to avoid a denominational schism over LGBTQ ordination and same-sex marriage. Despite the time crunch, they'll spend a whole day in prayer.

"We need and depend on the power of God to intervene in our human weakness and divisions," wrote Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., president of the United Methodist Church's Council of Bishops, in an email, when asked why prayer was so prominent in the schedule.

Bishop Carter, Pope Francis and others see prayer as a way to unify diverse groups of people and invite God into difficult situations. They hope this week's meetings show prayer is a necessary step toward bringing about meaningful change.

"Prayer isn't supposed to be an empty action," Davis said.

Why pray?

Prayer is central to many of the world's religions, and it comes in many forms. It anchors worship services, begins meals and provides comfort to people in pain.

"Some types of prayer are more about asking for something. Other types are more about bringing people together or setting a stage," said Crystal Park, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Connecticut who has studied prayer as a coping mechanism.

More than half of U.S. adults (55 percent) say they pray at least daily, including 54 percent of mainline Protestants and 59 percent of Catholics, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center report.

In settings like the Methodist meeting on sexuality, prayer prepares people's hearts for tough conversations, said Bishop Karen Oliveto, who leads the United Methodist Church's Mountain Sky Episcopal Area, which includes Utah.

Prayer is a "chance for us to humble ourselves before God before we do some hard work together," she said.

The day of prayer for the United Methodist Church will include an hour of group prayers focused on surrendering to God's purpose, four hours of prayer stations led by church leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia and the United States and a closing gathering focused on seeking God's will.

At the Catholic summit, prayers will be sprinkled throughout each day's mix of presentations and worship services, according to the Holy See Press Office.

In these settings and others, not all prayers are created equal, Bishop Oliveto said. It's more unifying to ask God to be present with conference participants and guide their actions than to ask for people you disagree with to see the error of their ways.

"I might have a desired outcome for general conference, but I pray that I will be surprised by the Holy Spirit and where we're going to wind up," Bishop Oliveto said.

In general, prayers seem to offer more comfort when the people saying them aren't looking for a specific outcome, Park said.

"When someone has expectations of a specific answer, prayers aren't as helpful as they are in situations where people are more open to whatever answer comes their way," she said.

They also aren't as valuable if people are just going through the motions, Davis said.

Prayer "should be a conversation  in my tradition, with Jesus  that should instill in us a desire to change," he said.

Seeking change

Davis became interested in the role prayer plays in responses to clergy sexual abuse because of anger he observed in his community. When U.S. Catholic leaders gathered in Chicago last month for a prayer retreat, some church members complained that it was the wrong use of their time.

"A lot of people were frustrated," he said. "I needed to unpack that (frustration) for myself."

He sensed that anger partly stemmed from the U.S. political climate, where calls for prayer after tragedy have come to feel like an empty gesture.

"'Thoughts and prayers' are routinely trotted out by politicians and pundits in the face of mass shootings and then followed up with little or no action to reduce gun violence," he wrote for America magazine.

But he knew that offering prayers without taking action was not just a modern political problem. Since the earliest days of the faith, Christians have struggled to turn prayers for change into actual change.

Prayer problems "are not limited to politicians or religious leaders," he said. They're part of "our personal, spiritual lives."

That struggle doesn't mean people should stop praying, Bishop Oliveto said. "I think it's essential that we sink into prayer as often as possible, but especially when we are dealing with topics that generate" controversy, she said.

It does mean that Catholics and Methodists will have to pray for courage at their gatherings in addition to comfort, Davis said.
SALT LAKE CITY  Salt Lake police have completed their investigation into an alleged hate crime involving a man who was allegedly hit by another man after he stated he was gay.

Police spokesman Greg Wilking said Wednesday that investigators have submitted their case to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office to be screened for possible charges, and have recommended misdemeanor counts of assault and brandishing a weapon.

But detectives did not make a determination of whether the case met the standard for a hate crime, Wilking said. He said it would be up to the district attorney to decide if any possible charges that are filed should also have a hate crime enhancement added to them.

An investigation was launched after an 8-second video was posted on social media Sunday and quickly went viral locally. The video showed a confrontation on a sidewalk near 341 S. Main between an unidentified man and Sal Trejo, the man recording the incident on his cellphone, about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

It starts with a man asking him, "Are you gay, though?"

"Oh, I am," Sal Trejo replies.

"Oh, then you're gay," the man repeats.

Just moments after saying that, the man is seen on the video throwing a punch at Trejo. The cellphone shakes as others who witnessed the incident can be heard saying, "Are you (expletive) kidding me?"

The unidentified man then "pulled out a knife and pointed it towards us while continuing" to make gay slurs, Trejo said in a statement posted on Facebook.

He said the man then got into a car, possibly a 2007 BMW X5, and sped away, driving on the TRAX lines on Main Street.

Prior to being punched, Trejo said he and his friends were leaving a downtown bar when "an intoxicated man" approached them making "homophobic and misogynistic comments," which ultimately lead to him being hit. Trejo was not seriously injured.

The incident sparked outrage on social media and the short video was extensively shared. Salt Lake police also retweeted the video clip Sunday night with the message, "We are asking anyone with information on this case to call 801-799-3000."

On Monday, after the video had been widely shared, the man contacted police and was said to be "cooperating fully," according to Salt Lake police.

However, Wilking said as of Wednesday investigators had not had a face-to-face conversation with the man. But because of witness statements and cellphone video, including both a longer version of the video Trejo recorded and video from additional witnesses, Wilking said detectives believe they have enough evidence to screen for formal charges.

Details about the man's identity or if he even lives in Utah were not released Wednesday.
SALT LAKE CITY  EnergySolutions is seeking assurances from Utah lawmakers that if it meets disposal requirements and the approval of regulators, it can bury depleted uranium at its Tooele County facility.

That is how Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, explained the genesis of HB220, which received a 23-6 vote on its second reading Wednesday in the Utah Senate.

Sandall said the bill, in its fourth version, does not guarantee acceptance of the waste or site suitability but rather ensures that if the company continues to spend money on a site-specific analysis that its investment will not be in vain.

Critics say not only will the measure, if passed into law, give a potential green light on millions of tons of depleted uranium coming to Utah, it opens the door for acceptance of even "hotter' waste.

Sandall disagreed.

"This does not deal with (class) B or C waste," he said.

The bill was modified to include a provision that if the waste does come to Utah, the U.S. Department of Energy will first have to agree to "perpetual management" of its disposal.

The bill offers greater financial incentive for the state of Utah to accept depleted uranium because it would be taxed at a higher rate, 12 percent compared to 10 percent for most other wastes.

Sandall said the tax could possibly generate $24 million in revenue for the state over a seven-year period.

Senate Minority Assistant Whip Jani Iwamoto, D-Holladay, said she's long had concerns over the transportation of the radioactive waste, adequate disposal safeguards and the protection of employees of EnergySolutions.

But Senate Majority Whip Dan Hemmert, R-Orem, said low-level radioactive waste is "all over the country. It's out there and we, to my knowledge, our not dropping like flies."

Later, in a Senate availability with reporters, leadership rejected the notion the bill was granting any favors to EnergySolutions.

"The bill doesnt authorize anything. It authorizes studies," Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told reporters. "I don't think there's probably a more regulated industry than that industry, and if the studies come out and allow the waste to be stored there, it probably is OK."

The bill needs another vote in the Senate, House approval and the governor's signature before it becomes law.

Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche
SALT LAKE CITY  Yosemite National Park is once again wowing visitors with its ethereal firefall phenomenon.

What is firefall: The "firefall" event occurs in the park when light from the setting sun hits the Horsetail Fall waterfall at just the right angle, creating a lava-like illusion against the rocks, according to CNN.

Here are some photos of the event:

At Yosemite National Park, a visitor captures the natural phenomenon "firefall."



It only happens for a short time in February when the sun hits the cliff at the right angle and makes it look like fire or lava is flowing down. pic.twitter.com/WMhHoPIOer  NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 20, 2019

Yosemite Firefall, California pic.twitter.com/jsduw8o7LC  earth is beautiful (@earth__photos) February 20, 2019

3.5 hours of driving through snow to witness this 10 minute phenomenon. ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT! #firefall pic.twitter.com/gYlJqnXJmY  Jeff Saliba (@jeffsaliba) February 19, 2019

The spectacle attracts thousands of visitors to Yosemite every February, as the effect can only be seen for a short time late in the month.

How to see it: Firefall visibility is dependent upon how much water is flowing from the falls, and the effect can only be viewed with clear skies, according to the Yosemite National Park Service.

Horsetail Fall flows over the eastern edge of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Visitors to the site should be prepared to walk at least a mile from their parking location to the viewpoint, according to Yosemite National Park.

Visitors have until this weekend to get a chance to see the elusive phenomenon in action this year, according to CNN.
LEHI  A former police vice squad lieutenant was arrested Tuesday following a prostitution sting after investigators say he offered to "manage" women.

David Moss, 51, of Lehi, was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of exploiting a prostitute, patronizing a prostitute, two counts of lewdness and sexual battery.

The Utah County Sheriff's Office conducted a "human trafficking operation" in Lehi on Valentine's Day. After posting a message on an undisclosed social media app, Moss  using the name "Pilot"  contacted what ended up being an undercover detective and arranged to pay $150 for "services such as kissing, touching and pleasure that Moss was looking for," according to a police affidavit.

About the same time, police said Moss contacted a second woman, who was also an undercover detective, using the same app.

In addition to being a former cop, Moss was also a religious leader and most recently worked for West Valley City government.

Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confirmed that Moss was a bishop at the time of his arrest but has since been removed from his position.

"The behavior alleged in this incident is completely unacceptable and unbecoming of any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and especially of someone serving in a position of local leadership. Upon learning of this situation, local leaders took immediate steps to relieve him of his role and to identify his replacement," spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a prepared statement.

Also Wednesday, West Valley City confirmed that Moss had resigned on Saturday as deputy director of the Community Preservation Department. He was also the director of the Animal Services Division for a year, from 2016 to 2017.

"David Moss resigned as a West Valley City employee on Saturday, February 16th. We became aware of the official charges yesterday and this is now a personal matter for Mr. Moss," the city said in a brief statement Wednesday.

Sting operation

According to the affidavit, when Moss contacted the second undercover detective he "asked if she was 'escorting.'" The detective replied that she was learning the ropes."

"Moss then stated he was looking for girls to let him be their manager. He stated he has done this sort of thing in the past and he has a system that is 'cutting edge' and avoids people getting caught," according to the report.

Moss told the undercover detectives that there is a difference between a "pimp" and a "manager," the affidavit states.

"When we work together, I book and you entertain. I offer protection, I train you on how to act so we get repeat/regulars and higher paying. I also teach you how to stay out of jail. It's kinda cutting-edge stuff that go against the norm but those that use it like it," Moss said, according to the affidavit.

When Moss met with the two undercover detectives at the designated location, Moss showed them money and said, "I am not opposed to paying," the report states. Undercover officers said they recorded the conversation.

Moss then allegedly asked the women if they knew what a "cop check" is. While explaining it to them, Moss made one of the officers touch his genitals over his clothing, and then exposed himself, according to the police affidavit.

"The female (undercover) detectives immediately became concerned and retreated to the bathroom. One of the decoys stated she locked the door, which is something she had never done in previous undercover operations," the report states.

As Moss left the room, he was met by deputies from the Utah County Sheriff's Special Victims Task Force. Officers said they discovered a handgun in his pocket.

"Moss admitted that he was there for a business deal with the girls," according to the affidavit.

When police interviewed him on Tuesday, he told detectives that he was "teaching" the women, and that "he just wanted to talk with them," the report states. But when detectives pointed out the recorded statements he had previously made, "he admitted to making bad choices."

Law enforcement history

Moss was with St. George police from 1997 to 2012, rising to the rank of lieutenant over the department's vice squad, according to investigators, but was forced to resign from the department due to sexual misconduct allegations.

Investigators at Peace Officer Standards and Training received a complaint in 2012 regarding allegations of sex on duty involving Moss. He relinquished his police certification in 2013, which according to administrators is the equivalent of having his certification revoked, meaning Moss can never reapply to be a police officer in Utah.

"Moss has also served as a leader of a local religious congregation. This also placed Moss in a unique position of trust that allowed him access to vulnerable individuals that could be exploited. Moss denied that he had 'run' any other girls," the affidavit states.

But due to his concerning statements, deputies are asking anyone who may have had involvement of this nature with Moss to contact investigators at 801-851-4010.

According to his LinkedIn page, Moss worked as a counselor in the state Division of Juvenile Justice from 2013 to 2015, where the profile says he worked as a counselor for youth entering the juvenile justice system. The page also said he was program manager/project director with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health from 2015 to 2016. He also worked for a year as an adjunct professor at Provo College, the page states.

The Utah Department of Human Services on Wednesday confirmed Moss had been employed there but offered no additional comment.

The most recent job title listed on Moss' LinkedIn profile was "Looking for opportunities."

Additional arrest

The sheriff's office announced Wednesday that a second man was also arrested as part of the sting.

Richard Michael Martin, 29, of Riverton, was arrested after he solicited an undercover officer  whom he believed was a mother  to have sex with her preteen daughters, according to a statement from the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

When detectives made contact with Martin, they found he had "extremely graphic child pornography involving very young children and infants," according to the sheriff's office.

He was arrested for investigation of nine counts of enticing a minor. Investigators say they will seek possible federal charges against Martin, who was allegedly arrested for similar crimes in Kentucky in 2009.
SALT LAKE CITY  More than half of American adults, 53 percent, say they experienced hate speech and harassment online in 2018, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that fights anti-Semitism and other forms of hate.

The results seem to indicate an increasingly hateful internet landscape when compared to a Pew Research Center study that showed around 41 percent of Americans had experienced online harassment in 2017. Before that, Pew last conducted a survey on the subject in 2014. At that time, 35 percent of adults had experienced harassment.

But it's unclear whether people are becoming more sensitive to online harassment and getting better at identifying it, or if the internet trolls are just getting meaner. Adam Neufeld, vice president of innovation and strategy for the Anti-Defamation League, hasn't seen evidence either way.

"What we do know is that more people are experiencing online hate now. Whether that means more toxic people are sharing their toxic views online, or people are generally becoming more toxic is hard to say," said Neufeld.

To bring some serenity to the harsh digital world, Facebook and Instagram are using machine learning to detect harassment, Twitter has new tools to protect users from unwanted attacks, such as a mute button, and YouTube is cracking down on videos that promote misinformation and extremism.

But the Anti-Defamation League data suggests these tech companies haven't solved the problem yet. And the stakes are high.

Its deeply disturbing to see how prevalent online hate is, and how it affects so many Americans, Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan A. Greenblatt told TechCrunch. Cyberhate ... can have grave effects on the quality of everyday lives  both online and offline."

Last year, when Taylor Dumpson became the first female African-American student body president at American University in Washington, D.C., she was subjected to racist backlash online, CNN reported. The harassment left her "fearing for her safety," according to a lawsuit settled in December.

Anonymity is a bit of a boogieman.  Libby Hemphill, associate professor of information at the University of Michigan

The Anti-Defamation League survey measured various forms of harassment including name-calling, purposeful embarrassment, physical threats, sexual harassment and stalking. It did not capture harassment between minors, often referred to as cyberbullying.

Libby Hemphill, associate professor of information at the University of Michigan, told NewScientist that online harassment can be difficult to define and not all forms are equal, but experts agree anonymity plays a crucial role.

The large majority of internet users say being able to post anonymously online enables people to be more cruel than they would be otherwise, according to data from the 2017 Pew Survey.

Anonymity is a bit of a boogieman, Hemphill told NewScientist.

Online hate and real-world violence

Not only can online harassment cause psychological harm, but recent events have shown that hate speech online can translate into physical violence, according to an online summary of the survey results. Examples include the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue last year, who regularly posted anti-Semitic comments online, and the man who allegedly mailed explosive devices to critics of President Donald Trump after a pattern of tweeting aggressive comments at public figures.

A majority of survey respondents said online hate and harassment are linked to an increase in hate crimes, which rose 17 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to FBI data.

The most common reason people were targeted online was gender, with women reporting more harassment than men. The next most common reason was race or ethnicity, followed by sexual orientation, religion, occupation and finally disability.

"LGBTQ+ individuals, Muslims, Hispanics and African-Americans face especially high rates of identity-based discrimination," the survey summary reads.

Thirty-seven percent of individuals who took the survey reported severe attacks, including sexual harassment, physical threats and stalking. And 15 percent of those who were the targets of harassment took steps to reduce risk to their physical safety, such as moving locations, changing their commute, taking a self-defense class, avoiding being alone or avoiding certain locations.

The survey was based on a nationally representative survey of Americans conducted during December 2018, and administered by YouGov, a public opinion and data analytics firm.

How to deal with online harassment

While well-meaning people may encourage harassment victims to simply avoid using certain media platforms, Kathryn Stamoulis, educational psychologist and adjunct professor at Hunter College, told Vice that logging off is only a temporary solution.

"You shouldnt have to disengage from getting information, promoting yourself, sharing your thoughts, socializing, and all the other benefits of the internet because you have the unfortunate luck of being targeted," Stamoulis told Vice. "If the harassment starts to impair your daily functioning (feeling distress, difficulty eating or sleeping), reach out to a mental-health professional for support."

We can't depend on social media companies or the police to take care of us.  Emily May, co-founder and executive director of Heartmob

Carla Franklin, a management consultant, cyberabuse survivor and advocate for victims, told Vice she advises victims of online harassment to avoid getting into an argument with the attacker.

"Do not give your harasser or bully the satisfaction. All too often, responding or engaging starts a downward spiral that often makes matters worse and muddies the waters for the victim when they do finally seek assistance from the legal system," she said.

An overwhelming majority of survey participants said they want lawmakers and technology companies to take more aggressive steps to keep internet users safe, regardless of whether those individuals had personally experienced harassment. But Emily May, co-founder and executive director of Heartmob_,_ a platform that provides real-time support to individuals experiencing online harassment, told Vice that the solution to online harassment is a vigilant public.

"The responsibility to stop harassment lies with each one of us, and bystanders have a key role to play when we witness harassment that is often overlooked. We can't depend on social media companies or the police to take care of us," said May. "We have to depend on one another and work together to change the culture that makes online harassment acceptable."
This article is part of our Basic Banking series , designed to provide new savers with the key skills to save smarter.

When you apply for a new savings or checking account, its common for the financial institution to check your history with a consumer reporting agency, such as ChexSystems. If the bank finds any negative reports, such as accounts that were closed due to unpaid balances or fees, or accounts with fraudulent activity, they may deny your application.

Inaccurate reports can be disputed. However, if the information is correct, you may have trouble opening a standard checking or savings account. This is where second chance banking can help. These second chance bank accounts can be used while you rebuild your credit.

In this article we will cover:

What is second chance banking?

Not having a bank account can be costly. For example, every time you need to cash a check at a check cashing store, youll be subject to a fee. Or, youll need to pay a monthly fee just to have a prepaid debit card. Second chance banking is an excellent alternative to having no bank account at all and without those extra fees.

Second chance banking is for individuals who have a less-than-perfect banking history who would benefit from a second chance at rebuilding their reports. Accounts are designed to help users get their finances where they should be so that they can develop a pattern of good money management.

Before deciding if second chance banking is right for you, its helpful to examine the pros and cons.

Pros

Can typically upgrade to a traditional account after a year of positive activity

Can set up alerts to notify you when funds are getting low

Accounts can be easily monitored online or on a mobile device

After 5 years of proper account management, your ChexSystems report will be clean

Cons

Will have to pay a monthly service fee in most cases

Some companies charge extra fees, such as account and debit card setup fees

Several financial institutions dont allow checks and debit cards with this type of account

Many banks wont issue a second chance bank account if fraudulent activity caused by you was the reason for the negative report

How to open a second chance bank account

To open a second chance bank account, youll first want to compare the different account options. Try to find offers with low minimum deposit requirements, such as Wells Fargos $25 initial deposit versus Unity One Credit Unions $50 minimum.

Next, compare the monthly maintenance fee before checking for any additional fees, like setup, ATM withdrawal and insufficient funds fees. Finally, determine whether you can meet your financial needs with an electronic-only account, or if an account with checks and a debit card would be more ideal.

When it comes to filling out the application, there are a few things youll need to provide. Most financial institutions require a copy of a current and valid government-issued photo ID that lists your address. If the ID address doesnt match your present address, youll also need to submit a pay stub or utility bill for further verification. Review the application to ensure the information is correct before signing and dating it. Hand in the application along with the required minimum deposit and await a decision.

Second chance checking and savings accounts

Here are a few second chance bank accounts worth considering if youre ready to open a new savings or checking account.

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Wells Fargo Opportunity Checking

Wells Fargo Opportunity Checking offers low account balances with a small $25 initial deposit requirement. While the bank charges a $10 monthly service fee, it waives that fee if customers use their debit card at least 10 times, make deposits of $500 or more or hold a $1,500 minimum account balance throughout the month. Additional fees associated with this account include a $35 overdraft fee, $15 to $30 wire transfer fees and $2.50 to $5.00 non-Wells Fargo ATM charges.

Opportunity Checking customers are provided with an online account with mobile access and the ability to keep track of their spending through My Spending Report with Budget Watch. Checks and a debit card are included, and theres the chance to sign up for an Opportunity Savings account and Overdraft Protection.

Corporate America Family Credit Union Fresh Start Checking

Although Corporate America Family Credit Union has a Fresh Start Checking account for individuals who need to rebuild their checking history, they have three requirements for this account. Applicants must be members of Corporate America Family Credit Union, have at least $100 in their Regular Share Account and be willing to pay a $10 monthly service fee.

As an added bonus, the financial institution provides a complimentary online study course called Get In Balance to aid customers in using their checking accounts successfully.

Peoples Cash Solutions Second Chance Checking

As long as you dont have any reported cases of fraud by another financial institution, you can apply for a Peoples Cash Solutions Second Chance Checking account. This FDIC-insured bank charges a $4.95 monthly maintenance fee and requires a $30 initial deposit, but the account comes with both checks and a debit MasterCard.

Theres a $2 charge each time you use an ATM not owned by Peoples Cash Solutions and a $27.50 fee for each overdraft. Electronic statements are free, but paper statements cost $3.95.

Once approved, customers are sent a welcome packet within seven to 14 business days that contains a checkbook, a debit Mastercard and information on how to access online banking.

BBVA Compass Easy Checking

Customers who dont qualify for Free Checking with BBVA Compass can apply for Easy Checking, which has a $25 initial deposit requirement. This account comes with complimentary online and mobile banking, and alerts that let you know when your account balance is getting low.

Users can offset the $13.95 monthly maintenance fee by using their free debit card with cashback rewards. Account holders have unlimited check-writing privileges and the opportunity to opt for electronic statements to avoid the $3 paper statement fee. Theres also a $25 fee for early account closures, a $38 insufficient funds fee and a $3 out-of-network ATM fee.

After 12 months of an active account with a positive balance, Easy Checking customers are eligible to request an account upgrade.

Woodforest National Bank Second Chance Checking

Woodforest National Bank has a Second Chance Checking program for customers who have faced challenges in the past. The company has branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Applicants will need to provide a $25 minimum deposit and a $9 one-time setup fee. While account holders will be able to use checks and a debit card, it is important to note that this account comes with a host of fees. These include monthly maintenance fees between $9.95 and $11.95, a non-Woodforest ATM fee of $2.50, a debit card setup fee of $15, an insufficient funds fee of $29 and a paper statement fee of $3 (unless you opt for e-statements instead).

Unity One Credit Union Clean Start Checking

Unity One Credit Union welcomes applicants for its Clean Start Checking who dont have a record of fraud, more than two account closures, $1,500 balances still owed or losses theyve caused Unity One Credit Union to incur.

While there are no account minimums, customers will need to provide a $50 opening deposit. Monthly service fees range from $10 to $15, depending on whether you utilize direct deposit. Paper statements and Online Bill Pay are complimentary, as are the alerts and notices you can opt in for to help you better manage your account.

After 12 months of responsible checking account practices, one can apply for the companys Free Checking.

Western Region Federal Credit Union Electronic Only Checking

Western Region Federal Credit Union has an Electronic Only Checking account for its members.The good news is there are no charges to open or maintain this account. The bad news is you dont get checks or a debit card. The account is strictly electronic only.

Customers can utilize direct deposit for their paychecks or benefit payments and bill pay to stay up to date on household expenses. Direct withdrawal is also an option if you need quick access to the funds in your account.

Montgomery Bank New Start Checking

If you live in Missouri, youll want to take a look at the Montgomery Bank New Start Checking account. The account is designed for individuals who have been turned down for checking from other banks and only requires a $20 minimum opening deposit. Customers are never charged a monthly maintenance fee, dont have any account minimums to worry about and have access to free online banking.

The account comes with unlimited check writing and free ATM transactions when using your debit card at any MoneyPass ATM. Online bill pay is also included.

Foothill Credit Union members who work in San Gabriel Valley, Calif., can apply for the companys Rebound Checking account. The account requires members to keep a minimum balance of $50 or a $10 fee will be charged. This is on top of the $6 monthly maintenance fee.

On a positive note, Mastercard debit cards are issued for free and checks can be purchased at a cost. Theres never a fee for monthly e-statements or for using the online bill pay feature.

Chime Bank

Chime Bank is different in that it doesnt have a specific second chance bank account. Instead, it doesnt bother with credit or ChexSystem checks, making it easier for applicants of all types to qualify.

With each spending account, users are issued a free Visa debit card that can be set up to issue transaction alerts and daily balance reminders. Banking is done using the Chime Banks mobile app.

There are absolutely no fees associated with the account, which means all of your money is available for important things like paying bills. You dont even need an opening deposit or adhere to a minimum account balance. If you choose to set up direct deposit, you can get your paycheck up to two days early. Theres also the option to get a free savings account as well.

The bottom line on second chance banking

Second chance banking gives individuals a way to rebuild their banking history so that they can eventually switch to a traditional account in the future. Since financial institutions vary greatly in their deposit requirements and fees, it is important to do your homework before choosing the account that best fits your needs.
A DUI checkpoint, one facet of the effort to get drunk drivers off the roads.
Editor of Town Talk, News & Press of Delaware County

Call me wife, mom, daughter, granny, writer, neighbor, sister, aunt, editor, Godmother, niece, friend, acquaintance, co-worker, cousin, news junkie, diva, funmeister... call me them all, just call, text or e-mail me-- especially when there's "a scoop!"
A.J. Sill, a one-year-old child from Boothwyn, tries his hand at strumming a guitar. The instructor is Andrew Behringer, a professional musician and member of the band "The Friends With Benefits." He is conducting free music classes for preschoolers every Monday and Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at Upper Chichester Library, 3374 Chichester Ave., #19, Upper Chichester. To obtain more information regarding class dates and register, call the library at 610-485-0200 or visit www.upperchichesterlibrary.org/.
Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1301 K St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle.singletary@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/MichelleSingletary). Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.
A week after the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India on Thursday said it has already moved to stop its own share of water of cross-border rivers from flowing into Pakistan.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Water Resources, said the government has decided to stop water from the three eastern rivers  allotted to India by the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT)  from flowing into Pakistan. He said the water of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers will be diverted and supplied to the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

India at present uses about 94%-95% of water of the eastern rivers, but the remaining 5%-6% unused water flows down to Pakistan. The government has been trying to speed up irrigation and hydroelectric projects on the three rivers to make it sure that India uses its share of water fully, without allowing it to flow into Pakistan.

Gadkari reiterated the decision of the government just days after India decided to strip Pakistan of the status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to do business with. In yet another response to the February 14 attack on CRPF at Pulwama, New Delhi had earlier decided to raise customs duty to 200% on all imports from Pakistan.

The government had also threatened to stop the flow of water from India to Pakistan after a gang of terrorists carried out an attack on a brigade headquarters of the Indian Army at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18, 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked all the relevant departments of the Union government to speed up works on all the proposed hydroelectric and irrigation projects on the three rivers to stop water allocated to India from flowing into Pakistan.

Gadlkari reiterated the decision of the government on Thursday amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan over the recent killing of 49 CRPF personnel at Pulwama.

Under the leadership of Honble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, tweeted the water resource minister.

Neeta Prasad, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Water Resources, however, clarified that the Union governments decision to stop Indias share of water from flowing into Pakistan was not new. She said Gadkari on Thursday reiterated what he had always said.

The Indus Water Treaty, which was signed on September 9, 1960, granted the control over the three eastern rivers of Indus River System  Beas, Ravi and Sutlej  with an average annual flow of 33 Million Acre Feet (MAF) to India, while the control over the three western rivers  Indus, Chenab and Jhelum  with an average annual flow of 136 MAF was given to Pakistan.

The treaty allowed India to construct run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects on western rivers and build storage capacity of 3.6 MAF water  1.25 for general storage, 1.6 MAF for generation of hydroelectricity and 0.75 MAF for flood control. India, however, has not yet built any storage on the western rivers so far. At present, it irrigates only 0.792 million acres of land, although the IWT allowed it do so over an area of 1.34 million acres with water from western rivers.

Though India has absolute right to use the water of the three eastern rivers, it has not yet built the infrastructure to fully utilise its entitlement. About 2 MAF of water from the eastern rivers are currently flowing from India to Pakistan.

Gadkari on Thursday said the construction work for Shahpurkandi Dam Project in Punjab on the river Ravi has already started. The government had on December 6 approved the construction of the project, granting a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for its irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23. The project will irrigate 5,000 hectares of land in Punjab and 32,173 hectares of land in Jammu and Kashmir.

Besides, the Central Water Commission on December 28 submitted a new Rs 4,750-crore Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the long-pending project of building a multi-purpose dam on Ujh, a tributary of the river Ravi. The project will generate 196 MW power and provide irrigation facility to 31,380 hectares of land. The Ujh project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from the second Ravi-Beas link to provide water to other basin states, the Union water resources minister tweeted.

Gadkari also posted that all the projects he mentioned had been given the status of national projects.

After the September 2016 terror attack in Uri, New Delhi had also decided not to attend the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission, which was set up by India and Pakistan in accordance with the IWT to discuss issues related to sharing of water of cross-border rivers. India, however, reversed its decision by May 2017, when its representative attended the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission.
Indian Army has initiated talks to buy around 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Cyient Solutions for the purpose of gathering intelligence inputs.

I can disclose is there is an ongoing discussion right now if they (Indian Army) need 200 systems. These systems will not be at one place and will be split all over the country and all the information gets pooled, Sanjay Sharma, Vice President and Business Head for Cyient Solutions and Services told DH.

The army is the process to buy SpyLite Mini UAV from the company. The drone, used for the intelligence gathering, has a take-off weight of 9.5 kilograms, with four hours of endurance and 80 kilometres of extended control range. It is a fully autonomous drone  from launch to the parachute recovery.

Though Sharma didnt disclose the size of the contract in the value term, he said that the company has filed a Request For Proposal (RFP).

Cyient Solutions and Systems (CSS) is a joint venture between Cyient Limited and BlueBird Aero Systems, Israel.

The company also launched its latest offering, the WanderB Vertical Take-Off & Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial System at the Aeroshow 2019. The WanderB VTOL is a technologically advanced solution for military, peacekeeping, low-intensity conflict resolution, law enforcement, disaster management, and commercial applications. The system is being showcased at Cyients booth at Aero India 2019 from February 2024.
Dhaka: A British teen who joined the Islamic State group has no claim to Bangladeshi nationality, Dhakas foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after the UK government decided to revoke her citizenship.

Shamima Begum, who travelled to Syria in 2015 and now wants to return to Britain after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last week, was stripped of her UK citizenship on Tuesday.

The Home Office reportedly believed that Begum was entitled to claim citizenship in Bangladesh - a claim disputed by the South Asian country.

Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh, the foreign ministry said.

She never visited Bangladesh despite her parental lineage, it added.
London: Cracks in Britains political party system yawned wider on Wednesday, as three pro-European lawmakers quit the governing Conservatives to join a newly formed centrist group of independents who are opposed to governments plan for Britains departure from the European Union.

Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston said they will join eight ex-Opposition Labour Party lawmakers in the new alliance dubbed the Independent Group.

The defections represent a small fraction of the 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons, but mark the biggest shake-up in years for Britains political parties.

In a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, the trio accused the Conservative Party of abandoning the political centre ground, and said the final straw for us has been this governments disastrous handling of Brexit.

With Britains departure from the EU due on March 29 and no deal on divorce terms yet agreed upon by British lawmakers, the three former Conser-vatives accused their own government of recklessly marching the country to the cliff edge of no deal.

May said she was saddened by the decision, but said the government was doing the right thing for our country by implementing voters decision to leave the EU.

The three join eight Labour rebels who quit the main opposition party this week over its direction under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn. They accuse him of mounting a weak opposition to May's plans for leaving the EU and of failing to stamp out anti-Semitism in the party.

Joan Ryan, one of the ex-Labour legislators, said the party had become infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism under Corbyn, a longtime supporter of Palestinians.

There were signs that voters 2016 decision to leave the EU could spark a major overhaul of British politics, because Brexit has split both the Conse-rvatives and Labour down the middle into feuding pro-Brexit and pro-EU wings. The breakaway lawmakers hope to gain members from among disgruntled pro-Europeans in both the Labour and Conservative parties, with a view to forging a new force in the centre of British politics. Both our parties are broken. We are going to #ChangePolitics for the better, it tweeted on Wednesday.
A study, published in the journal Antiquity, pinpoints the exact locations of two of these quarries, and reveals when and how the stones were quarried.

London: The smaller bluestones used to build the Stonehenge were quarried 5,000 years ago and transported over land from almost 290 km away, according to scientists who have pinpointed the exact sources of the stones.

Geologists have long known that 42 of Stone-henges smaller stones, known as bluestones, came from the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, west Wales.

A study, published in the journal Antiquity, pinpoints the exact locations of two of these quarries, and reveals when and how the stones were quarried.

Whats really exciting about these discoveries is that they take us a step closer to unlocking Stonehenges greatest mystery  why its stones came from so far away, said Mike Parker Pearson, a professor at University College London in the UK.

Every other Neolithic monument in Europe was built of megaliths brought from no more than 16 km away, Parker Pearson said.

Were now looking to find out just what was so special about the Preseli hills 5,000 years ago, and whether there were any important stone circles here, built before the bluestones were moved to Stonehenge, Parker Pearson said.

The largest quarry was found almost 290 km away from Stonehenge on the outcrop of Carn Goedog, on the north slope of the Preseli hills.

This was the dominant source of Stonehenges spotted dolerite, so-called because it has white spots in the igneous blue rock. At least five of Stonehenges bluestones, and probably more, came from Carn Goedog, said Richard Bevins, a geologist at National Museum of Wales. In the valley below Carn Goedog, another outcrop at Craig Rhos-y-felin was identified by researchers as the source of one of the types of rhyolite  another type of igneous rock  found at Stonehenge.
Putin fleshed out his warning in detail for the first time, saying Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines which could lurk outside U.S. territorial waters if Washington now moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe. (Photo: File)

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if the United States is foolish enough to want one and that his country currently has the edge when it comes to a first nuclear strike.

The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted in 1962 when Moscow responded to a US missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

More than five decades on, tensions are rising again over Russian fears that the United States might deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe as a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty unravels.

Putin's comments, made to Russian media late on Wednesday, follow his warning that Moscow will match any US move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the United States or by deploying faster missiles or both.

Putin fleshed out his warning in detail for the first time, saying Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines which could lurk outside US territorial waters if Washington now moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

"(We're talking about) naval delivery vehicles: submarines or surface ships. And we can put them, given the speed and range (of our missiles)... in neutral waters. Plus they are not stationary, they move and they will have to find them," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.

"You work it out. Mach nine (the speed of the missiles) and over 1,000 km (their range)."

Treaty violations

The US State Department dismissed Putin's earlier warning as propaganda, saying it was designed to divert attention from what Washington alleges is Moscow's violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The pact, which banned Russia and the United States from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe, is in its death throes, raising the prospect of a new arms race between Washington and Moscow.

Putin has said he does not want an arms race with the United States, but that he would have no choice but to act if Washington deployed new missiles in Europe, some of which he says would be able to strike Moscow within 10-12 minutes.

Putin said his naval response to such a move would mean Russia could strike the United States faster than US missiles deployed in Europe could hit Moscow because the flight time would be shorter.

"It (the calculation) would not be in their favor, at least as things stand today. That's for sure," said Putin.

Relations between Moscow and Washington were strained, he added, but the tensions were not comparable to those of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"They (the tensions) are not a reason to ratchet up a confrontation to the levels of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. In any case, that's not what we want," said Putin. "If someone wants that, well OK they are welcome. I have set out today what that would mean. Let them count (the missile flight times)."
Barber Le Tuan Duong has been overrun with customers since word got out about his free dos, a gesture he's offering out of sheer excitement for the February 27-28 meeting in Hanoi. (Photo: AP)

Hanoi: Shorn on the sides, thick on top for the Kim Jong Un look; bright and blonde for the Donald Trump-loving customers: a creative Hanoi barber is offering free cuts ahead of the leaders' meeting in the Vietnamese capital next week.

Barber Le Tuan Duong has been overrun with customers since word got out about his free dos, a gesture he's offering out of sheer excitement for the February 27-28 meeting in Hanoi.

But one style has come out on top.

"Over the past three days, I have made 200 Kim style haircuts, but only five for Trump," he told AFP in his cramped Tuan Duong beauty academy in Hanoi.

He would normally charge a whopping USD 43 for the Trump dye-job, a steep fee in a city where most haircuts cost a few dollars.

No matter that Trump's infamous coif has come under fire, some Hanoians are delighted with the do.

"I want the Vietnamese to know more about Trump, through my hairstyle. For me, Trump is an excellent man and that's why I want this hairstyle," a freshly dyed Vuong Bao Nam said.

The barber is not the only artist in Hanoi paying tribute to the leaders.

Painter Tran Lam Binh has been busy churning out technicolour peace portraits of the men, including one emblazoned with red hearts and the word "L-O-V-E".

His colour palette may not be true to life, but Trump's blonde locks and Kim's full cheeks in the 10 or so paintings he has created so far are unmistakable.

"I really want the two leaders, or just one of them, to come and see my works here... I dream of giving one of the portraits to them," Binh told AFP from a Hanoi cafe where he has been working on the series.

The self-proclaimed Trump obsessive started painting the American president after the election, and has about 50 portraits of him in his studio -- some that he displayed in the US capital outside the White House in 2016.

"When I paint him, I feel like I understand his inner feelings through his eyes, his face," the 36-year-old artist said, standing next to several easels displaying his technicolour works.

He has even sculpted a nearly two-metre (six-foot) statue of the brash US leader, and while Binh's admiration for the reclusive Kim who has overseen North Korea's nuclear ambitions has been slower to emerge, he has grown fond of him.

"I like his humour and his exhibitionist nature," he said.

The meeting between Trump and Kim is aimed at building on their summit in Singapore in June, the first ever face-to-face between sitting leaders from the US and North Korea, which have never formally ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
Hoda Muthana said she was brainwashed by social media messages and headed to Syria in 2014. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is barring a US-born former ISIS propagandist from returning home, making the highly unusual case that she is not a US citizen.

Trump's refusal to admit 24-year-old Hoda Muthana comes just as he is pressing Europeans to repatriate their own ISIS fighters and will likely face legal challenges, with US citizenship extremely difficult to lose.

Trump said on Twitter he has "instructed" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country" -- a break with usual US protocol not to comment on individuals' immigration issues.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Pompeo said in a terse statement.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," he added.

The US generally grants citizenship to everyone born on its soil and the Alabama-raised Muthana is believed to have traveled to Syria on a US passport.

But a US official said a later investigation showed that she had not been entitled to her passport, adding: "Ms. Muthana's citizenship has not been revoked because she was never a citizen."

Officials declined further comment but in a loophole that could boost the government case, Muthana's father had been a diplomat from Yemen -- and children of diplomats are not automatically given citizenship.

Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shilby, showed a birth certificate that demonstrated she was born in New Jersey in 1994 and said her father had ceased being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.

"She is a US citizen. She had a valid passport. She may have broken the law and, if she has, she's willing to pay the price," Shilby told AFP at his office in Tampa.

He said Muthana wanted due process and was willing to go to prison if convicted.

"We cannot get to a point where we simply strip citizenship from those who break the law. That's not what America is about. We have one of the greatest legal systems in the world, and we have to abide by it."

US-Born And Radicalized

Just this weekend, Trump took to Twitter to chastise European allies that have not taken back hundreds of ISIS prisoners caught in Syria, where Trump plans to withdraw US troops.

Comparatively few Americans have embraced radical Islam, with the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University identifying 64 who went to join the ISIS group in Syria or Iraq.

Muthana, raised in a strict household in Hoover, Alabama, said she was brainwashed by social media messages and headed to Syria without her parents' knowledge in 2014.

Shortly afterward, Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of herself and three other women who appeared to torch their Western passports, including an American one.

She went on to post vivid calls on social media to kill Americans, glorifying the ruthless extremist group notorious for its beheadings that for a time ruled vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

But with the ISIS group down to its last stretch of land, Muthana said she has renounced extremism and wants to return home with her toddler son, born to one of her three jihadist husbands.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly," she said in a handwritten note to her lawyer.

Tough To Lose US Citizenship

The US decision on Muthana comes amid rising debate in Europe on the nationality of extremists. Britain recently revoked the citizenship of Shamina Begum, who similarly traveled to Syria and wants to return to her country of birth.

Britain asserted that she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship due to her heritage, but the Dhaka government on Wednesday denied that she was eligible, leading her to become effectively stateless.

US citizenship is significantly more difficult to lose. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War as slavery was abolished, establishes that anyone born in the country is a citizen with full rights.

The US Supreme Court in the landmark 1967 Afroyim decision rejected the government's attempt to revoke the nationality of a Polish-born naturalized American after he voted in Israel.

And last year a federal judge rejected a bid to strip the nationality of a Pakistani-born naturalized American who was convicted in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.

But Trump has campaigned on a hard line over immigration and raised the prospect of ending birthright citizenship ahead of last year's congressional elections.

In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes that killed two Americans in Yemen -- prominent Al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son -- but did not believe it was possible to revoke citizenship.
This undated photo provided by the Newport Beach Police Department shows Linda O'Keefe. James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973.(Photo: AP)

California: Investigators searched for decades for the killer of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared while walking home from summer school in a case that gripped a California seaside community.

A photo of a smiling Linda OKeefe has hung for years on the wall of the police department in Newport Beach, reminding investigators to keep pressing forward on cold cases like hers.

More than four decades later, authorities in Southern California said Wednesday that a Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973. The announcement came the same day authorities said they charged a man with killing an 11-year-old boy near Los Angeles in 1990.

In Lindas case, authorities said they got a hit last month from a genealogical database that matched a DNA sample taken when her body was found strangled in a ditch a day after she went missing. Increasingly, investigators have found a powerful tool in databases made up of DNA samples submitted by people seeking to learn about their ancestry.

The detectives dogged this case, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters, declining to say whether the suspect or his relatives submitted DNA for genealogical purposes. We have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving.

James Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday and charged with murder with special circumstances, Spitzer said.

He seemed like a good guy, Neals landlord, Michael Thulson, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. I had no indication he was capable of anything even 10 steps less than this, which just shows you what you dont know.

Neals son-in-law told the newspaper that the family was not ready to comment. It was not immediately clear if Neal had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and the voicemail was full on a number listed for him.

Neal was due to appear in court in Colorado on Thursday.

In Los Angeles County, authorities said Edward Donell Thomas, 50, has been charged in connection with kidnapping and killing William Tillett. The boy disappeared in 1990 while walking home from school in Inglewood, and his body was found in a dark carport later that day. The coroner determined he had been suffocated.

A combination of old evidence and advanced technology led to Thomas, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta told reporters without releasing details.

Fronterotta said investigators dont believe Thomas acted alone. He and the boys brother urged anyone with information to come forward.

I just want to keep the momentum going so the family can have closure, Hubert Tillett said.

The police chief was on the force at the time and said the case left an indelible mark in my mind, in my heart.

Thomas was being held without bail, and it wasnt known if he had an attorney. His arraignment is scheduled for April 4.

In Newport Beach, OKeefe was walking home from summer school in July 1973 when she vanished. She was last seen talking to a stranger in a van and never made it home, police Chief Jon Lewis said.

Her family and friends searched for her and called police. The next morning, her body was found.

Authorities said they never gave up the search for her killer, even after decades passed and her parents had died. The suspects DNA profile was uploaded to a criminal database in 2001 but there were no hits for years, authorities said.

They got a hit this year on a genealogical database, leading investigators to obtain a DNA sample from Neal, and it matched, Spitzer said.

Neal lived in Southern California at the time of OKeefes killing and moved to Florida soon afterward, where he changed his name, Spitzer said. The prosecutor declined to say whether Neal has a criminal record.

OKeefes two living sisters have been told about the arrest, authorities said. Over the years, hundreds of people have worked on the case, the police chief said.

One of them was now-retired Newport Beach police Officer Stan Bressler, who said OKeefes death stunned the community and was never forgotten.

Every once in a while, you just think, Gee, I wonder if well ever find him, he said.
Faced with diminishing returns from ransomware and crypto jacking, cybercriminals are doubling down on alternative methods, such as formjacking, to make money according to a preview of Symantecs Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Volume 24.

Symantec's ISTR provides an overview of the threat landscape, including insights into global threat activity, cyber criminal trends, and motivations for attackers. The report analyses data from Symantecs Global Intelligence Network, the largest civilian threat intelligence network in the world, which records events from 123 million attack sensors worldwide, blocks 142 million threats daily and monitors threat activities in more than 157 countries. Key highlights from this years report include:

Formjacking is the New Get Rich Quick Scheme for Cyber Criminals

Formjacking attacks are simple  essentially virtual ATM skimming  where cybercriminals inject malicious code into retailers websites to steal shoppers payment card details. On average, more than 4,800 unique websites are compromised with formjacking code every month globally. Symantec blocked more than 3.7 million formjacking attacks on endpoints in 2018, with nearly a third of all detections occurring during the busiest online shopping period of the year  November and December.

While a number of well-known retailers online payment websites, including Ticketmaster and British Airways, were compromised with formjacking code in recent months, Symantecs research reveals small and medium-sized retailers are, by in large, the most widely compromised.

By conservative estimates, cybercriminals may have collected tens of millions of dollars last year, stealing consumers financial and personal information through credit card fraud and sales on the dark web, with a single credit card fetching up to USD 45 in the underground selling forums. With more than 380,000 credit cards stolen, the British Airways attack alone may have allowed criminals to net more than USD 17 million.

he Diminishing Returns of Cryptojacking and Ransomware

In recent years, ransomware and crypto jacking, where cybercriminals harness stolen processing power and cloud CPU usage from consumers and enterprises to mine cryptocurrency, were the go-to methods for cybercriminals looking to make easy money. However, 2018 brought drop-offs in activity and diminishing returns, primarily due to declining cryptocurrency values and increasing adoption of cloud and mobile computing, rendering attacks less effective. For the first time since 2013, ransomware infections declined, dropping by 20 per cent. Nevertheless, enterprises should not let their guard down  enterprise ransomware infections jumped by 12 per cent in 2018 as compared to last year, bucking the overall downward trend and demonstrating ransomwares ongoing threat to organisations. In fact, more than eight in ten ransomware infections impact organisations.

Although crypto jacking activity peaked early last year, crypto jacking activity declined by 52 per cent throughout the course of 2018. Even with cryptocurrency values dropping by 90 per cent and significantly reducing profitability, crypto jacking nonetheless continues to hold appeal with attackers due to the low barrier of entry, minimal overhead, and anonymity it offers. India ranks fourth globally, second in APJ in terms of crypto mining activities. Similarly, India ranks second both globally and in APJ in terms of ransomware activities. Symantec blocked 3.5 million crypto jacking events on endpoints in December 2018 alone.

When it Comes to Security, the Cloud Is the New PC

The same security mistakes that were made on PCs during their initial adoption by the enterprise are now happening in the cloud. A single misconfigured cloud workload or storage instance could cost a company millions of dollars or land it in a compliance nightmare. In the past year alone, more than 70 million records were stolen or leaked from poorly configured S3 buckets. There are also numerous, easily-accessible tools that allow attackers to identify misconfigured cloud resources on the internet.

The recent discoveries of hardware chip vulnerabilities, including Meltdown, Spectre, and Foreshadow also place cloud services at risk of being exploited to gain access to the protected memory spaces of other companies resources hosted on the same physical server.

Living Off the Land Tools and Supply Chain Weaknesses Spur Stealthier, More Ambitious Attacks

Supply chain and living off the land (LotL) attacks are now a mainstay of the modern threat landscape, widely adopted by both cybercriminals and targeted attack groups. In fact, supply chain attacks ballooned by 78 per cent in 2018.

LotL techniques allow attackers to maintain a low profile and hide their activity in a mass of legitimate processes. For example, the use of malicious PowerShell scripts increased by 1,000 per cent last year. While Symantec blocks 115,000 malicious PowerShell scripts each month, this actually accounts for less than one per cent of overall PowerShell usage. A sledgehammer approach toward blocking all PowerShell activity would be disruptive to organisations, further illustrating why LotL techniques have become the preferred tactic for many targeted attack groups.

Identifying and blocking these attacks requires the use of advanced detection methods like analytics and machine learning, such as Symantecs Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (MEDR) service, its enhanced EDR 4.0 technology, as well as its advanced AI solution, Targeted Attack Analytics (TAA). TAA has allowed Symantec to uncover dozens of stealthy targeted attacks, including those from the Gallmaker group who conducted their cyber espionage campaigns completely without malware.

In addition to LotL and weaknesses in the software supply chain, attackers are also increasing their use of conventional attack methods, like spear-phishing, to infiltrate organisations. While intelligence gathering remains the primary motive of targeted attacks, the number of attack groups using malware designed to destroy and disrupt business operations increased by 25 per cent in 2018.

Internet of Things in the Crosshairs of Cyber Criminals and Attack Groups

While the volume of the Internet of Things (IoT) attacks remains high and consistent with 2017 levels, the profile of IoT attacks is changing dramatically. Although routers and connected cameras make up the largest percentage of infected devices (90 per cent), almost every IoT device has been proven vulnerable, with everything from smart light bulbs to voice assistants creating additional entry points for attackers.

Targeted attack groups are increasingly focusing on IoT as a key entry point. The emergence of the VPNFilter router malware represents an evolution in traditional IoT threats. Conceived by a skilled and well-resourced threat actor, it allows its creators to destroy or wipe a device, steal credentials and data, and intercept SCADA communications.

The Great Privacy Awakening

With the recent Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the Facebook data privacy hearings, the implementation of the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR), and revelations about app location tracking and privacy bugs in widely-used apps such as Apples FaceTime feature, consumer privacy has entered the spotlight the past year.

Smartphones could arguably be the greatest spying device ever created  a camera, a listening device and location tracker all in one that is willingly carried and used wherever its owner goes. While already targeted by nation-states for traditional spying, smartphones have also become a lucrative means by which to collect consumers personal information, with mobile app developers existing as the worst offenders. India is among the top countries for mobile malware with 23.6 per cent of global infections.

According to Symantec research, 45 per cent of the most popular Android apps and 25 per cent of the most popular iOS apps request location tracking, 46 per cent of popular Android apps and 24 per cent of popular iOS apps request permission to access your devices camera, and email addresses are shared with 44 per cent of the top Android apps and 48 per cent of the most popular iOS apps.

Digital tools that gather cellphone data for tracking children, friends, or lost phones are also on the rise and clearing the way for abuse to track others without consent. More than 200 apps and services offer stalkers a variety of capabilities, including basic location tracking, text harvesting, and even secret video recording.

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When a fussy guest was complaining to a receptionist in a hotel, he insisted on speaking to someone higher up. The receptionist calmly stood on her chair and continued talking to him! Today, while Catholics worldwide celebrate a feast called Chair of Saint Peter, whats your stand on chairs  the one youre sitting on, or others you occupy?

Unlike Protestants and Pentecostals, Catholics believe that Christ chose one of his disciples, Peter, to lead his newly-founded community, the Church. This belief is based on what Jesus said to Peter in the Gospel of Matthew: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. This has led to a lineage of popes down the ages, Pope Francis being the 266th one.

Chair  from the Latin cathedra  symbolises the authority invested in a person. Thus, when a pope speaks ex cathedra, literally, from the chair, on issues of faith and morals, his teaching is taken to be definitive. Visitors to Saint Peters Basilica, Rome, will see high up behind the altar, a chair believed to be used by Peter, now embellished with ivory panels and enclosed in a bronze casing designed by the famous artist, Bernini.

Biblical imagery of a chair, a seat or a throne signifies honour, authority and reverence. God is said to be seated on high on a throne in heaven, and human intermediaries of governance like patriarchs, judges and kings are supposed to occupy seats on earth corresponding to their assigned roles and responsibilities. Moreover, when someone takes a seat it refers not only to ones social standing but also to ones character.

The Ramayana has a touching episode when Bharata refuses to sit on the throne in place of Lord Ram and instead places Rams paduka on the throne as a sign that he was governing only as an envoy of the true king, Ram.

As much as ascending the throne is an honour, vacating it is difficult. Indeed, its now exactly six years since Emeritus-Pope Benedict XVI stepped down from the papal chair and Pope Francis was chosen to occupy it.

Today, we have politicians, professors, pastors and priests occupying seats and chairs of all hues, invested with all honours. It might help to ask: What chair do I sit upon? Why? What powers and privileges come with my chair? What responsibilities does it place on my shoulders? Do I do honour to my chair?

Pope Francis who now sits upon Peters chair is an exemplary model of servant-leadership. He has washed the feet of people in imitation of Christ, and addresses issues that affect the worlds poor and mother earth. May leaders like him inspire us to stand out even when seated upon powerful chairs!
Delhi gets its political climate, and its seasons from its northwestern and northeastern borders. The British built the capital in 1912 in order to establish their sovereignty all over India, and to be closer to Shimla, the summer capital of the Raj. Yet the people of Delhi, inheriting all the venom of the past, have always remained loyal to the city, with its duststorms from Rajasthans Thar desert, and the cold winds that blow in from the Himalayas, and the view of the Terai as a silver line in the clouds, that greets them when they fly back from the Northeast.

Delhites are least sympathetic to or intimidated by terrorists. The call to arms made to college students and to the unemployed, whether in Jammu and Kashmir, or in Assam, or in Jharkhand, or in the various states of the Northeast leaves the migrant worker in Delhi baffled. The rural population moves to Delhi for work, and in slum settlements and instant housing prefabricated by noveau riche magnates, they quickly make their living, for the wages are better than where they lived earlier. When luck runs out, they return to their villages for brief periods to recuperate, but they are back as soon as they get employment in the city.

The paramilitary forces who risk their lives in the border areas are people who see serving their country as an honorable profession. They are not mercenaries.

They come from farming families, and thousands compete for one post, which also represents gainful employment. It involves repayment of debts, education for their children, and the hardwon gains of having gone to the courts to settle the pensions payable to them. The paramilitary is part of the grid operations of the Army, police and state and Central representatives, who discuss the mode of operation, in places where civil war is imminent.

Needless to say, citizens forums are always active on behalf of the people who are being monitored. Wherever rape or injury has been committed, there is immediate reporting by journalists. The documentation of war crimes are part of the occupational obligations of many human rights outfits who make this data available. The military and police represent the coercive arms of the State, and is under the jurisdiction of Parliament and the judiciary. The idea of democracy is therefore legally represented by the constitutional impetus of keeping institutions alive.

Each of the 44-plus men who were killed in the IED blast in Pulwama on February 14 had obligations to their families, which they had set aside to return to duty. What were their thoughts as they set out on a new assignment? Was it a job like any other, to drive out into the cold and lose their lives in a fraction of a moment? The tragedy was something the nation experienced sorrowfully, so soon after Republic Day. One of the soldiers killed came from Lakkidi village in Wayanad, Kerala. Its an obscure village where there is a Sita temple for it is believed it was here that Luv and Kush were born, and that she was absorbed into the earth. These legends are what the Indian subcontinent is always composed of, where extra-terrestrial time and local time converge. The soldier had hoped to retire from the CRPF in two years, and focus on his children. His brother told a journalist that they were sorry to lose him, but proud that he had died for his country. In these deaths, the nation comes together, because the sac

rifice that soldiers make for their country are expressions of how they represent their love for the country as being the sole goal, in their possible martyrdom.

Kashmiris have presented themselves as scapegoats in the confrontation between the military and their dream of a promised homeland. The pellet injuries that Kashmiri children have been blinded with become the most terrible evidence of how the nation state sees certain forms of warfare as legitimate in the context of civil war. How can human rights activists deal with the infiltration of terrorists among Kashmiri civilians? India has a political sensibility which while not trying to get back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, will not give up Jammu, Ladakh and the Kashmir Valley. There is no possibility of any further severance of the subcontinent.

Kashmiri schoolchildren doing the Central board exams know that the idea of the homeland is tied inextricably with the nation. Pakistan becomes an ally of Saudi Arabia, and of China, when it requires aid. Kashmiris are to be found in every nook and corner of India, either as merchants or as refugees. The problem of borders cannot be solved by expressing enmity with neighbouring countries, whether it is China or Pakistan. The first step towards healing is for the presentation of occupational rights to defence personnel, along with the line of duty which premises that citizens cannot be treated as if they are enemies. The unholy alliance that terrorists have with anybody who provides them with guns and money is something that cannot be condoned.

The writer is a sociologist, social anthropologist and an occasional novelist.
Earlier this week the BJP sealed its alliance in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena after speculation for long over whether the saffron party's oldest partnership would continue or not. A day later, Piyush Goyal travelled to Chennai and finalised his party's pact in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). There are some indications that Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) too may join the bandwagon.

On the face of it, also given that the BJP recently settled the tricky matter of allocation of seats among National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in Bihar, it appears that without tom-tomming, as is its usual wont, the party had begun sealing well-worked out pre-poll alliances which are going to be crucial in the elections to the 17th Lok Sabha. This development assumes greater importance because the Opposition remains divided on crucial issues and unsure about alliances in several frontier states to prevent the division of the anti-BJP vote. Pre-poll alliances are going to be particularly crucial this time compared to 2014, because of the presumption that the BJP is going to win fewer seats than in the previous election. In the event of no party securing a majority on its own, the President is then likely to ask the leader of the largest pre-poll alliance to form the government even if it does have the required majority at that time - the precedent of 1996 can be used in this case when the BJP was asked

to form the government but also told to show its majority in Lok Sabha within a stipulated period.

The eagerness with which the BJP has been sealing poll pacts with estranged allies is in sharp contrast with its approach towards them in 2014. Back then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that the willingness of allies - between 2004 and 2014 many of its former partners had deserted the party - to enter into a pre-poll accord with the BJP was directly proportionate to their assessment of the BJP's winnability. In other words, if the allies concluded that they stood to gain by aligning with the BJP, they would even accept terms which otherwise they would not have. The BJP adopted a "take it or leave it" attitude in 2014 as it was certain that it was the winning horse, and that the only question remained over the extent of its victory.

In 2019, however, the situation is the reverse, and it is not the allies that are dependent on the BJP but it is the other way around - the BJP has come to realise that its survival in these elections and getting to within striking distance of forming the next government is going to be completely depended on strategic alliances. Thus the party has chosen to eat humble pie and accepted a status in the alliance which is not commensurate with either its past record or its relative strength in the state. Clearly, the BJP has decided to take two steps backward in the hope that it will enable the party to take one step forward after the general election and hence become the only non-Congress government to get a second successive term in office after completing its tenure during the first stint.

The BJP's decision in both Bihar and Maharashtra, however, would have caused immense heartburn within the local units. After all, in Maharashtra, prior to the alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress being swept away by the Narendra Modi tidal wave of 2014, the two parties had handsomely won three Assembly elections. Even though the BJP and the Shiv Sena fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 together, the two of them decided to go their separate ways in the Assembly polls that were held immediately afterwards that year. After years of playing second fiddle, the BJP established its leadership position in the state and although it sought the assistance of its erstwhile ally, the mantle of senior partner had passed to the BJP. The decision to accept the Sena's insistence for equal status in the Assembly polls due later this year and the agreement to even keep the issue of chief minister open underscores the necessity of the BJP to seal the pact.

Likewise in Bihar, where the BJP was initially the junior partner but after Nitish Kumar's "homecoming", the dominance of the BJP was never in doubt although the state chief minister remained the local face of the coalition. The BJP national leadership has worked overtime to convince its cadre in the state to accept equal sharing of seats with the Janata Dal (United). This entailed giving up some seats that the party currently holds - it won 22 seats in 2014 from Bihar, when the JD(U) was not a partner of the BJP. By accommodating the JD(U) and giving it an equal status, the BJP leadership has underscored the necessity of the alliance if the challenge led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and its allies is to be surmounted.

The BJP's eagerness for alliances in the three states, besides the indications that it is also in the process of sealing pacts in several other states, is a clear indication of the party's realisation that it faces a tough challenge due to questionable delivery of promises, the agrarian crisis, rising unemployment and a sluggish economy. By accepting terms that it would not have accepted in 2014, the BJP has accepted its decline since then. Significantly, the alliance in Maharashtra especially was announced days after the Pulwama terror strike and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of retributive action against terrorist groups and Pakistan. This is indicative of an early assessment that the P-card is not going to yield too many votes in the elections, and thus the BJP has to go back to old-fashioned politics of consolidating blocks at the state level.

The writer is the author of Narendra Modi: The Man, the Times and Sikhs: The Untold Agony of 1984
Rajahmundry: BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of backstabbing several leaders, like former chief minister and his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He predicted the end of Mr Naidus political life following the elections.

The BJP chief mocked at Mr Naidu for visiting Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and New Delhi, either to extend support to other leaders staging a dharna or to stage a dharna of his own to demand special status for Andhra Pradesh by ignoring the development of his state. He advised Mr Naidu to stage a dharna in front of his party office so that he can concentrate on the states development.

He said sarcastically that if anyone could be given an award for backstabbing the country, the first choice would be Mr Naidu. He asked Mr Naidu how he could ally with the TDs arch-rival Congress party when it was responsible for bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He said the people of Telangana had given a befitting lesson to the TD-Congress alliance in the last Assembly polls.

The BJP chief said both the Telugu Desam led by Mr Naidu and the YSR Congress led by Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had similar features, as their leaders were trying to promote family rule. He branded them as corrupt.

I call upon the people of Andhra Pradesh to bring the BJP to power in both the state and at the Centre, as our party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up developmental work and welfare schemes for the benefit of people in the state and the nation, Mr Shah said.

He said the BJP-led NDA government had implemented nearly 90 per cent of provisions incorporated in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 in five years instead of 10. He said that when the Centre asked for accountability for the funds sanctioned for various schemes and projects, Chief Minister Naidu was getting irritated.
Going by its present strength in the Assembly, the TRS can get four seats and the Congress one.

Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Congress leaders have started lobbying for tickets for five seats in the Legislative Council from the Assembly quota, for which elections are scheduled on March 12.

Going by its present strength in the Assembly, the TRS can get four seats and the Congress one. The TRS is expected to renominate home minister Mohd Mahmood Ali and Wakf Board chairman Mohammad Saleem. In the Congress, Mr Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and Mr Shabbir Ali are trying for the seat.

It is up to the TRS to decide if it wants to try and get the fifth seat as well, which would necessitate an election.

Whether the election will be held, or all the five candidates will be elected unanimously, is in the hands of TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandra-sekhar Rao.

The TRS is short of five MLAs to win the fifth seat. If the TRS is able to get five Congress MLAs to support it, it will win the fifth seat too. But Congress leaders are very confident that their MLAs will not defect to the TRS.

Mr Mahmood Ali, Mr Mohammad Saleem and Mr Santosh Kumar from the TRS, and the Congresss Mr Shabbir Ali and Mr Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, are all retiring on March 29, 2019.

Mr Ali and Mr Saleem will be renominated.

TRS sources say that the Chief Minister is also considering the names of combined Warangal district TRS president Takkallapalli Ravindar Rao, his personal assistant Seri Subhash Reddy, former minister Basavaraju Saraiah and former MLC Santosh Kumar.

Sources in the TRS said that Mr Rao has to decide whether to contest all five seats or only four seats, leaving one seat to the Congress. The final date for filling nominations is February 28. Once the Budget session of the Assembly ends on February 25, the final decision will be made.

There is speculation that after nominating four candidates, for the fifth seat Mr Rao may field MLC Santosh Kumar who joined the TRS from the Congress during the recent Assembly elections. The TRS needs five MLAs to win the fifth seat and can hope that Santosh Kumar will manage to get five Congress MLAs support to win.

The Congress Ponguleti Congress, Reddy and Shabbir Ali are retiring on March 29, 2019, and are trying to get MLC tickets. Both have good contacts in the partys central leadership.

Pradesh Congress Committee sources said that the high command was looking for fresh candidates for the MLC ticket and is considering the names of TPCC protocol in-charge Venugopal and TPCC treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy, among some others.
RS Prasad speaking to media on Thursday. 'All ministers including myself had gone to visit the families of those who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack. But, it is our firm belief that the country should not stop progressing and there should be no halt in any developmental work,' said Union Minister RS Prasad. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Hours after Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government hit back alleging that the party has taken the same line as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and was trying to weaken the morale of the country.

"Intentions might be different but the tone of Imran Khan and the Congress spokespersons was the same. Today, there would have been celebrations in Pakistan as our leading opposition party has said the same things as their Prime Minister," said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing the media on Thursday.

Sharpening his attack at the Congress party, Prasad added, "When the whole country is one, when country after country is passing resolutions condemning the Pulwama attack and standing firmly with India, at such a critical moment, the true face of Congress party appears, seeking to weaken the morale of the country."

The minister also accused the Congress party of not taking a firm stand when Election Commission of India was being questioned by a man in London.

"Rahul Gandhi asks for evidence of the surgical strikes but does not ask for any evidence when a man of questionable character in London, in the presence of Kapil Sibal, questions India's elections. What can we expect from them?" he added.

Lauding his government, the minister told the media that from 2015 to 2018, 728 terrorists have been killed and also claimed that it is the current government which has broken the backbone of terrorism.

"There is a basic difference in our thought process and that of the Congress. All ministers including myself had gone to visit the families of those who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack. But, it is our firm belief that the country should not stop progressing and there should be no halt in any developmental work," stated the minister.

Terror attacks should not be politicised, said Prasad. When the body of martyrs came to Delhi, Rahul Gandhi was caught on camera doing something with his phone. Did we make that an issue? We could have done if we wanted to, said Prasad.

Earlier in the day, Congress party had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not giving due importance to the Pulwama terror attack and shooting for a film at a time the entire nation was mourning the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers.

Congress has used this attack for their political interests. They created an issue of the PM Modis presence in a programme on the day of the attack. They should know that PM Modi works for 18 hours in a day for the nation, BJP president Amit Shah said at a public rally in Andhra Pradeshs Rajahmundry.

More than 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 after a suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar rammed a car laden with explosives into their convoy in Awantipora area of Pulwama in Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Eucalyptus is a very ancient tree, as fossil data of the species the from South American continent dates back to 500 million years ago...

Ooty: Eucalyptus oil, commonly known as Nilgiri oil or Nilagiri Thailam in Tamil, is a must-buy product to those who happen to visit Nilgiris.

Such is the fame this oil attained over the decades which is commonly used to treat cold and muscle related ailments. The eucalyptus trees, which grow majestically to great heights in the hills that symbolise Nilgiris, secrete this oil which is extracted and processed for common use.

However, in the recent times the sudden withering of these trees in certain pockets, across the hills here, especially in the central and western parts of Ooty, has become a cause of concern.

V. Sivadass, managing trustee of Nilgiris Environment and Socio-cultural Trust, said that it is shocking to see that eucalyptus trees are withering and losing health in some pockets across the hills here. Shedding of leaves on these eucalyptus plantations in certain pockets is making them pose a skeletal look wherein the oil extraction would be affected, he noted.

This hasnt happened in the eucalyptus plantations here for over decades. Since it is happening now, a detailed study is needed to ascertain if any new kind of infection has just begun to spread here, marring the growth and health of eucalyptus plantations or there were any other cause, he said.

Only a detailed analysis/study would help take corrective steps, otherwise this trend may finish off the eucalyptus plantations across the hills which would adversely affect the eucalyptus oil extraction and trade leading to loss of job opportunity and revenue, he warned.

Though eucalyptus was introduced to the Nilgiris during the British era, it had become part and parcel of the ecology of the hills over the decades and a good source of plantation linked economy in the Nilgiris, he added.

Rohit Jain, an expert in the field of essential oils production sector in Nilgiris, said that eucalyptus trees is also the great source of pulp wood, timber and firewood.

Eucalyptus oil extraction provides job opportunity either directly or indirectly to around 9,000 persons in the hills. In a year about 1.50 lakh liters of Eucalyptus oil is produced in Nilgiris. Pollution, depletion of underground water level may be the reasons for sudden withering of Eucalyptus trees. So, there is an urgent need to look into the mysterious way in which the Eucalyptus plantations are getting withered to go for corrective actions to sustain their growth, he noted.

Setting up of a branch of the Central Institute of Aromatic Plants here in the Nilgiris will go a long way to help sustain the health and wealth of the eucalyptus industry in the Nilgiris, he said.
New Delhi: The first instalment of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Nidhi of Rs 2,000 each is expected to disbursed to farmers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses his last Mann Ki Baat programme on February 24 ahead of the Lok Sabha poll schedule announcement.

The PM is himself likely to take part in the subsidy distribution ceremony of the first instalment at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh  an electorally significant constituency which was lost to the BJP in bypolls last year  and was earlier represented by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Sources said this months Mann Ki Baat will be a special one as a majority of the council of ministers, BJP MPs and other senior leaders have been asked to head for rural areas and listen to the programme with ordinary folk. They are then expected to take part in distribution of the first instalment to farmers.
The accommodation will be on affordable rental basis of Rs. 800 per month. The scheme has been implemented on the land leased from KINFRA for 30 years.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a first of its kind initiative in the country, the migrant workers in Kerala will get an opportunity to move out of labour camps to their own residential accommodation "apna ghar."

With piped gas connections, kitchen, recreational facilities like volleyball and badminton courts, the first batch of migrant workers are set to experience home away from home under the 'Apna Ghar' project being launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Kanjikode in Palakkad on Saturday.

In the first lot 620 workers will be accommodated. "They will get free electricity, water supply and LPG gas. This is the first time a state government is providing housing accommodation for migrant workers," says Bhavanam Chief Operating Officer G.L. Muraleedharan.

Already representatives of Delhi and Karnataka governments have visited the site as part of the plan to replicate the model in their respective states.

The residential hostel will cater to the inter-state migrant workers in and around Palakkad.

The accommodation will be on affordable rental basis of Rs. 800 per month. The scheme has been implemented on the land leased from KINFRA for 30 years.

The hostel is spread across 44,000 sq. ft. in 3 blocks having ground plus three floors. There are 62 residential rooms which can accommodate 10 persons totaling to 620 persons.

In block II, there are 32 kitchens with sinks and LPG cooking facilities, 8 mess areas, 96 toilets, separate urinals, four common bathrooms with showers, clothes washing and drying areas, and washbasins in the ground plus three floors.

There are resting spaces on all floors of the building, a volleyball court and lawn with benches. Round-the-clock security and CCTV system have also been put in place.
The Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam on the Ravi in Punjab. (Representation image)

New Delhi: India decided on Thursday to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, a move seen as a fallout of the terrorist attack in Pulwama.

Indias share of the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej river waters came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of water is being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to five per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said. Another official said the decision was taken two months back.

Water to Pakistan from the three rivers has been flowing for 60 years, while the country needs it to meet the needs of its citizens, they said, insisting the stopping of its share of water from going to Pakistan is in no way a violation of the treaty.

Under the leadership of Honble PM Sri @narendramodiji, Our Govt has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert the water from eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, Mr Gadkari said in a tweet. He added: The construction of a dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river.

In an address at a public rally at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gadkari said, We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna ... After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan.

Now we will build three projects on them, and divert the water to river Yamuna,

The Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam on the Ravi in Punjab.
Vellore: In a surprise development, income tax (I-T) officials raided several premises including the office of Commercial Taxes and Registration minister K. C. Veeramani, besides that of some friends and the houses and offices of two real estate businessmen in Vellore district on Thursday.

A team from I-T department in New Delhi scooped down on the houses and offices of two real estate businessmen, Ramamurthy and Jayaprakash, in Kadpadi near here since the early hours of Thursday, that has taken everyone by surprise. The raids have come barely two days after the BJP inked a poll pact with ruling AIADMK for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said the I-T raids related to an alleged Rs 300 crore land transaction of a prime piece of real estate near the Vellore new bus stand, in which the role of several persons including that of the state minister has been dragged in.

The I-T men, who came in 10 cars, also conducted a search at Mr Veeramani's office at Jolarpettai, a marriage hall belonging to the minister on Nattrampalli main road, the house of the manager of the marriage hall, Mr Satyamurthy, besides the house of the personal assistant to the minister, Mr Srinivasan at Jolarpettai.

Reports also spoke of the I-T men conducting searches in the houses of the minister's two businessmen-friends in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh who are said to be in the dairy business, all in connection with the `300 crore land deal.

While Ramamurthy and Jayaprakash had filed a petition against the minister in the Madras High Court recently, alleging his intervention on behalf of one of his alleged friends, Mr Sekhar Reddy in the land deal, Mr Veeramani had recently sworn in an affidavit in the high court that the minister had nothing to do with the Rs 300 crore land deal in Vellore and that he did no mediation using his office as Minister. That case has been adjourned to February 25 and meanwhile the I-T searches are going on at the premises of various persons suspected to be part of the deal, sources added.
We are also trying to zero in on the location of her boss, who was at present in Goa and detain him, Reddy told this newspaper. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: A Ghanaian national woman who came to India on a tourist visa and has been allegedly smuggling narcotic drugs like cocaine and ecstasy from Goa to the city was detained by the sleuths of Prohibition and excise department.

According to the excise officials, 33-year-old Genevieve Alando Oketch came to India from the Republic of Ghana on a tourist visa in 2016 and has been since staying in India. She has been extending her stay in India giving one reason or the other. Police officials said that her passport, which they have now seized, is valid till March 2019.

Deputy commissioner of Excise C. Vivekananda Reddy said that, As per the instructions from her boss who was at present staying in Goa, she came to the city with the narcotic substances on Wednesday morning in a private travels.

Subsequently, she booked room at an OYO hotel in Somajiguda for two days. Her plan was to deliver the narcotic substances to the customers as per the directions of her boss and leave the city, the deputy commissioner added.

But her plan was foiled. The Prohibition and Excise (P and E) officials, headed by K. Karuana, P and E inspector, district task force in Hyderabad basing on a tip-off raided the hotel and found Genevieve Alando Oketch in illegal possession of narcotic drugs in her room on Wednesday evening. The police officials arrested her and seized 50 grams of cocaine, 10 grams of ecstasy and her passport from her possession.

We have booked a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS) and further investigation is underway to trace the customers trying to procure these drugs in the city. We are also trying to zero in on the location of her boss, who was at present in Goa and detain him, Reddy told this newspaper.
It may be recalled that the Telangana Fibre Grid project was envisioned to provide infrastructure for affordable and high speed broadband connectivity and digital services to 83.58 lakh households and more than two crore people. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: The dream of Digital Telangana seems to be some distance from being realised as work for the T-Fibre project is proceeding slowly. The government is set to miss the target to provide internet connectivity to 50 per cent of villages by end of March.

Under the Telangana Fibre Grid project, 8,778 gram panchayats will be provided internet connectivity. Tenders could not be finalised and hence the delay.

According to a senior official, the tender process did not go as the government anticipated because companies quoted very high prices, and another tender was floated. This has led to a slippage of two-three months in the schedule of T-fibre. The government is now targeting September 2019 for providing internet connectivity to 50 per cent of the gram panchayats. By March 2020, all the gram panchayats will have internet connectivity.

An official said, Under T-fibre, we have not started connecting the gram panchayats yet. We just completed the tendering process and are giving the work order. Even though we lost some time, we are confident of seeing substantial progress in 2019.

It may be recalled that the Telangana Fibre Grid project was envisioned to provide infrastructure for affordable and high speed broadband connectivity and digital services to 83.58 lakh households and more than two crore people.

Exactly a year ago, in February 2018, the pilot T-FIBRE Technology Demonstration Network (TDN) was launched with 55 locations in four villages in Maheshwaram mandal to demonstrate the capabilities of T-Fibre. The villages under Maheshwaram mandal are Mansapally, Thummaloor, Sirigiripuram and Maheshwaram. They are connected to Pragati Bhavan, Raj Bhavan, Secretariat and the T-Fibre Begumpet office in Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, 2,047 gram panchayats in Telangana are service ready and according to the data tabled in parliament, `254.17 crore was given to the state to implement this project.

These gram panchayats are in the erstwhile Nizamabad, Khammam, and Ranga Reddy districts. An official said, these 2,047 gram panchayats are not part of the T-Fibre project but were part of the project that preceded it. So the ground work for T-Fibre is yet to be rolled out.

As on February 2019, across India, 3,11,191 km of underground optical fibre cable has been laid and 1,23,766 gram panchayats have been connected. Of these, 1,16,961 gram panchayats have been made service ready. BharatNet, earlier known as National Optical Fibre Network Project, is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country.
Ahmedabad: The Congress has finally decided to take on the Modi-Shah duo in their fortress. The Congress Working Committee, the partys highest decision-making body, will meet in Ahmedabad on February 28. This is the first CWC in the state in 58 years.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, general secretary for East Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders will attend the meeting.

It will be the first time that the Gandhis will be seen together on a public platform after Ms Priyanka Gandhi took a plunge into politics. She will deliver her maiden speech at the public rally where she is expected to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home turf.

The meeting, probably the last one before the Election Commission formally announces general elections, is being seen as very important and crucial. Many important decisions regarding the elections are likely to be taken there.

The meeting will be preceded in the morning by a special prayer event at the Gandhi Ashram to pay tribute to martyrs of the Pulwama attack. The CWC will meet at the Sardar Patel Memorial at 10 am after which they will hold a public rally at Trimandir campus in Adalaj, Ahmedabad, at 2 pm.
Reports say the masked man shot Reddy at the store around 8.30 am Florida time. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: The body of K. Govardhan Reddy, 50, who was shot dead by a masked assailant in Florida, is likely to reach Hyderabad on February 27, a family member said.

Reddy worked as a counter manager at a department store in Pensacola city of Florida. A masked assailant shot him dead on Wednesday.

A native of Yadadri district, Reddy, whose family resides in Uppal, was supposed to return to India in April. He is survived by his wife Shobha Rani and two young daughters, Shreya, who is in Class 10 and Tulasi, Class 7.

The family is in a state of shock. My husband was the only bread-winner for our family. His salary helped feed and educate my two daughters, said his wife Shobha. My daughters will take years to stand on their own feet. I have no source of income and my in-laws are elderly and dependent on us.

The family intends to seek financial help from the state government. We are in contact with our relatives in Florida, said Mr Madhu Sudhan Reddy, a relative. His colleagues are taking care of paperwork for the body to be sent back to Hyderabad.

Reports say the masked man shot Reddy at the store around 8.30 am Florida time. The reason for the attack is still under investigation. Reddys body is currently in the mortuary of a local hospital. Florida police has taken three men into custody in connection with the case.

Reddy is a native of Raheemkhanpet in Atmakur mandal of Yadadri district. He moved to the United States seven years ago and has worked as a counter manager. He had not visited his family even once since moving to the US.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP chief Amit Shah hopes to wrest Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seats with the support of the NSS, though wildly ambitious.

In all likelihood, Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan and a non-BJP Hindu independent will contest Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta respectively, as dictated by Mr Shah.

He'll covey this to lower committees when he arrives in Palakkad on Friday, as for the saffron party to retain power in New Delhi, every seat counts.

With severe factionalism, general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao had allegedly given a hard-hitting report against the style of functioning of state chief, P. S. Sreedharan Pillai.

A party insider said Mr Shahs visit is not going to be rosy for them. But the national leadership means business and set the ambitious target of two seats.

Thiruvananthapuram LS seat is going to witness the mother of all battles, he told DC. If the central leadership decides to field Mr Rajasekharan as desired by most party workers, Congresss sitting MP Shashi Tharoor is going to see a tough battle.

But a section of state leaders alleges that Mr Pillai is not keen on bringing him back to active politics. He had claimed earlier that he would not be contesting the LS elections.

Ever since the women entry in Sabarimala issue snowballed into a major controversy, it saw BJP and NSS sharing the same sentiments. The current equation between Mr Pillai and NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair is not that good. But RSS has brokered a deal on these two seats, and Mr Pillai hopes to capitalise it.

Dr Tharoor, who won the seat for the first time with an impressive margin of 99,998 votes in 2009, had to sweat it out five years later when BJPs O Rajagopal came close to him but short of 15,471 votes for a win.

But Mr Rajagopal was leading in four of its seven assembly segments, including Kazhakkoottam by 2,926 votes, where Mr Rajasekharan lost to Congress partys K. Muraleedharan by 7,622 votes two years later.
Bengaluru: The first ever Drone Olympics held by the ministry of defence to encourage the UAV industry to connect with potential buyers and business partners in the country, concluded on Thursday with Sagar Defence, Drovengers Quad, Team Daksha, Thanos Technologies and the UAS Delhi Technical University walking away with the awards.

The applicants were judged on the basis of challenges , which included formation flying, surveillance and supply drop. The other highlight of the awards ceremony was the launch of the ATL drone module, Get Set Fly, by the Atal Tinkering Lab under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog.

One of the participants, Anuj Duggal, innovation programme manager at Intel, said the competition was just the beginning and drone makers were bound to capitalise on it.

Drones can be used in solving local issues. For example in the Andaman and Nicobar islands they could be used in rescue missions. And the payload drops could be used in disaster management," he explained.

In fact, in 2018, Intel flew more than 2,000 drones, he revealed. "The applications of the drone are advanced. We have developed a module to capture data and transfer it in modulus. It is a life saving device," he added.

The response to the competition was overwhelming with 120 applicants clamouring to participate. But only 57 were found to be suitable. The preliminary round of the olympics was held on February 18 and 19 at the Jakkur Aerodrome. Besides taking home cash prizes, the winners of the competition will attend Lockheed Martin's Alpha Pilot Race in the USA later this year.
Bengaluru: Aerospace behemoth Boeing announced on Thursday it would build a factory of the future in India, involve in skill development and forge partnerships with private and public sector companies for manufacture of the next generation Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft as part of the Make in India initiative.

It has already forged a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) in this regard, says Mr Thomas Breckenridge, Vice President, International Sales, Strike, Surveillance and Mobility, at Aero India 2019, adding we wont wait for competition as we are here for a lifetime and will build the ecosystem to manufacture a globally competitive fighter aircraft.

He told the media: This partnership will deliver affordable, combat-proven fighter capabilities to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy.

Earlier in the day, top executives of Boeing held discussions with Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on the proposed F/A-18 Super Hornet through Make in India scheme. .

The programme is expected to work with several Indian suppliers to grow a thriving defence aerospace base which could accelerate other defence programmes as well

The facility would create a world-class, highly trained aerospace workforce, it said. The public-private partnership is intended to bring Boeing, HAL and MDS' global scale and supply chain, its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes, as well as experience in designing and optimising aerospace production facilities to expand India's aerospace ecosystem and help realise the 'Make in India' vision.

Boeing's Super Hornet is a proven platform that offers the fighter of the future for India networked, survivable and reliable, the statement said. Introduced in 2007, the F/A-18 Super Hornet is the world's preeminent carrier capable aircraft and best suited for India's naval fighter requirements designed from day one for carrier operations, according to Boeing. The Super Hornet is capable across the full mission spectrum for the Indian Air Force and is a true multi-role aircraft, able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum, it said. In addition, Boeing also laid out at Aero India its future defence plans proposing the KC-46A aerial refueller, AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, additional P-8 long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, and the twin-engine Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.

Boeing also highlighted its growing services, sustainment and training footprint in India which is delivering exceptional operational capability and readiness for current platforms at a competitive cost structure. The P-8I and C-17 operated by the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force have high mission readiness rates of >85%, as a result of this commitment. For the soon-to-be-inducted AH-64E Apaches and CH-47F(I) Chinooks, the first batch of Indian Air Force pilots have been undergoing training in the United States, it said. Boeing also plans to establish rotor craft training and support capabilities in India as deliveries commence this year, it said. Boeing also shared its success on 'Make in India', highlighting the contributions of its 160+ suppliers that provide parts and assemblies covering aerostructures, wire harness, composites, forgings, avionics mission systems, and ground support equipment for some of its most advanced defence platforms.

Boeing highlighted the deliveries of the first batch of AH-64 Apache fuselages by Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited, the Joint Venture with Tata Advanced Systems Limited, which is the sole-producer of fuselages globally.
Abdullah stated that the security has not been withdrawn only from the separatists but also main stream politicians, particularly at a time when the central government wants maximum participation in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. (Photo: ANI)

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday lashed out at the central and Jammu and Kashmir governments for withdrawing the security of Hurriyat leaders and others, and called it a regressive step.

Withdrawal of security of separatist leaders is a regressive step: It is the duty of the state to provide security to its people. If anything happens, they will be held responsible for it, Abdullah said during a press conference here.

Abdullah stated that the security has not been withdrawn only from the separatists but also main stream politicians, particularly at a time when the central government wants maximum participation in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

My concern is about the withdrawal of security to mainstream political operators. On one hand, you are telling us that we have to be prepared for Parliament and the Assembly elections, on the other hand, you are telling us that we no longer deserve the protection of the state, he added.

The state government had on Wednesday downgraded and withdrew the security of 18 Hurriyat leaders. According to the spokesperson of the Home Department, it was felt that providing security to these separatist leaders is wastage of scarce state resources, which could better be utilised elsewhere. This is in addition to four separatist leaders whose security was withdrawn on Sunday.

Besides them, the security of 155 political persons and activists, who did not require the security provided to them based on their threat assessment and their activities, was also withdrawn.

Among the leaders whose security has been downgraded and withdrawn are SAS Geelani, Aga Syed Mosvi, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Yaseen Malik, Saleem Geelani, Shahid ul Islam, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Farooq Ahmed Kichloo, Masroor Abbas Ansari, Aga Syed Abul Hussain, Abdul Gani Shah and Mohd Musadiq Bhat.

Meanwhile, Abdullah went on to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress party for not speaking against the alleged harassment of Kashmiri people in various parts of the country.

We were thinking that this matter will be investigated at the highest level We thought the Prime Minister will condemn the (Meghalaya) Governors statement. We can understand that the Prime Minister must have been busy, but the Home Minister should have said that these things wont work, strong actions will be taken against these people. But we only heard silence from their side and nothing else. (waha se hume khamoshi aur khamoshi ke alawa kuch aur sunne ko nahi mila). These people are taking advantage of our problem to take forward their political interests, Abdullah said.

Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy on Wednesday stirred a hornets nest by expressing solidarity with the call given by a retired Army Colonel to boycott everything that is Kashmiri in view of the recent Pulwama terror attack.

Abdullah said, While one Governor talked about economical boycott, another Governor (Kalyan Singh) talked about revoking Article 370. Why they didnt say similar things during the attack in Chhattisgarh? So, what is our fault? Is it only because there are majority of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir compared to other states? Will we be punished time and again for this?

He added, We didnt hope much from BJP. We had hopes from the Prime Minister. We were hoping that he will say something keeping aside politics. While the Prime Minister is silent, its also sad that the biggest Opposition partys leadership is also silent on this issue. We were hoping that at least words of moral support from Congress.
'It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today,' Modi said. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi/Seoul: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues.

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," Modi said.

Photo: ANI | Twitter

"This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said.

"Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now," he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world address the pressing issues. Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.
Welcoming the crown prince on his first state visit to India, the President said India cherishes its cordial and friendly relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday expressed India's wish to be a strong and reliable partner in Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 as he hosted a banquet for the Gulf kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Welcoming the crown prince on his first state visit to India, the President said India cherishes its cordial and friendly relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

India considers the Gulf region as its extended neighborhood.

The ever-expanding scope of India-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations demands sustained strategic engagement and frequent interactions between the two sides at all levels, according to a statement put out by Rashtrapati Bhawan that quoted Kovind.

President Kovind and the crown prince, commonly known as MBS, also held talks on counter-terrorism and bilateral ties between the two countries.

Citing terrorism as the gravest threat to humanity, Kovind said in a statement on his official twitter handle, "India and Saudi Arabia, and the global community must come together to defeat and destroy these evil forces and combat radicalization."

Earlier in the day, in a joint statement, India and Saudi Arabia have condemned, in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

MBS who arrived with the senior-delegation on his maiden two-day visit on February 19, signed five Memoranda of Understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information, and broadcasting.

Addressing the visible enhancement of bilateral trade ties between two countries over the past few years, Kovind said, however, there exists further potential.

"Saudi Arabia continues to be our most important source of energy. We need to take the current buyer-seller relationship to a strategic level," he said.

The President said that India wishes to be a partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias Vision 2030. "These are complementarities between our economies," he said.

"Indian companies have created jobs in Saudi Arabia, especially in the tech sector. India deeply values Saudi Arabia as a reliable partner for its energy security. We are delighted at Aramcos participation in the upcoming worlds largest greenfield oil refinery" the President said.
Mumbai: After eleven months, thousands of Maharashtra farmers on Thursday began their protest from Nashik to Mumbai to push for their unfulfilled demands by the state government.

The farmers demands include loan waiver, minimum support price, provision of pension, irrigation facilities and land rights.

The 8-day long march is organised by the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

Farmers will cover the distance of over 180 kilometres between Nashik to Mumbai on foot and are expected to reach Mumbai on February 27.

The march towards Mantralaya, Mumbai initially was about to commence from Nashik on Wednesday evening, however, due to the police intervention the protest got delayed.

In a three hour meeting between Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan and AIKS representatives in Nashik on February 20 night, the minister assured to fulfil the demands of the farmers.

However, the farmers want Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take action immediately.

The farmers have agitated for the second time in last 12 months against what they termed as the betrayal of peasants by the BJP governments at the state and centre.

In March 2018, the All India Kisan Sabha had organised a long protest march, led by over 30,000 farmers, from Nashik to Mumbai.
After the terror attack, in a press conference, Rahul Gandhi along with Manmohan Singh had said that he and his party would support the government and not get into any other discussion for the next few days. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: A week after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, Rahul Gandhi resumed his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a stinging tweet.

"The brave are martyred. Their families struggle. 40 Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of 'Shaheed'. While this man has never given & only taken. He's gifted 30,000 Cr of their money & will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modi's NEW INDIA," Gandhi tweeted. He tagged a media report on the Supreme Court holding Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communication (RCom), guilty of contempt of court.

The brave are martyred. Their families struggle.40 Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of Shaheed. While this man has never given & only taken. Hes gifted 30,000Cr of their money & will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modis NEW INDIA.https://t.co/VjiJvSzN2h  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 21, 2019

His remarks come a week after 40 CRPF jawans died when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist blew up his explosives-laden vehicle near the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

After the terror attack, in a press conference, Rahul Gandhi along with Manmohan Singh had said that he and his party would support the government and not get into any other discussion for the next few days.

Rahul Gandhi's tweet refers to his often-repeated allegation that the government and PM Modi settled for an overpriced deal for 36 Rafale jets from France's Dassault to help Anil Ambani's inexperienced defence firm bag an offset contract.

The government, Anil Ambani and Dassault all have denied the allegations.
Reddy is survived by his wife and two daughters. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Hyderabad: A 50-year-old man from Telangana, who was working as a manager at a departmental store in Florida, was shot dead on Tuesday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Kotha Govardhan Reddy.

Reddy had moved to the US seven years ago. He was allegedly attacked by a group of men inside the store in Floridas Pensacola city.

His brother Madhusudhan said, The local authorities suspect that men who killed him were robbers. We dont know the exact reason yet, waiting for details.

"We got information that a masked man shot dead Govardhan when he was alone at the store and fled away. As per preliminary information, the accused did not take away any cash. The motive of the killing is not known," said Reddy, a friend of the victim.

Reddy is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Pope Francis poses for a photo with a group of priests at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican recently. (Photo: AP)

Vatican City: For centuries, the Vatican's canon law system busied itself with banning books and dispensing punishments that included burnings at the stake for heretics. These days, the Vatican office that eventually replaced the Roman Catholic Inquisition is knee-deep in processing clergy sex abuse cases.

The procedures of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be on display this week as high-ranking bishops summoned by Pope Francis attend an unprecedented four-day tutorial on preventing sex abuse and prosecuting paedophile priests.

In countries where clergy are required to report child abuse, bishops and superiors of religious orders are supposed to notify police when someone alleges that a priest molested a child and they are supposed to cooperate with any investigations.

However, the policy is non-binding and only was articulated publicly in 2010 when the Vatican posted it on its website. Prior to that, the Vatican long sought to prevent public law enforcement agencies from learning about abusers in the clergy.

Irish bishops who considered adopting a mandatory reporting policy in 1997 received a letter from the Vatican warning that their in-house church investigations could be compromised if they referred cases to Irish police.

Nowadays, the Vatican justifies not having a binding policy that requires all sex crimes to be reported to police by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority.

Once a bishop or superior receives an allegation of abuse by one of his priests, he is supposed to conduct a preliminary investigation. If the claim has a "semblance of truth" he sends the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for review (CDF).

The superior often will remove the priest from public ministry pending the outcome of the investigation. The CDF, has a staff of 17 canon lawyers who process the cases. There has long been a case backlog, however and at one point Francis acknowledged it had topped 2,000 with cases taking years to reach a verdict.

Usually, the CDF sends the case back to the bishop to investigate more fully, either through a full canonical trial or via an expedited administrative process. If the evidence is overwhelming and serious, the CDF can send the case straight to the pope to decide the priest's fate.

Penalties can range from the mild, a temporary suspension from publicly celebrating the sacraments or exercising ministry, to the more serious, such as defrocking, which is removing a cleric from the priesthood. Elderly priest abusers often have been spared defrockings, even for heinous crimes. Instead, they were given a lifetime of "penance and prayer."

Just last week, though, Francis defrocked 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick, the once-prominent American cardinal who was convicted by the Vatican's canon law tribunal of sexually abusing minors and adults.
Macron's visit to the Jewish cemetery in the Alsace region, near Germany, where 96 Jewish tombstones were daubed with swastikas. (Photo: AFP)

France: Anti-Semitism appears to have reached its worst levels since World War II, French President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish community leaders on Wednesday, a day after thousands of people took to the streets to denounce hate crimes.

The scourge has grown in recent years "and the situation has got worse in recent weeks," Macron told the annual dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF). "Our country, and for that matter all of Europe and most Western democracies, seems to be facing a resurgence of anti-Semitism unseen since World War II," he added.

Europe's biggest Jewish community is reeling after a string of attacks that have made global headlines. Macron announced measures including legislation to fight hate speech on the internet, to be introduced by May.

He said he had asked his interior minister to take steps to ban racist or anti-Semitic groups, singling out "for a start" three far-right groups  Bastion Social, Blood and Honour Hexagone and Combat 18, which he said "fuel hatred, promote discrimination or call for violence". He also vowed that France would recognise anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism.

Macron earlier baulked at a call by a lawmaker in his Republic on the Move party to criminalise anti-Zionist statements, which criticise the movement that established Israel as a home for Jews. On a visit Tuesday to a cemetery in the Alsace region, near Germany, where 96 Jewish tombstones were daubed with swastikas, Macron promised: "We shall act, we shall pass laws, we shall punish."

Tuesday, thousands of people, some carrying banners proclaiming "That's enough", held a rally in Paris to denounce anti-Semitism, one of around 70 protests staged nationwide. Macron and his government have linked the appearance of swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on artworks, shopfronts and headstones to far-right and far-left elements within the "yellow vest" protest movement.

Several officials have accused radical "yellow vest" of fomenting a climate of hatred. The anti-government protests began three months ago over fuel taxes but quickly grew into a broader anti-establishment, anti-capitalist rebellion, with some demonstrators using anti-Semitic slurs to denigrate Macron, a former Rothschild investment banker.

The number of anti-Jewish crimes rose 74 per cent last year. Anti-Semitism has a long history in France, where society was deeply split at the end of the 19th century by the Alfred Dreyfus affair over a Jewish army captain wrongly convicted of treason.

During World War II, the French Vichy government collaborated with Germany notably in the deportation of Jews to death camps. Traditionally associated with the far right, anti-Semitism has become ingrained in the high-rise French housing estates that house many members of France's Muslim community, Europe's largest. Jews have been targeted in several attacks by French jihadists in recent years.

But the proliferation of anti-Semitic graffiti is seen as a new trend. In recent days, the word "Juden" was spray-painted on the window of a Paris bagel bakery and swastikas were daubed on postbox portraits of late French Holocaust survivor and women's rights icon Simone Veil.
The 'Study Xi' app tracks the amount of time users spend browsing inspirational quotes and following his speeches and travels. (Photo: AFP)

Beijing: A propaganda app that puts China's powerful President Xi Jinping in anyone's pockets has become a hit in the country, with a helpful nudge from Communist Party officials.

Millions have downloaded the app, which tracks the amount of time users spend browsing inspirational quotes from the Chinese leader and watching short videos of his speeches and travels.

People are rewarded with points for sharing articles or answering quizzes on Communist heroes, and one day they may be able to redeem their scores for gifts such as pastries and tablets.

But it's not all fun and games. Some people say they felt pressured to download it, others hope it can help their careers and local government officials have been heavily promoting it. The app's name, "Xuexi Qiangguo" or "Study to Make China strong", is a pun as the Chinese word for studying, Xuexi, which can also be read as "Study Xi".

It has been downloaded nearly 44 million times on Apple and Android devices since its launch in January, according to Beijing-based statistics provider Qimai Technology. "It's a perfect example of propaganda in the Xi era... that appeals to China's large online population," said Manya Koetse, who tracks social trends in China as editor of What's on Weibo. He added, "The party will go wherever the people are."

Xi, who could rule indefinitely after parliament lifted presidential term limits last year, has enjoyed a level of officially stoked adulation unseen since Communist China's founder Mao. The party's propaganda arm has become tech-savvy in its battle for the country's hearts and minds, delivering its message through rap songs, comics and stickers on popular messaging app WeChat.

The new app gives users access to thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, university publications and TV serials and movies. Users must register with their mobile phone number and name their employer.

An employee at a state media company said she posts her scores on her WeChat social media account because she is in line for a promotion and hopes her bosses will see she has "the right mindset". "It's a way to get some brownie points," she told AFP. Li Xin, who works for a state-run oil company, said it promotes a "Xi cult".

Dozens of provincial and county governments across the country have held workshops to promote the app in recent weeks, local media reports showed. Even China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma is a Communist Party member, is making a contribution: job ads on the company's website shows it has been hiring software developers to work on the app.

While "Study Xi" became the top app in Apple's China app store last month, it only managed to get an average rating of 2.4 stars out of five. Ratings and reviews for the app were disabled last week. But analytics firm App Annie has preserved nearly 500 reviews, many with a hint of sarcasm, submitted by Apple users in previous weeks.

"It's totally voluntary," quipped one reviewer who gave the app one star.
By tacitly supporting his friend Congress parliamentarian Navjot Singh Sidhu, popular standup comedian Kapil Sharma is facing a huge uproar of protest that he may find impossible to handle.

Reacting to (wrong) reports of Sidhus sacking from the Kapil Sharma Show, Kapil said sacking Sidhu is not the solution to the terror attack from Pakistan. Following this, huge welters of protest have erupted against Kapil on social media.

Not only is Sidhu being called a traitor, Kapil Sharma too is being branded the same.

Matters have reached a flashpoint and Salman Khan who is the producer of the Kapil Sharma Show has been asked to intervene.

Says a source, Salman who has his own reputation to protect may dissociate himself from the Kapil Sharma show. This may be a huge setback for Kapil.
The expert panel, which had recommended the ban, also found that many FDCs were formulated without due diligence and the mismatch of dosage could result in toxicity.

Chennai: Saridon, the pain relief tablet brand of Piramal Enterprises, has received exemption from the list of banned Fixed Dose Combinations. The Supreme Court also granted exemption to three more formulations from the list of 328 banned FDCs.

In September last year, the government had prohibited the manufacture, sale and distribution of 328 FDC drugs. FDCs are two or more drugs combined in a fixed ratio into a single dosage form. The government had found that these drugs were irrational", had safety issues and lacked therapeutic justification. The expert panel, which had recommended the ban, also found that many FDCs were formulated without due diligence and the mismatch of dosage could result in toxicity.

However, Piramal had procured a stay on the ban on Saridon from the apex court in September itself. We have been continuing the sale and supply of Saridon after receiving the stay order. But the exemption has removed the uncertainty over the brand, said Nandini Piramal,
A top IRDAI source told Financial Chronicle that the meeting was held in Hyderabad on February 19 and it was attended by 26 chairmen of both life and non-life insurance companies.

New Delhi: In the backdrop of the IL&FS scam that rattled the countrys financial institutions, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has cautioned insurance players about the need to be diligent on corporate governance in the sector.

IRDAI chairman Subhash Chandra Khuntia held a high-level meeting this week, in which all chiefs of insurance companies in India  both life and non-life insurers  were told to personally oversee board decisions of their companies to ensure that governance norms were not compromised.

A top IRDAI source told Financial Chronicle that the meeting was held in Hyderabad on February 19 and it was attended by 26 chairmen of both life and non-life insurance companies. The chairmen of GIC Re and Agriculture Insurance Company were not invited to the meeting, as they are not directly involved in the commercial transaction in their businesses, the source said on condition of anonymity.

When asked about the important issues that discussed in the meeting, the source said, The issues involved in corporate governance were discussed, but the main focus of the discussion was the IL&FS fallout and its mismanagement and corporate governance violations.

Besides, the corporate issues like falling solvency margin, which indicates the financial health of an insurance company, risk-based capital and fair-value advantage were also discussed during the meeting. Apart from that concern was also expressed that how some of the insurers are constantly incurring underwriting losses, the source added.

The high-level meeting was the first of its kind. This was the first time that such a forum for open discussions between chairpersons of insurers and IRDAI was held. It was a proactive exchange of thoughts, suggestions and ideas and I hope some of these will get implemented in the coming months, said the chief of a private insurer.

As of March 2018, IL&FS owed over Rs 94,000-crore to banks and other creditors and has been downgraded to junk status by rating agencies after it defaulted on debt repayments due to a liquidity crisis. Last year, the government also constituted a seven-member board, headed by veteran banker Uday Kotak, to submit a comprehensive resolution plan to revive the debt-ridden company.
Through this MoU, housing department of Maharashtra will make provisions and facilitate permissions for IIFL HFL to educate customers and enlighten them about the benefits of PMAY. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: IIFL Home Finance on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government for capacity building for affordable housing through credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Through this MoU, housing department of Maharashtra will make provisions and facilitate permissions for IIFL Home Finance (IIFL HFL) to educate customers and enlighten them about the benefits of PMAY, a statement from the company said.

Under the agreed terms and conditions, IIFL HFL will be able to conduct on the spot counselling for home buyers visiting its branches, give presentations to defined audiences, and proactively call potential customers to facilitate home loans helping them avail CLSS subsidy benefits, it said.
The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience. (representational image)

New Delhi: The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), formerly known as Telecom Commission, on Thursday deferred the decision on cumulative penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to its next meeting, according to an official source.

The telecom watchdog Trai in October 2016 recommended imposing total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.

"The decision on Rs 3,050-crore penalty on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea has been deferred for the next meeting," an official source told PTI on Thursday.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore.

The Trai's recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient points of interconnection (PoIs).

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.
The initiative will enhance the financial performance of the commercial banks, and will assist them to cope with RBIs prompt corrective action (PCA) plan. (Photo: Twitter)

Credit ratings agency CARE raising its eyebrows, asked the government  from where it (the union government) intends to bring the funds for the recapitalisation of public sector banks (PSBs). The 1993 founded credit rating agency said the funds might come from the interim dividend declared a few days back by the RBI or from RBIs reserves, the Financial Express reported.

The union government on Wednesday declared an infusion amount of Rs 48,239 crore for recapitalisation of PSBs. The initiative will enhance the financial performance of the commercial banks, and will assist them to cope with RBIs prompt corrective action (PCA) plan.

No such provision for recapitalization was made in the Budget 2019-20, therefore it is not clear if the recapitalization will happen this year or in FY20, the rating agency told the Financial Express.

The report states, the PSBs distribute the burden of non performing assets amongst them unequally. Recapitalisation of the PSBS would increase fresh credit, and hence will aid in credit growth, especially for the micro small medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), FICCI-IBA Bankers Survey stated previously.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the year 2017 guaranteed a recapitalisation of Rs 2.11 lakh crore for the PSBs, of which, Rs 88,139 crore was infused in FY18. Before December 2018, the government provided a recapitalisation amount of Rs 1,57,476 lakh crore, counting in the amount infused in previous FY18.

Since the recapitalisation announcement till November 2018, PSBs were recapitalised to the tune of Rs. 1,28,861. Further, the centre infused Rs 28,615 crore into seven PSU banks in December last year.

The Financial Express reported, after the government announced the total amount allocated for recapitalisation, until November 2018, an amount of Rs 1,28,861 was allocated for recapitalisation, was used by the PSBs. The government also infused Rs 28,615 crore for recapitalising seven PSBs in December 2018.

Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had already stated that under IMF accounting, it does not include the fiscal deficit; in any case, under Indias accounting, it does, as the government would be liable to pay the interest and confront value of the bonds.

However, being a long-term debt, it gives time to banks to improve their balance sheets by raising their credit and private investment. With the banks circumstance improvement, the government can at that point retire the debt from the proceeds by offering the bank equities which it purchased earlier, reported the Financial Express.

(With agency inputs)
Bsnl it will also comply with the decision of the Indian government on the issue of use of communications equipment of Chinese vendors, such as Huawei. (Photto: File)

New Delhi: India's largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd said on Wednesday that 5G spectrum auction should not be held before 2020 to allow for more time to evolve India-specific use cases and added that its current holding of radiowaves helps it to offer many 5G-like services.

The operator - which holds 35.6 per cent of the total wireless subscriber market share as per latest TRAI data - also said it will comply with the decision of the Indian government on the issue of use of communications equipment of Chinese vendors, such as Huawei.

"In Indian context, government has not taken a position unlike some other countries....Australia, New Zealand, and the US have taken a clear position...Of course, we will follow whatever the Indian government decides and we will work with the government to ensure that India's strategic needs and security are fully looked after," Vodafone Idea Chief Technology Officer Vishant Vora told reporters here.

The comments come at a time when the some countries, including Australia, have banned Huawei equipment from 5G rollout, while the US has gone on an outright offensive against the Chinese telecom gear firm alleging security concerns.

In India, Swadeshi Jagran Manch has called for ban on Chinese telecom equipment as also Chinese social media and e-commerce apps.

Vora declined to speak on specific arrangements the operator has with its equipment vendors.

He said that the full integration of the two telecom networks - Idea Cellular and Vodafone India - post the mega merger last year is "on track" and expected to be completed by June 2020.

Last year, Idea and Vodafone completed the merger of their India operations to create the country's largest telecom operator to take on competition from rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. British telecom major Vodafone holds 45.1 stake in the combined entity, while Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group controls 26 per cent and Idea shareholders own 28.9 per cent.

"We, at the time of merger, had said it will take three years for completing the integration of the network. We have since then revised that estimate and said we will complete this by June 2020 which is half the time. We are on track for that," Vora said.

Asked whether the company is in favour of auction of radiowaves this year, Vora said that the firm has the capability of near-5G services even with its current spectrum repository.

"The year 2020 (timeline) and spectrum issue is different. It is not about us running out of spectrum. It is more related to developing India specific use cases for 5G. And given the current focus on giving high speed broadband services across vast geography of India, we believe the industry needs to stay focused on that mission and 5G is something much more suitable that can come after 2020," he said.

Vora added: "The most appropriate time to hold auctions will be somewhere after 2020" but did not specifically comment on whether the company would, at all, participate in auctions if they were to be held this year.

The telecom sector has been bruised by falling tariffs, eroding profitability, and mounting debt in the face of stiff competition triggered by disruptive offerings of Reliance Jio, owned by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani. The industry has been seeking urgent relief measures entailing debt restructuring, cut in levies, and release of GST input tax credit locked up with the government.

The total debt of Vodafone Idea, alone, stood at Rs 1,23,660 crore at the end of December 31, 2018, while its consolidated loss for the third quarter of 2018-19 stood at Rs 5,005.7 crore.

The company is also planning to raise Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue, in which the promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- have reiterated to the board that they plan to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 7,250 crore, respectively as part of such rights issue.
The company said it will make further announcements at the appropriate time.

New Delhi: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital (RCap) on Thursday said it has invited Nippon Life Insurance to acquire up to 42.88 per cent, which is its entire stake, in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd (RNAM).

Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co Ltd already holds 42.88 per cent stake in RNAM.

"Reliance Capital Ltd has invited its partner, Nippon Life Insurance Co Ltd to make an offer to acquire up to 42.88 per cent stake held by Reliance Capital in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd," Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing. The company said it will make further announcements at the appropriate time. As per BSE data, as on December 31, 2018, Reliance Capital held 42.9 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group companies have been trying to monetise some of their assets and bring down the debt significantly. The Supreme Court on Wednesday held RCom Chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for violating its order by not paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson, and said they faced a three-month jail term if Rs 453 crore was not paid to Ericsson in four weeks. The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in four weeks.
The promoter (Government of India) said additional offering period of Bharat 22 ETF was opened and closed on February 14, 2019. (Photo: India)

New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday exempted state-owned Coal India from complying with regulations with regard to its proposed buyback programme for 4.46 crore shares.

Coal India had filed an application on February 12 with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) seeking exemption from the strict enforcement of the buyback norms.

The application has been necessitated on account of transfer of 4,46,80,850 equity shares of Coal India which were held by the promoter (government), to the asset management company of the Bharat 22 ETF in the month of February, according to a Sebi order.

The promoter (Government of India) said additional offering period of Bharat 22 ETF was opened and closed on February 14, 2019.

It is noted that the proposed transfer equity shares by the promoters will occur during the period between the date of passing the resolution of the board of directors approving the offer of buyback of securities of the company (i.e. February 4, 2019) and the closure of such offer, Coal India said.

Under buyback regulations, it imposes an obligation on the company to ensure that its promoters do not deal in the shares of the company in the stock exchange or off-market including inter-transfer of shares among themselves during the period from the date of passing the resolution of the board of directors till closing of the buyback offer.

On February 4, Coal India's board had approved the buyback of 4.46 crore equity shares, representing about 9.86 per cent (stand alone basis) of aggregate of fully paidup equity capital at a price of Rs 235 per equity share for an aggregate consideration of Rs 1,050 crore.

The PSU in its application said that in the proposed buyback, 15 per cent of the number of equities will be reserved for small shareholders which will benefit larger number of such small shareholders.

"The transfer of securities from the promoters to Bharat 22 ETF scheme being part of an ongoing disinvestment programme, I do not find it appropriate to stop the proposed buyback if it is otherwise for the benefit of the shareholders of Coal India," Sebi Whole Time Member G Mahalingam said in a Wednesday order.

Accordingly, it grants relaxation to Coal India from ensuring compliance with the the Buyback Regulations, 2018 in relation to the proposed buy back of 4,46,80,850 equity shares, Sebi said.
The settlement is for four years from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2022, and it will benefit around 20,000 employees in the Indian cement industry

New Delhi: Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) on Thursday said it has signed a four-year wage settlement agreement with federations of major central trade unions entailing a rise of Rs 5,000 in gross monthly pay of 20,000 workers in the sector.

The agreement was signed with Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) before the chief labour commissioner (central) here, CMA said in a statement.

The settlement is for four years from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2022, and it will benefit around 20,000 employees in the Indian cement industry by way of an increase in gross pay, enhanced dearness allowance and service weightage, it said.

"The settlement provides for an increase of Rs 5,000 per month in the gross pay of cement employees," it said adding that arrears for 11 months will be paid in two instalments.

A total of 21 cement companies, consisting major players which cover 60 per cent of the country's total cement capacity, had authorised CMA to negotiate with the trade unions on their behalf.

CMA former president and India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan had led the CMA team in the negotiation.

The national-level, industry-wide settlement has been in practice since 1992, representing a unique collective bargaining in the truest sense with management and unions siting across the table and signing before the Central chief labour commissioner, Srinivasan said.

"This has assured industrial peace in the industry in the last 26 years," he added.

"As an industry, we are collectively committed to creating sustainable opportunities for better livelihood for our employees and being partners to the government for creating sustainable business operations so relevant for the growth of the nation," said CMA President Mahendra Singhi, who is also the MD and CEO of Dalmia Cement (Bharat).

Congratulating CMA and the trade unions on reaching an amicable settlement in such a short time, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Rajan Verma said: "The cement industry is an important industry for the inclusive growth of the country and there has been a change in approach with the value of industry being well appreciated on both sides."
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Dalhousie Universitys Board of Governors voted last Tuesday (Feb. 12) to adopt a Fossil Fuel Investment Review report from the Investment Committee, including specific measures to broaden communication of Dals Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investment practices and its enhanced investment risk assessments specifically related to climate change.

These include specific communication on Dalhousies ESG integration, more specific follow-up with investment fund managers around climate change risk, and formally signing onto the UNs Principles for Responsible Investment.

Read the full report: Fossil Fuel Investment Review (2019)

Ian Nason, Dalhousie vice-president finance and administration, explains that Dal was one of the first universities in Canada to adopt ESG investment practices back in 2013. While those practices already took climate change-related factors into account, these new measures endorsed by the Board provide additional language and direction around climate change risks in the investment portfolio.



Climate change is a real concern globally, and thats something thats reflected across our operations as a university, says Nason.



Dalhousie and its partners have invested more than $93 million in sustainability-related projects on campus over the past decade. The university hosts Canadas first College of Sustainability and holds a prestigious gold rating from STARS  the worlds foremost rating system for sustainability across all aspects of higher education (teaching, research, operations).



Dals ESG practices



The new report marks the second time the Investment Committee has reported on fossil fuel investments at Dal. Its first report, adopted by the Board in November 2014, rejected a proposal for full divestment from fossil fuel-related investment funds but supported continued integration of ESG factors, which Dal had first adopted in its investment policies the year prior.



This new report follows the motion passed by the Board last February requesting the Investment Committee to assess the need for a third-party search for fossil free investment funds for Dalhousie.



The Investment Committees review reached the following conclusions:

Dalhousies ESG integration includes climate change risk assessment along with other risks to improve performance. Better communication on Dalhousies ESG integration and related activities is required. Dalhousie become a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI). Provide specific Climate Change Risk (CCR) communication. Continue to add private investments in renewable and clean-tech that have promise to meet return threshold targets.



As part of its review, the Investment Committee engaged a third-party to undertake an independent environmental scan of potential sustainable or fossil-fuel-free institutional investment products, but was unable to identify funds that both fit the definition of fossil fuel free and met Dals standards for risk-adjusted investment returns. The Investment Committee worked collaboratively with stakeholders  including Senate committee and student Board reps  to explore approaches to address climate change risks in the universitys investment portfolio.



In addition to discussions with these groups, reports authored by the Senate (February 2018) and the student rep (September 2018) were helpful in demonstrating the need for clearer and more forceful language relating to climate change risks.

Reinforcing Dal's commitment



Among the Investment Committee reports conclusions, endorsed by the Board, are that Dalhousies investment manager reviews will include specific follow-up on climate change risk, and that Dalhousie continue to add private investments in renewable and clean tech that have promise to meet risk-adjusted return threshold targets.

Read the full report: Fossil Fuel Investment Review (2019)



It also recommended Dalhousie become a formal signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). A UN-associated initiative thats the worlds leading proponent of responsible investing, PRIs principles are ones Dalhousie has looked to (and have followed) for some time, but the university was hesitant to formally sign on due to concerns about resources required to fully meet their standards. However, discussions between Dalhousie and PRI have identified that Dal is further ahead on PRI principles than many other signatories, and the Investment Committee felt signing on would be further indication of the universitys continued commitment to sustainable investments.



Finally, the report suggests Dalhousie update its investment website with clear direction around the climate change aspects of its ESG practices, with the following language recommended:



Dalhousie University believes that anthropogenic climate change poses substantial risk (CCR) to human and natural systems, and that local and international efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels are critical to addressing this risk. Dalhousie University believes how companies respond to this risk, and to efforts, is an important consideration when assessing long-term value. Companies which deny the reality of climate change and fail to take actions to address this risk, or oppose actions to mitigate climate change, may pose an unwarranted risk to the Endowment Funds. Staffs formal reviews of investment managers will include specific questions on CCR in the respective investment strategies. Consistent with the Principles of Responsible Investing, related measures will be reviewed and reported on an ongoing basis.



Likewise, subject to assessment of business strategy, management and financial metrics, opportunities in alternative energy and other technologies to mitigate the impacts of CCR have the potential to be good investments."



In producing this latest report, the Investment Committee also examined what other Canadian universities are doing with regards to fossil fuel investment questions, surveyed Board members, engaged with the Advancement office for a discussion on donor investment inquiries, and met with Senate committee and student representatives. The Investment Committee feels this engagement, reflected in the reports conclusions, strengthens the ESG elements of Dals investment program.



The Investment Committee found the discussions with Senate representatives and student Board member representative to be thoughtful and productive, says the report. This has led the Investment Committee to identify further improvements to its overall approach to address not just climate change risks, but other ESG factors as well.

Building on success to date





The Investment Committee report also offers a sense of how successful Dals ESG practices have already been.



Weve heard directly from our investment managers that Dals push around ESG practices is what led them to formally adopt ESG in their work, explains Colin Spinney, university treasurer.



In 2013, when Dal first adopted ESG principles, only a few of its 20+ investment managers were formally using ESG. Today, investment managers who have formally adopted ESG represent nearly 80% of the universitys overall portfolio.



As well, through ESG factor integration with ongoing risk/reward assessment, Dals investments in the top 100 coal and the top 100 oil and gas publicly-traded reserve holders globally have declined from 3.3% of the investment fund to 1.3% since integration of ESG factors was adopted six years ago.



Dalhousie has done a commendable job in walking the talk, said Investment Committee Chair Aubrey Palmeter, speaking on behalf of the report at Tuesdays Board meeting. Board Chair Larry Stordy also took time in the meeting to recognize the advocacy efforts of the student group Divest Dal, thanking them for pushing fossil fuel investment issues onto the Boards agenda.

Read also: Board Highlights  February 12, 2019

Student Board rep Kathleen Olds, who is also a Divest Dal organizer, spoke in favour of the motion. [Climate change] is not a theory, its not a future possibility, its very real and happening right now, and affecting millions of people around the world, she said. If we continue to invest in companies who have climate change risks, we are undermining the fundamental mission of the university.
Some of the easiest ways to think about diversity focus on questions of who. Who is present within a space? Who has a seat at the table? Who is given the opportunity to speak  and who is listened to? Questions of who can also be documented and reported on, turned into numbers and figures, with relative ease.



But if diversity stops at who, it misses other questions every bit as crucial, like what and how.



Its about getting beyond the numbers, says Dal Provost Teri Balser. Numbers are easier to monitor, but metrics and targets dont get at the heart of what diversity is, and its value.



For a university, that means thinking about more than just enrolment numbers and faculty complement  important as those are  and diving into what happens in the classroom, at the heart of the academic experience.



These days, questions of diversifying or decolonizing curriculum are top-of-mind in higher education, both as an effort to develop courses and programs to better reflect the growing diversity in universities, and also to challenge systemic biases inherent in the largely white, Eurocentric systems of knowledge that have shaped the history of Western universities.



Pushing for change



For Senate Chair Kevin Hewitt, curriculum diversity has been something hes been pushing for most of his life.



As a member of the African Canadian community, this has been a battle  in the school system, for my kids to have a diverse, inclusive curriculum, and in my own experience as a student and faculty member, he says.



During graduate studies at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Hewitt and his peers pushed the administration to encourage a more inclusive curriculum, even organizing their own 12-part lecture series, Missing: Pieces of the African Heritage Puzzle, to try and bring diverse perspectives across different disciplines to campus. Going through that process, you realize that diversifying the curriculum doesnt mean, Oh, well add a course here where well put all the diverse perspectives, and you can take it or not.



To illustrate his point, Dr. Hewitt pulls out his copy of The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities, a 2017 book that counts Dal sociologist Howard Ramos among its authors. He flips to a chapter from the University of Albertas Melina Smith, quoting Harry Garuba of the University of Cape Town.



Do we simply add new items to an existing curriculum  rather like adding raffia chairs to the masters living room? writes Dr. Garuba. Or do we adopt the reverse approach in which we rethink how the object of study itself is constituted?



[Diversity is] not an add on, says Dr. Hewitt in response. Its embedding it in the curriculum, in syllabuses across the university . . . Its diversity infrastructure  part of the foundation of what we do.



Asking the right questions



Of course, making changes to a foundation isnt necessarily easy. In the case of curriculum, and trying to make it more diverse, it means a conversation thats different in every course, every discipline, every faculty. And its a full of intersectional terms with lots of room for interpretation and meaning: diversifying, decolonizing, indigenizing.



For Dr. Balser, new to Dalhousie but who has worked on these sorts of issues in previous roles in Australia, she sees enthusiasm growing for those conversations among deans, faculty members and students.



The question is, what kind of goals do we want to set, institution-wide? Its clear that diversifying curriculum is the right thing to do, but we need to explore what it will mean to us as a university and to the wide variety of disciplines within Dal.



The deans have a key leadership role to play in that process, and Dr. Balser says shes eager to work with them on how those conversations can flow down through faculty councils  appreciating that what a diverse curriculum would mean for a medicine program, for example, might be different than in physics or English.



Meanwhile, on a university wide level, Senate has a crucial role as well. At each of its meetings, Senate invites a guest to deliver a five-minute presentation on diversity and inclusion topics, helping raise awareness and understanding among senators. This year, those presentations are focused on curriculum issues.



Senate is also in the process of organizing an open forum on curriculum diversification, set to take place this fall, that will invite national and local speakers to campus to help further increase awareness and understanding around the issues.



Creating a stronger university



Dr. Balser says shes hopeful that, working across the university, there are some easy gains to be made towards encouraging diversity in curriculum, but also acknowledges that getting these conversations right will take time. Dr. Hewitt agrees.



Because its a longstanding problem, its going to take a long time to fix, he says. But we need attention to it  and crucially, equity and inclusion requires resources, too, in order to address longstanding problems. He, specifically, cites the importance of faculty diversity: The ultimate solution is to have a diverse faculty complement.



The end result, he hopes, will be a stronger, more supportive university.



If we actually accomplish the goal of diversifying the curriculum across all our faculties, then what well see, I think, is students feel a greater sense of belonging, because theyll see themselves reflected in it, he says.



We need all minds, says Dr. Balser. We have a lot of challenges were facing as a society, as communities  complex, difficult things like climate change, like socio-political changes. These are tough issues, and I truly believe we need all minds working on them, everybodys different perspectives. Because every place Ive been, in every place Ive taught, together we come up with more, better solutions than any one of us can individually.



Thats the underlying philosophy of it all: together, were better.


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(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 21 - A centrist, anti-Netanyahu bloc has formed in Israel between Benny Gantz's "Resilience" party and Yair Lapid's "There is a Future" party, which will run together on the electoral ticket in the April 9 elections. The name of the new political alliance is 'Blue and White'



The parties' agreement provides for alternating the prime ministership in the event of victory at the polls. The first prime minister in the alternating agreement would be former army chief of staff Gantz, who is considered Netanyahu's most serious challenger.(ANSAmed).


ANSAmed - Today's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 21 - These are the main events scheduled for today in the Euro-Mediterranean area: BELGRADE - Tourism Fair kicks off (up to 24).



MADRID - Arab House, 7.30pm - Conference titled 'Politics of Neighborhood with the Mediterranean' with the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, Nasser Kamel.



PODGORICA - Visit by EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn (also 22).



ANKARA - The 13th Ankara Book Fair continues with Italy as guest of honor (until February 24). ABU DHABI - Exhibition 'Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from the Leiden collection and the Musee du Louvre' (until May 18).



ROME - Exhibit titled 'Shapes of the Soul' in the Dali Room of the Cervantes Institute with works of painting, sculpture, photography, video and installations by 14 Spanish artists continues (to March 30). (ANSAmed).




ISIS fighters in Syria 'not surrendering, evacuation halted' Kurdish-led forces 'ready for final attack' on besieged pocket

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 21 - The evacuation of fighters and civilians from a camp with tents in which the last Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are besieged in eastern Syria has been halted after the jihadists refused to surrender. Reports were from sources from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the Baghouz plain, where an unknown number of fighters and civilians including their wives and children remain. The Kurdish-led forces surrounding the tent camp set up by ISIS diehards are waiting for the final signal to ''eliminate the last fighters remaining'', ANSA was told by Kurdish armed forces on the ground. ''But we are trying to get as many civilians out of the camp as possible,'' the source said. The Syrian side of the Baghouz plain is between the Euphrates River and the Iraqi border. (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 21 - The European Union will contribute to a modernisation project at the Carthage National Museum as part of the programme "Tunisie Notre Destination", which aims to diversify Tunisia's tourist offerings, said Valdimir Rojanski, part of the EU Cooperation delegation in Tunisia.



The museum, situated on the Byrsa hill in Carthage, is one of the country's most important museums after the Bardo.



Rojanski said restoration work on the museum is set to start in April.



The goal of the EU programme is to make Tunisia a destination for cultural and ecological tourism, as opposed to the classic Tunisian tourism model based on beach resorts, low-cost fares, and all-inclusive packages.



"The wealth of heritage in Tunisia must be promoted in order to improve the economic impact of tourism," Rojanski said.



The EU programme will also finance the craftsmanship and design sectors, with a nine-million-euro contribution across five years towards companies and products with a strong potential for economic development aimed at increasing exports.(ANSAmed).


He does, however, have a day job he is reluctant to neglect. And he soon will become chair of the National Governors Association. So, he clearly is not eager to mount a losing challenge  which it surely would be  just to unfurl the tattered flag of recognizable Republicanism.

Opposing any incumbent president is not a day at the beach, and campaigning against today's uniquely smarmy incumbent would be especially disagreeable. Hogan has, however, undergone, while governor, six rounds of chemotherapy (24 hours a day, five days a week, times six, spanning 18 weeks) to defeat an advanced and aggressive cancer (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), so has endured something almost as unpleasant as Donald Trump.

Furthermore, his father, a former FBI agent and a Maryland congressman on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974, was the only Republican to vote for all three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon. Probably for this reason, he lost the 1974 Republican nomination for governor.

It is unlikely that Hogan will gratify those who are offering to hold his coat while he brawls with Trump. Still, this town on the Chesapeake Bay will remain known as the incubator of something else germane to today's discontents.
The renaming of the southeast Roanoke school, park and library comes as officials across Virginia rethink the connotations of statues and other memorials to the Confederacy and its leaders.

City officials said they chose the new name because research showed that before being officially named Jackson Park, the park was commonly known as Belmont Park. The name was apparently borrowed from the adjacent Belmont neighborhood.

The new name would conform to the citys policy of naming libraries and parks when possible with geographic names.

Council members said last week they liked the idea of returning to a name of local historical significance which was used in the past.

The name change followed the Roanoke School Boards decision in July to drop Jacksons name from the middle school across the street from the park. That school is now called John P. Fishwick Middle School, named for a former Norfolk and Western Railway president who grew up in the neighborhood.

Only one man spoke at a public hearing before the votes Tuesday night. William Drewery grew up in southeast Roanoke and defended Jackson as a veteran who should be respected regardless of the cause he fought for.
Its all fixed. Its all rigged, Toscano said.

House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said Republicans had a perfectly good resolution on the floor before Democrats tried to change it.

It was not us hijacking this resolution that spoke to equality in no uncertain terms, Gilbert said.

An ERA resolution passed the Senate with bipartisan support last month, but it failed weeks ago in a GOP-controlled House subcommittee.

The proposed federal amendment says: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. It provides that Congress shall have the power to enforce its provisions by appropriate legislation.

The ERA was approved by Congress in the 1970s, but it wasnt added to the Constitution because it did not reach ratification by 38 states. Activists have made a new push for state ratification, calling it a long-overdue step and an unequivocal declaration that women are equal to men.

Virginia Republicans who have spoken against the ERA have warned that it could have unintended consequences  such as creating a new legal basis for abortion rights  and have argued the window to ratify the amendment has already closed.
(ANSA) - Rome, February 21 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday that he has nothing to do with the case of the allegedly forced return to North Korea of the daughter of the Communist State's former envoy to Italy in November following his attempted defection.

"Ask the foreign ministry, it's a question about embassies," League leader Salvini told Radio Anch'io when asked about the daughter of North Korea's former envoy to Rome, Jo Song-gil.

"I knew nothing about it. It's nothing to do with me".

The Italian foreign ministry issued a statement on Wednesday saying the North Korean embassy in Italy on December 5 2018 informed the Italian foreign ministry that former charge d'affaires Jo Song Gil and his wife had left the embassy on November 10 and that their daughter, having asked to return to her grandparents in her country, returned there on November 14 2018, accompanied by embassy female staff.

Jo started his diplomatic mission to Italy in 2015 and took over the functions of the ambassador after Ambassador Mun Jong-nam was expelled in October 2017 following North Korean nuclear tests.

ANSA sources said that the daughter is a 17-year-old high-school student.

Salvini added that he would not meet a request from members of his coalition alliance partner, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), for him to report to parliament on this case. "If a girl wanted to go back to her grandparents in her own country, took a scheduled flight and was relaxed at the airport, going through the police checks and checking in without saying anything, what has it got to do with the interior minister?" Salvini said.

"What should I report on?".


Elizabeth Johnson Rice, who is one of the Richmond 34, said Wednesday that the group welcomed Northam to the VUU event and had not been reached by student government representatives before they asked Northam to reschedule.

Rice wrote a letter to Northam early Wednesday objecting to the visit being canceled.

She added that the Richmond 34 are split on whether Northam should stay in office. But, she added, those she has contacted are open to public dialogue on the issue.

In my letter, I talked about having a forum in the near future so the governor and the students and the community could talk about this issue, Rice said. Hopefully that will happen also.

Northam has made few public appearances since the Feb. 1 discovery of the racist yearbook photo, which shows a man in blackface and another man in a Ku Klux Klan robe. He apologized that day, but the following day he said he believes he was not in the photo. However, on Feb. 2 he disclosed that he wore blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance contest in San Antonio in 1984.

The governor has so far rejected widespread calls to resign, and has instead embarked on a tour of private visits with black leaders in the state.
Theyre putting the goddess of virtue in jail and this is the goddess that is on the seal of Virginia overthrowing a tyrant, White said. You know that this is coming from a political standpoint.

A magistrate on Monday set a secured bail of $700 for Sutherland, an artist who has lived in Brooklyn for five years and has no criminal record, according to Richmond General District Court records. But during a video arraignment Tuesday, Judge Lawrence B. Cann III ordered Sutherland to be held without bond. Cann, the courts chief judge, declined to be interviewed.

Kevin Martingayle, a lawyer in Virginia Beach and past president of the Virginia State Bar, said holding Sutherland without bond is unusual.

What the woman did in re-enacting the flag/seal is classic political speech entitled to the highest free speech protection known to law, he said by email. She should win and the denial of bond seems to be totally inappropriate. I am very surprised to see that done in a case in which shed be unlikely to get jail time even if convicted.

Holding someone in jail is serious, he said in an interview.

Anybody who thinks sitting in jail is a small thing, go ask if theyll have you as an overnight guest and see how you like it, Martingayle said.
Its available for a suggested donation of $10. Learn more online at thehaven.org/the-haven-homecooking/.

Cookie connoisseurs

Nelson Memorial Library will have an Oreo Cookie Tasting event at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. There will be a blindfolded taste test to see which one of eight different flavors of Oreos hits the spot. The event is free.

Breakfast and brain power

Locust Grove Middle School has received a $3,000 No Kid Hungry Virginia grant to support its Breakfast After the Bell program, which brings breakfast to the classroom.

The program makes it easier for students who cant catch traditional cafeteria breakfast service in time before the school day begins.

Almost 1,000 Virginia schools already offer Breakfast After the Bell, which offers several models. The grant will help the Orange County school purchase such items as kiosks for the programs Grab and Go model, in which students pick up breakfast items from mobile carts to eat in their classrooms before or after the bell has rung. Find out more at NoKidHungry.org.

Jane Dunlap Sathe is the features editor for The Daily Progress. Contact her at (434) 978-7249 or jsathe@dailyprogress.com

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The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia will present a multisensory installation of sculpture and sound by Vanessa German from Friday through July 7. The contemporary American artist, poet and activist is filling sometimes. we. cannot. be. with. our. bodies. with art of figures without heads, heads without bodies, found objects and ephemera.

German also will be in residence at UVa during March to work with students and community members in a variety of creative settings, including art projects, creative writing workshops and tours.

The installation, which previously was presented at Pittsburghs Mattress Factory in 2017, addresses timely issues of violence, loss and inequality, especially in communities of color and the LGBTQ community.

Matthew McLendon, the Fralins J. Sanford Miller Family director, organized the installation for the Fralin.

State of the Art, a documentary scheduled to premiere on PBS in April, will feature German and her work. In December, she was recognized with the 2018 Don Tyson Prize, a major biennial award from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
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Spectris plc manufactures and sells measuring instruments and controls worldwide. The company provides products and services, which enable customers to determine structure, composition, quantity, and quality of particles and materials during their research and product development processes, when assessing materials before production, or during the manufacturing process; various range of life science services; products for measurement and control of temperature, humidity, pressure, strain, force, flow, level, pH, and conductivity; and data acquisition, electric heating, and custom-engineered products. It also supplies test, measurement, and analysis equipment, software, and services for product design optimization and manufacturing control; and designs and manufactures tooling and monitoring system for installation and acquisition services, data processing services, 24/7 monitoring, and advanced analytics consulting. In addition, the company offers various industrial automation products, including IIoT controllers and gateways, data acquisition and protocol converters, human machine interface operator displays and panel meters, visualisation software products, proportionalA-integralA-derivative controllers, remote terminal units, input/output products, and signal conditioners and sensors; and industrial networking products, which include ethernet switches, wired and wireless routers, and network and device management software products. Further, it provides on-line and off-line measurement and control solutions for the dimensional monitoring of diameter, ovality, wall thickness, eccentricity, length and speed, and other parameters; particle measuring systems; and supplies gas analysis solutions and various related product and services. The company was formerly known as Fairey Aviation Company Ltd. and changed its name to Spectris plc in May 2001. Spectris plc was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Egham, the United Kingdom.

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Southwest Airlines Co. operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated a total fleet of 718 Boeing 737 aircrafts; and served 107 destinations in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. Its services also cover destinations in Hilo on Hawaii; Cozumel, Mexico; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Palm Springs, California; and Montrose (Telluride and Crested Butte), Colorado. In addition, the company provides inflight entertainment and connectivity services on Wi-Fi enabled aircrafts; and Rapid Rewards loyalty program that enables program members to earn points for dollars spent on Southwest base fares. In addition, the company provides a suite of digital platforms to support customers' travel needs, including Southwest.com, mobile website, and apps; and SWABIZ, an online booking tool. Further, it offers ancillary services, such as Southwest's EarlyBird Check-In, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, 49-51 avenue George V Holdings SAS, 49-51 avenue George V SCI, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III (Scots) L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Campus Drive LLC, Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. LLC, Cibecue LLC, Coconino LLC, Colico II Inc., Columbus Drive Partners L.P., Commerce Street Holdings LLC, Commerce Street Investments LLC, Coolidge LLC, Coral Reef GP, Coral Reef L.P., Coral Reef Unit Trust, Cottage Street Investments LLC, Cottage Street Orbit Acquisition LLC, DHFL PRAMERICA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers Private Limited, DHFL Pramerica Trustees Private Limited, Don Cesar Investor LLC, Dryden Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Dryden Finance II LLC, EUROCORE MARTY PROPCO SCI, EVP II GP S.a r.l., Edison Place Senior Note LLC, Essex LLC, EuroCore GP S.a r.l., EuroPRISA Management Company S.A., European Value Partners GP S.a.r.l., Everbright Pramerica Fund Management Co. Ltd., Flagstaff LLC, GA 1600 Commons LLC, GA 333 Hennepin Investor LLC, GA Bay Area GP LLC, GA Bay Area Investor LLC, GA Belden LLC, GA CLARENDON LLC, GA Cal Crossings LLC, GA Collins LLC, GA E. 22nd Street Apartments Holdings LLC, GA East 86 Street LLC, GA JHCII LLC, GA MENLO PARK INVESTOR LLC, GA Manor at Harbour Island LLC, GA Metro LLC, GA Mission LLC, GA TRITON INVESTOR LLC, GA W Paces LLC, GA/MDI 333 Hennepin Associates LLC, GIBRALTAR BSN HOLDINGS SDN BHD, GIBRALTAR INDIA SOLUTIONS LLP, Gateway CDE LLC, Gateway Holdings II LLC, Gateway Holdings LLC, German Retail Income CP LP, Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad, Gibraltar International Service LLC, Gibraltar Reinsurance Company Ltd., Gibraltar Universal Life Reinsurance Company, Glenealy International Limited, Global Portfolio Strategies Inc., Graham Resources Inc., Graham Royalty Ltd., Green Tree GP, Green Tree L.P., Greenlee LLC, Halsey Street Investments LLC, Hirakata LLC, IVP Fund GP LLC, Impact Investments Bridges UK S.a.r.l, Inversiones Previsionales Chile SpA, Inversiones Previsionales Dos SpA, Ironbound Fund LLC, Jennison Associates LLC, Kyarra S.a r.l., Kyoei Annuity Home Co. Ltd. (Kabushiki Kaisha Kyouei Nenkin Home), Kyoei do Brasil Companhia de Seguros, LINEUP LLC, Lake Street Partners IV L.P., MC GA COLLINS HOLDINGS LLC, MC GA COLLINS REALTY LLC, MC Insurance Agency Services LLC, Manor at Harbour Island LLC, Maricopa LLC, Market Street Holdings IV LLC, Mulberry Street Holdings LLC, Mulberry Street Investment L.P., Mulberry Street Partners LLC, Mullin TBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services, New Savanna, Orchard Street Acres Inc., PAI Bayrock Groves LLC, PAI Delano 1500 Ranches LLC, PAI Good Hope Farm LLC, PAI Holly Hill Groves LLC, PAI Hunt Farm LLC, PAI Lake Placid Groves LLC, PCP V Cayman AIV GP L.P., PEREF II Co-Invest 1 GP S.a r.l., PEREF II GP S.a r.l., PEREF II PV S.r.l, PFI IBH (UK) Holdings Limited, PG Business Service Co. Ltd, PG Collection Service Co. Ltd., PG Insurance Service Co. Ltd. (PG Insurance Service Kabushiki Kaisha), PGA Asian Retail Limited, PGA European Limited, PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd, PGIM (Hong Kong) Ltd., PGIM (Scots) Limited, PGIM (Shanghai) Company Ltd., PGIM (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PGIM AVP IV GP S.a r.l., PGIM Agricultural Investments GP LLC, PGIM Agricultural Investors LP, PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Fund L.P., PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Partners LLC, PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Fund Management Limited, PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM ITH (UK) Holdings Limited, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Company Ltd, PGIM REF Europe GP LLP, PGIM REF Europe L.P., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate (Japan) Ltd., PGIM Real Estate Asia Value Partners IV SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Brazil Investimentos Imobiliarios Ltda., PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate European Core Diversified Property Fund, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Strategic Financing LLC, PGIM Strategic Investments Inc., PGIM USPF VI Manager LLC, PGIM Warehouse Inc., PGLH of Delaware Inc., PIFM Holdco LLC, PIM KF Blocker Holdings LLC, PIM KF Blocker V Holdings LLC, PIM USPF V Manager LLC, PLA Administradora Industrial SRL, PLA Administradora LLC, PLA Administradora S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional II S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional S.de R.L. de C.V., PLA Co-Investor LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager I LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager II LLC, PLA Mexico Residential Manager I LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Limited Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Blue LP, PLA Retail Fund I LP, PLA Retail Fund I Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Red LP, PLA Retail Fund II Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LP, PLA Retail Fund II Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II U.S. Carry/Co-Invest LP, PLA Services Manager Mexico LLC, PMCF Holdings LLC, PMCF Properties LLC, PPPF General Partner LLP, PR GA SCP Apartments LLC, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP (SCOTS FEEDER) LLP, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP LLP, PRECO ACCOUNT III LLC, PRECO ACCOUNT PARTNERSHIP III LP, PRECO Account IV LLC, PRECO Account Partnership IV LP, PRECO III GP LLP, PREFG Hanwha Manager LLC, PREI Acquisition I Inc., PREI Acquisition II Inc., PREI Acquisition LLC, PREI HYDG LLC, PREI International Inc., PRIAC Property Acquisitions LLC, PRICOA Management Partner Limited, PRISA Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Fund Manager LLC, PRISA III Fund GP LLC, PRISA III Fund PIM LLC, PRREF II Fund Manager LLC, PRU 3XSquare LLC, PRUCO LLC, PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL ENERGY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT (FEEDER) LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP MEMBER LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP REIT LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE 2 LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE LLC, PT Asuransi Jiwa Mega Indonesia, Passaic Fund LLC, Pine Tree GP, Pine Tree L.P., Pramerica (Hong Kong) Holdings Limited, Pramerica (Luxembourg) CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica (Scots) CP GP LLP, Pramerica Business Consulting (Shanghai) Company Limited, Pramerica EVP CP LP, Pramerica Europrisa Feeder GP LLP, Pramerica Financial Asia Headquarters Pte. Ltd., Pramerica Financial Asia Limited, Pramerica Fixed Income Funds Management Limited, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pramerica General Partner LLP, Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Life S.p.A., Pramerica Marketing S.r.l., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate (Scots) LP, Pramerica Property Partners Fund (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Netherlands) GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica SGR S.p.A, Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited, Pramerica of Bermuda Life Assurance Company Ltd., Preco III (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Preco IV (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pricoa Capital Group (Ireland) Limited, Pricoa Capital Group Limited, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Asset Resources Inc., Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Brasil Servicos de Consultoria em Gestao Empresarial Ltda., Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Group L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Customer Solutions LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd. (Prudential Gibraltar Agency Kabushiki Kaisha), Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential HYDF Carry/Co-Invest L.P., Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Home Building Investment Advisers L.P., Prudential Home Building Investors Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Industrial Properties LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Cayman, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Latin American Investments Ltd., Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc., Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential Private Placement Investors Inc., Prudential Private Placement Investors L.P., Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Real Estate Management Co. Ltd. (Prudential Real Estate Management Yugen Kaisha), Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Securities Structured Assets Inc., Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential U.S. Real Estate Debt Fund GP LLC, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., Quantitative Management Associates LLC, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock City MC LLC, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock George V S.a. r.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Hamburg North S.a r.l., Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Marty Holding S.a r.l., Rock Marty PropCo A S.a r.l., Rock Marty PropCo B S.a r.l., Rock Marty SCSp, Rock Meguro LLC, Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock Rhine S.a r.l., Rock Rossmarkt S.ar.l., Rock UK Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. (Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service), Senior Housing Partners IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, Times Square Center Associates, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC.
Unisys Corporation operates as an information technology services company worldwide. It operates in two segments, Services and Technology. The Services segment offers cloud and infrastructure services, application services, and business process outsourcing services. Its solutions include Unisys InteliServe, a service solution that transforms traditional service desk into an intelligent, user-centric experience aligned with the needs of the modern digital workplace; Unisys CloudForte, a comprehensive managed service offering to help accelerate the secure move of data and applications to the cloud; and Unisys Security Solutions, a portfolio that includes managed security services, security consulting services, the Unisys Incident Response Ecosystem subscription service, and the TrustCheck cyber risk management solution. The Technology segment designs and develops software, and hardware and other related products. Its products include Unisys ClearPath Forward, a software operating environment for high-intensity enterprise computing; and Unisys Stealth security software, which enables trusted identities to access micro-segmented critical assets and safely communicate through secure and encrypted channels. This segment also provides industry solutions, which help law enforcement agencies solve crime; social services case workers assist families; travel and transportation companies manage freight and distribution; and financial institutions deliver omnichannel banking. The company serves customers in the government, financial services, and commercial markets through direct sales force, distributors, resellers, and alliance partners. Unisys Corporation was founded in 1886 and is based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

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Since 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. produces, distributes, and markets value-added frozen potato products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The company offers frozen potatoes, sweet potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as various customer labels. The company also offers its products under its owned or licensed brands, such as Grown in Idaho and Alexia, and other licensed brands, as well as under retailers' own brands. In addition, it engages in the vegetable and dairy businesses. The company serves retail and foodservice customers; grocery, mass, club, and specialty retailers; and businesses, independent restaurants, regional chain restaurants, and convenience stores, as well as educational institutions. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.

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KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides used vehicle auctions and related vehicle remarketing services for the automotive industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments, ADESA Auctions and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. It also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, vehicle research, and analytical services, as well as data as a service. This segment sells its products and services through vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies, and others. As of December 31, 2020, this segment had a network of 74 whole car auction facilities in North America. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing to independent used vehicle dealers; and sells vehicle service contracts. The company provides wheel repair and hail catastrophe response services. It serves vehicle manufacturers, vehicle rental companies, financial institutions, commercial fleets and fleet management companies, and dealer customers. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

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Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

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Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Austria ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI Austria ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
Carlisle Companies Incorporated operates as a diversified manufacturer of engineered products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Carlisle Construction Materials, Carlisle Interconnect Technologies, Carlisle Fluid Technologies, and Carlisle Brake & Friction. The Carlisle Construction Materials segment produces building envelopes for commercial, industrial, and residential buildings, including single-ply roofing products, rigid foam insulations, spray polyurethane foam, architectural metal products, heating, ventilation and air conditioning hardware and sealants, waterproofing products, and air and vapor barrier systems. The Carlisle Interconnect Technologies segment produces wires and cables for the commercial aerospace, military and defense electronics, medical device, industrial, and test and measurement markets. It also offers sensors, connectors, contacts, cable assemblies, complex harnesses, racks, trays, and installation kits, as well as engineering and certification services. The Carlisle Fluid Technologies segment produces engineered liquid products, powder products, sealants and adhesives finishing equipment, and integrated system solutions for spraying, pumping, mixing, metering, and curing of coatings used in the automotive manufacture, general industrial, protective coating, wood, and specialty and automotive refinishing markets. The Carlisle Brake & Friction segment provides duty brakes, and clutch and transmission products for the construction, agriculture, mining, aircraft, on-highway, and other industrial markets. The company sells its products under the Carlisle, Binks, DeVilbiss, Ransburg, BGK, MS Powder, Hawk, Wellman, Thermax, Tri-Star, LHi Technology, Providien, SynTec, Weatherbond, Hunter Panels, Resitrix, Hertalan, Insulfoam, and Velvetouch brands. Carlisle Companies Incorporated was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Ad Legacy Research 854 Interested This Week

To Any American Who Owns a Cell Phone

If you own a cell phone, then mobile service providers hope you never get to see this video that could soon go viral. His experiment could strike a bad chord with mobile phone companies. But youve got to see what this man discovered and what it means for phone users in the weeks ahead.
Brady Corporation manufactures and supplies identification solutions (IDS) and workplace safety (WPS) products to identify and protect premises, products, and people in the United States and internationally. The IDS segment offers safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control products, and lockout/tagout devices for facility identification and protection; materials and printing systems for product identification, brand protection and work in process labeling, and finished product identification; and hand-held printers, wire markers, sleeves, and tags for wire identification, as well as software and services for safety compliance auditing, procedure writing, and training. Its products also comprise name tags, badges, lanyards, and access control software for people identification; wristbands and labels for tracking and enhancing the safety of patients; and custom wristbands for use in theme parks, concerts, and festivals. This segment serves customers in various industries, such as industrial and electronic manufacturing, healthcare, chemical, oil, gas, automotive, aerospace, governments, mass transit, electrical contractors, leisure and entertainment, telecommunications, and others through distributors, direct sales, catalog marketing, and digital channels. The WPS segment provides workplace safety and compliance products, such as safety and compliance signs, tags, labels, informational signage and markings, asset tracking labels, first aid products, facility safety and personal protection equipment, and labor law compliance posters for various industries, including process, government, education, construction, and utilities, as well as manufacturers through catalog and digital channels. It also offers stock and custom identification products, as well as sells related resale products. Brady Corporation was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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

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The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.
The following companies are subsidiares of Textron: AAI Corporation, AAI Services Corporation, ALSTOM Gears, Able Aerospace Services Inc., Able Engineering & Component Services, Aeronautical Accessories LLC, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company LLC, Arctic Cat, Arctic Cat ACE Holding GmbH, Arctic Cat Deutschland GmbH, Arctic Cat Espana SL, Arctic Cat France SARL, Arctic Cat GmbH, Arctic Cat Inc., Arctic Cat Italia srl, Arctic Cat Production LLC, Arctic Cat Production Support LLC, Arctic Cat Sales Inc., Arctic Cat Shared Services LLC, Arctic Cat UK Ltd., Arkansas Aerospace, Arkansas Aerospace Inc., Avco Corporation, Avco Rhode Island (2002) Inc., Aviation Service servis letal, Aviation Service servis letal doo Ljubljana, Aylesbury Automation, B/K Navigational Equipment sro, Beech Aircraft Corporation, Beech Enterprises, Beech Enterprises Holding, Beech Holdings, Beechcraft, Beechcraft Australia Pty Limited, Beechcraft Corporation, Beechcraft Defense Company, Beechcraft Defense Support Holding, Beechcraft Defense Support Holding LLC, Beechcraft Domestic Service Company, Beechcraft Germany GmbH, Beechcraft Holdings, Beechcraft India Private Limited, Beechcraft International Holding LLC, Beechcraft International Service Company, Beechcraft New Zealand, Beechcraft Service Company UK Limited, Beechcraft Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bell Helicopter Asia (Pte) Ltd., Bell Helicopter Canada International Inc., Bell Helicopter GK, Bell Helicopter India Inc., Bell Helicopter KK, Bell Helicopter Korea Inc., Bell Helicopter Miami Inc., Bell Helicopter Prague, Bell Helicopter Prague a.s., Bell Helicopter Rhode Island Inc., Bell Helicopter Services Inc., Bell Helicopter Supply Center B.V., Bell Helicopter Supply Center BV, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Limited/Limitee, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Bell Technical Services Inc., Benzlers, Brazaco Mapri Industrias, Burkland, CCP Holdings (ATAC), Cadillac Gage Textron Inc., Cam Tool LLC, Cessna Aircraft Company, Cessna Aircraft Rhode Island Inc., Cessna Citation European Service Center S.A.S., Cessna Citation European Service Center SAS, Cessna Consulting (Shenyang) Co, Cessna Consulting (Shenyang) Co. Ltd., Cessna Dusseldorf Citation Service Center GmbH, Cessna Finance Corporation, Cessna Finance Export Corporation, Cessna Mexico S de RL de CV, Cessna ServiceDirect, Cessna Spanish Citation Service Center SL, Cessna Zurich Citation Service Center GmbH, Citation Parts Distribution International, Citation Parts Distribution International Inc., Cushman, Cushman Inc., Datacom Technologies, David Brown Group, Doncaster Citation Service Centre Limited, E-Z-GO (Jiangsu) Electronic and Technology Co., E-Z-GO Canada Limited, EM Systems, ETOPS (AS) UK Limited, ETOPS Aviation Services Malaysia SDN BHD, ETOPS SAS, Endura-Greenlee Tools (Shanghai) Co., Energy Manufacturing, Flexalloy, Greenlee Communications Limited, Greenlee Textron Inc., Gustav Klauke GmbH, HBC LLC, HD Electric Company, Hawker Beech International Services de Mexico S de RL de CV, Hawker Beech de Mexico, Hawker Beech de Mexico S de RL de CV, Hawker Beechcraft Argentina SA, Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support, Hawker Beechcraft do Brasil Assessoria e Intermediacao de Negocios Ltda., Howe & Howe Technologies Inc., Howe and Howe Technologies, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Industrial Technology Inc., InteSys Technologies, International Product Support Inc., Jacobsen Professional Lawn Care Inc., KSB Annecy SAS, Kautex, Kautex (Changchun) Plastics Technology Co, Kautex (Changchun) Plastics Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Chongqing) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Chongqing) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Guangzhou) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Guangzhou) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Pinghu) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Shanghai) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Shanghai) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex (Wuhan) Plastic Technology Co., Kautex (Wuhan) Plastic Technology Co. Ltd., Kautex Corporation, Kautex Craiova srl, Kautex Inc., Kautex Japan KK, Kautex Plastic Technology Gujarat Private Limited, Kautex Poland Sp. z.o.o, Kautex Shanghai GmbH, Kautex Textron (UK) Limited, Kautex Textron Benelux B.V.B.A., Kautex Textron Benelux BVBA, Kautex Textron Bohemia spol sro, Kautex Textron Bohemia spol. s.r.o., Kautex Textron CVS Limited, Kautex Textron GmbH & Co. KG, Kautex Textron Iberica, Kautex Textron Iberica SL, Kautex Textron Management Services Company de Puebla, Kautex Textron Management Services Company de Puebla S. de RL de CV, Kautex Textron Portugal  Produtos Plasticos, Kautex Textron Portugal  Produtos Plasticos Ldas., Kautex Textron de Mexico S de RL de CV, Kautex Textron de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Kautex Textron do Brasil Ltda., Kautex of Georgia Inc., Kaywood Products Corp., King Atmosphere General & Industrial Services and Project Management, King Atmosphere General & Industrial Services and Project Management LLC, Klauke, Klauke France SARL, Klauke Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H., Klauke Polska Sp. z o.o., Klauke Slovakia sro, Klauke Textron (Jiangsu) Electrical Connection Technology Co., Klauke UK Limited, LLC Hawker Beechcraft International RSA, LLC Textron RUS, Maag, McCord Corporation, McTurbine Inc., Mechtronix Systems, Medical Numerics, Medical Numerics Inc., Midland Industrial Plastics, MillenWorks, MillenWorks Themed Technologies, MotorFist LLC, OPINICUS Simulation and Training Services, OPINICUS Simulation and Training Services LLC, OmniQuip International, Opinicus Corp., Optical Boring Co., Opto-Electronics, Opto-Electronics Inc., Overwatch Systems, Overwatch Systems Ltd., PEINER Umformtechnik, Pirelli Tyres - General Rubber Goods (GRG) division, Progressive Electronics, Ransomes, Ransomes America Corporation, Ransomes Inc., Ransomes Investment LLC, Ransomes Jacobsen France S.A.S., Ransomes Jacobsen France SAS, Ransomes Jacobsen Limited, Ransomes Limited, Ransomes Pensions Trustee Company Limited, Ransomes Property Developments Limited, Replacement Part Solutions, Replacement Part Solutions LLC, Ring Screw Works, Rotor Blades Limited, STE Holding Inc., Sherman + Reilly, SkyBOOKS Inc., Suekosim Verbindungselemente, TRAK International, TRAK International Inc., TRU Simulation & Training Spain, TRU Simulation & Training Spain SL, TRU Simulation + Training Canada Inc., TRU Simulation + Training Inc., TRU Simulation + Training LLC, TUG Technologies Corporation, TekGPS Engineering Srl, Textron Acquisition Limited, Textron Airborne Solutions Inc., Textron Airland, Textron Airland LLC, Textron Atlantic Inc., Textron Atlantic LLC, Textron Aviation Australia Pty. Ltd., Textron Aviation Canada Ltd., Textron Aviation Defense LLC, Textron Aviation Finance Corporation, Textron Aviation Inc, Textron Aviation Inc., Textron Aviation Rhode Island Inc., Textron Capital BV, Textron China Holdings S.R.L., Textron China Inc., Textron Communications Inc., Textron Far East Pte, Textron Far East Pte. Ltd., Textron Fastening Systems Inc., Textron Finance Holding Company, Textron Financial Corporation, Textron Financial Corporation Receivables Trust 2002-CP-2, Textron Fluid and Power Inc., Textron France E.U.R.L., Textron France EURL, Textron France Holding S.A.R.L., Textron France Holding SARL, Textron Germany Holding GmbH, Textron Global Services Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment Inc., Textron Ground Support Equipment UK Limited, Textron IPMP Inc., Textron Iberia, Textron India Private Limited, Textron Innovations Inc., Textron International Holding, Textron International Holding BV, Textron International Inc., Textron International Mexico, Textron International Mexico S de RL de CV, Textron Limited, Textron Management Services Inc., Textron Motors GmbH, Textron Motors North America Inc., Textron Outdoor Power Equipment Inc., Textron Realty Corporation, Textron Rhode Island Inc., Textron Shared Service Centre (Canada) Inc., Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., Textron Sweden AB, Textron Systems Australia Holding Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Textron Systems Canada Inc., Textron Systems Corporation, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK (Holdings) Limited, Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK Limited, Textron Systems Rhode Island (2001) Inc., Textron Trading (Shanghai) Co., Textron Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Textron UK Pension Trustee Limited, Textron Ulasm Alet ve Parcalar Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Textron Verwaltungs-GmbH, Travel Air Insurance Company, Turbine Engine Components Textron (Newington Operations) Inc., United Industrial Corporation, United Industrial Corporation Limited, Westminster Insurance Company, Williams Machine & Tool, and Wuxi Textron Specialized Vehicles Co. Ltd..
SFL Corporation Ltd. engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. It is also involved in the charter, purchase, and sale of assets. In addition, the company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industry, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil product transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs. As of June 14, 2021, it had a fleet of approximately 80 vessels, such as container vessels, bulkers, tankers, and offshore drilling rigs. It operates in Bermuda, Cyprus, Liberia, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the Marshall Islands. The company was formerly known as Ship Finance International Limited and changed its name to SFL Corporation Ltd. in September 2019. SFL Corporation Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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Halliburton Company provides a range of services and products to oil and natural gas companies worldwide. The company's Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services, including stimulation and sand control services; and cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, as well as provides casing equipment. It also provides completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, liner hanger and sand control systems, and service tools; production solutions comprising coiled tubing, hydraulic workover units, downhole tools, pumping services, and nitrogen services; and pipeline and process services, such as pre-commissioning, commissioning, maintenance, and decommissioning. In addition, this segment offers electrical submersible pumps, as well as artificial lift services. The company's Drilling and Evaluation segment provides drilling fluid systems, performance additives, completion fluids, solids control, specialized testing equipment, and waste management services; oilfield completion, production, and downstream water and process treatment chemicals and services; and drilling systems and services. It also offers wireline and perforating services, including open-hole logging, and cased-hole and slickline; and drill bits and services comprising roller cone rock bits, fixed cutter bits, hole enlargement, and related downhole tools and services, as well as coring equipment and services. In addition, this segment provides cloud based digital services and artificial intelligence solutions on an open architecture for subsurface insights, integrated well construction, and reservoir and production management; testing and subsea services, such as acquisition and analysis of reservoir information and optimization solutions; and project management and integrated asset management services. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is based in Houston, Texas.

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Wall Street analysts have given iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
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.

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Equifax Inc. provides information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services for businesses, governments, and consumers. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), Workforce Solutions, International, and Global Consumer Solutions. The USIS segment offers consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting; mortgage services; financial marketing; and identity management services. The Workforce Solutions segment provides employment, income, and social security number verification services, as well as payroll-based transaction and employment tax management services. The International segment provides information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management. The Global Consumer Solutions segment offers credit information, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection products directly to consumers through internet. The company serves customers in financial service, mortgage, employers, consumer, commercial, telecommunication, retail, automotive, utility, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as state, federal, and local governments. It operates in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Russia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. Equifax Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Chico's FAS, Inc. operates as an omnichannel specialty retailer of women's private branded casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, and complementary accessories. It operates under the Chico's, White House Black Market (WHBM), Soma, and TellTale brands. The Chico's brand primarily sells private branded clothing focusing on women 45 and older. The WHBM brand sells everyday basics and denim, polished casual apparel, relaxed workwear, black and white pieces, feminine all-occasion dresses, shoes, belts, scarves, handbags, and jewelry for women 35 and older. The Soma brand sells private branded lingerie, sleepwear, and loungewear products. The TellTale brand sells private branded lingerie products. As of January 30, 2020, it operated 1,302 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands; and 68 international franchise locations in Mexico and 2 domestic airport locations. The company also sells its products through retail stores and catalogs; and through chicos.com, chicosofftherack.com, whbm.com, soma.com, and mytelltale.com, as well as through third party channels. Chico's FAS, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida.

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14 hours ago

| June 26th | 2021 6:00 AM

What to Do When Your Portfolio Bores You: Go Skydiving Instead

You're allocated, diversified and saving 10% or more for retirement. You (or your robo-advisor) have the rebalancing thing down pat. But you're a little bored. Life isn't all that exciting. And when Bobby next door makes money in some obscure cryptocurrency, you might feel a little, well, put out. Your returns aren't 400% like his. And so, you look into tweaking your portfolio.
Since 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

A10 Networks, Inc. provides networking solutions in the United States, Japan, other Asia Pacific, and EMEA countries. The company offers Thunder Application Delivery Controller (ADC) that provides advanced server load balancing; Lightning ADC, a cloud-native software-as-a-service platform to boost the delivery and security of applications and micro services; and Thunder Carrier Grade Networking product, which offers standards-compliant address and protocol translation services for service provider networks. It also provides Thunder Threat Protection System (TPS) for the protection of networks and server resources against massive distributed denial of service attacks; Thunder Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Insight solution that decrypts SSL-encrypted traffic and forwards it to a third-party security device for deep packet inspection; and Thunder Convergent Firewall, which addresses various critical security capabilities in one package by consolidating various security and networking functions in a single appliance. In addition, the company offers intelligent management and automation tools comprising harmony controller that provides intelligent management, automation, and analytics for secure application delivery in multi-cloud environment; and aGalaxy TPS, a multi-device network management solution. The company delivers its solutions on optimized hardware appliances, bare metal software, containerized software, virtual appliances, and cloud-native software. It serves cloud providers, service providers, government organizations, and enterprises in the telecommunications, technology, industrial, retail, government, financial, gaming, and education industries. The company markets its products through sales organizations, as well as distribution channel partners, including distributors, value added resellers, and system integrators. A10 Networks, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

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A 28-year-old youth who was arrested in a burglary case allegedly committed suicide inside the lock up at Saria police station on Thursday morning. The deceased has been identified as Shakil Ahmad belonging to Delhi.

According to reports, he reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself with his towel. The deceased reportedly worked as a driver in Delhi. He was detained by Saria police team, while quarrelling with someone. According to the police, the deceased was kept at the lockup as a precautionary measure and to inquire about the altercation.

The police brought the Ahmad to the police station here at 3am and locked him up in the cell and he was found hanging by the neck 6 am. He was then rushed to the hospital for examination, where he was declared brought dead at around 6:30am. Meanwhile, Giridih SP Surendra Kumar Jha visited the police station for finding the case. It was found the negligence of the police officials.
Delhi Commissioner of Police, Amulya Patnaik, on Thursday launched a new child centric initiative called Naazuk as a pilot project from Bharat Nagar area of North West district which will soon be extended to other parts of Delhi. The launch was attended by around 800 children and 200 parents of the area.

Speaking on the occasion, the CP said that necessity of a new initiative to make the children and their parents aware and to help in prevention of incidents of child abuse was felt so Naazuk is launched today in North West District of Delhi Police and this initiative will gradually apply in other vulnerable areas of Delhi.

Patnaik also said that Naazuk is different from Nirbheek program. In Nirbheek, police address children in schools while in Naazuk, we reach out to children and their parents in their residential areas and living spaces.

As part of this initiative, children and their guardians will be sensitized about the potential threats with the help of Role play, short films and dramatics. Services of experts in the field of child psychology will also be resorted to bring about clarity in the minds of children, said Anil Mittal, Additional Public Relation Officer (APRO), Delhi Police.

To make the program interesting for children, information is imparted in the form of Questions and Answers session. This initiative is a step further by the Delhi Police to instill confidence in the minds of blooming buds to teach them to raise their voice and report such incidents, said APRO.
Tehri Hydro Development Corporation India Limited (THDCIL) has initiated a programme to provide tuberculosis-afflicted children from the poor families with nutritious food through its non-government service-oriented organisation Seva THDC.

As per the release issued by THDCIL, 15 such children are being provided with milk, juice, eggs, fruits, sweets and some others daily as part of the programme.

The release further said that the programme has been initiated under the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR). On Thursday, such children have been given water filters, masks, plates, glasses, blankets and bottles among others by the general manager, social and environment department of THDCIL, Shailendra Singh.

He urged the children to carry on their fight against the disease till they are cured and said that they could be fully cured through taking nutritious food in sufficient quantity daily and availing the proper medical treatment.

The district TB officer Dr Sudhir Pande was also present on the occasion among others. The children were also enlightened on the symptoms, reasons and medical treatment by some who have been cured of the disease.
With the Lok Sabha elections slated to be announced next month, an Election Commission team led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora will visit Lucknow for three days starting February 27 to assess poll preparedness in Uttar Pradesh.

The Chief Election Commissioner will be accompanied by two Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra.

Chief Electoral Officer of UP, L Venkateshwarlu, said here on Thursday that during its three-day stay, the Election Commission team would meet a delegation of political parties followed by a meeting with Chief Secretary, DGP, Principal Secretary (Home) and Principal Secretary (Excise).

On February 28, the Election Commission would hold a meeting with district magistrates/ returning officers of 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, SPs/SSPs of all 75 districts along with divisional commissioners and DIGs/IGs.

The Election Commission team will also meet officials of Income Tax, Narcotics, Transport, departments banks, railways and civil aviation to make them aware of their role in the elections.

Venkateshwarlu said that before winding up the visit, the Chief Election Commissioner would address a press conference to make the media aware of the outcome of these meetings.
Express train engine catches fire in Balangir

Balangir: A train engine of the Visakhapatnam-Bhagatki Kothi Express train caught fire near the Harishankar road station on Thursday. After the driver noticed it, the trains movement was stopped. Fire Services officials rushed to the spot. No casualty was reported though the incident created panic among the passengers. The exact cause of the fire was not known, but it was suspected to be an electric short circuit. The train later left with another engine.

DAVians celebrate Mother Language Day

Bhubaneswar: The DAVians of Chandrasekharpur celebrated the International Mother Language Day amid a series of activities like self-composed poem recitation, speeches on the importance of the mother language and a dance drama on language marvels in both the campuses on Thursday.

Tech fest Festronix 2k19 ends at GIFT

Bhubaneswar: A two-day Tech Fest, Festronix 2K19, held at the Gandhi Institute for Technology (GIFT), Bhubaneswar concluded on Wednesday. About 2,000 students from across the State showcased their talents and developed their skills on the theme Startup Odisha. As many as 38 events were held like robotics, user interface design, auto cad, hydro bit. Chief guest Startup Odisha evangelist Prashant Kumar Biswal urged students not just to focus on getting a job rather try at being an entrepreneur. Rashmi Ranjan Sahu, GIFT Principal Dr S Krishna Mohan Rao, Vice-principal Dr Alok Kumar Mohapatra and academics dean Dr PK Subudhi were present.
Lake, ponds to be constructed: Hry CM

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that like Sahibi River, lake and ponds would be constructed at 50 locations in the State for ground water recharging. He said, with the rainy water entering into Sahibi River, the water level in the nearby areas have come up. The present BJP Government in the State has ensured water to the tail ends in the state, he said. The BJP would form government in the state for the second consecutive term by winning more than 60 to 70 seats, he added.

A yr more extension for associated schools

Chandigarh: Keeping in mind the interests of children and teachers of Associated Schools of the state, the Punjab Government has given one more year extension to fulfill the affiliation criteria. Punjab Education Minister OP Soni said, initially these schools were given the time up till March 31, 2019 to comply with the guidelines so that the future of children and interests of the teachers could be secured. Now, these associated schools have been given March 31, 2020 deadline to fulfill required criteria. 'Punjab Private Schools' Organization' had requested the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Education Minister OP Soni that four lakh students and 50,000 teachers are directly connected with these institutions.

Forest Dept locates 332 bird species in HP

Shimla: The Great Backyard Bird Count (7th Indian edition) has been held in Himachal Pradesh. A spokesman said, participation in the event involved a minimum of 15 minutes bird-watching during which all the bird species seen were counted and listed. 287 checklists were uploaded in to e-Bird by 55 participants. All the districts were surveyed during the count and a total of 332 bird species were recorded. Birding locations included wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, conservation reserves, villages and urban areas. He said that more than 150 bird species were recorded in Mandi, Shimla, Kangra and Sirmaur districts.

Financial aid to Pulwana martyrs

Chandigarh: Haryana IAS Officers Association has decided to provide financial assistance to the dependents of the Pulwama martyrs. In a letter issued by the Treasurer of the Association, Amit Kumar Agrawal, said amount would be deposited in the CRPF Relief Fund. Additional Chief Secretary rank officer would donate Rs 10,000, super time scale or senior scale officer would donate Rs 5,000 and new IAS officer would donate Rs 2,500 respectively, towards the CRPF Relief Fund. 44 Jawans of CRPF attained martyrdom and several others injured in the terrorist attack in Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) on February 14.

MCMC constituted as an appellate authority

Shimla: In view of general elections 2019, a State Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) has been constituted as an appellate authority for hearing and disposal of appeals against the decision of district level MCMC and State level certification committee.

Chief Electoral Officer HP Devesh Kumar said, a State Level Certification Committee has been constituted to deal with applications from Political Parties and Organisations for certification of advertisements on a TV channel/cable network/radio/video/ social media websites.

Commission of depot holders increased

Chandigarh: Haryana Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department has increased the commission/margin of all depot holders in the state from Rs 100 to Rs 150 per quintals. A spokesperson said, the work of distribution of food grains, wheat, millet and fortified flour is done by the State Government through depot holders. The depot holders will now get Rs 150 per quintal instead of commission/margin Rs 100 per quintal from the Department. With this, the average monthly income of depot holders is expected to increase from Rs 9,000 to Rs 12,000.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Thursday visited Rewaris Rajgarh village and Faridabads Atali village to pay tribute to martyrs Hari Singh and Sandeep Kumar respectively.

Expressing condolences to the bereaved family members, Manohar Lal assured them all support and cooperation of the State Government.

He said that brave soldiers of Haryana have always made supreme sacrifices for their motherland whenever required and we are proud of it.

The Chief Minister said that the bravery with which our soldiers fought with the terrorists to safeguard our frontiers, with the same spirit, the whole country is today saluting their courage. The State Government has stood firm by the martyrs family, he added.

Notably, during an operation launched by Army at Pulwama- Piglina area in Srinagar, one officer and three jawans of 55-RR Battalion attained martyrdom and Hari Singh was one of them who laid down his life while fighting with the terrorists.

Martyr Hari Singh is survived by his mother Pista Devi, wife Radha Bai and 10 months old son Laksh.

Manohar Lal said that financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh has already been given to the martyrs family. While, Rs 17.50 lakh each has been transferred in the bank accounts of martyrs wife and son through RTGS, Rs 15 lakh has been transferred in the bank account of his mother.

He also assured that martyrs widow would be provided a government job.

While talking to the family members of Nayak Sandeep Singh, Manohar Lal said that by sacrificing his life for the security of motherland, Sandeep Kumar has made not only his village and district proud but also the State and the country.

Sandeep Kumar who got injured during an encounter with the terrorists was admitted in the Army base hospital where he succumbed to the injuries on February 19.

Expressing condolences to Nainpal Singh, father of martyr Sandeep Kumar and other family members, Manohar Lal said an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50 lakh has been deposited by the State Government into their bank accounts. Apart from this, one family member of the martyr would be provided a government job on compassionate ground soon, the Chief Minister said.

He further said that on the demand of villagers, the Government School of village Atali would be named after martyr Sandeep Kumar.
Young Gujarati Patidar reservation leader Hardik Patel met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Thursday and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying that it would not come to power at any cost at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.

Uttar Pradesh will play a pivotal role in the Lok Sabha polls and it will also show the door to the BJP, Patel said, claiming that the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance would sweep the polls in the state.

In a joint press conference with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Patel said that he would support any party which was opposed to the BJP like SP, BSP and Congress in UP, but his first choice would be the SP.

He also denied any intention of contesting the Lok Sabha polls from UP. I have been coming to UP for the last 3-4 months and there is a strong resentment against the (Narendra) Modi and Yogi (Adityanath) governments everywhere. The farmers and youths are depressed in this regime while fake promises made by the Prime Minister before and after the elections indicate the ruling partys anti-people stance, the 25-year-old leader said.

While admitting that the BJP had become very powerful in the country, Patel said the opposition would have to throw out the regime which has been violating all constitutional norms.

I am still learning politics by going around the states. But it is true that the Gujarat model showcased by Modi and other BJP leaders has fallen flat. In Gujarat, there are 20 districts which do not have irrigation facilities. Those opposing the BJP are termed as anti-nationals and those who support their anti-constitutional approach are stamped as nationalists, Patel said.

The Patidar leader also raised the issue of intelligence failure leading to the killing of over 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama, Kashmir. This BJP government at the Centre has failed to deliver and is playing politics over the countrys security. In other words, I can say that the BJP is doing politics on every issue, he said.

When asked if a joint opposition against the BJP in UP could have been more powerful, Patel said, I tried for a grand SP-BSP-Congress alliance but it did not materialise.
The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has envisaged a plan to decongest the traffic in the city under integrated traffic management system (ITMS). The need to have ITMS is being felt since many parts of the city witness traffic snarls on regular basis.

GDA Vice Chairperson Kanchan Verma said that the civic agency has identified 50 sensitive points in the city where high tech Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) will be installed to check the traffic.

In order to make the traffic smooth, a consultant would be appointed to execute the project. Some consultants have shown their interests in the project. The final decision to appoint the consultant would be taken soon, she said.

The expected project cost to implement ITMS will Rs 58 Crore. Earlier the traffic police had suggested 80 places for installing CCTV cameras but it was reduced to 50 strategic places, a senior GDA official said, adding that the final decision in this regard will be taken soon. The agenda has been drafted that will be tabled in the board meeting on February 28.

In addition to make the city free from traffic jam, the other shortcomings in road infrastructure are also being taken in consideration. A series of development work will be taken including constructing service lanes alongside major city roads, shifting of electric poles and removing of hutment in these areas within a stipulated period of two months.

The GDA is also planning to construct a cow shelter home (Gaushala) on 18,000 square metre lands in the city, the official said.

The Chief Engineer of Municipal Corporation Mohiddin Khan said that earlier the Municipal Corporation had to build the gaushala in Nandi Park but now it will be developed by GDA as directed by the state administration. We have initiated the process and have invited tender for the same. The total cost of both projects would be Rs 79 Crore he added.
Electronic goods and furniture of Deepmala Infrastructure office worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in massive that broke in the wee hours on Thursday at Gammon India Mall in TT Nagar.

The fire which broke out at 6 am was pacified within one and a half hours by around a dozen fire tender vehicles. Fire tenders were pressed into service after receiving information of fire at the office.

The fire was controlled before it could damage the nearby shops and offices of the mall. Police and fire brigade were informed by Site Administrative Officer Prashant Sharma after he came to know about the fire.

The security guard at the site informed Sharma about the fire. Sharma told the police that he left the office after closing at around 7.15 pm on Wednesday and at around 6 am he got information of fire. The loss is estimated to be around Rs 15 lakh.

In the fire four computers, four air conditioners, two printers, two photocopier machines, CCTV systems and furniture were gutted in fire completely. Company which is working as construction agency to develop the mall has claimed that important documents and records were also damaged in the fire.

The reason of the fire remains unknown as in the initial investigation it was found that the fire was not short circuit borne. Investigation would be conducted regarding the reason of the fire. Police suspects that the office was set on fire which was alleged by the employees of the company.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said the police firing incident at Mandsaur, in which six farmers were killed during the previous BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh, will be re-investigated and no clean chit has been given to anyone in the case.

A controversy had erupted when Home Minister Bala Bachchan had told the assembly early this week that the 2017 police action was in self-defence and to protect government and private properties, virtually endorsing the stand taken by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan administration.

The written statement had left the state Congress, which had made the Mandsaur police firing a key election issue, red-faced.

The Congress came to power in Madhya Pradesh last year after a gap of 15 years.

While talking to media persons at Shajapur, Singh said, "The police firing in Mandsaur district that left six farmers dead in June 2017 (during an agitation) will be re- investigated. No clean chit has been given to anyone in it.

"BJP men and officers (considered close to the party) were still sitting pretty in lower rung in the (Congress) government. These people were behind such a reply on the floor of the assembly," the Rajya Sabha member claimed.

Bachchan's reply Monday had riled the former chief minister, who had publicly expressed his displeasure.

Talking to reporters Tuesday, Singh had said the "clean chit" given to the BJP by the Congress minister, whose statement virtually "justified" the police firing on farmers, was not acceptable to him.
Days after a Government report suggested the creation of a second home for the Asiatic lions from Gujarat's Gir forest, a Parliamentary panel too has recommended that wildlife experts may be consulted for exploring the option of relocating/shifting some of the lions in nearby areas or other sanctuaries, if feasible.

The panel, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, in its report 'status of forest fire', observed that lion population in the Gir forest is decreasing due to one reason or the other. "There are many unprotected wells; lions sometimes fall down in these wells, leading to their deaths. Frequent fights amongst the lions and man-animal conflicts can also be attributed for reduction in number of lions..," said the report tabled in Parliament recently.

Asiatic Lions are listed in the Schedule-I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby according them the highest degree of protection.

Warning that lions can go the tigers' way as happened in Rajasthan's Sariska Tiger Reserve a few years ago where poaching of big cat was "going on unabated and consequently, Sariska had become tiger less a few years back," the panel noted that a real effort was made to populate it again.

The Committee hopes that unprotected wells of all wildlife sanctuaries/national parks of the country including the Gir Forest in Gujarat would be covered properly in order to save the wild animals falling into these wells and losing their lives.

In the wake of 23 lion deaths within a very short span of time ie September- October, 2018, the panel had sought status report from the Union Environment Ministry asking for the reason for fatalaities.

The Committee also expressed its concern that infighting amongst the lions of Gir forest, Gujarat might be due to over population of the lions in specific areas. The Committee recommends that wild life experts may be consulted for exploring relocating/shifting some of the lions in nearby areas/other sanctuaries, if feasible.

The suggestion echoes the views of the report, 'Asiatic Lion Conservation Project', which was released by Union Environment Minister Dr Harshvardhan on February 9, which said that among other conservation measures," the Government may consider the establishment of a second home for Asiatic Lions for securing the population from any threat of disease or epidemic".

The report had noted that the current rate of development-induced habitat fragmentation, loss of potential lion habitats owing to natural calamities triggered by climate change besides poaching and poisoning of prey carcasses plague the lions conservation, which are presently confined in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
In the wake of the horrific Pulwama terror attack, as some TV news channels have begun beating war drums at full volume, a quick recap of the 1971 war may interest discerning readers.

During the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conducted herself with remarkable patience and restraint. She won the war decisively  splitting Pakistan into two, with the new country, Bangladesh, consisting of over 60 per cent of Pakistans population.

In the lead-up to the war, faced with over 10 million refugees from East Pakistan, Indira waged a multi-pronged strategy.

Indira Gandhi showed exemplerary patience in 1971, using a multi-pronged strategy, and giving her Defence chiefs complete freedom. (Photo: Twitter)

To her Defence chiefs, she gave complete freedom and adequate time and resources to gear up for action. Her only condition was that the war should be brief, without creating international complications and bringing others into the field.

While the actual war commenced on December 3, 1971, Indira had told our Lok Sabha as early as on March 27, 1971: In a serious moment like this, the less we as a government say, I think the better it is. She spoke in the Rajya Sabha on the same day, saying, A wrong step, a wrong word, can have an effect entirely different from the one which all intend.

For over six months, between March and October 1971, Indira wrote letters to world leaders, appraising them of the situation on the Indian border. She visited Moscow  and undertook a 21-day tour of Germany, France, Britain, Belgium and the USA. She tried to arouse the worlds conscience over the merciless butchering of the civilian population in East Pakistan and the savagery of General Tikka Khan.

Indira permitted a government in exile by the Awami League near Calcutta, but refrained from according any formal status to it. When the Opposition became more vociferous, seeking the recognition of Bangladesh, Indira commented in August 1971: There are some in the country who are attempting to make political capital out of the Bangladesh issue this is no occasion for irresponsible action the government will take any such step (recognition of Bangladesh) only after careful consideration of all aspects of the question.

Indira drew the world's attention to the plight of civilians in East Pakistan, killed, starved, raped, millions also pouring into India. (Photo: AP archives)

Throughout 1970-71, Pakistan faced a civil war, where the countrys populous eastern part was controlled by civil and defence personnel from the western region  officials who had no regard for the Bangla language, customs and heritage.

In 1970, the Awami League under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won 169 out of 313 Parliamentary seats in Pakistan, but he was denied the office of prime minister. In fact, Pakistans military dictator General Yahya Khan arrested Mujib and imposed martial law on East Pakistan.

Independent researchers think that in this period, between 300,000 and 500,000 people died.

The Bangladesh government puts the figure at three million.

Many academics state that the first time rape was consciously applied as a weapon of war was during the Bangladesh War of Independence.

As per one estimate, over 300,000 Bengali-speaking women were raped.

Even as the Bangla Liberation movement unleashed guerrilla warfare under the aegis of the Mukti Bahini, blowing up railway lines and bridges, the Pakistan army launched a barbarous offensive.

Indira bided her time  even as Yahya Khan and Tikka Khan lost patience. On December 3, 1971, a pre-emptive strike on eight air-fields from Srinagar to Barmer was made. This ensured that India did not have to initiate a war.

It was Yahya Khan who imposed martial rule in East Pakistan. He lived to regret it. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Indira was in Calcutta that day and rushed to Delhi to address the nation. In her measured voice, she informed countrymen that a War has been forced on us.

Three days later, Indira recognized Bangladesh as an independent state.

Our Army, Air Force and Navy fought spectacularly well  a Pak submarine, Ghazi, was sank off Vishakhapatnam harbour and a surprise attack on Karachi made.

Even as India cruised towards a mighty win, the USA tried to intervene, moving its Seventh Fleet towards the Bay of Bengal. Indira was a picture of confidence and calmness. China maintained its neutrality while the USSR moved a fleet from Vladivostok to counter the USA armada.

By December 16, 13 days after the war broke out, Pakistans commander General Amir Abullah Khan Niazi surrendered Dacca, handing over his service revolver to Indian Lieutenant-General JS Aurora.

Victory, Hard-Fought: General Amir Abullah Khan Niazi surrendering to Indian Lieutenant-General JS Aurora. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Post victory, Indira was quick to announce ceasefire. She made it clear to the world that Indias ambitions were not territorial, nor revengeful or expansionist. Throughout 1971, she gave the maximum weightage and importance to military commanders and did not act in panic or impulse.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then one of the front-ranking Opposition leaders, described Indira Gandhi as Abhinav Chandi Durga for defeating Pakistan in the war. Vajpayees description of Indira as Durga helped the Congress Prime Minister cultivate a larger-than-life image. In fact, Indira apparently later told her friend and biographer Pupul Jayakar that she had had some intimations of supernatural powers throughout the war and even previous to it, having had strange experiences.

The 1971 victory was significant on many counts. The local population of East Pakistan was extremely hostile to the Pakistani army and civil services, while it greeted Mukti Bahini with open arms. Opinion in India was near-unanimous, backing Indira Gandhi to the hilt. For instance, Syed Shahabuddin, otherwise considered a hawk among Muslim intelligentsia, had turned a vocal supporter of the creation of Bangladesh. He was in the Indian Foreign Service then and later wrote extensively on how the 1971 was a watershed year for Muslims in India.

For the first time after 1971, Indian Muslims realized that Pakistan offered them no hope, no future and itself had no future. Muslims of India were and are convinced that the fulfillment of their aspirations depends entirely upon their standing in their own country, India, Shahabuddin wrote, adding, That realisation not only put Indian Muslims on the right track but also gave them the courage and determination to face their situation squarely, to stand up and assert themselves.

According to Shahabuddin, the creation of Bangladesh gave a boost to the emergence of Indian Muslims as a factor in Indian politics.

Prior to 1971, Indian Muslims hardly spoke their mind  it was only after 1971 that they began to give voice to their opinions and became part of the national mainstream.

Also read: Terror calls for a hard martial response. And that should entail no guilt
Now, what is in a name, you may ask.

Well, the Great Indian Bustard could do with an advertisement in the Gazette to change its name to Godawan Bustard  as it is known locally.

The Great Indian Bustard is a charismatic species  it is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. To be more precise, it is found only in the Thar Desert in India, besides a very small population (of around a dozen birds  and not one breeding male amongst them) in Kutch, Gujarat. The numbers are virtually extinct in the Deccan plateau where they once roamed in large numbers in a happier time.

According to the IUCN Red List (the world's most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of species), the Great Indian Bustard is Critically Endangered.

We are not surprised, considering the population (a total of about 100 birds  give or take a few) is on the verge of extinction.

Great Indian Bustard: Hunted by Pakistanis for being "Indian". (Photo: Reuters)

Besides the obvious factors of habitat degradation, high-tension power lines and threats from predators, poaching is a huge reason for the abysmal numbers. In India, this state bird of Rajasthan is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act  it is accorded the same level of protection against poaching as the Royal Bengal Tiger or the Gir Lion. Therefore, poaching is out of the question.

However, our neighbours suffer from no such compunctions.

The bird flies across the border to Pakistan  considering it falls as a part of its habitat, and its intellect not being sharp enough to perceive the human-made borders. Once across the border, it is punished for this folly  and for its name.

The IUCN Red Lists report for 2017 raised the alarm over the about rampant poaching of the bustards in Pakistan, stating that, Current levels of hunting may result in the extinction of even the largest western Indian population in the next 15-20 years. Their analysis revealed that the GIB individuals from Naliya in Kutch cross over into Pakistan. The IUCN Red List noted that high-intensity poaching still continues in Pakistan (which is probably shared with western Rajasthan and Kachchh populations), where 49 birds were hunted of 63 that were sighted over a period of four years.

Our neighbours across the borders do not hesitate to kill just soldiers and civilians, but also the poor bustard  not so much for its meat and for sport, but for bearing Indian as a part of its name.

This human pettiness is perhaps a bottomless pit. The Great Indian Bustard is paying the price.

Also read: Why India needs to adopt ecological patriotism
California and 15 other US states have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trumps emergency declaration to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a statement saying the suit alleges Mr Trumps administrations action violates the US Constitution.

President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt, Mr Becerra said.

He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.

California will be suing President Trump today to block him from unconstitutionally stealing our tax dollars to pay for his wall #fakenationalemergency https://t.co/vIJ5FwC4xs  Xavier Becerra (@XavierBecerra) February 18, 2019

Joining California in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.

Mr Trump declared a national emergency to fulfil his promise of completing the wall.

Donald Trump was accused of treating the rule of law with "utter contempt" (AP file/Evan Vucci)

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

California has repeatedly challenged Mr Trump in court.

Ill tell you whats an emergency:



Separated families

Gun violence

Climate change



Those are some real emergencies we're facing  not a pointless border wall.  Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 16, 2019

President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up national emergency in order to seize power and undermine the Constitution, said California Governor Gavin Newsom in a statement.

This emergency is a national disgrace.

Mr Trump responded by criticising Californias lead role in the lawsuit.

On Twitter, the president noted last weeks decision by Mr Newsom to cancel a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mr Trump claimed the failed Fast Train project was beset by world record setting cost overruns and had become hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!

The president complained about the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, incorrectly identifying the plaintiffs as 16 cities before later correcting this to 16 states.
A British tourist has gone missing from a popular beach in Australia alongside his French companion.

Police have launched a search for 20-year-old Englishman Hugo Palmer and his friend Erwan Ferrieux, also 20, after items belonging to the pair were discovered at Shelly Beach, on the New South Wales coast north of Sydney.

Walkers found their belongings at about 6.30am on Monday (7.30pm GMT Sunday), and police later discovered their rental car in the beachs car park with a number of personal items, including travel documents, inside.

New South Wales Police said a water and ground search had been commenced, but there had not yet been any sign of the pair.

Inspector Michael Aldridge told the Port Macquarie News that the two men had arrived in the area on Sunday morning.

We believe from information provided so far that the items may have been there since Sunday evening as well, he said.

He described the surf conditions as terrible over the past few days.

Police have not disclosed how long Mr Palmer, reported to be from East Sussex, and Mr Ferrieux had been in Australia.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: Our staff are in contact with police in Australia and the UK following reports of a missing British man at Shelly beach, New South Wales.
A scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularised the term global warming has died.

Columbia University professor and researcher Wallace Smith Broecker died on Monday aged 87 at a New York City hospital, according to a spokesman for the institutions Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Prof Broecker brought global warming into common use with a 1975 article that correctly predicted rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would lead to pronounced temperature rises.

He later became the first person to recognise what he called the Ocean Conveyor Belt, a global network of currents affecting everything from air temperature to rain patterns.

Wally was unique, brilliant and combative, said Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer. He wasnt fooled by the cooling of the 1970s. He saw clearly the unprecedented warming now playing out and made his views clear, even when few were willing to listen.

In the Ocean Conveyor Belt, cold, salty water in the North Atlantic sinks, working like a plunger to drive an ocean current from near North America to Europe.

Warm surface waters borne by this current help keep Europes climate mild.

Otherwise, he said, Europe would be a deep freeze, with average winter temperatures dropping by 11C (20F) or more and London feeling more like Spitsbergen, Norway, which is 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Prof Broecker said his studies suggested that the conveyor is the Achilles heel of the climate system and a fragile phenomenon that can change rapidly for reasons not understood.

It would take only a slight rise in temperature to keep water from sinking in the North Atlantic, he said, and that would bring the conveyor to a halt.

Prof Broecker said it is possible that warming caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases could be enough to affect the ocean currents dramatically.

Broecker single-handedly popularised the notion that this could lead to a dramatic climate change tipping point and, more generally, Broecker helped communicate to the public and policymakers the potential for abrupt climate changes and unwelcome surprises as a result of climate change, said Penn State professor Michael Mann.

We live in a climate system that can jump abruptly from one state to another, Prof Broecker told the Associated Press in 1997.

Prof Broecker said the climate system could jump abruptly from one state to another (PA file)

By dumping into the atmosphere huge amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, we are conducting an experiment that could have devastating effects.

Were playing with an angry beast  a climate system that has been shown to be very sensitive, he said.

Prof Broecker received the National Medal of Science in 1996 and was a member of the National Academy of Science.

He also served a stint as the research coordinator for Biosphere 2, an experimental living environment turned research lab.

Prof Broecker was born in Chicago in 1931 and grew up in suburban Oak Park.

He joined Columbias faculty in 1959, spending most of his time at the universitys laboratory in Palisades, New York.

He was known in science circles as the Grandfather of Climate Science and the Dean of Climate Scientists.

His discoveries were fundamental to interpreting Earths climate history, said Prof Oppenheimer.

No scientist was more stimulating to engage with; he was an instigator in a good way, willing to press unpopular ideas, like lofting particles to offset climate change. But it was always a two-way conversation, never dull, always educational. Ill miss him.
The resignation of seven MPs from the Labour Party tops many of the front pages on Tuesday.

The Daily Telegraph says Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been warned more could resign after the Gang of Seven quit the party over bullying, anti-Semitism and Brexit.

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph 'Corbyn warned more will quit as "Gang of Seven" split Labour' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/hk7k7CEuPG  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 18, 2019

Deputy leader Tom Watson has told Mr Corbyn he must change direction or face a worsening split, The Guardian reports.

Guardian front page, Tuesday 19 February 2019: Corbyn is warned: change or more rebels will quit pic.twitter.com/sl8dUYEcNF  The Guardian (@guardian) February 18, 2019

The Times says Mr Watson told the leader to reshuffle his top team and said that he and other Labour MPs would in any case develop a policy programme in the partys social democratic tradition.

The Times 19/2/2019

Labour MPs including, Luciana Berger, (centre) and Chuka Umunna (2nd right), announced their resignations in Westminster and the creation of The Independent Group in the House of Commons. Photo : Stefan Rousseau/PA#thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday @thetimes pic.twitter.com/MjAKc8jg7f  The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) February 18, 2019

The Daily Mirror runs with the headline Splitting Headache and says the Labour Party was plunged into crisis.

Mr Corbyn was on red alert for new defectors, reports the i, while the Daily Mail describes him as a leader whos lost the plot.

What the papers say - February 19 (PA)

Tuesdays i PAPER: Corbyn on red alert for new defectors #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/MhaMaErGuq  Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) February 18, 2019

In other news, the Financial Times leads on Honda, which is set to announce the closure of its flagship UK plant, putting 3,500 jobs at risk.

Just published: front page of the Financial Times, UK edition, Tuesday 19 February https://t.co/xevFRbmCml pic.twitter.com/LQx2cveRcB  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 18, 2019

The Metro also carries the same story, and calls the plans a body blow to the UK car industry.

Meanwhile, Shamima Begum continues to make headlines, with The Sun reporting that the runaway schoolgirl said the Manchester Arena bombing was fair justification for air raids in Syria.

The Daily Express runs with a similar headline, saying the teenagers comments sparked an outcry.

Tuesdays EXPRESS: How could she say Arena bombing was justified? #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/2FrRyHHpb9  Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) February 18, 2019

And the Daily Star reports that EastEnders star Danny Dyer waded into the debate by calling for Ms Begum to be allowed back to Britain so she can explain herself.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is to brief the Cabinet on his latest talks with Brussels amid continuing deadlock over the Northern Ireland backstop.

Mr Barclay was said to have had a productive discussion with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier in the Belgian capital on Monday.

However, it appeared that they were no closer to resolving the fraught issue of the backstop  intended to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland  which remains the main stumbling block to an agreement.

The Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) confirmed they discussed the so-called Malthouse compromise being worked on by Tory MPs in the Alternative Arrangements Working Group.

Productive conversations with @MichelBarnier, with a commitment to work together to solve the backstop. Ill update my colleagues in Cabinet tomorrow.  Steve Barclay (@SteveBarclay) February 18, 2019

However there appeared to be little enthusiasm for the proposals  intended to replace the backstop with a basic free trade deal combined with technological solutions to avoid the need for physical border checks  on the EU side.

While the commission engaged seriously with these proposals it expressed concerns about their viability to resolve the backstop, a DExEU spokesman said .

We agreed to keep exploring the use of alternative arrangements  especially how they might be developed to ensure the absence of a hard border in Northern Ireland on a permanent footing, avoiding the need for the backstop to ever enter force.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Barclays meeting with Mr Barnier  with Attorney General Geoffrey Cox also present  came ahead of expected talks between Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

In an indication of the uncertainty, Mr Juncker did not rule out the possibility that delays to Brexit could result in the UK still being in the EU at the time of Mays European elections and participating in the vote.

He told German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung that such a scenario was difficult to imagine, saying it would be a belated joke of history.

Meanwhile it is reported that a group of Cabinet ministers has urged the Prime Minister to stop using the threat of a no-deal Brexit has a negotiating tactic.

Theresa May and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are expected to hold talks (Etienne Ansotte/EU/PA)

Business Secretary Greg Clark, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Justice Secretary David Gauke and Scottish Secretary David Mundell warned Mrs May businesses now need certainty the UK will not leave the EU without a deal in place, according to The Guardian.

There was no immediate comment on the report from No 10.

The report comes after rebel Tory MPs last week inflicted another damaging Commons defeat on Mrs Mays Brexit proposals, heightening fears among some in business of a no-deal break.

Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, is stepping up his call to the Prime Minister to re-think her negotiating red lines and back Labours proposals for a customs union with the EU.

The Tories are bungling Brexit while Labour has set out a unifying and credible alternative plan. When millions face the misery of Universal Credit, rising crime, homelessness and poverty, now more than ever is the time to bring people together to build a better future for us all  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 18, 2019

The Labour leader, who is addressing the EEF employers group manufacturing conference, said he would be travelling to Brussels later this week to discuss the plan with Mr Barnier.

In his speech, Mr Corbyn is expected to say: Earlier this month I wrote to the Prime Minister laying out Labours alternative Brexit plan, based around a permanent customs union with a British say in future trade deals, a strong relationship with the single market and full guarantees on workers rights, consumer standards and environmental protections.

Its a plan that could win the support of Parliament and help bring the country together.

It has been widely welcomed as a way of breaking the impasse. So I call on the Government and MPs across Parliament to end the Brexit uncertainty and back Labours credible alternative plan.
The UK Governments aim to end freedom of movement after Brexit is a self-defeating measure, according to Nicola Sturgeon.

Scotlands First Minister is to speak at the Assemblee Nationale in the French Parliament on Tuesday and will address concerns around immigration policy after the UK leaves the European Union.

Ms Sturgeon will be in Paris to open a new Scottish Government office before attending the French Parliaments 73-member foreign affairs committee.

Au plaisir d'accueillir @scotGovFM pour l'ouverture officielle de notre bureau a Paris @ScotGovFrance. S'appuyant sur des liens historiques et durables, notre equipe vise a renforcer les liens diplomatiques, economiques et culturels avec la France. https://t.co/WuTjO26vtY   pic.twitter.com/cwYacODR8T  Scottish Government France (@ScotGovFrance) February 18, 2019

For me, this is one of the saddest parts of Brexit, the First Minister will say in her speech to the committee.

The UK Government is proclaiming the end of free movement as a victory  instead, it is a self-defeating measure. It removes opportunity from millions of people.

It is an approach which is especially damaging to Scotland. Without freedom of movement there is a danger that our population will start to decline.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will address the Assemblee Nationale on Tuesday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

We could face workforce shortages in rural areas, in our universities, in our care and health services. European nationals are not only very welcome in Scotland, they are crucial to our well-being.

All of this is down to the red lines that the UK Government has chosen to draw.

Given the existence of those red lines, I understand why the European Union believes that the deal agreed in November is the best which could be achieved.

I appreciate that many people in France and across the EU would like the UK to just get on with it. But no government of Scotland which has the interests of this and future generations at heart could possibly support the current deal.

The First Minister is also expected to give her support to EU citizens currently living in Scotland and will indicate the Scottish Governments intention to step up efforts to encourage people to stay.

Ms Sturgeon will say: Those EU citizens, of course, include 7,000 French people, who are our colleagues, friends, neighbours and in many cases our family. The Scottish Government is proud that they have done us the honour of making Scotland their home.

We will always stick up for their rights  in recent months we have lobbied successfully to ensure EU citizens would not have to pay a fee to obtain settled status in the UK.

We will always make it clear that EU citizens are welcome. In fact in the coming months, we plan to step up our efforts to encourage EU citizens to stay in Scotland.
Education Secretary John Swinney has congratulated Renfrewshire Council on its progress in narrowing the attainment gap in its schools.

The local authority is the first to receive an excellent rating for its efforts in improving learning as part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

An Education Scotland report published on Tuesday notes year-on-year improvements in listening, talking, reading, writing and numeracy among pupils.

Renfrewshire is one of nine authorities in the Scottish Government-funded Scottish Attainment Challenge which aims to close the attainment gap between pupils living in the least and most deprived areas.

John Swinney said of the council: It is clear that the close collaboration between their dedicated and empowered workforce and their wider school communities is having a significant and positive impact.

These results are extremely encouraging and I look forward to seeing how the local authority builds on this momentum to truly ensure that every child in Renfrewshire is given the best possible start in life, no matter their background.

Pupils from St Anthonys Primary in Johnstone, named Literacy School of the Year by the UKLA in March last year (Renfrewshire Council/PA)

Renfrewshire has received 10.4 million in Scottish Government attainment challenge funding since June 2016.

Initiatives have included tea-time study sessions for families and a Cost of the School Day fund to make sure all children can take part in school activities.

The authority has achieved an 11 percentage point increase in expected levels of literacy and a five percentage point increase in expected levels of numeracy from 2015-2018.

The poverty-related attainment gap has, meanwhile, reduced by six percentage points in literacy and four percentage points in numeracy, it said.

Depute leader Jim Paterson, convener of the education and childrens services policy board, said: Our success is down to a collective approach.

Children and young people have gained belief in themselves and I want to thank them and their parents and carers for their effort and commitment to learning.

Our childrens services team has, through outstanding governance and leadership, also provided the right support and created the space to allow schools to deliver high quality learning and teaching.

Staff in schools have once again shown their commitment to doing the best for our children by committing the energy and drive to deliver innovative approaches which are changing the opportunities for Renfrewshire children both during their school years and for their choices when they leave school.
A new zero-tolerance limit for drug-driving and the introduction of roadside testing is to be considered by MSPs.

It would see limits set on eight drugs most associated with illegal use where any claims of accidental exposure can be ruled out.

Drugs associated with medical use would also have limits based on impairment and risk to road safety.

Community safety minister Ash Denham will give evidence to the Scottish Parliaments Justice Committee on Tuesday morning.

If approved, the new limits will come into force on October 21.

She said: Once these new regulations are in place, Scotland will have the toughest criminal law approach on drink and drug-driving in the UK with the lowest drink-driving limit and drug-driving limits through this new offence.

If approved, the new limits will come into force on October 21 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Drug-driving is completely unacceptable, and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to prevent the avoidable deaths and damage caused by those who drive under the influence of drugs.

We hope the new offence will act as a clear deterrent for those who may wish to take drugs and drive.

The UK Governments Crime and Courts Act 2013 made driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with concentration of specified controlled drug above specified limit an offence.

While the penalties for drink or drug-driving are reserved to Westminster, providing specified limits for drugs is a devolved matter.

The drugs proposed to have a zero-tolerance limit are benzoylecgonine, cocaine, cannabis and cannabinol, ketamine, LSD, methylamphetamine, MDMA/ecstasy, and heroin and diamorphine.

Medicinal drugs with impairment-based limits would be clonazepam, diazepam, flunitrazepam, lorazepam, methadone, morphine, oxazepam and temazepam.

Those taking medication as part of a prescription can claim medical defence with any new ruling, but would still be prosecuted under the existing impairment offence.
Jeremy Corbyn has been warned he faces more resignations by Labour MPs unless he gets a grip of the problem of anti-Semitism within the partys ranks.

Party chairman Ian Lavery faced an angry backlash at a stormy meeting on Monday of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) after seven MPs earlier announced they were quitting in protest at Mr Corbyns leadership.

Labour sources said Mr Lavery stressed the leaderships commitment to rooting out anti-Semitism at what was described as a heated behind-closed-doors gathering at Westminster.

But his claims were greeted with derision by some of those present with accusations that he failed to understand the enormity of the problem.

The clashes came at the end of a day which saw seven MPs walk out of the party, condemning Mr Corbyns stance on Brexit as well as his handling of the anti-Semitism issue, in potentially the most significant split in British politics for a generation.

Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey said they would be sitting as an new Independent Group in the Commons and urged MPs  from Labour and other parties  to join them.

(PA Graphics)

The response from shadow chancellor John McDonnell was to call on the MPs to do the honourable thing and stand down from Parliament to contest by-elections.

But at the PLP, a number of MPs turned their fire on the leadership after Ms Berger, who is Jewish, told a press conference she was ashamed to be a member of a party which was institutionally anti-Semitic.

Mr Lavery was said to have have expressed anger at the claim, saying that if the party was anti-Semitic he would not be a member.

But he was challenged by other MPs who said he showed no understanding of the scale of the problem.

In an emotional intervention, Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth said she and another Jewish MP, Louise Ellman, had been told by a party member they did not have human blood, but no action had been taken against the individual concerned.

I agree with every word of this. Its a very sad day for the Labour Party https://t.co/R9giBFQnXX  Ruth Smeeth (@RuthSmeeth) February 18, 2019

Afterwards Ms Ellman said. It was appalling. He (Mr Lavery) showed no understanding of the enormity of what is going on.

Ian Austin, a long-standing critic of Mr Corbyns leadership, said Mr Laverys performance had only made the situation worse.

The party has got to show it is tackling anti-Semitism. I dont think he came close to demonstrating the leadership understand the scale of the problem we have, he said.

I think it will result in people thinking long and hard about their position in the party.

(PA Graphics)

Another MP left the meeting saying: It was a complete and utter waste of time  a dialogue of the deaf.

A party source said Mr Lavery had spelt out the measures being taken to deal with the appalling abuse.

Ian Lavery spoke about the partys traditions as a broad church, in which there is a wide range of opinions, but we work together to build a brighter future for millions of people and transform our society, the source said.

He made clear the partys absolute determination to root out anti-Semitism and the work that is being done to improve procedures to tackle this appalling abuse.

Earlier however, deputy leader Tom Watson  who has been critical in the past of efforts to deal with anti-Semitism in the party  said he feared there could be further resignations.

I confess I feared this day would come. And I fear now that unless we change, we may see more days like this, he said.

He called on Mr Corbyn to reshuffle his frontbench team so it better reflected the balance of opinion in the PLP where many MPs reject the leaders left-wing agenda.
Harvey Weinsteins sexual assault trial in New York City is being delayed until June 3.

Court spokesman Lucian Chalfen confirmed the delay on Monday. The fallen film mogul is still expected to appear at a pre-trial hearing on March 8.

Weinsteins trial had been slated for May 6, but that date was agreed before he shook up his defence team with four new lawyers.

Harvey Weinstein (Anthony Devlin/PA)

Two of the lawyers, Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan, are starting a trial in Brooklyn on Tuesday which is expected to take up to 10 weeks.

In December, Weinstein lost a hard-fought bid to get the case against him thrown out.

The 66-year-old producer is charged with raping an unidentified acquaintance in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.

He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Honda has been urged to rethink its devastating decision to close its Swindon plant which will jeopardise 3,500 jobs.

Workers at the Wiltshire factory reacted angrily on Monday to the move at a time of turmoil for UK car manufacturing and fears over the impact of Brexit.

The Japanese car giant failed to respond to requests for comment over the proposal which comes less than six months after bosses pledged support for the plant, but confirmation is expected on Tuesday.

After a meeting with Honda and Business Secretary Greg Clark, Swindons Tory MPs Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland said they were disappointed and surprised by the news, adding that job losses were not expected until 2021.

Honda: @RobertBuckland & I have already spoken to the Business Secretary & Honda. They are clear this is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.  Justin Tomlinson MP (@JustinTomlinson) February 18, 2019

Speaking to ITN, Mr Buckland later urged the manufacturer to reconsider.

He said: Honda hasnt yet made its public announcement Ive already said that I think they should think again and I certainly would be ready to talk to them and anybody who cares to listen to make the case for Swindon as a strong centre for manufacturing.

He denied that Brexit was to blame for the surprising and shocking news, which he said was down to the firm wanting to take production back to Japan as it develops its electric engines.

Staff in the Wiltshire town  which voted 55% in favour of Brexit in the 2016 referendum  said they were angry about the development.

One worker, who has been at the plant for 24 years, told the Press Association he blamed the closure on Brexit.

(PA Graphics)

The Remain voter said: Perfectly viable car plant operating for 30 years, no problem at all  as soon as Brexit comes along the plant needs investment.

People like Justin Tomlinson, our MP, campaigned for this Brexit. He wanted Brexit  he gets to carry the can. If hes not unseated by a massive majority at the next election then this town gets what it deserves.

Asked how he felt about the news, the man replied: Pretty hacked off, to be fair.

Another man leaving the site said staff had not been warned about the announcement.

He said: Devastated. Thats all I can say.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it is a huge blow to workers and the wider community, adding: The Governments disastrous handling of Brexit is letting people down across the country.

Honda's decision to close its factory in Swindon is a huge blow to the thousands of workers and the whole community.



The government's disastrous handling of Brexit is letting people down across the country.https://t.co/E6MK8DuVcB  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 18, 2019

Alan Tomala, regional officer for the Unite union, and a former employee at the plant between 1995 and 2007, said workers were angry, dismayed and worried.

If the speculation is to be confirmed, 3,500 jobs are at risk, Mr Tomala said.

The usual formula is one job in the plant equates to four in the supply chain and the local economy. If closure is confirmed, it will rip the heart out of this area.

He said the union represented more than 1,200 workers at the plant, and they had not been told if the reports were correct.

Reports that Honda is set to close its factory in Swindon with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs would be a shattering body blow at the heart of UK manufacturing, Unite, Britain and Irelands largest union, said today (Monday 18 February).https://t.co/j6rxeG4sy7  Unite the union: join a union (@unitetheunion) February 18, 2019

For employees, our members and the wider workforce, both in the plant and in the supply chain, to hear about this through the media I think is disrespectful and disgraceful, Mr Tomala said.

The workforce in there deserve better than that.

The company employs about 3,500 people at the Swindon plant, building around 160,000 Civics a year, more than 90% of which are exported to Europe and the US.

The news comes a fortnight after Nissan told workers its next-generation X-Trail would be made in Japan and not Sunderland, as planned, despite the Governments so-called sweetheart deal of up to 80 million to protect the firm from higher post-Brexit trade tariffs.

(PA Graphics)

Speaking in September, Ian Howells, senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained right behind its plant in Swindon and was not considering moving out of the UK after Brexit.

Honda was the first major Japanese car company to get involved in large-scale manufacturing in the UK when it did a deal with British Leyland in 1980 to produce Honda-based models in BL factories.

Work began on its plant in Swindon in 1985.
LBC radio presenter Maajid Nawaz has said he was racially attacked and hit in the face outside a central London theatre.

In a series of tweets, Mr Nawaz said a white male attacked him from behind outside the Soho Theatre.

He posted a photo of a cut to his forehead and said the man racially abused him and then hit him in the face with maybe a signet ring.

The attacker then ran away like a coward and He took nothing. He was just a racist, Mr Nawaz said.

Mr Nawaz presents a show on LBC radio on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes.

(Taken from Twitter feed of Maajid Nawaz)

The Metropolitan Police said they were called to a report of a racially aggravated assault in Dean Street at 7.10pm.

The suspect had fled the scene before officers arrived, no arrests have been made and an investigation has been launched, police said.

Mr Nazaz said: My forehead will probably be scarred for life. But we will find you, you racist coward, and you will face British justice.

In one tweet he said there were witnesses who heard the racial abuse, and they gave statements to the police  who have his face of CCTV.

Mr Nawaz is the founder of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism organisation.

He asked not to be contacted, but thanked those who had offered their support.
Nicola Sturgeon has officially opened the Scottish Governments hub office in Paris.

The First Minister travelled to the French capital to address the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Assemblee Nationale, the lower house of parliament.

France is the third largest market for Scottish exports, with Ms Sturgeon saying the relationship between the two nations is one of the oldest in the world.

But she has come under fire for embarking on another overseas trip so soon after a visit to the US and Canada.

The SNP leader visited Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, Ottawa and Toronto earlier in February.

Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: Another week and another jaunt abroad for the First Minister.

Nicola Sturgeon will be in Paris on Monday and Tuesday (Adam Davy/PA)

Meanwhile, back home, we have a health service on its knees, our schools are struggling, and councils are toiling to balance their budgets due to SNP cuts.

The Tory MSP added: The SNPs only aim is to drive a wedge between Scotland and our largest trading partner  which is the rest of the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon should focus on growing Scotlands economy instead of attempting to grandstand on the world stage.

The @scotgov wants to strengthen our partnership - not just on the basis of our historic ties but our modern connections: friendships; cultural links, business ties; shared appetite for innovation & most of all, our shared values @NicolaSturgeon at @ScotGovFrance launch   pic.twitter.com/nlPummtYWu  First Minister (@ScotGovFM) February 18, 2019

Speaking at the hub offices opening, the First Minister said: The Scottish Government wants to strengthen our partnership  not just on the basis of our historic ties but our modern connections: friendships, cultural links, business ties, shared appetite for innovation and, most of all, our shared values.
The Sinn Fein leaders comments on the selection of the new PSNI chief constable has led to criticism from a number of political opponents.

Mary Lou McDonald indicated she wants someone outside the PSNI to replace Chief Constable George Hamilton when he retires in June.

The party president said she did not have confidence in any of the current senior PSNI command team to succeed Mr Hamilton.

.@JohnBlairMLA questions whether Sinn Fein can remain on Chief Constable interview panel after comments.



See more here -https://t.co/SjYkYcOWIB  Alliance Party (@allianceparty) February 18, 2019

DUP Policing Board Member Mervyn Storey MLA said he was seeking legal advice from the Chief Executive of the Policing Board regarding Ms McDonalds comments.

This is a very foolish comment, he said.

There are many capable officers in the PSNI and to make such a blanket statement is an outrageous generalisation.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald (Michael McHugh/PA)

Policing Board members will be responsible for interviewing and assessing any future chief constable.

How can any SF member sit on that panel and candidates from the PSNI expect to get a fair hearing?

Anyone sitting on that panel must be fair and open-minded rather than having a pre-determined

outcome.

Likewise, Alliance Policing Board member John Blair questioned whether Sinn Fein can remain on the interview panel to select a new chief constable.

This was a careless and irresponsible thing to say, said the South Antrim MLA.

It would be the ideal scenario to have as broad a representation as possible on the selection panel which interviews candidates and decides upon George Hamiltons replacement.

However, this intervention from Mary Lou McDonald now begs the question as to whether any Sinn Fein representative can sit on that panel.

The Ulster Unionist Partys Policing Board representative, Alan Chambers, has responded by asking if Sinn Fein is preparing to withdraw support for policing.

Mary Lou McDonald needs to be very careful in what she says, he said.

There will be genuine concerns that this is Sinn Feins way of signalling that it is preparing to withdraw support for policing in Northern Ireland.

You would almost think they dont want to be policed by anyone.
Protesters have converged in cities around the US to condemn Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency to fund his planned US-Mexico border wall.

Organised by the liberal group MoveOn and others, the demonstrations took the occasion of Presidents Day to attack Mr Trumps proclamation as undemocratic and anti-immigrant.

Trump is the national emergency! chanted a group of hundreds lined up at the White House fence, where some held up large letters spelling out stop power grab.

In Fort Worth, Texas, a group carried signs with messages including no wall! #FakeTrumpEmergency.

In Newark, New Jersey, Kelly Quirk told a gathering that democracy demands saying no more to the president.

There are plenty of real emergencies to invest our tax dollars in, said Ms Quirk, part of a local progressive group called Soma Action.

There were some counter-protesters, including in Washington, where there was a brief scuffle in the crowd.

Protesters at the White House (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Mr Trumps declaration on Friday shifts billions of dollars from military construction to the border.

The move came after Congress did not approve as much as he wanted for the wall, which the Republican considers a national security necessity.

His emergency proclamation calls the border a major entry point for criminals, gang members and illicit narcotics.

Illegal border crossings have declined from a high of 1.6 million in 2000, but 50,000 families are now entering illegally each month, straining the US asylum system and border facilities.

Mr Trumps declaration is facing legal challenges, and critics have argued he undercut his own rationale for the emergency declaration by saying he didnt need to do this but wanted to get the wall built faster than he otherwise could.

President Trump declared a national emergency in order to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on his border wall obsession, Manar Waheed of the American Civil Liberties Union told protesters rallying in a Washington park before heading to the nearby White House fence.

The ACLU has announced its intention to sue Mr Trump over the issue.

BREAKING: Were suing President Trump over todays blatantly illegal declaration of a national emergency.



There is no emergency. This is an unconstitutional power grab that hurts American communities. Well see him in court.  ACLU (@ACLU) February 15, 2019

Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the left-leaning Centre for Popular Democracy, said the president had undertaken to steal money that we desperately need to build a country of our dreams so that he can build a monument to racism along the border.

At one point during the rally, a counter-protester walked through the crowd toting a sign saying finish the wall on one side and protect the poor on the other.

Another man snatched his sign from him, sparking a short scuffle.
Surgeons have claimed a world first after carrying out a gene therapy operation to tackle the most common cause of sight loss in the UK.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causes the deterioration of cells in the macular, the central part of the retina, and affects more than 600,000 people in the UK.

Medics at the John Radcliffe Hospital said their pioneering operation could have a real impact on the quality of life and independence of those who suffer from AMD.

The John Radcliffe Hospital (Steve Parsons/PA)

Janet Osborne, 80, from Oxford, who underwent the procedure, has AMD in both eyes and, as is typical, her left eye has deteriorated more than the right.

She said her restricted vision makes simple tasks like preparing vegetables, sewing and recognising faces difficult.

She said: I wasnt thinking of me. I was thinking of other people. For me, I hope my sight doesnt get any worse. That would be fantastic. It means I wouldnt be such a nuisance to my family.

Mrs Osbornes operation is the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the procedure, said a spokesman for the National Institute for Health Researchs (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.

Her vision will be monitored regularly over the coming months to gauge the success of the operation.

The op involves detaching the retina and injecting a solution containing a virus underneath.

Janet Osborne, 80, from Oxford, underwent a gene therapy operation to tackle the loss of her eye sight due to the condition AMD. (NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre)

Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, who carried out the procedure, said: AMD is the number one cause of untreatable blindness in the developed world.

A genetic treatment administered early on to preserve the vision in patients who would otherwise lose their sight would be a tremendous breakthrough and certainly something I hope to see in the near future.

Were harnessing the power of the virus, a naturally occurring organism, to deliver the DNA into the patients cells.

When the virus opens up inside the retinal cell it releases the DNA of the gene we have cloned, and the cell starts making a protein that we think can modify the disease, correcting the imbalance of the inflammation caused by the complement system.

The idea of this gene therapy is to deactivate the complement system, but at a very specific point at the back of the eye, so the patient would otherwise be unaffected by it, and we hope that in future it will slow down the progression of macular degeneration.

The therapy is intended to preserve what vision patients have remaining and halt the effects of AMD.

It is hoped the procedure can be used early enough before the deterioration of eyesight begins.

The clinical trial was carried out by Prof MacLaren with the support of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.

It was sponsored by Gyroscope Therapeutics, a UK company that develops genetically defined therapies for the treatment of eye diseases.
Sinn Feins leader has called for a compassionate approach to the past.

Mary Lou McDonald said the party should acknowledge all suffering during the Northern Ireland conflict and provide a space to remember.

The party president urged a duty of candour and acceptance of difference, and said reconciliation sits above the constitutional question surrounding the creation of a united Ireland.

Ms McDonald said: We need a new conversation about the past, a focus on finding common ground, a compassionate approach to the past.

All suffering is real and sincere  no one has a monopoly on suffering.

We now need an agreed process for reconciliation. A process to resolve the past, to live together in the present and to unlock the future - @MaryLouMcDonald at tonights Civic Engagement in QUB pic.twitter.com/6QjlVFSm0I  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) February 18, 2019

She urged hard conversations, acceptance of difference and acknowledgement of change.

To manage and resolve disagreements, to find our common humanity and shared values amongst the rubble of the past and conflicting hopes for the future.

She said it was not a choice between reconciliation and a united Ireland.

Reconciliation is central. Reconciliation is not a Trojan horse for unity. Reconciliation cannot be made wait for unity. Reconciliation sits above the constitutional question.

She was addressing a civic unionist meeting at Queens University Belfast on Monday evening.

We have an agreed process to deal with the constitutional question. We now need an agreed process for reconciliation. A process to resolve the past, to live together in the present and to unlock the future.

She referenced the suffering of relatives of republican dead and the death of Queens lecturer Edgar Graham at the hands of the IRA.

Mr Graham, a Belfast barrister and unionist politician, was shot dead in 1983 near the university.

Ms McDonald said: I cannot undo that damage or that loss.

I and my generation of republicans will work tirelessly to build a society in which no other parent is left without a child or a child left without a mammy or daddy. To work to promote peace and reconciliation, to acknowledge all suffering and provide a space to remember. A space for each to remember in their own way.

It is about remembering the dead, not celebrating conflict.

Former speaker of the Stormont Assembly Eileen Bell said Ms McDonald did not use the word compromise during her speech.

Since her retirement, the former Alliance Party deputy leader has focused on community work.

She added: Unfortunately it is not over, in every community in the north of Ireland there are problems.
A gold coin, estimated to be worth up to 3,000, has been found inside a hidden drawer of a wooden bureau valued at just 60.

The Raymond IV Prince of Orange Franc A Pied coin dates back to 1365, making it more than 650 years old.

Its guide price is 1,200 to 1,800, but experts think it could sell for as much as 3,000.

Amy Clapp, 37, from Derbyshire, was given the 20th century George II-style bureau by a long-lost distant cousin. It is estimated to be worth 60 to 80.

Mrs Clapp said: I cant even remember meeting my great cousin but I received a letter from a solicitor before Christmas informing me that Id been left various items of furniture. Apparently, the will was written when I was 13 years old.

The 22 carat gold coin is expected to sell for up to 3,000 at auction. (Phil Barnett/PA Images)

Mrs Clapp had no idea the hidden drawer, which had kept the 14th century French gold coin hidden, even existed until she took it to an auctioneers.

The coin was discovered by furniture valuer Edward Rycroft, at Hansons Auctioneers, London.

During an inspection he found three secret drawers within the bureau, one containing the 22ct gold coin.

Edward Rycroft, furniture valuer at Hansons Auctioneers, who found the gold coin. (Phil Barnett/PA Wire)

Mr Rycroft said: I know bureaus like this often have tiny, secret drawers  sometimes called coin drawers  so I always check them just in case.

But in 10 years of valuing furniture I have never found anything in them  until now.

Mrs Clapp, a family support worker, said she was delighted when Mr Rycroft rang to tell her the news: As a family, weve had some bad luck in the last two years, so for something like this to happen to us is amazing.

The 20th century George-II style wooden bureau where the coin was found. (Phil Barnett/PA Images)

My daughter, Abi, 18, was recently registered as severely impaired. She has Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a genetic condition which affects vision as well as other parts of the body. I work for the Bardet-Biedl Syndrome UK charity and Ill be donating some proceeds from the sale to it.

I would never have found that in a million years. Were so grateful to Edward. We recently blew all our savings on a car and its engine blew up shortly after we bought it, so any windfall is very welcome.

Mr Rycroft said he knew straight away the coin was really special.

Its the most amazing thing I have ever found by chance. If youve got an old bureau at home do check for secret drawers  you never know, you may be sitting on a windfall too, he added.
A Northern Ireland Minister regaled peers with a verse from the musical film Bedknobs And Broomsticks to describe recent roundtable talks on Stormonts powersharing crisis.

Lord Duncan of Springbank earned himself a rare round of applause from the red benches for his short rendition of A Step In The Right Direction, the Angela Lansbury number from the 1971 Disney film.

The Tory frontbencher resorted to song to give his assessment at Westminster of last Fridays meeting in Belfast involving the five main Stormont parties and UK and Irish governments, which failed to chart a way forward.

Lord Duncan of Springbank a government minister just broke out into song in the House of Lords and brought the House down. #seranadinglords  The Lord Goddard (@GoddardLord) February 18, 2019

The discussions came two years after the last DUP/Sinn Fein-led coalition imploded amid a row 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.

A number of attempts to find a negotiated deal to restore the institutions have ended in failure.

(Niall Carson/PA)

Speaking in the upper chamber, Lord Duncan made no attempt to conceal his frustration at the continuing impasse at Stormont.

Presenting a legislative order on appointments in the absence of a devolved government, the Minister said he would dearly like to make progress.

He told peers: I am tired of giving the same speech over and over again, you are tired of giving the same speech over and over again.

Referring to the recent talks at Stormont House, Lord Duncan said: I was trying to find a way of how to describe the events of Friday and it wasnt very easy to find a positive way of doing it but I did find one way.

Many of you here will be an age when you can remember Angela Lansbury in her prime in Bedknobs And Broomsticks.

And she sang a song After all, its a step in the right direction. Its a step in the right direction after all.

He then gave a rendition of the song to peers and was rewarded with a round of clapping in the upper chamber.

Lord Duncan added: The rest of the song I will not sing. But I will merely note that its a reminder that even small steps as long as they are taken in the right direction can make us go forward.

I hope that step taken on Friday is a small step in that right direction and I hope it will lead to some serious movement.

The talks ended, as expected, without a meeting of minds on any of the outstanding issues.

With the UK Government reluctant to reintroduce direct rule from Westminster, Northern Ireland has operated in a political limbo land for two years, with senior civil servants being left to run public services.

However, those mandarins have found themselves seriously hamstrung, with ongoing uncertainty over what decisions they are able to make in the absence of elected ministers.
Honda is planning to close its plant in Swindon with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

Workers at the Wiltshire factory told the Press Association they were devastated by the announcement, which is expected to be confirmed by the Japanese car giant on Tuesday.

Honda failed to respond to repeated requests for a comment on Monday, and no reason for the decision has been given.

Swindon MPs Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland said they were disappointed and surprised by the news, which comes less than six months after Honda bosses pledged their support for the plant.

A statement on behalf of the Conservative duo, after a meeting on Monday afternoon with Honda and Business Secretary Greg Clark, said: Honda have been very clear  this decision has been made because of the global trends and is not related to Brexit.

Honda: @RobertBuckland & I have already spoken to the Business Secretary & Honda. They are clear this is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.  Justin Tomlinson MP (@JustinTomlinson) February 18, 2019

Honda have told us today that they will be consulting with all staff and there is not expected to be any job losses or change in production until 2021.

Staff in the Wiltshire town  which voted 55% in favour of Brexit in the 2016 referendum  said they were angry with the development.

One worker, who has been at the plant for 24 years, told the Press Association he blamed the closure on Brexit.

The Remain voter said: Perfectly viable car plant operating for 30 years, no problem at all  as soon as Brexit comes along the plant needs investment.

People like Justin Tomlinson, our MP, campaigned for this Brexit. He wanted Brexit  he gets to carry the can. If hes not unseated by a massive majority at the next election then this town gets what it deserves.

Asked how he felt about the news, the man replied: Pretty hacked off, to be fair.

(PA Graphics)

Another man leaving the site said staff had not been warned about the announcement.

He said: Devastated. Thats all I can say.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: Hondas decision to close its factory in Swindon is a huge blow to the thousands of workers and the whole community. The governments disastrous handling of Brexit is letting people down across the country.

Alan Tomala, regional officer for the Unite union, and a former employee at the plant between 1995 and 2007, said workers were angry, dismayed and worried.

If the speculation is to be confirmed, 3,500 jobs are at risk, Mr Tomala said.

The usual formula is one job in the plant equates to four in the supply chain and the local economy. If closure is confirmed, it will rip the heart out of this area.

Reports that Honda is set to close its factory in Swindon with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs would be a shattering body blow at the heart of UK manufacturing, Unite, Britain and Irelands largest union, said today (Monday 18 February).https://t.co/j6rxeG4sy7  Unite the union: join a union (@unitetheunion) February 18, 2019

He said the union represented more than 1,200 workers at the plant, and they had not been told if the rumours were correct.

For employees, our members and the wider workforce, both in the plant and in the supply chain, to hear about this through the media I think is disrespectful and disgraceful, Mr Tomala said.

The workforce in there deserve better than that.

The company employs about 3,500 people at the Swindon plant, building around 160,000 Civics a year, more than 90% of which are exported to Europe and the US.

(PA Graphics)

The news comes a fortnight after Nissan told workers its next-generation X-Trail would be made in Japan and not Sunderland, as planned, despite the Governments so-called sweetheart deal of up to 80 million to protect the firm from higher post-Brexit trade tariffs.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee, said the closure would be devastating for Swindon, for jobs, for the supply chain, and for the UKs car industry.

She added: The threat of Brexit is already having a damaging impact on investment decisions in the UK. The PM now needs to rule out no deal immediately and keep us in the single market and customs union rather than risk further fatal damage to our car industry.

Speaking in September, Ian Howells, senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained right behind its plant in Swindon and was not considering moving out of the UK after Brexit.

Honda was the first major Japanese car company to get involved in large-scale manufacturing in the UK when it did a deal with British Leyland in 1980 to produce Honda-based models in BL factories.

Work began on its plant in Swindon in 1985.
Sinn Fein is opposed to the next Northern Ireland police chief being appointed from within the organisation, Mary Lou McDonald has indicated.

The party president said she did not have confidence in any of the current senior PSNI command team to succeed George Hamilton after he retires in June.

Mrs McDonald said the PSNI had zero credibility in its handling of cases linked to the legacy of the Troubles.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald (Brian Lawless/PA)

Her comments came after she met bereaved families caught up in a controversy involving the polices failure to disclosure documents about historic killings to Northern Irelands Police Ombudsman.

After the meeting in Belfast, Ms McDonald was asked if she had confidence in any of the current leadership team to replace Mr Hamilton.

I dont, she replied.

The Sinn Fein leader added: Is there somebody inside who I think should be the chief constable, and I have to answer honestly that no, I cant identify such a person.

Lots of this is about who leads, who is in the top job in policing, but it goes much more broad than that. This is an issue of the culture of policing, its about the systems and its about their capacity to be and to be held fully accountable.

Last week, it emerged that the PSNI failed to disclose significant information relating to a notorious loyalist mass shooting.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire said significant, sensitive information around the incident at a bookmakers in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire (Paul Faith/PA)

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.

Dr Maguires office said the non-disclosed material, which it has now obtained, 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 probe into the murder of teenager Damien Walsh at a coal depot in west Belfast in 1993.

Last week, 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.

Mrs McDonald, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill and other party figures met a number of the impacted families at a community centre close to the scene of the Ormeau Road shootings on Monday afternoon.

The party members also met with police commanders earlier in the day.

Afterwards, Mrs McDonald was scathing in her assessment of the police.

We have made absolutely clear to the PSNI that they have zero credibility in their dealing with legacy cases, she said.

We have made it clear to the PSNI that their very cynical strategy and policy of withholding information or selectively disclosing some information and holding back the rest is entirely cynical, its entirely unacceptable and it has dealt another blow to confidence in policing.

But, more importantly, it has confirmed for very many families who have been waiting almost a lifetime in some cases, it has confirmed again that the policing authority in this state is not capable and not willing to act in an honourable, in a truthful and I would say in a fully democratic fashion when it comes to telling the truth.

The chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Mark Lindsay, said Ms McDonalds comments were wholly inappropriate and offensive and called for an apology from the party leader.

This amounts to extraordinary interference in an open and transparent selection process, he said.

To adopt this public position now is wholly inappropriate, offensive and ill-judged.

Her comments have placed her partys representatives on the Policing Board in a difficult position and in the interests of fairness to senior PSNI officers who might put their names forward for the post, I call on the Sinn Fein President to reflect on her grave miscalculation and apologise.

Mr Hamilton liked and retweeted a number of tweets from the Police Federation calling for an apology from Ms McDonald on social media on Monday night.

A Department of Justice spokesperson also made reference to the comments, saying: The Northern Ireland Policing Board is putting in place a process for the appointment of a chief constable, she said.

It is important to attract the best candidates from all quarters for this important and challenging role.

Policing Board chairwoman Anne Connolly said: The appointment of a new chief constable is a priority for the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

The selection and assessment processes will be based on the key principles of merit, fairness and openness.

The Superintendents Association NI also raised concern.

The comments made by the president of Sinn Fein, regarding the selection process for a new chief constable, are very far from fair or reasonable, the SANI executive said in a statement.

Strong assurances will be needed from the NIPB and, in the absence of an Assembly, the Secretary of State regarding the objectivity, transparency and fairness of any future selection processes. We will seek a meeting with the chair of the Policing Board on this matter.
Gibraltars government has insisted a Spanish warships illegal incursion into the territorys waters was a challenge to British sovereignty.

Royal Navy boats were deployed after the Spanish vessel, with its guns manned, ordered commercial ships to leave British Gibraltar waters on Sunday, according to Gibraltars government.

The warships crew can be heard in an audio recording of a radio exchange telling vessels anchored at the Rock to leave Spanish territorial waters, but boats which were ordered to leave remained at the port.

Downing Street said Gibraltars sovereignty was not in doubt during the incident and the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: There was no incursion on this occasion.

We are certain of our sovereignty over the whole of Gibraltar including British Gibraltar Territory waters and any incursions are a violation of the sovereignty but not a threat to it.

A Spanish warship with its guns manned ordered commercial ships to leave British Gibraltar waters, according to the territorys government (Government of Gibraltar/PA)

However, a statement released by the Gibraltar government on Monday said the incident was an illegal incursion which aimed to make a political point about the sovereignty of our waters.

While this action in itself may not be a threat to sovereignty, because the waters remain British in international law, the reality is that it represented a challenge to our sovereignty and that it purported to undermine our sovereignty, it said.

Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo said: The people of Gibraltar wont be bullied now or after the 29th of March.

Incidents like this, however, are a useful reminder of why we will never agree to be Spanish.

The ship was accused by the Government of trying to take executive action against the commercial boats, which were anchored on the eastern side of the Rock.

Commercial boats which were told to move were ordered to remain by the Gibraltar Port Authority.

A crew member is heard in the recording asking the Spanish ship to verify you are referring to our ship because they are anchored in Gibraltar.

We are not adrift, we are at anchor now, he says, before being told again to leave Spanish waters.

Mr Picardo added: Anyone who believes in the rules-based international legal order will have been shocked by the cavalier and quixotic actions of the Spanish military vessel at the weekend.

Her actions outside our waters, when she sought to direct shipping outside her jurisdiction, and when she sailed through our waters with her weapons naked, was an amateurish attempt at bravado.
A group of 34 men, women and children have been detained by Border Force officials after crossing the Channel in a small boat.

Two Border Force cutters and a coastal patrol vessel intercepted the small rigid-hulled inflatable boat at around 6.30am on Monday.

The Home Office said the suspected migrants, whose nationalities have yet to be confirmed, have been taken to Dover for immigration officials to interview them.

Kent Police said its officers attended the Port of Dover at around 11am on Monday to assist Border Force with the incident.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: Today Border Force responded to an incident in the Channel involving a small boat containing 34 people. The group were brought to Dover and have been transferred to immigration officials for interview.

Two Border Force cutters were sent to intercept a small boat carrying 34 men, women and children in The Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Since the Home Secretary declared a major incident in December we have tripled the number of cutters operating in the Channel, agreed a joint action plan with France and increased activity out of the Joint Coordination and Information Centre in Calais.

The number of individuals attempting to cross the Channel decreased from around 250 in December to around 90 in January, with roughly half of the January attempts being intercepted by partners in France before they could make it to British waters.

In December, Home Secretary Sajid Javid declared a major incident following an increase in attempts to cross the Channel in small boats.

In 2018, more than 500 migrants tried to travel to the UK on small vessels, with four in five of them attempting the journey in the final three months of the year.

Around 40% of the attempts were either disrupted by French law enforcement or returned to France via French agencies.

In response to the increase in incidents, Mr Javid ordered two Border Force boats to be redeployed from overseas to patrol the Channel.
Seven MPs have resigned from Labour and will create a new Independent Group in the House of Commons in the most significant split in British politics for a generation.

Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey fired a broadside at Jeremy Corbyn as they quit, condemning his stance on Brexit and response to allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson warned his party to change or face further damaging resignations following the biggest schism since the formation of the Social Democratic Party in the 1980s.

Mr Corbyn said he was disappointed by the announcement, while shadow chancellor John McDonnell challenged the seven to resign from Parliament and fight by-elections under their new independent banner.

There were angry scenes when party chairman Ian Lavery addressed the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at Westminster on Monday evening, amid accusations the leadership had failed to get to grips with anti-Semitism in its ranks.

Afterwards, backbencher Ian Austin, a long-standing critic of Mr Corbyn, warned the leaderships response had only made the situation worse and could lead to further resignations.

For our countrys sake, lets pull together. pic.twitter.com/6hBXqY6w9t  John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) February 18, 2019

I dont think he came close to demonstrating the leadership understand the scale of the problem we have, he said.

I think it will result in people thinking long and hard about their position.

Earlier the seven MPs issued an appeal to politicians from both Labour and other parties to leave the old tribal politics behind and join their new grouping in the Commons as crunch votes on Brexit loom later this month.

I am disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945.  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 18, 2019

At a dramatic press conference announcing their collective decision:

 Jewish MP Ms Berger said she had become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party which she had come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.

 Former Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Mr Gapes said he was sickened that the Labour Party is now a racist, anti-Semitic party, furious that the Labour leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit and warned a government led by Mr Corbyn would threaten our national security.

 Ex-shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said Labour had been hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left.

(PA Graphics)

At the launch in Londons County Hall, Mr Umunna issued an appeal to voters: For far too long, political parties in Westminster  parties of which we have been a part  have been failing you.

If you are sick and tired of politics as usual, guess what? So are we.

If you want an alternative, please help us build it. The bottom line is this  politics is broken, it doesnt have to be this way. Lets change it.

Ive resigned from the Labour Party today. This is why  my message to my constituents in Nottingham East. #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/Z6qsLartQA  Chris Leslie (@ChrisLeslieUK) February 18, 2019

In a call on other MPs to quit their parties, Mr Umunna said: Weve taken the first step in leaving the old tribal politics behind and we invite others who share our political values to do so too.

But The Independent Groups launch was marred by a gaffe from Ms Smith, who apologised after appearing to describe black people as having a funny tint or tinge during a TV interview.

I am very sorry about any offence caused and I am very upset that I misspoke so badly, she said after her BBC Politics Live appearance.

I'm really sorry that I misspoke earlier on Politics Live - here's my statement. pic.twitter.com/7csM95TFLo  Angela Smith (@angelasmithmp) February 18, 2019

The Independent Group is due to hold its first formal meeting later this week.

Responding to the resignations, Mr Corbyn said: I am disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945.

Mr McDonnell told the BBC the seven MPs should do the honourable thing and step down in order to contest by-elections.

Both Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell come from Labours left wing, and Mr Watson said the frontbench team needed to change to reflect the balance of opinion in the Parliamentary Labour Party  which includes many MPs who are critical of the leadership.

He criticised the handling of anti-Semitism allegations and said Ms Berger had fallen victim to a virulent form of identity politics that has seized the Labour Party.

In a stark message about Labours future, Mr Watson said: I confess I feared this day would come. And I fear now, that unless we change, we may see more days like this.

Unite union boss Len McCluskey hit out at the splitters who had no stomach for a fight for Labours core values.

But Unisons general secretary Dave Prentis said Labour had to get its act together over Brexit and look long and hard at the reasons why the MPs feel they are no longer able to stay in the party.

(PA Graphics)

Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis said the resignations confirmed that Labour had changed irreversibly under Mr Corbyn.

Labour has become the Jeremy Corbyn Party  failing to take action on everything from tackling anti-Jewish racism to keeping our country safe, he said.
Stormzy, Catfish and The Bottlemen and George Ezra will headline the TRNSMT music festival as it returns to Glasgow this summer.

Grime artist Stormzy will headline on Friday July 12, with Scottish favourite Gerry Cinnamon and Years & Years also performing.

Saturday July 13 will see Richard Ashcroft, former frontman of The Verve, play on the main stage at Glasgow Green, with Bastille appearing before headliners Catfish and the Bottlemen.

Snow Patrol return to Scotland on Sunday July 14, with The Wombats, The Kooks and Jess Glynne also playing that afternoon before George Ezra closes the festival.

Example, The Hunna and Circa Waves will also headline the King Tuts Stage across the weekend at the park.

Geoff Ellis, TRNSMT festival director, told the Press Association he was relieved to finally announce the billing.

He said: Im very pleased with it, particularly on the Friday having Stormzy and Gerry Cinnamon  its fair to say theyre both peoples poets really.

Theyve both come from the street, theyre both very real and very connected with their fans, both have really energetic live shows.

Whilst theyre very different musically, I think theyve got a lot more in common than people would think at first look. I think thats a great line-up on the Friday.

Catfish and the Bottlemen are one of the biggest, strongest live acts to come out of the UK as a band since Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys  theyre a band that can sell tens of thousands of tickets in their own right.

Bastille have great anthems, likewise with Richard Ashcroft with all The Verve anthems. And DMAs, Scotland seems to be their strongest territory.

On Sunday to have George Ezra close the show is a real fans favourite. Snow Patrol have been away for a long time and had a storming night at the Hydro a couple of weeks ago. Played a greatest hits song with a few new songs as well.

Jess Glynne is another act thats sold out the Hydro. Put that together over one weekend is a fantastic line-up and great value for money, I think.

Join us as we go live TODAY AT 5PM for the chance to win tickets as you tell us #WhosPlaying



Get Reminder ~ https://t.co/C9RWmuJ9wA pic.twitter.com/WRvalL3NhB  TRNSMT Festival (@TRNSMTfest) February 18, 2019

The festivals Facebook page gave fans clues about who was playing during a live quiz from 5pm, with the line-up worked out and announced shortly after.

Londoner Stormzy will also headline one night of the famous Glastonbury festival the month before TRNSMT which Ellis said was a coup for Scotland.

He said: Glastonbury is four times the size of TRNSMT so its great, Im really pleased Stormzy wanted to do it.

Speaking about Snow Patrol alluding to their TRNSMT appearance at a recent Glasgow gig, Ellis shrugged off the incident and said: Sometimes these things slip out.

Example did the same the other Friday night and announced to his crowd he was playing TRNSMT as well and he got a great reaction.

George Ezra will close TRNSMT on Sunday night (Matt Crossick/PA)

In 2017 the inaugural TRNSMT was headlined by Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro.

Last year the festival was held over two weekends with Stereophonics, Liam Gallagher and Arctic Monkeys headlining one weekend and Queen + Adam Lambert and The Killers the other.

Ellis added: With TRNSMT some years we will hold it over two weekends and other years will just be one weekend  this year is just one.

It will depend on artists availability, were not going to do two weekends for the sake of it but if theres enough strong artists around then we will do two weekends. Well always be flexible on that.

When asked about a possible return for T in the Park, Ellis said: Its all TRNSMT.

Weve got Summer Sessions in Glasgow and Edinburgh and about 800 other concerts throughout the year we do as well, so weve got enough to keep ourselves busy at the moment.
Hondas decision to close its Swindon plant is the latest blow to the UKs car manufacturing industry, with news of the move emerging 39 days before the Brexit deadline.

More than 3,000 jobs are under threat with the planned demise of the Japanese companys Wiltshire plant.

Local Tory MP Justin Tomlinson said job losses are not expected before 2021 and blamed global trends and not Brexit for the closure.

Whatever the reason, the development will be highly unwelcome for those who rely on the plant for jobs and for those with high hopes for British manufacturing after the EU departure.

(PA Graphics)

The car industry has been warning for years about the impact of Brexit  particularly of a no-deal scenario  being added to issues including the slump in diesel sales.

A fortnight earlier, Nissan told workers its next-generation X-Trail would be made in Japan and not Sunderland as planned.

The decision came despite the Government offering the manufacturer a so-called sweetheart deal of up to 80 million in support to protect the firm from higher post-Brexit trade tariffs.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had warned the industry was on red alert, with figures suggesting car production had slumped by almost a 10th last year.

The number of cars being built in the UK has slumped (Andrew Matthews/PA)

In 2018, just over 1.5 million cars were built in UK factories, a 9.1% slump on the previous year and the lowest in over five years.

Demand for diesel cars is drastically down, with a decline by 22% to 561,000 last year.

The SMMT said investment had effectively stalled, having halved in 2018 while firms delayed decisions until the UKs trading arrangements became clearer.

Ford is also seeking up to 400 voluntary redundancies at its Bridgend engine plant and Land Rover is to shrink its workforce by 4,500, with most of those cuts in the UK.

Meanwhile, Porsche began asking buyers placing orders to sign contracts containing a clause stating they would be prepared to cover the cost of a potential 10% tariff.

After the latest development, Swindon North MP Mr Tomlinson said Honda had told him the move was based on global trends and not on UKs nearing Brexit departure.

But that did little to dampen concerns with March 29 looming.

Unites automotive sector officer Des Quinn said the closure would be a shattering body blow for UK manufacturing.

The car industry in the UK over the last two decades has been the jewel in the crown for the manufacturing sector  and now it has been brought low by the chaotic Brexit uncertainty created by the rigid approach adopted by Prime Minister Theresa May, he said.

Professor Matthias Holweg, an automotive industry expert at Oxford University, said fears of the high tariffs that would accompany a no-deal departure were dangling Damocles sword over the manufacturers.

With a sales slowdown in key markets and a decline in diesel demand, the industry is not a happy place, but Brexit puts UK plants in a particularly bad position, he said.
One of the rebel MPs who walked out of the Labour Party has apologised after appearing to describe black people as having a funny tint or tinge.

Angela Smith said she was very sorry for any offence caused after she misspoke during a television interview.

Appearing on the BBCs Politics Live programme, Ms Smith said: It is not just about being black or a funny tin  you know, different  from the BME community.

I'm really sorry that I misspoke earlier on Politics Live - here's my statement. pic.twitter.com/7csM95TFLo  Angela Smith (@angelasmithmp) February 18, 2019

Following the broadcast, Ms Smith said in a video posted on her Twitter feed: I am very sorry about any offence caused and I am very upset that I misspoke so badly.

It is not what I am. I am committed to fighting racism wherever I find it in our society.

Ms Smith was one of seven MPs to announce they were leaving Labour to form the new Independent Group, citing  among other issues  Jeremy Corbyns handling of allegations of anti-Semitism within the party.
Someone attacked a statue of Sean Diddy Combs at Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York, shoving the rap impresarios likeness so forcefully it lost its head, police have said.

Investigators are continuing to look for a suspect over the incident, which happened on Saturday night.

Police said a man entered the museum near Times Square at around 8.45pm local time, went to the statue and knocked it to the ground.

Sean `Diddy Combs unveiling his wax figure in 2009 (Charles Sykes/AP)

The head fell off as the figure toppled.

Madame Tussauds New York said artists will fix the damage as quickly as possible to get the figure back to the museums A-List Party Room.

General manager Tom Middleton said Madame Tussauds does not rope off its statues so guests can interact respectfully with them.

The Grammy-winning rapper and hip-hop mogul attended the statues unveiling in 2009.
Travellers in Berlin will soon be able to use a single app to switch seamlessly between public transport, rental bikes, car-sharing and taxis without signing up for each service individually.

Lithuanian startup Trafi said Berlin will be the first major European capital to get a transport app that handles billing for all services centrally and requires only a single login.

Similar services are already available in Vilnius, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta.

So-called deep integration apps, which remove the annoyance of dealing with multiple providers, are seen as important for cities trying to prevent people from clogging up congested roads with their own cars.

This goes in precisely the right direction, said Andreas Knie, a mobility expert at the Social Science Centre Berlin.

Transport services need to be connected, just like mobile phone networks, so you can easily roam from one to another.

Travellers leave a BVG subway train in Berlin (Lukas Schulze/dpa via AP)

Berlins ageing transport system  a maze of underground lines, trams, buses and commuter rail  is straining as its population heads towards four million.

The capitals left-wing government has struggled in recent years to integrate new services such as ride-hailing firms, car-sharing companies, free-floating bikes and scooters into the existing infrastructure, some of which dates back to the 19th century.

Mr Knie was sceptical that large transport companies such as Berlins publicly owned BVG, which counts more than a billion passengers a year, are willing to do anything that might endanger their business model.

It was not immediately clear whether smaller companies will get an equal footing in the app, including to valuable real-time data on how customers are moving through the city.

Two large car-sharing companies, Daimlers car2go and BMWs DriveNow service, and ride-hailing giant Uber are notably absent from the starting lineup, though more than a dozen smaller rivals are already on board.

Trafi said more are expected to join by the time the app, called Jelbi, launches this summer.
Here are some of the questions being asked about the new Independent Group of MPs:

Who are they?

The Independent Group was launched this morning by seven former Labour MPs  Chuka Umunna (Streatham), Luciana Berger (Liverpool Wavertree), Chris Leslie (Nottingham East), Mike Gapes (Ilford South), Ann Coffey (Stockport), Gavin Shuker (Luton South) and Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge)  who quit the party in protest at the direction it is taking under Jeremy Corbyns leadership.

(PA Graphics)

So is this a new party?

This is not entirely clear. They have said that they will sit together as a group in the House of Commons and they have issued a joint statement of principles and values, setting them aside from the other independents in Parliament who sit as individuals. However, Mr Umunna made clear that the Independent Group does not yet have the infrastructure or funding of a political party, and it is yet to recruit the network of activists which traditional parties enjoy. Roles and responsibilities have yet to be shared out between the seven, and the group currently has no leader.

What drove them out of Labour?

The seven MPs have long been disgruntled with Labours move to the left under Mr Corbyn. They blame the Labour leader for not throwing the partys weight behind a second Brexit referendum. And they accuse him of failing to deal effectively with complaints of anti-Semitism and bullying within the party. They were also vulnerable to left-wing activists efforts to deselect MPs deemed to be too centrist ahead of the next general election.

What happens next?

The group say they will meet formally later this week, at which point jobs may be shared out. They have explicitly appealed for MPs from all sides of politics to quit their parties and join them. Their long-term chances of success may well depend on whether they make any high-profile recruits in Parliament, and whether supporters sign up in significant numbers. The upcoming by-election in Newport West, whose Labour MP Paul Flynn died on the eve of the groups launch, could provide an early test of their electoral attractiveness, though it is not yet clear whether they will stand a candidate.

Who might join them?

There are large swathes of the Parliamentary Labour Party who are known to be dissatisfied with Mr Corbyns leadership  172 of them voted no confidence him in 2016. However, many of these would not consider leaving Labour, both because of personal commitment to the party and because they doubt the chances of a new grouping making a significant impact. The fact that only seven MPs were willing to join Mondays launch suggests the group has struggled to win converts from within Labour. Members of the new group have forged strong links with MPs from other parties during the campaign for a second referendum, some of whom are themselves facing the threat of deselection. All eyes will be on Tory MPs like Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry Nick Boles and Heidi Allen, though none of them have indicated that they intend to leave the Conservatives.

What about the Liberal Democrats?

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable has previously spoken enthusiastically about the prospect of a realignment of the political landscape. He responded to the launch by saying his party was open to working with like-minded groups and individuals and would be engaging in talks on both the referendum issue and a wider political agenda. His comments suggest he may resist any attempt at a reverse takeover of the Lib Dems by the new group to create a new centre party.

Labours John McDonnell urged the seven MPs to stand down and fight for their seats (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

What will Labour do next?

Many activists welcomed the resignations as an opportunity to rid Labours ranks of MPs whose views do not chime with those of the leadership. The party can be expected to select new candidates for the seven seats in the confident hope of regaining them at the next general election. But Mr Corbyn also faces the delicate task of deciding whether he wants to preserve Labours position as a big tent taking in a wide spectrum of liberal, social democrat and socialist views or focus the party more narrowly as a left-wing operation.

Do the MPs who have resigned from Labour have to face re-election?

No. Labours shadow chancellor John McDonnell has challenged them to do the right thing and fight to retain their seats, but members of the group have indicated they have no intention of doing so. Under the UKs democratic system, MPs are elected as individuals and remain in post until the next election unless they stand down voluntarily, and are only removed for reasons such as being jailed for over a year or are subject to a recall petition.

Could constituents unseat them with a recall petition?

No, a recall petition can only be initiated if an MP is jailed or receives a suspended custodial sentence, is barred from the House of Commons for 10 sitting days or 14 calendar days or is convicted of providing false information in relation to allowances.

Chuka Umunna urged MPs from all parties to join the Independent Group (Stefan Rousseau/PA))

Are these the first MPs Jeremy Corbyn has lost?

No. A series of prominent figures from the Ed Miliband era, such as Tristram Hunt, Michael Dugher and Jamie Reed, quit Parliament to take up other jobs after apparently deciding there was no future in the party for them. Veteran former minister Frank Field cited anti-Semitism and bullying when he resigned to become an independent. John Woodcock and Ivan Lewis left the party to sit as independents, complaining that disciplinary action against them was being dragged out for political reasons. Jared OMara quit days after being reinstated after a lengthy investigation into social media posts. Kelvin Hopkins is suspended pending the completion of an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations, which he denies. And Fiona Onasanya was expelled after being jailed for lying about a speeding offence.
The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of the Second World War has died aged 95.

George Mendonsa fell and had a seizure at the assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he lived with his wife of 70 years, his daughter Sharon Molleur told The Providence Journal.

Mr Mendonsa was shown kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurses uniform, on August 14 1945.

This close-up shot of the pair kissing was taken by Victor Jorgensen from the US navy (Victor Jorgensen/US navy)

Known as VJ Day, it was the day Japan surrendered to the United States.

People spilled into the New York City streets to celebrate the news.

Mr Mendonsa planted a kiss on Ms Friedman, whom he had never met.

The photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt was first published in Life magazine and became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

It is called V-J Day In Times Square, but is known to most as The Kiss.

Several people later claimed to be the kissing couple.

It was years before Mr Mendonsa and Ms Friedman were confirmed to be the couple.

Mr Mendonsa served on a destroyer during the war and was on leave when the end of the war was announced.

When he was honoured at the Rhode Island State House in 2015, Mr Mendonsa spoke about the kiss.

He said Ms Friedman reminded him of nurses on a hospital ship that he saw care for wounded sailors.

I saw what those nurses did that day and now back in Times Square the war ends, a few drinks, so I grabbed the nurse, Mr Mendonsa said, according to WPRI-TV.

Ms Friedman said in a 2005 interview with the Veterans History Project that it was not her choice to be kissed.

The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed, she told the Library of Congress.

She added: It was just somebody really celebrating. But it wasnt a romantic event.

Mr Mendonsa died two days before his 96th birthday.

Ms Friedman fled Austria during the war as a 15-year-old girl.

She died in 2016 at the age of 92 at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, from complications of old age.
A murder inquiry has been launched after the body of a man was found in a burning vehicle.

Police were called to a report of a car on fire in Greenhall Park in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, at about 7.55pm on Monday February 11.

The fire was extinguished and the body of 36-year-old Rafal Michal Lyko was found in the car.

Officers are now treating the incident as murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Davie Scott said: We are issuing a photo of Rafal and are hoping that anyone who remembers seeing him will contact us.

We have had a good response from our appeals to date, but we still need to piece together Rafals last-known movements.

Police would like to speak to anyone who recognises Rafal Lyko (Police Scotland)

He arrived at Edinburgh Airport on Saturday February 9 from his home in Poland.

From there he travelled to the Tayside area to visit relatives.

Officers are working hard to gather as much information on Rafals death and work out where he then travelled to after that.

We are keen to speak to anyone who has any knowledge of Rafals movements after Saturday February 9.

I would urge anyone who recognises Rafal, or who saw him after Saturday the 9th of February, to contact us.

Any small piece of information on his movements or the car involved could be vital to our investigation.

The Mercedes GLE car he was found in is undergoing forensic examination.

Officers are also tracking it from when it was stolen from the Oxgangs Road area of Edinburgh on Thursday January 24 to when it was seen in South Lanarkshire on Monday February 11.

That morning, it was seen near East Kilbride town centre.

Detectives believe the vehicle was later in the Halfway area of Cambuslang before it was found on fire near Greenhall Park, Blantyre.
Honda is planning to close its plant in Swindon with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

Local Tory MP Justin Tomlinson confirmed the news, insisting that the decision is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.

The Japanese company declined to comment on the announcement which comes less than six months after bosses at the car giant pledged its commitment to the UK.

The company employs about 3,500 people at its plant in Wiltshire, building around 160,000 Honda Civics a year, more than 90% of which were exported to Europe and the US.

Swindon North MP Mr Tomlinson said he and fellow Tory MP Robert Buckland (Swindon South) had spoken to the Business Secretary and the car firm about the decision.

He tweeted: They are clear this is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.

Working with Honda, Gov (led by the Business Secretary), staff and Unions there will be a taskforce set up to provide support for all staff (as we did when jobs were lost previously at Honda).

Honda will be consulting with all staff and there is not expected to be any job losses, or changes in production until 2021.

Honda: @RobertBuckland & I have already spoken to the Business Secretary & Honda. They are clear this is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021.  Justin Tomlinson MP (@JustinTomlinson) February 18, 2019

Honda will be consulting with all staff and there is not expected to be any job losses, or changes in production until 2021.  Justin Tomlinson MP (@JustinTomlinson) February 18, 2019

Workers at the Honda plant in Swindon said they had not been informed about plans to close it.

When asked his reaction to the news, one man leaving the site said: Devastated. Thats all I can say.

Des Quinn, for the Unite union, said a closure would represent a shattering body blow at the heart of UK manufacturing.

He added: We are seeking urgent clarification from Honda on the implications of these serious reports.

We will be doing everything we can in the coming days and weeks to support our members at this grave time for them, their families and the UK economy.

This will also affect thousands of jobs in the extensive supply chain across the country.

(PA Graphics)

The news comes a fortnight after Nissan told workers its next-generation X-Trail would be made in Japan and not Sunderland as planned, despite the Governments so-called sweetheart deal of up to 80 million to protect the firm from higher post-Brexit trade tariffs.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee, described the how the closure would be devastating for Swindon, for jobs, for the supply-chain, and for the UKs car industry.

She added: The threat of Brexit is already having a damaging impact on investment decisions in the UK. The PM now needs to rule out no deal immediately and keep us in the single market and customs union rather than risk further fatal damage to our car industry.

Japan and the EU have a free-trade agreement, guaranteeing tariff-free access. It would be an act of folly to toss that away, along with friction-free access to the EU market, in the forlorn hope that we could negotiate a better deal.

Last month Honda announced plans for a six-day shutdown to prepare for any Brexit-related disruption.

A company statement at the time said: Honda has been assessing how best to prepare for any disruption caused by logistics and border issues following the UK leaving the EU on March 29.

To ensure Honda is well placed to adjust to all possible outcomes, we are planning six non-production days in April.

This is to facilitate production recovery activity following any delays at borders on parts.

These contingency provisions have been put in place to best mitigate the risk of disruption to production operations at the Swindon factory.

(PA Graphics)

Speaking in September, Ian Howells, the senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained right behind its production facility in Swindon and was not considering moving the plant out of the UK after Brexit.

He said: The only place we produce the vehicle we produce at Swindon is in Swindon itself. So from that point of view its a very big decision to take a different approach.

Certainly we are right behind our Swindon approach, and really it hasnt come up that we would have to look at putting Swindon somewhere else.

The logistics of moving a factory the size of Swindon would be huge, and as far as were concerned from a European (perspective), and as far as our Japanese head office is concerned, were right behind supporting continued production at Swindon and indeed our whole European operation to continue there.

In terms of the impact of Brexit, I think we are looking at hopefully relatively short-term disruption as we get used to the new rules and new ways of doing business.

Honda was the first major Japanese car company to get involved in large scale manufacturing the UK when it did a deal with British Leyland in 1980 to produce Honda-based models in BL factories.

Work began on its own plant at Swindon in 1985.

Swindon voted 55% in favour of Brexit at the referendum in 2016.
Ireland will not be steamrolled into giving ground on the border backstop, the countrys deputy premier has said.

Simon Coveney also rejected any suggestion Ireland was to blame for the Brexit deadlock, insisting responsibility lay in London.

His comments came amid efforts by the UK Government to gain concessions from the EU on the contentious backstop mechanism.

Mr Coveney outlined Irelands position as he met with UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the fringes of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Tanaiste @SimonCoveney this morning met UK Foreign Secretary @Jeremy_Hunt in Brussels at the #FAC. The Tanaiste reiterated Ireland and the EUs position that the withdrawal agreement will not be reopened. #Brexit.    pic.twitter.com/nrwVd46vW4  Chris Donoghue (@chrisrdonoghue) February 18, 2019

Afterwards, he again made clear that the backstop as agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement could not be changed.

There is a deal on the table. The British Government signed up to it. Jeremy Hunt was part of the that government. They havent been able to sell that to their own parliament, he told RTE.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney on stage at the Global Ireland 2025: Making it Happen conference, at the Dublin Castle Conference Centre (PA)

And I accept that has created a lot of uncertainty, but it is certainly not Irelands fault.

The responsibility to resolve this problem in terms of the way forward needs to lie where the problem is, which is in London not Dublin.

We would be very foolish if we allowed the onus to solve that problem to switch away from Westminster to Dublin. We have been consistent, we have been fair, we have negotiated as part of an EU team with the British Government in good faith and we will continue to do that, but we will not be steamrolled in this process.

Working with @MichelBarnier as ONE TEAM on #Brexit - nobody should doubt EU solidarity.  pic.twitter.com/77NTI6CYlS  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) February 18, 2019

Under the terms of the withdrawal treaty, the backstop would come into effect if a wider trade deal between the UK and EU fails to materialise at the end of the Brexit transition period.

It would ensure a free-flowing Irish border by tying the UK to the customs union while, in addition, Northern Ireland alone would continue to adhere to EU single market regulations on goods, meaning the region would operate under a different legal framework to Great Britain.

The backstop is the primary reason MPs voted down the withdrawal deal at Westminster.

Mr Coveney said any attempt to change the backstop with keyhole surgery, by either adding an expiry date or handing the UK the ability to withdraw unilaterally, would continue to be opposed by Europe.
Eye-catching X-ray images of animals at London Zoo have been released.

The pictures were taken during routine health checks of its 18,000 animals and include snakes and armadillos.

Mario, a large hairy armadillo (ZSL London Zoo)

The image of Cornelius, a corn snake, is particularly striking, containing as it does hundreds of vertebrae  compared to the 33 inside a human.

PB. a Tokay Gecko (ZSL London Zoo)

ZSL London Zoo veterinary nurse Heather Mackintosh said: We can tell so much about an animals health from looking at an X-ray  from the strength of their bones to how healthy their heart is.

Nasi, a big-headed turtle (ZSL London Zoo)

Theyre vital to our work, and even though we get to see unique X-rays fairly often we still think that theyre absolutely fascinating.

Most people can recognise a human X-ray, but they probably havent seen the individual segments of a large hairy armadillos exoskeleton, or the long tail bones of a big-headed turtle.
A man who carried out a 180,000 VAT tax fraud to repay money he had previously made as a forger has been jailed for more than two years.

John Farrell, 61, used fake passports and driving licences to set up bogus companies and bank accounts to fraudulently claim VAT repayments, an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation found.

He laundered 75,000 of the money through a bogus Cypriot account before using it to pay most of a 96,000 confiscation order imposed after he was jailed for five years and eight months for running a counterfeiting operation at a factory in East Kilbride producing fake banknotes.

Farrell, from Thorntonhall, South Lanarkshire, was jailed for 27 months when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday after pleading guilty to VAT fraud and money laundering at a previous appearance in January, HMRC said.

John Farrell has been jailed for 27 months (HMRC/PA)

HMRC began looking into the bogus companies after concerns were raised about the VAT claims and an officer visited Farrell, who was using the name Andrew Strachan.

However, Farrells false identity was exposed when the eagle-eyed HMRC officer recognised him from a newspaper article about the forgery confiscation order.

Cheryl Burr, assistant director, fraud investigation service, HMRC, said: This was a shocking ploy by Farrell to pocket public money. His actions were one of pure greed, so he could lead a comfortable lifestyle in a house worth more than 1 million.

He then had the cheek to use the proceeds of this fraud to repay a confiscation order imposed on him. Rather than repay the public purse, he chose to steal from it.

The VAT he illegally reclaimed could have paid for the equivalent of seven new nurses in Scotland for a year.

HMRC will continue to pursue criminals who attack the tax system and we ask anyone with information about suspected VAT fraud to report it to HMRC online or call our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.

HMRC officers searched Farrells home on June 5, 2013 and found more than 24 mobiles, laptops, memory cards and false passports which they seized.

A bag containing a laptop, paperwork relating to the bogus companies, prepaid credit cards and phone sim cards was found hidden in the eaves of the 1 million mansion, while a false driving licence in the name of Andrew Strachan containing Farrells picture was discovered on an electronic device recovered.

Farrell was arrested and charged after interview on the same day.

HMRC said he stole 180,591.20 by claiming VAT repayments for several bogus companies between 2011 and 2012.

He laundered 75,000 of the stolen money through the bogus Cypriot company account before using it to pay part of the confiscation order.

Authorities are also seeking a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) against Farrell for when he leaves prison.

If successful, it would be the first to be imposed on the back of a HMRC conviction in Scotland, the organisation said.

Michael Mullen, 41, an associate of Farrells, pleaded guilty to owning or controlling registered addresses for false businesses to facilitate the commission of VAT fraud in a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month.

Mullen, from Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was sentenced to a Community Payback Order and a Restriction of Liberty Order at the same court on Monday.
A phone belonging to a teenager accused of the abduction, rape and murder of a six-year-old girl was used to google how do police find DNA, a court has heard.

The Alesha MacPhail murder trial also heard evidence that fibres from clothes recovered from the shoreline of Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, were indistinguishable from those discovered on her vest, shorts and pants, found near her body.

The schoolgirl was found dead in woodland on the island on July 2, having arrived to spend part of the summer holidays at the home her father, his partner and grandparents shared.

A 16-year-old boy has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Toni McLachlan  the girlfriend of Aleshas father Robert MacPhail  for the killing.

Cyber crime team leader Peter Benson told the High Court in Glasgow he helped compile relevant information following a forensic investigation of the accuseds phone.

From the devices internet history, two items were deemed relevant for inclusion including the Google search how do police find DNA at 12.32am on July 3, the day after Aleshas body was found.

Mr Benson said this would be something you type in.

A minute later the internet history shows a page on collecting DNA evidence, which Mr Benson said indicates the person using the phone has gone to one of the hits.

The former policeman was also questioned about any communication on Instagram between the accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and the person who the teenager blames for Aleshas death.

Toni McLachlan, partner of Robert MacPhail (behind), father of Alesha MacPhail, outside the High Court in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Advocate Depute Iain McSporran QC asked Mr Benson if there was Instagram communication between the accused and Ms McLachlan.

He replied: I can say there was no indication of that at all.

Brian McConnachie QC, for the accused, questioned this and Mr Benson said: Theres no Instagram communication on the phone between them. Whats on the internet, I cant help you with.

He said he was unable to access Instagram messages which were online.

Giving evidence earlier in the trial, Ms McLachlan refuted suggestions from Mr McConnachie that she and the accused had been in contact on Instagram in the early hours of July 2.

Mr McConnachie suggested they had messaged on Instagram, then met and had sex in a shed, before Ms McLachlan took Alesha from her room, attacked and brutalised her and planted the accuseds semen from the condom used earlier, then murdered her, all of which Ms McLachlan denied.

On Wednesday last week, Ms McLachlan told jurors she loved Alesha and had nothing to do with her death.

Forensic scientist Sarah Jones also gave evidence on the sixth day of the trial.

She said her studies showed a total of 69 black and grey fibres from jogging trousers and boxers recovered from the shoreline at Ardbeg were indistinguishable from those found on Aleshas vest, shorts and pants.

She said this was strong evidence these black and grey fibres were from the clothes recovered from the shoreline, earlier said by the accuseds mother to look like his.

The scientist told the court the number of fibres found were extremely indicative of direct physical contact between the jogging trousers and Aleshas clothes.

She said she could not entirely exclude the possibility the fibres being passed from a third party, though this would have to have taken place within three hours of initial transfer.

Ms Jones said no fibres from a black hooded top recovered from an evidence bag in the bin outside Rothesay police station matched Aleshas clothes.

Questioned if she would have expected transfer from a person wearing this top to someone in direct contact with it, such as a child being carried, she replied: Yes, I would.

The absence of a transfer would point to me that the vest had not been in contact with that hooded top, she added.

Flowers, pictures and messages left outside the Coats Funeral Home, in Coatbridge, during the funeral of Alesha MacPhail (Lesley Martin/PA)

The court heard earlier the accuseds mother believed the top was similar to her sons and a police officer said he recovered it from the shoreline after it was found by a dog walker but threw it out as he thought it was not relevant to the inquiry.

Detective Constable Ian Wilson also gave evidence on Monday and said the accused gave a no comment response during a police interview after being arrested on July 4 and on being charged with Aleshas murder.

The detective said this was not unusual and was within the teenagers rights.

The teenager denies abducting, raping and murdering Alesha, and attempting to hide evidence.

The trial, before judge Lord Matthews, continues on Tuesday.
Michael Gove has faced claims the UK Government is guilty of a feckless and reckless approach to Brexit and that a no-deal scenario risks irreparable harm to the farming industry.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was urged to take no deal off the table by Fergus Ewing, Scotlands Rural Economy Secretary, as the pair attended a public question-and-answer session in Edinburgh on Monday.

Mr Ewing told an audience at the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) headquarters: Unless we take a no deal off the table there will be irreparable harm, particularly to our sheep, our lamb sector that is so reliant on exports to the EU that a collapse in the lamb price would be an inevitable consequence.

Attending debate between @FergusEwingMSP & Michael Gove @ScotGovSASA this morning, ahead of our Devolved Administrations meeting this afternoon. Fergus Ewing opens, highlighting how vitally important EU citizens are to our rural economy & Scotland as a whole #Brexit pic.twitter.com/8YnebHieTf  Mairi Gougeon (@MairiGougeon) February 18, 2019

The event was attended by representatives from NFU Scotland, Quality Meat Scotland, RSPB, Scottish Environment LINK and the Scottish Organic Producers Association, among others.

Mr Ewing highlighted Scottish Government concerns over labour, trade and funding in a post-Brexit UK.

He said: We in the Scottish Government believe very strongly that the UKs Governments approach to Brexit has been feckless and reckless, and has consequences which, foreseeably, will cause substantial damage and harm to the rural economy.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove attended a question-and-answer session in Edinburgh on Monday (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

He asked Mr Gove: If there is to be Brexit will you rule out a no deal? You can do so. Thats the most immediate threat facing us all.

Mr Gove said there were legitimate concerns among the agricultural sector about leaving the EU without a deal.

He said: Its true  I make no bones about it  if we leave the European Union without a deal we will face tariffs of at least 40% on sheep.

He said the impact on the export trade would depend on a variety of factors, including the extent to which sterling would depreciate and therefore make exports more competitive.

In his opening remarks @michaelgove highlights opportunities of Brexit - leaving the CAP means we can strip away with unnecessary bureaucracy & design a better system of support. MG believes this can be delivered with a deal #NFUS2019 pic.twitter.com/Hfoj02b4w8  Clare Slipper (@ClareSlipper) February 18, 2019

He added: The critical thing is that if we have a deal then these problems dont arise, and therefore I would hope that you would put pressure on all your elected representatives to support a deal.

Because the easiest way to take no deal off the table is if Members of Parliament from Scotland vote for a deal.

Mr Gove said the majority of farmers had voted to leave the EU, and that the Common Agricultural Policy had imposed a straightjacket, one-size-fits-all, rigid, bureaucratic system on how UK farmers operate.

Theres a significant opportunity to strip away some of the unnecessary bureaucracy to ensure that support for farmers is delivered more effectively and to ensure that food producers can do even better in the future, he said.
A number of airlines have expressed interest in taking over flybmis City of Derry to Stansted service, the airports operator has said.

Scottish airline Loganair has already indicated an intent to tender for the publicly financed route vacated by flybmi after its collapse.

City of Derry Airport is the third largest in Northern Ireland (Paul Faith/PA)

The demise of flybmi is the latest blow to Northern Irelands troubled third airport in Londonderry.

It is owned by the local council and run by Regional and City Airports.

Clive Coleman, the contracts director at Regional and City Airports, said it would be challenging to run the airport without the Stansted flight.

He told BBC Radio Foyle: A number of airlines contacted us saying they were interested.

We are in discussions with a number of them now and weve been working with the Department for Transport on that.

Mr Coleman declined to indicate how many airlines were vying to take over the service, which is supported by Government funding through a public service obligation (PSO).

The subsidy, which has been in place since 2017, was the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has confirmed continuing funding (Victoria Jones/PA)

Last week, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling confirmed the Government will continue to provide the PSO funding until 2021.

Derry City and Strabane District Council has said it is committed to securing an immediate replacement airline for the route.

It engaged in emergency talks with the airport and Department of Transport over the weekend.

Flybmi operated two return flights a day from City of Derry to Stansted from Sunday to Friday, and one return flight on Saturdays.

British Midland Regional Limited, which had operated 17 regional jet aircraft on routes to 25 European cities, cancelled all flights from Saturday.

Loganair and Ryanair are now the only airlines serving City of Derry airport.

On Sunday, Loganair confirmed it has expressed an interest in the flybmi route, with a spokesman saying the airline has an extensive track record as a public service obligation (PSO) provider and knowledge of the Derry market given they already operate to Derry from Glasgow.

In 2016, the Northern Ireland Executive pledged 7 million to the loss-making airport, stressing the need to maintain air connectivity from the north-west of the region.
US President Donald Trump has suggested that key officials involved in the Russia probe were engaged in treasonous behaviour.

Mr Trump hit out at former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, whose new book details his concerns about potential foreign influence over the president, and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who initiated special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

Mr Trump said Mr McCabe and Mr Rosenstein look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.

In an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes, Mr McCabe, who was fired last year by the FBI, described Mr Rosenstein as having raised the prospect of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Mr Trump from office.

Mr Trump tweeted: This was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action!
Heres all you need to know about the seven MPs who resigned from Jeremy Corbyns party.

 Luciana Berger

The 37-year-old MP for Liverpool Wavertree has been an outspoken critic of Labours leadership, and of Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of anti-Semitism within the party and his Brexit position.

Her stance on anti-Semitism has seen her face a torrent of abuse from online trolls and she required a police escort at last years Labour Party conference after receiving death threats.

Ms Berger, who is heavily pregnant and Jewish, recently faced a vote of no confidence by her local constituency party, which was eventually withdrawn after a heated row in the Labour ranks.

During the press conference announcing the split, revealing she joined the Labour Party as a student 20 years ago, Ms Berger said she had become embarrassed and ashamed to remain.

Elected in 2010, during the last general election she secured a 29,466 majority, and has previously been shadow minister for public health and mental health, and currently sits on the Health and Social Care Committee.

Ms Berger, a remainer, is a supporter of the Peoples Vote campaign for a second referendum on Brexit.

 Chuka Umunna

One of the leading voices in the Peoples Vote campaign, Mr Umunna has been the MP for Streatham in south London since 2010.

At Mondays press conference, Mr Umunna said politics is broken and Westminster parties have been failing the public.

I became a political activist to serve my community and to change the country for the better. My decision today  which has been painful and difficult - is rooted in the values and principles which I have always held.  ChukaUmunna (@ChukaUmunna) February 18, 2019

He served under Ed Miliband as shadow business secretary between 2011 and 2015, and stood in the 2015 party leadership race, but withdrew after only three days, saying he was uncomfortable with the added level of scrutiny that came with being a leadership candidate.

The 40-year-old quit the frontbench the day after Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader, citing differences over the UKs relationship with the EU.

Mr Umunna won a 68.5% share of his constituency vote at the 2017 general election and holds a majority of more than 26,000.

 Angela Smith

The 57-year-old MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire was first elected in May 2005 for Sheffield, Hillsborough. She won the 2017 general election contest with a 1,322 majority.

Last month Mr Corbyn was criticised after he appeared to refuse to give way to Ms Smith during his Commons Brexit statement, which she suggested happened because she supports a second referendum.

Over the years, the veteran MP has formed part of a number of parliamentary select committees, including transport and environment, food and rural affairs.

In her statement as the Labour Party split was announced, highly critical of Mr Corbyn, Ms Smith said since his election as leader in 2015 there has been a change in the Labour Party that has destroyed the proud legacy built by our predecessors.

She also revealed that by the age of five she knew her voting intention, but that the current Labour Party is characterised by lazy, populist thinking.

(PA Graphics)

 Chris Leslie

The 46-year-old was first elected in Shipley in West Yorkshire in May 1997  a seat he held until May 2005. He was re-elected in his current Nottingham East seat in May 2010.

Previously the shadow chancellor, from May 2015 to September the same year, he was replaced by John McDonnell after Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader.

Ive resigned from the Labour Party today. This is why  my message to my constituents in Nottingham East. #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/Z6qsLartQA  Chris Leslie (@ChrisLeslieUK) February 18, 2019

A soft Brexit supporter, he has previously pushed for Britain to stay in the single market and customs union, and last week was vocal over Labours stance.

Attacking Labours position, he said we are being played for fools by the leadership, as he branded Brexit an unmitigated disaster.

In a video statement posted on his Twitter account, Mr Leslie said he has been a Labour member for more than three decades and that the party he joined is not the same as todays.

I did everything I could to save it, but it has now been hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left, he added.

 Ann Coffey

The MP for Stockport in Greater Manchester spent more than four decades in the Labour Party, and said she thought she would be a member until the end of [her] life when she resigned the Labour whip on Monday.

A supporter of a second referendum on Brexit, Ms Coffey, 72, was one of two MPs who tabled a motion of no-confidence in Jeremy Corbyn the day after the EU referendum. She said at the time: The result of the European Union referendum leaves this country in a mess.

Leaders have to take responsibility and [Jeremy Corbyn] has to take his share of responsibility for this, and he should resign.

Announcing that she will now sit as an independent MP on Monday, Ms Coffey said the Labour Party is no longer a broad church.

She said: Any criticism is responded to with abuse and accusations of treachery. Anti-Semitism is rife and tolerated.

First elected in 1992, Ms Coffey has held a majority of almost 14,500 since the 2017 general election.

 Mike Gapes

A veteran of the House of Commons, Mr Gapes has been the MP for Ilford South in London since 1992, and currently holds a majority of more than 31,500.

A Labour member for 50 years, he was appointed the first national student organiser of the Labour Party in 1977.

This morning I have resigned from the Labour Party after fifty years. It has been a great privilege and honour to serve my constituents for 27 years, I intend to continue to represent them as a member of the new Independent Group of Members of Parliament #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/wFhJTfO33M  Mike Gapes (@MikeGapes) February 18, 2019

When he resigned the Labour whip on Monday, the 66-year-old said he was sickened that the Labour Party is now a racist, anti-Semitic party and furious that the Labour leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit.

A former chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, he also said that a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn would threaten our national security and international alliances.

In December 2018, Mr Gapes signed a letter in The Guardian calling for a second vote on Brexit.

He, alongside 16 other MPs across Parliament, said: We call on all party leaders and parliament to trust the people with the final say so we can face the future united.

 Gavin Shuker

The 37-year-old has been the MP for Luton South since 2010. During the 2017 general election he secured the seat with a majority of 13,925.

Between October 2013 and September 2015 he was the shadow minister for international development, and held the same post for the environment and rural affairs between March 2011 and October 2013.

He also currently sits on the women and equalities select committee.

In a statement issued following his split from Labour, he said the party is riddled with anti-Semitism, it presents a threat to our national security and its perfectly content to enable the hard Tory Brexit.

In December 2018 he was one of a number of MPs to call for a second Brexit referendum. Last year the Corbyn critic lost a no-confidence vote put forward by his local constituency party.
A British Airways plane has been repainted in retro livery for the airlines centenary celebrations.

The Boeing 747 landed at London Heathrow on Monday sporting a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) design.

This livery was originally used between 1964 and 1974.

The plane was stripped of its contemporary British Airways design and repainted at Dublin Airport.

British Airways staff welcomed the arrival at London Heathrow (Steve Parsons/PA)

It will continue to display the retro livery until it is taken out of service in 2023.

The aircraft will depart for New York on Tuesday, which was the first route a Boeing 747 flew in BOAC colours.

British Airways ambassadors Abigail Hunt (left) and Laura Molloy wearing an original BOAC uniform (Steve Parsons/PA)

Details of three more British Airways planes to be painted in retro liveries have yet to be disclosed.

The airlines chief executive Alex Cruz said: The enormous interest weve had in this project demonstrates the attachment many people have to British Airways history.

Its something we are incredibly proud of, so in our centenary year its a pleasure to be celebrating our past while also looking to the future.

We look forward to many more exciting moments like this as our other aircraft with heritage designs enter service.

A Boeing 747 in British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) livery in 1971 (PA)

Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT and T) launched the worlds first daily international scheduled flight between London and Paris in August 1919.

British Airways describes the airline as its forerunner company.

AT and T was incorporated into airlines with various names on multiple occasions  including BOAC  culminating in the creation of British Airways in 1974.
A hate crime victim is backing a police campaign urging other victims to report the offence.

The initiative is focusing on workers in night-time industries such as fast-food outlets, convenience stores, taxi driving and door security as they are said to be most at risk of experiencing hate crime.

More than 6,700 hate crimes were recorded in Scotland in 2017/18 and two-thirds (66%) of them involved people being targeted because of their race.

Taxi driver Muhammad Saqib, president of the Scottish Ethnic Private Hire Welfare Association (SEPHWA), was first targeted around 12 years ago.

Today we are launching a national campaign targeting #HateCrime.



Hate crime is widely under-reported, #DontTolerateHate!



Hate crime is never acceptable and should be reported.https://t.co/9DL29Pc9Yz pic.twitter.com/uGsUhwcBL6  Police Scotland (@policescotland) February 18, 2019

He said: When it happened I wasnt surprised but I was shocked. I was only doing my job, a group of guys called me for a taxi after their night-out and my job was to take them home.

It was a very scary experience. It was the middle of the night and they started threatening me, almost getting physical. There are no barriers in the car, I was driving around in the dark and I felt unsafe.

Muhammad Saqib was first targeted around 12 years ago (Police Scotland/PA)

These things always happen if there is any major news event to do with Islam around the world. When the incident happened at Glasgow airport and the Manchester arena bombing, it was a hard time for ethnic drivers, especially Muslim drivers. You are targeted.

If I am targeted I dont tell my family. If they find out, they ask me to stop doing my job. But somebody has to do it. My advice is whatever your experience is, the best way to deal with it is to share it with others which will be beneficial to them and society.

Mr Saqib said people may not report what happened because they might not be sure how the police will treat the incident or may be concerned about issues such as a language barrier and potential loss of earnings.

He urged people not to accept hate crime and to report it at a third party reporting centre if they do not want to go to the police.

SEPHWA was established in 2008 and is one of Police Scotlands third party reporting centres.

The organisation was set up to give ethnic people a voice, raise awareness of hate crime and act as a bridge between ethnic private hire drivers and the police.

Of the hate crimes recorded in 2017/18, 16% had a sexual orientation aggravation and 7% a religious aggravation.

The police campaign runs from February 18 until March 10.

Chief Superintendent John McKenzie, head of Safer Communities, said: Hate crime can have a devastating impact upon victims, their families and wider communities.

It can leave victims feeling isolated and fearful of what might happen next. Its important people know they can report it and how to report it.

We work with partners including the Scottish Government to raise awareness and encourage the reporting of hate crime.

If victims dont feel comfortable reporting the matter directly to police they can report to third party reporting centres who have staff that can identify hate crimes and offer support to victims.

Partners in this years campaign include the Scottish Grocers Federation, Just Eat, the Security Industry Authority and Scottish Licensed Trade Association.
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Daytona 500 in a race overshadowed by a massive 21-car pile-up in Florida on Sunday.

Hamlin took the chequered flag to win the event for the second time in four years, but the race will be remembered for a huge crash that wiped out more than half of the 40-strong field.

With just 10 laps of the 500-mile race to run, Paul Menard collided with Matt DiBenedetto to set the chain of events in motion.

"I wrecked a lot of cars. I feel bad about that." - Paul Menard pic.twitter.com/gUl1ht3guG  FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2019

Menard was battling for fifth position and attempted a bump and run on his rival, but the move backfired.

The event was stopped for 25 minutes but, remarkably, no driver was injured in the accident.

That was my bad, Menard, who apologised to DiBenedetto after the crash, told Fox. I wrecked a lot of cars and I feel bad about that.

It was go time, and I was pushing the number 95 car and it looked like he was trying to get to the middle and I started trying to get to the outside and just barely hooked him.

The crash took place in the closing stages of the race (Phelan M.Ebenhack/AP)

Hamlin led Kyle Busch and Erik Jones in a one-two-three clean sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing.

JD Gibbs, who co-founded the team with his father, died last month after a degenerative neurological disease.
A group of seven Labour MPs have resigned from the party to create a new Independent Group in the House of Commons, in the most significant split in British politics since the breakaway of the Social Democratic Party in the 1980s.

Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey are among the MPs from the partys centrist wing who have been the loudest critics of Jeremy Corbyns leadership, his stance on Brexit and his handling of allegations of anti-Semitism.

They issued an appeal to MPs from both Labour and other parties to leave the old tribal politics behind and join their new grouping.

In a Statement of Independence, setting out their values and approach, they promised to pursue policies that are evidence-based, not led by ideology, taking a long-term perspective to the challenges of the 21st century in the national interest, rather than locked in the old politics of the 20th century in the parties interests.

(PA Graphics)

None of the current political parties in Westminster are fit to provide the leadership and direction needed by our country, they said.

And they pledged: As an Independent Group we aim to recognise the value of healthy debate, show tolerance towards different opinions and seek to reach across outdated divides and build consensus to tackle Britains problems.

Ive resigned from the Labour Party today. This is why  my message to my constituents in Nottingham East. #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/Z6qsLartQA  Chris Leslie (@ChrisLeslieUK) February 18, 2019

At a press conference at Londons County Hall to announce their move, Mr Umunna issued an appeal to voters: For far too long, political parties in Westminster  parties of which we have been a part  have been failing you.

If you are sick and tired of politics as usual, guess what? So are we.

If you want an alternative, please help us build it. The bottom line is this  politics is broken, it doesnt have to be this way. Lets change it.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna announces his resignation from the party (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

In a call on other MPs to quit their parties, Mr Umunna said: Weve taken the first step in leaving the old tribal politics behind and we invite others who share our political values to do so too.

You might come from a Labour background but you might come from other political traditions. Yes, its a difficult decision  make no mistake about that.

But you dont join a political party to spend years and years fighting the people within it. You get involved in politics, you join a party, to change the world.

We invite you to leave your parties and help us forge a new consensus on a way forward for Britain.

Mr Leslie  a former shadow chancellor  said that Labour had been hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left, while Ms Berger said she had come to the sickening conclusion that the party is now institutionally anti-Semitic.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on the seven MPs to do the honourable thing and stand down to fight by-elections in their constituencies.

That call was rejected by the MPs, with Mr Leslie telling the BBCs World At One that elections were the last thing needed at this moment of crisis.

Mr Corbyn said he was disappointed at the groups decision.

I am disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945, said the Labour leader in a statement.

Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London (PA/Georgina Stubbs)

Labour won people over on a programme for the many not the few  redistributing wealth and power, taking vital resources into public ownership, investing in every region and nation, and tackling climate change.

The Conservative Government is bungling Brexit, while Labour has set out a unifying and credible alternative plan. When millions are facing the misery of Universal Credit, rising crime, homelessness and poverty, now more than ever is the time to bring people together to build a better future for us all.

Ms Berger  who accidentally introduced herself as a Labour Party MP, before correcting herself to the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree  said the decision to quit the party was very difficult, painful, but necessary.

The MP, who has been the target of anti-Semitic abuse and was provided with personal protection at last years party conference, said she had become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party.

I have not changed. The core values of equality for all, opportunity for all, anti-racism against all and social justice  the values which I hold really dear and which led me to join the Labour Party as a student almost 20 years ago  remain who I am, she said.

And yet these values have been consistently and constantly violated, undermined and attacked, as the Labour Party today refuses to put my constituents and our country before party interests.

I cannot remain in a party which I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.

Ilford South MP Mr Gapes said he was sickened that the Labour Party is now a racist, anti-Semitic party and furious that the Labour leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit.

This morning I have resigned from the Labour Party after fifty years. It has been a great privilege and honour to serve my constituents for 27 years, I intend to continue to represent them as a member of the new Independent Group of Members of Parliament #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/wFhJTfO33M  Mike Gapes (@MikeGapes) February 18, 2019

The former chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said that a Labour government led by Mr Corbyn would threaten our national security and international alliances.

Stockport MP Ms Coffey, who has represented Labour in the Commons since 1992, said the party was no longer a broad church.

Any criticism of the leadership is responded to with abuse and accusations of treachery, she said. Anti-Semitism is rife and tolerated.

(PA Graphics)

In a statement on Facebook, Luton South MP Mr Shuker said Labour was riddled with anti-Semitism, it presents a threat to our national security and its perfectly content to enable the hard Tory Brexit that will directly and negatively affect people in Luton.

The Independent Group is due to hold its first formal meeting later this week, and released its first tweet just moments after being launched.

It said: Today, seven MPs have left Labour and formed a new, Independent Group. Theyre from different backgrounds but are united in their belief that we can #ChangePolitics.
The European Union has been urged to demonstrate trust and vision in talks with the UK at the start of a week of intense efforts to find a Brexit breakthrough.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the process was at a critical period but insisted there was a way through which could secure the support of MPs at Westminster.

His comments came as Theresa Mays effective deputy prime minister warned that a no-deal outcome would cause serious economic damage and could even put the future of the United Kingdom at risk.

Mr Hunt was speaking in Brussels at a foreign ministers meeting and is expected to have further talks with counterparts this week.

He said: What we need is trust and vision on both sides because what is at stake here is Britains relationship with its European neighbours for the next 25 years.

Just landed in Brussels for a day of talks with EU Foreign Ministers. This week Ill be travelling to visit 4 crucial European partners as well to discuss Brexit. Its going to be busy... pic.twitter.com/VArF8yUmSv  Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) February 18, 2019

Mrs May will meet European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in the coming days while Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay held a productive meeting with the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday.

The Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) confirmed officials discussed the proposals of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group of Tories, who have been seeking a compromise to avoid the need for the controversial Irish backstop.

While the commission engaged seriously with these proposals it expressed concerns about their viability to resolve the backstop, a DExEU spokesman said.

We agreed to keep exploring the use of alternative arrangements  especially how they might be developed to ensure the absence of a hard border in Northern Ireland on a permanent footing, avoiding the need for the backstop to ever enter force.

Ahead of his talks with Mr Barclay, Mr Barnier said time is very short as the clock ticks down to Brexit day on March 29.

After an intensive weekend @MunSecConf discussing global affairs, security and #brexit, I am now travelling back to Brussels to continue discussions with UK gov this week. Time is very short... pic.twitter.com/2fubHY4Zst  Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) February 17, 2019

Mr Lidington stressed the Governments determination to secure a deal and issued a stark warning about what was at stake.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that a no-deal Brexit was something that no member of the Cabinet wants to see, because it would cause some serious damage to our economy and, I think, put strain on the union of the United Kingdom.

In a sign of the increased Government activity, Mrs May spoke over the weekend to seven European leaders including Italys Giuseppe Conte, following talks last week with 13 counterparts including Germanys Angela Merkel and Frances Emmanuel Macron.

She hopes to speak to the remaining EU leaders over the coming days.

But despite the intensive engagement, Number 10 insiders acknowledged it was hard to judge what progress would be made this week.

In a speech later this week, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will set out what changes would be required to eliminate the legal risk of being indefinitely trapped in the insurance policy to avoid a hard border.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Lidington said the Attorney General on Tuesday would explain how the legal tests that he has set about ensuring the so-called backstop cannot be used to trap the UK indefinitely could be met and overcome and he expected MPs to put great weight on his advice.

Mrs May had made clear that she wanted to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement to secure legal reassurance on the backstop, said Mr Lidington, though he accepted that would be very difficult.

It comes after Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright suggested Mrs May might not seek to reopen the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement to make changes to the backstop, prompting anger from Eurosceptic Tories.

Jeremy Wright, talking about the backstop changes, said it was not the mechanism that matters but the objective (Jeff Overs/BBC)

Mr Wright implied the agreement could be amended via a codicil, saying the objective mattered more than the mechanism.

Tory Brexiteer Sir John Redwood said it was not possible to gloss the Withdrawal Agreement.

It needs significant changes, Im not saying a little change would be sufficient, it requires a renegotiation, he told the Press Association.

Sir Bill Cash, Conservative chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said, if the changes were just flowery words, then the deal wont wash.
Ryanair has swung to a third-quarter loss and unveiled a management shake-up that will see boss Michael OLeary head up the group for another five years.

The Irish carrier booked a pre-tax loss of 22.1 million euros (19.3 million) in the three months to December 31, which compares to a 112.9 million (98.8 million) profit in the same period last year.

Ryanair racked up net losses of 20 million euros (17.5 million), citing weaker-than-expected air fares among a host of challenges.

The firm also blamed excess winter capacity in Europe for a 6% reduction in average fares to under 30 euros, while the airline also had to contend with higher costs from fuel, staff and compensation claims.

It comes after a profit warning last month.

Revenue was up 9% to 1.53 billion euros (1.3 billion) and the airline said it flew 32.7 million customers in the quarter, an increase of 8%.

Ryanair posted Q3 results (Niall Carson/PA)

Ryanair maintained its full-year profit guidance of between 1 billion euros to 1.1 billion euros.

Mr OLeary said: While a 20 million euro loss in quarter three was disappointing, we take comfort that this was entirely due to weaker-than-expected air fares so our customers are enjoying record low prices, which is good for current and future traffic growth.

While ancillary revenues performed strongly, up 26% in Q3, this was offset by higher fuel, staff and EU261 (compensation) costs.

Additionally, the firm announced that it will change its group structure, with a smaller management team overseeing four units  Ryanair, Laudamotion, Ryanair Sun and Ryanair UK.

As part of the shake up, Mr OLeary will act as group chief executive of Ryanair until at least 2024.

Meanwhile, chairman and company veteran David Bonderman will lead the board until summer 2020, but will not put himself up for reselection.

He will be succeeded by Stan McCarthy, who joined the board in 2017.
The Pentagon is to send 3,750 more troops to the US-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of barbed wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection.

The additions will bring the total number of active-duty troops on the border to 4,350.

The announcement is in line with what Acting Defence Secretary Pat Shanahan had said on Tuesday when he provided estimates for the next phase of a military mission that has grown in size and length.

Critics have derided it as a political ploy by the White House as President Donald Trump seeks billions to build a border wall.

Mr Shanahan said on Tuesday that several thousand more troops would be sent mainly to install additional wire barriers and provide a large new system of mobile surveillance and monitoring of the border area.

A migrant sits with his children as they wait to hear if their number is called to apply for asylum at the US border (Gregory Bull/AP)

Sundays announcement said the mobile surveillance mission would last until September 30.

Members of Congress have question whether the border mission is distracting troops from their main work of fighting extremists abroad and training for combat.

The first active-duty troops were sent to the border on October 30 for a mission that was to end on December 15. It has since been extended twice.

What impact does it have to readiness to send several thousand troops down to the Southern border? It interrupts their training. It interrupts their dwell time, Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing on Tuesday.

Vice Admiral Mike Gilday, the director of operations for the Joint Staff, told the panel that he does not believe military readiness has been significantly affected.

He said some units have missed training opportunities because of the deployment and others have seen less time at home between deployments than the military likes to provide.

But he said there is an effort to rotate service members in and out of the mission every six to eight weeks in order to minimise any impact.
An inquest into the deaths of two British soldiers at their barracks is due to begin later.

James Ross and Darren Mitchell died in suspected suicides within three months of each other at Ballykinler in Co Down, and their families have claimed they had nobody to turn to with their problems.

Their inquests are due to open in Ballymena, Co Antrim, on Monday morning and will examine whether there was a lack of support for military personnel.

Lance Corporal Ross, 30, from Leeds, and Rifleman Mitchell, 20, from London, who both served in Afghanistan, died within three months of each other in 2012 and 2013. Both were found hanged.

They had previously been on active service with 2nd Battalion the Rifles.

An additional eight incidents of serious self-harm involving other soldiers in the same unit were recorded over a six-month period within which the men died.

An inquest into the deaths of two young British soldiers at their barracks at Ballykinler in Co Down is due to begin later (Paul Faith/PA).

A preliminary hearing of the inquest was told a colleague described Ballykinler barracks as Bally Kill Yourself.

Written evidence before counsel for the victims families disclosed that L/Cpl Ross had discussed the loss of personnel during overseas combat.
Nicola Sturgeon will insist that the UK is not remotely prepared to leave the European Union in less than two months time.

With 53 days left until the UK is due to formally leave the EU, the Scottish First Minister will use a speech in the US to call again for a second Brexit referendum.

Ms Sturgeon will also argue that the chaos, confusion and uncertainty of Brexit had made it clearer than ever that Scotlands interests were not properly served by remaining part of the UK  accusing ministers in London of treating the country as an afterthought.

The First Minister and SNP leader is due to speak at Georgetown University in Washington DC as part of a tour of the US and Canada.

She will address an audience at Georgetowns Institute for Women, Peace and Security, with the event taking place at the start of Women World Leaders Week.

Ms Sturgeon will use her speech to warn that without free movement of people  something Theresa May has repeatedly ruled out retaining when the UK leaves the EU  there is a very real risk Scotlands working population will go into decline, with this bringing with it severe economic and social consequences.

Nicola Sturgeon is calling for a second vote on Brexit (Jeff Mitchell/PA)

She will say: The UK is not remotely prepared to leave the EU in 53 days time. Thats been obvious for a while now.

The UK Government should finally recognise that, and it should ask the EU to agree to put back the planned date for Brexit.

Such a request would have to be backed up by an achievable plan  with Ms Sturgeon suggesting the UK Government could think again on plans to leave the single market and customs union.

But she will add that a better option is to hold a further referendum on EU membership.

Ms Sturgeon will say this should happen because there is no consensus within Parliament on what form Brexit should take, and therefore the Scottish Governments view is that this issue should be put back to the people.

Its time for us to come together, put the national interest first - and deliver on the referendum. pic.twitter.com/PJiVdCWYeT  Theresa May (@theresa_may) January 17, 2019

The First Minister will add: That fundamental point  that no Scottish parliament, of any political composition, would approach Brexit in the way that the UK Government has  helps to explain why Brexit is also relevant to the debate on Scottish independence.

In the independence referendum in 2014, voters in Scotland were repeatedly told that if we became independent, we would have to leave the European Union. Voting to stay in the UK was portrayed as the way to protect our EU membership.

That in itself raises the question of whether decisions about Scotland should continue to be taken at Westminster  or whether it would be better if they were taken in Scotland.

And now the ongoing chaos at Westminster and the way Scotlands interests have been consistently ignored, makes that question even more relevant.

So I have said I will outline my thoughts on the timing of a possible independence referendum in the next few weeks  once the terms of Brexit are clearer.

But, amid the chaos, confusion and uncertainty of Brexit, one thing is clearer than ever.

Namely, that Scotlands vital national interests are not properly served by relying on the Westminster system which treats Scotland as an afterthought, and that those interests can only properly be served by being an independent country.

A UK Government spokeswoman said: Nicola Sturgeon needs to stop using Brexit as an excuse to pursue her unwanted independence agenda.

Rather than constantly seeking division and constitutional upheaval, she needs to work with the UK Government to avoid a damaging no-deal. That is what people and business in Scotland expect.
Glasgows Celtic Connections festival has been awarded 100,000 of Scottish Government cash, after winning funding from the Expo Fund for a second consecutive year.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced the financial boost as this years event, which spotlights traditional, world and folk music, drew to a close.

The Expo Fund cash will be used to further develop the 2020 festival, allowing for eight new pieces of work by Scottish composers to be developed.

These will then be brought together into a single symphonic piece by composer Greg Lawson, which will be performed by the Grit Orchestra.

Since 2008 the Expo Fund has invested 21 million in Scotlands major festivals, boosting arts and culture.

Ms Hyslop said: Celtic Connections presented an excellent application for next years festival, which will build on the huge success of previous years, therefore Im pleased we can continue our support.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced further funding for Celtic Connections. (Danny Lawson/PA)

Over the past 26 years, Celtic Connections has gone from strength to strength, developing a vibrant programme that lights up Glasgows dark winter months and attracts festival goers and talent from around the world.

It is now one of the worlds largest winter music festivals and boosts Scotlands culture, tourism and economy.

Celtic Connections is an excellent example of the international reach our festivals offer, enhancing Scotlands reputation as welcoming and inclusive, which is so important as we strengthen relations with our European friends during these turbulent times.

Donald Shaw, artistic director at Celtic Connections, welcomed confirmation of the cash boost, saying: We are delighted that the Scottish Government Expo Fund has been opened up to us again, for Celtic Connections 2020.
Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage is in federal immigration custody, authorities in the United States have said.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said the artist, whose real name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested in a targeted operation early Sunday in the Atlanta area.

Cox said Abraham-Joseph is a British citizen who entered the US legally in July 2005 but overstayed his visa, which expired in July 2006.

Cox said Abraham-Joseph was convicted of drug charges in Georgia in October 2014.

He said Abraham-Joseph has been placed in deportation proceedings in a federal immigration court.

Abraham-Joseph is nominated for two awards at next weeks Grammys, including record of the year for Rockstar alongside Post Malone.
Senior members of the hardline eurosceptic European Research Group have been drafted in by the Government to help develop an alternative to the Irish backstop, Downing Street said.

ERG deputy leader Steve Baker, former Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson and Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh will be part of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group, which will meet for the first time on Monday, a No 10 spokeswoman said.

They will be joined by former education secretary Nicky Morgan and ex-cabinet office minister Damian Green in the group, which will meet regularly with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, a No 10 spokeswoman said.

For a better deal, Im backing the #MalthouseCompromise



Learn more here:https://t.co/8Fbrf9YRPz  Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) February 3, 2019

Mr Baker, a former Brexit minister who quit last year in protest at the Chequers agreement, and Ms Morgan were involved talks last week between MPs from the Remain and Brexiteer wings of the Conservative Party over the so-called Malthouse compromise, developed by Housing Minister Kit Malthouse.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: As the Home Secretary set out on Marr, the Attorney General (AG) is looking at the legal changes we are aiming to secure to the backstop.

As the PM has previously said, there are a number of ideas on this, including a unilateral exit mechanism or a time limit and the AG is considering their wording and legal effect.

He will be closely engaged throughout the process.

The group is due to meet at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall, with meetings also scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

The Malthouse compromise is seen as one of the main reasons the ERG changed its mind and backed an amendment last Tuesday tabled by Sir Graham Brady, which urged the Government to look at backstop alternatives.

Ms Morgan said last week that under the terms of the Malthouse compromise the Northern Ireland backstop would be recast as free trade agreement-lite with a commitment there would be no hard border with Ireland.

At the same time, the 21-month transition period would be extended by another year to December 2021, during which EU citizens rights would continue and the UK would pay into the EU budget.

Mr Baker said last week that the plan would replace the backstop  which is supposed to be temporary  with a permanent arrangement, while allowing more time to secure a free trade agreement with the EU.

The compromise was developed by Housing Minister Kit Malthouse (PA)

He told the Press Association on Sunday: After a positive conference call today running through the Governments questions, Im more confident than ever we can land the Malthouse compromise, including the indefinite Better Deal backstop protocol.

I hope our meetings with Government are as constructive as they should be because Malthouse is the only game in town if we are to achieve a deal.

I just hope engagement is as sincere as the PMs words at the despatch box led us to expect.

Mrs May told the Commons the group had put forward a serious proposal that we are engaging with sincerely and positively.

She added: We will sit down and work through the proposal that has come forward.

The Downing Street spokeswoman said that as well as meetings with Mr Barclay the group would also meet with civil servants from HM Revenue and Customs, the Cabinet Offices Europe Unit, Number 10 and other relevant departments.

Earlier on Sunday, Home Secretary Sajid Javid suggested that Border Force figures believe there are viable alternative arrangements to the Irish border backstop that would avoid the need for a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It came as he revealed the Brexit Secretary was looking at such arrangements  raised in the Brady amendment passed by MPs on Tuesday  while Attorney General Geoffrey Cox looks into whether a time limit or exit mechanism can be added to the backstop to make it more palatable to Parliament.

Mr Javid told Marr: In terms of an alternative arrangement it can be done.

In my own department I have got Border Force and I asked Border Force months ago to advise me to look at what alternative arrangements were possible.

They have shown me quite clearly you can have no hard border on the island of Ireland and you can use existing technology. It is perfectly possible, the only thing missing is a bit of goodwill on the EU side.

That would not be  goodwill  but a dereliction of duty by public authorities in the EU that have a duty to ensure public health and safety of consumers, protect against unfair competition and enforce public policies and international agreements. https://t.co/fpX2ibGzAP  Sabine Weyand (@WeyandSabine) February 3, 2019

However this was publicly questioned by Sabine Weyand, deputy to European Commission chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

She tweeted: That would not be goodwill but a dereliction of duty by public authorities in the EU that have a duty to ensure public health and safety of consumers, protect against unfair competition and enforce public policies and international agreements.
Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke is relishing the prospect of fighting for his first-team place now he is injury-free and feeling great.

The Belgian returned to Palaces starting XI for the first time since September 1 in Saturdays 2-0 victory over Fulham, having been sidelined by a knee injury, and almost scored his first goal since a penalty on April 28 with a bicycle kick that hit the crossbar.

Where for so much of his career at Selhurst Park Benteke has been their only fit, senior striker, Thursdays arrival on loan of Michy Batshuayi means that in his compatriot, Connor Wickham and Jordan Ayew he suddenly faces intense competition.

Benteke has played with a significant lack of confidence for much of his time there but if the past season was a difficult one for the entire club, this one has been disrupted by injury, and the 28-year-old said: Now my body is free and I am fit again, so I have no excuse. I am feeling great.

I enjoyed myself, but it has just been about waiting (for my chance) because I have worked so hard to be back out there. I was just a little bit anxious about my body because obviously I didnt play for a long time.

I wouldnt say (I feel threatened by Batshuayis arrival) because we have probably been lacking in goals. At the same time we are in the Premier League so you have to accept everything. The gaffer (Roy Hodgson) and the chairman (Steve Parish) want us to not be where we are now but even higher.

Christian Benteke is thrilled to be back (Nick Potts/PA)

I spoke (to Batshuayi) the night before he signed.

We are four up front now, so it gives the gaffer a lot of options.

Palace took the lead against Fulham through Luka Milivojevics 25th-minute penalty and Jeff Schlupp added a late second after Batshuayi, making his debut as an 82nd-minute substitute, saw his shot palmed out by Sergio Rico.

Having previously been left with little choice but to use wingers Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend in an unorthodox front two  and Palace finally looked comfortable in the suspended Zahas absence  manager Roy Hodgson is delighted to now have options up front.

He said: Christian has done well to get back to where he is. He has worked very hard.

It was a serious injury that required surgery, but Im sure hes saying Right, Im here, Ive got the shirt, Im going to keep hold of it. Other people have got to wrest it from me.

Suddenly there are a few alternatives. So I take off Benteke and change the system, which I can now do, and then take off Ayew and put on Batshuayi and he virtually wins the (Fulham) game for us. All of sudden Im looking at a bench, Hold on, this might be the answer which last year we didnt really have.

Defeat took Fulham significantly closer to relegation, given of their next seven fixtures, three are away and they host Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City at Craven Cottage.

Cottagers defender Denis Odoi revealed they had been relying on three points at Selhurst Park, and that manager Claudio Ranieri has demanded they compensate at home.

The fact that we lost this game means we need to take three points from one of the top teams at home, the 30-year-old said. (Its made survival) a lot harder. Getting a win against City, United, Liverpool, its not easy to do that, so its going to be very hard.
Two fishermen are being treated in hospital after being pulled from the water after their boat sank.

The men were at Ardtoe Bay on the Ardnamurchan peninsula on Scotlands west coast when their 30ft fishing vessel went down.

The Coastguard was alerted and the Mallaig lifeboat sent to the scene with the crew pulling the men from the water at around 3.30pm on Sunday.

They were then transferred to the Coastguard rescue helicopter and flown to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment.

It is thought the men may have been in the water for around an hour.

An excellent multi-agency response this evening at Ardtoe, Ardnamurchan. Two persons rescued with assistance from Mallaig Lifeboat, Salen & Mallaig Coastguard teams, @Scotambservice, Rescue 951 and @LochabSkyePol.@MCA_media #workingtogether pic.twitter.com/GZDb8s4mWC  Martin Collins (@SCOO_Lochaber) February 3, 2019

A Coastguard spokeswoman said: We were involved in a rescue off of Ardnamurchan.

The two men were airlifted to hospital in Inverness (Andrew Milligan/PA)

A fishing vessel went down and two fishermen were rescued out of the water. The Mallaig lifeboat located the casualties.

The Salen and Mallaig Coastguard rescue teams were sent to assist along with the Coastguard rescue helicopter, which transferred the casualties to Raigmore Hospital.
The governor of a US state is refusing to quit over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook, despite growing calls for him to resign.

Virginia governor Ralph Northam has now insisted it is not him pictured, despite originally apologising on Friday for the photograph that featured a man in blackface and a second person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

In a video he posted on Twitter, the Democrat said he could not undo the harm my behaviour caused then and today.

But on Saturday, Mr Northam said he was not in the picture after all, adding that he had not seen the photo before Friday because he had never bought a copy of the 1984 yearbook or been involved in its preparation 35 years ago.

It has taken time for me to make sure that its not me, but I am convinced, I am convinced that I am not in that picture, he told reporters during a press conference in Richmond.

Mr Northam, left, with his wife, Pam, during the news conference (Steve Helber/AP)

Calling the picture offensive and horrific, Mr Northam, who is one year into his four-year term, again rejected demands that he step down.

While talking with reporters, the governor admitted he once used shoe polish to put on blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a 1984 dance contest in Texas, while he was in the Army.

He said he regrets that he did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that.

Asked by a reporter if he could still do Jacksons famous moonwalk, Mr Northam paused before his wife Pamela interjected to say it was inappropriate circumstances.

The governors shifting explanations did little to sway prominent Democrats calling on him to resign.

Both of Virginias US senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, joined the dean of Virginias congressional delegation, Representative Bobby Scott, in saying they no longer believe Mr Northam can serve effectively.

My statement with Senators @timkaine and @MarkWarner urging Governor Northam to resign. pic.twitter.com/caAx6Im0Ga  Rep. Bobby Scott (@BobbyScott) February 2, 2019

But his refusal to step down could signal a potentially long and bruising fight between Mr Northam and virtually all of the states Democratic establishment. Top Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly also urged him to quit.

Mr Northam was pushed repeatedly by reporters to explain why he had issued an apology if he was not in the photograph, and he conceded that people might have difficulty believing his shifting statements.

My first intention  was to reach out and apologise, he said, adding that he recognised that people would be offended by the photo. But after studying the picture and consulting with classmates, Mr Northam said: I am convinced that is not my picture.

My fellow Virginians, earlier today I released a statement apologizing for behavior in my past that falls far short of the standard you set for me when you elected me to be your governor. I believe you deserve to hear directly from me. pic.twitter.com/1rSw1oxfrX  Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) February 2, 2019

The Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook images were first published on Friday by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics.

The governor, a paediatric neurologist, has recently come under fire from Republicans who have accused him of backing infanticide after he said he supported a bill loosening restrictions on late-term abortions.

Democrat Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia just stated, I believe that I am not either of the people in that photo. This was 24 hours after apologizing for appearing in the picture and after making the most horrible statement on super late term abortion. Unforgivable!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2019

In a tweet on Saturday, President Donald Trump weighed in on proceedings, calling Mr Northams actions related to the photo and abortion debate unforgivable!
Two youths, believed to be teenagers, have been attacked in Hounslow, west London.

Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at about 2.30pm to reports that a male had been stabbed in the area of Harlington Road East in Feltham.

The victim, believed to be in his late teens, was taken to a south London hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The police then received another call a short time later, saying a second male, believed to be in his mid teens, had been slashed on Hounslow Road.

UPDATED: The victims in the #Feltham assaults had sustained knife injuries; neither of the teenagers is believed to have life-threatening injuries. Officers remain in the area. Anyone with info is asked to call 101 ref: 4160/3Feb  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 3, 2019

The victim has been taken to hospital for slash wound injuries which are thought to be non-life threatening.

It is believed the two victims may have been attacked in Feltham Park.

Police have appealed for information (Joe Giddens/PA)

Police are investigating whether the two assaults are linked, and no arrests have been made.

Officers remain in the area and ask anyone with information to call 101 ref: 4160/3Feb.
The big freeze which has gripped much of the country will be replaced by rain and wind as Britain returns to a more traditional winter, the Met Office said.

Snow, ice and plunging temperatures caused treacherous conditions from Thursday into the weekend across vast swathes of the UK.

With England recording the coldest night of the winter so far on Saturday night, Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge said things are gradually getting back to normal.

But a yellow weather warning is in place across much of Scotland for snow and ice from 9pm on Sunday until 12pm on Monday, with up to 6cm expected on higher ground.

(PA Graphics)

Overnight tonight we will see another weather system pushing in from the west and that is going to bring the hill snow to Scotland, he told the Press Association.

Elsewhere it will bring rain and stronger winds across all parts of the UK overnight tonight tomorrow that gradually clears away to the east, with some decent sunny spells developing.

Apart from south-east England, where that lingers for much of the day, with rain gradually turning lighter, but it will remain cloudy.

As the country returns to work on Monday he said the mercury could rise to 11C in the South West, up to 9C in the South East and Midlands and 6C in Scotland.

If you're heading out this evening many places should start off dry, but wet and windy weather is quickly sweeping in from the west  pic.twitter.com/bF9yH0dZpI  Met Office (@metoffice) February 3, 2019

It is definitely back on track in terms of temperature, where they should be for the time of year, back to a more traditional UK winter for at least a week.

The rest of the week is just more unsettled weather.

The warmer temperatures come after a low of minus 11.7C was recorded at Chillingham Barns in Northumberland in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Met Office said.

But while it was the coldest night of the year so far in England it was not as cold as parts of Scotland, where temperatures fell as low as minus 12.6C at Braemar in the Highlands.
A man has died in a light aircraft crash on the Essex-Suffolk border, police said.

The man, in his 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene in Belchamp Walter, near Sudbury, at about noon on Sunday.

Essex Police said they were called to the scene by reports of a light aircraft in distress at 11.50am and eight fire engines from Essex and Suffolk went to the scene.

We were called to reports of a light aircraft in distress at Belchamp Walter just before 11.50am on February 3.



Officers attended and, sadly, a man aged in his 50s was pronounced dead at the scene.



His next of kin have been informed. pic.twitter.com/lXiqkYdDpp  Essex Police (@EssexPoliceUK) February 3, 2019

The crash site is about five miles from Ridgewell Airfield, the home of Essex Gliding Club.

An Essex Police spokesman said the mans next of kin had been informed.

Police have set up a cordon and uniformed officers are at the entrance points to the field where the crash happened, according to Jane Walker, the chairman of Belchamp Walter Parish Council.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene (Peter Byrne/PA)

The area is largely farmland, with scattered woods and the villages of perhaps no more than about 600 people.

Mrs Walker, who saw an air ambulance land at the site, said: It is really out of the usual and I think it took a lot of people out of the blue.

Our feelings go out to the poor man who has died and his family. Our condolences are with them.

She said there has been the initial shock of the tragedy which has been followed by a good community spirit as local people tried to help.

The village hall has been used as a staging centre where hot drinks have been available for the emergency workers who attended the scene.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch spokesman said it is aware of an incident and have deployed a team.
Dustin Johnson repelled the challenge of Chinas Li Haotong to claim victory in the inaugural Saudi International on Sunday.

The world number three came from one stroke down at the turn to card a three-under-par final round of 67 and win by two shots.

A birdie on the final hole helped Li seal second place ahead of Englands Tom Lewis, whose five-under-par final round of 65 was enough to secure third.

     #   ! pic.twitter.com/ViejlpjgdB  Saudi International (@SaudiIntlGolf) February 3, 2019

Li had gone into the final 18 holes on a high after firing four eagles, including a record-breaking three eagle-twos, in his third-round 62.

But he fell away over the second half on Sunday, with three bogeys hampering his hopes of an impressive win.

Johnson recorded five birdies in his final round, including the last two holes as he finished on 19-under-par.

Dustin Johnson claimed victory in the Saudi International (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Lewis finished three shots off the lead after a blazing start to his final round, recording five consecutive birdies over the first five holes.

Yet his round was eclipsed by South Koreas Lee Min Woo, who finished a stroke further back after his second consecutive seven-under-par 63.

A four-under-par final round made Ian Poulter the next best-placed Briton in sixth, while Bradley Dredge and Ross Fisher were in a share of 13th.
The search for the missing university student who disappeared during the early hours of Thursday has entered its fourth day.

Daniel Williams, 19, was last seen at around midnight in a student union bar on Whiteknights campus at the University of Reading, Thames Valley Police said.

He was reported missing after he failed to return to his student accommodation.

Missing university student Daniel Williams (Thames Valley Police handout/PA)

In a statement released on Sunday, Superintendent Jim Weems said: We remain open-minded as to the circumstances behind Daniels disappearance, but naturally, as the search enters its fourth day, our concern for him is growing.

I would like to appeal to Daniel directly, if he sees this, please make contact with Thames Valley Police or your family.

You are not in any trouble, but we want to ensure you are safe and well.

Investigating officer Sergeant Bradley Pitt said: We are appealing for anyone with information about Daniels whereabouts to get in contact with police as we are extremely concerned for his welfare.

It is out of character for Daniel to be missing so please report any possible sightings of him to officers as soon as possible.

Mr Williams, who is in his second year studying computer science, is described as 6ft and slim, with short light brown hair and blue eyes.

He was wearing black or blue jeans, a black hooded top and black shoes.

Mr Williams was also wearing a black T-shirt underneath with a distinctive white motif on the front.

Volunteers from the Berkshire Lowland Search & Rescue team have been assisting officers from the Thames Valley Police response teams and neighbourhood teams, along with the National Police Air Service.

Leaflet drops have also been arranged by Mr Williamss family who are being supported by specially trained officers.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference 1307 31/1.
An almost 20% drop in Labour members in Scotland is part of the natural cycle of politics, one of the partys MPs said.

Glasgow North East MP Paul Sweeney spoke out after the Herald on Sunday reported 4,674 people have quit Scottish Labour over the last 12 months.

Labour membership in Scotland has fallen from 25,836 in January 2018 to 21,162 last month, according to the paper.

Kirsty Blackman MP, the SNPs deputy leader at Westminster, claimed it showed Labour was on the path to terminal decline and total irrelevance in Scotland.

She added: No-one will be surprised that their toxic support for Tory plans to drag Scotland out of the EU against our will has led to a mass exodus of party members right across the country.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard (John LInton/PA)

Labour Party sources insist the number of members it has in Scotland has almost doubled since the time of the independence referendum in 2014.

Mr Sweeney said the fall in membership was part of a natural cycle because the party had a leadership election in 2017, which saw Richard Leonard elected as Scottish leader in November of that year, ahead of rival MSP Anas Sarwar.

Mr Sweeney, speaking on BBC Ones Sunday Politics Scotland show, said: Thats a natural cycle because last year we had a leadership election.

As many people who are familiar with party political dynamics will know, many people join parties in order to participate in leadership elections.

According to the Herald on Sunday, the number of Labour members in the partys former Glasgow heartland has fallen by 1,545 in the last 12 months, with membership over the nine constituency branches in the city dropping from 5,814 to 4,269.

It was also reported that in the Eastwood Constituency Labour Party branch alone, membership was down from 621 in January 2018 to 385 last month, a reduction of 38%.
A senior Nissan boss blasted Brexit uncertainty as he confirmed that the company had scrapped plans to build the X-Trail 44 at its Sunderland plant.

Gianluca de Ficchy, the Japanese firms Europe chairman, said that the decision had been taken for business reasons affected by rules on diesel engines and reduced sales.

The announcement that the X-Trail would be built in Japan was made in a letter to staff that followed a day of political rows between Brexit supporters and opponents over the reason for one of Wearsides largest employers reneging on a 2016 decision to build the car there.

In the letter Mr de Ficchy said: Todays announcement will be interpreted by a lot of people as a decision related to Brexit.

We have taken this decision for the business reasons Ive explained, but clearly the uncertainty around the UKs future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.

Please see below an updated statement on the developments at Nissan. pic.twitter.com/NC1y7kiuRx  Sharon Hodgson MP (@SharonHodgsonMP) February 3, 2019

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: The Conservatives botched negotiations and threat of a no deal Brexit is causing uncertainty and damaging Britains economy.

And Sharon Hodgson, the areas Labour MP, said: This is a great loss of future investment in Sunderland and I am sure that people will share my huge disappointment and concern at this news.

Tomorrow I will be seeking answers from Government ministers as a matter of urgency.

The announcement came as two senior cabinet ministers rejected the idea of the UK remaining in a customs union as the price of getting a Brexit deal.

Labour wants the UK to remain in some sort of customs union as part of a Withdrawal Agreement.

But Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that he believed that Tory backbenchers would kill off such a plan even if it managed to attract Labour support in the Commons.

He told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show he did not support agreeing to remain in some sort of customs union and questioned support for such a plan.

In principle I am totally against a customs union because it would not, in my view, deliver on Brexit because we need to be able to have our own independent trade policy. That is number one, he said.

Practically, I dont think it would get a majority because whilst you might gain some Labour votes  you would also lose votes on the Conservative side.

I dont actually think you would get a majority so I just think its a complete non-starter and if Jeremy Corbyn is serious he should start having serious talks with the Prime Minister in the national interest.

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, asked on Skys Ridge on Sunday whether he could stomach a customs union to achieve a deal, simply said: No.

Five years ago Nissan were very optimistic about Britain. They saw it as a great place to do business, and as the gateway to Europe. Now they are pulling their investment. The absolute shambles the Tories have made of Brexit is likely one of the main reasons this has happened. pic.twitter.com/TH1aACpXwP  Vince Cable (@vincecable) February 3, 2019

Their interventions came after Theresa May had said she would be battling for Britain when she returns to Brussels to seek a pragmatic Brexit deal that can win over both the European Union and her own MPs.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she suggested that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had agreed with her that the Irish border backstop as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement had to change.

However, Mrs May was warned she may be opposed by her own Eurosceptic backbenchers if the deal she gets falls short of their expectations.

European Research Group deputy chairman Steve Baker tweeted that there could be trouble ahead and suggested changes to the backstop may not satisfy them.

Leave-backing MPs voted to support alternative arrangements in NI (Northern Ireland) but with grave misgivings about the whole agreement, he wrote.

Now the PM co-opts us into accepting everything but the backstop and, on the backstop, accepting a codicil.

The right way forward is the Malthouse Compromise.

If all we see is a codicil  a joint interpretative instrument  expect a further substantial defeat for the agreement.

Mr Javid also dismissed reports of planning in Downing Street for a summer general election.

Sajid Javid said he did not support a customs union (Jeff Overs/BBC)

He told Marr that the Tories were only planning for a local election to take place in May as planned, adding: I think the last thing this country needs is a general election. I think the people will never forgive us for it, what they want is this Parliament to deliver Brexit in an orderly way, that is what they are looking for.

He also admitted the UK would suffer a change in capability in terms of security if there was a no-deal Brexit because of reduced access to databases and arrest warrants.

But he added: There will be a change in capability but its worth putting it all in perspective.

Most of these capabilities were only relevant for us from 2015 onwards and Im absolutely certain as Home Secretary  my job is to do everything I can to keep this country safe.

I am absolutely confident that we will continue to be one of the safest countries in the world even in a no-deal scenario.
Car giant Nissan has confirmed in a letter to workers that the next-generation X-Trail, planned for its Sunderland plant, will instead be made in Japan.

The decision is another huge blow to the UKs car industry which has been warning for years about the impact of Brexit uncertainty on top of other problems such as a slump in diesel sales.

Nissan chairman Gianluca de Ficchy said in the letter that much had changed since the Japanese firm announced plans to build a new Qashqai and X-Trail in the UK in October 2016.

At that time they were both planned as traditional models, powered by internal combustion engines. X-Trail was already going to be made in Kyushu, but there was a good business case for bringing production to Europe as well.

Since that time, as you know, the environment for the car industry in Europe has changed dramatically. To meet the changing emissions regulations weve had to invest much more in new powertrains for our future models like X-Trail. At the same time, the volume forecasts for X-Trail in Europe have reduced.

For those reasons the company has decided to optimise our investments and concentrate production in Kyushu, instead of adding another production site. For the European business, this does not change the fact that X-Trail is  and will continue to be  a crucial model for us.

Todays announcement will be interpreted by a lot of people as a decision related to Brexit. We have taken this decision for the business reasons Ive explained, but clearly the uncertainty around the UKs future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.

The letter continued: With the UKs departure from the EU on March 29 getting closer every week, we have a taskforce in place, reporting to me, that is considering all of the possible scenarios and the potential impact on the business.

As a responsible business with 16,000 employees in the region, I want you to know that we are preparing across all functions, and with our supply chain, for anything that might impact our current business model. When the time comes to initiate any of those plans, we will be ready, and we will communicate with full transparency to all of you.

Nissan was still investing heavily in the new Juke model and the next-generation Qashqai, said Mr de Ficchy.

Since they were originally allocated, those two models have also needed a lot of additional investment to meet the new emissions regulations and to electrify their powertrains.

The team in the plant still has the full confidence of the company.

The decision is a blow for Nissan workers in Sunderland (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Nissan executive vice president for manufacturing and supply chain management, Hideyuki Sakamoto, said: A model like X-Trail is manufactured in multiple locations globally, and can therefore be re-evaluated based on changes to the business environment.

As always, Nissan has to make optimal use of its global investments for the benefits of its customers.

Mr de Ficchy said: Nissan is investing heavily in new technologies and powertrains for the next generation of vehicles in our Sunderland plant. To support this we are taking advantage of our global assets, and with X-Trail already manufactured in Japan, we can reduce our upfront investment costs.

We appreciate this will be disappointing for our UK team and partners. Our workforce in Sunderland has our full confidence, and will continue to benefit from the investment planned for Juke and Qashqai.

Bad news for future investment in Sunderland because of Brexit. Nissan casts further gloom on car industry with X-Trail blow @bphillipsonMP @JulieElliottMP @annaturley @PaulWilliamsMP @CatMcKinnell pic.twitter.com/wnK8VUK0Hq  Phil Wilson (@PhilWilsonXMP) February 2, 2019

The Sunderland plant, which opened in 1986, employs 7,000 workers, producing around 2,000 cars a day.

Other Nissan models built at the site include the Qashqai, Juke, Q30, Note and the zero-emission electric Leaf.

The decision follows figures last week showing car production slumped by almost a 10th last year, leaving the industry on red alert amid continued Brexit uncertainty.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said investment had effectively stalled amid fears over the UKs future trading prospects with the EU.

Just over 1.5 million cars left UK factories in 2018, a 9.1% decline on the previous year, and the lowest for five years. Production of diesel cars was down by 22% to 561,000 last year.

The Nissan news shows clearly that Theresa May must end this no-deal nonsense. pic.twitter.com/UhoAsgoNJj  Vince Cable (@vincecable) February 3, 2019

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the fall in investment was deeply depressing and should send a strong signal to politicians to secure a Brexit trade deal.

Ford is seeking up to 400 voluntary redundancies at its engine plant in Bridgend, south Wales, while Jaguar Land Rover is to reduce its 44,000 workforce by 4,500 under plans to make 2.5 billion of cost savings  with most of the cuts in the UK.

Japanese firm Honda has announced six non-production days in April under contingency plans to mitigate the risk of disruption to production at its Swindon factory after the UK leaves the EU.

Unite officer Steve Bush said: This is very disappointing news for Sunderland and the North East, and reflects the serious challenges facing the entire UK auto sector.

The Governments mishandling of the transition away from diesel allied to the continuing uncertainty around our future trading relationship with the EU are extremely unhelpful when the sector ought to be focused on preparations for electrification.

While this decision is naturally not good news, we want to reassure our members that job levels at the plant will remain the same, even though they are being cut elsewhere in the industry.

However, we remain seriously concerned though that the apprenticeships and additional jobs that come with future investment and which this community so desperately needs will be lost.

Unite now expects the company to work with us to ensure full preparations for Brexit in which jobs and investment are prioritised, which can be best achieved by our representation on the task force established by Nissan, and through continuous dialogue between the company and the union.

Just saying #Nissan #Sunderland #GTTO #UnSeatTories

"We want to be working with companies like Nissan to ensure we maintain that competitiveness with the UK being a global leader in free trade." - #TheresaMay (28 Oct 16) #marr pic.twitter.com/exnnP4Rpg3  Jerry Hicks (@JerryHicksUnite) February 3, 2019

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: Nissans announcement is a blow to the sector and the region, as this was to be a further significant expansion of the site and the workforce.

The company has confirmed that no jobs will be lost. They have reiterated today their commitment to the UK by continuing to manufacture in Sunderland the current Qashqai, Leaf and Juke models and the new Qashqai model from 2020.

The UK automotive industry is a vital sector for the British economy which draws on our combination of rich automotive heritage and cutting-edge innovation.

Its role in providing high skilled well-paid jobs, innovative R&D and investment is why we are determined to build on these strengths to make the UK a leader in the next generation of autonomous and electric vehicles through the Automotive Sector Deal, as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

The Business Secretary said in October 2016 that Nissan were given four assurances to give them confidence to continue investing in the UK, including continued support for the competitiveness of the automotive sector through investment in skills and training the local workforce, and a commitment to research and development, in particular the take-up of ultra-low emission vehicles.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow business secretary, said: This is a blow not only to future investment in Sunderland but also to Britains industrial strategy.

As Nissan stated, continued Brexit uncertainty is not helping businesses plan for the future.

The Governments chaotic handling of Brexit has been the root cause of business uncertainty.

There are serious questions that the Government must now answer on Monday, not least what was in the secret Brexit deal it issued to Nissan and why this was no longer good enough.
Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd has said he thought of marrying his victim Charlotte Brown in a claim branded by her father as a cynical ploy.

Shepherd, 31, is in custody in Georgia, where he is fighting extradition to Britain.

He went on the run and was convicted in his absence last year of killing Ms Brown, 24, on a first date in December 2015 when the speedboat they were in overturned in the Thames.

Charlotte Brown (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The marriage claim was made via his lawyer in Georgia Mariam Kublashvili, who told the Sunday Mirror: He said to me, I wanted with this girl a future, a family and maybe she will be my wife.

He said it was new and was the first date, but added We had communication before and I saw it as serious.

He said, We had feelings for each other and then she died.

Ms Browns father Graham, 55, of Sidcup, Kent, pointed out that Shepherd married his long-term girlfriend just two months after Charlottes death.

He told the Sunday Mirror: He was so serious about my daughter that he went out and married another woman.

My daughter would have soon got the measure of Shepherd. It was a first date, my daughter had been in a long-term relationship for four years.

She was too smart and would soon have seen through him. Hes trying everything to avoid the fact hes got a six-year sentence waiting for him here.

Shepherd, who was convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey, handed himself in to Georgian authorities last month.

He could remain in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, for several more months.
Parents have warned that thousands of pupils in Irish border communities could face disrupted journeys to school if a hard border is implemented post-Brexit.

While many students attend schools on the opposite side of the border through schemes approved by authorities, countless others are believed to use a practice commonly referred to as grannying, to attend school in Northern Ireland.

Parents living close to the border are braced for the re-emergence of unapproved roads like those used during the Troubles, to take their children to school.

While the UK and Irish governments have maintained that the free movement of people between the two jurisdictions will not be affected, queues of traffic affecting thousands of people are anticipated if customs checks are reintroduced on the border after March 29.

(PA Graphics)

A reciprocal agreement exists between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland whereby children living on one side of the border are able to access an education on the other side of the border.

The caveat is that schools in Northern Ireland may only consider a child who is resident in the Republic of Ireland for admission after all resident children who have applied to the school have been considered.

A practice known as grannying involves residents who move to the Republic presenting schools in Northern Ireland with proof of address at a grandmother or relatives house to avoid being left out.

One Londonderry mother, who admits to using the unauthorised practice, has expressed concern.

The woman, who has lived in Donegal for more than 16 years and has two children attending school in Northern Ireland, said the idea of sending her children to school in the Republic of Ireland never crossed her mind.

Im from Derry originally, I work and pay tax in Derry, it made sense for the children to go to school there, she said.

If there was an emergency, or they were sick and had to leave school immediately, its not practical for them to be in Donegal and Im driving to work in the morning anyway so it makes sense with the school run.

The Troubles saw many smaller cross-border roads become unauthorised border crossings known officially as unapproved roads, which local people used to avoid customs officials and security services.

In my village alone, a tiny village, theres four back roads into Derry city, the mother of two added.

I could confidently say 90% of my neighbours in this housing estate are from Derry city originally and still working there, or have children attend school there.

Theres no way they would have the manpower to guard the border and stop every car, and theres no way people will wait in queues of traffic in the morning, theyll find another way to get there, theyll take back roads or roads that cant be manned.

Marguerite Hamilton, a former principal of Thornhill College, a girls grammar school in the Culmore area of Derry, one mile from the Derry/Donegal border, said it is inconceivable that children could be prevented or delayed from going to school if customs posts were installed.

Ms Hamilton said schools across Northern Ireland are aware of grannying students living over the border.

When a child applies for school, we ask for a verifiable proof of address, a bank statement or letter from a doctor for example, if they can supply the proof, it is not the schools place to go around investigating if the child actually resides there or not, she said.

Also, if circumstances change for instance, if they start school living in Derry, and move even just one mile away to the south, should they be forced to leave the school and educational system they know?

Whats clear is that those arguing about the border in London will not have their lives affected by the consequences.

Statistics on how often the practice is used are unverifiable, but Ms Hamilton estimates that there are hundreds of children attending school in Northern Ireland who reside in the Republic.

The Department of Education and Skills in the Republic of Ireland said it is confident the Common Travel Area will facilitate existing arrangements for cross-border pupils.

Minister for education Joe McHugh said: The school communities along the border, both in the north and in the south, have done tremendous work over the last 20 years in cementing the peace process and they deserve enormous credit for that.

Ive talked about this issue in recent days with the heads of the department and the need to better understand the important role that these schools, their staff, pupils and parents have played in that and will continue to play.

Likewise, the Department of Education in Northern Ireland said it is aware of the issue, but has faith that the Common Travel Area between the two jurisdictions will safeguard access to education.

The issue of the provision of false information on an application is not limited to the home address of a pupil and the department has provided guidance to schools on their duty to verify application information, a spokeswoman said.

A parent providing information that is found to be false may have the offer of a place for their child withdrawn.

In relation to the impact of Brexit, the British and Irish governments have agreed that the rights flowing from the Common Travel Area should be maintained.

The Common Travel Area provides citizens of the UK and Republic of Ireland with the right to access services, including education, in the other jurisdiction.
The Sinn Fein leader says that looking at how Scotlands MPs are treated in Westminster affirms her belief in abstentionism.

Sinn Feins seven elected MPs do not take their seats in the House of Commons, despite repeated calls to do so during key Brexit votes.

On whether Sinn Fein would ever take their seats, Mary Lou McDonald told Andrew Marr on Sunday that the seven votes would be ineffectual and her party are resolute in their stance.

I have no business in Westminster, we have no business in your parliament, she said.

Westminster, correctly, advances and protects what it regards to be British interests.

We have no business interfering in that, I am Irish, we have two parliaments and we advance Irish interests.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald (Niall Carson/PA)

I look at the experience of our Scottish colleagues and I see them at Westminster, I think theres 30-odd, and I think they would readily attest that Westminster has no interest in Scotland either, Westminster has never served Irish interests, its not constituted to do that, Irish interests are defended in Dublin and Belfast.

McDonald added that the Good Friday Agreement would have to be revisited in the event of a hard Brexit on March 29, and an Irish unity referendum should be held.

Put simply, if the border in Ireland cannot be mitigated, cannot be managed in the short term, well then you put the question democratically in the hands of the people and allow them to remove the border, she said.

Bear in mind the people in the north of Ireland did not consent to Brexit.

The backstop is the bottom line.

On the issue of the border poll, theres no point us burying our heads in the sand and wish away a hard Brexit.

"I look at the experience of our Scottish colleagues and I see them at Westminster, I think there's 30-odd, and I think they would readily attest that Westminster has no interest in Scotland either," says @MaryLouMcDonald on Marr on whether Sinn Fein would take their seats.  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) February 3, 2019

We prepare for the worst scenario and protect our national interest.

Ms McDonald told Marr that anyone gambling with peace on the island of Ireland is acting recklessly.

One of the biggest symbols of success of the peace process is that people can travel unimpeded over the border.

Any controls or checks or security checks, any question of British soldiers at the border  the taoiseach has been clear there will be no Irish soldiers on the border- no one will accept the hardening of the border on our island.

The peace process is very solid, very robust, we are only going forward and we are not going back, it would be grossly reckless and irresponsible of the Tories to play a game of chicken with that progress.

Peace on this island is a precious thing, shame on anybody who would play games with that.
Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti has defended Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after he was criticised for attacking outside interference against Venezuelas hardline socialist regime.

The former human rights campaigner hit out at the regime of Nicolas Maduro over torture and disappearances of political opponents, saying it was important for left-wing politicians to be evenhanded.

But she said Mr Corbyn was a lifelong human rights defender who struggled to get a fair hearing in the media.

It came after the opposition leader was criticised by Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox and a former chief strategist at Save the Children, who accused him of defending a dictator.

Baroness Chakrabarti told Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday that she relied on trusted sources such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch regarding the oil-rich South American nation, which is in the grip of a humanitarian and political crisis.

She said: Last years reporting on Venezuela was pretty damning and that is in terms of disappearances, that is in terms of crushing dissent, that is in terms of reports of torture of prisoners and political prisoners, and it is completely unacceptable.

Shami Chakrabarti (David Mirzeoff/PA)

It is incumbent on people like me, as someone of the left, to call out governments and states of the left, because human rights have to be applied with an even hand.

But asked about Mr Corbyns response, she added: Jeremy is a lifelong human rights defender, sometimes it is difficult for him to cut through in the media because people just say, Well youre a socialist, just like Venezuela is.

He has said that you have to have the rule of law and you have to have human rights, clearly if you match that with the reporting of Venezuela that is not happening.

However, it would be very helpful if the United States and the UK Conservative Government would  call out Venezuela but also look across the way at Honduras, where you have a US-backed government which is also crushing dissent.

Mr Corbyn on Friday criticised Jeremy Hunt, saying the Foreign Secretary was wrong to demand sanctions against the Maduro regime.

Mr Hunt spoke on Wednesday to Juan Guaido, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, who is trying to oust socialist leader Mr Maduro.

The European Union on Thursday recognised Mr Guaido as interim president in place of Mr Maduro, with Mr Hunt calling for sanctions against the latter.

The United States has also recognised Mr Guaidos leadership.

But in a Friday tweet, Mr Corbyn said: The future of Venezuela is a matter for Venezuelans. Jeremy Hunts call for more sanctions on Venezuela is wrong.

We oppose outside interference in Venezuela, whether from the US or anywhere else.

There needs to be dialogue and a negotiated settlement to overcome the crisis.

The future of Venezuela has been taken out of the hands of Venezuelans by an increasingly corrupt and totalitarian state. By all means call for dialogue but if you dont strongly condemn the subjugation of democracy it sounds like you are defending a dictator. https://t.co/sYtUEpXFxl  Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) February 2, 2019

This sparked criticism from Mr Cox, whose wife was killed in 2016.

Writing on Twitter on Saturday, Mr Cox said: The future of Venezuela has been taken out of the hands of Venezuelans by an increasingly corrupt and totalitarian state.

By all means call for dialogue but if you dont strongly condemn the subjugation of democracy it sounds like you are defending a dictator.

Other senior Labour frontbenchers have also criticised the pressure being put on Mr Maduro, who is widely seen as a dictator, accusing the US of attempting regime change.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon were among a host of left-wing politicians, union leaders and activists who signed a letter to The Observer last Sunday.
Neil Warnock praised Cardiffs indomitable spirit after the Bluebirds paid a fitting tribute to missing striker Emiliano Sala.

Cardiff claimed a first Premier League win of 2019 by beating Bournemouth 2-0 on an emotional night in the Welsh capital.

This was Cardiffs first home game since record 15million signing Sala and pilot David Ibbotson went missing after the plane carrying them over the English Channel disappeared on January 21.

"I was the proudest man to be the Manager of the whole club: the fans were just amazing and I thought we deserved to win."



 https://t.co/9gQhZ0dStk#CityAsOne  Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) February 2, 2019

Tributes were paid to the two men before kick-off and the charged atmosphere appeared to galvanise Cardiff, who went ahead through the first of Bobby Reids two goals inside five minutes.

The best, Cardiff manager Warnock replied when asked about the two performances since Salas disappearance.

I cant be more proud. If we didnt get another point this year, Id still think the players have been amazing.

"It was a difficult couple of weeks and to come up with a response like that was all we could do. Everyone was together, credit to the lads."



- Sol Bamba #CARBOU pic.twitter.com/rc8hRWMuQr  Premier League (@premierleague) February 2, 2019

I look around the dressing room, the characters and where theyve come from, and know I couldnt ask any more of any of them.

Last year at Christmas we lost five games on the trot and everybody said Wow! Gone.

Then at Easter, they said the bubble had burst. But we really dont know when were beaten.

We looked at their bench and it cost 86million and I think ours was about five or six.

Thats what youre up against in the Premier League, because these clubs have got amazing ability.

Cardiff remain 18th and in the relegation zone but are now only two points adrift of Burnley, Newcastle and Southampton.

Only bottom-placed Huddersfield and Newcastle have scored fewer goals than Cardiff, but the arrival of Senegal international Oumar Niasse on loan from Everton has provided more mobility and pace to the attack.

Oumar Niasse has joined on loan from Everton (Mark Kerton/PA)

Oumar needed a bit of love, said Warnock, who has predominantly used midfielder Callum Paterson as a stand-in striker this season.

Since hes been here I dont think hes ever worked as hard in his life. But hes given us another dimension.

It makes me realise weve played two years without a centre-forward, but we havent done bad, have we?

Tough couple of weeks but a great result today! Faultless support! Thank you to everyone supporting us! Another clean sheet and a massive 3 points on the board! #ForSala #ForDavid #3points #football #win #cleansheet pic.twitter.com/Joc08CO3cc  Neil Etheridge (@Neil38Etheridge) February 2, 2019

Bournemouth had been on a high after thrashing Chelsea 4-0 in midweek and a third successive win would have taken them into the top eight of the division.

But the Cherries, without injured pair Callum Wilson and David Brooks, managed only two shots on target despite having 73 per cent possession.

Manager Eddie Howe said: Its hugely disappointing because we wanted to build on what wed done.

We felt that the result against Chelsea could be a really good turning point for us.

Eddie Howe reflects on a disappointing evening at #CARBOUhttps://t.co/A3dH8uqRLK  AFC Bournemouth  (@afcbournemouth) February 2, 2019

Weve been searching for consistency this season, as every team is, but weve never felt like weve really broken that.

We have got a lot of time to reflect now and focus on Liverpool.

But we have to sort out our inconsistencies, thats going to be our biggest challenge.
A new polling organisation has been set up in a bid to monitor Scottish opinions in the wake of both the 2014 independence referendum and the Brexit vote two years later.

Progress Scotland is headed by former SNP depute leader Angus Robertson, with polling and research conducted by Mark Diffley, who served as the lead pollster for the UK Government in the run-up to the independence referendum.

Polling, focus groups and other forms of research will be carried out, with the new organisation aiming to prepare the case for Scotland to progress towards independence, Mr Robertson said.

This work will be funded through donations and public subscriptions, with polling analysis and other information then released to subscribers.

Scots voted to stay part of the UK by 55% to 45% in 2014, but in the Brexit vote in 2016, people north of the border backed remaining in the European Union  a result that was at odds with the overall majority for Leave.

Mr Robertson was the SNP MP for Moray until he lost his seat at Westminster at the 2017 general election. He also served as the partys depute leader and Westminster leader.

Former SNP depute leader Angus Robertson will head the new polling organisation Progress Scotland (Jane Barlow/PA)

In addition to this, he was campaign director for the SNPs three most successful election campaigns, the 2007 and 2011 Holyrood elections and the 2015 UK election.

People are changing their views in Scotland. Interested in preparing the case for Scotland to progress towards independence? Support this new initiative by subscribing here  #progressscotland https://t.co/JMgrGEyld7  progressscotland (@progressscot) February 3, 2019

He said: Progress Scotland aims to help prepare the case for Scotland to progress towards independence, keeping pace with the views of the people who make their lives here.

With the help and support of subscribers, we will research the opinion of people in Scotland and test their appetite to emulate the most successful small countries in the world.

We will provide insight and analysis on what is needed to persuade people on the case for Scotland to make progress.

Mr Diffley said he was taking part in the new project because Scotland has been my home for nearly 20 years and I have witnessed how the country has changed and continues to change.

He added: We are at a time when it has never been so important to listen to the people of Scotland and understand what the public is thinking.

I am going to conduct the polls and research for Progress Scotland and I am very excited to see what we will find.

With so much going on with Brexit and the debate about Scotlands future, now is the right time to ask people about their opinions, how they are changing and why.

It makes sense to try and understand peoples hopes and concerns, especially at this time of change.

Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: When this group does speak to people in Scotland, it will find that the majority dont want to go back to get more division and uncertainty.

Its to be hoped that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP listens for once.

Labours Holyrood business manager Neil Findlay said: This group would be better spending its time talking to people about the state of our public services and condition of our economy.

People want the Government focused on jobs, schools and hospitals  not the instability that would come with another referendum.
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Croatian police have discovered several dozen migrants hidden in a truck and detained two suspected people smugglers.

Police say a patrol stopped the truck with Slovenian license plates early on Tuesday near Gracac, in southern Croatia close to the Adriatic Sea coast.

Authorities are working to establish the identity of the migrants who can now seek asylum in Croatia, a European Union member country. Croatia's state TV says they are mostly from Bangladesh, Pakistan or India.

Thousands of migrants are traveling through the Balkans aiming to reach Western Europe. From Croatia, migrants go to Slovenia, Austria and other wealthy EU nations.

Migrants mostly rely on people smugglers to take them across the borders illegally.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday that no final decision has been made on whether Huawei equipment can be used in a planned network upgrade.

New Zealand's international spy agency in November stopped mobile company Spark from using the equipment in its planned 5G upgrade, saying it posed a "significant network security risk."

But in a television interview with Newshub, Ardern said Spark had the option of mitigating the spy agency's concerns. Ardern said it was important to note there had been no final decision.

"I'm not here to pass assessments on vendors ..." Ardern told Newshub. "It's in the public domain that issues and concerns have been raised, but again, as I say, the ball is in now back in the court of the company that made the application, and that is Spark."

Her comments came after China accused the U.S. of trying to block the country's industrial development, and British media reported that U.K. intelligence agencies found it's possible to limit the security risks of using Huawei.

Ardern's comments also come at a time that New Zealand's relationship with China, its largest trading partner, is under scrutiny.

In this image made from a video, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during an interview in Wellington, New Zealand Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. Ardern said that no final decision has been made on whether Huawei equipment can be used in a planned network upgrade. (NEWSHUB via AP)

A story last week in the Global Times newspaper, which is published by China's Communist Party and is known for its nationalistic tone, said some Chinese tourists were considering dumping their plans to travel to New Zealand as a way to punish the country for the Huawei decision.

Ardern said the report was incorrect.

"China's foreign ministry spokesperson last week rejected these reports, suggesting those who were peddling the story were, quote, either making a big fuss over nothing, or harboring ulterior motives," Ardern said.

Figures released this month by Statistics New Zealand show that tourist numbers from China were up 7 percent in 2018 when compared to the previous year, to about 450,000. But there was a drop of 3 percent in the month of December when compared to the same month a year earlier.

Ardern also rejected reports that some New Zealand exporters were facing delays at China's border.

"New Zealand and China have differences of views on some issues, as we do with any other country," Ardern said. "However, this is a robust and mature relationship. We manage these differences together in a mature and respectful way."
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Justice Department official says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave his position in the middle of next month.

The official was not authorized to discuss the move by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Monday night.

The White House is expected to name a replacement for Rosenstein this week.

Rosenstein's departure had been expected with the confirmation of William Barr as attorney general last week.

Rosenstein has been on the job for nearly two years.

He oversaw special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself. Barr now oversees the remaining work in Mueller's investigation into potential coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign and decide how much Congress and the public know about its conclusion.
BAC GIANG, Vietnam (AP) - In a rice field in northern Vietnam, 14 headstones are an enduring symbol of the wartime friendship of Vietnam and North Korea. They mark the original burial ground of North Korean pilots who died while secretly fighting alongside Vietnamese comrades against U.S. Air Force and Navy planes during the Vietnam War.

The role of North Korea is a footnote in the sweeping history of that conflict, one that speaks mostly of the fraternal relations of two nations that separately fought bruising armed conflicts against the United States in the context of the Cold War. Decades later, the communist nations' friendship is apparent as Vietnam gets ready to host the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week.

"When they died, Vietnamese people treated them the same as Vietnamese martyrs who sacrificed for the country," Duong Van Dau, the caretaker of the memorial, said last week. On the high ground where the fallen pilots were interred, their tombs all face northeast, toward their homeland.

South Korea's role in the war is much better known. From 1964 to 1973, Seoul deployed more than 300,000 military personnel to help the U.S. effort in South Vietnam against the communists.

By contrast, the North Korean air force contingent deployed near Hanoi in what was then called North Vietnam - the communist half of the war-torn Southeast Asian nation - had 200-400 personnel, including about 90 pilots over more than two years, according to postwar Vietnamese accounts.

In September 1966, according to Vietnamese historical documents obtained and translated by CIA analyst turned scholar Merle Pribbenow, Hanoi accepted an offer by Pyongyang to send three companies of pilots who would form a regiment equipped with 30 aircraft in total. They were to wear North Vietnamese uniforms and Vietnam would provide the aircraft, facilities and equipment.

In this Feb. 16, 2019, photo, veteran Duong Van Dau places flowers at a memorial for North Korean fallen pilots in Bac Giang province, Vietnam. The fourteen headstones of the pilots who died while fighting American bombers alongside the Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war remain as a symbol of Vietnam-North Korea friendship. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

It was timely assistance. Vietnam's fleet of aging Russian-made MiG-17 fighters was taking heavy losses defending against the U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, Operation Rolling Thunder. China and Russia provided material assistance, but the number of trained Vietnamese pilots was shrinking by attrition.

The first North Korean contingent, also destined to fly Mig-17s, were sent before the end of 1966 to Kep air base in Bac Giang province, 70 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Hanoi, to aid in training and to carry out combat missions.

"The agreement was signed by the two governments, but we didn't know anything about it. I did know that North Korea wanted to send pilots to Vietnam so that they could practice and gain experience with the aim of building its air force," Vu Ngoc Dinh, one of the Vietnamese pilots who served alongside the Koreans, recalled in an interview with Istvan Toperczer, a Hungarian air force officer turned historian.

"The pilots were their best ones whose parents or relatives were working for the Politburo of the North Korean Central Party Committee," Dinh is quoted saying in Toperczer's book "MiG Aces of the Vietnam War."

"They sent their pilots and commanders to Vietnam and we provided the hardware they required during their service," Dinh said. "They kept everything secret, so we didn't know their loss ratio, but the North Korean pilots claimed 26 American aircraft destroyed."

"Although they fought very bravely in the aerial battles, they were generally too slow and too mechanical in their reactions when engaged, which is why so many of them were shot down by the Americans," Dinh said. "They never followed flight instructions and regulations either."

Dau, the cemetery caretaker, is also a war veteran. He joined the army and marched south in 1966 to fight for the communist side in South Vietnam. He was discharged three years later after getting shot in the knee in fighting just outside of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City.

"For the North Korean pilots who fought to protect our country and died for our country, I salute them. Being a soldier myself, I have great compassion for them. I see them as my comrades, regardless of the nationality," Dau said.

In 2002, the remains of the pilots were repatriated from Vietnam to North Korea in a ceremony held by the military of both countries. But the headstones remain, lined up in two rows behind a memorial marker with an inscription in Vietnamese: "Here used to lie 14 North Korean comrades."

Since the repatriation, the number of visitors to the site has declined. But Dau said he would continue to care for the gated memorial to the fallen pilots.

Only in 2000-2001 was the participation of the North Korean pilots officially acknowledged by Hanoi and Pyongyang. Since then, there has been a trickle of additional details about North Korea's involvement in the Vietnam War, teased out mostly from Vietnamese memoirs and state press accounts and Eastern European diplomatic archives.

What has also emerged is a revisionist view of North Korea's assistance, which suggests Pyongyang would have been happy to see Hanoi fight to the last Vietnamese.

"Sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government did not want to open a new front in Korea if it could help it," wrote Balazs Szalontai, a Hungarian historian of North Korea. He alleges that North Korea's then-leader, Kim Il Sung, "had much to gain from keeping America bogged down in Vietnam" and for that reason went out of it way to sustain North Vietnam's struggle.

Conversely, "the very fact that North Korea's assistance to Hanoi was strongly motivated by self-interest also implied that Pyongyang would not take kindly to any steps that could potentially enable the U.S. to get off the Indochinese hook and refocus its attention on the Korean peninsula," he noted in an essay on nknews.org, a website with news and analysis about North Korea.

When Washington and Hanoi began peace talks in Paris in 1968, North Korean aid began to tail off sharply, and Pyongyang greeted the 1973 Paris Peace Accords coldly, Szalontai noted.

___

Peck reported from Bangkok.

In this Feb. 16, 2019, photo, war veteran Duong Van Dau walks in between a row of headstones at a memorial for North Korean fallen pilots in Bac Giang province, Vietnam. The fourteen headstones of the pilots who died while fighting American bombers alongside the Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war remain as a symbol of Vietnam-North Korea friendship. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

In this Feb. 16, 2019, photo, veteran Duong Van Dau smiles while standing at a memorial for North Korean fallen pilots in Bac Giang province, Vietnam. The fourteen headstones of the pilots who died while fighting American bombers alongside the Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war remain as a symbol of Vietnam-North Korea friendship. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone has apologized to the judge presiding over his criminal case for an Instagram post featuring a photo of her with what appears to be the crosshairs of a gun.

Stone and his lawyers filed a notice Monday night saying Stone recognized "the photograph and comment today was improper and should not have been posted."

Earlier Monday, Stone posted a photo of U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson with what appeared to be crosshairs near her head.

Stone later said that the picture had been "misinterpreted" and that any suggestion he intended to threaten Jackson was "categorically false."

Stone is charged with lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering related to discussions he had during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks. He has denied guilt.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - A Honduran lawmaker was stripped of her seat in Congress on Monday after being convicted last month of defaming and slandering a local banker.

The court sentenced Maria Luisa Borjas of the opposition Libre party to serve two years and eight months in prison, but she can avoid jail by paying a fine equivalent to about $1 per day of the sentence.

But perhaps more damaging is that her congressional seat will be given to an alternate from her party for the duration of her sentence. Borjas said after the sentence was announced that she would appeal it.

Borjas was running for election in 2017 when she read a list of suspected "intellectual authors" from a security ministry report about the 2016 killing of environmental activist Berta Caceres.

The list included Camilo Atala, president of Ficohsa bank. Atala sued her for defamation, saying the comments caused "irreparable damage" to his reputation. He has denied any connection to the slaying.

At trial, Atala's side cast doubt on the authenticity of the report that Borjas cited through witness testimony, and the judge ruled in his favor.

Honduras' criminal defamation law allows private citizens to initiate criminal proceedings. Such laws have been broadly criticized as tools to stifle free expression, in particular critical voices.

Borjas has said she read the report publicly after filing a complaint with Honduras' national human rights commission, because she knew the report was in the possession of prosecutors and she was concerned it was not being acted on.

Last month, a spokeswoman for the judiciary said the judge found that Borjas made the public statements "irresponsibly, without confirming them."

At one time Borjas ran the national police department's internal affairs unit and built a reputation for calling out corruption in the ranks.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's emergency declaration (all times local):

5:15 p.m.

California's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Xavier Becerra released a statement Monday saying 16 states - including California - allege the Trump administration's action violates the Constitution.

Joining in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.

Becerra says there is no emergency at the border.

Trump declared a national emergency to fulfill his promise of completing the wall.

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

California has repeatedly challenged Trump in court. Becerra has filed at least 45 lawsuits against the administration

___

3 p.m.

California's attorney general says at least a dozen states will join a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Xavier Becerra told MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" he planned to file California's lawsuit on Monday. He didn't specify which other states would join, but officials in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada announced that they would challenge Trump.

Becerra says there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration.

Trump declared a national emergency to fulfill his promise of completing the wall.

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

California has repeatedly challenged Trump in court. Becerra has filed at least 45 lawsuits against the administration.
SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Authorities say three children and a woman were found dead of apparent gunshot wounds at a home in western Michigan.

Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young says authorities responded Monday to a property near Cedar Springs, a community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Grand Rapids. She says someone discovered the bodies and called 911.

LaJoye-Young said the three children were elementary school-aged and younger but declined to provide further information about the victims' relationships to one another. She said authorities were still confirming the victims' identities.

LaJoye-Young called the scene "a horrific thing to be called to" and said "my heart goes out to the families involved here and the community."

Authorities don't believe there is a shooter at large. An investigation is ongoing.

___

Kent County Sheriff personnel investigate the scene of a fatal shooting near the corner of 19 Mile NE and Division Avenue NE at a property on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, near Cedar Springs, Mich. WOOD-TV reports Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young says authorities discovered the victims at a property near Cedar Springs, a community about 30 miles north of Grand Rapids. (Neil Blake/MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com
PELAHATCHIE, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi man was shot dead Monday by police after a standoff, with police saying he emerged from a house pointing a gun at officers.

Rankin County Coroner David Ruth said Pierre Woods, 31, died after the shooting in Pelahatchie, east of Jackson.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said he, family members and Pelahatchie Police Chief Joseph Daughtry took turns trying to persuade Woods to come out.

"My heart goes out to the family of the suspect," Bailey told reporters after the shooting. "The last thing we want to do is hurt anybody. I repeatedly myself tried to talk him out, begged him to come out, to get some help."

The standoff began after they received a call about Woods firing a gun. Daughtry said Woods fired more shots once officers arrived and yelled vulgarities at them. He said police tried to negotiate with him for more than an hour. Bailey said officers fired tear gas into the house to try to force Woods out before he emerged.

Family members told local news outlets that Woods was mentally disturbed and may have been upset over the anniversary of the death of his mother. Bystanders screamed and wailed as television cameras at the scene recorded the sounds of a barrage of gunfire as Woods was shot. Video posted by one bystander shows a figure falling to the ground outside a small frame house.

"Lives were put in danger, they had to use deadly force to protect themselves and protect this community," Bailey said. "It's nothing we enjoy doing. It saddens each one of us and breaks our heart that this happened today."

Police recovered a handgun, Daughtry said.

A number of people had been evacuated from surrounding houses and some schools were locked down.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the inquiry into the shooting. The agency, by policy, does not release the names of officers involved.

"Everybody's going to be upset," Bailey said. "That's why we have the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation coming out to make sure it's done right."
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A Republican operative conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina's elections director said Monday, but the first session of a days-long hearing produced scant evidence that the GOP congressional candidate he worked for knew about it or even benefited.

The director's testimony came at the opening of a state elections board hearing into whether mail-in ballots were tampered with in the race for the state's 9th congressional district seat that saw Republican Mark Harris narrowly defeat Democrat Dan McCready.

The race wasn't certified, leaving the country's only congressional election without a declared winner. The elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new election after the hearing.

"The evidence that we will provide today will show that a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme operated in the 2018 general election" in rural Bladen and Robeson counties, which are part of the congressional district, state elections director Kim Strach said.

Harris held a slim lead over McCready in unofficial results following November's election, but the state elections board refused to certify the contest after allegations of potential ballot manipulation surfaced. There wasn't evidence presented Monday that the election irregularities were so widespread that it would overturn Harris' 905 vote lead. The hearing will continue Tuesday and could continue beyond then.

The investigation targeted a political operative working for Harris' campaign named Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr.

Lisa Britt answers a question by executive director of the Board of Elections Kim Strach during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

One witness, Kimberly Sue Robinson, said she turned over her signed, blank ballot to Dowless' workers in an unsealed envelope. She said she'd done the same thing in previous elections, trusting Dowless would make good choices. The registered Republican's vote was counted in November's election.

Dowless was hired to produce votes for Harris and Bladen County Sheriff Jim McVickers, but his methods last year included paying people to visit potential voters who had received absentee ballots and getting them to hand over those ballots, whether completed or not, Dowless worker Lisa Britt testified.

It's illegal in North Carolina for anyone other than a guardian or close family member to handle a voter's ballot.

Dowless was called to testify late Monday, but his attorney said he wouldn't do it without legal protection against prosecution for events he described. The board refused.

Britt testified she collected about three dozen sometimes unfinished ballots and handed them to Dowless, who kept them at his home and office for days or longer before they were turned in, said Britt, whose mother was formerly married to Dowless. While the congressional and sheriff's races were almost always marked by voters who turned in unsealed ballots, Britt said she would fill in down-ballot local races - favoring Republicans - to prevent local elections board workers from suspecting Dowless' activities.

"Most people aren't concerned with the school board or some of the other little people on there," Britt said.

While Dowless and Harris' main campaign consultant were in constant contact, she didn't have any indication Harris knew about the operation, Britt said.

"I think Mr. Harris was completely clueless as to what was going on," Britt said.

Britt's mother said she overheard a phone conversation in which Harris and Dowless before November's election discussed the Republican's strong showing. Sandra Dowless said Harris asked McCrae Dowless, the ex-husband who she lived with for six months last year, how he knew the Republican was running strongly.

"I know the people and I know how they vote," Sandra Dowless recounted her ex-husband as saying.

Strach said McCrae Dowless paid local people he recruited $125 for every 50 mail-in ballots they collected in Bladen and Robeson counties and turned in to him. That means they could have been altered before being counted.

The operation's scope allowed Dowless to collect nearly $84,000 in consulting fees over five months leading into last year's general election, said Strach, adding that in addition to reviewing financial and phone records investigators questioned 142 voters in the south-central North Carolina counties.

Harris received 679 mail-in ballots in Bladen and Robeson counties, compared to 652 for McCready, Strach said. But McCready's lawyers contend nearly 1,200 other mail-in ballots were sent to voters and never returned - enough to erase Harris' Election Day lead.

Strach was expected to touch on the unreturned ballots later in the hearing.

"It's not just about those that have been returned. It's potentially about those that haven't been returned," she said.

Dowless and Harris attended Monday's hearing. McCready did not.

Four of the five members on the elections 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 .

Lisa Britt pauses before answering a question by executive director of the Board of Elections Kim Strach during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Executive director of the Board of Elections Kim Strach listens during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris listens to the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Executive director of the North Carolina Republican party Dallas Woodhouse is seated in the crowd during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Executive director of the Board of Elections Kim Strach questions the first witness during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2018 file photo, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. poses for a portrait outside of his home in Bladenboro, N.C. The Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional election said Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 he recruited a political operative now at the center of a ballot fraud investigation because he produced election results in his rural North Carolina county and other Republicans vouched for him. Mark Harris said he didn't know before November's election that state elections board investigators found evidence that operative Dowless Jr. may have illegally handled ballots in 2016. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2018 file photo Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris applauds during a Habitat For Humanity building event in Charlotte, N.C. Harris, the Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional election, said Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 he recruited a political operative now at the center of a ballot fraud investigation because he produced election results in his rural North Carolina county and other Republicans vouched for him. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, file)

FILE - In this May 8, 2018 file photo Ninth Congressional district Democratic candidate Dan McCready smiles as he speaks with U.S. Rep. Alma Adams outside Eastover Elementary School in Charlotte, N.C. The Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional election said Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 he recruited a political operative now at the center of a ballot fraud investigation because he produced election results in his rural North Carolina county and other Republicans vouched for him. (Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Lisa Britt throws up her hands as she answers a question by by attorney Marc Elias during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation at the North Carolina State Bar Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Lisa Britt pauses before answering a question during the public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation at the North Carolina State Bar Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, in Raleigh, N.C. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris' attorney, David Freedman, left, speaks during a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Attorney Cynthia Singletary, left, pauses as she speaks during a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District investigation at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia teachers' unions on Monday called a statewide strike over an education bill that they view as lacking their input and as retaliation for a walkout last year.

The strike is scheduled to start Tuesday, leaders of three unions for teachers and school service workers said at a news conference, almost a year to the day after teachers started a nine-day walkout.

"We are left with no other choice," said Fred Albert, president of the American Federation of Teachers' West Virginia chapter.

The 2018 walkout launched the national "Red4Ed" movement that included strikes in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Washington state, and more recently, Los Angeles and Denver. Teachers in Oakland, California, have authorized a strike starting Thursday.

Now the movement has come full circle.

Both the state Senate and House of Delegates have approved separate and far different versions of the complex bill, but both call for creating the state's first charter schools. The unions believe charter schools will erode traditional public schools.

American Federation of Teachers West Virginia Treasurer Fred Albert, fist raised, and other union leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA call for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow during a news conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

After the strike call, the Senate passed an amendment to its bill 18-16 Monday night. The unions have said lawmakers never asked for their insight into what has become a rushed process in the Senate.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said that upon watching the Senate's actions, "it appears that they are more interested in listening to the outside interests than they are the educators across West Virginia.

"We will work as closely as we can to get a resolution, but at this point, there doesn't seem to be a resolution."

Earlier Monday, Sen. Patricia Rucker, a Jefferson County Republican, moved to adopt the Senate's amended version before senators even had a chance to read changes to the bill, prompting Democrats to protest. The Senate later adjourned for more than an hour to enable senators to catch up.

"Why are we pushing it through with about 10 minutes of advance notice?" said Michael Romano, a Harrison County Democrat. "Here we are with no time to digest it."

Among other things, the Senate version would allow for up to seven charter schools statewide and provide for up to 1,000 education savings accounts for parents to pay for private school. The accounts would be for special needs students and those who have been bullied.

Proponents say the moves would give parents more school choices. Charter school laws have been enacted in 43 states and Washington, D.C

The House version does not call for such savings accounts and would limit charter schools to one each in Cabell and Kanawha counties.

Like the House, the Senate has removed a clause that would invalidate the entire legislation if any part is struck down. It also removed language requiring teacher pay to be withheld during a strike as long as the school calendar is unaffected.

"We are watching this hour by hour," Albert said.

Sen. Craig Blair, a Berkeley County Republican, said the bill includes more than $66 million to directly help teachers and school service workers.

"Change is never easy in West Virginia," he said. "This is the right thing to do. At this moment in time, this is exactly the right thing to do to get a better education outcome for our students."

Teachers won a 5 percent pay raise after last year's strike. The current legislation calls for similar raises.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee and other union leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA called for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow at a press conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee and other union leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA called for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow at a press conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Adam Culver, a Cabell County teacher and member of the Cabell County Education Association, records as leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA education unions call for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow at a press conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Vera Miller, President of the Cabell County Education Association, speaks with association member and teacher Adam Culver in a hallway adjacent to where leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA education unions called for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow at a press conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA education unions called for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow at a press conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, speaks with other senators to work out a parliamentary question during debate in the state Senate chamber to amend an amended version of Senate Bill 451 passed by the House of Delegates at the West Virginia state Capitol in Charleston, W.V., Monday evening, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Elizabeth Warren is planning to unveil a universal child care plan that would guarantee American families access to child care.

The Massachusetts Democrat, a 2020 presidential candidate, would use part of the revenue from her proposed tax on the ultra-wealthy to fund her child care plan. A person familiar with the plan outlined it ahead of its release Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

Warren's plan would set up a federal program to guarantee child care from birth until children's entry into school. Families with income less than 200 percent of the poverty line would get free access. Other families would pay no more than 7 percent of their income.

Her plan would guarantee compensation for child care program workers at rates comparable to public school teachers in their areas.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - A judge on Monday gave lengthy prison terms to three farmers' leaders who participated in protests against President Daniel Ortega's government, citing them for terrorism and other alleged crimes that their defenders consider political and trumped-up.

Julio Montenegro, defense lawyer for Medardo Mairena, said his client, who represented the opposition Civic Alliance in failed peace talks last year, received 216 years while Pedro Mena got 210 and Luis Orlando Pineda 159.

Montenegro called Mairena's sentence "the most exaggerated" - prosecutors had sought far lesser sentences of 73 years for Mairena and 30 for Pineda.

"He is an inquisitor," Montenegro said of the judge responsible for the sentences.

Nicaraguan law caps prison time actually served at 30 years, however.

The three men are leaders of a rural movement opposed to an inter-oceanic canal that the Ortega government proposed to build with Chinese help as a rival to the Panama Canal, a project that has gone nowhere four years after a symbolic ground-breaking.

FILE - In this May 20, 2018 file photo, a pro-government billboard featuring Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife, first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo is destroyed by protesters, near a "Tree of Life" sculpture, a pet project of Murillo, in Managua, Nicaragua. Ortega's government says it has held talks on restarting a long-stalled dialogue following political violence that left more than 300 dead in 2018, but the proposal was swiftly met with a raft of preconditions from opposition groups and civil society on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

After protests erupted last spring that broadened to include demands for Ortega's exit from office, Mairena, Mena, Pineda and others organized roadblocks in the country's interior in support.

Authorities accused them and others of promoting a "failed coup" against the government of Ortega, a 73-year-old former guerrilla leader who was first in power from 1985 to 1990 and returned to the presidency in 2007.

Since then, critics say, he has consolidated a vice-like grip on power and governed in an increasingly authoritarian manner, including a crackdown on the 2018 protests by security forces and armed pro-government civilian militias in which more than 300 people were killed.

Mairena was sentenced on seven charges including "terrorism" and for the death of four police officers and a civilian during the unrest.

The sentences came two days after the government expressed a willingness to restart last year's talks "for the good of the country," according to an official statement released Saturday after Ortega met with private businesspeople about the matter.

Many opposition figures have said there must be preconditions for any dialogue such as the release of some 770 "political prisoners," a halt to what they describe as police and paramilitary "repression," and guarantees for freedom of expression.
CAIRO (AP) - The death toll from a late-night suicide blast near Cairo's famed tourist market rose to three on Tuesday after a police officer died of his wounds, Egypt's Interior Ministry said.

The fatalities in the attack near the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in the heart of Cairo were all policemen. The explosion late Monday also wounded two other policemen and a woman, officials said.

The attack was a rarity for the central area of Egypt's capital amid a years-long security crackdown under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

The Interior Ministry said the attacker, 37-year-old al-Hassan Abdullah, blew himself up after police officers approached to arrest him. He was wanted in a bombing last Friday near a mosque in Cairo's district of Giza and the police had been monitoring his movements, the statement said. The attacker's affiliation was not known and no militant group claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The ministry had blamed members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for last week's attack, which it said targeted a security checkpoint and wounded three people.

Following Monday's explosion, which shattered windows and blew curtains off nearby balconies, police and soldiers cordoned off the narrow streets around the bazaar. A body, presumably of the attacker, covered with a white sheet stained with blood, was seen lying on the ground in the blocked-off area, close to Egypt's renowned Al-Azhar mosque.

Policemen and residents surround the site of an explosion in the Gamaliya district, near Cairo's famed Khan el-Khalili tourist marketplace in Cairo, Egypt, late Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Egypt's Interior Ministry says a suicide bomber killed a few police officers and wounded some more while he was being pursued near Cairo's famed Khan el-Khalili tourist marketplace. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

In a house nearby, police found a bomb and bomb-making material, which prompted the evacuation of the whole building, said the security officials.

In the restive north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security forces killed 16 militants and seized explosives and weapons in two raids, security officials said Tuesday. The raids involved clashes with Islamic militants in the desert outside the city of el-Arish, they said. It was unclear when the battle took place.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The militants have mainly targeted security forces and Christians.

Egypt last year launched a wide-scale security operation focused on northern Sinai, where an Islamic State affiliate has carried out many attacks in recent years.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has officially dismissed his key aide in charge of dealings with congress, days after a newspaper linked him to a corruption scandal involving phony candidates and the misuse of campaign funds.

Government spokesman Otavio Rego Barros didn't say Monday what motivated the president's decision to fire aide Gustavo Bebianno, who has been a close ally of Bolsonaro. Bebianno has denied any wrongdoing.

The scandal has cast a shadow over the government's first weeks in power and is proving a distraction on the eve of the administration presenting sensitive legislation to congress. Lawmakers are set to receive this week an anti-crime bill and a proposal to overhaul Brazil's pension system, the government's flagship reform.

Bolsonaro ran his campaign on the promise that he will tackle corruption.
RRR Shooting News: NTR Back To Work:- RRR is the prestigious project of SS Rajamouli that features NTR and Ram Charan in the lead roles. This action entertainer is under shoot and after two back to back schedules, NTR is on a break. Some high voltage action episodes are canned on Charan in a police station set and in this while, NTR along with his family flew to Dubai for a week long vacation. NTR is back in the city and is back to sets from today.

The actor will shoot for his portions without any breaks and will wrap up some major portions of his role in this long schedule. Some important combination scenes of NTR and Charan too will be shot in this schedule Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra are speculated to be the female leads in RRR which is slated for summer release next year. DVV Danayya is the producer and MM Keeravani is the music composer. RRR is being planned on a massive budget of Rs 300 crores.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican officials say that one month after a fiery explosion at an illegally tapped gasoline pipeline, the death toll stands at 130.

The government of central Hidalgo state says 62 of the 81 people injured in the Jan. 18 fire have died at hospitals. Sixty-eight others died at the scene, most too badly charred to be identified.

The government said Monday that 15 people remain hospitalized, two of them in very serious condition and six in serious condition.

The explosion occurred as a crowd in the town of Tlahuelilpan filled containers with gasoline leaking from the illegal tap.

Residents gathered this week to fill in the irrigation ditch where the gasoline pooled and plan to build a chapel in the alfafa field where the explosion occurred.
MIAMI (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump addressing the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

Venezuela's embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, is rejecting President Donald Trump's call for a new day in Venezuela and comparing the tone of the American president's speech in Miami to that of a Nazi.

Trump said Monday that the U.S. stands behind opposition leader Juan Guaido and condemns Maduro and his government's socialist policies. Trump pleaded with Venezuela's military to support Guaido and warned of dire consequences for standing with Maduro.

Maduro responded to Trump in comments broadcast on state television. He accused the U.S. president of speaking in an "almost Nazi style" and lashed out at Trump for thinking he can deliver orders to Venezuela's military.

Maduro said, "Who is the commander of the armed forces, Donald Trump from Miami?" and added, "They think they're the owners of the country."

President Donald Trump speaks to a Venezuelan American community at Florida Ocean Bank Convocation Center at Florida International University in Miami, Fla., Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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5:20 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the United States seeks a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela but "all options are open."

Trump spoke on Monday in Miami about the monthslong political crisis in Venezuela and the dangers of socialism. The U.S. is supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido (gwy-DOH') as the rightful Venezuelan leader over President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump says he is asking every member of the Maduro regime to end this "nightmare" of poverty and death.

He says, "Let your people go. Set your country free."

The Venezuelan military has largely remained loyal to Maduro. Trump says Guaido's government will not seek retribution against them, but if they continue to support Maduro, they will "lose everything."

South Florida is home to the largest number of Venezuelans in the United States.

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5:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump says socialism has ravaged Venezuela to the point that even the world's largest oil reserves cannot keep the lights on in the country.

Trump spoke on Monday in Miami about the political crisis in Venezuela and the dangers of socialism.

Trump welcomed onto the stage the mother of Oscar Perez, a Venezuelan police officer who flew a helicopter over the capital and launched grenades at the Supreme Court building. He and several comrades died in a gun battle with police after months on the lam.

The president says the U.S. is "profoundly grateful to every dissident and every exile." He says what happened in Venezuela "will never happen to us."

Trump says a "new day is coming in Latin America."

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12:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump will seek on Monday to rally support among the largest Venezuelan community in the U.S. for opposition leader Juan Guaido (gwy-DOH'), saying Venezuela's "current path toward democracy is irreversible."

That's according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who says that Trump will use his Miami speech to express "strong support" for Guaido and condemn President Nicolas Maduro's government and its socialist policies.

As the monthslong political crisis continues, Trump is to make a public case to Venezuela's military to support Guaido's government.

The Venezuelan military has largely remained loyal to Maduro. Sanders says Trump would warn the Venezuelan military that the U.S. "knows where military officials and their families have money hidden throughout the world."
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican authorities have arrested a suspect in the killing of a local Red Cross official in the southern state of Guerrero.

The Guerrero state security spokesman said Monday that the man allegedly pulled out a pistol and killed the local Red Cross assistant coordinator in the resort city of Zihuatanejo on Feb. 8. Spokesman Roberto Alvarez did not mention a possible motive in the crime.

In November, a Mexican Red Cross paramedic was slain and six wounded by a gang of young gunmen in another part of Guerrero state.

But there is no indication the medical group is being specifically targeted. Several Roman Catholic priests have also been killed in Guerrero, in what the church says is a climate of generalized violence.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Men who brought one of two lawsuits alleging Ohio State ignored or failed to stop a team doctor's sexual misconduct are proposing another possible mediator after the university and plaintiffs couldn't agree .

In a court filing Monday, lawyers for some plaintiffs suggested a retired federal judge, Steven Rhodes, noting he presided over Detroit's bankruptcy and is mediating claims involving Michigan State University sex abuse cases.

The plaintiffs previously suggested one of the mediation teams used in the well-known cases involving Michigan State or Penn State, but Ohio State said it wouldn't agree to that because the handling of those cases led to controversy.

OSU recommended a different former federal judge or a federal appeals court mediator.

The alleged misconduct by Dr. Richard Strauss is under investigation . Strauss died in 2005.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The Brazilian branch of Human Rights Watch said Monday that police might have used sharpshooters to kill at least two men in a Rio de Janeiro neighborhood, and called for an independent and thorough investigation.

The group also said another man was shot in similar circumstance earlier but survived. The 22-year-old bricklayer claims the shot that nearly killed him came from a nearby police tower, and several witnesses corroborated that, Human Rights Watch said.

The report comes as the new governor of Rio de Janeiro state is promising to crack down on crime, one of the state's biggest problems. Gov. Wilson Witzel floated several ideas during his election campaign and since taking office Jan. 1, including using sharpshooters during police operations with authority to kill armed drug traffickers.

Witzel, whose discussion of public security matters is often in line with the hard line taken by President Jair Bolsonaro, called drug traffickers "narco-terrorists" in his swearing-in speech, saying they would "be treated like terrorists."

"Armed criminals have taken over and dominated portions of our territory, causing disgrace and disorder. I will not allow this 'parallel power' to continue," Witzel said in the speech.

Human Rights Watch said the shootings took place in the Manguinhos shantytown, at a square less than 300 meters (yards) from the city's main police complex.

"When Human Rights Watch visited the site on Feb. 4, a hot dog tent in the square, in the tower's line of sight, had two holes that appeared to be from bullets," the group's statement read.

The report said the state prosecutor's office had confirmed that the incident was being looked into by a special task force, whose members visited the tower and concluded it would possible for a sniper lying down on the building's roof to shoot someone on the square where the men were killed.

Police officials and the state prosecutor's office were not immediately available to comment, but Brazilian news media said authorities started investigating the claim Feb. 14.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A protester at the Virginia Capitol has been arrested during a protest against Gov. Ralph Northam.

Capitol Police said 23-year-old Patrick Talamantes of Sacramento, California, was charged with vandalism and littering after he tossed a container of red dye in a Capitol fountain.

Police said they stopped an unnamed woman who had a dye pack by another fountain, and she was issued a notice barring her from the Capitol for six months.

Police said Talamantes and the woman were part of a small group of protesters who called on Northam to resign. Northam's been under fire since a racist picture surfaced in his medical school yearbook.

Police said 45-year-old Michelle Sutherland of Florida was charged with indecent exposure in a separate protest related to the Equal Rights Amendment.
BOSTON (AP) - Police in Massachusetts say a man accused of kidnapping his 1-year-old son has been located in Mexico.

Lowell Police said Monday that 37-year-old Fillemom De Lima, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is being held by Mexican authorities at an immigration detention center.

De Lima and his son were last seen on Jan. 9. Lowell Police and the FBI traced him to Mexico City.

The boy was reunited with his mother, Mahalia Alexander-Paggi, Sunday night at Logan International Airport in Boston.

It's unclear whether De Lima is represented by an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Police say if he made it to Brazil, as police believe he intended to, they may not have been able to reunite the boy with his mother.

Several federal agencies helped with the investigation.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents have scheduled a special meeting to discuss an undisclosed "personnel investigation."

An OU news release says regents will go into executive session Wednesday in Oklahoma City. The meeting is closed to the public.

The subject of the meeting was not disclosed, but the university announced Feb. 13 that it had hired a law firm to investigate "allegations of serious misconduct."

The Oklahoman newspaper, citing unnamed sources, has reported that the investigation involved former OU President David Boren. The Associated Press was not able to confirm that.

An attorney for Boren says Boren denies any inappropriate behavior during his more than 20 years as OU president and described the probe as a "character assassination."

Boren, 77, is a former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator.
NEW YORK (AP) - The years-long hot market for businesses may start to cool, perhaps as soon as this year. That's the finding of a survey of brokers and advisers who help owners and buyers complete sales of small and mid-size businesses.

The survey conducted by researchers at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and two industry groups, the International Business Brokers Association and the M&A Source, questioned 319 business brokers and mergers and acquisitions advisers. Eighty-three percent of the survey participants said the strong M&A market will be over within two years. Nearly a third of the participants were more pessimistic, saying it wouldn't last through 2019.

The problem is the economy. Participants said they were concerned that overall business conditions will decline, putting pressure on companies' profits and making them less desirable to buyers.

The survey's findings are partly in line with one released last month by BizBuySell.com, an online market place for businesses. That survey also forecast that the market for small businesses would remain strong this year. However, it did not question business brokers about their outlook beyond 2019.

The Pepperdine survey found, as the BizBuySell.com survey did, that retirement is still the primary reason why businesses are going on the block. The Pepperdine survey, which broke sales down according to company size, found that 80 percent of owners of companies priced in the $1 million to $2 million range were heading for retirement. Forty-two percent of companies priced in the $500,000 to $1 million range were retiring, as were 31 percent of those whose companies sold for up to $500,000. A possible reason for the lower percentage among smaller companies may be the fact that many baby boomers have already sold their businesses - when sales began soaring in 2013 following the Great Recession, boomers were most of the sellers.

But worries that the economy will weaken this year - a concern raised by economists, some small business owners and the stock market - may be prompting some owners to retire sooner rather than later.

"People are thinking about getting out, before the next recession," said Laura Ward, managing partner of M&A advisory firm Kingsbridge Capital Partners, who was quoted in the Pepperdine survey.

The survey was conducted between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15.

_____

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

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com
TORONTO (AP) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top adviser resigned Monday while denying allegations that he pressured Canada's former attorney general to avoid prosecuting a major Canadian engineering company.

Principal Secretary Gerald Butts has been Trudeau's closest adviser and best friend since university, and his resignation over the widening scandal was a significant blow to the prime minister, who is facing an election this year.

Butts issued a statement denying that anyone in Trudeau's office pressured then Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.

"I categorically deny the accusation that I or anyone else in his office pressured Ms. Wilson-Raybould," Butts said.

"But the fact is that this accusation exists. It cannot and should not take one moment away from the vital work the Prime Minister and his office is doing for all Canadians."

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported this month that Trudeau or his staff pressured Wilson-Raybould to try to avoid a criminal prosecution of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin over allegations of corruption involving government contracts in Libya.

In this April 10, 2018, photo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves his office with his principal secretary Gerald Butts to attend an emergency cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. Trudeau's top adviser Butts resigned Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, while denying allegations that he pressured Canada's former attorney general to avoid prosecuting a major Canadian engineering company. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Critics say that would be improper political meddling in a legal case.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said the Butts resignation is "big and simply feeds the story that Butts pressured Wilson-Raybould."

"As principal secretary to the prime minister, Butts was Justin Trudeau's eyes, ears, nose and, most importantly, mouth," Wiseman said. "Trudeau has leaned on Butts more than anyone. They go back to being undergraduates at McGill (University) at the same time."

Wilson-Raybould resigned from the Cabinet as veterans affairs minister last week but gave no reasons. She had been demoted from justice minister last month and was furious, releasing a 2,000-word statement after that.

The Globe and Mail's report this month said Trudeau's office pressured her to instruct the director of public prosecutions - as allowed by law - to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin.

The agreement would have allowed the company to pay reparations but avoid a criminal trial on charges of corruption and bribery.

If convicted criminally, the company would be banned from receiving any federal government business for a decade. SNC-Lavalin is a major employer in Quebec, with about 3,400 employees in the province, 9,000 employees in Canada and more than 50,000 worldwide.

Wiseman said Trudeau's office mishandled the case.

"Where I think the government fell short is that as soon as Wilson-Raybould resigned they should have offered the very sound economic and business rationale for using remediation in the SNC-Lavalin case," Wiseman said.

"As it is, they bad-mouthed Wilson-Raybould and denied pressure was applied."

Wilson-Raybould has hired a former Supreme Court justice to advise her on what she can say publicly about the matter. Opposition leaders called on Trudeau to waive lawyer-client privilege to allow Wilson-Raybould to tell her side of the story.

Trudeau issued a brief statement about Butts, who is credited with helping Trudeau's Liberals rise from Canada's third largest party to win power in the 2015 election.

"Gerald Butts served his government - and our country - with integrity, sage advice and devotion. I want to thank him for his service and continued friendship," Trudeau tweeted.

Andrew Scheer, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, said the latest resignation shows a government in "chaos as Trudeau desperately tries to cover up this scandal."

"Canadians are rightly concerned about the allegations of political interference in a criminal prosecution. Trudeau needs to stop hiding behind other people and come clean," Scheer tweeted

In this Oct. 3, 2017, photo, Gerald Butts, principal secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arrives at the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario. Trudeau's top adviser Butts resigned Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, while denying allegations that he pressured Canada's former attorney general to avoid prosecuting a major Canadian engineering company. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
(Image source from: Livemint.com)

Tata Motors To Test Their Luck In Electric Mobility Business:- Tata Motors is one of the leading vehicle manufacturing giants of the country. With the entire world looking towards electric vehicles to curb pollution and save fuel, Tata Motors is in currently in plans to join hands and ink deals to test their luck in Electric Mobility Business. Tata Motors bagged a tender from Energy Efficient Services (EESL) to supply 10,000 electric vehicles. It is now in plans to collaborate on various electric and hybrid vehicle solutions in the commercial vehicle segment along with passenger vehicle manufacturing.

Shailesh Chandra, president, electric mobility business and corporate strategy, Tata Motors said that they are looking for good partnership deal to deliver mobility and the best electric vehicles in the country. The discussions are on for charging infrastructure with Tata Power. For the localization of the components, Tata Autocomp Systems and Tata Chemicals are in talks. Tata Realty and Infrastructure are keen to operate on the platforms and TCS will be used for software and other app management methods.

Tata Motors is currently in search of an ideal model that can suit Indian roads and passengers. A 200-250 kms a day for an electric vehicle is decent in the country and is ideal going with the price. For mid-range, 140-150 kms makes a good deal. Tata Motors is in plans to launch a completely new electric car in the coming days. The new vehicle will be shown in Motor Show, Geneva.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Latest on the verdicts of four inmates charged in the prison riot at Vaughn Correctional Center in February 2017 (all times local):

4 p.m.

The commissioner of Delaware's Department of Correction says he's disappointed that a jury delivered no guilty verdicts against four inmates charged in the fatal prison uprising in February 2017.

Commissioner Perry Phelps said in news release Monday that the department is disappointed but respects the jury's decisions.

He says he's grateful for the work of Delaware State Police and the Department of Justice which "tirelessly pursued justice on behalf of our fallen officer." He was referring to Officer Steven Floyd, who died during the 18-hour standoff.

The News Journal of Wilmington reported that jurors returned no guilty verdicts Monday for four inmates charged with murder and riot during the uprising at Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna.

Twenty-six-year-old Abednego Baynes and 28-year-old Kevin Berry were acquitted of all charges after about five days of deliberation.

The jury could not reach unanimous verdicts on a riot and assault charge against 29-year-old John Bramble. Jurors also didn't reach a unanimous decision on murder charges and a riot charge against 26-year-old Obadiah Miller. The two were acquitted of all other charges.

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3 p.m.

Prosecutors will have to decide whether they want to renew the effort to convict two inmates in the riot at the Delaware's largest prison that killed one correctional officer.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports jurors returned no guilty verdicts Monday for four inmates charged with murder and riot during the uprising at Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna in February 2017.

Twenty-six-year-old Abednego Baynes and 28-year-old Kevin Berry were acquitted of all charges after about five days of deliberation.

The jury could not reach unanimous verdicts on a riot and assault charge against 29-year-old John Bramble. Jurors also didn't reach a unanimous decision on murder charges and a riot charge against 26-year-old Obadiah Miller. The two were acquitted of all other charges.

Prosecutors must decide whether to retry Bramble and Miller. Deputy Attorney General John Downs declined comment as he exited the courthouse after the verdict.

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2:25 p.m.

The trial for four inmates charged with murder in a 2017 Delaware fatal prison riot has ended with no convictions.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports jurors returned no verdicts Monday against John Bramble and Obadiah Miller for the riot at Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna. They also could not come to a unanimous decision for Miller's murder charge and assault charges for Bramble. They were acquitted of all other charges.

Abednego Baynes and Kevin Berry were acquitted of all charges.

Jurors reported earlier Monday that they were at an impasse on some charges.

Officer Steven Floyd died during the 18-hour standoff. The two other guards were released and a prison counselor was rescued by police.

Each defendant proclaimed his innocence from the stand during the four-week trial.

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1:05 p.m.

Jurors in the trial of four inmates charged in a deadly Delaware prison riot have told the judge that they're at an impasse on some charges.

Delaware State News reports jurors passed a note Monday to Judge Jan Jurden. They are hearing charges against John Bramble, Abednego Baynes, Kevin Berry and Obadiah Miller.

The four are charged with riot, assault, kidnapping, conspiracy and murder in connection with the 2017 uprising at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna. Corrections officer Lt. Steven Floyd died in the riot.

Jurden told jurors to continue deliberations but they can deliver the partial verdict later if necessary.

Defense attorney Tony Figliola said the jurors have deliberated for five days, and their note indicates they've decided 35 of the 40 counts.

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This story corrects 3 p.m. item and introductory line to show uprising was in February 2017, not June 2017

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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com
UGHELLI, Nigeria (AP) - Nigeria's president says security forces should be "ruthless" ahead of the country's postponed election and that anyone who tries to disturb the vote "will do so at the expense of his own life."

President Muhammadu Buhari spoke Monday as both Nigeria's ruling party and top opposition party condemned the last-minute decision to delay Saturday's vote until Feb. 23.

The president's comments brought an outcry from some Nigerians since he signed a pledge last week to contribute to a peaceful election.

But a ruling party chieftain in Rivers state, Eze Chukwuemeka, said the comments didn't endorse "jungle justice, as some people are putting it. As leader, you don't sit down and watch while your nation is going down the drain."

The electoral commission has allowed election campaigning to resume.

Nigerian police guard the entrance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party headquarters where Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari holds an emergency meeting with senior members of the party in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday Feb. 18, 2019. Nigeria's electoral commission delayed the presidential election until Feb. 23. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, leaves his party's headquarters after holding an emergency meeting with senior members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday Feb. 18, 2019. Nigeria's electoral commission delayed the presidential election until Feb. 23. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) dance outside the party headquarters where Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari holds an emergency meeting with senior members of the party in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday Feb. 18, 2019. Nigeria's electoral commission delayed the presidential election until Feb. 23. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday that his budget will include proposals to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use and legalize medical marijuana.

The new Democratic governor said it was time for Wisconsin join more than 30 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing medical marijuana. The governor, who previously advocated for decriminalizing marijuana, noted that citizens in 16 counties and two cities in Wisconsin voted by significant margins in non-binding referendums last year to approve medical marijuana.

"As a cancer survivor, I know the side effects of a major illness can make everyday tasks a challenge. People shouldn't be treated as criminals for accessing a desperately needed medication that can alleviate their suffering," the governor said.

Under the proposal, a physician or a practitioner under the direction of a physician could recommend the use of medical marijuana to alleviate symptoms related to medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, severe nausea and seizures.

The proposal would decriminalize possession, manufacturing or distribution of marijuana in amounts of 25 grams or less. The plan also would establish an expungement procedure for individuals convicted of possessing, manufacturing or distributing less than 25 grams of marijuana who have completed their sentence or probation.

"It's not just about access to health care, it's about connecting the dots between racial disparities and economic inequity," Evers said. "Too many people, often persons of color, spend time in our criminal justice system just for possessing small amounts of marijuana. That doesn't make our communities stronger or safer."

FILE- In this Feb. 12, 2019, file photo Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers voices opposition to a Republican-authored income tax cut bill, saying he favors his plan which would all-but eliminate a manufacturing tax credit in Madison, Wis. Evers said Monday, Feb. 18, that his budget will include proposals to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use and legalize medical marijuana.(AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)

Evers also wants to get rid of the yearly physician's certification needed for use of cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, which is used to treat seizures.

But his proposal is unlikely to win approval in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

"Without having specific details, his proposal appears to go too far," Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said. "It makes it easier to get recreational marijuana and provides a pathway to full legalization, which I do not support. I'm open to medical marijuana when it's prescribed by a doctor but it has to be done in a targeted way without allowing recreational use."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Juneau Republican, has said he opposes medical marijuana and isn't sure such a law could pass the chamber.

emocratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has said he supports legalizing medical marijuana to help people deal with pain and provide the state with new revenue.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A rattlesnake in Florida ended up in the back of a police car.

The snake was being carried by a homeless man walking around Jacksonville Beach on Monday morning.

Sgt. Larry Smith told local news stations the snake was 6 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 meters) long.

When police stopped the man, they told him to throw the reptile into the back of their vehicle for safety.

In a WTLV-TV report , video shows a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer pulling the snake from the patrol car's back seat. The rattles at the end of the snake's tail can be heard shaking as the officer drops the snake into a plastic container.

The snake was relocated to a wooded area. No injuries were reported.

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Information from: WTLV-TV, http://www.wtlv.com/
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - The suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse where five people were fatally shot won't reopen until next week, but its doors will be open to support workers, company officials said Monday.

The Henry Pratt Co. facility in Aurora, Illinois, will be open any employees who want to spend time with colleagues and counselors will be available, spokeswoman Yolanda Kokayi said. She said the warehouse tentatively won't return to full production until Feb. 25.

A Henry Pratt employee who was about to lose his job opened fire at the warehouse Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers. The gunman died in a shootout with police.

"The lives lost were not only our employees, but also fathers, husbands, grandfathers, brothers, sons and our friends," Kokayi said in an emailed statement Monday. "Their loss has left a huge void in us all."

The visitation and funeral for one of the victims, Trevor Wehner, will be Wednesday in his hometown of Sheridan. Wehner, 21, was a Northern Illinois University business student. He was killed on the first day of his internship at Henry Pratt.

Kokayi said the company will be reviewing security protocols and "assessing how we can enhance safety." The company also has committed to cover the cost of funerals, victims' medical expenses and additional assistance to their families.

One of victim Vicente Juarez's daughter Diana Juarez cries at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Mueller Water Products owns Henry Pratt.

Family, friends and community members attend a vigil Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora on Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Family, friends and community members attend a vigil Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora on Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

People cry at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Mourners place a flower at the crosses outside of the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, Ill., on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in memory of the five employees killed on Friday. (Jeff Knox/Daily Herald via AP)
LONDON (AP) - The final full day of London Fashion Week featured a stellar show by Christopher Kane, who embraced his favorite theme - sensuality. Pringle of Scotland returned to the London stage with its signature luxury knitwear, while Erdem showed dramatic, full-length dresses and shorter cape outfits. The fashion crowd recovered from a late-night party David and Victoria Beckham threw to celebrate her new collection. The soiree featured a Spice Girls tribute band in drag paying homage to the designer's pop star past.

CHRISTOPHER KANE FINDS SOLACE IN SEXUAL THEMES

Last season's theme was "sexual cannibalism"; on Monday, Christopher Kane made the "rubberist" fetish a focal point of his new collection. It's best not to ask too many questions of the cheerful, increasingly popular designer, who earlier built a show around "The Joy of Sex", a book first published in 1972 that is illustrated with graphic drawings.

The Monday show was eclectic in the extreme. Many models wore what Kane called "large cupcake skirts." They were short and somewhat structured and paired with low-cut tops or partially sheer body suits.

The pieces were imaginative and revealing: a sweater dress that transitioned into a gauzy fabric as it neared the waist; a lime-green feathery mini-dress; and a regal, dark blue dress with metallic neck decorations that looked like something Cleopatra might have worn.

Kane likes to pair elegant, well-made dresses with slouchy items like tee shirts, in this show often emblazoned with a red "Rubberist" logo.

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

"This show is called 'liquid ladies,'" Kane told the Associated Press. "It's all about the essence of women, of strong women, the fluidity of women. For me, I've been around these liquid ladies my whole life. Strength, character. They aren't really empowered, they're empowered by themselves."

He said the show was also about human sexuality and the obsessions that go with it; hence, the rubber fetish wear theme.

"Sex is fun and it should be," Kane said. "And people find rubber sexual. That's OK, too."

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ERDEM MAKES SPLASH WITH DRAMATIC DRESSES, CAPES

Canada-born designer Erdem Moralioglu used his runway extravaganza Monday to transform London's venerable National Portrait Gallery into a Roman palace, seeking to use his dramatic full-length dresses and shorter cape outfits to capture the mood of 1960s Rome. The designer wanted to illuminate the moment when liberation movements of all kinds collided with the entrenched, conservative culture of the Italian capital's upper classes.

The show drew a celebrity crowd that included American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, designer and model Alexa Chung and married actors Damian Lewis - dressed in a bright blue suit that lit up the front row - and Helen McCrory.

Some of the elaborate dresses were masterful and complex, the product of painstaking attention to detail and untold hours of labor. The color mix was striking: a red and black floral blouse, for example, mixed with a purple and black skirt.

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PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND OFFERS TIMELESS GOOD TASTE

Pringle of Scotland is more than two centuries old, but the collection unveiled Monday shows carefully made luxury knitwear never goes out of style. After a series of runway shows filled with razzle-dazzle and a "Can you top this?" approach, Pringle offered an oasis of calm and good taste with its beautifully crafted outfits.

Many of the new outfits feature a single color - white or beige or grey - for the trousers, the top, and a hat. Sometimes the boots match, too. Each outfit has a refreshing coherence and simplicity to the design, even if it's hard to execute.

But the show planners were nearly undone by their failure to anticipate the ice sculptures placed on the runways for dramatic effect would slowly melt, leaving puddles where the models were supposed to walk.

As the show's start time came and went, a man in a white Pringle lab coat came out with paper towels to mop up the puddles as best he could. The models were told to swerve to avoid the wet spots.

Only one slipped, and she regained her balance before she tumbled.

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Christopher Kane at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by Erdem at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Gunmen killed two Colombian police officers Monday at a border bridge that connects the country with Venezuela, authorities said.

Police said the two armed men were walking along the river that divides Colombia and Venezuela and approached a customs and migration post at the Jose Antonio Paez International Bridge. The suspects then fired at the two officers on duty, police said.

Officials said 26-year-old Jeison Bejarano and 28-year-old Oscar Gonzalez were killed.

Arauca state Gov. Ricardo Alvarado said authorities had not determined who was responsible.

The border state of Arauca has been a hotbed for criminal activity and Colombian rebel groups like the National Liberation Army.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations said Monday it hopes Yemen's warring parties will immediately carry out an agreement to pull their forces out of the key port of Hodeida and two smaller ports, as well as a U.N. facility holding enough grain to feed 3.7 million people for a month.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that implementation is key at Hodeida, which handles about 70 percent of Yemen's imports, the two other ports, and the Red Sea Mills, where the U.N. humanitarian chief has implored Houthi Shiite rebels to facilitate access.

The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Iranian-backed Houthis, who toppled the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition allied with Hadi's internationally recognized government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

The fighting in the Arab world's poorest country has killed thousands of civilians and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Millions suffer from food and medical care shortages and the country has been pushed to the brink of famine.

The two sides reached agreement at U.N.-brokered talks Sunday on the first phase of a mutual pullout agreed to in Sweden in December from the port areas, which was seen as a key step in attempts to end the conflict.

"It's encouraging news that this has happened, as people had been losing faith in the process, causing fears that we'd soon see a return to combat in and around Hodeida," said Peter Salisbury, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

He said the parties now need to implement the agreement, warning that "there is plenty of room for them to play games here, so we shouldn't get overexcited."

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed their progress on Monday, tweeting that the agreement must be "swiftly finalized & implemented" and urging progress on the prisoner release.

Haq said that on Sunday government and Houthi representatives also reached "some tentative agreements" on a second phase of additional withdrawals, and are going back to discuss the results with their leadership.

"We hope to convene another meeting as soon as we can to move ahead on the second phase, and we're hoping that that can be announced or held in the coming days or weeks," he said.

Haq said the first phase covers mutual redeployment from the smaller ports of Salif and Ras Issa as well as Hodeida and from "critical infrastructure," including the Red Sea Mills.

"We hope that now that we have the first phase agreed it will be carried out immediately," Haq said.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said in a statement on Feb. 7 that the U.N. and its humanitarian partners are scaling up to reach 12 million people in Yemen with emergency food, a 50-percent increase over 2018 targets.

He said the Red Sea Mills, in a government-controlled area of Hodeida, holds critical supplies, but the U.N. has been unable to gain access since September while the grain possibly spoils in silos. He said the Houthis have refused to authorize the U.N. to cross front lines into government-controlled areas to access the Red Sea Mills, citing security concerns.

Lowcock also deplored that two silos were hit by mortar shells last month and the resulting fire destroyed some grain - "probably enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people for a month."

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths meanwhile departed from Sanaa on Monday, a day after meeting with rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi to discuss the situation in and around Hodeida.
BOSTON (AP) - Some students and professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are asking the university to cancel celebrations for a new computing center.

The Boston Globe reported Monday that 18 students, alumni and faculty published an opinion piece in The Tech , an MIT student publication.

The Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, named for the CEO of the Blackstone Group investment firm, is opening next week. Schwarzman gave $350 million to MIT.

The opinion piece says the group is concerned about Schwarzman advising President Donald Trump, opposing an affordable housing measure in California, and hosting the Saudi crown prince.

MIT Provost Martin Schmidt says the launch will celebrate an historic moment for MIT and allow for many voices to explore the social impacts of artificial intelligence.

A Blackstone spokeswoman said artificial intelligence should be addressed with urgency and "should transcend politics," and Schwarzman is proud to support the institution as it tackles the evolution of technology.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The trial for four inmates charged with murder in a 2017 Delaware prison riot ended Monday with no convictions.

Jurors deliberated about five days before acquitting Abednego Baynes, 26, and Kevin Berry, 28, of all charges filed after the uprising at Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna in February 2017, The News Journal of Wilmington reported .

Officer Steven Floyd died during the 18-hour standoff. The two other guards were released and a prison counselor was rescued by police.

The jury could not reach unanimous verdicts on a riot and assault charge against John Bramble, 29. Jurors also didn't reach a unanimous decision on murder charges and a riot charge against Obadiah Miller, 26. The two were acquitted of all other charges.

Prosecutors must decide whether to retry Bramble and Miller. Deputy Attorney General John Downs declined comment as he left the courthouse after the verdict.

Each defendant proclaimed his innocence from the stand during the four-week trial, which was the second of four associated with the uprising and hostage standoff. The first ended in mixed verdicts.

Defense attorney Thomas Pedersen, who represented Bramble, said the state must "give their case some serious thought and consideration."

"The witnesses they have called have told so many different stories there are so many contradictions that I don't know how they will convince any jury beyond reasonable doubt," Pedersen said exiting the courthouse.

Prosecutors argued the men were "soldiers" in the deadly plot to take over Building C at the prison. Witnesses said inmates used violence to subdue the building's three correctional officers into closets.

While it was unclear who struck the fatal blows, prosecutors argued the men were all liable for Floyd's murder as accomplices participating in the takeover.

The main witnesses were other inmates, who defense attorneys said couldn't be believed. They said prosecutors ignored inconsistencies in the stories of their own witnesses.

The uprising led to reforms with how the state treats its inmates, a $7.5 million settlement between the victims and the state and ongoing civil rights lawsuits claiming inmates have been mistreated before and after.

Delaware Correction Department Commissioner Perry Phelps said he was disappointed in the verdict but respected the jury's decision.

Four more inmates from the building are set to go to trial on murder charges next month. Sixteen were indicted on murder charges and two were indicted on lesser charges. One took a plea to cooperate with the state.

Another killed himself after taking a plea late last year.

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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com
Pervez Musharraf Accepts JeM's Involvement In Pulwama Attack:- Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf called Pulwama attack a terrible event and said that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was responsible for the attack but Pakistan government has nothing to do with the attack. Pervez Musharraf backed Prime Minister Imran Khan on the stand after India alleged that Islamabad turned out to be a sage platform for terrorists. He accepted that JeM might attack Indian CRPF personnel but Pakistan Government never backed the terrorist group. Pervez Musharraf spoke with Indian Today in an exclusive conversation and he said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no real emotion for the Indian Jawans.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier clarified that Pakistan is not responsible for the attack and he did not utter a word of condolence in his speech for the martyred jawans. Pervez Musharraf said that he has no sympathy for Jaish-e-Mohammaed Chief Masood Azhar. "He tried to kill me too. Does this prove that Pak government is involved in the attack? India is wrongly accusing Pakistan on everything and the whole world is blaming us for the attacks" questioned Pervez Musharraf.

"Don't say we meddle with India. Don't you meddle with Pakistan? Why did you help break Pakistan into two? Didn't you meddle with East Pakistan? All are trying to blacklist Pakistan. Stop doing that" Musharraf told in his interview.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, has released the names of 45 priests, deacons and religious brothers who officials say are "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors.

The San Francisco Chronicle said Monday that Oakland's list goes back to 1962 - when the diocese was founded. None of the men are currently in the ministry. Of the 45 people named, 20 were priests.

Oakland is the latest in a series of dioceses across the country to release names amid a scandal involving pedophile priests and decades of church cover-ups.

Most of the listed abuse dates from the 1960s into the 1980s. Diocese officials say there have been no credible accusations of abuse since 1988, but acknowledge that the list may grow in the coming months.

"I pray the public acknowledgment of the sinful actions on the part of some priests will help many of us to find healing and hope, to restore our trust in the Church, and to repair the damage caused to the reputation of so many good priests," Oakland Bishop Michael Barber said in a letter.

The majority of those named have been previously identified through court filings or news articles. But five names have not been in the public domain until now, said Stephan Wilcox, chancellor of the Oakland diocese.

FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2013, file photo, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland Bishop Michael Barber, center, listens to a presentation alongside fellow bishops at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting in Baltimore. The Catholic Diocese of Oakland, Calif., has released the names of 45 priests, deacons and religious brothers who officials say are "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors. The San Francisco Chronicle says Monday that Oakland's list goes back to 1962, when the diocese was founded. None of the men are currently in the ministry. Of the 45 people named, 20 were priests. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Wilcox said the diocese considers it a "living list."

"This isn't, 'Oh, thank God we've got the list out. We're done.' This is now part of our process. And we know we have more work to do," he told the newspaper.

Wilcox said he has turned over the list of names and information to the Alameda County district attorney to determine if prosecutions are warranted. Aside from the fact that many of the accused have died, Wilcox said statutes of limitations may be an issue.

Wilcox said he's spent several weeks reaching out to survivors but hasn't yet spoken to all of them.

"Survivors in general were pleased with the step but still think the church needs to do more," he said.

Some wanted a direct apology from the church, and others said the Diocese of Oakland needs to offer more services to victims.

In October, a law firm suing bishops for records on abuse released its own list of names of alleged abusers, totaling more than 200 clergy in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Jeff Anderson & Associates list included more names of clergy than those released by the Diocese of San Jose, and named 95 tied to the Diocese of Oakland - more than double the diocese's own list.

Wilcox said the discrepancy lies in the standard used to qualify for a credible allegation.
ROME (AP) - A complex of ancient temples in Rome that are linked to the scene of Julius Caesar's murder will be opened to the public.

The below-street-level temple ruins at Largo Argentina in downtown Rome is visible to pedestrians peering from above but closed to visitors. For decades, access was enjoyed only by a colony of cats, the cadre of volunteers fed them and, occasionally, archaeologists.

But Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi announced Monday that by late 2021, walkways will be built inside the site so tourists can stroll through the ruins. Luxury Bulgari jewelry-maker, which also funded the restoration of Rome's Spanish Steps, is sponsoring the work.

The ruins include a stone pedestal from the Curia of Pompey, the meeting place of senators, where Caesar was slain in 44 B.C.

A view of the archeological site of Largo Argentina, in Rome, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. A complex of ancient temples linked to Julius Caesar's murder will be opened to the public. The below-street-level temple ruins at Largo Argentina in the heart of downtown Rome is visible to pedestrians. But Rome's mayor said Monday by late 2021, walkways will be constructed inside the site so that tourists can stroll through the ruins. Bulgari luxury goods maker is sponsoring the work. The area includes a stone podium that was part of the senate-meeting place where Caesar was slain in 44 B.C. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois man who has delivered more than 26,000 white crosses to sites around the U.S., largely to remember victims of gun violence, now finds himself doing the same in his hometown.

"I just didn't see it coming," said Greg Zanis, who made crosses for the five victims of the shooting Friday in Aurora, Illinois, where an employee about to lose his job opened fire inside the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse.

Zanis has set up crosses after the mass shootings in Las Vegas and after the school shootings at Columbine, Sandy Hook and in Orlando. The total was 26,274 in the last 22 years and as of Saturday the number is now 26,379. Last year, Zanis said, he made 5,000 crosses and he has been working on a batch of crosses for victims of Chicago gun violence that he was to deliver to a Sunday vigil.

Zanis uses "the best lumber I can find" and uses two coats of white paint, a large red heart and the victim's name and a serial number.

Zanis said he heard squad cars Friday afternoon because he lives near the police station and shortly after heard about the active shooter situation. Zanis started making crosses when he heard people had died. He placed five crosses outside the Aurora warehouse Saturday.

Zanis usually places the crosses and leaves, but now because it's his hometown he says he will attend all the vigils and funerals.

Mourners place a flower at the crosses outside of the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, Ill., on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in memory of the five employees killed on Friday. (Jeff Knox/Daily Herald via AP)

"I feel like I am carrying the weight of the whole city on my shoulders," he said.

Crosses are placed for the victims of a mass shooting Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of victim Vicente Juarez's daughter Diana Juarez cries as she touch a cross at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A mourner touches an one of victims' cross at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Casildo Cuevas holds a victim's cross as he walks to the Aurora police station after a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Casildo Cuevas, right, holds a victim's cross as he walks to the Aurora police station after a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican says a Holy See lawyer who appeared on a list of American priests credibly accused of sexual abuse isn't currently at the Catholic church's supreme court, where he holds a top position.

Monsignor Joseph Punderson was listed by the diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, last week as having been removed from ministry. The diocese identified Punderson as a one-time diocesan vice chancellor whose final assignment was at the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican court that hears appeals of marriage annulments, among other issues.

Asked Monday about Punderson's status, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said: "He is not at the Signatura tribunal in this moment." He did not elaborate.

The Vatican's yearbook lists Punderson as the "defender of the bond," the official who seeks to uphold a marriage's validity in annulment cases.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Pope Francis has lifted the suspension imposed in 1983 on Nicaraguan priest and poet Ernesto Cardenal, the Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua said in a statement Monday.

Nuncio Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag said in a statement that Francis removed the canonical censures following a request from the 94-year-old Cardenal, who has been hospitalized for more than a week.

Pope John Paul II suspended Cardenal from his priestly duties because he had become culture minister in the leftist Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega after the rebels toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza.

John Paul II said that priests could not assume political posts and he was irked by a movement of pro-revolutionary priests such as Cardenal accused of ignoring instructions from the more conservative hierarchy and of mixing leftist ideology into theology.

John Paul II famously criticized Cardenal publicly at Managua's international airport during a visit in 1983. In a widely circulated photograph, Cardenal knelt and reached to kiss the pope's hand, but John Paul pulled his hand back and pointed his finger at Cardenal.

"Father Cardenal has been suspended from exercising the ministry for 35 years due to his political militancy," the nuncio's statement said. "The priest accepted the canonical punishment that was imposed on him and followed it without performing any pastoral activity. Furthermore, he had abandoned many years ago all political commitments."

FILE - This Aug. 29, 2008 file photo shows Nicaraguan priest and poet Ernesto Cardenal in his home while under house arrest, in Managua, Nicaragua. The Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua said Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, that Pope Francis has lifted the suspension imposed in 1983 on Cardenal. Pope John Paul II suspended Cardenal from his priestly duties because he had become culture minister in the leftist Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

Cardenal's personal assistant Luz Marina Acosta said he was in delicate, but stable condition in a local hospital, where Sommertag joined him in celebrating Mass on Sunday.

"It was very moving and the father was very happy," she said.

Cardenal, like many priests in Latin America in the 1960s, felt the pull of the leftist liberation theology that focused on ministering to the poor and liberating the oppressed.

Years after the revolution, however, he was among several Sandinista leaders who distanced themselves from Ortega.

He was easily identifiable in his signature black beret and loose white peasant shirts.

Among Cardenal's works are "Epigrams" and "Zero Hour." He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in Literature since 2005.

The same suspension was imposed on Cardenal's brother Fernando, who served as the Sandinista education minister and Miguel D'Escoto who was that government's foreign minister. However, those priests had their suspensions lifted years ago.
LONDON (AP) - A man living in northeast England has been charged under Britain's terrorism laws with attempting to incite a car, knife and bomb attack in Germany.

Fatah Mohammed Abdullah, a 33-year-old from Newcastle, was charged Monday with encouraging another person to plow a car into crowds in Germany, attack people with a meat cleaver and detonate bombs, "with the aim of killing and/or causing serious injury."

The incitement allegedly took place between April 9 and Dec. 11, 2018.

He was arrested after a joint investigation by British and German police and is due to appear in a London court on Wednesday.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A Dutch company has been convicted of illegally exporting to Iran gas turbine parts that could be used in the manufacture of weapons.

A court in the southern province of Limburg convicted Euroturbine BV on Monday of setting up shell construction companies aimed at avoiding Dutch export license requirements that were tightened in 2009. The Dutch company was fined 500,000 euros ($565,383) and a Bahrein-based subsidiary 350,000 ($395,800).

The Limburg Court says the shell constructions were set up "so that gas turbine parts could still be sold to clients in Iran." The court statement did not identify the clients.

The company's director, an indirect shareholder and an employee were sentenced to perform unpaid community service for their roles in the export scam. Their identities were not released.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) - Police in North Macedonia have arrested nine people suspected of belonging to a crime ring that converted flare guns into lethal weapons and sold them on the black market.

The arrests followed a series of raids Monday at 13 locations in the capital of Skopje, the western town of Tetovo and the northern town of Kumanovo.

A police news release said the suspects allegedly had a workshop in Skopje and sold the reconfigured weapons for up to 400 euros ($450) each.

The release says officers confiscated 16 handguns, an automatic rifle and ammunition of various calibers during the raids.

If convicted, the suspects face sentences of up to 10 years in prison for breaches of North Macedonia's firearms laws.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City doesn't want people to have their hairstyles held against them, and it unveiled novel guidelines Monday against hairdo discrimination.

The new legal guidance says the city's existing human rights law protects New Yorkers' right to "maintain natural hair or hairstyles that are closely associated with their racial, ethnic or cultural identities."

"Hair is a part of you. Race discrimination based on hair is illegal in NYC," Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Carmelyn P. Malalis tweeted Monday after releasing the guidelines, first reported by The New York Times. They're believed to be the first such measures nationwide?, the newspaper said.

In effect, the guidance enables people to seek fines and other remedies if they've been harassed or punished in workplaces, schools or public spaces because of their hair texture or style. Hair nets, ties and the like can still be required for health and safety reasons.

The protections apply to everyone but were prompted largely by what the commission calls "racist stereotypes that black hairstyles are unprofessional."

The guidance specifically warns employers they could face legal trouble for banning styles associated with black people, such as Afros, dreadlocks or cornrows, or for instructing black workers to straighten their hair.

Around the country, some schools have drawn attention for banning dreadlocks, do-rags, Afros and other ways of wearing hair.

In December, there was an outcry after a white referee told a black New Jersey high school wrestler to cut his dreadlocks right before a match or forfeit it. The teen had the haircut, but many criticized the demand, including the state's governor and an Olympic wrestler.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court declined last year to hear a discrimination suit involving a black Alabama woman who said she lost a job offer because she wouldn't cut her dreadlocks. An appeals court had sided with the employer, saying federal law protects people from discrimination based on "immutable characteristics, but not their cultural practices."

New York City's human rights law is distinct from federal anti-discrimination law, and Malalis told the Times "there's nothing keeping us from calling out these policies prohibiting natural hair or hairstyles most closely associated with black people."
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II died Sunday. George Mendonsa was 95.

Mendonsa fell and had a seizure at the assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he lived with his wife of 70 years, his daughter, Sharon Molleur, told The Providence Journal.

Mendonsa was shown kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman, a dental assistant in a nurse's uniform, on Aug. 14, 1945 - known as V-J Day, the day Japan surrendered to the United States. People spilled into the New York City streets to celebrate the news.

Mendonsa planted a kiss on Friedman, whom he had never met.

An iconic photo of the kiss by Alfred Eisenstaedt was first published in Life magazine and is called "V-J Day in Times Square," but is known to most as "The Kiss."

It became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

ADDS INFORMATION ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHER- FILE - In this Aug. 14, 1945 file photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a sailor and a woman kiss in New York's Times Square, as people celebrate the end of World War II. The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. George Mendonsa was 95. This image was taken by U.S. Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen. The photo is of the same moment that photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured and first published in Life magazine. (Victor Jorgensen/U.S. Navy, File)

Another photographer, Victor Jorgensen, who was in the Navy, also captured the moment in a similar photo. The moment has been shared widely and is often seen on posters.

Several people later claimed to be the kissing couple, and it was years before Mendonsa and Friedman were confirmed to be the couple.

Mendonsa served on a destroyer during the war and was on leave when the end of the war was announced.

When he was honored at the Rhode Island State House in 2015, Mendonsa spoke about the kiss. He said Friedman reminded him of nurses on a hospital ship that he saw care for wounded sailors.

"I saw what those nurses did that day and now back in Times Square the war ends, a few drinks, so I grabbed the nurse," Mendonsa said, WPRI-TV reported .

Friedman said in a 2005 interview with the Veterans History Project that it wasn't her choice to be kissed.

"The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed," she told the Library of Congress.

She added, "It was just somebody really celebrating. But it wasn't a romantic event."

Mendonsa died two days before his 96th birthday. The family has not yet made funeral arrangements.

Friedman fled Austria during the war as a 15-year-old girl. She died in 2016 at the age of 92 at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, from complications of old age.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on an evidentiary hearing outlining a ballot fraud investigation in an undeclared North Carolina congressional race for which a winner hasn't been finalized (all times local):

6 p.m.

The political operative behind what North Carolina's elections director describes as an illegal ballot-harvesting operation favoring a Republican congressional candidate won't testify about his actions without legal immunity.

Leslie McCrae Dowless appeared before the state elections board Tuesday, which is holding a hearing over what happened in last year's 9th congressional district race. Dowless is accused of using illegal methods to boost the number of mail-in ballots going to Republican Mark Harris. Harris holds a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in the country's last undecided congressional election.

Dowless' attorney told the elections board he won't testify without a legal protection against prosecution for events he describes. The board refused.

The race wasn't certified, but the elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new election after the hearing.

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2018 file photo, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. poses for a portrait outside of his home in Bladenboro, N.C. The Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional election said Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 he recruited a political operative now at the center of a ballot fraud investigation because he produced election results in his rural North Carolina county and other Republicans vouched for him. Mark Harris said he didn't know before November's election that state elections board investigators found evidence that operative Dowless Jr. may have illegally handled ballots in 2016. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, File)

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1 p.m.

A North Carolina woman who last fall rounded up unsealed and incomplete ballots in the country's last unsettled congressional election says the organizer of the ballot-collection effort paid her about $125 for every 50 ballots she gathered.

Lisa Britt testified Monday at a state elections board hearing that she worked for her mother's ex-husband, political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless.

He's accused of using illegal methods to increase the number of mail-in ballots going to Republican Mark Harris, who holds a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in unofficial results in the 9th congressional district race.

The race wasn't certified, but the elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new election after the hearing.

Britt says she doesn't think Harris knew about Dowless' methods.

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11 a.m.

North Carolina's elections director says investigators found a "coordinated, unlawful" absentee ballot scheme in two rural counties in the country's only unsettled congressional election.

Kim Strach described the investigation at the opening on Monday of a state elections board hearing into ballot fraud in North Carolina's 9th congressional district. Republican Mark Harris holds a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in unofficial results, but the election wasn't certified. The board is expected to either certify a winner in the race or order a new election after the hearing.

Strach says a political operative working for Harris paid people $125 for every 50 mail-in ballots they collected from voters in Bladen and Robeson counties. Officials say the ballots were in unsealed envelopes, meaning they could have been altered before being counted.

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1:20 a.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections is holding a hearing on ballot fraud allegations in the nation's last undecided congressional election.

The multiday hearing starting Monday will include the results of a monthslong investigation into allegations that a political operative tampered with mail-in ballots in a rural county.

Republican Mark Harris holds a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in unofficial results, but the state has refused to certify the election.

At the end of the process, the board is expected to either certify a winner in the race or order a new election.

And depending on the outcome, the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives could also step in with constitutional powers that make it the final judge of the elections and qualifications of its members.

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2018 file photo Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris applauds during a Habitat For Humanity building event in Charlotte, N.C. Harris, the Republican in the nation's last undecided congressional election, said Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 he recruited a political operative now at the center of a ballot fraud investigation because he produced election results in his rural North Carolina county and other Republicans vouched for him. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, file)
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police say they have arrested five Palestinians for allegedly "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the hilltop compound that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade.

Muslim religious officials convened in the closed area last week, and Israeli police placed a lock on a fence in response. Videos purportedly of Monday's incident show several men damaging the fence.

The site - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - is considered the holiest place in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Any change to the status quo, no matter how minor, has the potential to ignite tensions.

Israeli police arrests a Palestinian in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police arrests aPalestinian at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police arrests aPalestinian at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police arrests aPalestinian at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police arrests a Palestinian in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police arrests aPalestinian at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli police confronts Palestinians at al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Israeli police officers have arrested several Palestinians for "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the Temple Mount that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
SWEETWATER, Fla. (AP) - A man with a banner and an American flag climbed a construction crane near a Florida campus where President Donald Trump came to speak Monday about the political turmoil in Venezuela.

The man spent about two hours atop the crane at the edge of Florida International University's campus in the Miami suburb of Sweetwater.

Sweetwater Police Chief Placido Diaz said the man forced his way onto the construction site and scaled the crane to make a political statement. He faces multiple charges, including trespassing.

WPLG-TV reports the man's banner read, "''Mr. Presidente, Please have mercy for E. Arocena." The words "Cuban exile" were written at the top of the banner.

Eduardo Arocena was an anti-Castro activist sentenced in 1984 to life in prison plus 35 years for the murder of a Cuban diplomat and other bomb and weapons-related charges.

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A man stands inside a construction crane where he attached an American flag and a banner near Florida International University in Sweetwater, Fla., Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a rally at the school in the afternoon. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)

Information from: WPLG-TV, http://www.local10.com/index.html

A man stands inside a construction crane where he attached an American flag and a banner near Florida International University in Sweetwater, Fla., Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a rally at the school in the afternoon. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico will close its infamous Isla Marias prison, the last island penal colony in a hemisphere once dotted with remote island jails like the one depicted in the movie "Papillon."

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that Mexico will relocate about two-thirds of the 659 remaining inmates and free about 200 others from the islands, 70 miles (110 kilometers) off the Pacific coast of Nayarit. The four islands - only one of which is inhabited - will be turned into a cultural and environmental education center.

The prison founded in 1905 on Maria Madre passed through periods of infamous brutality. When Panama closed its Isla Coiba penal colony in 2004, Isla Marias became the last one remaining in the Americas.

Lopez Obrador said the new Islas Marias cultural center will be named after Jose Revueltas, a novelist who was imprisoned there and wrote the novel "Walls of Water."

"It is the history of punishments, of torture, of repression for more than a century," Lopez Obrador said of the prison, which as recently as 2013 held 8,000 inmates.

Far from the bloody reputation of places like Devil's Island - the French Guiana penal colony shuttered in 1946 - toward the end the Islas Marias had harbored many lower-risk or well-behaved inmates for whom the "prison without walls" was viewed as step toward release or rehabilitation. Some prisoners were even allowed to live their families.

FILE - In this May 12, 2005 file photo, inmates line up on the pier after arriving at the Islas Marias federal prison island, located 90 miles south of Mazatlan, Mexico. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019 that he will close the famed island penal colony and will have it converted into a cultural and environmental education center. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

While the prison kept mass tourism at bay, the islands suffered severe environmental degradation from over a century of use as a penal colony, said Ramon Ojeda Mestre, who served as from 2000 to 2004 as head of the environmental recovery program for the islands.

"It protected the three uninhabited islands, but Maria Madre suffered a lot of environmental deterioration," said Ojeda Mestre.

Ojeda Mestre's battled to reforest the island with topical hardwoods, which had been largely cut down to build the penal colony and furnish it. He also battle to rid the uninhabited islands of invasive, non-native feral goats, dogs and cats.

"We lost a lot of boa constrictors, because they (inmates) would kill them to make belts out of their skins," he recalled. (That was one of the many cottage industries that sprang up: inmates also fermented fruit for home-made alcoholic beverages.)

Also at risk due to the penal colony was the yellow-headed "Tres Marias" parrot found nowhere else. "The inmates captured the parrots to sell them," he said. "Their relatives would smuggle them out clandestinely" when they came for visits and sell the birds on the mainland.

Ojeda Mestre's battle was part of an early effort to turn the penal colony into a nature reserve, but that plan fell victim in 2005 to what later became known as Mexico's War on Drugs; the government argued it needed more, not less, prison space.

In the end, the 12-hour boat rides that relatives had to endure in order to visit inmates was "cruel," Ojeda Mestre said, calling the decision to close the prison "an extraordinary piece of news that should be celebrated throughout the Americas."

Indeed, the hemisphere began turning its back on the isolated prisons decades ago.

Chile closed its Santa Maria prison island in the late 1980s, Costa Rica's Isla San Lucas penal colony closed in 1991 and Brazil's Isla Grande in 1994. Peru dramatically ended its El Fronton island prison in 1986: Gunboats blew up most of the buildings to put down a riot, killing more than 100 inmates.

Island penal colonies were used around the world starting in the 1700s as remote, escape-proof places to "rehabilitate" inmates through hard labor. Most also tried to be self-supporting and to help settle remote territories.

Mexico's federal prisons are nowhere near capacity, making closure of the island prison more palatable. The government said it costs about $150 a day to house each inmate at Isla Marias, far higher than other jails. The islands are also routinely battered by hurricanes, the last of which caused about $150 million in damage to the prison facilities.

The last other such prison in the Americas, Panama's Coiba Island penal colony, was closed in 2005 and turned into to a nature reserve. The jungle is slowly swallowing the buildings, providing a glimpse of what will happen at the Islas Marias.

"The remaining structure is slowly being reclaimed by jungle and the marine air. Its crumbling buildings and simply marked graves serve as the only memorial to Coiba's dark history," the park says on its web site.

FILE - In this May 12, 2005 file photo, inmate Francisco Loera, who is serving a 10 year sentence, walks with his bass while embracing his partner Alicia Anchondo who arrived to visit him at the Islas Marias federal prison island, located 90 miles south of Mazatlan, Mexico. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019 that he will close the famed island penal colony and will have it converted into a cultural and environmental education center. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Five people waiting at a downtown New Orleans bus stop were wounded by gunfire during a police shootout with an armed robbery suspect, authorities said, in a city weekend marred with multiple shootings.

The shootout that injured the five bystanders happened Sunday night, and officials said the robbery suspect was killed during an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and officers with the New Orleans Police Department and the Louisiana State Police that stretched over two city blocks.

The weekend's violence comes as the city is ramping up its Mardi Gras festivities and readying for an influx of crowds. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell tried to ease concerns Monday.

"I want to assure all of our residents and our guests that we are well-coordinated, well-trained and ready for Carnival, and that we will not allow this ugliness to mar our celebration or to endanger our people," the mayor said in a statement.

In the downtown shootout, the New Orleans Police Department said officers investigating two armed robberies that happened last week confronted a man deemed a person of interest in the crimes, according to local news reports. Police said the man, whom they haven't identified, fired a gun at officers as they approached.

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said at a press briefing it was too early to tell who fired the bullets that hit the bystanders at the bus stop.

Of the five wounded, three had been released from the hospital by Monday afternoon, while two others remained hospitalized, according to NOPD spokesman Andy Cunningham. He said none of the injuries were considered life-threatening. Officials haven't released the victims' names. A New Orleans police officer also suffered injuries when his vehicle flipped as he attempted to reach the scene.

Ferguson and State Police Superintendent Col. Kevin Reeves expressed remorse for the injured bystanders. But Ferguson defended officers' actions, saying they were fired on first and shot back to defend themselves, their colleagues, and members of the public. In addition to internal investigators and state troopers, the FBI and New Orleans' independent police monitor will review Sunday's gun battle, Ferguson said.

Cantrell said her office remained in contact with the victims' families and an investigation into the shootings was ongoing. Her statement also defended the law enforcement response.

"It is important that we acknowledge and understand the work our New Orleans Police Department is doing to keep our people safe. Far from being 'the Wild West,' our city sleeps under the protection of an interconnected web of law enforcement agencies whose effectiveness is on display every day," Cantrell said.

Ten shootings were reported across the New Orleans region over the weekend, according to NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune .

Among the bloodshed, two teenagers were injured Friday in a shooting while they were on a home's porch. Also that day, a 25-year-old man was shot in New Orleans and drove himself home to the suburb of Covington before seeking help at a hospital two days later.

On Saturday, police said a 22-year-old man was killed in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner after a bar fight led to a drive-by shooting. The suspected shooter was arrested. Later that day, New Orleans police found a man shot to death under an interstate overpass and another man shot and killed inside his pickup truck in different incidents.

Law enforcement responding to a crash on Interstate 10 just west of New Orleans on Sunday morning found a man shot to death in a car riddled with bullet holes. In a separate shooting Sunday afternoon, police said one man was killed and another injured in New Orleans' Central City neighborhood.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albania's center-right opposition party says its 33 lawmakers plan to resign from parliament over alleged corruption and inefficiency of the country's Socialist government.

Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said Monday the parliamentary group decided to hand in their mandates. Basha asked for a transition government to be put in place until an early election is held.

Eleven members of smaller opposition parties intend to join the Democrats in leaving Albania's 140-seat parliament, where the governing Socialists hold 74 seats. A party with 18 seats, the Socialist Movement for Integration, is expected to follow.

The opposition plans to rally outside parliament on Thursday.

Basha accused the government of links to organized crime, stealing votes, and sidestepping lawmakers and the justice system.

Socialist Deputy Prime Minister Erion Brace called the resignations "unimportant." He alleged the Democrats don't want to have corrupt lawmakers from the party undergo required financial background checks.

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This story has been corrected to show the Democratic Party has 33 members in Albania's parliament, not 31.
NEWARK, Ohio (AP) - Two women who ran an Ohio animal rescue operation have pleaded guilty to charges related to the abandonment of more than 20 cats in a trailer that was then tied shut.

They were charged in August after the Licking County Humane Society took custody of the cats left behind by the women's Pittie Paw Rescue agency.

The Advocate in Newark reports animal rescue officials found 21 live cats and two dead in the central Ohio trailer, which had no food or water for the animals. One cat had to be euthanized.

Kristin Beaupry, of Centerburg, and Joyce Meisenhelder, of Heath, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of prohibitions concerning companion animals and abandoning animals.

Defense attorney Sam Shamansky says his clients recognized the seriousness of their misconduct.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://www.newarkadvocate.com
NEW YORK (AP) - Police say someone attacked a statue of Sean "Diddy" Combs at Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York, shoving the rap impresario's likeness so forcefully it lost its head.

Investigators were continuing Monday to look for a suspect in the strange episode Saturday night.

Police say a man entered the museum near Times Square around 8:45 p.m., went to the statue and knocked it to the ground. The head fell off as the figure toppled.

Madame Tussauds New York says artists will fix the damage as quickly as possible to get the figure back to the museum's A-List Party Room.

General Manager Tom Middleton notes that Madame Tussauds doesn't rope off its statues so "guests can interact respectfully" with them.

Combs attended his statue's unveiling in 2009.

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2009 file photo, Sean "Diddy" Combs unveils his wax figure at Madame Tussauds in New York. Police say someone attacked the statue of Combs at the wax museum, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, shoving the rap impresario's likeness so forcefully it lost its head. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2009 file photo, Sean "Diddy" Combs unveils his wax figure at Madame Tussauds in New York. Police say someone attacked the statue of Combs at the wax museum, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, shoving the rap impresario's likeness so forcefully it lost its head. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Hundreds of workers are trying to figure out their next steps after the abrupt closure of a Kroger bakery in Ohio eliminated 411 jobs.

The Cincinnati-based company announced the closure of the 90-year-old bakery in Columbus on Feb. 11. Kroger cited the "outdated layout and age" of the plant's equipment.

The grocery chain says workers will be paid 60 days before receiving severance based on years of service according to a collective bargaining agreement. The company is encouraging workers to apply for jobs at other Kroger facilities.

Chase Ragland worked at the bakery for almost seven years. He tells The Columbus Dispatch he's looking for another job while hoping to go back to school for a physical therapy degree.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
LONDON (AP) - Honda will close a car factory in western England with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs, British media and a local lawmaker said Monday, in another blow to a British economy made jittery by Brexit.

Sky News said the Japanese carmaker is to announce Tuesday that the Swindon plant will close in 2022. Honda makes its popular Civic model at the factory, 70 miles (115 kms) west of London.

Local lawmaker Justin Tomlinson confirmed the news in a series of tweets. He said he had spoken to Honda, and the company said the decision "is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021."

He said no job losses at the plant were expected until 2021.

Honda said it could not comment "at this stage."

"We take our responsibilities to our associates very seriously and will always communicate any significant news with them first," the firm said in a statement.

FILE - This Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 file photo shows the Honda logo on a 2019 Honda Civic on display at the 2019 Pittsburgh International Auto Show in Pittsburgh. Britain's Sky News says Honda is to close a car factory in western England with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs. The broadcaster says the Japanese carmaker will announce Tuesday, Feb. 19 that the Swindon plant, where Honda makes its Civic model, will close in 2022. Honda said Monday that it could not comment "at this stage." (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, file)

The Unite trade union, which represents workers at the plant, said it was looking into the reports. Des Quinn, the union's automotive-sector national officer, said the plant's closure "would be a shattering body blow at the heart of U.K. manufacturing."

The news comes as British businesses are issuing increasingly urgent warnings about the damage being done by the uncertainty around Britain's looming exit from the European Union. The U.K. is set to leave the bloc on March 29 but has yet to seal a deal laying out the divorce terms and establishing what trade rules will apply after Brexit.

Many businesses fear economic chaos if there isn't an agreement on the rules and conditions that will replace the 45 years of frictionless trade that came with being an EU member. The uncertainty has already led many firms to shift some operations abroad, stockpile goods or defer investment decisions.

Earlier this month, Japan's Nissan announced that it would not build a new SUV at its plant in Sunderland, England, as previously planned.

Nissan said it had made the decision "for business reasons," but added that "the continued uncertainty around the U.K.'s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future."

Last week Ford said that if Britain left the EU without a deal on smooth future relations, it would be "catastrophic for the U.K. auto industry and Ford's manufacturing operations in the country."

Christian Stadler, professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School, said automakers were being hit by several factors, including a cooling global economy and a European crackdown on diesel engines.

"Add the fact that the supply chain for most British-made cars crosses the Channel several times as parts are shipped back and forth, so any delays at the border after Brexit could severely disrupt the industry's 'just in time' production method, and the U.K. starts to look like a less attractive place for international companies to build cars," he said.
New History of Turkish Genocide of Christians Sounds Dark Warning for the Future

Israeli historian Benny Morris doesn't do things by half. The footnotes of his new book on the 30-year genocide of Christians by their Turkish rulers, cowritten with his colleague Dror Zeevi, take up more than a fifth of the 640-page work. "It was nine years, a long haul," he admitted to me this week, with an audible sigh over the phone. And he talks about the involvement of Ataturk in the later stages of the genocide of around 2.5 million Christians of the Ottoman empire; how "religions do drive people to excessive violence" -- he has in mind the Turks, Isis, the Crusades -- and even condemns the Arabs for their inability to criticise themselves.

The mere title of the Morris-Zeevi book, The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities 1894-1924, is going to have the Turks enraged, from Erdogan down. The Armenians and other Christians will dispute his apparent claim that he has only just discovered that their slaughter lasted for 30 years -- others have talked of the Armenian genocide of 1915 bookended by the late 19th-century massacres in Turkey and the post-1915 killing of surviving Armenians and Greeks, Assyrians and others. And the Arab world will challenge his view that the holocaust (my word) of Christians was more motivated by Islam than Turkish nationalism.

Having written about the genocide of the Armenians for 35 years, I have doubts that the actual call for "jihad" in the Turkish Ottoman empire unleashed at the start of the First World War was as ferocious as Morris makes it out to be. Muftis were indeed told they were in a holy war against Christians -- but not against German Christians, Austro-Hungarian Christians, neutral Christians or allies of the Central Powers (Bulgaria, for example). Many Muslim worshippers, sitting on the carpets of mosque floors, must have shaken their heads in puzzlement at these caveats. Well, one way was to notice the German officers training the Ottoman army, the German diplomats and businessmen who witnessed the genocide of the Armenians with their own eyes, and wrote home about it. Hitler asked his generals who now remembered the Armenians just before invading Poland in 1939.

But again and again, I was brought up short by the sheer, terrible, shocking accounts of violence in Morris's and Zeevi's work. "Strident religiosity" moved through the Muslim lands, write the authors.

The date: 1895. The place: Severek. The witness: Armenian survivor Abraham Hartunian. "The first attack was on our pastor [Mardiros Bozyakalian]. The blow of an axe decapitated him. His blood, spurting in all directions, spattered the walls and ceiling with red. Then I was in the midst of the butchers. One of them drew his dagger ... Three blows fell on my head. My blood began to flow like a fountain ... The attackers [were] sure that I was dead ... Then they slaughtered the other men in the room, took the prettier women with them for rape ..."

Now it is July 1915. The place: Merzifon. The witness: missionary JK Marsden. "They were in groups of four with their arms tied behind them and their deportation began with perhaps 100 ... in a batch ... they were taken about 12 miles across the plains, stripped of their clothing and, in front of a ditch previously prepared, were compelled to kneel down while a group of villagers with knives and axes quickly disposed of them. For a week, this was repeated until 1,230 of the leading Armenian men had been disposed of."

In January 1920, YMCA secretary CFH Crathern was in Marash. The wife of an Armenian pastor had reached his hospital. "She was bleeding ... from three bullet and three dagger or knife wounds while a child of 18 months had been taken from her breast and slain with a knife, and an older girl killed with an axe. To add to the sorrow of it, this woman was pregnant and had a miscarriage as soon as she reached the hospital." The woman died the following day.

I have repeated above only a few of the less bloody episodes from the 30 years. I will spare readers the chopped off fingers, the thousands of raped girls, the priests beheaded or burned on crucifixes.

In the final annihilation of the Armenians, an American missionary spoke of "minds obsessed with Muslim fanaticism seven times heated". Turks, he wrote, had "become drunk with blood and rapine, and plunder and power, and he will be a different man from what he was before the atrocities". Benny Morris thinks it was more to do with a mixture of modern nationalism and the decline of "Islamic polity".

I discussed all this with him. Is it possible for a people to be so inured to cruelty that they changed, that their acts of sadism could alter their humanity? Religions drive people to excessive violence, he said again, and then repeated this as "excessive sadism". Morris agreed that the Romans were cruel, but they were pagans. "In terms of religion, the Romans were amateurs. Abrahamic religions drive people to excess." Jews had avoided this. Palestinians will disagree.

There is certainly a frightening geographical scope to the killings. Many thousands of horrors were perpetrated in Mosul, Raqqa, Manbij and Deir ez-Zor, names grimly familiar from the Isis torments of 2014 onwards.

Why, one keeps asking, didn't the Christians leave after 1924? But of course, they had been urged to return to settle in Cilicia and in Mesopotamia and Syria by the French and British -- who left; and thus the Christian descendants waited for the next generational bloodletting.

The Turks were not the only killers, and Kurds also killed the Christians for the Turks, as Ukrainians killed the Jews for the Nazi Germans. At one point in Morris's text, a group of Circassians plait a rope 25 yards long from the hair of young women they have killed, and send it as a present to their commander.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk gets pretty well trashed in this volume. "There are accounts of him saying in 1922 that, 'Our aim is to get rid of the Christians' -- he said this in a number of conversations," Morris contends. "He gave orders, and men in his later government were responsible." But if this 30-year history of blood was fuelled by "Muslim fanaticism", there are "good Turks" in the book. In the first massacres, government officials arrested Essad Bey, an "honest, impartial and tolerant" judge who tried to help the Christians. There is a heroic Turkish doctor who throws out his sick Turkish soldiers from a hospital and replaces them with Armenian refugees. Missionary Tacy Atkinson hoped to meet the doctor one day "in the Kingdom of Heaven". There are others. It's true that the Greek Christians have fewer historians than the Armenians. Tens of thousands of Greeks were transported to Greece in return for an equal number of Muslims -- official agreements kept the massacres a trifle smaller -- but Morris and Zeevi give too little attention to the awe in which the Nazis held Ataturk's people.

Ataturk himself cared little for Islam: he smoked and womanised, and was a nationalist before he was a Muslim. The Nazis admired his "Turkified" non-minority republic. When he died, the front page of Volkischer Beobachter was fringed in black.

The authors briefly compare the Jewish Holocaust and the Armenian genocide -- I prefer the terms Jewish Holocaust and Armenian Holocaust -- and there are some already published parallels. Armenians might be spared if they would convert to Islam or marry Muslim men. Jews could not save their lives by converting. The Turkish massacres were more sadistic. I rather think the German-inspired slaughter could be just as bad in the Second World War: witness the head-chopping at the Jasenovac camp on the Croatian-Bosnian border. Persecution of the Jews under the Nazis lasted at most 12 years, but persecution of Christians in Ottoman territories 30 years.

German civilians played little role in the Jewish Holocaust. Turkish civilians played a far greater role. If 2.5 million Christians is the correct figure for those murdered in the 30 years -- Morris warned me that it cannot be accurately tallied, and I'm sure he's right -- at least six million Jews were killed in the 1939-1945 period, and so it took the Nazis five times as few years to slaughter more than twice as many human beings. The Turks simply didn't have the industrial tools to kill more Christians more quickly, because these mechanics were unavailable at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. But working on this basis, how many people will be killed in the future -- and how quickly -- with new technology?
PARIS (AP) - A French judge refused Monday to block the release this week in French cinemas of a movie based on a Catholic sex scandal.

French director Francois Ozon's film "Grace a Dieu" ("By the Grace of God") won the Berlin Film Festival's jury grand prize on Saturday. The movie, which opens Wednesday, portrays French priest Bernard Preynat, who has been accused of molesting dozens of boys during the 1980s and '90s.

Preynat's lawyers said the picture depicted allegations against their client as facts and should have been blocked because it does not respect the presumption of innocence. Preynat has been handed preliminary charges of sexual assaults on minors and prosecutors are determining whether he will be brought to trial.

Preynat has confessed to abusing Boy Scouts and his victims say church hierarchy covered up for him for years, allowing him to work with children right up until his 2015 retirement.

His lawyer, Emmanuel Mercinier, told The Associated Press the judge ruled Monday that messages in the film noting that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty were enough to guarantee Preynat's rights.

"I'm bitterly ruing this decision. To depict a man as guilty for two hours, while he has not been convicted, infringes the presumption of innocence. That can't obviously be erased by writing the opposite for two seconds," Mercinier said.

Director Francois Ozon holds aloft the Silver Bear grand jury prize for the film 'By the Grace of God' onstage at the award ceremony of the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Preynat could go on trial in for sexual violence against multiple children. So far, 13 victims are involved in that case, but he is accused of having abused as many as 70 children. Preynat hasn't publicly spoken about the allegations but he has written letters to some families confessing to abuse.

The victims have accused Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who became archbishop of Lyon in 2002, of having allowed Preynat to continue serving as a priest and having contact with children despite years of rumors about his actions.

Barbarin, 68, went on trial last month and testified that he was unjustly accused. Because of lack of proof, or the statute of limitations that has had expired on charges of failing to help a person in danger, even the prosecutor has argued against convicting him and other church officials, saying there were no grounds to prove legal wrongdoing. A verdict is expected on March 7.

Ozon's movie title comes from a press conference in Lourdes in 2016 when Barbarin, asked about the abuses by Preynat, said "most of the facts, by the grace of God, fell outside the statute of limitations."
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - An anonymous donor has given $5,000 for college scholarships from the Annapolis Police Department in honor of the five people killed at the Capital Gazette last year, allowing five students to receive $1,000 college scholarships.

The five were killed when a gunman burst into the newspaper offices in June.

Lt. Kevin Krause tells the Capital Gazette the donor has asked the recipients learn about the person their individual scholarship is dedicated to: 65-year-old Wendi Winters; 61-year-old Gerald Fischman; 59-year-old Rob Hiaasen; 56-year-old John McNamara; and 34-year-old Rebecca Smith.

The students may use the money to study any field they choose. Last year, the police department gave out two scholarships.

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Information from: The Capital, http://www.capitalgazette.com/
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greek authorities say rescue crews have recovered the bodies of four people who were swept away in their car by a swollen river on the southern island of Crete, following heavy rainfall in the region.

The fire department said rescue crews located the car in the Geropotamos river on Monday, with all four people still inside.

The four - a young married couple, the wife's sister and her mother - had reportedly been returning from a wedding celebration nearby late on Saturday night when their car was swept away by floodwaters. Two calls were made to emergency services from the car at around 1 a.m. Sunday, but rescue crews were unable to reach them in time despite a massive search operation.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine health secretary said Monday that 136 people, mostly children, have died of measles and 8,400 others have fallen ill in an outbreak blamed partly on vaccination fears.

A massive immunization drive that started last week in hard-hit Manila and four provincial regions may contain the outbreak by April, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said. President Rodrigo Duterte warned in a TV message Friday of fatal complications and urged children to be immunized.

"No ifs, no buts, no conditions, you just have to bring your children and trust that the vaccines ... will save your children," Duque said by telephone. "That's the absolute answer to this outbreak."

Infections spiked by more than 1,000 percent in metropolitan Manila, the densely packed capital of more than 12 million people, in January compared to last year, health officials said.

About half of the 136 who died were children aged 1 to 4 and many of those who perished were not inoculated, the officials said.

Duque said a government information drive was helping restore public trust in the government's immunization program, which was marred in 2017 by controversy over an anti-dengue vaccine made by French drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur which some officials linked to the deaths of at least three children.

FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, file photo, a local health worker administers a vaccine to a baby at a local health center at the financial district of Makati, east of Manila, Philippines. The World Health Organization and the British government are working with the Philippine Department of Health, UNICEF and a host of other partners to help deliver a month-long campaign to immunize children against Measles, Rubella, commonly known as German measles and Polio which aims to immunize 13 million children nationwide. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

The Philippine government halted the anti-dengue immunization drive after Sanofi said a study showed the vaccine may increase the risks of severe dengue infections. More than 830,000 children were injected with the Dengvaxia vaccine under the campaign, which was launched in 2016 under then-President Benigno Aquino III. The campaign continued under Duterte until it was stopped in 2017.

Sanofi officials told Philippine congressional hearings that the Dengvaxia vaccine was safe and effective and would reduce dengue infections if the vaccination drive continued.

"It seems the faith has come back," Duque said of public trust on the government's immunization drive, citing the inoculation of about 130,000 of 450,000 people targeted for anti-measles vaccinations in metropolitan Manila in just a week.

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus which can be spread through sneezing, coughing and close personal contact.

Complications include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia and encephalitis, or the swelling of the brain, which may lead to death, according to the Department of Health.
BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The International Rescue Committee says more than 60 people have died in recent weeks after making their way out of the last area controlled by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria.

Spokesman Paul Donohoe says exhaustion and malnutrition are the principle causes of the deaths. He said Monday that at least 62 people died, two thirds of them children under the age of one. He says they either died along the way or soon after arriving at the camp.

Over 30,000 people who left the last IS-held areas have arrived at the al-Hol camp in Syria's northern Hassakeh province in the last few weeks, raising the overall population of the camp to almost 42,000.

Kurdish-led forces continue to fight IS militants clinging to a tiny stretch of land.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand in an area recently taken by SDF as fight against Islamic State militants continue in the village of Baghouz, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. Islamic State militants are preventing more than 1,000 civilians from leaving a tiny area still held by the extremist group in a village in eastern Syria, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian militia fighting the group said Sunday. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

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3:30 p.m.

Syrian opposition activists and paramedics say two bomb blasts have struck the northwestern city of Idlib, killing at least 10 people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blasts in the Qusour neighborhood during rush hour Monday killed 13 people and wounded 25.

The Edlib Media Center, an activist collective, said the bombings killed 10 and wounded dozens.

The first blast occurred in the early afternoon and another followed seconds later. The opposition's Syrian Civil Defense, a group of volunteer first responders, said one of its members was wounded.

The city of Idlib is controlled by al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has wide influence in northern Syria.

The city has been hit with bombings in recent months that killed or wounded scores of people.

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3:15 p.m.

Syrian opposition activists and paramedics say two bomb blasts in the northwestern city of Idlib have inflicted casualties.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blasts in the Qusour neighborhood during rush hour wounded about 30 people. It said there were unconfirmed reports of deaths.

The Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian Civil Defense, a group of first responders, also reported casualties. The bombs went off in the same area, just seconds apart.

The city of Idlib is controlled by al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has wide influence in northern Syria.

The city has been hit with bombings in recent months that killed or wounded scores of people.

The Observatory and the Syrian Civil Defense earlier reported government shelling of rebel-held towns south of Idlib, saying several people were wounded.

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12:30 p.m.

More than 300 Islamic State militants who are holed up in a tiny area in eastern Syria are refusing to surrender to U.S.-backed Syrian forces and are trying to negotiate an exit.

A person familiar with the negotiations says the militants are asking for a corridor to the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the talks, which he described as taking place indirectly.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that monitors the civil war in Syria, says another request by the Islamic State group to be evacuated to neighboring Iraq was also rejected.

The militants are making their last stand in eastern Syria, hiding among hundreds of civilians.
ISTANBUL (AP) - The main suspect on trial for the New Year's Eve attack that left 39 people dead in Istanbul has denied being the shooter.

Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said Abdulkadir Masharipov on Monday rejected all charges against him, including membership in a terror group and murder.

On Jan. 1, 2017, an assailant shot his way into Istanbul's Reina nightclub where hundreds were partying. The assailant escaped and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Masharipov was arrested 15 days later.

Speaking in a closed hearing, the Uzbek national said that even though he had admitted the attack in his police statements, he wasn't the man holding the AK-47 rifle.

Fifty-eight suspects, mostly foreigners, are on trial, of whom 39 are in custody.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union warned U.S. President Donald Trump Monday that the bloc will step back from a commitment to buy more American soybeans and liquid gas if European cars are hit with punitive tariffs.

The U.S. Commerce Department is expected issue its guidance on whether auto imports endanger U.S. national security enough to justify import taxes, giving Trump 90 days to decide whether to impose them.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that during a summit in Washington last summer, Trump promised not to damage trans-Atlantic trade with such measures.

"Trump has given me his word that there will be no car tariffs for the time being," Juncker told the German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung.

"I believe him," Juncker said. "However, should he renege on that commitment, we will no longer feel bound by our commitments to buy more U.S. soya and liquid gas."

European Union spokesman Margaritis Schinas said that if the U.S. goes ahead with "actions detrimental to European exports, the European Commission would react in a swift and adequate manner."

FILE - In this March 8, 2018 file photo photo Volkswagen cars are pictured during a final quality control at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. Germany's economic growth has stagnated in the last three months of the year. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)

The EU and the United States have been trying to work out a trade deal but progress has been slow.

Over the weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said U.S. authorities appeared to have already concluded that European cars were a national security threat.

She noted that German automaker BMW's biggest plant is in South Carolina Merkel said if the cars produced there "are suddenly a threat to the United States' national security, that startles us."

Since the summer summit, when Juncker made a commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans, exports to Europe have soared largely because of market conditions. Last month, the EU also approved the use of U.S. soybeans for the production of biofuels, which would further boost imports.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Poland on Monday withdrew from a European summit in Jerusalem, derailing the meeting and embarrassing its Israeli hosts, to protest claims by Israel's acting foreign minister that Poles collaborated with the Nazis and "suckled anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

The abrupt cancellation marked a new low in a bitter and long-running conflict between Poland and Israel over how to characterize Polish actions toward its Jewish community during World War II.

It also was a diplomatic setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had touted the gathering as a milestone in his outreach to the emerging democracies of central and eastern Europe. Netanyahu has courted these countries to counter the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums.

Tuesday's meeting of the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - known as the Visegrad group - was to be the first time the summit has been held outside of Europe.

The gathering began to unravel last week when Netanyahu, during a visit to Warsaw, told reporters that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis." The comments infuriated his Polish hosts, who reject suggestions that their country collaborated with Hitler.

Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced Sunday that he was pulling out of the summit and that his foreign minister would go instead.

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

But Morawiecki canceled Polish participation altogether after the comments made by Israel's acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, that he denounced as "racist" and "absolutely unacceptable."

Katz, who was only appointed to the foreign minister's post on Sunday, made his remarks in a pair of TV interviews.

Noting that he himself is a child of Holocaust survivors, Katz said that "Poles collaborated with the Nazis, definitely." He then quoted the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who said that Poles "suckled anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that the summit had been called off, saying all four European countries had to be present.

Instead, a government official said that Netanyahu and the three remaining European leaders were expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings on Tuesday, along with a group news conference and joint lunch. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the schedule had still not been finalized.

Netanyahu, in a speech Monday to visiting Jewish American leaders, made no mention of the crisis.

Poland was the first country invaded and occupied by Adolf Hitler's regime and never had a collaborationist government. Members of Poland's resistance and government-in-exile struggled to warn the world about the mass killing of Jews, and thousands of Poles risked their lives to help Jews.

However, Holocaust researchers have collected ample evidence of Polish villagers who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or Polish blackmailers who preyed on helpless Jews for financial gain. Many of Israel's founding generation, including Shamir, fled anti-Semitism in Poland or elsewhere in eastern Europe in their youths, and Shamir has said his father was murdered by Poles.

These dueling narratives have been a source of great tension between Israel and Poland, which otherwise have strong relations.

Last year, Poland and Israel were embroiled in a bitter dispute over a Polish law that made it a crime to blame the Polish nation for complicity in the Holocaust.

Israeli officials saw it as an attempt by Poland to suppress discussion of the killing of Jews by Poles during and after the wartime German occupation. Netanyahu faced criticism from historians in Israel for not opposing the law, which critics said distorted history.

Critics also have accused Netanyahu of cozying up too closely to other nationalistic leaders in eastern and central Europe who have promoted a distorted image of the Holocaust and turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism. These include the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, another participant at the Israeli-hosted gathering.

Lost in the diplomatic uproar was that Netanyahu was actually defending his close alliance with Poland and other eastern European leaders when he made the comments that offended the Poles.

In response to a question from The Associated Press during his two-day visit to Warsaw, Netanyahu said he has raised the issue of historical revisionism with the various leaders. He rejected the notion he was a partner to diminishing anyone's complicity in the genocide of Jews in World War II.

"I know the history. I don't starch it and I don't whitewash it," he said.

Netanyahu is seeking re-election in April, and it is possible both he and Katz are trying to gain favor with their nationalist base by standing up to Poland's criticism. Likewise, Poland's leaders are preparing for both national and European elections this year.

But Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to the European Union, said the diplomatic cost clearly outweighed any domestic benefit.

"The abandonment or postponement of the Visegrad summit is a major blow to Netanyahu's foreign policy, which he has been developing for several years now," said Eran, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies think tank in Tel Aviv. "Any consolation he would get from a boost in the polls is completely outweighed by the damage he has done."

Jewish leaders in Poland issued a statement saying that Shamir's words about Polish anti-Semitism were "unjust" when he said them in 1989.

"They are even more unjust today, 30 years later, when so much has been done on both sides for a mutual understanding of our very difficult, but shared history," the statement added.

Jonathan Ornstein, head of the Jewish Community Center in Krakow, called on Katz to apologize or resign.

"As a proud Israeli and Polish citizen, I feel that Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz should apologize or resign after his offensive, xenophobic remarks about Poland. On his first day in office, no less. Truly Shameful," Ornstein said on Facebook.

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Associated Press writers Aron Heller and Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a group photo during a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a group photo during a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center left, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center right, address journalists on the sidelines of an international conference on the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland. An off-hand comment by Netanyahu in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust looks to overshadow a summit of central European leaders this week in Israel. Poland's abrupt decision Sunday to downgrade its participation in the Visegrad conference suddenly cast a pall gathering. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Latest on the dispute between Poland and Israel (all times local):

3:00 p.m.

The American Jewish Committee says it hopes years of reconciliation work between Poland and Israel will not be undone by a new dispute over the Holocaust.

American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said Monday that "competing historical narratives" had strained the two countries' relations before.

Harris says such disputes usually result from "varying assessments of the magnitude of anti-Semitism in Poland, especially before and during World War II."

But he said it was important for public officials in Israel and Poland to choose their words carefully and not to let disagreements "escalate out of control."

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a group photo during a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Noting that Poland was a center of Jewish life for centuries, Harris said: "1,000 years of Jewish presence on Polish soil cannot be reduced to a single headline or sound bite."

Poland pulled out of a meeting in Israel on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister said "Poles collaborated with the Nazis" and quoted a former Israeli prime minister who commented 30 years ago that Poles "sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

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2:30 p.m.

Jewish leaders in Poland say they are offended Israel's acting foreign minister said Poles "sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

The leaders issued a statement Monday saying that accusing all Poles of anti-Semitism slighted thousands of Poles honored by Israel's Holocaust memorial center, Yad Vashem, for helping Jews during the Holocaust.

The comment on Sunday by the Israeli minister, Israel Katz, led to the scuttling of a meeting of central European leaders in Israel this week.

Katz quoted a former Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir, in making his remark alleging all Poles are prone to anti-Semitism.

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, and Union of Jewish Religious Communities head Monika Krawczyk said Shamir's words "were unjust already when they were first said, in 1989."

The two continued that the words Katz repeated "are even more unjust today, 30 years later, when so much has been done on both sides for a mutual understanding of our very difficult, but shared history."

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1:15 p.m.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says a planned summit meeting in Israel with his counterparts from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia has been canceled over a bitter new Holocaust spat between Poland and Israel.

Babis, who is leaving for Israel later Monday, told reporters: "No V4 meeting in Israel is going to happen."

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia form an informal group known as the Visegrad group, or V4. The prime ministers regularly invite counterparts from other countries for those summits.

Babis says only bilateral meetings are planned in Israel. The prime ministers of Slovakia and Hungary are already in Israel.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed the cancellation of the summit.

"There will be no full V4 meeting (it requires the presence of all four). Three PMs are arriving and will hold meetings with PM," he said in a statement.

Babis says a V4 summit might take place in the second half of the year when the Czech Republic holds the V4 presidency.

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11:35 a.m.

Poland's prime minister says his country is not sending a delegation to a meeting in Jerusalem after the acting Israeli foreign minister said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk."

The developments mark a new low in a bitter conflict over how to remember and characterize Polish actions toward Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the remarks by acting foreign minister Israel Katz "unacceptable" and "racist."

Morawiecki had already announced Sunday that he was pulling out of the meeting in Israel on Monday and Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of four central European nations. That had followed a comment by Netanyahu last week about Polish cooperation with the Nazis.

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10:05 a.m.

A government official says Poland is considering pulling out altogether from a visit to Israel over a comment made by the acting Israeli foreign minister, the latest in a bitter new Holocaust spat between the two nations.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki already pulled out of the meeting Monday and Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by leaders from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz was tapped to go in his place.

On Monday, Michal Dworczyk, the head Morawiecki's office, said Czaputowicz's attendance is now in doubt over comments made by Israel Katz, the acting foreign minister.

Katz said Sunday that Poles "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk," citing something once said by former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, whose father was murdered by Poles.

File -- In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 photo Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, attend a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Poland's prime minister canceled plans for his country to send a delegation to meeting in Jerusalem on Monday after the acting Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism from their mothers' milk". (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 file photo, Polish President Andrzej Duda , left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, talk after a group photo during a two-day international conference on the Middle East, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland. An off-hand comment by Netanyahu in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust looks to overshadow a summit of central European leaders this week in Israel. Poland's abrupt decision Sunday to downgrade its participation in the Visegrad conference suddenly cast a pall gathering. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
LONDON (AP) - Seven British lawmakers quit the main opposition Labour Party on Monday over its approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism - the biggest shake-up in years for one of Britain's major political parties.

The announcement ripped open a long-simmering rift between socialists and centrists in the party, which sees itself as the representative of Britain's working class. It's also the latest fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, which has split both of the country's two main parties - Conservatives and Labour - into pro-Brexit and pro-EU camps.

Many Labour lawmakers have been unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. They accuse Corbyn of mounting a weak opposition to Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for leaving the EU, and of failing to stamp out a vein of anti-Semitism in the party.

Those leaving Labour have between nine and 27 years' experience in Parliament and represent constituencies across England but still make up only a small fraction of Labour's 256 lawmakers, or of the 650 total members of Parliament. But this is the biggest split in the Labour Party since four senior members quit in 1981 to form the Social Democratic Party.

Luciana Berger, one of those who quit Monday, said Labour had become "institutionally anti-Semitic."

"I am leaving behind a culture of bullying, bigotry and intimidation," the 37-year-old politician said at a news conference alongside six colleagues.

Luciana Berger speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Labour leaders have admitted that Berger, who is Jewish and pregnant, has been bullied by some members of her local party in northwest England.

Labour has been riven by allegations that the party has become hostile to Jews under Corbyn, a longtime supporter of the Palestinians. Corbyn's supporters accuse political opponents and right-wing media of misrepresenting his views.

There have long been signs that British voters' 2016 decision to leave the EU could spark a major overhaul of British politics. May's own Conservatives are in the throes of a civil war between the party's pro-Brexit and pro-EU wings. Labour is also split.

Many Labour members oppose Brexit - which is scheduled to take place in less than six weeks, on March 29 - and want the party to fight to hold a new national referendum that could keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc.

But Corbyn, who spent decades criticizing the EU before becoming a lukewarm convert to the "remain" cause in the 2016 referendum, is reluctant to do anything that could be seen as defying voters' decision to leave.

"I am furious that the leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit, which will cause great economic, social and political damage to our country," said Mike Gapes, one of the departing lawmakers.

Gapes said he had been a Labour Party member for half a century and "have always considered myself Labour to my core."

The seven members of Parliament said they will continue to sit in the House of Commons as the newly formed Independent Group.

Corbyn said he was "disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945."

The Labour lawmakers who quit in 1981 eventually became today's Liberal Democrats, a centrist party that has failed to topple the dominance of the two bigger parties.

The new group of seven stopped short of forming a new political party, but the seeds have been sown. The new group has a name, a website and a statement of principles, which argues for a mix of pro-businesses and social-welfare measures and a pro-Western foreign policy that is closer to the "New Labour" of former Prime Minister Tony Blair than to Corbyn's old-school socialism.

Their statement said the Labour Party "now pursues policies that would weaken our national security; accepts the narratives of states hostile to our country; has failed to take a lead in addressing the challenge of Brexit and to provide a strong and coherent alternative to the Conservatives' approach."

The departing lawmakers said they would not be joining the Liberal Democrats, and urged members of other parties to help them create a new centrist force in British politics.

"We do not think any of the major parties is fit for power," said lawmaker Angela Smith. "People feel politically homeless and they are asking and begging for an alternative."

Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in politics at the University of Leeds, said history suggests the breakaway group will struggle to gain traction in British politics.

"It's very cold out there as an independent," she said. "It's all well and good leaving because you believe the party has moved away from you, but you can often achieve more from being inside the tent."

Luciana Berger speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Seven MPs from left, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Chuka Umunna, pose for a photograph after a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chaka Umunna speaks alongside Luciana Berger during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chaka Umunna speaks alongside Luciana Berger, left, and Angela Smith, right, during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chuka Umunna speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Ann Coffey speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Chris Leslie speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Mike Gapes speaks during a press conference to announce the new political party, The Independent Group, in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Seven British Members of Parliament say they are quitting the main opposition Labour Party over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism. Many Labour MPs are unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Iranian Court Postpones Assyrian Woman's Appeal

Shamiram Issavi. Shamiram Issavi's appeal against her five-year jail sentence for "acting against national security" was postponed after a hearing today at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

The new presiding judge, Ahmad Zardar, appeared visibly confused at the details of Shamiram's case and ruled that her appeal would next be heard in conjunction with that of her husband, Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz, and the three men sentenced alongside him.

Judge Zardar said the next hearing would take place after Persian New Year.

Shamiram was convicted in January 2018 of "acting against national security and the regime by organising small groups, attending a seminary abroad and training church leaders to act as spies".

Her husband Victor, a well-known Assyrian pastor, was given a ten-year sentence in July 2017, alongside three of his church members -- all converts -- for "acting against national security by organising and conducting house churches".

Two of the converts -- Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi, and Hadi Asgari -- also received ten-year sentences, while the third, Amin Afshar-Naderi, was given an additional five years in prison for "insulting the sacred" (blasphemy against Islam).

Shamiram and Victor led the Assyrian Pentecostal Church of Shahrara in Tehran before it was forcibly closed in March 2009.

With the pressure of officials from the Ministry of Intelligence and the intervention of the Assyrian representative of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Yonathan Betkolia, the pastor was removed from the leadership of the church and the church was forced to halt all meetings in Farsi and ban all non-Assyrian members.

The pastor and two of the converts -- Amin and Kavian -- were first arrested as they celebrated Christmas together at his home on 26 December 2014.

Hadi did not attend the Christmas celebration but was arrested on 26 August, 2016, along with several other Christians, including Victor and Shamiram's son, Ramil, during a raid on a private apartment in Firoozkooh, near Tehran.

Ramil was later sentenced to four months in prison, then released owing to time served.

In August 2018, Amnesty International launched a campaign for the release of Victor and Shamiram and their church members.
BEIJING (AP) - China's government on Monday accused the United States of trying to block its industrial development after Vice President Mike Pence said Chinese equipment poses a threat to countries that are rolling out next-generation mobile communications.

And in a potential blow to U.S. efforts to rally its allies on the issue, British media reported U.K. intelligence agencies found it is possible to limit potential security risks of Chinese equipment in fifth-generation networks.

The U.S. argues Beijing might use Chinese tech companies to gather intelligence about foreign countries. The Trump administration has pressured allies to shun networks supplied by Huawei Technologies Ltd., threatening the company's access to 5G markets.

Huawei, the biggest global maker of switching gear for phone and internet companies, denies accusations it facilitates Chinese spying. Its founder said last month it would reject government demands to disclose confidential information about foreign customers.

The U.S. government is trying to "fabricate an excuse for suppressing the legitimate development" of Chinese enterprises, said a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

He accused the United States of using "political means" to interfere in economic activity, "which is hypocritical, immoral and unfair bullying."

FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, a woman browses her smartphone as she walks by a Huawei store at a shopping mall in Beijing. China's government has accused Washington of trying to block its industrial development after Vice President Mike Pence said Chinese tech giant Huawei and other telecom equipment suppliers are a security threat. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Mike Pence, speaking Saturday in Germany, urged European allies to take seriously "the threat" he said was posed by Huawei as they look for partners to build 5G networks.

The 5G technology is meant to vastly expand the reach of networks to support internet-linked medical equipment, factory machines, self-driving cars and other devices. That makes it more politically sensitive and raises the potential cost of security failures.

Pence said Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment makers provide Beijing with "access to any data that touches their network or equipment." He appealed to European governments to "reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security systems."

In what could amount to a turning point for the U.S. effort to isolate Huawei, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre has found that the risk of using its networks is manageable, according to the Financial Times and other British media outlets.

The reports, citing anonymous sources, said there are ways to limit cybersecurity risks. They said the U.K.'s decision would carry weight with European allies who are also evaluating the safety of their networks.

The British government is due to finish a review of its policies on the safety of 5G in March or April. The office of British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday that "no decisions have been taken."

If eventually confirmed, "such a decision by the U.K. would be a strong message and could be influential in the medium term," said Lukasz Olejnik, a research associate at Oxford University's Center for Technology and Global Affairs.

The British review "could inevitably serve as an input or a reference point in other countries' risk assessments," he said.

Officials including a vice president of the European Union have expressed concern about Chinese regulations issued last year that require companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies. No country in Europe, however, has issued a blanket veto on using Huawei technology in the way the U.S. has urged.

The U.S. Justice Department last month unsealed charges against Huawei, its chief financial officer - who had been arrested in Canada - and several of its subsidiaries, alleging not only violation of trade sanctions but also the theft of trade secrets.

The United States has not, however, released evidence to support its accusations that Huawei and other Chinese tech companies allow the Chinese government to spy through their systems. That has prompted some industry analysts to suggest Washington is trying to use security concerns to handicap Chinese competitors.

"China has not and will not require companies or individuals to collect or provide foreign countries' information for the Chinese government by installing backdoors or other actions that violate local laws," said Geng.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre acknowledged last summer that it had concerns about the engineering and security of Huawei's networks. While not commenting Monday on the media reports, it added: "We have set out the improvements we expect the company to make."

Huawei said in a statement Monday it is open to dialogue and that "cybersecurity is an issue which needs to be addressed across the whole industry."

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Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.
MALE, Maldives (AP) - A Maldives court ordered the arrest and detention of former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Monday on charges of money laundering.

The criminal court in Male, the capital, ordered Yameen held in custody after prosecutors argued at a hearing that he could attempt to influence witnesses if he were free.

Yameen was charged with money laundering for alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corp. funds.

Police say investigators found $1 million in Yameen's bank account allegedly linked to a deal to lease public islands for tourism development in the Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago famous for its luxury resorts.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih also suspended two Cabinet ministers - Ahmed Maloof and Akram Kamaludeen - over $33,000 allegedly found in each of their accounts from the same resort development deal.

State lawyer Aishath Mohamed said documents showed that Yameen had attempted to influence witnesses and had offered them money to change their statements.

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2018, file photo, Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, right, casts his vote at a polling station during presidential election day in Male, Maldives. A Maldives court ordered the arrest and detention of former Maldives President Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Monday for alleged money laundering.. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Referring to the prosecutor's statement, Chief Judge Ahmed Hailam ordered Yameen to be kept in detention until the end of the trial.

Yameen told the court that he didn't know the people who had testified against him and never gave anyone bribes. He also said he didn't know that $1 million had been transferred in to his account, and that after he found out he contacted the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Yameen lost his bid for re-election last September after a five-year term during which he was accused of corruption and misrule. The elections, only the third since multiparty democracy was restored in 2008, was a surprise upset by Solih, who campaigned on a promise to investigate allegations of corruption by Yameen's government.

Dozens of Yameen's political opponents - including his half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - were jailed during Yameen's term in office following trials that were widely criticized for lacking due process.

Gayoom was released on bail a week after Yameen's defeat.

Another ex-president, Mohamed Nasheed, who spent a year in jail on a terrorism conviction under Yameen before winning political asylum in Britain, returned to the Maldives after Yameen's election loss. The Supreme Court annulled his conviction in November.

Nasheed, now a top Solih adviser and candidate in April parliamentary polls, told The Associated Press a separate investigation of Yameen on suspicion of international money laundering continues.

Nasheed said the debt-saddled Maldives government is asking China to reduce some of the more than $3 billion it owes, arguing that some of that money went to Yameen in the form of "ill-gotten wealth."
KANO, Nigeria (AP) - Nervous ahead of Nigeria's delayed election, a group of young women picked up their cellphones and wished each other well.

"Honestly I'm so tensed and scared," one typed.

"I feel like crying. This is so touching," another wrote.

"What we are about to do is the beginning of an era," texted a third.

They are among dozens of first-time female candidates in a country where the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a woman as president brings a belly laugh from many men.

While Ethiopia and Rwanda in recent months drew global praise for announcing two of the world's few "gender-balanced" Cabinets, Africa's most populous nation and largest democracy has been largely stuck in a political culture heavy on cash and brawn.

In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, Zainab Sulaiman Umar, 26, a candidate for the State House of Assembly in Kumbotso constituency, Kano state, speaks to the Associated Press at an activists office in Kano, northern Nigeria. Umar is among dozens of first-time female candidates in a country where the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

"You know how women are," explained Abdulaziz Maidubji, a 41-year-old businessman in the conservative northern city of Kano, in an interview with The Associated Press as others gathered and agreed. "They are very weak. They cannot endure these challenges."

The nearly 50 female candidates for state and local seats who ping each other with emoji-speckled messages of support in a WhatsApp group are eager to prove a country of 190 million people wrong. When the election was delayed at the last minute until Feb. 23, they urged each other to stay focused.

"God please let it come and pass because I'm so exhausted," one typed, echoing many Nigerians.

The group including activists, entrepreneurs, a fashion designer and a lab technician was created as part of a youth electoral movement to break the grip of Nigeria's two main political parties, which traditionally have been less about issues and more about seizing power at all costs.

Their chats on how to parse electoral data and polish talking points also created a safe space for venting frustrations about discrimination familiar to many Nigerian women, candidate or no, while a wide-ranging gender and equal opportunities bill has languished in the National Assembly for years.

One candidate from Zamfara state in the north was told her photo couldn't be on the same campaign poster as the governor because she is not his wife, though they share a political party. Another candidate was asked by a journalist, "Who is your husband?"

"Look, no one asks men this!" said Chioma Agwuegbo, a 32-year-old communications specialist who allowed the AP to join the group for the final push to election day.

She believes Nigeria can become more progressive once its legislative body sees new faces: "It's not a retirement home."

Some female candidates have been asked, or ordered, to step aside for a man. Some have been booed out of events. Some have seen embarrassed family members distance themselves, though many have received warm support and even been told, "What took you so long?" Many struggle with the high costs of running.

Still, the number of female candidates in certain cases is growing. Among this year's 73 presidential contenders, six are women, though former minister Oby Ezekwesili surprised many by dropping out in the final month after becoming the highest-profile female candidate in Nigeria's history.

Of the more than 1,800 senatorial candidates, however, only 12 percent are women - down from 17 percent four years ago.

Stay strong, one candidate in the WhatsApp group urged in a rousing post that ended with the exhortation, "Joy comes in the morning."

Among those checking in with good wishes was 26-year-old Zainab Sulaiman Umar, who is among Nigeria's youngest candidates. Her goal is especially groundbreaking: If she wins a seat in Kano state's house of assembly she would become its first woman.

At one campaign rally, she was attacked by thugs and her brother was almost stabbed. "It's something we just have to get used to as women to run for office," she told the AP, adding that it gave her more confidence to push on.

She left Nigeria's ruling party for a smaller one when it became clear that without a "godfather" she would have no chance.

"People talk negatively, but I answer them with positive answers," she said, although she hears "Are you married?" far too often.

As she goes door-to-door in her largely Muslim community, profiting from her access to female voters in their homes, she explains that she seeks to represent others, which religious leaders say is allowed for women, and not lead, which some see as taboo.

To her surprise, some local Muslim leaders have preached that women should be given a chance in office. She's ready to seize it.

"Of course I'm going to win," she said with a smile. She plans to provide primary health care centers while combating domestic violence and "empowering my people."

The spirit seemed to be catching. Across town at the electoral commission offices, a young woman boxed up polling materials for the vote.

Zainab Aliyu, 24, called this her first election and was excited, volunteering to help with preparations. She spoke glowingly of female candidate Hauwa Ibrahim al-Yacoub, a senatorial hopeful whose campaign poster had been spotted at a street roundabout, pink headscarf blazing amid a thicket of male candidates. "I trust her," Aliyu said.

And where many Nigerians, even women, hesitate to predict a female president any time soon, she responded immediately.

"2023," she said. "Inshallah!" If God wills.

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In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, Zainab Sulaiman Umar, 26, center, a candidate for the State House of Assembly in Kumbotso constituency, Kano state, speaks to residents in Kano, northern Nigeria. Umar is among dozens of first-time female candidates in a country where the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, Zainab Sulaiman Umar, 26, center, a candidate for the State House of Assembly in Kumbotso constituency, Kano state, speaks to residents in Kano, northern Nigeria. Umar is among dozens of first-time female candidates in a country where the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, women and girls arrive to make traditional Friday prayers at a mosque near to the Emir's palace in Kano, northern Nigeria. In Nigeria the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 file photo, supporters of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari sing and dance in advance of his arrival at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria. In Nigeria the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, women and girls arrive to make traditional Friday prayers at a mosque near to the Emir's palace in Kano, northern Nigeria. In Nigeria the percentage of women in parliament is one of the lowest in the world, under 7 percent, and the idea of a female president brings a belly laugh from many men. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - A senior Saudi diplomat on Monday fired back after Iran initially blamed the kingdom for an attack last week that killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, called Iran a "chief sponsor of terrorism," saying its allegations sought to divert the attention of the Iranian people from the country's own troubles.

"Saudi Arabia has been the victim of terrorism," he added, saying the kingdom would continue to be "unmerciful" in going after terrorists and those who finance and condone them.

The comments came as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was concluding a two-day visit to Pakistan. Al-Jubeir, the kingdom's former foreign minister, is part of the prince's entourage.

Iranian officials had at first said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were behind Wednesday's bombing near the Pakistani border, but later said the attack was planned from "inside Pakistan." The militant Sunni group Jaish al-Adl, which claimed responsibility, is believed to operate from havens in Pakistan.

Pakistan has close ties to Saudi Arabia, which views Iran as a regional threat, and often balances between Riyadh and Tehran.

In this photo released by the Press Information Department, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, right, receives visiting Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at presidential palace in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. A senior Saudi diplomat on Monday assailed Iran for initially blaming the kingdom for last week's attack that killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. (Press Information Department, via AP)

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told his Iranian counterpart on Sunday that Islamabad would fully cooperate in the investigation into the attack on the Revolutionary Guard. Pakistan has also pledged to act if Tehran shares evidence against those linked to the attack.

On Monday, three Pakistani security officials said a search operation was underway in remote southwestern regions bordering Iran in an effort to arrest suspects linked to attacks in Pakistan and Iran. They said the security forces were searching areas where Tehran believed insurgents responsible for last week's attack might be hiding.

The officials said the operation began Sunday and was expanded after militants killed six Pakistani paramilitary troops in two attacks in the southwestern towns of Turbat and Loralai.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said Pakistani and Iranian officials have been in touch since the attack.

Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the head of Iran's armed forces, said the Pakistani army had launched an operation near the border. He urged Pakistan to confront armed groups or "let Iranian forces enter the battlefield."

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia signed agreements worth $20 billion to help Pakistan overcome its financial crisis.

Pakistan voiced support for the prince during the international outcry after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October. The kingdom has long provided aid to Pakistan, and signed an agreement for a $6 billion assistance package after Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan attended an investment conference that month that saw a wave of cancellations linked to the Khashoggi killing.

Pakistani President Arif Alvi on Monday conferred the country's highest civilian honor on the Saudi crown prince, who left Pakistan amid tight security. Khan drove the prince to the airport.

Prince Mohammad is expected to travel onward to neighboring India, which has warned Pakistan of a "crushing response" to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 41 people on Thursday.

In a joint statement Monday, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia reiterated their commitment to continue combating extremism and terrorism and promoting peace in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban were scheduled to hold talks with the United States in Islamabad on Monday, but they postponed them, saying most members of their negotiating team were unable to travel because they are blacklisted by the U.S. and the United Nations. The Taliban maintain a political office in Qatar, where members of the negotiating team reside.

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Associated Press writers Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran contributed.

In this photo released by the Press Information Department, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, right, meets with visiting Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at presidential palace in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. A senior Saudi diplomat on Monday assailed Iran for initially blaming the kingdom for last week's attack that killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. (Press Information Department, via AP)
CAIRO (AP) - Yemen's government and the Houthi rebels have agreed on the first stage of a mutual pullout of forces from the port city of Hodeida, a key entry point for humanitarian aid, the United Nations said.

A U.N. statement late Sunday said the agreement came after two days of meetings in Hodeida. The warring parties agreed to a cease-fire in the city and a prisoner exchange during talks held in Sweden in December, but the implementation of both has been stalled.

The statement said both sides "made important progress on planning for the redeployment of forces as envisaged in the Hodeida agreement."

Yemen's government has been battling the rebels since 2014, when the Houthis swept down from the north and seized the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war on the side of the government in March 2015. The stalemated conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and raised fears of famine.

"It's encouraging news that this has happened, as people had been losing faith in the process, causing fears that we'd soon see a return to combat in and around Hodeida," said Peter Salisbury, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

He said the parties now need to implement the agreement, warning that "there is plenty of room for them to play games here, so we shouldn't get overexcited."

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 file photo, United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, center, and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, participate in a new round of talks by Yemen's warring parties in Amman, Jordan. Yemeni security officials said sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, that Griffiths arrived in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to discuss the "complex situation" in and around the key port city of Hodeida. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File)

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed their progress on Monday, tweeting that the agreement must be "swiftly finalized & implemented" and urging progress on the prisoner release.

Under the U.N.-brokered agreement reached in December, both sides agreed on the redeployment of forces out of Hodeida, which is currently controlled by the Houthis. Local authorities and police would run the city and its three ports under U.N. supervision.

The first stage of implementation, agreed upon over the weekend, would see both sides withdraw forces from the ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras Issa, which handle about 70 percent of Yemen's imports.

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths meanwhile departed from Sanaa on Monday, a day after meeting with rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi to discuss the "complex situation" in and around Hodeida.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The organizers of Pope Francis' summit on preventing clergy sex abuse will meet this week with a dozen abuse victims who have descended on Rome to protest the Catholic Church's response to the crisis and demand an end to decades of cover-up by church leaders, officials said Monday.

These abuse survivors will not be addressing the summit of church leaders itself. Rather, they will meet Wednesday with the four-member organizing committee to convey their complaints.

The larger summit of some 190 presidents of bishops' conferences from around the world, plus key Vatican officials, begins Thursday.

At a press conference Monday, organizers called the summit a "turning point" in the church's approach to clergy sex abuse. The Catholic Church has long been criticized for its failure to hold bishops accountable when they covered up for priests who raped and molested children.

They said the summit would focus on three key aspects of dealing with the crisis: making bishops aware of their own responsibilities to protect their flocks, the consequences of shirking those responsibilities, and the need for transparency.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's leading sex crimes investigator and an organizer of the meeting, said transparency was key, since the church's knee-jerk response of denial and silence in the past had only exacerbated the problem.

Pope Francis delivers his blessing during the Angelus noon prayer In St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"Whether it's criminal or malicious complicity and a code of silence, or whether it's denial or trauma in its very primitive state, we need to get away from that," he told reporters. "We have to face the facts."

Chilean abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz, who is coordinating the survivor meeting, told The Associated Press he hopes for a "constructive and open dialogue" and for summit members to convey survivors' demand that bishops stop pleading ignorance about abuse.

"Raping a child or a vulnerable person and abusing them has been wrong since the 1st century, the Middle Ages, and now," he said.

Francis called the summit in September after he himself discredited Cruz and other Chilean victims of a notorious predator priest. Francis was subsequently implicated in the cover-up of Theodore McCarrick, the onetime powerful American cardinal who just last week was defrocked for sexually abusing minors as well as adults.

Francis has urged participants to meet with abuse victims before they came to Rome, to both familiarize themselves with victims' pain and trauma and debunk the widely held idea that clergy sex abuse only happens in some parts of the world.

Survivors will be represented at the summit itself, but only in a few key moments of prayer.

Summit moderator the Rev. Federico Lombardi said he would gladly receive any written messages from other survivors, expressing an openness to hear from a broad cross-section of victims.

Cruz said the key message for the bishops to take away from the summit is that they must enforce true "zero tolerance" or face the consequences.

"There are enforceable laws in the church to punish not only those who commit the abuse but those who cover it up," he told the AP. "No matter what rank they have in the church, they should pay."

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, another conference organizer, agreed.

"There is going to be every effort to close whatever loopholes there are, to make sure that people understand on an individual basis as bishops what their responsibilities are," he said. "Because they are going to be held accountable."
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - When President Donald Trump visited Beto O'Rourke's hometown to argue that walling off the southern border would make the U.S. safer, the former Democratic congressman and possible 2020 presidential hopeful was ready.

As the president filled an El Paso arena with supporters, O'Rourke helped lead thousands of his own on a protest march past the barrier of barbed-wire topped fencing and towering metal slats that separates El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

O'Rourke clearly hopes to make his personal experience with the border a strength if he runs for president - and the battle over billions of dollars in new fortifications may well shape the 2020 campaign.

But O'Rourke's history with the barriers that have lined the Rio Grande since he was a child actually could be a bit of vulnerability, too.

As the 2020 campaign is joined, other top Democrats can oppose Trump's call for more and larger walls as a straightforward wedge issue - something they say shows anti-immigrant feeling, intolerance and even racism.

But O'Rourke's record on border walls is complicated. In March, he supported a spending package that other leading Democratic contenders opposed and included $1.6 billion for border wall construction in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere. Buried in that was $445 million for repairs of existing fencing elsewhere - including El Paso.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the 2018 Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, makes his concession speech at his election night party in El Paso, Texas. When Donald Trump visited O'Rourke's hometown to argue that walling off the southern border makes the U.S. safer, the former Democratic congressman and possible 2020 presidential hopeful was ready. As the president filled an El Paso arena with supporters, O'Rourke helped lead thousands of his own on a protest march past the barrier of barbed-wire topped fencing and towering metal slats that separates El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

O'Rourke later explained the vote as a compromise to win approval of another proposal he backed, expanding access to mental health care for military veterans who had received other-than-honorable discharges. But his action attracted criticism from people who know the border best. Scott Nicol, co-chairman of the Sierra Club's Borderlands team, called it "very disappointing."

"The things that he has said have been dead on," Nicol said. "The next step becomes what do you do."

O'Rourke's nuanced position on border barriers, sometimes willing to use them as a bargaining chip, could be politically awkward in a national campaign but it's shared in El Paso. Here, many people accept dozens of miles of existing walls as a fact of life, objecting mostly to structures so intrusive they suggest a war zone.

"People in El Paso live with the border and the ambiguities and contradictions of the border," said Josiah Heyman, director of the University of Texas at El Paso's Center for Interamerican and Border Studies.

In an interview Thursday night on MSNBC, O'Rourke said he would "absolutely" tear down El Paso's existing walls and that he believed a majority of residents would back doing so. That somewhat contradicts his past statements about opposing entirely open borders, but O'Rourke has previously backed having them porous enough to promote trade and immigrant culture. In an interview in 2006, he decried President George W. Bush's proposal for bolstering the existing walls with more surveillance technology.

Bush's barrier "didn't seem like a meaningful suggestion at all, but maybe that's because we already have it and it doesn't seem to be working," he said.

City Council member Peter Svarzbein said El Paso's character isn't based on keeping people out, but rather on tens of thousands who legally cross every day for work, school, shopping or to see bi-national relatives.

Democratic analyst Colin Strother noted, "There are places that physical barriers make sense, but it does not make sense everywhere and that seems to be the big disconnect."

O'Rourke's attempts to explain his record could be difficult in a hotly contested primary campaign. His 2020 rivals could run into their own complications on the issue soon, however, after Congress approved $1.4 billion in new border wall money as part of a deal to avoid the latest government shutdown.

In the end, O'Rourke "may have some firsthand knowledge, but I don't know if it's a winning argument," said Democratic political consultant James Aldrete, who helped conduct Hispanic outreach for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

El Paso had only limited border security before 1978 when, facing an influx of immigrants looking for work in the U.S., Congress approved chain-link fencing later dubbed the "Tortilla Curtain." A 1986 federal law granting legal status to about 2 million Mexicans in the U.S. made the prospect of heading north even more attractive.

Eventually, thousands of people were pouring into El Paso every day, sometimes paying as little as a quarter for rides on makeshift rafts over the Rio Grande.

"People could cross whenever they wanted," said Silvestre Reyes, who was chief of the Border Patrol's El Paso sector in 1993 and won a congressional seat in 1996. "The city was tired of it."

Reyes ordered around-the-clock patrols and authorities repaired 100-plus holes in nine miles of fences downtown.

But when O'Rourke, then an upstart ex-City Council member, ran against Reyes in the 2012 Democratic primary, he didn't make Reyes' border crackdown an issue. Instead, O'Rourke more frequently complained of long wait times for cars crossing into El Paso from Juarez.

O'Rourke now opposes pumping any money into new walls. Instead, he'd like to see a coalition of border Democrats and Republicans in Congress hammer out a broader immigration overhaul.

"We know that there is no bargain where we can sacrifice some of our humanity to gain a little more security," O'Rourke told an emotional El Paso rally he headlined after the Trump protest march. "We know that we deserve to, and will, lose both of them if we do."

Reyes doesn't agree with O'Rourke on much but also opposes erecting concrete walls, which Trump has supported in the past.

"We have a lot of slats where you can still see through it," he said of El Paso. "That helps Border Patrol agents, but it also is supported by people living at the border."

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This story has been corrected to show that the 2018 omnibus spending bill included $445 million for repairs to existing border barriers, not $44.5 million.

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, a U.S. flag hangs on a border barrier in El Paso, Texas. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border has sparked the longest government shutdown in the nation's history.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

FILE- In this Feb. 11, 2019, file photo former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke speaks to a crowd inside a ball park across the street from where President Donald Trump was holding a rally inside the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas. As the president filled an El Paso arena with supporters, O'Rourke helped lead thousands of his own on a protest march past the barrier of barbed-wire topped fencing and towering metal slats that separates El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (AP Photo/Rudy Gutierrez, File)

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, Mario Silva sits outside of his home in El Paso, Texas. Silva's home backs up to a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso.n(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, the sun sets behind Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, as motorist travel along Interstate 10 near a border barrier that separates the two cities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, workers place sections of metal wall as a new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border has sparked the longest government shutdown in the nation's history. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, workers place sections of metal wall as a new barrier is built along the Texas-Mexico border near downtown El Paso. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border has sparked the longest government shutdown in the nation's history. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, Mickie Subia retrieves her mail near her home in El Paso, Texas. Subia lives less than a block away from a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In thisTuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, Mickie Subia gathers her laundry at her home in El Paso, Texas. Subia lives less than a block away from a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, a U.S. flag hangs from a decorated utility pole in an El Paso, Texas, neighborhood that sits next to a border barrier. Such barriers have been a part of El Paso for decades and are currently being expanded, even as the fight over President Donald Trump's desire to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border has sparked the longest government shutdown in the nation's history.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, Mario Silva leaves his home on a bike in El Paso, Texas. Silva's home backs up to a border barrier that runs along the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso.n(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's government plans a new tax targeting online giants like Google and Facebook that earn plenty of money in the country but pay little tax.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there's a gap that needs to be closed.

"Our current tax system is not fair in the way that it treats individual taxpayers and the way that it treats multinationals," she said. "It's not fair."

She said the proposed digital services tax would tax multinational online companies at about 2 or 3 percent on the revenue they generate in New Zealand, a rate that is in line with other countries considering similar taxes.

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said foreign online companies have a competitive advantage over local companies that do pay significant amounts of tax. He said the new tax that was announced on Monday could be implemented next year.

Nash said New Zealand would continue working with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, to find an international solution to the problems of taxing big online companies, but that New Zealand was not going to wait around.

FILE - This July 19, 2016, file photo shows the Google logo at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. New Zealand's government announced plans on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019, for a new tax targeting online giants like Google and Facebook that earn plenty of money in the country but pay little tax. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there's a gap that needs to be closed. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

"The OECD can move at a rather slow rate," he said.

New Zealand's government estimates that online multinationals do about 2.7 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.9 billion) worth of business in the country each year, and that the new tax could generate up to 80 million New Zealand dollars ($55 million) annually.

The most recent New Zealand company filings indicate Google paid NZ$392,000 in income taxes in the 2017 calendar year. The company, which declined to comment, claimed a NZ$1 million loss over the year after booking much of its revenue in other countries.

The last publicly available figures from Facebook show the company paid NZ$43,000 in taxes in New Zealand in 2014.

Facebook said in a statement that it complies with applicable tax laws in New Zealand and every other country in which it operates. It said it's moving to a "local selling model" to provide more transparency to governments and policy makers.

Amy Adams, the finance spokeswoman for the conservative opposition National Party, said the party agrees that multinationals should pay their fair share of taxes but that it supports the OECD work being ramped up. She said New Zealand will find it difficult to go out on its own without people missing out on what the global market has to offer.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Tensions escalated after a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with nine people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers searched for militants.

Government forces surrounded a village in the southern Pulwama area on a tip that militants were hiding there, security officials said. As troops began conducting searches, they came under heavy gunfire, leading to a clash that killed four soldiers, three suspected militants, a police official and a civilian.

Three army officers, a senior police officer and three other soldiers were wounded in the operation, which follows the suicide attack last Thursday on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 soldiers, the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmir's history.

India blamed the attack on Pakistan and promised a "jaw-breaking response." Pakistan has warned India against linking it to the attack without an investigation, saying that it was part of New Delhi's "known rhetoric and tactics" to divert global attention from human rights violations in Kashmir.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the Muslim-majority region in its entirety.

The attack has led to a spike in communal tensions in Hindu-majority India.

Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Videos of anti-Kashmiri protests have gone viral on social media, including some in which Kashmiri students were beaten by mobs of Hindu nationalist groups and warned to leave colleges and universities.

On the outskirts of the northern city of Ambala, about 300 Kashmiri students were forced to leave their rented accommodations by local Hindu residents, at least three students reached by phone told The Associated Press.

One of the students who asked to be identified by only his middle name, Ahmed, due to fear of reprisals from his university, said he and his fellow students felt unsafe despite police security.

The Kashmiri students blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist ruling party for stoking anti-Muslim and anti-Kashmiri sentiment in India ahead of a general election due this year.

In another northern city, Dehradun, at least 20 Kashmiri students were forced to lock themselves in their hostel rooms for safety until police arrived, The Times of India newspaper reported. Police in Dehradun said the students were safe but refused to comment further.

Vijay Kumar, a top government adviser, said they received several complaints from students and businesspeople, and authorities were "doing everything possible for the security" of Kashmiris. He said authorities have spoken with officials in various cities and also set up help centers for Kashmiris living outside the state.

Reports of harassment elsewhere in India have triggered public anger in Kashmir, where authorities have suspended internet service on mobile phones and slowed other internet sources to try to stop the spread of videos or the organization of protests.

The Indian chapter of Amnesty International urged India's federal and state governments to "ensure that ordinary Kashmiri women and men do not face targeted attacks, harassment and arbitrary arrests" following Thursday's suicide bombing.

"We are at a dangerous moment, and authorities must do everything they can to uphold the rule of law," said Aakar Patel, head of Amnesty International India. "Ordinary Kashmiris across India who are only seeking to improve their lives should not be singled out for violence simply because of where they come from."

The statement said many students are reported to have fled their universities in fear. "Two colleges in Dehradun and one in Moradabad have stated that they will not admit new Kashmiri students," it said.

Monday's fighting in Kashmir triggered anti-India protests and clashes, with local residents, mainly youths, trying to march to the site of the gunbattle in solidarity with the rebels. Government forces fired tear gas at the stone-throwing protesters. No one was immediately reported injured in the clashes.

Residents said troops destroyed five civilian houses with explosives and gasoline during the fighting. Police said they recovered the bodies of the dead militants from the debris. A civilian was also killed in the crossfire, police said.

The dead soldiers included an Indian army major. Police said two militants were killed in the initial fighting, which resumed after a lull of about four hours, leading to the killing of a third militant and injuries to several soldiers and a police officer.

Rebels have been fighting Indian control in Kashmir since 1989 and the uprising and ensuing crackdown have killed about 70,000 people.

Most 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.

An Indian army armored vehicle rushes towards the site of a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Flames and smoke billows from residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Flames and smoke billows from residential buildings where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Flames and smoke billows from residential buildings where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)
LONDON (AP) - British lawmakers issued a scathing report Monday that calls for tougher rules to keep Facebook and other tech firms from acting like "digital gangsters" and intentionally violating data privacy and competition laws.

The report on fake news and disinformation on social media sites followed an 18-month investigation by Parliament's influential media committee. The committee recommended that social media sites should have to follow a mandatory code of ethics overseen by an independent regulator to better control harmful or illegal content.

The report called out Facebook in particular, saying that the site's structure seems to be designed to "conceal knowledge of and responsibility for specific decisions."

"It is evident that Facebook intentionally and knowingly violated both data privacy and anti-competition laws," the report said. It also accused CEO Mark Zuckerberg of showing contempt for the U.K. Parliament by declining numerous invitations to appear before the committee.

"Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like 'digital gangsters' in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law," the report added.

U.K. parliamentary committee reports are intended to influence government policy, but are not binding. The committee said it hoped its conclusions would be considered when the government reviews its competition powers in April.

FILE - In this May 18, 2012, file photo a television photographer shoots the sign outside of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. A parliamentary committee report published Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, has recommended that the United Kingdom government increase oversight of social media platforms like Facebook to better control harmful or illegal content. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

The government said it welcomed the "report's contribution towards our work to tackle the increasing threat of disinformation and to make the U.K. the safest place to be online. We will respond in due course."

While the U.K. is part of the 28-country European Union, it is due to leave the bloc in late March, so it is unclear whether any regulatory decisions it takes could influence those of the EU.

Facebook said it shared "the committee's concerns about false news and election integrity" and was open to "meaningful regulation."

"While we still have more to do, we are not the same company we were a year ago," said Facebook's U.K. public policy manager, Karim Palant.

"We have tripled the size of the team working to detect and protect users from bad content to 30,000 people and invested heavily in machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to help prevent this type of abuse."

Facebook and other internet companies have been facing increased scrutiny over how they handle user data and have come under fire for not doing enough to stop misuse of their platforms by groups trying to sway elections.

The report echoes and expands upon an interim report with similar findings issued by the committee in July . And in December , a trove of documents released by the committee offered evidence that the social network had used its enormous trove of user data as a competitive weapon, often in ways designed to keep its users in the dark.

Facebook faced its biggest privacy scandal last year when it emerged that Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct British political data-mining firm that worked for the 2016 Donald Trump campaign, had accessed the private information of up to 87 million users.

Conservative lawmaker Damian Collins, who heads the media committee, said "democracy is at risk" from malicious, targeted disinformation campaigns, often directed from countries such as Russia and spread on Facebook and other social networks.

"We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the platforms and the people," he said. "The age of inadequate self-regulation must come to an end."

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Anderson reported from New York.
Syriac Patriarchs Speak At International Security Summit in Munich

Munich (AINA) -- The supreme head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Patriarch Mor Ignatios Aphrem II, and Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, attended the 55th International Munich Security Conference (MSC) held on February 15-17 in Munich. Both were also invited to join a panel dicussion organised under the chaimanship of Dr. Philipp Hildmann of Hanns-Seidel Foundation (HSS), held on Saturday, February 16th. The panel was titled Dawn of a new era? Future Perspective of Religious Minorities in the Middle East and focused on the post-ISIS situation in Syria and Iraq.

The panel was opened by Markus Ferber, European MP and Vice Chairman of the Hans-Seidel Foundation. Speakers included H.H. Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, H.B. Louis Rapahel I Cardinal Sako, Patriarch of Babylon, Volker Kauder, Member of the German Bundetag, Chairman (ret.) of the CDU/CSU-Parliamentary Group in German Parliament (2005-18), and Duzen Tekkal, Founder & Chairwoman of hawar.help, Berlin. The session was moderated by Oliver Rolofs, Co-Founder & Partner of connecting trust, Munich.

In his speech, Markus Ferber touched upon the killings, forced migration and destruction caused in 2014 with the emergence of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The death squads of the terrorist militia of IS inflicted unimaginable atrocities against those unwilling to submit to their radical interpretation of Islam. Yazidis and Assyrians became a main target. "Eighty percent of homes and infrastructure in the Nineveh Plains," a central region in Iraq where Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) live, were destroyed, said Ferber. Yezidi children and women were abducted and sold as slaves. With respect to Syria, where the conflict has been ongoing for eight years, Ferber pointed to the death toll of a half million people and eight million refugees. In the context of the defeat of IS Ferber raised the question, whether this could be the beginning of a new era for the Yezidis and Christians minorities and what future perspectives and what role Germany could take.

Volker Kauder, an early and outspoken advocate of the topic of religios freedom in the German Parliament, stated that "Christians are the most persecuted religious group" in the world and gave examples ranging from China, Pakistan to the Middle East. The situation has not changed too much over the past years. Particularly, states that have a authoritarian ruling system "have a different understanding of religious freedom and do not accept our key values (Leitbild)."

On whether Germany is ready to help, Kauder mentioned the Kurdish request for military support after IS took over Mosul. According to Kauder, Germany asked Massud Barzani, the then President of Kurdish region in northern Iraq, why Kurdish forces abandoned Assyrians when IS attacked the Nineveh plains. Barzani's reply was "yes, they had to flee, because they had no weapons." This set the scene for the German Parliament deciding to deliver weapons into a conflict zone and support and train the KRG fighters against IS.

Generally, persecution of Christians is strongest where the authority of the state is weak. "This is true for many states in the Middle East where even Muslims fighting with each other," stressed Kauder. Hence the "probability of Christian-free zones" is a realistic scenario, he said, and many refugees "are afraid to return to their homes, as they don't feel they are welcome." They have to realize that their homes have been occupied by others. They miss the necessary security and a future perspective for their children.

However, "Christian presence is essential for the countries of the Middle East," concluded Kauder. Christians are carrier of enlightment. Enlightenment is based on reasoning; "reasoning is the gift of God," he added. Christians can contribute to education and health. "We have to enable them to work that way," he concluded

The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatios Aphrem II relayed greetings from Damascus, known as the city of the Apostle Paul; he also expressed gratitude to HSS for the invitation to the summit. He lamented how casually Christians "are blamed as supporters of the regime," ignoring that "we are struggling to survive in a country where we lived for thousands of years -- even prior to Islam and Christianity emerging in the region." Touching to Volker Kauder's question whether the Christians have a future in Syria, the Patriarch pointed to the fact that "Christians on the whole remained neutral" in the conflict. Regardless, their churches and homes were targeted and destroyed. The Patriarch pointed to the two Archbishops of Aleppo -- Greek Orthodox Boulos Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, who were kidnapped in April 2013 and remain missed since (AINA 2013-04-22).

The Patriarch underlined that currently the security situation is improving in the country. He particularly referred to the last Christmas celebrations as the first public "expressions of joy" in the country since eight years.

However, "the economic sanctions imposed unilaterally (not U.N.) by some countries cause suffering and hurt the Syrian population," he added. In fact, a recent analysis of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) notes, the sanctions have a "hugely detrimental impact on the most vulnerable members of Syria's population." Furthermore, "sanctions can never be 'smart'; new EU and US measures on Syria are only likely to strengthen the regime, not weaken it," states the report.

The Patriarch remarked that "the Christians want to stay in the Middle East," though they require a "strong goverment able to protect all its citizens and treat them equal without making any religious distinctions." A state that respects human rights and principals of citizenship is needed. Pointing to his home town of Qamishly, the Patriarch said "Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds and Arabs lived peacefully side-by-side in the past and visited same schools. He mentioned the establishment of new private University which just concluded its first semester of studies, accepting Christian and Muslim students.

H.B. Louis Rapahel I Cardinal Sako, in his speech, elaborated on the specific situation in Iraq, and touched to the chaos Iraqi people experienced since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, creating a situation of political and institutional vacuum, that enabled sectarianism, corruption and the multiplication of militias and armed groups to increase outside the control of state authority. "Many people have been killed; thausands of Muslims included, houses looted," he said.

Cardinal Sako confirmed Patriarch Aphrem that Christians want to leave in their ancestor homeland in peace and stability with their Moslem neighbours. For this to be implemented "we need separation of state and religions," means a secular regime, he added.

With respect to the Nineveh Plain, and the return of the Assyrin refugees, Patriarch Sako remarked that the Iraqi government did not do anything to help internally displaced people return to their homes, partly because of corrupt practices that prompt some to ask for money for the restoration of homes and churches destroyed during the conflict. "We have suffered enough", said the Chaldean Patriarch, stressing that Middle Eastern countries can only come out from the current crisis if the equality of rights for every citizen are recognized, if school programs are amended from any incitement to discrimination."

Cardinal Sako expressed hope that the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates and the publication of the document on human Fraternity signed jointly with the Great Imam of al Azhar may contribute to the disappearance of the causes of religious fanaticism.

Duzen Tekkal described the "mission" of the Yezidis to survive a genocide caused by IS. Assyrians and Yezidis suffered; Assyrians had to pay Islamic tax (jizya) in some cases to survive. Yezidis were killed, enslaved, and their women raped. Just recently, many Yezidi women were freed from captivity in Deir-az-Zor, northeastern Syria, after IS was defeated there. The last five years have been a "trauma for the Yezidis," she concluded.
BEIJING (AP) - Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children.

But bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law.

The move has sparked public outrage as people vent their anger at population control officials who are hungry for revenue and have long persecuted couples for violating the now-scrapped "one-child policy."

"The country is doing all it can to encourage childbirth but the local governments need money, so we end with this sort of madness," a columnist and political commentator who writes under the name Lianpeng said on China's Weibo microblogging service.

"The low birthrate has everyone on edge, yet the local governments care only about collecting fees," journalist Jin Wei wrote on her verified Weibo account. "I don't know of any other nation that pulls its people in different directions like this."

The Wangs, the couple at the heart of the recent controversy, were ordered by local authorities in Shandong province to pay a fine known as a "social maintenance fee" of 64,626 yuan ($9,500) immediately after the birth of their third child in January 2017. After various deadlines came and went, the family's entire bank savings of 22,957 yuan ($3,400) were frozen last month, with the balance still due.

In this Feb. 17, 2019, photo, a couple spend time with their children at a park in Beijing. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

"I just don't know what I'm going to do," the husband, Wang Baohua, was quoted as saying by local media last week.

The situation the couple faces has its roots in decades-old fears that China's population would outstrip its resources, along with the ruling Communist Party's all-consuming fervor to control people's most personal decisions.

Family planning regulations emerged in the 1970s, and in 1980 the notorious "one-child policy" came into effect, mandating often brutal punishments for violators ranging from forced abortions and sterilizations to fines and workplace demotions.

Fast-forward 35 years, and a radical change of course was ordered after leaders realized an aging population and declining workforce threatened to hamstring the country's future development. In 2016, the one-child policy was officially replaced with a two-child policy and Chinese couples were urged to go forth and multiply - within limits.

But the bump in the birthrate was fleeting. Last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said the number of new births in 2018 fell to 15.23 million in a total population of 1.395 billion - a growth rate of .381 percent and the lowest increase since 1961, resulting in fully 2 million fewer births than in 2017.

China's population is estimated to peak at 1.442 billion in 2029 and then gradually decline, potentially fulfilling the conventional wisdom that China will grow old before it grows rich.

Cases such as the Wangs' remain common, despite a growing recognition of the seriousness of the population crisis, said Yi Fuxian, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison and a leading critic of Chinese population policies.

Bureaucratic inertia and the desire of local officials to chase revenue contribute to the problem, Yi said.

China, with an estimated fertility rate of 1.02 in 2018, now finds itself in the same category as other predominantly Chinese societies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore, Yi said. Average fertility rates in those regions and countries from 2005 to 2017 were 1.10, 1.12, 1.08 and 1.23 respectively.

Yet the one-child policy has weighed down China with the additional burden of distorted attitudes toward the family, society and childbearing, where one or no children have become the norm, Yi said.

With economic growth the primary guarantor of continued Communist Party rule, the leadership is concerned. The sputtering economy grew at 6.6 percent last year, its slowest pace in three decades, fueling fears over the long-term trend of a shrinking pool of workers paying the pensions and health care costs for a ballooning population of retirees.

Despite that, there remains considerable resistance to lifting controls entirely, something that might give people greater autonomy.

Local bureaucrats in the Wang case said they were just following the law, citing the exact articles and passages. They also have a strong stake in maintaining the rules that justify their jobs and authority.

State media reports say fees meant to compensate for the resources extra children consume actually constitute a large percentage of local governments' discretionary funding - 15-30 percent - and can be used for a range of purposes from salaries to travel expenses.

Thus far, the National Health Commission has rejected calls to eliminate legal references to family planning, citing among other reasons article 25 of China's Constitution, which says, "The state promotes family planning so that population growth may fit the plans for economic and social development."

Even if legal changes do go through, experience in recent years shows that's no guarantee of more children.

Families complain of the soaring costs of housing, education, health care and safe food, an important consideration given China's frequent scandals over food and drug safety.

And many young Chinese who are enjoying activities such as foreign travel are simply putting off marriage and childbirth indefinitely.

"Other things have taken the place of children, like apartments and vacations. My parents put pressure on us, but I just say it's not possible right now," said a government employee who asked to be identified only as Linda.

Boosting fertility will also require reforms to the economy, society and educational system, Yi said in an email.

"It will be very difficult," he said. "Of course, the premise is to respect human rights and withdraw the government's hands from the people's bodies."

In this Jan. 19, 2019, photo, a nurse feeds a newborn baby at a hospital in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperate to encourage higher fertility rates. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. That has sparked outrage among the public, who are venting their anger at officials who long persecuted couples for violating the now-scrapped "one-child policy."(Chinatopix via AP)

In this Feb. 17, 2019, photo, Chinese people bring their babies to a park in Beijing. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In this Feb. 17, 2019, photo, a couple bring their children tour a park in Beijing. Facing a future demographic crisis and aging society, China's leaders are desperately seeking to persuade couples to have more children. But the country's bureaucrats don't seem to have gotten the message, fining a couple in a recent widely publicized case for having a third child against the strict letter of the law. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired Sunday that a "crime may have been committed" when President Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

McCabe also said in the interview with "60 Minutes" that the FBI had good reason to open a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat, following the May 2017 firing of then-FBI Director James Comey.

"And the idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia's malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counterintelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, "Why would a president of the United States do that?" McCabe said.

He added: "So all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia?"

Asked whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was onboard with the obstruction and counterintelligence investigations, McCabe replied, "Absolutely."

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment Sunday night.

FILE - In this June 7, 2017, file photo, then-FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

McCabe also revealed that when Trump told Rosenstein to put in writing his concerns with Comey - a document the White House initially held up as justification for his firing - the president explicitly asked the Justice Department official to reference Russia in the memo. Rosenstein did not want to, McCabe said, and the memo that was made public upon Comey's dismissal did not mention Russia and focused instead on Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation.

"He explained to the president that he did not need Russia in his memo," McCabe said. "And the president responded, "I understand that, I am asking you to put Russia in the memo anyway."

Trump said in a TV interview days after Comey's firing that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey.

Those actions, including a separate request by Trump that the FBI end an investigation into his first national adviser, Michael Flynn, made the FBI concerned that the president was illegally trying to obstruct the Russia probe.

"Put together, these circumstances were articulable facts that indicated that a crime may have been committed," McCabe said. "The president may have been engaged in obstruction of justice in the firing of Jim Comey."

McCabe was fired from the Justice Department last year after being accused of misleading investigators during an internal probe into a news media disclosure. The allegation was referred to the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington for possible prosecution, but no charges have been brought. McCabe has denied having intentionally lied and said Sunday that he believes his firing was politically motivated.

"I believe I was fired because I opened a case against the president of the United States," he said.

In the interview Sunday, McCabe also said Rosenstein in the days after Comey's firing had proposed wearing a wire to secretly record the president. McCabe said he took the remark seriously, though the Justice Department last September - responding last September to a New York Times report that first revealed the conversation - issued a statement from an unnamed official who was in the room and interpreted the remark as sarcastic.

McCabe said the remark was made during a conversation about why Trump had fired Comey.

"And in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the White House. He said, "'I never get searched when I go into the White House. I could easily wear a recording device. They wouldn't know it was there,'" McCabe said.

In excerpts released last week by CBS News, McCabe also described a conversation in which Rosenstein had broached the idea of invoking the Constitution's 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The Justice Department said in a statement that Rosenstein, based on his dealings with Trump, does not see cause to seek the removal of the president.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who is seeking her party's nomination for president, told reporters after a campaign event Sunday in Las Vegas that if the people around Trump believe he cannot fulfill the obligations of his office, then they have a duty to invoke the 25th Amendment.

A favorite target of Trump's ire, Warren said she has no special knowledge on whether there are grounds to remove Trump from office but said that "there are a whole lot of people who do see him every day who evidently were talking about invoking the 25th Amendment."

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Associated Press writer Michelle Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - More than 1,500 people braved snow and freezing drizzle to attend a prayer vigil for five slain co-workers Sunday, two days after they were fatally shot at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant by a longtime employee who was fired moments earlier.

The Rev. Dan Haas told those who gathered near five white crosses erected for the shooting victims outside Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora that Friday's "senseless killings" left their families brokenhearted in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

"All of these were relatively young people - many of them were very young people. We will never know their gifts and talents. Their lives were snuffed out way too short," he said of the victims, who included a 21-year-old university student on his first day as an intern.

Haas called on God to bring comfort to the families and Aurora. He then read the names and ages of the five shooting victims, prompting waves of sobs and cries from relatives attending the vigil.

The city of Aurora tweeted that about 1,700 people attended the vigil in a snowy lot outside the industrial valve manufacturer where several ministers and a rabbi called for healing.

Authorities said Gary Martin pulled out a gun and began shooting right after hearing that he was being fired from his job of 15 years at the plant for various workplace violations. Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with officers, ending his deadly rampage. Five police officers and a sixth plant worker were injured in the shooting and are expected to survive.

People pray at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin told the vigil crowd that the city's residents feel for the victims' families "with all our hearts."

"When I thought about the words that I might share with our community and the families of the victims today, I thought to myself that just to simply offer condolences is not enough," he said. "It doesn't measure the amount of pain that we feel, for the loss that we've experienced in this community."

Family, friends and community members attend a vigil Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Family, friends and community members attend a vigil Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora on Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Family, friends and community members attend a vigil Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora on Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

People attend at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

People pray at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of victim Vicente Juarez's family pray at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of victim Vicente Juarez's daughter Diana Juarez cries at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A rose is covered by ice at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of victim Vicente Juarez's family pray at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in a hurry to find a peace deal for Afghanistan that would allow America to bring home its troops after 17 years of war, but the road ahead is littered with obstacles.

After years of U.S. insisting on talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, Khalilzad began meeting with the insurgents shortly after his appointment in September, giving into a key demand from the Taliban, who view the Kabul government as an American puppet.

President Donald Trump's frustration with the costly and interminable war, as well as reports of a U.S. plan to withdraw half of its roughly 15,000 troops by the summer, has lent a sense of urgency to Khalilzad's mission.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan according to a harsh version of Islamic law from 1996 to 2001 and hosted Osama bin Laden as he masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks, say they no longer seek a monopoly on power and would not pose a threat to other countries.

But many fear a full NATO withdrawal would leave the weak and corrupt Afghan government vulnerable to collapse, or unleash yet another round of fighting in a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Afghans.

WHO IS NEGOTIATING?

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, file photo released by the Afghan Presidential Palace, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, speaks to U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, third left, at the presidential palace in Kabul. Khalilzad is in a hurry to find a peace deal for Afghanistan that would allow America to bring home its troops after 17 years of war. The main talks are between Khalilzad and the Taliban's political leadership, which is based in the Gulf nation of Qatar. (Afghan Presidential Palace via AP, File)

While the U.S. says it is committed to an "Afghan-led" process, the main talks are between Khalilzad and the Taliban's political leadership, which is based in the Gulf nation of Qatar and includes several veteran battlefield commanders.

The Taliban came to the table from a position of strength, having taken over nearly half the country. Their daily attacks on Afghan forces are so deadly that the government and the U.S. have classified Afghan casualty figures. On a few occasions, the Taliban have seized entire cities, only withdrawing in the face of Afghan counteroffensives and NATO air assaults.

The Taliban negotiators are led by Abdul Ghani Baradar, a veteran commander released by Pakistan last year after eight years in prison, apparently upon a U.S. request. He is believed to command enough respect within the movement to sell a peace deal to front-line fighters. The team also includes two of the five Taliban leaders freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 in exchange for a captured U.S. soldier.

Khalilzad is also meeting with Pakistan, which is widely believed to harbor the Taliban's top leadership, as well as China, India and Russia, which have an interest in stabilizing the region - and in expanding their influence.

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WHAT HAVE THEY AGREED TO?

The two sides are reportedly closing in on a deal in which the U.S. would withdraw from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban promise not to allow it to be used as a launchpad for terrorist attacks. They are also reportedly discussing a cease-fire and the formation of an interim government.

Khalilzad has said that the U.S. remains committed to women's rights, the rule of law and freedom of the press, but says it will be left to the Afghans to negotiate those rights.

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WHAT ABOUT THE AFGHAN GOVERNMENT?

The government is rife with corruption and deeply divided along ethnic and factional lines. Its authority is largely confined to major cities, with the Taliban effectively controlling much of the countryside. The U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission in 2014 but still provide air support and crucial aid to Afghan forces.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who will seek re-election in July, is vehemently opposed to an interim government or further delays in elections.

But he appears to have been largely sidelined in the talks. His own peace envoy, Omer Daudzai, has been following Khalilzad across the region and meeting with the same people, apparently to keep tabs on him.

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WHAT IF THE TALIBAN TAKE OVER?

Memories are still fresh of the Taliban's hard-line rule, when they forbade girls' education and women working outside the home. But the group has struck a more conciliatory tone in recent years, and last week the Taliban called upon Afghans to "forget their past and tolerate one another."

The Taliban are militarily formidable, but it's not clear they have the numbers to overthrow the government, and the group has said it does not want a monopoly on power.

The Western-backed government, meanwhile, is widely seen as corrupt and inefficient. Afghans complain of poor public services, insecurity and widespread graft. Women secured new freedoms after 2001, but their lives are still heavily restricted in the deeply conservative country. Seventeen years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan still ranks among the worst countries in the world to be a woman.

Afghans would welcome any agreement that brings improved security and governance. But they distrust both sides given their history of repression and brutal internecine fighting. Many fear the U.S. will settle for an agreement that breaks down as soon as the last American soldier leaves, plunging the country into yet another round of civil war.

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IS PEACE POSSIBLE?

Afghanistan has been mired in war for decades, and while the U.S. and the Taliban have both claimed significant progress in the latest talks, they have yet to pen a deal.

It's unclear whether the Taliban are willing or able to crack down on other armed groups. Afghanistan is home to a vicious Islamic State affiliate that has survived clashes with both the Afghan government and the Taliban, and which might be able to recruit even more disgruntled Taliban fighters if the group is seen as caving to U.S. demands.

The U.S. says it has largely eradicated al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but senior figures, including the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and bin Laden's son, Hamza, are believed to be based in the region. Without knowing the militants' location, or who is protecting them, it would be difficult to verify any agreement to root them out.

That would leave the U.S. in more or less the same position it was nearly two decades ago, when a small group of foreign fighters in Afghanistan plotted the 9/11 attacks.

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2019 file photo, Afghan security forces inspect the site of a Taliban attack in Maidan Shar, capital of Maidan Wardak province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is eager to strike a peace deal with the Taliban that would end America's longest war, but he faces several obstacles. Afghanistan has been mired in war for decades, and while the U.S. and the Taliban have both claimed significant progress in the latest talks, they have yet to pen a deal. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2019 file photo, released by the Foreign Office, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, left, receives U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khalilzad is in a hurry to find a peace deal for Afghanistan that would allow America to bring home its troops after 17 years of war. The main talks are between Khalilzad and the Taliban's political leadership, which is based in the Gulf nation of Qatar. Khalilzad is meeting with Pakistan, which is widely believed to harbor the Taliban's top leadership, as well as China, India and Russia, which have an interest in stabilizing the region -- and in expanding their influence. (Pakistan Foreign Office, via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is glossing over the facts when it comes to the Russia investigation and his economic performance.

The president suggests the 34 charges issued or guilty pleas achieved by special counsel Robert Mueller have had little to do with him. But Trump's ignoring reality. Most significantly, his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has implicated Trump in a crime by linking him to a hush-money scheme. Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his efforts during the 2016 campaign to line up a Trump Tower Moscow project, saying he did so to align with Trump's "political messaging."

On the economy, Trump claimed record low unemployment for blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Americans even as the numbers have risen after the partial government shutdown. And he described the steel industry as "totally revived" despite 20,000 job losses over the past decade.

A look at his past week's claims, also covering global warming and purported progress in building a border wall:

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP: "Of the 34 people, many of them were bloggers from Moscow or they were people that had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with what they're talking about or there were people that got caught telling a fib or telling a lie. I think it's a terrible thing that's happened to this country, because this investigation is a witch hunt." - interview with CBS, broadcast Sunday.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on human trafficking in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 1, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

THE FACTS: Trump's correct that Mueller's team has indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people. He's wrong to suggest that none had anything to do with him or were simply "bloggers from Moscow." Among these people are six Trump associates and 25 Russians accused of interfering in the 2016 election.

In particular, Cohen definitely was in trouble for what he did for Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to several criminal charges and stated that Trump directed him to arrange payments of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to fend off damage to Trump's White House bid. Prosecutors' court filings in December backed up Cohen's claims.

The Justice Department says the hush money payments were unreported campaign contributions meant to influence the outcome of the election. That assertion makes the payments subject to campaign finance laws, which restrict how much people can donate to a campaign and bar corporations from making direct contributions.

It is true that many of Trump's former associates, including Cohen, were charged with either lying to the FBI or Congress.

The 25 Russians charged were not simply "bloggers."

According to Mueller's indictment last February, 13 Russians and three Russian entities are accused of attempting to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton by running a hidden social media trolling campaign and seeking to mobilize Trump supporters at rallies while posing as American political activists. The indictment says the surreptitious campaign was organized by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm financed by companies controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Mueller's team also charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers in July with hacking into the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Party and releasing tens of thousands of private communications. The charges say the Russian defendants, using a persona known as Guccifer 2.0, in August 2016 contacted a person in touch with the Trump campaign to offer help. And they say that on the same day that Trump, in a speech, urged Russia to find Clinton's missing emails, Russian hackers tried for the first time to break into email accounts used by her personal office.

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TRUMP: "You look at General Flynn where the FBI said he wasn't lying, but Robert Mueller said he was, and they took a man and destroyed his life." - interview with CBS.

THE FACTS: That's not what the FBI said. And Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, has agreed that he lied to the FBI, having pleaded guilty to it.

The idea that Flynn didn't lie to the FBI picked up steam after Republicans on the House intelligence committee issued a report last year. It said ex-FBI director James Comey, in a private briefing, told lawmakers that agents who interviewed Flynn "discerned no physical indications of deception" and saw "nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them." But Comey called that description "garble" in a private interview with House lawmakers in December.

Comey, in essence, said Flynn was a good liar, having a "natural conversation" with agents, "answered fully their questions, didn't avoid. That notwithstanding, they concluded he was lying."

At his sentencing hearing in December, Flynn acknowledged to Judge Emmet Sullivan that he knew it was a crime when he lied to the FBI in January 2017. Flynn declined to accept the judge's offer to withdraw his guilty plea. Neither he nor his lawyers disputed that he had lied to agents.

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UNEMPLOYMENT

TRUMP: "You saw the jobs report just came out. ...The African-Americans have the best employment numbers in the history of our country. Hispanic Americans have the best employment numbers in the history of our country. Asian-Americans the best in the history of our country." - CBS interview.

THE FACTS: Black unemployment is not currently the lowest ever, possibly in part to the partial government shutdown, which lifted joblessness last month.

Black unemployment did reach a low, 5.9 percent, in May. But that figure is volatile on a monthly basis. That rate has since increased to 6.8 percent in January.

Hispanic and Asian-American joblessness has also risen off record lows last year. Hispanic unemployment last month was 4.9 percent, up from a low of 4.4 percent reached in October and December. Asian-American unemployment was at 3.1 percent, up from 2.2 percent in May.

Moreover, there are multiple signs that the racial wealth gap is now worsening. The most dramatic drop in black unemployment came under President Barack Obama, when it fell from a recession high of 16.8 percent in March 2010 to 7.8 percent in January 2017.

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THE WALL

TRUMP: "The chant now should be 'finish the wall' as opposed to 'Build the Wall' because we're building a lot of wall. I started this six months ago - we really started going to town - because I could see we were going nowhere with the Democrats." - comments Friday.

TRUMP: "Large sections of WALL have already been built with much more either under construction or ready to go. Renovation of existing WALLS is also a very big part of the plan to finally, after many decades, properly Secure Our Border. The Wall is getting done one way or the other!" - tweet Thursday.

THE FACTS: Despite all his talk of progress, he's added no extra miles of barrier to the border to date. Construction is to start this month on a levee wall system in the Rio Grande Valley that will add 14 miles of barrier, the first lengthening in his presidency. That will be paid for as part of $1.4 billion approved by Congress last year.

Most work under contracts awarded by the Trump administration has been for replacement of existing barrier.

When Trump says large parts of the wall "have already been built," he's not acknowledging that previous administrations built those sections. Barriers currently extend for 654 miles (1,052 kilometers), or about one-third of the border. That construction was mostly done from 2006 to 2009.

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STEEL INDUSTRY

TRUMP: "Tariffs on the 'dumping' of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S. We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S." - tweet Jan. 28.

THE FACTS: He's exaggerating the recovery of the steel industry, particularly when it comes to jobs.

In December, the steel industry employed 141,600 people, the Labor Department says in its latest data. Last March, when Trump said he would impose the tariffs, it was 139,400. That's a gain of just 2,200 jobs during a period when the overall economy added nearly 2 million jobs. On a percentage basis, steel industry jobs grew 1.6 percent, barely higher than the 1.3 percent increase in all jobs.

Yet those figures still lag behind where they were before the 2008-2009 recession. When that downturn began, there were nearly 162,000 steelworkers.

Some companies have said they will add or expand plants. It's difficult to know just how many jobs will be added by newly planned mills. But construction spending on factories has yet to take off significantly after having been in decline between 2016 and much of 2018. Construction spending on factories has been flat in the past year, according to the Census Bureau.

Trump's reference to "billions paid to our treasury" concerns money raised from tariffs on foreign steel and other products. Such tariffs are generally paid by U.S. importers, not foreign countries or companies, and the costs are often passed on to consumers. So that money going to the government is mostly coming from Americans.

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VOTER FRAUD

TRUMP: "58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID!" - tweet Jan. 27.

THE FACTS: That "iceberg" quickly began to melt as officials found serious problems with a report from the Texas secretary of state's office on voter fraud. More broadly, Trump is overstating the magnitude of such fraud across the U.S.

The Texas report suggested as many as 95,000 non-U.S. citizens may be on the state's voter rolls and as many as 58,000 may have cast a ballot at least once since 1996. Since it came out, however, state elections officials have been notifying county election chiefs of problems with the findings. Local officials told The Associated Press that they received calls from Texas Secretary of State David Whitley's office indicating that some citizens had been wrongly included in the original data.

So far no one on the lists has been confirmed as a noncitizen voter. Election officials in Texas' largest county say about 18,000 voters in the Houston area were wrongfully flagged as potentially ineligible to vote and those officials expect more such mistakes to be found on their list.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Trump ally, acknowledged problems in the report, saying "many of these individuals may have been naturalized before registering and voting, which makes their conduct perfectly legal."

Early claims by other states of possible illegal voting on a rampant scale haven't held up.

When Florida began searching for noncitizens in 2012, for instance, state officials initially found 180,000 people suspected of being ineligible to vote when comparing databases of registered voters and driver's licenses. Florida officials later assembled a purge list of more than 2,600 names but that, too, was beset by inaccuracies. Eventually, a revised list of 198 names of possible noncitizens was produced through the use of a federal database.

In the U.S. overall, the actual number of fraud cases has been very small, and the type that voter IDs are designed to prevent - voter impersonation at the ballot box - is almost nonexistent. In court cases that have invalidated some ID laws as having discriminatory effects, election officials could barely cite a case in which a person was charged with in-person voting fraud.

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JUDGES

TRUMP: "After all that I have done for the Military, our great Veterans, Judges (99), Justices (2) ... does anybody really think I won't build the WALL?" - tweet Jan. 27.

THE FACTS: He's boasting here about his record of getting federal judges and justices on the bench. But that record is not extraordinary. He also misstates the total number of judges who have been confirmed by the Senate - it's 85, not 99.

While Trump did successfully nominate two justices to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, during his first two years in office, four other modern presidents did the same - Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy, and Republican Richard Nixon. Trump, meanwhile, is surpassed in the number of confirmed justices by Warren Harding (four), William Taft (five), Abraham Lincoln (three) and George Washington (six), according to Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and expert on judicial appointments.

Trump's 85 total judicial appointees lag behind five former presidents at comparable points in office.

The five are George W. Bush, 99; Clinton, 128; Ronald Reagan, 88; Nixon, 91; and Kennedy, 111, according to Wheeler's analysis.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

TRUMP: "In the beautiful Midwest, wind chill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can't last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!" - tweet Jan. 28.

THE FACTS: Global warming does not need to make a comeback because it hasn't gone away. Extreme cold spells in parts of the globe do not signal a retreat.

Earth is considerably warmer than it was 30 years ago and especially 100 years ago. The lower 48 states make up only 1.6 percent of the globe, so what's happening there at any particular time is not a yardstick of the planet's climate. Even so, despite the brutal cold in the Midwest and East, five Western states are warmer than normal.

"This is simply an extreme weather event and not representative of global scale temperature trends," said Northern Illinois University climate scientist Victor Gensini. "The exact opposite is happening in Australia," which has been broiling with triple-digit heat that is setting records.

Trump's own administration released a scientific report last year saying that while human-caused climate change will reduce cold weather deaths "in 49 large cities in the United States, changes in extreme hot and extreme cold temperatures are projected to result in more than 9,000 additional premature deaths per year" by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at recent rates.

Trump routinely conflates weather and climate. Weather is like mood, which is fleeting. Climate is like personality, which is long term.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Rugaber, Jill Colvin, Colleen Long and Seth Borenstein in Washington, Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

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SYDNEY (AP) - Emergency workers are using boats and helicopters to rescue people from flooded parts of northern Australia where forecasts call for more heavy rainfall.

More than 1,100 people had been rescued from their homes on Sunday night and evacuation efforts were continuing Monday.

Queensland state Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk told reporters Monday that more rain in Townsville and the surrounding area over the next two days could cause flash flooding.

The floodgates of the city's dam were opened earlier to prevent the Ross River from breaking its banks, flooding some suburbs.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill had described the rainfall as a "one-in-100-year event" and said Monday, "We're not out of the woods yet."

In this Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, photo, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services crew members use an inflatable boat to pull residents through floodwaters at Hermit Park in Townsville, Australia. Emergency workers are using boats and helicopters to rescue people from flooded parts of northern Australia where forecasts call for more heavy rainfall. More than 1,100 people had been rescued from their homes on Sunday night and evacuation efforts were continuing Monday. (Andrew Rankin/AAP Image)
CONROE, Texas (AP) - An MMA fighter suspected of killing two people, including an ex-girlfriend, was captured Sunday after escaping from a prisoner transport van in Texas, authorities said.

Cedric Marks was taken into custody after a nine-hour manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Scott Spencer said in a tweet Sunday evening. Marks was found hiding in a trash can and surrendered without incident, Conroe police said on their Facebook page.

Marks escaped Sunday morning from the private prison transport van during a stop at a McDonald's in Conroe about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Houston, Conroe police Lt. Dorcy McGinnis said during a news conference.

McGinnis said murder warrants were issued Sunday for Marks in last month's killings of an ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and a friend of hers, Michael Swearingin, who disappeared Jan. 4 and were found buried in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15.

Marks was arrested in Michigan last month on a Bell County, Texas, charge alleging that on Aug. 21, he broke into Scott's home in Temple, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Austin. Authorities say he escaped while being transferred to Bell County to face that charge.

Scott requested a protective order against Marks last July, accusing him of choking her unconscious twice, Temple television station KCEN reported.

In this photo provided by the Kent County Michigan Sheriff's office, Cedric Marks is pictured in a booking photo in Grand Rapids, Mich., dated Jan. 8, 2019. The Montgomery County Texas Sheriff's Office say Marks, facing three "pending murder charges", has escaped from a private prisoner transport in Conroe, Texas, and is considered "extremely dangerous." (Kent County Michigan Sheriff's Office via AP)

"Each time he allowed me to regain consciousness and then he choked me out again," Scott said in an affidavit.

The protective order request was denied.

She also reported to police that Marks had broken into her home in August while her daughter, who was 9, was there. She said he took her cellphone to prevent her from calling 911.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office's initial tweet about Sunday's escape said Marks was facing three "pending murder charges," but it didn't immediately respond to requests for further information about those charges.

Police in Bloomington, Minnesota, say Marks remains a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, who was the mother of one of his children. The two were involved in a fierce custody dispute in Washington state and Pease, who had a drug problem, went to live in a Bloomington women's shelter because she said she was afraid of Marks. Like Scott, Pease alleged that Marks had choked her unconscious on more than one occasion, according to a court custody investigator. Pease went missing in March 2009 and Marks got custody of their son.

Pease's mother, Dottie Pease, told KCEN last month that she had believed her daughter might have had a drug relapse, but that given the developments in Texas, she thought it was possible that Marks might have had something to do with her daughter's disappearance.

Two women were arrested in Michigan on charges related to Marks.

Maya Maxwell is charged with evidence tampering and is jailed in Bell County, Texas, on $150,000 bond. According to an arrest affidavit, she told detectives that she drove Swearingin's vehicle to Austin in an attempt to hide it from investigators. It was found abandoned in the city Jan. 6.

Ginell McDonough, who is Marks' wife and the mother of two of his two children, is jailed in Muskegon County, Michigan, on an obstruction of justice charge. She is accused of allowing Marks and Maxwell to stay in her home between Jan. 5 and Jan. 9.

Jail records do not list an attorney for either woman.

Marks compiled a record of 31-28-0 during his professional MMA career, which began in 1999, according to mixedmartialarts.com . His last fight was in September.

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This story has been corrected to show that Spencer is with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office instead of Conroe police, and to show in several references that the suspect's last name is Marks instead of Crews.
ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of rapper 21 Savage (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

A lawyer for 21 Savage says she is working to get the Grammy-nominated rapper out of federal immigration detention.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox says the rapper, whose given name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested in a targeted operation early Sunday in the Atlanta area.

Lawyer Dina LaPolt said in an email that she is working with authorities "to clear up any misunderstandings." She says Abraham-Joseph is a role model to many young people in the U.S., especially in Atlanta.

Cox says Abraham-Joseph is a British citizen who entered the U.S. legally in July 2005 but overstayed his visa, which expired in July 2006. Cox says Abraham-Joseph was convicted on felony drug charges in Georgia in October 2014.

Cox says Abraham-Joseph has been placed in deportation proceedings in federal immigration court.

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4 p.m.

Authorities in Atlanta say rapper 21 Savage is in federal immigration custody.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox says the Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested in a targeted operation early Sunday in the Atlanta area.

Cox says Abraham-Joseph is a British citizen who entered the U.S. legally in July 2005 but overstayed his visa, which expired in July 2006. Cox said Abraham-Joseph was convicted on felony drug charges in Georgia in October 2014.

Cox says Abraham-Joseph has been placed in deportation proceedings in federal immigration court.

Abraham-Joseph is nominated for two awards at next week's Grammys, including record of the year for "Rockstar" alongside Post Malone.

A representative for Abraham-Joseph did not respond to an email seeking comment.
BERLIN (AP) - Voters in a municipality in northwestern Germany have delivered a clear message: no street names, thanks.

Official results from a referendum held on Sunday showed 60 percent of voters in Hilgermissen rejected the local council's plan to name the streets, while 40 percent supported the proposal.

The proposed change was intended to make it easier for people - including police, emergency and delivery services - to find their way around the municipality of some 2,200 residents.

Hilgermissen was formed in the 1970s out of several villages. Addresses currently consist of a house number and the name of a former village, a system that has become more unwieldy as new buildings are added.

Three locals organized the referendum to oppose street names. Sunday's result is binding for two years.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The last Democrat to win a presidential election, Barack Obama, ran in 2012 on a platform of raising taxes for top earners to nearly 40 percent. Now a new crop of Democratic presidential hopefuls is signaling that they want to go even further.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is floating a 2 percent tax on all assets of people with a net worth of more than $50 million - a moon-shot plan that could face legal challenges for hitting investments, homes and cars, not just income. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is pitching a steeply higher inheritance tax on large estates.

Others targeting higher income earners include California Sen. Kamala Harris, who has proposed rolling back the recent GOP tax cuts for wealthier families to pay for tax rebates for middle- and lower-income earners.

The eruption of high-end tax proposals is a shift for Democrats, who have traditionally not centered their presidential bids around tax hikes - particularly at this early stage of a campaign. It underscores the party's march to the left and candidates' desire to tap into the Wall Street-rattling energy of liberal voters.

"If you're looking for a bumper sticker, 'tax rich people' is a pretty good bumper sticker," said Howard Glickman of the centrist Tax Policy Center.

Beyond its messaging power, taxing the wealthy also gives Democratic contenders a way to propose paying for their sweeping progressive agendas.

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019, file photo, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during an organizing event at Curate event space in Des Moines, Iowa. Some Democratic presidential hopefuls are enthusiastically embracing plans to raise taxes on the richest Americans. Warren is floating a 2 percent tax on all assets of people with a net worth of more than $50 million, a moon-shot plan that could face legal challenges for hitting investments, homes and cars, not just income. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney, File)

Sanders put it simply last week: "We need additional revenue if we're going to provide health care for all, rebuild our infrastructure, make public colleges and universities tuition-free."

The rush to tax the rich has prompted criticism from others eyeing the White House - namely billionaires Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who is considering running as a Democrat, and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is mulling an independent run for president.

Schultz says he was driven from the Democratic Party by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the rising star who's issued her own call for a 70 percent income tax rate on people making more than $10 million. Democratic strategists worry Schultz could peel off a small but vital slice of affluent voters and help President Donald Trump get re-elected in a three-way race.

But to progressive Democratic contenders, the criticism from billionaires like Schultz proves their point.

"The billionaires are writing the rules around here. And guess what: all those rules favor the billionaires," Warren said in an interview.

Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to cast the Democratic tax proposals as damaging to an economy that has steadily grown since Trump took office.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a senior GOP member of the tax-writing Finance Committee, described Warren and Sanders' tax plans as playing off "the politics of personal envy." He predicted economic blowback from reversing the current tax laws muscled through by Republicans in 2017.

The $2 trillion tax bill Trump signed into law was a boon for many wealthy Americans, with low-and middle-income Americans receiving smaller cuts.

While many Democrats have previously backed higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans, they've rarely made the issue such an early focal point of their campaigns. Obama shied away from tax increases during his first run for office, as did almost every Democratic nominee since Walter Mondale in 1984 pledged to raise voters' taxes and lost to President Reagan in an historic landslide.

But polls now show that voters are happy to see higher-end taxes, to a point. In April 2018, Gallup found that about 6 in 10 Americans thought the wealthy didn't pay their fair share of taxes. A Fox News poll last week found 7 in 10 Americans supported raising taxes on people making more than 10 million dollars a year and 65 percent on those making more than $1 million. But support plunges when family income drops, with only 44 percent backing higher taxes on those making more than $250,000.

"What's happened sometimes in these debates is the 'on the wealthy' gets left out in some people's minds," said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. "The question is to what extent you can control the interpretation" of tax increases.

Democrats seem to have learned that lesson, at least with the 70-percent rate from Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and a Warren proposal that would only hit an estimated 75,000 households in the United States - the upper echelon of U.S. wealth.

"It's clear that the people they're targeting are the very, very, very well-off," said Alan Viard of the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

But Viard and other critics warn that the higher Democrats go, the less revenue they may actually get. That's because the wealthy can shift around assets to avoid new levies. And Warren's proposal, because it taxes more than income, may not comply with the Constitution, which was amended to allow the federal government to tax income, not wealth.

Glickman said that Warren's tax may be the most politically viable, because it targets such wealthy individuals. But it may be the toughest to implement. Several European countries have recently eliminated wealth taxes because they are so hard to administer, and the value of the mega-rich's holdings so hard to pin down, Glickman said.

Economists advising Warren's campaign project it will raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years, but Glickman was skeptical.

"When that much money is at stake, rich guys are going to go out and hire really smart tax lawyers," he said.

While Warren has enthusiastically embraced her tax plan's impact on the wealthy, Harris' early messaging has focused more on boosting middle-income earners with a $500 a month refundable tax credit to households earning less than $100,000 a year.

Harris would pay for this partly by eliminating the Trump tax cuts for households earning more than $100,000. That could be politically risky because this group, while comfortable, is largely not the mega-rich.

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Riccardi reported from Denver. AP polling writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
Assad's Adviser Flatly Rejects of Kurdish Autonomy in Northern Syria

A senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Tuesday flatly rejected the idea of giving Syrian Kurds a measure of autonomy.

The Kurdish-led authority that runs much of north and east Syria has presented a road map for a deal with Assad in recent meetings with Russia.

The Kurds want to safeguard their autonomous region inside a decentralized state when US troops currently backing them pull out.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, told Reuters on the sidelines of a Middle East conference in Moscow, organized by the Valdai Discussion Club, that "autonomy means the partition of Syria."

She added that "Syria is a country that is a melting pot for all people and all people are equal in front of Syrian law and in front of the Syrian constitution."

The adviser also called the Kurds "a precious and very important part of the Syrian people."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon said Sunday it will send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of concertina wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection.

The additions will bring the total number of active-duty troops on the border to 4,350.

The announcement is in line with what Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan had said on Tuesday when he provided estimates for the next phase of a military mission that has grown in size and length. Critics have derided it as a political ploy by the White House as President Donald Trump seeks billions to build a border wall.

Shanahan said on Tuesday that several thousand more troops would be sent mainly to install additional wire barriers and provide a large new system of mobile surveillance and monitoring of the border area. Sunday's announcement said the mobile surveillance mission would last through Sept. 30.

Members of Congress have question whether the border mission is distracting troops from their main work of fighting extremists abroad and training for combat. The first active-duty troops were sent to the border on about Oct. 30 for a mission that was to end Dec. 15. It has since been extended twice.

"What impact does it have to readiness to send several thousand troops down to the Southern border? It interrupts their training. It interrupts their dwell time," Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said at a hearing on Tuesday.

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, file photo, members of the U.S. military install multiple tiers of concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande near the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border, in Laredo, Texas. The Pentagon said Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, it will send 3,750 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to put up another 150 miles of concertina wire and provide other support for Customs and Border Protection. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Vice Adm. Mike Gilday, the director of operations for the Joint Staff, told the panel that he does not believe military readiness has been significantly affected. He said some units have missed training opportunities because of the deployment and others have seen less time at home between deployments than the military likes to provide.

But he said there is an effort to rotate service members in and out of the mission every six to eight weeks in order to minimize any impact.
NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the lack of heat and electricity at a federal detention center in New York City (all times local):

10 p.m.

The Justice Department says it will work with the Bureau of Prisons to examine what happened at a federal detention center in New York City that lost heat and electricity last week and to ensure there is a backup system to prevent it from happening again.

The Justice Department said electrical power at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn was restored at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. It said heat and hot water were also working.

Inmates at the facility had been living without power for the past week.

Earlier Sunday, some demonstrators outside the detention center tried to get into the facility and guards pushed them back. Witnesses say some were also pepper sprayed.

Corrections officers restrain a woman, center, who was among dozens of family members of prisoners and protesters objecting to conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

7:30 p.m.

Officials say power has been restored at a federal detention center in New York City where inmates had been reportedly living without heat and electricity for the past week.

The Bureau of Prisons said Sunday night that power at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn was restored and that staff were working to restore the facility to normal operations.

Earlier Sunday, some demonstrators outside the detention center tried to get into the facility, and witnesses say guards pushed them back and sprayed them with pepper.

The Bureau of Prisons has acknowledged that the jail "experienced a partial power outage due to a fire in the switch gear room," but they insisted the inmates had hot water for showers and sinks.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called on the federal Department of Justice to investigate the incident.

3:20 p.m.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the federal Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around inmates going without heat and electricity at a federal detention center in New York City.

Cuomo, a Democrat, says "these allegations are a violation of human decency and dignity" and "raise questions of potential violations of law."

Inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn have been living without power for the past week.

The Bureau of Prisons says work to fix the situation is expected to be completed by Monday. The agency insisted that inmates had hot water for showers and sinks, and were getting medications as needed.

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1:36 p.m.

Some demonstrators protesting the lack of heat and electricity at a federal detention center in New York City attempted to get into the facility, and witnesses say guards pushed them back and sprayed them with an unknown stinging substance.

A reporter and photographer for The Associated Press were at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Sunday when a woman whose son is being detained tried to get into the jail.

She was followed by activists and media.

Witnesses say officers used significant force to push the people out, with some of those attempting to come in falling to the ground.

The jail administration did not return an email seeking comment. Officials say power is expected back on Monday.
CONROE, Texas (AP) - The Latest on the escape in Texas of an MMA fighter who is now wanted for murder (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Authorities say an MMA fighter suspected of killing two people, including an ex-girlfriend, has been captured after escaping from a prisoner transport van in Texas.

Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Scott Spencer tweeted Sunday evening that Cedric Marks was taken into custody after a nine-hour manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies.

Police said earlier that Marks escaped Sunday morning from the private prison transport van during a stop at a McDonald's in Conroe, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Houston.

Murder warrants were issued Sunday for Marks in last month's killings of an ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and a friend of hers, Michael Swearingin, who disappeared Jan. 4 and were found on Jan. 15 buried in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma.

In this photo provided by the Kent County Michigan Sheriff's office, Cedric Marks is pictured in a booking photo in Grand Rapids, Mich., dated Jan. 8, 2019. The Montgomery County Texas Sheriff's Office say Marks, facing three "pending murder charges", has escaped from a private prisoner transport in Conroe, Texas, and is considered "extremely dangerous." (Kent County Michigan Sheriff's Office via AP)

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This update has been corrected to show that Spencer is with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, not Conroe police.

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2:15 p.m.

Authorities in Texas say two murder warrants have been issued for an MMA fighter who escaped from a private prisoner transport.

Conroe police Lt. Dorcy McGinnis said at a news conference that 44-year-old Cedric Marks escaped from the private prisoner transport van Sunday when it stopped at a McDonald's in Conroe, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Houston. She says Marks is extremely dangerous.

McGinnis says murder warrants were issued for Marks on Sunday in the deaths of an ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and her friend, Michael Swearingin. The two disappeared Jan. 4 and were found buried in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15.

Marks was arrested in Michigan last month on a charge alleging he broke into Scott's home in Temple, Texas, in August. He was being extradited to Bell County to face that charge when he escaped.

Police in Bloomington, Minnesota, say Marks remains a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, with whom he had a child. The Washington state woman had accused him of domestic violence.

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11:15 a.m.

Authorities in Texas say an MMA fighter facing three "pending murder charges" has escaped from a private prisoner transport.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office tweeted Sunday that Cedric Marks escaped in Conroe, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Houston, and is considered "extremely dangerous."

The sheriff's office didn't immediately reply to a request for clarification about the nature of the pending murder charges, including who the victims were.

TV station KCEN reported that Marks was arrested in Michigan last month on a charge alleging he broke into the Temple, Texas, home of an ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, on Aug. 21. Scott and a friend, Michael Swearingin, disappeared Jan. 4 and were found buried in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15. Marks had not been named a suspect in their deaths.

Police in Bloomington, Minnesota, say Marks remains a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of April Pease, with whom he had a child. The Washington state woman had accused him of domestic violence.
SEATTLE (AP) - The Latest on a 4-year-old shooting pregnant mother in the face (all times local):

12 p.m.

A pregnant Washington state woman remains hospitalized but her condition has improved after her 4-year-old son shot her in the face with a loaded handgun he found under a mattress.

King County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ryan Abbott says the 27-year-old mother was hospitalized Saturday with life-threatening injuries. He says her condition improved Sunday and she was transferred to another hospital.

Abbott says the woman and her boyfriend, who is the father of her son, were in bed watching television when the boy found the unsecured gun between the mattress and box spring.

Abbott says the boy unintentionally shot her his mother in the face. She's eight months pregnant.

The woman's boyfriend told deputies he borrowed the gun for protection.

The shooting is under investigation.

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9:45 a.m.

Authorities say a pregnant Washington state woman was shot in the face Saturday by her 4-year-old son after the boy found a loaded, unsecured gun under a mattress.

The King County Sheriff's Office says the 27-year-old mother is eight months pregnant and was taken to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Deputies say the boy's father put the gun under a mattress because he was afraid of recent crime in the neighborhood.

Under a new state law, gun owners could face criminal charges for not safely storing a gun.

It's unclear who the gun is registered to.

KOMO-TV reports detectives will be looking into the case Monday to see if any charges will be filed.
The Canadian subsidiary of General Motors was unable to stop an auto workers union from airing a critical TV commercial during the Super Bowl.

The 30-second ad calling the automaker greedy and "un-Canadian" broadcast on Canadian TV stations during Sunday's game.

GM announced plans in November to close its car factory in Oshawa, Ontario, near Toronto, costing the jobs of about 2,600 blue-collar workers.

The commercial accuses GM of continuing to expand in Mexico while leaving Canadians "out in the cold" and makes claims about the costs of a 2009 auto bailout.

GM of Canada sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Unifor union giving it a Saturday deadline to stop using the ad, but the demand wasn't heeded. GM says in a statement that the ad is misleading and inaccurate.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Police and medical officials say seven Iranian Shiite pilgrims traveling in central Iraq were wounded when their bus came under attack by unidentified gunmen.

The officials said late Sunday that the bus carrying 10 pilgrims was north of the capital of Baghdad when gunmen opened fire.

They say the wounded passengers were taken to a hospital, including a woman who was in serious condition. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) - A pregnant Pennsylvania teacher who alleges that she was fired from her Catholic school job because the diocese was upset that she wasn't married has filed suit contesting her termination.

Naiad Reich filed a breach of contract suit Friday in Northumberland County against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. She's also seeking a permanent injunction that would reinstate her as a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School in Coal Township, outside Shamokin.

Reich, who isn't Catholic, said she was fired Nov. 30 after notifying the diocese that she and her boyfriend were expecting a baby in June but had no immediate plans to marry.

The diocese, which earlier said it doesn't comment on personnel matters, said officials hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment before reviewing the documents.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida's former top elections official on Sunday apologized for dressing in blackface as a Hurricane Katrina victim, more than a week after he resigned when photos of his Halloween costume were made public.

Michael Ertel, who was Florida's secretary of state for less than three weeks, said in a personal Facebook post that what he did in 2005 was stupid and he is a better man than he was 14 years ago.

"For those who have not received a personal apology yet - I'm sorry," he wrote.

Ertel also said that someone made the photos public out of revenge. He didn't elaborate. The Tallahassee Democrat first published the pictures.

"Because while public revenge may be sweet for them, my private redemption, new family, and blessed life have been sweeter," Ertel wrote. "Regardless of the circumstances which ended my public role, I'm a better private citizen for having served my fellow countrymen, first in the military, then in elected office and most recently as Secretary of State."

Ertel didn't respond to a phone call seeking comment.

Before being appointed Florida's top elections official by Gov. Ron DeSantis, he was the elections supervisor in Seminole County, a suburb of Orlando.

DeSantis announced last week that Circuit Judge Laurel Lee would replace Ertel.

Currently, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is under pressure to resign after his medical school yearbook page was made public, showing a person in blackface and a person in Klan regalia.

Northam said he wasn't either person in the photo.
NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it will work with the Bureau of Prisons to examine what happened at a federal detention center in Brooklyn that had lost heat and electricity last week and to ensure that it has a backup system in place.

"In the coming days, the Department will work with the Bureau of Prisons to examine what happened and ensure the facility has the power, heat and backup systems in place to prevent the problem from re-occurring," said Wyn Hornbuckle, deputy director of public affairs for the Justice Department.

Electrical power was finally restored at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Hornbuckle said.

Protesters have gathered outside the facility in recent days following news reports that those housed there have largely been without heat or power for the past week and also haven't been able to communicate with lawyers or loved ones. Outdoor temperatures have been well below freezing on some recent days, though Sunday was warmer.

"With the heat and hot water operational, and the restoration of electrical power, the facility can now begin to return to regular operations," Hornbuckle said.

Earlier Sunday, some demonstrators attempted to enter the facility, and guards drove them back with pushes and shoves. Witnesses said they also used pepper spray. A reporter and photographer for The Associated Press were at the facility when a woman, whose son is being detained, tried to get into the jail.

A youngster holds a sign as he joins protesters and other family members of inmates held a protest at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. Prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, including during the recent frigid cold snap. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

On Sunday, an inmate was able to call through the window of his cell, which faces out to the street, to his mother below. The woman, Yvonne Murchison, was crying and upset and tried to get into the facility, where visits have been stopped.

"I'd trade places with him any day, that's my child," she said.

She was followed by activists and media into the lobby, where visitors have to pass through metal detectors.

Witnesses said officers used significant force to push the people out, with some of those attempting to come in being pushed to the ground. The AP photographer felt some type of spray, and began to have trouble breathing. Those affected were seen washing out their eyes with water or milk.

The Bureau of Prisons has acknowledged that the jail "experienced a partial power outage due to a fire in the switch gear room." The bureau had said a new electrical panel was being installed by an outside contractor. The agency insisted that inmates had hot water for showers and sinks, and were getting medications as needed.

The jail administration did not return an email seeking comment on the clash Sunday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for an investigation of the circumstances of the loss of heat and electricity by the federal Department of Justice, saying the situation was "a violation of human decency and dignity" and also raises "questions of potential violations of law."

The Democrat said he wanted answers, and those responsible held accountable.

"Prisoners in New York are human beings," Cuomo said. "Let's treat them that way."

The New York Civil Liberties Union released a statement Sunday calling on the Bureau of Prisons to "ensure that no detainee be subjected to retaliation for peacefully protesting."

"Today's confrontation between the Bureau of Prisons and family members of people jailed at MDC highlights the desperate need to address the dangerous, inhumane and unlawful conditions inside the facility," NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said.

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Associated Press Writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.

Yandy Smith is helped by others after she was sprayed with pepper spray after she and others stormed the main entrance to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison where prisoners have gone without heat, hot water and flushing toilets due to an electrical outage, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Prisoners call out to protesters and family members gathers outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison where prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and proper sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Authorities stand guard on the front steps of the Metropolitan Detention Center after dozens of family members, protesters and activists stormed the main entrance, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, as prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and proper sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Catana Yehudah, of the Bronx, uses a megaphone to speak to prisoners from outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison of all security levels, where prisoners haven't had access to heat, hot water, electricity and sanitary conditions since earlier in the week, including through the recent frigid weather, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Yehudah has a brother who is serving an 18-month sentence for gun possession. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Yandy Smith, center, gasps for air as people come to her aid after she was sprayed with pepper spray and thrown to the ground after storming the main entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison with all security levels, during a demonstration with protesters and prisoners' family members, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. The prison has been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation since earlier in the week, including through the recent frigid weather. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Yandy Smith, second from left, is helped by others after she joined protesters and prisoners' family members in storming the main entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, in protest of conditions at the facility. The federal prison has been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation since mid-week, including throughout the recent frigid weather. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Catana Yehudah, of the Bronx, uses a megaphone to speak to prisoners from outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison of all security levels, where prisoners haven't had access to heat, hot water, electricity and sanitary conditions since earlier in the week, including throughout the recent frigid weather, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Activist Veronica Matus, right, joins Yehudah as they try to elicit responses from the prisoners. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Prisoners at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility of all security levels where prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and proper sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, respond to family members and protesters who turned out to call attention to the conditions, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A woman makes a sign outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility of all security levels, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Prisoners there have been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation for a week. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Volunteers bring donated supplies for prisoners' family members, protesters and activists who are maintaining a vigil outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility where prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and proper sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Reina Benn, 3, and her twin sister Chiara hold signs as their father, Michael Benn, second from right, keeps an eye on them as they joined other protesters and prisoners' family members at a vigil outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison housing all security levels, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The prison has been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation since an electrical failure earlier in the week. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Veronica Matus, 42, an activist from Queens, left, embraces Catana Yehudah, 50, of the Bronx, as Yehuda speaks into the microphone Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York, at prisoners listening from inside their cells at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility of all security levels, where prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and proper sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week. Yehuda's brother Jason Smith, 40, is serving an 18-month sentence in the prison for gun possession. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

People post and make signs outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York, where prisoners haven't had access to heat, hot water, electricity, or proper sanitation since earlier in the week, including throughout the recent frigid weather, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Protesters and family members of prisoners wipe their eyes and cry after they and others stormed the main entrance of the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York, where prisoners haven't had access to heat, hot water, electricity or sanitary conditions since earlier in the week, including throughout the recent frigid cold snap. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A Con Edison truck drives past the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison where inmates have been without heat, hot water, electricity and flushing toilets since earlier in the week due to an electrical failure, including during the recent frigid cold snap, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Catana Yehudah, foreground, of the Bronx, cries as she hears the response of prisoners held inside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility with all security levels, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The prison has been without heat, hot water, electricity and good sanitation for several days, including during the recent frigid weather. Yehudah has a brother who is serving 18 months at the prison for gun possession. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Protesters help Yandy Smith after she received pepper spray following she and others stormed the main entrance to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility where prisoners have gone without heat, hot water and flushing toilets due to an electrical outage, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

A man helps Yandy Smith after she received pepper spray when she and others stormed the main entrance to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility where protesters say prisoners have gone without heat, hot water and flushing toilets due to an electrical outage, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Protesters and family members of inmates hold hands while forming a prayer circle outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Some demonstrators protesting the lack of heat and electricity at the federal detention center in New York City attempted to enter the facility Sunday, and witnesses said guards drove them back with pushes, shoves and pepper spray. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Community and religious leaders gather and join hands to protest and pray outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Some demonstrators protesting the lack of heat and electricity at the federal detention center in New York City attempted to enter the facility Sunday, and witnesses said guards drove them back with pushes, shoves and pepper spray. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Caren Burton, of Bayshore, Long Island, holds a sign so her incarcerated son Tyrone Robinson can see it as she protests jail conditions from outside the Metropolitan Detention Center Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. Prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, including during the recent frigid cold snap. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Protesters help Yandy Smith who was sprayed with pepper spray after she and others, including inmates family members, stormed the main entrance to the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in New York. Prisoners have been without heat, hot water, electricity and sanitation due to an electrical failure since earlier in the week, including during the recent frigid cold snap. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The outcome of a fight over a Louisiana law regulating abortion providers could signal whether a fortified conservative majority on the Supreme Court is willing to cut back on abortion rights.

The high court is expected to decide in the next few days whether the state can begin enforcing a law requiring doctors who work at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. It was passed in 2014, but has never taken effect.

The Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Texas three years ago. But the court's lineup has changed since then. Two appointees of President Donald Trump have joined the bench and Justice Anthony Kennedy has retired. Kennedy voted to strike down the Texas law.

The law was to have taken effect on Monday, but Justice Samuel Alito issued a brief order last week that pushed back the effective date at least to Thursday because, Alito said, the justices needed more time to consider an emergency appeal from Louisiana abortion providers. Alito handles those appeals from Louisiana.

The issue before the court is whether the law may be enforced even as appeals over its validity continue, so the impending vote may not be the justices' last word on the matter.

But it is expected to be a window on the court's views of abortion rights.

FILE- In this Nov. 30, 2018, file photo the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court gather for a formal group portrait to include a new Associate Justice, top row, far right, at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Seated from left: Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. Standing behind from left: Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan and Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. The high court is expected to decide in the next few days whether Louisiana can begin enforcing a law requiring doctors who work at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. It was passed in 2014, but has never taken effect. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

A vote to allow the law to take effect "will be a really good sign that the modified Court will not police states or lower courts' compliance with" the Texas decision or an earlier ruling in 1992 that reaffirmed a woman's right to an abortion that the court first announced in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, University of California, Irvine law professor Leah Litman wrote on the progressive Take Care blog.

Abortion opponents have been awaiting that signal since Trump's election, particularly after he promised during the 2016 campaign to appoint "pro-life justices." Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first appointee, took the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who opposed abortion rights. The president's second pick, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, replaced Kennedy.

The current situation bears some resemblance to the court's shift on a particular abortion method that its opponents call partial-birth abortion.

In 2000, the Supreme Court struck down Nebraska's ban on the procedure by a 5-4 vote. Seven years later, the court upheld a federal partial-birth abortion ban by an identical vote. The makeup of the court had changed, with John Roberts replacing William Rehnquist as chief justice and, crucially, Alito taking Sandra Day O'Connor's place on the bench. O'Connor voted to strike down the state law; Alito voted to uphold the federal ban.

In the majority opinion that upheld the federal law, Kennedy wrote that the law did not impose an "undue burden" on a woman's right to an abortion, the standard laid out in the 1992 abortion-rights ruling, and that it was sufficiently different from the Nebraska law that had been struck down in 2000, even though neither law contained a provision allowing the method to be used if a doctor decided it was necessary to preserve the mother's health.

Rachel Morrison, litigation counsel for the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, said the court also could find differences between Texas and Louisiana in the situations confronting women seeking abortions in the two states. The court's ruling invalidating the Texas law "does not mean that all admitting privileges laws are per se unconstitutional or that there is sufficient evidence that Louisiana's law will lead to the closure of a large number of abortion clinics in Louisiana," Morrison wrote on her group's website.

Differences in the two state laws were at the heart of last year's 2-1 ruling by the federal appeals court in New Orleans that upheld the Louisiana measure. The appeals court rejected a trial judge's conclusions at least one and possibly two of the state's three abortion clinics would have to close and, at most, two doctors would remain authorized to perform abortions in Louisiana.

In January, the full appeals court voted 9-6 not to get involved in the case, setting up the Supreme Court appeal.

The appellate ruling "brazenly ignored recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent squarely on point," said?Nancy Northup, head of the Center for Reproductive Rights. The group represents the clinics in court fight.

More alarming to abortion rights supporters is that high court action allowing the law to take effect could provide a road map to lower courts that are considering, or may soon weigh, other state efforts to restrict abortion.

Judges will be able to whittle away at abortion rights "by distinguishing away any decision favorable to reproductive justice, and refusing to meaningfully scrutinize any law that affects abortion access or abortion providers," Litman wrote.

The case is June Medical Services v. Gee.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A former lawmaker who is openly gay launched a progressive party in Poland ahead of two elections this year, presenting a program Sunday that includes phasing out coal production and liberalizing the abortion laws.

At an inaugural convention in Warsaw, Robert Biedron announced the new party's name, Wiosna, or "Spring," and vowed to work to unify the bitterly divided country.

"The last years were cold and gloomy. Instead of conversations we got constant conflict; instead of the good of the community, party interests," Biedron told a crowd of thousands. "Let this finally come to an end. We need a spring that will renew this gloomy landscape."

Biedron, 42, has long been the hope of many progressive Poles, thanks to his charisma, energy and relative youth. He got his start in politics as an LGBT activist during the 1990s and became the first openly gay member of parliament in 2011. He most recently served as mayor of Slupsk in northern Poland.

The left-wing political scene in Poland since communism fell in 1989 has been dominated by ex-communists who are now aging and in some cases, have been discredited by corruption scandals. Many of those hoping for a party focused on progressive mainstays like green energy and women's rights eagerly anticipated the launch of Biedron's party.

It remains unclear how much support he will be able to muster in an era when right-wing nationalists have gained popularity in Europe. Some of Biedron's positions also could prove unpopular.

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring), in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

In a country heavily dependent on coal for jobs and energy, he said he would focus on fighting the associated heavy smog by phasing out coal production by 2035.

Biedron's unapologetically secular program included ending the teaching of religion from public schools, a direct challenge to the Catholic Church that holds great sway in Poland.

Biedron said he wants to give women in the country with Europe's most restrictive abortion laws the right to terminate pregnancies to the 12th week. Some conservatives already have accused him of trying to make Poland a "civilization of death."

"Poland is a woman," Biedron said. "Her suffering is our suffering."

At the convention, Biedron presented himself as an alternative both to ruling right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice, and the main opposition party, the centrist pro-business Civic Platform party. He portrayed the new party as a chance for change after years of hostility between the two political camps.

Civil Platform governed from 2007-2015 and oversaw fast economic growth, but Biedron faulted it for ignoring growing economic equality and struggles of many Poles.

He said his party would raise the minimum pension to 1,600 zlotys ($425) per month, noting some older Poles now get only 1,000 zlotys ($270).

Some activists and critics of the Law and Justice-led government have accused Biedron of further weakening an already divided opposition with poor prospects of unseating the ruling party.

Biedron told the convention crowd he would continue the legacy of Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, a supporter of women and minorities who was fatally stabbed in mid-January amid the heavy ideological animosity.

"We do not want any more of this Polish-Polish war," Biedron declared.

However, he also vowed to form a Justice and Reconciliation Commission to hold Law and Justice's leader and others to account for allegedly violating "the freedom and rights enshrined in the constitution."

Among those at the convention was 18-year-old Jakub Przybysz. He said he liked Biedron's goal of separating church and state and legalizing same-sex partnerships that confer some rights. But he sees Biedron confronting an uphill battle.

"Perhaps the time hasn't come for this yet, but even the smallest change in this direction would be good," Przybysz said.

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring), in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring) in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring), in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring), in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Robert Biedron addresses the founding convention of his new centre-left party "Wiosna" (Spring), in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
BAGHDAD (AP) - A local police official says an Iraqi novelist has been killed by live fire in the southern city of Karbala.

The official says Alaa Mashzoub was gunned down Saturday night by unknown assailants after he left a literary event in the city and was headed home on his motorcycle. He spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.

It was not immediately clear why Mashzoub was killed. Nawfal al-Hamadani, a member of the city's union of writers, told The Associated Press on Sunday that by the time Mashzoub's colleagues reached the hospital, he was already dead because of the large number of gunshot wounds he sustained.

Mashzoub has 20 published books and wrote extensively about Karbala's history and culture, and about Iraq's once-thriving Jewish minority.

Iraq has seen a number of political assassinations in the past year, particularly of outspoken activists and critics.

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Associated Press writer Mustafa Faraj contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend an international summit on the Middle East next week in Poland.

The U.S. and Poland are sponsoring the Feb. 13-14 conference, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the region.

The Israeli official who confirmed Netanyahu's participation on Sunday spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made.

Netanyahu is an outspoken critic of Iran, which was not invited to the conference. Iran has called the gathering an anti-Iran "circus."

Russia has also said it will not attend. The event has also received a lukewarm response from the European Union, whose foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also skipping the event.

A final list of participants has not been announced.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel says it has started reinforcing its border fence with the Gaza Strip, erecting a galvanized steel barrier six meters (20 feet) high that will run the length of territory.

Israel's Defense Ministry issued a statement Sunday saying it had commenced construction of an above-ground barrier that complements a subterranean wall aimed at thwarting Hamas attack tunnels beneath the border.

The fence's construction comes after months of mass protests by Palestinians in Gaza along the border. Nearly 190 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since they began last March. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper last July.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the new barrier "will prevent terrorists from Gaza from penetrating into our territory on the ground."
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Police say an officer in Louisiana killed as he escorted a funeral procession on his motorcycle survived being shot in the face less than a year before.

Authorities say 31-year-old Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Shane Totty died Friday shortly after the wreck.

Police say a mentally ill man fired several shots in Baton Rouge on Feb. 11 before firing into Totty's cruiser. He was hit in the face by the bullet, shrapnel and glass.

Retired Capt. Don Kelly told The Advocate of Baton Rouge that Totty lost sight in one eye for several months but fought hard to recover. When he returned, he asked to follow his dream and become a motorcycle officer.

Friends say Totty planned soon to marry the mother of his daughter.

The crash remains under investigation.
BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) - The Latest on a deputy killed after standoff (all times local):

2:40 p.m.

Court records show a man accused of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy and wounding another deputy during a 12-hour standoff in Ohio has been charged with aggravated murder.

Clermont County Municipal Court records show 23-year-old Wade Edward Winn has also been charged with attempted aggravated murder in the shootings in Pierce Township, east of Cincinnati. Authorities say Detective Bill Brewer died from his wounds. The other deputy was treated and released.

Court records don't show an attorney for Winn.

Authorities say officers responded Saturday night to the apartment complex after a 911 call from a man who said he believed someone was inside his residence. It wasn't clear whether the suspect made the call. Authorities said they found one person in the home.

Authorities stand at the Royal Oaks Apartments in Pierce Township, Ohio after a standoff ended on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (Phil Didion/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP)

Ohio's governor has ordered all U.S. and state flags at public buildings in Clermont County and the Statehouse flown at half-staff to honor Brewer.

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11:30 a.m.

Authorities have identified a sheriff's deputy who was shot and killed and another who was wounded during a 12-hour standoff at an apartment complex in Ohio.

A Clermont County sheriff's release says Detective Bill Brewer died from his wounds. Lt. Nick DeRose was treated and released. The release identifies a 23-year-old suspect but doesn't say whether he was charged. The suspect was taken into custody about 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

Sheriff officials said officers responded about 7 p.m. Saturday to the Royal Oaks Apartments in Pierce Township following a 911 call from a man who said he believed someone was inside his residence. It wasn't clear whether the suspect made the call. Authorities said they found one person in the home.

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8:35 a.m.

A sheriff's deputy was shot and killed during a 12-hour standoff at an apartment complex in Ohio that left another deputy wounded and a suspect in custody, authorities said Sunday.

Capt. Jeff Sellars of the Clermont County Sheriff's Office said officers responded about 7 p.m. Saturday to the Royal Oaks Apartments in Pierce Township, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, following a 911 call from a man who said people were refusing to leave his home. The man said there were weapons in the home.

Sellars said two deputies were struck by bullets during the standoff. The wounded deputy is hospitalized in stable condition.

Neither the deputies nor the suspect has been identified.

Sellars said the suspect was taken into custody about 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
NEW YORK (AP) - In the same Brooklyn courthouse where jurors have heard testimony about Mexican politicians protecting Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's drug empire, a former Mexican state attorney general pleaded guilty last month to taking bribes from narcotraffickers.

The juxtaposition underscored a recurring theme of Guzman's New York trial: how pervasive official corruption in Mexico complicates American authorities' efforts to investigate and apprehend those involved in the drug trade.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Monday after 11 weeks of testimony that included a parade of Guzman's former associates who told of massive bribes paid to high-level officials.

One testified that the Sinaloa cartel paid $10 million, twice, to a top commander in the Mexican Federal Police. Another said Mexico's former federal security chief got a $6 million payoff while a general got $100,000. Witnesses testified about Guzman getting a police escort after a prison escape and politicians who asked for help shipping 100 tons of cocaine in an oil tanker. In the most sensational claim, one of Guzman's former aides said he'd heard him boast about having paid former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto $100 million.

"The corruption has been rampant, and it's systemic," said Arturo Fontes, a former FBI agent who spent years investigating Guzman's drug syndicate. "We always knew there was a risk of information getting to the wrong people."

The accused Mexican leaders have all denied the bribery allegations as the fabrications of criminals. And the corruption allegations have been mostly a sideshow in the trial of Guzman, who is charged with leading a cartel that smuggled tons of cocaine to the U.S. His lawyers have said he was not the real boss and that its true head is still at large in Mexico, protected by a web of bribes.

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 file photo, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a hanger in Mexico City, after he was captured overnight in the beach resort town of Mazatlan. The New York trial of Guzman is drawing to a close, but the question of controlling the corruption that allowed the Sinaloa cartel to flourish in Mexico will live on even after jurors reach a verdict. DEA agent Victor Vazquez told jurors he would only work with the Mexican marines when trying to capture Guzman and other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, because that wing of the armed forced were viewed as less susceptible to corruption. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

But colorful testimony about graft provided a window into the challenges U.S. law enforcement agents face when working with Mexican partners - and the great lengths they went to in the Guzman case to ensure it wasn't compromised.

Underscoring the risks of sharing information with Mexican law enforcement, several months ago, a former Mexican intelligence-unit commander was sentenced to three years in a U.S. federal prison for leaking American investigative secrets to cartel bosses. Last month, Edgar Veytia, the former attorney general of the Mexican coastal state of Nayarit who is known as "Diablo," admitted to using his badge to help drug-trafficking organizations smuggling narcotics into the U.S., according to the Justice Department.

Mike Vigil, who was a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent for many years, said not even Mexico's military or federal police will work with authorities at the state and municipal level due to their "cancerous" propensity for being on the take.

"They are squarely in the pockets of the drug cartels, to the point that they engage in the smuggling and transportation of drugs and the killing of cartel enemies," Vigil told The Associated Press, referring to local police forces. "If you can't work with them it, it makes it really hard to carry out some of the missions."

But during the trial, jurors heard testimony about one successful partnership between U.S. and Mexican authorities: the operation that led to Guzman's capture in 2014 after he escaped from a Mexican prison for the second time.

DEA operations are restricted in foreign countries, but the agency trains "vetted units" of Mexican federal police officers to conduct American-led operations. Members of the units are subjected to polygraph exams and required to pass background checks and urinalysis tests. The DEA taps these officers to conduct surveillance and interdict drug shipments, among other tasks.

DEA agent Victor Vazquez told jurors he would only work with the Mexican marines when trying to capture Guzman and other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel because that wing of the armed forces is viewed as less susceptible to corruption.

He testified that the marines operated from a base outside Mexico's Sinaloa region because the assumption was that everyone there, including police, were eyes for the cartel.

"You're driving around in a lion's den, and you really can't trust anybody," Vazquez said.

After a first near-miss, where Guzman escaped by fleeing through a tunnel, Mexican marines finally captured him at a hotel in Miramar.

Supporters of Pena Nieto have pointed to the capture as proof that he was hunting Guzman, not protecting him. Pena Nieto's former chief of staff, Francisco Guzman, said in a Twitter message that the bribery allegation, made by a Colombian former aide to Guzman, was "false, defamatory and absurd."

Guzman's lawyers have also denied that he paid off Pena Nieto but nevertheless have called the Mexican government "crooked."

During the trial, U.S. prosecutors sought to limit testimony about the alleged bribes to Mexican officials, citing the potential to harm relations between the two countries and also foreign governments' willingness to extradite defendants to the U.S.

Mexico got a new president while the trial was under way who has vowed to make battling corruption a central part of his administration.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has proposed creating a 50,000-member national guard, initially composed of members of the military and federal police, that would fight the drug cartels in the place of local police forces deemed too corrupt to be trusted.

Lopez Obrador has said he isn't interested in punishing past governments for corruption but has promised zero tolerance for corruption at all levels of government going forward.

While corruption is widespread, Jeronimo Cortina, associate director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston, said testimony from drug traffickers should be taken "with a grain of salt."

If Guzman really paid a $100 million bribe, Cortina said, "it was a bad business decision considering he was nevertheless extradited to the United States."
NEW YORK (AP) - Joanna Geary started off as a journalist in the U.K. and now lives in New York, where she is currently Twitter's director of curation. In that role, she's in charge of showing users everything from the day's biggest news events to quirky trends.

Geary, 38, spoke with The Associated Press recently about managing people in different time zones and managing a work-life balance. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What does your day-to-day work look like?

A: I have direct reports in London, in Toronto, in New York, in San Francisco, in Tokyo and in Sydney (and indirect reports) in Mexico and Brazil. When you're working away from people, it's really important to have structured time to see people. So that means that my days get quite elongated.

Q: What have you learned about problem-solving over the years?

A: The greater the diversity of skills, background and personalities in the room, the more likely it is you'll come up with the best solution and the best way to implement it.

In this undated image provided by Twitter the company's director of curation Joanna Geary poses for a photo. Geary spoke with The Associated Press about serving a global audience that is Twitter. (Twitter via AP)

Q: How much do you pay attention to your competition?

A: I keep pretty well informed about what's going on in our industry, but I try not to focus too much on competitor watching. I've been in that position before and it can be all too easy to turn yourself into a hostage to other people's strategies rather than doubling down on understanding your unique value and trying to enhance that.

Q: What advice would you give your younger self about managing people?

A: You are never, ever going to have all the answers. Most answers are going to come from your team, and your job is to try and create an environment where they are recognized and rewarded for putting them forward. Also, however hard you try, you will mess up. The most important thing is how you deal with that.

Q: What advice do you have on how small business owners and others can use Twitter?

A: Start small and follow people that you know or are just one or two people removed from people you know. Learn to connect and have conversations with them. A lot of value can often be obtained from expanding your network even by just a little.

Q: What do you do for work-life balance?

A: I enjoy the time I spend with my husband, family and close friends. Moving to another country has made me value the time I get to spend with them much, much more. I'm also a massive podcast fan, so will often use my commute home as time to listen and decompress.

But you're also talking to someone who back in the U.K. used her free time to start London's biggest monthly meetup of technologists and journalists. Technology and journalism have always been an interest beyond a job, so I wholly admit the line can be blurred.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday launched a new weekly webcast to "get rid of the fake from the news" ahead of national elections in April.

In a video shared on social media Saturday, Netanyahu said the webcast will "only cover the reality, and I will continue to ensure that it will be positive."

The inaugural webcast on Sunday, which aired on Netanyahu and his Likud party's official Facebook pages, featured the prime minister fielding questions from Eliraz Sade, a reality television personality, and drew around 6,000 viewers.

The prime minister appears to be modeling the idea on President Donald Trump's "Real News Update," a weekly webcast on Facebook hosted by the president's daughter-in-law to counterbalance what the administration deems an oppositional media.

The clip makes dismissive references to the police investigations into alleged corruption by the prime minister.

Netanyahu has long had a rocky relationship with the media and accuses it, along with police and prosecutors, of being part of a witch hunt to force him from office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

Netanyahu has enjoyed a warm relationship with Trump. On Sunday, his Likud party posted a massive billboard on the side of a Jerusalem building showing the two men standing together. It said: "Netanyahu. A different league."

In Sunday's quarter-hour broadcast, Netanyahu touted his accomplishments as prime minister in the past ten years. He claimed credit for stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, called Israel an energy superpower, argued that the last decade was "the most successful" for national security in Israel's history and said his ruling Likud party was "the only democratic party" in the country.

Notably absent from the interview was any mention of prime minister's legal problems.

Police have recommended indicting Netanyahu on three corruption cases, and Israel's attorney general is expected to announce his decision whether or not to charge him before the April 9 elections.
NEW YORK (AP) - As Twitter's director of curation, Joanna Geary is in charge of showing users what's going on. This can range from the day's biggest news events to celebrities or quirky trends.

Geary, 38, joined Twitter in 2013 after a career as a journalist in the U.K., first at the tiny Birmingham Post (circulation around 3,400) and later The Guardian, where she ran the community and social teams.

She spoke with The Associated Press about serving a global audience that is Twitter. Questions and responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How has being a journalist prepared you for Twitter?

A: Everything that I learned along the way, right back from the beginning of the Post, has been useful to what I do today. The importance of the work that journalists do and the importance of thinking through things such as verification, impartiality, accuracy, responsibility, good research ... all of that has come into play.

Q: What's it like working with non-journalists at Twitter?

In this undated image provided by Twitter the company's director of curation Joanna Geary poses for a photo. Geary spoke with The Associated Press about serving a global audience that is Twitter. (Twitter via AP)

A: I was worried about not being a journalist any more. It was a big step to take ... but also exhilarating to end up in a business where some people have the same sort of instinct as me. But not everyone. I was exposed to many more different skills and expertise, which helped me think very differently about journalism and its place in the world. And not everyone was the sort of news junkie that I was.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your job?

A: I'm regretfully a monolinguist. I only speak English, so building up a structure and a format and a way to build rapport with teams who work in completely different languages and to understand the quality and the nature of the curation, it's super challenging. Over time, I feel like I've built up a tool kit ... and a level of standardization as to what we're expecting.

Q: What about cultural sensitivities?

A: Even within a shared language, there's such diversity of meaning and cultural differences to how people approach communication. I've learnt a lot about where I should sit in a meeting room in Tokyo, how direct do you need to be when asking for work with Arabic speakers. Words that are not rude in the U.S. that are quite rude in the U.K. People in the U.S. sometimes forget how much of Twitter is outside of the U.S.

Q: Is it hard to not be U.S.- and English-speaking centric on Twitter?

A: I don't think so. One of the pure joys of the job is having such an international team. The joy is there are many different communities on the platform. For example, I had no idea about Japanese cat Twitter, where people in Japan post totally normal, everyday videos of their cats. It's amazing.

Q: What's your ideal vision of Twitter?

A: I believe very much in the power of connection over a geographical distance and culture. When you can get it right, it's incredibly powerful, especially when it builds empathy and understanding. The interesting thing about Twitter is we've demonstrated that we can do it.
When she testified before the State Senate Education Committee last week, Sheila Hedstrom-Pegler held up a photo of her 16-year-old son Tyler, who took his life in July 2017 and was among the first of the 33 East Valley teens who have been lost to suicide since that month.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's state-run IRNA news agency is reporting that a court has handed down prison sentences for 13 protesters arrested during the August 2017 demonstrations over economic hardships.

The Sunday report said that Tehran's Revolutionary Court sentenced eight of the defendants to six months and the others to one year in prison for "acting against national security by attending illegal gatherings."

IRNA's report said that five of protesters are women.

Iran is in the grip of an economic crisis and has seen sporadic protests in recent months as officials try to downplay the effects of the restored U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing clear political peril, President Donald Trump will deliver his second State of the Union address at a moment when his bully pulpit is uncertain and his negotiating skills in question after a monthlong government shutdown that exposed fractures in his party and sent his poll numbers tumbling.

Trump hopes to use his Tuesday speech to reset his agenda and begin to gear up for his 2020 re-election campaign. But even as the president promises a theme of unity, his performance is likely to draw cheers from one side of the deeply divided Congress and stony silence from the other.

The split between Democrats and Republicans, each side dug in over Trump's long-sought border wall, reinforces questions about his ability to move both Congress and the electorate.

All this while Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sits just behind him on the top tier of the House dais during the address, a looming reminder of his shutdown defeat and his struggles to adapt to a new, divided Washington.

The speech itself, an annual set piece that gives the president a grand stage to speak directly to a national audience of millions, could prove bittersweet for Trump. While the president, ever the showman, will relish the theatrics of the moment, his prime-time address to the nation comes a week later than originally planned after Pelosi forced a postponement while the government was closed.

Trump made his dealmaking abilities central to his presidency but he has been unable to move emboldened Democrats, firm in their resistance to paying for a border wall with Mexico. Without it, Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency or shutter the government again. Both options are opposed by a growing number of Republicans, potentially leaving Trump weakened with his own party as several political dark clouds loom. Among them are the conclusion of the special counsel's Russia investigation and growing talk from the left about the possibility of impeachment.

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Trump delivers his rescheduled State of the Union address after a wrenching government shutdown and with the battle over border wall funding still unresolved. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

"Presidents have walked into that chamber in weakened positions before," said Jon Meacham, a presidential historian and author, invoking Bill Clinton after Republicans swept the 1994 midterm elections. "But Trump does not have the usual base of support. Legislative Republicans fell in line with Trump because they were afraid of him and his supporters and if that support is eroding, the end will be quick."

Trump's allies, some of whom worry that his voice has been diminished, suggest he should use the speech to showcase his administration's record as well as repeat his call for the wall.

"He needs to highlight the successes he's had with the economy and trade and with conservative justices," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "And I think he needs to stare Democrats down and challenge them to defy him on the need for border security."

As the Feb. 15 deadline that could lead the government to close again nears, the State of the Union provides the president with his best chance yet to sell the public on the need for the wall. Previous efforts at harnessing at the power of the office to make that case have failed.

A trip to the border didn't move the needle after Trump himself voiced private skepticism that it would work. An Oval Office address was widely panned, with the president himself being his harshest critic, complaining to aides that he looked "flat" and "lifeless." Round after round of polling suggests that Americans do not believe a wall is needed and don't feel it is a fight worth shutting down the government over.

White House aides have kept details of the speech under wraps, though Trump is expected to paint a picture of a country on the comeback while pushing new trade deals as well as proposals about drug pricing, health care and public works.

But there will be stark reminders throughout the House chamber that Trump's political reality has changed, now 21 months before he faces voters again.

Pelosi will be visible in nearly every camera shot beamed to a national broadcast audience. Her presence is evidence of the newly empowered House Democrats. And it makes clear how she can use her political clout and her party can wield the power of the subpoena to thwart Trump's agenda and open investigations into his government and business.

"It's a dynamic created in the television age but it's also a demonstration for the country that the executive and legislative branches are separate but equal powers," said Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for President Barack Obama and a top aide on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. "And a very powerful woman who has a big hand in controlling his fate could be very distracting to him."

In the chamber will be several Democrats vying to replace Trump and rising party stars such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Some Democrats will be flanked by invited guests, including people affected by the shutdown, and their presence is meant to highlight Trump's vulnerability.

As for the president, he ignored the divisions in Washington as he pledged to use his speech to call for Americans to set aside their differences.

"I really think it's unification, I think it's industry, I think it's about the people you see here," Trump said Thursday while hosting a group of manufacturers at the White House. "I really think it's going to be a speech that is going to cover a lot of territory but part of it is going to be unity."

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Jonathan Lemire has covered politics and the White House for The Associated Press since 2013.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with American manufacturers in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The Latest on Venezuela's political crisis (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

Austria's chancellor says he has spoken with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and is joining several other European Union nations in saying he will recognize Guaido as interim president unless new presidential elections are called.

European countries including Germany, France, Spain and Britain set President Nicolas Maduro's government an eight-day ultimatum to call new presidential elections, failing which they would follow the U.S. and others in recognizing Guaido as president. The ultimatum expires Sunday.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter that he had "a very good phone call with President @jguaido" Sunday and said: "He has our full support to restore democracy."

Kurz added that "Should Maduro not respond to the EU's call for free & fair presidential elections, we will acknowledge and support Juan Guaido as President ad interim."

A demonstrator take control of a truck to block a highway after a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019. Momentum is growing for Venezuela's opposition movement led by Guaido, who has called supporters back into the streets for nationwide protests Saturday, escalating pressure on Maduro to step down.(AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

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10:05 a.m.

The European Union says that a newly formed "International Contact Group" of European and Latin American countries will hold its first meeting in Uruguay on Thursday to address the crisis in Venezuela.

A joint statement from EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez on Sunday said that the meeting in Montevideo will be held at ministerial level.

The contact group includes the EU and eight of its member countries - France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Britain - as well as Latin American nations Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay.

Its stated aim is "contributing to create conditions for a political and peaceful process to emerge, enabling Venezuelans to determine their own future" through free and credible elections.

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7 a.m.

Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro i9s proposing to hold early National Assembly elections that could potentially oust his challenger, whose role as head of congress gives him standing to assert he's the country's legitimate leader.

Maduro's call for early legislative voting is likely to intensify his standoff with rival Juan Guaido, who is demanding a new presidential election. Guaido, the congress and many foreign nations consider Maduro's re-election last year to be an invalid sham.

Guaido told supporters Saturday that he'll keep his opposition movement in the streets until Maduro agrees to a presidential election overseen by international observers. He also called for soldiers to abandon Maduro and back him.

Maduro also dug in his heels, insisting he was the only president of Venezuela and describing Saturday's large anti-government protests as part of a U.S.-led coup attempt.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The Burlington Police Department says sub-zero temperatures and inadequate clothing likely contributed to the death of a 19-year-old University of Vermont student found lying in a parking lot.

Police say the young man, whose name has not been released, was found just before 11 a.m. Saturday behind a Burlington business.

Emergency crews attempted to revive the student but were unsuccessful.

Police say it appears the student was walking through a parking lot during the early morning hours Saturday when he stopped by a fence.

The temperature at the time was between minus 1 and minus 4.

Police are continuing to investigate the teen's condition and whereabouts prior to his death, but there were no indications of foul play.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Senior U.S. and South Korean officials met Sunday to discuss an expected second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in South Korea earlier amid reports that he'll meet North Korean officials soon to work out details for the summit.

Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "the meeting is set" with Kim, but he provided no further details about the meeting expected around the end of February. The president said there was "a very good chance that we will make a deal."

With the North under economic penalties and the U.S. unwilling to ease them under the North denuclearizes, Trump said Kim "has a chance to have North Korea be a tremendous economic behemoth. It has a chance to be one of the great economic countries in the world. He can't do that with nuclear weapons and he can't do that on the path they're on now."

Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Biegun and his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon held consultations about working-level U.S.-North Korea talks ahead of the summit.

South Korean media reported Biegun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol will likely meet at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom or in the North's capital of Pyongyang early this week.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, center, is questioned by reporters upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Biegun will meet with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Little progress has been made toward ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons since Trump and Kim held their first summit in Singapore last June. During that summit, Kim pledged to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, though he did not provide a timetable or roadmap for his disarmament steps.

Last year, North Korea suspended nuclear and missile tests, dismantled its nuclear test site and parts of its rocket launch facility and released American detainees. The North demanded the United States to take corresponding measurers such as sanctions relief.

U.S. officials want North Korea to take more significant steps, saying sanctions will stay in place until North Korea denuclearizes.

Satellite footage taken since the June summit has indicated North Korea has been continuing to produce nuclear materials at its weapons factories. Last Tuesday, U.S. intelligence chiefs told Congress they believe there is little likelihood Kim will voluntarily give up his nuclear weapons or missiles capable of carrying them.

Biegun said last week that Kim committed to "the dismantlement and destruction of North Korea's plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities" during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in September and at a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October.

During the second summit, some experts say North Korea will likely seek to trade the destruction of its main Yongbyon nuclear complex for a U.S. promise to formally declare the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, open a liaison office in Pyongyang and allow the North to resume some lucrative economic projects with South Korea.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, right, arrives at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Biegun will meet with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrives at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Biegun will meet with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, right, is questioned by reporters upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Biegun will meet with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
BEIRUT (AP) - The Syrian military said the U.S.-led coalition attacked one of its artillery positions in the country's east, wounding two soldiers and destroying a cannon, according to state media reports on Sunday.

The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition Col. Sean Ryan said their partner forces acted in "self-defense" after coming under fire from the western side of the Euphrates River.

U.S.-led coalition forces, with their local Kurdish-led partners, are battling the remnants of Islamic State group on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, while government troops and allied forces are now positioned on the other side after dislodging IS from there.

The incident highlights the risks of operating in close proximity with rival forces in the crowded area where IS militants are making their last stand.

An unnamed Syrian military official told state news agency SANA that the coalition's attack took place late Saturday on government positons in Sukkariyah, west of Boukamal town. It was followed by a foiled incursion by IS militants, he added, accusing the U.S. of aiding the militants. Damascus often accuses Washington of aiding "terrorists" to destabilize the government.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said militants, holed up in a small area on the Euphrates' eastern bank, launched an attack against government forces and allied Iranian-backed troops in an apparent attempt to clear an escape route westward toward the desert. The militants also fired at government troops from their position, said the Observatory.

The Observatory said the IS attacks lasted for hours and left at least 11 militants, including three suicide bombers, dead.

Since the U.S. announced in December that it's withdrawing troops from Syria, Syrian government troops have beefed up their presence on the western banks of Euphrates. The timetable for the U.S. withdrawal is not yet clear.

The U.S.-led coalition and local Kurdish-led partners have been battling IS militants on the eastern banks of the river since September. The militants are now holding out in two farm areas along the river about four square kilometers (1.5 square miles) in size. Thousands of civilians have fled the fighting but many are still believed to be trapped with the remaining militants.

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Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.
CINCINNATI (AP) - A sheriff's deputy was shot and killed during a 12-hour standoff at an apartment complex in Ohio that left another deputy wounded and a suspect in custody, authorities said Sunday.

Capt. Jeff Sellars of the Clermont County Sheriff's Office said officers responded about 7 p.m. Saturday to the Royal Oaks Apartments in Pierce Township, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Cincinnati, following a 911 call from a man who said he believed someone was inside his residence.

Authorities say the caller then said that he was armed and eventually told the dispatcher that he was suicidal.

But it was unclear from authorities' statements whether the caller was referring to himself or to the person he said was inside his home. It was also unclear whether the suspect himself made the call. Authorities found only one person in the home.

Authorities say 23-year-old Wade Edward Winn was taken into custody. Clermont County Municipal Court records show Winn has been charged with aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.

David O'Neil, a spokesman for Ohio's attorney general, confirmed the charges Sunday but said he couldn't disclose where the suspect was being held.

This undated image provided by Clermont County Sheriff's Office shows Wade Edward Winn. Clermont County Municipal Court records show Winn, a man accused of fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy during a 12-hour standoff ending Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, in Ohio, has been charged with aggravated murder. (Clermont County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Clermont County Sheriff's Office said Detective Bill Brewer died from his wounds. The other deputy, Lt. Nick DeRose, was treated for a gunshot wound in the ankle and released from a hospital, O'Neil said.

"Deputy Brewer gave his life attempting to help a person who was admittedly suicidal," Sheriff Steve Leahy said in a press release. "This will forever change the atmosphere of the Clermont County Sheriff's Office."

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a separate release that Brewer's "valor is now recorded for all time, written in blood."

"We mourn and we will remember," Yost said

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Sunday ordered all U.S. and state flags throughout Clermont County and at the Statehouse flown at half-staff in honor of Brewer. The Republican governor's order is in effect from Sunday until sunset on the day of Brewer's interment.

A court hearing was scheduled for Winn at 10 a.m. Monday in Clermont County Municipal Court in Batavia, O'Neil said.

Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.

Authorities stand at the Royal Oaks Apartments in Pierce Township, Ohio after a standoff ended on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. (Phil Didion/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP)
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy took another blow Sunday when Nissan canceled plans to make its new SUV in northern England amid continued uncertainty over the country's future relations with the European Union.

Nissan said it decided not to build the X-Trail model at its existing U.K. plant, canceling plans announced two years ago after May's government made undisclosed concessions designed to ensure the carmaker's ability to compete after Brexit.

The company said it instead plans to consolidate production of the next generation X-Trail at its plant in Kyushu, Japan, where the model is currently produced. Nissan's plant in Sunderland, England, which employs 7,000 workers, will continue to make Nissan's Juke and Qashqai models.

"While we have taken this decision for business reasons, the continued uncertainty around the U.K.'s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future," Nissan Europe Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy said in a statement.

Less than two months before Britain's scheduled withdrawal date, the government doesn't have an approved agreement on the rules, conditions and terms that will replace the 45 years of frictionless trade that came with being an EU member.

Business leaders have expressed huge concerns about foreign investment, jobs and economic growth taking a hit if the country crashes out of the bloc on March 29 without a divorce deal.

FILE In this Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, a view of a logo of Nissan Motor Co., at its global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Nissan has cancelled plans to make its X-Trail SUV in the UK _ a sharp blow to Brexit supporters, who had fought to have the model built in northern England. The move, first reported on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 by Sky News, was confirmed by the company in a letter to workers Sunday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

May's government has refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit, saying that doing so would weaken her position with EU negotiators. Parliament voted last week to give her more time to try to win concessions from the bloc.

Carmakers have been some of the most outspoken critics of the continuing uncertainty over Brexit, because they rely on "just in time" manufacturing techniques that continuously supply plants in Britain with parts produced on the continent. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said last week that the industry was on "red alert" after investment and production plunged.

Jaguar Land Rover has announced global cuts of some 4,500 jobs, with the lion's share coming in the UK. JLR, Honda and BMW have all announced plans to idle their factories in the days after Britain is set to leave the EU in hopes of avoiding potential chaos at the borders.

But Nissan's announcement is potentially more damaging for the government because of the prominence it gave to securing the carmaker's investment in October 2016, four months after British voters decided to leave the EU.

The government said at the time that Nissan's commitment showed major manufacturers retained faith in the U.K. economy after Brexit. More than two years of political chaos over implanting that decision has put that faith to the test.

Vince Cable, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, told Sky News the prime minister must stop "playing chicken" with Parliament and the EU by threatening a no-deal Brexit.

"This is a big turning point, and I think it does signal that the big companies that we relied on to generate employment, and high quality employment in manufacturing industries, are now very seriously reconsidering their future here." Cable said. "It's actually self-harming and they should just stop."

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid responded to a recent string of negative corporate pronouncements by insisting that he believes EU officials will ultimately work with Britain to avoid no-deal, even though they are publicly resisting further concessions.

"No one wants to see no deal," Javid told the BBC. "I think the most likely outcome is still a deal."

Nissan said the decision to build the SUV's in Japan would reduce investment costs in the early stages of the project. It said "the current workforce" in England would not be affected, leaving in doubt the additional jobs government and union officials had been counting on.

The announcement also confirmed an ongoing trend of carmakers thinking twice about future investments in Britain.

Nissan confirmed its change of heart days after SMMT, the trade group for Britain's auto industry, issued a stark assessment about the impact of Brexit, warning that exports are at risk if the U.K. leaves the EU without an agreement.

Investment in the industry fell 46 percent last year and new car production dropped 9.1 percent to 1.52 million vehicles, in part because of concerns over Brexit, the motor manufacturers said.

The group's chief executive, Mike Hawes, described the threat of a no-deal Brexit as "catastrophic." The drop in investment only foreshadows what could happen, he said.

"Ultimately, it comes down to what we need, as soon as possible, is that clarity," Hawes said. The industry "is going in the wrong direction, even though we have so many competitive advantages as a sector globally.... But we still operate in that global environment and while there is uncertainty, investments pause."

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Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The latest on Pope Francis' visit to the United Arab Emirates (all times local):

10:15 p.m.

Pope Francis has been greeted by Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on his arrival to the Arabian Peninsula.

A young boy and girl in traditional Emirati dress handed the pontiff flowers after landing Sunday night. The two leaders then walked past an honor guard, all with traditional Arabic daggers at their waists.

Pope Francis and Sheikh Mohammed smiled and spoke to each other as they walked through the airport terminal.

The pope also met a host of Cabinet ministers in a greeting line, as well as local Catholic and Muslim officials.

Pope Francis is welcomed by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, upon his arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis travelled to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool)

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9:50 p.m.

Pope Francis has landed in Abu Dhabi on the first papal trip ever to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.

Pope Francis' Alitalia flight touched down in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, around 9:50 p.m. on Sunday.

While Francis is building on two of his priorities with his Sunday-Tuesday visit to the United Arab Emirates - promoting interfaith dialogue and visiting the Catholic peripheries - diplomatic protocol will likely dictate that he leaves other concerns behind.

The Emirates' support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, which has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and the UAE's problematic record on human rights and labor violations at home likely will get a pass - at least in public.

However, Francis did appeal earlier Sunday for an end to Yemen's humanitarian crisis, saying the "cries of these children and their parents rise up" to God.

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12:45 p.m. VATICAN CITY

Christian leaders attending a summit ahead of Pope Francis' arrival in Abu Dhabi say they're excited for the first papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula.

Bishop Camillo Ballin, the apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the Roman Catholic Church provided succor for an estimated 1 million faithful in the United Arab Emirates, nearly all of them foreigners drawn to the country for employment.

Ballin said: "His visit is a big and important encouragement for the Christians that live in these countries because they are far from their homeland and they need especially to be encouraged so that they feel they are home."

Rev. Andrew Thompson of St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi said his congregation was excited for Pope Francis' Mass on Tuesday.

Thompson said: "My congregation are so happy we are witnessing what will be the biggest Christian act of worship in the history of the Arabian Gulf, and we are excited to be a part of that."

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Associated Press writer Fay Abuelgasim contributed.

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12:20 p.m. VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has appealed for the end of Yemen's humanitarian crisis, saying the "cries of these children and their parents rise up" to God.

He made the appeal at the Vatican an hour before his scheduled departure on a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, which is a key member of the Saudi-led coalition at war with Yemen's Iran-aligned rebels. The conflict has driven Yemen to the brink of famine and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Francis urged faithful in St. Peter's Square to join him in prayer, saying "these are hungry children" with no medicine, and "are in danger of dying." Noting that many can't reach food aid areas, he appealed to the involved parties and the international community to urgently ensure that agreements are reached and food distributed.

Francis is expected in the United Arab Emirates later Sunday, where he will become the first pontiff to visit the Arabian Peninsula.

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Noon VATICAN CITY

Emiratis are welcoming Pope Francis' trip to Abu Dhabi, the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula, where Islam was born.

The National, a state-linked, English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, described the pope's three-day visit beginning Sunday as "a dream come true" for the country's estimated 1 million Roman Catholics.

The newspaper said: "With that moment will come a lifetime of gratitude to the UAE's rulers, who last year invited Pope Francis to visit the country and have fostered a society in which freedom of worship is afforded to all."

While Christians can worship in churches built on land donated by the country's rulers, proselytizing by non-Muslims is illegal. Blasphemy and apostasy laws also carry a possible death sentence.

Meanwhile, Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE's powerful ambassador to Washington, wrote in a Politico column that "religion today is a treacherous fault line that divides the region."

He added: "But the true faith of Muslims, Christians and Jews has never been about hate or fanaticism. There is no clash of civilizations or ideas - only a rash of ignorance and a deficit of courage and moral leadership."

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8 a.m. VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism as he embarks on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.

While Francis is building on two of his priorities with his Sunday-Tuesday visit to the United Arab Emirates - promoting interfaith dialogue and visiting the Catholic peripheries - diplomatic protocol will likely dictate that he leaves other concerns behind.

The Emirates' support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, which has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and the UAE's problematic record on human rights and labor violations at home will likely will get a pass - at least in public.

Pope Francis is flanked by two children as they attempt to free colored balloons during the Angelus noon prayer from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday at the Vatican before boarding a plane to the United Arab Emirates, as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Pope Francis waves as he boards the airplane for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at Rome's Fiumicino International airport, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis boards the airplane for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at Rome's Fiumicino International airport, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis speaks to reporters aboard a plane from Rome to Abu Dhabi, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (Tony Gentile/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Francis arrives to speak to reporters aboard a plane from Rome to Abu Dhabi, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (Tony Gentile/Pool photo via AP)

Pope Francis is framed in a smartphone as he greets journalists aboard an airplane on his way to the United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, upon his arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis travelled to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, upon his arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. Francis travelled to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, Pool)
MOSCOW (AP) - A bus crashed south of Moscow on Sunday, killing at least seven people, four of them children, and sending 32 others to the hospital with injuries, authorities said.

The bus carrying 45 people tipped over and crashed on a local road about 190 kilometers (118 miles) south of Moscow in the morning, the Emergency Situations Ministry said, updating previous reports that it was carrying 48 people.

Dozens of people were trapped inside the bus, and it was not until hours later that the rescue teams managed to pull everyone out. The injured included 23 children.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear and police said they detained the driver for questioning. Footage released by emergency responders showed the bus lying on the side of a snow-covered road.

The Interfax news agency quoted the mayor of the town of Yartsevo as saying the bus was carrying a children's dance club to a competition in the city of Kaluga.

The local Emergency Situations Ministry said there was no collision. It said the driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle for some reason and the bus veered off the road.

In this Russian Emergency Situations Ministry frame grab, made available on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019, Emergency Situation employees work at the scene of an accident in the Kaluga region, on a local road about 190 kilometers (118 miles) south of Moscow, Russia. Russian authorities say at least seven people, four of them children, have died in a bus crash south of Moscow. (Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations photo via AP)
NEW DELHI (AP) - India said it is closely monitoring the detention of several Indian students in the U.S. and has urged authorities there to not deport them against their will.

Indian news reports say as many as 129 Indians were among those detained Jan. 30 by U.S. immigration authorities in connection with enrollment at a fake university. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that the university was set up by authorities as part of sting operation to catch people violating the terms of their visas.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Saturday that it has been in contact with U.S. officials and has expressed concern for the detained students. The ministry said it urged the U.S. to release them "at the earliest" and cautioned that some "may have been duped."

"Our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated," the statement said.

It also said the students "should be treated differently from those recruiters who have duped them."

In a statement Jan. 30, ICE said eight people had been charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit.

"Homeland Security Investigations special agents uncovered a nationwide network that grossly exploited U.S. immigration laws. These suspects aided hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them as students, which they most certainly were not," Steve Francis, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge, said in the statement.

The university in the Detroit area was operated for almost two years by HSI special agents as part of an undercover operation, the statement said.

The eight alleged recruiters assisted foreign citizen students in "fraudulently obtaining immigration documents from the school and facilitated the creation of false student records, including transcripts, for the purpose of deceiving immigration authorities," it said.

"All participants in the scheme knew that the school had no instructors or actual classes," the statement said.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - India's prime minster paid a daylong visit to disputed Kashmir on Sunday to review development work as separatists fighting Indian rule called for a shutdown in the Himalayan region.

Shops and businesses were closed while thousands of armed government forces and commandos in flak jackets spread out across Kashmir and closed off roads with razor wire and iron barricades to prevent protests and rebel attacks during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim it in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Indian-controlled Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

During his visit, Modi inaugurated some infrastructure projects and started foundation work on several others related to health care, hydropower generation and education at three places in the region.

Traffic was sparse, with public transport staying off the roads and few cars venturing out in Srinagar, the main city and the center of urban dissent against Indian rule. Modi reviewed developmental projects in the city amid a massive security blanket around a lakeside convention center.

"We will fight terrorism forcefully. We will break its back," Modi said at the Srinagar venue in an address to officials.

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard near a temporary check point during a strike in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. India's prime minster is in disputed Kashmir for a daylong visit Sunday to review development work as separatists fighting Indian rule called for a shutdown in the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Authorities detained dozens of activists overnight and put separatist leaders under house arrest to stop them from staging any anti-India protest. They also shut internet on mobile phones and suspended train services in the Kashmir Valley, a common tactic to make organizing protests difficult and discourage dissemination of protest videos.

Government forces also enforced a security lockdown in downtown Srinagar, the urban heart of anti-India protests, as they warned residents to stay home to foil demonstrations.

Modi visited the remote mountainous Ladakh region bordering China and Pakistan on Sunday morning, where he inaugurated a university.

Later in a Hindu-dominated area in Jammu, Modi addressed a public rally. His speech had clear political overtones as he eyed India's upcoming national election due in few months.

Modi invoked the Hindu nationalist theme of "Mother India," which nationalists say included present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

"There are many children of Mother India who have faced persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh," he said. "We will stand with those who were part of India at one time," he added.

Three Kashmiri leaders, known as the Joint Resistance Leadership, called for the strike to protest Modi's visit.

"A person who in his pursuit to crush Kashmiri resistance ordered killings and damaging properties, hurting Kashmiri economy and other oppressive measures deserves only a protest from those he has oppressed," the leaders said in a statement.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, which in recent years has seen renewed rebel attacks and repeated public protests. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a deserted street during a strike in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. India's prime minster is in disputed Kashmir for a daylong visit Sunday to review development work as separatists fighting Indian rule called for a shutdown in the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard near a temporary check point during a strike in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. India's prime minster is in disputed Kashmir for a daylong visit Sunday to review development work as separatists fighting Indian rule called for a shutdown in the Himalayan region. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Scores of people with albinism have been attacked or kidnapped in Malawi, say campaigners. Many are believed to have been targeted for body parts, to be used in witchcraft

Amnesty International upbraided a Malawian minister on Thursday after he blamed assaults on those living with albinism on the victims' families.

Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi said on Tuesday, "these people are being killed by their relatives."

Albinism is a genetic hereditary disorder that causes a partial or total absence of pigmentation in the skin, the hair and the eyes.

Apart from violence and discrimination, albinos are also exposed to eye problems and a heightened risk of skin cancer.

Dausi also attacked the Association of People With Albanism in Malawi (APAM) for previously suggesting community members may be safer living abroad.

"When they say they want to seek asylum elsewhere, do they want to insult government? Seriously?" he said.

"The latest comments from Minister Nicholas Dausi are yet another indication that persons with albinism in Malawi are on their own when it comes to their safety and security," said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International's deputy director for southern Africa.

"For years, people with albinism have been living at the mercy of criminal gangs who target them for their body parts," he said in a statement.

"The recent spike in attacks shows that the government, despite amending the Anatomy Act and the Penal Code to ensure stiffer penalties, hasn't lived up to its commitments on protecting this group."

The rights group said that since December 31, two people with albinism had died and three had been kidnapped.

Of those who were abducted, two were later rescued by community members while one remains missing, it said.

Just 30 percent of the 148 attacks against albinos since 2014 have been conclusively investigated, according to official statistics, and only one murder and one attempted murder have been successfully prosecuted.

Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most aid-dependent countries, has experienced a surge in violent attacks on people with albinism since late 2014.

In many cases those with albinism are targeted for their body parts to be used in witchcraft.

Of the 600 cases of violence against albinos in 28 African countries, Malawi accounted for nearly a third.
Since the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, Park Yong-man said he had visited more than a dozen countries trying to find the ideal base for his operations

It has been three years since Park Yong-man's factory was shuttered amid weapons tests and soaring tensions, but next week's summit between the US and Pyongyang may well signal the South Korean businessman's lucrative return to the North.

His textile company, which employed around 300 North Korean workers, was one of 125 southern firms operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a highly symbolic cross-border business project that made hundreds of millions of dollars for Pyongyang.

Seoul shut down the complex in response to a nuclear test and missile launches by the North, claiming that profits from the North Korean border city were funding Pyongyang's provocations.

Despite toughened international sanctions against the North for its weapons programmes -- which currently make restarting Kaesong almost impossible -- the recent rapprochement on the Korean peninsula has renewed hopes for businessmen like Park.

"This will be my fourth excruciating year," said Park, who has struggled to keep his business afloat since leaving Kaesong, where he had access to hard-working, low-cost skilled labour.

Like other businessman in Kaesong, Park paid the North Korean government $70 a month for each of the workers it provided -- and critics say employees may have received only a fraction of that.

Since the closure Park said he had visited more than a dozen countries trying to find the ideal base for his operations.

"And the answer was Kaesong," he added.

He now runs two factories in China and Vietnam and a small production line in the basement of his Seoul office. When AFP visited, five workers were diligently stitching uniforms for a Saudi Arabian cement company in a room ringing with the soft whir of sewing machines.

A survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business last year showed that 96 percent of South Korean firms who had operations at Kaesong wished to return.

- Web of sanctions -

Normalising operations at the complex was one of the key agreements reached between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in at their summit in Pyongyang last September.

Kim said earlier this year he wanted to reopen Kaesong "without any preconditions".

The dovish Moon has called cross-border economic cooperation "a blessing", but an intricate web of sanctions tightened since the 2016 closure has halted further action.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex on the North Korean side of the border was a highly symbolic business project between the neighbouring countries that made hundreds of millions of dollars for Pyongyang

"For now, reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex is hard," said Kim Kwang-gil, a lawyer who was stationed in the factory zone from 2004 to 2013.

The new measures include bans on forming joint ventures with Pyongyang and operating financial institutions, such as a bank for the payment of wages, inside the impoverished state.

The UN sanctions also prevent textile exports from North Korea -- a key product manufactured by Kaesong firms -- and the US has banned all products manufactured with North Korean labour.

The transfer of bulk cash for workers' wages is banned by the 15-member council and paying North Korea in US dollars, as it did before the shutdown, would now be a violation of Washington's sanctions.

Seoul could seek exemptions from the UN, Kim Kwang-gil said, as it did for a cross-border railway project last year.

But these exemptions have so far been temporary and would not be ideal for guaranteeing Kaesong's future, said Korea Economic Institute senior director Troy Stangarone.

Washington is reportedly mulling sanctions relief for Pyongyang in exchange for a significant denuclearisation step ahead of Trump and Kim's second summit in Hanoi.

Ahead of the summit, Moon told Trump that Seoul was willing to "share the burden" with the US by resuming joint economic projects with the North, supporting it as it goes through the denuclearisation process.

- Cash cow -

The biggest sticking point in restarting the factory park is its potential use as a cash cow for the nuclear-armed North.

In 2017, Moon denied claims by his predecessor that around 70 percent of some $546 million spent at Kaesong was used for developing Pyongyang's arsenal.

Park Yong-man now operates a small production line in the basement of his Seoul office, following the closure of the North Korea complex

The North's weapons programme "benefited" from Kaesong, Stangarone said, even if it did not directly finance it.

"It helped provide Pyongyang with the hard currency it needed to make purchases internationally -- some legitimate, some related to its weapons programmes," he added.

South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers last month that Seoul needed ways to reopen the complex without an inflow of hard currency.

Lawyer Kim suggested that retailers could open outlets in the complex where employers would pay for workers' purchases.

But that would cut Pyongyang out of the funding loop, Stangarone pointed out, asking: "Would North Korea be willing to accept an alternative form of payment?"
A US-based group that compiles data on sexual abuse by Catholic clerics and bishops accused of covering it up fears that a bid by Pope Francis to tackle the scandals is a case of too little, too late

A US-based group that compiles data on sexual abuse by Catholic clerics and bishops accused of covering it up fears that a bid by Pope Francis to tackle the scandals is a case of too little, too late.

Speaking ahead of a Vatican summit of bishops this week to discuss the crisis, Anne Barret Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, complained of a "disconnect" between the pontiff's strong statements and his actions.

The non-governmental organisation is taking part in a counter-summit of victims running alongside the Vatican event. Following are Doyle's remarks in an interview with AFP.

- 'Impunity for bishops is ending' -

In our 15 years studying this crisis, we have never seen such a surge in accountability. It is coming from outside the Church, it's coming from prosecutors, from the news media, it's coming from legislators and governments.

There is a determination by secular society to eliminate child sexual abuse from the Catholic Church to a degree that we have never seen before.

The impunity of Catholic bishops is ending; the age of deference towards Catholic bishops is ending. In Australia, for example, during the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, we saw a determination to treat Catholic officials as ordinary citizens and to hold them accountable to the same laws that govern the rest of us.

The #MeToo movement has also taught secular society several lessons. We have become educated about the dynamic of trauma, we understand now that it takes decades for a victim to come forward and report rape or molestation as a child. We also understand the phenomenon about powerful and popular persons being a secret predator.

- 'Culture of abuse and cover-up' -

Pope Francis has made some stunning remarks. In a letter he wrote to the Chilean people in May 2018, he actually used the word "culture of abuse and cover-up", which was really amazing.

I think it's helpful that he publicly labelled crimes by the clergy "atrocities"... but his use of that word did not lead to any meaningful reform.

There is a disconnect between his strong statements and his actions. Even as he is making these bold pronouncements, he is obstructing justice. For instance, the Chilean prosecutors are asking for a copy of Charles Scicluna's investigative report, to help them in their prosecutions of complicit bishops and perpetrators in Chile. The Vatican has refused to give it.

It's also very telling that the pope allowed the cardinal (Luis) Ladaria Ferrer to claim diplomatic immunity so that he did not have to appear at Cardinal (Philippe) Barbarin's trial in France. That is the signal that the pope is not sincere in his pledge to do everything possible to end this crisis.

United States bishops in November had their annual meeting in Baltimore and they were ready to implement clearly modest changes, and at the very last minute the Vatican intervened and told them they could not enact these changes.

One strategy of Pope Francis's that distresses me is that he acts as if he has little power. We know that he could instantly implement some very powerful remedies, like changing the canon law.

- Vatican, bishops are 'stubborn' -

The various members of Ending Clerical Abuse (ECA) (a new international alliance to pressure the Catholic Church over predator priests) are powerful activists, leaders in child protection and healing for clergy abuse survivors in their respective countries.

The experts on what needs to be done to solve the Church abuse crisis are the victims, not the bishops.

The bishops have had decades to fix this problem and they have failed. The Vatican has had decades to fix this problem and it has failed. Pope Francis has failed to fix this problem.

Clearly, they keep trying the same tired remedies that appear to be mostly public relations tactics and not authentic reforms.

I do believe that ultimately the Catholic Church will implement those reforms but they will do so only under duress, only when they are forced to do so by civil societies.

I believe the Vatican slowly will be motivated to change its system, but the Vatican and bishops generally are very stubborn. I don't think they fully realise the peril that the Church is in in many societies today.
The US and China will resume talks aimed at ending a damaging trade war from Tuesday

US-China trade talks aimed at ending a damaging tariff war will resume from Tuesday in Washington, the White House said.

The last set of talks ended Friday in Beijing with no deal, though US President Donald Trump said discussions were going "extremely well" and suggested he could extend a March 1 truce deadline for an agreement to be reached.

The next round of negotiations will commence with deputy-level meetings before moving on to principal-level talks on Thursday, said a White House statement issued Monday.

For the US, the talks will be led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, economic policy advisor Larry Kudlow, and trade advisor Peter Navarro.

China's commerce ministry meanwhile announced it would be represented by Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing's top trade negotiator and key aide to President Xi Jinping, who agreed to a trade war truce with Trump at a meeting in Buenos Aires in December.

"We hope China and the US will both work hard together to implement the important consensus reached by our two heads of state in Argentina, get down to work, and walk together in the same direction towards a mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Tuesday.

China-US trade in goods

On Friday, Trump reiterated he might be willing to hold off on increasing tariffs to 25 percent from the current 10 percent on March 1 on $200 billion in Chinese goods if Washington and Beijing are close to finalizing an agreement to deal with US complaints about unfair trade and theft of American technology.

American officials accuse Beijing of seeking global industrial predominance through an array of unfair trade practices, including the alleged theft of American intellectual property and massive state intervention in commodities markets.

Since the December detente, China has resumed purchases of some US soybeans and dangled massive buying of American commodities to get US trade negotiators closer to a deal.

The talks are aimed at "achieving needed structural changes in China that affect trade between the United States and China," Monday's statement said.

"The two sides will also discuss China's pledge to purchase a substantial amount of goods and services from the United States."

Beijing and Washington have imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which are weighing on their manufacturing sectors and have shaken global financial markets.

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Jamaican victim of sexual abuse Denise Buchanan has struggled in vain for years for the Catholic Church to officially recognise her as a victim -- even writing to the pope himself -- while the priest who abused her has escaped justice

Denise Buchanan was 17 when she was raped by a seminarian who continued to abuse her when he became a priest in her native Jamaica. The Catholic Church, she says, has offered her nothing but their "prayers".

"I got pregnant and he arranged a clandestine abortion," Buchanan, still shaking and close to tears 40 years after the ordeal, told AFP.

Today aged 57, the academic is a leading member of a new international organisation, Ending Clerical Abuse (ECA), which is bringing together victims in Rome this week to pressure Pope Francis to take a tougher line on child abuse by clerics.

She has struggled in vain for years for the Church to officially recognise her as a victim -- even writing to the pope himself -- while the priest who abused her has escaped justice.

Buchanan's struggle underscores the sense of isolation felt by many victims who see the institution as still in denial, particularly in poorer countries where the Church remains politically and socially influential.

She was living in Kingston when her sister introduced her and her family to the future priest, then known as Brother Paul, a theology student and a member of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

"Brother Paul would talk at length with my father, and my mother would invite him to stay for dinner," she said.

"He told me he was very attracted to me. I felt awkward. He said that they (the Church) made rules that he didn't agree with, and he did what he needed to do to do the work of the Church," Buchanan said.

She claimed that Brother Paul forced himself on her, saying: "He pressed his lips on my lips, inserted his tongue... His hands were touching my legs and breasts. I pulled away and told him to take me home."

Buchanan said she felt so ashamed that she decided not tell her parents, fearing their reaction.

- Years of depression -

Over the following weeks, the clergyman called several times at her parents' home to take her to Sunday mass or to the rectory.

One day he invited Denise into the rectory and "showed (her) to his bedroom" where he sexually assaulted her, she said.

A few days after, he raped her after making her drink some wine, she said. "I felt something died inside me that day," she whispered.

Several weeks afterwards, she discovered she was pregnant after fainting in a shop, leading Brother Paul to organise an illegal abortion for her. "All I could think of was the disgrace I was to my family," she said.

Later he was ordained as a priest, but still came by her university residence at least once a week for sex.

"He told me he loved me and I was his girl," she said, adding that she accepted seeing him because she felt worthless and alone.

"I obeyed like a robot. I didn't care much about anything at this point," she said.

At 21, she got pregnant again, and had another backroom abortion, Buchanan said, adding with a broken voice that she has been unable to have children since.

She managed to move to Canada at age 25 for her studies, and then to Los Angeles, where she now teaches at a university and works as a psychiatric neurologist.

She married in Canada, but divorced two years later.

"I did not resolve the anger and fear I had of the relationship with Father Paul," she said.

"I have carried this guilt and shame all my life and I have had many decades of therapy for depression," she added.

- Pope's 'prayers' -

Seeking to overcome her mental anguish, she wrote a book about her experience, "Sins of the Fathers", in 2013 and sent a copy to the pope "every month for a year and a half".

In June 2016, she finally received a letter from the Los Angeles archdiocese saying the pope regularly prayed for "victims of abuse" and that he would pray for her.

But to see the priest defrocked she would have to "gather proof" of the abuse, she was told.

"I was furious when I got the letter as it seemed all I was being offered from the pope were prayers with no help to resolve the issue," she said.

In November 2017, she returned with a lawyer to Jamaica for a meeting with the local archbishop and Father Paul.

"At the meeting the priest confessed to having sex with me (not rape), he confessed that he got me pregnant but he did not admit to arranging the abortion," she said.

Buchanan fears the priest abused other victims over the years. "They moved him around from parish to parish because, from what I heard, he is a troublemaker".

Following the meeting with her, the priest went missing from his parish and "no one seems to know where he is," she added.

"I work at ECA so that what happened to me does not happen to any other child," Buchanan whispered.
Egyptian riot police block access to the street where the body of a suicide bomber lay covered in a sheet behind al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo

An explosion in Cairo on Monday killed two policemen who were chasing a man believed to have planted an explosive device last week near a mosque, Egypt's interior ministry said.

The blast in the Darb al-Ahmar district in downtown Cairo also killed the man the police were chasing and wounded three other policemen, according to the ministry statement.

"As security surrounded the man and was set to arrest and control him, an explosive device in his possession went off," the ministry said.

It said the man was pursued "as part of the interior ministry's efforts to search for the perpetrator" behind the targeting by an explosive device of a security detail stationed near a mosque in Giza on Friday.

Security had defused the device then, the ministry said.

Egypt has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency, which surged following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The attacks have been mainly concentrated in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula but have also spread to the mainland.

In December, three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian guide died when a homemade bomb exploded on their bus on the outskirts of Cairo.

Egyptian security forces launched a major anti-militant operation in February 2018 focused on the Sinai Peninsula, aimed at wiping out a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

On Saturday, an attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected jihadist assailants killed, according to the military.
US workers build the border wall between El Paso, Texas, US and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on February 5, 2019

Sixteen US states sued President Donald Trump's administration Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico, saying the move violated the constitution.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, said the president's order was contrary to the Presentment Clause that outlines legislative procedures and the Appropriations Clause, which defines Congress as the final arbiter of public funds.

The move had been previously announced by Xavier Becerra the attorney general of California who said his state and others had legal standing because they risked losing moneys intended for military projects, disaster assistance and other purposes.

Several Republican senators have decried the emergency declaration, saying it establishes a dangerous precedent and amounts to executive overreach.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia are party to the complaint seeking an injunction.

"Use of those additional federal funds for the construction of a border wall is contrary to Congress's intent in violation of the US Constitution, including the Presentment Clause and Appropriations Clause," the complaint said.

It added that Trump had "veered the country toward a constitutional crisis of his own making."

"Congress has repeatedly rebuffed the president's insistence to fund a border wall, recently resulting in a record 35-day partial government shutdown over the border wall dispute," the document read.

"After the government reopened, Congress approved, and the president signed into law, a $1.375 billion appropriation for fencing along the southern border, but Congress made clear that funding could not be used to build President Trump's proposed border wall."

The complaint added that the Department of Homeland Security had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to evaluate the environmental impact of the wall in California and New Mexico.

Friday's declaration enables the president to divert funds from the Pentagon's military construction budget and other sources.
Cigars are Cuba's most prestigious product on the global market and increasingly sought after in China

Boosted by growing demand from China, sales of Cuban cigars reached a record $537 million in 2018, a seven percent increase over the previous year despite global laws against tobacco, the partially state-owned Habanos said Monday.

"China has surpassed France as the second biggest market for Habanos" behind Spain, said the cigar company's vice president Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe.

Sales in China grew by 55 percent with east Asia as a whole up nine percent, said Lopez.

Marketing manager Ernesto Gonzalez said the figures showed "the strength of our sales despite the difficulties faced during the year."

The French market was hit by a 17 percent increase in taxes on tobacco products, which meant Habanos had to push up its prices by eight to 10 percent, said Lopez.

Gonzalez said the impressive figures came despite the global luxury tobacco market growing by just one percent in 2018.

Unlike in Europe, sales in China have not been affected by toughening anti-tobacco laws.

"The tobacco market regulatory environment is getting increasingly complicated," said Lopez.

The growth also comes despite the continuing embargo on Cuban products being sold in the hugely lucrative US market.

Habanos is half-owned by Spanish tobacco firm Altadis, which is itself the property of British giant Imperial Brand.

In 2017, Habanos saw sales grow by 12 percent to reach a then-record $500 million, again pushed by a huge upsurge in Chinese demand.
For the growing number of fans of the sport, you cant get enough of pickleball  or pickleb
A French women detained after leaving the Islamic State group's last holdout speaks to a AFP reporter at al-Hol camp for displaced people in northeastern Syria on February 17, 2019

Detained after fleeing the Islamic State group's crumbling Syrian holdout, two women from France say they are ready to go home -- if they are judged fairly.

Behind the fence of a camp in Kurdish-held territory, the detainees wore long black face veils that only showed their eyes, and were accompanied by three children.

They were supervised closely by Kurdish fighters.

Around 500 foreign women have been trucked into the Al-Hol camp in recent months, after being picked up by US-backed forces near villages they have taken one by one from the jihadists.

From the outset, the French women warned AFP they would not give any personal details in order to protect their families back home.

But the most talkative, a 29-year-old from the region of Lyon in France, had a message to get out.

"We're not animals. We're human beings... We have a heart, we have a soul," she said, her blue eyes staring straight ahead.

Kurdish-led forces have now hemmed the last IS fighters into less than half a kilometre square (0.2 square miles) of territory in the village of Baghouz, and say their only choice is surrender.

- 'We didn't agree' -

France is hesitating to bring back women thought to have belonged to IS and their children.

Their repatriation is a sensitive topic in a country that has suffered a series of deadly IS-claimed attacks since 2015.

And French authorities are even more suspicious of men and women who stayed with IS until the bitter end.

A French women detained after leaving the Islamic State group's last holdout stands with a child at al-Hol camp for displaced people in northeastern Syria on February 17, 2019

The second woman, who is in her thirties, said she, her husband, and three children fled the last IS holdout earlier this month.

"We didn't agree" with the IS fighters, she said, with a slight southern French accent.

"But we couldn't say anything."

Her companion insisted "the IS fighters scared us. They'd say: 'Well slit your throats, we'll rape you'".

After weeks of bombardment and food shortages as the Syrian Defence Forces moved in, she said she slipped $50 (44 euros) to a smuggler so she and her two young boys could escape.

Now both women say they are ready to go home.

But the 29-year-old has conditions: to be able to practice Islam as she sees fit, and to remain close to the children she has left.

She recounts how she lost two children -- aged just two and six -- a few years ago in bombardment.

But she claims she is not bent on revenge.

"I've had my children killed. It's not tomorrow that I'm going to go and kill someone," she said.

- 'They'll rip our kids away' -

The two women claim they led peaceful lives under IS and that their husbands held civilian jobs, but it was not immediately possible to verify their accounts.

They say they became disillusioned by the reality of living in the "caliphate" that IS proclaimed across large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

The jihadists "executed lots of people for nothing, without proof -- even Muslims", the younger woman said, claiming her husband was killed.

A French women detained after leaving the Islamic State group's last pocket in Syria speaks to an AFP reporter at al-Hol camp for displaced people in northeastern Syria on February 17, 2019

But they do not condemn the deadly IS attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and Bataclan concert hall in France in 2015.

"The people who did that wanted to avenge" French air strikes in Syria, the woman from the Lyon region said.

Already, she says the pair fear what might happen to their young boys if they return to France and are arrested.

"They'll rip our kids away from us, put them in homes and foster families," she said.

"They'll be separated from each other and grow up (with values) against the education we want to give them," she insisted.

"There are lots of things in France against our religion -- homosexuality for example".

Both hope that if they are put on trial they get short sentences.

"I hope we'll be judged fairly case by case -- not for everything the group did," the more talkative woman said.

The older woman said she would want a short, commutable prison sentence so she can see her children.

"They're all I've got," she said, after he husband was detained.
The new Kurdish parliament speaker, Vala Farid, (C) speaks during a session of Kurdistan's regional parliament in Arbil, on February 18, 2019

The parliament in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Monday elected its first ever woman speaker as a temporary stop-gap while deep political rifts persist more than four months after legislative elections.

During the body's first session since the September polls deputies chose Vala Farid from former regional leader Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

The head of the KDP bloc Haimim Hawrami said Farid was appointed "temporarily" until a deal can be reached with the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party on a permanent appointment.

Lawmakers from the PUK, the party of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, boycotted Monday's session.

The PUK has asked for more time to hash out thorny issues with its rival including the leadership of the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Kurdistan has faced political instability since a September 2017 referendum for independence backfired after it was rejected by Baghdad and international powers.

Iraqi forces took back oil-rich regions from Kurdish control in the wake of the vote, dealing a hammer blow to the authorities in the semi-autonomous region.
Leonora, a 19-year-old German national who fled fighting between Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Islamic State (IS) jihadists, says US-led Kurdish forces have detained her husband German jihadist Martin Lemke after he fled the last pocket held by IS in Syria

European officials on Monday gave a cold shoulder to a call by US President Donald Trump to take back citizens captured in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria for prosecution back home.

Concerns rose about the fate of European nationals now being held by Kurdish forces after Trump shocked his coalition allies in December by announcing the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.

Officials worry the Kurds will no longer be able to ensure the captives' detention, especially if their longtime foe Turkey mounted an assault on Kurdish fighters to keep them from establishing control in Syrian cities.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that Washington was "asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial".

But EU nations say any captured fighters and their family members should be prosecuted for alleged crimes where they occurred.

That would mean in Syria or Iraq, now that coalition forces are wresting the last pockets of Syrian territory from IS control.

In London, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said the IS foreign fighters should be tried where they are captured.

"Foreign fighters should be brought to justice in accordance with due legal process in the most appropriate jurisdiction," the spokesman said.

"Where possible, this should be in the region where the crimes had been committed," he added.

In Berlin, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told ARD television it would be "extremely difficult" to organise the fighters' repatriation and eventual prosecution.

A return could be possible only if "we can guarantee that these people can be immediately sent here to appear in court and that they will be detained," he said.

- 'Not changing our policy' -

In France, which accounts for the largest number of European jihadists in Syria, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said the government would stick to its current policy of dealing with fighters on a case-by-case basis.

Speaking on France 2 television, she acknowledged that the withdrawal of US troops from Syria would bring about a "new geopolitical situation... but at this stage we're not changing our policy".

France has long refused to take back fighters and their wives, of whom 150 are thought to be in Syria, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian referring to them as "enemies" of the nation.

But the US allies have been grappling for weeks with what to do with foreign fighters detained in the war-ravaged country by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have led the battle on the ground against the jihadists.

The Kurds have warned the West that they lack the resources to ensure the foreign jihadists in their jails don't escape, and have urged their home countries to take them back.

The issue has gained new urgency with the Islamic State's former "caliphate" now almost completely destroyed.

Last week Shamima Begum, a London school girl who joined IS in 2015, resurfaced in a Syrian refugee camp, saying she wanted to return to raise a baby she gave birth to while abroad.

UK security officials said they could not block Begum's return since she had never been convicted of any crimes, but they did not rule out prosecuting her upon her arrival.

In Belgium, a judge on Wednesday ordered officials to organise the return of six Belgian children and their mothers from a Syrian refugee camp overseen by Kurdish forces.

The children, aged six or under, were born to suspected jihadist fighters and Brussels had resisted calls for their repatriation.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told reporters his government had always intended to bring back children under 10 whenever possible, while others would be dealt with on a "case by case" basis.

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini ruled out any EU involvement in the disputes, saying they are a matter for national governments.

Belgian, German, and British officials also called for further international concertation on the issue.
Israel's first space engine, Beresheet (Genesis)

Israel is to launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA, organisers said Monday.

The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and technology NGO SpaceIL announced the date at a press conference.

Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv.

"We are entering history and are proud to belong to a group that has dreamed and fulfilled the vision shared by many countries in the world but that so far only three of them have accomplished," SpaceIL president Morris Kahn said.

So far only Russia, the United States and China have sent spacecraft to the moon.

The Chinese craft made the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on January 3.

NASA, which has installed equipment on Genesis to upload its signals from the moon, said last week it aims to land an unmanned vehicle there by 2024, and it is inviting private sector bids to build the US probe.

NASA plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the moon's orbit by 2026.

It will serve as a way-station for trips to and from the lunar surface, but will not be permanently crewed.

Genesis will make its 6.5-million kilometre (one million-mile) journey at a maximum speed of 10 kilometres per second (36,000 kilometres per hour), according to an IAI statement.

It will carry a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.

The $100-million project will measure the lunar magnetic field to help understanding of the moon's formation.

"This is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft on the moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding," the IAI statement said.

"Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the moon as a result of a private initiative, rather than a government."

The project started as a potential entry for the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered a $30-million reward to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive lunar missions.

The contest closed without a winner in March 2018 but SpaceIL decided to keep working on the challenge.
Yellow vests have become the symbol of an ongoing protest movement in France

Rights group Amnesty International called Monday for the release of an Egyptian lawyer arrested after posing in a photo wearing a yellow vest symbolic of protests in France.

Mohamed Ramadan, a human rights lawyer, was arrested on December 10 in the northern city of Alexandria on charges including spreading false news, distribution and possession of leaflets and yellow vests.

His arrest came as reports circulated that Egyptian authorities were restricting the sale of yellow vests -- the symbol of an ongoing protest movement in France.

Several traders told AFP in December that sale of the vests had been curbed under instructions from Egyptian authorities.

Ramadan's "detention over a Facebook post mocking government restrictions on the sale of yellow vests is utterly absurd," said Amnesty's North Africa campaigns director Najia Bounaim.

"The Egyptian authorities must release him immediately and unconditionally and drop all the charges against him," she added.

Ramadan has been held in custody since his arrest and a hearing on Tuesday is set to discuss prolonging his pre-trial detention, his lawyer Mohamed Hafez said.

France's "yellow vest" protests began in November against rising fuel taxes and quickly evolved into broader opposition to government policy, spiralling into violence in Paris and other cities.

Egypt imposed heavy restrictions on demonstrations under a 2013 law passed following the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after mass protests against his rule.

Rights groups regularly criticise Egypt for curbing freedom of expression and crushing dissent.
Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director, has disclosed that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed removing President Donald Trump from office

US President Donald Trump said Monday a top Justice official's reported discussions about invoking the Constitution to remove him from office were part of an "illegal and treasonous" push against him.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the possibility of removing the president in 2017 after Trump fired FBI director James Comey, according to Andrew McCabe, who replaced Comey as the bureau's acting director.

McCabe and Rosenstein "look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.....," Trump said in a series of tweets.

"This was the illegal and treasonous 'insurance policy' in full action!"

Trump has often attacked the federal investigations into his campaign's links to Russia as a "witch hunt" aimed at sabotaging his presidency.

The "insurance policy" he cited refers to an ambiguous text message a top FBI investigator sent to his lover in August 2016 that alludes to their concerns about then candidate Trump, which the president often points to as evidence of a "deep state" conspiracy against him.

"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andys office - that theres no way he gets elected - but I'm afraid we cant take that risk," the investigator, Peter Strzok, wrote. "Its like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40."

- Comey firing -

Trump abruptly fired Comey May 9, 2017 as pressure rose over the Russia investigation, setting off alarm bells in the FBI and Justice Department.

According to McCabe, in a lengthy interview that aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes," Rosenstein brought up the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, which provides for the removal of a sitting president for incapacity.

"Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort," said McCabe, who has a book coming out, "The Threat."

US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is said to have discussed invoking the Constitution to remove Donald Trump from office after he fired FBI director James Comey

Rosenstein even pondered wearing a wire to secretly record his conversations with the president, he said.

The deputy attorney general, who remains in office but no longer supervises the Russia investigation, appears never to have acted on those ideas.

"But 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," McCabe said.

McCabe himself was 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.

In the interview, McCabe also touched on Trump's inclination to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin over what his own intelligence services are telling him.

He recounts a meeting he did not attend but was witnessed by another FBI agent, in which Trump reportedly said he did not believe North Korea had missiles capable of reaching the United States because Putin had told him that.

"Intelligence officials in the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence our government possesses," McCabe said. "To which the president replied, 'I don't care. I believe Putin.'"
The US Commerce Department has filed a report that could trigger tariffs against imported cars and intensify tensions with Europe

The EU promised a quick and effective response if the United States imposes import duties on European autos, a spokesman for the European Commission said on Monday.

Brussels issued the threat after the US Commerce Department filed a report that empowers President Donald Trump to apply car duties within the next 90 days.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has labelled as "frightening" the prospect that this report could label European car imports as a national security threat to the United States, enabling the tariffs.

The White House has already 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.

"Were this report translated into action detrimental to European exports, the European Commission would react in a swift and adequate manner," EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing in Brussels.

The protectionist Trump has threatened 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

European officials have said that Brussels has drawn up a list of 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion) of potential countermeasures, without providing further details.

In 2017 just under half of the 17 million cars sold in the US were imported, most of them produced in Canada and Mexico which are expected to be exempt from any new automobile duties.

German automobile groups last year exported 470,000 cars from Germany to the United States, according to the VDA manufacturers' federation.

The transatlantic flare-up followed a truce established in July, in which Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged no new tariffs while both sides pursued a limited trade deal.

Juncker "trusts President Trump's word. The European Union will stick to its word as long as the US does the same," Schinas said.

Germany is pushing hard for the trade deal with the US, but according to a European source, France is reluctant to pursue talks fearing they may stoke popular anger ahead of European elections in May.

EU trade ministers will discuss the talks, as well as the possible countermeasures against the US, at talks in Bucharest on Thursday.

Aside from economic matters, US-European ties have already been upended over Trump's approach towards Iran and Syria, as well as other issues.
The UAE signed the deals with the US arms giant at a military expo in Abu Dhabi

The United Arab Emirates announced Monday it had signed deals worth more than $1.6 billion for the purchase of Patriot missile launchers from US arms giant Raytheon, state media said.

The deals, inked on the second day of an international military exhibition in Abu Dhabi, come a day after the UAE announced it would buy $353 million worth of Patriot missiles from Raytheon.

Some $3.2 billion in deals have been signed between the oil-rich state and western companies at the expo, set to run through Thursday, state-run WAM news agency said.

The UAE, long a key ally of the United States, maintains close ties with the adminstration of President Donald Trump.

The US is preparing to build a military hospital, funded by the UAE, in Abu Dhabi to treat Emirati soldiers and American troops based in the region, a US army official said Sunday.

The facility would be "very similar" to the one in Landstuhl, Germany, the biggest American hospital outside the US, said Lieutenant General Charles Hooper, director of the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the Yemen war in 2015 to bolster the government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

The World Health Organisation says some 10,000 people have been killed since the coalition intervened in 2015, but rights groups argue the death toll could be five times as high.
Yameen came to power in 2013 and jailed many of his opponents or forced them into exile

Maldives authorities on Monday detained former strongman president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

The arrest came after a court began a preliminary hearing into allegations that Yameen received nearly $1.5 million in illicit payments just before he lost his re-election bid in September.

"Prosecutors said that Yameen had allegedly attempted to bribe witnesses," a court official said.

Dozens of the former leader's supporters gathered near a jetty in the capital where the former leader was transferred to a police speed boat that took him to the Maafushi prison after spending four hours in the court house, police said.

Many of the key dissidents incarcerated during his rule were held at the same prison.

Officials said Yameen strongly denied police allegations that he attempted to bribe or coerce witnesses to change their testimony.

Yameen, who came to power in 2013 and jailed many of his opponents or forced them into exile, had been summoned to the Criminal Court Sunday to formally receive his indictment. He sent his lawyers in his place.

The court then scheduled a rushed hearing after prosecutors told judge Ahmed Hailam that Yameen was attempting to interfere with witnesses.

Since Yameen's shock election defeat, all dissidents have returned to the Indian Ocean archipelago and most have had their convictions overturned.

During his five-year tenure, Yameen relied heavily on China for political and financial support as he came under international criticism over his dismal human rights record.

The nation of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is now heavily in debt to Beijing.

- Loot stashed abroad -

Authorities believe millions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by Yameen could be stashed abroad, and have said that talks are underway with foreign entities to repatriate any cash found.

The court has already frozen Yameen's local bank accounts holding about $6.5 million, a decision the former leader has contested.

Former justice minister Azima Shakoor was also charged with embezzlement and helping Yameen to launder money

Last week, an anti-corruption body came up with a report saying $79 million was embezzled from state-run Maldives Media and Public Relations Corporation during Yameen's tenure.

There was no immediate comment from Yameen's legal team on the detention order.

The arrest of Yameen came a day after his chief lawyer and former justice minister Azima Shakoor was also charged with embezzlement and helping her boss to launder money.

Maldivian police earlier announced they had evidence linking Yameen and Shakoor to the theft of millions from the country.

The Maldives was on the verge of being slapped with Western-led sanctions before opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won an unexpected landslide in last year's election, campaigning on a pledge to end corruption in the country otherwise known for its luxury tourism.
After allegations surfaced against her in 2008, Malka Leifer (R) and her family left Australia for Israel

A Jerusalem court refused Monday to release to house arrest an ultra-Orthodox Israeli woman sought by Australia over accusations of sexually abusing girls under her care there.

District court justice Ram Winograd said that Malka Leifer would remain in detention for the duration of her extradition hearings, rejecting her lawyers' argument that treatment for her alleged mental condition in prison was "life threatening."

"The respondent is under the medical supervision of the prison, and undergoes weekly psychiatric evaluations," Winograd said at the end of the hearing.

"There is no room to assume that the treatment in the prison was risking her life."

Leifer's mental condition and her fitness to stand trial were at the heart of Monday's session, which drew increased attention after recent allegations that Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman had used his authority to help prevent her extradition.

According to media reports beginning last week, Litzman, who is also ultra-Orthodox, had pressured medical officials to proclaim Leifer unfit to stand trial.

Litzman and a number of his aides were questioned by police, with his office denying any wrongdoing.

Leifer, who did not attend the Monday hearing, is accused of child sex abuse while she was a teacher and principal at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne, where she had relocated from her native Israel.

According to Australian media, Leifer is facing 74 counts of child sex abuse, but her lawyer Tal Gabay told the court on Monday there were "three actual complaints."

After allegations surfaced against her in 2008, Leifer and her family left for Israel and have been living in the settlement of Emmanuel in the occupied West Bank.

A previous extradition attempt between 2014 and 2016 failed after Leifer was hospitalised in mental institutions and expert opinions determined she was not fit to stand trial.

But undercover private investigators filmed Leifer depositing a cheque at a bank and shopping, prompting Israeli authorities to launch a probe to see if she was faking mental illness to avoid extradition, leading to her arrest in February 2018.

Leifer's attorneys Yehuda Fried and Gabay rejected Winograd's proposal to have her undergo another psychiatric evaluation within the confines of her custody, saying that it would likely cause her duress that would further deteriorate her condition.

Dassi Erlich, one of the women accusing Leifer of sexually abusing her, said she was "hugely relieved" the court had refused the house arrest request.

Speaking to AFP from Australia ahead of the hearing, Erlich said she was "incredibly angry" over the possibility Litzman had intervened on behalf of Leifer.

"The manipulation of justice has reached very far, something we suspected all along, but we can't believe how far the manipulation has reached," she said by phone.

Hearings on Leifer's extradition will resume in March.
Persistent power cuts and a spike in the price of fuel oil has forced residents to increasingly rely on gas to cook and heat their homes

As soon as they spotted a truck distributing gas canisters, residents in the Syrian city of Aleppo formed a long queue stretching down the street -- a now-familiar sight due to crippling shortages.

Security forces and members of a municipal committee shuffled people around into an organised line, as men climbed into the back of the muddy lorry to hand out the cylinders.

The mayor of the Salah al-Din district wrote down the personal details of each person who received a gas canister that day.

Umm Bader was one of them.

A smile beamed across her face as she struggled to drag the heavy cylinder back home.

"I've been standing here every morning for the past three days," said the women in her 50s, wearing a long robe and a black veil.

"Today I was lucky," she said.

Since December, queueing for hours to buy gas has become part of everyday life in the Salah al-Din district.

The crisis has also hit other government-held cities in Syria, including the capital Damascus, sparking a wave of discontent.

Persistent power cuts and a spike in the price of fuel oil has forced residents to increasingly rely on gas to cook and heat their homes.

Swelling consumption and increased demand during winter has led to one of the most serious gas shortages in recent years.

The scale of the crisis prompted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to acknowledge the problem during a televised speech Sunday.

"There has been real suffering, which most of the Syrian people have felt," he said.

"There needs to be a change in the distribution system to take into account consumption and population density" in each province, he said.

- 'Punitive' sanctions -

In Aleppo, the mayor of Salah al-Din said just 200 gas canisters a day were reaching a district of 25,000 families.

"Salah al-Din is considered to be the most populated neighbourhood in Aleppo," 44-year-old Hassan al-Jok said.

Electricity cuts and high fuel oil prices mean residents are relying mainly on gas for heating, causing "excess in consumption", he said.

Local businesses and restaurants that rely heavily on gas are struggling to stay open

"I expect the gas supply will improve as spring approaches," he said.

The mayor pointed to sanctions imposed on Syria as a reason behind the crisis, but said they only served to "punish" the population.

Since 2011, the United States and Europe have both slapped sanctions on imports including fuels, as well as Syrian individuals accused of financially backing Assad's regime.

In November, the US Treasury issued a new advisory threatening penalties against "insurers, shipping companies, financial institutions, and others involved in petroleum-related shipping transactions with the Government of Syria".

That same month, the treasury moved to disrupt an international network "through which the Iranian regime, working with Russian companies, provides millions of barrels of oil to the Syrian government".

The General Competition and Anti-Monopoly Commission, a state body, said last month the gas crisis was linked to sanctions.

In a report published by the pro-government Al-Watan daily, it said economic sanctions were disrupting gas shipments to Syria, which imports up to 80 percent of its fossil fuels from allied countries.

- Bad for business -

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem told parliament last month work was being done to boost local gas production and to identify alternative sources to satisfy growing demand.

On average, Syria requires 130,000 gas canisters a day, according to official figures.

In Aleppo, the mayor of the Salah al-Din district said just 200 gas canisters a day were reaching a district of 25,000 families

The government sells each cylinder at a subsidised price of 2,700 Syrian pounds ($5) but limited supply has forced residents to purchase gas from private vendors at more than double that rate, according to residents.

Local businesses and restaurants that rely heavily on gas are struggling to stay open.

In Aleppo's al-Hamidiyah neighbourhood, the owner of a rotisserie chicken shop said he now closes his restaurant early.

"Ever since the gas crisis started, we have decreased the amount of food we sell and shortened working hours to avoid closing down completely," said 50-year-old Mohammad Fattouh.

"We can't wait in line for hours everyday to buy (state-subsidised) gas, so we are forced to pay more to get gas" from private sellers, he said.

Gas shortages are also a problem for Fattouh at home.

His wife, Umm Abdu, says she is cooking less and preparing salads instead to limit gas consumption.

"We're used to electricity cuts and fuel oil shortages but we're not used to not enough gas, which is a basic necessity," she said.

"Finding a gas canister has become yet another dream to add to all the other dreams of a simple Aleppo resident," she said.
Syrians gather at the scene of a twin bomb attack in Idlib that a war monitor said killed 24 people

A double bomb attack in Syria's jihadist-held city of Idlib on Monday killed 24 people, including four children, a war monitor said.

The first blast was caused by a bomb planted under a car in the main city of the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A motorcycle bomb detonated after ambulances arrived at the scene of the first explosion, the Britain-based monitoring group said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which the Observatory said also wounded at least 51, updating an earlier casualty toll.

Idlib, the last major part of Syria still outside the control of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, is held by an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

HTS took administrative control of the whole of the region last month, after overpowering smaller Turkey-backed factions.

The Islamic State group also has sleeper cells in the area.

A local office of the "Salvation Government", an administrative body created by HTS, is located on the street targeted by Monday's attack.

Four HTS fighters were killed in the blast, the Observatory said, while the other 20 victims were civilians.

Idlib has been protected from a massive regime offensive since September by a buffer zone deal agreed by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But it has been hit by sporadic government shelling.

Eight years into the conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people, the government controls nearly two-thirds of the country.
Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni announces her retirement from political life at a news conference in Tel Aviv on February 18, 2019

Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, whose party has trailed far behind in polls ahead of April 9 elections, announced Monday she was retiring from politics.

Livni, who gained international recognition in part thanks to her past role as a negotiator with the Palestinians, also said her Hatnua party ("The Movement") would not run in the elections.

The 60-year-old said in an emotional statement before journalists in Tel Aviv she was bringing her party to "an end ... knowing I did all I could for my beloved state and to unite the forces that would fight for it. It's not up to me any more."

Livni, who also previously served in the Mossad spy agency, narrowly missed out on becoming prime minister after 2009 elections as head of the centrist Kadima party.

Kadima, founded by the late Ariel Sharon, had won the most seats, but Livni was unable to form a coalition.

The Tel Aviv-born lawyer has long been a leading figure in Israeli politics and among its most powerful women.

Livni was first elected to parliament in 1999 as part of the right-wing Likud party, but would later shift to the centre, believing Israel must separate from the Palestinians to preserve a Jewish majority in the country.

She held various ministerial roles, including serving as foreign and justice ministers.

She led the last serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, a US-sponsored effort that failed in 2014.

- Democracy 'under attack' -

Livni had recently helped lead Israel's main opposition, the centre-left Zionist Union alliance, but a split in January ended the arrangement that also included the Labour party.

Labour party leader Avi Gabbay dramatically announced then that he would no longer partner with Livni as she sat stone-faced next to him.

While the Zionist Union won the second-most seats in the last general election in 2015, it more recently tumbled in opinion polls.

Livni sought to mount a campaign for April 9 elections outside the Zionist Union, but struggled to gain any traction or form the large alliance she sought.

Labour and Gabbay have also faltered in opinion polls. Gabbay thanked Livni for her contributions to the country after her announcement despite the "disagreement between us."

In her statement on Monday, Livni said Israeli democracy was "under attack" and "peace has become a dirty word" -- references to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing governance.

She said that despite the current climate, she believed "our path" would eventually win out.

The Peace Now NGO, which is critical of Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, regretted the departure "of a brave voice in favour of the two-state solution."

Netanyahu is likely to remain premier after the elections, polls consistently show, despite a series of corruption investigations into his affairs.

The attorney general is however expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he intends to indict Netanyahu, and an announcement before the elections could shake up the campaign.

The right-wing prime minister's main challenger is seen as former military chief of staff Benny Gantz and his centrist Israel Resilience party.
Nigerian electoral commission staff must resolve logistical issues to be set for the delayed presidential vote

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday he had ordered the police and military to be "ruthless" with vote-riggers, as preparations were made for rescheduled elections.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were put off just over five hours before polls were due to open on Saturday, causing widespread anger.

New polls have been rescheduled for this Saturday, while governorship and state assembly elections have been pushed back to March 9.

At an emergency meeting of his ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC) in Abuja, Buhari said he intended to make sure the rescheduled ballot proceeds without a hitch.

Nigeria

"I do not expect anybody to make any disturbance," he told senior party members. "Anybody who decides to snatch (ballot) boxes or use thugs to disturb it (the vote), maybe this will be the last unlawful action he will take."

Buhari, 76, said he had ordered "the military and the police to be ruthless" to ensure all Nigerians can vote for their chosen candidate.

"I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs or snatch (ballot) boxes or to disturb the voting system, he will do it at the expense of his life," the president emphasised.

Both the APC and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been accused of wanting to rig the result, notably by buying biometric voter identity cards.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed the last-minute delay on logistical difficulties in the distribution of election materials, as well as sabotage.

President Mohammadu Buhari vows a "ruthless" response to vote-riggers in the rescheduled elections

Elections have been delayed before in Nigeria: In 2015, there was a six-week postponement on security grounds linked to the Boko Haram conflict in northeast Nigeria.

In 2011, the election was halted after it had already begun due to problems with deliveries of ballot papers, results sheets, and other voting materials.

This year's election is the sixth in the 20 years since Nigeria returned to civilian rule after decades of military government.

Some 84 million voters are registered.

- Inquiry call -

Buhari's aides retweeted the speech with the hashtag #SnatchAtYourOwnRisk, while one made an explicit reference to the president's past as an army general.

In 2015, the newly elected head of state, who during the last election campaign said he was a "converted democrat", made a point of saying he would no longer be referred to as "General Buhari".

Around 84 million people are registered to vote in the delayed Nigerian presidential election

His latest comments came as the APC, PDP and international observers called for calm after the postponement and the PDP said it was a "direct call for jungle justice".

"It is indeed a licence to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilized nation," said party spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan.

Many Nigerians had returned to their home towns and villages to vote, prompting fears they may not return next weekend and turn-out will be low.

Buhari told APC delegates there was no justification for the delay and that questions needed to be answered about "why such incompetence manifested itself".

Nigerian election staff must reconfigure 180,000 electronic machines

INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu has said the decision to postpone was the commission's alone and rejected claims of any political interference.

APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole, however, backed a call from his opposite number at the PDP for Yakubu to resign, and accused INEC of "mischief, collusion and double-speak".

There was a "strong suggestion" the election watchdog had colluded with "anti-democratic forces", he said, accusing it of warning the PDP in advance about the delay.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (L) and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar lead in the nation's presidential poll

PDP challenger Atiku Abubakar's campaign team has accused the APC of working with INEC and the security services to rig the vote in its favour.

INEC officials across the country began reconfiguring the 180,000 electronic machines used to "read" voters cards to account for the new election date.

In the southern city of Port Harcourt, IT personnel were changing the date and other information on about 7,000 machines before Wednesday.

"We are working hard to meet the deadline," said INEC spokesman Christian Nwokorie. "But the internet connection is a challenge...

"Usually it should take no more than one minute to complete this process but if the network is bad, it can take up to five minutes."

Batteries on the machines also need to be charged but constant electricity is an issue, he said. INEC has provided generators as back-up, he added.
Yameen came to power in 2013 and jailed many of his opponents or forced them into exile

Maldives authorities on Monday detained former strongman president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

The arrest came after the Criminal Court began a hearing into allegations that Yameen received nearly $1.5 million in illicit payments just before he lost an election in September and was forced out of power.

"Prosecutors said that Yameen had allegedly attempted to bribe witnesses," a court official said, adding that the former president would be held at the Dhoonidhoo prison island near the capital.

If convicted, the 59-year-old could face up to 15 years in jail and be fined three times the amount of the fraud involved.

Yameen, who came to power in 2013 and jailed many of his opponents or forced them into exile, was summoned to the Criminal Court Sunday to formally receive his indictment. He sent his lawyers in his place.

The court then scheduled a rushed hearing after prosecutors told judge Ahmed Hailam that Yameen was attempting to interfere with witnesses.

Since Yameen's shock election defeat, all dissidents have returned to the Indian Ocean archipelago and most have had their convictions overturned.

During his five-year tenure, Yameen relied heavily on China for political and financial support as he came under international criticism over his dismal human rights record.

The nation of 340,000 Sunni Muslims is now heavily in debt to China.

- Loot stashed abroad -

Authorities believe millions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by Yameen could be stashed abroad, and have said that talks are under way with foreign entities to repatriate any cash found.

Former justice minister Azima Shakoor was also charged with embezzlement and helping Yameen to launder money

The court has already frozen Yameen's local bank accounts holding about $6.5 million, a decision the former leader has contested.

Last week, an anti-corruption body came up with a report saying $79 million was embezzled from state-run Maldives Media and Public Relations Corporation during Yameen's tenure.

There was no immediate comment from Yameen or his legal team on the detention order.

The arrest of Yameen came a day after his chief lawyer and former justice minister Azima Shakoor was also charged with embezzlement and helping her boss to launder money.

Maldivian police earlier announced they had evidence linking Yameen and Shakoor to the theft of millions from the country.

The Maldives was on the verge of being slapped with Western-led sanctions before opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won an unexpected landslide in last year's election, campaigning on a pledge to end corruption in the country otherwise known for its luxury tourism.
India insists Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a former navy officer, was not a spy

Islamabad should be ordered to immediately free an Indian man sentenced to death for alleged spying in Pakistan, India's lawyers told the UN's top court Monday, saying his military trial was a "farcical case" based on "malicious propaganda".

The hearing concerning Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav at the International Court of Justice comes amid a sharp spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, after a suicide attack on an Indian military convoy last week and renewed fighting in disputed Kashmir.

Jadhav, a former navy officer, 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 in 2017.

India insists Jadhav, 48, was not a spy and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi is now asking the ICJ -- which rules in disputes between countries -- to nullify his sentence and to order Islamabad to set him free.

- 'Unlawful' -

"Considering the trauma he has been subjected to over the past three years, it would be in the interest of justice of making human rights a reality, to direct his release," India's lawyer Harish Salve told the judges.

He said Jadhav's trial by military court "hopelessly failed to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process... and should be declared unlawful".

Furthermore, he said, Pakistan "grossly violated" Jadhav's human rights by refusing him consular access he was entitled to under the Vienna Convention, the treaty that governs diplomatic relations between countries.

India's joint secretary at its External Affairs Ministry, Deepak Mittal, told the court the proceedings against Jadhav in Pakistan were based on a "farcical case" and "malicious propaganda".

But Pakistan's lawyer Khawar Qureshi hit back after the hearing, saying: "There are fundamental questions that India has yet to answer.

"Today, we are disappointed with India's position. They've said nothing new," Qureshi said, adding: "You will hear what we have to say about this tomorrow."

New Delhi's move in the controversial case comes as fresh bloodshed in Kashmir sent tensions between the neighbours soaring.

The rare foray into the international courts by India and Pakistan could be another flashpoint after Thursday's suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

Indian troops suffered new losses Monday in a fierce battle with Kashmir militants that left at least seven more dead.

The latest confrontation piled more pressure on the Indian government, which has blamed Pakistan for the suicide attack that sparked widespread calls for action against its neighbour.

Pakistan has rejected the allegations.

- 'Blurry on facts' -

Jadhav 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".

Pakistan's "story has always been strong on rhetoric and blurry on facts," Salve told the judges, adding that consular access should be granted immediately.

Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order at the time to stay Jadhav's execution, 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.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 with both countries, which have fought three wars, claiming it as their own.

India and Pakistan also routinely accuse each other of sending spies into their countries and it is not uncommon for either nation to expel diplomats accused of espionage, particularly at times of high tension.

Death sentences however have been rarely issued in recent years.

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.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have argued about the Holocaust before

Poland's prime minister on Monday cancelled Warsaw's participation in a Jerusalem summit, accusing an Israeli minister of "racist" comments about the actions of Poles during the Holocaust, further souring relations between the two nations.

Mateusz Morawiecki's decision to scotch Poland's involvement in the summit of central European nations comes after the latest salvo in a long row between Poland and Israel over history.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Sunday told a Tel Aviv-based international television station that "there were many Poles who collaborated with the Nazis, and like (former PM) Yitzhak Shamir, whose father was murdered, said, 'Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk'."

Morawiecki announced on Monday that Poland's foreign minister would not be attending the Jerusalem summit due to Katz's comments, after he had himself pulled out on Sunday over earlier comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The words of the Israeli foreign minister are racist and unacceptable," Morawiecki said, adding that Katz was "trying to insult the Poles by distorting history."

This week's summit with Israel and the Visegrad Four (V4) -- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia -- would now be postponed until later in the year, Slovak government spokeswoman Patricia Macikova told AFP, after Poland pulled out.

"The prime ministers of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary will use the visit for bilateral meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as a trilateral meeting," she added, speaking for Slovak premier Peter Pellegrini, who currently chairs the V4 group.

However, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said it was not immediately clear whether Israel would hold a summit with the remaining participants or instead organise a series of separate meetings.

- Sensitive subject -

The row between Poland and Israel broke out last week when Netanyahu -- who was quoted in Haaretz newspaper as saying that "the Poles collaborated with the Nazis" -- was condemned in Poland for appearing to accuse all Polish people of cooperating with Nazi Germany during World War II.

Warsaw has long been at pains to state that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany, did not collaborate in the Holocaust although individual Poles gave up Jews to the Nazis.

"The Polish government in exile was warning (about the Holocaust) and its delegation in occupied territory, namely the underground army, condemned to death blackmailers of different nationalities who denounced the Jews (to the Nazis)," Morawiecki told Polish media Monday.

"So as a state we behaved properly," he added.

It is also undeniable that Polish Jews perished at the hands of their non-Jewish neighbours in isolated cases.

Polish-American historian Jan T. Gross triggered shock in Poland in 2001 with his book "Neighbours", in which he revealed that in 1941 during the Nazi German occupation, several hundred Jews were massacred by their Polish neighbours in the northeastern town of Jedwabne.

- 'Misquoted' -

The Israeli prime minister's office said on Friday that Netanyahu had not implicated all Poles in the Holocaust, insisting he was "misquoted".

Netanyahu was in Warsaw last week for a two-day summit on the Middle East, co-hosted by Poland and the United States, which focused on isolating Iran while building Arab-Israeli ties.

The fresh controversy in Polish-Israeli ties comes after a row last year over a Polish law that made it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in Nazi German crimes.

After protests from Israel and the US, Poland amended the law to remove the possibility of fines or a prison sentence.

Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II and lost six million citizens including three million Jews.

burs-mas/boc
The Indian government has blamed Pakistan for the attack on a paramilitary convoy

Indian troops suffered new losses Monday in a battle with Kashmir militants that left nine dead, officials said, just days after a major suicide bomb attack escalated tensions with neighbouring Pakistan.

The confrontation piled more pressure on the Indian government, which has blamed Pakistan for last Thursday's suicide attack on a convoy that killed at least 41 paramilitaries.

Several hours of shooting rocked the Pulwama district, south of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, after officials said four soldiers, a policeman, three militants and a civilian were killed in the latest clash.

An army major was among the dead, along with three militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group which claimed last week's attack, military and police officials said.

Six senior army men including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel were injured in the hours-long gun battle, a police official told AFP.

"A police deputy inspector general has also suffered injuries," the official said.

The identity of the militants was not revealed but local media reports said one of those killed was Abdul Rashid Gazi, a Pakistani national whose role in Thursday's attack was being probed by investigators.

Hundreds of soldiers raided villages and fired warning shots at a suspected militant hideout, unleashing the firefight in the village of Pinglan late Sunday.

Images showed flames and smoke billowing out of one of the residential houses in the area.

Government forces have launched a massive hunt since an explosives-packed van struck the convoy transporting 2,500 security men close to Pinglan on Thursday.

A map of Indian-administered Kashmir showing Pulwama, the site of Thursday's suicide bombing

A video on social media purportedly shows a pre-recorded message by the 20-year-old Kashmiri suicide bomber warning of more attacks.

India accuses Pakistan of harbouring the JeM group, a charge Islamabad denies.

With tensions mounting, Islamabad recalled its envoy to New Delhi for "consultations" while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for greater international action against "terrorism".

"The cruel terrorist attack in Pulwana shows that time for talks is over," Modi said after a meeting with Argentina's President Mauricio Macri in New Delhi.

- Mob attacks -

Thursday's attack sparked anger and outrage across India.

Thousands of demonstrators staged angry rallies in several Indian cities over the weekend, with attacks on Kashmiris reported in several towns.

Thousands of demonstrators staged angry rallies in several Indian cities over the weekend

Protesters in New Delhi on Sunday burned effigies of Pakistani and JeM leaders.

Many small businesses closed Monday following a call for a nationwide shutdown.

In the capital, a Kashmiri man was beaten by a mob that accused him of chanting anti-India slogans. He was later detained by police.

A curfew remained in force for a fourth day in Jammu city, in the Hindu-majority part of Kashmir, where mobs attacked and set fire to properties belonging to Kashmiri Muslims.

Thousands of residents in the city have fled to Muslim-majority areas.

The government faces increased pressure because of an upcoming national election.

New Delhi has withdrawn trade privileges for Pakistan and ended police protection for four Kashmiri separatist leaders.

Some commentators have called for military action against Pakistan.

India launched what it called 'surgical strikes' on targets in Pakistani Kashmir in September 2016, 11 days after a militant attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir which left 19 soldiers dead. Pakistan denies the strikes took place.

A Kashmiri man was beaten by a mob in New Delhi that accused him of chanting anti-India slogans

But experts say India has limited options for action now.

"Whatever retaliation India takes will be symbolic. It won't have any real impact," Ajay Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi based Institute for Conflict Management, told AFP.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said during a visit to Islamabad that his country "will try to de-escalate tensions" between India and Pakistan. He is due to visit New Delhi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.

JeM is one of several militant groups fighting Indian troops in Kashmir, which has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan region and have fought two wars over the territory.

Kashmir is the world's most militarised zone with some 500,000 Indian troops deployed to fight a rebellion that broke out in 1989.

Tens of thousands of people, mainly civilians, have died in the conflict. Violence has spiked since 2016 with almost 600 killed last year, the highest toll in a decade.
Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe says the Justice Department's number two, Rod Rosenstein, discussed removing Trump from office

The US deputy attorney general discussed how many cabinet members would support removing US President Donald Trump from office in 2017, the FBI's former acting director said in an interview airing Sunday.

Andrew McCabe said invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution was raised by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump fired FBI director James Comey on May 9, 2017.

"Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort," McCabe told CBS's "60 Minutes" news show.

A clip of that part of the interview was run early Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" show, the first time McCabe's actual comments on the explosive subject have been aired.

Rosenstein has dismissed reports that he discussed removing Trump from office -- and even pondered wearing a wire to secretly record his conversations with the president -- as a "joke," if indeed he made the comments.

In the interview, McCabe was asked whether Rosenstein seemed intent on "getting rid of the president of the United States one way or another."

"I can't confirm that," he said. "But 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 president abruptly fired Comey amid tensions over the FBI's investigation into possible links between Trump's 2016 campaign and a covert Russian effort to sway the US election in his favor.

Comey has said that Trump had been pressuring him to publicly declare that he was not a subject of the investigation.

The firing set off alarm bells at the FBI, and McCabe told CBS he scrambled to ensure that the Russia probe was on "absolutely solid ground" so it could not easily be shelved.

He told CBS he did not remember how the 25th Amendment came up in the discussion with Rosenstein.

"It was just another kind of topic that he jumped to in the midst of a wide-ranging conversation," he said.

The 25th Amendment sets out a process for the replacement of the president in the event of death, removal, resignation or incapacitation.

McCabe himself was 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.
Hundreds of civilians have poured out of the last Islamic State group enclave in eastern Syria in recent days overwhelming the capacity of advancing Kurdish-led forces to process them

"Large numbers" of civilians remain inside the last Islamic State group enclave in Syria prompting a fresh delay in a final advance, Kurdish-led forces said on Saturday.

"There are still civilians inside in large numbers," US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Adnan Afrin told AFP on the day President Donald Trump said he expected to announce the end of the jihadists' "caliphate".

"We werent expecting this number, otherwise we wouldnt have resumed the campaign four days ago. This is why its been delayed," Afrin said.

A second SDF spokesman told AFP that the diehard jihadists remained in control of the tiny enclave around the village of Baghouz on the north bank of the Euphrates river.

Civilians flee the last pocket of IS group territory

"The pocket inside Baghouz is still controlled by the IS group," spokesman Mustefa Bali told AFP.

"There are still civilians inside Baghouz and we are working on getting them out."

Neither spokesman would comment on the timeline set by Trump for a US announcement that the "caliphate" had been eradicated.

"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 reporters at around 1600 GMT on Thursday.
National Australia Bank's chair Ken Henry and chief executive Andrew Thorburn were singled out for being unwilling to acknowledge their organisation's mistakes

A major inquiry into scandals at Australia's banking and financial services firms has referred more than 20 cases to regulators for possible prosecution, and called for substantial changes in the sector.

The wide-ranging Royal Commission was called in late 2017 as public outrage mounted over allegations of dodgy financial advice, life insurance and mortgage fraud involving lenders, including the "big four" Australian banks.

Following a year-long investigation, with more than 10,000 submissions and numerous and often-emotional hearings involving affected customers, the Royal Commission called for swathes of rules to be revisited, and for banks to be more heavily regulated or monitored to prevent future misconduct.

"Saying sorry and promising not to do it again has not prevented recurrence," said the inquiry's commissioner, former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne.

The wide-ranging Royal Commission was called in late 2017 as public outrage mounted over allegations of dodgy financial advice and fraud involving lenders, including the 'big four' Australian banks

"The financial services industry is too important to the economy of the nation to allow what has happened in the past to continue or to happen again."

A key focus of the 76 recommendations was closing legal loopholes and increasing protections for consumers, including through the banning of particularly egregious sales practices in the pension and insurance markets.

The big banks were sharply criticised, with National Australia Bank's (NAB) chair Ken Henry and chief executive Andrew Thorburn singled out for being unwilling to acknowledge their organisation's mistakes.

But Hayne stopped short of publicly recommending criminal charges, preferring to leave punishment to regulators -- which he said themselves had fallen down on the job and were in need of review.

The report -- while extensive -- is likely to disappoint some observers who had called for the heads of individual senior executives who allowed or perpetuated the repeated misconduct and breaches.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, whose ruling conservative party had opposed the creation of the commission, called it "scathing".

"From today, the banking sector must change and change forever," he said, announcing that the government would act on Hayne's recommendations.

"Our principle focus is on restoring trust in our financial system and delivering better consumer outcomes."

The banks accepted their "failures have caused deep hurt, suffering and heartache for far too many customers", Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh told reporters.

"Importantly, banks accept full responsibilities for these failings and they know that they must now change to ensure that this never happens again."

- Loss of public faith -

The report had been seen as an inflection point for the economically vital sector, but analysts said the commission was calling for the tweaking of existing laws rather than the introduction of new ones.

NAB's credit research head Michael Bush said in a note to clients that many of Hayne's recommendations had "already been pre-empted by the banks... or by the industrys regulators".

"We therefore don't see significant negative impacts on the broader economy or on the banks' own credit quality or external ratings," he added.

Investors might already think the worst is over, with share prices in the major banks closing around one percent higher ahead on Monday ahead of the report, after days of declines.

A crucial question will be if and when the recommendations are legislated. With national elections due to be called by mid-May and only several parliamentary sitting days before that, there is limited time for laws to be passed or changed.

Meanwhile analysts said the inquiry's legacy might not be the report or its recommendations, but the harrowing experiences shared by customers during the hearings which added to the public disillusionment with the banking and finance sector.

They included charging bank fees to dead people, or for no service, aggressive selling tactics, and poor advice that led to major financial upheaval for clients.

Banks have already started to address some of the issues raised, such as spinning off their financial advisory arms from their main activities to avoid conflicts of interest.
The DP World subsidiary had signed a 30-year concession contract for the management and development of the port of Bossasso

A gunman Monday killed the manager of the port of Bossasso, in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland state, a local security official said, in an attack claimed by the Islamist Al-Shabaab group.

"An armed man shot and killed Paul Anthony Formosa who was the construction project manager for DP World. He was killed inside the port and the security forces also shot the killer on the spot", the official, Mohamed Dahir, told AFP.

Formosa, a Maltese national, was manager at Bossasso for P&O Ports, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based DP World. According to his profile on LinkedIn, he had been in the position since August 2017.

A witness, Abdukadir Weheliye, said he heard several shots coming from inside the port and then saw the body of a white man being taken away in an ambulance.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement.

"The attack is part of broader operations targeting the mercenary companies that loot the Somali resources", it said.

The DP World subsidiary in 2017 signed a 30-year concession contract for the management and development of the port, strategically located on the Gulf of Aden, between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, more than 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) north of Mogadishu.

The Dubai-based ports company has sparked friction with Mogadishu over its development of ports in Berbera in breakaway Somaliland -- whose independence is not recognised -- as well as Puntland.

Many of Somalia's federal states have aligned with the United Arab Emirates, while the central government is perceived as pro-Qatar, in the Gulf crisis pitting Arab powers against each other.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of president Siad Barre's military regime which ushered in decades of anarchy and conflict.
Galagodaatte Gnanasara has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against minority Muslims in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's president resisted calls from the island's Buddhist hierarchy to release a jailed firebrand monk Monday, even as 518 other convicts were released to mark the island nation's Independence Day.

Galagodaatte Gnanasara has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against minority Muslims in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka.

Since December he has been serving concurrent jail sentences over disruptive behaviour in court and intimidating a woman litigant.

Sri Lanka's Buddhist hierarchy had pressed President Maithripala Sirisena to grant an independence day reprieve but this was rejected.

"The Independence Day amnesty applied to those serving short periods of time and only those convicted for minor offences," prisons spokesman Thusahra Upuldeniya said.

An association of lawyers had warned that releasing Gnanasara would amount to a snub of the judiciary.

The monk has denied involvement in anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four people dead.

Gnanasara maintains close ties with Wirathu, an extremist monk based in Myanmar, whose hate speech has stoked religious tensions in that country.

Wirathu visited Sri Lanka as a guest of Gnanasara shortly after the 2014 violence and the duo vowed to fight what they called the threat to Buddhism from Islamic jihadists.
Townsville and other parts of northeastern Australia have had a year's worth of rainfall in a week causing devastating flooding

Australia's military has been deployed to tackle devastating "once-in-a-century" floods that have inundated homes, schools and airports in the country's northeast, forcing hundreds to flee and bringing crocodiles onto the streets.

The Australian Defence Forces delivered 70,000 sandbags, deployed amphibious cargo vehicles and helped pluck flashlight-wielding residents from their rooftops Monday, as monsoon rains drenched the northern state of Queensland.

Australia's tropical north typically experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season, but the recent downpour has seen some areas get a year's worth of rainfall in a week.

The authorities were forced to open floodgates of a major dam late Sunday, unleashing what they called "dangerous and high velocity flows."

A crocodile crawls towards a home during the floods in Townsville northeast Australia

In hard-hit Townsville, cars were mostly submerged, with picket fences barely poking through waist-deep flood waters.

"We've never seen so much water in our lives," said local radio journalist Gabi Elgood. "You think there can't possibly be any more to come but the rain just doesn't stop."

Desperate residents had to contend not only with flash flooding, landslides and power blackouts, but also several saltwater crocodile sightings in residential roads and cul-de-sacs.

Queensland Police issued a blunt warning for people to stay out of floodwaters.

"If the thought of coming face to face with a crocodile isn't deterrent enough, before you start playing in flood waters you should always remember the distinct possibility you could be wading in your neighbour's faeces", the statement said.

Flooding in Australia

Emergency services have struggled to respond to the scale of the disaster, with more than 1,100 people calling for help and 18 "swift water rescues" conducted overnight.

"Small boats worked through the night to evacuate members of the community," said local commander Brigadier Scott Winter.

Around 400 Townsville residents have sought shelter at nearby Lavarak military barracks.

- 'Unprecedented' -

State premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned the communities face more difficulties ahead. Schools and courts remain closed, more rain and high winds are on the way and emergency warnings still in effect for more than a dozen rivers.

Up to 20,000 homes are at risk of being inundated if the rains continue, officials said.

"It's basically not just a one in 20-year event, it's a one-in-100-year event," said Palaszczuk.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services photo of the flooding in Townsville, northern Australia

"This is unprecedented, we've never seen anything like this before," she said.

Ergon Energy's spokesperson Emma Oliveri told the AFP that more than 16,000 people were without power, with the supplier unable to say when the lights will come back on.

The main transport artery linking the north of Australia with the rest of the east coast was also affected, prompting concerns about food shortages.

Australia's military has been deployed to tackle devastating "once-in-a-century" floods that have inundated homes in northeast Australia

Woolworths Northern Queensland Operations Manager Tina Anandji said the company had "secured two charter planes to carry 3,000 tonnes of fresh food and essential items" to the northern city of Cairns.

"We'll continue to do all we can to get stock into Far North Queensland while the roads are cut," she said.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Adam Blazak told AFP the downpours could continue until Thursday, while floodwaters will take some time to recede even when the rains lessen.

A silver lining to the deluge is that it has boosted drought-stricken farmers in western Queensland.

"Queensland has already born its fair share of extreme weather recently, with unprecedented bushfires, drought, heatwave, a cyclone, and now intense rainfall and flood," said Richard Thornton of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.

He warned resources "are now being stretched beyond normal with the severe weather seasons getting longer and more complex".
The news sent shockwaves through social media as the Grammy-nominated 26-year-old rapper -- whose real name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham Joseph -- says he is local act from Atlanta, the capital of hip hop

Rapper 21 Savage, who has long said he is from the US state of Georgia, was detained on Sunday by US immigration officers who say he is actually British and overstayed his visa.

The news sent shockwaves through social media as the Grammy-nominated 26-year-old rapper -- whose real name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham Joseph -- says he is local act from Atlanta, the capital of hip hop.

"We are working diligently to get Mr. Abraham-Joseph out of detention while we work with the authorities to clear up any misunderstandings," the rapper's lawyer, Dina LaPolt, said in a statement to AFP.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox told the local Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlet that 21 Savage is an "unlawfully present United Kingdom national" who entered the United States in 2005 on a visa that expired one year later.

The US agency also told the paper he had been arrested and later convicted for felony drug charges in 2014 -- but at the time, ICE was unaware that he was in fact British.

According to the paper 21 Savage was arrested in a "targeted operation."

The artist, known for his conversational rap delivery and no-nonsense sincerity, released his debut studio album in 2017.

His lyrics touch on everything from drugs and violence to systemic racism and police brutality.

His sophomore album, "I Am > I Was" debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 in December 2018, holding the number one spot for two consecutive weeks.

The rapper is up next week for two Grammys for his work on fellow rapper Post Malone's smash hit "Rockstar," including for the major Record of the Year award.
The deployment, under which troops assist civilian border patrol agents by providing logistical support and installing concertina-wire fencing, has been described by opponents as a political stunt designed to create the illusion of a crisis

The United States will send an additional 3,750 troops to its frontier with Mexico, the Pentagon said Sunday, as President Donald Trump doubled down on his call for a wall to boost border security.

Soldiers were originally deployed to the border under an order Trump gave before midterm elections in November as "caravans" of migrants made their way to the border to seek asylum from violence and poverty in their own countries.

But the mission, under which troops assist civilian border patrol agents by providing logistical support and installing concertina-wire fencing, has been described by opponents as a political stunt designed to create the illusion of a crisis.

"The Department of Defense will deploy approximately 3,750 additional US forces to provide the additional support to CBP (Customs and Border Protection) at the southwest border that Acting Secretary of Defense (Pat) Shanahan approved Jan. 11," a statement said.

This additional deployment is for three months, the statement added, and will bring to 4,350 the total number of troops at the border.

Their tasks will include "a mobile surveillance capability through the end of September 2019, as well as the emplacement of approximately 150 miles of concertina wire between ports of entry."

The news comes ahead of a February 15 deadline that President Donald Trump set for Congress to agree on funding for building a border wall which he made a key pledge in his election campaign.

The president says that existing sections of walls should be extended along the border to stop what he describes as an uncontrolled invasion of criminals.

Trump underscored these claims Sunday. "With Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country, Republicans must be prepared to do whatever is necessary for STRONG Border Security," he tweeted.

"Dems do nothing. If there is no Wall, there is no Security. Human Trafficking, Drugs and Criminals of all dimensions - KEEP OUT!"

Democrats, who control the lower house, have repeatedly rejected Trump's funding demands, saying that he has made the wall project a political crusade to demonize immigrants and to satisfy his base.

He previously tried to pressure Congress into backing his idea by refusing to sign off on budgets for swathes of the federal government, leading to a five-week shutdown of some 800,000 government jobs.

The border troop deployment was one of several issues on which Trump and former defense secretary Jim Mattis disagreed before he quit in December after Trump's shock decision to pull troops from Syria.
This image released 27 February 2004 by the US Coast guard shows an overloaded Haitian migrant vessel (R) being located by the US Coast Guard (L) in the Windward Pass, between Haiti and eastern Cuba

At least 28 Haitians have drowned off the coast of Abaco in the Bahamas, officials said Sunday, the latest tragedy at sea for migrants seeking to leave the Caribbean's poorest economy.

"Thus far, a total of 17 persons have been rescued alive and 28 bodies have been recovered from the water" after two days of dive operations, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force said.

The incident unfolded Saturday when the ship carrying the Haitians sank near Fowl Cay, six miles (10 kilometers) off the coast of Marsh Harbour, Abaco.

Fifteen survivors and 13 dead bodies were recovered Saturday in a joint mission between the RBDF and US Coast Guard. On Sunday, two more survivors were found alive on a nearby cay in addition to 15 bodies in the sunken vessel.

In a tweet, the US embassy in Haiti described the ship as a vessel trafficking people out of Haiti, adding: "No journey is worth risking lives - please urge families and communities: Illegal migrant & smuggling operations are dangerous and frequently end in tragedy."

The RBDF added that this year alone, some 300 Haitians had been apprehended for illegal entry during four separate incidents.

In a country where more than 60 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day, there are frequent attempts to reach the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos illegally.

In recent years, thousands of young Haitians have migrated to Chile or Brazil, countries where visas are more easily obtained.

Although Haitians historically have gone to the United States, and to Florida in particular, the flow of migrants has shifted to Canada and other neighboring countries.

Since a devastating earthquake in 2010, about 60,000 Haitians have found temporary protected status in the United States.

US President Donald Trump's administration announced in 2017 it was terminating the program but the decision has been challenged in several court cases.
A protest sign across the street from the White House in Washington reads "Khashoggi Way" December 23, 2018

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the United States of maintaining a "silence" on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who killed by a Saudi hit team in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

"I cannot understand America's silence... We want everything to be clarified because there is an atrocity, there is a murder," Erdogan told an interview with state-run TRT television.

"The Khashoggi murder is not an ordinary one."

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and Saudi regime critic, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

He visited the consulate to obtain paperwork for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman.

Turkey says Khashoggi was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him at the kingdom's diplomatic mission.

Riyadh, after denying the killing for two weeks, eventually described it as a "rogue" operation but denied any involvement by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The case has caused strains in the kingdom's ties with Washington.

Turkish officials are seeking answers from Saudi Arabia to a number of questions including who order the hit, and the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body.

Unhappy with Riyadh's cooperation in the investigation, Ankara has also called for an international inquiry.

A UN judicial expert investigating the murder met this week with Turkish authorities in Ankara and Istanbul and carried out inspections outside the Saudi consulate.

Eleven men are on trial in Saudi Arabia accused of involvement in the murder with the attorney-general seeking the death penalty for five of the defendants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government fell out with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent in March 2011 and ruled out any contact with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said his government maintained "low-level" contact through its spy agency with the Syrian regime despite being one of its most fervent critics.

"The foreign policy is being conducted with Syria at low-level," Erdogan told the state-run TRT television interview.

Erdogan's government fell out with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent in March 2011 and ruled out any contact with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Erdogan's comments are the first time Turkey has confirmed direct low-level talks with Damascus.

"Even if it's your enemy, you will not entirely break ties in case you might need them," he said.
Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is running for president of the United States

Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay mayor who is running for US president, said Sunday he believes America will judge him based on the quality of his ideas and experience.

Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in January.

If elected -- which for now seems unlikely -- Buttigieg, a former naval intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan, would become the first openly homosexual president of the United States.

He is among a crush of Democrats vying to unseat Republican Donald Trump next year. Other declared Democrats include Trump nemesis Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris, a California senator who aspires to be the nation's first black female president.

But are Americans ready for a president who is openly gay and in a same-sex marriage? The question was put to him in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

"I think there's only one way to find out," said the mayor of the city whose population is about 100,000.

Buttigieg, 37, recalled that he came out as gay in 2015 in the middle of a re-election campaign.

South Bend is a conservative community and at the time Mike Pence was governor of the state, Buttigieg said, recalling that he still got re-elected with "80 percent of the vote."

"So, I think the lesson we learned is that people are prepared to get to know you and judge you based on the quality of your ideas and your experience and your work. And I trust that America could do that too."

Buttigieg, who has been South Bend's mayor since 2012, married junior high school teacher Chasten Glezman last year.

Same-sex marriages have been legal throughout the United States since a 2015 Supreme Court decision.

In last November's mid-term elections, Jared Polis became the first openly gay governor in US history when he was elected in Colorado, after serving in Congress.
US President Donald Trump (R), seen here with North Korean leader Kim Jong UN (L) June 12, 2018, says they have set a date and place for their next summit

President Donald Trump said in remarks aired Sunday he saw a "good chance" of reaching deals on two key US foreign policy challenges: North Korean nuclear disarmament and trade relations with China.

Interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation," Trump said the date and venue of his upcoming second summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un had been agreed -- and would likely be announced before or during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

"The meeting is set," said the president. "He's looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it."

Vietnam is seen as the most likely venue for the Trump-Kim summit, which is expected to take place late this month and follows on from a landmark first face-to-face last June.

US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress this week that "North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and production capabilities."

That analysis runs counter to the position of the president, who once more argued in Sunday's interview that "there's also a very good chance that we will make a deal."

"I think he's also tired of going through what he's going through," said Trump, referring to the international sanctions pressing on Kim's regime.

"He has a chance to have North Korea be a tremendous economic behemoth," Trump continued. "He can't do that with nuclear weapons and he can't do that on the path they're on now."

"I like him. I get along with him great," the president added. "We have a fantastic chemistry."

The two leaders' first meeting produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Asked about the possibility of the United States pulling troops out of South Korea as it negotiates with Pyongyang, Trump doubled down on remarks by the US envoy on North Korea Stephen Biegun, who this week denied any such plans.

"We have 40,000 troops in South Korea, it's very expensive. But I have no plans, I've never even discussed removing them," Trump said.

The US president went on to praise China as having been "very helpful" with the North Korean dossier -- and voiced optimism about the prospect of a deal to end their trade war.

"It looks like we're doing very well with making a deal with China," said Trump, who struck an upbeat note following two days of US-China trade talks at the White House this week.

The two sides face a March 1 deadline to avert a sharp increase in US duties on $200 billion in Chinese exports.

"I don't know that we're going to make one, but we have a good chance," Trump said. "And if it is a deal it's going to be a real deal. It's not going to be a stopgap."
Central African Republic's President Faustin Archange Touadera plans to attend peace deal initialling with 14 armed groups, says a spokesperson from the Sudanese government, who hosted the talks

A peace accord between the Central African Republic government and 14 armed groups will be initialled in Khartoum on Tuesday, and signed in full at a later date, the government in Sudan, which hosted the peace talks, announced.

Central African President Faustin Archange Touadera would attend the ceremony to initial the document, originally scheduled for Sunday, Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Babikir al-Siddiq said in a statement on Sunday.

He did not specify where it would take place.

A breakthrough was announced on Saturday at the conclusion of talks in Khartoum, backed by the United Nations and the African Union, which started on January 24 in a bid to end years of fighting that has killed thousands of people.

No details of the agreement have been released. But one of the main points in dispute during the talks had been the question of an amnesty for the rebels.

Under Western pressure, Bangui has always refused pardons for warlords, several of whom are under UN sanctions or cited for human rights violations in UN reports.

On Saturday, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui said a deal had been struck though some details still had to be ironed out.

This agreement is the seventh since 2012 in a country that has suffered years of conflict. All the previous pacts broke down.

Central African Republic is rich in mineral resources but remains one of the world's poorest nations.

It has struggled to recover from a 2013 civil war that erupted when President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

In response, Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, organised vigilante units dubbed "anti-Balaka" in reference to the balaka machetes used by Seleka rebels.

Thousands of people have died in the violence, 700,000 have been internally displaced, and another 570,000 have fled abroad.

Rebel forces currently control between 70 and 80 percent of the country, despite the presence of more than 12,000 UN peacekeepers (MINUSCA) in the former French colony.
At least 247 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since March 30, the majority during border protests but also by tank fire and airstrikes

A Palestinian died Sunday from gunshot wounds inflicted by Israeli soldiers during violent protests along the Gaza Strip's border, the enclave's health ministry said.

Ahmed Abu Jamal, 30, was wounded during clashes in Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza on January 29, said ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.

Unrest has shaken the frontier between Gaza and Israel since March as residents of the blockaded enclave have staged mass protests.

More than 30 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire on Friday as the weekly demonstrations again turned violent.

At least 247 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since March 30, the majority during border protests but also by tank fire and air strikes.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same period.

Israel says its actions are necessary to defend the border and stop mass incursions into its territory.

It accuses Gaza's Islamist ruler Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.
A handout picture released by the Egyptian presidency on February 2, 2019 shows President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) meeting with members of his cabinet

Egyptian lawmakers on Sunday tabled proposed constitutional changes that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to extend his rule beyond 2022, legislators said.

The bill submitted to speaker Ali Abdel Aal calls for several amendments to the constitution, including on the duration of presidential mandates currently limited to two four-year terms.

The lawmakers who put forward the amendments hope to extend the length of mandates to two six-year terms, which they say would allow Sisi to run for the presidency two more times after his second term expires in 2022.

That could see the former military chief ruling over Egypt until 2034.

The parliament's website said speaker Abdel Aal had received a "request from a fifth of the elected representatives (120 deputies out of the total 596) to amend certain articles of the constitution".

That number fulfils the quorum required for such a request.

A statement published later on the parliament's website outlined seven amendments that it said would address "severe deficiencies in determining the presidency term".

Terms would become six years instead of four years, since the current term length "isn't quite reasonable given the reality and the country's and region's circumstances", it said.

The revisions were aimed at supporting the parliamentary representation of women, youths, Christians, people with special needs and Egyptians in the diaspora, it added.

They would include "the establishment of a second chamber of parliament... and the creation of the post of vice president to assist the president in his duties," said the statement.

Egyptian lawmakers have put forward proposed constitutional changes what would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to extend his rule beyond a second term

The bill was submitted by the majority pro-government Support Egypt coalition along with some independents, said Musatafa Bakri, one of the lawmakers who favours the change.

Jean Talaat, another Sisi backer, said "the amendments concern fewer than 10 articles of the constitution, including on the duration of the presidential term for its extension to six years".

The establishment of a lower house would see a return to a bicameral parliamentary system.

That chamber was removed in the 2012 constitution, a year after the uprising that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak.

Another amendment would see the reinstatement of an information ministry, a portfolio that was abolished in 2014.

Sisi was elected for the first time in 2014, after ousting his predecessor, the Islamist Mohamed Morsi. The former army head was re-elected in 2018 with an official 97 percent of the vote.

The vast majority of the current parliament supports the Sisi government, with only around 10 lawmakers making up the opposition.
US President Donald Trump says "it's time" to bring home troops from Afghanistan

Pushing back against Republican opposition, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his determination to pull US troops out of "endless wars" in Syria and Afghanistan, in an interview that aired Sunday. But he said they would stay in Iraq to watch Iran.

Trump cited the high cost in blood and money after years of fighting in Afghanistan, in arguing for a US withdrawal from the place where the 9/11 attacks were hatched.

"It's time," he said in the interview with CBS's "Face the Nation." "And we'll see what happens with the Taliban. They want peace. They're tired. Everybody's tired."

Trump's comments come in the face of warnings by US intelligence chiefs that a hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Syria could allow a resurgence by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

On Thursday, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly for a measure sponsored by Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of Trump's Republican party, warning against a "precipitous withdrawal" from either country.

But Trump appeared unmoved by the rare Republican pushback, noting that his promises to bring US troops home was "a big part" of the reason he was elected.

US officials have been holding talks in Qatar with the Taliban on a framework for peace negotiations, raising prospects for a breakthrough in the 17-year-old conflict.

On Syria, Trump said the 2,000 US troops in the country to assist local forces would leave "in a matter of time" but cited the need to protect Israel "and other things that we have" for slowing down -- after initially announcing an immediate pull-out.

He said he will soon be announcing the recapture of "100 percent of the caliphate" once claimed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

"We're at 99 percent right now. We'll be at 100," said the president, who was expected to make the announcement during his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday.

- 'Pockets of something' -

US troops in Afghanistan

In a report to Congress last week, US intelligence leaders warned that IS still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria, and they could easily spring back in the absence of US forces.

Trump responded by rebuking as "naive" and "wrong" his intelligence chiefs, who also had appeared to contradict him on Iran and North Korea.

In the CBS interview, he played down the danger of an extremist resurgence but said "we'll come back if we have to."

"You're going to always have pockets of something," he said. "But you're not going to keep armies there because you have a few people. Or you even have fairly reasonable numbers of people."

- Watching Iran -

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and US soldiers patrol the Kurdish-held town of al-Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria bordering Turkey on November 4, 2018

However, the United States will not give up its bases in Iraq, he said.

"We spent a fortune on building this incredible base. We might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," he said.

The US military presence in Iraq, he said, is "perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East."

"We're going to keep watching and we're going to keep seeing and if there's trouble, if somebody is looking to do nuclear weapons or other things, we're going to know it before they do," he said.

In Afghanistan, Trump said he would leave behind intelligence elements -- "and if I see nests forming, I'll do something about it."

"We got to get out of these endless wars and bring our folks back home," he said at another point. "Now, that doesn't mean we're not going to be watching with intelligence. We're going to be watching, and watching closely."
Soldiers carry a wounded comrade in the aftermath of the January 10, 2019 rebel drone attack on the Al-Anad air base in Yemen

Yemen's deputy chief of staff died Sunday from wounds sustained last month in a drone attack by Huthi rebels on the country's largest air base, the information minister said.

"Major General Saleh al-Zandani, deputy chief of staff, was martyred while undergoing treatment after he was wounded in the terrorist bombing at the Al-Anad base," Moammer al-Eryani wrote on Twitter.

Zandani was among 11 wounded in the January 10 drone attack on a military parade at the base in Lahij, a province some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Yemen's second city Aden.

Seven other loyalists -- including a high-ranking intelligence official -- were killed in the attack.

It came less than a month after the United Nations brokered a truce between Yemen's Huthi rebels and a regional pro-government military alliance.

Yemen is mired in a grinding conflict between the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels and a government backed up by a Saudi-led coalition.

The war has killed nearly 10,000 people since the Saudi-led intervention in 2015 and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.

The warring sides agreed on truce deals for the key rebel-held aid port of Hodeida and battleground third city Taez at UN peace talks in Sweden in December.

Jordan is set to host fresh talks aimed at drafting a political framework for Yemen.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces say IS jihadists are using civilians as human shields to slow the assault on their last holdout

On a rooftop near the front line with the Islamic State group's collapsing caliphate in eastern Syria, a US-backed fighter and his comrades sip tea as they await orders to restart the battle.

The Syrian Democratic Forces halted their ground assault on IS's final shreds of territory last week, saying the jihadists are increasingly using civilians as human shields to block the advance.

In the desert hamlet of Baghouz, held mostly by the SDF, 22-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed points towards a dirt mound separating areas under their control and the jihadists.

"Since we arrived to this point almost six days ago we haven't moved forward," explained the young fatigue-clad man from the nearby town of Hajin, who joined the SDF just five months ago.

"The fighting has stopped as we wait for the remaining civilians to leave," he said.

Just a few dozen metres away, on the other side of the dirt berm, trucks, motorcycles and cars driven by IS fighters zip along the front line and out towards white tents further away, surrounded by women wearing long black robes.

The US-backed SDF pushed their way into the Syrian desert hamlet of Baghouz along the Iraqi border two weeks ago

"These are all Daesh houses," said Mohammed, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"Sometimes we see women coming to take wood" from nearby palm trees, he said.

The streets of Baghouz, which the SDF entered two weeks ago, are lined with the burnt-out skeletons of cars and bullet-pocked buildings, some of them completely destroyed.

SDF fighters group in clusters around some of the structures, tending small fires and exchanging small talk and cigarettes.

Others perch on balconies and roofs with a view over the other side.

On one terrace, a fighter uses binoculars to a get a closer look at jihadists just a stone's throw away.

As the SDF, with air support from the US-led coalition, ramped up its offensive in recent weeks, thousands of civilians have poured out of the beleaguered jihadist-held pocket.

More than 36,000 people, mostly women and children from jihadist families, have fled since December via humanitarian corridors opened up by the SDF, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

That figure also includes some 3,100 jihadists, the war monitor added.

- 'Civilians on the front lines' -

But while hundreds of people a day reached SDF-held territory early last month, the flow has slowed to a trickle.

Thousands of civilians have fled as the SDF ramped up its offensive in recent weeks against IS's last holdout in eastern Syria

Recent arrivals say there are still many civilians and foreign fighters in the besieged pocket of territory.

With the final push paused, the eerie quiet is only broken by intermittent gunfire and the occasional roar of a coalition airstrike or artillery fire targeting jihadist positions.

In the neighbouring village of Al-Shaafa, the SDF's spokesman for the Deir Ezzor region said the assault has been put on hold to protect civilians.

"The jihadists are using the civilians as human shields to block our advance," Adnan Afrin told AFP.

That has forced women and children, including members of fighters' families, to remain close to the battle.

"They are putting the civilians on the front lines," he said, adding that airstrikes and artillery continued to target positions further back, "where the jihadists are concentrated".

SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin says IS jihadists are using civilians as human shields to block an assault on their final holdout

IS has shown a pattern of trapping civilians among its fighters in order to slow offensives as its cross-border "caliphate", proclaimed in 2014, has withered under multiple offensives.

As the jihadists withdraw, they leave minefields and booby traps to slow their attackers and prevent civilians from escaping.

To help protect those that remain cornered, the SDF is pushing to open new "safe corridors" to help civilians escape before the US-backed force delivers the final blow, said Afrin.

And while SDF leaders prefer not to speculate on when the battle against the jihadists will finish, they are clear it will end by military means.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists," Afrin said.
Greenpeace India had its foreign funding blocked in 2015 as part of a nationwide crackdown on charities

Greenpeace has been forced to close two of its regional offices and "considerably" reduce its staff in India because of a government crackdown on allegedly unlawful foreign funding of NGOs.

The organisation has been campaigning on environmental issues in India for nearly two decades but has clashed in recent years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which has accused the watchdog of violating the country's foreign funding laws.

Greenpeace India announced Saturday that the crackdown had forced the organisation to "shrink in size considerably" and close its offices in the capital New Delhi and the eastern city of Patna.

Nearly 40 employees -- one-third of its staff -- across India have been asked to leave, a former staff member told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Greenpeace India had its foreign funding blocked in 2015 as part of a nationwide crackdown on charities.

Since coming to power in 2014, the Modi government has cancelled the licenses of nearly 15,000 charities to receive money from abroad.

The main Greenpeace office in the southern city of Bangalore was raided by officials last year, and nearly a dozen of its bank accounts were frozen over alleged violation of rules.

The NGO has denied the allegations, and said it generates donations from within India.

"Greenpeace India is the collective voice of thousands of Indian donors, activists and volunteers," Diya Deb, campaign director at Greenpeace India, said in a statement announcing the cutbacks on Saturday.

"The government can only freeze our accounts and shut our offices but Greenpeace is an idea that can never be extinguished."

The move was "inevitable", the former employee said on Sunday, because Greenpeace India has been "struggling with finances after the government targeted it over funding".

Greenpeace India has been critical of government policies over their environmental impact, including coal mining and nuclear power. It has also campaigned over worsening air pollution across the country, which experts have blamed for nearly a million deaths.

Many charities critical of the Indian government have been in the crosshairs in recent years.

Last year, Amnesty International's office was raided by police over alleged funding violations. The watchdog described it as a move to "instil fear" among rights groups.
Pope Francis celebrates a holy mass as part of the 23rd World Day for Consecrated Life at St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican on February 2, 2019

Pope Francis on Sunday called for urgent "respect" for a ceasefire accord in Yemen to allow humanitarian aid through in the conflict-weary country.

"I appeal to all parties concerned and to the international community to allow the urgent respect of established accords to ensure the distribution of food and to work for the good of the population," said the pope.

"I am following the humanitarian crisis in Yemen with great concern," he added.

The pope was speaking before embarking on a historic three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, the first by a pope to the Arabian peninsula.

"The population is exhausted by the lengthy conflict and a great many children are suffering from hunger, but cannot access food depots.

"The cry of these children and their parents rises up to God," he said calling on the gathering to pray for Yemen.

Yemen's rebels have been locked in a war against government forces backed since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE.

The conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people at risk of starvation.

Some 10,000 people have been killed since 2015, according to the World Health Organization, although rights groups say the death toll could be five times higher

The first papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula marks an effort to boost the Vatican's outreach to Islam.

Pope Francis, who has made strengthening ties between the two largest religions a cornerstone of his papacy, was due to arrive in Abu Dhabi later Sunday.

He was to have talks with the UAE crown prince on Monday and hold an open-air mass for 135,0000 worshippers on Tuesday.
A recent undated picture provided by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and received by AFP on February 3, 2019 shows floodwaters as they rush over the Aplins Weir in Townsville after days of torrential rain

Once-in-a-century floods have turned streets into rivers and forced thousands to abandon their homes in northeast Australia, with authorities warning of tornadoes and more rain over the next few days.

Australia's tropical north experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season at this time of the year, but the recent downpour has surged far above normal levels.

Thousands of residents in the city of Townsville in Queensland were without power and cut off by flooded roads.

More severe weather could whip up tornadoes and destructive winds in the days ahead, Bureau of Meteorology state manager Bruce Gunn told reporters Sunday.

Up to 20,000 homes are also at risk of being inundated if the rains continue.

Military personnel were delivering tens of thousands of sandbags to affected locals, as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned residents to be careful.

"It's basically not just a one in 20-year event, it's a one in 100-year event," she told reporters Saturday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said a slow-moving monsoonal trough was sitting above Queensland, with some areas expected to receive more than a year's worth of rain before conditions ease.

Bureau meteorologist Adam Blazak told AFP the heavy downpours could continue until Thursday, while floodwaters would take some time to recede even when the rains lessen.

The region receives an average of some 2,000 millimetres (6.5 feet) of rain annually but some towns were already on track to pass that.

The town of Ingham, north of Townsville, received 506 mm of rain in 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, of which 145 mm fell in just one hour, Blazak said.

A picture provided by Queensland Police Service, taken on February 2, 2019 and released on February 3, shows two police officers wading in flood waters in Townsville, northeast Australia

"I've never seen anything like this," Townsville resident Chris Brookehouse told national broadcaster ABC, adding that his house was flooded with water more than one metre deep.

"The volume of water is just incredible. Downstairs is gone, the fridge and freezer are floating. Another five or six steps and upstairs is gone too."

Blazak said that with adverse weather predicted to continue for up to 72 hours, some regions could see record-breaking levels of rainfall.

There has been a silver lining to the deluge, with drought-stricken farmers in western Queensland welcoming the soaking.

"It is a welcome relief, especially in our western communities, to not only get the rain but also to fill up their dams," Palaszczuk said Sunday.

"We're getting food supplies in there. We still have many roads that are cut around those areas."

The deluge comes amid a severe drought in the eastern inland of the vast Australian continent, including parts of Queensland state, that's left graziers struggling to stay afloat.

Extreme heatwaves during the southern hemisphere summer have also led to maximum-temperature records being broken in some towns.

High temperatures are not unusual in Australia during its arid southern hemisphere summer, with bushfires a common occurrence.

But climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons.

In the southern states of Victoria and Tasmania, firefighters in recent days have been battling numerous bushfires threatening homes and communities.
A Rodrigo Duterte impersonator sparked frenzy when he walked in during Sunday mass at a Hong Kong church popular with the city's Filipino community

A Rodrigo Duterte impersonator sparked frenzy and confusion during Sunday mass when he walked into a Hong Kong church popular with the city's Filipino community.

Accompanied by Howard X -- the Hong Kong-based impersonator of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- the Filipino actor arrived at St. Joseph's Church dressed in the Philippine president's signature relaxed white shirt.

During the service, many worshippers grinned and glanced at the Duterte impersonator, who goes by the stage name Cresencio Extreme

Hundreds of distracted worshippers erupted into cheers and took photos of the impersonator, who goes by the stage name Cresencio Extreme.

They settled down for the hour-long service but many continued to grin and glance at him.

"Is that Duterte?" whispered an incredulous-looking woman, who said the man appeared too young to be the Philippine leader.

Cresensio Extreme was mobbed by worshippers after the service

As soon as mass ended, worshippers mobbed Cresencio Extreme, many screaming and taking photos with their mobile phones as he waved at them and shook their hands.

Outside the church, some examined photos of the impersonator, saying it was odd that he did not have any bodyguards and that his personality seemed off.

While most did not mind the stunt, one woman who identified herself as Linda found it "impolite".

"Coming in here to make a scene -- our Duterte is not like that," she told AFP.

The Philippine president has repeatedly attacked the Church since taking office in 2016, accusing the Catholic clergy of sexual abuse.

And the Church has been one of Duterte's most outspoken critics, particularly over alleged human rights abuses during his deadly anti-narcotics campaign.

Hong Kong is home to around 200,000 Filipinos, mostly women working as domestic helpers.
Adelaide United has been given a harsh wake-up call by a shock loss to A-League battlers Western Sydney, says Reds defender Scott Galloway.

Adelaide blew a chance to close the gap on the top three on the ladder when losing at home 3-1 to the Wanderers last Saturday night.

"We could have been a bit further away from seventh spot now it's made things a little bit, not harder, but we have to be aware of what the risks are," Galloway told reporters on Tuesday.
Archaeologists have found evidence that American whalers visited Western Australia's Pilbara region as early as the 1840s.

Inscriptions by the crews of the whaling ships Connecticut and Delta have been discovered on rocks on Rosemary and West Lewis Islands in the Dampier Archipelago, north-west of Karratha.

They were made over the top of earlier indigenous rock art carvings.

University of WA project leader Jo McDonald said the discoveries shone a light on a brief period when indigenous people and visiting whalers shared the same territory without obvious major conflict.

"The whaling inscriptions are a rare example of maritime inscriptions on rock and represent the only tangible evidence of this earliest phase of white colonisation of the Australian north west so far discovered," Professor McDonald said.

"There is no other historical or archaeological evidence for contact between the whalers and the Yaburara, making these inscriptions especially valuable."

The discoveries have been detailed in a research paper in the journal Antiquity, published on Tuesday, in which the authors suggest the whalers deliberately inscribed on already richly decorated rocks in an indirect attempt to engage with the Yaburara people.

The inscriptions were made decades before pastoralists and pearlers arrived in the north west in the 1860s, and the infamous Flying Foam Massacre of the Yaburara people in 1868.
Far-right activist Blair Cottrell has been rejected in his bid to fight for "free speech" in the High Court but will continue his campaign in Victoria's County Court.

The United Patriots Front leader appeared in the County Court on Tuesday to appeal his conviction for inciting hatred, contempt and ridicule of Muslims, after making a video beheading a dummy in protest of a Bendigo mosque.

Cottrell and supporters Neil Erikson and Christopher Neil Shortis were convicted in September 2017 and fined $2000 each.

Lawyer John Bolton had lodged an application with the High Court, arguing Cottrell had been charged with an "invalid law" under the Australian constitution.

He previously told AAP "free speech" was protected under the constitution, "which protects political discourse".

However, Mr Bolton told Judge Lisa Hannan on Tuesday the High Court dismissed the application, referring the matter back to the County Court.

The lawyer said he would now argue there was "no such class of persons as Muslims" that could be offended by the video, given the variety among the Islamic faith.

"Who is this supposed to have caused people to think bad thoughts about?" he argued, adding he'd call witnesses to examine "what 'Muslim' means".

He added a comment about Saudi Arabian beheadings, to which Judge Hannan quickly replied was "not relevant".

Mr Bolton also asked the judge to hear the "constitutional matter", requiring her to notify the attorney-general but she said she didn't have power to determine a constitutional matter.

The prosecution plans to call six witnesses to the trial, including City of Bendigo council workers and police.

"It's being drawn out deliberately, I think, probably to see how much money we've got," Cottrell told reporters outside court.

"I'm not going to give up."

Cottrell was supported in court by Erikson, who earlier abandoned his appeal bid.

After the hearing, Cottrell tweeted a video telling followers he hadn't "failed anything".

"The prosecution has found a law that the County Court can hear that matter - the High Court doesn't need to, so the constitutional matter has been sent back to County Court for Judge Hannan to hear," he said.

"I haven't failed anything. The matter is still active. The law still may be unconstitutional."

The appeal was set down for 10 days from August 8, which Judge Hannan said she thought was too long.

Cottrell next returns to court on June 5 for directions.
The North Queensland top literally didn't fit when Jordan Kahu completed his whirlwind pre-season move from Brisbane this week.

But the likely replacement for the sacked Ben Barba at fullback says he's quickly settling in and intent on making the most of his one-season deal at the NRL club.

So late was Kahu's arrival that only XXL uniforms remained in the kit bag, leaving the newcomer swimming in his new colours on arrival.

But, knowing there was no place for him in Anthony Seibold's first-choice Broncos side this year, the 28-year-old believes the sudden move north was worth it to revive his first-grade career.

"It does to be honest, yesterday was probably the weirdest when they gave me all 2XLs because all the gear had gone out," he said.

"So that was a funny start and I'd been at the Broncos since end of 2009, so nearly 10 years and all I've known for the last decade."

Brisbane's overflowing backline stocks meant Kahu was likely to be squeezed out of the frame following a career at Red Hill stunted by injury.

But Barba's NRL ban has opened a door for the well-respected New Zealand international, who has always had his sights on holding down the No.1 jersey at NRL level.

"I was smart enough and knew I didn't really fit into the (Brisbane) team," he said, clarifying that he was yet to earn his spot at fullback.

"I want to play NRL obviously and I couldn't see that opportunity at the Broncos unless there was an injury.

"And who knows when that was going to happen and I wasn't willing to wait around.

"I just felt I was good enough to play in the NRL week in, week out."

The former rugby union talent hasn't ruled out a return to the code but says there's plenty left to achieve in league.

"I'm proud of myself that I've got this far after all the injuries and adversity that I've faced," he said.

"It (95 games) doesn't seem like a lot, but I think I've had 10 surgeries now and I'm proud of myself to hopefully tick that milestone off this year."
A former Sydney police officer who accessed intimate photos on the phone of a woman he'd arrested and shared them on social media has been spared jail time.

Steven Albee, 29, pleaded guilty last year to using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend after the incident in 2017 which involved uploading photos of the woman's genitals to a Facebook chat group shared with four colleagues.

He was arrested in 2018 and suspended without pay but is no longer employed by NSW Police.

Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday convicted Albee and imposed the commonwealth equivalent of a two-year good behaviour bond, noting she would have sent him to jail if not for a confidential letter from the police "in relation to matters of assistance".
The City of Melbourne reached a confidential agreement with former lord mayor Robert Doyle which led to his withdrawal of court action to prevent the release of a report into his alleged sexual misconduct.

Council CEO Justin Henney on Tuesday confirmed the "deed of settlement" reached late last week, which put a stop to Supreme Court action and arguments over the publication of a report by Ian Freckelton QC into Mr Doyle's alleged behaviour.

"There's nothing hidden ... we moved very quickly on Friday to reach an agreement (and) that agreement saw all of the outcomes we at the City of Melbourne were trying to achieve, which was the finalisation of the Freckelton report ... and the publication of that report," Mr Henney told ABC Radio.
New Zealand still hasn't ruled out Huawei playing a role in a major internet network upgrade if unnamed risks raised by security agencies can be mitigated, but it won't be swayed by Britain's decision in the matter, its prime minister says.

New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GSCB) last year told telco Spark gear from China's Huawei - the world's largest telecom equipment company - proposed for the rollout of its 5G network posed an unspecified but "significant network security risk".

Its government has spent recent weeks defending the state of the country's relationship with the world's second-largest economy amid opposition party suggestions the Huawei decision has irked Beijing.

But Kiwi policymakers have held that Huawei has never been banned from the country and that the issue is with the particular technology being proposed, not the company or its country of origin.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reiterated her government's position that a process to see if the risks could be mitigated was still ongoing and that no final decision had yet been made.

"That's exactly the situation we're in right now," she told TVNZ.

"The GCSB's gone back and sought that mitigation. That is independent of us. And I do hold confidence in the process."

New Zealand politicians and the GCSB have declined to publicly state what the suspected threat may be or how it may be mitigated.

This week, the Financial Times reported Britain had decided the security risks surrounding Hauwei's technology were manageable and that the decision could carry signficant sway with other nations.

Ardern said New Zealand would be making its own decision.

"It is fair to say Five Eyes [intelligence network], of course, share information but we make our own independent decisions," she told reporters.

Western spy agencies have increasingly raised security concerns about Huawei over what they say are possible links to the Chinese government, with the United States reportedly pressing allies to avoid the company. Australia was among the first countries to ban Huawei from its 5G networks.

The company has repeatedly denied posing a risk.

New Zealand policymakers have denied being pressured by Washington.
Jack Bird will line up in the centres as he takes the first steps in his return to the NRL in Brisbane's trial game against Queensland Cup side Wynnum Manly.

Bird battled fitness and injury issues in his debut season at the Broncos last year but he will start in the centres alongside Kotoni Staggs at Kougari Oval on Saturday.

Young gun Sean O'Sullivan will start at five-eighth with Alex Glenn, David Fifita and Tevita Pangai forming a strong back-row for the pre-season clash.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says two ministers caught up in a controversy over union raids have cooperated with an investigation despite police saying they wanted to talk to them.

A Senate committee on Monday heard federal ministers Michaelia Cash and Michael Keenan twice refused to provide witness statements to police relating to media leaks about raids on Australian Workers' Union offices in 2017.

AFP deputy commissioner Leanne Close said police wanted the opportunity to speak to both ministers and obtain a witness statement.

Both ministers were asked at least twice to explain their involvement in the raids, she said.

Instead, the ministers sent the AFP letters to explain their roles.

Mr Morrison contradicted this version of events, saying police wrote to his ministers and asked them to respond, and they did.

"People should cooperate with police investigations and my ministers have," he told 3AW on Tuesday.

"They provided a response and the police have accepted that response and haven't sought, I'm advised, any further statement."

Australian Federal Police also believe evidence could have been destroyed in relation to the media leaks.

The AFP provided Commonwealth prosecutors with a brief of evidence against one person in order to lay charges.

However, prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence.

The October 2017 raids on AWU offices in Melbourne and Sydney shot to prominence when media were tipped off by staffers from Senator Cash's office and arrived before police.

The raids were launched in connection with decades-old donations made when Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was the AWU national secretary.

Senator Cash has consistently denied the raids were politically motivated.

On Monday, AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin again expressed his disappointment about the union raids being leaked to the media.
















Many Canadians may be wondering about what has happened to the shine that once characterized Justin Trudeau when he had promised a new "Sunny Ways" era in Canadian politics. Indeed, when Justin Trudeau had quickly rolled back former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to cut back Veterans Affairs Offices in Atlantic Canada, many Canadians began to look forward to a continued progressive policy direction in fulfillment of electoral promises.







Mr. Trudeau's promises included electoral reform toward some form of proportional representation system.





Little did we know that Mr Trudeau's early days in Office was apparently a massive public relations stunt to mask what more and more Canadians are starting to now notice is simply another unprincipled corrupt Liberal following in the footsteps of other so-called Liberals like Ontario's former Premier Kathleen Wynne, Quebec's former Premier Phillipe Couillard and former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.





It was the progressive wing of the Liberal Party that had been rebuffing since former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier the U.S. agenda to Americanize Canada. And it was the progressive wing of the Liberal Party which pushed through with legislation to make Canada a welcoming place for all new immigrants and it was us progressive Liberals who had kept our promise under former Prime Minister Trudeau to repatriate our Constitution toward the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.





And rest assured, if we, were still in charge of the Liberal Party instead of the crooks who occupy Liberal party governance today, we would had pushed through with a rejuvenated electoral system for Canada if that's what we said we would do.



Justin Trudeau's utter manipulative posturing that he would not sell-out Canada's dairy farmers to Donald Trump's agenda just before caving in on the so-called "USMCA" might best show the utter lack of integrity which characterizes Mr Trudeau.





Whereas us former progressive Liberals sought to champion the values that Canadians identify as "Canadian Liberalism" the current federal party seeks out hand-outs from affluent Canadians who Justin Trudeau seeks to serve in the name of an American-dominated and so-called "Free Trade" pact which corrupts not just Liberal politicians but also the politicians of other parties that all seek to pander to largely U.S. Big Business interests at the expense of integrity in politics.



After then federal Liberal opposition and former Prime Minister lost the "Free Trade" election in 1988, Jean Chretien who had been treacherously undercutting our anti-Free Trade campaign, began to push out all John Turner [second photo above] Liberal idealists.





Indeed, reportedly former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau had endorsed John Turner as Liberal leader, because he knew that Chretien would sell-out and essentially destroy the Liberal party's ideals. As it tuns out, it appears that Pierre Elliot Trudeau was right.



You might wonder what is going on with the Liberal Party anyways? What's with all these corrupt Liberals from coast to coast seeking to sell us sex appeal and "sunny ways" over political substance and integrity?My insights come from being a Liberal Party insider since the 1980's.The federal Liberal Party as Canadians know as the political party that has sought to embrace certain values that we like to equate with "Canadian Liberalism" essentially died in 1988. That was the year when I was part of the Kaplan campaign in North York which was part of a concerted effort to stop then neo-Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney from passing the North American Free Trade Agreement. (NAFTA).We 'true' Liberals tried to regroup in 1993 under Mel Hurtig's National Party, but in-fighting between Mel Hurtig and a financial backer resulted in that party becoming defunct.Liberal Party idealists eventually tried to regroup in the early 2000's under former Liberal Party cabinet member Paul Helleyer who led the Canadian Action Party to continue to oppose the ignored ravages of "free trade" against Canada's social fabric and sovereignty. But CAP lacked the media coverage to get widespread support as a result of efforts mainstream media to cover up the Liberal Party's transformation,When us idealists were essentially kicked-out of the Liberal Party, we were essentially replaced by the kind of corrupt fake Liberals which now run the party and apparently control Justin Trudeau like one of their puppets.When us idealists controlled the Liberal Party, we sought to defend principles supported by the majority of Canadians which made us so successful federally.These principles include defending equal opportunities for all Canadians based upon the affirmation of social justice, Canadian sovereignty, human rights, and constitutional freedoms while seeking to be as fiscally responsible as possible.When John Turner had been Prime Minister in the mid-1980's, I only saw one homeless person on a regular basis who used to stand around St George and Bloor Street who kept asking for a "dime, or a nickel and a quarter" and he didn't look destitute at all and was relatively well dressed and didn't seem to be lacking in access to food.Back then Toronto, Ottawa and most other Canadian cities had far less poverty as far as areas of social despair and there were no news reports at waiting lines at Canadian hospitals or gun crime. By contrast, homelessness and other social problems has continued to proliferate under Justin Trudeau and it's not because of a lack of money. Indeed, Mr. Trudeau seems to have a lot of money for corporate welfare schemes to help out oil companies with pipeline bailouts but comparatively little it seems to redress the plight of "ordinary Canadians" ad former NDP leader Ed Broadbent used to say.Canadians need to realize that the Liberal Party today is a bunch of self-serving and corrupt individuals who are fronts for Big Business in Canada. These corrupt interests are simply seeking to use the Liberal Party name to invoke a nostalgia which has nothing to do with the modus operandi of the corrupt egos who now run so-called "Liberal Parties" across Canada.
Thousands of Australian families have been waiting more than a year to have their disputes heard in court.

Notorious backlogs in the Family and Federal Circuit courts have reduced slightly in the past 12 months.

But more than half of the 3000 pending matters before the Family Court are more than one year old, along with one-third of 17,000 family law matters before the Federal Circuit Court.

Family Court chief executive Louise Anderson said more judges and registrars are needed to cut through the backlog.

"It would be difficult at this point to say whether filling those vacancies would be sufficient," Ms Anderson told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.

"But certainly in conjunction with a number of case management initiatives it will make a good impact on the backlog."

There are three vacancies in both the Family and Federal Circuit courts and another vacancy in the Federal Court.

"As always, it's very helpful if those appointments are made expeditiously," Ms Anderson said.

The vacancies have all arisen since December and are under "active consideration" by the federal government.

Courts dealing with family law matters are also working to "harmonise" rules to deal with cases more efficiently.

Consultations on the changes are due to begin by the end of March and span more than 12 months.
South East Melbourne Phoenix have signed their second player with former NBL leading scorer Ben Madgen joining the new club.

Madgen has been playing in Europe since 2015 and is the leading scorer and rebounder for the Crailsheim Merlins in the German Bundesliga.

His signing follows that of Mitch Creek, who has just completed a second 10-day contract with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

Now 34, Madgen averaged 17.9 point per game in the 2012-13 NBL when he played for the Sydney Kings.

The 193cm shooting guard was named to the All-NBL first team and honoured as Most Improved Player in that season.

Madgen comes from a sporting family with his sister Tess representing the Opals and playing for the WNBL's Townsville Fire.

His brother Jack is a rising star with Collingwood in the AFL after he played NBL with Cairns.

The Phoenix will join the NBL for the 2019-20 season.

They can't sign NBL-contracted players until free agency begins later this year but are free to sign overseas-based players.
The threat of longer and more intense bushfire seasons in Australia has brought local councils together in NSW to plan for and manage the increased risk.

More than 65 local and state government representatives, academics and community groups from across Australia are meeting in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to talk about new approaches and preparations for worsening bushfire seasons.

Ecologist Lesley Hughes has warned local governments that the bushfire season will only get longer and more dangerous because of "intensifying" climate change.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed links between a travel company that won a government contract and a free holiday for Mathias Cormann's family as "complete rubbish".

Senator Cormann on Monday stumped up $2780 for flights to Singapore for the holiday taken in January 2018 after saying he hadn't realised he had never been billed, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported on Tuesday.

Mr Morrison told Melbourne radio 3AW there was an oversight and Senator Cormann had fixed it, adding that "to suggest the two are linked would be complete rubbish" because the minister wasn't involved in issuing the government contract.
International energy company Equinor has released its draft environment plan to drill an oil exploration well in the Great Australian Bight and says the program can be done safely.

The plan is a key step in the offshore exploration regulatory process, and details all measures to be put in place to avoid and mitigate impacts on the environment.

The company says it is the first time a draft EP for an offshore exploration well has been published before submission and assessment by the regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

"Over the last two years we have engaged with more than 100 different organisations in the South Australian community and they have consistently asked us to be open about our plans," Equinor country manager for Australia Jone Stangeland said.

"This draft EP is the result of more than two years of careful preparation and our 1500-page plan demonstrates how we can drill safely and includes a robust emergency response plan."

In June 2017, Equinor became the operator and 100 per cent owner of offshore exploration permits EPP 39 and 40 located in the Great Australian Bight.

The proposed Stromlo-1 well is 372km off the coast of South Australia and 476km west of Port Lincoln.

Once all regulatory approvals are in place, Equinor plans to start drilling in the summer of 2020/2021.

If oil or gas is discovered, it could provide a unique opportunity for jobs and economic growth in South Australia, the company says.
The Warriors are adamant they didn't deliberately breach NRL anti-tampering rules when they offered a lucrative contract to rookie Parramatta half Dylan Brown.

NRL bosses are reportedly considering an investigation into the Kiwi club's recruitment boss Peter O'Sullivan, whose meeting with Brown and his manager Gavin Orr late last year has drawn a complaint from the Eels.

Fairfax Media has produced what is said to be a copy of a six-season, $3 million offer to the 18-year-old Brown, who is on a development contract with Parramatta until the end of 2020.

Under NRL regulations, Brown can't be spoken to by other clubs until November 1 this year.

Warriors chief executive Cameron George is yet to hear from the NRL and launched a staunch defence of O'Sullivan, who he said was given erroneous information about Brown's status by Orr.

George told The New Zealand Herald he has email records that show Orr admitted his mistake and O'Sullivan immediately cut off talks.

"We made an offer to Brown on the understanding he was off contract at the end of 2019, which we're entitled to do," George said.

"Brown's manager later clarified that he had a variation in his Parramatta contract that meant he was committed until 2020 and once we knew that we withdrew our offer."

George said he was furious details of the contract offered to Auckland-born Brown had been leaked to the media.

He defended the integrity of O'Sullivan, who joined the Warriors last year.

O'Sullivan had been deregistered by the NRL in 2016 after he become associated with gambling identity Eddie Hayson while working for the Sydney Roosters.

"Ever since he arrived at the Warriors Peter has been absolutely professional and added so much value to our organisation and I find it offensive that anyone would even suggest that he's done the wrong thing in this instance," George said.
The ACT government will allow pill testing at this year's Groovin' the Moo music festival in Canberra.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr has given the green light for a trial at the event on April 28 at Exhibition Park, following a successful Australian-first trial last year.

He said governments have a responsibility to not only prevent drug use but also support initiatives that reduce harms associated with drug use.

"Pill testing does not make taking illicit drugs safe and our message to the community will always be, don't take drugs," Mr Barr tweeted on Monday night.

"However, pill testing provides a health intervention at the point when someone is making the decision to take a pill."

The decision was welcomed by the ACT Greens, which have been pushing for pill testing outside of music festivals.

"This commitment realises what we've known now for years--that pill testing saves lives," Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury said in a statement.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has accused Labor of using a $423 million contract for services on Manus Island handed to a little-know company as a distraction.

Paladin, whose Australian arm is registered to a beach shack on Kangaroo Island, won the lucrative federal government contract through a restricted tender process.

"This week when they are under pressure for passing a law that's going to bring in people of bad character, all of a sudden they've got an interest in this $400 million," Mr Dutton told Sky News on Tuesday.
A commemorative service will be held in Darwin to remember the bombing of the city and other northern towns 77 years ago during World War II.

From February 19, 1942 to November 12, 1943, Darwin, Katherine, Broome, Townsville, Wyndham and Cairns were bombed by Japanese forces.

"The first attacks on 19 February were by far the most destructive, with 242 Japanese aircraft bombing Darwin in two separate attacks, killing more than 240 people," Minister for Veterans' Affairs Darren Chester said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Australians should never forget the day the Second World War came to our doorstep, and we should all honour the sacrifices of those who served, and tragically died, in defence of our nation."

On Monday, war veteran Flight Lieutenant Roger Brian Winspear, the last survivor in the 2 and 13 RAAF Hudson Bomber Squadrons based in Darwin at the time, unveiled a plaque at the Cenotaph honouring his comrades.

"The two squadrons were here from 1941 to 1943 and lost 200 aircrew in that time - three-quarters of us were wiped out," Mr Winspear told the NT News.

The 99-year old campaigned for decades to have his friends remembered.

"For 75 years, I have been agitating to get some recognition of the terrible losses we had, so today is important," Mr Winspear said.

Last November Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a historic visit to the city and laid a wreath to the fallen.
Dementia Australia chief executive Maree McCabe will call for mandatory dementia education for aged-care workers in her appearance at the royal commission into the sector in Adelaide.

Ms McCabe, who will appear before the inquiry on Tuesday, says with more than 50 per cent of people in residential aged-care living with a dementia diagnosis, it is essential that a minimum level of specific training becomes a national prerequisite to work across all parts of the system.

"The staffing resources in terms of numbers and skills mix needs to be sufficient to meet the complex care needs of people living with dementia," she said.

"Governments, providers, health professionals and consumers must work together to develop agreed and clearly articulated dementia quality care standards, enshrined in regulation, to ensure that dementia is core business in the aged-care industry."

The commission on Tuesday will also hear evidence from care providers for the first time.

Leading Age Services Australia, the peak body representing providers of residential and home care, will appear before the inquiry, with chief executive Sean Rooney already pledging to work with the investigation to build a better system for older Australians.

Mr Rooney is expected to provide the commission with a sector perspective on how the current system operates and how it can be improved.

"All Australians want a safe, high quality and high performing aged-care system," he said.

"The community expects it, and older Australians deserve nothing less."

Mr Rooney said the majority of providers and their staff did their best every day to meet the needs of those in care but there had been examples of unacceptable failures.

"We are committed to realising a better aged-care system," he said.

"A better aged-care system that delivers care, support and services with compassion, high quality and safety at all times.

"Aged care is an issue of national importance. It is too important not to get right."

LASA represents providers across Australia's metropolitan, regional and rural areas.

About 57 per cent of its members are not-for-profit groups, 33 per cent profit providers, and 10 per cent government providers.
Australia's cyber security agency stands ready to advise the nation's political parties after they were hit by a sophisticated cyber attack from a foreign country.

Liberal, Labor and National Party platforms were hacked during a breach of the Australian Parliament House network earlier this month.

"Our cyber experts believe that a sophisticated state actor is responsible for this malicious activity," Scott Morrison told parliament on Monday.

Security sources indicated last week China could be behind the attack, but the government's cyber security chief said the culprit was not yet clear.

There is no evidence of an attempt to interfere in Australian elections.

Still, the government has put measures in place to ensure the integrity of the system.

Further advice has also been made available to political parties and electoral authorities who want it.

"I have instructed the Australian Cyber Security Centre to be ready to provide any political party or electoral body in Australia with immediate support, including making their technical experts available," Mr Morrison said.

The centre's head Alastair MacGibbon said it is not clear what information the intruder may have seen or stolen, after quick action taken to stop the intrusion removed from forensic evidence.

"We will continue to work with our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, both here and overseas, to try to determine what they were trying to do," he told reporters in Canberra.

ASIO boss Duncan Lewis expressed his confidence that the issue has been "managed within an inch of its life" while being quizzed by senators.

"It is of core interest to me to ensure there is no foreign interference in our electoral process," he told a Senate committee.
Labor, the Greens and disability groups say a unanimous vote in support of a royal commission into the abuse of people with a disability is a good first step.

But Labor leader Bill Shorten says it can't be left as a "token vote" and the government needs to now set up the inquiry.

On Monday in the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Scott Morrison personally moved a motion - which passed the Senate last week despite the government's opposition - backing the royal commission.

However, he said he needed to seek further advice from the states and territories on the issue before taking it any further.

He said he took the issue of abuse and neglect of people with disability very seriously.

Attorney-General Christian Porter has indicated he believes the government may need Letters Patent - a special legal instrument - from the states in order to hold the royal commission.

Mr Shorten says a timeline is needed, as the idea had been on the books for too long already.

Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said he had asked Mr Morrison for a timeline and the prime minister had told him: "I've said what I said."

"Not a good start," Senator Steele-John said.
A lack of water in the Murray-Darling river system, caused by drought and excess irrigator use, contributed to massive fish kills, a report has found.

An expert panel on Monday handed down a report into the three major fish kills near Menindee in December and January.

The report, convened by the Australian Academy of Science at the request of federal Labor, found "serious deficiencies" in governance had eroded the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the Water Act.

Panel chair Professor Craig Moritz said the fish deaths were an indicator of a river system that's in "crisis" because of insufficient river flows, drought and excess diversions from irrigators.

"Our review of the fish kills found there isn't enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes," Prof Moritz said in a statement.
Yvette Nikolic, the wife of former Melbourne horse trainer John Nikolic, has been acquitted of drug smuggling by a Fijian court and is headed home to the Gold Coast and her two children.

The couple were arrested in June after Fijian border authorities discovered more than $A20 million worth of drugs, along with two guns, on their vessel, Shenanigans, as it arrived in Port Denarau.

They both plead not guilty to charges of drug importation, possession, and failure to declare arms and ammunitions to a customs officer.

Ms Nikolic was acquitted of all charges on Monday, with Justice Daniel Goundar declaring in the Suva High Court the evidence against her was circumstantial and she had "no case to answer", News Corp Australia reports.

"We have always maintained she was not guilty of any of the charges and today we heard the judge find in favour of my client and say there was no evidence at all against her in relation to any of the charges, so we are thankful to the Fiji criminal justice system. We've been vindicated," Ms Nikolic's Fiji lawyer, Ronald Gordon, said.

Ms Nikolic's Australian lawyer Jason Murakami said she is expected back on the Gold Coast in the next 24 hours "where she is desperate to see her family and her two children".

John Nikolic's trial continues on Tuesday with a verdict expected soon.
Mitchell Moses is ready to make Parramatta his team in 2019 with rookie five-eighth Dylan Brown showing all the right signs after his first showing outside his senior half at the Eels.

For so long one of the NRL's youngest halves, Moses is now aged 24 and has more than 100 first-grade games under his belt headed into this season.

Crucially too, he is by far the senior statesman of his halves pairing for the first time in his career, ready to take more control with the 18-year-old Brown in the No.6 jersey.

Playing together for the first time in Friday night's 22-20 trial loss to Canberra, the pair immediately looked a good fit.

Brown took on the line at will, regularly threatening to poke through the defence while Moses had a hand in the Eels' first three tries to set up an early 20-0 lead.

"It definitely feels a lot different," Moses said.

"I'm used to being that young kid still coming through, I had Normy (Corey Norman) there last year so I was still the young half.

"It's a lot on me as well to take pressure off him, letting him do what he did tonight. I was kind of taking control of what we were doing.

"Dyl had the chance to take on the line like he did, he created a fair few opportunities for himself and almost got over the line two or three times. That's what we want him to do."

The pair are at the centre of a new-look Parramatta spine that got through the first 52 minutes together on Friday night before the Raiders mounted their comeback.

Reed Mahoney was solid and error-free at hooker, and is now an almost certain starter at No.9 against Penrith in round one with Kaysa Pritchard battling to return from shoulder and groin injuries.

Clinton Gutherson also showed signs of his best at fullback, setting up two tries after last year's pre-season was ruined by knee surgery that ended his breakthrough 2017 year early.

"I think Gutho is back - he looked a lot better than how he was last year, he looked a lot freer," Moses said.

"He was obviously coming off his knee reconstruction, everyone knows it's always tough coming off that for the first year. He's got that full pre-season out and he looked pretty good.

"To have him firing for us is going to be big this year."
Victims of dodgy practices by the financial sector have been waiting a long time for justice and recompense.

But their wait is not over, despite the royal commission's final report being released on Monday.

Despite commissioner Kenneth Hayne's 76 recommendations being embraced by the government and Labor, only three are likely to be dealt with before an expected May election.

The three immediate actions will be to amend laws already before the parliament to make superannuation trustees liable for rule breaches, allowing the Australian Financial Complaints Authority to award compensation for successful claims going back 10 years and a review of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority.

The new parliament is unlikely to sit until July or August, meaning any further steps are many months away.

Hayne's final report referred more than 20 cases to APRA and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

But there were no immediate referrals of individuals to prosecutors.

We are still some time away from those watchdog referrals to be turned into dodgy bankers facing a judge or jury.

In fact, APRA and ASIC have been known to flog wrong-doers with media releases, rather than seek penalties or jail terms - something they were taken to task for by the royal commission.

The report was scathing of banks taking fees for no service.

Yet bank executives largely got off scot-free.

Hayne said most of the CEOs had learned from the evidence given to his year-long inquiry.

However, he said some remain unwilling to "recognise, and to accept responsibility for, poor conduct of the kinds examined in this inquiry".

There is little political upside in this for the government.

Then treasurer and now prime minister Scott Morrison described a banking royal commission as "crass populism" when asked about Labor's proposal in early 2016.

Heading into an election, coalition candidates will be left to argue the government is getting on with cleaning up the worst aspects of the industry.

But Labor candidates will counter-argue the government has taken too long to act and its heart is not in it, having been dragged kicking and screaming into action.

If the polls are to be believed, voters will be opting for a new broom to deal with the mess.

But bank victims will continue to wait for justice.
Australia's financial institutions have been urged by groups representing their customers to follow the road map for industry reform laid out by the banking royal commission, instead of just paying it lip service.

Royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne QC's final report was handed down on Monday, including 76 recommendations and scathing criticisms of industry players.

Consumer group CHOICE says the report - which has drawn on more than 10,000 submissions and 69 days of public hearings - is a "once in a generation" opportunity to clean-up the sector.

But just how much things change will come down to the banks, chief executive Alan Kirkland says.

"This represents a key turning point for the industry and its lobby groups: will they pretend to accept the recommendations then lobby to undermine them behind closed doors, as they have with every other major reform?" Mr Kirkland said.

"Or will they realise that if they want to win back community trust, this time they need to act with integrity?"

Consumer Action chief executive Gerard Brody said the final report's recommendations should deliver improved standards in the sector, including by closing "loopholes" in laws protecting customers.

But he anticipated it could be hard to bring the industry around to changes.

"Commissioner Hayne pointed to a reluctance of some entities to admit they have done the wrong thing, and even continuing some problematic practices," he said.

Centre for the Ageing Australia chief executive Ian Yates has embraced the final report's recommendations, including ensuring mortgage brokers are acting on behalf of their customers and not lenders.

Commission Hayne's push for future reviews of how effective his recommendations have been will also help keep banks in check, he said.

"Those reviews must involve strong consumer voices and other independent players," Mr Yates told AAP.

The ACTU has not been so positive, saying the final report has failed victims of banks by making too few recommendations.

The council also believes the report should have made direct referrals for criminal or civil prosecution to the Australian Federal Police or Director of Public Prosecutions.

"The report is wholly inadequate and fails to get to the core of the issues in the banking sector and the insatiable greed of the banks and lets those responsible - the bank executives - off the hook," ACTU President Michele O'Neil said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has promised action on all 76 of Commissioner Hayne's recommendations.

The banking industry is also determined not to miss the opportunity to reset its relationship with the nation, according to Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh.

"I can understand in the circumstances that many people may be cynical about whether banks will change," she told reporters.

"To those people I would say, don't judge banks by their words, judge them by their actions, in the coming weeks, the coming months, as they implement this report."
At least three financial services companies could face criminal charges for "taking money for nothing" in the industry's $1 billion scandal of fees-for-no-service scandal.

Banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne QC wants the corporate regulator to take criminal action over the widespread charging of advice fees when no service was delivered.

He said until the royal commission hearings, the banks and corporate regulator treated the conduct as if it was no more than a series of inadvertent slips brought about by some want of care in record keeping.

"It is necessary to keep steadily in mind that entities took money (a lot of money) from their customers for nothing," Mr Hayne said in his final report.

"The conduct was so widespread that seeing it as no more than careless must be challenged."

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission appeared to have not even considered criminal prosecutions over fees for no service until a commission hearing, the report said.

But in August last year ASIC began considering whether to submit a brief of evidence to Commonwealth prosecutors in relation to one entity, which was not named.

Mr Hayne revealed he has told ASIC that the conduct of at least two other entities may have involved dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product or service.

He also said entities other than those three - none of which was named in the final report - may have also engaged in the conduct.

"I invited ASIC to consider whether criminal or other legal proceedings should be institution in respect of that conduct."

The dishonest conduct provision in the Corporations Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail for individuals and potentially millions of dollars in fines for companies.

Mr Hayne said that section more accurately reflected the nature and gravity of the fees-for-no-service conduct, which has included instances of fees being taken from clients' deceased estates.

ASIC has so far launched one civil action over fees for no service, overall compensation for which will be at least $850 million and is tipped to top $1 billion.

In that case, National Australia Bank could face millions of dollars in fines after charging hundreds of thousands of superannuation customers $100 million in fees for services they did not receive.

ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority are considering a number of civil and possibly criminal cases out of misconduct aired at the royal commission, with all cases being investigated even if they had previously been closed.

Mr Hayne has not made specific referrals about conduct already before the regulators, leaving decisions about prosecutions to them.

That includes possible criminal charges against Australia's largest wealth manager AMP for misleading ASIC about charging fees for no service, a case covered in his interim report.

His final report made 24 referrals to the regulators, out of the superannuation and insurance rounds of public hearings.

ASIC chair James Shipton said the regulator would prioritise consideration referred by the royal commission as possible breaches of financial services laws.

APRA chair Wayne Byres said the regulator may broaden its existing investigations stemming from evidence from the royal commission.

Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said the report contained some very tough medicine for banks, including potential court cases.
Pat Cummins is poised to reach 100 Test wickets quicker than any other Australian fast bowler since the 19th century.

The 25-year-old will head into the first Ashes Test in August on 94 wickets from 20 matches after a man-of-the-series performance against Sri Lanka.

If he takes six scalps at Edgbaston, Cummins will be the fastest to reach the 100-wicket milestone by an Australian paceman since Charlie Turner in 1896.

The only Australians to reach the mark in 21 Tests or less are Turner and spinners Stuart MacGill, Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O'Reilly.

MacGill was the last player to do it in 2003, bringing it up in his 21st Test.

Cummins ripped through Sri Lanka during the two-Test series, capturing 14 wickets at a stunning average of 7.78.

He was the standout Australian player of the summer, finishing with 28 wickets after an impressive finish to the 2-1 series loss against India.

It has prompted some experts to ponder if he is the dominant fast bowler in the world.

Captain Tim Paine certainly thinks he is up there with England's James Anderson, South Africa's Kagiso Rabada and India's Jasprit Bumrah.

"I suppose the difference with Pat and those guys is he doesn't take the new ball," Paine told reporters.

"He has the ability to get it done in all conditions whether it's moving around or not.

"I felt as the summer went on, he just got better and better."

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said Cummins could run riot during the Ashes.

"Cummins is a superstar and will win an Ashes on his own one day," Vaughan tweeted.
What's next for the regulators?

* Much-criticised Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to continue operating, but with oversight from an independent watchdog

* New conduct-focused accountability regime regulated by ASIC and extended to non-prudentially regulated entities (eg non-bank credit lender such as Prospa, and all financial advisers)

* APRA to bolster its supervision of 'culture and governance'

* $170 million extra funding to ASIC, APRA, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Federal Court

* ASIC to become the primary conduct regulator for superannuation

* Breaches of industry codes of conduct will be able to include 'enforceable code provisions', which if broken could constitute a breach of the law and lead to remedies for victims

* Regulators to have access to civil penalties for specific breaches of the law for superannuation trustees and directors

* Expanding the jurisdiction of the Federal Court to cover corporate criminal misconduct.

--

(Source: Banking Royal Commission Final Report)
Some of Australia's bank chiefs remain unwilling to accept responsibility for poor conduct, royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne says.

The final round of royal commission hearings heard from the chairs of three bank boards, the CEOs of the five largest banks and AMP.

Mr Hayne said in the conclusion of his report, released on Monday, "most" of the executives had professed to having learned from the evidence heard in the inquiry.

"But the nature and extent of their engagement with the issues differed rather more markedly than I had expected," he wrote.

"It seemed to me that there remain elements of unwillingness to recognise, and to accept responsibility for, poor conduct of the kinds examined in this inquiry."

This explained the "prolonged and repeated failures" by companies to report breaches and the time taken to negotiate with the regulators over what should be done in response to misconduct.

In his harshest criticism, Mr Hayne singled out NAB as having a "wide gap between the public face NAB seeks to show and what it does in practice".

"Having heard from both the CEO, Mr (Andrew) Thorburn, and the Chair, Dr (Ken) Henry, I am not as confident as I would wish to be that the lessons of the past have been learned," Mr Hayne wrote.

"More particularly, I was not persuaded that NAB is willing to accept the necessary responsibility for deciding, for itself, what is the right thing to do, and then having its staff act accordingly."

He said he thought it "telling" that Dr Henry "seemed unwilling to accept any criticism of how the board had dealt with some issues".

"I thought it telling that Mr Thorburn treated all issues of fees for no service as nothing more than carelessness combined with system deficiencies when the total amount to be repaid by NAB and NULIS on this account is likely to be more than $100 million."

It was also a bad look for an NAB staffer to email bankers urging them to "sell at least five mortgages before Christmas" just as the bank's chief and chair were to give evidence at the inquiry.

He said he was persuaded that CBA chief Matt Comyn was "well aware of the size and nature of the task" that lay ahead for Australia's biggest bank and noted it had previously given enforceable undertakings to act on APRA inquiry recommendations.

As well, he said he had little doubt Shayne Elliot - CEO of ANZ - was similarly aware of the task.

However, Westpac stood apart from the other three major banks by "seeking to maintain at least some aspects of its wealth business".

"While I do not doubt Mr (Brian) Hartzer, CEO of Westpac, when he says that Westpac has sought to 'reset' its relationship with ASIC, only time will tell whether that proves to be right."
A cafe at Melbourne's Crown Casino has been fined more than $250,000 for underpaying 54 workers.

The Federal Circuit Court penalised Ital One Holdings Pty Ltd $217,000 and its director, Len Di Pietro, $40,000 for underpayments at Cafe Baci at Southbank in 2015 and 2016.

Judge Heather Riley said the company's conduct was "particularly egregious" given the court had previously found it broke workplace laws on three similar occasions.

"The respondents have shown no remorse, but sought to minimise their behaviour with complaints of being busy," she said.

The Fair Work Ombudsman pursued the company for underpaying 54 workers a combined $73,347 through its use of flat rates, which undercut entitlements for ordinary hours, overtime, casual and penalty rates for weekend, public holiday, late night and early morning work.

The affected employees, who worked as waiters, kitchen hands, chefs and in other roles, included 25 visa holders from countries including France, Italy and India.

The workers were mainly on student and 417 working holiday visas.

The penalties came after three former workers took their own actions in the Federal Circuit Court, in which Ital One Holdings was ordered to back-pay staff more than $32,000 in 2014 and 2015.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the case showed repeated breaches of the Fair Work Act would be met with serious consequences.

"We have no tolerance for an employer that fails to act on our advice, particularly where a court has previously ordered that same employer to back-pay workers," she said.

Judge Riley said it was the responsibility of businesses to work out what employees should be paid and ensure they're paid correctly.

"The need for general deterrence is a significant factor in this matter, given the level of disputes in the cafe and restaurant sector, and the vulnerability of many of the employees in that industry," she said.

Ms Parker said all workers in Australia had the same rights at work, regardless of citizenship and warned businesses who underpay migrant workers would be prosecuted.
Those wandering along Sydney's York Street may notice a stunning and colourful new resident: a huge mural of fruit, vegetables, flowers and bees that's doing the rounds on Instagram.

The striking design, by street artist Mulga, carries a serious message. The bright, stripy bees that buzz among our plants, transferring pollen and seeds from one flower to another, are important; they're responsible for almost a third of the food we eat.

Without them, many of our food crops would die, which would mean a lot less coffee, chocolate, avocado and cherries - for starters.

Bee populations around the world are in dramatic decline - down by 30 per cent in the US; 80 per cent in the Middle East. This is down to a various factors: climate change (flowers already bloomed by the time bees emerge from hibernation), the deadly varroa mite (that has wreaked havoc on European bee colonies but is yet to arrive in Australia) and chemicals and pesticides such as neonicotinoids (where in Australia there is a push to stop their use).

A global #Bring Back the Bees campaign, initiated by natural beauty product company Burt's Bees, has just kicked off in Australia along with Tarronga Zoo and the Wheen Bee Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes awareness of the importance of bees for food security and funds research.

We have 1600 species of native bees In Australia and so far they have remained resilient to sharp declines thanks to strict biosecurity laws, but experts believe it's only a matter of time until our bees are impacted by issues affecting their overseas cousins.

Burt's Bees believes there's never been a better time to raise awareness. "We know that when bee pollination is managed well, there's a 24 per cent increase in crop yields," says Shaunte Mears-Watkins, general manager of Burts' Bees Australia and New Zealand.

"When our bee population isn't healthy, there is significant concern about the overall health of our future food system. Mulga's mural aims to bring to life the connection between the bees' health and food."

Mears-Watkins says while more research into pests and pesticides and how they affect bees is crucial, we can all get busy to help bees.

"Everyone can help the bees in a range of small ways such as planting flower borders with bee-friendly flowers and reducing the amount you mow your lawn. This gives the bees space to explore and pollinate as they fly about.

"They may seem like small things, but it's those small actions that Australians can make every day that will drive change to protect our bees", says Mears-Watkins.

Bees contribute $A14.2 billion annually to the Australian economy; their pollination value is 140 times greater than the gross value production of honey, Wheen Bee Foundation associate and economist John Karasinski has calculated.

Tarronga Zoo beekeeper Elle Bombonato agrees bees are about so much more honey.

"These guys are such important pollinators and we need to work harder to look after them," he says.

"They're like a canary in the mine - we see their decline and we know there's something wrong.

"Now we need to do something about it."

* Burt's Bees will donate every dollar from the sale of their limited edition strawberry lip balm to the Wheen Bee Foundation, which will help support Australian researchers defend the local bee population.
A man who fatally stabbed his neighbour after a stormwater dispute has argued he should serve less than the mandatory minimum 20-year jail term.

A Supreme Court jury last year found Darren Lorke, 53, guilty of murdering Kevin Skeyhill at Tungkillo, in the Adelaide Hills, in 2017.

Jurors rejected Lorke's claims he was acting in self-defence, but on Monday he again argued he was protecting himself after Mr Skeyhill crossed over the fence line.

Greg Mead, for Lorke, urged Justice Michael David to impose a special sentence because Lorke had no premeditated plan and immediately regretted his actions.

He said the murder was substantially less serious because Mr Skeyhill came onto the property, and that Lorke did not intend to hurt him until "almost in the moment that the fatal blow was struck".

But prosecutors said Lorke must have known the intoxicated Mr Skeyhill was unarmed, and he was "too willing" to use a deadly camouflage hunting knife.

During the trial, jurors heard the neighbours had fought about fencing and stormwater drainage in the days before the death, and each had dug up a part of the other's yard.

The court on Monday heard victim impact statements from Mr Skeyhill's children and other family members.

His son, Nicholas Skeyhill, said he feels an overwhelming sense of loneliness after the loss of his father.

"To tell the truth there is no possible way to summarise the full impact it has had on my life," he said.

"That's because my father being taken away from me in such a horrific nature has changed my life forever.

"Because of Darren Lorke's actions I will never see my beautiful dad again."

Justice David will sentence Lorke on Monday afternoon.
A Gold Coast man accused of throwing a cheerleader off a balcony will be required to inform anyone he intends to begin sexual relations with of his bail conditions.

Jayden Moorea, 45, is set to be granted bail after being charged last month with murdering 21-year-old Breeana Robinson.

She died after she plunged from the 11th floor of a luxury Southport apartment in 2013.

Despite prosecution concerns he is a flight risk, could reoffend or interfere with witnesses, judge Debra Mullins has indicated she would deal with this by strict conditions.

He will be subject to a 8pm-5am curfew and made to surrender his passport.

Moorea, formerly known as Dan Shearin, would also have to tell police if he intended to begin any sexual relationship, as well as inform the person of his bail orders.

His bail hearing in Brisbane Supreme Court was adjourned to Monday afternoon for lawyers to determine stipulations around his electronic monitoring.

The father and former cruise ship worker changed his name to Moorea after a French Polynesian island and his favourite cruise ship destination.

New opinions from biomechanics experts - that Ms Robinson, who was legally blind, was thrown from the balcony - played a big part in his recent arrest, police have said.

He has also been charged with damaging evidence - stemming from an allegation he deleted text messages about what occurred during a domestic incident on the night Ms Robinson died.
Today's Birthday, February 9: Gina Rinehart, mining magnate and Australia's richest person (1954 - )

The subject of bestselling books and a television mini-series, Gina Rinehart is Australia's richest person and ranked in Forbes' 2017 list as the seventh richest woman in the world.

The mining magnate who made her fortune in iron-ore is also one of the country's largest cattle producers and holds a substantial portfolio of properties in Australia and homes across the globe.

Her life in the public eye has been marred by family disputes and litigation battles played out in the Supreme Court.

Rinehart was born in 1954 and grew up on large cattle and sheep properties in the Pilbara region of northwest Australia. She attended a girls boarding school in Perth.

Rinehart left the University of Sydney after briefly studying economics to work for her frontier mining father, who she'd accompanied to business meetings from age 13.

In 1992 she succeeded her father as chairman of his company Hancock Prospecting, following his death.

Decrying the term "heiress", Rinehart is credited with turning around her father's bankrupted estate into one of the most successful private companies in Australia.

Despite falling iron-ore prices, joint ventures including partnering with mining giant Rio Tinto in the Hope Downs area - which produced 46.9 million tonnes of iron-ore in 2017 - keeps her cash flow in the billions.

For her long standing support and involvement with Australian sport, Rinehart was awarded an Order of Merit from the Olympic Organisation in 2014.

She's positioned herself in the political sphere over the years, buying up shares in media companies including Channel 10 and Fairfax, which she sold in 2015.

Suspicious of journalists after her personal family disputes were splashed across front pages, she's also made a reputation as a ruthlessly hard worker, saying women who wanted to get ahead should "work through lunches, and work later".

Her advice to those without fortune is "spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working".

In 2015 her eldest daughter Bianca was handed control of the family's trust worth more than $4 billion, following a long-running legal battle.

She recently came under fire when she was revealed as a key funder of right-wing think tank Institute of Public Affairs - a dedicated promoter of climate science scepticism.

In 2019 she topped the Forbes' Aussie rich list ahead of real estate developer Harry Triguboff.
A Queensland man accused of murdering his wife and interfering with her corpse more than a decade ago has denied killing her but admitted tampering with her dead body.

Edmund Ian Riggs told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday he did not murder Patricia Anne Riggs on September 30, 2001 at their home in Margate.

But Riggs, 60, pleaded guilty at his trial to misconduct with his wife's corpse by interfering. He will be sentenced for that once the murder trial is over.

Ms Riggs, 34, disappeared after a weekend of arguments with her husband, crown prosecutor Todd Fuller QC told the jury in his opening address on Monday.

Riggs had told police in 2001 his wife had accused him of having an affair on the Friday night before walking out on the family later in the weekend.

However, an examination of the family's home soon after found blood splatters on a bedroom wall.

That discovery prompted Riggs to board a Greyhound bus under an assumed name and disappear to Byron Bay for about 10 days, Mr Fuller told the trial on Monday.

Police investigations found Ms Riggs hadn't accessed her bank accounts or shown up for work after her disappearance.

Despite this, no charges were laid until 2015 when the new occupant of the Margate home was digging in the backyard and discovered bones under a shed built in 2001.

The incomplete skeleton was wrapped in a pool liner, Mr Fuller said.

A post-mortem examination found damage to the right cheek bone and part of the jaw bone missing, however, due to excessive weathering the cause of death was not clear.

The six-day trial continues.
The NSW Labor leader has moved to quarantine potentially "tainted" donations at the centre of an investigation into his party by the state's corruption watchdog.

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is reportedly investigating $100,000 of donations received by the Labor Party at a 2015 fundraising dinner.

Those donations were at the centre of an ICAC raid on Labor's NSW head office in December 2018, according to the ABC.

NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley on Monday said he had directed his party's head office to quarantine $100,000 and send it to the NSW Electoral Commission.

"I've spoken to the secretary of the Labor party today and I've issued her a very simple direction: work with the electoral commission and send them $100,000 to quarantine," Mr Daley told reporters.

"I don't know if there's any tainted money in those donations but if there is I don't want a bar of it. We won't be using any of it in the campaign."

The ICAC is reportedly investigating 20 donations made to the party at a Chinese Friends of Labor dinner ahead of the 2015 state election, and whether they may have been given by so-called "straw donors".

It is illegal under NSW electoral law for people to put names to donations from other people or parties.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian seized on the revelations, which she described as "very concerning".

"Unfortunately many people must be shaking their heads thinking 'nothing much has changed in the Labor Party'," Ms Berejiklian told reporters.

Mr Daley said the $100,000 would be held by the Electoral Commission until the ICAC investigation had concluded.

He said he had no prior knowledge of the information contained in the ABC report, and first learned of the matter after the ICAC raid on the head office.

"In my 23 years in public life I have always acted with integrity. In my view any public official elected or otherwise who does not, deserves the full weight of the law to be applied to them," Mr Daley said in a statement.
Individual bankers who have done the wrong thing should be punished but Australia doesn't need its system "gummed up" with excessive regulation, Tony Abbott is warning ahead of the banking royal commission revealing its recommendations.

Banks and the wider financial services industry are bracing for a scathing final report from royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne QC, which will be released after the share market has closed on Monday.

Having already condemned the industry's greed and criticised weak regulators for letting misconduct go unpunished, Mr Hayne will recommend substantial changes across the banking, superannuation and financial services industry.

Mr Abbott said the inquiry had exposed horrific conduct by banks and their staff and that should not go unpunished.

But that didn't mean the whole system was rotten, the former prime minister said.

"In this era when no one ever takes personal responsibility for anything, when something goes wrong we assume it's a systemic fault as opposed to an individual's fault," he told 2GB's Ray Hadley on Monday.

"What I don't want to do is to see the system gummed up by a whole lot of additional regulation rather than see the people who have actually done the wrong thing being appropriately punished."

He cautioned against a "royal commission-induced credit squeeze", echoing calls from Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week, who said bank loans were the lubricant of Australia's economy.

Influential Senate crossbenchers Pauline Hanson and Derryn Hinch said criminal charges should be laid against those found to have done the wrong thing.

"Somebody has to face criminal charges here because some of the actions were absolutely unconscionable," Senator Hinch told Seven's Sunrise program, while Senator Hanson said there should be jail sentences.

Labor is stepping up its campaign to remind people how the coalition vehemently opposed the royal commission, voting 26 times against an inquiry.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said at the weekend it seemed the government was already back-pedalling on making the banks accountable.

Meanwhile, several of Australia's banking chiefs, including ANZ boss Shayne Elliot and NAB acting chief executive Gary Lennon, will hit the streets to sell copies of The Big Issue during the week.

The street magazine is traditionally sold by homeless and marginalised people, who get to keep half the cover price from each sale.
Australia's maritime safety regulator is investigating possible breaches of national laws following the death of a woman on a boat in Sydney harbour.

Emergency services were called to a marina in Balmain just after 4pm on Saturday after the woman was found unconscious in the bathroom of the Lady Rose, a three-level vessel owned by All Occasion Cruises.

The 39-year-old Berowra woman was treated by paramedics but was unable to be revived.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority officers are expected to board the vessel on Monday.

"AMSA will be investigating whether there have been any breaches of commercial vessel regulations under the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessels) National Law Act 2012," a spokeswoman said in a statement to AAP on Monday.

The death is not believed to be suspicious or drug related, police said.

It's believed the woman collapsed in the bathroom, with a police spokeswoman saying passengers on the boat reported a "strange smell".

The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday reported that hazardous material teams recorded "extremely hazardous" levels of hydrogen sulphate in the toilet cubicle, however police and Fire and Rescue NSW were unable to confirm.

All Occasions Cruises has been contacted for comment.
More than 65 firefighters are battling an apartment fire in Melbourne's Spencer Street.

Crews were called just before 5am on Monday and the incident was quickly upgraded after the building was noted to have combustible cladding.

Paramedics have treated a man for smoke inhalation and Spencer Street is blocked in both directions with people being urged to stay clear of the area.

One resident said it was "pretty scary".

"The alarm just went off. I thought it is within our apartment but then I opened up the alleyway and it was the whole building. I just immediately took my cat with me. It was pretty scary. I was very panicked," she told the Nine Network.

The fire was deemed under control just before 7am and crews will remain on scene for some time, an MFB spokeswoman said.

The cause is yet to be established.
Two men have been arrested after they allegedly assaulted two Victorian firefighters.

The firefighters were part of a crew that responded on Sunday night to reports of a fire burning on a total fire ban day. The occupants of the property became aggressive with the two male firefighters before allegedly assaulting them, with one also making threats.

The firefighters suffered minor injuries and did not require hospital treatment. Police arrested a 22-year-old man and 47-year-old man a short time later and they are currently assisting police with their inquiries.
It's been a decade since Victoria's deadly Black Saturday fires claimed 173 lives but Victorians will gather in Melbourne to remember, grieve and celebrate.

Families who lost loved ones and community groups will share their stories of survival and resilience a decade on at a state commemoration in Melbourne on Monday night.

Premier Daniel Andrews, Governor Linda Dessau and Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien are expected to attend the event at the Royal Exhibition Building.

"It'll be an opportunity for us not only to grieve and to mourn, to remember those that are not with us anymore but to send our love and support to those who still carry that burden of grief," Mr Andrews said.

"We'll also have the opportunity to celebrate the fact that at the moment when we saw the worst of nature, we saw the very best of humanity - people coming together, people showing great courage and strength, the bonds and the sense that community is real, that people do look out for each other."

The event begins at 6pm and will also be live streamed.

Attendees are invited to preview an exhibition at the Melbourne Museum to remember the 2009 bushfires called, From the Heart, immediately after Monday's event.

Other events are planned across Victoria to mark the official anniversary on February 7.
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten will head to Tasmania to see firsthand the devastation caused by ongoing bushfires.

He will meet firefighters and volunteers in Huonville, in the state's south, and speak with residents who have evacuated their homes because of the fires.

"We are seeing unprecedented destructive weather right across Australia but I don't want Tasmania's fire battles forgotten by the mainland," Mr Shorten told AAP on Monday.

He wants to help make sure Tasmania gets whatever support it needs to help families recover from the disaster.

"I know there will be a lot of work ahead to rebuild and recover but I also know Tasmanians are resilient, and they'll have the support of the entire country behind them," he said.

Several Tasmanian towns remain under serious threat from bushfires while top tier fire warnings remain in place.

It is hoped a cool change overnight will sweep the state and bring millimetres of rain.

Just a day earlier, Premier Will Hodgman visited the Huonville evacuation centre and slapped down calls for an immediate review of the state's fire response.

"We have some of the best firefighting capabilities in the world here in Tasmania and they are currently under enormous stress - we don't want anyone to add to that," he said.

Fires threatening houses have been burning for weeks and have destroyed three homes, a near-century-old trapper's hut and damaged the Tahune Airwalk tourist attraction.

Wilderness in the state's southwest has been left charred by the fires.
A public inquiry into alleged police misconduct surrounding the investigation of two murders during the 1990s is due to begin in Melbourne on Monday.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) hearings will look into Victoria Police's conduct during its investigation of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller's murders in 1998.

In November 2017, IBAC commenced an inquiry into police conduct after receiving new information.

IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich QC said the public hearings would examine the taking of witness statements by police.

He described the practices as "concerning" and having potential to impact the integrity of criminal investigations and the delivery of justice.

Mr Redlich said the hearings were not a reopening of the investigation into the murders and that IBAC would not review the convictions resulting from that investigation.

He said instead, the hearings would focus on the taking of witness statements, the preparation of the brief of evidence for the trial, whether there was full disclosure of witness statements or other relevant information prior to or during the trial and compliance with obligations to disclose evidence.

Sergeant Silk, 35, and Senior Constable Miller, 34, were shot dead after investigating a series of armed robberies in Melbourne's southeast.

Two men were subsequently jailed for their murders.
A woman who watched her home go up in flames in Victoria's deadliest bushfires a decade ago still has no desire to leave the fire prone area.

Aeumporn Baker came home from work during the Black Saturday bushfires on February 7 to see her town and surrounding area engulfed in flames.

"I saw houses burn down one by one. The flames came through the roof ... and then I get out and I stand in my house and watching it burn"," she told AAP.

"I saw my house explode."

A decade on from the nation's worst natural disaster, which claimed 173 lives, Ms Baker still suffers nightmares.

She's since moved to Marysville - one of the towns hardest hit by the devastating fires.

"I will never go anywhere, I love Marysville," she said.

Her story will be one of many that Victorians reflect upon on Monday as a commemoration is held in Melbourne ahead of the 10th anniversary on Thursday.

The event begins at 6pm and will also be live streamed.

Flags will be flown at half mast on both days.

Premier Daniel Andrews, who is expected to attend the event at the Royal Exhibition Building, said it was a chance for Victorians to grieve, remember and celebrate.

"It'll be an opportunity for us not only to grieve and to mourn, to remember those that are not with us anymore but to send our love and support to those who still carry that burden of grief," he said.

Other events are planned across Victoria in the lead-up to the anniversary.

Murrindindi Mayor Sandice McAulay, who fought the fire on her Taggerty property, said she was proud of the community and its resilience to rebuild.

"People have got to the stage that they want to acknowledge and reflect on Thursday and then move on," Cr McAulay said.

"It is a hard time every year. It doesn't go away and the anniversary is a time to reflect."
Former Bachelor star Noni Janur has revealed just how much she struggles with being of mixed ethnicity.

The reality star, who is of Balinese, Irish and English heritage, took to Instagram on Thursday to air her grievances.

'I feel lost but it's OK,' Noni, 28, wrote, alongside a photo of her on a swing in Bali.

'I feel lost': Former Bachelor star Noni Janur (pictured), 28, spoke candidly of her struggle being of Balinese, Irish and English ancestry on Thursday

Tough times: Noni has revealed just how much she struggles with being of mixed ancestry. The reality star, who is of Balinese, Irish and English heritage, took to Instagram on Thursday to air her grievances

'Being a mixed child is viewed as being lucky, beautiful and exotic ... But it has been a struggle and still is.'

She continued: 'Being mixed ethnicity, I've never felt like I really fit in anywhere. I find it hard to call one place home.'

Noni went on to write she 'didn't know which ethnicity' she identified more with, and was often subject to 'ignorant questions' about her heritage.

'I still don't even know how to answer a simple question like, "Where are you from?"' wrote Noni.

'I feel lost but it's OK,' began Noni (pictured), 28, alongside a photo of her on a swing in Bali. She added: 'Being a mixed child is viewed as being lucky, beautiful and exotic ... But it has been a struggle and still is'

'My two worlds are so different that it's hard to bring them together,' she continued, adding that despite her difficulties being of mixed race, she would not change who she is or the experiences she has had.

She finished by commenting on her Instagram photo: 'This photo I took yesterday, before I got on my flight back to Australia really sums it up for me. Vulnerable, but surrounded by so much beauty.'

Noni's fans flocked to comment on her post, with many praising her for being so candid.

She continued: 'Being mixed ethnicity, I've never felt like I really fit in anywhere. I find it hard to call one place home'

One follower, however, was not so impressed with Noni's post, writing: 'What attention seeking dribble. Why people share so much of there private life on social media is beyond me.'

Noni was swift with her reply, writing: 'This is literally one of the first times I've shared something personal on social media. The reason I don't is because of people like you commenting on it.'

Janur who appeared on Richie Strahan's 2016 season of The Bachelor.

Noni went on to write she 'didn't know which ethnicity' she identified more with, and was often subject to 'ignorant questions' about her ethnicity. 'I still don't even know how to answer a simple question like, "Where are you from?"' she lamented




Kylie Jenner's best friend since eighth grade - Jordyn Woods - is in the midst of a scandal after reports that she 'made out' with Tristan Thompson came out earlier this week.

And just two days after the scandal broke and hours after Jordyn reportedly moved out of her home, Kylie stepped out with her other close friend, Heather Sanders.

Kylie, 21, and the Sorella Boutique co-founder, 29, stepped out for a lowkey shopping outing in Calabasas, California on Thursday afternoon.

Scroll down for video

Pals: Just two days after the scandal broke and hours after Jordyn reportedly moved out of her home, Kylie stepped out with her other close friend, Heather Sanders

Shy: Kylie and the Sorella Boutique co-founder stepped out for a lowkey shopping outing in Calabasas, California on Thursday afternoon

Retail therapy: Kylie checked out her red Cartier shopping bag

Kylie even shared a clip of herself on Instagram stories hanging out with Heather as it snowed in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood.

'It's literally snowing - it's ice in Calabasas. This is crazy,' Kylie said in the clip she posted on Thursday.

Kylie and Heather, both entrepreneurs and mothers, went to Cartier on Thursday; Kylie carried a small bag from the luxury jewelry company.

The pals, who have been friends for years, seemingly met while Kylie dated Tyga; Heather's fiance King T-rell is close friends with him.

Moving forward: Kylie and Heather, both entrepreneurs and mothers, went to Cartier; Kylie carried a small bag from the luxury jewelry company

Heading home: Kylie covered her face with her handbag and shopping bag

Just the two of us: No doubt the duo share a close bond

Heather and T-rell have two children: son Zane Supreme, who they welcomed in March 2018, and daughter Zoe Skye, born in October 2015.

The gorgeous mother of two co-founded the successful store and online boutique Sorella at age 22 with Britney Turner in 2012.

The duo began their store with just 10 products and worked out of their apartment with only $5,000 of startup money, according to Daily49er.com; soon after their launch, their moved to their first brick and mortar store.

The women did not have a business background but learned as they went, turning the company in a multi-million dollar business.

Covered up: Kylie shielded herself from the chill LA temperatures with a billowy brown sweater, it was even snowing in her hometown of Calabasas

On the go: Heather is definitely supportive of the family as she rocked a pair of Kanye West designed sneakers along with his Adidas Calabasas track pants

Tough times: No doubt it has been a tumultuous time between Kylie and her friends

Bundled up: Kylie and Heather, both entrepreneurs and mothers, went to Cartier; Kylie carried a small bag from the luxury jewelry company

Wow: Kylie even shared a clip of herself hanging out with Heather as it snowed in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood; Heather pictured

Incredible: 'It's literally snowing - it's ice in Calabasas. This is crazy;' Kylie showing off ice

Doting mom: Heather and T-rell have two children: son Zane Supreme, who they welcomed in March 2018, and daughter Zoe Skye in October 2015

Business woman: The gorgeous mother of two co-founded the successful store and online boutique Sorella at age 22 with Britney Turner in 2012

Heather was pregnant with her son Zane when she attended Kylie's secret baby shower for her daughter Stormi.

The pregnant pals posed for pictures together at the intimate baby shower.

Just one week after announcing Stormi's birth, Kylie was spotted heading to Heather's baby shower for her son; Kylie attended the bash with Jordyn, 21.

Kylie threw Heather's gender reveal party in August, where Heather found out she was having a boy.

Heather posted an Instagram picture of herself with daughter Zoe and pal Kylie with the caption: 'Thank you baby mama, today was beautiful. You're truly the sweetest. I love you forever... love the way you love #issaBOY.'

Smart and so beautiful: The duo began their store with just 10 products and worked out of their apartment; soon after their launch, their moved to their first brick and mortar store

Close: Heather was pregnant with her son Zane when she attended Kylie's secret baby shower for her daughter Stormi

So sweet: Kylie threw Heather's gender reveal party in August, where Heather found out she was having a boy

Weeks before the gender reveal, Heather and Kylie jetted off to Las Vegas with Jordyn, their pal Yris Palmer and Anastasia 'Stassi' Karanikolaou to ring in Kylie's 20th birthday.

The Vegas trip took place in August 2017 when news first broke that Kylie was pregnant at age 20 with boyfriend Travis Scott's baby.

She never confirmed the baby rumors and stay out of the public eye for the duration of her pregnancy until she announced Stormi's birth on Super Bowl Sunday 2018, three days after she gave birth on February 1st.

After her announcement, she shared videos and photos of herself while pregnant, including snaps from her baby shower - which her pals Jordyn and Heather attended.

Fun: Weeks before the gender reveal, Heather and Kylie jetted off to Las Vegas with Jordyn, their pal Yris Palmer and Anastasia 'Stassi' Karanikolaou to ring in Kylie's 20th birthday; pictured August 2017 in Vegas for Kylie's birthday celebrations

Jordyn, who is Kylie Jenner's best friend, allegedly cosied up to Tristan at a house party on Sunday night.

On Tuesday, TMZ and Hollywood Unlocked reported the news, which is particularly tough on Khloe as she and Tristan are parents to True, 11 months.

Tristan was also seen sneaking two women into a bedroom at a late night 'singles' party on Valentine's Day, DailyMailTV can reveal.

TMZ revealed that after learning about the betrayal, Khloe broke up with Tristan for good after previously forgiving his past infidelities.

People magazine revealed that the report of Jordyn and Tristan together at the weekend party 'blindsided' the Kardashian/Jenner family.

At first the Kardashian/Jenner clan did not believe the story about them and thought it was made up.

Betrayed: Jordyn, who is Kylie Jenner's best friend, allegedly cosied up to Tristan at a house party on Sunday night

Happier times: On Tuesday, TMZ and Hollywood Unlocked reported the news, which is particularly tough on Khloe as she and Tristan are parents to True, 11 months; pictured together January 13, 2019 in West Hollywood

They contacted people who attended the same party and confirmed they were true.

'It's all a mess now,' People's source reported. 'Everyone considered Jordyn family.'

The family is 'furious' and feels 'blindsided' by the scandal, which they found out about on Monday.

After Hollywood Unlocked posted on their social media about the rumor of Jordyn and Tristan at the party on Sunday, Malika commented with 'STRONG FACTS.'

Khloe seemingly confirmed the cheating allegations by commenting on the post with several emojis of someone screaming.

The outlet added that Jordyn not only 'made out' with him but that she 'stayed at his house until 7 am.'

Yikes: After Hollywood Unlocked posted on their social media about the rumor of Jordyn and Tristan at the party on Sunday, Malika commented with 'STRONG FACTS'

Yikes: Tristan, 27, tweeted then deleted 'FAKE NEWS' on Tuesday afternoon

Hours after the news went public, Jordyn, 21, has reportedly moved back into her mom's house, according to People.

Jordyn has been living with Kylie, also 21, at her home; they have been best friends since middle school.

The outlet's source said of Jordyn: 'It's been a difficult time and she's broken up about it. She's heading home to be with her mom.'

Khloe also hired Jordyn to be part of the Good American squad for her denim/workout line.

Us Weekly reported on Thursday that the Kardashian/Jenner family don't expect Kylie to cut out Jordyn from her life completely.

Family first: The family is 'furious' and feels 'blindsided' by the scandal, which they found out about on Monday; Khloe and Kylie pictured from a Kylie Cosmetics campaign

The outlet's source said that the 'family doesn't expect them to not be friends anymore. Time will dictate what happens here.'

The insider said that the Kardashian/Jenner clan 'aren't 100% sure if Jordyn is going to be cut out of Kylie's life.'

They added that she is her best friend and it will be 'very hard' for her to lose Jordyn because she 'doesn't have a lot of friends, and honestly can't, because of her lifestyle, so she has latched onto Jordyn.'

An insider for People said that the news of Tristan and Jordyn 'making out' is 'much more difficult' on Kylie because she 'basically lost part of her world.'

Their source added that she is 'very, very upset' because she 'always trusted Jordyn with everything.'

They noted that Kylie has a lot of questions still for Jordyn and she 'just can't make sense of what happened' and 'who knows when Kylie will get over this.'

The family is 'furious' and feels 'blindsided' by the scandal, which they found out about on Monday, reports People.

Khloe and Kylie's sister Kim unfollowed both Jordyn and Tristan on Wednesday; this marks the second time she has unfollowed Tristan.

Trust: Hours after the news went public, Jordyn, 21, has reportedly moved back into her mom's house, according to People

She did the same in April of last year when Dailymail.com revealed he had cheated on the then-pregnant Khloe with a strip club worker from New York City named Lani Blair.

At the time, other outlets reported additional women; however despite the cheating scandal, Khloe remained with Tristan until this week when she split with the athlete.

They welcomed daughter True on April 14, 2018.

Kendall Jenner also unfollowed Tristan on social media on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, Khloe unfollowed Jordyn but as of yet still follows Tristan.

Soon after, Kim defended Khloe on Twitter when someone asked her why they decide to go 'outside the next day' after they get cheated on publicly.

Kim, 37, quipped back that 'a single mom has to work too boo,' adding 'would you prefer she lose the money too?'

Sister love: Khloe and Kylie's sister Kim unfollowed both Jordyn and Tristan on Wednesday; this marks the second time she has unfollowed Tristan

The mother of three said in defense of her sister: 'Would you prefer she lose the money too? A single mom has to work too boo!'

Kim continued: 'This was a professional commitment planned far in advance and you better believe she is not waiting on anyone to pay her bills or provide for her daughter. PERIOD!!!!'

The Twitter user is referring to Khloe's appearance at the PrettyLittleThing LA Office opening that took place on Wednesday night in Los Angeles - her first public appearance since the split and scandal.

Khloe hit the carpet for the online boutique's event, joined by her best friend Malika Haqq.

Khloe did not raise a smile at the event, which she attended in cropped leather bottoms with a PrettyLittleThing emblazoned crop top.

Protective sibling: Soon after, Kim defended Khloe on Twitter when someone asked her why they decide to go 'outside the next day' after they get cheated on publicly

Strong woman: The Twitter user is referring to Khloe's appearance at the PrettyLittleThing LA Office opening that took place on Wednesday night in Los Angeles - her first public appearance since the split and scandal

Trying to be funny: Social media users went wild with memes about trying to become Kylie Jenner's next best friend

Haha: Another one photoshopped an image of a pretend show about Kylie getting a new best friend

Fun: There was one that had Kim strutting down a hallway
As tight friends, Priyanka Chopra scored a prized invite to Meghan Markle's wedding to Prince Harry less than a year ago.

But the Indian actress wasn't present in New York on Wednesday, as her BFF celebrated her baby shower with a host of stars.

Instead a glum Priyanka resurfaced on Thursday, looking distracted as she hid behind dark classes on a cold, cloudy Los Angeles day.

Skipped it: Priyanka Chopra resurfaces looking glum in Los Angeles on Thursday after missing Meghan Markle's luxury star-studded New York baby shower the previous day

Dressed all in black, the brunette held a coffee cup as she slipped out without a coat.

It was claimed the Bollywood star turned small screen beauty was unable to attend Meghan's celebrations is due to a prior work commitment, according to TMZ.

Instead of catching up with Meghan and pals such as Selena Williams and Amal Clooney at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the 36-year-old was attending meetings for a book she is writing, the website suggested.

Though the Quantico star was unable to be at her pal's plush bash, the ladies are said to still firm friends and aren't letting her absence get in the way of their friendship.

Out and about: Dressed all in black, the brunette held a cup as she slipped out without a coat

Missed it: Instead of catching up with Meghan and pals such as Selena Williams and Amal Clooney at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the 36-year-old was attending meetings for a book she is writing

This isn't the first time they have failed to appear at one another's celebrations.

While Priyanka attended Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry last year, the new royal was unable to appear at her pal's nuptials to Nick Jonas in India a few months later.

Yet in spite of it all, sources have told TMZ the ladies still speak with each other on a regular basis, and their friendship hasn't changed.

Baby on the way! The Duchess Of Sussex is expecting her first child with husband Prince Harry, and on Wednesday held her baby shower at the Mark Hotel in Manhattan

The ladies first became friends after bonding at an Elle Women In Television event in January 2016.

Meghan previously revealed they became friends easily.

'You know when you meet someone and you just click?' Meghan told the Press Trust Of India.

'It was just an easy, natural progression. We've managed to keep in touch via email and text, and try to see each other whenever we're both in the same town.'
Poppy Delevingne showcased her lean pins in a thigh-grazing black mini-dress as she hit the Prada show for Milan Fashion Week on Thursday night.

The blonde slipped her lithe frame into the sleek number, which was adorned with over-sized sequins, featuring a statement white collar and front-buttoned design.

The collar was mirrored in the garments white cuffs and Poppy, 32, wore her icy locks loosely around her shoulders.

Leggy: Poppy Delevingne showcased her lean pins in a thigh-grazing black mini-dress as she hit the Prada show for Milan Fashion Week on Thursday night

She kept make-up minimal, wearing natural tones, nude lip gloss and a sweep of mascara to her lashes.

She complemented the show's mustard yellow branding boards by selecting a pair of matching killer heels.

Poppy joined the likes of Juno Temple on the FROW.

Chic: The blonde slipped her lithe frame into the sleek number, which was adorned with over-sized sequins, featuring a statement white collar and front-buttoned design

Blocking it: She complemented the show's mustard yellow branding boards by selecting a pair of matching killer heels

Neat: The collar was mirrored in the garments white cuffs and Poppy, 32, wore her icy locks loosely around her shoulders

Best seats in the house: Poppy joined the likes of Juno Temple, Mia Goth and Rachel Brosnahan for the Italian designer's showcase

The Dirty John star wore a baby pink dress in silk, with a choker around her neck.

Juno - who stars alongside Connie Britton and Eric Bana in her current Netflix thriller - turned up in a silver/blue satin jacket with a feathered detailing running down it, pink socks and black strap heels.

They were also joined by Mia Goth and Rachel Brosnahan, who wore all-black for the occasion.

Poppy was supporting her younger sister Cara who was on-stage for the event.

Fashionistas forward: Juno turned up in a silver/blue satin jacket with a feathered detailing running down it, pink socks and black strap heels

On the FROW: The Dirty John star wore a baby pink dress in silk, with a choker around her neck

Hit show: Juno stars alongside Connie Britton and Eric Bana in her current Netflix thriller

Shoe-ing them how it's done: The footwear stole the show when it came to Prada's stylish guests

The model-turn-actress, 26, gave onlookers chills as she snaked down the catwalk in her Frankenstein and his bride-inspired jumpsuit.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets star Cara returned to the catwalk with a very edgy Halloween-inspired one piece paired with lace-up boots.

The ghoulish number had a demure neckline and a loosely-fitted shape that flattered the runway queen's modelesque figure.

She joined the likes of Kaia Gerber, 17, and Gigi Hadid, 23, on the catwalk; all of the models walking in the show blocked out their eyebrows with a thick application of pale make-up.
With auto-enrolment maturing, pension pots growing, and contributions set to rise further to eight per cent from April this year, the rapidly growing master trust will this summer move from its already low-cost AMC of 0.5% to a banded pricing structure. Member charges as a percentage, will fall as their pension pots grow, giving them a long-term incentive to stick with auto-enrolment saving and to consolidate multiple pots.



The new pricing structure immediately reduces the fee revenue which The Peoples Pension receives from its memberships Annual Management Charges (AMC) by 10 per cent.



An average earner saving over their working life with The Peoples Pension could see their lifetime AMC fall by more than half to just 0.23%2, potentially increasing their pension pot at retirement by:

 almost 55 000 when compared to a lifetime fee set at the charge cap of 0.75% - nearly five years additional retirement income3

 almost 30 000 when compared to a lifetime fee set at the already low 0.50% which members of The Peoples Pension currently pay - nearly three years additional retirement income4 A members AMC will reduce as their savings increase through the following bands5, with the charge they pay shown simply and transparently in pounds and pence each month in their online account.

Commenting on this announcement, Patrick Heath-Lay, CEO of B&CE, provider of The Peoples Pension, said: Auto-enrolment is on the cusp of a significant landmark, with contributions set to rise for 10 million savers across the UK. Providers need to respond imaginatively to ensure auto-enrolment is attractive over the long-term, rewards people for saving and incentivises the consolidation of multiple pots.



Charges can eat away at pensions, and on a flat-rate, percentage fee savers pay a lot more in pounds and pence the more they save. Were reducing members annual charges as a percentage of their savings in line with the growth of their pot, potentially boosting their retirement income by thousands.



The Peoples Pension led the auto-enrolment market by offering all employers, whether large or small, the same uniform single charging structure for their employees, removing a sense of unfairness in industry charging practices. Were taking this approach further by offering all members the same clear incentive to save for the long-term. We urge the industry to follow suit.



Responding to the announcement, Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, said: With the completion of automatic enrolment and the next phase of contribution increases about to take place, Im pleased to see The Peoples Pension taking this action to improve value for money for its members. Id encourage all firms to look at what they can do to ensure they keep delivering value as the amounts saved continue to grow.



The organisation Amey, an infrastructure support service provider which uses The Peoples Pension as its employees pension provider, endorsed the change:



The reduction in overall annual management charge is a positive change that reflects The Peoples Pensions value for money approach to retirement provision. The new banded charging structure will improve our employees retirement outcomes because it encourages members to save more and reduces the cross subsidy between members with large and smaller pension pots.


She was just eight years old when her famous father Steve Irwin tragically died.

And on Friday, Bindi Irwin, now 20, posted a beautiful tribute to the late great 'Crocodile Hunter', on what would have been his 57th birthday.

Alongside a photo of Steve cradling her when she was just a tiny bub, she wrote, 'Thank you for always being my guiding light.'

'You're always my guiding light': Bindi Irwin shared a sweet tribute to late father Steve on what would have been his 57th birthday, on Friday

Steve was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb in September 2006.

Google also marked what would have been Steve's 57th birthday on their homepage on Friday.

Their 'Google doodle' above the search bar featured a cartoon of Steve smiling while holding a large crocodile.

The gallery slider also featured many memorable moments of the conversationalist's life, including sketches of his family carrying on his legacy at Australia Zoo.

Last year, Steve received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, more than a decade after his shock death.

Gone too soon: The Australian conservationist, known around the world as 'the Crocodile Hunter', was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb in September 2006

The Irwins! When Steve died 13 years ago, he left behind wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert, now 15

Crikey! Google also marked the crocodile hunter's would-be 57th birthday on their homepage on Friday

When Steve died 13 years ago, he left behind wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert, now 15.

Terri, now 54, has previously admitted she still feels close to Steve, refusing to remarry or even go on date.

The couple first met in 1991 when Terri was visiting wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Australia and wed in 1992.

Terri told People magazine in February 2018 that she wasn't looking for a new partner, explaining: 'I've already had my happily ever after.'

Bindi previously told E!'s Daily Pop: 'My dad is still very much my mum's soulmate. And I think that no matter what, mum always says that they'll always be married.'

'I've already had my happily ever after': Terri, now 54, has previously admitted she still feels close to Steve, refusing to remarry or even go on date (Pictured in 2002)

'We are so proud that his legacy lives on, as that was his greatest wish': The Google Doodle gallery also including sketches of his family carrying on his legacy at Australia Zoo

Terri also wrote a guest post for Google to go with Steve's honorary Google Doodle.

'We are so proud that his legacy lives on, as that was his greatest wish. He once said, "I dont care if Im remembered, as long as my message is remembered",' she penned.

She said she was so impressed by his enthusiasm at the roadside park in 1991, that she 'just had to speak to him', adding it was 'a decision that would change my life forever'.

Marrying a year later, she recalled how the couple flew back before their honeymoon started to save a crocodile.

The Irwin family now host their own show called Crikey! It's The Irwins,which airs on Animal Planet
Dr Chris Brown appeared on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday morning and addressed wild rumours he is dating Jackie 'O' Henderson.

Chris was on air with his I'm A Celebrity co-host, Julia Morris, when Julia asked Jackie O, 'Are we going to hear it here, first? Is there love in the air?'

Jackie, 44, began to speak but struggled to get her words out, leaving an uncomfortable silence for Chris to fill.

'It's a sure sign of love!' Dr Chris Brown (pictured), 40, addressed rumours he is romantically linked with Jackie 'O' Henderson, 44, on Friday

'Lost for words! I get that a lot in love, it's a sure sign of love,' joked Chris, 40.

Jackie O tragically split with her husband Lee Henderson last October after 15 years of marriage.

Awkward: Chris was on air with his I'm A Celebrity co-host Julia Morris when Julia asked Jackie O (pictured): 'Are we going to hear it here, first? Is there love in the air?' Jackie, 44, began to speak but struggled to get her words out, leaving an uncomfortable silence for Chris to fill

Meanwhile, Chris recently told Stellar magazine that he is still searching searching for 'the one' in his love life.

Earlier on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday, co-host Kyle Sandilands, 47, had cheekily asked Chris: 'Did you hear that Jackie's now single?'

'There was an article about it saying that you two were together,' added Kyle.

'Lost for words! I get that a lot in love, it's a sure sign of love,' joked Chris (pictured), 40

'I'd been in Africa for seven weeks at the time,' said Chris.

'Apparently we were out to dinner and caught out,' said Jackie.

'There were photos and everything, apparently,' added Chris.

New beginnings: Jackie O tragically split with her husband Lee Henderson last October after 15 years of marriage. Pictured from left: Kyle Sandilands, Dr Chris Brown, Jackie O

Love lost? New Idea reported that Liv Phyland (left), 28, split with the handsome vet 'within minutes' of him boarding a flight to South Africa in January

It comes after New Idea reported that Liv Phyland, 28, who is best known for hosting The Loop, split with Chris 'within minutes' of him boarding a flight to South Africa in January.

A 'source' told the magazine: 'Chris had only been gone for like 10 minutes before Liv decided it was all over. He's absolutely devastated and heartbroken.'

They continued: 'He is usually the one who ends things, but he really thought Liv was "the one".'
He has been dating stunning girlfriend Ashley Sisino for five years.

And on Wednesday, former Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten, 42, stepped out with his ladylove in Los Angeles to celebrate his latest project.

Ryan, who was also the lead in True Blood for seven seasons, attended Sony Crackle's exclusive season two screening for The Oath.

Date night! True Blood hunk Ryan Kwanten put on a loved-up display with girlfriend Ashley Sisino at The Oath season two launch in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The Oath is an American crime drama web television series, created by Joe Halpin, which premiered on March 8, 2018 on Sony Crackle.

Ashley looked effortlessly glamorous in a simply black dress and strappy heels for the occasion.

The brunette beauty wore her hair down in crinkled waves, and opted for a bold rep lipstick and black eyeliner.

Stunner! Ashley looked effortlessly glamorous in a simply black dress and strappy heels

Her plunging frock provided a glimpse of her cleavage, as a drop necklace dangled over her exposed decolletage.

Standing beside Ashley, Ryan looked dapper in a stylish suit.

The Australian actor was suavely dressed in a white button-up dress shirt, with black trousers and a matching suit jacket.

Dapper! The Australian actor was suavely dressed in a white button-up dress shirt, with black trousers and a matching suit jacket

While LA might be his adopted acting homeland, Ryan, admitted that his his long term goal has always been to return to Australia.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2015, Ryan said: 'I think I'll go back home; I've never doubted that.'

'Unfortunately, or fortunately, this [L.A] is where I have to be for now- but the plan is always to go back home.'

There's one person who'll be happy to hear the news  his long-term girlfriend Ashley.

The hunky blonde introduced his girlfriend to his home country's charms when the pair made a foray back to Oz in October 2014.

'What does anyone think of Australia? She loves it!' Ryan revealed.

Boys club! Ryan looked energetic while posing with Mexican-American actor Joseph Julian Soria as she gripped their fists in excitement while smiling for the cameras

Happy days: He also posed alongside German-American actress Elisabeth Rohm in a glittery number, and American actress Katrina Law, who stunned in a red frock

While on the red carpet, Ryan - who plays Steve Hammond in the series - also posed up with his co-stars.

Ryan looked energetic alongside Mexican-American actor Joseph Julian Soria as she gripped their fists in excitement while smiling for the cameras.

He also posed alongside German-American actress Elisabeth Rohm in a glittery number, and American actress Katrina Law, who stunned in a red frock.
She's celebrating her best friend's 50th birthday in style with a luxury vacation on the beach.

But Courteney Cox revealed that the trip to Cabo San Lucas with Jennifer Aniston was scarier than anticipated after their private jet was forced to make an emergency landing last week.

The 54-year-old actress told Extra TV that she was so scared that she texted daughter Coco 'i love you' mid-flight without any follow up before the plane safely landed hours later at Ontario International Airport.

Yikes! Courteney Cox told Extra TV that she was so scared that she texted daughter Coco 'i love you' mid-flight without any follow up before the plane safely landed hours later at Ontario International Airport; seen in 2017

In addition to quick words to her 14-year-old daughter, Cox said she also reached out to her boyfriend Johnny McDaid and 'told him everything that was going on and I FaceTimed him after.'

'I'm not afraid of flying at all ... my dad was a pilot  but I was really scared.'

The jet initially departed from LAX toward the destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but was routed to Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California amid the tire issue, with pilots circling over the airport to burn fuel for hours prior to its safe landing.

'When we were taking off, we heard this really loud bang and I was like, "Oh, that sounds like we should probably check that tire,"' Cox told the show. 'There was no tire at all, there was no wheel. Luckily, there are two wheels on each side and two in the front.'

Off with a bang: Jennifer Aniston's birthday trip was scarier than anticipated after their private jet was forced to make an emergency landing last week; seen in December

Difficult: She shared about the scary incident last week in which the private jet had to make an emergency landing after a rear tire blew out

The Mothers and Daughters actress admitted that there was a tense uncertainty on the Gulfstream Aerospace IV aircraft amid the drawn-out process.

'I have to say, we were in the air for four hours, burning off fuel and just thought of what it is going to be like when we land,' Cox said, adding that the landing was 'really smooth' amid the adverse circumstances.

Other Aniston pals on the flight included writer Molly Kimmel, wife of late night host Jimmy Kimmel, and actress Amanda Anka, who's married to actor Jason Bateman.

Best of friends: Cox was on the flight with Aniston and a group of friends for a celebration of Aniston's birthday in Mexico

Subdued: Cox looked tense when the group finally touched down in Cabo San Lucas on a later flight

Long journey: The jet initially departed from LAX toward the destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but was routed to Ontario International Airport amid the tire issue

On a lighter note, she told the show about what she got her longtime pal Aniston: 'A bunch of us got her a pottery wheel and lessons, even though she's a great artist, and a table, a big beautiful antique table.'

The actress is on the promotional trail for her new Facebook Watch series 9 Months with Courteney Cox, which takes a closer look at pregnancy by exploring their pregnancies.

'It is a look at life before birth,' she said of the show. 'We take ten couples, we follow their journey into having a child.

She added that the format of Facebook was the 'perfect place ... because you can interact and ask questions, and learn and share your own experience.'

The show will air on Facebook Watch Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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She has been the star everyone looks to at all the biggest Milan Fashion Week catwalks.

And Kaia Gerber ruled the runway once again when she took to the catwalk alongside Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne for Prada's show, in Italy on Thursday.

Cindy Crawford's daughter, 17, rocked a kooky mismatching attire for the designer show as she caught the eye with her skirt's crocheted rose bouquet.

Bizarre: Kaia Gerber ruled the runway once again when she took to the catwalk for Prada's Milan Fashion Week show in Italy on Thursday

Colourful crochet roses were fashioned into a bouquet and stitched into the left side of the knee-length olive green skirt for an eye-catching effect.

Kaia toted a smart-looking green handbag to pick out the olive shade of her skirt as she showcased the Autumn/Winter 2019/20 collection.

Striding down the catwalk with the same confidence as her fashion icon mum Cindy Crawford, the model sauntered out in long lace-up boots.

Star-studded: Cindy Crawford's daughter, 17, joined Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne (L-R) on the star-studded catwalk

Looking good! Kaia rocked a kooky mismatching attire for the designer show as she caught the eye with her skirt's crocheted rose bouquet

Sheer delight! Also on the catwalk, Gigi made an exhibition of her underwear and her pins in her sheer skirt which was embossed with a series of roses

Having trumped her mum on scooping her first VOGUE cover at a younger age, it is no wonder Kaia has been fronting all of the Milan Fashion Week shows.

Also on the catwalk, Gigi Hadid made an exhibition of her underwear and her pins in her sheer skirt which was embossed with a series of roses.

The catwalk queen contrasted her very feminine lace skirt with a khaki green military jacket and a bright blue shirt.

Work it: Cara was a spooky spectacle when she graced the catwalk in a Frankenstein and his bride-inspired ensemble

Details: Gigi contrasted her very feminine lace skirt with a khaki green military jacket and a bright blue shirt

Getting ready: Cara appeared in good spirits backstage as she got ready for the catwalk with her hair clipped back

Striking: The model-turn-actress returned to the catwalk with a very edgy Halloween-inspired jumpsuit paired with lace-up boots

Strike a pose: Cara knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm on the catwalk

What a difference!: After the show, Cara, Gigi and Rachel Brosnahan posed for pictures in their own ensembles (L-R)

Cara Delevingne was a spooky spectacle when she graced the catwalk in a Frankenstein and his bride-inspired garb.

The model-turn-actress returned to the catwalk with a very edgy Halloween-inspired jumpsuit paired with lace-up boots.

All of the models walking in the show put make-up on to cover their eyebrows.

Poppy Delevingne shimmered in a disc minidress as she headed to the front row to support her sister on the runway.

What a showcase! Models looked blooming beautiful as they showcased the floral-inspired ensembles for the latest collection

Wow: The audience were treated to a collection of colourful ensembles as models walked the runways

Glittering girl: Cara's sister Poppy Delevingne shimmered in a disc minidress as she headed to the front row to support her sibling on the runway

Glamorous: The model, 32, styled her blonde locks into a tousled blow-dried hairdo as she added a slick of make-up

Off the catwalk, Kaia was joined by her beau Wellington Grant in Milan ahead of her appearances on all of the hottest runways.

The new rumoured couple were spied out together holding hands for the first time on Valentine's Day in New York City.

Similar to Kaia, Wellington has made a mark on the modelling spheres as he models for Wilhelmina Grant in New York and Elite in Paris and Milan.

FROW: Poppy joined her pal, Juno Temple, as they sat on the front row supporting her sister Cara on the runway

Leading ladies: Also sitting FROM were the likes of Mia Goth and Rachel Brosnahan (right)

Elegant: Mia looked elegant in a plunging black cape-like dress as she teamed it with red high heels and a matching handbag

Gal gang: Rachel, Poppy, Juno and Mia later posed for a glamorous picture together after the show

Star-studded: Miuccia Prada and Joel Edgerton were also pictured at the event alongside Poppy and Mia (L-R)

Glamorous: Chiara Ferragni, Caroline Daur and Joel all pictured on the front row during the catwalk (L-R)
She has just returned from a luxury break in Dubai.

And Vicky Pattison made sure she showed off her sun-kissed glow as she shared two sultry pictures to her Instagram on Thursday.

In one sizzling snap, the former Geordie Shore star, 31, showed off her ample assets in a tiny grey bra.

'Shy': Vicky Pattison made sure she showed off her sun-kissed glow as she shared two sultry pictures to her Instagram on Thursday

Posing on all fours, Vicky grinned at the camera as she joked in the caption she was 'shy'.

She said: 'No pictures!!!! Im shy...,' followed by a crying and camera emoji.

Vicky also took to her Instagram stories to document her stay at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London.

Racy: Vicky also took to her Instagram stories to document her stay at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London as she posed in a plunging dressing gown

Chill time: While a different snap saw Vicky go topless as she relaxed on a massage table with a towel draped over her

In one picture, the reality star showed off her ample assets once again as she posed in a plunging dressing gown.

While a different snap saw Vicky go topless as she relaxed on a massage table with a towel draped over her.

Vicky recently confirmed she was seeing new man, one-time TOWIE star Ercan Ramadan, just three months after calling off her engagement to fiance John Noble.

Moving on: Vicky recently confirmed she was seeing her new man, one-time TOWIE star Ercan, just three months after calling off her engagement to fiance John Noble

The couple split in November after he was spotted getting close to a bevy of women on a lads' holiday in Dubai.

Vicky insisted she was taking things slow and won't be flat-hunting or getting engaged any time soon, telling the Daily Mirror: 'We are officially dating but it's not love yet. I do still believe in love, though.

'I have to or I would be very sad. I am worried about rebound, I want to make sure I'm doing things for the right reason and not just to feel better'.
He keeps his private and dating life out of the public eye.

Yet Ryan Sampson came out to his fans on Wednesday with a sweet loved-up picture of himself with his handsome boyfriend.

The Plebs actor, 33, took to his Twitter account to reveal that a fan had tried to 'rope him' into some 'homophobic banter' after mistaking him for being straight.

Sweet: Ryan Sampson came out to his fans on Wednesday with a sweet loved-up picture of himself with his handsome boyfriend

He said: 'Hi yall. So. I was on Instagram and I looked at my direct messages and it turned out someone was trying to rope me in to some (pretty creaky) homophobic banter. Huh!

'So, for clarity, heres a pic of me and the boyf. Just to, yknow... straighten that one out. As it were. .'

In the selfie picture, Ryan looked loved-up as he put his arm around his boyfriend's head and they both gazed into the camera.

Loved-up: The Plebs actor, 33, took to his Twitter account to reveal that a fan had tried to 'rope him' into some 'homophobic banter' after mistaking him for being straight

Hitting back: He said: 'Hi yall. So. I was on Instagram and I looked at my direct messages and it turned out someone was trying to rope me in to some (pretty creaky) homophobic banter. Huh!

The actor's fans were quick to respond to the post as they praised Ryan for hitting back at homophobia and gushed about the smitten duo.

One person said: 'You are awesome Ryan!'

A different fan tweeted: 'Youre fit....hes well fit....and grumio is a legend !!!! No more words needed.'

Praise: The actor's fans were quick to respond to the post as they praised Ryan for hitting back at homophobia and gushed about the smitten duo

Another follower commented: 'Loved you as an actor / comedian, love you more as a person after this. Handsome couple.'

While a different account added: 'Aww, you make a very cute couple! .'

Ryan is best known for his role as Grumio in ITV2's comedy series Plebs, which follows young men trying to hold down jobs in ancient Rome.

The actor has also starred in The Crown as Dudley Moore, BBC's After You've Gone as Alex and Doctor Who as Luke Rattigan.
She jetted off for a jungle adventure after escaping the TOWIE cast culling.

And Courtney Green offered another glimpse into her sunny Sri Lankan holiday as she posted a sizzling bikini snap on Instagram on Thursday.

The TOWIE bombshell, 23, showcased her eye-popping cleavage in a skimpy halterneck bikini top which had gem embellished straps and a shimmering design.

In sensational shape: TOWIE's Courtney Green slipped her eye-watering cleavage into a shimmering bikini on sandy Sri Lankan shores in an image shared on Thursday

Gleaming chains hung around Courtney's waist which accentuated her hourglass shape as she posed in her two-piece for her photograph.

An ankle bracelet embellished with shells was the perfect accessory for her beach trip to the sandy shores of Sri Lanka.

With her straight brunette locks blowing in the wind, the reality star applied heavy make-up as she kept up her glamorous TOWIE looks while on holiday.

Holiday times: She jetted off for a jungle adventure after escaping the TOWIE cast culling

She has been flooding her Instagram with eye-popping snaps from her getaway with her TOWIE co-star Chloe Meadows.

The Essex duo have enjoyed all manner of adventures including learning to surf, riding an open train and getting up close and personal with the wildlife on a safari.

Chloe, 26, has also been flaunting her jaw-dropping figure in a skimpy yellow floral bikini, and even went makeup free for the post as she posed after a spot of oceanic surfing.

Amazing: One daring post also showed Chloe bravely riding an open train, joking in the caption: 'My mum is having a heart attack at home, so for that Im sorry mumma'

Adventures: Chloe seemed to be embarking on a journey along the Sri Lanka railroad, as one post showed the blonde posting up a storm on the railroad tracks

Friends: Their amazing complexions took centre stage in the selfies, some of which came from Courtney

Chloe and Courtney's break comes after they dodged the so-called cast cull ahead of TOWIE's newest series.

Amber Turner, Myles Barnett, Jon Clark, Chris Clark, Chloe Lewis, Dean Ralph, Jordan Wright and Adam Oukhellou will not be return for the new series.

Remaining castmembers, including Chloe Sims and Gemma Collins, are set to jet off to holiday hot spot Thailand for the new series, set to return in March.

Bosses are shunning the show's typical clubbing destinations in favour of a yoga retreat.

Insiders revealed to MailOnline: 'The trip is to Thailand furthest they've ever gone - very cool - feel more grown-up more beach bars than clubs'.

Look at that! As she embarked on an epic safari, Courtney got up close and personal with some of the wildlife
Country star Luke Bryan and his family are mourning the loss of their new rescue pup just weeks after giving the hound a forever home.

Luke's wife Caroline (Lina) took to social media to share the sadness to fans that the 18-year-old dog named Poochie had crossed the rainbow bridge.

The couple had adopted Poochie just two weeks ago from the Proverbs12:10 Animal Rescue in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mourning: Luke Bryan and his wife Lina are grieving for the loss of a sweet rescue pup whom they brought home just two weeks ago

'If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all,' Lina Bryan quoted on Instagram.

She continued with her own personal sentiment: 'My heart is sad but full to post this..our sweet Prince Poochie has passed away. He lived 18 years and was loved by so many people.'

'My kids especially loved to hear him snore when he slept!'

The family thanked the no-kill shelter who rescued the senior pup and giving them 'the opportunity to love this sweet dog.'

Heartbreak: The couple announced 18-year-old Poochie's passing on social media Wednesday evening

Adopt don't shop: The senior Aussie mix was a forever hospice foster taken in by the family from a local Tennessee no-kill shelter, Proverbs12:10

The black dog with a grey snout and a precious face was a nearly 20-year-old Aussie mix who was surrendered to a shelter after a family 'a family member became allergic to him'.

Proverbs12:10 took in the gentle giant from the first shelter and sought to find in a 'fospice' home, which is a forever hospice foster.

The shelter also took to social media to express their sadness about Poochie's passing and gratitude that he spend his last weeks in a loving home.

My heart is sad but full to post this..our sweet Prince Poochie has passed away. He lived 18 years and was loved by so many people,' Lina penned

So sad: Poochie was surrendered to a shelter after a family member 'became allergic'

'He was able to stroll in pastures & be a dog again,' the shelter wrote. 'He sadly passed away a few days ago in his sleep on a big comfy bed.'

The pup was later buried on Luke Bryan's family farm.

'While we would have loved for Poochie to have lived another 18 years, we are grateful for the time we gave him with our foster, Lacey Marie and with his adoptive family, the Bryans,' Proverbs said.

Adding that at the end, 'Poochie enjoyed his time with the Bryan family.'

Sweet boy: Proverbs wrote on social media that Poochie was able to 'be a dog' again after being taken in by the Bryans
Channel 4 have released another preview for this year's Great Stand Up To Cancer Celebrity Bake Off.

Confirming the release date for Tuesday 5th March at 8pm, the exciting 40 second clip sees the likes of Michelle Keegan, Caroline Flack and Georgia Toffolo come under pressure as they attempt to concoct the perfect yummy creations.

In hilarious snippets, judges Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig don't appear too amused as further famous faces such as Rylan Clark-Neal, John Lithgow and Johnny Vegas bake away under the famous white tent.

Exciting: Channel 4 have released another preview for this year's Great Stand Up To Cancer Celebrity Bake Off

'Oh God, I'm really nervous,' Rylan declares, while John proclaims 'catastrophe' in the jam-packed trailer.

Further scenes shows Love Island host Caroline and Made In Chelsea's Georgia having difficulty, while Michelle loses her cool as she talks to the camera.

Hinting that not everyone is a talented baker, Prue is captured looked over at an appalled Paul to say: 'Don't look so unhappy. They may taste better than they look

The lineup was announced on Channel 4s Stand Up To Cancer in October and all the celebrities will battle it out beneath the iconic white tent in aid of charity.

Upcoming: Confirming the release date for Tuesday 5th March at 8pm, the clip sees the likes of Michelle Keegan, Caroline Flack and Georgia Toffolo come under pressure as they attempt to concoct the perfect yummy creations

Soon to hit screens: In hilarious snippets, further famous faces bake away under the famous white tent

'Might taste better than they look': Judges Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig don't appear too amused

Fun times: Further scenes shows Love Island host Caroline and Made In Chelsea's Georgia having difficulty

Also hoping to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with their culinary skills will be popular host Rylan Clark-Neal, actor Russell Tovey, boxer Nicola Adams, funnyman Jonny Vegas, presenter Jeremy Paxman, comedian Jon Richardson, actress Sally Lindsay, politician Jess Phillips and rapper Big Narstie.

Fans were offered a sneak peak of the baking disasters to come as a humorous clip introduced the well-known faces for the first time.

Twitter users were quick to react to the news and share their enthusiasm for the lineup.

Lineup: Michelle, Russell Brand and The Crown star John Lithgow are among the famous faces joining The Great Celebrity Bake Off

Famous faces: Celebrities will battle it out beneath the iconic white tent in aid of charity

Sneak peak: Fans were offered a glimpse of the baking disasters to come as a humorous clip introduced the well-known faces for the first time

Also hoping to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith with his culinary skills will be popular host Rylan Clark-Neal

One wrote: My two favourite things in one program ... food and @michkeegan cant wait!! #SU2C #celebritybakeoff

Another said: Oooh @Rylan @michkeegan & @ToffTalks all set to appear on the next edition of #CelebrityBakeoff Totally can't wait #SU2C

A third commented: My [favourite] person ever @michkeegan going to be on my [favourite] show ever! I just danced round the living room in excitement

Loving it! One Twitter user said: 'Russell Brand is doing celeb bake off this year. We are not worthy'

Reaction: Twitter users were quick to share their enthusiasm for the announced lineup

While one added: 'Russell Brand is doing celeb bake off this year. We are not worthy.'

And another excited social media user said: 'OMG Celebrity Bake Off looks brilliant! Jeremy Paxman, Toff, Russell Brand, Russell Tovey, Jon Richardson, Sally Lindsay and Big Narstie amongst others.'

Last years spin-off of Channel 4's popular baking show - presented by Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig - saw Loose Women star Stacey Solomon, talk show host Alan Carr and reality TV star Jamie Laing compete.

Each episode saw a different winner with Harry Hill, Perri Kiely, Ruth Davidson and Teri Hatcher all being crowned.
Once vehicles can manage all road conditions and scenarios, giving those travelling permission to stop thinking about the driving task and do other things, the ABI says it would be unfair to expect the driver to intervene if the on-board systems got something wrong or were unable to prevent an accident. This means manufacturers must not be allowed to have their vehicles recognised as autonomous when a driver might still be expected to act in an emergency. Any process which involves the vehicle handing back to someone on board must be clearly signposted and give the driver enough time to regain control safely. Until a vehicle can handle emergency scenarios without driver intervention they can only be considered to offer advanced driver assistance. In these vehicles, drivers do remain fully responsible for the car and must be ready to take back control at any moment. Establishing the point at which liability moves from the driver to the vehicle requires a number of core things: A system to categorise which vehicles can be truly autonomous and which have only advanced driver assistance systems. Clear information for motorists about the capabilities of vehicles they are buying so they understand their level of responsibility. Easily accessible and comparable data for all vehicles so insurers and the emergency services have the necessary information about whether a person or the vehicle was in charge at the time of an incident. More details here. A working party on automated, autonomous and connected cars, part of the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), is in the process of setting out detailed criteria vehicles will have to meet to be considered autonomous. The UK Governments amibition is to have the necessary legislation in place to allow fully automated vehicles on British roads from 2021, but insurers want to make sure the transition is handled as safely as possible. The ABIs response to the Law Commissions preliminary consultation paper on automated vehicles, submitted jointly with Thatcham Research, also emphasises the insurance industrys high level of support for autonomous motoring given the potential benefits to road safety. Laurenz Gerger, Policy Adviser for Motor Insurance at the ABI, said: There will come a point when the drivers of today are effectively passengers in a vehicle driving itself, and at that stage we want motorists to be reassured they wont be held liable for an error made by a vehicle or a piece of on-board technology. Standards being set internationally, and the way they are adopted in the UK, need to include strict requirements to ensure vehicles arent rushed onto the roads under the badge of autonomy when in fact they may still need human intervention at short notice. Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential to radically improve road safety and insurers are heavily involved in the trials taking place around the country. A safe transition to automated driving requires clear definitions to help consumers understand their own and their vehicles responsibilities, and data must be available in the event of an accident to help insurers and the authorities understand what went wrong. Matthew Avery, Director of Insurance Research at Thatcham Research, said: The future of motoring is extremely exciting and approaching fast. The life-saving potential of fully automated vehicles is clear, but it is important their introduction onto the UKs roads is handled carefully to guard against serious accidents which could potentially undermine public trust in this new technology. This also means reassuring the public that when the time comes, they will not find themselves being held liable for the actions of a truly autonomous vehicle. Until this time, there will be a mix of vehicles on our roads with different capabilities: some being driven manually, others automatically. So it is vital that we make sure they can share the same road space, and remain safe. Organisations such as ours will have an important role to play in helping ensure they do, whilst also helping consumers understand what is expected of them when they are behind the wheel. The ABI and Thatcham Research have previously set out a list of ten tests that vehicles must meet before they can be considered fully autonomous and therefore allow drivers to do other tasks. The evolution of different risks and how they are handled by the insurance industry is one of the themes at this years ABI Annual Conference, being held in London on February 26th
Her world was recently flipped upside down upon news that her best friend Jordyn Woods was spotted getting cozy with Tristan Thompson this weekend.

And Kylie Jenner shared a solemn late-night video in front of her kitchen mirror early Thursday morning on Instagram.

The 21-year-old makeup mogul flaunted her trim waistline in a pair of leopard print pajamas after People reported that Jordyn moved out of their Hidden Hills home and back to her mother's house nearby.

So serious: Kylie Jenner shared a solemn late-night video in front of her kitchen mirror early Thursday morning on Instagram

Kylie stood alone in her kitchen to show off her toned tummy as she struck a few poses before calling it a night.

The lip kit queen donned a pair of leopard print pajamas with her top tied up to reveal a slim waistline.

Kylie appeared to be ready for bed as she partially hid her makeup-free face and unstyled brunette tresses for the video.

Jordyn had been a staple around the house with Kylie admitting in a Vogue video in 2017 that she tests 'most of my stuff on Jordyn because we live together, so Im like, 'Jordyn, I need you.'

Somber: The 21-year-old makeup mogul flaunted her trim waistline in a pair of leopard print pajamas after People reported that Jordyn moved out of their Hidden Hills home and back to her mother's house nearby

Goodnight: Kylie stood alone in her kitchen to show off her toned tummy as she struck a few poses before calling it a night

Kylie appeared to be ready for bed as she partially hid her makeup-free face and unstyled brunette tresses for the video

Kylie regularly shared stylish photos to her social media followers, which were assumed to be taken by her best buddy.

Khloe was certainly in a stoic mood as she took to Instagram stories to share a few wise words.

'The worst pain is gettin hurt by a person you explained your pain to,' one of the solemn photos said.

'Somebody needs to hear this...That betrayal was your blessing!!!' and 'If they ask you about me, tell them: "She was the only person that loved me with honesty, and I broke her."'

The Good American entrepreneur also posted a cartoon character with one tear falling as her hand covered her face.

Gone? Jordyn was most recently hanging out with her roommate on Monday when Kylie shared snaps of the girls lounging around the house

Talk about it: Khloe was certainly in a stoic mood as she took to Instagram stories to share a few wise words

Sad: The Good American entrepreneur also posted a cartoon character with one tear falling as her hand covered her face

'The worst pain is gettin hurt by a person you explained your pain to,' one of the solemn photos said on social media

Not great: The Hollywood Unlocked broke the news on Tuesday that Tristan not only cheated on Khloe Kardashian with two women at a party on Sunday, but was also caught with Kylie's best friend

Woods has been connected at the hip to Kylie Jenner for more than five years as the pair were featured on the hit reality show Life of Kylie in 2017 where Jenner navigated the difficulties of maintaining a budding makeup business in addition to personal relationships.

'It's been a difficult time and she's broken up about it,' a source told the magazine about Jordyn's latest move. 'She's heading home to be with her mom.'

At first, the insider said, the family did not believe the story that Jordyn and Tristan 'made out' and were 'all over each other' at the party.

The Hollywood Unlocked broke the news on Tuesday that Tristan not only cheated on Khloe Kardashian with two women at a party on Sunday, but was also caught with Kylie's best friend.

New photog? Kylie regularly shared stylish photos to her social media followers, which were assumed to be taken by her best buddy; seen on Instagram

Fashion: Jordyn had been a staple around the house with Kylie admitting in a Vogue video in 2017 that she tests 'most of my stuff on Jordyn because we live together, so Im like, 'Jordyn, I need you'

The outlet said that 'she had enough' after finding out the news and that there's is 'little chance' of any type of reconciliation between Khloe and Tristan.

TMZ revealed that after learning about the betrayal, Khloe, 34, broke up with Tristan for good.

Khloe Kardashian was instrumental in helping Jordyn Woods build a successful career after hiring her to be a spokesperson for Good American.

The 34-year-old reality television star gave Woods, now 21, a leg-up back in 2016 when she brought her on board to model her plus-size denim range.

Jordyn's career wasn't just limited to Good American as she posed as a Kim Kardashian look-a-like during Kanye West's Yeezy Season Six.

Strike a pose: Jordyn's career wasn't just limited to Good American as she posed as a Kim Kardashian look-a-like during Kanye West's Yeezy Season Six
The story of two Texas Rangers' quest to hunt down notorious criminal duo Bonnie and Clyde is set to be portrayed in Netflix's new film The Highwaymen.

Starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner in the lead roles, the action-packed first trailer for the drama was released by the streaming platform on Wednesday.

Set in 1934, the preview opens with the True Detective star, 57, and the actor, 64, discussing their battle scars as Woody's Maney Gault asks Kevin's Frank Hamer 'how many bullets' he's got in him.

The Highwaymen FIRST LOOK: Trailer for Netflix's intense drama, released on Wednesday, saw Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner hunt down criminal duo Bonnie and Clyde

Frank responds that he has 16, to which Maney quips: 'Might be good to have a doctor look at you sometime.'

When the ranger repeats the same phrase back to him in a belittling manner, he adds: 'I aint got no bullets in me.'

And Frank jokes: 'Because I was covering you.'

Moving on to Bonnie and Clyde's prison break, a narrator goes into detail about their heinous crimes as they say: 'They committed dozens of armed robberies and several coldblooded murders.'

Notorious: Moving on to Bonnie and Clyde's prison break, a narrator says: 'They committed dozens of armed robberies and several coldblooded murders'

Leading men: Set in 1934, the preview opens with the True Detective star, 57, and the actor, 64, discussing their battle scars as Woody's Maney Gault asks Kevin's Frank Hamer

In response, Kathy Bates' Governor Ma Ferguson promises they would capture the duo, as she assures: 'Theres only one man who can take them down,' referencing Frank.

He's then joined by Maney, who brings his trusty toothbrush along for their mission, but the pair seem out of their depth as the advancement of technology at the time sees the FBI use roadblocks and air surveillance to find them.

Lamenting the changing times, Maney adds: 'What the hells the world coming to? Used to be that you had to have talent to get published, now all you have to do is shoot people.'

Promise: In the trailer, Kathy Bates' Governor Ma Ferguson promises they would capture the duo, as she assures: 'Theres only one man who can take them down,' referencing Frank

Shocked: Lamenting the changing times, Maney adds: 'What the hells the world coming to? Used to be that you had to have talent to get published, now all you have to do is shoot people'

Showing the brutal incidents of robbery and murder that both Bonnie and Clyde take part in, Frank can be heard saying: 'This has gone far enough, Im going to take them down.'

A climactic final scene sees the two rangers go after suspicious individuals, and they end up in a sticky situation as the people quickly turn on them.

Before attacking Maney, one culprit says menacingly: 'Youve come to the wrong place mister, around here Clyde is king.'

Loved: The public were enamoured with the pair during the Public Enemies era of the Great Depression, as they gained headlines for evading the authorities in shoot-outs and getaways

Violent: Frank and Maney pull out all the stops to catch the criminal duo

But the ranger easily outmanoeuvred them, as they quipped: 'Clyde might be king, but Im a Texas ranger you little shit.'

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met in Texas in 1930 and are believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries by the time they died in 1934 by Frank, Maney and two other officers.

The public were enamoured with the pair during the Public Enemies era of the Great Depression, as they gained headlines for evading the authorities in shoot-outs and making daring getaways.

The Highwaymen will be released on Netflix on March 29, 2019.

Dramatic: A climactic final scene sees the two rangers go after suspicious individuals, and they end up in a sticky situation as the people quickly turn on them and call Clyde a 'king'
They're expecting their first child following a 'tough' journey to conceive.

And Ashley Banjo revealed he and wife Francesca Abbott are 'patiently waiting' for their little one to arrive in a sweet social media post shared on Thursday morning.

The Diversity dancer and his long-term love were seen cosying up in bed, with Francesca clutching her baby bump while planting a kiss on Ashley's head.

Parents to be: Ashley Banjo revealed he and wife Francesca are 'patiently waiting' for their little one to arrive in a sweet social media post shared on Thursday morning

Ashley captioned the snap: 'Waking up early every morning - Just patiently waiting for the bump to become a baby... Any moment now... #babybanjo'.

The star's followers inundated him with well-wishes, enthushing about what great parents the pair will make.

The BGT winner has been keeping his fans updated about Francesca's pregnancy, recently paying tribute to her on Valentine's Day.

He penned: 'Not long now until I get to have more than one crazy Banjo female rocking around the house So blessed to have created a little human with you!

Sweet: The BGT winner has been keeping his fans updated about Francesca's pregnancy, recently paying tribute to her on Valentine's Day

'Im sooo excited Now hurry up and do your hair so we can go out for dinner Happy valentines @francescabanjo X #family'.

Another heartwarming post showed Ashley resting his head of Francesca's moving stomach as he tried to communicate with his baby girl.

He wrote: 'The bump decided to wake us up at 3am - She was full of it last night! I think this counts as her first dance lesson from me!?

Tender moment: Another heartwarming post showed Ashley resting his head of Francesca's moving stomach

'I AM IN LOVE ALREADY! She signed off by kicking me in the face just to let me know whos boss#5678 #gobabygobaby #baby'.

Ashley recently discussed the couple's 'tough' journey to conceive and his excitement at becoming a father during an interview on Lorraine.

The star, who wed Francesca in 2015, has previously spoken about the couple's 'difficult' journey to become parents.

Emotional: Ashley recently discussed the couple's 'tough' journey to conceive and his excitement at becoming a father during an interview on Lorraine

Excitement: The 30-year-old star who wed Francesca in 2015, has previously spoken about the couple's 'difficult' journey to become parents

Speaking of his excitement out of 10 at the impending birth, he said: 'There's no number. Honestly, it's already quite surreal for me to think there's a little baby Banjo on the way, little girl.'

The star has reprised his role as a judge on Dancing On Ice this year but said his Diversity pals Perri Kiely and Jordan Banjo were poised to step in should Francesca go into labour.

He said: 'I'll have to get Perri in. Perri or Jordan to sit there. On standby!'

Speaking of being on the Dancing on Ice panel, he said: 'I'm loving it. Great show, it's a classic.'

Happy couple: Speaking of his excitement out of 10 at the impending birth, he said: 'There's no number. Honestly, it's already quite surreal for me to think there's a little baby Banjo on the way, little girl'

And of early favourites for the title, he said: 'I don't think I've ever seen a week one like James Jordan. I can't believe what he did week one  Jason [Gardiner] gave him an 8! What does that tell you?

'He's set his bar extremely high! He works so hard, I know he does, so good on him.'

The interview comes three months after Ashley showed off his wife's baby bump for the first time in a sweet Instagram post uploaded from Bristol.

The dancer just announced the lovebirds were overjoyed to be expecting a baby girl after the pair had a 'difficult journey'.

Anticipation: The Britain's Got Talent champion has reprised his role as a judge on Dancing On Ice this year but said his Diversity pals Perri Kiely and Jordan Banjo were poised to step in should Francesca go into labour

Choreographer Ashley looked ecstatic as he cradled his wife's blossoming baby bump in the first picture revealing pregnant Francesca's maternal curves.

He captioned the post: 'Time for the tour bus with Two and a half Banjo's #babybump #tourlife #family.'

In the cute snap, Francesca displayed her baby bump in her figure-hugging khaki green knitted dress.

Ashley and Francesca, with the unborn baby in tow, were climbing on board the tour bus from Bristol.

The TV host thanked his 312k followers for their support since the announcement that he is expecting a baby girl with his wife following a 'difficult journey'.

'Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the love for our little one!! We are overwhelmed xx.'

'Time for the tour bus!': The interview comes three months after Ashley showed off his wife's baby bump for the first time in a sweet Instagram post uploaded from Bristol

The Instagram comes just one day after the dancer confirmed his wife Francesca is pregnant with the couple's first child.

The dancer and choreographer took to his Instagram page on Wednesday afternoon to reveal the childhood sweethearts are 'so excited' to be expecting a baby girl after a 'difficult journey'.

Alongside a sweet selfie of the couple holding a picture of their ultrasound scan, eh wrote: 'I am so excited to finally share the news that we are having a baby!! Now the time has come to finally say this out loud I have no idea what to say!

'We are overwhelmed': The TV host thanked his 312k followers for their support since the announcement that he is expecting a baby girl with his wife following a 'difficult journey'

'I don't know if words alone can explain how full of joy and happiness we both are. It has been a more difficult journey to this point than most people know but we are now here with one of the most precious gifts in the world... A little girl!

'I have so many strong and incredible women around me, I know she will have great examples to follow.

'Especially this woman right here - my wife and my rock. You are going to be the best mum in the world.

'I'm so excited to see our little one grow up and if by any chance she wanted to be like her daddy and bust a few moves, I've already got the dancing shoes covered! Can't wait to meet you little sweetie.'

Parents to be: The dancer and choreographer, 29, took to his Instagram page on Wednesday afternoon to reveal the childhood sweethearts are 'so excited' to be expecting a baby girl

Grateful: In the lengthy message, the street dance pro hailed his wife as his 'rock' and said she will be the 'best mum in the world'

Set to follow in their footsteps? Ashley also explained he will support his daughter if she wanted to 'bust a few moves' in the future

Ashley's brother Jordan also took to Instagram to post a gushing message about the exciting announcement, alongside a snap of the dancer cradling his nephew.

The Dancing On Ice presenter penned: 'My big bro is going to be a DAD @ashleybanjogram & @francescabanjo I'm so proud of you guys, you're already the best aunty and uncle to my little Cass (as you can see Ash's huge smile holding his nephew).

'I can't wait to see the banjo family get even bigger! Love you guys, and I know Cass is buzzing to have a beautiful little cousin to play with', he concluded.

'My bro is going to be a DAD!': Ashley's brother Jordan also took to Instagram to post a gushing message about the announcement, alongside a snap of the dancer cradling his nephew

Ashley and Francesca are childhood sweethearts and have been together for 13 years; they got engaged in 2014 and tied the knot in 2015.

Francesca is a member of another dance troupe called Out of the Shadow.

The happy news comes just months after Ashley's brother Jordan welcomed his first baby in May when his girlfriend Naomi Courts give birth to son Cassius Ashley Banjo - with his middle name serving as a nod to his big brother.

New parents: The happy news comes just months after Ashley's brother Jordan welcomed his first baby in May when his girlfriend Naomi Courts give birth to son Cassius Ashley Banjo

Jordan recently told Lorraine Kelly: 'Ashley's a wicked uncle already!

'He's not even three weeks old yet and Ashley's already telling me how he wants him in Diversity so I've got to train him pretty quick.'

Ashley shot to fame when his dance troupe, Diversity, won the third series of Britain's Got Talent in 2009.

He later became a co-judge on Sky1's Got To Dance, and joined the judging panel of ITV1 celebrity skating show Dancing On Ice in January.
She regularly turns heads on the catwalk.

And Irina Shayk looked as glamorous as ever as she indulged in some retail therapy on Thursday while enjoying Milan Fashion Week.

The model, 33, cut a chic figure in a knee-length beige coat which she paired with dark leggings and tan leather boots.

Chic: Irina Shayk looked as glamorous as ever as she indulged in some retail therapy on Thursday while enjoying Milan Fashion Week

Accessorising with a matching handbag, the Russian beauty styled her brunette locks into an up-do and completed her look with a pair of shades.

The catwalk queen later shrugged off her chic coat to reveal a monochrome cardigan with an Aztec print.

The mother-of-one paired the garment with a black silk top with a plunging neckline and a matching skirt as she departed the Falconeri store.

Irina and long-term partner Bradley Cooper, 44, have been dating since 2015 and are parents to daughter, Lea De Seine, 23 months.

Shop 'til you drop! The model, 33, cut a chic figure in a knee-length beige coat which she paired with dark leggings and tan leather boots

Bradley has won critical praise for his directorial debut, A Star Is Born, where he also plays the male lead opposite Lady Gaga.

A Star Is Born has been nominated for eight Academy Awards and the winners will be announced during a live telecast on February 24.

While the film is nominated for Best Picture, Bradley was not nominated in the Best Director category, something he recently admitted he is embarrassed about.

Speaking with Oprah Winfrey at her SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square, he explained that when he realised he hadn't been nominated for his directing.

Retail therapy: Accessorising with a matching handbag, the Russian beauty styled her brunette locks into an up-do and completed her look with a pair of shades

Plenty to smile about: The catwalk queen later shrugged off her chic coat to reveal a monochrome cardigan with an Aztec print

Bradley said: 'I went, "Oh wow". And the first thing I felt was embarrassment, actually felt embarrassed that I didnt do my part.'.

Irina recently admitted she prefers to keep her personal life 'quiet'. She said in an interview with Glamour UK: 'I have a lot of friends who share a lot of their personal life on Instagram or social media, very publicly.

'I admire it and I think it's great  but I think it's all about personal choice. Because my work requires me to be out there, I just decided my personal life will be quiet.

'That's why it's called personal, because it's something for you and your family, and I feel happy with it.'

Girl about town: The mother-of-one paired the garment with a black silk top with a plunging neckline and a matching skirt as she departed the Falconeri store
She's been missing her daughter Kaia Gerber as the teen commands fashion's leading catwalks during a series of AW19 showcases in Milan.

But Cindy Crawford still managed to enjoy a night out as she joined husband Rande Gerber and son Presley for dinner at Beverly Hills' Italian restaurant Madeo, in celebration of her 53rd birthday on Wednesday evening.

The iconic model looked effortlessly chic as she made a stylish exit from venue, sporting a sophisticated white blazer and a loose-fitting top.

All about her: Cindy Crawford joined husband Rande Gerber, 56, and son Presley, 19, for dinner at Beverly Hills' Italian restaurant Madeo, in celebration of her 53rd birthday on Wednesday

Fair Game actress Kaia accentuated her slender frame in a pair of indigo skinny jeans and suede grey boots.

The brunette beauty wore her locks in loose waves, and let her naturally radiant complexion shine through with minimal make-up.

Her husband Rande, 56, looked typically suave in a black bomber jacket, while her 19-year-old son Presley, who is following in her modelling footsteps, cut a casual figure in a hooded jumper.

Away: The iconic model has been missing her daughter Kaia Gerber as the teen commands fashion's leading catwalks during a series of AW19 showcases in Milan (pictured on Thursday)

Youthful: The catwalk queen looked effortlessly chic as she made a stylish exit from venue, sporting a sophisticated white blazer and a loose-fitting top

Meanwhile, Kaia, 17, has been keeping busy as she takes to fashion's leading presentations in Milan.

On Thursday, the catwalk queen joined Gigi Hadid and sister Bella Hadid at Fendi's fashion show, where the brand's late creative director Karl Lagerfeld was honoured two days after his death.

While it was business as usual for Kaia, Bella, 22, and Gigi, 23, the show comes at a difficult time as the trio join the fashion world in mourning following the death of Chanel and Fendi legend Karl.

While the models were pulling all their best moves, it was undoubtedly with a heavy heart after it was revealed on Tuesday that Karl passed away from pancreatic cancer, aged 85. Chanel sources confirmed he had died in Paris after looking increasingly frail in recent seasons, and had suffered extremely ill health in recent weeks.

Busy bee: On Wednesday, the catwalk queen joined Gigi Hadid and sister Bella Hadid at Fendi's fashion show, where the brand's late creative director Karl Lagerfeld was honoured two days after his death

Late designer: While the models were pulling all their best moves, it was undoubtedly with a heavy heart after it was revealed on Tuesday that Karl passed away from pancreatic cancer, aged 85

The catwalk was rounded out with the tribute to the designer, who was hired by Fendi to modernise their fur line in 1967, which proved a success when he began using mole, rabbit, and squirrel pelts in high fashion, before he stayed with the brand until his death.

In Kaia's tribute to Karl, the teen model, who has posed and walked for Chanel on a number of occasions, penned: 'this one hurts to write. my dearest Karl, you have taught me things that I am eternally grateful for...

'I cannot put into words how lucky we all are to have been gifted your vision. your girls love you so much. the world is more beautiful now because of you. thank you for everything, no one will ever compare'.

Mother Cindy also took to Instagram with a touching message, stating: '@karllagerfeld your incredible talent and joie de vivre will be missed by all of us who love fashion and you'.
Professor Green was forced to eat his words on social media on Wednesday night after he falsely accused Calvin Harris of blocking his Photographs record.

Talking to Instagram stories while watching Calvin, 35, accept his British Producer of the Year gong, Professor Green, also 35, made his feelings quite known.

He wrote: 'Ya wee b***bag. Did everything in his power to try and stop Photographs coming out. All the same, well done.'

Hitting out: Professor Green forced to apologise to Calvin Harris after calling him a 'b***bag' and accusing him of blocking his record

Speaking over the top of his clip, he said: 'I used to have a lot of respect for you. All this success and you still felt the need to block Photographs. Poor sod.'

He said: 'Just to clarify, no bitterness. I kept my mouth shut the whole time because I didn't want Photographs to become about someone else.

'I used to have the utmost respect for you but you did the dirty mate. You done (sic) the dirty and now everyone can know it.

'No bitterness, it's all good. I ain't a bully. Wish you well mate.'

Talking to Instagram stories while watching Calvin, 35, accept his British Producer of the Year gong, Professor Green, also 35, made his feelings quite known

Blasting him: Professor Green wrote, 'Ya wee b***bag. Did everything in his power to try and stop Photographs coming out. All the same, well done'

Claims: Speaking over the top of his clip, he said: 'I used to have a lot of respect for you. All this success and you still felt the need to block Photographs. Poor sod'

After a short break, it appears Calvin personally contacted Pro Green to set the record straight and went back on Stories to update his fans.

He said: 'Thank you Calvin for reaching out and clearing up matters. Apologies for jumping the gun. I'm happy to put my hands up.

'There were people who put the blame solely at your feet. But as you know, we were under the same roof and there were people trying to do everything in their power to try and stop my record coming out.

'[Because] I had a record coming out with Rag'n'Bone man and you had one coming out [with him] as your next single.

'It directly affected that record's ability to get into certain places and it would have otherwise.'

Clarification: After a short break, it appears Calvin personally contacted Pro Green to set the record straight and went back on Stories to update his fans

Owning up to it: Professor Green said, 'Thank you Calvin for reaching out and clearing up matters. Apologies for jumping the gun. I'm happy to put my hands up'

Professor Green continued: 'When you put your heart and soul into something, it would have been really easy for me to get angry.

'That record meant a lot to me, it meant a lot to other people.'

Claiming to have a calm approach, he said: 'But I didn't because I don't believe that anger serves a purpose anymore.

'I am a very different person to what I was a few years ago. And there are plenty more records where that came from.

'But thanks for being a gentleman and reaching out. Big up!'

Moving on: Later, Calvin told fans he hoped to receive the good news that he doesn't have epilepsy after having three seizures last week

Hopeful: In one image caption, Professor Green explained: 'Off for an eeg to confirm I dont have epilepsy so I can get off these butters Keppra pills and get back to life'

Later on in the evening, Calvin shared another clip as he got ready for bed where he told fans how he hoped to receive the good news that he doesn't have epilepsy after having three seizures last week.

He told his followers: 'Now all I need is good news tomorrow to not have hopefully tomorrow I get the good news that I dont have epilepsy, pray for me!'

On Thursday, the rapper then shared images from where he was getting his tests done, as he posed for snaps with wires attached to his head.

In one image caption, Professor Green explained: 'Off for an eeg to confirm I dont have epilepsy so I can get off these butters Keppra pills and get back to life.'

He then later joked: All theyre gonna find out is that Im smarter than you.'

Getting tested: On Thursday, the rapper then shared images from where he was getting his tests done, as he posed for snaps with wires attached to his head

Injury: The Monster hitmaker was forced to cancel his UK tour as he suffered from a fracture in his cervical vertebrae after falling during the horrific incident

The Monster hitmaker was forced to cancel his UK tour as he suffered from a fracture in his cervical vertebrae after falling during the horrific incident.

At the time, the musician penned: 'I had seizure this morning which resulted in a fall while I was packing for tour 1/3.'

'Depending on how you look at this fall I was extremely lucky. I'm very fractured vertebrae in my neck and subsequently had to cancel my tour that was due to start today 2/3.'

'I'll be back in the winter with a bigger tour. I've had two further seizures and am lucky I didn't break my neck. Really f*****g lucky. Thanks for baring with me', the Hackney native told his fans.

Stephen was set to perform across the UK this month, with his shows scheduled to start in Cardiff, before hitting the stage in Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and finally Brighton on February 21.

Monster hitmaker Professor revealed he will return to the stage in the winter season.
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She's one of the fashion industry's most in-demand models and is a front-row regular at some of the hottest shows.

And Georgia May Jagger exuded chic as she led the turnout at the Emporio Armani autumn/winter 2019 presentation at Milan Fashion Week on Thursday.

The catwalk queen, 27, cut a glamorous figure for the bash, wearing a fitted black blazer with a plunging neckline and matching loose-fitting trousers.

Glamour: Georgia May Jagger exuded chic as she led the turnout at the Emporio Armani autumn/winter 2019 presentation at Milan Fashion Week on Thursday

The cover girl - who is the daughter of Rolling Stones rocker Sir Mick Jagger and former model Jerry Hall - added height to her frame with silver, strappy heels and added a pop of colour to her look with blood red nails.

Styling her platinum blonde locks into loose curls, Georgia completed her look with hooped earrings.

The beauty completed her look with a pair of shades to shelter her eyes from the Italian winter sunshine.

The model has carved out her own career in the fashion industry out of the shadow of her famous parents.

Suits you! The catwalk queen, 27, cut a glamorous figure for the bash, wearing a fitted black blazer with a plunging neckline and matching loose-fitting trousers

Georgia can often be found treading the hottest catwalks at New York, London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks.

Despite making a name for herself, the model stressed the importance of taking 'wisdom' from her parents in an interview with the Evening Standard.

She told the publication in June 2016: 'I really look up to older people, and I like to take wisdom from my uncles, aunts, parents and grandparents.

'My grandma fell in love and married again later in life, so I always thought that was really inspirational; that it didnt always need to be that you settle down with one person and thats it.'

Runway: There was an array of eye-catching red looks at the show, including a mini-dress with a heart design detail and a tasseled long-sleeved top which all came complete with thigh high boots

Georgia's latest outing comes after she confirmed her romance with dashing restaurateur Louis Levy by sharing her first snap of them together on social media.

Besotted Georgia threw her arms around her new love's neck as she sat comfortably in his lap while Louis planted a kiss on her cheek for the snap.

A very smitten Georgia captioned the post: The best birthday present I got this year.'

Parisian-born Louis, 29, paid a visit to the blonde beauty for her birthday in London after travelling from his home in New York City.

The restaurateur part-owns the popular Mimi eatery in Greenwich Village.

Fashion: Other looks on the runway included a tangerine mini-dress with a white blazer and a mauve mini-dress with a detailed floral print and flowing white jacket

In an interview with Do It In Paris, Georgia opened up about her fashion dos and don'ts, saying she doesn't think it's necessary to wear too much designer clothing.

She said: 'I think the worst fashion faux pas is just buying really expensive designer clothes and wearing them all at once. I dont think money buys you style.

'A lot of people think if that have the it-handbag or the thing of the moment that they are going to look fashionable, but really lots of people tend to wear the same thing at the same time.

'I think its best to mix that kind of stuff with your own clothes, with more high-street brands and vintage clothes.'

Best in black: There was a variety of sophisticated outfits in black on display including an off the shoulder jumpsuit and a fauz-fur coat with white trimmings
Eminem has hit out at Netflix for cancelling Marvel's The Punisher, as part of the video-on-demand platform's decision to end its partnership with the company.

The rapper, 46, took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after the news broke that the drama was being cancelled following the release of its second season.

In his brutal message, the 8 Mile hitmaker blasted: 'DEAR @NETFLIX, REGARDING YOUR CANCELLATION OF THE PUNISHER, YOU ARE BLOWING IT!! SINCERELY, MARSHALL (sic).'

Venting his frustrations: Eminem blasted Netflix for cancelling Marvel's The Punisher as he told the streaming platform in a brutal tweet that they're 'blowing it'

The show follows former marine Frank Castle on a quest for revenge for the death of his family, after the character first appeared as an adversary to Daredevil in the hero's second season.

Frank, played by Jon Bernthal, was so popular amongst fans that he was given his own spin-off show with two brutally violent and intense outings.

Ben Barnes, who stars in the show as the title character's former friend and current enemy Billy Russo, responded to the rapper's tweet with glee, writing: 'No words necessary - @Eminem has spoken.'

Anti-hero: The show follows former marine Frank Castle, played by Jon Bernthal (pictured) on a quest for revenge for the death of his family

Angry: In his message, the 8 Mile hitmaker blasted: 'DEAR @NETFLIX, REGARDING YOUR CANCELLATION OF THE PUNISHER, YOU ARE BLOWING IT!! SINCERELY, MARSHALL (sic)'

Grateful: Ben Barnes, who stars in the show as villain Billy Russo, responded to the rapper's tweet with glee, writing: 'No words necessary - @Eminem has spoken'

Netflix revealed their intention to cancel the show via a statement with Deadline on Monday, in which they said: 'Marvels The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix.

'Showrunner Steve Lightfoot, the terrific crew, and exceptional cast including star Jon Bernthal, delivered an acclaimed and compelling series for fans, and we are proud to showcase their work on Netflix for years to come.'

The statement added that Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter as the superhero-turned-private eye, will also be cancelled after its third season, which has yet to be given a release date.

The streaming platform wrote: 'We are grateful to showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, star Krysten Ritter and the entire cast and crew, for three incredible seasons of this groundbreaking series, which was recognised by the Peabody Awards among many others,' the statement continued.

Culling: Netflix also said they'd be cancelling Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter (pictured) as the superhero-turned-private eye, after its third season which is yet to be released

Curtain call: This comes after Netflix also cancelled Marvels Daredevil which starred Charlie Cox (pictured) in the lead role as the blind lawyer-turned-vigilante Matt Murdock

Marvel replied to the news, saying: 'On behalf of everyone at Marvel Television, we couldnt be more proud or more grateful to our audience.

'Our network partner may have decided they no longer want to continue telling the tales of these great characters but you know Marvel better than that.'

The company added: 'As Matthew Murdocks Dad once said, "The measure of a man is not how he gets knocked to the mat, its how he gets back up." To be continued!'

This comes after Netflix also cancelled Marvels Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist series, thus ending their joint deal that was first announced in 2013.

End of the road: Luke Cage, starring Mike Colter (pictured), was cancelled in October 2018
Gigi Hadid looked sombre as she arrived at the Fendi show in Milan on Thursday, a day after paying tribute to late fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld.

The supermodel, 23, was downcast as she made a low-key arrival to the glittering fashion show, hours after laying flowers for 'King Karl' who died at the age of 85 on Tuesday.

The Vogue coverstar looked chic in a khaki green tee paired with a tailored lime-hued suit jacket.

Grieving: Gigi Hadid looked sombre as she arrived at the Fendi show in Milan on Thursday, a day after paying tribute to late fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld

Tribute: The supermodel, 23, was downcast as she made a low-key arrival to the glittering fashion show, hours after laying flowers for 'King Karl' who died at the age of 85 on Tuesday

Drawing the eye to her endless legs, she paired this with matching long shorts.

Forgoing the heels for her arrival, she slipped on patent leather biker boots.

Her tresses were pulled into a tousled bun and she shielded her eyes with dark shades as she made her way inside for the label's show, of which Karl was creative director.

The star's sombre arrival comes one day after she visited the Fendi fashion house in Milan to leave flowers for Karl.

Arrival: The Vogue coverstar looked chic in a khaki green tee paired with a tailored lime-hued suit jacket

Show: Her tresses were pulled into a tousled bun and she shielded her eyes with dark shades

Gigi, who was regularly invited to walk in his catwalk shows, wore all black as she paid her respects one day after the sad news of his passing in Paris.

The star was in town for Milan Fashion Week when she attended a fitting at Fendi, the fashion house where Karl was head designer.

Gigi initially paid tribute to Karl on Instagram on Tuesday, when it was announced that the fashion icon had died, aged 85, following a short illness.

She wrote: 'Karl, I will miss your indescribable presence, watching your calm, quiet genius mind working, your little jokes, amazing stories, and experience the clothes, sets, and productions only you could dream up.'

Tough week: The star looked sombre as she made her way inside

Chic: Gigi and Bella were escorted out of the venue by bodyguards

'Thank you for believing in me and for the beautiful, incredible opportunities you brought to my career, but mostly thank you for giving me the honor of knowing the magic behind the myth.

'There will never be another Karl Lagerfeld. I am overwhelmed with sadness today, but also with so much love, admiration and gratitude for you.

'To all his beloved friends and colleagues, and his favourite girl Choupette, my heart is with you. Rest in Peace King Karl. I didn't want this day to come.'

Most recently, Gigi walked in the Chanel cruise 2019 runway show at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, alongside her sister Bella.

Heartache: In a tribute to Karl, Gigi wrote on Tuesday: 'I'm so heartbroken I almost don't have words'

She also returned to walk for Fendi at the Womenswear Spring/Summer 2019 showcase last September.

Ground-breaking designer Karl failed to take a final bow at his recent Chanel spring-summer 2019 couture show, raising eyebrows among fashion fans last month.

Director of the Creative Studio of the House Virginie Viard was asked to do the traditional greeting in Karl's place, because he was tired.

It was subsequently announced on Tuesday that Virginie would succeed Karl as creative director of Chanel.
She always looks picture perfect when she steps out in public but Paris Hilton proved she's just like everyone else on a boozy night out in Hollywood.

The 38-year-old socialite stepped outside for a smoking break with her pals, although she is rarely seen with a cigarette in hand.

Wearing an all-black ensemble with cut-outs on the arms, Paris wore leather gloves and her hair was dishevelled after partying all night.

Messy night? Paris Hilton looked dishevelled as she smoked outside a West Hollywood nightclub following a boozy night out with pals on Tuesday night

Her make-up was a little faded, proving that she was, quite rightly, intent on enjoying herself.

It's not clear which nightclub Paris had been partying in, but earlier, she had attended a dinner with Paris Jackson and Rita Ora.

The lovely ladies has posed for snaps at an event, hosted by Vas J Morgan in LA, to celebrate the new issue of his magazine, Tings.

Letting her hair down: Wearing an all-black ensemble with cut-outs on the arms, Paris wore leather gloves as she smoked with her pals

Meanwhile, Paris celebrated her 38th birthday on Monday, taking her micro Chihuahua, Diamond Baby to the hair salon as she enjoyed a pampering session.

Paris reportedly splashed $8000 on the the micro Chihuahua back in October 2016, following the passing of her beloved dog, Tinkerbell.

Her sister Nicky took to social media to share a sweet message to Paris.

Posing up a storm: Earlier on in the evening, Paris caught up with Paris Jackson and Rita Ora at the TINGS dinner, which was hosted by Vas J Morgan

She wrote: 'I'm so lucky to have such a fun, smart, beautiful and caring sister like you.' 'You are truly one of a kind! Keep being you! Happy Birthday @ParisHilton.'

Nicky also took to her Instagram Stories to share adorable throwback photos of themselves from their younger years.

Kim Kardashian, Paris' former assistant, was also one of the many others to give her a shout-out.

Throwback: 'I'm so lucky to have such a fun, smart, beautiful and caring sister like you,' she began the sweet dedication
The Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash Project



Presentation at RIU Explorers Conference

Perth, Feb 21, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Potash Ltd ( ASX:APC ) provides the Company's latest presentation at RIU Explorers Conference.Investment HighlightsPremium fertiliser product- Sulphate of Potash (SOP or K2SO4) is the premium potassium fertiliser- Potash provides potassium, an essential, non-substitutable fertiliser essential for ALL plant growthCompelling macro-economics- Structural changes occurring in China through environmental clean-up- 25% - 35% reduction in supply chain from 2018 onwards- Australia has never produced ANY potash: Import replacement opportunityVery strong project technicals- Low risk, low cost scalable operation- Strong SOP grade in brine: 14MT SOP JORC Resource- Highly-capital efficient CAPEX development- Granted Mining Leases- Lowest quartile cost of production- Compelling Logistical SolutionCommercial milestones- Australia's first producer of field-evaporated SOP- Two Memorandums of Understanding for off-take with large Chinese agricultural companies: Sino-Agri and Hubei-Agri- Australian fertiliser companies: off-take positions?- $7.0m Gold Farm-out to St Barbara, 30% free carried to BFSTo view the full presentation, please visit:About Australian Potash Ltd

Australian Potash Limited (ASX:APC) is an ASX-listed Sulphate of Potash (SOP) developer. The Company holds a 100% interest in the Lake Wells Potash Project located approximately 500kms northeast of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields.

Following the release of a Scoping Study in 2017, APC has been conducting a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) into the development of the Lake Wells Potash Project. The Company is aiming to release the findings of the DFS in H2 2019.

The Lake Wells Potash Project is a palaeochannel brine hosted sulphate of potash project. Palaeochannel bore fields supply large volumes of brine to many existing mining operations throughout Western Australia, and this technique is a well understood and proven method for extracting brine. APC will use this technically low-risk and commonly used brine extraction model to further develop a bore-field into the palaeochannel hosting the Lake Wells SOP resource.

A Scoping Study on the Lake Wells Potash Project was completed and released on 23 March 2017. The Scoping Study exceeded expectations and confirmed that the Project's economic and technical aspects are all exceptionally strong, and highlights APC's potential to become a significant long-life, low capital and high margin sulphate of potash (SOP) producer.
She recently celebrated becoming a grandparent for the seventh time as her eldest son Burt welcomed son William.

And Caitlyn Jenner, 69, appeared in good spirits as she headed out for dinner with her partner Sophia Hutchins, 22, in Malibu, California, on Wednesday evening.

The former KUTWK star put on a low-key display as she sported a pair of indigo skinny jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt during the casual outing.

Stepping out: Caitlyn Jenner, 69, appeared in good spirits as she headed out for dinner with partner Sophia Hutchins, 22, in Malibu, California, on Wednesday evening

Opting for comfort with her cosy footwear, the TV personality donned all-black trainers and wrapped up in a black bubble jacket.

Meanwhile, Sophia cut a chic figure as she stepped out in a navy turtleneck jumper and form-fitting white jeans.

The pair coordinated in the hair department as they styled their tresses straight and went for neutral-toned make-up looks.

Looking good: The former KUTWK star put on a low-key display as she sported a pair of indigo skinny jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt during the casual outing

The pair, who met through a make-up artist in 2015, have recently returned from their Indonesian getaway at the end of January, just weeks ago.

Christmas served as a milestone for the couple as they spent their first Christmas day together at Caitlyn's Malibu home.

Rumours have been swirling that the pair have got engaged but the duo are reluctant to share any details of their romance, despite being inseparable.

In October last year, Sophia described Caitlyn as her 'partner' and admitted they were 'inseparable' as she talked about their relationship for the first time.

Bundle of joy: The TV personality recently celebrated becoming a grandparent for the seventh time as her eldest son Burt welcomed son William

She told The Hidden Truth With Jim Breslo: 'I wouldn't describe it as a romantic relationship.

'We're partners in everything we do, we're inseparable, we're business partners, we live together, we share a dog, we share family, we share a life together.

'I would not use the word "girlfriend," I would not use the word "dating." We're partners.'

Touching tribute: Her eldest son Burt, who she shares with ex-wife Chrystie Crownover, touchingly named the infant after his father-of-six, who was born William (pictured in 2017)

On Sunday, transgender activist Caitlyn shared a sweet snap of herself posing with her seventh grandchild - newborn baby boy William Behr - who arrived on February 9.

Her eldest son Burt, who she shares with ex-wife Chrystie Crownover, touchingly named the infant after his father-of-six, who was born William.

The 40-year-old Gladiator Tires driver - who's always been supportive of the two-time Olympic gold medalist - also has a two-year-old son Bodhi with his girlfriend, Valerie Pitalo.
Chiltern Firehouse provided the backdrop as Rose McGowan made her latest public appearance in London on Wednesday evening.

The American actress and activist, 45, caught the eye in a distinctive sheer top, beneath which her black bra was evident as she made her way inside the Marylebone venue.

She added to her look with a cropped sequinned blazer, while skintight PVC trousers and chunky black ankle boots rounded things off.

Party time: Chiltern Firehouse provided the backdrop as Rose McGowan made her latest public appearance in London on Wednesday evening

Drawing further attention to her features, the star opted for bold eyeliner and a generous layer of blood red lipstick.

Rose was on hand to celebrate the closure of another successful BRIT Awards at the Warner Music and CIROC vodka after-party, in association with GQ - where she was joined by guests including Dua Lipa, Abbey Clancy and 80s pop icons Bros.

The outing followed a string of high profile appearances for Rose, most notably at Vivienne Westwood's recent London Fashion Week presentation.

Hard to miss: The American actress and activist, 45, caught the eye in a distinctive sheer top, beneath which her black bra was evident as she made her way inside the Marylebone venue

A vision in black: She added to her look with a cropped sequinned blazer, while skintight PVC trousers and chunky black ankle boots rounded things off

The actress was among the first women to publicly accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, 66, of rape and sexual assault in 2017.

Weinstein was arrested in New York in May 2018 and charged with rape and a variety of other sexual crimes. He's set to go to trial on May 7.

In January, Rose criticized her former lawyers, Jose Baez and Ron Sullivan, for representing Weinstein in his criminal battle.

Good times: Rose was on hand to celebrate the closure of another successful BRIT Awards at the Warner Music and CIROC vodka after-party

Controversy: The actress was among the first women to publicly accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, 66, of rape and sexual assault in 2017

She originally hired the lawyers to represent her for a drug possession charge two years ago. The Grindhouse star was accused of leaving a wallet filled with cocaine on a plane at Dulles International Airport.

Rose alleged that the wallet was planted by Weinstein's allies, though no evidence of that particular claim ever arose.

The actress pleaded no contest and was given a $2,500 fine and a suspended jail sentence.

She's off: Rose was seen leaving the London venue on the arm of a friend later that night
She showed off her sartorial flair as she took to the red carpet at the BRIT Awards 2019 on Wednesday, held at London's 02 arena.

And later that evening, Maya Jama was every inch the style chameleon as she switched into a striking polka dot ensemble for the Universal Music afterparty at The Ned, hosted by Soho House and Bacardi rum.

The TV presenter, 24, sent temperatures soaring in the bold strapless minidress, complete with quirky puffball sleeves.

Wow-factor! Maya Jama was every inch the style chameleon as she switched into a striking polka dot ensemble following the BRIT Awards for the Universal Music afterparty at The Ned, hosted by Soho House and Bacardi on Wednesday

Keeping up with her glamorous fashion sense, the BBC star enhanced her height in a pair of silver pointed heels and toted a metallic lip-shaped handbag by Lulu Guinness.

The radio host added a touch of pazzazz into her appearance as she accessorised with diamond hooped earrings.

Maya swept her tresses into a chic ponytail to reveal her stunning features, which were intensified with shimmery gold eyeshadow, lashings of mascara and brown-tinted lipgloss.

Working it! The TV presenter, 24, sent temperatures soaring in the bold strapless minidress, complete with quirky puffball sleeves

Striking: Keeping up with her glamorous fashion sense, the BBC star enhanced her height in a pair of silver pointed heels and toted a metallic lip-shaped handbag Lulu Guinness

All in the details: The radio host added a touch of pazzazz into her appearance as she accessorised with diamond hooped earrings

Radiant: Maya swept her tresses into a chic ponytail to reveal her stunning features

Posing up a storm: The Bristol native intensified with shimmery gold eyeshadow, lashings of mascara and brown-tinted lipgloss

Busy bee: She appeared pensive as she took to the DJ decks at the event

Giddy: Maya put on a giddy display as she joined Nick Grimshaw

Earlier that night, the host was the queen of ruffles as she made a head-turning entrance at the ceremony.

She wore an extravagant cream dress that subtly hinted at her slinky figure just beneath the layers of ruffles.

Her arrival was distinctly show-stopping, with a gown that was swathed in tulle ruffles, save for a section at her middle that teased her fabulous hourglass.

The unique dress sat just off her shoulders while her hair was pulled up and away into a ponytail to hint at her decolletage. She accessorised with silver earrings and a stack of bangles decorating her left arm.

Red carpet ready: Earlier that night, Maya showed off her sartorial flair as she took to the red carpet at the BRIT Awards ceremony, held at London's 02 arena

Bold beauty: The TV star donned a particularly extravagant cream dress with an off-the-shoulder design

Glamour puss: Maya wore her hair up to showcase her decolletage

Maya was the official backstage host at the BRIT Awards 2018, alongside musician Professor Green.

And after a triumphant year of presenting, the brunette beauty was taking a load off and attending as a guest.

Wednesday's event, hosted by Jack Whitehall for the second year in a row, saw P!nk, 39, honoured for her career with the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize.

Collecting the most awards was The 1975 with British Album of the Year for A Brief Inquiry into Online and British Group.

Red carpet arrival: The brunette beauty captured attention as she arrived on the red carpet

Figure fit: Underneath the puffball design, she showcased her figure at the middle

BRIT Awards 2019 WINNERS BRITISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR Jorja Smith  Lost & Found Winner: The 1975  A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships Florence + The Machine  High as Hope Anne Marie  Speak Your Mind George Ezra  Staying at Tamara's Internationals: The Carters won their first BRIT as a group BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Anne-Marie Florence + The Machine Jess Glynne Winner: Jorja Smith Lily Allen BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST Aphex Twin Craig David Winner: George Ezra Giggs Sam Smith BRITISH GROUP Winner: The 1975 Arctic Monkeys Gorillaz Little Mix Years & Years Champs: Little Mix took home the gong for British Video BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT Ella Mai Idles Jorja Smith Mabel Winner: Tom Walker CRITICS' CHOICE Winner: Sam Fender Lewis Capaldi Mahalia INTERNATIONAL GROUP Brockhampton Winner: The Carters First Aid Kit Nile Rodgers & Chic Twenty One Pilots GLOBAL SUCCESS Ed Sheeran BRITISH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Calvin Harris OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC Pink Honoured: Dua Lipa was nominated for British Single for IDGAF and One Kiss with Calvin Harris, which she won BRITISH SINGLE Anne-Marie - 2002 Winner: Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF George Ezra - Shotgun Jess Glynne - I'll Be There RAMZ - Barking Rudimental - These Days Siagla and Paloma Faith - Lullaby Tom Walker - Leave A Light On Competition: Rita Ora failed to take home any awards BRITISH VIDEO Anne-Marie - 2002 Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF Jax Jones ft Ina Wroldsen - Breathe Jonas Blue ft Jack & Jack - Rise Liam Payne and Rita Ora - For You Winner: Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me Rita Ora - Let Me Love You Rudimental - These Days INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST Winner: Drake Eminem Kamasi Washington Shawn Mendes Travis Scott Honoured: Pink won the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize at the end of the evening INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Winner: Ariana Grande Camila Cabello Cardi B Christine & The Queens Janelle Monae Advertisement

Calvin Harris also won two awards, collecting the gong for Best Producer and British Single for One Kiss with Dua Lipa.

New Rules hitmaker Dua, 23, was the most nominated artist of the night, for a second consecutive year.

One year after receiving a total of five nods, she had been nominated for four but only collected one, for British Single.

Last year she took home two prizes; British Female and British Breakthrough Artist.

Little Mix, Sam Smith, George Ezra, Calvin Harris, The 1975 and Rag 'N' Bone Man all took to the stage on the biggest night in British music.

But the evening kicked off with a special performance from Hollywood star Hugh Jackman in celebration of The Greatest Showman.

Beauty in beige: She turned heads with her unique dress design
Married At First Sight's Ines Basic has gone silent on social media following brutal backlash from viewers.

While participants on Married At First Sight regularly post on Instagram to promote the show, Ines hasn't updated her account in almost four days.

Her silence is suspicious given that her fellow brides and grooms have all updated their accounts in the last 24 hours.

Where's Ines? Married At First Sight 'villain' Ines Basic has gone silent on social media following brutal viewer backlash

The legal assistant's social media blackout comes just as her 'affair' with Elizabeth Sobinoff's 'husband' Sam Ball has heated up on Married At First Sight.

It also follows recent reports that she isn't coping with the viewer backlash that has come from her on-screen antics.

A source told Woman's Day that Ines has 'cut herself off' from her friends and the rest of the MAFS cast and is 'living like a recluse in her Brisbane home.'

Scandal: The legal assistant's social media blackout comes just as her 'affair' with Elizabeth Sobinoff's 'husband' Sam Ball (pictured) has heated up on Married At First Sight

The insider added: 'She has lost about 12kg since filming finished - and she was tiny to begin with. Everyone's really worried about her.'

A spokesperson for MAFS' production company, Endemol Shine Australia, told Woman's Day: 'The health and safety of our participants is always our first priority. Psychological support is readily available.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for further comment.

Broken: It was reported this week that Ines has 'cut herself off' from her friends and the rest of the MAFS cast and is 'living like a recluse in her Brisbane home'

On the most recent episode of Married At First Sight, Ines confessed that she was 'falling' for Sam and suggested that they leave the show together to start a relationship in the real world.

However, a preview for Sunday's commitment ceremony suggests that Sam could dump the brunette just like he dumped Elizabeth.

'I don't want to have dodged one bullet for another bullet,' Sam admitted to producers.
They've been fighting persistent rumours that they're faking their romance.

But The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen proved the critics wrong as she moved into Taite Radley's inner-Melbourne apartment from her Adelaide home.

The 32-year-old shared a slew of loved-up snaps of herself cuddling up to the bank manager, 28, in their shared pad on Instagram, gushing that she 'feels like home' in his arms.

'I feel like home in your arms!' The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen has moved into Taite Radley's Melbourne pad amid split rumours

'I said to you baby on one of our secret Bachette rendezvous that I feel like home in your arms & it wont change,' Ali wrote.

'Snuggles on the couch to being weirdo's in the living room. Moving in together official. HELLO MELBOURNE!'

Taite shared a similar shot and captioned it: 'SHE said yes. Ali has moved to Melbourne. Living together sharing cupboard space and dreams.'

Taite told WHO magazine that the move gives them the chance to be more 'stable in their lives' - after finding love on The Bachelorette six months ago.

'I officially moved to Melbourne about a month ago,' Ali proudly told the publication.

Cute: Ali wrote: 'I said to you baby on one of our secret Bachette rendezvous that I feel like home in your arms & it wont change. Snuggles on the couch to being weirdo's in the living room. Moving in together official. HELLO MELBOURNE!'

Taite added: 'But actually, we haven't been separated since the show ended and honestly it feels like we started living together as soon as it did.'

It comes after Ali hit back at break-up rumours earlier this month during a Q&A with fans on Instagram Stories.

When asked whether she was still in love with the Bachelorette winner, she responded 'MORE THAN EVER'.

And while they're not yet engaged, Ali revealed she already refers to Taite's mum and sister as her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Settling down: Taite told WHO magazine that the move gives them the chance to be more 'stable in their lives' - after finding love on The Bachelorette six months ago

Earlier this week, the blonde had a tearful meltdown after online trolls attacked her for Photoshopping her photos.

The reality star took to Instagram on Wednesday morning to share an unedited photo of a her tear-streaked face after she endured a sleepless night due to the attacks.

In a lengthy caption, the glamazon admitted to enhancing her images, saying: 'I couldn't sleep because online bullies comments hurt AND I disliked how so many comments on my recent post were right.'

Ali received dozens of critical comments on Tuesday after uploading two selfies to social media that had been enhanced with photo-editing tools.
Jared Leto drove fans wild when he made his stylish entrance at the BRITs awards on Wednesday night, with many saying he hasn't aged since his 1994 breakout role in My So-Called Life.

The 30 Seconds To Mars frontman, 47, was on hand at the O2 Arena to present the British Album of the Year award to The 1975 for their release A Brief Inquiry To Online Relationships.

Jared turned heads in his striking attire, which saw him ditch the shirt in favour of a sparkling silver necklace that covered his muscular torso.

BRITs 2019: Jared Leto, 47, drove fans wild with his hunky look at the awards on Wednesday as some claimed the actor hasn't aged a day since his breakout role in 1994's My So-Called Life

The Dallas Buyers Club star put on a dapper display in a blue velvet jacket, which he paired with sharp blacks suit trousers.

Adding a pop of colour to his look, Jared stepped out in bright red heeled boots that perfectly offset his dark attire.

Pulling his brunette locks back into a tight bun, the actor looked ruggedly handsome as he sported a gristly beard.

Hasn't aged a day: Jared starred in My So-Called Life alongside Claire Danes in 1994 at the age of 23 (left), and fans gushed over his youthful look at the BRITs (right)

Striking: Jared turned heads in his striking attire, which saw him ditch the shirt in favour of a sparkling silver necklace that covered his muscular torso

Looking good: Pulling his brunette locks back into a tight bun, the actor looked ruggedly handsome as he sported a gristly beard

Handsome: The Dallas Buyers Club star put on a dapper display in a blue velvet jacket, which he paired with sharp blacks suit trousers

Fans took to Twitter following his arrival on stage at the event, as they gushed about how good looking they thought he was, and the fact he hasn't aged.

One wrote: 'How has Jared Leto NOT AGED since the days of My So Called Life?!!'

While Grazia UK gushed: 'Jared Leto has forgotten his shirt and time has forgotten to age him.'

Another passionately said: 'JARED LET IS SO F****** HOT I CANNOT HANDLE HIM (sic)' with an added chilli and fire emoji.

And another person added: '@BRITs The most beautiful man in the world award must go to @JaredLeto'

Gushing: Fans took to Twitter following his arrival on stage at the event, as they gushed about how good looking they thought he was, and the fact he hasn't aged

The evening, hosted by Jack Whitehall for the second year in a row, saw P!nk, 39, honoured for her career with the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize.

Collecting the most awards was The 1975 with British Album of the Year for A Brief Inquiry into Online and British Group.

Calvin Harris also won two awards, collecting the gong for Best Producer and British Single for One Kiss with Dua Lipa.

Time to party: Jared attended the Universal Music party hosted by BACARDI Rum and the Soho House, and he added a pop of colour to his look with bright red heeled boots

Rockers: The 30 Seconds To Mars frontman joined Tristan Evans, Connor Ball, Brad Simpson and James McVey of The Vamps at the party

Horns up: Jared and James used the horns hand sign to rock out

Sharp: Jared looked sharp as he posed for photos with Jessie Buckley

New Rules hitmaker Dua, 23, was the most nominated artist of the night, for a second consecutive year.

One year after receiving a total of five nods, she had been nominated for four but only collected one, for British Single.

Last year she took home two prizes; British Female and British Breakthrough Artist.
Georgia Toffolo kept her trim pins on full display in a plunging white minidress on Wednesday night, as she attended the BRITs 2019 after-party.

The ex-Made In Chelsea star, 24, looked sensational in the flirty ensemble as she exited the Warner Music & CIROC Vodka House bash in London's Chiltern Firehouse, in the company of Love Island star Sam Bird.

The pair tried to keep a low profile as they left the venue together, getting into the same taxi.

Gorgeous: Georgia Toffolo kept her trim pins on full display in a plunging white minidress on Wednesday night, as she attended the BRITs 2019 after-party

Toff and Sam looked cosy as they sped off into the night, making for an unusual pairing.

Georgia Steele's ex-boyfriend kept his distance from her in the taxi, suggesting they were friends and nothing more romantic.

MailOnline has contacted both stars' representatives for comment.

Unlikely pairing: She was spotted trying to keep a low profile as she left the venue in the company of Love Island's Sam Bird

Taxi for two! The pair left the venue at the same time and were seen getting into a shared cab

New friends? Georgia Steele's ex-boyfriend kept his distance from her in the taxi, suggesting they were friends and nothing more romantic

Georgia was putting on a stylish display as she exited the post-awards bash, embracing her girly sense of style in a frilled white frock.

The I'm A Celebrity winner was putting on a leggy display in the dress which also boasted a deep plunging front.

Accessorising her look, Georgia added some height with thin-strapped black pointed-toe heels, along with a dark green checked jacket hanging loosely upon her shoulders.

Lighting up: Sam was also spotted chatting to his Love Island co-star Megan Barton-Hanson

Chic: The ex-Made In Chelsea was putting on a stylish display as she exited the Warner Music & CIROC Vodka House bash, embracing her girly sense of style in a frilled white frock

Glamorous: Georgia accessorised her look with barely-there black thin-strapped heels, along with a quirky white lace bucket bag

Georgia made sure to highlight her flawless complexion with glamorous makeup for the occasion, including a rose gold smoky eye and matching nude lip, along with her blonde tresses in a half-up half-down style.

The hottest stars in music headed to London's 02 arena in North Greenwich on Wednesday night in celebration of the 2019 Brit Awards.

The evening, hosted by Jack Whitehall for the second year in a row, saw P!nk, 39, honoured for her career with the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize.

Collecting the most awards was The 1975 with British Album of the Year for A Brief Inquiry into Online and British Group.

Flawless: Following the party in London's Chiltern Firehouse, Georgia made a low-key exit from the bash by jumping into a taxi

Giddy: The star made her way home from the star-studded bash, putting on a leggy display in the pretty white frock

Calvin Harris also won two awards, collecting the gong for Best Producer and British Single for One Kiss with Dua Lipa.

New Rules hitmaker Dua, 23, was the most nominated artist of the night, for a second consecutive year.

One year after receiving a total of five nods, she had been nominated for four but only collected one, for British Single.

Casual; As she headed out of the venue, Georgia was joined by a mystery male companion

Cosy: Wrapping up against the chilly February climes, Georgia finished her look with a chic tweed checked jacket
Nikki Bella split with her fiance John Cena for good in late July 2018 after six years together.

And on Wednesday, Nikki attended the Fighting With My Family Los Angeles Tastemaker Screening at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, California with her twin sister Brie.

Nikki, 35, sported a low-cut burgundy gown with red lipstick and sleek hair while Brie, 35, wowed in a black dress with wavy tresses.

Gorgeous siblings: Nikki Bella attended the Fighting With My Family Los Angeles Tastemaker Screening on Wednesday night at The London Hotel in West Hollywood, California with her twin sister Brie Bella

Nikki wowed in the plunging dark red number, which was skintight and grazed her knees; the dark haired beauty carried a coordinating textured clutch in one hand.

Nikki sported classic black pumps with a silver ring.

She wore her locks sleek and loose; Nikki rocked red lipstick with smokey eye makeup and a touch of bronzer on her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Brie stunned in her black frock with a matching belt.

Perfection: Nikki, 35, sported a low-cut burgundy gown with red lipstick and sleek hair while Brie, 35, wowed in black dress with wavy tresses

Brie flashed her cleavage in the number, which also featured asymmetrical sleeves.

She paired the look with black strappy heels and a matching structured clutch, adding rings - including her diamond wedding ring.

Brie rocked wavy hair with pink lipstick on her pout with brown shadow on her lids beneath defined brows.

Saraya-Jade Bevis, who is known as Paige, stunned in a black lace bodysuit with matching jeans.

The retired wrestler, 26, wore a leather jacket while pulling most of her hair back; she added a mauve colored lipstick and smokey eye makeup.

Fighting With My Family is a film based on Paige's life and her career in the WWE; it was released on February 14, 2019.

The movie stars Florence Pugh, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Lowden and Nick Frost.

Amazing: Saraya-Jade Bevis, who is known as Paige, stunned in a black lace bodysuit with matching jeans

Catching up: Nikki wowed in the plunging dark red number, which was skintight and grazed her knees; the dark haired beauty carried a coordinating textured clutch in one hand

Good times: Paige posed alongside Vince Vaughn, Stephen Merchant and Florence Pugh

Nikki was in a relationship with John, 41, until July of last year - when they called off their wedding for the second time.

They went on their first date in 2012 to a steakhouse dinner, where they ended up chatting for hours.

Nikki and John moved in together the following year; his commitment issues were talked about on the reality show - he did not want to get married again or have children.

She eventually accepted she wouldn't be a mother or get married, however, John surprised her by proposing to her on April 2, 2017 during Wrestlemania 33.

They called off their wedding in April because of his stance on not having children, but they reunited the following month when he changed his mind.

John had proclaimed on the Today show with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford in May: 'I love her. I want to be with her. I want to make her my wife. I want to be the father of her children. I just want us to work.'

Following their rekindled romance in May, Nikki and John split again and this time for good in late July.

Having fun: Sarah Booth (L) and Maria Conchita Alonso (R) also attended

Chic: Debby Ryan donned a taupe colored blazer with cropped bottoms added a button up black top with white boots
Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu suited up for the Variety x Armani Makeup Artistry Dinner in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Golden Globe nominee - turning 37 next month - skipped the necktie but wore a white blouse beneath a black pantsuit and bejeweled stilettos selected by stylist Micaela Erlanger.

The Virginia-born daughter of Taiwanese immigrants was on hand to honor her make-up artist Molly Greenwald, who got her glam for her first-ever red carpet years ago.

Sophisticated: Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu suited up for the Variety x Armani Makeup Artistry Dinner in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The woman of the hour made sure Constance's eyes were perfectly lined and her pout was bright red and hairstylist Derek Yuen coiffed her wavy raven bob.

While partying at the glam squad soiree, Wu also hung out with A Wrinkle in Time actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and The Predator stunner Olivia Munn.

The SUNY Purchase grad's sighting came after she and Jennifer Lopez were cast as exotic dancers out for revenge in STXfilms drama The Hustlers at Scores, which begins filming in March - according to Deadline.

Turning 37 next month! The Golden Globe nominee skipped the necktie but wore a white blouse beneath a black pantsuit and bejeweled stilettos selected by stylist Micaela Erlanger

Having a laugh: The Virginia-born daughter of Taiwanese immigrants was on hand to honor her make-up artist Molly Greenwald (R), who got her glam for her first-ever red carpet years ago

Selfie time! The woman of the hour made sure Constance's eyes were perfectly lined and her pout was bright red and hairstylist Derek Yuen coiffed her wavy raven bob

Black-clad trio: While partying at the glam squad soiree, Wu also hung out with A Wrinkle in Time actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and The Predator stunner Olivia Munn

Expect the Next Gen actress and the 49-year-old pop diva to serve presenting duties side-by-side at the 91st Academy Awards, which air this Sunday on ABC.

For her role in Crazy Rich Asians, Constance will next compete for the best actress in a motion picture trophy at the NAACP's Image Awards, which air March 30 on TV One.

Wu currently plays no-nonsense, married mother-of-three Jessica Huang in the 17-episode fifth season of sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, which airs Fridays on ABC.

Begins filming in March! The SUNY Purchase grad's sighting came after she and Jennifer Lopez were cast as exotic dancers out for revenge in STXfilms drama The Hustlers at Scores

Airing this Sunday! Expect the Next Gen actress and the 49-year-old pop diva to serve presenting duties side-by-side at the 91st Academy Awards on ABC

Who will win? For her Crazy Rich Asians role, Constance will next compete for the best actress in a motion picture trophy at the NAACP's Image Awards, which air March 30 on TV One
Courteney Cox opened up Wednesday about the scary incident last week in which the private jet she was on with confidante Jennifer Aniston had to make an emergency landing after a rear tire blew out.

'I'm not afraid of flying at all ... my dad was a pilot  but I was really scared,' the 54-year-old star told Extra about the incident, which occurred this past Friday.

The jet initially departed from LAX toward the destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but was routed to Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California amid the tire issue, with pilots circling over the airport to burn fuel for hours prior to its safe landing.

Scroll below for video

The latest: Courteney Cox, 54, opened up to Extra Wednesday about the scary incident last week in which the private jet she was on with confidante Jennifer Aniston had to make an emergency landing after a rear tire blew out

'When we were taking off, we heard this really loud bang and I was like, "Oh, that sounds like we should probably check that tire,"' Cox told the show. 'There was no tire at all, there was no wheel. Luckily, there are two wheels on each side and two in the front.'

The Mothers and Daughters actress admitted that there was a tense uncertainty on the Gulfstream Aerospace IV aircraft amid the drawn-out process.

'I have to say, we were in the air for four hours, burning off fuel and just thought of what it is going to be like when we land,' Cox said, adding that the landing was 'really smooth' amid the adverse circumstances.

Other Aniston pals on the flight included writer Molly Kimmel, wife of late night host Jimmy Kimmel, and actress Amanda Anka, who's married to actor Jason Bateman.

Best of friends: Cox was on the flight with Aniston and a group of friends for a celebration of Aniston's birthday in Mexico

Subdued: Cox looked tense when the group finally touched down in Cabo San Lucas on a later flight

Cox said she reached out to her boyfriend Johnny McDaid, as well as 14-year-old daughter Coco (with her ex-husband, David Arquette) amid the uncertainty.

'I sent a little text to Coco, "I love you," I didn't say why,' she recalled. 'And to Johnny  I told him everything that was going on and I FaceTimed him after.'

On a lighter note, she told the show about what she got her longtime pal Aniston: 'A bunch of us got her a pottery wheel and lessons, even though she's a great artist, and a table, a big beautiful antique table.'

Long journey: The jet initially departed from LAX toward the destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but was routed to Ontario International Airport amid the tire issue

Safe landing: Cox credited pilots with a 'really smooth' landing amid the adverse circumstances

Solid ground: The jet containing the stars safely touched down at Ontario International Airport

The actress is on the promotional trail for her new Facebook Watch series 9 Months with Courteney Cox, which takes a closer look at pregnancy by exploring their pregnancies.

'It is a look at life before birth,' she said of the show. 'We take ten couples, we follow their journey into having a child.

She added that the format of Facebook was the 'perfect place ... because you can interact and ask questions, and learn and share your own experience.'

The show will air on Facebook Watch Tuesdays and Wednesdays.


European Operations Update

Nicosia, Feb 21, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - iSignthis Ltd ( ASX:ISX ) ( FRA:TA8 ) ("The Company") following its announcement dated 6th February 2019, is pleased to announce that it now has a number of merchants live on its own Tier 1 Visa, Mastercard and JCB facilities.Highlights- 12 merchants migrated to live on ISXPay Tier 1 since 29th January 2019- Client Funds being settled by ISXPay as independent Principal of Visa, Mastercard & JCB- Approved EMA IBAN accounts now exceed 50The Company's wholly owned European neobank subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd ("ISXPay"), is now processing, clearing and settling in multiple currencies under its own Bank Institution Number (BIN) as a Principal member of the foregoing card schemes.ISXPay now has more than 12 merchants 'live' on its own BIN, which it has onboarded commencing late January, with more of our contracted 30+ merchants going live over coming days and weeks. ISXPay now also has more than 50 approved EMA's and has or is in the process of issuing International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN's) to them under our Bank Institution Code (BIC) ISEMCY22XXX.Client fund EMA inflow and processing volumes are growing as expected, with volumes expected to rise significantly Mid-March once our international SWIFT network is fully connected.Merchant Onboarding ProcessThe Company has received queries from investors as to how the application process is commenced by merchants and managed by the Company. The European process is very similar to the Australian process described last week.The underwriting process requires that the Company receives a completed Merchant Application Form (available from our website isignthis.com/documents), together with financial, incorporation and ownership details of the applicant. Underwriting may take as little as five days, or in some cases more than 30 days, depending upon complexity of the applicant's ownership structure and information submission quality.The Company verifies the Merchant's incorporation, operating licenses (if applicable, e.g. with CySEC, FCA etc), directors, ownership structure, and ultimate beneficial owners in order to satisfy EC Directives including Anti Money Laundering Regulation requirements. A financial assessment, including past processing performance is also conducted, with terms extended to the applicant usually in parallel with the underwiring process.Once underwriting is satisfied, and an agreement is executed with security deposit received (if applicable), the merchant is granted credentials to the Paydentity(TM), ISXPay(R) and Probanx(R) API's and dashboard. Merchants have been known to complete integration in less than 3 business days, with around a month being the usual timeframe for integration to be completed.Upon completion of integration, it is usual for merchants to take up to 2-6 weeks to cycle between their current card processing and ISX facilities, with a gradual ramp up thereafter taking a further 6-8 weeks.About iSignthis Ltd

iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) (FRA:TA8) is a hybrid monetary financial institution and also a RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment, electronic money and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions.

By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard.

iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia.

ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, PRZ24 and others.

Probanx Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to CORE Banking solutions, SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Eurosystem's Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service.
Alyssa Milano brought Hollywood glamour Wednesday to the VH1 Trailblazer Honors in Los Angeles.

The 46-year-old actress hit the right note in a crimson pant suit featuring a jacket with plunging neckline.

Alyssa completed her outfit with open-toed black heels and accessorized with dangling earrings.

Hollywood glamour: Alyssa Milano wore a crimson pant suit to the VH1 Trailblazer Honors on Wednesday at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles

She had her brown hair up in a high bun and accentuated her natural beauty with smoky eye makeup.

Alyssa caught up at the event with honoree Nancy Pelosi, 78, who was among those celebrated during the event at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The 52nd Speaker of the US House of Representatives was honored along with MeToo founder Arana Burke; film director Ava DuVernasy and Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood.

Cher, 72, took the stage to introduce Nancy and called the Democrat politician her hero and 'the one true icon in the room'.

Fan favorite: The 46-year-old actress completed her outfit with open-toed black heels

Top honor: US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi teamed up with Alyssa at the event

'Since the days of our founding fathers, since they signed the Declaration of Independence, our country has been run almost exclusively by old white guys. Thankfully, because of Nancy and other strong women, this is changing. Nancy is a fighter who wont back down,' Cher said.

She added that Nancy 'isn't afraid to go toe to toe with a bully and beat him at his own game' in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump.

The House Speaker during her acceptance said, 'I will display this Trailblazer honor in the Capitol of the United States of America'.

Honoring women: Alyssa showed her support for the event honoring Nancy, MeToo founder Arana Burke; film director Ava DuVernasy and Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood

Alyssa in October 2017 helped relaunch the #MeToo Movement that Tarana started in 2006.

The Who's The Boss? star was inspired to bring awareness to sex crimes against women in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal that rocked Hollywood.

Alyssa has been married for eight years to David Bugliari and they have seven-year-old son Milo and four-year-old daughter Elizabeth together.
Former Bachelorette star Courtney Dober, 32, has unveiled a bizarre plan to set a world record for 'largest group shoey'.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the former Bachelorette star said he will do a shoey competition with 300 others to mark the finale of The Bachelor US.

'We're setting the world record for largest group shoey,' Courtney wrote.

'We're setting the world record for largest group shoey': Courtney Dober reveals bizarre plan to mark the finale of The Bachelor US

He said he and ex-girlfriend Lily McManus would both compete for the record.

'[Lily] and myself plus 300 others will all chug beers from shoes at the same time to celebrate being awesome and [Bachelor] Colton Underwood falling in LUURRRVE!'

The record attempt will take place in Boulder, Colorado.

Finding love: Courtney wrote: '[Lily] and myself plus 300 others will all chug beers from shoes at the same time to celebrate being awesome and Colton Underwood falling in LUURRRVE!'

Courtney has largely kept out of the public eye in the past year.

After announcing he had split with blonde ex-girlfriend Lily McManus in August last year, the pair were spotted on a 'date' together.

He later confirmed the two had split.

Finding love: Courtney wrote: '[Lily] and myself plus 300 others will all chug beers from shoes at the same time to celebrate being awesome and Colton Underwood falling in LUURRRVE!'

Just days prior, Courtney revealed that he and Lily had gone their separate ways after 'eight months, two weeks and two days,' together.

He wrote: 'We're best friends and its become clear to both of us that the emotional side of our relationship just doesn't allow us to be the best versions of ourselves.

'Perhaps in a world where there are no distractions, no life obstacles, nothing else mattered and looking into the future wasn't even a thought, things might be different... but that's not reality and we've decided that this is for the best.'

Courtney concluded: 'I've always lived under the motto  'Everything happens for a reason' and I have no doubt we were meant to meet.'

Courtney and Lily fell in love on The Bachelor: Winter Games, which was filmed in the US and aired in February of last year.
She created the activewear label Saski Collection in 2017, which combined her passions for fitness and fashion.

And on Thursday, social media sensation Tammy Hembrow was flaunting one of the latest pieces in her collection.

Taking to Instagram, the 24-year-old modelled a cobalt blue crop top and tights combo.

Feeling blue! Tammy Hembrow parades her famous curves as she models the newest cobalt activewear ensemble for her label Saski Collection

The blonde bombshell paraded her curves for the camera, with a wind machine keeping her flowing tresses out of her face.

Tammy appeared to want to let the outfit itself do the talking and kept the caption brief.

She simply wrote alongside the video clip: 'This colour. @saskicollection Soon.'

'This colour. @saskicollection Soon.' Tammy promoted the piece on her Instagram account

It seems Tammy has been quite the busy career woman of late.

Last week, she launched her latest Neon range at The Pink Hotel in Coolangatta, on the New South Wales north coast.

To celebrate the launch, Tammy threw a no expense-spared, star-studded party with cabana lounges for guests, as well as bathtubs filled with beverages.

All business: Tammy created her activewear brand Saski Collection in 2017, combining her passion for fitness and fashion

Busy woman: Last week, Tammy launched her latest Neon range at The Pink Hotel in Coolangatta, on the New South Wales north coast

In 2017, Tammy spoke of her business acumen, telling Business News Australia she capitalised on her social media following to develop her brand.

'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,' she added.

'I always suggest being transparent and honest because people can relate to that.'
Comedian Tiffany Haddish wished best supporting actress frontrunner Regina King good luck at the pre-Oscars Alfre Woodard Sistahs Soiree in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.

48-year-old Regina bared a single shoulder in a deconstructed white blouse tucked into high-waisted black pants and matching booties selected by styling duo Wayman + Micah.

Ohio-born King has been attending the Alfre Woodard Sistahs Soiree ever since the inaugural bash launched in 2009.

Black girl magic! Comedian Tiffany Haddish (R) wished best supporting actress frontrunner Regina King (L) good luck at the pre-Oscars Alfre Woodard Sistahs Soiree in Beverly Hills on Wednesday

The former child star - sporting a sleek bun - has certainly come a long way since her breakout role as Brenda Jenkins in NBC's 227 way back in 1985.

Joining the USC grad at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel were her cozy colleagues, Reign of the Superman actress Rosario Dawson and Westworld star Tessa Thompson.

For her role as concerned mother Sharon Rivers in If Beale Street Could Talk, Regina will compete at the Independent Spirit Awards this Saturday and the Oscars this Sunday.

Her date for the Academy Awards will be none other than her 23-year-old son Ian Jr. with ex-husband Ian Alexander.

Two tone: 48-year-old Regina bared a single shoulder in a deconstructed white blouse tucked into high-waisted black pants and matching booties selected by styling duo Wayman + Micah

OG: Ohio-born King has been attending the Alfre Woodard Sistahs Soiree ever since the inaugural bash launched in 2009

Better and better: The former child star - sporting a sleek bun - has certainly come a long way since her breakout role as Brenda Jenkins in NBC's 227 way back in 1985

Gal pals: Joining the USC grad at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel were her cozy colleagues, Reign of the Superman actress Rosario Dawson (L) and Westworld star Tessa Thompson (R)

'I feel the love,' King told the AP on Monday.

'I can just be anywhere, from the grocery store to wherever. Sometimes, it'll be the sweetest thing, I'll get a woman that's just like 70, 80-years-old say, "Just thank you. Thank you for just representing us."'

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Tiffany struck a pose in her black sheer-sleeved blouse, matching skinny pants, and booties selected by stylist Troi Anthony.

The The Lego Movie 2 actress' plunging top revealed a hint of the lacy lingerie she was wearing beneath her ensemble.

First Oscar nod! For her role as mother Sharon Rivers in If Beale Street Could Talk, Regina will compete at the Independent Spirit Awards this Saturday and the Oscars this Sunday

'I feel the love!' Her date for the Academy Awards will be none other than her 23- year-old son Ian Jr. (pictured in 2016) with ex-husband Ian Alexander

Hairstylist Yvette Shelton coiffed the Emmy winner's middle-parted bob wig while make-artist Dionne Wynn brought out her brown eyes.

That same night, Haddish took to Insta-story to hype her five-date West Coast She Ready Tour, which kicks off this Friday at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

It's the first stand-up comedy gig the former Alaska Airlines staffer has booked since her disastrous New Year's Eve show in Miami where numerous fans walked out.

Black unicorn! 39-year-old Tiffany struck a pose in her black sheer- sleeved blouse, matching skinny pants, and booties selected by stylist Troi Anthony

Cleavage alert! The The Lego Movie 2 actress' plunging top revealed a hint of the lacy lingerie she was wearing beneath her ensemble

Double take: Hairstylist Yvette Shelton coiffed the Emmy winner's middle- parted bob wig while make-artist Dionne Wynn brought out her brown eyes

'Let's go!' That same night, Haddish took to Insta-story to hype her five-date West Coast She Ready Tour, which kicks off this Friday at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles

Tiffany will also reprise her role as Tracy Morgan's onscreen ex-girlfriend Shay-Shay in the 10-episode second season of The Last O.G., which premieres April 2 on TBS.

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer look sophisticated in a black pencil dress beneath a white blazer, and silver stilettos selected by stylist duo Wendi & Nicole Ferreira.

Black, white, and red were the most popular shades at the feminist function as expertly demonstrated by Drunk History funnywoman Amandla Stenberg and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo.

'I'm never doing this again': It's the first stand-up comedy gig the former Alaska Airlines staffer has booked since her New Year's Eve show in Miami where numerous fans walked out

Premieres April 2! Tiffany will also reprise her role as Tracy Morgan's (R) onscreen ex-girlfriend Shay-Shay in the 10-episode second season of The Last O.G. on TBS

Into the Badlands actress Lorraine Toussaint and In Living Color alum Kim Wayans sported similar tight curly locks with their red velvet dress and black jumpsuit, respectively.

How to Get Away with Murder's Aja Naomi King donned a strapless black number while Captain Marvel's Lashana Lynch went sleeveless in a blue-dotted halter dress.

And while there was no sign of the woman of the hour Alfre Woodard - her annual Sistahs Soiree also lured Emayatzy Corinealdi, Edwina Findley, Chandra Wilson, Margaret Avery, Tina Lifford, Loretta Devine, CCH Pounder, and Yolonda Ross.

Just joined The Witches cast! Oscar winner Octavia Spencer look sophisticated in a black pencil dress beneath a white blazer selected by stylist duo Wendi & Nicole Ferreira

Pleated perfection! Black, white, and red were the most popular shades at the feminist function as expertly demonstrated by Drunk History funnywoman Amandla Stenberg (L) and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (R)

Fierce after 55! Into the Badlands actress Lorraine Toussaint (L) and In Living Color alum Kim Wayans (R) sported similar tight curly locks with their red velvet dress and black jumpsuit

Hey girl! How to Get Away with Murder's Aja Naomi King (L) donned a strapless black number while Captain Marvel's Lashana Lynch (R) went sleeveless in a blue-dotted halter dress
She announced her engagement to a California judge last month.

And on Wednesday night, former Law & Order star Elisabeth Rohm showed off her sparkly diamond ring presented to her by fiance Jonathan Colby.

The occasion was a screening in Los Angeles for season 2 of her Sony Crackle drama series The Oath.

Happy: She announced her engagement to a California judge last month. And on Wednesday night, Elisabeth Rohm showed off the diamond ring presented to her by fiance Jonathan Colby

Rohm wore a shimmery black sleeveless dress that clung to her curves.

The actress, 45, went bare-legged in pointed toe black pumps and carried a silver box clutch.

She paired her stunning engagement ring with diamond drop earrings.

Stylish: The occasion was a screening in Los Angeles for season 2 of her Sony Crackle drama series The Oath and Rohm looked gorgeous in a shimmery black sleeveless dress

Red carpet ready: The actress, 45, went bare-legged in pointed toe black pumps and carried a silver box clutch. She paired her stunning engagement ring with diamond drop earrings

The second season of The Oath is now available for streaming on Crackle.

Rohm plays a FBI agent in the show about 'a unique type of criminal gang that is made up of the very men and women who are sworn to uphold the law', according to the official synopsis.

'Only select police officers make the cut, and the gang members do whatever they can to protect one another from enemies -- both inside and outside of their ranks.'

Pals: Rohm was joined on the red carpet by co-star Katrina Law, who looked gorgeous in a full-length sleeveless red gown with a slit at the front

Excited: Law, 33, seemed to be having as much fun as the former Law & Order star

In a lengthy Instagram post on January 26, Rohm confirmed the happy news of her engagement.

Describing Colby as 'the most loving, kind, elegant, generous and extraordinary man!', she explained: 'Ive waited a long time to find My Jonathan. My prayers have been answered.'

She said she had 'bawled like a baby' after Colby proposed and was filled with 'such joy to have found my one true love who I will share my life with forever.'

She added that it was her parents who had first set her up with Colby and she is 'so grateful to them'.

Engaged: The lucky man is Jonathan Colby, a judge based in La Jolla, California. 'Ive waited a long time to find My Jonathan. My prayers have been answered,' Rohm said on Instagram

In love: Colby popped the question at their home in the oceanfront community north of San Diego in mid-January, sharing this photo of himself, his fiancee and his Labrador retriever

Rohm is most famous for her role as Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on 85 episodes of Law & Order from 2001 to 2005.

She was previously engaged to director Austin Smithard.

Following their split, she went on to date entrepreneur Ron Anthony Wooster with whom she shares daughter Easton August, who was born in 2008.
She found fame and built a successful career in the spotlight after competing on Australian Idol back in 2003.

But despite her legions of fans, drag queen Courtney Act has admitted there are some public places she fears 'being herself'.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, the Mardi Gras ambassador explained that not everywhere in Australia is safe for the LGBTIQ community.

EXCLUSIVE: 'We learn it's not always safe to be ourselves': Courtney Act (pictured) spoke candidly about the danger LGBTIQ community face in public

'We know from experience unfortunately that being ourselves can bring violence and verbal abuse from people,' she said.

'So we learn it's not always safe to be ourselves in many environments. Even just wandering down to a Westfield.'

It's an opinion that is backed up by studies and startling statistics.

Research commissioned by ANZ found that 84% of LGBTIQ+ community members believe there are still parts of Australia where it is unsafe to be LGBTIQ+ and 68% of non- LGBTIQ+ people think so too.

'We know from experience unfortunately that being ourselves can bring violence and verbal abuse from people,' Courtney said that even a trip to a Westfield can cause her to second guess her safety

Courtney recalled a recent experience where she and a friend had gone to shopping centre for beauty treatments before worrying about whether they were in a safe location.

'My friend and I were at a Westfield and we were getting our toenails done and he's got like a pair of shoulder-dusted earrings and I'm flouncing about in pastel colours,' Courtney recalled.

'Then I was like "Oh, is it safe to be us here? It's funny that it's a legitimate thing that does run through your head. Because from experience, we know that so often that'll [end badly].

'Even if it's just some words or a dirty look or someone going 'oh you p**ter or something like that, it does take the sparkle off it.'

Shining bright: Courtney shot to fame after competing on Australian Idol in 2003 and has since built a successful career in the spotlight

Meanwhile, Courtney has partnered with ANZ for their Mardi Gras campaign to bring a little bit of Mardi Gras and all that it represents to different parts of Australia.

Seven sculptures have been installed across the country, transforming Oxford St signs into beautiful works of art.

These are designed to be signposts of an equal future and inclusivity for the LGBTIQ+ community. A giant Signs of Love signpost has also been installed at Bondi Beach pointing to the other 122 Oxford Streets around the country.
She has reportedly already split with her TV husband, Michael Brunelli.

And Married At First Sight's Martha Kalifatidis looked to be showing her 'husband' what he's missing in her latest Instagram Story on Thursday.

The 30-year-old makeup artist stripped down to a skimpy leopard print bikini during a photo shoot for Australian beauty brand Body Blendz.

Showing Michael what he's missing? MAFS' Martha Kalifatidis, 30, stripped down to a racy leopard print bikini for a photo shoot this week, after being spotted without her wedding ring in LA

In the short video, Martha poses in the scantily-clad swimwear, which accentuates her cleavage, toned tummy and defined legs.

The reality star grabs hold of either side of her briefs and casts a sultry gaze at the camera.

Martha's locks fall loosely around her face and shoulders, and her striking facial features are enhanced with a glamorous makeup palette.

Curves ahead: In a short video shared to Instagram Stories on Thursday, Martha poses in the scantily-clad swimwear, which accentuates her cleavage, toned tummy and defined legs

It comes just days after Martha was pictured without her wedding ring while out in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

The Kim Kardashian lookalike stunned in a black ensemble, complete with a Fendi handbag and strappy silver heels, but went sans wedding ring.

Despite having been dubbed one of the 'picture perfect' pairings of this year's season of Married At First Sight, Martha and Michael have reportedly called it quits.

According to Monday's issue of NW magazine, Martha is keeping the hunky P.E. teacher around in order to achieve fame.

Reports: It comes after reports that Martha and her 'husband' Michael Brunelli [pictured] have already called time on their relationship

Any truth? In Monday's issue of NW magazine, it's been claimed that their lives 'couldn't be further apart'

'She wants to be as famous as possible and having Michael on her arm is the best way she can achieve this goal,' an insider told the publication.

'But in reality, their lives couldn't be further apart. While she's off living it up in Hollywood, he's in Melbourne teaching kids every day,' they added.

It is not known whether Michael has joined Martha on her overseas sojourn. The pair have not appeared together in images taken during the trip.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine
Make-up free Ariel Winter sported a top-bun as she stepped out in two different black outfits while strolling around Studio City on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Modern Family starlet kicked off her morning by baring her shoulders in a flirty floral frock, matching ballet flats, and a large purse.

The four-time SAG Award winner later bundled up in a quilted coat over leggings, booties, and her favorite red Gucci cross-body bag.

Out and about: Make-up free Ariel Winter sported a top-bun as she stepped out in two different black outfits while strolling around Studio City on Wednesday

Leggy: The 21-year-old Modern Family starlet kicked off her morning by baring her shoulders in a flirty floral frock, matching ballet flats, and a large purse

On Tuesday, Winter (born Workman) flaunted significant cleavage during a shoot for an upcoming interview in BELLOmag shot by photography duo Alek and Steph and styled by Saulu Santana.

Hairstylist Carly Walters Bethel coiffed Ariel's raven locks and make-up artist Ash K. Holm gave her a pink pout for the spread 'inspired by classic French couture.'

Earlier this month, the aspiring federal prosecutor revealed that she'd love to return to UCLA to resume her political science major 'if and when her ABC sitcom ends.'

Glued to her phone: The four-time SAG Award winner later bundled up in a quilted coat over leggings, booties, and her favorite red Gucci cross-body bag

Modeling moment: On Tuesday, Winter (born Workman) flaunted significant cleavage during a shoot for an upcoming interview in BELLOmag shot by photography duo Alek and Steph and styled by Saulu Santana

'Inspired by classic French couture': Hairstylist Carly Walters Bethel coiffed Ariel's raven locks and make-up artist Ash K. Holm gave her a pink pout

'I couldn't make it work with the show and just with life in general at that time,' the LA native told Schon! Magazine of dropping out of college a year ago.

'I wasn't being able to make as many classes and it's harder to take exams when you can't be there in the classroom...I'd like to take online classes.'

Ariel currently plays wholesome Caltech student Alex Dunphy in the 10th season of mockumentary series, which airs Wednesdays on ABC.

'I couldn't make it work [last year]': Earlier this month, the aspiring federal prosecutor revealed that she'd love to return to UCLA to resume her political science major 'if and when her ABC sitcom ends' (2008 stock shot)

The LA native told Schon! Magazine: 'I wasn't being able to make as many classes and it's harder to take exams when you can't be there in the classroom...I'd like to take online classes' (pictured Tuesday)

'SuperShowerBabyBowl': Ariel currently plays wholesome Caltech student Alex Dunphy in the 10th season of mockumentary series, which airs Wednesdays on ABC

The Last Movie Star actress and her castmates Sarah Hyland, Rico Rodriguez, and Nolan Gould scored a 'significant' pay raise - according to Variety.

It's unclear the exact dollar amount but the adults - Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill, and Sofia Vergara - all earn an eye-popping $500K per episode.

Missing from Winter' side was her live-in love of two years - Unspeakable star Levi Meaden - who helped her ring in her 21st birthday at Drai's Beachclub in Las Vegas.
They welcomed a daughter together in October.

But on Wednesday, Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma were spotted running errands together without baby Banks or Duff's son Luca, six, from her marriage to Mike Comrie.

The actress and the musician were bundled up in woolens for their trip to the stores as Los Angeles continues to shiver from unusually cold winter weather.

Retail trip: Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma were spotted running errands together on Wednesday bundled up in woolens as LA continues to shiver from unusually cold weather

Younger star Duff, 31, paired a baggy sweater with ripped jeans and a pair of Gucci loafers.

Koma, also 31, had on a yellow knit beanie and a beige fleece jacket.

The couple have been together since 2017.

Winter trend: Younger star Duff, 31, paired a baggy sweater with ripped jeans and a pair of Gucci loafers

Together: The former Lizzie McGuire star, 31, posted a sweet photo to her Instagram Wednesday in which she showed off her love for her musician beau

Also Wednesday, the former Lizzie McGuire star posted two cute snaps to her Instagram as she gushed over her boyfriend.

In one photo, she's seen standing in front of Koma who has an arm wrapped around her as she snuggles into his shoulder.

'Peaceful place under this arm,' she wrote in the caption.

She also shared a black-and-white image of Koma holding their baby girl and added the caption: 'Lucky me.'

'Lucky me': She also shared a black-and-white image of Koma holding their baby daughter Banks who was born in October. She and Koma have been together since 2017

Last week, the busy star had to catch a flight out of Los Angeles on Valentine's Day for a solo trip.

That meant leaving Banks behind with her daddy and apparently not everything went smoothly, as she shared with her social media followers.

Duff posted shared a pic of a pale pink rose being held by Koma, adding in cursive script: 'Daddy picked up a rose for Banks.'

She followed it with an image of her crying three-month-old baby and explained: 'It was the wrong color.'

Things appeared to have gone better earlier in the day when Koma shared a photo to his Instagram showing him holding his daughter and holding up a Valentine's Day card.

The card had Banks's feet in red paint and four red hearts on one side and on the other, the message: 'Daddy - will you be mine?'

In the caption, Koma added: 'Yes, and always.'

Amusing: Duff took to Instagram Stories to share a funny tale about her baby daughter Banks and what happened when she left her with her father on Valentine's Day last week

Happier: Things appear to have gone better earlier in the day when Koma shared a photo to Instagram showing him holding his daughter and holding up a Valentine's Day card
When news broke of a secret deal between the Australian Government and a Canberra-based defence company that exports next-generation weapons to Saudi Arabia, outspoken Project panelist Meshel Laurie let her strong views be known.

But in doing so on Wednesday, she also dragged Studio 10's Kerri-Anne Kennerley into her rage-filled Twitter rant.

Taking to the social media platform, the 42-year-old mother wrote: 'I mean, I guess I just dont understand why Kerri-Anne isnt mad about Australia selling bombs to Saudi Arabia to drop on Yemeni Children. Shes so mad about everything else.'

'I'm sorry': The Project's Meshel Laurie apologises for slamming Kerri-Anne Kennerley on Twitter and admits she went 'too far' with her personal attack after fans labelled it cyber bullying

It's unclear if Kerri-Anne had spoken about the news on Studio 10, or Meshel simply mentioned the fellow journalist to make a point.

Another Tweet read: 'Pitch for pilot week. 12 filthy Instagram thots travel to Yemen. Fake get married and fake cheat on each other. In a mad twist, they actually shame Australia into caring about starving children being bombed by Australian weaponry sold to Saudi. Boom bitches! KAK's mad. Logie! #mafs.'

The radio presenter also shared the Tweet on Instagram, captioning it similarly: 'Why doesnt KAK get mad about our government selling bombs to the Saudi government?'

'Sorry KAK!' It's unclear if Kerri-Anne had spoken about the news on Studio 10, or Meshel simply mentioned the fellow journalist for emphasis. Meshel has since apologised

But, why? The radio presenter also shared another Tweet on Instagram, captioning it similarly: 'Why doesnt KAK get mad about our government selling bombs to the Saudi government?'

However, it wasn't long until Meshel regretted her comments, after one fan tweeted her directly.

The fan said: 'You are promoting cyber bullying in this post. I think the post would have been just as powerful without the kak [Kerri-Anne Kennerly] slag off.'

Seeing the error in her ways, she said: 'Oh no, I see. Yes. I get it. Youre right. Too far.'

'Yes, you're right. Too far': Meshel admitted she had gone 'too far' with her comments and said 'sorry KAK' in the post's caption

'It would be so good if she did get mad about it, but this isnt going to make that happen. Dumb on my part. Dumb and tired... Just want to say this ladys right. Totally right. Sorry KAK.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted representation for Kerri-Anne Kennerley for comment.

Kerri-Anne was recently forced to defend herself against Yumi Stynes, after being branded 'racist' in ugly TV spat on Studio 10.

Fighting back! Kerri-Anne was recently forced to defend herself against Yumi Stynes, after being branded 'racist' in ugly TV spat on Studio 10

The presenters came to verbal blows during a Studio 10 panel about people protesting to change the date of Australia Day.

Kerri-Anne dismissed 'Invasion Day' protesters, insinuating none of them had ever been to the Outback and were championing the plight of Indigenous Australians under false pretenses.

When the daytime legend brought up the rates of sexual assault against women and children in the Outback, Yumi responded by accusing her of 'sounding racist.'
MYOB leads the market for online subscriber growth, adding 229,000 in FY18, Solid full year results delivered through first year of accelerated investment



FY2018 Results Market Release

Sydney, Feb 21, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - MYOB Group Limited (MYOB) ( ASX:MYO ), a leading provider of online business management solutions to Australian and New Zealand businesses is pleased to announce its full year results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2018.Highlights- MYOB delivers a solid set of financial results for FY18, in line with guidance; Revenue up 7 per cent to $445 million, underlying EBITDA stable at $190 million during investment period, NPATA up 2 per cent to $104 million, and free cash flow of $107 million- Online subscriber growth puts MYOB in leadership position, adding 229,000 in the 12 months to December 2018; total online subscribers reached 628,000, up 57 per cent on FY17, and the Company remains on track to reach 1 million online subscribers in 2020- Delivery of the MYOB Platform accelerates with more than half of the platform modules developed and in market; significant progress made in compliance (client accounting and tax), corporate compliance and document management with delivery dates for the release of these modules brought forward to 2019. Practice Management module now under development- New strategic partnership with Mastercard extends MYOB's payments services to payables (both suppliers and payroll) within MYOB's software; opening up a c.$200bn transaction volume opportunity for MYOB- FY19 guidance updated, organic revenue growth expected to be 6-8 per cent; R&D investment to be ~20 per cent of revenue; underlying EBITDA margin expected to be >38 per cent- Proposed Scheme of Arrangement with KKR remains ongoing. An update will be provided to the market on Friday, 22nd February 2019 post the conclusion of the 'go-shop' periodJustin Milne, Chairman:"2018 has been an eventful year for MYOB. The decision to accelerate investment and fast track the delivery of the MYOB Platform has been an important one for the Company, setting its trajectory on a path for future growth and success. The delivery of a single, integrated and efficient online platform, is a clear differentiator for MYOB, its clients and its shareholders.In 2018, MYOB generated positive financial results notwithstanding the first year of investment, with revenues up 7 per cent to $445 million and underlying EBITDA maintained at $190 million.MYOB's online subscribers grew 57 per cent, reaching 628,000 in FY18, maintaining momentum to achieve its goal of reaching 1 million online subscribers in 2020.In addition, MYOB's Enterprise Solutions and Payment Solutions continues to deliver strong results. The opportunities for growth expansion in each of these areas is significant, with Enterprise continuing to leverage its first mover advantage in cloud ERP and integrated payroll with MYOB Advanced, and in our Payments segment, the recently announced partnership with Mastercard opens up significant opportunity for growth for MYOB and its clients."Tim Reed, Chief Executive Officer:"I am excited with the progress we're making as a business.In 2018, we delivered a solid set of financial results and commenced our accelerated investment, the benefits of which are already being realised by our clients.The superior growth we've seen in online subscribers has placed us in the leadership position in the online accounting market, with 229,000 added over the 12 months to December 2018.I'm delighted to report that we've made significant progress in the development of the MYOB Platform. We've accelerated the delivery of compliance, corporate compliance and document management modules, all of which are expected to be in market in 2019. In addition, Practice Management has advanced and is now under development. The feedback we have received from clients trialing our BETA products has been overwhelmingly positive, and further reinforces our investment decision.This is an important time for MYOB, as we double down and focus on completing the MYOB Platform, which we believe will create significant efficiencies for our SMEs and their Advisers, and positions the Company and our clients for future growth."Financial SummaryRevenue for the 12 months to 31 December 2018 increased to $445 million, up 7 per cent on the prior year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at $190 million. MYOB's preferred measure of after-tax profit, NPATA(see Note 1 below), was $104 million, 2 per cent higher than the prior year, with associated NPATA earnings per share of 17.6 cents, 4 per cent higher than FY17.For details on segment revenue performance, please see the FY18 Investor Presentation, available on the MYOB Investor website: http://investors.myob.com.au Capital ManagementMYOB's commitment to delivering value to shareholders through capital management continued in 2018. In late 2017, the Company announced an on-market share buyback program, which was completed in August 2018. The Company has acquired a total of 15.6 million shares amounting to $48 million, funded by existing cash. In addition, MYOB returned capital to investors through the interim dividend of 5.75 cents per share at 30 June 2018, representing 75% of 1H18 NPATA. Total capital returned to shareholders from the share buyback and dividends paid in 2018 was $113 million.Under the scheme implementation agreement currently in place with KKR, MYOB cannot declare and pay any dividend without KKR's prior written consent. On the basis of this restriction, the MYOB Board has not declared a final dividend for the financial year ended 31 December 2018. If the proposed scheme of arrangement with KKR does not proceed, the MYOB Board will consider whether or not it will declare a special dividend at that time. For further details on the transaction with KKR, please refer below.Scheme of Arrangement with KKROn 23 December 2018, MYOB entered into a Scheme of Arrangement with affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR) under which KKR will acquire all the remaining shares in MYOB, that it does not currently own(see Note 2 below), for A$3.40 per share (cash consideration). If the Scheme is implemented, MYOB shareholders would be entitled to receive A$3.40 in cash per MYOB share. The offer price assumes no final dividend for the 2018 financial year is paid. As part of the arrangements, MYOB agreed to 'goshop' provisions with KKR that permit MYOB and its advisers, up to and including 21 February 2019, to solicit competing proposals and with a commitment from KKR to sell its shareholding into, or vote in favour of, any Qualifying Superior Proposal(see Note 3 below). MYOB will separately provide the market an update on the outcome post the 'go-shop' period, expected to be on 22 February 2019.Under the proposed Scheme of Arrangement with KKR, in mid to late March 2019, each shareholder would receive a copy of the Scheme Booklet which would contain detailed information about the Scheme of Arrangement, the Independent Expert's Report and details of the Scheme meeting which is expected to be held in Sydney in mid to late April 2019.Indicative Scheme TimetableFirst court hearing: Mid-March 2019Despatch of Scheme Booklet to MYOB shareholders: Mid to late March 2019Scheme Meeting: Mid to late April 2019Further information and web conference detailsThe MYOB ASX release should be read in conjunction with the corresponding 2018 Full Year Results Presentation and 2018 Full Year Financial Statements. Both documents are available on the MYOB Investor website: http://investors.myob.com.au A live webcast and conference call will be held at 10.00am (AEDT) and can be accessed via the following the link http://webcast.openbriefing.com/4980 Playback facilities and a conference call transcript will be made available on our investor site.MYOB's 2018 Annual Report will be released on 29 March 2019.Dial in detailsConference Call ID: 5598132Country Number Country NumberAustralia toll: +61 2 8038 5221Australia toll free: 1800 123 296Canada: 1855 5616 766China: 4001 203 085Hong Kong: 800 908 865India: 1800 2666 836Japan: 0120 994 669New Zealand: 0800 452 782Singapore: 800 616 2288United Kingdom: 0808 234 0757United States: 1855 293 1544Notes:1 MYOB considers NPATA (net profit after tax and after adding back the tax effected amortisation expense related to acquired intangibles), rather than NPAT, to be a more meaningful measure of after-tax profit due to the large amount of non-cash amortisation of acquired intangibles that is reflected in NPAT.2 KKR currently has a legal and economic interest in MYOB shares of approximately 19.9%3 Qualifying Superior Proposal means a Superior Proposal in respect of 100% of MYOB shares that is at least 5% higher than KKR's scheme consideration of $3.40 in cash, that is recommended by a majority of the MYOB Board and in respect of which MYOB enters into an implementation agreement.To view tables, please visit:To view the presentation, please visit:About Myob Group Ltd

MYOB Group Ltd (ASX:MYO) is a leading provider of online business management solutions. It makes business life easier for approximately 1.2 million businesses and accountants across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll, tax, practice management, CRM, job costing, inventory and more. MYOB operates across three core segments  Clients and Partners (business solutions to SMEs and Advisers); Enterprise Solutions (larger businesses) and Payment Solutions. It provides ongoing support through client service channels including a network of over 40,000 accountants, bookkeepers and other consultants. It is committed to ongoing innovation, particularly through its Connected Practice Strategy and through the development of the MYOB Platform. For more information, follow @MYOB on Twitter or visit http://investors.myob.com.au/Investors
Model Sophie Dahl and musician Jamie Cullum put on a smart display as they attended the Universal Music and Soho House BRITs after-party at London's The Ned on Wednesday night.

The couple - who have been married since 2010 - took a night away from their two daughters to hit the industry event, after the main shin-dig took place at Greenwich's O2 Arena.

The pair put on a chic display, with Sophie, 41, in a satin midnight blue blazer, over a matching blouse and mini-skirt.

After-party: Model Sophie Dahl and musician Jamie Cullum put on a smart display as they attended the Universal Music BRITs event at London's The Ned on Wednesday night

She added a clutch purse in hot pink, and leopard print ankle heels.

Sophie wore her blonde locks loosely around her shoulders and added gold hoop earrings to the look, adding light touches of natural make-up to her complexion.

Jamie, 39, also wore a blazer. He wore the black number over a satin shirt and skinny jeans, finishing the look off with loafers.

Nursing a drink each, the couple enjoyed the event, having celebrated the BRITs' 39th annual celebrations.

Chic: The couple - who have been married since 2010 - took a night away from their two daughters to hit the industry event, after the main shin-dig took place at Greenwich's O2 Arena

Host: Jack Whitehall was running the show for the second year in a row earlier that evening

Honoured: Pink won the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize at the end of the evening

Off with a bang! The BRIT Awards 2019 kicked off in typically-extravagant style on Wednesday night as Hollywood star Hugh Jackman took to the stage

The hottest stars in music headed to the BRITs for the evening's festivities, with the first two categories celebrating the best British Female Solo and best British Male Solo Artists.

Knocking back the likes of Anne-Marie, Florence + The Machine, Jess Glynne and Lily Allen, Jorja Smith scooped the female gong, claiming it was 'for all the little girls out there' as she accepted the award from Nile Rodgers and HER.

Aphex Twin, Craig David, Sam Smith and Giggs were beaten by George Ezra in the male category, who then took to the stage to perform his hit Shot Gun.

Host Jack Whitehall was running the show for the second year in a row with Pink being honoured for her career with the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize at the end of the evening.

The 1975 took home the Best British Group gong, pipping Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Little Mix and Years & Years to the post.
Her 'affair' with Dean Wells on last year's season of Married At First Sight was one of the biggest scandals in Australian reality TV history.

But now Davina Rankin has finally revealed the truth about the illicit tryst, claiming that it was largely encouraged by producers and then sensationalised for TV.

Speaking to The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday, the 27-year-old said that she and Dean were encouraged to become a couple after they tried to leave their respective 'marriages' - and the show- at the first commitment ceremony.

Bombshell: Married At First Sight's Davina Rankin has revealed the truth about her 'affair' with Dean Wells, claiming that it was encouraged by producers and then sensationalised for TV

The model explained that she and 'husband' Ryan Gallagher went to their producer and the head of the show early on and explained that they didn't want to be together.

Dean had also tried to leave his 'wife' Tracey Jewel, which is when Dean and Davina were encouraged by producers to get together so they could remain in the experiment.

'They said to Dean and I that we could come back as a couple because they didn't want to lose us,' Davina explained.

'We both wanted to leave': Davina explained that she and 'husband' Ryan Gallagher (L) went to their producer early on and explained that they wanted to leave the show

'It was all very manipulated!' Dean had also tried to leave his 'wife' Tracey Jewel (R), which is when Dean and Davina were encouraged to get together so they could remain on the show

'It was all very manipulated. We were like "We don't want to be here," very open and honestly. But then they were like, "No, look, you guys are really good on TV. We can do this and have you back on the show and do it this way."'

Davina continued: 'I was like, "Okay. Well if that works, cool. I'd rather be on here with someone that I might have a connection with."'

She then admitted that she didn't realise that it would play out on television like it did, as she and Dean had both received 'full permission to come back as a new couple.'

The brunette also claimed that she and Tracey had been texting and communicating off camera the entire time, but that it was a different story once the cameras were around.

'They [the producers] said to Dean and I that we could come back as a couple because they didn't want to lose us,' Davina explained

Shock: The brunette also claimed that she and Tracey had been texting and communicating off camera the entire time, but that it was a different story once the cameras were around

'That's why at one of the dinner parties I just went full b***h because it baffled me that her and I could chat and b***h about whatever, and then she could come at me at the dinner party in front of the cameras.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.

While her 'affair' with Dean didn't last long, Davina quickly found love after filming wrapped with longtime friend Jaxon Manuel.

The happy couple recently celebrated their first anniversary and have since opened their first business together.
He won his first ever BRITs Award on Wednesday after having garnered 16 nominations over the years.

And Calvin Harris, 35, looked delighted to have the support of his girlfriend Aarika Wolf when they attended the Sony Music after party at the Aqua Shard, in London.

The Instagram model, 24, put on an incredibly busty display in the high-risk neckline of her black minidress while she looped arms with her musician love.

BRITs 2019: Calvin Harris' girlfriend Aarika Wolf looked busty in a low-cut minidress as her beau won his first award after 16 NOMINATIONS

Despite having dated on/off for many years, Calvin and Aarika enjoyed a rare night out to attend the hottest music event of the year in the UK.

The loved-up couple, who dated even before Calvin's headline-grabbing romance with Taylor, were the picture of true love as they cosied up to each other.

Calvin, who had the gushing support of his ladylove, had two gongs tied to his name at the end of the night.

Picture of true love: Despite having dated on/off for many years, Calvin and Aarika enjoyed a rare night out to attend the hottest music event of the year in the UK

The DJ bagged his first ever BRIT Award for Producer of the Year before going on to also win British Single of the Year for his track 'One Kiss' which features Dua Lipa.

Calvin and The 1975 were the big winners at the BRIT Awards on Wednesday, each taking home two prizes.

As for his love life, the hunk and Aarika go way back because they dated for seven months in 2015 before the DJ dumped the model to date Taylor Swift.

Skills: The DJ bagged his first ever BRIT Award for Producer of the Year before going on to also win British Single of the Year for his track 'One Kiss' which features Dua Lipa

Big night: Calvin had two gongs tied to his name at the end of the night

Look of love: Aarika looked proud of her hunky man as they got into a cab

Couple: The duo looked in good spirits as they left the soiree

Chatty: Aarika smiled as she chatted with Calvin at the end of the night

Busty: The couple looked uber stylish for the glittering event

The musician first set his sights on the Shake It Off hitmaker after they met at the BRIT Awards, the same event years later Calvin attended with Aarika on Wednesday.

How Deep Is Your Love hitmaker Calvin romanced Taylor for 15 months before the couple called it quits on their love in June 2016.

The Story Of Us hitmaker was soon spotted with actor Tom Hiddleston but their PDA-fest was short-lived and now Taylor is dating Joe Alwyn.

Radiant: Aarika looked beautiful as she cosied up to Calvin in the back seat

Leggy display: Aarika showed off her lean legs as she made her way out of the party

Smile: Calvin was unable to keep his eyes off his busty love as they left

Happy: The couple looked to have had a good night as they made a stylish exit

Lithe: Aarika looked gorgeous as she left the party

Calvin rekindled the flames of his romance with Aarika in August 2017 and then he ended their romance once again.

However, unable to stay apart from her, the DJ returned to the arms of his ladylove in March last year and they have been going strong ever since.

A source confirmed: 'This time pals believe their relationship will last the distance.'
Ali Fedotowsky says that she and her husband Kevin Manno are in survival mode as they raise their two young children.

'We're still working on getting back to that passionate place, 'cause it's hard - we're tunnel vision right now,' the 34-year-old alum of The Bachelorette told People Wednesday. 'We're like, "Just survive, just survive, just survive."'

Fedotowsky said that her 'relationship's still not the same' with Manno, a 35-year-old radio personality on Valentine in the Morning, as they adjust to life raising daughter Molly, two, and eight-month-old baby son Riley, who they welcomed last May.

The latest: Ali Fedotowsky, 34, says that she and her husband Kevin Manno, 35, are in survival mode as they raise their two young children - daughter Molly, two, and eight-month-old baby son Riley. The family was snapped in LA last month

'We have two kids two and under and we don't do date nights nearly as much as we should,' the ABC reality star-turned-blogger told the publication.

The Williamstown, Massachusetts native said that for a temporary time 'out of necessity,' they had slept in separate beds to keep their work schedules.

She said she and Manno are 'still not having as many make-out sessions' as they did prior to becoming parents; and that when Molly was surprised to see them hugging recently - saying out loud, 'Mommy and Daddy give hugs!' - she realized the lack of affection.

'I didn't like that that was surprising to her I was like, "Oh my gosh, Mommy and Daddy should give hugs more often in front of our children,"' Fedotowsky said.

Lack of sizzle? Ali said, 'We have two kids two and under and we don't do date nights nearly as much as we should'

Out on the town: The family was snapped in September at an event in Culver City, California

She noted there's been an uptick in their arguments since they had the kids, claiming they had 'never fought' prior to.

'Since kids, we fight,' Fedotowsky told the magazine. Over stupid things, like what time somebody put Molly down for her nap: "Did you put her down a half hour too early?"'

She said that despite the adjustments, she feels things will get back to normal in their love lives.

'I know it's going to get to a more romantic place,' she said. 'We're still working on our relationship, but our relationship's solid, it's awesome.'

Neither snow nor rain: Ali said she's confident things with normalize in her marriage as they adjust to family life

Rise to fame: Ali appeared on ABC's The Bachelorette in 2010

Fedotowsky, who operates her Ali Luvs blog, opened up to Fox News last month about life with her young, growing family, saying that while the marriage 'should always be [a] priority,' things change when welcoming a baby.

'When your baby is a newborn - to survive they have to be your priority,' she said. 'They won't make it unless they're your priority. So your relationship has to take a backseat in that instance.'

Still, she said, there comes a time when the focus got back to mom and dad.

'If Kevin and I aren't solid, then our whole family suffers, and I think that that's very important,' she said. 'I'm always like, "I'll do anything for my kids!" But I try to remind myself on a daily basis ... my husband comes first and it's always got to be that way.'
Wednesday would have been her deceased husband Kurt Cobain's 52nd birthday.

And Courtney Love, 54, appeared somber as the rocker went shopping in SoHo with a male companion the same day.

The Hole front woman wore an all-black ensemble for her day out in Manhattan.

Downcast: Courtney Love, 54, appeared somber as the rocker went shopping in SoHo with a male companion on Wednesday

The Celebrity Skin hitmaker slipped a black coat on over a dark blouse and leggings for the chilly outing.

A black purse was slung across Courtney's body and dark shades were perched atop her head.

The San Francisco native wore her wavy blonde tresses loose for the day.

Her unnamed male companion was also clad in head-to-toe black.

Back to black: The Hole front woman wore an all-black ensemble for her day out in Manhattan

Cold day: The Celebrity Skin hitmaker slipped a black coat on over a dark blouse and leggings for the chilly outing

Love married Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain on February 24, 1992, on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.

They were married until the rocker's death by suicide on April 5, 1994.

The Lithium hitmaker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in their Seattle home.

Accessories: A black purse was slung across Courtney's body and dark shades were perched atop her head

Family: [L-R] Frances Bean, Courtney and Kurt arrive at the 1993 MTV Music Awards

Blonde bombshell: The San Francisco native wore her wavy blonde tresses loose for the day

The couple share a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, 26.

Courtney was married to James Moreland prior to meeting Kurt, and has since dated but hasn't remarried since the death of her second husband.

In February, she paid tribute to her late husband on what would have been his 51st birthday when she freely expressed how much she missed him. She wrote: 'God I miss you.'

Love married Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain on February 24, 1992, on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii
Nigella Lawson shared how she felt 'exposed and under attack' when she laid bare the 'traumatic' aftermath of her drug and marriage revelations.

In a new interview with The Irish Times , the cook discussed the 'shame' she felt after the infamous row with Charles Saatchi and confessing in court she took cocaine.

The 59-year-old told the publication: 'It was generally about feeling exposed and under attack. In a way, it would have been much better for me to be able to speak openly.'

'It was traumatic': Nigella Lawson (in Australia, 2016) admitted she felt 'exposed and under attack' as she documented the 'trauma' of her drug and marriage 'shame'

Nigella's comments refer to when she was pictured in a row with her husband of ten years eating at their favourite restaurant and a trial with her former assistants.

Shocking photos captured the moment Charles put his hands round a tearful Nigella's throat at their usual table outside Scott's restaurant, in Mayfair in 2013.

Also, Nigella courted controversy when she said she had taken cocaine in a dramatic courtroom confession in 2014.

In reference to both incidents, Nigella went on sharing: 'It goes against my nature not to... Everything I went through then, shame, various things, in a way gave me a form of trauma of its own.'

Revealed: In a new interview with The Irish Times , the cook discussed the 'shame' she felt after the infamous row with Charles Saatchi and confessing in court she took cocaine

'And I dont think Ive addressed that enough to talk about it.'

The cook reflected on the incident where she was pictured with her then-husband's hands round her throat during an argument in London in June 2013.

Their headline-grabbing split which hit newspapers a month later in July of that year come after the pair had been married for ten years.

Mr Saatchi accepted a police caution for assault over the argument, just hours after dismissing it as a playful tiff and claiming his wife was only crying because she hated it when they rowed.

Nigella also referred to the 2014 headlines which reported her dramatic courtroom confession that she has taken cocaine.

Scotland Yard said launching criminal proceedings against the TV cook could damage the criminal justice system.

In an unusual statement at the time, it said such a high-profile prosecution could deter other victims from being candid in the witness box.

During the trial of two former aides, she said six of the occasions were with John Diamond, her first husband, who died in 2001, when he found out he had terminal cancer.

Explained: Nigella also referred to the 2014 headlines which reported her dramatic courtroom confession that she has taken cocaine (pictured in April 2018)

The seventh was in 2010 when she was subjected to intimate terrorism by her second husband, Charles.

Nigella confessed to smoking cannabis with or in front of her children in the last year of her marriage to the multi-millionaire art dealer.

Her former assistants, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, claimed Miss Lawson repeatedly used cocaine, with Elisabetta saying she lets the children smoke weed.
The BRITs 2019 has sparked 'fix' claims after an advert revealed the show's results hours before the ceremony which was held on Wednesday at London's 02 arena.

One eagle-eyed viewer, Kieren Thomson, took to Twitter to share a clip of the commercial, which he claimed aired on UKTV Play earlier in the day.

He said: 'An advert on UKTV Play just said The 1975 won Best British Group and British Album of the Year at this years BRIT Awards... which arent for a few hours?'

Fix?: The BRITs 2019 has sparked 'fix' claims after an advert revealed the show's results hours before the ceremony which was held on Wednesday at London 's 02 arena (The 1975 pictured)

While he went on to add: 'Here be the evidence. Thats either a massive marketing c**k-up or management for The 1975 somehow knew already... anyway #BRITs fans, spoiler alert, The 1975 win things.'

In the advert promoting the band, which has Matt Healy as the lead, a voiceover said: 'This is the BRIT award-winning The 1975 with the brilliant number one album A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.'

During the commercial, it showed an image which said 'BRIT WINNERS' followed by their awards 'Best British Group' and 'British Album Of The Year', which they won during the ceremony on Wednesday evening.

'BRIT WINNERS': One eagle-eyed viewer, Kieren Thomson, took to Twitter to share a clip of the commercial, which he claimed aired on UKTV Play earlier in the day

While later on in the evening, some eagle-eyed fans noticed that the advert got subtly changed to 'BRIT NOMINATED' instead of saying 'winners'.

One person tweeted: 'I am greetin!!! That 1975 advert just came on again and its been changed to BRIT NOMINATED #BRITs I see u.'

While a different account added: 'they changed the advert !! #1975 #brits.'

Hmm: While later on in the evening, some eagle-eyed fans noticed that the advert got subtly changed to 'BRIT NOMINATED' instead of saying 'winners'

Observant: One person tweeted: 'They changed the advert !! #1975 #brits.'

During their acceptance speech, The 1975 appeared shocked at the win, as they spoke about misogyny in the music industry.

With show watchers going on to tweet and post memes about their acceptance speech, claiming they already knew they had won hence the advert.

One person said: 'Oh look. The 1975 won British album. Not that it was on a TV advert a few hours ago or anything. No. #BRITs #brits2019.'

Not impressed: During their acceptance speech, The 1975 appeared shocked at the win, as they spoke about misogyny in the music industry with fans tweeting about the moment

While a different account added: '1975 winning British Album after their advert leaked it earlier. #BRITs,' followed by a meme of someone 'pretending to be shocked'.

However, despite the backlash to the advert, some fans pointed out that the 1975 won Best British Group in 2017.

Yet it doesn't explain the 'British Album Of The Year' reference as the group has never won the accolade until Wednesday night.

MailOnline has contacted both the BRITs and the 1975 for comment.
Home cook Lisa, 55, is competing on My Kitchen Rules' 10th anniversary season with her son John, 26.

And the aspiring chef has revealed she's also celebrating her own 10-year milestone next month; quitting smoking.

Lisa told Who magazine on Thursday she had battled an addiction to cigarettes for 32 years, before being 'tricked into giving up smoking' in 2009.

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'It was a 32-year addiction!' My Kitchen Rules star Lisa, 55, has revealed how she gave up smoking after starting at the age of 13 (She is pictured here on the show with her son John, 29)

'I had been smoking since I was 13,' Lisa confessed, explaining a doctor intervened with her health when she developed a serious cough.

'For about a year I was coughing and it was really affecting my life. It was waking me up at night and the doctor was saying "you've got to give up smoking, that's why you're coughing, You've been smoking for 32 years!" So I gave up smoking,' she recalled.

Six months after going cold turkey, she said her cough was determined to be partially brought on by being allergic to blood pressure medication.

'Basically I got tricked into giving up smoking. I was so addicted to smoking and I'm really glad i gave it up,' Lisa said, saying while it was a hard habit to kick, she considers it one of her greatest achievements.

'I was so addicted to smoking and I'm really glad i gave it up': Lisa said she was 'tricked' into giving up smoking after developing a cough - which was actually from an allergic reaction to medication

Earlier this month, the mother and son duo impressed judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel with their first instant restaurant.

Hosting the two chefs and fellow contestants at their home in Margaret River, Western Australia, they made MKR history.

Lisa and John made the show's hall of fame for scoring perfect tens for each of their three dishes from judges Manu and Pete.

Making MKR history! Lisa and John recently made the show's hall of fame for scoring perfect tens for each of their three dishes from judges Manu and Pete, during their first instant restaurant



On the night, the pair cooked a seafood cocktail for the entree, braised lamb shanks with mash for a main and a deconstructed raspberry cheesecake for dessert.

Their impressive score landed them high on the leader board and a strong contender for the show's $250,000 cash prize.

My Kitchen Rules returns on Sunday from 7pm on Seven
The Bachelor #20 Ben Higgins revealed the identity of his secret, long-distance girlfriend on Wednesday to be Valet Energy key account manager Jessica Clarke in Nashville.

At 29, the Generous Coffee co-founder is around eight years older than the recent University of Mississippi grad, and he 'slid into her DMs a few months ago.'

'I took a risk and I am glad I did,' Denver-based Ben gushed via Instagram.

Surprise! The Bachelor #20 Ben Higgins revealed the identity of his secret, long-distance girlfriend on Wednesday to be Valet Energy key account manager Jessica Clarke in Nashville

'She is someone special, and I look forward to where life is going to take us. Stay tuned for the journey. In addition, this picture was taken this week in Honduras.

'I got to spend some time with an incredible group of people from all over the USA on a @generous_coffee_ adventure. Life is good!'

Jessica also posted a loved-up couple snap, writing that Higgins has 'one of the biggest hearts and kindest spirits' and she's 'excited for many more adventures!'

'I took a risk and I am glad I did': At 29, the Generous Coffee co-founder is around eight years older than the University of Mississippi grad, and he 'slid into her DMs a few months ago'

Denver-based Ben gushed: 'She is someone special, and I look forward to where life is going to take us. Stay tuned for the journey. In addition, this picture was taken this week in Honduras'

'I'm excited for many more adventures!' Jessica also posted a loved-up couple snap, writing that Higgins has 'one of the biggest hearts and kindest spirits'

Aside from the 6ft4in reality star, Clarke is in love with Jesus Christ and even includes the Bible passage 1 Thessalonians 5:16 in her Instagram bio.

It reads: 'Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.'

According LinkedIn, the former SEC runner received her diploma from Christ Presbyterian Academy and her Bachelor's Degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Ole Miss.

'Give thanks in all circumstances': Aside from the 6ft4in reality star, Clarke is in love with Jesus Christ and even includes the Bible passage 1 Thessalonians 5:16 in her Instagram bio (pictured February 2)

Blue-eyed brunette: According LinkedIn, the former SEC runner received her diploma from Christ Presbyterian Academy and her Bachelor's Degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Ole Miss (pictured June 22)

Jessica will get a chance to introduce herself to fans on Ben's iHeartRadio podcast Almost Famous with co-host Ashley Iaconetti streaming this Monday.

'She's like, the best, purest person I know,' the Indiana University grad teased last month on Almost Famous.

Clarke is Higgins' first girlfriend since ending his year-long relationship to ex-fiancee Lauren Bushnell from the ABC dating competition and their Freeform spin-off Happily Ever After.

Streaming this Monday! Jessica will get a chance to introduce herself to fans on Ben's iHeartRadio podcast Almost Famous with co-host Ashley Iaconetti (L)
They're the inseparable couple who have been dating for just over nine months.

And former Married At First Sight star Davina Rankin has revealed why she waited so long before taking her relationship with boyfriend Jaxon Manuel to the next level.

Making an appearance on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday, the 27-year-old told was probed by shock jock Kyle Sandilands as to when the pair decided to have sex.

'I chased him for six years!': Former MAFS star Davina Rankin spoke about her boyfriend Jaxon Manuel during an appearance on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday

Revealing she had known Jaxon 'forever', Davina said she pursued the hunk for six years before officially starting to date him in April, last year.

'We only kissed for the first time just before we actually started dating. Oh wait, no that's a lie, we had a few drunken kisses,' she admitted.

Long wait: Davina said she pursued the hunk for six years and revealed they only slept together when they officially starting dating in April last year

Davina then went on to explain that the couple finally slept together after they got together, leaving Kyle shocked she waited a whole six years.

'He's just amazing, he's just the best thing ever. I didn't think I'd ever be able to be with someone that I couldn't get sick of,' the brunette added.

Meanwhile, Davina told Daily Mail Australia in September last year that their relationship continues to go from 'strength to strength.'

'He's just amazing, he's just the best thing ever. I didn't think I'd ever be able to be with someone that I couldn't get sick of,' the brunette gushed to the radio duo. Pictured with Jaxon (R)

For their six month anniversary in October 2018, Jaxon surprised her with a bright bouquet of balloons as a token of his affection.

Since the end of Married At First Sight, Davina has launched a successful events company and shunned an opportunity to be on Love Island Australia in order to focus on her relationship with Jaxon.

Davina was unlucky in love on the Channel Nine dating show after admitting she didn't find 'husband' Ryan Gallagher to be attractive.

Drama: Davina was unlucky in love on the Channel Nine dating show after admitting she didn't find 'husband' Ryan Gallagher to be attractive. Instead, Davina pursued 'married' co-star Dean Wells, which garnered backlash from viewers

Instead, Davina pursued 'married' co-star Dean Wells, which garnered backlash from viewers.

The pair met in secret until the creative director confessed to everything during a chat with on-screen wife Tracey Jewel, 35.

Dean ultimately broke off his 'fling' with Davina to be with Tracey.
It has become very clear that China and Russia plus a gaggle of more countries realizing what is happening at an accelerated pace, are working overtime to step on eggshells around the USA.If I were China and Russia, I would be very mindful and deliberate with the US now. A wounded Eagle that is dying can still take your eyes out and kill you. Especially when it knows its dying. It is common knowledge that you have nothing to lose at that point, since you will die anyway

I wouldnt be so afraid of the US War Machine par-directly:

There is really so much more common sense in the military than you realize. Besides if they decided to attack a country like China? or Russia? They would have to spend months building up a serious force and supplies and as we watched with Iraq. The world knew we were doing it and in the case of China and Russia.well you know

We have stalemated too many times in small weak countries to think we could waltz over and take Russia and or China and or Iran and not get our asses handed to us. That is why we are blustering at Venezuela, pick on the little guys

Who I would be afraid of:

Are the psychopath politicians (The exceptional mental cases we have elected and many times not elected.) in Washington that would use a biological/nuke/conventional weapons in China/Russia/Iran and etc.and or on ourselves as we have done in the past to stimulate war feels among the masses.these politicians for the most part have never seen military service and are in charge of the US military. It is the system and that way

Believe you me, it is a rare nut case that wants to run up the hill directly into the 50 cal machine gun nest fire and think he is invincible.but that idiot behind the scene on the radio likes to tell you to do just that. All for country and flag.Ali Baba for the Virgins maybe, but not me

You can act and say what you want, but any country that supports/grows/trains terrorists, tries to manipulate other countries and brutally slaughters innocents as bad as the USA does around the world, while using phosphorus and depleted uranium ammo.and all the while not supplying true free healthcare, housing and a good life for her people.is a very sick puppy to say the least

Tidbit for Thought: I asked Svetochka, What would Russia do for her people, if a village burned down? Svetochka responded, They government would build their homes for them again, Free! Then she thought a second and said, Unless they had two homes or something (Like one in Moscow also.).if their only home burned down it would be replaced free! This of course made this American think about what would America do if my and or your home burned down? A whole town? No not insurance, that is not in the equation in Russia. What would your country do for you?

I see that China and Russia have coordinated:

Aand are trying to subtly assist the USA Western Empire into a controlled de-growth phase. They are doing everything in their power to keep the situation in the world from exploding and or imploding.I cannot blame them, for the USA has this old fashion and hateful attitude about the world and her own people: To the victor goes the spoils! And the US has made its bed and will have to lie in it for many years after hell breaks loose.that is if they keep up the idiocy that is going on now

Right now as the Empire staggers, we are watching the USA tell, NO, Demand other countries Do as they say, Not as they do. Soon Europe will see that the US is not the ally they thought. They will see that with friends like America, who the hell needs enemies? This will happen in the EU when the politicians fully realize that the US is actually trying to destroy them, not Russia and China. The direct short term competition for the Empire is the EU

The last thing long term thinking countries such as Russia and China wants is the short term child, USA imploding and going full unadulterated psychopathic crazy. The problem is that we are showing signs of just that situation

WtR
She was the most-nominated artist of this year's BRIT Awards.

But Dua Lipa has been accused of letting it go to her head, after reportedly ripping her name off her dressing room door and locking out well-wishers.

The 23-year-old - who won the BRIT for British Single on Wednesday night - was branded 'a right diva' for her alleged backstage antics, which comes just one week after she won her first Grammy.

Diva who? Dua Lipa has been accused of demonstrating diva like behaviour at the BRIT Awards on Wednesday night

A source told The Sun: 'Duas dressing room was right next to the backstage beauty spa which meant plenty of people were heading past to get pampered before the show.

'But she made it clear she didnt want to be there after other guests kept heading in to say hi and wish her good luck.

'In the end she slammed the door closed and ripped her name off it so nobody would realise she was there  people were saying she came across as a right diva.'

Representatives for Dua Lipa have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

Acting up? Reports suggest Dua shut the door on well-wishers backstage

But despite her nominations glory, it was The 1975 and Calvin Harris who walked away the big winners on Wednesday, collecting two awards apiece.

Dua shared her solitary win with collaborator Calvin when their song One Kiss won Best Single.

On the night, Dua performed the chart-topping tune as part of a medley of Calvin's big hits.

She impressed everyone with her performance, which concluded with a jaw-dropping yoga pose where her backing dancers lifted her leg up in the air.

Many thanks: The brunette walked away with the award for British Single on Wednesday

Winning! The beauty had been nominated for a total of four awards

BRIT Awards 2019 WINNERS BRITISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR Jorja Smith  Lost & Found Winner: The 1975  A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships Florence + The Machine  High as Hope Anne Marie  Speak Your Mind George Ezra  Staying at Tamara's Internationals: The Carters won their first BRIT as a group BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Anne-Marie Florence + The Machine Jess Glynne Winner: Jorja Smith Lily Allen BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST Aphex Twin Craig David Winner: George Ezra Giggs Sam Smith BRITISH GROUP Winner: The 1975 Arctic Monkeys Gorillaz Little Mix Years & Years Champs: Little Mix took home the gong for British Video BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT Ella Mai Idles Jorja Smith Mabel Winner: Tom Walker CRITICS' CHOICE Winner: Sam Fender Lewis Capaldi Mahalia INTERNATIONAL GROUP Brockhampton Winner: The Carters First Aid Kit Nile Rodgers & Chic Twenty One Pilots GLOBAL SUCCESS Ed Sheeran BRITISH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Calvin Harris OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC Pink Honoured: Dua Lipa was nominated for British Single for IDGAF and One Kiss with Calvin Harris, which she won BRITISH SINGLE Anne-Marie - 2002 Winner: Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF George Ezra - Shotgun Jess Glynne - I'll Be There RAMZ - Barking Rudimental - These Days Siagla and Paloma Faith - Lullaby Tom Walker - Leave A Light On Competition: Rita Ora failed to take home any awards BRITISH VIDEO Anne-Marie - 2002 Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF Jax Jones ft Ina Wroldsen - Breathe Jonas Blue ft Jack & Jack - Rise Liam Payne and Rita Ora - For You Winner: Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me Rita Ora - Let Me Love You Rudimental - These Days INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST Winner: Drake Eminem Kamasi Washington Shawn Mendes Travis Scott Honoured: Pink won the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize at the end of the evening INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Winner: Ariana Grande Camila Cabello Cardi B Christine & The Queens Janelle Monae Advertisement

It's been a massive few weeks for Dua, who collected her first Grammy Award earlier this month for New Artist and Dance Recording.

She also experienced the 'surreal' moment that she unveiled her Madame Tussauds waxwork.

Wearing the same outfit as her performance at Glastonbury in 2017, the popstar has finally been immortalised among some of the world's biggest stars.

She's a star: The popstar wore a dress adorned with silver stars
She's been single ever since splitting from former beau Arthur Collins in 2017.

However, it looks as though Ferne McCann may be a single lady a little while longer as she rejected dating Love Island's Charlie Brake.

The former TOWIE star, 28, made her feelings about the millionaire very clear during her ITVBe reality show First Time Mum on Wednesday, after Charlie previously asked her on a date.

Not going to happen: Ferne McCann, 28, rejected dating Love Island's Charlie Brake during her ITVBe show First Time Mum

After sharing her doubts with mum Gilly earlier in the episode stating she 'didn't have time to date', Ferne later confided in pal and former TOWIE co-star Danielle Armstrong during a trip to the gym.

As the two beauties worked up a sweat, talk soon turned to Charlie, who had flirted up a storm with the mum-of-one at the OK! Beauty Awards last year.

While Danielle quizzed Ferne about why they hadn't been on a date yet, she confessed: 'I dont know if I've completely gone off him.

'We just come from completely different worlds but I don't know if I want to be doing cheese fondue in Velaa.'

Not sure: Danielle Armstrong expressed her concernes about Ferne dating Charlie, saying: 'Hes nice but hes too young for you. He is a bit of a player'

Not a match: While Danielle quizzed Ferne about why they hadn't been on a date yet, she confessed: 'I dont know if I've completely gone off him'

Raising her own concerns about the potential match, Danielle added: 'Hes nice but hes too young for you. He is a bit of a player.'

While Ferne added: 'I think Im too much for him to be honest.'

Later, the star enjoyed a date with pal Liam 'Gatsby' Blackwell, where she appeared to confirm that she would not be dating Ellie Brown's ex boyfriend.

As she opened up about being single for two years since daughter Sunday's birth, Ferne said of Charlie: 'He is a lovely guy but hes not my lovely guy. I need to keep my options open.'

Flirty behaviour: Charlie Brake previously asked out Ferne after flirting up a storm at the OK! Beauty Awards last year

Ruled out: The star enjoyed a date with pal Liam 'Gatsby' Blackwell, where she appeared to confirm that she would not be dating Ellie Brown's ex boyfriend

Single lady: Ferne revealed she's been single since having daughter Sunday, whom she shares with jailbird ex Arthur Collins

Ferne's words come after last week's episode which saw the 2019 Love Island star pull out all the stops to woo her.

Charlie, 24, was flirting up a storm at the glitzy event, even hinting he wanted to see her naked when asked about her lilac suit, saying: 'But I want you out of it.'

Meanwhile in the episode, Ferne raised eyebrows after she was forced to use her daughter Sundays swimming nappies instead of chicken fillets inside her bra during a trip to Dubai.

The reality star was on a trip to the Arab country on the show, with her pal Carl and her 15-month-old tot when she realised that she'd forgotten to pack her fillets.

Fashion disaster: Ferne was forced to use her daughter Sundays swimming nappies as a replacement after she forgot to pack her usually chicken fillets on a trip to Dubai

As she and Carl prepared to head out for a fun night out, Ferne was horror-struck when she realised she forgot her fashion essential.

The star exclaimed to her pal: You know what I forgot to pack my chicken fillets. The chicken fillets are nowhere to be seen!'

She continued: Its one of my first thoughts, after Sunday of course.

Getting distressed after realising her stylist didnt pack the fillets, Ferne moaned: They are like my lucky charm. You know it sounds ridiculous but they give me that little bit of confidence.

Problem solved: Ferne improvised on her lack of chicken fillets by stuffing her daughter's nappies down her top

Fun in the sun: The reality star was on a trip to the Arab country during her ITVBe show First Time Mum, with her pal Carl and her 15-month-old tot

Shock: Ferne was horror-struck when she realised she forgot her fashion essential as she prepared to head on a big night out

No chicken fillets are my worst nightmare. I basically look like Im wearing my first bra!

However, Ferne soon though of a somewhat unusual solution to her fashion problem.

Grabbing daughter Sundays nappies used for swimming, Ferne stuffed them down her top, giving her assets a much desired boost.

Boasting to the camera, she enthused: Im a genius. Who would be though Sundays swim nappies would be the perfect boob booster!

The star then proceeded to head on her night out, looking chic in a fringed black crop top and matching black mini skirt.

Big problem: Worrying about her missing fillets, Ferne confessed: They are like my lucky charm. You know it sounds ridiculous but they give me that little bit of confidence'

Great idea: Ferne boasted about her unique solution, telling the camera: 'Im a genius. Who would be though Sundays swim nappies would be the perfect boob booster!'
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The 1975 and Calvin Harris were the big winners at the BRIT Awards on Wednesday, each taking home two prizes.

However Dua Lipa, who had been nominated four times for this year's awards ceremony, only took home one award from the event after she failed to bag awards in the other three categories.

The Give Yourself A Try hitmakers - made up of Matty Healy, Ross MacDonald, George Daniel, and Adam Hann -scooped the prestigious Best Album award for A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships.

Winners! The 1975, made up of Matty Healy, Ross MacDonald, George Daniel, and Adam Hann -scooped the prestigious Best Album award for A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships

They also managed to bag the best British Band gong, which they previously won in 2017, beating out the Arctic Monkeys and thanking them for being 'inspiring and relevant' during their acceptance speech.

He said whilst collecting the gong: 'Thank you so much. We're so humbled by this award, thank you everybody. Thank you to the BRITs, to everyone involved. Arctic Monkeys, for still being such an inspiring and relevant band in 2019, I know how hard that is. Thank you to my beautiful girlfriend for letting me write that stuff down. Thank you to all of our partners. This is mad, thank you so much, we love you!'

Ahead of their big wins the band were surrounded by fix claims, after the BRITs were hit by the claims after the results of two of the awards were released before the show had aired.

Elated: However Dua Lipa, who had been nominated four times for this year's awards ceremony, only took home one award from the event after she failed to bag awards in the other three categories

Victorious! Elsewhere in the evening, Calvin Harris also emerged victorious with two wins to his name, having bagged his first ever BRIT Award for Producer of the Year

Earlier on Wednesday one eagle-eyed fan spotted that an advert played on UKTV referred to the band as BRIT Winners and revealed that they had been awarded the Best British Group and Album Of The Year awards.

Sharing a clip of the advert, the social media user said: 'Here be the evidence. That's either a massive marketing cock-up or management for The 1975 somehow knew already.. Anyway BRITs fans, spoiler alert, The 1975 win things'.

During the band's acceptance speech one viewer, who had obviously seen the clip earlier in the day tweeted: 'Remember that video of the 1975 being the winners of best group and best album before the show, something which is not supposed to be known at that time, well guess which two brits they won.'

Double trouble! Later in the evening Calvin went on to also win British Single of the Year for his track 'One Kiss' which features Dua Lipa

Finally! Calvin has previously been nominated 16 times for the BRIT awards and 2019 was finally his year as he picked up two awards

Elsewhere in the evening, Calvin Harris also emerged victorious with two wins to his name, having bagged his first ever BRIT Award for Producer of the Year before going on to also win British Single of the Year for his track 'One Kiss' which features Dua Lipa.

George Ezra was another first time winner this year as he won the prize for British Male Solo Artist, but failed to take home the other two gongs he had been nominated for, Best Album and Best Single.

After accepting his first ever Brit award, George took to the stage to treat the O2 arena to a rendition of his hit single, Shotgun, complete with a rainbow effect backdrop and a brass band.

After accepting his first ever Brit award, George took to the stage to treat the O2 arena to a rendition of his hit single, Shotgun, complete with a rainbow effect backdrop and a brass band

Celebrating! George Ezra was another first time winner this year as he won the prize for British Male Solo Artist, but failed to take home the other two gongs he had been nominated for, Best Album and Best Single

During his acceptance speech, George said: 'This is an incredible honour, there's not a day that goes by that I don't consider myself very lucky, and this is the icing on the cake. Of course there's a load of people I need to thank but I'm not going to name anybody because I'll forget somebody....

'But to everybody that I get to work alongside thank you so much for all of your hard work, and to all those people at home who come to see us live and share the music, it means the world and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Former Critic's Choice winner Jorja Smith took home the gong for British Female Solo Artist, beating Anne-Marie, Florence and The Machine, Jess Glynne and Lily Allen to take the British Female Solo Artist title.

All smiles: Former Critic's Choice winner Jorja Smith took home the gong for British Female Solo Artist, beating Anne-Marie, Florence and The Machine, Jess Glynne and Lily Allen to take the British Female Solo Artist title

As she received the award, she said: 'This is for all of us, for all the little girls and women who are just being themselves and loving everything they are doing. I didn't expect this at all, I want to thank everybody.'

As she received the award, she said: 'This is for all of us, for all the little girls and women who are just being themselves and loving everything they are doing. I didn't expect this at all, I want to thank everybody.'

Ed Sheeran was awarded the Global Success award for the second year running, however he was absent from this year's ceremony due to touring commitments in South America and accepted his award via video link where he said he felt 'honoured to be apart of the British music industry'.

Little Mix were honoured with British Artist Video of the Year for their hit single Woman Like Me.

Woman Like Me: Little Mix were honoured with British Artist Video of the Year for their hit single Woman Like Me

Posing: Earlier in the evening, fans claimed that Little Mix they were 'robbed' of Best British Group prize, which was won by The 1975. However, despite missing out on the gong, the girls went on to win Best British Video for Woman Like Me (feat. Nicki Minaj)

Earlier in the evening, fans claimed that Little Mix they were 'robbed' of Best British Group prize, which was won by The 1975. However, despite missing out on the gong, the girls went on to win Best British Video for Woman Like Me (feat. Nicki Minaj).

Giving their acceptance speech, Jade joked: 'We never win. We have no shame asking people every day to vote for us.' While Jesy gave a nod to their fans and added: 'Thank you, you are our babies!'

The Outstanding Contribution gong went to Pink, and Tom Walker was awarded the prize for British Breakthrough, whilst this year's Critic's Choice was Sam Fender.

'We never win!': Giving their acceptance speech, Jade joked: 'We never win. We have no shame asking people every day to vote for us.' While Jesy gave a nod to their fans and added: 'Thank you, you are our babies!'

2019 BRIT Awards: WINNERS British Album of the Year Jorja Smith  Lost & Found Winner: The 1975  A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships Florence and the Machine  High as Hope Anne Marie  Speak Your Mind George Ezra  Staying at Tamara's Proud moment: Anne-Marie is nominated in four categories, including album of the year British Female Solo Artist Anne-Marie Florence + The Machine Jess Glynne Winner: Jorja Smith Lily Allen British Male Solo Artist Aphex Twin Craig David Winner: George Ezra Giggs Sam Smith British Group Winner: The 1975 Arctic Monkeys Gorillaz Little Mix Years & Years Nods: Little Mix are up against Artic Monkeys and Gorillaz for British group British Breakthrough Act Ella Mai Idles Jorja Smith Mabel Winner: Tom Walker Critics' Choice Winner: Sam Fender Lewis Capaldi Mahalia Honoured: Dua Lipa is nominated for British Single for IDGAF and One Kiss with Calvin Harris British Single Anne-Marie - 2002 Winner: Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF George Ezra - Shotgun Jess Glynne - I'll Be There RAMZ - Barking Rudimental - These Days Siagla and Paloma Faith - Lullaby Tom Walker - Leave A Light On Competition: Rita has two nominations in the British video category British Video Anne-Marie - 2002 Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa - One Kiss Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato - Solo Dua Lipa - IDGAF Jax Jones ft Ina Wroldsen - Breathe Jonas Blue ft Jack & Jack - Rise Liam Payne and Rita Ora - For You Winner: Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me Rita Ora - Let Me Love You Rudimental - These Days International Male Solo Artist Winner: Drake Eminem Kamasi Washington Shawn Mendes Travis Scott International Female Solo Artist Winner: Ariana Grande Camila Cabello Cardi B Christine & The Queens Janelle Monae International Group Brockhampton Winner: The Carters First Aid Kit Nile Rodgers & Chic Twenty One Pilots Advertisement

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She has invites to the hottest A-list events.

So of course Demi Rose, 23, made her enchanting exit when she made her departure from the BRITs hosted at the O2 Arena, in London on Wednesday.

The Instagram sensation  who courted the attention of her 8,500,000 social media followers  threatened to spill out of her strapless sheer sapphire fishtail gown.

BRITs 2019: Demi Rose poured her incredible curves into a sheer sapphire fishtail gown as she left the bash in London on Wednesday

Busty Demi slipped her eye-watering curves in the twinkling dress and she toted her handbag in the same lace embossed material to match.

As she looked longingly into the distance like a movie star on-screen, Demi showcased her heavily made-up looks after applying a mask of make-up.

Having made her presence known at London Fashion Week recently, it's no wonder the swimsuit model fastened a deep blue sheer scarf to her neck.

Bust-ing out: Busty Demi slipped her eye-watering curves in the twinkling dress and she toted her handbag in the same lace embossed material to match

She is a huge star on Instagram after she garnered the attention of 8,400,000 followers on social media because of her saucy snaps.

The Instagram sensation uses social media to document her risque outfits and her sun-drenched bikini snaps from her enviable trips abroad.

Recently, the curvy star insisted that 'genes, a hell of a lot of hard work and dedication in the gym' were the key to her generous derriere.

How to accessorise: Having made her presence known at London Fashion Week recently, it's no wonder the swimsuit model fastened a deep blue sheer scarf to her neck

Demi's gruelling workout routine includes the likes of hip thrusts, partial squats and jumping lunges while her meals focus on eggs, fish, vegetables and nuts.

In September, she told MailOnline: 'I try to keep as healthy as I can. With travelling, it's hard to work out, I travel across the world but try to keep my routine.

'Everyone says I'm the healthiest person they know. The fattiest thing I will ever eat is nuts and peanut butter.'

She's stunning: As she looked longingly into the distance like a movie star on-screen, Demi showcased her heavily made-up looks after applying a mask of make-up

'My figure just gains weight so fast. Any bad thing I eat my body isn't used to it and just puts on the weight. That means no birthday cake!'

It appears acting may also be on the cards for the model as she has previously discussed a desire to get into the film industry.

She told The Sun: 'Movies have always been a passion of mine since I went to stage school. But another ambition is to become a Bond Girl, as I love the style and glamour of those films.'
Despite being without a permanent job since December, axed Today star Peter Stefanovic appeared in high spirits when he stepped out to lunch on Tuesday.

The former Weekend Today show host was spotted sharing a leisurely meal with wife Sylvia Jeffreys in Sydney's Double Bay, where she appeared to split the bill with her 37-year-old husband.

Stefanovic, who spent 15 years reporting for Nine, was the noticeably more casual half of the partnership during their outing.

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F-UNemployment! Sylvia Jefrreys and husband Pete Stefanovic split the bill during leisurely lunch in Sydney's Double Bay on Tuesday... after he was dropped by Channel Nine

Ditching his suave suits for a laid back ensemble, Pete looked happy and carefree while spending the day out with his wife.

Sporting a navy T-shirt, denim shorts, slip-on canvas shoes and a cap, Pete appeared relaxed as she sat across from Sylvia for lunch at popular Indigo Cafe.

Pete's laid-back look! Ditching his suave suits for a laid-back ensemble, Pete looked happy and carefree to be spending the day out with his wife

Keeping it casual! Sporting a navy T-shirt, denim shorts, slip-on canvas shoes and a cap, Pete appeared relaxed as she sat across from Sylvia for lunch at Indigo Cafe

Famous face: Sylvia shielded her eyes with a chic pair of aviator sunglasses

Pals: Joining the pair was Channel Nine Foreign Correspondent, Robert Penfold, who wore a pink button-up business shirt with cream trousers

Joining the pair was Nine's respected U.S. correspondent, Robert Penfold, who enjoyed a good catch up with his former colleagues.

Towards the end of the meal, Sylvia could be seen searching for her card in her small navy purse as she laughed and smiled.

Pete was then seen reaching into his pocket to retrieve his own wallet.

Her shout? Towards the end of the meal, Sylvia could be seen locating her card in her small navy purse as she laughed and smiled at the table

Going dutch! It's believed all three parties split the bill, as Pete was seen reaching into his pocket to retrieve his own wallet

It appeared that all three parties split the bill, with Pete seen leaving the venue holding his wallet in his hand.

Meanwhile, Sylvia, who is still employed by the Nine network, looked effortlessly chic in a summery floral frock.

She left her short blonde locks down in a straight-sleek style, and sported a pair of stylish shades to protect her eyes from the harsh summer rays.

Bloomin' beautiful! Sylvia, who is still employed by the Nine network, looked effortlessly chic in a summery floral frock

Blonde stunner! Sylvia left her short locks down in a straight-sleek style, and sported a pair of stylish shades to protect her eyes from the harsh summer rays

The sighting comes after reports Peter is feeling 'lost' in the weeks since parting ways with Channel Nine.

While he may still be looking for a permanent position, Peter certainly hasn't been resting on his laurels.

He has reportedly been speaking with television networks, including the ABC, about possible employment.

Busy man! While he may still be looking for a permanent position, Peter certainly hasn't been resting on his laurels and has reportedly been speaking with television networks about possible employment

Two weeks ago, Peter appeared on Sky News Australia as a guest, where he addressed his departure from Channel Nine on December 18.

'It hasn't been without it's challenges, that's for sure,' he said, after revealing the past two months had given him the opportunity to 'reset'.

Peter added: 'Believe it or not, I'm usually quite a shy sort of person, so seeing so much negativity play out in the press for weeks and months on end does have its challenges and can be difficult to deal with at times.'

'It hasn't been without it's challenges, that's for sure': Peter told Sky News this month that the past two months had given him the opportunity to 'reset'

'But I always try to just focus on work, to work as hard as I can, which is what I've always done. You know, I had 15 wonderful years at Channel Nine [and] now this a great opportunity to kind of reset and try new projects, which is very exciting.'

Sylvia also left the Today show last year amid a breakfast division shake-up but, unlike her husband, has remained with Channel Nine.

This month it was revealed she would be joining prime time show A Current Affair, the same program where Peter launched his career in 2004.

In December, Nine implemented a massive overhaul which saw Peter axed, Sylvia, Karl Stefanovic and Tim Gilbert replaced on the Today show and Richard Wilkins redeployed to Today Extra.
He's the Married At First Sight groom who has captured the ire of viewers for his controversial 'affair' with co-star Ines Basic, 28.

But it's not just viewers who aspiring model Sam Ball, 26, has left unimpressed with his bed-hopping antics.

Speaking to WHO magazine on Thursday, Sam's co-star Heidi Latcham, 38, took a swipe - saying she would 'never' go for a man like him.

'I would never go for someone like that': Married At First Sight Heidi Latcham, 38, (L) has taken a swipe at co-star Sam Ball (R) following his controversial 'affair' with Ines Basic

'I would never go for someone like that,' Heidi said resolutely of Sam.

'I've come across cheaters like that in my life, but I've always just stayed away from them,' she added.

'I just like kind, lovely people, really.'

'I've come across cheaters like that in my life, but I've always just stayed away from them,' Heidi said, taking a swipe at the muscled aspiring model and actor Sam, 26 (pictured)

Sam has found himself the centre of outrage, after he and Ines took their 'affair' to the next level on Monday night's episode.

The pair finally met up for drinks at a Gold Coast bar, only to then return to Sam's hotel room.

The twosome were then seen launching into a long and passionate kiss inside the empty bar.

Passion boiling over: Sam and Ines (pictured) have caught the ire of viewers for their 'affair' together, which boiled over on Monday night's episode

The pair then returned to Sam's hotel room, where they continued to passionately kiss and cuddle together.

Ines said of the night: 'Yes, it was a sexy night. The chemistry between Sam and I was really intense. All night we couldn't keep our hands off each other'.

Heidi, meanwhile, appears to be having trouble with her own relationship with Mike Gunner, 44, with the two having a blazing row on Monday night's episode.

Shaken: The curly-haired blonde claimed that Mike said the words in a 'really angry' tone during Monday night's episode

Heidi was upset Mike had told her off for coughing: 'This morning I was asleep, I coughed, the cough woke me up, and I coughed about ten times, and then you went 'Can you put a pillow over your mouth when you cough?''

The curly-haired blonde claimed that Mike said the words in a 'really angry' tone.

'I'm so shocked at how you spoke!' she told him, fighting back tears and putting her heads in her hands.

She overreacted: Mike (pictured) claimed that he had gently asked Heidi to cough quietly on the other side of the bed

She continued, saying: 'The way you spoke to me, I was rattled to my core!'

Mike denied that he was 'angry', claiming that he gently asked Heidi to cough quietly on the other side of the bed.

The couple have previously boasted about their strong sexual chemistry, with them often seen getting frisky together.
They've been dogged by persistent rumours they're faking their romance.

But Bachelorette couple Ali Oetjen, 32, and Taite Radley, 28, proved their naysayers wrong by announcing their marriage and baby plans on Thursday.

Speaking to Who magazine, Taite said: 'I would like to be married before kids, for sure.'

'We would like to married before kids!' The Bachelorette's Ali Oetjen and Taite Radley have revealed their baby and marriage plans in an interview with Who magazine

Ali added: 'It's that security, and that commitment. You can bring the kids into a united bond.'

Bank manager Taite also told the publication the couple now live together in his Melbourne apartment, a move which gives them the chance to be more 'stable in their lives'.

Proving their romance is as steamy as ever, the twosome also posed for a romantic couple's shoot published in the magazine.

Still going strong after six months! The couple officially unveiled their romance during the Bachelorette finale at the end of November

It comes after Ali hit back at break-up rumours earlier this month during a Q&A with fans on Instagram Stories.

When asked whtehr she was still in love with the Bachelorette winner, she responded 'MORE THAN EVER'.

And while they're not yet engaged, Ali revealed she already refers to Taite's mum and sister as her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Settling down: Bank manager Taite also told the publication the couple now live together in his Melbourne apartment, a move which gives them the chance to be more 'stable in their lives'

Earlier this week, the blonde had a tearful meltdown after online trolls attacked her for Photoshopping her photos.

The reality star took to Instagram on Wednesday morning to share an unedited photo of a her tear-streaked face after she endured a sleepless night due to the attacks.

In a lengthy caption, the glamazon admitted to enhancing her images, saying: 'I couldn't sleep because online bullies comments hurt AND I disliked how so many comments on my recent post were right.'

Ali received dozens of critical comments on Tuesday after uploading two selfies to social media that had been enhanced with photo-editing tools.

'I couldn't sleep because of the online bullies!' Ali descended into tearful meltdown on Wednesday (left) as she admitted to Photoshopping several selfies she uploaded the previous day (right)
They have been rumoured to have struck up a romance together after playing on-screen lovers in the historical film, Mary Queen Of Scots.

But Jack Lowden kept quiet about his alleged relationship with his co-star Saoirse Ronan, 24, as he doesn't 'like talking about that side of life' and just wants to lead a 'normal life'.

Speaking with ES Magazine on Wednesday, the actor, 28, was reluctant to divulge any details about his personal life, as he admitted: 'Oh Im not going to talk about that. I dont like talking about that side of life.

Private: Mary Queen Of Scots star Jack Lowden kept quiet about his rumoured romance with co-star Saoirse Ronan as he admitted he wants a 'normal life' in an interview on Wednesday

Most of the actors I know live pretty normal lives, its just every now and again they have to do something ridiculous or extraordinary. My life hasnt changed. People seem more interested  I guess thats changed, for sure.

The pair reportedly struck up a romance after falling for another on set, with others working on the movie said to have had no idea they were together until a screening of the movie in New York in December.

And according to Page Six, the co-stars put on a cosy display at the afterparty at Tavern on the Green.

Sparking rumours: The pair have been rumoured to have struck up a romance together after playing on-screen lovers in the historical film after reportedly falling for each other on set

A source told the publication: 'We don't know when they got together, we only found out on Tuesday night when they rolled up together -but they seem very happy and sweet.'

'Jack was following her all over. He even followed her to the bathroom and was waiting outside for her. They were very close.'

Going on to discuss the pride he has for his homeland of Scotland and how he feels about Mary Queen Of Scots, he told ES Magazine: 'When you come from where Ive come from, the world of cinema is something you associate with Hollywood.'

Grateful: Discussing his homeland of Scotland where the film is set, he said: 'When you come from where Ive come from, the world of cinema is something you associate with Hollywood'

'To have a juggernaut of a film turn its eye towards Scotland, you look at your country in a totally different way.'

The up-and-coming actor, who has appeared in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and BBC drama War & Peace, revealed his biggest dream was to play Hamlet.

On why he's interested in playing the lead of the Shakespearean tragedy, he said: I love playing a***holes on stage.

'I love people who try; who want you to think [theyre] something else but who you always see through. The kind of people who wear sunglasses inside. It reveals more about a person than if theyre being themselves.

Out soon: The full interview appears in this weeks issue of ES Magazine, which will be released on Thursday February 21, 2019

'Were in a time when everyones obsessed with being authentic but if everyone were always themselves, what a f***ing boring place the world would be.

The actor is currently set to star in biopic Fonzo, opposite Tom Hardy, who plays Al Capone, and said his co-star was forthright and generous with advice.

While he said of other helpful tips he's been given in the past: I cant for the life of me remember who [said this], but always think youre right is a great piece of advice.

'If you spend your time dithering that this could be right or it could be wrong, youre dead, in a way. As Ive got older Ive actually tried to ask for less advice; I think its smarter to not ask.

The full interview appears in this weeks issue of ES Magazine, which will be released on Thursday February 21, 2019.
Australian actor Eric Bana played convicted criminal and gang member Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read in the 2000 crime drama film, Chopper.

But the 50-year-old Hollywood star claims he never spoke to Chopper after he met the infamous criminal to establish his character for the true-crime movie.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Eric said: 'You make a decision when you're portraying characters to take a deep dive into that piece of work then move on to the next thing.'

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EXCLUSIVE 'It doesn't always feel appropriate': Eric Bana (left in 2000 film Chopper) ceased contact with Mark 'Chopper' Read (right in 2002) after 2000 crime film... and reveals why he will NEVER play the controversial character again

Chopper, who died in 2013 at age 58, was convicted of crimes including armed robbery, firearm offences, assault, arson, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping and had a fellow prison inmate cut off his ears in the 70s.

Eric spent two days with the high-profile criminal to establish a base for his character and on-screen portrayal, an experience he says now can come at a cost.

PICTURED in 2002: Chopper, who died in 2013 at age 58, was convicted of crimes including armed robbery, firearm offences, assault, arson, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping and had a fellow prison inmate cut off his ears in the 70s

'You take a deep dive into that piece of work then move on to the next thing': While Eric spent two days with the high-profile criminal to establish a base for his character on-screen, he says chose not to have any other contact beyond that as the years went on

'There's only a few times in the past where I've kept in contact (with people he's met with to get into character), but it doesn't always feel appropriate, and it depends on the situation. But in that particular case, No. I would only occasionally read things he would say, but no other contact after that.'

When discussing the pros and cons of meeting a real-life person to develop a character on-screen, Eric said: 'It can go both ways, sometimes it can be a great bonus and sometimes it can get in the way.'

'Sometimes it can be liberating not spending time with, or having access, to the real person.'

He said 'Chopper was a one-time thing for me' and insists the story-line wouldn't be a good fit for a mini-series on streaming platforms because 'so much about him has already been written'.

'Chopper was a one-time thing for me': Eric said he wouldn't play the character again and believed his story-line wouldn't be a good fit for a mini-series on streaming platforms because 'so much about him has already been written' (Pictured: Eric as Chopper in 2000)

The Australian actor plays American con artist and sociopath John Meehan in Netflix's true-crime series Dirty John, but Eric didn't have the opportunity to meet John before his mini-series portrayal.

Dirty John, starring Eric and American actress Connie Britton, is an eight-part true crime anthology series based on the Los Angeles Times podcast of the same name.

'I felt very free, because I knew I wasn't going to be meeting John and ultimately I didn't feel like it was my job to protect any honourable qualities of his personality. That's a very freeing thing as apposed to when you're playing a soldier who has been killed in battle and is no longer with their family - it's a different thing. You're trying to approach that in a far more honourable way.'

'Sometimes it can be liberating not spending time with, or having access, to the real person': Eric said he had a more 'freeing' experience when he played sociopath John Meehan in 'Dirty John' as he wasn't given the opportunity to meet the man behind the true story

The real 'Dirty John': Dirty John, starring Eric and American actress Connie Britton, is an eight-part true crime anthology series based on the Los Angeles Times podcast of the same name about sociopath John Meehan's (left) relationship with Debra Newell (right)

Preparing for the role, Eric said he drew on his past work and concentrated on traits specific to John's conman behaviours.

'Getting into the psychology of a that (sociopath con artist), it was very interesting. I just tried to come up with a version of John that spoke to that character type. It was about convincingly portraying what these types of men are like,' Eric explained.

Dirty John is now available on Netflix Australia
She's the stunning, smart and incredibly successful owner of popular activewear label, P.E Nation.

And it seems a very lucky man has stolen the heart of fashion designer, Pip Edwards.

Pip, 37, has all but confirmed she is dating hunky DJ Shannon Dodd, after sharing several loved-up snaps of the couple together over summer and during a recent trip to Vail, Colorado.

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'Their values are aligned and he isn't intimidated by her success': P.E Nation's Pip Edwards has debuted her new romance with hunky DJ Shannan Dodd

Friends of the popular Bondi local also told The Sydney Morning Herald that the couple are incredibly happy, and he has an amazing relationship with Pip's young son, Justice.

'Their values are aligned and he isn't intimidated by Pip's success,' an insider told the newspaper. 'He adores Justice which is her main priority.'

Pip shares Justice with former Ksubi designer, Dan Single.

The former couple dated in the late 2000s and split in 2008.

Romantic getaways: Pip has seemingly confirmed she is dating hunky DJ Shannon Dodd after sharing several loved-up snaps of the couple together over summer and during a recent trip to Vail, Colorado

During their time together, Dan and Pip, then the design director at General Pants, were the 'It Couple' of the fashion industry.

Meanwhile, back in 2017, Dan made headlines after he suffered a horrific accident at Paris' Grand Hotel Amour following a fall from his hotel room balcony.

As a result, he was put in an induced coma with his then-wife model Stephanie 'Bambi' Northwood Blyth by his side.

A month later, previously supportive fans turned on him, labelling him 'pathetic' for using fundraising website GoFundMe to ask for $250,000 to cover hospital bills.

Byron bliss: The duo also spent time in Byron Bay together over the new year

It was later claimed Bambi was 'mortified' about Dan's decision to ask for money, and reports subsequently emerged speculating the pair had split.

In March this year, Dan confirmed his split from Bambi, writing to fans on Instagram: 'When I fell, my hips and pelvis broke in half, and with that our D&B co-dependent relationship broke too.'

'We were no longer joined at the hip. Two people cannot live as one, its not healthy, you can try but you're really living half a life,' he added.

Number one priority: Friends of the popular Bondi local, 37, also told the Sydney Morning Herald that the couple are incredibly happy, and he has an amazing relationship with Pip's young son Justice
Dino Hira tied the knot to Melissa Lucarelli on Married At First Sight last week.

But the meditation expert didn't make it to the altar with his former girlfriend, Teresa Veaudry, to whom he popped the question on Valentine's Day 2018.

In an interview with Perth Now on Sunday, Teresa claims she turned down Dino's proposal because she was 'questioning his sexuality' - something the MAFS star is furious about.

'I'm not gay!' Married At First star Dino Hira has blasted his ex-girlfriend Teresa Veaudry (pictured), after she claimed she dumped him because she had 'questions about his sexuality

Teresa told the publication: 'I was questioning his sexuality and couldnt commit to him fully. I actually said to him if he comes clean I would support him through it.'

However, Dino defiantly hit back, telling PerthNow: 'I am not (gay), but if I was I would be proud of it, own it and say it to the world.

'Teresa was questioning my sexuality because I chose to be friends with people that are gay and she did not like that'.

However, Teresa tartly told Perth Now: 'He has no friends. Let alone gay ones'.

'I was questioning his sexuality and couldnt commit to him fully': Teresa and Dino dated for seven months before splitting in February 2018

'Teresa was questioning my sexuality because I chose to be friends with people that are gay': Dino asserted his side of the story during his interview with Perth Now

The West Australian brunette beauty - who dated Dino for seven months before she dumped him - further claimed that his on-screen MAFS persona is 'all for show'.

Teresa's comments echo claims from suspicious MAFS viewers, who have accused the reality star of being a paid actor.

During Dino's TV wedding with Melissa Lucarelli, several viewers took to Twitter to express their skepticism about his authenticity.

Paid actor? During Dino's TV wedding with Melissa Lucarelli, several viewers took to Twitter to express their skepticism about his authenticity

'Dino is clearly the actor,' one viewer wrote, while another agreed: 'Dino is either a brilliant actor or hes really bad at reading signals #mafs #shesnotintoyou.'

'Dino reallllly playing it up to the (tv) crowd,' a third wrote. Another fan added: 'Jesus christ Dino really is over the top. Too intense.'

One even accused Dino, who was Mr Australasia 2016, of 'upstaging' Melissa.

'Dino... champ... first rule of weddings... Never never never never never never NEVER upstage the bride! #MAFS,' they wrote.
In a decade of My Kitchen Rules, Manu Feildel has tasted his fair share of Italian cuisine.

But on Sunday night, the 45 year-old couldn't gush enough over flight attendants Chris and Lesley's lobster tortellini calling it the 'best pasta in ten years of MKR.'

'Absolutely delicious,'the Frenchman beamed, 'I cannot fault it at all, I can't find anything negative to talk about.'

'Best pasta in ten years of MKR!' Judge Manu Feildel leaves flight attendants Chris and Lesley (right) close to tears after awarding 'a perfect 10' for Italian feast

As Chris, 57 and Lesley, 50 looked on stunned, Manu continued, 'This was perfect! I think it's probably the best pasta, we've ever had for the last ten years.'

Elated, the high-flying friends embraced while wiping away tears.

However, the pair hit some severe turbulence when they ran out of gas for their stove.

As Chris, 57 and Lesley, 50 looked on stunned, Manu continued, 'This was perfect! I think it's probably the best pasta, we've ever had for the last ten years'

Mouth-watering: On Sunday night, the 45 year-old couldn't gush enough over flight attendants Chris and Lesley's lobster tortellini with burnt butter

Eventually fixing the problem, the bump in the road resulted in disaster for Chris and Lesley's rabbit main course which judge Pete described as 'inedible.'

And Manu echoed Pete's critique, calling the dish 'a disappointment.'

Things improved for their dessert, a Campari and orange cake which both judges branded 'tasty' and 'delightful.'

High praise: 'Absolutely delicious,'the Frenchman beamed, 'I cannot fault it at all, I can't find anything negative to talk about'

But villain Josh Bonwick literally spat out the dish, claiming, 'it's like eating a cleaning product.'

Chris and Lesley ended up with a grand score of 82, putting them second of the leader board.

My Kitchen Rules continues Monday at 7pm on Channel Seven
She is set to star in the raunchy film, What Men Want.

And ahead of its release, Taraji P. Henson was named host of the Instyle Bad*** Women Dinner in New York City.

The mother-of-one stepped out at the Saturday event alongside Uzo Aduba, Padma Lakshmi, among others.

Taking over: Taraji P. Henson, 48, was named host of the Instyle Bad*** Women Dinner in New York City

Taraji looked pretty in a long-sleeve, black sweater tucked into a pair of fitted bottoms.

Below she donned a yellow, pleated skirt, styled with a rip down the middle, draped over her pants.

The 48-year-old's look was completed with a set of black boots, complete with a steel toe front.

Glamorous: Taraji looked pretty in a long-sleeve, black sweater tucked into a pair of fitted bottoms. She proudly showed off her engagement ring

Classy: Uzo Aduba, 37, looked sharp in a black, sleeveless blouse tucked into a printed, black-and-white skirt

Simple and sufficient: Padma Lakshmi, 48, looked beautiful in a polka dot top tucked into a pair of trousers

Inside she posed with Uzo Aduba, 37, who looked sharp in a black, sleeveless blouse tucked into a printed, black-and-white skirt.

Padma Lakshmi, 48, looked beautiful in a polka dot top tucked into a pair of trousers.

Meanwhile, Monica Lewinsky, 45, looked ravishing in a red pantsuit, while Iman, 63, suited up in a leather jacket and slacks. She also added a dramatic edge to her look with a hat and veil, as well as a pair of Alain Mikli x Alexandre Vauthier sunglasses.

Bold and the beautiful: Meanwhile, Monica Lewinsky, 45, looked ravishing in a red pantsuit, while Iman, 63, suited up in a leather jacket and slacks

Trendy: Iman sported a unique hat, tiny bedazzled Alain Mikli x Alexandre Vauthier sunglasses and dangle earrings

Keeping with the holiday: Natasha Lyonne, 39, went with Valentine's red and black in a cut-out blouse and pantsuit

Girls' unite: The women joined InStyle's Editor-in-Chief, Laura Brown, 44. She co-hosted the event along with Taraji

The InStyle event was created to highlight women whom they felt aligned with their values.

This includes former Democratic First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford - who testified against Judge Brett Kavanaugh following accusations of alleged sexual assault - and Dr. Leana Wen, the president of Planned Parenthood.

Padma was honored for opening up about her alleged sexual abuse in a piece for the New York Times.

Noticeably absent from the list were women who held conservative beliefs.

All eyes on them: The co-hosts made sure to pose together, as they were the focus of the night

Completing her red lip look: Cristina Valdes stood out in an animal print dress and silver hoops
A holidaymaker has claimed he lost his toe after taking a dip in a hotel hot tub during a trip to Spain.

Rob Barlow from Bridgend, South Wales, booked the week-long sunshine break through Tui to Salou on the Costa Dorada with his wife, Clare.

The pair had enjoyed lazy days at the pool before discovering a 33-degree hot tub on the sun deck of the H10 Salou Princess resort.

Rob Barlow, with his wife Clare, left, from Bridgend, has claimed he lost his toe after taking a dip in a hotel hot tub during a trip to Spain. During the holiday, Mr Barlow said he used the hot tub around six times before he was struck down with the shakes in his hotel. Then his foot went black, right

During the holiday, Mr Barlow said he used the hot tub around six times before he was struck down with the shakes in his hotel room.

The 75-year-old said: 'We discovered the hot tub on the sun deck and started using it because it was nice and quiet.

'The day before we came home I was shaking and had to get extra duvets out of the cupboard. I really didn't feel well.

'When we got back I went to the doctors and they thought I might have a virus. I woke up the next day and my foot had gone black.'

Mr Barlow says he first injured his toe while sitting on the balcony of his hotel room.

His wife Clare, 51, patched his toe up with plasters before he enjoyed the rest of the holiday taking dips in the hot tub.

He said: 'We had been sat on the balcony and somehow I crossed my legs and I nipped the skin on my left foot.

'Clare cleaned it up a bit and put a double plaster on it and I thought nothing else about it.'

Mr Barlow says he first injured his toe while sitting on the balcony of his hotel room. His wife Clare, 51, patched his toe up with plasters before he enjoyed the rest of the holiday

On arriving back in Wales, the former debt collector was taken to the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend where he was kept in for four days and treated with antibiotics.

He was then transferred to Morriston Hospital where he was given the devastating news his toe had to be amputated.

Mr Barlow explained: 'The infection had gone up and I had a 1cm x 3cm hole in the top of my instep.

'It's healed up now slowly, but I go every three days to have my dressing changed.'

The couple complained to tour operator Tui after their holiday in August last year but say they are 'disgusted' at the lack of response and are seeking compensation.

The couple had been staying at the H10 Salou Princess resort on the Costa Dorada, pictured. They had booked the holiday through Tui and are now seeking compensation from the tour operator

Mr Barlow added: 'We have been told it could be another six months before we hear what is going to be done and we are disgusted.

'I want to warn others so that they think twice about using that hot tub.

'It's the same water going pumped around. Because it was 32/33C, it was probably the worst thing I could have gone into.'

A Tui UK spokeswoman said: 'We're sorry to learn of Mr Barlow's experience.

'As this is a serious situation which we are currently investigating, we're unable to comment further.'

MailOnline Travel has contacted the H10 Salou Princess resort for comment.
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You might want to cosy up with some popcorn while viewing this fascinating photo series documenting cinemas around the world.

Paris-based Stephan Zaubitzer has spent the past 16 years photographing movie houses, with his travels taking him to the coast of Egypt and the bright lights of Los Angeles.

He told MailOnline Travel that he wants to document the big screen's golden era, as 'with the arrival of video and television, the very existence of these cinemas is under threat'.

Paris-based Stephan Zaubitzer has spent the past 16 years photographing movie houses. Above, the Rio cinema in downtown Alexandria, Egypt, has two cinema auditoriums, with one outside on the roof

Zaubitzer told MailOnline Travel that he wants to document the big screen's golden era, as 'with the arrival of video and television, the very existence of these cinemas is under threat'. Above, an interior shot of the Cinema Avenida in Tetouan, Morocco. It was founded in 1945, restored in 1996, and the auditorium has a capacity of more than 1,000 seats

Explaining why he's saddened by the demise of cinema, Zaubitzer says: 'The cinema hall moulds its neighbourhood as much as the neighbourhood and environment do. Whenever a cinema shuts down it very often takes the soul of the neighbourhood away.

'Photographing the cinemas helps keep these halls alive.'

Zaubitzer's images show how cinemas contrast in different cities, with varying styles of architecure.

Some have brutalist-styled exteriors, while others look pretty nondescript from the outside.

One particularly eye-catching cinema is the Million Dollar Theatre in Los Angeles, with a towering tiled facade.

One particularly eye-catching cinema is the Million Dollar Theatre in Los Angeles, with a towering tiled facade. Commenting on the zany design, Zaubitzer says: 'The theater's unique architecture reflects the 1918 period when it was built, a time when Los Angeles was just beginning its tremendous growth as a centre of the film industry'

Zaubitzer ventured into the Nishat Cinema in Mumbai to get this shot showing an audience in waiting. The photographer says this is one of the most popular spots in the bustling city to watch films

One of Zaubitzer's favourite movie houses is the Raj Mandir Cinema in Jaipur. Zaubitzer muses: 'The cinema is green and looks like a gigantic cake. The decoration in the auditorium is awesome, with indirect lighting that changes colours, hidden behind and underneath a frond fern leaf-like plaster trough which has openings all over the ceiling and walls. It certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the most remarkable cinemas in India'

A shot showing the interiors of the former Odeon Eltham Hill in south London. This cinema opened in 1938 and had 1,711 seats. In the 1970s the venue closed and the interiors were ripped out to make way for a bingo hall, as seen above

Commenting on the zany design, Zaubitzer says: 'The theater's unique architecture reflects the 1918 period when it was built, a time when Los Angeles was just beginning its tremendous growth as a centre of the film industry.'

The cameraman says one of the most beautiful cinemas he's documented is the Rio picture house in Alexandria, Egypt.

The venue houses a large auditorium that can hold 800 spectators and there's also an outdoor rooftop cinema there that is open in the summer, with stunning views over the coastal city.

Another of his favourite movie houses is the Raj Mandir Cinema in Jaipur. Zaubitzer muses: 'The cinema is green and looks like a gigantic cake.

'The decoration in the auditorium is awesome, with indirect lighting that changes colours, hidden behind and underneath a frond fern leaf-like plaster trough which has openings all over the ceiling and walls.

'It certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the most remarkable cinemas in India.'

Above, an exterior shot of a cinema called Majestic on a street in Tunisia

Zaubitzer says that Lynx cinema in Morocco (pictured) shows classic movies and Arabic films and that it has 1,200 seats

A dramatic shot highlights the main screen and interiors of the El Sharq Cinema in Cairo, Egypt

The tired-looking exterior of a former cinema in the Lebanese town of Raya

Looking a little less chic is a cinema in Tetouan, Morocco.

Zaubitzer says it was the 'saddest' building that he's come across so far, and it was torn down shortly after he visited to make way for parking in the city centre.

The avid traveller, aged 52, originally started photographing cinemas while travelling around the city of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.

He went about documenting the open air cinemas of the capital, which were simple in style, and says 'since then, these collective places of projection have become a passion'.

The photographer adds: 'Every year, rain or shine, I try to add a new destination to the series.

Zaubitzer says the Metro Cinema in Cairo is 'worth visiting for a blast into the past'. The venue was apparently built in the early 1940s to showcase MGM movies in the city and it opened with an Egyptian premier of Gone With The Wind. It was the first cinema in Egypt to have air conditioning. The photographer adds: 'Designed by New York architect Thomas Lamb in a stunning Art Deco style... nowadays, it shows a broad range of movies from America and Egypt'

A photograph showing the imposing Aakash cinema building in Delhi, with a banner outside promoting the latest movie releases

Stephan Zaubitzer says of this image: 'Originally opened in 1918, a second screen was recently added to this movie house off Wenceslas Square in the heart of Prague. The seating capacities are for 488 in the original screen and 356 in the new screen. It features mainly American hits, with Czech subtitles, as well as some Czech films and independent films. The cinema has two licenced bars selling beers'

Zaubitzer says the Paramount Theatre in Oakland California is a 'truly magnificent example of Art Deco style, beauty and construction' and a 'marvellous counterpart to Radio City Music Hall in New York'

'In 2013, sponsored by private donors, I went to California to shoot the cinema halls in Hollywood.

'At the beginnings of 2014, I seized the opportunity of a residency work at the French Institute in Morocco to photograph halls in Marrakech, Oujda, Meknes, Casablanca, Tangier and Tetouan.

'In the same year, in December, I worked in Rio with the financial support of the House of France and then I was in Lebanon, in Tunisia, shooting the cinemas.'

This year Zaubitzer plans to return to Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon to update his cinema project image library.

He concludes: 'I will then prepare my next trip to Algeria to complete the inventory of cinemas on the southern bank of the Mediterranean.'

A shot of the West Wind Drive-In in Santa Barbara, California, with the large white screen ready to entertain. Zaubitzer says the drive-in opened in the summer of 1966, and closed in 1991 before reopening in May 2010

Zaubitzer journeyed to Sangam Theatre in the suburbs of Delhi to capture its striking exteriors. The building features a mix of geometric patterns with faded red and green paint

The sparse lobby of the Colorado Cinema in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, complete with funky railings and balcony area

Zaubitzer took this night time shot of the Strand cinema in downtown Alexandria, Egypt. He says the outdoor screening spot has since been demolished and it no longer exists

This year Zaubitzer plans to travel to Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon to document cinemas. Above, a shot showing the interiors of an abandoned cinema in Tunisia, with the chairs uprooted and the screen missing
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Newly leaked concept images have revealed the first real glimpse into Alphabets plans for an Orwellian smart city on the Toronto waterfront.

Sidewalk Labs, an offshoot of Googles parent company, reached an agreement with the city back in 2017 to develop a futuristic community known as Quayside, complete with robotic waste-sorting systems, sensor-lined pavement, digital infrastructure, and wireless 5G connectivity all throughout.

The plans have sparked both concerns and curiosity from the public, fueled further by a lack of information on how it will ultimately come to fruition, aside from a series of simple sketches.

The new images published by Sidewalk Labs this month and leaked by Toronto Star now reveal stunning plans for a dozen timber towers and modular pavement in the development, allowing it to evolve to the citys changing needs.

Sidewalk Labs also detailed a system of underground tunnels where robots can transport waste and freight out of the public's sight.

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Sidewalk Labs, an offshoot of Googles parent company, reached an agreement with the city back in 2017 to develop a futuristic community known as Quayside, complete with robotic waste-sorting systems, sensor-lined pavement, digital infrastructure, and wireless 5G connectivity all throughout. One of the concept images is shown above

WHAT MAKES QUAYSIDE SO SMART? Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs teamed up with Toronto Waterfront to develop a small, smart city called Quayside. Among its many advanced features, it's planned to include: 'Ubiquitous connectivity' that will bring 100% wifi and 5G coverage

Digital infrastructure to enable open access to the community

Advanced solar power grid

Smart waste management

Hexagonal modular pavement panels

Smart water system with sensors for 'active management'

Thermal grid that uses clean energy sources, including waste heat and geothermal Advertisement

Sidewalk Labs made the plans public in mid-February after they were leaked months ahead of schedule by the Canadian publication, according to Fast Company.

It comes just over a year-and-a-half after Google parent Alphabet announced its plans to invest $50 million (36 million) in the initial planning and testing phase of the project.

The firm plans to erect mid-rise apartments, offices, shops, and a school on a 12-acre site along the eastern waterfront in a deal with Waterfront Toronto.

Eventually, they hope this will blossom to cover hundreds of acres.

Quaysides timber buildings will be cradle to cradle certified, creating a more sustainable system, the plan says.

The smart city will also be home to an advanced power grid made up of solar panels and battery storage, a smart waste management system, and a thermal grid that relies on waste heat and geothermal energy.

Universal fiber, power and mounts will be built directly into the infrastructure, and the entirety of Quayside will feature 100% coverage of wifi and 5G networks for all residents, businesses and public spaces.

And, the streets will be designed without curbs to boost mobility as a shift toward self-driving vehicles becomes feasible.

The firm plans to erect mid-rise apartments, offices, shops, and a school on a 12-acre site along the eastern waterfront in a deal with Waterfront Toronto. Eventually, they hope this will blossom to cover hundreds of acres. Quaysides timber buildings will be cradle to cradle certified, creating a more sustainable system,' according to the plan

The smart city will also be home to an advanced power grid made up of solar panels and battery storage, a smart waste management system, and a thermal grid that relies on waste heat and geothermal energy. And, the entirety of Quayside will feature 100% coverage of wifi and 5G networks for all residents, businesses and public spaces

According to the newly-published plans, Phase 1 of the project could fit 5,000 residents in a total of 3,000 housing units. It will also create 3,900 on-site jobs.

The companies involved in the project say the high-tech city will provide ubiquitous connectivity for all to improve the urban environment on numerous levels.

In a written statement last year, a company spokesperson said the futuristic development will blend people-centered urban design with cutting-edge technology to achieve new standards of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.

'All-weather infrastructure and data-driven management tools enable cities to make parks and public plazas more comfortable, lively, and safe, and self-driving vehicles enable communities to reclaim streets for public space and social connections, the statement adds.

Newly leaked concept images have revealed the first real glimpse into Alphabets plans for an Orwellian smart city on the Toronto waterfront. According to the newly-published plans, Phase 1 of the project could fit 5,000 residents in a total of 3,000 housing units. It will also create 3,900 on-site jobs

The companies involved in the project say the high-tech city will provide ubiquitous connectivity for all to improve the urban environment on numerous levels. For now, however, Sidewalk Labs' detailed plans for Quayside remain in the concept phase and have yet to be approved by Waterfront Toronto and Alphabet

IS YOUR DATA SAFE IN SMART CITIES? Andrew Clement, a surveillance researcher at the University of Toronto, outlined a five-point plan to ensure privacy is respected in smart cities: 1. Any data collected should be anonymous by default 2. Any data handled by smart city firms must comply with privacy laws 3. Software that accesses data gathered should be publicly available under an open source license 4. Basic digital services should be accessible and affordable for all 5. Data, software and physical infrastructure should be secure and breaches reported immediately Advertisement

While the plan boasts a number of innovative and sustainable concepts, the idea of a community built around connectivity has sparked concerns about privacy and data collection.

Sidewalk Labs says any data collected about civilians will be 'de-identified' and made publicly accessible.

But, not everyone is on board.

In an op-ed for the Toronto Star last January, a surveillance researcher at the University of Toronto argued that the plan should raise red flags for those who care about privacy and democracy.

'These concerns can be allayed only if Sidewalks internet is much more respecting of our rights than the one that its parent, Google/Alphabet, is busily shaping, wrote Andrew Clement, a Professor Emeritus who co-founded the Universitys Identity, Privacy and Security Institute.

'It would be impractical for individual residents of Quayside to be able to consent, on an adequately informed basis, to the myriad forms of data collection and use proposed.'

For now, however, Sidewalk Labs' detailed plans for Quayside remain in the concept phase and have yet to be approved.

It's expected it will be at least another five years before the smart city can welcome its first residents.
Goldman Sachs has teamed up with Apple to issue credit cards that will be paired with iPhones and will help users manage their money, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The card, which will be linked with Apples Wallet app, will allow users to set spending goals, track rewards, and manage balances, WSJ said.

The new cards will be rolled out to employees for testing in next few weeks and will be launched later this year.

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Goldman Sachs has teamed up with Apple to issue credit cards that pair with iPhones and will help users manage their money. The card will let users set spending goals, among other things. File photo

The deal will benefit both the companies as they tap into new income sources.

Apple has been sharpening its focus on its services business, including the App Store, mobile payments and music streaming after a recent dip in iPhone sales, which generate most of the companys profit.

The firm currently takes a cut out of every purchase made via Apple Pay, its mobile payment and virtual wallet service.

With the iPhone-linked credit card, it would likely take an even larger slice, the Journal said.

Goldman is also looking to increase its consumer loans to offset dips in its trading business.

Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters request for a comment. Goldman declined to comment.

The joint card, which will use Mastercards payment network, offers a cash back of about 2 percent on most purchases.

The joint card, which will use Mastercards payment network, offers a cash back of about 2% on most purchases. Spending on Apple products could potentially result in more cashbacks

Spending on Apple products and services could potentially result in more cashbacks, sources told WSJ.

Additionally, it would be deeply integrated within the iPhone.

Users would be able to set spending goals and keep track of rewards, while the app will help users manage balances and pay down debt.

Goldman Sachs has already started adding customer-support call centers, and building an internal system to handle payments, a project that could cost the bank $200 million, WSJ said, a time when banks are focused on reigning in expenses to boost their bottom lines.

The Wall Street bank could eventually offer other financial products, such as Marcus loans and wealth management services, to Apple customers, WSJ said.
Samsung celebrated the 10th birthday of its flagship Galaxy smartphone by unveiling a lineup packed to the gills with new devices.

The Korean tech giant on Wednesday debuted a mind-boggling four Galaxy phones at its flashy Unpacked event in San Francisco - including the Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+ and a 5G Galaxy variant.

It's billing massive screens, a notch-less design, multiple, professional-grade cameras and advanced wireless charging technology as the standout features that it hopes will attract Apple diehards away from their iPhones.

A majority of the devices' specs were leaked in the months leading up to Samsung's Unpacked event and several of them, like the futuristic on-screen fingerprint reader, proved to be true.

By launching four different devices, Samsung is giving consumers a range of options and price points to choose from, with the base-level Galaxy S10e starting at $749 and going up to $999 for the Galaxy S10+.

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Samsung on Wednesday debuted a mind-boggling four Galaxy phones at its flashy Unpacked event in San Francisco - including the Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+ and a 5G Galaxy variant

SAMSUNG'S NEW WIRELESS CHARGING TECHNOLOGY Samsung's new Galaxy devices all come with an innovative new wireless charging technology called 'Wireless Power Share.' It transforms Samsung's flagship phones into mobile power banks. Users can place another Samsung device, such as a phone, wireless earbuds or smartwatches directly on top of a phone to charge it. To turn it on, swipe down to get to the notification menu and tap the power share button. In an instant, users can lend some extra battery juice to their friend's phone or other devices that might be low on power by holding them together. Advertisement

'With four unique devices, Galaxy S10 line is engineered to meet the distinct needs of todays smartphone market, so consumers can do more of what they love,' the firm explained.

'Each device delivers a next-generation experience in the categories consumers care about most: groundbreaking innovations in display, camera and performance.'

Samsung is touting the Galaxy S10 and the S10+ as featuring their 'best screens yet.'

The 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 and the 6.4-inch S10+ both feature the 'world's first Dynamic AMOLED' HDR 10+ displays, which lends them stunningly crisp and clear colors, as well as top picture quality.

Meanwhile, for users who don't want a super-sized device, the Galaxy S10e features a 5.8-inch display, as well as a more affordable price tag of $799.

However, even though it's the cheapest in the range, it still packs many of the same, brand new features as its higher-end counterparts, including an in-display fingerprint reader, professional grade cameras, as well as wireless powershare technology.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is shown at a press event in London. Samsung is touting the 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 and the 6.4-inch S10+ as featuring the Korean tech giant's 'best screens yet'

Samsung has brought its 'Infinity O' display technology to the world for the first time, after debuting it exclusively in Asia, with the Galaxy S10 and S10+.

'Infinity O' describes the nearly edge-to-edge, bezel-less display, aside from a small, hole punch in the right corner.

This hole punch, which Samsung made room for in the display using a proprietary laser cutter, is what houses the front-facing camera technology, along with a range of sensors.

Suzanne De Silva, a director of product marketing at Samsung, said the phone's high-tech sensors are 'floating in a sea of individually placed pixels.'

'The result is a revolutionary display that maximizes your viewing experience and minimizes the distractions,' De Silva added.

Samsung showed off the Galaxy S10 and S10+'s in-display fingerprint reader. With this new technology, users can unlock their phone just by placing their thumb on the screen, instead of the usual fingerprint reader embedded on the smartphone's bottom bezel

By launching four different devices, the firm is giving consumers a range of options and price points, with the Galaxy S10e starting at $749 and going up to $999 for the Galaxy S10+

The Galaxy S10 and S10+ use dynamic tone mapping technology so that 'even the smallest details are clear,' the firm said.

It can automatically adjust the color temperature to your environment, reducing annoying blue light by 42 percent without applying a filter and compromising the device's picture quality.

A standout feature showed off by Samsung at the event was the device's first-of-its-kind in-display fingerprint reader.

With this new technology, users can unlock their phone just by placing their thumb on the screen, instead of the usual fingerprint reader embedded on the smartphone's bottom bezel.

Samsung said it's an 'ultrasonic' fingerprint reader which works by emitting ultrasonic waves that scan your unique fingerprint.

A majority of the devices' specs were leaked in the months leading up to Samsung's Unpacked event and several of them, like the futuristic on-screen fingerprint reader, proved to be true

THE GALAXY VS. THE IPHONE: HOW DO THEY STACK UP? Samsung Galaxy S10+ Price: $999 Screen Size: 6.4-inch Camera: Three rear-facing lenses, two front-facing lenses RAM: 8GB or 12GB Memory: 128GB to 512GB Processor: Snapdragon 855 Standout features: In-display fingerprint reader, AI camera, notch-less 'Infinity O' display Apple iPhone XS Max Price: Starts at $1,099 Screen Size: 6.5-inch Camera: Dual rear-facing lenses, dual front-facing lenses RAM: 4GB Memory: 64GB to 512GB Processor: A12 Bionic chip Standout features: TrueDepth camera technology, glass casing, facial recognition Advertisement

That data is then sent back to the device's chip, which analyzes whether or not it's a match.

De Silva said the fingerprint scanner will work in 'even the most challenging conditions,' such as bright sunlight or extreme weather.

'It makes unlocking your phone easier than ever,' she added.

For those worried about privacy, Samsung said the device is packed with an 'anti-spoofing algorithm' that can identify a fake fingerprint, whether it's 2D or 3D.

The device has 'vault-like security to keep your data safe,' De Silva explained.

Another groundbreaking feature in the Galaxy S10 and S10+ is called 'Wireless Powershare.'

Another feature in the Galaxy S10 and S10+ is called 'Wireless Powershare.' It transforms the Galaxy S10 and S10+ into wireless chargers for headphones, phones and other devices

Samsung described the cameras on the Galaxy S10 and S10+ as being better than ever before. The Galaxy S10 includes a whopping three rear lenses and one front-facing camera

The new Samsung Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10 smartphones are displayed during the Samsung Unpacked event. The devices start at $799 for the Galaxy S10e

It transforms Samsung's flagship phones into mobile power banks, allowing users to place another Samsung device, such as another phone, their wireless earbuds or smartwatches directly on top of a phone to charge it.

Samsung described the cameras on the Galaxy S10 and S10+ as being better than ever before.

The Galaxy S10+ packs a whopping five lenses total - a wide angle 12 megapixel, telephoto 12 megapixel, ultra wide 16 megapixel all on the back panel; as well as front-facing 10 megapixel and 8 megapixel cameras on the front.

Similarly, the Galaxy S10 includes three rear lenses and one front-facing camera.

AI is packed into the cameras via what Samsung calls a 'neural processing unit.'

This allows the camera to make smart suggestions regarding your photos.

Specification of the Samsung Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S10+ vs. Galaxy S10e Feature Galaxy S10e Galaxy S10 Galaxy S10+ Screen Size 5.8 inch

6.1-inch 6.4-inch Rear camera Wide-angle 12-megapixels, Ultra wide 16-mp Wide angle 12-mp, Telephoto 12-mp, Ultra wide 16-mp Wide angle 12-mp, Telephoto 12-mp, Ultra wide 16-mp Front-facing camera 10-mp 10-mp 10-mp, 8-mp RGB depth camera RAM 6GB or 8GB 8GB or 12GB 8GB or 12GB Processor Snapdragon 855 Snapdragon 855 Snapdragon 855 Storage 128GB or 256GB 128GB to 512GB 128GB to 512GB Battery 3,100mAh 3,400mAh 4,100mAh Price $749 $899 $999 Release Date March 8 March 8 March 8

For example, it can tell if youre taking a portrait photo, a photo of the sunset, or a landscape photo and change modes automatically.

It can also give users helpful tips on the screen by showing them ways their photo composition could be improved.

'This camera is so intelligent, its going to make every shot worth sharing,' De Silva explained.

Finally, when attendees thought Samsung had exhausted all of its major announcements, Samsung took the wraps off its first-ever 5G device.

The Galaxy S10 5G, which features 5G network connectivity, is expected to launch April 26th.

However, no price tag was provided by Samsung.

AI is packed into the S10e, S10 and S10+ cameras via what Samsung calls a 'neural processing unit.' This allows the camera to make smart suggestions regarding your photos

The Galaxy S10 5G also features an AI-equipped, 3D depth sensing camera, which can add background blur to videos in real time, among other features. It can also connect to WiFi 6, a next-generation wireless network, in addition to 5G

It features 'hyperfast' download and streaming speeds, a massive 6.7-inch AMOLED screen and a long-lasting battery, according to the firm.

'Normally when you transition from one network generation to the next, you get a device thats a little bigger and a little bulkier, but the S10 5G is as sleek as ever,' Drew Blackard, Samsung's senior director of marketing, said on stage.

It has 'blazing speeds, unparalleled connectivity,' he added.

The Galaxy S10 5G also features an AI-equipped, 3D depth sensing camera, which can add background blur to videos in real time, among other features.

It can also connect to WiFi 6, a next-generation wireless network, in addition to 5G.

With this model, Samsung said users can 'experience the magic of 5G' for the first time.

'This is just the beginning of 5G,' the firm added.

Alongside its new Galaxy range, Samsung also debuted the Galaxy Fold, its first-ever folding phone, in addition to new wearables like two smartwatches and a pair of wireless earbuds.
A son of militant Islamic preacher Abu Hamza who traveled to Syria in 2013 wants to return home and is appealing the decision to revoke his British citizenship.

Sufyan Mustafa, the seventh of Hamza's nine children, left his family's West London home to fight in Syria when he was 19.

Although he said he was allied with rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime, Britain later revoked his citizenship over suspected terrorism links.

Now aged 24, the former computer sciences student reportedly attempted to return home at the end of last year, but was prevented from boarding a flight to Britain from Turkey when his named appeared on a terror watch list.

Sufyan Mustafa, 24, left London at age 19 to fight in Syria but now wants to return to the UK

One source told the Sun: 'He is trying to appeal against the decision to take away his British citizenship.

'He has been told he can travel from Turkey to Morocco but doesn't wish to.

'The key thing is that he is not stateless as he has the option of going to Morocco.

'There is no obligation on the Home Office to accept him back.'

Mustafa will reportedly appeal the Home Office's decision to revoke him of his British citizenship

Abu Hamza, 60, Hamza was found guilty of terror offences in both the UK and US, where he is serving a life sentence at a high-security prison

His case is reminiscent of that of Shamima Begum, the 19-year-old from Bethnal Green in east London whose British citizenship was revoked by Home Secretary Sajid Javid earlier in the week.

There has been controversy around Mr Javid's decision as it hinged on the possibility that Begum's Bangladeshi heritage might grant her citizenship to that country.

Yet the Bangladeshi government have since said they will not accept her and as a person cannot be rendered 'stateless' under international law, the Home Office may yet have to allow Begum to return to Britain.

Mustafa's case is similar to that of Shamima Begum, whose citizenship was revoked earlier this week but who will also appeal the decision

Her family have said through a lawyer that they will fight Mr Javid's move.

Mustafa, however, had Moroccan nationality through his mother, Najat - the second wife of Abu Hamza.

Hamza, 60, is a former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque whose radical views brought him to the attention of the authorities and saw him expelled from Britain six years ago after a long legal battle.

Hamza was found guilty of terror offences in both the UK and US, where he is serving a life sentence at a high-security prison.

A friend of his 24-year-old son said that Mustafa has been held in detention as niether Turkey nor Britain want to take him in, the Sun reported.

'But Sufyan does not wish to go to Morocco and is desperate to return here,' the friend added.

In 2017 Mustafa told reporters: 'I am in Syria fighting a barbaric regime that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to stay in power. I'm not a terrorist.

'If they label me as that with no proof then the British Government is doing the same as the Syrian government did to many Syrians.

'Abu Hamza is my father and he had his own opinions and I have my own opinions. I don't compare my opinions to his or to anyone elses, because it doesn't concern me.

'Revoking my citizenship just because I am related to Abu Hamza is not allowed and will never enter the world of fair trial.'
Theresa May has been warned she faces a Cabinet revolt and an exodus of MPs if she tries to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.

Four Cabinet ministers were yesterday said to have confronted the Prime Minister and warned they are prepared to vote for a motion that would effectively prevent a No Deal departure.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday refused to rule out resigning over the issue, describing No Deal as an 'extremely bad' outcome he was working 'all day, every day' to prevent.

Theresa May has been warned she faces a Cabinet revolt and an exodus of MPs if she tries to take Britain out of the EU without a deal

Former Tory education secretary Justine Greening told BBC Radio 4: 'I don't think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union'

And two former Tory ministers  Justine Greening and Dominic Grieve  issued public threats to quit the party altogether if Mrs May pursues a No Deal Brexit.

The Prime Minister is under pressure to get a withdrawal agreement passed in the Commons by next Wednesday or, if there is no prospect of an agreement being voted through, face a vote where MPs could force her to seek a delay to Brexit.

Last night it was claimed as many as 25 junior ministers could be ready to vote for an extension beyond the departure date of March 29, in what would be the most serious revolt of Mrs May's premiership.

I don't think I would be able to stay part of the party Justine Greening

However, it was not clear whether those who did revolt would resign their Government posts, or if the PM would sack them.

The motion to block No Deal by seeking a Brexit delay is likely to be proposed by Tory MPs Nick Boles and Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour's Yvette Cooper.

The four Cabinet ministers warning Mrs May against No Deal are said to be Justice Secretary David Gauke, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and Scottish Secretary David Mundell.

Four cabinet ministers are warning Mrs May against a No Deal Brexit. Amber Rudd (left) and Business secretary Greg Clarke (right) haven't ruled out resigning in the event of No Deal

Mr Mundell did not deny this yesterday, saying: 'I don't comment on private conversations I've had with the Prime Minister, but what I've said to her repeatedly and what I've said to Cabinet is that a No Deal Brexit is a very bad outcome for Scotland and the UK and we must do everything we can to avoid that.'

Miss Greening and Mr Grieve yesterday both issued threats that they could quit the Conservative Party altogether in the event of the Prime Minister taking the country toward No Deal.

Asked if she could follow the three Tory defectors who quit the party on Wednesday, Miss Greening, a former education secretary, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment.

Justice secretary David Gauke (left) and Scottish secretary David Mundell were said to have confronted Theresa May over No Deal with Amber Rudd and Greg Clarke

'I don't think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union.'

Her warning came after former attorney general Mr Grieve told the BBC's Newsnight programme: 'I would certainly cease to take the whip if I thought the Government was about to take us into a No Deal Brexit. I am absolutely clear about that.

'I regard that as so disastrous for the country, I would have to use all opportunities I have to stop it.'

On Sunday, Mrs May will fly to Egypt for last-minute talks with EU leaders on the sidelines of a summit with Arab nations, which will include a bid to secure changes on the controversial Northern Ireland backstop.

Sarah Wollaston, one of the three Tory defectors, yesterday claimed up to a third of the Cabinet could walk out if Mrs May steers the country towards a No Deal Brexit.

'I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a No Deal Brexit,' Dr Wollaston told the BBC.

'Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a No Deal Brexit.'

Dominic Grieve and Justine Greening threatened that they could quit the Conservative Party altogether in the event of the Prime Minister taking the country toward No Deal

Meanwhile, Rail commuters into London could see services disrupted by freight trains in the event of a No Deal Brexit causing logjams at the Channel Tunnel, it was reported last night.

David Brown, the chief executive of Go-Ahead, which runs some of the biggest rail and bus networks in Britain, said there was a risk some passenger services would have to give way to goods.

He also said there could be a future shortage of bus drivers, as the number of job applications from Europe had dried up since the referendum in 2016.

You're wrong! PM slaps down 'Three Amigos' extremism claim

Claims that the Conservative Party is in the grip of Brexiteers were dismissed by Theresa May yesterday as she responded to the three MPs who defected to join a new group with eight ex-Labour MPs.

In a robust defence of her leadership, the Prime Minister told Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen that she 'did not accept' their view that the party had shifted to the right.

In a letter to the self-styled 'three amigos', Mrs May said she was 'saddened' by their decision to leave.

In a robust defence of her leadership, the Theresa May told Sarah Wollaston (right), Anna Soubry (centre) and Heidi Allen (left) that she 'did not accept' their view that the Conservative party had shifted to the right

But, pointedly failing to urge them to rejoin the Tories, she said the Government had to respect the result of the 2016 referendum and deliver the Brexit people voted for.

The Prime Minister also refuted suggestions she had given up on her promises to deliver a fairer society.

She added: 'I know you will not have come to your decision lightly, but I must say that I do not accept the picture you paint of our party.

PM has a problem on immigration, says Soubry Anna Soubry has launched an extraordinary attack on the Prime Minister, accusing her of being 'delusional' and having a 'problem' with immigration. The former Tory MP said: 'I think she's in a bad place. That's the truth of it. I think she is absolutely delusional about the situation that she and the country is in.' She also claimed: 'The only reason why she will not agree to the single market is because of free movement of people. 'She has history in the Home Office that supports this... I think she's got a problem with immigration. I really, honestly do.' But Miss Soubry faced a backlash while hosting a radio phone-in on LBC yesterday. A man called Neil, from her Broxtowe constintuency, said: 'People like you disgust me. You're out to derail Brexit. You're being two-faced.' Another constituent, named John, said: 'I can't put into words what you've done. You've been rude to all your constituents. Why would I vote for a lady who is not genuinely and doesn't believe in democracy? Early retirement is the best way forward for you.' Tory MP Nadine Dorries also called for Miss Soubry and fellow Tory dissenters to face a by-election, saying: 'If I felt that I no longer shared the values of my colleagues and people who voted for me, I would stand down. 'Not one of the 'three amigos' holds a shred of principle between them and are now political takers and imposters.' Advertisement

'Indeed, in each of the areas you highlight, our record in government shows that we are the moderate, open-hearted Conservative Party in the One Nation tradition you speak of.'

Mrs May acknowledged in her letter that the party's approach to the EU had changed, but said they had to respect the result of the referendum.

She wrote: 'We used to support membership. But we chose at the 2015 general election to give the British people a direct say through a referendum and promised to deliver what they decided.

'In my time in government and politics I have seen the consequences of people in power not giving a voice to those without one, or ignoring people when they speak. I believe we must not make that mistake by failing to deliver on the result of the referendum.'

Mrs May also rejected their comparisons with the way the Labour Party had been taken over by the grassroots Momentum group.

She wrote: 'I was sorry to read, and do not accept, the parallel you draw with the way Jeremy Corbyn and the hard left have warped a once-proud Labour Party and allowed the poison of anti-Semitism to go unchecked,' she wrote.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured in Brussels) also refuted suggestions she had given up on her promises to deliver a fairer society

'I am determined that under my leadership the party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve.'

She added: 'I hope we can continue to work together on issues where we agree.'

As they crossed the floor to join Labour MPs in the newly-formed Independent Group on Wednesday, the trio hit out at Mrs May.

In their joint resignation letter, they claimed there has been a 'shift to the right' in the Conservative Party with 'blatant entryism' by a 'purple momentum'  taken as a reference to former Ukip members joining the Tories.

Miss Soubry said: 'I'm not leaving the Conservatives, they've left us. Truth is, the battle is over and the other side has won.

'The right-wing, the hardline, anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe. They are the Conservative Party.'

Mrs Allen took her attack on Mrs May beyond Brexit, saying: 'I can no longer represent a government and a party who can't open their eyes to the suffering endured by the most vulnerable in society.'

Dr Wollaston added: 'The Prime Minister simply hasn't delivered on the pledge she made on the steps of Downing Street to tackle the burning injustices in our society.'

Ministers rallied round Mrs May yesterday. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it is 'very sad when you lose respected colleagues' but dismissed the impact their defections would have on getting the Brexit deal passed.

Speaking on a trip to Slovenia, he said: 'The three individuals who left didn't vote for the Government when we had the Brady amendment and we were still able to secure a majority so I don't think it will affect our ability to secure a majority for the deal that we seek to secure.'

A majority of MPs last month signalled they would support a Brexit deal if changes were secured on the Irish backstop, by passing an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady.

Chancellor Philip Hammond also insisted the battle for the Tory Party was not over.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I hope that, over time, they will feel able to rejoin the party and help to maintain it as that broad church, that coalition of views that has been so successful over so many decades.'

Mrs May yesterday appeared to step up efforts to prevent further defections from the Tory ranks by meeting two prominent Conservative supporters of a second referendum.

Former education secretary Justine Greening yesterday threatened to quit the party if there was a No Deal Brexit.

In an interview on Today, she said she had 'not seen the Prime Minister recently' despite asking 'on multiple occasions'.

Hours later she was called into No 10 for a meeting thought to have lasted 45 minutes.

Phillip Lee, who quit as a justice minister over Brexit and was named by Mrs Allen as a potential future defector to the Independent Group, was also seen visiting Downing Street yesterday.

The Right to Vote group, which is chaired by Dr Lee, said he was discussing the campaign's calls for a pause in the Brexit process and a possible second referendum.

'Talks were open and we are encouraged she listened to our case,' the group said.

I'm not very optimistic, says fed-up Juncker

Jean-Claude Juncker cast serious doubt over Brexit talks yesterday as negotiations were suspended until next week.

The European Commission chief said he was not very optimistic about reaching a deal, while the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier described talks as deadlocked.

The comments came just hours before Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay arrived in Brussels for the second time this week for more talks.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he was not very optimistic about reaching a deal, while the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier described talks as deadlocked

Speculation had grown that both sides were close to breaking the impasse surrounding the Irish border backstop with Theresa May also meeting Mr Juncker on Wednesday night.

But within moments of Mr Cox and Mr Barclay leaving Brussels, an EU official confirmed talks were being postponed.

They said yesterdays meeting had been part of the ongoing process of trying to achieve a breakthrough and that further meetings will be held next week. A senior British official said it was now unlikely that a deal would be reached early next week, as originally hoped.

A statement from the Department for Exiting the European Union said it was still the Governments position that changes to the backstop must be secured with a reopening of the Withdrawal Treaty  something Brussels has repeatedly ruled out.

Talks will now focus on guarantees relating to the backstop that underline its temporary nature and give appropriate legal assurance to both sides. Earlier in the day, Mr Juncker said he was suffering from Brexit fatigue and blamed turmoil in Westminster for his gloomy forecast.

n Britain will lose the benefits of free trade agreements with Japan and Turkey if there is a No Deal Brexit, officials say.

A scramble is under way to ensure the UK can still benefit from trade deals which the EU has signed with 40 countries.

But the Department for International Trade admits partnerships with Japan, Turkey and Algeria are unlikely to be signed.
A powerful explosion hit Syria's northern city of Afrin on Thursday following a military parade by Turkey-backed rebels in the city, Xinhua reported citing a war monitor.

The explosion occurred as a car bomb was detonated near a hospital in the Vellat Street, causing many injuries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Some of the injured are in critical conditions, the London-based watchdog said.
On Thursday, the State's Attorney's Office released its entire case against Jussie Smollett in a bond proffer which describes why they think he staged a hoax attack on January 29.

Smollett was freed on Thursday afternoon after posting $10,000 bond, ten percent of the $100,000 that was set.

He surrendered his passport and has to return to court on March 14.

He is accused of hiring brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo to attack him on January 29 in Chicago.

Police say he paid them $3,500 in the form of a personal check and that he spoke with them on the phone before and after the incident.

Below is the full proffer which lays bare their case. Smollett's attorneys said on Wednesday that they planned to fight the charges.
The family of Shamima Begum want to bring her newborn son to London and raise him pending her appeal to reinstate her British citizenship.

Begum was banned from entering the country and stripped of her British passport by the Home Office on Monday, but her family's lawyer plans to travel to the refugee camp in northern Syria where she is living to bring home five-day old Jerah.

The family will explore all legal and practical options in order to gain custody of Jerah while Begum's case goes through the courts, the Guardian reported.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid previously stated - and legal experts have confirmed - that Jerah is still British despite his mother losing her citizenship, as he was born while she was still a legal national.

Jihadi bride Shamima Begum has pleaded for mercy from politicians after being stripped of her UK citizenship - and has said she is 'willing to change', as her family say they are ready to challenge the decision to ban her from Britain in court

And while theoretically he could also have his citizenship revoked, the government would need to show that he himself posed a threat.

Begum, who was told on Tuesday of Mr Javid's decision, had two other children with her Dutch Jihadist husband who both died of unknown illnesses under ISIS.

The 19-year-old has pleaded for mercy from politicians and said she is 'willing to change' and wanted to return home with her baby son.

The teenager, from Bethnal Green in East London, was 15 when she moved to join Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria.

The BBC reported this evening that Begum's family would challenge Mr Javid's decision and in a letter to the Home Secretary they say they are 'sickened by the comments she made... but as her family they cannot simply abandon her.'

The letter, written by her sister Renu Begum on behalf of the family, said: 'We wish to make clear, that along with the rest of the country, we are shocked and appalled at the vile comments she has made to the media in recent days.

The letter, written by her sister Renu Begum on behalf of the family, said: 'We wish to make clear, that along with the rest of the country, we are shocked and appalled at the vile comments she has made to the media in recent days'

'These are not representative of British values, and my family entirely reject the comments she has made.'

But added: 'Shamima's status will be for the courts to decide in due course.'

Her family's letter comes shortly after Begum, in an interview with Sky News, said she will not allow her son - who she claims is unwell - to travel to Britain without her.

She said: 'I am struggling to get my supplies in right now. I don't have a card because they lost my card, so I have to run around to take care of my son now, when I am sick. I am not getting my stuff.'

The remorseless 19-year-old, pictured here in an interview, is hanging her hopes on her captured husband Yago Riedijk being sent back to the Netherlands

Shamima Begum and her friend fled to Syria by flying to Istanbul and getting a bus across Turkey to the ISIS capital, Raqqa. She moved to Mayadin with her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk but fled Baghuz when he was captured and is now in al-Hawl

In a direct plea to British politicians, Shamima Begum said: 'I would like them to re-evaluate my case with a bit more mercy in their heart, you know.'

And insisted: 'I am willing to change.'

The Bangladeshi ministry of foreign affairs today insisted she would not be allowed into the country.

When it was put to her that Bangladash had rejected an possibility of her entry, Begum said: 'I don't have anything there, another language, I have never even seen the place, I don't know why people are offering that to me.'

Shamima Begum told Sky News today that she is 'willing to change' and pleaded with politicians to treat her case with 'a bit more mercy'

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the Government 'could not subvert the rule of law' just because it is 'not convenient'.

She told BBC Radio 4's World At One: 'You cannot strip people of their British nationality under international law if it will leave them stateless.

'That's the legal position and we are a country of laws.'

It comes as peers demanded the 650-year-old Treason Act be updated to prosecute returning jihadists who have 'betrayed' Britain.

Labour former security and counter-terrorism minister Lord West of Spithead said it was 'appropriate that as a nation we show how repugnant this is and how appalling that sort of behaviour is'.

Lord West said that, as a minister, he found it difficult at times to take to court people who should have been prosecuted there.

Peers call for treason law update to tackle returning jihadists Peers have called for the 650-year-old Treason Act to be updated to prosecute returning jihadists who have 'betrayed' Britain. Home Secretary Sajid Javid came under pressure at question time after deciding to revoke Islamic State bride Shamima Begum's British citizenship. Labour former security Lord West of Spithead said it was 'appropriate that as a nation we show how repugnant this is and how appalling that sort of behaviour is'. Lord West said that, as a minister, he found it difficult at times to take to court people who should have been prosecuted there. 'This seems to me a way it can be done,' he added. 'Update the treason law and show these people to be traitors, something that our nation really believes they are.' Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said recent legislation had already given more powers to the courts to prosecute. 'I agree the 1351 Treason Act is rather an old Act. Of course it was relatively recently updated in 1861.' Lady Williams said she was not dismissing the demand. The Home Secretary had said he would look at it and the Home Office kept all laws under review. But she said prosecuting terrorists for treason risked 'giving their actions a political status or glamour they do not deserve, rather than treating them merely as criminals'. Independent crossbencher Lord Alton of Liverpool said no one wanted to 'glamorise' such actions but those who sought to justify the murder of British citizens in the bombing of the Manchester Arena in 2017 or took up arms against British forces and civilians had 'betrayed this country, its people, its values and its laws'. Lord Alton said it was time to provide a 'solid legal basis', rather than the 1351 Act, for prosecuting hundreds of returning jihadists, so those responsible for 'heinous crimes' could not expect to evade prosecution. Lady Williams agreed that such people should not escape justice and insisted new powers given to the police might prevent some of 'the terrible things that we have seen in recent months'. Liberal Democrat Lord Paddick, a former Met Police deputy assistant commissioner, said yesterday the minister had implied that it was difficult to prosecute those involved with IS as the UK effectively had no extradition arrangements with Syria. 'That is why the Government had to deprive people of their British citizenship,' he said. 'Many of these people want to return to the UK but the Government is preventing them from returning to face justice by depriving them of their citizenship.' Lord Paddick asked: 'Is the Government's strategy confused or is it just me?' To laughter, Lady Williams replied: 'I think it might be you. 'It is difficult to prosecute people in Syria. 'We have no consular access in Syria. 'People have been prosecuted when they come back to this country. 'There are a number of different remedies available to the Government to try to bring people to justice.' The Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat said that the Treason Act of 1351 should be updated to deal with cases like Shamima Begum's, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Advertisement

'This seems to me a way it can be done,' he added. 'Update the treason law and show these people to be traitors, something that our nation really believes they are.'

Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said recent legislation had already given more powers to the courts to prosecute.

'I agree the 1351 Treason Act is rather an old Act. Of course it was relatively recently updated in 1861.'

Lady Williams said she was not dismissing the demand.

The Home Secretary had said he would look at it and the Home Office kept all laws under review.

The Home Office believes that because Begum's mother was born in Bangladesh, her daughter is entitled to dual citizenship.

This would theoretically mean that she would not be left stateless if she was stripped of British nationality, which is illegal under international law.

But the chances of the 19-year-old returning to Britain may have increased after the Bangladeshi ministry of foreign affairs accused Sajid Javid of 'erroneously identifying' Begum as a dual citizen - and insisted she will not be allowed into the country.

After learning her fate, 'shocked' Begum initially said she would seek citizenship in Holland - where her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk is from.

But the Dutch Government today also appeared to slam the door, telling the Sun Online that Begum does not have the residence permit required to live there.

The Netherlands also does not offer its help to returning Dutch jihadis, and can also strip its nationals of their citizenship if they are deemed a national security threat.

Shahrial Alam, state minister of foreign affairs in Bangladesh, said today there is 'no question' of her being allowed into the country and that she is not a citizen.

Only last week, Britain's MI6 chief said that UK nationals, even those who are members of terror organisations like ISIS, have a legal right to return home.

Government guidance from 2017 states that the Home Secretary has the power to order the deprivation if it would be 'conducive to the public good', as long as they are not left without any citizenship.

A Home Office spokesman said he could not discuss individual cases, but added: 'We don't leave people stateless.'

Mr Javid on Monday told the House of Commons: 'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'

More than 100 people have already been deprived in this way.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Javid of 'an abdication of responsibility' by 'palming off' Begum on to another country.

'The UK has more than enough terrorism laws to prosecute Shamima Begum here,' he said.

Meanwhile Conservative chair of the Commons Education Committee, Robert Halfon, who had spoken out against allowing Begum to return, said in a tweet that Mr Javid had made 'absolutely the right decision'.

The move comes after Begum returned to the public eye when she was found heavily pregnant living in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

She gave birth to a boy over the weekend, and made pleas to be accepted back in the UK. However opponents criticised her lack of apparent remorse for joining ISIS.

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the 19-year-old could expect to be 'spoken to' if she comes back to Britain.

The initial police stance when Ms Begum left the UK in 2015 was that she may be treated as a victim of grooming, but the Scotland Yard chief said: 'We're a long way down the road since then.'

Begum's baby son Jerah is entitled to British citizenship - but could try to argue he is Dutch because of the nationality of its jihadi father Yago Riedijk

She added: 'If she does, under whatever circumstances, arrive at our borders, somebody in her type of circumstances could expect, of course, to be spoken to and, if there is the appropriate necessity, to be potentially arrested and certainly investigated.

Removing schoolgirl's citizenship 'could be exploited by radicals' Radical Islamists could exploit unease caused by the decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, the Government's chief adviser on countering extremism has warned. Home Secretary Sajid Javid made the move after the teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join the so-called Islamic State caliphate in Syria, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn son. Independent adviser Sara Khan cautioned on Thursday that the Government must acknowledge the anxiety caused by the decision, with extremists being eager to 'exploit alienation and grievance'. 'While it is for courts to test the legality of decisions such as deprivation of citizenship, we have to also ask how measures such as this impact wider work on countering extremism,' she said. 'The Government has to recognise the unease felt by a wide range of people about decisions of this kind, not least those from minority communities with dual nationality. 'It has to build trust in its approach, because Islamist extremists will exploit alienation and grievance to turn people against their country.' Advertisement

'If that results in sufficient evidence for a prosecution then it will result in sufficient evidence for a prosecution.

'The officers will deal with whatever they are confronted with.'

On Monday, in an interview with the BBC, Ms Begum compared the Manchester Arena bombing to military strikes on Isis strongholds, calling the terror attack 'retaliation'.

There are currently plans to change the law to make travelling to certain terror hotspots a criminal offence, but this would not apply retrospectively to Ms Begum.

Around 425 suspected jihadi fighters are thought to have returned to the UK from Syria so far.

Before yesterday's decision, the Home Secretary had already hinted that he would block Begum from returning to the UK.

Earlier this week ,Mr Javid told MPs that no British troops would be used to rescue any Britons who travelled to Syria to support terrorism.

He said more than 900 people went to Syria or Iraq, adding: 'Whatever role they took in the so-called caliphate, they all supported a terrorist organisation and in doing so they have shown they hate our country and the values we stand for.'

He went on: 'Now this so-called caliphate is crumbling, some of them want to return and I have been very clear where I can and where any threat remains I will not hesitate to prevent this.

'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'

Shamima Begum, 19 (pictured before she left the country four years ago) is pleading with the government to allow her back into Britain
Social services are facing troubling questions over the death of a three-year-old boy crushed by a car seat after his mother was found guilty of child cruelty yesterday.

Adrian Hoare, 23, let her son Alfie Lamb sit between her legs in the rear footwell of an Audi A4 convertible during a shopping trip.

Her boyfriend Stephen Waterson, the adopted son of former Tory minister Nigel Waterson, is said to have moved his electric seat backwards on to Alfie in a fit of childish temper, jurors were told.

Adrian Hoare, 23, has been found guilty of child cruelty after her son, Alfie Lamb, 3, was died of a heart attack in hospital three days after being crushed by a car seat during a shopping trip in Sutton, South London, on February 1 last year

Hoare had let Alfie sit between her legs in the rear footwell of an Audi A4 convertible. He was then crushed when Hoare's boyfriend, Stephen Waterson, is said to have moved his electric seat backwards on to Alfie in a fit of childish temper'

The boy was crushed at the touch of a button and he suffered a heart attack. Alfie died in hospital three days later when his life support was switched off.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court the youngsters all too short life was brought to an early, tragic, and needless end.

Hoare sobbed yesterday when she was found guilty of child cruelty and of assaulting a witness. She was cleared of manslaughter.

Alfie died in hospital three days later when his life support was switched off. A jury at the Old Bailey failed to determine if Waterson (pictured) was guilty of manslaughter but he was found guilty of intimidation of a witness in the case and will face a retrial on the manslaughter charge

The Old Bailey jury failed to reach a decision on whether Waterson was guilty of manslaughter but found him guilty of intimidation of a witness in the case.

He faces a retrial on the manslaughter charge.

Hoare and Waterson both previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by making false statements to the police.

It can now be revealed that a serious case review has been launched to examine whether social services departments could have done more to protect the toddler.

Alfie and his mother were known to social services when they lived with the boys biological father Richard Lamb in Chatham, Kent.

Lamb become violent towards the end of their relationship and set fire to Hoares flat when she broke up with him. He was subsequently jailed for three years for arson.

Social workers from Medway Council monitored Hoare to see if she was capable of looking after Alfie on her own, the Old Bailey was told.

But months later she moved to Blackpool where she met Waterson before moving into his flat in Croydon, South London.

It remains unclear whether Hoare and Alfie had any contact with the social services in these two areas. The serious case review is being carried out by Medway Safeguarding Childrens Board. A source said it is being carried out for learning and improvement.

Alfie was sitting in the footwell of the Audi when Waterson put his seat back to stretch his legs on the return from a shopping trip in February last year, the court was told.

When Alfie cried out in pain, he angrily forced his chair back a second time because he refused to be told what to do by a three-year-old.

Waterson had put his seat back to 'stretch his legs' but when Alfie cried out in pain, he angrily forced his chair back a second time because he refused to be told what to do by a three-year-old

Instead of telling Waterson to put his seat forward, Hoare told her choking child to shut up. When he went quiet she thought he was asleep. And when she lifted his limp body out of the car, she thought he was play-acting.

By the time an ambulance was called, Alfie had suffered a heart attack. He died three days later.

Summing up the case, Mr Atkinson said: The person upon who Alfie was most entitled to rely on failed him fundamentally and fatally.

When the police opened their investigation, Waterson gave a false name to officers and repeatedly lied about what happened, jurors were told. Both he and Hoare threatened two other people who had been in the car.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, who led the inquiry, said: I dont think anyone could imagine the pain Alfie went through.

Hoare and Waterson will be sentenced on March 4.
Atencion! Atencion! Raise your fists. Hoist the red flag. Strike up the revolutionary trumpets of La Bayamesa, Cubas national anthem. Our Dear Leader wishes to address a grateful nation.

Jeremy Corbyn has finally responded to the outbreak of treachery from within his great party.

And where could a grateful nation see this urgent national broadcast? Via a home video posted on Twitter, of course.

Not for Mr Corbyn the mainstream media, where he might be tripped up by a rigorous television interviewer.

Jeremy Corbyn posted his response to the 'treachery from within his great party'

Of course, there were no Castro-style bullet-belts draped across his spindly frame, no victory cheroot clasped menacingly between his molars. Nor was there any crackling of celebratory Kalashnikov fire in the background.

Not yet, anyway. These are but early days in the Corbynista revolution, comrades.

Head skewed to one side, Jezzas message was defiant. His tone mildly sinister. The eight cockroaches who deserted the Labour Party, he said, had done so simply to sit with disaffected Tory MPs.

This was a bizarre interpretation. Surely, burly Mike Gapes (Ilford South) hadnt given up the party to which hed dedicated his life since 1968 to become colleagues with Tory defector Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire), whose corporate career has included working for ExxonMobil? For months, Mr Corbyn was accused of hiding from allegations of anti-Semitism.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made an address via Twitter earlier today

But yesterday, the Dear Leader insisted that Labour are the Jewish peoples biggest allies. Fighting anti-Semitism is his top priority.

This reminded me of that eerie final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when, having been rescued by Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant is handed to shady government agents. Top men would investigate it, they say, only for the audience to see it being buried away in the archives.

There was some other flim-flam about rebalancing society and rebuilding public services, delivering the Labour government people need, etc.

Otherwise, this was just 101 seconds of denial and delusion. Certainly not a contender for a Short Film (Live Action) award in Sundays Oscars. Compare and contrast  as exam papers at my school commanded  Mr Corbyns reaction to his defecting MPs with Theresa Mays genuinely sorrowful-sounding remarks about the three Tory resignations.

And so off Mr Corbyn tootled to Brussels for talks with the EUs urbane Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. He was accompanied by podgy Action Man doll Sir Keir Starmer MP (Holborn and St Pancras), the shadow Brexit secretary.

Alongside them was shadow attorney general Lady Chakrabarti, in funereal black. Grief-stricken and Bambi-eyed, she looked sadder than Karl Lagerfelds poor orphaned cat Choupette.

What she might have been mourning wasnt clear  neither was what all three were doing in the capital of the EU, which Mr Corbyn once described as totally unaccountable to anybody.

As far as Im aware, the Opposition has no negotiatory powers. Regardless, Mr Corbyn said his talks had been useful and informative.

Mr C, Sir K and Lady C seemed jolly flattered by all the attention. There were even unctuous words for the EU Parliaments creepy-looking Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt. We have a very constructive relationship, said Mr Corbyn meaninglessly.

I wonder how many times theyve actually met?

And with that, this peculiar trio turned and began their short journey across the Channel. Talk about useful idiots.
Hello, Mum! Look at me! Im in the House of Commons! The young man waving at the camera seems to have wandered into the chamber after getting separated from a school trip to Parliament.

Turns out he isnt some Just William wannabe who forgot to take his Ritalin that morning and got lost in the labyrinth of corridors and committee rooms at Westminster.

Hes the Scottish National Party member for Glasgow East, David Linden, aged 28-going-on-nine, judging by this photo.

And when I assumed he was a stray from a party of school kids, I wasnt far off the mark. On the day he took up his seat in 2017, he found time to post a selfie online, posing with a new pencil case his mother had bought him to mark his first day in class.

This was the waving selfie taken by members of the SNP after they arrived in the Commons

You couldnt make it up.

Linden may only be a spear carrier in the great political pantomime, but hes determined to thrust himself centre stage. He certainly made the most of his proximity to the Labour deserters on the backbenches. Here was one photie-opportunity he wasnt going to miss.

Neither was the woman in the bottom left-hand corner. Im assuming shes SNP, too. Whoever she is, she couldnt resist pulling a goofy face, like Bernie Winters sticking his head out of the curtain at the Glasgow Empire.

Oh, no, theres two of them!

What made her think this was the time to play the Westminster village idiot?

A few rows behind her sat the seven MPs who resigned the Labour whip on Monday, precipitating  so we are told  the greatest crisis in British politics since the Corn Laws. Or was it Suez? I really should pay more attention.

Despite the magnitude of their treachery/bravery (depending on your point of view) they were all smiles. The chap who looks like Inspector Morses boss, DCS Strange, and the bloke sitting next to him even went to the trouble of dressing in identical Man at C&A suits, matching shirts and purple ties.

(Perhaps they are rehearsing for the leading roles in The Mike And Bernie Winters Story, a new motion picture from the makers of Stan & Ollie.)

Selfie taken by Luciana Berger and posted on her Instagram

And what were the seven rebels all doing on this Momentous occasion, if youll pardon the pun?

Posing for a ruddy selfie.

Elsewhere, MPs were glued to their mobile phones, possibly anticipating this historic picture being live-streamed on Facebook or posted on Instagram, whatever that is.

I dont know about you, but Ive always considered the use of mobiles in the Commons chamber to be not only the height of bad manners, but a gross dereliction of duty.

They are supposed to be there to listen to speeches, to scrutinise legislation and debate the issues of the day. Instead, most MPs seem to be more interested in their own Twitter feeds. We dont let schoolchildren play with phones in class, so why should members of Parliament be any different?

Taking selfies in the chamber is only the latest depressing development. Is it any wonder that politicians have never been held in such low esteem?

They always manage to make everything about them, no matter how much they like to pretend they are acting out of principle, in the national interest.

Truth is, theyre all living in their own movie, as this revealing picture proves.

When it was taken, and naturally stuck up on Twitter, the eighth Labour rebel, Joan Ryan, had yet to arrive.

She was still making her way to the House in triumphant procession, arm-in-arm with the three Tory MPs who resigned this week  Soubry Loo, Heidi-Hi and Dr Wossname.

They seemed to be channelling that famous Boots The Chemist commercial, music by Allen Toussaint and Ernie K Doe.

Here Come The Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls!

They looked like the political version of Posh, Shorty, Ginger, Scary and the little blonde job, only a couple of decades older. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Old Spice Girls.

When they landed in the Commons, they made straight for their fellow revolutionaries on the backbenches, to be greeted with hugs, kisses, handshakes, high-fives and selfies all round.

Whatever principled motives they claim for doing a Guy Fawkes on their respective parties, the celebrations stuck in the craw.

Luciana Berger catches sight of the camera and flashes a smile

They all seem to be enjoying the moment a little too much. As I wrote on Tuesday, with exception of the ubiquitous and ferociously ambitious Chucky Umunna, until now most people had no idea who any of them were.

Apart, that is, from Soubry Loo, who shot to fame as a result of her increasingly deranged anti-Brexit act after the referendum went against her.

Yesterday, she popped up as guest host on an LBC Radio phone-in, full of unwarranted self-righteousness and barking at anyone who dared to disagree with her. She even played the fem-card, accusing one male critic of mansplaining.

So thrilled was she with the hectoring sound of her own voice, that she had to be reminded through her headphones by a producer to take an advert break.

Dont give up the day-job, pet. Sorry, I forgot. You just did.

Look, I acknowledge absolutely that Luciana Berger had no option other than to quit over Labours disgusting, institutional anti-Semitism. And, yes, the other Labour MPs have legitimate grievances about the direction their party has taken.

But the one thing they all have in common, and with the three Tories, is a fervent determination to stop Brexit, despite 17.4 million people voting to Leave. Thats what drives them and binds them together.

These self-styled rebels are rebelling against the very people they are paid to represent.

Even those like me who think Mother Theresas risible deal is a humiliating betrayal of historic proportions must reluctantly accept that we are going to have to swallow some fairly unpalatable compromises if were going to get out in one piece.

Best hope now is that we can pick the bones out of it later.

The past, tawdry two-and-a-half years have exposed virtually the entire political class, with a few honourable exceptions, as fundamentally anti-democratic and self-obsessed.

And just as push is coming to shove, some maverick MPs on both sides of the House have thrown their toys out of the pram to manufacture an unnecessary political diversion which could easily have waited until after March 29, when Britain should (repeat, should) leave the EU, in some shape or form.

Yet instead of knuckling down to the task in hand, they have decided to play silly buggers.

Its not just the rebels in this snapshot of life in the Mother of Parliaments, its the rest of them, too  a bunch of overgrown, over-entitled schoolchildren, gurning for the camera and gawping at their mobiles. Do they have any idea how this plays in the real world outside their hermetically sealed bubble? Probably not.

They could do worse to listen to Positively 4th Street and heed the words of Bob Dylan.

I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes. Youd know what a drag it is to see you.

Maybe instead of posing for selfies, they should take a hard look in the mirror. Better still, pin this photo to their fridges.
The UK must take back British jihadis in Syria  or face the prospect of them making their own way back to carry out a wave of terror attacks, the head of the forces holding them said yesterday.

Abdul Karim Omar, the de facto foreign minister in the Kurdish-held north of the country, said his Syrian Democratic Forces had done their duty by defeating Islamic State, and now Britain must play its part.

In a stark warning, he said the baby of jihadi bride Shamima Begum and dozens of other children could become 'ticking time bombs' if left in the Middle East.

Abdul Karim Omar, the de facto foreign minister in the Kurdish-held north of the country claims Shamima Begum's baby could be a ticking time bombs' if left in Syria

Mr Omar said there were around 1,500 children of Islamic State fighters in northern Syria's refugee camps, along with 800 foreign fighters and 700 foreign wives.

At least six British jihadis are being held in prisons, including two members of the notorious 'Beatles' gang accused of beheading western hostages. UK intelligence agencies believe there are dozens of British women and their children spread across three refugee camps.

Mr Omar, joint head of foreign relations for the UK and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, warned many were likely to escape or be set free in fighting which will follow western forces leaving the country.

He said: 'This region is not stable politically and militarily and, of course, if there is war and attacks, those fighters and their wives will come back to Britain and be terrorists. Not only the fighters but also the children. If they are not rehabilitated in their countries of origin they will be ticking time bombs.'

He added: 'We did our duty here in this region. We were able to finish ISIS and capture a lot of them here.

'These countries should do their duty as well and take their citizens and judge them and take their wives and children too. Britain should take responsibility for its citizens here. They should take Shamima and the others back.'

At least six British jihadis are being held in prisons, including two members of the notorious 'Beatles' gang accused of beheading western hostages

Mr Omar said Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from the region is a mistake which will lead to a 'repeat of the Iraq war', when British and American forces pulled out too soon and left a power vacuum in which Islamic State was able to grow. He warned the world could face a new extremist group even worse than IS.

'The withdrawal of the US-led coalition before finding a political solution will make another space for terrorists here,' he added. 'For example there was Al Qaeda in Iraq and after the US withdrawal they got ISIS.'

Mr Omar, who has a British passport and previously lived in London, also warned of another refugee crisis if the UK and other countries did not help.

He said: 'We will get attacks from many sides  ISIS, Turkey and the Assad regime.

'We will have a resistance against these attacks and there will be huge war and this will create huge immigration.

'There are four million here in the camps and all of those refugees will move again to Europe. The problem is huge we cannot deal with it alone. It is an international issue so everyone should deal with it.'
An Australian father who is accused of shoplifting a Gucci handbag in Bali has appeared in court insisting he 'forgot' to pay for the item.

Bilal Kalache, 43, of Sydney, was arrested on January 10 after he allegedly swiped a $1,250 designer purse from a Kuta duty-free shop in the Bali Galiera shopping centre.

During his first court appearance on Thursday, Kalache represented himself and denied stealing, claiming a store employee told him he could pay for the bag later at the airport - which staff have denied, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Bilal Kalache, 43, who is accused of shoplifting a Gucci handbag in Bali appeared in court on Thursday insisting he 'forgot' to pay for the item

This is the Gucci crossbody bag Kalache is accused of stealing at a Kuta duty free shop on January 10

He said he then forgot to pay for the purse after employees asked him to leave the store.

Duty-free staff allegedly tried to chase down Kalache, who was on holiday with his son and a friend, but when they arrived at the address he had given them they found he was not staying there.

He was later stopped at the airport by police who alleged found the Gucci purse inside the son's bag.

Kalache was arrested and jailed in a Kerobokan prison.

According to reports, the trio had arrived at the store around 4pm and asked a shop assistant for a black bag from a showcase.

When the employee stepped to the back of the store to collect the item, Kalache then allegedly grabbed a different coloured Gucci sling bag, throwing it over his shoulder.

Kalache allegedly swiped a $1,250 designer purse from a Kuta duty-free shop in the Bali Galiera shopping centre (pictured)

When he approached the cashier to pay up there was some kind of verbal argument between the shop assistant and Kalache's friend.

Kalache allegedly told the assistant to apologise before leaving with both bags.

'The suspect then left the Gucci store with his son and friend,' Kuta police investigator Putu Ika Prabawa said.

'When they left the store the bag that was slung across the suspect's body hadn't been paid for.'

Kalache faces a maximum five-year sentence for theft.
Shocking abuse suffered by animals at the hands of their owners have been detailed in an annual 'list of shame'.

New Zealand's Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) released their 'List of Shame' on Friday, revealing 15 vile cases of neglect and violence against defenceless pets.

Included on the list were two poodles who had been ignored and left in a garage for two years, 40 German Shepherds tethered on short leashes and living among their own waste, and a dog named George was who was regularly beaten and shot with a BB gun by his vicious owner.

A chestnut gelding was found starving with skeletal features visible and covered in insects at a property in the Waikato

Two dogs named Tank and Sass were found extremely thin with one chained to to a carport post in Whanganui

A dog named Nellie was found chained to a house and living among debris in Auckland

Daisy and Lola, two elderly poodle cross dogs, were found in a garage by SPCA inspectors, and they were so affected by neglect that they 'didn't look like dogs anymore'.

They had been neglected by their owner for two years, and it took a team of six vets and nurses two hours to remove their severely matted fur.

SPCA inspector Kelly King rescued Daisy and Lola, and said they 'didn't even look like dogs' when they were found.

Both dogs suffered from arthritis, dental diseases, were deaf due to ear infections and were nearly blind.

They received dental surgery, had their ears cleaned, infections treated and given pain relief before being adopted out together to a new home where they are thriving.

Forty German Shepherds were rescued from a puppy farm where dogs were tethered on short leashes and tangled up in urine-soaked newspaper.

Daisy and Lola, two elderly poodle cross dogs, were found in a garage by SPCA inspectors, and they were so affected by neglect that they 'didn't look like dogs anymore'

A dog named George was regularly beaten and shot at by his owner over an eight-month period

The dogs were rescued are now living with new families. The breeders face 79 charges under the Animal Welfare Act, but they deny any wrongdoing.

A dog named George was regularly beaten by his owner over an eight-month period.

Neighbours and witnesses saw George being kicked, punched, strangled, beaten with weapons, shot with a BB gun and verbally abused at a home in Christchurch.

Forty German Shepherds were rescued from a puppy farm where dogs were tethered on short leashes and tangled up in urine-soaked newspaper

The dogs were rescued are now living with new families. The breeders face 79 charges under the Animal Welfare Act, but they deny any wrongdoing

A five-week-old kitten named Westy was found dumped in a rubbish bin in a park in Napier suffering from flu and runny eyes

She was cared for by SPCA staff but later died, suffering from flu and runny eyes

George was rescued, his owner sentenced and the dog is now living with a new family.

A five-week-old kitten named Westy was found dumped in a rubbish bin in a park in Napier suffering from flu and runny eyes.

She was cared for by SPCA staff but later died.

A pony club president was convicted after failing to provide medical care for his pony Cashew

Cashew suffered from chronic laminitis and often laid on the ground due to experiencing extreme pain at a property in the Manawatu

A staffy-kelpie puppy named Turbo's throat was slit in an attack by his owner's housemate

A pony club president was convicted after failing to provide medical care for his pony Cashew.

Cashew suffered from chronic laminitis and often laid on the ground due to experiencing extreme pain at a property in the Manawatu.

Animal rescuers had no choice but to euthanise Cashew to put him out of his misery.

A dog named Nellie was found chained to a house and living among debris in Auckland.

She was very thin and had open sores on her legs and body. The emaciated carcass of another dog named Buster was lying in a shallow grave near where she was found.

A veterinary pathologist found that Buster starved for weeks, and his stomach and large intestines were full of leaves and yellow fluid.

Rottweiler puppy Sky was beaten by her owner when he was angry, and the owner's flatmate said he saw the owner dragging Sky to her kennel and holding his hands over her nose so she couldn't breathe

Sky was found limping with an untreated leg fracture (pictured) and was rescued by the SPCA

Sparrows, pigeons and other birds were found with trinkets and tinsel tied around their necks in Wellington, causing many of them to die

Nellie physically recovered but she had to be euthanised when her aggressive behaviour could not be changed.

A staffy-kelpie puppy named Turbo's throat was slit in an attack by his owner's housemate.

He died in a pool of blood while being held by his owner.

Rottweiler puppy Sky was beaten by her owner when he was angry, and the owner's flatmate said he saw the owner dragging Sky to her kennel and holding his hands over her nose so she couldn't breathe.

Sky was removed from the home in Waihi and adopted by new owners.

Sparrows, pigeons and other birds were found with trinkets and tinsel tied around their necks in Wellington, causing many of them to die.

An elderly Jack Russell named Skipper was stabbed in the neck with a filleting knife by a friend of his owner as a joke in Christchurch

The friend had joked about euthanising Skipper due to his age and health

The decorations restricted the birds movement and caused many of them to die from starvation.

A chestnut gelding was found starving with skeletal features visible and covered in insects at a property in the Waikato.

The horse had missing teeth, and stuggled to eat for months. A veterinarian concluded that the horse wouldn't survive another week, and he was euthanised.

An elderly Jack Russell named Skipper was stabbed in the neck with a filleting knife by a friend of his owner as a joke in Christchurch.

The friend had joked about euthanising Skipper due to his age and health.

A Neapolitan mastiff cross named Goliath was found chained to a running wire with no access to water in Northland.

He had hair loss on his legs and his ears had been severely bitten by flies.

A Neapolitan mastiff cross named Goliath was found chained to a running wire with no access to water in Northland

He had hair loss on his legs and his ears had been severely bitten by flies

After a year in SPCA care, Goliath developed several malignant tumours and was euthanised.

Two dogs named Tank and Sass were found extremely thin with one chained to to a carport post in Whanganui.

Both dogs were infected with intestinal worms and fleas. They have been adopted by new families.

Three dogs named Tama, Big Boy and Haze were deliberately starved by their owner in Northland.

The trauma of being abused by their owner left Tama and Big Boy aggressive and unable to be rehomed, and they had to be euthanised.

Haze was adopted by a new family.

Three dogs named Tama, Big Boy and Haze were deliberately starved by their owner in Northland
Federal prosecutors in Florida violated the rights of victims by secretly reaching a non-prosecution agreement with wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

President Trump's Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta was the U.S. attorney for Southern Florida in 2008 when the agreement was negotiated.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra said Thursday the more than 30 underaged victims of Epstein should have been consulted about the deal Acosta's office negotiated.

A federal judge ruled victims' rights were violated by a deal then-U.S. attorney Alex Acosta helped negotiate with financier Jeffrey Epstein; Acosta, now Labor Secretary, is seen above at a White House meeting with President Trump

Jeffrey Epstein's sweet heart deal gave him federal immunity and a mere 13 months in jail

The judge stopped short of invalidating the agreement but asked prosecutors and the victims' lawyers to recommend in 15 days how to move forward.

Acosta, now serving in President Trump's Cabinet, has defended agreement with Epstein as appropriate given what prosecutors knew and could prove at the time, especially with many victims reluctant to testify.

Marra, in his 33-page opinion, said that the evidence he reviewed showed Epstein had been operating an international sex operation in which he and others recruited underage girls - both in the U.S. and overseas - in violation of federal law.

'Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him.,' Marra wrote. 'Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others.'

Marra said in his ruling he was not passing judgment on whether the deal should have been struck, only that victims' rights were violated.

'While the government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the (agreement) with Epstein's attorneys, scant information was shared with victims,' Marra wrote. 'Instead, the victims were told to be 'patient' while the investigation proceeded.'

The law, Marra added, 'lends itself to only one interpretation; namely, that victims should be notified of significant events resulting in resolution of their case without a trial.'

The Miami Herald dropped a bombshell report in November detailing how Epstein was granted the sweetheart plea deal by Acosta and other federal attorneys.

Acosta, then the U.S. attorney in Miami, helped negotiate the non-prosecution agreement that gave Epstein, 66, immunity from federal prosecution and ended a probe that could have put him in prison for life.

The wealthy, politically connected financier instead pleaded guilty to lesser state charges, spent 13 months in jail, paid financial settlements to victims - most of whom were between 13 and 16 years old - and is a registered sex offender.

The agreement also granted immunity to anyone who assisted Epstein in finding the underage girls or concealing the abuse.

Acosta also agreed to seal the deal, which meant that none of Epstein's victims were told about it until it was too late for them to object.

'Particularly problematic was the Government's decision to conceal the existence of the NPA and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility,' Marra wrote.

Bradley Edwards, attorney for two victims who filed a lawsuit, said Marra's decision should mean the non-prosecution agreement is thrown out - possibly exposing Epstein to federal charges once again.

'Rather than work to correct the injustices done to the victims, the government spent 10 years defending its own improper conduct,' Edwards said in an email. 'It is time for the government to work with the victims, and not against them, to hold everyone who committed these crimes accountable.'

Jeffrey Epstein is shown in custody in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 2008

Acosta has defended the deal as the best available at the time

The Miami U.S. attorney's office declined comment Thursday.

The Justice Department recently opened a separate investigation into the handling of the Epstein case to determine whether prosecutors committed professional misconduct.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department run by Acosta issued a statement saying the secretary welcomes the Justice Department probe.

'For more than a decade, this prosecution has been reviewed in great detail by newspaper articles, television reports, books, and congressional testimony,' the statement said, adding that 'the actions taken were in accordance with department practices, procedures, and the law.'

Court documents show Epstein had a Palm Beach, Florida, mansion where at least 40 underage girls were brought for what turned into sexual encounters.

Authorities say he had female fixers who would look for suitable girls, some local and others recruited from Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

Before the scandal broke, Epstein was friends with Trump and had visited his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump at the time told interviewers that Epstein was 'a great guy.'

Records also show former President Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's jet more than two dozen times on various philanthropic trips. Neither Trump nor Clinton have been implicated in any wrongdoing.

Epstein also has a home in New York City, a ranch in New Mexico and a private Caribbean island.
A 28-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a beach has been revealed to be the son of a Western Australian police officer.

Djron Michael Hansen is charged with sexually assaulting a 46-year-old woman as she walked along a beach path in Mullaloo about 5am on Christmas Eve last year.

Police allege the woman was grabbed from behind by the man, who was naked at the time, approximately 300 metres north of Mullaloo Beach northern car park.

Djron Michael Hansen is charged with sexually assaulting a 46-year-old woman as she walked along a beach path (pictured) in Mullaloo about 5am on Christmas Eve last year

He allegedly dragged the woman to the ground and covered her eyes and nose with a cloth, before he stuffed a piece of material in her mouth, Perth Now reported.

The court was on Thursday told the woman was sexually assaulted by the man until she was able to break free from his grasp after she bit him, it's alleged.

Following the alleged attack, the woman claimed she saw her naked attacker flee the scene on foot.

The 28-year-old Eglington man has since been charged with sexual penetration without consent.

Hansen, who wasn't required to enter a plea on Thursday, was refused bail by Magistrate Sandra De Maio who told the court there was 'strong prosecution case'.

The court also heard Hansen was charged after DNA allegedly found on the victim matched a sample he provided two weeks earlier for a separate sex offence.

Police allege the woman was grabbed from behind by the man, who was naked at the time, approximately 300 metres north of Mullaloo beach (pictured) car park (North)

No one has been charged over the separate sex offence.

Hansen's defence lawyer told the court his client came from a stable home, had no prior convictions and was the sole provider for his partner and two children.

The lawyer also described how the community should ensure the 'young indigenous man' - who is the son of a WA police sergeant - doesn't 'fall into custody'.

Hansen was remanded in custody and will face Perth Magistrate's Court on March 21.
Commitment by Azerbaijan and Armenia to prepare their populations for peace is a very promising signal, Trend reports citing Thomas Greminger, Secretary General of the OSCE.

He made the remarks during the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna.

We hope to see progress in the Minsk process working towards a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The committment by the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan to prepare their populations for peace is a very promising signal. I would like to stress the need to intensify our efforts to work together contructively in all the existing mediation formats, said Greminger.
Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was refused bail in Maryland on Thursday on drug and gun charges while prosecutors gather evidence to support more serious charges involving what they portrayed as a domestic terror plot by a man who espoused white-supremacist views

A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who is accused of drawing up a hit list of top Democrats and had plans to carry out a domestic terror attack is being held without bail.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was refused bail in Maryland on Thursday on drug and gun charges while prosecutors gather evidence to support more serious charges involving what they portrayed as a domestic terror plot by a man who espoused white-supremacist views.

Hasson, a former Marine who worked at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, was arrested last week. Federal agents found 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition following a raid on his basement apartment in Silver Spring.

They allege that Hasson began the process of targeting specific victims and had compiled a list of prominent congressional Democrats, 2020 presidential candidates, activists and media commentators.

Hasson's list of prominent Democrats included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Blumenthal and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

The list - created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet - also included mentions of John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, according to the court filing.

In February 2018, he searched the internet for the 'most liberal senators,' as well as searching 'do senators have ss (secret service) protection' and 'are supreme court justices protected,' according to the court filing.

His online search records show he searched for 'joe Scarborough' after reading media headlines that said the MSNBC Morning Joe host had referred to President Trump as 'the worst ever'. He also searched 'where is morning joe filmed' and looked up where the TV host lived.

Federal agents seized 15 firearms - including several long-guns and rifles - and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a raid on his cramped basement apartment

Hasson created the hit list in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (pictured above) that included prominent Democrats, 2020 presidential candidates, activists and media commentators

In arguing against bail on Thursday, federal prosecutor Jennifer Sykes said Hasson would log onto his government computer during work and spend hours searching for information on such people as the Unabomber, the Virginia Tech gunman and anti-abortion bomber Eric Rudolph.

Sykes said the charges so far are just the 'tip of the iceberg' and called Hasson a 'domestic terrorist' who appeared to be planning attacks inspired by the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage.

Public defender Julie Stelzig accused prosecutors of making inflammatory accusations against her client without providing the evidence to back them up. 'It is not a crime to think negative thoughts about people,' she said.

She also questioned whether the government is trying to make an example out of Hasson, given criticism that authorities have overlooked domestic terrorists.

'Perhaps now they can say, 'Look, we're not targeting only Muslims,' she said.

Stelzig said Hasson doesn't have a criminal record and has served 28 years in the Coast Guard. She described him as a 'committed public servant' and a loving husband and father.

Hasson spent about $14,000 on weapons, survival gear and other equipment, Sykes said. But public defender argued that the number of firearms found in Hasson's apartment is 'modest, at best' for many gun collectors in other parts of the country.

'There is nothing I'm seeing in here that would show he was stockpiling weapons,' Stelzig said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day agreed to keep Hasson behind bars but said he is willing to revisit his decision in 14 days if prosecutors haven't brought more serious charges by then.

It comes after court papers alleged that Hasson had espoused extremist views for years.

The court papers detail a June 2017 draft email in which Hasson wrote that he was 'dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth' and pondered how he might be able to acquire anthrax and toxins to create botulism or a deadly influenza.

In the same email, Hasson described an 'interesting idea' that included 'biological attacks followed by attack on food supply' as well as a bombing and sniper attacks, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

In September 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and 'identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland,' according to the court documents.

Hasson developed a spreadsheet of 'targets' that included Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and Freshman congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (right)

Senator Richard Blumenthal (left) and Beto O'Rourke were also on Hasson's (right) hit-list, which was created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Prosecutors allege that Hasson visited thousands of websites that sold guns and researched military tactical manuals on improvised munitions over the last two years. He sometimes used his work computer to carry out these searches.

Federal agents seized 15 firearms - including several long-guns and rifles - and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a raid on his cramped basement apartment.

'The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct,' prosecutors wrote in court papers.

The documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack. However an investigation revealed he searched the Internet using phrases such as 'best place in dc to see congress people' and 'are supreme court justices protected'.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland detailed that Hasson had planned to unleash destruction and violence in public places and against individuals in court documents.

'The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,' the court documents said.

It is not clear why federal agents began investigating investigating him but authorities said Hasson had harbored extremist views for years.

Prosecutors said Hasson routinely researched and read portions of a 1,500 page manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage in Norway.

The manifesto outlined how Breivik orchestrated his attacks with the aim of providing a road-map for others planning similar terrorist operations, the U.S. court filings said. Prosecutors said it instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools.

Law enforcement found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormones (above) during a raid on Hasson's apartment. They allege that he was taken the drugs because Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik had taken steroids and narcotics because he believed this would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks

Hasson appeared to be a chronic user of the opioid painkiller Tramadol and had ordered more than 4,200 pills from Mexico over a three-year period. Pictured is a screenshot of his order history that was included in court documents

Hasson also expressed admiration for Russia.

'Looking to Russia with hopeful eyes or any land that despises the west's liberalism,' he wrote in the draft email.

Prosecutors say during the past two years he had regularly searched online for pro-Russian as well as neo-Nazi literature.

The Norwegian terrorist, Breivi, had taken steroids and narcotics and he believed this would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks.

When law enforcement raided Hasson's apartment, they allegedly found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormones.

Hasson appeared to be a chronic user of the opioid painkiller Tramadol and had ordered more than 4,200 pills from Mexico over a three-year period.

According to court documents, authorities found Tramadol in his desk at work and observed him on surveillance taking some of the pills just days before his arrest.

He had also purchased a flask filled with four ounces of 'synthetic urine' online, prosecutors said. Authorities suspect Hasson had purchased fake urine to use in case he was randomly selected for a drug test.

Prosecutors said Hasson routinely researched and read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik (pictured above)

Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage in Norway. Pictured is the aftermath of the terror attack

Hasson had been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016.

He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps between 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid nineties, according to court documents.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Scott McBride, said Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters.

'An active duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice,' McBride told The Washington Post.

McBride declined to comment further citing the open investigation.

The chief at the federal defender's office in Maryland - which is representing Hasson - also declined to comment on the allegations.

He was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but prosecutors say those charges are the 'proverbial tip of the iceberg.'

Hasson is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt at 1pm on Thursday.
Police are hunting two 'sword-weilding' men after a 23-year-old man was stabbed to death 'while playing table tennis' at a south London youth club yesterday evening.

The victim, who has been named locally as Glendon Spence, was knifed in the groin and died at the Marcus Lipton youth centre in Brixton in south London.

He was pronounced dead at the scene in Minet Road less than an hour after police were called and youths at the club were said to be 'shocked and traumatised'.

A 23-year-old man named locally as Glendon Spence was fatally stabbed at the Marcus Lipton youth centre on Minet Road (pictured) in Brixton, south London, yesterday evening

Mr Spence is said to have been stabbed twice in a 'targeted attack' while he was playing table tennis at the club, reports the Evening Standard.

Locals rushed to stem the bleeding after the stabbing and said that Mr Spence was visiting from Croydon.

Police rushed to the scene by a ten-storey apartment block in Brixton and used a defibrillator to try and restart his heart.

Despite paramedics arriving within six minutes he was pronounced dead at 7.27pm.

Resident Maxine Dawson, 46, said: 'I wasn't there in the beginning but I came down as a concerned parent, those inside told me what they saw.

'There were two men running with big knives, sword-looking knives - the attack happened inside.

'One man come out and said that two young boys were wearing hoods, no balaclavas, they were maybe 18.

'They couldn't locate the parents of Glendon - they don't even have a register for the children there.

'There were children, some seven or eight years old coming out of there, I can just imagine the way they are traumatised by what they saw.

'Everybody run and left him there, you can't call those people your friends.

Local residents said children 'as young as seven or eight' were at the youth centre last night

It is believed Mr Spence was stabbed in the groin. Pictured are forensic police officers at the scene today

'People come here from Clapham Common, people from Kennington, people come here from all over the place it's a gang thing.'

Carer Sandra Smith said at the scene: 'My son was with him last night in the centre playing table tennis. He is devastated.

'I was trying to get hold of my son Charlie, he is 25, but his phone is switched off now. The victim's name was Glendon, he was always at my house - five minutes away from here.

'You have some boys giving trouble, but not him, nobody could say that he was a troublemaker. He was quiet, very quiet, sometimes it stands outside and I would say to him come on, come in.

'He was from Croydon. He would come over to my house all the time and play computer games - he was not involved in any gangs.'

A relative told the Evening Standard: 'It hurts me to hear this because he is young, only 23. He promised to come over my house in the future but now there is no future for him.'

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Norman said that witnesses may fear repercussions if they came forward over the apparently 'premeditated and targeted' assault.

He said: 'This was an appalling attack on a young man in a youth centre - a place where he was entitled to feel safe.

'The youth centre was open at the time and sadly many young people present would have witnessed what unfolded.

'Many of them will be shocked and traumatised by what they saw and perhaps fearful of potential reprisals if they speak to police.'

Police officers were still outside the centre, pictured, today and a cordon was in place

The youth club was surrounded by a cordon on Friday morning as police carried out a 'painstaking' investigation.

Flowers were seen inside a police cordon, which were for a 'promising footballer', 15, killed in 2012.

Marcus Lipton Youth Club, is a well-known spot for teenagers to hang out with many using its football pitch.

One local said that 'things are getting mad' in the area, adding: 'You see flashing lights all the time, you don't even bother looking out now.'

Pastor and community campaigner Lorraine Jones said she had heard a fight had broken out at the youth club and the man was stabbed.

It is believed Mr Spence was stabbed in the groin.

Pastor Jones, whose 20-year-old son Dwayne Simpson was stabbed in Brixton in 2014, added: 'All I know was that there was a fight and a young man got stabbed.

'The police were called, they tried to do CPR with a defibrillator, the ambulance came and pronounced him dead.'

Pastor Jones, who lives nearby, said the youth club was one of only two in the area serving around 8,000 children.

She added: 'They are under pressure right now. There should be maximum support for the workers to expand and strengthen what they are doing for young people.'

Another neighbour said that there were often young people at the club, with many using its football pitch.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'Police were called at approximately 18:45hrs on Thursday, 21 February to reports of a man stabbed on Minet Road, SW9.

'Officers attended and provided the victim with first aid. The London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance also attended.'

No arrests have been made. Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555.

The Sidali Mohammed stabbing scene (pictured) at Joseph Chamberlain College on January 13

Earlier on Thursday police launched a murder investigation after a teenager was stabbed to death in the street and a 15-year-old boy was left injured in a horrific knife attack.

The 16-year-old was found with fatal knife wounds by officers near a park in Small Heath, Birmingham, at around 8pm last night.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, while a 15-year-old boy who was also assaulted was treated for minor injuries.

The stabbing comes five days after another 16-year-old schoolboy died in hospital following a knife attack outside a sixth-form college in the same city.

Mohammed Sidali was stabbed outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath on February 13.

It is also the fourth stabbing inside eight days, after a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 20s were attacked in separate incidents in the city on Sunday.

ONS figures reveal that West Midlands Police have recorded a 72 per cent rise in knife crime between April 2013 and the year ending March 2018.
A man is in hospital in a critical condition after being shot in the head last night.

The man, 53, was shot on Spraypoint Drive, Point Cook in Melbourne's west just before 11pm.

Paramedics and police were called to the scene and the man has been taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital.

A man, 53, was shot in the head at Spraypoint Drive, Point Cook in Melbourne's west just before 11pm last night

Neighbour Suhair Bdeiwe told Herald Sun: 'I was awake, I heard a big bang and I saw a white ute driving off.

'I hear just one [gunshot]. I thought something had crashed. I saw the body, just in the middle, on the street.'

Police are searching for the attacker who fled the scene before they arrived.

Acting Inspector Trish Duke said: 'Police at the present time are containing a crime scene but also we are looking for witnesses in the area.'

They urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Teamwork makes the dream work and in some cases, it helps people nab would be criminals.

A hilarious video shows three forklift drivers stop a would-be robbers from stealing from a construction site in the Czech Republic.

In the brief clip, the thieves can be seen trying to flee the lot that is packed with construction workers for the company. The suspects are driving a red car.

Scroll down for video.

A hilarious video shows three forklift drivers stop a would-be robbers from stealing from a construction site in the Czech Republic

But one forklift blocks the suspect and they are forced to turn around in an effort to retreat.

The suspect tries to quickly pull off from the other side of the lot but two other forklifts quickly come and block him there.

In the brief clip, the thieves can be seen trying to flee the lot that is packed with construction workers for the company

Soon all three forklifts block the car and the thief is unable to go anywhere.

KBTX-TV reports that the incident took place in 2017 and was the result of the robbers trying to steal tools from the site.

The robbers were arrested by police soon after.
Hundreds of students at the University of Essex have voted against setting up a Jewish society on the campus, while a lecturer voiced his opposition on Facebook claiming it was a group for 'Zionists'.

More than 200 student union members - around a third of those polled - answered 'no' to the question 'Should there be a Jewish society?'.

The proposal to start the group appeared on the student union website, whose rules state that any new society must be ratified by securing votes.

Around 200 students at the University of Essex (pictured) voted against establishing a Jewish society on campus

Only registered students can vote in the poll.

'We are deeply disappointed by the significant proportion of students who have voted against the establishment of a Jewish society at the University of Essex,' a spokesman for the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said.

Dr Maaruf Ali from University of Essex reportedly said 'Zionists' were behind the proposed Jewish society

'Jewish societies, of which over 60 exist on UK campuses up and down the country, provide a space for Jewish students to celebrate their culture and identity.

'The fact that some students at the University of Essex deem it fit to vote against that is quite simply shocking.'

The row has also embroiled a lecturer at the university, Dr Maanuf Ali, who the UJS says has displayed anti-Semitic views.

Dr Ali also expressed opposition to the idea of a Jewish society on a Facebook post on the University of Essex Freshers' Page 2018-2019.

The original post said that Israel plans to 'expel 36,000 Palestinians from the Negev', and Dr Ali commented that 'the Zionists next want to create a society here at our university!'

It is not the first time Dr Ali has shared questionable and controversial material on Facebook, including one post that appeared to deny the Holocaust.

The computers and electronic lecturer shared a quote attributed to Edgar J Steele, an attorney who defended the white separatist organisation the 'Aryan Nations'.

Dr Ali, who lecturers in computer and economists at the University of Essex, has shared conspiracy theories about Jews on Facebook multiple times

The quote reads: 'In all of German Occupied Europe, there resided 2.4 million Jews before the war, according to the world Jewish encyclopedia.

'After the war, 3.8 million Jewish 'Holocaust survivors' were receiving pensions from the German government.'

The quote continues: 'Tragically, the remaining 6 million were lost.'

Additionally, Dr Ali shared a picture stating that '50,000 Jews protest[ed] Israel' in March 2016 in New York, but that there was a 'total mainstream media blackout by the Zionist mafia'.

The previous year he shared a photo from a fascist website which claimed that one of the French policemen shot dead in the Paris terrorist attack in January 2015 was secretly 'a Mossad agent live and well in Buenos Aires a crypto-Jew in the service of Israeli intelligence'.

A UJS spokesman said: 'We will be talking to the University about his views - we want a full disciplinary investigation and the strongest possible for a staff member who has allegedly engaged in racist hate speech and discrimination.'

Dr Ali shared this photo which claims that a French policemen shot dead in the Paris terrorist attack in January 2015 was secretly 'a Mossad agent live and well in Buenos Aires a crypto-Jew in the service of Israeli intelligence'

Meanwhile, Colchester MP Will Quince has today described the student union vote as 'shocking' and 'terrible'.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, also commented on the row on Twitter, writing to the University: 'I used to be so proud of hanging out at your gigs and going to events there. This is just awful. How many people voted in total and how many were eligible?'

In response, the university's Vice Chancellor sent Ms Creasy a letter, which said: 'All student societies go through a ratification process and we have more than 120 societies covering diverse interest, including culture, music, art and religion.'

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, received this 'Extraordinarily poor' letter in response to her criticism of the University of Essex

'Alongside our commitment to freedom of speech, we have clear guidelines for student and staff conduct. This includes a zero tolerance towards harassment and hate crime and we will always take appropriate and proportionate action.'

Ms Creasy posted a photograph of the letter on Twitter, writing: 'If the actual leadership at @Uni_of_Essex cant bring itself to use word Jewish and say it will act to protect students from being demeaned for their religion, how can we expect it to teach students to do so either?

'Extraordinarily poor letter from vice chancellors office!'

There are already several religious societies currently ratified by the university's student's union - including those for Christianity and Islam.

The University of Essex, recently voted 'University of the Year', has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row

The University of Essex was a hotbed of student politics in the 1960s and in the 70's there were violent clashes with police - but it has recently won the 'University of the Year' award.

The UJS are calling for a full investigation and say they are supporting Jewish students at Essex with their next steps.

The application for a Jewish society was approved by the societies guild committee nine days ago and had been posted online for students to vote on.

A spokesman for the University's Students' Union said it welcomed the proposed establishment of a Jewish society by student members and recognised the importance of such a society.

He added: 'As a union we reject any form of hate speech and we are taking all reports of anti-Semitic behaviour extremely seriously and ensuring that these are investigated and acted upon.

'In particular we are extremely concerned by the reported comments by a member of university staff and we are representing these concerns and those raised by our members, to the university.

He added: 'Essex students' union has a proud history of inclusivity and our 16,000 student members come from an incredibly diverse range of nationalities, cultures and religions.'

University of Essex Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anthony Forster said: 'To see the University of Essex associated with antisemitism has been a deeply shocking event and one which has filled me with great sadness.

'Antisemitism is antithetical to the values of the University of Essex and has no place at our University. We have a zero tolerance approach to harassment and hate crime which is at the very core of our values and beliefs.

'We are proud to subscribe to the working definition of antisemitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

'Recent events have shown me we still have work to do, and I am announcing a series of immediate actions to tackle all forms of antisemitism within our community.

The Vice Chancellor said these measures include a commitment to ensuring that the Jewish Society is created irrespective of any ratification by the Students Union as well as the launch of a review to ensure that the university gives unequivocal support to Jewish students and staff.

There will also be an independent investigation of allegations against Dr Ali, who has been suspended in the meantime.

On Thursday February 28 the university will hold a public event in support of its Jewish community, to which staff, students and members of the public are invited.
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, now claims that the deputy attorney general had two Cabinet members in mind when he floated a plan to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

He told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters, that he could not remember which Cabinet members Rod Rosenstein cited.

'I at no time got the impression that he had actually sought support or talked to those people about it,' McCabe said. 'It was simply Rod thinking off the top of his head - this is a thing that could be done.'

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, now claims that the deputy attorney general had two Cabinet members in mind when he floated a plan to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office

Asked previously about the Cabinet members who Rosenstein had in mind for the plot, in an '60 Minutes' interview, McCabe said the deputy attorney general did not assign specific votes to specific administration officials.

'Rosenstein was actually openly talking about whether there was a majority of the cabinet who would vote to remove the president,' CBS Correspondent Scott Pelley had asked.

McCabe told him 'Thats correct. Counting votes or possible votes.' Pressed by Pelley to say whether or not he assigned 'specific votes to specific people' in the conversation, McCabe said, 'No, not that I recall.'

The New York Times reported last fall that Jeff Sessions, who was the attorney general at the time, and John Kelly, then the White House chief of staff, were potential targets. They were both seen as Cabinet members who might support a resolution declaring Trump unfit for office.

Cabinet members at the time, ranging from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have said they had no knowledge of such a plot.

The Justice Department has also denied on Rosenstein's behalf a belief that there was any 'basis to invoke the 25th Amendment' in the first place in the days that followed James Comey's dismissal from the FBI.

Sessions fired McCabe last year after an inspector general determined he made unauthorized leaks to the media. He says that's not true, but he remains under investigation.

McCabe's attorney, Michael Bromwich, told reporters, including the Associated Press, that his client plans to file suit soon against the U.S. government for his March 2018 firing that took place several days before he was eligible for retirement.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe last year after an inspector general determined he made unauthorized leaks to the media. He says that's not true, but he remains under investigation

McCabe told reporters that Rod Rosenstein had two Cabinet members in mind for his removal plot

In an interview on Thursday on 'Today,' Pompeo, the CIA director at the time, claimed he wasn't too familiar with McCabe's various interviews on his book.

He stuck to the Trump administration line that it's 'sad' that the DOJ inspector general had to 'declare that he wasn't credible' after so many years inside the law enforcement organization.

'That's unfortunate. So I don't put a lot of stock in the things Mr. McCabe said,' he asserted.

Pomepo brought up the 25th Amendment as he dodged a question about his own knowledge of a counterintelligence investigation into the sitting president's relationship with Russia.

'I did see some remarks about the 25th amendment,' he offered. 'I've been in the Cabinet for, since almost opening day for the Trump administration. I mean that's just ludicrous,' he said of McCabe's revelation that the Department of Justice kicked around ways to invoke it.

Pompeo insisted: 'I've never heard any discussion about it by anyone, any of my fellow Cabinet members, or anyone else that's serving in the executive branch.'

The Trump ally had previously rejected any notion of talks about the 25th Amendment, which lays out a constitutional process to remove the president from office, in September, when the New York Times reported accusations that were similar to the ones in McCabe's book.

Secretary of State and Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo wouldn't say Thursday whether he knew about the counterintelligence investigation into President Trump when the FBI opened it

McCabe had softened the claims, which CBS publicized before the segment had aired and the full context of the comments were known, only to add fuel to the fire on Thursday when he told reporters that Rosenstein provided the names of two Cabinet officials he believed would be on board.

A narrowly drawn statement from a McCabe spokeswoman after the episode only said that '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.'

'At no time did I ever perceive that there was a legitimate effort underway by Rod or anybody else to remove the president under the 25th Amendment or in any other way,' McCabe later told NPR.

He did not say he was unaware of the people that Rosenstein might have approached.

Donald Trump signaled his outrage on Monday as he called the plot and another allegation in McCabe's book 'treasonous.' McCabe also said that Rosenstein, who is leaving DOJ now, wanted to secretly record Trump in the Oval Office and gather support for removing him from power.

McCabe said during the '60 Minutes' interview that Rosenstein was 'absolutely serious' about wearing a wire around the president.

He also claimed that Rosenstein at one point tried to gauge support among members of Trump's Cabinet for using the Constitution's 25th Amendment to terminate his presidency.

Trump said in response: 'Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caugh.

'There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous 'insurance policy' in full action!'

President Donald Trump said Monday that the plots against him within the Justice Department were 'treasonous' as he derided Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein

The president's reference to an insurance policy recalls a series of text messages between former FBI attorney Lisa Page and former senior FBI agent Peter Strzok

The president's reference to an insurance policy recalls a series of text messages between former FBI attorney Lisa Page and former senior FBI agent Peter Strzok.

Invoking the 25th Amendment would have allowed Trump's adversaries in his own administration to remove him from office with a majority vote of his Cabinet and the backing of Vice President Mike Pence.

Previewing the '60 Minutes' episode, Scott Pelley, a correspondent for CBS, made it sound like Rosenstein and McCabe had plotted to approached Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, and asked him to invoke the 25th Amendment.

'There were meetings at the Justice Department in 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 reported on CBS 'This Morning' last Thursday.

McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, recounted a Justice Department plot to remove Donald Trump from office in the television interview

WHAT ABOUT PENCE?: The vice president says he was never approached about removing Trump from office

Pelley said McCabe told him they were 'counting noses' of Cabinet officials who would vote to remove Trump after he fired James Comey in May of 2017.

'This was not perceived to be a joke,' Pelley asserted on CBS.

The journalist said the conversation took place in the eight days between Comey's dismissal and the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.

Trump met with the Russian ambassador the day after he ousted Comey, the former FBI director, and the Russian foreign minister at the White House.

His campaign, several of his associates, including his one-time National Security Advsior Michael Flynn, were under federal investigation for improper contacts during the election with Russia at the time.

'The highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president,' Pelley reported.

McCabe is the first person to confirm that the 25th Amendment came up in the meetings. The ex-law enforcement official was later fired himself over conversations with the media that an inspector general deemed inappropriate.

Reacting to McCabe's claims in an interview with MSNBC, Pence said that the suggestion that Trump is unfit for office is 'absurd,' given his record of accomplishments.

'I couldn't be more proud to stand with him. The words and the writings of a disgraced FBI agent won't change that fact for the American people,' Pence said.

He further claimed that he had 'never' heard of the Justice Department plot that McCabe described before, affiriming that it never left the idea stage.

'I have never heard any discussion of the 25th Amendment by members of this government, and I would never expect to,' Pence asserted.

'There were meetings at the Justice Department in 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 reported on CBS 'This Morning' last Thursday, creating a frenzy

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Comey, McCabe and cohorts of theirs who worked on Hillary Clinton's email case and the Russian meddling probe were 'crooked' cops, and that's why he got rid of them.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement last week that McCabe 'was fired in total disgrace from the FBI because he lied to investigators on multiple occasions, including under oath' and cannot be trusted.

'His selfish and destructive agenda drove him to open a completely baseless investigation into the President. His actions were so shameful that he was referred to federal prosecutors. Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country.'
Piers Morgan has predicted what Queen Elizabeth II would think of Meghan Markle's New York baby shower this week, believed to have neared $500,000 in costs.

The DailyMail.com Editor-at-Large spoke to DailyMailTV from Los Angeles on Thursday, responding to a question about how the British monarch would react to the 5-day celebration.

His opinion was the opulent occasion 'would not play well' and would come across as 'ostentatious'.

Scroll down for videos

Piers Morgan said Thursday the Queen would be concerned about Meghan Markle's baby shower in New York this week

About town: Pregnant Meghan Markle was photographed in Manhattan this week as she celebrated her pregnancy with close friends

'I think she's going to be a little bit concerned about this and I'll say why,' he explained to host Jesse Palmer.

'We don't really have baby showers in Britain. The concept of a very extravagant party with a load of famous people turning up to celebrate the arrival of a baby in a couple of months is not something we would do so the Queen would be like, 'What is this?' to start with.'

The lavish trip to New York included a stay of at least two nights in the $75,000-per- night penthouse suite at The Mark Hotel, a roughly $420 dinner at The Polo Bar, over $14,000 for protection, and thousands of dollars in gifts.

Meghan also flew home via private jet paid for by Amal Clooney, which cost $125,000; she is also believed to have arrived in New York on a private jet, meaning her round-trip travel cost a quarter of a million dollars.

Morgan said it 'doesn't matter whether she paid for anything', the whole thing was complimentary, if her friend 'Serena Williams paid for the hotel', or if 'Amal Clooney paid for the flights'.

He explained 'it's all about perception' and claimed he'd already seen it just grates' with social media users who feel the LA-born Duchess of Sussex, 37, is rubbing their faces in it.

Taking off: Markle boarded a private plane to fly back home to London, which was a treat from Amal Clooney

Lavish: The party was held at the Penthouse Suite at The Mark, which is widely reported to be the most expensive per-night hotel room in the US

He said the 'opulent' occasion 'would not play well' and seemed 'ostentatious'

Morgan added in the video chat: 'Secondly, I think, the sheer scale of the opulence of all this. The key thing about the royals is to be understated. We all know that they're royal, that they're very wealthy. But the absolutely number one rule is don't rub the British people's noses in your wealth.

'The British people pay the salaries of the royal family so they feel like they have a vested interest.'

When asked if he thought Markle - who is expected to give birth to her first child in May - 'should be held under so much scrutiny' he responded honestly.

Comparing her to husband Prince Harry's mother Princess Diana of Wales, he said the former Suits actress was probably one of the 'best prepared for the royals we've ever seen'.

'Well, I think the British royal family are some of the biggest stars in the world and I think if you deliberately enter that family by marrying a prince, with that you have to accept a lot of global media attention,' Morgan replied. 'Meghan Markle's not naive about the media, she's been a television star in America. She knows about all this

'What surprises me is George Clooney, her friend had issued a public appeal for the media to leave Meghan Markle alone, what's the next thing she does? She gets on a plane to the middle of New York and throws a very lavish, flash, celebrity fueled baby shower party and almost invites the world's media to come and pay attention to her.'

The same day Morgan replied to Kensington Palace's tweet about the poverty saying it was 'strange' considering Markle's 'orgy of opulent extravagance for her baby shower'

Something to say: The cost of Meghan's New York baby shower and her decision to travel by private jet has been criticized on social media

The same day Morgan replied to Kensington Palace's tweet about the UK's school mid-term break saying: '73% of the poorest families cannot always afford to feed their children during the school holidays, a gap which is estimated to affect 3 million children and young people across the UK, and 700,000 in London.'

Morgan commented on Twitter: 'Strange thing to post as Meghan Markle enjoys a  orgy of opulent extravagance for her baby shower....'

He added in the interview: 'I don't think you can have your cake and eat it otherwise you end up sounding a little like Marie Antoinette.'

Speaking about the last queen of France before the French Revolution, beheaded for treason nine months after her husband Louis XVI was executed - Morgan said: 'She has to be careful. We don't want her turning into the new Marie Antoinette...as she enjoyed all her palaces.

'British people like their royals to be humble.'
Edie Campbell, 28, was told that she was 'too big' to take part in a show at Milan Fashion Week and dropped at the last minute

With her elegant figure, she has graced the cover of Vogue and appeared on the catwalk for Chanel and Valentino.

But Edie Campbell, 28, was told that she was too big to take part in a show at Milan Fashion Week and dropped at the last minute.

The British model is 5ft 10in tall with a 32in chest, 24in waist and 35in hips, according to her profile on her agencys website.

After closing the Alberta Ferretti show on Wednesday, Miss Campbell told her Instagram followers that she had been cut from a show she was scheduled to appear in yesterday.

She shared a photo of herself tucking into a croissant with her friend, artist Christabel MacGreevy, telling her followers that she was treating herself to a slap-up brekkie after being told by a brand, which she did not name, that she was too big to open their show.

She added: And by too big I dont mean too famous, I mean too fat.

The average womans measurements in Britain are 36in bust, 34in waist and 40in hips.

Miss Campbell, who is also a jockey, was born and brought up in West London by her interior designer mother Sophie Hicks and property entrepreneur father Roddy Campbell. She was discovered by photographer Mario Testino when she was 15 and included in his Vogue feature about up-and-coming young Londoners.

Miss Campbell then appeared with Kate Moss in a Burberry campaign, propelling her to stardom.

She shared a photo of herself tucking into a croissant with her friend, artist Christabel MacGreevy, telling her followers that she was treating herself to a 'slap-up brekkie' after being told by a brand, which she did not name, that she was 'too big to open their show'

She was model of the year at the British Fashion Awards in 2013 and has appeared on the catwalk for brands including Dior, Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton.

Last year she criticised the industry, saying: We operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations ... the ritual humiliation of models, belittling of assistants, power plays and screaming fits.

Last night Miss Campbell declined to comment.
Michael Murphy, One of the men who raped and murdered Anita Cobby in a horrific crime that shocked Australia, has died of cancer

One of the men who raped and murdered Anita Cobby in a horrific crime that shocked Australia has died of cancer.

Michael Murphy, 65, was convicted along with four other men - including two of his brothers - for the vicious killing of the beauty queen and nurse in 1986.

Murphy died in Long Bay jail on Thursday night. He had been suffering liver cancer.

Ms Cobby's widower John was delighted with the news.

'I hope it was painful for him,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

'One down, four to go.'

Murphy had been in an out of hospital and was recently asked if he would apologise to Ms Cobby's family.

He was remorseless until the end.

'Why would I f**king apologise to anyone while you b******s leave me in this f**king [hospital] room and treat me like this?' he barked.

Anita Cobby (pictured left and right) was killed in a horrific crime that shocked Australia in 1986

An undated image obtained in 2016 of Sydney woman Anita Cobby's parents Gary and Grace at her grave site

A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman confirmed Murphy died at about 11.55pm on Thursday.

'The Corrective Services Investigation Unit, which is part of the NSW Police Force, is investigating and will prepare a report on the death,' she said on Friday.

'All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest, including deaths resulting from natural causes.'

The death comes 32 years after the heinous crime sparked national rage and widespread calls for the attackers to be hanged.

Ms Cobby had been walking home late at night in Blacktown, in Sydney's west, when she was abducted by five men.

She was taken to a rural farm about 5km away in Prospect where she was savagely tortured, raped and beaten.

Ms Cobby (right) is seen she posing for a photo with her younger sister Kathryn Szyszka (left)

Four others (from left to right), Leslie Murphy, 22, Gary Murphy , 28, Michael Murdoch, 19, and John Travers, 18 - were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison

Her body was discovered naked and face down, with her eyes still open, in a field two days later.

Murphy, then 33, his brothers Leslie, 22, and Gary, 28, as well as Michael Murdoch, 19, and John Travers, 18 - were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in jail.

The confession of Travers, considered the ringleader of the group who slit Ms Cobby's throat, was secretly recorded.

'We were all drunk and she f***ing seen all of us. So I just cut her,' Travers said.

All five were arrested about three weeks after the attack.
Patrick Ryan Jones, 27, pleaded 'guilty but mentally ill' in the July 2016 murder of his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child on Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky

A Kentucky man has allegedly confessed to murdering the 20-year-old mother of his child with a wrench, dismembering her body and leaving her remains in two different dumpsters.

Patrick Ryan Jones, 27, entered a plea of 'guilty but mentally ill' in the murder of his ex-girlfriend Haley Bourgeois under a plea agreement with prosecutors on Wednesday in Fayette Circuity Court.

Bourgeois' mutilated corpse was found in two dumpsters behind an apartment complex in Lexington on July 21, 2016.

The victim's body was reportedly so badly disfigured that the coroner had to identify her through one of her tattoos.

Jones was charged with her murder the same day that police made the grisly discovery after a witness claimed he had admitted to killing her with a wrench, according to court records.

A staff psychiatrist who conducted Jones' psychiatric evaluation had determined that the 27-year-old suffered from a mental illness but was competent to stand trial.

The mutilated corpse of 20-year-old Haley Bourgeois (above) was found in two dumpsters behind an apartment complex in Lexington on July 21, 2016

Jones was charged with Bourgeois' murder the same day her body was discovered after a witness claimed he confessed to killing her with a wrench. The suspect is pictured with the young son he shared with Bourgeois

The case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday before Jones agreed to take a deal from prosecutors, under which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of abuse of a corpse but had a charge of evidence tampering dismissed.

The agreement ensured that Jones would be eligible to participate in prison mental health programs, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Jones could face up to 30 years in prison when sentenced at a hearing scheduled for March 28.

Court records indicate that Jones and Bourgeois had a young son together, and that they had previously filed emergency protective orders against each other that were later dismissed.

At the time of Bourgeois' murder, friends and loved ones expressed shock at her gruesome death.

'They had a little boy together,' Jones' friend Peggy Hinkle told local news outlet WKYT.

'What would make a man kill his baby momma? They was engaged. They was engaged to get married at one point. Not one bit did I ever feel that he could harm a woman, especially Haley.'
The planned amendments to the E.U. Gas Directive will not influence Nord Stream-2, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said at the 'Competitive Russia - new ways' conference in Berlin.

The Economic Development Minister said that they have discussed this issue today with the German side. "The German side thinks that the changes that are being adopted today will not challenge the Stream, the Prime news agency cited Oreshkin as saying.

The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce said in a statement backing fulfillment of the Nord Stream-2 project as scheduled. Possible sanctions against participants of Nord Stream-2 are an infringement to the German sovereign rights.
Holby City actor John Michie's daughter died because of her 'fatal attraction' to her rapper boyfriend Ceon Broughton (pictured)

Holby City actor John Michie's daughter died because of her 'fatal attraction' to the rapper boyfriend on trial for her manslaughter, a court heart today.

Jurors were today told Ceon Broughton chose to film tragic Louella Fletcher-Michie, 24, as she lay dying from a drugs overdose instead of taking the '30 or more' footsteps to get her medical help.

Giving his closing speech, prosecutor William Mousley QC said Broughton, 29, had 'lied and lied', blaming everyone - including Mr Michie and his wife Carol - but himself for Louella's death.

The prosecutor said the grime star's final 'dodging of responsibility' came when he failed to take to the witness box and explain what had happened to his girlfriend.

Former Coronation Street and Taggart star Mr Michie and his family watched from the public gallery as Mr Mousley delivered his speech, leaving each time footage of their daughter's 'gradual demise' was played to jurors.

Mr Mousley today told Winchester Crown Court Louella could have been saved if Broughton had acted like a 'reasonable person' and gone for medical help as she began to suffer a horrifying reaction to the synthetic party drug.

He said: 'This case is all about reasonable steps, being a reasonable person.

'[Louella's] attraction for Ceon, her feelings for him, were to prove to be a fatal attraction.

'The prosecution case, quite simply, is that any reasonable person, being prudent and careful having given Louella drugs on that evening, would have appreciated the risk and, in seeing her reaction, that her life was in danger.

'Quite simply, her life could have been saved. A few actions by him, as opposed to his inaction, and she would still be here today.

Louella Fletcher-Michie (pictured), 24, started attacking herself and screeching 'like a wild animal' after reacting badly to a 2C-P overdose near the Bestival event in Dorset in 2017

'Reasonable steps, whether that be literally the 30 or more steps to get out the woods back in to the open area on the edge of the festival site, or the steps to be taken from the dock to the witness box.

'This is a case where we see this defendant has failed to take any reasonable steps, so far as that night is concerned and in the time that has passed.

'He has set out to divert the blame, not only during the evening this was happening but when he was interviewed the following day.

'He tried to aim the blame at the police, the expert witnesses, the family, the festival staff rather than himself.

'[Broughton] has lied and lied in order to do that. An honest approach would have been to have accepted his failings and to have taken responsibility.

'But the final dodging of responsibility was deciding not to give evidence and provide an explanation for her death. He is the only person who could tell you the whole story of the events.

Her parents Carol Fletcher-Michie and John Michie (outside Winchester Crown Court today) drove 130 miles from London to Dorset after hearing their daughter hallucinating and screeching down the phone

'There has been no opportunity for an explanation to be advanced, no challenge to the evidence against him and there has been no explanation for the simple reason that he has none and he is not prepared to accept the obvious.

'It takes courage to go into the witness box, we have seen examples of that courage, but I feel we are justified in saying to you that courage was wholly lacking in Ceon Broughton.

'The reason he let down Louella so badly was to save himself and perhaps even to collect souvenirs of the fatal evening on his phone and that we suggest is shocking and it is despicable.

Mr Mousley added: '[The 2C-P] was an excessive supply to someone that was not best equipped to deal with it and someone that might be vulnerable to the affects.'

Broughton, of Enfield, north London, denies manslaughter and supplying class A drugs.

The trial continues next week.
A dad accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter on her birthday has died from a self-inflicted gunshot in a Toronto hospital.

Roopesh Rajkumar, 41, was a suspect in the abduction of his daughter Riya, after she did not return to her mother on the expected time.

Tragic Riya was out with Rajkumar for her birthday on Valentine's Day when her mother received information from Roopesh 'that gave her concern.'

Her mom - who was also celebrating her own birthday - then informed the police and a public alert was issued.

Peel police spokesperson Danny Marttini said: 'She came in already fully concerned saying, "This is what he's saying to me, I'm concerned for the well-being of my daughter, I need some help". Obviously our investigators took action right away.'

Police later found Riya dead in Roopesh's home in Brampton, Ontario. The cause of her death has not yet been released.

Schoolgirl Riya did not live with her dad and had been dropped off at a gas station so the pair could celebrate her birthday.

Her mom Priya Ramdin said: 'She was so excited for her birthday, looking forward to having dinner later that evening. Never did I think that my daughter would not return back to me.'

Roopesh Rajkumar, right, who was charged and arrested with the abduction and first-degree murder of his 11-year-old daughter Riya, left, last week has died in a Toronto hospital

Roopesh Rajkumar, 41, of Brampton, Ontario, a city northwest of Toronto, was a suspect in the abduction of his daughter Riya, after she did not return to her mother on the expected time

Roopesh was arrested in Orillia, a city 80 miles north of Brampton, in a high-speed chase by the Ontario Provincial Police last week.

Roopesh was then charged with the abduction and first-degree murder. His gunshot wound was reportedly not found until he was transferred into police custody.

Marttini added: 'When we did take custody of the individual our officers at that time did notice that there was a medical concern. They were concerned about his wellbeing. At that point, that individual was taken to hospital.'

Constable Sarah Patten of Peel Police declined to give details of the gunshot, or how Rajkumar acquired the gun, due to the ongoing investigation.

Riya's funeral was held on Wednesday, where acting Peel Police Chief Chris McCord read a statement from her mother. Riya was out with Rajkumar for her birthday when her mother received information from Roopesh 'that gave her concern'

Riya's funeral was held on Wednesday, where acting Peel Police Chief Chris McCord read a statement from Riya's mother Priya.

'She touched a lot of lives with her laughter and contagious smile. It breaks my heart to know I will no longer be seeing that smile,' the statement read.

She added: 'My daughter Riya was taken from me too early.

'She never liked to be negative and always saw the good in every situation. If Im ever upset, she would say Mama, dont be sad, look at the positives.'
The father of 'ISIS bride' Hoda Muthana is suing the Trump administration over her right to return to the US with her 18-month-old son.

Ahmed Ali Muthana has filed a suit in the federal court in Washington stating his 24-year-old daughter is an American citizen and should be allowed to come back to the U.S. with her toddler.

American-born Hoda Muthana - who is in a Syrian refugee camp after fleeing ISIS - was told by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo she would not be allowed back to the US.

Her lawyer Hassan Shibly said she's willing to pay the consequences as long as she's allowed back on American soil.

'ISIS bride' Hoda Muthana is willing to serve time in jail if she's allowed to come back to the U.S., her lawyer Hassan Shibly (right) said on America's Newsroom on Thursday

'She literally expressed fear that she will possibly have to spend decades in jail potentially and she's still willing to come back to America,' Shibly said about Muthana on Thursday

The 24-year-old fled her hometown of Hoover, Alabama to join ISIS in Syria in 2014. She's now in a Syrian refugee camp with her 18-month-old son pleading to be allowed in the U.S., but Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say she won't be re-admitted

'She literally expressed fear that she will possibly have to spend decades in jail potentially and she's still willing to come back to America,' Shibly said on Thursday afternoon on America's Newsroom.

'She is accountable for her actions. She's going to have to answer to God for her decisions,' he added.

The family and their lawyers say they were told that the U.S. determined she did not qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat at the time of her birth.

But the family argues that is incorrect. They say that her father ceased to be a diplomat before she was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, and that she had a legitimate passport when she left the U.S. to join the Islamic State in Syria in 2014.

The Obama administration initially determined she was not a citizen and notified her family that it was revoking her passport in January 2016.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

The 24-year-old fled her hometown of Hoover, Alabama to join ISIS in Syria in 2014 after she was radicalized online. After ISIS' last sliver of territory was captured, she's now living in a squalid refugee camp in Syria, begging to be allowed back into the U.S. claiming that she was brainwashed and is now reformed.

But President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say there's no way she'd be allowed back in the States.

Pompeo argued this week that Muthana does not have citizenship as her father was a foreign diplomat from Yemen who was working in the U.S. when she was born here.

Diplomats are under the jurisdiction of their home countries and their children are not given birthright citizenship.

Still, Shibly is fighting for Muthana to re-enter the States saying she has a birthright as she was born in New Jersey and went as far as sharing her birth certificate online as proof.

Her attorney insists Muthana won't return to the U.S. to start an easy life, rather quite the opposite.

'People shouldn't forget that Hoda herself right now and her family are not saying that she should just come back home, that she should get a free pass. Everybody acknowledges that what she did was horrible, disgusting, unacceptable, but we also acknowledge that America is great because of our legal system,' he said.

He said Muthana is 'tremendously remorseful' for joining the terrorist group and argues she could be an asset to the states and could have helpful intelligence about ISIS.

Pompeo says Muthana will not be allowed back in the U.S. on the Today show adding she does not have birthright citizenship as her father was a diplomat in New Jersey when she was born

President Trump said Wednesday that he made the decision to bar the Alabama woman who left home to join ISIS in Syria from returning to the United States

Her birth certificate, a copy of which was shared on Twitter her family lawyer and was not independently verified by DailyMail.com, shows that she was born Oct. 28, 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey

And by the looks of it, she's ready to turn herself in.

'I personally called them, I said, 'Listen we know where she is and she's ready to speak with you. She's ready to collaborate. She's ready to turn herself in. You should at least go question her and see if she has intelligence that can protect American lives.' And they failed to act on it and that's really concerning,' he said.

Muthana fled the U.S to join ISIS and had two jihadi fighter husbands who were killed and she is now married to a third.

In 2015, she tweeted urging Muslims in the U.S. to commit acts of violence and 'spill all of the blood' by plowing trucks through Memorial Day parades and plotting drive-by shootings.

On Thursday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dashed her pleas, labeled her a terrorist, and said she should never be allowed back in the country.

Muthana fled the U.S to join ISIS in 2014 when she was 19 and had two jihadi fighter husbands pass away and is now married to a third. Her first husband was Australian extremist Suhan Abdul Rahman who was killed in combat (pictured right)

'There are now over 800 terrorists that are being held, foreign terrorist fighters that are being held, in Syria today. She's just one of them. She is a terrorist,' Pompeo said on the Today show.

'She's not a U.S. citizen. She ought not return to this country,' he said.

'She may have been born here,' Pompeo repeated. 'She is not a U.S. citizen, nor is she entitled to U.S. citizenship.'

President Donald Trump sided with Pompeo on Wednesday tweeting: 'I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!'

Even the American Islamic Forum for Democracy has joined the chorus against Muthana entering the U.S.

'She became, not only a terrorist, she became an enemy of our country and if she did believe in the citizenship oathshe abandoned it and actually violated it and became an enemy combatant,' the group's founder and president Zuhdi Jasser said.
Phillip Nordo (above), 52, faces 35 counts of sexual assault, spanning his two-decade long career with the Philadelphia Police Department

A veteran Philadelphia Police detective has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting multiple male victims, witnesses and suspects over the course of his 20-year career.

Phillip Nordo, 52, who first joined the force in 1997, faces 35 counts including rape, sexual assault, institutional sexual assault and stalking, court documents detailed.

According to a Philadelphia grand jury, the father-of-two is alleged to have exploited his status as a police officer, and homicide detective, to leverage relations with individuals connected to his cases.

As detailed in the 38-page document, Nordo stands accused of 'repeatedly contacting young men that he sought to groom', and then, using flattery and threats, he made 'the targets of his advances more susceptible to his sexually assaulting and/or coercive behavior.'

Such threats, prosecutors say, included arresting or jailing suspects without probable cause, targeting handcuffed suspects and gesturing with his firearm to assert dominance.

Much of the abuse is said to have occurred in prison visiting rooms, or in interrogation rooms at the Philadelphia Police HQ (above). Nordo allegedly targeted handcuffed victims and asked about 'homosexual inmates' who were soon due for release

Much of the abuse is said to have occurred in prison visiting rooms or in interrogation rooms at the Philadelphia Police Department.

The document also claims Nordo would actively seek out vulnerable or potential victims, sometimes asking prisoners about 'homosexual inmates', or by volunteering to transport prisoners and witnesses for other officers.

He would also supposedly use small talk during initial meetings with his alleged victims to open a line of conversation to press more personal topics.

'Nordo discussed these personal topics to test the person's reaction and their likelihood to resist or comply,' the document said. 'At the end of these initial meetings, Nordo would give the victim his contact information.'

To cover his tracks, the court say Nordo employed a mixture of intimidation and incentives, and is believed to have fraudulently diverted more than $20,000 of crime reward money to people he was attempting to groom or had already assaulted.

Nordo was dismissed from the Philadelphia Police force in 2017, after two-decades.

He was arraigned on Tuesday and a judge ordered him to be held without bail.

The court document alleges that Nordo used flattery and threats to coerce his targets in sexual acts.

This reportedly included fraudulently administering $20,000 of reward money to alleged victims he was 'attempting to groom'

Police Commissioner Richard Ross says he was 'deeply disturbed' by the accusations against Nordo, calling the details 'sickening'.

Ross revealed the police department has carried out their own investigation and found no signs of conspiracy to assist Nordo or to cover up the allegations.

'It is not systemic, but I dont get a lot of solace over that,' Ross said to The Inquirer.

The heavily redacted court file highlights one 2005 incident in particular, where Nordo was interrogating the suspect of a robbery.

Though he later secured a signed confession from the suspect, the documents say he also forced the man to masturbate in front of him, massaged his penis and then kissed him on the lips.

When the man climaxed into a piece of paper, Nordo is claimed to have asked the man, 'Do you want to put that in my mouth?'

He then reportedly told the suspect he 'didn't have anything to worry about', and assured him he could make a lot of money if he didn't speak out.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross (pictured) said the allegations listed against Nordo were 'absolutely sickening'. Ross said an investigation of the department found no signs of a cover-up and insisted sexual assault wasn't a systemic problem

Nordo's attorney says he vehemently denies all 35 of the counts against him. He says the allegations are the result of unspecified 'political forces'

The victim says he reported the assault the next day to different officers, and though investigators are said to have found physical evidence to support the claims, Nordo remained on the force.

The alleged victim later died in 2015 and the case remains unsolved.

Other accusations against Nordo are currently redacted in the file, but are said to include stalking, oppression and sexual assault.

Nordo's attorney Michael van der Veen protests his client's innocence and says the 52-year-old intends to fight the allegations, believing them to be motivated by unspecified 'political forces'.

If found guilty, the array of charges will not only impact Nordo himself, but could see a number of cases he presided over be re-tried or thrown-out altogether.

Allegations of Nordo's purportedly wrongful conduct first emerged in April 2017, when a defense attorney of a murder case found the former detective had been paying money into the accounts of an imprisoned witness.

In August the same year, Nordo was fired for 'knowingly and intentionally associating, fraternizing, or socializing' with individuals linked to criminal conduct.

A 1999 Daily News article described him as a third-generation police officer who was married with two children.

He became a detective in 2002 and joined the Homicide Unit in 2009, and was known as a productive investigator, according to the lawsuit.

Nordo awaits a preliminary court hearing.
A Utah man has admitted punching his newborn son to death because he was sick of the boy crying.

Matthew Daniel Graves, 24, of Roy, Utah, was arrested 17 months ago for killing one-month-old Brayden.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated murder - a first-degree felony and potential capital offense.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors recommended Graves be sentenced to no less than 25 years and a potential maximum of life behind bars.

Brayden's cries and an alarm woke his father around 6.30am on September 7, 2017, according to the Standard-Examiner.

Matthew Daniel Graves, 24, (left) pleaded guilty in January to the aggravated murder of his one-month-old son Brayden (right)

Graves (pictured) admitted punching Brayden in frustration before sticking the baby's pacifier in his mouth after the child woke him up

Graves admitted punching Brayden in frustration before sticking the baby's pacifier in his mouth.

Later the same morning, Graves took Brayden with him when he drove a five year old boy to daycare.

During the trip, the 24-year-old noticed his son wasn't breathing and called his grandmother, unsure of what to do next.

Graves' grandmother told him to call 911.

Emergency responders who arrived on scene transported the Brayden to Ogden Regional Medical Center before flying him to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City via medical helicopter.

Doctors said Brayden suffered multiple non-accidental injuries and told police the baby had 'profound brain trauma' and hemorrhaging.

In a sworn affidavit, investigators said Graves branded himself a 'monster'.

'Matthew made comments that he is a monster, that he has lost all hope in life and is going to lose everything,' the affidavit said.

Graves' sentencing has been scheduled for March 5, Deseret News reported.
This is the hair-raising moment a man snatched a wig from a women's head through the window of her car before making off with it.

Nombeko Madiba was waiting in traffic in Durban, South Africa, when an unknown man reached into her red Renault and tore off her long black wig.

The thief then tucked the false hair under his arm and ran away - past the car which was secretly filming the whole thing.

Ms Madiba's arms flail as the thief pulls her false hair out of the window of her car in Durban, South Africa

Dash cam footage from Charlene Cross's car shows Ms Madiba sitting in traffic at a barrier on her way home from work, according to IOL.

Then a man dressed in a green top and dark trousers strides over to the wound-down window and rips the wig off as Ms Madiba's arms flail in the air in shock

Ms Cross said: 'I was on my way home, I go through the Warwick market to join the M4, that area is unfortunately absolutely inundated with homeless people, they sleep under the bridge and hang around the robots looking for opportunities to commit crime.'

The thief was pursued by a nearby police officer but he managed to escape with the wig.

Ms Madiba was reportedly shaken up by the event and amid the initial panic even thought that she had been stabbed.

An unknown man strides up to Nombeko Madiba's red Renault which was waiting in traffic at the barrier

He then suddenly reaches through her wound-down window and tears off her long black wig
This is the shocking moment a man steps out of his vehicle and almost kills a store assistant with the swing of a bat.

A surveillance camera caught the near-fatal assault Monday morning in the Dominican Republic province of Santiago.

Jose Alberto Alvarez Guzman, who is also known as 'El Quesero' ['Cheese Man'], allegedly hit Delice Romain, 34, in the jaw with a bat.

Romain, a Haitian migrant worker, instantly crashed to the sidewalk before Alvarez Guzman climbed in his car and drove off.

Jose Alberto Alvarez Guzman (pictured) is wanted for allegedly attacking Delice Romain on Monday in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez Guzman became enraged when a truck Romain was driving ran ran out of gas, creating traffic jam in a busy street

A CCTV camera in the province of Santiago shows the moment Delice Romain (pictured) opened the door of a motorist's car before he was knocked out

A man said to be Alvarez Guzman (right) took one swing at Romain (left) with a bat

According to police reports, witnesses said an argument ensued between Alvarez Guzman and the victim because Romain's cargo truck was blocking a traffic lane after the vehicle had ran out of gas. The truck belonged to the hardware store where he was employed.

The enraged motorist then exited his white Hyundai Sonata after Romain stepped near it and opened the door.

Alvarez Guzman allegedly delivered a vicious shot to Romain's jaw area.

Romain was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.

A spokesman for the Cibao Central National Police, Col. Juan Guzman Badia told Dominican news outlet Listin Diario that Alvarez Guzman was planning on turning himself in Thursday.
A widow who helped her husband travel to Dignitas's assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland has been told she can inherit his assets.

Alex Ninian, a retired businessman, died aged 84 in Zurich in November 2017 after being diagnosed with a progressive incurable disease.

The High Court heard how Mr Ninian's wife Sarah, in her 60s, accompanied him to Zurich because he could not travel unaided.

A judge concluded that Mrs Ninian, the sole beneficiary in the will, should not be prevented from inheriting as a result.

Alex Ninian, a retired businessman, died aged 84 in Zurich (the Dignitas clinic is pictured) in November 2017 after being diagnosed with a progressive incurable disease

He was told that she had tried to dissuade her husband from taking his own life, had contacted police and helped with their inquiries, and had not been prosecuted.

Mrs Ninian told the judge: 'A few months before his death, I asked him if he got any enjoyment out of life at all and he gave me the thumbs down.

'I spent a year trying to get Alex to change his mind but he was solid in his decision that he wanted to be dignified to the end, which is why he chose to end his life.

'He faced a future that he did not want.'

The judge outlined his decision on Mrs Ninian's inheritance in a ruling published today.

He analysed evidence at a hearing in London earlier this month and considered legislation relating to inheritance and situations where people encourage or assist a suicide.

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Mr Ninian had instructed lawyers to prepare a statement in which he said his wife had been opposed to his decision, had not pressured him to take his life and had accompanied him to Zurich only because he could not travel alone.

The judge heard that Mr Ninian had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2013. He had difficulty swallowing, could not move his eyes, had poor mobility and rarely spoke.

The couple, who lived in London, met in the late 1970s, married in 1983, when she was 28 and he was 49, and had no children.

Mrs Ninian continued 'Alex was my soulmate for 40 years and it is very hard to cope with losing him. Everything that I did for him I did because he asked me to, and because I loved and cared for him too much to refuse.'

The judge was told that Mr Ninian's estate had a net value of around 1.8 million.

It comes as one woman revealed to ITV's This Morning how police grilled her during the final weeks of her husband's life over his decision to travel to Dignitas.

Retired accountant Geoff Whaley, from Buckinghamshire, chose to die in Switzerland rather than face the 'immense suffering' of the final stages of his condition at home.

Mr Whaley wanted assisted suicide to be made legal in the UK after his wife Ann was interviewed under caution in the weeks before his death and warned she faced 14 years in prison.

Geoff Whaley, 80, in his wheelchair during his last few weeks. He called for a change in UK law which he said, 'robbed me of control over my death'

Today the wife and daughter of Geoff Whaley, a retired accountant from Buckinghamshire who ended his life at Dignitas, went on This Morning to talk about their ordeal. Ann, 76, is pictured left and Alix right

Just moments before he passed away Mr Whaley posted a haunting letter to the Government, calling for a change in UK law which he said, 'robbed me of control over my death.'

He revealed how he 'sobbed' for the first time in five decades when his wife was grilled by police for helping him die, adding: '[The law] sought to punish those attempting to help me get there. The hypocrisy and cruelty of this is astounding.'

Today his daughter Alix Hawley told presenters Eamonn and Ruth: 'The last few weeks of his life were like a bomb going off.

'We could have had more time, three, four five, weeks maybe.'

The family claim if the law on assisted dying in the UK was different their beloved relative's final weeks would not have been tied up in legal procedures.
Tennessee Gov Bill Lee has issued an apology after a 1980 yearbook photo has surfaced showing him wearing a Confederate uniform at a fraternity party honoring pre-Civil War South.

The 59-year-old Lee, a Republican, was 17 years old when he joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Auburn University, which every spring held an 'Old South' party where he and other members dressed up as Confederate soldiers.

The fraternity has since ended the tradition, and Lee on Thursday said he regrets attending and wearing the uniform, and has come to see his participation in the event differently.

Throwback: Tennessee Gov Bill Lee on Thursday said he regrets in retrospect his decision to wear a Confederate uniform at a 1980 fraternity party, as seen in his yearbook photo (far right)

Lee donned the costume (left) while taking part in an 'Old South' party as a student at Auburn University in Alabama. The 59-year-old Republican said he 'never intentionally acted in an insensitive way'

A spokeswoman for Lee confirmed on Thursday that Auburn's 1980 yearbook includes a photo of the governor and another man in Confederate uniforms.

'While I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, with 40 years of hindsight, I have come to realize that was insensitive and have come to regret that,' the governor said.

Days earlier, Lee's representatives said they were unaware of the existence of any racially insensitive photos depicting the Tennessee governor.

The scandal involving Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats who once wore blackface, has brought renewed scrutiny to the past behavior of elected officials around the country when it comes to race.

Lee's comments came during interviews The Associated Press conducted with governors across the country following the scandal in Virginia. Comments from Lee were first reported Wednesday by The Tennessean.

Lee said through a spokeswoman that he has never worn blackface or attended parties where others were doing so, nor has he taken part in other activities or organizations since college that would be considered racially insensitive or offensive.

Two other photos with different people in Confederate clothing are on the yearbook page, which has the caption, 'The South shall rise again, right Bill! When the band plays 'Dixie', a tear comes to our eyes. I'd do anything Lee, but she comes first'

In the 1980 black-and-white Lee yearbook photo, Lee is wearing a Confederate soldier uniform and is standing with a woman in a flouncy antebellum dress and matching hat. Lee's office said it did not immediately know the identity of the woman.

Another unidentified woman and man are also in the photo wearing the same kind of attire.

Two other photos with different people in Confederate clothing are on the page, which has the caption, 'The South shall rise again, right Bill! When the band plays 'Dixie', a tear comes to our eyes. I'd do anything Lee, but she comes first.'

The page also explains that Kappa Alpha was based on ideals that 'constituted the frame and fabric of Southern Culture' and that its founding fathers saw in Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee 'chivalry, valor, loyalty and reverence for womankind.'

Auburn's yearbook from 1978, Lee's freshman year, called the party sponsored by Lee's Kappa Alpha fraternity 'one of the biggest social events on campus.'

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's page in the 1984 yearbook of Eastern Virginia Medical School, in which two people appears in blackface and KKK costume

It described the festivities this way: 'Preliminary parties last for a week and finally culminate on Saturday night. The sound of rebel yells and horses' hooves can be heard as the KA's parade down College Street - reminiscent of one of the South's hardest, yet grandest times.'

The yearbook noted that Kappa Alpha also sponsored an event called Convivium, a celebration of Robert E. Lee's birthday. The yearbook said he was 'exemplary of the Southern gentleman' and represented attributes 'that KA strives to uphold - to mold leaders not simply followers.'

Kappa Alpha's national organization banned the display of Confederate flags in 2001, and in 2010 prohibited members from wearing Confederate uniforms at events, reported The Plainsman.

Lee graduated from Auburn in 1981 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Old South parties were a Kappa Alpha tradition on other campuses, including at the University of Georgia in 1983, when Georgia's current governor, Republican Brian Kemp, was a student.

Kemp was a member of a different fraternity, and there is nothing in his yearbooks to suggest he attended the parties.
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Some of Queensland's most famous beaches face their worst erosion threat in decades as Tropical Cyclone Oma continues to whip up ferocious winds and huge waves off the east coast of Australia.

Most computer models suggest Oma will get within 500km of south-east Queensland by Saturday, but the storm, dubbed 'Omageddon' on social media, remains highly unpredictable.

'[It will turn] towards the north-west on the weekend. What happens beyond this remains difficult to figure out,' Weatherzone's Ben Domensino said.

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Some of Queensland's most famous beaches face their worst erosion threat in decades as Tropical Cyclone Oma continues to whip up ferocious winds and huge waves. A woman is seen taking photographs of large surf at Snapper Rocks

King tides, combined with swell, caused sea water to flood the streets of the Gold Coast on both Thursday and Friday

Most computer models suggest Oma will with get within 500km of south-east Queensland by Saturday, but the category two storm, dubbed 'Omageddon' on social media, remains highly unpredictable

Lifeguards have closed all beaches on the Gold Coast, with wave heights expected to reach six metres on Friday.

Surf forecaster Ben Macartney said king tides and the relentless thrashing of Queensland's coast will spark the worst erosion in recent memory.

'It's phenomenal really. We are looking at an exceptional swell event,' Mr Macartney told The Courier Mail.

'It's going to get more chaotic and there will be a lot of water movement and damage to the coastline. It is easily our most severe erosion event in decades.'

Huge swells and high tides are pummelling south-east Queensland beaches as Cyclone Oma sits off Australia's east coast

Jet ski riders are pictured preparing to tow surfers on to monster waves at Kirra beach on the Gold Coast on Friday

Surf forecaster Ben Macartney said king tides and the relentless thrashing of Queensland's coast will cause the worst erosion in recent memory

A hazardous surf warning is in place from the Capricornia Coast right down to the New South Wales border 750km away, with huge swells of up to eight metres and abnormally high tides set to pummel the coast in the coming days.

The dangerous conditions and warnings to stay out of the water haven't fazed surfers, who were pictured tackling incredible waves on Thursday.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned south-east Queensland residents to be aware of current warnings amid the dangerous conditions.

Cyclone Oma is edging towards to Australia's east coast. Locals (pictured at Snapper Rocks, Gold Coast) were more interested in the monster swells than the prospect of a devastating storm hitting the coastline

The Bureau of Meteorology warned south-east Queensland residents to be aware of current warnings amid the dangerous conditions

The fierce category two storm will come close enough for winds to lash the coast in south-east Queensland and far northern New South Wales

Their warning was extended to parts of northern New South Wales, coastal communities from Bundaberg to Ballina, on Thursday evening after four to six metre waves were recorded offshore of North Stradroke Island.

The NSW Mid North Coast was hit by severe thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon and Port Macquarie's Airport recorded around 19 milimetres of rain - its highest amount of rainfall in two months.

Despite forecasters anticipating the thunderstorms will subside on Friday, high tides across the coast will stay constant, Nine News reported.

Two women appeared dangerously close to the giant waves on Thursday afternoon

A hazardous surf warning is in place from the Capricornia Coast right down to the New South Wales border. Surfers were undeterred by the powerful waves on Thursday afternoon

The unreal conditions saw dozens of surfers and spectators head out to take in the sights. While the brave few jumped in the water, many chose to watch on from the safety of the shore

'Surf and swell conditions will be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating, swimming and many beaches are already closed for public safety,' Queensland State Manager Bruce Gunn said.

'Gale force winds are possible for exposed coastal beaches, combined with heavy rainfall,' Mr Gunn said.

'The bureau has issued a flood watch from Gladstone to the NSW border. Forecast rainfall totals are largely dependent on the cyclone track and there are still a wide range of scenarios at this point.'

Queenslanders have been told to brace for flooding, dangerous waves and winds up to 130km/h as the storms moves towards the east coast.

Pictures shared to Twitter showed the wrath of the storm on Thursday, with some residents forced to clean up smashed windows at a building close to the ocean.

This young lad was ripping up the waves, snaking a bunch of others as he dominated the water

An eerie shot of a lone surfer in the water at Snapper Rocks on Thursday, with others waiting for waves in the background

'Windows have been removed from Rick Shores in Burleigh, with large swell from Cyclone Oma,' the Twitter update said.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Adam Blazak said there was still disagreement about which path the storm will take, but there was a possibility it could make landfall at the weekend.

'On Friday, we will see an increase in wind strength and we are expecting heavy rain across the weekend,' he said.

Late on Thursday Oma was about 820km northeast of Brisbane, packing wind gusts of up to 130km/h.

People in the cyclone watch zone have been urged to think about what preparations they might need to make if the cyclone threat increases.

This surfer found himself airborne while taking on monster swells at Duranbah, NSW's northernmost beach on Thursday

Even photographers risked their lives to capture the crazy surf conditions along Queensland south-east coast

Strong waves brought on by incoming Cyclone Oma nearly completely submerged this vehicle at Rainbow Beach on Wednesday
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that the government should resign after what he said was a failure to raise real incomes, boost jobs and improve living standards, according to the statement on the Akorda website.

"I, as the president and the guarantor of the constitution, taking into account the interests of our people, make the following decision. I believe that the government should resign," Sputnikc ited him as saying.

Nazarbayev said the new cabinet should work out steps to raise the living standard.
James Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI, told Congress that he thought Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted until 'pretty late' in the Department of Justice's investigation.

James Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI, is under investigation for unauthorized leaks to the media

Baker told Congress, according to Fox News, that Clinton's team should have known that as secretary of state she'd be receiving and sending 'highly classified' information over email and needed to be using a secure network.

In closed-door testimony he told lawmakers that DOJ officials had internal arguments about whether to bring charges against Clinton.

'We were arguing about it, I think, up until the end,' he said, according to a transcript of the testimony obtained by Fox.

Baker said that her personally found her behavior to be 'alarming' and 'appalling' but other high-level officials were convinced that she did not have 'knowledge or criminal intent' when she used a secret server and personal email to conduct government business.

Leaked government memos show that former FBI director James Comey, at least, had decided months before speaking to Clinton that she was not likely to be prosecuted.

James Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI, told Congress that he thought Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted until 'pretty late' in the Department of Justice's investigation

But Comey also believed at one time it was 'reasonably likely' that her email was hacked by 'hostile actors' only to write in his final report that it was merely a possibility.

'Well, I know theres been a lot of public discussion about that,' Baker told lawmakers, per Fox's copy of the transcript. 'I believe if I had been persuaded that she had the intent, I would have argued that vociferously with him and maybe changed his view. And I think he would have been receptive to changing his view even after he wrote that thing.'

He added, 'My original belief  well, after having conducted the investigation and towards the end of it, then sitting down and reading a binder of her materials, I thought that it was alarming, appalling, whatever words I said, and argued with others about why they thought she shouldnt be charged.'

'I was struggling with the facts about even just ascertaining what literally did she know and what was reasonable to infer about what she knew,' he said.

Baker joined Comey and his former deputy Andrew McCabe in the hot seat over allegations on whether he was behind unauthorized leaks to the media.

Baker is under federal investigation on the matter, a letter from House Republicans obtained by Fox News first revealed in January.

The investigation was revealed in a letter from GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (left) and Mark Meadows (right); the two men are staunch Trump allies

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, in their letter, cited the transcript of a congressional interview with Baker and his lawyer last fall, where the investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham was discussed.

'You may or may not know, [Baker has] been the subject of a leak investigation  a criminal leak investigation that's still active at the Justice Department,' lawyer Daniel Levin told lawmakers.

Jordan and Meadows' letter was sent to Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, and it requested additional information about his look into Baker later this month.

'As we continue our oversight and investigative work, we felt it prudent to write to you seeking an update. Without being apprised of the contours of your leak investigation and Baker's role, we run the risk of inadvertently interfering with your prosecutorial plans,' they wrote.

The two Republicans are some of President Donald Trump's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill. Baker left the FBI in May of last year.

But he's become a focal point for some Republicans recently as his closed-door testimony to lawmakers last fall confirmed that top FBI officials at the FBI were concerned Trump may have been working to benefit Russia, particularly after Comey's firing, CNN reported.

McCabe has since confirmed that was the case in media interviews in his new book.

Comey and McCabe have also come under fire for media leaks related to the Russia investigation.

In June of last year, Comey, in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, revealed how he engineered the leak of his own memo to The New York Times.

The memo detailed his private conversation with President Donald Trump about the FBI's probe of then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and his ties to Russia.

Former FBI James Comey revealed he was behind the leak of his memo of a meeting with President Trump to the New York Times

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was found to be the leak behind a Wall Street Journal story written in the closing days of the 2016 election

Comey testified he hoped the information in his memo would lead to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.

He noted he was not a federal employee nor was the memo classified when it was leaked.

The fired FBI director gave the memo to a friend, a professor at Columbia Law School, to pass it on to a journalist.

'I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter,' Comey said.

The FBI was investigating Flynn's ties to Russian officials. Flynn later admitted he lied about the content of calls with then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

In his memo, Comey wrote that Trump asked him to back off Flynn, which Trump has denied.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed and part of his purview was to examine whether Trump interfered in the investigation.

McCabe was also investigated for unauthorized an media leak.

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe last year and claimed the FBI's inspector general found the deputy director made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and 'lacked candor  including under oath  on multiple occasions.'

McCabe denied he misled investigators.

The Department of Justice Inspector General found McCabe was the leak behind a Wall Street Journal story written in the closing days of the 2016 election that revealed investigators found 650,000 emails on a laptop that they believe was used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedi that could have sent messages to or from Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Dave Toliver (pictured), 36, who allegedly threw a toilet through the glass of a Board of Education building in Illinois was ironically arrested while sitting on another toilet

A man who allegedly threw a toilet through the glass of a Board of Education building in Illinois was ironically arrested while sitting on another toilet last week.

Dave Toliver, a 36-year-old Florida man, was arrested on Friday and charged with felony criminal damage to property.

He was taken into custody after officers from the East Saint Louis Police Department responded to a property damage call at the Board of Education building located at 10th and State Streets in East St Louis.

Upon arrival, witnesses told officers that Toliver had 'carried an old toilet' to the building and 'threw the toilet through the front glass'.

Toliver had already fled the scene on foot by the time officers arrived.

Officers were able to locate Toliver at the corner of 11th and Cleveland Streets.

Toliver was reportedly sitting on another old toilet nearby. He was then taken into custody.

Authorities said it's still unclear why Toliver threw the toilet into the building.

Toliver's bond was set at $10,000.


Dominic Madar, 27, was last seen when he attended the British Embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia, on February 1. Kent Police said there are growing concerns for his welfare

Police are appealing for information into the whereabouts of a British man who has gone missing while travelling in Europe.

Dominic Madar left his home in Tonbridge, Kent, on January 14 intending to travel between the capital cities of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.

He was last seen when he attended the British Embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia, on February 1 where he told officials he had been robbed, police said.

Kent Police said Mr Madar also contacted someone in Budapest that day to ask for a place to stay but it is not known if he travelled to the Hungarian capital.

The 27-year-old was believed to be without any money or a phone and is known to have stayed in Vienna and Bratislava, the force said.

Mr Madar, who is white and described as being around 6ft tall with a slim build and dark brown hair, has not been seen or heard from since and concerns are growing for his welfare, police added.

Police are appealing for people who met Mr Madar on his travels to get in touch with any information about his whereabouts.

A spokesman added: 'There are growing concerns for Dominic's welfare and Kent Police has been in liaison with a number of foreign embassies as part of ongoing inquiries to locate him.

Police are appealing for information into the whereabouts of a British man who has gone missing while travelling in Europe. He intended to travel between the capital cities of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, and was last seen in Bratislava, Slovakia (pictured above as a stock photo)

'Appeals for information have been circulated in embassies and hostels, at locations where he may have travelled to and stayed.

'Officers are now urging friends, or people who may have met Dominic on his travels and who have now returned home, to get in touch if they have heard from him or have any information.'

Witnesses should call the police on 101, quoting reference KP-20190204-1266.
A 33-year-old Egyptian man who strangled his seven-year-old daughter to death in a fit of jealousy was jailed for life by a German court.

The man, identified only as Ahmed F. in line with German privacy rules, was found guilty of strangling his daughter in July 2018 because he wanted to take revenge against his wife, who he suspected of infidelity.

In its verdict Thursday, Duesseldorf's regional court noted the gravity of the crime by preventing his release even once he has served the standard 15-year life term.

Ahmed F., 33, strangled his daughter to death in July 2018 at his apartment in Dusseldorf because he wanted to take revenge against his wife, who he suspected of cheating on him (emergency services pictured nearby at the time of the murder)

His wife called police after receiving a video call from F. where he could be seen pointing a gun at their crying daughter. When they arrived at his apartment (pictured), she was dead. Noting the crime's gravity, Dusseldorf's regional court sentenced him to longer than the standard 15-year life term

F. denied the allegations and claimed his daughter died in an accident.

His wife had called police after receiving a video call from him in which he could be seen pointing a gun at their crying daughter.

She was dead by the time police entered the apartment.
Schuyler Sutton, 28, a plumber from Silver Spring, Maryland, allegedly skipped out on his pizza restaurant bill, slapped a waitress in the rear and barricade himself in a hotel with a hunting bow and arrow

A pizza parlor patron who dined and dashed, slapping a waitress on the buttocks as he left, has been arrested after an hours-long stand-off with police after he barricaded himself into his hotel room.

Police say Schuyler Sutton, 28, and Summer Bueso-Shinn, 27, both of Silver Spring, Maryland, were reported for leaving Grotto's Pizza in Seaford, Delaware, without paying on Tuesday.

Sutton also reportedly slapped a server on the rear before departing the pizza restaurant.

He then fled to a nearby Days Inn hotel.

Seaford Police tracked down Bueso-Shinn and took her into custody.

They received reports of someone matching Sutton's description in the halls of the Days Inn 'armed with a hunting style bow and arrow.'

When police arrived, there was a tense hours-long stand-off between officers and Sutton who refused to come out of his hotel room.

After several hours of negotiating, he finally surrendered and was taken into custody.

Authorities also discovered that Sutton was wanted on an arrest warrant for a burglary charge in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Both Sutton and Bueso-Shinn are charged with theft under $1500 and conspiracy second degree.

The Grotto Pizza located on Sussex Highway in Seaford Delaware was the scene of the alleged dine-and-dash by Sutton and Bueso-Shinn

Schuyler Sutton reportedly fled to his hotel room at the Days Inn located a half-mile down the road from Grotto Pizza where police found him

Sutton was hit with additional charges of unlawful sexual contact third degree, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and being an out of state fugitive.

Bueso-Shinn was released on an unsecured bail and Sutton was also issued unsecured bail, but was taken into custody by the Department of Corrections without bail pending an extradition hearing on his Maryland warrant.

Schuyler Sutton is listed as the owner of a plumbing business on his Facebook page in Silver Spring while Bueso-Shinn works as an office secretary for a landscaping firm.
Hans Rogers, 20, of Dallas, Georgia was nearly shot by an elderly woman after police say he broke into her home in rural Jackson County on February 12

A suspected burglar who broke into the home of a gun-toting, 79-year-old Georgia woman got way more than he bargained for earlier this month when she started shooting at him, recently released 911 audio has revealed.

Police say Hans Rogers, 20, of Dallas, Georgia, is the man who was nearly shot twice by an unidentified elderly woman after he allegedly broke into her home in rural Jackson County, according to ABC News.

A nine-minute recording of the victim's conversation with a Jackson County Emergency Services dispatcher that began around noon on February 12 captured the dramatic moments before, during and after the alarming incident.

The fearful 79-year-old was in the kitchen when she called 911 after hearing what she thought was multiple people trying to break into her house.

'Theyre trying to get in the back door. Hurry. Hurry. Please,' the elderly caller told the dispatcher during the recording as the man authorities say was Rogers broke through the back door of her home.

'Im watching the door that they were trying to get in,' the woman continued on the call. 'Ooh, theyre breaking glass.'

The woman's fear quickly turned to action as she gathered her courage and confronted the invader with her firearm.

'Okay, come on! I got something for you!' she shouted before firing a shot in the burglar's direction.

Moments later, however, the undeterred intruder broke into a second-story window of the woman's house. Hearing noises upstairs, the 79-year-old fired a second shot.

'I'm waiting on ya!' she said on the recorded call, which was initially obtained by WXIA-TV.

'When you come down them stairs, I'm gonna blow your damn brains out! I'm waiting! Come on!'

Police arrived to the scene about 10 minutes after the initial 911 call was made, arresting Rogers, who they said was hiding in an upstairs closet.

The elderly woman told her daughter later that the intruder had some choice words for her as he hid in fear for his life.

'He made the comment to my mother, you know, "B****, youre trying to kill me!" because, you know, she was shooting at him,' the victim's daughter told a local reporter.

'She didnt allow herself to become a victim. My mothers a very strong woman. I know where I get my strength from, now. As a matter of fact, I think shes a little stronger.'

Police charged Rogers with felony burglary and home invasion after the incident, according to WXIA.

The victim's daughter said police told her mother that Rogers has a history of medical issues, but didn't specify what they were.

'I dont know if I could have handled that situation as well as she did,' the victim's daughter continued. 'My mothers a very spiritual person if she wanted to hit him, she could have hit him She just wanted to keep him off of her.'
Groups say 'porn' like features of dolls create 'degrading attitude to women'

Men encouraged to treat women's bodies as objects after using robots say group

Use of dolls and robots thought to encourage men to act out violent fantasies

threat to the safety of women as they can't say 'no', say feminists

Feminist groups in Sweden have called for a ban on 'dangerous' sex robots because they encourage men to treat women's bodies as objects and could lead to violence against real women and girls.

Sweden's Women's Lobby, the National Organisation for Women's Shelters and Young Women's Shelters have made a joint appeal in Swedish Newspaper Expressen, for the robots to be banned as they 'dehumanise' women.

The groups believe that the increasingly lifelike dolls and robots are posing a threat to the safety of women as they are not programmed with the ability to say 'no' to men's demands.

Nanotechnology engineer holds the head of Samantha, a sex doll packed with artificial intelligence providing her the capability to respond to different scenarios and verbal stimulus

A spokesman for the groups said: 'Why are men willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a robot that obeys their smallest command?'

Adding: 'A female robot cannot say no to something that the man wants, if she is not programmed to do so.'

The feminists said that the dolls allowed users to play out their violent fantasies, leading them to believe such things are possible with real women.

With the dolls often having 'pornography' like physical features the groups argue that they may be contributing to a 'sexualised and degrading attitude to women'.

The groups said: '[The dolls have] appearances and attributes typical of the objectifying, sexualised and degrading attitude to women found in today's mainstream pornography.'

A realistic silicone sex dolls weighs around 40 kilos due to its lightweight aluminium structure and takes a week to construct

Using new technology to create lifelike 'women' in doll and robot form is justifying slavery by dehumanising women, claimed the groups.

Demands for an inquiry to be held into 'how technology and activities that normalise abuse can be restricted and prohibited' have been put forward by the feminists.

With automated brothels, with no human prostitutes, now open in neighbouring Denmark and Finland, the feminist groups have called for Swedish authorities to make it hard for the brothels to open.

Sweden has had a government that puts focus on women's rights since 2014 and 'has for 20 years had a regulatory framework that punished sex buyers and which has reduced the demand for prostitution', say the groups.

Adding: 'Now, Sweden must take the next step and dare to address the ongoing technological developments that are driven by the sex industry at the expense of real women and girls.'

In a last demand the feminists asked that children be taught about sex dolls in sex education and that the dangerous relationship between power and sexuality should be explained.
A top French jihadist who voiced an audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 Paris attacks has been killed.

Fabien Clain, thought to be in his early 40s, was killed in Islamic State's last Syrian redoubt of Baghouz, sources who didn't wish to be identified have said.

He is believed to have left France in 2015, after converting to Islam, to join the self-proclaimed caliphate.

Fabien Clain, believed to be in his 40s, is believed to have left Francein 2015 to join the self-proclaimed Caliphate after converting to Islam

In his video after the Paris attacks, Clain can be heard announcing that 'eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles' had conducted a 'blessed attack on... Crusader France'.

The chilling propaganda recording warned that the Paris 2015 jihadist rampage was just 'the beginning of the storm'.

The IS gunmen slaughtered 129 people in coordinated attacks at restaurants and bars around Paris, the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium in an atrocity that stunned the world.

His brother Jean-Michel, also a jihadist, was wounded in the same raid that killed Fabien in Baghouz, where the last IS fighters are holding out against US-backed Syrian forces, the sources said.

His brother, Jean-Michel, was also injured in the attack on Baghouz by US-backed Syrian forces

Clain was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 after he was found guilty of organising a network responsible for sending recruits to fight US soldiers in Iraq

The French defence and foreign ministries have not confirmed whether the jihadist was killed.

Fabien, also known as Brother Omar, or Abu Adam Al-Faransi, converted to Islam in the 1990s. He is believed to have been radicalised by a Frenchman of Syrian origin, Olivier Corel, dubbed the 'white imam'.

Originally from the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, he later moved to mainland France.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 for organising a network responsible for sending recruits to fight US soldiers in Iraq.

At the time, he and brother Jean-Michel were active in a radical Islamist network, known as the Artigat cell, in the Toulouse area of southwest France.
A man hoping to meet a potential match off a dating app was instead shot in the buttocks and almost robbed, police say.

The man, who does not want to be identified, had arranged to meet the mysterious 'woman' on a dark Virginia street, at Leavenworth Street and Ferndale Avenues in Petersburg, early on Wednesday morning.

But his hopes of finding love were quickly dashed when, instead of meeting his match, he was met by an armed robber.

The man had arrived at Leavenworth Street and Ferndale Avenues in Petersburg, early on Wednesday morning hoping to meet the woman

Petersburg police said there has been an increase in people getting robbed from the dating apps

Police say the suspect grappled with the victim and tried to rob him. Eventually, he shot him in the buttocks then fled.

The injured victim went to a nearby house for help, belonging to Jacinta Mitchell.

'What happened at 5 o'clock this morning really scared me and got me still nervous,' Mitchell said to WTVR.

Mitchell and her family had been sleep when the man banged on their door for help.

'It was very, very, very, very shocking and scary,' Mitchell added.

Mitchell called police and her daughter screamed out to the man the they were on their way along with EMS.

Sources say that the man found someone trying to rob him and after they shot him in the butt, the victim took off and ran until he got to Jacinta Mitchell's (pictured) house around 5am

'I didn't open up my door because I didn't know who it was or what was going on,' Mitchell explained.

Mitchell asserted that she had 'no idea' who the man was and stated that she had 'never seen him a day in my life.'

A similar case happened in the neighborhood back on May 12, 2017, and involved the usage of numerous dating apps featuring photos of voluptuous women.

Police are searching for any information pertaining to the shooting.

The department could not be reached for a comment.
Police in Texas have arrested a man accused of stealing a hospital ambulance and taking it on a high-speed joyride, during which he went on the radio to rant about God and worms.

The bizarre incident took place just after 3.30am pn Thursday, when police say an unnamed man hijacked the ambulance that was used to transport him to Kingwood Medical Center after he caused a disturbance in his neighborhood by uprooting mailboxes.

Christy Graves, director of Harris County Emergency Services District 5s operations, said as soon as the vehicle arrived at the hospital, the patient jumped into the driver's seat of the ambulance, which still had the keys in the ignition, and sped off.

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Joyride: Police in Texas say an intoxicated patient took this Kingwood Medical Center on a wild joyride overnight

After an hour-long chase, with speeds reaching 90mph, cops deployed spike strips to disable the stolen ambulance (pictured)

Police cornered the unnamed suspect in the area of Crosby, Texas following Thursday's chase

Police officers from multiple agencies went after him in pursuit, which lasted for the better part of an hour.

As the suspect was driving the stolen ambulance and giving fist bumps to passersby, he switched on the EMS radio and was heard yelling: you little brain-washed [expletives]. God's got the microphone now. Obey your god or die,' reported KTRK.

He continued: we dont let [expletive] worms run our lives. Everybody go home and pray. We have a war. We are at war. Believe in God. I am coming for you.'

The chase, which at times reached speeds of more than 90mph, came to an end in the area of Crosby after officers deployed spike strips to disable the ambulance.

This video shows the man kneeling shirtless in the street, with his hands restrained behind his back

The suspect, believed to be high, was heard ranting about God during his arrest

The suspect then abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, but police quickly caught up with him.

Video recorded at the scene at around 5am showed the shirtless man with his hands restrained behind his back being led by a police officer to another ambulance.

According to authorities, the man was high on an unknown substance when he stole the ambulance and led them on the chase, as Click2Houston reported.

It remains unknown at this time what charges the suspect will face in connection to the ambulance theft and police pursuit.
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Decree on the resignation of the Government and the temporary assignment of the Prime Minister duties to Askar Mamin, Kazinform reported citing the press service of Akorda.

The text of the Decree is as follows: "On the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan In accordance with Article 70 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, I resolve: 1. To accept the resignation of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 2. Temporarily assign the duties of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Askar Uzakpayevich Mamin. 3. The members of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall continue executing their duties until the approval of a new composition of the Government. 4. This Decree shall enter into force on the day it is published. The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev."
A wheelchair-bound Texas man accused of bludgeoning his two-year-old daughter to death was naked and covered in blood from head to toe when police say he confessed to the child's murder.

An officer's body camera on Tuesday captured 26-year-old Yovahnis Roque admitting to killing Savanna Roque at their home in Orange, according to a police affidavit. Roque was arrested and charged with capital murder.

Roque lived with his mother at the house and it was she who found the girl's body and called police at around 11am.

The father is said to have believed his little girl had a microchip implanted in her and he attacked her with a hammer to 'destroy it'.

Shocking crime: Yovahnis Roque, 26 (left), was found naked and stained with blood, and told police he killed his 2-year-old daughter, Savanna (right), with a hammer

A barefoot, disheveled Roque was wheeled into the courtroom for his initial court appearance

Bizarre behavior: During his initial court appearance, Roque exclaimed 'the government made me do it' and 'this is fake'

The document states that responding officers found Roque 'completely covered in blood' on the front porch and discovered Savanna's lifeless body hidden in a closet.

While detectives were asking Roque to state his name, the 26-year-old man blurted out, unprompted, 'I killed my daughter,' the affidavit reads.

Orange police Capt. Robert Enmon has described it as the most horrific crime he's dealt with in his 29-year career, calling it 'the crime scene of nightmares.'

In court on Wednesday, a judge was explaining the capital murder charge when a barefoot and disheveled-looking Roque exclaimed: 'the government made me do it.'

He also was overheard uttering, 'this is fake' and 'I don't know what you want from me.'

Roque was ordered held on $2million bond in the Orange County jail.

Enmon said on Thursday that authorities investigated a disturbance at the house several months earlier, but that the call didn't appear to involve Roque's daughter.

Sources say Roque believed that his daughter (right) had a microchip implanted in her and that he bludgeoned the toddler to death to 'destroy it'

Savanna's mother, 24-year-old Rachel Foster, was killed in a suspected DUI crash in Florida, which also seriously injured Roque and left him in a wheelchair

Foster lost her life just weeks after giving birth to her and Roque's baby, Savanna (pictured)

Roque and Savanna previously lived in Florida.

A friend of the suspect, Abner Santiago, told the Beaumont Enterprise that he received a series of messages from Roque on Tuesday, including one in which he told his friend to start digging because there was going to be 'an all-out war.'

'He was messaging me weird coded messages about the world ending,' Santiago said. 'He wasn't like this before when I knew him back in Miami.'

Savanna was just weeks old on June 19, 2016, her mother, 24-year-old Rachel Foster, was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver, according to WTVJ-TV in Miami-Dade County.

Roque was seriously injured in the wreck, which left him in a wheelchair.

Roque's brother said the 26-year-old felt guilty about the accident that ended Foster's life. The 24-year-old new mom was a dance teacher

His brother, Lazaro Roque, told 12 News Now he felt guilty about the crash that killed his girlfriend, a dance teacher, because she died crossing the road to where his car had run out of gas.

Foster's mother, Delia Foster, told the station that the death of her daughter, and now the killing of her granddaughter, brings 'a complete emptiness. And it's just so gloomy and so devastating.'

Sources familiar with the murder investigation in Texas said Roque believed that his daughter Savanna had a microchip implanted in her and that he bludgeoned the toddler to death to 'destroy it.' Police have not confirmed that theory.

On the day of the slaughter, Roques mother had left him at home with Savanna so she could obtain a 'mental health warrant' on him, according to his brother.
Theresa May (pictured in Brussels last night) defended her 'moderate, open-hearted' party tonight in a robust letter to the three MPs who defected to the Independent Group

Theresa May defended her 'moderate, open-hearted' party tonight in a robust letter to the three MPs who defected to the Independent Group.

The Prime Minister thanked Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen for their service to the party and the Government.

But she said they were wrong to suggest the party had been lost to a right-wing fringe obsessed with the European Union and Brexit.

Mrs May outlined a string policy achievements including money for the NHS, the race disparity audit and help for first time buyers.

And she defended the mission to deliver on the 2016 referendum - insisting it was 'right to do so' and it would be a 'mistake' to cancel the vote.

In her strongest response Mrs May said she was 'sorry to read and do not accept' comparisons to the 'warped' Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.

In a move designed to cause the maximum damage, the trio made their leap less than an hour before Mrs May faced MPs in the bruising weekly session of PMQs yesterday - and on the same day she has to convince Brussels she can pass a Brexit deal.

Vowing to stand in the 'centre ground' in a damning letter to Mrs May yesterday the group said they could not remain in the Tories while it was 'in the grip of the ERG and DUP'.

They said Brexit has 'redefined the Conservative Party - undoing all efforts to modernise it' - and warning that the 'country deserves better' from its politics.

The Prime Minister thanked Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen for their service to the party and the Government

In her letter to the defectors, Mrs May said they were wrong to suggest the party had been lost to a right-wing fringe obsessed with the European Union and Brexit

What is the Independent Group and can you vote for it? What happened this week? Seven MPs resigned from the Labour Party on Monday and set up something called the Independent Group. They were joined by an eigth Labour MP last night. Three Tory MPs also left their party - warning the Conservatives have been gripped by a right wing, pro Brexit insurgency. Who is in the group? Ex-Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Joan Ryan. Ex-Tory MPs Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen. Is it a political party? No. It is a small business - technically a limited company - called Gemini A Ltd that was set up Gavin Shuker, one of the MPs, in January. Can I vote for it? No. Unless and until it registers with the Electoral Commission, it cannot stand candidates. Can I donate to it? Yes. The group is accepting donations through its website theindependent.group. It says donations will support the newly independent MPs. What does it want? All the MPs are Remain supporters and most of them have promoted a second referendum to cancel Brexit. They say they want evidence-based policy making to tackle the challenges facing Britain - without being inside the current political parties. Advertisement

In an immediate response, Mrs May said she was 'saddened' by the decision and thanked the MPs for their 'dedicated service to our party over many years'.

The PM vowed the Tories would 'always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics' Britain deserved.

he said delivering Brexit was 'never going to be easy' but insisted she was 'doing the right thing for our country'.

The move puts rocket boosters under the new political movement that was launched by a 'gang of seven' ex-Labour MPs on Monday.

It is the biggest split in British politics since 1981 and could set in motion a total realignment of the party system.

Mrs May met pro-EU Tories in No 10 today as she battled to avoid more MPs defecting to the new Independent Group.

Both Philip Lee and Justine Greening complained Mrs May has focused her efforts on winning over hardline Brexiteers instead of seeking help from moderate MPs.

They along with Dominic Grieve are the focus of speculation about new defections.

The PM is braced for more MPs to leave the party and has also been warned ministers could quit the Government next week over no deal.

Even Philip Hammond refused to rule out quitting as Chancellor today as Mrs May battles to hold together the Tory coalition in the Brexit endgame.

The Tory leadership has strained to respond calmly to yesterday's defection of three MPs to the new Independent Group - and Mr Hammond even suggested they could return to the Tory fold in future.

But Brexiteer frustration boiled over this afternoon as Nadine Dorries branded the trio 'con merchants' with 'incredibly inflated opinions of their own ability'.

As Tory defectors to the new Independent Group claimed there were a 'significant' number of MPs in other parties on the brink of quitting, Westminster is abuzz with who could be next

A sensational poll by YouGov puts the new independent group in third place on 14 per cent - appearing to pull support from both Tory and Labour

Ex-Tory MP Sarah Wollaston suggested today the Conservative party was 'destroying itself' amid speculation former colleagues could follow her to the new Independent Group.

'I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit,' she told Today.

'Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.'

Dr Wollaston said 'the Tory party has changed, I think it has changed irredeemably', adding: 'I would say the Tory party is destroying itself.'
A Mexican mayor is determined to stand his ground after a five-figure bounty was placed on his head.

Facebook user 'Mago Martinez' recently issued a death threat against Felipe Patjane, the mayor of Tehuacan, Puebla.

The Spanish social media post, which also included a picture of mayor Patjane, read: '200,000 pesos for the head of this dirty rat.'

The amount offered for the mayor's murder is the equivalent of almost $10,400 USD.

Felipe Patjane, the mayor of Tehuacan, Puebla, is being threatened on social media but he says he will not negotiate with gangs. The mayor took office October 2018 and says he has seen a drop in crime in a city that has been plagued with a high rate of cargo shipment theft

Facebook user 'Mago Martinez' posted a threat against the mayor of Tehuacan which reads: '200,000 pesos for the head of this dirty rat'

Patjane declared he won't be accepting any deals from the very same organized crime factions and local gangs that his government has waged a fight against since he took office on October, 15.

The defiant mayor has noticed positive results in his city's fight against crime.

'There is a threat because Felipe Patjane does not negotiate with organized crime or with local criminals and Felipe Patjane comes to work,' the defiant mayor said, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.

While announcing the 23rd Tehuacan International Festival earlier this week, the municipal leader said he had already alerted the cyber police to track down the author of the Facebook post.

'On the contrary, I think [the threat] is telling me that I am working the right way and someone is bothered by my work,' Patjane told reporters.

The mayor has a detail of six bodyguards but said he refuses to wear a bulletproof vest.

Tehuacan is the second biggest city in the state of Puebla and has been plagued with a high theft rate of cargo shipments.

The town is located southeast of Mexico City, the Mexican capital.
A professor and his teenage son radioed a distress call saying they had lost control of their plane moments before it crashed off the Florida coast, killing them both.

The US Coast Guard searched for 56 hours and covering 1,400 square miles in the hunt for Peter Renzulli, 51, and his son Daniel, 19, of Bridgewater, New Jersey.

The father and son departed from Kissimmee Gateway Airport in Orlando after a Disney World vacation and were heading home to New Jersey to Princeton Airport on the morning of December 20 last year at around 8.20am.

About 30 minutes into the flight, the plane disappeared from the radar. A distress call around 9.45am was made to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, which in turn notified the Coast Guard.

Their plane descended from 12,000ft (3,660 meters) to 3,300ft (1,000 meters) when they radioed they were upside down.

The Piper PA-46 aircraft and their bodies were recovered off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on February 6.

Peter Renzulli (right), and his son Daniel, (left, with his sister). Their plane disappeared off the coast of Jacksonville on their way back from a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida

The Piper PA-46 (file image) departed from Orlando and was heading towards Princeton Airport, New Jersey. About 30 minutes into the flight, the plane disappeared from the radar

The Florida Times-Union reports that a National Transportation Safety Board report released on Wednesday shows either the Rutgers professor or his son radioed, 'We're not OK, we need help', after a Jacksonville flight controller noticed their single-engine Piper losing altitude in bad weather.

Aviation records, viewed by NJ.com, showed the plane was registered in Texas.

The website also reported that FlightAware.com, an online flight tracker, showed the plane reached an altitude of 22,000 feet before plummeting at a rapid speed.

FAA radar showed the aircraft flying above the freezing level as it showed light to moderate rain at their altitude, the report said.

The plane continued to climb in the rain, then made a slight left turn, then right turn, before being to lose height.

Despite several boats and helicopters being deployed by the Coast Guard, there was no sign of the aircraft or of the two men.

'The suspension of an active search and rescue case is never an easy decision to make,' Christopher Eddy, search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard 7th district, said in a statement.

'We always want the best case scenario to happen and will continue to monitor for new information that could aid responders.'

A distress call was received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, which notified the US Coast Guard. On Sunday, the Coast Guard called off the search after a 56-hour hunt that covered 1,400 square miles. Pictured: Daniel, left, and Peter in 2013

It's unclear who was piloting the Piper PA-46, but Peter had completed 30 hours of advanced training in the aircraft. Pictured: Daniel, left, and Peter, right

The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the incident.

'The family was devastated to learn that the aircraft could not be located,' Justin Marchetta, a Parsippany aviation attorney, said in a statement.

'Peter and Daniel are accomplished pilots and their disappearance is heartbreaking.

'We ask that the privacy of the Renzulli family be respected at this difficult time and we ask that those following this story keep the Renzullis in their thoughts and prayers.'

Marchetta said the father and son had recently been in Orlando on vacation at Walt Disney World.

Although it is unclear whether Peter or Daniel was piloting the plane, the family said Peter had undergone more than 30 hours of the raining in the aircraft that disappeared.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Peter was a certified public accountant with the firm Bookkeepers2Go and an adjunct professor at Rutgers University.

Daniel graduated Bridgewater-Raritan High School this past June and was in his freshman year at Michigan State University, according to his Facebook page.
A furious President Donald Trump laid into Jussie Smollett on Thursday after Chicago police arrested the disgraced 'Empire' actor and prosecutors charged him with filing a false police report related to a hoax attack he claimed he suffered last month.

Smollett had said a pair of men wearing ski masks and 'Make America Great Again' hats attacked him on a Chicago street, shouting racist and anti-gay slurs. He claimed they shouted 'This is MAGA country!' as they beat him and put a noose around his neck.

Chicago Police Superintendant Eddie Johnson blasted him on Thursday in a press conference, saying he had 'taken advantage of the pain and anger of racism to further his career, hoping a higher public profile would help him earn more than the $100,000 he was paid for each episode of the TV drama.

Smollett now faces a felony that could land him behind bars for three years, and even more time in prison if he is charged with mail fraud for sending himself a threatening letter containing white powder.

His intentions and 'lies' have 'p****d everybody off', Johnson said, calling his behavior 'shameful' and 'despicable.'

Trump let him have it on Twitter, saying the actor maligned his base of supporters by casting them in the role of villains.

'@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?' the president tweeted, adding the hashtag '#MAGA.'

President Donald Trump defended his 'Make America Great Again' base on Thursday, saying actor Jussie Smollett 'insulted' them with 'racist and dangerous comments' related to a hoax attack he said was committee by men wearing Trump hats and shouting 'This is MAGA country'

Trump tweeted after police revealed details of Smollett's plot and spoke to reporters about his arrest, demanding an apology from the actor

Smollett is pictured in an Instagram picture he posted on February 7, 2018; DailyMail.com has blurred out the word 'f**k'

Jussie Smollett is shown in his mugshot on Thursday morning. The 'Empire' actor handed himself in at 5:00 a.m. on charges of filing a false police report and disorderly conduct. Police say he concocted the fake attack because he thought a higher public profile would get him a salary raise from the $100,000 per episode he earned on the TV drama

Police have found phone records which they say prove Smollett spoke with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo an hour before the attack, an hour afterwards and while they were in Nigeria, keeping their heads down, while the case gained global attention.

Police say that Smollett mailed himself a threatening letter at the 'Empire' studio in Chicago on January 22, which had 'MAGA' written on it and included racist and homophobic slurs.

When that did not win him a pay hike from 20th Century Fox, he allegedly hired the brothers to attack him at 2am on January 29 in what he then told police was a racist and homophobic attack.

They punched him but Smollett gave himself the scratches on his face that were visible in a hospital-bed selfie he took after reporting it to police, the Superintendent said.

Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. Chicago Police Department Chief Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson

While Smollett received an outpouring of sympathy from politicians, celebrities and public figures around the world, the brothers fled to Nigeria afterwards.

They were tracked down through their use of taxis on the night of the incident and were picked up when they returned to Chicago on February 13.

Once in custody, they told police that Smollett had hired them and said it was because he wanted a higher salary.

He paid them a reported $3,500 to carry out the attack, they said, and promised them $500 more when they returned.

Smollett is in custody awaiting his first court appearance on felony charges of filing a false police report and disorderly conduct. He will appear before a judge at 1.30pm.

During the press conference, Superintendent Johnson revealed Smollett went from being treated as the victim in the case to a suspect when the brothers 'confessed' the 'entire plot' in the final hour of a 48 hour hold.

That is when they, in their lawyer's words, 'manned up' and revealed that they had been hired to carry out the attack by the actor himself.

Chicago Police Department Chief Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson tore through Smollett at a press conference on Thursday where he labeled him 'shameful' and 'despicable'

President Trump had not spoken publicly about the Smollett case until Thursday's tweet

Smollett actually furthered the investigation along by going on Good Morning America and confirming that the two people in a grainy surveillance footage still were the men who attacked him.

He was unaware when he made the remark that Chicago PD had identified those men as the Osundairo brothers and that they had them in custody.

'I come to you today not only as the Superintendent of Chicago Police Department but as a black man who has spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago.

'I know the racial divide. I know how hard it has been for our city and our nation to come together.

'Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.

'I'm left hanging my head and asking why? Why would anyone, especially an African American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?

When we discovered the actual motive, it p****d everybody off Chicago Police Department Chief Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson

'How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see it as an opportunity to manipulate his own public profile?' Superintendent Johnson said, adding it was a 'slap in the face ' to 'everyone' in Chicago.

Smollett has not made any statements since he was taken into custody.

His lawyers said on Wednesday night that he would fight the charges with an 'aggressive defense'.

In previous statements, his representatives have angrily hit out at the media and insisted that he is the victim.

Police say Smollett cut his own cheek to make it look like he had suffered injuries in the attack. He is shown in a hospital bed selfie FaceTiming Lee Daniels, the show's creator, hours after the attack

Within hours of him being charged, Smollett's attorneys arranged for him to hand himself in quietly at Chicago's 1st District afterwards.

He appeared in his mugshot wearing a black puffer jacket, staring blankly at the camera.

After being processed at the station, he was transferred to the Cook County courthouse where he will appear at 1.30pm. He is being held separately from other detainees.

20th Century Fox, which released a statement hours before he was charged to say it was standing by him, is now reportedly suspending the actor.

A press conference is scheduled for 9am CT during which detectives will give more details about the arrest. It is not yet known where he was or what time he was taken into custody.

'Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,' the actor's attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said.

'Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.'

The Osundairo brothers testified before the grand jury for about two and a half hours on Wednesday.

Addressing reporters outside afterwards, their attorney Gloria Schmidt said they'd 'manned up' by speaking out against Smollett.

Surveillance footage emerged on Wednesday showing Ola and Abel Osundairo buying ski masks the day before the attack

They have not been arrested or charged and their lawyer said they had not been offered any form of immunity deal in exchange for testifying against Smollett.

'There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said: "We're gonna correct this."

'Plea deal, immunity, all of that  they don't' care about that.'

She said that Smollett was lying, and that she didn't know how his conscience could let him sleep at night.

There was a point where this story needed to be told and they manned up and they said, "we're going to correct this" Gloria Schmidt, lawyer for two Nigerian brothers

'I think Jussie's conscience is not letting him sleep right now and he should unload that conscience and come out and tell the American people what happened,' she added.

'I think the biggest thing for the American people to know. Is that this story, has a lot of complications to it.

'We're not trying to hide anything from the press. But we wanted to make sure that everything checked out.

'When I say that the police spent countless man-hours trying to piece this together, I mean that, I absolutely mean that.

'When I say that my clients spent countless hours getting their story out there to the police so that they could do their work, I mean that, too,' she said.

The brothers' testimony came after footage emerged of them buying ski masks, a red hat and gloves in a store the day before the attack.

The brothers said Smollett also sent himself this letter to the Fox studio where Empire is filmed a week before the attack. If he did, he faces another 5-10 years in prison on a federal mail fraud charge

It was taken on January 28 and shows brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo inside what looks like a drug store buying the masks and one hat.

Smollett told police that he was attacked by two masked assailants who punched him, poured bleach on him, tied a noose around his neck and called him 'Empire n****r f****t'.

No footage has ever emerged of the incident itself.

In the video taken inside the store the day earlier, the brothers look calm as they bring the items to the register.

Abel, whose full name is Abimbola, is dressed in a blue plaid jacket. About 30 seconds into the video, he puts his hood up while standing at the register.

His younger brother Ola, who once appeared on Empire as an extra, is in a green jacket.

Abel and Ola Osundairo's lawyers said on Wednesday night that they 'manned up' by telling police that Smollett paid them

Ola appeared on the second season of Empire as an extra. He is shown with Lee Daniels, the show's creator, on set in 2015

Smollett follows the brothers' joint Instagram account where they post videos and photographs of themselves working out

Last Thursday, the actor wept as he said 'who the f*** would make that up' when addressing the skepticism surrounding his version of events during an interview on Good Morning America

The brothers were picked up by police at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday night as they returned from Nigeria.

Police seized a red hat from the brothers' home along with ski masks when they raided it last week. Smollett said his attackers were wearing masks but there was not a description of a red hat in the initial reports.

Police have since shared their belief that at least one of them was wearing a red hat at the time of the attack.

Smollett's family, many of whom are also actors, have spoken out repeatedly in support of him since the January 29 attack as have many of his co-stars on Empire.

Among them is Gabby Sidibe, his roommate at one time, who said on Instagram on Wednesday: 'I know him. I believe him.'

Fox also insisted that he was not being written out of the show, as had been claimed, and called him a 'consummate professional' in a statement.

Smollett's lawyers include Mark Geragos, who has represented Michael Jackson and Colin Kaepernick, in the past.

When news of the attack first emerged on January 29 and 30, Smollett was inundated with support across the political spectrum.

Among those who tweeted their condemnation of him were Democratic presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

But as days went by with no suspects on the horizon, details about the case and the police's investigation into it began to cast doubt on Smollett's version of events.

One of the earliest sources of speculation was the fact that Smollett waited 42 minutes to call the police then refused to hand over his phone to the police for them to verify his story.

He then handed over redacted files that police described as 'insufficient'.

Frustrated with the coverage of his case, he hit out at the media for reporting on leaked information coming from within the Chicago police department and insisted he was the victim.

He then went on Good Morning America to protest his innocence.

In an hour-long interview with Robin Roberts, he wept as he recalled the attack and abhorred the reaction to it.

Gloria Schmidt, the brothers' lawyer, said Smollett was lying and that she didn't know how his conscience could let him sleep at night

Choking back tears, he explained when asked why it took so long for him to contact the authorities: 'There is a level of pride there.

'We live in a society where as a gay man you are considered somehow to be weak and I am not weak. I am not weak and we as a people are not weak.'

Later, he added how desperate he was for them to find footage of the attack.

'I want that video found so badly because, for probably four reasons.

'Number one, I want them to find the people that did it.

'Number two, I want them to stop being able to say 'alleged' attack.

'Number three, I want them to see that I fought back,' he continued, welling-up.

'I want a little gay boy who might watch this to see that I fought the f*** back. They ran off,' I didn't,' he said.

After it emerged that Smollett knew the brothers and may have been involved in the staging of the attack, the celebrities and politicians who rushed to support him walked back their claims.

Nancy Pelosi deleted her tweet about it and Cory Booker said he would now be 'withholding judgement' until more information emerged.

Kamala Harris said, when questioned about her tweet that it was a 'modern day lynching', that she was 'very concerned'.
Raymond McManness, 51, has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of his ailing 75-year-old mother in her Olathe, Kansas home last month

A Kansas man has been charged with first-degree murder after failing to seek medical care for his ailing mother before she died weighing just 58 pounds and suffering from open bed sores that were bone deep.

Raymond McManness, 51, called 911 on January 23 to report that his 75-year-old mother Sharon McManness had stopped breathing at her Olathe home.

His mother, who had dementia, was pronounced dead after police arrived.

Police described the elderly woman as 'very emaciated' and said one of her bedsores was 'open to the bone'.

The grisly details surrounding her death are detailed in McManness' charging documents, which were only released on Wednesday.

Police who searched the home reported finding fresh blood on the mattress where they found Sharon.

Court documents said there was an indention in the mattress that police said was consistent with someone sitting upright for a long time.

The mattress was covered in blood and urine, as well as human and animal feces.

McManness called 911 on January 23 to report that he had found his mother unresponsive in her Olathe home. Police described the elderly woman as 'very emaciated' and said one of her bedsores was 'open to the bone'

Police who searched her home reported finding no medications, no clean clothing, no working telephone and minimal food. Dog feces and urine was also found throughout the house.

Court records said soiled clothes that appeared to be cut off the victim were found in a trash can in the driveway.

Preliminary findings from the medical examiner's office said the woman likely died from an infection caused by open bed sores.

Authorities said she had one bedsore on her buttocks that was open to the bone and it was estimated that she had been suffering from it for four to six weeks.

She was also malnourished and dehydrated.

An examination also showed Sharon had bruising on her jaw area, wrists and the upper part of her head.

McManness (above being booked) is charged with first-degree murder and also mistreatment of a dependent adult, He was jailed on $1 million bond. Photo courtesy of Fox4KC

McManness told police that he was his mother's primary caregiver and that she refused to be treated by doctors.

He said he had been living with her but moved out about six months before she died because she kept him awake at night.

McManness told police that he checked on her before and after work, bringing her food as she became bedridden and forcefully opening her mouth in an attempt to get her to eat on the day before she died.

Court records said McManness went to the Kansas Department of Aging weeks before his mother died and was told he needed to take her to a doctor.

He told police he didn't take her because he was 'busy due to the holiday season' and he was 'scared because he had not been taking adequate care of her'.

McManness is charged with first-degree murder and also mistreatment of a dependent adult.

He was jailed on $1 million bond.
Vandals have set fire to a statue of a World War II veteran they mistook for Confederate Army Commander Robert E. Lee.

On Friday morning museum workers were stunned to find a marble statue dedicated to U.S. Army Airborne founder Major General William C. Lee singed black and badly burned after vandals set it alight on Thursday February 14.

The statue is erected at the front of the William C. Lee Airborne Museum in Dunn, North Carolina.

Employees believe the statue was targeted by people who mistook the statue for the famed Confederate leader who shares the same last name, but no other connection.

A statue of U.S. Army Airborne founder Maj. Gen. William C. Lee in Dunn, North Carolina was badly burned on Thursday February 14 by vandals who mistook it for Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee

Police say vandals poured a flammable liquid over the statue then set it on fire, covering it with black ash

The devastated museum staff shared pictures of the damage on Facebook saying General William C. Lee was a highly respected soldier who led the U.S. Army Airborne forces

'This is not a Civil War museum. This is General William C. Lee from United States Army Airborne from World War II, so I was hurt and surprised that somebody would actually do this,' museum curator Mark Johnson said to WNCN.

He was shocked that his museum would be affected in the controversy over Confederate monuments boiling in the South, resulting in protests, toppled statues, and vandalism.

'This is a hometown grown boy here that turned out to be an international hero of World War II, so to come and try to destroy his statue is just an insult to everybody,' Johnson said.

Police say the culprits doused the statue is some kind of flammable liquid and set it on fire around 11pm on Thursday February 14.

Mix-up: The statue the vandals burned was for WWII veteran Major General William C. Lee (left), not Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War (right)

'I think it was a big mistake. Why would you do something like this? It really just irritates people,' he said, adding the felons could use a history lesson to get their facts straight.

In his life William C Lee, who passed away in 1948, led the 101st Airborne Division and was fondly nicknamed the 'Father of the U.S. Airborne'.

Airborne forces are military units that are carried dropped into battle via parachutes and gliding wings into combat.

Johnson, who has studied William C. Lee's life, says he was not a racist.

'When he was in World War II he's considered the father of the airborne in which there were plenty of black paratroops, a diverse outfit,' Johnson said.

The Museum posted about the incident on Facebook, where the post has racked up over 700 shares.

Before the damage: General Lee's statue is pictured before the burning incident

The statue stands in front of the General William C. Lee Airborne Museum. Museum employees say it'll take hundreds of dollars to repair the damage to the monument

'The United States owes so much to our military forces and all five military branches are what has kept this country safe and free for all these years. The U.S. Army Airborne soldier is highly respected world wide. Then comes along some jerk punk (s) and he tries to burn the statue of WWII Major General William C. Lee....the Father of the United States Airborne Army,' the post said.

'The local fire department put out the flames but the damage is done. It scorched the statue mostly on the left side. You can see the burn marks in the marble where the jerk placed the remainder of the fuel container on the platform,' they added.

The museum is reviewing local security surveillance video to find the culprit.

He and the museum have contacted a local stone mason to repair the damage to the statue.

'Hes gonna come over and try to steam clean it and use a special chemical to try to get that into the pores in the marble. We hope it will clean up, theres minimal damage to the base, so we hope it will all come out but it will take a lot of work,' he added, speculating the repairs will cost several hundred dollars.

The Dunn Police Department are investigating the incident and there is a $1,000 reward for any information that could lead to arrests.

If you have any knowledge on the incident you can call crime stoppers at 910-892-2222.
Alexandru Scutaru (outside Bristol Magistrates' Court today) had been spared jail despite his 'stupid and selfish' climb

A 'stupid and selfish' factory worker who climbed a tower 450ft above water on the M48 Severn Bridge to fly his drone and take pictures has been spared jail.

Alexandru Scutaru, 30, scaled the bridge despite a fear of heights and tried to launch his GoPro to capture scenic photographs for his social media.

Bridge officials monitoring CCTV images of the structure, which connects England and Wales, saw Scutaru on the tower and contacted police.

Bristol Magistrates' Court heard that both carriageways were closed for around 20 minutes, with more than 100 vehicles waiting to cross.

Scutaru noticed that traffic had stopped and quickly descended from the tower, breaking ligaments in his left foot by jumping down part of the way.

District Judge David Taylor told Scutaru, who lives in Northampton but is from Moldova, that he would have been facing an immediate prison sentence if he had used his drone.

'You caused a public nuisance by climbing a support tower of the Severn Crossing, causing the road to be closed,' the judge said.

'It is clear to me that this was a stupid and selfish act for your own personal gratification.

'It was motivated by your personal desire to obtain images for social media.'

The court heard Scutaru travelled to Bristol to fly his GoPro drone near the M48 Severn Bridge to take images of the area.

More than 100 cars were held up when Scutaru scaled the bridge connecting England and Wales

The Moldovan climbed the structure despite having a fear of heights to capture images to show off on his social media

His drone would not take off and so the factory worker decided to climb the tower to see if he could launch it from there.

'You took extraordinary risks with your own safety and in doing so placed yourself high above the carriageway in a way that many people would be alarmed to see,' the judge said.

'This type of conduct needs to be deterred and punished.'

Scutaru, who has no previous convictions, admitted a charge of causing a public nuisance.

The judge made an order for Scutaru's drone to be destroyed.

He imposed a community order and ordered that the defendant observe a curfew for 16 weeks.

Scutaru, who currently cannot work due to his foot injury, will pay 85 in prosecution costs and a 85 victim surcharge.

Prosecuting, Nicole Miebai said: 'He had produced a large drone from his bag, he held the drone in an upright position, took out a camera phone and filmed himself.

The judge said the climb was a 'stupid and selfish act for your own personal gratification'

'The tower prohibits public access and the defendant put himself at serious risk of falling.

'As the defendant descended the cable, he sustained an injury to his left ankle.'

Scutaru was arrested by officers and taken to Patchway police station in Bristol, where he admitted climbing the bridge.

'He said he enjoys views of the UK countryside,' Miss Miebai said. He puts his videos on Instagram for others to view.

'He said he suffered vertigo, he had little problem climbing up the cable but was frightened to come down.'

Scutaru, 30, will pay 85 in prosecution costs and a 85 victim surcharge - and will be forced to adhere to a curfew for 16 weeks

Representing Scutaru, Kate Sacof said her client had not thought about the consequences of climbing the bridge to fly his drone.

'He thought if he was higher up, it might take off but that wasn't the case,' she told the court.

'He was alarmed to see that the traffic had stopped. He jumped the last bit down and broke his foot.'

She said there was no 999 call from members of the public and he had not been trying to distract traffic when he was on the structure.

The Severn Bridge spans the River Severn and River Wye between Aust, South Gloucestershire in England, and Chepstow, Monmouthshire in South East Wales

Speaking outside court, Scutaru apologised to motorists kept waiting while the road was closed.

'I am so sorry, I didn't want to be a problem,' he said.

'I made a mistake. I climbed the bridge to see a beautiful view. It was not for Instagram, it was for me.'

He said he hoped to buy a new drone to continue taking photographs, adding that he would not climb a bridge in the UK again.
ntonella Barba, 32, will be released Thursday after she's fitted with a monitor to ensure she follows curfew

A former 'American Idol' and 'Fear Factor' contestant who was arrested last year in Virginia with nearly two pounds of fentanyl will be allowed to live with her parents in New Jersey while awaiting trial.

Antonella Barba, 32, will be released Thursday after she's fitted with a monitor to ensure she follows curfew, the Virginian Pilot reports.

Barba was indicted this month on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

Prosecutors say she was a courier for a drug ring.

She was previously charged with shoplifting in New York and has a felony marijuana case pending in Kansas.

Barba reached the top 16 on 'American Idol' in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on 'Fear Factor' in 2012.

If she violates the terms of the release, Barba could be forced to pay a $10,000 fine.

Barba reached the top 16 on 'American Idol' in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on 'Fear Factor' in 2012

No trial has been scheduled in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

Her attorney, James Broccoletti, declined comment to the newspaper.

Court documents and prosecutors said that Barba is one of eight members involved in a Hampton Roads drug conspiracy from late 2017 through the fall of 2018. Only one of the members is still free from custody.




A young man was found dead under the Nor Hachn bridge in the Kotayk Province, the press service of Armenia's Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

At 11:54pm, the 911 emergency hotline received a report that there was a dead body under the Nor Hachn bridge, News.am reported.

A rescue squad was dispatched to the scene. The rescuers removed the dead body of the man (born in 1994) from the gorge and handed it over to police.
The family of former ER actress Vanessa Marquez (above), who was shot dead by police in South Pasadena, California, during a welfare check gone awry last August, filed a $20million claim this week alleging negligence in the 49-year-old's death

The family of former ER actress Vanessa Marquez, who was shot dead by police during a welfare check gone awry last fall, has filed a $20million claim alleging negligence in the 49-year-old's death.

South Pasadena police were called to Marquez' apartment on August 30, and when they arrived she was having a seizure but refused to cooperate with officers trying to get her medical attention.

During a confrontation with police and a mental health clinician, Marquez grabbed what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at officers, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting.

Two of the officers fired at Marquez, striking her in the torso. She was later pronounced dead in the hospital.

Police later determined that the weapon Marquez had allegedly picked up was a realistic-looking BB gun. Sheriff's Homicide Lt Joe Mendoza said the woman had eating disorders and appeared to be gravely disabled.

A claim filed by Marquez's mother Delia McElfresh against the city of South Pasadena on Wednesday blames the actress' death on poor tactics, negligence and overreaction by police who had no reason to use lethal action.

Scroll down for video

Police arrived at Marquez' apartment on August 30, 2018, and found her having a seizure. She allegedly refused to cooperate with officers and suddenly grabbed a realistic looking handgun and pointed it at them, prompting two officers to open fire on her. She was later pronounced dead in the hospital. Investigators are pictured on the scene

A workman is seen repairing bullet holes and a pipe in Marquez's empty unit after the shooting

'This was mishandled from the minute the call came in and officers were dispatched to the home,' Vicki Sarmiento, an attorney for McElfresh, told NBCLA.

McElfresh is seeking $20million in damages for her daughter's wrongful death as well as funeral and burial expenses.

Her attorneys are hoping that legal action will compel the city to explain how a wellness check escalated into a fatal shooting.

Detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are drawing up a report for the LA County District Attorney's Office amid criticism from family and friends who say the investigation should not be taking this long.

City and law enforcement officials in South Pasadena have declined to comment on the claim.

McElfresh is seeking $20million in damages for her daughter's wrongful death along with funeral expenses. 'This was mishandled from the minute the call came in and officers were dispatched to the home,' attorney Vicki Sarmiento said at a press conference (above)

The claim was filed as Marquez' friends and family are promoting a campaign to have the actress honored in the 'In Memoriam' segment at the Oscars this coming Sunday.

An online petition to have her included had already been signed more than 5,000 times as of Thursday morning. The Academy has not yet committed to including the actress.

'The representation of Latinos is important, that when we live and when we die it's important,' Alex Nogales of the National Hispanic Media Coalition said.

'She had a body of work. It wasn't like she just started yesterday.'

Marquez was best known for playing nurse Wendy Goldman on the popular NBC medical drama ER starring George Clooney

Marquez is best known for playing nurse Wendy Goldman on the popular NBC medical drama ER starring George Clooney between 1994 and 1997.

Last year, Marquez publicly accused the Oscar-winning actor and director of helping blacklist her after she spoke out about alleged harassment on the set of ER, including being subjected to racist and sexist remarks.

Clooney responded by insisting that he had no idea Marquez had been blacklisted and had played no part in it.

'I had nothing to do with casting,' the Ocean's 11 star said in a statement. 'I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn't affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn't.'

After leaving ER, Marquez appeared in three episodes of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 1999, followed by a few more roles in TV films and shorts.

Marquez had been vocal on social media about her struggles with various health problems, including what she described as terminal celiac disease, pulmonary embolism, osteoporosis and seizures.

Marquez made headlines in October 2017 when she accused Clooney of helping blacklist her after she spoke out about being harassed on the set of ER
These family photographs from the 1940s and 1950s were discovered lost in a department store in Glasgow and now police are trying to track down the owners.

The black-and-white pictures include a wedding snap showing a family group, featuring what appear to be three newly-wed couples, standing on the steps of a building.

The brides are wearing straw hats while the grooms are dressed in tailcoats, and a little boy wearing a kilt and a sporran stands in the centre.

The back of this photograph reads 'Effie's wedding (Mother's sister who died in London bombing 1941)', and names people including Uncle Harry and Aunt Annie. It appears to show three newly-wed couples

The black-and-white photographs from the 1940s were found in the Glasgow John Lewis branch. They show groups of children named Moira, Grace, Helen, Rosemary, Janice and John

On the back of the photograph is written 'Effie's wedding (Mother's sister who died in London bombing 1941)', and names including Uncle Harry and Aunt Annie.

The picture is labelled 'The Knightsbridge Photographic Bureau 245, Knightsbridge, S.W.7'.

Four smaller photos are dated 'Millport 1952', suggesting they were taken on the Isle of Cumbrae, in the Firth of Clyde.

They show groups of children named Moira, Grace, Helen, Rosemary, Janice and John.

The beaming children were photographed in swimsuits and swimming caps, and walking along the promenade in Millport.

The photographs were found in the Glasgow branch of John Lewis in October.

A spokesman for Greater Glasgow Police Division said: 'Glasgow Police are hoping the public can assist with finding the owner of a collection of old photos which were found in John Lewis in October 2018.

'It is believed the photos will have significant sentimental value to the owner.'

It is believed the pictures were taken on the Isle of Cumbrae because four of the smaller photos are dated 'Millport 1952'

Glasgow police are now trying to hunt down the original owners of the photographs because they believe they have great sentimental value

The same girls appear to feature in several photographs dating from the 1940s and 1950s

Are you in these pictures? Or do you know anyone who is? Contact izzy.nikolic@mailonline.co.uk or tips@dailymail.com
I AM telling the truth! Jussie Smollett once tweeted, with the hashtag #TheMostCommonLies.

Oh the irony.

Today, Smollett is revealed to be the most hideous, reprehensible, disgusting, snivelling little liar in America.

How else to adequately describe a prominent black, gay celebrity actor who police say staged a racist, homophobic attack on HIMSELF?

Today Jussie Smollett stands accused of being the most hideous, reprehensible, disgusting, snivelling little liar in America

A man who would pay two friends to pretend to jump him in the street at 2am in Chicago, scream ugly insults about his skin colour and sexuality, put a noose around his neck, and pour bleach on him?

A man who would claim his attackers were red-capped supporters of President Trump, and shouted This MAGA country, referring to Trumps campaign slogan Making America Great Again?

A man who would then go on national television to give an interview to ABCs Robin Roberts in which he tearfully doubled down on every detail?

A man who soaked up valuable police time as 20 detectives were assigned to investigate what was billed as a despicable hate crime?

A man who, even as his story unravelled faster than Pinocchios nose grew the more lies he told, continued to protest his total innocence, continued to play the victim?

A man who did all this because according to Chicago Police, he wanted to jack up his salary on Empire?

No, I cant think of any better way to describe a pathetic excuse for a man like Jussie Smollet, though I might add the words sickening, shameful disgrace to the mix.

Or worse.

Everything about this story seemed implausible from the moment it first broke.

Its why I very unusually held my Twitter tongue as so many others raced to assume Smolletts story was true.

We were supposed to believe that these two vicious Trump-hating racist homophobes just happened to be wandering the freezing cold streets of Chicago at 2am, armed with bleach and a noose, and lucked out by finding Smollett walking home from Subway.

They then savagely attacked him, but apparently not so badly that Smollett wasnt able to remember to take his sandwich home.

Its usually the little details like that bit that trip up humongous liars.

In Smolletts case, it was every detail.

His appalling crassness and duplicity was only matched by his spectacular stupidity.

For a start, who hires two black men to commit a fake racist attack on a black man?

At least use white guys, Jussie! Come on!

His stupidity was spectacular. Who hires two black men to commit a fake racist attack on a black man? At least use white guys, Jussie! Come on!

I suspected Smollett was lying the moment it emerged he had withheld his phone from the police.

No genuinely innocent victim would do that unless there was evidence on that phone that would contradict his story.

When Smollett finally gave up his phone records, they were heavily redacted  thus presumably removing all the stuff that would incriminate him.

But it was his appearance on Good Morning America that cemented my doubts.

Watch it back now hes been arrested, and youll laugh out loud at the obvious acting.

I see the attacker, masked, he said, his face grimacing at the memory, tears welling in his eyes, and he said, This MAGA country (N-word). Punches me right in the face. So I punched his (expletive) back and then we started tussling.. by the stairs, fighting, fighting, fighting

His appearance on Good Morning America cemented my doubts. Watch it back now hes been arrested, and youll laugh out loud at the obvious acting

So Smollett wasnt just portraying himself as a victim now, he was a BRAVE, FEARLESS hero too!

This attack was ticking every box for maximum virtue-signalling effect.

Its the performance of Smolletts career, playing the role he has craved for years: that of a persecuted black gay man lynched by supporters of a man he despises more than any other human being: Donald Trump.

A casual look at Smolletts Twitter feed reveals someone suffering from advanced Trump Derangement Syndrome, the condition that afflicts so many liberal celebrities these days.

He doesnt just hate Trump; he loathes him with a visceral, terrible rage that has clearly addled his brain.

A casual look at Smolletts social media shows he doesnt just hate Trump; he loathes him with a visceral, terrible rage that has clearly addled his brain

And the more he ranted about the President, the more likes and retweets he got from the PC-crazed woke brigade who share Smolletts demented attitude to all things Trump.

When Robin Roberts asked him for the motivation for the attack, Smollett said he guessed it was his vehement opposition to Trump. I can only go off the their words, he said softly, revealing he gets threatened all the time on social media.

He added that he is sometimes maybe too outspokenbut its who I am.

Awww, our fearless hero again!

Smollett also revealed that he received a hate letter a week before the assault that he believed was directly linked to it:

On the letter, it had a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing to it with the words, Smollett, Jussie, you will die. He added that the return address was MAGA.

Jussie sent himself this hate letter a week before the assault in his bid for attention

Now we know Smollett sent himself that letter, to the Empire studios, and was apparently disappointed it didnt get more reaction.

He wanted the attention, the headlines, the bright media light to shine on his head.

He wanted to be the poster boy black gay Trump victim.

So when the letter didnt do the trick, Smollett decided to up the ante with his staged attack, using two Nigerian friends to do it.

Thatll do it, he presumably thought.

And for a while, it did.

He became an instant superstar victim, his face splashed across every newspaper and TV news bulletin in the country, and around the world.

Jussie Smollet was a global phenomenon  the gay, black actor who got lynched by Trump fans.

Nobody dared to doubt him.

Democrat presidential candidates fell over themselves trying to milk his horror story for their own political gain.

Jussie Smollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I am praying for his recovery. said Kamala Harris. This was an attempted modern day lynching.

Cory Booker agreed, using suspiciously similar language: The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. Im glad hes safe. To those in Congress who dont feel the urgency to pass our Anti-lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime, I urge you to pay attention.

Democrat presidential candidates like Kamala Harris fell over themselves trying to milk his horror story for their own political gain

Cory Booker should have smelled the rat at the heart of this bullsh*t story

Hmmm, if only Mr Booker had paid more attention himself, he might have smelled the gigantic fork-tongued rat lurking at the heart of Smolletts bullsh*t story.

Rising left-wing star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was enraged anyone was even framing the attack as an alleged crime: This attack was not possibly homophobic, she seethed, it was a racist and homophobic attack.

But it wasnt, was it Alexandria? As so often, you let your fast, furious mouth run away with you to the detriment of cold, hard, facts.

Smolletts fellow liberal celebrities, led as always by the likes of professional Trump-basher Alyssa Milano, were even more emphatic, queuing up to express their outrage, offer their poor friend their love and support, and bemoan whats happened to their country under Devil Donald.

Damningly, many in the mainstream media  as so often since Trump became President - also lost their minds, abandoning any pretense at journalistic objectivity or qualification and just running with this perfect anti-Trump story on the say-so of an unhinged actor trying to pump up his brand.

Trump hating celebrities and many in the mainstream media lost their minds, abandoning any pretense at objectivity, so happy with such an anti-Trump story

Now, following his dramatic arrest for making a false police report, theyve all gone very, very quiet as the real horror of this Jussie Smollett story sinks in: he made it all up.

And by doing so, Smollett hasnt just betrayed his famous supporters and made them look stupid.

He has betrayed every black and gay person in America, especially those who may become genuine victims of racial or homophobic attacks in the future, and will now be viewed with more suspicion.

Hes also wasted huge amounts of Chicago police man-hours when they should have been out working on real crimes.

And by making this all about Trump, Smollett has betrayed his country too by tipping rocket fuel onto the already bitterly divided and polarised politically partisan state it currently exists in.

The ultimate irony is that Jussie Smollett perpetrated this sick hoax to get a pay rise, and will now pay for it with his career, reputation and quite possibly his liberty.

He deserves no mercy and no sympathy. Just our fury.

In the end, the only lynching that went on here was to the truth.
Members of a white supremacist prison gang are alleged to have murdered, maimed and kidnapped rival inmates, as well as conspired to sell meth in a litany of crimes dating back to 2005, an indictment filed in Oklahoma claims.

Unsealed on Wednesday, the Tulsa grand jury filed indictment names 18 members of the 'whites-only' prison gang, the Universal Aryan Brotherhood, as culprits.

The Neo-Nazi group are said to have hundreds of members operating both inside and outside of prison facilities across Oklahoma.

According to the lawsuit, the brotherhood members orchestrated their enterprise's plans through the use of cellphones illegally smuggled into various prisons across the state.

The indictment alleges the gang members - and 36 unnamed co-conspirators - trafficked methamphetamine and marijuana, assaulted and kidnapped people to intimidate them, killed rivals and murdered at least one carjacking victim.

The Neo-Nazi group, the Universal Aryan Brotherhood, are said to have hundreds of members operating both inside and outside of prison facilities across Oklahoma (pictured: one inmate displays his tattoo of the gang's emblem)

Michael Eldon Clinton (left), 41 and Randy Lee Seaton (right), 44, were two of four members who pleaded not guilty to the multitude of charges on Tuesday

Brandy Simmons also pleaded not guilty. The trio, along with 15 others, face charges relating to a racketeering enterprise conspiring to commit murder, to kidnap and to distribute drugs

Michael Eldon Clinton, 41; Randy Lee Seaton, 44; Brandy Michelle Simmons, 41; and Richard Wade Young, 48, were all arrested in relation to the indictment on Tuesday, pleading not guilty.

The indictment doesn't indicate if the charges are related to drug charges filed last week against alleged members of a white supremacist gang in Arkansas.

It does, however, list a series of 'overt acts' that grand jurors believe come as part of a racketeering conspiracy, spanning a 14-year period.

Among the charges is an allegation relating to the stabbing of Donald Jones, who was murdered in the privately-run Cimarron Correctional Facility in 2005.

Johnny 'JJ' Jameson is said to have carried out the killing with two accomplices under the instruction of UAB leaders, who wanted to retaliate against black inmates for the killing of Adam Lippert, a UAB member.

In 2013, Christopher Baldwin is alleged to have ordered five members to kidnap and wound an ousted UAB member and carve off his tattoo of the brotherhood's symbol from his body.

Additional charges include the murder of two Irish Mob members, orchestrated beatings and retaliation stabbings.

Johnny 'JJ' Jameson is said to have murdered black inmate, Donald Jones, in retaliation of a murder of a UAB member at Cimarron Correctional facility in 2005

The Universal Aryan Brotherhood is also accused of conspiring to distribute more than 500 pounds of methamphetamine over prison lines. Two of the group are alleged to have attempted to smuggle over 30 pounds of meth in a single go (pictured: file photo shows 39lbs of methamphetamine)

The Tulsa grand jury also claim one UAB member is responsible for the carjacking and fatal shooting of a student at the University of Tulsa.

Billy Hamons is alleged to have stolen firearms in a home invasion, which he later used to kill student Sufend He, during an attempting carjacking in Tulsa.

15 of the 18 members outlined in the lawsuit are charged with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

In addition, all 18 of those named allegedly conspired to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, across prison walls.

In one instance, Lisa Lara and Robert Zeilder have been accused of transporting more than 30 pounds of meth for the UAB in 2013.

More details of the indictment will be revealed by the US Attorney's Office, following a conference on Thursday afternoon.
Riot police clashed with pro-independence Catalan protesters in Barcelona on Thursday while other activists burned tyres and tried to block highways across northeast Spain as part of a day of protests against the trial of 12 separatist leaders.

Near the Plaza Catalonia railway station in downtown Barcelona, police in riot gear used batons against a large group of mostly young protesters after some of them hurled stones at the police. No arrests or injuries were reported.

Activists blocked roads and rail lines in Catalonia on Thursday as a region-wide strike began against the trial of separatist leaders for their role in a failed 2017 secession attempt.

Called by a small pro-independence union, Intersindical CSC, but without the backing of larger unions, the one-day strike was not widely followed in the northeastern region although it generated several protests.

Striking pictures showed police smashing protesters with batons as they tried to break up the marches

Police charge against protesters in Barcelona as demonstrations were held throughout Catalonia on Thursday

Demonstrators marching in central Barcelona, during a strike calling for Catalonia's secession from Spain by blocking major highways, train lines and roads across the region

Public transport in Barcelona was slower than usual but most shops remained open.

Traffic authorities in Catalonia said activists cut off around 20 roads, including the A7 highway that links Spain to France, the A2 between Madrid and Barcelona and the main entry points to the Mediterranean city.

Police cleared several of the road blocks and detained two protesters, a spokesman said.

Activists also briefly blocked train traffic by occupying the tracks at a station in Barcelona and in other parts of the region, according to the company that manages Spain's rail network.

At midday, hundreds protested in the central University Square, where the city's oldest university stands, and another demonstration is planned for the evening.

'We're here in solidarity with those who are victims of a trial that just doesn't hold water,' said Jaume Sole, a 45-year-old engineer.

The Catalan employers' association has denounced the work stoppage as politically motivated.

Separatist parties and associations are backing it.

A man eats inside a coffeeshop with a glass painted with a graffiti reading in Catalan: 'strike'

Despite the apparent aggression used against the demonstrators, no injuries were reported

Protesters occupying a train station in Barcelona during a strike against the trial of former Catalan separatist leaders in Madrid

They began mobilising last week in solidarity with the Catalan separatist leaders on trial for pushing a secession referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban, and a subsequent short-lived declaration of independence.

On Saturday, around 200,000 people including regional president Quim Torra protested in central Barcelona, police said, behind a banner that read 'self-determination is not a crime.'

Torra's separatist executive has expressed solidarity with the strike and cancelled all official events planned for Thursday.

The trial of the Catalan separatists started on February 12 under intense domestic and foreign scrutiny.

It was due to last three months but the court on Wednesday sped up the process to try and finish the trial before snap general elections on April 28.

A mass student demonstration in University Square, Barcelona during the strike in Catalonia against the trial of 12 pro-independence leaders

Several dozen people face several Catalan regional riot policemen as they occupy a railway station at Catalunya Square during the 24-hour Catalan general strike

Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium soon after the declaration of independence on October 27, 2017, is not among the defendants as Spain doesn't judge people in absentia for major offences.

So far, those on trial have defended the peaceful nature of the secession movement.

They have justified holding the referendum on a democratic mandate they say they got from voters in Catalonia who handed separatist parties a majority in 2015 polls.

This prompted unusually outspoken comments from King Felipe VI on Wednesday who said it was 'unacceptable to appeal to a so-called democracy that is above the law.'

Defendants have also said the proclamation of independence was a mere political declaration without legal effect.

On Thursday, Santi Vila, a regional government member at the time, said the referendum was actually 'a big political mobilisation' rather than a plebiscite given the Constitutional Court had banned it.

Several demonstrators hold a banner reading in Catalan 'The rights are not demanded. They are exercised' as several thousand people march through the streets

'It was about tightening the rope without it breaking,' Vila, who faces up to seven years in jail for misuse of public funds and disobedience, told the court.

Prosecutors accuse the defendants of implementing a strategy concerted by the regional government, parliament and pro-independence associations to achieve secession outside the law.

They accuse nine of them of rebellion, a serious offence that implies a 'violent uprising.'

Prosecutors point for instance to damage made to police cars during a pre-referendum protest on September 20, 2017, or claim separatists used citizens as 'human walls' against police dispatched to stop the referendum.

Independence supporters and the defendant's lawyers, however, argue there was never any violence.

Jordi Sanchez, head of the powerful ANC pro-independence association who was at the protest on September 20 and faces up to 17 years in prison, accused prosecutors of 'criminalising and penalising a demonstration.'
Emalyn Thielking, 18, struggled with suicidal thoughts and self-harm as a young teen. She sought out images about both topics on Instagram before getting treatment for her depression

Emalyn Thielking started self-harming when she was 12 years old. Soon after, she found a place where she could share her pain and connect with others who were hurting in all the same ways: social media.

It was a corner of the online world where teens in the U.S., Canada and from around the globe post images of self-inflicted cuts, fantasies about suicide and memes that appear to glorify both.

'I felt very alone,' Emalyn, now 18, told DailyMail.com. 'Then I discovered on Instagram there were so many other people that feel so alone or feel so outcast, that there is a community of people ... who feel the same way I do.'

Two suicide attempts and one hospitalization later, Emalyn, of Cambridge, Ontario, has now put that world behind her. But she still has mixed feelings about the community that both sustained her and fed her darkest urges.

'It almost became competitive with the people you follow and who follow you back, like who can cut the most, who can cut the deepest, who can go the farthest  who's the sickest,' she said.

The images range from graphic and bloody to darkly humorous - from a teenager holding a blade to his wrist to the classic meme of Moe from 'The Simpsons' deciding against suicide with the caption, 'Not today, old friend.'

Social media giants Instagram and Tumbler have been trying to strike a balance between protecting users and free speech as they respond to the trend, in which teens find and share the grim images using hashtags such as #suicide, #depression and #selfharm.

Emalyn Thielking first started self-harming at age 12, by age 13 she was on Instagram regularly viewing images about self-harm, suicide and depression. Two suicide attempts and one hospitalization later, the 18-year-old is now hopeful for a future career in suicide prevention

The issue came to a head after the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell in Britain, who is believed to have died by suicide after viewing such images on social media.

Her father, Ian Russell, has blamed Instagram for playing a role in his daughter's death, saying she had previously been an outwardly happy, healthy teen.

It's the kind of story that is terrifying to parents  especially given a recent study in the journal Pediatrics that found half of parents whose children have considered suicide have no idea that the thought has crossed their mind.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Americans age 10-24, accounting for 17.3 percent of deaths in that age group  and the numbers have been rising each year since 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In the aftermath of Molly's death, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has partnered with mental health experts to create new policy around the issue. Earlier this month the company announced it would no longer allow content showing graphic self-harm or promoting suicide.

'Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people in our community,' head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said in a blog post when the change was announced.

'We have allowed content that shows contemplation or admission of self-harm because experts have told us it can help people get the support they need,' Mosseri added. 'But we need to do more to consider the effect of these images on other people who might see them. This is a difficult but important balance to get right.'

Molly Russell, a 14-year-old who died by suicide in November 2017. Her father says that she was outwardly happy and healthy but had secretly been viewing images about suicide and depression on Instagram

However, a spokeswoman said the company has chosen not to block the hashtags in an effort to continue serving users' need for self-expression and to allow space for people who rely on the community for emotional support.

Now, when someone searches #suicide, a message pops up asking, 'Can we help? Posts with words or tags you're searching for often encourage behavior that can cause harm and even lead to death. If you're going through something difficult, we'd like to help.'

The message is followed by options to get support from a helpline or a friend. Users can also choose to 'see posts anyway.'

Tumblr offers a similar prompt, but officials did not respond to a request for comment.

At Instagram, they're at the beginning of the process  images of people with fresh cuts and memes about wanting to die are still easy to find.

In the meantime, the company is no longer recommending that content  including images of healed wounds shared by many former cutters to promote body positivity and dispel the stigma that comes with those scars.

Cues to get help now pop up on Instagram when users search terms such as #suicide, #depression and #selfharm under the company's new policy

Despite the controversy, some experts caution against condemning the social media companies  or the teens posting the content.

'Suicide is not going away; suicide on social media is not going away,' said Dr. April Foreman, a psychologist and expert on social media and suicide prevention. 'We've survived moral panics about rock 'n roll  and Elvis Presley, and now we have the moral panic about social media and suicide.'

Foreman is quick to point out that social media is merely a reflection of society as a whole, noting that 8 million  9 million Americans are at high risk for suicide at any given time, roughly 1.3 million will attempt it and an estimated 45,000 will die by suicide this year.

We would not expect suicide to not come up on social media  but we hold these social media platforms way more accountable than we would hold most therapists. -Dr. April Foreman, psychologist

'This is happening,' she told DailyMail.com. 'It's the 10th leading cause of death. We would not expect suicide to not come up on social media  but we hold these social media platforms way more accountable than we would hold most therapists.'

That's not to say that Foreman thinks such posts aren't problematic or a reason for parents to be concerned.

'If I had a child that was looking at memes about suicide all over the internet, we would go see somebody and I would be very worried,' she said.

However she suggested a bigger concern is the lack of funding for research into suicide causes and prevention.

'We don't really know a lot about suicide in general so we don't know much about how much causality these images have in people getting worse,' she said. 'We do know that it's probably a bad idea if you have a young adult that's considering suicide, if a mistake in the algorithm is sending them these (suicide-related) images, we know that's probably not good.'

This chart shows the rise in suicide rates over the past decade among Americans age 15-24

Stephen Brock, a psychology professor and program coordinator at California State University in Sacramento, said it's also important to consider that the single biggest factor in suicide is isolation.

'To the extent that social media can give (teens) a connection to pro-social, positive, life-affirming messages, it can be an aid,' Brock told DailyMail.com. 'But if that connection is to antisocial, death-oriented messages it can definitely promote suicidal ideation and promote suicidal behavior.'

Emalyn said that she has no desire to get back on Instagram and start searching for self-harm images  but she does recognize positive aspects to the community around suicide and depression hashtags.

Suicide: The Risks and The Warning Signs It's not always possible to predict who will attempt suicide, but experts at the American Psychological Association created a list of key risk factors and warning signs that intervention may be needed. Risk Factors  Mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety  Alcohol and substance use  Impulsive behaviors  History of trauma or abuse  Family history of suicide  Previous suicide attempt(s) Warning Signs  Physical changes in appearance or hygiene  Increase in alcohol or drug use  Sudden drop in grades  Social withdrawal  Talking about suicide or preoccupation with death  Risky or reckless behaviors (such as reckless driving or unsafe sex)  Self-harm behaviors such as cutting  Talking about feeling hopeless or having nothing to live for  Researching suicide methods and/or acquiring weapons Advertisement

It's not uncommon to see messages of support on posts about suicide and self-harm. One user recently responded to a video about suicide by saying, 'Look don't hurt yourself. I know you are better than that.'

Cooper Johnson, 18, of Australia, is one of the people who actively and anonymously searches out depressing images and posts messages of support for those in need.

'I think (it's important) just showing them that they aren't alone and there are other people out there that know exactly how they are feeling, someone that they can talk to,' he told DailyMail.com.

Emalyn said those kinds of messages from strangers helped keep her going when things got tough.

'It's just (a feeling) like other people care about you when they like your posts or they comment on them (saying) that you're going to be ok,' she said.

In addition to the support she received, Emalyn said she gradually was able to distinguish the posts that were glorifying suicide and self-harm from those that were focused on recovery and encouragement.

'It's really easy now to see the divisions,' she explained. Still, Emalyn said if she was a parent she wouldn't want her kids to look at the kind of material she had been viewing.

'I'd be terrified,' she said. 'I wouldn't want them to be in that same (place).'

Her father, Dave Thielking, said he had no idea that his daughter was viewing any such images, but if he had he would have responded with 'shock and concern.'

'We had a rule that she could only use the internet one hour a day in our presence, but obviously as she got older that got harder and harder to control,' he said. 'In this day and age it's hard to know what they're accessing ... I don't know what I would have done.'

Foreman said that parents can use many different tools to limit their teens' access to the internet and social media  both by filtering out specific content and by defining the hours during which phones and internet are accessible to youth.

'There are all these wonderful ways I can dial up or dial down how my daughter has a digital life,' she said.

Parental Content Control Tools Cell phone accounts  Typically mobile companies provide free parental control options that can limit the amount of time spent on social media; what platforms teens can access; and what hours can be online Devices  Products like Datto Networking allow you to turn on, disable, throttle or put time limits on the WiFi in the house on individual devices Internet filters  Most internet service providers allow you to filter content to limit access to age-restricted images or access to specific social media sites Advertisement

Most computers and cell phones come with software programs that allow parents to limit access to certain apps, or create parent-controlled passwords in order to access specific programs or social media sites.

In addition, most internet service providers allow parents to throttle the Wi-Fi to specific devices at certain times of day or night to so kids only have access for a few hours a day or when a parent is home.

Foreman also recommends strong privacy settings on social networking sites.

Michelle Merritt, 53, of Starkville, Mississippi said she was concerned when her then-12-year-old daughter admitted she was accessing Tumblr for suicidal images and posts.

'It broke my heart that her world was so dark,' Merritt told DailyMail.com. 'I just tried to help her myself, talking to her, getting her to tell me her feelings; trying to build up her self-worth.'

Ultimately, the adolescent ended up needing intensive therapy to deal with her self-harm and suicidal thoughts. She is now 24-years-old and thriving, Merritt said.

Ian Russell is now convinced that Instagram lead to his daughter's suicide and wants the Facebook-owned social media giant to take measures to protect other youths

As heart-breaking as the social media aspect of her daughter's suffering was, Merritt said depression and suicide runs in the family and that outside forces couldn't be blamed for what the youth went through.

'It made her feel better to be able to talk about it, even if she didn't know the people out there who were listening,' Merritt said. 'I was glad she had an outlet, some place she felt safe talking about it. I felt like that helped her.'

It made her feel better to be able to talk about it, even if she didn't know the people out there who were listening. I was glad she had an outlet. -Michelle Merritt, Mississippi

However, for parents like Russell, who have actually lost a child to suicide, it's harder to see the upside.

He told BBC last month that he has 'no doubt that Instagram helped kill' his daughter, a teen who he says had showed no outward signs of anxiety or depression prior to her death.

'We are very keen to raise awareness of the harmful and disturbing content that is freely available to young people online,' he said in a statement issued in January.

'Not only that, but the social media companies, through their algorithms, expose young people to more and more harmful content, just from one click on one post,' he added. 'In the same way that someone who has shown an interest in a particular sport may be shown more and more posts about that sport, the same can be true of topics such as self-harm or suicide.'

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
A fascinating collection of letters and mementos which belonged to a prominent figure in the Suffragette movement has come to light 110 years later.

The 'unseen' archive was compiled by Isabel Seymour who undertook speaking tours on behalf of the Women's Social Political Union (WSPU) and was its hospitality secretary.

It includes a resolution signed by their founder Emmeline Pankhurst in 1909 slamming King Edward VII and the Government for continuing to deny women the right to vote.

The previously unseen archive, which includes flyers and posters, was compiled by Isabel Seymour who went on speaking tours on behalf of the Women's Social Political Union (WSPU)

WSPU founder Emmeline Pankhurst was often on the front line of what could be bloody struggles in her efforts to get equality for women. Here she is being dragged away by police as she tried to present a petition at Buckingham Palace in 1914

There are also invitations for a ball organised for women who had been arrested while protesting against the continued inequality of Edwardian society.

The collection has now emerged for sale with Catherine Southon Auctions, of Bromley, Kent.

It is tipped to sell for 5,000.

Auctioneer Catherine Southon said: 'This previously unseen personal archive gives an insightful look into the day-to-day administration of the WSPU as well as a valuable historic insight into both the suffragette movement, its members and its administrative workings.

'It is both official and deeply personal at the same time. It contains references to, and documents political marches and protests to the prime minister and Parliament, many of which ended in the incarceration of their members.

'It also highlights the more personal and light-hearted gatherings of the members of the WSPU such as theatre performances, dinners and lunches and fundraising events.'

A speech written by Emmeline Pankhurst to the Women's Social and Political Union. The collection of papers that belonged to prominent suffragette Isabel Seymour has been gathering dust in a box for decades

The faces of Suffragettes on a tea towel. The fascinating collection is now being put up for auction with Catherine Southon Auctions, of Bromley, and is tipped to sell for 5,000

Included in the collection is a letter signed by Emmeline Pankhurst slamming King Edward VII and the Government for continuing to deny women the vote

Pamphlets and invitations to campaign gatherings and events organised for women who had been arrested while protesting against the inequality in Edwardian society

The archive, including the scrapbook of Isabel Seymour's (pictured), was discovered in the garage of a terraced house in Carshalton, Surrey, 30 years ago

The archive features a 'resolution', dated March 30, 1909 and signed by Pankhurst, which outlines the Suffragettes 'indignation' at their plight.

It then issues a rallying call for women to get the vote 'on the same term as men'.

The typed letter states: 'This parliament of women expresses its indignation that while every measure in the King's speech vitally affects the interests of their sex.

'And while heavier financial burdens are to be laid upon woman taxpayers, the Government have not included in the programme for the session a measure to confer the parliamentary vote upon duly qualified women.

'The women here assembled call upon the Government to introduce and carry into law this session a measure giving votes to women on the same terms as men.'

Newspaper cuttings and a ticket to a meeting from the archive of Isabel Seymour who was hospitality secretary for the Women's Social Political Union (WSPU) which campaigned and took direct action in its fight to get women the vote

The collection also contains signed instructions from Christabel Pankhurst, pictured in 1900, to women advising them on what to say in court if they ever had to stand in the dock

The collection also contains instructions signed by Christabel Pankhurst, co-founder of the WSPU and daughter of Emmeline, for arrested women advising them on what to say to the court when standing in the dock.

As hospitality secretary for the WSPU, Seymour arranged accommodation for visiting Suffragettes in London. As the movement gathered momentum, she organised bail for those who had been arrested.

She kept numerous flyers and tickets for events run by the organisation including dinners and town hall meetings.

The archive, including her scrapbook, was discovered by the seller in his friend's garage at a terraced house in Carshalton, Surrey, 30 years ago.

Mrs Southon said: 'At the time the vendor asked his friend 'what's this' and his friend said 'oh you can have it' and gave him the archive and the record.

It ended up tucked away in an attic of his Sussex home and left it to gather dust until the seller's daughter took an interest in it last year.

Mrs Southon added: 'He always dismissed it and as he moved from home to home he has always just put it in the loft!

'He only really took interest when his daughter said that they should do something with it last year as it was the centenary of the Suffragette movement.'

A poster encouraging women to attend a protest at the House of Commons. The auction for the collection will take place on February 27 at Catherine Southon Auctions, of Bromley, Kent

The Suffragette movement was founded in 1903 and many campaigners were imprisoned before they were released to help with the First World War effort, which they did with distinction.

In November 1918, months after the conflict ended, women over the age of 30, who met a property qualification, were given the right to vote.

However, it would be another 10 years before this right was extended to all women over the age of 21 under the Equality of the Representation of the People Act.

The sale takes place on February 27.
Wendy Williams is to return to TV following a two-month hiatus for 'medical reasons', her eponymous show has announced.

The Wendy Show posted on social media Thursday morning saying she'll return to her iconic purple chair on set on Monday March 4th, to the delight of her followers.

'Wendy Williams is an incredible talent with the most unique voice in daytime. We cant wait to welcome her back to her iconic purple chair on the set of her show on Monday, March 4th,' the announcement said.

Wendy Williams, 54, will return to host her show on Monday March 4. She took an over two-month break to treat her Graves' disease

Her show made the announcement Thursday morning on social media saying, 'We can't wait to welcome her back to her iconic purple chair on the set of her show on Monday, March 4th'

Williams thanked her producing company and staff for believing in her and 'tirelessly holding it down for me'

'We so appreciate all of the guest hosts and panelists who filled in for Wendy during this time. These people are, and always will be, true family to the show. And we want to thank all of the loyal and supportive fans who have been with us for 10 years now,' the statement continued.

Williams added a personal note to her followers saluting her show's staff and producer for supporting her.

'Salute to Debmar-Mercury for believing from the start and thanks to my staff for tirelessly holding it down for me,' she said.

Till then, William's show will air reruns with fresh episodes starting in March.

Missing in action: Wendy has not hosted a single episode of her hit show in 2019. In December she appeared on her show with her arm under her shirt in a sling after she fractured her arm

Williams was spotted entering a doctor's office in New York on Wednesday hand-in-hand with her husband Kevin Hunter

The 54-year-old host took a break from the show citing medical reasons after she fractured her arm and to treat her Graves' disease.

She was hospitalized long-term but later emerged from a CVS in Florida with a friend looking better, according to Page Six. She was also spotted on Wednesday entering a doctor's office in New York City with her husband Kevin Hunter.

Before taking off, she appeared on set with her arm in a sling, triggering rumors about her husband's alleged infidelity and abuse.

On December 20, she shocked viewers with a controversial episode where she stumbled and slurred her words while introducing the rap group The Vox.

This week guest host Nick Cannon updated viewers on Williams' health saying she, her husband and son are 'all good'

This current week's show featuring celebrity panels will wrap up on Friday and then old episodes will begin starting Monday until Williams returns

She then apologized for her 'less than stellar' performance, saying she was taking a break to address her health concerns.

She was supposed to resume taping on January 14 but that deadline was pushed back to January 21 until the show announced she'd take a 'necessary, extended break from the show to focus on her personal and physical well-being.'

Williams has been vocal in the past on her Graves disease diagnosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid.

Nick Cannon, Michael Rapaport, Jerry O'Connell and a panel of celebrities stepped up to fill her shoes on set in her absence.

Cannon once updated Wendy viewers on her health saying, 'She said she wanted to speak as a family unit and her, [her husband] Kevin and [her son] Little Kevin, they said they are all good.'

'The love and the passion is still there because thats what you need in times like this  is for your family to stick together with you,' he added.
Two Saudi sisters are trapped in Hong Kong after fleeing from the Kingdom and going on the run across the globe in the hope of a new life in Australia.

The pair, aged 18 and 20, from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, waited until they were on a family holiday in Sri Lanka before making a daring escape in the middle of the night.

But the women, who have adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan, were only able to complete the first leg of their journey before they were stopped at Hong Kong airport.

Officials took their passports and 'tried to deceive' them into boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia in an incident the women's lawyer has described as attempted kidnap.

Rather than comply, the pair fled once again and have been hiding in Hong Kong for five months, fearing they will be forced to return to Saudi Arabia where they say they could face severe punishment or even death.

It is the latest case of women fleeing the ultra-conservative country and comes just weeks after 18-year-old Saudi Rahaf Mohammed captured global attention by barricading herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok.

Two Saudi sisters (pictured) are trapped in Hong Kong after fleeing from the Kingdom and going on the run across the globe in the hope of a new life in Australia

The pair (pictured), aged 18 and 20, from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, waited until they were on a family holiday in Sri Lanka before making a daring escape in the middle of the night. They are now hiding in Hong Kong after being intercepted at the city's airport

Reem, 20, told CNN that in her homeland her brother would beat her for laughing with her sister while Rawan feared that she was due to be forced into a marriage to her younger cousin.

She said she feared repercussions if she ever told her family she had renounced Islam.

'I knew If I told my family they will hurt me and I'll be killed. Because that what we studied in schools, that whoever left Islam should be killed.

'I knew no one will protect me because all my family are so religious and none of them will support me. I was afraid of them finding out.'

They had planned their escape for two years but had to wait until Rawan turned 18, when she could finally apply for an Australian tourist visa.

On September 6, on the last night of their family holiday in Sri Lanka, they waited until the middle of the night before ditching their abayas, putting on jeans and sneaking into their parents' room while they were asleep to reclaim they passports.

The sisters had planned to fly to Australia after fleeing from their family while they were on holiday in Sri Lanka

They had no problems reaching the airport in a pre-booked taxi and were able to purchase flights they had researched meticulously in advance.

But on reaching Hong Kong, where they were due for a short stop-over, they were approached as they disembarked.

Two officials asked for their passports and boarding passes before cancelling their onward flights to Melbourne at the 'explicit request' of the Saudi Consulate and booked them onto alternative flights to Riyadh, reported CNN, which says its request for a comment from the consulate has gone unanswered.

Fearing they would be sent back home, they made the decision to flee once again and after reclaiming their passports were able to leave the terminal as visitors and travel by train to the city.

Their lawyer Michael Vidler alleges that the women were essentially 'the subject of an attempted kidnapping in an international airport in a restricted area'.

The pair waited until they were on a family holiday in Sri Lanka (pictured) before making their daring escape bid

According to the lawyer's statement, they were intercepted during their stopover by unknown men who took their passports and 'attempted to deceive the sisters' into boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

They later learned one of the men was Saudi Arabia's consul general in Hong Kong, and that their onward flight booking had been cancelled, it added.

Days later, their father and uncle arrived in the city and police tracked the women down to a hotel before bringing them in to custody.

But they refused to see their male relatives and fled for a third time when they were taken back to their hotel.

Since then, they have been forced to change locations 13 times to avoid being found and returned to their homeland.

They have not asked for asylum in Hong Kong fearing a potentially lengthy claim process and have appealed - through their lawyer - for a visa in a 'safe' country.

'We fled our home to ensure our safety. We hope that we can be given asylum in a country which recognises women's rights and treats them as equals,' the pair said.

Their story has emerged just weeks after another Saudi teenager, Rahaf Mohammed (pictured), captured global attention by barricading herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok

'We dream of being in a safe place where we can be normal young women, free from violence and oppression,' the sisters said.

They tweeted Thursday, using the account @hksisters6, to say their passports had been invalidated and they feared being forced to go to the Saudi consulate in Hong Kong.

'We do not want to face the same fate as Mr Jamal Khashoggi,' they wrote, referring to the prominent journalist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who was murdered at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.

Justice Centre Hong Kong, a migrants' rights group aiding Reem and Rawan, said the sisters had also fled 'gender-based violence'.

Hong Kong police told AFP the case is under investigation and confirmed they received a missing person report and a separate report made by 'two expatriate women' in September.

Hong Kong's Airport Authority declined to comment.

Their story has emerged just weeks after another Saudi teenager, Rahaf Mohammed, captured global attention by barricading herself in an airport hotel room in Bangkok.

The 18-year-old did so in a bid to avoid being sent home to her family, saying she feared for her life. Her family has denied abuse.

After being handed over to the UN refugee agency, she was able to resettle to Canada.
Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis - if Donald Trump is is 'foolish' enough to want one - and that his missiles could reach the US faster that theirs could hit Moscow.

Putin has said he does not want an arms race with the United States, but that he would have no choice but to act if Washington deployed new missiles in Europe, some of which he says would be able to strike Moscow within ten to 12 minutes.

The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted in 1962 when Moscow responded to a U.S. missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

More than five decades on, tensions are rising again over Russian fears that the United States might deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe as a landmark Cold war-era arms control treaty unravels.

Vladimir Putin (pictured this morning) says Russia will target weapons at the US should it deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Europe following America's withdrawal from a key arms control pact

How the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear armageddon in 1962 The Cuban missile crisis brought the world as close as it has ever been to nuclear war in October 1962. After America's failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, the Cuban strongman allowed the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba - putting the warheads in easy striking distance of most of the US. If Russia chose, it could launch the missiles at the US before Washington had a chance to retaliate. Nikita Khrushchev and John F Kennedy during a historic meeting a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out America had already deployed ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey - putting them within easy striking distance of Moscow. President John F Kennedy informed Americans during a television broadcast on October 22, 1962, that the Soviets had placed missiles on Cuba and that in retalation, the US would erect a blockade around the island to force Castro and Khrushchev to remove to missiles. He announced America would be willing to use military force if necessary to deter what was seen as a threat to national security - and the world waited with baited breathe. On October 24, 1962, another key moment came when Soviet ships heading for Cuba neared the line of U.S. vessels enforcing the blockade. An attempt to breach the blockade would most likely have resulted in a military stand-off, but Soviet ships backed down. A U.S. invasion forces readied itself for an invasion of Cuba but were eventually stood down. Kennedy (pictured) showed restraint by not attacking the Soviets or Cubans A flashpoint which could have triggered all-out war was when an American reconnaissance plane was shot down on October 27, 1962. A U.S. invasion forces readied itself for an invasion of Cuba but were eventually stood down. The 35-year-old pilot of the downed plane, Major Rudolf Anderson, is considered the sole U.S. combat casualty of the Cuban missile crisis. Throughout the tense stand-off, Khrushchev and Kennedy were in contact to try to avoid any military escalation between the two superpowers. On October 26, 1962, Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy in which he offered to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba. The following day, Khrushchev sent a letter proposing that the USSR would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey. Secret negotiations between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and JFK and between his brother Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, and Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin led to a deal. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said after the incident it would be the 'last Saturday he would ever see' as tensions continued to escalate. The Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles in return for America pledging not to invade Cuba. The US also secretly promised to remove obsolete missiles from Turkey. Both sides claimed victory as a way of putting a positive PR spin on the crisis. Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro enjoys a steak dinner while holding an impromptu press conference at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem during his visit to New York on September 23, 1960 Advertisement

Putin said his naval response to such a move would mean Russia could strike the United States faster than U.S. missiles deployed in Europe could hit Moscow because the flight time would be shorter.

'It (the calculation) would not be in their favor, at least as things stand today. That's for sure.' said Putin.

Relations between Moscow and Washington were strained, he added, but the tensions were not comparable to those of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

'They (the tensions) are not a reason to ratchet up confrontation to the levels of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. In any case that's not what we want,' said Putin.

'If someone wants that, well OK they are welcome. I have set out today what that would mean. Let them count (the missile flight times).'

Putin's comments, made to Russian media late on Wednesday, follow his warning that Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the United States or by deploying faster missiles or both.

Putin said U.S. policy-makers, some of whom he said were obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps and said any new Russian missiles would target US 'decision-making centres'.

The US repeatedly accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by developing banned weapons and earlier this month Donald Trump (pictured) said Washington was starting a process to withdraw from the deal

He said: 'It's their right to think how they want. But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing,' Putin told Russia's political elite to strong applause this morning.

'Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centres of decision-making are located,' he said.

Putin also boasted about Russia's expanding array of new weapons and said it will deploy a new hypersonic missile for its navy as part of efforts to counter what he described as hostile U.S. moves.

The new Zircon missile will fly at nine times of the speed of sound and have a range of 620 miles, he warned, adding that the missile is designed to equip existing surface ships and submarines.

Other new weapons announced last year, including the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone, have been undergoing tests successfully, he said.

Putin, facing an unprecedented fall in his approval ratings, made the remarks during his first address to both houses of parliament since he was elected to a fourth presidential term a year ago, extending his long rule until 2024.

In his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, the Kremlin strongman warned the US against further missile deployments in Europe.

'Russia does not intend to be the first to deploy such missiles in Europe,' he said.

'If (the US) develops and deploys them in Europe... this will dramatically exacerbate the international security situation, creating serious threats to Russia.

'I'm saying this clearly and openly, Russia will be forced to deploy weapons that can be used... against the decision-making centres that are behind the missiles systems which threaten us.'

Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation 'particularly with such a global power as the U.S'.

But he added that Russia's reaction to any deployment would be resolute and that U.S. policy-makers, some of whom he said were obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps.

'It's their right to think how they want. But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing,' Putin told Russia's political elite to strong applause.

Signed in 1987 towards the end of the Cold War by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty bans ground-launched missiles with a range of between 315 miles to 3,415 miles.

The deal resolved a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China.

The 66-year-old, facing an unprecedented fall in his approval ratings, is making his first address to both houses of parliament since he was elected to a fourth presidential term a year ago, extending his long rule until 2024

Zircon: Russia's feared hypersonic weapon Vladimir Putin used his speech today to give an update on Russia's new hypersonic missile - dubbed Zircon. The Russian leader said the weapon will be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 620 miles. He said it would be designed to equip existing ships and submarines. In 2017, reports claimed Zircon's capabilities put Russia half a decade' ahead of the US'. One expert said that the missile could enter Russia's arsenal between 2018 and 2020'. Advertisement



Putin said he understood concerns about the INF agreement, namely that other countries could continue to develop weapons that are banned for the US and Russia.

'The current state of affairs of course raises questions,' he said during his annual state of the nation address.

'Our American partners should have been honest... and not use far-fetched accusations against Russia to justify their unilateral withdrawal from the treaty,' he said of the deal, during his annual state of the nation address.

Last year, Putin used the address to unveil a new arsenal of weapons in a nearly two-hour speech that stunned the West and many in Russia.

Speaking two weeks before his re-election, Putin promised Russians higher standards of living and hailed Moscow's military might as relations with the West reached post-Cold War lows.

In his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington's decision this month to quit the INF treaty

The missile that can 'fly forever' and a nuclear-powered underwater drone Vladimir Putin warned today that successful tests have been carried out on a new nuclear-powered cruise missile and underwater drone as he talked up Russia's military capabilities. Putin, updating members of Russia's elite this morning, made reference to the Burevestnik cruise missile which is supposedly capable of flying for days on end. Russia's state news agency released a video just days ago claiming to show a test of the missile, which the Kremlin says is designed to strike over 'unlimited' range and with with unprecedented ability to manoeuvre. The Russian state news agency released a video claiming to show a test of the Burevestnik missile which the Kremlin says is designed to strike over 'unlimited' range and with unprecedented ability to manoeuvre In theory, the Burevestnik could fly forever because it has a nuclear power source, potentially circling the globe until remotely ordered to approach a target and hit it with a nuclear warhead. Scientists claim to have developed a nuclear power plant small enough to fit inside the missile and power a turbojet engine - but these claims have been met with scepticism in the West. The missile is designed to use a conventional engine for takeoff, switching to a nuclear powered power source for flight - hence its theoretical ability to be in the air for days. If the Burevestnik actually works, the heat from the nuclear reaction inside the small reactor would be used to heat the air inside a jet engine, replacing the need for fuel. In March last year, Vladimir Putin spoke about the weapon. He said: 'One of them is a small-scale, heavy-duty nuclear energy unit that can be installed in a missile like our latest X-101 air-launched missile or the American Tomahawk missilea similar type but with a range dozens of times longer, dozensbasically an unlimited range. 'It is a low-flying stealth missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with almost an unlimited range, unpredictable trajectory and ability to bypass interception boundaries. It is invincible against all existing and prospective missile defense and counter-air defense systems.' A source in the missile program told the agency: 'A major stage of trials of the cruise missile of the Burevestnik complex - tests of the nuclear power unit - have been successfully completed at one of facilities in January.' The trials 'sustained stated specifications of the reactor ensuring the missile's unlimited range', claimed the source. No further details were given about the top secret trials. Last month, state media claimed Moscow was set to deploy more than 30 underwater drones capable of carrying a two megaton nuclear warhead. Four submarines fitted with the torpedo drones, named Poseidon, will join the Northern and Pacific Russian fleets, state news agency Tass reported. Each submarine can fit eight Poseidons, designed specifically to destroy 'enemy navy bases' and able to travel at up to 70 knots. Advertisement

After the speech he enjoyed his highest approval rating since he came to power in 1999.

But a year on, Putin has seen his popularity slide against a backdrop of economic problems.

A hugely unpopular reform raising the retirement age that Putin signed into law in October led to a major dip in his support.

A survey by Russia's independent Levada Center released in January found his approval rating at 64 per cent, the lowest since before Moscow's annexation of Crimea five years ago.

Another Levada poll in October found only 40 percent of Russians would vote for Putin if an election were held.
The European peoples safety has become hostage to the destructive policies pursued by the US and Russia-haters in the EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Regrettably, the European peoples safety and European peace have become hostage to the destructive policies pursued by Washington and a small but highly aggressive group of Russia-haters in the European Union," the top Russian diplomat said, addressing members of the Association of European Businesses.

He pointed out that NATO continued its military build-up near Russias borders.

"Washingtons withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, unanimously supported by NATO members although the situation is controversial, does not add optimism," TASS cited the minister as saying.

"Such actions raise military and political tensions, particularly in our common neighborhood," Lavrov emphasized.
This is the heart-breaking moment a finless porpoise appears to have tears in its eye as it is being sold for its meat at a market in China.

The animal, an endangered species, was sold at the price of 20 yuan (2.2) per kilogram (around 1 per pound) on Monday, according to two animal lovers.

Finless porpoises, found mostly in East Asia, is listed as an 'endangered' species by the IUCN Red List. Trading of the animals is strictly controlled by international convention and banned in China.

Footage taken by eyewitnesses at the market shows tears seemingly coming out of the eye of the finless porpoise as it is being sold for its meat at a sea-side market in southern China

The marine animal was spotted at a sea-side market in the county of Xuwen in southern China's Guangdong Province, according to Chinese state-run publication People's Daily citing local news source Beijing Headlines.

Eyewitnesses Cheng Mingyue and Cheng Jianzhuang said the animal measured about 1.7 metres (5ft 7in) long and weighed more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

Footage released by People's Daily shows the animal being placed at the back of a tricycle and a crowd gathering to check on it.

One of the eyewitnesses Mingyue told Chinese video news outlet Pear: 'We saw a person bringing it to the market and many people came to look. It was crying throughout the process.'

A crowd gather around the finless porpoise which is placed at the back of a tricycle as it's traded at the price of 1 per pound in the county of Xuwen in China's Guangdong Province

It is reported that Mingyue and Jianzhuang initially thought the animal was a dolphin, and they wanted to save it.

The two young men paid the vendor 1,500 yuan (170) and bought the 'dolphin' whole.

'The fish vendor lent us a puller he used to transport goods,' Mingyue told Beijing Youth Daily.

'At around 4pm, we pulled the "dolphin" to the beach and set it free.'

Mingyue said when they first released the animal, it couldn't swim far - possibly due to the fact that its tail was injured.

'Therefore, we carried it into deeper water and waited for two hours until we could not see it anymore.'

After viewing the footage provided by Mingyue and Jianzhuang, local fishery experts identified the animal as a finless porpoise, which is a second-class protected animal species in China.

Two men push the finless porpoise to the beach and release it back to the sea after paying the vendor 1,500 yuan (170) and buying the animal whole. Finless porpoises are endangered

Different from dolphins, porpoises have shorter snouts, smaller mouths, less curved dorsal fins and shorter, chubbier bodies.

Finless porpoises are characterised by the lack of dorsal fins; instead, they have wider dorsal 'grooves'. They can be found along the coast of eastern and southern China as well as in the Yangtze River.

About 200 finless porpoises live in the Pearl River Region, where the incident took place, according to Hong Kong's Ocean Park Conservation Foundation.

The Yangtze finless porpoise, a type of freshwater porpoise, is deemed 'critically endangered' by WWF and is even rarer than the giant panda.

The Yangtze finless porpoise (pictured), which is critically endangered, is rarer than the panda

All porpoises are subjected to trade controls by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Hunting, killing and trading of finless porpoises are prohibited by the Wild Animal Conservation Law.

The Xuwen fishery authority has launched an investigation into the incident.

Officers have been in touch with the two saviours and the fish vendor to gather information on the fisherman who caught the finless porpoise.

The authority vows to punish relevant people upon the results of the investigation.
MUZZLED: Roger Stone was handed a restrictive gag order on Thursday after a tense court hearing in which he apologized repeatedly for depicting the judge with rifle crosshairs near her head

Former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, a legendary dirty trickster known for the size of his devilish megaphone, will no longer be permitted to speak publicly about his upcoming federal criminal trial.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson hauled Stone into court for posting an image on Instagram that depicted her with a rifle crosshair near her head.

In a written order, Jackson forbade Stone from speaking about his case through 'radio broadcasts; interviews on television, on the radio, with print reporters, or on internet based media; press releases or press conferences; blogs or letters to the editor; and posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other form of social media.'

The judge also prohibited him from talking about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's larger Russia investigation, and blocked him from using 'surrogates, family members, spokespersons, representatives, or volunteers' to speak publicly on his behalf.

In a packed Washington, D.C. courtroom hours earlier, Jackson delivered a stern lecture to the man who once had the president's ear and whose political career stretches back to the Richard Nixon administration.

'Im not giving you another chance,' she said after Stone delivered a string of apologies. 'I have serious doubts about whether you have learned any lesson at all.'

'The defendant may not speak publicly about the case. Period,' she ruled. 'He may not comment about the case indirectly.'

'Defendant may not speak publicly about the investigation or the case or anyone participating in the investigation or case, period. You apparently need clear boundaries so here they are.'

Jackson said she would jail him until his trial on charges of obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering if she defies her new gag order.

'Violation of this order will be a basis for revoking your bond and detaining you pending trial,' she scolded. 'This is not baseball. There will be no third chance. If you cannot abide by this, I will be forced to change your surroundings so you have no temptations.'

Stone pursed his lips and smiled at a split phalanx of cameras and reporters as he walked to a waiting car after the hearing. He said nothing, a rarity in Washington and a first for him.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson scolded Stone, said his apologies were unconvincing, and warned him that he would await his trial in jail if he spoke publicly about his case again

Judge Jackson imposed a near-total gag order Thursday on Roger Stone in his federal criminal case linked to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe; she ruled that while he can raise money for his legal defense and declare his innocence, she will jail him pending trial if he speaks about the case itself or about anyone linked to it

Stone was driven away from a Washington, D.C. courthouse, keeping his freedom until his trial but finding himself with a tighter muzzle

Stone apologized for posting this image of Judge Amy Berman Jackson, with crosshairs at top left; he later deleted it, but not fast enough to avoid being hauled into court on Thursday

Jackson had previously barred Stone only from speaking about his case near the courthouse, but on Thursday she imposed a near-total clampdown on his ability to talk about his case with the press or the public

Judge Jackson issued this stern order on Thursday evening, spelling out a long list of forms of communication that Stone is no longer allowed to use to talk about his criminal case

Stone had said on the witness stand that he was 'kicking myself over my own stupidity, but not more than my wife is kicking me.'

'How hard was it to come up with a photograph that doesnt have crosshairs in the corner?' Jackson asked.

Stone admitted in federal court that he personally chose a photo of the judge presiding over his criminal trial and posted it on Instagram. The image showed Judge Amy Berman Jackson with rifle crosshairs near her head. She imposed a total gag order on him Thursday in a Washington, D.C. courtroom

The famously slipperly Republican dirty trickster, suddenly humbled by the possibility of being jailed until his trial on obstructing justice, lying and witness tampering, said his quick digital outburst was an 'outgrowth of the extreme stress of the situation.'

'This was an egregious, stupid error for which I apologize to the court,' said Stone, 66, while insisting that he didn't create the image.

He claimed he thought the crosshairs were an 'occult symbol' or 'Celtic cross,' drawing eye-rolls from spectators in the courtroom.

In a dramatic tongue-lashing from Jackson, Stone admitted that he personally chose the image. But he insisted one of his 'five or six' volunteers either texted or emailed it to him.

'You saw it, and you said, "Okay, I'm going to post this?"' the judge pressed. Stone fell on sword after sword, saying he had no excuse.

Under questioning from Special Counsel prosecutor Jonathan Kravis, Stone said he has since deleted all photos of Jackson from his phone.

'You had a choice?' the judge interjected.

'It was an error,' Stone said, adding, 'This was a screw up' and drawing another rebuke for not saying that he personally made the mistake.

'The passive voice is not helpful,' Jackson said.

Still allowed? Roger Stone was told by the judge that he could say he was innocent suggesting the t-shirt he wore last month at his Florida home does not break the law  but more detailed intervention in the case would.

Judge Jackson's court clerk added this note to Stone's criminal docket on Thursday about three hours after the hearing

Roger Stone pleaded for his freedom Thursday before the federal judge whose picture he posted online featuring a gun-sight crosshair next to her head

If the judge revokes Stone's bail, he will go to jail pending trial for obstructing justice, lying and witness tampering; Stone is shown at left before his court appearance on Thursday, and at right on Wednesday at his home in Florida

Kravis pronounced Stone 'not credible' on the witness stand, asking Jackson to broaden the narrow gag order she imposed on him just days ago. Stone was only forbidden from speaking about his case to the press in close proximity to the courthouse.

Stone's attorney Bruce Rogow offered no excuses on Thursday, calling his client's actions 'indefensible.'

'I agree with you there,' Jackson replied.

Stone blamed the stress and economic trouble the Special Counsel case against him has caused.

'Perhaps I talk too much, but I am under enormous pressure,' he said, seemingly complaining that his name is in the news every day.

A skeptical Judge Jackson marveled at Stone's string of press interviews, including one in which he lambasted her as an 'Obama-appointed judge,' even as he offered a written apology to the court.

On Wednesday he posted an Instagram message calling news stories about his criminal case 'a fake news assault on me.'

'After he apologized, he continued talking every single day,' she said.

Stone claimed he wasn't aware of how his Instagram post might have been interpreted until a journalist asked him about it.

'I didnt recognize it as a crosshairs. I didnt even notice it until it was brought to my attention by a reporter,' he said.

'I recognize that I let the court down,' he offered in one of more than a dozen apologies. 'I let you down. I let myself down. I let my family down. I let my attorneys down. I can only say I'm sorry. It was a momentary lapse in judgement.'

Roger Stone returned Wednesday from a lunch to his Florida home

Stone left his home for lunch with friends Wednesday, including one wearing a 'Roger Stone did nothing wrong!' t-shirt

Stone has pleaded not guilty and posted a $250,000 bond in January. His case surrounds conversations he may have had during the 2016 election season about WikiLeaks and emails stolen from Hillary Clinton's campaign.

He is charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's actions in the last presidential election.

Judge Jackson has revoked bail in another case involving Mueller. Last year, she struck down the home-release bail of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after Mueller accused him of witness tampering.

The image Stone posted of Judge Jackson was tightly cropped around her hair and face, showing a logo next to her head that resembled what a hunter might see through a rifle scope.

Stone shared the image Monday with a caption noting that Jackson was a Barack Obama appointee who dismissed charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ordered Manafort held in custody pending his own trial.

He faces seven criminal charges that emerged from Mueller's Russia probe, including five counts of lying to Congress and other investigators, and individual counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

A separate federal law, 18 US Code  115, criminalizes threatening to assault, kidnap or murder a United States judge. It's unclear if federal prosecutors will pursue that charge.

The federal court docket in the Stone case shows a formal apology Stone sent the court on Monday and Judge Jackson's order hauling him back to her courtroom for a hearing Thursday

Roger Stone (pictured on February 1 in leaving federal court in Washington, DC) was apparently criticizing Jackson's decision to take 'no action' on Stone's objection that his case has been specifically assigned to her, due to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team filings that Stone's case is closely related to another case currently before Jackson, involving 11 Russian military officials accused of hacking the Democratic Partys computer systems in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Both of those cases share common search warrants and evidence, according to filings by Mueller's team

Stone's lawyers later filed a notice of apology in the case, which read: 'Undersigned counsel , which the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instagram today. Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed'

An order appeared Tuesday morning on the federal court docket for Stone's case, announcing that he has been 'ORDERED to show cause at a hearing to be held on Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. as to why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account on or about February 18, 2019.'

Judge Jackson had previously ordered Stone to refrain from commenting on his criminal case near the D.C. courthouse where he will be tried. She ruled that he wasn't under any other restrictions but wrote that she could revisit that decision.

Some responded with disgust Monday at the implication that a target was on the judge, with some pointing out that if he meant it as a threat against Jackson, Stone could be prosecuted for a felony.

Stone deleted the image after DailyMail.com asked him whether it implied that someone should target the judge.

He later said the resulting outrage was 'misrepresenting' reality, and his lawyers filed a formal apology with the court, signed by Stone.

The famous conservative political trickster has railed for the past week about the random drawing that assigned Jackson to his case.

'Twitter has already suspended his account and this may land him in custody,' George Washington University Law School professor Randall Eliason tweeted

University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck wrote: 'This. Is. Not. Okay. (And if it's meant as a threat, it's also a felony)

Accompanying the now-deleted Instagram image was a written post that read: 'Through legal trickery Deep State hitman Robert Mueller has guaranteed that my upcoming show trial is before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges again Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime. #fixisin.'

Reactions came fast and furious on Monday.

'This is both very troubling and remarkably stupid on Stones part. Twitter has already suspended his account and this may land him in custody,' George Washington University Law School professor Randall Eliason tweeted.

University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck elaborated, writing, This. Is. Not. Okay. (And if it's meant as a threat, it's also a felony).'

After taking the post down, Stone shared screenshots of text messages on his Instagram feeding, which read: 'A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram has been misrepresented.This was a random photo taken from the internet. Any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false.'

After taking the post down, Stone shared screenshots of text messages on his Instagram feeding, which read: 'A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram has been misrepresented. This was a random photo taken from the internet. Any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false'

In a second follow-up post, Stone wrote, 'What some say are crosshairs are in fact the logo of the organization that originally posted it something called corruption central. They use the logo in many photos'

The original photo of Judge Jackson which Stone used to accompany his post is pictured here

In a second follow-up post, Stone wrote, 'What some say are crosshairs are in fact the logo of the organization that originally posted it something called corruption central. They use the logo in many photos.'

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

Stone's lawyers later filed a notice of apology in the case, which read: 'Undersigned counsel , which the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instagram today. Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed.'

With the initial post featuring the crosshairs logo that was taken down, Stone was apparently criticizing Jackson's decision to take 'no action' on Stone's objection that his case has been specifically assigned to her, due to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team filings that Stone's case is closely related to another case currently before Jackson.

The other case involves 11 Russian military officials accused of hacking the Democratic Partys computer systems in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Both of those cases share common search warrants and evidence, according to filings by Mueller's team.

Mueller's office revealed for the first time on Friday that it is in the possession of evidence that 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'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 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. On Friday, Jackson 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 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.

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'.
Antonio Jesus Martinez was taken to a local hospital in Yoro, Honduras, on Saturday after the developed a high fever. A doctor pronounced the 18-month-old dead

The distraught parents of a toddler who was declared dead during a hospital visit and then a day later reportedly opened his eyes and breathed has been finally laid to rest.

Antonio Jesus Martinez was taken to a local hospital in Yoro, Honduras, on Saturday after the 18-month-old boy developed a high fever and started vomiting.

But upon arriving at the medical facility, a doctor sadly informed Antonio Martinez and Anabel Vasquez that their son had passed away.

Surrounded by friends and family members paying their last respects at a cemetery in the town of El Negrito on Sunday, the toddler started to show signs of life while his aunt Maria Ramirez carried him in her arms, they claim.

Martinez, who was nicknamed 'the miracle boy' by residents and family members, opened his eyes and breathed for a couple of minutes, they said.

'I knew while we were at the wake that he was alive because I felt something in my heart,' the aunt said, according to Honduran newspaper El Heraldo.

Another woman witnessed the family giving the boy water and him opening his eyes once again when the parents returned to their home in the town of El Salitre.

They rushed him to a different medical facility, but doctors insisted the boy was dead.

Anabel Vasquez (right) said she and her husband delayed their son's burial because she wanted to make 'sure that he was dead'. It is unclear whether the baby is dead in this photo

The dad acknowledged he was confused because his son started to breathe when the doctors confirmed his death.

Antonio Martinez and his wife held on to hope that their son would come back to life.

Friends and family said the child showed signs of live on five different occasions.

Maria Ramirez says she held her son in her arms Sunday before he was about to be placed in his casket before he allegedly opened his eyes and started to breathe

The toddler spent the next four days at his home while friends and family members stopped by in a show of support during the daily vigils.

On Wednesday, cops visited the house and tried to remove the boy but they were an angry group of people stood in their way.

A neighbor told La Prensa that the child's body smelled bad on Wednesday night and that a liquid was coming out of his mouth.

The family decided to finally bury Martinez on Thursday at 4am local time.

'I was ready for anything, but I wanted to be sure that he was dead,' Vasquez said.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. must lead the world in next-generation 5G cell phone technology  and whatever comes next  less than 90 minutes after Huawei's founder boasted on television of China's lead in the tech race and thanked U.S. officials for boosting his bottom line by publicly fretting about it.

In what appears to be a signal of a coming policy shift, the president tweeted Thursday that he wants the U.S. 'to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies.'

While the Trump administration considers the Chinese tech giant's equipment a national security threat, the Shenzhen-based company has 5G rollout contracts with nearly 30 other countries. 5G networks will move data dramatically faster than existing 4G signals.

Allowing Huawei's mobile phone equipment back into U.S. markets could be a carrot for Beijing as Trump's negotiators hash out a new trade framework with the world's second largest economy.

'We are rolling out 5G and soon we'll welcome 6G. And in the future ... there will be new equipment that is suitable for the United States' Huawei founder Ren Zhenfei said in a 'CBS This Morning' interview, speaking through a translator.

A White House official said Thursday morning that it was 'highly likely' Trump saw the broadcast before tweeting.

President Donald Trump signaled Thursday that he may be interested in pulling back ona ban of Huawei's cell phone equipment in the U.S. as part of a larger China trade deal, tweeting that the U.S. shouldn't win the 5G mobile arms race by 'blocking out currently more advanced technologies'

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei appeared Thursday morning on CBS, trolling the Trump administration for promoting his company's technology by emlarging the public profile of the 5G arms race

'First of all, I would like to thank them,' Ren said of U.S. officials who have turned the 5G arms race into an international sparring match.

'5G was not known by common people. But now, these great figures are all talking about 5G ... And we're becoming more influential and getting more contracts,' he said.

Asked if he was being sarcastic, Ren smiled. 'Oh, please tell them  I'm actually thanking them for promoting us,' he said.

Ren told the BBC on Monday that his company would ultimately emerge unscathed from America's blacklist.

'There's no way the US can crush us,' he said. 'The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced.'

Trump's response indicates the business fight is at the top of Trump's mind.

Trump tweeted less than 90 minutes after Ren's TV interview aired, saying the U.S. should lead on 5G 'and even 6G' but shouldn't necessarily be freezing non-U.S. competitors out of the market in the meantime; a White House official said it was 'highliy likely' that Trump saww the CBS broadcast

'I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future,' the president said in a pair of tweets.

'I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!'

Ren downplayed the significance of 5G technology itself, dismissing the idea that it promises the same power to reshape the world as 'some other military equipment.'

'5G is not an atomic bomb,' he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo struck a more aggressive tone than the president on Thursday, telling a Fox Business Network interviewer that there will be diplomatic and intelligence-sharing consequences for U.S. allies that choose to give Huawei equipment access to sensitive computer networks.

'These systems were designed by  with express work alongside the Chinese PLA, their military in China,' Pompeo said, referring to Huawei's 5G technology.

'They are creating a real risk for these countries and their systems, the security of their people.'

'If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems,' Pompeo added, 'we won't be able to share information with them. We won't be able to work alongside them. In some cases there's risk we wont even be able to co-locate American resources in American Embassy or in American military outpost.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday morning in a Fox Business Network interview that allies who choose to connect Huawei equipment to their critical networks might risk losing information-sharing arrangements with the United States

Huawei has not produced a 'credible plan' explaining how it will deal with security problems, Cyber Chiefs at the UK's spy headquarters have said but the company already has 5G rollout deals with nearly 30 countries

While Trump was tweeting, China's trade delegation was assembling in the Indian Treaty Room just a short walk away from the White House in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Andrew Lighthizer sat across a table from Chinese Vice Premier Liu He Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai and Yi Gang, Governor of the People's Bank of China.

China's vice finance minister, vice foreign minister, vice agriculture minister and vice commerce minister also attended. Thursday marked the fourth time Liu has traveled to the U.S. for trade talks.

U.S. allies are skeptical of the Trump administration's fears about China covertly using Huawei equipment for intelligence-gathering, but cyber chiefs at the UKs spy headquarters acknowledged Wednesday that Huawei has not addressed security concerns.

'Last year we said we found some worrying engineering and security issues, GCHQ cybersecurity technical director Dr. Ian Levy said. 'As of today, we have not seen a credible plan. Thats the reality of the situation unfortunately.'

But a more GCHQ official said Wednesday in Brussels that Britain's stringent inspections of Huawei handsets and other gear is sufficient to ensure they don't present security risks.

UK National Cyber Security Center chief Ciaran Martin said Huawei has had a presence on the nation's telecom networks for more than 15 years.

'Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei,' adding that Huawei equipment 'is not in any sensitive networks, including those of the government.'

Those comments appeared in The New York Times on Thursday, in a story splashed across the front page of the paper's business section.
Anna Soubry has launched a furious personal attack on Theresa May, accusing her of being 'delusional' and of 'having a problem with immigration'.

The Broxtowe MP cut loose just hours after resigning her membership of the Conservative Party to join the new Independent Group of defectors.

But she faced a personal backlash today as she hosted a live radio phone-in on LBC.

Two people claiming to be constituents slammed her decision to quit the Tories over Brexit, branding her 'two-faced' and 'rude'.

Ms Soubry was among three ex-Tory MPs to quit the party yesterday to put boosters under the new Independent Group as it attempts to tear up the Westminster party system.

Mrs May defended her 'moderate, open-hearted' party tonight in a robust letter to the three MPs who defected to the Independent Group.

She thanked them for their service but said they were wrong to suggest the party had been lost to a right-wing fringe obsessed with the European Union and Brexit.

The PM met pro-EU Tories who have threatened to defect today in a bid to stem the tide to the new Independent Group.

But without mounting pressure over no deal with just 36 days to go., even Chancellor Philip Hammond refused to rule out resigning from Government.

Anna Soubry (pictured today hosting on LBC) has launched a furious personal attack on Theresa May, accusing her of being 'delusional' and of 'having a problem with immigration'

Mrs May's said the Prime Minister (pictured last night in Brussels) was committed to a post-Brexit immigration system that 'takes back control of our borders and allows us to continue to let in the brightest and best'

Chancellor Philip Hammond denied the battle was lost today as he attacked the ERG as a 'small hard core with a hardline view'.

Justine Greening warned Theresa May she will not stay a member of a 'Brexit Party' while Dominic Grieve warned he could also quit as Westminster waits for a new wave of defections to the Independent Group

She told Newsnight: 'The only reason why she will not agree to the single market is because of free movement of people.

'And I think what's really worried me about Theresa, and she has history in the Home Office that supports this, because I'm an old barrister, I look at the evidence, and I think she's got a problem with immigration.

'I really, honestly do.'

In a separate interview with The Times Red Box podcast, Ms Soubry attacked again: 'I think she's in a bad place. That's the truth of it.

'I don't mean this in a cruel way but I think she is absolutely delusional about the situation that she and the country is in.'

Mrs May's spokesman dismissed the attack on immigration, insisting the Prime Minister was committed to a post-Brexit immigration system that 'takes back control of our borders and allows us to continue to let in the brightest and best'.

Ms Soubry came under sustained criticism during today's appearance on LBC.

A man called Neil said he lived in her Broxtowe constituency. He said: 'Madam, people like you disgust me frankly. You're out to derail Brexit. You're being duplicitous, you're being two-faced!

'I'm very angry about people like you. The largest democratic thing to ever happen in this country and people like you are trying to derail Brexit.'

Ms Soubry was among three ex-Tory MPs to quit the party yesterday to put boosters under the new Independent Group as it attempts to tear up the Westminster party system

Neil accused her of having 'done the dirty' on her own constituency.

He demanded that she stand down from her seat and trigger a by-election in her area so they have a chance to boot her out.

What is the Independent Group and can you vote for it? What happened this week? Seven MPs resigned from the Labour Party on Monday and set up something called the Independent Group. They were joined by an eigth Labour MP last night. Three Tory MPs also left their party - warning the Conservatives have been gripped by a right wing, pro Brexit insurgency. Who is in the group? Ex-Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Joan Ryan. Ex-Tory MPs Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen. Is it a political party? No. It is a small business - technically a limited company - called Gemini A Ltd that was set up Gavin Shuker, one of the MPs, in January. Can I vote for it? No. Unless and until it registers with the Electoral Commission, it cannot stand candidates. Can I donate to it? Yes. The group is accepting donations through its website theindependent.group. It says donations will support the newly independent MPs. What does it want? All the MPs are Remain supporters and most of them have promoted a second referendum to cancel Brexit. They say they want evidence-based policy making to tackle the challenges facing Britain - without being inside the current political parties. Advertisement

But Ms Soubry insisted: 'My views haven't changed, the Conservative party has changed.

'The only vote I think we should be having is a People's Vote.'

Another Broxtowe voter, John, said: 'I can't put into words what you've done. You're sitting there in the lime light, you've been stirring it up [since the referendum.]

'You say you believe in democracy but you don't believe in the vote of 17.5million people.

'You've been rude to all your constituents.

'Why would I vote for a lady who is not genuinely and doesn't believe in democracy? Early retirement is the best way forward for you.'

Ms Soubry told listeners she would 'keep true to her values and principles' and she'd received an 'overwhelming support from her constituents' so far in her email inbox.

In her letter tonight, Mrs May outlined a string policy achievements including money for the NHS, the race disparity audit and help for first time buyers.

And she defended the mission to deliver on the 2016 referendum - insisting it was 'right to do so' and it would be a 'mistake' to cancel the vote.

In her strongest response Mrs May said she was 'sorry to read and do not accept' comparisons to the 'warped' Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.

In a move designed to cause the maximum damage, the trio made their leap less than an hour before Mrs May faced MPs in the bruising weekly session of PMQs yesterday - and on the same day she has to convince Brussels she can pass a Brexit deal.

Vowing to stand in the 'centre ground' in a damning letter to Mrs May yesterday the group said they could not remain in the Tories while it was 'in the grip of the ERG and DUP'.

They said Brexit has 'redefined the Conservative Party - undoing all efforts to modernise it' - and warning that the 'country deserves better' from its politics.

In her letter to the defectors, Mrs May said they were wrong to suggest the party had been lost to a right-wing fringe obsessed with the European Union and Brexit

In an immediate response, Mrs May said she was 'saddened' by the decision and thanked the MPs for their 'dedicated service to our party over many years'.

The PM vowed the Tories would 'always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics' Britain deserved. She said delivering Brexit was 'never going to be easy' but insisted she was 'doing the right thing for our country'.

The move puts rocket boosters under the new political movement that was launched by a 'gang of seven' ex-Labour MPs on Monday.

It is the biggest split in British politics since 1981 and could set in motion a total realignment of the party system.

Mrs May met pro-EU Tories in No 10 today as she battled to avoid more MPs defecting to the new Independent Group.

Both Philip Lee and Justine Greening complained Mrs May has focused her efforts on winning over hardline Brexiteers instead of seeking help from moderate MPs. They along with Dominic Grieve are the focus of speculation about new defections.

As Tory defectors to the new Independent Group claimed there were a 'significant' number of MPs in other parties on the brink of quitting, Westminster is abuzz with who could be next

A sensational poll by YouGov puts the new independent group in third place on 14 per cent - appearing to pull support from both Tory and Labour

The PM is braced for more MPs to leave the party and has also been warned ministers could quit the Government next week over no deal.

Even Philip Hammond refused to rule out quitting as Chancellor today as Mrs May battles to hold together the Tory coalition in the Brexit endgame.

The Tory leadership has strained to respond calmly to yesterday's defection of three MPs to the new Independent Group - and Mr Hammond even suggested they could return to the Tory fold in future.

But Brexiteer frustration boiled over this afternoon as Nadine Dorries branded the trio 'con merchants' with 'incredibly inflated opinions of their own ability'.

Ex-Tory MP Sarah Wollaston suggested today the Conservative party was 'destroying itself' amid speculation former colleagues could follow her to the new Independent Group.

'I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit,' she told Today.

'Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.'

Dr Wollaston said 'the Tory party has changed, I think it has changed irredeemably', adding: 'I would say the Tory party is destroying itself.'
Jacqueline Wileman, 58, was power walking in Barnsley when she was hit by the lorry

Four men were today jailed for a total of nearly 50 years after holding a stolen lorry 'to ransom' over a wage dispute before crashing it into a house and killing a woman who was power walking.

David Mellor, 48, Alan Mawhinney, 53, Wayne Carroll, 29, and Karn Hill, 23, were all sentenced for death by dangerous driving at Sheffield Crown Court.

Jacqueline Wileman, 58, was in Barnsley on September 14 last year when she was struck by the eight-tonne HGV.

Mellor took the HGV from his employers City Freight Services because he was owed two and a half weeks of wages - and told his bosses he would give the vehicle back once he had been paid.

Hill, who doesn't have a driving license, was behind the wheel of the vehicle when it careered into Mrs Wileman following a police pursuit.

Karn Hill (left), 23, and Wayne Carroll (right), 29, were jailed for death by dangerous driving

Sentencing the four, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, said: 'Each one of you played a pivotal role in this protracted, persistent, determined, and highly dangerous criminal escapade.

'You gave not a thought to the safety of others and exposed many people to the risk of death and serious injury while you executed what you thought was a caper, but in truth was an exceptionally malevolent course of conduct, which had an inevitably disastrous and catastrophic conclusion.

'Each one of you was enjoying every last minute of this entirely malignant enterprise until the catastrophe struck.

'It was inevitable sooner or later that day a catastrophe would occur.'

Alan Mawhinney (left), 53, and David Mellor (right), 48, were also imprisoned in Sheffield

He added: 'Mrs Wileman was a much-loved mother and sister. Her family have been devastated by what occurred. They will never get over what each one of you did to cause her death.'

Mrs Wileman was a 'much-loved mother and sister', the judge told Sheffield Crown Court

Hill, who pleaded guilty in November last year, received a ten and half year sentence for death by dangerous driving.

Mawhinney and Carroll were given 12 and a half years for death by dangerous driving and 11 and 12 years respectively for aggravated vehicle taking.

Mellor was handed a 13 year sentence for death by dangerous driving and 11 years for aggravated vehicle taking.

The aggravated vehicle taking sentences will be served concurrently and all four have been banned from driving for ten years upon their release from prison.

The court heard the lorry had been spotted driving dangerously around Barnsley in the hours before the crash happened and police had started following it.

Hill was driving at 55mph in a 30mph zone and had veered on to the wrong side of the road when he struck two cars before hitting Mrs Wileman, it was heard.

Hill was driving at 55mph in a 30mph zone and had veered on to the wrong side of the road

She was dragged along the road, causing extensive injuries, and died at the scene.

Another motorist and a cyclist who narrowly avoided being hit by the vehicle are described as 'lucky'.

A bottle of vodka and drug paraphernalia was recovered from inside the HGV.

A house was severely damaged in the crash, which left beds and household items protruding from the gable end of the newly built property. No one was inside.

Mobile phone footage played at an earlier hearing showed Hill and Carroll jump from the window of the cab and try to flee before being grabbed by a passerby.

A house in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was severely damaged in the crash last September, which left beds and household items protruding from the gable end of the newly built property

Hill managed to get away but was arrested at a nearby hotel and Mawhinney had to be rescued by firefighters after he became trapped beneath the wall of the house.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Jason Pitter QC said the gang had made off from a number of petrol stations without paying before the crash happened and that they appeared to be laughing and joking.

Speaking after the sentencing, Mrs Wileman's brother Johnny Wood praised the judge's decision but called for longer sentences to be given for death by dangerous driving.

The current maximum sentence available is 14 years - however, there have been calls for life sentences to be introduced for the crime.

Hill got away but was arrested at a nearby hotel and Mawhinney had to be rescued by firefighters after he became trapped beneath the wall of the house (pictured last September)

Mr Wood was particularly frustrated Carroll only received twelve and a half years after it emerged in court that he had a 2015 conviction for death by dangerous driving.

He was behind the wheel of a vehicle that hit and killed a 25-year-old man, the court heard.

Mr Wood said: 'The sentencing, yes they're big figures, but we'd like to have seen a little bit of a change in the law and hopefully that will come forward.

'The judge is restricted on sentencing and that wants stopping. I shall be following that up with my MP hoping that the judge [in future] won't be restricted.

No one was inside the house in Barnsley when the crash happened last September

'When the small offenders come out of prison they repeat offend. We need those people off the street, they're not fit for society, they're not fit to breathe the same air as you and me.'

He added: 'Such is a character like Carroll that they can come and do it twice. If they've committed an offence as severe as what he has done then that should be made aware to the jury.

'He's learnt no lessons, we talk about rehabilitation but he's learned nothing at all.'

Mr Wood added: 'Our Jacqueline was a lovely lass, who the community thought a lot about. You can't get over something like this, when it's my little sister that I took to school.

'I now know my family can look at the atrocities in London and Manchester, we can look those families in the face and say 'I know how you feel'.'
A New England woman claimed she was kidnapped by a sex trafficking worker after getting into the wrong Uber - but police say it was just a misunderstanding because of a language barrier.

Emmy Hurley's Tuesday post went viral with half a million shares by Thursday, after she told how she hopped into a vehicle that was not her ride-share on Monday night.

She said the female driver had the same car as the one she was waiting for and she only realized she wasn't being taken to her correct destination while on the trip in Tampa Bay, Florida after receiving a call from the right pick-up.

Emmy Hurley said getting into the wrong car Monday was 'the scariest moment of my life'

She claimed in a Facebook post Tuesday that she was being kidnapped by a woman pretending to be her Uber driver in Tampa Bay, Florida

She realized after her intended Uber driver Cristin Cinquino called to ask where she was

'I got in before checking, as she opened the back door for me from her seat. She drove erratically and didn't speak. About 10 minutes in, my actual Uber called me asking where I was. My voice cracked, because in that instant I knew,' she wrote in a dramatic Facebook post.

Hurley  who currently lives in Hawaii - explained in the public post that she covertly tried to signal she was in a bad situation by explaining she was in a car and 'I think I need help'.

She said her assigned Uber driver urged her to get out of the vehicle however she could but claimed the person behind the wheel of the car would not comply.

'The lady refused to stop or respond to me. I told her she was driving by my friends (random girls I saw) and they would call the cops,' Hurley continued. 'She slowed a little, pointing at her phone saying "Uber. I take you back then." I said, no here is fine.'

Hurley added that when the driver kept going she 'booked it out the door, car still moving' and the woman 'sped off'.

Hurley also claimed in the post she'd been informed by 'numerous people' the driver was a 'sex traffic worker'.

Hurley added that she asked the wrong driver to stop but when she kept going she 'booked it out the door, car still moving' and the woman 'sped off'

The correct driver described the experience as the 'LONGEST, SCARIEST 5 min of my life' in a post that has been deleted. She said she heard the wrong driver yelling in a 'foreign accent'

'They use women to lure people in, and possibly hang out in the Uber lot to steal rides of similar looking cars,' Hurley alleged. 'The cops didn't come, but my real Uber driver did Cristin Cinquino, and hugged me, kept me safe, and cried with me.'

Hurley called it 'the scariest moment of my life' in an interview with News Channel 8 which she told she didn't immediately notify police because she needed to stay in contact with her intended Uber pilot.

However law enforcement denied Hurley's claim she was being kidnapped Wednesday morning.

'She got into the wrong Uber car. It has nothing to do with sex trafficking,' Tampa Police Department spokesman Eddy Durkin told the publication, adding it was apparent there was a language barrier issue.

The correct driver also described the experience as the 'LONGEST, SCARIEST 5 min of my life'.

In a post that has now been deleted, Cinquino explained that Hurley told her on the phone: 'I think I got in a car that's not an uber, I NEED HELP.'

Police said Hurley was apparently experiencing a language barrier with a driver in the mix-up

Possibly confirming there may have been a language barrier, Cinquino said the wrong driver 'kept yelling at her to calm down and saying 'i'm uber driver' in a foreign accent'.

Cinquino revealed she instructed Hurley to leap from the car even if was in motion and her Facebook post alleged the wrong driver was 'likely headed to a warehouse near the port or directly to a boat where they ship all these victims away'.

The correct driver  who said in the post she does airport pickups because 'I figured they wouldn't be drunk and are probably somewhat sane if they just got off a plane'  went on to made more allegations about the wrong driver.

'I'm pretty sure this woman was watching me and when she saw me get a ride on my phone, she left before me, in the same type of car, and picked up my rider,' she wrote. Adding about Hurley: 'It was late, she was tired as her flight was delayed a few hours and made a mistake that likely almost cost her her life.'

Uber has teamed up with organizations such as ECPAT-USA, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), The McCain Institute, Polaris and Thorn for several years to help raise awareness among drivers about how to spot and report human trafficking.

They have a driver resource page and send educational information to all drivers in the United States through the app and at driver support hubs. Uber also provides drivers with the Polaris National Human Trafficking hotline and have hosted sessions on trafficking for drivers on this issue.

The company however denied the stories about the wrong driver.

They told DailyMail.com Thursday that the driver of the car the rider accidentally got into was working with Uber and said after the rider exited her car, the driver returned to the airport, picked up the correct rider and dropped them off at their intended destination.

Uber told DailyMail.com Thursday that the driver of the car the rider accidentally got into was working with the company and said after the rider exited her car, the driver returned to the airport, picked up the correct rider and dropped them off at their intended destination

'We encourage riders to use the driver, car and license plate information they receive in the app to verify they are getting into the right vehicle. We've been in touch with the driver, rider and local law enforcement to clarify the misinformation that has been circulating,' a spokesperson said in a statement.

Citing other 'fake posts' related to Uber and human trafficking recently in Boston (Cambridge) area and in Atlanta before the Super Bowl', the San Francisco company said in a statement that those stories have been debunked by law enforcement but had already been shared many times on social media that they had 'created a lot of misinformation'.

Uber warned that getting into the wrong car means the passenger 'won't have the benefit of all the safety features built into the Uber app', including GPS tracking, ability to share details of the trip, and the two-way feedback system.

Last April, they announced they're adding new safety features and improvements to their screening process including 'centralizing safety information in the app, an emergency button for 911 assistance, re-running driving and criminal background screening annually and monitoring of new offense data'.

They also announced additional safety features in September including new Ride Check features, address anonymization and two-factor authentication.
Chinese visitors travelling to the US have been warned not to quarrel or tussle in public after a man was arrested for getting into a fight with his wife on a street in New York.

The couple had been arguing loudly and tussling outside their hotel when on holiday in the city during Chinese New Year, according to an article issued by the Chinese consulate in New York on Saturday.

Two pedestrians intervened and reported the fight to police. The husband was arrested and charged with domestic violence.

Highlighting the cultural differences between the two countries, the consulate reminded visitors from China that physical fighting between couples in the US was not regarded as a trivial matter.

Chinese visitors travelling to the US have been warned not to quarrel or tussle in public after a man was arrested for getting into a fight with his wife on a street in New York (file photo)

The authority highlighted the difference between the two countries' perception on domestic complaints: In China, people often try not to intervene between couples seen bickering or tussling on the street while in the US, passers-by could report the couple and serve as eyewitnesses in court.

The wife, surnamed Zhang, sought the help of the consulate after the man was arrested.

As a result of the incident, the couple's journey back to China had been delayed as the husband was required to apply for bail, appear at a court hearing and hire lawyers in accordance to the US judicial process.

'The husband and wife learned a lesson from the incident and regretted their actions,' the consulate said in the advisory.

The advisory reminded visitors from China that physical fighting between couples in the US was not regarded as a trivial matter. Above, Chinese visitors take photos on Wall Street

In China, people often try not to intervene between couples seen bickering or tussling on the street while in the US, passers-by could report the couple and serve as eyewitnesses in court

'Many Chinese people think a quarrel between couples is just a domestic and private affair that is none of other people's business. But in western countries such as the United States, this kind of incident is not just a domestic affair.'

The consulate warned that fights between Chinese travellers in the US would be regarded as domestic violence and handled seriously by authorities. Fights occurring in private could also be reported by neighbours to police, it added.

Once prosecuted, domestic violence complaints in the US could not be withdrawn, even at the request of the victim.

It also explained that restraining orders could be applied to both parties. Once in effect, the protection order prohibits the defendant from returning home, calling, faxing, emailing or contacting the other party, which could lead to a 'relationship breakdown between the husband and wife'.

'Visitors preparing their trips to the US are advised to familiarise themselves with American laws and regulations and the cultural differences between the two countries,' the consulate said. 'So that people can avoid disputes caused by misunderstandings or even violate local laws unknowingly.'
An Israeli playboy calling himself the 'Prince of Diamonds' allegedly conned women out of millions across the world after matching with them on Tinder.

Shimon Hayut, 28, is said to have snared Scandinavian women by claiming he was Simon Leviev, the son of Jewish billionaire diamond merchant Lev Leviev.

The fraudster used the popular dating app Tinder to lure women and then deployed their credit cards in a Ponzi scheme to lavish his other dates with Burberry, Gucci, rooms at the Ritz Carlton and limousines.

Cecilie Fjellhoy, 31, from Lillestrom in Norway, says Hayut convinced her he was wealthy when they met in London.

Shimon Hayut, 28, allegedly posed as Simon Leviev - the 'Prince of Diamonds' - son of the Jewish billionaire diamond mine owner Lev Leviev

Cecilie Fjellhoy, 31, from Lillestrom in Norway says she was conned by Hayut after they met through Tinder in London

She told Verdens Gang she was overwhelmed by his spending on private jets, hotels, dinners and on staff including a bodyguard.

When the dashing Middle-Eastern asked her for a credit card - claiming he could not afford to leave a digital trail because of security issues - she agreed.

Fjellhoy filled out documents for an American Express platinum card as per his instructions and he told her to file an income of 200,000.

The conman assured her no one was going to check it.

Ms Fjellhoy told the Norwegian paper she took the handsome young Israeli at his word just four weeks into their romance.

She took out huge loans for the card and said the Tinder-swindler was soon maxing out the plastic.

Hayut spent two million Norwegian krone (177, 671) in just 54 days and was racking up bills on paying for his two assistants, his bodyguard and flights across the world, according to the Norwegian.

She told VG her money was being spent on Louboutins in Bangkok, on Gucci in Barcelona, at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin and the Conservatory in Amsterdam.

She said from March 2 to March 25 last year, he spent more than 75,000 on the AMEX.

Hayut was using Ms Fjellhoy's cash to capture other women in the process, she told the Norwegian paper.

He used her funds to allegedly convince a Swedish woman called Pernilla Sjoholm that he was the son of a billionaire.

Ms Sjoholm told the Norwegian paper she wired Hayut more than 35,000.

Ms Fjellhoy recounted that in one weekend Hayut splurged over 10,000 on taking a new darling to the opera in a limousine.

Ms Fjellhoy described how the sums sickened her today, but at the time she was bowled over by his charms and believed Hayut was a CEO who would reimburse her.

She believed his affections for him were real, but while he texted her each morning asking 'Good morning, dear, Did you sleep well?' he was chatting to other women.

Hayut is reportedly wanted in Israel on fraud charges and has been reported for fraud in England, Sweden and Norway

While Ms Fjellhoy was touring luxury apartments in London for the pair to rent, he was abroad conning other women using the same methods.

She said he forwarded her false banking letters claiming to have paid back the millions of krone he had spent.

Ms Fjellhoy says after giving him one last chance to meet him in Oslo when he failed to turn up, she cut off all contact with the 'Prince of Diamonds.'

Hayut has been wanted on charges of theft, forgery and fraud in Israel since 2011, the Times of Israel reported.

The paper also reported that he had served a three year stretch in a Finnish jail for fraud against three women.

He is wanted in Israel and has been reported for fraud in England, Norway and Sweden, VG reported.
EU sanctions over the use of chemical weapons are outside the framework of the international law as their criteria is based on the Paris initiative rather than on the standards of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, UrduPoint reported.

According to Lavrov, the Paris initiative has nothing to do with the framework of work at the United Nations, or with the Chemical Weapons Convention, but calls for creation of "partnerships" outside the universal structures that would be able to designate "the guilty parties" and ask other EU members to support sanctions against them.

"This is all outside the framework of the international law. The Chemical Weapons Convention is the international law. I mean that the EU is also tempted to go outside the structures where it is necessary to negotiate with the whole world," Lavrov stressed.
Jeremy Corbyn has said jihadi bride Shamima Begum should be allowed back into Britain and given the 'support that she needs' by authorities.

The Labour leader argued the teenager, who gave birth to a baby boy in a refugee camp on Sunday, had 'a right to return' after fleeing the country to support ISIS.

He also said the decision by Home Secretary Sajid Javid to strip the 19-year-old, originally from east London, of her citizenship was a 'very extreme manoeuvre'.

While Diane Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary, said the Government 'could not subvert the rule of law' to forbid the 19-year-old from re-entering the country.

Their comments have met a frosty reception, with Conservative backbencher David TC Davies branding Jeremy Corbyn's view extraordinary.

The Monmouth MP told MailOnline: 'This woman has shown no remorse whatsoever for her actions.

She has heaped praise on the ISIS fighters she ran off with and [] expressed support for the horrendous terrorist atrocity in Manchester.

Her presence in Britain would put wider society at risk and it is extraordinary that she now has the support of the leader of Her Majestys Opposition, who wants to become prime minister.

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Jeremy Corbyn (left) has today claimed that IS bride Shamima Begum (right) should be allowed back into Britain and given the 'support that she needs'

The letter obtained by ITV News asks Begum's family to inform her of the decision to revoke her citizenship and her right to appeal it

Begum, who fled Bethnal Green for Syria in 2015 along with two friends, said she was 'shocked' when she was told of Mr Javid's decision yesterday.

And told Sky News today that she was 'willing to change' and pleaded with politicians for 'mercy' after her UK citizenship was revoked.

Meanwhile Mr Corbyn, who is currently in Brussels to meet with EU leaders, revealed he was uncomfortable with the Home Secretary exercising such powers.

The Labour leader's comments came during an interview with ITV, in which he said Begum was entitled to support from the British government.

'She was born in Britain, she has that right to remain in Britain and obviously a lot of questions she has to answer but also some support that she needs,' he told ITV.

'She obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain. On that return she must face a lot of questions about everything she's done. And at that point any action may or may not be taken.

'I think the idea of stripping somebody of their citizenship when they were born in Britain is a very extreme manoeuvre.

'Indeed I question the right of the home secretary to have these powers when the original law was brought in by Theresa May when she was home secretary.'

The Labour leader said that the teenager, who gave birth to a baby boy in a refugee camp on Sunday, had 'a right to return' after fleeing the country to support IS

The remorseless 19-year-old, pictured here in an interview, is hanging her hopes on her captured husband Yago Riedijk being sent back to the Netherlands

Shamima Begum and her friend fled to Syria by flying to Istanbul and getting a bus across Turkey to the ISIS capital, Raqqa. She moved to Mayadin with her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk but fled Baghuz when he was captured and is now in al-Hawl

Mr Javid previously stated Begum's son Jerah - apparently named after a 7th century Islamic warlord - could still be British despite his mother losing her citizenship.

However shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the Government 'could not subvert the rule of law' just because it is 'not convenient'.

She told BBC Radio 4's World At One: 'You cannot strip people of their British nationality under international law if it will leave them stateless.

'That's the legal position and we are a country of laws.'

Their comments come as Begum pleaded with politicians for 'mercy' and stressed that she is willing to change.

Speaking to Sky News, the 19-year-old said: 'I would like them to re-evaluate my case with a bit more mercy in their heart, you know.'

Dozens have reacted to Jeremy Corbyn's recent comments on Twitter, many voicing their disapproval with his opinion .

Shamima Begum told Sky News today that she is 'willing to change' and pleaded with politicians to treat her case with 'a bit more mercy'

One user said: 'I wouldn't put it past him to organise a welcome party for her and give her a brand new home at the expense of the taxpayer.'

While another, Paul Johnson, wrote: 'This is exactly why the wheels are falling off the Labour bandwagon.

'We are talking about an intelligent woman who knew exactly what she was doing when she decided to leave the UK and join ISIS.'

Other MPs have also spoken out following Mr Corbyn's comments.

Andrea Jenkyns, Tory MP for Morley and Outwood, said: 'So Corbyn believes ISIS Bride should be let back into the UK and supported.

'Why does he always seem to side with those who are enemies of our great country.'

While Lee McCluskey, siding with Sajid Javid, wrote on Twitter: 'We have a home secretary who talks sense and will do what many Brits want which is for Shamina Begum to be denied entry back into the uk providing its within the law.

'Dianne Abbott and Corbyn would invite all ISIS in for tea and biscuits.'

Jeremy Corbyn's comments have been met with a frosty reception online, with dozens online criticising the Labour leader's view

It comes as peers demanded the 650-year-old Treason Act be updated to prosecute returning jihadists who have 'betrayed' Britain.

Labour former security and counter-terrorism minister Lord West of Spithead said it was 'appropriate that as a nation we show how repugnant this is and how appalling that sort of behaviour is'.

Lord West said that, as a minister, he found it difficult at times to take to court people who should have been prosecuted there.

Peers call for treason law update to tackle returning jihadists Peers have called for the 650-year-old Treason Act to be updated to prosecute returning jihadists who have 'betrayed' Britain. Home Secretary Sajid Javid came under pressure at question time after deciding to revoke Islamic State bride Shamima Begum's British citizenship. Labour former security Lord West of Spithead said it was 'appropriate that as a nation we show how repugnant this is and how appalling that sort of behaviour is'. Lord West said that, as a minister, he found it difficult at times to take to court people who should have been prosecuted there. 'This seems to me a way it can be done,' he added. 'Update the treason law and show these people to be traitors, something that our nation really believes they are.' Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said recent legislation had already given more powers to the courts to prosecute. 'I agree the 1351 Treason Act is rather an old Act. Of course it was relatively recently updated in 1861.' Lady Williams said she was not dismissing the demand. The Home Secretary had said he would look at it and the Home Office kept all laws under review. But she said prosecuting terrorists for treason risked 'giving their actions a political status or glamour they do not deserve, rather than treating them merely as criminals'. Independent crossbencher Lord Alton of Liverpool said no one wanted to 'glamorise' such actions but those who sought to justify the murder of British citizens in the bombing of the Manchester Arena in 2017 or took up arms against British forces and civilians had 'betrayed this country, its people, its values and its laws'. Lord Alton said it was time to provide a 'solid legal basis', rather than the 1351 Act, for prosecuting hundreds of returning jihadists, so those responsible for 'heinous crimes' could not expect to evade prosecution. Lady Williams agreed that such people should not escape justice and insisted new powers given to the police might prevent some of 'the terrible things that we have seen in recent months'. Liberal Democrat Lord Paddick, a former Met Police deputy assistant commissioner, said yesterday the minister had implied that it was difficult to prosecute those involved with IS as the UK effectively had no extradition arrangements with Syria. 'That is why the Government had to deprive people of their British citizenship,' he said. 'Many of these people want to return to the UK but the Government is preventing them from returning to face justice by depriving them of their citizenship.' Lord Paddick asked: 'Is the Government's strategy confused or is it just me?' To laughter, Lady Williams replied: 'I think it might be you. 'It is difficult to prosecute people in Syria. 'We have no consular access in Syria. 'People have been prosecuted when they come back to this country. 'There are a number of different remedies available to the Government to try to bring people to justice.' The Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat said that the Treason Act of 1351 should be updated to deal with cases like Shamima Begum's, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Advertisement

'This seems to me a way it can be done,' he added. 'Update the treason law and show these people to be traitors, something that our nation really believes they are.'

Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford said recent legislation had already given more powers to the courts to prosecute.

'I agree the 1351 Treason Act is rather an old Act. Of course it was relatively recently updated in 1861.'

Lady Williams said she was not dismissing the demand.

The Home Secretary had said he would look at it and the Home Office kept all laws under review.

The Home Office believes that because Begum's mother was born in Bangladesh, her daughter is entitled to dual citizenship.

This would theoretically mean that she would not be left stateless if she was stripped of British nationality, which is illegal under international law.

But the chances of the 19-year-old returning to Britain may have increased after the Bangladeshi ministry of foreign affairs accused Sajid Javid of 'erroneously identifying' Begum as a dual citizen - and insisted she will not be allowed into the country.

After learning her fate, 'shocked' Begum initially said she would seek citizenship in Holland - where her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk is from.

But the Dutch Government today also appeared to slam the door, telling the Sun Online that Begum does not have the residence permit required to live there.

The Netherlands also does not offer its help to returning Dutch jihadis, and can also strip its nationals of their citizenship if they are deemed a national security threat.

Shahrial Alam, state minister of foreign affairs in Bangladesh, said today there is 'no question' of her being allowed into the country and that she is not a citizen.

Only last week, Britain's MI6 chief said that UK nationals, even those who are members of terror organisations like ISIS, have a legal right to return home.

Government guidance from 2017 states that the Home Secretary has the power to order the deprivation if it would be 'conducive to the public good', as long as they are not left without any citizenship.

A Home Office spokesman said he could not discuss individual cases, but added: 'We don't leave people stateless.'

Mr Javid on Monday told the House of Commons: 'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'

More than 100 people have already been deprived in this way.

What will happen to Begum's new born son, however, remains unclear.

He was born before his mother was deprived of citizenship - meaning he is still legally British.

And while theoretically he could also have his citizenship revoked, the government would need to show he himself posed a threat.

Begum claims that her first two children both died of unknown illnesses under ISIS.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Javid of 'an abdication of responsibility' by 'palming off' Begum on to another country.

'The UK has more than enough terrorism laws to prosecute Shamima Begum here,' he said.

Meanwhile Conservative chair of the Commons Education Committee, Robert Halfon, who had spoken out against allowing Begum to return, said in a tweet that Mr Javid had made 'absolutely the right decision'.

The move comes after Begum returned to the public eye when she was found heavily pregnant living in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

She gave birth to a boy over the weekend, and made pleas to be accepted back in the UK. However opponents criticised her lack of apparent remorse for joining ISIS.

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the 19-year-old could expect to be 'spoken to' if she comes back to Britain.

The initial police stance when Ms Begum left the UK in 2015 was that she may be treated as a victim of grooming, but the Scotland Yard chief said: 'We're a long way down the road since then.'

Begum's baby son Jerah is entitled to British citizenship - but could try to argue he is Dutch because of the nationality of its jihadi father Yago Riedijk. She may even try to get Dutch citizenship off the back of it

She added: 'If she does, under whatever circumstances, arrive at our borders, somebody in her type of circumstances could expect, of course, to be spoken to and, if there is the appropriate necessity, to be potentially arrested and certainly investigated.

Removing Begum's citizenship 'could be exploited by radicals' Radical Islamists could exploit unease caused by the decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, the Government's chief adviser on countering extremism has warned. Home Secretary Sajid Javid made the move after the teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join the so-called Islamic State caliphate in Syria, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn son. Independent adviser Sara Khan cautioned on Thursday that the Government must acknowledge the anxiety caused by the decision, with extremists being eager to 'exploit alienation and grievance'. 'While it is for courts to test the legality of decisions such as deprivation of citizenship, we have to also ask how measures such as this impact wider work on countering extremism,' she said. 'The Government has to recognise the unease felt by a wide range of people about decisions of this kind, not least those from minority communities with dual nationality. 'It has to build trust in its approach, because Islamist extremists will exploit alienation and grievance to turn people against their country.' Advertisement

'If that results in sufficient evidence for a prosecution then it will result in sufficient evidence for a prosecution.

'The officers will deal with whatever they are confronted with.'

On Monday, in an interview with the BBC, Ms Begum compared the Manchester Arena bombing to military strikes on Isis strongholds, calling the terror attack 'retaliation'.

There are currently plans to change the law to make travelling to certain terror hotspots a criminal offence, but this would not apply retrospectively to Ms Begum.

Around 425 suspected jihadi fighters are thought to have returned to the UK from Syria so far.

Before yesterday's decision, the Home Secretary had already hinted that he would block Begum from returning to the UK.

Earlier this week ,Mr Javid told MPs that no British troops would be used to rescue any Britons who travelled to Syria to support terrorism.

He said more than 900 people went to Syria or Iraq, adding: 'Whatever role they took in the so-called caliphate, they all supported a terrorist organisation and in doing so they have shown they hate our country and the values we stand for.'

He went on: 'Now this so-called caliphate is crumbling, some of them want to return and I have been very clear where I can and where any threat remains I will not hesitate to prevent this.

'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'

Shamima Begum, 19 (pictured before she left the country four years ago) is pleading with the government to allow her back into Britain
Scientists are warning the human race not to send any more signals into space as making contact with an alien race with 'a similar kind of capitalist economic structure' as us would lead to the Earth's annihilation.

The warning has come from two German scientists, Professor Dr Michael Schetsche and Dr Andreas Anton, at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IPGG) in the south-western city of Freiburg.

The pair argue that potentially alerting 'capitalist aliens' to Earth's existence is one of five major threats to life as we know it on this planet.

Two scientists warned of the dangers of space exploration and sending signals into outer space

They made the warning in a new book titled 'The Alien Society - Introduction to Exosociology'.

Professor Schetsche, who also works as a sociology professor at the University of Freiburg, said that as part of their research they encountered five major problems which could threaten life on Earth.

Prof Schetsche said: 'Climate change threatens to become catastrophic for us. Then there is the threat of a new cold or even hot war. Also very present on the scientific agenda is the return of major epidemics.

'Then there are the two hidden dangers that hardly anyone thinks about. One is the construction of a strong universal artificial intelligence (AI) which is capable of knowing everything. It is going to be extremely difficult to control and could possibly turn against us.

'The fifth point is that we are penetrating ever further into the universe and there are initiatives to advance into the next solar system in the coming decades. There we could meet other beings and such an encounter could be risky.'

Professor Schetsche claims that the possibility of finding alien artefacts on future expeditions could be dangerous.

He said: 'On celestial bodies without an atmosphere, you could still find unaffected artefacts after hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. It could be space debris left by an alien space probe on the moon or in the asteroid belt.

Professor Dr Michael Schetsche (left) and Dr Andreas Anton warn humans not to make contact with aliens in a new book

'Imagine if the artefact is still functional. Maybe it is powerful equipment intended for open space. Of course, humans want to investigate it so we bring it to earth, experiment with it, activate it with overflowing curiosity, and then it rips off a quarter of the planet's surface.

'Some nation states and big corporations will give everything to get at this advanced technology. It could be that an artefact discovered somewhere in the asteroid belt provides the spark for all out warfare on Earth.'

Prof Schetsche believes that it is about time to prepare for such an event by forging international alliances so the entire world, perhaps under UN supervision, can deal with it on a united front.

He said: 'We can look at historical analogies. When the Americas were discovered, the conquerors landed with huge ships, cannons and horses. This has led to the extinction of over 90 percent of the native population.'

Prof Schetsche predicts that any future conflict with an alien race would be similar to a 'showdown between Bambi and Godzilla, and we would be Bambi in this case'.

If that ever happened, he said 'we really should expect the destruction of humanity'.

To avoid such a scenario, Prof Schetsche wants a UN declaration 'prohibiting individuals or research groups from actively broadcasting signals into space'.

He said: 'It may sound cynical, but if an alien society with a similar kind of capitalist economic structure discovers us, then God have mercy on us.'
A surprised Nevada Highway Patrol officer narrowly avoided being hit by a suspected drunk driver by jumping onto the side of the vehicle he had just pulled over.

Trooper Adam Whitmarsh suffered minor injuries during the incident while at a traffic stop on northbound U.S. 95, just north of Ann Road, Las Vegas.

Dashcam footage shows Whitmarsh starting to walk towards the camera but then desperately trying to move out of the way of the oncoming car and having to jump.

A Honda CRV is then seen slamming into the back of the NHP cruiser, causing it to move forward and hit the vehicle the trooper had pulled over.

Trooper Adam Whitmarsh tries to move out of the road and rushes back towards the parked black car as the Honda races towards him on U.S. 95, in Las Vegas

Pieces of either the Honda or the NHP cruiser are seen flying across the road after the collision.

Trooper Whitmarsh bends over and grabs his chest after the incident, clearly surprised at what has just happened during a routine stop.

He had been speaking to the driver of the vehicle that he had pulled over and was forced to jump out of the way to avoid serious injury.

The driver of the Honda, 23-year-old Benjamin Perri, was arrested and booked on the DUI charges as well as reckless driving, fail to use due care.

He grabs onto the vehicle and jumps towards it as the Honda races past and pieces fly off

Trooper Whitmarsh bends over and catches his breath after the surprising incident

He was also booked for not wearing a seatbelt, failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and possession of a firearm while intoxicated.

Trooper Whitmarsh, who helped pull people to safety during the Mandalay Bay massacre in 2017 while he was off duty, said the car came out of nowhere.

Trooper Jason Buratczuk said: 'He's got nine lives. He's cheated death twice.'

Whitmarsh also revealed that his own father was killed when he was just two years old in a car crash involving a drunk driver, reports KTNV.

He said: 'We handle DUI drivers the most, its a subject that matters to state troopers, so from there it fueled me to become a trooper.'
One of the guests at Meghan Markle's $500,000 baby shower is opening up about her afternoon with the Duchess of Sussex.

Gayle King said on CBS This Morning that she and other guests were taught how to arrange flowers at the party, and that Markle then donated those arrangements to various charities.

She also said that she could not reveal the gift that she purchased for Markle because the guest of honor did not open any of her presents, choosing instead to wait until she got back to London and was with Prince Harry.

Markle flew out of New York just one hour after her shower on Wednesday on a private jet, marking the end of her first trip back to the States since her wedding to Prince Harry.

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Hail Gayle: Gayle King shared details about Meghan Markle's baby shower on CBS This Morning, one day after she was one of the lucky few to score an invite (Markle above on Tuesday)

Flower power: She said that guests at the event were taught how to arrange flowers and that Meghan then had those arrangements donated to charity (a flower deliver is made to The Mark ahead of the shower)

Away she goes: Markle was seen leaving The Mark on Wednesday night an hour after her baby shower

Taking off: Markle boards a private plane to fly back home to London on Monday (above)

Lewis Miller (above) brought the flowers to the party and taught the ladies how to make arrangements

It was unclear if King would say anything at all about the shower in the lead-up to the segment.

'Meghan Markle's friends threw her a baby shower in New York yesterday, a couple of months before her due date in April,' said King's co-host Bianna Golodryga.

'She arrived at the Upper East Side venue yesterday amid tight security. The party included some big-name guests including Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, and our very own queen Gayle King.'

Nora O'Donnell then immediately turned to King and asked: 'How was it?

King very diplomatically replied: 'A good time was had by all.'

O'Donnell then asked: 'What did you get her?'

King then fired off the standard, 'If I told you I would have to kill you' line, suggesting she might not be game to spill any details.

That was not the case.

'She didn't open any of the gifts because she wants to do that when she goes back to London, when she and Harry are back together,' explained King.

'I don't know what everybody got. I think I got something I think is very nice. But you know, she's a very private person. I think she should decide what she wants to say about this.'

Immediately after saying that, King decided to share a story from the shower.

Big day: King (above on Wednesday leaving the shower) also revealed that Markle was waiting to open her gifts until she was back with Prince Harry

Charit-eh: That 'charity' is Repeat Roses, a company that charges thousands to break down floral displays and then gives some of the flowers to hospital patients (members of the floral company who brought the flowers above)

Flowers: One of the floral arrangements is loaded up into the car by Lewis Miller (above) after the shower on Wednesday (above)

Behind the scenes: Event planner Jennifer Zabinski (left) and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten (right), who has restaurant in The Mark

'I hope she won't mind me sharing this because I've never seen anything like this at a baby shower. They did flower decorations. They had flower arranging, they brought in somebody to explain how to arrange flowers,' King told her co-hosts.

The cost of Meghan's New York baby shower Private jet from the UK to New York, round trip - $250,000 The Mark Hotel Grand Penthouse Suite - $150,000 Five nights in a one-bedroom suite at The Mark Hotel - $9,982.05 Dinner for five at The Polo Bar - approx. $420

Lunch at Cafe Bolud - approx. $78 Afternoon tea for two at Laduree - approx. $45 Two Royal Protection officers - $14,213 Harp player Erin Hill - $625 17 Away carry-on suitcases - $3,825 Gifts: Babyletto Hudson 3-in-1 Convertible Crib - $379 10ft mandarin tree - approx. $140 Lady Fleur NYC roses - approx. $399.95 Trek bicycle - approx. $609.99 Carnival King cotton candy machine - $199.99 JZ Events - $50,000 Lewis Miller - $20,000 Advertisement

'We all each made an individual vase. And then Meghan, at her request, they got in touch with an organization I've never heard of with, Repeat Roses, and they're all donated to different charities. I thought that was a very sweet thing.'

King then added: 'It just speaks to who she is. She's kind, she's very generous. And a really, really sweet person.'

Repeat Roses is not in fact a charity, but rather a business that charges a fee to breakdown events and will then donate the flowers to to patients in hospices, cancer treatment centers, mental health facilities, domestic abuse and homeless shelters.

Prices start at $1,750, and on the website the first thing visitors see is that the company was featured in O The Oprah Magazine.

King then revealed that the shower was hosted by Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney and Genevieve Hillis, who has been Markle's best friend since the age of 17 when they met at Northwestern.

'It was a small, private affair, and a special time for her,' said King.

'Having a baby is a great thing.'

While Markle was being feted by her newfound celebrity pals and recent co-stars at The Mark in New York City, her mother was seen walking alone in Los Angeles.

Photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com show Doria Ragland heading out to run errands in California around the same time a harp and cotton candy machine were being rolled into The Mark for her daughter's shower.

Ragland, who was dressed in black from head-to-toe, was seen carrying a box to her car and then heading back inside to grab a a container of food and some soup as she jumped into her car and drove off just before noon.

It is unclear if Markle plans to meet up with her mother before the birth of her first child with Prince Harry, as she is scheduled to travel to Morocco this weekend before hosting a second, more intimate baby shower in London.

More famous people: Amal Clooney (left) arrives for the baby shower on Wednesday while Serena Williams (right) heads into dinner on Tuesday night at The Polo Bar

Camouflaged: Prince Harry (above on Wednesday), a Captain General Royal Marines, spent Wednesday visiting 42 Commando Royal Marines at their base in Bickleigh

Who wore it better: Jessica Mulroney (left on Tuesday) and Misha Nonoo (right on Wednesday) put on a colorless display in New York

Markle spent Tuesday gallivanting around town with former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, tennis great Serena Williams, designer Misha Nonoo and Canadian gal pal Jessica Mulroney.

Markle and Spencer grabbed lunch together before being joined by the rest of the group for dinner at The Polo Bar, the swank New York eatery owned by designer Ralph Lauren.

Then, on Wednesday, she welcomed even newer friends to her party at The Mark, including human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and King, who scored an invitation despite being kept off the guest list at Markle's wedding.

Ragland's absence also meant that Markle had not one family member at the party, including new sister-in-law Kate Middleton, though baby showers have never been a British tradition.

Princess Beatrice, who works in New York as the Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy at the software company Afiniti, was also not in attendance.

It was similar in many ways to her wedding last May, where it was Prince Charles who was tasked with walking Markle down the aisle as the relationship between the Duchess of Sussex and her father became increasingly fraught.

Grandma: Doria Ragland (above on Wednesday) was seen heading out to run errands in Los Angeles on Wednesday during her daughter Meghan Markle's baby shower

Ragland has made a point to avoid the spotlight ever since her daughter and Prince Harry announced their engagement.

She did stay in England for a few days before and after the royal wedding, but then quickly made her way back to California.

There had been a number of reports at the time claiming that she had worked out a deal with Oprah Winfrey to film an interview with the legendary talk show queen, but those all proved to be false.

In fact, Ragland has yet to give a single interview about her daughter save for a few passing comments to camera crews.

That has not been the case with the rest of Markle's family, particularly her half-sister Yvonne, who now goes by Samantha.

She too was not among the invited guests at Markle's shower.

That is due in large part to her decision to write a tell-all about her half-sister, the title of which is The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister.

The title is a mockery of the media, Samantha previously told the Daily Mail.

It wasnt me who called Meg pushy, it was the tabloid newspapers. She is not pushy. The book isnt going to be negative  its a warm, witty, honoring book  unfortunately, the negative sing-song has gone round the world.'

Samantha has been both fawning and brutal with her comments about Meghan, depicting the Suits actress as opportunistic and calculating in interviews earlier this year before doing a complete about face over the past few months.

Markle has said nothing about her older sister.

Doria met Meghan's father Thomas Markle on the set of the General Hospital when she was temping on the soap opera and he was working in the lighting department.

They divorced when Meghan was six and both parents spent a considerable amount of time with their daughter.

Samantha and her brother Thomas Jr are the children of Thomas and his first wife Roslyn.
One of Australia's most powerful unions has threatened to derail Labor's state and federal election chances after taking issue with the party's stance on coal mining.

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which has over 120,000 members, is reportedly fed up with the NSW Labor party's track record in backing coal.

The powerful trade union's NSW mining and energy arm is considering withdrawing support of 11 ALP candidates across state and federal electorates in NSW.

District president of CFMEU Peter Jordan issued an ultimatum to NSW Labor leader Michael Daley in a letter last week, according to the The Daily Telegraph reported.

'You either support this politically motivated act to kill off the mine or you support the legal rights of investors and the hundreds of mining and support jobs and business opportunities that this project will create,' Mr Jordan wrote.

The CFMEU is considering making a political statement by withdrawing support of 11 ALP candidates across state and federal electorates in NSW (pictured: union president Peter Jordan)

Over a week later, Mr Jordan was frustrated to share Mr Daley had not yet responded to the letter dated February 13.

Mr Jordan said the union's issues with the ALP were centred around NSW rather than federal party.

He added the party was experiencing 'growing unrest' about coal.

'It might be too early to say it's a full split in NSW but I'm trying to put pressure on to get them to work with and support us. It shows some contempt that (Daley) hasn't responded and that annoys me,' Mr Jordan said.

The Wallarah 2 Coal Project is a proposed underground mining operation northwest of Wyong on NSW's Central Coast.

The project was approved in January 2018 and promoted as providing extensive social and economic benefits to the local community, through jobs and business opportunities.

This is not the first time the CFMEU has prepared for battle against the ALP.

They are currently threatening to campaign against ALP candidates in Queensland who do not support the Adani coalmine.

Mr Jordan reportedly wrote to the newly appointed leader of the party, Michael Daley (centre), in demand ALP support Wyong's Wallarah 2 Coal Project

Labor frontbencher Richard Marles sparked outrage on Wednesday after telling Sky News the world market for thermal coal had collapsed.

"At one level that's a good thing because what that implies is the world is acting in relation to climate change," Mr Marles said.

He reiterated Labor's position that no money should be spent on the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.

'There are lots of ways in which you can generate employment, but the important statement here is that no public money is going to be spent on it,' he told Sky.

Mr Morrison and his Liberal colleagues slammed Mr Marles and accused him of suggesting a supposed decline was 'wonderful'.

Queensland-based federal minister Steve Ciobo said thermal coal produced $23 billion in export income for Australia and thousands of jobs.

"The Australian Labor Party thinks it is a wonderful thing that they get to junk-pile 55,000 jobs in the resources sector," he told parliament.
Two young children died and four other people were injured in a three-vehicle traffic crash in Massachusetts.

Ludlow Police Chief Paul Madera said the deadly accident was reported around 2.50pm on Wednesday at the intersection of Russell St. and Shawinigan Drive in Ludlow, Massachusetts, according to WWLP news.

The Hampden County district attorney identified the victims as Jadyn Lamas, 9, and Natalya Lamas, 7, both of Ludlow.

Authorities say they were in an SUV driven by their father that crossed into oncoming traffic.

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The Lamas family's Dodge Durango collided with a tanker truck and a minivan closing down the stretch of road in Western Massachusetts

Jadyn Lamas was tragically killed in the car accident in Ludlow, Massachusetts, on Wednesday

Natalya Lamas was one of the two siblings who died in the tragic car accident in Ludlow, Massachusetts, on Wednesday

'It appears the Durango lost control while traveling in the area of Russell Street, and crossed over into the westbound side of Shawinigan Drive and collided with a Ford tanker truck,' according to District Attorney Anthony Gulluni's office.

'The Durango continued eastbound, out of control, for a significant distance and collided with a Dodge Caravan.'

'I don't even know how to put into words how I'm feeling I lost the light of my life yesterday my grandson passed away he was in a bad accident and I just can't seem to feel anything I'm so numb he was the smartest most kind little guy you ever want to know,' wrote Jadyn's grandmother, Susan Alves Greentree, on Facebook. 'I need prayers to help me through this and my daughter and my family.'

Three hours later, she called for prayers after Jadyn's little sister Natalya had passed away as well.

Susan Alves Greentree posted about the passing of her grandson on Wednesday

Two other children in the SUV and two adults who were in the minivan were taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. The driver of the tanker truck was not hurt

Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, second from left, says the investigation is ongoing

Two other children in the SUV and two adults who were in the minivan were taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. The driver of the tanker truck was not hurt, but there was no word on the condition of the father.

Accidents are common at the intersection where the two roads run near to Massachusetts Turnpike, locals told MassLive.

'They come flying through here, you would swear they are the pike,' said Gene Basile, a nearby resident, who did not witness the crash or the aftermath.

The cause remains under investigation.
MPs who quit the Labour Party are 'scabs' who will regret their decision to walk out ahead of Brexit, a Jeremy Corbyn ally has said.

Brighton Kemptown's Lloyd Russell-Moyle took aim at eight of his former party colleagues at a London event on Wednesday night.

He told the 'Love Socialism, Hate Brexit' event that Mr Corbyn and his frontbench were moving towards a 'remain and reform' policy that the group could have supported if they had not jumped ship.

He is said to have told the event, attended by three shadow ministers: 'I am almost certain, when the votes come, that we will be in a position of remaining in and reforming the EU  and those scabs that left will suddenly regret the day that they ever left the Labour Party.'

'Scab' is a derogatory term used within trade unions to describe those who cross picket lines and continue to work during strike action by their co-workers.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle fired a broadside at his former party colleagues after they quit Labour to join up with three disaffected Tory MPs in a new centrist group. The Brighton Kemptown MP is an ally of party leader Jeremy Corbyn

Eight Labour MPs and three Conservatives quit the two parties this week, with more from both sides rumoured to be preparing to join them in the coming days

He later accused them of 'setting up a pro-austerity party', branding it 'unforgivable', according to the Huffington Post.

Eight former Labour MPs quit the party this week: Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Joan Ryan, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie and Angela Smith.

They have linked up with three disaffected Tories; Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston to form The Independent Group, an 11-strong centrist and pro-Remain collective in Parliament.

Mr Russell-Moyle was first elected as a Labour MP for his south coast constituency in 2017. He hit the headlines in December after being briefly suspended from the House of Commons for grabbing the ceremonial mace.

He picked it up as an old-fashioned form of protest at Theresa May postponing her planned Brexit vote.

In November, on World Aids Day, the gay MP became the first MP to use a Commons speech to reveal he was HIV positive, having been diagnosed a decade before.

On Thursday Mr Russell-Moyle took to Twitter to defend his 'scabs' comment but to say that he did not mean to criticise Luciana Berger.

The Jewish Liverpool MP hit out at anti-Semitism she has faced from within Labour as she quit, saying it had become an institutionally racist party.

Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, quit Labour this week after saying it had become 'institutionally anti-Semitic'

He blasted the other defectors, accusing them of potentially damaging efforts to prevent Brexit despite all being supporters of a second referendum.

He said: 'They almost undid weeks of work we have done to get to the right position.

'I'm angry they have threatened us stopping Brexit by leaving (the party).

'I know they think they were not being listened to but this was not true, their abandoning and setting up a pro-austerity party is unforgivable.

'I explicitly excluded (Luciana) Berger but the others have betrayed there (sic) voters to set up a pro-austerity party and betrayed remain putting us back weeks in internal discussions!'
A mass grave filled with the bodies of 3,500 people has been found in the former ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

First responders found two foot deep graves just outside the Syrian city in the al-Fukheikha agricultural suburb last month, more than a year after US-backed forces captured the city from ISIS.

Experts believe the site, the largest mass grave found in the region, could help identify several thousand people who are believed to have been murdered by ISIS, but whose fate remains unknown.

The Raqqa civil defence gather bodies after excavating the site of a mass grave near the northern Syrian city

Shallow graves measuring just two foot were used to dump the bodies in, as a dispatch team now work to identify the victims

'We've heard accounts from residents of al-Fukheikha that they would see people gathering with someone in an orange suit,' said one expert.

US journalist James Foley was wearing such a suit when he was executed by ISIS fighters, and analysts believe he may have been killed around Raqqa. Kayla Mueller, another American hostage, is also thought to have died in the region. Neither body has been recovered.

Sara Kayyali of Human Rights Watch said: 'These mass graves hold the answers to the fate of people who had been executed by IS fighters, who died in coalition air strikes, or who have been missing.'

The latest discovery is the largest mass grave found in the region and is another example of how ISIS's reign of terror will be harvested for years to come, diggers and activists have said.

The latest discovery is the largest mass grave found in the region and is another example of how ISIS's reign of terror will be harvested for years to come, diggers and activists have said

Several dozen mounts of dirt lined one side of the plot, where more than 120 bodies have already been dug up by the Rapid Response Division of Raqqa's civil defence service

Several dozen mounds of dirt lined one side of the plot, where more than 120 bodies have already been dug up by the Rapid Response Division of Raqqa's civil defence service.

'These are individual graves, but behind us, by the trees, are the mass graves of those executed by Daesh (IS),' said Asaad Mohammad, the 56-year-old forensic assistant at the site.

'There are some 2,500-3,000 bodies estimated there, plus between 900 and 1,100 bodies in the individual graves, so at least 3,500 total.'

Eight other mass graves have been identified around northern Syria, from which 900 bodies have been exhumed.

Some of the bodies were so badly decomposed that the bags had to be weighted down with stones to stop them flying away in the wind.

Since the Raqqa division began digging up graves in January 2018, it has recovered more than 3,800 bodies. Just 560 have been formally identified and handed over to families for a proper burial, the force's supervisor Turki al-Ali said.

Some of the bodies were so badly decomposed that the bags had to be weighted down with stones to stop them flying away in the wind
David Strowhouer, 31, is charged with vehicular homicide for a fatal crash on Saturday night in his sixth DUI since 2010

An alleged drunk driver who crashed into another car, killing a woman, on his way to buy cocaine has been charged with vehicular homicide, police say.

David Strowhouer, 31, of Newtown, Pennsylvania, who has a history of drink driving, was driving under a suspended license with five earlier DUI convictions before the fatal crash on Saturday night, according to WPVI.

Strowhouer drove his Dodge Ram into oncoming traffic when he collided head-on with another vehicle in Upper Chichester Township, Pennsylvania.

Deana Eckman, 45, was killed in the crash, while her husband Chris, the driver, was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

Strowhouer initially told police that his cousin was driving because he was too intoxicated to driver after drinking all day following his mother's funeral,

The two, he claimed, were coming from a bar where their family members had gathered when they decided to drive to Chester, Pennsylvania to buy cocaine, according to Philly.com.

Investigators would find that the alleged cousin Strowhouer blamed for the accident was in Puerto Rico at the time of the crash, and Strowhouer's brother and video footage placed him behind the wheel.

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The Dodge Ram truck driven by David Strowhouer sustained heavy front-end damage in the DUI incident that police say is his sixth in nine years

Deana Eckman, 45, was declared dead at the scene of the accident. Her husband Chris survived with serious injuries

The heavily damaged Subaru WRX. Deana Eckman, the passenger, was killed while her husband was taken to a hospital

Deana and her husband, Christian 'Chris' Eckman, had been returning to Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, after a trip to Maryland for Chris' nephew when Deana responded to a text sent by her mother Roseann DeRosa that night.

'She texted, 'OK,' Roseann told the Delaware County Daily Times. 'It was 9:07 p.m.'

Roseann and Deana's father, Richard live near the couple who had been married since 2002, and they only received word of the accident that occurred a half-hour later from their son, Richie.

Chris and Deana Eckman were married in 2002 and practically inseparable according to Deana's mother

Chris suffered a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs, according to Roseann. He has surgery scheduled within the coming weeks but was released from the hospital to make funeral arrangements for his wife.

Deana's mother described her daughter has having been a devoted wife, an animal lover who doted on a pit bull named Chooch and volunteered for a rescue group and someone holding two jobs as an accounts payable receiver and as a manicurist.

'I just want justice for my daughter,' Roseann said. 'I am not going to miss one court hearing. This guy is not going to injure or murder anybody ever again.'

Witnesses at the crash told responding officers that a man had abandoned the truck after it had crossed the double yellow line of the road and struck a Subaru WRX.

Officers found the Eckmans inside a heavily damaged Subaru, and while they searched for the driver of the truck, they were approached by a visibly intoxicated Strowhouer who had the smell of alcohol on his breath, according to an arrest affidavit.

Deana Eckman, along with her husband, was an animal lover who adopted a pit bull named Chooch

Strowhouer at first told police that a cousin was behind the wheel when the crash occurred, but investigators concluded that the alleged cousin was in Puerto Rico at the time

A recent amendment to state law on vehicular homicide while under the influence would give Strowhouer a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in light of his previous DUIs if convicted of this one.

'I think it's one of those circumstances when you look at his criminal history and think, seven years isn't even enough, not by any stretch of the imagination,' Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland said.

According to Copeland, Strowhouer most recently was sentenced in Delaware County to serve one to five years in jail in 2017.

'At the minimum, he would have served one year,' Copeland said according to the Delaware County Daily Times. Strowhouer was on parole at the time of the crash, records show.

Strowhouer is charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, aggravated assault by vehicle and related crimes, and is currently being held in county jail without bail with a hearing scheduled for February 26.

'My heart will never, ever heal,' Deana's mother said.
Secretary of State and Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo wouldn't say Thursday whether he knew about the counterintelligence investigation into President Trump when the FBI opened it.

Pompeo was the CIA director at the time, putting the probe that sought to determine whether Donald Trump was a Russian agent within his purview.

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe confirmed the existence of the investigation in his book, The Threat. He said he opened it as acting director of the bureau after Trump fired his boss, James Comey, and met the next day at the White House with the Russians.

In an interview with 'Today,' the always-cautious Pompeo wouldn't reveal any additional information.

'I don't talk about investigations that we did or not did not do,' he told NBC's Craig Melvin.

Secretary of State and Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo wouldn't say Thursday whether he knew about the counterintelligence investigation into President Trump when the FBI opened it

Pompeo was the CIA director at the time, putting the probe that sought to determine whether Donald Trump was a Russian agent within his purview

Pompeo claimed that he wasn't too familiar with McCabe's interviews, including one he did this week on NBC, saying he 'watched a little bit of it' but 'I really haven't followed it as closely as you have.'

The top Trump administration liaison to North Korea posited that he's been 'busy' as of late, having talked a few minutes prior in the interview of the upcoming Vietnam summit.

This time next week President Trump will be overseas meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

'I find it sad' that Andrew McCabe had to have the inspector general of the FBI 'declare that he wasn't credible,' Pompeo asserted, instead. 'That's unfortunate. So I don't put a lot of stock in the things Mr. McCabe said.'

He claimed to have been focused at the CIA on the 'singular purpose of keeping America safe,' and changed the subject to the 25th Amendment.

'I did see some remarks about the 25th amendment,' he offered. 'I've been in the Cabinet for, since almost opening day for the Trump administration. I mean that's just ludicrous,' he said of McCabe's revelation that the Department of Justice kicked around ways to invoke it.

Pompeo insisted: 'I've never heard any discussion about it by anyone, any of my fellow Cabinet members, or anyone else that's serving in the executive branch.'

Melvin came back to the topic of the counterintelligence investigation into Trump, after McCabe determined that he had a too-close-for-comfort relationship with Vladimir Putin's government.

The Trump ally dodged again, saying he wouldn't talk openly 'about ongoing investigations or the absence of ongoing investigations' as they are meant to be secret.

'But know this: this administration has been tougher on Russia than the previous administration, by far. The only person you really need to ask about that is Vladimir Putin.'

Pompeo has previously rejected any notion of talks about the 25th Amendment, which lays out a constitutional process to remove the president from office, in September, when the New York Times reported accusations that were similar to the ones in McCabe's book.

The subject resurfaced after McCabe told '60 Minutes' that current Justice Department deputy Rod Rosenstein talked about approaching Cabinet members and the vice president to invoke it.

McCabe suggested that Rosenstein was counting Cabinet members aloud, although not by name, as part of a serious push to force Trump out.

He has since softened the claims, with CBS publicized before the segment had aired and the full context of the comments were known.

A McCabe spokeswoman issued a narrowly drawn denial on Friday, saying that '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.'

'At no time did I ever perceive that there was a legitimate effort underway by Rod or anybody else to remove the president under the 25th Amendment or in any other way,' McCabe told NPR.

Donald Trump signaled his outrage on Monday as he called the plot and another allegation in McCabe's book 'treasonous.' McCabe also said that Rosenstein, who is leaving DOJ now, wanted to secretly record Trump in the Oval Office and gather support for removing him from power.

McCabe said during the '60 Minutes' interview that Rosenstein was 'absolutely serious' about wearing a wire around the president.

He also claimed that Rosenstein at one point tried to gauge support among members of Trump's Cabinet for using the Constitution's 25th Amendment to terminate his presidency.

Trump said in response: 'Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caugh.

'There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous insurance policy in full action!'

President Donald Trump said Monday that the plots against him within the Justice Department were 'treasonous' as he derided Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein

The president's reference to an insurance policy recalls a series of text messages between former FBI attorney Lisa Page and former senior FBI agent Peter Strzok

McCabe created a firestorm over the weekend by describing in a '60 Minutes' interview the serious support among Trump's top law enforcement officials for getting rid of him

The president's reference to an insurance policy recalls a series of text messages between former FBI attorney Lisa Page and former senior FBI agent Peter Strzok.

Invoking the 25th Amendment would have allowed Trump's adversaries in his own administration to remove him from office with a majority vote of his Cabinet and the backing of Vice President Mike Pence.

Previewing the '60 Minutes' episode, Scott Pelley, a correspondent for CBS, made it sound like Rosenstein and McCabe had plotted to approached Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, and asked him to invoke the 25th Amendment.

'There were meetings at the Justice Department in 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 reported on CBS 'This Morning' last Thursday.

McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, recounted a Justice Department plot to remove Donald Trump from office in the television interview

WHAT ABOUT PENCE?: The vice president says he was never approached about removing Trump from office

Pelley said McCabe told him they were 'counting noses' of Cabinet officials who would vote to remove Trump after he fired James Comey in May of 2017.

'This was not perceived to be a joke,' Pelley asserted on CBS.

The journalist said the conversation took place in the eight days between Comey's dismissal and the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.

Trump met with the Russian ambassador the day after he ousted Comey, the former FBI director, and the Russian foreign minister at the White House.

His campaign, several of his associates, including his one-time National Security Advsior Michael Flynn, were under federal investigation for improper contacts during the election with Russia at the time.

'The highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president,' Pelley reported.

McCabe is the first person to confirm that the 25th Amendment came up in the meetings. The ex-law enforcement official was later fired himself over conversations with the media that an inspector general deemed inappropriate.

Reacting to McCabe's claims in an interview with MSNBC, Pence said that the suggestion that Trump is unfit for office is 'absurd,' given his record of accomplishments.

'I couldn't be more proud to stand with him. The words and the writings of a disgraced FBI agent won't change that fact for the American people,' Pence said.

He further claimed that he had 'never' heard of the Justice Department plot that McCabe described before, affiriming that it never left the idea stage.

'I have never heard any discussion of the 25th Amendment by members of this government, and I would never expect to,' Pence asserted.

'There were meetings at the Justice Department in 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 reported on CBS 'This Morning' last Thursday, creating a frenzy

Rod Rosenstein is the current Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He said he would leave DOJ after the publication of McCabe's book

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Comey, McCabe and cohorts of theirs who worked on Hillary Clinton's email case and the Russian meddling probe were 'crooked' cops, and that's why he got rid of them.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement last week that McCabe 'was fired in total disgrace from the FBI because he lied to investigators on multiple occasions, including under oath' and cannot be trusted.

'His selfish and destructive agenda drove him to open a completely baseless investigation into the President. His actions were so shameful that he was referred to federal prosecutors. Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud have spoken highly of the OPEC+ deal, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia on international energy markets will be continued.

"The effectiveness of that cooperation was appreciated by Saudi Arabias king and Russias president," TASS cited him as saying.

At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman refrained from a direct answer to the question when Putin might pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. "The dates of the visit will continue to be negotiated and will eventually be agreed through diplomatic channels," Peskov noted.

On February 19, the Kremlins press-service said that in a telephone conversation the Russian President Putin and the Saudi King confirmed the readiness to go ahead with coordination on the world markets of hydrocarbons. A timetable of forthcoming contacts at different levels was also discussed.
A senior prison guard who was arrested for allegedly raping and sexually abusing two inmates has been granted bail.

Wayne Astill, 62, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning and charged with 12 counts of sexual assault among other offences.

The alleged attacks occurred at Dillwynia prison, in Sydney's western suburbs, throughout 2016 and 2017.

A senior prison guard who was arrested for allegedly raping and sexually abusing two inmates has been granted bail (pictured: Wayne Astill)

'It's not only an alleged misconduct of public office but police will allege it's a serious criminal offence has been performed against two inmates that had their trust betrayed,' Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said.

Astill, who has been suspended from his job without pay, faced Penrith Local Court on Thursday where he was granted conditional bail.

He must report to police daily, surrender his passport, not contact or be with any Corrective Services NSW employee and hand over a total surety of $30,000.

The matter was first referred to police in October 2018 when the allegations first surfaced, Corrective Services NSW said.

In a statement on Thursday a spokeswoman said such behaviour if established was 'unacceptable' and the women involved were being offered support.

'Allegations of this nature are extremely rare and do not reflect upon the vast majority of our staff, who would be disgusted by these allegations,' the spokeswoman said.

Wayne Astill (left), 62, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning before being charged with 12 counts of sexual assault and other offences

The corrections centre is a women's only facility and is considered minimum security.

A joint investigation by the prison and New South Wales police culminated in the arrest.

Following reports female inmates were being continuously sexually assaulted, detectives from the State Crime Command's Corrective Services Investigation Unit launched Strike Force Nautilus.

After four months of investigating, detectives arrested Astill at a home in Kurrajong Heights on Wednesday morning.

Astill, who has been suspended from his job without pay, faced Penrith Local Court on Thursday where he was granted conditional bail

Police took him to Windsor Police station where he was charged, and Astill spent Wednesday night in protective custody.

The 62-year-old was charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault with the victim under authority of offender, three counts of aggravated indecent assault, two counts of inciting aggravated indecency and misconduct in public office.

His victims are alleged to be two females under his guard at Dillwynia, where he has been suspended from duty.

A Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia Mr Astill's colleagues would be 'disgusted' by his alleged behaviour.

The alleged attacks took place at Dyllwynia Women's Correctional Centre (pictured)

'A senior correctional officer has been immediately suspended without pay after being charged with sexual assault and other offences.

'The alleged behaviour is unacceptable and CSNSW will continue to do everything it can to assist the investigation and the women involved.

'Allegations of this nature are extremely rare and do not reflect upon the vast majority of our staff, who would be disgusted by these allegations.'

The matter is due back in court on April 26.
A man is still on the run after a brazen daylight robbery at a bank in Sydney's inner west.

He made off with a bag filled with cash after he entered the Westpac branch on Marrickville Road in Sydney's inner-west at 3.45pm on Thursday.

The man is believed to have been unarmed during the robbery and an exact figure of the money stolen is still unknown.

The man is believed to have been unarmed during the robbery and an exact figure of the money stolen is still unknown

Three customers are understood to have been in the bank at the time the robbery went down.

An employee at the nearby bistro Chargrill ChickenVille told The Daily Telegraph the robbery was out of the ordinary.

'There was a woman standing at the counter with her money next to her, then this man just walked in and ran off with it,' she said.

'It was so weird, it doesnt seem like the place for a bank robbery.'

A Westpac spokesperson said nobody was injured during the robbery.

'No customers or employees were injured during the incident, and we are offering support and counselling to our employees,' she said.

'We are working with police as they investigate the matter.'

Police established a crime scene at the site and forensic investigators dusted for fingerprints.

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday morning that Hoda Muthana, a woman known as an 'ISIS bride' for her decision to leave the U.S. and marry a terrorist fighter in Syria, is herself a terrorist and should never be allowed back on American soil.

'There are now over 800 terrorists that are being held, foreign terrorist fighters that are being held, in Syria today. She's just one of them. She is a terrorist,' Pompeo said on the 'Today' show.

'She's not a U.S. citizen. She ought not return to this country,' he said.

Muthana attorney Hassan Shibly told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that his client is a citizen because she was born in the U.S. He claimed the Trump administration is trying to make her a 'test case' to support the president's position that awarding birthright citizenship requires a misreading of the U.S. Constitution.

'The Trump administration has been trying to limit birthright citizenship,' Shibly said, claiming the president will likely 'try to use' the case 'against a much broader group of Americans, mostly Latino Americans.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that so-called ISIS bride Hoda Muthana 'is a terrorist' and has no basis to demand safe return to the U.S.

An attorney for the Muthana family warned Wednesday evening that President Trump is trying to turn his client into a birthright citizenship 'test case' by falsely claiming she has no legal rights within the United States

President Trump said Wednesday that he made the decision to bar the Alabama woman who left home to join ISIS in Syria from returning to the United States

Pompeo declared Thursday that Muthana's place of birth has no bearing on her citizenship, agreeing that her father's status as a foreign diplomat from Yemen placed her in a different category.

'That's right,' he said, responding to that scenario.

'She may have been born here,' Pompeo said. 'She is not a U.S. citizen, nor is she entitled to U.S. citizenship.'

The secretary of state suggested that Muthana is in a Syrian refugee camp because the U.S. military has been effective in neutralizing the terrorist threat from the ISIS army.

'You have to remember the context. We've now taken down all but the last square inch of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Millions of people liberated by President Trump and our administration. The great work that our soldiers have done on the ground.'

Shibly, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Florida chapter, told DailyMail.com that he will file a lawsuit Thursday morning against the U.S. government, demanding her safe repatriation.

Pompeo seemed to agree with the idea that Muthana was never an American citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat; the Muthana family says that diplomatic status ended a month before Hoda was born

Her family attorney said Trump is likely to 'try to use it against a much broader group of Americans, mostly Latino Americans' if he wins the citizenship dispute with Muthana

Proof? This is the letter which the ISIS bride's family says show that she is a natural-born U.S. citizen. They say the State Department is claiming that her father was a diplomat when she was born but this letter shows she was not. DailyMail.com has not verified the letter and the State Department declined to comment

Pompeo said Muthana, who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria, is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to return to the United States

President Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he personally made the decision to bar the young woman who fled the U.S. to join ISIS in Syria from returning to the United States.

'I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!' he tweeted.

Muthana, who has an 18-month-old son, wants to submit herself to the justice system, her attorney has said, claiming she was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and raised in Hoover, Alabama.

Diplomats' children are not entitled to U.S. birthright citizenship in the U.S. Shibly says her father had left his diplomatic post by the time of her birth and produced a letter from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. as evidence.

He told DailyMail.com that the Trump administration is trying to 'strip citizenship' from Muthana and 'they cannot do that without [a] process.'

Responding to a State Department spokesperson's suggestion that Muthana could have received a U.S. passport as a non-citizen, he said, 'That's garbage, literally garbage.'

He said Muthana has a Social Security Number and has always been and still is a U.S. citizen.

'Hoda is actually trying to engage the legal system and turn herself in,' he said, but Trump wants to push the problem out of the United States' jurisdiction. 'I think that's insane.'

Pompeo did not say Wednesday afternoon how the State Department reached its determination Muthana is not a citizen, and a spokesperson for the State Department did not provide clarification in an email exchange.

'Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States,' Pompeo said. 'She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.'

President Trump later took credit for the decision. Spokespersons for the White House were also unavailable for comment.

Hassan Shibly, an attorney for her family, said the U.S. government is trying to claim she's not a citizen because her father was once a diplomat. He wasn't when she was born, though

Her birth certificate, a copy of which was shared on Twitter her family lawyer and was not independently verified by DailyMail.com, shows that she was born Oct. 28, 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey

Muthana, who left America four years ago to join ISIS, has previously been issued two U.S. passports  one when she was a child and another in 2014.

Her birth certificate, a copy of which was shared on Twitter her family lawyer and was not independently verified by DailyMail.com, shows that she was born Oct. 28, 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey.

A State Department spokesperson did not address Shibly's claims directly but told DailyMail.com over email that Muthana 'was not born a U.S. citizen and she has never been a U.S. citizen' even though she was born in the United States.

'Passport applicants must establish their identity, citizenship and entitlement to a U.S. passport,' the person said. 'However, there are many reasons that an individual previously issued a passport may subsequently be found ineligible for that passport.'

For instance: 'If it is determined that the bearer was not entitled to the issued passport, the passport may be revoked and/or a renewal application denied.

'Ms. Muthanas citizenship has not been revoked because she was never a US citizen,' the person stressed.

In the United States birthright citizenship is automatically awarded to anyone who his born in the country, with several exceptions.

One of those exceptions involves the children of foreign diplomats. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, children of diplomats who are born in the U.S. are exempt and are not considered U.S. citizens at birth.

Shibly claims that Muthana's father was discharged from his United Nations post one month before his daughter was born, which means the exemption is not valid in her case.

Shibly accused Trump of trying to strip her of citizenship and leaving her stateless.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the 24-year-old does not have a U.S. passport and isn't a citizen

Watch @SecPompeo's full interview with @craigmelvin about the upcoming U.S. summit with North Korea, Andrew McCabe's claims about President Trump and more. pic.twitter.com/RUNKagnLm3  TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 21, 2019

The attorney challenged the president's 'power to strip citizens of their citizenship' in a response tweet that referred to Trump as the 'Dictator in Chief' and encouraged him to allow her to return and stand trial.

The administration's position could be challenged in court.

Shibly did say whether he would sue in response to an inquiry from DailyMail.com, following his call out on Twitter of the American president.

He told Trump, however: 'Sorry Dictator in Chief but you dont have the power to strip citizens of their citizenship.

Hoda's first husband was Australian extremist Suhan Abdul Rahman who was killed in battle in Syria

'Our nation is a nation of laws and we must hold everyone accountable to them. Hoda is asking to be accountable to our laws and legal system and you are essentially giving a free pass.'

Trump has taken aim at birthright citizenship in the past. He claimed last year that he could unilaterally end it, although the executive order he threatened never came to pass.

Sources told the New York Times that U.S. authorities might not have enough to charge her and this is a 'legal dodge' in an attempt to offload her.

The Times wrote that Muthana's father provided proof that he had left his diplomatic post when he applied for his daughter's passport when she was a child.

U.S. authorities granted Muthana a passport as a child and gave her one again when she applied for renewal in 2014. She used her second U.S. passport to fly from Birmingham, Alabama to Istanbul, which she fled to join ISIS, her lawyer said.

Trump's attempt to keep her from returning to the U.S. comes on the heels of a similar case in the U.K.

A British teen who joined ISIS in Syria also had her UK citizenship revoked on Wednesday. Shamima Begum, who traveled to Syria in 2015 and now wants to return to Britain after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last week, was denied entry.

Prior to Pompeo's statement that the U.S. was revoking her passport, Muthana said in an interview with ABC News earlier on Wednesday that she hoped the U.S. government would pay for her to undergo therapy if she was allowed to return.

'I'm a normal human being who has been manipulated,' she said. 'I hope America doesn't think I am a threat to them and I hope they accept me...I hope they excuse me because of how young and ignorant I was.'

Asked what she would expect as a reasonable form of punishment for joining ISIS, she said: 'Maybe therapy lessons, maybe a process that will ensure us that we'll never do this again.

'Jail time, I don't know if that has an effect on people. I need help mentally as well, I don't have the ideology any more but I am just traumatized by my experience.'

Prior to Pompeo's statement, Muthana said in an interview with ABC News earlier on Wednesday that she hoped the U.S. government would pay for her to undergo therapy if she was allowed to return

She added that she cries herself to sleep 'almost every night' at the thought of being put behind bars.

'I know that when I do get back I probably will be sentenced to jail for I don't know how much time.'

Looking at her son, she said: 'Thinking that my last few moments with him is stuck in a prison before another prison...'

The lawyer said Muthana is putting herself at risk by speaking out against ISIS from a refugee camp where she has lived since fleeing the group a few weeks ago. She had to dodge sniper fire and bombs to leave.

She has married ISIS fighters twice in the time that she was overseas, both of whom are deceased. She said in a handwritten letter that her lawyer released that she realizes now that she erred in judgement.

'During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me,' she wrote.

After fleeing her home in suburban Birmingham, Alabama in late 2014 and resurfacing in Syria, Muthana used social media to advocate violence against the United States.

In the letter, Muthana wrote that she didn't understand the importance of freedoms provided by the United States at the time.

'To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly,' the letter said.

The woman's father is willing to welcome her, but she is not in contact with her mother, Shibly told the Associated Press.

In her ABC interview, Muthana gave a confusing explanation for why she initially fled her parents' home to join ISIS, saying that it was because she wanted a more 'Americanized life' and no longer wanted to live under her parents' strict rule.

'I had a good relationship with my family but I wanted a more Americanized life. I just wanted to go out, I wanted to have, like, friends, go to places. I didn't get any of that,' she said. 'The only way out for me was to become practicing... to become more religious.'

Before she fled, she was part of a network of young Muslims who used Twitter to soak up extremist ideas. She said they were brainwashed and interpreted what they were told by predatory ISIS members 'very wrong.'
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Haunting photographs show how nature is reclaiming a town abandoned following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 33 years ago.

Rarely seen remains of Chernobyl power station and Pripyat in Ukraine can be seen falling to ruin, as vast plant growth begins to consume a once busy town.

The series of photos show vines snaking around a bumper car, the crumbling inside of a ransacked supermarket, and gasmasks strewn across the floor of a school.

The sketeal remains of an Ukranian supermarket 33 years after the town of Pripyat was evacuated following the nuclear explosion nearby

Gas masks are left on a school desk in a messy classroom. Chairs remain on desks after the early morning alarm of the disaster was raised before children had woken to go into school

Disaster site: Chernobyl power plant seen in the distance with the new containment unit covering reactor four (left). The original fire was extinguished within hours but the core became unstable and continued to emit large amounts of radiation

The power plant and nearby town Pripyat - once home to 50,000 people - remain more or less untouched three decades after they were evacuated in 1986.

Chernobyl was the scene of the worlds' worst nuclear disaster when the No.4 reactor overheated during a bungled safety test on the night of 25-26 April 1986.

The explosion and fire that raged for nine days sent radioactive particles into the atmosphere which spread across Europe.

An 18-mile exclusion zone was put in place to prevent more people suffering from radiation sickness.

The quick evacuation, which was originally only to last for three days, never ended and so most of the household items people left behind couldn't be recovered.

At least 31 people died - including two at the scene and dozens more who succumbed to radiation sickness in the following weeks - but the number of deaths including from cancer could eventually hit 4,000.

Invasive plants are beginning to take a stranglehold on the buildings in the area surrounding Chernobyl. More than 50,000 people used to live in the now 18-mile exclusion zone

Some Soviet secrets have been uncovered by the evacuation of the town. This is Duga Radar that would have been used to detect nuclear missile launches in the USA

A long forgotten potted plant shows that life finds a way even in the most dangerous conditions. Most residents were told they would be able to return for their belongings and so left many larger items

A cemetery outside of the town of Pripyat where the graves lay abandoned. Permission can be requested to enter the exclusion zone but is only permitted for limited amounts of time

Delving inside of abandoned buildings, the photos show in explicit detail how the town was left in the abrupt evacuation over three decades ago.

In a daycare centre rusty beds with hard white underboards still hold the pillows and sheet covers of the last people to sleep on them

Other fascinating shots show a forsaken potted plant struggling for life in an office block, children's dolls abandoned in a former day care centre, and stacks of papers in a remote post office that haven't been touched in decades.

Dutch photographer Erwin Zwaan, 47, travelled to the restricted area around Chernobyl in Northern Ukraine in 2016 and 2018 to photograph the ghostly ruins.

'Chernobyl is unlike any other place,' said Zwaan.

'It's surreal, impressive, sad, but also beautiful. You're roaming around in an area where chapters ended and at the same time new chapters started.

'Nature took over and is doing very well. I don't think there is any other place that has so many sides to just as many stories.'

Every year children are still being born with cancers and other birth defects as a side effect of radiation absorbed by their parents.

'I'm not trying to improve the world, I'm only trying to keep the memory alive without getting into political or environmental discussions,' said Zwaan.

A new cover for the unstable reactor, called New Safe Confinement, was completed in 2018 after the old containment shell began to fall apart.

Now, more than 10,000 tourists explore the disaster site every year.

Stacks of dusty paperwork lie across tables and hang out of desk drawers in a deserted office somewhere in Pripyat

Text books, magazines and cups remain where they were left 33 years ago after news of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl spread to the nearby town of Pripyat. It was only the afternoon following the explosion that significant evacuation procedures were put in place

This rusty structure is known as the 'Death Bridge' where four men lost their lives the night of the disaster after a 'cloud of radionuclides' covered the surrounding area in radiation

Hundreds of Cold War gas marks, presumably to be used in event of an American missile attack, are littered across the floor after unsuspecting residents of Pripyat were attacked by radiation coming from their own power plant nearby

A child's blow up rubber toy and small strap up shoe are left on the dusty floor of a now empty home. To this day there still children being born with disfigurements and cancers as a result of radiation from reactor four
Kim Jong-un's trusted right hand man was spotted in Vietnam today as he met with Donald Trump's envoys ahead of a planned summit in Hanoi next week.

Kim Hyok Chol, a special representative for North Korea, was mobbed by the world's media as he arrived for talks with US counterpart Stephen Beigun.

Donald Trump will meet with Kim Jong-un next week and are likely to discuss denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula and other sticking points between the two nations.

It is the second historic meeting between the two world leaders following their summit in June last year in Singapore.

Kim Hyok Chol, a special representative for North Korea, was mobbed by the world's media as he arrived for talks with US counterpart Stephen Beigun

Kim Hyok Chol arrives in Vietnam to fanfare ahead of the meeting between Trump and Kim

The UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea gave the green light for Pyongyang's delegation to fly to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government requested an exemption from sanctions for the delegation to travel to Hanoi. None of the 15 council nations rejected the requested.

The exemption covers anyone in the delegation who is on the UN sanctions blacklist and is therefore banned from travelling and subject to an asset freeze.

It will also allow all delegation members to take home luxury goods whose import to North Korea is banned by the council.

The sanctions committee can grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis with the objectives of relevant Security Council resolutions.

orth Korea's special representative Kim Hyok Chol (centre) is chaffeured ahead of a meeting with his US counterpart Stephen Biegun

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had a historic meeting last June in Singapore

Kim Jong-un has promised to work towards the 'complete denuclearisation' of the Korean Peninsula, without providing a clear plan on abandoning North Korea's nuclear weapons.

Mr Trump said on Tuesday that he wants to see North Korea eventually give up its nuclear weapons programme, but he said he is not in any rush because relations between the two countries are good.

He said the Hanoi summit on February 27-28 will be 'very exciting' but gave no details of what he hopes to achieve.
A fundraiser to find a recently married man who disappeared in the horrific Townsville floods has reached almost $90,000 as his family tries to desperately locate him.

Justin Scott was thrown off a boat on the Burdekin River, south of Townsville about 5.30pm on February 8.

Water police, swift water rescue crews, a helicopter and other local vessels searched for the missing 35-year-old.

On Valentine's Day, after no luck finding Mr Scott, his family launched a fundraiser to help find him.

Justin Scott, 35, and two friends were testing their luck in a boat on the Burdekin River, south of Townsville, when they hit the jetty (Pictured: Justin Scott and his wife)

Justin Scott (pictured) has been missing since February 8 in raging floodwaters after his boat crashed

Within eight days, the fundraiser made $89,162 - nearly nine times the original goal of $10,000.

'Money raised will go towards putting a helicopter in the air, and also to support those who are in need of resources such as boat fuel, food and other search supplies,' the GoFundMe read.

On Monday, Townsville Tactical Services Inspector Sean Dugger said the mission to find the recently married man was ongoing but search efforts are being scaled back.

'The search and rescue is ongoing and still ongoing however resources, have at this time, scaled back,' he told The Townsville Bulletin.

'We have our search and rescue Water Police officers and additional vessels, and members of the community who have been assisting with the search.

'Previously over the weekend we have had SES, VMR (Burdekin) and there have been fixed wing and QG Air (helicopter) assets.'

Within eight days, the fundraiser reached $89,162 of the $10,000 goal to help find Mr Scott

The region was thrown into chaos after more than a year's worth of rain fell on the North Queensland region in little more than a week

Volunteer Marine Rescue Burdekin have spent totalled close to 500 hours scouring the waters and have covered almost 600 nautical miles of Groper Creek.

The region was thrown into chaos after more than a year's worth of rain fell on the North Queensland region in little more than a week.

Townsville has been shattered in the past two weeks, with many homes, car parks and shopping centres almost totally submerged.

At least 2,000 residents have been affected by the 12 days of near-nonstop rain.

Claims for damaged property and lost belongings have already exceeded $80million

People remain holed up in evacuation centres waiting for the floodwaters to recede, with about 10,000 homes still without power

People remain holed up in evacuation centres waiting for the floodwaters to recede, with about 10,000 homes still without power.

Hundreds of homes have already been deemed uninhabitable and the number is expected to rise.

However, some residents were able to return to their homes and have begun hosing down their mud-filled houses.

Many homeowners have been forced to throw-out their flood-damaged belongings.

At least 2,000 residents have been affected by the 12-days of near-nonstop rain

Dave Mitchell helps clean his brother's flood affected motel in Townsville on Tuesday

Claims for damaged property and lost belongings have already exceeded $80million, with the bill set to soar as more residents return to their waterlogged homes.

The mood has been stoic but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has warned that while Queenslanders are a resilient people, the enormity of what they'd been through would soon hit.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said they had received more than 6,500 claims, with more than half of those lodged in the span of 24 hours.

ICA Communications Manager Campbell Fuller told AAP they expected the bill from this event to be in line with Cyclone Oswald, which caused $1.26 billion of damage in Queensland and northern NSW in 2013.
William Eve (pictured outside court today) has denied using religiously aggravated language during his rant

A Tommy Robinson supporter who called a TV reporter a 's**g' to her face has been fined and ordered to pay her 50 compensation.

Restaurant worker William Eve, 57, claimed in his defence that he didn't perceive swearing or using the word 's**g' as insulting because he was from east London where it was 'common' language.

Eve was cleared by magistrates of using 'religiously aggravated' language when he asked Al Jazeera journalist Sonia Gallego if her employer was 'Muslim-backed'.

He had admitted at an earlier hearing a charge of using intimidating language towards the reporter during a march in Westminster on July 14 last year

Miss Gallego posted a video clip of the incident on her Twitter page, which quickly went viral.

Eve was attending a 'Free Tommy Robinson' march in Westminster at the time and Miss Gallego was covering the event for the news channel.

Chair of the bench Tim McAndrews ordered Eve to pay a fine of 160, plus 115 in costs and 50 in compensation to Miss Gallego at the conclusion of his trial at City of London Magistrates' Court.

The journalist (pictured, left, leaving court today) told how Mr Eve (right, arriving at court this morning) said that her organisation was Muslim-backed

The Tommy Robinson supporter was filmed calling the journalist a 's**g' during this protest in Westminster, central London

Mr McAndrews said: 'You have admitted your behaviour towards Miss Gallego was offensive and inappropriate and have already pleaded guilty to the offence of causing harassment, alarm and distress with intent on that day.

'The issue we have to decide is whether your demonstrated hostility towards her based on her presumed membership or association with a religious group, namely Islam.

'While we note your hostility we cannot be sure that hostility was caused directly by the religion of Al Jazeera's proprietors. And, accordingly, we find you not guilty.'

Simon Maughan, prosecuting, applied for compensation for Miss Gallego.

The journalist (pictured, left) said the defendant (pictured, right) told her that her news organisation was Muslim-backed

He said: 'It was a very unpleasant incident for her. She's simply doing her job and offensive remarks have been levied at her.'

The court heard Eve has previous convictions, but the last was from 1996.

Matthew Humphreys, in mitigation, said: 'He has been out of trouble for a considerable period of time.'

He said that up until recently Eve worked in his wife's restaurant as a cook and earned 157 a week.

But Mr Humphreys said the court case has had a strain on their relationship, and Eve is now living on people's sofas.

Mr Humphreys said: 'He was until recently working at his wife's restaurant.

'That's all right now up in the air. His wife, I'm told, is very upset about this whole incident.

'It appears the restaurant has suffered as a result. He's currently sofa surfing.'

And Eve said: 'I'm sleeping at a friend's house at the moment.

'This has really affected my family. The last time I was at court they printed my name and address of my wife.

'I wasn't sleeping at that address. But people have gone over and abused my wife.'

During the trial, Eve, claimed in his defence that he did not perceive swearing or using the word 'slag' as insulting because he was from east London where it was 'common' language.

Miss Gallego told City of London Magistrates' Court said she had been on a break with a cameraman, producer and security advisor when Eve came towards them shouting: 'Oi, who are you with?'

She said: 'It was in quite an aggressive manner that got my attention.

'I looked up and the defendant was shouting at me, asking me who I was with.

Mr Eve (pictured) has denied that his remarks were religiously aggravated at court today

'I believe I was smiling, my response was 'who are you with?' I was trying to take the aggression out of the situation by being light about it.

'He demanded to know who I was with.

'He was pointing towards me in quite an aggressive fashion.

'By this stage he was probably about three-quarters of a metre away from me.

'I immediately felt like I was being targeted. first of all for being a member of the press. It was quite obvious I was a member of the press, I told him that I was a journalist.

'He demanded to know with whom I was with and I told him Al Jazeera, and he responded by saying 'Ok, yeah, so you're Muslim-backed?'

When Miss Gallego asked what he meant by 'Muslim-backed', he responded: 'Are you f*cking stupid, are you f*cking thick?'

Miss Gallego said: 'I did feel more threatened then because his temper appeared like it was rising. I was very worried it was going to escalate.

'It's already quite an intimidating situation. He took a step back and then took a step forward and said 'you know what, you're a slag'.

'Our personal security detail was saying 'we should really get out of here, these guys are getting riled up'.

'We were slowly moving out of the area we were in. Then from that direction we were then pelleted with horse manure.'

Eve told the court that after the barrage of abuse was posted to Miss Gallego's Twitter page, he has faced 'accusations of racism' that has caused him problems.

Eve said: 'The saddest thing is I have been accused of being racist.

'And even worse is the problem this whole thing has caused.

'I don't live at home anymore because of this. My wife's business has been demolished because of this - because Miss Gallego thought it would be good to put this incident up on Twitter'.

He claimed he was 'not a racist' because he had previously lived in Asia for 22 years and was friends with a 'little Muslim guy who runs a greengrocers' by his wife's restaurant.

Eve said he did not perceive swearing or using the word 'slag' as insulting because he was from east London and that was common language.

He said: 'I swore at her, well I didn't swear at her - it was just in the way that...I come from east London and everyone on the train coming here today I heard lots of people swearing.

'On the TV everyone swears, uses profanity.

'It's the way that most people speak nowadays. I didn't mean to be rude.'

Eve, of Rainham, Essex, admitted one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress, but was cleared of it being religiously aggravated.

He was fined 160 and ordered to pay a 30 victim surcharge, 85 in costs and 50 in compensation to Miss Gallego.

'I don't live at home anymore because of this. My wife's business has been demolished because of this - because Miss Gallego thought it would be good to put this incident up on Twitter'.

He claimed he was 'not a racist' because he had previously lived in Asia for 22 years and was friends with a 'little Muslim guy who runs a greengrocers' by his wife's restaurant.

He said: 'The little guy that has a shop a few doors from my wife's restaurant Hussein - I used to go to Spitalfields Market and buy vegetables for the restaurant and I used to buy vegetables for Hussein.

'I never charged him. He's a lovely little man. I have no problems with race.'

Thinking for several minutes where his friend was from, he eventually said: 'I think he's Bengali.'

Reminded by prosecutor Simon Maughan that he was not charged with using racist language but that the charge was religiously aggravated, Mr Eve said: 'Because I mentioned a religion I'm being chastised. I really don't understand - because I said the word Muslim I'm in court.'

Mr Eve said he did not perceive swearing or using the word 'slag' as insulting because he was from east London and that was common language.

He said: 'I swore at her, well I didn't swear at her it was just in the way that...I come from east London and everyone on the train coming here today I heard lots of people swearing.

'On the TV everyone swears, uses profanity. It's the way that most people speak nowadays. I didn't mean to be rude.'

The video clip posted to Miss Gallego's Twitter Page was played several times in court.

During the first viewing of the video Mr Eve, who wore a pastel green shirt and trousers, rolled his eyes to the ceiling and looked uncomfortable.

Mr Eve, of Rainham, east London, has admitted one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress, but denies it was religiously aggravated. The bench has retired to consider its verdict.
Mother's Day cards created by an illustrator who mocked Harvey Price and Shannon Matthews have now been removed by online shopping giants after backlash.

The greetings cards which featured Shamima Begum have been pulled from both Etsy and eBay and were created by illustrator Samuel Hague.

The card is one of a number of products which seems to be making the most of the furore over the 19-year-old who is currently in a refugee camp in Syria, and who is featured on the front of the card with the greeting: 'Happy Mother's Day, thanks for never joining ISIS'.

Mr Hague had been selling the cards on Etsy as well as his own website for 2.99 but Etsy has now said it has removed the products from its website.

The greetings card which features Shamima Begum who left the UK to join ISIS

Samuel Hague (pictured above) has caused controversy for his greetings cards

Shamima Begum (pictured above) has now had her British citezenship revoked

In a statement Etsy said: 'We have removed this item from our marketplace. Per our policies, Etsy does not allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred.'

Mr Hague is notorious for creating other controversial greeting cards, as he had previously sparked fury for selling cards which poked fun at Katie Price's disabled son Harvey and kidnapped Shannon Matthews.

He also has other Mother's Day cards on sale which feature Caitlyn Jenner, with the words 'Happy Father's Day' having being replaced for 'Happy Mother's Day'.

He has also made a card with an illustration of Bob Broberg from documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, with the caption 'I'm relieved you are my father'. Which references a line in the documentary where the father of a girl which had been abducted reveals the moment he offered her abductor sexual relief.

The 'artist' has previously sold cards featuring the mother of Shannon Matthews (above)

The illustrator has created a whole range of cards mocking famous faces, such as this one mocking Caitlyn Jenner

Other cards included these two which were penned for Valentine's Day mocking Ocsar Pistorius (left) and Chris Brown (right)

Mr Hague's Facebook is full of the various products, while eBay had also displayed a T-shirt with a picture of Begum along with the caption 'F*** Shamima Begum'.

Other items included watercolour paintings which displayed a Bible verse, The Parable of the Prodigal Son over an image of Begum.

eBay has now vowed to remove the offensive items from its site and in a statement said that it does not allow the sale of items that cause offence or are illegal.

'We'll always remove any listings that fit that description.'

Other cards included illustrations of former EDL leader Tommy Robinson (above)

The site works with regulators in order to ensure that all listings comply with the law, while there are blocks in place to prevent sellers listing illegal items.

MailOnline has Samuel Hague for comment.

The future of Begum now appears to be uncertain after her British citizenship was revoked but Bangladesh denied she was a holder of dual citizenship.

The 19-year-old from London fled to Syria aged 15 and said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby.

Her British citizenship was revoked by Home Secretary Sajid Javid amid reports that she had Bangladeshi citizenship owing to her heritage.
A couple have charged with abusing two children by rubbing hot sauce in their eyes and genitals, holding a pillow over their face as well as shooting them with a BB gun.

Robert Saladaga, who is in a relationship with the boys' mother, Sabrina Emerick, allegedly rubbed hot sauce on one child's face, eyes and mouth, which caused him to be sick.

The 37-year-old allegedly forced the boy to take extremely hot or cold showers at the home they shared in Greenville, South Carolina, as part of a cruel punishment for getting into trouble, police said.

Saladaga would also hold a pillow over a five-year-old's face causing the child to be unable to breathe, a police warrant said.

Another warrant said Saladaga rubbed a chili pepper on one of the child's genitals causing it to burn as a punishment for urinating on the sofa, reports Greenville News.

Robert Earl Kailiala Saladaga (left) and Sabrina Irene Emerick (right) have been charged with with unlawful neglect of a child and two counts of cruelty to children

He has also been accused of shooting the seven-year-old victim in the foot with a BB gun, according to Greenville Police Department.

Warrants against Emerick accuse her of holding a pillow over one of the children's face on multiple occasions, police warrants state.

The 25-year-old and her boyfriend were each charged with unlawful neglect of a child and two counts of cruelty to children.

Saladaga is also charged with assault and battery of a 'high and aggravated nature', according to warrants.

The abuse of the boys took place on multiple occasions from 2017, with police launching the abuse investigation in March last year, police said.

An investigation began after information from the Department of Social Services was passed to officers.

Greenville Police Lt. Jason Rampey said at a briefing yesterday: 'Investigators have learned that each of these abuses were forms of discipline for misbehaving at school or wetting the couch wile sleeping.

'From what we know, the mother did not participate in the abuse, but she was aware of it and allowed the children to be placed at unreasonable risk.

'Heinous crimes against children are some of the most difficult cases we investigate.

'The horrific stories of abuse endured by these children are sickening and reprehensible.'

Both boys have been removed from the home and are living with a family member.

Following their arrests, Saladaga was given a $25,000 bond and Emerick was given a $10,000 bond and both were released from jail on February 15 ahead of the trial.

Saladaga has to wear an electronic monitoring and is banned from having contact with the children.
Philip Hammond slammed Gavin Williamson's 'entirely premature' threat to send HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific today after it angered the Chinese.

The Chancellor had a trip to China cancelled last weekend amid fall out over the jibe, made by the Defence Secretary in a speech last week.

Mr Hammond said Britain had a 'complex relationship' with China and Mr Williamson's flat-footed intervention meant it 'has not been made simpler'.

Mr Williamson was criticised by General Lord Dannatt on Sunday for trying to further his career when he made the 'bad diplomatic move'.

Theresa May's official spokesman reiterated today any deployment would be the decision of the Prime Minister and not the Defence Secretary.

Philip Hammond slammed Gavin Williamson's 'entirely premature' threat to send HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific today after it angered the Chinese

Mr Hammond said Britain had a 'complex relationship' with China and Mr Williamson's (pictured in Downing Street on Tuesday) flat-footed intervention meant it 'has not been made simpler'

Beijing pulled out of trade talks with Mr Hammond following Mr Williamson's announcement that the carrier, laden with F-35 Lightning stealth jets, would deploy to the region on its maiden operational voyage.

Mr Hammond said he was 'disappointed' by China's reaction and insisted that no decision had actually been taken on the carrier's deployment.

Asked if the relationship with Beijing had been damaged by Mr Williamson's actions, the Chancellor said: 'It's a complex relationship and it hasn't been made simpler by Chinese concerns about Royal Navy deployments in the South China Sea.'

Beijing has been involved in a dispute over navigation rights and territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Mr Hammond said he was 'disappointed that the Chinese have reacted in the way that they have'.

He added: 'This is entirely premature. The aircraft carrier is not going to be at full operational readiness for another couple of years, no decisions have been made or even discussed about where its early deployments might be.

'And when those decisions are made, they will be made in the National Security Council.'

The Chancellor had a trip to China cancelled last weekend amid fall out over the jibe, made by the Defence Secretary in a speech last week

His comments are at odds with Mr Williamson, who used a speech on February 11 to say 'the first operational mission of the HMS Queen Elizabeth will include the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Pacific'.

Asked if Mr Williamson should 'button his lip', Mr Hammond told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think that it is very important that we manage this relationship with China very carefully and that we do it through the National Security Council.'

A Government source said Mr Williamson's speech had been cleared in advance by Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.
Russia and Azerbaijan are very important allies for each other, Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

"I have no doubt that there are no serios problems in our relations, or problems we can't overcome. Despite the fact that we don't participate in any joint military blocs, Russia and Azerbaijan remain very important allies for each other, resolving many global problems of our time," he stressed.

Senator noted that Russia is interested in peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "Russia will always work with both sides of the conflict, but I think its clear that Russia doesn't have any interests of its own in this issue, it just want to establish peace in the Caucasus," Konstantin Kosachev said.

"Russia is interested in finding solution that, and I believe it will ultimately be found, that would satisfy all parties of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russia is working on this, and we have very constructive ongoing dialogue with Azerbaijani and Armenian side," he concluded.
This is the shocking moment a thief steal a charity box from under the nose of a shop worker by burning through the security cord that attaches it to the counter.

The cunning crook shields a cigarette lighter behind the cash register screen in the Electro Vapor shop in Bootle, Merseyside, so his actions will not be seen.

CCTV then shows him using the flame to melt through the cord while talking to the shop worker during the incident on Tuesday at around 6:20pm.

The man, who is wearing a red hat, can be seen leaning on the counter as he holds the lighter in his right hand and looks at items on sale with his left.

The man reaches for items on display in the Electro Vapor shop in Bootle, Merseyside, as he hides the flame behind the register screen before starting to burn the charity box cord

He then picks up an item and gives it to the shop worker as a distraction while he moves his lighter towards the Dogs Trust charity box.

The man then starts a flame on the cord which is attached to the charity box.

The cord burns and the man has to put out the flame with his fingers, all the while engaging in conversation with the shop worker.

A small cloud of smoke can even be seen coming from where the cord has been burnt.

The thief then moves slightly towards charity box looking around to see if he is in the clear before the shop worker walks away from the counter.

The man slips the yellow charity box into his big jacket and glances around once more this time revealing his face to the CCTV camera.

He waits for the shop worker to be distracted before moving the flame towards the yellow box

The man stashes the box inside his black coat and before leaving the shop he looks around

He saunters around the shop for a brief moment before making his exit.

The video was initially posted to the Lost and Found in Liverpool Facebook page saying: 'Dogs Trust chairty box stolen by this lovely gentleman. Stanley Road, Bootle'

A shop worker confirmed that it was a Dogs Trust charity box saying 'he had burnt the rope that attached it to the till.' Electro Vapor declined an official comment.

Aimee Best, Dogs Trust Merseyside Supporter Relations Officer: 'We are saddened to see footage of a man going to such lengths to brazenly steal one of our collection tins.

'We receive no Government funding, so we rely on donations from the public, to fund our work caring for 15,000 dogs a year.

'We're incredibly grateful to those who have donated to us via this collection tin and as the matter has been passed to the police, we will work with them and the business owner as much as possible and would urge the man to return the tin at his earliest opportunity.'

Dogs Trust is the UKs largest dog welfare charity and cares for 15,000 dogs of all shape, sizes and ages whilst they wait to meet their new families.

The Dogs Trust Annual Accounts Review 2017 revealed that the charity gained 60.2m of 106.4m income that year through donations.

Dogs Trust are currently trying to rehome 41 dogs in the Merseyside area. Anyone looking to adopt a dog should visit their website.
Former Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe (pictured) has landed a new 122,000-a-year council job

A senior police officer who bared her breast during a drunken rant about a junior colleague's 'boob job' has landed a new 122,000-a-year council job.

Former Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe, 49, was given a final written warning after being found guilty of gross misconduct by Greater Manchester Police.

But now she has quit the force and taken on a new role with Oldham Council with an advertised salary of 122,000-a-year.

In 2016, Ms Sutcliffe was disciplined for behaving 'cruelly, and hurtfully' towards Superintendent Sarah Jackson during a gala dinner at Manchester's Hilton Hotel.

She drunkenly pulled down her dress to reveal her left breast during an hour-long rant at her 'silly and vain' junior over her 'boob job'.

She told Supt Jackson: 'Look at these. Look at these. These are the breasts of someone who has had three children.

'They are ugly but I don't feel the need to pump myself full of silicone to get self-esteem.'

But early in 2017 she was seconded from the force to Oldham Council to oversee a project to encourage police and other public bodies to work more closely together.

Insiders at the force said that Ms Sutcliffe, who earned 109,000 at Greater Manchester Police, had been 'effectively sidelined'.

Ms Sutcliffe (pictured at a family event) has quit the force and taken on a new role with Oldham Council with an advertised salary of 122,000-a-year

Ms Sutcliffe, a vicar's daughter from Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, was one of the most senior female officers in the country

It has now emerged she quit the force six weeks ago and has been appointed to a senior position in Oldham Council's six-strong executive management team.

Oldham Council said in a statement: 'We can confirm that Rebekah Sutcliffe was appointed to the role of strategic director of reform with effect from 1 January 2019.

'Prior to December 2018 she was seconded to the council and the salary cost during the secondment was shared.'

In 2016, Ms Sutcliffe was disciplined for behaving 'cruelly, and hurtfully' towards Superintendent Sarah Jackson (pictured) during a gala dinner

But in July last year, Oldham Council posted a video in which Ms Sutcliffe, speaking about her role, was described as strategic director of reform.

Promoting a Health Watch Event in Alexandra Park, she says in the video she has the 'strategic lead at Oldham council for public health'.

An advert for the post of strategic director of reform was placed on a government recruitment page in November, with interviews taking place in December.

According to the job listing it carries a salary of 122,000 and demands 'a strong track record' of 'providing strong leadership'.

Ms Sutcliffe, a vicar's daughter from Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, was one of the most senior female officers in the country.

During her disciplinary hearing in 2016, ACC Sutcliffe was described in a testimonial by former Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy, as an 'excellent senior detective'.

She also led police reform and was a 'powerful and original thinker'.

Ms Sutcliffe declined to comment when contacted.
A globe-trotting British schoolgirl has become the youngest birdwatcher in the world to spot 5,000 different species.

Dedicated ornithologist Mya-Rose Craig, 16, has travelled the world with her parents spotting, recording and ticking off different types of bird.

The teenage twitcher made her 5,000th spot - a Rock Bunting - at Castillo Del Loarre in North Spain during a half-term trip on Monday.

Mya-Rose (pictured spotting birds with her binoculars) has now identified 5,000 species at the age of 16

Pictured: Three of Mya-Rose's finds, including the latest in Spain which marks her 5,000th

Mya-Rose (pictured, left, bird-watching and, right, holding a duck in Slimbridge) has made 5,000 sightings between the ages of four and 16

Mya, from Compton Martin, Somerset, has been bird watching with her family since she was just a few months old.

She has travelled the length and breadth of Britain finding and spotting hundreds of different birds.

When she was four years old her mother, Helena Craig, decided that she was old enough to start counting birds on her own.

Twelve years on, the teenager has visited 38 countries over seven continents, including Australia, Egypt, and several trips to the Amazon, in a quest to tot up as many spots.

Mya said: 'I don't look at them as a listing, as I love watching and experiencing each bird. I've been very lucky as my parents got the bug for world birding when I was eight.

'I was just fascinated by the fact they had wings and could fly away. Since I was ten I've gone on birding trips abroad during the summer holidays.

The youngster has been joining her parents on bird-watching breaks since she was a few months old (left). Pictured, right: Mya-Rose with her 3,000th spot, a Crimson Rosella parrot

The keen bird-watcher is pictured with one of her heroes, naturalist David Attenborough, who captured the imaginations of millions on shows such as Blue Planet and Dynasty

Mya-Rose (pictured, left, and, right, with Bill Oddie) has become the youngest person in the world to spot 5,000 species of bird

'My favourite sighting would have to be the Southern Cassowary which I saw. It was an incredible 6ft tall and was more like a dinosaur than a bird.

'My favourite place would have to be Bolivia for the huge landscapes. The people were lovely too and our driver Herman taught me Spanish and made me popcorn.

'I know I've had a special life. I was shown a world outside my tiny village, with birds almost extinct and indigenous people fighting to save their land.

'It's a passion my parents and I share which is great as we can go on these long trips. We have a deal - when my parents are old I'll pay them back by pushing their wheelchairs around on birding trips.'

Mya-Rose (pictured with penguins in Antarctica) made her latest spot on Monday during a trip to Spain

The youngster (pictured celebrating her 3,000th bird sighting with the Crimson Rosella parrots she spotted) has been counting birds since the age of four

In 2012, when Mya was 10, her parents decided to take her out of school for six months, tutoring her themselves, to take her on the trip of a life time.

The family spent six weeks in Columbia, six weeks in Bolivia and nine weeks in Peru, ensuring a two week return home between each trip so Mya could meet up with friends.

Her 3,000th spot - a Bowerbird - came during a six-week trip to Queensland, Australia, in Summer 2013.

She made her 4,000th spot - a red-throated tit - at Swara Plains, Kenya, during a summer 2015 trip to Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya.

Last June Mya earned her C-permit from the British Trust for Ornithology - an official authorisation for her to birdspot and record alone, without the supervision of her parents.

The International Ornithological Congress (IOC) World Bird List currently has 10,738 birds on it - and determined Mya-Rose is keen to see half before she turns 18.

Mya said: 'The bird I'd like to see most is a Harpy Eagle, the biggest eagle in the world which lives in South America. There's only relatively low number of them left so it's difficult to spot them.

'I'm going on my first trip to Brazil this summer, so I think I will be spoilt with additional species there. I'm just really hoping I get to see the Harpy Eagle.'

Proud mother, Helena, 50, a retired lawyer, said: 'She used to come with us when she was tiny. We first took her to the Isle of Scilly when she was only a few months old.

Mya-Rose made her 5,000th spot at Castillo de Loarre (pictured) during a half-term break in Spain on Monday

'It's what me and my husband have always done but Mya is really into it as well. Even her third word was 'birdie!''

Mya, who attends Chew Valley Secondary School, in Somerset, is keen to keep up the hobby and is already planning her next trip.

Her mother and father, retired TV executive Chris, 50, say although they are keen to continue travelling with Mya they don't think she'll be taking any more time off school.

Helena added that it was unlikely her daughter would be able to spot all 10,000 varieties of birds - but that wouldn't stop her trying.

She said: 'Mya-Rose is keen to keep birding - though I'm not sure it's fair to say she'll get them all.

'The problem with trying to find all 10,000 varieties is that you have to keep revisiting countries and it costs millions of pounds to do that. We aren't really trying to beat any records - we're just doing it for ourselves really.'
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Jussie Smollett has been freed after posting $10,000 bond and agreeing to surrender his passport at a court hearing where he was supported by his family and prosecutors shared more details of his relationship with the two Nigerian brothers he allegedly paid to stage an attack on him in the hope that it would boost his profile.

The actor was hurried out of the Cook County Jail shortly before 5pm on Thursday and said nothing as he fought his way through photographers to get into a waiting car. He was flanked by bodyguards and driven away immediately.

Three of the actor's five famous siblings, Jazz, Jocqui and Jake, were pictured arriving at the Cook County Criminal Court before his bond hearing wearing sunglasses. They were later joined by their brother Jojo but their other sister Jurnee and mother Janet were not seen.

They left the court before Smollett once the hearing was over, fighting their way through a scrum of photographers to get into a waiting van parked outside without answering any questions.

Smollett's bail was set at $100,000 - the amount he gets paid for one episode of Empire. He paid 10 percent of it to win back his freedom and will return to court on March 14 to face a felony charge of filing a false police report.

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Jussie Smollett was ushered out of county jail on Thursday by police officers and body guards after posting $10,000, ten percent of his $100,000 bond, and agreeing to surrender his passport. He clung on to his security guard's shoulders as he followed him out to a waiting car

Smollett said nothing and held on to his security guard who led him through a crowd of photographers outside the jail

Smollett was sandwiched between security guards as he made his way to the car. He has to return to the court March 14

Smollett was escorted out of the jail by two police officers. He stared at news cameras waiting for him outside and kept his hands in his pockets

Even before he reached the scrum of photographers, Smollett placed his hands on his security guard's shoulders

After the hearing, prosecutors gave a detailed description of how he allegedly put the hoax together.

Police say he knew Abel Osundairo, one of the brothers, because he bought 'designer drugs' from him. In text messages that predate the hoax attack, he asked Abel for 'Molly' - the street name for ecstasy - multiple times. The pair are believed to have met when Abel was a stand-in on Empire.

On January 25, he convinced Abel and his brother Ola to 'simulate' an attack on him, giving them specific instructions about which words to use and how to rough him up but not hurt him too severely, according to police.

His alleged motive was that he did not get enough attention over a letter he is said to have sent himself a week earlier and he thought that painting himself as

He knew they were going to Nigeria days later and asked them if he could trust them, saying in his initial text message to Abel: 'Might need your help on the low. You around to meet up and talk face to face?'

Smollett took them to the location where he wanted the attack to happen outside his apartment, according to prosecutors, and even pointed to a surveillance camera he believed would capture it.

The claims came after a blistering press conference during which furious police bosses alleged that he mailed himself a threatening letter then staged a hoax attack because he was unhappy with his $1.8million Empire salary.

The actor wore a stony expression as he was seen for the first time publicly since being labeled 'shameful' and 'despicable' by the police department

Smollett was wearing black pants and a black puffer jacket. He turned himself into police at 5am on Thursday

A sketch from inside the courtroom shows Smollett appearing before Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald to have his bond set. The judge said that if true, the allegations against him are 'utterly outrageous'. He was particularly disturbed by the use of a noose in the attack, saying it is an image which 'conjures up such evil in this country's history'

Jocqui (in beige coat), Jake (in black, right) and Jazz Smollett (center in fur-trimmed coat) arrive at the Cook County Criminal Court on Thursday to attend their brother Jussie's bond hearing. There was no sign of the actor's mother Janet, his other sister Jurnee or his brother Jojo

Jocqui Smollett is show entering the court and waiting for proceedings to begin. The Smollett family issued a statement when the attack was first reported to condemn hate crimes and stand by Jussie. Jocqui has since accused the media of vilifying his brother in social media posts

Jazz, Jocqui and Jake entered the courthouse without speaking on Thursday. Their other two siblings, Jojo and Jurnee, did not join them

Surveillance footage emerged on Wednesday showing Ola and Abel Osundairo buying ski masks the day before the attack. Smollett gave them a $100 bill to pay for the bleach, ski masks, red hat and gloves that they used, according to prosecutors

After his bail hearing, the state's attorney gave a press conference where she described in painstaking detail how the hoax came together.

On January 25, he texted Abel asking him when he was planning to go to Nigeria, a trip that had been prearranged.

Jussie Smollett is shown in his mugshot on Thursday morning. The Empire actor handed himself in at 5am on charges of filing a false police report. Police now say he concocted the fake attack because he wanted a raise

They were familiar with one another because Abel had once filled in as a character on Empire who was a love interest of Smollett's character, Jamal Lyon.

Abel replied that he and his brother were leaving on January 29 to which Smollett replied: 'Might need your help on the low.

'You around to meet up and talk face to face?'

That afternoon, they met up at the CineSpace studio and Smollett drove Abel home.

During the car ride, he told him about his 'displeasure' over 20th Century Fox's reaction to the letter he allegedly sent himself days earlier.

He said he wanted to stage an attack and suggested that Ola, Abel's younger brother, get involved.

Once they got to the brothers' home, they summoned Ola outside and Smollett asked the pair if he could trust them.

Smollett then allegedly laid out what he wanted them to do and gave them a $100 bill to buy ski masks, a red hat, gloves, rope and bleach to use.

'He stated that he wanted the brothers to catch his attention by calling him an Empire f****t Empire n****r. He detailed that he wanted Abel to attack him but not to hurt him too badly and give him a chance to fight back.

HOW THE ATTACK WAS PUT TOGETHER January 22: Jussie Smollett receives a letter at the CineSpace studio which threatens his life and has 'MAGA' written on it in red pen. He reports it to police January 25: Smollett sends a text to Abel Osundairo asking him when he is going to Nigeria and if they can meet up face-to-face Abel goes to the studio where he is working and Smollett drives him home. During the ride, he said he was 'displeased' with the reaction to the letter. Once at their home, Abel's brother Ola gets in the car and Smollett tells them what he wants them to do. He gives them a $100 bill to buy the goods they will need to fake the attack January 27: Smollett picks the brothers up then drives them to the spot where he wants them to fake the attack. He then goes to New York. January 28: Smollett is in New York City for a reading of the play Take Me Out. The brothers are filmed buying ski masks, a red hat and gloves January 29 - Day of attack The attack was due to take place at 10pm on January 28 but because Smollett's flight was delayed, it was pushed back. 12.30am: Smollett arrives back in Chicago 12.49am: He calls Abel Osundairo and they talk for three minutes Abel orders an Uber minutes later. 1.22am: The brothers arrive in the area of the attack 1.45am: Smollett leaves his building to go to Subway 2.04am: The attack takes place in the arranged location 2.10am: Brothers get a taxi from a hotel nearby 2.25am: The brothers arrive back in their neighborhood in a taxi 2.27am: Smollett's manager calls the police 2.42am: Police arrive at Smollett's building and he asks them to turn off their body cameras 7.45pm: Smollett calls Abel. The conversation lasts five seconds. 7.47pm: Abel calls back and they speak for 1 minute 34 seconds. The brothers then board their flight. January 30, 10:46am: Smollett calls Abel who is by now in Istanbul, Turkey. They speak for 8 minutes and eight seconds. Advertisement

'He also included that he wanted Ola to place a rope around his neck, pour gasoline on him and yell: "This is MAGA country" and "Make America Great Again,"' a proffer that was released by the State's Attorney's office said.

Police have found surveillance footage of the ride and have phone records which put Smollett in the area of the brothers home at the time.

On January 27, he picked the brothers up from their home and drove them to where he wanted the attack to happen in the late morning.

He warned them not to bring their cell phones with them and showed them a surveillance camera on the corner which he believed would capture the incident.

Smollett drove the brothers home and provided them with a $3500 personal check made payable to Abel, which was backdated to January 23, 2019.

He then flew to New York City to take part in a reading of a play.

The attack was scheduled to take place at 10pm on January 28 but was set back several hours by Smollett's delayed flight from New York to Chicago on the day of the incident.

His flight landed at 12.30am, January 29.

At 12.49am, he called Abel and their conversation lasted three minutes. During this call, he instructed him to carry out the attack at 2am.

Abel then ordered an Uber to pick the pair up at their home and take them to the crime scene.

They took the Uber part of the way but then got out and hopped in a taxi to take them the remainder of the distance.

At 1.22am, they arrived within three blocks of it. At 1.45am, Smollett left his apartment building to go to a Subway and the brothers made their way towards the intended spot.

Smollett, however, was late. They did not cross paths until 2.04am which is when they carried out the attack. At the exact moment it was occurring, an NBC News employee was getting out of her car nearby. She told police later that she did not hear anything suspicious, despite Smollett alleging that the attackers yelled racial slurs.

The attack only lasted 45 seconds and was 'just outside the view of the desired nearby camera that Smollett had pointed out to the brothers approximately 15 hours earlier.'

The brothers then ran away on foot, heading southbound towards the Chicago River. They then got in a taxi at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Fifteen minutes later, they got out of the cab a few blocks from their house.

Two minutes later, at 2.27am, Smollett's manager reported it to police and police arrived at Smollett's apartment at 2.42am, 12 minutes later.

While being interviewed, he not only described the attack but claimed to have received a phone call on January 26 from someone who said 'hey you little f****' and hung up. He said the call happened near a camera and that it captured the attack. It was the same camera he pointed out to the brothers in the hope that it would capture their staged ambush.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson abhorred him as a 'troubled young man' who has 'taken advantage of the pain and anger of racism to further his career' by allegedly lying that he was attacked by racist and homophobic assailants on January 29.

Smollett makes $100,000 per episode on Empire, according to an associate who spoke to DailyMail.com, and there are 18 episodes in the current season which earns him $1.8million.

He also has a record deal with Columbia Records but, according to police, was 'dissatisfied' and wanted to boost his profile.

When police learned that Smollett's motive was to get more money, it 'p****d everybody off', Superintendent Johnson said, adding that Smollett's repeated 'lies' were 'shameful' and 'despicable'.

He called for 'absolute justice' which he said amounted to Smollett apologizing and offering to pay for the police resources he wasted.

20th Century Fox, which defended the actor on Wednesday, is now 'considering its options' in light of his arrest.

President Trump has also called for Smollett to apologize for making it appear as though he was being targeted by one of his supporters.

This is the state's case against Smollett, as laid out in their bond proffer that was submitted in court on Thursday

Police say they have found phone records which prove Smollett spoke with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo an hour before the attack, an hour afterwards and while they were in Nigeria, keeping their heads down, while the case gained global attention.

Prosecutor Risa Lanier laid bare the allegations in a press conference after the bond hearing

They also say they have the check that Smollett used to pay them $3,500.

The brothers 'confessed' to the 'entire plot' once they were in custody on Thursday.

It began on January 22 when Smollett allegedly mailed himself a threatening letter to the Empire studio in Chicago which had 'MAGA' written on it and included racist and homophobic slurs.

It read: 'Smollett Jussie, you will die' and included a drawing of a stick figure with a gun pointed towards it.

He reported it to the police along with producer Dennis Hammer.

When that did not win him a pay rise from 20th Century Fox, however, he allegedly hired the brothers to attack him at 2am on January 29 in what he then told police was a random, racist and homophobic attack.

The attack did happen but was not caught on camera. According to the brothers, they punched him after meeting at an arranged spot and time then ran away and got into a taxi.

President Trump tweeted on Thursday after the details of his arrest emerged to demand an apology from the actor who said his attackers shouted 'This is MAGA country!'

Smollett then went home to his friend, 60-year-old Frank Gatson, who was in the apartment and told him that he had been jumped by two masked assailants who shouted: 'Empire f****t n****r', poured bleach on him, tied a noose around his neck and screamed: 'This is MAGA country!'

Police say that the actor gave himself the scratches on his face that were visible in a hospital-bed selfie he took after reporting it.

The same day, the brothers went to the airport and boarded a flight to Nigeria.

While Smollett received an outpouring of sympathy from politicians, celebrities and public figures around the world, they laid low but were allegedly in contact with the star.

As the police investigation heated up, officers honed in on them by tracking taxis that were in the area at around the time of the incident.

In particular, a ride-share the brothers took to the location gave police their details.

They were then picked up when they returned to Chicago on February 13.

Once in custody, they told police that Smollett had hired them and said it was because he wanted a higher salary.

Smollett, a vocal Trump critic, said his attackers shouted 'This is MAGA country!' and later suggested he was targeted because he is so critical of the president

He paid them a reported $3,500 to carry out the attack, they said, and promised them $500 more when they returned from their trip.

Smollett is in custody awaiting his first court appearance on felony charges of filing a false police report. He will appear before a judge at 1.30pm.

His lawyers issued a statement on Wednesday to protest his innocence and condemn the police for leaking so many details of the investigation.

During the press conference, Superintendent Johnson revealed Smollett went from being treated as the victim in the case to a suspect when the brothers 'confessed' the 'entire plot' in the final hour of a 48 hour hold.

That is when they, in their lawyer's words, 'manned up' and revealed that they had been hired to carry out the attack by the actor himself.

Smollett actually furthered the investigation along by going on Good Morning America and confirming that the two people in a grainy surveillance footage still were the men who attacked him.

He was unaware when he made the remark that Chicago PD had identified those men as the Osundairo brothers and that they had them in custody.

'I come to you today not only as the Superintendent of Chicago Police Department but as a black man who has spent his entire life living in the city of Chicago.

'I know the racial divide. I know how hard it has been for our city and our nation to come together.

'Empire actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.

'I'm left hanging my head and asking why? Why would anyone, especially an African American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?

Chicago PD also shared this map of Smollett's movements on the night of the attack and show where it happened. The cameras in the area where it happened were not facing him, to his dismay

Another map shows where the assailants were dropped off in a ride-share, top right, then walked to the attack and fled to get in another taxi afterwards

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson tore through Smollett at a press conference on Thursday where he labeled him 'shameful' and 'despicable'

'How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see it as an opportunity to manipulate his own public profile?' Superintendent Johnson said, adding it was a 'slap in the face ' to 'everyone' in Chicago.

'I love the city of Chicago, warts and all, but this publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly didn't deserve.

'The accusations within this phony attack received national attention for weeks...Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor,' he went on.

When we discovered the actual motive, it p****d everybody off Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson

He added that he was 'angry and offended' and said it was a travesty that other crimes do not garner as much attention.

'I just wish that the families of the victims of gun violence in this city got as much attention. That is who really deserves this amount of attention.'

He was emphatic, later, about the fact that no other investigations suffered as a result of Smollett's claims, but said: 'Bogus police reports cause real harm.

'They do harm to ever legitimate victim who is in need of support by police.'

Johnson finished his remarks by saying: 'Ill continue to pray for this troubled young man who resorted to both drastic and illegal tactics to gain attention.

Police say Smollett cut his own cheek to make it look like he had suffered injuries in the attack. He is shown in a hospital bed selfie FaceTiming Lee Daniels, the show's creator, hours after the attack

'Ill also continue to pray for our city asking that we can move forward from this and begin to heal.'

Police examined footage from 55 surveillance cameras, obtained more than 50 search warrants and conducted more than 100 interviews.

If convicted, Smollett may be asked to repay the money that was spent investigating the crime.

Smollett has not made any statements since he was taken into custody.

His lawyers said on Wednesday night that he would fight the charges with an 'aggressive defense'.

In previous statements, his representatives have angrily hit out at the media and insisted that he is the victim.

Within hours of him being charged, Smollett's attorneys arranged for him to hand himself in quietly at Chicago's 1st District afterwards.

He appeared in his mugshot wearing a black puffer jacket, staring blankly at the camera.

After being processed at the station, he was transferred to the Cook County courthouse where he will appear at 1.30pm. He is being held separately from other detainees.

20th Century Fox, which released a statement hours before he was charged to say it was standing by him, is now reportedly suspending the actor.

20th Century Fox said on Thursday that it was now considering its options. It had been standing by the actor

A press conference is scheduled for 9am CT during which detectives will give more details about the arrest. It is not yet known where he was or what time he was taken into custody.

'Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,' the actor's attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said.

'Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.'

The Osundairo brothers testified before the grand jury for about two and a half hours on Wednesday.

Addressing reporters outside afterwards, their attorney Gloria Schmidt said they'd 'manned up' by speaking out against Smollett.

The brothers bought their masks, gloves and a hat in this store the day before the attack

The rope they put around Smollett's neck was bought in this hardware store

They have not been arrested or charged and their lawyer said they had not been offered any form of immunity deal in exchange for testifying against Smollett.

'There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said: "We're gonna correct this."

'Plea deal, immunity, all of that  they don't' care about that.'

She said that Smollett was lying, and that she didn't know how his conscience could let him sleep at night.

There was a point where this story needed to be told and they manned up and they said, "we're going to correct this" Gloria Schmidt, lawyer for two Nigerian brothers

'I think Jussie's conscience is not letting him sleep right now and he should unload that conscience and come out and tell the American people what happened,' she added.

'I think the biggest thing for the American people to know. Is that this story, has a lot of complications to it.

'We're not trying to hide anything from the press. But we wanted to make sure that everything checked out.

'When I say that the police spent countless man-hours trying to piece this together, I mean that, I absolutely mean that.

'When I say that my clients spent countless hours getting their story out there to the police so that they could do their work, I mean that, too,' she said.

The brothers' testimony came after footage emerged of them buying ski masks, a red hat and gloves in a store the day before the attack.

The brothers said Smollett also sent himself this letter to the Fox studio where Empire is filmed a week before the attack. If he did, he faces another 5-10 years in prison on a federal mail fraud charge

Abel and Ola Osundairo's lawyers said on Wednesday night that they 'manned up' by telling police that Smollett paid them. Ola once appeared on the show as an extra. He is shown with creator Lee Daniels, right

It was taken on January 28 and shows brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo inside what looks like a drug store buying the masks and one hat.

Smollett told police that he was attacked by two masked assailants who punched him, poured bleach on him, tied a noose around his neck and called him 'Empire n****r f****t'.

No footage has ever emerged of the incident itself.

In the video taken inside the store the day earlier, the brothers look calm as they bring the items to the register.

Smollett follows the brothers' joint Instagram account where they post videos and photographs of themselves working out

Abel, whose full name is Abimbola, is dressed in a blue plaid jacket. About 30 seconds into the video, he puts his hood up while standing at the register.

His younger brother Ola, who once appeared on Empire as an extra, is in a green jacket.

The brothers were picked up by police at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday night as they returned from Nigeria.

Police seized a red hat from the brothers' home along with ski masks when they raided it last week. Smollett said his attackers were wearing masks but there was not a description of a red hat in the initial reports.

Police have since shared their belief that at least one of them was wearing a red hat at the time of the attack.

Smollett's family, many of whom are also actors, have spoken out repeatedly in support of him since the January 29 attack as have many of his co-stars on Empire.

Among them is Gabby Sidibe, his roommate at one time, who said on Instagram on Wednesday: 'I know him. I believe him.' However she later appeared to have deleted the posts.

Fox also insisted that he was not being written out of the show, as had been claimed, and called him a 'consummate professional' in a statement.

Smollett's lawyers include Mark Geragos, who has represented Michael Jackson and Colin Kaepernick, in the past.

Last Thursday, the actor wept as he said 'who the f*** would make that up' when addressing the skepticism surrounding his version of events during an interview on Good Morning America. He has also called himself the 'gay Tupac' and issued statements via attorneys and representatives condemning coverage of the incident

When news of the attack first emerged on January 29 and 30, Smollett was inundated with support across the political spectrum.

Among those who tweeted their condemnation of him were Democratic presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

But as days went by with no suspects on the horizon, details about the case and the police's investigation into it began to cast doubt on Smollett's version of events.

One of the earliest sources of speculation was the fact that Smollett waited 42 minutes to call the police then refused to hand over his phone to the police for them to verify his story.

He then handed over redacted files that police described as 'insufficient'.

Frustrated with the coverage of his case, he hit out at the media for reporting on leaked information coming from within the Chicago police department and insisted he was the victim.

He then went on Good Morning America to protest his innocence.

In an hour-long interview with Robin Roberts, he wept as he recalled the attack and abhorred the reaction to it.

CELEBRITIES REACT TO JUSSIE SMOLLETT'S ARREST Celebrities have lashed out at Empire actor Jussie Smollett following his arrest after many of them publicly voiced support for him when he first claimed he had been targeted in a racist and homophobic attack. Actor and comedian Tyler Perry penned a lengthy Facebook post saying he had personally spoken to Smollett who insisted he was telling the truth. Perry added that the evidence seemed to contradict Smollett's version and that he was 'lost for words'. 'I have personally spoken to Jussie, and he is adamant that he's telling the truth. Also, everyone that I know who knows him says that he is not the kind of person who would make up such a horrible and awful thing,' he said. 50 Cent mocked Smollett and his Tupac reference with an Instagram photo of the actor's face imposed on the cover of the rapper's album, saying: 'All Liez On Me' Snoopdog posted a Scooby Doo cartoon with Smollett's face edited in 'Yet the evidence seems to state otherwise. I'm lost for words. To stoke fears and raise racial tensions is wrong in every situation on ALL SIDES! Yet my prayers are still with him and his family and our Nation.' Straight Outta Compton actor O'Shea Jackson Jr was scathing in a series of lengthy tweets about the developments. 'What upsets me about this Jussie situation is that people were genuinely worried about you man. And the things that you said happened could have led to some serious outcomes. People were prepared to fight for you bruh. Things coulda got ugly...... and you made it up. 'The world has plenty of real monsters. You don't have to make up any. And what for? Just further dividing people for personal gain? It sucks for the people who actually have to deal with that type of hate. 'And why did you call yourself the gay Tupac. What does Tupac have to do with anything that happened to you? Did you do this to sell records bro? Did you fake a hate crime, Enrage the Black community. The LBGT community and anti-Trump community just to sell records bruh? Actor and comedian Tyler Perry penned a lengthy Facebook post saying he had personally spoken to Smollett who insisted he was telling the truth but later added that the evidence seemed to tell a different story Straight Outta Compton actor O'Shea Jackson Jr was scathing in a series of lengthy tweets about the developments 'People couldve gotten hurt. Thinking theyre protesting and standing up for you. This is not a game.' Smollett had compared himself to Tupac during a performance in West Hollywood earlier this month. He ended his set saying he fought back against his so-called attackers and said he was 'the gay Tupac'. 50 Cent mocked Smollett and his Tupac reference with an Instagram photo of the actor's face imposed on the cover of the rapper's album, saying: 'All Liez On Me'. Andy Cohen tweeted that his 'head is exploding' following news of Smollett's arrest before calling the story 'pathetic'. Actor Patton Oswalt retweeted a tweet from President Donald Trump, saying: 'Way to go Jussie. You just handed this racist dips**t a 'Get Out Of Race-Baiting Free' card that he's gonna wave around like a soiled diaper until he's re-elected.' Trump had tweeted: '.@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA'. Advertisement

Choking back tears, he explained when asked why it took so long for him to contact the authorities: 'There is a level of pride there.

'We live in a society where as a gay man you are considered somehow to be weak and I am not weak. I am not weak and we as a people are not weak.'

Later, he added how desperate he was for them to find footage of the attack.

'I want that video found so badly because, for probably four reasons.

'Number one, I want them to find the people that did it.

'Number two, I want them to stop being able to say 'alleged' attack.

'Number three, I want them to see that I fought back,' he continued, welling-up.

'I want a little gay boy who might watch this to see that I fought the f*** back. They ran off,' I didn't,' he said.

After it emerged that Smollett knew the brothers and may have been involved in the staging of the attack, the celebrities and politicians who rushed to support him walked back their claims.

Nancy Pelosi deleted her tweet about it and Cory Booker said he would now be 'withholding judgement' until more information emerged.

Kamala Harris said, when questioned about her tweet that it was a 'modern day lynching', that she was 'very concerned'.
Two Chinese kindergarten teachers in Italy have been arrested after being caught violently dragging, beating and kicking children by hidden cameras.

Zheng Moli, 38, and Hong Pingping, 26, are said to have abused children aged between three and six on 41 different occasions last month alone by cameras installed by police in Tuscany, according reports from Italian media.

Ms Zheng, who allegedly got her degree in education in China, claimed such 'teaching' methods were 'normal' in her home country and 'nobody has told me not to beat children with sticks in Italy', according to Chinese sources.

One teacher is caught swinging a child in the air as she carries him in a classroom in Italy. Two Chinese kindergarten teachers in Tuscany have been arrested on suspicion of child abuse

Another kindergarten worker chases and beats a child with a mop in the surveillance footage

Ms Zheng was also quoted saying the purpose of using sticks and clubs was to get the attention of children.

Both Ms Zheng Moli and Ms Hong worked at a kindergarten run by the Marco Polo Cultural Association at the China Town in the city of Prato, reported La Repubblica Firenze.

They were arrested by police on January 31 and are facing prosecution. A third teacher, unidentified, has also been investigated, but was not arrested.

All of the young victims, said to be dozens of them, were of Chinese ethnicity, the report said.

The alleged abuse came to light after one of the kindergarten's teachers reportedly confided possible maltreatment at the centre to a parent, who later called the police.

Police launched an investigation in December and installed cameras in three classrooms.

The kindergarten is said to have a dozen classrooms in total.

It is unclear whether or not the teachers and victims are of Italian nationality.

Zheng Moli, 38, and Hong Pingping, 26, are said to have abused children aged between three and six on 41 different occasions last month at the kindergarten in Prato's China Town

Ms Zheng claimed such 'teaching' methods were 'normal' in her home country and 'nobody has told me not to beat children with sticks in Italy', according to Chinese sources

Footage released by police shows one female teacher, wearing a white dress, apparently slapping and kicking one child sitting on a chair before roughly dragging himself outside the classroom.

After that, another female teacher is seen swinging another child in the air while lifting the pupil across the classroom to tell him off.

On a separate occasion, one kindergarten worker is seen chasing a pupil and beating him with a mop.

Surveillance cameras also caught educators hitting children with sticks and pushing them to the ground.

The alleged abuse came to light after one of the kindergarten's teachers reportedly confided possible maltreatment towards children to a parent, who called the police for help

Investigators found 25 'major offences' by teachers in the kindergarten between January 5 and 13; and 13 more in the following week, according to Prato's local news site Notizie di Prato.

The report said Ms Zheng had allegedly abused her pupils on 30 occasions while Ms Hong had allegedly done so on 11 occasions.

What the published footage shows is just the tip of the iceberg, the article said citing police.

The shocking incident took place in a kindergarten at Prato's China Town (file photo)

The news comes as a 22-year-old kindergarten teacher in central China was on Tuesday sentenced to eight months in prison for stabbing pupils with paper clips because they wouldn't nap.

The woman, surnamed Lan, used paper clips to prick more than 20 students on their arms, legs and buttocks at a pre-school in Xi'an city's Yanta district in Shaanxi province last June.

Lan, 22, told the Baqiao People's Court at a hearing that she was trying to scare the misbehaving students into taking their naps and regretted her actions.

According to Chinese law, a person could be jailed for up to three years for abusing those under his/her care, including children, the elderly, patients and people with disabilities.
A baby gorilla was found sobbing like a child, with its wrist gripped in a vicious snare, after it was caught in a hunter's trap in the Rwandan jungle.

Rangers wept at the sight when they found the three-year-old strung up in cable by her arm, crying for her family.

She was reunited with her family, but others are not so lucky, and are left facing amputation and death in the Volcanoes National Park.

The apes are at constant risk in the poverty stricken region, as starving locals lay traps for animals such as antelopes, but sometimes end up snaring the gorillas.

A three-and-a-half-year-old gorilla hangs from the snare set by poachers in the Volcanoes National Park, luckily rangers were able to treat her and take her back to her family

Dr Jean Bosco Noheli told the Mirror: 'The rangers cried when they found this infant.

'She was hanging, a baby on her own struggling to get free, calling for help.

'We released her and held a small stretcher for her to fall on to, then carried her to her family.'

Vets and rangers in the Virunga mountains work tirelessly to ensure the safety of the endangered species.

Sir David Attenborough's Life on Earth brought massive public attention to the plight of the great apes when it aired in 1979.

Doctors in the jungle rushed to care for this ape after she was left for dead in the forest

Money donated to their cause, as well as carefully managed eco-tourism has brought expert care and protection to the animals.

Numbers of gorillas since Sir David's visit have rocketed from just 250 to over 1,000, the Mirror reported.

Sir David Attenborough highlighted the gorillas plight with his BBC show 'Life on Earth' which first aired in 1979

But they are still in constant peril and face being ripped apart by bullets in the cross-fire of horrific conflicts in the Congo.

The rangers showed how the traps are made by starving locals out of bamboo and synthetic twine which can cut deep into the apes' flesh.

Dr Noheli described many an amputation being carried out on gorillas who had been mutilated by the traps set by locals.

Ian Redmond is a biologist who has worked out there for decades and showed Sir David the region when he was filming with the BBC those 40 years ago.

Mr Redmond was known as 'The Panga' - meaning 'the machete' - by the locals who had their traps cut down by him.

Such was their desperation, one of the locals described how, despite knowing it was wrong, they continued to set up their snares because they were driven by hunger.
A gangland lawyer who turned rogue and leaked information to police in order to lock up some of Australia's biggest crooks will have her identity revealed.

The Court of Appeal ruled against concealing the identity of the female criminal barrister, dubbed Informer 3838, ending years of secrecy.

Despite fears from Victoria Police that the lawyer could be a target if exposed, a gag order preventing her name from being reported will be lifted on March 1.

(File picture) The Court of Appeal ruled that the identity of Informer 3838 will be unveiled on March 1, 2019

Informer 3838 had been shielded in secrecy until December 2018, when the High Court made an unprecedented decision to prevent the continued concealment of her identity.

The ruling sparked a $7.5 million royal commission to determine how many cases were affected by information passed on by the informant.

The High Court also gave permission to the Director of Public Prosecutions to inform criminals they had an opportunity to overturn their convictions.

The convicts were told their cases could have been tainted by Informer 3838 because she had been leaking information on her clients.

She is thought to have assisted in the arrests of 386 people, most of whom were her own clients.

At the time, the High Court (pictured) labelled the lawyer's actions an appalling breach of legal obligations

At the time, the High Court labelled the lawyer's actions an appalling breach of legal obligations, and ruled her identity should be released on February 1.

The court also called the conduct of Victoria Police reprehensible and atrocious.

It's believed that Informer 3838 fed information to authorities which led to the capture of drug kingpin Tony Mokbel (pictured)

It's believed that the Victoria and Commonwealth director of public prosecutions are in support of Informer 3838's name being released.

In a letter obtained by The Herald Sun, Informer 3838 complained about being failed by police in 2014.

'Victoria Police failed to properly and adequately protect my identity as an informer/human source: it is difficult to imagine a greater breach of its duty of care,' she wrote.

'On a personal level I feel betrayed by the very people in whom I placed my trust that they would maintain my confidential role and that it would never ever become publicly known,' she added.

The lawyer, who acted for gangsters including dead crime boss Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel, began working for police in mid-2003 when she met approximately six times with a Detective Sergeant of the Purana Taskforce, which was investigating Melbourne gangland crime.

It's believed that Informer 3838 has rejected offers of police protection.
A Tory MP said today he plans to be the first male UK politician to use proxy voting so he can remain at his wife's side after she gives birth to their third child.

Bim Afolami, 33, announced on social media that Hetti was due to give birth in the coming days and he would be taking paternity leave to be with her and help look after their other children.

Mr Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden since the 2017 election, said he planned to take advantage of changes introduced after heavily pregnant Labour MP Tulip Siddiq was forced to delay a caesarean section to take part in a key Brexit vote.

The old-fashioned rule which stated that an MP had to cast a vote in person in the House of Commons was changed after condemnation from across politics at her ordeal, which went viral online.

Now they can nominate a party colleague to cast a vote for them, so they do not have to travel to the House of Commons.

The Government faces a crunch few weeks as the deadline approaches for Brexit with no deal for leaving in place.

Mr Afolami, 33, went to Eton and Oxford and worked in the City before being elected as a Tory MP in Hertfordshire in 2017. He and his wife already have two young sons

In a video message from his office in the House of Commons he said: I will be taking a couple of weeks paternity leave to deal with that and to help support my wife over the tough, tough nights and take our boys to school and nursery.

'And just help out around the house, which to be honest I dont do very often and Im looking forward to doing that.

But I do believe I will be the first father in British parliamentary history to ever be able to vote by proxy, so that I can satisfy my obligations to you, to be your member of parliament and to vote here on important pieces of legislation.

In January Parliamentary rules were changed to allow MPs from all parties to get a colleague to vote for them after outrage that Ms Siddiq, 36, had to delay the birth of her son Raphael to take part in the Brexit vote.

Hapstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq was forced to delay a caesarean section because she had to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal in person in the House of Commons. She later gave birth to son Raphael

Images of Ms Siddiq being taken through the House of Commons in a wheelchair to vote on January 15 provoked widespread anger and led to a change in the voting rules

Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom announced a one-year trial of a system where politicians who are pregnant or have newborns will be allowed to elect another MP to cast their ballot for them.

The Government came under massive pressure to reform Parliament's archaic rules after Ms Siddiq had to be wheeled through the division lobbies in scenes captured on the official Commons' livestream and sent viral via social media.

She tweeted a photograph of herself and Raphael watching the subsequent announcement of the trial at home and hailed the 'momentous and overdue' decision.

Mr Afolami was educated at Eton and Oxford before working in the City. He is the son of an NHS doctor and the grandson of a vicar.

He said the rule changes would allow him to make sure Im doing my job properly while supporting Hetti.

He added that he would remain fully plugged in by phone and remotely as to what is going on while at the family home in Hertfordshire.
A man who died after machinery he was driving collided with another vehicle at a coal mine has been remembered as a devoted family man.

Bradley Hardwick, 47, was killed in a vehicle incident at Queensland's Moranbah north mine's access drift about 4.15pm on Wednesday.

He was evacuated from the mine, but died on his way to hospital, The Brisbane Times reported.

Tributes for the miner have flooded in since the tragedy.

Bradley Hardwick (pictured right), 47, was killed in a vehicle incident at Queensland's Moranbah north mine's access drift about 4.15pm on Wednesday

Mr Hardwick had been driving a grader when it collided with a personnel carrier when he was killed on Wednesday (stock image)

'RIP Brad my thoughts are with your family mate, worked with you at Claydon Panel Works and been friends since, you will be sadly missed mate,' one person wrote.

'I still cant believe it, feeling numb all over,' another friend shared.

'We are going to miss you old mate, our deepest deepest condolences to the entire family,' another said.

Mr Hardwick was well known in the tight-knit Moranbah community and will be sorely missed, Anglo American's operations executive Glen Britton said.

'Bradley's colleagues knew him as devoted family man and someone who was always willing to help others,' he said.

'Our thoughts and sympathies are with Bradley's family at this very difficult time.'

Mr Hardwick had worked for the mine's operator, Anglo American, in various roles for the past 17 years.

There were ten other staff members were injured after the crash. They had been in the personnel carrier at the time

Ten other staff members, who had been in the personnel carrier, were injured after the crash.

Four people were taken to hospital for further treatment but have since been released.

Mr Britton said they had spoken to employees about the incident and there was a great deal of shock and sadness.

'The Queensland Mines Inspectorate investigation is underway and the mine remains in shutdown until operations can be safely resumed.'

Friends and family have shared their condolences for the miner who was killed in a vehicle accident on Wednesday

CFMEU Queensland District president Steve Smyth told ABC Radio the local community was 'gutted' by Mr Hardwick's death.

'You go to work to work, not to die, and our guys will be really affected and how that affects them long term is certainly a concern.

'We send our condolences to the family and friends of the lost miner.

'It's sad to think another miner who went to work to never come home.'

Investigations into the incident are still on going.
Australian commuters have long moaned about the drastic difference in petrol prices from station to station, with many having a particular place they believe is cheapest.

And new research has confirmed drivers are being ripped off, with some stations charging nearly 40 cents a litre more than others, despite both being in the same suburb.

The difference is felt most deeply at one chain of petrol stations in particular, with Coles Express stations consistently selling the most expensive fuel, Nine News reported.

Auburn, a suburb in Sydney's west, has the greatest variation in prices with 36.2 cents a litre difference between independent and BP stores

Coles Express is the most expensive fuel store compared to the major brands, according to Peter Khoury from the NRMA

Drivers who fill up in Auburn, in Sydney's west, are more likely to be out of pocket more than anywhere else in the city with a staggering 36.2 cents a litre difference between independent and BP stores.

Those who fill up in Fairfield in Sydney's south-west are also feeling the pinch with 34.2 cents a litre between the independent, Caltex and 7Eleven stores.

Campbelltown isn't far behind with 32.2 centres a litre between Caltex and independent fuel stores.

Drivers who fill up in Manly are the least affected with only a difference of only eight cents a litre between 7Eleven and Metro fuel.

Overall, motorists are warned to avoid Coles Express petrol stations, who are notorious for being the most expensive in comparison to other major fuel outlets, Peter Khoury from the NRMA told 9News.

Motorists who want to grab more bang for their buck should fill up in the south-west and western suburbs, which are the cheapest service stations in Sydney at any point in time.

Independent owners have warned drivers they will have to resort to paying a significantly dearer price for petrol if they aren't supported

Independent owners have warned drivers they will have to resort to paying a significantly dearer price for petrol if they aren't supported.

Coles Express revealed a brand new partnership with major petrol supplier Viva Energy in early February that promised to finally bring down their fuel prices.

Coles previously purchased fuel from the provider and sold it at Viva-owned sites, but from now on the supermarket will sell on behalf of Viva and collect commission.

The overhauled agreement reduces persistently high fuel prices by cutting out the middle man and selling direct to customers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 27, Netanyahus office said on Thursday, with the focus likely to be on Middle East issues led by Syria, Reuters reported.

The two leaders had been scheduled to meet this week, but that was postponed, with no reason give. At the time, the Kremlin said Netanyahu and Putin were to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including Syria.

Thursdays statement offered no further details.
Lisa Byrd, 57, was driving 12 children with special needs in Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday when she overdosed at the wheel

A school bus driver has been arrested after she overdosed on heroin behind the wheel and crashed into a tree.

Lisa Byrd, 57, was driving with 12 special needs children on board her bus through New Jersey on Wednesday when she lost consciousness at an intersection.

CCTV of the crash shows the bus rolling across the road before mounting a curb on the other side and hitting a tree.

Sherod Jones told ABC7 that he saw the crash and ran on to the bus to check that everybody was OK.

'I got on the bus, and I checked to see [if] the lady's foot [was] on the brake, and I put it in park so that the kids would be alright,' he said.

'They said it was 12 kids on that bus, so I just wanted to make sure that the lady was alright. She was really my main concern.'

Paramedics were called and Byrd was given Narcan to revive her before being taken to hospital.

She has now been charged with 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, driving while impaired and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Investigators revealed Byrd's driving licence had been suspended between 1996 and 2006, though the reason for the suspension was not reported.

Newark school officials said that all bus routes run by a private firm F&A Transport will be taken over by the district until an investigation has been completed.

'Endangering the lives of Newark children is something we will not tolerate,' Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said.
Tory MP Chris Davies (pictured) has been charged over claims he forged expenses receipts

A Conservative MP has been charged with falsifying his expenses and will appear in court next month.

Chris Davies, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire in Wales, was first interviewed by police under caution in July, then again in October.

He claims to have made an 'an honest mistake' by claiming for furniture and pictures for his constituency office in 2016.

Mr Davies was referred to police by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa).

Today he was charged with two counts of forgery and with providing false or misleading information for allowances claims contrary to section 10 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. The alleged offences all date to January to March 2016.

Today a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: 'In November 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police relating to an allegation that Christopher Davies, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, falsified two invoices in support of Parliamentary expenses claims.

'Following a review of the evidence, the CPS has today charged Mr Davies with two offences of making a false instrument and one offence of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims.

'He will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 22 March.'

Mr Davies was elected as an MP in 2015 after winning the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

The allegations were referred to Scotland Yard by Parliament's expenses watchdog in April

Mr Davies, a ministerial aide at the Wales Office, is accused of forging two invoices adding up to 700 to get the claims past Ipsa officials in early 2016.

He is also said to have tried to get a member of his local association staff to submit one of the fake bills.

A letter from Conservative Party HQ to Brecon and Radnorshire MP Mr Davies, seen by The Mail on Sunday earlier this year, highlighted the 'seriousness of the allegations'.

In a summary of the accusations, it says: 'It appears you were concerned the invoice may be rejected as excessive.

'Instead, to obtain the full amount of 700 by another route, you fabricated or arranged to be fabricated, two smaller invoices, one for 450 and the other for 250.'

He has previously said that he repaid the 450 sum, which was charged to a start-up fund for new MPs to set up offices.

Today Mr Davies said: 'I am very disappointed at todays announcement by the CPS. I have explained previously the circumstances that led to the investigation, relating to events dating back to when I was a newly elected MP over three years ago.

'I will now speak to my lawyers and my colleagues in Parliament. I have nothing further to say about the matter at this time'.
The wife of a man with motor neurone disease who ended his life at Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas has revealed he whispered 'I love you' in his final moments.

Retired accountant Geoff Whaley, from Buckinghamshire, chose to die in Switzerland rather than face the 'immense suffering' of the final stages of his condition at home.

The grandfather-of-four, 80, died peacefully in his wife Ann's arms, surrounded by family and friends on February 7.

Today Ann, 76, who was married to him 52 years, revealed how he died 'very quickly' after taking a lethal dose of medication.

She told ITV's This Morning: 'He had a good death, not the bad death that we knew was going to come for him in the next few weeks.

'He died very quickly after taking the medication. I put my arms around him and said 'I love you'. Faintly I heard him say: 'I love you so'.

Today the wife and daughter of Geoff Whaley, a retired accountant from Buckinghamshire who ended his life at Dignitas, went on This Morning to talk about their ordeal. Ann, 76, is pictured left and Alix right

Pictured: Geoff Whaley, 80, in his wheelchair during his last few weeks

Just moments before he passed away Mr Whaley posted a haunting letter to the Government, calling for a change in UK law which he said, 'robbed me of control over my death.'

The law on assisted suicide in the UK In England and Wales under the Suicide Act 1961 and in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 it is a crime to encourage or assist suicide. This crime carries a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment. If someone provides encouragement or assistance, that is a crime, even if the person ends their life overseas in a country where assisted dying is legal. There is no specific crime of assisting a suicide in Scotland, but it is possible that helping a competent adult to die could lead to a prosecution for culpable homicide. Advertisement

He revealed how he 'sobbed' for the first time in five decades when his wife was grilled by police for helping him die, adding: '[The law] sought to punish those attempting to help me get there. The hypocrisy and cruelty of this is astounding.'

Mr Whaley wanted assisted suicide to be made legal in the UK after his wife was interviewed under caution in the weeks before his death and warned she faced 14 years in prison.

Today his daughter Alix Hawley told presenters Eamonn and Ruth: 'The last few weeks of his life were like a bomb going off.

'We could have had more time, three, four five, weeks maybe.'

The family claim if the law on assisted dying in the UK was different their beloved relative's final weeks would not have been tied up in legal procedures.

Mrs Whaley said: 'He could have died in his own home in his own country.

'But he had to go early. His swallowing was fading. He had to be able to suck the medicine through a straw.'

Mrs Whaley is pictured kissing her husband on the forehead as he prepares to end his life

She added that Mr Whaley had decided he wanted to take his own life just days after being diagnosed with his condition.

She said: 'Right from the beginning he made it quite clear to everybody that he wanted to plan his end.

'He had arranged everything himself.'

His daughter said witnessing his death was 'probably one of the hardest things she had ever done'.

But Mrs Waley said he was sure of his decision and at a meeting with MPs and peers and the Houses of Parliament he explained changing the law would not allow people to be exploited.

She said: 'Geoffrey had to produce psychiatric reports to show he had settled on his view.

The 80-year-old, pictured with his wife Ann, sent a letter to the Government on the day he died

Mr and Mrs Whaley on their wedding day. Ann was interviewed under caution and warned she faces 14 years in prison for helping her husband die

'Even the night before his death the doctor came and he said I have to interview you for half an hour to make you quite sure. If I have the slightest doubt you're on the next plane.

'He told the MPs and peers he spoke to about - weak and vulnerable people wouldn't get anywhere near Dignitas.'

The family say they are determined to see the law changed.

Ms Hawley said: 'We want to get the law changed, we want to get awareness, we said we would live his legacy.'

Her mother added: 'He started it by going up to Parliament and already MPs have been raising questions in the house, his name is now in Hansard. It's started.

'We are turning a negative situation into a positive one.'

Today his daughter Alix Hawley (far right with mother Ann second right) told presenters Eamonn and Ruth (left): 'The last few weeks of his life were like a bomb going off.'
David Cameron made a dramatic last-gasp plea to former Tory MPs to stay in the party before they defected to a new centrist group, one of them has revealed.

Anna Soubry said the former prime minister, who quit politics after leading the failed Remain campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, sent the self-titled 'three amigos' an 11th hour text asking 'Is it too late to persuade you to stay?'.

The Broxtowe MP revealed she and fellow 'three amigos' Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen all received the identical text message earlier this week as rumours of their defection swirled around Westminster, in an interview with the Times.

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Anna Soubry (centre) said that she, Sarah Wollaston (right) and Heidi Allen (left) were sent identical text messages by David Cameron before they announced they were quitting the Conservative Party, saying they had been 'a bit late'.

In his text message to the MPs, Mr Cameron, who was prime minister from 2010 to 2016, said: 'Hate going on rumours, but is it too late to persuade you to stay? Love and best wishes DC.'

The former Tory, now a member of The Independent Group (TIG) of MPs which includes disaffected ex-Labour moderates, said: 'David Cameron sent me a text. He asked me to stay.

'It was a bit late. He is a very busy man, he is writing his book, but he did.

'And I thought 'hey DC sent me a text, pretty cool' ... it was the same one to all three.

'As if we wouldn't compare.'

Ms Soubry said that the message in full read: 'Hate going on rumours, but is it too late to persuade you to stay? Love and best wishes DC.'

The Nottinghamshire MP, along with Totnes's Dr Wollaston and Ms Allen, who represents South Cambridgeshire, announced on Wednesday they were quitting the Tories with a broadside at its direction and policies on Brexit.

Mr Cameron publicly lamented the decision by the trio of Remain-supporting MPs to quit the Tory benches.

After they confirmed they were leaving to join MPs including Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger and Joan Ryan in the new group, he tweeted: 'I am sad that three talented Tory Mps have left the party. I backed the open primaries that saw two of them elected and supported them all.

'I respect their decision, but disagree with them: we need strong voices at every level of the party calling for the modern, compassionate Conservatism that saw the Conservative Party return to office.

'Our party has long been able to contain different views on Europe. Everyone must ensure that can continue to be the case.'

Broxtowe MP Ms Soubry, Totnes's Sarah Wollaston (centre) and South Cambridgeshire's Heidi Allen (right) have been dubbed 'the three amigos' after joining eight Labour MPs in The Independent Group (TIG).

The 11 MPs from Labour and the Conservatives who quit the parties to form TIG: Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith, Joan Ryan, Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston and Anna Soubry.

Ms Soubry told the Times that a current Cabinet minister - she gave no name but said it was not one she knew well - sent her a text message saying 'don't go'.

But other ministers she had closer relationships with, 'it was as if they thought 'nah its right, this has got to happen',' she told the paper.

And she said that there had been no attempt from anyone in Mrs May's team at 10 Downing Street had contacted her to convince her to stay with the Tories.

She added that 'someone who used to be in the Cabinet, who is no longer in the Cabinet, blew me a huge kiss' in a corridor near the Commons chamber after Prime Minister's Questions yesterday.

On Wednesday Ms Soubry lashed out at hardline 'entryism' into the Conservative Party which had resulted in 'tyranny' where MPs were more afraid of their local associations than their voters.

Hitting out at 'Blukip' or the 'purple momentum' phenomenon she said: 'It's a form of tyranny and it's ironic that Conservatives observe and condemn it in the Labour Party but it's happening in their own party.'

She added: 'I'm not leaving the Conservative Party, it has left us.'
Jean-Claude Juncker warned today he was not 'optimistic' of a Brexit deal following his latest talks with Theresa May.

The EU Commission President held his latest meeting with Mrs May last night and the pair issued a joint statement on the urgency of the process.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are due back in Brussels today to continue work on the Irish border backstop.

But Mr Juncker claimed today he had 'Brexit fatigue' and suggested the talks were making little progress.

The intervention comes after it was claimed Michael Gove and Philip Hammond have clashed again over no deal.

Theresa May flew into Brussels for a showdown with Jean-Claude Juncker last night (pictured) warning she still needs 'legally binding concessions' to get her deal agreed

He said: 'Brexit is deconstruction, it is not construction. Brexit is the past, it is not the future,' he said.

'If a no-deal would happen - and I can't exclude this - this would have terrible economic and social consequences, both in Britain and on the continent, and so my efforts orient in a way that the worst can be avoided.

'But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue.'

With just 36 days to go the Environment Secretary is said to have accused the Chancellor of failing to properly prepare Britain for no deal.

Mr Hammond insisted today the Government had taken the necessary precautions but was still committed to leaving the EU with a deal.

Two sources told The Telegraph that there had been a 'heated' row between Mr Hammond and Mr Gove.

Mr Gove is said to have raised concerns about whether there will be enough ferry capacity to transport food and medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The argument is said to have happened during a Cabinet committee discussions yesterday.

Michael Gove (right) and Philip Hammond (left) have clashed again over no deal, it was claimed today

In an interview with the Today programme this morning, the Chancellor admitted it was 'uncomfortable we are so close to the wire' but said it was the nature of political negotiations.

He described Brexit as 'a large black cloud' hanging over the UK economy, which is distracting the Government from its domestic priorities.

In an interview with BBC One's Breakfast, the Chancellor was repeatedly asked whether he would quit the Cabinet if Theresa May went for a no-deal Brexit.

He replied: 'I will always do what I believe is in the best interests of the country.'

Asked if a no-deal Brexit would be in the UK's best interests, Mr Hammond said: 'No, definitely not. My job is to make sure that the Government gets us a solution which does not take us to that no-deal precipice.

'I have been crystal-clear on this for the last two-and-a-half years. That is what I am working for all day, every day, and, so long as I believe I am able to influence that outcome and help to get us to a good outcome here, which will protect British jobs and British prosperity, that's what I will go on doing.'

Speaking last night in Brussels, Mrs May said: 'I've underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop which ensure it cannot be indefinite, that's what is required if a deal is going to pass the House of Commons.

'We've agreed that work to find a solution will continue at pace, time is of the essence and it's in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly way.

'And so we've made progress and the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU and the Attorney General will be in Brussels tomorrow for further talks.'

A joint statement issued following the meeting said: 'The two leaders agreed that talks had been constructive and they urged their respective teams to continue to explore the options in a positive spirit.

'They will review progress again in the coming days, seized of the tight timescale and the historic significance of setting the EU and the UK on a path to a deep and unique future partnership.'

The statement said discussions had looked at 'which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature and give the appropriate legal assurance to both sides'.

Talks also covered 'the role alternative arrangements could play in replacing the backstop in future'.

The statement added: 'Both reconfirmed their commitment to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and to respect the integrity of the EU's internal market and of the United Kingdom.'

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (pictured in Downing Street yesterday ) is working on a legal 'codicil' to the deal setting out the current backstop will not last forever - something critics fear.

Mr Juncker - pictured tonight sporting a plaster on his face - has warned Mrs May must be the one to find concessions to get a Brexit deal

The PM and Mr Juncker agreed to talk again before the end of the month.

After the meeting, Mrs May said: 'I have underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop that ensure that it cannot be indefinite.

What is the 'Cox Codicil'? What is a 'codicil'? A legal term for an extra document attached to a treaty - a bit like an appendix. What does this one try to do? It won't be clear unless and until it is published, but reports suggest Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is negotiating a codicil on how the backstop works. The obvious intention will be to make clear the backstop can only be temporary. Will it work? Unclear. The EU already says the backstop is supposed to be temporary and that language already in the divorce treaty says so. Cox's legal advice on the original deal was despite this language, if there is no future UK-EU trade deal there was nothing to stop the backstop lasting forever. The intention appears to be negotiating something that allows Cox to change his legal advice. Advertisement

'That's what is required if a deal is to pass the House of Commons. We have agreed that work to find a solution will continue at pace.

'Time is of the essence and it is in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly way. So, we have made progress.'

Mrs May will continue her diplomatic offensive at an EU-Arab summit on Sunday - but officials have admitted it would not be the scene for a dramatic 'deal in the desert'.

Other EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Council President will be in Sharm el-Sheikh and Mrs May will hold Brexit-related talks.

But no decisions will be taken in the absence of key powerbrokers, including French President Emmanuel Macron - possibly ending Mrs May's hopes of a new vote on her deal as soon as next week.

Mrs May faces a race against time to get her deal approved before exit day on March 29 and could face mass resignations next week to stop no deal.

But amid hopes Sunday's summit could produce a breakthrough, a senior Government official said: 'This is not a meeting about Brexit and the PM isn't going to seek to turn it into one.

'At summits the PM always holds a series of bilateral meetings and conversations and she will of course continue to engage her fellow leaders in relation to Brexit,' the official said.

'But this isn't a European Council meeting and it isn't somewhere that European Council decisions are going to be made.'

Mrs May is battling to keep her Brexiteer rebels (including Steve Baker, pictured) on board and met senior MPs last night to sooth anger over claims the so-called 'Malthouse Compromise' was being dropped

Mrs May is battling to keep her Brexiteer rebels on board and met senior MPs on Tuesday night to sooth anger over claims the so-called 'Malthouse Compromise' was being dropped.

The PM told them the plan - to replace the current border backstop with a technology-based solution - is still under development despite ministers accepting it will not be ready in time to approve the deal before exit day.

It is deeply unclear whether any extra legal promises will be enough to swing enough vote for the Prime Minister to win a second vote on the deal.

The hardline European Research Group has repeatedly insisted the deal must be re-written to pass - warning new legal language will not be enough.

Mrs May has promised MPs if she has not held a vote on a revised deal before Wednesday they will get another chance to put their own proposals to the test.

The PM has been warned she could face a raft of ministerial resignations if she fails to rule out a no deal Brexit in time for those votes, which will fall just a month before exit day.
Jeremy Corbyn has blasted eight defectors from Labour for allying with 'disaffected Tory MPs' and warned new rebels not to join the 'politics of the past'.

In a social media message to his followers last night Mr Corbyn branded the new Independent Group a 'return to the failed business as usual'.

Mr Corbyn pleaded with Jewish people to believe he was an 'ally' against abuse after the rebel MPs accused him of letting Labour become 'institutionally anit-Semitic'.

Friends of Mr Corbyn, including Unite leader Len McCluskey, have played down anti-Semitism in Labour despite the furious criticisms from the defecting MPs.

The video will fuel anger from Labour MPs about Mr Corbyn's response to the latest crisis amid warnings up to 50 more could quit the party in protest against him.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons yesterday) has blasted eight defectors from Labour for allying with 'disaffected Tory MPs' and warned new rebels not to join the 'politics of the past'

In a social media message to his followers last night (pictured) Mr Corbyn branded the new Independent Group a 'return to the failed business as usual'

In the clip, Mr Corbyn said: 'Our labour movement is greater than the sum of our parts. We're at our best when we work together.

'It's disappointing that some MPs have left our party to sit with disaffected Tory MPs. But we cannot return to the failed business as usual politics of the past.'

He added these MPs now want to 'abandon the policies on which they were elected, so the decent thing for them to do is to resign and put themselves up for election'.

Addressing Britons Jews, Mr Corbyn added: 'I say again to the Jewish people both in our party and across the country: we are your ally in the fight against anti-Semitism.

'Labour is the only party with a deep rooted history of combatting racism.'

Mr Corbyn's own deputy Tom Watson has refused to criticise the splinter group, saying only their move was 'premature' and warning Mr Corbyn to change if he wanted to avoid more defections.

ears. Luciana Berger led eight MPs in walking out on Labour this week (pictured), admitting: 'I cannot remain in a party which I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.

But a Labour spokesman slammed the eight MPs yesterday for forming an 'establishment coalition' in a signal the warnings to Mr Corbyn have fallen on deaf ears.

Luciana Berger led eight MPs in walking out on Labour this week, admitting: 'I cannot remain in a party which I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.'

Enfield North MP Joan Ryan followed last night, and said: 'We never had this problem in the party before he was the leader. It comes with him, it is part of his politics I am afraid

'Labour should be the bulwark against that - against the hard right and their views. Instead of that, inside Labour it is perpetuating anti-Semitism.'
A metal rope barrier will be set up along a dangerous road after a young police officer lost his life in a horrific head-on-collision with another car last month.

Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, Melinda Pavey, confirmed to 9 News the barriers were on their way and ready for installation along Heathcote Road at Lucas Heights in Sydney's south.

'I cant give you a date, but we have our people out there and inspecting that and ensuring we put them in safely.'

The announcement is good news for residents in the area, who have long been pushing for safety to be improved along the 24km stretch of road.

Teenager Tilayna Muddle kick-started an online petition for the barriers to be installed in early February.

'Considering all the comments the public have made on the petition, its really important they put those barriers in before someone else dies on that road,' Ms Muddle said.

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Calls for a safer road reached fever pitch when police officer Timothy Proctor died after he was involved in a head on collision with another car at the end of January

In the Change.org petition, Ms Muddle said the combination of 100k/h speed zones and winding turns made for dangerous driving conditions.

'Despite the many accidents, near misses, and pleas from road users, our local government has planned no such installation of road safety barriers to protect drivers,' the petition read.

Concerned residents were quick to take to the online petition to air their frustration.

'Barriers need to be installed immediately,' one person said.

'Local lives matter,' another concerned resident said.

'Having young adult sons with friends living at the other end of Heathcote Road, I am always so worried for them all travelling that road.

'While Im confident in their ability to drive, its the unpredictability of others that is the problem. Vehicles crossing to the other side of the road at speeds of 100km causing a high speed head on collision on this stretch of road is never far from my mind.'

Calls for a safer road reached fever pitch when police officer Timothy Proctor died after he was involved in a head on collision with another car at the end of January.

Mr Proctor was driving back to work after a training exercise when the 29-year-old's car collided with a black Honda Civic travelling the opposite way

Mr Proctor was driving back to work after a training exercise when the 29-year-old's car collided with a black Honda Civic travelling the opposite way.

The vehicle crossed a lane of traffic before veering onto the wrong side and colliding into Constable Proctor at a combined speed of 200k/h.

The probationary constable was rushed to Liverpool Hospital and placed in an induced coma after he was pulled from the wreckage of his Honda Jazz.

He succumbed to his injuries in hospital days later.

Mr Proctor had only been a member of the NSW Police Force for a short nine months after working as a firefighter.

Commissioner Mick Fuller said Mr Proctor had a 'tremendous passion and commitment' for his job and his community, and gave his condolences to Mr Proctor's family and colleagues.

'My thoughts are with Timothy's wife Dianne, his family, friends and colleagues at this incredibly difficult time,' he said.

'Timothy was certainly well on the way to a wonderful policing career and was well respected by his colleagues and all who knew him.

'He joined the Police Force after being a volunteer fire-fighter and had a tremendous passion and commitment for all emergency services and the community.'

Police Minister Troy Grant said the tragic crash was a 'confronting reminder of the horrific trauma we sadly continue to see on our roadways'.

'P/Cst Proctor was a recent recruit from the Goulburn Academy and had begun a promising career at Liverpool City Police Area Command,' he said in a statement.

'Its the worst call that a police minister can get, to be told that one of our own has been injured or killed in the course of their duties.

'P/Cst Proctor will be deeply missed by his young wife and family. We can not imagine their grief for a life lost far too soon.

'Im sure I speak on behalf of the entire community when I say that his loved ones, and the broader police family, have our full support at this tragic time.'

A funeral service was held for Mr Proctor at the All Saints Catholic Church in Liverpool at the start of last week.
A Chinese ER doctor has been praised after comforting a crying toddler who was injured in a traffic accident like a loving father.

Dr. Li Zhiyong tried to console the injured girl, who had blood on her face, by holding her in his arm and told her stories as distraction.

The child and her mother had been involved in a car crash. Her mother had been knocked into a coma, and the girl had been crying non-stop asking for her mother.

The heart-warming scene was filmed last Friday at the Number One Affiliated Hospital to Harbin Medical University in the city of Harbin in north-eastern China, according to the local New Evening Newspaper.

Dr. Li is a surgeon at the hospital's Department of Vascular Surgery and was working at the ER that day.

The toddler, who is around one year old, and her mother, who is in her 30s, were rushed to the hospital at about 3pm, the report said.

Dr. Li treated the little girl while his colleges attended to her mother.

Dr. Li Zhiyong holds the girl in his arm and tries to distract her with images on his computer before treating the little patient in Harbin, China. The child, who is about one year old, and her mother were involved in a traffic accident and her mother was knocked into a coma

A father to a young boy himself, Dr. Li said it was heart-wrenching for him to see the girl crying, therefore he wanted to calm her before checking on her injuries.

He tried to distract the girl by telling her to look at his computer and made stories out of the symbols on the computer screen.

The doctor then accompanied the little patient as she underwent a brain scan to ensure she would not be frightened by the process.

Medical examination showed the girl having no injuries in the brain. Dr Li treated the grazes on her face and wiped off her tears before handing her to her grandfather who arrived at the hospital 20 minutes later.

The six-second footage of Dr. Li holding the girl quickly has gone viral after being uploaded to Chinese video app Douyin.

Dr. Li, who has a four-year-old son, remains modest and says what he did was most ordinary

The original video has received nearly 80,000 'likes' and numerous Chinese websites have reported about his benevolent act. Internet viewers are impressed by Dr. Li's kindness, patience and dedication.

The doctor said he realised he had become 'famous' after various friends messaged him about the clip last Sunday night.

Commenting on the matter, he remained modest.

During an interview with China Central Television Station, the man who has been a doctor for 11 years said: 'This is such an ordinary thing for medical professionals. I believe other doctors would have done the same thing under the circumstances.'

Both the girl and her mother are recovering in hospital, according to China Central Television Station.
A business owner who refused to complete a lesbian couple's tax return said she did so because of her religious beliefs.

Bailey and Samantha Brazzel sought to have their tax return done at Carter Tax Service in Russiaville, Indiana, but the owner turned her away.

Nancy Fivecoate, 66, said her views are protected under the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in March 2015. The following month, an amendment to protect LGBT people from discrimination was added.

Bailey and Samantha Brazzel sought to have their tax return done at Carter Tax Service in Russiaville, Indiana, but the owner turned her away

The law forbids the government from interfering with a person's practice of relgious belief unless it has a reason to do so. A federal version of the law, introduced by then U.S. Rep. Chuck Schumer, was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Ms Fivecoate's decision to turn away the couple's business has once again shined a spotlight on the boundary between relgious freedom and discrimination.

In June, Colorado baker Jack Phillip won a Supreme Court case after he refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Ms Fivecoate said she is within her legal right to turn away the couple and that she did not wish to draw attention to the issue.

She told the Indianapolis Star: 'I've never repeated her name to anyone.

'I haven't answered social media. I've done absolutely nothing except (follow) my religious beliefs. I cannot put my name on that return.'

Later, in a statement to WTHR-TV of Indianapolis, she said: 'The LGBT want respect for their beliefs, which I give them. I did not say anything about their lifestyle. That is their choice. It is not my choice. Where is their respect for my beliefs?'

But Brazzel, 25, said the rejection of her business amounts to illegal discrimination based on her sexuality.

It is unclear whether the couple will take legal action against the business

She said: 'I went in there to have my taxes done, not push my beliefs on her.

'It's not professional to me to turn someone away because they do something differently than you would like.'

'My taxes don't have anything to do with our marriage. If you are going to run a business, you should be professional enough to do business with people from all types of backgrounds.'

The couple took their business elsewhere but decided to go public with their story. It remains unclear whether they will pursue legal action.
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An NYPD detective killed by friendly fire during an apparent armed robbery in Queens last week was laid to rest on Wednesday in a ceremony watched by his tearful family and colleagues.

Brian Simonsen, 42, was remembered by his nickname 'Smiles' during the service in which he was posthumously promoted to detective first class, drawing a lengthy standing ovation.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill delivered Simonsen's eulogy, praising him as an exceptional worker who made more than 600 arrests in his 19-year career, most of them felonies.

Leanne Simonsen, wife of fallen NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen (fourth from right), joins his tearful relatives as they are escorted from the Church of St. Rosalie in Hamptons Bay, New York, after his funeral on Wednesday

A tearful Mrs Simonsen, still wearing her wedding ring, is embraced by New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill who delivered the eulogy during Simonsen's funeral

NYPD Chaplain Monsignor David Cassato shares communion with Mrs Simonsen as her husband, who was known affectionately as 'Smiles', was laid to rest

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attended the funeral, relating a story in which Simonsen spent so long comforting the victim of a crime that his shirt was left soaked in her tears

Hundreds of officers and loved ones packed out the Saint Rosalie Roman Catholic Church to capacity to bid a final farewell to detective Simonsen, who died after being shot in the chest

Matthew Gorman, Simonsen's partner who was shot in the leg during the same incident where Simonsen was killed, arrived at the funeral in a wheelchair five days after being released from hospital

'He was exceedingly good at his job,' said O'Neill. 'Making connections with the evidence' and also reconnecting crime victims 'with the hope that was stolen from them.'

Mayor Bill de Blasio related a story in which Simonsen was comforting a woman who had fought off an intruder. He allowed her to cry on his shoulder for so long that by the end, his shirt was soaked in tears.

'It was never just a job for him,' De Blasio added.

On the night he was shot, Simonsen should have been off for a union meeting, but he opted to go to work so he could continue tracking a string of recent robberies, O'Neill said.

Simonsen spent 19 years in the NYPD, all of them with the 109th precinct, during which he made 600 arrests - the majority of them felonies

'Always remember who you are, what you do and why you do it,' he added. 'Continue to be proud of that.'

Simonsen and his wife, Leanne, a nurse, lived in Calverton, near the Long Island community where he grew up. Neighborhood kids knew him as 'Uncle Brian.'

'Smiles, he should have been the mayor. He was the glue. ... He just loved everyone,' said Melissa Weir, who had known him since high school.

'There's a lot of people who are hurting,' Weir said outside the church. 'Last night, I screamed in my car.'

'You don't want any of our police to end up that way. But why him? ... A good guy, such a larger-than-life personality,' she said. 'A stand-up guy.'

In attendance was Matthew Gorman, Simonsen's partner, who was also shot and wounded during the incident and arrived at the church in a wheelchair.

The pair were among seven officers called to a T-Mobile store in Queens on Tuesday night last week to reports of an armed robbery.

Gorman and two uniformed officers went inside the store, which seemed to be abandoned, while Simonsen and three other cops waited outside.

It was then that suspect Christopher Ransom came running out of a back room holding a fake Colt 1911 and mimed firing it at the officers.

Gorman backed out of the store along with the two other officers before the cops opened fire, unleashing a hail of 42 bullets in just under 11 seconds.

Leanne Simonsen is comforted as she is handed a folded flag after her late husband's remains were carried out of the church

Police officers get into formation as they await Simonsen's casket following his funeral which took place on Wednesday

Officers line up on Montauk Highway as the funeral procession of fallen NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen leaves the church

Suffolk County Police Officer Shawn Petersen (left), Simonsen's cousin, hugs wife Leanne during the funeral service

Former New York City Police Commissioner William 'Bill' Bratton attended the service to pay his respects

Ransom was shot multiple times and wounded along with Gorman, who was shot in the leg. Simonsen was shot in the chest and later died.

The NYPD has confirmed that the bullet which killed Simonsen was fired by one of their officers but has not revealed who, saying they are still reviewing bodycam footage and CCTV.

From the time police arrived at the scene until the gunfire stopping, less than a minute elapsed.

The NYPD is laying the blame for Simonsen's death squarely on Ransom and his associate Jagger Freeman, who police believe acted as a lookout for him.

O'Neill underlined that point at his funeral, saying: 'The only two people responsible for Brian's death, the only two, are the career criminals' involved in the robbery.

Both men have been arrested and charged with offences including murder, robbery, and assault.

Officers believe 27-year-old Ransom was attempting suicide by cop when he rushed at the officers, and revealed he has a history of erratic and dangerous behavior, especially involving law enforcement.

Police say that in 2016 Ransom climbed over a gate and walked up to a desk at a Brooklyn police station while wearing a fake SWAT vest and police badge.

The same year, he was filmed wearing only his underwear and a red cape at a Brooklyn police station, The New York Daily News reports. He told cops there he was a superhero looking to help police.

In the bizarre clip Ransom says: 'I love the law enforcement, man. You guys get paid for it. Ill do it for free. I appreciate the NYPD. All cops are not bad, guys. Some cops are good. I'm a superhero.'

Police say Christopher Ransom (above) appeared to be attempting to commit suicide by cop as he charged at seven armed officers while pretending to pull the trigger on his fake firearm

Ransom, pictured, is now in police custody. He has a history of erratic and dangerous behavior involving law enforcement, including a 2016 incident when he climbed a gate and walked up to a desk at a police station wearing a fake SWAT vest

olice officers carry the remains of fallen NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen toward a Hearse following his funeral service

A limousine bearing Simonsen's badge number as part of the funeral procession waits outside the church in Hampton Bays

Another car in the procession had a floral display emblazoned with 'Blue Lives Matter'

Ransom also pleaded guilty to lying to get a Brooklyn court internship and was caught stalking Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Patricia DiMango and Judge Ruth Shillingford back in 2013, The New York Post reports.

And records show career criminal Ransom has been arrested at least 11 times since 2012.

Judge DiMangom said at her trial: 'He was obsessed with the idea of getting into the courthouse without passing the magnetometers.

'He would come into my courtroom on various occasions and try to get the attention of the court officers.'

Investigators are also looking into whether he is connected to a separate robbery at a store in Queens last month. He reportedly goes by the nickname 'Detective'.

On social media, Ransom has styled himself as a comedian and prankster in the vein of Sasha Baron Cohen of 'Borat' fame, posting videos of stunts that sometimes veered into dangerous territory.

In one video, he's shown in his cape-and-Speedo superhero outfit stopping a subway train by jumping on the tracks and putting his hand up. In another video, he shows up to a police precinct in the outfit.

Ransom sued the city over a 2015 arrest, alleging officers approached him on a Brooklyn street corner for no reason, cornered him in a food store with guns drawn and took him to a psychiatric ward against his will.

Ransom's charges were later dismissed, and he dropped the lawsuit in 2016.
Iran has started military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean, commander of the Iranian Army Navy, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said.

The exercises will consist of four stages, one of which will involve training in conditions of real war at sea, the commander said, adding that warships, submarines and aircraft will be involved. Missile launches are also planned as part of the drills, the commander added.

According to Khanzadi, the manoeuvres will cover a total area of 2 million square km, Associated Press reported.
A major Chinese port has reportedly banned imports of Australian coal amid tensions between the two nations over cyber security and control in the Pacific.

In addition to the ban, customs at China's northern Dalian port will cap overall imports for 2019 through its harbours at 12 million tonnes, an official at Dalian Port Group told Reuters on Thursday.

The indefinite ban on imports from top supplier Australia, effective since the start of February, comes as major ports elsewhere in China prolong clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days.

Coal is Australia's biggest export earner and the Australian dollar tumbled on the news, falling more than 1 percent to as low at $0.7086.

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(File picture) A major Chinese port has reportedly banned imports of Australian coal amid tensions between the two nations

A coal mine in Bulga in Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, pictured on November 18, 2015

Five harbours overseen by Dalian customs - Dalian, Bayuquan, Panjin, Dandong and Beiliang - will not allow Australian coal to clear through customs, said the official.

Coal imports from Russia and Indonesia will not be affected.

The ports handled about 14 million tonnes of coal last year, half of which was from Australia, said Gu Meng, analyst at Orient Futures.

The Dalian official declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Neither Dalian customs nor the General Administration of Customs immediately responded to a request for comment.

The source said he was not given a reason for the ban on Australian imports.

However, it comes amid simmering tensions between Beijing and Canberra over issues such as cyber security and China's influence in Pacific island nations.

Chinese media has also taken aim at Australia for its decision to ban Huawei from 5G networks, amid reports the telecommunication company could pose a major national security threat.

Australia recently revoked the visa of a prominent Chinese businessman, further straining ties.

Beijing has also been trying to restrict imports of coal more generally to support domestic prices.

Customs at China's northern Dalian port (pictured) is the most northern ice-free port in China

Spot Australian coking coal at northern Chinese port Jingtang is 200 yuan ($29.85) cheaper per tonne than domestic prices, according to data tracked by Orient Futures.

Prices of thermal coal are approximately the same.

Dalian handles both thermal and coking coal imports but the clampdown is expected to have a bigger impact on coking coal, used in steel making, than thermal coal, used to generate electricity.

'It is hard to find a replacement for Australian coking coal since its sulphur content is very low,' said a purchasing manager at a large coke plant in Hebei province.

'Current inventory at ports should be sufficient to support usage for one or two months, but it could be a problem in the long term, especially if other ports also tighten imports,' he added.

He declined to be named due to company policy.
This is the moment hunters purportedly shot at vegan animal rights activists as they tried to save a wild stag in France.

The clip, filmed in Castelnau-de-Montmiral in southern France's Tarn department, shows campaigners trying to put themselves between the exhausted animal and a pack of dogs.

At one point gunshots can be heard in the footage before one of the activists shouts 'he is firing at us with a rifle, the b*****d!'

Amid tense scenes, a male voice can then be heard shouting in French: 'The first who comes near is dead!'

Footage has captured the moment hunters purportedly shot at vegan animal rights activists as they tried to save a stag in France. Pictured: Protesters put themselves between the animal and hunting dogs, during the confrontation in Castelnau-de-Montmiral

The clip, filmed in southern France's Tarn department, shows campaigners trying to put themselves between the exhausted animal and a pack of hunting dogs

The video cuts to a hunter holding what looks like a gun and saying to the activists: 'The first one to touch the dogs is dead!'

The video cuts to a hunter holding what looks like a gun and saying to the activists: 'The first one to touch the dogs is dead!'

The hunter shouts: 'I don't give a f**k if I'm being filmed! You're touching the dogs! You're hitting them! I'm just protecting my dogs!'

One of the activists replies: 'We are not hitting the dogs. We are here for the animals.'

The clip then shows protesters standing over the stag, with the animal having apparently died of exhaustion. 'It's dead. It's dead,' one of them says.

The footage, posted online by French comedian and animal activist Remi Gaillard, starts with someone shouting: 'There's the deer! There it is!'

The clip then shows protesters standing over the stag, with the animal having apparently died of exhaustion. 'It's dead. It's dead,' one of them says

Dogs can be heard barking in the background as the activists run to try to catch up with the stag shouting 'No! No! No!'.

After catching up with it one of the protesters says: 'OK, mate, OK, get out of here.'

Many have taken to social media to share their opinion of the video after Gaillard shared it on Twitter.

One said: 'I do not like Remy Gailard's sense of humour, but in this, I support him 100 percent.'

Another added: 'These f*****g aristocrats are really p*****g us off with their hunting from a bygone era.'

A third said: 'Hunters in France represent two per cent of the population. Two per cent who p**s everyone else off on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.'
The extraordinary story of how the father of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died on Tuesday aged 85, was detained as a 'German spy' by Tsar Nicholas II has emerged in Russia.

Otto Lagerfeld, a tinned milk salesman, was sent to a Siberia's coldest jail for the duration of the First World War.

Lagerfeld Snr's life as a globetrotting entrepreneur came to an abrupt halt at the hands of the tsar's secret police who threw him into a bleak Arctic internment camp.

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German designer Karl Lagerfeld died earlier this week at the age of 85 from pancreatic cancer

His father, Otto Christian Ludwig Lagerfeld, was a successful tinned milk salesman who was jailed on suspicion of espionage

In 1914, Otto Christian Ludwig Lagerfeld, then aged 33, had been living in Vladivostok on the Russian Pacific coast for seven years as a highly successful tinned milk salesman marketing his own brand called Gwosdika after stints working in Venezuela and San Francisco.

Russian officials noted he had was 'of mid-height, had black hair, grey eyes and spoke good English', revealed local historian Andrei Sidorov citing archives.

Also fluent in Russian, he was a prominent member of a cosmopolitan expat community in the Kremlin's Pacific capital.

When Germany declared war on Russia, he wrote to the emperor's officials begging to be allowed to go back to the US.

His written plea stated: 'I came to the conclusion that with the suspension of trade operations between London and Hamburg, the normal course of my activities cannot be sustained.'

Karl would later claim that his father - who original family name was spelled Lagerfeldt - was Swedish but all the evidence suggests he was German.

The prison in Vladivostok where Otto Lagerfeld was detained before eventually being sent to a four year long exile in Yakutia

During his time in the Vladivostok jail Otto was forced to survive in torrid conditions

The Russians certainly believed so and his demand to leave for the US was denied.

Instead he was detained as an 'espionage' suspect - and held in a guardhouse on Russky island near Vladivostok and later in the city's regional jail.

Then he was ordered to be sent to probably the coldest and most remote prison camp in all Russia.

An American emigre Eleanor Pray recorded the day he was sent by train from Vladivostok at the start of a 1,680 mile journey - mostly by river boat - into internal Russian exile.

She saw at Okeanskaia station 'a common convict wagon with barred windows - and there Messrs Tolle, Lagerfeldt, Wubbens and one other were confined, several soldiers being on guard. '

They were transported with 'common thieves and murderers' she said.

'These were four perfectly respectable men, whose only crime is that they are German,' she wrote in a letter home.

Pictures show the forbidding scene at Verkhoyansk on the Yana River, Russia's oldest settlement above the Arctic Circle.

The jail in Verkhoyansk on the Yana River, Russia's oldest settlement above the Arctic Circle, where Otto was kept from 1914 till 1918

Verkhoyansk jail pictured back at the beginning of 20th century when Otto Lagerfeld lived there

Block of flats in central Vladivostok where more than a 100 years ago Otto had an office

Average temperatures in January were minus 45C, and some 22 years before he was sent there this outpost had recorded what was then the coldest-ever temperature in the Northern hemisphere, minus 67.6C.

To try and escape this hell he applied for Russian citizenship, according to records cited by The Siberian Times.

His application was refused by the governor general of Amur region N.L.

Gondatti on 23 September 1914.

When Russia's new rulers signed a peace deal with Germany early in 1918, he was released and allowed to travel back to his homeland.

By this time the toppled Nicholas II - in whose name Otto had been interred - was himself in Siberian exile.

The royal family would be shot dead in July 1918.

How Otto made it back to Germany - with Russia and especially Siberia engulfed in civil war - is unknown but by 1919 he was running a business in Hamburg, his birth city.

Karl would be born 14 years later. Otto died aged 85 in Baden-Baden in 1967.
A mother accused of murdering her toddler allegedly beat and dragged the little boy around a Sydney home while trying to make him walk in the hours before his death, a court has heard.

The two-year-old spent part of his short life in foster care but was returned to his biological family before he suffered 'catastrophic internal injuries' similar to falling from a building.

The confronting details emerged as the 27-year-old mother, who can't be identified for legal reasons, faced court for the first time six months after the child arrived unresponsive at Westmead Hospital on August 3.

A mother accused of murdering her toddler (pictured) allegedly beat and dragged the little boy around a Sydney home while trying to make him walk in the hours before his death, a court has heard

The 27-year-old mother (pictured), who can't be identified for legal reasons, faced court for the first time six months after the child arrived unresponsive at Westmead Hospital on August 3

The toddler could not be revived.

A forensic pathologist, who conducted the autopsy, found the boy had bruises all over his body.

He had bruising on lung, diaphragm, bowel, gall bladder and heart, The Daily Telegraph reported.

He had a torn ventricle in his heart, a torn oesophagus and 'catastrophic internal injuries' consistent with 'falling from a building' or being in a car crash, the court heard.

The court heard the boy's small body also had three-week-old fractures to his skull, leg and shoulder.

The magistrate noted the prosecution case wasn't weak but was largely circumstantial and featured a witness statement from an unnamed individual and the toddler's brother.

A 26-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man were arrested at a unit on Thursday. The pair were taken to Parramatta Police Station where the woman was charged with murder, and the man was charged with conceal serious indictable offence

The court heard the boy's small body also had three-week-old fractures to his skull, leg and shoulder. His father (pictured) and mother were arrested on Thursday

'(The mother) hit him with a belt, sandal and open hand ''a thousand times'' trying to get him to walk,' the magistrate read from the brother's statement.

'The deceased had trouble standing and was falling down. She was angry and dragging the deceased along.'

The two-year-old's father was smoking in a bedroom in the house, the brother told police.

The woman, wearing a green corrective services shirt, sat silently, arms wrapped around herself, as the magistrate explained she could be sentenced to life behind bars.

The unnamed witness, the court heard, asked the woman about the boy's injuries after hearing an argument break out in which other adults demanded the child be taken to hospital.

The mother allegedly told the witness: 'I'm in God's hands now.'

Another woman, following the release of the post-mortem, claimed her family had fostered the toddler for about 18 months following his birth.

'He was the most happiest baby,' she said in January.

'We do not know much, but it would be amazing just for some closure for our family if someone comes forward with some information.'

The boy's mother and 34-year-old father were arrested by police at a unit in North Parramatta on Wednesday and charged, respectively, with murder and concealing an indictable offence.

The court heard the woman had no history of violence, would post $300,000 surety and would live under strict conditions with a friend if released - but the magistrate denied her bail.

The father didn't apply for bail and it was formally refused. He is expected to reappear via video link on March 7. The mother is expected to reappear in court on May 2.
A black BMW has smashed through a concrete wall from the second storey of a carpark.

The luxury vehicle landed on its roof after breaking through the wall of the Woolworths carpark at Eastwood Shopping centre and dropping onto the road on Rowe Street in Sydneys north-west on Thursday about 5.50pm.

The 31-year-old woman driver miraculously only suffered minor injuries and a broken arm.

The luxury vehicle landed on its roof from the Woolworths carpark at Eastwood Shopping centre and onto the road on Rowe Street

A black BMW has smashed through a concrete wall from the second storey of a carpark

She was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital where she remains in a stable condition.

Emergency authorities rushed to the scene, where smashed bricks were scattered all over the road.

New South Wales police said the womans injuries were not considered life threatening.

The circumstances behind the incident are being investigated.
The president of the National Union of Students has called the role an 'awful job' and told critics to 'F*** OFF' in an epic Facebook meltdown.

Shakira Martin, 31, has been outspoken throughout her two years in the 23,000-a-year role but in the post wrote that she doesn't give '2 s**ts' about her critics.

The mother-of-two, who worked briefly with drug dealers in her teens and did not attend university, has recently faced motions of no confidence from several students' unions.

She has also faced a number of accusations of bullying, admitting to The Guardian there was an occasion in December when she had 'lost it'.

At a time of financial crisis for the NUS her proposals to cut costs by removing paid national posts focused on the representation of women and minority groups have proved unpopular. Her term, which began with her election in April 2017, expires in 20 weeks.

In a now-deleted post on her personal Facebook page, Ms Martin wrote she 'couldn't give two s**ts' about criticisms, student news site The Tab reported.

In a post on her personal facebook page (left) the NUS President Shakira Martin (right) told her many critics to 'F*** off' adding they were 'lucky I turn up at conference at this rate'

The post, written yesterday and focused on the pressures of juggling her job with raising two children, was addressed to 'all those who [sic] the cap fits'.

'Unions can continue to submit motion [sic] to VOTE IN NO CONFIDENCE me [sic]... I'm gonna be 100% honest... I couldn't give 2 s**ts.'

She went on to complain she should have been focusing on her children not 'this awful job', adding 'I should vote no confidence in myself as mother.'

She went on: 'I literally have 20 weeks left in this joke of a role and I swear none of you ungrateful people are counting down the weeks more than me.'

Ms Martin when she was Vice President, at the Further Education Student protest over access and quality of higher education in 2016

Shakira Martin, NUS President, speaking at the UCU pensions strike rally at Westminster Central Hall in Feb 2018

Her rant ended: 'Keep putting in your motions... you'll be lucky if I even turn up for conference at this rate.

'Now in the most professional way possible, F**K OFF.'

During her election campaign in 2017, Ms Martin, a former student at Lewisham and Southwark College, made a virtue of being a 'black single mother from a working-class family'.

She told the BBC: 'This is where I am coming from. It's the only thing I know. I came into this campaign with nothing but overcoming adversity and challenges and barriers. I was born into barriers and the struggle is real.'

She said at the time, that when she returned to the FE college in 2011 after the birth of her first daughter six years ago she saw an advert for the role of women's officer at her college student union and applied for the role.

Only the second NUS President not to have gone to university, the mother-of-two has been outspoken throughout her two years in office and several efforts have been made to unseat her.

The NUS Trans Conference, a two day conference at the end of January, voted for a motion of no confidence in her, after The Student Left Network and Socialist Feminist Campus Collective campaigned for one in November.

Documents leaked in November showed the NUS at a financial deficit of 3million at the end of 2018, leading to emergency turnaround meetings.

As part of cost-cutting measures Ms Martin proposed proposing to defund a campaign to protect and represent the needs of transgender students, and removing the Union's liberation officers, who represents BME, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and female students. Both moves brought high-profile criticism.

In 2015 Ms Martin admitted to the Guardian newspaper her teenage role in a drug gang in the deprived area of London in which she grew up.

Ms Martin was elected in April 2017 and her term as President expires in 20 weeks' time

She said: 'Where I grew up was a deprived area, where a lot of people either sell drugs or take drugs. When I left home, I needed money. I was only receiving 44.50 as income support. A friend called one day and said she had a little job for me.

She explained that she was not selling drugs, but acted like a courier. She said she was involved with drug dealing for around a month, but gave up because 'it wasn't for me'.

But, she said, 'What I did realise was that the skills behind doing it were business skills. There was confidentiality, there was data protection, there was maths, there was customer service.'

Accused of bullying and intimidating fellow officers at the NUS's HQ, Martin said she was a victim of 'racism and classism' and denied the allegations, although she admitted there was at least one occasion when she had 'lost it' after, she said, being provoked.

Her tenure as NUS President ends in 20 weeks, as a new electoral campaign is ramping up to nominate students to the role of President of the largest union of students in UK.

A NUS spokesperson said of Shakira's deleted Facbook post: 'The message was posted to a private Facebook account and has since been deleted, therefore NUS has no further comment.'
A retired dentist who liked to 'tinker' in the surgery attached to his home died in a fireball when he lit a cigarette after spilling a flammable chemical.

Noel Patrick Cooney, 78, did not realise he had spilt the chemical he used to mould teeth when he lit a cigarette at the dentist surgery where he used to work in Darwen, Lancashire.

His wife Patricia, 76, screamed as she found her husband covered in flames near the door to the dentist waiting room.

Noel Patrick Cooney's family paid tribute to the much-loved dentist, who loved American Civil War re-enactments. They said: 'He was amazing and would do anything for anyone.' Mr Cooney died when he lit a cigarette after spilling a flammable chemical

She ran to get a rug to smother the flames but by the time she returned the fire had engulfed the room, an inquest in Blackburn heard.

Mr Cooney, who had retired but still lived in the house attached to the surgery liked to visit his old workplace to make moulds of teeth using chemicals he still had access to.

In a statement Mrs Cooney said: 'He normally had a cigarette with his coffee in the morning and that morning he took his coffee from me and went into another room.

'Within five or ten minutes I heard Noel shout my name and I went to find him and saw that he was in the surgery.

'He was standing near the door to the waiting room, and he was on fire.

'There were flames on his clothes and arms. I ran back into the front room to get a rug to cover the flames but when I returned he was sitting on the floor and the flames had spread and there was smoke everywhere.'

Despite passers-by trying to enter the surgery to rescue Mr Cooney thick smoke forced them to turn back.

Investigators at the dentist surgery and house where Noel Patrick Cooney died

Noel Patrick Sweeney's home and surgery is boarded up after he lit a cigarette that caused the waiting room to burst into flames

Fire service incident intelligence officer Jim Stone, said: 'It is highly likely that he then lit a cigarette, and the chemical, which can vaporise on release, and burn with no physical flame, has ignited, setting his clothes on fire. The fire spread rapidly about his person.'

Mr Cooney died on the morning of September 27 last year but would have lost consciousness quickly and not suffered for long, coroner James Newman told Mr Cooney's family.

Emergency services cordoned off the scene as the fire was put out and investigators entered the house and surgery to uncover what had happened

Coroner Newman said: 'He wouldn't have realised he was on fire until he felt some discomfort, and due to the smoke inhalation, Noel would have lost consciousness quite quickly, and I don't believe he would have suffered for any period of time.'

Mr Cooney was much-loved by his family and friends and was known for his love of taking part in American Civil War re-enactments.

Mr Newman recorded a verdict of misadventure due to the use of potentially dangerous chemicals that spilled and ignited after he lit a cigarette.
Britain's first female three-star military officer has admitted that she felt she had to try harder because is a woman - and now wants to create a 'legacy'.

Sue Gray, 56, who was born in Tanzania, became the most senior woman in the Armed Forces after the RAF promoted her to the rank of Air Marshal.

Under the star ranking system used by Nato, the veteran of both Gulf wars has the same seniority as a vice admiral in the Navy or a Lieutenant General in the Army.

Air Marshal Sue Gray, 56, inspects RAF personnel on a parade in this undated photograph

She has the same seniority as a vice admiral in the Navy or a Lieutenant General in the Army

Air Marshal Gray, who joined the RAF in 1985, told the Daily Telegraph: 'You naturally thought that you had to try harder because it was a male-dominated environment.

'I don't remember being treated differently; I didn't find my path any harder than my male colleagues at the time. If anything, you get remembered - hopefully for the right reasons - because you do stand out.'

Air Marshal Gray will soon become director general of the Defence Safety Authority

She added: 'I want a legacy that encourages all women in all services to go for it,' she explains. I want more women to join, I want more female engineers because they bring such a variety to the mix.'

Air Marshal Gray will take up the role of director general of the Defence Safety Authority in March.

She joined the RAF in 1985 and has worked in a variety of roles as an RAF engineer, including on VC10 transport aircraft, and also took part in both Gulf wars with the Joint Helicopter Force.

In June 2016, she was appointed Air Officer Commanding Number 38 Group, with responsibility for more than 3,000 personnel across disciplines including engineering, logistics, aviation medicine and catering.

Before her promotion, the highest rank held by a serving woman officer in the RAF was Air Vice-Marshal, which is a two-star post.

Speaking to the Press Association yesterday, she said she never imagined she would become a three-star commander when she joined the RAF three decades ago.

'I was grateful to be doing a job that was exciting, fascinating and rewarding from quite an early age, and I have just kept on enjoying it 33 years later,' she said.

The Queen walks with Air Marshal Gray at the Royal Air Force Club in London last October

Air Marshal Gray stands next to the Queen at London's RAF Club to mark its centenary year

Asked where the promotion ranks in her lengthy career, Air Marshal Gray said 'it is going to be a highlight' for her and Champagne would feature in her celebrations.

'I think it is going to be a challenge - not only being the first female at that rank but this is the first time a non-pilot has taken on the role,' she said.

University graduate who joined RAF and became most senior female military officer Air Marshal Sue Gray joined the RAF in 1985 after gaining a degree in electronics from Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic. Commissioned as an engineer, she has climbed through the ranks during a 28-year career. She has twice served on the frontline in Iraq, in the First Gulf War in 1991 and again in 2003 as chief engineer for the Joint Helicopter Force. More recently she lead the department delivering engineering and logistics support for fighter, training and Remotely Piloted aircraft for all of the Armed Services. In June 2016 she was appointed Air Officer Commanding Number 38 Group, with responsibility for more than 3,000 personnel across disciplines including engineering, logistics, aviation medicine and catering. Air Marshal Gray takes up her new appointment in March. Advertisement

'So not only do they now have an engineer, but a woman to boot.'

Surrounded by a supportive family and community, Air Marshal Gray said she remembers her late father telling her as a child she could do anything she wanted.

'I think I proved him right,' she said. 'I know he would be delighted.'

With no female role models to look up to within the RAF when she joined the service, Air Marshal Gray said policies have changed in the years since and she does not think she has been treated differently at any point because she is a woman.

Quizzed on whether there has been any negative reaction to her promotion, she said there had not been so far and added with a laugh: 'But I don't think they would tell me.'

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: 'This is an historic moment ... Air Marshal Gray's career shows that with hard work, skill and determination, gender is no obstacle.

'I hope young girls will look up to Air Marshal Gray and see that a career in the Armed Forces will offer them every opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their gender and background.'

The head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier said: 'Her promotion is proper recognition of her outstanding contribution to the RAF and defence, as an engineer, as a leader and as a superb role model.'

Air Marshal Gray will be responsible for the regulation of health, safety and environmental protection across the MoD.
A mass grave with the remains of over 1,000 Jewish people slain by the Nazis has been found in Belarus.

Bones of men, women and children with gunshot wounds to their skulls have been located at a building site in the city of Brest on the Polish border.

The skeletons of around 600 have been found so far, with Belarus soldiers - deployed to undertake the macabre work - now locating the remains of some 40 people each day in the sinister burial place.

City official Anna Kondak said: 'We expect the number of victims to go over 1,000.'

The remains of at least 1,000 suspected Jewish victims of the Holocaust have been discovered close to the site of a notorious Nazi ghetto at Brest where they were executed in 1942

Documentary footage shows the appalling conditions Jews were kept in under Nazi guard at the Brest ghetto between 1941 and 1942

Members of the excavation team in Brest, Belarus, close to the Polish border examine remains at the mass grave

The mass grave was discovered as excavations were being carried out for a new luxury residential development

The dead are believed to have been Holocaust victims of the Nazis from the Second World War, say officials.

The victims were from the Brest Jewish ghetto where up to 28,000 lived in 1941-42, it is understood.

Some 17,000 people are known to have been shot in October 1942 near Bronnaya Gora railway station, while thousands more were also presumed to have been slaughtered.

Historic accounts say victims were ordered by Hitler's forces to strip naked before being shot.

The recent discovery of human remains came during excavations for a new luxury residential development and a shopping mall, said city officials.

The building work has been suspended while the remains of the mass murder victims are disinterred.

Kondak said: 'During three weeks, every day about 40 remains are being found.

'Now the overall number is around 600. As far as we know, there are two major graves here.

'We have almost finished with the first one. After this, experts will start on the second one.'

After being held at the ghetto some 17,000 prisoners were taken out and shot by the Nazis near Bronnaya Gora railway station

Residents of the Brest ghetto can be seen with the Star of David emblazoned over their clothes in a deplorable mark of their difference to their Nazi rulers

A computer generated depiction of plans for the new luxury development which is to be built over the site of the mass grave

Belorussian soldiers sweep away dirt as they painstakingly carry out work on the mass grave

Governor Alexander Rogachuk said: 'We will not allow the building of anything on bones of people.'

Local reports say the human remains have been found in a 20 metre long pit, some 1.5 metres deep.

One account said they included 'men, women, and children, all with gun shot wounds in their skulls'.

Previous mass graves have been located in Brest in 1950 - when some 600 victims were re-buried at Trishinskoe cemetery, and in 1970 when 300 victims were re-interred at Proska cemetery.

Rogachuk is reported to have held a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community in Brest and suggested to re-burying the remains at 'Severnoe' cemetery.

This burial ground already includes victims of the Holocaust.

The Jewish community is demanding that religious traditions should be followed during re-burials.

Records say that only 19 people out of up to 28,000 were alive after the Brest ghetto, which had been founded on 16 December 1941, was 'liquidated' in October and November 1942.

The Kats sisters who survived the mass slaughter in Brest ghetto - concealed in an attic - heard the mass killing.

The construction vehicles have been standing by since the discovery was made so that academics can make proper records of the discovery

Previous mass graves have been located in Brest in 1950 - when some 600 victims were re-buried at Trishinskoe cemetery, and in 1970 when 300 victims were re-interred at Proska cemetery

The excavators are working on the first of what they believe are two mass graves at the site

A drawing of life inside the Brest ghetto burial from the early 1940s

A mass shooting graves plan - local reports say the skeletons have been found in a 20 metre long pit, some 1.5 metres deep

'Workers came to dig graves early in the morning,' said their account in Brest Stories.

'I heard a child crying: 'Mama, let this bullet be very soon, I am so cold'

'It was in November, and they had to get undressed and stay naked.

'Mothers undressed their children and then got undressed themselves.

'About 5,000 people are lying there, behind our fence, at block 126 Kuybysheva Street'

A petition has been started in Brest demanding that building work is permanently halted at the site of the mass shooting.

So far 492 people have called for a memorial park to replace the residential development and shopping centre.

The matter is being discussed by the city authorities.
President Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela would shut its border with Brazil on Thursday 'until further notice' amid a tense standoff with opposition leader Juan Guaido over allowing in humanitarian aid.

Juan Guaido himself has vowed to head to the country's border today to personally bring in US-supplied food and medicine.

The 35-year-old, recognised by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's acting president, planned to travel in a caravan of buses with other members of the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

Guaido's actions, in defiance of the military-backed government, raise fears of possible weekend confrontations after he set a Saturday deadline for bringing in the aid.

President Nicolas Maduro, meanwhile, has ordered his military to beef up border security and barricade a major border bridge to prevent the supplies from entering the country from Cucuta, Colombia, where tons of supplies are stockpiled.

In addition, he said Maduro said the land border with Brazil would be "completely and absolutely" closed from 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) "until further notice," following a meeting with the military high command.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido will head to the country's border today to personally bring in US-supplied food and medicine

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives in Caracas to film a television show, as he continues his battle to cling on to power

President Maduro has ordered his military to beef up border security and barricade a major border bridge to prevent the supplies from entering the country from Cucuta, Colombia, where tons of supplies are stockpiled

Although it is unclear exactly what Guaido intends to do, he says he has enlisted hundreds of thousands of volunteers in recent days to help bring in and distribute the aid.

On Wednesday, he rallied bus drivers to go to the borders to collect aid for Venezuelans suffering shortages.

'Even though they point guns at us - and all of us have received threats, rubber bullets and even live ones - we are not afraid,' Guaido said, standing on the back of a truck in a throng of supporters.

'We will stay out in the street with our chests bared, demanding freedom for all of Venezuela.'

Shipments of food and medicine for the crisis-stricken population have become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.

The 35-year-old leader of the Venezuelan legislature proclaimed himself acting president on January 23, and has since won the backing of more than 50 countries.

Shipments of food and medicine for the crisis-stricken population have become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido. Pictured: Venezuelans cross the Simon Bolivar brige in San Antonio del Tachira, Tachira State, Venezuela, on the border with Colombia

Guaido, who says 300,000 people could die without an influx of aid, says he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing it in by Saturday. Venezuelans are pictured crossing in to Colombia yesterday

He wants to oust Maduro, set up a transitional government and hold new elections.

'This could be very soon, between six and nine months, once Maduro's current usurpation ends,' Guaido told Mexican television station Televisa.

Guaido, who says 300,000 people could die without an influx of aid, says he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing it in by Saturday.

Addressing supporters he listed the planned transit points of entry at the Brazilian and Colombian borders, the island of Curacao and the seaports of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira.

However the pro-Maduro military has already blocked the Tienditas bridge across the Colombian border, and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez confirmed the government was shutting down air and sea links between Curacao and Venezuela.

The military said in a decree that it was banning vessels from sailing out of Venezuela's ports until Sunday to avoid actions by 'criminal' groups.

Amnesty International's Americas director Erika Guevara urged authorities to 'not only recognize this serious crisis... but also to guarantee access' for those bringing in aid.

Underlining the swell of international support for Guaido, British entrepreneur Richard Branson plans to hold a pro-aid concert just inside Colombia on Friday, while Maduro's government stages a rival concert on its side of the border, around 1,000 feet (300 meters) away.

US officials say the aid will reach thousands of Venezuelans and last for a few weeks. Further details of how the opposition aims to distribute it were scarce.

US officials say the aid will reach thousands of Venezuelans and last for a few weeks. Further details of how the opposition aims to distribute it were scarce. Trucks loaded with US aid are pictured arriving in Cucuta, Colombia

Private bus driver Jose Figueroa, 60, said he planned to leave Caracas in the coming days in a convoy of some 30 vehicles.

'The government is leading us to war. It will be very difficult. The situation is extremely tense,' he said, as drivers parked their buses and pick-up trucks at a rally in central Caracas.

'But a bullet will kill you more quickly than hunger.'

Wednesday's rally gathered just a couple of dozen buses and pick-up trucks in Guaido's support.

The pro-opposition drivers had planned to hold their rally at a major crossroads further west but found the avenue blocked by a far bigger demonstration.

Hundreds of state bus drivers rallied in the red shirts of the pro-government 'Chavismo' movement, in a gathering convened by the authorities.

They yelled their loyalty to Maduro - himself a former bus driver - and the memory of his predecessor, the father of Venezuela's socialist 'revolution,' Hugo Chavez.

State-employed bus driver Julio Arocha, 53, admitted he was 'negatively affected' by the crisis, 'economically, psychologically', but was getting by thanks to state food handouts.

Like Maduro, Arocha blamed the crisis on foreign 'aggression.'

'The aggression is intensifying. The word 'humanitarian' is a euphemism,' he said.

Despite sitting on the world's biggest oil reserves, Venezuela is gripped by an economic and humanitarian crisis, with acute shortages of food and medicine.

'Even if the February 23 deadline does not serve as a catalyst (for regime change), Maduro will likely pay a cost either way,' wrote Eurasia Group analyst Risa Grais-Targow in a note this week.

'Barring the entrance of food and medicine into the country will prompt additional international condemnation and isolation, while it will also probably fuel opposition protests and deepen popular demand for change.'
The European peoples safety has become hostage to the destructive policies pursued by the US and Russia-haters in the EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing members of the Association of European Businesses on Thursday, TASS reports.

"Regrettably, the European peoples safety and European peace have become hostage to the destructive policies pursued by Washington and a small but highly aggressive group of Russia-haters in the European Union," he said.

Lavrov pointed out that NATO continued its military build-up near Russias borders. "Apart from Macedonia and other Balkan countries, the North Atlantic Alliance is still determined to absorb Ukraine and Georgia," the Russian top diplomat noted.

"Washingtons withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, unanimously supported by NATO members although the situation is controversial, does not add optimism. Such actions raise military and political tensions, particularly in our common neighborhood," Lavrov emphasized.
A Labor MP has been slammed online for ridiculing Julie Bishop just minutes after her shock resignation on Thursday.

Six months after being defeated in a Liberal Party leadership ballot to become Prime Minister - the former Liberal deputy leader and foreign minister told Parliament she was stepping down from politics.

And while most praised her for her contribution to Australian politics for over two decades, not everyone was as nice.

A Labor MP has been slammed online for ridiculing Julie Bishop just minutes after her shock resignation on Thursday

Labor MP Julian Hill sparked controversy by attacking Ms Bishop's resignation speech, labelling it 'pathetic' and 'a good fist of a chum bucket'

He also tweeted that the 'grandiose claim that Julie Bishop was Australia's finest Foreign Minister is nonsense'

Labor MP Julian Hill sparked controversy by attacking Ms Bishop's resignation speech, labelling it 'pathetic' and 'a good fist of a chum bucket'.

He also tweeted that the 'grandiose claim that Julie Bishop was Australia's finest Foreign Minister is nonsense'.

'She was indeed eloquent, smart and competent and the best Minister in an awful Government. But what on earth were her actual, lasting achievements? Nothing much compared to Gareth Evans.'

However, his sentiments were not shared by everyone, with the Victorian-based MP then being flooded with backlash from social media users.

Ms Bishop - who was the Liberal Party's deputy leader from 2007 to 2018 under Brendan Nelson, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull - went to the backbench in August 2018, and was seated next to renegade former Liberal MP Julia Banks

'I think wait until the political corpse is cold mate, sheesh,' one person responded.

'Not the time, mate,' another person said.

'And who exactly are you? Honestly,' another said.

Ms Bishop - who was the Liberal Party's deputy leader from 2007 to 2018 under Brendan Nelson, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull - went to the backbench in August 2018, and was seated next to renegade former Liberal MP Julia Banks.

Despite losing the support of her moderate faction last year to become the third Liberal Prime Minister since 2013, she was optimistic about the Coalition's chances of winning the 2019 election.
Theresa May met pro-EU Tories in No 10 today as she battled to avoid more MPs defecting to the new Independent Group.

Both Philip Lee and Justine Greening complained Mrs May has focused her efforts on winning over hardline Brexiteers instead of seeking help from moderate MPs. They along with Dominic Grieve are the focus of speculation about new defections.

The PM is braced for more MPs to leave the party and has also been warned ministers could quit the Government next week over no deal.

Even Philip Hammond refused to rule out quitting as Chancellor today as Mrs May battles to hold together the Tory coalition in the Brexit endgame.

The Tory leadership has strained to respond calmly to yesterday's defection of three MPs to the new Independent Group - and Mr Hammond even suggested they could return to the Tory fold in future.

But Brexiteer frustration boiled over this afternoon as Nadine Dorries branded the trio 'con merchants' with 'incredibly inflated opinions of their own ability'.

Justine Greening warned Theresa May she will not stay a member of a 'Brexit Party' while Dominic Grieve warned he could also quit as Westminster waits for a new wave of defections to the Independent Group

Chancellor Philip Hammond denied the battle was lost today as he attacked the ERG as a 'small hard core with a hardline view'.

Mr Hammond said he hoped Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen could in future return to the Tory fold - despite their vow to defeat the Conservatives in their new Independent Group

Brexiteer frustration boiled over this afternoon as Nadine Dorries branded the trio 'con merchants' with 'incredibly inflated opinions of their own ability'.

Asked by the Today programme if he would quit in a no-deal scenario, Mr Hammond said: 'My job is to make sure that the Government gets us a solution which does not take us to that no-deal precipice.

'So long as I believe I am able to influence that outcome and help to get us to a good outcome here, which will protect British jobs and British prosperity, that's what I will go on doing.'

The Chancellor insisted the battle for the Tory Party was not over.

He said: 'I hope that, over time, they will feel able to rejoin the party and help to maintain it as that broad church, that coalition of views that has been so successful over so many decades.'

While admitting no deal was 'always a possibility' he attacked the ERG and said they were not in charge.

He said: 'There is a small hard core that have a hardline view and are not likely to be flexible or to compromise.

'Government policy is clearly focused on delivering a deal.

What is the Independent Group and can you vote for it? What happened this week? Seven MPs resigned from the Labour Party on Monday and set up something called the Independent Group. They were joined by an eigth Labour MP last night. Three Tory MPs also left their party - warning the Conservatives have been gripped by a right wing, pro Brexit insurgency. Who is in the group? Ex-Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Joan Ryan. Ex-Tory MPs Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen. Is it a political party? No. It is a small business - technically a limited company - called Gemini A Ltd that was set up Gavin Shuker, one of the MPs, in January. Can I vote for it? No. Unless and until it registers with the Electoral Commission, it cannot stand candidates. Can I donate to it? Yes. The group is accepting donations through its website theindependent.group. It says donations will support the newly independent MPs. What does it want? All the MPs are Remain supporters and most of them have promoted a second referendum to cancel Brexit. They say they want evidence-based policy making to tackle the challenges facing Britain - without being inside the current political parties. Advertisement

'My job is to avoid - and make sure Government is focused on - avoiding that outcome.'

He added there were a 'wider group of MPs who are sympathetic to some of the objectives of ERG but who recognise that, in this broad church that is the Conservative Party, compromises are necessary'.

Mr Hammond admitted it was 'uncomfortable we are so close to the wire' but said it was the nature of political negotiations.

The Putney MP has campaigned on social mobility since resigning from Mrs May's Cabinet last year.

Asked if she would defect, she told the Today programme: 'It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment.'

She added: 'I don't think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union,' she said.

Ms Greening said she had 'not seen the Prime Minister recently' despite asking 'on multiple occasions'.

She added: 'I fail to see how we can be successful in the long-term if we are simply a party of Brexit. There will be other parties that stand for Brexit, no doubt, running at the next election.

'If we are not a party that seems credible on economic policy or on opportunity; if we don't reach out to a new generation, then I think we have to accept that we will simply not have the level of support in the country we need to be a credible political party.'

Ex-Tory MP Sarah Wollaston suggested that the Conservative party was 'destroying itself' amid speculation former colleagues could follow her to the new Independent Group.

'I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit,' she told Today.

'Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.'

Dr Wollaston said 'the Tory party has changed, I think it has changed irredeemably', adding: 'I would say the Tory party is destroying itself.'

In other developments of the Independent Group today, a former Labour donor hinted he could fund the group if it gets off the ground.

Lord Levy says he will not give money 'at the moment', telling Today: 'I want to keep my powder dry - I want to see what is going to happen in the future.'

Last night Ms Soubry renewed her criticism of Mrs May, slamming her stance on immigration.

She told Newsnight: 'The only reason why she will not agree to the single market is because of free movement of people.

'And I think what's really worried me about Theresa, and she has history in the Home Office that supports this, because I'm an old barrister, I look at the evidence, and I think she's got a problem with immigration.

'I really, honestly do.'

In other developments of the Independent Group today, former Labour donor Lord Levy hinted he could fund the group if it gets off the ground.

The latest exchanges come after Chuka Umunna, the ringleader of the ex-Labour MPs who quit on Monday, said the group would be a full-blown political party within months.

In a move designed to cause the maximum damage, the trio made their leap less than an hour before Mrs May faced MPs in the bruising weekly session of PMQs - and on the same day she has to convince Brussels she can pass a Brexit deal.

Vowing to stand in the 'centre ground' in a damning letter to Mrs May the group said they could not remain in the Tories while it was 'in the grip of the ERG and DUP'. They said Brexit has 'redefined the Conservative Party - undoing all efforts to modernise it' - and warning that the 'country deserves better' from its politics.

In an immediate response, Mrs May said she was 'saddened' by the decision and thanked the MPs for their 'dedicated service to our party over many years'.

The PM vowed the Tories would 'always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics' Britain deserved. She said delivering Brexit was 'never going to be easy' but insisted she was 'doing the right thing for our country'.

The move puts rocket boosters under the new political movement that was launched by a 'gang of seven' ex-Labour MPs on Monday. It is the biggest split in British politics since 1981 and could set in motion a total realignment of the party system.

As Tory defectors to the new Independent Group claimed there were a 'significant' number of MPs in other parties on the brink of quitting, Westminster is abuzz with who could be next

A sensational poll by YouGov puts the new independent group in third place on 14 per cent - appearing to pull support from both Tory and Labour

Conservative MP for Aberconwy, Guto Bebb, quit as a defence minister blaming Theresa May's concessions to Brexiteers and has called for a second referendum. He refused to respond when asked if a move was on the cards.

Brecknell MP Phillip Lee quit as a justice minister over Brexit and said he could 'understand' if colleagues joined the Independent Group.

He is the only member of the second referendum delegation that met Gavin Barwell and David Lidington last month who has not joined the Independents. He said yesterday: 'I'm certainly not leaving the Conservative party but I could understand if others did.'

Nick Boles, MP for Grantham and Stamford, admitted he agrees with the breakaway group's message suggesting he could be the next Tory to make the move but did add that he was 'not ready to give up on the Conservative's yet'.

Among Labour, Owen Smith, the former leadership candidate has said that he is 'considering' leaving over Brexit. He was sacked from Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet last year after he called for a second referendum.

Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, has been a key supporter of a People's Vote alongside the breakaway MPs, but yesterday denied rumours he was on brink of quitting Labour and joining them,

Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, has said he is 'thinking long and hard' over whether to join his former colleagues in the breakaway group and is expected to make his decision by the end of this week. He denied he would quit today.

Speaking in Brussels last nigth, the PM said: 'I'm saddened by the decision that three former members of my party have taken today.

'Of course, the question of the UK's relationship with the European Union has been a source of disagreement in my party, and also in the country, for a long time.

'Leaving the European Union after 40 years was never going to be easy.'
At least 35 women in London were killed between 2015 and 2018 by their husbands boyfriends or ex-partners, shocking new figures obtained from the Metropolitan Police reveal.

Eight of those killers had previously been reported to the Met for violent or threatening behaviour towards a partner.

It comes after an investigation found that - across the UK but excluding London - at least 55 women were killed over 2015, 2016, and 2017 by partners, ex-partners, or stalkers who they had previously reported to the police.

The real figures in both cases are likely to be far higher; both because domestic abuse continues to be under-reported, and because only 33 of 45 police forces responded to the nationwide Freedom of Information request by Broadly, the news site which carried out the investigation.

Katerina Makunova, 17, was killed by her partner last year, whom she had reported to police five times before her death

Five-foot-four Katerina Makunova, 17, left, was killed by her partner, six-foot-three Oluwaseyi Dada, 21

The figures have prompted fresh calls to strengthen 'Clare's Law', by which women - and men - can ask police whether their partner has a history of abusive behaviour.

It was named following the death of 36-year-old Clare Wood, who was strangled and set on fire by her partner George Appleton.

Clare's Law: how you can ask police if your partner is an abuser The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) is often called 'Clare's Law' after the landmark case that led to it. Clare's Law gives any member of the public the right to ask the police if their partner may pose a risk to them. Clare Wood was murdered by a man she did not know had a history of domestic violence A member of the public can also make enquiries into the partner of a close friend or family member. To apply you must go to a police station in person, and discuss your concerns and situation with a police officer or staff member. Police and partner agencies will then carry out a range of checks. If these reveal a record of abusive offences, or suggest a risk of violence or abuse, they will consider sharing this information. The disclosure will usually be made in person, to the person at risk, at a time and place agreed in advance to be safe. SOURCE: MPS Advertisement

Appleton, 40, had a history of violence and had served a three-year prison term for harassing another woman, but Ms Wood was unaware of his past.

In the months before her murder she had repeatedly contacted Greater Manchester Police to say Appleton had harassed her, sexually assaulted her, and threatened to kill her.

Now MPs and campaigners are calling for the creation of a public national register of domestic abusers similar to the Sex Offenders' Register.

Last July 17-year-old beautician Katerina Makunova, was knifed to death in Camberwell in a fight with her boyfriend Oluwaseyi Dada, 21.

Her family said they were 'heartbroken' at the loss of a 'joyful, beautiful girl'

Dada, 6ft 3in, admitted manslaughter of his diminutive 5ft4in girlfriend at Southwark Crown Court last month.

Her death falls a month outside of the figures provided by the Met but today her brother Julius told MailOnline that his sister's death was proof the police were still not taking domestic violence seriously enough.

He said Ms Makunova had felt the need to call the police on Dada 'five or six times' for his threatening and frightening behaviour, but had been told there was insufficient evidence to issue a restraining order.

He said: 'More could have been done to protect my sister. I don't think the police take domestic violence seroiusly enough.'

Dada was sentenced to two years and three months for the death, in which Miss Makunova was killed by a knife she had secreted in her own handbag. The sentence was met with outrage by the family.

Five Met police officers are being investigated over their handling of assault allegations made by the teenager against her boyfriend before she died.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed the 17-year-old had made five allegations to police accusing Dada of assault and harassment between February and June.

Elisabeta Lacatusu, 44, was stabbed to death in a frenzied 30-second attack by her former partner Genu Armenu in Ilford in January 2018

Genu Armeanu, 45, killed former partner Elisabeta Lacatusu

Genu Armeanu, 45, was caught knifing Elisabeta Lacatusu, 44, in a 30-second frenzied attack outside her home in Ilford, east London in January 2018.

CCTV footage showed him waiting behind a van parked on the street where she lived, before she arrived home.

He got out when he saw her, started speaking to her, then launched his brutal attack.

He left her to die in the street and calmly walked away before texting a mutual friend a few hours later to confess his crime.

Armeanu later told police he 'did it for love' and 'could only see black' as he was carrying out the brutal killing.

A jury took 15 minutes to convict him last June and he was sentenced to 28 years behind bars.

His jury heard the mother-of-three tried to end the months-long relationship but Armeanu was persistent, bombarding her with Facebook messages at first threatening to kill himself, and then threatening to kill her.

Although frightened, the mother-of-three opted to keep Armeanu calm, and the family decided not to make a police report.

Theodore Johnson murdered Angela Best, pictured, after she left him having discovered he had killed two previous partners in the 1980s and 1990s and served two jail terms

Johnson, 64, killed his first wife Yvonne Johnson in 1981 and his second wife Yvonne Bennett in 1993. He murdered Angela Best in 2016. He did not reveal his past to mother-of-four Ms Best

Theodore Johnson, 64, killed his first wife Yvonne Johnson in 1981 by pushing her off the ninth-floor balcony but avoided a murder conviction by pleading 'provocation'.

After he was freed from a manslaughter jail term, he killed his second wife Yvonne Bennett in 1993, but again avoided a life term by pleading diminished responsibility

Then violent and controlling Johnson attacked mother-of-four and grandmother Angela Best, 51, on December 15 2016 after they broke up and she started a new relationship.

He beat her with a claw hammer and strangled her with a dressing gown cord after she went to his flat to help him with a passport application in December 2016.

Johnson met Ms Best while on unescorted day release from a psychiatric hospital. Astonishingly, he was simply trusted to tell authorities if he embarked upon a new relationship.

Instead, he kept his relationship with Angela Best a secret for 15 years and did not let on about his past to her until she confronted him about it.

The figures provided by the Met reveal 35 female victims were murdered by a partner or ex-partner over a three and a half year period between 2015 and 2018.

In eight cases, the killer had been previously reported to police for a domestic incident by the victim or a third party.

In a separate investigation Broadly found 55 women had been killed nationwide over 2015, 2016, and 2017 by men they had previously reported to police for threatening behaviour.

That number does not include the figures from the Met, which cover a slightly different timeframe, nor does it include data from the forces which did not provide data in response to Broadly's FOI requests, which were submitted last April.

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act replies should be received within 20 working days.

Shana Grice, 19, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Michael Lane despite contacting Sussex Police at least four times to report his stalking and threatening behaviour

In August 2016 in Brighton, 19-year-old student Shana Grice was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Michael Lane.

Before her killing Ms Grice contacted Sussex Police on at least four occasions to report Lane's threatening and abusive stalking behaviour.

Her mother Sharon said Shana's murder could have been prevented had police taken her seriously.

The force issued an apology from Deputy Chief Constable Bernie O'Reilly, who said: 'I would like to extend my sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Shana Grice, who was murdered by Michael Lane.

'When we looked at the circumstances leading to Shana's murder, we felt we may not have done the very best we could.

Sussex Police is among the forces which have not yet provided data on murders by domestic abusers, despite receiving the FOI request ten months ago.

Laura Richards, of anti-stalking charity Paladin, is calling for a national register

Campaigners say the deaths could have been prevented if the police had acted swiftly following initial reports.

Laura Richards, founder of anti-stalking charity Paladin, said: 'Too often police do not risk assess or investigate cases appropriately, nor do they check the intelligence to see if the perpetrator is a serial abuser and this has been going on for decades.'

She said the number of homicides is likely to be much higher as the data provided by police does not include serial stalkers.

'This number is undoubtedly higher given the fact [the police] do not proactively identify repeat or serial stalkers,' she said.

At present via the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, often known as Clare's Law, women can contact the police to ask whether their partner may pose a risk. But Paladin is calling for a national public register of domestic abusers.

Ms Richard said: 'Police must proactively identify serial abusers, place key information about them on the system and then manage them, protecting future victims in the process, just as they do with sex offenders.'

This morning Labour MP Stella Creasy, a key campaigner on the issue, told MailOnline: 'Assessing the risk any victim reporting harassment and abuse faces is crucial to keeping them safe as well as them knowing that they are protected if they come forward.

Campaigner Stella Creasy MP said the Home Office Select Committee has backed calls for a national register of domestic abusers

'Yet even just this week a police officer told me he had "other priorities" on a live case showing we have a way to go to change the way in which these cases are addressed.

'We know what keeps women safe when they find the courage to report.

The Home Office Select Committee has rightly backed calls for a national register and these figures show that its time to act'.

In a statement the Metropolitan Police said: 'The MPS takes domestic abuse very seriously and is committed to safeguarding all victims and bringing perpetrators to justice, working with all our partners and local communities to constantly update our processes.'

It said the increase in recorded offences was partly due to a growing confidence of victims to come forward and more accurate identifying of domestic violence offences.

It added domestic abuse investigators were working closely with independent and specialist advisers to ensure victims 'feel confident that their language, culture, disability or immigration status will not prevent them from obtaining the support they need'.

It went on: 'In addition to seeking criminal sanctions, investigators use tools such as Domestic Violence Protection Orders, which can be used to prohibit the perpetrator from actions such as contacting the victim or going to their address for up to 28 days - even when there is insufficient evidence to proceed in a criminal case.

It said the force was moving towards multi-borough command units which will contain dedicated safeguarding units from which specialist officers will investigate domestic abuse, sexual offences, child abuse and hate crime.

Last month the Home Office published a report into the economic and social cost of domestic abuse, which reveals the crime cost England and Wales 66 billion in 2016 to 2017.

According to the research, the vast majority of this cost (47 billion) was a result of the physical and emotional harm of domestic abuse, however it also includes other factors such as cost to health services (2.3 billion), police (1.3 billion) and victim services (724 million).

A new draft Domestic Abuse Bill was published last month aimed at supporting victims and their families and pursuing offenders.

It will introduce the first ever government definition of domestic abuse to specifically include economic abuse and controlling and manipulative non-physical abuse, and introduce new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to protect victims and place restrictions on the actions of offenders.

The national 24-hour Domestic Violence freephone helpline number is 0808 2000 247. The service is run in partnership between Women's Aid and Refuge.
The daughter of North Korea's ambassador to Italy was 'forcibly returned' home after her father disappeared and went into hiding, according to a defector.

South Korean intelligence agents claim the 17-year-old daughter of diplomat Jo Song Gil was 'kidnapped' and returned to Pyongyang in December.

Mr Jo and his wife disappeared in November while serving as acting ambassador to Italy, and are believed to be 'in hiding'.

North Korea's acting ambassador to Italy Jo Song Gil (third from left) has disappeared and believed to have 'defected' with his wife. The diplomat's tenure at the embassy was believed to be coming to an end in November when he vanished

The potential high profile defection comes days before North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un is due to meet Donald Trump for a second bilateral meeting in Vietnam.

Thae Young Ho, a former North Korean diplomat in London who took refuge in Seoul in 2016, told reporters Tuesday that the girl had been forcibly sent back to North Korea before she could join her parents.

Thae said the information came from an unidentified friend in North Korean capital Pyongyang.

The whereabouts of the girl's parents are unknown and Italy has only said that Mr Jo had not requested asylum.

Mr Jo and his wife have not been seen at the North Korean embassy building in the south of Rome since late last year

South Korean spies claim Mr Jo and his wife are living under the protection of the Italian government

Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said 'we're carrying out the necessary checks' and that his ministry is 'following the affair'.

Describing the case as 'delicate,' he indicated that Italy's relevant 'services' - the term often used to refer to Italy's intelligence services - were also following the case.

The foreign ministry later issued a statement saying that the North Korean embassy had informed it on December 5 that the daughter had requested to join her grandparents in North Korea, and that she had returned accompanied by embassy staff on Nov. 14.

The couple's 17-year-old daughter was reportedly 'kidnapped' by agents working for Kim Jong-Un and returned to Pyongyang

Italian foreign affairs undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano said that if it turns out that Jo's daughter 'was kidnapped by North Korean intelligence (agents) in Italy, it would be a case of unprecedented gravity'.

Italian politicians were demanding to know the fate of the 17-year-old girl yesterday.

A top Italian police official, several police officers and an immigration official have been ordered to stand trial for their roles in that case.

South Korea's spy agency told South Korean politicians that Mr Jo went into hiding with his wife in November 2018, as his posting to Italy was nearing its end, and local media reported Mr Jo was under Italian government protection.

Mr Jo's disappearance raised the possibility of the defection of a senior North Korean official.

The news of the defection comes just days before North Korean dictator is due to meet US President Donald Trump.

The second round of talks, following on from a successful 2018 summit, are expected to prove crucial in persuading Trump to reduce economic sanctions on the isolated state.

Trump announced in a tweet that he was 'looking forward' to the second meeting with Chairman Kim which will be in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28.

The US President praised Kim as a very 'capable leader' and that the meeting would prioritise economic growth for the and 'advancing the cause of peace'.

At their meeting in Singapore last year, the US and North Korean leaders agreed on a vaguely worded document which pledged North Korea to work towards 'the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula'.

Trump added, 'I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim & advancing the cause of peace!'

'North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse,' Trump added

It will be the pair's second summit, the first coming in June 2018 in Singapore (pictured) where denuclearisation of the Korean dominated the agenda
A six-year-old boy who fell into a 200ft well was rescued after a 16-hour operation in India.

The incident happened yesterday in Ambegaon, a town east of Mumbai.

The young boy named Ravi Pandit Bhil fell into the deep borehole while he was playing with friends.

Workers from the National Disaster Relief Force spent 16 hours trying to rescue Ravi Pandit Bhil from a well

His father works at the site in road construction and Ravi was playing while he was busy.

Fortunately Ravi got stuck only ten feet deep but it still required a monumental effort to free him.

The National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) dug a pit beside the well to reach Ravi and he was supplied with oxygen.

Ravi fell down the 200ft hole when he was playing with his friends while his father worked on the construction site

It is the latest in a number of recent incidents in which children have fallen down deep wells in India. An 18-month-old boy died after he was unable to be rescued in October

After a long wait, Ravi was eventually rescued and he let out anguished cries as he came to the surface

They worked through the night with police to reach the boy.

The crying boy was finally lifted to safety by the NDRF team after working tirelessly for 16 hours.

Similar accidents have been happened in recent months across India.

Successful rescue efforts have been reported in the states of Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

But in one incident in Gujarat in October, an 18-month-old boy was unable to be rescued and he died inside the well.
Sam Burgess has shutdown a reporter after the embattled NRL star was asked how he was coping on the back of a rocky two months with his partner.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs player sat down with a 9 News reporter with the intention to talk about the upcoming NRL season.

Reporter Danny Weidler quickly made it obvious he had other topics on his mind.

Asked whether he was coping well following his off-again on-again relationship with his wife Phoebe, Burgess said he was getting along fine.

Sam Burgess has shutdown a reporter after the embattled NRL star was asked how he was coping on the back of a rocky two months with his partner

Asked whether he was coping well following his off-again on-again relationship with his wife Phoebe (pictured), Burgess said he was getting along fine

The reporter probed the star further.

'You don't seek that kind of spotlight, but you've had it,' he said as he alluded to the recent media storm around the couple's breakdown.

'What's the secret to putting it to one side, compartmentalising things?'

Burgess immediately moved in to shut down the reporter.

'I'm not talking about it [Phoebe]. I'm here to talk about sport.'

The interview comes after Burgess seemed to patch things up with his wife following a dramatic two-month long split.

Burgess is reported to have returned to his marital home at Marboubra in Sydney's southeast after spending a night at the house earlier in February for the first time in months.

Until that point, he is said to have been staying in the $11.5 million Dover Heights mansion owned by high-profile accountant Anthony Bell.

'He's been staying at Anthony's, it was a private place for him to get his life back on track,' a source told The Daily Telegraph at the time.

Sam and Phoebe split in December last year, sometime before Christmas, less than a month after welcoming their second child.

At the time, it was widely reported that the couple's marriage split was 'messy'.

A close friend told The Daily Telegraph 'things [had] been bad for a while' before Sam and Phoebe decided to part ways.

They tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in the Southern Highlands town of Bowral in December 2015

The pair first met at an Avicii concert in Sydney in January 2014.

They tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in the Southern Highlands town of Bowral in December 2015.

Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe - part-owner of Souths and the man who lured Sam to the club - was a guest at the nuptials.

Sam and Phoebe bought a four-bedroom home at Maroubra in Sydney's south-east for $3.8million in early 2016 and had been living there together until recently.

In January 2017 the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, Poppy Alice.

Burgess, a dual-code international who earns more than $1million a year, signed a contract extension with Souths in September which will see him stay at the club until the end of the 2023 season.

Sam and Phoebe bought a four-bedroom home at Maroubra in Sydney's south-east for $3.8million in early 2016 and had been living there together until recently
During the break down of a marriage most couples simply agree to go their separate ways.

But Charles Dickens was so desperate to avoid the disapproval of Victorian society if his ageing wife moved out he tried to commit her to a mental asylum, according to a 160-year-old letter.

The damning letter, written by a friend of the literary mastermind's estranged wife, revealed he was so dissatisfied with his marriage to Catherine Dickens he asked a doctor to diagnose her as insane.

Charles Dickens asked a doctor to send his 41-year-old wife Catherine to an insane asylum when he fell in love with an 18-year-old actress

But Catherine was perfectly sound of mind and the medical professional refused to commit her.

Edward Dutton Cook, a novelist and drama critic, lived next door to Charles Dickens's estranged wife.

And Catherine told Edward and his wife Lynda her husband had 'tried to shut her up in an insane asylum.'

Claire Tomalin, author of Charles Dickens: A life, believes it was actually Charles Dickens who was insane as his life was a mess at the time of the separation.

She told MailOnline: I think during this period he was mad effectively and their lives were thrown into turmoil.

He was an exceptionally good man and relied on his reputation for goodness with the public.

But when this all came up he fell in love and his life was a mess. He wrote to his friend Ms Coutts suggesting Catherine had mental problems and he saw it as a way of getting rid of her without seeming to be to blame.

He also said to someone else in a letter published in America Catherine herself had often suggested a separation and this increasing estrangement created a mental disorder.

He said she was unfit for the life she had to lead and would be better far away.

'They were startling lies. His behaviour for that period when he was determined to separate was shameful. In think he regretted it after.

In a letter to William Moy Thomas, another critic, sent a year before Mrs Dickens's death in 1880, Catherine Dickens's neighbour Edward recalled what she had told him.

He wrote: 'Dickens had discovered at last that she had outgrown his liking. She had borne ten children and had lost many of her good looks, was growing old in fact.

'He even tried to shut her up in an insane asylum, poor thing! But bad as the law is in regard to proof of insanity he could not quite wrest it to his purpose.'

Ellen Ternan (pictured) was 18-years-old when 45-year-old Charles Dickens fell in love with her. To separate from his wife the Dickens circulated rumours Catherine was insane

Historians and literary critics already knew the acclaimed Victorian author had circulated rumours about his wife's insanity.

But they had no idea he actually tried to get his wife committed to an insane asylum so he could be with his 18-year-old lover without having to separate from his wife of 22 years.

John Bowen, professor of 19th century literature at the University of York, described in the Times Literary Supplement how he found the letter that had previously been overlooked.

He told The Times: 'It was wonderful. The thing that I had speculated was there in black and white in front of me.

'On the other hand it was a terrible discovery. Here's a different dimension to his character that has been hidden for 160 years.'

The relationship between Catherine and her literary husband began happily as the couple travelled to Scotland and America together.

And Charles described her as a superb travelling companion but after 20 years and 10 children together 41-year-old Catherine was older and less attractive.

Charles Dickens stayed with Ellen Ternan (pictured) until he died in 1880 at the age of 58

At the age of 45 Charles began an affair with 18-year-old actress Ellen Ternan and became infatuated.

Peter Ackroyd, author of a 1990 biography of Charlies Dickens's life, said Catherine had a 'want of enthusiasm and quickness'.

He said she did not have the qualities that Charles most loved about himself.

The couple separated in June 1858 when the author gave his wife 600 per year, the equivalent of 25,000 today, for her to move out of their home.

Catherine was taken away from nine of her children and only her eldest son was allowed to live with her.

And Charles stayed with Ellen Ternan until he died in 1870.
A widow and her dead husband's sister are locked in a bitter court battle over the family's 3.6million country estate that was once the scene of a grisly crime.

Lodge Farm in the village of Cottered near Buntingford, Hertfordshire has been in the Kingsley family for nearly 200 years.

It was run by Roger Kingsley and his sister Sally who worked there for their entire adult lives before Roger's death at 57 in 2015.

Now Sally, 67, is fighting for the right to keep the 180-acre farm in the family and buy out her sister-in-law Karim, 51, who wants to sell it on for profit.

Although picturesque, Lodge Farm became part of a murder investigation when Roger found the severed limb of salesman Jeffrey Howe hanging from a hedgerow.

Mr Howe's remains were found scattered throughout Hertfordshire after 'jigsaw man' killer Stephen Marshall murdered him.

Marshall was jailed for life after he admitted Mr Howes' murder and confessed to hacking up other bodies while he worked his crime boss godfather Terry Adams and his Clerkenwell gang.

Karim Kingsley, 51 (pictured outside London's High Court, left) and her sister-in-law Sally, 67 (pictured outside same court, right) are locked in a court battle over the ownership of Lodge Farm in Hertfordshire, which has been in the Kingsley family for nearly 200 years

London's High Court heard that Sally Kingsley values the farm at 3.3million, while her sister-in-law Karim would look to sell it for 3.6million.

But selling the land 'unconditionally' on the open market would ignore the 'historical and family context' of the case, Sally's barrister, Catherine Taskis, argued.

'The evidence of Sally is that both she and her brother envisaged the land remaining in the family beyond the end of their partnership,' she continued.

'The interest of Sally is in the land itself; in the family business of which she has always been part, and which is the greater part of her livelihood.'

Ms Taskis alleged that Karim only wants to get the best price for her share of the land.

But lawyers for Karim insisted that, while she wants the best possible price, she could well bid for her sister-in-law's share herself if the farm went on the open market.

The dispute spilled over into court after Karim and the executors of her late husband's estate rejected Sally's 1.5million offer to buy out Roger's stake in September 2018, said Ms Taskis.

Lodge Farm (pictured) in the village of Cottered near Buntingford, Hertfordshire has been in the Kingsley family for nearly 200 years

The land has passed through multiple generations of the Kingsley family and, although childless, Sally is adamant it should remain in the family, she claimed.

In evidence, Sally accepted that she has no 'fixed plans' concerning the fate of the farm after her death.

And Judge Lance Ashworth QC suggested that if it were to stay in Kingsley hands, it would have to pass on to one of Roger's daughters.

Sally agreed that was an option, but added: 'I have other relations.'

She was accused of 'delaying and frustrating' Karim's plans by failing to agree to a sale or to buy Roger's share at 'its proper market value'.

Stephen Marshall (mugshot left) killed single kitchen salesman Jeffrey Howe (right) and left his body parts scattered across Hertfordshire

An open market sale is the only definitive test of the farm's true value, Karim said.

She further 'suspected' that Sally might be planning to redevelop some of the land, said her barrister, Clifford Darton.

But in her evidence, Sally stressed that much of the farmland was unsuitable for development, and added: 'I certainly don't intend building houses around the farmyard.'

Roger had spotted a bag dangling on a hedgerow while taking his tractor out one morning and at first assumed it was rubbish or a lump of meat.

But when police investigated, they established it was part of Mr Howe's severed leg.

Stephen Marshall was later jailed for life for murdering Mr Howe, 49, whose body was chopped up after he was slain in his sleep.

The hearing continues.
A pervert teacher pestered pupils with sordid messages on Facebook - telling a schoolgirl who denied his friend request: 'Oi! Why won't you add me? Tart!'

Benjamin Bird, 37, told another boy to send him a photograph of his penis in a host of grim x-rated messages.

He was today struck off as a teacher after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of sexually motivated misconduct.

Former teacher Benjamin Bird, 37, pictured, has been banned indefinitely from the classroom after he sent sexually suggestive text messages to pupils , a tribunal has ruled

The 37-year-old part-time radio presenter asked one pupil to send him a photograph of his penis, while described a school girl as a 'tart' after she twice rejected his friendship request

Bird was the pastoral head at Bridge Learning Campus in Bristol when he contacted three pupils at his former school.

The Teaching Regulation Agency, sitting in Coventry, heard that Bird sent messages about performing sex acts,

When one girl at Henbury secondary rejected his friend request for a second time, Bird stormed: 'Oi! Why won't you add me? Tart!'

The panel heard that in another Facebook conversation about a schoolboy's penis, the disgraced teacher wrote: 'Maybe run the real thing past be for approval first ;)'

Bird then added: 'I've seen many examples lol'.

Bird, a community radio presenter in Bristol, also crudely asked another schoolboy if he had 'morning glory'.

He wrote: 'Currently can't even think about getting out of bed let alone having a w***'

Panel chair Geoffrey Penzer said: 'He had become or attempted to become friends with his pupils and ex-pupils on Facebook and proceeded to send messages to them of an inappropriate nature.

'The messages included reference to masturbation and a suggestion to one pupil that he send to him a photograph of his penis.'

Bird, pictured, failed to turn up to the disciplinary panel who decided it was 'more likely than not' that Bird sent 'titillating' messages 'for the purposes of sexual gratification'

Bird was banned from the profession indefinitely and has 28 days to appeal the ruling.

The panel said that the teacher sent the messages in 2017 for 'sexual gratification'.

Mr Penzer added: 'We are satisfied that the communications were of a sexual nature. This must follow by way of Mr Bird's use of words such as 'w***' and 'morning glory', as well as his discussion with Pupil E about penises during which he suggests to Pupil E that he sends him a photo of his penis.

'The communications were of a sexual nature and clearly flirtatious towards the recipients of the messages. If nothing else, it is our view that the messages were frisky and playful and motivated by sexual attraction.

'We believe that it is more likely than not that Mr Bird sent the messages in a way that was titillating for him and they were therefore sent for the purposes of sexual gratification.'

The panel ruled that Bird's behaviour amounted to 'serious sexual misconduct'.

Bird was not present at the hearing.
A teacher at the centre of a protest by Muslim parents over his anti-homophobia lessons says he has received threats over his attempts at 'preparing children for modern Britain'.

Andrew Moffat, 47, is one of 10 finalists in the running for the $1million Global Teacher Prize after impressing judges with his work promoting tolerance in schools.

The Varkey Foundation, which runs the prize, highlighted his No Outsiders lessons, which teach children not to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, age, sexuality, gender identity, disability or religion.

Andrew Moffat (pictured on Good Morning Britain today) says that his lessons teaching children not to discriminate on the basis of sexuality and other factors of identity are preparing pupils for modern Britain

Muslim and Christian parents protested outside the school in Birmingham over Mr Moffat's lessons and he says he has also received threats

Demonstrations outside the school (pictured) were held as parents accused Mr Moffat of intruding on their authority

The endorsement comes just a week after the lessons sparked protests from Muslim parents at Parkfield Community School, Birmingham, where he is assistant head.

Today Mr Moffat told Good Morning Britain that he had received 'threatening' emails over his lessons but added it felt 'amazing' to have been nominated.

'You can have brown, black, white skin, be Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Jewish, be gay, lesbian, have disabilities, but we can all get on,' he said.

'I understand that some communities have tensions with the LGBT aspect. But we're going to have work through them, because in the UK there are gay people - and that's okay - that's good. We have to work together. We will find a way to get through it together.'

The teacher has been targeted by protests outside the school in Birmingham due to tensions with Christian and Muslim parents who believe his classes undermine their authority

Some protestors said homosexuality was against their religion, while others simply said pupils were too young to learn about same sex relationships.

Yesterday, Mr Moffat, who is openly gay and has a partner, said his shortlisting has come at the right time as it would raise the profile of his project.

He told the Daily Mail: It is absolutely wonderful and I cant quite believe it. Im absolutely overjoyed and thrilled.

This is about more than our school. This is a bigger picture. Its about how do schools in the UK today teach children that there are different communities. How do we make sure that communities arent left out and certain groups arent ignored?

The teacher (pictured talking to his class) says he is thrilled to be nominated for the global prize but also spoke of receiving threatening emails as a result of his work

We cant have children frightened of certain communities. This has come at exactly the right time for me because it has enabled me to talk about this.

Mr Moffat acts as a Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) teacher at his school and has been teaching No Outsiders since he took up his role in 2014.

As part of the lessons, children are taught about the existence of same-sex parents, through picture books such as Mommy, Mama, and Me.

Religious parents have argued that classes teaching children not to discriminate on the basis of sexuality risk sexualising children

The lessons are for every primary school year group  from aged four to 11  and Mr Moffat stresses that they are appropriate to the ages of the children.

He said many of the parents protesting outside his school last week mistakenly think their children are being taught about sex.

There is no teaching about sex in No Outsiders, he said. It is about teaching that all families are different and all families are welcome.

Mr Moffat (pictured at his school) is in the running for the prize over his work teaching children not to discriminate on the bases of sexuality, gender and religion

It sits within British values, community cohesion, personal development. We are teaching children to be proud of who they are and that they belong.

Mr Moffat uploaded his lesson plans to the internet for other schools to use, and now travels the country providing staff training.

If he wins the prize, he hopes to use the money to expand the project and allow training in more schools.

Soon, lessons such as these will be mandatory in all primary schools, as the government is bringing in new compulsory relationships education, which will include teaching tolerance of same sex couples.

The awards ceremony will be held on 24 March in Dubai, where homosexuality is illegal but officials usually turn a blind eye when it comes to tourists.

Mr Moffat said of his shortlisting: It shows that the world is moving forward. And what we dont want is for children in Birmingham to be left behind.

Its a great city, a diverse city, where everyone needs to feel welcome. What we cant have is pockets of society where you cant be this, you cant be that.

Children need to understand that we live in a diverse world and that is good.

Birmingham-born Mr Moffat attended John Willmott School and then studied drama, English and American Studies at Derby University.

School regulator backs nominated gay teacher Ofsteds chief inspector has backed a teacher in the running for a global prize who is at the centre of a sex education storm. Andrew Moffat, who has made the final of the Global Teacher Prize, saw protests erupt outside Parkfield Community School in Birmingham after parents took issue with him teaching about same-sex relationships. But Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman said it was important for children to learn about all aspects of society. She told the BBC that youngsters should know 'there are families that have two mummies or two daddies'. 'Its about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that theyre not bad or ill,' she added. Mrs Spielman said a 'middle ground' needed to be explored, but lessons covering LGBT topics were important. Christian and Muslim parents have claimed the lessons promote the personal beliefs of Mr Moffat, who is gay. They also argue the classes, part of the PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) teachers No Outsiders programme, are against their religion. Advertisement

He was a youth worker before training as a teacher in 1995, and previously faced a backlash at a Christian school over his lessons on anti-homophobia.

His school, which is majority Muslim, is currently rated outstanding by Ofsted. In 2017, he was awarded an MBE for services to equality and diversity in education.

He was shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize from over 10,000 nominations and applications from 39 countries around the world.

Ofsted's chief inspector has backed the nomination. School regulator chief Amanda Spielman said it was important for children to learn about all aspects of society.

She told the BBC that youngsters should know 'there are families that have two mummies or two daddies'.

'It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill,' she added.

Mrs Spielman said a 'middle ground' needed to be explored, but lessons covering LGBT topics were important.

Christian and Muslim parents have claimed the lessons promote the personal beliefs of Mr Moffat, who is gay.

They also argue the classes, part of the PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) teacher's No Outsiders programme, are against their religion.

The prize scheme, which has put the assistant head in the 10 teachers in contention for the million-dollar (765,607) Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019, also teaches about gender identity.

In a video announcing the finalists, Hollywood star Hugh Jackman paid tribute to teachers as 'real superheroes'.

He said: 'When I was a kid there were lots of superheroes that I wanted to be. But I can tell you right now, from where I stand, with all my experience, the real superheroes are teachers - they're the ones that change the world.'

At Mr Moffat's school, more than nine in 10 students speak English as an additional language and his No Outsiders programme also teaches inclusiveness and diversity.

He told the BBC that parents who disagreed with it had been sending him threats and 'nasty emails'.

Mr Moffat also runs the Parkfield Ambassadors after-school club, which creates opportunities for children at the school - where 99 per cent of pupils are Muslim - to meet people from different races, religions and cultures around Birmingham.

The winner of the Global Teacher Prize will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai on March 24.

The other nine finalists teach in Georgia, Brazil, the Netherlands, India, America, Argentina, Australia, Japan and Kenya.
As the deadline approaches for the withdrawal of US forces fighting Daesh in Syria, Americas closest European allies have turned down a Trump administration request to fill the gap with their own troops, according to US and foreign officials, Gulf News reported.

Allies have unanimously told the United States that they wont stay if you pull out, a senior administration official said.

France and Britain are the only other countries with troops on the ground in the US-led coalition battling Daesh.

Along with the United States, they have provided training, supplies, logistics and intelligence for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.
The carpet python who was found seconds from death in a swimming pool after being attacked by more than 500 paralysis ticks has been released into the wild after making a full recovery.

The snake, affectionately known as Nike, was found by snake catchers Tony and Brooke Harrison fighting for his life in a backyard pool, in Coolangatta, on the Gold Coast, on January 10.

Nike was attempting to drown the astounding number of ticks that had latched onto his skin.

The snake, affectionately known as Nike, was found by snake catchers Tony and Brooke Harrison fighting for his life in a backyard pool

Nike, was found by snake catchers Tony and Brooke Harrison fighting for his life in a backyard pool, in Coolangatta, and returned to the wild after making a full recovery at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital

After he was pulled from the water, Nike was taken to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, where 511 ticks were removed which 'left Nike very unwell with anaemia'.

The snake's recovery journey enraptured many on social media, who followed his progress keenly.

His condition was updated on the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation Facebook page.

'We are excited to share that Nike has returned to the wild after making a full recovery!' the post read.

'Over the last month Nike has been eating normally, returning to his expected body weight.

'His blood profile was within normal range as the ticks had caused anaemia and he was showing all normal behaviours and will continue to thrive in the wild.

'The team at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital would like to thank the world for its concern.'

Nike was attempting to drown (right) the astounding number of ticks that had latched onto his skin

Nike the carpet python was found covered in more than 500 ticks in a backyard pool in Coolangatta

At the time of Nike's rescue, he was found to have a 'nasty infection which may have caused his immobility, allowing the ticks to take advantage of him'.

Last Wednesday, the Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers (where Nike was transferred), issued an update on the snake's condition.

'Nike is coping well so far, given the state he was in before coming into care with Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers,' spokeswoman Jasmine Pereira told Daily Mail Australia.

'Many more dead ticks have fallen off him since receiving treatment at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, the count increases! His appetite is slowly increasing, although at a much slower pace than a healthy Carpet Python.

Unfortunately it's not just snakes that have been targeted by parasites.

The Wildlife Hospital Foundation revealed that a koala had also suffered a similar fate to Nike, after he was found with covered by 100 ticks last week.

The furry marsupial required a blood transfusion but the carers are confident the animal will make a complete recovery.
Pope Francis has promised that the Roman Catholic Church would 'listen to the cry of the little ones seeking justice', as he opened landmark Vatican summit on clergy sexual abuse.

In a short opening statement, he said Catholics and victims were expecting 'concrete and efficient measures' to be taken against paedophile priests in the church.

The 'evil' of sexual abuse of children by priests had to be transformed into understanding and purification, he added.

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Pope Francis greets a cardinal during the opening of a global child protection summit on Thursday morning

The pontiff promised concrete actions on behalf of the victims of sexual abuse in his opening statement

The pontiff warned bishops and religious superiors summoned to the meeting that the Catholic faithful around the world are demanding more than just condemnation of the crimes.

Francis opened the summit Thursday by praying for help turning 'this evil into a chance for understanding and purification.'

He told the gathering of 190 leaders of bishops' conferences and religious orders that they bore the responsibility to 'listen to the cry of the young who want justice.'

Francis called the summit after botching a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year. Realizing he had erred, he has vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

Vincent Doyle, of advocacy group Coping International, attends the landmark conference in Rome

Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz talks to journalists at the end of a meeting with organizers of a summit on preventing sexual abuse

Pope Francis is hoping to impress on bishops from around the world that the problem is global and requires a global response.

The four-day meeting at the Vatican began early Thursday with prayers and was to feature speeches, tutorials and workshops on protecting children, preventing abuse and stopping cover-ups.

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the U.S., bishops and other Catholic superiors in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia either deny that clergy sex abuse exists or downplay the problem.

Francis has made the same mistakes. He finally did an about-face after botching a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year.

Sex abuse survivors Pedro Salinas, Francoise Devoiz, Pietro Zanardi and Peter Isley leave at the end of their meeting

Members of the ECA (Ending of Clergy Abuse) organization and survivors of clergy sex abuse pose for photographers outside St. Peter's Square on Monday

Survivor advocates also have demanded that Francis say what he and other top Vatican officials knew about the prelate's sexual wrongdoing, which spanned decades.

'You abuse a child, you have to be removed from the priesthood,' Isely said. 'If you cover up for abusing a child, you have to be removed from the priesthood, and this is the only thing that is going to turn the corner on this global crisis.'

At a press conference Monday, organizers called the summit a 'turning point' in the church's approach to clergy sex abuse.

The Catholic Church has long been criticized for its failure to hold bishops accountable when they covered up for priests who raped and molested children.

They said the summit would focus on three key aspects of dealing with the crisis: making bishops aware of their own responsibilities to protect their flocks, the consequences of shirking those responsibilities, and the need for transparency.

Sex abuse survivors and members of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) hold their organization banner as they talk to journalists

One of the victims, from Eastern Europe, said in their testimony: 'An encounter with a priest hurt me. As a teenager, after my conversion, I went to the priest so he could teach me how to read the Scriptures during Mass; and he touched my private parts. I spent a night in his bed. This hurt me deeply.

'The other thing that hurt me was the bishop to whom, after many years, as an adult, I talked about the incident... I met the bishop and he attacked me without trying to understand me, and this hurt me.'

A victim from Africa said: 'From the age of 15, I had sexual relations with a priest. This lasted for 13 years. I got pregnant three times and he made me have an abortion three times, quite simply because he did not want to use condoms or contraceptives.

'At first I trusted him so much that I did not know he could abuse me. I was afraid of him, and every time I refused to have sex with him, he would beat me.

'And since I was completely dependent on him economically, I suffered all the humiliations he inflicted on me.'

And a victim from America said: 'I still carry pain. My parents still carry pain at the dysfunction, the betrayal, the manipulation that this bad man - who was our Catholic priest at the time - wrought upon my family and myself.

'I would ask the bishops for leadership. Leadership and vision and courage.'
This the dramatic moment a bull made a giant running leap into a crowd at a religious event in south India.

Thousands of worshippers gathered yesterday at the popular local temple in Mathakondapalli village near Bengaluru.

The locals had sought permission to hold a traditional bull dance with 100 animals but local official refused.

They feared the bulls would send the crowd into a frenzy and they weren't wrong.

One of the bulls breaks free at a religious event in south India and runs towards the crowd

Villagers went ahead regardless and brought more than 100 decorated bulls and made them run through the streets, ignoring police requests.

One of bulls became spooked and broke free, jumping into the thronging crowd.

Several onlookers were injured but none of them seriously.

The panic then triggered a clash with the police as they tried to control the crowd.

The situation quickly escalated and the mob clashed with officials pelting the police and fire brigade with stones.

The fierce animal leaps into the crowd of people and injures several. Police had told the villagers not to go ahead with the event

Thousands had to flee the rogue bull and it sparked violence between locals and police. Villagers threw stones and police had to resort to batons to control the crowd

Police eventually managed to control the mob after resorting to batons and around 25 people have been detained.

Senior officials said more than six policemen and two firemen were injured while a police jeep and a fire engine were damaged in the incident.

More than 100 policeman are now stationed in the village to maintain peace.
Lawyers representing Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' are considering challenging his conviction for trafficking over possible juror misconduct.

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was convicted on 10 criminal counts including drug trafficking, conspiracy and using firearms as leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel at Brooklyn federal court last week.

The 61-year-old was found to be running a continuing criminal enterprise as the kingpin of one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking organizations during the 1990s and 2000s.

But on Wednesday his legal team said they were considering filing a motion of potential juror misconduct after a member of the jury told a news website that several jurors looked at media coverage of the case during the trial.

The anonymous juror told VICE News that at least five members of the jury followed news reports and Twitter feeds about the case, against a judge's orders, and were aware of potentially prejudicial material that jurors weren't supposed to see.

Scroll down for video.

Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman in a courtroom sketch on February 12 when he was found guilty of smuggling tons of drugs to the United States

El Chapo being escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a hanger in Mexico City, after he was captured overnight in the beach resort town of Mazatlan in 2014

Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said: 'The jury clearly ignored the judge's daily admonitions against not only looking at the press but also had inappropriate communications with each other'

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan had instructed jurors not to read media coverage of the case or discuss it with one another at the end of every day during the nearly three-month trial

Jurors deliberated for six days after three months of testimony and the guilty verdict, delivered on February 12, could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

The juror said that multiple jurors lied when Cogan asked them directly whether they had read specific media reports related to the case, according to Vice News.

The juror also claimed that the deliberations stretched on for six days because of a single holdout who was uncertain about the charges, and that two jurors essentially refused to take part in the process, Vice News reported.

The juror said that although they were ultimately convinced of Guzman's guilt, some were reluctant to send him to what is likely to be lifelong solitary confinement.

Guzman's lawyer, Eduardo Balarezo, said the issues of potential juror misconduct raised in the VICE article 'are deeply concerning and distressing'.

Balarezo said in a statement: 'The juror's allegations of the jury's repeated and widespread disregard and contempt for the Court's instructions, if true, make it clear that Joaquin did not get a fair trial.

Emma Corenel Aispuro, wife of accused El Chapo, arriving with her children at Brooklyn Federal Court last October

El Chapo being escorted in Ciudad Juarez by the Mexican police as he is extradited to the United States in January 2017

Attorney for Guzman, Jeffrey Lichtman, arriving at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse for the trial last November

'We will review all available options before deciding on a course of action.'

As part of the extraordinary security measures surrounding the trial, jurors were brought to and from court each day by armed U.S. marshals, and their names were never made public.

Prosecutors said the measures were necessary because of Guzman's history of intimidating witnesses.

Guzman twice escaped from prison in Mexico before his final capture in January 2016. He was extradited to the United States in January 2017.

A mugshot of El Chapo released in 2016 by Centro Federal de Readaptacion Social maximum security prison in Mexico

The Sinaloa Cartel still has the biggest U.S. distribution presence of Mexican cartels, followed by the fast-growing Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

VICE reported that the juror requested anonymity and would not provide a name to the reporter. But the jury spoke to the reporter via video chat for two hours, and the reporter said he recognized the juror from the trial.

The juror told VICE at least five jurors involved in deliberations and two alternates heard about allegations that Guzman drugged and raped underage girls, even though that evidence was kept out of the trial because it was seen as prejudicial.

The allegations, made public on the eve of deliberations, appeared in news coverage and tweets about the case.

The juror said the revelations didn't seem to factor into Guzman's guilty verdict, VICE reported.

'That didn't change nobody's mind for sure,' the juror said, according to VICE.

'We weren't really hung up on that. It was just like a five-minute talk and that's it, no more talking about that.'

Asked why the judge wasn't told about jurors looking at news reports, the juror told VICE: 'I thought we would get arrested. I thought they would hold me in contempt... I didn't want to say anything or rat out my fellow jurors. I didn't want to be that person. I kept it to myself.'

Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said: 'The jury clearly ignored the judge's daily admonitions against not only looking at the press but also had inappropriate communications with each other.

Guzman being taken from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, New York, as he was extradited to the US in 2017

'We're researching the issue now and will make any appropriate motions for relief. Joaquin Guzman deserved a fair trial.'

Legal experts say that while it's too early to talk about potentially throwing out the verdict, this could at least lead the defense to ask for a chance to question jurors about their exposure to news coverage and whether it affected their decisions.

If it is found that the verdict was influenced by this information the conviction could be overturned or a new trial could be ordered by the judge.

University of Dayton law professor Thaddeus Hoffmeister said Guzman's lawyers will have to demonstrate not only that there was juror misconduct but that it had a prejudicial impact.

He said: 'The challenge now becomes for the court to determine whether this somehow influenced their decision making.'

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn declined to comment.

At present El Chapo is due set to be sentenced in June.


The racist abuse saying 'no blacks' was painted on the front door and entrances of the flats in Salford, Greater Manchester

The ten-year-old boy on whose front door a racist daubed graffiti reading 'no blacks' has told how he spent more than a week terrified to leave his home in case the perpetrator was laying in wait to commit an even worse crime.

Vaughan Dowd, 54, painted the message on the front door of the home of Jackson Yamba, 38, and his son David in Salford, but Greater Manchester Police initially told Mr Yamba they did not have the resources to investigate.

The force has since apologised and Dowd has pled guilty to the February 8 offence. He has been taken into custody for his own protection pending sentencing next month.

Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, young David said: 'I was terrified because my dad told me to come out, but I wanted to stay indoors because I thought someone was waiting or something was going to happen.

'Usually in our other house I would get up, brush my teeth and then get breakfast and I would go to school. But I can't do it right now at this moment, because I'm too scared in case they're going to come back and do something worse.

'When police finally arrived I felt more comfortable that they were searching for the person who had done, or just expected to have done this. Because at the start I thought they were still waiting there, but when the police came and they said they were looking for the person, I felt more comfortable.'

Jackson Yamba, 38, told the programme: 'When David finished school, he came home, he was asking me the same question: "Daddy, when will the police be coming, when will the police be coming?".

'I had no answer really to give David at the time but we waited.

'After all the week the police never attended. So it was only because I tweeted. Because I felt really, really left, because we couldn't sleep.'

Dowd covered his face during the attack but was caught by the CCTV installed in the flats and by police checking the record of key-fob entries to the housing association apartment block, Manchester Magistrates' Court heard.

He pleaded guilty to a single count of racially aggravated criminal damage on February 8 and was remanded into custody for sentence on March 21.

District Judge Mark Hadfield told him: 'I'm satisfied a remand in custody is necessary for your own protection.'

Prosecutor Ann Deakin said a possible bail address in south Manchester for Dowd was inappropriate because of the 'ethnic diversity' of the area, adding: 'There's a clear risk to the defendant's safety.

Jackson Yamba, 38, pictured with son David, ten, came home to find 'no blacks' on their door

'Greater Manchester Police has received complaints from America - that's how far it's gone viral about the victims being abused in this way.'

The judge said the maximum sentencing powers of a magistrates' court, of six months in jail, were insufficient to deal with the case.

The case only came to light after Mr Yamba, 38, a solicitor who came to the UK from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, tweeted a photo of his front door and complained that no police officers had been to see him after he reported the attack.

It led to outrage online, and an apology and prompt response to the tweet from Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins.

Ms Deakin, prosecuting, told the court the victim and his son were leaving for work and school on the morning of February 8 when they discovered the graffiti. The youngster said: 'Daddy, something is written on the door.'

Ms Deakin continued: 'Mr Yamba looked and saw painted on his brown wooden front door was 'No Blacks' twice. This was underlined. Mr Yamba is described as being shocked and distressed and his son was becoming upset.'

The man, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo only moved into the flat this month

The same graffiti was also daubed in the same white paint on an internal communal door and the entry door to the block of flats.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Yamba said: 'This incident has left me feeling very angry. The idea someone has the audacity to attack my front door of my home address and target me in this way has affected me in a lasting way.

'I'm now constantly on edge and worried about every little noise outside and it has affected my ability to sleep. My son is very anxious about being alone and I can see this has worried him greatly.'

The court heard that Dowd had 'exercised his right to silence' in police interview, but the judge asked his solicitor for an explanation for his behaviour.

Lorna Wincote, defending, said: 'The facts are fully accepted. There's no issues with regard to any drugs or alcohol, there's some suggestion of some underlying mental health issue, because there is no other underlying explanation.'

The court then heard from an 'intervention team' nurse based at the court, who said that, having spoken to the defendant in the cells, there was evidence of issues of depression and anxiety.

The corridor and landing of the flats in Greater Manchester is covered by CCTV

She also said Dowd 'acknowledged a level of compulsivity' and regarded what he had done as a 'completely stupid act' without any explanation.

Dowd, wearing jeans and a brown jumper and shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and details and to plead guilty to the offence.

District Judge Hadfield said this type of offence has an effect not only on the victim but the wider community, and he adjourned the case before deciding whether to grant bail ahead of sentencing.

Ms Deakin added: 'There's grave concerns for the defendant, particularly given the outrage by the local community, especially given that it's come across that it has been organised, premeditated and the victim has been deliberately targeted.'

Before today's hearing, one neighbour at flats where Dowd lives, who did not want to be identified, told MailOnline: 'I did not expect him to do something like that.

'He was quiet, not aggressive. Every time I saw him he'd say hello. Police knocked on asking if I'd seen him but I've not seen him since Christmas.

Speaking on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme yesterday, David said he was 'terrified'

'Last time I saw him I said 'I've not seen you for ages' and he said he'd been busy. He kept himself to himself, he lives alone. It's really unusual.

'He's never done any racism to me and my daughter is black and he's seen her over the years. I really don't believe that. I've been here four years and he was here before me. The police were asking about him and I thought he might have gone missing.

'I wasn't expecting that. I can't see him going and writing all that. He's a quiet, pleasant guy. I'm shocked. You really don't know who your neighbours are if it's true. If he did it he wouldn't have been in the right state of mind. He didn't seem to be like that.'

Another told MailOnline: 'He was really nice. Really quiet, he would drop food for our cat through the door sometimes. We moved in two or three years ago.

'Everybody was very welcoming. He would stop beneath our window and chat to the cat then drop a packet of food through the letterbox.

'I'd always say hello to him. Quiet, quiet, quiet guy. I don't know if he worked but he had a car and I'd see him go out. I assumed he was working.'

Mr Yamba was interviewed on the Victoria Derbyshire programme yesterday. He said of the delayed police response: 'I felt really, really left, because we couldn't sleep'

It was only after Mr Yamba tweeted about the abuse, and lack of police action, that the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and local politicians became involved.

Mr Yamba, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and arrived in the UK in 2006, only moved into the flat with his son earlier this month.

The single father-of-one claimed when he reported the incident to Greater Manchester Police he was told officers, 'didn't have enough staff to investigate.'

Mr Yamba, a qualified solicitor, was not visited and did not receive a call back from police more than a week after reporting the matter.

His tweet on Saturday night was shared thousands of times, prompting an outpouring of support.

It was only after Mr Yamba tweeted about the lack of police response, that the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester apologised and local politicians became involved.

Mr Yamba and his son David Yamba are interviewed by Joanna Gosling on the show yesterday

He has since been seen by a senior officer, the graffiti has been erased by the housing association, and the local community has rallied round with fundraising.

Mr Yamba said his son had been left traumatised and in tears by the incident on February 8.

Mr Yamba's friend Theo Baya, who also lives in the property, said he had never experienced racism before in the UK from anyone since arriving in 2011.

Mr Baya said: 'They may be stereotyping black people, we are both educated, we were both solicitors in Africa. It is ignorance, a lack of education.

'It is the first time this has happened to me. Before I was in Belgium and France and people there are not as mature in their attitudes.

His tweet on Saturday was shared thousands of times, prompting an outpouring of support

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins apologised to Mr Yamba for the lack of rapid police response

'For me the UK is paradise. I still believe people in the UK are more mature and fair than in Belgium and France.'

The corridor and landing of the flats is covered by CCTV. Police apologised for the delay in their response which the force said was because of the lack of staff.

A Go Fund Me page was set up to help the pair replace their door, and exceeded its 1,000 target in less than six hours.

The father and son were also invited to be special guests at a local rugby match and meet the Salford Red Devils.

MP for Salford and Eccles, Rebecca Long-Bailey, replied to Mr Yamba's Twitter post asking him to email her.

In response to the messages, Mr Yamba tweeted: 'I am really grateful for the amount of support across the country. There is no word to describe my gratefulness. My son and I want to thank you all.'


Kanautica Zayre-Brown, 37, has pleaded numerous times with the state of North Carolina to transfer her to an all female prison, having fully transitioned from a man to a woman

A North Carolina transgender woman who was convicted of insurance fraud is set to spend 10 years behind the bars of a male prison, despite having breasts and female genitalia.

Kanautica Zayre-Brown, 37, is said to be the state's only post-operative transgender prisoner, having made the full transition from male to female in 2017.

However, Zayre-Brown says the state refuses to recognize her as anything other than a man, referring to her as Kevin Chestnut - her birth name - even though it's been legally changed.

Convicted of insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses, the habitual felon was sentenced to 9 years and 11 months at Harnett Correctional Institution, in 2017.

Now, Zayre-Brown says she is bracing herself to spend a decade living in constant fear of being assaulted, as she's forced to shower and change in front of male inmates, and sleep in a dorm filled with 38 men.

She also alleges she's regularly given male undergarments too.

Zayre-Brown (above) was convicted of insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses in 2017. She was sentenced to 9 years and 11 months behind bars

Now the 37-year-old says she lives in constant fear of being attacked, and claims to be harassed by other inmates on a regular basis

Over the past two years, Zayre-Brown has repeatedly requested to be transferred to a female prison facility, but so far each request has been denied.

'I understand I'm in prison', Zayre-Brown told News Observer. 'But I just want fairness.'

The state Department of Public Safety adopted a policy last year entitling transgender inmates to possible services including hormone therapy, gender-appropriate clothing, and gender-aligned housing.

Zayre-Brown says she received hormones several months in to her sentence but is yet to receive any other assistance.

'Underwear, bras, hygiene shoes. Anything the policy allows me to have, they don't do it,' she claimed.

Last year, North Carolina repealed a law which required government workers to use bathrooms which matched their birth gender - but the same shift is yet to occur behind the walls of its prison systems.

Nationwide, transgender inmates in other states are said to be facing a similar fate to Zayre Brown.

This largely comes as part of the Trump administration's repeal of a number of key policies implemented during Obama's presidency, which sought to protect the rights of transgender felons.

And last May, the US Bureau of Prisons announced that an inmate's biological sex would be used to initially determine where they're housed, rather than the gender they identify with.

Her husband, Dionne (left) says he fears for her safety every day, and says his wife doesn't feel safe either

Currently housed at the Harnett Correctional Institution (above), Zayre-Brown is forced to shower and change in front of other inmates, as well as sleep in a dorm with 38 men

In December, a transgender inmate from Chicago won a year-long legal battle to transfer to a female facility, after she detailed years of abuse at an Illinois prison that left her feeling like a 'sex slave'.

Under the Trump administration's policies, authorities are instructed to consider the heath and safety of transgender inmates, as well as 'whether placement would threaten the management and security of the institution and/or pose a risk to other inmates in the institution.'

At Harnett Correctional, though she says she's never been physically attacked, Zayre-Brown claims she's harassed by other inmates on a daily basis but rarely reports any of the incidents as she doesn't want to be put in solitary confinement for her protection.

'I don't feel comfortable with her being with a bunch of men like that, under that type of pressure,' said her husband, Dionne Brown, to News Observer.

'I married her and she's considered herself a female the entire time... I don't feel safe for her. She doesn't feel safe.'

The Trump administration made moves to repeal Obama-era laws that would've made it easier for Zayre-Brown to transfer. North Carolina's Department of Public Safety say her case is under review

North Carolina Department of Public Safety spokesman Jerry Higgins said Zayre-Brown's case is under review.

She is hoping to transfer to the North Carolina Correction Institute for Women, the state's largest for female inmates.

If transferred, Zayre-Brown says she'd feel 'the way I'm supposed to feel when I wake up everyday: a beautiful girl.'

'Being here will make you an angry transgender woman,' she added.
A man in his 60s has died while a woman in her 70s was rushed to hospital after a horror crash on a Sydney highway that caused a 10km traffic jam.

The pair were travelling south in a 4WD on the Hume Highway, near the Raby Road overpass in Woodbine in Sydney's south-west when the caravan they were towing jack-knifed, causing the vehicle to roll on Thursday about 3.15pm.

The woman was taken to Liverpool Hospital with minor bruising to the chest, with some cuts and scratches, where she remains in stable condition.

Emergency crews described the crash as 'horrific' and have blocked off a north and southbound lane.

A man in his 60s has died while a woman in her 70s was rushed to hospital after a horror crash on a highway

Inspector Audie Jousif from New South Wales Ambulance said debris had scattered all over the road after the pair's 4WD rolled over several times.

Drivers are being urged to stay away from the area.

One southbound and two northbound lanes of the Hume Highway remain open.

Police from Campbelltown Police Area Command are reminding motorists to slow down to 40km/h, while emergency services remain at the crash site.

The circumstances behind the crash are being investigated.
A young girl has died just hours after a shocking high-speed crash that killed her mother and seriously injured her father.

Nikki Sanders was in the car with her mother, Jemma Hanham, when they collided with another vehicle on Sunday evening in Onerahi, in New Zealand's north.

Mrs Hanham died at the scene and seven-year-old Nikki was taken to Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital with serious brain injuries, stuff.co.nz reported.

Nikki Sanders was in the car with her mother, Jemma Hanham, when they collided with another vehicle on Sunday evening in Onerahi, in New Zealand's north.

Mrs Hanham died at the scene and seven-year-old Nikki was taken to Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital with serious brain injuries

Tragically, Nikki's heart stopped beating on Monday morning.

Her older sister Trinity, 11, survived the crash, while her father Lucan Cresswell - who was driving the car at the time of the crash - is fighting for his life in hospital.

Described as a 'mummy's daughter' the family said they weren't surprised when Nikki passed away after losing her mother.

'I don't think she would have survived without her mum,' grandmother Denise Whitehead told the publication.

'You could not even have her for a night  she was such a mummy's daughter. I had her for one night and all she wanted to do was go home to mum.

'They were connected at birth, and connected through life, and together in death.'

According to police, speed was likely a factor in the crash.

Both Nikki and her mother were farewelled at a funeral on Monday.
Bright Akinlele, 22, was stabbed to death near Euston Station in north London on Monday

This is the first picture of a 22-year-old man stabbed to death near a busy London station.

Bright Akinlele staggered into the Wesley Hotel near Euston Station with bleeding stab wounds at around 10.45pm on Monday.

Staff called the emergency services who desperately fought to save him but he was pronounced dead the scene in north London at 11.31pm.

A post-mortem examination gave cause of death as a stab wound to the leg.

Four men and seven women aged between 19 and 28 were arrested on suspicion of murder at a nearby property in Camden that night. They have now been bailed.

Guests were evacuated from the hotel and were unaware of what had happened until they returned the following morning.

Neighbours claimed there had been a 'commotion of up to 15 teenagers' near the hotel that night.

The chairman of The Wesley Hotel - where the injured man staggered into and begged for help - confirmed he was brutally attacked in a neighbouring street.

Scroll down for video

Four men and seven women aged between 19 and 28 were arrested on suspicion of murder at a nearby property in Camden following the stabbing near Euston (scene pictured morning after)

A forensic investigator is pictured in protective clothing carrying a bag near the hotel in Camden, north London, where the man died last night

A police car and private ambulance carrying the man's body are pictured at the scene on Tuesday

Investigators are pictured wearing protective suits as they take photographs of the scene

Speaking outside the police cordon on Tuesday, Reverend Doctor Stuart Burgess said: 'A young person was stabbed in a neighbouring street, around the corner from Euston Street.

'He made his way to the bar and lobby area of the hotel where he tragically collapsed. Within an hour he tragially died.

'I want to pay tribute to the police who responded quickly and to the staff - it was a very big shock for them but they responded very well.

'There were four or five of them and they soon realised the person was beyond their help and they called 999.

A police officer is pictured taking a statement from a witness near Euston in London

Eleven people were arrested after Mr Akinlele was stabbed to death near Euston Station in Camden, north London

The police cordon remained in place throughout Tuesday

'My thoughts are prayers go out to the family of the man who tragically died.'

The young stab victim is believed to have been brutally attacked two streets away from the hotel - in Starcross Street.

Ayesha Begum, 38, who lives close to where the man was found, said she came out of her home after hearing a commotion.

'Police were following a trail of blood,' she said.

Laura Collins, 34, and colleague Jemma Threapleton, 33, were staying in the hotel.

The nurses from Manchester were visiting the capital for a training course and said the tragedy has left them feeling 'nervous and scared'.

Ms Collins said: 'I was out for dinner and drinks with a friend and we came back just after midnight. We saw the police cordon and obviously asked what was going on.

'A police officer said someone was attacked and we weren't allowed in for around 15 minutes - it was freezing.

'There was no receptionist, only a security guard inside and we were told to keep to the left.

'There was a girl there who looked upset and I think the hotel workers might not have been there because they were too upset too.

'I've been to London a couple of times and it has made me feel nervous, it was quite scary.

'You hear about shootings and stabbings in the news so I guessed something like that happened when I saw the police tape.'

Colleague, Jemma, added: 'I was asleep in a room on the ground floor and could hear some noise.

'I was wondering what was going on but there wasn't too much of a commotion.

'No one in the hotel said anything, at breakfast or at reception. We didn't know what really happened until we saw the news this morning.'

A Met Police spokesman said: 'On Monday, 18 February at 22:44 hours police were called to a hotel in Euston Street, NW1 to a report of a stabbing.

A forensic investigator liaises with officers in a police car on the street near Euston station on Tuesday morning

'Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and found a male [no further details] suffering from stab injuries.

'He was pronounced dead at the scene at 23:31 hours. Enquiries have established that the male entered the lobby of the hotel from the street and then collapsed.

'Staff at the hotel immediately came to his aid, contacting the emergency services.

'Urgent enquiries are currently taking place to identify the victim and inform his next of kin.

'A post-mortem examination will take place in due course. The Homicide and Major Crime Command have been informed.

'Cordons are in place and officers remain on scene. Eleven people have been arrested on suspicion of murder and are in custody at separate London police stations.

'Enquiries are ongoing. Any witnesses and anyone with information concerning this stabbing is urged to call police on 101 quoting CAD 7945/18 Feb or Crimestoppers anonymously via 0800 555 111.'
The mother of a two-year-old boy who was trapped in a bus for six hours in 28C heat is thankful her son survived the horrific ordeal.

Cassandra Brown-Crane's son Alijah was found strapped in his seat by shocked staff at Yass Little Learners, north of Canberra, on Wednesday.

They reportedly gave him water before taking him to hospital for dehydration at about 3pm.

Cassandra Brown-Crane's (right) son Alijah (left) was found strapped in his seat by shocked staff at Yass Little Learners, north of Canberra, on Wednesday

The boy was allegedly found strapped in his seat by shocked staff at Yass Little Learners (pictured), north of Canberra, on Wednesday

On Thursday, Ms Brown-Crane told the Yass Tribune the toddler was 'doing okay'.

'I love the centre, it's a family here,' she said.

'Accidents do happen. Sadly, this could have been tragic, but thankfully he's healthy and happy.

Ms Brown-Crane said she was relieved the incident didn't turn fatal.

'I'll remember this day forever and I'm so thankful he is healthy and alive. He bounced back very fast.'

The bus driver has been suspended from the company and police are investigating.

Ms Brown-Crane said the incident also took a toll on the childcare centre, who were noticably shaken on Thursday

Yass Little Learners wrote in a deleted Facebook post that the driver has been 'suspended pending a full investigation by YLL centre management'.

It said that 'every effort is being taken to ensure that a full inquiry is conducted We will provide a further report of the results of this matter.'

Ms Brown-Crane said the incident also took a toll on the childcare centre, who were noticably shaken on Thursday.

'It's hit everyone. It's not just hit me and my family,' she told Seven News.

'It's hit the whole staff. I walked around this centre today talking to people and everyone just, it's really hit people.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Yass Little Learners for comment.
Today, the Youth Student Forum Youth of Eurasia: building the future together, organized by the Russian North-South Centre, kicked off in Moscow. On the sidelines of the event, Vestnik Kavkaza talked with the participants of the event representing Azerbaijan.

"Such events are useful because the participants exchange experiences, get acquainted, present their projects. We are united by a huge post-Soviet space," a participant from Azerbaijan, Araz Dovlatov said. "The youth is the foundation of any country. In our delegation, the guys represent different educational, innovative, public projects. My project is dedicated to environmentally friendly products. This problem is relevant for Russia, Azerbaijan and the whole world. If you pay attention to my project, you will see it is useful for any country.

Araz Dovlatov is convinced that the youth leadership" should become the trend of the events of this level: "Every person who starts working on his project can become a youth leader. It is a great honor for him.

Evaluating the level of the volunteer movement in Azerbaijan, Dovlatov said: "Our youth is actively involved in the process of organizing major international events. Volunteering brings people together, allows to share experiences. I think young people make a great contribution to the success of the world-level events."

The forum participant from Azerbaijan, Ayyan Ismailova, noted that the volunteer movement is spread all over the world, and Azerbaijan supports this initiative: There were volunteers at the European Games, at the Islamic Games. ASAN (Azerbaijans State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations under the president) also employs a lot of volunteers of different ages. This movement makes a huge contribution to the development of the country and to the development of each participant. I, as a psychologist, participate actively in volunteering. "

Ayyan Ismailova brought with her to Moscow the project entitled School of Political Psychology. "In Baku, it has been being implemented for two years now. We are promoting the diversified development of young people - we hold trainings on the development of leadership skills, communication skills and negotiation. Also, young people and girls meet with outstanding personalities, learn from their experience, ask questions, communicate with them. In addition, we are creating an interactive platform where they can have practice, including in the Milli Majlis, and send the most active ones to a weekly practice in PACE. I myself was there, too, "said Ayyan Ismailova.

According to her, everyone who interacts with the youth movement can be called lucky: "I would really like such movements to function in all post-Soviet countries so that young people can learn from each other's experience."

Aiyan Ismailova also thanked the organizers of the forum for the opportunity to learn more about her and other participants interests.

The intergovernmental project "Youth of Eurasia: building the future together" is aimed at creating regular communications between student communities of Eurasian states, developing youth competencies for successful implementation of socially significant initiatives, including those promoting humanitarian cooperation and intercultural dialogue. The forum is attended by the representatives of student communities of the CIS countries, Russian universities and non-profit organizations with experience in implementing socially important projects, specialists in project work.
Shocking images have emerged of a car flipped on its side after a learner driver made a major mistake.

Emergency crews were called to the VicRoads car park, in Melbournes Broadmeadows at 11am on Thursday after reports of a car accident.

A silver sedan with yellow L-plates could be seen resting on its side.

Emergency crews were called to the VicRoads carpark, in Melbournes Broadmeadows at 11am on Thursday after reports of a car accident

Miraculously, no one was injured in the bizarre incident, 9 News reported.

However, fire crews were deployed to flip the car back the right way.

It is not clear how the driver managed to flip the vehicle in front of the building that is home to the states roads, driver safety and licensing department.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted VicRoads for comment.
Children as young as seven are being taken out of school to help work on their family farms as the drought tightens its grip on rural Australia.

UNICEF project 'In their own words' tracked the devastating toll the big dry has had on farming children as their families continue to struggle with dwindling livestock.

In some cases, children are being woken up before school to shoot starving animals to put them out of their misery.

'Before the start of this year Id never shot a lamb in my life and Ive done probably about 50 or so this year,' a Year 10 student said.

Children as young as seven are being taken out of school to help out on their family farm as the drought tightens its grip on NSW (pictured, Harry Taylor with bones of dead livestock on family farm at Coonabarabran)

UNICEF project 'In their own words' tracked the devastating toll the big dry has had on farming children as their families continue to struggle with dwindling livestock (pictured, Harry Taylor picks up a lamb to try and feed it with cotton seed)

'[Initially] I didnt want to do it. Like, I cried sort of thing but now its just easy. You just do it.'

Others say they have had to put homework on hold because they have to help out on the farm during after school hours.

'The problem is, you get home and you bust your a**e to feed stock until about 10 oclock at night, and then youve got to do homework,' another Year 10 student said.

'And thats the hardest thing. Like, youre tired and youre up til 12 and youre tired the next day. So it just keeps piling up. Its like a domino effect and it just gets worse and worse.'

For those studying distance education, learning has had to take a backseat.

'Others with children in primary school (distance education) are rotating siblings between helping out and attending school,' the report said.

As a Year 5 student explained, she and her brother would tag in to help out their father.

A school principal told UNICEF researchers children were being called in because farmers simply couldn't afford hired help.

'Mum and the kids are the workforce because theyve let go any of their casual staff, theyre not employing anyone they just use the family. Thats the workforce now,' the principal said.

The damning report went on to say education wasn't the only casualty in the children's lives.

In some cases, children are being woken up before school to shoot starving animals to put them out of their misery (pictured, Heidi Taylor kicks up dust on family farm at Coonabarabran)

Other children say they have had to put homework on hold because they have to help out on the farm during after school hours (pictured, Taylor kids play in an empty dam)

Children may be further at risk of lasting psychological damage as they are exposed to the financial stress on their families.

One child said they felt like they were 'walking on eggshells' because tension was that high, and another said they hardly saw their father because he was out working the land all day.

UNICEF has since put a call out for the government to direct more drought-relief funding into children's programmes to combat the very serious issue.

Jess Taylor and her husband run a sheep and cattle property at Bugaldie in north-western NSW.

The pair have an eight-year-old and two-year-old child and can see firsthand how stress has impacted their children.

'The kids know what is going on. We have sold quite a bit of stock, we are pretty low down in numbers, and the kids know that they are going and they are not coming back and they get pretty upset,' Mrs Taylor told 9News.

She went on to say added programs to help children cope with the drought would go a long way.

'It would be great for the older kids especially because they understand the complexities of it and are pretty good at bottling things up.'

Children may be further at risk of lasting psychological damage as they are exposed to the financial stress on their families (pictured, Taylor children play on donated hay bale as hungry cattle feed on the food)
North Carolina's elections board ordered a new election in the nation's last undecided congressional race after reviewing evidence that it was tainted by absentee ballot fraud.

The board voted 5-0 on Thursday to hold a new race in the 9th Congressional District. It did not immediately set a schedule.

The ruling came immediately after the Republican candidate in what remains the nation's last undecided congressional race abruptly dropped his bid to be declared the winner and instead called for a new election, after investigators detailed evidence of ballot fraud by political operatives working for him.

Mark Harris informed the North Carolina elections board of his decision on the fourth day of a hearing on whether to certify the results of the November contest - a day after his own son had taken the stand to say he had warned about the operatives' 'illegal' activities.

'Through the testimony I've listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called,' he said.

'It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.'

It's over: Mark Harris takes the oath before abruptly telling the North Carolina Elections Board that he was dropping his bid to be declared winner of the 9th District race and accepted the result was tainted by fraud allegations

Family affair: John Harris, Mark Harris' son and a federal prosecutor, testified Wednesday that he had warned his father about illegal election activity

At the same time, Harris denied any knowledge of the illegal practices allegedly used by operatives on his payroll.

Harris left the hearing room without answering questions. It was not immediately clear whether he intends to run in a new election.

The decision on whether to hold a new election rests with the five-member election board, which did not immediately hold a vote on the matter.

Harris led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of about 280,000 cast last fall in a mostly rural district along the southern edge of the state. But the state refused to certify the outcome as allegations surfaced that Harris political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless may have tampered with mail-in absentee ballots.

The congressional seat has been in Republican hands since 1963.

Harris made the surprising reversal after his lawyers argued to the board that he should be certified the winner.

North Carolina Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse said he learned of Harris' decision only minutes before. 'There's no way that anybody has contemplated what's next,' he said.

Harris told the board that he is still dealing from health problems caused by a blood infection that landed him in a hospital and led to two strokes since the election, adding, 'I struggled this morning with both recall and confusion.'

But he insisted: 'Neither I nor any of the leadership of my campaign were aware of or condoned the improper activities that have been testified to in this hearing.'

According to testimony and other findings detailed at the board hearing, Dowless conducted an illegal 'ballot harvesting' operation while working for Harris. Dowless and his assistants helped voters obtain absentee ballots and then gathered up the filled-in ballots from them by offering to put them in the mail, the board was told.

Dowless' workers in rural Bladen County testified that they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots from voters, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates. It is generally against the law in North Carolina for anyone other than the voter or a family member to handle someone's completed ballot.

Earlier Thursday, Harris testified that Dowless had assured him that he wouldn't collect absentee ballots in violation of state law. 'I'll never forget. He said it again and again. He said, 'We do not take the ballot,'' Harris testified.

But on Wednesday his son had testified that his father ignored repeated warnings against hiring a shady political operator.

John Harris testified at the special state elections board hearing that he'd warned his father about Dowless' operation repeatedly since mid-2016.

Reaction: Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, fought back tears at the conclusion of his son John Harris's testimony

Strife: Beth Harris, the wife of Mark Harris, was present as her son testified against her husband

John Harris said his warnings were overridden because local Republicans recommended Dowless to Mark Harris.

His parents met with Dowless in April 2017, when the operative insisted his method for maximizing mail-in vote results was legal and grounded in local relationships.

'I think they were lied to and they believed the person who lied to them,' John Harris said of his parents.

'I will also say, they were weighing what I had provided in terms of analysis against other people that they respected who endorsed Mr. Dowless' behavior. Do I agree with their ultimate assessment? No. I thought what he was doing was illegal. And I was right.'

North Carolina's elections director said Monday that Dowless conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation while working for Mark Harris during the 2018 election cycle. Dowless' workers in Bladen County testified at the special state elections board hearing that they were directed to forge signatures, collect blank or incomplete ballots voters handed over, and even fill in votes for local candidates who hadn't earned them.

Some Bladen County residents also raised their suspicions in sworn affidavits that Dowless also may have discarded the ballots of Democrat Dan McCready's supporters. He trailed Harris by 905 votes out of about 280,000 cast in November's election, but the race wasn't certified after allegations against Dowless surfaced. The hearing has produced no testimony showing ballots were discarded.

Dowless declined to testify this week after the elections board refused to grant him immunity from prosecution based on what he might say. Dowless has felony convictions for insurance fraud and perjury, but Harris and his chief campaign consultant said those charges were missed in a brief background check.

John Harris said he did not have a significant role in his father's campaign and assumed campaign staffers and consultants had a duty to keep an eye on Dowless' performance.

Mark Harris previously told The Associated Press he sought out and hired Dowless because he delivered votes, including for a Republican rival in the 2016 GOP primary. Harris said he discussed with an attorney after that primary whether to challenge Dowless' incredible results for a GOP rival with mail-in ballots in Bladen County. Dowless' methods in the 2016 general election were referred to federal prosecutors, who took no action.

Since October, John Harris has worked in the civil division of the same U.S. Justice Department office in Raleigh. He said he was testifying voluntarily in his capacity as a private citizen and not as a Justice Department employee. Mark Harris appeared to tear up during his son's testimony.

John Harris testified that he initially warned his parents about Dowless after reviewing voting data immediately after his father's 2016 primary loss. Mark Harris had lost a Republican primary that June in which GOP rival Todd Johnson, who used Dowless in that campaign, scored 98 percent of the mail-in ballots cast in Bladen County.

In November 2016, John Harris forwarded a Republican fundraising email amid a vote-counting fight in the close North Carolina governor's race. The email claimed that a Democratic Party voting fraud scheme in Bladen County had been uncovered, based on a complaint by Dowless of misdeeds by a local black empowerment organization.

Mark Harris reacted to the email with a reply to his son: 'Amen! But interestingly enough, the guy who made the claim, Dowess (sic), is the same guy that Johnson paid to run the 'absentee ballot program' for him! Guess he didn't like the Dems cutting into his business!'

Mark Harris is expected to testify Thursday. The elections board is expected to either declare him the winner in the 9th congressional district or order a new election after the multi-day hearing.
A takeaway shop owner who cooks an extra scoop of chips at the end of every day for sparrows has lured in a flock of greedy seagulls instead.

Talwinder Singh Kular has attracted tarapuka birds, endemic to New Zealand and the world's most endangered seagull, to his Hastings store in the North Island.

But Mr Kular's neighbours, such as Kris Bristow, were frustrated by the 'cr**' on the roof made by the winged intruders.

Talwinder Singh Kular has attracted tarapuka birds, endemic to New Zealand and the world's most endangered seagull, to his Hastings store (pictured) in the North Island

'They park on the top of the buildings, waiting,' the frustrated business and building owner told the New Zealand Herald.

'If you get that cr** on your roof, acid eats through eventually, which is why the council spent a lot of money trying to kill all the pigeons.'

Five of the gulls were believed to be shot dead at Rotorua's Sulphur Bay during a routine check by a Department of Conservation volunteer in mid-November.

A colony were found breeding in Hawke's Bay in the Tukituki Rivermouth, exposing them to humans, predators and surf.

Some of the birds began visiting the building across the road from Mr Kular's store and saw he had been feeding other birds.

Mr Kular, dubbed as Hastings' own bird whisperer, still feeds his sparrows but does it in the yard at the back of his shop, away from the beady-eyed gulls

'I like to do something for the birds,' he said.

'Before I was just feeding the little birds, but now seagulls are coming in.'

Mr Kular, dubbed as Hastings' own bird whisperer, still feeds his sparrows but says he now does it in the yard at the back of his shop, away from the beady-eyed gulls.
Meghan Markle's makeup artist for her lavish royal wedding was on hand again for her decadent baby shower in New York City.

Daniel Martin, who is a longtime friend of the recently crowned Duchess of Sussex, shared a photo late on Wednesday of sweet, baby shower-themed treat.

With the image, he wrote, 'Such an incredible day celebrating,' and added the hashtag '#babylove' with three emojis, showing confetti, a teddy bear and red balloon.

Markle, 37, made a whirlwind trip across the pond to the Empire State in total luxury to celebrate the upcoming birth of her child with Prince Harry with her American friends.

Daniel Martin (pictured), Meghan Markle's makeup artist for her lavish royal wedding. was on hand again for her decadent baby shower in New York City and shared an image of the treats that were served at the event on Wednesday

The photo Martin posted on Instagram (shown) featured cookies shaped and decorated like signature baby shower decor, including a stork with a newborn, a rattle and a baby bib. With the image, he wrote, 'Such an incredible day celebrating,' and added the hashtag '#babylove' with three emojis, showing confetti, a teddy bear and red balloon

The photo Martin posted on Instagram showed cookies shaped and decorated like signature baby shower decor.

One delectable-looking snack was garnished to resemble a stork with a small blanket in its beak that looked to be holding a newborn baby, and a second was decorated like a rattle with a bow tied around its handle.

A third cookie looked like a tiny baby bib, with the word 'baby' written across it in script, so as not to leave a single person a guessing as to what it might be.

Markle and Prince Harry married on May 19, shown here on their wedding day. The two are thought to be expecting their first child to be born sometime between April and May

Markle ended her extravagant $500,000 five-night trip to New York City in the most high-flying of ways - by boarding a luxury private jet bound for the United Kingdom, just hours after she was thrown the lavish shower by her closest friends in a $75,000-a-night penthouse.

The seven-months-pregnant duchess was pictured boarding the private plane on Wednesday evening, less than an hour after she was seen leaving her swanky Upper East Side hotel.

The Mark Hotel served as the venue for her star-studded baby shower, which was thrown for her especially by Amal Clooney and Serena Williams.

Markle, 37, made a whirlwind trip across the pond to the Empire State in total luxury to celebrate the upcoming birth of her child with Prince Harry with her American friends. Markle is pictured leaving the Surrey Hotel ahead of her baby shower at the Mark Hotel on Tuesday in New York City

Meghan's extremely luxurious mode of transportation back to the UK - a Gulfstream G450 twin jet plane - is thought to have cost a staggering $125,000 for the six-hour journey back from the Big Apple.

The royal is also thought to have arrived in New York via private jet, meaning that a phenomenal $250,000 was spent on her round-trip travel for the personal girls' trip - bringing the total estimated cost of the getaway to around half a million dollars, with other expenses considered.

On Monday, Kensington Palace confirmed that Meghan's travel for the six-day trip had been 'privately funded' because it was a personal getaway, however the spokesperson would not comment on any other details of her visit to New York.

Kensington Palace also declined to give any official information about her security detail, or her plans while she was staying in the city.

Markle and Prince Harry married on May 19. The two are thought to be expecting their first child to be born sometime between April and May.
Greens MP Adam Bandt has called for the coal industry to be shut down, saying it would be shameful for the government to spend public money on 'bankrolling coal' instead of schools and hospitals.

Mr Bandt, the federal MP for Melbourne, made the controversial comments despite the coal industry earning $25billion in the past year and employing an estimated 10,000 people.

Asked what alternative employment there was for those workers if coal was shut down, Mr Bandt said the interests of the environment should be put first.

'If its a toxic substance, you shouldnt be selling it,' Mr Bandt said on Sky News.

'We dont say, well there are jobs in the asbestos industry so therefore we should allow asbestos mining to continue.'

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Greens MP Adam Bandt (pictured) has called for the coal industry to be shutdown in a new interview

The 46-year-old said the subsidies that were given to the coal industry would be better spent on repairing areas of the country that had been ravaged by fires and floods.

'At the moment the government is going hell for leather trying to find ways of bankrolling coal and they have made that crystal clear and they've invited expressions of interest from various coal companies and power stations around the place,' Mr Bandt told Sky news.

'They are looking at ways to use public money - that could be going to schools and hospitals - to bankroll coal.

'Now after the summer that we've had, as parts of Australia are burning and other parts are under water, the idea of using public money to underwrite coal-fired power stations is reprehensible.'

His comments come in the wake of the announcement that Glencore, the largest coal miner in Australia, is scaling back its coal operation and will cap its global coal production.

(File pictured) Mr Bandt made the controversial comments in spite of the coal industry boosting Australia's economy by $25billion last year

Mr Bandt's (pictured) comments come in the wake of the announcement that Glencore, the largest coal miner in Australia, has decided to scale back their coal operation

The move came after the company came under pressure from shareholders to work towards more renewable technologies and minerals.

The company had operations across Australia, including north Queensland, the Northern Territory and some areas in New South Wales.

Energy heavyweight Adani has also scaled back the size of its Carmichael mine operation, in Central Queensland.

Mr Bandt's anti-coal position reflected that of Labor MP Richard Marles, who recently spoke out to say the collapse of the thermal coal industry would be 'a good thing'.

(File picture)Labor MP Richard Marles has also spoken out to say the collapse of the thermal coal mine would be 'a good thing'




A 33-year-old man in south-east China was arrested on Thursday after he attacked morning commuters with a knife, injuring 11 people including schoolchildren.

The incident happened at 7:12am local time in the Jizhou district of Ji'an, Jiangsu province, police said in a statement on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

The attacker was identified as Guo Kaibing, whom his family said had a history of mental illness. He was immediately tackled by police and onlookers.

A 33-year-old man in south-east China's Jiangsu province was arrested on Thursday after he attacked morning commuters with a knife, injuring 11 people including schoolchildren

The incident happened near a school, according to various Chinese media reports.

Students and auxiliary police officers were among those taken to hospital to treatment, police said, adding that none of the wounded suffered life-threatening injuries.

A man, surnamed Xu, who owned a bakery nearby told Chengdu Business Daily that the man was attacking people at random.

He and three other people, including a security guard at the school, chased after the man and subdued him.

Video footage shows police officers restraining the suspect by taping up his hands and legs

The incident happened near a school, according to various Chinese media reports

Video footage shows police officers restraining the suspect by taping up his hands and legs.

Authorities are conducting an investigation.

The attack is the latest in a string of mass stabbings around the country blamed on people with mental illnesses or bearing grudges against individuals or society.

Firearms are tightly controlled in China, with private ownership illegal, while knives are mostly unregulated.

In December, an attacker with a knife who tried to hijack a bus killed five people and wounded 21 other.

In March, nine were killed in an attack outside a middle school allegedly carried out by a former pupil seeking revenge for having been bullied.

Homemade explosives and flammable liquids have also been used in mass attacks.
A chiropractor at the centre of an infant spinal manipulation controversy which has sparked public outrage can no longer treat children while authorities investigate.

Dr Andrew Arnold, the Melbourne chiropractor filmed hanging a newborn upside down to crack its back agreed to not treat anyone under 12 after he appeared before the Chiropractic Board of Australia on Thursday.

'I will not undertake any chiropractic treatment of children from birth to 12 years,' an undertaking published on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website stated.

'I will not publish, display, promote or provide materials, information or advice that relates to the assessment, management or treatment of children from birth to 12 years, including but not limited to the publication of material on social media, blogs, and/or any other platform on the internet.'

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos confirmed to reporters Dr Arnold is being investigated by AHPRA and the Chiropractic Board of Australia on Thursday.

'They are investigating this matter and in fact I have invited them to meet with me and I will be meeting with both the chairperson of the Chiropractic Board of Australia and the CEO of AHPRA next week,' she said.

'I'm concerned by this particular case but I also want to ensure there aren't other chiropractors around Australia who are similarly undertaking these types of practices.

'It's very important that the [board] does issue very clear advice to all chiropractors in Australia about the inherent risks associated with these types of practices.'

Dr Arnold was performing a spinal treatment on a two-week-old baby and filmed the session and later posted the video to Cranbourne Family Chiropractic's Facebook page, which has since been taken down.

The footage shows the chiropractor perform a series of controversial tests on the baby, which Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos later described as 'extremely disturbing'.

Dr Arnold begins by folding the baby's legs into his hips until he feels a click while the newborn's parents stand off-camera.

A chiropractor has come under fire over his treatment of a two-week-old baby after he dangled the newborn child upside down during a consultation

At length, he pulls out a device called the activator, a spring loaded chiropractic device

At length he pulls out a device called the activator, a spring loaded chiropractic device.

He tests the device on an adult's hand to give them an idea of the force of the tool.

'We're going to use the activator on the lower setting and I'll just show you on your hand here,' Dr Arnold says to the person off-camera.

He then proceeds to place the activator on the newborn.

Within moments of activating it, the baby bursts into tears. But Dr Arnold doesn't stop there.

He rolls the baby on its back to test its collarbone. With two fingers on the crying baby's collarbone, he uses his free hand to tap on the upset baby's head.

A series of tests later, Dr Arnold goes on to check the bones in the baby's head.

This time he presses down on the child's head with both hands, the child visibly distressed.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cranbourne Family Chiropractic for comment.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president, Harry Nespolon, has called on the government and authorities to ban the practice.

'The concept of manipulating a baby's back is just horrifying,' he told AAP.

'The government must start looking at this very carefully and decide whether or not they think it is okay to perform this treatment on a baby.'

A series of tests later, Dr Arnold goes on to check the bones in the baby's head

This time he presses down on the child's head with both hands, the child visibly distressed
A hungry punter has pleaded guilty in court this week after a chaotic bender in New Zealand.

An employee witnessed Job Tara Henare, 39, stumble into a Subway sandwich shop at about 6:30am on August 10 in Balclutha on the South Island last year.

He ordered a steak sandwich, which the employee promptly made, then he decided he didn't want it.

A hungry punter has pleaded guilty in court this week over a chaotic bender in New Zealand's South Island (stock image)

When the employee asked for payment anyway, Henare emptied his wallet on the counter.

After being told to leave, he threatened the employee, telling her if he saw her outside he would hurt or kill her.

After this Henare wandered down the street to Living Corporation real-estate agency where he broke into a shed and stole a pick axe.

He used it to try and open a door but when he failed he smashed a window and went inside where he ate some confectionary.

He left with a fish tank and made his way to the South Otago Hotel where he tried to enter through an unlocked window.

Police later found him hanging from the window by his foot.

The court heard he had been on a bender after abstaining from alcohol for a length of time.

He was sentenced to 10 months home detention and ordered to pay $8207 in reparations.
A former Mongols bikie has insisted the $100,000 cash found by police in his bedroom is money earned through a lucrative gig selling French bulldogs.

Wads of cash were discovered at Michael Kane Dunwoody's Hope Island home during a police search in November 2017.

The money had been kept in bundles and wrapped with black tape, according to the Herald Sun.

Former Mongols bikie Michael Kane Dunwoody was found guilty of possessing tainted property after police founds $100,000 in cash at his Hope Island home in 2017 (stock photo)

Dunwoody, who was also in possession of a handgun and bikie posters, claimed he had earned the money by selling the popular dogs.

Although several French Bulldogs were found at the home, there was no other evidence to suggest he was selling them for profit.

His father, Ken Dunwoody, told the Southport Magistrates Court he had given his son the money to help fund his dog breeding venture, in which he had been selling pups at $10,000 a pop.

Magistrate Sinclair, however, did not buy the father and son's story, explaining that the job would be a lot more popular if it was actually so profitable.

Dunwoody claimed he had earned the money through a lucrative gig selling French bulldogs (stock photo)

Bank records obtained by the court also failed to show proof Dunwoody was selling dogs. Only two transactions showed he had made purchases at a PetBarn in 2014.

Dunwoody was found guilty of possession of tainted property. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.

The money will be kept by a Public Trustee until prosecutors order it be handed over to the state.
Washingtons first deadline for Turkey to respond to its offer to buy the Patriot missile defence system passed last Friday with no progress made. Only one day after the deadline, US Vice President Mike Pence raised the issue once again with Ankara regarding Turkeys recent deal to acquire the Russian S-400 missile defence system.

The Middle East Monitor reports in its article Why wont Turkey abandon the S-400 deal with Russia? that in his speech at the Munich Security Conference last Saturday, Pence threatened Turkey, without mentioning it explicitly, when he said, Weve 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.

The Americans agreed recently to offer Turkey the Patriot missile deal, worth about $ 3.5 billion, but linked its agreement to do so on several conditions, including the need for Ankara to abandon the S-400 deal with Russia. The Turks initially welcomed the offer, but rejected the conditions tied to it. They also linked any possible agreement to the extent that it serves Turkeys interests, especially regarding the timeframe offered for delivery of the system. The government in Ankara also stipulated the need for the deal to include the transfer of technology to Turkey as well as financial provisions to help pay for it.

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the US responded positively to the possibility of delivering the system early, but it has not yet responded to the matters of joint production and financial arrangements. Since the official deadline for the response to the American offer will expire entirely at the end of March, this means that the debate on the topic will continue for another few weeks, at least. This will occur amid American threats to stop the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara and the possibility of imposing sanctions if it does not back down from the S-400 deal with Russia.

However, Turkey believes that removing it from the F-35 production programme will lead to higher costs for the Americans, and it will also hamper delivery times to many allies. More importantly, it will damage Washingtons already shrinking credibility. The Trump administrations arrogant, exploitative behaviour only strengthens Turkeys commitment to its deal with Russia, as it seems that pulling out is nearly impossible under the current circumstances.

There are three possible reasons why Ankara will not abandon the S-400 deal with Russia. First, the lack of trust in Washingtons sincerity, especially as the latter has not kept its promises on several occasions, most recently by threatening to cancel the delivery of the F-35s. Ankara believes that the US will be able to cancel the Patriot deal, threaten to do so or use it as a means to blackmail Turkey if and when it deems it necessary to do so. Furthermore, the lack of a financial incentive makes it very costly for Turkey to buy the Patriot system from the US, especially in the current economic climate. Unless Washington discusses this aspect of its deal, the Patriot offer will not be attractive from a purely financial point of view, neither on its own or when compared with Russias S-400 offer.

Finally, Washington has so far refused to transfer the technology to Turkey as part of the potential deal with Ankara. If this is not done, Turkey will not achieve its declared aims, and so it would be taking the Patriot system for purely political reasons in order to be balanced in the relationship between Russia and America. When all things are considered, therefore, it is almost certain that Ankara will stick to the S-400 deal with Russia.
An enraged driver has been accused of intentionally plowing his car into a family of eight, killing a 32-year-old pregnant mother and injuring a father and their six children.

Police believe an argument between the driver, identified as 35-year-old Jason Mendez, and the family may have sparked the Wednesday afternoon attack at a 7-Eleven store in Haverstraw, New York.

Witnesses reported that father-of-six Shawn DeLoatch had asked Mendez not to blow smoke in the direction of his children.

Mendez then allegedly struck all eight members of the family with his Nissan Infiniti sedan, smashing them into the storefront before reversing the vehicle and driving forward again to hit the victims a second time.

All eight family members were hospitalized. The woman, Melissa Castillo DeLoatch, was later pronounced dead.

Shawn DeLoatch, 35, and the six children, ranging in age from less than a year old to 10 years old, were treated for non-life threatening injuries.

'Kids doing great up here,' the dad wrote in a Facebook post from Westchester Medical Center on Thursday.

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Pregnant mother Melissa Castillo DeLoatch, 32, (above) was killed after being struck by an enraged driver outside a 7-Eleven in Haverstraw, New York, on Wednesday afternoon

Jason Mendez, 35, was arrested for allegedly intentionally plowing his car into Melissa DeLoatch, her husband and their six children. He is seen in police custody on Wednesday night

Police believe Mendez had gotten into an argument with the family before he allegedly struck all eight members, smashing them into the storefront before reversing his car and driving forward again to hit the victims a second time. The damaged storefront is seen after the crash

Witnesses at the 7-Eleven around the time of the incident reported that the argument began when the father told Mendez not to blow smoke in the direction of his children

When police arrived on the scene, Mendez allegedly refused to drop his knife and had to be subdued with a Taser and arrested at gunpoint.

'He didn't say anything initially to the police officers,' Haverstraw Police Capt Martin Lund said. 'He refused to drop the knife. Then he was tazed at the scene and taken down.'

Mendez pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and seven counts of second-degree attempted murder at an arraignment Wednesday night.

His attorney told the court that his client had just lost cellphone repair job last week.

Video from NBC4 shows a silent Mendez wearing a stony expression as he was escorted from a squad car to the courthouse in handcuffs.

Mendez wore a stony expression as he was escorted to the courthouse for an arraignment on Wednesday night, where he pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and seven counts of second-degree attempted murder

An attorney for Mendez told the court that his client had just lost cellphone repair job last week

A crumpled baby stroller laid outside the damaged 7-Eleven store as investigators canvassed the scene following the crash.

Witnesses to the incident said they saw a woman who looked severely injured lying on the ground immediately after.

Cindy Schnalzer told NBC4: 'The baby was was crying, and there was like an 11-year-old girl that came out, and she was with her father out here, and the father was going ballistic wanting to know where the guy was.'

'I heard the father, he was telling the cops: "I told him not to blow smoke in front of my kids,"' Schnalzer added.

Authorities said at a news conference that an argument precipitated the attack, but have not confirmed what it was about.

A GoFundMe campaign set up to help cover Melissa DeLoatch's funeral costs and to support her children raised $9,000 within less than a day.

In the description, the victim's cousin Adrienne Rodriguez wrote: 'Melissa did what any mother would have done and tried to protect her children.

'She was a true hero. Melissa was full of love, smiles, life and so much more. All of us are going to miss you beyond (what) words can explain.'
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Stunning images have captured the black cowboys living in the rural Mississippi Delta.

Photographer Rory Doyle's pictures challenge the Hollywood stereotypes and Wild West caricatures of white cowboys that are so familiar to movie audiences around the world.

Doyle, 34,instead focuses on the black cowboys and cowgirls in the Delta. It is estimated that one in four cowboys in the US were black following the Civil War.

The project began in early 2017 when Doyle attended a rodeo celebrating black cowboy heritage in the region and over the past two years he has documented them.

The black cowboys in the Mississippi delta is the subject of an ongoing project by the photographer Rory Doyle

Young riders dance atop their horses in the McDonald's parking lot in Cleveland, Mississippi

Doyle has been photographing anything involving the black cowboy and cowgirl scene

Doyles images resisting stereotypes around what it means to be a cowboy and focuses solely on African-American cowboys

A Mississippi Delta cowboy named Gee raises his horse after a rare snowfall in Bolivar County, Mississippi

Cowboys and girls on a trail ride in Washington County. There have been Black cowboys in the South since the Civil War

Doyle tells how he captured a group of riders showing love for their horses and fellow cowboys, while also passing down traditions and historical perspectives among generations

James, a smoking cowboy with a golden grill, poses for a portrait near Cleveland, Mississippi

Garriet watches migrating geese pass overhead at dusk in Bolivar County, Mississippi

Delta Hill Riders sheds a light on a group that has long been overlooked in the Mississippi Delta.

His pictures see cowboys riding on horseback, tending to injured animals and even dancing at a local disco.

The region is one of the poorest areas of the US, with little economic growth or job opportunities.

Doyle said: 'Historians agree that following the Civil War, one in four cowboys were African American but this population was drastically underrepresented in popular accounts, and it's still that way.

'The "cowboy" identity goes far beyond the iconic John Wayne image, which is something I've been expressing through the project.'

Doyle has made the Delta his home, finding a natural affinity for the area and wide acceptance from the community.

Eric Clark with a newborn colt in Greenville, Washington County. After the civil war, one in four cowboys was black

Kyran poses for a portrait on 'Cowboy Night' at Club Black Castle in Ruleville, Mississippi

Joe 'Dancing Cowboy' Wrenn and his wife Barbara dance at a cowboy theme Valentine's Day event at Club Black Castle in Ruleville, Mississippi

A group of cowboys and dancers take to the dance floor at Club Black Castle in Ruleville, Mississippi

Lester Brisby parties at the Burning City Blues Club in Shaw, Bolivar County

A thigh tattoo is revealed on Pam's leg during a trail ride in rural Tallahatchie County, Mississippi

Children wait for a trail ride to begin in Tillatoba, Yalobusha County

Javaris Beamon (left) with his grandfather Rogers Beamon at the Christmas parade in Cleveland, Bolivar County

Doyle lives in Cleveland, Mississippi, and moved to the South. Discovering the area's black cowboy culture was a revelation

'If you come here as "outsiders" but you're committed to staying here, and show that you care about the community, people just embrace you and love you for it, for the love you give back to this area,' he said to ABC News.

'On the other hand, I'm still a Yankee, right?' Doyle says. 'I'm still a person that came here from up North and is this outsider who has a different perspective of the Delta than a lot of people who have lived here their whole lives and wouldn't stop and think twice about seeing these cowboys at the Christmas parade.

'I don't want to necessarily erase the idea of the white cowboy but I do want people to know that there is so much more than just John Wayne or the Marlboro man,' he continued. 'This is a global culture and Hollywood has done a really good job of sharing the white image of the cowboy.

'I think people are also interested, especially now politically, in hearing or seeing the perspective of rural America. And so we have this positive story about rural America but it's also black America, and it's very atypical from a lot of the stereotypes that people have.'

Delta Hill Riders will be at ThePrintSpace Gallery in London on February 28 through March 26.

Bri rides her mini-dirtbike on a trail ride outside Charleston, Mississippi

Astride her horse, Pam Wrenn gives rides to kids during a trail ride in Charleston

Dkamyion, left, and Carlos share a horse outside a rodeo in Greenville

To this day, the cowboy identity retains a strong presence in many contemporary black communities

Gee McGee rears his horse while a dirt biker pops a wheelie in Charleston, Tallahatchie County

Doyle began shooting 'Delta Hill Riders' in January 2017 when he attended a rodeo in Greenville, Mississippi celebrating black cowboy heritage in the region

Peggy Smith, Tijmoun Brown and Lester Evans enjoy the last of the afternoon light at a horse barn in Bolivar County
A man who punched his partner in the face three times while she was driving with her baby in the car has avoided jail time with a two year suspended sentence.

Jordyn Edward Montgomery, 24, from Gympie, Queensland, got into an argument in the car with his partner in October when he asked her to pick him up.

Montgomery then punched her in the face with his left hand while she was driving and her baby was in the back seat.

His partner turned the car around in order to take him home but this aggravated him and he than punched her two more times.

Jordyn Edward Montgomery, 24, got into an argument with his partner in the car and punched her in the face three times (stock image)

She tried to restrain him but crashed into a gutter, popping the rear tyre.

After the pair got out of the car Montgomery grabbed a tyre iron and started to smash the car's windscreen.

He pleaded guilty to four charges including assault, willful damage, dangerous operation of a vehicle and breaching bail.

Solicitor Greg Wildie told the court that Montgomery has a history of psychiatric issues including bipolar and panic disorder, the Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

'He has long-term problems that need long-term support,' Mr Wildie said.

'He's not saying any of this excuses what's happened. It's just the facts of life he has to deal with,' he said.

Montgomery also has a history or drug and alcohol problems which he was occasionally seeking professional treatment for.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan called it a 'violent and nasty' crime, but agreed that his mental health did have an effect on his behaviour and his sentence should ensure he get help.

Montgomery has lost his licence for six months, was given two years probation and was ordered him to pay $8360.30 for the car damage.
A surfer who survived a savage shark attack on Sunday has told how he escaped with his life, saying: 'I thought I was going to die.'

Sam Edwardes, 41, was sitting on his board 100m from shore near Byron Bay when he was struck and knocked sideways by a young great white.

'I just felt this thump into my leg. You can't imagine the feeling, it's a really intense hit,' he told The Today Show.

With a huge chunk of his leg missing and blood gushing, Mr Edwardes managed to get back on his board and yelled at fellow surfer Dane Davidson to get to shore.

Sam Edwardes, 41, was sitting on his board 100m from shore near Byron Bay when he was struck and knocked sideways by a young great white. Pictured: His surf board after the attack

'I started paddling into the beach, I was a bit frantic,' he said.

'I was going as fast as I could, I was racing to get to shore and it took ages. It felt like an eternity to get there.'

The teacher eventually reached land, where his friend wrapped an ankle tie around his leg to stem the bloodflow.

Mr Edwardes then looked at his leg and saw a 20cm by 30cm chunk of muscle missing.

'That's when I freaked out. And that's when I thought "this is bad",' he said.

He said he started to lose vision and began to struggle with breathing, adding: 'I thought I was going to die.'

Paramedics rushed to Belongil Beach at 6.40am after Mr Edwardes returned to shore.

He was treated at the scene before before being air-lifted to Gold Coast University Hospital.

After several surgeries, he's now in stable condition. Luckily the shark missed any major arteries or nerves.

The gash has been described as 'the size of a football.'

Shark attack victim Sam Edwardes (pictured) watched a friend vanish from the surf after they too were attacked by a great white 20 years ago

This is not Mr Edwardes' first run-in with sharks.

Earlier this week it emerged he lost his friend to a shark attack in 1999.

In that incident, Edwardes, Donoghue and two mates were windsurfing at Hardwicke Bay in South Australia when the 22-year-old Donoghue decided to stay in the water while his friends returned to shore.

His three friends made it to the sand, but when they looked out to the horizon, Donoghue was nowhere to be found.

His body was never found, but a ravaged wetsuit was.

A coroner later found that the tears were caused by a great white shark.

Edwardes (pictured), 41, was surfing at Belongil Beach in Byron Bay on Sunday morning when he was bitten on the leg by a shark and rushed to hospital by helicopter

Pictured: Mr Edwardes' surf board had a massive chunk taken out of it during the attack

Talking about Sunday's attack, Mr Edwardes' friend Mr Davidson said: 'As soon as my mate got out the back he sat up on his board and instantly a shark smashed from underneath  knocking him clean off his board.

'I was freaking. When I heard the screams he was making in the water and then I saw a chunk of his board floating off, that's when I realised it was pretty bad.

'We didn't realise until we were on the beach that there was a big chunk taken out of his leg so there was a lot of blood.'
A candlelight vigil will be held for the much-loved miniature pony fatally stabbed 41 times in a sickening attack as the desperate hunt to find his callous killer continues.

The Waitati community near Dunedin in New Zealand has been rocked by the death of 10-year-old pony Star, who was brutally attacked in his paddock on Sunday night and succumbed to his horrific injuries two days later.

Regarded as a cherished community icon who belonged to a little boy, a shrine of flowers and signs have begun to build outside Star's paddock, where everyone is welcome to attend next Sunday night's public vigil.

A candlelight vigil will be held on Sunday night to remember Star, a cherished community icon

A boy's miniature pony (pictured) died after being stabbed 41 times in a horrific attack

Star's heartbroken owner Mandy Mayhem-Bullock hopes to 'lift the bad juju that's here at the moment'.

'People have been coming to me saying they're scared and panicked, talking about moving away,' she told the Otago Daily Times.

Dunedin mayor Dave Cull has since described the incident as 'grave concern' for the close-knit community.

The police investigation into the 'deplorable act' has been elevated to the Criminal Investigation Branch.

Detectives launched a heartfelt public appeal in their manhunt to track down Star's killer, who remains on the run.

'Police wish to thank all those in assisting in the inquiry phase of the investigation into the brutal injury and death of the dearly cherished and loved family pet and Waitati community icon Star the miniature pony,' Southern District Police posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

'The information being provided is aiding the Dunedin Criminal Investigation Branch to progress the investigation into this deplorable act. Someone in the community will know who has done this and we encourage them to come forward directly to police or contact Crimestoppers. We need your help.'

The police Facebook post received more than 600 shares within 24 hours.

Horrific: The 10-year-old pony named Star (pictured with wounds) was brutally attacked in his paddock on Sunday night in Waitati near Dunedin, New Zealand

'Please, please do not ever give up looking for the the person/persons responsible for this pure act of evil. That poor wee soul would have suffered like nothing I could ever imagine,' one woman commented.

Another added: 'This is one of the most horrendous acts I've heard of. I hope the public get them before the law does and deals to them. It's beyond cruel and wicked.'

A dogwalker followed a trail of blood down a road and found Star whinnying as blood gushed from his 10cm deep wounds on Sunday night.

The terrified animal was untied and had jumped over his fence in fear.

Star the miniature pony belonged to a little boy but was much loved by the community

The man contacted the owner, Mandy Mayhem-Bullock, and they rushed Star to the Otago Equine Hospital about 40 minutes away.

The pony was admitted at around 2am on Monday before vets performed surgery for five hours.

Star was stabilised but his condition worsened and he died on Tuesday morning.

She said she had to take her devastated son and daughter out of school to break the bad news.

Detectives have stepped up their investigation into who killed Star (pictured right)

Star was rushed to Otago Equine Hospital 40 minutes away but later succumbed to his injuries

Star (left before the attack and right after) was stabilised but his condition worsened and he died on Tuesday morning

Vet Peter Gillespie said it was the most horrific thing he has seen in his 39-year career.

'I could see he had multiple lacerations on both sides of its neck and all over his back. It was in shock and had lost quite a bit of blood,' he told Stuff.

He said he initially thought it was a dog attack but noticed that the wounds were too clean and deep.

He believes more than one person attacked the pony.

'They tried to sever the horse's jugular,' he said.

A vet report seen by Daily Mail Australia read: 'Star was admitted around 2am for what appeared to be multiple injuries sustained from a dog attack. The pony was in shock having lost a significant amount of blood.

'IV Fluid therapy was commenced and once he was stabilised, the wounds were dressed and bandaged in preparation for surgery later in the morning.'

The vet said he initially thought it was a dog attack but noticed the wounds (pictured) were too clean and deep

'Upon closer examination of the injuries at around 9am, it was apparent that they were not 'teeth inflicted' wounds; the wound margins were too straight and clean, meaning they could have only been caused by a sharp 'knife-like' instrument.

'Many of the wounds are quite deep requiring the insertion of Penrose Drains.'

A family friend told Daily Mail Australia: 'The family is naturally devastated and would like to say they appreciate all the support that has been given at this difficult time.'

Anyone who was in the area of Brown and Pitt streets in Waitati around midnight last Sunday and saw or heard anything unusual are encouraged to call Dunedin Police or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A 31-year-old man has been arrested in relation to a sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl in an Aboriginal community.

The man was reportedly taken into custody at around 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon and is assisting with police inquiries.

Northern Territory police confirmed they responded to reports of a sexual assault at a little after 6am this morning, saying the assault occurred at around 4am.

Residents of Bagot in Darwin's northern suburbs, in the Northern Territory, have said they heard a girl screaming in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The girl was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital for assessment.

Northern Territory police have confirmed they responded to reports of the assault in Aboriginal community of Bagot in Darwin (pictured) at a little before 6am

Rueben Timothy from the neighbouring Borroloola community said his brother-in-law had woken him after hearing a child scream.

'My brother-in-law just heard her screaming and that,' he told NT News.

'My brother-in-law came outside and told us to get up, 'Come on, come on, we've got to go'.

After running outside towards the screams, they claim they saw a man running away.

'I went outside and my brother-in-law shouted at the fella and the fella took off,' he said.

A crime scene has been set up in an empty lot at the end of a street and detectives have begun doorknocking around the community.

A police spokesperson said the investigation is in its early stages but further information is likely to be released, ABC News reported.

Bagot is the oldest and largest Aboriginal closed-community in the Northern Territory, with a population of about 400 people.

A community member has raised concerns around the scrutiny this alleged assault may bring on the community again.

Last year the remote town of Tennant Creek was rocked by the alleged rape of a two-year-old girl. The case caused national outrage.

In the last five years a total of 755 cases of reported sexual assaults of children under the age of 15 have occurred in the NT.

It is reported that more than a quarter of these cases, 178 in total, involved youth offenders - 16 of which were under ten.
Gas hobs and boilers could be banned from new homes within six years to meet carbon emissions targets.

Property developers would not be allowed to connect new-builds to the gas grid after 2025, official guidance says.

The proposals, unveiled today, would put an end to new gas radiators, boilers and cooking hobs.

Gas hobs and boilers could be banned from new homes by 2025 to meet carbon emissions targets. The proposals, from the Committee on Climate Change, said newly-built properties should rely on low-carbon heating and cooking equipment such as induction hobs

Instead, the Committee on Climate Change said newly-built properties should rely on low-carbon heating and cooking equipment such as induction hobs.

The Home Builders Federation said the proposed ban would make new-builds a harder sell, as gas boilers are often cheaper and preferred by buyers.

Fitting a low-carbon heating system, such as an air source heat pump, could add 5,000 to the cost of a new-build, The Times reported. The committee admitted that high-tech low-carbon heaters can take longer to warm a room than traditional boilers.

A ban by 2025 at the latest was deemed necessary to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases caused by household energy use.

Households currently use 14 per cent of the UKs energy total. A spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said: Builders need to sell homes so alternative energy sources have to be attractive to consumers.

It must be ensured that alternatives are suitably attractive, available and efficient before withdrawing existing options.

But the Home Builders Federation said the proposed ban would make new-builds a harder sell, as gas boilers are often cheaper and preferred by buyers

Committee chief Chris Stark told the newspaper that heat pumps, which pull in heat from outside air, could be cost-effective for new-builds from 2021.

Mr Stark, who has a gas boiler in his Glasgow flat, said: A gas boiler is one of the things I would very much like to not have, but my home is one of the more difficult ones to convert. That doesnt mean Im not keen to do it.

Fitting air pumps in newly-built homes is five times cheaper than retrofitting the devices in homes that already have gas heating.

Homes in the UK will have to reduce emissions to zero by 2050 to meet climate change targets.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will carefully consider the recommendations, a spokesman said.

It comes after Environment Secretary Michael Gove pledged to crack down on wood-burning stoves in his clean air strategy.

The UK must slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2050 under the Climate Change Act 2008.
A man has been jailed for eight-weeks after he was caught on camera throwing rabbits by their ears into the grass verge of a lay by and driving away.

Gavin Towells, 38, was caught on CCTV throwing the two rabbits before driving off and leaving the hutch behind as they can be seen somersaulting through the air.

The rabbits made a full recovery and have now been rehomed but Towells told inspectors that staff at a pet shop had said to handle the rabbits by the ears to avoid them kicking out at him.

Gavin Towells, 38, was caught on CCTV throwing the two rabbits before driving off and leaving the hutch behind as they can be seen somersaulting through the air

RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said: 'The way in which Towells treated these poor rabbits is absolutely disgusting.

'There is just no need for it. The rabbits actually somersaulted many times before landing.

'There are plenty of charities out there who are willing to take in unwanted pets.

'Not only did he cause the rabbits unnecessary suffering by the way in which he threw them, he also would have caused them suffering by abandoning them.

'These are domestic rabbits who do not have the same instincts as a wild rabbits and would have probably become victim to a predator in a short amount of time.

'Luckily a very clued-up witness was able to save them from such a tragedy.'

Merthyr Magistrates' Court heard that Towells was caught on privately-owned CCTV getting out of his car in a layby on Abercynon Road, Abercynon, opening an hutch and picking up a pet rabbit by the ear before hurling it into the undergrowth.

He then picked up a second rabbit and did the same before driving off.

The rabbits made a full recovery and have now been rehomed but Towells told inspectors that staff at a pet shop had said to handle the rabbits by the ears to avoid them kicking out at him

A witness managed to confine the rabbits, a brown female English lop eared rabbit and tricolour female Dutch rabbit, and they were taken to the RSPCA Merthyr Tydfil Veterinary Clinic.

They were then health checked and given pain relief for the redness to their ear which is thought to have been caused when Towells threw them.

In interview with the RSPCA Towells said he was taught by a pet store how to handle the rabbits in such a way so they didn't kick him.

Towells, of Cwmbach, Aberdare, pleaded guilty to three animal welfare offences at Merthyr Magistrates' Court yesterday.

He was handed an eight-week prison sentence, was banned from keeping animals for 10 years and ordered to pay a 115 surcharge and 400 costs.

Towells was also handed a six-week imprisonment for breaching a suspended sentence for separate offences not related to the case and was fined 500 for flytipping.

Dr Jane Tyson, Scientific officer for RSPCA's Companion Animals department, said: 'Rabbits should never be picked up by their ears.

'How they were handled in this case would have been very stressful for them and highly likely to cause injury.'
Welcome to Britains Biggest Bovine Makeover, the TV format that takes a heap of old bull and turns it into two tons of gorgeous beefcake.

They say that beauty contests are just cattle shows  well, this one really is. First up is Marshall, a pedigree Charolais with a taste for brawling.

This Farming Life (BBC2) watched Marshall having his curly blond hide shampooed and blow-dried, and his hooves sanded so that he walked with a swagger.

You dont want the back legs to waddle like a penguin, explained breeder Ray, as he prepared the bull for auction.

Though he was the size of a removals truck, Marshall trotted into the show ring like Mr Universe. His tail was bouffant, his fringe tumbled over one eye.

This Farming Life on BBC2: Is a documentary series following the ups and downs of six different farming families in some of Scotland's most beautiful and remote landscapes including Cairngorms and the Highland village of Inverlochy

Hed have married himself if only it was legal in Scotland.

He was trouble, its true. This big bully enjoyed a scrap and had put at least one other Charolais champ out of the contest, after a barnyard ruckus. But surely that will add to his value at stud: all the girls love a bad lad.

Stories like these are the making of this documentary series, filmed at some of the most remote and picturesque farms in Britain. Marshall was reared near the Highland village of Inverlochy, amid spectacular scenery.

Across the mountains in the Cairngorms, farming novices Lynn and Sandra were preparing to send their three pigs to slaughter, an emotional challenge theyd not had to face before.

The couple had quit their city jobs and bought a disused croft, where they were busy planting a forest of 18,000 trees.

But you cant eat pine. Their trio of Oxford Sandy and Blacks had been dining on grain and acorns for months, and now the pigs were ready to be made into sausages. There were tears.

It makes engrossing viewing because the programme invites us to think about the aspects of farming that few people ever see.

We can all imagine the dawn starts, or riding quad bikes over rainy hillsides to round up sheep. Whats more appealing is the sheer amount of emotion that goes into this life.

The metropolitan Beeb is perpetually surprised by the popularity of these documentaries, not least the Sunday magazine Countryfile which is consistently one of the most viewed shows on TV.

All this week they are running a spin-off, Countryfile Winter Diaries (BBC1), but hiding it at 9.15am. The brisk, jaunty style with its multitude of presenters will be familiar to anyone who enjoys the main show.

Steve Brown, a man who never stops grinning, was at an animal rescue centre in the Cotswolds finding out how to help baby hedgehogs that are too small to survive hibernation.

Keeley Donovan visited a Highland zoo to meet Hamish, the first polar bear cub to be born in Britain this century. There were segments on preventing soil erosion in the Pennines and insulating houses with recycled plastic  all seamlessly strung together by intros from John Craven as he ambled around an idyllic English village.

One bizarre item asked whether it was more fun to motor round Cornwall in a campervan, or to take a Land Rover across the moors in Bronte country. All this makes odd viewing in the slot usually reserved for cheapskate telly filler about loft conversions and will-writing services.

To have the BBC using Countryfile to stuff a hole in the schedules is rather like the Old Vic sending a national treasure out in the interval to sell ice creams. Mines a Strawberry Mivvi, please, Dame Maggie.
David Cameron (pictured on BBC News in January) reportedly asked Tory defectors not to leave the party

David Cameron pleaded with the three Conservative defectors to stay in the party hours before they quit, it emerged last night.

Anna Soubry told The Times the former Prime Minister had sent a message to the MPs as they prepared to announce their defection.

He reportedly asked them: Is it too late to persuade you to stay?

The revelation came after the MPs revealed that neither Theresa May nor her aides had made any attempt to contact the trio  despite widespread rumours in the Press that they were about to quit.

One Cabinet minister texted Heidi Allen to urge her to stay in the party, but the others had no contact with their colleagues, they said.

After the defections, Mr Cameron tweeted a statement saying that he was sad that three talented Tory MPs have left the party... I respect their decision, but disagree with them.

He added: We need strong voices at every level of the party calling for the modern, compassionate Conservatism that saw the Conservative Party return to office.

'Our party has long been able to contain different views on Europe. Everyone must ensure that can continue to be the case.

On a visit to Berlin, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: These are extremely talented people and I hope that one day we will be able to welcome them back into the Conservative family.
Theres an enemy stalking the post-Soviet states of Eastern Europe  undermining governments, attacking the economy and sowing instability. Russia? No. The greatest threat to countries like Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine lies in their own poor governance and abuse of informal power, Politico reports in its article Eastern Europes problem isnt Russia.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have greatly improved since diplomatic relations were cut off in the wake of the Five Day War in 2008, when Moscow lost direct influence inside Georgia and recognized the two breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

These days, the biggest issue in Georgia isnt threats from Moscow; its the political foul play that risks jeopardizing its biggest infrastructure project in years: a deep-water port at Anaklia on the Black Sea coast.

Slated to open in 2020, the project is intended to cement Georgias position as a valuable East-West transit route by allowing it to receive large container ships, and boost its road and rail traffic. The project has attracted international backers: The first phase, costing $600 million, is partly funded by a group of four international lenders, and the European Commission has pledged to help finance the second phase, including road and rail connections. SSA Marine of Seattle, a major U.S. port operator, is set to manage the terminal.

But its future looks decidedly uncertain.

The project is closely associated with former Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who resigned last year after falling out with Bidzina Ivanishvili, another former prime minister and the major backer of the ruling party Georgian Dream.

A recently launched money-laundering investigation into TBC, the bank in charge of the port project, is widely seen as being politically motivated  payback perhaps by Ivanishvili, who is still the power behind the throne of the new government. The former prime ministers parochial interests, or those of his business friends, in the rival port of Poti may also be a factor. Last week, the government announced a new expansion project for Potis port.

Formally, the government of Georgia has expressed its full support for Anaklia, and the project has a good chance of weathering the crisis. It is too important not to. But the uncertainty created by the power struggle has already created instability and given openings to outsiders seeking to interfere.

And theres no shortage of foreign ill-wishers. For Russia, Anaklia would be a competitor to its own Black Sea ports. It also sits uncomfortably close to their client statelet of Abkhazia, leading one Russian commentator to call it a covert U.S. military project.

Turkey may not be fond of the project either, as Anaklia would be a direct rival to its own ports on the Black Sea. And while the Chinese formally support the project, they are rumored to be less than enthusiastic about its management structure, after their own attempt to own and manage the project was reportedly rebuffed.

Sadly, struggles like these are nothing new in Georgia  informal government and behind-the-scenes power plays have long been a part of how the country is run.

The analyst Ivlian Khaindrava memorably said of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, much beloved in some circles in the West, that he had a government by day that talked to Western interlocutors and a government by night that took the real decisions.

Georgia dropped in the Economist Intelligence Units Democracy Index for 2018and currently looks like a de facto one-party state governed by Ivanishvilis Georgian Dream party. Yet compared to other post-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe, its doing relatively well.

It still has checks and balances. Nongovernmental organizations and parliamentarians have just won the first round of another row over the way the country is governed, forcing 10 candidates for the Supreme Court with dubious reputations to withdraw their candidacies after a major public backlash against them.

Problems of corruption and cronyism are writ even larger in Moldova and Ukraine. Moldova in particular looks like a captured state where business and politics are fused together and large parts of the state are required to serve the needs of powerful individuals, rather than the national interest. Both countries face elections this spring in which there will be an unedifying choice of candidates with dubious track records.

Countering instances of Russian aggression, especially in Ukraine, is still important. But that is only half the story in these countries. As long as these deep-rooted domestic problems are allowed to persist, other saboteurs of their sovereignty will find an open back door.
Jeremy Corbyn insisted today the prospect of a second referendum was still 'central' to Labour's Brexit plans.

Speaking after talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the Labour leader accused Mrs May of 'allowing herself to be held to ransom by Brexiteers'.

He told Mr Barnier he would negotiate for Britain to stay in a permanent customs union after Brussels seized on it as a way out of the deadlock.

After meeting Corbyn, Michel Barnier said: 'We don't need more time, we need decisions from the British parliament.'

The Labour leader was in Brussels today for meetings on the Brexit talks alongside shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti.

A commitment to a permanent customs union at the start of trade talks would dramatically reduce the chances of the backstop being needed after the Brexit transition ends in December 2020.

This is because it would effectively set the outline for the trade deal from the start - but it would also block Britain's ability to strike its own trade deals around the world.

He set out his plans in a letter to Theresa May after her deal was crushed by 230 votes in Parliament - tweaking his red lines in a bid to appear consensual.

Brussels seized on it as a possible route to a cross-party consensus on the Brexit deal despite its rejection by Mrs May.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today in Brussels) briefed Michel Barnier on his proposal for Britain to stay in a permanent customs union after Brussels seized on it as a way out of the deadlock

The Labour leader was in Brussels today for meetings on the Brexit talks alongside shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti

Michel Barnier has seized on the Labour plan as a possible route to a cross-party consensus on the Brexit deal despite its rejection by Mrs May

Following his talks with Mr Barnier today, Mr Corbyn said: 'The danger of a no-deal exit from the EU for Britain is a very present one.'

Parliament is due to vote again on what to do next week, if Mrs May has failed to bring forward a new version of her deal for a 'meaingful vote'.

Mr Corbyn warned: 'We will put a motion to parliament, as I have already.

'Keir Starmer and I have put a motion to parliament, which included the option of a popular vote to confirm otherwise agreements that have been reached.

'That was rejected by parliament at that stage. Clearly it is very much part of the agenda put forward by the Labour party.'

Of his talks with Mr Barnier, he said: 'We put forward what we believe to be a credible process which would be to negotiate a customs union with the EU and alignment to ensure market access.'

He added: 'The problem is that the prime minister is insisting on her deal, which has already been defeated very heavily in the parliament and running down the clock by trying to keep the threat of no-deal on the table.'

As well as Mr Barnier, the Labour leader was due to meet European Commission secretary general Martin Selmayr and European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt.

Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Juncker warned today he was not 'optimistic' of a Brexit deal following his latest talks with Theresa May.

The EU Commission President held his latest meeting with Mrs May last night and the pair issued a joint statement on the urgency of the process.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are due back in Brussels today to continue work on the Irish border backstop.

But Mr Juncker claimed today he had 'Brexit fatigue' and suggested the talks were making little progress.
A national memorial has been unveiled for Keith Palmer, the police officer killed in the Westminster terror attack.

Members of his family were invited to a private reception with the Prime Minister at Downing Street on Wednesday, where they were presented with the tribute, made in Portland stone and slate.

It was then moved to its permanent home outside the Carriage Gates at the Palace of Westminster, close to where PC Palmer was murdered on March 22 2017.

A national memorial has been unveiled for Keith Palmer, the police officer killed in the Westminster terror attack

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, Chairwoman of the Police Memorial Trust Geraldine Winner and the Speakers of both Houses John Bercow and Lord Fowler all attended a wreath-laying at the new memorial on Wednesday.

A plaque has also been placed inside the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, in New Palace Yard, close to where father-of-one Mr Palmer died.

Ms Dick said: 'I know that I speak on behalf of all of my officers and staff when I say how immensely proud we all are of Pc Keith Palmer and this memorial will ensure that his actions will forever be remembered.

PC was was stabbed to death by terrorist Khalid Masood, who stormed gates near Parliament having mown down dozens of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, on March 22 2017

'Pc Palmer was an outstanding police officer.

'He acted that day with no thought for his own safety, intent simply on doing his job and protecting members of the public and Parliament.

'He paid the ultimate price for his selfless actions and this memorial is a fitting and lasting tribute to the tremendous bravery he showed on that terrible day.'

Mr Palmer was stabbed to death by terrorist Khalid Masood, who stormed the gates near Parliament having mown down dozens of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

The officer was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery that 'unquestionably saved lives'.

His memorial was organised by the Police Memorial Trust, founded by late film director Michael Winner in the wake of the murder of Yvonne Fletcher near the Libyan embassy in 1984.

His widow Mrs Winner said: 'There is no doubt that Keith's bravery made him a true hero.

Palmer was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery that 'saved lives'. Officers paid their respects at the memorial's unveiling at Carriage Gates, outside Parliament

'His actions personified the service, courage and sacrifice the ordinary British bobbies give to the people of our country every single day.

'Nothing will ever ease the pain his wife, daughter and family feel but we hope our memorial will show them that their loved Keith Palmer will never be forgotten.'

The Trust has worked since 2017 to get permission to place the memorial at the Unesco World Heritage site, and has consulted with Mr Palmer's family on the plans.
Faced with having a leg amputated, most people would be left fretting about how they would cope with the loss of a limb.

But one woman has apparently decided to make the most of her predicament - by having a designer handbag made from the discarded skin.

The 55-year-old, known only as Joan, posted her bizarre request online in a bid to find a manufacturer prepared to make the bespoke bag.

Although she admits some may find it gross and her family are not happy about her plans, Joan said she didnt want her leg to be left to rot with other human body parts.

Mock up designs of Joans ideal handbag - made from the skin of her own amputated leg

And with the help of fashion platform Sewport, she has even sketched out a design for the beautiful handbag.

Joan, of Manchester, wrote: Its looking very likely that Im going to have my lower left leg amputated soon (I have peripheral arterial disease).

I was reading about the human waste scandal where they just dumped body parts in a dump to rot and I dont want that to happen to me.

I was chatting to a friend about leather and how its essentially just treated animal skin and I had a light bulb moment - can I use my amputated leg to create something beautiful and useful?

I know its a bit odd and gross and some might think Im crazy, but its my leg, and I cant bear the thought of it being left to rot somewhere. Its part of me and I want to keep it.

Joan, who is prepared to pay up to 3,000 for the special accessory, said ideally the bag would be medium-sized with a short strap.

The main section would be made from leather or another synthetic material, with skin from her leg used to create a feature section down the middle.

She said she was already in discussions with health bosses about keeping the leg and was hopeful it would be allowed.

Most patients are asked to donate their limb for medical research once it has been amputated. However, if the limb is unsuitable, it is incinerated along with other human waste by the NHS under strict conditions.

Legally, there is nothing to stop patients taking amputated limbs home with them, although they must fill in documentation in hospital so their consent is recorded and the limb traceable.

Previously, patients have been allowed to keep their amputated limbs for private burials or cremations.

Joan added: A handbag is the most logical route to go down, its basically the same as a leather handbag but this one is with my skin, it belongs to me so why not?

If we use animal skin for garments and accessories then why cant the same be done with our skin.

55-year-old Joan, from Manchester, drew this sketch and posted her bizarre request online in a bid to find a manufacturer prepared to make the bespoke bag

Surely there is someone out there that can apply the same methods. I know its gross, but people keep their babys umbilici chords and have relatives ashes on display, so its not really that weird if you think about it.

Boris Hodakel, founder of Sewport, admitted the firm had spoken to Joan only via e-mail, but were confident her request was genuine.

He said the London-based company, which matches fashion designers with manufacturers across the globe, sometimes received unusual requests, adding: In November we helped a woman who wanted a dress made from her dead mothers hair find a manufacturer.

Having a handbag made from your leg is quite different, but different people have different needs. Not all leather manufacturers want to get involved or have the experience to do this.

He said the firm had decided to blog about Joans request in the hope a manufacturer would come forward. So far none has been prepared to accede to her unusual demand, Mr Hodakel added.
A teenage thug held a machete to a boy's throat before he was bashed in a vicious street brawl between students from rival schools.

Dramatic mobile phone footage circulating on social media captures the showdown in Henderson, west of Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday.

The video shows a shirtless boy walking up to a teenager in a white T-shirt before holding a machete to his throat.

A teenage thug (shirtless) held a machete to a boy's throat (right in white) before he was bashed in a vicious street brawl between students from rival schools

The boy in white stands his ground and slaps the machete away before the shirtless boy hits him in the face with his free hand.

A scuffle ensues before the knife-wielding attacker backs off.

As the boy in white walks after him, a third teenager in a black T-shirt runs up and attacks him from behind.

He punches the boy in white to the floor and continues to punch and kick him on the ground before the video cuts out.

The boys are believed to be from Kelston Boys' High School and Liston College.

Police have arrested four boys and recovered two weapons.

New Zealand Police said in a statement: 'Police have arrested four people following a disorder incident that occurred on Stevies Lane, Henderson.

The boy in white stands his ground and slaps the machete away before the shirtless boy slaps him in the face with his free hand

As the boy in white (pictured) walks after him, a third teenager in a black T-shirt (pictured) runs up and attacks him from behind

'The incident was reported to police around 3.40pm on Wednesday.

'Police staff were quick to respond and the group involved began to immediately disperse upon Police arrival. Ambulance staff also attended the scene.

'Two people were arrested at the time of the incident in relation to disorder'

'Two weapons were also recovered by Police at the scene.

'Two 17-year-old males have since been arrested on Thursday. They will be appearing in the Waitakere District Court at a later date on a number of assault-related charges.'

Anyone with information is urged to contact crime stoppers.
MORE than 100 councils are supporting the Great British Spring Clean as communities unite in the war on litter.

Local authorities from Aberdeen to Cornwall have joined the push to tidy up Britain  and helped volunteer numbers hit six figures.

As of last night, a remarkable 106,406 people had signed up for the Great British Spring Clean, which the Daily Mail is promoting in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy.

The Daily Mail aims to get half a million people signed up to the Great British Spring Clean which will happen between Friday, March 22, and Tuesday, April 23. (Pictured) Navy crew from HMS Richmond help to clean Tregantle beach, Cornwall

Volunteer numbers hit six figures 106,406 have joined the Great British Spring Clean from Friday, March 22, to Tuesday, April 23. YOU can sign up too at gbspringclean.org It's so easy to join in The Great British Spring Clean at gbspringclean.org. You can take part in a pick-up any time during the month and either join a group near you or pledge to take part in it on your own. Advertisement

The army of volunteers recruited in just over three weeks is in part thanks to at least 102 councils who have promised to take part. We are aiming to enlist half a million people to take to streets, beaches and parks to pick up litter between March 22 and April 23, in what should be the largest environmental event of the year.

Councils are urging their residents and schools to take part in communal litter picks, which, as well as tidying up local areas and helping native wildlife, can act as social events. Authorities told the Mail yesterday that it was inspiring to see communities working together, and many said they would provide litter-picking equipment and encourage residents to make a difference.

The council areas pledging support for this years event range from inner-city boroughs to those of outstanding natural beauty.

And yesterday, 250 mosques across Britain pledged to take part in street cleans on Sunday. Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: Whatever faith or background you come from, care and cleanliness for our local environment is a unifying force that brings communities together.

The initiative has been backed by some big names, including Theresa May, Sir David Attenborough, the RSPCA and the United Nations. The Daily Mail has also highlighted the scourge of global plastic pollution with its Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign.

You can sign up too at gbspringclean.org.

Councils are now calling for their residents and schools to take part in the national event
Debt-stressed householders are being forced to take crippling payday loans amid plunging property prices and an industry-wide crackdown on credit.

The crisis follows a year of property price plunges, bank crackdowns and stagnant wages growth forcing many Australians to turn to non-bank lenders to ease their financial woes.

Australia's household debt level to income ratio is already the highest in the developed world.

Experts are warning the situation is becoming increasingly dire for people struggling with financial problems, according to the ABC.

Debt-stressed householders are being forced to take crippling payday loans amid plunging property prices and an industry-wide crackdown on credit

'The online tool, the app, that's a really important part of the story because a few years ago there was almost nobody offering apps for credit,' Digital Finance Analytics data scientist and banking analyst Martin North said.

'These days, a lot of people can actually get credit online, and once you've got into the online environment you've then got much more flexibility to flog other products, often without much visibility.'

Home loan customers often have credit card limits of just $6,000 with an increasing number of customers using payday loans and deferred payment apps like Afterpay to make a series of small purchases.

Former High Court judge Kenneth Hayne's banking royal commission has put more scrutiny on Australia's major lenders, who had already been more reluctant provide finance.

For the past two years Australia's banks have been more reluctant to approve loans, after the Australian Credential Regulation Authority imposed stricter rules on investor and interest-only mortgages.

The crisis follows a year of property price plunges, bank crackdowns and stagnant wages growth forcing many Australians to turn to non-bank lenders to ease their financial woes

For single mother Belinda Fox, from Albany, Western Australia, it was a need to provide for her young son which inspired the decision to get a payday loan.

The loan came after Ms Fox's Centrelink payments stopped when her son turned eight.

The loan was approved within one day and the lender didn't ask to see any credit history.

'I want to be a good mum to my son and I pretty much didn't eat full meals, I made sure my son did and then I'd eat his scraps,' she told the ABC.

However, after being hit with the unforeseen effects of the loan's high-interest nature, Ms Fox said the process when applying should be more transparent.

'Doing without for the short-term isn't as hard as doing without long-term, because every time I've had to make a repayment, I've had to go without,' she said.

Home loan customers often have credit card limits of just $6,000 with an increasing number of customers using payday loans and deferred payment apps like Afterpay to make a series of small purchases

'The risks should be laid out a lot more. The interest shouldn't be so high perhaps for people who actually need a loan and intend on paying it. It seems a bit silly the repayments are so high.'

Over three-million additional payday loans have been taken out by Australians in the past three years, Digital Finance Analytics with their cost totalling $1.85 billion.

Additionally, Cash Converters, one of the country's largest non-bank providers, reported a 154.6 per cent increase in its medium amount loans over the past financial year.

The spiraling figures following the release of the long-awaited Banking Royal Commission findings earlier this month.

Seventy-six recommendations were made to combat a culture of greed and misconduct, with their implementation aiming to 'change (the banking sector) forever'.
A Channel Seven television presenter was caught checking her phone during a live news broadcast this week.

Adelaide weekend host Jessica Adamson wasn't prepared after cameras turned to her and fellow anchor Bruce Abernethy after a cross segment.

She can be seen looking down at her phone while typing before suddenly noticing she's live on air.

When cameras turn to Ms Adamson, she's captured looking down at her phone and typing before she looks up and notices she's live on air

Ms Adamson's eyes widen in surprise before she drops her phone and turns her attention to her co-host while trying to maintain her composure.

The slip-up didn't go unnoticed by viewers.

Instagram account S**tAdelaide posted a recording of the comical moment, which quickly garnered almost 70,000 views.

'It's like everyone everywhere all the time...' one social media user commented.

'Just checking the latest news...' another joked.

'Ah, no work place is exempt from personal phone usage,' one person said.

Ms Adamson came under fire for another mishap during a live news broadcast in 2017.

The Adelaide presenter was heard whispering 'f**k' in frustration a split second after reading the preview for an upcoming news segment.

Adelaide weekend presenter Jessica Adamson wasn't prepared after cameras turned to her and fellow anchor Bruce Abernethy after a live cross

'Ahead on 7 News, exclusive details on funding cuts that it's feared will cost lives, and the Big Ben cover-ups - why its famous bongs are about to fall silent,' Adamson said.

'F**k,' she continued, likely assuming her microphone was no longer live or would not pick up the explicit reaction.

The comical profanity went largely unnoticed by viewers, with only a few heading to social media to double check they had heard correctly.

'Jess Adamson did u say a swear word (before) the ad break about Big Ben lol??? [sic],' one user wrote on Twitter.
CBS is considering replacing anchor Jeff Glor with Norah O'Donnell on the network's flagship news show.

Executives are considering putting 'CBS This Morning' anchor Norah ODonnell in the lead role of its evening-news broadcast, Variety reported.

The report indicated that the network was looking to move the show to Washington from New York.

Sources told Page Six that ODonnell has been actively lobbying executives to move her to DC for some time from New York, where she is currently based.

CBS is considering replacing Jeff Glor (left) with Norah O'Donnell (right) on the network's flagship 'CBS Evening News' program

The shake-up comes as part of a top-down look at the news division by incoming CBS president Susan Zirinsky, who begins her new role on March 1

In the last couple of weeks, CBS has begun to make very tentative plans to set up an operation there for her, should she get the job.

Representatives for CBS News declined to comment on the speculation. Other sources said that there is no guarantee the shake-up would come to fruition and that Jeff Glor remains anchor of 'CBS Evening News' presently.

Glor succeeded Scott Pelley in the anchors chair, which has been previously occupied by broadcast stalwarts such as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Katie Couric.

ODonnell has distinguished herself at CBS News for in-depth reporting and her ability to land big interviews, such as a recent sit-down with Priscilla Chan, philanthropist and wife of Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg.

Last year she landed interviews with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and FBI director Christopher Wray, among others.

The move is understood to be part of a top-down look at the news division by incoming president Susan Zirinsky.

Zirinsky, whose tenure was announced in January and who will replace Rhodes on March 1, has been supportive of Glor, who she championed for the 'Evening News' job initially.

Norah O'Donnell (center) is the current co-host of 'CBS This Morning' along with John Dickerson (left) and Gayle King (right)

O'Donnell would replace Jeff Glor, (pictured), who currently hosts the 'CBS Evening News' if the shake-up goes ahead

Zirinsky replaced news division president, David Rhodes, who stepped down in December.

The staff change comes after a troubled year that saw morning anchor Charlie Rose and the top executive at 60 Minutes lose their jobs following misconduct reports.

Zirinsky, who started work at CBS in the Washington bureau as a 20 year old in the early 1970s and is currently the executive producer at 48 Hours, will take over in March.

As a news producer, Zirinsky has had a hand in dozens of major stories over the past four decades, perhaps most memorably in a documentary account of the September 11 terrorist attacks as seen from the point of view of French filmmakers who were nearby making a documentary about firefighters that day.

She's also known - as a character - to a generation of moviegoers. She was the model for the hard-charging news producer portrayed by Holly Hunter in the 1987 movie, Broadcast News.
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Incredible pictures have emerged showing a once-popular thermal water park in New Zealand now in a derelict state.

The complex is built around hot underground springs located at Waiwera, just north of Auckland, and contains 26 pools and various slides.

At its peak the attraction saw more than 350,000 visitors enter the gates each year and was the largest water park in the country.

Incredible pictures show a once popular thermal water park in New Zealand now in a derelict state

This picture shows a water slide known as 'The Twister' and, while still standing, is dry and looks weathered

Pictures now show the site plastered with caution signs and looking weathered with the pools drained or half-filled with stagnant water.

One photograph shows one of the main covered swimming pools with cracked tiles and now filled with stagnant green water.

Another picture shows a water slide known as 'The Twister' and, while still standing, is dry and looks weathered.

One of the pictures shows the outdoor pools known as the seal and elephant pools due to the statues that use to spout jets of water into the air.

These pools are empty of water and of the crowds that one would have packed them.

Another picture shows the sign to the park directing tourists where the attractions are with a whale mascot at the top and caution tape is hung across.

The former movie pool at the site is now in disrepair with caution tape across the entrance and the roof open to the sky

A sign directing tourists is now plastered with caution tape at the Waiwera Thermal Resort north of Auckland, New Zealand

Viewers of the pictures remembered the attraction fondly.

'I remember going here it was the best ever,' one person said.

'It was so fun when we were kids,' another said.

'Fond memories of this place camping in Orewa we'd head over the hill to Waiwera for hot swims and fish and chips,' a third added.

Locals hope that the attraction, which has been closed for 12 months, will be saved by a change in ownership

The site was discovered before Europeans arrived in the country and the name Waiwera means 'hot water' in Maori.

The tourist attraction has been closed for over 12 months and is owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Khimich and a company based in Las Vegas.

Locals have speculated that a change in ownership, however, may bring the pools back to life.

'I live right behind the pools and it looks like Auckland Council will probably be taking it over so have no fear, the pools will re-open eventually,' one person said.

The water park (pictured while it was open to the public) was a popular tourist attraction with people visiting from all over New Zealand
Westpac bank has been slapped with a class action lawsuit after allegedly issuing loans to customers who could not afford to repay them.

In a suit brought on by law firm Maurice Blackburn on Thursday, the bank is accused of violating its responsible lending obligations by failing to properly assess its clients' finances.

The bank is the first of Australia's big four financial institutions to be sued after the Hayne Royal Commission found evidence of dishonest practices and misconduct within the industry.

Michelle and Ian Tate, from Queensland, are named as the lead plaintiffs in the suit, which represents customers who may have been irresponsibly approved for a loan after 1 January 2011.

Westpac Bank client Michelle Tate is the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit along with her husband Ian. Above she is comforted by principal lawyer Ben Slade during a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday

The Tates claim Westpac granted them a $1.8million mortgage to finance five homes in 2008, 2013, and 2014, despite having only one source of income, The West Australian reported.

The couple claims they are now worse off than they were prior to getting the loan and are living 'pay cheque to pay cheque.'

'Everything we were trying to achieve is lost,' Ms Tate said.

'We have gone backwards after years of hard work and struggle. It is worse than being back to square one.'

In July, the Tates told ABC the loan process had seemed 'pretty easy' as the bank appeared to be 'just sort of handing money out.'

Following the news of the banking royal commission, the family said they finally decided to look into their agreement with the bank and allegedly found that their monthly expenses had been vastly understated on their application.

Michelle and Ian Tate, from Queensland, (pictured) said they were approved for $1.8 mortgage despite having only one income and are now struggling to make ends meet

According to the documents, the family of five had $3,000 in monthly expenses, but no figures listed for education, child care, insurance, or internet.

The Tates were forced to sell their family home but have not been able to gain access to the funds from the sale because of their outstanding loans.

Westpac lenders are said to have used a Household Expenditure Measure (HEM) to determine whether a client is able to make payments.

However, that tool has been found to not provide an accurate assessment of a client's full financial situation and is intended to be used with other evaluation methods.

AMP is also facing multiple class action suits from shareholders as a result of the commission.

Commissioner Hayne submitted a final report on February 1 following a 14-month investigation.

Although he did not name anyone who he believed should be charged, NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn and Chairman Ken Henry received some of the strongest criticism.

In a suit brought on by law firm Maurice Blackburn on Thursday, Westpac is accused violating its responsible lending obligations by failing to properly assess its clients' finances

'NAB stands apart from the other three major banks. Having heard from both the CEO, Mr Thorburn, and the Chair, Dr Henry, I am not as confident as I would wish to be that the lessons of the past have been learned,' the report stated.

'More particularly, I was not persuaded that NAB is willing to accept the necessary responsibility for deciding, for itself, what is the right thing to do, and then having its staff act accordingly.'

Henry and Thorburn announced their decision to resign days later.
On the eve of President Vladimir Putins address to the Federal Assembly, Russian government published detailed information on Russian national projects. Their total budget is estimated at 25.7 trillion rubles till 2024, with federal center providing most of the funds (13.1 trillion rubles), while private investors and regions provide 7.5 trillion and 4.9 trillion rubles respectively.

Azerbaijan is directly invlolved in three major projects: modernization of railways and highways along the North-South transport corridor; construction of the 330 kV Artem - Derbent power line, which will allow to increase electricity supply between the two countries; investments in the Caspian ports and the Volga-Don system.

Right now costs of national projects are the biggest in the post-Soviet history, covering almost 25% of GDP in 2018. Naturally, their implementation will affect the entire post-Soviet space, which is closely associated with Russian economy. Improved quality of life and business will be an additional factor in Russia's attractiveness for its neighbors, in addition to being largest economy in this part of Eurasia.

It is interesting that both strategies - implementation of national projects of the Russian Federation and the Action Plan for Development of Key Areas of Russian-Azerbaijani Cooperation - should be completed by 2024.

Both blocks of documents have some common points, forming macro-regional modernization plan. What's also important is that these documents affect not only Azerbaijan and the Eurasian Union. It's a serious and long-term strategy, and it's necessity has been discussed for a very long time. In a sense, it's an attempt to not just correct mistakes made after the collapse of the USSR, but also to catch up to global modernization trend.

Of course, implementation of these stategies will allow to improve and intensify cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan at all levels. Small business support programs and social programs directly affect socio-economic atmosphere in Russia, and naturally this affects businesses of Azerbaijani diaspora. In turn, their activity stimulates expansion of Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation at higher levels. However, for now and in the future major government projects will be a priority. We will discuss some of them below.

Industrial exports

Here are some specific examples. Roadmap on creation of joint ventures derives from the National Project International Cooperation and Exports, supervised by the Ministry of Industry and the Russian Export Center. There are several projects in this area. First of all, SOCAR Polymer with Gazprombank investments. Second of all, the Hayat Farm pharmaceutical complex in the Pirallahy industrial park. This company will reach its projected goal in 2019 and will produce drugs for treatment of oncological, hematological, autoimmune endocrine diseases, HIV, and various types of viral hepatitis. Investments in this project estimated at over 70 million euros. Products from this plant will be supplied to the markets of the Middle East and North Africa. Logistically, this plant will be closer to this region, which was explained by existing tax policy in the region.

Third similar project is a joint assembly plant, created by AzerMas and the GAZ Group (Gorky Automobile Plant) in the Hajigabul industrial quarter. This plant is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2020. It's capacity will reach 1000 cars per year. Half of production will be used for exports to third countries: Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan. In other words, these new Russian-Azerbaijani enterprises plan expansion, taking into account foreign markets, which will strengthen the competitive advantages of both countries and their profits.

Transport

The biggest block of Russian projects is associated with infrastructure development plan with a total funding of 10.1 trillion rubles. How does road map on development of transport sphere of the two countries fit in? Transit projects are the most striking example of this cooperation. The North-South corridor (which covers distance from the Samur River border crossing to the North-West ports in the Baltic region) will allow to reduce transit time by two days (or 50 hours) by 2025. Russia is going to build about 40 modern multimodal centers, similar to those built by KDY Logistics together with the Russian Railways in Astrakhan (a railway hub, which handles fruits and vegetables).

Caspian Sea

It's also planned to increase volume of goods transported by the Volga-Don route by over 20 million tons (in 2018, transported volume amounted to about 16 million tons). Perhaps long-awaited construction of second part of the route will finally begin. However, costs of this project are not clear yet. Naturally, these investments will help the Azerbaijani shipping industry, as well as help to instensify competition between shipowners.

Energy

2019 will mark the end of construction of the 330 kV Artem - Derbent power line. Lotal length of the power line will reach 170 kilometers. This line is essential for stable power supply to the south of Dagestan, which population complains about low voltage and blackouts. There's huge demand for more electricity, this region needs at least additional 200 MW. Project's implementation won't just increase reliability of power supply to Dagestan, but will also increase energy transit capacity between Azerbaijan and Russia.

Tourism

Possible creation of joint travel services has been discussed for a long time. Russian's are a huge part of Azerbaijan's tourism sphere. But today tourism industries of the two countries have some common problems. Tourism only amounts to 3.4% of GDP in Russia. According to experts, almost 80% of all federal programs in the tourism industry turned out to be a failure. Azerbaijani tourism industry amounts to 2.2% of GDP, which is also far from ideal. Both countries have greater potential. Improving situation in this industry to at least 5-7% of GDP is possible in both countries. But it won't be solved thanks to just one five years plan.
A no-deal Brexit could see the price of fresh food and drink increase by up to 45 per cent, retail groups have warned.

The stark warning comes amid fears the UK and the European Union might revert to World Trade Organisation tariffs should a deal not be struck before March 29.

Chiefs of retail bodies have expressed concern that a no-deal Brexit will squeeze household budgets and lead to reduced availability of some goods.

And in a move that has been labelled 'not acceptable', could also see cost implications of non-tariff barriers such as checks and delays.

Retail groups have warned that a no-deal Brexit would lead to increases in the cost of making fresh food and drink available to consumers (file image)

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, is one of those to have spoken out about the dangers of a no-deal Brexit.

He said that increased tariffs and new regulatory checks would lead to increases in the cost of making fresh food and drink available to consumers.

'A no-deal Brexit brings tariffs, customs processes, checks and costs which our industry, and Northern Ireland families in particular, cannot afford to absorb.

'Our households already have half of the discretionary income of British households and less than those in the Republic of Ireland. A no-deal Brexit will hit us first and hit us hardest. This is not acceptable.'

In the event of a no-deal, there would be no transition period, and individuals and businesses would have to adapt immediately to new arrangements.

Aodhan Connolly (pictured), director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said that increased tariffs and new regulatory checks would lead to increases in the cost of making fresh food and drink available to consumers

The UK would leave EU structures such as the single market and customs union and would fall back on World Trade Organisation rules, which require tariffs on many imports and exports.

Mr Connolly continued: 'A hard Brexit means a hard border and the disintegration of supply chains that have been built up over 40 years of EU membership.

'This is not a binary choice for Northern Ireland between trade with the UK and trade with the EU.'

Thomas Burke, director of Retail Ireland, and William Bain, from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Europe, have both also raised concerns over the feared price hike.

Mr Burke, of Retail Ireland, said that a crash Brexit would have devastating economic consequences.

He said: 'However, regardless of the type of Brexit agreed over the coming weeks, retailers will see an increase in their operating costs arising from checks at ports and other supply chain disruption.

'In the current operating environment, these additional costs simply cannot be absorbed and will have to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

'Our members continue to work hard to plan for all possible eventualities, but the ongoing uncertainty is damaging our industry and impacting our customers.'

It's not just fresh food and drink that could be affected, with leading retail bodies concerned over the impact of a no-deal Brexit on UK and Ireland (file image)

Mr Bain said people in Great Britain will see the price of goods from Ireland and Northern Ireland rise.

'Our supply chains are highly integrated, with food ingredients coming from both Ireland and the EU, and 60 per cent of the 2 billion of Northern Ireland agri-food bound for Great Britain crosses the Irish sea via Dublin,' he said.

'This will affect the price of shopping in the Prime Minister's constituency of Maidenhead in the same way as it will in Belfast or Dublin, with cost rises.'

The retailers called for an end to 'brinkmanship and political games'.

'A no-deal outcome would have devastating economic consequences, potentially jeopardising years of positive economic development and integration across the islands of the UK and Ireland,' Mr Bain added.

'It is imperative that this is avoided.'
Cyber chiefs at the UKs spy headquarters say Chinese tech giant Huawei has not produced a credible plan to address security concerns.

Dr Ian Levy, technical director of GCHQs cyber arm, said the firm had declared its intent to deal with the problems  but it has not yet explained how it will do so.

Last year we said we found some worrying engineering and security issues, he said yesterday.

As of today, we have not seen a credible plan. Thats the reality of the situation unfortunately.

Huawei has not produced a 'credible plan' explaining how it will deal with security problems, Cyber Chiefs at the UK's spy headquarters have said

Dr Levys warning came as his colleague, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre, insisted that the concerns about the company were to do with its security standards rather than its link to China.

Ciaran Martin added that the centre will not declare the problems are on the path to being solved unless and until there is clear evidence that this is the case.

He said: Huaweis presence is subject to detailed, formal oversight, led by the NCSC. Because of our 15 years of dealings with the company, we have a wealth of understanding of it. We also have strict controls for how Huawei is deployed. It is not in any sensitive networks  including those of the Government.

Ciaran Martin, Chief Executive Officer of the National Cyber Security Centre said that the centre 'will not declare the problems are on the path to being solved unless and until there is clear evidence that this is the case'

Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei.

He also said that, generally, the NCSC had seen little evidence the nationality of those supplying infrastructure equipment raised the likelihood of a cyber attack.

This week, NCSC chiefs said the risk of using Huawei technology in new, superfast 5G internet can be contained despite concerns over Chinese espionage.

It comes after reports of a Cabinet rift between Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson over the potential threat of Huawei.

The Commons science and technology committee had asked them for reassurances about the extent Chinese laws could compel its firms to help intelligence work, The Times reported.

Mr Williamson had wanted to warn of the risks posed by Huawei in a separate, more robust statement to the other two MPs.
What are the rules on revoking citizenship?

Under the 1981 British Nationality Act, someone can be stripped of their citizenship if the Home Secretary is satisfied it would be 'conducive to the public good'.

The power was extended by the Immigration Act 2014. In the past two years, 194 people have been issued with 'deprivation orders'  mainly because they were terrorists, extremists and serious criminals.

Crucially, they can only be issued to those with dual nationality because leaving a suspect stateless would breach international law.

Shamima Begum, 19, was shown a copy of the Home Office letter which stripped her of her British citizenship. She said it was upsetting and frustrating

Why did Javid act?

Ministers have in the past stripped jihadis and Islamic State brides of their citizenship and banned them from returning to Britain.

Begum, 19, travelled to Syria four years ago as a schoolgirl, well aware of the terror group's brutal reputation for beheadings, crucifixions and rapes.

Since being discovered in a refugee camp  where she gave birth to a son  she has been unrepentant, even saying the Manchester Arena suicide bombing, which murdered 22, was 'justified'.

Despite apparently despising Britain, she wants to come home so she and her child can be looked after.

Does Shamima Begum have dual nationality?

Not according to her family's lawyer. She was born in the UK, her birth was registered here and she has only held a British passport.

But the 19-year-old mother has Bangladeshi parents and, under Bangladeshi laws, is automatically eligible to citizenship up to the age of 21. This is why the Home Office says she is not being made stateless.

However, it is unlikely that Bangladesh will accept the terror sympathiser.

Sajid Javid insists the ruling is 'legally proper and correct and complies with international and domestic law'

How did she react?

Speaking from the refugee camp after being informed of the decision yesterday, Begum said she was 'a bit shocked'.

She told ITV News: 'I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son.'

Can she appeal?

Begum has the right to challenge the Home Office's decision either by tribunal or judicial review. Lord Carlile, a former reviewer of terrorism legislation, said: 'The test will be of reasonableness and proportionality so she would have to establish that the Home Secretary acted in an entirely disproportionate way in removing her nationality.'

Mr Javid insists the ruling is 'legally proper and correct and complies with international and domestic law'. However, last year the Government lost a case against two British-Bangladeshis stripped of their citizenship.

Will the case be concluded swiftly?

Unlikely. Begum's family have indicated they will fight the decision, initially in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, so a protracted legal battle is looming.

Because it is a complex issue, it could run through the courts for 'a very long time', said Lord Carlile. If it does, he predicted Begum could be forced to stay in the squalid refugee camp 'for maybe two years at least'.

Begum's lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, disputes the Home Office's ruling and says that she only held a British passport

And her baby?

This is complicated. A child born to a British parent before they are deprived of their citizenship is still British.

The fact the child was born abroad does not alter that fact. Mr Javid acknowledged that in the Commons, saying: 'Children should not suffer... if a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child.'

However, that would separate the baby from his mother  which potentially might be challenged as a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards family life. The baby's father is believed to be Dutch, so he may be entitled to Dutch nationality  and probably Bangladeshi as well though his grandparents.

The public reaction?

Mr Javid will widely be applauded by the public, who are appalled that someone who has joined IS and supported their atrocities should be allowed back into the country. He says his priority is to keep the country safe.

However, he has been accused of 'washing his hands' of Britain's responsibility  after all, she lived and was radicalised here. Certainly, it makes him look tough on terrorists  no bad thing if he has one eye on the Tory leadership.

But if Begum's appeal succeeds, Mr Javid will be left with egg on his face  although he will probably blame the judges.
Do we think the Home Secretary was right to strip 19-year-old Islamic State bride Shamima Begum of her British citizenship? My guess is that most people will reckon Sajid Javid is absolutely spot on.

Begum is a traitor to her country and very possibly a psychopath. In various recent interviews, she has demonstrated her continued allegiance to the warped values of ISIS, which is mounting a last-ditch stand in Syria.

Of course we dont want her back here! Let her rot in Syria, or in whichever godforsaken place she ends up, as a punishment for turning her back on this country and consorting with its brutal enemies.

Shamima Begum interview with ITV news

And yet Im sorry to say that Mr Javids treatment of this wretched woman is probably not lawful and it is certainly not right. She should be brought back to this country, and held to account for whatever crimes she may have committed.

Lets first examine why its very likely that the Home Secretary is acting unlawfully. Begum is British. I regret this, in view of her behaviour, but it happens to be the case. She is as British as I am. Mr Javid cant change that.

He has hit on the idea of claiming she had  until deprived of her British passport  dual Bangladeshi citizenship. This is a necessary fiction, so far as Mr Javid is concerned, because he is legally not entitled to render her stateless. She has theoretically to belong to one country.

But why is she Bangladeshi? Because, says Mr Javid, her mother holds a Bangladeshi passport. But that does not make the daughter a subject of that country.

Some critics of Mr Javids action say that Begum has never been to Bangladesh. Thats not the point. After all, she appears to have fitted in very happily in Syria, which she had never visited until she travelled there with two friends in 2015.

No, the question that should concern us is not how alien Bangladesh might seem to her, though the authorities there yesterday kiboshed the idea that she would ever be allowed to visit the country. All that matters is that  most unfortunately, as I say  she is British.

Why cant the Home Secretary grasp this? Because he wants to teach her, and others like her, a lesson. Its also practically guaranteed that this ambitious man hopes to endear himself to members of Tory constituency associations, whose support he will need if he is going to become leader of his party.

ITV News of Shamima Begum, 19, in a Syrian refugee camp, being shown a copy of the Home Office letter which stripped her of her British citizenship

Thats how politicians behave. I dont say he is acting cynically. He genuinely wants to punish Shamima Begum, and its to his credit that, coming as he does from a Muslim background, he is prepared to be draconian towards an aberrant member of the same faith.

My main objection is that by doing so he is introducing a dangerous concept of two classes of British citizenship, which could be disquieting to hundreds of thousands of people born in this country as the children of immigrants. In effect, he is saying that Begum is not entirely British because her mother was born in Bangladesh. But that must be wrong. She is entirely British because she was born here.

If I were the British-born son of, say, Jamaican immigrants, I might well feel that Mr Javids line of reasoning could potentially be used in other circumstances to question my citizenship of this country.

So the Home Secretary is skating on very treacherous ice. I will be astonished if the courts find in his favour when his ruling is challenged by Begums lawyers.

But this is not just about the law. I believe Mr Javid is morally at fault in trying to kick the issue of Shamima Begum and her wrongdoing into someone elses backyard.

Shamima Begum, 15, who fled the UK to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria aged 15

As I see it, the woman has acted against the interests of her country, which is why I describe her a traitor. She should therefore be required to answer for her behaviour in front of British interrogators and, if there is a criminal case to answer, as seems very likely, in a British court.

This is what happened to a (thankfully small) number of British citizens who betrayed their country during World War II. Their crimes were not swept under a carpet and they werent invited to wander the world unpunished  which is essentially Mr Javids prescription for Begum.

Of course, I cant be sure that a criminal case could successfully be mounted against her which would result in her being jailed for a very long time, which is what I hope would happen. But it seems a highly probable outcome.

During media interviews over the past few days, she has spoken of seeing a severed head in a bin during her time with ISIS, which, she said with creepy detachment, didnt faze me at all.

And she has shown how cold-hearted and morally deficient she is by asserting that the terror attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017, which killed 22 people, was retaliation for women and children being bombed in Syria.

Its hard to believe that she was not guilty of serious crimes during her four-year sojourn with Islamic State, and that she doesnt have a good deal of information about how that wicked organisation operates.

The more I think about it, the surer I am that Shamima Begum should be required to give the authorities (and by extension her fellow Britons) an account of her appalling conduct.

Id even go so far as to say that if, by some miracle, it could be proved she has dual British-Bangladeshi citizenship (as Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, appears to believe she has), she should still be made to return to these shores to face the music.

A video grab taken from CCTV, received from the Metropolitan Police Service on February 23, 2015, shows Shamima Begum passing through security barriers at Gatwick Airport, south of London

My argument rests on the fact that she is British, and that she has an obligation (as well as a right) to submit herself to the British system of justice rather than festering in a refugee camp in Syria.

It might well be that, if she were to return, her newborn baby would be taken away from her, as has happened in similar cases with other women. It is certain that she would have to submit to a de-radicalisation programme, as she has said she would expect to do.

So I am definitely not advocating a soft option. Rather the opposite, in fact. For as things stand, Begum is being cut adrift rather than formally punished, let loose instead of being forced to explain herself.

And dont imagine she will be the last such case. One of the two friends she fled to Syria with is believed to be dead, the other alive. If she survives the inevitable rout, she will soon be in a similar predicament to Begum, complete with children.

Will Sajid Javid wash his hands of them and others? Im afraid he has made a terrible mistake. But there is still time for him to extricate himself from the hole he is digging for himself.

Shamima Begum is a monster. But she is our monster. She must come to terms with what she has done, and we must come to terms with the awful truth that there are others like her who are British.
The cost to taxpayers of looking after child asylum seekers who arrive in the country without parents has nearly doubled in four years, councils said yesterday.

Last years bill for helping nearly 4,500 such children in the state care system was more than 150million, they revealed.

It follows a leap in the number of unaccompanied child refugees since the migration crisis of 2014 and 2015 that sprang from the Syrian war.

The number of child refugees entering the UK without a parent or guardian has shot up since 2015. In that year there were 2,760 in the care of councils. By March last year this had risen to 4,480 child refugees

Since 2016, more than one in 20 of the youngsters in childrens homes or with foster parents have been classed as unaccompanied asylum seekers.

The Local Government Association said councils in England spent 152.4million in the financial year 2017/18 on looking after these children, compared with 77.8million in 2014/15.

Councils are required by law to accommodate and care for under-18s who have no relative or guardian in the UK and who apply for asylum.

Councils said that the bill for looking after child refugees has nearly doubledin four years

6m lavished on awards Councils have spent almost 6.6million on award ceremonies over the past three years, according to a report out yesterday. This averages out at around 18,000 per local authority, the TaxPayers Alliance said. The biggest spender was Derbyshire County Council, which paid out 218,483 between 2015/16 and 2017/18. Some councils, including Kent, Ealing and Lambeth, have sponsors for events. John OConnell, of the TaxPayers Alliance, said awards ceremonies were unnecessary extravagances. But the Local Government Association said events recognising local businesses and volunteers, for example, were worth far more to communities and local economies than their cost. Advertisement

Councils were caring for 4,480 such youngsters at the end of March last year, up from 2,760 in 2015. Around nine in ten are boys and three-quarters are aged over 16. The total cost includes bills for looking after children who social workers believe are in fact adults.

Councils demanded more money from the Government to cope with the numbers.

David Simmonds, of the LGA, said: Councils have a strong track record supporting those resettling in the UK and are committed to providing the best support possible.

However, given the significant financial pressures councils are under as they set local budgets and council tax in the coming weeks, achieving the level of support new arrivals are legally entitled to is becoming more and more challenging.

Councils want to make sure every child in their care gets the very best support which keeps them safe from harm, and enables them to go on and live fulfilling, happy and healthy lives.

This is why the Government needs to announce the findings of its long overdue review into the funding of support for unaccompanied children.

Checks by Liverpool Council last year indicated that 24 out of 39 unaccompanied child asylum seekers in the city were adults, and the local authority began legal action to stop having to support them.

Mr Simmonds said in December: This is a national issue. The process at the border is pretty weak because there is no definitive way of checking age.

Lawyers know a judicial review will cost a council between 20,000 and 60,000 and use the threat of court to get their client what they want.

Fair play to Liverpool for trying to stand up to it. But win or lose, the taxpayer always loses out.
The endangered bird threatening to halt construction of the Adani coal mine is being bred in homes and sold for as little as $30.

Breeders believe it could be a solution to protecting the endangered black-throated finch from extinction after it lost most of its natural habitat through farm land expansion.

Gordon Doutre, 57, who has been a finch breeder for half a century, told The Australian he truly believes breeders can save the bird from extinction.

The black-throated finch (pictured) is being bred in homes and sold for as little as $30

'I think the black-throated finch problem could be easily fixed because there are quite a few breeders out there who breed it and would take the opportunity to put them back into the wild,' he said.

'If we harness aviculture societies to breed up these birds and then donate them to acclimatisation aviaries, then we could release them back into the wild. It's a sure winner.'

He cited the gradual recovery of Venezuela's red siskin which was at the brink of extinction before captive breeding has helped numbers slowly recover.

Breeders currently have black-throated finches posted for sale online for as little as $30 and as much as $80 each.

The plight of the endangered bird has threatened the opening of the new coal mine in Queensland with the Indian group initially hitting out at an environmental report.

The company rejected entirely the review of its plans to protect the endangered black-throated finch, which lives on the Carmichael mine site.

Adani claims the review is biased, 'reads like an anti-coal, anti-mining, anti-Adani lobbying brochure' and 'even references the work of anti-Adani campaigners'.

The conglomerate says the government cannot accept any of its recommendations and has questioned if they are deliberately trying to obstruct the project.

The Adani mine draft review was written by Brendan Wintle, an ecologist at the University of Melbourne.

The draft review reportedly said the proposed $2billion mine should not proceed until Adani revises its plan to manage the endangered finch, which lives on its Carmichael mine site.

It also recommends a trigger that would stop mining at the site unless Adani can prove finch numbers haven't dropped in the first five years of operation.

'To say we're disappointed in the final version is an understatement,' an Adani statement said.

A review recommended the Adani mine not proceed unless the company revises its plan to manage the finch

The company claims the report contains 'unverified and hysterical' claims on climate change and extinction.

'This still reads as an anti-Adani lobbying document, dressed up as science.'

However, Adani insists it remains committed to Queenslanders who wanted jobs at its mine.

'We are not going anywhere.'

The black throated finch used to live as far south as Sydney and as far north as Cairns but in the last two decades sightings have only been limited to North Queensland.

Adani said it's plan to protect the bird was more than adequete in their minds.

'At more than 33,000ha in size, the conservation area will be bigger than Moreton Island and one of the largest privately managed conservation areas in Queensland,' Adani said.
Jeremy Corbyn was last night branded Stalinist in his response to MPs quitting Labour as he faced the threat of more resignations.

Labour yesterday blocked MPs and local party officials from accessing its databases, claiming one of the defectors had tried to steal members data.

Meanwhile, the party announced plans to force by-elections in the constituencies of those leaving by allowing voters to stage recall petitions.

Labour have blocked MPs and party officials from accessing its databases, claiming a defector had tried to steal member data. Meanwhile, former Labour MP Joan Ryan (left) linked arms with former Conservative MPs Heidi Allen (second left), Anna Soubry (second right) and Sarah Wollaston (right) yesterday

And Corbyn-backing Momentum said it would canvass in the defectors constituencies to warn voters they had joined a Blairite-Tory coalition after Conservative MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston joined their ranks yesterday.

Labour sources said the floodgates were on the verge of bursting after Joan Ryan became the eighth Labour MP to quit this week in protest at Mr Corbyns leadership.

A string of Labour MPs warned they were considering defecting, issuing ultimatums to Mr Corbyn that he needed to change or they would go too.

But the Labour hierarchy stepped up its attacks on the defectors, branding The Independent Group an establishment coalition based on the failed politics of the past.

So what on earth could happen next? Derek Hatton was last night suspended by Labour just two days after it was revealed he had rejoined the party. In an astonishing U-turn, Labour said it acted after it emerged Mr Hatton wrote a tweet suggesting all Jews had a duty to speak out about Israels crimes. Labours deputy leader Tom Watson and shadow minister Barry Gardiner had written to the partys general secretary to protest against the former Militant Tendency firebrands readmission. News that he had rejoined Labour emerged on Monday  the day seven MPs quit the party over leader Jeremy Corbyns attitude to anti-Semitism and Brexit. On Tuesday it was learned that in 2012 Mr Hatton tweeted: Jewish people with any sense of humanity need to start speaking out publicly against the ruthless murdering being carried out by Israel! Labour MP Neil Coyle said Mr Hattons comment seemed to imply that every Jew, wherever they live in the world, is responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. Earlier yesterday, a Labour source said party chiefs were not aware of the tweet when Mr Hatton applied to rejoin. The insider added: The party is looking into this as a matter of urgency. It later emerged he had been suspended. The Mail revealed yesterday that Mr Hatton had questioned the existence of Labours anti-Semitism crisis and attacked Jewish MPs such as Dame Margaret Hodge. He claimed her criticisms were nothing to do with anti-Semitism but all to do with trying to remove Corbyn. Mr Hatton also supported former London mayor Ken Livingstone after he claimed Hitler was a Zionist, tweeting: Where is the lie in what he said? And he called for a sporting boycott on Israel. Shadow international trade secretary Mr Gardiner issued an apology to Jews on behalf of Labour and suggested Jewish MP Luciana Berger and others who quit this week had been forced out. In a debate on anti-Semitism in the Commons, he said: This morning I saw the reports about not just the readmission of Derek Hatton but the tweets he has mentioned. I wrote to the general secretary of our party, I lodged a formal complaint. I understand that action has since been taken in respect of the complaint. 'I think it was a travesty... I think many of us knew for some while that he had applied to rejoin the party, but for the news of his readmission to come to public attention on the very day when some members of our party were forced out  I think it was appalling. He added: I want on behalf of my party to publicly apologise to the Jewish community. We have let you down. We know it. We are trying to do better. We are trying to become the party we have always aspired to be. 'We will not stop working until we once again become a safe and welcome home for people from the Jewish community, as from every other. Mr Hatton was expelled by Labour 34 years ago for membership of the Trotskyite Militant Tendency. He was deputy leader of Liverpool Council when an illegal budget was set and redundancy notices were sent by taxi to thousands of workers. Advertisement

Galloway dismisses anti-Semitism claims as like work of Goebbels Hard-Left former MP George Galloway likened claims of anti-Semitism against Labour to the work of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels as he applied to rejoin the party. Commenting on Labour MPs who quit this week, he said: With the Blairites walking out the door, hurling slander at Corbyn and the Labour leadership, its really a black op thats going on here. He told Sky News: This is pure Goebbelian propaganda  repeat a lie often enough and some people will believe it. Mr Galloway was then asked if he thought the reference was entirely appropriate given that Luciana Berger said she left Labour due to anti-Semitism. He replied: I dont believe shes leaving because of anti-Semitism. The former Respect MP also denied Mr Corbyn was anti-Semitic, saying such accusations were a Goebbelian lie. Mr Galloway was expelled from Labour in 2003 after a disciplinary hearing found he had brought the party into disrepute for inciting Arabs to fight British troops. He said yesterday he had written to the party to have his expulsion rescinded, but last night Labour said no membership application had yet been received. Advertisement

Mr Corbyns spokesman claimed the group had endorsed tax cuts, austerity and privatisation at its launch  even though none of these were mentioned at the event.

Yesterday, Labour sources claimed that one of the partys breakaway MPs had tried to access its supporters data, prompting it to shut down its key canvassing software.

General secretary, Jennie Formby, wrote to staff reminding them of their responsibility to guard canvassing information.

The Independent Groups Chris Leslie denied the claims, accusing Labour of throwing mud.

Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, confirmed that she was one of those considering quitting, warning: The ball is in Jeremy Corbyns court.

She added: In recent months I have watched in horror as the scourge of anti-Jewish racism has reared its ugly head in the party that I love.

There can be no doubt: There must be a zero-tolerance approach in rooting out all anti-Semitism from our party.

The leadership of the Labour Party needs to decide whether it will remain a hard-Left rump that gets some MPs in Parliament but never become a Government, or a wide, inclusive, broad coalition that wants the best for this country.

She slammed a Labour plan to allow voters to stage recall petitions when MPs switch sides, which could trigger a series of by-elections, as Stalinist and authoritarian.

Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips demanded that Mr Corbyn call out the anti-Semites among his supporters, as she suggested she could follow the quitters.

I was born Labour and I felt like Id die Labour, but when I listen to my colleagues speaking, I find it very hard to disagree with a lot of what they were saying, she told Sky News.

And so now I pass that baton to Jeremy Corbyn and expect him to really listen and take action.

Jeremy Corbyn was last night branded Stalinist in his response to MPs quitting Labour as he faced the threat of more resignations

'If those people dont feel welcome in the Labour Party any more, we have a problem.

Dame Margaret Hodge tweeted: The leader of our party must really listen, really understand and really change.

If he does not do so, then he will be culpable for sabotaging the values that led to the creation of the Labour Party and responsible for the withering away of a once great political force.

Rebel MP faces abuse from youth wing trolls Labours youth wing sparked outrage after tweeting Joan Ryan Gone  Palestine lives! The message appeared on the Young Labour Twitter account after MP Joan Ryan, who is chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel group, resigned from the party to join the Independent Group. One user called the tweet absolutely shocking, while another said: If those responsible for the Young Labour Twitter output are really the future of the Labour Party, then the Labour Party is doomed (and deserves to be). Miriam Mirwitch, chairman of Young Labour, swiftly condemned the post and denied she had written it. She added: Multiple members of YL committee have access to the account. Please dont think the conduct of a few on social media represents the whole of Young Labour. Theres so much talent, so many brilliant activists and so much to be proud of in our movement. Ill never stop fighting to make our movement a welcoming and inclusive place. Miss Mirwitch also had to publicly criticise a tweet sent from the account when the first seven Labour MPs resigned on Monday, which appeared to refer to them as cowards and traitors. She said: This tweet is entirely inappropriate. I do not support it. I am strongly opposed to Labour splits, but [the tweet] is the incorrect response. Advertisement

Labours deputy leader Tom Watson branded the partys attempt to force by-elections spiteful.

Currently, recall petitions can be run only in certain circumstances, such as a serious breach of parliamentary rules or a criminal conviction of an MP.

But Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett has put forward a plan, with the approval of the Labour leaders office, to change the law so defecting MPs could be challenged too.

As he hosted a radio phone-in on LBC, Mr Watson said that whatever the merits, it just looks spiteful.

Labour group Momentum said it would canvass in the defectors constituencies to warn voters they had joined a Blairite-Tory coalition after Conservative MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston joined their ranks yesterday

Those people that left the Labour Party did so with a heavy heart, and it looks like we are kind of reflexive and trying to be knee-jerk about it, rather than looking at the actual issue, which is Brexit and the state of British politics, he said.

Announcing plans for canvassing events, Momentums national coordinator Laura Parker said: Their constituents voted for a Labour MP standing on a Labour manifesto.

'Now theyve left the party and joined a Blairite-Tory coalition standing on a completely different platform.

'This is not what their constituents voted for. The only fair and decent thing to do is give their constituents a choice and call a by-election.
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Drug growers paid $2,900 a week in rent to grow marijuana inside a $6.4 million house in the upmarket Sydney suburb of Mosman under the guise of being a family of four.

The pot planters even went so far as to position furniture, kitchen appliances, and flowers in rooms visible through the windows to appear like a normal family home, and always paid the rent on time.

NSW Police found more than 300 mature cannabis plants during a search of the 100-year-old house overlooking Balmoral Beach on Moruben Road about 9.45am on Wednesday.

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Police swooped on this $6.4 million home on Moruben Road in Mosman on Wednesday morning where they found more than 300 adult cannabis plants

The 'elaborate hydroponic set-up' was found after the estate agents from Belle Property in Mosman carried out a routine inspection of the rental property, and found plants 'all over the living room'.

Property manager Tim Foote said the growers 'knew what they were doing', as their setup was 'very professional' including heat lamps, watering systems hooked up to taps, and floors covered in plastic sheets.

'They did a very professional job and were extremely careful not to damage the house in any way,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Police seized the plants and loaded them in to a truck to be destroyed and kept as evidence

Mr Foote said the tenants presented as a family of four, including two young children, passed all Belle Property's security checks, and were 'highly punctual' at paying the rent.

'We routinely drive past our properties to check on them and never saw anyone there, which was odd,' he said.

'Everything inside looked normal through the windows and we only got suspicious when dust started to build up, indicating it was possible no one was living there.'

The real estate agents decided to conduct a routine inspection, but discovered the locks has been changed and the tenants' phones were disconnected and no emails replied to.

'We went through a legal process to gain access to the property and came over on Wednesday morning with a locksmith to see what was going on,' Mr Foote said.

He said the drug growers brought in furniture, kitchen appliances, and even flowers in pots to make rooms like the kitchen and living areas visible through windows look like a family home.

However, when they walked in through the back door and passed through the kitchen into a living room, everything changed.

'We saw the plants growing and their sophisticated set up in that room, and the doors to other rooms were taped up. This was a safety issue so we got out of there and called the police.'

The five-bedroom, two-bathroom house overlooking Balmoral Beach sits on 1,232sqm including an expansive backyard

The 'elaborate hydroponic set-up' was found after a tip off and detectives seized the plants and opened a full investigation, calling for help from the public

Detectives seized the plants and opened a full investigation, calling for help from the public to track down the syndicate using the expensive home to grow drugs.

Police said several rooms in the five-bedroom, two-bathroom house were involved in a 'sophisticated set-up including heat lampshades and wiring'.

No one was home during the raid and there was 'no evidence' of anyone living in the house at all, despite the hefty price tag demanded by the sought-after suburb.

Footage of the raid showed officers dragging hundreds of plants out of the house and double garage, cutting them up, and loading them into a truck as evidence.

Police know the name of the sole name on the lease, but have not yet interviewed anyone or made any arrests.

The shocked owner of the property said he only visited his investment two or three times when he first bought it in August and never met or knew the name of the tenant.

'At least the police told me there was no damage to the house as they put plastic sheets down,' he said.

The drug growers brought in furniture, kitchen appliances, and even flowers in pots to make rooms like the kitchen and living areas visible through windows look like a family home

The growers presented as a family of four, including two young children, passed all Belle Property's security checks, and were 'highly punctual' at paying the rent

No one was home during the raid and there was 'no evidence' of anyone living in the house at all, despite the hefty price tag demanded by the sought-after suburb

Neighbours said they saw some 'Chinese people' at the house, but not often.

The 1911 Federation home was sold for $6.4 million in August after fetching $5 million just four years earlier, thanks to Sydney's property boom.

The house sits on 1,232sqm including an expansive backyard and features a wraparound verandah and sunroom.

Century-old interior features like leadlight windows and five fireplaces are left intact and blended with a modern kitchen with stainless appliances and a walk in pantry.
Fly-in, fly-out Chinese buyers are taking full advantage of plummeting house prices in Australia, spending $12 million on property in just 24 hours.

The houses, all located in Melbourne's affluent inner-city suburb of Kew, were snapped up by buyers keen to take advantage of the property slump and a favourable exchange rate between the Australian Dollar and Chinese Yuan.

In one instance, a Chinese buyer flew in from Macau in the morning and inspected and bought two neighbouring properties on Burke Rd for $7million before flying back out early the following day.

Chinese buyer based in Macau purchased the 1209 Burke Rd, Kew, (pictured) property and in its neighbouring house for $7 million this week

The buyer flew in on the morning, inspecting the property before making the two-home deal and flew back out the following morning at 1.30am (pictured 1209 Burke Rd)

Kay and Burton Hawthorn's Rebecca Edwards was surprised by the sales, who said the Chinese New Year often brought a lot of talk and little action, Realestate.com.au reported.

However, due to the current slump in housing prices, Australia is now seen as a 'safe haven' by the Chinese and they're jumping back into the market in rapid numbers, she said.

Properties 1207 and 1209 Burke Rd were scheduled to go to auction this weekend but their owners decided to take the early offer made by the Chinese buyers to avoid any uncertainty.

The buyers plan to relocate to Australia in around a year as they have children enrolled in the local Kew private school.

The home dates back almost a century and includes a modernized kitchen and swimming pool (pictured 1209 Burke Rd)

The prestigious two-storey home also features four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a king-sized living room with a fireplace (pictured 1209 Burke Rd)

Another home on Wimba Ave, Kew, was also sold to a buyer who lives in mainland China and flew in to Australia especially to inspect the home, which sold for about $5million.

Some Chinese buyers are able to purchase properties as they have permanent residency in Australia, but many are living overseas.

It's also reported that buyers with temporary residency are working around being denied home loan by making multi-million dollar offers in cash.

Chinese buyers are increasingly turning to Melbourne for their potential new home as with more than half of their searches being conducted in the Victorian capital.

Prosperous suburbs such as Glen Waverley and Box Hill are among the most sought after.
A CNN analyst warned Roger Stone was a 'dandy' who could face rape in prison as he wondered why the longtime confident of President Donald Trump would risk prison time by posting an Instagram image depicting her with a gun-sight crosshair next to her head.

Roger Stone must all worry if he goes there - hes seen as something of a dandy. Will he be physically safe? Will he be subject to rape?,' speculated CNN analyst David Gergen on Wednesday. 'There must be a lot of things that going through his mind. Oh my god what have I gotten myself into? In light of that how odd, how perfectly odd, to even post this thing.

Stone, in addition to his political consulting, serves as fashion correspondent for the Daily Caller.

Roger Stone returns from lunch to his Florida home

CNN analyst David Gergen (right) warned Roger Stone was a 'dandy' who could face rape in prison

Roger Stone leaving his home for lunch with friends, including one wearing a 'Roger Stone did nothing wrong!' t-shirt

The federal judge in the case against Stone ordered him on Tuesday to appear in a Thursday hearing to explain why she shouldn't revoke his bail after he posted said image. Stone apologized after sharing and then deleting the photo on Monday.

The image of Judge Amy Berman Jackson was tightly cropped around her hair and face, showing a logo next to her head that resembled what a hunter might see through a rifle scope.

Stone shared the image Monday with a caption noting that Jackson was a Barack Obama appointee who dismissed charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ordered former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort held in custody pending his own trial.

He faces seven criminal charges that emerged from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, including five counts of lying to Congress and other investigators, and individual counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

A separate federal law, 18 US Code  115, criminalizes threatening to assault, kidnap or murder a United States judge. It's unclear if federal prosecutors will pursue that charge.

Roger Stone apologized for sharing a photo to Instagram of Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the judge assigned to his criminal case, with what looked like a depiction of crosshairs near her head. The post was later deleted

The federal court docket in the Stone case shows a formal apology Stone sent the court on Monday and Judge Jackson's order hauling him back to her courtroom for a hearing Thursday

Roger Stone (pictured on February 1 in leaving federal court in Washington, DC) was apparently criticizing Jackson's decision to take 'no action' on Stone's objection that his case has been specifically assigned to her, due to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team filings that Stone's case is closely related to another case currently before Jackson, involving 11 Russian military officials accused of hacking the Democratic Partys computer systems in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Both of those cases share common search warrants and evidence, according to filings by Mueller's team

Stone's lawyers later filed a notice of apology in the case, which read: 'Undersigned counsel , which the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instagram today. Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed'

An order appeared Tuesday morning on the federal court docket for Stone's case, announcing that he has been 'ORDERED to show cause at a hearing to be held on Thursday, February 21, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. as to why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account on or about February 18, 2019.'

Judge Jackson had previously ordered Stone to refrain from commenting on his criminal case near the D.C. courthouse where he will be tried. She ruled that he wasn't under any other restrictions but wrote that she could revisit that decision.

Some responded with disgust Monday at the implication that a target was on the judge, with some pointing out that if he meant it as a threat against Jackson, Stone could be prosecuted for a felony.

Stone deleted the image after DailyMail.com asked him whether it implied that someone should target the judge.

He later said the resulting outrage was 'misrepresenting' reality, and his lawyers filed a formal apology with the court, signed by Stone.

The famous conservative political trickster has railed for the past week about the random drawing that assigned Jackson to his case.

'Twitter has already suspended his account and this may land him in custody,' George Washington University Law School professor Randall Eliason tweeted

University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck wrote: 'This. Is. Not. Okay. (And if it's meant as a threat, it's also a felony)

Accompanying the now-deleted Instagram image was a written post that read: 'Through legal trickery Deep State hitman Robert Mueller has guaranteed that my upcoming show trial is before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges again Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime. #fixisin.'

Reactions came fast and furious on Monday.

'This is both very troubling and remarkably stupid on Stones part. Twitter has already suspended his account and this may land him in custody,' George Washington University Law School professor Randall Eliason tweeted.

University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck elaborated, writing, This. Is. Not. Okay. (And if it's meant as a threat, it's also a felony).'

After taking the post down, Stone shared screenshots of text mssages on his Instagram feeding, which read:

'A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram has been misrepresented.

'This was a random photo taken from the internet. Any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false.'

After taking the post down, Stone shared screenshots of text messages on his Instagram feeding, which read: 'A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram has been misrepresented. This was a random photo taken from the internet. Any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false'

In a second follow-up post, Stone wrote, 'What some say are crosshairs are in fact the logo of the organization that originally posted it something called corruption central. They use the logo in many photos'

The original photo of Judge Jackson which Stone used to accompany his post is pictured here

In a second follow-up post, Stone wrote, 'What some say are crosshairs are in fact the logo of the organization that originally posted it something called corruption central. They use the logo in many photos.'

Stone's lawyers later filed a notice of apology in the case, which read: 'Undersigned counsel , which the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instagram today. Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed.'

With the initial post featuring the crosshairs logo that was taken down, Stone was apparently criticizing Jackson's decision to take 'no action' on Stone's objection that his case has been specifically assigned to her, due to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team filings that Stone's case is closely related to another case currently before Jackson.

The other case involves 11 Russian military officials accused of hacking the Democratic Partys computer systems in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Both of those cases share common search warrants and evidence, according to filings by Mueller's team.

Mueller's office revealed for the first time on Friday that it is in the possession of evidence that 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'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 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. On Friday, Jackson 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 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.

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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 restrictions '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.
The Ministry of Education of Georgia signed a special agreement with the Chinese embassy on cooperation in promotion of the Chinese language and studying Chinese in all regular schools of the country. Since last year, children of the prestigious Tbilisi 53rd School study Chinese three hours a week. The Ministry of Education decided to use the experience in all city schools.

The agreement signed by Mikhail Batiashvili, the Minister of Education, and Ji Yanchi, the Chinese ambassador, includes a joint development of an education standard for studying the Chinese language in Georgian schools, as well as inviting teachers from China.

Nothing strange would be in the initiative by the Ministry of Education, considering Chinas growing role in the modern world, but for peculiarities of foreign language studying system in Georgian schools. According to the current laws, all schools are obliged to include English as a required subject in the education program of the elementary school. Since the fifth grade, a second foreign language is studied. The second foreign language is chosen by parents: Russia, French, German, or Italian. Now Chinese is added to the list. The Georgian government intends to encourage studying the Chinese language, hoping for further development of relations with the Asian giant.

Thus, parents will have to choose between Russian and Chinese as, according to a popular view, speaking English opens an opportunity for individual studying other European languages; and its preferable to learn a non-European language. For some unknown reason, Russian is thought to be a non-European.

Valeri Kvartskhelia, the leader of the Neutral Georgia Party, told Vestnik Kavkaza that any attempt to sideline Russian in Georgia would be not only failure but also a sham as Pushkins language remains the second language after Georgian in the country and neither Chinese nor English is able to sideline it.
The parents of a child who died on a Year 11 trek in near 40-degree heat are suing the school for allegedly letting the boy take part in the deadly march.

Alexander Sheng Wei Li, 16, passed away from suspected heat stroke during the lengthy march at Huntingtower's school camp in 2016.

His parents have engaged Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in a bid for justice they claim has been denied to them, and say their son's death was 'entirely avoidable'.

Alexander Sheng Wei Li, 16, with school mates at Huntingtower. He died while on a traditional school march in blistering heat

South Australia's Plumbago Station where Alex Li died on a hike during during a school camp

A coronial inquest into Alexander's death determined the video-game loving teenager likely died of 'heat-related illness'.

Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer, Dimi Ioannou, said Alexanders death was a terrible and avoidable tragedy.

'Alexanders parents trusted their much-loved son to the school and expected them to take care of him. Instead he was made to march through intense heat carrying an extremely heavy backpack. This was an entirely avoidable death,' she said.

A statement of claim filed in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday states the Huntingtower student, in Glen Waverley, was in Year 11 when he embarked on the alleged march in South Australia's Plumbago Station.

The hike had been a school institution which had spanned almost 40 years.

Its purpose was to supposedly teach the developing students 'leadership' and 'team building' skills.

Alexander Sheng Wei Li, 16, died from suspected heat stroke

Parents were advised the traditional hike would be tough, but no one could have imagined their children might perish on the trek.

While the camp is not compulsory it is recommended that pupils attend.

The Students had been prepared for the march a whole year in advance of the 60km hike, which took place in the height of February's summer heat.

Alexander was described as having a 'stocky' build and was not known to be physically active.

A coronial inquest found the child had been diagnosed with asthma in 2009, but doctor's did not believe it was a major concern.

About 80 students took part in the trekking excursion, with Alexander branching off to a group of 13 monitored by no less than three teachers.

Court papers state he was carrying a 17kg pack and carried a separate water bag of about 7kg during the hike, which saw him walk 6.5km to the first campsite.

It was a tough night's sleep, with ants terrorising the group, the coroner found.

At 5.30am, Alexander had his last bowl of Nutri-Grain and set-off on what was to be a 14km march in overcast conditions.

A statement of claim filed in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday states Alexander was on a school trekking camp at Plumbago Station in South Australia when he died

By 10.30am, mates noticed Alexander was struggling, but not showing real signs of fatigue.

But as the day progressed, and the blistering sun was exposed, Alexander was noted to be 'hugging his water bag for dear life', the inquest found.

A mate told the coroner that Alexander could hardly breathe and had hit the ground in an effort to draw oxygen into his lungs.

A teacher offered him a plain tortilla wrap, but the boy could couldn't move.

He was put to the front of the group to lead the pack in an effort to provide the struggling child with some kind of dignity.

But by then his throat was whistling and he had become tired and confused, the inquest heard.

Alexander had drank his full pack of water, but he still yearned for more as the march continued, the coroner heard.

As the heat reached 39.1C, Alexander began to panic.

A teacher placed a wet scarf around his neck as the desperate teenager became delusional, yelling out incoherent remarks.

He tried to stand, but fell into a bush.

Huntingtower School at Mount Waverley in Victoria where Alexander Li was a student in Year 11

By the time a teacher called in an evacuation, Alexander was slumped over and shaking.

As the temperature soared to 39.5C, Alexander was placed into the back seat of a car and the air conditioner was pumped up to max.

It was all too late.

By the time paramedics took over, he could not be saved.

Deputy State Coroner Iain West was scathing in his assessment of the school and it's camp.

He recommended the school cease holding the camps at the height of summer and condemned it for making students hike over long distances carrying packs in blistering heat.

The coroner also recommended the school adopt better guidelines for heat stress management, including limiting strenuous activity to 60 minutes per session when the temperature is between 31 to 35 degrees and postponing activities when the temperature exceeds 36 degrees.

Maurice Blackburn lawyers allege Huntingtower owed Alexander's parents a duty to exercise reasonable care and skill in the running of the camp and its care of their son.

'The defendant was negligent in its running of the camp such that the deceased died and the plaintiffs suffered injury,' it stated.

It is claimed the school broke it's own risk management plan for the Plumbago Expedition for the limitation of physical activity in the 'heat of the day'.

'The staff did not check the temperature at all on the said date and did not know what temperatures the deceased would be walking in and therefore how to apply the Huntingtower Risk Management Plan for the Plumbago Expedition,' lawyers stated.

According to the statement of claim, it is further alleged the school failed to consider Alexander's fitness and health properly before instructing him to walk with a loaded pack and carrying water in temperatures which exceeded 35C and failed to provide sufficient time for him to acclimatise to the conditions at the station before commencing the hike.

Huntingtower principal Sholto Bowen was on a school camp in Indonesia and did not return Daily Mail Australia's call.
Toyota Australia has been the victim of an attempted cyber attack but believes no employee or customer data was taken.

The carmaker says it has no details about the origin of the attack and the threat is being managed by its IT department.

'Toyota Australia can confirm it has been the victim of an attempted cyber attack,' a company spokesman said in a statement today.

'At this stage, we believe no private employee or customer data has been accessed.'

Toyota Australia believes no employee or customer data has been been accessed (stock pic)

The spokesman said the company is working with international cyber security experts to get its systems up and running again as soon as possible.

'We apologise for an inconvenience caused and thank customers for their patience.'

The attack comes after hackers broke into the medical files of Melbourne's Cabrini Hospital and demanded a ransom after scrambling the data of about 15,000 patients.

The Age reports the hospital has been unable to access the files for weeks after the cybercrime syndicate used malware to cripple its server and demanded a cryptocurrency payment to decrypt the data.

The attack comes after hackers broke into the medical files of Melbourne's Cabrini Hospital and demanded a ransom after scrambling the data of about 15,000 patients (stock pic)

Australian security agencies are investigating whether North Korea or Russia were behind the malware attack (stock pic)

The malware is believed to have originated from Russia or North Korea but the identity of the criminals hasn't been revealed, and Australian security agencies are investigating.

Cabrini, which is home to the Melbourne Heart Group, is a 832-bed Catholic hospital owned by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and operates on a not-for-profit basis.

The latest breaches are expected to reinforce calls for the federal government to strengthen Australia's cyber security.

Earlier this week, the Morrison government admitted that federal parliament security systems had been compromised by an alleged state actor.

The 'WannaCry' ransomware attack in 2017 showed how cyber crimes can cripple government and health services around the world.

The hack affected up to 70,000 hospital devices throughout Scotland and Britain and necessitated the closure of emergency centres.

Melbourne's Cabrini Hospital is home to the Melbourne Heart Group, a leading cardiology centre (stock pic)




A social critic, author and academic has candidly criticized Bradley Cooper's 2018 rendition of 'A Star is Born,' the third remake of a 1937 original film that chronicled both the rise and fall of two Hollywood performers who had fallen in love.

Camille Paglia, 71, tears Cooper's directorial debut apart, calling it reductive of Lady Gaga's 'Ally,' while touting the 1976 version with Barbara Streisand as the female lead in an op-ed piece for The Hollywood Reporter.

Describing the scene where Cooper's 'Jackson Maine' stumbles and urinates all over himself during 'Ally's' big moment, Paglia said the reduction of 'a triumphant career woman to a gal pal awkwardly hiding a urine spill with a flap of her gown is a misogynous disgrace.'

Striking the completely opposite tone in her review of 40-year-old version, Paglia said, 'In retrospect, we can now fully recognize Streisand's "A Star is Born" as a feminist landmark.'

Social critic, author and academic Camille Paglia, 71, has candidly criticized Bradley Cooper's 2018 rendition of 'A Star is Born,' which marked the third remake of the 1937 original film. Cooper (left) and Lady Gaga (right) are shown in the 2018 remake of 'A Star is Born'

Camille Paglia, 71, tears Cooper's directorial debut apart, calling it reductive of Lady Gaga 's 'Ally,' while touting the 1976 version with Barbara Streisand as the female lead in an op-ed piece for The Hollywood Reporter. Paglia is pictured in New York on April 18

In comparing the four versions of "A Star is Born" now available for viewing, Paglia dismissing Cooper's effort as pandering to 'camera-hogging male vanity.'

She discusses how the male leads, played in 1937 by Fredric March, 1954 by James Mason (both called 'Norman Maine') and in 1976 by Kris Kristofferson ('John Norman Howard'), were utterly hated until their final moment of redemption.

'In contrast, Cooper upgrades himself to lovable stumbling klutz, merely drawing a few hard glances from fellow musicians,' Paglia said.

'He thus defeats the entire redemptive pattern of the three earlier films.'

She also notes that the story of 'Ally's' meteoric rise is completely missed in the 2018 version, whereas it was celebrated in the stories with the lead female characters played by Janet Gaynor (1937), Judy Garland (1954) and Streisand.

Cooper's story, however, is focused instead on 'Jackson's' struggles with intimacy, while a much deeper treatment was given to the same role when played by Gaynor in 1937.

Paglia notes that the story of 'Ally's' meteoric rise is completely missed in the 2018 version, whereas it was celebrated in the stories with the lead female character played by Janet Gaynor (1937), Judy Garland (1954) and Streisand. James Mason (left) and Judy Garland (right) are shown in the 1937 original film, 'A Star is Born'

'From its opening panorama of the glittering lights of Los Angeles, the 1937 film exhilaratingly documents the sights, rituals and churning mechanism of the movie industry, from clapper boards, screen tests and Central Casting to premieres, awards shows and mobs of ruthless fans (who tear off Vicki's veil at her husband's funeral), Paglia wrote, as part of a greater critique on what she called Cooper's failure to properly set the scene throughout the film.

'Clinically inspected and processed by the brusquely efficient makeup and publicity departments, [Gaynor's] Vicki emerges with a new name and life story. She has become that supreme artifact, the movie star.

'All this sweeping expansiveness  the wilderness through which the fairy-tale heroine apprehensively makes her way  is missing from the disjointed Cooper film, which claustrophobically contracts to Jackson Maine's stalled relationships with other men. The ravenous industry in which Ally (Gaga) rises is hardly glimpsed.'

'Clinically inspected and processed by the brusquely efficient makeup and publicity departments, [Gaynor's] Vicki emerges with a new name and life story. She has become that supreme artifact, the movie star. 'All this sweeping expansiveness  the wilderness through which the fairy-tale heroine apprehensively makes her way  is missing from the disjointed Cooper film, which claustrophobically contracts to Jackson Maine's stalled relationships with other men. The ravenous industry in which Ally (Gaga) rises is hardly glimpsed,' Paglia said. Fredric March (left) and Janet Gaynor (right) are shown in the 1937 original film, 'A Star is Born'

Seemingly bemused at the fact that Cooper's 'A Star is Born' has been nominated for eight Oscars at this year's Academy Awards, Paglia was especially shocked at the nod for Gaga in the Best Actress category.

'[Cooper's film curtails] the magnificent classic role of the ascending woman star who painfully eclipses her self-destructive, alcoholic husband,' Paglia said.

'What the script has stingily left to Gaga to play is not leading lady material. Her performance has never belonged in the best actress category because Cooper demoted her to supporting actress from the start.'

Paglia called Streisand's 'A Star is Born' 'a feminist landmark.' Kris Kristofferson (left) and Barbra Streisand (right) are shown in a still from the 1976 version pf 'A Star is Born'

Notably, at the end of the '76 film when the credits role,Streisand's name appeared not only as a member of the cast, but also as a producer, under music and costume and wardrobe. In 2018, Cooper's name showed up under director, writer, producer and under the music department. Gaga's name was notably absent in the latter category. Cooper (left) and Gaga (right) are pictured in a scene from the 2018 film

Paglia notes the differences between 2018 and 1976 from the first scene, where the drunk leading man falls in love with Streisand's character as she tells him, 'You're blowing my act,' in contrast with Gaga's portrayal of a wounded woman who is unsure of her own beauty.

Notably, at the end of the '76 film when the credits role,Streisand's name appeared not only as a member of the cast, but also as a producer, under music and costume and wardrobe.

In 2018, Cooper's name showed up under director, writer, producer and under the music department. Gaga's name was notably absent in the latter category.

In stark contrast to her clear disdain for the 2018 Cooper story, Paglia praises the Streisand remake as 'setting the terms for the new frontier: women in Hollywood seizing control of their own creative universe.'

Paglia holds a PhD from Yale University and has been a professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984.

She is the author of 'Free Women, Free Men,' and 'Break, blow, burn.'

Her most recent book is titled, 'Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education.'
Newly released audio from a never-aired interview has revealed Tucker Carlson berating a Dutch historian who used an interview about tax policy to sling mud at the Fox News host.

Rutger Bregman released footage from his end of his remote interview on Friday in partnership with NowThis News, claiming that 'Fox News didnt want you to see' the spiked segment.

On his show Wednesday, Carlson addressed the controversy, saying that Bregman had falsely accused him of taking his ideological positions on orders from above.

'Whatever my faults and those of this channel, nobody in management has ever told us what positions to take on the air. Never. Not one time,' Carlson said in his response. 'We have total freedom here and we're grateful for that.'

Tucker Carlson (left) berated Rutger Bregman (right) in a segment that never aired, after the Dutch historian slung insults at the Fox News host during an interview about tax policy

In the spiked interview, Carlson opens with friendly praise of Bregman for calling for higher top marginal tax rates while addressing the global elite at Davos, but the interview takes a turn as Bregman repeatedly insults both Carlson and Fox News.

'What the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance,' Bregman says to Carlson, referring to the family that owns Fox News' parent company.

Seeming oblivious that Carlson is asking him to speak on how to crack down on tax evasion, Bregman continues his line of invective, accusing the conservative pundit of taking 'dirty money' from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank where Carlson is a fellow.

'You are a millionaire funded by billionaires, that's what you are,' Bregman tells Carlson.

The historian said that Carlson, a former libertarian who has more recently called for sweeping reforms to support middle-class families, was 'jumping on the bandwagon' with socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.

'Moron,' Carlson can be heard replying. 'You would have to be a moron...'

Bregman accused Carlson of taking 'dirty money' from billionaires to cover up the topic of tax evasion, despite being invited on the Fox News show to discuss that very topic

Bregman went on to accuse Carlson of trying to cover up the topic of tax evasion, the very topic he'd been invited on the show to discuss.

Carlson retorted: 'I wanna say to you, why don't you go f**k yourself, you tiny brain - and I hope this gets picked up, because you're a moron.'

'I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too f**king annoying,' Carlson continued.

The interview was prerecorded on February 11 and was apparently supposed to air on that night's show, but it was never aired.

In a statement, Senior Executive Producer Justin Wells said that the interview with Bregman had been axed after he chose to sling insults rather than discuss the topic of the segment.

'Tucker is someone who appreciates many points of view. Sadly, the guest turned an opportunity to have a substantive, informative discussion into an obviously calculated personal insult campaign,' Wells said.

'We were disappointed in the segment and respect our audience's time too much to consider airing it,' he continued.

In his response on Wednesday's show, Carlson explained that once he had cursed at Bregman, the segment was unfit to air.

'I did what I try hard never to do on this show and I was rude,' he said.

Carlson invited his viewers to go listen to the audio that Bregman had released if they liked.

'There is some profanity and I apologize for that,' he said. 'On the other hand it was genuinely heartfelt. I meant it with total sincerity.'
She had been diagnosed with 'unspecified schizophrenia' and 'psychosis' and was involuntarily hospitalized for 10 days in September 2018

New details have emerged in the case of a mother found shot dead in a car with her three young children in rural Michigan earlier this week.

Authorities say 28-year-old Aubrianne Moore took her three daughters, eight-year-old Kyrie Rodery, six-year-old Cassidy Rodery and two-year-old Alaina Rau, out to a wooded area near Cedar Springs on Monday and shot them with a hunting rifle.

She then loaded the children's bodies back into her car, drove to her boyfriend's home and shot herself. The boyfriend and father of the youngest daughter discovered the gruesome scene about an hour and a half later.

'We don't know what was going through her head, she didn't leave a suicide note or anything like that,' Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told MLive on Wednesday.

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Aubrianne Moore, 28, (above) shot her three young daughters and herself on Monday in Cedar Rapids, Michigan, authorities have confirmed. Investigators believe she carried out the shocking triple murder-suicide because she suffered from mental illness

Moore allegedly brought her three daughters, eight-year-old Kyrie Rodery (center), six-year-old Cassidy Rodery (right) and two-year-old Alaina Rau (left), out to a wooded area near Cedar Springs on Monday and shot them with a hunting rifle. She then loaded the children's bodies back into her car, drove to her boyfriend's home and shot herself

Investigators believe Moore committed triple murder-suicide because she was suffering from mental illness.

'Mom appears to have been struggling with pretty substantial mental health issues,' LaJoye-Young said.

'She had some postings on Facebook and things like that that lead to believe she was paranoid and thought that the kids were in jeopardy somehow. We suspect that led to the events this day.'

Moore had been diagnosed with 'unspecified schizophrenia' and 'psychosis' in September 2018 and was involuntarily hospitalized for 10 days, according to NewayGo County Probate Court records.

In a petition requesting the hospitalization, a social worker wrote that Moore was paranoid and had visual and auditory hallucinations.

'Aubrianne is keeping her kids home from school because the television told her there would be a school bus accident today,' the social worker wrote in the September 17 note obtained by MLive.

'Aubrianne stays awake at night believing people will break into her home. Aubrianne is not eating, believing food is being poisoned.'

Moore had been diagnosed with 'unspecified schizophrenia' and 'psychosis' and involuntarily hospitalized in September 2018. The 28-year-old is pictured (right) with her friend Kasey Jo

The boyfriend and father of the youngest daughter, Alaina Rau (above), discovered the four bodies outside his home at around 3pm on Monday

Victims Cassidy Rodery, six, (left) and Kyrie Rodery, eight, (center), are pictured above

LaJoye-Young said this case has been one of the most difficult that she's had to handle in her 29 years in law enforcement.

'This is one of the hardest cases I've ever heard about. This is a very difficult case,' she said on Wednesday. 'Our investigators are feeling it. It's heartbreaking that something like this happened in our community.

'I'm heartbroken for the family and for everybody involved and the community at large, because this is not something that's easy for us to not wonder what could have been done differently, what could we have done to help.'

A GoFundMe campaign set up by Moore's brother, Robert Graham, has raised more than $6,300 as of Thursday morning.

Graham said any money left over after funeral costs are covered will be used 'for legal purposes (trying to figure out how Aubrianne was neglected by doctors and treated to a lesser degree of help than what she needed)'.

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255

Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said the triple-murder suicide was one of the most difficult cases she has seen in her 29 years with law enforcement. Investigators are seen near the home where the bodies were found on Monday afternoon
Janner allegedly convinced the girl to sneak out of her house whereupon her took her to a motel where she was assaulted

He drove 11 hours from his home to meet her and then took her to a motel

The 33-year-old man from Kansas, was arrested after allegedly talking to the girl

Scott Janner is accused of traveling to Michigan to meet up with a 13-year-old

Scott Janner, 33, is accused of traveling to Michigan to meet up with a 13-year-old girl

A man from Kansas, accused of driving to Michigan to abduct and sexually assault a 13-year-old girl, now faces seven felony charges.

Scott M. Janner, 33, has been arraigned on four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and single counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, and unlawful imprisonment.

Janner appeared in the courtroom from the Saginaw County Jail via closed-circuit TV where he spoke to answer Saginaw County District Judge Elian E.H. Fichtner's yes-or-no questions.

Janner was denied bond citing the 'violent and predatory' nature of the allegations and Janner's lack of any ties to Michigan.

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa A. Hoover gave MLive further details about the case.

She explained how Janner met his alleged victim through Snapchat on which he was pretending to be 17-year-old boy.

Surveillance video from the motel appears to show the suspect in a maroon car try to get away

Janner allegedly convinced the girl to sneak out of her house whereupon her took her to the St. Charles Motel where she was assaulted

When Janner arrived at the girls house in St. Charles, Michigan, a 760 mile, 11-and-a-half-hour drive from his home in Kansas, the girl left her house to meet him at his car.

The teenager apparently quickly realized that the man was much older than the 17-year-old he purported to be and pulled her into the vehicle, Hoover said.

Janner drove her to a the nearby St. Charles Motel where he is alleged to have performed various sexual acts with her.

Family members and the motel's owner put a stop to Janner making a getaway in his car

Janner is alleged to have prevented the teenager from leaving the motel at one point

At one point, he put her in a bathroom and prevented her from leaving, she told prosecutors.

The girl's mother later arrived at the motel and managed to retrieve her daughter and notify the police who arrested Janner shortly afterwards.

Hoover revealed Janner, who is married with possibly up to four kids, is under investigation for similar conduct involving a 13-year-old girl in Kansas, however he has not yet been charged there.

Janner remains in custody and will be next appear before the judge on March 11.
Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, is due in court on Thursday in Maryland after he was arrested on gun and drug charges last week

A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant is accused of building up an arsenal of weapons to carry out a domestic terror attack and had created a 'hit-list' that included prominent Democrats and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, will face court in Maryland on Thursday after he was arrested on gun and drug charges last week.

Federal agents found 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition when Hasson was arrested following a raid on his basement apartment in Silver Spring.

Prosecutors described Hasson, who works at the Coast Guard's headquarters in Washington, as a 'domestic terrorist' who had espoused extremist views for years.

The Coast Guard confirmed that Hasson was an active duty member at the time of his arrest on February 15, but that he no longer works there.

Court papers detail a June 2017 draft email in which Hasson wrote that he was 'dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth' and pondered how he might be able to acquire anthrax and toxins to create botulism or a deadly influenza.

In the same email, Hasson described an 'interesting idea' that included 'biological attacks followed by attack on food supply' as well as a bombing and sniper attacks, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

In September 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and 'identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland,' according to the court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Hasson began the process of targeting specific victims and had compiled a list of prominent congressional Democrats, 2020 presidential candidates, activists and media commentators.

Federal agents seized 15 firearms - including several long-guns and rifles - and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a raid on his cramped basement apartment

Hasson created the hit list in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (pictured above) that included prominent Democrats, 2020 presidential candidates, activists and media commentators

In February 2018, he searched the internet for the 'most liberal senators,' as well as searching 'do senators have ss (secret service) protection' and 'are supreme court justices protected,' according to the court filing.

Hasson's list of prominent Democrats included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Blumenthal and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

The list - created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet - also included mentions of John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Chris Cuomo and Van Jones, according to the court filing.

His online search records show he searched for 'joe Scarborough' after reading media headlines that said the MSNBC Morning Joe host had referred to President Trump as 'the worst ever'. He also searched 'where is morning joe filmed' and looked up where the TV host lived.

Prosecutors allege that Hasson visited thousands of websites that sold guns and researched military tactical manuals on improvised munitions over the last two years. He sometimes used his work computer to carry out these searches.

Federal agents seized 15 firearms - including several long-guns and rifles - and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a raid on his cramped basement apartment.

'The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct,' prosecutors wrote in court papers.

The documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack. However an investigation revealed he searched the Internet using phrases such as 'best place in dc to see congress people' and 'are supreme court justices protected'.

Hasson developed a spreadsheet of 'targets' that included Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and Freshman congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (right)

Senator Richard Blumenthal (left) and Beto O'Rourke were also on Hasson's (right) hit-list, which was created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland detailed that Hasson had planned to unleash destruction and violence in public places and against individuals in court documents.

'The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country,' the court documents said.

It is not clear why federal agents began investigating investigating him but authorities said Hasson had harbored extremist views for years.

Prosecutors said Hasson routinely researched and read portions of a 1,500 page manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage in Norway.

The manifesto outlined how Breivik orchestrated his attacks with the aim of providing a road-map for others planning similar terrorist operations, the U.S. court filings said. Prosecutors said it instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools.

Hasson also expressed admiration for Russia.

'Looking to Russia with hopeful eyes or any land that despises the west's liberalism,' he wrote in the draft email.

Law enforcement found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormones (above) during a raid on Hasson's apartment. They allege that he was taken the drugs because Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik had taken steroids and narcotics because he believed this would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks

Hasson appeared to be a chronic user of the opioid painkiller Tramadol and had ordered more than 4,200 pills from Mexico over a three-year period. Pictured is a screenshot of his order history that was included in court documents

Prosecutors say during the past two years he had regularly searched online for pro-Russian as well as neo-Nazi literature.

The Norwegian terrorist, Breivi, had taken steroids and narcotics and he believed this would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks.

When law enforcement raided Hasson's apartment, they allegedly found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormones.

Hasson appeared to be a chronic user of the opioid painkiller Tramadol and had ordered more than 4,200 pills from Mexico over a three-year period.

According to court documents, authorities found Tramadol in his desk at work and observed him on surveillance taking some of the pills just days before his arrest.

He had also purchased a flask filled with four ounces of 'synthetic urine' online, prosecutors said. Authorities suspect Hasson had purchased fake urine to use in case he was randomly selected for a drug test.

Hasson had been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016.

He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps between 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid nineties, according to court documents.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Scott McBride, said Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters.

'An active duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice,' McBride told The Washington Post.

McBride declined to comment further citing the open investigation.

The chief at the federal defender's office in Maryland - which is representing Hasson - also declined to comment on the allegations.

He was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but prosecutors say those charges are the 'proverbial tip of the iceberg.'

Hasson is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt at 1pm on Thursday.

Prosecutors said Hasson routinely researched and read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik (pictured above)
The parents of a two-year-old boy have been charged following the toddler's death.

A 26-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man were arrested at a unit in North Parramatta, Sydney on Thursday.

The pair were taken to Parramatta Police Station where the woman was charged with murder, and the man was charged with conceal serious indictable offence.

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The mother (pictured) of a two-year-old boy have been charged with murder following the toddler's violent death last year

A 26-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man (pictured) were arrested at a unit in North Parramatta on Thursday

The boy was unconscious when he was rushed to Sydney's Westmead Hospital by his mother in August last year.

Despite the desperate efforts of doctors, he couldn't be revived.

A postmortem examination was conducted, where a pathologist determined he died from blunt force trauma.

Police believe the boy most likely suffered the injuries in Cabramatta in the city's south-west before he was driven to an address in Guildford and then to hospital by his mother.

In September, detectives executed a search warrant at a home on Park Road in Cabramatta and seized 'several items', police said.

The pair were taken to Parramatta Police Station where the woman was charged with murder, and the man was charged with conceal serious indictable offence

Investigators later re-canvassed the area, with the aim of speaking to anyone with information on the boy's death.

'This address is near a shopping centre and police believe a number of persons may have seen something,' police said in a statement.

A photo of a Toyota Corolla, similar to the vehicle used to take the boy to hospital, was also been released by investigators.
A cold-blooded killer who shot three men dead will be released from prison after 38 years despite pleas from his victims' families that he die behind bars.

The New South Wales State Parole Authority (SPA) granted Berwyn Rees's release on Thursday and he will be set free as soon as March 7 under conditions including that he not possess a firearm.

Minister for Corrections David Elliott immediately announced he would seek legal advice about possible avenues of appeal against the decision.

Relatives of each of the three men Rees murdered four decades ago had been told earlier this month to prepare for him being allowed back into the community.

Rees will re-enter a world he will barely recognise - there were no mobile phones, no internet and no cable television when he was last free.

When the 69-year-old went into custody in 1980 Malcolm Fraser was prime minister, the first space shuttle had not taken flight and $1 notes had not been replaced by coins.

Tracy James, whose father Raymond was shot dead by Rees when she was a toddler, was in the parole authority hearing room at Parramatta when he was told he was being released.

'He had a big smirk on his face,' she said.

Tracy James (left) attending a parole hearing for Berwyn Rees, who murdered her father Raymond in 1977. 'This time I've resigned myself to the fact that he's definitely getting out,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I've set the bar low, knowing that he's going to be released'

Gun-mad triple murderer Berwyn Rees, now 69, has been called 'one of the most cold-blooded killers ever to enter a New South Wales prison.' His senseless crimes shocked the nation four decades ago and he is now set to be released into a modern world he will barely recognise

Raymond James, pictured with his toddler daughter Tracy, was 26 when he was shot in the back of the head by triple murderer Berwyn Rees in 1977. His killer has been granted parole

Sergeant Keith Haydon, 37, had been a police officer for 16 years when he was murdered by Berwyn Rees near Newcastle in 1980. He was shot three times in the body and once in the head

'I think Im still in shock to be honest. I just can't understand the logic of how they can even contemplate letting a triple murderer out.'

Ms James has previously told Daily Mail Australia that seeing Rees appear on audio-visual link before the parole authority made her feel physically ill.

'It's very strange looking at a man that murdered your father and caused so much devastation in so many families,' she said.

Following the decision Corrective Services NSW Acting Commissioner Rosemary Caruana said community safety was the body's 'number one priority'.

'We will be applying the highest level of community supervision to this offender and he will remain under our watch for the rest of his life,' Ms Caruana said.

Rees will be subject to 15 conditions including not possessing or using a firearm and not contacting, communicating with, watching, stalking, harassing or intimidating his victims' families.

He must not frequent the local government areas of the Central Coast, Ryde City and Hills Shire.

'The offender is subject to strict oversight and any breach will be automatically reported to SPA,' Ms Caruana said.

'He has significant health and mobility issues, and post-release plans include the support of disability services.

'There are sound post-release plans in place including suitable, stable accommodation and ongoing engagement in a program to address his offending behaviour.

In 1977 Berwyn Rees shot dead Raymond James and Christopher Greenfield at Bondi Junction in Sydney. Mr James's wife Mirjana and their daughter Tracy are pictured left. Mr James and Mirjana are pictured right on their wedding day. Tracy is now 44 and wanted Rees to die in jail

Three families are facing the reality of cold-blooded killer Berwyn Rees walking free from prison. Betty Greenfield's son Christopher was shot dead by Rees at a gun shop in Sydney in 1977. She attended his parole hearing on February 8 with her daughter Michelle (both pictured)

'Supervision includes face-to-face meetings and appointments, verification checks, home visits and regular contact with NSW Police.'

Mr Elliott said he had sought advice from the Crown Solicitors Office about avenues of appeal through the Supreme Court following the decision.

'The NSW Government will not take a backward step when it comes to community safety,' Mr Elliott said.

Thursday was the third time victims' relatives had assembled to learn if the gun-mad murderer would die in jail or be set free.

On February 8 the relatives had gathered to hear Rees's fate but to their frustration the authority adjourned the case.

Ms James, who was just two when her father was murdered, had been privately warned that Rees might not be in prison much longer.

'This time I've resigned myself to the fact that he's definitely getting out,' she said.

'I've set the bar low, knowing that he's going to be released. It's just when now.'

Anne Haydon (left), whose husband Sergeant Keith Haydon was murdered by Berwyn Rees near Newcastle in 1980, attended a February 8 parole hearing with her daughter Kathy (right)

Ms James received a letter from the SPA in September last year telling her Rees was being considered for release.

She has been receiving letters about Rees's possible parole since his minimum prison term expired about a decade ago and attended his first parole hearing on November 16.

The 44-year-old was joined on Friday by the mother and sister of another Rees victim and the widow and two children of a third.

Rees has been called 'one of the most cold-blooded killers ever to enter a NSW prison.' Two of the men he murdered were shot dead in a gun shop while the third was a policeman.

Betty Greenfield is hugged by a supporter at the parole authority hearing for cold-blooded triple killer Berwyn Rees, who shot dead her 26-year-old son Christopher in August 1977

Peter Haydon's father Sergeant Keith Haydon was murdered by Berwyn Rees in bushland near Newcastle in 1980. Mr Haydon (pictured) has attended Rees's past parole board hearings

The judge who sentenced him to three life terms for the 'mindless slaughter of three young men' described his crimes as 'wanton and merciless killings'.

As well as the three life sentences, Rees was sentenced to a further 10 years in prison for the malicious wounding of another policeman while trying to evade arrest.

Rees's murders were passionless and marked by the fat loner's obsession with guns.

On August 4, 1977 he walked into a gun shop at Bondi Junction in Sydney's eastern suburbs and shot dead store manager Raymond James and customer Christopher Greenfield.

The men had been ordered to lie on the floor then were executed with shots to the back of the head. They were both 26.

Pictures of Raymond's two-year-old daughter Tracy with her grieving mother Mirjana were splashed across the front pages of newspapers after the murders.

Rees, who had stolen 18 firearms as well as ammunition from the gun shop, went into hiding and was living at a caravan park at Raymond Terrace in the Hunter Valley when he killed again.

Sergeant Keith Haydon, pictured on the day of his wedding to Anne, was responding to reports of gunfire in a forest when he was murdered by Berwyn Rees. Mrs Haydon attended Rees's parole hearing in Parramatta on February 8 with the couple's children Kathy and Peter

Tracy James was just two when her father Raymond (left) was murdered. 'I had to grow up a bit quicker compared to other kids,' she said. 'It was hard but I guess it was all I knew'. Christopher Greenfield (right) was murdered in a Bondi Junction gun shop alongside Tracy's father

On November 24, 1980 police responded to reports by forestry and Telecom workers of a firearm being discharged in bushland at Mount Sugarloaf, about 25km west of Newcastle.

Rees, then 31, had gone to the secluded spot with six handguns and a quantity of ammunition to shoot at cans, as he had done about once a month for three years.

When confronted by Sergeant Keith Haydon, Rees shot him three times in the body with .38 Smith & Wesson revolver he had stolen from the Bondi Junction gun shop.

Rees had then attempted to move Sergeant Haydon's police vehicle but the heroic officer had removed the keys from the ignition. Rees shot the 37-year-old in the back of the head.



After executing Sergeant Haydon, Rees was confronted by Constable Alexander Pietruszka and other police who pulled him over at Beresfield, about 20km away.

Mr Pietruszka told A Current Affair last year that Rees fired at him 'without warning'.

'The first bullet went through my hair,' the now retired officer said.

Tracy James received a letter from the State Parole Authority in September last year telling her father's killer, Berwyn Rees, was being considered for release after 38 years in prison

'The second bullet flicked my ear and because I was turning sideways the third bullet... luckily hit the rib and bounced out rather than in.'

The young officer had been able to fire two shots back at Rees, who had never shown the slightest emotion while trying to kill him.

'This bloke was nothing,' Mr Pietruszka said. 'I can't explain to somebody how cold he was, how expressionless, just - just evil.'

THE HORRIFIC CRIMES OF BERWYN REES August 4, 1977: Berwyn Rees shoots dead Raymond James and Christopher Greenfield inside a gun shop at Bondi Junction in Sydney's eastern suburbs November 24, 1980: After three years in hiding, Rees is confronted by Sergeant Keith Haydon in bushland at Mount Sugarloaf, near Newcastle. He shoots Sergeant Haydon dead. Later that day Rees shoots Constable Alexander Pietruszka at nearby Beresfield. Constable Pietruszka survies and Rees and is arrested April 13, 1981: Justice Colin Begg sentences Rees, 31, to three life terms for the murders of Mr James, Mr Greenfield and Sergeant Haydon and 10 years for the malicious wounding of Constable Pietruszka September 28, 2018: The NSW State Parole Authority forms an intention to grant Rees parole at a private hearing February 8, 2019: The NSW State Parole Authority (SPA) adjourns a public hearing to determine whether Rees, now 69, should be released February 21, 2019: The SPA announces Rees will be released Advertisement

Rees was arrested that day and has been in custody ever since.

He pleaded guilty to the three murders and malicious wounding before Justice Colin Begg who sentenced Rees to life in prison in April 1981.

Justice Begg told Rees he seemed to have had 'an obsession with firearms since you were small child' and said 'you have lived a somewhat lonely and solitary life.'

Mr Pietruszka believed Rees was still a very dangerous man.

'This man didn't kill these three people,' he said. 'He executed them.

'I believe that somewhere deep inside him, there is still evil lurking.'

Sergeant Haydon's widow Anne told A Current Affair she was convinced Rees would kill again if released.

'If he gets out, if he gets in a corner, he'll kill again,' she told the program.

Ms James was stunned when she first received the letter from the parole authority to state it intended recommending release.

'I think I was in shock,' she said. 'I still am.

'I'm just in shock that they're planning to grant him parole.'

Ms James had to grow up without her father and her memories of him are largely confined to photographs and stories told by other family members.

'I had to grow up a bit quicker compared to other kids,' she said. 'It was hard but I guess it was all I knew.'

Constable Alexander Pietruszka, pictured being treated by ambulance officers, was lucky to escape with his life after being shot in the stomach by Berwyn Rees who was resisting arrest

A spokeswoman for the State Parole Authority said the body had formed an intention to grant Rees parole at a private hearing on September 28 last year.

'SPA took particular note of the offenders' prison performance, program participation to address offending behaviour and suitable post-release plans,' the spokeswoman said.

Ms James said Rees was highly intelligent - completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major while incarcerated - but cold and calculating. He had shown no remorse for his crimes.

Sergeant Keith Haydon, who was killed by Berwyn Rees, in uniform beside his police car

'All he's doing is saying exactly what they want to hear so he gets let out,' she said.

Ms James began a petition on change.org to keep Rees locked up; as of Thursday morning it had more than 25,000 signatures.

'As far as I'm concerned, originally it was three life sentences plus 10 years for the attempted murder,' she said.

'Thirty eight years is nowhere near enough time. That's an average 10 years per offence.

'They were cold blooded executions. They were shot in the back of the head at point blank range. It was all premeditated, it was all planned.

'This grub murdered three people. He's also attempted to murder another policeman.

'He gave them all life sentences. He gave each of the family members life sentences and I think it's only just and fair that he receives exactly the same thing.'



The NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services, Peter Severin, had also opposed Rees being released.

Ress will be released between March 7 and March 21.
Lyft Inc plans to launch the roadshow for its initial public offering during the week of March 18, making it the first US ride-hailing company to debut in the stock market, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Lyft's larger rival Uber Technologies Inc still needs several more weeks for its IPO preparations, the sources said, putting it behind Lyft.

Lyft now expects to be valued at between $20 billion and $25 billion in its IPO, the sources said, adding that the roadshow is expected to last about two weeks.

The sources cautioned that the plans were still subject to change and market conditions.

Both Lyft and Uber declined to comment.

Lyft Inc plans to launch the roadshow for its initial public offering during the week of March 18, making it the first US ride-hailing company to debut in the stock market, beating rival Uber Technologies Inc. A Lyft logo glows on an Amp attached to a driver's dashboard on January 31, 2017 in San Francisco

The two IPOs' being far apart could allow Lyft to pitch investors without fretting about being overshadowed by Uber.

Uber has received estimates from IPO bankers that have pegged its value at up to $120 billion, sources have said.

If Lyft gets to list first, it would avoid being judged by the valuation metrics that will be applied to Uber, which remains the undisputed king of ride-hailing in terms of size.

Uber operates in about 70 countries and also has businesses in freight hauling, autonomous driving, food delivery, air taxis and artificial intelligence research.

Lyft now expects to be valued at between $20 billion and $25 billion in its IPO. Uber has received estimates from IPO bankers that have pegged its value at up to $120 billion, sources have said. Uber's application logo is seen on a screen in front of taxi board in Ankara, Turkey on August 31

In contrast, Lyft is available only in the United States and Canada and has stayed tightly focused on its core ride-hailing service.

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.

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. Uber's current CEO is Iranian-American businessman Dara Khosrowshahi, who was formerly CEO of Expedia Group. Khosrowshahi took the helm in August of 2017. Khosrowshahi is pictured at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 on October 3, 2018 in Laguna Niguel, California

Uber's full-year revenue for 2018 was $11.3 billion, up 43 percent from the prior year. Its losses before taxes, depreciation and other expenses were $1.8 billion, an improvement over the $2.2 billion loss posted in 2017.

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.

Uber's current CEO is Iranian-American businessman Dara Khosrowshahi, who was formerly CEO of Expedia Group. Khosrowshahi took the helm in August of 2017.

Lyft has been headed up by CEO Logan Green since its founding in June of 2012.
Paramedics diverted a 100-year-old war veteran to the hospital where his wife was being treated after he told them he hadn't seen her for a while - and even stopped on the way for him to buy her some flowers.

Medics were called to Macleay Island off Brisbane last week when war veteran David became injured.

After he told them his 94-year-old wife was in hospital and he hadn't seen her in some time, they decided to take him to the same hospital.

Heartwarming: 100-year-old war veteran David gives his wife some flowers after he hadn't seen her for a while

The paramedics, named Gareth and Tess, stopped at a florist on the way so David could buy his wife a bouquet.

After arriving at the hospital, paramedics took a heartwarming picture of the couple as David gave his wife the flowers.

The moving photo has gone viral online, with thousands praising the paramedics.

One commenter wrote: 'Give these guys a raise.'

Another said: 'This is true medical care. It's not all about medicine for the body. It's also about medicine for the mind.'

Queensland Ambulance Service said in a statement: 'When paramedics responded to a Macleay Island home last week on Valentine's Day Eve, they were greeted by 100-year-old veteran David.

'Officers Gareth and Tess soon learned that he usually lives independently at the address with his 94-year-old wife, however, he hadn't seen her in some time as she was being treated in a mainland hospital.

'The paramedics decided that a visit was long overdue, and although David's injury required transportation to a different Brisbane hospital, the paramedics sought permission to conduct a surprise visit to his wife's ward in Redland's Hospital along the way.

'Of course, Gareth and Tess knew better than to turn up empty-handed and first helped David pick up a bouquet of flowers.'
An inmate at an understaffed and overcrowded Canberra prison has spoken out about the devastating effects of being locked in his cell for 23 hours a day.

The Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) violates United Nations human rights laws, has high levels of drug abuse and treats women as second-class citizens, a bombshell report revealed.

As of June 2018 there were 504 prisoners at AMC but just 424 beds - meaning some prisoners have to 'double-up' in cells made for one person.

Law and justice: The Alexander Maconochie Centre with Parliament House in the background. As of June 2018 there were 504 prisoners at AMC but just 424 beds meaning some prisoners have to 'double-up' in cells made for one person. Prisoners waiting for their trial often have to bunk with convicted criminals

The AMC's policy is to provide 9.6 out-of-cell hours for inmates a day but those hours are not being met.

'My brain turns on itself and becomes the source [of] my worst pain and torture,' an inmate said in the report, released on Wednesday by ACT Inspector of Correctional Services Neil McAllister.

'I didn't get told how it goes or that I was locked in 23 hours a day.

Seventy-seven per cent of prisoner 'lock-ins' were due to staff shortages or training sessions, the report stated.

Inmates turn to illegal and prescription drugs to 'pass the time', an inquest into the death of a prisoner found.

43.7 per cent of women and 36.7 per cent of men said they used drugs, according to the report.

Mark O'Connor collapsed and died in May 2017 with methamphetamine and opioid buprenorphine in his blood.

The opioid is used to treat addiction but can be sold for $120 on the prison black market.

As of June 2018 there were 504 prisoners at AMC but just 424 beds - meaning some prisoners have to 'double-up' in cells made for one person (stock image)

The number of prisoners waiting for trial grew by 47.6 per cent from 2013/14 to 2017/18 making the prison regularly overcrowded.

'There is a limit as to how many bodies can be crammed into the AMC before conditions became intolerable and/or dangerous to detainees and staff,' the review found.

'The basic human rights of both are put at risk.'

It was found that prisoners waiting for their trial and convicted criminals were forced to 'double-up' in single cells.

This goes against the United Nations Nelson Mandela Laws, which state that 'untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners'.

AMC has 'a significant limitation of women's human rights', according to the report.

There were 504 prisoners at AMC of which 41 were women, as of June 2018.

Women were moved from a community centre to a high security male accommodation block in 2017, and have to walk past men to access visits, education and the clinic.

This 'exposes women with histories of domestic and family violence or sexual assault to the possibility of re-traumatisation,' the report said.

The review found that a lack of time outdoors, exercise and activities for women could lead to physical and mental health problems.
Police are on the hunt for a muscular man who allegedly indecently assaulted a 18-year-old during on a Sydney train.

The man boarded a train at Central station heading towards Lidcombe in November and sat next to a teenager who got on at Town Hall at 4.40pm.

He allegedly began to inappropriately touch the teenager, who got up and moved to re-seat himself near the doors of the train.

Police have shared CCTV images of a man who may be able to assist them with the investigation of a 18-year-old who was inappropriately touched on a train

The man then allegedly followed him and tried to take photos of the teen who immediately moved to another carriage.

Both got off the train at Lidcombe, where the teenager reported the incident to Police Transport Authorities.

Police have released images of a man who may be able to assist with the investigation.

He is aged between 30 to 35-years-old, has short dark hair and a muscular build. The man was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and dark pants.

Police have shared CCTV images of a man who may be able to assist them with the investigation of a 18-year-old who was inappropriately touched on a train




A growing body of evidence shows the 'Cashless Debit Card' trial has the potential to reduce the impacts of substance abuse and problem gambling.

The latest findings by University of Adelaide researchers revealed the card is helping to improve drug-ravaged communities where toddlers can't talk or use the toilet, The Australian reported.

The report, which was handed to Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher, included statements from participants who have used the card since its rollout last March.

The latest findings by University of Adelaide researchers revealed the card is helping to improve drug-ravaged communities where toddlers can't talk or use the toilet

The report, which was handed to Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher (pictured), included statements from participants who have used the card since its rollout last March

Following the card's introduction, there have been fewer instances of neglect where children are in the care of inebriated adults.

One participant told researchers they used to get drunk every day, but since the card's rollout they have been slowly changing their ways.

Another participant told researchers their spending on alcohol has settled down significantly since they started using the card.

A stakeholder who works at an early childhood centre in the West Australian goldfields region said the effects of neglect had been evident in their program.

'There's a lot of drug use in the community at the moment, a lot of meth, and we're starting to see the effects of that in the children,' they told researchers.

The stakeholder also claimed toddlers as old as three were not ready for school given their inability to speak appropriately or toilet themselves.

'(They have) no oral language development. None of that stuff they should have on their entry into school. They're just so far behind the eight ball. There's going to be a lot of hard work catching them up,' they said.

The report also showed there have been fewer children on the streets at night and less incidences of violence requiring a child be removed from the home.

A stakeholder who works at an early childhood centre in the West Australian goldfields (pictured) region said the effects of neglect had been evident in their program

The stakeholder claimed toddlers as old as three were just not ready for school given their inability to speak appropriately and toilet themselves

Another participant in the review said the card's introduction prompted them to find a part-time job, forcing them to better manage their finances.

'Now while I'm working I get my own money on my key card and in the cashless card I'll buy food,' the participant said.

Among the negative criticisms raised by participants was having to use the distinctively grey card in public, which can be embarrassing for some people.

The Cashless Debit Card trial was extended for another 12 months last December and additional regions were announced in January, 2019.

Mr Fletcher told the publication the testimonies are part of a growing body of evidence that showed the merits of using the cashless card (pictured) system

The program is currently operating in the Ceduna region, South Australia, the Goldfields and East Kimberley regions, Western Australia and the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region, Queensland.

Researchers spoke to a total of 64 participants and 59 workers from within the education and health sectors, as well as police and other organisations.

Mr Fletcher told the publication the testimonies are part of a growing body of evidence that showed the merits of using the cashless card system.

He said there were specific groups of at-risk people for who the cashless card was working particularly well.

'These groups included people with drug and alcohol problems who were commonly reported to be reducing their consumption and spending more of their money on food, clothes and other essential goods,' Mr Fletcher said.
A 'miracle' boy who was born with just two per cent of his brain is learning how to count and surf - despite doctors' fears he wouldn't survive.

Noah Wall, six, appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday with his parents to share his story.

Shelley and Rob Wall, from Cumbria, Britain, have taken the youngster to a brain-training centre in Australia where he has learnt how to sit up by himself, count and even surf.

The six-year-old now wants to learn how to walk and ski.

His parents were told five times to terminate the pregnancy but they were determined to see it through.

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Little Noah Wall warmed viewers hearts when he appeared on Good Morning Britain looking healthy and happy

A picture shows Noah as a newborn when scans revealed he only had two per cent of his brain

Noah's been receiving a treatment called 'neurophysics', a form of brain training that utilises cognitive exercises and physiotherapy.

'Usually they don't do it for children. But we are incredibly lucky to have gotten an assessment,' Mr Wall said.

'The brain's ability to heal and correct the body's nervous system is amazing.'

When Noah was born many medics thought he had no brain at all, while others believed it was squashed into a small area.

However, by the age of three, brain scans revealed the British youngster had grown 80 per cent of his brain.

'Even if his brain had been so squashed up, he'd be severely mentally disabled because of all that damage and look at him  he's as bright as a button,' Mr Wall said.

Mrs Wall discovered three months into her pregnancy that her unborn son had a raft of health problems.

These included spina bifida - a condition which prevents the spine from developing properly - as well as rare chromosome abnormalities and hydrocephalus.

On the left is a scan of Noah's brain when he was born, filled with fluid (in black) and with very little healthy brain tissue. On the right is his brain now, which is almost fully functioning

Mr Wall said they never considered giving up on their unborn child.

'We were older parents, if younger people were offered that choice they may have felt pressured to go through with it, but we know our own minds and we are positive people,' Mr Wall said.

'We wanted to give Noah the chance of life.'

Mrs Wall described their experience with doctors, saying: 'Before he was born they gave me the option of a termination five times.'

'We got taken into a room and they drew a circle saying ''this brain will only be half a brain''. '

The couple were admitted to hospital a week before Mrs Wall's due date because the pressure on Noah's brain was becoming dangerous.

There were 12 doctors in the operating theatre as experts performed a C-section, but as he came into the world, they were given a sign.

Noah is pictured alongside his mother on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday

'He let out this amazing scream. We knew there was power there,' Mr Wall said.

Now the family send regular updates to the doctors who told them Noah wouldn't make it.

Mrs Wall said: 'He's extraordinary. We send them emails and pictures and we take them presents at Christmas time.'

Although Noah is confined to a wheelchair at the moment, the couple's dream is to see Noah walk someday.
Thousands of false asylum claims from Malaysian citizens have cost Australian taxpayers nearly $50million, according to reports.

More than 22,000 Malaysians have flown to Australia seeking protection in the past three years, but only 129 have been found to be real claims of persecution, The Herald Sun reported.

This week, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal revealed many of the petitions filed were found to be 'vague,' 'undetailed' and had 'illogical evidence.'

More than 22,000 Malaysians have flown to Australia seeking protection in the past three years, but only 129 have been found to be real claims of persecution

The findings have led officials to fear that the fast-track electronic travel system - which is available to citizens from seven other countries - has created an easy pathway for foreign criminals.

Currently, Malaysians are able to apply and obtain a visa within three days for only $20.

And while thousands are denied asylum each year, the appeal process itself could encourage foreigners to remain in the country while they wait for a decision.

In fact, 13,000 Malaysians have filed to overturn the rejection in the last three years, and many of them have either stayed on bridging visas or illegally, the outlet reported.

Immigration officials have been cracking down on Malaysian citizens, but reports reveal a total of 64,000 foreigners have flown to Australia seeking protection since July 2013.

The parliamentary committee will reveal its plan for immigration reform in a report on Thursday.

Liberal MP Jason Wood, the committee chairman, said the problem has 'clogged' the system and allowed for organised crime.

Malaysian citizens fraudulently seeking asylum has cost Australian taxpayers $50million. Pictured above is a boat carrying asylum seekers arriving at Christmas Island in 2012




A photographer was rescued from a furious duck's savage attack by a little boy.

The man, who was on holiday in Ciudad Quesada, Spain with a female friend, attracts the ducks rage when he leans over it and tries to take a photo.

The Muscovy duck rounds on the hapless man and begins a savage assault on his shoe.

The Muscovy duck launches the attack after the photographer tried to take its picture

The purple-hoodied photographer stumbles backwards trying to escape the duck, but it follows him across the field.

In the video his female friend can be heard laughing as the duck backs him into a tree.

A little boy runs in and rescues the man. He stands over the cross bird and scoops it up with two hands.

He then walks off with the bird which doesn't seem to be struggling.

The photographer is forced to stagger back several yards with the duck in hot pursuit while his female friend looks on and laughs

The friend who filmed the comical event can be heard saying: 'Oh S***, we got witnesses boy.

'How to get onto fail army 101.'

A spokesman for the British Waterfowl Association said Muscovy ducks are 'not really the most aggressive of birds'.

'You get ones that are perhaps a little bit more cantankerous than others but if they're looked after properly they're not desperately bad,' the spokesman said.

'One of the biggest things about Muscovies is that they're physically large and they're appearance makes them look a little bit aggressive.

A little boy saves the photographer from the irate duck by picking it up with two hands

'So they look kind of mean but actually they are very good parents, fantastic broodies, and good table birds.'

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says online that Muscovy duck males can be aggressive towards each other.
Meghan Markle may have married a Prince, but that isn't stopping her ex-husband from pursuing a royal lifestyle of his own, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The Duchess of Sussex's ex, Trevor Engelson, will be living in luxury if family and friends chip in to buy the regal array of items he and fiancee Tracey Kurland have placed on their wedding registry.

Film producer Engelson, 42, will have something to remind him of Meghan every day: the $275 eight-inch Waterford crystal 'Meg' rose bowl, from Gearys of Beverly Hills.

The happy couple could have opted for a set of Harry & Meghan Wedding Commemorative plates to celebrate their nuptials, but instead plumped for a 24-carat gold-decorated Hermes designer service that almost costs a king's ransom.

They're hoping to receive 16 dinner plates at $374 each, 16 dessert plates at $180, and bread-and-butter plates for a mere $135 per platter. That adds up to $11,024 for dinner before a morsel is even served.

Meghan Markle's ex husband Trevor Engelson and his nutritionist fiancee Tracey Kurland have listed an array of regal items on their wedding registry

They're hoping to receive 16 Hermes dinner plates at $374 each (left), 16 dessert plates at $180 (right), and bread-and-butter plates for a mere $135 per platter. That adds up to $11,024 for dinner before a morsel is even served.

The Hermes bread-and-butter plates cost $135 per platter (left), as they also requested one Blue Room Seder Plate for $120 (right)

Engelson's wedding registry also includes a tagine dish, paella pan, $400 Philips airfryer, popcorn maker, $799.95 pizza oven (pictured), waffle maker, $500 mixer, silverware, carafes, napkins, crystal bowls and glasses

If Engelson still pines for his ex, he can drown his sorrows in the set of six Baccarat crystal tumblers, on the wedding registry at $470.

Offering him a taste of Meghan's British lifestyle are an English Spode cup, plate and candlesticks for $302.25 and a Ralph Lauren Greenwich decanter at $195.

And if Meghan is looking to buy her ex a wedding gift, she can answer those critics who condemn her exorbitant wardrobe expenses by shopping from the cheaper end of his registry: a $10 Joseph Joseph whisk with silicon scraper from Williams & Sonoma, or if she's feeling really frugal, a single French blue oven mitt, a steal at $7.96.

Engelson walks his bride down the aisle on May 11, almost exactly a year after Meghan and Prince Harry tied the knot.

He proposed to multi-millionaire banker's daughter Kurland, a 32-year-old nutritionist, last June while on a tour of California's wine country after dating for a year.

The couple celebrated their engagement with a bash in October with was initially reported as being their wedding because Kurland was photographed wearing an elegant white dress while Engelson donned a light blue suit.

He proposed to multi-millionaire banker's daughter Kurland, a 32-year-old nutritionist, last June while on a tour of California's wine country after dating for a year

Engelson, from Great Neck, New York, began dating Meghan in 2004, marrying in Jamaica in September 2011. But within weeks of their wedding Meghan won her break-out role on 'Suits,' and spent months each year filming in Toronto, Canada. The marital strain contributed to their divorce in 2013

The party was held at a private home in exclusive Hidden Hills, California, the same affluent suburb of Los Angeles where Kim Kardashian and Kanye West live.

Last weekend Kurland is believed to have traveled to Hawaii with a troupe of girlfriends for her bachelorette party.

She was seen arriving in Hawaii wearing a blue denim jacket with 'Engelson' embroidered on the back. A friend posted an Instagram photo of Kurland with the caption: 'Celebrate our bride!!!'

Engelson, from Great Neck, New York, began dating Meghan in 2004, marrying in Jamaica in September 2011.

But within weeks of their wedding Meghan won her break-out role on TV legal drama 'Suits,' and spent months each year filming in Toronto, Canada. The marital strain contributed to their divorce in 2013.

Last weekend Kurland is believed to have traveled to Hawaii with a troupe of girlfriends for her bachelorette party

Engelson's wedding registry also includes a tagine dish, paella pan, $400 Philips airfryer, popcorn maker, $799.95 pizza oven, waffle maker, $500 mixer (pictured), silverware, carafes, napkins, crystal bowls and glasses

Engelson has produced films including Robert Pattinson's 'Remember Me' and the Bradley Cooper-Sandra Bullock comedy 'All About Steve.'

He won a deal last year to produce a TV comedy series inspired by his own life, about a man whose ex-wife marries a member of the Royal Family - but insiders claim that project may now be on hold, much to Meghan's relief.

Yet Meghan may regret giving up a man who seems to have some tasty treats in his future.

Engelson's wedding registry also includes a tagine dish, paella pan, $400 Philips airfryer, popcorn maker, $799.95 pizza oven, waffle maker, $500 mixer, silverware, carafes, napkins, crystal bowls and glasses.
GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence

Flynn was President Trump's former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller's most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama's director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired.

He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.

GUILTY AND JAILED: MICHAEL COHEN

Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Pleaded guilty to further count of lying to Congress in November 2018. Sentenced to three years in prison and $2 million in fines and forfeitures in December 2018

Cohen was investigated by Mueller but the case was handed off to the Southern District of New York,leaving Manhattan's ferocious and fiercely independent federal prosecutors to run his case.

Cohen was Trump's longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump's inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump - and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations - and admitted that he acted at the 'direction' of 'Candidate-1': Donald Trump.

He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million.

And he admitted lying to Congress in a rare use of the offense. The judge in his case let him report for prison on March 6 and recommended he serve it in a medium-security facility close to New York City.

GUILTY AND JAILED: PAUL MANAFORT

Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Sentenced to 47 months in March 2019. Pleaded guilty to two further charges - witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. Jailed for total of seven and a half years in two separate sentences. Additionally indicted for mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney, using evidence previously presented by Mueller

Manafort worked for Trump's campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.'s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free - in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine.

Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts in August 2018. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent due in September did not happen when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering in a plea bargain. He was supposed to co-operate with Mueller but failed to.

Minutes after his second sentencing hearing in March 2019, he was indicted on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., using evidence which included documents previously presented at his first federal trial. The president has no pardon power over charges by district and state attorneys.

GUILTY AND GOING TO WEEKEND JAIL: RICK GATES

Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Sentenced to 45 days weekend jail and three years probation, December 17, 2018

Gates was Manafort's former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns.

GUILTY AND JAILED: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Sentenced to 14 days in September 2018, and reported to prison in November. Served 12 days and released on December 7, 2018

Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump's campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank.

GUILTY AND JAILED: RICHARD PINEDO

Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Sentenced to a year in prison

Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities.

GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN

Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence and was deported to the Netherlands on his release

Van der Zwaan was a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012.

He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik. His law firm say he was fired.

GUILTY: W. SAMUEL PATTEN

Pleaded guilty in August 2018 to failing to register as a lobbyist while doing work for a Ukrainian political party. Sentenced to three years probation April 2019

Patten, a long-time D.C. lobbyist was a business partner of Paul Manafort. He pleaded guilty to admitting to arranging an illegal $50,000 donation to Trump's inauguration.

He arranged for an American 'straw donor' to pay $50,000 to the inaugural committee, knowing that it was actually for a Ukrainian businessman.

Neither the American or the Ukrainian have been named.

CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK

Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. At large, probably in Russia

Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort's political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S.

He has been linked to Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia - effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller's team.

INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS

Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. They remain at large in Russia

Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud.

Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list - which is not made public - and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S.

INDICTED: MICHAEL FLYNN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS

Bijan Kian (left), number two in now disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying company, and the two's business partner Ekim Alptekin (right) were indicted for conspiracy to lobby illegally.

Kian, an Iranian-American was arrested and appeared in court charged with a conspiracy to illegally lobby the U.S government without registering as a foreign agent. Their co-conspirator was Flynn, who is called 'Person A' in the indictment and is not charged, offering some insight into what charges he escaped with his plea deal.

Kian, vice-president of Flynn's former lobbying firm, is alleged to have plotted with Alptekin to try to change U.S. policy on an exiled Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and who is accused by Turkey's strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of trying to depose him.

Erdogan's government wanted him extradited from the U.S. and paid Flynn's firm through Alptekin for lobbying, including an op-ed in The Hill calling for Gulen to be ejected. Flynn and Kian both lied that the op-ed was not paid for by the Turkish government.

The indictment is a sign of how Mueller is taking an interest in more than just Russian involvement in the 2016 election.

GUILTY AND AWAITING SENTENCE: ROGER STONE

Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign official and longtime informal advisor to Trump, was indited on seven counts including obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in January 2019. Convicted on all counts November 15, 2019, awaiting sentence

Stone was a person of interest to Mueller's investigators long before his January indictment, thanks in part due to his public pronouncements as well as internal emails about his contacts with WikiLeks.

In campaign texts and emails, many of which had already been publicly revealed before showing up in Mueller's indictment, Stone communicated with associates about WikiLeaks following reports the organization had obtained a cache of Clinton-related emails.

Stone, a former Nixon campaign adviser who has the disgraced former president's face permanently tattooed on his back, has long been portrayed as a central figure in the election interference scandal.

'They got nothing,' he said of the special counsel's investigation.

Stone gave 'false and misleading' testimony about his requests for information from WikiLeaks. He then pressured a witness, comedian Randy Credico, to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, and pressured him in a series of emails. Following a prolonged dispute over testimony, he called him a 'rat' and threatened to 'take that dog away from you', in reference to Credico's pet, Bianca. Stone warned him: 'Let's get it on. Prepare to die.'

CLEARED: GREG CRAIG

Greg Craig, President Barack Obama's White House counsel, was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent. Mueller's investigators uncovered Craig's work on behalf the government of Ukraine while probing Manafort, who did business with Craig.

Prosecutors released a grand jury indictment of Craig in April 2019, after Craig's law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP agreed to pay more than $4.6 million as part of a settlement. The prominent firm also acknowledged it had failed to register, and placed much of the blame on Craig, a senior partner there.

Craig's lawyer blasted the decision as an abuse of prosecutorial discretion, and prepared to argue that omission of information during an interview is not tantamount to making false statements.

The charges stem from a 2012 report Craig and the firm produced on behalf of the Ukrainian government on opposition figure and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was an opponent of Manafort's client , former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Craig was cleared on September 9 2019.
You could be forgiven for thinking this adventure seeker was having a LAVA when he decided to abseil backwards into an active volcano - before doing a handstand on the edge.

Daredevil Christopher Horsley descended into three lava-filled craters - one of which has never been explored before - during a two month expedition in the South Pacific last year.

The 26-year-old, from Ormskirk, West Lancashire, faced molten rock of more than 700 degrees Celcius to rappel inside the Benbow, Marum and Ambrym volcanic craters on the island of Vanuatu.

Daredevil: Christopher Horsley, 26, from Ormskiri, West Lancashire, descended into three lava-filled craters - one of which has never been explored before - during a two month expedition in the South Pacific last year.

He faced molten rock of more than 700 degrees Celcius to rappel inside the Benbow, Marum and Ambrym volcanic craters on the island of Vanuatu

Mr Horsley said: 'I have always been enthused by adventure. When I was a teen aiming for a path in the Air Force I joined the cadets, where I found my passion for outdoor adventure and climbing'

All three volcanoes are still active - including the one Mr Horsley showed off his gymnastic skills on - but Benbow hasn't erupted since 1913.

Mr Horsley said: 'This is the first time that all three craters with active lava lakes have been accessed.

'I am pioneering new and safer ways to access erupting volcanoes safely.

'I have always been enthused by adventure. When I was a teen aiming for a path in the Air Force I joined the cadets, where I found my passion for outdoor adventure and climbing.

All three volcanoes are still active - including the one Mr Horsley showed off his gymnastic skills on - but Benbow hasn't erupted since 1913

Mr Horsley insists that his stunt was completely safe because of the rope techniques he used. He said: 'Utilising tension lines and high angle rescue techniques to operate in such harsh environments is our speciality'

'Since the age of 21 I have been pushing the limits of travel, to the point where I was adopted by a tribe in Papua New Guinea.

'Adventures like this have built me to respect the crazy world we live in.'

Mr Horsley is an expedition leader and photographer for Ultimate Volcano Expeditions and currently lives in Amsterdam.

And despite the seemingly terrifying nature of his stunt, he insisted it was completely safe due to the rope techniques used.

He added: 'I have a passion for capturing volcanoes, tribes and the world's most unique and elusive phenomena.

'Utilising tension lines and high angle rescue techniques to operate in such harsh environments is our speciality.

'You think of it, we will rope it.'
By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

In the World University Ranking of 2018 conducted by the UK-based Times Educational Network, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was ranked as the top university in India. It also bagged the seventh rank among all Indian institutes, including IITs and IISc, leaving behind every Indian university.

AMU has always been a university of national importance and never has it been discriminated against on the grounds that most of its students belong to minority groups. It has produced loads of students who are proud to call themselves Aligs everywhere in the world.

But things started changing in 2017, soon after Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Leading BJP politicians and ministers from the started had already been speaking against AMUs minority status and soon Yogi Adityanath joined the herd and raised the demand of scrapping the AMUs minority status.

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However, things took a violent turn last year with a protest started to remove the photo of Mohammad Ali Jinnah from AMUs student union building. The controversy behind Jinnah, the honorary member of AMU students union, sparked after BJP MLA Satish Gautam raised the same question.

Following the controversy, BJP-ABVP goons entered the University premises while ex-Vice President of India Hamid Ansari was in the campus.

Fast forward to 2019 and something similar happened a week or so ago when a reporter from Republic TVan ultra-nationalist news venturevisited the AMU campus. According to the students, the reporter said, I am reporting from the University of terrorists, and when the students objected, she and the cameraman got into a tussle with students.

What followed was a violent clash and incidental firing when a group of individuals belonging to ABVP and Hindu Yuva Vahini entered the campus just after Republic TV van left and started vandalizing the premises.

And in a strange turn of events, just after the tussle, Police officers lodged an FIR against 14 students of AMU charging them with sedition. No action was taken yet against the ABVP-HYV protestors.

In a joint press conference on Friday organised at Press Club of India, Delhi, the student bodies expressed the solidarity with the AMU and called for the revocation of sedition cases against 14 students of AMU.

Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) and AMUSU were the main attendees of the joint press conference but the ex, as well as current office bearers of AMUSU, were prevented from attending attend the conference.

Syed Azharuddin, General Secretary of SIO, said, The sedition is a draconian law and can only be applied in cases where the sovereignty and integrity of the Union of India are threatened by violent acts. It is unclear how the law of sedition was applied to a scuffle that happened with a University campus, and that too applied not against the culprits but against the victims. it must be noted that among the 14 students against whom sedition case was filed, some were not even present in Aligarh at the time.

Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani, the ex AMUSU president, clarified on Wednesday, the day the FIR was lodged, that he was not present on the campus for three days. He further said, The series of attack on our university before every election is the testimony of their cheap politics. The entry of private media channel and doing coverage without having the permission of university administration and using the derogatory comment for the university and students, shouting and fighting with students raises severe questions.

He further said, I request Mr Modi to kindly give tuition classes to Aligarh BJP workers, so that next time they do homework before filing FIR for sedition charges, otherwise you will get exposed like always.

SIO National Secretary Syed Azharuddin said, It is also disheartening to see the role played by a national media outlet in these events, which called AMU a University of terrorists and once again tried to provoke an unnecessary controversy around AMU. We believe that such provocative and polarising coverage should be held to account and some semblance of journalistic responsibility and media ethics should be restored.

It has been quite a strange thing that most of the Indian political leaderswho went along in the name of secularism or mahagathbandhandid not utter a word on the campus fracas at AMU and the consequent case of sedition against 14 AMU students. Most of them spoke after they were pinged on social media.

Jignesh Mewani, independent MLA from Gujarat, wrote on Twitter, a day after the police case, First they disinvited me in HK arts college, Hemant Shah resigned, then attack Allahabad Universitys Richa, now these sedition charges and the dangerous Republic TV lies in #AMU?

We must condemn the dadagiri of these Sanghi students & media. Ruining peoples lives, futures!

Moreover, BSP president Mayawati did not utter a word until pressed. She put a statement about the controversy two days after the fracas happened inside AMU campus. In her statement, Mayawati not only attacked Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh for its action against AMU students, but she also lashed out over Congress government in Madhya Pradesh for slapping NSA against Muslims for a suspected case of cow slaughter.

She said, Both the parties (Congress and BJP) are working on the agenda of spreading communal hatred and casteism.

On Sunday night, following the police FIR, police arrested four students from the campus. Following the arrest, AMUSU panellists started protesting at Bannadevi police station of Aligarh.

Later police release three out of four arrested students. The fourth student Talib Ali was presented in court on Monday, where he was ordered to keep under police remand for 14 days.

Following this, AMUSU members with several other students of University sat on protest at the university gate and raised the demand for an early release of Talib Ali. They also said that if police authorities would fail to meet the demand, hundreds of AMU students would give themselves to the police as part of the protest.

Soon after this, Aligarh authorities promised to release Talib at earliest, and protest was called off soon after the announcement.

However, the conditions inside AMU have been tense in recent past. And almost every incident was found related with the Hindu Yuva Vahinia Hindu young militant outfit founded by Yogi Adityanathand members and activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of BJP.

During the fracas within the campus last year, police showed an extremely lenient attitude towards perpetrators belonging to HYV and ABVP. The Police lathi-charged at the AMU students, who were opposing the violence instigated by HYV and ABVP members, injuring many of the AMU students including the then AMUSU representatives.

Following the tussle, AMU students handed over six members belonging to Hindu Yuva Vahini to the police, but police immediately released them without any action or case. The police action trend followed the last weeks event as well, where authorities did not book any fringe elements or the crew from Republic TV but surprisingly booked the students who were opposing the TV channel crew for making derogatory remarks on live television.

In January this year, AMU was dragged once again into controversy when Ajay Singh, a student of LLM and grandson of BJP MLA Dalveer Singh, led a Tiranga Yatra inside the campus on bikes without prior permission from the university authority.

While there is nothing wrong with waving Indian flag inside AMU but as Universitys proctor pointed at the time, AMU itself celebrates Republic Day and Independence Day with full passion and lot of cultural programs. Students should join what is already happening instead of trying to create chaos.

Such bike-Tiranga rallies have proven to be toxic in the past when one such rally created communal violence in Kasganj, western Uttar Pradesh. And such procedures have been the keys of dialogue protocol of the BJP.

Soon after the antics of Singh, the BJP Yuva Morcha floated a demand of establishing a temple in AMU premises. Mukesh Singh Lodhi, BJYM district president, wrote to AMU VC Tariq Mansoor to establish a temple inside AMU campus following the agenda of Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikaas in 15-days of receiving the letter, otherwise, BJYM will enter the premises and will lay stone for temple construction.

Meanwhile, the things inside AMU are still tense. On February 23, the universitys Disciplinary Committee will hold a meeting regarding actions against the students as per the Universitys code of conduct. Students believe that tension could spark again that day.

Faisal Nadeem, a student from AMU, told TwoCircles.net, Things are mostly silent right now. After the assurance from the authorities that no action would be taken against students, the protest was called off.

But students are avoiding to go outside of the campus. Moreover, they are not going into far areas inside the campus to avoid any episode which can be used to harm AMUs or fraternitys reputation further, said Nadeem.
Barclays has set aside 150million to cover the potential fallout from Brexit, its latest annual results revealed.

The lender set aside the cash in the final three months of last year to cover 'anticipated economic uncertainty', which it claims could hamper its credit card and corporate loan operations within the UK.

In contrast, on Wednesday, Lloyds Banking Group's boss Antonio Horta-Osorio said that while the outlook for the economy remained 'uncertain', for the past year it had been 'resilient.'

In the last year, Barclays' profit came in at 3.5billion, which was unchanged from the previous year.

Covering all bases: Barclays has set aside 150million to cover the potential fallout from Brexit

Including conduct and litigation charges, the banking giant's annual attributable profit was 1.4billion, against a 1.9billion loss a year earlier.

Excluding litigation and conduct charges, the group's pre-tax profit increased by 20 per cent to 5.7billion

Barclays' latest figures reveal that boss Jes Staley was paid a total of 3.4million for the year, down from 3.9million in 2017, after seeing 500,000 of previous bonuses clawed back following an investigation into his attempt to uncover a whistleblower.

Mr Staley still received an annual bonus of 1.1million.

Over 400 staff at Barclays raked in over 1million last year, including six who took home over 6million.

The bank shared out a 1.6billion bonus pool among staff, up from 1.5 billion in 2017.

The FTSE-100 listed bank's annual dividend increased from 3p to 6.5p a share last year. This morning, the company's share price is up 4.04 per cent or 6.5p to 167.38p.

Pay packet: Barclays' latest figures reveal that boss Jes Staley was paid a total of 3.4million for the year

Dividend: The FTSE-100 listed bank's annual dividend increased from 3p to 6.5p a share last year

Summing up the group's performance, Mr Staley said it had been a 'very significant' year for the bank.

He added: 'In the course of the year, having resolved major legacy issues and reduced the drag from low returning businesses, we started to see the earnings potential of the bank, as the strategy we have implemented began to deliver.

'This was evident in the improved performance across the Group compared to 2017.'

On the outlook for shareholders, Mr Staley said: 'In 2018, based on our strong capital generation, Barclays restored the dividend to 6.5p and redeemed expensive preference shares dating from the financial crisis. This is excellent progress, but not sufficient.

'Going forward the principal calls on future earnings should now be returns to shareholders and investing to grow the business.

'We will use the strong capital generation of the bank to return a greater proportion of those earnings to shareholders by way of dividends and to supplement those dividends with additional returns, including share buybacks. I am optimistic for our prospects to do more in 2019 and beyond.'

Last year, Barclays took charges of 2.2billion to cover legal issues and fines, including a large settlement with US regulators and, in the UK, compensation for payment protection insurance claims.

Barclays' top brass are under pressure from US-based financier Edward Bramson to boost its performance.

Mr Bramson, who owns a 5.5 per cent stake in the bank, wants a place on the company's board and believes the bank should scale back its investment banking operations.

The bank's latest figures showed that income from the group's corporate and investment bank fell by 1 per cent to 9.77billion, which Barclays said was due to a fall in banking fees.

Within the UK, the bank's branch numbers have fallen. By the end of last year, the bank's branch numbers fell from 1,058 to 1,208 in the last year.
Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng is to be tried in Malaysia over a 2.1bn fraud scandal

A star banker who worked for Goldman Sachs will be tried in Malaysia over a 2.1billion fraud scandal.

Roger Ng is accused of helping officials steal billions of pounds from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB while at Goldman.

The 48-year-old, arrested in Malaysia last year at the request of US authorities, faces trial for fraud.

He is due to be extradited to the US over similar charges, but this will not happen until Malaysian court proceedings have finished.

Ngs former Goldman colleague Tim Leissner has already admitted fraud in the US, and Malaysia is demanding 5.9billion from the bank over claims it funnelled money to criminals.
Lloyds is doling out 4billion to investors and is launching a massive expansion in the pensions market.

The bank will pay an annual dividend of 3.21p per share, or 2.3billion in total, to 2.5m small shareholders.

And it will buy back 1.8billion of stock to drive up the share price.

Annual dividend: Lloyds will pay 3.21p per share, or 2.3bn in total, to 2.5m small shareholders

The announcement came as Lloyds revealed profits of 6billion for 2018, up 13 per cent on a year earlier.

The lender is on a crusade to conquer the pensions market, by luring 1m new customers by 2020.

Bosses insisted this ambitious target would not trigger a return to the mis-selling scandals, such as payment protection insurance (PPI), which blighted Lloyds in the past. 'This is a completely different Lloyds,' said finance director George Culmer.

Laith Khalaf, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'With such a high market share in key banking markets, the question is: where Lloyds goes next?

Part of Lloyds' new strategy is to shuffle sideways into the financial planning and retirement market. It makes sense to give Lloyds some diversification from core banking activities.'

Lloyds' dividend payout will be a boon to its army of 2.4m small shareholders, many of whom have owned the stock since its takeovers of Halifax and Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society. An average retail investor with 6,000 shares will get around 193.

The buyback should also boost Lloyds' share price and will see the bank purchase stock on the market and cancel it.

The 50m bank chief In the money: Antonio Horta- Osorio and his wife Ana The boss of Lloyds trousered 6.3million in 2018  meaning he has pocketed more than 50million since taking charge of the bank in 2011. Antonio Horta-Osorio, 55, last year picked up a base salary and other fixed pay worth 2.1million, benefits worth 157,000 and 3.4million in bonuses. He was also handed 573,000 towards his pension, equal to 43 per cent of his base salary. Lloyds is in the firing line for giving Horta-Osorio far better retirement benefits than its own staff, who typically get a maximum of 13 per cent of base salary. Since taking charge, he has been handed 4.5million of pension payments, and has now picked up 51.4million in total pay. The retirement perks are likely to be a focus of shareholder anger at the annual meeting. The Investment Association, representing City institutions, has attacked special pension schemes. Last year it said: Pension contributions for executive directors should be reduced over time to equal the rate received by the majority of the workforce.

This will mean there are fewer shares in circulation but the lender's value is the same, so each share is worth more.

Profits were boosted by fewer compensation payouts to credit card customers wrongly sold toxic PPI. It set aside 750million for victims of the scandal last year, down from 1.7billion in 2017.

So far PPI has cost Lloyds 19.4billion, but the final deadline for complaints is in August.

The bank, which is Britain's largest mortgage lender and owns credit card firm MBNA, is unable to grow much bigger in most markets because it already has a dominant position.

So bosses are focused on conquering the pension industry, hiring an extra 700 financial advisers, and hoping to nab 1m more customers.

They have teamed up with wealth manager Schroders to help wealthy clients invest their money.

Lloyds and Schroders will launch a jointly-owned financial planning business called Schroders Personal Wealth.

It is likely to spark concern from older customers that the lender will return to the high-pressure sales tactics.

But Culmer insisted: 'This is a completely different Lloyds  we don't have incentives and sales targets right across our franchise.'

The lender axed 108 branches last year, and chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio refused to rule out more closures.

Shares rose 4.7 per cent, or 2.76p, to 61.13p.
One of Just Eat's largest shareholders has renewed its attack on the takeaway company, in a blistering criticism of management.

Cat Rock Capital, a US investment firm which owns around 2 per cent of Just Eat, has published the transcript of a call it held with analysts discussing Just Eat's fortunes. Cat Rock's founder and managing partner Alex Captain said the 'management situation at Just Eat [was] worse than we had previously expected'.

He slammed the food delivery company for failing to contact candidates his firm proposed as chief executive, and for ignoring Cat Rock suggestions to get in touch with an expert who could help recruit a new boss.

The boss of one of Just Eat's largest shareholders Cat Rock Capital slammed the food delivery company for failing to contact candidates his firm proposed as chief executive

Just Eat's former chief executive Peter Plumb left in January, under pressure to improve its performance in the face of rivalry from the likes of Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

Cat Rock welcomed the departure but was disappointed interim boss Peter Duffy, who has little experience running a food business, was being considered as a permanent replacement.

Captain said a merger could quickly expand the business and match it with a 'world-class' management team. Investors seemed willing to hold tight, and see if Just Eat would be forced to shake its business up. Shares ended the day up 1.4 per cent, or 10.4p, at 734.2p.

McBride, which makes household cleaning products for some of Europe's biggest retailers, slid as it issued a profit warning.

The Oven Pride manufacturer warned prices of raw materials were not improving as quickly as it thought they would, and distribution costs were also rising.

Stock Watch - Haydale Graphene Graphene has been hailed as a super-material due to its incredible strength, but producer Haydale Graphene is not so popular with its shareholders. The cash-strapped firm said it would have to tap investors for more money, issuing new shares at a material discount to encourage buyers. Haydale said it was sounding out institutional investors, and that a more detailed announcement would follow soon. Shares slumped 50 per cent, or 11.5p, to 11.5p.

Profits for the year ending June 2019 will now be between 10 per cent and 15 per cent lower than the prior year's 33.2million. Shares plummeted 32.2 per cent, or 43.2p, to 86.8p.

Investors in metals miner Acacia Mining welcomed an announcement that Barrick Gold, which owns 63.9 per cent of the company, was looking to resolve its disputes with the Tanzanian government.

Even though Acacia's management sounded a little put-out at being left in the dark, saying it had 'not yet received any proposal from Barrick regarding a comprehensive resolution', shares rose 12.8 per cent, or 28.8p, to 253.8p.

Acacia has been at loggerheads with Tanzania's ministers over a disputed 146billion tax bill.

A shake-up at the top of Barrick, which saw Mark Bristow from rival Randgold take the role of chief executive when the two merged last year, seems to have spurred Barrick into taking action over the struggling smaller miner.

He has suggested paying 230million to the Tanzanian government, and giving it royalties and taxes from ongoing operations.

Acacia will now review the proposals, which will have to be approved by Tanzania's government.

Elsewhere on the FTSE 250 index, online trading firm Plus500 finally began to turn around its fortunes after an accounting blunder last week wiped 1billion off its market value.

Shares rose 6.5 per cent, or 47p, to 767p as hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey continued to snap up stock. He has increased his stake from 9.7 per cent to 18.2 per cent.

The FTSE 100, which is vulnerable to international trade tensions, ended the day up 0.7 per cent, or 49.45 points, at 7228.62, after President Trump said US trade talks with China were going well.

Oil and gas explorer San Leon Energy shot up 17.3 per cent, or 5.3p, to 35.9p as it offered to buy up to 50.5m shares back from investors.

The 46p per share price it is offering was a 50 per cent premium to San Leon's value on Tuesday, but it is understood that hedge fund Toscafund, its largest shareholder, will not sell as it believes the shares could rise even further.
Beleaguered shopping centre owner Intu has scrapped its full-year dividend after the value of its property empire tumbled by 1.4billion.

The company, which owns 17 sites across the UK, reported annual losses of 1.2billion following the 13.3 per cent slump in the value of its estate.

Its centres, including the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Metrocentre in Gateshead and Lakeside in Essex, are now valued at 9.2billion, attract around 400m visitors a year.

Slump: Intu's shopping centres, including the Trafford Centre in Manchester (pictured) are now valued at 9.2bn, attracting around 400m visitors a year

But there was a 1.6 per cent fall in shoppers in 2018 as they went online. The bleak update sent Intu shares down 7.8 per cent to 108.95p. The stock was trading above 250p early last year.

Intu was rocked by two failed takeovers last year as the High Street crisis saw shops go bust and thousands of stores close.

Outgoing chief executive David Fischel said the writedown in the value of the Intu estate was a reaction to the gloom sweeping the industry.

'The retail scene has been difficult in the last 12 months and investor's views of shopping centres have become more pessimistic,' he said.

Intu is now planning to sell assets to reduce its debt.

Analyst Russ Mould, the investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'What a right mess Intu has got in to.

'Being exposed to the retail sector is a poisoned chalice for property companies at the moment.

'In time, Intu could emerge a leaner business but for now it will have to keep taking the headache tablets and do its best to survive.'

Last year's botched takeover offers wiped off almost half the firm's value. In April, Birmingham Bullring owner Hammerson dropped its offer to buy Intu for 3.4billion after a backlash from investors.

And just weeks before retail's crucial Christmas trading period, a consortium led by its largest investor and deputy chairman John Whittaker ditched a 2.8billion takeover.

Whittaker, the 76-year-old chairman of property investment firm Peel Group, has seen the value of his 29.29 per cent stake fall by around 580million to 425million since the start of 2018.

Chairman John Strachan said: 'Intu has had a challenging year with a difficult retail and uncertain economic environment.'

In July, Fischel revealed he would step down from the company. Seven months later, a replacement has still not been found. Intu said it will update investors but refused to give a specific time scale.
Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe is fighting for his future after the grocer's proposed 14billion merger with Asda was declared 'dead in the water'.

In a ruling that stunned the City, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned the deal could lead to higher prices and less choice for shoppers.

The watchdog told the supermarket giants they could be required to sell hundreds of stores or even one of the brand names to get the deal through  or risk it being blocked.

Analysts warned that Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe's days are now numbered as the CMA's findings suggested the merger with Asda was likely to be blocked

In an ominous sign, the CMA added that it was 'likely to be difficult' for the chains to address its concerns.

Analysts warned Coupe's days are numbered as the findings suggested the deal was likely to be blocked.

Sainsbury's shares plunged 18.6 per cent  wiping 1.2billion off its value  in its worst day on the stock market for a decade.

Coupe, 58, branded the findings 'totally outrageous', adding: 'They have fundamentally moved the goalposts, changed the shape of the ball and chosen a different playing field.'

Neil Wilson, analyst at trading platform Markets, said: 'Investors are rightly accepting this deal is dead in the water. Coupe and co put all their eggs in one basket. You have to question what the plan is now and whether management will remain for long.'

Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital, added: 'The deal looks to have suffered a mortal blow. Sainsbury's looks like it has misunderstood the consumer and the CMA.'

The findings are a devastating blow to Coupe, who masterminded the merger with Asda counterpart, Roger Burnley, 52, after two years of secret talks.

But it has been far from plain sailing. On the day the deal was announced last May, Coupe was left red-faced when caught singing We're In The Money between interviews at a TV studio.

Over the Christmas period Sainsbury's was the only Big Four supermarket to post a fall in sales, as they declined by 1.1. per cent.

Speaking yesterday, Coupe insisted Sainsbury's would pursue the deal. 'In the end they are taking money out of customers' pockets,' he said. 'This is totally outrageous.'

The ruling was also a setback for US grocery giant Walmart, which owns Asda and is keen to offload the British supermarket.

Watchdog shows its teeth The intervention is the CMA's first major decision under the leadership of Lord Andrew Tyrie Regulators have finally shown they will stick up for customers with a landmark intervention in the proposed merger of Sainsbury's and Asda, experts say. The 14billion supermarket deal looks set to be scuppered by the demands from the Competition and Markets Authority. It is the CMA's first major test under the leadership of Lord Andrew Tyrie, a former Tory MP who made his name as a scourge of the banks while running the Treasury Select Committee. Scott Corfe, chief economist at the Social Market Foundation, said: 'Our research has shown that reducing competition leads to worse outcomes for consumers, whether that be in the form of higher prices, reduced customer service or more limited choice. 'We welcome the CMA taking a tough line on the proposed merger. Rather than allowing supermarkets to merge themselves out of trouble, by bullying suppliers such as farmers to lower prices, we should be forcing these firms to try harder.' Industry insiders expected the CMA to allow the merger, with conditions. But they were taken aback by how tough the watchdog's demands were. Nelson Jung, a competition partner at lawyer Clifford Chance, said: 'This is a step change in the way the CMA analyses retail mergers that could have far-reaching implications for other retail mergers in the UK.' Citibank's Nick Coulter, said in a note that the decision was unprecedented. And Jonathan Compton, a partner at lawyer DMH Stallard, said: 'The CMA findings were uncharacteristically strong.'

Coupe suggested the UK's impending exit from the EU would make it impossible for Walmart to find a buyer. 'A UK plc with Brexit looming, and a completely unpredictable set of competition rules  who would invest in this country?' he said.

Sainsbury's and Asda insisted the tie-up would lead to lower prices for shoppers. But the CMA disagreed. It identified 629 areas where it believes the merger would risk creating a substantial lessening of competition.

It also believes a deal could mean higher fuel costs at more than 100 locations where the two chains' petrol stations overlap.

This could mean Sainsbury's and Asda are forced to sell as many as 300 stores between them, rendering the deal economically unviable. Sainsbury's and Asda have 2,800 stores between them.

The two supermarkets had planned to make 500million in savings, partly by squeezing large suppliers such as Marmite owner Unilever to get lower prices for customers.

If they merge, they would have a combined market share of 31.2 per cent, according to latest Kantar Worldpanel data, ahead of Tesco, which has 27.7 per cent.

But critics warned a tie-up would hurt smaller suppliers, forcing some to go bust. Scott Corfe, chief economist at think-tank the Social Market Foundation, said: 'Rather than allowing supermarkets to merge themselves out of trouble, by bullying suppliers such as farmers to lower prices, we should be forcing these firms to try harder.

'They should be innovating rather than merging.'

The CMA is set to deliver a final verdict on the tie-up by April 30.

Stuart McIntosh, chair of the independent inquiry group carrying out the CMA's investigation, said: 'These are our provisional findings, and the companies and others now have the opportunity to respond to the analysis.

'It's our responsibility to carry out a thorough assessment of the deal to make sure that the sector remains competitive and shoppers don't lose out.'
The FDA has waged war against e-cigarettes and teen vaping - but US health officials have long overlooked the tobacco product that is getting African American teens hooked: cigarillos.

A single miniature cigar can pack as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, a trait that's been widely cited in the myriad criticisms of e-cigarettes.

Marketing campaigns for popular cigarillo brands like Swisher Sweets are every bit as obviously targeted toward young black men and women as e-cigarettes are toward youth in general.

Sweet flavors are disproportionately popular among the African American population, and the FDA banned flavors other than menthol in cigarettes a decade ago and, last year, promised to look into banning menthol, too.

Still, sales of cigarillos and small flavored cigars increased from 2011 to 2015, and cigarillo use among young black adults has even reached 'epidemic proportions' according to recent research.

But the products have remained quiet killers of black Americans, and overlooked by prevention campaigns and regulations.

Popular cigarillo maker Swisher Sweets Instagram account features attractive young black people smoking its products - not unlike the maligned Juul ad campaigns did with white teens

The sweet cigarillo maker even has an 'Artists' Project, featuring celebrities like Cardi B (pictured) who performed at their event in New Orleans, Louisina in 2017

The smokers featured on the Instagram accounts of Swisher Sweets and Dutch Masters cigars are almost all young, attractive and black.

Most of the posts are not quite as highly produced as the ones you might have seen on Juul's Instagram (before it caved to FDA pressure and deactivated the account), but otherwise the images are quite similar.

Except for one glaring difference: most of the Juul models and posters were white, and the faces on Swisher Sweet's popular account are mostly black.

'It's very similar to why, back in the 60s and 70s, there was a cocaine epidemic affecting African American communities. Nobody did anything. In fact, they said it was our fault,' says president of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN), Delmonte Jefferson.

Instagram posts from cigarillo brands like Swisher Sweets use young, attractive black models and pop culture references, like the Beyonce lyric, 'who run the world?' to attract teens

Even the aesthetics of some cigarillo promotional materials, like this Swisher Sweet Instagram post, resemble the pop-y colors used in Juul ads

Then history repeated itself with the opioid epidemic.

'Now that the opioid epidemic is affecting white people, we're spending billions of dollars on it and all your Congress people, Senators and even your President are talking about it,' says Jefferson.

Tobacco companies carefully choose which populations each of their products will be most successful with and target those groups with their advertising.

Juuls sell for a high price point. The starter kit is $50, and each pack of four e-liquid refills sells for $16, before taxes.

'Because of how expensive they are, they are not products that the African American population is looking at,' says Jefferson.

'If the price came down drastically, we would start seeing more marketing toward African Americans.'

Swish Sweets's photoshoots feature models not only smoking its cigarillos but wearing the company's apparel

Rapper Charles Bryan (pictured) performed at Swisher Sweets's New Orleans event where the company posted warnings about the dangers of tobacco smoke

Artistically shot Instagram posts are likely to appeal to social media-savvy black teens

Cigarillo and mini cigar companies, on the other hand, market heavily to African Americans, especially young people, in urban areas.

Convenience stores and smoke shops in inner-city and predominantly black neighborhoods often carry brands like Dutch Masters and Black and Mild, advertising them with large poster featuring rappers and other celebrities idolized by black youth.

'When someone markets to you, and they do it heavily and effectively - don't forget, these guys are slick and they know their business - that population winds up susceptible to that product,' Jefferson says.

Little cigar and cigarillo makers have also recognized and embraced a cultural trend among black Americans of using their products to roll blunts, which combine tobacco and marijuana.

The potently sweet tobacco and cigar paper help to mask the smell of marijuana.

Combined with marijuana, or on their own, smoking the little cigars is every bit as damaging to lung and oral health as cigarettes or e-cigarettes are, but - just as has been the case with drug epidemics - health officials have not gotten involved as long as the problem has been relatively isolated to African American populations.

'It's the same old story with cigarillos and menthols, African Americans are still smoking them,' Jefferson says.

Just as the FDA has promised to look into banning menthol, but warned it could be up to a decade before they make a definitive ban, Jefferson doubts there will be any meaningful moves from the agency regarding little cigarettes any time soon.

Instead, he and the NAATPN advocate for local governments to ban the sale of menthols, cigars and cigarillos, circumventing health regulations and following the lead of cities like San Francisco, where it's illegal to sell mentholated cigarettes.

'These products need to be banned - cigars, little cigars, cigarillos - they need to be banned just like other products,' Jefferson says.
The cost of an NHS prescription will rise to 9 this year, the Government has announced.

Patients in England will, from April 1, have to pay an extra 20p to collect their medicines from a pharmacy.

Experts have scorned the price hike, which they say goes against the NHS's public plans and could lead to patients skimping on vital medications.

The cost of prescription wigs, bras and spinal supports will also rise, but prepaid certificates will stay the same.

The cost of NHS prescriptions has risen by 20p a year for the past three years and campaigners say it is 'unsustainable', putting patients at risk of not being able to afford their drugs (stock)

The Department of Health and Social Care today announced it would raise the price of a prescription by 20p for the third year in a row.

It said the cost had been added as part of a 2015 plan to make 22billion in savings and provide 10billion investment for the NHS by 2021.

Prescriptions are free for NHS patients in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

But the campaign group Prescription Charges Coalition called the move 'extremely disappointing'.

And the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee added people already find it 'extremely difficult' to stump up for medicines.

Prescription prepayment certificates, which cover unlimited prescriptions for a year, will not change in price at 29.10 for three months or 104 for a year.

Lloyd Tingley, chairman of the Prescription Charges Coalition and senior policy and campaigns adviser at Parkinson's UK, hit back against the announcement.

HOW DID THE NHS CUT DOWN PRESCRIBING LAST YEAR? In May 2018 the NHS stopped offering 'over-the-counter' remedies for routine ailments on prescription, in a bid to save the health service money. Treatments for the following conditions are no longer routinely prescribed: Acute sore throat

Infrequent cold sores of the lip

Conjunctivitis

Coughs and colds and nasal congestion

Cradle Cap (seborrhoeic dermatitis  infants)

Haemorrhoids

Infant colic

Mild cystitis

Mild irritant dermatitis

Dandruff

Diarrhoea (adults)

Dry eyes/sore (tired) eyes

Earwax

Excessive sweating (Hyperhidrosis)

Head lice

Indigestion and heartburn

Infrequent constipation

Infrequent migraine

Insect bites and sting

Mild acne

Mild dry skin

Sunburn

Sun protection

Mild to moderate hay fever/seasonal rhinitis

Minor burns and scalds

Minor conditions associated with pain, discomfort and/fever. (e.g. aches and sprains, headache, period pain, back pain)

Mouth ulcers

Nappy rash

Oral thrush

Prevention of dental caries

Ringworm/athletes foot

Teething/mild toothache

Threadworms

Travel sickness

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'It is extremely disappointing that yet again the Government plans to increase prescription charges,' he said.

'Since 2010, the prescription charge has risen by 26 per cent compared to a rise in average earnings of 16 per cent over the same period.

'Working-age people with long-term conditions simply can't sustain this.

'We already know that one in three people with long-term conditions do not collect all their essential medication due to cost, which inevitably leads to ill-health.'

The price of surgical bras  to be worn after breast surgery  will rise from 28.85 to 29.50, according to MoneySavingExpert.

Abdominal or spinal supports will rise from 43.60 to 44.55, and synthetic wigs will rise from from 71.25 to 72.80,

Human wig prices will rise from 188.70 for a partial wig or 275.95 to 282 for a full hairpiece.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's chief executive, Simon Dukes, told Chemist and Druggist magazine: 'Many people already find it extremely difficult to pay the prescription charge.

'While we recognise the financial pressures that the NHS is under, raising the prescription [charge] runs the risk of those most in need not getting their medicines  adding to the NHS bill elsewhere.'

Prescription Charges Coalition's Lloyd Tingley added: 'The planned price hike is a complete contradiction to the new NHS long-term plan to prevent exactly that.

'While it is positive that the cost of the pre-payment certificate has been frozen, this is still a large upfront cost for individuals and families who the Government should be helping  not punishing  for having a long-term condition.'

Sandra Gidley, chairwoman of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's English Board, said: 'Every day pharmacists are asked by patients who are unable to afford all the items on their prescription which ones they could do without.

'In a civilised society, we should be making sure this doesn't happen. No-one should be faced with a financial barrier to getting the medicines they need.

'Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

'It would be much simpler to have free prescriptions in England too, because then no-one would have to worry about payment decisions affecting their health.'
A Missouri mother-of-three received a double mastectomy after learning she carried a genetic mutation for breast cancer - only to learn the test results were wrong.

Maureen Boesen, 32, of Kansas City, has a family history of breast cancer and learned in 2008 that she carried a mutation that gave her a 70 percent risk of also developing the disease.

She decided to remove both breasts - which would slash her risk by 95 percent - and was planning on removing her uterus and ovaries in 2018 because she was also at risk of getting ovarian cancer.

Before the planned surgery, her insurance provider told her she needed to get a second genetic test to prove she was positive for the mutation.

In a first-person account for HuffPost, Boesen revealed her utter shock when the second test - and a third after that - came back showing that she was actually negative for the mutation.

Maureen Boesen, 32, of Omaha, Nebraska, received genetic testing as part of a study in the 1990s due to her long family history of breast cancer. Pictured: Boesen at a post-mastectomy follow-up appointment at the University of Kansas Cancer Center

Boesen's family history dates all the way back to 1863. At age 21, in 2008, she learned that she was positive for the BRCA1 mutation, which raises breast cancer risk to 70 percent. Pictured: Boesen with her mother, Susan, in 1990

Boesen wrote that her family has a history of hereditary breast cancer that dates all the way back to 1863.

Her mother, Susan Winn, had been diagnosed with stage II breast cancer at age 32 and her grandmother, Elda, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her 40s.

Between five and 10 percent of all breast cancers are believed to be hereditary and are passed down from generation to generation, according to non-profit Breastcancer.org.

The majority of hereditary breast cancers are due to mutations in two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Everybody has these genes, which repair damage to cells and inhibit abnormal cell growth.

The average US women has a 12 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, Breastcancer.org says.

However, women who have one or both BRCA mutations have at least a 70 percent risk of developing breast cancer.

Additionally, around 45 percent of women with the BRCA1 mutation and about 20 percent of women with the BRCA2 mutation will develop ovarian cancer by age 80.

Because of Boesen's long family history, they were part of a study at university in the 1990s that focused on identifying breast cancer-associated genes.

All of the family members also received individual genetic testing. Boesen was only five years old at the time, and decided to learn her results at age 21.

Last year, at age 32, Boesen decided to undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy with a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, surgery to remove the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Pictured: Boesen with her husband and three children

This is because around 45 percent of women with the BRCA1 mutation will develop ovarian cancer by age 80. Pictured: Boesen, right, with her mother and her daughter, Susie, in 2017

'I sat down with the genetic researcher who was highly regarded for his work in the field, and he told me I had tested positive for the BRCA1 mutation,' she wrote.

'Because of my family's history, I wasn't shocked by the result, but I still couldn't help but ask him if there was any chance the test was inaccurate. He assured me it wasn't.'

Boesen decided at 23 she was going to undergo a double prophylactic mastectomy, which is a surgery to remove both breasts.

This is the same procedure Angelina Jolie had after learning she also had the BRCA1 mutation, putting her at risk of ovarian and breast cancer.

Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer in January 2007.

For women with the BRAC1 or BRAC2 mutation, or who have a family history of breast cancer, the surgery can lower the risk of developing breast cancer by 90 to 95 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute,

'I was not going to let my BRCA1 genetic mutation result disrupt my life,' Boesen wrote. 'I got married, had three beautiful children and went on living a very blessed life.

However, because women with the mutation also have a risk of ovarian cancer, Boesen decided to undergo a procedure known as a total abdominal hysterectomy with a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy at age 33.

This is a surgery that removes a woman's uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.

'My grandmother died of ovarian cancer in her 40s when she still had six young children at home. I refused to let this be me,' Boesen wrote.

Boesen wrote that she was first required by her insurance company to meet with a genetic counselor to undergo another test that proved she had the mutation before her surgery would be paid for.

Boesen was required by her insurance company to meet with a genetic counselor to undergo a test that proved she had the mutation before her surgery would be paid for. Pictured: Boesen, right, with her husband

The second genetic test, and three that came after, proved that she actually didn't have the mutation. Boesen said she hopes her story inspires others to be their own advocated. Pictured, left and right: Boesen with her husband

Four weeks later, her genetic counselor called her to discuss the results of tests, which showed she was actually negative for the mutation.

'I sat in my office and cried uncontrollably,' she wrote.

'I wanted to feel grateful to be negative...but I just couldn't get past the fact that my inaccurate test result meant I had been carrying around a devastatingly unnecessary burden for more than a decade.'

Boesen said she was most upset about the fact that she'd had a double masectomy because of a false positive

The mother-of-three first tried to contact a medical malpractice attorney, but he told her the statute of limitations had expired on her case.

Next, she contacted the university, which ran the original study. They had two independent labs confirmed she was negative for the mutation.

Boesen wrote that she now hopes her story will inspire others to be their own advocate and to get a second opinion if they have any doubt about what their doctor is telling them.

'It's so important to trust your doctor, but it's also important to listen to what your intuition is telling you,' she wrote.

'Doctors can be wrong and so can tests. You know your body better than anyone - don't stop seeking answers and opinions until you are satisfied.'
Assisted suicide can lead to 'inhumane' deaths when the drugs don't work quickly enough or cause unpleasant side effects, experts have warned.

The practice is hotly debated but illegal in the UK, but it's legal in some US states, Canada and European countries including the Netherlands and Belgium.

Patients may be given or take a drug or pill to induce unconsciousness and then death.

But, despite the aim for death to be painless and without distress, a review has found this is not always the case.

Patients may have difficulty taking doses, either by swallowing or due to vomiting, and some have awoken from a coma or taken up to a week to die, evidence shows.

International researchers have said there should be more measures to confirm a person is not 'accidentally aware' as they die.

Methods for assisting death can cause inhuman deaths as many patients remain conscious before death, which could take a further 30 hours (stock image)

Doctors in the UK are currently being polled by The Royal College of Physicians on whether they support giving lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients.

Previous research has said up to 4.6 per cent of all deaths are reported as euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide where it is legal.

The review, of which Professor Jaideep Pandit, a consultant anaesthetist at Oxford University Hospitals was a senior author, was reported in the British Medical Journal.

Patients are usually given barbiturates  strong sedatives  which knock them out and eventually cause the lungs and heart to stop.

But the report found complications including difficulty in swallowing the prescribed dose (up to nine per cent) and vomiting in 10 per cent, both of which can prevent proper dosing.

Re-emergence from a coma occurred in two per cent of cases, with a small number of patients even sitting up during the dying process, the authors said.

'This raises a concern that some deaths may be inhumane,' the researchers reported in the journal Anaesthesia.

After oral sedative ingestion, patients usually lose consciousness within five minutes. However, death takes considerably longer.

WHERE IS ASSISTED DYING LEGAL IN EUROPE AND THE US? Assisted dying refers to both voluntary active euthanasia and physician-assisted death. These two types of assisted dying distinguish a difference in the degree of the doctor's involvement. Only three countries in Europe approve of assisted dying as a whole: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The first two even recognize requests from minors under strict circumstances, while Luxembourg excludes them from the legislation. Switzerland, Germany, Finland, and Austria allow physician-assisted death under specific scenarios. Countries such as Spain, Sweden, England, Italy, Hungary, and Norway allow passive euthanasia under strict circumstances. Passive euthanasia is when a patient suffers from an incurable disease and decides not to apply life-prolonging treatments, such as artificial nutrition or hydration. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in seven US states and the District of Columbia. It is an option given to individuals by law in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. It is an option given to individuals in Montana via court decision Sources: Euronews and CNN Advertisement

Death occurs within 90 min in two thirds of cases.

But in a third of cases, death can take up to 30 hours, and some deaths took as many as seven days to occur (four per cent).

The team had expected to find a single technique being used worldwide, but had instead found varying methods, drugs, doses and monitoring across countries.

'We expected that, since a common humane aim is to achieve unconsciousness at the point of death, which then occurs rapidly without pain or distress, there might be a single technique being used.

'However, the considerable [differences] in methods suggests that an optimum method of achieving unconsciousness remains undefined,' the review said.

The findings shake the argument put forward in support of assisted dying that patients pass away with dignity and peace.

'It is striking,' the authors said, 'that the incidence of "failure of unconsciousness" is approximately 190 times higher when it is intended that the patient is unconscious at the time of death, as when it is intended they later awaken and recover after surgery', which occurs approximately one in every 19,000.

The researchers have suggested better ways to achieve unconsciousness are investigated.

For example, the use of continuous infusion of an anaesthetic agent and electronic monitoring in the brain.

The report said: 'Any decision by society to sanction assisted dying should go hand in hand with defining the method or methods to be used. Otherwise, there is a risk that vulnerable citizens may be killed by suboptimal, or even cruel, means.

'It should also define by what means unconsciousness should be induced to facilitate a humane death, and which assistants or practitioners should be involved.'

The study suggested that if an optimum method is discovered, it should also be applied to capital punishment used in the US.

Although assisted dying is illegal in the UK, that could soon change.

The Royal College of Physicians is polling doctors this month on whether the law on assisted dying should change, meaning the respected institution may drop the official opposition it has held for five years.

The BMJ revealed last year that 55 per cent of doctors were supportive of it, as well as the 'great majority' of the British public.

The journal, one of the oldest and most influential in the UK, claims there is good evidence the practice works well.

Support for an assisted dying law among the public remains consistently high at around 80 per cent, as confirmed by the British Social Attitudes survey in 2017.
TCN News

Atrocities against Christians seem to rising this year with 29 incidents of atrocities being committed against Christians in 13 states of India in the month of January 2019 by the Hindutva mobs.

The details of the incidents as shared by ADF ( Alliance defending freedom) to TwoCircles.net are:

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9 incidents have been reported in Uttar Pradesh alone in which the pattern of attacks have been the same wherein a mob accompanied by the police arrive at the prayer service, shout slogans and beat up the congregations including women and children. The pastors are then arrested or detained by the police under the false allegation of conversions.

In Kondagaon village in Chattisgarh the mob barged into a prayer meeting and disturbed the prayer service tearing the bibles and damaging other materials at the same beating up the Christians gathered for the prayer meet.

A similar incident took place in a church in Mumbai where the pastor was brutally assaulted by around 20 extremists.

In Chikmangalore the Hindutva extremists set afire to a church that was under construction and also set fire to a car parked there and the pastor who was sleeping outside to keep a watch suffered burn injuries.

In Pratapgarh, a mob of around 200 Hindutva extremists disturbed prayer service of 30 members beating up the men and locking up the women in a room while in Rajasthan the mob there threw stones at the houses of the Christians shouting anti-Christian slogans.

A Christian lady in Goa was not allowed to decorate her house with the star and forced to remove the same.

The pastors in Ghazipur and Shahajahanpur are being stopped from conducting prayers in the church frequently by the mobs who bring the police along with them under the false complaint of religious conversions taking place.

In some places in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Christians were forcefully dragged to Hindu Temples and ashes were smeared on their forehead and they were made to worship Hindu Gods by the mob.

In all of these 29 attacks the victims have reported to the UCF( United Christian Forum for Human Rights) Helpline No. 1800-208-4545 at the same time complained to the police.

But not one FIR has been registered in these incidents. In their press release the directors of ADF say that the perpetrators seem to be enjoying the patronage of political leaders of officials which is why till date no FIR has been registered.

Tehmina Arora, Director of ADF India said: It is worrying to see these horrendous acts of mobocracy still continuing even after slew of directions to the government from the Supreme Court Bench led by the then CJI Dipak Misra. It is high time special laws are enacted to instil a sense of fear for law amongst those who involve themselves in mob violence

There are 26 women and 25 children who have been injured in these 29 incidents. The ADF calls upon all religious and political leaders, Human Rights activists and the civil society to condemn these atrocious acts and demand for justice.
Anti-vaxxer parents in Nebraska are being urged to keep their children home from a daycare after an employee was hospitalized with a rare infection.

Pre-K & Play Academy, in Omaha, sent the letter home saying one of the staff members had contracted a 'very rapid-moving infection', reported 6 News.

Initially, she was diagnosed with epiglottitis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the tissue protecting the windpipe becomes inflamed.

The name of the infection was even posted on the door, but the Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) says she is actually sick with another illness.

A letter sent home to parents stated the ill teacher had been immunized against Haemophilus influenza type b, better known as Hib, a bacterium known to cause epiglottitis.

Parents with unvaccinated children are advised to keep them home after a teacher at Pre-K & Play Academy, in Omaha, Nebraska (pictured), was hospitalized with a rare infection

According to a letter sent to parents, obtained by 6 News, the daycare said that '[the worker] is currently in the hospital under sedation and has been intubated.'

Phil Rooney, a spokesman for the DCHD, told DailyMail.com that the department cannot reveal for privacy reasons the illness that she does have but that it is 'not a public health concern'.

'The children are not in any danger; we're not worried about that,' he said.

Jami Flynn, the owner of Pre-K & Play Academy, said that although it turned out that the teacher didn't have epiglottitis, she wanted to make sure she was being honest with parents.

'Err on the side of caution,' she told 6 News. 'Make sure - especially when you're dealing with little kids - that you're doing everything you can to keep them safe. That's the most important thing.'

Staff members had originally considered closing the daycare to thoroughly disinfect the building, but opted not to.

'[A]fter careful consideration, we have decided this would cause a tremendous hardship on our families and are not going to do so,' the letter read.

The staffer is expected to recover, but county health officials would not say what might have caused the teacher to be hospitalized.

'We will be taking time today and over the next few days to deep clean as much as we can while still caring for the children,' the letter continued.

'Every surface will be disinfected and run through a washing machine or sanitizer when possible.'

According to the letter, the sick teacher had been vaccinated against Hib disease, which is known to cause epiglottitis.

Families with unvaccinated children were told to keep their children home or to arrange for temporary care until the threat of infection has passed.

Around 20,000 US children under age five were infected with Hib disease each year before the vaccine became available in the 1980s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency added that cases of Hib disease since then have plummeted by more than 99 percent.

The news comes as three bills hope to limit the number of vaccine exemptions after a measles outbreak has sickened more than 60 in the Pacific Northwest.

Two of the bills are currently being presented in Washington state's Congress, reported KGW 8.

One would would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and the other would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for all vaccines required for school.

A third, stricter bill has been presented in Oregon's Congress. This bill would ban all non-medical exemptions for vaccine, including religious reasons.
A woman who was nearly sectioned because of her hallucinations actually had a rare condition which caused her immune system to attack her brain.

Lucy Evans started having delusions in June 2017, which caused her to leave more than 25 messages on her then-boyfriend's phone saying they had to break up because she is a monkey and needs to go back to the zoo.

Medics threatened to admit her to a psychiatric hospital for her own good when she began running down main roads and barging into neighbours' homes.

Six weeks later, the now 20-year-old was finally diagnosed with the brain inflammation condition encephalitis and treated at Morriston Hospital in Cwmrhydyceirw, Swansea.

Two years on, she still battles extreme fatigue which often leaves her in bed all day and means she struggles to walk.

Lucy Evans was nearly sectioned over her hallucinations until doctors discovered a rare condition was causing her immune system to attack her brain. Pictured left, shortly after being diagnosed with encephalitis, Ms Evans would even run down main roads. Steroid treatment caused her to gain 5st (32kg). She is pictured right yesterday with her new boyfriend

Encephalitis affects up to 6,000 people every year in the UK and potentially hundreds of thousands worldwide, according to Encephalitis Society statistics.

It is defined as inflammation of the brain, which can be caused by an infection invading the vital organ or a person's immune system mistakenly attacking it.

Speaking of her hallucinations on BBC's flagship Victoria Derbyshire show, Ms Evans said: 'I used to put a French plait in my hair and I thought I was a dinosaur, and it was like a dinosaur tail.

'I thought I was a monkey so my relationship [with my then-boyfriend] needed to be over because I was going back to the zoo.'

Although back at home, Ms Evans expressed her frustration at how 'everyone assumes she's fine', when she still suffers the effects of encephalitis every day.

She also blames the delay in her diagnosis for the treatment side effects she experienced.

Due to Ms Evans' condition only being spotted once severe, multiple therapies failed to help, with her eventually being given the 'toxic' chemotherapy-drug rituximab, which caused her to lose her hair.

WHAT IS ENCEPHALITIS? Encephalitis is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed (swollen). It can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment in hospital. Anyone can be affected, but the very young and very old are most at risk. Encephalitis sometimes starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache, but these don't always occur. More serious symptoms develop over hours, days or weeks, including: confusion or disorientation, seizures (fits), changes in personality and behaviour or loss of consciousness. Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these more serious symptoms. It's not always clear what causes encephalitis, but it can be caused by viral infections. Several common viruses can spread to the brain and cause encephalitis in rare cases, including the herpes simplex virus (which causes cold sores and genital herpes) and the chickenpox virus. Source: NHS Advertisement

She also put on 5st (70lbs) after being prescribed steroids to dampen down her immune system.

Writing on her JustGiving page, Ms Evans claims her medication left her 'unbalanced' and in a 'horrible place', with her even attempting to 'take her own life'.

She claims her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years left her while she endured treatment, with many friends also going their separate ways because it was 'too much to deal with'.

After pulling through, Ms Evans and her mother - who became her carer - asked for 800 in donations so they could move house for a 'fresh start and new chapter'.

Speaking on the show, Dr Ava Easton - chief executive of The Encephalitis Society - explained infectious encephalitis can come from something as simple as flu or a cold sore.

'These people become ill quickly and it is an acute medical emergency,' she said.

But symptoms of the autoimmune condition typically creep up, leaving patients undiagnosed for months or even years.

Dr Easton added she works with patients who have 'gone down psychiatric pathways' and were only properly diagnosed when they developed other symptoms like seizures.

Ahead of World Encephalitis Day 2019 on February 22, The Encephalitis Society is urging doctors to look out for signs of the condition.

The main thing that separates an encephalitis patient from someone with a psychiatric condition, is the latter generally has one disorder, while the former has multiple, complex symptoms, Dr Easton said.
More than half of children under the age of four didn't see an NHS dentist last year, figures show.

Parents are advised to make sure young children are seen as soon as their first teeth appear.

Following that, health regulators say parents should schedule another check-up by the age of one, and then follow-ups at least every 12 months.

If not, the risks associated could not only be damning for a child's baby teeth, but have long-term consequences later in life, experts said.

Six in ten children aged between one and four didn't see an NHS dentist last year, analysis of NHS Digital data showed

NHS Digital data, analysed by the Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) at the Royal College of Surgeons, found that 57.7 per cent of under four-year-olds did not see the dentist in 2018.

Overall, 41.4 per cent of children, up to the age of 17, did not attend an NHS dentist appointment last year.

Some 32.7 per cent of five to nine-year-olds didn't, and 27.6 per cent of ten to fourteen-year-olds didn't.

The findings echo previous research that too many children are at risk of needing dental work at a young age because their parents haven't taken them to the dentist soon enough.

Professor Michael Escudier, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons said: 'It's disappointing that nearly six in 10 one to four-year-olds did not see an NHS dentist last year.

'Children who experience early childhood tooth decay are much more likely to develop subsequent problems, including an increased risk of further decay in both their baby and permanent teeth.

RISING NUMBER OF BRITISH CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL WITH ROTTEN TEETH Growing numbers of children with tooth decay are being admitted to hospital, damning figures show. More than 26,000 children aged five to nine were taken to hospital in the past year because of rotten teeth, NHS figures in September revealed. The number has risen for the second year in a row and is more than double the amount of children who needed treatment for tonsillitis. Experts say the figures are 'disgraceful' and have blamed the UK's sugar obsession for ruining children's teeth as well as fuelling rising levels of childhood obesity. There were a total of 26,111 hospital admissions for tooth decay among five to nine-year-olds in 2017/18, data shows, up from 25,923 in 2016/17 and 25,875 in 2015/16. This compares to just 12,143 admissions for acute tonsillitis. However, the number of admissions for tooth decay is still lower than 2014/15, when there were 26,708. And the number of hospital admissions for tooth decay among babies to 19-year-olds has decreased overall from 45,224 to 44,047 in the same period. The figures even included two children under the age of one. Advertisement

'This is partly because extensive damage to the baby teeth can cause abscesses that harm the permanent teeth developing inside the gums.

'It's so important that a child's first interactions with the dentist are for simple check-ups rather than more serious treatment.

'Just getting a child into the habit of opening their mouth for a dentist to look at their teeth is useful practice for the future.'

Introducing a child to going to the dentist regularly as normal behaviour is important as well as the health side of the appointment, experts said.

'If children only visit the dentist for the first time once they have a problem, the experience can cause fear and lead to poor dental attendance throughout their lives,' Professor Escudier added.

'Therefore, FDS strongly advises that children have their first check-up before they turn one.

'We are calling for supervised tooth brushing sessions to be introduced in nurseries and primary schools across England, as similar initiatives have already been successful in improving children's oral health in Scotland and Wales.'

Englands Starting Well programme is a 'poor relation' in comparison to schemes in Scotland and Wales, Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association, has said.

He said: 'We are particularly concerned about the persistent and unacceptable inequalities, whereby children from deprived backgrounds are more likely to suffer from tooth decay than their peers.

'Deep inequalities are persisting, and we need everyone to play their part.

'We shouldnt accept that a child born in Pendle will enter primary school with twenty times the levels of decay as one born in Surrey.'

The BDA have concern that parents are unaware NHS dentistry is free for children up to the age of 18, and some may be worrying about the cost.

Mr Armstrong said: 'The BDA is concerned that more children are not accessing their free NHS check-ups.

'As it stands almost five million children in England have not been to an NHS dentist in the past year.'

In 2016/17, dentists removed rotting teeth in nearly 43,000 operations, the BDA said, but nearly all of these could have been avoided.

Furthermore, the number of children being admitted to hospital with tooth decay has risen in the past couple of years, according to figures from September.

Experts have blamed the UK's sugar obsession for ruining children's teeth as well as fuelling rising levels of childhood obesity.

Dr Nigel Carter OBE, Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation, said: 'Sadly, the number of children visiting a dentist mirrors that of adult statistics. Generally speaking, it means that if a parent is not going to the dentist, neither is their child.'




A teenager has had her 'elf ears'  overgrown scars caused by her piercings  sliced off by Dr Pimple Popper.

Taylore, from Memphis, Tennessee, had watched two lumps on the tips of her ears swell out of control after having her cartilage pierced.

The smallest of cuts or trauma to the skin can lead to an overgrowth of scar tissue - called keloids - in people with keloid-prone skin.

Dr Pimple Popper, real name Dr Sandra Lee, said removing the keloids was a risky procedure because it could lead to the scar growing even more.

But 17-year-old Taylore dreams of pursuing a modelling career and her ears, which sometimes bled and became sore from scratching, were holding her back.

Taylore, from Memphis, Tennessee, had watched two lumps on the tips of her ears swell out of control after having her cartilage pierced, leaving her with 'elf ears'

The lumps are known as keloids, which is when trauma to the skin can lead to an overgrowth of scar tissue. They occur in people with keloid prone skin

Taylore's confidence as she watched the lumps grow over two years

Taylore, who is 17 years old, visited Dr Sandra Lee (left), also known as Dr Pimple Popper, to have her keloiods removed

Taylore said: 'When they first started growing I was about 15. I had both of my cartilage pierced in seventh grade.

'Two years later I went to summer camp and I was required to take the piercings out. A few months later they just started to grow.

'They look like elf ears.'

As a young woman, Taylore admits that learning to live with her keloids has been difficult to cope with.

'I've just started college and hiding my ears from people is really rough. I try not to focus a lot on my ears but they itch all the time.

'Sometimes they itch so bad that I scratch them until they're red, like they're burning.

'There have been many times when I've been on the verge of tears and crying.'

Taylore has hopes of becoming a model and fears that her ears will hold her back from pursuing that dream.

She said: 'I've always had the dream to model, but I struggle with my looks the most. People may tell me that I'm pretty but I don't feel pretty.

'I get emotional sometimes when I think about what life would have been like without the piercings.'

Taylore said she dreamed of being a model, but she feared her chances were at risk because of her misshapen ears. She said she hid them at college, and said she didn't feel pretty

Dr Lee is shown talking to Taylore in a consultation in the TLC show's latest episode

WHAT ARE SCARS AND KELOIDS? A scar is testimony to the incredible power of our bodies to heal. As soon as a wound occurs, our skin tries to close it as quickly as possible, to prevent infection. The body gets to work rebuilding tissue by sending out fibroblasts, cells that make collagen, which is the support structure of the skin. However, in this race to repair itself and replenish tissue, new cells arent always laid out in the neat pattern that makes up the rest of the skin  resulting in a visible scar If the fibroblasts make too much collagen, this leads to a raised scar. These fall into two common types: keloid scars, which are red, thick and bumpy and spread beyond the original wound; and hypertrophic scars, which are also raised and red, but more contained, and often follow surgery. We dont know what causes keloid scars to form, and anyone can get them after any type of wound, but they are more common on the upper chest and shoulders and in people with darker skin. A third common scar type is atrophic. These pitted scars are caused by skin damage as a result of inflammation, typically following chickenpox or acne. Here, not enough collagen is produced during rapid healing, creating a divot. Advertisement

Taylore goes to see Dr Sandra Lee, who sees people with all sorts of skin ailments and found fame from popping spots on social media.

In the TLC episode, Dr Lee told Taylore that her keloids were cute during consultation.

She said: 'Keloids are not normally really cute, but Taylore has the cutest keloids I've ever seen. But keloids are uncomfortable and I think I can remove these for her.'

Keloids essentially raised scars that grow much larger than normal scar tissue.

When the skin is broken by a cut or graze, the body produces more of a protein called collagen, which gathers around damaged skin and builds up to help the wound seal over.

The resulting scar usually fades over time, becoming smoother and less noticeable. But some scars don't stop growing, invading healthy skin and becoming bigger than the original wound.

Taylore said her father was also prone to keloids, and would get one even with a small cut.

Dr Lee said: 'They aren't directly hereditary... It's more that it happens in certain races, and African Americans have more of a preposition to develop keloids.'

The procedure ran a risk, Dr Lee said, because it could further aggravate the skin.

Dr Lee said the procedure was a gamble because it could lead to more complications

The doctor sliced away at the keloids on Taylore's numb ears

'Any time you cut it off or try and do anything, you're creating more trauma. It's a gamble. It's potentially very likely it will come back bigger.'

But Taylore is taken straight into the operating theatre where her ears are numbed.

Dr Lee skilfully slices the keloids away, and finds it amusing that Taylore seemed more concerned with her makeup during the procedure, asking her mother to blot her weeping eyes with a tissue.

Dr Lee began documenting her procedures on social media, and soon gained popularity as millions of viewers found satisfaction in the popping.

This series, on TLC, has shown some of the most extreme cases, with Dr Lee also treating Ken from Mississippi, who has been suffering for years with cysts all over his body, known as steatocystomas.

Dr Lee works at cutting, bursting and popping Ken's cysts  but the colour and smell of the cysts' contents comes as a surprise.

'You got all colours of the rainbow [sic]' Dr Lee said when popping the cysts and releasing a gush of disgusting pus.

But, as Dr Lee said: 'I would say a smaller percentage of them [cysts] have a smell then do not.

'But a cyst is going to have a smell if it is infected or inflamed because that's when bacteria is involved, and they smell like old toe jam, like skin that is just wet that has been sitting around for a long time.'

Dr Pimple Popper airs tonight at 9pm exclusively on TLC.
A computer analyst's short-term memory was completely wiped by a rare brain infection.

Clair Bennett, 29, of Swanley, Kent, suddenly developed 'violent headaches' and fevers in January 2015.

Things took a turn for the worse when Ms Bennett became so disorientated she was convinced she was in the US.

After being rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south east London, Ms Bennett was diagnosed with the rare brain condition encephalitis, which doctors suspect was caused by a virus.

Following a two-week stay, Ms Bennett was discharged, only to be admitted three days later to Dartford's Darent Valley Hospital in Kent when her symptoms reappeared.

After a two-month stint in hospital, Ms Bennett is home but unable to remember anything beyond the past few minutes.

And with doctors warning her short-term memory will never return, she even has to remind herself to shower and eat.

Clair Bennett's short-term memory was wiped in January 2015 after she developed the brain-inflammation condition encephalitis as a result of a viral infection. She is pictured with her grandfather Eric during Christmas 2014 in the last picture taken before she became unwell

Ms Bennett was rushed to hospital when she developed 'violent headaches' and became feverish. Things took a turn for the worse when she became so disorientated she was convinced she was in the US. Her first hospital stint lasted two weeks but it was not her last

With doctors warning her short-term memory will unlikely ever improve, Ms Bennett is forced to jot every tiny part of her day down, including showering, ringing her nan and even eating

Ms Bennett - who cannot remember the six months before she became unwell - had been looking forward to a solo holiday to Australia.

But amid the excitement of her upcoming travels, she began to feel unwell.

Told by her doctor it was likely just flu and she should rest, things took a dramatic turn for the worse on January 12.

Ms Bennett's father Mark, 60 - who is now her full-time carer - said: 'Clair's work had phoned her flatmate to say she hadn't come in, asking if she was okay.

'When she went to check on her, Clair was really disorientated, asking if she was in America.

'She phoned me to let me know what was going on, but I wasn't sure why any of this was happening, or what to think of it, which I feel guilty about now.'

By the time Mark and his wife Penny arrived, doctors had already diagnosed their daughter.

'They told my wife Penny and I to go home and get some rest, as she'd be in intensive care overnight,' he said.

'The next morning, we came back and she was awake, but very disorientated.

'She kept asking if we had missed Christmas and then, when I asked if she knew who we were, she said no.

'As a dad, that still makes me emotional  for your own daughter not to recognise you.'

Ms Bennett is pictured being shown notes by her father and now full-time carer Mark

Pictured on holiday in the December after she became unwell, Ms Bennett refuses to let her poor memory hold her back and insists she 'still gets a lot out of life'

After a two-week stint in hospital, Ms Bennett was discharged but her memory has never been the same.

While she is able to recall things that happened before she became unwell, her short-term memory was initially virtually non-existent.

WHAT IS ENCEPHALITIS? Encephalitis is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed (swollen). It can be life-threatening and requires urgent treatment in hospital. Anyone can be affected, but the very young and very old are most at risk. Encephalitis sometimes starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache, but these don't always occur. More serious symptoms develop over hours, days or weeks, including: confusion or disorientation, seizures (fits), changes in personality and behaviour or loss of consciousness. Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these more serious symptoms. It's not always clear what causes encephalitis, but it can be caused by viral infections. Several common viruses can spread to the brain and cause encephalitis in rare cases, including the herpes simplex virus (which causes cold sores and genital herpes) and the chickenpox virus. Source: NHS Advertisement

'Thankfully, she'd got back who we were and could remember things like where she grew up and who her old friends were,' Mark said.

'But she couldn't hold on to short-term memories.

'Friends would come round and visit and she'd soon forget she'd even seen them.'

Hoping they could put the ordeal behind them and move forward, Ms Bennett's family were dealt another blow when she was struck by encephalitis again just three days after leaving hospital.

'She came downstairs one morning and seemed really wobbly, as if she could fall over at any second,' Mark said.

'The only thing I could think to do was what I'd seen on TV, where police test drunk drivers, getting them to count back from 20.

'She tried, but couldn't do it.'

Mark phoned 111 - the NHS non-emergency number - who sent out a paramedic.

Ms Bennett was rushed to hospital, where her diagnosis was confirmed.

This time the computer analyst stayed in hospital for two months and one week, by which time her short-term memory was even worse.

Mark recalls an instance in August 2015 when, on the way to the ferry port for a family holiday, Ms Bennett asked 48 times in a 90-minute journey if he had her passport.

Ms Bennett is pictured playing cards with her mother Penny in Dartford's Darent Valley Hospital in Kent. She was rushed there just three days after being discharged from the Queen Elizabeth when her symptoms returned. Following a re-diagnosis, she stayed for two months

Pictured with her parents, Ms Bennett 'looks for the positives' and tries to stay busy

Following several ECG scans, doctors have confirmed Ms Bennett is unlikely to ever see any significant improvement to her memory.

On the advice of an occupational therapist, she keeps a daily diary, where she records everything she has done that day, as well as reminders to do basic things like wash and eat.

'She needs to be able to physically tick things off to remind her she's done them, or she'll have no idea,' Mark said.

'For example, she still loves cooking, but she has to follow recipes with a tick list, otherwise she'll forget she has already finished a step and start peeling a load of potatoes or prepping veg again.

'She can very easily get disorientated in new places, too.'

A tight schedule is also important for Ms Bennett, who goes to the gym on Mondays, see her grandparents on Tuesdays and exercises again on Wednesdays, followed by art or piano lessons.

Ms Bennett often even surprises herself by how good a pianist she is, with her forgetting each time.

'She'd been learning before the illness but doesn't remember,' Mark said. 'Her teacher was actually Tokio Myers, who went on to win Britain's Got Talent.'

On Thursdays, Ms Bennett volunteers in a charity shop, before spending Fridays with the brain-injury charity Headway.

Ms Bennett and her father are speaking out to raise awareness of the condition ahead of World Encephalitis Day 2019 on February 22.

And despite all she has faced, Ms Bennett is determined to stay upbeat.

'I am thankful I don't remember any of being ill,' she said.

'Even if my short-term memory does come back, I will still keep my diary.

'I wouldn't be without it. I can look back on any given day of my life for the past four years, and know exactly what I did  even if I can't remember it.

'I always look for the positives and even though I can't make new memories, I know I'm still getting a lot out of life now.'

Mark added: 'Clair is so positive and always smiling, but she couldn't dwell on the negatives even if she wanted to, as she forgets them.

'As a family, we do all consider ourselves lucky when you see how encephalitis impacts some people, but her short-term memory has been hugely affected.'

Find more information on World Encephalitis Day here.

Ms Bennett is pictured in hospital with her father shortly after celebrating her 25th birthday

Ms Bennett has piano lessons every Wednesday - and always forgets how talented she is
The founders of two iconic snacks have teamed up to bring Australians the ultimate summer combination for free.

Slurpee has partnered with the much-loved lollipop brand, Chupa Chups, to release two classic lollipop Slurpee flavours.

They have made Slurpees using the iconic strawberries and cream flavour and the watermelon variety - and you can get your hands on them for free this week.

7-Eleven's Slurpees and Chupa Chups have released two frozen drinks using the lollipop's flavours

The Slurpees will available for free between 12pm and 4pm on February 23, 2019.

They can be found in Sydney 7-Eleven on 815 George Street, as well as in 7-Elevens in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.

Head to 600 Collins Street in Melbourne, or 231 George Street in Brisbane and 611 Hay Street in Perth to get your hands on the summery snack.

The slurpees will available for free between 12pm and 4pm on February 23, 2019

Where can the slurpees be bought from? Sydney - 7-Eleven, 815 George Street Melbourne - 7-Eleven, 600 Collins Street Brisbane - 7-Eleven, 231 George Street Perth - 7-Eleven, 611 Hay Street Advertisement

'Be one of the lucky few to get a free taste of the deliciously nostalgic mix of tangy strawberries and velvety cream or the juicy and fresh watermelon taste of summer in Slurpee form,' the partnership's press release reads.

'You won't want to miss out on what will be one of 2019's most iconic (albeit short-lived) partnerships.'

Social media users have shared their enthusiasm over the pairing.

One said: 'This with popcorn please and thank you.'

While another said to their friend: 'My favourite lollipop flavour in a Slurpee - we have to go!'.
Less than two weeks after Josiah Duggar and his new wife Lauren revealed that she suffered a miscarriage last fall, Josiah's sister Jessa Duggar Seewald has revealed that she and Lauren had shared the same due date.

Jessa, 26, is currently 25 weeks pregnant with her third child with husband Ben Seewald, and she discussed the milestone on Instagram today with a heartfelt message about not taking her blessing for granted.

In a lengthy post, she said that while they're feeling joyful over the upcoming addition to their family, they also feel grief that Josiah and Lauren won't get to meet theirs.

Sad: Jessa Duggar Seewald, 26, shared a picture of her baby bump today and revealed that she and her sister-in-law Lauren had shared the same due date before Lauren's miscarriage

Bittersweet: Writing while 25 weeks along, Jessa said that her 'heart aches' for her brother Josiah and sister-in-law Lauren

'I weep when I think of how difficult it must be for her to see me pregnant in the very stages where she wouldve been  right up through the babys due date,' she wrote

'If youve lost a child, know this  YOU ARE A MAMA, and you will never cease to think about and cherish the life you carried,' she wrote

Jessa posted a mirror selfie on February 21 that showed off her growing bump.

'Pregnancy  such a precious gift, and definitely not something I take for granted,' she wrote.

'As we look forward to meeting our baby, were also feeling an exceptional amount of grief over my brother Josiah and sister-in-law Laurens loss of their baby.

'Lauren and I shared the exact same due date,' she revealed. 'We have cried so many tears, both together and apart. My heart aches for them.

'I weep when I think of how difficult it must be for her to see me pregnant in the very stages where she wouldve been  right up through the babys due date.

'And yet, even in a flood of emotions, there are perplexities of the human heart that may cause us to want to clam up or remain silent through such a trial. Because of this, many people feel like theyre walking this road alone.

'It is true that speaking for the sake of filling silence is not needful and is often hurtful. Ive watched Lauren converse with people who have been unknowingly insensitive, and I am amazed by her graciousness.

Another! This will be the third child for Jessa and her husband Ben, who already have three-year-old Spurgeon and two-year-old Henry

Waiting... She shared the news on Facebook once she hit her second trimester and offered up this sonogram

Keeping busy: Meanwhile, Jessa said, Lauren has still offered to help Jessa with her kids

'Ive heard some try to give reasons or explanations, not realizing that their unsolicited opinions might be very painful, like salt to a wound. One might never know the tears you cry at night as a result of their words flowing back through your head.

'Often times, "I love you and Im praying for you along with a hug are quite sufficient.

'We do not need to fill every silence with words. But at the same time, conversations of lost dreams should never feel suppressed. Silence can stifle healing, but a carefully chosen word may work to help bring life and healing to the soul.

'We must all reinforce the fact that emotions over a life lost are not something to be resisted. Theyre not wrong, and you should never think that for a moment.

'If youve lost a child, know this  YOU ARE A MAMA, and you will never cease to think about and cherish the life you carried,' she wrote.

She continued the caption in a series of screenshots, having seemingly hit Instagram's word limit.

Emotions: In October, around the time of Lauren's miscarriage, the couple posted this picture  and attributed the tears to a movie about a movie about an abortion provider who was convicted of murdering infants

Watch for more: The couple married in June of 2018, and their pregnancy and miscarriage will play out on the current season of Counting On

'No matter how hard or difficult the journey, please don't feel guilt over this,' she went on. 'You'll never stop wondering all of the details, from what the baby would look like, hair color, eye color, personality, etc.

'It's only natural. Your tender heart just goes to show what a loving, caring person you are  that you care so deeply for one you were only grace [with] for such a short time.

'My heart aches for you as topics of babies or pregnancy arise in conversation. It is likely you were already well acquainted with the first trimester symptoms of nausea, food aversions and fatigue, and you would've give anything to have had the opportunity to labor and deliver your baby, no matter how long or painful the process.'

Jessa herself knows what it's like to go through a particularly treacherous labor. The first time she gave birth, to baby Spurgeon, she underwent 27 hours of labor  with no epidural.

Though it was a home birth, she bled so much after that her mother called 911. At the hospital, Jessa was given an emergency blood transfusion.

Her post today continued: 'When complaining or grumblings ... are verbalized over colicky babies or sleep that's been broken up for night feedings  Oh, what you wouldn't give to be in their shoes!'

Flashback: Jessa is likely hoping for a smooth delivery this time around. The first time she gave birth, to baby Spurgeon, she underwent 27 hours of labor  with no epidural

Ouch! For the most part, the Duggar girls choose to give birth at home with the assistance of midwives  which Jessa did, until it was necessary to seek medical help

Medical needs: Shortly after delivering Sprugeon, she was bleeding so much that her mother called 911. At the hospital, Jessa was given an emergency transfusion

'We do continue to pray that God will bless you with a baby to hold in your arms, but this is not to insinuate that having another will remove the grief over one that's been lost. That life can never be replaced and will forever hold a special place in your heart.'

Here, she addressed her sister-in-law: 'Lauren, you're such a positive, life-giving soul, even in walking through a great hardship and suffering so much loss.

'I don't know how you can grieve through such a trial, and at the same time be so thoughtful to say, "Jess, if you ever feel too sick or tired and need some help do not hesitate to text or call. I would be more than happy to make a meal, watch the boys, etc."

'That is God's grace, and it radiates from your life. We love you both so much, and pray that God would continue to comfort your hearts.'

Jessa, who married her husband on June 21, 2014 when she was 21 and he was 19, already has two children: three-year-old Spurgeon and two-year-old Henry.

She still has 16 to go to catch up with her parents, who have 19 children total, including multiple sets of twins.

Timing: Josiah and Lauren revealed that they suffered a miscarriage shortly ahead of the premiere of the new season of Counting On

'Lauren and I were actually preparing for a trip to go to a friend's wedding. She started feeling really sick and started noticing some different things,' Josiah said

'I was thinking maybe I had something that had gluten in it,' Lauren recalled. 'It was late at night and I went to use the restroom and there was the baby. Gone'

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Lauren, meanwhile, had been only a few weeks along with her first child when she suffered a miscarriage.

Lauren, 19, and Josiah, 21, married on June 30, 2018 and learned they were expecting a few months later. In October, early in her first trimester, she had a miscarriage.

The couple had already shared their news with the entire family before they lost the baby  two events that will be covered in the new season of TLC's Counting On.

Yet they'd kept their pregnancy and miscarriage a secret from the public for months, only announcing it upon the premiere of the new season of their show last week.

'Lauren and I were actually preparing for a trip to go to a friend's wedding,' Josiah said in a video in which they discussed the loss. 'She started feeling really sick and started noticing some different things.

'Mrs. Swanson was there, so she was able to help her out I didn't know exactly what was going on,' he went on.

Said Josiah: 'It really was a hard time for our family... and all the dreams of getting to see our little one and hold it in our hands dashed before our eyes

Dashed: A clip from an upcoming episode shows the couple telling the rest of the Duggars that they are expecting

'I wasn't feeling well,' Lauren said. 'I was cramping really, really bad, which was quite strange because I normally don't.

'I was thinking maybe I had something that had gluten in it,' the teenager went on before tearing up. 'It was late at night and I went to use the restroom and there was the baby. Gone.

'I couldn't believe it and I was hoping it wasn't true.'

In a video statement to Us Weekly, the couple stood together outside arm-in-arm and reflected on their sad news.

'A couple months ago, we found out that we were expecting, but suddenly thereafter, we lost our baby,' Lauren said.

'It really was a hard time for our family going through this right after we got married,' Josiah piped in. 'And all the dreams of getting to see our little one and hold it in our hands dashed before our eyes.'

'Nobody really talks about it,' Lauren said. 'We just wanted to let y'all know that you're not alone.'

Lots of babies: Jinger, 25, has a six-month-old daughter named Felicity with her husband Jeremy Vuolo

No longer on the show: Jill, who married Derick Dillard in June of 2014, has two sons, three-year-old Israel and one-year-old Samuel

Babies everywhere: Joy Anna and her husband Austin have a son, Gideon

Babies: Joseph and Kendra also have one son who was born last year

So far, quite a few of the adult Duggar children have had kids of their own.

Jill, who married Derick Dillard in June of 2014, has two sons, three-year-old Israel and one-year-old Samuel.

Jinger, 25, has a six-month-old daughter named Felicity with her husband Jeremy Vuolo, while 21-year-old Joy Anna has an eleven-month-old son named Gideon with her husband Austin Forsyth.

Their brother Joe, 24, also has a son named Garrett with his 20-year-old wife Kendra, while newlyweds John David, 28, and Abbie, 26, have yet to announce a pregnancy.

Eldest brother Josh, 30, who is married to Anna, has five children.

Josiah and Lauren are the first to go public with miscarriage news, though Josiah's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, have been open about their own experiences.

Charmer: Josh has five kids with wife Anna, the last of whom was born after Josh's back-to-back sex scandals of molestation and adultery

They do: Newlyweds John David, 28, and Abbie, 26, have yet to announce a pregnancy

Who needs the pill? Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have 19 children and have spoken out about not using birth control and leaving reproduction in God's hands after their own miscarriage

In fact, it was a miscarriage in the early days of their marriage that led them to forgo birth control altogether.

Jim Bob revealed that initially, they thought they'd have just two or three kids, and Michelle went on the pill for the first few years of their marriage.

After having their eldest son Josh, Michelle went back on the pill, but got pregnant while taking it. They ended up losing that baby, and were so grieved that, through prayer, they decided to 'give that area of our life to the Lord,' letting God decide on when and how often they would have kids.

Then, in December of 2011, Michelle was around 16 or 17 weeks along when she lost what would have been their 20th child. They named the baby Jubilee and shared a picture of her hand on social media.
The Prince of Wales was full of laughs today as he presented certificates to a number of students at the Cranmer Awards.

Charles, 70, visited Lambeth Palace for the Prayer Book Society's thirtieth annual contest on Thursday.

The competition, which has been run annually since 1989, introduces young people to Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer.

And His Royal Highness has long been a supporter, presenting the awards at various times throughout it's history.

The Prince of Wales dressed smartly for the occasion, wearing a navy blue suit and light blue shirt with a bright polka dot tie and checkered pocket square

One person snapped a picture of Prince Charles as he chatted to prize winners

The royal looked smart for the occasion, wearing a navy checked suit and a blue polka dot tie.

He finished the outfit with a white checkered pocket square.

The competition involves school children between the age of 11 and 18 selecting a passage from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

They must learn a three-five minute passage, before speaking it from memory.

There are two age groups: Juniors (11-14) and Seniors (15-18).

Hundreds compete in regional heats locally before a national final, in which the winners share 1,000 in prize money and a certificate.

Prince Charles was pictured sharing a joke with Senior Winner Joseph Oxtoby, 15. Joseph won the junior category of the competition last year

The Prince beamed as he posed for a photograph with the winners of the competition. He has long been a vocal supporter of the Prayer Book Society, of which he is a patron

Prince Charles has been vocal about his support for the awards, as he says the prayer book is a corner stone of British society

Two school girls chat to His Royal Highness as he presented the Cramner awards at Lambeth Palace

Judges look for competitors able to demonstrate they understood the words they were speaking while communicating them in a style similar to that of a well-conducted church service.

The Prince of Wales seemed overjoyed to be at the event, beaming as he chatted to school children.

He was pictured sharing a joke with senior winner Joseph Oxtoby, who also won the junior category last year, as he presented him with his certificate.

Prince Charles spent time talking to different competitors during his visit

The Prince, who is the Patron of the Prayer Book Society, first presented the prizes at the initial contest held at St James Garlickhythe in 1989.

In a speech to finalists at the time, their parents and teachers, he called the prize 'a demonstration of pride in our heritage.'

He also noted: 'I believe the Prayer Book is a glorious part of every English-speakers heritage.'

And when presenting the award in 2012 he said he believed The Prayer Book was still vital and necessary in life.
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A proud mother-of-four has shared photos of her breastfeeding the baby who saved her life to praise her friend who nursed the infant while she battled cancer and went through chemotherapy.

Nikki Heying, 33, from Elizabeth Lake, California, had given birth to her fourth child Malcolm just six weeks before she was rushed back to hospital with pre-eclampsia.

However a scan by chance picked up a mass in the mother-of-four's chest and she was diagnosed with lymphoma as she held the newborn baby in her arms.

Gorgeous: 33-year-old Nikki Heying has shared a series of beautiful photographs that show some of the moments she eventually got to breastfeed her baby

Devastation: Nikki (pictured), from Elizabeth Lake, California, gave birth to her fourth child, Malcolm, just six weeks before she was diagnosed with cancer

Compassionate: The mother-of-four's friend Bec (left) stepped in when Nikki was undergoing chemotherapy to breastfeed her child until Nikki was ready to take over

Panicking about her vulnerable little boy breastfeeding while she underwent chemotherapy, Nikki confided in a friend, Bec Nikodem, 37, about fearing he would lose his latch.

Difficult: Six weeks after Malcolm was born, Nikki was rushed into hospital with pre-eclampsia

Without hesitation, selfless mom-of-eight Bec offered to breastfeed the tot twice a week - all while nursing two of her own children and donating milk to other moms in need.

To avoid her milk drying up, Nikki bravely 'pumped and dumped' repeatedly throughout her illness - despite it taxing her body further while she battled through chemotherapy.

After months of gruelling cancer treatment, Nikki was finally able to breastfeed her own baby herself.

She has captured the moment in a series of emotional photos that she shared to raise awareness and encourage other mothers to donate their breast milk.

Nikki, from Elizabeth Lake, California, said: 'I was just so incredibly thankful that Bec was willing to breastfeed Malcolm.

'It was absolutely beautiful - breathtaking. I can't say enough about that.

'I'd just had Malcolm when I had to be readmitted into hospital for pre-eclampsia complications. He saved my life.

'They did a scan of my chest and found a 10cm mass growing around my heart. I'd had no symptoms of lymphoma. There's a long list and I didn't have a single one of them.

'If I hadn't have had my baby and those complications, they might never have discovered the cancer until it was too late,' she added.

After Nikki was initially tested and given a biopsy, she was told she had lymphoma - a cancer of the lymphatic system.

Heart-breaking: Nikki (pictured with her husband) underwent a scan at the hospital, after which doctors discovered that she had lymphoma - a cancer of the lymphatic system

Recovery: While she was undergoing chemotherapy, Nikki wasn't able to breastfeed her child, as chemicals from the treatment would turn her breast milk toxic

Strength: Therefore, while having chemotherapy, she decided to regularly pump and dump her breast milk, so that she would keep up her milk supply and eventually be able to feed Malcolm

Nursing her baby as she was told the news, she nervously asked the doctor if she'd be able to continue breastfeeding little Malcolm through her treatment.

Nikki said: 'When the obstetrician came in to see me, I was thinking she'd say, "Go ahead and get ready to leave."

Process: While she was undergoing treatment, Nikki was feeding Malcolm with breast milk donated by other women, but by using a bottle, Nikki feared that he would lose his latch

'But when she told me they'd found a large mass my stomach dropped - it was the last thing in the universe I was expecting.

'My husband and I had only been married for four months and between us have four kids together.

'There were terrifying thoughts - but then I thought, "No, I'm going to fight this",' she added.

After receiving the heartbreaking diagnosis, the determined mom tackled cancer head on and was determined to keep up her milk supply until she'd had the all-clear - despite having no idea when that may be.

Nikki underwent six months of chemotherapy, which contained chemicals that transfer into breast milk and are toxic.

Every three hours, she was using a pump to collect her milk to ensure she kept producing it - but was reluctantly pouring it down the drain.

Little Malcolm was still drinking breast milk donated by other women, but by using a bottle, he risked losing his latch.

Nikki said: 'I switched my mind into a positive line of thinking, then my first question to the doctor was if I'd be able to continue breastfeeding.

'The cancer was non-operable in that location,' Nikki explained.

'So when my oncologist did eventually tell me to stop breastfeeding, I asked him if it'd be possible to pump and dump to keep up my supply.

'He didn't recommend it because chemotherapy is so taxing on your body already and there was a good chance I'd dry up anyway - but I would rather try and have it not succeed than not try at all,' she added.

Still anxious about her son's latch, Nikki felt that milk from a bottle wasn't enough.

Helping hand: Bec (pictured), Nikki's friend, stepped in and kindly offered to breastfeed Malcolm for her so that he would get used to breastfeeding naturally

Grateful: Nikki praised Bec (pictured feeding her own son, Xander) for coming to her house after she dropped her kids to school to feed Malcolm once or twice a week for six months

Hope: The mother-of-four said that she was 'relieved and happy' when Malcolm took to breastfeeding with Bec, as it gave her hope that she would eventually be able to nurse him

She worried their bond would suffer when she was well again if Malcolm forgot how to feed from her.

Confiding in another new mother, Bec, whose older children went to the same school as hers, Nikki was relieved when Bec offered to feed her baby for her.

Nikki said: 'Bec and I went through our pregnancies together and we talked all the time. She knew what I was going through.

'I knew that if I was going to be able to latch my son again he was going to have to remember how to do it. I needed to find someone to do this.

'She's nursed other babies, including friends' babies, and she offered. She was at my house and she asked if I wanted her to try.

'My son hadn't latched in five days by this point and I was terrified he'd struggled.

'She came to my house after she dropped her kids at school in the morning once or twice a week for six months.

'I thought I would have to look away and that I'd cry, and I did cry, but it was tears of relief.

'I was just so relieved and happy it was working. There was a chance I'd be able to reach my goal of being able to nurse him again.'

After a gruelling end to the year, Nikki was given the all-clear in February 2019.

Relief: Nikki (pictured with her family), who said that she cried when she fed Malcolm a few weeks after her chemotherapy ended, was given the all-clear earlier this month

Nikki and Bec are now hoping that sharing their story will prove that breastfeeding is 'the most natural thing in the world' and they've celebrated the journey with a photo shoot.

Happy: Nikki said that when she breastfed Malcolm for the first time since chemotherapy there was 'no hesitation' from him, and that he fed comfortably from her

Nikki said: 'I got the phone call from my oncologist and they revealed I'm in remission.

'Weeks after my last chemo, it was the middle of the night and Malcolm woke up ready to feed.

'When Malcolm latched again, I cried. There was no hesitation - it's like he never stopped.

'Bec and I are as close as ever now and she's still going to come over.

'Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world - it's what we were created to do.

'The female body is truly incredible. It's amazing what the female body can do.

'For example Bec isn't just nursing her own son, she's nursing another one of her children, and she nursed mine and would pump what else she could to donate,' she added.

Bec has also spoken out to applaud her friend's bravery and determination.

Bec, from Lancaster, California, said: 'Nikki and I found out we were pregnant within the same week.

'When she was diagnosed with cancer we were discussing how important it was to her that Malcolm continued having breast milk.

Positive: Nikki and Bec are hoping that their story will inspire others to understand that breastfeeding is 'the most normal thing in the world'

Glowing: Speaking about breastfeeding, Nikki said that it is 'the most natural thing in the world - it's what we were created to do'

'I offered to donate what I could, while feeding my newborn Xander and my other son Harrison.

'Breastfeeding should be something that friends can do for each other. It should be available for women who are going through something like this.

'There's an option at hospital to get donated milk - for premature or sick babies. But you can also get donated milk when you're out of hospital too.

'It shouldn't be taboo to have someone else feed your baby. We used to do it with wet nurses. It wasn't a big deal.

'Last week she was finally able to latch Malcolm again. She messaged me around midnight.

'It was so wonderful and fantastic. Everything we'd hoped for has happened,' Bec said.
Queen Letizia of Spain looked polished in a grey dress as she joined husband King Felipe for an awards ceremony in Madrid today.

The Spanish queen, 46, wore the checked frock with pretty cobalt blue heels and a black clutch bag as she attended the ceremony at the El Pardo Palace.

The dress, which had short sleeves, featured a tie that cinched the royal's waist and complimented her husband's grey suit.

Queen Letizia looked polished as she attended a Spanish awards ceremony with husband King Felipe today

The Spanish royal, 46, wore a long flowing grey dress, which tied in at the waist, and complimented her husbands grey suit

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain clapped as they awarded five Spanish scientists with official plaques

The couple were at the National Research awards in Madrid, an annual ceremony for innovators in the fields of medicine, biology, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The awards is known in Spain as the Premios Nacionales De Investigacion.

The Queen of Spain wore her brunette locks down and straight, small hoop earrings and her make-up natural, with a light brown lip.

King Felipe looked smart too, as he stood next to her, congratulating the winners of the awards, in a grey suit and teal tie.

Later on the they posed with the winners of this years awards, which was held at El Pardo Palace.

King Felipe (left) looked smart too, as he stood next to Queen Letizia, congratulating the winners of the awards, in a grey suit and teal tie

The royal also wore her brunette locks down and straight, small hoop earrings and her make-up natural, with a light brown lip

Queen Letizia and King Felipe attended the National Research awards today El Pardo Palace in Madrid

The couple were at the National Research awards in Madrid, an annual ceremony for innovators in the fields of medicine, biology, engineering, social sciences and humanities

The couple posed with the winners of this years awards, which was held at El Pardo Palace

The five male scientists collected their prestigious awards today for the National Research awards at El Pardo Palace

The awards were created in 1982, and the five male scientists, who won the prestigious award last year - were officially given their plaques today by the King to celebrate their achievements.

The Queen of Spain has had a busy week of formal engagements, on Monday she stepped out in a chic black and white number for an arts ceremony in Andalusia.

While on Wednesday her and King Felipe put on a rare display of public affection as they kissed and hugged when he won an award at the World Law Congress in Madrid.

King Felipe of Spain and Queen Letizia of Spain leave the event after presented five scientists with the prestigious awards

The Queen of Spain (pictured) has had a busy week of formal engagements, on Monday she stepped out in a chic black and white number for a arts ceremony in Andalusia

Queen Letizia's lined dress, which had short sleeves, was worn with pretty crocodile skin blue heels and a black clutch
Etihad Airways has announced plans to increase flights from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow in April, from three to up to four daily services, to meet peak demand during the month.



Commencing on April 5, the flights will be operated by a two-class Boeing 787-9, featuring Etihad Airways next-generation Business and Economy cabins, configured with 299 seats - 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats.



These services will operate in addition to Etihad Airways regularly scheduled 3 daily Abu Dhabi to London services, which will continue to operate with Airbus A380 aircraft, offering Economy, Business, First and The Residence. The additional services will provide more flexibility for guests travelling between both capitals and those connecting onwards to key destinations on Etihads global network.



James Harrison, general manager for Etihad Airways in the UK and Ireland, said: We are thrilled to announce more flights to London during April, in response to increased demand in the lead up to and post the Easter holidays. This is a busy travel time for families looking to enjoy the extended school holiday. This extra service will allow our guests more choice and flexibility with their travel plans. - TradeArabia News Service
An animal lover brought her wedding forward by four months so her beloved dog could be there for the celebrations after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Estelle Harris, 34, was set to marry her partner Danny in May 2019, but her plans were dashed when loyal Bruce fell ill just before Christmas.

The Bullmastiff - who Estelle refers to as 'her son with four legs' - was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer after vets discovered a tumour the size of a grapefruit.

He was given between one and four months to live, so Estelle decided to rearrange her wedding in just three weeks, at a cost of 600, so he could share their special day in Moira, Derbyshire, with them.

Estelle, who says she loves her dog like a child, explained: 'Having Bruce with me on my wedding day was the most important thing.'

Although Bruce's healthy is currently failing, he is still alive, allowing Estelle to enjoy the first weeks of her marriage with her beloved pet by her side.

Estelle Harris, 34, and her partner Danny, pictured, were set to marry in May 2019, but when her Bullmastiff fell ill just before Christmas they decided to bring the big day forward

Estelle Harris in her wedding dress with her beloved dog Bruce who wore a specially-made tuxedo for the occasion

Bruce was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer after vets discovered a tumour the size of a grapefruit, and was given just a few weeks to live

Speaking about her bond with Bruce, Estelle explained: 'It's hard to put into words how much I love him. I've got no children and he's the first dog that I've had since leaving home. My love for him is unbelievable.

'I've lost grandparents before, but knowing that I'm losing him hurts me more. I knew he had to be at our wedding, there was no question of it.'

Estelle noticed something was wrong in early December when her precious pet failed to greet her at the door when she returned home from her job as a warehouse operative.

Bruce was struggling to breathe and his gums had turned white before his tongue began to turn blue - signs of oxygen deficiency.

She and Danny rushed him to an emergency vet appointment 40 minutes away where they discovered he had fluid build-up around his heart and lungs.

They later discovered the huge tumour attached to his ribcage, and realised he had no chance of survival.

Estelle and Danny on their big day with Bruce. The bride was determined for him to be part of their big day, saying she finds it hard to put into words how much she loves him

Bruce was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer in early December after being rushed to the vets when Estelle found him struggling to breath after work

His illness saw his weight plummet from 70kg to just 63kg, and although vets removed his tumour, it did nothing to prolong his lifespan.

The couple cancelled their previous wedding booking on 4th May 2019 and rescheduled, bringing their nuptials forward by four months to 26th January.

It meant they lost more than 600 in cancellation charges, and some guests were unable to attend at such short notice.

But Estelle has no regrets - with the pampered pooch arriving at the ceremony in his own car, while wearing a specially-made tuxedo that matched Danny's, alongside a good luck horseshoe attached to his neck.

On the big day, Bruce wore a specially-made tuxedo which matched Danny's, and arrived at the ceremony in his own car

Estelle carried a good luck horseshoe featuring her beloved pooch's photo attached to her bouquet

The beaming bride also carried a horseshoe with Bruce's picture on it as she wed father-of-two Danny.

She added: 'Bruce is so funny and very much a mummy's boy. Danny has two children, I have none.

'Bruce is my child, a four-legged one. But I still love him as much as a human child. He's my world and nothing will ever come close to me and Bruce.

'It was important to have him in my photos. Our families totally understood as they are all dog lovers and know how much Bruce means to us.'

Unfortunately the pup only managed an hour running around the reception at the village hall near their home because he'd had so much fussing throughout the day.
Nestle has sent fans into a frenzy by revealing that a green tea-flavoured KitKat will soon be available in the UK.

The green version of the much-loved chocolate covered wafer bar was first created in Japan back in 2004 and now the brand has announced that 'the wait is finally over' for fans who have been paying 5 a bar to import them to the UK.

The brand captioned the post on Twitter: 'You asked and we listened, Green Tea Matcha is coming to Europe!' - and customers were quick to express their excitement.

'OMG really?! Please tell me it's the exact same recipe like the original ones from Japan,' wrote one, while another said: 'Can't wait to try them.'

The green tea matcha-flavoured chocolate bar was first created in Japan back in 2004. After high public demand, it is set to be released across Europe - including in the UK

The Japanese are so in love with KitKats they now have 300 flavours for the iconic chocolate bar - including wasabi, soybean flour and cheese

Fans were sent into a frenzy following the announcement. One social media user excited for the tasty treat commented: 'Omg really?! Please tell me it's the exact same recipe like the original ones from Japan'

The popular chocolate bar flavour has been available in Japan for over fifteen years, along with a vast range of over 300 other flavours - including purple sweet potato, soy sauce, apple, hot Japanese chilli and traditional miso.

Bloomberg reports that the company will start making the bars at its factory in Hamburg, Germany - and they will then go on sale in 18 European countries, including the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Italy - although the exact date hasn't yet been revealed.

Nestle has even released an advert showing fans exactly what they can expect. The most apparent difference is its green colouring  which comes from the green tea matcha powder.

This is then combined with cocoa butter and white chocolate to create a 'sweet and fragrant flavour'.

Nestle have even released an advert to show fans exactly what they can expect - making fans even more excited about its imminent arrival

The Nestle factory in Japan has created a vast range of different flavours to accommodate the high demand for unusual treats. Their unique bars also include chocolate with green tea, purple sweet potato, soy sauce, apple, hot Japanese chilli and traditional miso

Some excited foodies were excited by the fact they'd no longer have to pay the extortionate import charges. 'No more importing for 5 a bar. Yay,' penned one

WHAT IS MATCHA TEA? Matcha tea is a type of green tea in a powdered form, which originates from Japan. Matcha, other green teas and regular (black) tea are made from the same plant  Camellia sinensis. Most green teas are made by steaming fresh Camellia leaves, but making matcha tea involves a more complex process. Its made only from the fresh leaf tips. The plants are shaded from the sun between the time when the new leaf shoots start to appear and when they are picked. The shade is said to increase the content of chlorophyll and other nutrients, including the amino acid L-theanine (more on L-theanine below). After picking the best leaves, theyre steamed, gently air-dried, and then ground into a fine powder, removing any fibres. Advertisement

'Green KitKats - nothing that comes in this shade will compare to them,' said one fan delighted by the announcement, while another commented: 'That KitKat is a good candy and I like the candy that is KitKat.'

Others took to social media to exclaim they were more excited by the fact they'd no longer have to pay the extortionate charges to get them over from Japan.

'No more importing for 5 a bar. Yay!' said one, while a second penned: 'So excited! I loved these while I was in Japan and importing them here is pricey.

'I'm very much looking forward to getting them more locally.'

Meanwhile, others outside of Europe are desperate for Nestle to make the product available worldwide.

'Please bring to the US,' begged one, while another commented: 'I really hope to see these in my country, too.'

And a witty social media user who knows just how delicious the new product will be added: 'You won't see it for long because they will all be in people's joyful mouths!'
The Duchess of Sussex returned from her lavish baby shower in New York yesterday, amid a flurry of designer gifts and visits from her celebrity pals.

Meghan, 37, who is expecting her first child with Prince Harry at the end of April, was seen exiting the city's Mark Hotel, where her celebrations were held in the stunning $75,000(57,500) a-night penthouse ahead of her flight home.

And eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted a new edition to her casual ensemble, in the form of a delicate 18-carat gold 'mommy' necklace.

It is the first time the pregnant duchess has been seen wearing the piece of jewellery, a sweet tribute to her new status, leading to suggestions it could have been one of her baby shower gifts.

However the handcrafted necklace doesn't come cheap, and retails at an eye-watering $850 (650), by designer Jennifer Meyer.

Meghan, 37, who is expecting her first child with Prince Harry at the end of April, was seen exiting the city's Mark Hotel, where her celebrations were held in the $75,000-a-night (57,500) ahead of her private flight home

Meghan is a fan of the brand Jennifer Meyer, ran by the ex-wife of Spiderman star Tobey Maguire.

The fashion-forward duchess was previously spotted wearing a turquoise drop necklace by Jennifer, worth $750 (730) as she attended the church service in Sandringham at Christmas.

Meghan is often pictured wearing delicate jewellery featuring initials and symbols, and was seen sporting a gold necklace with the initials 'h' and 'm' at the beginning of her romance with Prince Harry.

And eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted a new edition to her casual ensemble, in the form of a delicate 18-carat gold 'mommy' necklace

The handcrafted 18 carat gold necklace doesn't come cheap, and retails at an eye-watering $850.00 (650), by designer Jennifer Meyer

Meghan arrived for her brief weekend in New York last Friday, but kept a low profile ahead of her celebrations.

On Wednesday Amal Clooney and Jessica Mulroney were among the guests who made an appearance at the lavish five-star Mark Hotel in snowy weather.

Human rights lawyer Clooney was photographed walking into the Manhattan hotel in a bright red jumpsuit and gold heels with a black coat over her shoulder.

Canadian stylist Jessica Mulroney, whose daughter Ivy served as a bridesmaid at Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys wedding, arrived with a smile as the snow fell.

Abigail Spencer, who starred in the US drama Suits with Meghan, was also spotted arriving at the hotel.

Other celebrities attending include harpist Erin Hill, fashion designer Misha Nonoo and television presenter Gayle King, and make-up artist Daniel Martin, all close friends of the duchess.

Following the fun celebrations, Meghan was boarded a private plane back to London, where she was seen being collected in the early hours of Thursday morning

The fashion-forward duchess was spotted wearing a turquoise drop necklace by same designer Jennifer Meyer, worth $750 (730) as she attended the church service in Sandringham at Christmas

Meghan is a fan of the brand Jennifer Meyer, ran by the ex wife of Spiderman star Tobey Maguire. She wore the above necklace at Christmas

Described by the hotel as 'A Castle in the Sky', the 10,000sq ft stunning suite boasts every luxury, including a 2,500sq ft rooftop terrace overlooking Central Park, five bedrooms, four fireplaces, six bathrooms, two powder rooms, two wet bars, a dining room, a conservatory, and a living room that can be 'transformed into a full-size Grand Ballroom' if desired by guests.

The friends were seen arriving with bags stacked high with lavish gifts, with security helping to bring the bulkier items into the hotel.

Among the gifts was a $379 (329) convertible crib by Babyletto, and the guests were thought to have been gifted with 17 Away carry-on suitcases worth an eye-watering $3,825 (3,315).

Human rights lawyer Clooney was photographed walking into the Manhattan hotel in a bright red jumpsuit and gold heels with a black coat over her shoulder

TV presenter Gayle King was seen arriving at the Mark Hotel for the lavish baby shower celebrations

Following the fun celebrations, Meghan was boarded a private plane back to London, where she was seen being collected in the early hours of Thursday morning.

On Monday Kensington Palace confirmed that Meghan's travel for the six-day trip had been privately funded because it was a personal getaway.

Self-made Meghan's successful acting career and starring role on hit legal drama Suits meant was already worth an estimated 5million before she met Harry.

Following her busy weekend of celebrations, Meghan will have a few days to rest before she departs for an official tour of Morocco with Prince Harry this weekend.
A student accused PrettyLittleThing of 'catfishing' after a wrap dress she ordered looked completely different when she tried it on at home.

Charlotte Olliffe, from Surrey, bought the dress from the fashion retailer for 22 but was shocked with how it fit.

The V-neck neckline of the dress reached down to her midriff, and the hemline of the dress, which should graze her upper thigh, curved up meaning her underwear is nearly on display too.

Charlotte Olliffe, from Surrey, bought the dress from the fashion retailer for 22 but was shocked with how it fit when she tried it on at home, right. Left, on the model, the red wrap dress grazes her upper thigh and has a cute v-neck neckline, while it exposes Charlotte's bra

The 21-year-old musical theatre student, who bought her usual size 6, took to Twitter to express her disappointment with the brand's offering

The 21-year-old musical theatre student, who bought her usual size 6, took to Twitter to express her disappointment with the brand's offering.

She wrote: '@officialPLT I think you've catfished me...'

She explained she thinks PrettyLittleThing is a good clothing brand overall, but it can be very hit and miss.

She added: 'I actually think PrettyLittleThing is alright, it depends what you buy.'

The student, pictured, said she was disappointed with the purchase but would continue to shop from the retailer, adding: 'It depends what you buy'

In her tweet, she shared a picture of the dress on the model and compared it to the dress on her own body. She wrote: 'I think you've catfished me...'

PrettyLittleThing have been contacted for comment.

This isn't the first time the brand has been blasted by shoppers in recent weeks, with a number of disappointed customers taking to social media.

Earlier this week, Meg Howells, from Wales, complained about a strappy dress which she could barely fit over one leg.

The fashion marketing and management student contacted the label, but was was told to buy a better fit in future.

Charlotte believes PrettyLittleThing is a good clothing brand overall, but it can be very hit and miss

'I was just told to "check the size guide before placing an order", even though Ive ordered the same size in everything Ive ever ordered,' she said.

In her pictures of the dress, Meg can be seen trying to squeeze her leg into the garment.

She captioned the upload: 'Hello is this a joke @OfficialPLT.'
A mother has been left furious after a kindergarten teacher banned her daughter from eating the mini biscuits she packed in her lunchbox.

The Adelaide woman sent her young girl to school on Monday with a healthy lunchbox, which included a ham and mayonnaise sandwich, cucumber sticks, grapes, avocado, plain popcorn - and five individual honey-flavoured Tiny Teddies.

However, the bemused mother said the uneaten treats were sent home by the school for being too 'unhealthy' under the strict food guidelines.

A mother has been left furious after her daughter was banned from eating her five Tiny Teddies honey-flavoured biscuits (file picture of a Tiny Teddy)

After her daughter was sent home with the 'unhealthy' Tiny Teddy', the mother packed her daughter a similar healthy lunchbox, which included a pasta salad, cucumber, grapes, pretzels, sandwich and plain popcorn - minus the Tiny Teddies

Poll Is the mother in the wrong? Yes No Is the mother in the wrong? Yes 76 votes

No 883 votes Now share your opinion





'So my girl's lunchbox was scrutinised after me thinking it was one of the more simple and healthier ones I'd ever done,' the mother said in a Facebook group.

'That thin fancy bread for a ham and mayo sandwich cut up, cucumber, apple, plain popcorn, grapes, avocado and here's the offending item: Tiny Teddies.

'Are you kidding me!? They were honey not even chocolate!?'

The mother claimed her daughter was told she wasn't allowed to touch the tiny biscuits during school hours.

'Worse she had to continue to stare at them knowing she wasn't allowed to touch them,' the woman added.

'Compared to the rest of her lunch, it was nothing. It's confusing because it was a very healthy lunch. Next to everything else I packed, it was freaking mini biscuits.

'Considering she's new to kindy and that it's a treat you would think it would be nice to allow something nice after eating really healthy food.

'My kid should be allowed to have a handful of teddy biscuits when I pack them, especially if I'm the parent.'

Tiny Teddies come in a pack, but the mother decided to add just five to her girl's lunchbox

When the mother approached the teacher and director at the school to enquire about her daughter's snack-in-question, they responded:

'We don't police food we aren't the parent, it's about education and teaching them about how to fuel their body. We tell [students] "you've got a great lunchbox there but how about you leave that snack for when mummy gets you?"'

The mother said after receiving the response, she thought: 'Well okay then that basically means one: You have policed. Two: she's not allowed and three: You've played parent.'

She asked fellow parents to share the 'sweet treats' they'd gotten away with after packing their children's lunchboxes.

'I need more choices because it's starting to get stupid. Bakery items are easy done I'm working on making berry and coconut muffins next week,' she added.

The mother shared a picture of the new lunchbox she packed for her daughter, which included a pasta salad, cucumber, grapes, pretzels, sandwich and plain popcorn - minus the Tiny Teddies.
For most people, a twice-daily clean and the occasional dentist visit sums up their oral hygiene routine.

But with three in 10 Australian adults between 25 and 44 suffering untreated tooth decay, it's clear that this may not be enough.

To help, dentist Dr Giulia D'Anna, the founder of iDental, has revealed her top five 'hacks' for keeping teeth clean outside the normal regime - and the key lifestyle mistakes people are making that lead to dental issues in the long term.

Dentist Dr Giulia D'Anna (pictured), the founder of iDental , has revealed her top five 'hacks' for keeping teeth clean outside the normal regime

1. EAT CELERY

Chewing celery helps in producing more saliva in your mouth which prevents plaque acids,' Dr D'Anna told FEMAIL.

'Eating celery once a week can help keep your teeth naturally clean on top of brushing.'

2. USE A WATER FLOSSER

'Water flossers are great for people who have difficulty cleaning between their teeth,' Dr D'Anna said.

'Older people with arthritis, big hands and little mouths or teenagers with braces can struggle to clean between the teeth.

'Water flossers are like a high pressure water cleaner for teeth, blasting debris and plaque out of there.'

How often should you brush your teeth? * Brush your teeth for at least two minutes in the morning before breakfast and last thing at night before you go to bed. Brush with fluoride toothpaste and spend 30 seconds on each quarter of your mouth. * Never brush your teeth straight after a meal as it can damage your teeth, especially if you've had fruit, soft drinks, wine or any other food that contains acid. Wait an hour after a meal before brushing. * For most adults, a toothbrush with a small head and a compact, angled arrangement of long and short, round-end bristles is fine. Medium or soft bristles are best for most people. * A simple tip is to visualise a tooth as having five surfaces. Three of these - the top, the front and the back - all need brushing. Flossing takes care of the two hidden surfaces in between the teeth. Source: Health Direct Advertisement

3. DON'T DRINK SPARKLING WATER

'It may not look harmful, but sparkling water tends to have a pH level of between 2.74 and 3.34,' Dr D'Anna said.

'This gives it an even greater erosive potential than orange juice.'

'It may not look harmful, but sparkling water tends to have a pH level of between 2.74 and 3.34,' Dr D'Anna said

4. DITCH TEA

'Tea stains teeth more than coffee,' Dr D'Anna said.

'Both black tea and green tea in particular, are loaded with tannins, which are the culprit.

'These stains usually sit on the surface and can be removed by the dentist.'

Dr D'Anna is currently celebrating 20 years her dentistry business

5. DON'T CHEW ICE

'Many people habitually chew on ice, especially during the summer months. That's when our office can be crowded with patients suffering from gum injuries and broken teeth,' Dr D'Anna said.

'The sad truth is that gnawing on cubes can be an indicator of serious health condition. Pica is the medical term for craving and chewing on items that have little or no nutritional value - such as ice, dirt, clay, chalk, paper, paint, sand and rocks.

'Chewing on ice is the most common form of pica and is called pagophagia. Compulsive ice chewing is increasingly considered to be a symptom of anaemia, particularly iron deficiency anaemia. So it might be wise to get your health checked by your GP.'

6. UP YOUR CALCIUM INTAKE

Milk and dairy products such as cheeses can actually reduce tooth decay.

'Not only do they contain calcium and phosphorus, but also proteins called caseins, which combine together to form a protective film on the enamel  or the surface of your teeth,' Dr D'Anna said.

'This coating helps to prevent your teeth from incurring decay caused by common bacterial acids. Calcium and phosphorus are both minerals that strengthen and repair tooth enamel that has started to dissolve due to these acid attacks.'
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When Colin MacDonald proposed to his 'great love' Tracey 12 years ago, he could never have imagined their wedding day would be so bittersweet.

The couple, who met 24 years ago, had always planned to get married but simply had no time while raising their six children. But when Tracey was tragically diagnosed with terminal lung cancer just six months ago, they knew it was time.

Surrounded by family and friends at the Moorabbin Cancer Centre, Victoria, on January 22, the pair were finally able to share their vows and marry in a beautiful, love-filled ceremony held at Tracey's bedside.

Less than 24 hours later, Tracey, 52, lost her battle.

Scroll down for video

When Colin MacDonald proposed to his 'great love' Tracey 12 years ago, he could never have imagined their wedding day would be so bittersweet (pictured on their wedding day on January 22, just hours before Tracey lost her cancer battle)

The couple, who met 24 years ago, had always planned to get married but simply had no time while raising their six children. But when Tracey was tragically diagnosed with terminal lung cancer just six months ago, they knew it was time

The couple had approached charity My Wedding Wish 22 hours before they wanted to cement their love with a ceremony and asked if the group of volunteers could help them put the day together.

Alongside celebrant Gail Cremen, a photographer, videographer, baker and assortment of other vendors reached out with the supplies they had.

'As a My Wedding Wish volunteer, we know we have to hit the deck running and drop whatever we are doing to make these wishes come true. Time is usually against us. Sometimes we have a week or two, but in this case it was a matter of a day or so,' Ms Cremen told FEMAIL.

The couple had approached My Wedding Wish 22 hours before they wanted to cement their love with a ceremony and asked if the group of volunteers could help them put the day together

Because on January 22, 12 years after Colin proposed to his 'great love', they wed in Moorabbin Cancer Centre, Victoria, with Tracey's terminal lung cancer diagnosis hanging over the hospital bed she was lying in

'It was very quickly apparent that they were totally devoted to each other and still deeply in love.

'It was very important to Colin that he honoured his proposal to Tracey.'

The pair met almost a quarter of a century ago when Colin, now 51, was tasked as Tracey's home removalist. They clicked and were together from that very moment.

Six months ago Tracey went to the doctor complaining of a persistent, annoying cough. X-rays were ordered when it didn't pass and they revealed she had lung cancer.

'Doctors were optimistic. She had been receiving treatment actively up until the Friday [before she died], when she collapsed trying to get up from her chair,' Ms Cremen said.

The pair met almost a quarter of a century ago when Colin was tasked as the removalist to help Tracey move houses. They clicked and had been together ever since

Six months ago Tracey went to the doctor complaining of a persistent, annoying cough. X-rays were ordered when it didn't pass and they revealed she had lung cancer

'She was taken to hospital and told she was in the end stages of the cancer.

'Tracey was Colin's great love. He had proposed 12 years ago but their lives with six children and grandchildren was so busy they just never got around to it.

'They had just recently bought their "Forever Home"; a dream semi-rural property in Beaconsfield where Tracey could keep her beloved horses with her.'

The tragic diagnosis was a 'shock to everyone'.

So less than a day after they reached out to My Wedding Wish the couple gathered their family in the hospital, with most guests 'too teary and emotional to say much'.

'The reality of what was occurring really hit everyone hard as soon as Tracey's bed was wheeled into the day room that had been prepared for us,' Ms Cremen said.

'The reality of what was occurring really hit everyone hard as soon as Tracey's bed was wheeled into the day room that had been prepared for us,' Ms Cremen said

'But as the ceremony commenced and we focused on their love and how blessed they had been, told some funny little anecdotes, the mood shifted slightly to one of gratitude and a heartfelt appreciation of the strength of their love for one another,' she said

'But as the ceremony commenced and we focused on their love and how blessed they had been, told some funny little anecdotes, the mood shifted slightly to one of gratitude and a heartfelt appreciation of the strength of their love for one another.

'When I asked Tracey if she took Colin as her life long partner she said "I do" and then repeated it again more forcefully "I DO!", which made us laugh.'

After the ceremony concluded Colin asked their celebrant whether it would be possible to get legally married in the short time they had left because it was important to both of them.

'We spent the next two hours or so filling in paperwork, finding birth certificates and Tracey's license, getting letters from Tracey's doctor and chasing lawyers in New Zealand and Dandenong for proof of their respective divorces decades ago,' Ms Cremen explained.

'Once I had everything prepared, my husband and I drove back to Melbourne to lodge the application with Births, Deaths and Marriages. We arrived outside the entrance of their Collins Street office at 3.50pm and they closed at 4pm.

'When I asked Tracey if she took Colin as her life long partner she said "I do" and then repeated it again more forcefully "I DO!", which made us laugh,' she explained

'I rang Colin from the foyer and said "You are getting married in one hour, tell Tracey I am on my way!" Ms Cremen said

'So I threw the envelope at my husband in the passenger seat whilst we were stopped at a red light outside and told him to get into the office and not leave until I got there.

'I made it inside before 4pm and explained the situation to the clerk who was happy to take our application and have a response for me in 48 hours.

'I carefully explained that we only had hours. She then said that all supervisors had left so no one was there to authorise it.

'Another gentleman behind the counter overheard our conversation and asked if he could help, but then agreed it was impossible.

'We waited a little while for Tracey to become fully alert and then I conducted a short but sweet legal ceremony and was thrilled (and relieved) to finally pronounce them as husband and wife,' the celebrant said

Tracey was a bride for just 24 hours, but in those moments became Colin's wife for life

'I implored and stressed the urgency to him. He then went up to the 17th floor and found someone who could help us. All approved and signed in 10 mins.

'I rang Colin from the foyer and said "You are getting married in one hour, tell Tracey I am on my way!".

Ms Cremen found Colin and Tracey in her hospital room with two of their daughters and two close friends.

'We waited a little while for Tracey to become fully alert and then I conducted a short but sweet legal ceremony and was thrilled (and relieved) to finally pronounce them as husband and wife,' the celebrant said.

'I gave her a kiss on the cheek and said "Congratulations, you are Mrs MacDonald now!" More bittersweet tears all around.'

Tracey was a bride for less than a day, but in those few hours became Colin's wife for life.
Critics were left upset by a photo of Khloe Kardashian posted on her Good American denim brand's Instagram page where it showed the star appearing heavily edited in both her waist and face.

The image, in which Khloe, 34, lounged in a crop top and jeans on a reflective surface, showed two versions of the fashion mogul. The reflection showed Khloe's waist larger and more proportioned to her natural body than how her actual body was pictured.

The image shared on Saturday was attacked by people online who accused the brand of editing the reality star poorly for the campaign ad.

Fail: People are calling an Instagram photo of Khloe Kardashian, 34, a 'Photoshop fail' because it looks like her body was edited, but her reflection was not

Oops: Many users pointed out that Khloe's body in the shot was a much smaller size than the reflection in the shiny floor beneath her, suggesting it was down to a blatant editing fail

False advertising: The post, which was shared on the Instagram of Khloe's brand, Good American, received a lot of backlash in the comments

Unimpressed: Comments poured into the post with people saying both Khloe's face and waist appeared altered for the campaign picture

'A little crop goes a long way,' the Good American post's caption read while advertising cropped skinny jeans.

'Theres a reason why our cropped skinny jeans are best sellers, shop this shape-enhancing style in sizes 00-24 now on goodamerican.com.'

Skinnies: Khloe wears Good American's $139 pink Good Waist Crop jeans in the Instagram

In the photo, Khloe wore pink skinny jeans from Good American with a cropped ankle, along with a long-sleeved and high-necked crop top and white stilettos.

The star's midriff was exposed as it rested on the reflective surface. Her body's reflection then showed in the floor, which prompted people to believe it looked dissimilar from Khloe's body pictured.

Her body appeared leaner compared to the reflection image. But that was not the only editing viewers spotted.

Comments poured into the post with critics calling it a 'Photoshop fail' and accusing the brand of editing both Khloe's face and waist.

'Shame on you! Accept yourself the way you are and stop fooling people! Photoshop fail!' one Instagrammer wrote.

'Talk about NOSE JOB.... Koko whyyy??' said another, pointing out that Khloe's nose and face appeared narrower than usual.

People were in agreement that the reflection did not match the waist shown on Khloe.

Haters: Fans are disappointed in Khloe not only because of the poor Photoshop job, but also because her brand is meant to promote body positivity

'If you Photoshop her body maybe Photoshop her reflection, too,' one commenter wrote on the post.

The comments kept flooding onto the post with people calling it a 'fail' and claiming the picture didn't look anything like Khloe.

'I love Khloe but, who is that? That does not look like her,' a fan wrote.

A few people even pointed out that changing the appearance of Khloe's body in the image actually goes against the Good American brand ethos of body positivity.

'So your whole point of this brand is to embrace everyones bodys [sic], but even one of the founders isnt comfortable enough in her body that she has Photoshop her pictures,' one Instagrammer wrote.

'A brand that is meant to promote body positivity. Disappointing...' one person wrote.

The brand was created to give women a healthy, empowering view of themselves through inclusive sizing and realistic fits.

Good brand: Khloe founded Good American in 2016, along with Emma Grede, pictured alongside the influencer. The pair set out to create and inclusive, diverse denim line

Brand fail: People are disappointed with the Good American team, pictured here, as the controversial Instagram photo doesn't live up to the brand's ethos of body positivity

Even its website states: 'Good American is designed for a curvier, sexier and stronger shape.'

Khloe founded the denim line along with CEO Emma Grede in 2016, based on a joint dedication to promoting body diversity.

'It wasn't about having a new denim line. It was about doing something that empowers other women, something that's going to break down barriers,' Khloe once said.

The brand's motto, 'made with your body in mind,' is based on the fact that the jeans' premium recovery fabric and gap-proof waistband are designed to contour each individual body.

Good American even said that it 'invented a size' 15, as jean sizes are typically even numbered.

The pink Good Waist Crop, which Khloe wore in the controversial Instagram photo, comes in 15 sizes, ranging from 00 to 24, and costs $139 a pair.
Last week, a new patient wept in front of me as she described the hellish existence she said shed been enduring for the last two years. Suzan had quit her job, given up on her relationship and admitted she now spent most afternoons asleep on the sofa.

She was convinced her problems  which included overwhelming fatigue, anxiety and low libido  were due to the menopause. But her GP disagreed. Diagnosing her with depression, he had given her antidepressants.

I do feel depressed, Suzan, whos 52, wailed. Who wouldnt if their life had fallen apart the way mine has? But thats only because of the way the menopause is making me feel.

She said her doctor had refused her hormone replacement therapy (HRT), citing outdated scare stories of an increased risk of breast cancer. He insisted I would have to brave it out, and said that the antidepressants he prescribed would probably help, she told me.

Suzan didnt need antidepressants  she needed a prescription for HRT, which is what she received from my clinic.

Menopause specialist Louise Newson examined the number of women being refused HRT as GPs cite outdated scare stories, Janine Sim, 44, (pictured) visited her GP on four separate occasions and wrote a complaint letter before doctors would listen to her request for HRT

That shed had to travel all the way from Scotland to my private consulting rooms in Stratford-upon-Avon to get that is nothing less than a travesty.

Her doctor had deprived her of medication that would have cost the NHS just 4 a month, and has the ability to give this woman her life back. And all because he wasnt clued up on the menopause  a condition that every woman in his practice will experience sooner or later.

I wish I could say that Suzan was an unusual case. However, sadly she is typical of so many of the women who seek me out for treatment to help them cope with the menopausal symptoms that are destroying their lives.

And thats no exaggeration.

I see women week in, week out who, like Suzan, have given up their careers because their menopausal brains feel so befuddled they cant trust themselves to make the right decisions at work.

Some have memory-loss problems so severe that they honestly believe they might have dementia; in some cases their doctors think so, too, and send them for tests.

Many are struggling to maintain their relationships because they are permanently short-tempered with their partners and have zero sex drive.

They cant sleep, theyve gained weight, and they feel permanently anxious. Basically, they dont recognise themselves any more.

And the answer to all this is staring GPs in the face: HRT.

This is the most effective treatment available when it comes to relieving the hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings and bladder problems that menopausal women can experience.

Katie Taylor, 49 (pictured) was misdiagnosed and given antidepressants before being put on HRT when her father suspected her low mood was hormonal

Taking HRT is simply replacing hormones. In a similar way, we prescribe thyroxine for women with an underactive thyroid gland.

Research has also shown HRT can actually lower the risk of heart disease (including heart attacks), osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes and dementia. All of these common conditions are costing the NHS billions of pounds. So why on earth are women being denied this treatment when it is clearly so cheap and effective?

The crux of the problem lies with data from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) study in 2002, which was misinterpreted and yet is still often quoted in the media.

The report claimed that hormone replacement increased the risk of heart problems.

But when the data was analysed properly, this study, and subsequent research, has shown that women starting HRT in the first ten years following their menopause reduce their risk of a heart attack by around 50 per cent  thats more effective than treatment with statins or blood pressure-lowering drugs.

The other concern so many women and healthcare professionals have about HRT is the breast cancer risk. But the reported increased risk supposedly discovered by the WHI was so low as to not be statistically significant.

Meanwhile, there are many other factors that pose a greater risk for developing breast cancer than HRT: being overweight, not exercising and alcohol, for example.

Louise Newson says many doctors are fixated by the idea that HRT could cause cancer, blood clots and heart attack despite studies debunking the theories (file image)

Yet today, doctors continue to be fixated by the idea that HRT, cancer, blood clots and heart problems go hand-in-hand. And never mind the fact weve had several studies published since 2002 that have debunked so many of the issues the WHI study appeared to raise.

For example, in 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on menopause clearly stated that, for the majority of women, the benefits of taking HRT outweigh any risks.

With such clear indicators that HRT can be a good choice for so many women, its astonishing that so many GPs  and their patients  remain fearful of it. Clearly, we need improved menopause education for the medical staff certain to encounter menopausal women throughout their careers  so thats doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

I regularly lecture at the Royal College of General Practitioners and provide e-learning sessions for doctors. Its great to be able to bring their understanding of HRT up to date, because so many of them qualified in an era when HRT was demonised and, as a result, they still dont have the confidence to prescribe it.

Im not going to claim that HRT is a panacea for each womans every menopausal symptom. But for women like Suzan, and so many more of my patients, a prescription for HRT can give them their life back.

Just as countless women have sat and sobbed in despair in my office, many more have returned a few months later and wept with relief and joy over feeling well again.

The tragedy of this is that their GPs didnt properly understand HRT and how it could have helped them in the first place.

Janine Sim, 44, recalls feeling angry and tearful from the moment she woke up until she went back to bed before she begun HRT (file image)

OUR GPs JUST WOULDN'T HELP

I felt like I was laughed out of the surgery

Janine Sim, 44, is a yoga therapist from Bury, Manchester. Shes married to Ewen, a police officer, and they have four teenage children. She says:

Three-and-a-half years ago, when I was 40, I hit the menopause. I knew that was what it was as my Mum had gone through it at the same age.

Rather than going to my GP and asking for HRT, I tried alternative therapies first, which worked for a while.

Then my symptoms started getting worse. I was angry and tearful from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed; I felt like the life was being drained out of me; some days I couldnt be bothered to get out of bed.

I went to see the GP in late 2016 and asked for HRT. She took one look at me and smiled. You cant be menopausal, she said. Youre my age.

I went through my symptoms and told her the family history, but she refused to listen. I felt like I was laughed out of the surgery.

For two years, I went back again and again, begging for help. Every time I saw a different doctor, and every time they said no. My family despaired. I could just about summon the energy to get up and go to work, but when I came home Id slump on the sofa and weep.

Janine says within a few weeks of getting HRT she was back to her normal, happy self (file image)

I was only sleeping for around two hours a night and when I woke up the sheets were drenched in sweat. I didnt clean the house for 18 months.

After my second GP appointment, I was asked if I wanted to go on antidepressants. No one would listen. I felt like they were treating me like a mad woman. They just wanted to tick a box and get me out of their surgery.

It took four separate appointments, a letter of complaint  and for me to bring my husband into the surgery with me, to act as my advocate  for the GP to listen.

Within a few weeks of getting HRT last September, I was back to my normal, happy self. I feel like Ive woken up from a nightmare.

Misdiagnosis meant I lost four years of life

Katie Taylor, 49, runs the lattelounge.co website for women over 40. She lives in London with her husband Hugh, 53, who works in the hotel industry. They have four children. She says:

When I was about 45, I went to my GP because I didnt feel right. I was very teary, very low. I felt like I had brain fog.

The GP said I was probably stressed and depressed. I was working full-time, with four children  perhaps I should take some time off or take antidepressants?

I thought Id simply try going to the gym a bit more or eat more healthily, but nothing helped. So I tried antidepressants. They didnt help. They numbed everything. I felt as if I was plodding through life but not really enjoying it. I was sent to heart specialists because Id complained of palpitations. The doctor even suggested, as I was forgetting words and not thinking straight, that it could be early dementia. I put on weight, became something of a recluse and felt like a failure. Yet not once did the GP mention HRT.

Katie Taylor, 49, says within a month of being on HRT she was off antidepressants and felt like a new woman (file image)

After four years of going to and fro from the GP, it was my father, Professor Michael Baum, a surgical oncologist who specialises in breast cancer, who suspected my low mood was hormonal and sent me to one of his consultant friends. Straight away, she deduced that I was going through the peri-menopause and put me on HRT. Within a month, I was off antidepressants and feeling like a new woman. I remember watching TV and thinking: Thats the first time Ive laughed in four years. I felt very angry that Id lost four years of my life.

I know the risks, but it should be my choice

Sandra Wright, 50, a college lecturer, lives in Glasgow with her husband. She says:

I was at a prestigious awards ceremony. It was the sort of glamorous black tie event I would have loved just a few years ago.

But I spent the entire evening in a paroxysm of dread  petrified of making a sweaty spectacle of myself. My hot flushes are so bad  each one an internal volcano erupting up to 20 times a day.

The nights are even worse. I consider four hours a night to be good. My days are spent in a fug of exhaustion and anxiety. Its a living hell.

And still my doctor refuses to prescribe HRT. Ive been begging for nearly three years, to no avail.

Sandra Wright, 50, revealed a doctor prescribed her an antidepressant despite arguing that she wasn't depressed and refused to prescribe HRT (file image)

Despite me arguing that the only thing making me stressed and panicky were my hot flushes, she put me on antidepressants.

I started getting symptoms in 2016 when I was 48. When I went to the doctor in 2017 her response astounded me. She thanked me for being brave then went on to explain that, as I had no children, I was at a higher risk of developing breast cancer and she had an ethical duty to ensure my safety.

Then, even though I assured her I wasnt depressed, she prescribed an antidepressant, Venlafaxine.

I was too upset and confused to argue and the flushes worsened.

After three months I asked to see a different doctor. He agreed to take me off the antidepressants but refused to prescribe HRT.

I know the risks, but I have the right to make my own decisions.

REPORTING TEAM: Tessa Cunningham, Jill Foster, Rachel Halliwell and Sarah Rainey
We plough our way through 800,000 tonnes of plastic food packaging in the UK every year  more than half of all household plastic waste.

So were all on the lookout for planet-friendly ways to store our food. Having relied on shrink-wrap and leakproof plastic containers for decades, though, its hard to imagine anything could be quite as convenient or efficient.

But, in fact, a mix of clever new products and trusted traditional methods could keep your food in even better condition than plastic.

You may not be able to change your fridges plastic interior and shelves but, MANDY FRANCIS reports, making the rest of it plastic-free is easy . . .

Mandy Francis shared advice for reducing plastic food packaging waste in your fridge, she recommends re-purposing jam and sauce jars to store food

Switch plastic for glass

Glass jars and bowls with airtight lids will keep food as fresh as any plastic container, says Rosalind Rathouse, who runs sustainable kitchen courses at the Little Portland Street Cookery School in London.

And there are benefits to using glass. There are concerns chemicals in plastic containers  some linked to hormone disruption  can leach into foods, particularly when using a microwave.

Glass, meanwhile, does not react with food or affect its flavour. Glass containers wont become stained like plastic can, or buckle in the dishwasher. Rosalind adds: Most glass withstands cold  even freezing  temperatures, its easy to clean and, if you buy oven-proof glass, you can transfer dishes straight from the fridge to the oven.

To repurpose jam, sauce and pickle jars, wash them, then tip in two teaspoons of baking soda, a teaspoon of salt and some water. Screw on the lid and shake for a minute, then rinse. The abrasive mix will neutralise odours.

If youre buying new, Kilner makes an attractive range of glassware, including a 950ml clip-top jar, (5.49, ocado.com). Lakeland has a selection of glass jars and bottles, from 2.99.

If youre short on fridge space, go for square or rectangular containers, says Julie Carlson, co-author of Remodelista: The Organized Home. They stack more neatly to optimise storage.

Anchor Hocking does a range of stackable square jars (from 12, amazon.co.uk), or try Ikeas 365+ oven-safe range (from 3.25, ikea.com).

Rosalind Rathouse who runs sustainable kitchen courses says the only drawback of using steel containers instead of plastic is that you can't see what's inside (file image)

Make a meal out of stainless steel

Steel containers are another good option and, unlike plastic, wont degrade in contact with acidic foods such as tomato sauces. Steel can also be washed safely at high temperatures.

The only drawback is that you cant see whats inside, says Rosalind. Julie suggests making labels from plastic-free Washi Tape (2 for six rolls, theworks. co.uk). Made from paper, it wont leave a sticky residue and you can write on it with a normal pen.

Many steel containers are also designed to stack neatly, making them great space-savers.

Youll find a range of stainless steel at elephantbox.co.uk, from 16. Andkeep.com sells everything from small snack boxes, (6.99) to larger containers with two tiers and internal compartments (from 24.99). Theplastic freeshop.co.uk has tiffin boxes.

Wrap cheese in beeswax

One of the best alternatives to cling film and single-use plastic food bags is reusable beeswax wrap, says Julie.

This is made from cotton fabric saturated with beeswax, pine resin and vegetable oil. You use the warmth of your hands to mould the wrap tightly around the food or to seal a container. Best of all, its reusable  just clean it with cold, soapy water and hang to dry. If your wrap starts to look tatty or cracked, place it on a baking tray in a cool oven for three minutes, until the wax softens and spreads evenly.

Julie Carlson who is the co-author of Remodelista: The Organized Home suggests using reusable beeswax wrap instead of cling film (file image)

It should last a year and then can be put on a compost heap.

Models Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Cara Delevingne and TV presenter Fearne Cotton have designed pretty beeswax wraps for Sky Ocean Rescues Pass On Plastic campaign (20, accessories.sky.com.

You can also buy beeswax wraps from waitrose.com, lakeland. co.uk and beeswaxwraps.co.uk. You cant wash the wraps in hot water, which means theyre fine for dry goods and cheese, but I would avoid wrapping meat or fish in them, adds Rosalind.

Paper layers for meat and fish

A parchment paper parcel, followed by a layer of aluminium foil, is an ideal option for meat and fish.

The environmentally friendly brand If You Care has Forest Stewardship Council-approved, unbleached and compostable parchment paper baking sheets (4.50) and snack bags, (3.50 for 48, both waitrose.com). It also makes recycled aluminium foil (6.56, amazon.co.uk, which can be washed and reused. If you save enough of the foil to make an Easter egg-sized ball, it can be recycled when its no longer of use.

Mandy recommends booking milk deliveries in glass bottles, as they can be reused around 18 times (file image)

The return of milk in glass bottles

Demand for milk in glass bottles soared in 2018. Unlike plastic bottles, glass ones are reused around 18 times before being recycled. Book a delivery at findmeamilkman.net.

Take empty containers, as well as wax wraps and bags, with you when you go shopping and fill them with loose produce where possible. Thezerowaster.com has a handy list of shops across the UK that sell plastic-free goods.

Keep fruit fresh with cotton mesh

The thin plastic bags that fruit, vegetables and salad often come in can actually make such foods go soft or soggy sooner.

Most fruit and veg will keep perfectly well stored loose in your fridges crisper drawer, says Kelly Wright, founder of The Refillery, a plastic-free shop in Edinburgh. To transport loose produce and keep items tidy in your fridge, use cotton mesh produce bags.

Kelly Wright who is the founder of The Refillery says most fruit and vegetables can be stores loose in our fridges crisper drawer (file image)

From 2 each at asliceof green.co.uk and from 1.50 at theplasticfreeshop.co.uk, Kelly suggests dampening the bags with water before you put them in the fridge. The moisture will keep veg crisper for longer.

Fabric shower cap to cover bowls

A simple china plate is always handy for covering dishes and bowls in the fridge, says Rosalind Rathouse. But if you want a more secure option, reusable, elasticated fabric bowl covers  resembling small shower caps  do the job perfectly. Yumbles.com has a selection of washable Bowlovers (13.50 for three).

Remodelista: The Organized Home by Julie Carlson and Margot Guralnick (20, Artisan Books)  2017. Photographs by Matthew Williams.
Indian low-cost carrier Air India Express recently launched flights to Surat from Sharjah Airport, making it the 47th non-stop direct connection between India and the Gulf region.



On February 16, Air India Express started operating two weekly flights from Sharjah Airport to Surat. During the summer season, the airline will operate four flights weekly.



With the launch of this new route, Air India Express now has direct flights between Sharjah and nine cities in India in addition to 47 non-stop flights between Indian airports and Gulf destinations. - TradeArabia News Service
We asked the women at the very top of the beauty industry what makes them look and feel good. Here, they reveal their hair, skin and soul-food secrets . . .

Tricia Cusden

Founder of Look Fabulous Forever, the make-up range for older women (lookfabulousforever.com)

Cant live without: Becky, my hairdresser at Charles Worthington in Londons Percy Street (charlesworthingtonsalons.com  colour from 60, cuts from 50). Without her, my hair would be grey at the crown and mousey-brown round my face. I go every ten weeks: she cuts the perfect shape and adds silvery highlights. I always get compliments on it.

Brilliant bargain: I think our LFF Skincare System is a bargain (from 38). It took nearly two years to develop and it is packed with great ingredients. Ive used it daily for eight months and, although Im prone to acne rosacea, my skin has never looked smoother.

Claire Coleman spoke to women at the top of the beauty industry about the cosmetics and treatments that they swear by, pictured from left to right: Tricia Cusden, Thea Green, Alison Young, Fiona McIntosh, Sarah Chapman and Jo Malone

Little luxury: Lindsay Burrows, my personal trainer (mespot.me). She comes to my house twice a week and has improved my posture and shape (I was getting the dreaded dowagers hump). I cant say I enjoy it, but Ill carry on!

On speed dial: Hypnotherapist Lucia Mizzoni (luciamizzoni.com), as and when I need her. Shes really helped me deal with the stresses of a growing business. Now, if I wake in the night, I just play the tape she made me to help me relax.

Thea Green MBE

Founder of the Nails Inc range of nail bars and products (nailsinc.com)

Cant live without: Philip Kingsley Elasticizer (from 18.50, philipkingsley.co.uk) and Olaplex (24, cultbeauty.co.uk). I alternate these weekly hair treatments on the advice of my hairdresser, Tony, from Salon Sloane (salonsloane.com), and theyve massively improved my hair. I bung it on, go for a run for 30 minutes while it permeates, and then wash off in the shower.

Brilliant bargain: NailKale Base Coat (15) and Superfood Repair Oil (15) from Nails Inc. I change my colour constantly, but I always come back to these to keep my nails in great condition.

Little luxury: Bath and shower products from Aesop (aesop.com) and Jo Loves (joloves.com). Theyre not overly fragranced, but you smell of them all day.

On speed dial: The Light Salon at Harvey Nichols (thelight-salon.com). I only make it in a few times a year, but its LED lamp can help with any scarring or spots.

Alison Young

Beauty expert, broadcaster and stalwart on TVs QVC (alisonyoungbeauty.com)

Cant live without: Shavata for my eyebrows (shavata.co.uk). Shavata Singh revolutionised the brow industry and now has a chain of studios. I see her once a month for threading, which can make you look younger and more modern.

Many of the beauty gurus emphasized the importance of good nutrition and fitness for maintaining their appearance, Pictured from left to right: Sam Chapman, Nic Chapman, Millie Kendall, Anna-Marie Solowij and Hannah Martin

Brilliant bargain: Leighton Dennys Crystal Nail File (15.50, leightondennyexpertnails.com). They seal your nail as you file, stopping water getting in, so theyre much better for your nails than an emery board.

Little luxury: Each month, I get a medical pedicure with Nicolette at the Margaret Dabbs clinic in Guildford (from 85, margaretdabbs.co.uk). I love how Margaret made podiatry sexy. She keeps to medical clinic standards, but has made it more glamorous.

On speed dial: Simon Bryer, my hairdresser at Michael Van Clarke (vanclarke.com  cuts with Simon start at 195). I met him on QVC and see him every couple of months. Hes a genius.

Jo Malone CBE

Fragrance expert and founder of Jo Loves (joloves.com)

Cant live without: Getting my eyebrows threaded and dyed every month at KX Spa in Chelsea, London (kxlife.co.uk/spa, tint and thread from 50).

Brilliant bargain: Flexitol Heel Balm (4.99, superdrug.com). After I had chemo, the skin on my feet was sore and cracked and I found this was brilliant. Once a week, I slather it on, put my feet in a ziplock bag and wrap a hot towel around them.

Little luxury: A gloss hair treatment at Josh Wood (from 55, joshwoodcolour.com). I go before an event when my hair is a bit lacklustre. It gives it a glossy shine and body that I love.

On speed dial: Weekly Pilates with Sarah Bentley (sixphysio.com). When I havent done it for a while, I feel the difference. My face, skin and eyes dont look as healthy. For me, exercise is part of my beauty regimen.

Fiona McIntosh who is the founder of Blow Ltd revealed her bargain buy is Vichys Mineral 89 (pictured) which instantly plumps up skin

Fiona McIntosh

Founder of beauty on-demand mobile app Blow Ltd (blowltd.com)

Cant live without: Alpha-H Liquid Gold (33.50, cultbeauty.co.uk), a gentle facial exfoliant I use three times a week before bed. It keeps my skin glowing.

Brilliant bargain: Vichys Mineral 89 (22, vichy.co.uk). As you get older, skin gets drier. This serum, used morning and night, seems instantly to plump it up.

Little luxury: Treatments at home via Blow Ltd. Im biased, but I love a pedicure (from 40) and a weekly blow-dry (from 40) at home  its so convenient.

On speed dial: Dr Vicky Dondos (medicetics.com, anti-wrinkle injections from 270). I was terrified of a frozen forehead with Botox, but Vicky is fantastic. I see her every six months for these very subtle sprinkles that stop me looking tired and saggy and as if Ive had a really good nights sleep.

Sarah Chapman

Celebrity facialist and founder of the Skinesis skincare range (sarahchapman.com)

Cant live without: Skinesis Overnight Facial (49). This oil-serum is the cult product in my range and I use it every night.

Brilliant bargain: Natural Calm (21.99, amazon.co.uk). I take this magnesium powder to sleep better. It balances calcium intake, relaxing muscles and reducing stress.

Little luxury: Chanels VitaLumiere Aqua make-up (37, chanel.com). I use it every day. It evens skin tone, but looks like you havent got anything on.

On speed dial: Louise Parker (louiseparker.com), the queen of nutrition and fitness. Sometimes, Ill do weekly consultations, a strict food plan and training; at others, Ill just dip in and out.

Sam Chapman who is the co-creator of Real Techniques uses Mac Shape & Shade Brow Tint (pictured) for the illusion of additional individual hairs in her eyebrows

Sam Chapman

Co-creator of make-up tool brand Real Techniques (realtechniques.com), make-up artist and one half of the Pixiwoo YouTube channel.

Cant live without: Laser hair removal. I get offered a lot of free stuff, but I paid for this at sk:n (from around 450, sknclinics.co.uk) and it was worth every penny. I did eight sessions on my bikini line and underarms and its been a gamechanger.

Brilliant bargain: Mac Shape & Shade Brow Tint (19.50, maccosmetics.co.uk). Its a pen that draws in individual hairs so you dont get a heavy Instabrow look.

Little luxury: Sunday Riley CEO Serum (70, spacenk.com). I have dry skin, but can use this daily under my make-up to give moisture and an instant lift. I apply it with the Prep Brush from the Real Techniques Prep and Prime set (19.99) for a smooth finish.

On speed dial: Dr Tapan Patel at the Phi Clinic (phiclinic.com) for the subtlest fillers in my lips and cheeks. When I hit 40, I noticed a few changes and, while I didnt want pumped-up lips, I wanted to look rejuvenated. He uses tiny amounts over a few months. Its barely noticeable, but it makes a difference to me.

Nic Chapman

Sister of Sam, co-creator of Real Techniques, make-up artist and the other half of the Pixiwoo YouTube channel.

Cant live without: Six-weekly appointments at Josh Wood (joshwoodcolour.com). Sam and I both go there for cuts and colour and we love the effortless experience.

Brilliant bargain: The Real Techniques Mini Multitask Brush (5.99) goes everywhere with me to apply Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel (40, chanel.com), a cream-gel bronzer. I love how it sits on the skin and it gives a lovely glow.

Little luxury: Microblading (semi-permanent eyebrow tattooing) with Nez Hasan (nezhasan.com). Its changed my life. I never had great brows, but three years ago, I found her, and now everyone asks who does my brows.

On speed dial: Dr Alexis Granite at Mallucci London (mallucci-london.com) for a treatment called Profhilo, which involves tiny amounts of moisturising hyaluronic acid being injected under the skin. People comment on how good my skin looks, and the effects should last a year.

Millie Kendall MBE who co-founded the boutique Beauty Mart uses DHC Face Wash Powder (pictured) to give her skin a deep clean

Millie Kendall MBE

Co-founder of the boutique BeautyMart and CEO of the British Beauty Council (britishbeautycouncil.com)

Cant live without: Colourist Nicola Clarke (nicolaclarkeatjohnfrieda.com). I met her in the mid-Nineties and Ive been a loyal client ever since, seeing her every six weeks. I dont brush my hair much, or cut it often, but Ive been colouring since I was 13.

Brilliant bargain: DHC Face Wash Powder (10.50, dhcuk.co.uk). When my skin needs a deeper clean, I use this powder, which you mix with water.

Little luxury: Monthly facials  I move between David Peters Acupuncture Facial at The Bulgari Spa (davidpeterslondon.com), Nichola Joss (nicholajoss.com) and Su-Man (su-man.com) who first gave me a facial in her shed at home and now has a residency at the W Hotel in London.

On speed dial: Dr Jules Nabet (from 280, doctorjulesnabet.com) for Botox a couple of times a year. He doesnt give me much in my forehead and around my eyes, but he keeps it all moving and natural.

Anna-Marie Solowij

Co-founder of the beauty boutique BeautyMart (thisisbeautymart.com) and former beauty director of Vogue magazine

Cant live without: Deep Relax Bath and Shower Oil from Aromatherapy Associates (49, aromatherapyassociates.com). When I dont use it, I dont sleep well.

Brilliant bargain: Aveeno Daily Moisturising After-Shower Mist (7.50, superdrug.com)  the only moisturiser I use! Its a spray that dries quickly and isnt greasy, and the effects last a couple of days.

Little luxury: Hair by Sam McKnight Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo (19, sammcknight.com). I use it whenever my hair, needs a lift, for volumising and thickening.

On speed dial: The Cosmetic Skin Clinic (cosmeticskinclinic.com) for Ultherapy. Not comfortable, but using ultrasound to boost collagen production is, I think, the only thing that makes a difference to a turkey neck. My annual top-up is already in the diary.

Celebrity makeup artist Hannah Martin says Bobbi Brown Lip Balm (pictured) has the perfect combination of protecting and moisturising

Hannah Martin

Celebrity makeup artist (instagram.com/hannahmartinmakeup)

Cant live without: Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray (12) and Texture Creme (24, bumbleandbumble.co.uk). My hair is a bit limp, so I love the messy, beachy look these give it. I hyperventilate if I cant find them!

Brilliant bargain: Bobbi Brown Lip Balm (17, bobbibrown.co.uk). I always have about five. Its the only one Ive found thats the perfect combination of protecting and moisturising.

Little luxury: Drunk Elephant skincare (spacenk.com)  Im obsessed. A friend got me into it. I use vitamin C day serum (67) and glycolic night serum (76) daily. In six months, I went from really congested to normal, clear skin.

On speed dial: Jack at Nevilles hair salon (nevillehairandbeauty.net, cuts from 150). I only see him once or twice a year, but he is fantastic. We met on a shoot six years ago and I wouldnt go anywhere else.
A woman who was born with a rare condition that causes her skin to appear thick and scaly has credited her self-confidence to the positive affirmations her mother made her say in front of the mirror.

When fitness instructor Brittany Mickens, 31, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, was born, she was rushed to a nearby children's hospital because doctors didn't know what was wrong with her skin, and her family was told she wouldn't live past the age of one.

As Brittany grew up, her skin grew thick, dry and scaly, but doctors dismissed this as an extreme case of eczema, prescribing her strong creams to treat her skin, which would only work for a few weeks at a time before her skin reverted to the condition it was in before.

Strength: Brittany Mickens (pictured), from Fredericksburg, Virginia, was born with a rare condition that causes her skin to appear thick and scaly

Struggle: When Brittany, 31, was born, doctors weren't sure what was wrong with her skin and gave her just one year to live

Confusion: As Brittany (pictured as a child) grew up, doctors mistook her condition for an extreme case of eczema - a condition that causes dry, itchy skin and rashes on the skin

'I was misdiagnosed as a child and was told that I had really bad eczema,' Brittany explained.

'When I was first born I was rushed to a nearby children's hospital in Washington, D.C. because they didn't know what was wrong with me, and eventually was told I wouldn't live past a year.'

Support: Brittany credits her mother, Wanda, for encouraging her to have confidence and love herself growing up

Growing up, people would stare at Brittany and notice that her skin appeared different to theirs.

'I would get a few stares, but it was rare that anyone would say anything to me about my skin. I didn't feel any different, but I knew I was different.'

But thanks to her mother, Wanda, who instilled a strong sense of self-love in her by getting her to repeat positive affirmations in the mirror, Brittany has learned to love herself for who she is.

'My mother made sure that I accepted myself and I was proud to be who I was,' she said.

'She would often make me look in the mirror and repeat, "I love you, you are beautiful," over and over again. And one day I finally realized what she was doing, and I am so grateful for her making me do that.

'She was extremely important, if it weren't for her constantly instilling positive affirmations in me, I wouldn't be as confident as I am. She never let me dwell on the fact that I was different.'

Condition: When Brittany was 18 years old, a dermatologist officially diagnosed her with a rare skin condition called ichthyosis

It wasn't until Brittany started university at age 18 and went to a new dermatologist that she was diagnosed with ichthyosis, a condition that causes widespread and persistent thick, dry, 'fish scale' skin.

Confident: Brittany, pictured with her grandmother, sometimes gets stared at in public, but says that she doesn't let it phase her

According to Mayo Clinic, the condition is caused by a genetic mutation that has been inherited from one or both parents.

A permanent cure has not yet been found for the skin condition, and the available treatments focus solely on controlling it.

However, the diagnosis allowed Brittany to finally understand why prescribed creams and medicines never worked on her skin before.

After visiting the dermatologist eight times a year for 25 years, Brittany was fed up of putting chemicals on her skin for them to work and then eventually stop working.

Therefore, she has opted for a natural approach to her skin care, which involves using natural shea butter with essential oils, gold bond ultimate radiance renewal and cocoa butter Vaseline after a shower.

She also began using Jamaican black castor oil on her skin at night.

Realization: After being diagnosed with the condition, Brittany finally made sense of why prescribed creams and medicines never worked on her skin before

Family love: Brittany, pictured with her family, said that her family have been a great source of support as they encourage her to be 'the best version' of herself

Encouragement: The 31-year-old recalled her mother regularly making her stand in front of a mirror and say, 'I love you and I am beautiful,' in order to boost her self-esteem

'When I went to college and found a new dermatologist, that's when I found out that I had ichthyosis. Because I had the wrong diagnosis all of the medicines that were prescribed to me only worked for a few weeks,' she explained.

Brittany said that growing up with the condition was tough, but her mother, Wanda, helped build her up by regularly reminding her that she looked beautiful.

'I sometimes get stared at and asked different questions, but I don't let it consume my day. Most of the time I forget that I have ichthyosis,' she said.

There are at least 20 different types of ichthyosis and there is no cure for any of the variations of the condition.

However, moisturizing and exfoliating the skin on a daily basis can help prevent dryness, scaling and build-up of skin cells.

Brittany makes sure she keeps her skin well moisturized at all times to prevent it from becoming painful, and she has to be especially careful in the winter as the cold weather can make her skin worse.

Prevention: To treat the condition, for which there is no permanent cure, Brittany has to keep her skin well moisturized at all times to prevent it from becoming painful

Inspiration: Brittany, who now works as a fitness instructor, said that she is 'grateful to be me' and wants to inspire others struggling with different issues to embrace their differences

Positive: The 31-year-old said that although her journey isn't easy, remaining positive is the key to coping and living with the skin condition

She explained how her family have always supported her and are proud of her embracing her difference.

'My family and friends love it and have always encouraged me to be the best version of myself,' Brittany said. 'My tribe is always uplifting me and have told me that they admire me and my strength.

'I absolutely love me some me. I am grateful to be me. The way I feel about myself keeps my attitude positive and want to inspire others.

'To others, I would say always love yourself and you were chosen to deal with this for a reason; it's all in how you deal with it. Perspective is key, always remain positive and it's best to work on your heart first.

'The journey is not always easy, but you're here, so do it with a smile,' she added.

'Daily affirmations are extremely important; find you one that relates to you best, mine is: 'Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it.' Psalms 139:14.'
It may still be August, but the Danish royals were forced to wrap up against a wintry chill as they continued their tour of the Faroe Islands.

Leading the way was Crown Princess Mary, 46, casually clad in a gilet and cosy grey knit with a woollen beanie.

She was joined by husband Crown Prince Frederik and their children Princesses Josephine, 7, and Isabella, 11, plus Princes Christian, 12, and Vincent, 7.

While the young princesses were on their best behaviour, their brothers were clearly in a mischievous mood, tussling play-fighting for the cameras as their parents looked on.

The family is paying a four-day visit to the Danish island after the couple touched down in the Island's capital of Torshavn on Thursday.

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Denmark's Crown Princess Mary is joined by her daughter, seven-year-old Princess Josephine, on the second day of the royal family's visit to the Faroe Islands archipelago

Denmark's Princess Isabella, right, and her little sister Princess Josephine snuggle up to keep warm amid chilly temperatures in the Danish archipelago on Friday

While the young princesses were on their best behaviour, Princes Christian and Vincent were in a mischievous mood, tussling play-fighting for the cameras as their parents looked on

Prince Christian and Prince Vincent play fighting in the Faroe Islands on Friday. The family is paying a four-day visit to the Danish island after the couple touched down in the Island's capital of Torshavn on Thursday

Crown Princess Mary was joined by husband Crown Prince Frederik (pictured) and their children Princesses Josephine, 7, and Isabella, 11, plus Princes Christian, 12, and Vincent, 7

Family portrait! Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Princess Josephine, and Prince Vincent pose in front of the statue of the Selkie (Seal Woman) during their visit to the Faroe Islands on Friday

Steeped in controversy: The family's visit came just two days after dozens of pilot whales and white-sided dolphins were slaughtered as part of the annual hunting season on the Faroe Islands

There the Crown Prince Couple participate in an official greeting ceremony on the quay, where the prime minister will deliver a speech welcoming them before paying a visit to the rowing club Knrrur.

They will later visit the government buildings on the Tinganes peninsulal. They will take part in a second welcoming ceremony at the square Vagli in the city centre.

The family's visit came just two days after dozens of pilot whales and white-sided dolphins were slaughtered as part of the annual hunting season on the Faroe Islands.

Every summer, some 800 pilot and beaked whales, as well as dolphins, are killed for their meat across the Faroe Islands, a Danish archipelago located hundreds of miles off the Scottish coast between Norway and Iceland.

Motherly love: Crown Princess Mary shared a tender moment with her youngest son, Vincent

The Danish royal couple with their four children. The family's visit came just two days after dozens of pilot whales and white-sided dolphins were slaughtered as part of the annual hunting season on the Faroe Islands

Whale driving on the Faroe Islands date back to the late 16th century and involve residents herding pods of whales into shallow waters.

They are then killed using a 'spinal lance' that is inserted through the animal's neck to break its spinal cord.

Locals carry out the hunts ahead of the sparse winter months, with the meat served salted or cut into steaks and the blubber sliced up and eaten raw.

The family of six arrived on the Faroe islands for the start of their four-day visit on Thursday.

Princess Josephine looked rather morose as she wrapped up against the autumnal chill

Prince Christian looked all grown up as he explored the Faroe Islands with his family on Friday

Mary, along with the rest of the family, was dressed in traditional Faroe costume in honour of her visit.

She and her two daughters wore the female dress of a dress and open sweater laced together using silver buttons and finished with a cape.

Meanwhile her husband and their two sons wore a waistcoat and felt coat with silver buttons, blue stockings and the famous floppy hat.

The family travelled from their home in Copenhagen by boat waving to the islanders as they approached the shore.

The family were greeted by the island's locals who had gathered in anticipation of their arrival, presenting Mary with an elegant posy as she stepped from the boat.
Lara Trump has revealed that she is fostering a new pup, and she celebrated the newest addition to her family by taking her dogs and her 11-month-old son, Luke, for a stroll through Central Park this week.

The 35-year-old wife of Eric Trump dressed casually in a black T-shirt, camouflage leggings, and flip flops while holding two of her three dogs' leashes for the scenic walk in New York on Thursday.

Little Luke, who was pushed in his stroller by his nanny, was barefoot and matched his mom with his camouflage leggings.

Helping hand: Lara Trump was joined by her nanny as she took her 11-month-old son for a walk through Central Park in New York City on Thursday

Hand full: While the nanny pushed Luke's stroller, Lara walked her rescue Ben (left) and Caesar (right) the new dog she is fostering

Too cute: Little Luke was barefoot while sitting in his stroller during the outing

Lara's friend walked her beagle Charlie, while she took care of her rescues Ben and Caesar, the dog they are fostering.

The mother-of-one shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of mirrored aviators, which she occasionally wore resting on the top of her head.

She wore minimal jewelry aside from her engagement ring and a gold bangle that she had on her left wrist.

Despite her casual look for her trip to the park, her long blonde hair looked like it had been freshly blown out.

Group outing: Lara was also joined by a friend, who was seen holding her dog Charlie's leash

On the go: Lara carried her cellphone in her hand as she wrangled the two dogs she was walking

Covered: The mother-of-one shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of mirrored aviators

Outfit of the day: Lara donned camouflage leggings, a black T-shirt, and flip flops for the casual outing

Lara spent most of the outing talking on her cellphone, and she appeared to be having quite the conversation.

She and her dogs walked ahead of Luke while she was on the phone, and at one point, her jaw dropped over something that was said on the other line.

When she wasn't on her cellphone, she held it in her hand while walking between her nanny and her son and her friend.

Her baby boy, who will be celebrating his first birthday next month, looked perfectly content in his stroller while he was pushed by his nanny.

The group was closely followed by two Secret Service agents as they made their way to Central Park's vintage carousel, but it was already closed when they arrived.

In a hurry? The mom walked slightly ahead of the group during the walk

Multitasking mom: Lara spent most of the walk chatting on her cellphone

Say what? At one point, her jaw dropped over something that was said on the other line

Mommy and me: Little Luke matched his mother in camouflage pants

Milestone: Luke will be celebrating his first birthday on September 12

Added touch: Despite her casual look for her trip to the park, her long blonde hair looked like it had been freshly blown out

Protected: The group was closely followed by two Secret Service agents (right)

Lara and her friend were seen speaking with someone inside the pavilion that houses the carousel, but little Luke never ended up getting a chance to ride it.

Earlier in the day, the proud mom took to Instagram to share a heartwarming video of her three dogs swarming around Luke while he is eating his breakfast in his high chair.

It looks like Caesar is already feeling comfortable with Luke, and the video shows him jumping up and putting his front legs on the tray of the little boy's high chair while looking for food.

'Excuse me Caesar, excuse me,' she says. When the foster dog finally gets down, she thanks him.

'Just 4 dogs having breakfast #DogCentral,' she captioned the cute clip.

End game: Lara and her team were headed to Central Park's vintage carousel

Doting mom: Lara stopped to check on Luke when the arrived at the pavilion that houses the carousel

Too late: The carousal was already closed by the time they got there

Waiting game: Lara's nanny and a Secret Service agent watched over Luke while she talked to someone working the carousal

Casual Friday: The next day, Lara's husband, Eric Trump, 34, was seen grabbing an iced coffee as he made his way to work at Trump Tower

On Wednesday, Lara posted a snapshot of herself cuddling Caesar as well as a picture of him posed with her dogs Charlie and Ben while revealing that she is currently fostering him.

'Welcome to our (foster) family, Caesar! We may only have you for a few days, but we will love you forever! #FosterSavesLives #UnderBite #rescuedogsrocknyc,' she captioned the image.

Although she made it clear that she was only fostering Caesar, it's possible that she may change her mind about keeping him.

Two years ago, Ben was brought to her home as a foster, but she and Eric, 34, and up making him a permanent member of their family.

Lara was spotted out with Caesar on Friday morning as well, while her husband was seen getting an iced coffee from Starbucks as he made his way to work at his Trump Tower office.

Right at home: Before their walk on Thursday, Lara posted a cute video of Caesar having breakfast with baby Luke

Animal advocate: Lara shared a photo of herself cuddling Caesar on Wednesday to announce that she was fostering him

One of the gang: The dog lover couldn't resist sharing a snapshot of Caesar with Charlie and Ben

Eric looked like he was feeling casual Friday in his light blue Trump International Dubai polo shirt and khaki pants.

Lara is an advocate for animals, and earlier this month, she joined an animal rights crusade to end greyhound racing in Florida alongside the state's Attorney General Pam Bondi.

President Trump's daughter-in-law made a special guest appearance at the fundraiser 'Protect Dogs - Yes on 13,' which took place in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The fundraiser was sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States and GREY2K USA, a non-profit organization that promotes the protection of greyhound laws.

Lara has played a role in several other animal rights campaigns  most notably Pets for Vets, which couples mentally and physically ill veterans and homeless pets.
French actor Vincent Cassel, 51, has tied the knot with 21-year-old model Tina Kunakey in a low-key ceremony today.

The couple, who started dating in 2016, were the picture of newly-wedded bliss as they shared a kiss following the nuptials at the city hall in Bidart, south-west France.

The bride looked breathtaking in a strapless ivory gown with a plunging strapless sweetheart neckline and a full princess skirt.

Wedding bells: French actor Vincent Cassel, 51, has tied the knot with 21-year-old model Tina Kunakey in a low-key ceremony at the city hall in Bidart, south-west France, today

Here comes the bride! Cassel's draw dropped as he saw Tina in her dress for the first time

Sealed with a kiss: The couple shared a tender moment after exchanging their vows inside

She wore her trademark natural curls loose and accentuated her stunning facial features with just the lightest touch of make-up.

Tina couldn't keep the smile from her face as she left city hall, carrying a simple bouquet of white blooms in one hand and clutching Cassel's hand in the other.

The Black Swan actor, who has two daughters with ex-wife Monica Belluci, looked effortlessly cool in a cream linen suit and an open pink shirt.

Radiant: Tina, who is represented by IMG models, beamed as she was welcomed by the groom

Well-wishers: Dozens gathered to celebrate the bride as they made their way into the city hall

Newlyweds! Cassel and Tina couldn't keep the smiles from their faces as they emerged

He finished the look with a pair of black sunglasses which made him look every inch the Hollywood movie star.

Photographers were on hand to capture the moment Cassel first laid eyes on his bride.

Images show the actor with his mouth open in wonderment as she stepped out of a black car, the train of her dress draped elegantly across the back seat.

After the ceremony the couple were happy to pose for photos as dozens well-wishers and residents gathered to share in the excitement of the big day.

Hand-in-hand: The beaming newlyweds were greeted by friends and family blowing bubbles

Look of love: The model's happiness was clear to see as she gazed lovingly at her new husband

Showstopper: Tina dazzled in a plunging strapless gown with a large princess skirt

The couple, who live in Brazil, were first linked back in July 2016 when Tina, then 19, shared a social media snap of herself cuddling up to the then 49-year-old actor while smoking a cigarette.

Cassel rose to fame in Matthieu Kassovitz's 1995 film La Haine (Hate) and starred in Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, as well as Eastern Promises and Black Swan.

He married Italian actress Bellucci, 53, in 1999 after meeting on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment.

The couple welcomed two daughters, Deva, 13, and Leonie, eight, before divorcing in 2013 after 14 years of marriage.

You may now kiss the bride! Cassel leaned into kiss his stunning new wife for the cameras

Effortlessly chic: The stylish couple, who met in 2016, were the picture of laid-back cool
A woman has dedicated her life to caring for thousands of adorable guinea pigs.

Saskia Chiesa, 49, set up Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue 20 years ago in Chatsworth, California.

After discovering that there was no place for rescued guinea pigs to go in LA, Saskia knew she had to set up her own to save her spirit animal.

Passionate: Saskia Chiesa, 49, set up Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue 20 years ago in Chatsworth, California

Helping: Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue is now home to up to 350 guinea pigs at a time and the organization is always taking in more rescues and surrendered pigs

Care: The sanctuary puts all the guinea pigs up for adoption and Saskia is passionate about educating people on how to give them the best care possible

The guinea pig lover expected to start slowly, but found herself with 20 guinea pigs with health problems within the first month.

'I decided to rescue guinea pigs because it's my spiritual animal! The memory of my first guinea pig, I picked it up and I was just so taken,' she said.

'I was just totally mesmerized, it was just this beautiful creature. Ever since then, you know, my whole life's gone to the pigs!'

Los Angeles Guinea Pig Rescue is now home to up to 350 guinea pigs at a time and the organization is always taking in more rescues and surrendered pigs.

'Life here at the sanctuary is hectic, it is very hectic. There's never a moment where there's nothing to do, it's an ongoing thing!' she said.

'You know, I decided to rescue guinea pigs because I started looking for the guinea pig rescue because it's my spirit animal, and there wasn't any.

'I was expecting one or two to start with but there were 20 of them! They all had skin diseases so I was thrown in the deep right away.'

Care: At the sanctuary, the guinea pigs can receive health checks and get their nails as well as their hair taken care of

Benefits: Volunteer Melissa Brown (pictured left next to Saskia) says the pigs have changed her life and helped her cope with anxiety and depression

Adoption: Visitors can come to the shelter to choose a guinea pig of their own

Activities: People who own guinea pigs can bring them to the shelter for play dates

Volunteer Melissa Brown says the pigs have changed her life.

'I just love this place. I call this pig paradise, this is my home away from home,' Melissa said.

'I love when kids come in and families come in here, and they're just so excited and overwhelmed because there's a lot of guinea pigs in here!

'They're life changing  I have suffered with anxiety, depression, just a lot of emotional problems growing up, and I feel now that the therapy that they give me, I definitely could have benefited in my earlier years and I wish I could've known that.'

The sanctuary also provides health checks for the guinea pigs, and services such as manicures and a dash of hair styling.

Bonding: Families looking to adopt a guinea pig can visit the shelter to find their new pet

Needed: Saskia expected the shelter to have a slow start, but found herself with 20 guinea pigs with health problems within the first month

Manicure: Guinea pigs get their nails trimmed regularly at the shelter

The spa treatment: Saskia also trims and cares for the guinea pigs' hair

Instructions: The guinea pig lover insists that the pets shouldn't be kept in small cages and are best left to run around instead

Falling in love: Saskia says she was 'mesmerized' the first time she picked up a guinea pig

'We do health checks, where we just do a little scan, a nail clip and, of course, we do adult matchmaking services,' Saskia said.

'So, if we have a guinea pig that's lonely then you can bring the guinea pig and we'll just have a few play dates. Same-sex of course because we don't breed here!'

The sanctuary puts all the guinea pigs up for adoption and Saskia is passionate about educating people on how to give them the best care possible.

'The pigs require a lot of space, so the small guinea pigs cages that the pet stores sell, that they say is the perfect set up or a starter kit for the guinea pigs, they're not,' she said.

'It's cruel, actually, to have them in the smaller cages because they do want to walk around.'
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Racegoers hoping for a glimmer of sunshine at York this morning were left bitterly disappointed when they were greeted by grey skies and blustery conditions.

As day three of the Yorkshire Ebor Festival got underway on Friday, women rushed to keep their tresses in place as strong gusts of wind blew up their skirts and threatened to send hats flying.

The high-profile race meeting, which runs over four days ending on Saturday, attracts racing enthusiasts from all over the country each year and is a chance for guests to don their finery.

Temperatures plummeted to a chilly 15 degrees in York today with rain expected later on, but the first signs of of autumn didn't stop racegoers from sporting vibrant sun dresses and sleeveless frocks.

Friday's schedule kicked off with the Sky Bet Handicap shortly before 2pm, followed by the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup. The action will conclude with the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes where bookies' favourite Battaash will take on Blue Point.

Rain, rain, go away! Racing fans defied gloomy weather on Friday as they donned their glad rags for York's Ebor Festival. The equestrian event offers guests a chance to showcase flamboyant outfits in the hopes of being crowned Best Dressed

Blustery conditions send hair flying (left and right) and skirts flapping in the wind as women arrive at the Ebor Festival this morning . There is no formal dress code at the Ebor Festival - with the exception of a shirt and tie for men in the County Stand

One woman struggles to keep her headgear in place at the Ebor Festival on Friday. It comes after thousands donned their glad rags for Ladies Day, one of the highlights of the equestrian calendar and a chance for racing fans to show off their style

Temperatures plummeted to a chilly 15 degrees in York today, signalling the start of autumn, but that didn't stop racegoers from donning vibrant, summer frocks, from a green mini (left) to a pastel blue and orange sun dress (right)

There is no formal dress code at the Ebor Festival - with the exception of an obligatory jacket, shirt and tie for men in the County Stand - but guests are reminded to dress 'within the bounds of decency' and take inspiration from 'wedding attire'.

Women are, however, encouraged to sport 'dresses, high heeled shoes together with hats or fascinators' on the event's official website - although organisers note that 'its most important that you feel comfortable and enjoy your day'.

It comes after thousands wore their glad rags for Ladies Day on Thursday, one of the highlights of the equestrian calendar and a chance for racing fans to show off their best outfits.

Ladies Day offers female guests a chance to showcase their most flamboyant outfits as they compete in the style stakes, with eye-popping colours, plunging necklines and eye-catching headgear on display.

Thursday saw guests gather for the much-anticipated Darley Yorkshire Oaks with some 350,000 in cash up for grabs as last year's winners - English (Forever Together), Irish (Sea of Class) and French (Laurens) - went head to head.

Braving the elements! Glamorous racegoers try to make the most of the blustery weather after touching down on York on Friday. Ebor Festival is a high-profile race meeting which and runs over four days ending on Saturday

Windy conditions send hats flying at the York Races on Friday. Women are encouraged to sport 'dresses, high heeled shoes together with hats or fascinators' on the event's official website - although organisers note comfort is 'most important'

One brightly-dressed woman and her two friends try their best to keep their feathered titfers in place after touching down at York Racecourse on Friday for the penultimate day of the Ebor Festival, a highlight in the equestrian calendar

Windy conditions didn't deter equestrian fans from wearing their best headgear at York's Ebor Festival on Friday. One woman (pictured) opted for a royal blue number that matched her dress featuring a statement frilled shoulder

Despite shunning warmer clothing for summer-inspired fashion - perhaps in a bid to scoop the title of Best Dressed - women were faced with the challenge of chilly temperatures and strong gusts of wind at York's Ebor Festival on Friday

SportsMail revealed this week how the racecourse has installed new locks on disabled toilets in its most expensive enclosure in a bid to combat recreational drug use.

Drug 'honesty boxes' have also now been introduced on the racecourse throughout the festival dubbed 'the Ascot of the north' and sniffer dogs will once again be present at the gates.

Security stewards will also wear new 'personalised' high-visibility tabards saying 'We are here to keep you safe' in the hopes that it will deter guests from becoming embroiled in drunken brawls.

The Ebor Festival, which kicked off on Wednesday, is sponsored by Sky Bet and features three Group One fixtures.

York racegoers smile for the cameras before the day's fixtures get underway. SportsMail revealed this week how the racecourse has installed new locks on disabled toilets in its most expensive enclosure in a bid to combat drug use

Guests get stuck into the champagne early on as they arrived at York Races on Friday, perhaps in a bid to ward off the cold weather as temperatures plummeted to 15 degrees. Rain is forecast at the Ebor Festival later on this afternoon

Women get started on the cocktails early at the Ebor Festival. SportsMail revealed this week how York Racecourse has installed new locks on disabled toilets in its most expensive enclosure in a bid to combat recreational drug use

It is widely regarded as the most prestigious meeting at York in the calendar, and this year sees a record 5million in prize money up for grabs, according to the event's official website.

Tickets start at just 12 for a spot in the Clocktower Enclosure, going up to 62 for the County Stand.

Each day throughout the four-day festival, racegoers will have the opportunity to watch and participate in the Ebor Fashion Lawn, a catwalk culminating in the announcement of the 'best dressed racegoer' picked by a panel of judges.

Each lucky winner will be awarded 500 in gift vouchers or a personal shopping experience, organisers said.
Argos celebrates its 45th birthday this year and its status as an iconic British retailer has only been cemented by its famous catalogues.

But while a flick through its pages in 2018 means browsing phones, games consoles, smart technology and hi-tech toys, in the past its retail offering looked rather different.

From hooded 1970s hairdryers and his-and-hers matching outfits, and a dressing that doubled up as a bedspread, these hilarious vintage product listings from yesteryear show just how much Britain's tastes and trends have changed over the years.

A spokesperson for Argos said: 'Since it first launched in 1973, the Argos catalogue has been a social barometer of the nation's changing tastes, habits and interests.

'A delve into our archive is a fascinating experience, revealing how technology, home decor, fashion trends and leisure pursuits have evolved over the years. In some cases, the findings were laugh-out-loud hilarious.'

Here, we reveal the funniest images from the Argos catalogue archive.

Hair on the go: It's not uncommon to see ladies with their hair half-done walking down the street, but these portable hooded hairdryers from 1975 are something else entirely

Multi-purpose bedding: For true 2-in-1 functionality, look no further than the Jaguar Snug Sack from 1982, which could either be worn as a comfy gown or converted into a bedspread

Fitness fads: From 1975on the left you have the Automasseur Electrical Massage Machine with slip resistant foot mat - a steal at 15.95. In the centre you have the Bullworker, and to the right a Sculling Exerciser - could it make a comeback in 2019?

Men's athleisure, 1970s style: Back in 1973, you could get your hands on one of these beauties for under a tenner - bargain! 70s hairstyles not included

Another page from the men's athleisure section featuring matching tracksuits and cheesy grins. Argos celebrates its 45th birthday this year and its status as an iconic British retailer

Is it a blanket or a dress? The Luxury Princess Towelling Lounger, available in the 1978 catalogue for 19.95, came with wide sleeves and a zipper (left)

In the early years, the men and women of the Argos catalogue weren't afraid to get their kit off to flog bathroom essentials, solariums (pictured) and shower screens

DIY tan: This Argos model strips off in the name of beauty as she advertises a solarium. In the past there were some bizarre products on offer in the Argos catalogues

A shower advert in this vintage Argos ad was the perfect excuse for this model to strip off. An Argos spokesperson said: 'Who wouldn't want a jaguar snug sack that doubles up as a convenient bedspread throw? Or carpet tiles in various shades of brown and beige?'

A man strips off for an Argos shower advert. Argos catalogues from the past show just how much our tastes and trends have changed over the years

A model advertises a nifty beauty gadget in a vintage Argos catalogue. 'Since it first launched in 1973, the Argos catalogue has been a social barometer of the nation's changing tastes, habits and interests,' said an Argos spokesperson

His and hers bathrobes were all the rage according to this 1980s era Argos advert

Matching sportswear from all the family from brands including Adidas as seen in this Argos ad. The chain store has released the vintage photos to celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2018

Headphone hair: Throughout the 80s, the essential accessory for your portable cassette player was a backcombed barnet held up with lashings of hair spray or gel. And the real fashion-conscious threw a mullet in the mix too

Who said matching isn't cool? What woman wouldn't want to wear the exact same thing as her man? Whether it was bathrobes, boot-cut jeans or warming gilets, Argos' early catalogues had the perfect fit for every family. And as the 80s gave way to the 90s, even the kids got involved as families nationwide sported matching tracksuits. You might laugh, but these would fly off the rack at a vintage sale today

Tiles for every occasion: These loose-lay carpet tiles - 4.19 for a pack of nine in 1979 - were the perfect DIY flooring solution

Rugs and mats, 1973: Seeming to take inspiration from The Lord of the Rings' Eye of Sauron, these rugs are sure to darken any living room, and are typical of traditional early 70s decor

Bed spreads, 1970s: If you wanted a bedspread that looked like a tablecloth, the 1974 catalogue had you covered. Some readers will still be familiar with these, with many grandparents still getting them out for overnight guests at Christmas
Earlier this week Adrian Chiles opened up about his reliance on alcohol, but today the full extent of his drinking was revealed during an shocking segment on GMB.

The TV presenter, 51, recorded his drinking for a new documentary and discovered that he was drinking 100 units a week, and once consumed 33 units of booze in a single day.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Chiles said he didn't think he had a problem with drink because it didn't seem to be affecting him; he didn't get hangovers, drink alone or get in fights while drunk.

The show brought out dozens of glasses of beer and wine to reveal what a hundred units actually looked like, with Chiles admitting that it made him question why he had chosen to drink so much.

Adrian Chiles, 51, said he didn't realise how much he was drinking after discovering he drinks up to a hundred units of alcohol a week. Pictured on Good Morning Britain on Friday

Chiles, who is a Radio 5 Live presenter, had 'niggles' of worry about his drinking habits before he found out how much he actually drinks.

He said: 'I kind of knew, it niggled away at me, that a day without drink didn't really feel like a proper day. I was just aware I kind of needed it, but I thought, "why did I need it?".

'Why did I need those one or two pints early evening, why, if I had a party tonight with a hundred of my best friends, why would I be looking forward to it less if I couldn't drink?

'I just thought it was a bit odd. I thought, hang on, I'm 51 now, I've been drinking since I was 15, it's always been a massive part of my life.'

The show brought out dozens of glasses of beers and wine (pictured) in the GMB studio to show what a hundred units of booze actually looks like

Chiles didn't think he had an alcohol problem because it didn't seem to be affecting him; he didn't get hangovers, drink alone or get in fights while drunk. Pictured enjoying a bottle of beer in a snap posted to Instagram

In Drinkers Like Me he discovered that in one Saturday he drank four pints of Guinness in the morning, then a couple of beers, a bottle of wine and then more beer at a friend's birthday party.

This added up a whopping 33 units, which made him realise he was 'in trouble'.

Chiles continued: 'I thought, I'm in trouble here, I didn't realise how much I was drinking. Superficially I had no bad effects from it, it didn't affect me, I was kind of too good at it.

'I don't get hangovers, I don't fight, I don't wake up with strangers, I don't drink during the day, I don't drink alone. All these things I didn't do, but in fact I was a very heavy drinker without realising it.'

He admitted that looking at all the glasses of alcohol was shocking to him as it made him wonder if he had needed all the booze he used to drink. Pictured: 100 units of alcohol on Good Morning Britain

Chiles explores his reliance on alcohol in new BBC documentary Drinkers Like Me, which airs on Monday. Pictured: A promotional picture for the show

When he looked at the amount of glasses of beer and wine in the studio, he admitted that it made him think about the alcohol he'd consumed in his life.

He said: 'I'm looking at that now, I'm looking at all the drinks I've had in my life and I'm thinking how many of those drinks did I really need, or want, or enjoy and how many were out of habit?

'Just because I was out and somebody wanted me to have one and I was just doing it because I couldn't think of anything else to do. I just want to shrink it down to the drinks that I really want and need.'

In his new documentary he learns that his drinking puts him at risk of liver failure, cirrhosis and death.

He admitted he'd had 'niggles' of worry about his drinking habits before he found out how much he actually drinks. Pictured with Good Morning Britain presenters Ranvir Singh and Charlotte Hawkins

He recently called himself 'undoubtedly dependent' on alcohol and vowed to cut back his drinking. Pictured: A promotional picture for Drinks Like Me

Adrian, who split from wife Jane Garvey in 2009 has decided to address the normality of drinking in the new documentary, revealed he doesn't 'drink more' because he's divorced now and said his love of booze wasn't a factor in the demise of their marriage.

Speaking to the Radio Times, he said he was 'undoubtedly dependent' on alcohol.

He said: 'The word 'alcoholic' is outdated, but I am undoubtedly dependent on alcohol to some extent  and if I am, thousands of others are.

'The only days I literally drank nothing were when I was broadcasting in the evening.'
The Kent fire chief has supported calls for Fireman Sam to be renamed Firefighter Sam as part of a movement to encourage more women to join the service.

Ann Millington, the Chief Executive of the Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said the fire brigade is 'missing 50 per cent of the talent' they could recruit by having low numbers of women.

On ITV's Good Morning Britain she was asked if she supported changing the name of the cartoon character, and she responded: 'Yes I would.'

He comments were criticised by GMB viewers, who said the suggestion was proof 'the world's gone mad'.

Ann Millington, the Chief Executive of the Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said she would support claims for Fireman Sam to be renamed Firefighter Sam to encourage more women to join the service. Pictured on Good Morning Britain on Friday

The show was discussing the issue after the London Fire Brigade began campaigning to change outdated perceptions of firefighting to encourage women to join the service.

They recently criticised a scene in this year's Love Island when male contestants performed a sexy routine dressed as firemen to impress the female stars.

Ms Millington, who isn't a firefighter herself, said it encourages the stereotype that firefighting is just for muscular men and is not a job for women.

She said: 'It's down to really entrenched views about what the job is about and also a long, long, long history as being male. The same way you say nurse: female, people say firefighter: male. That's been going on for a long time.'

He comments were criticised by GMB viewers on Twitter (pictured), with one saying the suggesiton was proof 'the world's gone mad'

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said using the world 'firefighter' instead of 'fireman' would encourage more women to sign up. Pictured: Cartoon character Fireman Sam

When Ranvir asked if female firefighters would like Fireman Sam to have a name change, she said: 'We would and when Love Island's on next year it'd be fabulous to see some women carrying some men across the piece as well.'

GMB viewers, however, were against changing the name, with many taking to Twitter to criticise Ms Millington's comments.

One tweeted: 'Oh give it a rest. He is supposed to be a man who fights fires he is a fireman. He is not a firemanwoman.'

'When will this PC stuff stop? He is a man #giveitarest,' another posted.

A third said: 'He is a man? cartoon character is male therefore he is fireman Sam and has been for years, this is just PC gone mad.'

'Oh please!!! The world's gone bloody mad!!!!!' another wrote.

Ms Millington was supporting calls made by London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton, who launched a campaign to stop people using the term 'fireman' and to use the gender neutral 'firefighters' instead.

She told The Guardian last year: 'One single thing that would help bring more women into the service? Stop saying 'fireman'.

Firefighters have criticised Love Island for featuring a scene in which male contestants did a sexy fireman routine for the female stars (pictured). Ms Millington said she wants next year's female contestants to do a firefighter routine instead

Just 5.3 per cent of firefighters in England are women and London Fire Brigade are campaigning to change the perception of the job so more women join. Pictured: Women firefighters in World War Two, during which there was 90,000 women doing the job

'Why did they have to go for Fireman Sam? What's wrong with Firefighter Sam?'

Just 5.3 per cent of firefighters in England are women, and Ms Millington said the service is 'missing out' on hiring talented women.

She said: 'In reality when you're in a fire you almost don't care who comes. What we care about is we're missing 50 per cent of the talent that we could recruit.

'When we go out to find firefighters something like 7,000 people applied the last time we went out in Kent.'
Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways has reported a 45.5 per cent growth in operating revenue and a record increase of 42.8 per cent in passenger numbers in 2018 when compared to figures posted in 2017.



The companys adjusted net profit stood at KD8.7 million ($28.5 million) in 2018 while its reported net profit came in at KD6.7 million ($21.9 million) taking into account the impact of the irregular disruptions that took place during the year and the contribution of the terminal which opened in May 2018 but did not have any impact on the comparable year.



Adjusted operating profit was recorded at KD8.8 million ($28.8 million), up 13.9 per cent from 2017.



Passenger numbers registered in 2018 totalled 2.0 million and load factor was 75.2 per cent, up from 73.9 per cent in 2017.



Jazeera Airways chairman, Marwan Boodai, said: 2018 was another milestone year for Jazeera Airways as it continued to expand its network by adding seven popular destinations to serve a growing customer-base, especially in the Indian sub-continent. The expansion has enabled Jazeera Airways to grow from carrying passengers point to point to and from Kuwait, to routing passengers through the Kuwait hub to their ultimate destinations. Supporting the expansion, we took delivery of the first A320neo in the Middle East and made an order for an additional three of the fuel-saving engine aircraft. Choosing Jazeera Airways as the first airline to receive the new model in the region is proof of the confidence that major manufacturers and lessors have in the company backed by its exceptionally strong financial position and superior track record."



We also achieved another important milestone in the development of our business model, which is the inauguration of our dedicated terminal at Kuwait International Airport; a significant game-changer for our operations and customer experience. We are now able to invest in and roll-out new customer-centric services that have started to show direct results in customer satisfaction and also in the bottom line.



Since it started operations in May 2018, all Jazeera Airways passengers flew from the new Jazeera Terminal, which carried more than 1.2 million passengers since its inauguration. The Duty Free and other retail shops started operations while other services inside the terminal are consistently being added to further improve on customer experience.



During the year, Jazeera Airways was recertified by the Iata Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Program, an international recognition of our operational management and control systems.



The new destinations launched by Jazeera Airways are a testament of the success of its expansionary model as the airline managed to acquire leading market shares on new routes launched throughout 2018, leading with 43 per cent market share on Kuwait-Tiblisi, 42 per cent on Kuwait-Ahmedabad, 27 per cent on Kuwait-Kochi and 25 per cent on Kuwait-Lahore. Further, the airline operated its new route between Kuwait and New Delhi in the last two weeks of the year.



Fuel prices fluctuated considerably in 2018 with Brent reaching a peak of $86 per barrel. On average, the price of fuel was 30 per cent higher than that of 2017. Along with this, the regional competitive landscape remained strong and highly competitive. Our local market, however, witnessed some great developments with the number of travellers increasing by 8 per cent over the comparable period.



Boodai concluded: Jazeera Airways remained resilient despite these challenges and maintained zero debt by year-end. We look forward to 2019 to continue expanding our network to new destinations in Europe, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Gulf. The expansion will be supported with the delivery of three new A320neo aircraft, as part of a plan to increase our fleet in the coming years.



Jazeera Airways flies to 27 popular destinations across the Middle East, India and Europe comprising high-demand business, leisure, family and weekend destinations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Beirut, Alexandria, Amman, Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh, Assiut, Luxor, Mashhad, and many more.



The airline operates a fleet of Airbus A320s and an Airbus A320neo, the first to be operated in the Middle East. - TradeArabia News Service
While some women fork out a small fortune for bigger designer handbags to store their many items, others have turned to a more affordable option.

Global accessories company Cuyana has made headlines in recent times thanks to its AUD $130 Tote Insert - a simple organisation tool that is so popular stock keeps selling out.

The handy organisational tool is designed to put in large tote size bags to ensure all items have a specified place and can be found easily; the gadget perfect for busy mums and those who find themselves constantly on the move.

While some women fork out a small fortune for bigger designer handbags to store their many items, others have turned to a more affordable option

Global accessories company Cuyana has made headlines in recent times thanks to its AUD $130 Tote Insert (pictured)

The insert - which comes in four stylish colours - makes handbags more efficient as it includes a clip for keys, a laptop sleeve, a side pocket for your phone and water bottle holder with an elasticated to.

Once it is organised women can simply slip the insert effortlessly into their bags and head on their way.

According to a review on Business Insider, the insert has been a hit thanks to its 'minimalist and unobtrusive' style and convenient structure.

The handy organisational tool is designed to put in large tote size bags to ensure all items have a specified place and can be found easily; the gadget perfect for busy mums and those who find themselves constantly on the move

'The micro-suede looks high-end and low-profile so it's not immediately obvious it's an insert rather than the purse itself, and it's portable so I can pop it into other totes I own without removing everything first,' the review reads.

Available online in Australia, the insert is constantly being restocked - but you have to be quick.

'Insert is back in-stock, but not for long. (We have a few left, grab one before they are gone. More coming in the next couple of weeks, be sure to sign up for early access,' a recent post on the company's Instagram page read.

Available online in Australia, the insert is constantly being restocked - but you have to be quick

A hit in the online mum community, the insert has been praised by thousands of women for its simplicity.

'My tote bag organiser has arrived and it's a perfect fit. So if you're in need of an ALL leather tote with no branding on it check this out,' a customer wrote recently.

'The price point is unreal for the quality.'
A stunning model has announced plans to sell her virginity to the highest bidder - because she wants to make her mother 'proud'.

Mahbuba Mammadzada is one of Azerbaijan's most successful models, but says she needs to cash to pay for a house for her mum and finance her studies abroad.

The 23-year-old said: 'My mum did everything for me, now it is my turn. I want her to be proud of me.'

She is planning to auction off her virginity through the notorious Cinderella Escorts agency where young women sell sex to wealthy, often older, clients.

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada, pictured, is selling her virginity online to the highest bidder. She says she needs to cash to pay for a house for her mum and finance her studies abroad

Stunning Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada, pictured on a recent trip to Dubai, is putting her virginity up for auction on Cinderella Escorts. She recently recorded a video in which she explained her plans

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada has announced she will sell her virginity to the highest bidder online and says she needs the cash to buy her mother a house. It is understood that Cinderella Escorts will take up to 20 percent of the money as their part of the deal

Miss Mammadzada, who registered with the agency under the pseudonym Maria, recorded a video in which she explained her plans.

She said that she hopes to sell her virginity for at least 100,000 (90,000) to buy a house for her mum, fund her university degree abroad, and travel the world.

Miss Mammadzada says she even has a certified medical note confirming her virginity.

It is understood that Cinderella Escorts will take up to 20 percent of the money as their part of the deal.

For sale: Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada will use the cash made from selling her virginity to pay for her university studies abroad. She is planning to auction off her virginity through the notorious Cinderella Escorts agency

Up for auction: Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada, who registered with Cinderella Escorts agency under the pseudonym Maria, recorded a video in which she explained her plans to sell off her virginity to the highest bidder. She is hoping to make 90,000

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada is selling her virginity. She is using an online agency where young women sell sex to wealthy, often older, client

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada said that she hopes to sell her virginity for at least 100,000 (90,000) to buy a house for her mum, fund her university degree abroad, and travel the world.

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada, who is selling her virginity online, says she even has a certified medical note confirming her virginity

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada hopes to buy a house for her mum, fund her university degree abroad, and travel the world. Misss Mammadzada allegedly has a certified medical note confirming her virginity

Stunning Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada is auctioning off her innocence through the notorious Cinderella Escorts agency which specialises in mediating between beautiful young women prepared to cash in on their virginity

For sale: Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada is selling her virginity online. Earlier this year, she walked down the same catwalk as Paris Hilton in a Turkish fashion show, called the Land of the Legends

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada will sell her virginity for the highest bidder, she has revealed. The model, currently based in Turkey, hopes to work with the Brave Model agency, based in the Italian city of Milan, but says she still wants to help her family back at home

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada is selling her virginity online. The winning bidder will be able to have a doctor check Miss Mammadzada to make sure she is still a virgin before sleeping with her at a hotel in Germany

Azerbaijani model Mahbuba Mammadzada has more than 32,000 followers on Instagram and her bio reads: 'I don't care about anything but me. I'm always doing things I can't do. Yes, I'm a model, no I eat a lot. All the time'

The winning bidder will be able to have a doctor check Miss Mammadzada to make sure she is still a virgin before sleeping with her at a hotel in Germany.

The model, currently based in Turkey, hopes to work with the Brave Model agency, based in the Italian city of Milan, but says she still wants to help her family back at home.

Earlier this year, she walked down the same catwalk as Paris Hilton in a Turkish fashion show, called the Land of the Legends.

She has more than 32,000 followers on Instagram and her bio reads: 'I don't care about anything but me. I'm always doing things I can't do. Yes, I'm a model, no I eat a lot. All the time.'
A ten-year-old boy has recorded a heartbreaking video message for his mother who is living with incurable cancer.

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, wanted to pay tribute to mum Ann, who doesn't know how long she has left but has been told on two occasions to get her affairs in order.

Ann has endured eight bouts of chemotherapy over 10 years and has now run out of treatment options as the tumour has attached itself to the arteries around her heart - but the mother-of-three is trying to maintain 'normality' for the sake of her three children.

Seen through Ben's eyes, the video highlights how brave and strong his mum has been throughout his life.

The brave youngster praises his mum's resilience and says how 'proud' he and his two older sisters are of her.

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings (pictured with mum Ann) has recorded a poignant video message for his mother who is living with incurable cancer and doesn't know how long she has left

He says: 'She loses her hair sometimes, but us kids and other people think it makes her look strong her cancer doesn't stop her doing anything.

'She goes on holidays with us, she goes on water slides with us. All of us are helping to beat my mum's cancer. We always comfort her and give her a rest. We all are very proud of her.'

Ann, 47, has had a long and difficult journey with the disease, being diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer whilst she was 12 weeks pregnant with Ben.

The youngster explains: 'My mum has been sick for my whole life. When my mum first had cancer I was in her womb, she was very ill. The doctor said I might have breathing problems, but I think I'm good!'

With two young children already, Ann made the decision to start treatment during her third pregnancy.

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings (pictured with mum Ann and sisters Hannah and Emma) has praised his mother's resilience in the face of incurable cancer, and says how 'proud' the family is of her. Ann was diagnosed while pregnant with Ben but doesn't know how long she has left

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings (bottom right), pictured with mum Ann (far left), sisters Hannah and Emma and family, said of his cancer stricken mother: 'She loses her hair sometimes, but us kids and other people think it makes her look strong her cancer doesn't stop her doing anything'

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, pictured with mum Ann and sisters Hannah and Emma. Ann, 47, has had a long and difficult journey with the disease, being diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer whilst she was 12 weeks pregnant with Ben

She had a lumpectomy at 14 weeks and chemotherapy soon after. She was warned her baby would be premature and likely to have severe breathing problems.

Despite this, baby Ben was born on his exact due date in February 2008, without any medical problems, either then or since.

However, in March 2010 Ann discovered her cancer had spread. The tumour had attached itself to the arteries around her heart, so surgery wasn't an option.

This meant that her cancer was now incurable. Manageable, but not curable. Hospitals and medical care are a backdrop to her life  she is currently undertaking her eighth and what could be her final go at chemotherapy.

Ann Sandeman, 47, from Hastings had a lumpectomy 14 weeks into her pregnancy and chemotherapy soon after. She was warned her baby would be premature and likely to have severe breathing problems but son Ben, now ten, is happy and healthy

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, pictured with sisters Hannah and Emma was born on his exact due date in February 2008, without any medical problems, either then or since

Ben has taken part in five Race for Life events alongside his sisters, Hannah and Emma, in honour of his mum and shows incredible bravery in the face of Ann's diagnosis.

The brave youngster said: 'All of us are helping to beat my mum's cancer. We are all very proud of her.'

Ann, a former financial advisor, added: 'The very first time I took part in Race for Life I was pregnant with Ben and blissfully unaware that very soon after, I too would be diagnosed with cancer.

Ten-year-old Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, said of his cancer stricken mother: 'All of us are helping to beat my mum's cancer. We are all very proud of her'

School boy Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, has taken part in five Race for Life events alongside his sisters, Hannah and Emma, in honour of his mum and shows incredible bravery in the face of Ann's diagnosis

Ben Sandeman, from Hastings, is supporting Cancer Research UKs Race for Life in partnership with Tesco

'The kids do it every year and love it, especially Ben who always races round the course. They know they are making a difference in beating cancer, for me and all those affected by it.

'Having this video tribute from my children means the world to me, I am so very proud of them. They keep me positive and ready to take on whatever this disease has to throw at me.'

Ben, Ann and family are supporting Cancer Research UKs Race for Life in partnership with Tesco. Sign up at raceforlife.org and make a difference in beating cancer.
Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria proved she's a master of outfit changes as she swapped a laid-back daytime look for a polished evening ensemble.

The Scandi princess, 41, looked suitably resplendent as she stepped out in Stockholm on Thursday night for her second engagement of the day, marking a return to her busy schedule of royal duties following the summer break.

Just hours after her visit to Stockholm International Water Institute, the heir apparent to the Swedish throne stepped out for a performance at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, marking the opening of Bergman International Theatre Festival.

Glamorous in a printed A-line skirt and sheer blouse, the mother-of-two wore her hair tied back in her signature sleek bun.

Crown Princess Victoria looked laid-back in a nautical ensemble as she arrived at an engagement in Stockholm today (left); later swapping for a glamorous evening look (right)

She contrasted the pastel hues with a statement orange clutch and matching heels.

It was proof, if needed, summer is officially over for the Swedish royals after Victoria dropped her daughter Princess Estelle off on her first day of school on Tuesday.

The family are believed to have spent most of their holiday at Solliden palace in Oland.

Earlier on Thursday, the glamorous royal looked her stylish best in a nautical ensemble as she paid a visitto the Stockholm International Water Institute.

Victoria made a statement in a white pleated maxi skirt, complete with orange and blue stripes and teamed with a pair of blue stilettos.

Always a stickler for coordination the mother-of-two paired the ensemble with a navy blue silk blouse and a taupe leather tote.

Day to night: After her laid-back appearance this morning, Crown Princess Victoria was back to her glamorous best with a polished evening look at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm

Victoria's engagement tonight serves as proof, if needed, summer is officially over for the Swedish royals after she dropped her daughter off on her first day of school on Tuesday

Back to work: Crown Princess Victoria is now back in Stockholm after spending most of the summer holiday at Solliden palace in Oland with her family

She swept her brunette tresses into a low chignon, as she is want to do during engagements and opted for a natural beauty look for her meeting today.

The heir apparent appeared to be in high spirits today as she arrived in the Swedish capital to the cheer of local well wishers.

She was received by Torgny Holmgren, SIWI's Executive Director who was to take her on a tour of the vicinity.

It has been a busy week for Victoria since returning from her summer break with her daughter Estelle, six, beginning her first day at school on Tuesday.

All smiles: There were no back-to-work blues for Crown Princess Victoria, despite her summer break coming to an end earlier this week when she dropped her daughter off at school

Guest of honour: Victoria, heir to the Swedish throne, steps out for a performance at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, marking the opening of Bergman International Theatre Festival

She and her husband Prince Daniel, 44, were among the parents waving their children off from the school gates on their first day.

The youngster is starting her learning at Campus Manilla, one of Stockholm's most exclusive educational establishments.

Children in the Scandinavian country tend to start school later in the UK, with emphasis put on allowing children time to play before they begin learning in earnest.

Campus Manilla, based on the Stockholm island of Djurgarden, was founded by property mogul Knut Pousette in 2013 with funds from private backers.

Earlier today, the mother-of-two paid a visit to the Stockholm International Water Institute where she was received by the executive director Torgny Holmgren (seen left)

The heir apparent posed for photos along side the chair of SIWI Peter Forssman (left) and Torgny Holmgren before taking a tour of the vicinity

Earlier this week Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel were seen dropping their eldest child Estelle, six, off on her first day at school (seen arriving together on Tuesday)

The school now attracts some of the capital city's most wealthiest families.

The school's outgoing principal, Maija Moller Grimakova, told the Swedish media in May that the establishment was looking forward to welcoming the young royal.

She said: 'We look forward to many fantastic school years together. All parents choose the school which is best for their children and this is no exception.'

The family had spent their summer among the other members of the Swedish royal family at Solliden Palace in Borgholm, where they typically spend their summer months.
The Danish royal family were picture perfect as they arrived on the Faroe islands for the start of their four day visit on Thursday.

Leading the way was Crown Princess Mary, 46, who, along with the rest of the family, was dressed in traditional Faroe costume in honour of her visit.

She and her two daughters, Princesses Josephine, 7, and Isabella, 11, wore the female dress of a dress and open sweater laced together using silver buttons and finished with a cape.

Meanwhile her husband Crown Prince Frederick, 50, and their two sons, Princes Christian, 12, and Vincent, 7, wore a waistcoat and felt coat with silver buttons, blue stockings and the famous floppy hat.

Crown Princess Mary was joined by family in traditional dress for a four fay visit to the Faroe islands on Thursday. Pictured, l-r: Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Mary, Princess Josephine, Crown Prince Frederick and Prince Vincent

The family travelled form their home in Copenhagen by boat waving to the islanders as they approached the shore.

And after the long boat ride the couple's youngest daughter Josephine, 7, appeared to have become a little mischievous.

She could be seen squeezing the cheeks of her older sister Isabella, 11, as their ship came in to dock.

The family were greeted by the island's locals who had gathered in anticipation of their arrival, presenting Mary with an elegant posy as she stepped from the boat.

After a lengthy boat trip from their home in Copenhagen, seven-year-old Josephine appeared to be getting a little restless and was seen squeezing Isabella's, 11, cheeks

The two sisters joined their mother in wearing the traditional female dress of the Faroe islands, with the addition of an embroidered bonnet

Standing by their father Frederick the girls appeared to have perfected their royal wave as they approached the shore

The family is paying a four day visit to the Danish island with the couple visiting the Island's capital of Torshavn on Thursday.

There the Crown Prince Couple participate in an official greeting ceremony on the quay, where the prime minister will deliver a speech welcoming them before paying a visit to the rowing club Knrrur.

They will later visit the government buildings on the Tinganes peninsulal. They will take part in a second welcoming ceremony at the square Vagli in the city centre.

The family waved to the island's locals as they arrived in the capital of Torshavn on Thursday

They received a warm welcome from well-wishers who kindly presented Mary with a bouquet of flowers

The royals arrived on Royal Yacht Dannebrog for the four day visit to the Faroe Islands

After a lunch at the Hotel Hafnia hosted by the mayor the couple will visit a school at Argjahamri, a visit to Finsen College.

This afternoon they will make a visit to a farmhouse before travelling to the Sea Workhouse and the Womens House.

The couple's incredibly busy day will be rounded off with a banquet at the Nordic House.

The family's visit comes just two days after dozens of pilot whales and white-sided dolphins were slaughtered as part of the annual hunting season on the Faroe Islands.

The couple's four children appeared to be in high spirits as they made their way through the islands - part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Pictured: Vincent and Isabella (left) and Vincent with Christian (right)

After receiving a welcome speech from the Faroe Prime Minister the family visited the rowing club Knrrur (pictured)

Every summer, some 800 pilot and beaked whales, as well as dolphins, are killed for their meat across the Faroe Islands, a Danish archipelago located hundreds of miles off the Scottish coast between Norway and Iceland.

Whale driving on the Faroe Islands date back to the late 16th century and involve residents herding pods of whales into shallow waters.

They are then killed using a 'spinal lance' that is inserted through the animal's neck to break its spinal cord.

Locals carry out the hunts ahead of the sparse winter months, with the meat served salted or cut into steaks and the blubber sliced up and eaten raw.

The family's visit comes just two days after dozens of pilot whales and white-sided dolphins are slaughtered as part of the annual hunting season on the Faroe Islands

The local government says the hunting is not only sustainable, but ensures that the 18 islands, which has a limited opportunities for farming, are as self-sufficient as possible

The hunts have been criticised by animal rights campaigners, who say the ritual is cruel and unnecessary.

However, the local government says the hunting is not only sustainable, but ensures that the 18 islands, which has a limited opportunities for farming, are as self-sufficient as possible.

Each whale provides several hundreds of kilos of meat and blubber, food which would otherwise have to be imported from abroad to the islands at a cost to the locals and the environment.

It is estimated that the pilot whale population in the eastern North Atlantic is about 778,000 individuals, with approximately 100,000 around the Faroe Islands. The Faroese hunt on average 800 pilot whales annually.
Australia's annual Travel Frenzy travel sale went off without a hitch on Tuesday night - with thousands of shoppers snapping up incredible deals online.

But for those who missed out the bargains - which usually only last 24 hours - shouldn't despair because they company have extended selected deals for another two days.

You could be jetting off to Fiji and staying in the luxury Outrigger Beach Resort with a nanny, butler and outdoor spa for just $1,430 per person. That's 48 per cent off the original price.

Or if you'd prefer to relax in Bali they're promoting 35 per cent off Padma Resort Legian hotel (pictured)

Or if you'd prefer to relax in Bali they're promoting 35 per cent off Padma Resort Legian hotel - with seven nights, flights, transfers, breakfast and late check out included for $1,239 per person.

In Phuket you could be lapping up eight nights in Centara Karon Resort with flights included for $1,025 per person. That roughly equates to four nights in the stunning location for free.

Keeping things closer to home is a $100 credit and half price transfers to Heron Island in Queensland for $580 per person.

What are the best Click Frenzy deals that have been extended? Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort You could be spending six nights in this fabulous beachside resort with flights, trasfers, upgrades, one dinner, bonus nanny, butler and spa for $1,430 per person. That's a saving of 48 per cent on the original price - and kids stay and eat for free. Padma Resort Legian in Bali Enjoy seven nights with flights, transfers, breakfast and a room upgrade for $1,239 per person. That's a saving of 35 per cent and $1,400 bonus value. Allianz travel insurance Some of the major brands are offering 15 per cent while others are shelling out an incredible 20 per cent saving. Mantra Hotels The astounding block - which can be found in Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart and Adelaide - and priced with a 50 per cent discount. Business class tickets Fly for a discounted rate with Royal Brunei - at 10 per cent off. Advertisement

Travel insurance has been slashed by 15 per cent, Mantra hotel stays are at 50 per cent off and there is even some business airfares with a 10 per cent discount

Travel insurance has been slashed by 15 per cent, Mantra hotel stays are at 50 per cent off and there is even some business airfares with a 10 per cent discount.

Travellers have been told to jump online today to avoid missing out on these once-a-year sales.

All the big names jumped on-board for the 2018 frenzy including Cathay Pacific, QATAR Airways, MSC Cruises, HelloWorld Travel and Luxury Escapes.

Click Frenzy works with participating retailers to centralize amazing deals and exclusive offers into one convenient place lasting just 24 hours.

Shoppers are then able to browse through the various deals, shortlist their favorites and make their purchase within the day-long window.

Australians were eager to bag a holiday bargain during the 24 hour sale

Vietnam and China was predicted by the Click Frenzy team as the most popular travel spot

Halfway through Click Frenzy Travel's 24 hour mega sale last year, the event had already surpassed the total volume of the 2016 launch with clicks to advertisers up 26 per cent.

Vietnam and China was predicted by the Click Frenzy team as the most popular travel spot.

In 2017, over 227,000 Aussies traveled outbound to Vietnam and over 433,000 to China according to Statista.
Sunbury, PA (17801)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
A growing number of Dubai homeowners are cosying up to the idea of renting their spaces to travellers, with active listings on global home-sharing platform, Airbnb, going up 26 per cent and revenues rising 69 per cent to $101.2 million in 2018.



According to data released by Chestertons Mena, a leading international real estate services firm, the number of active Airbnb listings in 2018 reached 5,009 units compared with 3,987 units listed in 2017 and increased by a whopping 81 per cent compared with 2016 when there were just 2,775 units listed on the site. Active listings in the report are based on entire units, as per current legislation.



The report also outlined that demand has supported the increase in available units with average occupancy levels reaching 65 per cent during Dubais peak season in (March) 2018. During the same period in 2017, occupancy levels were at 50 per cent. During the low season months of June, July and August 2018, occupancy averaged 49 per cent, which was higher than the same period in 2017 where occupancy averaged just below 40 per cent.



Looking at the increase in listings in the last nine years, we can see a meteoric rise from just two in 2010 to 5,009 by December 2018 which has resulted in Airbnbs market value growing exponentially to over $101 million as at the end of last year, said Ivana Gazivoda Vucinic, head of Advisory and Research, Chestertons Mena.



There are a number of factors contributing to the popularity of the online platform. Dubai has a buoyant tourist market and travellers are increasingly looking for personal and authentic holiday experiences, which Airbnb can offer through host interaction."



"The other factor is a growing number of individuals, who are either coming to the emirate for contract work, or are on probation, and cannot commit to a traditional annual rental contract as the tenancy cannot be registered if the residency visa is still to be granted. As such, holiday rentals are a practical alternative, she added.



In terms of rental sizes, the mix ranges from studios to five-bedroom units, with one-bedroom units dominating the market and accounting for 42 per cent of supply, perhaps due to the flexibility of sleeping arrangements (2-4 people if a sofa bed is provided).



Chestertons Mena noted in their most recent Dubai residential market report that one-bedroom properties have been particularly susceptible to market adjustments over the last 12 months which presents an opportunity for many landlords to utilise Airbnb as an attractive alternative to long-term renting.



With regards to rental returns, Airbnb landlords are typically experiencing an ROI of 2-4 per cent higher than the long-term rental yields currently witnessed in the emirate.



To assist owners in managing their short-term rentals, several tools have been added to the Airbnb offering, these include a revenue management tool that adjusts pricing to adapt to seasonality and key calendar dates while also competing with similar listed properties, increasing profits further. There are a number of reasons why consumers are increasingly turning to Airbnb as their accommodation of choice in Dubai.



Notwithstanding the cheaper daily rates and additional space available compared to a hotel room, holiday lets also offer kitchen facilities and can now compete with amenities such as communal gyms, pools, beach access and even concierge services, said Vucinic.



The report identified Downtown Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Dubai Media City 2 and Al Barsha as the densest areas for holiday home rentals, with each area commanding an average daily rate (ADR) of $241, $359, $218, $129 and $188 respectively.



Interestingly, Airbnbs best-performing property in Dubai in 2018 was a six-bedroom, 7.5-bathroom villa on Palm Jumeirah which accommodates up to 12 people, earning a total of $428,436 with an ADR of $1,433.



As Dubai prepares for Expo 2020, we expect a significant increase in Airbnb rentals over the six-month period of the event. Due to increased visitor numbers, the Airbnb stock, coupled with the additional standard hotel stock, is expected to easily absorb the increased demand. We also expect to see a short-term spike to ADRs during this period, added Vucinic. - TradeArabia News Service
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y.  Supporters of a proposed zoning amendment that would regulate utility company structures in the town call the requireme
The following items are based on information provided by officials in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
KINGSTON, N.Y.  Ulster County voters might have a choice after all when they go to the polls in late April to elect an interim county executive.
Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of the annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) showcase in Dubai, which will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from April 28  May 1, has announced that it will host the first ATM Hotel Industry Summit as part of its line-up of special events.



The inaugural summit, scheduled to take place on April 30 on the Global Stage, will see various panels of experts discuss the latest hotel infrastructure developments, investment opportunities and digital innovations which are shaping the regions ever-changing industry.



The UAEs hospitality market is expected to be worth $7.6 billion annually by 2022, growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5 per cent between 2017 and 2022, driven by Dubais Expo 2020, Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 and various other government initiatives to boost travel and tourism across the region.



Over the same period, hotel supply is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 6 per cent to 183,718 keys, according to research published in a report by Alpen Capital.



In addition to this, STR data shows that the GCC is expecting an additional 58,761 hotel rooms to enter the market in 2019. The leading contributors are the UAE with 31,517 rooms (53 per cent) in the pipeline; Saudi Arabia with 24,170 (41 per cent); and Oman with 2,984 (5 per cent).



Danielle Curtis, exhibition director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: It is important to highlight that the GCC is one of the fastest growing regional hospitality markets on a global scale, with the UAE leading the way as it gears up for Expo 2020 which is now less than a year away."



Dubais hotel supply alone is expected to reach 132,000 in 2019, with the emirate aiming to complete 160,000 hotel rooms by October 2020  in time to welcome 25 million visitors for Expo 2020, she said.



The summit will get underway with a session on Regional Development and Investment Hotspots, highlighting buoyant destinations in the Middle East and explaining the factors behind their underlying growth. This market intelligence will be essential for hotel professionals, management companies, owners and investors  particularly with major infrastructure projects stacking up across the Gulf.



The second session of the day will discuss The New Normal  Digital Transformation Secrets Revealed, in which panellists will show how hotel groups can boost revenues and guest personalisation by implementing the latest technological tools.



Digital now dominates all facets of modern life including hospitality, from reservations, pre-arrival messages and mobile check-in, to mobile keys, in-room preferences and experiences, upgrades and check-outs.



According to research conducted by Colliers International, personalisation through Artificial Intelligence (AI) could increase hotel revenues by over 10 per cent and reduce costs by more than 15 per cent  with hotel operators expecting technology such as voice and facial recognition, virtual reality and biometrics to be mainstream by 2025.



Hoteliers have been cautious of technology taking away the human touch from the guest service and overall experience. However, by giving guests the autonomy to choose at each touch point during their hotel stay, hoteliers can learn the right balance between staff interaction and AI-powered, automated customer service, Curtis said.



Rounding off the first summit will be a discussion on New Hospitality Concepts Making Waves in the Middle East, as operators target a wider range of visitors and aim to meet the needs of modern travellers, many of whom are yearning for more authentic experiences.



Curtis added: Highlighting the opportunities that will drive the next era of hospitality in the region, the inaugural ATM Hotel Industry Summit is an exciting addition to what is now a comprehensive 360 industry showcase.



As well as providing intelligence, insight and advice to attendees, the summit will also help focus minds on the upcoming infrastructure developments, investment opportunities and digital innovations that will continue to shape the industry over the next decade," she said.



ATM  considered by industry professionals as a barometer for the Middle East and North Africa tourism sector, welcomed over 39,000 people to its 2018 event, showcasing the largest exhibition in the history of the show, with hotels comprising 20 per cent of the floor area.



ATM 2019 will build on the success of this years edition with a host of seminar sessions discussing the ongoing unprecedented digital disruption, and the emergence of innovative technologies that will fundamentally alter the way in which the hospitality industry operates in the region. - TradeArabia News Service
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.
J.R. Goddard, age 90 of Dalton passed away Thursday, June 24, 2021 at Hamilton Medical Center. He was preceded in death by his wife, Johnnie Ruth Goddard; a son Jimmy Ray Goddard; parents, Jesse Ray and Flonnie Mae Goddard; brothers, Ralph and Hoyle Goddard; sisters, Shirley Freeman and Inez
Staff reports

The Daily American

The Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau (LHVB) invites photographers to enter the 2019 Laurel Highlands Photo Contest.

A panel of judges will select the top images, which will be published in the bureaus 2020 Destination Guide, on www.laurelhighlands.org and displayed in special exhibits at high-profile locations in the Laurel Highlands. First place in each of the four categories will receive $500; second place, $200; and third place, $100. Winning photos may also be featured on the bureaus social media, billboards and more.

Only photos taken in the Laurel Highlands (Pennsylvanias Fayette, Somerset, or Westmoreland counties) will be eligible.

Use of watermarks on the photo is prohibited. Photo entry categories include:

Category 1: People

Category 2: Plants and Animals (Nature)

Category 3: Places (Attractions and Landscapes)

Category 4: Special Events and Festivals

Attach one high-quality image per submission. Participants may submit an unlimited number of images for the contest. Photos of private property are not eligible. Black and white photos will not be accepted. Only high-quality digital photo submissions will be accepted for the contest.

Deadline for submissions is July 31. Name files as such: Photographers Name, Photograph Location, Town Name (ex: John Smith, Living Treasures Animal Park, Donegal).

For complete details and to upload photos for consideration, visit www.laurelhighlands.org/about-us/photocontest/ or call 724-238-5661.

The 2018 Photo Contest winners images are featured in the 2019 Laurel Highlands Destination Guide and have been used in the bureaus tourism marketing efforts. These photos can be viewed online.

Category 1: People

First place: Rusty Glessner of State College, photo of Ohiopyle State Park

Second place: Amber Hebenthal of Pleasant Unity, photo of Laurel Hill State Park

Third place: Suzanne Enos of Somerset, photo of Somerset Historical Center

Category 2: Places

First place: Carolyn Anderson of New Alexandria, photo of Keystone State Park

Second place: Brandon Hirt of Ebensburg, photo of Quemahoning Reservoir

Third place: Diana Sanner of Rockwood, photo of Laurel Hill State Park

Category 3: Plants and Animals

First place: Courtney Burnsworth of Mill Run, photo of cat in Ohiopyle

Second place: Linda Seanor of Berlin, photo of bird at Laurel Hill State Park

Third place: Paul Valerio of Irwin, photo of bee and waterlily at Seven Springs Mountain Resort

Visitors to the Laurel Highlands can find information online at www.LaurelHighlands.org, calling 724-.238-5661, www.facebook.com/laurelhighlandsPA and www.twitter.com/laurelhighlands.
Staff reports

The Daily American

The deadline to apply for the First Commonwealth Bank scholarship fund is March 1.

The $35,000 fund is for graduating high school seniors that have at least a 3.0 GPA (or 85 percent average) and resides in select counties in Pennsylvania and Ohio including Somerset County.

Eligible students can complete the scholarship application and see a complete set of rules at http://www.fcbanking.com/scholarship.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF), headquartered in Indiana, is a financial services company with 139 banking offices in 22 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as Corporate Banking Centers in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.

The company also operates mortgage offices in Wexford, as well as Hudson and Dublin, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency.

It is through these services that the company strives to execute on its mission to improve the financial lives of its neighbors and their businesses.
LOVINA EICHER

The Daily American

It is now eight days since my surgery and I seem to be doing better every day. I had a few days after the surgery that I was running a high temperature so that made everything seem worse. Now I have a bad head cold but it is also getting better.

Abigail, 2, and baby Timothy are here this forenoon. Daughter Elizabeth had an eye appointment so she dropped them off on her way to town. We are enjoying having them here. Abigail is sitting beside me at the kitchen table looking at books. She loves books but now she decided she wants to write my column too. I gave her a pencil and paper and as she scribbles I wonder what goes through her mind. How precious!

Since having my surgery I havent had a chance to get bored. I get many visits from my children and grandchildren which keeps me entertained. I wasnt up to visiting much but just having them here was nice.

Yesterday daughters Elizabeth and Susan along with their children came to spend the day. The day went too fast! Abigail asked Elizabeth why grandma has an ouchie but didnt get a baby like she did when she had an ouchie. Such sweet innocence!

Son Joseph, 16, and daughter Loretta, 18, are downstairs washing laundry. Loretta is training Joseph pretty good in how to hang up laundry. She told me shes glad Im not down there to see how he hangs the clothes up because I would probably laugh.

Daughter Verena just changed baby Timothys diaper and he decided he wasnt done. He can really smile at us now and coos. He is really content when he is here without his mother.

Sister Emma and Jacob are grandparents for the first time and are very excited to have Jessica Rose join their family. Jessica was born to Menno and Emma on Jan. 30. Joe and I went over to meet her the Sunday before my surgery. She is a sweetie!

The girls are doing a good job fulfilling my duties in the kitchen. They are more than happy if someone shows up at the door with supper ready for us. It is greatly appreciated.

Daughter Lovina, 14, and son Kevin, 13, had a few days off from school again because of ice and snow. Son Benjamin, 19, also had a few days home from the factory because of bad weather. The factory Joe works in kept working so they just needed to allow extra time to get there. For myself, I am ready for spring, but we cannot control the weather so we need to be content with what we get.

This afternoon I have an appointment at the doctor to have my staples removed. Next week son Kevin will be able to have his cast removed after six weeks of wearing it. He will have an air cast for two weeks but will at least be allowed to put weight on it. His next surgery is planned for the middle of March and then he will start all over again. I know this has been really hard on his patience but going to school every day helped. Usually after a day at school he is ready for an early night.

We have completed the 1,000-piece puzzle that Kevin received. It is an Amish Country puzzle named Cuttin Barley. We glued it for Kevin to hang in his bedroom. Now we are working on a 500-piece puzzle called The Last Day of Summer. For myself I like the 1,000-piece puzzles as they seem more of a challenge.

This week I will share a recipe for hot dog sauce that a reader, Joyce, from Indiana shared with me. Enjoy! Gods blessings to all!

Hot Dog Sauce

1 pound hamburger

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons cumin

3 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 teaspoon oregano

1 can tomato sauce

1 can water

1/2 cup ketchup

salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger in enough water to cover the bottom of pan. Break up meat and as it cooks add remaining ingredients. Simmer for one hour. Serve over hot dogs.

(Lovinas Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook, is available from the publisher, Herald Press, 800-245-7894. Readers can write to Eicher at P.O. Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply){&semispace}or email LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.)
Staff reports

The Daily American

The American Heart Association will host the annual Cambria-Somerset Heart Ball on Saturday, at Sunnehanna Country Club. The event starts at 6 p.m. with cocktails and silent auction and at 7 p.m. is the dinner and program.

The event highlights and celebrates the work of the American Heart Association and its mission, its donors and volunteers and, most importantly, heroic heart and stroke survivors.

This years Heart Ball theme is Cruising the Heart of the Islands. Guests will enjoy an evening of island inspired cuisine, steel drums along with a silent and live auction.

Heart Ball co-chairmen, Jodie and Jack Babich have an exciting evening planned.

We are honored to serve as chairs for the 2019 Cambria-Somerset Heart Ball. Its an opportunity for us to celebrate and highlight local lives saved and improved because of everyones support in building a healthier community, Jodie Babich said.

Heart disease and stroke remain the leading cause of death globally, and their impacts are felt by far too many in Cambria and Somerset counties. Supporting the Heart Ball and the American Heart Association will help those in our communities live longer, healthier lives, added Jack Babich.

Six women will be inducted into the Heart Hall of Fame for their role in the first ever open-heart surgery performed in 1990 at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center by Dr. Jack Kolff. They are: Dorothy Causer, Christine Christensen, Tammy Devlin, Tracy Dodson, Renae Roman and Mary Sutt.

Dr. Savis Mavridis, cardiothoracic surgeon at Conemaugh and Jodie Babich, nurse educator at Conemaugh, and this years Heart Ball co-chairman, nominated the group.

A special Open Your Heart appeal will feature Heart Hero Linda Grimaldi, who survived a heart attack and shares her story to remind people, especially women to check their hearts.

Its a fitting testament as February is American Heart Month, a time to recognize the progress that has been made and the work that still must continue to reduce the deadly risks and consequences of cardiovascular disease.

Auctioneer, Dale Mishler and auction chairwoman, Eileen Graham will kick off the live auction during dinner that will feature four Elton John tickets in the Loge, diamond jewelry donated by two local jewelers, Precious Metals and Watchmaker Jewelers and a seven-night vacation getaway to Naples, Florida.

Our goal is to raise $25,000 from both our live and silent auctions and most importantly we want everyone to have a great time, Graham said.
BAC Jet Fuel Company (BJFCO) said it has achieved a key construction safety milestone by clocking over one million safe man-hours without lost time injuries (LTI) at its fuel farm complex site.



A joint venture between Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding) and Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), the BJFCO recently held a ceremony to celebrate the milestone.



During the event, BJFCO chairman Engineer Abdul Majeed Al Qassab presented Amana Pipeline Construction project director Maher Al Dik with a certificate of appreciation. Also in attendance were representatives from the projects subcontractor Mesmak, and consultant Mott MacDonald.



The strategic project, which is an important component of the Airport Modernisation Programme (AMP), will reinforce Bahrains position as a centre of aviation fuel services in the GCC region and contribute to the national economy in line with the kingdoms Vision 2030, said a statement from BJFCO.



Housing three aviation fuel tanks with a capacity of 10,000 cu m each, the project covers a 77,000-sq-m area in addition to its dedicated operational buildings.



As the number of airlines operating out of BIA continues to grow, it will play a vital role by providing additional aviation fuel to support the increased activity, the statement added.



On the key achievement, Al Qassab said: "This achievement is a momentous milestone for Bahrain International Airport Fuel Farm Complex and reflects how the entire team has embraced our culture of operational excellence."



"Reaching one million safe man-hours is an international benchmark for safe work performance and demonstrates the effectiveness of our safety programme, especially considering the large-scale capacity and headcount ramp-up we experienced in the past year," noted Al Qassab.



"This achievement would not have been possible without the hard work, commitment, and dedication of everyone involved in the project. Our people are our most important asset and their safety remains our top priority," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Weather Alert

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a * Flood Advisory for... Livingston County in central Illinois... Northeastern Ford County in east central Illinois... Northern Iroquois County in east central Illinois... Eastern La Salle County in north central Illinois... Southern Cook County in northeastern Illinois... Grundy County in northeastern Illinois... Kankakee County in northeastern Illinois... Will County in northeastern Illinois... Jasper County in northwestern Indiana... Lake IN County in northwestern Indiana... Newton County in northwestern Indiana... Porter County in northwestern Indiana... * Until 845 PM CDT Saturday. * At 243 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing very heavy rain across portions of the advisory area, with additional thunderstorms expected to move across the area over the next few hours. Some of these locations have received over 5 to 6 inches of rain the past few days, so stay tuned for possible Flash Flood Warnings if needed. Some locations that will experience flooding include... South Chicago, Joliet, Hammond, Gary, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Oak Lawn, Calumet City, Portage, Merrillville, Valparaiso, Chicago Heights, Roseland, Englewood, South Shore, East Chicago, Schererville, Hobart, Lansing and Oak Forest. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Flood Advisory means flooding along waterways and other poor drainage areas is imminent or may already be occurring. Persons in the advisory area should use caution and avoid flood waters and monitor for Flash Flood Warning issuances. Expect flooding of creeks, ditches, canals, and storm sewers, as well roadways, underpasses, farmland, and other poor drainage areas. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. &&
STORY LINK Euro Pound (EUR/GBP) Exchange Rate Holds Steady, Eurozone Manufacturing Contracts and UK Brexit Optimism Fades

EUR/GBP Exchange Rate Rangebound as German Manufacturing Output Falls to Lowest in 6 Years

Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) Exchange Rate Steadies on Fears of No-Deal Brexit

EUR/GBP Forecast: Euro Could Fall on Dovish Draghi Comments

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The Euro Pound (EUR/GBP) is currently trading around 0.8704 following the Eurozones manufacturing PMI figures for February.The report revealed that Eurozone manufacturing output slid into contraction territory today. While this result adds fuel to concerns that the Eurozone economy is slowing, the impact on the Euro was limited.German Markit manufacturing PMI figures for February also slid further into contraction at 47.6  the lowest level in over 6 years. Euro investors were also unimpressed by the flash Eurozone PMI which climbed at its weakest rate since 2014.Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS, attributed these weak figures to a number of factors, commenting:[These were linked to a] combination of intensifying headwinds and concerns, including global trade protectionism worries, Brexit, the downturn of the auto sector, increased political uncertainty and anxieties regarding the broader economic outlook.But the Pound was unable to take advantage of the poor data to climb against the Euro today following comments from the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.Junker expressed doubts over the possibility of a Brexit deal being reached between the EU and the UK.Criticising the increasing factions within the Commons, Juncker said:My efforts are oriented in a way that the worst can be avoided. But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue In the British parliament every time they are voting, there is a majority against something, there is no majority in favor of something.These fears were further compounded today as 2 senior Conservative MPs have since threatened to resign if May refuses to remove a no-deal Brexit from the table. The former attorney general, Dominic Grieve, also expressed his wavering support for the Government.Sterling also failed to gain on the Euro despite UK public finances for February hitting a record monthly surplus on strong income tax receipts.Today also saw Phillip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, warning of the harm of a possible no-deal Brexit, while also refusing to comment on whether he would resign over such a scenario, saying:As people start to look at and contemplate the possibility of a no-deal exit, and the damage that would do to the U.K.'s economy and its standing in the world, they become more and more prepared to look at how we build that compromise which takes us forward with a deal.Hammond further commented that there was no guarantee that the EU would approve of an extension of Article 50, which has left many Sterling traders feeling jittery.The EUR/GBP exchange rate is likely to remain sensitive to political developments surrounding Brexit for the rest of this week, with any signs of a possible resolution between the EU and the UK likely to prove positive for the Pound.The Euro could benefit if German GDP figures for the fourth-quarter show any signs of improving tomorrow.However, with the Eurozones economy struggling many EUR traders will be bracing for tomorrows speech by the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, with any dovish comments likely weakening the EUR/GBP exchange rate.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

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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 
A federal judge sentenced an Arizona man to 32 months in federal prison for sending fraudulent mobile phone text messages to steal money from member accounts of an Alabama credit union.

U.S District Court Judge Myron H. Thompson in Montgomery, Ala., also ordered Iosif Florea, 42, of Phoenix last week to pay more than $17,000 in restitution and three years of supervised release following his prison term. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in October 2018.

Federal prosecutors said Florea was involved, along with others not identified in court documents, in a mobile phone text scheme that occurred in March and June of 2015.

Text messages were sent to nearly 500,000 people in Alabama, including to members of the $294 million Alabama State Employees Credit Union in Montgomery. The credit union serves more than 41,000 members.
Avivo Group, one of the fastest growing healthcare service providers in the GCC, has signed an accord with the globally renowned Australian Council on Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI).



The accord was signed as part of Avivo Groups commitment to continuous quality improvement in its services as per the global standards.



Under the agreement, Australias leading Healthcare Assessment and Accreditation provider will award the Avivo Groups National Hospital, Abu Dhabi, with accreditation.



The purpose of the ACHSI accreditation programme is to guide the performance of organisations to deliver safe, high-quality health care.



ACHSI is one of the only three accreditations recognised by the UAEs Ministry of Health, Dubai Health Authority and Abu Dhabi Health Authority (HAAD). The other two are Joint Commission International (JCI) and Accreditation Canada International (ACI) respectively.



ACHSI provides a range of accreditation focused on the specific needs of each organisation, utilising internationally recognised standards that are focused on the key attributes of a health care organisation.



Dr Dilshaad Ali, chief executive officer of Avivo Group, said: Quality is always paramount at all the entities under our group. We take pride in being able to sign an agreement with ACHSI for its accreditation, which will be for the whole group. It will also help us in getting ahead of other healthcare leaders in the region.



We have robust policies, procedures, systems and frameworks in place that are continually reviewed for quality improvement to ensure that we provide safe health services to all our patients while maintaining the high quality of medical care, Ali added.



The group has won many awards and accreditations, including the Haad Jawda Awards and the CAP accreditation, for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by various regulatory authorities in the country. It has also been awarded the Superbrands status for the year 2019 for demonstrating excellence in providing high-quality healthcare services through its premium, specialised hospitals and medical centres in the UAE.



In addition to that, Avivo Group is awarded accreditation for Quality in International Patient Care by the German-based International Certification Organization, Temos. ACHSI accreditation will be an additional feather to the success of the organisation.



ACHSI is Australias leading Healthcare Assessment and Accreditation provider which is an independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving quality in healthcare.



Michael Giuliano, executive director at ACHSI, said: The ACHSI accreditation is something very different compared to all other Healthcare Accreditations. We majorly focus on creating a standard platform by providing practical training where all the standards are set and applied under best practice.



We develop our standards and criteria through a collaborative approach thorough reviewing of literature and evidence which play a much greater role in setting the standards, he added.



Avivo Group is a brand of premium, quality-driven medical practices offering a wide variety of specialised healthcare services through more than 220 qualified doctors and over 1,200 compassionate employees serving around 1 million patients a year, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Connecticut was once the envy of the country for its low costs (no state income tax), its top education and best quality of life. We have since lost our low-cost status and top leaders are now putting our educational system at risk. There is growing outrage that Hartford could remove local control over Connecticuts schools. Parents are swiftly mobilizing, organizing and taking action to send a strong message to legislators: Hands off our schools! Dont mess with our kids education!

Parents want to keep the power of governing our schools in the hands of the people who live and work in the communities they serve. School ratings and the quality of education are the primary reasons most people have for choosing to buy their homes. Once you tamper with the integrity of a towns educational system, pushback is inevitable. This is exactly what is happening now.

These proposals are attracting a lot of attention and Hartford needs to listen. I would offer this observation as a former local board of education chair, state Board of Education member and as a leader on the General Assemblys Education Committee: Dont change Connecticuts locally controlled education model. Let local boards decide what works for them. Different communities have different populations, different needs and curriculum standards, and most important, research shows that smaller schools and classrooms provide for better outcomes, especially as our special-education student population increases and classroom demands grow.

Forcing schools to consolidate at this time when residents are leaving could erode our states best remaining asset  our schools.

It is revealing that bills that would mandate regional schools do not mention instructional quality, the factor of greatest importance to parents. The only reason given by those pushing hard to pass these proposals is cost efficiency. Improving education quality should be the No. 1 consideration for legislators if they care about protecting our states remaining competitive economic advantage.

In fact, research suggests that finding ways to deconsolidate, or allow larger districts to form smaller, more manageable groups within their larger jurisdiction, may be more cost effective than consolidation.

A 2018 report by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (K-12 Regionalization Report in Connecticut) challenges the premise that quality education will be preserved or costs best contained through consolidation. Contemporary consolidation suggests that new consolidation is likely to result in neither greater efficiency nor better instructional outcome. Instead, they report that deconsolidation of large districts may actually save costs. In some cases, reductions in K-12 costs might be obtained by deconsolidation  breaking up large districts.

Estimates were done comparing the cost savings from regionalization versus deconsolidation in Michigan. Two hypothetical scenarios showed that consolidating small districts to 2,900 students might result in a cost savings of about $31 million annually. In contrast, breaking apart districts larger than 2,900 might result in an annual cost savings of about $363 million. That $332 difference would be vast, nearly tenfold.

Instead of threatening to dismantle what works for the vast majority of towns, efforts should be directed at giving towns more flexibility, not less. School districts could better contain costs and achieve greater efficiencies if legislators provide for more flexible cooperative agreements and reduce red tape, and unfunded mandates.

The new governor seems to be listening. However, even if our new governor disagrees with the proposals by Senate and House leadership, they still control the process, the bills and the votes. Barring a sustained veto, the Legislature will ultimately make the final decision. Those proposing these bills say towns will have the option to reject them. However, the loss of education, special education, transportation, school construction and other funds would make for strong and costly disincentives to do so.

Hartford should fix whats broken  high debt and high costs  and let communities govern their own successful school systems. If legislators focus on improving our business climate and returning Connecticut to its former prominence, all schools will benefit. Bottom line: Education is best managed in a bottom-up environment by parents, educators and local boards of education.

Let your voices be heard.

Toni Boucher is a former state senator representing the 26th District.
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a widespread domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focused violence" to "establish a white homeland" and dreamed of ways to "kill almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and searched the internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected."

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.

Hasson, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt on Thursday.

Hasson was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but the government says those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg." Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland outlined in court documents Hasson's alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.

"Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads," Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors say was found in his email drafts. "Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."

A magistrate judge ordered that the Office of the Federal Public Defender represent Hasson; the office declined comment Wednesday.

Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-90s.

Agents with the FBI field office in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson on Friday, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, said Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters.

"An active duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice," McBride said in a written statement. McBride declined to comment further, citing the open investigation.

Court documents do not detail what prompted federal law enforcement to begin investigating Hasson, but they say Hasson has been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 in Norway. They say Hasson's attack preparations resembled Breivik's.

The manifesto outlined how Breivik planned and prepared his attacks with the aim of providing an outline for others planning similar terrorist operations, the U.S. court filings say.

Breivik took steroids and narcotics, believing it would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks. When law enforcement raided Hasson's apartment, they said they found a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormones. He has also ordered more than 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol since 2016, along with synthetic urine to allegedly bypass possible random drug screenings at work, they said.

Breivik encouraged identifying targets and traitors. In recent weeks, they said, Hasson developed a spreadsheet of targets that included top Democratic congressional leaders and media personalities. The list includes "JOEY," what prosecutors say is a reference to former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., who works for MSNBC; "cortez," an alleged reference to freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York; and "Sen blumen jew," presumably about Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The filing was first reported Wednesday afternoon by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

Authorities seized 15 firearms, including several long guns and rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his basement apartment after executing a search warrant this month. Over the past two years, he had made nearly two dozen purchases of firearms or related equipment and made thousands of visits to websites that sell weapons or tactical gear.

Authorities said Hasson harbored extremist views for years.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist," the government said in court filings, "bent, on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

In an email he drafted in June 2017, he contemplated biological attacks and targeting food supplies, according to court filings. He considered the merits of a "bombing/sniper campaign" and included a "Things to do" list that included purchasing land "out west or possibly NC mtns" for family and researching tactics used during the civil war in Ukraine.

"During unrest target both sides to increase tension," Hasson wrote in the email, according to the court filings. "In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence."

In another letter drafted months later to an American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson called for a "white homeland." He sent the letter to himself nearly two months after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where torch-carrying white-supremacists clashed with anti-racist protesters.

"I never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc.," Hasson said in the letter, according to court filings. "I was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that. However you can make change with a little focused violence."

Hasson's commitment to destruction appeared to increase in recent weeks, according to details from prosecutors. He created a list of "traitors" and targets on Jan. 19 in a spreadsheet on his work computer, they said, which was created two days after he conducted a series of internet inquiries:

8:54 a.m.: "what if trump illegally impeached"

8:57 a.m.: "best place in dc to see congress people"

8:58 a.m.: "where in dc to congress live"

10:39 a.m.: "civil war if trump impeached"

11:26 a.m.: "social democrats usa"

The arrest marks the second time that the Coast Guard has responded to an incident involving alleged white supremacy in recent months. In September, the service reprimanded a worker who flashed what some people identified as a white-supremacy sign in the background of a televised interview with another officer during the response to Hurricane Florence.

"We are aware of the offensive video on twitter - the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response," the service said at the time in a tweet. "His actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard."

That individual was not identified.

- - -

The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
Badir Program for Technology Incubators and Accelerators, one of the initiatives of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said that their incubated technology startups raised nearly SR110 million ($29.32 million) across 63 funding deals in 2018.



Individual investors topped the list of funding deals, followed by private companies, venture capital firms and governmental institutions, said a statement from the organisation.



Individual investors, who were the most active in terms of funding size, pumped SR40.69 million ($10.85 million) into startups last year followed private sector companies investing SR35.20 million ($9.39 million).



Venture capital firms invested SR30.68 million ($8.18 million) while government funding into startups reached SR3.54 ($944.533).



Following Saudi Arabia's diversification drive in line with the Vision 2030 program, tech startup environment in the kingdom is thriving driven by a rich and robust ecosystem of startups, investors, accelerators, incubators, business networks, advisory and mentorship platforms.



The startup funding scene has been able to keep pace in 2018, showing definite signs of ecosystem growth in the market, as the number of Badir-incubated technical start-ups increased to 286 companies by 2018-end.



Nawaf Al Sahhaf, chief executive officer of Badir Program for Technology Incubators, said: The Saudi startup industry is seeing bright prospects with funding activity gaining pace in the second half of 2018.



I am optimistic that we will see the surge in investments and opportunities in the seed round and angel funding for startups this year. Series A and Series B are bullish as well, given the thriving and expanding Saudi startup industry, he said.



With the increased awareness campaign for the incubator programmes, we were able to reap better results with more funding from the anticipated quarters. Saudi startups have a wide range of financing options as funding volumes in the local market has increased steadily, with a lot of fresh money flowing into seed and early-stage companies, he added.



Badir Program was established in 2007 to improve and support technical entrepreneurship throughout the kingdom by helping the strategic policy applied in entrepreneurship and incubators in collaboration with government agencies, universities and the private sector.



The Program is steadily moving to achieve its objective of creating 600 startups and 3,600 jobs by 2020 by focusing on expanding its innovation and entrepreneurial hubs across the kingdom, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. - Magdalene Menyongar's day starts with a 5:30 a.m. conference call with women from her church. They pray together as Menyongar makes breakfast and drives to work, reflecting on everything they are thankful for.

But lately, the prayers have turned to matters of politics and immigration. They pray with increasing urgency for Congress or President Donald Trump to act before Menyongar, 48, faces deportation to her native Liberia, where she fled civil war nearly 25 years ago.

In less than six weeks, the order that has allowed her and more than 800 other immigrants from the former American colony in West Africa to live in the United States for decades will end, the result of Trump's decision last year to terminate a program that every other president since George H.W. Bush supported. Come March 31, Menyongar will face a choice: Return to Liberia and leave behind her 17-year-old daughter, an American citizen, or stay in the United States, losing her work authorization and becoming an undocumented immigrant.

"It's hard to think about because you have built a life," said Menyongar, who works as a certified nursing assistant. "Maybe it's part of my brain that I try to block out. When I think about it, all I do is pray."

Menyongar is among thousands of Liberian immigrants who were given temporary permission to stay in the United States in 1999, when President Bill Clinton implemented "deferred enforced departure." DED was routinely extended by previous administrations but is set to end under Trump's effort to terminate programs for immigrants without permanent status, which also has endangered Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and temporary protected status for immigrants from 10 other countries.

Temporary protected status, or TPS, was established by Congress in 1990 for citizens of countries suffering from war, environmental disaster, health epidemics or other unsafe conditions. They are given temporary permission to work in the United States and travel abroad without fear of deportation.

A class-action lawsuit filed Feb. 12 in a federal court in California seeks to block the Trump administration from ending TPS for immigrants from Honduras and Nepal. In October, a federal judge in the same court issued an injunction that stalled the end of TPS for citizens of four other countries.

But that court action does not apply to the smaller and lesser-known DED program, which operates purely at the president's discretion and gives no statutory basis on which to sue.

Without a change of heart from the president - or new legislation from Congress - Liberians living in the United States under DED will lose their work authorization and become subject to deportation. Instead of self-deporting, many are expected to stay in the United States in hopes of getting a hearing in immigration courts, a process that could take years.

Trump has made curtailing illegal immigration a central tenet of his agenda, saying in his State of the Union address this month that immigrants should come to the United States "in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally."

But critics say his move to end protection for Liberians, leaving them undocumented after decades in the country legally, reflects an immigration policy that is capricious and, at worst, driven by racial bias.

"There comes a point where even if relief started as temporary, it needs to end with some possibility for permanence," said Royce Murray, managing director of programs at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group. "These are people who have built their lives here, have invested in their communities and are raising American citizens."

Last week, a group of DED holders from Minnesota traveled to Washington to lobby representatives, and Democrats have responded with legislative efforts. Rep. Dean Phillips, a freshman Democrat who represents Menyongar's Minnesota district, pushed unsuccessfully for a DED provision to be included in the spending bill Trump signed.

In addition, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., reintroduced a narrow bill he has pushed in every session of Congress since 1999 to offer Liberians with DED a chance to apply for permanent residency. A spokesman for Rep. Nydia Velazquez told The Washington Post the New York Democrat is working to include similar provisions in a broader immigration bill to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Opponents of the programs say they have outlasted their original intent, to provide temporary protection, and represent a misuse of executive authority.

RJ Hauman, government relations director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors reduced immigration and greater enforcement, calls DED and TPS "flagrant abuses of our immigration system."

"Both of these 'temporary' designations have been on autopilot for years, with one unmerited, open-ended extension after another," Hauman said. "These individuals should return to their homeland, which has since recovered, and use their skills to enrich Liberian society."

Like many Liberians who fled their country's back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003, Menyongar applied for asylum when she arrived in America in 1994. Her request was denied when she was unable to reach relatives in Liberia to get proof of her family ties to a politician there, whose prominence she feared would make her a target should she return. She was able to remain in the United States under TPS until 1999, when the program expired for Liberians and DED was created to extend protection to about 10,000 people at the time.

Liberians don't have to register with the federal government to qualify for DED, so there's no reliable count of how many people depend on the program. But as of March 2018, approximately 840 had work authorization under DED, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Liberians must have lived in the United States continuously since 2002 or earlier to qualify.

Most of the original DED beneficiaries have since left the country, died or gained permanent status, Murray said. She estimates as many as "a few thousand" may remain in the country but have not renewed their optional work permits, which cost a total of $495 in annual fees.

Permanent residency can come through political asylum, marriage to a U.S. citizen, family ties or an employer's sponsorship. Menyongar's husband, also a Liberian immigrant, died in 2011. Her attorney has advised that her surest option for a green card would be sponsorship by their daughter, Gabby Gworlekaju - something the teenager can't provide until she is 21.

Gabby's primary focus these days is preparing for college, possibly in Atlanta to be close to her father's family and escape the frigid Midwest winters. She said she didn't understand that her mother could have to leave until last March, when Trump declared a one-year "wind-down period" for DED. She has told her best friend how worried she is about the situation but avoids talking about it otherwise.

"It'd be a life-changing choice," Gabby said. "That would mean that my mother would have to physically be removed out of my life, and I'd have to continue on. I can't even explain how I would react."

- - -

Minnesota is home to the nation's largest Liberian community, concentrated in the northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. A few times each week, Menyongar makes a 20-minute drive to Bethel Robbinsdale - one of several Liberian churches in the Twin Cities area - where she serves as president of the women's ministry.

After communion during a recent Sunday service, the band and choir struck up a euphoric tune while Menyongar joined the congregation in dancing through the pews. Dressed in a brightly colored jumpsuit and a turquoise head wrap, she exchanged handshakes and hugs along the way.

"The church is my second family," Menyongar said. "It's like a support system that we have for each other."

At one point during the two-hour service, the worship paused so a church member could announce an upcoming rally at the state capitol to raise the alarm about the end of DED. Later, the Rev. Natt Friday led a prayer for those affected.

Friday knows Menyongar isn't the only member of his church who could face deportation, but he can't say for sure how many will. Many keep their immigration status secret.

"These people, if you grant them permanent residence, they are going to be so patriotic," Friday said. "The burden would be lifted off their shoulders to know that they can finally live a normal life."

Liberian immigrants have taken prominent positions in Minneapolis and its suburbs, such as Brooklyn Center, which recently elected its first Liberian-born mayor. They moved in part for the job market - a shortage of nurses and other health-care workers drew many, like Menyongar, to work in hospitals and assisted-living facilities.

Mary Tjosvold, who owns group homes for seniors and people with disabilities, employs more than 150 Liberians. Although she does not track how many of her employees are protected by DED, she said losing even a few workers would have wide ripple effects.

"People have had these jobs for a long time. They're important parts of businesses," said Tjosvold. "On an economic basis, it doesn't make any sense, no matter what you think politically."

An end to the policy also has economic implications abroad. Remittances sent from those working in the United States to their relatives in Liberia act as "a source of de facto foreign aid," said Paul Wickham Schmidt, a former immigration judge and current adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.

Menyongar works a combined 60-plus hours each week at two nursing homes, and her paychecks support her 97-year-old mother and other relatives in Liberia.

Schmidt said the idea that Liberians losing DED will self-deport is unrealistic.

"My experience is that most people go home not because they're threatened, but because they deem it in their overall best socioeconomic interest," he said. "A lot depends on what faces you at home, which is why this administration's policy doesn't work."

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that supports sharp immigration restrictions, argues that a president should not be able to prolong temporary programs like DED without congressional approval. Even so, he said, "When we've permitted people to lawfully reside here for decades, it's practically and politically and morally problematic to say, 'Okay, now time is up.' "

Liberia has been emerging from war during the past 15 years and last year saw its first peaceful transfer of power since 1944. In a memorandum announcing the end of the temporary status, Trump wrote, "I find that conditions in Liberia no longer warrant a further extension of DED."

Menyongar strongly disagrees with that assessment, citing violent crime, poor health care and infrastructure, and a lack of jobs in explaining why she could not return to her country of birth.

"The Liberia that I knew and grew up in is not the Liberia of today," she said.

- - -

This article was produced in partnership with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, where Donovan-Smith is a student.
Federal agents arrested a self-proclaimed white nationalist and lieutenant in the Coast Guard on gun and drug charges, accusing him of plotting a massive domestic terror attack against politicians and journalists.

On Friday, FBI agents and Coast Guard Investigative Service officials arrested Christopher Hasson, 49, of Silver Spring, on federal charges of possession of firearms and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances and possession of tramadol.
HARTFORD  Connecticut lawmakers are taking a hard look this year at government-sponsored public health insurance options.

Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, declined to say Thursday exactly what the Democratic plan would look like on March 7, but it likely will target small business owners who dont qualify for subsidies on the insurance exchange.

Scanlon made his remarks Thursday at CTNewsJunkies forum on a public option in the state Capitols Old Appropriations room.

Without subsidies, health insurance costs for individuals and families, who dont receive subsidies because they are above 400 percent of the federal poverty level, can be more than $20,000 a year in many cases.

He said he thinks Connecticut can address the needs of some of these individuals by expanding the Connecticut Partnership Plan. The Connecticut Partnership Plan is the state employees plan managed by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo.

Municipal and local school board employees can buy into the Connecticut Partnership Plan, but there is legislation that would allow the 700,000 people employed by small businesses to also buy into the plan.

Scanlon wouldnt offer more details about exactly what the public option would look like until next month.

Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Shelton, doesnt share the belief that a public option would help lower the cost of health care, but has proposed other bipartisan legislation to accomplish that goal in other ways.

Kelly believes a federal reinsurance program would help address some of the premium increases that individuals have experienced over the past few years. But hes wary of a public option.

We need to make sure we dont destabilize the market, Kelly said.

Scanlon said he doesnt believe a public option will solve all of the issues around affordability, but does believe it will help.

Ellen Andrews of the CT Health Policy Project, former state Rep. Vickie Nardello, and Lynne Ide, director of program and policy at the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, joined Kelly and Scanlon on the panel.

Andrews and Ide both said that while they support the public option concept they didnt think it would solve the affordability problem.

If the public option isnt going to be the solution to the affordability issue, affordability has to be addressed across the board in lots of different ways and we need to be much more aggressive about it at the state level, Ide said.
TRUMBULL  Police have investigated numerous incidents of counterfeit cash in recent months, although merchants are often not aware of the crime, according to Capt. Keith Golding.

On Monday, Feb. 18, two suspects passed six counterfeit $100 bills at the HomeGoods store on Hawley Lane and escaped with a large quantity of merchandise. Another recent incident occurred earlier this month when employees of the Old Navy store in the Westfield Trumbull Mall reported that a customer tried to make a purchase using phony bills. Police located and arrested the man, 21-year-old Angel Fernandez of Corona, N.Y., and found several counterfeit $100 bills on him.

Over the last year, Trumbull officers have responded to at least a dozen cases where fake bills were passed or attempted to be used to make purchases, Golding said. The most frequent location in town is the Westfield Trumbull shopping mall, by far the largest retail location in the area.

Although only a small number of arrests have been made, the losses include thousands of dollars in merchandise, plus a few thousand dollars of the phony cash that has been recovered, Golding said.

Of the four counterfeiting arrests that were made last year, two were residents of New York City, one from the Bronx and one from Queens. This has become routine in the last several years, where it has been common to find the counterfeiters traveling from New York to pass the bad cash where they believe they may not attract attention in the large shopping mall.

The 12 counterfeit cases that occurred at the mall in 2018 are a small number of theft cases that police have handled there, Golding said. In all, police investigated about 350 total cases at the mall in 2018, which included shopliftings, thefts, and fraud. Still, Golding said, counterfeiting is a serious matter, with each case reported to the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates those types of crimes.

On the state level, the forgery charge is a felony regardless of the type of bill or amount of merchandise that is involved. Merchants are advised to be aware of the security features found on all the newer denominations of paper currency, and they are asked to contact local police if they suspect that they have received a counterfeit bill.
SHELTON  Engineering and construction work will take place on the Lane Street bridge over Means Brook, as the result of several expenditures approved by the Shelton Board of Aldermen at its Thursday, Feb. 14, regular meeting.

According to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the bridge needs replacement because of several factors, chief among them its age (76 years) and a poor DOT rating. The bridge also has no sidewalks and has a critical level of scour, a phenomenon in which fast-moving water removes sediment such as sand and gravel from around bridge abutments or piers and can lead to bridge failure. Additionally, the bridges twin culverts need to be replaced.
During Bob Beckers long career in public relations and marketing, hes done work for major corporations and met his share of high-powered CEOs and famous people.

But hes never felt as satisfied as he does when sitting around a table with a group of non-celebrity folks discussing their lives and memories.

If theres a reason why I am here, this is it, says Becker, who now spends a lot of his time facilitating memoir projects with senior citizens, recent retirees, cancer patients and others.

Its very personal and very intimate, says Becker, 70, a longtime Bethel resident. I get so much out of it because theyre opening up.

Becker will perform music, show film clips, bring in guest speakers, ask questions and encourage discussion to stir up memories among participants in a group setting.

He may begin a conversation by saying, Youre 10 years old, its spring, where do you live? Or he could ask participants about their first love, first pet or first car. Sometimes he uses humor and other times he takes a more serious approach.

Then he waits for the memories to come out. They laugh, cry, confess, scream  and its OK. Just get it out, he says. Its very therapeutic.

Becker refers to this sharing as unpacking the baggage that people have accumulated and kept inside them. Its the stuff you carry with you your entire life, he says.

He stresses spontaneity of ones feelings and assures everyone they have an interesting story to tell about their life.

Becker usually oversees the memoir workshops on a volunteer basis. He also does paid legacy work for business people, individuals, companies and trade associations.

Among the places hes done memoir projects are the Bethel Senior Center, Greater Danbury Mens Club, Anns Place cancer support group in Danbury, and a nursing home in Queens, N.Y. Projects often lead to booklets, videos or websites.

During one session at a nursing home, an 82-year-old wheelchair-bound woman shared how as a child her mother was shot dead in front of her and her younger sister on Christmas morning.

The room fell silent, Becker says. In the moments that followed, her fellow nursing home companions hugged her.

At another site, an older man said he could talk about the first and last 20 years of his life but not the two decades in between. He eventually shared that hed been institutionalized for six years during mid-life.

The man began to open up to the group and divulge more memories, including the guilt he felt over a childhood incident. I told him, Youve become the teacher here, Becker says.

The man later told Becker, You validated my life.

One reason Becker is pursuing this new endeavor is unresolved issues from the death of his own mother when he was 17. She died after a long battle with cancer.

He described her as a fiery redhead, classical pianist and dancer, but he felt in some ways he never really knew her.

Beckers wife told him he didnt talk much about his mother. Upon contemplation, he realized hed never fully grieved for his loss, partly due to his age at the time. I didnt grieve and everyone else did, he says.

That motivated him to visit the Bethel Senior Center and to oversee a memoir writing class. I want to give people an opportunity not to regret doing that, he says.

More than five years later, hes still leading the group that meets weekly. Theyve produced one book of peoples written memories and a second one now is in the works.

Lisa Plumb, the centers executive director, says Becker has the right personality for the task, with his sense of humor and ability to make people feel comfortable.

Everyone in the class gets very close, like they are a family, Plumb says.

Becker thinks sharing and preserving memories is so important he wants hospitals and town governments to open legacy and memoir offices to retain the recollections of employees and residents.

Becker grew up in New York City and lived in northern California, Texas and suburban New York before moving to Bethel. Hes been married 43 years to artist and human rights activist Elizabeth White.

In the 1980s, he worked on a national cable-TV program that interviewed well-known artists about their creativity. Becker later formed his own communications firm and has won industry media awards for clients such as Fortune 500 companies, manufacturers, retailers, hospitals and nonprofits.

Hes been a musician since a young age and has created and performed original music scores for product launches and advertisements.

Becker thinks his memoir focus has made him a better husband, more forgiving person, and revived pleasant memories of his mother. Its put me in touch with long buried things, he says.

Learn more Beckers legacy work at www.IwantYouToKnow.net .

Brad Durrell is a freelance writer based in Connecticut.
Yesterday, I had the weirdest experience. I walked from the parking lot at Campys Cookout, where it was 2019, and emerged into the restaurant, where it was 1958. Time travel was possible because everything at this neat roadside eatery was a blast from the past.

I must have driven passed Campys in Brookfield a hundred times over the years. I am often cruising along Federal Road, but do not remember seeing it and if I did it did not make much of an impression. Certainly I know I never stopped and went in.

What was remarkable about being inside Campys was that not only was it 1958, but it was 1958 in Wisconsin! Dear reader, I can see the confusion on your faces as you read this, but let me explain. Much of my career as a food writer involves travel, and much of the travel is from Maine to California and back. I am always on the lookout for unique regional foods, and one of the favorites I discovered was Butter Burgers in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin loves butter, in fact the highlight of the annual State Fair is a contest were people sculpt large elaborate statues out of butter.

You havent really had the full Midwest experience until you see the Statue of Library carved from the stuff we spread on bread.

Discovering Campys Cookout was a real find. The decor is retro and the menu is succinct. It focused on various burgers, some sandwiches, a few salads and wraps.

Everything looked good and the aroma inside was of sizzling meat and toasting buns. My mouth dropped open when I saw that one of their specialties was a Butter Burger. When I am in the heartland I practically live on them, but I have not seen one since my last trip and never in New England.

Let me tell you how a real Butter Burger is made. You take a good size patty of ground beef and on the stove top you add a stick of butter to a frying pan. Then you grill the burger in the butter, adding more if you need to. Then you place the burger on a bun, add more butter in the pan, and after you have placed a slice of yellow American Cheese on the patty, you grill the whole thing in the melted butter until the cheese melts and the bun softens.

I have a health-food-crazy friend who calls sugar white death. I am sure some of you feel the same way about copious amounts of butter, but butter is one of my major food groups, so the more the better.

Along with the Butter Burger, I ordered onion rings and a chocolate milkshake. When my order was brought to the table, I knew the food here was serious road food. I was surprised by how good everything was and the attention to detail. The chocolate milkshake was served in a traditional stainless steel beaker. In days gone by, malteds and milkshakes were always presented this way. A glass came with it and you rationed out what was in the silver container, sipping until it was empty. It was a given that there was enough for two or three glassfuls. Today at Campys I was not given a glass, just a straw to stick directly into the the silver receptacle and slurp up the milkshake. The shake was fine, but the retro presentation took it up a few notches.

I think I said wow loudly when the burger and onion rings were set before me. The waitress smiled and said, I hear that a lot

It was served in one of those traditional red woven plastic baskets, the burger placed on a sheet of black-and-white checkerboard paper, like the starter flag at the Indy 500.

Campys Cookout 537 Federal Road, Brookfield See More Collapse

Before I hoisted up the Butter Burger, I snatched some onion rings from the plate. I am an onion ring junkie and these were the real thing. Someone in the kitchen had sliced an actual onion, hand dipped the rings in batter and fried them until they were slightly darker than golden brown. Aside from a bit of salt from the shaker, they were perfect.

When I ordered the Butter Burger the waitress asked if I would rather have a potato roll or a sesame seed bun. I ordered the sesame bun to see if it would make the burger seem like fast food.

Even with the sesame bun, it had no relation to any fast-food burgers. The meat was piping it hot, the cheese was dripping out, and the bun had all but disappeared from its butter bath. It was as good as the fabled Butter Burgers served at Culvers in Wisconsin. Maybe better, although I might give Culvers extra points because it serves a custard milk shake so dense you can turn the glass upside down and nothing spills out.

I laid waste to the onion rings and the BB in record time. With some appetite left, I ordered something on the menu that for me is a test of how good the kitchen is.

Is there anything simpler then a grilled cheese with tomato and bacon? Probably not, but so few cooks get it right. Sadly, I have had umpteen versions with too much bacon or slippery tasteless tomato, or undercooked so the cheese has not melted, or burnt until the sandwich is tasteless and dry.

Long ago, Julia Child told me the hardest thing a chef can make is a perfect omelette or a plain roast chicken. I learned from Julia the beauty of doing something very simple very well. Campys gets an A for being a perfect roadside stop with good food and a pleasant atmosphere.

Jane Stern, a Ridgefield resident, co-authored the popular Roadfood guidebook series.
Brazil exported goods worth $11.48 billion to the Arab World in 2018, which is indicative of its robust trade relations with the region, a media report said.



Brazilian exports to the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were recorded at $2 billion, $2.13 billion, $2.1 billion, and $227 million respectively, reported state news agency Wam, citing the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).



Iron ores and concentrates including roasted iron pyrites; maize; meat of bovine animals; artificial Corundum, aluminium oxide and aluminium hydroxide; cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form; meat and edible offal of both fresh and frozen poultry; and motor cars and other passenger transport vehicles are among the most exported Brazilian items to Arab countries in 2018.



Rubens Han nun, president, Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, said: "The trade figures for the year 2018 once again reflect healthy trade relations shared by Brazil and the Arab World. With more and more Brazilian companies looking to diversify and explore global markets, coupled with the regions strong demand for our products, these figures are set to go up further in 2019."
3 1 of 3 Fairfield Comedy Club / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Fairfield Comedy Club / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Doug Smith is headed to the Fairfield Comedy Club for a night of stand-up on Friday, March 8. He has performed on Conan OBriens late-night television show, on AXS TVs Gotham Comedy Live and is the creator and star of the web series, Secret Weapon.

If youve never seen his act before, check out the Comedy Central YouTube video called Doug Smith  Stabbed in the Face  This Is Not Happening. It already has more than 2 million views and is a great example of his humor.
In the past eight years, Connecticuts state government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel corporate growth. There is no guarantee it will make similar allotments moving forward.

The demise last week of Amazons HQ2 project in Queens, N.Y., shows the waning support in many parts of the country for corporate projects that entail huge taxpayer-funded subsidies. In Connecticut, such subsidies face an uncertain future  with no indication from new Gov. Ned Lamont that he wants to give more large aid packages to big companies and a number of legislators increasingly uneasy about that strategy.

Were not an attractive state to do business in, and we need to change that, state Rep. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich, who is a member of the state Legislatures Commerce Committee, said in an interview.

Controversy

Amazons HQ2 proposal for Queens Long Island City neighborhood foundered, according to the company, largely because a number of New York political leaders and grassroots activists objected to proposed tax incentives of up to approximately $3 billion for the project.

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 CEO Jeff Bezos), U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Feb. 14, after Amazon announced its decision.

The contention surrounding the Long Island City plan  and Amazons accompanying decision to not search for a replacement site  has not deterred Connecticut officials from trying again to convince the Seattle-based company to grow in the state.

In tweets on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, Lamont said his administration had reached out to Amazon. He did not disclose in those statements whether the state had offered any financial aid to the e-commerce giant.

If Amazon is still interested in a comparable facility in the NYC area, HQ2 or similar, Stamford is the place, Lamont said in his tweets last week. We are coordinating with our Congressional delegation, state and local leaders from both parties, to bring them up-to-speed on our efforts and ensure we are driving a single CT strategy. We, together as one state, are ready, willing and able to deliver a Connecticut solution to Amazons needs.

Under then Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Connecticut offered an undisclosed amount of subsidies to Amazon when it filed in October 2017 what would turn out to be an unsuccessful HQ2 bid, proposing sites in Stamford and the Hartford area.

Through the states flagship corporate development program, First Five Plus, the e-commerce giant has already qualified for up to $20 million in tax credits for a distribution center it is building in North Haven. It already operates similar facilities in Wallingford and Windsor.

Growing scrutiny

First Five Plus kicked off in 2011, in Malloys first year in office.

The state has since allocated loans worth about $248 million, grants totaling $129 million and another $141 million in tax credits to the 19 companies participating in the program, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

At the same time, the participating 19 companies have cumulatively committed to investing about $2.9 billion of their own money in Connecticut operations.

First Five Plus firms have created about 4,900 jobs and retained about 30,000 positions, according to DECD. Between 2012 and 2021, those same businesses are expected to generate about $409 million in income tax, sales and use tax revenues, according to state projections.

In the programs first deal, Cigna secured terms that allowed it to earn up to $71 million in state grants, tax credits and loans after relocating its corporate headquarters to Bloomfield from Philadelphia. But the health insurer fell short of creating 600 jobs, so the state forgave only $10 million of the $15 million loan in its incentives package. Cigna subsequently repaid the state $5 million.

The state has since offered less generous incentives to subsequent additions to First Five Plus.

At the same time, lawmakers have sought more accountability. The Legislature passed legislation in 2017 that established annual reviews of First Five Plus performance by the Commerce, Finance and Appropriations committees.

One more company could join First Five Plus, with a June 30 deadline to fill the last slot.

Lamont did not mention the program in his budget presentation Wednesday to the Legislature.

Meanwhile, legislators such as Camillo are advocating for a different approach.

Rather than using these tax expenditures to entice companies to relocate and stay here, Id rather save the money and lower all our tax rates to the lowest in the region, Camillo said. Doing so would make it much more attractive to do business here,

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott
As Connecticuts two senators threw support to a bill that would cancel a cap on IRS deductions for local taxes, a surge in Fairfield County home listings in the back half of 2018 continued into the first month of the new year.

In January, about 1,100 Fairfield County homes were listed for sale, a 10 percent bump from a year ago, according to aggregate town-by-town totals reported by William Pitt Sothebys International Realty.

The new additions intensified a trend since last August in which the region has seen steady increases in its monthly inventory of houses on the market compared to 12 months earlier.

With that trend now six months in duration, the spring real estate market is shaping up as the most competitive in years for sellers, with buyers having more properties to choose from. In theory, sellers will have to be more vigilant than ever in setting an initial price in order to lure interest during the critical spring season when families make choices in advance of the following school year.

For those exploring a sale, however, an overarching question remains: will buyers be as interested in upper-tier homes, as taxpayers absorb the sticker shock of the new, $10,000 cap on IRS deductions for state and local taxes and its implications for their federal tax obligations?

And is that $10,000 cap a major motivator for sellers heading into the 2019 spring selling season, for any looking to downsize locally or move out of Connecticut, with aggregate implications for the state economy?

According to estimates by the Government Finance Officers Association, 41 percent of Connecticut taxpayers claim deductions under SALT  averaging $19,650 a deduction, or more than $67,000 from this year through 2025 when the federal cap is scheduled to expire.

Not a rich persons space

On Wednesday, U.S. senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy expressed support for a proposed bill Stop Attacking Local Taxpayers  borrowing the SALT acronym  to remove the $10,000 cap.

Blumenthal described the caps impact as devastatingly unfair on Connecticut homeowners. Others supporting the legislation include U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Rep. John Larson.

As computed by a SmartAsset online property tax calculator based on average Fairfield County municipal tax rates, homes listed above $612,000 bump into the $10,000 local tax obligation that maxes out IRS SALT deductions.

As of Wednesday, 37 percent of Fairfield Countys listings were above that $612,000 threshold, according to Zillow.

After the SALT cap took effect as a result of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017, Connecticut attempted to create a workaround for property owners, with former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signing into law a new tax on limited liability companies and partnerships  which until now passed through profits tax-free to members and partners.

In transferring the application of those income taxes from the individual to the entity, Connecticut created a tax credit for partners equal to about 93 percent of their own income, in effect providing an offset to lost SALT deductions above the $10,000 federal cap.

Through January for the first seven months of the states current fiscal year, limited liability companies and partnerships had filed taxes of $442 million under the new law. In budget projections released this week by the office of Gov. Ned Lamont, the state is projecting $600 million in revenue from those pass-through entities.

I think we all recognize that it doesnt take a whole lot in the state of Connecticut to get to $10,000 in state and local taxes, said Scott Jackson, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, speaking in late January in Hartford before a committee of the state General Assembly. Thats not a rich persons space. Those are working people.

Jackson acknowledged it is a workaround that applies only to a narrow slice of people who have partnership or ownership interests in a business. He said his department is aware there is confusion about how to apply the new rules, including among certified public accountants, and that it will provide plenty of wiggle room for any retroactive changes to previous tax filings.

Im not going to lie, because its very complicated on both sides of the ledger, Jackson said. Theres going to be a stack of papers in my in box and Im going to sign off on them. If they tell me the story that makes sense and if the crux of that story is, We paid, the law went into effect and now were in this retroactive kind of a bind  thats a story that makes sense to me.

Extending to higher ranges

The momentum for new listings range across southwestern Connecticut, from a 175 percent spike in Redding from the towns January 2018 totals, to a 34 percent decline in Darien. But the total inventory of listings remains well above prior-year levels, according to William Pitt Sothebys International Realty.

Fairfield led the region in January with 120 new listings, a 26 percent increase, with Stamford and Danbury both seeing new listings pop more than 30 percent. Bridgeport was up 16 percent, while Greenwich had a dozen fewer listings from January 2018 for a 15 percent decline.

On the Greenwich Streets blog of Mark Pruner, an agent in the Greenwich office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, Pruner indicated January sales figures would likely be impacted by the recent federal government shutdown.

Meanwhile, the towns inventory is up in the $1.5 million to $3 million range that is targeted by some affluent families looking for starter houses in the Gold Coast town.

That ... continues the trend that we saw in the latter part of last year, Pruner stated on his blog earlier this month. This may be the next phase of the new federal cap on SALT deductions ... having taken awhile to extend into the higher price ranges.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Al Seef, a modern touristic destination in Dubai that offers retail, dining, and hospitality experiences and designed by top international architect 10 Design, has been shortlisted as one of the four finalists at Mipim Awards 2019 in the Best Mixed-Use Development awards category.



10 Design is an international award-winning practice of architects and creative talents with studios in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Edinburgh, Dubai and Miami.



Designed by Gordon Affleck and Paul Rodgers, Al Seef Dubai (The Contemporary Area) has been selected as one of the four finalists for the top award.

One of worlds leading property events, Mipim will be held from March 12 to 15 at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. Earlier this month, the judges met in Paris and concluded the finalists.



The event will showcase the works of Al Seef along with other finalists and the winner will be declared at a colourful ceremony on March 14.



Al Seef is situated in the historic heart of Dubai, located along the Dubai Creek adjacent to the Al Fahidi cultural historical neighbourhood.



The contemporary area of the wider Al Seef development spans around 670 m of the waterfront with retail, F&B (food and beverages), hospitality, marina amenities and parking covering over a total area of 85,000 sq m.



Fronting along the Dubai Creek, this destination offers retail and F&B experiences and two Jumeirah Hotels branded as Zabeel House. These include a150-key Zabeel House Mini and a 200-key Zabeel House.



Extending from the hotels is the creation of separate F&B water pavilions that spill out and into the creek, stepping across a terraced, cascading landscape for a distinctive take on waterfront dining opportunities.-TradeArabia News Service
He is preceded in death by his father, Leonard Hayes; and niece, Kayla Hayes. He is survived by son, Cody Hayes of Dayton; daughter, Katie Hayes of Rockwood; mother, Opal Hayes of Rockwood; brothers, Randall (Rita) Hayes of Georgia, Greg (Tammy) Hayes of Rockwood, Darrell (Tracy) Hayes of Ro
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The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma was scheduled to meet yesterday (Wednesday) to discuss what university spokespeople have described as "personnel investigation(s)." The agenda for that meeting said that the board would meet in executive session and that no action was anticipated.

So far, so good ... or quite possibly so bad. Anyone who has ever worked in or around a newspaper or any other responsible news-gathering organization will recognize that kind of government doubletalk. Almost any journalist would be happy to translate that gibberish into basic, plain English.

Like this: "The University of Oklahoma has a hot potato on its hands and the Board of Regents planned to meet Wednesday to see what they can do about it ... if they can do anything at all. In keeping with the university's mandate to assure that not a single one of the 3,950,178 Oklahoma residents understand what's going on with the taxes they pay at every turn, this meeting will be closed and nobody will say a thing about it afterwards. Who cares about the taxpayers, anyway?"

Well, some people care. Evidently, the staff of The Oklahoman does. While that publication hasn't yet been able to ferret out everything that's going on a mere 32 miles west of Tecumseh, The Oklahoman has reported the following:

"The meeting will be held a week after The Oklahoman reported regents were paying global law firm Jones Day to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against former OU President David Boren. The OU Daily newspaper has reported Jones Day was investigating whether the university gave incorrect information to U.S. News & World Report for its annual ranking of universities."

To date, the university has not confirmed the reports that Boren is under investigation. However, the university issued a statement on Feb. 13 saying allegations of "serious misconduct" had been received and OU was obligated to investigate. Leslie Rainbolt-Ford, chairman of the regents board, added that board members were trying to understand "a sensitive situation."

Furthermore, the newspaper continued, OU has already paid the law firm more than $278,000 for investigations "according to invoices and a university spokesperson." That sounds like a lot of money because it is, but Jones Day is a huge organization with 43 offices stretching from Melbourne to Minneapolis. According to the firm's web site, it is home to 2,562 lawyers. The FBI has four or five times that many agents but not many other private law firms can come close. When somebody hires these folks to investigate, the subject is likely to automatically rise to a "hot potato" level, don't you think?

Frankly, all this saddens us. We have always regarded David Boren as a symbol of progress and advancement in Oklahoma. He is a brilliant man. There is no denying that. He majored in American history in college and graduated in the top one percent of his 1963 class at Yale University. He was then selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master's degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Oxford in 1965.

In 1966, Mr. Boren was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives where he served four terms. He also was a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and a student in law at the University of Oklahoma in Norman during that period. In 1968, he received a J.D. Degree from the OU College of Law. He served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard from 1963 to 1974, attaining the rank of captain and commanding a supply and service unit in Wewoka.

In 1974, Mr. Boren was elected governor after using the Boren Broom Brigade to "sweep out the Old Guard" and reform state government. Four years after that, he decided not to seek re-election. Instead, he filed for the United States Senate and was elected. During that campaign, one of his opponents, a man named Anthony Points, accused Gov. Boren of being gay. Following his victory, Mr. Boren swore an oath on a white family Bible: "I know what homosexuals and bisexuals are," he vowed. "I further swear that I am not homosexual or a bisexual. And I further swear that I have never been a homosexual or a bisexual."

Some of the problem Mr. Boren evidently is encountering now may trace back to that 1978 allegation. Who knows? We certainly don't. What we do know is that David Boren is a brilliant leader who served outstandingly in three critical offices - State Representative, Governor, and United States Senator ... not to mention the presidency of the University of Oklahoma. Now he has retired and in the absence of compelling evidence that he unquestionably did something that was very, very wrong and illegal to boot, he should be allowed to go his way with dignity and honor. He has earned that and much, much more.

And then, fellow Oklahomans, we should all be on the lookout for another leader just like David Boren. Start looking, please. They don't come along every day.
Lucie Greene of JWT Intelligence, outlined the growing lifestyle movement driving prestige CBD, hemp and cannabis concepts in beauty; photo courtesy of CEW.

Casey Georgeson, founder of Saint Jane, at left, discussed the rapid growth of her brand; photo courtesy of CEW.

CBD, hemp and cannabis have become normalized in recent years and elevated through brand innovation that strays far from dorm room pot leaves once associated with all things Cannabis. And beauty is riding that wave into one of the most exciting booms ever seen in the industrys history, according to the panelists at CEWs recent The Future of Cannabis in Beauty event in New York.

The discussion featured Casey Georgeson, founder of beauty lifestyle brand Saint Jane Beauty; Lucie Greene, worldwide director, The Innovation Group, J. Walter Thompson Intelligence; Dianna Ruth, product development and COO, Milk Makeup; and Julie Winter, COO, CBD For Life, a producer of health and beauty products featuring CBD.

Previously: CBD is the New Green

Getting Your Cannabis Terminology Straight

As Winter showed during the panel, explaining the differences among CBD, hemp and cannabis isnt easy.

A helpful post on Medium helps sort out the details fairly neatly:

Cannabis is the botanical name of the plant family from which two variants, indica and sativa, are derived.

Hemps leaf structure and general appearance is distinct from that of so-called marijuana plants (see below). Hemp is derived only from Cannabis sativa and is characterized by levels of the intoxicating THC compound of 0.3% or less. It also famously contains non-intoxicating cannabidiol, or CBD, which has been associated with everything from stress reduction to pain management to an FDA-approved treatment for epilepsy.

Non-hemp cannabis, often called marijuana, comprises anywhere from 15-40% THC, as well as CBD. As for the term marijuana? The lingo, long used colloquially for high-THC cannabis, has some problematic origins and has fallen by the wayside among many marketers.

From Vice to Wellness Lifestyle

The world of Cannabis has followed the trajectory of natural/wellness industry, trading in crunchy, hippie-oriented culture for a more inclusive and upscale lifestyle space.

Greene noted that innovations have included a matchmaking platform, Highly Devoted, which invites people to connect over cannabis, purveyors of gourmet edibles like Beboe and Lord Jones, and Broccoli magazine, which elevates cannabis and CBD culture for contemporary high-end consumers, no pun intended.

Rapid Acceleration for Brands

Saint Jane found itself moving from pitching Credo to being invited into Nieman Marcus and Barneys in rapid succession, said Georgeson. This meant launching faster than expected, which can be complicated in a regulatory-heavy category.

Ruth noted that there are already numerous CBD brands in Sephora, with countless others launching every day.

With the continued devotion of players to developing the space, the boom is sure to continue.

Women-driven Market

While traditional cannabis culture has been male-dominated, todays CBD, hemp and cannabis concepts lean more toward feminine wellbeing, as seen in Whoopi Goldberg-backed Whoopi & Maya edibles brand which targets issues such as stress and menstrual cramps. Winter added that CBD has also been used by some women to address post-partum depression.

The design cues in the cannabis space have evolved away from pot leaf iconography to a more upscale wellness look.

Meanwhile, hemp seed oils anti-inflammatory benefits are being leveraged for unique beauty and personal care applications targeted to women, Greene noted.

Georgeson concluded that the cannabis space, particularly CBD, has followed a trajectory similar to the wine industry, which is also highly female-driven.

Unsurprisingly, many of the entrepreneurs featured in the category are women.

What About Men?

Winter noted that men are less focused on the self-care elements of the cannabis space and are thus more apt to purchase functional products like tinctures. Greene added that many men approach the category, including CBD, with a focus on workout-related care.

A New Visual Language

The design cues in the cannabis space have evolved away from pot leaf iconography to a more upscale wellness look. Brands operating in this space are more apt to have a look that would be at home in any boutique or lifestyle Instagram feed. While many lean toward feminine designs, gender-neutral branding is also common.

Does Anyone Know What Theyre Talking About?

The panel appeared to agree that consumers understand little about the distinctions among cannabis ingredients, much less qualities, dosages and other critical details. That said, niche shoppers may be well-informed and, as cannabis lifestyles become more popular, consumer knowledge is sure to follow.

Legal Confusion Abounds

While cannabis beauty and adjacent markets offer a huge greenrush for brands, success can be hampered by a lack of certainty on key regulatory issues.

While the U.S. hemp bill provided new market opportunities, states are still able to act via local laws and, in some cases, perhaps misinterpret the federal law. Winter noted that confusion and business disruptions will continue until the U.S. FDA provides more clarity. Some panelists even posited that cannabis-related beauty could one day potentially face a process like that seen in the SPF space.

When Milk Makeup developed its Kush High Volume Mascara, which comprises Cannabis sativa seed oil (a non-THC product), the brand was encouraged not to launch.

She noted that sourcing concerns and trusting ones supplier are paramount. This requires testing of ingredient batches as they come in and of demanding transparency from suppliers. Georgeson concluded that brands need to be buttoned up or risk legal complications.

When Milk Makeup developed its Kush High Volume Mascara, which comprises Cannabis sativa seed oil (a non-THC product), the brand was encouraged not to launch. (The oil was included to add richness and viscosity to the formula, preventing dry-out while keeping lashes conditioned; the product makes no additional claims beyond those functional benefits.) However, the company secured a great FDA lawyer, said Ruth, and took the proper precautions to go to market.

These measures included testing and approving every product batch, documenting everything, proving out suppliers, and shoring up banking, shipping and insurance considerations, which can often become sticking points for any cannabis-related brands.

Difficulties, aside, CBD alone is a tidal wave, said Ruth, offering the industry a unique wellness ingredient.

Milk is manufacturing its Kush product at five facilities, engaging in extensive batching, testing and documentation. Ruth likened the process to vegan certification, demanding enhanced vigilance.

Winter discussed the testing her organization undertakes, including testing for microbials and pesticides, and establishing the proper registrations with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Winter stressed to the audience: If you get into CBD, you must have a good, reputable supplier.

Difficulties, aside, CBD alone is a tidal wave, said Ruth, offering the industry a unique wellness ingredient.
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02/21/2019

Photo (c) baona - Getty Images A patient in Arizona needed help. Last year, the person had contracted tuberculosis (TB), the lung infection that people might assume just doesnt happen anymore in United States.

To be sure, TB cases here are few and far between and are rarely serious enough to require antibiotics. But the patient in Arizona proved to be an exception. They were suffering from the drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, known as multidrug-resistant TB or MDR-TB. The diagnosis meant that even typical antibiotics didnt work. They needed something stronger.

The local county health department in Arizona determined that their patient needed bedaquiline, a newer drug that researchers say has proven in recent years to be the best bet at helping people who have MDR-TB.

But to get that drug, the county would have to make a request to Johnson & Johnson. The pharmaceutical and personal care giant has an exclusive patent on bedaquiline with its breakthrough drug Sirturo. With its monopoly, Johnson & Johnson charges $30,000 for a course of treatment. It was a price that the county in Arizona couldn't afford.

Prescribing and paying full price for this medication would decimate local health department budgets, an unnamed official in Arizona recounted of the experience.

That story is detailed by John Hopkins University researchers, who published a report online two months ago describing the difficulties that public health departments face in obtaining bedaquiline from Johnson & Johnson. The report was published in partnership with the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association, a coalition of state agencies responsible for monitoring tuberculosis cases in the United States.

According to the report, people in rural health departments are worried that the cost of treating MDR-TB could devastate their budget, even though the disease is so rare.

If we had a patient who was underinsured or for whatever reason was not eligible for Medicaid, a Kentucky health official is quoted saying, then most definitely the resources would fall upon that local health department and that would be very devastating.

The burden of expensive drugs

In Arizona, meanwhile, local county health workers last year decided to try to obtain the drug for free. Johnson & Johnson runs a non-profit that gives away bedaquiline doses to uninsured patients. The patient there had private insurance, but it wouldnt cover the bedaquiline.

But after the Arizona county applied (the specific county is not named in the report), Johnson & Johnson rejected the request, pointing to the patient's insurance coverage. Public health workers explained the problem and submitted a second application.

On the second try, Johnson & Johnson relented, agreeing to provide Sirturo in Arizona free-of-charge

Allowing us to procure this medication for free has been lifesaving, an Arizona state health official quoted in the report said of the ordeal.

While the cases in Arizona and Kentucky eventually worked out, with the counties getting free treatment, they reveal the strain that expensive drugs can have on public health agencies and patients.

The situation is even worse in poorer countries, where tuberculosis is more common. In the rest of the world, most people who have MDR-TB simply dont receive Johnson & Johnsons bedaquiline treatment. The patients ultimately die from the infection or suffer life-changing side effects from taking less effective drugs, advocates say.

At the same time, experts say that taxpayers already poured an enormous amount of money into the research behind bedaquiline. But Johnson & Johnson now enjoys the financial rewards thanks to its monopoly on the life-saving drug.

It has received a significant amount of public support, Leonardo Palumbo, an advocacy adviser with Doctors Without Borders, tells ConsumerAffairs. Its part of a broader question. How to ensure that when taxpayers are funding drugs that they benefit from the funding.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson's press team says that patients in the United States and providers are unlikely to pay the full listing price of the drug.

"When it comes to cost, in the U.S. it is important to remember that the list price for a medication is merely a starting point that is ultimately reduced by the discounts and rebates we provide to insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, hospitals, clinics and government programs," the company's press team writes to ConsumerAffairs.

Drug patents in U.S.

Martin Shkreli may have become the most hated man in America in 2015 when he purchased the sole rights to an AIDS medication and hiked the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill. He is now serving time in a federal prison on securities fraud charges, but that hasnt deterred other pharmaceutical companies from trying obtain monopolies on drugs for rare diseases.

A small firm called Catalyst Pharmaceuticals recently purchased the rights to a drug for a rare disease called Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome. Patients used to access the drug for free through the FDAs compassionate use program, which allows patients to obtain some off-label drugs at no charge. Under the Catalyst deal, the drug now costs up to $375,000.

Some patients are now reportedly rationing their medicine as a result of the increase. And because Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome is considered a rare disease that otherwise wouldnt be of interest to pharmaceutical companies, the FDA has already granted Catalyst seven years of marketing exclusivity.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have questioned who benefits from such exclusive drug licensing deals. Aaron Kesselheim, a Harvard researcher who studies drug prices, told Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a recent congressional hearing that profits from drugs that are developed with grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) are rarely returned back to taxpayers.

When those products are eventually handed off to a for-profit company, there arent licensing deals that bring money back into the coffers of the NIH, Kesselheim testified.

Public money in TB

While TB is considered the worlds deadliest infectious disease, treating it hasnt been a priority in the pharmaceutical industry. The industry and United States officials still regard it as relatively rare.

"A lot of it has to do with who gets TB, where they live, how they are seen or not seen by the market, Mike Frick, a researcher with the advocacy group the Treatment Action Group, tells ConsumerAffairs. "Its considered to be a disease closely associated with poverty.

As a result of that perception, finding a better TB cure was often left to NGOs or government organizations. When Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, won approval from the FDA to market bedaquiline in 2012, the move was seen as a major victory. The treatment was hailed as the first new tuberculosis drug developed in nearly 40 years. Researchers were hopeful that bedaquiline would have less painful side effects than other available treatments for MDR-TB.

Johnson & Johnson subsequently earned tax breaks in exchange for its marketing of the new drug under FDA programs meant to incentivize the treatment of ignored tropical diseases. A report by Treatment Action Group estimates that Johnson & Johnson has likely recouped the cost of research and development due to the tax incentives.

Even before sales, Johnson & Johnson has already benefited just for registering the drug, even though it was primarily developed with public dollars, and has been since its approval, Frick says.

Yet Sirturo doesnt come cheap for patients -- or the government health agencies and public health groups that ultimately pay. In South Africa, Johnson & Johnson charges $400 for a course of treatment. The price is $900 in other low-income countries. For middle-income countries, the company charges $3,000. In the United States and other wealthy nations, where MDR-TB is rare, the price of the drug is $30,000. Researchers have said that Johnson & Johnson could have capped the price at just $32 and still reaped profits.

While Johnson & Johnson has resisted calls to lower the price of its drug to $32, it has agreed to set aside 90,000 doses to be given away to charity. Still, those donations cover a fraction of the 558,000 people that the World Health Organization (WHO) says are diagnosed with MDR-TB.

The price of bedaquiline is of serious concern in the post-donation era, the Treatment Action Group says.

Foreign countries, U.S. prices

United States drugmakers are able to hold monopolies in foreign nations under international trade agreements, preventing local generic drug companies from cutting into their business. But during the height of the AIDS epidemic, poorer nations questioned why they had to pay hefty prices for life-saving drugs, leading to industry and government concessions to make the HIV and AIDS drugs more affordable. That same fight is only starting to brew when it comes to the tuberculosis medications.

"More and more countries are struggling with the same thing we're struggling with in America, Palumbo, the advisor with Doctors Without Borders, tells ConsumerAffairs. How can we afford to treat our patients?

India is considered the frontline of the TB epidemic and also has a robust generic drug industry. But Johnson & Johnsons patent on Sirturo ensures that no local competitors can enter the field until 2023. Even then, the monopoly may extend further. Johnson & Johnson currently has an application requesting to extend its patent in India until 2027.

In response, two TB survivors recently filed a challenge against the pharmaceutical company, arguing that its monopoly on bedaquiline should end by 2023.

Doctors Without Borders says in a news release that the women are now fighting to ensure that newer drugs like bedaquiline -- which are safer and more effective -- are made affordable and accessible to everybody with DR-TB so fewer people have to use painful and toxic alternatives.

Johnson & Johnson responds to ConsumerAffairs that generic competitors in India are still free to develop their own formulations of drugs containing bedaquiline after 2023, even if the patent extension is approved. The company also says that they have donated 10,000 courses of medicine in India.

"The application was first considered by the Indian Patent Office in 2012 and remains under review," the company says in an emailed statement. "If granted, a formulation patent would not prevent generic manufacturers from developing the active pharmaceutical ingredient in their own formulations after July 2023, when the API patent expires in India."

But Johnson & Johnson has given no indication that it plans to lower its price.

Bedaquiline is cost-effective, and the price is on par with some decades-old generic drugs, the company said online last week. Johnson & Johnson is committed to remaining in the fight against TB for the long haul.

-----

Update: 2/24/19

Johnson & Johnson disputes reports that the public funded most bedaquiline research. The company also suggests that it may make more doses for charity available in the future. An emailed statement that the company sent ConsumerAffairs after this story was published is featured below:
02/21/2019

Photo via Twitter The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a draft report, says the U.S. has made great strides in closing the digital divide and expanding broadband internet services in rural areas of America.

Rural counties have consistently lagged behind metro areas in the deployment of fast internet because consumers are spread out and its expensive to serve them. Increasing service to rural areas has been an FCC priority for nearly a decade but expansion of service has come at a slow pace.

Weve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement

The draft report says the number of Americans who lack access to a fixed broadband connection dropped by 25 percent in one year, from 26 million to 19.4 million between 2016 and 2017.

Minimum speed

To be considered broadband service, an internet connection must achieve a minimum speed of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps. The report says a lot of the progress has come in rural America, where 5.6 rural consumers got faster internet over the course of 12 months.

Earlier this month, the co-chair of the Congressional Rural Broadband Caucus released a letter he wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that urged her to include broadband spending in a potential infrastructure package.

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), whose district spans a wide area of rural Eastern Virginia, says President Trumps proposal for an infrastructure bill should include funding for technology infrastructure too.

With that in mind, I am urging you to prioritize policies in the 116th Congress that will help promote broadband investments and bridge the digital divide between urban and rural America, Wittman wrote in the letter.

Virginia an underserved state

According to Wittman, nearly 50 percent of consumers living in rural Virginia lack access to high speed internet and 29 percent dont have any internet service at all. He says obstacles include government red tape and regulations, cost of service, and varying geographic factors.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of two Democrats on the Commission, took issue with the draft report that reports significant progress.

Millions of households -- in rural and urban communities -- have no access to high-speed service, she wrote in a tweet. Thats a fact.

The five commissioners -- three Republicans and two Democrats -- will meet later to vote on whether to adopt the draft as official FCC policy.
02/21/2019

Photo (c) robertcicchetti - Getty Images During a recent episode of ARK Invests FYI podcast, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Teslas self-driving system will be available by the end of 2019. However, the feature wont enable a driver to allow the vehicle to operate entirely once engaged; it will require some driver oversight -- at least in the beginning.

I think we will be feature complete, full self-driving, this year  meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up and take you all the way to your destination without intervention, this year. I would say I am of certain of that. That is not a question mark, he said.

However, just as the electric automakers Autopilot feature requires some level of driver assistance, so too will Teslas full self-driving system.

Musk noted in the interview that people sometimes will extrapolate that to mean now it works with 100 percent certainty, requires no observation, perfectly. This is not the case. The CEO said itll be another two years before Teslas self-driving system can operate without driver assistance.

But by the end of 2020, Musk said Tesla owners may even be able to fall asleep in their autonomous vehicle.

My guess as to when we would think it is safe for somebody to essentially fall asleep and wake up at their destination? Probably towards the end of next year. That is when I think it would be safe enough for that.

Data collection giving Tesla an edge

Tesla isnt the only automaker participating in the race to bring fully autonomous cars to market. In December, Waymo officially launched its self-driving taxi service in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. General Motors is also racing to launch a self-driving car service under a collaboration with Honda.

During the podcast, Musk said he believes Tesla has an advantage in the race to deliver self-driving cars due to the amount of data Tesla collects from its vehicles.

The reason Tesla is making rapid progress is because we have vastly more data, and this is increasing exponentially, he said.

Teslas long-promised self-driving feature must still obtain regulatory approval before hitting the market, Elektrek noted. But Musk believes the data it collects will come in handy when regulators request proof that the system is safer than human drivers.

I think they will understand data, so if we show you know, billions of miles with a given safety level, then they will appreciate that. Its not like saying, Hey, we have this really fast computer and everythings gonna work. Its like, Well, you know, thats just a statement, the Tesla executive said.

But if you got hard data, billions of miles, and you could show the accident rates and intervention rates, and that its essentially unsafe if you dont have Autopilot on, which I think is really unequivocal at this point. No matter how you slice the data, it is unequivocal at this point that its safer to have Autopilot on.
Original review: Dec. 27, 2018

November 2018, my husband passed away from a sudden heart attack. I submitted the Critical Illness claim to which the paperwork clearly states to submit a death certificate. I submitted all paperwork forms asked for on December 11, 2018, via email. Now have been told by 4 different representatives that I have to submit a Medical Examiner's report, discharge papers from the hospital, and the cardiologist report.

My husband died of a sudden heart attack at the hospital, he was not discharged, he did not see a cardiologist because he did not know he had a heart issue. He was not taken to the medical examiner's office because he was an organ donor and the doctor at the hospital was able to determine that he had a heart attack. It is clearly documented on the death certificate.

I've had this policy for 4 years and have several other policies with Aflac for at least 18 years. I have never been given the runaround or had to go through so much red tape in the past. I feel all these hoops I am jumping through is to prolong and not pay for my claim. Best believe, I will be canceling all policies with Aflac. Aflac will deduct their premium each month but do not want to pay when a claim is filed. I am disappointed and disgusted with this company. I had to give this rating a 1 star. Wanted to rate 0 stars.
Salmond inquiry warns ministers not to shred evidence

The Holyrood probe into the Scottish Governments mishandling of allegations against Alex Salmond has warned ministers and civil servants not to damage or destroy any evidence, the Daily Telegraph reports.

A cross-party group of nine MSPs decided at their very first meeting that they expected Nicola Sturgeons administration to retain all relevant documentation. They have also decided to defer formal hearings until after legal proceedings against the former First Minister have concluded.

Linda Fabiani, a Nationalist legislator, has been confirmed as convener of the inquiry after the SNP rejected another round of pleas from opposition parties to relinquish control of the post.

In other news, Sturgeon has also been criticised this week for undertaking another overseas jaunt, according to the Scotsman. The First Minister was in France  where she took the time to tell the Assembly that Westminster ignores Scotland  but opposition parties have criticised her for spending so much time and taxpayers money on trips when foreign policy remains reserved to London.

Last week, Stephen Daisley set out in the Spectator how the British Government could curb such behaviour  ministers would be well advised to consider such proposals.

Welsh Government hints at laws forcing companies to deal in Welsh if they can justify it

Eluned Morgan, the Welsh Governments minister for the Welsh language, has hinted that it may in future introduce laws compelling private businesses to conduct business in Welsh.

However she said that it was up to Welsh speakers to make better use of existing services in the language before such steps could be taken.Wales Online reports:

But she pointed to the low use of Welsh-language services in the public sector. She cited figures from Bridgend council where almost 10% of people in the county speak Welsh, but only 0.2% of phone calls from the public  301 out of 160,528  were in Welsh last year. Its difficult for us to sell the need to do that to the private sector, she said.

Baroness Morgan, who placed third in Welsh Labours recent leadership election, also warned that if requirements became too burdensome they might deter investment in the principality. She was also defending the decision to ditch a major planned shake-up of Welsh language provision, including the scrapping of the post of Welsh Language Commissioner.

SNP divided over soft indy call

Andrew Wilson, a key adviser to Sturgeon, this week called on the SNP to push for the softest of all forms of independence in order to try and woo the swing voters needed to win another referendum, the Scotsman reports.

Wilson was recently in charge of the so-called Growth Commission, the SNPs effort to create a new economic case for separation after their White Paper was discredited. Kevin Hague made short work of his findings, which has perhaps helped spur Wilson towards a safety-first project reassurance approach.

One feature of his proposals is caps in public spending during the first years of independence, and a broader recognition of the level of integration and all the ties that have bound us for centuries.

But his contribution has provoked a backlash  one which maps onto the broader divisions opening up within the Party. Joanna Cherry QC, a high-profile Nationalist MP, led those arguing that Brexit required the SNP to go full-tilt for independence. Cherry is an ally of the embattled Salmond, who has latterly positioned himself as the leader of the more fundamentalist wing of the separatist movement.

The ongoing decay of the Nationalists once phalanx-like internal discipline has prompted some commentators to suggest that Sturgeon, who only a few years ago appeared mistress of all she surveyed north of the border, may be on the way out.

Dodds tells DUP conference that no deal remains better than a bad one

Theres no sign yet of the Democratic Unionists softening their Brexit stance after Nigel Dodds, their leader at Westminster, told a party conference that no deal remained preferable to the Party than a bad one.

The News Letter reports Dodds as saying that the Government can only count on the DUPs support on the Meaningful Vote if necessary changes are made to the backstop.

In related news, Angela Merkel apparently expressed concern about Irelands hard-line position on the border question during a phone call to Leo Varadkar in January, according to the Belfast Telegraph. The outgoing German Chancellor was reportedly worried that Dublins stance was undermining the EUs negotiating position.
Zoltan Kovacs is the Hungarian Minister of State for International Communication and Relations.

Earlier this month in his annual State of the Nation address Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister, revealed his governments latest pro-family policy package, seven measures to ease the financial burdens on couples who would like to have children.

The package includes expanded subsidies for home and automobile ownership for families, increased child credits, mortgage relief for child-bearing families, income tax exemptions, more nursery places for expanded childcare, and expands maternity leave to grandparents so mums and dads can quickly get back to work if they choose.

Protection of the family has long been a priority for the Orban Government. With these latest measures the government hopes that, by making it easier financially, Hungarian families will have more children.

Not surprisingly, these bold measures have attracted some international attention. Most of the responses have been quite positive, but others have attacked the policy with criticisms so odd its as if we have gone through the looking glass. Its a peculiar day indeed when a writer at ConservativeHome claims a pro-family policy is an attack on Hungarian women, echoing a Guardian columnist who wrote that it undermines womens reproductive rights.

Its bizarre, and judging from the many comments below Garvan Walshes article, many of the ConservativeHome readers felt the same.

Reasonable people may disagree on the most effective ways that a government can support families, but we must have our facts straight if were going to have an intelligent conversation. Unfortunately Walshe, whose biased understanding of todays Hungary may be influenced by his associations with Migrant Matters Trust and Unhack Democracy Europe, falls far short on the facts.

Lets start with the argument that supporting childbearing actually takes women out of the labour force instead of getting them to work and therefore will aggravate the labour shortage. If youre thinking in the short term, yes, women electing to have children will take breaks from active employment.

But family policy is not about the short run. One of the main reasons behind Europes alarming demographic trends is that many couples feel they cannot afford to have children because they need two incomes to make ends meet. As long as women feel they cannot afford to stop working to have children, Europe is destined for population loss.

And this is exactly what Hungarys seven-point pro-family package hopes to reverse. Heres the complete list:

Every woman between the ages of 18 and 40 years living in her first marriage and in employment for a minimum of three years will be eligible for an interest-free, all-purpose loan up to 10 million HUF. The whole debt is forgiven upon the birth of a third child. Hungarys family home ownership subsidy program, also known by its Hungarian acronym CSOK, will be expanded to include used homes as eligible for the financial subsidy. This means 10 and 15 million HUF grants for families with two and three children, respectively. The government will deduct one million HUF from the mortgages of young, married couples after the birth of a second child and four million for the third child. If the couple has more children, they will receive an additional deduction of one million HUF for each additional child. Women who have given birth to at least four children will be granted life-long exemption from personal income tax liability on income derived from work. Families with three children or more can now apply for a 2.5 million HUF, non-repayable grant toward the purchase of a new, seven-seater car. The Government will provide complete creche coverage through the construction of 21,000 nursery places over the next three years. Hungarian grandparents who are still active on the labour market will be eligible for childcare allowance.

Walshe attempts to depict this somehow as a sinister policy, and paints it against a backdrop shaded by the political narrative that freedom suffers in Hungary, comparing Orban to the Taliban. Here, again, the author exhibits a poor grasp of the facts.

He claims that the Central European University has been expelled from Budapest. Thats false. In fact, it received accreditation for five more years in February 2018. What the author may have referred to is the relocation of several of CEUs programs to Vienna, which would have continued to hand out American diplomas despite the current legislation. Yes, it may be detrimental to the universitys business model, but its a legal and administrative matter, not a political one.

On press freedom, Walshe claims that 80 percent of Hungarian media is controlled by one of Prime Minister Orbans cronies. Once again, not true. On the contrary, liberal media outlets in Hungary reach a much wider segment of the public. The online media, for example, is dominated by left-liberal giants: HVG, Nepszava, Index.hu, 444.hu, Merce, and atlatszo.hu, just to mention a few. On this front, its fair to say that those portals that are staunch critics of the government make up a clear majority.

Judicial independence and the construction of the new administrative court system have, of course, also made it to the authors list of concerns. While Walshe suggests that administrative courts are being set up to limit the freedom of the judiciary, their establishment serves a rather practical purpose.

Under the new system, citizens and companies are enabled to have their administrative cases heard in front of a special court, dedicated to this particular field of law. This means, that the scope of judicial control has been, in fact, widened. There are many similar examples in Europe, including in Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and to a certain extent in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, and France.

The author writes of an opposition reinvigorated by all this bad government. Polls, however, show that the governing parties maintain a massive lead among voters, whereas attendance at the demonstrations highlighted by many in the British media remained very small.

The Hungarian Government has made family policy a priority and spends around three percent of GDP on such financial support, compared to the EU average of around two percent. Weve already begun to see some positive results. Between 2010, when Prime Minister Orban took office, and 2017, marriages increased by a striking 42 percent in Hungary. In the same period, the number of divorces fell from 24 thousand to 18 thousand, while the number of abortions dropped by more than a third.

Thats not the kind of behaviour typical of a population suffering under a dictatorship, and those are the kinds of results that most true conservatives would applaud.
The authors are respectively the Conservative MPs for Witham, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Lewes.

The future shape of the UKs exit from the EU is still to be determined.

After the Prime Ministers deal was rejected by 230 votes, Conservative MPs from all wings of the party united around the Brady Amendment.

We came together with a clear proposal to take forward to secure our exit from the EU, on time and in line with our commitments in the Conservative Manifesto.

This will allow us to regain our independence, yet enjoy a positive relationship with the EU. It will bring an end to Brexit uncertainty and enable us to focus on building the global Britain that will not only be an economic powerhouse, but an example to the world of what we can achieve.

And it was a message to the European Union that a clear majority in the UK Parliament could back the Withdrawal Agreement as long as the backstop is replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border. The Brady Amendment was also supported by the Governments DUP partners.

The Northern Ireland backstop has to be removed from a new draft agreement. Of great concern was the threat the backstop posed to the integrity of the Union via its provisions that Northern Ireland be subject to the jurisdiction of the EU whilst Great Britain would not. So too was the fact that the draft Agreement provided no unilateral exit mechanism whatsoever for the UK, and thus bound us indefinitely to the EU.

Nothing changes the fact that, as the Prime Minister herself has said, we need to see meaningful, legally-binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, removing the backstop.

We remain open-minded as to how this is achieved, but it must be a treaty-level clause that brings about substantive legal changes. It cannot simply re-emphasise the temporary nature of the backstop, because the Attorney General has already said that it could endure indefinitely.

Under such circumstances it is hard not to recall the Prime Ministers 2017 General Election mantra that no deal was better than a bad deal. If it was true then it is true now. If the EU is not prepared to listen to the wishes of the British people and its elected representatives, we have to be prepared to depart of World Trade Organisation terms. Indeed, there are some advantages to doing so.

So those who claim this country would not be able to succeed by departing on World Trade Terms have a responsibility to bring back a better deal which can command the support of the House  by dealing with the backstop.

We have provided a basis on which the Government can negotiate. It proves that the Conservative Party can unite around a set of proposals to deliver the Brexit that record numbers of Britons voted for in 2016.

They voted to take back control over borders, laws, and money. In its 2017 general election manifesto the Conservative Party solemnly promised to honour that vote, and that the UK would leave both the single market and the customs union. To break those pledges now would likely risk dangerous electoral consequences for the party, and defy the wishes of the vast majority of Conservative MPs, members, and voters.

A much happier approach would be to unify the Party around a deal it can support. To take account of the clearly expressed wishes of the House of Commons and deliver the Brexit the British people voted for.

That would offer an optimistic future and deliver the long term opportunities the British. Lets be positive and seize the moment to negotiate the deal we all want to achieve.
Saudi Crown Prince orders release of 850 Indian prisoners

As a goodwill gesture to toward the deepening ties with India, the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has ordered the release of 850 prisoners lodged in Saudi jails on the request of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The amnesty has coincided with his visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on February 20, 2019. Photo courtesy: PMO

This brings the total number of prisoners in Saudi jails to 1414 and makes now the UAE the top nation in the Gulf with 1606 prisoners held for various offences.

"Another big deliverable! At the request of the PM Narendra Modi, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails," External Affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

This is not the first time a highly orthodox dispensation in the Gulf has relaxed its laws for the Indian convicts and undertrials during PM Modi's tenure.

In December 2016, an Indian worker named Limbadiri in the death row was set free. He was convicted of the murder of a Saudi national.

The UAE too has shown similar amnesty towards the Indian convicts in the recent past. In May 2007, ten Indians facing execution in the UAE for murdering a Pakistani man had their death sentences were commuted to prison terms.

In April last year, Kuwait commuted the death sentence of 15 Indians to life and the sentences of 119 others were reduced on the Indian government's intervention.

Saudi laws are among the strictest and unsparing in the world. In May 2016 three Saudis nationals were sentenced to death for beating and burying alive five Indian workers at a remote farm in country's eastern province. They murdered their victims in 2010 and were handed death penalty two years after the suspects confessed to the crime.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, at the delegation level talks at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on February 20, 2019. Photo courtesy: PMO

According to latest figures submitted by the government in the Parliament, as many as 4,705 Indian nationals were lodged in various prisons of the Gulf countries, with most of them lodged in jails of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates  either being tried for some crime or convicted, the Lok Sabha was informed. Maximum number of Indian were held in Saudi Arabia prisons(2264), followed by UAE (1606), Kuwait (483), Qatar (212), Bahrain (121) and Oman (59).

In a reply to a question on state of Indian inmates languishing in jails in the Gulf countries, the Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said, "Our Missions and Posts abroad extend all possible help and assistance to the imprisoned Indian nationals including when they are detained by local police or immigration authorities or put in prisons for violation of local laws."

"Apart from extending them all possible consular services, Indian Missions and Posts abroad also assist in extending legal aid wherever needed. Missions and Posts also maintain a local panel of lawyers where the Indian community is in sizeable numbers. Legal assistance is also provided to Indian nationals abroad including those in prison on a means-tested basis through the Indian Community Welfare Fund. No fee is charged by our Missions and Posts abroad in such cases," Singh told Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament.

The Government was asked whether it was aware that a large number of Indians are lodged in jail in the Gulf Countries. If so, what were the actions taken by the Government to get them released and deported to India. And whether it was a fact that the Indian Embassy concerned has charged any fee for extending facilities to such persons; and if so, the reasons and the steps taken to give services and facilities to such persons, who are mostly poor, free of cost.

Held extensive talks with HRH Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.



Indias ties with Saudi Arabia are historical and time-tested.



Saudi Arabia is a valued strategic partner of India in the 21st century. pic.twitter.com/2oDOaxeHJ5  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 20, 2019

The Minister also informed the House that the number of Indian prisoners in foreign jail as of February 8, 2019 is 8,567 which also includes under-trials.

The Minister also released a detailed country-wise list but said due to strong privacy laws prevailing in many countries, the local authorities do not share information on prisoners unless the person concerned consents to the disclosure of such information. Even countries which share information do not generally provide detailed information about the people of foreign countries imprisoned.
Robert W. Messmore, 96, passed away on Thursday, June 24, 2021, at Heritage Healthcare in Hoopeston. He was born on February 12, 1925, the son of Hazel (Kizer) and Edgar Messmore in Danville, IL. Robert leaves behind his three children, Larry (Bonnie) Messmore. Mickey (Gary) Haton, and Jeff 
South Africa: Increased allocations in grants, education and health

The National Treasury will in the 2019/20 financial year set aside R567 billion for social grant payments, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced during the 2019 budget speech in Cape Town on Wednesday.

This, he said, was to improve the conditions of life for all South Africans, especially the poor, as the country tackles poverty and inequality.

Mboweni announced that there would be an R80 increase in old age grants, from R1 695 in 2018 to R1 780 in 2019.

Other increases are:

State old age (over 75): increases from R1 715 to R1 800 (5.0%)

War veterans: from R1 715 to R1 800 (5.0%)

Disability: from R1 695 to R1 780 (5.0%)

Foster care: from R960 to R1 000 (4.2%)

Care dependency: from R1 695 to R1 780 (5.0%)

Child support: R405 to R425 (4.9%)

According to the National Treasurys 2019 Budget Review report, social grant coverage grows by about 2% per year.

In 2019, the report says, spending will rise from R162.6 billion in 2018/19 to R202.9 billion in 2021/22, at an average annual growth rate of 7.6%.

Over the same period, the number of beneficiaries is expected to increase from 17.9 million to 18.6 million. By 2021/22, the old age grant will reach 4 million beneficiaries, the report states.

By 2021, child support grant is expected to reach an estimated 13.1 million beneficiaries, the Treasury report says.

However, in 2019/20 and 2020/21 funding decreases by R500 million each year due to legislative delays in implementing the Cabinet-approved extended child support grant for orphans who have lost both parents, the report said.

The report adds that the spending on grant administration will grow at an average annual rate of 1.8%, from R8.4 billion in 2018/19 to R8.8 billion in 2021/22. This will include the costs of payment services provided by the South African Post Office.

Future savings are expected as paypoints are consolidated and more recipients are paid through the National Payment System, the report says.

Health

Mboweni said the budget was proposing a total non-interest spending over the next three years of R5.87 trillion across all sectors. Considered in this figure is the R717 billion for health services (including National Health Insurance).

In health, we need simple, effective interventions. We need more doctors and nurses. R2.8 billion has been reprioritised to a new human resources grant and R1 billion for medical interns. R1 billion has been added to raise the wages of community health care workers to R3 500 per month, he said.

An added R319 million is being allocated to eliminate malaria in South Africa.

The HIV/AIDS and malaria components receive an additional R1 billion in 2021/22 mainly to fund increased antiretroviral uptake, while the community outreach component receives an additional R1 billion to implement the minimum wage for community health workers in provinces. In line with the health sectors ambition to eliminate malaria by 2023/24, the malaria component is allocated R318.8 million over the MTEF period, the report states.

A further R30 million is allocated in 2020/21 and 2021/22 to co-finance a regional malaria prevention project in Mozambique.

An additional R1.4 billion is allocated to the health facility revitalisation component of the NHI indirect grant to construct the new Limpopo Academic Hospital in Polokwane over the next three years.

Some of this funding will improve existing tertiary hospitals in Limpopo, the report said.

According to the 2019 Budget Review Report, spending in health will annually grow by an average of 7% over the medium term.

Education

In an effort to improve the education system, government will in the upcoming financial year allocate over R30 billion to build new schools and maintain schooling infrastructure.

An additional R2.8 billion is added to the School Infrastructure Backlogs grant to replace pit latrines at over 2 400 schools. But to make certain these schools are effective centres of learning will also require parents to be a visible and constructive part in the governance of schools, the Minister said.

This grant will also replace 147 inappropriate and unsafe schools, and provide water to 352 schools over the MTEF period.

An amount of R19 billion is provided for learner and teacher support material, and R3.9 billion is allocated to fund 38 000 Funza Lushaka bursaries for prospective teachers in priority subject areas such as mathematics, science and technology.

About 9 million learners at over 20 000 schools will receive daily meals through the national school nutrition programme grant, which is allocated R23 billion over the MTEF period, the 2019 Budget Review report said.

Subsidised education and training for the poor, he said, is governments flagship higher education intervention.

Over the medium term government will spend R111.2 billion to ensure that 2.8 million deserving students from poor and working class families obtain their qualifications at universities and TVET colleges, Mboweni said.

Government last year rolled out higher education and training bursaries for students from poor and working-class families. According to the report, spending on these bursaries grows at an annual average rate of 13.9% over the medium term.

Government will allocate R33.3 billion to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme in the 2019/20 financial, a substantial increase from the R22.8 set aside in the 2018/19 financial year.

Bursary spending is expected to rise from R27.1 billion in 2018/19 to R40 billion in 2021/22. This will cover over 1.3 million undergraduate students at universities and over 1.5 million students at technical vocational education and training colleges, said the Treasury.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Columbia, MO (65201)

Today

Some clouds early with showers likely late, and a thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Some clouds early with showers likely late, and a thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Localized flooding is possible.
SHOWS

February 22, 2021 10.00 am

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President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping meet business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. Damir Sagolj | Reuters

The United States and China have started to outline commitments in principle on the stickiest issues in their trade dispute, marking the most significant progress yet toward ending a seven-month trade war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The world's two largest economies have slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods, slowing global economic growth, skewing supply chains and disrupting manufacturing. As officials hold high level talks on Thursday and Friday in Washington, they remain far apart on demands made by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for structural changes to China's economy. But the broad outline of what could make up a deal is beginning to emerge from the talks, the sources said, as the two sides push for an agreement by March 1. That marks the end of a 90-day truce that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to when they met in Argentina late last year.

Negotiators are drawing up six memorandums of understanding on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, according to two sources familiar with the progress of the talks. At meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials last week in Beijing the two sides traded texts and worked on outlining obligations on paper, according to one of the sources. The process has become a real trade negotiation, the source said, so much so that at the end of the week the participants considered staying in Beijing to keep working. Instead they agreed to take a few days off and reconvene in Washington. The sources requested anonymity to speak candidly about the talks. Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng on Thursday declined to comment on the MOUs.

Getting commitments in writing

The MOUs cover the most complex issues affecting the trading relationship between the two countries and are meant, from the U.S. perspective, to end the practices that led Trump to start levying duties on Chinese imports in the first place. One source cautioned that the talks could still end in failure. But the work on the MOUs was a significant step in getting China to sign up both to broad principles and to specific commitments on key issues, he said. Several Chinese government sources told Reuters that the two countries have basically reached a consensus on alleviating the trade imbalances, but there were still some differences on each other's "core demands" that they were seeking to narrow. "It can be said that we are now in the sprint phase, and both negotiating teams are working towards the goal of reaching an agreement within the deadline, but some problems are still quite complicated to resolve," said one Chinese official familiar with the situation. The United States has accused Beijing of forcing U.S. companies doing business in China to share their technology with local partners and hand over intellectual property secrets. China denies it engages in such practices. Trump administration officials also object to non-tariff barriers in China, including industrial subsidies, regulations, business licensing procedures, product standards reviews and other practices that they say keep U.S. goods out of China or give an unfair advantage to domestic firms. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has pushed for China to open its financial services markets to more foreign firms, including credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, which have waited years for China to make good on promises to allow them to operate there.

On currency, U.S. officials including Mnuchin have warned China against devaluing its yuan to gain a competitive advantage after the Chinese currency weakened significantly against the dollar last year, partly counteracting Trump's tariffs. The two sides were discussing an enforcement mechanism for the deal, the source said. Reuters reported last month that the United States was pushing for regular reviews of China's progress on pledged trade reforms and could reinstate tariffs if it deems Beijing has violated the agreement. The parties also were looking at a 10-item list of ways that China could reduce its trade surplus with the United States, including by buying agricultural produce, energy and goods such as semiconductors, according to two other sources familiar with the talks.

Clock is ticking
Uniqlo says its new spring jacket was not inspired by Mao Zedong.

Uniqlo's new spring jacket is loose fitting, made of light cotton, has four large square pockets and, some say, bares too close a resemblance to the uniform often worn by the late Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.

"Any resemblance that customers or people on the web have commented on is purely coincidental," Aldo Liguori, a representative for the clothing company, which is owned by Fast Retailing, told the South China Morning Post. "That was never in our minds when we designed the item."

The arguable similarity of its new jacket and Mao's uniform was pointed out by Twitter users. Some argued it also evoked the clothing worn by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.

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The jacket, which the company calls its "men u fatique jacket" comes in khaki, black and navy. It describes the jacket, which retails for $69.90 as an "iconic military jacket" that is part of its "progressive essentials" collection.

Uniqlo is not the only retailer to have stumbled with apparel with potentially concerning similarities. Burberry this month unveiled a sweatshirt on a runway with a rope that some said evoked a noose. Burberry apologized and said it will not offer the sweatshirt for sale.

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Also this month, Gucci apologized for a turtleneck sweater that could be pulled up over the nose and had a red cutout for the mouth that some said resembled blackface makeup.

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.

Trump doesn't name China or Huawei, but that's likely what he's referencing. Chinese companies are at the forefront of 5G technology, and the Trump administration resumed trade talks with Chinese negotiators Thursday. Both nations face a March 1 deadline to reach a deal, although Trump has indicated he could back off of it.

The tweets rang as odd because 6G technology doesn't exist. U.S. telecom companies are barely on the cusp of 5G wireless networks, and they're facing stiff competition to build it before Chinese companies.

President Donald Trump sent a pair of bizarre tweets Thursday morning mentioning a "6G" wireless network and seemingly hinting that he could take a softer stance on Chinese telecom company Huawei.

Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly been preparing an executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE from operating in the U.S., which would grant U.S. companies a little more cushion to build their own 5G networks. Now it seems Trump could be reconsidering a ban on Chinese telecoms.

It's unclear whether a potential ban on Huawei and ZTE would factor into negotiations, but such an executive order would likely invite some bad blood between the world's two largest economies.

The U.S. and other countries have long feared Huawei's equipment could be used for spying.

TPG Telecom dropped plans to use Huawei equipment in Australia, which banned the use of Huawei's equipment. New Zealand and Japan have similar prohibitions in place. The U.K. hasn't made a decision either way, but the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank, warned earlier this month that allowing Huawei equipment could be "naive" and "irresponsible."

Germany has considered similar measures, but said earlier this month that it isn't ready to ban Huawei and that it will allow all 5G equipment vendors in the country.

U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon are still activating fledgling 5G networks in select cities, and T-Mobile and Sprint plan to launch theirs later this year. Most experts think it will take until at least 2020 for 5G to become widespread.

Samsung just announced the first phone that will run on the faster network, but it won't launch until the second quarter of this year.

Trump's reference to nonexistent "6G" might just be an indication he wants technology to be running full speed ahead, but it's not something that anyone will be able to use in the near future.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: Here's what you need to know about the Huawei debate
Consumer goods company Procter & Gamble wants to help people with household chores by doing their laundry. Its Tide brand is aiming to have more than 2,000 cleaning stores by the end of 2020, the company said in an online statement.

It plans to open a range of 24-hour stores, drop-off boxes in apartment buildings and retailers. It will also have vans that will collect and deliver to students on campuses. People using the drop-boxes can manage their laundry via the Tide Cleaners app, submitting cleaning instructions and their drop-box number, before they are notified when their washing is ready for collection.

The P&G brand already has several hundred Tide stores or drop-offs and has grown partly through acquisition. It bought on-demand cleaning service Pressbox in July 2018, a Chicago-based company started by two graduates in 2013. Texas firm MW Cleaners became a franchisee in May 2018.
Spain's incumbent socialist government was "irresponsible" to negotiate with Catalonia's pro-independence parties, the president and leader of Spain's opposition People's Party (Partido Popular) told CNBC. "This (socialist) government has tried to negotiate with those that want to divide our own nation," Pablo Casado told CNBC's Willem Marx in Madrid Thursday. Casado said that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had been "irresponsible" to accept the support from secessionist parties that wanted to "break the unity of Spain" and that a PP-led government, should the party win a forthcoming general election, would not allow Spain to be divided. "What we want to do if we win the election in April is to make clear that in Spain, as in all the modern democratic countries in the world, we are going to make sure everyone accomplishes with (the use of) law," he said. Casado's criticism of the government comes as Spain's main political parties have swung into campaign mode ahead of a snap election in late April. The vote comes after lawmakers in Europe's fourth largest economy failed to agree on a draft budget plan last week.

Pedro Sanchez, leader of Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE), pauses during an investiture debate at the parliament in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Opposition parties Ciudadanos (Citizens Party) and the PP, as well as pro-independence parties in Catalonia, rejected the socialist government's national budget last week, prompting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call the snap vote  Spain's third general election in four years - for April 28. Sanchez's socialist party relied on votes from Catalan secessionists and the anti-austerity party Podemos to win a vote of no-confidence it tabled in June 2018 against the then PP-led government of Mariano Rajoy that had been wracked with a corruption scandal. Since coming to power eight months ago, Sanchez's government has had to rely on the support of smaller and regional parties. Fears that he could make too many concessions to secessionists came to the fore in recent weeks after Catalan parties blocked the budget bill and demanded talks over independence. When the government appointed a mediator for those talks it was accused of treachery and opposition parties staged a large protest in Madrid. Widespread opposition to Catalan independence outside the north-eastern region could prove a boon in the election to opposition parties like the PP, and experts are predicting a right-wing coalition could take power.

The economy
NASA has warned SpaceX and Boeing Co of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems, according to industry sources and a new government report, threatening the U.S. bid to revive its human spaceflight program later this year. NASA is paying SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion to build rocket and capsule launch systems to return astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since America's Space Shuttle program went dark in 2011.

Just ahead of the first scheduled un-manned test flight slated for March 2 under NASA's multibillion-dollar Commercial Crew Program, NASA's safety advisory panel cited four "key risk items" in its 2018 annual report earlier this month. For Boeing, they include the capsule's structural vulnerability when the heat shield is deployed. For SpaceX, the report mentioned the redesign of a SpaceX rocket canister following a 2016 explosion and its "load and go" process of fueling the rocket with the crew already inside the capsule. "Parachute performance" remained an issue for both companies. "There are serious challenges to the current launch schedules for both SpaceX and Boeing," the report said. Two people with direct knowledge of the program told Reuters that the space agency's concerns go beyond the four items listed, and include a risk ledger that as of early February contained 30 to 35 lingering technical concerns each for SpaceX and Boeing. Reuters could not verify what all of the nearly three dozen items are. But the sources familiar with the matter said the companies must address "most" of those concerns before flying astronauts and, eventually, tourists to space. The NASA risk database is updated routinely during the course of NASA's stringent certification process, which includes data collection, tests and collaboration with SpaceX and Boeing, the people said. The Boeing and SpaceX systems have already been delayed several times in recent years, which is common in this sector given the complexity of building multibillion-dollar spacecraft capable of shedding earth's gravity. NASA spokesman Joshua Finch deferred all technical questions on Boeing and SpaceX systems to the companies, citing confidentiality, but said: "Flying safely always takes precedence over schedule." Boeing spokesman Josh Barrett said the company "closed out" the capsule's structural vulnerability risk when it completed its structural test program in January. While Boeing is working through a number of other issues, they "are not driving any major architectural system changes." "Our numbers show we are exceeding NASA's safety requirements," said Barrett. SpaceX spokesman James Gleeson said the company, working with NASA, has developed "one of the safest, most-advanced human spaceflight systems ever built." "There is nothing more important to SpaceX than safely flying crew," said Gleeson, calling it "core to our company's long-term goal of enabling access for people who dream of flying to space."

Founded by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX has cut the cost of rocket launches with its pioneering reusable rocket technology, while Boeing traces its space business back to the first U.S. human space missions of the 1960s and is also the world's largest planemaker. The clock is ticking. The U.S. has been paying Russia about $80 million per ticket for a ride to the International Space Station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth. There are no seats available for U.S. crew on the Russia spacecraft after 2019 given production schedules and other factors. NASA said last week it was considering paying for two more seats to the space station for this fall and spring 2020 to ensure U.S. access. The NASA plan for extra seats came a week after its safety panel said Congress should come up with a "mitigation plan" in case delays threaten U.S. access to the space station - echoing earlier concerns from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. NASA is set to conduct a flight readiness review on Friday for SpaceX's mission without a crew on March 2. NASA will decide whether to approve the test flight without a crew, while SpaceX addresses the issues raised for a human mission.

Parachute weaknesses

Three people familiar with the project say the U.S. space agency has identified some design discrepancies between earlier SpaceX capsules designed to haul cargo to the International Space Station, and a newer version designed to carry humans. Some of the risks - such as those identified in the designs of the enormous parachutes that deploy when the capsule plummets back to Earth at supersonic speeds - are uncommon given how close SpaceX is to test flights, two of the people said.

The timing of deployment of the SpaceX parachutes and the interaction of the parachutes themselves have raised concerns about parachute performance, and potentially whether they will be able to slow down the capsule enough to ensure the crew's safety, two people said. SpaceX has completed 17 parachute tests for the Commercial Crew Program so far, with an additional 10 tests planned prior to Crew Dragon's second demonstration mission, Gleeson said. He also said its parachute systems are designed with redundancy so the vehicle can still safely splashdown in the event that one parachute fails. NASA's safety panel said in its report that SpaceX may be required to re-design its parachute system. A re-design would likely trigger more testing and potentially weeks or months of extra delays, two of the people said. NASA also found design problems with the system that helps orient SpaceX's capsule in an upright position once it lands in the ocean, raising the risk of taking on excessive amounts of water, according to two industry sources and confirmed by a NASA official. SpaceX's Gleeson said Crew Dragon's outer shell is water-resistant, and the spacecraft itself is buoyant and does not pose a risk to crew members after splashdown.

Risk of more delays
Employees stand in front of the SK Hynix Inc. logo displayed at the company's office in Seongnam, South Korea, on Monday, July 24, 2017.

South Korea's SK Hynix on Thursday said it would spend $107 billion building four factories, as the memory chip maker seeks to maintain its competitiveness in the face of Chinese efforts to become a leading chipmaking nation.

The chip fabrication plants will be built on a 4.5 million square meter site south of Seoul beginning 2022, complementing two existing domestic factories that will receive a separate 55 trillion won ($49 billion) investment over the next decade.

The plans for the factories, producing DRAM and next-generation chips, come as chipmakers prepare for a surge in demand to power new technology such as fifth-generation (5G) communication networks and artificial intelligence, even as a slowdown in smartphone sales kills off a two-year chip boom.

"Though there is not enough chip demand for autonomous cars now, I believe there will be much more demand for self-driving vehicles in the next 10 years or as early as in 2023 or 2024," said analyst Kim Young-gun at Mirae Asset Daewoo.

"That will create more chip demand for SK Hynix," as will the commercialization of 5G networks over the next few years, Kim said.

The plan also intensifies an arms race between South Korea, the world's biggest exporter of memory chips, and China, which has been aggressively encouraging chipmaking investment to curb reliance on imports amid a trade spat with the United States.

China is the world's largest chip consumer, importing $270 billion worth in 2017 - more than its total imports of crude oil.
MikePompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), center, arrives ahead of a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he has "ruled out" running for a U.S. Senate seat in his home state of Kansas.

After weeks of speculation, the Republican former congressman told NBC's "TODAY" on Thursday that he is happy to keep serving in his current role as long as President Donald Trump wants him there.

"It's ruled out," he said about a possible run for the Senate seat, currently held by fellow Republican Pat Roberts, 82, who won't seek another term. "I'm here, I'm loving it."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged Pompeo to consider a Senate run in 2020. Earlier this month, McConnell told Fox News that he wanted Pompeo "to know that we'd all be behind him" if he opted to launch a campaign  although he added that "there's no urgency for him to make that decision."

While Kansas is typically a red state, there are worrisome signs for Republicans. In November, Democrat Laura Kelly beat GOP Trump ally Kris Kobach in the governor's race. Kobach is reportedly considering a campaign to replace Roberts in 2020, which was one of the concerns said to be driving the recruitment of Pompeo.

Trump himself was confident that Pompeo wouldn't leave his administration to run for Senate. He told CBS' "Face the Nation" earlier this year that Pompeo told him "he's absolutely not leaving."

The GOP holds a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, but Republicans will have to defend 22 seats in next year's election, while Democrats will be trying to hold on to a dozen.

Pompeo left Congress to join the Trump administration first as CIA director. Last year, he replaced Rex Tillerson as secretary of State after Trump fired the former Exxon Mobile CEO.

As the nation's top diplomat, Pompeo is a major player in Trump's surprisingly friendly diplomatic outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the U.S. seeks the communist dictatorship's denuclearization.

Trump is scheduled to hold his second summit with Kim next week in Vietnam.

CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this article.
Samsung's Mobile Division President and CEO DJ Koh holds the new Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone during the Samsung Unpacked event on February 20, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Samsung's new foldable smartphone is a "game-changer," but investors should not expect the new device to be a major contributor to the company's profits this year, according to an analyst. The South Korean tech giant announced the new phone, called the Galaxy Fold, on Wednesday at a launch event in San Francisco. It builds on Samsung's engineering and display innovation since its first flexible display prototype in 2011. "It's a game-changer in how we may use our devices in the next decade, where you can convert your phone into a tablet," Mark Newman, managing director for global memory, storage and electric vehicles at Bernstein, told CNBC's "Squawk Box." But the smartphone's steep price of $1,980 would likely be a barrier to widespread adoption. "It's a 2,000-dollar price point, so it's too expensive, really, for most people to buy," Newman said. Samsung was "always talking about a limited launch  very, very limited geography, a million units or less. It's not really going to drive Samsung's bottomline at all this year," he added.

Instead, Wednesday's launch was meant to test the water for an ultra-high end and pricey smartphone at a time when the broader market is shrinking. Newman explained that Samsung's plan was to the show off the technology, get the manufacturing process going, have the software up and running, and get customers accustomed to the concept of a foldable smartphone. "When it's ready, they're going to go for mainstream launch, with a more aggressive price point (in) 2020, probably," he said, adding the Galaxy Fold would eventually present "big upside" for the world's largest smartphone maker. While analysts generally agree that the new foldable device demonstrates Samsung's innovation capabilities, Daniel Yoo, head of global strategy at Kiwoom Securities, said that it might not substantially drive the company's growth rate in the smartphone market. Last year, Samsung's overall smartphone shipments declined about 8 percent, according to the International Data Corporation, but the tech giant held on to pole position in terms of its market share. "The key question mark is whether the foldable phone is going to create huge sales," Yoo told CNBC's "Street Signs."

Still, the costly device might turn it into a "status symbol," according to Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "While I don't think the experience will be 'perfect', it doesn't have to be, but I do believe the experience will be better than the first 'phablets' and any other announced foldable," he said. "At $1,980, it (is) super premium, will be a niche product, but I believe it will sell out and become a status symbol."

Chinese competition

Both Samsung and iPhone-maker Apple have seen their share of the smartphone market dented by Chinese competition in recent years. The likes of Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi have risen to mainstream prominence by selling smartphones with high-end features at a relatively cheaper price. Last year, both Huawei and Xiaomi grew around 32 and 33 percent respectively, according to IDC. In China, Samsung's market share is in the single digits and in India, another major smartphone market, Xiaomi broke the Korean tech giant's dominance. The launch on Wednesday, during which Samsung also announced four Galaxy S10 smartphones, was the company's "opportunity to say 'Look, we're not out of the game. Look at all this other stuff that we have that many of these other competitors don't,'" said Bryan Ma, vice president for devices research at IDC. "So, it's good that they established that." Bernstein's Newman said Samsung has an advantage in the foldable smartphone category because Chinese display-makers are still "way, way behind" on developing low-cost flat display screens. "When you're going to the foldable phone, it becomes even more difficult," Newman said. "It doesn't mean (Chinese firms) cannot come up with foldable phone ... their cost structure is going to be probably an order of magnitude higher than Samsung for the display right now." Ma said Samsung is not out of the woods yet, despite launching the Galaxy Fold. "Competitive pressure is still going to be there. These Chinese vendors, they're not only aggressive in terms of product design, they're aggressive in terms of price points," he said, adding there is still some way to go for companies to sort out hardware and software issues for foldable smartphones.

WATCH: First look at Samsung's family of Galaxy S10 phones
Roger Stone, former adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, center, arrives to federal court in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019.

And despite suggesting she might do so, Jackson did not revoke Stone's $250,000 signature release bond for his latest social media stunt.

However, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone could continue to publicly solicit money for his legal defense fund.

The notoriously outspoken Republican operative also is barred from writing about the case online, or sending letters to the editor.

Stone, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, is now prohibited from doing radio, television or print interviews about the case or any of its participants  including the head prosecutor, special counsel Robert Mueller.

A federal judge on Thursday imposed a full gag order on Roger Stone  barring him from making any public statements at all about his criminal case  after the political dirty trickster abjectly apologized for "stupidity" in posting an Instagram photo of the judge next to a rifle scope's crosshair.

"I find  that released under conditions without modifications that he does pose a danger," Jackson said after a dramatic hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that she scheduled a day after Stone's post Monday on Instagram.

"Roger Stone fully understands the power of words and the power of symbols," she said. "In this age of social media there's really no such thing as a takeback."

"Publicity cannot subside if it's the defendant that's fanning the flames," said Jackson, who added that Stone's apology rang hollow.

"I'm not convinced that Mr. Stone is all talk and no action," she said in reference to what she said could be seen as a threat to her safety from the post. "There's nothing ambiguous about a crosshairs."

Stone earlier had said on the witness stand, "I am hurtfully sorry for my own stupidity." He said nothing to reporters and members of the public as he left court.

Stone was arrested in January on charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress. The charges are tied to his alleged efforts to have the document disclosure group WikiLeaks release emails stolen from Democrats by Russian intelligence agents, including Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, during the 2016 campaign.

Stone has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Jackson last week had issued a partial gag order that barred Stone, 66, and his lawyers from making any statements that could prejudice the case against him.

But just three days later, Stone posted the Jackson photo on Instagram, which called her "an Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges against Hillary Clinton."

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Stone's lawyers argued his partial gag order should be maintained. A lawyer for Mueller's office said it should be stiffened, arguing that his testimony about the post and his apology were "not credible."

Jackson's updated order essentially takes away Stone's ability to decide for himself what may or may not be a prejudicial statement about his case by barring him from saying anything at all about it.

Jackson on Thursday said: "So no, Mr. Stone, I'm not giving you another chance. I have serious doubts on whether you learned any lesson at all."

And she implied that the next time Stone crosses her it will lead to her revoking his bond and sending him to jail

The judge was clear that this is his last chance before jail.

Last June, Jackson revoked the bond of Stone's former lobbying partner, Paul Manafort, after he was accused by Mueller of trying to tamper with witnesses in his own criminal case. Manafort, who has been in jail since then, is awaiting sentencing next month for multiple crimes.

"Today, I gave you a second chance," Jackson told Stone. "This is not baseball, you don't get a third chance."

Earlier Thursday, Stone testified about what led to the Instagram photo of the judge being posted.

"It was an egregious, stupid mistake," Stone said of the photo, which he quickly took down Monday after it drew attention.

Stone had testified that a volunteer who worked for him posted the photo of Jackson next to the crosshair, but that he actually put it online and wrote the accompanying text about Jackson. That text criticized the fact that Jackson was specifically assigned to his case, instead of a judge who was randomly assigned.

Jackson's assignment stems from the fact that she was already presiding over another criminal case that involves evidence seized with a search warrant that was related to Stone's case.

"It was thoughtless," Stone said of his post.

"I am kicking myself not as much as my wife is kicking me."

"I let myself down, my family down, my attorneys down," he said. "It was a momentary lapse of judgement. I heard political commentators talking about the likelihood that I'll be raped in prison. It's been a stressful situation."

"My consulting business has dried up. I've exhausted my savings. I'm being treated for emotional distress," Stone said.

"I'm having a hard time putting food on the table and making rent."

Stone said, "I honestly didn't believe" the image next to Jackson's face "were crosshairs."

Stone also said he had not noticed what he described as a "celtic cross" in the corner of the image shared on Instagram.

"I didn't recognize it as a crosshairs," he said.

The "bad judgment," he said, was possibly "borne of the emotional stress of the situation" surrounding his criminal case.

"And I took it down because I recognized it could be misinterpreted," he said.

Stone's lawyer Bruce Rogow, in arguing that the original gag order should not be changed, admitted that the Instagram post was "indefensible."

"I agree with you there," said Jackson, whose displeasure with Stone's actions was clear during the hearing.

"You told me not to worry and that the media attention would subside," Jackson told Rogow.

"He has insisted that his name be in the paper every day since then. So on what basis would that forecast be believable?" Jackson asked the lawyer. "What would get him to stop talking other than a court order?"

The Instagram post was taken down soon after it drew attention Monday, and Stone and his lawyers apologized for it in a court filing later that same night.

But Jackson on Tuesday ordered Stone to appear in her courtroom Thursday to explain why she should not either tighten a partial gag order she had imposed on him, or modify or even revoke his release bond.

Before he arrived at court Thursday, Stone made several posts on Instagram about his legal fight.

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Stone made another religious reference on the witness stand Thursday.

"Forgive me this trespass," he said.
Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson is set to decide Thursday whether to stiffen  or revoke  the release bond of Republican trickster Roger Stone for posting an Instagram photo of the judge next to an apparent rifle scope's crosshair.

The abruptly scheduled hearing in Washington federal court, set for 2:30 p.m. ET, doesn't bode well for Stone, a longtime friend and advisor of President Donald Trump.

The 66-year-old defendant could see his recent partial gag order expanded or his $250,000 signature bond modified by requiring him to actually put up that dollar amount with the court, or even more money to retain his liberty.

At the very least, Stone is likely to face a serious dressing down by Jackson for his recent conduct.

Stone's bail could be revoked, which would put him in jail pending trial.

Jackson has already made a similar move in the case of another target of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Last year, she revoked the home-release bail of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Stone's former lobbying partner, after Mueller accused him of trying to tamper with witnesses. Manafort is now awaiting sentencing after being convicted of multiple felony counts related to his consulting work in Ukraine.

Stone, who advised Trump during the 2016 campaign, was arrested in late January in a predawn FBI raid at his Florida home.

He is charged with seven criminal counts of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress.

Mueller has accused Stone of making false statements when he testified to a congressional committee in September 2017 that he had no communications with the group WikiLeaks. That whistleblowers' website published a trove of internal Democratic Party emails, allegedly stolen by Russian intelligence, in the late stages of the 2016 campaign.
Republican Rep. Kevin Brady, the driving congressional force behind President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cut, says Americans are seeing smaller 2018 refunds because they got more of their own money in their paychecks.

"Our thinking was, in tax reform, was most families live paycheck to paycheck. It's best to drive that into their paychecks last year, starting in February or March, instead of delaying it a year," he told CNBC on Thursday.

Many alarming headlines are popping up about people being surprised by getting less money back from the government.

If people want less money in their 2019 paychecks and bigger refunds, they can increase their W-4 withholding, said Brady, now the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee due to the Democrats taking over the majority. He was chairman when the Trump tax package was crafted.

"Maybe this conversation will spur more people to do that," Brady said in a "Squawk Box" interview.

But in the meantime, he cautioned against extrapolating the size of the refunds based on being just a couple weeks into tax-filing season, which was hampered by a record-long government shutdown, Brady said.

"The refund picture isn't even accurate," he said. "The refunds vary from year to year. That's natural."

While workers are anecdotally complaining about smaller refunds, Treasury data show they're actually tracking slightly higher during the same time last year, according to research from Morgan Stanley.

Either way, Brady added, "it would have zero to do with your tax bill, zero to do with it; it's merely what you overpaid the IRS in the paychecks last year."

Brady  along with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa  also made that case in a USA Today op-ed.

Their explanation is the latest example of how the GOP's messaging on the tax law, Trump's signature legislative achievement, failed to resonate with the voting public. Polling shows that voters generally disapprove of the measure.

There have been mixed signals from Republican leadership about what kind of benefits the law would provide. In November 2017, a month before Trump signed the bill, then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan touted bigger refunds for taxpayers.

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A view of the MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft in Indian Springs, Nevada on November 17, 2015. Isaac Brekken | Getty Images

ABU DHABI  As one U.S. official at Abu Dhabi's international defense expo, IDEX, put it this week, "China has been selling the hell out of its drones" to Gulf militaries like those of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. The U.S., while a top security partner to these states, currently does not supply them with its armed drone technology due to strict export regulations. But in the face of record Middle East defense spending and encroaching foreign competition, it's under renewed pressure to do just that. Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), emphasized changes underway to the Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy, which has thus far prevented the sale of armed drones to Washington's Arab allies. "As an element of the changes to the CAT policy, we've reviewed and are in the process of implementing changes to our policy with respect to unmanned aerial systems," Hooper told media at the conference Sunday. "We want to make many of our unmanned aerial systems available to our partners. Many of them have been asking for some time, we're going to move forward as quickly as possible." Those systems that Gulf allies have wanted include the lethal MQ-9 Reaper, produced by General Atomics, a hunter-killer drone that can carry up to four hellfire missiles as well as laser-guided bombs and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs). What's been stopping the sales include concerns over proliferation, or risks that it could end up in the wrong hands.

If the U.S. provides Predators or Reapers, and the UAE and Saudis start striking more targets  some of which may not match with U.S. priorities  then there could be backlash against the U.S. Jack Watling Land warfare expert, Royal United Services Institute

"We will still continue to vet those cases, look at each of those on a case-by-case basis," Hooper said. "But we do understand that it's a very competitive world out there and we want to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to provide U.S. systems, the best in the world, to our partners."

Why the Gulf is buying Chinese drones in the first place

Simply put, China's weaponized drones are on the market when others aren't. The UAE has had Chinese Wing Loong I drones since 2016, and started receiving its purchases of the upgraded and deadlier Wing Loong II in early 2018. The UAVs, intended for surveillance and reconnaissance, can carry a range of weapons including missiles and laser-guided bombs to blow up targets on land or in the air. The Saudis have bought China's CH-4 and the Wing Loong II, and both countries have deployed their drones in Yemen.

Participants walk past a Chinese made Wing Loong drone displayed during the Dubai Airshow on November 14, 2017, in the United Arab Emirates. KARIM SAHIB | AFP | Getty Images

Last summer, Riyadh confirmed that the Chinese were building a CH-4 production facility  the first drone factory in the region  in Saudi Arabia. The CH-4, an ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and attack drone with similarities to the Reaper, is also used by the UAE, Iraq and Egypt. In addition to being able to sell to any willing buyer, the Chinese also offer the lowest prices on the market. According to Jack Watling, a land warfare expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, the UAE's Chinese drone purchases began after the the U.S. refused to sell them American armed UAVs. Now, he says, "the (President Donald) Trump administration has reduced its threshold for sale, which partly happened after the UAE started its Chinese drone purchases." Gulf militaries do have American drones, but not ones capable of destroying targets. These include the U.S.-made Predator XP, which can carry ISR camera packages, but it's downgraded so that it can't carry weapons systems. Still, Watling says, U.S platforms are better than their Chinese counterparts  and if given the opportunity, buyers would likely choose those. "Chinese UAS (unmanned aerial systems) are not as stable as American systems," he explained. "They therefore have to fly lower, though they are improving. This has resulted in several Chinese platforms being shot down."

'Definitely a threat'

"The Chinese are definitely a threat," Gerard Robottom, international market area director at California-based UAV manufacturer AeroVironment, told CNBC at the conference. But he stressed that reliability is key, adding, "you can find a lot of our customers out here, and they'll tell you the importance of a good ISR from a reputable company." Robottom's colleagues attested to the lengthy U.S. government process for approving even non-lethal drone exports, which they described as a hindrance to international business. "This is something the administration takes very seriously," Michael Bedke, senior regional policy advisor at the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration, told CNBC at the event. "As part of the CAT implementation policy ... there were lines of effort that looked at how we could provide more systems and more advanced systems to the region, and how we can speed up the process to allow us to transfer those systems as well."

Participants at IDEX, Abu Dhabi's International Defense Exposition, the largest tri-service weapons expo in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 19, 2019. Natasha Turak | CNBC

In November, as part of the Trump administration's push to sell more weapons abroad, the State Department released updates to the CAT policy featuring measures to speed up arms transfers and reduce previous restrictions. The first task listed in the State Department's policy update read: "Effectively compete with strategic competitors by providing allies and partners with alternatives to foreign defense articles in order to maintain U.S. influence in key regions."

... But it could backfire

But supplying the technology to the Gulf could backfire on the U.S., Watling says. The U.S. provides its allies ISR in exchange for access and leverage; "if they sell the platforms, and the UAE and Saudis get good at using them, then they will be less dependent on the U.S."
Federal prosecutors, including current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, violated the rights of sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein's victims during their investigation of the once-influential financier a decade ago, a judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra slammed the government for failing to notify Epstein's victims that it had reached a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein while leading those victims to believe that federal charges were still a possibility.

"It was a material omission for the Government to suggest to the victims that they have patience relative to an investigation about which it had already bound itself not to prosecute," Marra wrote in a 33-page opinion.

More than two dozen lawmakers, primarily Democrats, called on the Department of Justice to open a probe last year into Acosta's dealings with Epstein while Acosta served as a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The calls for an inquiry followed an investigation into the deal between prosecutors and Epstein published by the Miami Herald.

The judge did not take issue with the decision not to bring federal charges against Epstein, who served 13 months in prison after pleading guilty to state charges. Epstein, who has had powerful friends such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.

But Marra said that prosecutors violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act in their dealings with two unnamed underage victims.

"When the Government gives information to victims, it cannot be misleading," Marra wrote. "While the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the [non-prosecution agreement] with Epstein's attorneys, scant information was shared with victims. Instead, the victims were told to be 'patient' while the investigation proceeded."

A representative for the Department of Labor told NBC News in a statement that "the actions of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in this case have been defended by the Department of Justice in litigation across three administrations and several attorneys general."

The representative added: "The office's decisions were approved by departmental leadership and followed departmental procedures."

The White House referred inquiries to the Labor Department's statement. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He's an award-winning rapper, activist and entrepreneur, but Killer Mike is also known for his being outspoken about social issues.

In fact, that reputation is what landed him his Netflix series, "Trigger Warning."

While he's earned millions in his career thusfar, the successful entrepreneur, who owns a chain of barbershops in Atlanta with his wife called The SWAG Shop, has no plans of slowing down any time soon.

To stay at the top of his game, he says he constantly seeks advice from the super successful. That's why he says he'd love to sit down with billionaire media mogul Ted Turner.

"I'd like to sit with Ted Turner and have lunch with him at Ted's and eat a bison burger and just ask him, 'Man, you know, what gave you the belief to do it?'" he tells CNBC Make It. "To build Turner Broadcasting System and to build CNN. What gave you the belief to single-handedly rebound the bison population in America? Was it just so that you could eat bison burgers?"
At an aerospace luncheon in New York on Wednesday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gave several key insights into his passion project Blue Origin, rather than his day job.

Bezos explained how the space company is learning from test flights of rocket New Shepard, which he expects will begin flying passengers on short trips into space this year. According to industry publication Space News, Bezos said at the event that the lessons from New Shepard are informing Blue Origin's development of its New Glenn rocket  a behemoth the size of a 29-story skyscraper.

"The strategic objective of New Shepard is to practice," Bezos reportedly said. "A lot of the subcomponents of New Shepard actually get directly reused on the second stage of New Glenn."

The two rockets are at very different stages of development. New Shepard has launched 10 times, going past an altitude of 350,000 feet and coming back to land on its most recent test flight from the company's facility in West Texas. The rocket's capsule spends about 10 minutes floating in zero gravity, before following the rocket's booster back down to land, to be launched again. New Shepard would fly space tourists, as the capsule features massive windows that provide expansive views of the Earth once in space.

New Glenn, on the other hand, is a massive rocket designed to launch large spacecraft, such as heavy telecommunications and internet satellites. Once operational, New Glenn would compete with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy for missions, as well as national security contracts. Blue Origin has yet to fly New Glenn, with the first launch expected in 2021. But Bezos said his company is learning a lot from the smaller rocket's test flights.

"All of those systems will get a tremendous amount of practice with that suborbital mission and will be carried over directly to the upper stage [of New Glenn]," Bezos said. "The lessons learned on things like landings and operability and reusability, all those things from the New Shepard program, those also get incorporated into the New Glenn booster."
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos raised doubts about claims from rivals that corporate tax could be lowered to tempt more international firms to the country.

Ahead of an election later this year, the campaigning has already begun with the country's embattled economy still a major focus.

Greece's opposition party, the conservative New Democracy, told CNBC Tuesday that it wants to cut corporate tax from 28 percent this year to 20 percent in two years, if it wins the election.

In response to the proposal, Tsakalotos, a member of the ruling Syriza party, said he is unsure how the opposition could deliver that.

"Going to 20 percent would cost 1 billion (euros) ($1.1 billion). So, I would look with interest where that money is coming from," he said.

Tsakalotos argued the government should take a "balanced approach" when reducing corporate tax. He put forward a measure last year that aims to bring down tax by 1 percentage point event year to hit 25 percent in 2022.
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.
Greece's government is adamant that much-needed reforms will soon be completed so that the country can unlock fresh funding from the European Union.

Greece, after a savage financial crisis that threatened the rest of the region in 2015, is no longer under a bailout program but as part of a deal it signed last year it needs to implement some new measures in exchange for some debt relief. This agreement says that Athens will receive the profits that regional central banks make when they Greek sovereign bonds  these are known as SMP-ANFA profits  and would allow the country to invest back into its economy.

However, European officials have previously told CNBC that the Greek government is behind schedule and is at risk of not getting this money next month, when euro zone finance ministers meet to decide on the disbursement.

However, Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told CNBC Wednesday that the reforms will be ready by March 11 and an upcoming report on Greece's progress  which European creditors are preparing  will be positive.

"There's still some (work) to be done to just pass legislation that has been agreed by the time of the Eurogroup (meeting of euro zone finance ministers) of (March 11). So the report will be favorable, it will say that we've done all this stuff. There are one or two things that have to pass through Parliament, but they are agreed legislation so it's a formality till the 11th of March Eurogroup," Tsakalotos told CNBC in Athens.
Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks to participants during the Viva Technologie show at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on May 24, 2018 in Paris, France.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with a British official Thursday to discuss internet regulation and fake news.

Zuckerberg will speak with U.K. Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright at the firm's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, about a U.K. government plan to regulate tech companies over how they tackle harmful content online.

Another topic high on the agenda will be the spread of disinformation on the web, a government spokesperson said, an issue the social network has faced heightened scrutiny over globally.

"I look forward to meeting Mr. Zuckerberg to discuss what more Facebook can do to help keep people safe on their platforms, as we prepare a new regulatory framework that will reinforce Facebook's and other tech firms' responsibility to keep us safe," Wright said in a statement Thursday.

Britain's Home Office and the culture department are due to release a white paper where they will lay out their strategy to counter issues like cyberbullying and child abuse content online. Reports have said the report could include a proposed regulator similar to Ofcom, the media watchdog, to monitor social media.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, walks out of the U.S. Courthouse after a bond hearing in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2017.

Paul Manafort, former chairman of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, will be sentenced for multiple crimes in Virginia federal court on March 8  just five days before he is due to be sentenced in a related case in Washington, D.C., a judge ordered Thursday.

Manafort, 69, potentially faces decades in prison after he is sentenced in both cases for crimes connected to income earned from consulting work he performed in Ukraine for a pro-Russia political party before joining the Trump campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, in a memo last Friday to Judge T.S. Ellis in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that federal sentencing guidelines suggest that Ellis should send Manafort to prison for 19 years to 24 years for his case there.

Manafort's defense team is due to file its own sentencing memo in Virginia by March 1.

The longtime Republican operative has been held in jail since last June, when the judge in his Washington federal court case, Amy Berman Jackson, revoked his bond after he was accused by Mueller of trying to tamper with potential witnesses against him.

Manafort was convicted in late August after his first trial in Virginia on eight felony counts, including tax fraud, failure to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts, and bank fraud. Jurors there deadlocked on 10 other counts.

Weeks later, just three days before he was due to go on trial in Washington, Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in that court. He also agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election, and possible collusion by members of Trump's campaign. Trump denies any wrongdoing by his campaign.

In November, Mueller accused Manafort of violating his plea agreement by lying about his contacts with alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik, a former associate. Kilimnik has denied ties to Russian intelligence agencies.

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced March 13 in the D.C. case. Jackson on Thursday told Manafort's lawyers to file their sentencing recommendation in that case by next Monday.

Mueller's sentencing memo in the D.C. case is due Friday.
Europe's top civil servant has said he is "not very optimistic" about Britain's chances of leaving the European Union with a deal.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met British Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels on Wednesday evening but on Thursday morning warned a committee that he still "cannot exclude" a no-deal exit.

"My efforts are oriented in a way that the worst can be avoided. But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue," said Juncker.

"In the British parliament every time they are voting, there is a majority against something, there is no majority in favor of something," he told a session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

U.K. leader May has agreed a deal to exit the European Union with Brussels but has so far failed to gain the required support needed from U.K. lawmakers.

Describing Brexit as an act of "deconstruction," Juncker also warned that Britain's exit could have "terrible economic and social consequences" for both the U.K. and continental Europe.

Shortly after the comments, sterling dipped briefly before regaining ground. At around 11 a.m. GMT, sterling was trading 0.15 percent higher at $1.306.
William Rudin, head of his family's New York City property development empire, told CNBC on Thursday that the political pressure that led Amazon to withdraw its plans to build a Queens headquarters was borne out of a lack of understanding of the benefits.

"Unfortunately, that message didn't get out in the way it should have," said Rudin, a billionaire, referring to the promises Amazon had made to the city about improving infrastructure and schools around the site in the Long Island City neighborhood.

Rudin, chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York trade association, was a supporter of the Amazon deal.

New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, along with fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others, mounted what turned out to be a successful campaign to thwart the Amazon deal, protesting the $3 billion in tax incentives the city offered the e-commerce giant.

Ironically, Rudin said in a "Squawk Box" interview, about 65 percent of those incentives were already on the books to encourage any company to bring operations to one of the city's four boroughs outside Manhattan  Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.

"The city, the last 20 or 25 years, has been trying to diversify our economy, and getting away from Wall Street and bringing it out into the outer boroughs," added the CEO and co-chairman of Rudin Management. "We're a higher tax city and state, as we know, and higher costs. That's why these extra incentives were needed to try to get them here."

Despite Amazon's decision, Rudin believes New York City will continue to thrive, citing the growing presence there of technology giants Facebook and Alphabet's Google. He also pointed to Estee Lauder's decision to move employees to the same Long Island City area that was supposed to house the Amazon headquarters.

In the heart of Manhattan, a group called the Job Creators Network, put up a billboard slamming liberal firebrand and freshman lawmaker Ocasio-Cortez, whose nickname is AOC, over Amazon. It reads, "Thanks for nothing, AOC." The JCN counts Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus as one of its creators.

TWEET JCN

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her response.

TWEET AOC
The black eye stock buybacks have received in the halls of Congress lately has not stopped companies from stepping up their announced share repurchases in the first quarter. In fact, by one count buybacks are on their way to another record this year, potentially topping the just over $1 trillion seen in 2018. The trend comes amid a clamor in Washington by lawmakers looking to make it harder for companies to buy their own stock and instead direct the money to investments in workers and equipment. Both Democrats and Republicans have been bashing buybacks, saying corporate America is getting an unfair advantage in the tax code that rewards selfish behavior. New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer was on the offensive again this week, posting a new essay on Medium that said companies should find a better use for their cash. Schumer and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders recently outlined a proposal that would force companies engaging in buybacks to provide a living wage and health benefits to all workers. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has promised his own proposal to stem the trend. "To me, this poor income distribution and the ensuing and uncharacteristic lack of hope it creates in the American working class is  along with climate change  the greatest problem America faces," Schumer wrote. "We need solutions, not glib answers."

The buyback trend started during first-quarter earnings season has been striking. Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates repurchases are up 91 percent year over year, with staples and materials leading followed by tech and financials. In fact, the past week saw nearly $2.8 billion, the fourth-highest level since BofAML began tracking the data point in 2009. "The current pace of buybacks would suggest a record year in [staples and materials] plus Financials and Utilities; Industrials and Discretionary buybacks, while below post -2009 records, are also set to eclipse last year's levels," Jill Carey Hall, U.S. equity strategist at BofAML, said in a note. That move comes off a big fourth quarter in 2018. S&P 500 companies that have reported so far are indicating just a 1 percent decline from the record third-quarter buyback levels, with the amount 64.8 percent ahead of the fourth quarter in 2017, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior industry analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Business investment also growing
You might think that actor Michael B. Jordan measures his success by roles, like playing Erik Killmonger in Oscar-nominated "Black Panther." But you'd be wrong.

"Everybody has their own ... method or strategy to become successful. Everybody has their own version of success," Jordan tells CNBC Make It. "I think for me, it's always been you're defined by what you say no to."

"You can't do everything. You have to be selective. You want to build your brand in a very prestigious way, that's what I'm going for."

At just 32, Jordan has an impressive list of achievements, including a 2018 Emmy nomination for his leading role in HBO's "Fahrenheit 451" and a number of noteworthy awards for his starring role in last year's blockbuster hit "Black Panther," which is up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday. Off-screen, Jordan has various projects, like Las' Lap, a Manhattan rum bar he co-owns. He also has a partnership with Bacardi rum and even co-directed "The Angel's Share," a digital short ad for the brand's premium collection, last year.
Barclays reported a full-year net profit of 1.4 billion ($1.82 billion) for 2018 Thursday, swinging back to the black after 2017 losses.

In 2017, the British bank posted a significant loss of 1.92 billion, after it was hit by a one-off 901 million charge on U.S. deferred tax assets.

Here are some other takeaways from Barclays' 2018 results:

The bank reported its 2018 core capital ratio at 13.2 percent, unchanged from the previous year.

Group profit before tax increased 20 percent to 5.7 billion

Earnings per share excluding litigation and conduct for the full year was 21.9 pence.

Barclays also set aside a Brexit provision of 150 million in its 2018 results. Shares of the bank jumped more than 4 percent in early deals on Thursday.

"In the fourth quarter, we took a special impairment charge of 150 million, given the uncertainty around Brexit. We think that was a prudent and proper thing to do," Jes Staley, chief executive officer of Barclays, told CNBC Thursday.

"There is a lot of uncertainty out there. What is important for Barclays is we are a British bank and we are staying committed to the U.K."
BAE Systems said German moves to block exports to Saudi Arabia could damage its major deals with the Kingdom and weigh on Britain's biggest defence company's financial performance.

BAE said it was reliant on the approval of export licences by a number of governments in order to continue supplies to Saudi Arabia.

"BAE Systems is therefore working closely with the UK government to minimise the risk of any such occurrence and the impact it would have on financial performance, the supply chain and relationships," it said in its annual results on Thursday.

Shares in BAE slid 5.9 percent in early trading in London.

Germany is part of the consortium that builds the Eurofighter Typhoon, a fighter jet that BAE has sold to Saudi Arabia, through Airbus and MTU Aero Engines.

Germany's government is trying to halt weapons exports to Saudi Arabia after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, but Britain has urged the country to exempt big defence projects or face damage to its commercial credibility.

On Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that future decisions on whether to deliver arms to Saudi Arabia will develop on how the conflict develops in Yemen.

BAE makes 14 percent of its annual sales from selling Typhoons and other arms to the kingdom, and the tensions have raised questions about the UK government's 10 billion pound deal to sell Saudi Arabia 48 new Typhoons.

The deal, confirmed in a memorandum of understanding last March, has not been finalised, and is not reflected in BAE's 2018 financial statements.

"The issue of German licences is a political issue and as such requires it to be resolved at the political level," Chief Executive Charles Woodburn told reporters on Thursday.

"To that end, we're working closely with the UK government," before adding "there's also a concern among industry partners such as Airbus."

Despite the issue of Saudi exports and other geopolitical uncertainty, BAE said its earnings would grow in 2019 compared to a flat 2018.

BAE said it expected mid-single digit growth in underlying earnings per share in 2019, compared to a full-year figure for last year of 42.9p, roughly flat on the previous year and in line with expectations.

"The Group made good progress in strengthening the outlook and geographic base of the business, with a number of significant contract wins," Woodburn said.
In an effort to make Apple products more affordable to Chinese consumers, Apple is working with Chinese mobile payments network Alipay to offer up to two years of interest-free financing, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

The companies reportedly told customers about the new borrowing option this week, which requires a minimum purchase of 4,000 yuan ($595) to qualify, the Journal reported. This would give more customers the ability to buy the company's latest iPhone models, including the XR, which is the most affordable option in Apple's new lineup at 6,499 yuan, according to Apple's China website.

Sales growth in China has been a concern for Apple investors since CEO Tim Cook warned in January of economic pressures in the region and slowing iPhone sales. In its first-quarter 2019 earnings, Apple reported a nearly $5 billion drop in revenue from China compared with the previous year, to $13.17 billion during the December quarter.

"If you look at our results, our shortfall is over 100 percent from iPhone and it's primarily in greater China," Cook told CNBC's Josh Lipton in an interview after Apple's revised guidance announcement in January. "It's clear that the economy began to slow there for the second half and what I believe to be the case is the trade tensions between the United States and China put additional pressure on their economy."

Cook had also talked in the interview about adding payments to dull the sting of its high price tags. But Apple's decision to work with Alipay to offer the financing is an interesting choice since its own digital wallet service, Apple Pay, has failed to gain much market share in the region, according to the Journal, which reported that Alipay has more than 700 million active users in the region.

Huabei, the Alipay service that will finance Apple purchases, acts like a virtual credit card that Apple would likely pay for upfront with a small percentage of a product's price, according to the Journal. While Alipay previously offered interest-free financing for one year on Apple products, the new 24-month offer will be available until March 25, the Journal reported.

Alipay's parent company, Ant Financial, declined to comment and Apple did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Watch: Apple's Tim Cook blames China for weak iPhone sales  Here's how five experts reacted to the news
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Anti-Defamation League's "Never is Now" summit in New York City, December 3, 2018

Apple is working with Goldman Sachs on a joint credit card that the companies plan to roll out this spring, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Employees will begin testing the card soon and it will officially launch later in 2019, according to the report. The credit card will be paired with new iPhone features, designed to help Apple customers manage their finances.

The card will use Mastercard's network, the WSJ reported. Additionally, card users are expected about 2 percent in cash back on the majority of purchases, the report said, with possibly greater returns for purchases of Apple products. Beyond the bonuses, the reports says Apple and Goldman Sachs hope to attract users with extra features in the technology company's Wallet application, such as tracking rewards and spending, as well as managing account balances.

"Card reportedly will have high rewards, highlighting competition, though this is clearly not a gamechanger," Credit Suisse said in a note to investors on Thursday.

Apple is trying to up its take of iPhone credit card purchases, as the company currently gets a small cut when users make purchases through Apple Pay. Additionally, Apple is looking to boost revenue from things other than gadgets, and the payments space is in the midst of intense competition from banks and tech startups.

Goldman Sachs is also attempting to push further into the digital payments realm and diversify its revenue away from institutional areas like trading and investment banking. In 2016, Goldman Sachs launched digital retail bank Marcus and this credit card would help turn Apple users into more Marcus customers.

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal here.

CNBC's Michael Bloom and Hugh Son contributed to this report.
Everyday Americans are being left behind because of President Donald Trump's tax cuts  and one solution could be to tax the rich, civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate Jesse Jackson Sr. told CNBC on Wednesday.

"There must be some kind of wealth tax," the president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said on "Closing Bell."

However, he didn't endorse any specific ideas laid out by his fellow Democrats.

Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to impose a 2 percent tax every year on households with assets of more than $50 million and 3 percent on households with assets of more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from New York, wants to slap a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million. And Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who launched his 2020 presidential campaign Tuesday, has proposed a big hike in the estate tax, including a 77 percent rate on estates of more than $1 billion.

Jackson, who rose to prominence during the 1960s civil rights movement, said the wealth gap is real and wasn't helped by the new tax law.

"The big tax cut  it all went up and less went down," said Jackson, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. "The 1 percent is getting much richer and that gap is not good for democracy."

His organization is currently hosting its 22nd annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit in New York to address issues like the racial wealth gap and diversity in corporate boards.
Wondering if the technology in your car or truck will actually keep you from hitting someone who might walk in front of you as you're driving? The answer, in most cases, is yes, your car will probably stop.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted a series of tests putting crash dummies in some of the most common pedestrian collision scenarios to see if 11 small SUVs stop in time or significantly slow down before a crash.

"Overall, these systems performed very well," said David Aylor, active safety testing manager for IIHS. "Nine of the 11 models avoided or significantly slowed down to mitigate the impact of a crash."

The tests come as pedestrian fatalities in the United States are close to a record high. In 2017, the number of people hit and killed by vehicles totaled 5,997, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

In recent years, automakers have been adding pedestrian crash avoidance technology to the safety packages offered in many vehicles, but as of now, these systems are not mandatory in all vehicles. Still, there are enough equipped models for the IIHS to test if these safety systems actually work.

IIHS ran three tests: a crash test dummy crossing in front of a vehicle, a dummy walking beside a vehicle (to test what happens when a person walking on the shoulder of a road strays into traffic) and a child dummy darting out into a street from behind a parked vehicle. The SUVs were tested traveling at 12 and 25 mph.

In the vast majority of tests, the SUVs either stopped in time or slowed down significantly to limit the impact of the vehicle/pedestrian collision.

"These tests show the technology works," said Aylor. "And because cameras and radar trigger the SUVs to slow down, the technology works regardless of what the driver is doing."

There were two models that struggled in the IIHS tests.

The 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander was rated as "basic," with IIHS saying the Outlander's autobrake earned a superior rating in front crash prevention tests but reduced the vehicle's speed minimally in other scenarios.

Mitsubishi said, "We're proud of the Mitsubishi Outlander's consistent highest-possible "Good" ratings in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety  IIHS  crashworthiness testing, as well as the vehicle's top-level "Superior" front-crash prevention. We're always working to improve our vehicles' across-the-board crash and crash-prevention systems and processes, and will study the results of this round of testing as we develop new vehicles and systems."

The 2018-19 BMW X1 was given the lowest designation of "no credit" by the IIHS.

"There were several scenarios where the X1 did not stop at all and other scenarios where it only scrubbed off a few miles per hour of speed before the collision," said Aylor.

A spokesperson for BMW said, "Our collision avoidance system is designed to a detect a vehicle. It can detect pedestrians, but in some situations it is not designed to detect a person."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says it plans to test how well pedestrian crash avoidance systems perform with other classes of vehicles.

"Hopefully, this technology will help lower the number of pedestrians who are hit by cars," said Aylor.
The market has been rising since it hit "rock bottom" in December and there's enough momentum in the United States economy alone to carry the cycle as global growth slows, top J.P. Morgan strategist Marko Kolanovic told CNBC on Wednesday.

Kolanovic, whose calls have moved the stock market in the past, credited shifting policy in the Federal Reserve, progressing trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and declining volatility for investors' willingness to put more money to work. Investors are more comfortable taking on more risk when the market is not up and down as much as 10 percent on a regular basis, the bank's global head of quantitative and derivatives strategy said.

"Obviously we had a really strong rally now  January and February, so far  so we do not think it can continue that pace," he said on "Fast Money." "We do not think that it can go up every day, but we do think it can go up more ... because positioning is still relatively low."

The investment bank has a price target of 3,000 for the , which is up more than 18 percent since Christmas Eve. That target is nearly 8 percent higher from Wednesday's close. The index, which is still in correction territory, added about 5 points to complete its third positive session in a row and seventh in eight.

As investors ponder how slowing global growth might affect the economy, Kolanovic said his firm's "bet" is that a recession will not hit the U.S. because the economy has enough momentum to weather the trends. Still, stockholders should expect to see a slowdown in gains this year, he said.

On Wednesday, Fed minutes released from its January meeting warned that there is potential downside risk in "the possibilities of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in global economic growth, particularly in China and Europe, a rapid waning of fiscal policy stimulus, or a further tightening of financial market conditions." But the central bank also hinted that it could stop reducing the balance sheet.

"[The economy's] slowing down, but ... we think it's way above the stall speed," he said. "So we think U.S. can hold us, hold the cycle for maybe a few more quarters."

While China grapples with "signs of inflection," Kolanovic said the country has taken measures to address concerns. Additionally, Chinese and American trade officials appear to be closer to landing a trade agreement that would stave off a tariff hike on billions of dollars worth of imports from China. President Donald Trump has suggested that he may push back a March 2 trade deadline.

The U.S. economy can sustain until China's economy "makes a turn," and the world's two largest economies could buffer a disappointing European economy that is "slowing down more than expected," Kolanovic said.

"If this trade deal for some reason is falling apart, we would probably have to change our view entirely," he said.

But if negotiations lead to a positive outcome, Kolanovic says, markets could see a sharp reversal from fourth-quarter losses.
The stockpile of guns found by investigators owned by Christopher Hasson.

A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant working in the nation's capital lived a secret life as a "domestic terrorist" who aspired to mass murder and compiled a target list of prominent politicians and journalists, federal prosecutors allege in court papers.

Christopher Paul Hasson was arrested Feb. 15 on drug and gun charges, but prosecutors said in a detention memo this week that he intended "to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country."

He has espoused extremist views for years, the court papers say, and he read the manifesto of Anders Breivik, the white supremacist Norwegian terrorist who shot and killed 77 people in 2011.

From January 2017 to January 2019, "the defendant conducted online searches and made thousands of visits for pro-Russian, neo-fascist, and neo-Nazi literature," the document says.

"I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth," reads a draft email found on his computer. "I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something."

In another letter to himself found on his computer, court papers say, he says, "I am a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military."

The Coast Guard flagged him because of internet searches of extremist web sites at work, a federal law enforcement officer told NBC News.

"He wasn't too surprised to be arrested, but he was worried about law enforcement officers entering his home, the official said.

A search of his Silver Spring, Maryland, residence yielded 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, the court documents say.

More from NBC News:

Jussie Smollett now considered a suspect for his report of hate-crime attack, Chicago police say

California rapper killed in car was shot by police about 25 times, lawyer says

A state trooper appears to pull gun on driver in traffic stop, video shows

He was abusing the narcotic tramadol, and he had stockpiled 30 bottles of human growth hormone, prosecutors said in court papers.

The combination of drugs and guns was a significant concern, the federal law enforcement official said.

Prosecutors allege Hasson was following Breivik's manifesto, seeking to target "political leaders, media leaders, cultural leaders, and industry leaders."

They say he searched the web for MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, and "compiled a list of prominent Democratic Congressional leaders, activists, political organizations, and MSNBC and CNN media personalities."

Prosecutors say the list included designations they believe referred to Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and House Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar and Sheila Jackson. Also on it was former Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Media figures on the list included Scarborough, MSNBC hosts Chris Hayes and Ari Melber, and CNN's Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.

On the same day he compiled the list of prominent people, Jan. 17, the defendant performed the following Google searches at the following approximate times, court papers say:

8:54 a.m.: "what if trump illegally impeached"

8:57 a.m.: "best place in dc to see congress people"

8:58 a.m.: "where in dc to congress live"

10:39 a.m.: "civil war if trump impeached"

11:26 a.m.: "social democrats usa"

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," the detention memo says.
Clinton, IA (52732)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
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Robert Zelwin stands in the sanctuary of Bnai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike holding one of the prayer books his family donated to the synagogue. The book Zelwin is holding is dedicated to his late parents, Sam and Ida Zelwin, who lived through the Holocaust as members of the Bielski Partisans.
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Lake Erie College will offer a new Master of Professional Studies degrees through a partnership at Lakeland Community Colleges Holden University Center. The program offers development of skills such as organizational dynamics, leadership, negotiation and problem solving.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., center, speaks to reporters as he leaves a news conference on American labor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. Trump said on Twitter that the driver in Tuesday's attack "came into our country through what is called the 'Diversity Visa Lottery Program,' a Chuck Schumer beauty"  a reference to the Senate's Democratic leader.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Former Ohio Sen. Nina Turner announced Thursday she would take a leave of absence from her position as president of Our Revolution to serve as co-chair of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

Turner, a Democrat, has been a staunch public ally of Sanders, an independent running as a Democrat, since Sanders 2016 run for president. As president of Our Revolution, the political group birthed out of Sanders 2016 campaign, shes become a nationally known figure tasked with keeping enthusiasm alive for the 77-year-old Sanders political platform.

Our Revolution has been the keeper of the flame doing the vital work of building a grassroots movement that leverages the peoples agenda, Turner said. Senator Sanders 2020 campaign is a reflection of that work and I look forward to joining his team as a co-chair to ensure we have a true progressive champion in the White House dedicated to racial, social, economic, and political justice."

Turner, a Cleveland native, started her career in office in 2006 after she was elected to Cleveland City Council, eventually moving to the state Senate in 2009.

She made an unsuccessful bid for secretary of state in 2014, losing to incumbent Republican Jon Husted.

Turner made headlines in November 2015 when she unendorsed Hillary Clinton to back Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary.

As president of Our Revolution, a position she assumed in June 2017, Turner served as the public face of Sanders liberal populist movement, becoming one of his most prominent supporters in the country. She frequently appears in the national media as a political commentator, and has cultivated a following of her own in the process.

Turner will serve on the Sanders campaign alongside Ro Khanna, a California congressman; Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerrys.

During her leave of absence, she will continue to sit on the board of Our Revolution.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A state lawmaker wants to change how requests to hike local property taxes or renew existing ones are presented on the ballot to Ohio voters.

Under legislation introduced by Rep. Derek Merrin, a Lucas County Republican, all ballot language describing requests to approve property-tax levies would be required to:

* Describe the amount someone would pay per $100,000 of a propertys fair market value. Currently, ballot issues describe the effect on $100 of taxable value. In Ohio, taxable value is 35 percent of a propertys market value.

In other words, under current law, a ballot request for a 1-mill tax hike would describe a tax increase of 10 cents per $100 in taxable value. The proposed law would describe it as $35 per $100,000 in market value, which is the amount in new taxes the owner of a home worth $100,000 actually would pay.

* Describe the total estimated amount of money the tax issue would raise annually. Currently, only some types of levies are required to do this.

* Be written in the same-size font in plain type. Currently, a levys purpose in some cases is required to be written in bold font thats at least twice the size of the rest of the text.

The change in font sizes, Merrin said, is distracting, and makes the process less fair.

Merrin said his bills overall goal is to increase transparency in the process of seeking property tax increases or renewals. Many voters dont understand what mills are, or how taxable value relates to a propertys actual value, he said.

You shouldnt need to bring a calculator to vote. And currently, you have to bring a calculator and have a knowledge of the Ohio Revised Code to understand how these levies impact voters, he said.

But public school officials have opposed a similar proposal from Merrin in the past. A version of that bill, which cleared the Ohio House but not the state senate last year, only included the requirement that property tax levies be described by their impact on $100,000 of a propertys market value.

Barbara Shaner, a lobbyist for the professional association that represents public school administrators, said Merrins proposed language doesnt capture the complexities of how property taxes are calculated, like tax rollbacks or the differences in how residential, agriculture and commercial properties are valued.

We feel like in a way, its less than transparent because its not something that you can make a simple calculation on, she said.

Another reality of Merrins bill  it would, by definition, make higher dollar figures appear on the ballot for levy requests than the status quo. That may cause voters to be less likely to vote for the levy, Shaner acknowledged.

Districts try to be very transparent when theres a levy on the ballot, she said. We think the current process allows voters to obtain that information ahead of time.

Merrin said thats not the goal of his legislation.

I dont think its going to make a huge difference in the outcome of whether a levy passes or fails. But we have an obligation to accurately and clearly communicate to the voters about the levies that theyre voting on, he said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Is Republican Gov. Mike DeWine a socialist? If this was Minnesota, he might be given that label for his proposal to raise the gas tax by 18 cents.

GOP leaders in that state are attacking the governor for a remarkably similar proposal -- a hike of 20 cents a gallon.

The big difference in Minnesota? The governor, Tim Walz, is a Democrat.

More taxes for you, Minnesota! wrote Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan in her weekly email blast, which began by calling Democrats the "New Socialist Party of America." Carnahan invited voters to share their stories with the party about the harm they would suffer from Walz's proposal.

I dont know about you, but my Ford Escape has a 14-gallon tank which I fill approximately 1.5 times per week," Carnahan wrote. "At this new rate, Ill be paying $732 a year in gas tax!!!!

Not just a 70% gas tax increase: @GovTimWalz wants to hike other taxes on Minnesota drivers too. #mnleg pic.twitter.com/7ggxhvxViS  MN House Republicans (@mnhousegop) February 21, 2019

Its striking how similar the Minnesota and Ohio proposals are. Minnesotas current state gas tax is 28.6 cents per gallon, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Ohios is 28 cents per gallon. Whats different is which party controls which state.

Minnesota Republican state lawmakers have vowed to oppose Walzs tax-hike request, according to the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, a Republican, called the gas tax one of the most regressive taxes and called on Walz to find money for road and bridge funding elsewhere in the state budget.

Paul Gazelka, the top Republican in the GOP-controlled Minnesota senate, said: Its not something were just going to move to the middle on.

Walz has pitched his proposal as a means to keep the states roads and bridges safe and accessible, similar to DeWine's pitch.

This is not a choice between whether we want the gas tax or not. It is a choice between living in a state with the best transportation system in the country or one with crumbling roads and bridges that risk our safety and keep away businesses, he said in a budget briefing, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

In Ohio, Republican leaders have been reasonably supportive of  or at least quiet about  DeWines request, which he formally introduced Thursday. Republican House Speaker Larry Householder has said hes open to hiking gas taxes.

When you look at the case that Gov. DeWine has laid out, it certainly shows that theres a need for some additional revenue in order to maintain the investments the motorists of the state of Ohio have already made in the highways across our state, Householder told reporters on Tuesday at a political forum organized by the Ohio Associated Press.

Larry Obhof, the top Republican in the GOP-controlled Ohio Senate, has been more circumspect in his feelings on a gas-tax hike.

Were at the beginning of our legislative process, Obhof said earlier this week.

Ohio Democrats, who are a minority in both chambers of the Ohio state legislature, have shared reservations about DeWines proposal to raise gas taxes in Ohio.

In a committee hearing in Columbus Thursday morning, Brigid Kelly, a Cincinnati Democrat, noted that the gas tax affects the poor the most, and its considered a regressive tax.

To people in this room, it may not seem like that much, but for people trying to make ends meet, that can be prohibitive for them to get to work and school, she said.

Rep. David Leland, a Columbus Democrat and former leader of the Ohio Democratic Party, has posted on his Twitter account that DeWines gas-tax hike would represent a 64 percent increase.

The governors proposed $2 billion tax increase is a tremendous amount of money to working people, families and seniors - people who have done everything right, but are now being asked to do even more, said Democratic House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes in a statement. Well be evaluating the governors proposed tax increase and working with our Republican colleagues to determine a path forward that doesnt overburden people living paycheck to paycheck.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper largely has focused on the irony that DeWine is asking to raise taxes after spending last years campaign accusing his Democratic opponent, Richard Cordray, of planning to raise taxes once he assumed office.

Will Ohio's Republican Party leaders condemn DeWine's proposal, as their counterparts up north have?

That seems unlikely.

In a statement, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken said: Ohioans elected Governor DeWine because he is willing to take Ohios biggest challenges head on and make responsible decisions now to help move Ohio forward.
Rotunda Rumblings

The magic number: Gov. Mike DeWine revealed in a radio interview Wednesday that he will ask lawmakers to increase the states 28-cents-a-gallon gas tax by 18 cents for road and bridge construction, cleveland.coms Laura Hancock reports. Were taking that to the legislature, DeWine said. Ultimately, its going to be up to the legislature.

Hemp, hemp, hooray: A new bill in the Ohio Senate would create an industrial hemp cultivation program under the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Hancock writes that Senate Bill 57 also would specify that CBD oil is legal in Ohio.

Rosen-y disposition: Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, announced he would back GOP President Donald Trumps pick, Jeffrey Rosen, to replace Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, calling Rosen a trusted adviser from Portmans time heading the Office of Management and Budget. I have known him for more than a decade as a man of integrity and I know he will serve with distinction as the Deputy Attorney General," Portman said in a statement.

Ridin that train: Amid the talk of a gas tax increase for infrastructure spending, Democratic state Reps. Mike Skindell of Lakewood and Terrence Upchurch of Cleveland announced legislation to increase state funds for public transportation. The legislation would increase general revenue dollars from $6.5 million in fiscal 2018 and 2019 to $100 million in fiscal 2020 and 2021.

Algae blooms: During an appearance before the Ohio Farm Bureau, DeWine promised real money in his upcoming budget to combat algae blooms in Lake Erie, per The Blades Jim Provance. DeWine didnt provide an exact figure, but Provance writes the governor has generally supported borrowing $1 billion over 10 years to address the issue.

All business: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Youngstown-area Democrat currently on a trip to New Hampshire as he mulls a presidential run, told Fox News that Democratic hopefuls needed to be very careful as they stump throughout the primary. We come off sometimes as hostile to business, Ryan said.

Bank shot: According to a report in Politico, the big banks view U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who is thinking of running for president, as a reasonable alternative to some of the more liberal presidential candidates. Brown, the Senate Banking Committees top Democrat, has developed a reputation within the industry as practical and someone the banks can work with.

Dividing lines: Brown and fellow midwestern Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are making waves in the presidential race for their positions on universal health care, writes The New York Times Alex Burns. Brown and Klobuchar are two of the few Democrats who arent championing Medicare for all like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. If Mr. Sanders has given a resounding yes on single-payer, and most Democrats have offered versions of yes, but, Mr. Brown and Ms. Klobuchar stand out for their willingness to say no., Burns writes.

Low fat: Brown has a ways to go building support in South Carolina, according to a poll reported on by The Post and Courier. Brown clocked in at less than 2 percent support in the Change Research survey of Democratic presidential hopefuls. Former Vice President Joe Biden led the pack.

Deck the town halls: Rep. Steve Chabot, a Cincinnati Republican, is holding a series of town halls this week, but as the Cincinnati Enquirers Scott Wartman writes, they havent been heavily promoted. A spokesman for Chabot told the Enquirer they werent trying to bury the forums  the first hes had since 2014  but were instead robocalling constituents in the area to keep them neighborhood-focused.

Lingering Lordstown effects: Another supplier to the soon-to-be shuttered General Motors plant in Lordstown announced layoffs on Wednesday, per The Vindicator. Leadec Corp.  citing unforeseen business circumstances  said it would lay off 73 workers.

Antifa-trust: In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, Republican former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell derided the Democratic Party as being too far left, with the headline saying theyre letting antifa write banking regulations. If youre wondering how often he used the term socialist/socialism in the 751-word piece, the answer is a whopping 12 times.

Blockchain gang: The County Auditors Association of Ohio has formed a working group to study how blockchain, the digital ledger technology, could be used to transfer property-deed records at the county level. County auditors from Delaware, Franklin, Guernsey, Henry, Medina, Montgomery, Perry, Stark, Union, Washington, Wayne Warren and Wyandot counties are participating. Warren County Auditor Matt Nolan is chairing the group. Chutes and ladders: The Ohio Supreme Court will hear a case between the city of Cleveland and the union representing firefighters over when the work day starts, cleveland.coms Robert Higgs writes. The case came about after Chief Angelo Calvillo changed the start time for 24-hour shifts from 8:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Sorry about that: An item in Wednesdays newsletter stated that Sam Herd, the new Ohio House Democrats chief of staff, is the first woman in recent memory to serve as an Ohio legislative chief of staff. As Plunderbund notes, Amanda Hoyt was the Ohio Senate Democrats chief of staff as recently as 2012. Tracy Dine Intihar, policy director for Larry Householder during his first go-around as House speaker, also handled some chief of staff duties after Brett Buerck left in 2003 (though she didnt formally hold the title).

Full Disclosure

Five things we learned from the April 9 financial disclosure form of state Rep. Laura Lanese, a Grove City Republican and assistant majority whip.

1. Lanese listed herself as a self-employed writer for Arcadia Publishing and Skyhorse Publishing. The Arcadia Publishing website lists her as an author on several editions of the Images Of America series, including Grove City and Wilmington.

2. She earned a $60,584 salary for serving in the General Assembly. She reported earning up to $999 in author royalties and bank interest.

3. Lanese reported having a tuition trust with College Advantage, a money market fund with Navy Federal Credit Union, equity in Smart Crowdz and On Seen, a whole life policy with Navy Mutual Aid, a retirement fund with the Public Employee Retirement System and a mutual fund through Ohio Deferred Compensation. She also reported investments in numerous ETFs and bond funds.

4. She didnt report owning any real estate, having any creditors or receiving any gifts. She did report receiving $6.85 in food and beverage from the Ohio Childrens Hospital Association.

5. Lanese was reimbursed $305.15 for travel to a veterans conference in Washington, D.C.

On the Move

Brian Hill announced Wednesday he is leaving the Ohio Senate, just 2  months after the Zanesville Republican was appointed to Senate District 20 in place of now-U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson. Hill said in a statement that he will depart the Senate at the end of March to become the CEO of the Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative. Senate GOP spokesman John Fortney said details will be released Thursday about the application process to take over Hills seat.

Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken has been named co-chair of the 2020 Republican National Conventions Committee on Arrangements.

Birthdays

State Rep. Jeff Crossman

David Tod, Ohio's 25th governor (1805-1868)

Straight From The Source

He ran a pretty good race last time. But now that hes a former governor and been out there for at least five years running for president...Im not sure if the time is right for that or not.

- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, in a CBS News story, discussing the possibility of former Ohio Gov. John Kasich challenging President Donald Trump in 2020.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 13-year-old Cleveland girl is the first flu-related pediatric death in Northeast Ohio, the Cleveland Department of Public Health announced today.

It is the second pediatric flu-related death in Ohio this flu season, after the death of a 3-year-old boy from Highland County in Southwest Ohio was reported earlier this month.

An East Cleveland woman, 94, was the sixth flu death reported in Cuyahoga County this season.

Influenza can be deadly for the young and the elderly. The virus spreads through coughs and sneezes, and symptoms include fever, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

While the current flu season has been mild so far, especially when compared to the tough flu season of 2017-2018, it typically peaks in February.

Its not too late to get a flu shot, which helps lessen the symptoms of flu and prevents its spread. In Cleveland, shots are available at both the J. Glen Smith Health Center (11100 St. Clair Ave.) and the Thomas McCafferty Health Center (4242 Lorain Rd.). For more information call the CDPH flu hotline at (216) 664-4621.

The flu vaccine also is available through health care providers, clinics and retail pharmacies. Use this link to fine a location near you to get a flu shot. http://www.ccbh.net/flu-links/
Bail reform is paying off in Philadelphia.

Thats the word from the City of Brotherly Love nearly a year after its newly elected district attorney began releasing a number of low-level crime suspects without requiring them to post bond.

More than 1,700 fewer defendants were jailed while awaiting their first court hearing during 10 months examined last year. The recidivism rate and the failure-to-appear rate have shown little change as a result, according to the district attorneys office. The number of defendants who spent at least one night in jail decreased by 22 percent.

We changed our low-level bail policy because it was the right, and fair, thing to do for the poor, for the people of color, and everyone in Philadelphias criminal justice system, stated Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in a news release. What we have had a year ago wasnt fair, but after a year of use and a supportive third party review, Im happy that weve made real progress for our city.

Cleveland.com began advocating for bail reform in Cuyahoga County nearly three years ago with the series Justice For All. Shortly after the launch of the series, John J. Russo, administrative and presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court, formed a task force that has since launched a reform movement.

Cuyahogas common pleas judges are examining whether to use an improved risk-assessment system to help determine the likelihood that a defendant will commit another crime or skip out on court if released without bail. Cleveland Municipal Court already uses such system and has independently adopted a policy of releasing suspects charged with non-violent misdemeanors without having to post bail.

As part of Philadelphias policy change, prosecutors stopped seeking bail for 25 different charges, none of which were related to violent or sex crimes, or about 61 percent of the total crimes prosecuted in Philadelphia last year.

The statistics did show a bump in the failure-to-appear rate over the past year, but the increase was a continuation of a trend and cant be attributable to bail reform, said Ben Waxman, a spokesman for the district attorneys office.

Waxman said the failure-to-appear rate takes into account all missed court dates and doesnt necessarily mean that a defendant who missed an appointment skipped out on court obligations altogether. He said a variety of reasons can contribute to someone not appearing in court.

To read more about the whats happening in Philadelphia, click here.
By Cait Bladt

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has announced his intention to run for president in 2020. If he were to win the presidency, he would become the oldest person to hold the office in American history, celebrating his 80th birthday in office. Sanders, at age 77, argues he is in impeccable health and has a sharp mind. Not only that, but our current president is 72 years old and frequently faces concerns about his health. Others say Sanders is too old to connect with the country as a whole. What do you think?

At 77-years-old, Sanders is by far the oldest candidate running for president. Former Vice President Joe Biden who is expected to join the race, would be younger than Sanders by only a year. Many pundits worry Sanders' age could not only negatively affect his performance in office but hurt his chances of ever winning the seat. Per New York Magazine:

[I]ts no secret that when people, particularly men, get to that age, the risk of mortality rises significantly (a 75-year-old man has a 22 percent chance of dying within six years), and along with it the possibility of cognitive deterioration (an estimated 15 percent of people between the ages of 80 and 84 suffer from some form of dementia). If voters fear any of that happening, it could (particularly with some encouragement from the kind of intensely hostile conservative media that Sanders and Biden were spared in 2016) affect their electability in ways that are not easy to anticipate in scope and power. And even more obviously, if a 77- or 79-year-old candidate suffers from any real or perceived impairment, the issue could take over the campaign to an extent that makes Hillary Clintons email problem look minor.

Sanders supporters are quick to point out that Sanders appears to maintain a far healthier lifestyle than the current sitting president. Not only that, but he would not be the oldest person holding elected office in the federal government. Per the Intercept:

Yet his likely Republican opponent, Trump, will be the previous record-holder. He was 70 in 2016 and will be 74 in 2020. Yes, the overweight sitting president, who eats junk food, doesnt exercise, and refuses to release his medical records.



In terms of the Democratic primaries, Sanders will be 79 in 2020, but Biden will be 77 and Elizabeth Warren will be 71. Oh, and did you know that Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and her top deputy Steny Hoyer are both older than the Vermont senator?



So why should his age be held against him?

Sanders himself has acknowledged that his age could be a concern for some voters. However, he told Politico that he is of excellent health and his age would in no way affect his performance.

Its part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished, Sanders, who is 77, told POLITICO. Look, youve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? Youve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and well being of the individual.

Sanders has been questioned about his age several times since entering the race. During an interview with Vermont Public Radio, he responded:

"We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age," Sanders said. "I mean, I think we have got to try to move us toward a non-discriminatory society which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for."

The hosts of FiveThirtyEights Politics Podcast felt the response was self-serving and somewhat defensive, lumping real concerns about his age in with unfair racial biases and gender being held against other candidates.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A former employee at school districts in Summit and Portage counties has been sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges related to child pornography.

Officials with the U.S. Attorneys Office Northern District of Ohio say Andrew A. Shonk, 37, previously pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Shonk, of Massillon, worked as an assistant network manager for Hudson City Schools from 2013 until his resignation in July 2018. He previously worked at the former Portage County Educational Service Center, assigned to a district in Rootstown between 2006 and 2012.

The FBI says Shonk received numerous digital files that contained child pornography between March 2013 and February 2018. He also had child pornography on two USB drives, agents said.

In July, the Record Courier reported that Rootstown Superintendent Andrew Hawkins said some of the children in the explicit materials were Rootstown students at the time Shonk was working in the district.

Also, the Record Courier reported Hudson Superintendent Phil Herman said Shonk did not have any images of the districts students that the FBI considered exploitative. Shonk did have photos saved from social media sites, some of which were of Hudson students, Herman said.

The case was prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorney Carol M. Skutnik following an investigation by the FBIs Child Exploitation Task Force, the Canton Police Department and the Jackson Township Police Department.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section.
PAINESVILLE, Ohio  Authorities are investigating after a female driver died Wednesday night in a single-car crash in the driveway of an apartment complex.

Painesville police say officers found a 2014 Kia Forte on its passenger side when they arrived at Brentwood Apartments at 6:27 p.m. The apartment complex is located just south of Ohio 20 and just east of Ohio 44.

The unidentified female driver suffered fatal injuries, police say.

No other details were released on the crash, which remains under investigation by the Lake County Crash Reconstruction Unit and the Lake County Coroners Office.

Anyone with information on the crash can call Painesville police at 440-392-5840.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section.
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio

Domestic violence, Lucille Avenue:

A 37-year-old resident was arrested for domestic violence after an incident at his home involving his nine-year-old son. The boy's mother said the incident occurred while the man had the child at the home during his visitation time.

Identity theft, South Green Road:

A resident came to the station Feb. 7 to report an unknown person filed a false tax return using her identity. Her return was flagged by the IRS and no funds had yet been dispersed.

Vandalism, Mayfield Road:

Officers responded to an alarm at the South Euclid Cafe around 1:45 a.m. Feb. 6 and found a front window had been smashed out with a paver stone. There were no suspects identified and nothing taken from the business.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

A Cleveland man, 41, was arrested after running from an off-duty officer at Walmart Feb. 6. He was charged with theft, criminal trespass and obstructing official business. The total value of the theft was $185.

Harassment, Warrensville Center Road:

A Panda Express employee said Feb. 7 a co-worker's boyfriend came into the restaurant and made several threats that made the staff feel unsafe. The incident was documented.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

A Cleveland man, 38, was arrested Feb. 7 for the theft of $275 worth of merchandise from TJ Maxx. He was found to have several warrants for his arrest.

Theft, South Green Road:

The owner of a plumbing supply business reported Feb. 7 several toilet parts and connector valves had been stolen by a customer. The exact details of the theft were unknown.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

A shoplifter struggled with an off-duty officer in the Walmart parking lot Feb. 8 and was subsequently arrested for theft and obstructing official business. The Cleveland woman, 47, also had an active warrant in the city.

Theft, Cedar Road:

A man reported Feb. 9 his vehicle and house keys were stolen from his locker at Planet Fitness.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

Officers responded to Walmart Feb. 9 for a report of a group of youths stealing two bicycles, a hover board and a bike lock. Six of them were taken into custody outside the store after they fled from loss prevention workers. They were subsequently released to a guardian.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

A Walmart employee stole $60 from a co-worker at the store Feb. 10. The South Euclid man, 18, was terminated by management and cited for theft.

Fraud, Cedar Road:

The owner of a jewelry business reported Feb. 11 a customer stopped payment on a check, and he is now out of money.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road:

A shoplifter fled from Walmart Feb. 11 after stealing $450 worth of merchandise. Employees were able to obtain the license plate number of the suspect's vehicle and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

See more South Euclid news at cleveland.com/lyndhurst-south-euclid.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
My congratulations and thanks to the writer and photographer of Desperation knows no boundarys. Will someone at the Plain Dealer please special deliver a copy of this terrific report to the Oval Office Desk in the White House. I know that the President doesnt read, but at least he could look at the great photographs and some of the charts. Then the next time he tweets about the crisis on our Southwest border he could have some of the facts straight, like who are the immigrants crossing the border? Families and children, and where are most of the drugs coming through? Legal ports of entry in trucks and cars. The majority of asylum seekers come from El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, who are afraid to return to their home countries because of fear that gangs will kill them. The Presidents intentional slow down in processing asylum applications has created a huge backlog of immigration court cases which could take years to get cases settled. We need more immigration judges Mr. President.

Mr. President, it is time to learn to read, including the Plain Dealer Special Report, Desperation knows no boundarys.

Bob Ault,

Lyndhurst
ROOTSTOWN, Ohio -- Volunteers from a search dog team established a GoFundMe campaign for a Portage County Sheriffs deputy who was set on fire Valentines Day.

The campaign exceed their goal of $5,000 as of Thursday morning. Officials from the Painesville-based Big Creek Search Dog Team started the fundraiser on behalf Josee Acklin, his wife, according to the organizations founder Will Rosch.

Acklin was released from the hospital Monday afternoon. A call to the sheriff about whether Acklin has returned to work was not returned as of Thursday morning. He suffered both second-degree and third-degree burns.

Its completely wrapped from shoulder to hand (on his left side), Rosch said. He is probably going to have some skin grafts.

Acklin is about 70 days away from retirement and remains in good spirits despite his injuries, Rosch said. The deputy was part of Roschs search-and-rescue team until 2018 when he started to assume more duties at the sheriffs department.

Big Creek Search Dog Team, founded in 2005, is a search and rescue operation and responds across Ohio, Rosch said.

I was crushed when (Acklin) left the team, Rousch said. He brought the things that we didnt have in the team.

Jay Brannon, 49, of Atwater is accused of dousing Acklin with a flammable liquid and setting him on fire during the incident that happened about 6:45 p.m. on Ohio 44, officials say. He is being held in Portage County Jail on a $2 million bond, court records show. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday.

He is charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated arson, the news release says.

Brannon was found crouched in front of a pickup truck undergoing repairs, according to an earlier news release said. He lit a can of flammable liquid, made threats towards Acklin, saying he was going to kill the cops, according to a news release said. He also commented that he wanted the officers to kill him.

If youd like to comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments section.
AKRON, Ohio  Disgraced former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo isnt getting out of prison soon, but a federal judge said Thursday that his help in unraveling one of the biggest political corruption scandals in county history entitles him to a shorter sentence.

U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi reduced Russos nearly 22-year sentence by almost eight years. While Lioi noted that Russo waited more than two years after the FBI and IRS wide-ranging corruption investigation went public to agree to cooperate, she also said the information and trial testimony he provided for federal authorities should count for something.

Lioi did not cut Russos sentence in nearly half as he requested. To do so would really overvalue his cooperation and diminish the cooperation of others who timely stepped forward, the judge said.

The judges decision means that Russo, who entered prison in November 2012, still has several years to go before he will be eligible for release. With time off for good behavior, he is expected to be released in 2024.

The former auditor, who served from 1997 until 2010, appeared at Thursdays hearing via videoconference from a prison medical facility in Devens, Massachusetts. He told the judge his health problems meant he couldnt travel back to Ohio.

The 69-year-old is bald and wore an oxygen tube. His face showed little emotion throughout most of the hearing. He shuffled papers and played with a pen, occasionally clasping his hands together.

He pleaded guilty in September 2010 and later agreed to cooperate with the government as it built cases against dozens of others, including Jimmy Dimora, the former county commissioner and Democratic Party chairman. Russo was sentenced in December 2010 to 22 years in federal prison, and with that was ordered to pay more than $7 million in restitution.

The former auditor admitted he and his cohorts took more than $1 million in bribes, gifts and trips in exchange for jobs, contracts and political favors, among other crimes. Prosecutors said he was one of the most corrupt politicians in the county, right up there with his friend Dimora, whom he testified against at a 2012 trial.

Federal prosecutors in Cleveland and Russo himself have anticipated Thursdays hearing for years. He first indicated in December 2010 that he was willing to flip on his cronies and political allies in exchange for the possibility of leniency in the future. Prosecutors filed a motion in 2011 asking Lioi to consider reducing his sentence.

The question was exactly how much time the judge should shave off his sentence, and those arguments dominated a hearing that lasted more than two hours.

Federal prosecutors Megan Miller and Antoinette Bacon, who argued for a reduction of a little more than six years, spent much of their time talking about how Russos decision to wait to cooperate meant the government could not use Russo to take more proactive steps, such as wearing a wire. Bacon also said the information Russo provided was about schemes that prosecutors largely already knew about, though acknowledged that talks with him gave prosecutors more clarity and detail.

There werent that many big fish in the pond to go after by the time Russo decided to cooperate, Miller said. Other cooperators, including former county employee and Parma school board member J. Kevin Kelley, came forward early and gave agents information they did not yet know, prosecutors said.

Kelley was later sentenced to six years in federal prison for his own crimes.

Russos attorney Roger Synenberg disputed the idea that his clients cooperation came too late and said the governments current stance was baffling. He said his client spent hundreds of hours talking to the government, reviewing recordings and transcripts and preparing to testify at trials.

They diminish what he did for them and I dont know why, Synenberg said.

Russo said in a series of brief remarks that I worked very, very, very hard on the case and I gave it my all with all my heart. He said he was taken aback by the governments portrayal of his cooperation but added that I hope it all works out.

More than a dozen family and friends, including his husband Michael Calabrese, sat on one side of the courtrooms viewing gallery. On the other side were current and former federal prosecutors and agents, including retired Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Rowland and retired IRS agent Kelly Fatula, both of whom helped lead the sprawling corruption investigation.

His 14-year sentence, while reduced, is still the second longest one handed down to an any defendant caught up in the corruption probe, which spanned years and resulted in dozens of convictions against politicians, government employees and contractors. Dimora, 63, has the longest sentence at 28 years.

Russos sentence is now on par with one being served by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose corruption case included charges related to trying to sell President Barack Obamas Senate seat.

Synenberg asked Lioi to recommend that the Federal Bureau of Prisons move Russo to a federal medical prison in Butner, North Carolina.

The attorney said after the hearing that he hoped his client would receive a bigger break but that the hearing provided some finality.

Hes not the same man that he was on July 28, 2008, Synenberg said, referencing the day of a series of FBI and IRS raids that made the corruption probe public.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursdays crime and courts comments section.
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - Who's ready? Bring on spring with pancake breakfasts, maple syrup and St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Geauga Park District Naturalist John Kolar leads a group of maple syrup to collect maple sap in Swine Creek Reservation's sugarbush.

You can enjoy fresh pancakes, Geauga County maple syrup and local art beginning 8 a.m. Sunday, March 17 at the West Geauga High School, 13401 Chillicothe Rd. in Chester Township during the Kiwanis Club's 66th annual pancake breakfast.

Participating Avant-Garde Art & Craft show artisans will offer woodwork, apparel, bath and body products home decor, jewelry and other items for sale. Along with supporting the artists, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Kiwanis Club.

Admission to the art show is $3 for age 12 and older. Children younger than 12 are admitted to the art show free of charge. Admission to the classic all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast is $8 for adults, $4.50 for children age six to 11, and younger children are admitted free of charge. The pancake breakfast runs through 1:30 p.m. and the art show runs through 3 p.m.

About 30 Avant-Garde Art & Craft shows are held annually throughout the Midwest. Contact avantgardeshows.com. A portion of the proceeds of each show benefit the local community that hosts it.

Celebrate St. Pat's a wee bit early: Is it ever too early for this holiday? The Chagrin Documentary Film Festival is offering a 7 p.m. March 8 screening of "A Proper Pint" and a party with traditional Irish music, a potato bar and beer at Chagrin Falls Township Hall. The film shows how a rural Irish pub is a welcoming beacon in an age where technology and lifestyles have diminished interpersonal communication. Tickets are $25. Tickets are $25. Contact chagrinfilmfest.org.

Taste the maple: Geauga Park District is hosting a few options for celebrating the maple sugar season. From noon to 4 p.m. on three Sundays, including March 3, 10 and 17 you can watch sap-gathering in the forest, a horse-drawn sap sled, and processing at a sugar house, along with tasting samples at the Swine Creek Reservation, 16004 Hayes Rd. in Middlefield.

Costumed interpreters provide historical information on sugaring methods from prehistoric times to modern day processing. Inside the lodge visitors can enjoy a warm fireplace, maple treats and live music by The Real Deal String Band on March 3, Mr. Haney String Band on March 10 and The Woodpeckers on March 17.

Go mad for maple sugaring: The Swine Creek Reservation is also a stop on two different drive-it-yourself tours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 3 and 10. These include Ohio Maple Producers' Maple Madness Tour and the Maple Producers of Northeast Ohio's How Sweet It Is tour. For a full list of locations and participating sugar houses, contact ohiomaple.org and mpneoh.com.

Have a ball: Or, attend one. The 31st annual Tree Tapper's Ball will be held 7:30 - 10:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9 at Parkman Community House. It is a popular, free old-fashioned square dance with instruction and old-time string band music. The Swine Creek Sapsuckers will perform and Lynn Frederick will be calling the moves. The dress is casual, and it is suitable for families. Registration is required. Contact geaugaparkdistrict.org or 440-286-9516.

Timbertots maple program: Young maple lovers, age three to five, can help collect sap from trees and learn about the process 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 at the Swine Creek Reservation. Registration is required for this popular event that fills up quickly. Contact geaugaparkdistrict.org or 440-286-9516.

Maple for seniors: A special "Elderberries" program for seniors on Geauga County's maple sugar heritage will be held11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, March 21 at the Century Village Bond Building in Burton. A pancake lunch, sap bucket craft and tours of the Maple Museum are included. The program is presented by Geauga Park District, the Geauga County Dept. on Aging and University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center. Registration is required at geaugaparkdistrict.org or 440-286-9516.

CVLT presents "Dead Certain:" If you enjoy the suspense of a psychological thriller, The River Street Playhouse presents Marcus Lloyd's play "Dead Certain" 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays March 8-23, with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee March 17 at 56 River St. in Chagrin Falls.

Directed by Kourtney Highland, the two-character play includes Christian Achkar as an alcoholic, out of work actor and Jen Justice as a paralyzed former dancer turned playwright. But, all is not as it appears to be in this dark but fascinating journey. Due to adult language and situations, the play is recommended for adults. Tickets are $13 and are available at cvlt.org or by calling 440-247-8955.

To post your news and events, contact Rusek at jcooperrusek@gmail.com.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Improving health is about more than treating disease; its about preventing it.

A new study by Trust for Americas Health, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy and research organization, gives state-level decision makers a roadmap of policies other states have successfully used to improve health without investing more money in healthcare.

We recognize that health is more than healthcare, said Adam Lustig, one of the report authors.

Where people live, work, play and learn  often referred to as the social determinants of health  affect the health of individuals and the community, too, Lustig explained. In the report, Lustig and the other authors give lawmakers actionable ways to improve health through legislation.

The report, Promoting Health and Cost Control in States: How States Can Improve Community Health and Well-being Through Policy Change identifies 13 policies outside the healthcare sector that are used across the U.S. While many cities have their own policies, the report encourages lawmakers to take state-level action.

Of those, Ohio has policies in place that meet the minimum standard for seven. That includes things such as smoke-free laws, alcohol taxes and syringe access programs.

Ohio falls short on policies for universal Pre-K; complete streets; rapid re-housing; paid sick leave; paid family leave; and a refundable earned income tax credit. While the state does have policies in place to address some of these issues, those policies arent comprehensive enough to be considered a community health benefit, the report found. For example, only 11 percent of the states 4-year-olds are enrolled in Ohios preschool program. Per the report, state-funded preschool programs should support roughly 50 percent of the 4-year-olds in the state.

Action is imperative, said John Auerbach, president and CEO of Trust for Americas Health, in a prepared statement. As a nation, we spend trillions of dollars a year on healthcare and yet Americans are getting less healthy. The solution is two-fold: direct more spending to prevention efforts and address the social determinants of health instead of their impact after someone is sick.

The authors say the policies suggested are both cost effective and proven to improve community health. For example, rapid re-housing programs that move those experiencing homelessness into housing can reduce both hospital admissions and jail bookings, the researchers found. In one instance, a rapid re-housing program saved more than $36,000 in treatment per person in a year, which was nearly double the cost of the program.

To improve Americans health, we have to think beyond the healthcare sector and about the many factors that impact health, Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of the Promoting Health and Cost Control in States advisory board.
Claremore, OK (74018)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Localized flooding is possible.
Illinois Union Insurance Co. has paid a $102,000 fine after Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler ordered the company to cease underwriting self-defense policies branded by the National Rifle Association.

After an investigation, Kreidler ordered Illinois Union in January to stop underwriting the illegal policies in the state because they insure unlawful activity. The company agreed in a consent order to pay the fine.

The company reportedly sold 811 policies to Washington consumers, marketed through the NRAs Carry Guard program. The policies offered upfront money for covered costs and expenses related to criminal defense for gun owners, even if the insured subsequently pleads guilty to or is convicted of a crime.

Washington law prohibits insurance that covers intentional criminal activity by the policyholder.

Illinois Union is a subsidiary of Chubb Ltd. Group and had previously indicated it would stop selling the liability policies nationwide in October 2019. As a result of Kreidlers cease-and-desist order, Illinois Union immediately halted sales of the policies in Washington.

Kreidler is also seeking to fine Lockton Affinity LLC $75,000. Lockton Affinity is the licensed insurance producer that sold the illegal policies on behalf of the NRA. The company requested an extension until early March to decide whether to agree to the terms of the $75,000 fine or demand a hearing to contest it.

Fines assessed against insurance companies, agents and brokers are deposited in the states general fund to pay for state services.

Last year, New York state regulators also found that the NRA-branded insurance program was unlawful.

Related:
On January 4, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press published the latest edition of its Open Government Guidean indispensable resource for journalists navigating the tricky waters of government access, and a go-to compendium of state-level sunshine laws for 30 years.

The guide, which is free and online, provides users with up-to-date statutory and case law governing access to public records and meetings in their state. A reporter seeking access to body camera footage in Kansas, for example, can click on that states guide and look under Police Records for a section devoted to police video, then hit a yellow Compare button to see whether or how other states handle disclosure.

New: A Somali journalist launches new effort to cover Minnesotas immigrants

It addresses such digital-age questions as whether group texting constitutes a public meeting, and gives clear guidance on how to make requests and mount appeals. Theres also an updated Reporters Privilege Compendium, delineating state and federal protections against being compelled to testify or reveal confidential information. An updated Open Courts Compendium, focused on state and federal courts access, is coming this spring.

Its such an important guide for advocacy groups, for reporters who work with public records, Danielle McLean, an investigative reporter for ThinkProgress who also chairs the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, says. Just having a clear guide is extremely important to be able to move through this patchwork of laws, knowing when governments are trying to stall or hide information, knowing when to push back, how to push back, whats available.

In keeping with its mission of protecting the newsgathering rights of journalists, RCFP offers pro-bono legal services and runs a legal defense hotline. But its three online guides, particularly the Open Government Guide, are among its most widely used resources.

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This literally tells you the law in every jurisdiction, says Adam Marshall, a staff attorney at RCFP who helped devise the categories that make state-to-state comparisons easier. The guide, adds Marshall, enables journalists to educate themselves, which is incredibly valuable.

CJ Ciaramella, a journalist who covers criminal justice for Reason magazine, has used the Open Government Guide for years. In December he asked the Kentucky governors office for emailsincluding any from private accounts on private devicesrelated to a Facebook video in which Governor Matt Bevin lambasts the Louisville Courier-Journal and ProPublica. The office responded that private email accounts and devices were off-limits. Now Ciaramella is using the guide as he drafts an appeal. To write an appeal you have to know state law and cite it, so the guide is incredibly helpful, he says.

The new version has a cleaner overall presentation, and provides each states guide in full on a single page, which makes entries easier to search and print. Its easier to navigate, Ciaramella says. The old one was functional but this one is a little more streamlined.

Though the new version looks simpler than any of the previous six editions, the update was a huge amount of work: a collaboration among committee staffers, content contributors and web developers that lasted for more than a year, according to RCFP staff attorney Sarah Matthews.

First, Marshall reshaped the categories, which numbered around 275 per state. Then the template and older entries went out to an army of attorneys across the states who specialize in open government law. The attorneys, who worked as volunteer authors, pored over statutes and case law as they updated entries, then went back and forth with Matthews for editing and fact-checking.

Its basically what I do instead of a vacation. I guess you could say its a labor of love, but its also a tangible way to not just say you favor freedom of the press but actually do something about it.

Next came copying and pasting each individual category into a new WordPress platform, developed with the digital firm Alley, for every jurisdiction in the Open Government Guide as well as 60 state and federal circuit entries for the Reporters Privilege Compendium.

I just roped in almost everybody in the office, because we had so many chapters, and divvied them up, Matthews says. It was all-hands-on-deck the week right before the holidays, just uploading chapters.

RCFP kept the launch soft, so it could work out any bugs. For users, the biggest question so far has concerned what isnt in the guide. Chapters for five statesAlabama, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Wisconsinare not yet done, though users can link to PDFs from the previous guide from 2011 until theyre ready. Matthews says the decision was to get the guide out instead of holding it back for the last few updates.

Weve gotten a lot of feedback about how helpful this guide is, and we love that, Matthews says. However, we know how important it is because we really hear when were missing chapters. Working with dozens of busy volunteer authors means a few are bound to miss deadlines, Matthews adds.

Anchorage attorney John McKay, who has contributed the guides Alaska information for every edition since its launch,turned in a 119,000-word entry for the latest edition. (The contribution, if printed, would total 191 pages.) He also wrote the Alaska sections of the privilege and courts compendiums.

Its basically what I do instead of a vacation, says McKay. I guess you could say its a labor of love, but its also a tangible way to not just say you favor freedom of the press but actually do something about it.

Michael Grygiel says it took him more than 100 hours to compile the 73,000-word New York entry, even with help from two litigation associates. His firm, Greenberg Traurig, routinely represents news organizations seeking disclosure of government records. We like to give back to organizations that serve many of our clients best interests, says Grygiel, who adds that the work helps his firm stay abreast of legal developments. RCFP is certainly an organization that has and continues to do that.

Matthews, of the RCFP, is surveying authors about how often theyd be willing to update their contributions. The gap between the latest guide and its predecessor spanned eight years, the longest wait between editions. Matthews hopes to put all three guides on a staggered, fixed update cycle, so updates occur within three years.

McLean, of ThinkProgress, describes the updated guide as especially timely.

There has been a growing hostility toward the media and some distress over that, McLean says. As a journalist, one of the best ways to give point-blank evidence that something is true is by showing the physical documents to readers, quoting and citing the physical documents. You cant obscure that, you cant deny that. Having those public records tells the stories.

ICYMI: Its time to rethink coverage of school shootings

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Alexa Capeloto is an associate professor of journalism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY. She has worked as a reporter and editor at the Detroit Free Press and The San Diego Union-Tribune, and now researches Freedom of Information laws and processes.
a

Friday, Jun 25th, 2021

Op-ed: Trump is gone. Deep immigration coverage must continue.

By Daniela Gerson and Elizabeth Aguilera

While news outlets turned out in droves for Vice President Kamala Harriss first visit to the US-Mexico border Friday, dont be fooled: immigration news no longer captures the news cycle the way it did under former President Trump. Following the...
ON THIS WEEKS EPISODE, CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope and Mathew Ingram, CJRs chief digital writer discuss The Cairncross Review, a report published in the UK, and the role of tech companies like Google and Facebook on news. They are joined by Josh Young, creator of our trust-based engagement platform, Galley by CJR, who spoke about the idea behind Galley and how it is helping journalists engage in meaningful discussions.

SHOW NOTES:

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Zainab Sultan is a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter @ZainabSultan.
In late 2017, on the shores of southern Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people completed a grueling march to escape the campaign of rape and murder by Myanmars military. As they settled into huts dotting the muddy landscape, journalists from around the world descended on the camps to tell their story.

Can you speak to someone who was raped? one freelance reporter who arrived in Bangladesh in late 2017 was asked by her editor. The reporter, who spoke to CJR on condition of anonymity, says she was shocked that the request came without mention of the ethics of reporting on trauma.

But when she spoke to a United Nations representative in the country, she learned the request was far from unprecedented. The representative said that the United Nations Population Fund had banned reporters from talking to the Rohingya refugees in its care after a journalist had entered a safe space, reserved for survivors of sexual violence, and asked out loud, Has anyone in here been raped?

ICYMI: He helped expose one of the biggest scams in history. Now hes being prosecuted.

There are good reasons to interview survivors of sexual violence. Their stories can attract international sympathy and assistance, and the act of recounting trauma, and of having ones story told, can sometimes be healing. But journalists who assume their reporting will only have positive consequences are often wrong. A 2018 study of a similar circumstance found that 85 percent of Yazidi survivors of sexual violence by ISIS in Iraq reported experiencing unethical journalistic practices including being pressured to speak.

While similar data have not been collected from Rohingya survivors, researchers who have worked on the ground say that, in the melee of reporters who parachuted into the camps and scrambled to find stories of trauma, many journalists neglected their duty to the victims.

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Without a doubt, we can look back and say things did not go well, says Skye Wheeler, a Human Rights Watch researcher who interviewed dozens of Rohingya survivors of sexual violence in the weeks after they arrived in Bangladesh. People were re-interviewed too many times.

Kate Cronin-Furman, a professor of human rights at University College London, says some were interviewed on as many as 70 occasions. When channels of information out are really limited, the ones that do exist get overused. The few individuals with connections to the international community become key information brokers, Cronin-Furman tells CJR.

As a consequence, almost all visitors to the camps may end up working through the same handful of people on the ground, and the same relatively small group of survivors may get trotted out over and over again to meet every visiting dignitary and researcher. This can take a devastating toll.

In October 2017, a Rohingya woman named Rajuma Begum, 20, told The New York Timess Jeffrey Gettleman that Myanmar soldiers beat and gang-raped her and shot her mother and brother. Her words focused the international community on the horrors Myanmar inflicted upon the Rohingya: They threw my baby into a fire.

As she told her story to Gettleman, Rajuma began sobbing. In an essay about the reporting process that the Times later ran, Gettleman recounted his anger at himself for having brought her to tears. Why am I putting her through this? he recalled thinking.

The potential for re-traumatizationwhen a survivor is exposed to triggers that cause her to relive previous traumais extremely high during interviews about sexual violence, Wayne Jordash, a lawyer representing 400 Rohingya who have filed a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate Myanmar for genocide, says. You cant guarantee that you wont be responsible for that, Jordash tells CJR.

Gettleman ultimately carried on with the story, assuring himself that not interviewing Rajuma would be worsea further injustice. But that decision exposed Rajuma to yet another complication. Before she told Gettleman that her baby was thrown into a fire, she had already told a different version of her story. They ripped my son from my arms and threw him [on the ground] and cut his throat, she told Al Jazeera in September 2017. Later, she told others that her baby was killed with a machete, making no mention of the fire.

Given the ordeal the Rohingya have been through, the fact that her accountor the accounts of any Rohingya personis inconsistent isnt surprising, but it presents a challenge for reporters.

Jordash, the lawyer, tells CJR: International prosecutors dont like multiple statements being taken from witnesses or victims because it creates the opportunity for inconsistency, which then creates opportunities for defense counsel to undermine our case.

Gettleman tells CJR he was unaware of Rajumas conflicting stories, and he hopes the positive impact of his story outweighed the pain Rajuma endured by sharing it. I believe we journalists are in the empathy-generation business, and if we do our jobs right, then we help people have a little more empathy and understanding for others, he says.

But Wheeler, the researcher who had been among the first to interview such survivors, says no outcome justifies ignoring the copious resources available to reporters on how to identify and interview survivors of sexual violence ethically. Our first obligation is to do no harm, she tells CJR. It doesnt matter what the potential impact may be, if someone is harmed by our work as researchers, we have failed.

ICYMI: Jason Leopold discusses controversial BuzzFeed scoop

Correction: A previous version of this story said that an interview with Rajuma Begum in Rolling Stone magazine had not mentioned fire as part of her ordeal. It did.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jacob Goldberg is a journalist based in Myanmar. Follow him on Twitter @yayqe.
Melting Pot or Civil War? A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders, by Reihan Salam (Penguin, 224 pp., $27)

In 2007, Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy introduced an immigration reform bill that I describednaivelyas promising, because both sides had made significant concessions. Kennedy, who backed the 1965 reform act that scrapped our old quotas and inaugurated the modern era of immigration, had signed his name to a new bill that would transform our legal system into one based on merit, not family ties; McCain, in turn, had called for a path to citizenship for some longtime illegal aliens, accompanied by tougher penalties for businesses that hired unauthorized workers. Though the bill wasnt perfect, its spirit of compromise prompted me to see it as a chance for real reform.

Almost immediately, though, both sides started disparaging the deal. Presidential candidate Barack Obama claimed that most Americans ancestors would never have been allowed into the country under the new proposed merit systemignoring how previous waves of immigrants, such as those during the so-called Great Migration of a century ago, had come to America with skills in demand at that time. Immigration restrictionists, meantime, argued that their concerns had been shortchanged in previous compromises, so they couldnt trust this one. Since then, positions on both sides have hardened further.

National Review executive editor Reihan Salam makes a new appeal for compromise in Melting Pot or Civil War? A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders, a short but thoroughly argued book that cuts through much of the misunderstanding and misinformation about the immigration debate, and offers a new path to a solution. What distinguishes the book is Salams perspective as not only a child of immigrants but also the brother, neighbor and friend of immigrants, many of whom find President Donald Trumps rhetoric frightening. Salam can see both sides: on the one hand, hes sympathetic to immigrants challenges; on the other, hes distressed by open-borders advocates, who refuse to acknowledge the problems that masses of low-skilled immigrants present to government budgets and social cohesion. I suspect that Salam places himself in a category that he describes as the bullet biters, whom he describes as serious, rigorous, thoughtful immigration advocates who recognize that if the United States is going to welcome a far larger number of low-skill immigrants, we Americans will have to transform our welfare state, and we might even have to countenance the creation of a new class of guest workers who would be permanently barred from citizenship. Anyone engaging in the immigration debate who genuinely wants reform must be prepared to make compromises, Salam arguesbut how to get there?

When the current immigration debate was reignited back in 2006 and 2007, many popular judgments about the value of immigrants were based on research about the newcomers from the immigration wave of 1880 through 1924, and their children. Though Emma Lazaruss poem describes your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/ The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, research by the so-called Jordan Commissionheaded by African-American congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas, and empaneled by President Clinton in the 1990sdemonstrated that many of those newcomers had education and skill levels closely aligned with those of the American population at the time. That so many succeeded quicklyearning salaries commensurate with American laborers after just a few years herewasnt unusual.

But the American economy is far different today, and research on the current generation of immigrants shows an incompatibility between their skills and labor-market demands. Not all immigrants, Salam explains, are low-skilled workers; some 45 percent of immigrants from India, for instance, come from the countrys most educated classes. Its no surprise, then, that so many Indian immigrants flourish here. But the notion that many newcomers have similar poverty-defying powers doesnt comport with reality. For every Sergey Brin, a son of educated Russians who immigrated to America and cofounded Google, there are many low-skilled immigrants. Some 30 percent of the children of immigrants in America live with someone without a high school diploma. Their struggles in the U.S. educational system, a key step toward economic integration, are enormous. Just 5 percent of eighth-grade children of immigrants are proficient in math; most are likely to do no better than a high school education. The average male Mexican immigrant arrives in the United States with 9.4 years of schooling. That rises in the second generation, but to only 12.6 years, Salam writes.

So how do we deal compassionately with a world in which many more poor, unskilled people want to come here than we can afford to take in, especially with a welfare state far larger, costlier, and more entrenched than the one that existed during the early twentieth century? Salam starts with a chapter on finding ways to lift people out of poverty where they already live, so that theyre less likely to feel the need to leave. Economic empowerment doesnt always figure in the immigration debate, but almost every year, 35 million people worldwide escape poverty, on a net basis. Still, an enormous number remain impoverished. Perhaps we should focus more intently on countries closest to us. As Salam notes, gains in the Mexican economy have helped slow the immigration flow from our southern neighbor. Problems in Central America, though, are motivating more people to find their way here. Its a tough battle, trying to transform other countries, especially when the job usually requires more than just U.S. economic aidreforming corrupt or inefficient political institutions is far more complicated.

In the end, its what we do here that will most influence how immigration shapes the American future. Salams grand compromise involves offering amnesty to longtime illegal residents, moving to a merit-based legal system that favors immigrants likely to contribute to our economy, and investing in social programs aimed at helping end whats turning into an intergenerational poverty problem among low-skilled immigrants and their offspring. His detailed proposalsincluding tougher enforcement of the border on one hand and subsidies for poor immigrant children on the otherwill find objections across the ideological spectrum. Still, Salams personal experiences ground his optimism. He grew up in New York City during a time of racial and ethnic conflict and high crime. He watched crime go down and saw immigrants play a key role in revitalizing neighborhoods. Few were betting on those results back then, as I recall. An outcome equally as improbable on immigration will require compromises of just the sort that Salam lays out. He offers a roadmap out of our current immigration traffic jam.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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The Government of Canada has issued 3,350 invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence to candidates in the Express Entry system in a draw held February 20.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has now issued a total of 14,500 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in 2019, which remains the biggest start to a year since the Express Entry systems introduction in 2015.

The 14,500 ITAs are an increase of 70 per cent over the number issued at this same juncture in 2018  a year that saw IRCC set the current Express Entry ITA record of 89,800.

The Express Entry system manages the pool of candidates for Canadas three Federal High Skilled economic immigration programs  the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class  and is designed to expedite the immigration process for those candidates invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Invitations are issued in accordance with a candidates Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score, which is based on factors including age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issues invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence, known as ITAs, to a set number of the highest-ranked candidates through regular draws from the pool, which typically take place every two weeks.

Find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool

The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score in todays draw was 457, an increase of 19 points from the previous draw on January 30.

The fact the minimum CRS score increased in the February 20 draw can be largely attributed to the three weeks that elapsed since the previous draw on January 30.

More time between draws allows more time for the Express Entry pool to replenish with higher-scoring candidates, which can have the effect of increasing the cut-off score.

By contrast, the January 30 draw was held just one week after the previous invitation round on January 23, meaning fewer candidates had a chance to submit a profile and resulting in a lower CRS minimum score of 438.

IRCC applied its tie-break rule in the February 20 draw. The time stamp used was December 6, 2018, at 12:38:11 UTC. This means that all candidates with a CRS score above 457, as well as those candidates with scores of 457 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before the selected date and time, received an ITA in this invitation round.

An Express Entry candidates CRS score can be improved and one of the best ways to do so is to obtain a nomination through Canadas Provincial Nominee Program.

Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination for permanent residence receive an additional 600 points toward their CRS score, which effectively guarantees an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

Provinces including Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario have issued invitations to apply for a provincial nomination to Express Entry candidates during the three-week gap between todays draw and the previous invitation round on January 30.

The following are hypothetical examples of candidates who would have obtained an ITA in the February 20 draw:

Jamel is 32 and has two bachelors degrees. He has never worked or studied in Canada and has an advanced English language proficiency. He has been working for three years as a business consultant. His CRS score of 458 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in todays draw.

Jorge and Ludmilla are 29 and 32, respectively. They both hold a bachelors degree, wrote the IELTS and demonstrate advanced English language proficiency. Jorge has been working in human resources for three years. They have never worked or studied in Canada but Jorge has a sibling in Toronto. Jorge and Ludmilla entered the Express Entry pool with Jorge as the principal applicant. His CRS of 458 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in todays draw.

Kathleen is 33 and has a masters degree. She has never worked or studied in Canada. She took the CELPIP exam and obtained a score of 10 in all categories. She has been working as a real estate agent for three years. Her CRS score of 459 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in todays draw.

Canada has set higher admission targets for 2019 and 2020 through the three economic immigration categories managed by the Express Entry system, so theres a good chance well get back to bigger draws or more frequent draws in the weeks and months ahead. If thats the case, we may also see the CRS minimum score decrease, said David Cohen, senior partner at the Campbell Cohen Canadian immigration law firm in Montreal.

Find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool

 2019 CICNews All Rights Reserved
They dont know exactly where its going or how itll get there, but Citrus County commissioners are fully on board when it comes to extending
If you have been alive and in possession of eyeballs at any point in the last 75 years, chances are you have seen the photograph of George Mendonsa kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman on V-J Day in 1945. He: a sailor, ecstatic to not have to return to the Pacific. She: a dental assistant, celebrating the war's end on her lunch break in Times Square. The photograph was published in Life magazine and showed Mendonsa bending Friedman backward as her white uniform rode up her thighs.

George Mendonsa died this week, after a long career as a Rhode Island fisherman and a long marriage to his wife, Rita. Within 24 hours of his passing, a Sarasota, Florida, statue that recreated his and Friedman's famous kiss was defaced. On Friedman's aluminum leg, in red spray paint, someone had written, "#MeToo."

As much as any image, the picture of Mendonsa and Friedman has defined American perception of romance. It's Richard Gere nipping at Julia Roberts's fingers with a jewelry box; it's John Cusack with a boombox, beneath Ione Skye's window. Mendonsa's grip around Friedman's waist is fervent; her body is limp as if overwhelmed by the passion of his embrace. Behold, the superlative ideal of a perfect kiss.

Neither of them were identified until years after the photograph was published - a handful of other men and women had also claimed to be the famous photo subjects - which allowed a daydreaming public to invent a fanciful backstory: Was the couple reunited lovers? Were they star-struck strangers drawn together by joyful attraction?

The truth, when it came out, was more pedestrian: Mendonsa, tipsy on a few drinks, had been on a date with his girlfriend at Radio City Music Hall when he heard about the end of the war. They dashed into the street where he saw Friedman, whose uniform reminded him of the nurses he'd served with overseas. Kissing her, he later said, was a spontaneous act of gratitude.

Friedman, for her part, was caught off guard. "I did not see him approaching, and before I know it I was in this vice grip," Friedman once told an interviewer.

"I felt he was very strong, he was just holding me tight ... it wasn't really a romantic event," she told the Library of Congress. "It wasn't my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed."

Maybe it could be wonderful and exciting to be kissed, by surprise, by a stranger, at the end of a long and terrible war. But when you hear Friedman's description of it, the whole thing starts to sound unpleasant. The whole photo starts to look unpleasant, too: the way her head is locked into the crook of his elbow, unable to move or avoid his lips.

A man just died, and the thing he was most famous for is a thing that's actually super weird.

It's exhausting, sometimes, to exhume and re-examine old stories, and discover they don't look how you wished they would. But such is history, especially romantic history, especially the versions published in magazines or on screen. John Cusack's character? Creepy. Richard Gere's? In "Pretty Woman," he's a hero because he ... learns to treat a sex worker like an actual human?

In the hours after Mendonsa's death, I watched reactions spread online - many of which amounted to, "Today, this iconic photo might be considered an assault."

Some folks meant it indignantly: See how crazy the world has become? Others also meant it indignantly, but the opposite way: How dare we honor this bad man?

I'd like to think of it more as a statement of fact. Today, this iconic photo might be considered an assault. It doesn't mean Mendonsa was a monster. It doesn't mean humans were bad in 1945. It just means that stories don't always behave as we'd like. Our fantasies can be punctured by the reality of other people's feelings.

A kiss based on one person's joy and another person's non-consenting shock isn't really a perfect kiss. And actually, it never was.

Hesse is a columnist for The Washington Post's Style section and author of "American Fire."
AUSTIN  House Democrats say theyre on board with Republicans wanting to spend $3.7 billion to give teachers a pay raise, but are pushing to spread the pay bumps to school support staff, too.

The proposal from the House Democratic Caucus is the third and latest plan in the Texas Legislature this year to put more money into teachers pockets amid a growing acknowledgment of high demands on those in the profession and lagging teacher pay compared to other states.

We know that our schools are woefully underfunded and we know that we will never get the results that our kids deserve by starving our schools, said Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat and former school board president who orchestrated the proposal.

Exactly how Democrats want to divvy out the pay raises is uncertain. Democrats have several proposals to pay educators more and stressed it is key that others who work in schools also see a pay bump, including counselors, bus drivers and custodial workers.

The Senate, led by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is proposing a $5,000 across-the-board pay raise to all educators. Some House Republicans favored using merit to dictate who should get raises.

Related: Texas Teachers: Dont count on that $5,000 raise just yet

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, also a Republican, has said it is time teachers earned more. He has said he wants school districts to decide how to spread out money for teacher pay raises, but stressed Thursday that he wants members of both parties to unify behind a large education plan Republicans expect to release this month.

When it comes to educating our children, there is no Republican or Democrat plan. There is only a Texas plan, he said in a statement.

The Texas State Teachers Association applauded the proposal but said it would only support permanent, across-the-board pay raises funded by the state. The group opposes merit raises that would reward teachers based on performance, and president Noel Candelaria said the state needs to close the pay gap between Texas teachers and those in other states.

Every Texas student deserves an effective teacher, and thousands of effective teachers are leaving Texas classrooms every year because of inadequate pay, Candelaria said.

Average teacher pay in Texas was $53,167 during the 2017-18 school year, according to the National Education Association. Nationally, teachers average a $60,483 salary. Texas ranks 29th in the nation for teacher pay.

The Democrats pay raise proposal is part of a larger $14.5 billion education plan the caucus revealed Thursday, which included funding full-day prekindergarten and increasing spending to teach low-income students, children who speak little or no English, and those needing special education services. Members say they will propose a mix of legislation to accomplish this plan or elements of it.

The plan also includes the state contributing $100 a month toward educators health care premiums, and a one-time $500 check for teachers to cover classroom supplies, which teachers regularly pay for out-of-pocket.

For subscribers: As health plan costs hit $1,000 a month, teachers take side jobs, delay care
Only three of the world superpowers have landed on the moon -- and Yonatan Winetraub said Wednesday night it's high time a small country plant its flag on the lunar surface, too.

"We want to get little Israel to the moon," said Winetraub, co-founder of SpaceIL, an Israel nonprofit, during a livestreamed news conference Wednesday night in Florida.

The country is taking a huge step toward that goal Thursday night, when its first moon-bound probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

If the mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country to reach the lunar surface on April 11. It will also become the first commercial lander to touch down on the moon.

MOON-BOUND: Israel sets its sights on the moon as NASA plans its first return trip there in almost 50 years

Israel's lander will not carry humans to the surface and the United States remains the only country to leave human footprints on the moon. The other two countries are the Soviet Union in September 1959 and China in December 2013 and January 2019.

SpaceIL -- the only Israeli contestant competing in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition that ended earlier this year with no winner -- started working on the project in 2011. It cost just $100 million.

"We punch far above our weight," said Sylvan Adams, a SpaceIL donor and Canadian-Israeli businessman and philanthropist, on Wednesday. "With Israeli innovation, with Israeli can-do, we've managed to do this on a shoe-string budget and it's something we're very proud of."

The spacecraft will conduct experiments to measure the moon's magnetic field. Work on the project first began in 2011.

NASA officials said last year they will work with the Israel Space Agency to "cooperatively utilize" the probe, being built by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL. The agreement essentially means both countries will benefit from this mission.

Israel's historic launch comes as NASA shifts its focus to returning to the moon as a stepping stone for a mission to Mars.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made it clear that returning to the moon for the first time since 1972 is a priority for his administration.

His $19.9 billion NASA budget for the current fiscal year tasks NASA with launching the first flight without a crew for Orion -- the spacecraft meant to take humans to Mars -- by 2022, followed by a launch of Americans around the moon in 2023.

Additionally, it allows the agency to begin working on the foundation of a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, saying it would "give us a strategic presence in the lunar vicinity that will drive our activity with commercial and international partners and help us further explore the moon and its resources and translate that experience toward human missions to Mars."

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
The Harris County District Attorneys Office on Saturday will host its annual Make It Right! program and job fair, where people with pending and open warrants in Precinct 7 justice courts can resolve most class C misdemeanor tickets.

People can get help without fear of arrest, and the cases will be resolved, District Attorney Kim Ogg said at a press conference on Thursday morning.

You have the opportunity to come in on Saturday without any chance of arrest to get your record cleaned up, Ogg said. The object of this is to get people their drivers license back, get their records clear so that they can honestly pursue employment or stay employed.

Judge Jeremy Brown, a Harris County justice of the peace, said that hes glad the program can help mitigate consequences that outstanding fines and fees have on the working poor.

Tickets do not go away, Brown said. Unfortunately, those tickets come up five, six, seven years later when a person gets stopped for a speeding violation or when a person tries to get a drivers license.

Leslie Ginzel, of the homelessness legal aid group Beacon Law, said the program is an important step in addressing more serious problems before they start.

Access to a valid drivers license and a clean criminal record is the difference between homelessness and stable employment, stable housing and thriving in our community, Ginzel said.

The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the FountainLife Center on 14083 South Main Street.

Misdemeanor warrants that will be addressed include:

Criminal mischief (less than $100)

Criminal trespass

Continuing obligation of a child now an adult

Minor consuming/possessing alcohol

Minor in possession of tobacco

Parent contributing to non-attendance

Issuance of a bad check

Failure to ID

Failure to appear

Drug paraphernalia

Public intoxication

Disorderly conduct

Theft (less than $100)

Traffic offenses will be handled but not dismissed, Ogg said. Felonies arent eligible, and assault cases wont be addressed.

People with bad check offenses must bring restitution for the issue, according to the district attorneys office.

The program helped 1,400 people last year, Ogg said. Some of the cases from Precinct 7 include ones from Texas Southern University, University of Houston and the Texas Medical Center.

Houston Metro will provide free rides from the Third Ward Multiservice Center, the Sunnyside Multiservice Center, the Hiram Clarke Multiservice Center and the Palm Center.

The event will also include a job fair, community services and free legal assistance.

Anyone seeking more information can call the District Attorneys Office at 713-274-5800.
Another case of measles has been confirmed in Harris County, the fourth this month of the highly contagious, vaccine preventable disease currently re-emerging in different parts of the nation.

Harris public health officials said Wednesday the latest case involves a male, between the ages of 15 and 24, in a southeastern part of the county. He was not vaccinated, officials said.

Unfortunately measles is here, said Dr. Umair A. Shah, executive director for Harris County Public Health. We are seeing a resurgence in our community.

Laboratory tests confirmed the case last Friday, but health officials did not announce it at the time. It was posted Wednesday on a measles tracking page on the health departments website.

Officials said the newest case is not connected to any of the previous ones.

The case brings the states 2019 total to eight, just one shy of the total for all of 2018. Five of the 2019 cases were announced in the greater Houston area Feb. 6  three in Harris County, one in Galveston County and one in Montgomery County. The other two occurred in Bell and Denton counties.

Measles, caused by an airborne virus, is particularly dangerous, capable of causing serious neurological disorders and death in infants and the developing fetus in pregnant women. It is spread through direct contact with discharge through the nose and mouth as well as coughing and sneezing.

Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, said people shouldnt be surprised if the area sees another cluster of cases in the coming weeks

That this time of year is peak measles season and that incubation of the virus takes a couple weeks after someones been exposed suggests itll be another few weeks before we know the extent of this outbreak, said Hotez. We could be in this for a while.

Harris health officials said they are monitoring everyone exposed to the new patient while he was contagious to see if any develop symptoms.

The diseases resurgence nationally, often linked to people not being vaccinated, includes at least 209 cases since October in New York and New Jersey; 48 cases reported since late last year in the state of Washington, which has declared a state of emergency; and cases in seven other states in 2019.

The numbers only just began increasing in Texas. Before last years nine confirmed cases, there was one per year in the state in each of 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The previous three cases in Harris County were all in the northwest part of the county. They included two boys under the age of 2 and a woman between 25 and 35.

About nine of 10 people around someone showing measles symptoms will become infected if they're not vaccinated. Common symptoms include fever, a runny nose, a hacking cough, red eyes with severe sensitivity to light and a distinctive rash.

The vaccine is effective in 97 percent of people. It is given in two doses  at 12 to 15 months of age and between the ages of 4 and 6. The first dose is fully protective in 85 percent of those who get it, but there's no way of knowing if a child is in that group or the 15 percent who need the second shot for full protection.

There are no current measles cases in Houston.

todd.ackerman@chron.com

twitter.com/chronmed
Last month's controversial Houston PD drug raid, and the embattled narcotics officer at the center of the bust continued to make headlines Wednesday with three significant developments in the case.

The raid on Jan. 28 started when an undercover HPD narcotics squad burst into a home in southeast Houston armed with a warrant for a suspected heroin dealer. The officers ended up in a gunfight with the couple inside, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, who died by returning police gunfire, according to HPD.
Houston officials have offered to raise firefighters base salaries, but not sufficiently to establish pay parity with police officers as approved by voters, city and firefighter union officials said Wednesday.

In my mind, the proposal makes no effort to implement Prop B, union attorney Troy Blakeney said, referring to the ballot item reflecting a city charter amendment approved in a Nov. 6 referendum. It makes an effort to pay firefighters additional salaries that do not include all the components of Prop B.

The proposal nonetheless marks the first evident progress made since Mayor Sylvester Turner met last month with Blakeney and Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton to discuss Proposition B, which compels the city to pay firefighters the same as police of equal rank and seniority.

City Attorney Ron Lewis confirmed the city had made an offer, but neither he nor Blakeney disclosed the amount.

Still, it was clear Wednesday that Turner and Lancton remain far from an agreement to phase in the raises over time. Both say they support that idea, with Turner arguing the city cannot afford to instantly implement Proposition B.

Lancton told reporters Wednesday that the citys legal efforts to invalidate the proposition, based on the argument that it is unconstitutional, are hampering negotiations.

He appears to be a victim of his own ego, Lancton said of the mayor. His relentless political and legal war on Houston firefighters and their families must end.

Turner has said the firefighters decision Jan. 15 to seek a court order compelling the city to implement the proposition has similarly soured negotiations. Lancton has said the city should already be paying firefighters because the proposition became law nearly three months ago, which is why the union sought the court order.

On Wednesday, Lancton again called on council members to more forcefully urge Turner to start granting pay raises.

"The question now is, will the City Council stand up for what the voters of Houston have approved? Lancton said. And will the City Council implement what is the law, which is Proposition B - or will they step back and allow the mayor's vindictiveness and his positions to be theirs?"

Turner has said for weeks his administration is defining parity across the fire and police departments, and will issue back pay to firefighters. However, Blakeney said Wednesday the firefighters likely would not see a penny of Proposition B-mandated raises if the city succeeds in invalidating the amendment in court before it starts doling out bigger paychecks.

Council members, meanwhile, expressed frustration at Wednesdays weekly meeting that they were not given more immediate notice their names would appear in a recent motion by the city seeking to sever the fire unions Jan. 15 filing from the ongoing litigation.

Lewis notified council members in a Jan. 29 email that he intended to defend them, because the union had sued them in their official capacities. Still, several members said they would have preferred more communication beyond the weeks-old notice.

Councilmen Michael Kubosh on Tuesday requested his own legal counsel because he does not agree with the citys position that Proposition B is unconstitutional, while Councilman Dwight Boykins requested his name be removed from the motion for the same reason.

Blakeney said Wednesday the union sued the council members because they were not complying with a law they had adopted Nov. 28, when they approved the charter amendment.

It makes no sense to say, We want to wait while it goes through the courts to see if we're going to have to comply, Blakeney said. It is the law. The court found it constitutional. They need to comply with it.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg is planning to head back to county leaders with another request for more prosecutors in light of the massive case review sparked by fallout from last month's botched Houston police drug raid.

The renewed push for additional positions comes just after a failed bid to get funding for 102 new prosecutors, a hefty $21 million budget request slapped down by the Harris County Commissioners Court earlier this month. At the time, Ogg argued that her office's overwhelming caseloads were likely among the highest in the country, and that the understaffing at all levels could prevent prosecutors from evaluating cases eligible for diversion.

But now, her new push to expand hinges on the need to review the more than 1,400 cases handled by Officer Gerald Goines, the case agent suspected of giving false information to justify the no-knock raid that left two civilians dead, officials said. In some of the cases, the 34-year officer was a witness, while in others he signed the affidavits underlying warrants, Ogg said Thursday. Of those up for review, 27 are active and at least five involve defendants currently in jail.

BACKGROUND: Kim Ogg's request for 100 more prosecutors criticized by reformers

"These are individual cases; justice has to be meted out in every one. It takes time, we need some more investigators," Ogg said. "We can get there with the understaffing that we have, it's just going to take longer."

It's not clear how many new positions Ogg would ask for, but she stressed that the case reviews will happen regardless.

"This review is not contingent on funding, we're going to do it," she said. "It'll just take a lot longer with the few people that we've got assigned to our Conviction Integrity Division."

Because the jobs would go to "trusted, trained" prosecutors, Ogg said, the idea would be to promote from within and hire new positions at a lower level. The review of the 27 active cases can be handled by current staff.

"Most people in Harris County want these cases resolved now," she said. "I know that the public trust depends on it."

But it's not clear how the new request will be received; when Ogg went public with her last push for new positions, it sparked widespread pushback from defense lawyers, activists and reformers and put her at odds with progressives.

"Adding prosecutors is the strategy that got us here in the first place, with this mentality that the only thing we can spend money on is police and prosecutors," Jay Jenkins, project attorney with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, told the Houston Chronicle at the time.

This time around, the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association did not offer comment, and the county's Chief Public Defender Alex Bunin said it wasn't clear how necessary the renewed request may or may not be.

"I don't have enough information to know what is the appropriate amount of prosecutors," he said, "but I certainly understand that if they've taken on a lot of unexpected work they may need the help."

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The planned funding request - announced Thursday following a press conference on an unrelated matter - comes amid a flurry of developments following the controversial raid at 7815 Harding Street. On Wednesday, officials announced that the FBI had launched a civil rights investigation relating to the matter, and earlier in the week Chief Art Acevedo said that Houston police would sharply curtail their use of no-knock warrants.

The deadly gun battle that started it all broke out on Jan. 28, when an undercover narcotics squad burst into the Pecan Park home looking for heroin. Instead, they ended up in a shoot-out that left dead Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas. Five officers - including Goines - were hurt in the exchange. The bust only netted 18 grams of pot and about a gram of cocaine.

Afterward, an internal investigation raised concerns when police couldn't find the informant Goines said he used in an undercover heroin buy before the raid. The revelation sparked discussion about the possibility of criminal charges against the veteran officer, who has a history of complaints, lawsuits and other allegations.
The wounded case agent at the center of the botched Pecan Park drug raid has been released from the hospital, his lawyer confirmed Thursday.

Gerald Goines, a 34-year veteran of the force, was shot in the neck on Jan. 28 after narcotics officers burst through the door of 7815 Harding in a futile search for heroin.

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The controversial no-knock entry set off a gun battle that ended in the deaths of 58-year-old Rhogena Nicholas, her 59-year-old husband Dennis Tuttle and their pit bull dog. Five officers were hurt, including Goines.

In the days after the shooting, Goines underwent at least six surgeries and at one point was on a feeding tube with his jaw wired shut. But, even as he fought to recover in the hospital, questions began swirling about his actions leading up the deadly raid.

RELATED: DA to ask for more prosecutors, citing large-scale review sparked by botched drug raid.

Initially Houston police Chief Art Acevedo lauded the veteran undercover officer. But on Friday, local media learned of a new search warrant seeking more information about officers' actions in the case, and Acevedo pulled together a hastily called press conference to announce that Goines would likely face criminal charges.

"We know that there's already a crime that's been committed," Acevedo said then. "It's a serious crime when we prepare a document to go into somebody's home, into the sanctity that is somebody's home."

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: The opinion writers at HoustonChronicle.com unleash on divisive rhetoric from the police union president.

The fiery language stemmed from an internal investigation that raised concerns after police realized they couldn't find the informant Goines said he used in an undercover heroin buy before the raid.

Afterward, the FBI opened a civil rights investigation, the Houston Police Department announced sweeping policy changes and the Harris County District Attorney's Office began reviewing the more than 1,400 cases Goines worked on over the course of his career.

Earlier this week, the wounded officer's attorney, Nicole DeBorde, began raising concerns earlier this week about her client's case getting politicized.

"Is this case going to get drastically overcharged or charged inappropriately because the district attorney's office thinks that's going to be popular?" she asked. "I feel like it's a set-up geared toward that and it makes me really uncomfortable. And I'd hate to see this man used for whoever's political gain."

On Thursday afternoon, DeBorde confirmed that he's home between surgeries.
The United Way of Greater Houston in January released their first Texas ALICE Report, detailing the difficulties many Texans experience in simply trying to survive.

The state-wide report examined the incomes of households in all 254 Texas counties. As a benchmark, the United Way used a nuclear family of two adults, an elementary school-aged child and an infant to determine that the minimum survival budget comes to a little more than $61,000 per household.

(The report) validates what we have known intuitively, said Anna Babin, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Houston. It gives us the hard numbers that this is the scope of the need in the greater Houston area.

According to the report, 32 percent of the more than 193,000 households in Montgomery County could not afford basic needs  housing, child care, transportation, health care and technology chief among them. An estimated 10 percent of the countys households are at or below the poverty level  but the classification leaves one group in limbo, Babin said.

Households classified by the United Way as Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed,  which makes up the acronym ALICE and who are also called the working poor  make too much money to qualify for public assistance, but their low income leaves little wiggle room for savings, gifts and disposable income.

One flat tire can push them to borrowing from a friend or going to a payday lender, Babin said. Theyve depleted every relationship they have and they resort to that.

About 22 percent of the household in Montgomery County can be described as ALICE.

Related: Working Texans struggle to get by, United Way study finds

Moving forward, Babin said, the report will help determine where the United Way puts its resources. In 2018, the organization answered more than 27,000 calls for aid to its 211 helpline, where any member of the public can be connected with assistance to food pantries, health care aid and substance abuse treatment.

In the past decade, the United Way of Greater Houston has helped 211,000 families reduce their debt by $6 million and increase their disposable income by $40 million through job placements, budgeting classes and free tax filing assistance, Babin said.

The data collected in 2016 happened to be ready in time for the 86th Texas legislative session, Babin said, where representatives from United Way branches across the state will meet with their respective legislators and educate them on the plight of the working poor in their districts.

Were not going to develop policy, Babin said. But, we are planning to educate them on this need.

mrincon@chron.com
Pearland police recently investigated multiple cases in which suspects were charged with assault.

Assault

Police took a Rosharon man, 30, into custody for assault Feb. 12 in the 4800 block of Springfield Avenue.

A Pearland man, 33, received a citation for assault, family violence Feb. 12 in the 100 block of Winding Road, police said.

Police charged a Pearland man, 56, with assault, family violence Feb. 14 in the 11200 block of Broadway Street.

Police arrested a Pearland woman, 30, for assault, family violence and a warrant Feb. 14 in the 2900 block of Whispering Winds Drive.

Police cited a Houston man, 58, for assault Feb. 16 in the 1500 block of Broadway Street.

A Pearland man, 18, was arrested for assault Feb. 16 in the 2000 block of Orchard Spring Drive, police said.

Police arrested a Pearland man, 37, for assault and interference with an emergency call Feb. 17 in the 2200 block of North Grand Boulevard.

Theft

Police arrested a Lake Jackson man, 47, for theft Feb. 11 in the 11100 block of Shadow Creek Parkway.

A Pearland man, 39, was arrested for theft Feb. 14 in the 1900 block of Main Street, police said.

Police took a Houston man, 36, into custody for theft Feb. 15 in the 700 block of North San Jacinto Street.

A South Houston man, 29, was arrested for shoplifting and possession of drug paraphernalia Feb. 15 in the 1900 block of Main Street, police said.

Police arrested a 17-year-old Pasadena man for theft Feb. 16 in the 1900 block of Main Street.

A Friendswood man, 38, was taken into custody for theft Feb. 17 in the 2500 block of Cullen Parkway, police said.

Police arrested a Houston man, 50, for theft and a Harris County warrant Feb. 17 in the 2800 block of Business Center Drive.

Police took a Houston man, 40, into custody for theft Feb. 17 in the 1000 block of Bass Pro Drive.

Narcotics

Police arrested a 26-year-old Pearland man for marijuana possession and unlawfully carrying a weapon Feb. 12 in the 1100 block of Huntington Drive.

A Pearland man, 27, was arrested for marijuana possession and DWI Feb. 13 in the 10000 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested a 54-year-old Pulaski, Mississippi, man for possession of a controlled substance Feb. 13 in the 2700 block of Longwood Drive.

Police arrested a Houston man, 21, for marijuana possession Feb. 15 in the 2000 block of Hughes Ranch Road.

Police took an 18-year-old Pearland man into custody for marijuana possession Feb. 15 in the 6100 block of Broadway Street.

A Houston man, 52, was taken into custody for marijuana possession and a warrant Feb. 16 in the 2600 block of Pearland Parkway, police said.

Police arrested a 20-year-old Montgomery woman for marijuana possession Feb. 16 in the 2900 block of Main Street.

A Pearland woman, 29, was taken into custody for marijuana possession and warrants Feb. 17 in the 10600 block of Broadway Street, police said.

A Houston man, 41, was arrested for possession of a drug test falsification device and driving while license invalid Feb. 17 in the 1900 block of Main Street, police said.

DWI

A Houston man, 39, was arrested for DWI Feb. 11 in the 8400 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested an Alvin man, 45, for DWI Feb. 14 in the 6600 block of Broadway Street.

A 56-year-old Pearland man was arrested for DWI Feb. 15 in the 2500 block of Main Street, police said.

Police took a 23-year-old Missouri City man into custody for DWI Feb. 17 in the 10200 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested a Pearland man, 50, for DWI Dec. 17 in the 2200 block of CR 94.

A Rosharon man, 56, was arrested for DWI Feb. 17 on Texas 288, police said.

Traffic

Police arrested a Houston man, 35, for fictitious or altered license plate and warrants Feb. 12 in the 2900 block of Broadway Street.

An 18-year-old Pearland woman was arrested after an accident involving damage to a vehicle Feb. 14 in the 2000 block of Cullen Parkway, police said.

A Houston man, 32, received a citation for fictitious or altered license plate Feb. 14 in the 10800 block of Broadway Street, police said.

Police arrested a Pearland man, 47, for no drivers license Feb. 15 in the 8000 block of Broadway Street.

A Houston woman, 45, received a citation for fictitious or altered license plate Feb. 16 in the 2900 block of Province Village Drive, police said.

Police arrested a Pearland woman, 24, for no drivers license Feb. 17 in the 2700 block of Harkey Road.

A 33-year-old Pearland man was taken into custody for failure to identify and driving while license invalid Feb. 17 in the 5800 block of Vineyard Hill Drive, police said.

Public intoxication

Police charged a Houston man, 49, with public intoxication Feb. 14 in the 4200 block of Main Street.

Police took an Angleton woman, 37, and Brookside woman, 35, into custody for public intoxication Feb. 15 in the 11200 block of Broadway Street.

A Montgomery woman, 18, was arrested for public intoxication Feb. 15 in the 16600 block of Texas 288, police said.

A Pearland man, 35, and Port Neches man, 35, were taken into custody for public intoxication Feb. 16 in the 2600 block of Cullen Parkway, police said.
One person was killed and another wounded Tuesday night during a drive-by shooting at a southwest Houston apartment complex, according to police.

The assailant opened fire and shot the two people in the 12600 block of Dunlap Street just before 6:30 p.m. in the Westbury neighborhood, police said. At least three people called 911 about the fatal shooting.
A Houston man is accused of kidnapping a rideshare driver and breaking into her home.

In criminal filings, detectives with the Harris County Sheriff's Office say Deveriq Yell, 19, requested a Lyft driver pick him up in 2600 block of Silky Court during the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 27.

The driver picked Yell up around 6:30 a.m. and drove him to a remote location near Brookshire in Waller County, according to court documents.

REVIEW: DA's office reviewing dozens of cases linked to former Houston police officer

When the driver arrived at the location, Yell allegedly grabbed the woman from the backseat and told her to move into the front passenger seat. He said he would shoot her if she didn't comply, according to court documents.

The man concealed his identity during the ride and forced the driver to cover her face with a sweater as he took control of her car, detectives said.

Moments after taking control, Yell allegedly stole the woman's debit and credit cards, walked into a gas station in the 300 block of FM 259 and withdrew $100 in cash. While back in the car, Yell also allegedly told the woman to call her husband and tell him to meet her at Katy Mills Mall along the Katy Freeway.

LATEST: Police identify 1 of 2 south Houston shooting victims

Instead of driving to the mall, Yell drove to the woman's home in 24500 block of Lakecrest Village Drive, broke in and stole several items  including a TV and cell phone, court documents state.

He eventually turned her loose around 9:30 a.m. that morning, taking her Toyota passenger car, detectives said. Once her husband got back home, the couple called 911 to report what happened.

Days later, Yell and another person were pulled over in the stolen Toyota in Fort Bend County. The stolen cell phone and TV from the Lyft driver's home was still in the car, court documents state.

Detectives with HCSO interviewed Yell while he was in custody in Fort Bend County, who denied any involvement in the robbery. Detectives checked surveillance from the gas station and another store to confirm Yell's identity, authorities said.

He's facing up to life in prison on a first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping charge, if convicted.

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
More than 2,000 trail riders are making their way into town this week to help kick off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which begins Monday.

As large caravans of horses and wagons wend through Houston's streets and feeder roads, riders urge drivers to remember to give them space.
DALLAS (AP)  Southwest Airlines is lashing out at the union representing its mechanics, suggesting that they are purposely grounding planes in order to gain leverage in new contract negotiations.

Separately, Southwest said Wednesday that the partial shutdown of the federal government will cost it $60 million in lost revenue during the first quarter  far more than the airline's previous estimate of a $10 million to $15 million.

Southwest said it has continued to see softer bookings that it blames on the shutdown, which ended officially on Jan. 25. The earlier estimate covered the period through Jan. 23.

CALLING IT QUITS: Southwest discontinues one of its new international flights. Details can be found at HoustonChronicle.com.

Southwest shares tumbled $3.12, or 5.4 percent, by midday Wednesday. Shares of several other U.S. airlines were down about 1 percent.

On the labor front, Southwest is fighting the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents nearly 2,400 Southwest mechanics.

Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said Southwest saw an increase in aircraft being declared out of service on Feb. 12, "just days after our last negotiations session with AMFA." The surge, concentrated at four maintenance shops, occurred even though there were no changes in the maintenance programs, he said.

The airline issued an emergency all-hands order to the union last week, but delays and cancellations from grounded planes have persisted  even worsened.

Southwest had canceled more than 400 flights  10 percent of its schedule  by late morning Wednesday.

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Van de Ven said "AMFA has a history of work disruptions"  Southwest has two pending lawsuits against the union  and the airline is considering all options to fix its operation.

The union counted that Southwest is "scapegoating" mechanics, and it warned that the conflict "does not bode well" for safety at one of the nation's biggest airlines.

"For Southwest's leadership to connect the airline's self-declared 'operational emergency' to collective bargaining negotiations is simply an attempt to divert attention away from the airline's safety issues," the union said in an unsigned statement.

AMFA accuses Southwest of pressuring mechanics to approve planes for service too quickly because planes that are grounded do not make money for the airline.

___

David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter

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Officials of Richmond and the Richmond Fire Department are mourning the death of Ray Burciaga, 57, who celebrated 28 years of public service this past December.

He began as a volunteer firefighter in 1981, and became a full-time firefighter 10 years later. He also served an arson investigator and fire captain before being appointed in 2007 to assistant emergency management coordinator. Three years later, he was appointed emergency management coordinator.

As Division Chief of Emergency Management, Ray was instrumental in assisting many effected by recent flooding maneuver through requirements related to returning to their homes and understanding flood area challenges, said Fire Chief Michael Youngblood. Ray carried the heavy responsibility of supervising emergency management duties with integrity and confidence. These qualities served to calm and settle those around him.

Youngblood said, One quality that I enjoyed about Ray was in every incidence that I can think of, Ray never failed to put the best interest of the citizens as a primary consideration when decisions were being made. Ray put the needs of others first.

Ray was one of the most versatile people I know, continued Youngblood, with experience and expertise as a commissioned peace officer, fire and arson investigator, building and fire inspector and emergency medical technician. All contributed to the education and knowledge to be a great chief of emergency management. Ray never stopped improving his abilities to lead.

Burciaga died Feb. 17 of cancer. His funeral service is scheduled for Friday, March 1, at 2 p.m. at St. Faustina Catholic Church, 28102 FM 1093 in Fulshear.

Among comments posted by the Richmond Fire Department on Facebook included Chief Burciaga (Ray) was a public servant in the true sense of the word. Ray's presence will be missed, especially during emergency operations. His cool calm add professional manner provided a sense of tranquility.

The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office wrote Well miss him.

And the Rosenberg Fire Department wrote, Please keep our neighbors Richmond Fire Department in your thoughts and prayers as they have lost a great man. Rest easy Ray Burciaga, we will miss you.

karen.zurawski@chron.com
Did you know that the Lions organization awards scholarships every year to deserving students who live in our area? There are three separate categories that high school students can compete in with scholarships are awarded for first and second in each district plus first, second and third places state competition. Two are open to all junior and senior level students: Diabetic Essay Contest and Drug Awareness Speech Contest. The Outstanding Youth Contest, however, is only open to high school seniors. These contests are open to all students, not just Leos (the student branch of Lions). Combined, students can earn up to $4,000 in scholarship money to attend the college, university, community college or trade school of their choice! (Scholarship awards payments will go directly to the designated school and must be used no later than two years following the recipients graduation from high school.) Thanks to Lions District/State Coordinator Sara Coots for this valuable information! Although it is too late for 2018/2019 awards, be on the lookout in August for 2019/2020s info. Or you can email Sara at scoots2s2@gmail.com.

Hear ye! Hear ye! Looking for a great time, with prizes, food and fun? Then save the date for The First Annual Lake Conroe Centennial Lions Club Casino Night which will be held on Friday, March 2, from 5:30 to 9:30 pm at Walden Yacht Club. Black Jack! Roulette! Craps! Texas Hold-Em! Included in your $35 ($40 at the door) ticket will be a scrumptious buffet, drawings, live music, dancing, goody bags, a dessert table and a cash bar. Plus $2,000 Casino Cash. Proceeds benefit Lions Charities. To pay online (Credit Cards/Pay Pal) go to http://www.lclcasinonight.eventbrite.com or Mail Checks to Lake Conroe Lions Club, PO Box 2074, Montgomery, TX 77356, Payable to Lake Conroe Lions Club. For more information: Contact Sharon-Cason Fenske 310-936-9633 or lcclionsclub@gmail.com. It will be a blast!! And all for a good cause!!
Courtesy photo

Katie Shroff from YES to YOUTH - Montgomery County Youth Services shared information at our meeting about the Christmas $2,000 donation the club made in December. They have many clients that benefited by the donation and were able to make the childs wishes come true from Santa.

Future opportunities include a blankets and bedsheets drive for the Youth Shelter. The smallest things can make a difference to a youth living at the shelter away from parents or relatives.
A Katy man hauling a couch and dresser in his truck told authorities in December he had bought them at a garage sale on the outskirts of Corpus Christi. But when U.S. Border Patrol agents checked, they found six people concealed inside the furniture.

Yabar Ayan Portes-Arevalo, 23, pleaded guilty this week for his role in a human smuggling case. He could receive a sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. In addition, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of Texas said Portes-Arevalo could lose his status as a legal permanent resident.

On Dec. 20, 2018, Portes-Arevalo pulled up to a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Sarita, about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. The agents noticed a couch and a dresser wrapped in plastic and tied down to the bed of his Ford F-150 pickup. One of the agents asked if he was moving.

He stated no he bought the stuff down here at a garage sale. The agent asked how far he was traveling to. He said he was going to Houston, Texas, according to federal court documents. The agent stated that it was a long way to go for a garage sale and that they have better garage sales in Houston.

DRUG DEAL GONE WRONG: Katy man sentenced to 12 years for homicide

Portes-Arevalo laughed and said he sometimes visits the area to pick stuff up.

Smugglers will sometimes use furniture in pickup trucks to conceal their human cargo from immigration authorities, Border Patrol agents said. They said Portes-Arevalo agreed to allow them to examine his pickup truck.

Agents with a truck mounted X-ray system made a pass around the Ford F-150 Portes-Arevalo was driving and called for backup after noticing anomalies in the X-ray image, according to court documents.

Federal prosecutors said they found three people hidden deep inside the sofa and three more nailed inside the dresser. The furniture was secured by orange tie-down straps. They people were pulled free and told officials they were from Guatemala and had no documents to show they were legally in the country. They were placed under arrest and taken to the U.S. Border Patrol station in Kingsville for processing, officials said.

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Portes-Arevalo, who lives in Katy, agreed to talk to the investigators. He was to have been paid $1,000 for his role in the smuggling operation. He said he had done it once before but claimed he didnt he was illegally transporting people. But, according to court documents he admitted being suspicious due to the amount of money he was being paid. Furniture was already in the truck bed when he drove to McAllen from the Houston area. He was told to wait inside a house there while the furniture in back of his truck was exchanged for the sofa and dresser later discovered by the Border Patrol agents, according to court documents.

If stopped, he was told to say he purchased the furniture and not answer any other questions, officials said.

Portes-Arevalo said Border Patrol agents asked only about his citizenship during the other incident where he admitted illegally transporting people.

He was let go so he did not think much of it at the time, according to federal court documents.

Sentencing for Portes-Arevalo has been set for May 20, 2019. He was permitted to remain free on bond until the hearing, officials said.

mike.glenn@chron.com
Cy-Fair residents will be out and active to raise funds for local students and teachers during Cy-Fair ISDs Superintendents Fun Run on March 2.

The Superintendents Fun Run invites the community to run a 5K and offers a 1-mile walk for families.

The event will raise money for the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization that uses funds for scholarships and endowments for CFISD staff and students.

New courses of the 5K run will be through Towne Lake, Lone Star College-CyFair and the Cy-Fair FCU Stadium.

Guests can peruse vendor booths and enjoy a festival featuring student talents. Performers include the Cy-Lakes High School R.E.D step team, the Jersey Village High School Cheerleaders and the Anthony Middle School Glee Club.

Leslie Francis, assistant superintendent for communication and community relations, said more than 5,000 attendees are expected at the event.

The event is special because all CFISD campuses and departments collaborate to raise funds to support the CFEF, she said. Opportunity for all is a core value in CFISD, and the Superintendents Fun Run is just one of the ways we show it. The Superintendents Fun Run is generously underwritten by Memorial Hermann Cypress. Community partners including Towne Lake and Lone Star College Cy-Fair play an integral part in the success of the event.

The goal of the Fun Run is to raise $100,000 for the CFEF in order to support the Superintendents Fun Run scholarship, Francis said. CFISD departments combined efforts to plan the event, including community engagement, nutrition services, health services and facilities.

Last year more than 500 students volunteered for the event and food trucks like Tacos Ole and Orange Leaf Yogurt served food. During the event, children and families will be able to play games and participate in activities alongside the race.

Marie Holmes, executive director of CFEF, said the event is a boon for the organization and the community at large. Although CFEF is receiving the funds, CFISD is hosting the event.

It is the one event that so many folks in the district are involved in, Holmes said. Teachers, administrators, parents, community members, everyone get's involved with this event. The Cy-Fair community has really been great to support the education foundation, whether it be from one of our events or by an event that is put on by someone else.

Francis said the event is a chance for the community to be active and social.

The event was created to provide our students, staff and community a time to come together to promote a healthy lifestyle and also a chance to network with many of our community business partners, she said.

The Superintendents Fun Run will take place March 2 at The Berry Center, 8877 Barker Cypress Road, Cypress from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Teams and individual runners can sign up on the official CFISD website.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
After four hours of public comments and deliberations, the Bellaire city council approved up to roughly $2.49 million for drainage, pavement and beautification efforts along Spruce and Fifth Streets.

The Monday, Feb. 18, meeting brought out a full house of residents and business owners both in favor and opposed to the measure, and it came on the tail end of several heated public comment sections at other recent council meetings. Council ultimately voted for the Spruce and Fifth Street Reconstruction Project by a margin of 6 to 1, with Council Member Pat McLaughlan as the lone dissenter.

For some business owners along the three blocks in downtown Bellaire, most concerns seemed to come down to parking and delivery truck traffic. Bellaire Director of Public Works Michael Leech said the plan would actually increase the number of public parking spots from 25 to around 46, give or take a couple as the city is still working on a couple of accommodations with owners, but several owners worried how shifting the spaces would impact their business.

Some residents offered their support for the measure, saying they were all for ways to build a better, more beautiful downtown that would attract more businesses, improve property values and foster walkability downtown.

Council Member Neil Verma frequents several of the directly affected businesses and said finding common ground to fix drainage and pavement issues while applying the citys comprehensive plan, which calls for more commercial development toward creating an Urban Village Downtown with places to shop, dine and more, is just good for the city.

These businesses mean something to our neighborhood. They contribute. I like them, I love them, I go to them. I want them to stay forever, conforming, non-conforming, I dont care. So this is not about it being an adversarial process, Verma said. This is about finding ways in which we can take two concepts. Right? One is the interest of the businesses and two being the comp plan  there (are) ways in which we can find mutual ability to work together.

He also appreciated the amount of feedback and engagement from Bellaire residents and businesses on both sides of the issue.

Leach said drainage work would give the blocks of Spruce and Fifth a 100-year detention, up from its current two-year detention level. The project would also bring more lighting to the area, a point that many who commented in recent weeks seemed to favor.

McLaughlan said calling the plan a drainage project was a farce and not credible, that it initially was presented as a way to align downtown Bellaire with the citys comprehensive plan, but when it didnt go over well with residents, it was repackaged as a drainage and paving project. He said his conversations with area businesses had revealed flooding there is not really an issue.

This problem is nothing more than a solution thats searching to find a problem, McLaughlan said.

Several council members shared concerns about what they referred to as misinformation circling on social media. Gus Pappas, council member and mayor pro tem, said for him, the issue came down to the data at hand.

Ultimately, the question is, What are the facts? And how does it relate to the comp plan? And what are the details about it? Is it hurting businesses? Is it actually really hurting them? And thats why Ive delved into the details of these particular issues, he said.

Pappas said maneuverability and whether delivery trucks would impede traffic in the new plan concerned him but that he was trusting in the knowledge of the two parties of engineers that say it will work.

He added that he looks forward to seeing the areas new seven-foot sidewalks and the safety they will bring.

I am comforted by the fact that if you are going to walk on that street, there is actually an area to walk on, and its at the other side of the street from where those trucks are generally on routine turning down from, Pappas said.

Leech said construction for the plan should take about a year to complete.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.com
Prescription drugs are costly in the United States. In an effort to lower the prices Americans pay at the pharmacy, President Trump pledged to end the global freeloading that forces American consumers to subsidize lower prices in foreign countries.

Unfortunately, a new plan from the Department of Health and Human Services undermines this goal.

HHS Sec. Alex Azar unveiled a new Medicare proposal that simply copies the foreign price-control policies that have enabled other countries to underpay for drugs. Not only does the change fail to hold freeloading countries accountable  it will undermine access to life-changing medicines here in the United States.

Why are brand-name drugs cheaper in foreign countries? Simply put, its because of price controls. In countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Sweden, the government dictates what drug companies can charge for their products.

The prices of prescription drugs sold in Sweden, for instance, are determined by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board. Canadas Patented Medicine Prices Review Board plays a similar role.

The single-payer healthcare systems in these countries are what make such price controls possible. When the government is the sole administrator of prescription drugs, it has extraordinary bargaining power to secure below-market prices.

American patients pick up the tab by shouldering much of the burden for global research and development. This is unfair  and something that President Trump is right to condemn.

HHS new Medicare proposal does little to rectify the situation. The policy would change what the government pays for drugs under Medicare Part B  a part of the program that covers medicines administered at a doctors office, such as cancer therapies.

Under HHS plan, Part B would base its drug payments not on a drugs average domestic price, as the program does now, but on what other countries pay for the same medicine.

Patients often lose access to the best medicines when their government adopts price controls. Of the drugs launched in the last seven years, only 60 percent were available in Sweden. And only half made it to patients in Canada.

In the United States, meanwhile, nearly 90 of those medicines were available. Americans will no longer enjoy generous access to the newest drugs if we embrace price controls.

It costs an estimated $2.6 billion to create a single new medicine. That investment is only worthwhile if drug companies are confident that theyll have a chance to recoup their upfront costs.

Importing the socialist pricing tactics of foreign governments is no way to stand up for Medicare patients. The Trump administration should explore policies that ensure all patients pay a fair price at the pharmacy counter.

Peter J. Pitts, a former Food and Drug Administration associate commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
The Harris County Appraisal District has begun the process of mailing personal property rendition forms to businesses known to have been operating in Harris County during 2018.

The appraisal district is offering free workshops to help business owners complete the required personal property rendition forms before the April 1 filing deadline.

If you own tangible personal property that is used to produce income, you must file a rendition with the Harris County Appraisal District by April 1. A rendition is a report that lists all the taxable personal property you owned or controlled on Jan. 1 of this year. Personal property includes inventory and equipment used by a business such as furniture and fixtures, supplies, raw materials, and business vehicles, vessels and aircraft.

Eight rendition workshops to provide one-on-one help have been scheduled throughout the county. Appraisal district staff will not do a presentation and instead will provide individual help. Participants can attend at any time during the scheduled hours and typically will be able to complete the process in about an hour. There is no charge to attend.

Workshops will be conducted on:

Thursday, Feb. 28, from 1 to 5 p.m. at HCAD Offices, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston - 1st floor

Thursday, March 7, 1 to 4 p.m., at Alice M. Young Branch Library, 5107 Griggs Road, Houston

Tuesday, March 12, 1 to 4 p.m., at Fallbrook Church, 12512 Walters Road, Houston

Tuesday, March 19, 1 to 5 p.m., at HCAD Offices, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston - 1st floor

Thursday, March 21, 1 to 4 p.m., at Tracy Gee Community Center, 3599 Westcenter Drive, Houston

Saturday, March 23, 8 a.m. to noon, at HCAD Offices, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston - 1st floor

Thursday, March 28, 1 to 5 p.m., at HCAD Offices, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston - 1st floor

Those who attend these workshops will consult individually with appraisal district staff who will explain personal property taxation and rendition requirements, as well as answer questions about completing the rendition forms, said Roland Altinger, chief appraiser. These sessions have been very successful in the past and have helped business owners complete their renditions on the spot.

All business owners are required to file renditions whether or not they have received notification. Businesses that fail to render or that render late are subject to a 10 percent tax penalty. Filing a fraudulent rendition carries a 50 percent penalty if found guilty.

State law permits business owners to obtain an automatic extension of the filing requirement by submitting a request in writing by the April 1 filing deadline. The extended deadline for such businesses would then be May 1.

A rendition form is available on the appraisal districts website at www.hcad.org under the Forms tab along with information on the rules of the process.

Business owners with questions about the rendition requirements are encouraged to attend any of the workshop sessions or call the appraisal districts Information Center at 713-957-7800.
National Margarita Day

Event features giveaways, photo booth, drink specials and a large assortment of infused tequilas.

When: 4-10 p.m. Friday

Where: El Big Bad, 419 Travis

Details: elbigbad.com

ROCO IN CONCERT: River Oaks Chamber Orchestra travels across Europe with 'Ticket to Ride'

F.R.E.S.H. Gumbo Cook-Off

Local teams will show off their culinary skills and craft everyones favorite Mardi Gras celebration dish in support of the Houston Food Bank.

When: 2-5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Wicklow Heights, 1027 W. 19th

Details: $30-$100; houstonfoodbank.org

The Greater Houston Couples Ball

Event features an enchanting evening of romance, complete with fine dining, live music, comedy and plenty of dancing.

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: JW Marriott Galleria, 5150 Westheimer

Details: $99-$2,000; eventbrite.com/e/the-couples-ball-tickets-54667231160

Girl Scout Cookie & Beer Pairing

Event offers flights of local craft beer paired with Girl Scout cookies.

When: 11 a.m.-noon Sunday, through March 3

Where: The General Public, 797 Sorella, Suite 118

Details: $9.95; facebook.com/events/293055221401188

Zumba at Levy Park

Latin-inspired, high-energy, choreographed dance workout led by Yuri Amor Perez of FitMix, suitable for all fitness levels.

When: 11 a.m. Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Monday

Where: 3801 Eastside

Details: levyparkhouston.org

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Cypress Hill

LA hip-hop group Cypress Hill with Hollywood Undead and Demrick.

When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: 1204 Caroline

Details: $34.50-$59.50; houseofblues.com/houston

Bingo in the Biergarten

A night of bingo, brews and prizes at Karbach Brewing Co.

When: 6 p.m. Monday

Where: 2032 Karbach

Details: karbachbrewing.com

Valeria Luiselli & Tommy Orange

Authors will read from their new novels Lost Children Archive and There There. Presented by Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Rice University, 6100 Main

Details: $5; inprinthouston.org

Details: $10; jokejointcomedyshowcase.com

'NEW MONUMENTS FOR NEW CITIES': New monuments along Allen Parkway represent an exhibition of ideas

2019 Print Auction

Bid on high-caliber photographic art contributed by artists, galleries and collectors from all over the world. Proceeds benefit Houston Center for Photographys exhibitions, educational initiatives, outreach programs and award-winning publications.

When: 6-10 p.m. Thursday

Where: 1441 W. Alabama

Details: $250-$500; hcponline.org

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A man who allegedly stole an ambulance that took him to a Kingwood hospital on Thursday morning ranted about how he was God in EMS dispatch radio transmissions obtained by Chron.com.

The man had just been taken to the hospital when he allegedly snuck into the Harris County ESD No. 5 ambulance waiting in the emergency room bay and drove off.

"God's got the microphone now," the man said over the EMS dispatch radio. "Obey your god or die. We don't (expletive) let worms run our lives. Everybody, go home and pray. We have a war. We are at war. Believe in God. I am coming for you."

He continued to talk about "parasites" during the minute-long rant.

"Pray to God," he said. "Get your mind right. I'm here to go for you. And you (expletive) better know you came to the right one. Because I'm going to kill them all. They fear me. Hallelujah."

Law enforcement officials said it is unclear whether the man will face charges since he might have been having a medical episode. Officials will consult with the Harris County District Attorney's Office for consideration.

Christy Graves, the ESD No. 5 Director of Operation said paramedics got a routine call around 3 a.m. for a patient who was "supposedly altered."

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She said the man was calm at the time and consented to being taken to Kingwood Medical Center. When they arrived at the hospital, the man abruptly jumped back into the running ambulance and drove away, Graves said. The keys were still in the vehicle, she said.

She said the chase ended roughly 17 miles east at Antelope Drive and Moose Drive. Dispatchers used GPS tracking to help police locate the ambulance. Surrounding authorities deployed two sets of spikes to blow the ambulance's tires, according to Metro Video.

He wasn't wearing a shirt when police were taking him into custody. He was briefly detained by Humble police officers, but he was released from custody to be checked at the hospital.

RELATED: More allegations emerge against embattled HPD narcotics officer.

After the incident, Graves stressed the dangers of the situation.

"Ambulances are very heavy, and they look lighter than they appear," she said. "People luckily see them and usually yield, but if you don't have lights on you're driving in regular traffic with it."

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.
A food truck that appeared on Shark Tank is coming to Kingwood.

Cousins Maine Lobster, a creation of Portland natives Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac, is hosting a dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Discovery at Kingwood apartments. The truck will park outside of the establishments leasing office.

The brand, which features a lobster-rich menu that includes tots, rolls and bisque, received a $55,000 investment from Shark Tank panelist Barbara Corcoran in 2012.

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In a 2015 interview with Entrepreneur, Lomac credited Corcoran for assisting Cousins Maine Lobster in its early stages. She advised the cousins to become a franchise and guided them toward a group that specializes in said business model.

Cousins Maine Lobster has many locations in the U.S., both in food-truck and brick-and-mortar forms. Its official website  www.cousinsmainelobster.com  listed that a restaurant in Clearwater Beach, Florida is coming soon.

Discovery at Kingwood is located 150 Northpark Plaza Dr., Kingwood, TX 77339. The official website is www.discoveryatkingwood.com and the phone number is 281-761-6916.

nguyen.le@chron.com
Courtesy of the artist and Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo / Courtesy of the artist and Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

Each year, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo honors students who submit artwork to the event.

This year, 27 Katy Independent School District students have been recognized by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. According to the district, many of the creations have advanced to Grand Prix Judging and auction.

Last year, Katy ISDs Janice Khangs painting Horsing Around was named reserve grand champion of the art show and went for $150,000 at auction.

According to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, schools participating in the School Art Program compete each January in district shows judged by the Shows School Art Committee. The artwork is divided into three categories: elementary, junior high and high school.

Best of Show, Gold Medal and Special Merit awards are selected in each category. All work is eligible for the Shows School Art Auction.

Katy ISD artists recently earned Best of Show, Gold Medal and Special Merit.

Our art students take great pride in selecting personal western heritage resources and turning them into works of art, said Assistant Director of Fine Arts Mitzi Jones in a district news release. Rodeo art competition allows students to sharpen their skills, think critically and finalize newly developed ideas into a champion piece.

The HLS&R School Art Program provides students, Pre-K through 12th grade, the opportunity to compete in district shows, earn scholarships, travel to summer workshops and display artwork at the Hayloft Gallery at the NRG Center for viewing between Feb. 25 through March 17.

The Grand Prix judging consists of all the 100-plus school districts and private schools that participate in the annual competition. Grand Prix selects which pieces of art will be awarded the Grand Champion, Reserve Champion and Class Champions recognitions. Those art pieces will then advance to the March 10 HLS&R Art Auction.

To view a gallery of artwork go to www.rodeohouston.com/Educational-Support/School-Art-Program.

rkent@hcnonline.com
The roads within Katy Park are lined with trailers, horses and trail riders with the sound of conversation and the smell of supper in the air.

People are scattered throughout the park, some sitting by their trailers and others around a table or over a wood fire preparing that evenings meal. The Salt Grass Trail Ride has camped for the night of Feb. 20 at the Harris County Park again this year as it makes its annual trek to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Meanwhile south of Katy at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center, members of the Valley Lodge Trail Ride are camping for the night.

The Salt Grass Trail Ride has almost a 1,000 members, said Trail Boss Dan Johnson, a 30-year veteran of the historic ride. My dad and my brother got me started right after I got out of college, said the Liberty County resident. Some days we roll out 500 or 600 head of horses.

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Those horses include Laurie McCartys Sonny and John Matthews Jethro. Both belong to Wagon 15, Texas Outlaws.

Matthews, formerly of Katy and now a Sealy resident, has been part of the trail ride for 20 years. Friends invited him to participate the first time. I had such a good time, I bought my own horse.

Frequent laughter marks the conversation as the sun prepares to set. Today was awesome, said McCarty of Moscow who is talking with friends, including Lynn Ezell of Sealy. Ezell has been part of the trail ride about four years and McCarty about 15 years.

Why be part of the ride? Because its fun, said McCarty. Because this is my other family. Were close and have grown to love each other.

Matthews takes time to talk after he has followed a trail ride tradition and changed into dry clothes: New members have to be dunked in the water trough no matter how cold it is. Both he and the person dunked draw laughs.

Matthews answers the why question with one word camaraderie.

TOMBALL ROUTE: Wet weather doesn't dampen enthusiasm for annual celebration

Youre with people you dont normally see all year long. You roll in Friday and see them here. Everyone still remembers your name. Its just a great big family. The best part is no matter who are you or who you are with if you need help theres always someone to help you. They may not know who you are but they will help you.

Were the oldest and largest of the trail rides, said Johnston.We have a huge tradition and legend to uphold. Every day we try to make that happen.

In 1952, Reese Lockett, Pat Flaherty, E.H. Marks and John Warnasch left Brenham on Jan. 30 with the LH7 chuck wagon to ride to Houston as publicity for the Houston Fat Stock Show. The last of the Marks children, Atha Marks Dimon, 99, participated in the ride until her death in 2009.

But the Marks family is represented by Dimons granddaughter, Kyra Vaughan Natho.

According to www.saltgrasstrailride.org/, The Marks Family Wagon owned by 4th generation Marks, Kyra Vaughan Natho and Marla Bundick Susik, was the original lone wagon that started with the first Salt Grass Trail Ride in 1952.

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I am the Wagon Boss for Wagon 1, said Natho. Trail going good. We had a beautiful day yesterday. It was a welcomed break after Tuesdays cold and rain. Of course, we will be dealing with it today and the rest of the week. We are used to it . . . kind of traditional.

We roll rain or shine unless theres a safety issue, said Johnston. The riders are holding up well. Its all about the safety of animals and riders and promoting the rodeo. As we move closer to the city, the public becomes more excited and theres more participation. Young children, moms and dads - everyone likes to see the trail rides come by. The excitement builds as we approach Houston.

karen.zurawski@chron.com
With a bond referendum a possibility in the fall elections, the city of Friendswood is once again looking to convene a citizens advisory team to craft project proposals residents could vote on.

The city formed a similar committee to create the $24 million bond package that voters approved in 2013.

Were calling on citizens to volunteer, to step up and help us sort this out, Mayor Mike Foreman said.

The mayor said he and city staff are accepting applications to join the group and hope to have it established by early March.

We have until August, end of summer, to figure this out, Foreman said.

Friendswood already has a citizens subcommittee meeting to discuss flooding and drainage needs. Mayor Foreman said any recommendations that come from that group might also be included in a possible bond referendum.

As for the new citizens group the city is looking to form, those members would be free to discuss what they think are the citys big needs.

We also want them to decide how much we can afford in a bond election, Foreman said. I really want them to put their thinking caps on.

To help out, city staff members will be available to the committee should it need specific cost details on discussed projects and how certain improvements might affect the citys tax rate. They will also make themselves available to answer any questions and provide general guidance.

City Manager Morad Kabiri explained the process. City staff will go through an educational process with the citizen group. Well talk about what bonds are, how cities operate, how bonds impact the tax rate, and current projects in our (capital improvements plan), he said.

Kabiri said the committee will give a final recommendation to City Council on what projects should end up comprising a bond referendum. There are some areas of improvement city staff think might likely be considered, namely road projects and facilities upgrades.

I think theyll look at alternative road segments to help alleviate traffic on the main drags around town, Kabiri said.

City staff said FM 518, FM 528 and FM 2351 suffer the most traffic in Friendswood. As those roadways are maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, any city-maintained roads might be considered for improvement.

The committee can be given information about which ones are in close proximity to schools, the pavement management study which recently scored all city-maintained roads, and the results of the citywide traffic study evaluating traffic across Friendswood and making recommendations to improve their level of service, city spokesman Jeff Newpher said.

Kabiri said there are a few facilities projects the committee might look into.

We have a public safety building thats almost 12 years old, and were at a point now where we need additional space, he said.

The public safety building houses Friendswoods police personnel, the fire marshal, emergency management department and the municipal court.

The departments have grown as our population has grown, Foreman said. The second phase of the building has always been planned, but it may be time to complete it now.

Currently at 28,000 square feet, the building serves about 30 employees. Newpher said the original design of the second phase calls for an additional 16,000 square feet.

Kabiri said the committee might also consider a new senior activities building or renovations to a former grocery store that houses the citys public works and parks and recreations departments, which include about 49 employees.

Our other facility (at 1306 Deepwood Drive) was damaged in Harvey, Kabiri said. Were leasing a building now and its functioning very well and its an ideal site, but it needs to be renovated.

However, both Mayor Foreman and Kabiri said the city wants to hold off on purchasing the building or making any major changes until theyve finalized damage estimates with FEMA and received a decision on possible reimbursement.

Despite having some ideas for needed city improvements, Mayor Foreman and city staff members say they dont want to influence whomever might end up on the citizens committee.

I dont want to tell people what the answer is (with a possible bond package) because we want to hear from them, he said. The more opinions we get the better. Theres nothing thats off the table.

He added the more buy-in the city receives from residents the more chance there is for a successful election.

Bond elections are sometimes contentious, Foreman said. The more people we have that are involved in this process and who have bought into the projects, then the better off we are in getting support from the rest of the town.

Those interested in serving on the committee may email Foreman at mayor@friendswood.com or call the city at 281-996-3200.
Netflix, HO / TNS

Houstonians wanting to see Alfonso Cuarons Oscar-nominated Roma on the big screen, where its atmospheric sound design and striking black-and-white cinematography really stand out, have been out of luck. Unless they happened to catch the film in its brief theatrical runs at the Landmark River Oaks and America Cinemas in Sharpstown, theyve had to make do with watching the Netflix film on television or, worse, their laptop or mobile device.

Now, Roma is coming back to the big screen in Houston  for one night only in a special screening set up by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Fe y Justicia Worker Center specifically for domestic workers. The showing, at 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 27 at the Landmark River Oaks, is free but RSVP is required. You can register at http://bit.ly/RomaHouston.
Craig Hartley/Freelance

The president of the National Association of Manufacturers called on lawmakers to fix the nation's immigration system at a "state of manufacturing" address at Lone Star College on Wednesday. Saying "the broken system is not fair," Jay Timmons called for immigration reform and economic partnerships.

"Sure, manufacturers build walls. But we also build bridges," Timmons said. "And we want to build a consensus on an issue that has divided our country. Bottom line: It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives."
A Guatemalan mother and her 5-year-old daughter, separated at the Texas-Mexico border last summer, were reunited at a Houston airport Thursday in a case that illustrates lingering effects of President Donald Trump's controversial "zero tolerance" policy.

The little girl wore brown boots and had her hair in pigtails as she presented her mother with a giant pale blue plush Mickey Mouse, then the two tearfully hugged at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The mother, who speaks the indigenous Guatemalan language Q'eqchi', said through a translator that she was overjoyed.

"I never thought I would see my daughter again," the mother told the translator.

Sara Caal and her daughter Alida journeyed to the Texas border last summer, hoping to ask for asylum. The 20-year-old Guatemalan said she had been raped twice and beaten so hard that her teeth were knocked out. Her assailants mocked her indigenous Mayan heritage, saying, "you Q'eqchi people are like dogs," according to a sworn affidavit filed in her case.

SUBSCRIBERS: Read the full story only on HoustonChronicle.com

By the time Caal crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville last May, Trump's administration was at the height of enforcing its policy of prosecuting parents for crossing the border illegally and placing their children in federal shelters. In June, U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw blocked the program, ruling that more than 2,600 separated children be reunited with their parents.

But Caal, whose daughter had been released to her husband in Houston days before the judge's order, was not included in that legal settlement. She remained imprisoned in the South Texas Detention Center, 60 miles outside of San Antonio, for nine months, barely evading deportation.

Caal's case is one of possibly "thousands" in which children were separated from their parents under Trump's policy and resettled with relatives or other so-called sponsors before Sabraw's June 26 order, according to a report last month by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. On Thursday afternoon, lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union were set to argue before Sabraw that such families should be included in the legal class and the government forced to reunify them.

"The scope of the problem is larger than plaintiffs or the Court previously knew," the ACLU said in legal filings this month.

The administration has said it would be too "burdensome" to find separated children who were released before the policy went into effect. For much of its duration, the government lacked a systematic way to track families after they had been separated, with parents going into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and their children sent to shelters run by Health and Human Services. To find the children covered by Sabraw's order, government employees in some cases had to comb through paperwork by hand.

"We don't know exactly how many children were separated and there's no question (the government's) complete lack of tracking makes it complicated and is outrageous, irresponsible, and frankly, criminally negligent," said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women's Refugee Commission and part of the steering committee that helped find families covered by Sabraw's order.

lomi.kriel@chron.com
The flood control tunnel project considered by Harris County would be similar to those in Chicago, Dallas and Austin.

All four cities have rivers or similar watersheds that flood or become polluted during heavy rains.

Chicago's Deep Tunnel project has been under construction for more than 40 years and cost more than $3 billion. Its concept took shape in the 1960s as development and an unfortunately designed sewer system sent sewage and stormwater into the same pipes. Heavy rains would force the polluted water into area rivers, Lake Michigan and residential basements.

Parts of the system, which includes 109 miles of tunnels up to 33 feet wide, became operational in 1981. The last of the three reservoirs which collect the water went online in 2017. When the entire system is complete in 2029, it will have a capacity of 17.5 billion gallons.

At HoustonChronicle.com: Harris County Flood Control District proposes tunnel idea to drain stormwaters

The tunnel systems in Dallas and Austin are more recent but use the same idea: move overflow water into underground tunnels and eventually a reservoir.

Austin's Waller Creek tunnel, completed last year for about $163 million, has a 1-mile main tunnel about 70 feet below ground. It empties into Lady Bird Lake.

In Dallas, a 5-mile tunnel, 30 feet wide and up to 100 feet below ground, will help ease flooding east of downtown. The $200 million project began in March 2018 and will be completed in 2023.

Houston's project isn't even on the drawing board. The Harris County Flood Control District will use a $320,000 federal grant to study if such a project can even be completed in the area.

HoustonChronicle.com has details on how such a project would work and the obstacles it may encounter.

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Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi directs real-life married couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in the Spanish thriller "Everybody Knows." MUST CRDIT: Teresa Isasi, Focus Features Photo: Teresa Isasi

Early in the film Everybody Knows, a character speaks aloud, for the first time, the phrase that lends this tale of mystery its title. It wont be the last time, either, that you hear those two words used in reference to something thats assumed to be common knowledge but isnt.

Whats known and whats not known  and the ramifications of the latter becoming the former  are some of the abiding interests of the Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi, whose previous films (including A Separation and The Salesman, both Oscar winners) have long revealed a fascination with secrets past and present.

History, for this filmmaker, never stays entirely buried, it seems. It rises to haunt the present and shape the future in shocking and irrevocable ways.

NEW FILMS: 'Arctic,' 'Fighting with My Family,' 'How to Train Your Dragon' sequel

Thats one heck of a metaphysical morale, but it never feels heavy-handed in this immensely watchable and thematically complex tale, which in some ways plays out like a deceptively conventional Agatha Christie-style whodunit. Opening just before a wedding in Spanish wine country  where members of a large extended family and their friends have gathered to celebrate  the film centers on the disappearance of a teenage girl.

Everybody Knows Rated R: for some crude language. Running time: 132 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles Where: ??? ****1/2 (out of 5)

During the boozy reception, on a night of rain and a power outage, Irene (Carla Campra), the slightly wild-child daughter of the protagonist, Laura (Penelope Cruz), is found missing from behind her locked hotel room door. A pile of ominous newspaper clippings about an earlier local kidnapping lie on the empty bed, next to Irenes still-sleeping brother (Ivan Chavero).

What follows is, on a superficial level, a criminal procedural of sorts, made all the more interesting by the virtual absence of the police, whose involvement the kidnappers have issued a dire warning against: Keep the cops out of this, or well kill the girl. Other than the psychological insights that are offered  under the table  by an especially sage retired police detective (Jose Angel Egido), the investigation is carried out entirely by the members of the sprawling clan and their neighbors, some of whom start to suspect an inside job.

One of those neighbors is Paco, played by Javier Bardem, the real-life husband of his co-star, Cruz, and who here plays her former lover (both characters are now married to other people, played by Barbara Lennie and Ricardo Darin). Although everybody knows Paco and Lauras romantic past, there are some other things they dont know.

When Laura receives a ransom demand via text, certain old ghosts  financial ones as well as interpersonal  rise from their tombs to wreak havoc. Paco, we learn, currently owns a vineyard that used to belong to Lauras family. Its patriarch (Ramon Barea) is said to have drunkenly gambled away his fortune, forcing the lands sale at a price well below its value. Class resentments and sexual jealousies flare up, clouding judgment and calling into question bedrock beliefs.

By one light, the enigma of Irenes disappearance is the least interesting thing about this drama. Dont get me wrong  Farhadi knows his way around a suspense thriller, as he demonstrated in Salesman and About Elly. But like those earlier films, Everybody Knows isnt really about solving a case.

FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: Director Stephen Merchant finds an unlikely ally in The Rock for 'Fighting with My Family'

Rather, its about the fissures that this case opens up in peoples lives  not just the ones who are working to solve Irenes disappearance, but also those who are mere bystanders, either by accident or willful inaction. Every actor here is excellent, a remarkable feat considering that Farhadi, who speaks no Spanish and who wrote the original script in his native Farsi, directed his cast using interpreters.

Bardem and Cruz are particularly good, as they are called upon to render, over the course of a very long but engrossing 2 1/4 hours, a storm of emotions. Those emotions include joy, regret, anguish, hope, resignation and relief, as well as several other feelings that are impossible to name but instantly recognizable.

Is Everybody Knows as searing and devastating a film as Farhadis best work? Probably not, but it is surely one of his most relatable.

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The city of Orange is on the short list of places where Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. is considering building a massive $5 billion to $6 billion petrochemical expansion, recently released state documents show.

For months, The Woodlands' company's owners, Phillips 66 and Chevron, have said they are considering adding more capacity in the region without saying where or how big of a project it could be.

A request for tax incentives filed with the state comptroller's office shows Chevron Phillips is considering buying 1,700 acres of undeveloped land to house a multi-billion manufacturing facility in Orange.

The project would convert hydrocarbons into ethylene which can be converted into polyethylene plastic pellets, the building block for packaging thousands of consumer goods, including milk jugs, bags, food and beverage containers, household chemicals and detergent bottles.

The proposed location is across a highway from Chevron Phillips' existing polyethylene plant on Farm Market Road 1006 so the two sites would likely work together.

RELATED:Gold-collar workers growing more vital in oil & gas industry

Construction could start as early as the second quarter of 2020 and the company would start operations in the third quarter of 2024.

The city is one several locations in Texas and Louisiana where Chevron Phillips is looking.

"At this point in time, Orange, Texas , is a finalist undergoing due diligence for a new petrochemical investment if we make a final investment decision to proceed. However, the location is only one of the alternatives we are considering along the U.S. Gulf Coast," said a Chevron Phillips Chemical spokesperson. "It would simply be premature to say that Orange is definitively where we would put a new petrochemical facility if we decide to build one."

EARLIER: Chevron Phillips CEO talks leadership, pollution and trade war

The company is eyeing the investment roughly a year after starting up its huge new ethane cracker in Baytown. A new petrochemical expansion on the Gulf Coast could create thousands of construction jobs and further cement the region's dominating role in an emerging export-driven U.S. petrochemical market.

"We remain very encouraged by the fundamentals supporting an additional petrochemical investment in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The availability of competitive feedstocks in the region and growing worldwide demand for our products appear to support such an initiative," the company spokesman said.

RELATED: Saudi Aramcos Motiva eyes $6.6B petrochemical expansions

The potential new Orange project would generate 3,500 construction jobs at peak construction with an average salary of about $90,000, according to state documents filed in late January.

The number of permanent jobs the project would create isn't clear. The company committed to the application's minimum requirement of 20 permanent jobs, but it's likely a project of that scale would require hundreds of jobs. A recently-completed project of the same scale in Baytown now helps to support 1,000 permanent employees and 2,000 contractors, according to Chevron Phillips Chemical.

The average salary for permanent jobs would be $80,000 annually, according to the documents.

The project would include an ethylene cracker, at least one ethylene derivative units, a rail storage yard, utilities and related infrastructure and administrative buildings, the documents said.

Chevron Phillips is seeking Chapter 313 incentives from West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District and Bridge City Independent School District, the two districts where its potential project would overlap.
Danner's

Danner's, a family-owned company providing security and maritime services, will relocate to a larger headquarters in Pasadena after 80 years on Houston's east side.

The company, which employs 88 people in Houston, recently broke ground for a headquarters building at 3551 Pasadena Blvd. The facility, on 4 acres, will have a new fiber network, servers and equipment as well as gas generators for uninterrupted operations.
Continuum: Select Works from Frank Stellas Personal Collection

This spring Christies is auctioning works owned and created by Frank Stella, one of the most influential artists of his generation. Highlights range from a Dutch 16th-century life-sized double portrait to contemporary works by Hockney and Frankenthaler

Frank Stella (b. 1936) is one of the greatest American artists of the post-war period. Beginning with his iconic Black Paintings in the late 1950s, and followed by his bold geometric canvases of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Stella challenged the accepted traditions of art history. This spring, Christies will be offering a selection of works from Stellas Hudson Valley studio and Greenwich Village home. The works, which have been personally selected by the artist, span almost half a millennium of art history, from Golden Age Dutch Masters to contemporary paintings by his peers. You dont want to save everything for the end, the artist said of the sale in a recent interview with The New York Times. I wont be around forever. Barrett White, Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art Executive Deputy Chairman, describes Stella as an artistic polymath. He is an expert on Renaissance Art, a teacher of architecture, a trailblazing painter, a brilliant printmaker and an innovative sculptor. The selection of works we will be offering at Christies, he adds, illustrates one of Stellas lesser known facets: his passion as a collector. White explains that Continuum: Select Works from Frank Stellas Personal Collection, which consists of purchases, gifts from other artists and landmark canvases by the artist himself, is a group of works that have influenced Stellas life and creative process. They are personal relics from his private life.

Joan Miro (1893-1983), Peinture, painted in 1927. 35 x 28 in (90.9 x 72.5 cm). Sold for 1,331,250 on 27 February 2019 at Christies in London

The first work from the collection to come to auction is Peinture, a 1927 painting by Joan Miro, which will be offered on 27 February 2019 in the Art of the Surreal Evening Sale in London. Asked why the work appealed to him, Stella told The New York Times, Basically its Picasso, Matisse and Miro  thats one side of the coin; and the other side is Kandinsky, Mondrian and Malevich. Its the heart of modernism. Theres a relatively figurative side and theres a totally abstract side I ended up on the abstract side. A week later, on 6 March, Christies will offer David Hockneys A Realistic Still Life (1965) in the London Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction.

The part I couldnt resist is... the idea of having a Northern Renaissance painting in your house!  Frank Stella

Painted in 1965 as a playful response to the work of the American Abstract artists, the picture is one of several of Hockneys early still lifes which saw him foray into conceptual painting. It was shown in Hockneys acclaimed second solo exhibition, Pictures with Frames and Still Life Pictures at the Kasmin Gallery, and has been in Stellas collection for over five decades. Stella, who himself rejected the idea that paintings were depictions of illusionary space, clearly saw a kindred spirit in Hockney, who would pay tribute to Stella in a 1967 series of lithograph portraits of their mutual friend Henry Geldzahler, which he adorned with miniature proofs of one of Stellas own prints.

One of the more surprising works from Stellas collection is one of the earliest life-sized double portraits in Netherlandish art. Double Portrait of a Husband and Wife (1532) is by Jan Sanders van Hemessen, an important painter in Antwerp during the second quarter of the 16th century. The work was purchased by Stella from Christies in 1984, and will be among the top lots in the Old Masters sale in New York on 1 May. The part I couldnt resist, Stella told The New York Times, is that its from 1532. The idea of having a Northern Renaissance painting in your house!

On 15 May a selection of works by Stella will be offered in Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York. Among them is WWRL (1967), which consists of two concentric squares, one in colour, the other in black and white. The diptych is an extension of Stellas famous Black Series paintings from the 1950s, in which he deconstructed shapes and forms to simple linear works, applied to one of his signature shaped canvases.

Stellas 1974 work Lettre sur les aveugles I, which is offered in the same sale, is part of his Diderot series, which built on his earlier Concentric Squares format. This monumental work  more than 3 metres square  marked the artists triumphant return to his geometric compositions after a hiatus lasting several years, and characterises Stellas output from this career-defining period.

Helen Frankenthalers Beach Horse, above, is a testament to the influence that other artists had on Stellas work. The painting is the only known shaped canvas ever produced by the artist, and was executed in 1959 at a time when Stella himself was experimenting with removing sections of his canvases that he deemed superfluous.

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What's the point of men's ministry  and why do some people object to it?

As men's ministry continues to gain momentum in the UK and across the globe, the voices of opposition are becoming louder. Mild objections to men holding their own meetings, which are separate from the rest of church, may take the form of vague murmurings in the pews or sneaky passive aggressive behaviour. Stronger objections can range from polite but forthright protest to full-on sabotage.

Yet those who are in favour of the movement, and those who are against it, are frustratingly difficult to identify and pigeon-hole. They may be high church or low, free church or otherwise, male or female, married or single, with or without influence and with or without position in church. As with any seemingly contentious issue it's almost impossible to identify who is your friend and who is your foe until the 'battle' is well under way.

Of course we understand as believers that only God can see exactly what's in the heart. However I learned, while researching for my book What's the Point of Men's Ministry? that it is possible to identify some common causes of concern surrounding men's ministry.

While different questions and concerns clearly overlapped each other I was able to identify some patterns emerging over the course of writing the book. I noticed that some questions surrounding men's ministry were more common among certain people groups. For example church leaders and those in positions of influence naturally had concerns relating to their work, their ministry and the overall running of their church. Wives, mothers and single women voiced a completely different set of worries relating more to their relationships and their independence. The biggest revelation, which took me completely by surprise, was just how many men, quite forcefully, objected to men's ministry and had absolutely no hesitations in telling me exactly why! Yes, you read that correctly.

Of course I also learned that very many men, and women, and church leaders, and wives, and mothers are wholly in favour of men's ministry and the fruit they see it bearing. And some church leaders are completely sold out on it too. According to Christian Vision for Men (CVM) there are currently over 500 men's groups officially registered with them in the UK. That number continues to grow. Whether publicly or privately, with or without approval, with or without official affiliation, men continue to meet up with their Christian brothers for prayer, worship, friendship and fellowship. Statistically, it is more than likely that a grass roots band of committed Christian brothers is quietly growing in your neck of the woods.

Exploring and investigating contentious issues within Christendom is never an easy job. Striving to unpack and address them isn't a simple task either. There's always the potential for misunderstandings and the risk of stirring up even further confusion. I'm not an important leader or a theologian. I'm just a jobbing journalist who's asked the question, What's the Point of Men's Ministry? Perhaps, like me, you've asked that same question. If my little book helps you to understand the answers, even a tiny bit better, well then, I'd be chuffed.

'What's the Point of Men's Ministry?' is available as an ebook on Amazon.

Val Fraser is an author and journalist. Follow her on Twitter @ValFraserAuthor.
US not pursuing sanctions over death of missionary John Chau at hands of remote tribe

The US has not asked the Indian government to sanction a remote tribe that killed a Christian missionary last year, it has been reported.

John Allen Chau, 26, was killed by members of a tribe living in isolation on North Sentinel Island when he tried to make contact with them to share the Gospel.

The US citizen ignored regulations protecting the islanders by travelling to the island in the Indian Ocean with the help of fishermen.

He was killed on November 17 when the islanders, who are hostile to outsiders, attacked him with spears and rocks.

After his death, pages of his journal were discovered in which he wrote about his desire to tell the cut-off people group about Jesus.

'You guys might think I am crazy in all this but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people,' he said.

'This is not a pointless thing - the eternal lives of this tribe is at hand and I can't wait to see them around the throne of God worshipping in their own language as Revelation 7:9-10 states.'

Attempts by authorities to recover his body from the island were abandoned because of concerns over the welfare of the tribe, which shuns contact with the outside world.

America's Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, said in a press conference earlier this month that although Chau's death was a 'tragic case', the US was not pressing for India to bring murder charges against the tribe.

'A gentleman went to contact a tribe on one of the islands off in the Indian Ocean off of India, and was killed in the process,' he said.

'The United States Government has not asked or pursued any sort of sanctions that the Indian Government would do against the tribal people in this case.

'That's not been something that we have requested or have put forward.

'It's a tragic situation and a tragic case of what's happened, but that's not something that's been asked.'

Earlier this month, the missionary's father, Dr Patrick Chau blamed 'extreme Christianity' for the death of his son.

Speaking to The Guardian, Dr Chau admitted he had been at odds with his son, a graduate of Oral Roberts University, over his missionary work.

'If you have [anything] positive to say about religion l wish not to see or hear' it,' said Dr Chau.

'John is gone because the Western ideology overpowered my [Confucian] influence,' he said, adding that the outcome of his son's views was a 'not unexpected end'.

The organisation that supported Chau's mission trip, All Nations, told Christian Today that it did not agree North Sentinel Island should remain isolated. It contended that Chau had been well prepared for his attempt to engage with the tribe and that he had not done anything illegal by landing on the island.
Schools must teach children about same-sex couples regardless of faith background, says Ofsted chief

Schools must teach children that some families 'have two mummies or two daddies' regardless of whether they are founded on a basis of faith, the head of Ofsted has said.

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman told the BBC it was important that children know 'there are families that have two mummies or two daddies'.

She was speaking after a row broke out between parents and authorities at a school in Birmingham where children have been learning about same-sex relationships in class.

Protests against Parkfield Community School have been led by Muslim parents angry that the lessons contradict their faith. According to the Express, 98 per cent of the school population is from a Muslim background.

The 'No Outsiders' lessons were started by school assistant head Andrew Moffat, who is gay, to teach children about the Equality Act and British values.

Mrs Spielman defended the lessons, saying that they were about teaching diversity.

'It's making sure they know just enough to know that some people prefer not to get married to somebody of the opposite sex and that sometimes there are families that have two mummies and two daddies,' she said.

'It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill.'

She said that many faith schools were managing to fulfil their legal obligations while not promoting homosexuality.

'At the end of the day it's something that the vast majority of faith schools, even those which clearly teach that homosexuality is not right in their faith, still manage to do this in a sensitive and careful way that absolutely does fulfil the law,' she said.

The No Outsiders programme has triggered an angry response from parents who have accused the school of indoctrination.

Protestor Mariam Ahmed told the Express that: 'What they are teaching is not right, they are too young.

'There are nine parts of the [Equality] Act and they only seem to be focusing on one, homosexuality, and that is wrong. They need to have an ethos which reflects the area.

'It's not just because we are Muslims, there are Christians here too. We don't have a vendetta against homosexuals and we respect the Act.

'We respect that Mr Moffat is gay and we are happy for him to teach.'

Mrs Spielman, however, said that protests were not going to change what was being taught in school but rather 'sane, rational discussions'.

'It's proper conversations that will change it, not protests,' she said.

Last week, Parkfield's leaders met Birmingham Council representatives and faith leaders to discuss possible ways forward. The school said it would be informing parents of a decision after the half term break.
Muslim man wanted to kill Christian cousin until Jesus appeared to him in a dream

An Egyptian Muslim who planned to kill his cousin for converting to Christianity has shared how he embraced the religion he once hated after Jesus delivered a powerful message to him in a dream.

Mostafa, a new convert in Egypt, recently shared with persecution watchdog Open Doors how he traveled to Cairo with the intention of killing his cousin, Mohammad, who had converted from Islam to Christianity.

In Egypt, converting from Islam to Christianity is seen as a betrayal of one's family and heritage. Christian converts risk losing their family, friends, and even their lives.

After finding his cousin sitting in a Christian worship service, Mostafa slipped behind him and waited to make his move. But as he listened to the songs and prayers, he noticed that the words he was hearing appealed to him.

Following the service, Mostafa approached Mohammad with tears in his eyes: "I came all the way from our family's village to spy on you and see if you had indeed become a Christian," he said. "I should inform your family about what I saw, but I just can't. I think the choice you made might have been the right one. Can you tell me more? Why did you leave Islam for Christianity?"

That evening, the cousins spent hours talking about the Gospel. That night, Mostafa had a dream. He saw Jesus on the cross, looking at him and saying: "I did all of this because I love you, and I want you to be free from your sins."

The next morning, Mostafa told Mohammed what he saw in his dream and asked his cousin to pray together with him for his salvation.

Mostafa recalled telling God: "I planned to kill my cousin, Your follower. But now I am prepared to give my life for You myself."

The following month, Mostafa was baptized with his cousin standing next to him. He hasn't told his family that he and Mohammed are now followers of Jesus, and the two men are currently living as secret believers.

Egypt is No. 16 on Open Doors' World Watch List and continues to be a country that poses extreme danger and violence for Christians, according to the persecution watchdog. Various Islamic extremist groups remain the largest persecutors of Christians in the country.

Despite continued persecution, a number of Christians across the Middle East have embraced Christianity. Officially, about 10% of the 95 million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher.

Last year, a former Muslim-turned-pastor who started hundreds of churches in Pakistantold The Christian Post that many Muslims are making decisions to convert after Jesus Himself has visited them in dreams and visions.

"It's very dangerous for anyone to preach the Word of God face-to-face in non-Western countries," the pastor told CP. "God reveals things through dreams to evangelists/pastors. People in the East are more uneducated and unable to read the Bible so God uses this method to reach them."

"[People] are very faithful in the East, placing themselves in positions to see the signs of God by studying the Word of God," he added. "Eastern people watch for the signs and miracles to show that the Word of God is alive. It is a privilege, one not everyone can share in  to own a Bible in the East. In the West, people look more for wisdom, like the Greeks of old. They do not always rely on faith, which can't be seen."

Mission Frontiers magazine also reported that out of 600 Muslim converts, 25 percent experienced a dream that led to their conversion.

A now-former shaman in a village in northwest China shared in another article for Open Doors in July that she saw Christ while on her deathbed.

"I was in the back seat of a taxi as my brother drove me toward endless darkness. But then three men, who were wearing brilliant white robes, approached. But their light was so bright, I couldn't see their faces," Ting, the former shaman, said of her experience.

"They told me I must make a choice. And as they spoke, two other men wearing black robes invited me to follow them. I knew in my heart one of the men wearing a white robe was Jesus. So I followed Him."

In 2015, an Islamic State terror group fighter who had killed Christians also turned to Christ after reportedly dreaming of "a man in white."
Elijah and the prophets of Baal: A lesson in doing the right thing

In previous Bible readings from Exodus, the outsider, Jethro, warns Moses that he is doing too much for one mere mortal, and advises him to choose assistants to help him guide the Children of Israel to the Promised Land (Exodus 18: 17-26).

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out what is not obvious to your own tiny cult, sect or tribe, especially when a whole people is being established through trial and error from a rag-tag of ex-slaves.

The greatness of Moses is not that he is perfect, but that he listens to his father-in-law, who is deemed to have given him good advice. This has led to the Jewish saying that 'two heads are better than one'.

This week's prophetic reading, parallel to the Exodus story of the golden calf, tells the story of Elijah.

At that time of Jewish history, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel ruled over the Northern Kingdom of Israel and made a habit of murdering prophets, while filling their households with the false prophets of their idols.

Ahab's nemesis was Elijah, who braved threats of death to carry the word of G-d to the people. The climax was a momentous confrontation on Mount Carmel, where Elijah challenged the royal prophets of Baal, the god of storms, to a test that would establish for the children of Israel who was the fraud and who was the real thing ( I Kings 18:20).

When I lived on Mount Carmel a few years ago, the weather was nothing like what we experience here in the UK. Thunder and lightning appeared as gods; through unpredictable storms, all means of communication were destroyed for weeks on end, and on one occasion a lightening flash pierced the window and destroyed the computer, phone and TV in one go, as well as the entire lighting system.

It was hard in those days, at the end of the Second Lebanon War, not to feel that G-d Himself was against you, especially when taking part in a performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah at the very top of Mount Carmel, and reaching the verses of Psalm 121:

'I lift up my eyes to the hills: from where does my help come.... The Lord ... watches over Israel ... He slumbers not nor sleeps'.

At this point in the proceedings, which took place right at the top of Mount Carmel at the end of the war, in which Haifan citizens were murdered by rockets and a third of the city had had to be evacuated, the lights would inevitably go out and a palpable darkness ensued.

It was hard not to compare the situation to the original blackness experienced by Pharaoh's Egyptians themselves, as one of the 10 plagues. Undaunted, and guided by my fingers, I would carry on accompanying the choir, but surely there was a message in all this weather?

No wonder our ancestors regarded the elements as gods in need of placating.

So how easy it is when things go wrong to mistake the appearances of things as the real G-d of the Jewish people, otherwise known as Hashem (the Name).

What the children of Israel experienced at the time of Elijah was a quite understandable doubt, fomented by their royal leaders and the religious establishment represented by the false gods. But 'how long will you skip between two stools'? Elijah asks. 'Make up your mind: come to a decision.'

The word for 'skip' in Hebrew is the same as the word for 'Pesach', which designates the uplift we experience at the advent of the major Jewish freedom festival which retells the story of our journey from slavery. At this time, the children of Israel experience the springtime of their lives as they looked forward to their future free of bondage.

If only things were so simple.

Think of all the ways we express our reluctance to act in a difficult situation. We talk about 'sitting on the fence', 'leaving it all to the experts'. We then get a little more menacing: 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread'. And then two more that (being the child of Polish immigrants) I never learned as a child: 'when in doubt do nowt', and 'never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you'.

In other words, doing nothing in a difficult situation is mostly regarded positively and not as a decision in itself  the decision to act as a coward.

This was the stance of the bystander in the Holocaust  the vast majority of people (Yad Vashem puts it at around 80 per cent) who were like you and me. People like us were content to let their neighbours be carted off in the dead of night, or even in the middle of the day. They witnessed the line-ups, the beatings, the dogs. They smelled the smells of the chimneys and ovens. They knew what was going on, but they preferred not to know and then they did nothing.

Was this the right sort of behaviour?

But Jewish law is different. In contrast to what many have been told, Jewish law does not come primarily to legalize and hem in: the purpose of Jewish law is to disturb. It is not only about comforting the troubled, but also about troubling the comfortable. Jewish law  the way we go  does not wait until trouble troubles you.

Because waiting around doesn't help in the end. Often tragedy strikes in the most unexpected of ways. And the reaction then often is to blame everyone else. Those who want to get involved are told to 'butt out', 'mind your own business', or 'leave it to the experts'.

Unfortunately, however, the experts don't always get it right. And things are very different in the modern State of Israel, where people try to carry out Jewish law to the best of their ability on an everyday basis, and not simply as a tiny diaspora minority always looking over their shoulders and pretending that things are OK when they aren't.

So, on one occasion, early one morning, I was sat on a bus travelling down the busy Carmel road with cars flying in and out of the morning commute at break-neck speed, when our reverie was woken by a screeching of brakes. Opening our eyes more widely, we saw a number of women jumping out of a dozen or more cars on the busy main road, at risk to their own lives, and running over to the pavement where a woman dressed in a burka had fallen. And this is even though this woman was accompanied by a man we all assumed was her husband. Water was produced  an ambulance called and the woman escorted away to hospital. The Jewish women (you could tell by their garb) returned to their cars strewn all over the main street, and resumed driving as if nothing had happened. Nobody said anything and it was as if this were an everyday occurrence on top of the beautiful Carmel in Haifa.

This small incident taught me that no authentic life-choice is risk-free. And it is more than mere conscience. Conscience is what led the Nazis to murder their Jewish neighbours. Their ingrained sense of an ethical life-style based on strict and unwavering obedience to the categorical imperative of the German State and devotion to duty was such that they could follow orders to disembowel the 'enemy' who were their neighbours: women, children and babies, with impunity  all in the line of defending their leader and country.

The Jewish way, which Elijah is trying to teach to the children of Israel, the right way to go, is not easy at all. In the very last resort halacha may mean disobeying the law of the land, or at the very least falling out with family, friends and community, or even being totally shunned and despised.

But taking the safe way out is also never an option. And even though a certain amount of doubt is often necessary along the way, Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal is that man-made alternatives are no substitute for the real thing. We should never let the quest for a certainty that doesn't really exist paralyse our search for meaning and action by merely sitting on the fence and leaving it all to our elders and betters. Because that too is an illusion. After weighing things up, a decision is often necessary, and even if it isn't the perfect solution it is certainly better than doing nothing  and that is what the learning of Jewish law is all about and why Elijah, though hated and despised, was right to do what he did.

And this is why every Pesach we leave a glass of wine for the prophet Elijah to drink overnight, whereas the name of Jezebel has become a byword for evil and wickedness.

Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible.
Church of England bishops face questions over controversial transgender guidance

Church of England bishops were grilled at Synod on Wednesday about new guidance on services of welcome for transgender people.

Bishops came under pressure from Synod members concerned that the Church is departing from its historic position on gender and human sexuality.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, Synod member for Chichester and head of Christian Concern, asked whether bishops planned to follow up the recent controversial guidance on transgender baptismal services with guidance 'to affirm and welcome those who wish to detransition to their biological gender'.

Bishop Hardman answered that the existing liturgy could be used on 'many, many, many occasions' , including for those who want to detransition, and that there was 'no reason at all why the affirmation of baptismal vows could not be used by somebody who is deciding that they wish to reverse that decision'.

'The House of Bishops hasn't issued guidance on transitioning,' she added.

Several Synod members asked whether the bishops should have waited until the completion of the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project that is considering Christian perspectives on relationships, marriage and sexuality. The results of the project are due to be published next year.

Dr Ian Paul, who sits on the Archbishops' Council, questioned why the House of Bishops had not deferred issuing guidance on transgender services of welcome until after the completion of the LLF project 'given the enormous complexities of the question and given that the Synod motion last year was not asking for provision but simply asking for consideration as to whether provision should be made at this point'.

The Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth, said that the pastoral guidance was a response to the General Synod debate on provision for transgender people and that it was intended to exist 'alongside' the LLF project.

'The decision as far as I understand it was made not to issue a new liturgy of any sort, not to seek to develop a liturgy for transitioning, but to provide an opportunity for people to reaffirm their baptismal faith at a certain point in their lives,' he said.

The Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, said Church of England priests were still at liberty to choose which services they held in their churches and could therefore decline to host a service of welcome for a transgender person.

'The service of the affirmation of baptismal faith is a discretionary service,' he said.

He went on to defend the guidance and affirm that there were no plans to withdraw it.

'All we're doing at the moment is saying, those who have clearly stated and present before us as trans are to be welcomed in church. A way in which do that is by using the provision as liturgy,' he said.

He continued, 'Let's emphasise that there has been no change in liturgy. This is guidance on how one might use a particular affirmation. I don't think I accept again the premise that we have changed anything of our understanding.'

Challenged again on the guidance, he commented: 'This is a way of celebrating with people something that is a change in their lives which they want to give thanks to God for but where they are also saying, "I place myself firmly in the context of being somebody who knows myself to be made new in Jesus Christ and I do that because of my baptism and that's what I'm reaffirming."

'That's the nature of the service. Nothing at all has changed from the liturgy which we espouse.'

Asked to clarify whether the service was intended to 'mark the transition' of a person to a new gender, the bishop replied that it could be used for 'people who come to us in a diversity of pastoral circumstances where lifechanging things have happened to them and they've experienced the love of Christ in a new way and they want to do so'.

He said: 'This service is one I use with a whole heap of different sorts of people. One of those contexts and possibilities is someone who's transitioned and who wishes to give thanks for their new identity.

'That's the context in which I believe the service should be used.'

The guidance issued by the House of Bishops last December formally commends the incorporation of the existing rite for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith into services of welcome for transgender people.

It is suggested that services have a 'celebratory character' and include elements such as water and oil. Clergy are also advised to address trans people by their chosen name and use a selection of Scripture readings.

Suggested readings include Genesis 17.17 and 1517 where God changes the name of Sarai to Sarah, and 2 Corinthians 5.1421 which describes a believer being a new creation in Christ.

The guidance has encountered huge opposition from members of the clergy, with over 3,000 signing an open letter detailing 'significant issues' with the document.

They argue that the guidance is a 'misuse' of baptismal liturgy and rejects physical differences between male and female without providing theological justification.

'Although reaffirmation of baptismal vows might well be appropriate at certain seasons of life, it should primarily be focussed on celebrating new life in Christ rather than a new situation or circumstance, as set out in Common Worship: Christian Initiation, and should always centre on salvation, repentance and faith rather than "unconditional affirmation",' the letter states.
Abuse victims demand to see pope, call for bishops to be fired

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy demanded on Wednesday to meet Pope Francis to press their call for the Church to apply a zero tolerance policy including the dismissal of bishops who covered up such offences.

The 12 victims met with five Vatican officials a day before the start of an unprecedented conference on clerical abuse that aims to guide senior bishops on how best to tackle a problem that has decimated the Church's credibility.

All the survivors of abuse who took part in the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, said they were disappointed the pope did not attend, even though he was not scheduled to be there.

'We need to have a discussion with the man who makes the rules and has the power in this institution, and that's Pope Francis,' said Peter Isely, an American from Milwaukee who was abused when he was a boy by a priest.

Isely said the discussion had become 'a little bit confrontational, a little heated at times but polite'.

The four-day conference is bringing together presidents of national Roman Catholic bishops conferences, Vatican officials, experts and heads of male and female religious orders. It takes place as the 1.3 billion-member Church still struggles to enact a concerted, coordinated and global effort to tackle a crisis that is now more than two decades old.

Scandals over sexual abuse of minors have deeply damaged the Church's credibility in the United States, Chile, Australia, Ireland and elsewhere. Billions of dollars have been paid in the United States alone in settlements.

'We made our demands for zero tolerance. We want the pope to write into universal law: zero tolerance for the cover-up of sex crimes. They can do it right now,' Isely told reporters after the meeting with the officials, all of them clerics.

He and other victims said bishops who had covered up abuse should be dismissed from the priesthood, known as laicization, just like those who had committed the abuse itself.

One of the Vatican participants said the pope was never due to attend on Wednesday as he would see other victims of abuse during the conference. Victims who address the gathering will remain anonymous at their request.

Victims have scoffed at the Vatican's presentation of the conference as a teaching session that is necessary because not all bishops are totally familiar with how to deal with abuse.

'We were very stern and very eloquent about what needs to happen, especially applying the laws that already exist and applying them with rigour,' said Juan Carlos Cruz, who was abused as a teenager in his native Chile by that country's most notorious paedophile, Father Fernando Karadima. Karadima was found guilty of sexual abuse in a Vatican investigation in 2011, and defrocked last year by the Pope. He has denied the accusations.

'It is unconscionable that any bishop around the world, no matter what culture you are, no matter what country you come from, can say (he didn't know how to handle cases of abuse). No! That is not an excuse and that needs to end,' said Cruz.

Isely said: 'How do you get to be a bishop and you need an education on the rape of a child?'

Father Federico Lombardi, one of the five Vatican officials at the meeting, said the Vatican participants knew that 'if the Church does not really confront these problems, it loses its credibility ... we are perfectly aware of this and that is why the pope wanted this meeting'.

Phil Saviano, whose story of the abuse by a priest when he was 12 years old in Massachusetts was told in the 2015 Oscar-winning film Spotlight, said he demanded that the Vatican turn over documents on molesting priests, past or present.

'It would be a wonderful sign of transparency and maybe some people who are bailing out of the Catholic Church, especially in the United States, may take it as a sign that maybe things are going to get better,' Saviano said.

Isely and others who attended Wednesday's meeting said they wanted to meet the pope because they represented groups with the most experience and information in gathering data on both abusers as well as victims.

Some are leaders of groups such as Ending Clergy Abuse, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and bishopaccountability.org, which has one of the world's largest databases on abuse in the Church.

'This is the brain trust," Isely said. "The Church needs us.'
There are many Asia Bibis in Pakistan, says human rights group

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A human rights group says that the Islamic Republic of Pakistans blasphemy law has led to the creation of many Asia Bibis in the Southeast Asian country.

Last month, Pakistans Supreme Court reaffirmed an earlier ruling that acquitted a Christian mother of five named Asia Bibi of committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammed. Bibi had been on death row for over eight years.

Aid to the Church in Need, a human rights group set up by the Catholic Church, recently stated that despite the legal victory, there still remain many Asia Bibis in Pakistan.

One example given by ACN was Sawan Masih, a young Christian man and father of three who was sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly violating the nations blasphemy law.

Masih has appealed the decision, but ACN has stated that he is still waiting for appeal proceedings following delays. Masihs next court date is now scheduled for Feb. 28. Bibi's appeal had also been delayed several times by the country's high court over the years.

Just as was the case for Asia Bibi, there are a lot of irregularities in Sawans case. The charges against him were brought by one of his Muslim friends, Shahid Imran, following an argument between the two men, explained the group.

Only two days later, two witnesses appeared who had not even been present at the time Muhammed was allegedly insulted.

According to the National Commission for Justice and Peace, there are at present 25 legal cases in Pakistan of Christians accused of committing blasphemy.

Furthermore, the NCJP reported that 23 Christians were killed after they were accused of violating the Islamic countrys blasphemy laws.

In 2010, Bibi was found guilty of blasphemy against the Islamic faith, stemming from an incident in 2009 when a group of Muslim women were upset that the Christian woman drank from the same water supply as them. She was sentenced to death.

Bibi denied the charge and appealed the decision. However, she remained in prison for many years in spite of pressure from human rights organizations across the globe.

Last October, Pakistans Supreme Court acquitted Bibi, concluding that the prosecution has categorically failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Violent protests broke out in response, with many vowing to kill Bibi. Her acquittal was upheld last month and she is now free to leave the country. But she was eventually placed at an undisclosed location near Karachi and though countries such as Canada have offered her asylum, she remains stuck.

She has no indication of when she will leave, said Aman Ullah, a liaison between Bibi and European diplomats, as reported by the Associated Press. ... they are not telling her why she cannot leave.
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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the darling of the new socialist Democrats in this country, recently referred to the three branches of government. She said, they are the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. John Roberts, call your office.

Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in having a great misunderstanding of our history. Many Americans have an abysmal knowledge of our history and some of the basics of American civics.

The results of a recently-released survey (2/15/19) are not encouraging. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation reports that, in the highest-performing state, only 53 percent of the people were able to earn a passing grade for U.S. history. People in every other state failed; in the lowest-performing state, only 27 percent were able to pass. [Emphasis theirs.]

The states that did the best were Vermont, Wyoming, and South Dakota. The states that did the worst were Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas. When I first read that, I thought, Then, what are those Vermonters doing, voting for Senator Bernie Sanders again and again? As the saying goes, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Some examples of the common ignorance of Americans uncovered by the survey:

57% did not know that Woodrow Wilson was the Commander in Chief during World War I.

85% could not identify the correct year the Constitution was written (1787).

75% could not identify how many amendments have been added to the document (27).

25% did not know that freedom of speech was guaranteed under the First Amendment.

The Foundation concluded: [A] waning knowledge of American history may be one of the greatest educational challenges facing the U.S.

This survey is consistent with other findings through the years. We have dumbed down our schools.

Our loss of the knowledge of basic history and civics is a tragedy. We suffer from what I call, American Amnesia. I even wrote a whole book about it. God is the source of our freedom, but we forget this to our peril. As John F. Kennedy put it, [T]he rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

I once interviewed the late Mel and Norma Gabler of Longview, Texas, who reviewed textbooks, from a Christian and conservative perspective. They told me of a textbook which dedicated seven pages to Marilyn Monroe, but only a paragraph to George Washington---and in that paragraph it mentioned that he had false teeth.

Our young people today know more about the trivia of todays celebrities than they do the men and women who sacrificed everything to bequeath our freedoms to us.

Karl Marx once said, Take away a peoples roots, and they can easily be moved. Dr. Peter Lillback, with whom I had the privilege to write a book on the faith of George Washington, said in his book on church/state relations, Wall of Misconception, One of our great national dangers is ignorance of Americas profound legacy of freedom. I firmly believe that ignorance is a threat to freedom.

Lillback compiled the following quotes on the link between education and freedom:

Thomas Jefferson said, A nation has never been ignorant and free; that has never been and will never be.

James Madison observed, The diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

Samuel Adams pointed out the importance of inculcating in the minds of the youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country. God and charity first, said the Lightning Rod of the American Revolution, country second.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, says the Bible, which was in the first 200 years of America the chief textbook in one way or another. That includes the small but powerful New England Primer, which trained whole generations in Christian theology (in the Calvinist tradition), while teaching them even the basics of reading and writing.

Even their ABCs were based on Biblical truths. Says the New England Primer: A, In Adams Fall, We Sinned All. B, Thy Life to Mend, the Bible Tend. C, Christ Crucifed, For Sinners Died, and so on.

Back then, with a Bible-based education, literacy was so high that John Adams said that to find an illiterate man in New England was as rare as a comet. It is too bad that as a society we continue to forget God, and we continue to reap the consequences, including the loss of our history and heritage of liberty.

Why does this matter? George Orwell, a former British Marxist, told us why in his classic novel, 1984: "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is an on-air host/senior producer for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written/co-written 28 books, e.g., The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, Doubting Thomas (w/ Mark Beliles, on Jefferson), and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (w/ D. James Kennedy) & the bestseller, George Washington's Sacred Fire (w/ Peter Lillback) djkm.org @newcombejerry www.jerrynewcombe.com
Supreme Court lets ruling protecting Texas bishops from subpoena on abortion talk stand

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The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from a case on whether a Texas-based Roman Catholic Church body must disclose its private discussions on abortion and fetal burial.

In an order released Tuesday, the high court denied certiorari in the case of Whole Womans Health et al v. Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, allowing an earlier decision in favor of the Catholic body to stand.

Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, a law firm involved in the case on behalf of the Catholic Bishops, celebrated the Supreme Courts decision.

Thank goodness the Supreme Court saw this appeal for what it was: a nasty attempt to intimidate the bishops and force them to withdraw their offer to bury every child aborted in Texas, said Rassbach in a statement released Tuesday.

Abortion groups may think the bishops troublesome, but it is wrong to weaponize the law to stop the bishops from standing up for their beliefs.

In 2016, multiple abortion providers filed a lawsuit against Texas over regulations requiring that aborted fetuses be given a proper burial rather than disposing of them in landfill or sewers, as previously allowed.

The abortion providers argued that the regulations violated Due Process rights by placing a burden on the woman seeking an abortion to find and arrange for a dignified burial.

At the preliminary injunction hearing, Catholic Conference Executive Director Jennifer Allmon testified in favor of the regulations, noting that the Conference was willing to work with Catholic churches to provide free common burials.

In March 2018, the abortion providers served the Catholic Conference a third-party subpoena demanding all documents regarding abortion, embryonic and fetal tissue remains, as well as all communication, including confidential, the bishops may have had with state government officials or the state legislature.

In response, the bishops filed a motion against the subpoena in April of last year, arguing that the order violated the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Last July, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 2-1 in favor of the bishops, with Circuit Judge Edith Jones writing the majority opinion.

TCCB has been challenged by the plaintiffs to either produce internal communication documents or withdraw its witness. This looks like an act of intimidation, wrote Judge Jones, overturning a district court decision.

This burden on TCCBs constitutional right to advocate in the public square cannot be ignored, nor can the burdens TCCB has shown were created by this intrusive discovery request: relations with other parties in the faith impaired, internal modes of discussion upended, and participation by some Catholic cemeteries deterred.

However, Circuit Judge Gregg Costa dissented from the majority, arguing that it would be unusual if a party had decided to not seek documents from a witness it plans to cross examine at trial.

What the majority opinion views as an improper threatthat the discovery request will go away if the Conference witness doesnt appearis just an obvious point that if there is no witness, then there is no need to request documents that might impeach her testimony, wrote Judge Costa.
Jesus was a 'sorcerer,' Bible a 'book of magic,' say Christian witches ahead of first annual convention

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The first annual Christian witches convention is set to be hosted in Salem, Massachusetts, this April and will feature internationally recognized Prophet Calvin Witcher who agrees with the conventions host that Jesus was a sorcerer and the Bible is really a book of magic.

The Rev. Valerie Love, the force behind the event who describes herself as a practicing Christian witch and an ordained minister of spiritual consciousness, recently launched the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School to help Christians tap into magic, which critics are condemning as "dangerous." She insists there is nothing wrong with the idea of Christians practicing magic despite biblical warnings against it.

In an extended discussion with Witcher approximately two months ago on reconciling the practice of witchcraft and Christianity, Witcher, whose website says he brings Gods messages to humanity through powerful teaching and training, allowing non-traditional followers to hear the divine voice of hope, said the Bible is a huge book of sorcery.

The Bible is a huge book of sorcery. You literally cant get around that. You cant get around Jesus being a magician. Theres just no way, he said.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by his statement, Witcher pointed to miracles from Jesus adult ministry as clear examples of sorcery.

Youre talking about sorcery at its base understanding, its really just being able to change the natural by supernatural means. Thats really it. Its an alchemical process. Its to say that you turn water into wine. One, two fish and five loaves of bread, feeding the multitude - absolutely forms of sorcery. Walking on water defined the natural realm and laws that govern this physical plane. Thats all realms of sorcery. Magic is simply just using the props to do it, he contended.

Youre talking about the whole of Jesus adult ministry is all magic, all sorcery. Even if we just say Jesus. Every particular miracle Jesus does defies human law, defies the laws of the universe and the world. So  you cant really talk about being a Jesus follower without doing what he did which is magic."

Love revealed previously that she was "born a witch" but was forced to stifle her identity as a Jehovah's Witness from age 4 to 30 when she finally left the "cult."

She told Witcher in their conversation that she wasnt taught how to do the things that Jesus did such as raising the dead even though Christ declared that those who follow Him would do greater works than He did in John 14:12.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father, the Scripture says.

Witcher, who describes himself as a believer in Christ who still speaks with tongues from his background in the Pentecostal church, said the Scripture has haunted me and agreed that they were both still working on getting up to Jesus level.

My background in Pentecostalism really set me up on a good foundation. We had tools. We did anointing oils, prayer shawls, demonology was taught very regularly at least in my circles. So those conversations were not weird. We talked on the gifts of the spirit  going into magic was a very easy segue.  The only thing it did was expand that particular power outside that particular practice, he said of his full entry into the realm of magic.

Among the rituals he and his community have conducted he said are money magic and warding of entities that we dont necessarily want to work with at that particular time.

Love said she believes that its only natural for Christianity and witchcraft to be integrated while Witcher argues that church leaders teach against it to keep people as slaves.

The interesting thing is, most of the time when people come against magic, sorcery, mysticism, the occult, you name it, the new age community  they are not really coming against the Bible because the Bible honestly doesnt teach that when you understand it and break it down, he said. The Bible is not against magic. The Bible is a magic book. The Bible is a grimoire, hands down.

He argued that for people to fully appreciate the power of John 14: 12, they need to understand mysticism which is simply just absorption with the divine.

We believe that we are one with the Spirit, we are not just an emanation or extension of God, we are as it is. All Christians are mystic, especially Charismatics [because] it was always taught that I and my Father are one. We are one with the Spirit. We are the children of God. We are the children of the Almighty.  There is no difference between me and the Father. There is no difference between me and Jesus, he said, arguing that youll never rise to a level that you dont believe youll achieve.

R.C. Sproul, late theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, previously took on the interpretation of John 14:12 in a blog post and argued that Christians who believe that there are people on earth performing greater works than Jesus are suffering from a serious delusion.

There are many today who believe that there are people running around this world right now who are performing greater miracles, performing miracles in greater abundance, and actually doing more incredible acts of divine healing than Jesus Himself did. I cant think of any more serious delusion than that, that somebody would actually think they have exceeded Jesus in terms of the works He has done. Theres nobody who comes close to the work that Jesus did, he wrote.

If Jesus meant that people would do greater miracles than He performed in the sense of displaying more power and more astonishing things than He did, then obviously one of the works that Jesus failed to perform was sound prophecy, because that just didnt happen. Nobody exceeded Jesus works. Thats what leads me to believe thats not what He meant. I think Hes using the term greater in a different way, Sproul argued.

If you look at the record, you will see that it was the Christian church that spearheaded the abolition of slavery, the end of the Roman arena, the whole concept of education, the concept of charitable hospitals and orphanages, and a host of other humanitarian activities. I think, personally, that thats what Jesus meant when He talked about greater works, Sproul added.

In a video this month promoting The First Annual Christian Witches Convention which will be held April 15-21, Love said Witcher will be teaching at her Mystery School as well as bringing a powerhouse word.

She said on the final day of the event, Easter Sunday, the witches will also gather for their first ever church service.

Sunday morning, Resurrection Sunday. Easter Sunday, the first ever that weve ever done, Christian witches church service. And this is probably the heart of the whole convention for me. Bringing a word to you from the pulpit [of] Rev. Valerie Love at a Christian witches church service, she said. We have musical guests that you will love and we have all the inspiration and a powerful word, especially for Christian witches, oh my God!

A report in The Christian Post last fall highlighted the astronomical growth of self-identified witches in the U.S.

Jennifer LeClaire, founder of Jennifer LeClaire Ministries and director at the Awakening House of Prayer in Florida who has been tracking the Christian witches movement for several years, has warned that the mixing of witchcraft and Christianity is "dangerous" and said the movement is growing.

"In this season, I've seen a rise of Christians practicing witchcraft. Or maybe they aren't Christians at all. I won't judge someone's salvation, but when people in church release word curses, pray against you, and conduct unholy fasts to destroy you, the fruit of the Spirit is clearly lacking," she wrote last fall. "Galatians 6 lists both the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. Witchcraft is among them. But there is a higher level of witchcraft that some so-called Christians are tapping into and it's dangerous."
Future of homeschooling: Less religious, more regulated?

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The homeschooling movement in America is experiencing potential changes in its religious makeup and new challenges from government regulation.

Steven Craig Policastro, founder and executive vice president of the International Association for Creation, told The Christian Post that in recent years, the biggest change in state-sponsored resistance to homeschooling has been a shift from attempts to ban homeschooling to extremely oppressive regulations.

Opponents of home education have realized that since they are unable to make homeschooling illegal, they can at least attempt to place extremely burdensome regulations on parent-led, home education to make it difficult or nearly impossible, said Policastro.

There also are constant attempts by school districts all over the country to require things of homeschool students and parents that are not required by law. There are times in which the school districts do not properly know the law, but in other instances the school board leaders do not care and they want their regulations mandated regardless of the law.

The International Association for Creation is a Christian Young Earth organization and will be hosting its annual National Homeschool Day observance on Feb. 23. Speakers from dozens of locations will address people worldwide in a livestream online to discuss topics related to homeschooling and Christian resources for home education.

On regulation, Policastro noted the importance of state organizations and the Home School Legal Defense Association in monitoring proposed legislation and maintaining good communication with school districts.

Such government oversight is a continual battle, it has not let up; it has merely changed forms, going from the outlawing of parent-led education to now having parent rights constantly in jeopardy due to ever-changing regulations, he noted.

The famous quote, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, is very apropos here because that's what all of us who believe in educational freedom and parental rights do. We seek to be vigilant so that our God-given right to train up our children is not impeded upon by bureaucrats and legislatures.

A recent example of this regulation effort can be found in Iowa, where earlier this month Democrat State Rep. Mary Mascher introduced House File 272, which if passed would, among other things, require school districts to conduct "health and safety visits" for homeschooled children.

Israel Wayne, director of the Michigan-based ministry Family Renewal and a scheduled speaker for this years National Homeschool Day, likewise viewed proposals to increase regulation as a constant threat to homeschooling.

Wayne also serves on the board of the Michigan Christian Homeschool Network, which is the Christian homeschooling association for the state, where he works on behalf of homeschooling freedoms.

Almost every year, in almost every state legislature, bills are introduced in the various education committees seeking to increase regulations over all homeschoolers, Wayne told CP.

The regulation does not increase academic performance in any way, it merely serves to create unnecessary hassle and needless government red-tape for homeschooling parents who are doing what is best for their students.

Over the past several years, the homeschooling movement in the United States has grown considerably. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that from 19992016, the percentage of American students educated in homeschools went from 1.7 percent to 3.3 percent.

The most important reason for homeschooling in 2016 was concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure, reported by 34 percent of parents of homeschooled students, noted the NCES in a 2017 report.

Other reasons cited as most important by families of homeschooled students in 2016 were dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (17 percent of homeschooled students parents) and a desire to provide religious instruction (16 percent).

Having 16 percent of respondents pick religious instruction as their most important reason in 2016 indicates a considerable decline from 2003, when NCES found that 29.8 percent of respondents selected religious or moral instruction as their most important reason.

Some have speculated that the homeschooling movement is becoming less religious, with the Pacific Standard declaring in a 2018 article that modern day homeschool advocates aren't the Christian Right.

Policastro told CP that while the homeschooling movement is becoming more diverse, religiously speaking, over two-thirds of homeschooling parents are self-identified Christians.

When analyzing the number of parents who choose to home educate due to religious reasons, we see that this data continually points to exponential growth which consistently makes religious homeschooling more common than its secular counterpart, said Policastro.

Wayne also acknowledged that motivations for parents seeking to homeschool their children were largely secular. However, he told CP that he believed the story was more complex.

I think we see a shift here over time, but I don't think we should assume that means secular homeschooling is taking over the formerly Christian-dominated landscape, said Wayne.

Increasingly, I think fewer Christian families are homeschooling for religious reasons. They might be Christians, but they're motivated by their child's safety, poor academic performance, special needs, etc., and less by biblical reasons.
Universal Studios in Orlando continues biggest Christian music outreach during a new season

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Rock the Universe took Universal Orlando by storm at the top of February by hosting its beloved annual Christian concert series during a new season, just months after its September 2018 Christian concert series.

Universal Orlando Resort moved the fall event to winter, although the weather in Orlando was about 70 degrees during the Feb. 1-2 event. It was the first time the event took place in February and Universal believes it is a more favorable time for guests, due to weather and school schedules.

"Rock the Universe" offers Christian families a weekend filled with faith and worship at Universal Studios Florida, making it the only yearly amusement park Christian music outreach.

This year's lineup featured Grammy award winner Lecrae, the Christian rock band, Skillet, chart-topping artists of Bethel Music, Matt Maher, Matthew West, Crowder, Colton Dixon, Big Daddy Weave, Francesca Battistelli and others. Fans had the chance to meet some of their favorite bands in the FanZone presented by Coca-Cola.

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Other artists in attendance were Ledger, Mycah Tyler, and the Rhett Walker Band.

Toward the end of the event, a candle lighting ceremony was held at the Music Plaza Stage with a special message delivered by some of the weekend's performers.

In May of last year, Universal became the only major theme park in Orlando that hosted a Christian music event after Walt Disney World confirmed that it was canceling its annual Christian concert "Night of Joy" after 34 years. A theme park representative told the Orlando Sentinel that the cancellation of "Night of Joy" was part of the resort's philosophy of "continually changing our offerings."

Fortunate for families of faith, "Rock The Universe" was held last September and then again this month and was bigger than ever.

Between music sets, everyone who attended the "Rock the Universe" enjoyed access to Universal Studios' action-packed attractions like Revenge of the Mummy, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and the new "high-octane" Fast & Furious  Supercharged ride.

Guest also got a more intimate look at some of their favorite Christian acts in the FanZone presented by Coca-Cola. The FanZone hosted autograph sessions with some of the performing acts.

Universal Orlando is now offering special rates for youth groups. The next "Rock the Universe" will be Jan. 24-25, 2020. For more information, click here.
Trump admin. launches campaign to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide

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The Trump administration is launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality worldwide, specifically in 71 countries were a person can be executed for being gay.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, whos an openly gay official in the Trump administration and an outspoken critic of regimes that criminalize homosexuality, launched the campaign Tuesday in Berlin where he met with 11 European LGBT activists for a strategy meeting.

People understand, religious people, individuals who may not always be in the LGBT fight, they understand that criminalizing homosexuality is absolutely wrong, Grenell said Wednesday in an interview with NBC News which reported that the campaign, in part, is a response to human rights abuses in Iran, Trumps geopolitical foe.

It is unbelievable to think that in todays world, a 32-year-old man could be hanged in Iran simply for being gay, he added.

This is not a new policy, its a new push, Grenell said, noting that all countries will be held accountable, even U.S. allies or those that have been cooperative with the U.S. government, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan. Multiple administrations, he said, have had to address difficult issues with U.S. allies. We can have these conversations of human rights with our allies that clearly make homosexuality a crime and are not great on womens rights as well.

President Donald Trump appeared unaware of the announcement when asked about it on Tuesday.

I dont know which report youre talking about, Trump said. We have many reports.

When Grenell was asked if he was worried about pushback from evangelical Christians or social conservatives, he replied, No, not at all! And both political parties, he said, are supportive of the push to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide.

Seventy-one countries criminalize homosexuality and eight will put you to death for being gay. The Trump administration is launching a new push with our European allies to end this human rights outrage, he said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, which noted it was their report detailing the Iranian regimes public hanging of a gay man that led the administration to launch the global campaign.

Muslim-majority countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia such as Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, Qatar, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and the UAE impose capital punishment on same-sex relations, The Jerusalem Post added.

Grenell, whose name has been floated as a potential successor to Nikki Haley as ambassador to the U.N., has called out several countries, not just Iran, for their human rights abuses against homosexuals. Most recently, he shared on Twitter the story of a 22-year-old Algerian medical student who was murdered on his college campus for being gay. The words he is gay was written in blood on a wall near where his body was found.

In an op-ed published in Bild, Europes largest newspaper on Feb. 1, Grenell wrote about Irans public execution of a gay man, saying: This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even pedophilia. And it sadly wont be the last time. Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalized and punishable by flogging and death.

He added that India, Trinidad and Tobago, Angola, and Belize have recently decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual conduct. But theres still much more work to be done.

Reasonable people can help by speaking out when young gay men are publicly hanged in Iran or shot in Chechnya. And government officials must work harder to demand that U.N. members decriminalize homosexuality, he said.

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino also noted that the push to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide is not a new policy. "This really is not a big policy departure. This is long-standing and it's bipartisan," Palladino said. I would say that this is a good opportunity to listen and to discuss ideas about how the United States can advance decriminalization of homosexuality around the world, and that's been our policy."
Samaritan Ministries gets Best Christian Workplace honor for 11th straight year

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Samaritan Ministries International, a Christian health care sharing ministry, was named a Best Christian Workplace for the eleventh year in a row by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute.

The Institute gave the Peoria, Illinois-based Samaritan Ministries the honor based on confidential survey responses by SMI staff members, according to an announcement emailed to supporters.

Samaritan staff members have the uplifting and gratifying job of helping our tens of thousands of households honor God with their health care, while connecting with their brothers and sisters in Christ, stated Samaritan Ministries spokesman Anthony Hopp in the announcement.

Our team has the privilege of being Christs hands and feet, assisting in the practice of Biblical community and bearing one anothers burdens, as Galatians 6:2 instructs. These remain as our core values and part of the unwavering mission of Samaritan, even as the health care landscape changes almost daily.

The emailed announcement also quoted from a letter BCWI sent to Samaritan Ministries. The organization said that SMI demonstrates Christ-centered servant leadership.

Founded in 1994 by Ted Pittenger, Samaritan Ministries seeks to have Christian families share medical burdens with one another.

Health care needs are multi-dimensional  emotional and spiritual, as much as physical and financial, stated SMIs website.

We coordinate and connect members to care for the whole need with prayer, encouragement, and financial support.

In addition to the honor from BCWI, Samaritan Ministries also has, as of Thursday, a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from the employee review website glassdoor.com.

Earlier this year, BCWI reported that for 2018, they had a record number of honorees for their Certified Best Christian Workplaces honor.

For 2018 the total included 177 entities, which broke down to 68 churches, 57 parachurch ministries, and 26 companies, with Samaritans Ministries being listed in the Products & Services subcategory.

This increase underscores the growing consensus among Christian leaders to listen to, and then act upon, the reliable, insightful feedback of their employees, stated BCWI President Al Lopus.

More organizations are now surveying on a regular basis, a credit to leaders who recognize that a thriving workplace culture equates to greater productivity, organizational impact, and stakeholder loyalty.

Samaritan Ministries Internationals announcement comes a couple of months after they won a major legal victory against the Health and Human Services Departments controversial preventive services mandate.

Last December, Samaritan Ministries was one of six organizations to win a permanent injunction against the mandate, arguing that it violated their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

U.S. District Court Judge Phillip Brimmer in Colorado issued the injunction on behalf of SMI, as well as the Association of Christian Schools International, Taylor University, Indiana Wesleyan University, Asbury Theological Seminary, and the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Pope Francis opens sex abuse summit, urges Catholics to fight 'evil afflicting the Church'

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Pope Francis told ecclesiastical leaders gathered for a major summit on combating sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church that they must find concrete solutions to end the crisis.

The Vatican began a summit on Thursday titled The Protection of Minors in the Church, featuring approximately 200 church leaders from across the world and scheduled to conclude on Sunday.

During his introductory remarks, Francis implored the leaders to find ways to fight what he called this evil afflicting the Church and humanity.

I wanted to consult you, Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and Religious Superiors and Leaders, so that together we might listen to the Holy Spirit and, in docility to his guidance, hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice, stated the pontiff, according to an English translation transcript provided by the Vatican.

The holy People of God looks to us, and expects from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to be undertaken. We need to be concrete.

Francis also asked for the Holy Spirit to sustain us throughout these days, and to help us to turn this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification.

May the Virgin Mary enlighten us as we seek to heal the grave wounds that the scandal of pedophilia has caused, both in the little ones and in believers, he concluded.

Part of the agenda for the meeting included having the church leaders watch prerecorded testimonies from abuse victims, including an unnamed person from Chile.

The first thing they did was to treat me as a liar, turn their backs and tell me that I, and others, were enemies of the Church, stated the person, as reported by The New York Times.This pattern exists not only in Chile  It exists all over the world, and this must end.

Over the past several years, the Catholic Church has struggled with handling a sex abuse scandal in which many priests were found to have abused children while their superiors sought to cover-up their actions.

Last August, a Pennsylvania grand jury reignited outrage over the scandal when they released a 1,300-page report documenting how 301 priests abused more than 1,000 children, with the church hierarchy covering up their crimes.

In response to these and other revelations of abuse across the world, Francis announced last September that there would be a meeting at the Vatican to deal with the sex abuse problem.

This is a new day in terms of transparency, said Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, one of the meeting organizers, as reported by The Telegraph. Bishops are going to be held accountable. My hope is that people see this as a turning point."
Pastor: Does drinking disqualify pastors?

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While pastors should be careful with drinking alcohol, a full ban on the practice is not necessary, according to a Minneapolis pastor.

David Mathis, executive editor of desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church, wrote an article titled Does Drinking Disqualify a Pastor? in which he cited multiple passages of Scripture to argue that people who stand against the ancient attempts to teetotalize the church stand on the side of the angels, and against the teaching of demons.

Psalm 104:1415 celebrates Gods good gifts in creation, including bread and oil and 'wine to gladden the heart of man. Proverbs 3:10 mentions vats . . . bursting with wine as a blessing, not a curse  as a promise to those who honor God, not an evil, wrote Mathis.

John the Baptist chose the lifestyle of the ascetic, while Jesus came eating and drinking, and both were wise and righteous (Matthew 11:1819; Luke 7:3335). For his first miracle, of course, Jesus made wine from water (rather than the inverse), and Paul instructed his protege to use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments (1 Timothy 5:23).

Despite this, Mathis noted that when it came to the Bibles position on drinking alcohol, the warnings far exceed the commendations.

That doesnt mean we should ignore the clear commendations. But it does mean, all the more, that we cannot ignore the warnings, continued Mathis.

Within Christianity, there is no consensus among churches as to whether it is acceptable to drink alcohol. Some churches go as far as to use grape juice instead of wine for communion.

Patrick Nelson, president of Dordt Theological Seminary, told The Christian Post in an interview last year that although "the Bible does not expressly forbid the drinking of alcohol," it "does forbid us from getting drunk from the drinking of alcohol."

"Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-11) so it's safe to assume he probably consumed wine himself, which was a custom in his day. However, he was also very adamant about Christians not giving in to drunkenness," explained Nelson at the time.

"Drunkenness and addiction are sins in the eyes of Lord and its effects can be devastating not only to the person but those around them as well."

Others, among them influential California-based Pastor John MacArthur, have called it puerile and irresponsible for any pastor to encourage the recreational use of intoxicants  especially in church-sponsored activities.

The ravages of alcoholism and drug abuse in our culture are too well known, and no symbol of sin's bondage is more seductive or more oppressive than booze, said MacArthur, as quoted by Shane Idleman in a column published by CP in 2017.
Midwife at Auschwitz delivered 3,000 babies, watched infanticide

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This Polish midwife was ordered to murder all the babies she delivered at Auschwitz.

With Gods help she was able to rescue a few from certain death at the hands of her Nazi overlords.

Stanislawa Leszczynska was born in Lodz, a town situated in the heart of Poland. When the Nazis invaded her country in 1939 this wife, mother and midwife joined the Polish resistance, according to a report by Aleteia.

As part of her work with the underground, she provided fake documents and food for those in Jewish ghettos.

After her familys efforts were discovered by the Gestapo, she and her daughter were sent to Auschwitz. Her husband and oldest son escaped, but she would never see her spouse again; he was killed in later fighting during the war.

At Auschwitz, Stanislawa volunteered as a midwife. Many women were executed when their pregnancy was discovered, but others managed to continue their pregnancy until delivery.

Stanislawa was sent to work in the maternity ward, which was a set of filthy barracks that was less a place to care for pregnant women than a place to usher them into death, according to History.com.

The Nazi female collaborators who managed the ward, Sister Klara and Sister Pfani, announced newborns were stillborn,  even if alive. Horrifically, they proceeded to drown the babies in buckets in front of the new mothers.

(As an aside, it is difficult to imagine infanticide is currently being considered by legislators in the U.S., who are openly talking about killing babies during and after delivery.)

When Stanislawa was told she must murder the babies after their delivery, she feared God more than man and refused, echoing the sentiment of midwives recorded in the book of Exodus:

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. (Exodus 1:15-17 NIV)

Stanislawas intransigence was rewarded with a beating by Klara, but she still did what she could to keep as many babies alive as possible.

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It was a miracle: Doctors near-death accident brings him to God

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Dr. Jeff Huxford was a successful family medical doctor when a life-altering car accident changed absolutely everything. On May 3, 2012, he drove into town to pick up some items at a local hardware store, but a series of shocking events along the way sent his life on a totally different trajectory  and it all unfolded in mere seconds.

Huxford, author of the new book, Finding Normal: An Uninvited Change, An Unexpected Outcome, recently told The Pure Flix Podcast about how his near-death experience and the traumatic brain injury he suffered during the collision transformed his life and family.

READ ALSO: Incredible Miracle Leaves Doctors Shaking Their Heads in Awe

I stopped at the stop light, but a truck going the other way did not stop  [and] pushed my truck into a concrete pole, Huxford said. My head went through the drivers side window and hit the pole  they had to cut me out with the jaws of life.

The very serious accident led paramedics to transport Huxford to Chicago, where he received treatment for his injuries.

It was a miracle that I survived, he said, noting that the accident left him with a severe traumatic brain injury  an experience that forced changes throughout his entire life.

These changes were difficult and inevitably led him on an introspective journey he could have never imagined. Hear Huxford describe his miracle survival at the 20:30-mark:

Huxford said he was initially determined to get back to normal  back to the same exact person he was before the accident. Unfortunately, the path through such a severe traumatic brain injury is anything but seamless.

READ ALSO: 5 Inspirational People Who Have Overcome Disabilities

After a brain injury a person has to find their new normal  and I didnt really believe that at first, he said, noting that he thought that with enough hard work and enough time and determination he could get back to the person he was before.

But the accident forced Huxford to retire due to his complications with traumatic brain injury, leaving behind his decade-long career as a physician.

Although the brain injury took away his ability to practice medicine, Jeff learned a multitude of wonderful truths about God and found his value and purpose rooted in Christ.

Huxford soon realized that some of the changes he faced were permanent, and that he had to truly embrace his new normal.

This brain injury might have taken a lot from me, but it has also given me a lot, he said, citing his Christian faith as the most profound benefit.

Despite growing up in a Christian home, Huxford said he came to a place before the accident of relative apathy  one in which his faith was relatively benign.

I think over time I got really comfortable in my faith and it became more of a checklist type thing where I was making sure I was checking the right boxes, he said. It wasnt about a relationship.

READ ALSO: 6 Examples of Real Life Miracles

But after Huxfords accident, he heard a sermon that changed everything  a message about the importance of not being a lukewarm Christian. As Huxford listened, he came to an important realization.

When I heard the verse this time I started seeing myself as being one of those lukewarm Christians, Huxford said, noting that he had always known that being lukewarm is something the Bible condemns.

In the end, that sermon helped bring his faith into a truer focus, waking him up from his apathetic spiritual slumber.

I would never wish a traumatic brain injury on a person, he said. But if thats what it took for me to find Jesus and learn about Jesus in the way I needed to then I would do it all again.

Despite Huxfords own struggles, he has persisted, and has an inspirational word for anyone facing difficult trials: God never promised us an easy life or a life free of trouble, but he did promise to be with us during those times.Read more of Huxfords story in Finding Normal. And if youre looking for other incredible overcomer stories, look no further than PureFlix.com, where you can stream uplifting documentaries and movies like Scott MacIntyres I Am Hope, among thousands of others.

This article was originally published on Pure Flix Insider. Visit Pure Flix for access to thousands of faith and family-friendly movies and TV shows. You can get a free, one-month trial here.

Billy Hallowell, author of "The Armageddon Code," has contributed to TheBlaze, the Washington Post, Human Events, the Daily Caller, Mediaite, and the Huffington Post, among other news sites. Through journalism, media, public speaking appearances, and the blogosphere, Hallowell has worked as a journalist and commentator for more than a decade.
Couple sues Planned Parenthood because abortion pill did not kill son

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A cash-strapped couple from Idaho, who traveled 700 miles to acquire the services of a Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is now suing the abortion giant for $765,000 and other damages because the abortion pill did not kill their son.

They are now worried that the boy, who is almost 3, may carry a defect or injury into adulthood as a result of the failed attempt to kill him.

The couple, Bianca Coons and Cristobal Ruiz, revealed in a lawsuit cited by the Albuquerque Journal that Coons was about six weeks pregnant in February 2016 when they traveled to New Mexico to get around Idahos mandatory waiting period for abortions.

The couple, said the lawsuit, was destitute and attempting to maintain and limit the size of their family when they decided to end the pregnancy using the abortion pill.

Coons took the first of two pills required in the abortion process at the Planned Parenthood clinic on San Mateo and was instructed how to take a second pill later to end the pregnancy.

First, you take a pill called mifepristone. This medicine stops the pregnancy from growing. Some people feel nauseous or start bleeding after taking mifepristone, but its not common. Your doctor or nurse may also give you antibiotics to take to prevent infection, the Planned Parenthood website says of the process.

The second medicine is called misoprostol. Youll either take the misoprostol right away, or up to 48 hours after you take the first pill  your doctor or nurse will let you know how and when to take it. This medicine causes cramping and bleeding to empty your uterus, it adds.

When the couple returned home the following day, however, Coons had to be rushed to the emergency room for dehydration. She also learned that her baby was still alive and had a strong heartbeat even though she had already taken the second pill, according to her lawyer John McCall.

Coons later contacted Planned Parenthood and requested a second dose of the abortion pill to end her pregnancy. She was offered a free dose if she returned to New Mexico but told if she wanted to get the abortion in Idaho she would have to pay for the second dose.

According to Planned Parenthood, the abortion pill can cost up to $1,000 but is usually less.

The cost of a medication abortion varies and depends on where you get it and whether or not you have health insurance that will cover some or all of the cost. Your abortion may be free or low cost with health insurance, but some insurance plans dont cover abortions, the organization says on their website.

In early March, Coons, who was still pregnant, told a Planned Parenthood staff member that she could not afford a second round of the abortion protocol.

She had also gotten to the point where her conscience would not allow her to take the life of her child.

The fetus had now developed to somewhere around nine weeks. Ms. Coons could not morally sanction further action to terminate the fetus, the lawsuit said.

The couple was warned by the abortion giant that giving birth to a child they attempted to kill with the abortion pill was risky as the medication could result in birth defects.

Their son was born a month early with jaundice and blood sugar issues. They are also now concerned that their child might not grow up into a fully functional adult.

The defendants failure to properly supervise and administer the abortion service directly resulted in the failure of the pregnancy termination which resulted in injury to plaintiffs interests in family planning and their interests in financial planning for the future of their family, the lawsuit argues.

The couple has named various medical personnel, the hospital where Coons sought treatment as well as two Planned Parenthood branches in the lawsuit, seeking $765,000 in compensatory damages.

They are also seeking damages for breach of contract, unfair trade practices, violation of consumer protection laws and emotional distress, among other claims, the Journal reported.
Colo. House passes LGBT-inclusive sex ed bill blocking schools from teaching abstinence only

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The Colorado House has passed a controversial bill requiring schools that offer sex education classes to either teach gay and lesbian issues and not focus on abstinence-only programs  or to provide no instruction on sexuality at all.

The Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education bill, or HB1032, passed on a 39-23 vote on Tuesday, with one Democrat, Rep. Don Valdez of La Jara, voting "no" with the Republicans.

The legislation, which is backed by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, would not require schools to teach sex education  but those that do could no longer offer "abstinence-only" curriculum. Instead, classes must focus on a wide range of topics, including consent, birth control and pregnancy, prevention of sexually transmitted disease, "healthy relationships" and sexual orientation.

Additionally, a school's sex-ed curriculum may not include religious ideology or sectarian tenets or doctrines, nor could it use "shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools ... or excluding the relational or sexual experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals."

The Colorado legislation would require schools that offer sex education to teach the new curriculum  or refrain from the lessons altogether. It also would repeal a 2013 law which provided exemptions for charter schools to select different sex ed criteria.

Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, one of the bill's prime sponsors, said she wanted to ensure that all schools that offer sex education courses are following the same rules and are LGBT inclusive, according to The Daily Sentinel.

"When I began to work on this bill over two years ago, my goal was to make sure that what was happening in our schools was what the intent of the 2013 bill expressed," Lontine said. "That clearly is not happening right now. The 2013 bill was very clear that if you taught sex ed it should be comprehensive, and it should also be LGTB inclusive. That is not the education that our children are getting."

But opponents argued that the legislation abrogates the rights of parents to direct their childrens education and is a directive from the state about what defines a healthy sexual relationship.

"The spirit of 1032 is not lost on I don't think anyone, which is the desire to institute in our communities the acceptance of those who struggle with acceptance," said Rep. Mark Baisley, R-Roxborough Park. "The objections that conservatives have had, that I have had, is primarily that the acceptance is a forced acceptance. Government is force, and so to have a forced acceptance is not a genuine acceptance."

The bill was the subject of a ten-hour debate in the House Education Committee back in January, with more than 300 Colorado parents, students and faith-based representatives testifying late into the evening.

"This bill misses its intended point," said Jeff Hunt, a vice president at Colorado Christian University, according to Daily Record News. "It seeks to specifically ban traditional family values.  If you are banning a worldview from being taught, youre not being comprehensive."

Dr. James Dobson, head of the James Dobson Family Institute, released a statement condemning the legislation as dangerous." He criticized legislators for proceeding with the measure despite the "massive outcry" from parents.

House Bill 1032 would mandate and expand the teaching of 'different relationship models,' such as LGBT relationships, to some of our youngest children all while prohibiting abstinence-only teaching, Dobson said.

"If you believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, HB 1032 says too bad, your ideas are antiquated. If you believe that sex is meant to be between a husband and wife, this bill says you should just give up those old notions because young people are going to do as they please anyway. If you believe it's a parent's sole right and responsibility to teach their child about what healthy sexuality looks like, this bill robs you of that right and hands it over to the government. If you simply believe there should be more options for parents who can't afford private school, where their children can learn traditional family values about relationships and sexuality, this bill says your ideas no longer matter in America."

The bill is a clear offense to our deeply held Christian convictions, and runs contrary to the value systems of millions of Colorado families," added Dobson.

The JDFI calls on all citizens of Colorado of faith and traditional values to contact their state legislators and join together in this urgent fight to ensure HB 1032 does not pass the General Assembly."

In a letter, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver condemned the bill and urged parents to speak out against the legislation. The sex ed measure, he warned, is just one example of how the "surrounding culture has become increasingly challenging for Christians."

"We know that God made us male and female, in his image and likeness, but the comprehensive curriculum route which most schools will likely adopt teaches innocent children this is not true," he said.

"Specifically, public schools would have to promote abortion as an equal option to life, and parents wouldn't be notified before lessons were presented on gender-identity and sexual orientation," he added. "Each of us must do our part to fight this legislation."

Currently, 37 states across the country require abstinence to be covered or stressed. In seven states, laws prohibit educators from portraying same-sex relationships positively.
Church vs. Trump's wall: Religious freedom fight still looms on Texas border

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A historic border church embroiled in a religious freedom court battle with the Donald Trump administration was saved by the spending bill, but could be back in court over emergency funding.

La Lomita Chapel is situated along the banks of the Rio Grande river in Mission, Texas. The administration proposed to build a border wall on top of a nearby levy that would place La Lomita on the Mexico side of the wall and cut it off from congregants and the tourists who visit. (See image below.)

The spending bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday to prevent another government shutdown specifically denied wall funding near La Lomita. But Trump's use of his emergency declaration powers, announced the same day in order to further wall construction, leaves the property's future uncertain.

A source familiar with the case told Catholic News Agency that there is no precedent on whether the funding restrictions in the spending bill would apply to emergency funding as well, should Trump's emergency funding declaration survive court challenges.

La Lomita had lost its first court fight earlier this month when U.S. District Judge Randy Crane ruled that the federal government may survey the land in preparation for a border wall.

The church, represented by the Diocese of Brownsville, wasn't surprised to lose that case, but believes it has a better chance if the government does try to build the wall.

But, as the Diocese recognizes, the more substantial burden  which it believes will violate its right to religious exercise under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act  will come if and when the government seeks to take the property for the building of a wall cutting off La Lomita from those who worship there, Mary McCord, lead counsel for the diocese, told Catholic News Agency.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress in 1993, says that the government can only infringe religious freedom if there is a "compelling governmental interest" and it uses "the least restrictive means."

While most RFRA claims have come from small religious groups, such as O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, there have been cases involving Christians. Most famously, the Christian-owned company Hobby Lobby sued for an accommodation to Obamacare's birth control mandate and won at the U.S. Supreme Court.

La Lomita was first built in 1865 and rebuilt in 1899 and the 1920s. The city of Mission took its name from the chapel when it was founded in 1908, according to the city's website.

"La Lomita became an important site for the Calvary of Christ, the Oblate missionaries who rode up and down the Rio Grande Valley visiting widely separated Catholic churches, baptizing newborns, performing marriage ceremonies and blessing the dead," the website states.

The building no longer holds regular services, but tourists visit and learn about its historical significance, and it is sometimes used for events, such as weddings and funerals.
Childrens pastor, decorated detective, commits suicide after child porn found on church computer

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A Florida police detective and children's minister committed suicide after being investigated for having child pornography.

Detective Vernon Allan Richardson, a beloved childrens minister and award-winning veteran officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, known for his work in helping to locate missing children, killed himself Tuesday as authorities investigated him for possession of child pornography, some of which was found on his church computer.

Pastor Ricky Baldwin of Riverstone Community Church in Jacksonville, told CBS 47 that he didnt know Richardson, 56, was under investigation for child pornography until his suicide. Richardson had been with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office for 17 years and served as Riverstones childrens pastor for eight years.

Never in a million years would you ever thought that was possible. Thats why its so hard to believe now, Baldwin said.

I dont know what all is going to come out, or what is yet to come out. I dont know any of that. But we loved him and we love his family and plan to stick by his family, Baldwin added.

A report in The Florida Times-Union said Richardson was found dead shortly before noon in some woods off Tynes Boulevard near Pine Ridge Parkway on Tuesday from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The St. Johns County Sheriffs Office reportedly began investigating Richardson in December after receiving a tip about him possessing child porn. Police records said the childrens pastor was questioned on Feb. 1 after an image showing two naked boys ages 12 to 14 committing a sexual act had been uploaded to a computer, the Times-Union said.

Investigators then went to Richardsons home and served him with a search warrant. He denied any and all allegations but confirmed watching pornography on his cellphone, police records note.

When asked what he looks up, he stated sex with wives, the documents said. After the interview was concluded, the defendant spontaneously uttered, If I was going to watch child pornography, I wouldnt be stupid enough to upload it or download it.

The pastors computer was seized and two images classified as child pornography were found, police said. One was of a nude boy 7 to 9, the other of a nude girl about the same age.

Richardson was found dead before authorities were able to arrest him.

The child pornography was reportedly found on Richardson's church computer just days before he killed himself. Richardson worked for JSO as a detective since 1999, and was a burglary detective at the time of his death.

First Coast News reported that Richardson had been a detective with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office since 1999 and was a burglary detective at the time of his death.

The late pastor was also the recipient of the "Local Law Enforcement Officer of the Year" award for his work and dedication in locating missing children.

Detective Richardson was recognized for his consistent efforts and dedication to locate missing children. Detective Richardson worked 360 missing person cases over 12 months with a 98 percent clearance rate. He helped develop an incident command protocol for missing, abducted and endangered persons that is operational in Duval County, the award said.

Richardson had been married for more than 30 years and his son is an officer with the JSO.
Hollywood actor who refuses to do sex scenes: You only have one shot, give glory to God

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LOS ANGELES  Actor Neal McDonough opened up about why he sticks to his Christian convictions even though he was once blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to perform sex scenes.

"You get one shot at life to do things the best way that you possibly can and to give glory to God in everything that you can do, McDonough told The Christian Post on Feb. 8 as he was attending the Movieguide Awards with his wife, South African model Ruve.

Our relationship is always paramount to me, in my life, it's the most important thing in my world, he said of his relationship with his wife Ruve and why he wont kiss another person on screen.

Known for his performances in Band of Brothers, Minority Report and Desperate Housewives, the Catholic actor made headlines in January after stating that his strong Christian convictions cost him his job on ABCs Scoundrels series in 2010.

Paul Newman said it best, why go out for a hamburger when I've got a steak at home? McDonough told CP of his affinity for his wife.

Though they've been a couple for over 20 years and married for 16 of them, his wife gushed over the fact that the actor still feels that way.

They have five children together and his wife described a scene from the Mark Wahlberg movie "Instant Family" when reflecting on the importance of having an untainted love.

"When they kissed, the kids said mommy daddy kiss again, to see love, Ruve shared as she charged others to model after that. You learn by example. And if you're faithful, if you are loving, and if you just try to do the right thing, if you apologize for doing wrong, lead by example and that's what we try to do.

McDonough interjected, "Nobody's perfect. We have made mistakes, but we're all forgiven by God. That's part of the great things in life ... it's fantastic.

The Boston native has had a no sex scenes policy for most of his 30-year career and not even his stint in Desperate Housewives, a highly sexualized series, made him compromise his rule.

The loyal husband told Closer Weekly at the top of the year that he also refuses to kiss his co-stars because these lips are meant for one woman.

The Movieguide Awards will be broadcast on Hallmark on Feb. 25, at 10 p.m. ET.
Actor Jon Voight: Gods asking us to protect the values of family in our country

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LOS ANGELES  Academy Award winner Jon Voight, actor in the upcoming film "Roe v. Wade," attended the 2019 Movieguide Awards and said that God is asking Christians to protect the values of family in these times.

"Family is so important and family is being attacked by people who are really trying to tear down the fabric of our society, it's true, Voight told The Christian Post on the red carpet of the award show on Feb 8. I don't want to get into any kind of conspiracy stuff but it's really happening so we have to protect the values of our country and the values of family and guide the focused lives; we have to protect that aspect.

The film Roe v. Wade is in post-production and scheduled for a fall release. The pro-life movie is timely as the debate over late-term abortion has reignited in recent weeks after New York's new law allowing abortion up to birth and the introduction of similar bills in Virginia, Vermont and New Mexico. Voight believes the message in the motion picture will now allow people to have an informed dialogue concerning the controversial abortion debate.

Imagine, God's asking us to help Him out. Can you imagine? That's the greatest thing! Voight said.

Who will go for me,' says God to Isaiah, and he says 'send me,' the 80-year-old continued. There's no question that that's really real. We're being asked to do something so what are we going to do? Are we going to sit back and let it roll right into a ditch or step up and save the ship at stake?

Despite society being bombarded with counter biblical values, Voight insisted that there are still people God has standing in the gap. The veteran actor declared that those speaking truth will have the victory.

There are many people who are really strong people, very bright people and very good people who have said, send me. That's why I have to think that there's no doubt of that. It's all been written: we will win the battle, Voight concluded.

It's going to be hard and we're in it right now and we know it's hard but this battle will be won by those who pursue the truth; they will prevail."

Voight has had his own issues with family over the years but according to The Hollywood Reporter in December 2017, he and his daughter, Angelina Jolie, are working to rebuild their bond and he is praying for the entire family following her divorce from Brad Pitt and their public custody battle.

Voight stars alongside Nick Loeb, Robert Davi, Corbin Bernsen, John Schneider and Stacey Dash in "Roe v. Wade." The movie has met several roadblocks, including ads being banned on Facebook.

The Movieguide Awards will be broadcast on Hallmark on Feb. 25, at 10 p.m. ET.
SBC head suggests expelling churches, creating registry to address sex abuse

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A week after an investigation highlighted more than 700 victims of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of hundreds of Southern Baptist Convention leaders and volunteers, the organizations president, J.D. Greear, suggested the possibility of expelling churches and creating a registry of offenders.

In an address to the SBC's executive committee on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, Greear proposed a range of reforms to help make churches safer. The 10 "calls to action" include repenting, providing free training for ministry leaders, encouraging churches to review and strengthen their policies on abuse and a re-examination of the ordination process.

He also recommended requiring background checks for SBC leadership groups and entities, and changes to governing documents that would allow for "disfellowshipping" churches that mishandle abuse.

He noted that "every option is on the table" to address the problem, including a registry of convicted or credibly accused church leaders and volunteers. That registry was previously floated as an idea in 2008 but struck down because SBC leaders could not force churches to report such information to a registry, The Houston Chronicle reported. In recent times, however, it has received the support of many SBC figures.

"If we dont get this right, our churches will not be a safe place for the lost," Greear, who also leads The Summit Church in North Carolina, told the leaders. "That is not something that I am OK with ... I know that it is not something that youre OK with either."

The Houston Chronicle published the first report in a three-part series just over a week ago. It found more than 700 victims of alleged sexual abuse by 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers since 1998. Some 220 have been convicted and 100 are still in prison.

Many of the victims, who were children when the abuse occurred, accused other Southern Baptist leaders, including past presidents, of concealing their ordeal. Some of those who were accused of sexual abuse also reportedly left their congregations and were able to find jobs in other Southern Baptist churches.

During the Executive Committee meeting, Greear called for an evaluation of the churches that were highlighted in the Chronicle investigation to determine "if their standing aligns with our faith and practice." One of the churches called out in the investigation was the more than 60,000-member Second Baptist Church in Houston. The churches have been accused of having "displayed a wanton disregard for the seriousness of abuse."

"I am not calling for disfellowshipping any of these churches at this point, but these churches must be called upon to give assurances to the Southern Baptist Convention that they have taken the necessary steps to correct their policies and procedures with regards to abuse and survivors," Greear said.

In their response to the Houston Chronicle investigation, Second Baptist stated that it "takes allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse very seriously and constantly strives to provide and maintain a safe, Christian environment for all employees, church members and guests ... our policy and practice have been and will continue to be that any complaint of sexual misconduct will be heard, investigated and handled in a lawful and appropriate way."

The recommendations by Greear to address sexual abuse in SBC churches are the first to come out of the sexual abuse advisory group Greear formed last year shortly after he was elected president in June, according to the Tennessean. The convention's Executive Committee had allocated $250,000 for the groups work.

"Whatever we've done in the past we know clearly was not enough," he said.

While Greear has made initial recommendations to make SBC churches safer, it was highlighted that the denominations current governance structure could be a hurdle to implementing these reforms since Southern Baptists believe in local church autonomy.

Amy Whitfield of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary who attended Mondays meeting said its going to take churches working together to get the reforms going.

"In order to accomplish a lot of these things, everybody is going to have to come and play a role," Whitfield told the Tennessean.

Thom Rainer, CEO of the SBC's publishing arm LifeWay resources, told the Houston Chronicle that his organization does not currently provide materials for how churches can assist victims of sexual abuse, and acknowledged it is a "mistake we need to correct, and that we will correct."

He also noted that background checks for ordination, ministerial or informal staff candidates have been almost nonexistent both at churches and other related organizations he's helped lead. He said he supports the idea of having some sort of registry to check staff backgrounds.

"I think this is the loudest I've ever heard it, [and] from the most influential sources," he told the Chronicle. "That is absolutely huge. We've definitely had people advocating it up to this point, but it has never been at the crescendo that it is now."

Russell Moore, who leads the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told the Tennessean that he was encouraged by the advisory group addressing the lack of information sharing between churches as a challenge.

"I'm encouraged that the advisory group has been taking that challenge very seriously and bringing in the best expertise to dig through how can we do this in a way that actually works and enables congregations to know what's happening in other congregations in order that they can be better prepared," Moore said.
Same-sex spouses not invited to major Anglican Communion Bishops conference

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For a major gathering of bishops and their spouses scheduled for next year, the Anglican Communion has specifically not invited the same-sex spouses of some of their church leadership.

In July and August 2020, Anglican bishops from across the globe will gather in Canterbury, United Kingdom for the Lambeth Conference.

Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, explained in a blog entry published last week that while official invitations were sent out to all bishops, same-sex spouses are not invited to the conference.

Invitations have been sent to every active bishop. That is how it should be  we are recognising that all those consecrated into the office of bishop should be able to attend, wrote Idowu-Fearon.

But the invitation process has also needed to take account of the Anglican Communions position on marriage which is that it is the lifelong union of a man and a woman. That is the position as set out in Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

Idowu-Fearon went on to state that as a result it would be inappropriate for same-sex spouses to be invited to the conference.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has had a series of private conversations by phone or by exchanges of letter with the few individuals to whom this applies, continued Idowu-Fearon.

The first Lambeth Conference met in 1867, lasting four days with 76 bishops in attendance. Since then, the Conference has been held roughly once every ten years.

The theme for the upcoming Conference is Gods Church for Gods World: walking, listening and witnessing together.

It will be a time of addressing hurts and concerns; of deepening existing relationships and building new ones; of grappling with issues that face the Church and the world, said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in a statement posted to the Conference website.

We will listen to each other; we will seek Gods wisdom to find ways to walk together; we will build each other up as leaders.

The Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool, bishop suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, is in a same-sex marriage and sent Archbishop Welby a two-page letter disagreeing with the decision.

When will the church accept to it the gift of the LGBTQ community? she asked Welby, as reported by Episcopal News Service.

Young people are watching us. If they havent written off all of Christianity for being homophobic, they do find The Episcopal Church inviting and inclusive."
Former Harvest Bible Chapel worship leader says James MacDonald touched her inappropriately

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James MacDonald, who was recently fired as senior pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel, is now facing an allegation of sexual misconduct by the church's former worship leader.

Anne Green, who is married, alleged that MacDonald touched her inappropriately on a private plane in 2005.

I was sitting in the back seat. And James, uh, moved over by me, and he snuggled up to my right side, and leaned his head onto my right shoulder. And then, uh, he reached across with his right hand, and put his right hand on my right upper thigh, right next to my crotch, Green said in an interview on Mancow Mullers radio show on WLS/AM 890, which was cited by independent journalist Julie Roys.

Green, who said she was traveling with MacDonald and several other staffers at the time, told Muller that she had to raise her voice at MacDonald to get him to back off.

I was shocked and immediately said, You cant touch me there! And I said it loud. And I heard giggles from the others, I thought. And James kinda got flustered, pawing his hands on my shoulder, laughed and said, I never wouldve thought Anne Green would be the one to bring down my ministry, she recalled.

Muller, who is also a former member of HBC, said he had heard stories about that kind of behavior before and said he once asked MacDonald about the allegations when they were still friends.

He basically said that youre a holy-holy type, and thats not the words he used, that youre just holier than thou, easily offended and that there was some turbulence, and he brushed up against you because the plane shifted, and you made it some kind of sexual harassment thing. Thats what he told me, Muller said in the interview.

Responding to the allegation in a statement ib Monday, HBC officials said they first heard about it in September 2018 and reached out to her to discuss the situation via email but she did not respond.

We care about all who have labored for the Lord with us, past and present and since it was not reported at the time, we want to offer an opportunity to tell your story to a couple of women who remain here and remember you fondly, the email sent on Sept. 30 from the churchs human resources department said in part.

I would like to schedule a call with you and [other woman on plane], maybe an Elders wife and myself, as I work in our HR department. We are offering a safe environment to share your story without fear and understand if you choose not to. Also, be assured this offer does not expire should you wish to talk with us in the future, the message continued.

The church said Green did not file a police report against MacDonald and noted that they also checked with staff who were on the flight at the time of the alleged incident and no one recalled Greens version of the event.

The three other passengers from that flight were interviewed. The passengers stated that they did not recall seeing or hearing anything suspicious or inappropriate, the church stated.

With no complaint filed by Mrs. Green, no report to the police and the testimony of three witnesses on the flight, Harvest Bible Chapel closed the investigation with the Elders considering the case appropriately vetted and no further action required, it continued.

In light of todays radio interview that Mrs. Green provided to WLS Radio, Harvest Bible Chapel would like to reiterate a sentence from the email sent to Mrs. Green in September, be assured this offer does not expire should you wish to talk with us in the future.'"

MacDonald was removed as senior pastor last week due to "highly inappropriate recorded comments" he made that were recently made public as well as for "other conduct."

MacDonald was recorded talking about planting child pornography on Christianity Today CEO's Harold Smith's computer, and making crude remarks about independent journalist Julie Roys  including joking that she had an affair with CT Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli  and a vulgar reference to Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

"Given that and other conduct under consideration, in accordance with the procedures in our Bylaws, Pastor MacDonald was removed as Senior Pastor and as an Elder of the church for engaging in conduct that the Elders believe is contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church. His employment has been terminated from Harvest Bible Chapel, effective today, February 12, 2019," the elders said last week.

Earlier, a report by Roys revealed allegations from former elders who said MacDonald mismanaged money, bullied people, and was known for "abusive speech" and "outbursts of anger."

Just days after announcing MacDonalds firing, Bill Sperling, identified as an elder on the churchs executive committee, said in a video recording cited by the Chicago Tribune Sunday that the executive committee will be completely replaced in the coming months.

Its been without question one of the most difficult weeks in the history of the church, Sperling said as he acknowledged how the churchs leadership failed in some areas to hold themselves accountable in MacDonalds controversial saga that culminated with his firing.
Last weekend was the first time Harvest Bible Chapel gathered for worship without James MacDonald as its senior pastor.

Days after firing the churchs founder, the elders of the Chicago-area multisite congregation announced more changes. The executive committeethe top leaders on the elder boardwould also be resigning within months. A task force had been formed to review church structure and processes. This week, the elder board winnowed from 30 people to 9.

At Harvest, concerns had lingered for years after the churchs dismissal of three elders in 2013, alleged mismanagement, and negative reports swirling around MacDonald. As leaders and members pray and plan for a healthier church culture, theyre also left lamenting the hurt, confusion, and discord thats led to this point.

We know there are many of you feeling shock and frustrationthose feelings are real and understandable. We know there are many who have been grieved by these things over the past weeks, months and even yearsand we share your grief, Dave Learned, pastor of counseling ministry, told the congregation on Saturday night. Our earnest desire is that God would, in his grace, forgive our sins, heal our wounds, and restore unity and harmony to this congregation.

Harvest numbers around 12,000 members across seven campuses. As a result of the saga, some have already stopped attending or joined nearby congregations, including 2,000 that left around the 2013 incident. During a major transition for the congregationand the loss of the charismatic preacher who had been its famous face and voicemore will inevitably opt to leave.

Either way, if they stay or go, the body of Christ absorbs the blow; if one part suffers, every part suffers with it (1 Cor. 12:26). Those affected by the turmoil at Harvestor elsewhereneed space to grieve and the hope of the gospel.

Church leaders and fellow pastors in the Chicago suburbs have opened their doors to those who fled Harvest. A former womens ministry director at Harvest who left four years ago, Lina Abujamra, posted on Facebook last week to invite anyone over who needed to talk about what was going on at the church.

While only a handful showed up, the range of their pain was wide. Some women were still in the middle of the trauma and were still currently attending Harvest. Others had old wounds that had resurfaced and were hurting, having never felt closure to their stories, Abujamra, a Bible teacher and Moody Radio host, wrote on her blog.



For years, they had been made to feel like the outcasts, but finally vindication in its godly form was working its way out. And still some came because their loved ones and spouses have abandoned the faith completely and now refuse to go to churchand they long to understand why.

At Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, campus minister Chris Lash found himself discussing MacDonalds leadership and firing with students, many of them new believers. Their line of questions felt sadly familiar. Lash similarly saw students grapple with Bill Hybelss departure from Willow Creek Community Church less than a year ago.

Im seeing people who are really burned by a place like Harvest. Theyre confused, said Lash, the director of university ministries, who is planning discussion sessions to address the role of lament and how a Christian responds when the church fails. Whether its the darkness of sin, the darkness of leadership abuses, lets name that for what it is, and let Christ begin to heal.

While Harvest and Willow Creek represent two recent, prominent examples in the Chicago area, abuses of power and church mismanagement happen across denominations and in churches of all sizes. Plenty in the pews have been left with the twisted grief of watching once-respected leaders leave their positions and facing the reality of a church in crisis.

Five years ago, after mounting controversy, Mark Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill Church, the multisite megachurch he famously founded around Seattle. Christians across the individual campuseswhich became independent churches and took on new names months after he leftgrappled with defending their former preacher, dismissing him outright, or just wondering what went wrong.

Campuses lost members by the hundreds, and in the case of the main Bellevue campus, where Driscoll preached in person, thousands, according to The Gospel Coalition (TGC).

Former attendees overwhelmed nearby church plants with both logistical demands and the spiritual baggage of leaving a church after a leadership crisis. I had never been asked by so many people I dont knowbefore I even heard their nameabout bylaws and pastoral pay structures in my life, one Seattle church planter told TGC.

Their experience offers some lessons and, ultimately, gospel hope, as Christians seek to care for their neighbors suffering at Harvest or other congregations in the midst of tough transitions.

Some will leave, and they did. Some will stay and be angry, and they did. And some will have no clue whats going on, said David Fairchild, lead pastor of Trinity West Seattle Church, Mars Hills former West Seattle campus, in a recent interview with CT. Others, who had been in the church a long time, that had maybe been through difficulties like this, will often be your greatest advocates. They recognize the church endures through all of it, and the church will remain through all of it in one form or another.

During the adjustment period, Fairchild began to preach on the bigger story of the Bible, to offer perspective and context for their place in church history. Then came a sermon series on 1 Corinthians, called This Beautiful Mess, which explored the challenges of a church wounded by sin and infighting.

Mars Hill had always been a place where they would tell it like it is, an attitude that led to frank discussionsin Sunday chatter, member meetings, small groups, and one-on-one sessionsabout the questions raised by Driscolls departure and the church going forward. Fairchild said leaders at Trinity West took their cues from the congregation, remained patient with their grieving and grappling rather than pushing to move on to the next season for the church.

Other former campuses had similar experiences. Aaron Gray, pastor of Sound City Bible Church, formerly Mars Hill Shoreline, remembered being sensitive to how leaders communicated to the congregation afterward, careful not trigger pain or suspicion with their remarks on Sundays. They knew that their people needed time to heal.

Human beings are remarkably resilient, and Gods Spirit is just relentless in continuing to push us toward the love of Christ and healing, Gray told CT. Like grief, you cannot rush the process, and you cannot control the process, and you cannot game-plan the process.

Changes were on their way, absolutely. New processes and practices would be inevitable. But ultimately, the truth of the gospel became the greatest immediate refuge and the perfect guide for the rebuilding that would come.

After so many things were unknown, it became really important to focus on the things that were known, even the things that sound incredibly simple. In a time of trial, pain, transition, thats just the baseline of the gospel itself, that Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty, that Christ died for our sins, Gray said. Though the local church is going through an incredible season of turmoil, Jesus promised that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail.

The Lord continues his work despite and through churchs most difficult times, proving his faithfulness even then.

Something thats been really good for me to realize through this process is that when our influence outpaces our maturity, the kindest thing that God can do is remove our influence and bring it to the level of our maturity, said Fairchild. Whether it be Mark or James or anyone else thats experiencing that, its not a hateful punishment of God, its a loving discipline of our Father.

In Learneds statement to Harvest on Saturday, he referenced praying for MacDonald, but also emphasized the churchs place beyond him. Harvest Bible Chapel was not founded on a great pastor, or a great leadership staff, but on a great God, and a great gospel of grace, he said.

Weve received the benefit of many years of teaching from this pulpit that the message is more than the messenger, and that God stands ready to respond to those who would humble themselves and repent before him. These are truths from the Word of God, not from any pastor, and we can still rely on them.
Americas Historical Ignorance Share Tweet

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the darling of the new socialist Democrats in this country, recently referred to the three branches of government. She said, they are the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. John Roberts, call your office.

Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in a great misunderstanding of our history. Many Americans have an abysmal knowledge of our history and some of the basics of American civics.

The results of a recently-released survey (2/15/19) are not encouraging. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation reports that, in the highest-performing state, only 53 percent of the people were able to earn a passing grade for U.S. history. People in every other state failed; in the lowest-performing state, only 27 percent were able to pass. [Emphasis theirs.]

The states that did the best were Vermont, Wyoming, and South Dakota. The states that did the worst were Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas. When I first read that, I thought, Then, what are those Vermonters doing, voting for Senator Bernie Sanders again and again? As the saying goes, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Some examples of the common ignorance of Americans uncovered by the survey:

57% did not know that Woodrow Wilson was the Commander in Chief during World War I. 85% could not identify the correct year the Constitution was written (1787). 75% could not identify how many amendments have been added to the document (27). 25% did not know that freedom of speech was guaranteed under the First Amendment.

The Foundation concluded: [A] waning knowledge of American history may be one of the greatest educational challenges facing the U.S.

This survey is consistent with other findings through the years. We have dumbed down our schools.

Our loss of the knowledge of basic history and civics is a tragedy. We suffer from what I call, American Amnesia. I even wrote a whole bookabout it. God is the source of our freedom, but we forget this to our peril. As John F. Kennedy put it, [T]he rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

I once interviewed the late Mel and Norma Gabler of Longview, Texas, who reviewed textbooks, from a Christian and conservative perspective. They told me of a textbook which dedicated seven pages to Marilyn Monroe, but only a paragraph to George Washington---and in that paragraph it mentioned that he had false teeth.

Our young people today know more about the trivia of todays celebrities than they do the men and women who sacrificed everything to bequeath our freedoms to us.

Karl Marx once said, Take away a peoples roots, and they can easily be moved. Dr. Peter Lillback, with whom I had the privilege to write a book on the faith of George Washington, said in his book on church/state relations, Wall of Misconception, One of our great national dangers is ignorance of Americas profound legacy of freedom. I firmly believe that ignorance is a threat to freedom.

Lillback compiled the following quotes on the link between education and freedom:

Thomas Jefferson said, A nation has never been ignorant and free; that has never been and will never be.

James Madison observed, The diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

Samuel Adams pointed out the importance of inculcating in the minds of the youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country. God and charity first, said the Lightning Rod of the American Revolution, country second.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, says the Bible, which was in the first 200 years of America the chief textbook in one way or another. That includes the small but powerful New England Primer, which trained whole generations in Christian theology (in the Calvinist tradition), while teaching them even the basics of reading and writing.

Even their ABCs were based on Biblical truths. Says the New England Primer: A, In Adams Fall, We Sinned All. B, Thy Life to Mend, the Bible Tend. C, Christ Crucifed, For Sinners Died, and so on.

Back then, with a Bible-based education, literacy was so high that John Adams said that to find an illiterate man in New England was as rare as a comet. It is too bad that as a society we continue to forget God, and we continue to reap the consequences, including the loss of our history and heritage of liberty.

Why does this matter? George Orwell, a former British Marxist, told us why in his classic novel, 1984: "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

###

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is an on-air host/senior producer for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written/co-written 31 books, e.g., The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, American Amnesia: Is American Paying the Price for Forgetting God?,What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?(w/ D. James Kennedy) & the bestseller, George Washington's Sacred Fire (w/ Peter Lillback) djkm.org @newcombejerry www.jerrynewcombe.com

Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Brittany Colette
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first child in the spring, and royal fans could not be more excited for the arrival of Baby Sussex. It seems everyone is speculating on just about every aspect of the pregnancy. Odds are being given as to whether the couple will welcome a baby boy or a baby girl, name choices, and even the weight of the newborn!

One thing is for sure  Meghan and Harry will make absolutely wonderful parents! However, many fans cant help but wonder if their parenting style will be similar to that of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

What is Prince William and Kate Middletons parenting style?

Despite the fact they lead a life in the spotlight, constantly attending glamorous events and engagements, William and Kate are surprisingly hands-on when it comes to their royal parenting style. They do have a full-time nanny to assist with the children during the times when they just cant be there themselves. Kate makes plenty of time to take the kids outside to play, and its evident family time is important. They take the kids on vacations whenever they can, and make sure there is plenty of family interaction.

Do Will and Kate ever have time for themselves?

Of course, they do! Just like all other parents of small children, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoy an occasional date night when they are not attending to their official duties. They have restaurants and pubs they enjoy visiting, and they have been said to enjoy a date night or two at home with movies and take-out food. While Will and Kate may lead a life of privilege, there are many ways they are just like the rest of us.

What rules does the family follow?

It is known among royal fans that Kate feels that time spent with other children is extremely important, and she makes time for it as much as she can. The Duchess has been seen at parks in London, and she also has taken the children to events such as polo matches so they can interact as much as possible. The children are encouraged to be as active as they can, although the Cambridge family does allow for a certain amount of screen time each day. Thats right, Prince George and Princess Charlotte sit in front of their favorite movies and television shows for a certain amount of time each day.

How will Prince Harry and Meghan Markles parenting style compare?

The royal family together | Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Prince Harry has spent several years watching his brother and sister-in-law perform parenting duties. There is no doubt he has picked up a few tips along the way. Its likely the Cambridge children will spend a lot of time with Baby Sussex, especially as he or she gets older. Harry and Meghan will likely make plenty of time for family outings as well, just like William and Kate do.

What will be different?

One of the main difference between Harry and Meghans child and the children of William and Kate is that there is a chance that Baby Sussex will not have a royal title. While Will and Kates kids are known as Princes and Princesses, this may not apply to Harry and Meghans baby. Queen Elizabeth II will ultimately make the decision as to whether the baby will be able to use the title of HRH (His or Her Royal Highness).

The two families are sure to have very similar parenting styles, and it will be extremely exciting to see the Cambridge and Sussex children grow up together and form strong family bonds!
The more you read about the making of The Godfather, the more the classic mob film sounds like a nightmare to make. Paramount, the studio behind 1972s Best Picture, fought director Francis Ford Coppola on nearly every point, from the casting of Marlon Brando to each dollar in the budget.

Once the film got released, they stopped talking. The Godfather started earning $1 million dollars a day and easily crossed the $100 million mark later in its run. Not bad for a film with a $6 million budget.

When the Academy announced its Oscar nominations, producers of The Godfather had even more reason to celebrate. (It garnered 11 nods.) However, the situation didnt sit well with Al Pacino, whose portrayal of Michael Corleone helped launch his brilliant screen-acting career.

In fact, Pacino did something you might expect more from a star in 2019: He boycotted the 1973 Oscars ceremony. Even though he was new to Hollywood and had little clout, Pacino skipped the industrys gala night to stage a protest.

Pacino took issue with the Supporting Actor category.

1973: Al Pacino plays New York City policeman Frank Serpico in director Sidney Lumets film, Serpico. | Paramount Pictures/Getty Images



According to Lawrence Grobel, who conducted interviews with Pacino for decades, he decided to boycott the 73 Academy Awards because he believed he should have been nominated for Best Actor. (He got the nomination for Best Supporting Actor.)

In fact, Grobel said Pacino was insulted, and the actor had a point. Brando, who received a nod for Best Actor (and won the Oscar), actually appeared on screen for less time than Pacino did as Michael Corleone. Thus, the selection of categories struck Pacino as arbitrary. (It was.)

Clearly, Brandos stature in Hollywood allowed him to land in the more prominent category. (The films marketing campaign relied on his image as well.)

However, the Academy found itself with a headache on Oscar night. When presenters announced Brando had won, the star was nowhere to be found. In his place, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather, who delivered a speech protesting the representation of Native Americans in film.

On a night when folks might have questioned Pacinos decision, most forgot because of Brandos much bolder move.

Pacino almost didnt make it through The Godfather.

Al Pacino and James Caan having a conversation in a scene from the film The Godfather, 1972. | Paramount/Getty Images

Early in The Godfather, its far from clear how prominent a role Pacino will end up playing in the film. Michael is a good kid back from military service, and the last thing he seems cut out for is a life of crime. But that changes when a rival mob family tries to kill his father.

According to Pacino, his decision to play Michael as very low-key until that change nearly got him fired during production. However, Brando supported the young actor and convinced Coppola and the producers that he should stay.

In retrospect, film fans can see what Pacino described as his process. Michael has to start out ambivalent, almost unsure of his place, he told Grobel in Al Pacino. Hes caught between his Old World family and the postwar American Dream.

When studio execs saw the dailies from the restaurant scene  when Michael takes out a rival mob boss and a New York cop  they stopped asking to replace Pacino. They knew they had a star on their hands.

Oscar or not  boycott or not  that performance still shines nearly 50 years later.

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Kelly Dodd from The Real Housewives of Orange County insists that Vicki Gunvalson is not the real OG of the OC.

Instead, Dodd recently bumped into one of the original cast members while enjoying some mother-daughter ski time. Dodd took her daughter Jolie on a ski trip to Aspen. The girls seem to be having the time of their life as Dodd is posting plenty of cute pictures and videos to her Instagram account.

Kelly Dodd and Vicki Gunvalson | Getty Images

Last night Dodd was having dinner with friends and bumped into OG, Lauri Peterson. Peterson was part of the original franchise cast and was on the show for four seasons. She eventually appeared as a friend and a guest before riding off into the sunset with her husband George.

Lauri hasnt changed a bit

Peterson popped into one of Dodds Instagram stories. She looked as gorgeous and youthful as she did back when the franchise started filming in 2005.

Instead of being on reality television, Peterson focuses on her family. She often posts warm family photos to her Instagram account, usually of her children and husband. Over the holidays the expanded Peterson family shot an amazing picture of the family along with their chickens and three dogs. Not an easy feat to assemble people, fowl, and canines in one picture. Our best effort for our Christmas greeting! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

When someone asked about Petersons chickens, she said the family has had chickens for 13 years. We love having them around! she added. Petersons Instagram is also filled with photos of her adorable granddaughter, Kennady.

Kelly wants to rub Vickis nose in it

During the interaction, Dodd made sure Peterson knew that indeed, she (not Vicki Gunvalson) was the actual OG of the OC. I dont know why everyone says that Vicki is the OG, Dodd says. Lauri Peterson is the original OG of the OC. Not Vicki.

Peterson smiles politely and giggles as Dodd continues to insist Gunvalson is not the OG. Dodd and Gunvalson had a bitter falling out last year. Gunvalson set Dodds ex-husband up on a date without telling her. When Dodd found out, it wasnt pretty. Then, Gunvalson implied that Dodd had a drug problem during the reunion. So any chance of a reconcilliation was off the table.

Dodd has relished that Gunvalsons role on the show was possibly reduced. When Dodd appeared on Jeff Lewis Live, she let it rip. If I were NBCUniversal [Bravos parent company] or the higher-ups at Bravo, I would cut the bottom line. I wouldnt be paying that bch that much money, Dodd said, Radar Online reports. When it comes down to it, shes not worth that much.

Would Lauri ever return?

When Peterson departed as a full-time cast member, she told the OC Register why it was time to leave. At the time her son Josh Waring was spiraling out of control. She wanted to re-group and focus on his sobriety and getting him on the right path.

Josh was arrested (for heroin possession and being under the influence) just hours after I finished my first day of filming, she said. My intentions were good, but I just felt very conflicted. I was traumatized by Joshs arrest. For me, I needed to really pull back, concentrate on my emotional well being and deal with the aftermath of the arrest.

Today Waring sits in a California prison, charged with shooting another man during a heated exchange. The Cheat Sheet spoke with both Waring and Peterson who assert Waring did not do the shooting and the crime is being pinned on him to help a police informant. Waring has asked for his case to be dismissed when he discovered his phone calls were being illegally recorded while in custody. A judge will rule on February 26, according to Radar Online.

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MTVs 16 and Pregnant has produced a wide array of pseudo-celebrities, ranging from teen mom superheroes like Maci Bookout to teen mom train wrecks, like Janelle Evans. While the third installment of Teen Mom never made it past the first season, fans are still curious about what happened to the four moms featured on the show. We have the answers.

Mackenzie McKee

Mackenzie McKee, who was just 17 when she gave birth to her first son, Gannon, seemed significantly younger emotionally when she appeared on 16 and Pregnant then Teen Mom 3. During the short-lived spinoff, cameras followed McKee as she battled with her ambivalent baby daddy and pawned her son off on her parents.

McKee suffers from type 1 diabetes, and the illness was often blamed for her outbursts and temper tantrums. Since Teen Mom 3 was canceled, McKee has gone on to have two more children, Jaxie and Broncs. She married the father of her children, Josh McKee in 2013.

McKee recently found herself in the news after an online rant led to significant backlash from fans. McKee wrote about a day out with her kids, in which she documented the death of a ferret, a noodle throwing contest in a Japanese steakhouse and a merchandise-ruining trip to Sephora.

McKee responded by threatening suicide and led to a plethora of media reports. McKees mother, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year, took to social media to defend Mackenzie, once again blaming her unstable blood sugar for the threats, according to US Magazine.

McKee doesnt appear to have matured much since her time on Teen Mom 3. She still lives in Miami , O hio, and while her relationship with Josh remains rocky, they are still married.

Alexandria Sekella

Alex Sekella was best known for her dramatics on 16 and Pregnant then again on Teen Mom 3. The teen mom had good reason to be dramatic. When viewers were first introduced to her during her pregnancy, her mother wanted her out of the house if she didnt give up her baby for adoption, and her drug-addled boyfriend wasnt particularly interested in taking part in Arabellas life, either.

By Teen Mom 3 her mother had come around and accepted Alex and the baby into her home. Eventually, fresh off a rehab stint, boyfriend Matt joined the family. Keeping Arabella safe, keeping Matt in check and bringing home cash from McDonalds left Sekella with a full plate.

A lot has changed since fans last caught up with Alex. Last year the former star got engaged to long-time beau Tim Peters, and shes happily pursuing the quiet life, according to E!. In rare glimpses into her life, it appears that Sekella has completely mended bridges with her mother and is living her very best life. She is happily out of the spotlight and plans to stay there.

Katie Yeager

Katie and boyfriend Joey Maes had a strange and co-dependent relationship when they appeared on 16 and Pregnant, and that didnt get any better on Teen Mom 3, while Katie struggled to keep things together, Joey seemed far more interested in the life of a teen than the life of a father. Since wrapping up Teen Mom 3, Yeager has very much moved on from the situation.

In 2016 the star announced she was expecting her second child with her boyfriend of over a year, according to US Magazine. She has kept the relationship out of the spotlight. When quizzed about why she doesnt share pictures of her second child on social media, Yeager noted that the childs father feels strongly about keeping their child off social media.

By all accounts, Yeager is in a happy and healthy relationship. She currently resides in Utah. As for Joey, hes gone on to father three more children since the pair appeared on 16 and Pregnant. According to Yeager, Joey has no contact with their daughter Molli, now 7.

Briana DeJesus

Briana is the easiest Teen Mom 3 alum to track, as shes now appearing in Teen Mom 2. When Briana first appeared on 16 and Pregnant, she was dealing with Devoin Austin, the father of her child who called the relationship quits when he found out Briana was pregnant. Sister Brittany also found out she was pregnant at the same time but decided that abortion was the best route for her.

Since then DeJesus has gone on to have a second child and score a role on Teen Mom 2. While it would be nice to offer an in-depth update on Briana, not much has changed. The mother of 2 spent much of her time moaning about the difficulty of parenthood while holding down the couch in Teen Mom 3, and she continues to do so now that shes filming for Teen Mom 2.

Briana has been in a relationship since September 2018. John, her boyfriend, lives in New York while Briana remains in Florida, but they seem to be making things work, according to In Touch.
Theres a lot of conflicting information out there about Meghan Markle. Is she really the sweet, caring, giving human being that her friends say she is? Or is she snobbish, controlling, and desperate to distance herself and Prince Harry from the rest of the royal family?

The truth most likely lies somewhere in between  for all appearances, Meghan Markle seems like a good person whos been thrust into a difficult situation. She may have been a notable actress before and does have some experience with fame, but its nothing like the media mania shes dealing with now. The constant scrutiny is enough to make even the sweetest person act out.

Thats probably why the Duchess of Sussex is insistent upon guarding the very small sliver of privacy she has from the public eye. But behind closed doors, what do people really think about Meghan Markle?

Meghan Markle | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

The Duchess of Sussex earned this unflattering nickname

Nicknames in the royal family are surprisingly common. Meghan Markle called Prince Harry, my love at an event. Kate Middleton has been overheard calling her kids poppet on more than one occasion. Even the Duke of Edinburgh has a special nickname for Queen Elizabeth, his wife of 70 years. He sweetly calls her Cabbage.

However, not all nicknames are positive. Remember back before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got married when all the tabloids were calling her Waity Kaite while she patiently waited for Prince William to pop the question? So rude.

Now Meghan Markle earned herself an insulting nickname of her own. Her alleged attitude with royal staff has some people calling her Duchess Difficult.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Andrew Milligan  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Is Meghan Markle rude to the royal staff?

According to Vanity Fair, the nickname was bestowed upon the Duchess by her staff thanks to some very early morning texts and emails that were obnoxiously enthusiastic. But theres conflicting information on the matter  some sources claim her staff loves her.

Still, the personnel changes at the Palace are part of the reason Meghan Markle earned this unfortunate title. The departure of the unnamed blonde who has been guarding the Duchess of Sussex since her marriage to Prince Harry has once again sent royal tongues wagging that life in the court of Meghan is trickier than first thought, The Telegraph reported. And that was just one of several notable departures of the staff. If everyone loves Meghan Markle so much, why arent they working for her anymore?

Does the royal family dislike Meghan Markle?

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex | Stephen Pond/Getty Images

The rumors of a feud between Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are swirling, and theyre not helping to improve the publics perception of the Duchess of Sussex. Theres the infamous story about the time Meghan Markle made a hormonal Kate Middleton cry right before her wedding.

But its possible that Markle likes Middleton just fine without wanting to be her best friend. Its clear Prince Charles has an affection for her, and Queen Elizabeth accepted her into the fold by breaking more than one royal rule just for her. Obviously, Prince Harry loves her too.

If anyone is calling Meghan Markle by the name Duchess Difficult, its most likely more out of jealousy than anything else. Theres no reason to believe shes anything but perfectly kind and reasonable with her staff.
Long before she was a member of the British Royal Family and even before she was an actress Meghan Markle was a typical college girl. The Los Angeles native has always had a passion for philanthropy, womens rights, and education so it makes sense that she would attend the prestigious Northwestern University located in Evanston, Illinois  a suburb just outside of Chicago. Markle would double major in Theater and International Relations.

Though she has always been super intelligent pledging with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and snagging an internship at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Markle was always bothered by one thing in college.

Did Meghan Markle have a hard time in college?

Markle chose to attend Northwestern because of their acclaimed drama department where she focused on African-American playwrights. Unfortunately, the Duchess of Sussex soon discovered that the rest of her classes and institutions for higher education across the Western world erased women and people of color in both the curriculum and in leadership roles. One of the duchess  former professors, Harvey Young, told Northwestern Now,

Being a biracial actress, Meghan had a sophisticated view and understanding of what it means to be perceived and treated differently. She was quite aware of how people respond to race and was very clear about the need to think about the experiences of people who are not only biracial but also people of color.

In 2017, Markle told Allure, I took an African-American studies class at Northwestern where we explored colorism. It was the first time I could put a name to feeling too light in the black community, too mixed in the white community.

Meghan Markle is working to bring more diversity to colleges and universities

With her new role in the British Royal Family Markle is working to bring more diversity to institutions of higher learning, so students dont face the same issues that she met when she was in college. The duchess is a patron of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), and she is supporting a campaign that will, decolonize the curriculum and confront the legacy of empire and racism on university campuses.

According to The Times, after hearing a presentation from Meera Sabaratnam, who is leading a push to decolonize the curriculum at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the City, University London Markle said, Just open up that conversation so we are talking about it as opposed to continuing with that daily rote sometimes that approach can be really antiquated and needs an update.

The duchess was reportedly showed a sheet of data that revealed that UK professors were overwhelmingly white men. The mother-to-be was taken aback by the news, and she exclaimed, Oh my God.

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Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods have been best friends for years, and it was almost as if Jordyn was an honorary member of the family. When Khloe Kardashian gave birth to her first daughter, True, fans could not have been happier for her and the babys father, Tristan Thompson.

Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods used to be best friends | Chesnot/WireImage

Khloe and Tristan seemed to be a great match, both doting on their adorable baby girl and never shy about showing their affection for each other. However, many people were shocked in recent days when Khloe and Tristan broke up due to the unbelievable fact that he cheated on her with none other than the best friend of her little sister.

What was Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods friendship like?

At one point, the two were extremely close, almost like sisters instead of friends. Jordyn supported Kylie in all of her business endeavors and even lived with her in her home. There is no doubt she was treated like a member of the family by all of the Kardashians and Jenners. Since they were teenagers, the two girls have been practically inseparable, enjoying adventures and making memories just like any best friends would do.

Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompsons relationship

The couple appeared to have great chemistry, meeting several years ago after they were set up on a date by a mutual friend. They always seemed to have fun together and talked about their future as a couple as well as parents to their daughter. Things heated up and got more serious as the months went by, with Khloe and Tristan taking trips to places such as Miami and Mexico together before they officially let fans know they were an exclusive couple.

Khloe and Tristan a new baby

Khloe didnt waste any time letting the world know that she was deeply in love with Tristan! For a while, fans were even speculating there would be a proposal, and the couple was officially on ring watch. While a proposal didnt come, everyone was just as happy with the news that Khloe and Tristan were able to share  they were expecting a baby!

The Kardashian baby boom

Khloes pregnancy could not have come at a better time, as it turned out that Kylie was also pregnant and Kim was expecting a baby via surrogate. The already large Kardashian-Jenner family was only getting bigger, and it was a wonderful time for everyone. In fact, Jordyn Woods was supportive of Kylie all throughout her pregnancy, expressing her excitement and her love for her best friend.

The cheating scandal

In recent days, the world was shocked by the news that Tristan Thompson had cheated on Khloe with Jordyn Woods. There is no doubt that it left Khloe devastated, as she was extremely close to Jordyn as well. Although Khloe is, unfortunately, no stranger to heartbreak, she can certainly agree that having a boyfriend cheat with an extremely close friend such as Jordyn is the ultimate betrayal. Fortunately, Khloe is a strong woman who is handling the entire situation with dignity and grace!

What will happen next?

All of the Kardashian and Jenner sisters are very active on social media, and each one of them has unfollowed both Jordyn Woods and Tristan Thompson. Jordyn has even been asked to move out of Kylies home, which is not surprising as the sisters are always quick to defend each other and stay by each others side!

Although the sisters are sticking close together, Kylie is not sure at this time how the cheating scandal will affect her relationship with her best friend. Perhaps everyone needs some time to cool off, and they can find an effective way to deal with the betrayal that has occurred. While fans do not want to see Kylie suffer the devastation of losing her best friend, this is surely a situation that needs to be addressed so everyone involved can find the best way to move on.
When the 91st Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards show airs on February 24, movie goers will find out which film wins the coveted title of Best Picture. Until then, a lot of people will be biting their nails in anticipation. Which movies have the most Oscar nominations this year? Heres what we know.

But first, a brief history of the Oscars

Founded by 36 movie industry kings, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has been handing out prestigious awards since 1927. The first president of the Academy was actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and the first awards show was a relatively low-key affair held in the Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A mere 270 guests were invited, and tickets cost $5.

Since its inception, the Academy Awards event has been shared with the movie going public. At first, the awards show was broadcast on radio. In 1953, the show transferred to television where it is enjoyed by viewers around the world to this day. The first Academy Awards show to be broadcast in color occurred in 1966.

Most nominations

An Oscar statue stands during a preview for the Governors Ball | VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images

Until now, the movies to have been nominated the most are James Camerons 1997 Titanic, All About Eve in 1950, and LaLa Land in 2016. Each of these outstanding films was nominated for a whopping 14 Oscars each.

Historically, the movie with the most Oscar wins stands as a three-way tie between Titanic, William Wylers 1959 biblical epic, Ben Hur, and Peter Jacksons 2003 masterpiece, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Each won 11 awards in a single gala event.

Only three movies have ever won all the top awards of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress. It Happened One Night pulled it off in 1934, as did One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest in 1975, and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.

Most-nominated actors and actresses

Meryl Streep has been named as a nominee for Best Actress a remarkable 21 times. The star of such movies as Kramer vs. Kramer, The French Lieutenants Woman, The Devil Wears Prada, and Postcards From the Edge has walked away with an Oscar statuette three times.

As far as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations go, nobody has received more than Jack Nicholson. In fact, Jack has taken home three statuettes for his parts in 1969s Easy Rider, 1974s Chinatown, and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest in 1975.

How Oscar nominees are chosen

Every December, some 6,000 Academy members vote by ballot to select the next years nominees. Most categories, including Best Director and Best Actor, are nominated by peers. Special committees select nominees for Best Foreign Film, Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary. All Academy members are allowed to nominate movies for the Best Picture award.

To be eligible for nomination, a film must have been released in Los Angeles during the previous calendar year. Best Foreign Language Film nominees are exempt from this rule, explains Oscars for Dummies.

Most Oscar nominations in 2019

This year, Roma and The Favourite have 10 nominations each. Each have been nominated for Best Picture. Other 2019 Best Picture nominees are A Star is Born, Vice, Black Panther, Green Book, BlacKkKlansman, and Bohemian Rhapsody, reports Variety magazine.

The envelope, please

Best Actress nominations include Glenn Close for The Wife, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born, Melissa McCarthy for Can You Ever Forgive Me, Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, and Olivia Colman for The Favourite.

The Best Actor award will go to Christian Bale for Vice, Willem Dafoe for At Eternitys Gate, Viggo Mortensen for Green Book, Bradley Cooper for A Star is Born, or Rami Malek for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Hamilton County WWTA Board of Commissioners has named chief engineer Michael Patrick as the organizations interim executive director. He replaces former executive director Mark Harrison who resigned late last week.



Prior to joining the WWTA as chief engineer, Mr. Patrick was the director of the city of Chattanoogas Water Wastewater Resources Division. He was responsible for the overall operation of the citys regional water and wastewater collection and treatment system.

Mr. Patrick was also critical in negotiating the consent decree between the EPA and the city of Chattanooga, officials said.



WWTA Board Chairman Mike Moon said, Michael Patrick brings the perfect mix of experience and expertise as he becomes our interim executive director. As someone who has worked for the citys water and wastewater collection and treatment system, he is well aware of how each system uniquely works. He also counts professionals from the city and the county as colleagues. We look forward to him putting those relationships to work as we continue planning for the future.



Mr. Moon also noted that the WWTAs meeting with the EPA has been rescheduled to March 6. Theres a great deal of work ahead for the WWTA and the community as a whole. We are grateful to have Mikes leadership and insights at this critical juncture.

On Wednesday, the WWTA's board of directors met for the first time since Executive Director Harrison resigned. He had been in that position around two and a half years. Chairman of the Board Moon said that the board thanks him for the tireless work he did while director. "He saw us through a lot of changes and turmoil," he said, "and I appreciate his efforts and wish him the best in the future."



The Lookout Mountain sewer basin rehabilitation is a large upcoming project that the WWTA is preparing to put out for bid. An amendment with engineering consultants S&ME, Inc. for additional design and engineering services has been added to the original project. On Wednesday, the board approved the additional amount of $297,050 for those professional services for a total cost not to exceed $528,050 without approval by the aboard.



Scott McDonald, vice president of S&ME, the company hired by WWTA to draw up the specs for sewer rehabilitation projects, made a presentation of the method that will be used in the trenchless rehabilitation of the sewer system on Lookout Mountain and which is now being used for similar work in East Ridge. A felt tube saturated with resin will be used to line the existing buried pipes. Heated water is circulated through the tubes to cure the materials which then become hard, durable sections of piping. The life expectancy of these pipes is 30 or more years, said Mr. McDonald. The specifications that will be used to determine which company is awarded the bid include the method of installation and experience of the company and the foreman on the project.



Representatives from the Nashville company, J&H Construction, made a formal request to the board to consider using a different method of curing the pipe lining which uses steam instead of water. They said this method which they use yields the same results and is faster and cheaper than curing with water. That claim was disputed by Mr. McDonald who told the board that using water produces a higher quality product. Steam curing produces pipes with microscopic holes in the surface, he said. He warned that lining cannot be replaced and, if it is found to be faulty, it all must be dug up and replaced.



J&H was asking for a deviation from the standards expected by the WWTA which have been in place for some time, said one board member. Another member said that S&ME was hired to draw up the specs "and they become our specs. We have to rely on our engineers." Cheaper and faster is not always better, said another board member. The company from Nashville was told they needed to prove to Scott McDonald that their method is as good, and then he would be in a position to advise the board. They were told that the company could submit a bid noting their exemptions so they could participate in the project. The construction cost is expected to be around $4,670,000.



Bids for a sewer project in Red Bank have already been received. Discussion at the meeting surrounded awarding the bid to the second lowest bidder, Brown Brothers, for the amount of $2,019,091. This bid is $432,561 above the lowest bid, which came from Norris Brothers Excavating, LLC. Concerns with that company surfaced when references were checked which resulted in the staff making the recommendation to give the job to Brown Brothers. A motion to accept this bid was approved by the board.



Another resolution that was passed authorized negotiation of a contract with CTI Engineers, Inc. for professional services required for the Soddy Daisy Industrial Park pump station controls and force main upgrades.



The WWTA board voted to accept ownership of the Stonegate Subdivision sewer system with a fair market value of $210,000 and the Magnolia Farms subdivision sewer system valued at $590,000.



Other resolutions that were passed are to enter into a contract with Licensed Master Plumbers for the private service lateral program. This is a renewal of the 2018 contract with the company. A.D. Engineering Services, Inc. was pre-qualified to perform engineering services for a period of two years.



An arrears analysis of Tennessee American Water Customers, as of Feb. 19, showed that $214,655 is owed by customers whose payments to WWTA are from one to four months late. WWTA has received $849,625 from customers who are current with sewer charges.



The financial status of the WWTA from June 2018 was given at the Wednesday meeting, showing a clean opinion. This is the best that you can get, the board was told.












Judge Curtis Collier on Wednesday gave probation to the final four defendants in the Pilot Travel Center fraud case, while requiring three of the defendants to perform community service.

None of them will serve federal prison terms. Holly Radford and Janet Welch received two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, Ashley Judd was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 50 hours of community service, and Lexie Holden will serve two years of probation and zero hours of community service. Ms. Holden has recently started a business and the judge determined that a requirement of community service might detract from that endeavor.



Due to the meaningful, significant, and/or extraordinary cooperation supplied by these four defendants, there was a recommendation from the U.S. Government for a substantial departure downward in the sentencing guideline range. The maximum recommended sentence was reduced to 0-6 months for all four defendants from a high of 15-21 months for Lexie Holder and Janet Welch. Holly Radford was previously at a level of a possible prison term of 12-18 months and Ashley Judd had been facing a possible 4-10 months.



Each attorney made statements to the judge, in part outlining the contributions the defendants had made to supporting the governments cases.

Each of the women apologized in their statements. Janet Welch said, I would truly like to apologize to everyone who was affected by my poor decisions. She referenced all the people she felt she had let down: her husband, children, community and church. Her son had written a reference letter in which he said, Her bad deed is not her. She said she appreciated the sentiment yet acknowledged, I didnt stand up and say no. I went along with it. She said she has relied on her support network and said that she was working to make amends. Ms. Welch said, I hate that I let them downI wont risk losing them again.



Ashley Judd became choked with tears while she spoke about lessons she had learned and what she will pass along to her son. While she was sorry to the people who had suffered from the fraud, she also said, Im sorry to my parentsIm truly sorry. She emphasized that they raised her better than this.



Holly Radford was the third person to sign a plea deal with investigators in June of 2013. She accepted responsibility early on and, according to her attorney, Francis Lloyd, Jr., was unwavering. She said, I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway. I did ask questionsI should have pursued my questions further, even outside the company. She said that she was considering speaking with high school students or people new to the business world about her experiences. Ive learned from my mistakes and I will be acutely aware of my actions in the future.



Lexie Holden was one of the first to speak with investigators on April 17, 2013. Her attorney, Guy Blackwell, emphasized how she cooperated with investigators before her boss, Brian Mosher, did and how that took courage. She said, It has been 1,850 days since I first stood in front of a judge and admitted my guiltI am extremely sorry, it will haunt me the rest of my life. While she attributed her youth and inexperience as factors, she admitted that there was no excuse for her actions. I made a mistake in not questioning the actions of my co-workersI am guilty of wire fraud.



The judge emphasized how important it was that the defendants statements reflected on where you have been. Judge Collier went on to recommend that UT Knoxville business school and business schools in genera, used this case as the basis for case studies to guide people. You all have faced dark clouds, rough and rocky seas. Life begins anew today, said Judge Collier. He went on to say, One of the good things that has come out of this is the outpouring of support. Its important to maintain those relationships.



The community service must be completed with one of these three organizations: Childrens Advocacy, Boys and Girls Club, or Urban League. As Ms. Radford lives in another state, the judge said she should work with her probation officer if a branch of these organizations was not located near her home.








Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Wednesday announced four new members to the Governors Council for Judicial Appointments which is responsible for recommending candidates to the governor to fill vacancies for Tennessees appellate courts.

The Council for Judicial Appointments reflects some of the brightest legal minds in our state, said Governor Lee. The work they do to ensure we have the most qualified candidates is vital to the health of our justice system.

The council includes three members from each of the Grand Divisions and two at-large members. Gif Thornton of Nashville, who is currently the managing partner at Adams and Reese, LLP will chair the council.



Additional new members include:

David McKinney of Memphis, who is currently the vice president of Government Relations for AutoZone, Inc.

Jody Pickens of Jackson, who is currently the district attorney general for the 26th Judicial District

Charles Tuggle of Memphis, who is currently the general counsel for First Horizon National Corp.

Current members of the council, including George Brown, Sarah K. Campbell, David Golden, Rosemarie Hill, Michelle Long and Cheryl Rice, will continue to serve.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service officials at the Cherokee National Forest announced that during March there will be cleanup days for the Tellico River and the Hiwassee River. These annual events have been well attended and help keep these specials rivers clean and beautiful.

The Tellico River Cleanup Day is set for Saturday, March 9. Registration will be from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Tellico Ranger Station. Participants are encouraged to wear long sleeve shirts as well as sturdy shoes or boots. Gloves and trash bags will be provided. Event participants will be treated to hot dogs, homemade chili and other side dishes from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at the North River Checking Station located on Tellico River Road just below Green Cove. TWRA will offer tours of the Pheasant Field Fish Hatchery for event participants. This event is being sponsored by the Forest Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Trout Unlimited, Chattanooga Trout Association, Keep Monroe Beautiful, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Starr Mountain Outfitters of Etowah. For more information contact Mary Jane Burnette at 423 253-8413.

The Hiwassee River Cleanup Day is scheduled for Saturday, March 23. Event participants will meet at the Ocoee/Hiwassee State Park Office at 9:00 a.m. located on Spring Creek Road north of the Hiwassee River and east off Highway 411. The turn off from Highway 411 is signed and is approximately six miles north of Benton and five miles south of Etowah. Participants should bring long sleeve shirts, thick leather gloves and wear boots or sturdy shoes and safety glasses. Trash bags will be provided. A cookout hosted by Trout Unlimited will be held afterwards for event participants. The event is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, Tennessee State Parks, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tennessee Valley Authority, Trout Unlimited, Starr Mountain Outfitters of Etowah, and in conjunction with the Springtown Community Support Group cleanup. For more information contact Bo Reynolds at 423 338-3319.
The County Commission on Wednesday approved a resolution supporting a bill in the Legislature that would ban smoking in public parks.

The vote was unanimous.

In another matter, the commission rescinded its action of making attorney Bill Hall a part-time magistrate.

The panel recently approved attorneys Hall and Rodney Strong as fill-in magistrates.

Commissioner Chester Bankston said attorney Hall had been advised that he could not continue to practice law while doing the work.

The magistrates set bonds and sign warrants from an office at the county jail. The fill-in magistrates work when there is an illness or vacation.

Attorney Bob Davis also works as a fill-in magistrate.


Mayor Berke,

On September 5, 2017, you asked and were granted a 22-cent property tax increase for city government operations and a capital fund.

At the meeting, the City Council approved your proposal for the property tax increase of 22 cents per $100 of property assessment. As a result, every business, home owner, and property owner had one-month notice that their local property taxes were increased. This action harmed many people with escrow accounts and mortgages. City Hall did not concern themselves with problems of the mere citizens or senior citizens.

The city minutes from the September 5, 2017 City Council meeting indicate that you stated, Our senior citizens, when faced with rising costs of an improving economy, should not have to worry about where they are going to live out the best years of their life. Thanks to the leadership of City Council, we can provide an opportunity to help senior citizens in our community.

The citys program for senior citizen property tax relief is extraordinarily pathetic. Those running for re-election should not tout this program, after voting for the tax increase. The state of Tennessee program accomplishes the same. The city is taxing the elderly out of their homes

.I am reading the press release you published today, which proposes to turn the property tax increase funds taken from hard-working families and business owners with little notice into a $500,000 gift to redistribute to other businesses. Have you considered who you are taking from to give to in your redistribution of other peoples hard-earned income taken as taxes?

I am reading that you propose $500,000 of public money to be redistributed to small businesses of your choice, interesting application of Socialism.

Many that own struggling businesses, but managed to pay their increased property taxes, have questions about the $500,000 redistribution of their money or giveaways that you proposed today.

It is way too easy to give away other peoples money, called public money. Many have some questions about this $500,000 gift of public money you plan to giveaway.

1) Is this $500,000 gift to small businesses you deem worthy of public assistance budgeted in the current budget. Or, is this proposed for the budget in July 2019?

2) Please justify taking funds from working families and small business to redistribute to other businesses. All business has need. If need exists in small business, lets all write a check for a donation starting with you, Mayor Berke.

3) Public funds are not for private business capital. Are you donating $500,000 of your own money, or simply treating the new tax increase windfall as n opportunity to redistribute the business income of others? This is not clear in the press release notifying, we the people, that our Mayor is giving away $500,000 of public money to businesses.

4) You seem to favor turning public funds taken through taxation in to private donations. Do you understand that tax dollars are not for private gain?

5) What does the city spend millions on aside from huge bond issue debt? The city does not operate schools, hospitals, health services, just emergency services and infrastructure, hopefully consistent with the City Charter. I wonder about that, after reviewing the budget that meanders from the constraints of the city charter.

If you deem the $500,000 give away as needed welfare to businesses, use your own money for charity, Mayor, as everyone does, or donate your Mayors salary to the businesses that need a charitable donation.

It is not a function of government to force funds under taxation for private purpose. Public money is for public purpose, not private business capital. Making this distinction is a fundamental requirement for local government. Paying property taxes should not be a redistribution.

April Eidson

* * *

The newly announced program Ms. Eidson is speaking of is called the Neighborhood Reinvestment Program. It is a loan program. Small Chattanooga businesses may apply to borrow up to $25,000 from this fund for a variety of particular needs. The program requires the business to match a percentage of the loan on a sliding scale. The purpose of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Program is to provide a resource for small businesses that are not adequately supported by private banks.

In Ms. Eidson's letter she incorrectly categorizes this program as 'redistribution, socialism, a giveaway, a gift, public assistance, donations, and welfare.' Nowhere in her letter does she mention the central fact that the Neighborhood Reinvestment Program is a loan program. It appears appropriate to assume that Ms. Eidson is intentionally misleading the reader.

Should Ms. Eidson wish to debate the merits of such a loan program, I would invite this discussion.

Nolan Crenshaw

* * *

OK, Mr. Crenshaw, so it's a loan program. It is not the proper function of municipal government to act as a bank.

If a local business needs operating capital, there are numerous banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions in the Chattanooga area. If a business is viable, it should have no trouble getting financing from one of those sources.

If a business cannot get a $25,000 or smaller loan from a bank due to being deemed a poor risk, it's probably also a poor risk for taxpayers.

At best, this is mission creep on the part of local government. At worst, it could be used to favor politically connected businesses, to the detriment of others.

Joe Dumas

* * *

When the neighborhood reinvestment program was first introduced I was in attendance as downtown Neighborhood Relations Specialist Karen Clay introduced a guest speaker whose name escapes me now. What I recall was a very accomplished young lady that relocated from Atlanta, if I recall correctly, telling us that she was here to roll out this new program that Mayor Berke had created towards reinvesting into Chattanooga Neighborhood businesses.

As a small business owner in Chattanooga myself I was intrigued by the ideas presented.

However because I choose to pray and investigate matters before I leap into something that is untested I chose to decline further interest. Ultimately what I could never overcome was this is a local government program that sidetracks legitimate private lending institutions.

Now the why I opposed a government handout is I felt it antithetical to everything I have learned about business and politics. These government loan practices are meant to gain votes from unsuspecting recipients by politicians whose real purposes are to position themselves as Santa Claus. It simply is not the function of government to loan money for this express and precise reason.

Additionally an irony is taking place in county government to reboot discretionary funding under the guise of commissioners can better make decisions for their districts. Again they are simply attempting to buy votes for re-election.

I stand with Ms. Eidson's assertion that this loan program is indeed an government effort to redistribute taxpayers money which is socialism.

Ron Ray

Lookout Valley
Kazakhstans Alacem to launch KZT49bn cement plant

ICR Newsroom By 21 February 2019

Kazakhstan-based Alacem plans to launch a cement plant in the Kerbulak rural district of the Almaty reigon in 2019, according to the regional administrations press office.

The new plant will have a capacity of 1.2Mta and represents and investment of KZT47bn (US$125m).

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Social media can be an effective tool to send urgent messages during a public health emergency. Public health practitioners need to improve messaging during emergency risk communications to address the publics needs during each phase of an unfolding crisis to protect and save lives.

After an errant ballistic missile alert, social media reactions revealed how the public interprets, shares, and responds to information during an evolving threat. This knowledge can guide emergency risk communicators to develop timely and effective social media messages than can protect lives.

On January 13, 2018, at 8:07 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time, an errant emergency alert was sent to persons in Hawaii. An employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (EMA) sent the errant alert via the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) during a ballistic missile preparedness drill, advising persons to seek shelter from an incoming ballistic missile. WEA delivers location-based warnings to wireless carrier systems, and EAS sends alerts via television and radio (1). After 38 minutes, at 8:45 a.m., Hawaii EMA retracted the alert via WEA and EAS (2). To understand the impact of the alert, social media responses to the errant message were analyzed. Data were extracted from Twitter* using a Boolean search for tweets (Twitter postings) posted on January 13 regarding the false alert. Tweets were analyzed during two 38-minute periods: 1) early (8:078:45 a.m.), the elapsed time the errant alert circulated until the correction was issued and 2) late (8:469:24 a.m.), the same amount of elapsed time after issuance of the correction. A total of 5,880 tweets during the early period and 8,650 tweets during the late period met the search criteria. Four themes emerged during the early period: information processing, information sharing, authentication, and emotional reaction. During the late period, information sharing and emotional reaction themes persisted; denunciation, insufficient knowledge to act, and mistrust of authority also emerged as themes. Understanding public interpretation, sharing, and reaction to social media messages related to emergencies can inform development and dissemination of accurate public health messages to save lives during a crisis.

The rapid dissemination of public health messaging is a component of information management, one of the six core domains of public health preparedness (3). The information management domain addresses public health communication and includes two capabilities: 1) emergency public information and warning and 2) information sharing. Emergency public information and warning is an essential capability for state and local public health preparedness and consists of the ability to develop, coordinate, and disseminate information, alerts, warnings, and notifications to the public and incident management responders. The information sharing capability consists of the ability to conduct multijurisdictional, multidisciplinary exchange of health-related information and situational awareness data among all levels of the government and the private sector (3).

Using Sysomos (version 1.47; Meltwater), an analysis of social media data from Twitter was performed by conducting a Boolean search to identify relevant tweets. The search used the terms missile and Hawaii, ballistic, shelter, drill, threat, alert, or alarm to identify tweets posted on the morning of January 13, 2018. Twitter data were used for this analysis because they are available in the public domain and easily accessible. Retweets (reposting the same tweet) and quote tweets (reposting the tweet with a comment at the top of the tweet) were excluded to limit the analysis to initial tweets.

All tweets were stratified into one of two periods. The early period consisted of tweets sent during the initial 38 minutes (8:078:45 a.m.), and the late period consisted of those sent in the 38 minutes after the false alarm retraction message was issued via EAS and WEA at 8:45 a.m. Tweets were coded using grounded theory, which is a systematic approach to analyze qualitative data and develop theories from those data (4). Themes were identified until theoretical saturation was reached. Atlas.ti software (version 8; Atlas.ti Scientific Software Development) was used for all exploratory qualitative analysis.

A total of 127,125 tweets were identified; after excluding 69,151 (54%) retweets and 43,444 (34%) quote tweets, 14,530 (11%) initial tweets remained for analysis. Among these, 5,880 (40%) were sent during the early period, and 8,650 (60%) were sent during the late period.

Four themes emerged from the Twitter data during the early period: 1) information processing; 2) information sharing; 3) authentication; and 4) emotional reaction. Information processing was defined as any indication of initial mental processing of the alert. Many information processing tweets dealt with coming to terms with the imminent missile threat (Table). Information sharing consisted of any attempt to disseminate the alert, often directed at other persons Twitter handles (user names). One Twitter user shared a tweet with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the White House National Security Council. Authentication involved any attempt to validate the alert. Finally, emotional reaction was the expression of shock, fear, panic, or terror.

During the late period, the information sharing and emotional reaction themes persisted, and three new themes emerged: 1) insufficient knowledge to act; 2) denunciation; and 3) mistrust of authority (Table). These new themes are fundamentally different from those expressed during the early period and reflect reactions and responses to misinformation. Insufficient knowledge to act involved reacting to the lack of a response plan, particularly not knowing how to properly take shelter. Denunciation consisted of blaming the emergency warning and response, particularly criticizing the time it took to correct the alert. Finally, mistrust of authority involved doubting the emergency alert system or governmental response.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) announced today that they have identified communities to be a part of assessments to examine human exposure to per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The communities are near current or former military installations. The assessments are expected to begin in 2019 and continue through 2020 and are laying the groundwork for CDC/ATSDRs future multi-site health study that will look at the relationship between PFAS exposure and health outcomes.

PFAS are man-made chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1950s. They have been used in non-stick cookware; water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets; some cosmetics; some firefighting foams; and products that resist grease, water, and oil. Scientists are still learning about the health effects of exposure to PFAS. Some studies have shown that PFAS exposure may affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children; lower a womans chance of getting pregnant; interfere with the bodys natural hormones; increase cholesterol levels; affect the immune system; and increase the risk of cancer.

CDC/ATSDR partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the New York State Department of Health through a grant program with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) to begin assessing exposure in the communities of Bucks and Montgomery County (PA) and Westhampton (NY). CDC/ATSDR will build upon the groundbreaking work done by Pennsylvania and New York to complete exposure assessments in eight additional locations starting in 2019:

Berkeley County (WV) near Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base

El Paso County (CO) near Peterson Air Force Base

Fairbanks North Star Borough (AK) near Eielson Air Force Base

Hampden County (MA) near Barnes Air National Guard Base

Lubbock County (TX) near Reese Technology Center

Orange County (NY) near Stewart Air National Guard Base

New Castle County (DE) near New Castle Air National Guard Base

Spokane County (WA) near Fairchild Air Force Base

The primary goal of these exposure assessments is to provide information to communities about levels of PFAS in their bodies. The results of these assessments will help communities better understand the extent of their environmental exposures to PFAS.

The assessments will generate information about exposure to PFAS in affected communities and will extend beyond the communities identified, as the lessons learned can also be applied to communities facing similar PFAS drinking water exposures. This will serve as a foundation for future studies evaluating the impact of PFAS exposure on human health, said Patrick Breysse, Ph.D., director, CDCs National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

People in each of these communities will be selected randomly to participate in the exposure assessments. Participants will have their PFAS levels checked via blood and urine samples. Like the two pilot sites in Pennsylvania and New York, the exposure assessments will use statistically based sampling. The sampling results from participants can give scientists information about community-level exposure.

The exposure assessments are one part of CDCs/ATSDRs efforts to address PFAS exposure in communities. CDC/ATSDR is involved in over 30 sites nationwide and is currently working in the Pease International Tradeport community to test the protocol for the upcoming multi-site health study.

For more information about the PFAS Exposure Assessment or PFAS: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/index.html or call 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636).
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration says that if states don't require more schoolchildren to get vaccinated, the federal government might have to step in.
Tegucigalpa Once confirmed that there are new variations Govit-19 in Honduras, Officials Health Ask people to strengthen actions Survival. Yesterday,...
The Tamil Nadu Shorthand Bureau under the Tamil Nadu State Police Sub-ordinate Service, Govt. of Tamil Nadu has invited applications in a prescribed format from eligible candidates for filling 37 vacancies to the post of Junior Reporters through direct recruitment. The application process towards the same starts from 20 February 2019 and closes on 21 March 2019.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Junior Reporter Organisation Tamil Nadu Police Shorthand Bureau, SBCID Educational Qualification 10/+2/HSC or equivalent with Tamil as one of the subjects.Skills Required: Tying/Shorthand Experience Freshers can apply Job Responsibilities To undertake field work in districts and cities covering conferences /demonstrations/public meetings organised by political parties/movements, etc. Skills Required Tying/Shorthand Job Location Tamil Nadu, Chennai Salary Scale Rs. 36,200/- to Rs. 1,14,800/- per month Industry Police Application Start Date February 20, 2019 Application End Date March 21, 2019

Age Criteria And Fees

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Junior Reporters through TN Police Shorthand Bureau must have attained 18 years of age as on 01 July 2018 and not exceeded 30 years (Gen), 32 years (BC/BCM/MBC/DC) and 35 years (SC/SC-A/ST), respectively.

For details regarding fee payment, if any, click on the official notification link provided at the end of the article.

Also Read: Intelligence Bureau Recruitment 2019 For 318 Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, Etc

Educational Criteria

Desirous candidates applying for the post of Junior Reporters through TN Police Shorthand Bureau must have passed 10/+2/HSC or equivalent with Tamil as one of the subjects. He/she must have qualified the Govt. Technical Examination in English Shorthand and Typewriting by Higher Grade and must possess knowledge of Tamil Shorthand.

Selection And Pay Scale

The selection of candidates as Junior Reporters through TN Police Shorthand Bureau will be done in two successive stages comprising Skill Test (Shorthand Dictation) and Oral Test to be conducted in Chennai.

Candidates selected as Junior Reporters will be paid an emolument in the scale of Rs. 36,200/- to Rs. 1,14,800/- per month.

Also Read: RRB Recruitment 2019: 1.30 Lakh Vacancies For NTPC, Medical Staff, Ministerial And Level 1 Posts

How To Apply

Candidates applying for the post of Junior Reporters through TN Police Shorthand Bureau must fill the application in a prescribed format as given in the advertisement and submit the same along with self-attested copies of supporting documents/certificates as detailed in the notification.

The envelope containing the Application Form and other supporting documents must be superscribed as, "Application For The Post Of Junior Reporter" and sent to, "The Chairman, Selection Committee, Police Shorthand Bureau, HQ, 2nd Floor, Old Coastal Security Group Building, DGP Office Complex, Mylapore, Chennai - 600004" by Registered Post only on or before 21 March 2019.

For detailed notification about TN Police Shorthand Bureau Recruitment for Junior Reporters and Application Format click here https://recruitmentindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TN-Police-Shorthand-Bureau-Notification-Recruitmentindia.pdf
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has released an official notification inviting applications in a prescribed format from eligible and qualified Indian nationals for filling 318 vacancies to the posts of Deputy Director (03), Senior Accounts Officer (02), Senior Research Officer (02), Security officer (06), Deputy Central Intelligence Officer/Tech (01), Deputy Central Intelligence Officer/Tech (07), Assistant Central Intelligence Officer (54), Assistant Security Officer (22), Personal Assistants (07), Research Assistants (02), Accountant (26), Female Staff Nurse (01), Caretaker (04), Junior Intelligence Officer-II/Tech (167), Halwai cum Cook (11), Nursing Orderly (02) and Printing Press Operator (01).

The recruitment to the above posts will be either on deputation basis or through absorption. The application process towards the same will start from 23 February 2019 and close on 23 April 2019, or 60 days from the date of publication.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers and Others Organisation Intelligence Bureau (IB) Educational Qualification Bachelors Degree, BE/B.Tech/Masters Degree/Diploma, B.Sc/ M.Sc in relevant disciplines Experience As detailed in the notification Skills Required Desirable Job Location India Salary Scale Level 2 to Level 13 as per the designation. Industry Intelligence Application Start Date February 23, 2019 Application End Date April 23, 2019

Age Criteria And Fees

Candidates interested in applying for the above posts of Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, and others through Intelligence Bureau Recruitment 2019 must not have attained/exceeded 54 years of age as detailed in the notification.

For details regarding fee payment, click on the notification link provided at the end of the article.

Also Read: IOCL Recruitment For 391 Accountants, Technicians And Trade Apprentices; Apply Before 07 March 2019

Educational Criteria And Experience

Desirous candidates applying for the post of Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, and others through Intelligence Bureau Recruitment 2019 must possess a Bachelor's Degree, BE/B.Tech (in relevant engineering trades), Masters degree (Economics/Statistics/Business Administration/Management/Commerce), Diploma, B.Sc/M.Sc in the relevant disciplines from a recognised University/Institute.

For details regarding experience for various posts, click on advertisement link provided at the end of the article.

Selection And Pay Scale

The selection of candidates as Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, and others through Intelligence Bureau Recruitment 2019 will be done through Shortlisting and Interview, or through any mode finalised by the IB selection committee/board.

Candidates selected will be paid under pay matrix ranging from Level 2 to Level 13 as per the designation.

Also Read: RRB Recruitment 2019: 1.30 Lakh Vacancies For NTPC, Medical Staff, Ministerial And Level 1 Posts

How To Apply

Candidates applying for the post of Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, and others through Intelligence Bureau Recruitment 2019 must fill the applications in a prescribed format attached with the advertisement, or refer to the Employment News Paper from 23 February to 1 March 2019.

Envelope containing Application Form, Supporting Certificates/Documents, etc. as detailed in the notification must be superscribed as, "Application For the Post of____________" and sent to, "The Joint Deputy Director/G. Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 35 S.P. Marg, Bapu Dham, New Delhi-21" on or before 60 days from the date of advertisement, or before 23 April 2019.

For detailed notification about Intelligence Bureau Recruitment for 318 Asst./Jr. Intelligence Officers, Security Officers, and others click here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dZa40M4AZDTh9BjleyqiadFqUlbtZ5KO/view
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
Do you have an athlete in mind that contributes to the team or sport, holds sportsmanship and team spirit, has epic playmaker moments and/or in general makes the the sports fun? If yes, please make your nominations for our edition of Athlete Spotlight.

CLICK TO NOMINATE
In a 5-2 vote, Feb. 21, the South Dakota state Senate Judiciary Committee sent Senate Bill 19 to the chambers floor. This is legislation that
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The Australian War Memorial plans to acquire land at the base of Mount Ainslie and turn it into a car park during its expansion. War Memorial director Brendan Nelson has told MPs the land, which appears to sit inside Remembrance Nature Park, would host buildings used by construction workers during the institution's redevelopment and later become a car park of 118 spaces. Dr Nelson, speaking at a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday night, said the memorial wanted to begin works on temporary buildings for construction teams late this year. "The land that is immediately behind Treloar Crescent, behind the existing Anzac Hall, just across the road, we need to acquire that land. We don't anticipate this will be a problem, the ACT government has been very supportive with this project," he said. "We want to acquire that land and build the facilities for the construction teams that will be coming in next year to work on the project." This would prepare the nine-year, $498.7 million expansion of the War Memorial for a start late next year with the controversial demolition of the 17-year-old Anzac Hall, followed by work to rebuild it and extend the Bean building in early 2021. Construction would start on an underground hall and entrance at the memorial's front in April 2021, and major works are expected to end in 2025, leaving gallery fit-outs as the next task. "What's important in this is the galleries themselves need some effort," Dr Nelson said. The War Memorial's plan to build behind Anzac Hall would push its boundaries beyond Treloar Crescent, which now divides its buildings from Remembrance Nature Park at the base of Mount Ainslie's popular walking track. Previously-released artist impressions of the redeveloped memorial indicate a car park would sit in the nature park and adjacent to Treloar Crescent. War Memorial assistant director of corporate services Leanne Patterson on Thursday said it intended to construct the car park but it would remain ACT land. "There have been only preliminary discussions with the ACT government about the acquisition of land at the base of Mount Ainslie related to the memorial redevelopment project," she said. "These discussions will continue as the project progresses." The land behind the War Memorial is owned by the ACT government, but the National Capital Authority holds planning control over the site. The NCA has not received a proposal regarding the use of the land for a potential car park or any other works. An ACT government spokeswoman said Transport Canberra and City Services had preliminary discussions with the War Memorial about a location to store construction equipment and materials, as well as additional car parks. "As discussions are relatively new, nothing has been determined at this stage," she said. Dr Nelson earlier said the War Memorial would minimise the expansion's cost and length by breaking it into discrete projects contracted to different companies, which would complete works simultaneously. The memorial will use a newly-built $16 million, 5500 m storage space in Mitchell as a temporary exhibition area during the expansion, moving aircraft and other artefacts into the building from Anzac Hall before the demolition next year. In a significant expansion of its exhibition and public space, the memorial will rebuild Anzac Hall over three levels, substantially grow exhibition space, and create a new entrance and research centre. There'll be a complete redesign of the memorial's lower ground floor and a new underground exhibition hall to display large items such as helicopters and jet fighters, but the buildings original facade will remain unchanged.

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Five things to do in Canberra this weekend. I am going to weep. Dashi the whippet is coming to Dickson Library for a program designed to support kids who struggle with reading. The not-for-profit group Story Dogs brings trained companion dogs for children aged seven to 12 to read to. Four weekly sessions in a row are recommended. Dickson Library. Friday, 5-6pm. Bookings essential, register at Eventbrite. Wrap up your Lunar New Year celebrations at the local lantern festival. Colourful lanterns are set to light up the sky from the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Snacks are available for purchase or you can bring your own tasty little feast. Beijing Garden, Lennox Gardens, Yarralumla. Saturday, 6.15-8.30pm. More information at acfs.org.au. Free. The show is back. Get amped for fireworks, a freestyle motocross daredevil display, showbags, cups of hot chips and all the rides you might remember from your pukey youth: the hurricane, cha cha, and the gravitron. As always, the Royal Canberra Show will also be exhibiting more prize-winning home-grown vegetables than you can poke a stick at. Exhibition Park, Mitchell. Friday-Saturday, 8.30am-10pm and Sunday, 8.30am-6.30pm. Tickets via rncas.iwannaticket.com.au. $10-16. Re-write your weekends of debaucherous Friday night drinks and grisly Saturday morning hangovers with Balance and Brekkie on the Foreshore. Or you know, attend it as a hangover remedy. Eighty8 Fitness is running a yoga session right by Lake Burley Griffin, followed by a spread of fruit, muesli, yoghurt, tea, coffee, and as it wouldn't be Sunday breakfast without it, avocado toast. Bowen Park, Barton. Saturday, 8.30-10.30am. Register at Eventbrite. $35. For the first time, the Australian National University is set to host its own farmers market. After the madness of O-Week, volunteers are coming together to sell seasonal produce direct from the farmers. And it's all happening right at the recently revamped Acton campus. Bring your own bags, baskets or shopping wagon. University Avenue Lawn, Acton. Friday, 10am-1pm. Free entry.

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Hong Kongs Latest Unicorn: Logistics Startup Lalamove

By Isabelle Li / Feb 21, 2019 03:57 PM / Business & Tech

Hong Kong-based logistics startup Lalamove, backed by Chinese mainland investors including Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, has closed a D round of funding worth $300 million, TechCrunch reported.

The round reportedly included investors Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia China.

Total valuation for the company wasnt given, but international head Blake Larson said it has been past unicorn mark for quite some time [but] we just dont talk about it, according to the report.

Lalamove was founded in 2013 by Stanford graduate Shing Chow, and provides ride-hailing-style logistics services, but mainly for corporate clients instead of individual consumers. Its services now cover over 130 cities in Asia with more than two million drivers of vans, cars and motorbikes.

Related: AI Unicorn Wades Into Smart Logistics With 2 Billion Yuan River Map
By Han Wei / Feb 21, 2019 07:38 AM / Economy

China will not use the yuans exchange rate as a bargaining chip to resolve trade disputes with the United States, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

China wont resort to currency depreciation for competitive purposes in trade and hopes the U.S. can respect market rules and not politicize currency issues, Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a routine press briefing.

Gengs comments followed reports that the U.S. is pressing China to keep the yuan stable as part of an agreement intended to end the countries trade war.

The U.S. is seeking a pledge from China that it will not devalue the yuan to counter American tariffs, Bloomberg reported. Officials from the two countries are discussing how to address currency policy in a memorandum of understanding that would form the basis of a U.S.-China trade deal, Bloomberg reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington this week for another round of trade negotiations, his second trip in three weeks, as the two countries race the clock to strike a deal to avert an escalation in the trade war before a March 1 deadline. The talks follow a round of negotiations that ended in Beijing last week without a deal but with signs of progress.

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A recent survey shows officials in Northern Lower Michigan say that divisive conversations are on the rise in community government. But some local officials told the Cadillac News they\'re seeing the opposite.
Sterling was lifted on Thursday by hopes that Prime Minister Theresa May can secure changes to her Brexit deal from Brussels.

The British currency has swung wildly in recent sessions as May tries to persuade European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to modify her withdrawal deal and then get the tweaked agreement through the British parliament.

If she fails, Britain could crash out of the world's biggest trading bloc on the March 29 exit date.

But the pound could leap higher if she gets a revised deal through parliament, as investors begin to see a path through Brexit that is less harmful to the economy.

Sterling rose 0.3% to a day's high at $1.3086 after British finance minister Philip Hammond said that talks with Brussels had been constructive and that lawmakers could vote on a revised deal as early as next week.

It then fell back when a British government source poured cold water on the prospect of an imminent Brexit deal. The source said it was unlikely Britain could secure changes from the EU before a parliamentary vote happens next week.

May will hold bilateral meetings with EU leaders at the weekend.

The pound was up 0.1% at $1.3035 by 1430 GMT.

The resignation of several lawmakers - angry at their leaders' handling of Brexit - from the ruling Conservative and the opposition Labour parties to sit as independents has encouraged some traders to believe that May will show more flexibility in getting a deal and avoiding a no-deal disorderly Brexit in March.

"Im not yet ready to turn bullish on sterling, but if more people join the Independent Group, it would be like MPs mutinying against their captains in order to steer the ship away from the iceberg. That could be extremely positive for GBP," said Marshall Gittler, chief strategist at ACLS Global.

One-week sterling implied volatility - a measure of expected price swings in the pound - has risen, as traders get nervous about more possible parliamentary votes on the Brexit process that is scheduled for Feb. 27.

"We haven't had any concrete indication there is likely to be a resolution," said Sarah Hewin, chief Europe economist at Standard Chartered.

"We have seen in the past sterling has reacted quite positively to headlines that may not be very substantial so the problem we have is in differentiating between positive rhetoric and the way the situation is actually portrayed with the EU and the UK government."

Against the euro, sterling gained, rising 0.1% to 86.83 pence. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Strencom, the Irish managed connectivity and cloud computing provider, has announced today that it has signed cloud and connectivity deals totalling 2 million with 140 credit union branches across Ireland.

The agreements will see Strencom host the credit unions valuable financial data and connect credit unions with multiple branches.



Strencoms bespoke connectivity and secure cloud hosting platform is specifically designed for financial services and aims to provide secure, fast and reliable service to credit unions with assets in excess of 8 billion. The platform aims to ensure additional security for credit union members, hosting their sensitive financial and personal data in Strencoms primary Irish-based data centre, as well as being backed up in a secondary Irish-based data centre.



Strencom now provides services to credit unions including Tipperary CU, Drogheda CU, Croi Laighean CU, Mullingar CU, Tower CU, Ballygall CU, Member First CU, First Choice CU, Thurles CU, Health Services Staffs CU and Mallow CU. Strencom believes that as smaller credit unions continue to join forces with larger entities, Strencoms solution provides scalable connectivity that can be adapted for multi-branch credit unions.



Commenting on the deal, CEO of Strencom, Tim Murphy said, "We are delighted to provide vital connectivity and secure cloud hosting services to 140 credit union branches across Ireland. Data security is absolutely crucial in the financial services sector, and we are confident that our solution provides Irelands credit unions and their customers with the best protection."

He added, "There has been a lot of M&A activity in the credit union sector recently. Smaller credit unions often dont have the resources to implement the necessary IT infrastructure, regulation and compliance requirements that are now part of Central Bank regulation. They need to be part of a bigger entity to survive and this announcement today will support that."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
UK Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is considering plans for a unilateral exit mechanism to the Irish backstop with a notice period of 12 months, the Telegraph newspaper reported late on Wednesday.

The "backstop" provision in Britain's European Union divorce deal aims at avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. Earlier on Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the backstop provision is temporary. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), the Ibec group that represents primary and secondary dairy processors in Ireland, has said that the UK government needs to appreciate the severe economic, social and environmental damage on the island of Ireland from the possible application of agrifood tariffs.

It comes following the announcement at the UK National Farmers Union annual Conference in Birmingham by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom, that the UK will apply tariffs to food imports to protect British farmers in a no-deal scenario.

Recent CSO figures put milk intake from Northern Ireland to the South for manufacture at over 804 million litres for 2018. DII studies have shown that for the single product of cheddar alone, the tariff threat is about 155 million, with a threat of about 400 million on overall dairy exports to the UK.



Commenting on developments, Director of Dairy Industry Ireland, Conor Mulvihill said, "Milk exports south of the border are of vital importance to the economic viability of the dairy industry in Northern Ireland and there simply is not the processing capacity in Northern Ireland or in fact the rest of the UK to handle this milk."

He added, "With less than 900 hours remaining to the proposed Brexit day, it is vital a resolution is reached and a strong backstop protecting dairy trade and regulations on the island of Ireland is maintained."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Pharmaceutical companies need to adopt technologies such as AI and advanced analytics, to not only improve efficiencies and reduce costs, but also to adapt a more patient centric business models, says a new FICCI-KPMG paper on artificial Intelligence and advanced analytics in pharmaceuticals.

Globally, there is pressure to reduce costs and demonstrate greater value, swinging from treatment to prevention and personalised treatments, which is posing a challenge to the overall business model of the pharmaceutical companies. AI and advanced analytics can process large amount of complex, both structured and unstructured data at a rapid pace to generate actionable insights and thereby reduce costs, to improve time to market and gain competitive strength in the market place. While major global companies are investing heavily in this sector, it is only recently that pharmaceutical companies have started to demonstrate significant interest in AI application for various R&D (research and development) and supply chain needs, observed the report.

AI in pharmaceutical industry can transform processes from the initial R&D level to the after-consumption stage from R&D, drug dosage and safety, manufacturing, supply chain and commercialisation and for regulatory approvals, said the knowledge paper, which estimates AI in drug dosage error reduction alone can save $16 billion by 2026.

It said pharma companies are increasingly collaborating with technology companies, especially start-ups in this area. Atomwise, a start-up which established the use of deep neural networks for drug design, raised $45 million investment to develop its AI-driven drug discovery technology. GlaxoSmithKline signed a $43 million drug discovery collaboration with Exscientia, a UK based AI-based start-up, to identify small molecules for ten selected targets across undisclosed therapeutic areas. Pharma companies such as GSK, Sanofi, Takeda Pharma and Merck have entered into various partnerships with AI start-ups.

Sanofi and Exscientia entered into $283 million strategic research collaboration agreement aimed at developing new therapies for diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Drug developers are relying on AI for multiple uses: to develop better biomarkers; to identify drug targets; to design new drugs as well as for re-purposing drugs i.e. finding new uses for existing drugs or late-stage drug candidates. An increasing need is also being felt for pharmaceutical companies to explore coming together to share data and look for patterns for precision medicines. Applications in pharmaceutical R&D will include identification of new target molecules from a repository, experimenting with the drug or device using technologies such as 3D printed molecules and lab-on-chips and pre and post approval monitoring.
State-owned Bank of Baroda's proposed merger with Dena and Vijaya Bank will be affected from April 1. The government's amalgamation plan for these state-owned banks has already got all the necessary approvals from the regulators concerned. The Bank of Baroda board in a recent meeting also decided to issue and allot equity shares to Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank on March 11.

The scheme has been named as 'Amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda', BoB said in a statement to the stock exchange. "... (The bank) fixed Monday, 11th March 2019, as Record Date for issuing and allotting equity shares of the Bank of Baroda to the Shareholders of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank as per aforementioned Share Exchange Ratio," said the statement.

"It (amalgamation) shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 2019," it said. As per the Scheme of Amalgamation, shareholders of Vijaya Bank will get 402 equity shares of BoB for every 1,000 shares held. Similarly, the shareholders of Dena Bank will receive 110 equity shares of BoB for every 1,000 equity shares held.

As per the approved plan, after the commencement of the amalgamation scheme, the boards of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will stand dissolved. "Any whole-time director, including the managing director, of the Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, shall cease to hold office and shall be entitled to receive salary and allowances in lieu of the notice in accordance with the applicable law," the BoB statement said. The entire share capital of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank, without any further act, deed or instrument, will stand cancelled, it said, adding that the shares of both these banks will also stand delisted from stock exchanges.

The government in September 2018 announced the merger of state-owned Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with larger PSB Bank of Baroda to create the third largest lender after SBI and ICICI Bank in the country. The merger plan got the Union Cabinet nod in January. It was part of the government's strategy to promote consolidation in the sector marred by loads of non-performing assets (NPAs). However, this is the first three-way merger in the public sector banking space. Before this, the State Bank of India had merged five of its subsidiary banks with itself and took over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, which secured it a place among the top 50 global lenders.

The merger will allow the combined entity under BoB more lending power, giving it a global competitive identity. As per the approved plan, there will be no effect on employees' services and working conditions and no retrenchment will be done.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

Also read: Govt planning to amend IT Act to crack down on apps, sites unable to curb fake news

Also read: How Vijaya Bank compensates for Dena Bank's inclusion in merger with Bank of Baroda

Also read: Bank of Baroda's merger with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank: New entity to be operational from April 1
The Supreme Court of India has directed Reliance Communications' chairman Anil Ambani to clear Rs 550 crore worth of dues of its operational creditor Ericsson or face jail term of three months. The apex court has come down heavily on Ambani for his 'cavalier attitude' towards the court's previous orders. While rejecting the RCom's and Ambani's unconditional apology, the court has directed Ambani, and two directors of his telecom arm, to pay Rs 1 crore fine. For a sinking ship like RCom, this is going to be a big blow, and especially for Ambani who has gone from a celebrated telecom tycoon to be on the wrong side of the law.

What can Anil Ambani do to avoid jail? Pay up, that's the most obvious way for him to stave off incarceration.

Since he has already asked for two extensions - one in October and another extension request was withdrawn - it seems that he does not have money to pay back Ericsson. Ericsson's lawyers, however, have argued that Ambani has not only sold assets worth 'hundreds of crores' but he had enough money to get into deal with Dassault Aviation (as an offset partner for Rafale jets) and fly around in private jets.

In a statement after the Supreme Court's order, RCOM said, "we respect the Supreme Court judgement. The RCom Group shall comply with same."

Also Read: Ericsson-RCom case: Anil Ambani, 2 others found guilty of contempt; SC says pay up or go to jail

Though Ambani has (theoretically) many options but executing them is going to be challenging. Broadly, he can do three things: sell RCom's assets to Reliance Jio, a deal which was signed in 2017; or take help from other Reliance Group companies - Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Naval and Engineering; or sell off RCom's assets (global cloud xchange and real estate) which were not part of the Jio deal.

RCom's deal with Jio is almost scrapped after Jio backed off when the government refused to give protection to Jio against RCom's past liabilities. RCom has recently filed for bankruptcy with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) citing regulatory hurdles in concluding its Jio deal and high debt burden.

Ericsson is contesting RCom's bankruptcy move in NCLAT, and has got a relief from the tribunal which ruled that RCom will not be allowed to sell or transfer its assets. In the view of Supreme Court's decision, it is likely that RCom's insolvency petition might not be accepted in NCLT (until Ericsson is paid off) because Ericsson moved the apex court before RCom's decision to file for bankruptcy.

Also Read: Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications' stock value has eroded over 95% since 2006

The option of selling the core telecom business to Jio - or anybody else for that matter - is, thus, off the table. Seeking help from other group companies would raise corporate governance concerns among minority shareholders, and this option has to be ruled out. For the remaining assets to be sold, Ambani has to find a suitable buyer - something that he has been doing for the past few years, but in vain. All in all, the executable options for him are fairly limited.
The Aarti Industries share price rose in early trade today after the firm engaged in pharma and chemical businesses said it has bagged a Rs 900-crore contract to supply specialty chemical intermediate to a global firm. Aarti Industries share price rose 9.33% to Rs 1,431.45 level intra day compared to the previous close of 1,309.30 on the BSE. Aarti Industries share price has gained after three days of fall. During the last one year, Aarti Industries has gained 22% during the last one year and has fallen 1.71% since the beginning of this year.

Also read: Tata Steel share price rises after Moody's upgrades corporate family rating

Nine of 11 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or 'outperform', and two hold, according to analysts' recommendations tracked by Reuters. Aarti Industries share price was trading below its 50-day moving average of 1525 and above its 200-day moving average of 1398.15 levels, respectively.

The firm hit its 52-week high level of 1791.50 on February 5, 2019 and 52-week low level of 1044 on March 26, 2018.

The stock logged turnover of Rs 1.82 crore with 0.13 lakh shares being traded on the BSE. The Mumbai-based company has "signed a $125 million (Rs 900 crore at current exchange rate) supply contract with a leading global chemical conglomerate," it said. The contract entails supply of a high value specialty chemical intermediate for a period of 10 years, it added.

Also read: This stock gave 30,000% returns in last 10 years, do you own it?

Aarti Industries estimates a capital investment of about $15 million to set up a commercial scale manufacturing facility for the production of the specialty chemical intermediate which is not a part of the existing product range.

The facility will be located in Gujarat and the plant is expected to be commissioned in Q4 of FY'2021, with an average annual revenue of $12.5 million. "The end use of the product is one of the major new growth initiative for the customer. The supply quantities of the contract will be used to seed the market and increase the potential market size of the product," the statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in South Korea on a two-day trip. The Prime Minister is visiting the nation on invitation from President Moon Jae-in. PM Modi will hold multiple discussions with President Moon, meet business leaders and members of the Indian community during the trip. MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the visit would strengthen India's strategic partnership with South Korea and add dynamism to the Look East Policy. "As fellow democracies, India and ROK have shared values and a vision for world peace. As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary," tweeted PM Modi ahead of the trip.

He will also be conferred the Seoul Peace Prize. He took the stage and thanked his countrymen for the award. While addressing the Indian diaspora in Seoul, PM Modi said, "Tomorrow, I will be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize. This prize is not mine, I will only be receiving it on behalf of 130 crore Indians and the 3 crore Indians living abroad. This prize is recognition of hard work of all Indians."

PM Modi addressing the Indian diaspora in Seoul: Tomorrow, I will be honoured with Seoul Peace Prize. This prize is not mine, I will only be receiving it on behalf of 130 crore Indians&the 3 crore Indians living abroad. This prize is a recognition of hard work of all Indians. pic.twitter.com/zYAj4ahZYM - ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2019

The Prime Minister also unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Yonsei University. "It is an honour to unveil the bust of Bapu at Yonsei University in Seoul. This becomes even more special because we are doing so at a time when we mark the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu," he said.

"The august presence of President @moonriver365, FL Kim Jung-sook and my friend, Mr. Ban Ki-moon (former Secretary General of the United Nations) made the programme even more special," he said. "Through his lifestyle, Bapu showed what living in harmony with nature is. He also showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations," said the Prime Minister.

Here are some glimpses from Yonsei University, where Mahatma Gandhi's bust was unveiled. The august presence of President @moonriver365, FL Kim Jung-sook and my friend, Mr. Ban Ki-moon (former Secretary General of the United Nations) made the programme even more special. pic.twitter.com/9z0bm4mJQa - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 21, 2019

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister also spoke at the India-Korea Business Symposium in Seoul. "Research and innovation would be the driving force in 4th industrial revolution era. And, we do understand that the role of government is to provide the support system. In this regard, we have introduced flagship program Start-up India with $1.4 billion fund for four years to create a startup eco-system in India."

He also spoke about India's renewable energy sector in the symposium and said that India has become the sixth largest producer in the world and that India's initiative of the International Solar Alliance will enable the country to be a pioneer in the green global economy. He also spoke about World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking. "In the last four years, we have jumped 65 places in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking, to 77th. And, we are determined to move into the top 50 next year," he added. The PM further added that India will become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the near future.

During the symposium, PM Modi also spoke about how South Korea has huge opportunity when it comes to investments in the automobile industry in India. "While aiming for fast economic growth, India is also rooted in the principles of ensuring sustainable economic growth. For example in Automobile sector, the National Electric Mobility Mission aims for affordable and efficient Electric Vehicles. South Korea being a leading manufacturer of electric vehicles has a huge opportunity in this sector in India," he said.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)

Also read: PM Modi says Indian economy based on sound fundamentals, will soon reach $5 trillion
The Maharashtra state police are on high alert after a low intensity blast took place on a busy road near Mumbai on Wednesday and an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found on a state transport bus in Raigad district later in the night.

According to the state police, the blast took place on a busy road at Mira road in Thane district. The device used to carry out the low intensity explosion was not a sophisticated one but did contain metal balls, while the IED found on a bus in Raigad was planted with the serious intention to cause damage.

The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has already started parallel investigations in the incidents. Two Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) teams were dispatched to both the locations on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

The BDDS team sent to Mira road collected samples like metal balls, jute fuse and some unidentified powder from the spot while, the other team sent to Raigad defused the IED found in the bus. The samples found at both the sites have been sent to Mumbai forensic science laboratory at Kalina for further analysis.

Speaking to India Today, IG, Konkan Range, Naval Bajaj said: "The explosive device found in Raigad district is sophisticated as it contains a power source, detonator and was definitely planted with a serious intention. As of now we haven't found any similarities between the device that exploded at Mira road and the one found in Raigad district".

Also Read: Jawans of CRPF, other forces can now take commercial flights to Kashmir Valley: MHA

A bus conductor with the state transport department found the IED in a state transport bus at Apta village under Rasayani police station in Raigad district at around 10:30 pm. Suspecting it to be a bomb,he alerted the police which then sought help from BDDS and defused the IED after which the samples were sent to the forensic science laboratory.

Superintendent of Police, Raigad district, Anil Paraskar said: "The bus conductor was vigilant and when he found the suspicious looking bomb like device on the bus he alerted police. Immediately BDDS teams were called to defuse the device which contained a detonator, fuse, granule like substance. All the buses and transport vehicles are being checked and it is being appealed to people to alert police if they find any suspicious looking substances left unattended".

The Maharashtra police in the aftermath of Pulwama attacks, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed, have increased their scans and sweeps to check suspicious substances or bags at public places, onboard public transport and high security installations by its security personnel.

Maharashtra ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni also said the teams of ATS had reached the spot in Raigad district and were verifying the details of the incident. Meanwhile, another low intensity blast too place in a toilet of Kanpur-Bhiwani, Kalindi express on Wednesday evening.

Also Read: How traders in Pakistan are hit after India's customs duty hike
Jawans of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to take a commercial flight to join duty or while going on leave as the government Thursday issued authorisation orders, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

Read More: Pulwama terror attack: 'We salute you, brave sons of Mother India': PM Modi pays tribute to martyred soldiers

It said the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh paramilitary personnel of the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector who were otherwise not eligible earlier.

"This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, ie, while going on leave from J-K to home and return," it said. The facility, it said, is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs where an entire aircraft is booked for the force personnel from either Delhi or Jammu to Srinagar and back.

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in J-K, will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force.

Also Read: Kashmir terror attack: At least 44 jawans killed as Jaish suicide bomber blows CRPF convoy

Pulwama terror attack: Protestors pin Pakistan flag on road; make vehicles, Delhi-Lahore bus run over
Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 78F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 78F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.
A day after threatening to choke Pakistan's water supply, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the Centre was planning to build projects on three rivers flowing into the belligerent neighbour, to divert water towards Yamuna.

"Our government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab," ANI quoted Gadkari as saying.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India shares water of the Beas and Sutlej rivers with Pakistan.

Gadkari later took to Twitter to confirm the upcoming projects that would help divert water towards Yamuna.

Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. - Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 21, 2019

At a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Gadkari had said that the water from three rivers entering Pakistan would be diverted towards river Yamuna, a warning which came in the wake of recent terror attack in Pulwama that has left the nation fuming. He further said that the central government is working on a project to connect the three rivers to further explore the possibilities of transportation in these water channels.

"Three of our rivers have been flowing into Pakistan. So water which we rightfully owned was going into Pakistan. Now we are planning to create a project and divert the waters of these three rivers to the Yamuna. So you can understand that there will be enough water in the Yamuna," Gadkari said while inaugurating several water projects in Uttar Pradesh.

"Construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. Ujh project will store our share of water for use in Jammu and Kashmir and balance water will flow from second Ravi-Beas link to provide water to other basin states. Above projects are declared as national projects," Gadkari said as per ANI report.

On February 14, a convoy of CRPF jawans was attacked by a suicide bomber who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle. Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.

After the Pulwama attack, not only has India tried to stifle Pakistan by courting global support to declare it a terror monger, but the Modi government has also made efforts to cripple its economy by increasing duties on essential products.

Also Read: 7th Pay commission: Bihar university teachers and staff to get a salary hike soon

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
The Supreme Court of India has held Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani and two other directors guilty of contempt of court over not paying the dues to the Indian arm of Swedish telecom major Ericsson. The apex court has ordered them to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson within one month, or face prison time. RCom had reasoned that it tried to move "heaven and earth" to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so due to failure of assets sale deal with Jio. However, this line of reasoning fell short of convincing the Supreme Court.

Over the year and a half, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group had been working to terminate its consumer telecom businesses and focus on other avenues. The debt-ridden Reliance Communications had decided to cease operations and sell its assets to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio in 2017 as part of a strategic debt restructuring plan. The proceeds from sale of assets worth Rs 25,000 crore were meant to pare the Rs 46,000-crore debt in RCom's books.

ALSO READ: Day after SC verdict, RCom urges lenders to release Rs 260 crore to pay Ericsson

While the funds from asset sale to Jio could have been used to pay back Ericsson's dues, did not frucitfy. According to RCom, lack of consensus between the lenders and hurdles due to litigations from Department of Telecom (DoT) were what held the deal back. The company had even filed a contempt plea before the Supreme Court against the DoT for holding back the asset sale plan back in December 2018.

Reliance Communications also complained of troubles from its lenders in clearing the debt resolution plan. In an earlier statement, the embattled telecom firm had said that its 40 lenders, both Indian and foreign, had failed to form a consensus, as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India on February 12, 2018, on the important issues even after 45 meetings over the course of 12 months. Earlier reports suggest the lenders were against using the proceeds from asset monetisation plan to Jio for settling its debt with Ericsson.

ALSO READ: Anil Ambani lost $408 million of personal wealth since January this year: report

Now that the company has filed for bankruptcy before the National Company Law Tribunal, RCom has limited options to explore with respect to repaying its dues. RCom is planning to propose the same asset sale plan as before for the debt r/esolution via the NCLT. With matters in the hands of the tribunal, the resolution procedure could be completed within the simulated time frame of nine months.

However, Anil Ambani and the two other directors - Reliance Telecom Chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Chairperson Chhaya Virani - are supposed to pay back Ericsson India within one month. Penalty of Rs 1 crore has been imposed on each of them too, failure to pay which also will result in incarceration.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented RCom in the Supreme Court, said that the group will honour the court's direction on repaying the dues of Ericsson.

ALSO READ: Can Anil Ambani save himself from going to jail?

ALSO READ: Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications' stock value has eroded over 95% since 2006

(Edited by Vivek Punj)
A day after the Supreme Court asked debt-laden Reliance Communications (RCom) to submit Rs 453 crore in four weeks, Anil Ambani-led telecom company on Thursday urged lenders to urgently release Rs 260 crore it had received in Income Tax returns to pay telecom equipment maker Ericsson.

"Reliance Communications group has requested urgent approval from its lenders to release approx. Rs 260 crore received from Income Tax refunds, lying in its bank account, directly to Ericsson," RCom's spokesperson said in a media release.

He said that a sum of Rs 118 crore had already been deposited with the Supreme Court. "RCOM is confident of raising the balance approx Rs 200 crore for payment to Ericsson, in order that the entire Rs 550 crore plus interest thereon stands paid to Ericsson well within the time of 4 weeks allowed by the Supreme Court," he added.

Also Read: Can Anil Ambani save himself from going to jail?

Commenting on Supreme Court's order, RCOM said, "We respect the Supreme Court judgement. The RCom Group shall comply with same."

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Reliance Communication Chairman Anil Ambani and two more directors guilty of contempt of court in a petition filed by Ericsson India against him over non-payment of dues worth over Rs 550 crore.

Additionally, the SC imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore each on them. If they would fail to deposit the fine, one-month jail would be awarded, said the apex court.

Also Read: Ericsson-RCom case: Anil Ambani, 2 others found guilty of contempt; SC says pay up or go to jail

As per the case records, Ericsson signed a managed service deal with RCom in January 2013, but the deal was terminated in September 2017 and dues were not paid to the Swedish company. Ericsson had filed three contempt petitions against Anil Ambani, Reliance telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani in the Supreme Court for not clearing its dues.

RCom has recently filed for bankruptcy with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) citing regulatory hurdles in concluding its Jio deal and high debt burden. In the view of Supreme Court's decision, it is likely that RCom's insolvency petition might not be accepted in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) (until Ericsson is paid off) because Ericsson moved the apex court before RCom's decision to file for bankruptcy.

Also Read: Anil Ambani lost $408 million of personal wealth since January this year: report

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
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JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and hardline Hurriyat Conference Thursday termed the administration's announcement about the withdrawal of security cover of some leaders a "lie".

While Malik said he had never received any protection from the state, hardline Hurriyat Conference termed the reports about the withdrawal of security of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani "ridiculous".

"I have had no security with me for the last 30 years. So, when there was no security, what withdrawal are they talking about? This is utter dishonesty on part of the government" Malik told reporters here.

The JKLF chairman said he never had any security at his residence, office or even at his public rallies and he had turned down offers for it several times. He termed the notification a "lie".

A spokesperson of the Hardline Hurriyat Conference said, "Media reports of 'withdrawal of security to Syed Ali Geelani are a brazen lie and such ridiculous reports need only to be laughed at."

He said the Centre and state government were trying to hoodwink the world by "false propaganda" and added that Geelani was neither provided any security, nor had he requested for it.

The government had Wednesday said the security of 18 separatist leaders, including Malik and Geelani, would be withdrawn.

A spokesperson of the Home Department said it was felt that providing security to these separatist leaders was "a wastage of scarce state resources which could be better utilised elsewhere".
The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit on Thursday welcomed the state administration's decision to withdraw security cover of separatist leaders in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, and said it is a step towards "nailing anti-national elements" in the state.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration Wednesday withdrew security of 18 separatists and 155 political leaders, including Wahid Parra, a close aide of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, and ex-bureaucrat Shah Faesal.

"We welcome the administration's decision to withdraw security cover of separatists. Security withdrawal is a step towards nailing anti-national elements. Those who favour Pakistan need to be taught a lesson," state BJP chief Ravinder Raina told reporters here.

He also welcomed the Union Cabinet's decision of providing reservation to the economically weaker sections and extending quota for SC/STs in promotion to Jammu and Kashmir.

Raina thanked Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Governor Satya Pal Malik for the "set back to anti-national forces" caused by taking back the security cover of separatist leaders.

Besides pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik, who had maintained that they never had any security the others named in the list are Aga Syed Mosvi, Maulvi Abbas Ansari and his son Masroor, Saleem Geelani, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Farooq Ahmed Kichloo, Aga Syed Abul Hussain, Abdul Gani Shah and Mohd Musadiq Bhat.

In addition, the security of 155 political persons and activists, who did not require the security provided to them based on their threat assessment and activities, was also withdrawn.

Raina said by this move, a very strict message has been given by the governor and the Union home minister to the anti-national elements who always conspired against the country and worked to halt development.

"They took away books and handed guns to kids in the Valley. They all acted as agent of Pakistan and destroyed Kashmir. We seek speedy trial in cases pending against such persons. They tried to disturb the peace of the region," the state BJP chief said.

"Pakistan has been given a befitting rely by our brave security forces for its actions across the border. It has suffered heavy losses due to the retaliatory action by our forces in Poonch."



Raina accused Congress, NC and PDP leaders for having soft corner for Pakistan and the terrorists sponsored by it and said, "The civil society of Kashmir has also started to understand the reality that these leaders have no respect for the lives of common masses."



Kashmiris are now supporting the security forces and coming forward in large numbers to join them, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi, who was killed in the mid-air crash between two aircraft of Indian Air Force's aerobatic team Surya Kiran near Bengaluru, were consigned to the flames with full state honours here on Thursday.

Rayan, a five-year-old son of the deceased, lit the pyre.

A large number of people, including leaders of various political parties, senior civil and police officers joined the funeral procession that started from his house in Police Line Area (PLA) here.

Two aircraft of IAF's aerobatic team Surya Kiran had crashed after grazing each other mid-air near Bengaluru on Tuesday, killing Sahil and injuring two pilots who ejected to safety during rehearsal for the Aero India show.

Earlier, the mortal remains of Sahil arrived here this morning on Hisar airport by an Air Force helicopter. Some IAF officers also accompanied the mortal remains.

Those who were present at the cremation includedDushyant Chautala MP, Rajya Sabha member D P Vats, former minister Savitri Jindal and Kamal Gupta, MLA.

The IAF officer is survived by wife Himani and five-year-old son Rayan.

Sahil's father Madan Mohan Gandhi is a retired bank officer while his mother Sudesh Gandhi retired recently as Head of Department of College of Home Sciences of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU).

Sahil studied in Campus School of HAU and joined the Air Force in 2004, family members here said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India Thursday called upon all the members of RCEP, a proposed mega trade deal, to work concertedly towards early conclusion of the agreement to boost economic ties.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega trade agreement being negotiated by 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six free trade pact partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said a successful conclusion of RCEP will help deal with the challenges of global trade in terms of increasing trade tensions and protectionism.

"India is constructively engaged in RCEP negotiations and the country believes that ASEAN will remain central to the economic integration of the Indo-Pacific region through RCEP," he said.

"As negotiations are intensifying, members are now engaged in bilateral pairing to achieve mutually satisfactory and balanced outcome keeping in view each other's sensitivities and aspirations," the minister said.

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the fourth India-ASEAN Export and Summit 2019 here.

He said that as directed by the leaders of the 16 countries, "we should all work concertedly towards early conclusion of RCEP and create a win-win situation for the greater prosperity of the people of the region".

Negotiations for the mega-trade deal RCEP need more rounds of talks to sort out issues pertaining to goods and services, Prabhu had said Tuesday.

The agreement aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

The talks are stretched as the member countries have yet to agree on major issues including finalising the number of goods on which duties would be eliminated.

Speaking at the event, Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said all the members need to work together to conclude the negotiations this year.

Sharing similar views, Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak also said the agreement is important and "I hope to see this concluding this year".

Further, Prabhu urged the ASEAN members to engage in the review of free trade agreement with India to resolve implementation issues being faced by business of either side.

The bilateral trade between India and ASEAN increased from USD 65 billion in 2015-16 to USD 81.33 billion in 2017-18.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minster Chowna Mein on Thursday presented the vote-on-account for the year 2019-20 for four months from April 1 to July 31 this year.

The Assembly also paid tribute to the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

With the Assembly elections due in later this year, Mein, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the vote-on-account for four months to meet the state's expenditure till a full-fledged budget is placed in the Assembly.

The deputy chief minister also presented the supplementary demands for 2018-19 and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year ended March 2017.

Four government bills were also introduced on the inaugural day of the three-day Assembly session.

Home Minister Kumar Waii introduced the Arunachal Pradesh Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill 2019 to amend the Arunachal Pradesh Lokayukta Act 2014.

Waii, who also holds the portfolio of Town Planning and Urban Local Bodies, introduced the Arunachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Bill 2019.

The Bill is aimed at making a legal framework and constitute a municipal corporation in the state.

Tax & Excise Minister Jarkar Gamlin introduced the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Bill 2019 to amend the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017.

Education Minister Honchun Ngandam tabled the Arunachal Pradesh State Higher Education Bill 2019 in order to make the Arunachal Pradesh State Higher Education Council functional.

The Assembly also paid tribute to the 40 martyrs of the terror attack at Pulwama.

Speaker Tenzing Norbu Thongdok condemned the attack saying the country would never forget the sacrifices of the CRPF jawans for the cause of the country.

"We salute the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country," the Speaker added.

The members conveyed heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyrs and observed two-minute silence in respected to the departed souls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Trump Administration on Wednesday announced its intent to provide USD 9.5 million in assistance to the Maldives as part of its effort to strengthen its ties with the island nation.

In a meeting with visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed their common interest in deepening bilateral ties and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Shahid underscored the importance of his government's reform efforts to the vitality of Maldives' democracy and future prosperity, according to the State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino.

"Pompeo expressed strong support for the US-Maldives partnership, announcing the intent of the State Department to work with the Congress to provide USD9.75 million in additional assistance for Maldives," Palladino said.

During the meeting Pompeo hailed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enhance aviation security and an intent by USAID to facilitate sustained collaboration with the Maldives.

He also noted that the US is cooperating with the Maldives to share best practices in the areas of debt strategy, public financial management, and combatting financial crimes.

Pompeo also welcomed the Maldives' commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top ranking US defence department officials Thursday said they were looking forward to working with India to deal with terrorism as it was a common threat to the interests of both the countries.

"Counter-terrorism, I wouldn't call it necessarily just a strategy, it is an opportunity for cooperation with India to build interoperability, to engage in defence cooperation," US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia (DASD) Joseph H Felter said.

He was responding to a query about counter-terrorism as a strategy in defence and security cooperation between the US and India, in the wake of the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

"Terrorism is a common threat to the interests of both the nations and we look forward to working with India to address that," Felter told reports on the sidelines of Aero India show here.

US Defense Security Cooperation Agency Director Lieutenant General Charles Hooper said, "We look to work with our counterparts in the Indian defence ministry and the armed forces to help us to jointly address the challenges across the spectrum of our security environment."



"We feel that through our collaboration, through the strengthening of this relationship, we will better be able to both individually and working together to address these types of challenges," he said.

US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster had on Tuesday said the Pulwama incident in Jammu and Kashmir has bolstered his country's resolve to cooperate with India on counter-terrorism matters and work with it to get to the bottom of the terror attacks.

The officials also stressed on the need to further deepen the partnership and cooperation between both the countries, keeping in mind the current geo-political environment.

Hooper said many countries want to provide weapons to India, but the United States is interested in working with India to develop solutions.

India remains a key partner in the region, and "we are working hard to support the bilateral relationship," he said.

Terming the signing of Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) between India and the US recently a "major milestone" in this direction, he said, "It will enable both the countries to deepen compatibility through weapon systems that includes secured communications and other technologies."



Describing the relationship between the US and India as a "natural partnership" based on convergence of strategic interests and shared values, Felter said, the US seeks to be the "partner of choice" for India's defence.

"Our partnership in the region, particularly with India is central to promoting a safe, secured, prosperous, free and open Indo-Pacific, and it is the key aspect of our Indo-Pacific strategy," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A US Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a target list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures has been arrested on firearms and drug charges.

Christopher Paul Hasson, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday.

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," US District Attorney Robert Hur said in a motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," Hur said.

Hasson is being held on drug charges and for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.

The US Attorney's office said 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hasson's apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with illegal drugs.

In documents seized by the authorities, Hasson "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland," the US Attorney's office said.

Hasson routinely perused portions of the "Breivik manifesto" on amassing firearms and compiling a list of targets, it said.

Among those listed as targets were Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats in the House and Senate. Media personalities included CNN's Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo.

Hasson, a lieutenant in the US Coast Guard working at US Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, is a former US Marine who also spent two years in the US Army National Guard. Hasson was remanded in custody and is to appear in court before a court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday.

Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence for the July 2011 massacre of 77 people, most of them teenagers who were attending a youth camp.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thermo Fisher, a US-based biotechnology giant, on Thursday announced it will stop selling genetic sequencing equipment in the restive Xinjiang province of China, where local minority population have allegedly been subject to persecution by authorities.

"We recognise the importance of considering how our products and services are used -- or may be used -- by our customer," Thermo Fisher said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.

The Massachusetts-based company said its policy is "consistent with Thermo Fisher's values, ethics code and policies" and followed "fact-specific assessments.

In the last few months, the company has been facing criticism that its equipment were being used by Chinese authorities to persecute the minority Muslim population.

Senator Tom Cotton welcomed the Thermo Fisher's decision. "Thermo Fischer has scientifically done the right thing by halting sales of genetic-sequencing technology in China's Xinjiang province.

"China is committing human-rights abuses on an industrial scale in Xinjiang. American companies must not be complicit in these crimes," Cotton said.

"In Xinjiang, in northwestern China, the program was known as 'Physicals for All'. From 2016 to 2017, nearly 36 million people took part in it... The authorities collected DNA samples, images of irises and other personal data...," The New York Times said in a report on Thursday.

"China wants to make the country's Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, more subservient to the Communist Party. It has detained upto a million people in what China calls "re-education" camps, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and a threat of sanctions from the Trump administration," the daily said.

According to The New York Times, scientists affiliated with China's police used equipment made by Thermo Fisher. "For comparison with Uighur DNA, they also relied on genetic material from people around the world that was provided by Kenneth Kidd, a prominent Yale University geneticist," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top trade officials from the US and China have started their latest, and possibly the last round of talks to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal before their self-imposed deadline of March 1.

US President and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their dinner summit on December 1 in Buenos Aires had agreed to temporarily pause their till March 1 and arrive at a trade deal by then.

The two countries have held at least half a dozen such rounds of talks since then.

In the absence of a trade deal, Trump has indicated, a fresh round of import duties will be imposed on Chinese products. However, the US president is wiling to extend the deadline and not impose fresh import duties, if he sees progress in the talks.

The American delegation for the talks on Thursday was led by US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The Chinese delegation was led by Vice Premier Liu He and included the Central Bank Governor Yi Gang among others.

This is the fourth time Liu He, who is also special envoy of President Xi Jinping, is travelling to the US for trade talks. The high-level talks are expect to last for two days.

"Continuing discussions about the trade relationship between the United States and China," the USTR tweeted.
An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria won't be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US said Wednesday.

Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States."



But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," said Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for."



Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Shibly said that the administration argues that she didn't qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

He released a copy of the woman's birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on October 28, 1994, to support his claim.

The lawyer also provided to The Associated Press a letter from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to what was then known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services attesting to the fact that the woman's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission to the UN from Oct. 15, 1990 to Sept. 1, 1994.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that "I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!"



The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the US has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Muthana's lawyer said she was "just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman," when she became enamoured of Islamic State, believing it was an organization that protected Muslims.

Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was "brainwashed" by IS and compelled to marry one of the group's soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she "became disenchanted with the marriage," and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the government's decision to deny her entry to the country.

Muthana's status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official would not elaborate but said Pompeo's statement was based on the lawyers' conclusions.

The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Muthana's case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

However, Muthana's case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a U.S. passport. Passports are only issued to citizens by birth or naturalization, according to Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who has studied the phenomenon of foreign Islamic State fighters and families.

Hughes said the decision is also unusual because it comes just days after the Trump administration urged European nations to repatriate extremists from Syria as the Islamic State nears collapse.

"If you are trying to make the case that others should take back their people, it stands to reason that you would do that, too," he said.

Muthana, who says she dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son, her lawyer said.

In a letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made "a big mistake" by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

"During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me," she wrote.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh DGP O P Singh Thursday directed senior police officers of the state to initiate action against private security agencies, who have not renewed their expired licences.

In a statement issued here, Singh said, "Names of private security agencies, who are yet to renew their licences despite the expiry of the same, should be uploaded on the UP police website, so that the public can be made aware about them, and accordingly strict action should be taken against them."



The Director General of Police (DGP) also instructed the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs)/Superintendents of Police (SPs) to monitor and review the agencies at the district level.

The DGP in the statement categorically stated that non-renewal of the expired licences by the private security agencies amounts to violation of Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005.

"In these circumstances, action must be taken against the defaulter private security agency under relevant sections of IPC and Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005," he said.

At present, licences have been issued to 1,457 private security agencies in the state, which are valid for five years.

The DGP also said that till February 15, as many as 653 licences came under the ambit of renewal, of which 311 licence holders have submitted details at the private security agencies office, set up at the DGP office, Lucknow.

Singh further observed that agencies based in the districts, especially involved in cash and carry work for nationalised banks, private sector banks, petrol pumps and toll plazas and also engaged in currency filling job in the ATMs, were not following the standard operating procedures set up by the Union Home Ministry and the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.

"This not only results in loss of national wealth, but also leads to spurt in violence and creates a feeling of insecurity among the common citizens," he said.

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In a strong show of international solidarity and support for India, the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including China, on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such "reprehensible acts" accountable and bring them to justice.

Significantly, the press statement, issued by the most powerful UN body, names the Pakistan-based terror group headed by Masood Azhar.

The UNSC, which includes China as a veto-wielding permanent member that in the past has blocked India's bids in the Security Council Sanctions committee to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, also called on the global community to "cooperate actively" with the Indian government in holding the organisers and sponsors of such attacks accountable.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in over 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility," the UNSC press statement on the 'Suicide Bombing in Jammu and Kashmir' said.

"The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of India and all other relevant authorities in this regard," it said.

The UNSC members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Indian people and the government, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.

"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," the statement said.

The members also reiterated that any "acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed".

The condemnation by the UNSC comes just a day after Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi met top UN leaders, including with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council President Anatolio Ndong Mba, briefing them about the escalating tensions in the region in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

In a major boost to India's efforts to get Azhar on the list of global terrorists, France is expected to soon move a proposal at the UN to ban the head of the UN-proscribed group.

The proposal, when moved, will be fourth such bid at the UN in past 10 years.

In 2009 and 2016, India moved the UN's Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

India was joined by the P3 nations -- the US, the UK and France -- in the 2016 proposal. In 2017 also, these P3 countries moved a similar proposal at the UN. However, China, using its veto power, has always blocked the proposal from being adopted by the UN.

Guterres too had strongly condemned the terror attack, in which 40 personnel were killed when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a bus, and called for those behind the attack to be brought to justice.

On Wednesday, Guterres again reiterated his strong condemnation of the Pulwama attack, stressing that it is essential there be accountability under international law and perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice.

"The Secretary-General has been following with great concern the situation in South Asia. He reiterates his strong condemnation of the terrorist attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama" in JK and the subsequent violence, a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric had said.

He said it is "essential that there be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice".

At the same time, Guterres "urgently" appealed to the governments of both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.

"It is the belief of the Secretary-General that all difficult challenges can be resolved peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement," the statement added.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had also strongly condemned the suicide bomb attack and called on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

"The High Commissioner strongly condemns the suicide bomb attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama...and calls on authorities to bring those responsible to justice," Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), had said in Geneva on Tuesday.
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A team of UK experts are working on enhancing the reach of a radio service to help fishers in India's southern Malabar Coast make more accurate and accessible marine forecasts, which would help save many lives in the region.

Radio Monsoon, an outcome of University of Sussex's Sustainability Research Programme, is hoping to graduate from a station operating on a shoestring budget to a fully-equipped studio this year.

It is designed to ensure safer working conditions for the thousands of fishing families in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The university team, led by anthropologist professor Filippo Osella, involved geographer Dr Max Martin working with artisanal fishers in Thiruvananthapuram, to convert their small tech experiment into a knowledge co-production tool.

Martin lived in the fishing villages, conducting interviews, holding focus groups, and tracking boats, and realised that the fishers are the best people to learn from in order to improve forecasting.

"We found that there is often a gap between what marine forecasters provide and artisanal fishers accept as useful information to decide whether or not to go to fish. To fill this gap, the forecasters need to listen to the fishers," Martin said.

He concluded that forecast dissemination needed to be easily accessible in local languages to the last mile through different media, as well as precise, clear, timely and locally relevant and actionable.

"All this requires team work involving forecasters, media, local popular science groups and forecast users," he said.

As a result, the team decided to set up a weather radio station using Sussex Innovation funding and hope to have Radio Monsoon's proper studio up and running by May, before the rains start this year.

"Extreme weather events which have affected the south-west coast of India during the last months have made it apparent that accurate and timely weather forecasts are of crucial importance for ensuring the safety of the local population.

"Our research has focused on fishing communities in south Kerala, and suggested ways to improve risk communication by promoting the coproduction of weather bulletins with fishers and forecasters. The persistence of weather-related accidents calls for urgent action to provide artisanal fishers with accurate, accessible, and actionable forecasts as a means to foster safety at sea," said professor Osella.

The South Indian region is marked by high ocean waves, sudden variation and uncertainties of weather cause many accidents.

Of late, there has been a trend of extreme events in the Arabian Sea, as marked by the 2017 Cyclone Ockhi that killed 162 fishermen from Kerala and 203 from Tamil Nadu.

The shaken fishing communities blame the lack of timely forecasts for the casualties.

University of Sussex said the fishers of the Arabian Sea were engaged in one of the world's most dangerous and precarious jobs, which makes detailed, timely and precise forecasts crucial for them. However, beyond the range of mobile phones, there is no way for them to receive weather warnings or communicate distress signals.

They feel pressured into fishing in bad weather because during the Monsoon, fish are more abundant and competition is less as trawlers are banned. The radio station is a means of getting accurate information to them well in time.

Radio Monsoon is run on the ground by a local society based in a fishers' village, and supported by a few individuals involved in weather-related research, media work, and cultural/social work on the coast of Thiruvananthapuram.

The forecasts are given online, over social media, and over free phone calls supported by the Delhi Indian Institute of Technology spawned company Gramvaani. The sound editing comes as a sponsorship from Hindenburg Systems.

The University of Sussex project, which also involves co-investigators Dr Pedram Rowhani, Dr Kate Howland and advisor Professor Roderick Stirrat, led to tech tests for the station being done in 2014 and work continuing for a year on a "test basis".

Regular operation began properly in 2017 and the station has been giving daily marine weather forecasts ever since, except on fishing days off.

Radio Monsoon, which has operated just as a laptop linked to a remote phone server in Delhi, is now set for a proper equipped studio base.

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US President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to impose tariffs on European auto imports if he is unable to strike a trade deal with the EU.

"We're negotiating. If we don't make the deal, we'll do the tariffs," Trump told reporters in response to a question on new tariffs.

Trump's renewed threat against the EU auto industry takes on a new edge as it came two days after the Commerce Department delivered a report that sources said found European car imports constitute a national security threat to the United States.

The report could set the stage for the White House to impose tariffs within 90 days, a move Brussels has vowed to parry with its own set of counter-tariffs.

Washington already has used the national security argument to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

In one of many aggressive moves against US trading partners, Trump, who boasts that he favours tariffs, has threatened 25 per cent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

Trump reached a truce with the EU following a meeting last July with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker but on Wednesday expressed frustration with the state of talks.

"We're trying to make a deal," Trump said. "They're very tough to make a deal with, the EU. They've been very difficult over a period of time, over many, many years."



However, negotiations with the EU have not yet begun.

The European Commission must seek approval from member states on a negotiating mandate before it can enter into talks. EU trade ministers will meet in Bucharest on Thursday and Friday to review the proposal.

But the sides have differences over what is to be included: the US negotiating goals include agriculture, while EU officials insist that will be off limits, and talks will be restricted to industrial goods and regulatory issues.

The White House is also locked in tough, high-stakes negotiations with China to find a way to resolve the conflict that saw punishing tariffs exchanged between Beijing and Washington.
: The number of tourists from South India visiting Switzerland witnessed a substantial increase in 2018, a top official of Switzerland Tourism India said Thursday.

Switzerland has become an ideal travel destination because of the diversity in options it offers. It is a 365-day destination that is ready for visitors any time of the year, a statement quoted deputy director of Switzerland Tourism India Ritu Sharma as saying.

Reeling out statistics, she said the number of overnight stays by Indian tourists in Switzerland had gone up by 24.7 per cent in 2018.

"We are also up by 10 per cent in hotel overnights in the period January-October in 2018 as compared to the same period the previous year," she said in the statement here.

She said the objectives for the Switzerland Tourism was to make it an all-round destination, to promote winter and autumn as seasons as well as introduce newer destinations like St Moritz, Lake Geneva region.

The increase in the number of Indian tourists opting to stay overnights was also attributed to the campaign involving Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh who was roped in as the brand ambassador for Switzerland Tourism, she said.

"We are happy to note that in the last few years, apart from metro cities, we have managed to penetrate the tier-II and III markets as well," she said.

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At least 26 people were killed on Thursday in the incidents of roof collapse and flash floods, triggered by torrential rains that lashed several cities in Pakistan, according to a media report.

At least 10 people were killed in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Four people, including two children and a woman, were killed in landslide and roof collapse incident in Dir, the Express Tribune reported.

Uninterrupted rainfall has flooded the provincial capital Peshawar while flash flood submerged villages near the southwestern town of Lasbella, in Balochistan province, it said.

Emergency workers were trying to rescue people from flooded parts of Lasbella, officials said.

Heavy rain and snow was witnessed in parts of Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces.

At least one child was killed and two others injured when an avalanche hit the Layyah Valley, the report said.

In Pakistan's Punjab province, four people including three children were killed and one woman was injured when a roof collapsed in Multan. A couple was killed when the roof caved in Farooqabad. One child was killed and three others injured when a roof collapsed in Kahuta, the report said.

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Three security personnel were injured in two separate encounters with Naxals in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.

While a jawan of the CRPF's commando unit CoBRA was injured in Bijapur district, two District Reserve Guard (DRG) jawans sustained injuries in Sukma district, police said.

In the first incident, the gun-battle broke out around 10 am in a forest along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts adjoining Telangana, Sukma Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla told PTI.

The area is around 500 km from Raipur.

Personnel of the state police's Special Task Force, DRG, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) were carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the area, Shukla said.

A group of Naxals opened fire on one of the CoBRA teams but the rebels fled after a brief gun-battle that ensued, he added.

"Constable Bhola Kumar of the CoBRA 201st battalion sustained bullet injuries in his leg," the SP said.

He was later admitted to a hospital in Raipur, police said.

In the second incident, a squad of security personnel had a face-off with the ultras in a forest area in Dabbamarka village under Kistaram police station limits of Sukma district.

Two DRG jawans- Sodhi Hidma and Sachin Yadav suffered injuries in the incident.

According to police, both of them were airlifted to Raipur.

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British Prime Minister on Thursday held a series of meetings with disgruntled anti-Brexiteer MPs from her who are believed to be on the brink of following three of their colleagues to split from the party.

Former education secretary Justine Greening and former justice minister Phillip Lee were among those seen going in for talks in Downing Street, in what is seen as May's effort to counter allegations that she gave more time to the pro- wing of the party and curb the latest rebellion brewing within her ranks.

"I don't think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a party that had crashed us out of the European Union," said Greening, who said she had considered joining fellow Tory MPs Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston in quitting the party but had decided to stay for the moment.

The anti- trio, who favour a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, had announced their resignation from the on Wednesday.

They joined a newly-formed Independent Group, created by eight former Opposition Labour Party MPs unhappy with their own party's Brexit and other policies.

The group now add up to 11 MPs, same as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which provides the May government with a crucial number to make up her majority in the House of Commons.

Philip Lee, who quit as a justice minister over Brexit, had been named as a potential future defector to the Independent Group.

Lee's Right to Vote group said he had discussed the campaign's calls for a pause in the Brexit process and a possible second referendum during his meeting in Downing Street.

"Talks were open and we are encouraged she listened to our case," the group said.

Disgruntled former minister, Dominic Grieve, is another Tory MP believed to be on the edge of resigning from the ruling party over fears of a no-deal crash-out of the EU if an agreement is not reached in time for the March 29 Brexit Day deadline.

"I would certainly cease to take the whip (party orders) if I thought the government was about to take us into a no deal Brexit," he said.

Meanwhile, the British PM held her latest round of talks in with on Wednesday.

In a joint statement released afterwards, the two leaders said they had held "constructive" talks on "which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature".

May has promised to give the House of Commons some form of vote on Brexit by February 27 but is under heavy pressure from pro-EU ministers to put a revised deal before Parliament and rule out a no-deal Brexit.

The government is hoping that a so-called "meaningful vote" could happen by the end of February if talks with the EU go well. If not, MPs would be given a debate over what should happen in relation to Brexit and would vote on an amendable motion.

A majority of MPs are expected to use that opportunity to try to pass a plan that would force the government to hold a vote on extending Article 50 beyond the March 29 deadline if no deal is in place by mid-March.

"If we do not have a meaningful vote next week there will be another amendable motion tabled which will allow the House of Commons to once again debate how it wants to go forward," confirmed UK Chancellor

Britain's Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, and Attorney-General Geoffrey Cox went back for a fresh round of talks with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in on Thursday.

May is then set to travel to an EU-Arab League summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday to hold further talks with EU leaders.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues.

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," Modi said.

"This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said.

"Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now," he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhi's teachings can help the world address the pressing issues.

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

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Tech Mahindra Thursday announced a Rs 1,956-crore worth share buyback programme as the IT major looks to reward its shareholders.

The company would be using a combination of buybacks and dividends to return capital to the shareholders, a senior official said.

Cash-laden Indian IT firms have been returning surplus cash to shareholders by way of dividends and buybacks.

The board of Tech Mahindra has approved a proposal for buyback of up to 2.05 crore equity shares from shareholders at a price of Rs 950 apiece. The total buyback size would Rs 1,956 crore, according to a regulatory filing.

The offer price is 15.7 per cent higher than Thursday's closing level of Rs 820.40 per share.

The record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders to participate in the buyback has been fixed as March 6.

"We evaluate the cash needs of the business from time to time and intend to return excess cash to shareholders. In terms of the method adopted, we will be using a combination of buybacks and dividends to return capital to reward our shareholders," Tech Mahindra CFO Manoj Bhat told PTI.

He also emphasised that the practice of share buybacks would be an ongoing one.

"We have traditionally used dividend payouts as the means to return capital back to shareholders. We have now additionally resorted to buyback as an efficient means to return surplus to shareholders," he said.

The details regarding the process, timelines and other statutory requirements would be made public on February 25.

Promoter and promoter group held 35.9 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra as on December 31, 2018, as per latest data available with stock exchanges.

Sanjeev Hota, AVP Research at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said Tech Mahindra plans to return around 22 per cent of its cash and cash equivalents to investors through the buyback programme.

"Tech Mahindra used to utilise its incremental cash generated by the business in acquisitions/ investments in the earlier years. Now the company has joined the league of the large peers that have opted for the share buyback route to boost the shareholders' returns," he said.

Earlier this year, Infosys announced a buyback offer of Rs 8,260 crore and Persistent Systems' board cleared Rs 225 crore buyback programme.

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Former Union minister Tariq Anwar on Thursday "squarely blamed" the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for the Pulwama terror attack, claiming that the CRPF jawans could have been saved had the request for airlifting them from Jammu been heeded.

"It is Modis government which must be held accountable for the loss of precious lives of CRPF jawans as it paid no heed to the request for airlifting of the security personnel," Anwar - who left the NCP and returned to the Congress a few months ago - alleged.

Talking to reporters in his Lok Sabha constituency here, he also claimed that Modis foreign policy "lacked direction" and questioned the Prime Ministers enthusiastic welcome to the Saudi Prince during the latters India visit earlier this week.

"Had Modi forgotten that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had extended an assistance of 20 billion dollars to Pakistan which has been suspected of masterminding the Pulwama attack besides many other terrorist strikes in the past. What was this eagerness to breach protocol and rushing to the airport to welcome the Saudi prince", Anwar said.

Referring to Modis recent denigration of the opposition "Mahagathbandhan" as a "thagbandhan", the Congress leader asked "what is the BJP trying to achieve by stitching allies with smaller parties in state after state".

He also demanded the resignation of Nitish Kumar from the post of the Bihar Chief Minister in the wake of a court forwarding an application seeking an inquiry into his role, besides that of many top bureaucrats, in release of funds to the shelter home at Muzaffarpur which gained notoriety on account of the sex scandal which is being investigated by the CBI.

"His remaining in the post would not allow a free and fair inquiry. He should resign on moral grounds," Anwar said.

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A sweeper at a private school was Thursday arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl, the police said.

Komal, employed with the preparatory school here, was arrested from his residence in Gurgaon.

He was booked under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to the Gurgaon Police PRO, the incident took place inside the school toilet on Wednesday when Komal saw the victim alone.

It came to light when the girl returned home and complained of pain in her private parts.

Her parents approached the school management and Komal was identified by the girl as the perpetrator.

"The victim's parents lodged a complaint against the accused following which he was arrested," the police said.

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Dozens of residents joined the festivities, which started with a meet-and-greet at Bottle Inn Hermosa and a walk to a ribbon cutting at the lifeguard tower with friends, family and LGBTQ allies, as well as city and county officials.
Hailing the government's decision to stop India's share of river water from flowing to Pakistan, Union Minister Jitendra Singh Thursday said the excess water not utilised by Jammu and Kashmir will now be used by Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Questioning the previous Congress governments for not taking such a step, he said the Centre's decision has corrected a long-standing anomaly.

"The earlier governments have to answer why they sat over this (Shahpur-Kandi) project for nearly half a century. It (the decision to stop water going to Pakistan) is a correction of a long-standing anomaly which remained unattended by the earlier governments," the minister told PTI.

Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said the construction of the Shahpur-Kandi dam on river Ravi was started due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"When completed, the entire water of river Ravi, which was flowing into Pakistan despite being India's share of water under the Indus Water Treaty, will now be utilised in the border districts of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Gurdaspur in Punjab," he said.

Singh, who is a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency, said a pragmatic decision has now been taken by the government to simultaneously construct a canal system so that water, which is not utilised by Jammu and Kahsmir, can be used by neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan instead of flowing into Pakistan.

"Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a tweet.

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in Thursday voiced hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can usher in peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond, as US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet next week in Vietnam to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Moon made the remarks while welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a ceremony to unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi which will be put on permanent display at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

President Moon praised Gandhi, saying his greatness lies in the fact that he walked the path of peace despite the violence or threats against him or his people.

Noting that his country has also experienced colonial rule, the South Korean president insisted the countries must work together to help establish peace and ensure joint prosperity in the region.

"I sincerely hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can be realised into peace and prosperity in Asia, going beyond the Korean Peninsula," South Korea's Yonhap Agency quoted Moon as saying.

"This year is also a meaningful year to South Korea," Moon told the ceremony, noting the year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the country's provisional government under Japan's colonial rule that lasted 36 years from 1910-45.

"Gandhi's teachings that said 'Be the change you wish to see,' and 'There is no way to peace, there is only peace,' specially touch my heart. With the unveiling of his statue today, Gandhi's spirits will forever be in the heart of South Koreans," he added.

Moon on Wednesday thanked India for supporting South Korea's efforts to denuclearise North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"If permanent peace is established on the Peninsula, this will greatly contribute to peace and prosperity all throughout Asia. I am looking forward to India's unwavering support as it has played a significant role in the global peace movement," he was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

President Trump announced during his State of the Union address on February 5 that his second summit with Kim would take place February 27 and 28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Singapore hosted the first Trump-Kim summit in June last year when they pledged to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

In Singapore, Trump and Kim signed a vague agreement that committed the two countries to continue working toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula -- but with no explicit obligation by Pyongyang to actually disarm.

North Korea has since claimed it destroyed missile engine and nuclear test sites, but it has not let the international inspectors verify that.

Prime Minister Modi arrived here earlier in the day on a two-day state visit. He will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon on Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss the issue of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ahead of the Trump-Kim summit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Thursday met protesting employees of his government who are demanding restructuring of the Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services (DASS) and steno cadre.

Three members of the Delhi Government Employees Welfare Association (DGEWA) have been sitting on a hunger-strike outside the Delhi Secretariat for the last four days in favour of their demands.

Umesh Batra, general secretary of the DGEWA, said there are around 12,000 employees pertaining to DASS, steno and clerk cadre.

According to a government statement, Sisodia expressed solidarity with the protesting employees.

Addressing hundreds of protestors, the deputy chief minister rued that services do not come under the AAP government, adding that he was "pained" to see the DASS cadre has been continuously subjected to "injustice".

"Since May 2015, we are fighting to retain the services with the Delhi government. This is not a personal fight, but a fight against the repressive system," the statement quoted Sisodia as saying.

He appealed to the employees to call off their hunger strike as it affects the health of those sitting on the protest, the statement stated.

Sisodia also conveyed the assurance from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that the elected government is committed towards the interests of employees working for the Delhi government.

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Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit said Thursday she was never approached by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to forge an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as claimed by him and asserted the AAP leader has reached the "stage of frustration".

"He has not spoken to us. He does not know what he is saying. The Aam Aadmi Party has reached the stage of frustration," Dikshit, a three-time chief minister of Delhi, told reporters here.

Addressing a public rally near Jama Masjid on Wednesday, Kejriwal had claimed that the AAP leaders were tired of trying to convince the Congress to form an alliance with the party.

In his speech, Kejriwal on Wednesday had said, "We are tired of convincing the Congress to form an alliance, but they do not understand.

"If there is an alliance, the BJP will lose all the seven Lok Sabha seats it currently has in Delhi.

The rally was organised in the minority dominated pocket of Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Union minister Harsh Vardhan.

"I dont know what they have in their minds," he said about an alliance with the Congress and alleged that it was "weakening" the AAP in Delhi, drawing comparison with the SP-BSP combine in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this month, Kejriwal had told reporters that the Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls.

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BJP national president Amit Shah will visit Jammu city on Sunday and pay homage to the security personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack and in the encounter four days later, BJP leader and former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta said on Thursday.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

On February 18, an Army major and four security forces personnel lost their lives in a fierce 16-hour encounter in south Kashmir in which three JeM terrorists, including two top commanders believed to be behind the Pulwama attack, were killed.

Gupta said the BJP chief would pay homage to the security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and in the encounter at the 'Shradhanjili Samaraoh' on Sunday and address party workers there.

BJP state general secretary Narinder Singh said after paying homage to the security personnel, the BJP workers would listen Prime Minister Narendra Modi's radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

He appealed to the party functionaries to reach out to the active workers and request them to attend the ceremony.

Gupta thanked Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Governor Satya Pal Malik for withdrawing the security of the separatists and some political activists and said the government should also review the security to other political leaders who "always spread venom" in society by "issuing anti-national statements".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court Thursday agreed to hear tomorrow a PIL seeking protection for Kashmiri students being targeted following the Pulwama terror attack in different parts of the country over which the NC leader Omar Abdullah accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of remaining 'silent'.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), meanwhile, issued notice to the Union Ministries of Home and Human Resource Development seeking a report over the reported ill-treatment of Kashmiri people in the aftermath of the attack.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna took note of senior advocate Colin Gonsalves' submission that the plea for protection needed to be heard urgently as it relates to the safety and security of students.

The bench, which refused to list the plea for hearing on Thursday, however, assured Gonsalves that it will be listed for consideration on Friday.

The petitioner Tariq Adeeb, a lawyer, alleged in his plea that students from the Kashmir Valley are being attacked at different educational institutions across the country after the Pulwama attack and authorities concerned should be directed to take action to stop such assaults.

The petition, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, sought direction to the Centre for taking steps to prevent "threats, assaults, violent attacks, social boycotts, ostracism, evictions and other coercive acts" committed by groups and mobs against "Kashmiris and other minorities".

"There is a sudden rise in the incidents of crimes against Muslims and Kashmiris after the Pulwama attack....," it alleged.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Abdullah, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, hit out at both the prime minister and the opposition Congress for not speaking out against the "systematic targeting of Kashmiris" in various parts of the country.

The National Conference(NC) leader said he had been looking for a statesman but only found politicians, and asserted that the country needs an alternative to the BJP, not BJP's B-team.

"We didn't have much expectation from the BJP but we had expectations from the prime minister. We had hoped he would keep aside and say something," he said.

"While the PM is silent, it is sad the country's largest opposition party's leadership also remained silent," Abdullah added.

Abdullah also asked J and K Governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure the security of Kashmiri students who were forced to return home.

"There is need to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students who have returned home fearing attacks on them," he said, adding that arrangements should be made so they don't suffer academic losses.

The people of Kashmir, Abdullah said, were expecting to hear two words of sympathy and moral support from the Congress.

"Today, they had a press conference where everything was talked about. But they should have talked about the systematic targeting as well. These are the very forces that Congress is fighting with words and want to defeat... We regret the Congress has not raised its voice against these forces effectively."



Abdullah also criticised Meghalaya Governor Tathagatha Roy for backing the boycott of "everything Kashmiri" and said it was unfortunate.

"... Why are we being punished? Just because we are the only Muslim majority state in the country?" Abdullah asked.

Incidents of selective targeting of Kashmiris will lead to further alienation of people in the state, he warned.

The NHRC said even though there is an atmosphere of grief and anger across the country after the terror attack, violence by people against their fellow countrymen cannot be accepted in a civilised society.

Stating that such incidents will destroy the democratic fabric of the country and also tarnish its image of a rich tolerant culture, the Commission, in a statement, asserted that the Central government should take action against the miscreants.

It also highlighted the need for sensitization of local authorities, police agencies and the general public to maintain law and order.

Former home and finance minister P Chidambaram said some people want Kashmir to be part of India but don't want Kashmiris to be part of Indians, asserting that the "irony of the situation is depressing".

"The irony of the situation is depressing. We want Kashmir to be part of India, but we do not want Kashmiris to be part of Indians," the senior Congress leader said.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram also took a dig at Tathagata Roy's statement and Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar's remarks that students from the Kashmir Valley faced no threats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) on Thursday said its pain relief tablet brand has been exempted from the list of banned fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) by the

In a regulatory filing, the company said the apex court has ruled in favour of Saridon, which is a heritage brand from its product portfolio.

"In September 2018, PEL had been awarded a stay order from the on the ban, which allowed it to continue manufacturing, distribution and sale of the FDC," it said.

Commenting on the court order, PEL Executive Director said, "We are pleased with the ruling, as it is an affirmation to our commitment to provide effective and safe solutions that address unique needs of Indian consumers. We were confident that the law would prevail in our favour."



Last year in September, the government had banned 328 FDCs, which were termed 'irrational' on the basis of safety issues and lack of therapeutic justification.

Stating that is a "heritage brand trusted by customers for the last 50 years in India", Piramal said, "This exemption from the banned list of FDCs validates our intent to serve our customers with the highest levels of integrity."



Piramal further said, "We continue to expand our product portfolio with an aim to be amongst the top three over-the-counter (OTC) product in India by 2020".

Citing a study by AC Neilson, PEL said the addressable analgesic market is Rs 6,450 crore, of which analgesic tablet market is Rs 2,050 crore as of December 2018. The popularity of the brand is widespread with 31 tablets being sold every second.

PEL said is available across a distribution network of 9 lakh outlets in India.
/ -- Partnership to upskill healthcare practitioners with critical care courses



Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital (SDMH) partners with Medvarsity Online Ltd., a leader in online medical training for courses related to Emergency medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care & Endocrinology to the practitioners at SDMH, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Each program has been designed thoughtfully to upskill the students to become highly qualified, informed and confident for their healthy professional growth. These set of courses are being deployed at SDMH with a vision to enable and strengthen the present of healthcare practitioners in order to provide better patient care for future.

India is facing a lack of upskilled professionals in today's healthcare ecosystem, where 61% of India's higher education leaders believe that our education system is not at par with the society's changing needs, reveals a research conducted by IBM. This is exactly the reason why the country needs to take proactive measures to transform the system with newer models that align with the industry goals.

"The state of Rajasthan carries the double burden of high prevalence of infectious diseases and high incidences of cardiac complications. By partnering with SDMH, the largest healthcare provider in the state, Medvarsity aims to positively impact this requirement through upskilling and training," said Mr. Gerald Jaideep, CEO, Medvarsity Online Ltd. on the partnership.

Training in Fellowship In Emergency Medicine, Masterclass in Clinical Cardiology, Fellowship in 2D Echocardiography, Masterclass in Critical Care Medicine, Fellowship in Intensive Care Medicine and Masterclass in Diabetes Mellitus are aligned to meet the key need areas of today's healthcare industry. Upskilling is a critical need for healthcare practitioners, whether they are managing a clinic or a specific department. Medvarsity's courses are designed to provide the knowledge and clinical excellence required to fulfil the job responsibilities in these departments.

"Healthcare industry is making a shift in Rajasthan, with the Government led by Mr. Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Rajasthan successfully crossing all barriers to provide comprehensive healthcare services to the people. With this partnership with Medvarsity we are aiming to boost the best of the healthcare services to a common man and by facilitating the Medvarsity's updated courses to our doctors, we believe we are strengthening the medical sector of not only the city but the country too," said Dr. Gajendra Gupta, Medical Director, SDMH



These certificate programs are aimed at giving doctors and other healthcare professionals the in-depth knowledge and skills needed to manage people and departments efficiently within the health centers and hospitals. Medvarsity plans to become the go-to platform for continuing professional development in the healthcare domain.

About Medvarsity Online Ltd.

Medvarsity Online Ltd. is India's first and largest online healthcare training company with over 45,000 medical professionals trained and certified. Our partnerships with leading universities globally enables us to present the best courses and faculty to our students and help them meet their learning goals. With over 7000 active learners on our platform and course accreditation by leading global partners, Medvarsity is a leader in the medical certification training in the region. It is the leading online medical certification and training company with presence across 10 locations in India and students across India, Middle East, Africa and South-East Asia. Our blended training solutions combine the best of traditional e-learning, live virtual classes, clinical bedside learning and mobile learning models to deliver impactful courses to our students. Medvarsity has been rewarded with excellence in training and development' in online education in the year 2018.

For further details, log onto: www.medvarsity.com



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About SDMH



The Santokba Durlabhji Trust was founded in 1958 with a vision to provide quality care to the common man - without favour or discrimination. The Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital was established in 1971. SDMH has continued to provide affordable health care through the several philanthropic initiatives it has undertaken like The Avedna Ashram, the Rehabilitation and Limb Fitting Centre, the Outreach Programme, Project Prayatna (eradication of thalassemia) and several other projects that serve to alleviate human suffering. SDMH is a private, trust-managed, autonomous, fee-for-services and not-for-profit hospital. It is a multidisciplinary, 551-bed, tertiary care hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Swedish defence major Saab Thursday said it has expanded its ties with Indian aerospace firms for the Gripen fighter jet aerostructures.

Saab has taken an important step forward to expand its footprint and aerospace ecosystem in India by signing new MoUs with three of the country's aerospace manufacturers; Dynamatic Technologies Limited, CIM Tools Private Limited and Sansera Engineering Private Limited, the company said.

The MoUs with CIM Tools and Sansera expand the existing working relationships with Saab on commercial aerostructures to the Gripen fighter and other defence-related products in the Saab portfolio, it said in a release.

The MoU with Dynamatic was a starting point to explore future joint opportunities in commercial and defence-related aerostructures work, including Gripen, it said.

"Saab's Aerostructures business unit has had a successful relationship with CIM Tools and Sansera for several years.

Based on that experience, we see these two companies can add great value to our Gripen 'Make in India' offer," Vice President, Industrial Partnerships and Head of Gripen for India Mats Palmberg said.

"The MoU with Dynamatic adds the capabilities of complex airframe assembly to Saab's 'Make in India' offer for Gripen," he said.

The new MoUs announced today will enable Saab work with these Indian companies to establish an indigenous, efficient, tailor-made manufacturing system that will develop, deliver and support state-of-the-art Gripen fighters in India for the Indian Air Force, the company said.

"I am pleased that the fruitful co-operation we have established over several years with CIM Tools and Sansera can be further developed for the Gripen fighter.

The MoU with Dynamatic has the potential to further develop our ecosystem for commercial aerostructures as well as Gripen," Managing Director and Head of Saab Aerostructures Lars Jensen said.

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South Africa will extradite Mozambique's ex-finance minister Manuel Chang, held in a Johannesburg jail since December on a US-issued international arrest warrant, a respected site reported Thursday.

Chang, 63, was arrested at Johannesburg's O R Tambo International Airport on December 29 over his alleged involvement in USD 2 billion of fraudulent loans to Mozambican state firms.

His own government issued an extradition request for Chang on suspicion of financial misconduct.

Last week, he lost a court bid to be freed on bail. Now South Africa's Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has said Chang will be handed over to Maputo.

"We're sending him to Mozambique to be tried," Sisulu told South Africa's Daily Maverick site. "We believe that is the easiest thing for everybody.

"As soon as we are done with the Interpol case, we will allow Mozambique to have their former minister back." She said the process will be "expedited".

Chang is due back in court in Johannesburg on February 26.

South African foreign ministry spokesman Ndivhuyo Mabaya would not confirm or deny the reported extradition decision.

He told AFP South Africa had "received an extradition request from Mozambique through the normal diplomatic channels".

The request "is receiving attention from our Justice Department," Mabaya said.

Chang had until recently enjoyed automatic immunity as a lawmaker, but was stripped of the privilege last month in the wake of the case that has shaken his impoverished southern African country.

It is alleged the government in Maputo had taken out loans amounting to USD 2-billion to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance ships, but hid the transaction from parliament and international donors.

The hidden debt plunged Mozambique into its worst financial crisis since independence from Portugal in 1975, as donors froze contributions.

An independent audit found that a quarter of the loan amount was diverted, and unaccounted for.

The United States alleges at least USD 200 million were spent on bribes and kickbacks, including USD 12 million on Chang, who allegedly signed off on debt guarantees.

Last week, Mozambique made its first arrests linked to the case, detaining more than half-a-dozen suspects, including the son of ex-president Armando Guebuza and intelligence officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Railway Protection Force has increased a company of its personnel in Kashmir following the terror attack in Pulwama to ensure the safety of train passengers and to protect railway property, a senior official of the force said Thursday.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on February 14 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.

"We had a meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday where the decision was taken to increase the presence of RPF in the region," said RPF DG Arun Kumar.

"The chairman railway board also had a detailed security briefing with all zonal and divisional RPF officers on the security of railways. It was decided that a company of RPF will be sent to Kashmir for additional security," he said.

While four companies of the RPF are already stationed in Kashmir, one more, with 125 personnel, will be airlifted from Jammu to the area, he said.

The RPF has also upgraded its all India security helpline number 182 to provide a single point access to rail users in distress. Through this helpline number, 25,166 people were provided assistance last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shares of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management and Reliance Capital Thursday zoomed up to 20 per cent after the latter said it has invited Nippon Life Insurance to acquire its entire 42.88 per cent stake in the former.

Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM) rallied 19.98 per cent to close at Rs 187.05 on the BSE.

Shares of Reliance Capital also zoomed 11.13 per cent to Rs 161.20 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it jumped 12.89 per cent to Rs 163.75.

Japan's Nippon Life Insurance already holds 42.88 per cent stake in RNAM.

"Reliance Capital has invited its partner, Nippon Life Insurance, to make an offer to acquire up to 42.88 per cent stake held by Reliance Capital in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management," Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing.

According to data from the BSE, as on December 31, 2018, Reliance Capital held 42.9 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management.

Sources said the transaction could help clear around 40 per cent of Reliance Capital's outstanding debt worth Rs 18,000 crore.

The transaction price is likely to be at a significant premium to the current market price, as it would also involve control premium, they added.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group companies have been trying to monetise some of their assets and bring down the debt significantly.

Meanwhile, buying was also seen in other group stocks, with Reliance Communications (RCom) advancing by 9.14 per cent, Reliance Home Finance 9.84 per cent, Reliance Infrastructure 4.19 per cent and Reliance Naval and Engineering 4.15 per cent on the BSE.

Reliance Communications Group Thursday sought urgent approval from its lenders for release of about Rs 260 crore lying in its bank account, directly to Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson.

The move comes just a day after the Supreme Court held RCom Chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for violating its order by not paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson, and said they faced a three-month jail term if Rs 453 crore was not paid to the telecom equipment maker in four weeks.

"Reliance Communications group has requested urgent approval from its lenders to release approximately Rs 260 crore received from Income Tax refunds, lying in its bank account, directly to Ericsson," a spokesperson of Reliance Communications said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A day after it faced SC heat over non-payment of dues to Ericsson, Reliance Communications Thursday sought urgent approval from its lenders for release of about Rs 260 crore lying in its bank account, directly to the Swedish telecom gear maker.

Reliance Communications in a statement said that it is confident of raising the remaining about Rs 200 crore for payment to Ericsson, in order to ensure that the entire amount gets paid well within the four weeks timeline set by the apex court.

The latest move assumes significance as the Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday held Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for violating its order by not paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson.

The court said they would face a three-month jail term if Rs 453 crore was not paid to the telecom equipment maker in four weeks.

"Reliance Communications group has requested urgent approval from its lenders to release approximately Rs 260 crore received from Income Tax refunds, lying in its bank account, directly to Ericsson," a Reliance Communications Limited spokesperson said in a statement.

The permission of lenders is crucial for the beleaguered firm, which had decided to implement debt resolution plans through NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) framework, making lender's go ahead necessary for such payments, explained an industry observer.

The RCom spokesperson further said that a sum of Rs 118 crore has already been deposited with the apex court.

"RCom is confident of raising the balance approximately Rs 200 crore for payment to Ericsson, in order to ensure that the entire Rs 550 crore, plus interest thereon, stands paid to Ericsson, well within the time of four weeks allowed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court," the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital Thursday said it has invited Nippon Life Insurance to acquire up to 42.88 per cent, which is its entire stake, in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd (RNAM).

The Supreme Court Wednesday held that the RCom chairman as well as Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani breached the undertaking given to the apex court and related orders.

The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in four weeks.

A bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said if the 'contemnors' failed to make the payments within the specified period, they will undergo a jail term of three months. The apex court also directed Reliance Communication, Reliance Telecommunication and Reliance Infratel to deposit Rs 1 crore each in four weeks to the apex court registry. If not, the chairpersons of these companies will have to undergo additional jail term of one month.

It also directed that Rs 118 crore already deposited by Reliance Group in the apex court registry be disbursed to Ericsson within a week.

The bench said the three Reliance companies did not adhere to the 120 days deadline and 60 days extra given by the apex court to pay the Rs 550 crore to Ericsson. It said the undertakings given in the court were false to the knowledge of the court and affected the administration of justice.

On February 13, the apex court had reserved its judgement when Ericsson India alleged that the Reliance Group has money to invest in the Rafale jet deal but was unable to clear its Rs 550 crore dues, a charge vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.

Ericsson India, which signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, alleged that it had not been paid the outstanding dues and challenged the debt-ridden firm (RCom has a staggering Rs 46,000 crore debt) before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Anil Ambani-led Capital (RCap) Thursday said it has invited to acquire its entire 42.88 per cent stake in Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM).

Japan's already holds 42.88 per cent stake in RNAM.

" Capital has invited its partner, Nippon Life Insurance, to make an offer to acquire up to 42.88 per cent stake held by in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management," Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing.

The company said it would make further announcements at the appropriate time.

As per BSE data, as on December 31, 2018, Reliance Capital held 42.9 per cent stake in

Sources said the transaction could help clear around 40 per cent of Reliance Capital's outstanding debt worth Rs 18,000 crore.

The transaction price is likely to be at a significant premium to the current market price, as it would also involve control premium, they added.

The proposed share sale would also trigger the requirement of open offer to be made for 26 per cent stake in the company.

According to the sources, once the transaction goes through, the company would become the largest wholly foreign-owned mutual fund in

Anil Ambani-led have been trying to monetise some of their assets and bring down the debt significantly.

The on Wednesday held Chairman and two others guilty of contempt of court for violating its order by not paying dues of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson, and said they faced a three-month jail term if Rs 453 crore was not paid to in four weeks.

The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to in four weeks.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday met a delegation of eminent people from Chhattisgarh here and discussed issues such as the problems faced by the farmers and the tribals in the state.

A 11-member delegation, headed by AICC Chhattisgarh in-charge P L Punia, met Gandhi for an hour this morning, sources said.

While confirming the meeting, Punia said the last time Rahul Gandhi visited Chhattisgarh, he had called for the meeting.

"There was discussion on tribal issues, problems of farmers, recent debt waiver and some other issues," a leader in the know of the development said.

Gandhi listened to their suggestions for the development of Chhattisgarh and assured them of action.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Punjab government is set to review the "excess" electricity bills of the scheduled caste and backward class (SC/BC) families, state power minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar told the assembly Thursday.

"I have just talked to the finance minister. We are going to review the excess electricity bills (of SC, BC families) for the last two years, Kangar informed the House.

He was replying to the calling attention notice of AAP MLAs Harpal Singh Cheema, Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Gurmeet Singh Meet who sought to draw his attention towards "high cost of electricity" in the state.

Kangar blamed the previous SAD-BJP government for the pending power bills.

They (SAD-BJP) promised gullible people during poll campaigning (in 2017) that power bills will be waived if they come to power for the third time. This is the main reason behind the pending and excess bills, Kangar said.

Notably, last month, the state government had decided to remove the upper annual limit of 3,000 units for electricity consumption by SC/BC and BPL families, enabling domestic consumers in these categories to avail 200 units per month free of cost.

Taking a swipe at the former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Kangar alleged that the then CM had asked power employees not to look at 'Kundi' (illegal) power connections in the state.

As the AAP members pressed the state government for cancelling the power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed during erstwhile SAD-BJP regime, Congress MLA and former power minister Rana Gurjit Singh intervened in the matter and sought probe into these pacts.

"They (AAP) have raised a right issue. When I was the power minister, I got it calculated that the state would bear the burden of Rs 62,500 crore in the next 25 years on account of power purchase agreements, claimed Kapurthala MLA.

Alleging it was the government officers who did not let the probe, Rana said, "the probe (into power purchase pacts) should take place.

AAP legislator Aman Arora asked if Amarinder Singh could terminate the water sharing agreements in 2004, then why the power purchase agreements with private players could not be terminated.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition and AAP MLA Harpal Singh Cheema claimed that the state government was bearing a financial burden to the tune of Rs 2,700 crore per annum on account of power purchase agreements and demanded their cancellation.

To this, Kangar while taking a dig at AAP, asked, "has your government in Delhi reviewed PPA? If they have done so, then we will see here.

Rubbishing the claims of AAP that power was costlier in Punjab than Delhi, state power minister said Punjab charges Rs 25 to Rs 70 kw per connection as against Rs 125 to Rs 250 KW in Delhi.

"The supply of power to industry, domestic consumers and agriculture is cheaper in Punjab than in Delhi, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pune Police Thursday filed a supplementary charge sheet at a special UAPA court here against five persons including rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj and fugitive Maoist leader Ganapathy in Elgar Parishad case.

Police had filed the first charge sheet in the case against ten persons at the special court for Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA in November 2018.

The case is that the speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave here on December 31, 2017, which was allegedly funded by Maoists, "aggravated" the violence near Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district the next day.

"Today we submitted a supplementary charge sheet against Bharadwaj, (Telugu poet) Varavara Rao (activists) Arun Ferriera, Vernon Gonsalves and fugitive general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist) Ganapathy alias Chandrashekhar," said joint commissioner of police Shivaji Bodkhe here Thursday.

The charge sheet, running into over 1,800 pages, was submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane.

"It includes evidence retrieved from electronic devices seized from the arrested activists," Bodkhe said.

The accused are charged with "waging war against the nation" and spreading the ideology of their banned organisation and creating caste conflicts, disaffection and hatred in the society, the police officer said.

ALSO READ: Bhima Koregaon case: Anand Teltumbde arrested after Pune court rejects bail

The first charge sheet named ten accused including activists Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavale who were arrested in June 2018, and absconding Maoist leaders Dipak alias Milind Teltumbade, Kishan Da alias Prashant Bose and Prakash alias Rituparn Goswami.

Bharadwaj and others were arrested in September.

ALSO READ: Koregaon Bhima: Cops take preventive action against over 1,200

The Elgar conclave was held on December 31, 2017 to mark bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima, in which Dalit soldiers of the East India Company defeated the army of the Brahmin Peshwa, Pune's then ruler. Dalits look upon the victory as an assertion of their identity.
Amid outrage in the country over the Pulwama terror attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday said "time will come" when people's sentiments and expectations will have "fulfilment".

Addressing a gathering at the inauguration of Delhi's Waste to Wonder Park, he said after the Pulwama incident "mood is still not that one can participate in any programme with enthusiasm".

"But, I am very assured and I want to assure you that time will come when people's sentiments today, their desires, their expectations... those expectations will have fulfilment," Singh said.

The Union minister, however, did not elaborate on his statement that comes amid mounting tension in the India-Pakistan ties.

Forty CRPF jawans were killed in a terror strike by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14, sparking outrage in the country, with many saying the attack should be avenged.

After the incident, massive protests and candlelight marches were held in different parts of the country against the attack and curfew was imposed in Jammu following violence during demonstrations there.

Two days after the suicide bomber attack, Singh had reviewed the security situation in the country, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, among others.

The home minister had directed the officials to ensure that all possible steps are taken to hunt down terrorists currently operating in the Kashmir Valley.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) jumped up to 19 per cent Thursday after the finance ministry announced infusion of Rs 48,239 crore in 12 such lenders in this fiscal to help them maintain regulatory capital requirements and finance growth plans.

Corporation Bank zoomed 18.82 per cent, United Bank 14.88 per cent, UCO Bank 13.70 per cent, Bank of Maharashtra 10.84 per cent, Allahabad Bank by 10 per cent, Central Bank of India 10 per cent and Indian Overseas Bank 9.84 per cent on BSE.

Andhra Bank jumped 8.76 per cent, Punjab National Bank 7.94 per cent, Syndicate Bank 6 per cent, Bank of India 5.13 per cent and Union Bank of India gained 4.96 per cent.

With this funding, the total amount of capital infusion would increase to Rs 1,00,958 crore of the planned recapitalisation of Rs 1.06 lakh crore for PSBs for the current fiscal, according to Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar.

Corporation Bank is the biggest beneficiary of this round of capital infusion with Rs 9,086 crore of funding, followed by Allahabad Bank with Rs 6,896 crore.

Further, Rs 4,638 crore and Rs 205 crore will be provided to Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra, respectively.

Punjab National Bank will get Rs 5,908 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 4,112 crore, Andhra Bank Rs 3,256 crore and Syndicate Bank Rs 1,603 crore.

Under prompt corrective action (PCA), the government will pump in Rs 12,535 crore in four other banks -- Central Bank of India, United Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India's production in 2018-19 crop year is likely to cross 100 million tonnes -- an all time high -- on better yields because of prolonged winter this season, Agriculture Commissioner S K Malhotra said Thursday.

production is estimated to be around same level of 25 million tonnes, but output could rise to 32-33 million tonnes in 2018-19 crop year (July-June) from 29 million tonnes last year.

" crops are in a good condition. Recent rains and prolonged winter season will prove to be a boon for the growth of crop," Malhotra told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on mint farming.

is expected to cross 100 million tonnes in 2018-19 based on feedback from states as against a record 99.70 million tonne in the previous year.

The increase in production will be led by growth in productivity and not area, he added.

Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, has reached 298.47 lakh hectare till last week, slightly lower than 299.84 lakh hectare in the year-ago period.

Malhotra said the country has become self-sufficient in production and now the government's focus is on raising output to cut edible oils import, which is around Rs 70,000 crore annually.

Earlier addressing the conference, the commissioner said the government is supporting mint growers through many schemes to boost output. At present, he said mint oil production would be more than 30,000 tonnes, of which around 20,000-25,000 tonnes are exported.

He said there is a shortage of planting material of good varieties. "We need to have accredited nurseries to grow quality planting materials".

Malhotra favoured cluster-based approach and creation of farmers producers organisation for mint farming. He said efforts should be made to inculcate good farming practices among growers.

Mars Wrigley Confectionary general manager Andrew Leakey said the company is running a project in Uttar Pradesh to help mint growers increase productivity and production as well as their income.

"The Shubh Mint programme shores up our long-term commitment to India, which is one of our priority markets globally. India is an important sourcing origin for Mars ingredients, primarily mint, which powers our line of freshening products that delight consumers all over the world," Leakey said.

The company through this programme propagates good agricultural practices and support farmers to address key challenges faced in cultivation, he said.

The programme also focuses on education interventions, ensuring that successive generations which represent a bright future for Uttar Pradesh, are empowered as well, Leakey added.
Faith and Pro-life Organizations to Challenge Governor Northam on His Radical and Extremist Support of Late-term Abortion and Infanticide

Contact: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741



RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 20, 2019 /Standard Newswire/ -- At a prayer vigil and rally sponsored by, Commonwealth for Life, participants will call for Governor Northam to embrace human rights and justice for all of Virginia's residents and work to end the violence of abortion and racism.



The "Listen to their Voices" rally will begin with a news conference on Thursday, February 21, at 9:30 AM in front of Virginia Union University at the corner of Admiral and Lombardy Streets.



The news conference will be followed by a rally featuring special speakers and at 10:30 AM, the group will enter the grounds of VUU for a peaceful prayer service just outside of Coburn Hall where the Governor was scheduled to appear.



Attendees of the "Listen to Their Voices" rally will be linking racism and the violence of abortion together and calling for Dr. Northam to step down as governor.



Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition and of the organizers, comments;

"It is stunning and troubling to see members of our Virginia Legislature and Governor Northam support legislation that embraces violence against children and allows for infanticide. This is not a partisan political issue but rather an issue of human rights and justice. We call upon Virginia to stand against violence and protect her children, which is, our state's greatest natural treasure.



"So, as people who cherish human rights, justice and equality for all, we will not be quiet on the issue of abortion or racism. As Dr. King often stated; 'We cannot be silent on issues that matter.' Our message is clear and passionate. We will engage and pray tirelessly to ensure this kind of extremist, anti-child and pro-violence legislation never passes in our state and work for the removal of Dr. Northam as governor."

Diana Shores, the principal rally organizer said;

"This is a rally of citizens that began with a spark ignited by the introduction of bills such as ratification for the so called, 'Equal Rights Amendment,' and the bill by Delegate Tran that would strip Virginia law of life saving measures for a woman and her baby in the third trimester. This spark became a burning flame when the Governor of Virginia made immoral and outrageous comments that promoted infanticide.



"The people of Virginia are saddened by the pro-abortion agenda being pushed by its political leaders. It's fitting that the first listening tour stop should be at Virginia Union University. People of the faith community, seeking social justice for the unborn, want to be heard by the Governor."

For more information or interviews please contact:

Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741


Advocating the concept of learning more languages, President Ram Nath Kovind Thursday said it reinforces national harmony and adds value to the country.

Unveiling a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha here, Kovind said Gandhi always urged North Indians to learn languages and scripts of the southern states.

"In the same spirit, he also set up the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (in Tamil Nadu).. It is a matter of immense happiness that this Prachar Sabha has completed hundred years working for the promotion of Hindi in our Southern States," he said.

Recalling that Gandhi had stayed at the Prachar Sabha here for 10 days in 1946, he said, by installing his statue, you (Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha) have paid respects to the values of the Father of the Nation.

Noting that a language of a region can be very educative and help open a window to another culture, he said, "In Delhi, I have observed North Indian students in schools learning Tamil."



"Twinning programmes between different states are popularising the language of one region in another.. Such steps reinforce national harmony," he added.

Kovind also recollected that during the Freedom movement, the poetry of revolutionary poet Subramania Bharati inspired the people of Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country.

"I must also recall that two of my predecessors in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and President R Venkataraman, were multi-lingual intellectuals from Tamil Nadu whose contributions and ideas went beyond any one language or region," he said.

The President was also of the view that learning languages of other states has practical benefit as the growing Indian economy was leading to a significant internal migration.

Young men and women from one part of the country were studying or working and adding value to another part of the country. Tamils work in Uttar Pradesh, Biharis find employment in Tamil Nadu. There are millions of examples, he pointed out.

"In such cases, knowing the language of the State or region you are located can only be an asset.. It adds value to your CV and it adds value to our India", he said.

Earlier, Kovind began his speech in Tamil and said, "Tamil Nadu has got many specialities which include the beautiful Tamil language, hoary history, ancient culture and skilled workers. I am happy to visit this State which is one among the favourite States for me.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pope Francis opened a landmark sex abuse prevention summit Thursday by offering senior Catholic leaders 21 proposals to punish predators and keep children safe, warning that the faithful are demanding concrete action and not just words.

The tone for the high stakes, four-day summit was set at the start, with victims from five continents Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and North America telling the bishops of the trauma of their abuse and the additional pain the church's indifference caused them.

"Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice," Francis told the gathering of 190 leaders of bishops conferences and religious orders.

"The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established."



More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia, and 20 years after it hit the US, bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or play down the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year and the scandal reignited in the US.

With his own papacy and the Catholic hierarchy at large facing a credibility crisis, Francis has now vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

The summit is meant as a tutorial for church leaders around the globe to learn the importance of preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims and investigating the crimes when they occur.

The Vatican's onetime sex crimes prosecutor delivered a step-by-step lesson Thursday on how to conduct an investigation under canon law, citing the example of Pope Benedict XVI, who turned the Vatican around on the issue two decades ago.

Calling for a conversion from a culture of silence to a "culture of disclosure," Archbishop Charles Scicluna told bishops they should cooperate with civil law enforcement investigations and announce decisions about predators to their communities once cases have been decided.

He said victims had the right to damages from the church and that bishops should consider using lay experts to help guide them during abuse investigations.

The people of God "should come to know us as friends of their safety and that of their children and youth," he said. "We will protect them at all cost. We will lay down our lives for the flocks entrusted to us."



Finally, Scicluna warned them that it was a "grave sin" to withhold information from the Vatican about candidates for bishops a reference to the recent scandal of the now-defrocked former American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick.

It was apparently an open secret in some church circles that McCarrick slept with young seminarians. He was defrocked last week by Francis after a Vatican trial found credible reports that he abused minors as well as adults.

Francis offered a path of reform going forward, handing out a 21-point set of proposals for the church to consider including some that would require changes to canon law.

He called for specific protocols to handle accusations against bishops, in yet another reference to the McCarrick scandal. He suggested protocols to govern the transfers of seminarians or priests to prevent predators from moving freely to unsuspecting communities.

One idea called for raising the minimum age for marriage to 16 while another suggested a basic handbook showing bishops how to investigate cases.

Abuse survivors have turned out in droves in Rome to demand accountability and transparency from church leaders and assert that the time of sex abuse cover-ups is over.

"The question is this: Why should the church be allowed to handle the pedophile question? The question of pedophilia is not a question of religion, it is (a question of) crime," Francesco Zanardi, head of the main victims advocacy group in Italy Rete L'Abuso, or Abuse Network, told a conference in the Italian parliament.

Inside the summit hall Thursday, the church leaders heard five videotaped testimonies from victims about their abuse and cruel treatment from an indifferent hierarchy.

One woman from Africa told the summit that the priest who began raping her at 15 forced her to have three abortions over the following 13 years.

"He gave me everything I wanted when I accepted to have sex; otherwise he would beat me," she said.

The victims' names were not released to protect their privacy, but Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz confirmed he provided a video.

"You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed in some cases into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith," Cruz said in his testimony.

Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up as he responded to such testimony, telling the bishops that the wounds they had inflicted on the faithful through their negligence and indifference recalled the wounds of Christ on the cross.

In the keynote speech, he demanded bishops and superiors no longer turn a blind eye to the harm caused by clergy abuse and cover-ups.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Tagle said. The result, he said, had left a "deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three activists overturned a statue of a Polish priest accused of sex abuse in the northern city of Gdansk early Thursday, local police said.

Video footage on social media showed the men use a rope to topple the statue of Father Henryk Jankowski, who died in 2010 and has faced accusations of paedophilia.

On the fallen statue the men placed underwear and altar boy clothing in reference to the priest's alleged victims.

Jankowski has faced renewed claims of child abuse since the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza daily published an article late last year reviving previous accusations that first surfaced years ago.

"They were detained around 3 am and taken in for questioning," Gdansk police spokeswoman Karina Kaminska told AFP, referring to the three activists



The pulling down of the statue came just hours before the opening of a landmark summit at the Vatican on fighting child sex abuse.

The statue has been vandalised before.

The activists who toppled the statue are Warsaw residents known for taking part in protests against the governing conservatives.

They sent a manifesto to OKO.press, an independent Polish website, explaining that their goal was to "symbolically knock down the false memory and veneration of Henryk Jankowski from a societal pedestal".

"We accuse the Catholic Church and its representatives of not having reacted despite being aware of the harm done by Henryk Jankowski," they added.

The most well-known of the activists is Rafal Suszek, a university researcher and member of the anti-government protest movement Citizens of Poland.

Jankowski supported Poland's first independent trade union Solidarity under communism.

He was a close aide to Solidarity leader Lech Walesa during strikes at the Gdansk shipyard in 1980 that led to the creation of communist Poland's first union outside government control.

But he became more controversial after the fall of communism for his anti-Semitic remarks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a stinging attack, the Congress cited media reports to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14 for his own "self propagation", and stayed put till the evening despite the Pulwama terror attack in the afternoon that day.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also claimed that the prime minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't have food".

Taking on the BJP, he also accused its president Amit Shah of indulging in "politicisation of terrorism" in his speech in Assam on Sunday.

At a public rally in Assam's Lakhimpur district, Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Meanwhile, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry city on Thursday, Shah hit back at the Congress, saying the opposition party was using the Pulwama terror attack for its "political interests".

"With what face is the Congress raising questions against the Prime Minister? Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the prime minister of trading with soldiers' blood, Congress' (Navjot Singh) Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," Shah said.

Reacting to Shah's remarks later in the day, Surjewala said the BJP president should not forget that it was a Congress government that taught Pakistan lessons in 1947, in 1965 and in 1971.

"Indira Gandhi helped liberate Bangladesh, and 91,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army in Dhaka (in 1971). In contrast, the Modi-Amit Shah duo has always done cheap over terrorism and tried to garner votes...

"Amit Shah needs to learn about patriotism. The kind of he is indulging in, he should apologise to the country," he told reporters.

Surjewala also said that he would like to remind the BJP president of an incident in which BJP minister V K Singh had called then Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag a "dacoit" and demanded his removal.

At the press conference, the Congress spokesperson Surjewala also alleged that "in his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten 'raj dharma' (duty of governance)."



Citing reports in some Hindi dailies, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm.

But, the prime minister was "busy" in film shooting and photo shoots till hours after the attack, he claimed.

"The prime minister also knew about it (the attack). Yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there was slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", and on the other hand the prime minister was involved in his "propaganda and publicity", Surjewala claimed.

"Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

In a scathing attack on Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that jawans killed in the Pulwama attack are denied the status of martyrs but the PM "gifts" Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani for him to "live happily ever after".

Surjewala said the Congress had shown restrain on the direction of party president Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said questions must be asked about the "gross intelligence failure" of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who in a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".

He claimed that the prime minister reached one hour late to receive the mortal remains of CRPF Jawans at the Palam technical airport in Delhi.

Surjewala also hit out at the conduct of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the attack.

He displayed a photograph purportedly showing BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj smiling during the final journey of a slain jawan and cited Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons taking a "selfie" at a soldier's funeral.

Alphons has denied taking the picture himself saying some miscreants circulated his photograph at the CRPF jawan's funeral as a "selfie".

Surjewala asserted that the Congress, when in power, has always taken moral responsibility in such situations. "During 26/11 (2008 Mumbai terror attack), Shivraj Patil had resigned, owning moral responsibility," he said.

During the press conference, Surjewala also showed a purported video of Modi's press conference in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack and advertisements of the BJP in newspapers following that assault to allege "politicisation of terrorism".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said the Indian economy is based on sound fundamentals and will in the near future double in size to USD 5 trillion, as he hardsold the country as a "land of opportunities" to investors in South Korea.

"No other large economy in the world is growing at over 7 per cent year after year," he said at the India-ROK Business Symposium here during his visit to the Republic of Korea.

Over 600 Korean companies such as Hyundai, Samsung and LG Electronics are already invested in India and the Prime Minister said "we aspire to welcome many more."



"And, (car maker) Kia is soon to join this club," he added.

To ease business visits, India since October last year is giving Korean nationals visa on arrival, he said.

"The fundamentals of our economy are sound. We are well set to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the near future," he said.

Modi said hard policy decisions such as the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and opening up of more sectors has helped India jump 65 places on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business ranking to the 77th position.

"And, we are determined to move into the top 50 next year," he said. "We are one of the most open countries for foreign direct investment today. More than 90 per cent of our sectors are now on automatic route for approval. As a result of this and the confidence in India, we have received FDI worth over USD 250 billion over the past four years."



India, the world's sixth largest economy at USD 2.5 trillion, is changing from being agriculture-dominated to an economy led by industry and services and one that is globally inter-linked which rolls out red carpet instead of red tape, the Prime Minister said.

"India has emerged as a land of opportunities. While we work for realizing the 'Indian Dream', we seek like-minded partners. And, among them, we see South Korea is truly natural partner," he said.

India is among the top 10 trade partners of Korea and India is the 6th largest export destination for Korean goods. Trade between the two nations reached USD 21.5 billion in 2018.

"The negotiations to upgrade the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement have been fast-tracked to achieve the bilateral trade target of USD 50 billion by 2030," he said. "Not just trade, in investment terms also we are seeing a positive turn. And Korean investments into India have reached a cumulative figure of almost USD 6 billion."



Talking of initiatives taken by his government, the Prime Minister said over 300 million bank accounts have been opened for providing banking to the unbanked. As much as 99 per cent of Indian households now have a bank account.

More than USD 12 billion has been deposited in these accounts, microcredit of USD 90 billion has been extended to 28 million in the last three years, USD 50 billion of government benefits directly transferred to beneficiaries and huge strides made in rural electrification, he said.

"Economic progress is closely tied to world-class infrastructure. Be it transport, power, ports, shipbuilding, housing, and urban infrastructure, there is a huge demand in India while there are strong technological capabilities and capacities in Korea. We estimate the investment requirements in infrastructure at over USD 700 billion by 2022," he said.

Listing projects that need foreign capital, he said the Sagarmala port projects need USD 10 billion in five years.

Recognising the importance of supporting India's infrastructure development, India and South Korea have identified USD 10 billion under Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund and Export Credit to finance such projects.

Modi said the role of the government is to provide the support system and a flagship program Start-up India with USD 1.4 billion fund for four years to create a startup ecosystem in the country has been introduced.

"Our vision of India-Korea Startup Centre will provide a hub for Korean startups and Indian talent to freely communicate. South Korean national IT promotion agency has already opened Indian offices in Bengaluru," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" and stayed put in the area till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also accused BJP president Amit Shah of "politicization of terrorism" in his speech in Assam on Sunday.

At a public rally in Assam's Lakhimpur district, Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

On Thursday, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry city, Shah hit back at the Congress and accused it of using the Pulwama terror attack for its "political interests".

"They created an issue of PM Modi's presence in a programme on the day of the attack. But I want to tell them that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours a day," the BJP national president said.

Launching an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike, Surjewala alleged, "In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance)."



Citing reports in some Hindi newspapers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm.

"The prime minister also knew about it. Yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there was slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there.

"The prime minister continues to have tea, samosas at seven o'clock at government expense in a PWD guesthouse when every single Indian household didn't have food," he said.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", and on the other hand the prime minister was involved in his "propaganda and publicity", Surjewala claimed.

"Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

Surjewala said the Congress had shown restrain on the direction of party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said.

The Congress leader said questions must be asked about the "gross intelligence failure" of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".

Surjewala also hit out at the conduct of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the attack.

He displayed a photograph purportedly showing BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj smiling during the final journey of a slain jawan and cited Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons taking a "selfie" at a soldier's funeral.

Alphons has denied taking the picture himself saying some miscreants circulated his photograph at the CRPF jawan's funeral as a "selfie".

Surjewala also said Pakistan will not succeed in its designs and invoked Indira Gandhi's strong action in 1971.

He also asserted that the Congress, when in power, has always taken moral responsibility in such situations.

"During 26/11, Shivraj Patil had resigned, owning moral responsibility," he said, also citing the examples of Lal Bahadur Shastri and Madhav Rao Scindia of resigning after tragic incidents.

He said the government needs to answer questions on alleged failure of intelligence, and on how did local militants get RDX and M4 carbines.

"Why did you ignore a video released by Jaish-e-Mohammad 48 hours before? Why couldn't you airlift troops? Is it more expensive than the lives of our jawans?" Surjewala asked.

The Congress spokesperson slammed the prime minister for receiving Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the airport and asked whether according a grand welcome to "those who praised" Pakistan's "anti-terror efforts" was his way of remembering the Pulwama attack victims.

He also hit out at Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with the Saudi crown prince, saying the prime minister "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the document.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the over the allegations.

The opposition party also accused president Amit Shah of "politicisation of terrorism" in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, launched an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike.

In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance), he alleged.

Citing media reports in Hindi news papers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the the terror attack happened at 3:10 PM on February 14 with the Congress reacting at 5:15 PM.



"The prime minister also knew about it, yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a pseudo nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery channel) for self propagation in Corbett Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

He alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there is slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there.

"The prime minister continues to eat chai, samosas at seven o' clock at government expense in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat their food," the Congress spokesperson said.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", on the other hand the prime minister was doing his "propaganda and publicity", he claimed.

"Can such conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

Surjewala said that the Congress party had shown restrain as directed by party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said.

The Congress leader said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here Thursday on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with and seek to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

Ahead of his visit, the prime minister described as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two countries share values and vision for regional and global peace.

Modi is visiting on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said the visit would strengthen India's special strategic partnership with South Korea and add dynamism to the Look East Policy.

During the visit, Prime Minister Modi will have bilateral and business engagements, unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi and accept the Seoul Peace Prize conferred upon him, Kumar said in a tweet.

Earlier in his departure statement, Modi said his visit is reflective of the importance "we both attach to our relationship".

"We regard the Republic of Korea as a valued friend, a nation with which we have a Special Strategic Partnership. As fellow democracies, and the ROK have shared values and a shared vision for regional and global peace," the prime minister said.

"As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary. South Korea is an important partner for our 'Make in India' initiative as well as in our 'Start Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives," Modi said.

He said collaboration between the two in the field of science and technology is encouraging, with joint research ranging from basic to advanced sciences.

"Our people to people ties and exchanges, as always, provide the bedrock of our ties of friendship, he said.

"Working together, we are determined to take our relationship forward as a 'future oriented partnership for People, Prosperity and Peace'," the prime minister said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has said it is essential that there must be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice, as he reiterated his strong condemnation of the Pulwama terror strike by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The UN Secretary-General also "urgently" appealed to the governments of both India and Pakistan to exercise "maximum restraint" to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.

"The Secretary-General has been following with great concern the situation in South Asia. He reiterates his strong condemnation of the terrorist attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 and the "subsequent violence", a statement issued Wednesday by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

He said it is essential that there be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice.

It is the belief of the Secretary-General that all difficult challenges can be resolved peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement, the statement added.

When asked at the daily press briefing that Pakistan has asked for the Secretary-General himself to get involved in the process to encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan and if he is going to take on that role, Dujarric said, As a matter of principlethe Secretary-General believes that all difficult challenges can be resolved through peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement.

He reiterated that both parties need to request for the Secretary-General's good offices, no matter where you look at them.

On Tuesday, Dujarric had said that the UN chief is "deeply concerned" at the increasing tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel, stressing on the need for both to exercise maximum restraint.

Looking at the situation in general between India and Pakistan, we're deeply concerned at the increase in tensions between the two countries in the wake of the February 14 attack, Dujarric had told reporters.

Responding to a question that Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the UN must step in to defuse tensions and whether the Secretary General will take that role, Dujarric had said the good offices of the UN chief are available only if both sides ask for it.

The Secretary-General stresses the importance for both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalation, and his good offices are always available should both sides ask, Dujarric said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had also strongly condemned the attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama and called on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

The already sour relations between India and Pakistan have worsened over the past week as New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the Pulwama attack. Both countries have called back their envoys for "consultations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called upon lawmakers to back a resolution to halt the national emergency declared by US President Donald Trump to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico.

Trump announced the emergency in order to bypass Congress, which approved only a quarter of the USD 5.6 billion he wanted for the wall in a spending bill.

Sixteen states earlier this week sued over the declaration, but the Trump administration has continued with plans to pull together around a further USD 6.6 billion in federal funding, mostly from the Department of Defense.

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro had last week vowed to introduce a resolution to terminate the president's move.

Lawmakers have until 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Thursday to co-sponsor it, before it is formally introduced on Friday.

"I write to invite all Members of Congress to cosponsor Congressman Joaquin Castro's privileged resolution," Pelosi said in a letter to Democrats and Republicans late Wednesday."



"The President's decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated," she said.

"We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the President's assault.

Democrats were quick to express their support.

"I'm a YES to overturn the declaration," Democratic Senator Brian Schatz tweeted.

Meanwhile, House Democrat Linda Sanchez, of California, said she was "proud" to support Castro's resolution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind careens onto the Moon's surface at 450 kilometers per second (or nearly 1 million miles per hour), they enrich the Moon's surface in ingredients that could make water, NASA scientists have found.

Using a computer program, scientists simulated the chemistry that unfolds when the solar wind pelts the Moon's surface. As the Sun streams protons to the Moon, they found, those particles interact with electrons in the lunar surface, making hydrogen (H) atoms. These atoms then migrate through the surface and latch onto the abundant oxygen (O) atoms bound in the silica (SiO2) and other oxygen-bearing molecules that make up the lunar soil, or regolith. Together, hydrogen and oxygen make the molecule hydroxyl (OH), a component of water, or H2O.

"We think of water as this special, magical compound," said William M. Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who helped develop the simulation. "But here's what's amazing: every rock has the potential to make water, especially after being irradiated by the solar wind."

Understanding how much water -- or its chemical components -- is available on the Moon is critical to NASA's goal of sending humans to establish a permanent presence there, said Orenthal James Tucker, a physicist at Goddard who spearheaded the simulation research.

"We're trying to learn about the dynamics of transport of valuable resources like hydrogen around the lunar surface and throughout its exosphere, or very thin atmosphere, so we can know where to go to harvest those resources," said Tucker, who recently described the simulation results in the journal JGR Planets.

Several spacecraft used infrared instruments that measure light emitted from the Moon to identify the chemistry of its surface. These include NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, which had numerous close encounters with the Earth-Moon system en route to comet 103P/Hartley 2; NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which passed the Moon on its way to Saturn; and India's Chandrayaan-1, which orbited the Moon a decade ago. All found evidence of water or its components (hydrogen or hydroxyl).

The sun releases a constant stream of particles and magnetic fields called the solar wind. This solar wind slams worlds across the solar system with particles and radiation -- which can stream all the way to planetary surfaces unless thwarted by an atmosphere, magnetic field, or both. Here's how these solar particles interact with a few select planets and other celestial bodies.

But how these atoms and compounds form on the Moon is still an open question. It's possible that meteor impacts initiate the necessary chemical reactions, but many scientists believe that the solar wind is the primary driver.

Tucker's simulation, which traces the lifecycle of hydrogen atoms on the Moon, supports the solar wind idea.

"From previous research, we know how much hydrogen is coming in from the solar wind, we also know how much is in the Moon's very thin atmosphere, and we have measurements of hydroxyl in the surface," Tucker said. "What we've done now is figure out how these three inventories of hydrogen are physically intertwined."

Showing how hydrogen atoms behave on the Moon helped resolve why spacecraft have found fluctuations in the amount of hydrogen in different regions of the Moon. Less hydrogen accumulates in warmer regions, like the Moon's equator, because hydrogen atoms deposited there get energized by the Sun and quickly outgas from the surface into the exosphere, the team concluded. Conversely, more hydrogen appears to accumulate in the colder surface near the poles because there's less Sun radiation and the outgassing is slowed.

Overall, Tucker's simulation shows that as solar wind continually blasts the Moon's surface, it breaks the bonds among atoms of silicon, iron and oxygen that make up the majority of the Moon's soil. This leaves oxygen atoms with unsatisfied bonds. As hydrogen atoms flow through the Moon's surface, they get temporarily trapped with the unhinged oxygen (longer in cold regions than in warm). They float from O to O before finally diffusing into the Moon's atmosphere, and, ultimately, into space. "The whole process is like a chemical factory," Farrell said.

A key ramification of the result, Farrell said, is that every exposed body of silica in space -- from the Moon down to a small dust grain -- has the potential to create hydroxyl and thus become a chemical factory for water.

Goddard physicist Rosemary Margaret Killen and Dana M. Hurley, planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, contributed to the simulation research, which was funded by NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute.

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The Punjab Assembly Thursday unanimously passed a resolution to pay tributes to Lakshman Singh Dharowali who launched the 'Gurdwara Sudhar Lehar' in 1921.

Moving the resolution in the ongoing Punjab Assembly session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brham Mohindra said Dharowali launched the movement on February 21 to free Gurdwaras from the control of 'Mahants'.

He took a 'jatha' of 156 Sikhs to Nankana Sahib Gurdwara (now in Pakistan) to free it from the control of Mahants, he said.

Dharowali was killed by Mahant Narayan Das and his men at Nankana Sahib, added Mohindra.

Lawmakers of all political parties supported the resolution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Consumer electronics major Panasonic India is eyeing 15 per cent growth in air conditioners sales to Rs 1,400 crore in the next fiscal driven by new premium products, a company official said.

The company is expected to close the current fiscal with an AC turnover of Rs 1,220 crore.

It is also looking at over 30 per cent increase in distribution outlets for air conditioners (AC) to 12,000 in two-years' time as against 9,000 in the current financial year.

"After a flat sales growth in the current fiscal due to factors including climate..we are looking 15 per cent sales growth in AC business in the next fiscal. We expect a hot summer in 2019 which will help the industry," Gaurav Sah, Business-head, Air Conditioners Group, Panasonic India told PTI.

Premium products with superior product features like invertor technology and higher energy efficiency will drive sales growth for the company, Sah said.

"Premium products account for 60 per cent of our total sales," he added.

Panasonic India Thursday launched new products ahead for the summer season, which accounts for bulk of sale of the air conditioner companies.

It has launched new products under Advance and Arch series. The products are priced between Rs 39,900 and Rs 53,990 in 3-star and 5-star categories across 1, 1.2, 1.5, 2 ton variants.

Post this launch, Panasonic India will have 54 AC products in its portfolio.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground.

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The Gujarat Government informed the Legislative Assembly Thursday that more than 400 fishermen from the state are lodged in jails in Pakistan at present.

Fishermen from the state are often apprehended by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency for allegedly crossing into that country's waters.

To a question by Congress MLA Chirag Kalaria, fisheries minister Purshottam Solanki said in a written reply that as of December 31, 2018, 433 fishermen from Gujarat were in Pakistani jails.

He also informed that the neighbouring country released 687 fishermen in the last two years -- 510 in 2017 and 177 in 2018.

To a question by Congress MLA Babu Vaja, Solanki said the state government gives Rs 150 per day to the families of fishermen captured by Pakistan, towards daily expenses in the absence of the family's breadwinner.

A total of Rs 1.88 crore were paid to 344 families in 2017 and Rs 1.71 crore were paid to 307 families last year, the minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A day after the arrest of a local CPI(M) leader, one more person was arrested in connection with the recent killings of two Youth Congress activists in Kasaragod district, police said.

The arrest of Saji C George, suspected to have provided logistics to the accused, was recorded on Wednesday night, they added.

Besides the two arrested men, certain others were under custody and their interrogation was going on, the police said.

In a setback to the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), its local committee member Peethambaran was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the killings of Youth Congress activists Kripesh (24) and Sarath Lal (21) on Sunday night.

Soon after Peethambaran's arrest, the Kasaragod district committee of the CPI(M) expelled him from the party, following directions from the state committee.

Meanwhile, the parents of the slain Youth Congress activists demanded a CBI probe into the incident and reiterated the allegation that the killings were executed with the support and knowledge of the CPI(M).

Putting more pressure on the Left party, television channels on Thursday aired a purported speech of V P P Mustafa, a local CPI(M) leader, threatening Congress activists during a party meeting at nearby Kallyat a month ago.

In the clip, Mustafa is purportedly heard saying everyone knew the CPI-M's style of functioning and how the party reacted when it ran out of patience.

The Congress alleged that the speech indicated that the killings were executed with the support of the CPI(M) leadership.

Kripesh and Sarath Lal, in their early twenties, were waylaid and attacked when they were returning home after attending a function at Periya in Kasaragod district on Sunday night.

The opposition Congress and the BJP have alleged that the killings were executed with the knowledge and support of the CPI (M) leadership, which the Left party has denied.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah Thursday said their stand on holding dialogue with Pakistan has been vindicated by the India-Saudi joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with oil-rich kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

"Amid the din & clamour for war, India-Saudi joint statement on creating conditions conducive for talks btw (between) Pak & India is a welcome step. Message for war mongers is loud & clear. Also, by promising investment in both nations, MBS surely knows the art of keeping everyone happy," Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Mehbooba said she failed to understand the outrage over her statement cautioning against any armed confrontation between India and Pakistan.

"Unable to understand the outrage over my statement today. Anybody with half a brain wouldn't advocate war especially between two countries that are nuclear powers. All the tv anchors yelling for war, I suggest you pack your bags and join our troops at the borders," she said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said he was glad to see that Modi government has acknowledged that dialogue was the only way forward.

"I'm glad to see the Modi government acknowledge what some of us in J&K have been saying all along - dialogue is the only way forward & for that India & Pakistan will have to work to create the right environment," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

He said the India-Saudi joint statement talked about "creating conditions for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan".

"When some of us say this we are called anti-national & Pakistani agents in various TV studios.

"When Govt of India acknowledges the need to create suitable conditions for dialogue & that too in a statement with a 3rd country this is suddenly the height of patriotism & nationalism," he added.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The crown prince lauded Modi for the "consistent efforts" made by him since May 2014, including the prime minister's personal initiatives, to have friendly relations with Pakistan. "In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," T S Tirumurti, Secretary (ER) in Ministry of External Affairs said Wednesday.

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National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday hit out at both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the opposition Congress for not speaking out against the "systematic targeting of Kashmiris" in various parts of the country following the Pulwama terror attack last week.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said he had been looking for a statesman but only found politicians, and asserted that the country needs an alternative to the BJP, not BJP's B-team.

"We didn't have much expectation from the BJP but we had expectations from the prime minister. We had hoped he would keep aside and say something," he told reporters.

"While the PM is silent, it is sad the country's largest opposition party's leadership also remained silent," Abdullah added, a week after 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

Abdullah also asked Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to ensure the security of Kashmiri students who were forced to return home following alleged threats and attacks in several parts of the country after the terror strike.

"There is need to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students who have returned home fearing attacks on them," he said, adding that arrangements should be made so they don't suffer academic losses.

The people of Kashmir, Abdullah said, were expecting to hear two words of sympathy and moral support from the Congress.

"Today, they had a press conference where everything was talked about. But they should have talked about the systematic targeting as well. These are the very forces that Congress is fighting with words and want to defeat... We regret the Congress has not raised its voice against these forces effectively," he added.

Asked if the BJP was behind the attacks on Kashmiris, the National Conference vice president said he had no firm evidence to suggest it.

"But there definitely is a silence," he said, recalling that then prime minister Manmohan Singh appeared on national television on November 27, 2008, one day after terrorists struck Mumbai in what has come to be known as the 26/11 terror siege.

"Manmohan Singh... called for calm and called for ensuring that there is no attempt to take the law in one's own hands, that there will be no selective targeting of a particular community," he said.

While the scale of the 26/11 attack was far greater than the Pulwama bombing, the people of Jammu and Kashmir were experiencing the fallout, he said.

"It would not have been unfair to expect our current PM to take out a leaf from Manmohan Singh... and appeal to the country to not do this. This is a prime minister who has said those who criticise the new train should be punished.

"For some reason, criticising a train is more worrisome to our prime minister than assaulting and demonising an entire community. Now this is a prime minister, whose priorities, I am sorry, I fail to understand," he said.

Asked about the timing of the attacks on Kashmiris, Abdullah said it would be shortsighted on his part to suggest the forthcoming elections have nothing to do with it.

Responding to a question on whether the Congress was keeping silent due to elections, Abdullah said he hoped that was not the case.

"To my mind that would be a great disservice to this country. The country needs an alternative to the BJP, not BJP's B-team. I would expect and hope the Congress and all other like minded parties and right minded parties take a strong stand against this systematic targeting of Kashmiris," he said.

According to Abdullah, talks with Pakistan cannot be held in the backdrop of attacks such as the one in Pulwama.

"They (the Pakistan prime minister and administration) may offer dialogue but talks cannot be held in the backdrop of Pulwama like attacks. You (Pakistan) need to take some concrete measures there," he said.

Referring to Modi's comments of stern action after the Pulwama attack, Abdullah said such a response was not possible in the current scenario.

"Our PM has talked about a 'muh tod jawab' but such a reply is not possible in the current situation... Particularly now with the Pakistani PM having said that not only will Pakistan think of responding but will respond."



Referring to the withdrawal of security to 155 political persons, including separatists, he said, I am not aware of anybody misusing security."



"Security was provided by successive governments based to threat perception. Two prominent separatist leaders who at some point of time advocated dialogue were killed by militants. Withdrawing security to mainstream political activists will prevent them from occupying the political space. I have already said this is a regressive step and should be reviewed. Else, we will go to court," he added.

Abdullah also criticised Meghalaya Governor Tathagatha Roy for backing the boycott of "everything Kashmiri" and said it was unfortunate.

Citing attacks in Chhattisgarh, he said no one called for punishing people in the state.

"... Why are we being punished? Just because we are the only Muslim majority state in the country?" Abdullah asked.

Incidents of selective targeting of Kashmiris will lead to further alienation of people in the state, he warned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There is no pucca road nor in the tribal village of Tangiriapal of this district but drip has reached the small and marginal farmers here, helping them to harvest round the year and get better returns.

In fact, tribal farmers in 68 villages of Harichandanpur block, who were highly dependent on monsoon and were harvesting hardly one crop a year, are taking advantage of drip and growing crops for commercial purpose.

Drip is a method of controlled irrigation in which is slowly delivered to plants, which results in efficient use of and fertiliser.

Many tribes who were selling their crops in a local haat at lower rates have started marketing their produce at higher prices in a nearby mandi for the first time ever in their lives and becoming 'lakhpati kisans'.

"I have 4 acres of land. I have cultivated chilli using drip irrigation in less than half acre, while paddy in a traditional way. The chilli crop is fetching me good returns," Babla Hasda from Tangiriapal village told

So far, Hasda has sold about 35 quintals of chilli for around Rs 1,05,000 at an average rate of Rs 3,000 per quintal.

"I have saved Rs 25,000 after spending on crop inputs, repaying loan and other expenses. I have liquid money from chilli crop now," he said.

For Hasda, a visit to the nearby mandi for the first time was a mind-altering experience where he learnt how the agri-produce was weighed accurately on a digital weighing machine and sold instantly to traders at higher rate.

"Earlier, we were scared to grow crops in bulk as we were unaware of any mandi nearby. About 11 farmers have grown chilli for the first time using drip irrigation in 3 acres of land. We are getting better price," Hasda said.

According to Tangiriapal Village Association Secretary Sumitra Kudu, the transformation in the village was possible because of the training and handholding support from the Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiative (CInI), an associated organisation of Tata Trusts.

After learning about drip irrigation technique from an exposure visit organised by CInI, 11 families adopted drip irrigation in three acre of farm land in Kotagati hamlet (comprising 53 households) of Tangiriapal.

The cost of drip irrigation for one acre was Rs 1 lakh, of which paid 50 per cent, while the rest was borne by the farmers, Kudu said.

Stating that 24 more farmers are now keen to try drip irrigation this year, Kudu said, "More farmers are encouraged after seeing 16 farmers becoming lakhpatis in our hamlet. These farmers are saving Rs 1 lakh a year after spending on crop inputs and other expenses."



Similar success was seen in Gaduan and Nipania villages in Harichandanpur block.

Interestingly, women tribal farmers are taking the lead in all 68 villages where is operating directly and indirectly through local NGOs.

"We focused on empowering one women in each family as we realised they work the most, both at home and in farm fields. Once women are trained, they will bring change in their families," spokesperson Ganesh Neelam said.

Since many of 68 villages did not have electricity, diesel and solar based systems were used to operate the drip for which partial funding was provided by CInI, he added.

"As a result, about 1,000 families out of 6,500 families in 68 villages of Harichandanpur block are earning minimum Rs 1,00,000 a year, becoming lakhpati kisans," Neelam said.

Earlier, the average income of these farmers was Rs 35,000-40,000 a year. In some places, the income was as meagre as Rs 15,000 a year, he added.

Sharing her success story, a woman farmer Binija Singh said, "We were mostly engaged as labour in farm fields. Men in the family used to decide what crop to grow. My husband made fun of me when I started getting actively involved in farming."



She took the challenge and went for drip and mulching method in one tenth of an acre land and earned Rs 40,000, proving to her husband that she too was a capable farmer.

"I have enough saving. I don't give my passbook to my husband. I travel 10 km to visit a bank," she said.

In neighbouring Nipania village, Sidhu Munda and his wife Parbhati Munda have not only gone for drip irrigation but also set up a plant nursery in a protected green house after an exposure visit to an Indo- unit in Karnal,

Stating that there is visible transformation in 68 villages, the CInI spokesperson said, "Our aim is to ensure the tribal farmers are able to manage without our help. We plan to phase out from these villages in next two years."



In some villages, farmers are still dependent on CInI for crop inputs and other linkages. Efforts are being made to make the tribal farmers strong so that they can carry forward the activities on their own, he added.

While many tribal farmers in 68 villages are emerging as 'lakhpati kisans', their grudge however is against the state government which has not only failed to provide pucca road and but also not implemented welfare schemes in the hinterland.

"The electric poles have been installed but there is no We are told we will get electricity after election. We are not going to vote this time," said a senior tribal farmer ahead of state assembly and general polls.

(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.)
Odisha Thursday witnessed a dawn-to-dusk strike called by a leading farmers' body and backed by the Congress as well the BJP to protest the state government's alleged lack of concern towards their demands.

Though the strike organised by Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) remained peaceful, the police picked up around 300 protesters from different parts of the state, including over 75 from the capital.

Normal life was affected as educational institutions, shops and business establishments were closed and vehicles remained off the roads during the 12-hour statewide strike.

The strike by farmers in Odisha ahead of the elections of the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly is considered politically significant, particularly keeping in view recent poll results in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the ruling BJP paid a heavy price mostly due to anger of the farming community.

"The strike was total and peaceful. The people have joined the strike spontaneously on their own and supported the cause of farmers," said NNKS convenor Akshay Kumar.

The BJP and the Congress also claimed that the strike was successful and a warning to the ruling BJD.

Coming down heavily on the BJD government in Odisha, Kumar said the farmers from across the state had earlier tried to hold convention in Bhubaneswar at least twice in a peaceful and democratic manner to express their grievances.

However, the state government used brute force and stopped farmers who were proceeding for the proposed meets, he said.

"Today's farmers' strike is just a trailer, full movie will be released during Assembly elections with the ouster of the BJD," OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik said in a statement.

BJP leader Lekhashree Samantsinghar said the strike was a reflection of the growing anger among the farmers community towards the BJD government.

Even as there was heavy force deployment in different places to maintain law and order, agitators hit the streets holding placards and raising anti-government slogans.

The agitating farmers blocked roads in the city as well on the national highways, prompting police to undertake preventive arrest of the farmers.

"We have made elaborate security arrangements to maintain law and order in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack," Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty told reporters.

Government offices continued to function with adequate attendance, but educational institutions, major shops and business establishments remained closed and public transport vehicles were off the roads.

Situation in Ganjam, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Angul, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Koraput and other districts remained by and large peaceful.

Kumar said the farmers were forced to go for the strike as the state government did not pay any heed to their demands of price, pension and prestige to cultivators.

He said farmers in the state demand minium support price (MSP) over their produces, social security allowance of Rs 5,000 per month and proper prestige in the society.

"While the farmers in neighburing Chhattisgarh get Rs 2500 per quintal of paddy as MSP, we in Odisha get Rs 1400 per quintal," pointed out one of the agitators holding the state government responsible for their plight.

The farmers' body has also rejected state government's KALIA scheme and instead demanded hike in MSP rate on paddy and other agricultural produces.

"We have been demanding price, pension and prestige for eight years and the government has attempted to mislead the peasants by announcing KALIA scheme which is not to end farmers woes," Kumar said.

While the farmers across the state staged the stir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed a function, marking the distribution of financial assistance under KALIA scheme for the farming community, in the western Odisha town of Bargarh.

"Though some people are observing bandh today, no one can stop the KALIA scheme," Patnaik said.

Odisha's Agriculture and Finance Minister S B Behera, however, termed the agitation as "unfortunate".

"It is unfortunate that the NNKS observed the strike despite repeated appeal from the government. The timing is very wrong as it is being observed a day before the annual high school examinations...

"The strike has put mental pressure on the students. It's even more saddening that two national political parties the BJP and the Congress have extended their support to the bandh," Behera said.

Earlier, the state government had requested the NNKS to defer their strke saying it will affect dispatch and movement of question papers to the centres for the HSC examinations beginning Friday.

However, Kumar termed the ground shown by government as frivolous and said there would be no problem in sending question papers as the authorities have decided that question papers should reach in the morning of the day of the examination itself.

The authorities of Utkal University and Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University said they postponed examinations scheduled for Thursday.

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The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday granted bail to DP Singh, the main accused in the Rs 300 crore NH-74 compensation scam.

Justice Manoj Tiwari granted bail to Singh, who has been languishing in jail since November 23, 2017. The bail application of co-accused builder Sudhir Chawla will be heard on March 1.

The charges against Singh and others in the scam are to be framed by the trial court on March 8.

Singh was the special land acquisition officer when the scam took place in the acquisition of land for the widening of NH-74 in Udham Singh Nagar district between 2011 and 2016.

Unearthed soon after the BJP government took over in the state in March 2017, the NH-74 scam is related to conversion of agricultural land as non-agricultural by officials to pay compensations many times more than deserved to chosen favourites.

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A new Information Technology bill proposed by the Nepal government has alarmed rights groups and IT entrepreneurs, who say the draft legislation is not in line with the administration's message about the Himalayan nation being open for foreign investment and could also stifle innovation in the country's emerging IT sector, a media report said Thursday.

The bill, which aims at replacing the existing Electronic Transaction Act (ETA), has been touted by the K P Sharma Oli government as the most comprehensive and clear bill to address the long-held concerns around IT management.

However, the critics of the bill say the vague language used in the provisions could mean more red tape for internet-based companies, The Kathmandu Post reported.

"The government needs to at least communicate with IT entrepreneurs before introducing such a bill because we are the ones who will have to deal with the challenges of implementing the rules they enact," Bhojraj Bhatta, the Net Max Technologies managing director and the Internet Service Providers' Association of Nepal president, was quoted as saying by the Post.

There is also a clause in the proposed IT bill which states that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be penalised "if they do not remove any content deemed illegal by any public body or the court as soon as possible".

This was another reservation some of the stakeholders from the private sector had when they were consulted on the drafting of the bill a few months ago.

"The possibility of being confronted in a situation where multiple public bodies flood ISPs with requests to remove anything they deem illegal would overwhelm these companies in more ways than one. We don't want the responsibility of actively filtering content forced on us with the fear of punishment hanging over us," said Binay Bohra, the MD of Vianet Communications, another ISP company.

"That is not what technical service providers like us do...What kind of internet will the people get if the ISPs start taking down sites one after another to safeguard their business and because of the fear of government reprisal?" he questioned.

IT entrepreneurs are also worried about the provisions in the bill which requires them to seek permission from the government to bring equipment into the country.

They complained about the increasing red tape saying their businesses might be adversely impacted if the government bodies dealing with permission aren't efficient.

"There is already a lot of restrictions for online ventures and pushing for more controls, like having to take multiple permissions, will only add to the hurdle," said Subash Sharma, the CEO of F1 Soft International, one of the largest financial technology companies in Nepal.

"You can't expect innovation amidst such regulations in every step of the way," he added.

Meanwhile, government authorities have defended the bill saying they are only trying to regulate those who might be misusing internet-based platforms.

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide daily weather reports for Mars, thanks the Red Planet's newest robotic resident, InSight, mission scientists announced Thursday.

"The InSight lander is close to the Martian equator -- just north of the equator -- so it is experiencing Martian winter," said Don Banfield, the mission's lead for the lander's Auxiliary Payload Subsystem (APSS).

APSS is a suite of meteorological sensors on the lander's deck that also helps with quake detection.

"For our mission, APSS will help us filter out noise in our data and know when we're seeing a Mars quake and when we aren't," said Banfield, a principal research scientist at Cornell University in the US.

"But by operating continuously, we'll also see a more detailed view of the weather than most surface missions, which usually collect data for just a few hours at a time," Banfield said in a statement.

Currently, Mars' northern hemisphere sits in winter -- the stormy season, researchers said.

"Since the lander is close to the equator, I did not think we would see any evidence of the storms that are 60-degrees north latitude, but we are already seeing evidence of the high and low pressure-signal waves that create weather on Mars," Banfield said.

"We can see those waves all the way down near the equator, as the waves are big enough that they have a signature. That was a surprise," he said in a statement.

The pressure signals oscillate every 2.5 sols (the name for days on Mars), and the waves are easier to predict as opposed to how pressure waves behave on Earth. One sol is about 24 hours, 39 minutes long.

"High and low pressure is indicative of the weather systems," Banfield said.

"Compared to Mars, Earth is pretty chaotic. Mars has a nearly perfect, smooth sinusoidal (up and down) waves -- it is a very regular seesaw guided by a metronome on Mars. On Earth, the pressure is guided by a hyperactive child," he said.

Mission scientists said the coldest temperatures -- as cold as minus 59 degrees Celsius -- occur at around 5 am local time. The warmest temperatures have been minus five degrees Celsius.

When the sun heats up the Martian surface, scientists have observed strong convective overturning.

"Think of a pot of water boiling -- the water is overturning vigorously. That happens on Mars, too," Banfield said.

"The atmosphere near the ground bubbles up like a buoyant plume of air. It happens on Earth, too, but you don't feel it as much. On Mars it happens with a lot more vigour," he said.

In another surprise, mission scientists are observing many "dust devils" -- those ghostly, low-pressure, tornado-like whirls of Martian soil.

"They spin at nearly 96 kilometres per hour. They do shake the lander, and we have seen a lot of that. They even tilt the ground, because we have such a sensitive seismometer," Banfield said.

"On Earth, the desert's dust devils would be likely 15 metres across and almost a kilometer tall. On Mars, they can be five to 10 kilometers tall. Big ones are 100 metres or more in diameter," he said.

The InSight craft landed on Mars in late November and is preparing to monitor the geologic interior of the planet.

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The Madhya Pradesh police Thursday donated Rs 7.50 crore to help the family members of the CRPF jawans, who laid down their lives in the Pulwama terror attack last week.

State Director General of Police (DGP) V K Singh handed over a cheque of Rs 7.50 crore to Chief Minister Kamal Nath in the latter's office, a public relation department official said.

The police personnel raised the funds from their salary, he said.

Forty CRPF jawans died when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist blew up his explosives-laden vehicle near the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

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US-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, the first batch of several to come, an Iraqi security official said Thursday.

The official said the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a "safe place" and being investigated.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the Kurdish-led Syrian fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, are holding more than 20,000 Iraqis suspected of IS membership in prisons in northern Syria.

The handover comes as the US-backed Syrian force is involved in a standoff over the final IS-held sliver of land in southeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.

Dozens of people, many of them women and children, were evacuated Wednesday from the group's tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, signaling an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants self-declared "caliphate" that once stretched across a third of both Syria and Iraq.

More evacuations of civilians were expected on Thursday.

Some 300 IS militants, along with hundreds of civilians believed to be mostly their families, have been under siege for more than a week in the tent camp in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria.

It was not immediately clear whether the 150 Iraqis repatriated late Wednesday were among those recently evacuated from Baghouz or militants who had been captured earlier. The SDF is holding more than 1,000 foreign fighters in prisons that it runs in northern Syria, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.

The SDF, and more recently President Donald Trump, have called on countries to take back their nationals but few want them back.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq will take back all Iraqi IS militants in Syria, as well as thousands of their family members Tuesday night's handover marks the biggest repatriation of militants so far.

The Baghouz enclave's recapture by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters would spell the territorial defeat of IS and allow Trump to begin withdrawing American troops from northern Syria, as he has pledged to do, opening a new chapter in Syria's eight-year civil war.

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Preparations are in full swing for the two-day national convention of the BJP's Kisan Morcha beginning here from February 23.

It will be inaugurated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, while Union Home minister Rajnath Singh will preside over the valedictory function on February 24.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address the farmers' rally on Sunday.

Covering 11 Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur division, the conclave will be addressed by Shah in presence of Home minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, BJP City president Rahul Srivastav said.

Modi will also inaugurate seven finished projects, including OPD of Ayush wing of under construction AIIMS.

On July 22, 2016, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of two key projects, AIIMS and a fertiliser factory in Gorakhpur.

Though AIIMS is under construction, the OPD of Ayush wing is set to be operational after its inauguration by PM Modi.

For this, recruitments of 11 doctors and staff have already been done in December and authorities of Jodhpur AIIMS, on temporary basis, have been assigned the task to operate it.

Among other projects which will be inaugurated by the PM include super specialty hospital building at BRD medical college with Rs 69.87 crores, 50 bed hostel at BRD with Rs 10.77 crores, 100 bed girls hostel with 11.85 crores, prisoner barracks with capacity of 200 inmates costing Rs 7.68 crores, Pipriach Sugar mill with 386.73 crores and Munderwa Sugar mill with 410 crores.

As per information, PM will lay foundation stone of eight projects including Rs 4816 crore Gorakhpur-Azamgarh link expressway, Rs 3100 crores Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG Gas line, Mohaddipur-Jungle Kaudia fourlane.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, president of the Kisan Morcha Virendra Singh Mast said that more than 8,000 persons are likely to attend the event.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya are also expected to participate, he said.

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Senior police officers of four Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit states attended an inter-state co-ordination meeting at Jeypore in Odisha on Thursday to chalk out strategy for smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.

Senior police officials from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Chhattisgarh and BSF attended the meeting which was chaired by Odisha's DIG (south-western range) Himansu Lal.

Officials said sharing of intelligence inputs and better coordination of forces including joint combing operations were discussed in details in the meeting.

"The present Maoist scenario in the region was assessed and discussion was held as to what steps required to be taken for free and fair election," said Lal.

SP (Koraput) Kanwar Vishal Singh said that regular follow up meetings will be conducted at DSP and inspector-in -charge levels of the respective police station areas and sensitive areas will be identified.

Sources said police officers from the three states have decided to focus on Maoist-hit areas like Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts in Andhra Pradesh, Malkangiri and Koraput districts in Odisha and Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.

As the Maoists have been giving frequent calls to boycott the polls, the focus should be on the security of the candidates, political workers, leaders and polling agents during campaign and also on election day, officials said.

On September 23 last year, Maoists had killed TDP MLA from Araku constituency in Andhra Pradesh, Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma in Visakhapatnam district.

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A three-member medical board Thursday carried out a post-mortem on the body of the Pakistani prisoner who was allegedly killed by fellow inmates at the Central Jail here.

Dr Nand Lal, who was part of the board of doctors from the government-run Sawai Man Singh Hospital, said the examination was conducted under the supervision of a judicial magistrate.

The post-mortem report will be submitted to the magistrate, he said.

The body of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who was serving a life sentence is kept at the mortuary and may be handed over to the Pakistan High Commission if it asks for it, police officials said.

On Wednesday, Pakistan had expressed concern over media reports on Shakrullah's murder.

Rupinder Singh, the inspector general in charge of prisons, said Shakrullah was allegedly murdered in the jail's tv room when the inmates fought over what channel to watch.

Initial reports said he was hit with a large stone.

A case of murder has been registered at the Lalkothi police station against four jail inmates Ajit, Manoj, Kulvendra and Bhajan Meena under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Shakrullah was lodged at Jaipur's Central Jail since 2011, after being shifted from a jail in Punjab.

He was accused of running a module involved in radicalising young people, with the support of Pakistan-based handlers.

The Pakistani national was brought to Rajasthan after the state's anti-terrorist squad sought to interrogate him on similar charges.

The Pakistani national was booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and in 2017 sentenced to imprisonment for life.

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A local court Thursday sentenced a real estate company owner to three years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually harassing his 17-year-old female assistant in 2014.

Additional Sessions court judge Bharti Kale held Umashankar Rao (37) guilty under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman) and awarded the sentence, additional public prosecutor Rakesh Tiwari said.

The victim had told the court that two days after she joined the office, Rao had asked her to come for work on May 18, 2014, which was a Sunday.

When she refused to come, he told her that some other colleagues would also be coming. However, when the girl reached the office, she found nobody except Rao there, Tiwari said.

The accused told her that he was going out and asked her to complete some work before he came back. The accused returned in the afternoon with a beer can, the prosecution told the court.

He then forced the girl to drink beer and started touching her inappropriately while also playing pornographic content on his laptop, the prosecution added.

Thereafter, he even tried to sexually assault her but she managed to escape, the prosecutor said.

The minor lodged a complaint with Worli police station the next day, the court was told.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday welcomed the move allowing paramilitary personnel deployed in Kashmir to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave but said it came when the current government had reached its "expiry date".

Without naming the BJP government, she accused it of ignoring intelligence inputs of the Home Ministry.

"It's better late than never. There was an intelligence input and the Home Ministry asked for permission for air lifting. That time they (Centre) did not allow... they did not care... If the doctor comes after the death then it will not help," Banerjee told reporters.

"When the expiry date is over and people have been killed and now you are taking decision," she claimed.

Banerjee accused the Centre of "total failure" in containing the mishap though there was an intelligence input and alleged it was "doing politics".

"They are a total failure. They are misusing the situation. When our jawans are getting killed, we are doing politics," she said.

Personnel of the paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley for counter-terror operations have been entitled by the government on Thursday to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

This includes, the order said, their journey for joining duty, transfer, tour or going on leave. Till now, officers in the rank of Inspectors and above were given this air travel facility.

As many as 65,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in the state as part of 65 battalions apart from units of the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Security Guard present in the Kashmir valley for rendering a variety of roles in the internal security grid.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday urged people to respect all languages, but take pride in their mother tongue.

She took to Twitter in the morning to extend her heartfelt greetings to all on the occasion of International Mother Language Day.

"Best wishes to all on International Mother Language Day. Respect all languages but take pride in your mother tongue," she tweeted.

International Mother Language Day is observed around the world on February 21 to promote awareness on linguistic and cultural diversity.

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Dolphin Democrats, the LGBT democratic group of Broward County, held its annual membership meeting and elections Wednesday. They also revealed their upcoming endorsements, and featured several guest speakers.

For outgoing president Scott Herman the current state of the Dolphin Democrats is quite an achievement considering just a year and half ago a motion to dissolve the organization was openly discussed. Since taking over in June 2017 membership has doubled to over 300.

The success of The LGBTA Dolphin Democratic Caucus was because of our communication and teamwork. And I would say everyones desire to grow the caucus into helping represent our community and holding our elected and appointed officials responsible, outgoing President Scott Herman told SFGN. I had promised that once the goals were met I would be stepping out. I had great directors. I gave them a lot of authority to carry out the tasks at hand.

Founded in 1982, The Dolphin Democrats is the oldest LGBT political organization in Florida.

President Herman led a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the mass-shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that happened on Feb. 14, 2018.

At the meeting Jason Gad, representing BAWN (Ban Assault Weapons Now), collected

signatures to place on the ballot a constitutional amendment to ban assault

weapons in Florida.

Suspended Sheriff Israel addressed the Dolphin Democrats as a guest speaker, memorializing the mass-shooting and defending his record as sheriff.

What weve achieved in the last year and a half has been amazing. It could not have been done without the teamwork from the then current board, Herman said. Im looking forward to seeing how the new board continues to grow the caucus.

Below are the election results:

Executive Board

President: Alfredo Olvera

Vice President: Nik Harris

Secretary: Aaron Darr

Treasurer: Adam Sabin

Directors

Emma Collum

Justin Proffitt

Lindsay Pollard

Paul Sparandera

Hillary Dougherty

Stephen Fuller

Their endorsements include:

Gloria Battle, Candidate for Deerfield Beach Commission Seat 2

Wayne Messam, Candidate for Mayor of Miramar

Nancy Metayer, Candidate for Mayor of Coral Springs
Mahatma Gandhi's lifestyle was a crucial lesson for the world facing the daunting challenge of global warming and climate change as he lived such a life that he did not leave any carbon footprint, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday.

Unveiling a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Modi said in the 20th Century, Mahatma Gandhi was "perhaps the mankind's biggest gift".

"In the last century through his personality, through his life and values, Mahatma Gandhi showed us what the future will be. In fact he used to say my life is my lesson," said the prime minister, who arrived here on Thursday on two-day visit.

"Mahatma Gandhi used to say the God and nature have given everything to fulfil a human being's need but not the greed. The natural resources are not enough if we want to satisfy our greed. He used to say our life should be need based and not greed based," Modi said.

He said that terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings and values can help the world address both the pressing issues.

"During Mahatma Gandhi's lifetime there was no discussion about climate change and environment, but the statesman led such a life that he did not leave any carbon footprint. He showed what living in harmony with nature is. He showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations."



"Gandhi used to say we don't have the right to take away the natural resources that belong to the future generations. We should leave a better world for them so that they could breath clean air, get clean water," the prime minister said.

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

After unveiling Mahatma Gandhi's bust, the prime minister met the mayor of South Korean city Gimhae and gifted him a Bodhi tree sapling as a mark of close ties between the two countries.

An agreement was signed in 2000 by the two countries to develop Ayodhya and Gimhae as sister cities, following which a memorial was constructed in Ayodhya which is visited by a large number of tourists from South Korea every year.

People in South Korea believe that 2,000 years ago, an Ayodhya princess had married Korean King Kim Suro. At present, their descendants are members of the Crock Clan'.

Members of India-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group also called on the prime minister and discussed the role of Parliament in improving bilateral relations.

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Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain Thursday claimed that the entire country wants revenge against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack but leaders of 'Mahagathbandhan' don't want "stern action" against Pakistan.

Jain, who is the VHP international joint general secretary, also cautioned the Centre about Saudi Arabia, saying "its role in dealing with terror is not unquestionable".

"We should teach such a lesson to Pakistan that it doesn't forget in days to come. We think there should be a final and ultimate war against Pakistan," he told reporters here.

Hitting out at the opposition, Jain said when the country is united, the leaders of the "so called Mahagathbandhan" are opposing stern action against Pakistan and are calling for peace.

"Their real intentions can be understood from this," he said.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the airport when that country has not named Pakistan while condemning the terror attacks, Jain said "We should not forget that the role of that country (Saudi Arabia) is not unquestionable when it comes to dealing with terror".

The visit comes days after a suicide bomber belonging to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Terrorism and extremism are "common concerns" and Saudi Arabia will extend all cooperation to India and other countries in the region to deal with them, Saudi Crown Prince said on Wednesday after holding extensive talks with Modi.

The Congress had slammed the PM for receiving the Saudi Crown Prince at the airport and had asked whether according a grand welcome to "those who praised" Pakistan's "anti-terror efforts" was the PM's way of remembering the Pulwama attack martyrs.

On Kashmiris being allegedly attacked in various parts of the country after the Pulwama attack, Jain said when the entire country is angry over it, Kashmiri youths are making statements against the security forces which has not gone down well with the people of the country.

A Kashmiri shawl trader was beaten up by a mob in West Bengal's Nadia district and one person has been arrested in this connection, police said Wednesday.

A Kashmiri doctor, who has been living in the city for last 22 years, was also allegedly asked to leave the city by some youths.

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An industrial court in the city has indicted the workers' union of automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra for various financial transactions between 2010 and 2012 in violation of labour laws, including payment of money to a trust founded by NCP leader Sachin Ahir.

In an order passed on February 1, tribunal member J L Gandhi held that the union had made several financial transactions in violation of the trade union laws and directed it to recover the money paid to certain private bodies "without any justification".

The tribunal directed the union to recover over Rs 50 lakh from various organisations, including Sankalp Pratishthan, founded by Mumbai Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ahir.

The tribunal was hearing a petition filed by an expelled union member, Ravindra Hatim.

The petitioner had challenged his expulsion from the union in 2014, alleging that he was expelled for raising objections to the union's ways of functioning and financial dealings, particularly regarding the donations and honorary payments made to Sankalp Pratishthan and other organisations.

While the tribunal refused to hold Hatim's expulsion as illegal and get him reinstated, it noted that the union had been flouting laws.

"Going through the cross-examination of witnesses, it appears that they (the union) have paid certain amounts to Sachin Ahir, Sankalp Pratishthan or towards Mahindra Holidays at Lonavala, but no justification was given and it was revealed that the expenditures were not approved by the general body of the union," the tribunal said.

"The applicant has failed to prove that his expulsion from the union's membership is illegal and void, but succeeded to prove that the managing committee of the opponent union misused the union's funds for purposes other than that stipulated or enumerated in the aims and objects of the union.

"Nearly Rs 50 lakh were paid out of the union's funds to Sankalp Pratishthan and other societies, but no explanation was given as to how and under what capacity it was paid," it added.

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BJP president Amit Shah Thursday asserted that victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was crucial not only for the party, but also for the country, as 55 years of Congress rule could not protect India.

Addressing BJP 'Shakti Kendra Pramukhs' at nearby Devanahalli, he said intrusions into the country had been going on since 1970, but no one took any action.

"After we came to power we brought NRC. Congress, JDS, Communists, Mamata and Rahul Baba don't want to drive the intruders away.

They see them as vote banks. For us, they are not. They are a threat to the nation," Shah said.

Shah appealed to the people to pave the way for formation of the BJP-led government in 2019 and said that in five years, it would identify each intruder and drive them away.

In Assam alone, 40 lakh intruders had been identified, he added.

Shah slammed the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance against BJP), calling it an unholy alliance devoid of any ethics or morality.

"Nobody knows who's their prime ministerial candidate. Even Deve Gowda Ji wants to be Prime Minister. They don't have any ideology or ethics.

This grand alliance cannot take the nation forward, cannot protect India, cannot materialise the dream of youth and cannot make India Vishwa Guru," Shah said.

He also took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for 'misleading' the farmers.

Shah said the UPA government in 10 years rule waived farm loan once,benefiting only three crore farmers with a budgetary provision of Rs 53,000 crore



The BJP government, on the other hand, brought in a scheme benefiting 13 crore to 15 crore farmers with a budgetary allocation of Rs 75,000 crore every year, he said.

"Our government will give Rs 7.5 lakh crore in 10 years to farmers. This simple maths Rahul Gandhi doesn't know.

He doesn't even know whether potatoes grow beneath the earth, above the earth or in factories.

He said in Uttar Pradesh that he will set up a potato factory in the state. Don't know who writes speech copies for him," Shah said, as the crowd burst into laughter.

Mocking the Karnataka Congress-JDS coalition government, Shah said"There's a 2.5 CM govt in Karnataka, where CM is a clerk; Siddaramaiah is super CM and Parameshwara is half CM. This cannot take the state forward."



Siddaramaiah is a former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader and his party colleague Parameshwara is the deputy chief minister.

He asked the people to give a clear mandate in the Lok Sabha polls so that a "Karnataka-like situation" is not replicated at the Centre.

Following dissensions within the ruling Congress-JDS coalition, the BJP has alleged that there is political instability in Karnataka.

The combine, on the other hand, has accused the saffron party of trying to topple the government.

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The BJP, which has inked a pre- poll alliance with the Shiv Sena, is likely to replace its five sitting MPs in Maharashtra in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to various reasons, including their performance, sources in the party said Thursday.

As for the Sena, its MP Anandrao Adsul may not be able to contest the upcoming elections due to his health condition, sources said.

"The BJP, which currently has 22 Lok Sabha members in Maharashtra, is set to bring in maximum changes as at least five sitting MPs are unlikely to get another chance in the 2019 general elections," a senior party functionary said.

Some of the reasons for changing the sitting MPs include their shortcomings, their performance in Parliament as well as during the various events organised by the party in the last five years, the BJP leader said.

"Kirit Somaiya (Mumbai North East), Anil Shirole (Pune), Sharad Bansode (Solapur), Sunil Gaikwad (Latur) and Dilip Gandhi (Ahmednagar) are the five sitting Lok Sabha MPs, who are likely to be replaced," the party leader added.

Somaiya has been facing a stiff opposition from the Shiv Sena for his continued tirade against party president Uddhav Thackeray and his family, the BJP functionary said.

Sena workers have already opposed the candidature of Somaiya and also warned of voting against him if he is renominated, he said.

"The other (four) MPs are mostly facing anti- incumbency as despite the BJP getting a strong mandate (in 2014), their presence was not felt in their respective constituencies," another BJP leader said.

Maharashtra accounts for the second highest Lok Sabha seats - 48 - after Uttar Pradesh, which has 80.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two saffron parties along with their allies had won 42 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra. The BJP had bagged 23 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in 18 constituencies. The BJP later lost a Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll.

Asked about the benefits of joining hands with the Sena, which has been constantly criticising the BJP and its central leadership, the BJP office-bearer said, "Both the parties have their dedicated cadres, which means those voters will always vote for the party nominated candidates."



"The alliance also means both the parties will get each others' votes. We have secured at least 70,000 to 1,20,000 votes in each constituency at present because of this alliance.

"These are dedicated party voters. Even if we change the sitting candidates, these people will still vote for the party. This way, the alliance has brought some comfort to both the parties," the official said.

Adsul, the Lok Sabha MP from Amravati, is likely to be replaced because of health reasons.

"If Anandrao personally communicates to the Sena leadership his inability to contest the elections, the available option before the party would be someone from his family. If he is to be replaced, the party may field someone from his family," a Sena leader said.

The opposition Congress had won just two Lok Sabha seats in 2014 - Nanded (Ashok Chavan) and Hingoli (Rajiv Satav).

This time, Chavan's wife Ameeta, the MLA from Bhokar constituency in Nanded, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from her husband's seat, party sources said.

Party workers from Nanded had earlier urged Chavan, a former chief minister, to contest the Assembly elections scheduled later this year instead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the Maharashtra Congress confirmed that Satav may be given another chance this year.

The NCP, which had won four seats, is also going to replace a few of the MPs.

Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, the MP from Madha constituency in Solapur district, will make way for NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has decided to contest the election from there.

It is also not certain whether NCP MP Dhananjay Mahadik, who represents the Kolhapur seat, will be contesting the election on the party's ticket as there are reports he may join the BJP.

"He has been in touch with BJP leader Chandrakant Patil ever since he got elected to the Lok Sabha. With BJP- Sena alliance (now in place), he can easily win the seat if he joins the BJP or the Sena," a BJP leader from Kolhapur said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal Thursday rapped the Haryana government for extending time limit for adoption of Zig Zag technology for running of the brick kilns in the state, saying it was killing people for making money.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel slammed the state government for not monitoring the air quality and asked why it should not stay the operation of impugned order till further orders.

"Did you check the air quality before issuing extension orders. You are killing people for making money. How can you exercise your power in such a manner, don't you owe any duty towards people. You have no concern for people," the bench observed.

The tribunal has posted the matter for hearing on April 5.

During the hearing, the lawyer appearing for the state government told the tribunal that extension of the time limit for the adoption of the Zig Zag technology has been done in non-NCR regions.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Haryana residents Dinesh Chahal and others challenging the December 7, 2018 order issued by Director of Food, Civil supplies and Consumers Affairs of the state government extending time limit for adoption of Zig Zag technology for running of the brick kilns from September 30, 2018 to July 31, 2019.

According to the applicants, brick kilns contribute to air pollution which affects public health.

It is alleged in the plea that 28,965 person lost their life in Haryana due to air pollution and longevity of life has been reduced.

"The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued direction on December 30, 2015 that in Delhi and NCR region, natural draft brick kilns with Zig Zag technology be introduced. The Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) also asked the NCR States to use Zig Zag technology for brick kilns during the winter of 2017-2018," the plea said.

"The state of Haryana has been extending the time prescribed by the CPCB illegally and has now passed the impugned order," it said.

In Zig Zag kilns, bricks are arranged to allow hot air to travel in a zigzag path which results in better mixing of air and fuel allows complete combustion, reducing coal consumption by about 20 per cent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ex-Soviet Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev dismissed the government on Thursday, complaining that "positive changes were not achieved" in the oil-rich state's economy.

"In many areas of the economy, despite the adoption of many laws and government decisions, positive changes have not been achieved," the long-ruling Nazarbayev said in a statement on the presidential website.

While some ministers and deputy ministers are likely to be reinstated, the decision marks the end of Bakytzhan Sagintayev's premiership, which began in 2016.

The 55-year-old was viewed by some analysts as part of a leadership transition in the country, which 78-year-old Nazarbayev has ruled over for close to three decades.

Nazarbayev's statement comes amid rising dissatisfaction in Kazakhstan, whose commodity-dependent economy has struggled to recover from a 2014 plunge in oil prices and Western sanctions against key trade partner Russia.

"GDP growth is mainly achieved due to raw materials," Nazarbayev said in the statement.

"But the government together with the National Bank did not manage to fully create real incentives and tools for high-quality growth of the economy."



Nazarbayev also criticised the government for failing to realise government programmes aimed at boosting living standards.

"The real incomes of the population have not increased. The share of food expenses in the family budget is growing," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of Kashmiris being targeted in some parts of the country in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday appealed to state governments to ensure that students from the Valley are treated well and their efforts to join the mainstream encouraged.

Several incidents were reported from various parts of the country in which Kashmiri people were targeted after the February 14 Pulwama terror strike which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Azad said as a representative of Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament and belonging to that state, he was saddened by reports that in Agra a hotel put up a board saying Kashmiris are not allowed to stay.

"This used to happen during the British rule. But this has happened for the first time in Independent India," he said, adding, people from all regions and religions are standing with the Army following the Pulwama terror attack.

"I want that no political party, individual or section taking advantage of the terror attack, indulges in of religion," Azad said.

He appealed to people to treat Kashmiris who come for trade, business or for studies, well as they want to be a part of the mainstream.

"Those students who have come from Kashmir for studies, it means that they don't want to be part of terrorism, it means that they don't want to become terrorists, they want to study and join the country's mainstream. It means that they condemn terrorism, they reject the appeal and money of terrorists," the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.

"I would appeal state governments that in their educational institutions they should not just issue advisories, but send people to colleges and explain to students to help Kashmiris join the mainstream," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"Empire" star Jussie Smollett has been charged by the Chicago police for filing a false police report.

The charges stem from a January 29 incident where Smollett had claimed that he was attacked by two men while leaving a restaurant in Chicago.

The actor alleged that the suspects shouted racial and homophobic slurs before they attacked him.

However, it was later reported that the actor may have been misleading the police, who believed that he may have paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack.

On Thursday, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted, "Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report."



"Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest," he added.

The crime carries a felony charge, and if Smollett is found guilty he could face up to three years in prison and up to USD 25,000 in fines.

Smollett had earlier denied the Chicago police claims that he paid two Nigerian brothers to attack him.

After the actor was charged, his lawyers Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, released a statement in their client's defense, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Like any other citizen, Mr Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked," they said.

"Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense," they added.

In an earlier statement, Smollett's attorneys had said the actor is "angered and devastated" over the recent reports that the investigators believe he may have paid the men to carry out the attack himself.

"As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with.

"He has now been further victimised by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying," his attorneys had said.

The actor, who was hospitalised for his injuries, had told the police that the attackers yelled pro-"Make America Great Again" (MAGA) comments during the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
JK Cement Thursday said it will invest around Rs 450 crore to set up two grinding units for grey cement in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

The company will invest Rs 250 crore on a grinding unit in Balasinor, Gujarat which will have an annual production capacity of 0.7 MTPA (million tonne per annum) on completion, it said in a statement.

The foundation stone for the grinding unit was laid on Thursday. The company expects the unit to become operational by Jan-Mar next year.

It has also earmarked Rs 200 crore for a grinding unit at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, it said.

JK Cement also plans to invest in capacity expansion of its existing units in Rajasthan. It has already announced a capex of Rs 2,000 crore to enhance its grey cement production by 4.2 MTPA.

"This ceremony today marks a key milestone in JK Cement's journey, given that it's our first foray into Gujarat by way of a manufacturing unit," JK Cement Special Executive Raghavpat Singhania said.

With the expansion in Gujarat and Aligarh along with the brownfield investments in Rajasthan, JK Cement's total capacity of grey cement is projected to touch around 15 MTPA by March 2020.

With grey cement plants in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Haryana, the company currently has an installed grey cement capacity of 10.5 MPTA.

Shares of JK Cement Thursday ended marginally down at Rs 710.80 apiece on the BSE.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Add 10 more names to the list of more than a dozen who have left the Broward Sheriff's Office since Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced Sheriff Scott Israel last month with Gregory Tony.

This weeks dismissals include a captain who got into trouble last year over a homophobic Facebook post and the community outreach team he oversaw. Collectively, they made nearly $850,000 annually, records show.

With any new administration there comes changes, Tony said in an emailed statement.

Capt. Ira Goldberg, 49, had been with the Sheriffs Office since December 1990. His termination form, dated Wednesday, cited services no longer retained. He earned $161,269.90 in 2018, records show.

Responding to a torrent of acrimonious criticism of ex-Sheriff Scott Israels leadership and his forces response to last years massacre of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, DeSantis on Jan. 11 announced that Israel was out and Tony was in.

After an internal affairs investigation over a comment Goldberg directed toward the openly gay vice president of the countys Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ political group, the captain was disciplined with a one-day suspension for violating his agencys social media policy, documents show.

Inferring that the clubs vice president had hired people to protest against then-Sheriff Israel, Goldbergs post said: I hope you offered them money instead of sexual favors. Those men deserve better.

Goldbergs departure is the latest in a string of resignations, demotions, dismissals and promotions in Tonys ongoing purge of Israels staff. The agency has nearly 5,500 employees.

The day after Tony was appointed, five members of Israels command staff, including several the ex-sheriff had recruited from his former agency the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, had turned in resignation or retirement paperwork.

They were Col. John Jack Dale, Undersheriff Steve Kinsey, Maj. Kevin Shults, Maj. Chadwick Wagner and Col. James Polan.

Joining Goldberg as newly unemployed is his team of nine civilians from the community outreach team created by Israel.

They are the teams manager Elgin Jones, Patricia Lynn as special projects coordinator and seven liaisons: Michael Albetta, Lorraine Aza, Charles Gilbert, Stephen Greenberger, Patrick Jabouin, Lynn Reich and Lorraine Smith.

Their termination forms, dated Friday, said they were let go due to layoff/reduction in force.

Tonys decision to dissolve the community outreach team was made in tandem with command staff comprised of veteran law enforcement professionals with a vast amount of institutional knowledge who were employed to formulate our mission moving forward, the sheriff said Friday via email.

His thinking, Tony explained, was returning community outreach to district deputies, who have traditionally held that responsibility due to their intimate familiarity with the communities they serve.

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.

Also let go since Tony became sheriff have been Col. Frank Adderley, Fort Lauderdales former chief of police. Adderley was with FLPD for 36 years and came up through the ranks there with Israel, who brought him to the Sheriffs Office in 2016.

Another former Fort Lauderdale cop, Jonathan Appel, also lost his job with the sheriffs office.

The list of the terminated also includes Chief of Staff Lisa Castillo, her husband, Angelo Castillo, who was director of strategic planning and research, Community Affairs Manager Wallace Eccleston, who is the husband of Israels campaign manager, Amy Rose, and Kimberly Andor, an administrative assistant.

Col. Tom Harrington resigned, Maj. Nathan Osgood retired, Russell DiPerna left as an executive officer and the agencys general counsel, Ron Gunzburger, who helped get Israel elected, has announced that he will leave in mid-March to work for the governor of Maryland.

At least 10 agency veterans have been promoted by Tony.
Crisis-hit Jet Airways Thursday convened a meeting of its shareholders where various proposals, including conversion of loans into shares, were discussed.

The cash-strapped full service airline is looking for funds and restructuring of debt.

Jet Airways founder promoter and Chairman Naresh Goyal did not attend the extraordinary general meeting, which was chaired by Whole-Time Director Gaurang Shetty.

During the meeting, which lasted for around 40 minutes, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Amit Agarwal told shareholders that the airline has been talking to various investors for capital infusion.

Jet Airways has been consistently working on cost-reduction initiatives and is also looking to rationalise its fleet to improve cost efficiency.

The outcome of the meeting could not be ascertained immediately.

According to the notice that was sent out to shareholders, one of the proposals was for seeking approval for conversion loan into shares or convertible instruments or other securities.

Another proposal was to negotiate and finalise the terms and conditions with the lenders for raising further loans from time to time as well as provide the lenders with a right to convert such loans into shares, or convertible instruments or other securities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Noted economist H M Desarda Thursday criticised the BJP-led Maharashtra government's flagship 'Jalyukt Shivar' water conservation scheme, saying it was a "contractor-driven money harvesting programme" that is causing "huge ecological destruction" across the river basins.

Addressing a press conference here, Desarda, a former member of the Maharashtra State Planning Board, said the acute water famine in rural Maharashtra was not just because of the deficient monsoon, but also due to the failure of the public policy and lack of management of water resources.

"Jalyukt Shivar is not a water harvesting scheme, but a contractor-driven money harvesting programme," he said.

Terming the scheme as unscientific, he alleged that the bluff has been exposed by the nature itself.

He said the scheme was causing a huge ecological destruction as heavy machinery has been deployed to carry out works across the river basins.

According to Desarda, a conference on water famine in rural Maharashtra was held in Aurangabad on February 9 and a copy of the resolutions adopted there was sent to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on February 17.

"Drought is a part of the nature's cycle, while famine is failure of policies," he said, adding that the Fadnavis government had come to power promising to set the water sector right.

"However, the government was insensitive towards the needs of the toiling people," Desarda said.

He urged the state government to reserve the available surface water storage and ground water for drinking purpose only and use excess sugarcane for fodder as part of immediate measures to tackle the "water famine" in rural areas.

Desarda said there has been excess production of sugarcane, which is a "water guzzling" crop.

"Instead of giving the sugarcane crop for crushing, the government should purchase it from farmers and use it as fodder," he said.

Desarda said as the vice president of Maharashtra State Drought Mitigation and Famine Eradication Board, a civil society NGO, he toured 30 districts between October 2018 and February 2019 and found that rural Maharashtra was reeling under acute drinking water shortage.

"However, at the same time, sugarcane crop spread across 12 lakh hectare is ready for crushing. One hectare of sugarcane requires 3 crore litres of water annually, which is the need of 1,000 people per year," he said.

Desarda added that water required for sugarcane in 12 lakh hectares would have satisfied the drinking water needs of 120 crore people.

He said of the 20 million rural populace, especially poor peasants and landless labourers in the state, 50 lakh are in Marathwada, who need jobs due to crop failure.

"These people must be provided work under Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and if there is no employment, they must be given a livelihood guarantee of Rs 500 per day," he said.

Desarda also called for streamlining of the public distribution system (PDS) and providing educational facilities for children of drought-affected farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran's navy says it will hold an annual drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz as pressure mounts on the country months after the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its vital oil sector.

The strait is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a third of all oil traded at sea passing through it.

Iranian Adm. Hossein Khanzadi told state TV on Thursday the 3-day maneuvers will start on Friday and extend as far as the Sea of Oman and the fringes of the Indian Ocean.

He said submarines, warships, helicopters and surveillance planes will participate in the drill, dubbed as "Velayat-97."



The exercise will include missile launches from the vessels.

Iran regularly holds maneuvers in the strait.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nagaland Governor P B Acharya Thursday said the state government has decided to make Inner Line Permit (ILP) applicable throughout the state, including the commercial hub of Dimapur.

"ILP will be made applicable to the entire state including Dimapur and we are committed to streamline the system of issuing ILPs to ensure that no illegal immigrant is able to come to Nagaland," Acharya said in his address on the first day of the state Assembly budget session.

Under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1853, non Nagas should have ILP in order to visit the state of Nagaland but Dimapur district was not included under the provisions.

The governor said "while the government will be taking all legal and administrative steps to ensure this, we would also need active support of civil society, village councils and people in achieving this objective."



He said that while Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was of serious concern to all sections, "we are also aware of the threat that is posed to our society by illegal migrants in the state."



Accordingly, he said, the government had set up a committee to suggest measures to strengthen the existing system of issue of ILP in the state as well as to recommend modalities to check influx of illegal migrants.

The committee has submitted its report and the government has accepted the same and has directed to ensure framing of rules and guidelines for its implementation, he said.

The strengthened ILP system will be able to ensure that no illegal immigrants will be able to enter our state, he said.

Acharya said that faced with the challenge of the proposed CAB, the Nagaland government had opposed and rejected the bill and likewise in a consultative meeting with mass based organisations, civil societies, tribal hohos, NGOs and political parties on January 31, the CAB was out-rightly rejected.

On the unresolved Naga political issue, the governor said "With the concerted efforts of the Tribal Hohos and mass based civil society organisations, the church, NGOs and the Naga national political groups (NNPGs), the different groups (Naga factions) have now come together and this seems to be the most opportune time for the Naga political groups to resolve the decades old Naga political imbroglio ... "



The governor also appreciated the efforts made by the Centre for ensuring that "we move closer to a solution that is inclusive, honourable and acceptable to Nagas."



On government functioning, Acharya said "my government has decided that with focus on transparency and good governance, we will ensure accountability of government to the people."



Towards this objective, he said the government has appointed Lokayukta for the state, which will go a long way in tackling corruption and ensuring fair play and justice.

The CM Dashboard gives real time information about key parameters and schemes of various departments, he said.

Stating that ensuring proper health care for all people is an important priority of his government, Acharya said the state government has signed an MoU for establishment of a National Centre for Disease Control Branch at Dimapur.

"We are an agrarian society and our key focus has been to ensure doubling of farmers incomes with special thrust organic farming, horticulture, animal husbandry, coffee production and sericulture," he said.

Nagaland lives in the villages and rural development with creation of jobs and strengthening of rural infrastructure is a must for our economy to grow in an equitable manner, he said.

Highlighting some of the achievements of his government of the past one year along with the policies and programmes to be taken up in the coming year, the governor said "we are confident that with firm policies, we will be able to usher in all round development in the state".

The governor also expressed hope that the elected members of the House, as peoples representative will ensure they come together, in a constructive manner, leaving behind narrow political interests, and work hand in hand for the welfare of the state.

Advisor for Power, H Tovihoto Ayemi moved the motion of thanks to the Governors address while N Bongkhao Konyak seconded.

Deputy Speaker Zhaleo Rio announced that discussion and adoption of the motion thanks on the address will be taken up Friday.

The House also observed two-minute silence in remembrance of sitting member of the House Late Imtikumzuk and former MLA Late K Yamakam. Both of them passed away in September and November last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A strictly vegetarian Indian-origin man has spoken of his shock and anger after he ended up taking a bite out of a beef pizza in a restaurant mix-up in the Midlands region of England.

Abhishek Bhartiya was at a Pizza Hut in Nottingham with wife Prerna Goel when they opted for the buffet option, which included vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The staff assured them that all pizzas with a green spatula were vegetarian, which turned out not to be the case.

"I had never eaten meat in my life until this moment and it has left me very upset. It is shocking that this could have happened," Bhartiya, a software engineer, told the local 'Nottingham Post' newspaper on Wednesday.

"I am very troubled by the fact I ate beef. It is the very sentiment of my religion not to eat beef as we worship cows," said the devout Hindu.

The couple told a member of staff straight away and felt so upset by the incident that they decided they could not eat there any more and had to leave, despite paying for their meal.

Bhartiya said: "I can see that the handles must have been switched accidentally but they told me so convincingly that the green handles were all vegetables.

"I want other people to know that they should be more aware as this system clearly isn't 100 per cent perfect. I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else."



A Pizza Hut Restaurants spokesperson said they were aware of the incident and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

"On our buffet station, we separate our vegetarian pizzas and meat pizzas and also use colour-coded spatulas to make it as clear as possible. Our staff regularly check our buffet station, but in this instance a green spatula indicating a vegetarian pizza had been moved," the spokesperson said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has decided to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, a move seen as an immediate fallout of deadly terrorist attack that killed 40 paramilitary personnel in south Kashmir.

Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted to convey the decision of the government to stop India's share of water going to Pakistan.

But the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop such flow, officials said insisting it decision was in no way a violation of the Treaty and was only aimed at getting the rightful due to people of the country.

Under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, the waters of the western rivers -- the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab -- was given to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers -- the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej -- to India.

India's share of water from Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of the water was being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to 5 per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said.

Another official said the decision was taken two months back.

Water to Pakistan from the three rivers has been flowing for 60 years while the country needs the same to meet needs of its citizens, they said insisting stopping of its share of water from going to Pakistan is in no way a violation of the Treaty.

"Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Gadkari said in a tweet.

He further said, "The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states."



Gadkari's tweets have come barely a week after the gruesome Pulwama terror attack on February 14 in which as many as 40 CRFP personnel were martyred when a terrorist rammed an explosives laden vehicle into a bus carrying them. New Delhi believes the attack was planned and supported by elements in Pakistan.

Following the attack, the government revoked the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan and also imposed 200 per cent customs duty on all goods imported from the neighbouring country.

"We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna ... After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan. Now we will build three projects on them, and diver the water to river Yamuna," Gadkari has said yesterday at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh while addressing a public rally.

The Union Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam project on the Ravi river in Punjab, a move that was intended to help India arrest its share of water flowing into Pakistan.

For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 was also announced.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus waters. According to the Treaty, India got the full rights for utilisation of waters of the three eastern rivers -- Ravi, Beas and Satluj.

"Some of the water of the Ravi river at present is going waste through the Madhopur Headworks downstream to Pakistan. Implementation of the project would minimise such wastage of water," the government has said in a statement.

In September 2018, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments had signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpurkandi project.

Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by J-K.

The Punjab government also submitted a revised cost estimate of Rs 2,793.54 crore and requested the Centre to include the project in the prioritised list of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)/Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) projects.

The project, when implemented, will enable the up-stream Ranjit Sagar Dam project power station to act as a peaking station, besides having its own generation capacity of 206 MW and irrigation benefit of 37,173-hectare to Punjab and J-K.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has decided to "stop" the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Thursday, in comments that came over a week after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack killing 40 CRPF personnel.

An official later clarified that it was not a "new decision" and that the Water Resources minister was "simply reiterating" what he has always said.

"Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Gadkari tweeted.

The reiteration to stop the flow of Indus water to Pakistan comes amid mounting Indo-Pak tension over the Pulwama terror strike that has triggered demands for action against the neighbouring country. India has already decided to revoke the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan and mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate it in the international community.

"Regarding the tweet (by Gadkari) about Indus treaty, this is not a new decision. Mantriji is simply reiterating what he has always said. He is talking about diverting India's share of Indus water which was going to Pakistan - and he has always been saying this," Information Officer in-charge of Water Resources Ministry Neeta Prasad said when asked about the issue.

There were demands to stop flow of India's share of Indus water to Pakistan after the Uri terror attack in 2016.

Officials said the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop flow of water.

Under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, the waters of the western rivers -- the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab -- was given to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers -- the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej -- to India.

India's share of water from Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of the water was being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to 5 per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said.

In another tweet, Gadkari said, "The construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states."



In an address at a public rally at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Gadkari said, "We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna ... After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan."



"Now we will build three projects on them, and divert the water to river Yamuna," he said.

The Union Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam project on the Ravi river in Punjab, a move that was intended to help India arrest its share of water flowing into Pakistan.

For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 was also announced.

In September 2018, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments had signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpur-Kandi project, according to officials.

Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by J-K.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Coal-fired power plants in India take the highest toll in the world when it comes to health, according to a study of global emission hotspots which found that China and the US are the largest producers of coal power.

Coal power generation is a primary cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) and toxic airborne emissions globally, said researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Coal burning not only produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, but also releases particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury -- thus damaging the health of many people around the world.

To estimate where action is most urgently required, the researchers modelled and calculated the undesired side effects of coal power for each of the 7,861 power plant units in the world.

The results, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, show that China and the US are the two largest producers of coal power, but power plants in India take the highest toll in the world when it comes to health.

Central Europe, North America and China all have modern power plants, but Eastern Europe, Russia and India still have many older power plants equipped with insufficient flue gas treatment, said Stefanie Hellweg from ETH Zurich's Institute of Environmental Engineering, who led the study.

As a result, these power plants only remove a fraction of the pollutants -- while also often burning coal of inferior quality.

"More than half of the health effects can be traced back to just one-tenth of the power plants. These power plants should be upgraded or shut down as quickly as possible," said Christopher Oberschelp, the lead author of the study.

The global picture of coal power production shows that the gap between privileged and disadvantaged regions is widening. This is happening for two reasons.

Firstly, wealthy countries -- such as in Europe -- import high-quality coal with a high calorific value and low emissions of harmful sulphur dioxide.

The poorer coal-exporting countries such as Indonesia, Colombia and South Africa are left with low-quality coal, which they often burn in outdated power plants without modern flue gas treatment to remove the sulphur dioxide.

"In Europe, we contribute to global warming with our own power plants, which has a global impact. However, the local health damage caused by particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide occurs mainly in Asia, where coal power is used to manufacture a large proportion of our consumer products," said Oberschelp.

"Global coal resources will last for several hundred years, so the harmful emissions need to be limited politically. It is particularly important to leave coal that is high in mercury and sulphur content in the ground," said Oberschelp.

Researchers said reducing the negative health effects of coal power generation should be a global priority.

"But further industrialisation, especially in China and India, poses the risk of aggravating the situation instead," they said.

The initial investment costs for the construction of a coal power plant are high, but the subsequent operating costs are low. Power plant operators thus have an economic interest in keeping their plants running for a long time, according to researchers.

"The best option is therefore to not build any new coal power plants. From a health and environment perspective, we should move away from coal and towards natural gas -- and in the long term, towards renewable energy sources," said Oberschelp.

Researchers said methane emissions from underground coal mining offset Chinese coal power plant efficiency advantages in comparison to India.

Health impacts, as quantified by regionalised life cycle assessment, are highest in India and parts of eastern and southeastern Europe due to lack of modern flue gas treatment, and in China due to widespread coal power generation.

"Deployment of state-of-the-art flue gas treatment, driven by local emission limits, can mitigate health impacts in India and parts of Europe while it is already largely used in China and the US," researchers said.

"Phase-out of the 10 per cent most polluting coal power plants (by capacity) would reduce coal power GHG emissions by 16 per cent or human health impacts by 64 per cent, respectively," they said.

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Prime Minister on Thursday said India is on the way to becoming a $5 trillion economy soon and hoped that the country would be among the world's top three economies in the next 15 years.

Addressing the Indian diaspora here, the prime minister recounted several steps taken by his government in recent years, including several new initiatives like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), MUDRA initiative, to take India on a forward trajectory.

He said that India is the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Today, India's economy is on the 6th position and it will not take time to reach the 5th spot, Modi said.

"It is our endeavour that India finds a place in the top three economies of the world in one-and-a-half decade," the prime minister said.

"In Korea, you people not only celebrate all Indian festivals like Holi, Diwali, Baisakhi but you also involve your Korean friends in celebrations.

"Now Indian restaurants have started finding place in Korean cities. Indian dishes are also being included in the menu here. Even Korean people have started knowing what is the meaning of a particular Indian dish," he said.

Modi said that Indian movies are becoming increasingly popular in Korea.

"Now we can also hear the voice of Kabaddi-Kabaddi among the Korean children. In 2018, Korean team won Kabaddi's silver medal in the Asian Games. I congratulate all the Korean people for this feat," he said.

"I have already said that only one person can be the ambassador (Raajdoot) but every Indian, regardless of the place he lives in, is the country's representative (Raashtradoot). You are all India's ambassador," the prime minister said.

India's pride has increased due to the hard work and discipline of 30 million overseas Indians, he said, adding that overseas Indians are recognised as law-abiding citizens.

This year is very important for India due to the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is such an occasion when we should remember him, take inspiration from his teachings.

"Unfortunately at that time, Gandhi was not given the kind of importance and recognition which a towering person like him deserved. The world knows Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy... It is our dream that every children in the world knows about Mahatma Gandhi," Modi said.

He said that Gandhi's teachings become even more relevant at a time when the world is suffering from various challenges.

"There was a special place in the heart of Gandhi for environment... In his memory, we will plant 150 saplings in Korea," he said.

The prime minister said that India's ever-growing ties with South Korea has always been strong and becoming even stronger.

India and South Korea are stepping-up cooperation in establishing peace, stability and prosperity in the region, Modi said.

The partnership between India and South Korea is being strengthened by the presence of Indian companies in South Korea. Its brands like LG, Samsung, Hyundai have reached even villages, he said.

"The whole world is looking towards India with a hope. Today, India is the fastest-growing major economy of the world. Our economy has become strong.

"Before 2014, we used to listen that India means one of the five fragile economies... Today, it is the fastest-growing major economy of the world. In the next few years, India is fast moving towards becoming the USD 5 trillion economy," Modi said.

India is striving to improve its rankings in the ease of doing business and ease of living index, he said, adding that the biggest indirect tax reform Goods and Services Tax (GST) is now part of the system.

Today, almost every Indian has a bank account. In 1,000 days, more than 33 crore bank accounts were opened. Now these accounts have over USD 12 billion, Modi said.

Under the MUDRA initiative, 128 million people have been given micro-credit worth more than USD 90 billion. The beneficiaries include 74 per cent women.

"I request every Indian living in Korea to at least encourage five non-Indian family to visit India once in a year," the prime minister said.

Modi said India has jumped to 77th spot on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking on the back of reforms and is determined to enter in the top 50 soon.

Prime Minister Modi arrived here earlier in the day on a two-day state visit. He will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon on Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss the issue of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ahead of the Trump-Kim summit.
Prime Minister Thursday chaired a key meeting of the Security Council (NSC) during which the country's security situation was discussed, amidst heightened tensions between India and following the terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Ahead of the NSC meeting, Prime Minister Khan and Army chief Gen held a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed region's security situation, Geo TV reported, citing sources.

Later during the NSC meeting, the attack and situation arising out of it were discussed, the channel said, quoting sources.

The meeting was attended by Army chief General Bajwa, services chiefs, heads of intelligence agencies, security officials and federal and state ministers for finance, defence, foreign affairs and interior.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 in one of the deadliest terror strikes in when Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group's suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus in district.

The NSC council was also briefed by Foreign Office officials about the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav being heard at the International Court of Justice.

Jadhav, 48, a retired officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday.
Transgender activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was inside the Stonewall Inn on a hot summer night in 1969 when police once again burst into the Greenwich Village gay bar. In those days, police raids were frequent and harassment of gays, lesbians, drag queens and transgender people commonplace.

That night was different, though, and the fed-up patrons had taken enough. That raid sparked three nights of absolute terror, Griffin-Gracy recalled, riots that would mark the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement.

things went to west hell, as they say. And people think, Oh, just one night of mayhem. That was three nights of absolute terror. It didnt just happen that one day. Because people were fed up. The times are different. Everybody was in an uproar over the war, over the treatment of blacks, over the treatment of women. Everybody wanted their piece of whatever the American dream was at that time. And our community and the gays and lesbians were no different. And, so it was just a feeling of, Well, God damn it, tonight were going to do something, Griffin-Gracy said.

Her incredible story didnt end in the back of a paddy wagon, however.

In the decades since Stonewall, she has worn the hats of organizer and activist, sex worker, and transgender elder.

Griffin-Gracy found herself in Attica prison for a time (and suffered a broken jaw at the hands of another inmate). She has raised her voice most loudly for transgender prisonersparticularly those of colorwho suffer regular injustices in the criminal justice system.

Im concerned about the things that are happening to my community thatve been going on ever since I realized I was not like everybody else, she told HuffPost in a 2018 interview. It becomes a matter of when those things happen, what do you do? Do you run and hide, do you let stuff go on? And its hard to do that if you care about people. So, I just want to make sure that things are better, and not just for me and my folk, but for everybody.

Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage and slowly advancing civil rights protections, Griffin-Gracy still holds a pessimistic assessment of the progress: If Stonewall would have made a difference, things would be better today. If the civil rights movement had been a success, black people wouldnt be 85, 90 percent in prison. So, the things that were, still are.

Shes not one to give up a fight, however. Now a resident of Arkansas, Griffin-Gracy continues to advocate for transgender rights through her nonprofit, House of GG, and a powerful documentary, Major!, currently available on Netflix, preserves her story for new generations.

As the LGBTQ communityand the world, for that matterprepare to observe the 50thanniversary of those terrifying nights and the changes that followed, South Florida also has an opportunity to thank one of the last remaining pioneers of an era.

Im not really anything special, the demure Griffin-Gracy often says. Im just one of the girls.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy will be honored at the Stonewall National Museum and Archives gala on Friday, Feb. 22 at the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale. She will also be a grand marshal of the Pride Fort Lauderdale parade on Saturday, Feb. 23.

For more information, go to PrideFortLauderdale.org.

In addition to serving as SFGNs arts & entertainment editor, J.W. Arnold is co-executive director of Pride Fort Lauderdale.
Pakistan's top security body Thursday said the country was "not involved in any way" in the Pulwama "incident", which was "conceived, planned and executed indigenously" as Prime Minister Imran Khan authorised the military to respond "decisively" to any Indian misadventure.

In a statement issued after a key meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Khan, the country's top civilian and military leadership said the Pakistan government was "determined to demonstrate" that it is capable of protecting its people.

The meeting was convened to discuss the country's security situation in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack by a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers last week in Jammu and Kashmir.

Days after the terror strike by JeM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said security forces have been given free hand to avenge the dastardly act.

"This is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State," said a statement issued after the meeting, according to the Radio Pakistan.

"The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously," the statement said, referring the Pulwama terror attack as just an "incident."



The statement said Prime Minister Khan has authorised the armed forces of Pakistan to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India."



In a video message earlier this week, Khan said Pakistan was not involved in the attack in Kashmir.

India rubbished Khan's comments, saying disclaiming Pakistan's link with terrorist attacks is an oft-repeated excuse by the "nerve centre" of terrorism.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India was not surprised that Khan refused to acknowledge the attack on India's security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism, adding his offer to investigate the attack if provided proof is a "lame excuse".

Ahead of the NSC meeting Thursday, Prime Minister Khan and Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa held a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed region's security situation.

The meeting was attended by Army chief General Bajwa, services chiefs, heads of intelligence agencies, security officials and federal and state ministers for finance, defence, foreign affairs and interior.

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Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Thursday said importance should always be given to learning mother language.

"We must learn English and Hindi for our career, but should also attach importance in learning our own language. Mother language always plays a major role in shaping life," Deb said while inaugurating a three-day long children festival at Fatikroy in Unakoti district.

In state capital Agartala, a function was organised Thursday to observe the international mother language day.

Tripura Education Minister Ratanlal Nath speaking at the function said "People of both sides of the border speak the same language, write the same language and eat the same food, so it is a natural cultural expression to celebrate Mother Language Day," Nath said.

He said the "International mother language day is observed all over the world to respect all languages".

State Revenue Minister N C Debbarma said "every language has its importance, so every language should be developed and respected."



A colourful procession was organised by the state education department which moved through different parts of the capital city. Artists, poets and people from different walks of life joined the procession.

The staff of the Assistant High Commission joined the procession organised by the state government, First Secretary of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission, Jakir Hossain Bhuyan told PTI.

International Mother Language Day is observed around the world on February 21 to promote awareness on linguistic and cultural diversity.

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Scientists at IIT Madras have developed an algorithm that can help manage dense crowds using minimal manpower, and prevent deadly stampedes in huge public gatherings like the Kumbh Mela and the Hajj.

Using a computer simulation, researchers can intelligently plan where to place police personnel to quickly quell disturbances in a crowd that could otherwise lead to panic and chaos.

The research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, can also help design safe evacuation procedures for events and locations that witness high footfall.

"Couple of years ago the Elphinstone brigde tragedy took place in Mumbai. It was a very unfortunate event that we thought could have been prevented by understanding the physics of stampede," said Mahesh Panchagnula, a professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.

"If we know how these events start and how they propogate through a crowd, there are ways of mitigating it," he told PTI.

"These kinds of stampedes have clear patterns in how they start. We wanted to understand those early signs and figure out how you place the police people, or what we call 'gamechangers', who then direct the crowd in a way that would prevent stampede," Panchagnula said.

The ongoing Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage at Allahabad, is one of the world's largest religious gatherings. Up to two crore people taking a dip in the river on some days, making the event a hot spot for mishaps that could put thousands at risk.

In 2013, at least 42 people died after a stampede broke out at the train station in Allahabad during the festival.

Similarly, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Islam's holiest city, is visited by millions of pilgrims every year. In 2015, a stampede caused deaths of over 2,000 pilgrims during the annual pilgrimage -- the deadliest Hajj disaster in history.

Such events call for better methods of crowd control. The physics community has been looking at this problem for a while now, researchers said.

"For example they have investigated the idea of placing barriers at certain places that would make the flow of crowd easier. It may sound counter intuitive, but it works," he said.

"It is all about streamlining the crowd. It looks like you have placed barricades at certain places, but it helps easing the crowd flow," he added.

The research team, which includes Sumesh P Thampi and Ajinkya Kulkarni, analysed what happens when a dense crowd -- about 3-4 people per square metres -- fills into a confined space.

They said that in such gatherings the movement of the crowd resembles that of any fluid, and hence laws of fluid dynamics can be applied to predict where disturbances can arise.

"If we look at the areal videos of people circumnavigating the Kaaba in Mecca, it looks exactly like water swirling in a bucket," Panchagnula said.

The researchers tried to capture the simple rules that a person follows to navigate in a crowd in to a mathematical model. The predictions of the model adhered well to experimental observations, they said.

"Let's say a gathering is set to take place in Marina beach. The police will set up baricades to control the crowd. All we need is a drawing of where the barricades are being placed, and what is the size of the expected crowd," Panchagnula said.

"The simulation can predict at which points a stampede is likely to start, and the optimal points where police personnel should be deployed to quickly prevent a stampede," he said.

This would allow the police to design the best strategy for crowd control, with the minimum personnel. The model can also help design a better barricade system, researchers said.

Apart from helping the police personnel place themselves at strategic locations even before an event begins, the algorithm can be incorporated in future drones that can monitor crowds in real time.

"We are getting into an age where we will see more use of drones to monitor crowd motions in these large gatherings. With our model, real time feedback from such drones would be very useful," Panchagnula said.

The researchers are keen to partner with government agencies to develop intelligent crowd management strategies for future religious, political or sporting events.

The cost of implementing the predictive model in a real life scenario is very minimal, say scientists, as it simply informs authorities on how to best use their existing resources.

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IIFL Home Finance Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government for capacity building for affordable housing through credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Through this MoU, housing department of Maharashtra will make provisions and facilitate permissions for IIFL Home Finance (IIFL HFL) to educate customers and enlighten them about the benefits of PMAY, a statement from the company said.

Under the agreed terms and conditions, IIFL HFL will be able to conduct on the spot counselling for home buyers visiting its branches, give presentations to defined audiences, and proactively call potential customers to facilitate home loans helping them avail CLSS subsidy benefits, it said.

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Former Secretary General on Thursday said he was inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and his bust, unveiled at the prestigious Yonsei University in Seoul, will serve as the source of inspiration for the people of

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It (Mahatma Gandhi's bust) is the most invaluable gift to the Korean people and the university students," Ban said, adding that from this day onwards, it will serve as the source of inspiration for common people.

He said he started his diplomatic career from India in 1972 and was inspired by the principles of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Gandhi's seven deadly sins, which are: Politics without principle, Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice. It is most inspiring even for all of us," the former UN Secretary General said.

Ban was the eighth Secretary-General of the He held office from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016. He was unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly for a second mandate in June 2011.

He said he felt honoured to be invited to serve as a member of international advisors to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by the Indian Prime Minister.

"Indian government or India had decided to place the bust of this great figure on the campus of Yonsei University," he added.

Ban said as UN Secretary General, he found Prime Minister Modi as one of the "strongest and staunchest" supporter of the United Nation, world peace, human rights, climate change and overall sustainable development.
Actor Vijay Varma says he has been quietly "waiting in the wings" for his big moment in the spotlight, which has finally arrived with Zoya Akhtar's "Gully Boy".

Though Vijay, 34, has appeared in films like ''Chittagong'', ''Pink'' and ''Monsoon Shootout'', his acting in the Zoya Akhtar-directed film is winning has brought him a lot critical acclaim.

In the film, Vijay plays Moeen, a brother-figure to Ranveer Singh's Murad, a mechanic who moonlights as a carjacker by the night.

''When you are doing theatre and a play is happening, you are waiting in the wings for your entry. You enter and do your bit. I was in the wings, ready, with my costume on, knowing that now I will enter (the play). But sometimes I didn't get that entry. With 'Gully Boy', it feels like this is the time I am entering the stage and doing my bit,'' Vijay told PTI an interview.

Written by Zoya and Reema Kagti, with dialogues by Vijay Maurya, the film traces the journey of a Mumbai rapper's rise against all odds.

For Vijay, playing Moeen meant looking for references from his life experiences and borrowing certain character traits from the actors he looks up to -- Jackie Shroff and Amitabh Bachchan.

"I have hung around Jackie Shroff a lot and he is a great guy to chat with. The large heartedness of Moeen comes from 'Bhidu' (as Shroff is fondly called by fans), because he is so giving. He always looks after everyone. I used him as a reference point," Vijay says.

"The swag comes from my love for Mr Bachchan. I don't think it was in my or even Zoya's mind. It was probably a very subconscious love for him and the movies at large.''



Vijay says he took "a lot of time" to figure out his character as there were nuances to Moeen, who oscillates between being a negative character as a drug dealer and carjacker to someone trying to get by against all odds.

''There were some qualities I could resonate with. He is a fun guy, who doesn't carry the baggage of a tough life he might have definitely had. He has a lot of optimism, which even I do."



To prepare for his role, Vijay met the rappers as it was important to understand the lingo.

''There is a way they say 'kamti' hote hai. You just can't mouth it. You have to do it in a certain style. I also worked on smaller things. Like this guy would have stained teeth. If you have it, it means bad hygiene, which means he doesn't care about it. These little things came together.''



One of the most poignant sequences of ''Gully Boy'' involves Moeen and Murad having a conversation while the former is behind bars. Vijay says the scene has resonated with people across.

"I get messages asking, 'Bail hua kya Moeen bhai ka? Main dega bail aapka!'"



The actor says the sequence was so powerful that the energy on the set was ''emotionally-charged.''



''If there were no bars, we would probably be holding each other. I am glad there was a distance because Moeen wouldn't like to expose his vulnerable side. I got emotional. He (Ranveer) was genuinely in tears, being empathetic to Moeen but Moeen is not used to that kind of affection towards him because he doesn't have anyone in his life.''



"Gully Boy'' has given Vijay a wider recognition and he hopes to continue doing good work even in his next projects, a web series written and produced by Imtiaz Ali and a film ''Bamfaad'', which is presented by Anurag Kashyap.

Asked about the future of Moeen, Vijay has an interesting take.

"He will do the running around while he is young. But with age he might become someone like Murad's father (played by Vijay Raaz).

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The Madras High Court Thursday dismissed a petition challenging the construction of an arch in memory of former Chief Minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran across Beach Road near the PWD headquarters here.

A division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad dismissed the PIL by advocate D Dinesh Kumar.

When the matter came up last month, another bench headed by Justice M Sathyanarayanan had permitted the government to go ahead with the construction and declare it open without any fanfare.

Accordingly, the arch was declared open at a simple function.

The petitioner has contended that the arch was constructed at a cost of Rs 2.52 crore, encroaching on the Kamarajar Salai (Beach road) on the Marina beach, in contravention of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Highways Act, 2001.

Since the State had already built a memorial for MGR on the Marina, allegedly against coastal regulation rules, no public interest would be served in constructing the arch, he submitted.

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The Delhi High Court has directed the Bihar government to release all the arrears of pay and allowances to an IAS officer, who has sought inter-state transfer from Bihar to Haryana alleging threat to his life for acting tough against the transport mafia there.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jyoti Singh said the Bihar government shall continue to pay the salary to 2013-batch IAS officer Jitendra Gupta till the disposal of the writ petition, in which the state government has challenged a 2018 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).

The CAT had directed the Centre to consider the case of the officer for inter-state deputation to Haryana or for Central government deputation.

It had directed the Bihar government not to withhold its consent for the inter-state deputation or central deputation of the officer and communicate it to the Centre.

In its plea against the CAT order, the Bihar government has claimed that the tribunal failed to understand the mala fide intention of the officer for seeking cadre transfer, which was to avoid a criminal case in which he was acquitted but the matter was pending against his team members.

During one of the recent hearings on the Bihar government's plea, Gupta's counsel told the high court that he was not receiving any salary since July 2017 on the ground that he had not reported to duty in Bihar.

The counsel had referred to the order of the tribunal, which had directed that the officer's request for inter-state transfer be considered by the Centre and that the Bihar government should not withhold its consent.

He had further pointed out that the tribunal's order was not stayed by the high court.

The bench had said, "This being the position and considering the fact that the request for transfer was made on the ground of a serious threat to the life of respondent No.1 (Gupta), which has found favour with the tribunal, we are of the view that the salary and allowances of respondent No.1 should be released during the pendency of the writ petition.

"Accordingly, we direct the state of Bihar to release all the arrears of pay and allowances to respondent No.1 from the date the same have not been paid to him, and to continue to pay the same in future till the disposal of the writ petition. It shall be open to the petitioner (Bihar), without prejudice to its rights and contentions in the present petition, to avail of the services of respondent No.1 at any establishment of the said state in Delhi."



Later, on February 8, the high court was informed by the Bihar government's counsel that sanction orders were issued for the release of Gupta's salary and other emoluments and assured that it would be disbursed within the next 10 days.

The court is scheduled to hear the matter again on Friday.

Appearing for Gupta, senior advocate Sachin Dutta submitted that the officer had filed a petition before the Supreme Court to claim damages on account of his false implication in a criminal case.

The apex court had, on February 1, granted him liberty to place his submission before the high court in this petition, he said.

The high court asked Gupta to file an additional affidavit in this regard and asked the Bihar government to give its response to it.

In his plea before the CAT, Gupta had alleged that the mafia, in connivance with officers of the state vigilance department, had implicated him in a false case, alleging that he had seized four trucks on July 3, 2016 and demanded a bribe for releasing the vehicles.

Gupta was arrested in the case and had to spend a month in jail.

After being released on bail, he had moved the Patna High Court against the FIR. The high court had quashed the FIR against Gupta on October 28, 2016.

The Supreme Court had also upheld the high court order and directed the Centre on May 9, 2017 to consider Gupta's inter-state transfer, after noting the threat perception.

The state government, in a letter to the Centre, however, had said there was no probable threat to the officer's life and he could continue in the state "fearlessly".

The tribunal had lashed out at the Bihar government for not providing security to an IAS officer, who had repeatedly complained of threat to his life from the "transport mafia".

It had said it was the duty of the Centre and the Bihar government to protect his life.

The tribunal's order had come on a complaint filed by Gupta, seeking inter-state transfer from Bihar to Haryana, alleging threat to his life for acting tough against the "transport mafia" in Bihar.

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The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the CBI to explain why it was seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to self-styled preacher Daati Maharaj in a rape case.

The court asked the agency about the steps taken by it to take him into custody, as the matter was transferred to the CBI in October, 2018.

The high court was hearing a CBI plea seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Daati and three others by a trial court here in January this year.

"Where do you say (in the plea) why custodial interrogation is required. Nothing is there," Justice Chander Shekhar asked the CBI.

The CBI's prosecutor said the alleged crime happened in Rajasthan. The Delhi Police had registered an FIR, which was later transferred to the CBI.

He said they required two things to form an opinion in the case -- re-examine the witnesses to see if they were examined properly by the earlier agency and if they were cooperating in the case.

The CBI said it was challenging the absolute protection given to the accused from being arrested as he would not cooperate in the investigation now.

The prosecutor also said they have moved a proposal for custodial interrogation of the accused which was pending before the agency's director.

To this, the court asked the CBI to bring the proposal and other relevant documents before it on the next date of hearing, February 26.

A division bench of the high court had earlier transferred the probe into the rape case to the CBI.

The preacher had filed a petition seeking review of the court's decision transferring the rape probe to the CBI. The court, however, had dismissed the plea on November 14, 2018.

The court had said the investigation was handed over to the CBI "after going through the charge sheet in detail" and after considering the plea moved by the "victim herself".

On October 3, 2018, the high court had said the manner in which the probe was carried out by police "casts a shadow on the investigation" as it did not arrest the accused in the case even after recording the complainant's statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The preacher's plea against the October 3, 2018 order was initially filed in the Supreme Court which had asked him to approach the high court with his grievance.

The CBI had registered a case of rape and unnatural sex against Daati on October 26.

A complaint was filed against Daati Madan Lal alias Daati Maharaj on June 7, 2018 and an FIR was registered on June 11. On June 22, police questioned the accused, who has been charged with rape of a disciple at his ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan.

The accused has claimed that he was being framed.

The complainant has filed the case against the preacher, his three brothers and a woman at Fatehpur Beri police station in South Delhi. The case was later transferred to the crime branch.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A German court Thursday fined gunmaker Heckler & Koch 3.7 million euros (USD4.2 million) and gave suspended jail terms to two of its ex-employees for illegally exporting thousands of rifles to violence-torn Mexican states.

A former worker was given a suspended sentence of 17 months in prison and ordered to do 250 hours of social work, while the other person convicted got an 80,000 euro fine and a 22-month suspended jail term.

Three other former employees were cleared of charges.

Germany is among the world's top arms exporters, along with the United States, Russia, China and France, and all its defence equipment sales abroad are subject to government approval.

Prosecutors had charged that 15 shipments of the military-style weapons between 2006 and 2009 breached Germany's so-called war weapons control law because they ended up in especially violence-torn Mexican states in breach of the export licence.

The Mexican defence ministry, which is in charge of gun imports, had approved the import of 9,652 H&K rifles, of which 4,796 went to states with particular human rights concerns, including Guerrero, German newspapers have reported.

Activists say that G36 rifles were also sent to police in Iguala, Guerrero state, where the 43 students disappeared at the hands of corrupt police and were feared killed by a narco-gang in September 2014 in a case that sparked international condemnation.

A driving force in the investigation leading to the trial was German rights activist Juergen Graesslin, who first issued a criminal complaint against H&K staff over the Mexico sales in 2010.

The campaigner said it was well known that in the most conflict-torn Mexican states both police and narco-gangsters used the G36, and that "often the two groups cooperate".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
If youve never travelled to Tallahassee to lobby for LGBTQ equality, this is the year to show up and call on leaders to include our community as equals in the states civil rights statute.

LobbyDays are March 11-12 and with new leadership in the state Capitol and bipartisan momentum on our side, your voice can make a difference at a time when we are on the brink of a breakthrough.

Floridahas come a long way since Equality Floridas founding more than 20 years ago. We are the nations third most populous state and today nearly 60% of Floridians are covered by local nondiscrimination protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity.

One thing weve learned from working to pass nondiscrimination ordinances all across the state, in progressive and conservative areas alike, is this: At the moment we are closing in on victory, we will be offered less than full equality. In that moment, if we start bargaining away our civil rights, we lose the moral high ground and we abandon critical protections that will take more than a decade to come back to secure.

Sometimes the bargain proposed is the introduction of unreasonable exemptions. Often it is a move to jettison protections for the most vulnerable in our community. But it always arrives with a lecture on incrementalism and what is realistic and pragmatic. Our refusal to settle for less than full equality under the law in these moments has been the key to securing full protections that leave no part of our community behind in city after city and county after county.

We Are at a Tipping Point for LGBTQ Protections Statewide

The Florida Competitive Workforce Act (FCWA) has been reintroduced with the direct and simple goal of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing categories in Florida Civil Rights law. Last year FCWA was the third most co-sponsored bill last year and has earned broad, bipartisan support. It is a priority for business leaders across the state who have formed Florida Competes to push for passage.

All of the bipartisan support in Tallahassee, the pressure from grassroots voices, along with business, faith, and community leaders, have made failing to pass comprehensive protections increasingly a political liability for legislative leaders. And now with the end zone visible, we have to resist the pressure to sell our community short.

This year a competing, employment-only bill has been introduced that would fence us out of full inclusion in our states civil rights statue by addressing only employment. Under this bill our community would be specifically carved out of housing and public accommodation protections that apply to all other groups protected under Floridas Civil Rights Act. This is clearly not acceptable. The standard we have held and that we deserve is to be treated as equals under the law, not  Floridians in a separate and unequal category.

The Strategic Perils We cannot ignore the negative political and legal implications of this settle for less strategy. Some will say it a necessary sacrifice for a significant gain. But a clear-eyed legal analysis reveals that is not so.

First, securing employment-only protections could actively harm LGBTQ people in the other contexts of housing and public accommodations. For example, certain federal agencies and courts have interpreted prohibitions on sex discrimination to protect LGBTQ people, but making those arguments becomes much harder if we pass an employment-only bill that specifically carves us out of housing and public accommodations. No other state with a comprehensive civil rights law has ever attempted such a risky scheme and for good

reason.

A judge could cite the existence of explicit employment protections as evidence that the Florida Legislature knew how to establish LGBTQ protections when it intended to and, therefore, must have intended to exclude protections for LGBTQ people in housing and public accommodations. In other words, our legal advocates are in a position now to argue based on case law that LGBTQ people are protected in all areas under current sex-discrimination laws, and the passage of an employment-only bill could effectively take those arguments away. We have come too far to risk undermining our progress in this way.

Second,backers of this employment-only bill claim it will draw support from legislators who are uncomfortable or even hostile to providing transgender Floridians access to public accommodations, specifically bathrooms. We cannot capitulate to those lies as the far right targets transgender students to deny them access to public accommodations and supports policies barring transgender service members from the military. The only way through the lies is to confront them, not acquiesce or avoid them.

Third, a strategy focused only on employment ignores the coordinated malice of anti-LGBTQ crusaders who are spending incredible resources to go to court to be able to tell LGBTQ customers, We dont serve your kind in public accommodations. And, research

on elder issues in Florida shows a staggering 45% of same-sex couples experienced discrimination while seeking senior housing. An employment-only strategy trades away progress weve made toward vital housing and public accommodation protections for our most

vulnerable.

Fourth, a misstep by Florida in this crucial moment will reverberate nationally. Under Speaker Pelosis leadership, passing comprehensive LGBTQ protections through the Equality Act is a priority for the U.S. House of Representatives. There could not be a worse time to accept abandoning full equality.

A Familiar Moment of Tension

When we stand together for full civil rights, for our whole community, we show that basic protections for our community are non-negotiable. When we flinch, we send the message that we will acquiesce to ugly ideas about who we are.

The battle for equality in one of the most conservative areas of the state offers us lessons on what it takes to win in Tallahassee. It shows we can win without jettisoning protections vital to our community.

In 2012,the Jacksonville City Council had rejected adding sexual orientation and gender identity protections, and some in our coalition who had been pushing for that change began to advocate for a sexual orientation-only bill. Both versions then failed, but a new coalition emerged unshakeable in its commitment to leave no community and no protections behind. Together we leaned in to elections, educated lawmakers, and lifted up the stories of why the protections were vital. Ultimately, Jacksonville adopted a fully

LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance, ushered in under a GOP mayor and conservative City Council. Mayor and former Republican Party of Florida Chair Lenny Curry signed a fully inclusive Executive Order and refused to veto the ordinance despite pressure from anti-LGBTQ conservatives. Many of our valued partners who had flinched in that pivotal moment, who had been willing to cave into a take what you can get philosophy, came to understand that moment as we do - a sign of how close we were to the finish line.

Stand Up for Full Protections

We have reached that tipping point in Tallahassee, where last year the majority of freshmen legislators, GOP and Democrats alike, joined in supporting full protections. Public opinion has moved dramatically in our direction. We cant now back off and allow any legislator to feel they can abandon their obligation to provide comprehensive equal protections to LGBTQ Floridians by passing incomplete legislation.

That is why organizations who fight this fight all over the country issued a statement opposing this new legislation that carves us out of full inclusion in the states comprehensive civil rights statute.

All the protections in our civil rights laws are vital. Our communitys tremendous progress toward this goal has always rested in the grassroots power of Floridians standing up and demanding their rights at City Hall, before the County Commission, and in the State Legislature.

We call on everyone who believes in full equality to come to Tallahassee for Lobby Days on March 11-12 to demand our Legislature complete that task of including sexual orientation and gender identity in the state civil rights act just like every other protected group, nothing more, nothing less.
A private member's bill seeking a separate 20 per centreservation for candidates from Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) in Gujarat was Thursday introduced in the Assembly by a Congress MLA, but it was eventually rejected by the House.

"The Gujarat EBC (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Bill-2018" was brought by Congress MLA Amit Chavda.

Following a heated debate between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress members, the bill was eventually rejected by a majority vote.

Introducing the bill, Chavda said though the Narendra Modi government recently made a constitutional provision to provide 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and education for the poor in the general category, it was not enough to cover a large population.

"We feel that such reservation should be 20 per cent in Gujarat. Education isalso very expensive in the state.

"As a result, poor citizens are not able to provide good education to their children," said Chavda, who is also the Gujarat Congress president.

Referring to the Patidar quota stir, Chavda accused the BJP government of committing atrocities on the agitators for demanding reservation benefits for their community.

Speaking on the bill, Virji Thumar (Congress) said his party will support the BJP if a similar legislation is brought by the state government.

He claimed general category youths are forced to commit suicide as jobs are not available for them despite getting education.

"Youths are angry because there are no jobs. Education is also very expensive. Though your government at the Centre has introduced 10 per cent additional quota (for EWS), we are talking about 20 per cent quota in Gujarat," said Thumar.

Responding to Congress legislators, Rishikesh Patel (BJP) said the bill is only meant for electoral gains and not for the welfare of unreserved classes.

"Congress is trying to divide the society by bringing such a bill. You want to just keep alive the debate on reservation for your political gains. Despite such tactics, BJP will win all the 26 Lok Sabha seats (in Gujarat)," said Patel.

Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, too, slammed the Congress, saying the opposition party had disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of Gujarat by "inciting" the Patidar community.

Since the BJP commands a comfortable majority in the Assembly, the bill was eventually rejected following a voting in the House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: There has been a greater push in innovation in the last five years, and there are about 15,000 startups out of which 5,000 are deep technology-based startups, secretary to Department of Science and Technology (DST) professor Ashutosh Sharma said Thursday.

We have 15,000 startups, but a country like India needs 1.5 lakh startups or 15 lakh startups which need to come up not only from IITs and universities, but also from the grassroots-level," he said.

"Hence, we started the MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) programme and the aim is to reach five lakh schools in the country this year with competition on innovative ideas," Sharma said addressing the DST-FICCI 'Global Research and Development Summit 2019' that began he.

The department of science and technology has a very active partnership with 45-plus countries and MoUs with 100- pluscountries, he said.

"Our R&D expenditure in the last decade has tripled and the per scientist investment in science and technology is comparable to many countries of Europe and the US, he said.

Sharma further there were about a dozen MNCs that set up R&D in the country and they provide solution to global problems, and "we want Indian industries to ramp up their investment in technology."



He said, "India and Africa can come together also on locally relevant grassroots innovations and technologies in agriculture, health among other domains where we learn from each other and work together and deliver."



The future of engagement with Africa looks extremely bright and FICCI is playing important role in taking those technologies to African partners, he added.

He further said the department of science and technology recently launched a mission in cyber physical systems that would create human resources in the country, infrastructure and intensive R&D in areas of artificial intelligence (AI), machine-learning, robotics, sensors etc.

This is a significant mission worth Rs 4,000 crore, he said.

I would invite all our African partners to partner with us in all kind of technologies from agriculture to AI. And by working together we can effectively address many of our common problems," Sharma said.

Referring to scientific publications, he said the country is expected to reach third position in terms of number of scientific publications in about seven years overtaking Germany and the UK.

India's scientific publications are growing at 14 per cent every year, compared to the globalaverage of 4 per cent, Sharma said, addressing the DST-FICCI 'Global Research and Development Summit 2019' that began here.

"India has very deep strength in science and technology. We're number five in the world in terms of number of scientific publications. In a few years, we would be number three," he said.

So, publications in science and technology are an indicator of the basic strength and the basic problem- solving capacity which exists in the country, he said.

Later speaking to reporters, Sharma was asked as to when India was likely to reach third position. He said, "My rough estimate is about seven years from now. China, US, Germany and the UK are ahead of us.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
needs to be affordable and accessible in order to upgrade the sector and make it competitive and intellectually sound and the government is working in that direction, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said here on Thursday.

Javadekar was addressing the 12th ASSOCHAM National Summit themed 'Making India Global Powerhouse: Catalysing Reforms and Innovations'.

"Education being one of the most important aspects considered by every Indian, consistent upgradation of the sector is vital so that students across all ages can remain competitive and intellectually sound in future. However, the same needs to be affordable and accessible to all," he said.

He said students need exposure across all spectrums of education and the government is doing everything in order to bring positive changes in the way schooling and overall education is conducted across the country.

"There is a need to change the mind-set of the way education is perceived. We have included sports, life skill education, value education in the education system that would improve students in their personal lives," he added.

Commenting on the Indian education, former president Pranab Mukherjee said, "India boasts of the ancient education system which now needs to excel at global level".

"The government and people involved in bringing in change in the education sector should concentrate on making the Indian education excellent in all aspects. India's demographic dividend has the potential to add significantly to its GDP, but, unless this potential is used fully," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government Thursday said it has stopped the practice of classifying manufacturers as integrated, primary and secondary producers, in order to provide them a level-playing field.

In a statement, the ministry said that "it has stopped classifying producers as integrated steel producers, primary steel producers, secondary steel producers".

The step has been taken to provide a level-playing field to steel manufacturers, both small and medium enterprises and large players with different capacities producing steel through different routes, it said.

In India, steel is produced mainly through two routes -- the basic oxygen furnace route used by the primary players, and the electric arc furnace route used by secondary steel players.

The ministry further said that "government engineering departments especially in the CPWD, Military Engineering Service and NBCC have been asked to ensure adherence to the above clarification and avoid any restrictive practices in their tenders".

All India Induction Furnaces Association Secretary General Kamal Agarwal said: "We welcome the decision taken by Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh to treat the domestic steel sector as one."

The small steel players also contribute to the country's steel output, he said adding they will also play an important role in achieving the 300 million tonne production target set by the ministry.

Steel Minister Birender Singh had earlier said: "The secondary industry contributes 57 per cent to the total domestic steel output. It is claimed that when the capacity would be 300 million tonne (MT), their share would increase to 70 per cent. It is very important sector."

Under the 2017, the ministry has set an ambitious target of ramping up the country's crude steel capacity to 300 MT by 2030-31.

According to a report by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), under the Ministry of Steel, India produced 8.995 MT crude steel in January.

While state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd along with private players JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd and Essar Steel produced 5.48 MT of the crude metal, the rest came in from other producers, the report said.
Government medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh will tap solar power to meet their electricity requirement, a move which will result in savings of Rs 12 crore in the very first year of implementation.

An MOU in this regard was inked Wednesday in the presence of state New and Renewable Energy Minister Harsh Yadav and Medical Education Minister Vijay Laxmi Sadho, a public relations department official said.

Under the MoU, solar power plants will be set up on the rooftops of state-run medical colleges to meet their electricity needs, he said.

The MoU covers government medical colleges in Bhopal, Rewa, Indore, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, Shivpuri, Vidisha, Ratlam, Shahdol, Khandwa, Shahdol, Gwalior, Datia and Sagar in two phases under the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) scheme, the official said.

These colleges will get environment-friendly green power at the quarter of existing rate at Rs 1.63 per unit, the official said.

A private company, Tepsol Solar Power Ventures Pvt Ltd, is installing these plants under a 25-year agreement with the government, the official added.

In the first year of implementation of the project, a sum of Rs 12 crore will be saved, while during the entire 25 years of the agreement, the government will save around Rs 300 crore, he added.

The scheme is being implemented in Madhya Pradesh with the help of the World Bank and the International Solar Alliance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Assam Rifles personnel have been empowered by the central government to arrest anyone and search a place without warrant in northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.

According to a Home Ministry notification, "an officer of the rank corresponding to that of the lowest rank of members of the Assam Rifles" has been given these powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Assam Rifles personnel will exercise these powers and discharge their duties "under sub-section(1) of section 41, sections 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 149, 150, 151 and 152 of the CrPC within the local limits of the area comprised within the border districts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram", the notification said.

Section 41 of the CrPC states that any police officer may, without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person. Section 47 gives powers for search of place entered by person sought to be arrested.

Section 48 says a police officer may, for the purpose of arresting without warrant any person whom he is authorised to arrest, pursue such person into any place in India. According to Section 49, the person arrested shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to prevent his escape.

The Assam Rifles is the leading counter-insurgency force in the Northeast. It also guards the sensitive India-Myanmar border.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which is operational in some parts of the Northeast, also gives similar powers to the Army operating in the region.

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Personnel of the paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley for counter-terror operations have been entitled by the government on Thursday to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

This includes, the order said, their journey for joining duty, transfer, tour or going on leave.

Till now, officers in the rank of Inspectors and above were given this air travel facility.

As many as 65,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in the state as part of 65 battalions apart from units of the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Security Guard present in the Kashmir valley for rendering a variety of roles in the internal security grid.

The decision of the government comes in the wake of the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 personnel of the CRPF were killed when a explosives-laden vehicle was blown off by a JeM terrorist, near a force bus that was plying between Jammu-Srinagar as part of a convoy.

Questions were raised as to why these troops are not allowed to travel by air so that the risk and threat of travelling on road, in large convoys in the Kashmir Valley, is eliminated.

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the suicide attack in Pulwama, will now be able to book tickets in regular commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force for this travel to and from Kashmir.

The home ministry said the new facility is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs where an entire aircraft is booked for the force personnel from either Delhi or Jammu to Srinagar and back.

A statement on Home Minister Rajnath Singh's official Twitter handle said the decision will "immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh paramilitary personnel of the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector who were otherwise not eligible earlier".

The ministry said that for the Jammu and Kashmir sector, an air courier service was already available for CAPFs jawans and this was extended in December, 2017 to cover more routes like: Delhi-Jammu, Jammu-Srinagar, Srinagar-Jammu and Jammu-Delhi.

"The number of flights were further extended in December, 2018. In addition, air support is provided from the Indian Air Force as and when required," it said in a statement.

A senior official said the step will allow more and more personnel to undertake air travel to and from Kashmir but the requirement of running convoys of the security forces cannot be brought to zero.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of general elections, internet giant Google Thursday said it will conduct training sessions for journalists in 30 Indian cities on online verification and fact-checking in a bid to curb the menace of fake

Google has partnered DataLeads and Internews to host the training sessions, the company said in a statement.

"Google Initiative will host training sessions in 30 cities between February 26 to April 6 in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi," the statement said.

The training will focus on areas like online verification and fact-checking, journalist digital safety and security, using YouTube for election coverage and data visualisation for elections, it added.

With ensuing general elections, the Indian government has warned social media platforms of strong action if any attempt was made to influence the country's electoral process through undesirable means.

The government is also proposing to amend IT rules, wherein social media, online platforms and messaging apps will be made more accountable and be mandated to deploy tools to identify and curb unlawful content as well as follow stricter due diligence practices.

"Since 2016, Google has trained more than 13,000 journalists in India, across over 200 newsrooms and in 40 cities," Irene Jay Liu, Google Lab Lead, Asia-Pacific said.

Apart from working journalists and freelancers, the workshop will also be open to journalism students.

Last year, Google had launched the Google News Initiative India Training Network that focuses on online verification and fact-checking. In six months, the network onboarded 241 trainers in seven languages, who have so far trained 5,260 journalists across over 40 cities in India.

For 2019, Google plans to train another 10,000 journalists in India under this programme, the statement said.

Over the last few months, social media players like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have promised to infuse more transparency into political advertisements on their platform, and have since announced a slew of measures as part of election integrity efforts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Award-winning American columnist and author Thomas Friedman has warned Indians about the possible meddling of Russia in the upcoming hustings through unregulated media like Facebook, exactly the way they did to the detriment of the US in the 2016 presidential elections.

President Vladimir Putin will be "voting" in the summer general elections, the author of the book 'The World is Flat' said here Thursday.

"If you (Indians) think they (Russians) will not be playing in your elections, you are not paying attention. Believe me, Putin will be voting in your election," Friedman said speaking at a annual Nasscom summit here.

The noted political thinker and author also accused Facebook of "fundamentally violating the trust" that got the US a president like Donald Trump.

When a country like the US, which is a champion of liberal thoughts, talks about building boarder walls and chooses to "go into the dark", it impacts the whole world, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner said, adding Trump's imprint through his policies is spreading "venom and poison" across the world.

The comments come in the light of accusations of Russians using social media platforms like Facebook to spread fake among the American electorate, which resulted in the surprise defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Trump in the November 2016 polls.

The American national investigation agency FBI is currently probing both Trump's personal involvement in Russian meddling and also Moscow's role in the polls.

Similarly, the British also launched a probe against Moscow after it has come to light that the Brexit referendum too was manipulated by Russia using social media. Two years ago, the British in a thin margin of 52 percent voted to leave the EU by March this year.

Friedman said a platform like Facebook has deep insights, courtesy a massive invasion of individual privacy, and said it's essential for entrepreneurs to know constitutional morality along with computer codes.

"Mark Zuckerburg did computer coding in college but did not take a constitutional course in the college. He extended the Facebook platform all over the world without thinking about the privacy or election implications. And we are now paying the price for that," Friedman said.

He further said a newspaper like The New York Times, for which he writes, is strictly regulated, unlike a Facebook which revels at zero oversight.

Facebook, however, wants a newspaper's advertisers and readers, without the regulation over things like fake news, he said, calling it as a fundamental violation of trust.

When asked about the growth of India and China, he said both the countries have their own strengths. Drawing parallels with a super-highway, he said China has a smooth road with an uncertainty lurking on the political front, where rights are trampled on.

As against this, in India, the journey is very bumpy with a lot of hindrances in between but far on the horizon is something that kindles optimism.

"Whether it is a mirage or an oasis only time will tell," he said, adding the way India has stuck to democracy for so long and how a land of 1.34 billion people votes in a largely free and fair election is nothing but a "miracle".

He said the lack of natural resources is India's biggest strength, which results in all the people being forced to use their minds and work extra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The French government will adopt an international organization's definition of anti-Semitism and propose a law to reduce hate speech from being circulated online, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday.

Macron, speaking at the annual dinner of a Jewish organization, said France and other parts of Europe have seen in recent years "a resurgence of anti-Semitism that is probably unprecedented since World War II."



Macron said applying the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their daily work.

Since the intergovernmental organization approved the wording in 2016, some critics of Israel have said it could be used suppress Palestinian rights activists. The definition states anti-Semitism can take the form of "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour."



Macron said he thinks that view is correct.

"Anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism," the French leader said in Paris at the dinner of Jewish umbrella organization CRIF. "Behind the negation of Israel's existence, what is hiding is the hatred of Jews."



Macron mentioned anti-Semitism based on "radical Islamism" as a rampant ideology in France's multi-ethnic, poor neighborhoods.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his appreciation at France's adoption of the international definition of anti-Semitism, in a phone call with the French leader ahead of the speech, Netanyahu's office said.

Macron also said his party would introduce legislation in parliament in May to force social media to withdraw hate speech posted online and use all available means to identify the authors "as quickly as possible."



He especially denounced Twitter as waiting days, sometimes weeks, to remove hate contents and to help authorities so a judicial investigation can be led. At the same time, he praised Facebook's decision last year to allow the presence of French regulators inside the company to help improving practices combating online hate speech.

Macron speech came a day after thousands of people attended rallies across France to decry an uptick in anti-Semitic acts in recent months. On Tuesday morning, about 80 gravestones spray-painted with swastikas were discovered in a cemetery in a small village of eastern France. French President Emmanuel Macron observed a moment of silence Tuesday with parliament leaders at the Holocaust museum in Paris.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Wednesday that a man has been arrested over a torrent of hate speech directed at Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut during a Saturday march by yellow vest protesters.

The insults included words like "Zionist!" and "Go back to Tel Aviv!" and "We are France!" The man was taken into custody Tuesday evening after a police inquiry was opened into a suspected public insult based on origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion.

The government last week reported a big rise in incidents of anti-Semitism last year: 541 registered incidents, up 74 percent from the 311 registered in 2017.

In other incidents this month, swastika graffiti was found on street portraits of Simone Veil, a survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, the word "Juden" was painted on the window of a bagel restaurant in Paris and two trees planted at a memorial honoring a young Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 were vandalized. "That's our failure", Macron said. "The time has come to act.

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GREENBELT, Md. (February 21, 2019)A federal judge Thursday ordered a Maryland Coast Guard lieutenant held without bail as prosecutors gather more evidence of what they said was a terrorist plot to murder prominent Democratic politicians and media figures.



Christopher Hasson, 49, made his first public appearance at his detention hearing at the United States Federal Court Greenbelt Division. If the government fails to charge Hasson with any additional crimes within 14 days, the defense may motion for release, said Judge Charles B. Day.



Investigators arrested Hasson in his Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment Friday pursuant to a federal criminal complaint, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland.



Hasson was charged with "possession of firearms and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances" and possession of Tramadol, prosecutors said.



Authorities seized 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of various ammunition types from Hasson's home, according to court records.



From February 2017 to April 2018, Hasson made 21 purchases of firearms and combat-related supplies like smoke grenades and a Kevlar plate carrier, according to court filings.



"The sheer number and force of the weapons that were recovered from Mr. Hasson's residence in this case coupled with the disturbing nature of his writings appear to reflect a very significant threat to the safety of our community, particularly given the position of trust that Mr. Hasson held with the United States Government," said Robert Hur, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland.



Since 2016, Hasson made 16 purchases of Tramadolan opioid and controlled substancefrom someone most likely in Mexico, prosecutors said. Investigators also found more than 30 containers labelled as human growth hormone inside a locked container in Hasson's apartment, according to court records.



Hasson is a lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard and works as an acquisition officer at the Coast Guard's Washington headquarters. He also served in the United States Marine Corps from 1988-1993 and the Army National Guard two years after that, according to court records.



Hasson has self-identified as a white nationalist for more than 30 years, according to a letter that investigators said he had drafted as an email and addressed to an American neo-Nazi leader. In his letter, Hasson called for the use of "focused violence" in order to establish white supremacy, prosecutors said.



Investigators discovered Hasson had been using Coast Guard computers to research and plan an attack, prosecutors said. Hasson allegedly had made Google searches about the security details and whereabouts of Democratic members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and well-known media figures.



Prosecutors alleged that Hasson had been following guidelines laid out in a manifesto written by Anders Breivik, who committed two terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011 that claimed the lives of 77 people.



Hasson allegedly targeted members of the media and government based on a categorical system prosecutors said he had taken from the Breivik manifesto.



No arraignment date was set.
Four Bangladeshi nationals and a local trader were arrested in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district and 300 kgs of beef were seized from their possession, officials said on Thursday.

A BSF party intercepted a vehicle from a spot close to the Indo-Bangladesh border in the Muktapur area, about 110 kms from here, and apprehended the five persons, a spokesperson of the force said.

He added that 300 kgs of beef were seized from their possession.

The seizure was made on Wednesday night and on Thursday, the five persons were handed over to the district police, which placed them under arrest, the BSF spokesperson said.

West Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakador Syiem said the four Bangladeshis -- identified as Noor Islam, Abdul Kalam, Shwel Ahmed and Kamal Miya -- were arrested under the Foreigners Act and 6,000 Bangladeshi taka were seized from their possession.

A local trader, identified as Samiwell Lyngdoh of Muktapur village, was also held, he added.

The price of the seized beef is estimated to be Rs one lakh in the international market, according to the Border Security Force (BSF).

The BSF spokesperson said the Bangladeshi nationals had come to meet Lyngdoh for smuggling of cattle but due to injuries to the cattle, it could not be taken across the border.

The animals were slaughtered near the border and the meat was being transported in the vehicle, he added.

The Meghalaya frontier of the BSF said it had stepped up its special drive against cross-border smuggling in order to thwart any anti-national design of trans-border criminals.

Last week, the BSF had seized over 250 cows meant for smuggling to Bangladesh and contraband items worth over Rs 50 lakh from various places along the 443-km-long Indo-Bangladesh border in the north-eastern state.

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Former PDP legislator Syed Asgar Ali and ex-revenue officer Qazi Mushtaq Ahmed joined the National Conference on Thursday in the presence of party president Farooq Abdullah.

Welcoming the two into the party fold, Abdullah described the National Conference as a mass movement that has all along stood for the just cause of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and strived for development and progress of the state with a sense of commitment.

Abdullah hoped that with the joining of Asgar and Mushtaq, the party will be further strengthened at the grass-roots level.

"A strong National Conference is a key to steer Jammu and Kashmir to peace, progress and development besides meeting the challenges confronted to the state," he added.

Asgar and Mushtaq pledged to carry forward the mission of the NC in transforming Jammu and Kashmir into a peaceful and progressive state with devotion and dedication.

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Five Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy Thursday for allegedly fishing in the island nation's waters, a Fisheries department official said here.

The fishermen from Jagadapattinam inPudukottai district were fishing near Neduntheevu off the Lankan coast when they were arrested, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Pudukottai, Kumaresan said.

They were taken to Kangesanthurai along with their boat, he added.

Eight fishermen from Mandapam in Ramanathapuramn district were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly fishing in Sri Lanka's territorial waters, Kumaresan said.

Two boats were also seized, he added.

He alleged that Lankan navy personnel had snapped the nets of as many as 50 boats of Rameswaram fishermen who had put out to the sea in over 500 boats Wednesday.

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At least 41 people were killed after a devastating fire broke out in an apartment building also used as a chemical warehouse in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital, a fire official said.

"So far we have recovered 41 bodies. The number of bodies may increase," Bangladesh's fire service chief Ali Ahmed told AFP.

He said the blaze might have originated from a gas cylinder, with the fire quickly spreading through the building where highly flammable chemicals were stored.

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Normal life across Odisha was affected Thursday due to a dawn-to-dusk strike called by leading farmers' body Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) to protest against the state government's alleged lack of concern towards their demands.

Though the strike -- backed by both the Congress and the BJP -- continued peacefully, the police picked up about 200 protesters from different parts of the state, including 70 from here.

There is heavy deployment in different places to maintain law and order, a police official said.

Holding placards and raising anti-government slogans, agitating farmers blocked roads in the city as well on the national highways, prompting police to undertake preventive arrest of the farmers.

"We have made elaborate security arrangements to maintain law and order in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack," Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty told reporters.

About 30 platoons of armed police have been deployed in Bhubaneswar and 15 in Cuttack, he added.

Mohanty, however, claimed normal life in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack remained unaffected.

Government offices continued to function with adequate attendance, but educational institutions, major shops and business establishments remained closed and public transport vehicles were off the roads.

Situation in Ganjam, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kandhamal and Koraput districts remained by and large peaceful.

NNKS leader Akshya Kumar alleged that the state government did not pay any heed to their demands of price, pension and prestige to cultivators, forcing them to call for the strike.

He said farmers in the state are also pressing for social security allowance of Rs 5,000 per month.

Even as the farmers staged their stir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed a function, marking the distribution of financial assistance under the KALIA scheme for the farming community, in the western Odisha town of Bargarh.

"Though some people are observing bandh today, no one can stop the KALIA scheme," he said.

Despite the state's two main opposition parties, the Congress and the BJP supporting the strike, their workers and leaders were not seen among the agitators.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik, in a Twitter post, said, "Our 'annadatas' (providers of food) have suffered a lot due to the anti-farmer policies of the BJD and the BJP. Odisha Congress supports the bandh called by the farmers."



Odisha Agriculture and Finance Minister S B Behera, however, termed the agitation as "unfortunate".

"It is unfortunate that the NNKS observed the strike despite repeated appeal from the government. The timing is very wrong as it is being observed a day before the annual high school examinations...

"The strike has put mental pressure on the students. It's even more saddening that two national political parties the BJP and the Congress have extended their support to the bandh," Behera said.

The authorities of Utkal University and Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University said they have postponed examinations scheduled for Thursday.

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A court here Thursday sentenced former vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati univeristy Dilip Kumar Sinha, ex-registrar Dilip Mukhopadhaya and former teacher Mukti Dev to five years imprisonment in a forgery and conspiracy case.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bolpur, Aurobindo Mishra also ordered the three convicted persons to pay a fine of Rs 1000 each.

The court on Wednesday had convicted the three in the case of forgery and conspiracy.

Sinha, Mukhopadhaya and Dev appealed for interim bail Thursday after the judgement was passed but the court turned down their request, said assistant public prosecutor, Phiroj Pal.

Dev had worked as a lecturer in the Mathematics department in the university, teaching post-graduate students for around six years, without having the required qualification.

The crime had come to light in 2004, months after the theft of Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel medal. Sinha had retired by then and the investigation was handed over to the CID.

During investigation, it was found that she had passed the higher secondary examination and had secured the teaching job at the central university in 1997 by submitting photocopies of fake testimonials at the time of joining.

Those photocopies were attested by Sinha, who was then the VC of the university.

After Sinha's retirement in 2001, Dev was show-caused in 2004 by the Visva Bharati executive council, which subsequently suspended and then dismissed her.

Sinha was arrested by the CID from his Kolkata residence in connection with the case in June, 2004 and subsequently, granted bail.

In March 2005, the CID had submitted the charge sheet against the trio in a Bolpur court.

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Pune Police Thursday filed a supplementary charge sheet at a special UAPA court here against five people, including rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj and fugitive top Maoist leader M Ganapathy, in the Elgar Parishad case.

The charge sheet, which runs into over 1,800 pages, was submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Kishor Vadane.

Assistant Police Commissioner Shivaji Pawar, who is investigating the case, said the name of Ganapathy, who reportedly stepped down as the general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, was added in the FIR after his involvement came to light during the probe.

He was named as the 23rd accused in the FIR, Pawar said.

Police had filed the first charge sheet in the case against 10 persons in the special court for Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA in November 2018.

The case is that the speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave here on December 31, 2017, which was allegedly funded by Maoists, "aggravated" the violence near Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district the next day.

"Today, we submitted a supplementary charge sheet against Bharadwaj, (Telugu poet) Varavara Rao, (activists) Arun Ferriera, Vernon Gonsalves and fugitive general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist) Ganapathy, alias Chandrashekhar," Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe said here.

The supplementary charge sheet said that some electronic evidence seized from Rao revealed that M Ganapathy and Rao were in contact with each other and actively involved in various Maoist activities.

Rao and lawyer Surendra Gadling were involved in violence and Naxal activities, police said in the charge sheet, adding that both of them used to provide information about the security forces' deployment to the underground cadres and on the basis of their inputs, the cadres used to carry out attacks on the personnel.

It also said that Maoists operating in the country were in touch with Nepal-based cadres and were trying to procure arms and ammunition from them.

"Rao, Rona Wilson, and others were conspiring with top Maoist leader Kishanda, alias Prashant Bose, to procure arms and ammunition for Maoist activities. Rao, who was actively involved in the procurement of arms and ammunition, was in touch with one Basanta, who is a top Maoist leader in Nepal," the charge sheet said.

It also stated that Basanta was facilitating Maoists operating in the country to procure arms and ammunition.

The supplementary charge sheet also described the role of other accused Gonsalves, Ferreira and Bharadwaj, who according to the charge sheet, were actively involved in the recruitment of new members and also instrumental in spreading the ideology of the CPI (Maoist) through their frontal organisations.

It said the investigating agency recovered a document titled 'The Present Situation and Our Tasks' from the possession of Wilson, which talks about how the government is spreading "Brahmanism" and how it is exerting atrocities against the poor, Dalits and the minorities.

It also added that the document talks about the need to galvanise Dalits, Adivasis, religious minorities and other pro-democracy forces to fight against the "Brahminical Fascism".

The accused are charged with "waging war against the nation" and spreading the ideology of their banned organisation and creating caste conflicts, disaffection and hatred in the society, the police officer said.

In the supplementary charge sheet, police reiterated that the provocative speeches, songs, skits made at the Elgar Parishad conclave here on December 31, 2017, which was allegedly funded by Maoists, "aggravated" the violence near Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district the next day.

The first charge sheet named 10 accused, including activists Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhavale, who were arrested in June 2018, and absconding Maoist leaders Dipak, alias Milind Teltumbade, Kishanda, alias Prashant Bose, and Prakash, alias Rituparn Goswami.

Bharadwaj and others were arrested in September.

The Elgar conclave was held to mark the bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima, in which Dalit soldiers of the East India Company defeated the army of the Brahmin Peshwa, Pune's then ruler. Dalits look upon the victory as an assertion of their identity.

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Dublin Airport on Thursday briefly suspended flights following the "confirmed sighting" of a drone at the airfield north of the Irish capital.

Aviation authorities apologised to passengers for the suspension of flights for around 15 minutes after the aerial device was spotted in the skies overhead.

"Flight operations have now resumed... following an earlier drone sighting," the airport said on Twitter at around midday (1200 GMT).

Dublin Airport, which lies about six miles (10 kilometres) north of the city centre, handled nearly 30 million passengers in 2017.

Dozens of airlines operate from the Irish hub, flying to more than 180 destinations in 42 countries.

Thursday's incident follows several drone sightings in neighbouring Britain in the run-up to Christmas and last month which caused travel misery for tens of thousands of people.

Gatwick Airport near London suspended all flights over three days in December after drones were repeatedly spotted in the air.

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest hub, suspended all departing flights for around an hour in January following a drone sighting.

This week, the British government said the no-fly zones for drones around airports would be extended to three miles from next month.

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The Digital Communications Commission on Thursday asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to inform it about bearing of orders of the Supreme Court and the Competition Commission of India on the Rs 3,050 crore penalty case of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The commission, which is the highest decision-making body of the DoT and formerly known as Telecom Commission, deferred a decision on the penalty till its next meeting.

"The DCC has asked DoT to come back to it after assessing bearing of SC and CCI order on Rs 3,050 crore penalty case of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea," a government official told reporters.

The telecom watchdog Trai in October 2016 recommended imposing a total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.

The DCC deferred a decision on the penalty as the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek and IT secretary Ajay Prakash Shawney were not present in the meeting.

The DCC has asked DoT to bring the detailed report when all members of the commission are present.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore.

The Trai's recommendation came on a complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient points of interconnection (PoIs).

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before the commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.

A DoT committee comprising seven members of the department had expressed divergent views on penalty recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Four members of the panel rejected the penalty while three favoured it.

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A petitioner has moved the Madras High Court seeking action against some political parties that he alleged were responsible for flying black balloons to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here last month.

The petitioner I Mohammed Razvi submitted that such demonstrations against the visit of the prime minister were unbecoming and against the interest of the nation and its people.

A division bench of the Court's Madurai bench, comprising Justice N Kirubakran and Justice S S Sundar, before whom the plea came up Thursday, directed Razvi to implead the parties.

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China Boosts Sierra Leone Govt.With 30 New Garbage Dump Trucks

2019/02/20

Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, His Excellency WU Peng has on Friday 15 February 2019, handed over 30 brand new garbage collection trucks to President Julius Maada Bio at State House in Freetown.

The 30 garbage collection trucks are part of Chinese governments continued commitment to supporting Sierra Leone in achieving its sustainable development goals and improving the quality of life for its citizens.

Presenting the trucks to President Bio, Ambassador WU Peng noted that, during President Bios visit to China last year, the two countries agreed to further engage in strategic partnership and a win-win cooperation, to which both countries have been very committed. He pointed out that, since the introduction of the First National Cleaning exercise, there have been great improvement in the cleanliness of the capital city of Freetown.

We are good partners and therefore we will give all the support within our capacity to support the New Direction of President Bio. We will continue to promote more Chinese investments in this country. If we can work very closely in an efficient way, some big projects can be delivered to Sierra Leone this year, Ambassador WU assured.

While receiving the trucks on behalf of the people Sierra Leone, President Bio expressed gratitude to the Peoples Republic of China for strong support to Sierra Leone over the years and noted that the valuable strategic partnership between the two nations would continue to reinforce the strong ties the two countries have enjoyed for over decades now. He said the support from the Chinese government would help his government deal with the critical issues of solid waste management especially in the urban areas.

He emphasized that China is a reliable partner in terms of development, who suits the action to the word. China talks and China does, said President Bio.

The abovementioned trucks are expected to be distributed to district councils all across the country.
Lt Governor Anil Baijal Thursday reviewed Delhi Police's preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and asked the force to focus on "efficient" operation of control room for timely redressal of complaints regarding poll code violation.

According to a statement, the L-G desired that the assessment of force requirement be meticulously done and the home ministry and the agencies concerned be suitably informed about it well in time.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Renu Sharma, Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and other senior officers of the Delhi government and police.

In the meeting, the Lieutenant Governor was informed by police that special drives against history-sheeters, proclaimed absconders, fugitive criminals and illicit liquor, among others will be undertaken in view of the general elections.

"The L-G directed the Delhi Police to take stern steps to check movement of illicit cash and liquor. He also desired that the Delhi Police focus on efficient control room management for effective and timely redressal of complaints regarding violation of model code of conduct," the statement said.

The Delhi Police also informed the meeting that with the announcement of election dates, it will intensify action against defacement of property, against misuse of vehicle sand loudspeakers, and escalate seizure of illicit cash.

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A Delhi court has convicted AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal and two others for assaulting police personnel and rioting in 2013.

The court said there is no doubt that the assembly in the present case was unlawful as it has caused traffic jam and indulged in violence, which seems to be its common object.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal said there was no doubt that the assembly was not peaceful and had not adopted peaceful means of protest.

The court held that Jarwal, Salim and Dharam Prakash were part of the unlawful assembly who assaulted two police constables and an assistant sub-inspector.

"The accused Jarwal, Salim and Prakash are convicted for offence under sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant) and 147 (punishment for rioting) read with section 149 IPC (unlawful assembly) and under section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act also read with section 149 IPC," the court said.

The maximum punishment under Section 332 and 352 of the Indian Penal Code is a jail term of three years along with a fine.

Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act states, "Whoever commits mischief by doing any act in respect of any public property, other than public property of the nature referred to in sub-section (2) shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with a fine.

According to the complaint, on August 30, 2013, around 100 persons gathered, who caused traffic jam and were involved in the damaging of vehicles.

The incident of rioting occurred near Vayusenabad at MB Road here in which some of the police personnel, who were controlling the riots, were assaulted and two vehicles were damaged including a DTC bus. The mob which indulged in the rioting also resorted to stone-pelting and violence.

The mob was protesting against killing of a person and was alleging inaction on the part of police in the investigation of that case.

Jarwal had claimed in the court that he was not present on the spot on the date of the incident and was sitting in his office and attending the problems of people as his ticket in the election was confirmed.

He also said there is a political conspiracy against him to defame his image in the eyes of the general public as it was his daily routine work.

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The three men convicted in the Shakti Mills gangrape case told the Bombay High Court Thursday that the death penalty awarded to them by the sessions court in 2014 was a "savage sentence" and violated their right to life.

The trio, through their lawyer, told the high court the death sentence violated their fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The convicts, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari, represented by senior counsel Yug Chaudhry, argued that the death sentence awarded to them was wrong in law since there existed an "enormous difference between the harm caused" by them and "the punishment" mated out to them.

Chaudhry made the arguments before a bench of Justices B P Dharamadhikari and Revati Mohite-Dere that began the final hearing Thursday on the writ petitions filed by the convicts challenging the death sentence awarded to them under section 376 (E) of the IPC.

In April 2014, a sessions court here held five persons guilty in the August 2013 gang-rape case in Mumbai, which had caused a national outrage.

One of them, Siraj Khan, was sentenced to life imprisonment, while a second accused, a minor, was sent to a correctional facility.

Jadhav, Bengali, and Ansari were sentenced to death under the then newly introduced section 376 (E) of the IPC since the three had also been convicted in a previous case of gang-rape.

The three, however, moved the HC soon after their conviction, challenging the constitutional validity of the law under which they were sentenced to death for a repeat offence.

The petitioners challenged the sessions court order allowing the prosecution to invoke section 376 (E) of the IPC when the trial was already underway.

They also challenged the constitutional validity of this section, brought in by the Union government after the infamous 2012 Delhi gang-rape case.

In March 2013, the Centre amended the rape laws in the country, introducing several stringent provisions, including section 376 (E).

This section says if a person, who has been previously convicted for rape under the IPC section 376, is subsequently found guilty in a similar offence, the courts can sentence him to imprisonment for the rest of his life, or, even award the death penalty.

On March 20, 2014, the three petitioners were convicted for raping a city-based photo-journalist in the premises of defunct Shakti Mills here.

The next day, while the sessions court was scheduled to begin arguments on their sentence, the state government moved an application, seeking framing of an additional charge under section 376 (E) since they had been convicted of raping another woman earlier.

The sessions court found merit in the prosecutions submissions and in April 2014, awarded the maximum punishment of death to the three petitioners, noting they were repeat offenders.

Advocate Chaudhry, however, questioned Thursday the state's move to frame additional charges when the trial in the case was "almost complete".

He also argued that section 376 (E) was arbitrary and that it entailed disproportionate punishment.

"Section 302 under the IPC entails a minimum punishment of life and a maximum of death for an offence of murder. Section 376 (E), however, entails a minimum punishment of imprisonment for one's full life without any possibility of remission," he said.

"Therefore, is our legislation saying that the offence of repeat rape that doesn't cause homicide is harsher than the offence of murder?" Chaudhry asked.

"How can one prescribe death in a case where another life has not been taken?" he argued.

He cited several judgements of the Indian and American Supreme Courts mandating that the death sentence was an unfair punishment in cases of non-homicidal offences.

Such punishment, he said, had been termed by the US Supreme Court as a "savage sentence", he argued.

The arguments are likely to continue on Friday.

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A jawan of the CRPF's commando unit CoBRA was injured in an encounter with Naxals in the insurgency-hit Sukma and Bijapur districts ofChhattisgarh Thursday morning, police said.

The gun-battle broke out around 10 am in a forest along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts adjoining Telangana, Sukma Superintendent of Police Jitendra Shukla told PTI.

The area is around 500 km from Raipur.

Personnels of state police's Special Task Force, District Reserve Guard, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) were carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the area, Shukla said.

A group of Naxals opened fire on one of the CoBRA teams but the rebels fled after a brief gun-battle that ensued, he added.

"Constable Bhola Kumar of the CoBRA 201st battalion sustained bullet injuries in his leg. He was being airlifted to Raipur for treatment," the SP said.

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The Crime Branch Thursday took over the investigation into the killing of two Youth Congress workers, as the total number of arrests in the case climbed to seven with five more people being arrested, police said.

The arrest of K M Suresh, K Anil Kumar, M Ashwin, Sreerag and G Sreejan was recorded Thursday, they said.

Local CPI(M) leader, A Peethambaran and Saji George were arrested in the last two days.

A police press release said the case relating to the killings has been handed over to the Crime branch as per the direction of the DGP Loknath Behera.

In a setback to the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), its local committee member Peethambaran was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the killings of Youth Congress activists Kripesh (24) and Sarath Lal (21) on Sunday night.

Soon after Peethambaran's arrest, the Kasaragod district committee of the CPI(M) expelled him from the party, following directions from the state committee.

Meanwhile, the parents of the slain activists demanded a CBI probe into the incident and reiterated the allegation that the killings were executed with the support and knowledge of the CPI(M).

The parents said they had no confidence in the police investigation.

Putting more pressure on the Left party, television channels on Thursday aired a purported speech of V P P Mustafa, a local CPI(M) leader, threatening Congress activists during a party meeting at nearby Kallyat a month ago.

In the clip, Mustafa is purportedly heard saying everyone knew the CPI-M's style of functioning and how the party reacted when it ran out of patience.

The Congress alleged that the speech indicated that the killings were executed with the support of the CPI(M) leadership.

Kripesh and Sarath Lal, in their early twenties, were waylaid and attacked when they were returning home after attending a function at Periya in Kasaragod district on Sunday night.

The opposition Congress and the BJP have alleged that the killings were executed with the knowledge and support of the CPI (M) leadership, which the Left party has denied.

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The CPIM on Thursday demanded sacking of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy over his support for calls of boycotting Kashmir in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

Describing Roy's comments as "outrageous", the CPI(M)'s Politburo in a statement said the governor's endorsement comes at time when Kashmiris, particularly students, across the country were being victimised.

"Governor holds a constitutional office. As a representative of President he is expected to be a custodian of the Indian Constitution. This is not the first time he has made public comments which disgrace the post he holds and violate the fundamentals of the Indian Constitution," the statement said.

Roy on Tuesday had tweeted his support for boycott of Kashmir and Kashmiris.

"An appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army: Don't visit Kashmir,don't go to Amarnath for the next 2 years. Don't buy articles from Kashmir emporia or Kashmiri tradesman who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri. I am inclined to agree," Roy had tweeted.

The CPI(M) said, "This is a transgression and is unacceptable. The President of India must immediately sack him.

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A metropolitan magistrate's court here has issued summons to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury after a defamation complaint was filed by an RSS worker for allegedly linking journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder with "BJP-RSS ideology".

RSS worker and lawyer Dhrutiman Joshi had filed a private complaint in the court in 2017 against Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the CPI (M) and its general secretary Yechury.

Magistrate P K Deshpande on February 18 ordered that "process be issued" against Rahul Gandhi and Yechury.

He, however, dismissed the complaint against Sonia Gandhi and the CPI(M), saying a party cannot be held liable for comments made by individuals.

The matter was set for further hearing on March 25.

Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru in September 2017, allegedly by the members of a right-wing extremist group.

Joshi alleged that within 24 hours of Lankesh's death, Rahul Gandhi told mediapersons that "anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP, against the ideology of the RSS is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed".

Yechury too stated that it was the RSS' ideology and the RSS men who had killed the journalist known for her trenchant criticism of right-wing politics, he alleged.

Joshi claimed that these statements slandered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and therefore a case of criminal defamation under IPC section 500 be registered against Rahul Gandhi, Yechury, CPI(M) and Sonia Gandhi.

He named the CPI(M) because Yechury belongs to that party and Sonia Gandhi because she was then Congress chief.

The Congress president is already facing another case for defamation, filed by a Bhiwandi-based RSS worker, for allegedly blaming the Sangh for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Five people, including a couple, have been detained for interrogation in connection with the robbery of Rs 2.50 crore worth of gold and diamonds from a worker of a parcel service firm, police said Thursday.

The robbery occurred early this month when Prithvi Singh was taking the parcel of jewels on a motorycle to the airport here, when he was waylaid by a gang.

Based on the CCTV footage near the parcel office, the five were picked up for questioning, city Police Commissioner Sumit Saran told reporters here.

Three of those secured had been watching the movement of the staff and visitors in the parcel office before the heist, he said.

This led to the conclusion that the woman in the office and her husband had planned the robbery, he said.

Besides, the monitoring of the cellphone of the woman revealed that the gang was discussing the movement of those going out with the parcel, leading to the suspicion of the employees in the parcel office, Saran said.

The booty was distributed among the gang members who later left the city to different parts of the state, he said.

Special police teams have been formed to recover the jewels and the culprits would be nabbed soon, Saran added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha Thursday alleged that there was corruption in West Bengal over procurement of paddy from farmers and demanded CBI inquiry into it.

The famers were committing suicide in many parts of the state as as they are not receiving proper price of their produce, Sinha claimed.

While, the minimum support price of paddy was set at Rs 1750 by the Centre. But in Bengal in many places the the farmers are getting Rs 1350 and are forced to sign receipts where it states that they were receiving Rs 1750, he alleged.

"We demand CBI inquiry into it," Sinha said.

He announced that BJP will organise a massive agitation programme across West Bengal on the issue on February 27.

State Food supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick denied the allegations and said BJP should stop making them without any proper evidence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After the Congress Thursday targeted the Modi government over the Pulwama attack, the BJP hit back, saying the opposition party has shown its "true colours" after maintaining the "facade" of standing with the government and security forces following the terror strike.

Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress of seeking to weaken the morale of the armed forces at a time when the whole world is "firmly standing" with India.

Prasad also targeted the Congress for its "shameful" attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he was in Uttarakhand on the day of Pulwama attack as part of an official programme related to tiger conservation.

"Was the Congress aware of the Pulwama attack? We were not aware," the BJP leader said in a jibe at the opposition party.

The Congress attack on the Modi government would have pleased Pakistan, he alleged, adding that styles of what Imran Khan and the opposition party have said may be different but their contents bore striking resemblance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on February 21, 2019

2019/02/21

Q: The Mobile World Congress will be convened next week in Barcelona, where the 5G technology will be a hot topic. We know that for some time, there have been some debates on Chinese companies' participation in the 5G network building of relevant countries. Some people believe that the products and equipment of Chinese companies pose security risks and should be excluded from the 5G network building. What is your comment?

A: The 5G technology, cutting-edge as it is, should not be exclusively owned by one country or several countries. It means a lot to global economic development, the interests of all countries and the progress of human civilization.

The 5G technology owes its birth to the exchanges and cooperation among countries amid the surging tide of globalization. It is a product of hi-tech innovation by the international community. Its global industrial chain, supply chain and value chain are highly integrated and cannot be artificially severed or separated. Otherwise, mutually-beneficial multilateral cooperation will be affected, the open and inclusive business environment will be undermined, and the fair, just and non-discriminatory international rules will be undercut.

In the era of globalization, no country can achieve development in isolationfrom the world, nor is development and application of a technology possible without cooperation. Guided by the principle of consultation, cooperation and benefit for all, China will continue to share the major opportunities brought by the new round of technological revolution with other countries, step up exchanges and cooperation in the scientific and technological fields including the 5G technology, and contribute to the wellbeing of all mankind through common development and win-win results.

Along the way, we hope that all countries can form their own judgments and make independent decisions that serve their own interests and follow the trend of the times.

Q: Yesterday, during his speech, President Putin announced that the equitable, mutually-beneficial relationship between Russia and China is an important stabilizing factor of the international affairs and of security in Eurasia. Moreover, this relationship is an example of the effective collaboration in the economy. How do you comment on the statement of the Russian President?

A: China highly commends President Putin's positive remarks on China-Russia relations. In recent years, under the strategic leadership of President Xi and President Putin, marked progress has been achieved in the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination. It has not only produced fruitful outcomes in bilateral cooperation, but also injected strong, positive impetus into global strategic stability. Last year, China-Russia bilateral trade exceeded USD 100 billion, and practical cooperation in various fields was enhanced and upgraded, which delivered benefits to our two countries and peoples.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia. Taking it as an opportunity, we will continue to deepen comprehensive strategic coordination, work together for more progress in bilateral relations and make greater contributions to the wellbeing of our two peoples and the security and stability of the world.

Q: There have been reports by Reuters that Australian coal is being held offshore in ports to China, and that the port of Dalian has said they are not accepting any more coal. Do you know any information about this? Is this the result of or does this have anything to do with tensions or problems in the relationship between China and Australia, possibly over 5G or other issue?

A: You were saying "coal", not "cow", right? (The journalist laughed and said, "Yes, coal.")

According to the information I have, China's customs assesses the safety and quality of imported coal, analyzes possible risks, and conducts corresponding examination and inspection compliant with laws and regulations. By doing so, it can better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese importers and protect the environment.

Q: Nigeria is going to hold its presidential and parliamentary elections this Saturday. Last Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced its decision to postpone the elections for one week, which has garnered widespread attention from the international community. What's your comment on the elections in Nigeria?

A: We have noted the relevant situation. The Chinese side hopes and believes that Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections will be held successfully and smoothly.

I would like to point out that Nigeria is an important country in Africa. Peace, stability and development of Nigeria serve the interests of the Nigerian people, the region and Africa at large. China always stands for the principle of non-interference in other country's internal affairs. We believe the Nigerian government and people are capable of managing the relevant election affairs.

Q: New Zealand former Prime Minister Shipley has denied writing an article attributed to her in the People's Daily and that article praises China. Is that article faked? And what's your reaction to Shipley's comments on this matter?

A: I have read relevant media reports, but I'm not aware of the specifics. I'd like to refer you to the relevant Chinese media if you want to know more about it.

Q: I know that you said there has been a review of imported coal, but it seems to be affecting Australian coal specifically. So, is there any concern about Australian coal? And secondly, China Daily said today that Australian Prime Minister Morrison has implied that the cyber attack on the federal parliament in Australia could possibly come from China. Are these two linked in any way?

A: Regarding your question on the review of imported coal, as I said earlier, the Chinese customs conducts risk monitoring and analysis on the safety of imported coal in accordance with the laws and regulations and takes examination and inspection measures accordingly. I believe this is a normal practice.

As for your question on the so-called cyber attack, I gave my answer several days earlier. I can repeat it if you need me to. (The journalist nodded.)

With the cyberspace being a highly virtual one filled with multiple actors whose behaviors are difficult to trace, one should present abundant evidence when investigating and determining the nature of a cyberspace activity instead of making baseless speculations and firing indiscriminate shots at others. Cyber security should be upheld by all members of the international community as it is a global issue that concerns the common interests of all countries. China calls on the international community to deal with cyber security threats through dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

I would like to take this opportunity to add a few words on China-Australia relations. As we stressed many times before, a sound and stable China-Australia relationship serves the common interests of both countries and peoples. China hopes Australia can work with us to advance bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Q: Nine countries in the United Nations Security Council have called for a meeting on Myanmar to address the Rohingya refugee crisis. But diplomats say they expect to see opposition from China on this move. What's China's position on this matter?

A: I am not aware of the latest developments you talked about at the UN Security Council. Did you just say that some countries expect China to raise opposition? (The journalist nodded)

What I can tell you now is that, regarding the Rakhine situation, it is imperative at present for all parties to help Myanmar and Bangladesh with the early repatriation of the first batch of displaced persons, which I believe will help the two sides establish mutual trust and build a sound momentum for the settlement of the relevant issue. The international community needs to play a constructive role in this regard. This has been our position all along.

Q: Could you give us an update on the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince to China and any details of any agreements that may be signed while he is here?

A: I responded to this question several times recently. As far as I know, the main activities are scheduled to take place tomorrow when Crown Prince Mohammad will meet with leaders from the Chinese side. We will release more information afterwards in a timely manner.

Do you need me to restate my previous answer?

(The journalist said, "I just want to know if there are any new developments. I can wait for tomorrow.")

Q: US President Donald Trump suggested that the US would consider easing sanctions on the DPRK if it does what he says "something meaningful" on denuclearization. What's China's response to those comments?

A: China always supports the DPRK and the US in maintaining dialogue and meeting each other halfway. We hope that the second DPRK-US summit will be held successfully and produce positive outcomes to inject new impetus into the realization of denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

China believes that relevant parties should implement the DPRK-related Security Council resolutions fully and accurately in their entirety. Both implementing sanctions and promoting political settlement are equally important under the Security Council resolutions, which must be advanced in parallel, not in a partial or selective way. Under the current circumstances, the Chinese side believes that the Security Council needs to consider holding a debate on invoking the provisions of Security Council resolutions for the body to modify sanctions so as to encourage the political settlement process with concrete actions.

Q: Regarding the second summit between the US and DPRK leaders, there have been reports that the North Korean leader will pass through China by train to go to Viet Nam. Do you have any information on that?

A: I don't have relevant information.

Q: There has been a Reuters report that the trade talks have entered the phase of developing six MOUs and a ten-point list to deal with problems of the trade deficit. Are those reports accurate? Can you tell us anything about that?

A: During the sixth round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations held recently in Beijing, the two sides reached principled consensus on major issues and had consultations on the MOUs of bilateral economic and trade issues.

However, as I'm not aware of the specifics of this round of consultations, I'd refer you to the competent authorities of the Chinese side.

*******************************************

The Foreign Ministry and the People's Government of Shanxi Province will hold a promotion event in the South Building at 3:30 pm on February 25 under the theme of "China in the New Era: Shanxi, New Transformation for a Shared New Future". State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will deliver a speech. Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee Luo Huining and Governor Lou Yangsheng of Shanxi Province will also address the event. Representatives of foreign diplomats in China are invited to deliver remarks and interact with the guests.

As one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation, Shanxi boasts a long history, rich resources and brilliant culture. As an important energy base in China, Shanxi has made important contributions to national social and economic development. In the new era, Shanxi, following a new development philosophy, is transforming its growth model, embracing the Belt and Road cooperation and exploring new horizons for opening up as an inland province. This promotion event will showcase Shanxi's profound history and culture, its vision of transformation in pursuit of high-quality development and a shared new future for the world. It will serve as a platform for all to better understand and appreciate Shanxi and expand cooperation with it. We look forward to your attendance and coverage of this event.

Due to the promotion event for Shanxi, the regular press conference of the Foreign Ministry will be adjourned on Monday, February 25 and resumed on Tuesday, February 26. During this period, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Office will take your questions via fax and e-mail as usual.
Fitch Solutions, the research arm of Fitch Group, Thursday said the Congress has a "fair chance" of forming a coalition government in the next general election as re-lection will be a "tough challenge" for the Modi-led NDA government given the ongoing rifts between the BJP and potential kingmaker parties.

The report titled 'Political Risk Analysis - Indian Election Could Lead To Fragmented Parliament And Weak Policymaking', also added that a likely coalition government post general elections due in April-May will have negative implications for continuity of policies of the current government.

"We at Fitch Solutions are bucking the overwhelming consensus at this juncture that the BJP will most likely form the next government after the upcoming elections, and we believe that the INC has a fair chance of marshalling a coalition government, given ongoing rifts between the BJP and potential kingmaker parties," it said.

The re-election of the NDA government, it added, will be a tough challenge for the ruling BJP due to several reasons, including declining support for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as indicated by the BJP's loss in three assembly elections held in November-December 2018, and the agrarian distress.

It, further, said the increased spending measures announced in the 2019-20 Interim Budget will do little to shore up support for the BJP as the "token" cash dole out to farmers "pales" in comparison to the sweeping farm loan waivers enacted by the Congress state governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

"We believe that the Rs 75,000 crore assured income support scheme for small and marginal farmers is likely to have minimal effect on swinging support towards the BJP among rural farmers. This is because the scheme is planned to target around 120 million farmers which only amounts to Rs 6,000 per individual annually," it said.

Fitch Solutions also said that the recent attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on Indian jawans in Kashmir on February 14 is a "strong opportunity" for the BJP to rally support should it succeed in conveying a tough stance towards the perpetrators and against Pakistan.

"We believe that the recent attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on Indian paramilitary forces in Kashmir is a strong opportunity for the BJP to rally support should it succeed in conveying a tough stance towards the perpetrators and against Pakistan. Such a move could boost support for the Hindu nationalist sentiment of the BJP, and poses upside risks to the BJP's re-election chances," it added.

It also said that it would not be easy for main opposition party Congress, to wrestle power from the BJP, and the final make-up of the government will depend on whether the Congress or the BJP is able to form a coalition with the numerous smaller parties in 543 member Lok Sabha.

"Such a coalition implies that policymaking will become more challenging following the elections, and this would also have negative implications for policy continuity," Fitch Solutions said.

The agency also revised down India's short-term political risk index score to 65.8 (out of 100), from 69.8 previously, reflecting a reduction in scores across policy continuity, policy-making, and also the security component.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring Thursday threatened to protest against the state government if it did not act against private transporters whose buses were involved in "frequent" accidents, leading to deaths.

During the Zero Hour in the ongoing Punjab budget session here, Warring, a legislator from Giddarbaha raised the issue of people "being killed" in accidents involving private buses in the state.

Drawing attention of the state transport minister Aruna Chaudhary, Warring claimed that was no law to act against the accused private transporters.

"Can't we lodge a case against them? Will they continue to crush people," asked Warring, calling it a "very serious issue".

He demanded that firms whose private buses were involved in "frequent" accidents must be shut down.

Urging the transport minister not to shrug off the matter, Warring sought a law be enacted to act against erring bus operators.

"The law should have a provision to close down such bus companies. If we have to protest against our government for it, we will... We will not allow people be crushed on roads," the Giddarbaha MLA said.

Warring further alleged that several "unscrupulous" bus companies were getting licenses and fitness certificates renewed illegally which was hurting the image of the state government.

"If this continues, the trust which people had shown in us will vanish," he warned.

In her reply, Chaudhary said: "The law is already there. There is a need to fine tune it and be made more effective."



Intervening in the matter, the leader of opposition and AAP MLA Harpal Singh Cheema sought an amendment in the existing law to punish the "reckless" drivers.

The private transport sector in Punjab is dominated by political leaders, including the Badal family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" in the document.

The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, it did not name in this context.

"Modiji on February 18 said 'the time for talks with is over, and now action will be taken'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

"Modiji on February 20 saying --India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014," he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing onthe need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The prime minister "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said.

The Crown Prince "appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan," the joint statement said.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," it said.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Slamming the for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Pulwama attack, the Thursday dubbed its allegations "shameful" and said they have exposed its "true colours" after it kept a "facade" of standing with security forces and the government following the terror strike.

At a party event in Andhra Pradesh, president said it was condemnable that the has "politicised" the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14, and asserted that people have full trust in Modi's commitment of ending terrorism.

Citing media reports, the claimed that Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett Park for his "propaganda and publicity" and stayed put in the area till the February 14 evening despite the taking place in the afternoon that day.

Congress' chief spokesperson also claimed that the prime minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house" that evening.

Union minister and leader rejected the Congress' charge as "shameful" and said Modi was there as part of an official programme related to tiger conservation.

"Was the Congress aware of the We were not aware," the BJP leader said in a jibe at the opposition party.

The Congress attack on the Modi government would have pleased Pakistan, he said, adding that styles of what Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and the opposition party have said may be different but their contents bore striking resemblance.

Shah said the Congress may level as many allegations as it wants but the "popular" prime minister's commitment to security cannot be questioned, as he has given it top priority and adopted a policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism.

Modi has given security forces a free hand to give a befitting reply to this act of terrorism at a time and place of their choosing, he told a meeting of BJP workers.

Hitting back at the opposition party, the BJP chief said, "With what face is the Congress raising questions against the prime minister? It called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes, its leader Navjot Singh Sidhu embraced the Pakistan army chief and its previous president cried when terrorists were killed."

Kashmir remained an unresolved issue only because former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru tackled it in the wrong way, leading to Pakistan indulging in terrorist acts, Shah said.

"Kashmir remained a problem only because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel tackled Hyderabad and it is now respectfully part of India but Jawaharlal Nehru tackled Kashmir and it continues to be a problem," he said.

ALSO READ: Imran Khan asks Pak army to 'respond decisively' to any Indian 'aggression'

Speaking to reporters, Prasad accused the Congress of seeking to weaken the morale of security forces at a time when it is high with the entire country rallying around them.

The whole world is standing firmly with India, he said.

"After maintaining a facade of standing with the government and security forces, the Congress has shown its true colours," he said.

Reacting to the Congress attack on Modi for going ahead with his scheduled programmes after the Pulwama attack, Prasad said the BJP had cancelled all political programmes, including of the prime minister, Modi only went ahead with development exercises.

ALSO READ: India will stop flow of 'eastern' river waters to Pakistan, says Gadkari

The entire country has been in a mourning but it will carry on with its work as a message cannot go out that the nation has been stalled due to terrorists, he said.

"The country will not bow to terrorists," he said, asking the Congress not to try to weaken the country's resolve.

The Union minister claimed that terrorism in Kashmir has been dealt a severe blow during the Modi government's rule, saying that 728 terrorists were killed during 2015-18 compared to the corresponding figure of 349 during 2011-14.

Asked about the sharp rise in the casualties of security forces as well, he said it should be seen that terrorism has been hit hard.

To a question about demand of scrapping Article 370, which gives Jammu and Kashmir exclusive constitutional rights and has been opposed by the BJP since the party's inception, he said it will be considered at an appropriate time.

Asked about the visit of Modi, who was then the Gujarat chief minister, to Mumbai following the terror attack there in 2008, Prasad claimed that he went there to meet the families of victims and that the BJP, which was then in opposition, had not politicised it.
Gloves were off on Thursday between the Congress and the BJP over the Pulwama strike, with the opposition party citing media reports to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14 till hours after the attack, and the ruling party hitting back saying they have "no face" to raise questions on Modi's nationalism.

After maintaining a silence for nearly a week over the terror strike that killed 40 CRPF personnel, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala addressed a press conference to claim that the Prime Minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat food".

He also accused BJP president Amit Shah of indulging in "politicisation of terrorism" in his speech in Assam on Sunday.

Sharply reacting to Surjewala's comments, Shah at a party event in Andhra Pradesh said it was condemnable that the Congress has "politicised" the Pulwama attack, and asserted that people have full trust in Modi's commitment to root out terrorism.

The BJP president also asked with what face the Congress was raising questions against the Prime Minister.

Slamming the Congress for targeting the Prime Minister on the Pulwama attack, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad dubbed its allegations "shameful" and said they have exposed the party's "true colours" after it kept a "facade" of standing with security forces and the government following the terror strike.

"Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the prime minister of trading with soldiers' blood, Congress' (Navjot Singh) Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," the BJP chief said.

Reacting to Shah's remarks, Surjewala said he should not forget that it was a Congress government that taught Pakistan a lesson in 1947, in 1965 and in 1971.

At the press conference, the Congress chief spokesperson also alleged that "in his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten 'raj dharma' (duty of governance)."



Citing reports in some Hindi dailies, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm.

But, the prime minister was "busy" in film shooting and photo shoots till hours after the attack, he claimed.

"The prime minister also knew about it (the attack). Yet the Prime Minister, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

Surjewala alleged that Modi continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there was slogan shouting by BJP people praising him.

On the one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", and on the other the Prime Minister was busy in his "propaganda and publicity", Surjewala claimed.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi claimed that jawans killed in the Pulwama attack are denied the status of martyrs but the PM "gifts" Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani for him to "live happily ever after".

Surjewala said the Congress had shown restrain on the direction of party president Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"Why has Prime Minister Modi, the NSA (Ajit Doval) & the Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) not owned responsibility for the unpardonable failure of National Security & Intelligence apparatus?" he said.

He said the government needs to answer questions on alleged failure of intelligence, and on how did local militants get RDX and M4 carbines.

"Why did you ignore a video released by Jaish-e-Mohammad 48 hours before? Why couldn't you airlift troops? Is it more expensive than the lives of our jawans?" Surjewala asked.

Shah, at the BJP event, said Kashmir remained an unresolved issue only because former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru did not handle it properly which has led to the present situation in the Valley where Pakistan is indulging in terror acts.

"Kashmir remained a problem only because of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel tackled Hyderabad and it is now respectfully part of India but Jawaharlal Nehru tackled Kashmir and it continues to be a problem," he said.

Terming the Congress' allegations as "shameful", Prasad said Modi was there as part of an official programme related to tiger conservation.

"Was the Congress aware of the Pulwama attack? We were not aware," the BJP leader said in a jibe at the opposition party.

The BJP leader accused the Congress of seeking to weaken the morale of security forces at a time when it is high with the entire country rallying around them.

Reacting to the Congress attack on Modi for going ahead with his scheduled programmes after the Pulwama attack, Prasad said the BJP had cancelled all political programmes, including that of the Prime Minister and Modi only went ahead with events pertaining to development ventures.

Surjewala also hit out at the conduct of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the attack.

He displayed a photograph purportedly showing BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj smiling during the final journey of a slain jawan, and also showed a "selfie" of Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons reportedly taken at a soldier's funeral.

Alphons has denied taking the picture himself saying some miscreants circulated his photograph at the CRPF jawan's funeral as a "selfie".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The committee constituted for formulating the pension scheme for farmers in Haryana has submitted its report to the state government, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said here Thursday.

The government has received the report of the Committee constituted to explore the possibilities of launching the 'Kisan Pension Yojana' and the report is being studied now, Khattar told reporters here on the sidelines of the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.

The Finance Department would be consulted to find out the additional financial burden on this account, he said.

The committee had held its third meeting here last month.

The first meeting of the committee was held in December last year, while two meetings were held last month.

The committee, headed by Haryana BJP president and Tohana MLA Subhash Barala, has other members, including ruling BJP's MLAs Abhay Singh Yadav, Mahipal Dhanda, Ghanshyam Das Arora and Pawan Saini.

Senior IAS officer and Director, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department, Ajit Balaji Joshi, is also a member of the committee.

After some Congress-ruled states announced farm loan waiver, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana has been mulling a pension scheme for farmers.

Opposition parties, including the Congress and the INLD, have promised farm loan waiver if they are voted to power after the assembly polls, which are due in October this year.

Meanwhile, on being asked about his meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP president Amit Shah recently, the chief minister said it was a routine meeting.

To another question, Khattar said elections to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will not be held along with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The decision to finalise the name of candidates for the general elections is under the consideration of the Central Parliamentary Board, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Manufacturers' Association (CMA) Thursday said it has signed a four-year wage settlement agreement with federations of major central trade unions entailing a rise of Rs 5,000 in gross monthly pay of 20,000 workers in the sector.

The agreement was signed with Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) before the chief labour commissioner (central) here, CMA said in a statement.

The settlement is for four years from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2022, and it will benefit around 20,000 employees in the Indian industry by way of an increase in gross pay, enhanced dearness allowance and service weightage, it said.

"The settlement provides for an increase of Rs 5,000 per month in the gross pay of employees," it said adding that arrears for 11 months will be paid in two instalments.

A total of 21 cement companies, consisting major players which cover 60 per cent of the country's total cement capacity, had authorised CMA to negotiate with the trade unions on their behalf.

CMA former president and India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan had led the CMA team in the negotiation.

The national-level, industry-wide settlement has been in practice since 1992, representing a unique collective bargaining in the truest sense with management and unions siting across the table and signing before the Central chief labour commissioner, Srinivasan said.

"This has assured industrial peace in the industry in the last 26 years," he added.

"As an industry, we are collectively committed to creating sustainable opportunities for better livelihood for our employees and being partners to the government for creating sustainable business operations so relevant for the growth of the nation," said CMA President Mahendra Singhi, who is also the MD and CEO of Dalmia Cement (Bharat).

Congratulating CMA and the trade unions on reaching an amicable settlement in such a short time, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Rajan Verma said: "The is an important industry for the inclusive growth of the country and there has been a change in approach with the value of industry being well appreciated on both sides.
Actor Chris Hemsworth is all set to portray wrestling legend Hulk Hogan in a biographical drama for Netflix.

The film will be directed by "Hangover" maker Todd Phillips, who is currently shooting for Joaquin Phoenix-starrer DC project "Joker".

The script will be written by "8 Mile" scribe Scott Silver alongside John Pollono, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is expected to look into Hogan's rise from the Florida wrestling circuit to becoming the face of the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s where he squared off with villain Andre the Giant.

At his peak, Hogan graced the covers of magazines and headlined a Saturday morning cartoon. The term "Hulkamania" was coined in 1984, with Hogan referring to his legions of fans as "Hulkamaniacs" during interviews.

The film, however, will not delve into the legal battle between Hogan; Gawker Media and its founder, Nick Denton, over a sex tape that the online media company published featuring the former WWE star.

The lawsuit had resulted in a USD 140 million judgment against Gawker and led to the outlet's subsequent bankruptcy.

The project will be produced by Michael Sugar through his Sugar23's first-look Netflix deal along with Joint Efforts' Phillips and Bradley Cooper, Eric Bischoff, and Hemsworth.

Hogan will also executive produce along with Sugar23's Ashley Zalta. Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman will serve as co-producers.

Hemsworth is currently awaiting the release of his Marvel tentpole "Avengers: Endgame". The actor will also feature "Men in Black" reboot, titled "Men in Black: International".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The construction of the proposed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial off the Mumbai coast will remain stayed for the time being as the Supreme Court on Thursday turned down the Maharashtra government's plea seeking an early hearing of an appeal challenging the project.

The apex court had earlier orally asked the Maharashtra government authorities not to proceed with the construction activities and issued notice to the state government and others on an appeal of an NGO challenging the Bombay High Court order refusing to stay the construction.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was told by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Maharashtra government, that the NGO's plea be heard urgently in view of the fact that the construction activities were halted.

"We cannot let Maharashtra jump the queue," the bench, also comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said.

Earlier, the apex court had sought the responses of the Centre and the Maharashtra government on the appeal of the NGO, Conservation Action Trust, challenging the Bombay High Court order refusing to restrain the authorities from taking steps regarding the proposed memorial project in the Arabian Sea.

The NGO had moved the high court, challenging the February 23, 2015 order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) granting the environmental and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance to the Rs 3,600-crore project.

It had sought interim relief, saying stay should be granted on the order and the authorities should be restrained from taking further steps with regard to the project.

The petitioner had claimed in the high court that an amendment to a clause of the CRZ notification, 2011 by a February 17, 2015 notification of the MoEF&CC was "illegal" as it permitted the Centre to dispense with the requirement of public hearing in such projects.

The state government had opposed the plea in the high court and said clearances were taken for the project from different authorities.

It had argued that the final environmental and CRZ clearance of February 23, 2015 was granted by the MoEF&CC after a detailed study, after ascertaining the compliance of all requirements and after following a proper procedure.

Rejecting the petitioner's request for interim relief, the high court had noted in its order that the state had said the memorial project did not involve rehabilitation and resettlement of people and the site was located away from human habitation.

"It also cannot be overlooked that the project is considered by the state government to be of national importance," the high court had noted in its order.

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The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against unidentified officials of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission for allegedly granting favours to close relatives of public servants in an examination to select additional private secretaries during Mayawati's rule in 2010, officials said Thursday.

The preliminary enquiry is based on a complaint from the BJP-ruled government in the state which was routed to it through the central government in January.

It is alleged in the complaint that certain unidentified people including officials of the UPPSC committed irregularities and misconduct in the examination for about 250 posts of additional private secretaries in 2010, they said.

It is alleged that they extended undue favours to undeserving candidates, they said.

Some of the candidates favoured in the examination did not fulfill even the basic minimum eligibility, the officials citing the complaint claimed.

The complaint has alleged that some selected candidates are "close relatives" of public servants then serving the Uttar Pradesh government which was headed by Chief Minister Mayawati between 2007-12, they said.

It is alleged that the officials of the UPPSC in connivance with the examiners altered marks of the candidates to enable their selection, they said.

When asked, the officials said the definition of public servants includes elected representatives who have taken oath of office.

But they did not offer any comments to a question whether the "close relatives" were of elected representatives in the government or not.

"These are allegations in the complaint from the state government. We have registered a preliminary enquiry," an official said.

The move of the agency became public on a day Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party sealed their seat-sharing agreement for Lok Sabha polls to forge a formidable opposition against the ruling BJP.

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At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure to combat terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, according to media reports on Thursday.

The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Mohammad during his first official visit to Islamabad.

The International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the Crown Prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait of himself and a gold-plated submachine gun.

The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a submachine gun developed by German engineers, and this modified weapon has an elaborate pattern engraved on its gold-plated components, CNN reported.

The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister.

Presenting the Saudi Crown Prince with a weapon will likely raise eyebrows at a time when he has been embroiled in controversy over the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered at the country's consulate in Istanbul in October of last year, CNN said.

The Crown Prince travelled to Pakistan, India and China widely seen as an attempt to bolster ties and improve the kingdom's image after a troubled year, the report said.

In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Prime Minister Khan at the Prime Minister's Office here.

Khan had thanked the Saudi leader for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi Crown Prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The international community led by the US has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth USD 20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability.

China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country.

Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his "outstanding support" in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries.

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Aerospace company Boeing Thursday held discussions with its partners, Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on the proposed F/A-18 Super Hornet 'Make in India' plan.

The partners are developing comprehensive plans to set-up a new 'factory of the future' to manufacture Super Hornet locally, Boeing said after the discussions at the Aero India air show at the Yelahanka air base here.

The program is expected to work with several Indian suppliers to grow a thriving defense aerospace base which could accelerate other programs, a company statement said.

The facility will create a world-class, highly trained aerospace workforce, it said.

The public-private partnership is intended to bring Boeing, HAL and MDS' global scale and supply chain, its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes, as well as experience in designing and optimising aerospace production facilities to expand India's aerospace ecosystem and help realise the 'Make in India' vision.

Boeing's Super Hornet is a proven platform that offers the fighter of the future for India networked, survivable and reliable, the statement said.

Introduced in 2007, the F/A-18 Super Hornet is the world's preeminent carrier capable aircraft and best suited for India's naval fighter requirements designed from day one for carrier operations, according to Boeing.

The Super Hornet is highly capable across the full mission spectrum for the Indian Air Force and is a true multi-role aircraft, able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum, it said.

In addition, Boeing also laid out at Aero India its future defence plans proposing the KC-46A aerial refueler, AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, additional P-8 long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, and the twin-engine Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.

Boeing also highlighted its growing services, sustainment and training footprint in India which is delivering exceptional operational capability and readiness for current platforms at a competitive cost structure, another release from the company said.

The P-8I and C-17 operated by the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force have high mission readiness rates of >85%, as a result of this commitment.

For the soon-to-be-inducted AH-64E Apaches and CH-47F(I) Chinooks, the first batch of Indian Air Force pilots have been undergoing training in the United States, it said.

Boeing also plans to establish rotor craft training and support capabilities in India as deliveries commence this year, it said.

Boeing also shared its success on 'Make in India', highlighting the contributions of its 160+ suppliers that provide parts and assemblies covering aerostructures, wire harness, composites, forgings, avionics mission systems, and ground support equipment for some of its most advanced defence platforms.

Boeing also highlighted the deliveries of the first batch of AH-64 Apache fuselages by Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited, the Joint Venture with Tata Advanced Systems Limited, which is the sole-producer of fuselages globally.

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Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists Thursday scuffled with the police and 45 of them were arrested during a rally here to protest "question paper leak" in the ongoing Madhyamik examination.

Images of question papers were found circulated on social media shortly after commencing of the tests in six of the seven previous days of the class 10 school leaving examination conducted by the state board.

The arrested BJYM workers who included four women were sent to the central lock up at Lalbazar, the headquarters of the Kolkata Police, a senior officer said.

The BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, organised the rally from the state BJP party office to College Street.

Carrying posters demanding resignation of Minister Partha Chatterjee, BJYM activists shouted slogans against the Trinamool Congress government in the state.

After the rally reached College Street, the procession was stopped by the police who had put up barricades there.

The police initially asked them to leave, but soon a scuffle broke out between the two sides and policemen used force to disperse them, the officer said.

The police also arrested 45 of the protestors including BJYM state president Debjit Sarkar.

The minister had earlier said a question paper was considered leaked when it comes out before the commencement of the examination, and not after.

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Accusing the BJP of "polarizing the country to hide its failures, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah Thursday said it was time to forge unity and give a befitting reply to those who were "hell bent to destroy our social fabric.

"The BJP is polarizing the country to hide its failures. With a reduced credibility, the BJP and its ideologue will again rack up the emotive issues. The situation that we are facing today is a grim reminder of how low the communal forces can stoop to axe their own grind. The BJP, faced with pulverizing debacles in Hindi heartland, is shifting to a higher level of divisive politics, Abdullah said here.

The NC president was addressing a provincial working committee meeting of the party at NC head quarters Nawa-e-Subha.

He said RSS and its proxies in the state will try to polarize the situation by fanning passions because they have nothing to offer in terms of development and stability and cautioned the people of the state to not fall prey to the "divisive agenda of communal forces.

"These forces, directly and indirectly, will try to vitiate the atmosphere, but we as a peace loving society should not allow ourselves get swayed by their malicious propaganda. In the forthcoming elections, people of the state will give befitting reply to such forces as they are contriving to create friction between various regions of the state," Abdullah said.

The Member of Parliament from Srinagar while expressing concern over the unremitting intimidation and attacks on Kashmiri traders and students across the country said such incidents have made Kashmiris putting up outside state insecure.

The attacks cannot be singled out as bout of impelled anger and frustration. The kind of warmongering and rhetoric retching against Kashmiris by certain media also played its role to vitiate the atmosphere, he said.

The NC president expressed dismay over the "laid-back attitude" of Jammu and Kashmir governor S P Malik-led administration in dealing with the incidents of violence in Jammu.

Our politically proactive governor did not heed to step out to pacify the masses and see to the difficulties of stranded Kashmir bound passengers in Jammu. He had shut his eyes and ears to the targeted violence against Kashmiris in Jammu, Abdullah alleged.

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The Haryana Assembly Thursday witnessed sharp exchanges between opposition INLD and the ruling BJP after Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala accused the latter of making the governor read out the party's achievements in the House.

Addressing the state assembly on the opening day of the budget session here Wednesday, Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya had praised the government's commitment to "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" and "Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek", saying results of the recent mayoral elections and five municipal council polls were a "solid vindication" of that.

The BJP had swept the municipal polls in Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar as well as the by-election in Jind.

Taking strong objections to the governor's address, Chautala Thursday asked the government to clarify "if the governor was made to read out the government's agenda or the BJP's".

The leader of opposition also pointed out that the governor concluded his speech in just a few minutes after reading out only a portion of the 44-page document, while telling the House that rest of it be treated as read.

Responding to the allegation, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asserted that the governor had spoken about the government's policies and its developmental agenda.

"It is the prerogative of the governor whether he reads out one para or half a page. Moreover, this is not something new, there are so many examples from other states too, where governors after reading out a portion of the speech, say that the remaining part of it be treated as read," he said.

"Whatever the governor said during the course of his speech about the government and its policies, he spoke about people of Haryana," Khatter added.

Rebutting Chautala's charge, the chief minister further said, "'Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek' is our government's policy. The governor spoke about prosperity for all. The speech did not talk about prosperity of a BJP worker, but that of the entire society, entire state.."



Chautala remained dissatisfied, and while pointing towards the CM, said that the governor was made to boast about the BJP's achievements in the mayoral and the Jind bypolls, adding that it was "not appropriate".

There were sharp exchanges between the INLD members who backed Abhay, while the BJP members kept countering him.

Earlier, as BJP member Pawan Saini opened the debate on the governor's address, his 90-minute speech saw frequent interruptions.

The House also witnessed heated exchanges between the BJP and the Congress after the latter alleged that the AIIMS in Badsha, Jhajjar, would be shifted to Manethi, Rewari.

The government clarified that the AIIMS in Jhajjar was an extension of AIIMS Delhi, while an independent institute will come up at Rewari.

The AIIMS issue also witnessed heated exchanges between Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar and the Congress' Geeta Bhukkal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An MLA from Bihar has been apprehended at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying ten bullets in his baggage, officials said Thursday.

Chandrashekhar was intercepted by a CISF personnel during baggage checking on Wednesday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) while he was about to take a flight to Patna, they said.

The MLA from Madhepura could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Ten live bullets of 3.15 bore were recovered from the passenger, the officials said.

He was not allowed to take the flight and was handed over to the police as he could not produce any documents for carrying the ammunition, they said, adding that he was later booked under sections of the Arms Act.

"The investigation in the case is on and the person has not been arrested till now," a senior police official said.

Arms and ammunition are not allowed to be carried by passengers as per Indian aviation security rules.

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Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain accused the TMC government in West Bengal on Thursday of harbouring anti-national elements and wondered whether being a nationalist was a crime in the state.

The international joint general secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) alleged that under the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule, Bengal had become a safe haven for jihadis, Rohingya migrants and anti-national elements, while Hindus were facing persecution.

"The TMC government is giving protection to anti-nationals and attacking those who are patriots. If we wave the national flag and raise slogans in favour of Mother India, is it a crime in Bengal?," he asked.

Claiming that VHP workers were being arrested by the police in the state, Jain said, "We do not need permission from the TMC government to wave the national flag, it is our constitutional right."



Commenting on Wednesday's attack on an anti-war march taken out by a human rights organisation in the city, he said, "What do you except a patriot to do when you see some people are supporting terrorists and Pakistan."



"The entire country wants revenge against the perpetrators of terror attacks on our jawans. When the country is united, some people are taking out rallies, saying they want peace. So, what will the common people do? They will attack those anti-nationals," the VHP leader said.

The rights body -- Association for Protection of Democratic Rights -- had alleged that the BJP, the VHP and the RSS were behind the attack. The charge has been denied by all the three organisations.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the attack and asked the police to take action.

TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee dismissed Jain's allegations as baseless and said outfits like the VHP were trying to trigger communal polarisation in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Jain announced a number of programmes the VHP would take up in West Bengal in the months to come, including during Shivratri on March 6.

"On Shivratri, the VHP cadre will throng various Shiva temples across the country and offer water to the deity with a prayer for a Ram temple in Ayodhya," he said.

The VHP leader criticised opposition leaders for opposing a Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, saying these "leaders of the mahagathbandhan (the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties) want to create hurdles in the path of the Ram temple as they want to use it for political purpose. For us, it is a matter of faith".

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A Bangladeshi cargo ship capsized in the Hooghly river in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district Thursday but all eight crew members, including an Indian, were rescued by local fishermen, police said.

The Ship 'MV Allal Shah' was carrying fly ash and was on its way to Bangladesh from Khidderpore dock in Kolkata.

As there was low visibility due to dense fog, the ship hit sand bars near Nodakhali area of the district and capsized, police said.

The Khidderpore dock is a riverine port of the Kolkata Port Trust.

Eight crew members of the ship - 7 Bangladeshis and one Indian - were rescued by the local fishermen and handed over to the police, they added.

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Australia on Thursday announced a two-year ban on the entry of its citizens who travelled to either Iraq or Syria to fight for or support the Islamic State and now want to return following the fall of the terror group.

The Australian government introduced a bill to amend the law in the Federal parliament.

The move comes days after US President Donald Trump asked Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back the captured IS fighters, who are citizens of these countries, and put them on trial.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said over 230 Australians had travelled to either Syria or Iraq to fight or support Islamic extremists since 2012, but a number of them are now trying to return home that Islamic State's power is dwindling.

"The government is determined to deal with these people from as far away from our shores as is possible, to ensure that if they return, it is into the hands of authorities," Dutton said while introducing the bill in the lower house.

"It is vital for our national security that we deal with Australians who travelled to the conflict zone in Iraq and Syria as far from our shores as possible," he was quoted as saying in a media report.

He said Australians who are involved in supporting terrorism, and who may have fought with terrorists in Syria or Iraq, pose a significant threat, especially since the military collapse of IS.

"That's why we are introducing Temporary Exclusion Orders, which would prevent Australians involved in terrorism overseas from legally returning to Australia for up to two years.

"A person could go to prison for up to two years for breaching a temporary exclusion order," he added.

The minister said the exclusion order could be revoked to then allow someone to enter Australia under a return permit.

"The return permit can specify the conditions under which the person returns to Australia, such as date of return, specific flights and security arrangements, to further manage any potential threat," Dutton said.

The proposed 12-month return permit could also include conditions around using technology.

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At least 59 "bandits" were killed in an attack on villagers in Zamfara state, northwest Nigeria, when civilian militia fought back, security officials and locals told AFP on Thursday.

"We killed 59 of the bandits and we lost seven men in the fight which lasted for almost four hours," Bube Shehu, from Danjibga village said of the clashes Wednesday, in an account backed by a military officer in the state.

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Seguin, Texas (78155)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 74F. SE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 74F. SE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Global biopharmaceutical major AstraZeneca and IT industry body Nasscom Thursday joined hands to set up an accelerator programme to support Indian start-ups in healthcare.

At the India-Sweden Unnati Healthcare 2.0 day event here, AstraZeneca and its partners, Business Sweden, Nasscom, Atal Innovation Mission-Niti Aayog and AGNIi also announced the finalists of the Unnati Healthcare Innovation Challenge.

The selected winners among the finalists will receive mentorship support from AstraZeneca, which will contribute its unique healthcare domain expertise with the aim of helping the finalists bring their solutions to market.

AstraZeneca has launched a strategic partnership with the Nasscom IoT Centre of Excellence to set up an accelerator programme to support Indian start-ups develop new innovative solutions to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) care in India.

Under this collaboration, AstraZeneca and Nasscom will incubate start-ups in bringing innovative and frugal solutions that can help in the management of NCDs.

AstraZeneca PLC Chairman of the Board Leif Johansson told PTI: "Best healthcare that can be provided and developed comes from cooperation across borders between industry, government and academia in a such way that we, with the help of technology, can provide a higher-quality service at a lower cost."



AstraZeneca is committed to strengthening innovation in healthcare in India, he added.

In a statement, Johansson said: "We are pleased to collaborate with the government, start-up eco-system and industry partners to achieve the shared vision of making meaningful interventions in improving the lives of patients impacted by non-communicable diseases in India."



Highlighting the Unnati initiative, Sweden's Trade Commissioner to India Carsten Grnblad said: "Unnati is a model for co-innovation allowing industry, start-ups and the civil society to jointly develop solutions addressing global social needs."This challenge calls for collaboration to implement early and remote screening as well as efficient AI-based patient management, he added.

When asked about the importance of India as a market for AstraZeneca, Johansson said: "India is important to us as a market... My vision would be that India becomes an important, large part of the AstraZeneca group not only for India but also in India for global market.

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Ahead of the Assembly election in Arunachal Pradesh, long time Chief Minister Gegong Apang has joined the Janata Dal (Secular), the party headed by former Prime Minister H D Devegowda.

The formal joining of Apang was held at Pasighat, the headquarters of East Siang district on Wednesday, in the presence of Devegowda, sources close to the former chief minister said here Thursday.

The decision to this effect was taken during a meeting held at Pasighat, he said.

After joining the party, Apang while talking to reporters said, "The JD (S) has a secular outlook and therefore we have decided now we will be together".

The former Arunchal Pradesh chief minister, who ruled the state for 23 in the past, resigned from the BJP on January 15 this year accusing the partys leadership of using every dirty trick to get to the power.

Apang was elected as MLA seven times.

The veteran Arunchal Pradesh politician was seen at Mamata Banerjee's January 19 opposition parties rally as well in the recent anti-BJP conclave at Delhi hosted by Arvind Kejriwal.

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Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd) B D Mishra on Thursday lauded the Pema Khandu-led BJP government for its "pro-poor measures" and "crusade against corruption" in the state.

In his customary address to the Assembly on the inaugural day of the three-day interim budget session, he said the state has taken active measures to redress the grievances of its people.

"The government has made historic, transformational, systematic and structural changes in the state over the past two-and-a-half years. It has zero tolerance for corruption and takes popular views and suggestions into consideration before making decisions," he said.

With a view to bring transparency in operations, the state purchases goods through an online portal, where records of all procurement are maintained, the governor said.

Mishra also said that three new districts - Pakke- Kessang, Lepa Rada and Shi-Yomi - have been created recently for effective governance.

The Pema Khandu-led government wants its development work to benefit all sections of society, he stressed.

"It (state government) has framed the 'Arunachal Pradesh District Mineral Foundation (Trust) Rule 2018' with an objective to benefit people affected by mining-related operations, he maintained.

Under the new rules, every lease and permit holder will have to pay 30% of the royalty to the disaster management fund, which shall then be used for local area development.

"The state has been extensively using information technology to redressing the grievances of its people. It has taken proactive measures for good governance. The culture of 'bandh' and strikes, which had become a malaise for the state, has been curbed under the current dispensation," the governor added.

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Congress MLA J N Ganesh was Thursday flown here from Gujarat, a day after being arrested for allegedly assaulting another lawmaker from his party.

Ganesh was arrested near a restaurant in Somnath, weeks after he was declared absconding for allegedly thrashing Anand Singh during a brawl at a resort on city outskirts during the recent political turmoil in the state.

The police recorded his "voluntary" statement and took him to a hospital for medical check-up, Ramanagara Superintendent of police Ramesh Bhanot told reporters.

According to the complaint filed with the police, Ganesh had allegedly attacked Singh on January 20 at the Bidadi resort with his fists and a flowerpot, hit him near his eye and kicked him on his chest.

The incident had happened when Congress MLAs were camping at the resort to thwart an alleged bid by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to poach on them, in its attempt to topple the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in the state.

In his complaint, Singh alleged that Ganesh was upset as he suspected that he wanted to finish him off politically and did not support him financially during the Karnataka Assembly polls last year.

A seriously injured Singh was admitted to a private hospital in the city.

Based on a complaint, the police had registered a case of attempt to murder against Ganesh.

Fearing arrest, the Congress MLA did not appear for the crucial budget session of the state legislature, despite a whip.

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: Launching a scathing attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his remarks on Islamabad's claim of it not being involved in the Pulwama terror attack, BJP president Amit Shah Thursday said the former had more faith in Pakistan Prime Minister than Narendra Modi.

"Chandrababu endorses what Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan says on Pulwama that his country is not involved in the dastardly attack.

He is taking Imran Khans side in his greed for vote bank and is seeking to create doubts on Indias Prime Minister. Dont indulge in such mean and low politics," the BJP president said.

Shah said the people of Andhra Pradesh would seek an answer from Naidu on this in the coming elections.

"Fix a border... how low do you want to stoop in politics," Shah said.

Naidu had Wednesday reportedly said: "Pakistan has made it clear that it has no role in the Pulwama attack.

Suspicion is now strengthening across the country that political expediency could be behind the attack. We will not tolerate such things to further political vested interests."



The Telugu Desam Party had initially circulated this message on the Telegram mobile App about Naidu's remarks during the teleconference with party leaders and local television channels also ran scrolls on it.

Some time later, the message was apparently replaced with another one that read there were 'doubts' on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks.

It said: "There are many doubts on Pakistan Prime Ministers remarks. There is a debate in the country on the remarks by (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee."



"The country's security is in danger due to the inefficiency of the rulers. BJP leaders have ruined the country through their dubious acts," the TDP quoted Chandrababu as saying in the fresh narrative.

During Thursday's rally Shah again accused Naidu of indulging in gross corruption, particularly in the development of the states new capital city Amaravati and the multipurpose Polavaram project.

He said the Centre had been giving funds to the state to build these projects, but the state government was indulging in 'large-scale corruption'. It could not spend the funds for Amaravati or Polavaram," he said.

"I don't know whether or not he gets an award for any achievement, but Chandrababu will surely bag the political deceiver award in the country.

He deceived his own father-in-law and TDP founder N T Rama Rao, later Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi.

All this only to further his political vested interests," Shah said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday said that his successor Amarinder Singh's only aim was to put him behind bars.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch was reacting to the chief minister's address in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday wherein he vowed to punish those guilty of the "horrendous" 2015 sacrilege incidents in the state.

"I am prepared to go to jail as their (state government) only aim is to arrest me... I am not afraid of being arrested," the five-time chief minister told media here.

"After reading what Amarinder had said in the assembly, I straightaway came from my village to Chandigarh... I told the DGP that I am available for arrest... I am prepared to go to any jail in the country," Badal said, adding that his fight against the policies of the Congress would continue.

Winding up the discussion on the Governor's address in the ongoing Punjab budget session here, Singh spoke on incidents of sacrilege of religious texts and said that they occurred because of the "failure of the law and order system" during the SAD regime.

"What was that (sacrilege incidents). It was a failure of the law and order system," Singh had said while pointing out that the Badal government had failed to accept even their own Commission's report into the sacrilege incidents.

Amarinder had further informed the House that the Special Investigative Team formed to probe sacrilege and police firing incidents was doing its work and that he would take the findings of the Ranjit Singh Commission report to their logical conclusion.

However, Badal termed the SIT and the Commission set up by the Congress government as a "drama" and asserted: "Amarinder's only goal is to put me in jail."



The SAD leader further said that the Congress wanted to take control of the Sikh shrines in the state.

"A person who is CM should keep himself away from such things," he added.

However, if there were any shortcomings in the probe of sacrilege incidents by the SAD-BJP combine government, then I apologise for it, Badal said further.

On February18, the SIT probing the police firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura on anti-sacrilege protesters, had arrested Inspector General Paramraj Singh Umranangal on the basis of evidence that he was in command and the procedure adopted to open fire was not correct.

Two persons were killed in the police firing in Behbal Kalan of Faridkot district.

The SIT set up to probe the case had last month arrested former Moga district police chief SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma who led a police party that allegedly opened fire at the anti-sacrilege protesters.

Sharma's arrest was the first in the case after SIT was formed last year after his name was added along with other police officers in an FIR registered atthe Baja Khana PoliceStation inFaridkot for murder and attempt to murder.

Their names were added on recommendations of the Ranjit Singh commission report.

Thestate governmenthad formed a five-member SIT, headed by Prabodh Kumar, Director,Bureau of Investigations(BOI), to probe sacrilege and related police firing incidents.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
has been awarded a Rs 580 crore contract by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to provide power supply and traction electrification for the 33-kilometre extension to Bangalore Metro under Phase II.

It is Alstom's largest third-rail electrification contract in India, the comany said.

Phase II encompasses extension of Bangalore Metro's existing North-South and East-West corridors, translating to a substantial increase in the reach of the metro and reduction of road congestion.

The scope of the contract includes engineering, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 750V DC third-rail traction electrification, the construction of 30 33kV/415V auxiliary substations, 26 33kV/750V DC traction substations and a 33kV cable distribution network along the viaduct.



would work on integrating this new infrastructure with the existing system on the Phase I lines including augmentation of SCADA system, a company statement said.

The execution of the project would be completed in five phases with the commissioning of the first 6.5-kilometre stretch expected by the end of 2019.

"Alstom's footprint in systems and infrastructure is growing rapidly, and this project will give us an opportunity to extend our cutting-edge capabilities and solutions to our customer," Managing Director, India & South Asia, Alain Spohr said.

Managing Director of BMRCL, Ajay Seth said the new line, once commissioned, would bring in much needed flexibility in the network while significantly reducing vehicular traffic in the city.

This is the second major contract win for Alstom in Bengaluru.

In 2009, Alstom won the contract to provide the U200 signalling and telecommunications solution for 42 kilometres of track comprising Bangalore Metro Phase I, completed in 2017.

Globally, Alstom designs, builds, delivers, tests and commissions all types of rail electrification infrastructure with a strong focus on customer needs and the capability of offering maintenance of the entire system.
Both the ruling AIADMK and Congress, which is part of the DMK front, Thursday hoped that the DMDK, led by actor turned politician Vijayakanth, would join them.

Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar, flaying the DMK front, told reporters here that talks with the DMDK was on and hoped that the Vijayakanth steered outfit would join his party-led "auspicious" alliance.

The AIADMK has already held talks with the DMDK leadership, which has however been inconclusive.

The DMDK, which contested 14 seats in the BJP-led front in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, had reportedly been demanding seats in 'double digits' from the AIADMK.

After the ruling party firmly said it would not be possible, the DMDK is now demanding that it be treated on par with the PMK, which has been allocated seven constituencies plus a Rajya Sabha seat by the AIADMK.

Against this background, senior State Congress leader Su Thirunavukkarasar Thursday visited Vijayakanth at his residence.

The DMDK leader had recently returned from the USA following medical treatment.

"This is election season and will it not be a lie if I say that I did not discuss the political scenario (with Vijayakanth)?" Thirunavukkarasar asked.

Speaking to reporters, the former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief said that he spoke with Vijayakanth on the political scenario in Tamil Nadu and the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"I have shared with him my opinion that it will be good if he takes a good decision, keeping in mind the situation in the country for the past about four and a half years,"he said.

The Congress leader said both the DMDK chief and people knew the "situation" in the country under the BJP-led regime at the Centre.

"It will be good if he takes a decision considering the welfare of the nation," he said, apparently an indirect invite to the DMDK to join the DMK-led camp.

AIADMK organisation secretary J C D Prabhakar, who is part of a party panel set up to hold talks with potential allies, said he did not see much political significance in the Congress leader visiting Vijayakanth.

An AIADMK leader involved in talks told PTI that the talks were being held with not one, but other potential allies as well and added that a final picture could emerge sooner than expected.

Vijayakanth-led party's five-member poll panel, led by party's deputy secretary L K Sudeesh, meanwhile, held consultations here on clinching poll deals.

The DMK had on February 20 finalised a seat sharing arrangement with Congress by allotting it nine Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one in neighbouring Puducherry.

The AIADMK had on Tuesday allotted seven Lok Sabha seats to PMK and one Rajya Sabha seat to the PMK and five Lok Sabha segments to the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati has advocated direct support to farmers saying it is better than waiving their loans.

The comment comes amid announcements from the Centre and state governments of cash benefit to farmers, and demand from various political parties about waiver of loans taken by peasants.

"Direct support to farmers is better than loan waivers," Gulati said at an interactive session with The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Wednesday evening.

In the interim-budget, the Narendra Modi government has announced Rs 6,000 per year assured income support to small and marginal farmers having less than two hectares of land in the interim-budget.

A few months ago, the West Bengal government offered direct benefits such as cash assistance of Rs 5,000 per acre to farmers. Besides, the state government will also pay premium for farmers adopting its crop and life insurance schemes.

"The policy reforms should be to augment farmers' income and change focus from tonnage centric to farmer centric," Gulati said.

"Most of the policies are restrictive. The private sectors are not allowed to hold stocks. Also free market should be allowed," he said.

The farmers are facing the problem of storage for surplus products, Padmashree awardee economist said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shedding its initial hesitation, the Odisha government Thursday decided to be part of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme and extend all support for its implementation in the state, a top official said.

The announcement was made by Chief Secretary A P Padhi after reviewing the state's Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme, also meant for providing financial assistance to farmers.

Padhi said the central scheme (PM-Kisan), which promises to provide Rs 6,000 per annum to small and marginal farmers having cultivable land up to two hectares (about five acres), will be launched in Odisha on February 24 along with other states.

Earlier, after receiving a formal communication from the Centre about the mega farmers welfare scheme, the Odisha government had not shown any interest and dubbed the programme inferior to its own KALIA scheme.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had early this month written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that Odisha's KALIA scheme was more progressive and inclusive.

In his letter to the PM on February 11, Patnaik had sought enhancement of cash incentive under the scheme to Rs 10,000. He had also demanded inclusion of landless farmers, share croppers and farmers in distress under the programme.

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that the state was not implementing the Centre's scheme for farmers over fears that all credit would go to the prime minister.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday had attacked Patnaik for depriving the farming community from taking advantage of the central scheme.

The BJD government's no to the Ayushman Bharat health programme and later, the PM-Kisan yojna was seen as Patnaik's attempt to not cede popular ground to the BJP when the state and the national elections were round the corner.

Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment secretary Saurabh Garg said a list of around 12.45 lakh first-phase beneficiaries of the state government's own KALIA scheme will be given to the Centre for inclusion in the PM-Kisan yojna.

According to PM-Kisan, the first tranche of Rs 2,000 will be directly transferred to the beneficiaries' bank accounts on February 24. The Centre will fund this initiative completely.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while addressing a farmers' convention at Bargarh in western Odisha Thursday, reiterated his demand to raise the amount of assistance under PM-Kisan to Rs 10,000 per annum from the current Rs 6,000.

He also made a strong case that the PM-Kisan should include landless farmers, share croppers and farmers in distress.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aerostructures Assemblies India Pvt. Ltd. (AAI), has been awarded a contract on Thursday by Saab Aerostructures to manufacture the structural assembly for the Over Wing Doors (OWD) on the Airbus A321neo programme.

AAI is a joint venture between Aequs Aerospace and Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB.

The Over Wing Doors are a critical part of the aircraft used for emergency exits, and there are four Over Wing Door on the A321Neo aircraft, Aeques officials said.

The structural assembly comprising machined aluminium parts will be assembled by the AAI team in Belagavi, Karnataka and delivered to the Saab Aerostructures Assembly Line in Linkping, Sweden, the company said in a release.

AAI has been delivering door plugs for Airbus' A321neo Cabin Flex configuration since 2017 and produced wing panels and D-nose assemblies for the A380 programme since 2014.

Besides end products, its capabilities also include development of assembly tools, jigs, and fixtures.

Production deliveries will begin at the end of 2019 and ramp up in subsequent years, Aequs said in a release.

"This contract, in partnership with Saab, represents another critical element in our support of Airbus.It further establishes our competence in delivering aero structure assemblies to global clients while creating value in the supply chain," Aequs Group Chairman & CEO Aravind Melligeri said.

AAI facility is located within the Aequs SEZ, the countrys first Notified Precision Engineering Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Belagavi.

"It is a great privilege to be able to place this work package with AAI. It is a result of hard work and joint efforts and we are pleased to both support the growth of the company and Airbus' position in India with this award," Saab Aerostructures Vice-President and Managing Director Lars Jensen said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Russia's advanced MiG-35 light-class fighter jet, participating in the Indian Air Force tender for the purchase of 110 aircraft of this kind, would cost India 20 per cent less than similar foreign models, the Russian MiG Aircraft Corporation said here Thursday.

"In terms of economical operations, it is well known that the Russian aircraft are at least 20 per cent cheaper than similar models produced by other plane-manufacturers," JSC Russian Aircraft Corporation 'MiG' Director General Ilya Tarasenko told PTI at the 12th edition of Aero India Show.

He further said his company does not have any competitor in this sphere as Mig 35 is the most up-to-date aircraft in the world.

"Technically too, the Russian company is far ahead of its competitors," he said.

Tarasenko said the aircraft can also be upgraded while operational and would be done based on the demand requirement of the customer for the entire life-cycle of the aircraft. "This aircraft has at least a 40-year life-cycle," he said.

Tarasenko further said the Mig-35 project would be fully localised based on tender requirements.

He said if the company wins the tender for Mig-35, it would start manufacturing the aircraft in India. "We have already done a lot of work in India since 1963. We are ready to expand our connection with the Indian industry and we are fully ready," he added.

The presentation of the MiG-35 aircraft to India's Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was held Wednesday on the sidelines of the Aero India show.

Also in the race for 110 aircraft for the Indian Air Force is the Rafale fighter jet for which the government had floated an RFI (Request for Information) last year.

The RFI or initial tender for the deal was issued by IAF in April 6, 2018, the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi University (DU) will be beginning the admission process for foreign nationals from Friday for the 2019-20 academic session, it said on Thursday.

The university had invited applications from foreign nationals from February 22 for admissions to undergraduate, post-graduate, M.Phil, PhD, certi?cate and diploma programmes.

The registration process for applying to all programmes will be online through the Foreign Students' Registry website -- http://fsr.du.ac.in -- the university said.

DU offers more than 500 programmes at various levels. Foreign nationals are not required to take the entrance test for admission to these programmes.

The programmes on offer encompass various disciplines including arts, social sciences, commerce, natural and applied sciences, law, the university said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A fast-moving fire swept through adjoining apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in a historic part of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, killing at least 70 people and injuring over 50 others, the latest such deadly blaze in the country.

Officials said the fire broke out at night a chemical warehouse on the ground floor of a four-storey building named Hazi Wahed Mansion behind a mosque in Old Dhaka's congested Chawkbazar area on Wednesday night and the flames then quickly spread through four other buildings nearby, including a community centre where a wedding party was on.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials said the fire spread rapidly due to the multiple chemical godowns that were situated in the area.

Senior officer of Dhaka fire service Mizanur said that 70 people have been killed in the incident.

Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon called off the rescue operation around 12:10 PM after nearly 14 hours of efforts.

Bangladesh's fire service chief Ali Ahmed said the blaze may have started with a gas cylinder before quickly spreading through the building where chemicals were stored.

"The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses. There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. It spread so quickly that people could not escape," he said.

TV images showed the main gate of one of the buildings was locked, leaving its residents trapped, unable to escape the blaze as it swept through its five storeys.

Witnesses said the victims also included passersby, some people who were eating food at a nearby restaurants and some members of a wedding party.

Over 50 people, including women and children, were also injured and admitted to nearby hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital.

Some of the residents were injured after they jumped off the building.

The district administration will provide 20,000 taka (USD 238) to the victims' families for burial, Additional Deputy Commissioner Shafiqul said.

The officials said 37 fire fighting units were rushed to the scene but narrow lanes made it difficult for the fire engines to reach the spot. The fire fighters used helicopters and long hose pipes to set off the blaze.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina mourned the casualties and ordered the best possible treatment for those injured. State-run facilities were asked to provide free of cost services to the injured.

The blaze is under control but not completely doused because of flammable chemicals that were being stored in several of the buildings, AKM Shakil Newaz, director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, told bdnews24.

The four-storey building where the fire started is at the risk of collapsing due to damage, according to media reports.

The first floor of the building was being used as a warehouse of plastic goods, cosmetics and perfume. Some families lived on the upper floors, according to residents.

The ground floor of the building, where the fire originated, had several shops.

The fire from the building immediately caused an electric transformer to explode, which set ablaze several cars parked on the alley. The alley was packed with people because of a wedding ceremony that was being held in the nearby community centre.

An investigation panel has been formed to identify the reason behind the fire.

The fire brings back the terrifying memories of another massive blaze in 2010 in an old Dhaka building at Nimtoli, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, that killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fire tragedies in Bangladesh.

It had sparked a public outcry, demanding the relocation of chemical warehouses and stores from the area, but little has been done in the last nine years. The authorities had listed 800 warehouses in the neighourhood for their transfer to Keraniganj on the outskirts of the capital.

The lack of safety regulations in the country was highlighted in 2013 when over 1,100 people died and thousands more were injured when a building housing garment factories in Dhaka collapsed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A three-member medical board will conduct the post-mortem examination of the Pakistani prisoner's body, killed in Jaipur by fellow inmates, officials said on Thursday.

"A three-member board is being constituted for the post-mortem which will be conducted here under the supervision of judicial magistrate," Rupinder Singh,

Inspector General (Prisons) Rupinder Singh, told PTI.

Shakrullah (50), was the module operator of a Pakistan based terror outfit and was lodged in the Jaipur central jail since 2011.

He was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2017 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The prisoner was killed on Wednesday in the TV room of the jail after a brawl with other inmates over the choice of channel to watch.

A case was registered with Lalkothi Police Station against four inmates Ajit, Manoj, Kulvendra and Bhajan Meena.

Jaipur Police sources said that the ministry of external affairs has informed the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi about the matter.

ALSO READ: Pakistan national killed in Jaipur jail after quarrel with other prisoners

Shakrullah was lodged in a Punjab jail till 2010 for running a module to radicalise local youth with support and guidance of Pakistan based handlers.

The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had brought him from Punjab for interrogation in similar charges and booked him.
The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party conducted an internal survey in January that revealed that it was in the interests of both to go together in the upcoming general elections. The internal survey, which summarised the views of party workers and the district leadership, also revealed that the two parties might struggle to hit the double-digit mark if they decided to go alone.

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The Security Council in a show of unanimity on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" suicide bombing in Pulwama that killed 40 Indian security personnel and named the Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM).

China, which has been protecting JeM chief Masood Azhar, joined the other 14 members of the Council in issuing a press statement that called upon all countries to combat terrorism and to cooperate with the Indian government in bringing the terrorists to justice.

The statement called the February 14 attack a "heinous and cowardly suicide bombing" and noted that the JeM claimed responsibility for it.

A press statement is which is short of a resolution and is usually arrived at by consensus. Since it is not a formal resolution, it saves Beijing from the dilemma of having to vote for it or veto it as a favour to its ally Pakistan.

China has consistently vetoed attempts at the Council to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists facing UN sanctions.

The statement "underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice".

The Council also "reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the UN and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts", it added.

Taking a hardline on terrorism, it said, "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed".

The tough and unequivocal statement comes despite intense lobbying by Pakistan's Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi to blunt diplomatic reprisals.

On Tuesday, she met with Council President Anatolio Ndong Mba of Equatorial Guinea to appraise them of the "dangerous situation", as well as with other diplomats.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet have called for prosecution of those responsible for the attack.

The Council statement said that it "reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security".

A key phrase in the statement reaffirming "the need for states to combat by all means" terrorism would be a matter of legal interpretation on how far India can go in retaliation, although it would have to be taken "in accordance with the Charter of the UN and other obligations under international law".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed love for all languages while strongly voicing dissent against the attacks on Kashmiris and against all divisive voices.

"We love all languages, religion, culture as we don't believe in divisive We don't have such mindset," Banerjee said during a celebration of International Mother Language Day.

She said that one cannot ask a Rajasthani or a Punjabi residing in the state, not to speak in their own mother tongue. The entire nation will be at "peace" if all the citizens spanning from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and all corners of the country will be at ease.

Referring to a case of assault on a Kashmiri shawl seller in Nadia district after the Pulwama attack, she said: "Can we ask a Kashmiri shawl seller not to come? I believe that action should be taken if such incidents happen. I don't believe in the theory that a section of people can take law in their stride by deciding who will stay and who will not."

Banerjee expressed shock regarding a group of people 'daring to approach a Kashmiri doctor's house who had spent 20 years in the city and ask him to leave'.

The incident happened in Kolkata's Tiljala area.

Indirectly hitting out at the BJP-led Central government she said: "Who are these people and how much power do they have? I will tell the people of this political party, who wants to divide the nation, that my mother tongue does not teach us hatred."

Also, if someone speaks up they are being labelled as 'in favour of India' or 'in favour of Pakistan'. Now everything starting from language, religion, food etc. is being dictated, she alleged.

"We want united India. I do not hate these people who are spreading communal violence but it burns my heart as these things are unacceptable. I did not speak these things to hurt anybody's sentiments," Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister proudly said that West Bengal is the land that teaches respect for all languages as people grow up learning that one should not spread hatred.

She pointed out that her government had given official status to Rajbanshi, Ol Chiki, Urdu and other languages so that everyone can work freely.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered the country's southern border with Brazil be sealed off, media reported.

"I have decided: in south Venezuela, starting at 8 p.m. today Thursday (February 21), the land border with Brazil will be totally and absolutely closed," said Maduro.

The measure will be in effect until further notice, the president said during a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces.

The move comes amid what he called "provocation" from Brazil's right-wing government, reports Xinhua news agency.

Venezuela is also considering sealing its border with Colombia, he added.

"I don't want to have to make these types of decisions, but I am evaluating it -- the total closure of the border with Colombia," said Maduro.

Both Colombia and Brazil have aligned themselves with Venezuela's right-wing opposition and its campaign to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist PSUV party from power.

The president called on Colombia's armed forces to refrain from taking part in the Washington-orchestrated maneuvers, including an announced February 23 attempt to deliver humanitarian aid, which Venezuelan officials believe is a pretext for military intervention.

The responsibility "for any outbreak of violence on the border between Colombia and Venezuela rests on (Colombian President) Ivan Duque," Maduro said.

According to Maduro, Duque informed his US counterpart Donald Trump that "he does not have the backing of the Colombian armed forces for an attack on Venezuela."

On Wednesday, Caracas announced the indefinite suspension of air and maritime connections with the neighbouring islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which face Venezuela's Caribbean coast.

Political tensions between the government and opposition groups in Venezuela came to a head after Maduro was sworn in to a new term on January 10.

The opposition, which largely boycotted the presidential elections in May, refuses to recognize Maduro's re-election win and has been demanding a new round of voting.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US has imposed sanctions on an Indian national, based in the UAE, and his parents for their involvement in an alleged global smuggling network for heroin, opioids and other drugs.

The US Treasury Department in a statement on Wednesday called Jasmeet Hakimzada a "significant foreign narcotics trafficker" who since 2008 laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through a trading company in the United Arab Emirates.

The Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated two Indian nationals (his parents) and four entities registered in India or the UAE that form part of the narcotics trafficking organization run by Hakimzada.

"Jasmeet Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world," said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

"This action is a result of years of effort with our US and foreign partners to disrupt the activities of this significant narcotics trafficking organization," he added.

The OFAC called the man's father Harmohan Hakimzada as "his primary partner in the drug trafficking and money laundering operation", while mother Eljeet Kaur is an officer for two front companies in India. Hakimzada's parents also reside in the UAE.

According to the Department, Hakimzada ran a global drug trafficking network that smuggled heroin, cocaine, ephedrine, ketamine and synthetic opioids into the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

A US federal grand jury indicted Hakimzada in 2017 on 46 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Under the sanctions, all of Hakimzada's assets in the US are frozen and American citizens are barred from doing any business with him.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior officials from the US and China gathered here on Thursday for a new round of trade talks, eight days before the deadline set by US President Donald Trump for reaching a deal to avert the imposition of higher tariffs on imports from the Asian nation.

The US delegation is headed by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The Chinese representatives include Deputy Prime Minister Liu He, central bank chief Yi Gang and Deputy Finance Minister Zheng Zeguang, Efe reported.

The talks are set to last two days and it is possible that Trump will receive Liu at the White House at the end of the round.

The previous round was last week in Beijing.

Trump met last Saturday with the US negotiators after the sessions in Beijing and called the talks "very productive."

Negotiators are working to meet Trump's March 1 deadline for an agreement to avert an increase, from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, in the tariffs the US imposed last year on $200 billion in Chinese products.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed during a December 1 meeting in Buenos Aires to observe a 90-day truce in the trade battle between the world's two largest economies.

The truce is set to expire at the beginning of next month, but the US president has hinted that he might extend the deadline if he saw the talks were making progress.

"I think the talks are going very well," Trump said on Tuesday.

"I can't tell you exactly about the timing. The date is not a magical date because a lot of things are happening. We'll see what happens," he added.

The president has reiterated that it would be an "honour" to withdraw these tariffs if a pact with Beijing that includes greater access for American products to the Chinese market is finally reached.

China, for its part, has adopted several goodwill measures, such as lowering tariffs on imported vehicles from the US, resuming soy purchases from the US and introducing an initiative that would prohibit forced technology transfer from American countries doing business in the Asian nation.

"I love tariffs, but I also love them (the Chinese) to negotiate," Trump said last week. "If we make a deal, they won't have to pay."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Ambassador to India Kenneth I. Juster opened a photo exhibition, commemorating 10th anniversary of the US Consulate General in Hyderabad, here on Thursday.

The 30-photo exhibition at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport chronicles the consulate's activities over the past decade.

The photos trace a path, beginning with then US President George W. Bush's visit to Hyderabad in 2006 to the consulate's latest initiatives, including the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit. The consulate selected these photographs after evaluating thousands of them.

Organised by the consulate in partnership with the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the exhibition will be open to public for two weeks. It will then travel to other locations across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

"As an avid photographer, I know images are an especially compelling way to tell a story. These photos tell the story of American diplomats working with Indian colleagues and communities to address issues of concern to our two countries," said Ambassador Juster.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Chief Executive S.G.K. Kishore said Hyderabad Airport have partnered and collaborated with the consulate on many occasions. "Our CSR arm -- GMR Varalakshmi Foundation -- has been working with the consulate helping several underprivileged children from the region to study in the US through the Community College Initiative Programme of the US State Department," he said.

"These photos demonstrate the range of issues we cover. They also demonstrate the partnerships we have built across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, which are of immense value to both the countries," said US Consul General Katherine Hadda.

--IANS

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Accusing the Delhi based non-profit organisation Mission Netaji of running a "sinister campaign" to taint Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's image by claiming that the leader lived in Uttar Pradesh as a hermit named Gumnami Baba, the members of Bose's family on Thursday urged the Centre to release all Intelligence Bureau (IB) files on the recluse.

Claiming that it was a "criminal offence" to term Gumnami Baba as Netaji in disguise without any documentary or photographic evidence of the same, BJP leader and Bose's grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose said the Central government must start an inquiry to find out who are supporting such false campaigns against Bose.

"I am sorry to say that Mission Netaji has not just betrayed the Bose family but the entire nation and the honourable Prime Minister. Because without any documentary or photographic evidence, one cannot arrive at the conclusion that Gumnami Baba of Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in disguise," Chandra told reporters.

"We demand that the government of India and the Uttar Pradesh government release the Intelligence Bureau files that might be there on Gumnami Baba before the Lok Sabha elections. That would reveal the identity of this anonymous person. I am sure that the Prime Minister would positively respond to this," he said.

Chandra accused Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose, the founder-trustee members of Mission Netaji, of betraying the nation by spreading falsehood in their yet to be released book in which they have allegedly described the mysterious sant as Bose.

He also criticised director Srijit Mukherjee, who is making a film titled 'Gumnami,' for allegedly claiming in an interview that his upcoming movie will portray Bose as the "penniless recluse."

"I want to know who are the people supporting this distortion and who are funding Mission Netaji to spread such falsehood to taint and derogate Netaji's image? Who are these traitors? We appeal to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to start an inquiry by the IB," he said.

Bose's nephew Dwarkanath Bose claimed that the results of the DNA test of the hermit's teeth found in his belongings and the examination of his handwriting by experts found no similarity between Gumnami Baba and Bose.

"When the Mukherjee Commission was conducting its inquiry, a DNA test was conducted with the teeth of Gumnami Baba that was found in his room in Faizabad, but the results were negative. It had no similarity with the DNA sample provided by the Bose family," he said, adding that the handwriting was examined by experts from four countries.

He also said the family members have written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release the report of Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission, set up in June last year to probe the identity of Gumnami Baba.

--IANS

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A Delhi Court on Thursday adjourned to March 7 a case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, accused of abetting suicide of Sunanda Pushkar, his wife.

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj adjourned the hearing after Delhi Police sought more time to prepare its argument on the issue of framing of charges against the parliamentarian.

Tharoor's lawyer Vikas Pahwa told the court there are some discrepancies in documents provided by the police in the case.

Meanwhile, Tharoor moved an application seeking to travel to Bahrain and Qatar. The court said it will hear the Congress leader's plea seeking permission for foreign visit on Friday.

On May 14, 2018, police submitted the charge sheet against Tharoor under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to abetment of suicide and cruelty to wife.

Pushkar, 51, died under mysterious circumstances at a hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that Tharoor was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

--IANS

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Members of a civil society organisation at Moreh -- the border town of Manipur -- on Thursday rounded up six persons hailing from Bihar on the charge that they cheated several women in Nagaland, Manipur and some other states in this region.

M. Thoiba, the General Secretary of Meitei Council Moreh (MCM), a civil society organisation, said all six were intercepted while trying to flee Moreh in a bus.

Thoiba said: "Their modus operandi was that they would visit the houses and convince women that their gold ornaments would be cleaned up in a few minutes, and they were happy with the brightening of their gold ornaments. They are also good at making new designs of ornaments within minutes."

According to him, as a woman at Moreh approached a local gold smith to show her newly "modified" ring, the gold smith said there were some extra materials in the ring apart from gold.

On hearing this, the woman ran out and informed the MCM members who intercepted the six cheats. The cheats confessed to their crime and paid back the money they had fleeced from them.

They disclosed that they had come from Nagaland in the first week of this month.

Although MCM and other voluntary organisations released them, police interrogation continues to find out in which other parts of Northeast they have cheated gullible housewives.

--IANS

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Sikh non-profit organization Khalsa Aid has sent nearly 300 Kashmiri students from various places back to their home state following fear among them in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

Khalsa Aid volunteers said on Thursday that the last batch of students from the region were sent on specially arranged vehicles with security till Jammu so that they could travel further ahead to their respective native places.

Around 250 students from Kashmir Valley had gathered in Mohali town in Punjab, adjoining Chandigarh in the past week.

"Most of them were fearing a backlash while some had experienced harassment. At some places, the Kashmiri students were asked to vacate their paying guest (PG) accommodations and had gathered at a gurdwara in Mohali," one volunteer said.

Kashmiri students residing in PG accommodations in Mullana village in Haryana's Ambala district, around 75 km from here, were told to leave on February 16. Following this, some of them arrived in Mohali while others took refuge in the Mararishi Markandeshwar (Deemed) University hostels.

Some Kashmiri students arrived in Mohali from Dehradun and adjoining areas.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that there were around 4,000 Kashmiri students studying in institutions in Punjab and their safety would be ensured.

--IANS

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The same-sex partner of Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has given birth to a boy in what the Prime Minister's office called a "historic event" in a country that does not recognize gay marriage.

A statement from Brnabic's office said Milica Djurdjic, who gave birth on Wednesday, and her baby were doing fine.

"Ana Brnabic is one of the first Prime Ministers whose partner has given birth while in office... and the first in the world in a same-sex couple," according to the statement cited by Efe news.

When Brnabic, 43, took office in 2017, she became Serbia's first openly gay Prime Minister. That time, the LGBT community expressed hope that she would highlight discrimination minorities face in the conservative Balkan state.

The Serbian Constitution does not recognize marriages of same-sex couples and clearly defines marriage as an act between a man and a woman.

Same-sex couples are banned from adopting children, although single people can do so regardless of their sexual orientation.

Serbia has made some headway in improving discrimination, inequality and incitement of hatred legislation, but many organizations lobbying for gay rights say these laws are not applied and there is still a long way to go to achieve equal rights.

Activists have also accused Brnabic of not being a more vociferous supporter of the need to modify legislation in order to ensure minorities' rights are enforced and respected.

Brnabic and Djurdjic live together although there is no official document that recognizes their partnership.

The local media reported that Djurdjic, a doctor, underwent artificial insemination treatment in 2018.

The child officially has only one mother, Djurdjic, his biological parent.

--IANS

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A week after 40 troopers were killed in a deadly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district, the government on Thursday allowed paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir to take commercial flights to join duty or while going on leave.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying, it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

The Ministry said that the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh CAPFs personnel in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable and ASI, who were otherwise not eligible for air travel.

"This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e; while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return," the order said.

The order also said that this facility is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home while on leave.

CAPF personnel get air courier service on the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector.

The decision was conveyed to the chiefs of the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Assam Rifles (AR), National Security Guards (NSG) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and has come into effect immediately, said the order.

--IANS

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in China on Thursday on the last leg of his Asia tour that earlier took him to Pakistan and India in an attempt to build ties and clinch deals as the kingdom faces a diplomatic chill in the West following journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

Upon his arrival at the airport, the Saudi royal was received by China's Deputy Chairman of Advisory and Political Council Khi Li Fung, Saudi Ambassador to China Turki Al-Madi and Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom Li Huaxin along with several other officials, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Saudi prince is due to meet Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Friday, before sitting down with President Xi Jinping in the afternoon, reports say.

Bin Salman visited India and Pakistan during his week-long trip, announcing new investments in energy and infrastructure, before arriving in China -- Saudi Arabia's biggest trading partner.

It is almost two years since his father, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, met Xi during a tour of the region in March 2017. At the time, both sides agreed to "step up cooperation in all areas", according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

Lately, the Crown Prince has struggled to rehabilitate his international reputation following the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last year. The royal has, however, denied any connection to the killing.

China is Saudi Arabia's largest trade partner, outstripping nearby European nations and close ally, the US. In 2018, imports from Saudi Arabia reached $46 billion.

Bin Salman's visit to China came on the heels of a visit by the Parliament Speaker of the kingdom's rival Iran, Ali Larijani, who met Xi on Wednesday.

During the meeting with Larijani, Xi had said that China remained determined to maintain strategic ties with Iran regardless of regional tensions in the Middle East.

--IANS

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The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Thursday asked President Ram Nath Kovind to sack Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy for "disgracing" his post and violating the "fundamentals of Constitution".

"Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, in yet another outrageous statement, has endorsed a call for boycott of Kashmir and Kashmiris in the wake of the Pulwama tragedy," the CPI-M said in a statement.

It underlined that Roy's comments came at a time when Kashmiris, particularly students, in various parts of the country were being "attacked, tormented and forced to leave".

"The Governor holds a constitutional office. As the representative of the President of India, he is expected to act as the custodian of the Indian Constitution.

"This is not the first time he has made public comments which disgrace the post he holds and violate the fundamentals of the Indian Constitution.

"This is a transgression that is unacceptable. The President of India must immediately sack him," the party said.

On Tuesday, Roy had tweeted: "An appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army: Don't visit Kashmir, don't go to Amarnath for the next two years. Don't buy articles from Kashmiri emporia or Kashmiri tradesmen who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri...I am inclined to agree."

His comments, which came in the wake of the Pulwama attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed, drew flak from various quarters.

--IANS

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Designer Rocky Star, who showcased his collection at London Fashion Week earlier this month, says he believes in treating each show with the same enthusiasm as his first.

It was his sixth time at the fashion gala.

"Every showcase at London Fashion week has been special. I truly believe in treating each show with the same enthusiasm as the first," Rocky, who has styled celebrities including Paris Hilton, Beyonce Knowles and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, told IANS.

He added: "So even though it's the sixth season of showcasing in London, I have the same energy and drive. To see your vision come to life in the most beautiful way on the ramp season after season, is what makes me work harder and push boundaries." By being a regular at the prestigious fashion event, he feels that he has not only carved a niche for the brand but also for Indian fashion at London.

"It is a place I am very glad to be at with the ability to forefront India on a global platform. A lot of myself has gone behind creating and putting together this collection in ways that can appeal to a global audience," he said.

--IANS

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The United Nations must do more to end violence and forced displacement. A move in that direction will include restructuring of the Security Council and norms for grant of veto power, experts said at a day-long conference on the 'Future of United Nations' at the O.P. Jindal Global University, here on Thursday.

"The UN must address many challenges faced by the world, including forced displacement, hunger, inequality, trade disputes, increasing debt burden and danger to media freedom," said Virendra Dayal, former Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary General, in his inaugural address, according to a statement by the university.

Among the measures the UN can take to restore the power balance, the panelists recommended recomposition of the Security Council, veto power, promotion of democracy, and adequate funding by the developed countries and rules of procedure.

Speaking on Gandhian non-violence and Meiji Revolution in Japan -- a period known as Japanese enlightenment -- a panelist stressed India and Japan can leverage their rich heritage to bring harmony in the working of the UN.

"India's fight for independence as well as Gandhi's philosophy of peace and welfare of humankind spread across the world. Similarly, the Meiji revolution paved the way for peace and prosperity in Japan.

"The two countries can utilise this rich historical heritage and act in harmony in the UN," said Sukehiro Hasegawa, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Timor-Leste.

-- IANS

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The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's financial services flagship company Reliance Capital on Thursday said it has invited its partner Nippon Life Insurance Company to make an open offer for its 42.88 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd (RNAM).

It is said Reliance Capital can realise about Rs 7,000 crore out of this deal and it would be used to reduce its debt, industry sources said.

In a regulatory filing in the BSE, the Indian company said: "Reliance Capital Ltd has invited its partner, Nippon Life Insurance Co Ltd, to make an offer to acquire up to 42.88 per cent stake held by Reliance Capital in Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd (RNAM)."

Nippon Life Insurance Co Ltd already holds 42.88 per cent stake in RNAM, the statement said.

An open offer by Nippon Life Insurance will be triggered if the above transaction goes through.

While the RNAM scrip is changing hands at about Rs 187 per share, Reliance Group will be expecting a sizeable "control premium" for its stakes.

The RNAM came out with an IPO at a price of about Rs 252 and the sale price now was expected to be more than that as it would include the "control premium".

--IANS

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The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Friday a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Centre and the state governments to protect Kashmiri students, who are being targeted across the country in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Thursday said they might hear the PIL on Friday after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves mentioned the same for an urgent hearing.

"It is neither possible, nor necessary," Gogoi said as Gonsalves urged the court to hear the PIL in the afternoon at least by 2 p.m.

The PIL petitioner Tariq Adeeb has referred to a dozen media reports of attack on Kashmiri students across the country after a CRPF convoy was attacked by an explosive-laden SUV on February 14 that resulted in the death of over 40 personnel.

He also said the students from the valley were living in other states in constant fear and threat post the Jammu and Kashmir attack.

Adeeb also referred to the statement of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy exhorting the boycott of Kashmiris and their goods.

--IANS

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The Congress on Thursday attacked the Modi government and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval over the suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF troopers and questioned the intelligence breach that led to the attack.

"Is our Intelligence so weak under Ajit Doval that terrorists were able to carry 350kg of explosives through the most protected highway in the country?" Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a media briefing here.

"How did the terrorists know the exact route of the CRPF jawans? Was there an intelligence breach? If so why has no action been taken against those responsible in the intelligence agencies," he asked.

The Congress leader also questioned the government for ignoring the video released by the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group barely 48 hours ahead of the attack.

The Congress pointed out that the CRPF's requests for movement of its men by air were also denied by the Home Ministry.

"CRPF troopers were stuck in the region for a week due to bad weather. Airlifting them from the region would have saved their lives," he added.

Surjewala accused Modi of shooting a film in Jim Corbett National Park while the suicide attack happened.

"There is no better example than this of Modi's insult to our soldiers. At 3.10 p.m. when the Pulwama attack occurred and was all over news, the PM was shooting for a film till 6.45 p.m in Corbett National Park," he stated.

--IANS

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Pope Francis said here on Thursday the world was waiting not only for the Catholic Church to condemn child sexual abuse by members of clergy but also for "concrete measures" to eradicate it.

The head of the Church said this in his speech at the start of a four-day summit, which is aimed at tackling the child sexual abuse within the institution.

The summit -- "The Protection of Minors in the Church" -- is being attended by the heads of all national bishops' conferences from over 130 countries, the BBC reported.

Details of sexual abuse have emerged across the world and the Church has been accused of covering up crimes.

"The holy people of God are watching and waiting not for simple and obvious condemnations but concrete and efficient measures," the Pontiff told 190 representatives of the ecclesiastical hierarchy which gathered at the Holy See for the meeting.

The Pope said he wanted to consult those gathered in the Vatican, which included patriarchs, cardinals, archbishops and bishops, "in the face of the plague of sexual abuse perpetrated by men of the Church against children".

He hoped the gathering would allow them to "hear the cry of the little ones who ask for justice", Efe news reported.

The Pope said those present at the summit bore a pastoral and ecclesial responsibility to discuss how to confront the "evil" of abuse at the hands of the clergy.

Participants would be given some guidelines to aid them in their reflections on the issue, which would act as a starting point, he added.

As part of his address, the Pontiff called on the Holy Spirit to help the Church over the coming days to transform the "evil" of abuse into an opportunity for its members to take stock of the situation.

The summit began with priest Hans Zollner, one of the members of the organising committee and an expert in the fight against abuse, reading the words of a victim of abuse: "Neither my parents nor the ecclesiastical authorities heard my cry. Did God not hear it either?"

Pope Francis called for "decisive action" on the issue when he was elected in 2013, but critics say he has not done enough to hold to account bishops who allegedly covered up abuse.

Some groups of survivors voiced scepticism that any concrete action will be taken during the event, calling it a "publicity stunt" to cleanse the image of the Church.

--IANS

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday announced that Hoda Muthana, an Alabama native who joined the Islamic State (IS) in 2014, is not a US citizen and will not be allowed to enter the US.

"Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the US. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the US," Pompeo said in a statement.

According to US media, Muthana, who travelled to Syria and joined the IS in 2014, regrets joining the group and now wants to come home.

When asked about Muthana's case at the State Department press briefing on Tuesday, deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino said that "the situation of American citizens or possible American citizens in Syria is by definition extremely complicated, and we're looking into these cases to better understand the details."

Palladino also noted that repatriating foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin was the best solution to preventing them from returning to the battlefield, reports Xinhua news agency.

President Donald Trump on February 16 required European allies to take back 800 Islamic State (IS) militants arrested in Syria after the US withdrawal.

Trump tweeted it was time "for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing" after the US had expended plenty of resources in Syria.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained more than 900 foreign fighters during their campaign against the IS in northeastern Syria, media reported.

The SDF has warned that they may not be able to hold IS fighters after the departure of US forces, which was ordered by the Trump administration last December.

According to media reports, French officials said that some French jihadists had returned to France and more would follow. Britain, however, refused to take back citizens who had joined the IS, and other European countries have remained largely silent about this issue.

--IANS

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Amid the hate and tensions, an independent Pakistani journalist, Sehyr Mirza, has begun an #AntiHateChallenge on Facebook, condemning the Pulwama suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir which killed 40 CRPF troopers.

Mirza expressed anguish over the terror attack and asked fellow citizens to join in the social media campaign.

"We're deeply disturbed over the tragic terror attack that claimed innocent lives in Kashmir," Mirza posted on a Facebook group named "Aman ki Asha" on Tuesday.

In a tweet late on Wednesday, Mirza, also a peace activist, said: "I thought it was very important to break the silence to create a healing space and the best way to do that was through giving out a message of love and warmth.

"So, I initiated the #AntiHateChallenge to express solidarity."

Mirza also shared her photograph along with several other Pakistanis holding a poster, saying "I am a Pakistani and I condemn Pulwama terrorist attack".

"In such testing times, we need more sane voices to speak out against war and terrorism," she said in the Facebook post.

"We have initiated this #AntiHateChallenge to not only condemn the attack but also express solidarity with our Indian friends. Requesting Pakistani fellows, who share our feelings to please, join in??"

She also quoted Indian poet Sahir Ludhianvi's famous lines: "Whether blood be ours or theirs, Its the blood of humankind. Whether wars be waged in the east or west, It is the murder of world-peace. Whether houses be bombed or borders, The temple of the Soul is wounded. War is a problem itself. How will war resolve problems? Today it will rain fire and blood, Tomorrow, hunger and scarcity".

--IANS

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Presenting its case on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, Pakistan on Thursday claimed that it had a robust judicial system in its country and dismissed India's plea for repatriation of Jadhav as "devoid of legal merit".

Arguing for his country before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) presided over by Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf on the fourth day of hearing, Pakistan lawyer Khawar Qureshi contended that it was wrong on India's part to disparage his country's Military courts, which, he said, follow the same procedure as civilian courts.

Qureshi said India "failed to respond to evidence" in its argument made by lawyer Harish Salve yesterday.

"India persists in contumelious conduct. India fails to engage with the evidence that states made an exception to espionage prior to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) being adopted a" that state practice was unaffected by VCCR", Qureshi said.

India in its arguments on Wednesday had contended that Pakistan did not follow the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations as it failed to inform India of Jadhav's arrest immediately after and of providing him any consular access.

Jadhav, a naval officer, was awarded death sentence by the Pakistan military court in 2016 after he was arrested by it on charges of espionage.

Qureshi said there was overwhelming evidence to show that Jadhav was a spy, acting under the plan of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

He called Ajit Doval "India's self-styled superspy" and said that if Doval were to come to London, there is a vacancy for an actor to play James Bond.

He attempted to scuttle Indian judiciary's credibility also by referring to hanging of Afzal Guru, which he said was done merely to satisfy collective conscience of the people.

"India's position is as devoid of legal merit now as it was on 8 May 2017(when ICJ stayed Jadhav's execution). India's claim of relief remains as far fetched now as it was then," Qureshi said while concluding.

The ICJ retired for deliberations after Pakistan Agent Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan made the concluding remarks.

The Court will advise the date of the judgment "in due time".

--IANS

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Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday condemned the withdrawal of security cover to mainstream politicians in the state in the wake of the suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF troopers.

"Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers and office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the Kashmir Valley," the National Conference leader said.

"At a time when mainstream political parties should be encouraged to step up their activities and build greater contact with people to counter the forces that have supported radicalisation and violence, this will have the opposite fallout," he said.

Abdullah asked Governor Satya Pal Malik to reconsider the step. "If it is not revisited, we will approach the courts and ask them to intervene.

"I have no doubt this step was taken without taking into consideration inputs from central and state intelligence agencies which can only means it was been done for political purposes and there is an element of pick and choose at play here," he added.

The security cover of 18 separatist leaders and 155 politicians in Jammu and Kashmir has been withdrawn.

According to an official order, the list covers leaders from the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.

Others are Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik and former IAS officer Shah Faesal.

"Over 1,000 personal security guards and 100 vehicles provided to the secured persons are being withdrawn," an official said.

--IANS

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The whims that the Polisario separatists have nurtured for more than 40 years about the creation of a chimerical republic in the Moroccan Sahara seem to fade away, while signs of an imminent political settlement, negotiated on the basis of the Moroccan autonomy initiative, have appeared lately.

In addition to the many countries that have already withdrawn their recognition of the pseudo-Sahrawi republic SADR, the African Unions recent decision to abstain from dealing with this issue, the inclusion of Western Sahara in the Morocco-European Union agricultural and fisheries agreements and in the United States assistance to Morocco under the 2019 spending legislation, are all signs confirming that the settlement of the artificial conflict around the Moroccan Sahara is nearing.

And the latest sign of the failure of the Polisarios pro-independence claims came unexpectedly from the founding president of the Peruvian Council of Friendship with the SADR. Ricardo Sanchez Serra actually pleaded in favor of the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara and called the leadership of the Polisario to adhere to it.

In an article published on the Peruvian news website Peruinforma, under the title Sahara Occidental: Y por que no una autonomia? (Western Sahara: And why not an autonomy?), Ricardo Sanchez Serra emphasizes that among the international supporters of the Polisario, we are many to think that it should seize the historic opportunity offered by the political process of the UN and accept autonomy, with international guarantees.

Since it came to the conclusion in 2004 that the referendum was unworkable for technical and political reasons, the UN called for a political and negotiated solution to the conflict, Ricardo Sanchez Serra states. He recalls that the UN Security Council had pleaded in its latest resolution in favor of a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, while qualifying the Moroccan autonomy plan as serious, credible and realistic.

In the meantime, he adds, the Polisario Front has remained stuck in its position seeking independence, considered by many influential countries as an anachronistic option.

Ricardo Sanchez Serra believes that time has come for the Polisario to make a major shift and to have the audacity and the courage to take the decisions that are decisive for the future and the well-being of the Sahrawi population.

This opinion is shared by many Western experts, diplomats and think tanks who agree that the Polisario is in a dead end and is more isolated than ever on the international scene.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress for their silence over attacks on Kashmiri students in parts of the country.

Addressing the media here, Abdullah said: "Attacks on Kashmiri students will result in further alienation of Kashmiris.

"Kashmiri boys and girls pursuing studies outside the state have nothing to do either with or the Kashmir issue. They are simply trying to build their careers.

"These students have somehow managed to contact us saying that they have been harassed and threatened to leave different colleges and universities outside the state," he said.

Since a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in the Kashmir Valley on February 14, many Kashmiri students have been attacked by rightwing groups, particularly in Uttarakhand. A large number of them have left the state.

Abdullah said it appeared that those targeting Kashmiris had the blessings of the establishment, pointing out that one Governor -- of Meghalaya -- had called for a boycott of the Kashmiri community.

He criticized Modi for his silence over the attacks on Kashmiri students and traders outside the state.

"There was no condemnation from the Prime Minister on Kashmiri students being attacked. If he was busy, the Home Minister could have said something. Even the Congress has not said anything comforting. We need a statesman, not a politician," he said.

The National Conference leader also expressed concern over the withdrawal of security to mainstream politicians in the state.

"On one hand you are telling us that we have to be prepared for Parliament and Assembly elections, on the other hand, you are telling us that we no longer deserve the protection of the state," he said.

"Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers and office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the Kashmir Valley," he said.

"At a time when mainstream political parties should be encouraged to step up their activities and build greater contact with people to counter the forces that have supported radicalisation and violence, this will have the opposite fallout," he said.

Abdullah asked Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to reconsider the step. "If it is not revisited, we will approach the courts and ask them to intervene.

"I have no doubt this step was taken without taking into consideration inputs from central and state intelligence agencies which can only means it was been done for political purposes and there is an element of pick and choose at play here," he added.

The security cover of 18 separatist leaders and 155 politicians in Jammu and Kashmir has been withdrawn.

According to an official order, the list covers leaders from the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.

Others are Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik and former IAS officer Shah Faesal.

Over 1,000 personal security guards and 100 vehicles provided to the secured persons are being withdrawn, an official said.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti said on Thursday that the joint statement by India and Saudi Arabia on holding talks with Pakistan vindicated their stand.

The statement issued after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad bin Salman has emphasized "creating conditions for the resumption of a comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan".

Abdullah said on his Twitter page: "I'm glad to see the Modi government acknowledge what some of us in J&K have been saying all along - dialogue is the only way forward and for that India and Pakistan will have to work to create the right environment.

"The joint statement talked about creating conditions for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan.

"When some of us say this we are called anti-national and Pakistani agents in various TV studios.

"When the government of India acknowledges the need to create suitable conditions for dialogue and that too in a statement with a third country, this is suddenly the height of patriotism and nationalism."

In her reaction, Mehbooba Mufti said: "Amid the din and clamour for war, the India-Saudi joint statement on creating conditions conducive for talks between Pakistan and India is a welcome step.

"Message for war-mongers is loud and clear. Also, by promising investment in both nations, MBS surely knows the art of keeping everyone happy."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will address a NDA Sankalp Rally here in Bihar on March 3 that will be a show of strength for the alliance and a reply to the Congress' Jan Aakansha Rally, garnering the largest ever political gathering in Patna.

With just nine days to go for the rally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with its two allies Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), is putting together all collective social and political resources to counter the February 3 Jan Aakansha Rally by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, where its Grand Alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal was also present.

Th NDA leaders along with thousands of BJP workers, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD-U and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP members have taken to the streets to reach out to people, particularly their supporters in rural, as well as urban pockets for the upcoming rally.

The party enthusiasts are busy campaigning in villages, panchayats, blocks, sub-divisions and district headquarters to garner the largest numbers ever to congregate at the Gandhi Maidan.

The Congress' Jan Aakarshan rally was also held at the same venue and was also the first mega rally by the party in many years in the state.

"The NDA's Sankalp Rally is going to be more than 10 times bigger than Rahul Gandhi's rally. People will realise it," BJP state chief Nityanand Rai said.

Senior BJP leaders, including Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, half a dozen Union Ministers and over a dozen Bihar Ministers along with Nitish Kumar, and senior JD-U member R.C.P. Singh and party legislators and MPs, LJP chief's son MP Chirag Paswan are also personally trying to make it a grand success.

Bihar's JD-U chief Vashisht Narain Singh said the NDA will leave nothing to chance to organise the biggest ever rally here. "We have been mobilising our party leaders, workers and supporters to persuade people to attend the rally in large numbers."

The Sankalp Rally will be the first joint rally of Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar and their first big show after Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP in July 2017 after dumping the RJD and the Congress.

Nitish Kumar had ended his 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in 2013 following the rise of Modi ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Rai told IANS that the BJP, JD-U and LJP leaders were busy addressing rallies in rural and urban areas requesting their supporters to attend the rally to show their strength.

Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi have also visited half a dozen districts and addressed people during the inauguration of different projects in the last two weeks and laid foundation stones and launched projects worth crores of rupees to send the political message that they were committed to Bihar's development.

Chirag Paswan told party leaders and workers on Wednesday that the LJP's role is "important in this rally" and asked every party worker to attend it.

The LJP's Pasupati Kumar Paras, a Bihar Minister and younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, said that a big crowd at the Sanjalp Rally will vindicate the stand that the BJP-led NDA's support base is intact and it would better itself in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"NDA rally will send a clear and loud message that Modi will become PM again," he said.

According to the seat-sharing formula, the BJP and the JD-U will contest 17 seats each, while the remaining six seats will be given to the LJP.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD won four seats and the Congress two. The JD-U, which contested separately, won two seats. The BJP-led NDA won 31 seats, with the BJP's tally being 22. One seat went to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
National Award-winning actress Pallavi Joshi, who hosts television show "Bharat Ki Baat", which showcases a positive narrative of Indians, says people tend to associate nationalism with one individual or a political party, and that is a wrong interpretation of the ideology.

Asked if addressing the subject of national interest made her face any problem while working on the show, Pallavi told IANS: "Look, I do not understand why, but whenever we talk about nationalism, it gets attached to Modiji.

"But nationalism has nothing to do with an individual or political party. In that sense, nationalism should be attached with Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, N. Chandrababu Naidu, because they all should speak on national interest.

"Now that in the last five years young voters are (more) politically aware, it is important to know both sides of the story before forming an opinion."

The show "Bharat Ki Baat", which airs on News18 India, features 26 episodes in which Pallavi and her team are seen travelling to various parts of the country. "We have started talking on the democracy of our nation. While people

tend to associate democracy with politics, we are talking about how we as a nation are practising it.

The show's makers went through extensive research work before starting it. The idea was to bring alive the relevance of history in the present time.

"We forget that in our country Susruta was the first ever plastic surgeon. We forget a series of things that have already happened in our country before the western culture came to our nation," Pallavi Joshi said.

"Bharat Ki Baat" discusses topics like health, education and environment, apart from social justice and women empowerment.

Have laws on child marriage, gender equality, homosexuality brought any changes in the society?

She said: "Well, now that we have laws in our side on all the issues that you have mentioned, there is a certain confidence people have gained on that matter.

"Currently, gender equality and women's empowerment have been widely accepted and because of the law, child marriage has stopped to a large extent. People can take legal action against it, which is a positive change.

"Unless we are not talking about the majority of women who set themselves free with education and with financial independence, as a society we would not be able to inspire the future generation."

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said loans of 25-30 lakh farmers in the state will be completely waived off in another 15 days.

Responding to queries on farm loan waiver issue from the opposition benches in the Assembly, he assured the House that in another fortnight's time, the farmers would themselves confirm that they had become debt-free.

"Besides, the government will also pay compensation to the farmers whose crops were destroyed in the recent hailstorm," the Chief Minister said.

He said that waiver of farm loans was part of the Congress party's election manifesto. "That's why, we came up with a well-structured plan to fulfil our promise to the farmers. Loans up to Rs 2 lakh will be waived off. Loan waiver is for real ... it's a reality."

The government will have to bear an additional burden of Rs 50,000 crore on account of waiver of loans.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Making a call to intensify the India-Korea economic relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Thursday urged more Korean businesses to turn their attention towards India.

"I wish to see more and more Korean businesses turning their attention to India," Modi said.

Addressing the India-Korea Business Symposium, Modi who is on a two-day official visit to South Korea, said India has become one of the most open countries for foreign direct investment (FDI), recording $250 billion inflow in the past four years.

Noting that this was his third interaction with the Korean business leaders in 12 months, Modi said: "Negotiations to upgrade the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) have been fast-tracked to achieve the bilateral trade target of $50 billion."

India features among the top 10 trade partners of South Korea and is the sixth largest export destination for S Korean goods with the trade volume reaching $21.5 billion in 2018.

"Not just trade, in terms of investment also we are seeing a positive turn. Korean investments into India have reached a cumulative figure of almost $6 billion," the Prime Minister said.

Noting that the South Korean National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) has opened its India office in Bengaluru to facilitate Korean startups in India, the Prime Minister said both the countries have decided to set up a future strategy group (FSG) and a centre for research and innovation cooperation.

Highlighting the sound fundamentals and that the Indian economy is on its way to become a $5 trillion economy soon, Modi said no other large economy in the world has grown at 7 per cent year after year.

India, he said, has jumped to the 77th spot on the World Bank's "ease of doing business" rankings on the back of reforms and is determined to break into the top 50 next year.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, Feb 22 (IANS/AKI) A group of 41 migrants allegedly plans to sue Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte over a case in which 177 migrants were held on an Italian coastguard ship off Sicily for ten days in August and only allowed ashore when other nations agreed to take them.

The migrants, who were all stranded aboard the Umberto Diciotti in conditions that observers described as "dire", will ask for damages from Salvini for deprivation of personal liberty, and include a couple whose son is a minor, Interior Ministry sources said.

The migrants, who have also appealed to European Court of Human Rights over their plight, are said to be seeking damages of between 42,000 euros and 71,000 euros.

The Italian Senate is due to vote by late March on whether to accept a request from a special court in Sicily to allow Salvini to stand trial on kidnapping and other charges in the so-called 'Diciotti' case.

If the Senate agrees to lift Salvini's immunity and he is prosecuted, he could jailed for between three and fifteen years.

In Strasbourg, lawyers from the Baobab Experience rights association lodged the migrants' appeal.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maoist guerrillas set on fire three vehicles and a generator in Jharkhand's Bokaro district early on Thursday, police said.

The Maoists, numbering 10-12, raided a camp office of a private company involved in road construction in Lodhi Panchayat.

They thrashed the staff and later set on fire a JCB vehicle, a tractor, a mixture machine and a generator.

Refusal to pay 'levy' or protection money to the Maoists apparently led to the incident.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Many women in Saudi Arabia manipulate a cellphone application Absher that monitors their location for the benefit of their male guardians in order to travel out of the country, a woman said in an interview.

The woman, who identified herself as "Rana," said when she was 20 she asked her father, the official guardian, to grant authorisation for a passport via the app, Efe news agency reported.

"My father said 'we do not travel abroad. Why do you need it?'" Rana told, adding her father proceeded to shout and accused her of trying to escape the country.

Rana got onto the app using her father's cellphone and by using his account gave herself approval for a passport, which she then had got delivered to her home.

"Many Saudi women do the same. Many parents are old and need their children to open their accounts and do paperwork electronically," Rana said. "This makes it easier for women to get access to their parents' accounts and take advantage," she said.

Rana said she was unable to travel abroad even after getting the passport as she still needed permission to travel from her guardian.

"Absher follows the movement of women and sends the guardian a message with the woman's name, the airport and the flight ahead of the takeoff," she said. "This enables the guardian to electronically reject the woman's trip at the last moment, in case she used the account without the consent," she continued.

"This presents a great obstacle for Saudi women when they try to leave the country," Rana bemoaned.

Through Absher, an app launched by the Saudi Ministry of the Interior, citizens can carry out most travel procedures without having to visit government offices.

Absher also allows men to register women and minors under their guardianship and grant or deny permits needed even to enroll in schools, travel abroad or get married.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed condolences for the victims of a massive fire that killed at least 70 people in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Another 56 people were injured in the Wednesday night fire that engulfed several multi-storey buildings in Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka.

"Saddened to hear about the tragic loss of lives... My heartfelt condolences to the grieving families," Banerjee tweeted. "We wish the injured a speedy recovery."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First launch of EgyptSat-2 satellite In 2014, a Russian rocket launched a new-generation surveillance spacecraft designed to give the Egyptian military a powerful "eye in the sky." Previous chapter: Launch of Egyptsat-1 A Soyuz rocket with Egyptsat-2 satellite shortly after rollout to the launch pad at Site 31 on April 13, 2014. Road to the launch pad As of 2012, the launch of Egyptsat-2 was expected in September 2013. The Soyuz-U rocket for the mission arrived to Baikonur on July 19, 2013. In August 2013, RKK Energia displayed a full-scale mockup of the Egyptsat-2 satellite at the Moscow Air and Space Show, MAKS, while Egyptian officials were on hand for talks with their Russian counterparts. A leaflet circulated at the show promoted a constellation of similar satellites with three different imaging payloads and capable of delivering highly detailed, medium-resolution and overview imagery depending on the altitude of their orbits. At the time, RKK Energia officials said privately that the launch of Egyptsat-2 would have to be postponed until 2014. Still, as late as October, the delivery of the satellite to the launch site was scheduled for November 14 and its launch on December 23, 2013. According to industry sources, RKK Energia completed the thermal vacuum testing of the satellite around the same time. By November 2013, official Russian media reported that the launch of Egyptsat-2 had been postponed until April 2014. The spacecraft was shipped to Baikonur at the end of February 2014. Its final pre-launch processing was taking place a RKK Energia's Site 254. The fully assembled Soyuz rocket with the spacecraft was rolled out to the launch pad at Site 31 on April 13, in preparation for launch on April 16, at 20:20 Moscow Time. A Soyuz rocket with Egyptsat-2 satellite around one hour before launch on April 16, 2014. Egyptsat-2 enters orbit The launch of the Soyuz-U rocket took place as scheduled on April 16, 2014, at 20:20:00 Moscow Time (12:20 EST) from Site 31 in the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch vehicle was carrying a Russian-built Egyptsat-2 satellite designed to provide high-resolution imagery for the Egyptian military and other government agencies in the country. The spacecraft was successfully delivered into its planned orbit 520 seconds after liftoff. The development and launch campaign for Egyptsat-2 has been conducted largely in secret. Only one visual of the operational spacecraft was released to the public by its manufacturer RKK Energia after the successful launch. Notably, in its post-launch press-release, the company avoided the use of name Egyptsat-2, instead identifying the satellite as a "spacecraft for optical-electronic observation developed for the foreign customer." RKK Energia announced that the satellite had been inserted into a 720 by 440-kilometer orbit with an inclination 51.6 degrees toward the Equator. Its ground facility established control over the satellite at 21:52 Moscow Time, the company said. Western radar detected two objects in orbit with similar parameters, probably representing the satellite and the third stage of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle. The satellite was expected to use its own propulsion system to enter a final operational orbit. Egyptsat-2 begins operational mission According to the BARL enterprise, one of the contractors in the Egyptsat-2 project, the satellite established reliable communications with ground control during its first orbit after the launch and the analysis of the telemetry indicated that all onboard systems had been working well. The main and backup flight control modes were also tested, BARL said in its press-release. In the meantime, OAO Aveks, which built electrical system of the satellite and its propulsion control system announced that it had confirmed the successful operation of its hardware by April 22. The BARL Enterprise then announced that first images from the satellite had been received on April 29, 2014, and on May 5, two pairs of photos taken on April 30 had been released. According to the official information, from April to August 2014, Egyptsat-2 was expected to use its SPD-70 electric propulsion system to circularize its orbit at an altitude of 720 kilometers. The Western radar data did confirm that beginning on May 1, 2014, the satellite started slowly raising its orbital altitude. By the end of June, the spacecraft was orbiting the Earth in a 685 by 714-kilometer orbit, nearly completing its planned orbital ascent, according to estimates by a Russian space observer Igor Lissov. On July 14, the head of RKK Energia Vitaly Lopota told the official Interfax-AVN news agency that the preparations for the demo tests of the satellite had been underway and for the transfer of the whole system to the customer. "All systems of the satellite and its operational modes had already been tried and the quality of delivered images had exceeded our boldest expectations," Lopota was quoted as saying. In February 2015, an assistant to the Russian president Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying that the deployment of the E-STAR system for Egypt had been completed previous December. The satellite was formally transferred to an operator on Jan. 1, 2015, industry sources said. Rumors about Egyptian interest in the second such satellite were also circulating at the time. EgyptSat-2 fails in orbit In April 2015, rumors surfaced on the Internet that the EgyptSat-2 either completely failed in orbit or experienced attitude control problems. There were no official confirmation or denial from the official sources, but if the satellite was lost, it would functioned only one year out of 11-year life span in its technical specifications. It would also repeat an ill fate of its Ukrainian-built predecessor, which had also failed prematurely. According to industry sources, an expected dual failure in the flight control system rendered the satellite completely inoperable. The spacecraft apparently stopped reacting to commands from the ground, despite all efforts of mission control. By the end of April, the official Russian media confirmed the loss of the satellite citing unnamed sources. A report by the Interfax news agency said that both flight control computers onboard the spacecraft had failed within 15 seconds of each other on April 12, 2015. According to the Izvestiya daily, the satellite failed on April 14. Next chapter: EgyptSat-A

Egyptsat-2 during prelaunch processing. Click to enlarge. Credit: RKK Energia A Soyuz rocket with Egyptsat-2 satellite around half an hour before liftoff on April 16, 2014. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos A Soyuz-U rocket with Egyptsat-2 satellite lifts off on April 16, 2014. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos View of Melbourne, Australia, taken on April 30, 2014, and published on May 5. Click to enlarge. Credit: RKK Energia. Photo of Taylor Bay on Lake Eildon in Victoria, Australia, taken on April 30, 2014, and published on May 5. Click to enlarge. Credit: RKK Energia.
While mainstream politicians on Thursday said withdrawal/downgrading of their security cover would make them vulnerable to attacks, separatist leaders have dismissed the decision as a 'non-issue'.

Reacting to the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to withdraw/downgrade the security cover of 155 mainstream politicians, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked the state governor to intervene failing which the National Conference (NC) would move the court.

Abdullah said although the present decision does not concern any politician of the NC, yet it was strange that the security cover of mainstream politicians was being withdrawn when they were being told to prepare for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Waheed Para, whose security cover is being withdrawn, has said the decision would make him vulnerable to attacks in the future.

Senior separatist leader Muhammad Yasin Malik told the media in Srinagar that he has no security cover. He had been offered one in the past by the authorities which he had refused.

"Every time they offered me security, I turned it down. I strongly believe that life and death are in the hands of Allah", Malik said.

Interestingly, Malik's name appears in Wednesday's state home department order which said the security cover of 18 separatists was being withdrawn.

Another separatist leader in the list, Molvi Abbas Ansari said he had informed the authorities two days ago that he did not want any security cover henceforth and as such, he would not provide any accommodation in future to the security personnel posted for his security.

Security cover is provided to different people in violence hit Jammu and Kashmir based on the threat perception worked out by the state and central intelligence agencies.

Regular meetings are held in the state in which security to different people in public life in Jammu and Kashmir is reviewed.

Based on the reports of the intelligence agencies, the security cover is upgraded or downgraded.

The security cover of 18 separatist leaders and 155 Jammu and Kashmir politicians has been withdrawn in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which at least 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

An order issued by the Home Department late on Wednesday said the security cover of separatists and some mainstream politicians was also being withdrawn/downgraded in addition to those who were earlier excluded from the security cover on February 18.

As per the latest order, the new list includes names from the National Conference, PDP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.

Some of them are Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, former IAS officer Shah Faesal and PDP leader Waheed Para.

"Over 1,000 personal security guards and 100 vehicles provided to the secured persons are being withdrawn," officials said here.

The security cover of four senior separatist leaders -- Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Shabir Shah, Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Lone was withdrawn on Monday.

The decision to cut down heavily on separatist leaders' cover was taken in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack when an explosive-packed SUV rammed into a bus of a Central Reserve Police Force convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway killing 40 paramilitary troopers on the spot in the worst-ever terror attack in the state since militancy struck there in 1989.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
When National Award winning heroine Prerana alias 'Rinku M. Rajguru stepped out to write her first HSC exam paper, virtually the whole state wished her 'all the best" here on Thursday.

When she arrived with her parents in a car at the Tuljabhavani College of Arts and Commerce in her home village, Tembhurni, shortly before noon, a huge number of fans thronged the area to catch a glimpse of their favourite "Sairat" girl.

Many youngsters and elders alike were seen shouting "All the best, Rinku", "Do well", "We pray for you" and more as she stepped out of the vehicle and walked quickly to the college gates, armed with her writing pad and pen set.

A huge police posse requested by the college authorities ensured her uneventful entry into the campus, which will be her exam centre for the next fortnight or so.

Appearing a bit bewildered, a tad nervous about the challenge of the English language paper, the 17-year-old Rinku managed to smile at her fans before being confronted by the 'paparazzi' waiting for her 'bytes'.

"I thank everybody here for your wishes... I wish all the HSC students in the state 'all the best' in their exams," she said with a shy smile and turned quickly to enter the venue.

An external Arts faculty student, over the next few days Rinku will write her Class XII papers in English, Marathi, Political Science, Economics, History and Geography at the same centre.

Along with Rinku, almost 1.50 million students are appearing for the HSC 2019 exams across the state at 2,757 centres.

In 2017, Rinku had cleared her Class X (SSC) exams with 66.40 percent marks, two years after she became famous for her role in the romantic tragedy, "Sairat".

Interestingly, she had harboured dreams of becoming a doctor someday but ended up being perhaps the youngest superstar at the age of 14.

Thanks to her early stardom, she was forced to quit school and appear for both her SSC and HSC exams as an external student, and plans to complete her graduation and post-graduation.

It was at a chance meeting with Mumbai-based two-time National Award winning director Nagraj Manjule, 42, that the then 13-year old Prerana was selected for the role of 'Aarchi' in the blockbuster "Sairat" (2016).

The film in which a wealthy Rinku was seen driving a tractor, zooming on a motorcycle with her pauper boyfriend Akash Thosar, 24, was about how they elope but get caught, survive various tragedies in their love life, later get married and have children, but it ends in a tragedy as both are hacked to death.

The Marathi film collected a large number of awards and honours, and became a rare local (Marathi) film to cross the Rs 5 crore mark, then broke the Rs 10 crore mark and has now set a new benchmark for regional films, breaching the Rs 110 crore club.

The film has already been made in other Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Odiya, Kannada and Punjabi besides being dubbed in several languages.

Rinku will appear in a starkly different role in her next Marathi film "Kagar" due to hit the silver screens shortly.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal here on Thursday asked the police to take steps to check movement of illicit cash and liquor.

"The LG directed Delhi Police to take stern steps to check movement of illicit cash and liquor," the Raj Niwas said in a statement.

During a meeting held to review the preparedness of Delhi Police for upcoming general elections, Baijal said the assessment of force requirement should be meticulously done, and MHA and other concerned agencies be suitably informed well in advance.

Baijal also said the Delhi Police should focus on efficient control room management for effective and timely redressal of complaints, regarding violation of the model code of conduct during the election.

He said coordination with neighbouring states and districts be ensured for free, fair and smooth election process.

"Delhi Police also informed that with the announcement of the election dates, it will intensify action against defacement of property, misuse of vehicles and loudspeakers, seizure of illicit cash/items meant for bribing voters/other electoral malpractices," the Raj Niwas said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four Kashmiri students in Maharahstra have been assaulted while a Kashmiri teacher in a private university in Punjab said he was asked to quit on Thursday even as the Supreme Court said it may take up Friday a PIL seeking security for students from the Valley in wake of the Pulwama terror attack.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress for their silence over attacks on Kashmiri students, while senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad appealed to people to not push Kashmiris "back into quagmire" by boycotting or beating them up.

In Yavatmal, Kashmiri students of Dayabhai Patel College of Physical were pounced upon near their rented home in Waghapur Road area on Wednesday night.

Two of the students - Umar Rashid Dar and Umar Nazir Ganai, both from Kashmir's Kupwara - and their friends were intercepted outside their home by activists allegedly from the Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena.

The dozen strong mob demanded to know where they hailed from. When the students replied Kashmir, they were slapped, kicked, punched and threatened with "dire consequences".

The mob also demanded to know whether their relatives were "terrorists" and forced them to raise slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai," "Hindustan Zindabad" and "Vande Mataram".

The visibly-scared boys told media persons that "it was difficult for us to pursue in our home state and now even here. We don't know what to do or where to go."

However, they said the police and college authorities have assured them full protection and support especially since their final exams were starting next week.

College Principal, Sandeep Chawak, told IANS that the entire college stands "unitedly" with the four students, three of whom are here for three years and one for the past one year.

Amidst all round condemnation, Yuva Sena President Aditya Uddhav Thackeray attempted damage control by appealing "not to vent anger against Pakistan" against people living in our own country, while the organisation's Secretary Varun Sardesai assured action against the culprits if they were found to be the party's activists.

In another related incident. Salman Shaheen, an Assistant Professor of English at Lovely Professional University (LPU) near Punjab's Jalandhar city said that he was "forced" to resign after a social media post linking him to comments regarding the Pulwama terror attack.

Alleging that a photo of his Facebook status was distorted to create an impression that he had written something objectionable, he said he was also confronted at his rented accommodation outside the university campus.

University sources confirmed the resignation but said that the teacher "realized his mistake and decided to quit".

In wake of the attacks by right-wing groups, particularly in Uttarakhand, which have led to a large number of Kashmiri students leaving the state, Omar Abdullah warned that such attacks "will result in further alienation of Kashmiris".

"Kashmiri boys and girls pursuing studies outside the state have nothing to do either with politics or the Kashmir issue. They are simply trying to build their careers.

"These students have somehow managed to contact us saying that they have been harassed and threatened to leave different colleges and universities outside the state," he told media persons in Srinagar.

Abdullah said it appeared that those targeting Kashmiris had the blessings of the establishment, pointing out that the Meghalaya Governor had called for a boycott of the Kashmiri community.

He criticized Modi for his silence over the attacks on Kashmiri students and traders outside the state.

"...If he (Modi) was busy, the Home Minister could have said something. Even the Congress has not said anything comforting. We need a statesman, not a politician," he said.

Azad, who is also a former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, said the Kashmiri youth who are studying at various universities across India are the ones who have shunned the lure of militancy and are for joining the national mainstream.

"It means they feel safer among their countrymen. If they will be beaten up here, and persecuted by militants back home, where would they go," he said at a press conference in the capital.

He said mere advisories would not do and the state government officials must visit educational institutes and colleges and assure them. "Let them (Kashmiris) come into the mainstream. Don't push them back into the mire, these students want to escape," Azad said.

A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna indicated that it may hear on Friday a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Centre and the state governments to protect Kashmiri students after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves mentioned it for an urgent hearing.

PIL petitioner Tariq Adeeb referred to a dozen media reports of attack on Kashmiri students across the country after the Pulwama attack, while citing the apex court's July 17, 2018 judgment on the issue of curbing of activities of vigilante groups and mob lynching.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday told the Pakistan Army to respond "decisively and comprehensively" to any aggression or misadventure by India amid rising tensions between the two neighbours after a Kashmiri suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF personnel.

According to Geo News, Khan issued the directives during a meeting of the National Security Committee which discussed the country's security situation due to heightened tensions with India after the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

A statement issued after the meeting and cited by Geo News said: "Pakistan was not involved in any way, means or form in the said incident... The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously."

The Prime Minister directed both the Ministry of Interior and security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground, the report said.

The armed forces of Pakistan have been authorised to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India", the statement said.

It said Pakistan had earlier sincerely offered investigation of the incident as well as the offer for a dialogue on the issue of terrorism among other disputed issues.

Khan in a televised speech on Tuesday denied his country's involvement in the suicide bombing and sought "actionable intelligence", which was termed by India as "lame excuse".

"We expect India to positively respond to the offers. Based on the investigation or any tangible evidence provided, the State of Pakistan shall take action against anyone found using our soil," the Thursday statement read.

It further cited Khan as saying that "we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuela's self-proclaimed acting president, Juan Guaido, was joined on Wednesday by the head of the US military's Southern Command in calling on the Venezuelan armed forces to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.

Opposition activists will mount "peaceful, very powerful" demonstrations at military bases across Venezuela to demand that troops facilitate the delivery of the aid, Guaido said in Caracas.

In Miami, meanwhile, Adm. Craig Faller took the opportunity of a joint press conference with Colombian armed forces chief Maj. Gen. Luis Navarro Jimenez to advise Venezuelan military officers on their duty, reports Efe.

"This message is for the Venezuelan military: In the end, you will be responsible for your own actions. Do the right thing. Save your people and your country," Faller said as he welcomed Navarro to SouthCom headquarters.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has barred the entry of the supplies, denouncing the US-led aid initiative as a prelude to military intervention by Washington.

Guaido said that starting Saturday, volunteers will bring into Venezuela the aid being gathered in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, the Brazilian state of Roraima and the island of Curacao.

The opposition insists that oil-rich Venezuela is experiencing a humanitarian crisis and has made an international appeal for donations.

Maduro, however, says that the donations carry "the venom of humiliation" and has arranged to have supplies brought in from allies such as Cuba, China and Russia to address shortages of medicines and other necessities.

Asked on Wednesday about the possibility of US military action in Venezuela, Faller referred to President Donald Trump's statement earlier this week that all options would be considered.

"The president has been clear and our obligation as professional military is to be ready," the SouthCom commander said, while maintaining that Washington's preference is for a diplomatic solution.

Diosdado Cabello, widely seen as the No. 2 figure in Venezuela's governing leftist PSUV party, said Wednesday that invaders would meet with a fierce reaction.

"We will give them the most terrible response they can imagine," he told thousands of government supporters in the southern state of Bolivar. "Venezuela will continue being free, sovereign and independent."

Guaido, the speaker of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, proclaimed himself interim president on January 23, a day after US Vice President Mike Pence encouraged him to take that step and assured him of Washington's support.

Trump quickly recognized Guaido and roughly 50 other countries have followed suit, including Canada, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, as well as major European powers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Those nations agree with the Venezuelan opposition that Maduro's May 2018 re-election victory was a sham.

Cucuta is linked to the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal by the Tienditas bridge, a modern span completed in 2016 that has never been opened to traffic amid ongoing quarrels between Bogota and Caracas over migration, smuggling and cross-border crime.

As the US shipments began to arrive in Cucuta, the Venezuelan army parked large vehicles on their side of Tienditas, which was already bisected by mental fencing.

British billionaire Richard Branson is staging a concert on Friday in Cucuta aimed at raising $100 million in donations to fund humanitarian assistance in Venezuela.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As India elections inch closer, Google on Thursday announced to train journalists in online verification and fact-checking, digital safety and security, YouTube for elections coverage and data visualization for elections.

Google News Initiative, in partnership with independent, third-party organisations DataLeads and Internews would host training sessions in 30 cities between February 26 and April 6 in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi, the company said in a statement.

"The Google News Initiative is proud to be supporting journalists in India as they prepare to cover the upcoming elections. Since 2016, Google has trained more than 13,000 journalists in India, across over 200 newsrooms and in 40 cities," said Irene Jay Liu, Google News Lab Lead, Asia-Pacific.

Working journalists and freelancers covering elections can apply for the free training workshops.

Google would organise the training session in the Delhi-NCR region on February 26.

Google launched the "Google News Initiative India Training Network" last year, focused on online verification and fact-checking.

In six months, the Network onboarded 241 trainers in seven languages, who have so far trained 5,260 journalists across over 40 cities in India.

For 2019, Google plans to train another 10,000 journalists in India under this programme.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to give reasons for seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to self-styled godman Daati Maharaj in a rape case.

The court sought documents from the CBI to support its application. The bail was granted by a trial court in January.

Justice Chander Shekhar also asked the CBI to explain why the agency is seeking his custodial interrogation.

The court listed the matter for hearing on February 26.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court ordered transfer of the probe to the CBI from the Delhi Police.

Daati Maharaj alias Dati Madan Lal Rajasthani has been named in a CBI FIR along with three associates, Ashok, Arjun and Anil -- all known by their first names -- for raping and unnatural sex with a 25-year-old disciple at his Ashram in Fatehpur Beri, south Delhi, on January 9, 2016.

The Delhi Police in June registered the case on complaint from the Delhi-based victim and filed a charge sheet against Daati Maharaj and others.

--IANS

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Army's former Northern Command chief D.S. Hooda, who directed the 2016 cross-LoC surgical strikes, will now be heading a task force on national security at the behest of the Congress.

The decision was announced by the Congress on Thursday after a meeting between party President Rahul Gandhi and Lt Gen D.S. Hooda (retd).

The task force team would be picked by Hooda to prepare a "vision paper for the country in consultation with a select group of experts."

"I would be picking up my own team which may consist of 5-6 persons. These persons would be drawn from different backgrounds such as military, foreign policy experts and may be also from the police," Hooda told IANS.

He said the task force would target to submit a report in about a month's time on various aspects of the national security.

Hooda, however, clarified that he has not joined the Congress and his involvement is restricted to this task force only.

In September 2016, Hooda had planned and directed the surgical strikes on terror launchpads across the Line of Control (LoC). However, he has also said in the past that the surgical strikes were "over-hyped" and "politicised."

--IANS

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EgyptSat-A enters orbit

after a close-call Soyuz launch Almost five years after the original short-lived mission of a compact observation satellite built in Russia for the government of Egypt, a Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off on Feb. 21, 2019, carrying a replacement bird dubbed EgyptSat-A. However, the launch vehicle's third stage experienced an anomaly, leaving its payload some 60 kilometers lower than planned. Fortunately, once again, the Fregat space tug saved the day by automatically extending its own maneuvers and delivered the satellite into its planned orbit. Previous chapter: EgyptSat-2 mission The EgyptSat-A mission at a glance: Spacecraft liftoff mass Approximately 1 ton Projected operational life span At least 11 years Swath width of the optical observation system 1,400 kilometers Optical resolution 1 meter (panchromatic) 4 meters (multi-spectral) Spacecraft prime developer RKK Energia, Korolev, Russia Spacecraft operator National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Science, NARSS, Egypt Launch vehicle Soyuz-2-1b No. 76031216 / Fregat-M Launch date 2019 Feb. 21, 19:47:00 Moscow Time (planned) Launch Site Baikonur, Site 31, Pad 6 Orbit* 652 x 657 kilometers, 98.0 degrees From the publisher: Pace of our development depends primarily on the level of support from our readers! What is known about EgyptSat-A As a compensation for the premature loss of the EgyptSat-2 observation satellite in April 2015, the Russian firm RKK Energia agreed to build a new spacecraft, at least partially using the $75-million insurance payment resulting from the ill-fated mission. According to the Interfax news agency, the SK Sputnik company, which ensured the EgyptSat-2 launch, lost it license in 2016 and no other insurance provider agreed to cover the risk associated with the second launch attempt worth around $100 million. In October 2015, the head of RKK Energia Vladimir Solntsev said that the company had come close to signing a contract for the development of the second satellite, the technical specifications for the future spacecraft had been in the process of formulation and the settlement with the insurers of the original failed launch had been almost completed. In May 2016, Solntsev publicly confirmed that his company had already signed a contract for the development of a replacement for the failed EgyptSat-2. On July 28, 2016, RKK Energia announced that it had formulated a design of the EgyptSat-A satellite for Egypt. The company quoted its Designer General for Automated Space Systems Igor Frolov as saying that during a recent meeting at the corporation, all the contractors involved in the project had confirmed their readiness to the supply necessary components for the implementation of the project. According to RKK Energia, the newest version of the EgyptSat-2 satellite would be equipped with a more capable optical-electronic imaging system, upgraded flight control computers, a high-speed radio-transmission system and more efficient solar panels. Various improvements would expand the observational capabilities of the satellite and increase the accuracy of geographical correlation of the resulting images to the mountainous terrains, RKK Energia said. The spacecraft also was promised to carry a higher share of Russian-built components than had its predecessor, including X-band transmitters which had previously been tested aboard the International Space Station, ISS. In August 2018, Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that based on the performance of the EgyptSat-A, the State Corporation might make a decision to develop a similar satellite for the Russian space program. Original plans called for a total of three satellites in the EgyptSat family, each with increased capabilities. EgyptSat structure:

1 - body panels

2 - instrument panels

3 - aft bulkhead

4 - forward bulkhead

5 - solar panels

6 - optical module

7 - high-speed radio antenna

8 - electromagnetic attitude control boom Credit: RKK Energia Preparations for the EgyptSat-A mission As with the previous EgyptSat mission, the preparations for the launch of the EgyptSat-A mission were mostly secret and no photos of the actual spacecraft had been released by the time it had reached the launch pad. The launch of EgyptSat-A was originally planned from the military site in Plesetsk in October 2018 on an unused Soyuz-2-1b rocket, which rolled off the production line in October 2012 for a GLONASS mission. The operational warranty for the launch vehicle was reportedly expiring in April 2019 and it was re-assigned for the EgyptSat-A mission. However, the launch then had to be moved to a "different site due to organizational problems," according to Interfax, which is official speak for wrangling over money, probably between RKK Energia and the Ministry of Defense. In any case, the mission had to be re-located to Baikonur, from where access to the polar orbit chosen for the EgyptSat-A mission required to rent rarely used impact sites from the government of Kazakhstan to drop the spent boosters of the first stage. Various industry sources reported that the launch had originally been planned for Nov. 22, 2018, but by September of that year, the mission was postponed until Dec. 27, 2018. The Soyuz rocket for the mission arrived at Baikonur around the middle of October 2018, but by the beginning of December 2018, the launch was postponed until Feb. 7, 2019, and by the end of 2018, the mission slipped again until February 21 of the same year. The delays were apparently related to the payload, because in order to launch on February 7, EgyptSat-A had to be at the launch site on Jan. 20, 2019, but it did not make it to Baikonur until the beginning of February 2019. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the reshuffles in the EgyptSat-A mission required to push the launch of the Progress MS-11 cargo ship to the ISS from February 8 to March 28, 2019. Also, after finding cracks in the pressurization lines of the Fregat upper stage slated to launch first OneWeb satellites from Kourou, an identical vehicle for the EgyptSat-A mission had to undergo extra checks. After confirming the absence of problems, the stage was shipped to a fueling station in Baikonur on February 4. The Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat-M rocket with the EgyptSat-A spacecraft was finally rolled out to Site 31 in Baikonur and installed on the launch pad on February 18. EgyptSat-A launch scenario The Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat-M launch was scheduled to lift off from Site 31 in Baikonur on February 21, 2019, at 19:47 Moscow Time (11:47 a.m. EST). Unlike the original EgyptSat-2 satellite launched into an orbit inclined only 51.6 degrees toward the Equator, the fresh bird in the series was designed to be inserted into a near-polar orbit, which extends from North Pole to South Pole and whose orbital plane is perpendicular to the plane of the Equator. As a result, the spacecraft was to be able to observe practically the entire planet as the Earth rotates below it. In contrast, the previous satellite from the EgyptSat-2 series could only cover areas between 51.6 latitude North in the Northern Hemisphere and 51.6 degrees South latitude in the Southern Hemisphere, which included the Egyptian territory, but did not cover vast regions of the planet in both hemispheres. In order to reach a polar orbit from Baikonur, the Soyuz rocket had to ascend along an unusual ground track, taking the mission almost directly north from the launch site, instead of the traditional eastern direction. The rocket flew over the Aktyubinsk and Kostanai Regions of Northern Kazakhstan and then follow across the Russian territory from south to north along the Ural Region. A similar ascent profile was used during Soyuz launches with the European MetOp satellites. That trajectory results in the impact of the four boosters of the first stage in the Irgiz and Dzhangeldin Districts in Northern Kazakhstan. In the meantime, the satellites' payload fairing (protecting it from aerodynamic loads during first minutes of the flight through the atmosphere), as well as the rocket's second stage and the three segments of the aft section from the third stage would be dropped in a 2,000-square-kilometer area centered in Krasnovishersk District on the border between the Perm Region and the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals. The third stage of the rocket, which was scheduled to complete its firing less than 1o minutes after the liftoff and just short of reaching the orbital velocity, was expected to reenter the atmosphere and fall in the 199 by 35-mile elliptical area in the Greenland Sea between Spitsbergen and Greenland. A warning to air traffic extending from February 21 to February 24 was issued for the area several days before the scheduled liftoff. In another major difference from the original EgyptSat-2 launch, the three-stage Soyuz rocket was equipped with an additional Fregat upper stage to insert EgyptSat-A directly into its operational Sun-synchronous orbit, something that required two engine firings. According to NPO Lavochkin, the Fregat developer, it was the 73rd mission for its space tug. If everything went as planned, EgyptSat-A was to separate from the Fregat at 21:05 Moscow Time (1:05 p.m. EST) or one hour 18 minutes after the liftoff. The Fregat upper stage was then programmed to be deorbited over the Pacific Ocean between the coast of Mexico and Hawaii. Following in-orbit testing of the spacecraft, the operational control over the mission was expected to be transferred to Egyptian specialists, Roskosmos said before launch. Soyuz lifts off with EgyptSat-A and runs into trouble The Soyuz-2 rocket, carrying EgyptSat-2A, was reported lifting off as planned, but ground tracking indicated that the third stage had left its payload in an orbit with a perigee some 60 kilometers lower than planned. There was still some chance that the Fregat upper stage could compensate for the lack of velocity and altitude by automatically extending its own maneuvers, but ground controllers apparently had to wait for the Fregat/EgyptSat-A stack to reenter the communications range of Russian tracking stations to confirm the final orbit of the mission. Soon after the scheduled completion of the flight, multiple reports, including an official statement from Roskosmos, confirmed the successful release of the satellite into its planned orbit at 21:04 Moscow Time and its normal communications with ground control. The spacecraft also deployed its solar panels. However several hours after the EgyptSat-A launch, the OneWeb company announced an at-least-one-day postponement of its Soyuz mission previously scheduled for February 26 from Kourou, French Guiana. In the meantime, EgyptSat-A was cataloged in a 652 by 657-kilometer orbit with an inclination 98.0 degrees toward the Equator. On February 22, Roskosmos announced that Russian specialists working at the Egyptian mission control center had begun flight testing of EgyptSat-A and that all the systems aboard the spacecraft were functioning normally. However, the official publication of NPO Lavochkin, published in the aftermath of the launch, said that the Fregat upper stage "had been able to complete the (orbital) insertion of the spacecraft under difficult conditions of the separation from the third stage of the launch vehicle." (859) What really happened during the EgyptSat-A launch? In-orbit view of ion engines firing aboard EgyptSat-A. The imagery was released by Roskosmos on April 5, 2019, but it was probably recorded weeks earlier. In the meantime, independent observers and amateur radio enthusiasts who tried to monitor the spacecraft said they had heard no signal from EgyptSat-A. Combined with the fact that no remote-sensing images from the spacecraft had ever been released, the prospects for EgyptSat-A looked increasingly bleak. A message posted on Twitter on April 5, 2019. According to industry sources familiar with the investigation into the anomaly during the February 21 Soyuz launch, the available telemetry registered an emergency engine shutoff, known in Russian as AVD, as the 3rd stage of the rocket was completing its firing. The emergency command was issued based on the loss of pressure in the combustion chambers of the propulsion system. As a result, the emergency cutoff took place around six seconds prior to the so-called GK-3 command, which performs the nominal shutdown of the engine on the third stage. As a result of the premature cutoff, the rocket (and its payload) ended up on a trajectory with a perigee 57 kilometers lower than planned. Fortunately, the flight control computers aboard the Fregat upper stage had detected the AVD command and determined that it had enough propellant for compensating the deficiency in velocity and altitude, as planned under such circumstances. The computers aboard Fregat then commanded its separation from the third stage and the activation of its main propulsion system, which lasted 17 seconds longer than planned. The resulting transfer orbit turned out to be close to what was originally planned for the mission, with the exception of the longitude of the ascending node (the point, where the ground track of the orbit crosses the Equator from Southern to Northern Hemisphere of the Earth). Underfueled overfuel On February 22, Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin accused "unscrupulous" media of distorting information about the launch of EgyptSat-A, which he blamed for the postponement of the next launch of the Soyuz rocket scheduled in Kourou, French Guiana. Rogozin denied reports about the formation of an investigative commission into the incident. In the meantime, according to posters on the web forum of the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, investigators analyzed the telemetry from the EgyptSat-A launch and established that the loss of pressure in the engine had been caused by the premature consumption of liquid oxygen, which serves as an oxidizer for the kerosene fuel. Specialists then turned to the ground processing documentation related to the propellant loading into the third stage and quickly discovered that specifications for the amount of propellant to be loaded aboard the booster had been switched between fuel and oxidizer, apparently due to a human error. As a result, the stage was loaded with insufficient amount of liquid oxygen and an excess of kerosene. Under normal circumstances, the third stage was to receive 15.7 tons of liquid oxygen and 7.2 tons of kerosene. At the same time, all ground systems for controlling and monitoring the fueling process, known as SIUZ and SDUZ, had been found performing as planned. The investigators transferred all the relevant information to the specialists preparing the following launch in French Guiana. Officials also implemented new measures for checking documentation during the pre-launch processing to eliminate the repetition of an incident, industry sources said.

A structure of the EgyptSat satellite: 1 - solar panels; 2 - instrument panel; 3 - aft bulkhead; 4 - body structure. Credit: RKK Energia A Soyuz/Fregat rocket shortly after installation on the launch pad on Feb. 18, 2019. Click to enlarge. Credit: RKK Energia To deliver the EgyptSat-A spacecraft into its polar orbit, the Soyuz rocket would have to head north from Baikonur. Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge In March, an Egyptian web site published photos taken by a camera onboard the EgyptSat-A satellite, providing first evidence that it had functioned in orbit. Click to enlarge. Credit: Egyptian-Russian Foundation for Culture and Science
Barely five days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here, four Kashmiri students were threatened, attacked and humiliated, allegedly by some Yuva Sena activists, sparking widespread condemnation.

Yuva Sena Secretary Varun Sardesai on Thursday assured action against the culprits if they were found to be the party's activists.

The Kashmiri students of Dayabhai Patel College of Physical were pounced upon near their rented home in Waghapur Road area. The Pulwama terror strike in Kashmir left 40 CRPF troopers dead, including two from Buldhana in Maharashtra.

Amidst all round condemnation, Yuva Sena President Aditya Uddhav Thackeray attempted a damage control by appealing "not to vent anger against Pakistan" against people living in our own country.

"I think the outrage against Pakistan and the need to give it a fitting reply is important. But we must ensure that this is not directed at our own citizens in any manner," he said.

Yuva Sena Secretary Sardesai pointed out that it was because of Shiv Sena founder patriarch Bal Thackeray that 'quotas' were created in the country's system.

"Thousands of Kashmir students are studying in Mumbai and other parts of the state. The Yavatmal incident is wrong and condemnable. If they are Yuva Sena workers, we shall take suitable action against them," Sardesai said in a statement.

Two of the students - Umar Rashid Dar and Umar Nazir Ganai, both from Kupwara (J&K) - and their friends were intercepted outside their home on Wednesday night.

The attackers demanded to know where they hailed from. When they replied Kashmir, they were slapped, kicked, punched and threatened with "dire consequences".

The dozen strong mob also demanded to know whether their relatives were "terrorists" and forced them to raise slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai," "Hindustan Zindabad" and "Vande Mataram".

The college Principal, Sandeep Chawak, said the entire college stands "unitedly" with the four students, three of whom are here for three years and one for the past one year.

"A team led by Superintendent of Police M. Rajkumar visited the college, counselled all the students and assured there will not be any such repeat incidents, besides increasing the security around the Kashmiri boys' home," Chawak told IANS.

Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan said "the police must immediately book these Yuva Sena activists who are indulging in goondagiri" against Kashmiris.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik wondered "whether the fight is with terrorists or the innocent Kashmir people.

"This is wrong since such actions against Kashmiris anywhere in the country will give a further boost to terror..."

Rajkumar told the media this evening that they had started rounding up the miscreants and the Lohara Police Station shall now register cases against them.

The visibly scared boys told mediapersons that "it was difficult for us to pursue in our home state and now even here. We don't know what to do or where to go."

However, they said the police and college authorities have assured them full protection and support especially since their final exams were starting next week.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, Feb 22 (IANS/AKI) The deadline set by US President Donald Trump and Venezuela's opposition leader and self-declared interim President Juan Guaido for the military to allow humanitarian aid into the crisis-hit country could spark perilous conflict, Senators from Italy's ruling 5-Star Movement said.

"We are alarmed and worried by the real risk of a military escalation in Venezuela's political crisis, which risks starting a very dangerous war for the region's and for global stability," a statement from 5-Star lawmakers on the Senate's foreign affairs committee said.

The forcible entry of US humanitarian aid convoys at the Colombian border, planned by opposition leader Guaido on Saturday and opposed by the regime of embattled leftist President Nicolas Maduro and his armed forces "risk triggering incidents with unpredictable consequences," the statement warned.

"The increasingly threatening declarations by US President Trump and unconfirmed reports that American special forces had already been deployed on the Columbian side of the border are alarming," it added.

The Senators "fully supported" European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's statement on Monday in which she said the bloc ruled out support for any military escalation in Venezuela, according to the statement.

The lawmakers said they were confident the Italian government would "do its utmost" to avert a military escalation in Venezuela, the statement concluded.

With the Venezuelan crisis nearing a showdown, Trump stepped up his rhetoric on Monday, warning the Venezuelan military in a speech to abandon Maduro or "lose everything."

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, has been slammed by her father for saying that she smoked marijuana in her younger years and supports it becoming legalized.

Donald Harris, an economics professor at Stanford University, claimed his daughter was playing "identity politics" and added that she was harming her family's Jamaican ancestors, Politico reported on Wednesday.

"My dear departed grandmothers as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family's name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics," he said in a statement to Kingston-based Jamaica Global Online.

"Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty."

Donald Harris' daughter, a first-term senator from California who launched her 2020 campaign last month, appeared on New York-based radio show "The Breakfast Club" earlier last week and was asked if she opposed the legalization of pot.

"That's not true," she told the show's co-host. "And look, I joke about it - half joking - half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?"

Harris, whose mother is an Indian, said she smoked a joint in college. "I have... And I inhaled," she added, a joking reference to former President Bill Clinton's comment on the campaign trail in 1992 that he smoked marijuana but "didn't inhale".

Kamala Harris' campaign made no comment on her father's reaction.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fashion designers such as Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Rina Dhaka along with Bollywood actors Arjun Rampal and Aditi Rao Hydari celebrated the centennial of Khadi and presented the fabric as a style statement on the runway here on Thursday.

Ficci Ladies Organisation (FLO) along with All India Women's Education Fund Association (AIWEFA) organised an event called "Khadi Goes Global" at The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum here. The event honoured Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary and 100 years of Khadi.

Kashmir born designer Rohit Bal showcased a pastel collection, which included sarees and lehengas made from Khadi. Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal, who looked dapper in a black sherwani with an embroidered shawl, walked the runway as his showstopper.

Bal described Khadi as the "fabric of the soul."

"It's the national fabric of our country. It stands for freedom, independence and self discovery. It's the fabric of now, before and the future," Bal told IANS.

Next on the runway was Rina Dhaka, who not only showcased a collection made out of Khadi, but also paid a tribute to the martyrs of the Pulwama attack, which took place on February 14.

Her white and beige collection had "Jai Jawaan" written on them.

An emotional Dhaka said: "The message is my way of expressing the current scene... For me it is very important. In my way I am also trying to tell with this story my message to have gratitude for our soldiers."

Asked about Khadi and its popularity, the designer told IANS: "Khadi is the fabric of a journey. It is a warp and weft of life...no one else has the Khadi story, only we have it."

Rajesh Pratap Singh was up next. He presented a wide array of dhotis, pants, shirts and sherwanis in plain white.

Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari concluded the show as she sauntered the runway in a white and gold lehenga for the label Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

FLO President Pinky Reddy talked to IANS about the importance of Khadi, which is also called the fabric of freedom.

"Our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has done a lot for Khadi and I feel we have to encourage what was started by Gandhiji. Khadi has become an international name and we should not forget it," Reddy said.

The "Khadi Goes Global" event also saw a dance performance titled "An Ode To Mahatma" by Geeta Chadran and Sandhya Raman. It also honoured promoters and producers of Khadi such as Bal, Pratap Singh, Chaman Siju and Rta Kapoor Chishti, among others.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Superintendent of Police (SP) of Punjab Police, Salwinder Singh, was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in a case of rape registered against him.

The controversial police officer, who had alleged abduction by the Pakistani terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Air Force base in January 2016, was also sentenced to five years' imprisonment in another case of bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Both sentences will run concurrently, according to the court order.

Salwinder, 55, was convicted by the court in Gurdaspur town, around 225 km from here, on February 15.

The rape case was registered against him in August 2016. He was booked for bribery also in August 2016.

The police officer had courted controversy in regard to the pre-dawn January 2, 2016 Pathankot air base attack by Pakistani terrorists. The terrorists had reached the IAF base from the India-Pakistan border using his SUV.

He had alleged that he was abducted by the terrorists at gunpoint in his SUV and later dumped at an isolated spot. He could not give logical reasons for moving around in the border belt late in the night.

He was questioned by National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials over his claims.

Salwinder was mired in another controversy after the Punjab DGP ordered an inquiry into accusations of bigamy levelled against him by a woman based in Tanda town in Hoshiarpur district. The woman had alleged that the police officer had secretly married her and they even had a teenaged son.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Expressing concern over reported attacks on Kashmiri students in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday appealed people to not push Kashmiris "back into quagmire" by boycotting or thrashing them.

He said the Kashmiri youth who are studying at various universities across the country are the ones who have shunned the lure of militancy and are for joining the national mainstream.

"The young students from Kashmir, boys and girls, who have taken admission in different colleges and universities across India are the ones who do not want to join militancy in It means they want to study and contribute in the mainstream of India," Azad said at a press conference here.

These were the youths who have condemned militants and Pakistan and their lures of all kinds of things, including money, Azad said and added, "It means they feel safer among their countrymen. If they will be beaten up here, and persecuted by militants back home, where would they go."

He said mere advisories would not do and the state government officials must visit educational institutes and colleges and assure them. "Let them (Kashmiris) come into the mainstream. Don't push them back into the mire, these students want to escape," Azad said.

His appeal has come after reports of violence against, and calls for boycott of, Kashmiris and their businesses appeared from different parts of the country in the wake of the suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&K's Pulwama district on February 14. As many as 40 CRPF troopers were killed in the attack.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Digital Communications Commission, the inter-ministerial panel of DoT, has given in-principle nod for monetisation of fibre assets of the Pan India broadband connectivity project, BharatNet, so that these can be offered to private telcos through auction, lease or by outright sale.

Sources said the DCC discussed a proposal on the marketing of the BhratNet's fibre assets because the government has not been able to ensure effective utilisation of BharatNet, which is a costly asset.

"The created fibre assets of BharatNet should be offered on lease to the private sector on an open auction bidding basis for a 20-year period. The Commssion has given the in-principle approval," an official source said.

Most of the assets will be offered to the private sector that translates into 2.5 lakh km of fibre. It was decided that the DoT must also look at the the outright sale of fibres as well as a differnt model of leasing. The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) will now work out various sales and outright leasing options.

"But we have proposed that the fibre asset should be handed over to the private sector on long lease and ensure its utilisation. This will hasten the tower fiberisation as well," said an official.

The DCC approval was taken for sale-versus-lease and what should be the models of lease of these assets, official sources said. The panel has decided to put as many as 20 fibre assets or pairs on auctions for private entities for a 20-year lease term after retaining four, in the 2.5 lakh kilometres of optic fibre cable (OFC) deployed under the BharatNet-I programme.

The lease model will be worked out in line with the regulator's recommendations and the USOF has been asked to chalk out a comprehensive plan within 10 days. So far no estimation on revenue proceeds has been made, sources said.

The latest approval may help the government market BharatNet assets and earn revenues as well, said sources.

--IANS

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Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday met the protesting employees of the Delhi government and promised them that he would take up their demands with the Lt Governor and the Union Home Minister.

"In this decisive fight, the government is with you," Sisodia assured the employees.

Sisodia said the Delhi government is in agreement with their demands. It should be accepted immediately by the Lt Governor and the Union Home Minister, the state government said in a statement.

The Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services (DASS) cadre employees are on a hunger strike since last week in protest against unfair service conditions. The Dass comes under the Lt Governor.

They are demanding implementation of the Sahai committee report, recruitment and promotions to vacant positions and the general transfer posting policy.

Sisodia said he will seek appointments with Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to apprise them of the demands.

The Minister stressed the Delhi government must have authority over the services department not only for its smooth functioning, but also for creating a positive environment for the employees, the lifeline of any government.

"Since May 2015, we are fighting to retain the services with the Delhi government. This is not a personal fight, but a fight against the repressive system," Sisodia said.

He also appealed them to call off the hunger strike since it affects the health of those sitting on protest. However, they refused.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trade across the Line of Control (LoC) between the divided Kashmir resumed on Thursday after two days of suspension.

Officials at the Chakan Da Bagh trade facilitation centre in Poonch district said 35 trucks carrying goods from the Indian administered part of Kashmir left for Rawalakote in Pakistan in the Pakistani-administered part of the state.

Officials said the trucks carrying goods have also left Rawalakote from Pakistan for Chakan Da Bagh.

Cross-LoC trade remained suspended for two days because of curfew in Jammu city as no goods carrying vehicles could move of Jammu to Poonch during this period.

The trade across the LoC was started in 2005 as a major confidence building measure between India and Pakistan.

--IANS

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In a sudden turn of events, the Congress on Thursday wooed the A. Vijayakant-led DMDK to its electoral alliance for the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress leader S. Thirunavukarasar on Thursday called on Vijayakant at his residence and requested him to take "a good decision" taking into consideration the prevailing condition in the country.

"He (Vijayakant) is a leader of a political party. I am also a leader and a politician. This is election time. If we say we did not talk politics, I will be lying," Thirunavukarasar told reporters.

Asked if he asked DMDK to join the Congress-DMK alliance, Thirunavukarasar said he had asked him to take "a good decision" in the interests of the nation.

The Congress on Wednesday signed an election alliance with the DMK under which it will contest nine of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the sole seat in Puducherry.

The DMDK has been negotiating with the AIADMK-BJP combine for an alliance and wanted them to match their offer to PMK.

The PMK on Tuesday has been given seven seats to contest by the AIADMK besides a Rajya Sabha seat.

--IANS

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Russian nationalist Demushkin convicted of extremism released

 RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova

10:46 21/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI) - A court in the Vladimir Region has granted early release for Russian nationalist Dmitry Demushkin sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for inciting racial hatred and enmity online, lawyer Oleg Kolesnikov has told RAPSI.

The court has ordered his release due to the recent changes in legislation mitigating punishment for the crimes Demushkin had been convicted of, the attorney has said.

In April 2017, Moscows Nagatinsky District Court found Demushkin guilty of extremism. The trial was held behind closed doors. The Moscow City Court upheld the ruling in July 2017.

According to the Moscow prosecutors office, in 2014, the defendant published two extremist images on his social media account aiming to incite animosity and hatred towards a certain group of people.

Demushkin pleaded not guilty.




Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday attacked the Congress for allegedly trying to weaken the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi by not allying with it in the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a gathering in Gandhi Nagar after inaugurating 181 newly-constructed lanes in four unauthorised colonies, Kejriwal said the only way the BJP can be defeated is by having only one candidate in each Parliamentary constituency against the saffron party so that the votes don't get divided.

"We are tired of telling Congress leaders that there should be an alliance between their party and the AAP in Delhi. But they refused. Their intention doesn't seem good, but I have faith in the voters," said the chief minister.

Kejriwal accused the Congress of weakening the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the AAP in Delhi.

"In West Bengal, Mamata (Banerjee) can defeat the BJP, not the Congress. In UP, Mayawati and Akhilesh (Yadav) can defeat the BJP and similarly, in Delhi, AAP can defeat the BJP and not the Congress. The Congress can defeat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh," he said.

He urged voters not to let their votes get divided, as "the Congress will only cut our votes" and added, "Even the BJP wants the anti-BJP votes to go to the Congress in order to weaken the other parties."

Kejriwal also attacked the Congress for not doing much for Delhi.

"Before us, the Congress was in power for 15 years, name any four lanes they have given you? We have given you 181 lanes in a go."

Promising timely completion of all developmental projects in the city, the Chief Minister said, "All the work that begins today, will be completed by August. I will come back here to inaugurate it. But if we fail to complete the work on time, do not vote for AAP in the Delhi Assembly elections."

Claiming that under the Sheila Dikshit government, electricity rates in Delhi were hiked every year, the chief minister said, "People were unable to pay the bills. Today, I am proud to say that my government is giving the cheapest electricity in the world."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Thursday named a CPI-M legislator and a former CPI-M MLA as key links in the murder of two Youth Congress activists in Kerala's Kasargode district.

Addressing reporters here, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the killer group, after committing the murder on Sunday, first reached the local CPI-M party office.

"A local CPI-M leader, A. Peethambaran, has been arrested and now the CPI-M is trying to blame him for the crime.

"We do not have any faith in Kerala Police and we demand that the CBI should probe the case. The roles of CPI-M MLA K. Kunhiraman and former MLA K.V. Kunhiraman have to be probed in detail," said Chennithala.

"The government has transferred the Kasargode Superintendent of Police, A. Sreenivas, who began the probe. Even if this transfer was done as part of the Election Commission guidelines, they could have retained him in the probe," he said.

Youth Congress workers Krupesh, 19, and Joshy, 24, were hacked to death on Sunday by three motorcycle-borne men. While Krupesh died at the Kasaragode district hospital, Joshy succumbed to injuries on his way to a medical facility in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

Krupesh's father Krishnan told the media in Kasargode on Thursday that he has no faith in the Kerala Police.

"Peethamabaran alone cannot do this crime. We are certain there are others behind it. We do not have faith in the present probe and we have decided to move the court seeking a CBI probe. This crime is a well planned out by the CPI-M," said Krishnan.

Meanwhile, CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan downplayed the demand for a CBI probe.

"If for every case the demand for a CBI probe is asked, then it's best that the Kerala Police be disbanded. The police probe has just begun. If people have any evidence against the CPI-M, it should be handed to the police and not to the media," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has reiterated his nation's commitment to a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region and to democracy.

During his meeting with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Washington on Wednesday, Shahid underscored "the importance of his government's reform efforts to (ensure) the vitality of Maldives' democracy," the deparment's Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said.

The two leaders spoke of their "common interest in deepening bilateral ties between the US and Maldives, and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region", his statement added.

Pompeo appreciated the Maldives' commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said.

Their statements on democracy and rule of law were a boost to the Indian Ocean nation's fragile democracy.

Maldives had fought back a challenge to its democracy in September 2018 when the opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assumed the presidency after defeating President Abdulla Yameen, who had declared a state of emergency and arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed when the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of nine opposition leaders, including former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The US-Maldives declaration of commitment to free and open Indo-Pacific region has added significance because of the China factor.

Yameen, who had moved closer to China and Pakistan, sent emissaries seeking support from them after the emergency declaration that India and the US criticised.

China sent warships to the Indian Ocean region near the Maldives after the emergency was proclaimed in February last year.

Beijing is also a major investor and aid-giver to the Maldives.

Palladino said that Pompeo undertook to work with the Congress to provide $9.75 million in additional aid to Maldives.

David J. Ranz, the deputy assistant secretary for Central and South Asian affairs, announced in December an aid package for Maldives comprising $7 million in military aid for maritime security and $3 million for supporting civil society and environmental programmes.

According to Maldives Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer the country owes $1.4 billion to China.

The US State Department said that the Treasury Department would help the Maldives government with developing a debt strategy and with domestic debt management.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to repeat its Gujarat model in Uttar Pradesh for the coming Lok Sabha elections by replacing a number of sitting MPs with new faces.

Party sources said the party could deny tickets to over 30 sitting MPs in Uttar Pradesh on the grounds of performance.

They said that discussions on fielding new candidates in the Lok Sabha elections were held at the residence of party President Amit Shah on Wednesday night. The meeting was also attended by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Dinesh Sharma and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The meeting lasted for over two-and-half hours.

The BJP leadership had dropped enough indications earlier about denying tickets to MPs who were perceived to have been unable to perform. The party would like to try new faces to beat incumbency. The new faces could include MLAs and ministers in the state.

The BJP had earlier followed the same trend in Gujarat where it replaced its sitting MLAs with new faces in the Assembly polls.

Last year, the BJP had released the report cards of its ministers and MPs. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was tasked to prepare the report card of the party MPs in the state.

The sources said the leaders also discussed the party's preparedness in the state ahead of the parliamentary polls.

Uttar Pradesh sends a maximum of 80 MPs to Parliament. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 71 and its ally Apna Dal two in the state.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP National Secretary Rahul Sinha on Thursday alleged corruption in procurement of paddy from farmers in West Bengal and demanded a CBI inquiry into the scam.

"There has been huge corruption across the state regarding procurement of crops from farmers. The MSP of crops set by Central government is Rs 1,750. But at many places in Bengal, the farmers are getting Rs 1,350. We demand a CBI inquiry into it," Sinha said.

The farmers are given Rs 1,350 for paddy but are forced to sign receipts where it is stated they are getting Rs 1,750, he alleged.

Farmers are committing suicide as they are not receiving the proper price for their produce, he said.

He announced that on February 27 the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will organise a massive agitation across the state on the issue.

State food supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, however, denied the charges saying the BJP should stop making allegations without proper evidence.

--IANS

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Former Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the highest-ranking woman to serve in a two-term government, announced her decision to quit politics, here on Thursday. She will not contest May general election, Bishop added.

Bishop served as Australia's first female minister for Foreign Affairs under two Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull between 2013 and 2018.

She was the deputy leader of the Liberal Party between 2007 and 2018, the latter five years of which the party was in the government. She ran for the party leadership after former Prime Minister Turnbull was deposed in August 2018.

After being eliminated in the first round of the leadership ballot, Bishop resigned as a minister but said she would remain in

Addressing Parliament on Thursday, Bishop said she had reconsidered her future and wanted to pursue a career outside

"It has been an immense honour to be the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, the first female to hold the role, for 11 years, over half my entire political career," she was cited as saying by ABC News Australia.

"I am also proud that I am the first woman to contest a leadership ballot of the Liberal Party in its 75-year history," she said.

Bishop said she had come to the view that the incumbent Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) would win the election, clearing the way for her to step away from

"The policy platform that we will take to the next election is crystallising based on the very firm foundations of our unrelenting focus on prudent management of our national finances. It is time for a new member to take my place," she said.

Paying tribute to Bishop's "tremendous service to her country", Morrison said, "Her successor will have big shoes to fill and we know that Julie has the best shoes in Parliament."

Bishop who worked as a lawyer before entering politics previously served as the Minister for Ageing, Minister for Women and Minister for Education and Science in the latter years of John Howard's 11 years as Prime Minister.

Turnbull acknowledged Bishop for her "service to our nation and our party and, above all, your friendship over so many years".

Bill Shorten, leader of the opposition Australian Labour Party, said while they held different political views there was no denying Bishop's status as a "trailblazer," describing her announcement as "the end of an era".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday flew in the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at the Aero India air show here and hailed the fighter.

"It was a wonderful experience flying the LCA. The avionics of the aircraft was very good. I could see the manner in which the pilot was accurately targeting in radar and other modes," Rawat told the media here.

The combat jet was piloted by Air Vice Marshal N. Tiwari while the Army chief was the co-pilot in the tandem-seater cockpit.

The aircraft, once added to Indian Air Force's (IAF) operational fleet, will be a strength, Gen Rawat said.

"The LCA is a wonderful aircraft. It will be a great addition to the fleet," he said.

--IANS

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BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday said that if an award is to be given in the country for betrayal in politics, it would definitely go to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Addressing a public meeting here, he made a scathing attack on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief, saying he has a long history of betrayals.

"First he betrayed the great NTR, then he betrayed Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now he betrayed Narendra Modi for his political interests," said Shah.

Referring to the TDP leader's statement on Pulwama terror attack, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief alleged that Naidu trusts Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and not the Indian Prime Minister. "One should not stoop down to this level for his political interests," he said.

The public meeting was organised to launch a nationwide campaign by the BJP to reach out to beneficiaries of various Central government schemes, ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Shah visited the home of a Dalit woman P. Jyoti, who got the house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. He said Modi has fulfilled dreams of millions of Indians like her and claimed that the largest number of beneficiaries of this scheme are from Andhra Pradesh.

The BJP chief said both TDP and YSR Congress parties are corrupt and dynastic parties who cannot do any good for Andhra.

He pointed out that 10 of 14 tasks of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act were completed by the Modi government in five years though the time-frame was 10 years.

He said the Modi government has given 20 major institutions, including IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM, AIIMS, and central and tribal universities to Andhra Pradesh but Chandrababu Naidu is still accusing the Centre of not helping the state for its development.

"Chandrababu Naidu sits on dharna in Delhi, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If he wishes to sit on dharna, then he should sit in front of his party office which in the past 5 years has not worked for the development of Andhra," said Shah.

He claimed that the Centre provided all required funds for the development of state capital Amaravati and for construction of Polavaram project but the TDP government could not spend the money properly. "There is massive corruption in implementation of these projects," he said.

Shah said various projects with investment of over Rs 55,400 crore were launched in coastal Andhra, adding that work would soon start on Kakinada Greenfield Petrochemical Complex in which HPCL and GAIL together propose to invest over Rs 1 lakh crore.

--IANS

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left in November 2014 to join IS, to return to the US -- despite her recent public plea to come back and stand trial in America.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!," Trump tweeted.

Hours earlier, Pompeo declared that Muthana, who is detained in a Kurdish refugee camp, is not an American citizen, reports CNN.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the US. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the US," Pompeo said in a statement.

Muthana, now 24, was a college student when she travelled to Syria over four years ago to join IS -- eventually marrying three fighters and calling for the killing of Americans on Twitter.

In a series of interviews this week from a sprawling camp in northern Syria with her infant son, she expressed deep remorse.

"When I left to Syria I was a naive, angry, and arrogant young woman," she said in a handwritten statement provided to CNN by a representative. "To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."

Hassan Shibly, a family representative for Muthana, denied that she was not a citizen, and called the move by the Trump administration to claim otherwise "very dangerous."

According to Shibly, Muthana was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.

"The Trump administration continues its attempts to wrongfully strip citizens of their citizenship," Shibly said in statement.

"Hoda Muthana had a valid US passport and is a citizen. She was born in Hackensack, NJ in October 1994, months after her father stopped being diplomat," he added before later tweeting a picture of what he claimed is Muthana's birth certificate, that appeared to confirm her place and date of birth.

Asked about Muthana's case on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino noted that "the situation of American citizens or possible American citizens in Syria is by definition extremely complicated and we're looking into these cases to better understand the details."

Palladino would not speak to the specific case, but said that in cases involving "American citizens or potential American citizens or alleged American citizens," US policy "would be to repatriate them, and it's what we call on all countries to do who have (foreign terrorist) fighters in Syria too."

--IANS

vc

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
We are direct exporters/producers of wood pellet products. Our office location is in the US, but our factory and export our products from Vietnam.

Our company specializes in the manufacture of high-grade, low moisture, high combustion efficiency wood pellets. With satellite offices located in the US and Vietnam, we are available around the clock to assist you with your energy needs.



Manufacturing of our product takes place in our state of the art facility located in Vietnam, using only the highest quality virgin lumber. Pellets produced, ranging in size from 6mm to 8mm depending on customers request.

Our product is routinely checked by independent laboratories to ensure quality, and copies of quality reports can be provided upon request. We are able to supply large volumes at competitive prices.
The Rajasthan government has suspended two jail officials and acted against two others after a Pakistani prisoner was murdered by Indian inmates in the Jaipur Central Jail, officials said on Thursday.

The government has put Jail Superintendent Sanjay Yadav and Jailor Jagdish Sharma under Awaiting Posting Orders (APO) category and suspended two officials with immediate effect, Inspector General of Police Rupinder Singh said.

Rakesh Mohan Sharma has been appointed the new jail Superintendent.

Singh said that Vaidhyanath Sharma, in charge of cell number 10 where the Pakistani, Shakarulla, was lodged and murdered, has been suspended along with the warder of the cell, Ramswaroop.

Security has also been enhanced in other prisons in Rajasthan where Pakistanis are jailed, an official said.

The Pakistani prisoner was allegedly murdered by group of fellow prisoners on Wednesday after an argument over a TV programme, officials said.

The incident comes in wake of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the terror attack in Kashmir which left 40 CRPF troopers dead.

--IANS

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Five persons have been arrested for assaulting a Kashmiri shawl trader in West Bengal's Nadia district, police said on Thursday.

Jawed Ahmed Khan, 27, was assaulted by a group of people in Taherpur area on February 18 but he was rescued, a police officer said.

He said Khan's safety was being ensured.

The attack took place four days after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Kashmir.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tata Steel Ltd is quoting at Rs 497.5, up 1.29% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 21.97% in last one year as compared to a 3.71% gain in NIFTY and a 28.52% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

Tata Steel Ltd rose for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 497.5, up 1.29% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.3% on the day, quoting at 10767.8. The Sensex is at 35875.7, up 0.33%. Tata Steel Ltd has added around 8.97% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Tata Steel Ltd is a constituent, has added around 3.13% in last one month and is currently quoting at 2765, up 0.93% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 62.3 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 90.69 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark February futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 500.45, up 1.63% on the day. Tata Steel Ltd is down 21.97% in last one year as compared to a 3.71% gain in NIFTY and a 28.52% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

The PE of the stock is 5.51 based on TTM earnings ending December 18.

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Capital infusion to support PCA as well as non-PCA banks

The Central Govt has approved Rs 48239 crore of recapitalization to 12 public sector banks (PSBs). With the latest funding, the total amount of capital infusion would increase to Rs 100958 crore of the planned recapitalization of Rs 1.06 lakh crore for PSBs in FY2019.

The latest round of capital infusion is aimed at equipping better-performing PSBs under prompt corrective action (PCA) framework of RBI to be above regulatory PCA triggers such as CET-1 ratio of 7.375%, Tier I ratio of 8.875%, CRAR of 10.875% and NNPA below 6%. Accordingly, the capital infusion of Rs 6896 crore in Allahabad Bank and Rs 9086 crore into Corporation Bank is announced.

The capital infusion also aims at PSBs that have exited PCA to remain above PCA triggers. Thus, the further capital of Rs 4638 crore in Bank of India and Rs 205 crore for Bank of Maharashtra is announced.

Further, the non-PCA banks have also been provided additional capital infusion to be above regulatory capital norms of PCA. Accordingly, the capital infusion is announced for Punjab National Bank at Rs 5908 crore, Union Bank at Rs 4112 crore, Andhra Bank at Rs 3256 crore and Syndicate Bank at Rs 1603 crore.

The government has also taken care of minimum regulatory capital needs of PCA banks with capital allocation of Rs 2560 crore for Central Bank, Rs 2839 crore for United Bank, Rs 3330 crore for UCO Bank, Rs 3806 crore for Indian Overseas Bank.

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Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, along with its subsidiaries announced the re-launch of its Buprenorphine and Naloxone Sublingual Film, 2 mg/0.5 mg, 4 mg/1 mg, 8 mg/2 mg, and 12 mg/3 mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) sublingual film, in the United States market. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 February 2019.

Moody's Investors Service has changed outlook on JSW Steel's corporate family rating (CFR) and senior unsecured bond rating to "Positive" from "Stable" while affirming rating at Ba2. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 February 2019.

Dynamatic Technologies has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Joint-Stock Company (JSC) Russian Helicopters on Ka-226T Helicopter with an intent to build major structural assemblies for fuselage and aggregate assembly, sub-assemblies and detail parts fabrication. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 February 2019.

Zuari Agro Chemicals' board of directors approved raising of funds by way of issue of Compulsory Convertible Debentures to the existing shareholders of the company on a rights basis up to Rs 500 crore subject to all applicable statutory and regulatory approvals. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 February 2019.

Shipping Corporation of India has given physical delivery of its one bulk carrier "m.v. Tamilnadu", to its buyer. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 February 2019.

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Bharat Electronics has unveiled its new product, the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG), an innovative solution to meet the ever-increasing need for drinking water worldwide, at Aero India 2019. BEL's Atmospheric Water Generator can be used to generate water straight from the humidity present in the atmosphere.

BEL's Atmospheric Water Generator employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it. It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water.

The AWG comes with a Mineralisation Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable. The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities.

The Atmospheric Water Generator is being manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad. It is on display at the BEL stall at Hall-E at Aero India 2019. BEL has, as part of the Government of India's Start-up India Initiative, extending its support to start-up Companies.

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United States President Donald Trump is expected to visit Japan as a state guest later this year in May. Trump is expected to become the first foreign leader that the Crown Prince Naruhito will host after his ascension to the throne.

According to the NHK, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump spoke over the telephone on Wednesday and during the conversation, Abe invited Trump to visit Tokyo from May 26 to 28.

Trump is scheduled to visit Japan in late June also to attend the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.

The talks between the two state-leaders came in the wake of the second US-North Korea summit in Vietnam next week.

Last year, The United States and Japan agreed to jointly work on the successful dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programme.

Crown Prince Naruhito is slated to ascend the throne in June. When Emperor Akihito will abdicate the throne.

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United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday strongly condemned the "heinous and cowardly" Pulwama suicide terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed and asked all countries to cooperate with India in its efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in over 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility," said UNSC in a press statement.

Urging all the states to take action, UNSC underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. UNSC further asked all the countries to cooperate actively with the Indian Government and all other relevant authorities in this regard.

The UNSC also expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

"The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Indian people and the government of India, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured," the statement further said.

This comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered to broker peace between India and Pakistan in view of the growing tension between the two neighbours after the suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14.

Soon after the attack, Pakistan-sponsored Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.

Further, members of the Security Council said that any acts of terrorism is "criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed."

"They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts" the statement said.

Soon after the attack, several countries including the United States and various Arab nations criticised the ghastly Pulwama attack.

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Britain on Wednesday revoked the citizenship of Shamima Begum who had left the United Kingdom four years ago to join the Islamic State in Syria.

According to Dhaka Tribune, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid decided on Tuesday to revoke the citizenship of Shamima, who was 15 when she travelled to Syria, based on the fact that her mother has dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and Bangladesh.

While responding, Begum who is seeking to return to Britain, called the British government move "hard to swallow", CNN reported.

The recent action of revoking citizenship has sparked a debate about the legality behind it. However, a spokesman for the Home Office said that the Home Secretary can deprive someone of their British citizenship "where it would not render the individual stateless."

Begum, who recently gave birth to a child, also said that the move is unjust for her son.

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"I am burnt on running a responsible administration, mindful of the next generation and not merely the next election", President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo tells Ghanaians of the intervention by his government to improve the economy.



Delivering a State of the Nation Address before Parliament today, President Akufo-Addo noted that his administration has since its inception made great strides in managing the economy and ensuring fiscal discipline under his leadership.



According to him, his objective is to build a better Ghana for generations and so believed one step forward is to maintain discipline in spending character of his government.



As part of measures to improve the economic fundamentals of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo told the Speaker of Parliament that he has decided to "institute a legal framework to help with the discipline. Weve passed a Fiscal Responsibility Law (Act 982) capping the deficit of 5 percent by law. In some two weeks ago, I inaugurated the Presidential Fiscal Responsibility Advisory Council chaired by the eminent respected economist, Dr. Paul Acquah  former Governor of the Bank of Ghana and former Deputy Director of the Africa department of the IMF  with some of the finest and most reputable economists of our country as members.



He was optimistic his initiatives will help "discipline and bring progress to our country . . . I am burnt on running a responsible administration, mindful of the next generation and not merely the next election. In the meantime, our efforts are bearing some fruits and the world is taking notice of the improvement in our economic fundamentals.







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Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that it is totally up to Attorney General William Barr whether and when to release the special counsel Robert Mueller's report on links between the Russian government and Trump's campaign.

"That'll be totally up to the new attorney general, he's a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department so that'll be totally up to him," CBS quoted Trump as saying.

When asked whether Barr will release the full report on Muller, Trump said, "that'll be totally up to the attorney general."

As attorney general, Barr recently participated in Mueller's probe, which is investigating links between the Russian government and Trump's campaign. It is also probing whether the US President repeatedly tried to obstruct justice by interfering in the investigation.

Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker, last month, revealed that special counsel Robert Muller's investigation is close to completion.

Last month, Roger Stone had pleaded not guilty to the charges alleged by Mueller that Stone gave false statements to congressional investigators regarding the Wikileaks' publication on stolen emails which were meant to dent Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016.

According to the reports, Mueller is nearly done is preparing to announce the report probably in next week.

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Parents of a two-year-old baby have alleged that HIV positive blood was transfused into her at a government hospital in Coimbatore city of Tamil Nadu, while hospital authorities have refuted the claim.

According to the parents' accusation, the infected blood was transfused into the baby while she was being treated at the hospital last year.

Speaking to ANI, the child's father said, "She was admitted in this hospital last July and was later discharged after transfusion. She developed complications and later tests showed her to be HIV positive".

The hospital has however denied the accusation and said that it is prepared for any inquiry.

Dr Asokan, Dean, Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital told ANI, "We dismiss the allegations. She could have been HIV infected after treatment at some other hospital. We have given all medical records related to her. We expect state government officials to come for inquiry. We are ready."

Meanwhile, Coimbatore Human Rights Forum (CHRF), which received a complaint in this regard, has demanded action in the matter.

VP Sarathy, Chairman, CHRF said, "The father gave us a complaint. We have gone through medical records. They seem to be fabricated to defend the erring doctors. The child's father has given a petition to the Coimbatore District Collector who has assured prompt action."

In December last year, a pregnant woman was stated to have contracted HIV after blood transfusion in a Tamil Nadu hospital.

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A man from Telangana was allegedly shot dead in Florida in the United States by unidentified gunmen, late on Tuesday night (local time).

45-year-old Kotha Goverdhan Reddy had moved to Florida seven years ago and worked there as a manager at a store, according to Madhusudan Reddy, the brother of the victim.

A native of Yadadri Bhongir district, Goverdhan is survived by his wife and two children.

"We received information that on Tuesday late night, two persons barged into the gas station store where Goverdhan was alone and opened fire on him," Madhusudan told ANI.

Kotha Sreeya, daughter of the deceased told ANI: "Yesterday morning we received information from USA that my father was shot dead in the store he was working in. They said that the incident happened the day before yesterday (US time) and a few persons came into the store in which he was working as a manager and demanded money following which he was shot."

The family has also sought the government's help to bring back the mortal remains of the deceased to India.

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Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, who loves experimenting with her style and fashion, paid a heartfelt tribute to German director and one of the biggest names in the fashion industry the late Karl Lagerfeld.

The famous fashion designer died at the age of 85, to pay her respects, Sonam took to her Instagram account to share a picture and captioned it with a long quote by Karl himself. The picture features her with the late designer and Frieda Pinto.

She wrote, "Please don't say I work hard. Nobody is forced to do this job and if they don't like it, they should do another one. If it's too much, do something else. But don't start doing it and then say, 'Aaaah, it's too much'. Because a lot of people depend on it. What we do at Chanel, thousands of people work on these things; these things are sold in hundreds and hundreds of shops all over the world. People like the big machine, and the money the big machine involves, but the effort... Then, suddenly, they become artists. They are too weak. Too fragile. Non. We have to be tough. We cannot talk about our suffering. People buy dresses to be happy, not to hear about somebody who suffered over a piece of taffeta. Me, I like to make an effort. I like nothing better than concrete reality. I'm a very down-to-earth person, but it is my job to make that earth more pleasant. KARL."

Reportedly, Karl died on Tuesday at the age of 85 in a hospital in Paris after suffering from an illness.

The talented designer has served as the creative director of brands like Chanel and Fendi. His final collection for Chanel was January's Spring/Summer 2019 haute couture show, which was unveiled in Paris this January.

Many other celebrities including Bella Hadid, David Beckham, Eva Chen, among others paid tribute to the late designer.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonam was last seen in the film 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga' alongside Rajkummar Rao and her father Anil Kapoor which centres around the acceptability of LGBTQ community and their love preferences in our country. The film received an overwhelming response by the critics and audiences alike.

She will be next seen in 'Zoya Factor'. Helmed by Abhishek Sharma, the movie also stars Dulquer Salmaan and Sanjay Kapoor in pivotal roles and is based on the novel written by Anuja Chauhan.

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The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 United States election, has expressed its desire to question a Moscow-based American businessman with longstanding ties to US President Donald Trump.

According to CNN, businessman David Geovanis helped Trump in his 1996 trip to Moscow. In addition, Geonavis worked for the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, whose ties with Trump's 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the investigators are probing.

This is the first time the connection between Geovanis and Trump is being questioned by investigators. This comes after two witnesses, during their private testification, indicated that Geonavis could be the missing link in the investigation of the case.

Geonavis, who married a Russian woman, obtained a Russian passport in 2014. He has last visited the United States in 2017 after the death of his mother.

Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen will also testify privately to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to present his report on Russia's involvement in the 2016 election next week.

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West Bengal Chief Minister on Wednesday alleged that a section of political parties were indulging in rumour mongering and spreading hatred with their "dangerous statements".

"I am ashamed to call out the names of the political parties who are involved in spreading hatred among the communities and attacking everybody. They are behaving as if only they are Indians while the others are Pakistanis," Banerjee told media.

The Chief Minister also accused the BJP of spoiling the constitutional position. "We want India should be united. We are fighting to unite India not to divide India. It is the BJP who do not want. And they are spoiling the constitutional position," she said.

Condemning the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, Banerjee announced Rs five lakh compensation each for the two CRPF soldier - Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas from West Bengal.

"Two jawans were killed in Pulwama from our state. Our government will give Rs five lakh each to their families and we express solidarity to them. And if they want service, we can also provide employment to one in the family," she added.

In the backdrop of reports of several Kashmiri students receiving threats post-the February 14 Pulwama terror strike, Banerjee asserted that the Kashmiri students are welcome to stay in Kolkata.

"In Kolkata only one incident happened and we have taken strong action against the culprit. We have provided all the security. All Kashmiri said that they are happy to stay in Kolkata as it is the safe place," she said.

40 CRPF personnel were killed in Awantipora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district in a terror attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based and Pakistan backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack around 3.15 pm on an ill-fated day.

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RevStart, a leading co-working and incubation centre based out of Noida will be organizing Techstars Start-up Weekend Noida - a 54 hours Start-up weekend, from March 8 to 10, where participants will learn from mentors how to take an idea to a and get funded.

TechStars Start-up Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can validate their start-up ideas and learn to turn them into a real On average, half of Start-up Weekend's attendees have technical or design backgrounds, the other half have backgrounds. It's a great opportunity for those looking for co-founders or to work in a start-up. At Revstart's event, mentors have been curated to include subject matter experts, recently funded founders and experienced investors.

Happening on 8 - 10th March, the event will kick off at 5 pm on Friday with a Keynote by Sanjiv Bikchandani, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in India Founder of Info Edge (the first Dot Com IPO) sharing his journey as an entrepreneur and a successful investor. This will be followed by open mic pitches, where attendees get one minute to introduce themselves, pitch their idea and name their ask. On Saturday teams will start working with mentors on their business plan, validating their ideas, practising Lean Start-up Methodologies and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday there will be a Pitch Clinic to prepare for the final presentations. Participants will present the plan to marquee judges like Girish Shivani-Yournest, Padmaja Ruparel-IAN and Shailesh Vikram-Massive Fund, receiving valuable feedback, potential funding which can also include access to RevStart's Incubation Programme.

"I have been a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem since 1998, built and exited from businesses in India and the US Techstars have given us a globally recognised format to organize Start-up weekend Noida and I am grateful to my friends from the ecosystem like Ashish Kashyap - Ex-GoIbibo, Abhinav Mathur - Founder, Million Sparks Foundation, Ajay Rajgarhia - APM Fininvest, Anisha Singh - MyDala, Deep Bajaj - Pee Buddy / Sirona, Digvijay Singh - IAN, Pankaj Agrawal - Ex-CIO, CISO, Rahul Agarwala - Knimbus, Rahul Singh - The Beer Cafe, Rohit Pateria - Placio, Rohan Mahajan - Law Rato, Sanjiv Bajaj - Bajaj Capital, Saurabh Arora - University Living, Siddharth Vij - Shoe Konnect, Shikha Mehra - Mainchain, Vikas Kuthiala - Parriez, Vivek Agarwal - CEO, Liqvid and Yogesh Bansal - Angel Investor, who are participating in this event as mentors. Thank you for the support from partners like Indian Angel Network, Miraaya Ventures, MyHQ, Startup Delhi and TiE New Delhi", said Ishan Singh - Founder, RevStart Incubation Center. This story is provided by NewsVoir.

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President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday expressed India's wish to be a strong and reliable partner in Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 as he hosted a banquet for the Gulf kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Welcoming the crown prince on his first state visit to India, the President said India cherishes its cordial and friendly relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

India considers the Gulf region as its extended neighbourhood. The ever-expanding scope of India-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations demands sustained strategic engagement and frequent interactions between the two sides at all levels, according to a statement put out by Rashtrapti Bhawan that quoted Kovind.

President Kovind and the crown prince, commonly known as MBS, also held talks on counter-terrorism and bilateral ties between the two countries.

Citing terrorism as the gravest threat to humanity, Kovind said in a statement on his official twitter handle, "India and Saudi Arabia, and the global community must come together to defeat and destroy these evil forces and combat radicalisation."

Earlier in the day, in a joint statement, India and Pakistan have condemned, in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

MBS who arrived with the senior-delegation on his maiden two-day visit on February 19, signed five Memoranda of Understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information and broadcasting.

Addressing the visible enhancement of bilateral trade ties between two countries over the past few years, Kovind said, however, there exists further potential.

"Saudi Arabia continues to be our most important source of energy. We need to take the current buyer-seller relationship to a strategic level," he said.

The President said that India wishes to be a partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030'. "These are complementarities between our economies," he said.

"Indian companies have created jobs in Saudi Arabia, especially in the tech sector. India deeply values Saudi Arabia as a reliable partner for its energy security. We are delighted at Aramco's participation in the upcoming world's largest greenfield oil refinery" the President said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme from Gorakhpur on February 24.

Under the scheme, the central government will on the same day make the first installment of Rs two thousand in the bank account of beneficiary farmers. On February 24, about one crore farmers will be given the first installment of two thousand rupees.

It is expected that nearly 25 million farmers will get the first installment in the account by March 31. The Central government had already written a letter to all state governments asking for details of farmers falling under the ambit of this scheme.

States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have shown an active interest in sending the list.

The central government will transfer the first installment by March 31 to all small farmers' accounts. Following the release of the first installment soon after the launch, the second installment under the scheme can also be transferred after April 1.

During the interim budget, the Central Government had announced this new scheme in the agriculture sector, which will entail payment of Rs 6,000 annually to each of the 12 crore marginal farmers in the country.

The scheme titled 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)' will involve an annual outlay of Rs 75,000 crore.

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Kabul has rejected as "irrelevant", the recent remarks by Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah, that tension between New Delhi and Islamabad could affect the Afghan peace process and said they were in contradiction with Pakistan's commitments with regards to realising peace in Afghanistan.

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs deems the recent remarks of the Pakistani Ambassador that Afghanistan peace talks would be affected if India resort to violence against Pakistan in response to last week's attack in Kashmir, as irrelevant and in contraction with Pakistan's commitments with regards to realizing peace in Afghanistan," the Afghanistan foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kabul further asked Islamabad to act upon its commitments and asked it to not to make "irrelevant statements".

Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah Khan on Tuesday claimed that tension between New Delhi and India could affect the Afghan-peace process.

"The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has always wanted a reduction in any tension in the region and the difference to be resolved through dialogue and peaceful means. The government of the Islamic Republic Afghanistan once again calls on Pakistan to act upon its commitments with regards to Afghanistan particularly those in relation to peace and refrain from making irrelevant statements that do not help solve any problem," the foreign ministry said.

Notably, Khan's comment came in the wake of de-escalation of India and Pakistan relations after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed by a Pakistan-sponsored JeM terrorist.

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Ghanas Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has called on H.E. Beji Ciad ESSEBSSI, President of the Republic of Tunisia, as part of her two-day historic visit to the Northern African country.



The Ministers meeting with the Tunisian leader on Tuesday February 19th, 2019, highlighted the longstanding relations between Ghana and Tunisia, the lull in active engagement over the last 40 years and the commitment of the two countries to enhance relations, as evidenced by the recent business delegation to Ghana and the signing of three basic agreements for cooperation.



President Beji Ciad ESSEBSSI recalled the last visit to Tunisia by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1964 and urged the enhancement of relations as existed enduring the era of the first two presidents.



The President also reiterated Tunisia's eagerness to advance bilateral cooperation and to intensify the coordination of multilateral visits and consultations on issues of concern to the future of the two countries and the African continent.



In response, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey stressed the importance of her visit to Tunisia, saying it would undoubtedly contribute to the establishment of a unique and distinct future relationship, particularly in the economic and commercial areas under the framework of the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Tunisia is now a member.



The Ghanaian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration also met with Omar El Behi, Minister for Trade and Slim Feriani, Minister of Industry and SMEs, touting Ghanas achievements in the sectors as well as measures to expand across the African continent using the countrys industrialization agenda.



Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey also stressed the importance of supporting the exchange of visits within the business community in the two countries and stimulate the private sector to further engage in trade and investment support, while exploring new areas of partnership including health tourism.



Addressing the Ghanaian delegation, Tunisias Trade and Industry Ministers were optimistic, Africa is a choice for Tunisia to increase trade and boost exports, indicating their countrys readiness to explore all opportunities in order to break through the Ghanaian market.



Omar El Behi announced the opening of a Tunisian Trade Bureau in Ghana to facilitate and enhance work in the sector for mutual benefits.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Days before United States president's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, US officials on Thursday said that they are not sure whether Pyongyang intends to denuclearise, according to media reports.

"I don't know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearise but the reason why we're engaged in this is because we think there's a possibility that North Korea can make the choice to fully denuclearise and that's why the president has assigned such a priority to engage with them," a senior administration official was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post.

The remarks come amidst preparations for a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, which is scheduled to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam next week.

Notably, Bruce Klingner, a former deputy division chief for Korea at the CIA, today claimed that North Korea continues to nuclearise despite its promise.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had said that he is in "no rush" to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, irrespective of the fact that the agenda was always on top of the table for the US.

The second US-North Korea summit is seen as a breakthrough amid the prevailing impasse between Pyongyang and Washington over sanctions, which led to impeded growth in denuclearisation efforts in the Korean peninsula.

During the first Summit, held at Singapore's Sentosa Island, both Trump and Kim had agreed on a spectrum of issues, the most prominent being the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

However, the US and North Korea reached an impasse regarding sanctions relief for Pyongyang soon after the first Summit, leading to extremely slow progress on the denuclearisation front.

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The trailer of Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Kesari' is finally out and it takes the audience on the journey of a heroic story of nation's unsung warriors. Akshay took to his Twitter handle to share the trailer of the upcoming movie. He wrote, "An incredible true story of valour, sacrifice & bravery - told like never before! #KesariTrailer out now." The trailer begins with Akshay saying, "A Britisher, once told me, I am a slave and only cowards are born in India. Today is the day to give him a reply." Just a few seconds later, the viewers can seen Afghan soldiers, in huge numbers, running towards Akshay's character Havildar Ishar Singh, the leader of the Sikh regiment. The trailer then takes the audience in the world of the bravest battle ever fought, the battle of Saragarhi. The trailer of 'Kesari' also leaves an urge for everyone to know how these 21 brave Sikh soldiers fought against 10,000 Afghan soldiers to safeguard their land from invasion.

Akshay looks convincing as a leader of the Sikh soldiers, who can be seen roaring like lions with weapons in their hands and rage in their eyes. The 3 minutes and 4 seconds trailer looks captivating and fascinating with rustic action scenes, unseen technique of sword fighting and intense dialogues. The trailer also introduces the female lead of the film Parineeti Chopra, who looks like she is filled with pride as Akshay heads for the battle.

The background score, action scenes and rugged avatar of Akshay will surely leave you wanting for more.

Akshay had previously shared three back to back teasers of his upcoming film. The teasers showed glimpses of Akshay's character and other soldiers in a battle field. From the captivating background, amazing music and action scenes - the teasers took the audience into the world of the bravest battle ever fought which was the Battle of Saragarhi.

'Kesari', based on the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, where an army of 21 Sikhs fought against 10,000 Afghans, will see Akshay essaying the role of Havildar Ishar Singh.

The film, which is directed by Anurag Singh, is all set to hit theatres on March 21, giving fans a perfect Holi gift.

Apart from 'Kesari', Akshay will also be seen in 'Good News' and 'Mission Mangal', while, Parineeti will soon star in 'Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar' and 'Jabariya Jodi'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) leader Sharad Yadav on Thursday alleged that the Government of India is also responsible for the terrorist attack on the convoy of CRPF personnel in Pulwama, citing the intelligence input of the possible attack.

On the situation of Jammu and Kashmir after the Pulwama terrorist attack, Yadav said: "The problem is there with every government. There is a problem for Pakistan's side but the Government of India is also responsible for the attack since they had the intelligence input," he added.

As many as 40 CRPF jawans killed in Kashmir's Pulwama district in a terrorist attack carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad.

LJD supremo said, "We stand with the government and the country. I want to say that there should be peace where 72 per cent people voted. Why that peace was disturbed, the responsibility lies with the central government."

On the tussle over the post of Chief Minister between BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, Yadav said: "It is like a fight between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. They keep on indulging in false fights to appease the cadres of their respective parties."

When asked about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's statement "If Hitler and Shah come to power, they will change the constitution", Yadav said: "There is no doubt, they (BJP government) have destroyed the constitutional institutions. People have doubts like this. I was the first to raise this. In this period of undeclared emergency, the constitution is in danger."

On thorough investigation into the money spent by RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav on his bungalow, Yadav said: "People should mind their business. This should stop. I know what others are doing. If they talk more on this, I will reveal their secrets.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman have condemned, in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Prime Minister and His Royal Highness condemned in the strongest terms, the recent terrorist attack on Indian security forces on 14 February 2019 in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir", read the joint statement.

India-Saudi Arabia joint statement during the state visit of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to India also said that the two sides stressed the importance of regional stability and good neighbouring relations.

The Saudi Prince has appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," the joint statement outlined.

Affirming that the menace of extremism and terrorism threatens all nations and societies, the two sides rejected any attempt to link this universal phenomenon to any particular race, religion or culture. Both sides called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists perpetrating terrorism from all territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice.

In the joint statement, the two sides also noted the need for concerted action by the international community against terrorism including through early adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN.

Both India and Saudi Arabia called upon all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. They also called upon all states to deny access to weapons including missiles and drones to commit terrorist acts against other countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Saudi prince had held bilateral talks earlier in the day where the visiting dignitary, MBS, described terrorism as a "common concern". The Saudi Crown Prince said his country is ready to extend all kinds of cooperation to India in fighting the scourge but made no mention of the ghastly Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit last week.

Saudi Crown Prince's two-day visit comes nearly three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Riyadh in April 2016. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad-bin Salman arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday on his maiden visit to the country and was warmly received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India on Thursday extended heartiest condolences to the victims of the massive fire, which broke out in Chawkbazar's Churihatta area of Old Dhaka early on Thursday morning, claiming 70 lives so far.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, took to Twitter saying, "India is saddened by the loss of lives as a result of the tragic fire in Dhaka on February 20. We offer our deepest condolences to relatives of those affected by the accident."

"As a close neighbour and partner, we stand by the people & the Government of Bangladesh in this hour of grief," the Ministry added.

According to the local media, the fire broke out around 9:30 am after a gas cylinder kept in the warehouse storing highly flammable chemical and plastic products exploded and engulfed several multi-storey buildings located in the Lalbagh market place.

The death toll in the devastating fire is suspected to rise, said officials.

Meanwhile, the people who were injured in the fire were admitted in the nearby hospitals.

Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon and local MP Haji Md Salim paid a visit to the market place and monitored the situation after receiving information from the fire officials.

"Our priority right now is to douse the fire completely and attend to the wounded," Khokon was quoted as saying.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Patiala House court on Thursday sought the reply of Delhi Police on a plea filed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to travel abroad.

Tharoor, who is an accused in the death case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, has moved the court for permission to travel to Bahrain and Qatar.

Additional Sessions Judge Arun Bhardwaj asked the police to file the reply by tomorrow.

A magistrate's court had on February 4 committed the case to sessions court for trial.

Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a suite of a Delhi hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple were staying in the hotel as their house was undergoing renovation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The website of Chhattisgarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) was allegedly hacked by Pakistani hackers on Thursday.

Details traced by ANI showed that the website was hacked by a man, named, "Faisal 1337", who works under the banner of "We Are Team Pak Cyber Attackers".

Speaking to ANI, D Mashke, state BJP IT cell, said: "More than 100 websites were hacked in a cyber-attack, our website was one of them."

The BJP leader further said that a complaint has been registered in the case.

Mashke also rebuked Pakistan by saying, "they can't take us head-on, that's why they resort to such things."

Similar animosity was also shared by Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as his website was also hacked by Pakistani hackers. "The country whose mind has been hacked by terrorists will only indulge in this. They have been exposed and isolated globally hence such antics," Naqvi told ANI.

This comes after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a televised address to the nation, asked India to provide "actionable evidence" about Pakistani links to the February 14 attack, promising that his government will "take action."

India has asserted that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit was responsible for the attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 personnel were killed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, is all set to organise the "Blockchain Summit India" on 22nd and 23rd February 2019, to channel India's potential around blockchain and crypto economy. An initiative by Auxesis group, a Blockchain technology company working towards building technology infrastructure and protocols for mainstream enterprise adoption, the event has already created a buzz in the international blockchain front.

Connecting over 5,000 people including politicians, decision makers, knowledge tanks, and tech innovators, the event has already managed to create a buzz. To be hosted at the Noida campus of IIM, Lucknow, the summit aims at harnessing India's potential in blockchain and crypto. The event will see eminent speakers from the Union Ministry, entrepreneurs from across the globe and noteworthy faculties from the leading educational institutions of the nation come together to present their thoughts.

"Emerging fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, blockchain, and big data can take India to new heights of development, and improve the quality of life of its citizens", was recently mentioned by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. True to these words, India is steadily stepping ahead towards a digital future with blockchain emerging as the foundation of a new developmental era and widespread growth.

The event is the first edition in a series called "Vision Blockchain 2030". Visitors and attendees will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas, network, and gain insights on the recent developments in the blockchain domain across the governmental as well as the world.

In a first, the co-organizers, Proviar Solutions Pvt Ltd will also bring together artists, technologists, hippies, marketers, researchers, and radicals for a common cause. The summit aims to help broaden the horizon on and help draft new policies in developing a fruitful blockchain ecosystem and work towards the future of a new India. This story is provided by NewsVoir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hyderabad based poet Varavara Rao along with Nagpur activist and lawyer Surendra Gadling provided security-related information to wanted Maoists, alleged a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Pune Police on Thursday in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.

"Varavara Rao along with other accused Surendra Gadling have time and again provided security personnel related information to wanted Maoists and on the basis of that only Maoists have attacked Army personnel in different attacks," read the charge sheet.

The 1,837-page charge sheet was filed against four accused Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and a wanted accused Ganapathy, who used to be the former general secretary of banned organisation CPI(Maoist).

"All the accused were in contact with several wanted Maoists and were helping them to complete their targets. Varvara Rao is responsible for collecting and distributing funds for CPI(M)," read the charge sheet further.

It alleged that Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were responsible for the recruitment of members for the Maoist movement. "They all were also actively involved in promoting the ideology of CPI(M) and are also active members of the organisation," alleged the charge sheet.

During the investigation, it was found that IAPL (Indian Association For People's Lawyers) is the frontal organisation of CPI(M) and it works on its direction.

It was further added that Sudha Bhardwaj, was one of the chief of Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), another frontal organisation of the banned organisation CPI(M).

The charge sheet added, "All the accused were working underground for CPI(M) and were coordinating with its frontal organisation such as IAPL, PPSC, Kabir Kala Manch, MGMC, etc."

In the initial charge sheet filed in November last year, the police alleged that the "entire campaigning for Elgaar Parishad and speeches delivered at Elgaar Parishad aggravated the Bhima Koregaon violence."

It also stated that a letter recovered from one of the arrested accused revealed that a conspiracy was being hatched to carry out a Rajiv Gandhi like assassination on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in January last year, leaving one dead and several others injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a plea seeking its intervention to prevent attacks on Kashmiri students in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves on Thursday mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and sought its hearing at 2 pm. The top judge, however, posted the plea for hearing tomorrow.

The petition was filed by advocate Tariq Adeeb

According to the plea, Kashmiri students had to lock themselves up in order to remain safe as mob violence erupted in Dehradun in Uttarakhand after the terror attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14.

The petition has sought the court's direction to the authorities, including heads of educational institutions, for immediate steps to prevent attacks against Kashmiris and other minorities, their social boycott, ostracisation, eviction and other coercive acts.

It has said those indulging in hate speech and targeting of Kashmiris should be prosecuted.

The plea has asked for appointment of a senior officer in every state and Union territory for prevention of such acts and prosecution of those involved.

It has also requested the court for a direction to the authorities concerned to set up a website which would contain details of such incidents besides a single helpline for assistance across the nation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Akufo-Addo has asked Ghanaians to learn lessons from the Menzgold saga.



According to him, the Menzgold debacle, "Is a tragic phenomenom that appears to have occured in plain sight, and affected a lot of people, in spite of warnings from official institutions . . . I admonished all Ghanaians to learn the necessary lessons for the future . . . "



He made this known while addressing Parliament on Thursday, during the third State of the Nation's Address (SONA).



Background



Customers of the embattled gold collectible firm, Menzgold Ghana Limited have their funds locked up with the company which stopped operating after a directive from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 7, 2018, ordered them to suspend its unlicensed deposit-taking operations with the public.



The customers have been calling on the government to help retrieve their monies with demonstrations, press conferences and so on.



Menzgold





Menzgold





Menzgold





0

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An atmosphere for talks with Pakistan cannot be created if incidents like Pulwama terror attacks continue to happen, said former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday.

Taking on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Abdullah said: "Extending the hand of friendship is good. But at the same time, an incident like Pulwama should not happen. If this continues to happen, an atmosphere cannot be made for talks."

"Because of these incidents (like Pulwama terror attack), people like us who are pro-talks get weakened. I favour talks with all sections including Hurriyat," said Abdullah while talking to media persons here.

Pakistan Prime Minister Khan had earlier promised "action" against the perpetrators of Pulwama terror attack if "actionable intelligence" is provided by India about links to this attack in his country but warned of retaliation, without even thinking, if any kind of military action is launched by India.

Expressing concern over the alleged attacks on Kashmiris, he asked: "Why this is happening now? I think it would be short-sighted on my part to suggest that the forthcoming elections have nothing to do with thisThe systematic targeting of Kashmiri community is a convenient way in which the BJP is letting off steam because although the Prime Minister has promised what he calls a 'Muhtod jawab,' I don't believe such thing is possible in the current situation."

"Particularly, now with the Pakistan Prime Minister having said that not only Pakistan will think of responding, but will retaliate. Therefore, this is an easier way to divert the people's attention than to have them actually question the government about how it will respond," he said.

Warning the people of Jammu and Kashmir against playing into the hands of BJP, he said: "I would plead before them that the BJP is desperately using Pulwama attack as a means to win the coming Lok Sabha elections, which the BJP can very easily lose. This government is not there forever," Abdullah said.

"At this point, I am more concerned about the way in which an entire community is being demonized, the way in which an entire community is sought to be painted with one brush and the way in which the future of so many of our youngsters is being put at risk because of the way in which they are being driven out from other parts of the country," said Abdullah.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ask Insights in association with UNDP unveils the 'Future Fluent Global Summit 2019' - to be held on 3rd and 4th April 2019 at the Lalit, New Delhi. With an aim to help organizations foster all-round development, achieve objectives, and create global portfolios in the DEI space, Ask Insights will bring forth Global Thought Leaders from around the world on one platform.

Amongst the noteworthy speakers from around the world, the summit will also be addressed by the futurist Margaret Regan (The FutureWork Institute, USA), who will present the future DEI practices of 2030 through robotics. The keynote speakers will also include global DEI space leaders Howard J. Ross (Founding Partner, Udarta Consulting LLC). Howard is a pioneer in the field of Unconscious Biases. Dr Alan Richter (Creator, The Global Diversity Game). The basic intent of this summit is to bring the learning from the World's most experienced and the best thought leaders in the space of DEI for an expansion of thoughts amongst Indian organizations. The aim of Ask Insights is to bring that knowledge to Indian organizations through the best practices prevailing around the world.

"India has started on the DEI journey relatively later than other parts of the world but we can definitely leverage the experiences of experts from around the world. The different phases and stages of DEI that other leading nations may have gone through aren't necessary for us to go through as well. The experiences and learning from around the world can be applied to the Indian context as well. This international summit is intended to serve as an Informative and knowledge platform to link people from across the world in pursuit of improving organizational performances and making the world a more inclusive place for all", said excited Dr Niru Kumar, Founder - Ask Insights about organizing the international summit.

"Since we all are a part of the global family now, where Indians are travelling around the world for work; this summit will help people learn the cultural differences that exist in the world and how they can navigate around the cultural challenges. There will be an amalgamation of different cultures on one platform", added Dr Niru.

The group has evolved from the phase of one-on-one interactions with the organizations to be the leading knowledge providers in DEI space. Dr Niru Kumar, the founder of Ask Insights is also involved in a Global Future D&I project, where she will be among 20 global expert leaders to frame the future strategy for organizations and workspaces. The tickets for the Global Summit are slated to be INR 7000 and 12000 with special early birds discounts as well. This story is provided by NewsVoir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Reliance Capitals decision to put up its stake for sale in Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund (MF) to foreign partner Nippon Life Insurance could culminate in the formation of a sixth foreign fund house in the country. However, foreign asset management companies (AMCs) going it alone have not had it easy in India and several have had to exit or sell their businesses to Indian players in the past few years.

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.



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The heads of Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC First Bank, among others attended the meeting, according to sources. "The governor said to us that there is a need to reduce our lending rates when the central bank lowers its policy rates, so that consumers benefit," said one of the bankers who attended the meeting. The meeting focused only on effective transmission of ...

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.



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Six members of the GHL Bank Real Estate Club from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology beat five competing schools to emerge winners of the Business Meets Tech competition held at the 2019 Real Estate Club Summit.



The Business Meets Tech competition was launched at the banks housing fair last year with the aim of challenging students to brainstorm practical technology ideas to drive growth, innovation and sustainability in the real estate industry.



The winners, Samuel Oppong Asare-Duah Jr., Richard Oppong-Adjei, Kelvin Odei Ana-Asare, Afua Ampofowaa Ennin, Divine Anyidoho, and Valerie Oppong clinched the top spot for their outstanding ideas which incorporated key principles of smart housing.



Other participating schools included University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Ghana Institute of Journalism, Ashesi University, University of Professional Studies and reps from Lancaster University, who will have their campus Real Estate Club officially inaugurated later this year.



Representatives from each member institution spoke on the clubs achievements on campus for 2018 and laid out their activities for the year ahead. Summit activities included a trip to Bijou Homes at Appolonia City, participation in the banks annual Developers Seminar and an interactive session on land and property acquisition.



The GHL Bank Real Estate Club was established in October 2010 to increase awareness of career and investment opportunities in the real estate industry for young individuals.Over the years students have engaged in forums, presentations, property exhibitions, internship programmes and networking opportunities with high ranking professionals within the industry. Some members of the club have gone on to become full time permanent staff of the bank.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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India has decided to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, a move seen as an immediate fallout of deadly terrorist attack that killed 40 paramilitary personnel in south Kashmir.

Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted to convey the decision of the government to stop India's share of water going to Pakistan. But the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop such flow, officials said insisting its decision was in no way a violation of the ...
Flummoxed private sector executives have in unison said that its not their job. In a letter sent on 20 February to CEOs of airlines, a government official has asked to forward the achievements to the passengers in their database and also to report the number of letters dispatched to the ministry. I am directed to forward a letter from Honourable Minister of Civil Aviation and to request you to forward to all the ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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The number of tribal and other forest-dwelling families who can be potentially impacted by the Supreme Courts order on eviction from forests could go up as high as 1.89 million households countrywide. This is the total number of claims to forestlands that have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act across all 35 states and union territories, according to the latest data from Union ministry for tribal affairs.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ordered time-bound eviction of all those families whose claims under the Forest Rights Act had been rejected by the authorities. The ...
The Reserve Bank of India has seen 50 sexual harassment complaints to date. The number was revealed following an application filed by Business Standard under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The central bank did not reveal a year-wise break-up on these complaints.

However, an analysis of annual reports over the last five years shows two complaints. One for 2017 and the other for 2016. Additional complaints were from earlier years, according to an RBI spokesperson in an emailed statement. We would like to clarify that the figure of 50 complaints mentioned in your query ...
Tollywood actor Mahesh Babu's multiplex AMB cinemas received a show cause notice from the Ranga Reddy district GST Commissionerate in Telangana for the violation of GST norms, suggested media reports.

AMB Cinemas, located at Kondapur in Telangana, was reportedly selling tickets at higher rates despite the reduced tax rate from January 1 as per the new norms from this year.

According to media reports, the notice came after officials of the anti-profiteering wing inspected several multiplexes and collected sample tickets.

Starting January 1, the GST Council had said that tickets worth Rs 100 and above would be categorised in 18 per cent tax bracket instead of the earlier 28 per cent, while the GST rates on tickets costing up to Rs 100 would be 12 per cent from the existing 18 per cent. By charging old GST rates, AMB Cinemas was not passing the benefit of tax reduction to public.

In December last year, the government had reduced the GST rate on cinema tickets to make movie viewing more affordable and boost the growth of the industry.

Report also suggested that the Ranga Reddy district GST Commissionerate issued similar notices to the managements of other multiplexes and single-screen cinema theatres that involved in GST violations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

AMB Cinemas, acronym for Asian Mahesh Babu Cinemas, is the Tollywood superstar's first venture into the film exhibition business, was inaugurated in December last year.

Also Read: Vicky Kaushal's Uri bags third spot on IMDb's top rated Indian movies; overtakes Dangal, 3 Idiots

Edited By Chitranjan Kumar
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.



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The case of Technology Solutions Corp. shows how a company can avoid criminal charges even if its C-Suite was involved in the alleged wrongdoing.

Two former executivesan ex-president and a former chief legal officer, who oversaw the companys compliance programwere charged last week for allegedly approving illicit payments to help build a corporate campus in India.

Not facing criminal charges: itself. The Teaneck, N.J., company agreed to pay $25 million in disgorgement and civil penalties to settle its role in the case. The Justice Department said the company avoided criminal charges because it voluntarily disclosed the matter within two weeks of learning about it.

The companys internal investigation, its cooperation, remediation and the presence and effectiveness of Cognizants pre-existing compliance program also played a role, prosecutors said in a letter to Cognizants lawyers. Cognizant also agreed to cooperate in the Justice Departments ongoing investigations.

Attorneys for the two men say they will fight the charges.





ALSO READ: Explained: Cognizant bribed govt officials in India, to pay $25-mn penalty

The main US law against bribery of foreign officials, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, is enforced jointly by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It prohibits the use of bribes by Americans, as well as foreign that list shares on American exchanges, to foreign officials to get or keep business.

The Justice Department brings criminal cases against violators, while the SEC imposes civil penalties. sometimes strike parallel settlements with both agencies. In the case of Cognizant, the company settled with the SEC without admitting or denying wrongdoing, and the Justice Department said it would close its case without criminally charging the company.



ALSO READ: Cognizant bribery case: CEO writes to employees against 'improper conduct'

The decision not to prosecute, the Justice Department said, was consistent with its corporate enforcement policy, a program in which embroiled in bribery cases receive a presumption of avoiding charges if they meet certain conditions, such as voluntary disclosure.

But experts were surprised by the result in the Cognizant case. Historically, it has been difficult to charge C-Suite leaders with corporate-linked crimes, especially in foreign bribery cases, because the schemes typically dont rise to their level or because there is often little evidence tying them to the wrongdoing, they say.

The CEO isnt [typically] sending emails, said Kathleen Hamann, a partner at law firm Pierce Atwood LLP who prosecuted foreign bribery cases when working for the Justice Department.

Companies often enter into settlements and pay fines in foreign-bribery cases, while executives tend to avoid facing charges. Justice Department officials have tried to combat this by issuing guidance and directing prosecutors to target culpable individuals in corporate crime cases, but the charges typically stick to low- and mid-level employees.

The Cognizant case, however, involved senior management allegedly directing the bribery scheme at issue. And in cases in which executives do face charges, the company typically also enters into a criminal settlement.

It is possible that the offense at issue in the Cognizant casean alleged $2 million bribe to secure permits for the Indian campuswas insufficiently pervasive to justify prosecuting the company, said Kristen Savelle, managing director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University.

The companys strong compliance program, its prompt disclosures and its willingness to turn over information about high-level employees for criminal prosecution may have outweighed the existence of aggravating factors in this case, she said.

Not all companies will be able to avoid charges, according to Richard Bistrong, an anti-bribery consultant who previously served prison time in a foreign bribery case.

Multinationals are going to have to present a very robust argument to the regulators, backed by data, that even senior leaders can circumvent a strong compliance program, without it impacting the entire organization, [when arguing] for a declination or cooperation credit, Mr. Bistrong said.

From my experience and perspective, he said, thats a much greater hill to climb.
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Samsung Galaxy M series, introduced last month in India, is available via flash sale on Amazon India and the Samsung's own e-shop platform. The Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 are again on sale today. As part of the offers, Amazon is providing the Total Damage Protection plan for the Galaxy M10 starting from Rs 699 and for the Samsung M20 at Rs 1,199. There is also a no cost EMI offer for the Galaxy M20 for up to six months. Other deals include the Jio Galaxy Club offer that will give benefits worth Rs 3,110 to the Jio subscribers in the form of additional data, applicable only on the Rs 198 and Rs 299 prepaid plans with the purchase of the Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20.

Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 come with features like Infinity V display, large batteries, and fast charging technology.

The Samsung Galaxy M10 is priced at Rs 7,990 for the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage option and Rs 8,990 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage option. On the other hand, Galaxy M20 is priced in India at Rs 10,990 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage option and Rs 12,990 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option.

As far as the specifications of Samsung Galaxy M10 are concerned, the dual-SIM (Nano) smartphone runs Android 8.1 Oreo on top of Samsung Experience 9.5 UX and features a 6.2-inch HD+ (720x1520 pixels) Infinity-V Display panel along with an 19:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by Exynos 7870 SoC. Galaxy M10 comes with 2GB and 3GB RAM options. On the other hand, Sasung Galaxy M20 features a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) Infinity-V Display along with an 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by Exynos 7904 SoC, paired with 3GB and 4GB RAM options.

In terms of the optics, Galaxy M10 has a dual rear camera setup that includes a 13-MP primary sensor along with an f/1.9 lens and a 5-MP secondary, ultra-wide sensor. For selfies, there is a 5-MP sensor at the front. Galaxy M20 houses a 13-MP primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens and a 5-MP ultra-wide sensor. On the front, there is a 8-MP sensor along with an f/2.0 lens.

Also Read: Samsung launches Galaxy Fold: All you need to know about the foldable smartphone
Latest News ASIC to take rugby star Trevor Leota to court over unlicensed mortgage lending Former rugby international named as defendant in ASIC crackdown

Firstmac announces $750m green home loan RMBS deal RMBS deal thought to be the first of its kind in Australia

Independent research commissioned by Scottish Pacific has revealed further negative consequences from the royal commission and the lenders

CEO is calling on the government to reconsider the proposed changes to broker remuneration.

Examining the impact on SMEs, Scottish Pacific polled 1,257 small business owners and senior managers across Australia between November 2018 and late January, asking them to comment on how lending conditions changed over the commissions hearings.

The tightened lending conditions that emerged over the course of last year led 22% to experience difficulties when securing funding. Further, 33.7% expect funding will be harder to access in the future.

The easier it is for SMEs to get funds, the stronger the Australian economy will grow, said Scottish Pacific CEO Peter Langham.

Given recent economic forecasts, all the more reason that governments and the business community must prioritise making it easier, not more difficult, for SMEs to access funds, he added.

The poll also asked SMEs if they had found it easier to access funding since February last year, when the first round of hearings commenced. Generating a unanimous no, the question received zero positive responses.

This is also a key reason why the Federal Government should reconsider the broker fee changes recommended by the royal commission, said Langham.

Good brokers play a vital role by helping time-poor business owners find the right product and provider that best suits their needs, allowing the business and the economy to grow, he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Pompeo said in a statement that she "is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States". "She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all US citizens not to travel to Syria," he said. But Shibly, who is based in Tampa, Florida, responded by tweeting a photo of his client's birth certificate, which shows that Muthana was born in Hackensack in October 1994. He also released a 2004 document from the US Mission to the United Nations certifying that Muthana's father was serving as a diplomat until September 1, 1994, one month before Muthana was born.

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a child born in the United States to an accredited foreign diplomat is not subject to US jurisdiction and therefore is not eligible for citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Muthana previously held a passport and is a US citizen, Shibly said, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to "wrongfully strip citizens of their citizenship". He said he would be taking legal action on behalf of Muthana in the coming days. A State Department spokesperson declined to discuss the case in detail, citing privacy considerations. "There are many reasons that an individual previously issued a passport may subsequently be found ineligible for that passport," the spokesperson said. "If it is determined that the bearer was not entitled to the issued passport, the passport may be revoked and/or a renewal application denied."

Loading Muthana recently wrote a letter to her family in which she described how her experience in Syria had changed her. "In my quiet moments, in between bombings, starvation, cold and fear I would look at my beautiful little boy and know that I didn't belong here and neither did he," she said in the handwritten letter, a copy of which was provided by Shibly. "I would think sometimes of my family, my friends, and the life that I knew and I realised how I didn't appreciate or maybe even really understand how important the freedoms that we have in America are. I do now." In a 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News, Muthana identified herself as a then-20-year-old ISIS member from Hoover, Alabama. She was born in the United States to strict parents who moved to the country from Yemen in 1992. Her father, Mohammed, told BuzzFeed he gave his daughter a smartphone after she graduated from Hoover High School in May 2013.

Muthana said her curiosity about religion soon became a major part of her life, and watching scholars lecture about Islam on YouTube led her to memorising portions of the Koran. What her father didn't know was that she had also created a secret Twitter account in which she amassed thousands of followers and eventually "met" ISIS members. "I literally isolated myself from all my friends and community members the last year I was in America," she told the website, adding she didn't associate with anyone who did not share her interpretation of Islam, which required that every Muslim move to ISIS-controlled territory. Muthana's first husband was Melbourne university student Suhan Rahman. Credit:Facebook. Muthana told BuzzFeed she planned her move to Syria in November 2013. She lied to her parents, telling them she had to go to Atlanta for a field trip as part of a class assignment. Instead, she had secretly renewed her passport and was on her way to the Islamic State in Syria, using college tuition money to pay for a plane ticket. She married an Australian ISIS fighter, Suhan Abdul Rahman, who was killed in battle just months later. She later married two other fighters, according to the Guardian; her second husband, the father of her son, was killed in Mosul.
The electronic picker is still pretty clumsy. During a test run last year, Harv gathered 20 per cent of strawberries on every plant without mishap. This year's goal: Harvest half of the fruit without crushing or dropping any. The human success rate is closer to 80 per cent, making Harv the underdog in this competition. Harv's robotic claws need to pick soft fruit without squashing or bruising them. Credit:Zack Wittman for The Washington Post But Harv doesn't need a visa or sleep or sick days. The machine looks like a horizontally rolling semi truck. Peek underneath and see 16 smaller steel robots scooping up strawberries with spinning, claw-like fingers, guided by camera eyes and flashing lights.

Growers say it is getting harder to hire enough people to harvest crops before they rot. Fewer seasonal labourers are coming from Mexico, the biggest supplier of US farmworkers. Fewer Americans want to bend over all day in a field, farmers say, even when offered higher wages, free housing and recruitment bonuses. The number of agricultural employees in the United States is expected to stay flat over the next seven years, according to the latest projections from the Bureau of Labour Statistics. As "productivity-enhancing technologies" mature in the realm of mechanisation, farms will require fewer people, even as demand for crops grow, the government researchers wrote. Loading Manufacturing underwent a similar evolution. US factories have increased output over the past two decades with a smaller workforce, thanks to machines that improve efficiency. One Harv is programmed to do the work of 30 people. The machine hovers over a dozen rows of plants at the same time, picking five strawberries every second and covering 8 acres (nearly 3 hectares) a day.

That potential is increasingly attractive to growers, who say the Trump administration's tighter immigration policies are squeezing off the supply of seasonal workers, as well as undocumented labour. About half of the country's 850,000 farmworkers are not in the US legally, according to 2016 data from the Department of Labour, the most recent available. The BT-3 harvester at work in a lettuce field in Salinas, California. The machine uses high-pressure jets of water to cut off lettuce heads. Credit:New York Times Agricultural analysts say the labour shortage is already forcing up wages. From 2014 to 2018, the average pay for farmworkers rose faster than employees in the broader economy, jumping from $US11.29 to $US13.25, according to numbers from the Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture economists at Arizona State University last year estimated that if farmers lost their undocumented workforce entirely, wages would have to rise by 50 per cent to replace them - and that would crank up produce prices by another 40 per cent. Then there are other rising costs. Starting in 2025, all farms in California - the nation's largest fresh-food producer - must pay their employees overtime after eight hours a day instead of 10. "Automation is the long-term solution, given the reluctance of domestic workers to do these jobs," said Tim Richards, the Morrison chair of agribusiness in the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. Wishnatzki said he lost about $US1 million due to spoilage last year. He said he pays experienced pickers about $US25 an hour.

Harv would diminish the need for field labour, Wishnatzki said, but it would create new jobs, too. Wish Farms, his family business, would train pickers to become technicians. Antonio Vengas, a field worker, says: "I see the robot and think, 'Maybe we're not going to have jobs anymore.'" Credit:Zack Wittman for The Washington Post "We need people to clean, sanitise and repair the machines," he said. Some workers view that plan with anxiety and scepticism. "I see the robot and think, 'Maybe we're not going to have jobs anymore'," said Antonio Vengas, 48, one of the about 600 employees on the farm with Harv.

Vengas moved to Florida 15 years ago from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and makes about $US25 an hour. About 75 per cent of his co-workers are Mexicans on seasonal work visas. They all make good money, he said. They're motivated. "People can pick strawberries without hurting them," he said. "They know which ones are too little or rotten. Machines can't do that." Labour groups also doubt that robots are prepared for the job. "A machine cannot harvest delicate table grapes, strawberries or tree fruit without destroying the perfect presentation demanded by consumers and the retail food industry," said Giev Kashkooli, political and legislative director for the United Farm Workers of America, which represents about 20,000 farmworkers across the country.

Unions don't oppose technological advances, though, Kashkooli added. Bob Pitzer of Harvest CROO Robotics holds a freshly picked strawberry. Credit:Zack Wittman for The Washington Post "Robotics can play a role in making the job less backbreaking and play a role in helping people earn more money," he said. Out West, engineers at Washington State University are working with local farmers to test an apple-picking machine that has 12 mechanical arms. It drives down orchard rows, snapping pictures of trees. A computer brain scans the images and finds the fruit. The arms grab and lower apples onto a conveyor belt.

Expect to see this technology on the market in the next three years, said Manoj Karkee, associate professor at the school's Centre for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems. Farmers who struggle to hire workers wanted it "yesterday", he said. "We all know we need to go in this direction," Karkee said. "The last advancement in apple picking was the invention of the ladder." The robot rarely hurts the produce. But as of today, one robotic apple-picker costs at least $US300,000 - too much for most budgets. On the day Harv is put to the test, farmers and researchers arrive in three buses to Wishnatzki's farm. They've come from Canada, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and across the United States. Curiosity hangs in the air like the hawks circling overhead.

Blaine Staples, a strawberry grower from Alberta, steps through the dirt toward the machine, which hisses as it claws up fruit. Dozens of people around him crouch to the ground. The machine's arms go to work amid exclamations of awe and disbelief from onlookers. "This is pretty much the new industrial revolution," Staples said. A conventional crew harvesting lettuce in California. Labour for this kind of work is drying up. Credit:New York Times His Canadian farm is tiny compared with Wishnatzki's 600 acres. But he could see himself renting Harv for a season - as long as it's comparable to his current labour costs. Under Harv's proposed business model, farmers would pay only for the fruit the machine picks at the same rate they pay seasonal work crews.

A few strawberry rows over, Doug Carrigan, a North Carolina farmer, stands in the group with his eyes locked on Harv. "It doesn't care if it's a Sunday or a holiday," Carrigan said. "The machine will work regardless." He pays his workers between $US10 and $US14 hourly. They're mostly locals. "A lot of Americans have become lazy," Carrigan said. "They want a paycheque. They don't want a job." Any time you can automate work without sacrificing quality, "that's a win", he said.

Behind the crowd of farmers, a team of engineers watch the spectacle on a flat-screen TV in a white trailer, their makeshift command centre. Cameras in Harv give them a close-up. Lights flash. The 16 smaller robots spin, clawing up strawberries. Engineers compare them to duck feet, paddling furiously. Loading "The best view in the house," said Alex Figueroa, 24, director of machine vision. Everything looks to be running smoothly. Nobody's stress-eating the oatmeal raisin cookies they ordered.

"No errors!" Figueroa pleads aloud. "Knock on wood," another engineer replies. In another section of the field, far from the commotion, the pickers work like they have always worked. It's 80 degrees outside, but they wear long sleeves, pants and scarves below their eyes to block the sun. They bend over, pluck the strawberries and slip them into plastic cases. Then, they sprint through the plant rows to a supervisor, who scans in each package. They are paid by the package. Slowing down means losing money.

Parked nearby is an old school bus, which shuttles them free to work. Most of the pickers live in housing Wishnatzki provides. Santiago Velasco, 65, has worked here for 35 years and has done practically every job: picking, digging, irrigating. Harv is a newcomer that doesn't concern him. "I don't think it'll work, because the people know how to pick," he said, "and they go faster." His prediction held up on demo day.
The WA Opposition has accused Premier Mark McGowan of billing taxpayers more than $12,000 for a trip to Sydney during which he headlined a $3000-a-head "intimate dinner" to raise money for NSW Labor.

But Mr McGowan said the primary purpose of the two-night visit was to meet NSW Infrastructure Minister Andrew Constance and the head of Infrastructure NSW.

Taxpayers were billed $12,000 for Premier Mark McGowan's two-night trip to Sydney during which he headlined a NSW Labor fundraiser.

During the trip, he also met with NSW Labor leader Michael Daley, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, former WA Premier Geoff Gallop and former NSW Premier Bob Carr.

Mr McGowan missed WA Parliament to take the Sydney jaunt.
But here is what we know about the health of asylum seekers. When we send them to Christmas Island, we are forcing them to confront the place where some have experienced torment and despair. Thats the informed view of Christine Rufener, clinical psychologist and the mental health activities manager for Medecins sans Frontieres. She says we have known for years the effects of detention include mental illness. It has a severe effect for years after detention ends, and even affects their physical condition. She says they are more likely to be ill for longer.

And for those who are about to say, oh, those asylum seekers are free to go back to where they came and they can walk the sunny streets of Manus and Nauru, thats not freedom. Freedom is being able to get to safety and comfort, to a society where you can fully integrate, where you can maintain a social role, start a business if you want, get a job. Freedom is not being kept in a place against your will and separated by a big ocean.

Crossbench MPs Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks and Rebekha Sharkie celebrate after the Medevac Bill passes the House of Representatives. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

MSF was forced to leave Nauru last year  perhaps revenge for the charitys report on the health of asylum seekers on Nauru. Rufener tells me that the Nauruan government refuses to respond to any correspondence on the matter of the health of the abandoned asylum-seekers. MSF remains open to the possibility of collaboration but that takes two. That hasnt stopped MSF from continuing to provide support where it can. She runs a team of psychologists who consult by telephone or Skype; not perfect, but at least a stopgap for those who cant get help. I wonder if they feel worried about telling their experience on phones.

"They are so used to telling their stories and so beaten down by the system they want people to hear them."
The Coalition has reprimanded Australia's largest coal miner for capping its coal production, accusing "latte sipping Greens" of forcing the multinational corporation's hand.

Glencore, the 14th largest company in the world by consolidated revenue, announced on Wednesday it would never produce more coal than its current level citing climate change-related risks.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matthew Canavan and Minister for Energy Angus Taylor on Thursday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The company had been under pressure from a wealthy group of climate-minded investors, called Climate Action 100+, who had sought for Glencore to commit to action on the matter. Glencore's coal output will be limited to around 145 million tonnes per year.

"I'm very upset and I've told them so," Michelle Landry, Assistant Minister for Children and Families and the representative of regional mining belt electorate Capricornia, said. "I rang up our contact that we have and told them that I'm very disappointed in what they've done."
Parliament heard a rhetorical flourish on Wednesday that told anyone who was listening that Labor remains confident of winning the coming election despite the sustained attack this week on its policies on border protection and tax. Wayne Swan, national president of the Labor Party and treasurer for almost six years, used his valedictory speech to energise his own side of politics.

One of the greatest things about democracy is its moral force, he said. Sometimes parties can lose a moral right to govern before they lose their numerical majority in Parliament. For the Coalition, the first is already gone and the second is about to follow in its wake.

As mainstream party membership shrinks, other forces fill the gap. Illustration: Andrew Dyson. Credit:

It may be a bit rich for Swan to talk like this, given he was a member of a troubled government in which the Labor caucus became a source of dysfunction for several years, starting with the fall of Kevin Rudd as prime minister in June 2010, but that history means he speaks from experience.

Swan did not say it, but his comments raise the question of whether Labor also lost its moral right to govern when its elected representatives turned against each other so savagely in those years.
Liberal MP Tim Wilson has been cleared of contempt by Speaker Tony Smith, but has been rebuked for conduct that may have caused damage to the House economics committee's reputation and to the House committee system.

The committee chair was referred to Mr Smith by Labor after The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed he collaborated with a multibillion-dollar fund manager on a campaign against the oppposition's franking credit policy, failed to declare his investments in funds run by the firm to inquiry hearings, and used the taxpayer-funded probe to help spruik Liberal Party fundraisers.

Tim Wilson enters the House of Representatives on Thursday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Mr Smith - Mr Wilson's Victorian Liberal colleague - said there was a significant hurdle to a finding of contempt, which states that the conduct must amount to interference with the committee's authority and functions.

The committee has spent months travelling the country hearing from thousands of retirees concerned about Labor's $5 billion a year policy, which will strip tax refunds worth thousands of dollars from retired investors who have not paid tax.
The Morrison government will go to the election without its most popular senior figure after former foreign minister Julie Bishop announced she would quit politics, starting a race for one of the safest seats in Parliament.

Ms Bishop declared the Coalition "will win the next election" as she ended months of speculation over her future in the wake of the leadership spill last August when her colleagues deserted her to make Scott Morrison the Prime Minister.

The move follows similar decisions by Revenue Minister Kelly ODwyer, Human Services Minister Michael Keenan and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion to leave at the election due in May.

Liberals continue to speculate on whether Craig Laundy, the western Sydney Liberal MP and close friend of Malcolm Turnbull, will also decide not to contest the election.
Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed over 40 CRPF soldiers.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement.

ALSO READ:India will stop its share of Indus water to Pakistan, says Nitin Gadkari

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

ALSO READ:PM Modi was enjoying boat ride in Jim Corbett when nation was mourning Pulwama terror attack: Congress

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: Jawans of CRPF, other forces can now take commercial flights to Kashmir Valley, says MHA
Australia's elite universities and the TAFE sector have joined forces to "draw a line in the political sand" over education policy, warning the nation's unfair and distorted system is damaging vocational education and training.

The Group of Eight and TAFE Directors Australia, the body representing public VET providers, have formed the "strange fellowship" to lobby federal and state governments to recognise the importance of their sectors in the "Melbourne Declaration", a charter laying out the nation's priorities in education.

Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, and Craig Robertson, chief executive of the TAFE peak body, are on Friday attending a forum with the nation's education ministers that will examine how to update the charter, created in 2008.

In a joint opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Ms Thomson and Mr Robertson have described the opportunity to be involved in the review as a "glimmer of understanding that post-secondary education should be included".

The two organisations have declared that their sectors are not competitors and warned that the uncapped, demand-driven system for university funding had damaged TAFE by distorting the tertiary education market.
Renters with a "dog-shaped hole" in their lives may soon be able to keep a pet in their home after new laws passed ACT's Parliament on Thursday.

The government says the laws will allow a generation stuck in the rental market to make their house a home, but the opposition claims it will further tighten the market and even leave people homeless.

New rental laws will make it easier for tenants to own pets and make minor modifications. Credit:Jim Rice

The laws mean tenants will also be able to make minor modifications to their home, such as putting up picture frames, without the landlord's permission.

A landlord would have to get the permission of ACAT to refuse a request for a special modification or a pet.
Developers caught out by the closure of a so-called granny flat loophole will not receive a grace period to push their projects through, despite calls for an exemption or compensation.

Draft Variation 350 closes an anomaly in planning laws that meant hundreds of homes across Canberra could have been developed into higher density housing because of the granny flat in the backyard, and has been in interim effect since last May.

Hundreds of blocks throughout Canberra are subject to different planning rules because of the bizarre granny flat loophole. Credit:Megan Dingwall

The quirk led to standard homes being replaced with up to half-a-dozen townhouses, a parliamentary inquiry was told, leading to "out of character" developments according to the ACT government and residents groups.

These developments were allowed because the residential leases on these blocks do not limit the number of dwellings that can be built.
A cup of honey and sugar melted in a microwave and dubbed a "sticky bomb" was thrown in the face of a staff member at Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre in one of 111 assaults on employees in three months.

The union representing prison staff published a list of violent incidents where members were spat on, bitten, threatened with rape and kicked in the head at the troubled youth justice centre.

It came a day after a teen climbed onto the roof and remained there for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon.

An inmate on the roof of the youth justice centre on Wednesday. Credit:Nine News

The teen was brought down about 6pm after he managed to damage solar panels and air-conditioning units, make rude gestures and throw rocks at those standing below.
The mother of a man who was fatally stabbed by an "impulsive" heroin dealer with a $400-a-day habit is furious that her son's killer could be free in less than five years.

Zoe Giannioudis, 31, stabbed Simon Cartwright, 38, on October 30, 2017, after an ongoing feud while she was dealing in Victoria Street, Abbotsford.

Zoe Giannioudis arrives at the Supreme Court for sentencing on Thursday. Credit:AAP

The "severely addicted" woman was sentenced to an eight-year prison term in the Supreme Court on Thursday, with a non-parole period of 5 years.

"I'm appalled," Mr Cartwright's mother, Tracey, told reporters outside court.
He sought not only to warn the world about the risks of climate change, but also to propose solutions. He argued to colleagues and to Congress that the world had to reduce its use of fossil fuels. Pessimism about whether people would act to limit carbon dioxide emissions in time led him to search for ways to remove them from the atmosphere, and even to change the degree to which the atmosphere reflects light, through a kind of global dimmer switch to counteract the warming trend. Broecker is best known for his Climatic Change paper in 1975. In it he noted that while the global climate had been experiencing a natural cycle of cooling, he predicted that planetary temperatures would soon begin to rise because of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In 1976, they obligingly did, and the warming curve has correlated well with his projections. He based the predictions, however, on a simplified model of the climate system, and he later realized, as he wrote in 2017, that some of his analysis had been flawed. He would later write a follow-up paper stating that, as accurate as his prediction turned out to be, It was dumb luck. Still, the link between carbon dioxide and climate change, first suggested by researchers in the 19th century, has only grown more clear. NASA announced this month that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year since the advent of accurate record-keeping some 140 years ago. The five warmest years in recorded history have been the last five, and 18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred since 2001.

Dr Broecker (centre) aboard the research vessel Knorr, Pacific Ocean, 1972. Credit:Courtesy Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Broecker could be combative and even curmudgeonly, recalled Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. He was quite opinionated and often fought hard to make his scientific interpretations the prevailing doctrine, he said. Calling him a true Renaissance man who had generated discoveries in a wide range of fields, Dr Mann said Broecker had held his competitors to a high standard by expressing honest scepticism and demanding convincing arguments and evidence. Wallace Smith Broecker was born on November 29, 1931, and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, the second of five children of Wallace and Edith (Smith) Broecker. His father ran a gas station; his mother was a homemaker. His parents, evangelical Christians, sent Wallace to Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts school in Illinois, where he met Grace Carder, whom he married in 1952. She died in 2007.

They had six children, five of whom survive him. In 2009, Broecker married Elizabeth Clark, who had worked with him in his laboratory; she also survives him, as do his sisters Judith Redekop and Bonnie Chapin, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. At Wheaton, he planned to become an actuary, but a friend helped him land an internship at what became the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia. It was there that he fell in love with scientific instruments and carbon dating, the technique that helps researchers determine the ages of materials that are tens of thousands of years old. He decided to transfer to Columbia from Wheaton. He went on to earn a bachelors degree in physics and a PhD in geology there and to join Columbias faculty in 1959. Throughout his career, Broecker worked through problems with a pencil and paper, avoiding computers. He was dyslexic, and had staffers retype his manuscripts and emails, said Ms Clark, who helped edit his papers. He said he needed the pencil and paper because thats how he thought, she said in an interview. The author of more than 500 research papers and some 17 books, Broecker received many science awards, including the National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton in 1996.

Prize money was often attached to the honours, his daughter Ms Kennedy said, but he ploughed most of it back into his research. Money was never important to my father, she said. She said that his travels for research had kept him away from home much of the time, but that when he was home he had kept things lively, with treasure hunts in the house and croquet in the yard. Though he was often referred to as the grandfather of climate science or the father of global warming, Broecker disdained such titles, which he said were better deserved by others. He even offered $200 to anyone who could find the phrase global warming used before he published his 1975 paper. Some occurrences were found, but his usage had made the phrase stick. Still, he wrote, It is my hope that the title Father of Global Warming does not appear on my tombstone. In any case, there will be no tombstone, Ms Clark said. Instead, she intends to comply with his wishes that on her next ocean research trip, a colleague, Dr Sidney R. Hemming, scatter his ashes at sea.
A case has been dropped against a Queensland truck driver charged with the manslaughter of an 80-year-old motorist after allegedly losing control of his load.

Christopher Paul Hennessy was on trial in Brisbane Supreme Court over the May 2016 death of Aldo Casasola, who was crushed in his car when the truck's amusement ride load allegedly swung out.

On Thursday, the prosecution abandoned the case and Hennessy, who pleaded not guilty, was discharged.

AAP
Southbound traffic on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane was going nowhere fast on Friday morning after a truck and sedan crashed and blocked the right lane.

More than an hour after the collision, about 10 kilometres of congestion had built up and emergency services were still at the scene in the Moreton Bay suburb of Burpengary.

A traffic camera shows the southbound congestion on the Bruce Highway in Burpengary an hour after the crash. Credit:Department of Transport and Main Roads

The crash was reported about 7.10am and occurred just north of the Deception Bay overpass.

Paramedics treated one patient suffering neck and leg pain and they were taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in a stable condition.
Former Queensland union boss Dave Hanna showed a drunk woman "no mercy" when he allegedly raped her after taking her home from a bar, prosecutors say.

But his defence has suggested the woman may simply be regretting a "series of bad decisions" after having consensual sex with him.

Dave Hanna, a former CFMEU Queensland secretary, is accused of forcing himself on a woman at her apartment in the northern suburb of Taigum on March 4, 2017. Credit:Dan Peled/AAP

Mr Hanna is on trial in the Brisbane District Court after pleading not guilty to three counts of rape and another charge of recording in breach of privacy.

A jury has retired to consider allegations stemming from an encounter on March 2017, when the former CFMEU state president met the woman at a Fortitude Valley bar before they went home together.
Berwyn Rees being escorted into Maitland Courthouse on January 20, 1981. Credit:Fairfax Media

NSW triple murderer and cop killer Berwyn Rees is expected to walk free after almost 40 years behind bars in a parole decision that the police union has branded "a complete disgrace and offensive".

The State Parole Authority on Thursday confirmed its intention to grant parole to Rees who killed three men in the 1970s and 1980s including a serving police officer.

The now 69-year-old will be subject to strict lifelong conditions upon his release in March, a spokeswoman said in a statement.

However, Corrections Minister David Elliott has sought legal advice about appealing in the Supreme Court.
Photo: Julien Mattia/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Because Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most powerful people in the world, exercising almost singlehanded control over a network of more than two billion people, it can be a bit tough to get a moment of his time. Maybe youll be lucky enough to snag him for a conversation on his Okay, This Time Im Really Sorry  I Promise tour, but thats a big if.

Should you be a member of the UKs parliamentary committee conducting a lengthy inquiry into fake news and Facebooks role in political upheaval, it can still be tough to get Zuckerbergs ear. The CEO continually refused invitations to appear before Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, instead sending subordinates who were also not great at answering the committees questions. He was even threatened with being found in contempt of parliament.

Now it appears that the UK might finally have gotten Mr. Zuckerbergs ear. This week, the Guardian reports, Zuckerberg is set to meet with UK culture secretary Jeremy Wright in California. All it took for Wright to land the 30-minute meeting was an 18-month government investigation and the publication of a withering 111-page report earlier this week.

The report, which covers a range of topics, summarizes the Cambridge Analytica scandal this way:

The scale and importance of the GSR/Cambridge Analytica breach was such that its occurrence should have been referred to Mark Zuckerberg as its CEO immediately. The fact that it was not is evidence that Facebook did not treat the breach with the seriousness it merited. It was a profound failure of governance within Facebook that its CEO did not know what was going on, the company now maintains, until the issue became public to us all in 2018. The incident displays the fundamental weakness of Facebook in managing its responsibilities to the people whose data is used for its own commercial interests.

Based on internal emails the committee seized from another app developer, Six4Three, the report concluded, It is evident that Facebook intentionally and knowingly violated both data privacy and anti-competition laws. It continues, Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like digital gangsters in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law.

If I cant put on my analysis hat for a second: not a great week for Mark Zuckerbergs The Facebook!

The era of self-regulation is coming to an end but I still want to see innovative solutions on online harms being put forward by the industry, Wright, the culture secretary, said this week. I look forward to meeting Mr Zuckerberg to discuss what more Facebook can do to help keep people safe on their platforms, as we prepare a new regulatory framework that will reinforce Facebooks and other tech firms responsibility to keep us safe.
Over the past nine years, Yasodai Selvakumaran has seen education and the role of teachers change dramatically as Australia shifts its approach to schooling and gains recognition on the international stage.

Ms Selvakumaran, 31, a humanities teacher at Rooty Hill High School in Sydney's west, has also gained considerable recognition around the country and, on Thursday, came even closer to being named one of the best teachers in the world.

Yasodai Selvakumaran is the only Australian teacher to be listed as a top 10 finalist for this year's $1 million Global Teacher Prize. Credit:James Brickwood

She is the only Australian teacher to be listed as a top 10 finalist for this year's $1 million Global Teacher Prize, which received over 10,000 nominations from 179 countries.

The history, society and culture and geography teacher said the announcement is "an amazing testament to Rooty Hill High and also teachers across Australia".
A Sydney aged care worker who was jailed for at least four months for hitting an elderly dementia patient with a shoe has won his sentence appeal.

Prakash Paudyal, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an 82-year-old man while he was working at the Bupa Seaforth facility in the city's northern beaches.

Two separate attacks had been caught on a hidden camera at the facility between August 26 and September 3 last year.

When changing the man's clothes, Paudyal hit him multiple times with a shoe and roughly pulled him by the shirt.
Its a reality of modern cyber warfare - governments and political parties have to assume they are always under attack from foreign powers. This week, that assumption was realised.

The Liberal, Labor and National parties were targeted in an unprecedented hack that could have exposed voter and MP data ahead of the federal election. What was taken and how much? Even the experts dont know.

This week on Please Explain, national editor Tory Maguire talks with defence and national security correspondent David Wroe and Nine's political editor Chris Uhlmann about whether such an attack could reoccur ahead of the election.

Also, we speak with senior writer Garry Maddox, who shares his views on the tumultuous Oscars season.
Yenny is 26 years old, lives in Melbourne, and has a very specific talent.

One day, she was driving her car when she recognised a man who had been several years below her at high school and whom she hadn't seen for more than ten years. What makes this particularly impressive is that she recognised him from the briefest glimpse in her rear-view mirror while he was driving the car behind hers.

Sample test of face recognition: are the side-by-side images of the same, or different people? Answers are at the bottom. Credit:Towler and colleagues, PLOS ONE

Yenny recounts many such amazing feats of recognition and is one of a very small proportion of the population known as "super-recognisers". She was the top performer on a national test of face recognition abilities in Australia, coming first out of 20,000 participants.



Could you learn to spot a face as well as Yenny? Well  maybe. Our new research shows that many training courses offered in this field of expertise are ineffective in improving people's accuracy in face identification.
Coal mining giant Glencore has announced it will cap its coal production and will prioritise investments that are essential to the low-carbon energy transition. It is a powerful illustration of how the corporate world realises that coal will be on the way out, globally.

Coal-fired power's days are numbered, but what number should we put on it? Credit:Michele Mossop

For Australia, this is a question both of moving to clean energy exports, such as hydrogen produced from renewable energy, and of the phase-out of the fleet of coal-fired power stations. The latter means profound changes for the electricity industry and some regional communities, and it could come sooner than many have thought because renewables are becoming cost-competitive with existing coal plants.

This challenge is shared with Germany, which also relies heavily on coal for electricity generation.

The German approach emphasises consensus-oriented dialogue between stakeholders, in stark contrast to the heavily politicised debate in Australia. The German government installed a "Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment", or coal commission for short, to come up with a plan to phase out coal use.
Nine has come out swinging against a News Corp tabloid, accusing it of bullying one of its biggest stars, Georgie Gardner.

The News Corp story, published on Thursday morning, claimed that "secret meetings and focus groups" were being held to better understand why Gardner's breakfast show, Today, is suffering its lowest ratings in a decade.

The report placed the blame for the show's low ratings squarely on Gardner's shoulders, saying viewers "are not loving Georgie" and that "they find her cold, an ice maiden". There were also multiple quotes from an unnamed source who claimed, "There's an underlying 'do not speak, unless spoken to' vibe surrounding the veteran journalist on set."

Darren Wick, Nine's director of news and current affairs, slammed the report on Thursday morning, describing it as an "outrageous, false, reckless and defamatory attack" on Gardner and Today.
The most exclusive baby shower in the world has taken place in a $105,000-a-night New York penthouse in honour of mother-to-be Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.

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Amal Clooney and Serena Williams reportedly co-hosted the intimate soiree in The Grand Penthouse at The Mark Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday, with guests including her Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, designer Misha Nonoo, Markle's unofficial stylist and close friend Jessica Mulroney, plus TV personality (and Oprah's best friend) Gayle King.

Markle's mother Doria Ragland, the family member she remains closest with, did not attend. Neither did her sister-in-law Kate Middleton, and despite rumours of

a falling out between the pair in recent months, the Duchess of Cambridge is actually believed to be on a private ski trip with her husband Prince William and their three children.
Instead of asking: How are you?, the Chinese might greet you with words: Have you eaten? If ever one required confirmation of the Chinese love of food please note that the most famous and popular works in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are two miraculous carvings: one of a cabbage, the other a piece of cooked pork. The gift shop of the museum overfloweth with souvenir reproductions of these miniature icons.

The Qing dynasty's Meat-Shaped Stone. Credit:National Palace Museum

Therefore it came as a surprise when I visited the National Palace Museum a couple of weeks ago and found that both cabbage and meat were away on loan. Imagine the dismay of the thousands of mainland Chinese that flood into the museum on a daily basis upon discovering its two greatest drawcards were missing.

Chinas loss is Sydneys gain because one of these morsels may be found at the Art Gallery of NSW, in the exhibition, Heaven and Earth in Chinese Art: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Looking at the show this week I was surprised by the relative lack of attention being devoted to the Meat-shaped stone. A whole row of viewers had turned their backs on the tiny sculpture in order to study an epic scroll painting, Along the river during the Qingming Festival by Shen Yuan (1736-95).

It would be hard to draw any conclusions on the basis of one afternoons observations, but it may be that local audiences are less excited by a sculptors ability to make stone look exactly like meat, than by the skill of an artist who can sustain a landscape of almost 12 metres, complete with trees, lakes, houses and hundreds of tiny figures, drawn with the utmost precision by the tip of a brush. Its the power of invention that grabs these viewers, not verisimilitude.
Parents say they are worried about reprisals on the playground after a survey circulated at a Canberra school at the centre of serious violence concerns asked students to "name names" on bullying.

The 'Safe and Supportive Schools Survey' handed out to some students at Theodore Primary this week asked children whether they felt safe in specific areas of the school, if they felt supported by their teachers and whether they had experienced bullying or violence.

But it also asked them to record both their own name and the names of their alleged bullies, sparking privacy concerns among some families.

ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry has faced another barrage of questions over school violence in the ACT assembly. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

"My son's already been bashed this year, as if he's going to fill it out, he's terrified," one mother, who did not wish to be named, said.
"The physical space is important, but what is more important is the culture and other elements of the work environment. "You need people to be able to challenge assumptions, disagree with each other and not just parrot a leader's views." Professor Cogin says that if businesses want staff to be creative and question the status quo, they need to create an cultural environment in which people feel safe to speak up, experiment and fail, without facing retribution. Nelly Ben Hayoun inside one of her installations. Credit:Chris Foster Robyn Johns, a senior lecturer in human resource management at the University of Technology Sydney, said many employers are rediscovering what it means to create a sense of belonging for their staff.

Hot desking can inspire alienation and time wasting when staff spend more than 15 minutes, day after day, trying to find a free desk in the office. Dr Johns says workers who feel no sense of belonging in a workplace also find it easier to walk away. The issue for their bosses becomes one of retention. "If you are packing everything up at the end of the day, how difficult would it be to say I am not coming back," she says. "When you don't allow people that are working together to sit in close proximity then they are constantly trying to find where that person is located and then find a spot to have a conversation." Some people thrive on a social community atmosphere and others want to be locked away in silence.

"If you are someone who needs quiet, being put into an open plan environment is going to have a negative impact on your productivity," Dr Johns says. Some companies now provide "community" spaces where teams of staff working in the same area, such as human resources, sit and separate work pods. Dr Johns says Lendlease is "being quite clever with a lot of soft furnishings" and work pods to counter noise in an open plan environment. A tree house at Mirvac's South Eveleigh technology park. "Some people have gone back to having set places and others are being creative and thinking that if noise is the issue, how do we deal with that," she said.

Lendlease general manager workplace and change, Natalie Slessor, said the company's research has found that when employees cant tune out the noise of other things happening around them, "it becomes an issue for productivity". Work pods, called "focus points", have high partitions so people can avoid eye contact but can still hear team members when needed. "It can sometimes be hard to strike a good balance to collaborate comfortably in the office as if its too quiet it can be awkward to talk but if its too loud, people cant concentrate," Ms Slessor said. "So we provide our people with a choice of where to work, including soft furnishings with acoustic qualities to help the workspace sound relatively calm or muted." Deloitte Consulting partner in experience design Robbie Robertson says the physical environment in an office can have a "huge impact" on office culture.

At Deloitte, office space is designed to make staff feel at home, confident and able to collaborate with other team members. A combination of spaces where people were guaranteed space to work together in teams while others worked quietly were important. Maintaining flexibility was also important. A badly designed office could make staff feel stressed if they turned up for work, but had difficulty finding a desk. Research had also found that technology was being used inappropriately when people in open plan offices were emailing each other, despite sitting close to each other, because it was the only way to have a private conversation. Dorothy Hisgrove, chief people officer at PwC said it provides specific opportunities for staff to work in a variety of spaces including silent library areas where mobile phones are banned and open plan spaces where teams can meet and use their phones. There is another area for smaller teams to meet and where the use of phones is discouraged. Hot-desking is not for everyone. Credit:Louise Kennerley PwC has invested in technology and in encouraging respectful behaviour and providing private areas that allow staff to work in a quiet environment.

Flexibility is encouraged and video conferencing is often used. "Facilitating a greater sense of community in open plan workplaces is also very important," Ms Hisgrove says. Mirvac in Australia is trying to create new "super-experiences" including a rooftop permaculture farm at its technology hub at South Eveleigh in Sydney. An office building in Collins Street, Melbourne has an eight-metre high media wall in the lobby. Paul Edwards, General Manager of Workplace Experiences at Mirvac said it has also introduced a pop up urban farm in the carpark of its Sydney headquarters in George Street. "The farm allowed people from different backgrounds and departments to connect on a shared project and come together over growing their own food. As a result Mirvac has seen greater collaboration between teams that have worked together on the farm, he said.
William Happer in Trump Tower in January 2017. Photo: The Washington Post/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The White House is reportedly forming a panel to determine if climate change is a threat to national security, a question National Intelligence director Dan Coats answered for the president just last month. In his January report, Coats described the erosion of our current environment as a threat multiplier, stating that climate change is likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress, and social discontent through 2019 and beyond. Despite that very clear message from the head of the intelligence community, Trump reportedly plans to investigate the matter himself by creating the Presidential Committee on Climate Security to find out how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States.

Suspicions that this is just a bad-faith ploy to jam the consensus on climate change with mixed messages were quickly confirmed: Trump has pegged a climate denier, William Happer, to spearhead the new panel, according to the Washington Post. Happer, a professor emeritus of physics at Princeton and National Security Council senior director, said in 2016 that more CO2 is actually a benefit to the Earth, despite carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels being the overwhelming source of climate havoc on the planet. Were doing our best to try and counter this myth that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant, Happer said, at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation that year. Its not a pollutant at all. The year before, in a sting operation conducted by Greenpeace, Happer emailed the environmental advocacy group that the only way to limit CO2 would be to stop using fossil fuels, which I think would be a profoundly immoral and irrational policy. And in 2014, Happer proffered this gem on CNBC: The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler. Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews.

According to a document obtained by the Washington Post, the 12-person panel intends to provide a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to academic reports that have already passed peer review. This is the equivalent of setting up a committee on nuclear-weapons proliferation and having someone lead it who doesnt think nuclear weapons exist, Francesco Femia, the co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security, told the Post. Its honestly a blunt-force political tool designed to shut the national security community up on climate change.

The move is in line with Trumps larger agenda of appointing agency and panel heads to undermine the exact policies and purpose laid out by those very agencies. Trumps original Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt oversaw an effective dismantling of laws designed to protect the environment  when he wasnt dealing with the 13 federal investigations into his alleged ethics violations. Since Pruitt resigned in July 2018, the acting EPA head, and former coal lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler has dismantled clean air policies even more efficiently than his predecessor.

For his part, Trump has repeatedly denied the realities of climate change as president, whether by denying landmark reports by federal agencies, or by sharing his insights on Twitter:

In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People cant last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2019

Contrasting the presidents new panel, military and intelligence communities across the world are in lockstep agreement that climate change will have profound influences on issues of national security. Just this week, a former Dutch general founded the International Military Council on Climate and Security to help military agencies prepare for climate-induced chaos. We are concerned because our territories regularly get hit, a French defense official told the Independent. We are threatened by climate change, and we have to be ready for all the factors: health risks, the vulnerability of our infrastructure. Were still at the beginning of it.
When Natalie Hillar began her journalism studies in the late '90s, she adopted what she considered to be a rounded approach.

Believing this would set her up for a successful career, Hillar studied print and broadcast journalism and undertook work experience at newspapers, magazine publishers and broadcasters. However, none of this adequately prepared her for the realities of her chosen career 20 years later.

Natalie Hillar had to work out how to adapt her skills to a changing world.

Hillars first media role in 2000 involved writing feature articles for print magazines and short stories for an online news feed.

"Writing radio news stories was the closest I got to training for the snappy copy required for the web and eventually social media," she says.
The US commerce department delivered its long-awaited verdict to the White House on Sunday. While the findings have not been published, the broad thrust is known. The report allows the president to impose sanctions over the next 90 days on car imports worth $US340 billion ($480 billion) without the assent of Congress. Loading This dispute has been coming for a long time. Europe is paying the price for building up a structural trade surplus with the US worth $US171 billion by compressing internal consumption with tight fiscal policies for much of the last decade, relying on global demand to pull the eurozone off the reefs. German imports alone accounted for $US65 billion of this last year. Mr Trump's trade guru, Peter Navarro, said it is possible only because the structure of the euro keeps Germany's exchange rate undervalued. Monetary union prevents the system returning towards balance through a German revaluation. The trade showdown between America and Europe came as leaders of both camps clashed in open acrimony at the Munich security summit, a gathering that tore away all pretence of shared strategic interests.

US vice-president Mike Pence rebuked the Europeans for freeloading on Nato, propping up the Iranian terror machine, and sacrificing Ukraine to curry favour with Russia over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. It was raw diplomacy of inter-War vintage and may mark the moment when the liberal Atlantic order became an empty term. The giant BMW factory in South Carolina. Credit:Bloomberg The EU has a powerful interest at this juncture in keeping Britain closely aligned, lest it is tempted by other strategic suitors. Former German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel advises the EU to hug the British as tightly as possible to keep their defence, security, and finance strengths on the European side of the ledger. But Brexit negotiations have been conducted by lawyers in Brussels with little regard for the bigger picture. Trade experts say the US report has fixed on a menu of options ranging from punitive tariffs on the hi-tech components of cars such as software, sensors, or GPS systems, as well as electric vehicles, all the way up to a sweeping 25 per cent tariff on all car imports.

William Reinsch, a former deputy commerce secretary, said the real goal is to pressure the Europeans into agreeing "voluntary" quotas along the lines of the Eighties deal forced on Japan by the Reagan Administration. Michael Huther from the German Economic Institute (IW) said the EU should hit back hard enough to "make it painful". Yet tit-for-tat retaliation by the EU will enrage Mr Trump and lead to tariff escalation. The lesson of the Thirties is that surplus states suffer more in a trade war. Conflict looks almost unstoppable. The European Parliament's trade committee has called for a suspension of talks with the US, arguing that Mr Trump is abusing the WTO system and that Europe should not negotiate with a gun to its head. It said that agriculture must be excluded. This dooms any talks on a free-trade pact since the US Senate will not approve a one-sided deal that locks out US farm products on disputed health grounds. Little remains of the trade truce agreed last July by Mr Trump and EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker. Gabriel Felbermayr from the IFO Institute said tariffs of 25 per cent would cut German car exports to the US by half, costing 18.4 billion a year.

A no-deal Brexit in these circumstances would mean a traumatic rupture in Germany's two biggest car markets at the same time. German producers exports 750,000 cars a year to the UK, and rely on UK industrial supply chains. The ongoing trade spat between China and the US has overshadowed the US-Europe conflict. Credit:AP The British car industry - led by Tata, Honda, and BMW - would also be hit hard by US tariffs. Sales to the US reached 221,000 last year, making up 18 per cent of UK car exports. For Germany, the tariff threat comes at a time when the auto sector is reeling from the diesel scandal and is struggling to keep up with China and the US on electric cars. VW's chief Herbert Diess says the German car industry risks being toppled from its dominant position and going the way of Coventry within 10 years if it is not careful. "Nothing is guaranteed for eternity. If you look at the former bastions of the auto industry such as Detroit, Oxford-Cowley, or Turin, you can see what happens to cities once their dominant companies and industries falter," he said.
Coal power baron Trevor St Baker is spending nearly $30 million to build a nationwide electric vehicle charging network, calling on Australians to "embrace" clean energy.

Mr St Baker, the joint owner of the Vales Point coal-fired power station and founder of coal power company ERM, aims to supercharge the development of a national EV charging network.

Trevor St Baker has been a major investor  through his innovation fund  in electric vehicle charging technology. Credit:Robert Greshoff Photography

"Clean energy is the future and is something that I expect Australians will embrace as we expand national EV charging facilities and infrastructure," Mr St Baker said.

"This future cannot be achieved without dedicated investment in education and infrastructure to advance our nation's capabilities and spark forward-thinking change."
A spaghetti western showdown is unfolding between two Sydney restaurants, with shots fired on social media by inner west pasta institution The Italian Bowl.

The owners of the Newtown restaurant took to their Facebook page on Tuesday night to dispel rumours that they are behind Pasta La Vista, a new pasta restaurant that opened in Belmore last month. They have accused the latter of wholesale copying of their concept and menu.

Customers queue outside The Italian Bowl restaurant in Newtown. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The kicker for The Italian Bowl co-owner Alexi Spyridis is that the people behind Pasta La Vista are his former staff.

"These cooks started off washing dishes and have been taught everything they know about cooking from the owners of The Italian Bowl," the lengthy Facebook post stated.
The miscues that made 2018 an agonising year for Elon Musk are back.

Tesla just announced its general counsel is leaving, two months after hiring him in the wake of Musk's run-in with US sharemarket regulators. Hours before the announcement on Wednesday, the CEO was sending tweets reminiscent of those that put him and the company in legal jeopardy last year.

It seems Tesla boss Elon Musk just can't help himself. Credit:AP

Dane Butswinkas, the trial lawyer who represented Musk in his legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is leaving due to a poor cultural fit at Tesla and the desire to return full-time to his trial practice at the firm Williams & Connolly in Washington.

Jonathan Chang, a vice president in Tesla's legal department, is taking over effective immediately.
Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it.
This story is published in conjunction with THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that gets results for the people of New York. Bart Schwartz. Photo: Business Wire

Federal officials have picked their monitor to oversee the embattled New York City Housing Authority, THE CITY has learned: a former prosecutor with ties to Governor Andrew Cuomo, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, and controversial activist Lenora Fulani.

Bart Schwartz, head of the private investigations firm Guidepost Solutions and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Yorks Southern District, has been selected as the NYCHA monitor by the federal government, two sources familiar with the selection told THE CITY. The move stems from the Feds recently announced settlement with the city aimed at kick-starting reforms in the nations biggest municipal housing authority.

Schwartz chairs a childrens theater group founded by Fulani, a two-time fringe-party candidate for president who is long-known for her strange-bedfellows politics and divisive past comments about Jews and Israel.

More recently, Fulani has organized protests attacking Mayor Bill de Blasios plan to fix NYCHA by turning over management of thousands of public housing apartments to private companies. Fulani has stoked the theory that NYCHA ultimately intends to turn over its public property to developers  a claim de Blasio denies.

Schwartz was chosen by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson as part of a settlement to ratchet up oversight of NYCHA. His appointment is set to be ratified by an internal HUD committee next week, with an announcement to follow, the sources told THE CITY.

As the new monitor for the housing agency, Schwartz will tackle the most important element of the deal announced last month between Berman, Carson, and de Blasio aimed at addressing NYCHAs failure to provide decent housing for many of its 400,000 tenants.

The systems aging 325 developments are beset by woes ranging from lead and mold contamination to broken elevators.

Michael Bloomberg, Dr. Lenora Fulani, and Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. at a gala in 2005. Photo: Donald Bowers/Getty Images

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Fulani said she would comment on the monitor job once its announced officially. Schwartz did not return calls seeking comment.

Schwartz, who is in his early 70s, worked in the 1980s under then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Giuliani. In recent years, hes served as a federal monitor in high-profile cases involving General Motors and Deutsche Bank.

In 2016, Cuomo tapped Schwartz to examine all state grants awarded in the economic stimulus program known as Buffalo Billions. His appointment followed the criminal charges filed against several recipients of the program in a scandal that ultimately resulted in the conviction of one of Cuomos top aides.

The new NYCHA monitors resume also includes key fundraising and oversight roles with the All Stars Project, a nonprofit Fulani founded and helps run that seeks to help underprivileged youth via theater programs that examine real-life issues. Schwartz is on the groups national board and chairs the board of All Stars New York City affiliate.

Schwartz first became involved with the All Stars Project in 2004  the same year the group produced a play called Crown Heights that was blasted by the Anti-Defamation League for erroneously blaming Jews for the racial violence that erupted in that Brooklyn neighborhood in 1991.

The play was co-written by Fulanis late mentor, Fred Newman, who dismissed criticism of the false depiction of Jewish actions in the play by stating, I dont believe in the truth.

Schwartz was honored by the All Stars in 2012, and joined the board of their New York City affiliate in 2015, according to an October 31 press release by group. He is listed as a major supporter of ASPs Operation Conversation: Cops & Kids, a program that works with the NYPD to improve communication between the department and youth in minority communities. Fulani is listed as Cops & Kids current director.

In October, Schwartz was elected to the groups national board and made chairman of the New York City board. In the last five years, the All Stars have twice operated with budget deficits in 2013 and 2016, tax forms reviewed by THE CITY show.

Fulani and Newman founded All Stars Project in 1981. The groups website notes that in addition to running Cops & Kids, Fulani is dean of a continuing education program called UX, described as a unique institution of continued development which is free of cost and open to people of all ages and backgrounds.

The group says it provides programming to 20,000 youths annually in six cities nationwide, and has raised millions of dollars with help from corporate sponsors such as MetLife, JPMorgan Chase bank, and Viacom.

Many of the plays produced by All Stars were co-written by Newman, who died in 2011. In the 1970s, Newman practiced what he called social therapy, advising patients to embrace radical political thought as a means of psychological therapy. He also encouraged patients to have sex with their therapists, calling the practice friendosexuality. Several former supporters of Newmans group later labeled it a cult, contending he pressured patients into supporting his political campaigns.

Newman met then-graduate student Fulani in the mid-1970s and the two went on to form or merge with several fringe political parties in New York, including the Independence Party, which would in 2001 endorse Michael Bloomberg in his first campaign for mayor. Over the years, the party threw its support behind an unusual collection of candidates, from the Reverend Al Sharpton to Pat Buchanan.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fulani made comments about Jews and Israel labeled anti-Semitic by her critics. Among them: her 1989 declaration that Jews function as mass murderers of people of color to retain control of Israel  a remark she defended 16 years later on NY1.

Then-Mayor Bloomberg  whod received the support of the Independence Party, the party Fulani ran at the time  called her comments phenomenally offensive and reprehensible.

In 2007, she repudiated her earlier remarks, stating that she no longer felt that Israel deserved to face sanctions.

More recently, Fulani has organized rallies at NYCHA developments and on the steps of City Hall, blasting de Blasios plan to raise funds for much-needed upgrades of NYCHAs 175,000 aging apartments by increasingly turning over management of these buildings to the private sector.

In the federal program the mayor is embracing, NYCHA retains ownership of the buildings and the companies manage and maintain them, allowing the Housing Authority to focus resources on other properties. In recent weeks, the mayor announced plans to greatly expand this private management to 62,000 apartments  about one-third of NYCHAs inventory.

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Update: A 16-year-old boy faces a life sentence after being found guilty of the bestial rape and murder of a six-year-old girl while she visited her grandparents on holiday.

The teenager took Alesha MacPhail from the bed where she was sleeping on the Isle of Bute on July 2 last year and inflicted horrific injuries before dumping her body in woodland.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow took three hours to find the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, guilty unanimously, following a nine-day trial.

Judge Lord Matthews told him he had committed some of the wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard.

Georgina Lochrane, the mother of Alesha, leaving the High Court in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

He told the boy: It will be obvious to anyone following this trial that Alesha MacPhail was a sweet, angelic, innocent girl. She came to Rothesay looking forward to spending a few weeks holiday with her father, his partner and her grandparents.

He said that Alesha would, at the end of her trip, have gone home to mother Georgina Lochrane in Airdrie with tales of playing on the beach and finding interesting things in rockpools.

Lord Matthews said: Instead of that you came into her life, you stole that life and committed some of the wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard.

He warned the boy, who will be sentenced next month, that your release may never come.

Prosecutor Iain McSporran QC said after the verdict: The loss of such a young child would be hard to bear in any circumstances, but to have her taken in the bestial manner in which Alesha MacPhail lost her life is unfathomable.

A knife, found on the shoreline opposite the house where six year-old murder victim Alesha MacPhail was staying, was shown to the jury (Copfs/PA)

The trial heard Alesha was days into her summer holiday with father Robert MacPhail, 26, and grandparents Angela King and Calum MacPhail when she was snatched from her bed by the boy, who tried to blame her fathers girlfriend Toni McLachlan, 18, for the crime.

His semen was found on the schoolgirl, and he claimed she must have planted it there after having sexual intercourse with him.

Mr McSporran said he hoped the guilty verdict would remove any doubt that she could have been involved.

She had nothing whatsoever to do with this awful crime, he said.

In a statement issued by Police Scotland, Aleshas family said: We cant believe that we will never see our wee angel Alesha again. We miss her so much.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston outside the High Court in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Alesha may be gone from our lives but she will always be in our hearts.

Georgina Lochrane, said: Words cannot express just how devastated I am to have lost my beautiful, happy, smiley wee girl.

I am glad that the boy who did this has finally been brought to justice and that he will not be able to inflict the pain on another family that he has done to mine.

Alesha, I love you so much, my wee pal. I will miss you forever.

- Press Association

Boy, 16, found guilty of abducting, raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha MacPhail

Earlier: A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of abducting, raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha MacPhail.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow took three hours to find the teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, guilty unanimously, following a nine-day trial.

Alesha's body was found in woods on the Isle of Bute on July 2 last year, hours after she was reported missing from the house her father shared with his parents and partner on the island, where the schoolgirl was staying for part of the school holidays.

Timeline: Events surrounding the murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail

Here is a timeline of events surrounding the murder of Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute, where she was spending the summer holiday with her father and grandparents.

July 1, 2018

10.30pm  Alesha is put to bed for a final time by her father. Her grandmother is the last of the family to go to bed around two hours later.

July 2

1.40am  Around this time Robert MacPhail receives missed calls from the phone of the accused, to whom the court heard he had previously dealt cannabis.

6am  Aleshas grandfather gets up and realises she is not in her room. A search of the house begins.

6.23am  Aleshas grandmother calls police to report her missing.

8.54am  Aleshas body is found in the grounds of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel.

9.23am  The six-year-old is pronounced dead, the cause later established as pressure to neck and face.

Later that day  The 16-year-old accused sends a video of the top half of his body to friends in a Snapchat group with the message found the guy whos done it.

July 3

12.32am  A phone belonging to the accused was used to google how do police find DNA and a minute later the internet history showed a page on collecting DNA evidence.

July 4

Police arrest a local teenager in connection with Aleshas death. He is charged the following day.

July 6

The accused appears at Greenock Sheriff Court charged with the childs rape and murder. He makes no plea during the private appearance.

July 8

A vigil is held on Bute where locals gather to light candles for the six-year-old in Rothesays Guildford Square.

July 13

The accused appears at Greenock Sheriff Court for a second time.

July 21

Aleshas funeral is held at Coats Funeral Home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. Most mourners wear pink as requested by the family. Bows are tied to the buildings railings and cuddly toys are placed outside. Mourners hear tributes from people close to Alesha including her uncle Calum MacPhail.

July 24

The little girls family release a video of her to make her dream come true of becoming a YouTube star.

December 10

The accused appears at the High Court in Glasgow and a trial date is set.

February 11, 2019

The accused goes on trial at the High Court in Glasgow. It emerges he has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Robert MacPhails partner Toni McLachlan for the crime.

February 21, 2019

The 16-year-old accused is found guilty of abducting, raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha.- Press Association
The zero tolerance policy ended last June, but family separations continue. Photo: Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Eight months after the official end of the Trump administrations family separation policy, the practice continues, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project, which claims that border agents are making plenty of mistakes.

In a report examining cases between June 22 and December 17 in McAllen, Texas, the group identified 38 cases of migrant families getting torn apart, NBC News reports. The Department of Homeland Security maintains that, since the end of the zero tolerance policy last summer, it is only separating families when the adult is not the childs parent or guardian, the childs safety is at risk, or the parent is judged to have committed serious criminal activity.

One problem with the recent separations though, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project, is that some are being made due to uncorroborated allegations. Take, for instance, the story of one Guatemalan man and his 2-year-old daughter.

One of those cases involved Mr. Perez-Domingo, an indigenous migrant father from Guatemala whose primary language is Mam, according to the report. Perez-Domingo was separated from his 2-year-old daughter in July after being accused by Customs and Border Protection of not being the girls biological father and providing a fraudulent birth certificate, according to the report. He was not given an interpreter during his interview.

The civil rights group said it investigated the incident and discovered the birth certificate was authentic and a DNA test determined Perez-Domingo was the childs father. They were reunited in August.

The report also includes the story of man whose two children were taken from him due to suspected gang ties. The Texas Civil Rights Project says it looked into the mans past and found no gang affiliation at all.

Why are these mistakes being made? One possibility, outlined today in USA Today, is that the process for determining which families are separated is, in the words of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, brief and expeditious in nature. The decision is also left solely to the discretion of CBP agents, who observe families during processing and make a judgement on whether they think abuse has occurred.

This is the type of work that, outside of migrant processing centers, is done by child welfare experts. Vivek Sankaran, an expert on the subject, told USA Today: It is universal among mental health professionals that the idea of removing a child from a parent is one of the most traumatic things we as a society can do to the child. So you want somebody who has been very well-trained to make sure that we need to inflict (a separation) on the child.

Families are also being separated when a parent has a criminal history that may not call for separation, Michelle Brane of the Womens Refugee Commission told USA Today. If you have a shoplifting conviction, or didnt pay child support, or you stole a car, does that really put the child at risk?

In a statement to NBC News, CBP criticized the report from the Texas Civil Rights Project, calling it flawed.
Two men, are scheduled to appear before Bray District Court this evening after gardai arrested them after finding drugs worth 250,000 seized in Dublin and Wicklow.

The men, aged 41 and 37 will appear in court this evening while the third man arrested, a 28-year-old man will appear in court tomorrow.
A taxi driver who bit off a portion of a man's ear in a vicious and violent assault must complete 180 hours of community service within 12 months in lieu of a prison term.

Lawrence Doyle (51) was introduced to injured party Christopher Darcy by the barman in a Dublin city centre pub where they both had been drinking, although the victim had recognised Doyle.

Garda Fergus Grant told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that a short time later an altercation broke out between the two men and words were exchanged before Doyle jumped on Mr Darcy and gave him a dig to the side of the head.

Doyle then locked onto Mr Darcy's ear, biting it, before the man fell to the ground where the assault continued.

Today, Judge Melanie Greally said it was clear this was a drink fueled incident but that Doyle had been particularly out of control.

She imposed 180 hours of community service in lieu of 18 months imprisonment, acknowledging that Doyle has no previous convictions, co-operated with gardai and had 1,000 as compensation.

Doyle, of Stapolin Lawns, Baldoyle, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Mr Darcy causing him harm at Mullets Bar, Amiens Street on May 15, 2017. He has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since.

Gda Grant confirmed that the victim later told gardai that he was struck dozens of times in the chest while he attempted to protect his face. He also tried to grab Doyle's leg as the man continued to try and kick him.

Staff at the pub ultimately broke up the fight and Mr Darcy called an ambulance. He was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was treated in accident and emergency.

A medical report said Mr Darcy had tissue loss of 3cm from his ear which was not suitable for stitching. He had no other visible injuries. He was given a tetanus injection and antibiotics and he will be left with a permanent scar.

Judge Greally described it as a nasty injury of a permanent nature and said it was clear from the CCTV footage that Doyle was completely out of control.

He subjected him (Mr Darcy) to a vicious and violent assault. Judge Greally said before she added that it seemed the incident was out of character for Doyle.

Gda Grant agreed with Tara Maguire BL, defending, that her client came to the station by appointment and admitted the assault. He claimed he had felt threatened by the victim but accepted he should have walked away.

Ms Maguire said Doyle had been working as a taxi driver for many years. She said he had money in court as a form of restitution.
Two suspected burglars, who were found soaking wet and covered in muck, told gardai they were in Galway late at night having affairs with married women.

Members of the armed Regional Support Unit along with detectives, Gerry Carroll and Ronan Leonard, responded to a call from a homeowner that a 4x4 with two occupants was acting suspiciously in his area on the outskirts of Galway City.

They stopped Declan Meehan, aged 44, of 2 St Patricks Arch, Gerald Griffin St, Cork, and Sean Hogan, 39, with addresses at Cuirt na Greine, Castlemartyr, and Churchfield Road, Cork, in a two-seater vehicle at Twomileditch, Castlegar, at 2.50am on May 10 last year and carried out a search.

Hogan was driving. Gardai found a crowbar, two bolt cutters, numerous Stanley knives, gloves, screwdrivers and several small torches thrown on the floor between the two seats.

Both men pleaded not guilty before Galway District Court to being found in possession of the implements with the intention they be used in connection with theft/burglary.

Hogan did admit driving without insurance or a driving licence on the night because he was already disqualified for 10 years.

After hearing evidence during the fully contested hearing, Judge Mary Fahy said it was clear that the Cork men were not in Galway that night for romancing or dancing and she sentenced both of them to 12 months in prison for having the implements in their possession.

She imposed an additional four-month sentence on Hogan for driving without insurance while already disqualified, and disqualified him from driving for 10 years.

Garda Leonard told the hearing he searched Meehan at the scene and found gloves, a torch and a Stanley knife in his jacket pocket. He said he believed the tools in the vehicle and the items found on the accused were intended for the commission of burglaries.

Both of them were soaked and covered in muck. It was a bad night and it was evident they had been out in the elements, he added.

Det Carroll told the hearing he arrested Hogan at the scene. He found two testers and a number of blades in his possession. Judge Fahy observed that the testers could be used to check if house or business alarms were working.

During interview, Hogan told gardai he had worked as a concrete pourer before injuring his back. He said he was waiting on an insurance claim in relation to that injury.

He told gardai the vehicle belonged to a friend and the tools in the vehicle were his friends work tools.

Hogan said he was wet and mucky because he had got out of the jeep to go to the toilet at the side of the road.

He changed his story while giving evidence in court, claiming the van belonged to his brother who was a roofer and he used the tools in his line of work.

When asked by his barrister, Garry McDonald, why he was in Galway that night, Hogan replied:

To be honest, it was a sexual matter and I cant say anymore without embarrassing someone.

Mr McDonald pressed him, asking if he was having an affair. Hogan replied: Yes, but I dont want to mention the womans name. I feel ashamed I was having a relationship because the woman concerned is married.

Judge Mary Fahy asked him would it not be better to have the woman come into court to give evidence on his behalf.

She also wondered why was he going home at 3am if he was having an affair: It mustnt be a very satisfactory affair if you were going home at 3am on a bad night.

Judge Fahy convicted both accused, saying theirs was a cock and bull story.

Leave to appeal was granted.
The southside section of the MetroLink rail line in Dublin is set to be abandoned due to the government's unwillingness to disrupt the Luas Green Line for up to four years.

The line will still run from Swords to the city, but is likely to stop north of Ranelagh at Charlemont, and not continue to Sandyford.
Potential leads are being examined in the hope they'll see two medals being returned to the relatives of a soldier who won them in World War One.

News of the discovery of the medals, found in an old jacket handed into a West Cork charity shop, have sparked major interest among amateur sleuths and serious military historians who are trawling through records hoping to identify leads to the family of Private Patrick Ryan.
Dublin Airport says a drone, which prompted the suspension of all flights earlier, hasn't been recovered and could return.

The Irish Aviation Authority ordered a 30 minute suspension of operations after a pilot spotted the device over the airfield at around 11.30 this morning.

Planes were grounded and three incoming flights were diverted as a result.

A full investigation into the incident has been launched and State agencies remain on alert for drone activity in the area.

DAA spokesperson, Siobhan O'Donnell, explains why the airfield reopened so quickly:

"In working with the various agencies, with the airlines, with the Irish Aviation Authority, who are key here (and) with the gardai, who are another key agency here we were satisfied it was safe to reopen the airfield," she said.

Earlier: A pilot taxiing to the runway for takeoff was the person who reported the drone sighting at Dublin airport this morning.

Dublin Airport Authoritys external communications officer Siobhan ODonnell told RTEs News at One that the report came during a conversation between the pilot and air traffic control.

It was an absolute sighting of a drone at the airfield.

All activity at the airport was suspended for 30 minutes, in keeping with protocol in such circumstances, she said. The suspension of flight operations is not taken lightly.

Once there was no further sighting for the 30 minutes service was resumed.

During the suspension, three flights were diverted  two to Belfast and one to Shannon. Ms ODonnell said that flight schedules are returning to normal and all airlines are confident that they will catch up this afternoon, she said.

This is the first time there has been drone activity at Dublin airport, she added.

Fianna Fail TD James Lawless is calling on the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport to implement his Use of Drones Bill which he introduced two years ago.

Legislation and other measures need to be taken urgently, he told News at One.

Other countries have responded more rapidly. We need to bring in new powers to be able to stop such activities.

Mr Lawless said that when he last called on the Taoiseach to introduce the legislation (following the disruptive drone activity in Gatwick last December), Mr Varadkar had said there was no need.

However, Mr Lawless said that the existing legislation doesnt go far enough especially given the volume of devices out there.

The capacity of drones and the technology has expanded. Anyone can walk into a shop and buy a drone and fly it over Dublin airport without sanction, he warned.

At the moment the gardai have no powers to intercept a drone. Other airports in Europe have taken measures such as having birds of prey to attack drones.

We need to get on board, we need to get our heads around this quickly.

Earlier: Flights resume at Dublin Airport after drone sighting

By Marita Moloney & Fiachra O'Cionnaith

Flights at Dublin Airport have resumed after a confirmed drone sighting over the airfield this morning.

The airport confirmed just after midday that flight operations had been temporarily suspended for safety reasons, mirroring similar problems at Gatwick and Heathrow in London last December.

Around 15 minutes after the initial announcement was made, the DAA said that flights had resumed and it apologised to passengers for any inconvenience that may have been caused.

It said that "the safety and security of passengers is always our key priority".

Dublin Aiport said on Twitter: "Flight operations have now resumed @DublinAirport following an earlier drone sighting. We apologise for any inconvenience. The safety and security of passengers is always our key priority."

In an unwarned development just after 11.40am, Dublin airport tweeted that planes had been suspended from the airport.

It said: "For safety reasons we are temporarily suspending flight operations @DublinAirport due the confirmed sighting of a drone over the airfield. Passengers should contact their airline's website for flight updates. We will post updates here when they become available."

However, at 12.30pm, dozens of flights which were due to take off for destinations across the globe an hour earlier had yet to depart, with thousands of passengers still on board.
A young Dublin man who caused pedestrians to run for cover when he sped through a village while evading gardai has had his sentence adjourned for one year.

Sergeant Stephen Byrne revealed that members of the public ran for cover as the car driven by Dean Craig (21) hit a speed ramp and elevated into the air along the busy village main street.

The sergeant told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that he had responded to a call about burglaries in a nearby housing estate and spotted Craig and two other males in a car.

Craig then led gardai on a high speed chase before abandoning his car with the two passengers and fleeing on foot. Craig, of Greenfort Crescent, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to endangerment at Main Street, Ongar, Dublin 15, on March 2, 2016.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing stolen PlayStation games, games console and controllers, a glass jar of cash, an Apple iPod, a safe containing cash, an imitation revolver and passports at Manorfields Drive, Dublin 15.

He further pleaded guilty to possessing a balaclava, box cutter knife, screwdriver and torch with intent at Manorfields Drive, all on the same date.

The court heard he has eight previous convictions, including three thefts and road traffic matters all dating from 2016.

Today, Judge Melanie Greally imposed 240 hours of community service on Craig in lieu of two and a half years in prison for possessing the stolen goods.

She adjourned his sentence for endangerment and possessing the other items for 12 months so that he can engage with the Probation Service.

Judge Greally said his sentence would depend on him undertaking offence and victim-focused work, education, training and employment services and breaking associations with negative peers. She remanded him on continuing bail till February next year.

Earlier, Sgt Byrne told Ms Stuart that two Manorfields Drive residents had to come home from work when they were alerted to break-ins at their homes.

In one premises, 1,140 worth of items had been stolen and 200 damage done to a door. A second resident told gardai that 900 of personal belongings had been stolen and 800 damage done.

The court heard all of these goods were returned to the owners after a search of Craig's vehicle. Sgt Byrne said this car search also yielded the box cutter, balaclava, torch and screwdriver.

The sergeant told Ms Stuart that he had a clear view of Craig in the driver seat when he arrived at Manorfields Drive on foot of the burglary alert.

He said in the ensuing chase, Craig almost lost control of his vehicle at roundabouts and junctions and that oncoming traffic had to brake or veer into grass to avoid collision.

Sgt Byrne said Craig threw his mobile phone on the ground to break it when he was fleeing the car. Sgt Byrne agreed with Breffni Gordon BL, defending, that all of his client's offending had been compressed into a fairly refined period of time.

Mr Gordon submitted to Judge Greally that Craig had left home aged 17 due to his parents' splitting up. Counsel said Craig became angry and underwent a distinct change in behaviour at that time.

He said Craig began couch surfing with friends and his life was unstable and chaotic at the time.
The patronage of 12 new primary schools which are set to open this year have been announced.

Seven schools will be run by Educate Together in counties Cork, Dublin and Wicklow.

Three schools will be run by local Education and Training Boards while two gaelscoils will be under the patronage of An Foras Patrunachta.

The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh made the announcement today after he accepted the recommendations of the New Schools Establishment Group (NSEG) which were made in April 2018.

The new schools will serve a number of areas around the country which are facing pressures for places for pupils.

The multidenominational schools under the patronage of Educate Together will be open to families in Glasheen, Cork City; Leixlip, Co Kildare; Kilcoole/Newtownmountkennedy in Co Wicklow; and in Dublin: Donaghmede/Howth/Dublin 13; Dublin 6/6W/Clonskeagh; Goatstown/Stillorgan; Killester/Raheny/Clontarf.

Those State-run schools under the remit of local education boards will be in north and south Swords in Dublin, as well as in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.

Maynooth, Co Kildare and the Booterstown/Blackrock areas of Dublin will host the two gaelscoils.

Nine of the primary schools will be "eight classroom" schools, while three of the Educate Together schools in Donaghmede/Howth/Dublin 13, Dublin 6/6W/Clonskeagh, and Goatstown/Stillorgan will be double that size.

Once they are fully developed, the schools will have the capacity to provide places for 3,328 children.

Minister McHugh said the new schools are an essential part of the plans to ensure that sufficient new places are available to serve the increasing number of primary-level pupils in the coming years.

He said that additional places will also continue to be provided under the Six-Year Programme of Capital Investment in Schools for 2016-2021.

Parental preference has become a key determinant in deciding the patronage of new schools and Im pleased to say that the views of parents as expressed through the process are strongly reflected in the decisions I have made on the patronage of these 12 new schools," he said.

I am particularly conscious of the clear parental demand for diversity of provision in all of the areas where the new schools are being established. I would like to thank parents for engaging with the process.

"All applications were assessed on the basis of published criteria, including the extent of diversity in existing schools and the scale of diversity to be provided by the new school or schools.," he said.

The Department of Education and Skills said that the primary schools will be established in interim accommodation while permanent buildings are put in place.

A project manager has been appointed by the department to assist in the procurement of interim school accommodation for the schools opening in September 2019.
A vigil for victims of the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

There are at least 1,020 hate groups now active in the U.S., the Southern Poverty Law Center announced on Wednesday. The civil-rights group, which has tracked extremist activity since the 1980s, says its documented a 30 percent increase in hate-group activity over the last four years, a time period it says roughly coincides with the end of Barack Obamas presidency and the rise of Donald Trump as a political figure.

The SPLC doesnt just track white supremacists  it also tracks the Nation of Islam  but white extremists engaged directly in promoting nativism and myths about racial superiority make up the bulk of activity included in the organizations annual hate report. SPLC researchers documented 112 active neo-Nazi groups, 148 white nationalist groups, and 63 racist skinhead groups, in addition to 36 neo-Confederate organizations. Though some white supremacists have become disillusioned with Trump over his unrealized border wall, the SPLC argues that the presidents vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric and soft-pedaling of white supremacist violence have emboldened hate groups.

The SPLCs hate-group designations have provoked controversy in the past  some of it legitimate, some of it not. In 2018, the organization settled a lawsuit with the Quilliam Foundations Maajid Nawaz over its decision to include the anti-extremism group in a field guide to anti-Islam activism. In 2019, both Gavin McInnes and the Center for Immigration Studies filed similar lawsuits over the organizations hate-group designations. Its not clear how likely it is that either McInnes or CIS will prevail. The Proud Boys, which McInnes founded and which the SPLC labelled a hate group, has been linked to violence against left-wing activists and has become a regular sight at alt-right rallies. CIS, which filed a RICO suit against SPLC, was founded by John Tanton, a nativist and a proponent of eugenics; the SPLC reports that articles by Holocaust deniers and white nationalists have circulated on the CIS listserv. (On its website, CIS countered that articles expressing a variety of ideological positions have circulated on its listserv.)

No matter what happens with these lawsuits, its undeniable that members of the far-right have been responsible for an escalating number of high-profile violent incidents over the last several years. Its also true that Trump, and some of his surrogates in the conservative press, have helped mainstream certain white nationalist myths. Both Trump and Foxs Tucker Carlson briefly became fixated on the alleged persecution of white South African farmers, though theres no evidence of a white genocide unfolding in South Africa or anywhere else, and Trump frequently amplifies myths about the disproportionate criminality of immigrants. Since Trump took office, white nationalists have beaten left-wing activists and murdered one protester; one of his supporters, Cesar Sayoc, is on trial for a failed domestic bombing campaign. In November, authorities arrested a white nationalist in Washington, D.C., on firearms charges; the man, Jeffrey Clark, owned body armor and hollow-point ammunition and had called Sayocs campaign a dry run on a social media account.

This radicalization shows no signs of abating. Hours after the SPLC released its report, Seamus Hughes of George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism broke the news that a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard will go on trial for domestic terrorism charges. The lieutenant, Christopher Hasson, identified as a white supremacist, possessed around 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and created a hit list of liberal politicians and media figures ranging from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to MSNBCs Chris Hayes.

A @gwupoe scoop: A LT in the US Coast Guard was arrested this week for drug and gun charges. It looked like a run of the mill case until the detention memo filed yesterday. He had a hit list, contacts with white supremacists, guns, and, again, was an Coastie assigned to HQ.  Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) February 20, 2019

Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads, Hasson allegedly wrote in a letter. Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world. Court filings indicate that Hasson has been a white supremacist for decades. He did, however, conduct recent online search queries related to Donald Trump: what if trump illegally impeached, he typed, and later, civil war if trump impeached. Trump hasnt explicitly called for people like Hasson to do violence in his name. But the SPLCs report reinforces a disturbing trend. However frustrated white supremacists may be over the border wall, others seem galvanized by the Trump presidency.
A Danish man caught with over 66,000 of cocaine in his luggage claimed he had been transferring inheritance documents for a woman he met on Facebook, a court has heard.

Jorgen Sorensen (65), who was jailed for 18 months, told gardai and customs officers that he had never inspected the luggage and believed it had contained these documents.

He said he had been given the bag in Sao Paulo, Brazil by people purporting to be lawyers working for a woman who told him she was due 220 million inheritance from her dead parents.

Judge Melanie Greally said Sorensen showed a huge level of naivety and a significant level of recklessness to involve himself in an enterprise that reeked of scam.

He didn't even carry out a cursory inspection of his bag, she commented.

She imposed a three-year sentence with the final 18 months suspended.

Sorensen, a bus driver of Viborgvej, Randers, Denmark, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed guilty pleas to importing and possessing cocaine for sale or supply at Dublin Airport T2 on November 1, 2018.

He has one previous minor conviction from Denmark.

He told investigators he was travelling from Brazil to London, where he was to hand over the documents.

Garda Gavin Fenton agreed with Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, defending, that he believed what Sorensen told him in interview.

The garda told John Quirke BL, prosecuting, that customs officers had been carrying out routine checks on flights from Dubai when they stopped Sorensen.

After two wrapped packages of cocaine worth 66,871 were found in his luggage, he told officers he believed he was transporting inheritance documents for a woman living in America.

He said he was to be paid 800 to bring the documents from Brazil to London, through Dubai and Dublin.

He described how he was to deliver the papers to a barrister in London and gave an account of how his travel documents had been organised by someone claiming to be from the lawyer's office.

Sorensen told investigators:

I'm too naive. I trust people, that is my problem.

Ms Lawlor handed a print-out of emails exchanged between Sorensen and the third parties involved to Judge Greally.

She submitted that her client had been just sufficiently reckless in this case to be criminally liable.

She submitted that the gardai had accepted Sorensen was naive and his trusting nature had been exploited.

Ms Lawlor said Sorensen wants to return home, where he cares for his 90-year-old mother and has adult daughters, as soon as possible.

He was extraordinarily foolish in accepting what would have been to a more sensibly minded person a ludicrous scheme, she submitted.

Judge Greally backdated the sentence to when Sorensen entered custody and ordered that he leave the jurisdiction within seven days of his release.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring has defended the amount of alcohol which has been consumed at the Mansion house during his tenure in office.

The Mansion House's annual alcohol budget has been surpassed within just six months of Mr Ring being in office.

The relationship between Guinness and the Mansion House stretches back over more than two centuries. The supply of free beer that been capped at 120 kegs per year.

On Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1, Mr Ring was questioned about how much drink he had received given that the two former Lord Mayors who preceded him used 54 kegs and 31 kegs each.

Mr Ring, who is now four times over their amount in the first six months, said: "Well 34 barrels is 3,000 pints - divide it by 26 is 100 pints a week."

"We're actually having a huge number of things in the Mansion House including parties in the evening time and I've had over 16,000 members of the public into the Mansion House and 8,000 at evening events. I want to say thank you to the people of Dublin.

"No one is falling out of the Mansion House, down the steps into Dawson Street in front of the Luas, knocked down by trams."

"We've had three civic receptions, some of them stay on, we have a piano player and they might have a pint," he said.

Diageo have agreed to give extra beer free of charge but when asked how much he has received Mr Ring replied: "I don't honestly know, I think I've enough looking at the kegs down in the basement, I think I've enough until St. Patrick's Day and we'll review it again.

I won't apologise for reaching out to the people of Dublin. I'm delighted we've run out of beer.

It had been reported that almost 20,000 on wine, which is paid for by the taxpayer, had been spent in the past six months.

Responding to this, Mr Ring said: "I'm more a pint man myself, so I wasn't really concentrating on the wine bill.

"We're not going to give them stuff you'd put on your chips, we have to give people coming to the Mansion House they respect they deserve."

According to a Council spokesperson, the spending on wine so far has come to 19,431.

Mr. Ring said: "We have to see how many people came through the house.

"It cost 900m to run the city, it cost 700,000 to run the Christmas lights, everything costs money."

You can listen to the full interview here:
A jury has taken just 43 minutes to clear a Louth man of trying to murder a man who was stabbed 28 times and forced into the boot of a car that was pushed into a canal.

Paul Crosby (23), with an address at Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the attempted murder of Gerard Boyle (33) at Knockcommon, Beauparc, Slane, on November 10, 2016.

Mr Crosby had also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning and intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Boyle on the same occasion.

Mr Crosby was today found not guilty by unanimous verdicts on all three counts.

This was the second time that Mr Crosby had stood trial in relation to the offences. He went on trial in February 2018 charged with two counts of attempting to murder Mr Boyle firstly by stabbing him 28 times and later by pushing that car into a canal.

The jury in that trial found Mr Crosby not guilty on the attempted murder charge relating to pushing the car into the canal but could not reach a verdict in relation to the other charges.

The jury of nine men and three women today took just 43 minutes to come to their verdicts.

Following today's verdicts, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart thanked the jury for their attention to the case and exempted them from jury service for a period of five years.

After the jury left the courtroom, Mr Crosby was formally discharged by the judge.

In his evidence, Mr Boyle said that he managed to escape the boot of a car that was pushed into a canal after he was repeatedly stabbed by Mr Crosby.

Charging the jury this morning, Ms Justice Stewart said that the "real issue" in the case was whether Mr Crosby was "present and participated in the injuries" as asserted by Mr Boyle. The jury would have to evaluate "the contradictions' that were apparent in Mr Boyle's evidence, she indicated.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC said at the outset of the trial that the fact Mr Boyle had suffered injuries would not be an issue in the case. "What will be disputed is Mr Boyle's assertion that Mr Crosby was responsible", he added.

In his closing speech, Mr Grehan asked the jurors if they could rely on Mr Boyle's account after he blatantly and candidly said that he lied and misled gardai investigating the matter.

The barrister said there was no phone evidence...call records or texts, no fingerprints, no CCTV of (Mr Crosby and Mr Boyle) together at any stage, no eyewitnesses who had seen them together.

Mr Grehan submitted that the prosecution had done a fine job of showing Mr Crosby had not been home on the night, but had educed not a shred of evidence about whether he'd been at his aunt's house. He told the jury there was no evidence to say his client had not been at this second location.

Mr Grehan suggested that Mr Boyle could not be believed beyond a reasonable doubt and said the appropriate verdict was an acquittal.
British threats to slap significant tariffs on Irish beef in the event of a no-deal Brexit have been raised in the Dail with the government claiming EU support will be there for farmers hit by changes.

Fianna Fail's Dara Calleary raised reports that Britain is prepared to favour the import of Brazilian beef over Irish with a system of tariffs and quotas.

It is suggested that UK Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove may, in a bid to protect British farmers, introduce a system of quotas to allow certain products in without tariffs.

Such a new system could apply to products like poultry and beef  and would benefit massive producers such as Brazil at Irelands expense.

Mr Calleary said the agriculture and specifically the beef industry here was already under great pressure, with prices at an all-time low. But the government was maintaining an attitude of it will be alright on the night, claimed the opposition leader.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney responded that the Cabinet was more than aware of threats to the sector.

Of the 130,000 farming families in Ireland, some 100,000 of these were involved in beef production, the Dail heard.

When it comes to agriculture, beef is the most important issue, said Mr Coveney.

While the Department of Agriculture had looked at a worst case scenario with Brexit, the government had spoken to Brussels. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan had reassured the government here that farmers would given aid during a Brexit transition period, Mr Coveney told the Dail.

Mr Coveney also during questions ruled out setting up a standalone department in charge of only agriculture and food.

He said there had been discussions and replying to questions from Independent Cork TD Michael Collins about the beef crisis, said contingency plans were underway in general for agriculture.
A 13-year-old brain damaged girl has settled her High Court action against the Rotunda Hospital over the care provided to her mother before her birth.

Saibhe OConnor is to get an annual payout of 610,000 for her lifetime in the first case to come before the courts which has been finalised with life long payments.

The young girl who has already received interim settlement payments totally 2.94m is the first to accept the life long periodic payments which means an amount will be paid out annually for her care and upkeep.

Eddie O Connor and Michelle Farrell - parents of Saibhe O Connor, of Ballyfermot, Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts. Picture: Collins

The settlement of Saibhe's case in 2012 was without an admission of liability.

Approving the final settlement in the form of periodic payments of 610,000 annually for Saibhe's lifetime the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly said it was the first case where a family had availed of the new legislation allowing for periodic payments.

He said he was satisfied it was an appropriate case in which to make a periodic payment order.

He said Saibhe had demonstrated herself to be somewhat of a warrior and he thanked her parents Michelle and Eddie for the care they have given their daughter.

The judge said he was taking in to account Saibhes parents were happy with the periodic payments. Mr Justice Kelly said he was satisfied the periodic payment order was in Saibhes best interests to ensure she has all she requires for her lifetime care.

He added it was a wise decision in Saibhes case to go for periodic payments and he was sure her parents are delighted it was their last time to come to the Four Courts in relation to their daughters case.

Saibhe O'Connor, Croftwood Green, Ballyfermot, Dublin had through her mother Michelle Farrell sued the Rotunda Hospital, Parnell Square, Dublin over the circumstances of her birth on November 7, 2005.

It was claimed there was alleged negligence and an alleged breach of its duty of care towards Saibhe in the treatment and management of her mother's pregnancy.

The Rotunda had denied all claims.

Ms Farrell, it was claimed, had gone to her GP and the doctor fearing the onset of pre eclampsia had she had been referred to the Rotunda Hospital as an emergency admission. In hospital on November 2, 2005, Ms Farrell was diagnosed with pre eclamptic toxaemia. It was claimed that despite objections from her family, she was discharged on November 6, to be reviewed two days later.

The following day Ms Farrell's condition worsened. An ambulance was called but en route Ms Farrell suffered an eclamptic seizure and had to be brought to the nearest city hospital for an emergency caesarean section.

In court today, Saibhes counsel Aongus O Brolchain SC said the O Connors had intended to go for a final lump sum payment but given the way she has improved it was decided to accept a periodic payment. He said the legal team felt it was more prudent to take the periodic payment. He said they thought it was an appropriate case to consider a PPO order.

He said Saibhe can smile and has been on holiday in Spain and loves the heat. He said her parents have been giving Saibhe significant and dedicated care.

Counsel said Saibhe's parents are happy with the settlement and prefer to be confident that funds will be available for the rest of their daughters life.
Former Irish Life & Permanent CEO Denis Casey has lost his appeal over his conviction for his role in a multi-billion euro conspiracy to deceive people about the true financial state of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008.

A five-judge Supreme Court today unanimously rejected the appeal by Mr Casey, who has served a sentence of two years and nine months imprisonment imposed in July 2016 after he was found guilty of a conspiracy to defraud.

A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court had found Mr Casey conspired with Anglo's John Bowe and Willie McAteer to engage in transactions between Anglo and IL&P aimed at fooling people into thinking Anglo had received an extra 7.2bn in customer deposits.

The appeal centred on whether Mr Casey was entitled to use the role of the Financial Regulator, the Central Bank and the Department of Finance as a defence in his trial.

Mr Casey argued he authorised the transactions on the basis the Regulator was fully aware of them and they were encouraged as part of the "green jersey agenda" involving Irish banks supporting each other during the financial crisis.

He said he honestly believed that, in September 2008, Anglo could not have approached IL&P for support without the knowledge of the Regulator.

The essence of his case, his counsel agreed during the appeal, was the State cannot prosecute or convict Mr Casey for this offence because a State agent got him into this mess.

That defence of officially induced error (OIE) was not permitted to go to the jury by the trial judge.

The core legal issue before the Supreme Court was whether or not a defence of OIE is available under Irish law to Mr Casey, and, if so, whether, on the evidence, it was open to Mr Casey.

Today, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, giving the courts judgment, ruled that OIE is available, within certain parameters, in this jurisdiction as an answer to a criminal charge. On the evidence in this case, it was not available to Mr Casey, he ruled.

OIE is not a justificatory or excusatory defence in criminal law, he outlined. Rather, it amounts to a legal objection to the continuation of the criminal process.

The proof of elements of unfairness leading to a trial judge staying a prosecution must be established by an accused on the balance of probabilities and the applicability of this plea is a matter of law for the trial judge.

In this case, there was nothing in the evidence before the trial judge which would have enabled any plea of OIE to succeed and the trial judge correctly ruled out any mention of such defence before the jury.

Outlining the parameters of the plea of OIE, he said an answer to a criminal charge of OIE is an exception to the rule that ignorance or mistake as to the law cannot excuse criminal conduct.

For OIE to be accepted as a bar to a criminal prosecution, an accused must prove they went in good faith to seek legal advice from the relevant appropriate authority on whether or not a proposed course of conduct was lawful.

The proposal about which legal advice is sought must be specific, describing accurately that conduct which is the subject matter of the later criminal charge, he said.

The relevant officials advice must also be specific and must amount to legal advice, or advice of mixed law and fact, in a manner which clearly and unequivocally authorises the conduct as a matter of law.

The advice must cover the specific situation, must be honestly accepted by the accused and must be such that a reasonable person would be likely to act on it. In the commission of the offence, there must be no deviation from the apparently authorised conduct.

To raise the defence, an accused must precisely describe before the trial judge what they did rather than evading responsibility through not admitting conduct, he said.
A teenage mugger who was fed drugs and alcohol from the age of 10 by his aunt and uncle will be sentenced next month.

The then 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty in December to attempted robbery of a woman who had been out walking her dogs at Marina Village, Malahide, Dublin, on the night of April 15, 2017.

However, he skipped court when he was due to be sentenced in January and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Dublin Childrens Court, file photo

He was brought back before the Dublin Childrens Court today. Judge Brendan Toale noted there was no objection to bail and the teenager apologised.

Judge Toale ordered him to sign on twice daily at his local garda station.

Sentencing was adjourned for four weeks.

The teenager has been ordered to write with a comprehensive letter of apology to the victim to avoid a conviction.

Earlier, Garda Matthew OConnor agreed with the defence the youth was remorseful when he was later interviewed about the attempted robbery.

The boys barrister said the teen had a difficult upbringing and had been fed drugs and alcohol and drugs by an uncle and an aunt from the age of 10.

The teens mother, who was present for the hearing, was aged 14 when she gave birth to him, the barrister said.

He went to live with the aunt and uncle, however, from the age of 10 they gave him alcohol and drugs.

He was later placed in a care home, however, while there he would be collected by men who brought him out to sell crack cocaine.

The teenager was never caught in possession of drugs but had been caught with the money.

He was then moved to another childrens home outside Dublin.

Counsel said the teen was now taking part in an educational course and had a girlfriend who was a good influence on him.

Recently turned 18, he hoped to get steady employment and he had a good relationship with his mother's partner who was like a father to him, the court was told.

At a previous stage, his mother had said her son was not aggressive and she had prayed he could turn his life around.

She described the attempted robbery as totally out of character for him but he had been innocent and easily led by others since he was aged 10.

She spoke about her own health problems and added that her son helps me with shopping and so much.

He can see that without drink and drugs you can have a happy life, she said.

'He had five overdoses'

She explained that the boy's granny could not cope with him and left him on his own with his uncle and aunt.

At 10, 11, 12, he had five overdoses and was in a coma at one stage," she said, adding, it was a very bad coma, for a kid at 14, for having cocaine, Valium and some things Im not too sure about myself, it was a list of endless tablets, he wasnt right for a week after it.

The mother said her son has remained in contact with some of his care worker since turning 18 and they also keep an eye on him.

The teens uncle has also managed to quit drugs but there also had been a number of deaths in the family.

The youth has no prior criminal convictions.
A Co Cork Leaving Cert student who was put under duress and pressured to take part in a property rental scam in Dublin has been spared a criminal conviction and a custodial sentence.

The then 17-year-old girl pleaded guilty to theft of 1,300 from a woman between April 14 and May 2, 2017.

In the first rent deposit scam case to come before Dublin Childrens Court, Garda Mark Kelly told Judge Brendan Toale a woman had received a number of emails from a person she had contacted about a property.

The accommodation was located in Dublin 8 and a deposit was required.

The money was transferred to the defendants bank account in two instalments.

Now aged 19, she was supported in court by her mother who brought 1,300 to court to be given to the victim of the rent deposit con.

Judge Toale said he was striking the case out after a further 250 charitable donation was handed in to court.

Judge Toale said it was appropriate that the 250 would go to the housing charity Threshold.

Garda Kelly agreed with defence solicitor Norman Walsh the teen, who had no prior convictions, did not gain financially and a third party was involved.

He said there was no evidence to link her directly to the emails and the other suspects were not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.

She co-operated with gardai and came to Dublin with a family member to be interviewed.

Garda Kelly agreed she had been gullible at the time of the theft and had been under duress.

Pleading for leniency, Mr Walsh asked the judge to note this was an isolated incident and the young woman had a good future and a supportive family.

Mr Walsh said the student had been led astray and pressured by a youth and his father who was from Nigeria.

She had met the youth in a training course, the court was told.

The teen was gullible and impressionable at the time, the solicitor said in a mitigation plea.

The teen suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and was hospitalised afterwards.

However, she went back to school and planned to go abroad to work after the Leaving Cert to save up money for college, Mr Walsh said. School reports were handed in to the judge.

The defendant, who did not address the court, has not come to Garda attention since.

Judge Toale it was the type of scam particularly played in a housing crisis.

He accepted she was a small cog in the scam and added that these scams dont work unless there are small cogs to some extent willing to be taken advantage of.

However, sparing her a conviction and a sentence he noted the teen had no previous convictions and he said the plea of mitigation was very impressive.

He was satisfied she was very unlikely to come before the court again. He sought the extra donation to charity saying that simply offering compensation to the victim was insufficient.
We will stay as long as we need to, we are not leaving Dublin without our brother. That's how it is, says the brother of an Icelandic man who is missing in Dublin since Saturday, February 9.

David Karl Vihelm told RTEs Today with Sean ORourke show that it is very common in Iceland to organise searches for missing persons. Twelve members of the family are in Dublin searching for the missing taxi driver.

This is very common back home, we have SAR teams (Search And Rescue) so if someone goes missing this is what happens, we send out a search party to find the person.

We are finishing up our assigned search areas, now we are organising with a team of locals and the SAR specialists a huge search on Saturday. It starts at 9.30am.

Jon Jonsson came to Dublin on Friday, February 8, with his fiance to participate in a poker tournament.

He arrived in the hotel on Friday, February 8, he was last seen following day, we tracked his movement with CCTV, he last seen walking up the Swords Road, close to the Highfield hospital area, that's the last known movement, he was staying in the Bonnington hotel, he left hotel room and is seen walking up the street.

When he left the hotel room, he left his phone behind, it had been having battery problems, were not sure why he didn't take it with him.

"He left without his passport, wallet or phone. We've tracked his activity online, theres been no activity on his cards, he might have had some cash on him, we're uncertain.

If he had cash it was not that much, we're talking maybe a few thousand euros.

"That was for the poker tournament, we didn't find any money in the hotel room. We can't think of any reason why he disappeared.

His fiancee reported him missing the day after, since then we have been working closely with the garda who are doing a great job.

We do not know why he left the hotel, his fiance went to the bar area for a coffee, when she came back he was gone.

Mr Karl Vihelm said that his brothers physical and mental health, to our knowledge, was just normal, he has no history of any mental health diseases or medications".

He had never gone missing before. This is very unlike him. He works as a taxi driver back home, if he works late or something he always reports back to his family or fiance. He is a father of four children. This is out of character for him.

He is the oldest of five siblings, he has a mother and a father, we're all very close. Iceland is a small community, we are 360,000 people, everyone knows everyone so this has been a really hard time for the family and close ones.

When we heard he had gone missing we hoped it would be solved soon, two days later we decided to come here, we hoped it would be sorted quickly. It was clear then that we had to take steps, the first was to get the word out to the public, by making this as public as possible.

The case has generated a lot of media attention in Iceland, he said.

On the third day we decided to set up a specialist search with the help of SAR specialists from Iceland, so we set up searching areas that we have been scanning, ever since then, we have searched hundreds of kilometres, focussing on searching and hanging up fliers and posters, with picture and information about Jon.

"Then we have a team back in Iceland focussing on social media, getting the word out.

We are extremely grateful that we have had wonderful support from the local people here, they've been helping us searching, transportation, offering accommodation, so yes, very kind people offering to help us.

Anyone who has seen Jon or who can assist in locating him is asked to contact Ballymun Garda Station on 01 6664400, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
A teenager who boasted about raping a 15-year-old girl at a house party, must wait to hear the outcome of two appeals concerning his three-year jail term.

Lawyers for the man, who was aged 16 when he raped the girl, say his three-year jail term was too long while lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions contend it was too lenient.

The 20-year-old man, whose details cannot be published to protect the victims identity, had pleaded not guilty to rape at a house in Co Wexford on July 24, 2014.

There was a two-year delay between the accused being interviewed and charged, which meant he was tried as an adult.

He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to five years imprisonment with the final two suspended by Mr Justice Paul McDermott on October 23, 2017.

The Central Criminal Court heard that the the teenagers had engaged in banter on social media before making an arrangement to meet up.

She took a lift with him and friends to a house party, where she was given shots of vodka and felt very unwell.

The accused then offered to bring her upstairs and help her to lie down.

A short time later, some of the mans friends banged on the door and ordered him to stop what he was doing.

He returned downstairs and boasted to friends, I bagged her, the court heard.

Moving to appeal against the severity of his sentence today, the mans barrister, Paddy McCarthy SC, said his clients three year jail term was too long.

Mr McCarthy said the incident occurred in 2014 but his client wasnt charged until August 2016, after he had turned 18.

He said his client was a child at the time and, as such, any penalty imposed on him should cause as little interference as possible with his pursuits.

He submitted that it was desirable to allow the education, training or employment of child offenders to proceed without interruption, according to Section 96.2 of the Childrens Act 2001.

Mr McCarthy said the objective behind sentencing children was their successful reintegration into society.

He said his clients career development when he comes out of prison and returns to society would be seriously undermined.

He said his client may only be able to go back to college as a 23-year-old which may diminish his career opportunities into the future.

The man is a musician and was doing theory exams in prison, the court heard.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Pauline Walley SC, welcomed the fact the man withdrew an appeal against his conviction that morning.

It was some comfort to the injured party who is in court, she added.

Ms Walley, who brought a cross appeal on grounds the mans sentence was unduly lenient", said the DPP was very mindful that young offenders should be treated differently, but it doesnt mean someone should get a blank cheque.

She said the case could become a benchmark for similar offences involving young offenders.

She submitted that the sentencing judge focused on the mans age to the exclusion of troubling aspects to the offence.

Ms Walley said the man had a declared intention or determination of having sex with the comatose woman from earlier on in the night.

The injured party was a young 15-year-old of slight frame, Ms Walley said.

She was a virgin at the time and bruises on her arms showed the restraint the accused exercised on her.

Ms Walley said the accused had pushed this myth that the injured party was the instigator or was somehow to be blamed because she wasnt able to control herself due to her intoxication.

The accused, in garda interviews, described the injured party as a willing participant.

It was clearly false given the state she was in, Ms Walley said.

The injured party was virtually comatose and unconscious according to the accuseds own friends.

Ms Walley said the accuseds own friends admonished him for what he had done.

One of his friends threatened to kill him.

She said the accused then elected to put the injured party through a trial and elected to continue to castigate her.

She said a probation report found him to be at a medium risk of reoffending.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, said the court would reserve judgment.
Samsung CEO DJ Koh announces the new Samsung Galaxy Fold, a phone you should not buy. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Samsung pulled back the curtain on its latest showstopper smartphone yesterday: the Galaxy Fold. It was news that everyone knew was coming  Samsung showed off a prototype of the device at its developer conference in November  so the crowd at the unveiling can be forgiven for not having gasped in surprise. What did make the crowd gasp? The price: $1,980. There were even audible groans in the audience as people realized just how much a folding phone was going to cost them.

And yet, the heart wants what the heart wants.

I want the folding phone  Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) February 21, 2019

omg the folding phone is so awesome. I want it #SamsungUnpacked  BlackIceFire (@BlackIceFire) February 20, 2019

Im gonna make fun of it but god I want the stupid folding phone so much.  Adi Robertson (@thedextriarchy) February 20, 2019

Thanks to the $2,000 price tag, I feel like this piece of advice is semi-redundant, but Ill say it anyway: Dont buy the folding phone.

Dont buy the folding phone because youll be paying Samsung a huge amount for the right to help them field-test a first-generation device.

Dont buy the folding phone because if even Apple couldnt get app developers to make over apps to fit the iPhone Xs notched screen, how much sway will Samsung have to get those same developers to make versions of their apps for a folding phone?

Dont buy the folding phone because Samsung wouldnt even put the phone on display for journalists at the unveiling event, and yet it plans to put in on sale very soon. (Hint: This is not what a company with a great product does.)

Dont buy the folding phone because so much of what will make a foldable phone work is how smoothly the phones UI and software interacts with the hardware, and historically, Samsungs phone software has ranged from the very bad to the kinda okay.

Dont buy the folding phone because the smartphone landscape is littered with phones that have attempted bold and innovative new industrial designs, from modular smartphones to Samsungs gently curved and barely remembered Galaxy Round  now all, at best, tech curios.

Dont buy the folding phone because theres a difference between being an early adopter and being a sucker, and the Galaxy Fold has all the appearances of making you the latter.

Wait for reviews, wait for UI updates, wait for the competition from other companies, wait until you can walk into your local phone store and unfold the thing for yourself before you plunk down $2,000. Wait a generation or two.

The folding phone looks cool! I can imagine how itd be nice to reach into my pocket once I find my seat on the bus or train and unfold my phone for a bigger screen. Its a sound concept. But while I have plenty of regrets in this life, not jumping first on a tech trend has never been one of them. Im going to let other people  people who didnt heed my advice  be the guinea pigs to see if the folding phone actually has value, or is just another gasp from the smartphone industry as it enters into its slow decline.

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Fota Wildlife Park today announced the birth of a female baby European bison, (Bison bonasus), who was born on January 4 to mother Erika and father Hyssop.

The news is a result of ongoing efforts to help re-grow the species population.

17-year-old Erika is one of the founding members of the Fota herd, she originally came from the Skansen Foundation Zoo in Stockholm and this new calf is her 13th birth.

The European bison, also known as the wisent is a distinctive looking animal with a thickset body, short neck and a visible hump at the shoulder. As the largest land mammal in Europe, a big bull can weigh up to 1,000 kilos and can reach a height of six feet.

Erica has over 50 grandchildren in various zoological institutions across Europe, all of them participating in the coordinated European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).

Her father is the dominant bull of the herd, Hyssop, who came to Fota from Port Lympne Reserve (UK) five years ago. Classified Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the European bison is the largest land-mammal species in Europe.

Its very exciting for us to welcome a new female calf to the herd, especially as the European bison was extinct in the wild but has since undergone a population regrowth thanks to the efforts and coordinated initiatives from zoological institutions, including Fota, Lead Ranger, Aidan Rafferty said.

The species has been re-introduced from captive populations back to their native habitats in Eastern Europe.

It is amazing to see the conservation work that Fota Wildlife Park does, come to life, literally, in the wilds of the Carpathian Mountains as the two females from Fota plus their offspring have become part of this free-roaming herd

Last month, Park Director Sean McKeown and Mr Rafferty visited Vanatori Neamt Nature Park in Romania to see how well two female bison from the Fota herd were thriving since they were sent there as part of a re-introduction programme in 2014.

Production company Red Pepper filmed this for Virgin Media Television as part of a four-part documentary series about Fota Wildlife Park which is coming soon to Virgin Media One.
If tariffs are introduced on Irish beef exports into the UK, as has been suggested by the UKs Environment Secretary Michael Gove, then meat plants here will close and there will be job losses is the warning from the director of Meat Industry Ireland.

Cormac Healy told RTEs Today with Sean ORourke show that the industry is still hoping for an orderly Brexit with the minimum of disruption.

Cormac Healy

There has been a lot of speculation and we havent yet seen what approach the UK government is going to take about adopting tariffs.

If the UK applies tariffs it will have a huge impact on the industry.

He said that the Irish meat industry wants to continue to supply the UK market. The reality is that if tariffs come in then there will be plant closures and job losses.

A tariff support mechanism is the only option to support the industry, he added.

Mr Healy refuted a claim by the Beef Plan Movement that Irish meat producers can sell their product for 20% cheaper than Brazilian beef.

He pointed out that the price today of Brazilian beef is 2.16, Uruguayan beef is 2.70 while Irish beef is 3.85, while heifer meat is 4.

Earlier on the same show, Dermot OBrien of the Beef Plan Movement had claimed that beef processors have a monopoly of the market and were indulging in anti-competitive practices.

Were trying to rectify this, were representing the ordinary beef farmer. The IFA at local level is wonderful, but it is failing to represent some members.

He said that practices such as the Fourth Movement Rule (if animal moves more than four times it then has to go to the factory) are inhibiting farmers from getting a decent price.

He claimed that there are 60 million mouths to be fed there (in the UK), 80% of our beef goes to the UK. We can sell 20% cheaper than Brazilian beef. Our beef is a world-class product, it is antibiotic free.

Mr OBrien said the Movement has nothing against the IFA and just wanted the opportunity to be included with the IFA and other farming organisations in future food forums.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett has admitted the delays his party is facing in progressing a bill targeting the banning of oil and gas drilling in Irish waters, through the Oireachtas, may be sufficient to scupper it entirely.

Despite being passed - as a private members' motion - to committee stage last year, the bill has ended up in procedural limbo with the environment committee repeatedly failing to vote on progressing it to the Dail.

People Before Profit wants the bill to be debated by the Dail select committee, where it feels it has a chance of progress. It also said the original passing of the bill should allow for entry to the select committee, under Oireachtas rules.

The party must now re-table the motion in the Dail, after further stalemate in the business committee. However, the party is not eligible for private members' time in the chamber until late April. The party has asked Government to allow it time to call a vote - without debate, if necessary - deciding on whether or not the bill goes before the select committee.

Mr Boyd-Barrett accused Fine Gael of using procedure to block the bill, for political reasons, "because it doesn't like its content". He said a ten-week wait to table the motion, followed by time spent on committee debates and drafting reports could overrun the lifespan of the current government and, essentially, "scupper the bill".

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the proposed bill was wrong in terms of its arguments regarding climate action, energy security and economic benefits.

Meanwhile, shares in Irish-based exploration company United Oil and Gas fell nearly 8% despite an independent report suggesting the prospect it co-owns with Tullow Oil, offshore Jamaica, could hold 229 million barrels of oil; 10 million more than thought.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says he has no doubt at all a number of countries will lay claim to parts of the 14bn Ireland collected in back taxes from Apple if the Government were to lose the legal appeal it launched against the EU almost three years ago.

The Government has collected the back taxes the Commission said in August 2016 that Apple owed Ireland after ruling the company struck a sweet-heart tax deal over many years that breached EU State-aid rules.

The original ruling involved 13.1bn in back taxes, which with accruing interest has grown to just over 14bn, and the money is held in an account until a European court hears the Governments appeal.

That hearing will probably take place and be concluded before the summer, Mr Donohoe told the Oireachtas Finance Committee.

The Government launched its appeal because it believes the ruling is wrong.

It has repeatedly said there was no deal done by the Irish tax authorities with Apple that breached State-aid rules. Ireland had followed EU rules at all times, he said.

Asked by Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty whether he had plans to use the 14bn, Mr Donohoe said that if the Government were to lose the appeal that Ireland would inevitably face claims from multiple jurisdictions around the world who would lay claim to the billions in the account.

The 2016 ruling was initiated by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The commission had initially threatened to sue Ireland for what it saw as it delaying collecting the money from Apple before dropping the legal action last September.

Separately, the Government has continued to fight off commission plans for an EU digital tax.
Cork-based Strencom has announced today that it has signed cloud and connectivity deals totalling 2 million with 140 credit unions across the country.

The Irish managed connectivity and cloud computing provider will host the credit unions' valuable financial data and connect credit unions with multiple branches.

Strencom's secure hosting platform is specifically designed for financial services and will provide secure, fast and reliable service to credit unions with assets in excess of 8 billion.

The platform will ensure additional security for credit union members, hosting their sensitive financial and personal data in Strencoms primary Irish-based data centre, as well as being backed up in a secondary Irish-based data centre.

Strencom now provides services to credit unions including Tipperary CU, Drogheda CU, Croi Laighean CU, Mullingar CU, Tower CU, Ballygall CU, Member First CU, First Choice CU, Thurles CU, Health Services Staffs CU and Mallow CU.

"Data security is absolutely crucial in the financial services sector, and we are confident that our solution provides Irelands credit unions and their customers with the best protection," said Tim Murphy, CEO, Strencom.

All of our services are provided over a secure private network, with 24/7 monitoring, so members information is iron-clad.

Danny O'Donoghue, IT manager, Bishopstown Credit Union, said, Regulation around business continuity, data security and PCI compliance has become more rigorous in the last number of years.

"Credit unions now need a secure, dependable service to enable us to provide an efficient service to members, with the peace of mind that their personal data is protected.

"The bespoke connectivity and cloud hosting platform provided by Strencom meets all our known regulatory, risk and compliance needs."
Over the past six years, more than 32,000 jobs have been created, according to Alan Quirke, recently appointed Director of the Ireland South East Development Office.

During this period, the unemployment rate fell from a peak of 16% in 2012 to 8% in 2018.

Today sees the publication of the first 'Ireland's South East: Economy at a Glance' statistical bulletin.

The bulletin, along with the release of the CSO's Q4 2018 Labour Force Survey results this week, offer an opportunity to look at the performance of the regional economy over the previous year, said Mr Quirke.

He said that the bulletin shows "that the South East is making steady progress in terms of falling unemployment, increasing employment and a growing labour force.

"Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland have posted record jobs numbers in the South East for 2018 and cutting-edge companies such as Bausch and Lomb, Glanbia and MSD have committed to investing around 500 million in the region in the last six months".

Mr Quirke added that the progress is also related to the cost competitiveness of the region where average house prices are one third of those in South Dublin, general costs of living are over one third cheaper than Dublin and childcare costs are the cheapest in the country.

This is adding to the high quality of life that the region already offers and is a great basis from which to build the South East as the first choice for business, careers, inward investment and tourists.

As well as investment from companies, significant investment has continued in two major road projects costing 650m - the New Ross and Enniscorthy bypasses - both of which are due to open in the summer of 2019.

Funding has been granted for eight Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Ups which is a record number for the region and five companies have received the Competitive Start Fund.

Just under 3m was secured in 2018 under the Regional Economic Development Fund which will fund the Crystal Valley Tech Cluster, the Incupharm Life Sciences start-up and R&D lab, and the Centre4Design which will promote problem-solving and innovation in the regions businesses.

Challenges remain on the horizon  not least in whatever form Brexit will take  but our view is that the region is making steady progress," said Mr Quirke.
TORONTO - Vancouver doctors are seeing an uptick in the number of unvaccinated teens and young adults seeking to be inoculated against measles in the wake of an outbreak of the disease at two schools in the city.

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This article was published 20/2/2019 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is seen on a countertop at a pediatrics clinic in Greenbrae, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Eric Risberg

TORONTO - Vancouver doctors are seeing an uptick in the number of unvaccinated teens and young adults seeking to be inoculated against measles in the wake of an outbreak of the disease at two schools in the city.

Dr. Eric Cadesky, a family physician and president of Doctors of BC, said he's seen a number of young patients recently who made appointments to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine over concerns about the outbreak.

"Some of them said their parents were against vaccination because of unreliable sources of information that they received," Cadesky said. "Others had been hesitant (to be inoculated) because of pressure from peer groups."

Cadesky said every physician in his practice has noticed a jump in young people asking to get immunized, and he's heard similar stories from a number of other doctors elsewhere in the province and beyond.

"I've heard of people throughout Canada and even doctors around the world saying that millennials are using these outbreaks as an opportunity to revisit the decision that their parents had made for them," he said.

"And many are making a different decision, which is to protect themselves and also, in many cases, that means protecting the people around them, because not everyone can receive the vaccine."

Among the patients Cadesky inoculated is Maddi Bisset, who had no vaccinations as a child because her mother believed young children shouldn't be "pumped full of chemicals."

"She preferred more 'natural' alternatives, including homeopathy and essential oils," the 23-year-old said in an email interview Wednesday.

"Everything my mother did was with our best interests in mind. I just believe she put too much faith into false articles she found online and did not consider what heavy repercussions not vaccinating your child has on both their health, the public's health and the possible life-threatening situations it puts at-risk people in.

"With the frightening resurgence of measles in Vancouver, it wasn't a choice anymore, is was a moral obligation to public safety," Bisset said of her decision to get immunized.

So far, nine cases of measles have been confirmed at the two French-language schools in Vancouver, a cluster that began after an unvaccinated B.C. child contracted the disease during a family trip to Vietnam, where the highly contagious disease is endemic.

Infection with the measles virus begins with a high fever, coughing, runny nose and red eyes, followed by the development of a blotchy, painful rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. A person is contagious for about four days before the rash erupts and four days after its onset.

Complications include ear infections that can lead to deafness, blindness, pneumonia and encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.

Measles, which is spread through air-borne droplets after an infected person coughs or sneezes, can also be a killer. The World Health Organization says there were 110,000 deaths from measles globally in 2017, most of them children under age five.

While measles was declared officially eliminated in Canada in 1998, cases imported by travellers can cause sporadic outbreaks like the one now occurring in Vancouver, seeding the disease within the community and putting those without immunity at risk.

Some people  infants, people with certain underlying health conditions and those undergoing chemotherapy  cannot be vaccinated and must rely on "herd" immunity to prevent infection. Others at risk are those who choose not to be immunized, often based on a long-discredited 1998 U.K. study that suggested the MMR vaccine was linked to autism in children.

Cadesky said young patients like Bisset are often exposed to ideas and beliefs among their peers that differ from those of their parents, causing them to look for validated information, "and they're correctly concluding that vaccination is safe and effective."

Bisset agreed, saying her friends are all vaccinated and are pro-immunization.

"I think youth have adapted along with the Internet and have a better sense of which sources are reliable, and with so much information there now, can compare information easily," she said.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said the MMR shot is not only safe, but it's one of the most effective vaccines doctors have for preventing disease.

"If someone is questioning whether to get vaccinated or not ... it's a really good idea now to go in and talk to your health provider if you have questions and get them answered and get yourself vaccinated," Tam said. "I don't think it's too late ever to get your measles immunization up to date."

That's especially advisable for anyone planning to travel during the upcoming March break to countries where the disease is poorly controlled, she said. Measles remains a common affliction in many areas of the world, including in parts of Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Africa.

The U.S. is also experiencing travel-related outbreaks, with 127 cases of measles confirmed in 10 states between Jan. 1 and Feb. 14, with Washington and New York states particularly hard hit by the disease, says a report by the Centers for Disease Control.

 Follow @SherylUbelacker on Twitter.
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This article was published 20/2/2019 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Liberal MP Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - A chronology of events in the SNC-Lavalin controversy:

Feb. 19, 2015  The RCMP lays corruption and fraud charges against Montreal-based engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin, over allegations it used bribery to get government business in Libya. SNC-Lavalin says the charges are without merit and stem from "alleged reprehensible deeds by former employees who left the company long ago." A conviction would bar the company from bidding on Canadian government business, potentially devastating it.

Oct. 19  The Liberals win a federal election, taking power from the Conservatives. Two weeks later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau names Jody Wilson-Raybould minister of justice and attorney general of Canada. She is the first Indigenous person to hold the post, which combines duties as a politician (heading the Department of Justice) and a legal official (overseeing prosecutions).

March 27, 2018  The Liberals table a budget bill that includes a change to the Criminal Code allowing "remediation agreements," plea-bargain-like deals between prosecutors and accused corporations in which they can avoid criminal proceedings by making reparations for previous bad behaviour. SNC-Lavalin had lobbied for such a provision in Canadian law.

Spring  Although the bill has yet to pass, SNC-Lavalin contacts Public Prosecution Service lawyers to ensure they have all relevant information for a possible invitation to negotiate a remediation agreement. During the next three months, in response to requests from prosecutors, SNC-Lavalin provides detailed information it sees as making a strong case for an agreement.

Sept. 4  The prosecution service tells SNC-Lavalin in writing it will not invite the firm to negotiate a remediation agreement.

Sept. 17  Trudeau and Wilson-Raybould discuss the SNC-Lavalin file. As attorney general, Wilson-Raybould could overrule the prosecution service, directing it to negotiate an agreement with the company. Trudeau later says that Wilson-Raybould asked him if he planned to tell her what to do concerning the prosecution  a conversation that he says ended with him telling her any decision was hers alone.

Sept. 18  SNC-Lavalin representatives meet with Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick (Canada's most senior civil servant) and Finance Minister Bill Morneau to discuss issues including "justice and law enforcement."

Sept. 21  The remediation-agreement provisions come into legal force.

Oct. 9  The director of prosecutions confirms again in writing that she will not invite SNC-Lavalin to negotiate a remediation agreement, a decision the company challenges in Federal Court. That challenge is ongoing.

Oct. 10  SNC-Lavalin issues a news release saying it strongly disagrees with the director of prosecutions' position and remains open and committed to negotiating a remediation agreement. SNC-Lavalin shares fall nearly 14 per cent, closing at $44.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Thats the lowest close since March 2, 2016.

Oct. 11  SNC-Lavalin meets with Elder Marques, a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office, to discuss "justice and law enforcement."

Nov. 5 and 19  SNC-Lavalin meets with Mathieu Bouchard, a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office, to discuss "justice and law enforcement."

December  According to the Prime Minister's Office, Wilson-Raybould raises the remediation case with Gerald Butts, the prime minister's principal secretary, and he tells her to talk to Wernick, the Privy Council clerk.

Jan. 14, 2019  Trudeau shuffles his cabinet after the resignation of Treasury Board president Scott Brison. Wilson-Raybould is moved from Justice to Veterans Affairs, widely seen as a demotion. David Lametti, a Montreal MP and former law professor, becomes justice minister. Wilson-Raybould posts a long letter outlining her record as justice minister and noting a great deal of work remains to be done toward reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Feb. 7  Citing unnamed sources, the Globe and Mail newspaper reports that Trudeau's aides attempted to press Wilson-Raybould, while attorney general, to intervene in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, and that exasperation with her lack of co-operation was one reason for shuffling her out of the justice portfolio. Trudeau denies any impropriety. Citing solicitor-client privilege, Wilson-Raybould refuses to speak about dealings she had on the case when she was attorney general.

Feb. 11  Federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion says he's beginning an investigation. At a public appearance in Vancouver, Trudeau says he's spoken to Wilson-Raybould and confirmed with her that he said any decision on the SNC-Lavalin prosecution was entirely hers. Her continued presence in his cabinet speaks for itself, he says.

Feb. 12  Wilson-Raybould resigns as veterans-affairs minister and says she's hired former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell to advise her on the limits of solicitor-client privilege. Trudeau says he's surprised and disappointed that Wilson-Raybould has quit, and that if she felt undue pressure in her role as attorney general, she had a duty to report it to him.

Feb. 13  The House of Commons justice committee debates its own probe of the issue. Liberals use their majority to call one closed-door meeting and hear from senior officials (Lametti as justice minister, the top bureaucrat in his department, and the clerk of the Privy Council) who can talk about the tension between the minister of justice's duties as a politician and his or her responsibilities as attorney general of Canada. The Liberals say this is a first step in a cautious investigation, but the opposition calls it a coverup.

Feb. 15  Trudeau says Wilson-Raybould asked him in September whether he would direct her one way or another on the SNC-Lavalin question. He says he told her he would not.

Feb. 18  Butts resigns as Trudeau's principal secretary. He denies any impropriety but says his continued presence in the Prime Minister's Office has become a distraction.

Feb. 19  Wilson-Raybould stuns observers by attending a meeting of the very cabinet from which she resigned a week earlier. Plans are made for her to testify before the justice committee.
TORONTO - Ontario issued a directive Thursday to Hydro One, ordering it to pay its CEO no more than $1.5 million per year  substantially less than the partially privatized utility had proposed.

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This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - Ontario issued a directive Thursday to Hydro One, ordering it to pay its CEO no more than $1.5 million per year  substantially less than the partially privatized utility had proposed.

Hydro One and the government have been at loggerheads over executive compensation, with the company refusing repeated requests to slash the CEO pay below $2,775,000.

Energy Minister Greg Rickford had asked Hydro One last week to come up with a revised executive compensation framework that set its CEO's salary and incentives no higher than $1.5 million, but the utility didn't budge.

Rickford took the step Thursday of issuing a formal directive that compels Hydro One to set the CEO's base salary no higher than $500,000 with a maximum of $1 million in incentives. Those incentives must be dependent on meeting certain targets, including reducing transmission and distribution costs.

The Tories have promised to reduce electricity bills by 12 per cent.

Rickford said he was scheduled to have a discussion Thursday afternoon with the board chairman about the directive, but warned that "there isn't any room to negotiate on this."

"We're frankly focused on a directive that we think reflects a fair parameter for compensation for the CEO and the board of directors," Rickford said. "I don't know how we could be more clear."

The directive also requires that the Hydro One board chair be paid no more than $120,000 and board members be paid no more than $80,000 per year.

Hydro One issued a brief statement in response, confirming it had received the directive.

"The board will continue to focus on its CEO search," it said.

Less than two hours after Rickford announced the directive, the Progressive Conservatives sent a fundraising email about it to supporters, touting their action and asking for money.

"The board of Hydro One is trying to hire a new CEO," the email in Premier Doug Ford's name said. "You know what they want to pay? $2.7 MILLION per year. For one person! We told them it's a flat-out no. But they didn't listen. So we are directing them."

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the way in which the Tories have handled Hydro One seems to be about raising money for their party.

"I guess they're trying to appeal to their base, who I guess are folks that don't like to see CEO's of Hydro One having big salaries," she said.

Hydro One had said its proposed compensation framework took into account the need to attract, retain and motivate highly-qualified leadership at Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider, noting it is responsible for more than $25 billion in assets and annual revenues of nearly $6 billion.

But Rickford said that the compensation levels in the directive are reasonable, more closely aligning it with corporations such as Ontario Power Generation, which produces about 50 per cent of Ontario's electricity.

"Moving forward, I am confident that Hydro One's board of directors will continue to take steps to earn the trust and confidence of the people of Ontario," he said in a statement. "I believe Hydro One's best days are ahead, and the corporation will emerge stronger than ever while respecting Ontario's electricity customers."

The Progressive Conservatives campaigned hard against Hydro One salaries in last year's election campaign, dubbing then-CEO Mayo Schmidt the "six-million-dollar man." Soon after they were elected, one of the government's first acts was to force Schmidt's resignation.

After Schmidt was forced out, the utility's entire board resigned and downgrades and lower values of Hydro One shares followed.

Last month, Hydro One and American utility Avista Corp. announced they were cancelling a planned merger, after regulators in Washington state said the deal would not sufficiently safeguard customers from the whims of the Ontario government.

The previous Liberal government began partially privatizing the utility in 2015, ultimately selling off just over half of its stake.
Federal money for high-speed rail is the latest pawn in an extended fight between the Golden State and the Trump administration. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Its no big secret that California is a place that Republicans love to hate. And given the states on-again, off-again reputation as a social-policy laboratory and a pioneer in progressive politics, its no surprise that conservatives elsewhere easily fall into the old habit of treating the Golden State as a pestiferous breeding ground for godless tree-hugging hippies who conspire with illegal immigrants and other underclass elements to rip off businesses and productive individuals to subsidize their profligate lifestyles.

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Californias current status, confirmed richly in the 2018 midterms, as a state that is dominated politically by Democrats and is wildly hostile to President Trump has just intensified GOP attacks on the Left Coast. Add in House Speaker Nancy Pelosis status as the congresswoman representing Hippie Central, San Francisco, and you have the perfect MAGA target.

And so when newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom announced he planned to scale back the financially and logistically troubled high-speed rail project that his predecessors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown had championed, Trump was ready to pounce:

California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a green disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

Trump was alluding to a grant California had been given by the Obama administration back in 2010 as part of its stimulus package, which included a national push for high-speed rail. Around $2.5 billion has already been spent, under close federal supervision. But $929 million of the grant has yet to be drawn down, and to make it clear Trump wasnt just bluffing, his administration sent word earlier this week that it was canceling the money, per CBS:

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to cancel millions of dollars in federal grant funds designated for the California High-Speed Rail project.

The FRA intends to cancel $929 million in grant funds that have yet to be paid to the project which was meant to connect between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Moreover, the FRA echoed Trumps demand that California send back the $2.5 billion in federal funds already spent on the project, as the Los Angeles Times reported:

The Transportation Department also said it was actively exploring every legal option to get back an additional $2.5-billion grant that is being used to finance the construction of 119 miles of rail line in the Central Valley.

The two federal grants represent about one-fourth of all the funding for the project to date  money critical to completing the Central Valley portion and finishing environmental reviews for other segments between San Francisco and Los Angeles. If the funds are lost or tied up in a long legal battle, the state would probably have to either make up the money elsewhere or further curtail the project.

Experts on federal-state relations say this clawback effort is legally murky at best:

This does seem unprecedented, said Eloise Pasachoff, a law professor specializing in federal grants at the Georgetown University Law Center. It is common to take money back that grantees misspent. I am unaware of any time when an agency has threatened to terminate a grant because a grantee is not on target to achieve the substantive goals the grant was meant to achieve.

What most complicates the Feds case for going after the money is that Newsom hotly denies hes killed or abandoned the overall project. All hes really said is that finishing the original project right now isnt feasible, and that he wants to focus on the Central Valley portion of the system thats already under construction. Once the whole mess gets into court (which it undoubtedly will), this little detail could cause Team Trump problems in seeking to cancel the unobligated dollars, much less clawing back money already spent.

But never satisfied with an argument he cannot link to his broader obsessions (often to the consternation of his lawyers), Trump has escalated the battle with California over high-speed rail money by suggesting its money he could spend on his precious border wall:

The failed Fast Train project in California, where the cost overruns are becoming world record setting, is hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2019

Thats definitely not true, but it certainly does lend credence to Newsoms claim about Trumps motives:

Its no coincidence that the administrations threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the presidents farcical national emergency, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we wont sit idly by. This is Californias money, and we are going to fight for it.

It helps Trump that despite Schwarzeneggers original sponsorship of the project, most California Republicans these days are strongly opposed to high-speed rail. Now they can lustfully join in the attacks on their own state  on behalf of the virtuous farmers and suburbanites their shrinking ranks represent in Sacramento and Washington  against the socialists and America-haters who are ruining the once-Golden State with their crazy and expensive schemes for dragging Californians out of their cars and off their planes.
SAINT JOHN, N.B. - A man who probably heard Richard Oland being bludgeoned to death in his office has told a Saint John court he cannot pinpoint the time the strange thumping noises were made.

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This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dennis Oland heads to the Law Courts in Saint John, N.B., on January 29, 2019 as his trial in the bludgeoning death of his millionaire father, Richard Oland, continues. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - A man who probably heard Richard Oland being bludgeoned to death in his office has told a Saint John court he cannot pinpoint the time the strange thumping noises were made.

John Ainsworth's testimony at the second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland on Thursday leaves open the possibility that the multimillionaire businessman was killed during his son's visit to the uptown Saint John office on July 6, 2011.

Ainsworth cannot corroborate the testimony of his friend, Anthony Shaw, who was also working in the building, below Richard Oland's office, on the evening of the killing.

Shaw said he believes he heard the thumping sounds sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.  a time that would exclude Dennis Oland as the killer since he was caught on video shopping in a store on the outskirts of the New Brunswick port city.

But Ainsworth, who owns the building, said he cannot be more precise beyond saying he heard the noises sometime between 6 and 8 p.m.

Dennis Oland was visiting privately with his father in the second-floor office until 6:30 p.m. Police and prosecutors believe he killed his father "in a rage" over money issues during the visit.

Ainsworth and Shaw were working in Ainsworth's printing shop on the first floor when they both heard the thumps coming "through the ceiling" from the area of Richard Oland's office.

Ainsworth said there are just two times he is sure of: Shaw's arrival at the printing shop at "6ish" and the presence of a customer who sent a fax later that evening. The fax was time-stamped 8:11 p.m.

"Those are the benchmarks," he told the court. "Everything else is as nebulous as all get out."

Ainsworth said he heard a loud thump followed by what he described as "rapid fire" noises. He said he and Shaw did not investigate the sounds.

"It was so short-lived," Ainsworth said. "Maybe 10 to 12 seconds. It wasn't disconcerting  We kind of looked at each other and didn't think much of it."

Richard Oland, 69, was killed by over 40 blows, mostly to his head. A weapon was never found but the autopsy identified both sharp edge and round, hammer-like blows to Oland's head. Blood, bone and brain matter were sprayed around the room.

His only son, Dennis, an investment adviser, was charged with second-degree murder in 2013. He has pleaded not guilty.

Oland was convicted by a jury in 2015 but the verdict was set aside in 2016 and the new trial ordered. The current trial is before judge alone.

Crown prosecutors are close to concluding their case against Oland and may be able to wrap it up on Friday. The defence will cross-examine Ainsworth on Friday afternoon.

The defence is expected to present its case in a couple of weeks. Defence lawyer Alan Gold said he plans to ask the court to allow a visit to the crime scene for better visualization of the cramped conditions in the office.

Justice Terrence Morrison said such requests are not usually granted, but he said Gold is free to make the application.

In addition to Ainsworth's testimony, prosecutors are playing video of blood and DNA testimony from Oland's first trial in 2015.

Joy Kearsey, who worked extensively on the Oland case at the RCMP laboratory in Halifax, testified there were four confirmed bloodstains on the brown jacket Dennis Oland was wearing on July 6, 2011. Richard Oland's DNA was found in three of the stains.

Kearsey said the probability that those DNA samples would match another Caucasian male in the Canadian population was "one in 510 billion"  a virtually impossible chance that the samples could belong to someone else.

Friday will be day 39 of the Oland retrial.
TORONTO - People with developmental disabilities are more likely than the non-disabled to encounter problems with Ontario's health-care system regardless of age, sex or class, a new study suggests.

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TORONTO - People with developmental disabilities are more likely than the non-disabled to encounter problems with Ontario's health-care system regardless of age, sex or class, a new study suggests.

The research from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences found the developmentally disabled were significantly more likely to die young, languish in hospital without plans for appropriate aftercare, spend time in long-term care, or have repeat hospitalizations and emergency room visits than their non-disabled peers.

The study, compiled by researchers from ICES, the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, said the findings held true regardless of what disability was specifically at play. They also transcended a variety of boundaries that usually serve as strong predictors of poor health outcomes, such as age and socioeconomic status.

Elizabeth Lin, CAMH scientist and co-lead author of the study, which was released Thursday, said the data suggests the presence of a developmental disability is the factor that leaves people most vulnerable.

"There's something about developmental disabilities in and of itself that appears to be contributing to these higher rates of the outcomes that we looked at," Lin said in a telephone interview.

The researchers surveyed the medical records of more than 64,000 Ontario residents with a range of developmental disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome, and analyzed data compiled between 2010 and 2016.

In each of the negative health outcomes the researchers analyzed, they found a disproportionate impact on the developmentally disabled population.

Lin said what shocked her the most during the course of the research was the early mortality rate, which researchers defined as dying before the age of 75.

Across all age groups, income brackets and sexes, the early mortality rate of 1.6 per cent prevailing in the non-disabled population soared to 6.1 per cent for the developmentally disabled. That number doubled to 12.3 per cent for those with Down syndrome.

The study found 34.5 per cent of disabled people had to visit an emergency room more than once in a 30-day stretch compared to 19.6 for the non-disabled. The pattern held for repeat hospital stays in a 30-day period, where the findings showed 7.4 per cent for the disabled and 2.3 per cent for those without a disability.

The data indicates a phenomenon known as alternate level of care, in which someone spends at least one day in hospital despite being medically cleared for release, only impacts 0.7 per cent of the non-disabled population. That figure jumped to 4.6 per cent for those with developmental disabilities.

In the age groups included in the survey, which ranged from 19 to 64, only 0.2 per cent of non-disabled people spend at least a day in a long-term care home. For the disabled, that figure was 3.5 per cent.

One of those impacted was Teresa Pocock, who spent a brief stint in an Ontario nursing home despite being just 49 at the time.

"It was terrible," said Pocock, who now lives with family and pursues art in Vancouver. "I don't like it."

The report did not explore the causes of the numerous gaps in care, but researchers and those with lived experience of navigating the health system with a developmental disability said the reasons are complex.

Yona Lunsky, director of CAMH's Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, said there's widespread ignorance in the medical field about the ways developmental disabilities manifest themselves.

In sessions she's conducted with emergency room staff, for instance, she's repeatedly heard that disabled patients are rare arrivals. After viewing teaching videos of common scenarios, however, session participants say they come across such situations more often than they realized.

Lunsky said society's disproportionate focus on developmentally disabled children may be at the heart of some of the misconceptions.

Health-care professionals are not trained to recognize developmental disabilities and provide appropriate care in adulthood, she said, adding they often expect their patients to show symptoms and behaviours based on stereotypes they've long grown past.

But stigma also plays a role, she said, adding people with invisible disabilities may not be willing or able to communicate their situations in environments they've found unsupportive in the past.

"I don't think we've been as accommodating as we can to give that message to people that says, 'we want to know about what your unique needs are so that we can accommodate them," she said. "Some people, at least, are thinking, 'I'm going to be treated worse if I make it obvious that I have this disability, or I'm not going to get the care that I need.'"

The report contains numerous recommendations for the health-care and social sectors, including giving disabled people a more prominent voice in their own care, establishing more supports to keep people out of long-term care for longer, and setting up reviews in early mortality cases to determine the causes.

Such actions would be welcome to Alex Haagaard, who is autistic and uses a wheelchair. She, too, noted that stereotypes across the spectrum of abilities can lead to lasting harm.

"When you're perceived as not competent, you're denied autonomy and the ability to take control over your own decisions in relation to your health," she said. "If you try to assert your own control, they assume you don't actually need support."
TORONTO - A man accused of killing his daughter on her 11th birthday died in hospital on Wednesday evening, police said, noting that their investigation into the girl's death is not over.

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This article was published 20/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police monitor the scene outside of a house where a young girl was found dead in Brampton, Ont. on Friday, February 15, 2019. A man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter has reportedly died in hospital. Roopesh Rajkumar died on Wednesday, according to media reports, after spending days in hospital with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Ryan

TORONTO - A man accused of killing his daughter on her 11th birthday died in hospital on Wednesday evening, police said, noting that their investigation into the girl's death is not over.

Roopesh Rajkumar had been hospitalized with what police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound since shortly after his arrest.

His daughter, Riya Rajkumar, became the subject of an Amber Alert late Thursday night after her father allegedly indicated to her mother that he planned to hurt both the child and himself.

Shortly after the alert was sent out, Peel regional police knocked down the door to her father's home in Brampton, Ont., and found Riya's body.

Officers have not released her cause of death, and note that the homicide unit will continue its investigation.

Rajkumar was arrested by provincial police more than 100 kilometres away in Oro-Medonte, Ont., and was charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators have said that after Rajkumar was transferred into the custody of local police, they discovered he was injured and took him to hospital. The province's police watchdog declined to investigate the circumstances leading to the gunshot wound.

The day Riya died  Valentine's Day  was also her and her mother's birthdays.

"She was so excited for her birthday, looking forward to having dinner later that evening," Riya's mother, Priya Ramdin, said in a statement Tuesday. "Never did I think that my daughter would not return back to me."

Riya's funeral was held earlier Wednesday.
CAVENDISH, P.E.I. - Fossilized footprints discovered on Prince Edward Island last year have been matched with a prehistoric predator, giving the site newfound global significance.

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This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CAVENDISH, P.E.I. - Fossilized footprints discovered on Prince Edward Island last year have been matched with a prehistoric predator, giving the site newfound global significance.

Federal and provincial officials announced Thursday that the series of footprints found last May near Prince Edward Island National Park in Cavendish have been confirmed to be those of the sail-backed Bathygnathus borealis.

The reptile-like mammal lived 100 million years before dinosaurs and is commonly known as the Dimetrodon.

It was considered the top predator of its time.

The footprints mark the only record of life on land in Canada during the Permian period, a geological age 300 million years ago.

Politicians and scientists welcomed the discovery as a feather in the cap for the province's history and research potential.

"The fossil legacy of the Island has reached a point where it stands proudly on the world stage," said John Calder, a geology professor at Saint Mary's University.

In a news release Thursday, Prince Edward Island Premier Wade MacLauchlan expressed pride that the discovery put the small province on the paleontological map.

"While most of Canada as we know it today was submerged under water, Prince Edward Island was one of the few places with life on land before dinosaurs even walked the Earth," MacLauchlan said.

"This exciting discovery will undoubtedly spark the interests of paleontologists from around the world."

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version wrongly referred to Prince Edward Island National Park as Cavendish National Park
VICTORIA - British Columbia's budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market, business leaders say.

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This article was published 20/2/2019 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Finance Minister Carole James arrives to deliver the budget speech as she waves to people in the gallery at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, February 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA - British Columbia's budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market, business leaders say.

Finance Minister Carole James is banking on continued strong economic growth to fund long-term social and economic programs amounting to $2 billion over the next three years, but that's risky, B.C. Business Council president Greg D'Avignon said Wednesday.

He said the council, which represents many of the largest employers in the province, credits the government for the budget initiatives that support families and environment programs, but it should not take business for granted in a darkening economy.

"I would caution the government that to take the economy for granted is at their peril," D'Avignon said. "There's a complete absence of economic vision in the face of what we see are some increasing strong head winds facing the economy in B.C. and Canada."

Finance Minister Carole James arrives to deliver the budget speech as she waves to people in the gallery at the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, February 19, 2018. Business leaders say they're concerned the British Columbia government's budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Recent economic data suggest Europe could be heading for recession, global trade is facing turmoil as the United States and China squabble and Canada is being hit by trade sanctions from the U.S., he said. Recent U.S. tax cuts also impact the competitiveness of products from British Columbia, said D'Avignon.

The budget includes a $400-million Child Opportunity Benefit for families with children up to age 18. Interest on student loans was eliminated, social assistance payments increased by $50 per month and support payments for children of foster parents were increased.

The budget introduced Tuesday included the minority New Democrat government's $902-million Clean BC Fund to fight climate change.

"It's almost as though the economy's taken for granted," D'Avignon said. "The consequence of that is we're just not going to have the revenue or the means to support baked in, long-term costs when the economy starts softening as we're seeing through a bunch of indices and anecdotes from the investors around our table."

Real estate developer Jason Turcotte said the budget looks to tax revenue from home sales to help fund programs, but it hinders new property developments that create the wealth.

"There's not a lot of incentive right now to move forward with projects and if that happens on any kind of mass scale we're going to have a shortage of supply, which obviously doesn't help affordability at all," said Turcotte, vice-president at Metro Vancouver's Cressey Development.

He said his company and others are delaying real estate projects.

The government introduced tax measures in last year's budget to moderate B.C.'s real estate market.

The budget forecasts revenue from B.C. housing starts to drop almost 17 per cent this year and decline 6.4 per cent next year.

James said she expects the market to continue to moderate but does not foresee a crash because the province is considered a desirable place to live.

She downplayed the business concerns, saying B.C. is forecast to lead Canada in economic growth for the next two years and her budget has set aside more than $2.6 billion in contingency and allowance funds in the event of a downturn.

"We've built a very prudent budget that has caution built in and gives us the opportunity to continue to invest in the people of B.C. who continue to build that strong economy."

Opposition Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said the budget does nothing to stimulate the economy.
VICTORIA - Two new studies say the federal and provincial governments must do more to reduce alcohol consumption after determining damages from drinking have surpassed tobacco use.

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This article was published 20/2/2019 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VICTORIA - Two new studies say the federal and provincial governments must do more to reduce alcohol consumption after determining damages from drinking have surpassed tobacco use.

As part of the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, researchers graded the federal, provincial and territorial governments on policy efforts to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Tim Stockwell, director with the University of Victoria's Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said the federal government earned a 38 per cent grade while the provinces and territories collectively achieved 44 per cent.

Ontario scored the highest grade with a C, although Stockwell said it has "gone backwards" after Premier Doug Ford moved to lower the price of alcohol with his "buck-a-beer" legislation.

"We're used to people being disinterested in these policies but what's unusual with Ontario is that they're deliberately, and publicly, and with glee, and relish going in an opposite direction that will create more problems," he said.

"I guess that's populism for you, isn't it."

About 80 per cent of Canadians drink, and most enjoy a drink or two, so making alcohol cheaper is a nice, quick, popular thing to do, he said.

But people forget there's a bill at the end of making alcohol cheap and readily available, Stockwell said, noting that some of the tragic consequences include death, economic costs, and more people with cancers and liver diseases.

"But that happens quietly in the background and claiming success in those areas doesn't get you elected as well it does giving people cheap beer," he said.

Norman Geisbrecht, a senior scientist at the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said while the impact of alcohol is more noticeable in accidents, behaviour and certain chronic diseases, there may also be an indirect impact on people's mental health.

Heavy drinking practices will have an impact on the workforce, absenteeism and affect performance at work because people may come in when they are hung over or semi-intoxicated, Geisbrecht said.

"If you make alcohol more widely available it becomes a challenge with regard to people who are maybe addicted or maybe in recovery," he said.

"Or it becomes more difficult for them to retain their abstinence or control their drinking if alcohol is more widely available or if its cheaper and if found at many different outlets."

Stockwell said researchers looked at 11 different types of alcohol policy including availability, pricing and taxation, and health and safety messaging and then developed best practices based on extensive international research.

"There's excellent practices in many areas and by most jurisdictions but they are very, very thinly spread," he said.

Manitoba has a "wonderful" minimum pricing strategy, he said, adding that British Columbia and some other provinces have "fantastic" laws to deter impaired driving.

"And they're being very effective but across the whole board every province falls down significantly in some areas even though they perform quite well in others."

Provinces that scored the lowest were New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut and the Yukon.

Recommendations from the researchers include introducing a comprehensive minimum price of $1.75 per standard drink for liquor store sales and $3.50 per standard drink for bars and restaurants, and independent monitoring of alcohol promotions, including both social and other media.

Tobacco comes with graphic warning images of "people dying in hospital beds," black teeth and diseased lungs, while there's a "whole slew of warning messages" about pregnancy, schizophrenia and impaired driving on cannabis packages, Stockwell said.

"With alcohol we get lovely images of rolling vineyards or images of people looking intoxicated, strange names of drinks that encourage intoxication  so the opposite of health information," he said. "There's an absence of health information."

While a lot of people would not be opposed to a few tough restrictions on these policies, most politicians hesitate to implement them, he said.

"For the same reason that Doug Ford was able to get elected promising a buck-a-beer. Because we do like our alcohol and we do tend to frown on people who point out that there are problems."
Morocco and Spain have both flatly denied the reports circulated by some Spanish media alleging that the two countries have reached an agreement, allowing Spanish rescue boats of illegal immigrants to dock in the northern ports of Morocco.

This is false and arch-false, information. There is no agreement on this matter with Spain, said Mustapha El Khalfi, spokesman for the government, at his briefing following the weekly Cabinet meeting Thursday.

Speaking to Spanish Radio station Cadena Ser, Spains Secretary of State for Security Ana Botella said that the two countries did not agree on such measure.

The only deal concluded with Morocco is the one that allows Rabat to improve its sea rescue services, the Spanish official said, stressing that Salvamento Maritimo will keep taking migrants to Spanish ports to rescue them.

Spanish newspapers, including the popular El Pais daily, have reported on the so-called agreement, under which Morocco would allow Spanish sea rescue services to return some migrants to Moroccan ports instead of taking them to Spanish ones , a hint to make Moroccan ports a disguised migrants retention center.

It is to be recalled that Morocco has adamantly refused, and will continue to refuse, the installation on its territory of detention camps for would-be illegal emigration, especially the nationals of sub-Saharan African countries.
Lisa Bouffard 08, at the end of the table, in religion professor Elizabeth Pritchard's Christianity class

But she remained focused on her goalto earn a bachelor's degree. After taking one class a semester while continuing to work a full-time administrative job in Bowdoin Dining, she is now just a credit away from a Bowdoin degree.

This May, after completing her thirty-second class, she will receive her diploma at Commencement. She is already predicting she will be crying the whole time.

"What has motivated me? Well, given that I have been at this so long, my motivations have naturally changed as my life has changed," Bouffard said. But she clarified that a college degree was never about finding a new line of work. Grateful for the years of support from college administrators, supervisors, and coworkers, she's adamant she'll remain working at Bowdoin until she retires.

Instead, her desire for a diploma "has always been about accomplishing the goal that I started and proving to myself that I could do it," she explained.

Bouffard grew up with five siblings in Saco, Maine. Neither of her parents attended college, and the prospect of going to college was never an option for her, she said.
Back from Abroad: Rhianna Patel 20

Rhianna Patel 20 returned to campus this semester from Valparaiso, Chilewhere she improved on her Spanish, learned to travel like a local, and embraced the lasting power of discomfort.

How did you choose where you would study abroad? Valparaiso, Chile was a perfect fit for mebecause it is a smaller city with tons of character, located in central Chile, and perhaps most exciting: its right on the coast. I am neuroscience major and math minor, but have been taking Spanish since elementary schoolso it was most difficult for me to decide between a neuroscience-focused program and a language immersion program. Once I decided to pursue a Spanish language immersion program, my decision became about whether to go to Spain or to a country in South America. I had already been to Spain through an exchange program in high school and was eager to explore part of South America.

Was there a time when you felt lost, confused, or misunderstood? For me, the whole point of my semester abroad was to feel a bit lost and confused and really push myself out of my comfort zone. For this reason, its hard for me to pick one moment when I felt especially lost because the entire semester was an exercise in finding confidence and joy in discomfort and change. The one theme that ran through many of my interactions with Chileans and made me a bit uncomfortable at times was race. Id say that almost every time a Chilean person asked me where I was from and I replied with Los Estados Unidos, they didnt seem to believe me. They would ask me again and again, sometimes even ask me if I was sure, until I responded by saying that my parents are from India. Their eyes would widen and sometimes theyd tell me that I was the first Hindu they had seen in their entire lives. Only in the past couple decades have there been more people of color immigrating to Chile, most of whom are coming from Haiti or Venezuela, not India. I knew that most peoples comments were not malicious or meant to be condescending or hurtful, but at times it was difficult to remember this and not get upset.

What about a time when you felt at home in this new land? I traveled a lot around Chile and in Argentina during my semester and I specifically remember a trip that I took with a friend to a city in the south of Chile, called Pucon, towards the end of my semester. Pucon is quite a touristy city and as a result, my hostel was filled with Australian and European tourists who knew only a little bit of Spanish. The hostel offered several excursions, one of which was a trip to some of the best hot springs in South America. When my friend and I were there, we noticed several of the people struggling to communicate with locals and jumped in to help translate. We also began giving travel advice about Chile and South America and it felt really nice to separate myself from the tourists and feel more like a local (although I was still quite far off from that status) who knew the language and the best places to travel and get around the country.

Back in Brunswick "Yeah, I'm definitely adjusting to the workload of a junior year at Bowdoin." "Not only is my current workload larger than it was in Chile, it seems to be quite the step up from sophomore year. But Ive noticed that spending some time away from campus has made me appreciate it that much more."

In Chile, I learned that I am capable of so much more than I had thought. Ill remember this lesson in the future, whenever Im facing a new opportunity that scares me and makes me doubt myself. 
As the Cotonou Agreement binding the European Union to 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) is expiring in May 2020, negotiation on a new deal are ongoing, reported recently the European news website eubulletin.com.

EU policymakers are hoping to make progress soon since there is growing assertiveness of African governments and institutions in their liaisons with Brussels, the website said.

It recalled that the first ministerial meeting between the EU and African Union was hosted in the European capital at the end of January. During this meeting, Rwandas Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera said that the African Union was coming of age, with a determination to speak with one voice on the world stage. The continents partnership with the EU also needs to come of age, Mr. Sezibera added.

The African Union (AU) mirrors its European counterpart but lacks the institutional underpinnings that the European Commission acquired over time. This partially explains why African foreign ministers did a U-turn last fall and decided that the post-Cotonou negotiations with Brussels would be led by the secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific community, which is funded by the EU.

In 2018, the AU, then chaired by Rwandas President Paul Kagame, has shifted towards self-financing. The AU is at the moment to a great extent dependent on donors, including the EU.

In the meantime, Russia is trying to set foot in the door on the African continent. The first ever summit between African and Russian leaders is to take place in Moscow this year and the Commission has been annoyed by the increasing perception that China is becoming Africas main partner in investment and infrastructure building, eubulletin said.

It recalled that Beijing promised $60 billion (51.6 billion) in new development financing on the continent during an Africa-China summit in September last year.
Zambia and Zimbabwe have shortlisted American, European and Chinese companies to build the Batoka Gorge hydro power plant.

The consortium of General Electric and Power Construction Corporation of China, Salini Impregilo of Italy and a joint venture of Chinese firms Three Gorges Corporation, China International and Water Electric Corporation and China Gezhouba Group Company Ltd are the companies shortlisted for the project, local media reported.

Engineering feasibility for the 2,400-megawatt (MW) power station will be completed by end of the first quarter, it said.

The project will be schemed on a Build-Operate-Transfer financing model and will not put any fiscal strain on the government of Zambia and Zimbabwe as no sovereign guarantees will be required.

The $5,2 billion plant will be situated a few kilometers downstream Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, and Zimbabwe and Zambia will share the electricity equally.

Bringing Batoka Gorge on-stream will see Zimbabwe attain electricity self-sufficiency.

The country is producing about 1,300 MW against demand of 1,900 MW, with deficits being covered by imports from South Africa and Mozambique.

The project is estimated to take 10 years to be fully complete.
Tullow Oil, a leading independent oil exploration and production company, aims to complete the construction of a $1 billion oil pipeline in Kenya by 2022.

According to Tullow Oil Kenya Managing Director Martin Mbogo, the 821 km pipeline will transport around 80,000 barrels of oil per day from the Lokichar oilfields in Northern Kenya to the Lamu seaport after completion.

He noted that the pipeline will be a joint venture between the government and the Kenya Joint Venture (KJV)- whose shareholders are Tullow, Africa Oil and Total.

Tullow Oil is also constructing oil fields to be financed by 70 percent debt and 30 percent equity.

Kenyas early oil export project transports 600 barrels of oil per day from Turkana oilfields by road to Mombasa Port for storage, ahead of shipments expected to begin mid 2019.

The East African nation has reached out to 18 global oil refinery firms in the ongoing search for buyers of crude oil exports.

Discussions with these firms will take place during the 2019 International Petroleum (IP) Week (February 26-28)that is expected to attract big players in the oil and gas industry.

As a reminder, Kenya discovered commercial oil in 2012 in its Lokichar basin, which Tullow Oil estimates contains an estimated 560 million barrels in proven and probable reserves.
Egyptian prison authorities Wednesday executed by hanging nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood for their alleged involvement in the car bomb attack that killed the countrys top prosecutor Hisham Barakat in 2015.

The nine are part of 28 people arrested and convicted for the car bomb, which hit Barakats motorcade in June 2015, in capital Cairo.

Egyptian authorities blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian movement, Hamas, for the attack. Both organizations denied any involvement in the attack.

The Wednesday executions add to 15 already carried out only this year. Those already executed include three people sentenced for the murder of a senior police officer in Cairo in 2013. Three others also hanged for the killing of a judges son in Mansoura in 2014.

Those executed Wednesday told the court during their trials they were tortured by security forces to make false confessions.

Since 2013, thousands of members of the banned movement have received lengthy prison sentences in mass trials. Others have been sentenced to life in prison.

President al-Sisi in 2013 removed Islamist and first elected Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi and cracked down on his movement.
Morocco and Ethiopia are examining the means to bolster bilateral trade and investments through establishing joint-ventures and win-win partnerships.

This came at a meeting between head of the Moroccan exporters associations, Hassan Sentissi El Idrissi, and Ethiopian ambassador in Rabat Yeshi Tamirat.

The two men discussed ways to develop economic relations, with

emphasis on the complementarity between the two economies notably Moroccos potential to export agrifood and pharmaceutical products and Ethiopias coffee, honey and spices, products usually imported by the Kingdom through Europe.

In this respect, the Ambassador said that an Ethiopian delegation will take part in the international agricultural fair in Meknes on April 16-21.

Relations between Ethiopia and Morocco kept improving since the visit by King Mohammed VI to Addis Ababa in October 2016.

In Ethiopia, the second most populous African country after Nigeria, Moroccos OCP will build a 2.4 billion dollar fertilizer plant. The first phase of this investment will enable the production of 2.5 million tons of fertilizer per year through 2022, rendering Ethiopia self-sufficient in fertilizer and creating opportunities for exports.

The plant, named Dire Dawa Fertilizer Complex, will produce fertilizer made from Ethiopian potash and ammonia gas, as well as OCPs phosphoric acid, taking full advantage of both countries complementary natural resources.
INVITATION

Inventiva's Full Year 2018 Financial Results publication Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Inventiva's full year 2018 financial results will be releasedat 5:45 pm (Paris), 4:45 pm (London). They will be available at the same time on Inventiva's website: http://inventivapharma.com/fr/accueil/

The company would like to invite you to a conference call to presentits results, followed by a Q&A session, at 6:15 pm (Paris), 5:15 pm (London).

The speakers will be:

Mr. Frederic Cren, Chairman, CEO & Co-founderMr. Pierre Broqua, CSO & Co-founderMr. Jean Volatier, CFO

The conference and the slides of the presentation will also be

web casted live:

https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/bd3zaabj

* Further details below *

To connect to the live audio conference call:

France Dial-In Number: +33 (0)1 70 73 27 27Belgium Dial-In Number: +32 (0)1 039 1206Denmark Dial-In Number: +45 32 72 75 18Germany Dial-In Number: +49(0)69 2222 4910Netherlands Dial-In Number: +31 (0) 20 715 7366Switzerland Dial-In Number: +41 (0)44 580 4873UK Dial-In Number: +44 (0) 203 009 5710USA Dial-In Number: +1 917-720-0178

Access code: 2271029

Please note that the lines will be opened 10 minutes before the start of the conference call.

The conference call presentation will also be available on Inventiva's website.

For additional information, please contact:

Yannick Tetzlaff, BrunswickPhone: +33 1 53 96 83 83Email: [email protected]
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The Agony Upon Sita's Abduction Be it Hanuman, Sugreev, or others in the team, irrespective of their age or health, the zeal and dedication to save Mata Sita showed in all of them. The ocean was deep and wide, but the fire inside the hearts was deeper and wider too. It was all because they loved Lord Rama and Mata Sita and wanted to save her, in any possible way.

All Working Together In Order To Save Mata Sita It was not just the monkeys and other people in the army, who were helping Lord Rama, but others from the nearby forests and villages had also come to support them. All knew that Lord Rama was the prince of Ayodhya who had come for serving the exile period. Sita Maiya, as they called her, was also one of the most respected and dignified ladies whose being captivated by king Ravana had invited the fury of many. All these, hoping to save her, were now working together to save the Goddess.

An Unnoticed Squirrel Amidst the noise of the efforts and the chaos of all those present, there was one whose effort was being unnoticed. It was a squirrel who had been carrying small pebbles and fitting them wherever possible and thus helping in the making of the bridge. Though the size of the animal was too small as compared to the level of task and the ability of others in the army; her efforts could be called negligible. However, this was not sufficient to move her and it reflected in her confidence, with which she was working.

A Monkey Made Fun Of The Squirrel However, one of the monkeys noticed this little creature putting in her efforts, while he was carrying a very heavy stone. Amused by the squirrel, he told her to get off from his way. He told her not to work since her contribution would be negligible and it wouldn't matter much even if she did not work. Hence, he advised her to go back and take rest. When the squirrel defended, one of the onlookers told about it to others as well, just to make fun of her.

The Squirrel Approached Lord Rama Offended by this, the squirrel went to Lord Rama. She complained about those in the army and requested Lord Rama to punish them in return. Lord Rama asked all the people to assemble at one place near the bridge. As they all came in, Lord Rama, while pointing towards two stones which would have slipped and collided down, had they not been held intact because of a small pebble. He told them that the pebble was brought and put there by the squirrel.
Algeria has earned a notoriety for being one of the worst countries for doing business in the world, due in part to unfriendly regulations that thwart foreign investors.

But that law is likely to change as an economic crisis bites with dwindling oil reserves and rising unemployment, fueling unrest and dissent across the country.

Industry Minister Youssef Yousfi said that the 51/49 rule which stipulates that 51% of the shares of Algeria-based companies must be owned by the state or Algerian nationals, will be changed.

But changing the rule is not enough. The countrys archaic banking system has also been pushing investors away. Algerias banks remain state-dominated and highly corrupt thus rebuffing foreign direct investments.

The political instability and the uncertainty surrounding the regime as ailing president Bouteflika braces for a fifth term also contribute to undermining the flow of foreign direct investments, badly needed to diversify the economy.

Some analysts argue that Algerias attempts to diversify the economy have failed because of a lack of clear-sighted strategy to prompt the private sector and attract foreign direct investments.

The lack of vision decried for years by independent analysts resulted in serious repercussions. As it heads straight to insolvency, Algeria insists on shunning reforms in favor of time-buying measures.

Algerias isolationist economic policy based on the distribution of oil revenues, which accounts for 60% of the countrys GDP, is undermining the competitiveness of Algerian companies on the continent.

Oil and gas account for about 95 percent of Algerias exports with the government having little success in boosting the non-energy sector.

Even the private sector is dependent on oil. The big companies in the country Cevital, ERTHP or Arcofina operating in the industrial, distribution, real estate or construction sectors live in a way or another thanks to the oil and gas money, a factor that has kept them uncompetitive at the African level.

These companies owe their existence to public markets financed by oil revenues or to the distribution of heavily-subsidized products.

The lack of vision has also kept the 40-million people nation dependent on imports with the state subsidizing most consumer goods, especially foodstuff.

As the government foot-drags on reforms that would open up the economy and strengthen the competitiveness of the private sector, Algeria continues to struggle with the repercussions of decades of counter-productive policies that put it on the verge of insolvency.
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Healthcare sector will be transformed through effective use of analytics driven insights decoding the complex data available, which so far remained a significant challenge worldwide.

Envisioning the potential of AI for India, and continuing in its mission to empower India, Microsoft detailed the countrys readiness for AI in a whitepaper titled Age of Intelligence. Focus on making India a digital economy, mobile phone penetration, reduced data costs are all collaborating to make for an environment conducive to extend connectivity and services to the underserved segments of the population, Microsoft said in a whitepaper on AI, unveiled at the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum (NTLF) 2019.

The whitepaper titled Age of Intelligence outlines challenges and opportunities with respect to AI and how appropriate government policies, technological advancements including growing internet penetration and connectivity help reap benefits of digital transformation in years to come. Furthermore, Microsoft called for the technology industry to actively partner and engage to help realize Indias aspirations in AI, given that many of the initiatives outlined need technology as the backbone to achieve scale, efficiency and sustainability. Cloud infrastructure and rapid deployment of intelligent cloud services will play a key role in driving AI adoption in the country.

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India said Our ambition is to enable a human-centered approach to AI. India is currently at an inflection point in the adoption of AI. Building on the four foundational pillars  enabling digital transformation across industries, forging coalitions for innovation, building a future-ready workforce and creating sustained societal impact will unlock and accelerate the potential of AI. All of this should be done within an over-arching ethical framework for AI development and usage.

In this paper, Microsoft presents an industry point of view on the age of intelligence that this world is embarking upon, wherein intelligence will be experienced in every facet: in products and services, in the way individuals communicate, how organizations function and collaborate, and how society and countries evolve. Microsoft AI is a vision for empowerment  for every developer to innovate, every organization to redefine industries and every individual to transform society.

Developers to innovate Microsoft is democratizing AI and is making the technology used in building its own AI applicationsavailable on Azure to empower developers and institutions in solving their most difficult problems.

For instance, a challenge in India relates to inclusion- given Indias linguistic diversity and literacy. This results in a digital language barrier, with services not being easily accessible to all citizens. AI is playing a key role in removing this barrier, by enabling voice recognition, text to speech and translation for all key Indian languages. Once that is fully available, all services can be offered to all citizens, in the language of their choice. Microsoft is closely working with developers to bring these services to all major Indian languages.

Enterprises to redefine

Enterprises can achieve far more with a comprehensive AI being AI to every application, every business process, and every employee. AI enables organizations to take better-informed decisions by making it easy to derive insights from data, helping them expand customer engagement, optimize operations, and improve offerings. Reimagining business processes with AI also makes work more efficient, saving employees time so they can focus on higher priorities.

Healthcare sector will be transformed through effective use of analytics driven insights decoding the complex data available, which so far remained a significant challenge worldwide. Microsoft has enabled analytics-driven individualized treatment plans based on a patients genetic makeup, medical history, lifestyle along with cloud-based solutions to empower healthcare organizations and help them build and deploy compliant, virtual health assistants can provide users with conversational and engaging access to the most relevant and accurate healthcare services and information.

For instance, Narayana Health is looking at new avenues to optimize its operations and augment patient care with technology. One of the ongoing projects being piloted internally is to use Artificial Intelligence to decipher X-Rays to point out any irregularities from a normal X-Ray, which would help doctors save time in diagnosis.

India is digitally ready for a comprehensive AI framework aligned to industries long-term strategy. With the size of the market and opportunity for growth its imperative to implement AI for India that bring economic, societal and inclusive growth. Microsoft is best positioned to address the current AI needs and ready to support all stakeholders across the entire spectrum including government, businesses, and communities by collaborating with them to accelerate all AI opportunities to drive critical growth for Indias progress.
NORFOLK - From debate on a proposed redevelopment area to fireworks sales beginning, here are some of the stories we covered for the week ending Saturday June 26, 2021.
Addressed by international and national experts the symposium illustrated the need for convergence of multiple specialties in medicine.

In an effort to create awareness and to provide insights about Vascular Anomalies and to develop innovative ways to manage it, Narayana Health City, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children Hospital jointly organized a symposium. Titled Vascular Anomalies 2030: India the two day knowledge sharing session was inaugurated by Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health and Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon in the presence of Dr. Steve Fishman, Co-Director, VAC, Harvard Medical school and Dr. Paul C Salins, Medical Director-Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre & Head Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Narayana Health City.

Addressed by international and national experts the symposium illustrated the need for convergence of multiple specialties in medicine and advanced engineering specialities to successfully address vascular anomalies. It highlighted how emerging cutting edge technologies like sirolimus, 3D printing, telemedicine and artificial intelligence can help in the condition. The event also witnessed a hack clinic wherein the participants were given an opportunity to interact with some of the foremost global experts from engineering, meditech entrepreneurs, representatives from Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Participants witnessed unique success stories and case studies.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health, said, Continuous learning is critical for individual as well as organizational growth. Platforms like this present an excellent opportunity for practitioner to learn and adopt the best practices from across the world. It also opens up their mind towards research and development.

Vascular Anomalies is prevalent worldwide. However, many are unaware of the condition, and how to manage it especially in the developing countries. In fact, half of the critical cases get misdiagnosed and mistreated. By providing a platform to exchange knowledge Narayana Health has taken a step forward to make the world aware of vascular anomalies and how it can be treated. said Dr. Steve Fishman, Co- Director, VAC Harvard Medical school

Vascular anomalies are vessel abnormalities that affect the capillaries, veins, arteries and lymphatics either individually or as a combined lesion. As the condition impacts the blood supply it often has devastating impact on the persons life.

Compartmentalization is obsolete in todays world. Collaboration is the need of the hour. Effective management of complex conditions like vascular anomalies calls not only for evolved medical interventions, it requires a collaboration of engineering, medicine and art. said, Dr. Paul C Salins, Medical Director- Mazumdar Shaw Medical Centre & Head Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Narayana Health City.

A platform for assimilation and sharing of knowledge, the event saw active participation from more than 150 participants comprising of Surgeons, radiologists, neurointerventionalist, pediatricians, pediatric surgeons, general practitioners, ENT surgeons, engineers and entrepreneurs from across the country and World.
So, I propose that each candidate come up with a campaign slogan in order to stand out.

Here are my suggestions, with all due respect, of course.

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Im not an Indian, but it was fun while it lasted.

Senator Bernie Sanders: Yes, Im old but sos Biden.

Senator Kamala Harris: Sure I smoke pot. You would too if you lived in San Francisco.

Senator Corey Booker: Vegan Power! Burgers kill.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: Dont hate me for being Caucasian.

Beto ORourke: Ill let everyone come to America, then we can party.

Joe Biden: If elected Ill be 80, so I may have to go to bed early.

Mike Bloomberg: Global warming is real but hands off my Gulfstream.

Senator Amy Klobouchar: Im not a socialist like the others but dont tell anybody.

Michelle Obama: I cant run because Barack will smoke if I leave the house.

And, to be fair, President Trump: Elect me again and Ill stop tweeting. Do we have a deal?

Now, I understand some of those slogans are not bumper-sticker friendly. But they do drive home important points.

No need to thank me.
Police and bystanders look at the body of a slain suspected drug pusher in a Manila street, Oct. 26, 2017.

Human Rights Watch called Thursday on the International Criminal Court to speed up a preliminary probe it launched in early 2018 into extrajudicial killings committed under Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs.

The drug war expanded throughout last year to areas outside the capital Manila, and those questioning the bloody counter-narcotics crackdown that has mainly targeted poor Filipinos have found themselves in the presidents crosshairs, the New York-based global rights monitoring group said.

The ICC needs to step up its efforts to ensure accountability. Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council, of which the Philippines is a member, need to do what it can to hold the Philippines accountable, Carlos Conde, the Philippine researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW) told BenarNews, referring to the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Foreign governments need to speak out more loudly and more openly against the killings. This brutality has gone on long enough, he said.

In February 2018, the court notified the Philippines that about a preliminary investigation it was opening into the killings of thousands of people during President Dutertes war on illegal drugs.

President Duterte has used the killing of thousands of largely poor drug suspects as a tool to bolster his popularity. Hes also targeting anyone who might undermine that popularity, from outspoken senators to journalists documenting his abuses, Brad Adams, HRWs Asia director, said in a statement.

During a speech in Manila on Wednesday, Duterte again lashed out at critics of his drug war, saying he was prepared to accept the consequences of his actions. He also vowed that the drug war would be harsher in the days to come.

I think  harsher in the days to come  Im putting everybody on notice, I will not allow my country to be destroyed by drugs. I dont want my country to end up as a failed state, Duterte said.

I am declaring war. I am not declaring punitive police action, he adding, saying he was prepared to kill anybody who stands in the way.

About a month after the ICC notified the Philippines about the probe, Duterte, in accusing the international court of attacking him, pulled the country out of a treaty that created the ICC.

Im ready for hell, but I will never, never preside over a nation that will deteriorate in my presence, Duterte said.

In the Philippine chapter of its latest annual report, published last month, Human Rights Watch said the drug war expanded to areas outside Manila in 2018, including the nearby suburbs of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and the cities of Cebu and General Santos in the central and southern Philippines.

Official figures released by the Philippine drug enforcement agency, as well as the police, said that over 5,000 suspected addicts and dealers had been slain since Duterte took office in 2016. Rights groups, including HRW, have given a higher toll, citing many unreported deaths.

Duterte is facing two complaints before the ICC. The first was filed by a former policeman and a self-confessed assassin who alleged that Duterte ordered the killings of criminals and opponents, when Duterte was the longtime mayor of southern Davao city; and a second case, filed by relatives of eight people killed in the drug war.

Dennis Jay Santos contributed to this report from Davao City, Philippines.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks to reporters at the Ministry of Defense in Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 21, 2019.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad confirmed Thursday that his government would launch a formal inquiry into allegations of judicial misconduct  including in cases involving senior politician Anwar Ibrahim  made by a sitting appellate judge in a 65-page affidavit.

Mahathir told reporters the claims would be investigated.

We are setting up an RCI (Royal Commission of Inquiry) and it is up to them to look into the allegations, Mahathir told reporters at a Defense Ministry event in Kuala Lumpur.

Among other claims, Court of Appeals Judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer alleged that during a dinner with several top judges a month before the 2018 General Election, they discussed how they could be removed from the bench, or be subject to investigation, if the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition won the election.

Basically it was a confession relating to guilt, Hamid said in the affidavit filed last week, referring to the conversation.

He also pointed out concerns involving Anwar, who had been convicted of sodomy and remained in jail during the election. Shortly after Pakatan pulled off an upset against then-Prime Minister Najib Razaks Barisan Nasional coalition in the May 9 polls, Anwar received a royal pardon. He is expected to succeed Mahathir as prime minister.

In Anwar Ibrahims appeal at the Court of Appeal, a judge told me that the Court of Appeal corum (panel of judges) was called to the chamber of top judges regularly and briefed what to do, Hamid said.

Under the Malaysian legal system, a Royal Commission of Inquiry is a powerful inquiry initiated in the name of the Malaysian king on the advice of the prime minister. The RCI is limited only by the terms and scope of the matter in question.

We havent decided on that yet (terms and regulations) but we will set up the RCI and the terms will be determined later, Mahathir said.

Hamid also claimed that members of a hit squad of judges who were predisposed to rule according to a narrative established by Najibs government were inserted as members of three judge panels.

I have information [on] many of the constitutional misconduct of top judges in aiding and abetting them (the previous government) or being instrumental to organize a cartel of judicial rowdies, he alleged.

Meanwhile, Latt Shariman Abdullah, who served in Najibs government as a special function officer, questioned Mahathirs announcement.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry based on just one affidavit and a 20-minute MACC interview? Most impressive and historical indeed, he said sarcastically.

Do we expect a full tribunal to remove sitting judges at the end of its findings, save one or two clean ones as Justice Hamid asserted (save himself of course), since judges cant be removed by this RCI but only by a tribunal of their peers, he told BenarNews.

Court proceedings to go on

Attorney General Tommy Thomas insisted that all cases at all levels of Malaysias superior and subordinate courts would continue to be heard.

The establishment of an RCI does not mean that an automatic or blanket postponement of all cases would follow, Thomas said in a statement Thursday.

He cited a 1988 tribunal into allegations of judicial misconduct as well as a 2007 RCI into allegations of outside intervention into the appointments of judges.

The ordinary business in all the courts proceeded as usual and no adjournments were entertained by the courts, Thomas said.

Lawyer Haniff Khatri, who represents Hamid, argued that the previous cases were different because his clients allegations affected the integrity of the entire judicial system and not just some individuals.

The scope of this RCI needs to be wider because it offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to thoroughly clean up the judiciary from corrupt practices that besmirched the dignity of the government arm, Haniff told BenarNews.

The lawyer is calling for the government to allow the RCI to open a channel for other individuals from within the judiciary to lodge their own complaints to get a clearer picture of the state of corruption.

It should not just be on my clients affidavit, even though it contains plenty of damning allegations, he said while adding most judiciary members are honest.

We need to make sure the people at the bottom feel they are being heard where their honest work is seen, and not be lumped together with the corruption at the top, he said. So the government should give them a chance to speak.
Firefighters and investigators gather in Dhakas Chawkbazar neighborhood, where at least 67 people were killed in a massive fire, Feb. 21, 2019.

Updated at 2:45 p.m. ET on 2019-02-21

Fireballs rained down on rickshaw drivers as a massive fire swept through densely packed buildings in Bangladeshs capital Dhaka, killing at least 67 people and injuring more than 40 others, witnesses and officials said Thursday.

Witnesses and authorities told BenarNews that the fire started at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at Chawkbazar, a neighborhood in the old part of Dhaka. Firefighters, who were hindered by narrow streets and a lack of water resources, took almost 12 hours to get the blaze under control.

First responders had earlier reported a higher death toll, but Selim Reza, additional divisional commissioner of Dhaka, said a later review at a morgue showed a tally of 67 dead.

Authorities said they still were trying to determine what caused the fire that took place as many residents slept, but Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan quoted investigators as saying that a gas cylinder from a small truck exploded before fire engulfed several buildings, which stood very close together.

Chawkbazar, one of Dhakas oldest trading hubs, has narrow streets packed with rickshaws and is a known hub of chemical business, where ground floors serve as gas cylinder warehouses.

If the highly flammable chemical substances were not stored in such a thickly populated area, the devastation would not be so severe, Khan told BenarNews.

Mohammad Nasir said a loud explosion rocked the streets before flames raced through a four-story building, which had huge stockpiles of chemicals.

There was screaming everywhere, he told BenarNews. I fled for my life.

Many of the injured were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and doctors said at least 10 were in critical condition.

I saw it with my own eyes, Hazi Mohammed Salauddin, who was among those injured, told Al Jazeera TV. There was massive bang with fire and shockwaves that destroyed the roadside wall. I was on a rickshaw when the explosion took place. I dont think my rickshaw driver is alive anymore.

Social media videos from the scene showed dozens of firefighters battling the blaze as loud explosions could be heard. Roads were littered with charred vehicles, burned plastics and cans of body deodorant.

We found 24 bodies in one corner of a building and another nine bodies at a pharmacy where the shutters were down, firefighter Shariful Islam told AFP while at the scene.

They thought they would survive by bringing down the shutters.

Firefighters and local people help douse a massive fire in Dhaka, Feb. 21, 2019. [AP]

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock over the tragedy and conveyed their condolences to those affected.

Pope Francis was also saddened to learn of the loss of life and of the injuries caused by the fire, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vaticans secretary of state, as he explained that he had sent a telegram to Bangladesh authorities on behalf of the Holy Father.

Pope Francis offers encouragement to the emergency personnel as they assist the victims of this tragedy, and upon all he invokes the divine blessings of consolation and strength, Parolin was quoted by the Vatican News as saying.

He extends his solidarity to all affected, and prays especially for the repose of the deceased and for the healing of those injured, Parolin said.

Nine years ago, fire also gutted a chemical warehouse in Nimtoli, another highly congested area in Dhaka, killing at least 124 people. After that fire, authorities took steps to bring the area into compliance with building codes, and about 500 illegal makeshift stalls were evicted from narrow streets, according to the Associated Press.

Relatives console a man after a massive fire killed at least 67 people in Dhakas Chawkbazar neighborhood, Feb. 21, 2019. [Megh Monir/BenarNews]

Updated with lower official death toll.
The world is becoming increasingly secular. Some tout this as a good thing and the natural progression of the modern world. Others, however, have pointed out that a purely secular and atheistic world leaves holes that cannot be filled by anything manmade. Only faith can fill them.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks pointed out that what the secularists forgot is that Homo sapiens is the meaning-seeking animal[and] if there is one thing the great institutions of the modern world do not do, it is provide meaning. Where the secular world tries to provide meaning, it often falls short or makes things worse. The decline of religion has led some people to hunt for meaning in secular areas such as politics. This in turn has led to the infection of nearly-religious zealotry found in politics today where hatred flies freely and differing political views are seen as perfectly reasonable grounds for ending a friendship or refusing to speak to a family member. Still, the secular world fails to bring about meaning.

Pew research found in a recent forum that 20 percent of Americans stated that their faith was what made their lives feel meaningful, roughly the same percentage of people who stated that their spouse gave their lives meaning and not too much lower than the number of people who emphasized their children or grandchildren. That said, a larger survey found that actively religious people were noticeably more likely to describe themselves as very happy when compared to unreligious people across several countries.

The research supports that faith is important, but personal observations uphold the idea as well. On a trip to Paradise, California, Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commented on both the destruction the Camp Fire had caused but also the role faith played in helping people through such devastation.

As we tried to comfort those still reeling from the disaster, they seemed more concerned about how we were doing [after the death of our daughter Wendy to cancer.]As we tearfully looked into each others hearts, the blackened chimneys and a sea of ash seemed to fade into the background. Our shared faith that God would heal our hearts and help us rebuild our lives knit our hearts together in love and allowed us to experience the peace of God, which passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7). We flew home sobered by what we had seen but also inspired by the goodness of so many.

That peace could not have been brought by secular forces. The most profound thing Ive witnessed [during my 35 years of traveling the world], said Nelson, is the unrivaled difference that belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, has in a persons life. There is simply nothing to compare with the refining, ennobling strength and meaning that come into the life of a devoted believer and servant.

As a surgeon, Nelson worked on the human heart. He was part of the team that created the heart-lung machine that enabled open heart surgery, but he recognized that humans had limits, God did not. As a surgeon, I repaired hundreds of hearts, Nelson said. But my skills could not heal heartache, or erase grief, or salve emotional wounds. Nothing man-made can ever approach what God can do for His childrenThe most able minds cannot offer redemption from sin or heal our hearts from emotional pain. They cannot generate enduring hope or joy. They cannot promise life after death or the potential of being with our loved ones beyond the grave. They cannot generate peace of mindIf there is anything Ive learned in my 94 years of living, it is that a life with God is far better  more filled with hope  than one without Him. Faith in God is, and has always been, the pre-eminent force for good in this world. It is the most enduring source of peace for minds and hearts.

Believers will say the same, and the research supports that religion helps people deal with tragedy. Once the necessities are rebuilt, it may be time to focus on rebuilding faith in California rather than celebritys second homes.
There's an old joke which says that the traditional Irish approach to foreplay was to warn the wife: "Brace yourself, Bridget." That also seems to be Sinn Fein's approach to the question of getting unionist consent for Irish unification.

In a nutshell: unity is coming whether you like it or not, so you'd better start getting ready for it.

Mary Lou McDonald mightn't describe her speech to the gathering of so-called "civic unionists" at Queen's University Belfast on Monday evening in such a blunt way, because it was peppered with buzzwords like "reconciliation" and "our collective history", but essentially the Sinn Fein leader's message was that unionists must lay aside whatever issues happen to be at the forefront of their minds right now and focus instead on laying out a Plan B to deal with the inevitability of a united Ireland.

The Dublin woman seems to expect praise for showing her face at these events at all, but her tone when she does so is no different from a politician from Westminster dropping into Belfast to tell a gathering of civic nationalists and republicans that they should just get used to British rule and, if they chilled out a bit, might even get to enjoy it.

The meeting was called to discuss how to fill the democratic deficit left by the failure to get a Northern Ireland Assembly back up-and-running - not to swap magical visions of a united Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald actually promised again that unionists would have "a place at the table, at the centre of political life", but that position at the heart of political life is always held up as a shiny bauble, which could be handed to them as a gift some time in the future, not something to which they have a right in the here and now.

Why is recognising unionists' Britishness always presented as some noble concession?

Mary Lou calls this having a "new conversation", but what she really means is unionists joining a very old conversation, which republicans have been having with one another since the year dot.

She was called out on it by businessman Suneil Sharma at Monday's meeting, when he put it to her that this "crass identity politics" was "reinforcing tribalism", but no one could have been surprised.

Former SDLP leader John Hume was mocked for years for having a single transferable speech, but at least he delivered the same consistent message, no matter the audience. The Sinn Fein woman invariably has different messages for different ears.

So, it's soft words for civic unionists one day, followed within hours by a hard message for the republican base about how "the policing authority in this state" has "zero credibility".

The way she said "this state" was pure 'themmuns' talk. No collective history there.

These well-meaning exercises in civic unionism come round periodically. Last year, it was a letter signed by over 100 academics, members of the clergy, business people, and politicians, calling for a dialogue with civic nationalists about equality, rights and truth.

That didn't really go anywhere because the "civic" part of the dialogue quickly got gobbled up by the reality of partisanship.

Sinn Fein hasn't put down any preconditions to its involvement this time round, but making such a big deal of that party's contribution to the debate still plays into the inflated sense of itself as the true voice of Ireland, indeed of Irishness itself. It gives it far too much credibility.

If the leaders of the burgeoning civic unionism movement really wish to engage with civic nationalism, they need to get over this idea that Sinn Fein speaks for Ireland and start reaching out instead to other strands of opinion across the island.

Opinion polls suggest that Mary Lou's party currently has around 18% support in the Republic. By contrast the ruling Fine Gael party is on 30% and Fianna Fail on 26%.

Together, that's over half the country. Where is their presence in this debate?

Fine Gael may be something of a dead loss at the moment, as it goes through a phase of nationalist giddiness as Brexit approaches, but Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has made huge efforts to initiate a genuinely fresh conversation about what any united Ireland might look like - and he's done it much more sensitively and inclusively than Sinn Fein has ever managed.

That includes chiding the Taoiseach at last November's Healing the Wounds of Brexit conference at Queen's for declaring that "it's not my job to deliver the unionists", a clumsy, one-sided assertion, which he said he couldn't imagine any of Leo Varadkar's predecessors making.

Micheal Martin has been refreshingly clear that nationalists must also be willing to change before jumping the gun on unity and he explicitly recognises that pushing unionists too far and too fast makes them retreat into a cocoon.

By reaching out to that faction in Fianna Fail, civic unionists would also gain the immediate advantage of bringing onboard the SDLP, now that Colum Eastwood has thrown in his lot with the southerners.

That would avoid any repeat of the letter sent to the Taoiseach last year by a range of civic nationalists in the north asking for his support on the Irish language and other issues.

As former BBC journalist Brian Walker said at the time, the Irish Government, a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, was effectively being asked to become a defender of nationalist interests, while the same Agreement insists that the British Government act with "rigorous impartiality".

Civic nationalism seems far more openly political in that sense than civic unionism and the best way to avoid some of those pitfalls is to open up the conversation beyond the usual suspects.

There are so many alternative voices in broader Irish society to whom civic unionists could be talking, not least cultural figures from the arts, media, sport and universities. Modern Ireland contains much more diversity than listening only to Sinn Fein would suggest.

They would not only make more interesting speakers, they'd also help define that common ground where civic strands of unionism and nationalism can meet.

Instead, Monday's event simply became another opportunity for Sinn Fein to pursue its tedious obsession with Irish unity, positioning itself at the same time for possible coalition government in Dublin after the next election, now expected to happen later this year.

Civic unionists start out with the best intentions of dealing with Northern Ireland as it is, but invariably end up on the receiving end of sanctimonious sermons about some fantasy island in the future.

Maybe that's because they're talking to all the wrong people.
President Donald Trump said he was behind the decision banning Hoda Muthana from returning the US (Susan Walsh/AP)

An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria will not be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US has said.

Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States, he said.

She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.

But her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, insisted Ms Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014.

Expand Close Hassan Shibly, lawyer for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria (Chris OMeara/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Hassan Shibly, lawyer for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria (Chris OMeara/AP)

He said she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

Shes an American. Americans break the law, said Mr Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and thats all shes asking for.

Ms Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Mr Shibly said that the administration argues that she did not qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status for months before her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

President Donald Trump said later on Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision, tweeting that I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!

The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the US has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Ms Muthanas lawyer said she was just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman when she became enamoured of Islamic State, believing it was an organisation that protected Muslims.

Mr Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was brainwashed by IS and compelled to marry one of the groups soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she became disenchanted with the marriage and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Expand Close US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the woman could not return to the US (Czarek Sokolowski/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the woman could not return to the US (Czarek Sokolowski/AP)

Mr Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the governments decision to deny her entry to the country.

Ms Muthanas status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one US official.

The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Ms Muthanas case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the US to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.

However, Ms Muthanas case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a US passport.

During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed meHoda Muthana

In a handwritten letter released by Mr Shibly, Ms Muthana wrote that she made a big mistake by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me, she wrote.

To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly.
Sir Philip Green is being investigated by US police after a fitness instructor alleged the retail tycoon groped her at a luxury resort, officers have said.

Police in Arizona said detectives are working on a case after a woman came forward with a complaint about the Topshop billionaire on Monday.

The Daily Telegraph reported that his former Pilates teacher Katie Surridge said Sir Philip "spanked" her, inappropriately touched her and made sexual comments at Canyon Ranch.

A spokesman for Sir Philip denied the allegation to the newspaper and said it was dismissed by the resort in Tuscon, Arizona, after an investigation.

Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman Deputy Daniel Jelineo confirmed an investigation had been launched after a complaint by Ms Surridge, but could not give further information because it is at an early stage.

"Sir Philip Green, I'm aware of a report that was made to our department yesterday, on the 18th," the deputy said.

"He's being investigated for a criminal offence at this time."

The Telegraph reported that the mother-of-two alleged he repeatedly "spanked" her in January 2016 after he entered her studio following a class.

"I felt very taken advantage of and like, you know, just a piece of meat there at his disposal," the 37-year-old said, according to the newspaper, which said she waived her anonymity.

"It feels completely sexual in nature. And the way - the noises, and the 'oh, you naughty girl'. Like - ugh - I can hear him saying it right now."

A spokesman for Sir Philip said: "All this was investigated by Canyon Ranch at the time. Nothing was found against Sir Philip and the matter was dropped. In terms of the allegation, it did not happen.

"Sir Philip has visited the ranch since that time and has no issues with the management or any of the people there."

A spokeswoman for Canyon Ranch said: "At Canyon Ranch, we do not discuss personnel matters out of sensitivity for employee privacy, and will not comment on these allegations.

"Canyon Ranch does not condone or tolerate inappropriate behaviour towards our employees.

"We have strict policies and procedures that prohibit inappropriate behaviour and take prompt, remedial action with respect to inappropriate behaviour allegations reported to us.

"Additionally, Canyon Ranch does not comment on law enforcement matters and decline to do so in this instance."

Reporters previously tracked down the Arcadia owner at Canyon Ranch to quiz him over allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse.

The Telegraph has reported that five of his employees signed non-disclosure agreements to keep their complaints quiet, with one being paid more than 1 million.

Sir Philip (66) denied his behaviour was criminal or amounted to gross misconduct.
Shamima Begum, who fled the UK to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria aged 15 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The future of runaway schoolgirl Shamima Begum appears uncertain after her British citizenship was revoked but Bangladesh denied she was a holder of dual citizenship.

The 19-year-old from London fled to Syria aged 15 and said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby.

Her British citizenship was revoked by Home Secretary Sajid Javid amid reports that she had Bangladeshi citizenship owing to her heritage.

Here are some key questions about the case.

 What has happened?

Mr Javid has used his powers under the British Nationality Act 1981 to strip Ms Begum of her British citizenship. This can be done in instances where doing so would be conducive to the public good. However, this power can only be used where the person concerned has dual nationality, as leaving an individual stateless is a breach of international law.

Expand Close East London schoolgirl Shamima Begum going through security at Gatwick airport before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp East London schoolgirl Shamima Begum going through security at Gatwick airport before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

 What is the law?

The power to revoke citizenship was extended by the Immigration Act in 2014 and can only be used in cases where a person has conducted themselves in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK and where the secretary of state has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able, under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom, to become a national of such country or territory.

 What was said about these powers when they were introduced?

Writing in the Daily Telegraph in 2014, then Home Secretary Theresa May said: Following the recent Immigration Act, I can, in certain circumstances, remove citizenship from naturalised Britons who are fighting overseas and exclude them too. And while it is illegal for any country to make its citizens stateless, any British national who returns from Syria and Iraq faces prosecution here for participating in terrorist activities abroad.

Home Secretary @sajidjavid says he would never make a decision that would make any individual 'stateless'



See the full interview at 11.05pm on @ITV | #Peston pic.twitter.com/yr3crwJbgO  Peston (@itvpeston) February 20, 2019

 Does Ms Begum have dual citizenship?

Bangladeshs minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said she does not. He wrote on Twitter: Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh.

It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage.

So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh.

Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizenBangladesh's minister of state for foreign affairs

 What is the status of her child?

Guidance on British citizenship on gov.uk says A child born outside the United Kingdom will be a British citizen by descent if either parent is a British citizen otherwise than by descent at the time of the birth.

As Ms Begum was understood to be a British citizen as she gave birth, the child can also be considered a British citizen.

This appeared to be acknowledged by Mr Javid in the House of Commons when  not speaking about Ms Begums case specifically  he said: Children should not suffer.

So, if a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child.

Another sticking point may be the European Convention on Human Rights, with Article 8 guaranteeing the right to ones private and family life. This could be used as an argument against any separation of mother and baby.
The ball is in Theresa Mays court when it comes to Brexit, the Romanian ambassador to the UK told MSPs (Steve Parsons/PA)

Theresa May could be facing very serious opposition from the European Union in her bid to reopen the Brexit withdrawal deal, Romanias ambassador to the UK has said.

While Dan Mihalache said it was hard to say if Mrs May would be successful in her demands for this, he warned the mood is not essentially positive amongst many European partners.

The ambassador spoke about the prospects when he was questioned by MSPs on the Scottish Parliaments Europe Committee.

Asked directly if the withdrawal deal could be reopened, he said: I believe now the European Union waits your step, it is your turn. We will see .. how to express it  the ball is in your field.

Mr Mihalache added: It is complicated to give an opinion, to give you my opinion about this, but you never know.

As I said before dont think that the mood is very positive in some political circles in Brussels, for various reasons, and there could be serious opposition.

We stand as the presidency for a very orderly withdrawal, I believe the no deal scenario ... would be probably the worst optionRomanian ambassador to the UK Dan Mihalache

He made clear to the MSPs that Romania regarded the UKs decision to quit the EU as a great loss and also told how Brexit could be symbolically very dangerous for the remaining 27 states.

Romania has taken on the presidency of the EU Council  which is held on a six-month rotating basis  during times that are very, very complicated, Mr Mihalache said.

But he told the committee: I can assure you from the Romanian presidencys point of view, we will act as an honest broker and we will try to orientate the debate amongst member states to a positive approach to the relations with the United Kingdom, to get to an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom.

The future of the relations is in your hands, mainly.

Romania joined the EU at the start of 2007, with the ambassador saying: For an older generation like mine which experienced the communist regime, belonging to the European Union is a great achievement of our political generation.

He told how he had arrived in London the day after the 2016 European referendum, saying: Since then I am trying to follow this debate on Brexit and I must confess  that sometimes I am very confused.

I dont know what the future will be, there are so many complicated questions and my feeling is now time is running very fast.

We are in February now, theoretically there is a month to the official withdrawal and there is no solution on the table.

Asked if a deal could be finalised before the formal departure date on March 29, he stressed this was in the UKs hands.

He said: I dont see now what the solution will be, if there will be a postponing of the withdrawal.

The ambassador added: We stand as the presidency for a very orderly withdrawal, I believe the no deal scenario  would be probably the worst option.

Speaking very frankly, the mood is not essentially positive amongst many European partners, you should be very aware of this.

He made clear: For Romania the UK leaving the European Union is a great loss, we had excellent cooperation between the UK and Romania in many fields, we stood for the same positions in foreign policy, in security policy, in cooperation in police matters, in cooperation in information exchange.

The UK not being at the round table of decisions in the European Union, for us we are losing an ally.

Even though there is a very optimistic feeling in the political environment in the United Kingdom that the role should be maintained, I am more sceptical.

You wont be at the table any more, at the table of decisions, and you have to be aware of this.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is determined to increase the number of ethnic minorities working within the organisation (Jane Barlow/PA)

Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds working within the organisation.

At First Ministers Questions on Thursday, Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar asked Ms Sturgeon if she would back plans to increase diversity in workplaces across Scotland.

The proposals include conducting a regular audit of Scotlands public sector and implementing a rule to ensure ethnic minority candidates are included on job shortlists.

Mr Sarwar, with the support of the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre (SPICe), on Thursday published a report highlighting the under-representation of minorities working in the public sector.

Among its findings, it showed only 1.8% of civil servants are from a diverse background, with only 10 ethnic minority civil servants at the most senior level.

It also found the percentage of non-white employees in Scottish councils is below 1% in 21 local authority areas.

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Responding to Mr Sarwar, the First Minister said she would ask the Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans to consider all of the proposals put forward by the Labour MSP and indicated they would consult on how best to take them forward.

Ms Sturgeon said: I absolutely agree with the sentiments behind Anas Sarwars question.

The Scottish Government, as an employer, is absolutely determined to increase the numbers of ethnic minorities working within the organisation.

They are under-represented in the Scottish Government right now, as will be the case for many organisations and employers.

Just as it is important that we redress that imbalance in gender, it is also vital that we do so for ethnic minorities and the Scottish Government as an employer is absolutely committed to doing so and committed to encouraging other employers to take similar action.
There are calls for dogs to be kept on leads while in public (Ben Birchall/PA)

Mothers whose children have been attacked by dogs have called for pets being off their lead in public to be made illegal.

One of the parents, whose daughter was killed in an attack by two Rottweillers, says nothing has changed in law 30 years on from her death.

The parents were giving evidence to the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee at Holyrood.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Veronica Lynch described how her daughter Kelly was decapitated by two massive Rottweilers.

30 years on from Kelly's death we are still reading the same headlines.

Nothing has changed and we have to get something doneVeronica Lynch

Ms Lynch said: When Kelly died, the laws were ineffective  nothing happened to anybody.

The owner stupidly allowed his daughter and my daughter to take two massive Rottweilers out. Their combined weight was something like 19 stone and Kelly weighed four and a half stone.

She didnt stand a chance.

She added: 30 years on from Kellys death we are still reading the same headlines. Nothing has changed and we have to get something done, she added.

Lisa Gradys daughter was also mauled by two Rottweilers while riding her bike outside the family home.

The 10-year-old was left with bite marks all over her body, suffered a broken jaw and was left with her ear hanging off following the attack.

Ms Grady echoed calls for all dogs to be on leads and suggested introducing ownership controls after it was revealed that owner of the dogs who attacked her daughter has another Rottweiler within weeks.

A third witness told the Committee that a pair of English Bull Terriers bit her six-year-old sons ear off during an attack in 2015 where he was rag-dolled all over the ground.

I was screaming hysterically and the owner was in the background unaware of what was going on, shouting out: don't worry the dogs won't touch you'Claire Booth

Mum Claire Booth explained that her son has been left traumatised by the attack, and has had multiple operations to try and repair his wounds, but will still need further surgery to reconstruct his disfigured ear.

It all happened very quickly, she said, It was carnage at the scene.

I noticed right away that his ear was off the side of his head and a chunk was missing and it was hanging off.

I was screaming hysterically and the owner was in the background unaware of what was going on, shouting out: dont worry the dogs wont touch you.

Weare now taking evidence from a couple who lost their daughter to a violent dog attack, and from parents whose children have been injured and scarred by out of control dogs. You can watch live here https://t.co/XxvGUIkkUG pic.twitter.com/gTB5t7d6lP  Public Audit & Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee (@SP_PAPLS) February 21, 2019

After the attack, Ms Booth said she felt let down and frustrated by the response of the police and dog wardens.

Police Scotland told us they didnt have any control over dog attacks, she said, adding that they didnt want to take a statement from her injured son and only confiscated one of the two dogs involved.

Dog wardens came to visit but a week later they phoned to ask if theyd left the statement in our house because they couldnt find it.

That whole process was farcical.

Discussing what changes she would like to see to the law, Ms Booth said: Theres too many people that have dogs that they cant control and they shouldnt be pets.

I would like to see that in all public places dogs are kept on leads. It happens in other countries, why cant it happen here?

As a result, we cant go to public parks right now because hes terrified of dogs being off their lead and thats now resulted in having more counselling.

Hospital admissions related to dog bites have doubled in the last 10 years, according to plastic surgeon Dr Judy Evans, who warned that child victims are left with much-worse scarring than adults.

Radio Clyde journalist Natalie Crawford, who has been campaigning about children being attacked by dogs, revealed that 1,417 people  255 of them children  attended A&E with dog-related injuries in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area last year.

Lanarkshire and Ayrshires figures were both at a four-year high, with 912 and 439 incidents respectively.

Dr Alasdair Corfield, who works in A&E at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, said there were an estimated 5,000 people injured by dogs who receive treatment, one-fifth of whom were children.

Holyroods Post-Legislative and Public Scrutiny committee will now consider the evidence and decide what recommendations to make to the Scottish Government, including possible changes to the law.

After hearing evidence from the three mothers, Anas Sarwar MSP said: The reality is that theres some people that the state deems are not fit enough to be parents and their children are taken away from them, whereas where is the control around whether someone is fit to be a dog owner?

Clearly, there are people who should not be anywhere near children and there are people who should be nowhere near any kind of pet or dog.
The mother of a three-year-old boy allegedly crushed by a car seat is facing years behind bars for child cruelty.

Adrian Hoare, 23, allegedly failed to prevent her boyfriend Stephen Waterson, 25, from squashing Alfie Lamb in the footwell of his Audi convertible with his seat in February last year.

After Alfies death, Hoare and Waterson, the adopted son of former Tory minister Nigel Waterson, lied to police about what happened.

Following an Old Bailey trial, a jury was unable to decide whether Waterson was guilty of Alfies manslaughter, but found him guilty of intimidation of a witness in the case.

Hoare was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of an alternative charge of child cruelty and common assault on another witness.

The defendants had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Kerr discharged the jury and gave the prosecution seven days to decide whether to seek a retrial.

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Commenting on Alfies case, Scotland Yards Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said: He was a vulnerable three-and-a-half-year-old who had his life in front of him. He had no-one to care for him on that day.

Adrian Hoare, as a mother, has the same responsibilities as any other mother who is looking after a child, especially of that age as its paramount she looks after their safety and their well-being. Its clear from her actions on that day she really did not have concerns.

On February 1 last year, the defendants had gone shopping for cushions in Sutton, accompanied by Alfie, Emilie Williams, 19, Marcus Lamb, 22, and another young child.

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Jurors were shown CCTV of Alfie running to keep up with his mother moments before he was put in the car for the journey back to Croydon, south London.

It was alleged nightclub worker Waterson became annoyed at Alfies crying and twice moved his front passenger seat into him as he sat at his mothers feet.

Alfie screamed for his mummy but Hoare just slapped him and told him to shut up, said unqualified driver Mr Lamb, who was Alfies cousin.

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Jurors heard the maximum space in the foot well was 30cm, and, at the touch of a button, that could be reduced to just 9.5cm.

By the time they arrived at Watersons home in Croydon, south London, the boy had collapsed and stopped breathing.

As medics desperately tried to revive him, Waterson left the scene and Hoare spun a web of lies, claiming she had been in a taxi.

Alfie, nicknamed Little Tarzan by the defendants, died from crush asphyxia three days later.

Meanwhile, Waterson gave officers a false name and false statement and sold the Audi.

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Hoare eventually broke her silence and told her half-sister Ashleigh Jeffrey what happened in a taped conversation handed to police.

Waterson blamed Mr Lamb for being a grass and put his foot on his head during a violent assault in Crystal Palace Park which was filmed on his mobile phone.

Jurors were told Waterson was a controlling womaniser who used his family connections to powerful people to control and manipulate people.

Giving evidence, he denied he would hurt a child and said he moved his seat back once by up to an inch.

It was suggested on his behalf that Hoare must have done something to cause Alfies injuries.

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Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC alleged both played a part in Alfies death, saying Hoare fundamentally and fatally failed to act.

Mr Atkinson said: When he started to cry, when he said he did not have enough room, when he coughed as if he was about to be sick, when he was screaming, when she could see he did not have enough room.

All she needed to do was pick him up, and she didnt, and he is dead.

The maximum sentence for child cruelty is 10 years in prison.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is holding EU withdrawal talks in Brussels as both sides signalled they are in a race against time to cut a workable deal.

Mr Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are meeting EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday after the Prime Minister insisted progress is being made.

Following a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday, Theresa May issued a joint statement with the European Commission president in which both leaders acknowledged the tight timescale.

The statement said the PM and Mr Juncker will review progress again in the coming days, seized of the tight timescale and the historic significance of setting the EU and the UK on a path to a deep and unique future partnership.

After the meeting, Mrs May said she had stressed the need for guarantees on the Northern Ireland backstop proposals.

The PM and Mr Juncker said they would talk again before the end of the month.

Mrs May will be attending a two-day EU-League of Arab States summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh starting on Sunday.

Time is of the essence and it is in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly wayPrime Minister Theresa May

Around 20 EU leaders are expected to take part, including German chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish premier Leo Varadkar, and Mrs May is expected to hold a series of one-to-one meetings on the margins of the main summit.

Mrs May is eager to get movement on the backstop issue before the Brexit issue returns to the Commons for a series of votes on February 27.

The Commons showdown is expected to see backbench moves to try to get Article 50 extended, meaning the UK remains in the EU after its scheduled exit date of March 29.

After the Brussels talks, the PM said: I have underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop that ensure that it cannot be indefinite.

Thats what is required if a deal is to pass the House of Commons.

We have agreed that work to find a solution will continue at pace.

Time is of the essence and it is in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly way.

So, we have made progress.

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The backstop arrangements would see the whole of the UK remain in a customs union with the EU and Northern Ireland following some single market rules until a wider trade deal is agreed, in order to prevent the need for checkpoints on the Irish border.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Cox is drawing up plans for a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop with a 12-week notice period.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also meeting Mr Barnier in Brussels on Thursday.

On what is set to happen next week, Chancellor Philip Hammond told BBC Breaksfast: There may be an opportunity to bring a vote back to the House of Commons but that will depend on progress that is made over the next few days. These discussions are ongoing.

He said the EU/Arab summit would give Mrs May an opportunity to talk to some of her European counterparts on Sunday.

He said: If we do not have a meaningful vote next week there will be another amendable motion tabled which will allow the House of Commons to once again debate how it wants to go forward.

We have got frankly a problem in the House of Commons. The House of Commons knows what it is against  it is absolutely against a no-deal exit but it has struggled to come up with a clear message to the Government about what it as a House of Commons wants as a way forward to avoid that outcome.
Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship and said she should be permitted to return to the UK to face questioning.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid made the move after the teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join Islamic States self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn son.

Ms Begum, one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join IS in 2015, told Sky News she would like British politicians to re-evaluate my case with a bit more mercy in their heart.

Ms Begum, who said her newborn son is unwell, added: I am willing to change.

Jeremy Corbyn said Shamima Begum should be allowed to return to Britain (PA)The Labour leader on Thursday criticised Mr Javids action as very extreme after diplomatic tensions broke out with Bangladesh denying the 19-year-old had citizenship in the nation she has apparently never visited.

Mr Corbyn told ITV News: She obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain.

On that return she must obviously face a lot of questions about everything she has done and at that point any action may or may not be taken.

But I think the idea of stripping somebody of their citizenship when they were born in Britain is a very extreme manoeuvre indeed.

Indeed, I questioned the right of the Home Secretary to have these powers when the original law was brought in by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

Meanwhile, the Begum familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee called for Mr Javid to explain what steps could be taken to deliver her days-old son to the UK from the Syrian refugee camp where they are staying without documentation.

Given Sajid Javid has confirmed the child is British we want to know what practical steps can be taken in these circumstances, the lawyer said.

Ms Begums parents would be happy to take the boy, he said, but it is not yet known whether she would allow him to travel without her.

Mr Javid has defended his move and insisted he would not leave an individual stateless  which is illegal under international law  after Bangladesh denied she had citizenship there.

A statement from the nations foreign affairs minister Shahriar Alam also said there is no question Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, could enter the country.

Ms Begum told Sky News she had no desire to go to Bangladesh: I dont have anything there, another language, I have never even seen the place.

Mr Javids move came amid heated debate over whether the teenager should be able to return to the UK after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp with the terror groups reign nearly over.

The Muslim Council of Britain has warned Mr Javids move heightens fears of a two-tiered citizenship scheme, sets a dangerous precedent and demonstrates an abdication of responsibility.

While many do not want to see Ms Begum return to the UK, others have argued she should face prosecution for her actions, and attempts at deradicalisation.

Mr Akunjee said he would be considering whether she has been left stateless as he prepares an appeal.

He said she was born in the UK, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen, which was confirmed by the Bangladeshi minister.

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Mr Alam added: So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh.

Asked about the situation on ITVs Peston, Mr Javid said: Im not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless.

He also suggested to the Commons that action to bar her from returning will not impact her sons rights.

If a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child, he said.

The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Home Secretary with the power to strip people of citizenship if it is conducive to the public good.

Meanwhile, the Governments chief adviser on countering extremism warned radical Islamists could exploit the unease caused by Mr Javids move.

Independent adviser Sara Khan said: The Government has to recognise the unease felt by a wide range of people about decisions of this kind, not least those from minority communities with dual nationality.

It has to build trust in its approach, because Islamist extremists will exploit alienation and grievance to turn people against their country.
Sajid Javid said he would not make a person stateless (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has said he would not leave an individual stateless when questioned on the future of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum.

The 19-year-old from London, who fled to Syria aged 15, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby.

But the Home Secretary revoked her British citizenship in a move only permissible under international law if it does not leave the individual stateless.

It was speculated that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there but Bangladeshs minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam denied this on Wednesday.

Asked about the situation on ITVs Peston, Mr Javid said: Im not aware of any Home Secretary in any party in any previous government that has taken a decision that would leave anyone stateless.

Im not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless.

There is no question of her being allowed to enter into BangladeshShahriar Alam

A statement tweeted by Mr Alam said: The Government of Bangladesh is deeply concerned that she has been erroneously identified as a holder of dual citizenship shared with Bangladesh alongside her birthplace, the United Kingdom.

Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh.

It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage.

So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh.

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The statement added that Dhaka had only been made aware of the situation by the media.

Asked whether she had been left stateless by Britain, the Begum familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: Its certainly something we will be adding to the mix in terms of our appeal.

He has said Ms Begum was born in the UK, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen.

A Home Office spokesman said Mr Javids priority was the safety and security of the country.

Decisions to deprive people of citizenship were based on all available evidence and not taken lightly, the spokesman added.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join the terror cult in 2015 and resurfaced heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week.

When shown a copy of the Home Office letter that announced her British citizenship would be stripped, she said it was a bit unjust on me and my son.

She went on to say she may try for citizenship in the Netherlands, where her husband is from.

Mr Javid suggested the action to prevent Ms Begum returning will have no impact on her baby sons nationality.

While insisting he could not discuss individual cases, he told the Commons: Children should not suffer.

So, if a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child.

Ms Begums situation has sparked intense debate about the UKs responsibilities to those seeking to return from Syria.

Expand Close Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 to join the Islamic State group (Metropolitan Police/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Home Secretary with the power to strip people of citizenship if it is conducive to the public good.

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said Ms Begum could challenge the Home Secretarys decision, and described it as a complex issue that could take a while to resolve.

Figures for 2017 show that 104 people were deprived of their British citizenship, up from 14 in the previous year.
Scottish Secretary David Mundell delivers a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Scottish Parliament at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh Jane Barlow/PA)

Scottish Secretary David Mundell has said he will not join breakaway pro-EU colleagues in leaving the Conservatives.

Asked if he would leave the the party or the Cabinet in the event that a no-deal Brexit becomes the Governments position, he said: Im most certainly not leaving the Conservative Party.

Im disappointed that colleagues have chosen to leave.

He said he hoped the three Conservatives who walked out on Wednesday to join eight ex-Labour MPs in the Independent Group (TIG) would have an opportunity to return at some point.

Mr Mundell made the comments following a speech in Edinburgh to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

In the Scottish Secretaryas speech today celebrating 20 years of devolution, he said aI have been passionate supporter of devolution. I was proud to be elected as an MSP in the first intake in May 1999.a pic.twitter.com/FcD2b79Xkj  Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (@ScotSecofState) February 21, 2019

Questioned on reports that he is one of four Cabinet members to tell Theresa May she must agree to delay Brexit by extending Article 50 to avoid a no-deal exit, or lose their support, he said: I dont comment on private conversations that Im having with the Prime Minister.

But what I have said to her repeatedly is that a no-deal Brexit is a very bad deal for Scotland and the United Kingdom and that we must do everything that we can to avoid that outcome.

Pressed further if he would resign his ministerial role in the event of a no-deal, he said he would do everything I can, and whatever I deem necessary, to prevent a no-deal Brexit coming about but would not be setting strict parameters on what that may or may not be.

Mr Mundell said he still believes a deal and an orderly Brexit is achievable.

He added: Its just no good anymore for people to stand up and to say they dont want a no-deal Brexit, they dont want the chaos and disruption that that would bring, and then vote for it.

I find astounding the position of the SNP and the Scottish Government. They produce a report telling us what we all know  that a no-deal Brexit would be a very bad thing for Scotland and indeed the UK.

But every time there is the chance to vote on that issue the SNP trot through the no-deal lobby, when their 35 MPs could end up being the difference between whether we leave without a deal or whether we dont.

The Scottish Secretary said the SNP realise a no-deal Brexit is a threat to the unity of the UK and thats why they are contriving to bring it about, by, on every opportunity, supporting a no-deal Brexit in votes.

During his speech, he said leaving the EU is an opportunity to strengthen devolution within the UK and rejected Scottish Government claims that Brexit will damage devolution.

He said: I do not believe Brexit will damage devolution. I want it to strengthen devolution, and I believe that can and will happen.

Mr Mundell branded SNP assertions that key Brexit legislation is a power grab, which could see Scotland lose out on powers returning from Brussels, as invented grievance and complete fantasy.

He added: What these myths amount to is an attempt to undermine devolution  to sweep away the 98 settlement  by people who do not support devolution because they want independence.

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However SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: The Tories fought tooth and nail against devolution in the first place  and their attitude has barely changed since.

David Mundell is perfectly content with imposing a hard Brexit on Scotland against our will  while making a powergrab on areas the Leave campaign pledged would come directly to Holyrood.

After Theresa May trampled all over David Mundells self-declared red-lines, if he had any credibility he would have resigned months ago.
Marian Pavel has been reported missing from the Huntly area (David Cheskin/PA)

Concerns are growing for a man who has been report missing.

Marian Pavel, from Huntly, was last seen in the town at around 7.30pm on Wednesday.

The 45-year-old is described as being 6ft 2ins, has brown hair shaved at the sides with a ponytail, dark-blue pullover, grey woolly hat, blue jeans and black footwear.

Police Scotland are concerned for the wellbeing of Marian Pavel (45) who has been reported missing from the Huntly area.

Marian was last seen at about 19:30 on 20/02/2019 in Huntly.https://t.co/Y9OgWyMffl pic.twitter.com/z2IXGjIyXV  Tayside Police (@TaysidePolice) February 21, 2019

It is understood he may frequent the Inverness area.

Police Scotland has appealed for information on her whereabouts.
Police activity near Herbert Road, in Small Heath, Birmingham, where a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death Wednesday evening (Aaron Chown/PA)

Another murder investigation has been launched in Birmingham after a 16-year-old boy became the second teenager to be stabbed to death in the city in a week.

The youth was discovered in Herbert Road in Small Heath at around 8pm on Wednesday, West Midlands Police said.

He had suffered serious stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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A 15-year-old boy was treated by paramedics after he was assaulted and suffered minor injuries, the force added.

On Thursday, a wide police cordon surrounded Sara Park, its childrens play area and several nearby streets, with a few officers guarding the scene visible from the barrier tape.

In the early hours of Monday, a 22-year-man was stabbed during a fight outside the Karahi King takeaway in Coventry Road, just a few yards away from the park.

The latest attack comes just seven days after 16-year-old student Sidali Mohamed, who had fled war-torn Somalia with his family as a toddler, was stabbed outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath, a few minutes drive from the latest attack.

Expand Close Sidali Mohamed was stabbed outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, on February 13 (West Midlands Police/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sidali Mohamed was stabbed outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, on February 13 (West Midlands Police/PA)

His life support machine was turned off two days later and police arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder.

One Birmingham MP said she would be seeking emergency meetings with Home Secretary Sajid Javid in light of the recent spate of knife crime.

Birmingham Yardley Labour MP Jess Phillips tweeted: Waking up to news of another young man murdered on edge of my constituency.

https://twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1098502095861366786

Will seek emergency meetings with Home Sec & we are already meeting with Local Govt ministers next week.

They hollowed away our youth services/early intervention, they must make reparations to my community.

Residents and councillors have also expressed their shock and concern at another stabbing on their doorstep.

Expand Close Police cordoned off Sara Park, off Herbert Road in Small Heath (Aaron Chown/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police cordoned off Sara Park, off Herbert Road in Small Heath (Aaron Chown/PA)

City councillor Zaheer Khan, whose Small Heath ward borders the scene, said the boys death represented another victim of knife crime, and was a tragic loss.

Last summer, we had a spate of stabbings and murders in Small Heath, he said.

Personally, since those incidents, I have written to police several times about a lack of visible police presence.

I feel that lack of police resources means people believe they can do whatever they want.

Expand Close Police in Small Heath after the second fatal stabbing of a teenager in Birmingham in a week (Aaron Chown/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police in Small Heath after the second fatal stabbing of a teenager in Birmingham in a week (Aaron Chown/PA)

Yasmin Akhtar, a 44-year-old support worker who lives locally and has a 10-year-old son, said she feared for his safety.

She said: I have a son and I really fear what is going to happen to him.

Last week, we had that young lad who died at Joseph Chamberlain (College), and another stabbing up the road. Its a joke.

Is it safe where were living? Its such a shame.

Expand Close Police investigations in Sara Park, Small Heath, after the fatal stabbing (Aaron Chown/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police investigations in Sara Park, Small Heath, after the fatal stabbing (Aaron Chown/PA)

Detective Chief Inspector Edward Foster, from the forces homicide team, said on Thursday: The investigation is in its early stages and we are keen to hear from anyone who was in Herbert Road or Sara Park at just before 8pm last night.

A teenager has sadly lost his life and another was assaulted. We are working hard to establish the circumstances around what happened.

Police have said a cordon is in place while inquiries are carried out in the area.

The force is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
Islamic State bride Shamima Begum, who fled to Syria aged 15, is not a Bangladeshi citizen and will be barred from entering the country, its foreign ministry has said.

The 19-year-old, from London, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby, but Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship in a move only permissible under international law if it does not leave the individual stateless.

There had been speculation that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there, but minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam denied this.

The minister said: "Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh. It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage, so there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh."

Yesterday, Ms Begum was shown a copy of the Home Office letter that announced her British citizenship would be stripped.

She told ITV News: "It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son."

She went on to say she may try for citizenship in the Netherlands, where her husband is from.
Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh (left) and Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell OConnor, both alumni of the University, at the official opening of the new 14.1 million euro School of Education building at Maynooth University, Co. Kildare.

A multimillion-euro education facility has been officially opened at Maynooth University to provide for a rapid growth in student numbers.

More than 600 students graduate from Maynooth every year from courses including early childhood education, primary teachers, second level teachers, higher education teachers, and guidance counsellors and school leaders.

Its new 14.1 million euro School of Education was officially opened by two of its alumni, Minister for Education Joe McHugh and Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell OConnor.

Expand Close Mary Mitchell OConnor and Joe McHugh at the official opening (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mary Mitchell OConnor and Joe McHugh at the official opening (Brian Lawless/PA)

The universitys three education departments have seen growth in student intake from 700 to 1,400 since 2014.

One of its current students, Peter Hughes, is teaching people in Dublins north inner city, many of whom left school through truancy and bad behaviour.

The 35-year-old from Cabra said: These are students who have had a bad experience at school.

Many were kicked out for physical altercations in class, but they come to this course in Dublin inner city and find a completely different environment.

They are not schooled, theres no disciplines or bells, but there is a contract between tutors and students.

Sometimes it can be a challenging class, but you have to talk to them, not at them  thats the key. They really respond to that and it works very well.

Its about getting them in where they learn communication skills, maths, computers, woodwork and metalwork. These are good skills that apply to them.

I dont believe in walking into a class and talking at students, I believe in engaging with them.

Minister Joe McHugh TD & Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD meeting students of Early Childhood Education at the opening of our School of Education today on campus in Maynooth pic.twitter.com/cHOPhwDzdr  Maynooth University (@MaynoothUni) February 21, 2019

Wendy Dickson, a mother-of-four who was a hairdresser for 25 years, went to university to pursue a lifelong dream of become a primary school teacher.

It was always something I dreamt of being able to be and presumed it would happen for me, but it didnt, she said.

At the age of 15 my parents separated and my family home broke up so that had a huge impact on me and I lost interest in education.

I rebelled against the books and thought I would do hairdressing. I did that for 25 years and had four children but, as years went, by I realised I really wanted to be a teacher.

Its amazing to get the opportunity to do something like this because I had myself written off and I said how could I ever get into teaching at this stage, so its brilliant to do this.

The community approach @MaynoothUni is still as alive today as it was when I was there in the 1990s. Maynooth always gave the opportunity for critical thinking... and that tradition continues today.a pic.twitter.com/H5nUVEnnA5  Joe McHugh (@McHughJoeTD) February 21, 2019

Mr McHugh, who studied philosophy, geography, economics and sociology at the university, said: Maynooth College was at the cutting edge a long time ago and there is a massive heritage and appetite for learning in this institution.

The government, and Marys position and myself as an alumni, we will continue to embrace that in as wholesome way as we possibly can because the world is changing, its changing in the classrooms, its changing in terms of how we use technology.

Ms Mitchell said she launched a programme to promote more female professors in senior academic leadership roles.

We know that 52% of our students going to college are young females and we need to make sure they see women coming through the ranks so they too can inspire to go to the very top, she said.

It comes as the Education Minister announced the patronage of 12 new primary schools opening later this year.

Seven schools will be run by Educate Together in Kildare, Cork, Dublin and Wicklow.

Three schools in Co Dublin and Co Meath will be run by Education and Training Boards (ETBs).

Two gaelscoils in Maynooth and south Dublin will be under the patronage of An Foras Patrunachta.

The schools are opening in areas that are under demographic pressures for additional places.
A sign warning of drone uses after a confirmed drone sighting forced the temporary suspension of operations at Dublin Airport.

Operations at Dublin Airport were suspended for 30 minutes after a pilot reported a drone flying above the airfield.

Planes were grounded and incoming flights diverted after the incident at around 11.30am on Thursday.

Dublin Airport said the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) ordered a 30-minute suspension in line with official protocols for drone sightings.

No more drone activity was reported in the period and operations resumed.

After the incident, airport police and gardai, including members of the armed response unit, were seen conducting inquiries close to the perimeter of the airfield.

Officers spoke to a number of people and searched vehicles in an area popular with plane spotters on Old Airport Road.

Police confirmed they have made no arrests in connection to the ongoing investigation.

Simon Harry, who travelled to Dublin from Manchester, was delayed on the runway before his flight departed.

He said: We were delayed for about 15 minutes so it didnt cause that much of a hassle.

Update re this morning's drone incident. Agreed drone protocols with @IAApress were immediately activated & followed. We put passengers' safety & security first at all times. Flying drones within 5km of @DublinAirport is a crime. https://t.co/aKtncHn96w pic.twitter.com/XTx1y0Pm5m  Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) February 21, 2019

They told us at the time that it was for a drone near Dublin airport.

At first we thought we would be stuck there for a few hours because there was long delays at Gatwick Airport, but luckily it was dealt with and we could come to Ireland and were happy to be here.

Three incoming flights were diverted due to the scare, two to Belfast and one to Shannon.

Siobhan ODonnell, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport, said the drone had not been recovered and she expressed concern it could return.

She added: A pilot on the airfield spotted the drone and contacted the Irish Aviation Authority so they took the decision then to suspend flight operations.

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Whatsapp Airport police question motorists at a site popular with plane spotters (Niall Carson/PA)

Its a very serious situation to spot a drone in the airfield so the decision to suspend flights was not taken lightly.

Drones can do huge damage to an aircraft. The drone was out in the airfield area where flights are landing and taking off.

Dublin Airport outlined the chain of events after the pilot reported the drone. A spokesman said: Very shortly afterwards, and having contacted other aircraft in the vicinity, the IAA suspended flight operations at Dublin Airport in line with agreed protocols for confirmed drone sightings.

A 30-minute suspension of flights was implemented by air traffic control at that point, which is the agreed procedure in such cases. As there were no further drone sighting within the 30-minute suspension period, Dublin Airport resumed flight operations shortly after noon.

The gardai and other state agencies were informed of the incident immediately. It is illegal to fly drones within five kilometres of an airport in the state and all drones that weigh more than 1kg must be registered with the IAA.

Expand Close Siobhan ODonnell, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport, speaking to the media in Terminal 1 (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Siobhan ODonnell, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport, speaking to the media in Terminal 1 (Brian Lawless/PA)

The safety and security of airport users is DAAs (Dublin Airport Authority) key priority at all times and staff at Dublin Airport, the IAA and other agencies continue to remain vigilant in relation to drone activity in the vicinity of the airport.

Three flights were diverted due the suspension of flight operations and there will also be some knock-on delays to flights today.

Dublin Airport apologised for the inconvenience to passengers, tweeting: The safety and security of passengers is always our key priority.

Aer Lingus said passengers using Dublin Airport may experience delays.

Flights have resumed at Dublin Airport following a brief closure due to a drone sighting. Some delays may be experienced today as a result, but we'll be doing everything possible to minimise these.  Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) February 21, 2019

Before Christmas, drone sightings caused travel chaos at Gatwick Airport, near London. Aircraft were grounded over three days, with 1,000 flights cancelled and 140,000 passengers affected.

In January, Irelands Transport Minister Shane Ross convened a meeting of experts to discuss the threat posed by drones.

At the time he said the prospect of an attack was low but authorities needed to be vigilant.

The National Civil Aviation Threat and Risk Group meeting involved the Garda, Defence Forces, officials from the departments of transport, justice and foreign affairs, the Irish Aviation Authority, and representatives from Irelands airports and airlines.

Irelands deputy premier Simon Coveney reacted to the incident in the Dail parliament on Thursday afternoon.

There are some very sophisticated airports in some very well resourced countries that havent been able to deal with this issue easily, in the US and the UK most recently, he said.

Expand Close Shane Ross (Nick Ansell/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Shane Ross (Nick Ansell/PA)

I dont think we should pretend that Ireland should be immune from challenges that are very difficult to deal with from a technical perspective.

But we of course will learn from the lessons of others, particularly our closest neighbour, and ensure that we put mechanisms in place that are as effective as possible.

Irelands main opposition party Fianna Fail called for government action and more robust regulations.

Transport spokesman Robert Troy TD said: I am glad that the disruption to flights in Dublin Airport was kept to a minimum and that all flights have resumed, however let there be no doubt about it, it could have been much more chaotic.
A woman subjected to a break-in where a suspected gun was brandished has allegedly revealed she mistook an intruder's identity, the High Court has heard.

Lawyers for Alan Lundy said the development further weakened claims he was one of two masked men who forced their way into a house on the Ligoniel Road, north Belfast on February 15.

Lundy, 39, of Thornberry Close in the city, denies a charge of aggravated burglary with intent to steal and having a firearm.

His application for bail was adjourned as detectives continue efforts to contact the woman.

According to the prosecution two men came through an unlocked door wearing balacalavas and asking the male and female occupants "where's the gear".

Police told a previous court the alleged demand may have been a reference to drugs.

It was claimed that Lundy was identified after his mask was pulled off.

The woman also said a second, unnamed intruder held her in a headlock and made a gun gesture with his fingers.

Lundy's legal team insisted he has provided a detailed alibi for the night of the suspected burglary.

They argued that he was at a KFC restaurant in Magherafelt before going home and spending time on social media.

But Crown lawyer Garrett O'Kane said police checks on the route suggested Lundy could have been at his address and walked to the scene of the burglary in nine minutes.

During the hearing it emerged that the woman has allegedly told another solicitor she had made a mistaken identity.

Michael Forde, defending, argued that it was a further "inherent weakness" in the Crown case.

Mr O'Kane confirmed attempts were continuing to obtain a statement from the woman.

Adjourning the application, Mrs Justice Keegan said: "I think that issue needs some clarity."
The scene of the crash where Peter Smyth lost his life on the main Coleraine to Garvagh road

A man in his 40s who died following a two-vehicle road crash in Co Londonderry has been named locally as Peter Smyth.

Mr Smyth was driving a transit van which collided with a lorry shortly before 1.25pm yesterday on the Drumcroon Road, outside Coleraine.

The driver of the lorry was not seriously injured.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it received a call at 1.21pm and dispatched a crew to the scene.

The Air Ambulance and fire service also attended.

The Drumcroon Road was closed from Dunhill Road to Kinnyglass Road from around 2pm and remained closed overnight.

Paying tribute to the victim last night, SDLP councillor Stephanie Quigley said: "I am so sad to hear of this tragic accident. I knew Peter and I was talking to him a few weeks ago on Castlerock beach when he was out walking with his son.

"Peter was such a lovely genuine person, a real hard-working family man. My thoughts and prayers are with his loving parents, James and Eithne, and the entire family circle.

"It is just heartbreaking for children to lose their daddy at such a young age.

"The Smyth family are well-known and loved in this area and I am sure that this tight-knit community will be a great support at this difficult time.

Expand Close Peter Smyth / Facebook

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"I know their Christian faith will be a comfort to them now and in the days that lie ahead."

Ulster Unionist councillor William McCandless added: "This is tragic news and I am sure that I speak for everyone when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased."

PSNI Inspector Colin Shaw appealed for anyone who witnessed the collision, or was travelling on the Drumcroon Road and who has dashcam footage of the crash, to contact local officers in Coleraine on 101.
Police carried out a number of searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI

Two people have been arrested for drugs offences after police searched ten properties in north Belfast.

Officers seized a quantity of cocaine, tablets and cannabis along with drugs paraphernalia and other items.

Expand Close Police putting in a door during searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police putting in a door during searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI

A further four people will be reported to the Public Prosecution Service and a fifth received a Community Resolution Notice.

Chief Inspector Kelly Moore said, Over the past two days local neighbourhood officers working with district support team and tactical support colleagues have conducted searches at residential properties in the lower north Belfast area.

"The searches are part of our ongoing efforts to tackle the scourge of drugs in our community.

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Whatsapp Police putting in a door during searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI

We understand that drug and substance abuse bring misery to individuals, families and communities, and we are committed to addressing drug dealing and associated criminality.

"We will continue to disrupt and arrest those involved in the sale and supply of drugs, bring those individuals before the courts and work with communities and partners to reduce the threat of this harmful, criminal activity and make our neighbourhoods safer.

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Whatsapp Drugs seized by police after searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI

We seek the continued support and co-operation of the community and would encourage anyone with information about drug dealing or drug misuse in the local area to get in touch.

"I want to reassure people that we never disregard any information provided. Sometimes it can be the last part of the jigsaw or the starting point of a longer term investigation.

Our message is clear and simple: drugs destroy lives. If you can help us put an end to this blight on our society, please call 101 or alternatively you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 and pass on any details that you may have."

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Whatsapp Police putting in a door during searches in north Belfast. Credit: PSNI
From left, Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee with cast members at the premiere at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry

A man who admitted stealing 1,560 worth of catering equipment from a function for the world premiere of the second series of Derry Girls was jailed for four months yesterday.

Unemployed Adam Raymond McDaid, from Bonds Hill in the Waterside area of Londonderry, pleaded guilty to stealing a blue BMW jacket and a Black and Decker toolbox with catering knives belonging to the Posh Nosh catering company on Monday night.

The 24-year-old also admitted assaulting a police officer by headbutting him in the face after his arrest.

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The Magistrates' Court in Derry was told that the defendant, who has 141 previous criminal convictions - 36 of them for thefts - had only been released from prison on licence three weeks ago.

A solicitor for the Public Prosecution Service told District Judge Barney McElholm that McDaid stole the items from a catering trolley during a Guildhall function.

He was challenged by staff members who, along with other guests, chased after him across Guildhall Square and into the Star Bingo premises on Bank Place.

There he locked himself in a disabled toilet, where he was kept by employees and members of the public until the police arrived and arrested him.

After his arrest, McDaid was taken to the custody suite at Strabane PSNI station, where he became increasingly aggressive towards the arresting police officers and headbutted one of them in the face, after which he was restrained.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, second from left, with cast members Dylan Llewellyn , Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan when they visited the 'Derry Girls' mural painted by UV Artists on the gable wall of Badger's Bar, Derry. The second series of the hit show is coming soon to Channel 4. Pic Lorcan Doherty Presseye Lorcan Doherty Saoirse-Monica Jackson meets fans as she arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson meets fans as she arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Fans from Norway pose with Derry Girls written on ther stomachs at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn, Nicola Coughlan and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Nicola Coughlan arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn, Nicola Coughlan and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Nicola Coughlan , Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Nicola Coughlan , Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA L-R Dylan Llewellyn and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Louisa Harland arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson signs autographs as she arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Nicola Coughlan , Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Nicola Coughlan arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Screen writer Lisa McGee arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Derry Girls at the Omniplex, Strand Road in Derry for the premier of the hit Channel 4 comedy series. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 18.02.19 Dylan Llewellyn and Nicola Couglan from Derry Girls at the Omniplex, Strand Road in Derry for the premier of the hit Channel 4 comedy series. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 18.02.19 Press Eye Northern Ireland Monday 18th February 2018 Picture by Lorcan Doherty / Press Eye Derry Girls cast members Dylan Llewellyn, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan and Louisa Harland when they visited the 'Derry Girls' mural painted by UV Artists on the gable wall of Badger's Bar, Derry. The second series of the hit show is coming soon to Channel 4. Lorcan Doherty (left to right) Writer Lisa McGee with cast members Nicola Coughlan , Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA L-R Dylan Llewellyn and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Louisa Harland arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson signs autographs as she arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Nicola Coughlan arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA (left to right) Louisa Harland, Dylan Llewellyn and Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrive at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Saoirse-Monica Jackson arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA Screen writer Lisa McGee arrives at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry for the Derry Girls premiere ahead of the broadcast of the second series on Channel 4. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday February 18, 2019. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, second from left, with cast members Dylan Llewellyn , Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland and Nicola Coughlan when they visited the 'Derry Girls' mural painted by UV Artists on the gable wall of Badger's Bar, Derry. The second series of the hit show is coming soon to Channel 4. Pic Lorcan Doherty Presseye

The stolen goods were subsequently recovered.

McDaid told police he could not remember the incident because he had been drunk.

However, after he was shown CCTV from both inside and outside the Guildhall, he identified himself on the footage and admitted the theft and assault offences.

Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said Posh Nosh had been approached to provide food for the event.

"The function was associated with one of Derry's greatest exports, Derry Girls," he added.

"I am tempted to wonder if this incident might feature in an episode in series three. Maybe Danny De Vito could play my part.

"(The defendant) was wandering outside the Guildhall, drunk and under the influence of drugs, and he seized the opportunity, from his point of view.

"He was certainly not aware of the fact that the cutlery items were valued at over 1,500.

"He also cunningly stole the blue BMW jacket and put it on before stealing the knives.

"He was aware that people wearing such jackets were bringing equipment into and out of the Guildhall.

"He then made his escape bid, but he ended up being detained in a disabled toilet in a nearby bingo hall.

"Apart from the serious assault on the police officer, there was an element of comedy about the whole thing.

"He was released from jail three weeks ago on licence until next September.

"So far, he has not been recalled, but that could change at any time.

"He waives his right to a pre-sentence report.

"He accepts bail is highly unlikely, given his appalling record, and that custody is very much the overwhelming favourite in terms of the disposal of the case.

"He hopes the court might consider imposing a suspended sentence, or maybe deferring sentencing."

The District Judge told the court he had been dealing with McDaid since he was a 12-year-old boy.

"One thing that is quite clear is that when he is out of custody, he will re-offend," he added.

"If there was any prospect of turning him around, I would consider it.

"But there is nothing in his behaviour to convince me he has arrived at that point.

"He was released just three weeks ago and he again re-offends.

"It is fortunate for the catering company that all of the stolen items were recovered and fit for use."
Pat Finucane was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1989

The UK's highest court will next week decide whether to grant a judicial review into the decision not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.

Mr Finucane (39), a high-profile solicitor, was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries at his north Belfast home in 1989 as he sat down for dinner with his family.

State collusion in the murder was alleged and in 2004 a judge recommended that a public inquiry should be held into the slaying.

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In 2011, however, the then-Prime Minister David Cameron decided not to establish a public inquiry, but instead ordered an independent review into to case by former UN war crimes prosecutor Sir Desmond de Silva QC.

Sir Desmond's review found "shocking" levels of collusion by the security forces in Mr Finucane's murder, but no "overarching state conspiracy" in his death.

Pat Finucane's widow, Geraldine, described the review as a "whitewash" and challenged the decision not to hold a public inquiry into her husband's murder.

Mrs Finucane argued the decision was incompatible with human rights legislation, the decision-making process was flawed and the previous commitment to hold a public inquiry was unlawfully frustrated.

The UK Supreme Court will hand down its judgment in the case on Wednesday, February 27.
Autism diagnoses have increased by over 100% in the last five years.

The number of children diagnosed with autism in Northern Ireland has more than doubled in the last five years, figures show.

In some cases health trusts have seen a three-fold increase in incidents, with charities saying they are inundated with requests for help.

More than 2,000 children are still waiting for a diagnosis.

Autism charities said the rise could be due to an increased awareness of the condition.

Last year 2,345 under-18s in Northern Ireland were diagnosed with autism compared to 1,047 in 2013.

This excellent visual describing Autistic shutdowns was created by Introvert Doodles (art) and Girls Autistic Journey-Nonbinary acceptance (words). #Autistic shutdowns are different from Autistic meltdowns, but both are involuntary -- not "bad behaviour".#AWEtismRethink pic.twitter.com/R9m3PgZvrX  I CAN Network Ltd. (@I_CAN_Network) February 21, 2019

The largest increase was seen in the Belfast Trust area, with a rise from 171 cases in 2013/14 to 567 in 2017/18. The figures were obtained by the BBC.

The Northern Trust is the only health care body that differentiates between Aspergers and austism.

In 2011 the Assembly passed the Autism Act which aimed to implement a governmental strategy to cater for people with autism and their needs.

However, Autism NI said that the legislation had failed to deliver on its promises of help for autistic people, their families and carers.

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Their 2016 Broken Promises report called on the Stormont Assembly to take action on the issue.

Head of Autism NI Kerry Boyd told how the group has been inundated with requests for support.

The introduction of the Autism Act (NI) 2011 and the accompanying increase in awareness both within the general public and health and education professions may have contributed to a rise in the number of assessments carried out and resulting diagnoses, she said.

Consequently Autism NI, which provides vital services, is inundated with requests for support and we are finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil this demand.

As a result of this exponential increase, many families are not receiving an adequate level of support particularly in relation to early intervention.

Dr Alan Stout, the chair of the Northern Ireland GP Committee of the British Medical Association, said increased awareness and changes to the criteria under the 2011 legislation had led to a surge in cases.

A number of years ago we were also placing other types of conditions, such as Aspergers, but now they are all categorised as being on the spectrum of autism and the threshold has also been reduced for what constitutes being on the spectrum, he said.

We do tend to notice that the diagnoses are getting younger and younger - it has big, big implications if the diagnosis can be confirmed.

It helps the understanding for the school and the parents.
A war of words has erupted between the DUP and Sinn Fein after Arlene Foster accused Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald of "foolishness" in her comments about senior PSNI officers.

Sinn Fein yesterday said it would "take no lectures from Arlene Foster" given her record on justice issues.

The DUP last night hit back at the "nasty and vicious attack on Mrs Foster" which it claimed was a "smokescreen" to cover the Sinn Fein president's "unreasonable comments".

On Monday, Ms McDonald said there was no credible candidate in the PSNI's top team to replace George Hamilton when he retires as Chief Constable.

She was speaking after meeting relatives of loyalist victims who have condemned the PSNI for failing to hand over information to the Police Ombudsman on the UFF gun attack on Sean Graham's bookies in which five people died in 1992.

Mrs Foster told the BBC that by her PSNI comments, Ms McDonald had compromised the appointment process for the Chief Constable's job.

The Policing Board is responsible for appointing the Chief Constable. A Sinn Fein appointee will be on the board panel that makes the decision.

"It is very foolish of her, first of all to make the comments and then not to retract the comments, because essentially what she is doing is interfering with due process and compromising the panel appointment," the DUP leader said.

"We have asked for legal advice from the Policing Board lawyers.

"We will await to hear what they have to say but, in my opinion, she has compromised the panel, she has compromised due process and she should be big enough to acknowledge that."

But Sinn Fein MLA John O'Dowd defended his party leader and said for Mrs Foster "to accuse anyone of undermining due process is quite incredible".

"This is the same woman who the High Court found had acted unlawfully during her time as First Minister by blocking the Lord Chief Justice's request for legacy inquest funding," he said.

"If that had happened anywhere else in the world, there would have been an outcry.

"The courts found that the joint First Minister of the government used her position to prevent grieving families from accessing their legal right to an inquest. That is absolutely scandalous yet Arlene Foster has never apologised for these actions."

Mr O'Dowd said his party would "take no lectures from Arlene Foster, given her track record" on justice issues.

He continued: "And that is what is at the heart of this case.

"The PSNI's failure to provide evidence to the Ombudsman on dozens of killings by loyalist death squads is appalling.

"Arlene Foster has had nothing to say about that but is quite happy to attack Sinn Fein."

DUP Policing Board member and MLA Mervyn Storey accused Sinn Fein of "a nasty and vicious attack on Mrs Foster".

He said: "It is nothing but a distraction from Sinn Fein.

"No amount of smokescreens will cover Mary Lou McDonald's foolish and unreasonable comments.

"Sinn Fein knows that her comments could have compromised their party's position on the assessment panel for the next Chief Constable."

Mr Storey hit out at Sinn Fein's record on legacy issue.

"Sinn Fein speak of the past but almost exclusively focus on the 10% of deaths attributed to the state," he said.

"Both Mrs Foster and I want justice for everyone who lost loved ones during the Troubles.

"The 60% of deaths attributed to republicans and the 30% of deaths attributed to loyalists."

Mr Storey said nobody should be above the law and all innocent victims deserved justice.

"Rather than lecture, Sinn Fein should urge republicans to help the police prosecute those victim-makers in the PIRA," he added.

"No more double standards from Sinn Fein."

Ms McDonald has refused to say sorry for voicing her opposition to any curr ent senior PSNI officer succeeding Mr Hamilton when he steps down in June.

The Police Federation is demanding she apologise while the Equality Commission expressed concern about her remarks.
Shamima Begum reads a copy of the Home Office letter announcing the stripping of her British citizenship

A former head of Special Branch in Belfast has warned that the Government's decision not to allow a teenage Islamic State bride to come home will act as a recruiting sergeant for terrorists.

Jim Gamble, who is now a child protection expert, claimed that the history of Northern Ireland proved the danger of "knee-jerk responses" and that it would have been wiser to show compassion to Shamima Begum.

Mr Gamble said that while Ms Begum was "hard to like", she was only 15 when she was groomed by Islamic State.

While she must face the consequences of her actions, the Government's decision to revoke her British citizenship was not the answer and "the UK is better than that", he added.

The 19-year-old, now in a refugee camp in Syria, said yesterday she was shocked by the move.

Mr Gamble acknowledged that his view on Ms Begum would not be popular in some quarters, but he urged people not to respond to the case with "raw emotion".

"Given my background in policing in Northern Ireland, I've seen how we've got things right and how we've got them wrong," he said.

"A knee-jerk response in the aftermath of something terrible can often act as a recruiting sergeant for those who wish to draw young volunteers as cannon fodder into their cause.

"I think we need to pause and reflect on the realities of the Shamima Begum case."

The former Special Branch chief, who went on to become chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, said Ms Begum's age at the time she fled Britain shouldn't be forgotten.

She left her east London home in February 2015 with two other schoolgirls.

"She was a 15-year-old when she was radicalised and indoctrinated into a cause which led her to travel to Syria and become an Isis bride," Mr Gamble said.

"Fifteen-year-olds can't vote, marry or legally consent to sex in this country. We recognise that they lack the maturity to make such choices.

"Logically, we cannot therefore deem her decision to join Isis as an adult one that should be considered binding for the rest of her life."

Mr Gamble said that Ms Begum needed to "face the consequences" of her actions.

"That may involve a balanced criminal justice response. She is now 19 and is of an age where she can be held criminally responsible for her acts. She could face proportionate punishment and future monitoring," he said.

"I am not saying we forgive her. I am not saying I like her. She is hard to like.

"Indeed, she makes a reasoned approach very difficult because she's showing no regret or remorse.

"But she still should not be banned from this country. She should definitely be allowed to come home. Her baby son should not suffer because of her actions. Our message should be one of hope, not hate."

Mr Gamble said "resorting to jingoism" was not helpful in fighting Islamic terrorism. "We really need to consider the message we are sending out on this one," he stressed. "We have to show we are different to Isis, that we are better.

"If we don't, we will strengthen that which we want to defeat and we will weaken our own cause.

"We also have to apply our own legal and moral standards. If a child was groomed by a gang and her sexual abuse normalised by them to the point she thought what was happening was okay, would we blame her when she became 18?

"Too many people, including those who should know better, are letting their emotions rule.

"I spent one half of my career fighting terrorism and the other half safe-guarding children.

"This is a time for clear heads and cool decisions."
A registered sex offender allegedly groped a hostel worker as she tried to offer him help, the High Court heard today.

Another member of staff who says she witnessed the incident claimed Stuart Massey had also previously targeted her.

Massey, 34, of no fixed address, faces two counts of sexual assault.

The exact location of the hostel in Co Down is not being disclosed to protect the alleged victims' identities.

Garrett O'Kane, prosecuting, said Massey allegedly grabbed and squeezed the staff member's breast on a date last week.

"She was trying to assist him due to his intoxication," Mr O'Kane told the court.

Another worker told police she had witnessed Massey's actions and alleged that he had touched her inappropriately two months previously.

Opposing bail, Mr O'Kane contended there was a risk of re-offending.

He disclosed that Massey is to remain on the sex offender's register until 2025.

Defence counsel Alan Blackburn said his client strongly denies the charges.

He also submitted that while any sexual assault must be condemned, the allegations against Massey involved touching "over clothing".

Refusing bail, however, Mrs Justice Keegan said: "There's a risk to the public in terms of the type of behaviour alleged, in particular towards people trying to help someone like the applicant in hostel accommodation."
Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhan Connolly was among some of the retail bodies who expressed concern of a no-deal Brexit (PA)

Leading retail bodies have issued a stark warning over the impact of a no-deal Brexit on shoppers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Chiefs of retail bodies have expressed concern that a no-deal Brexit will squeeze household budgets across and lead to reduced availability of some goods.

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, Thomas Burke, director of Retail Ireland and William Bain, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Europe and international policy adviser, say that increased tariffs and new regulatory checks would lead to increases in the cost of making fresh food and drink available to consumers.

They claim these tariffs could see increases of up to 45% on some everyday food items should the UK and the European Union revert to World Trade Organisation tariffs.

The trade bodies also raised concerns over the cost implications of non-tariff barriers such as checks and delays.

A no-deal outcome would have devastating economic consequences, potentially jeopardising years of positive economic development and integrationWilliam Bain

Mr Connolly said: A no-deal Brexit brings tariffs, customs processes, checks and costs which our industry, and Northern Ireland families in particular, cannot afford to absorb.

Our households already have half of the discretionary income of British households and less than those in the Republic of Ireland. A no-deal Brexit will hit us first and hit us hardest.

This is not acceptable.

A hard Brexit means a hard border and the disintegration of supply chains that have been built up over 40 years of EU membership.

This is not a binary choice for Northern Ireland between trade with the UK and trade with the EU.

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Mr Burke, of Retail Ireland, said that a crash Brexit would have devastating economic consequences.

He continued: However, regardless of the type of Brexit agreed over the coming weeks, retailers will see an increase in their operating costs arising from checks at ports and other supply chain disruption.

In the current operating environment, these additional costs simply cannot be absorbed and will have to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Our members continue to work hard to plan for all possible eventualities, but the ongoing uncertainty is damaging our industry and impacting our customers.

Mr Bain said people in Great Britain will see the price of goods from Ireland and Northern Ireland rise.

Our supply chains are highly integrated, with food ingredients coming from both Ireland and the EU, and 60% of the 2 billion of Northern Ireland agri-food bound for Great Britain crosses the Irish sea via Dublin, he said.

This will affect the price of shopping in the Prime Ministers constituency of Maidenhead in the same way as it will in Belfast or Dublin, with cost rises.

The retailers called for an end to brinkmanship and political games.

A no-deal outcome would have devastating economic consequences, potentially jeopardising years of positive economic development and integration across the islands of the UK and Ireland, Mr Bain added.

It is imperative that this is avoided.
Tom Howlett (left) and Chris Hamill, from the Lake District arriving at Dublin Airport after their flight from Manchester was delayed when a confirmed drone sighting forced the temporary suspension of airport operations.

Passengers caught up in delays at Dublin Airport say they were relieved when flights resumed after only a 30-minute suspension.

Some passengers expressed concerns of long delays and queues similar to that seen at Gatwick Airport before Christmas after drone sightings.

Many arriving and departing from Dublin Airport, however, breathed a sigh of relief as flights returned to normal.

Planes were grounded and incoming flights diverted for a short time after the drone was spotted by a pilot.

Simon Harry, who travelled to Dublin from Manchester, was delayed on the runway before his flight departed.

He said: We were delayed for about 15 minutes so it didnt cause that much of a hassle.

They told us at the time that it was because of a drone near Dublin airport.

At first we thought we would be stuck there for a few hours because there was long delays at Gatwick Airport, but luckily it was dealt with and we could come to Ireland and were happy to be here.

Christian Hamill, from the Lake District, was delayed in Manchester.

He said: We were waiting on the runway for around 15 to 20 minutes.

We are over for a stag party weekend so we werent in any big panic. It was fine.

Fellow passenger and friend Tom Howlett said: The worst thing that happened was the long queue for the toilets.

Passengers Emma and Daniel, who travelled from Prague, were delayed in the air.

Emma, who did not want to give her surname, said: We were circling in the air, though it wasnt for ages, it was only for about 30 to 40 minutes.

We wouldnt have really noticed anything was going on, it wouldnt be that out of the ordinary to be circling.

We knew it was going to be windy though it wasnt confirmed at that stage that it was the drone.

When we landed and we were on the runway, peoples phones came on everyone started getting notifications about the drone and my dad texted me to let me know too.
Three pensioners are recovering from shock after they were held up and robbed by three masked assailants brandishing a pitchfork and metal poles.

The attack took place at around 9.45pm on Tuesday night, with two men in their 60s and 70s being forced to lie on the floor of their house on Corgary Road in Castlederg.

A woman in her 60s was also inside the home at the time.

One of the robbers, armed with a metal pole, stood over the two men as they lay on the floor.

He ran off with his accomplices after the victims pulled the metal bar from him.

The raiders took a sum of money and three mobile phones with them.

Detective Sergeant Jack said: "One of the male occupants sustained minor injuries to his leg and face and was treated at the scene.

"Two suspects are described as being of skinny build and one described of being of a heavy build.

"This must have been a horrific ordeal for the victims. This happened late last night in their home, somewhere they deserve to feel safe, and they have understandably been left shaken. We know when a person's home or property has been targeted it can be an extremely traumatising experience for victims and their families.

"I want to reassure the public we doing everything we can to identify criminals involved in this type of crime and bring them to justice, but we also need the public's help, so we are appealing to people to watch out for their neighbours.

"Please report any suspicious activity you see in your area, whether it's a strange vehicle or people in the area.

"Every piece of information is vital as it could be the key to catching the perpetrators."

DUP councillor Thomas Kerrigan, who lives in Castlederg, described those behind the attack as "cowards" and called for extra police patrols.

He said: "This is truly shocking and I have no doubt the three people in this house will feel the effect of the trauma for a long time to come.

"Corgary Road is in a rural and isolated area and a number of other families have come home from church to discover they have been burgled.

"I raised these attacks at our last policing and community safety partnership meeting.

"I asked for extra police patrols and I would like to see that happen now as a matter of great urgency."

Anyone who was in the Corgary Road area on Tuesday night and witnessed any suspicious activity or any strange vehicles, or who is offered mobile phones for sale in suspicious circumstances, should get in touch with detectives at Strand Road on the non emergency number, 101, quoting reference number 1386 of 19/02/19.
A man found dead at his Co Antrim home had been shot in the head, a post mortem examination has revealed

The body of the 52-year-old was found at his home on the Church Road in Glenwherry on Tuesday afternoon.

Glenwherry is a small rural community between Ballymena and Larne.

The BBC reports the findings of the post mortem examination found he had been shot in the head.

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Police revealed that a friend of David Murphy found him dead at his home on Tuesday, after he had been shot twice with what they believe was a shotgun.

Mr Murphy was known to police and had previously been accused of possessing firearms and ammunition, and having the items in his possession for an act of terrorism for the UVF.

He was accused of blackmail and threats to kill last March and had been bailed after denying the charges.

Expand Close The forensics team outside the home of David Murphy. Credit: Pacemaker. / Facebook

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Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy said that police were looking for "assistance from the public to understand who David Murphy was".

He appealed for anyone with any information and members of public in who may have been in the area of Church Road between Saturday and Tuesday to come forward.
A Co Armagh man allegedly tried to choke his partner and knocked her unconscious after accusing her of being unfaithful, the High Court heard today.

Prosecutors claimed Kevin Grimley, 28, also head-butted the woman and threatened to burn her house down while she and her children were in it.

Refusing bail, Mrs Justice Keegan described the alleged domestic violence as serious and worrying.

Grimley, of Tullybrone Road in Tassagh, faces charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, attempted choking with intent, threats to kill and threats to damage property endangering life.

He was arrested after his partner contacted police to claim he had carried out the attack at her Tullysaran Road home on February 15.

Grimley allegedly started an argument about a text message on the woman's phone and accused her of sleeping with another man, the court heard.

Crown lawyer Garrett O'Kane said the defendant allegedly head-butted her before grabbing her by the throat, squeezing and shouting that he was going to kill her.

It was claimed that Grimley then elbowed and spat in her face, threw her against a wall where she hit her head and was knocked unconscious.

When she came round he was shouting at her, accusing her of lying, according to the prosecution.

"She said he was threatening to kill her, threatening to burn the house down with her and the kids in it," Mr O'Kane continued.

Her phone was also allegedly smashed during the incident.

The woman sustained bruising to her forehead, neck and body, along with a cut to her eyebrow, Mrs Justice Keegan was told.

Defence counsel Steffan Rafferty said Grimley has no recollection of the alleged events.

The barrister submitted that his client, the alleged victim and another man had been drinking for several hours.

Grimley woke the next day unaware of why she had left the house or the reason for police coming to arrest him.

But despite Mr Rafferty arguing that the accused could live at an address up to 12 miles away from his partner, the judge ruled he must remain in custody.

She said: "I don't consider at this stage I could manage the risks of a repeat of serious domestic violence."
Loganair is to take over the route (Roddy Scott/AP)

Loganair is to take over the London Stansted route from City of Derry Airport following the collapse of flybmi.

The Scottish airline had already stepped in to take on five other UK routes operated by flybmi  three from Aberdeen and two from Newcastle.

Derry City and Strabane District Council, the owner of City of Derry Airport, confirmed the decision, five days after flybmi went into administration.

The route is supported by Government funding through a public service obligation (PSO).

The subsidy, which has been in place since 2017, was the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.

This route is vital because it strengthens the Union, protects choice and boosts trade and travel opportunities.Chris Grayling

The route will resume on Wednesday February 27, with Loganair using a 49-seat Embraer 145 jet aircraft.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council John Boyle said Loganairs appointment was a very positive outcome for the airport.

Securing a replacement operator for this important route within such a short period of time is testament to the commitment of council, the airport and the Department for Transport to ensure there is air connectivity between Derry and London, he said.

This was a very complex process that has now been successfully completed and we are very pleased to be in a position to appoint Loganair to operate this significantly important route.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: It is a testament to the hard work of Derry and Strabane Council, the City of Derry Airport and my department that we have been able to secure a replacement airline so quickly.

This route is vital because it strengthens the Union, protects choice and boosts trade and travel opportunities  enabling business trips to and from Derry-Londonderry within a day.

Jonathan Hinkles, Loganairs managing director, said: Were extremely pleased to be selected to operate the essential Derry to Stansted air service following completion of a competitive tender process.

I know the news about flybmi created great uncertainty, so were focused on recommencing operations as quickly as possible.

Last week, Mr Grayling confirmed the Government will continue to provide the PSO funding until 2021.

Like flybmi did, Loganair will operate two return flights a day from City of Derry to Stansted from Sunday to Friday, and one return flight on Saturdays.

Loganair already operates a Glasgow service from Derry.

British Midland Regional Limited, which had operated 17 regional jet aircraft on routes to 25 European cities, cancelled all flights from Saturday.

Loganair and Ryanair are now the only airlines serving City of Derry airport.

In 2016, the Northern Ireland Executive pledged 7 million to the loss-making airport, stressing the need to maintain air connectivity from the north west of the region.
Loganair will operate the new service to London Stansted from City of Derry Airport.

Loganair will operate a new route flying from the City of Derry Airport to London Stansted after Flybmi went into administration.

Derry City and Strabane District Council, which owns the airport, announced it had agreed to appoint Loganair to operate the London Stansted route.

The twice-daily service will begin on Wednesday February 27 using an Embraer 145 jet aicraft.

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SDLP councillor Martin Reilly said: "I am extremely pleased that the much relied upon Derry-Stansted route as been restored. Citizens and businesses in the North West are heavily reliant upon this service and the news that Loganair quickly moved to take up the tender is most welcome.

"The SDLP look forward to hearing plans about the forthcoming Derry to Manchester route, which will be an added development for our local airport and our local economy. I would like to thank all those who were involved in the intensive negotiations over the past week to ensure this route was saved."

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: "It is a testament to the hard work of Derry and Strabane Council, the City of Derry Airport and my department that we have been able to secure a replacement airline so quickly.

"This route is vital because it strengthens the Union, protects choice and boosts trade and travel opportunities - enabling business trips to and from Derry-Londonderry within a day."

Jonathan Hinkles, Loganair's managing director, said: "We're extremely pleased to be selected to operate the essential Derry to Stansted air service following completion of a competitive tender process.

"I know the news about flybmi created great uncertainty, so we're focused on recommencing operations as quickly as possible."

Gareth Scott, regional officer for Unite, speaking on behalf of City of Derry Airport staff, said: This evenings announcement came after workers left City of Derry early today but will be a huge relief to those who feared for their jobs as a consequence of the fact that BMI Regional (FlyBMI) had gone into administration over the weekend. The Stansted service is central to the long-term viability of the City of Derry airport.

Given the fact that an airline has agreed to take on the Derry-Stanstead route and the confirmation that its PSO status will be extended to 2021, this represents a tremendous platform for future growth.

"This provides the perfect spring-board for City of Derry to seek additional flights into the airport and securing its place as a leading regional air-hub.

"This is good news for Derry/Londonderry and for the northwest in particular."

Flybmi announced on Saturday it was ceasing all operations with immediate effect, citing difficulties created by Brexit, including increases in fuel and carbon costs.
Prosecutor David Russell told an earlier hearing the infant's young mum begged for the child's life and that of her own mother after the pair armed themselves with knives from the kitchen of the family's Stranmillis home (stock photo)

A drink and drug-addled Belfast man who invaded a family home and held a knife to a baby's throat in his cot has been sentenced to eight years alongside his accomplice.

Belfast Crown Court Judge Paul Ramsey QC told Tyrone Boyle (26) and Seamus Rooney (30) that "it was a distressing and traumatic experience ... one of sheer terror" and, although short in duration, "must have seemed like an eternity to the occupants".

Judge Ramsey said Rooney and Boyle's invasion was "particularly reprehensible" as the presence of an infant did nothing to deter their demands for cash and jewellery.

Although Boyle was identified as having threatened the baby boy, and Rooney fought with the child's grandmother, Judge Ramsey said there was nothing to distinguish between them, ordering each to serve four years jail followed by four years on supervised licensed parole.

Both Boyle, with a north Belfast hostel address, and Rooney, of St Dympnas Park, Downpatrick, had previously pleaded guilty to robbing the Belfast family of phones, computers and cash on November 23, 2017.

Prosecutor David Russell told an earlier hearing the infant's young mum begged for the child's life and that of her own mother after the pair armed themselves with knives from the kitchen of the family's Stranmillis home.

She later described the scene as something from "a horror movie", telling police how Boyle stood with a knife "pointing blade down towards my son in his cot"

"I thought he was going to kill my baby," she told officers. "The knife moved towards him ... it was as if he was going to stab him ... it was almost touching his neck .... I was on my knees pleading and begging the male not to hurt my baby."

Mr Russell added that when the woman's mother was woken by the disturbance, she came downstairs, only to be confronted by Rooney. She managed to bundle him out her front door as she grappled with him for the knife which was pointing at her stomach.

Boyle's barrister said it going to be a "simple burglary ... opportunistic", but the men lifted knives and it ended in an absolute ordeal.Rooney's QC said his client was "certainly out of his mind" on drink and drugs but it was out of character for "normally a quite placid individual".
A scene from a recent episode of Songs of Praise, which is being shifted from its early evening slot

Senior religious figures in Northern Ireland have voiced their disappointment at the BBC's decision to move the broadcast time of Songs of Praise from afternoon to lunchtime.

This follows a claim by Church of England sources that the broadcaster is "burying" the programme by moving it.

Songs of Praise has been running for 57 years and has been broadcast from Northern Ireland many times, with a long list of well-known local presenters including Eamonn Holmes and Claire McCollum.

In addition, Ulster-born hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty have performed, and their work is frequently featured on the programme.

A Presbyterian spokesman said Songs of Praise was more than "just a religious programme and has been a special time of praise and worship enjoyed by a significant number of people over many years".

He added: "Its permanent move to the 1.15pm slot makes it less accessible to many Christians, who would have been at their place of worship on a Sunday morning.

"It would also be disappointing if this decision leads to the further demise of what the BBC describes as its flagship programme.

"Those who are unable to attend worship, especially those in residential homes, will no doubt be the most disappointed at the new time because it coincides with lunch, leaving many of them unable to watch.

"It will be interesting to see how the change will affect viewing figures and if the BBC will think again, should the decision have a negative effect."

Methodist President the Rev Billy Davison said his first reaction was "disappointment".

"There are a lot of older people in care homes and elsewhere who watch the programme, and they might find the earlier slot inconvenient," he stressed.

"I am not sure why the BBC has taken this step, but I have worries about the way faith issues are being dealt with in a secular age."

Peter Lynas, director of Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland, added: "It is estimated that 400,000 people regularly attend church in Northern Ireland, which is about a quarter of the population. Given this fact, there is room for both quantity and, more importantly, quality of coverage.

"I believe that moving Songs of Praise to a lunchtime slot is a small sign that the broadcasters do not get this."

The Rev Steve Stockman, of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast, said: "It happened to me when at one stage the BBC in Northern Ireland changed my Radio Ulster Sunday night programme to 8pm.

"That was when all my listeners were still at church or at youth groups, and it was the youth we were particularly targeting. I think that this was a lack of thought rather than deliberate marginalisation.

"However, the latest move is a sign that the placing of other programmes in the schedule was being considered more, and Songs of Praise just had to fit in."

The Rev Earl Storey, editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette, expressed his "surprised" at the move.

"The format of Songs of Praise in recent years has helped to communicate the vibrancy of Christian faith," he said.

"I am surprised by the move of the slot to a lunchtime because the afternoon slot it formerly occupied made it accessible for a lot of people, who will be very disappointed by the move."

However, his wife, Bishop Pat Storey, chair of the Church of Ireland's central communications board, said the change "could be helpful for people unable to attend a morning service and who may not otherwise have the chance to enjoy a regular time of collective worship".

She added: "As with any significant change in programming, it is understandable that moving Songs of Praise to a lunchtime slot has led to debate.

"While acknowledging that not everyone will agree with this change, we are grateful for Songs of Praise as an invaluable benefit to Christians all over the nation."

The BBC said it moved Songs of Praise because it wanted to make the programme easier for viewers by ensuring consistency in the schedules and by avoiding displacement by any sporting events over-running in the afternoon.

A petition to return the show to its later slot has received 1,000 signatures so far.
DUP leader Arlene Foster may meet with US President Donald Trump during an upcoming visit to Washington, it has been reported.

In keeping with tradition, figures from Northern Ireland's political parties visit the US during St Patrick's day celebrations, meeting with various dignitaries and groups.

Rodney Edwards of the Impartial Reporter newspaper reported Mrs Foster could meet with Donald Trump during a visit to the US capital, with Brexit being an item on the agenda during discussions.

According to the newspaper, the DUP leader will attend a St. Patricks Day lunch hosted by the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and addressed by President Trump and also a White House reception hosted by the President.

A DUP spokesperson said America is "incredibly important" for Northern Ireland politically and economically.

"It is also important that a unionist voice is heard in Washington. Mrs Foster will attend events around the St Patricks celebrations in the US Capitol," the spokesperson added.

"It is a perfect opportunity to speak with key influencers and ensure that US public representatives hear an alternative narrative to that put forward by the Friends of Sinn Fein lobby."

Last year, Ian Paisley was a guest of the President and the First Lady at the White House and invited Mr Trump to visit Northern Ireland in the future.

"I look forward to welcoming him and to seeing him, hopefully in County Antrim," Mr Paisley said.
Tributes have been paid to a decorated UDR veteran and author whose book is a "lasting legacy" to all those who served in the regiment.

Major John Potter MBE, a former adjutant and operations officer of 3rd (County Down) Battalion (3 UDR), passed away in the Somme Nursing Home in Belfast on Sunday aged 93.

Last night his son, Tony Potter (68), a retired colonel who became the first commanding officer of the newly established 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992, paid tribute to his "incredible father".

"He was a second-generation regular soldier who inspired my son, Michael, and I to serve in the Royal Irish Regiment," Mr Potter said.

"My father had many passions, including writing. But he loved the outdoors and was never happier than when walking in the Mournes in the worst of weather.

"He fell in love with Ireland, its beauty, the people and its history."

Born in Ilkley, North Yorkshire, Major Potter moved to Northern Ireland in 1927 when his father, Lieutenant Colonel Claud Potter, became the bursar of Campbell College.

He spent much of his married life in Strangford with his wife, Cynthia, raising their two children, Tony and Nicola, and moved to Killyleagh following Cynthia's death.

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who served alongside Major Potter from 1980 to 1985, paid his respects to the departed, describing him as "so much more than a great soldier".

"I got to know him quite well," Sir Jeffrey said.

"He was a fine soldier and someone who worked very hard in the early days to ensure the UDR became a well-motivated and professional organisation. He was very highly regarded."

Major Potter, who was only 18 when he enlisted in the Royal Artillery in Belfast in 1943 while studying at Queen's University in the city, served as a gunner in 25 Training Regiment.

He served in a number of conflicts, including on India's north-west frontier and in Germany during the Cold War, where he commanded a battery of 7.2in guns that were capable of firing nuclear shells.

During the 1970s he returned to Northern Ireland and joined the UDR, based in Ballykinler, before being appointed Regimental Secretary in Thiepval Barracks.

In 1992 he began to pen his first book, A Testimony to Courage: The History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969-1992, in which he vividly described the dangers faced by soldiers and their families.

In it he recorded details of some of the 197 members killed by terrorists and described how the regiment lost nationalist support, making it predominantly Protestant.

The author also sought to identify lessons which he believed needed to be learned from the UDR's dramatic 23-year existence and tackled the controversy over loyalist paramilitary infiltration.

Sir Jeffrey, who is the serving president of the UDR Regimental Association, recalled the sense of pride he felt when he placed a copy of the book on the shelves of the House of Commons library.

"It was a privilege to leave such a wonderful book, which is still requested by many MPs today," he said.

"It is a powerful testament to his service, and the service of many others, and will be his lasting legacy."

The 2001 publication was followed up with a graphic account of his father's experiences during the First World War, titled Scarce Heard Amid the Guns.

In addition to these writings, he also published a number of historical pamphlets documenting various aspects of Irish military history, including his own memoir of the Belfast blitz, which he witnessed as a teenager in 1941.

Major John Potter is survived by his two children, his three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in Down Cathedral in Downpatrick at 2.30pm on Friday.
Only eight of the PSNI's top brass are Catholic, it has been revealed.

The Irish News has reported that 83% of the PSNI's senior officers are Protestants.

Of the 68 PSNI officers above the rank of superintendent 57 are Protestant, while eight are Catholic, figures released from the organisation reveals. Three officers were listed as undetermined.

Out of 77 chief inspectors, 58 are Protestant, while only 17 are Catholic. Of 347 Inspectors, 248 are Protestant, with 89 Catholic.

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The PSNI has 5,033 constables, with 3,258 identifying as Protestants, with 1,720 Catholic.

SDLP Policing Board member Dolores Kelly called for a return of the PSNI's 50-50 recruitment policy to increase the number of Catholics in the force.

50-50 recruitment should not have been ended when it did, its very clear that ought to be reinstated," she told the Irish News.

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So many years on from Patten and the transformation of the PSNI these figures are still a cause for concern in terms of people going through the rank and file and its a matter I hope the Policing Board will delve into an investigate more with the PSNI to see if more can be done.

I have said it publicly and privately we are not seeing the big role models in those senior ranks.
Dr Azam trained in China, obtaining his medical degree from Weifang Medical University in Shandong province in 2014 (stock photo)

A trainee doctor who couldn't perform basic lifesaving techniques while working at Antrim Area Hospital has been struck off.

Haseeb Azam was also unable to properly carry out simple examinations of patients, request diagnostic tests or prescribe drugs accurately and safely.

A fitness to practise panel heard that Dr Azam scored 36.67% in a knowledge test - significantly below the set mark of 67.06% and one of the lowest scores ever seen by his team leader and medical assessor.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing deemed that Dr Azam's fitness to practise was impaired and ordered that he be removed from the General Medical Council's register.

It came after the panel was told that, despite taking part in education activities to improve his knowledge, he failed the prescribing safety assessment and did not demonstrate competence at basic life support.

Dr Azam trained in China, obtaining his medical degree from Weifang Medical University in Shandong province in 2014.

He obtained full registration with the GMC after spending a further year in China, where he undertook a clinical attachment.

He was employed as a foundation year one locum at Antrim from December 2016.

However, the tribunal was told that "shortly after he started concerns were raised by his supervising consultant regarding his knowledge of common surgical emergencies and also relating to aspects of general patient care and safe prescribing".

Following initial concerns regarding his capability, Dr Azam's duties were restricted to those of a final year medical student and he was prohibited from prescribing drugs or ordering certain investigations.

He was also directly supervised and not permitted to undertake on-call duties.

He continued to work at the hospital until August 2017 but has not worked as a doctor since.

In his submission to the MPTS panel, Dr Azam said he "recognises the areas of deficiencies in his performance" and "stated that he was very nervous before undertaking the performance assessment".

He said this may have "contributed to his poor performance" and added that he had never received complaints from patients or their families and had not put any patients at risk.

He also asked to be given additional time to continue training under supervision in the hope he would be able to meet required standards.

However, the MPTS panel heard that Dr Azam had failed the prescribing exam on at least two occasions and his medical assessor felt he "would probably not pass" the medical qualifying exam.

The panel noted that Dr Azam's medical assessor had almost 20 years' experience, "therefore the tribunal placed significant weight on his opinion".

The tribunal panel continued: "Additionally, Dr C, Dr Azam's educational supervisor, stated that there were erratic gaps in Dr Azam's knowledge."

GMC counsel Georgina Goring told the panel there were "various aggravating factors in the case, including Dr Azam's wide ranging areas of unacceptable performance levels, his record keeping skills were a cause for concern and there was little or no evidence of remediation".

She also told the tribunal that Dr Azam had said he had been doing 20 hours of self-study a week but little evidence of this had been put before the tribunal.

Explaining its decision, the panel said the various failings in Dr Azam's professional ability, including being unable to diagnose, "places patients in jeopardy". It said the deficiencies had the potential to bring into disrepute the medical profession and were "so serious as to be fundamentally incompatible with his continued registration".

It continued: "The tribunal has determined that erasure from the medical register is the appropriate and proportionate outcome.

"It is the only sanction that will fulfil the overarching objective of protection of the public, maintaining public confidence in the profession and promoting and maintaining proper professional standards and conduct for members of that profession."
Ordering the 33-year-old to spend half his sentence in jail and half on licence, Newry Crown Court Judge Gordon Kerr QC also imposed a five-year restraining order, barring him from contacting the victim (stock photo)

An arsonist who set fire to his partner's home while they were both inside has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Police said Eamon O'Hanlon, who stopped the mother-of-three from escaping or calling for help, could have killed the woman.

Ordering the 33-year-old to spend half his sentence in jail and half on licence, Newry Crown Court Judge Gordon Kerr QC also imposed a five-year restraining order, barring him from contacting the victim.

At an earlier hearing, the defendant, from Dumbarton Street in Gilford, pleaded guilty to a single count of arson, being reckless whether the life of his partner would be endangered on 17 February last year.

The facts were not opened yesterday but, welcoming the sentence, a statement from the PSNI's Public Protection Branch revealed that, having set fire to her home, O'Hanlon refused to let his partner leave or send for help.

Detective Inspector Gary McDonald said: "This man's horrific actions could have ended a 32-year-old woman's life and left three children without a mother.

"I welcome the fact that he is now behind bars.

"The perpetrator poured accelerant over the victim's sofa and set it alight.

"When the victim tried to run to a window to raise the alarm, she was pulled back.

"The victim suffered injuries due to smoke inhalation and was transferred to hospital where she remained for almost two weeks.

"This was an extremely traumatic incident which will have a long-lasting impact on the victim who thought she was going to die.

"One year on, the victim continues to suffer flashbacks of the incident and from multiple health problems caused by the smoke inhalation."

Mr McDonald said, that while nothing can take what happened away, "I hope the victim gets a sense of closure from knowing that her attacker was brought before the courts". "I want to commend the bravery of the victim involved in this case and hope that the conviction sends out a strong message to victims of domestic violence that we will do everything we can to prosecute offenders," the officer continued.

"This kind of abuse can happen to anyone and often leaves victims feeling frightened. Unfortunately, many incidents of domestic abuse go unreported, but I want victims to know there is help out there.

"I would encourage anyone who is affected to contact the police on the non-emergency, 101 or, in an emergency, always call 999.

"A 24-hour domestic and sexual violence helpline is also available to anyone who has concerns about domestic or sexual violence, now or in the past, on 0808 802 1414."

During his sentencing remarks yesterday, Judge Kerr revealed the victim had spent three days on a life support machine after the incident and, as a result of the fire, she lost her home and was now living in sheltered accommodation.

He told O'Hanlon that while he had pleaded guilty and was entitled to a discount in his sentence as a result, two aggravating factors were the domestic abuse aspect of the case and the fact he has used accelerant to start the fire.

As the defendant was taken to the cells in handcuffs, he waved to friends and relatives in the public gallery.
A no-deal Brexit could lead to tariffs of up to 45% on everyday food items, major retail bodies in Ireland and Britain have warned.

The Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, Retail Ireland and the British Retail Consortium, which between them represent around 8,000 businesses, have today issued a joint statement, claiming that leaving the EU at the end of next month without a deal will squeeze household budgets and lead to reduced availability of some goods.

The bodies said the possibility of the UK and the EU reverting to World Trade Organisation tariffs, coupled with the potential for new regulatory checks, will lead to spikes in the cost of making fresh food and drink available to consumers.

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said: A no-deal Brexit brings tariffs, customs processes, checks and costs which our industry, and Northern Ireland families in particular, cannot afford to absorb. Our households already have half of the discretionary income of British households and less than those in the Republic of Ireland.

A no-deal Brexit will hit us first and hit us hardest. This is not acceptable.

A hard Brexit means a hard border and the disintegration of supply chains that have been built up over 40 years of EU membership.

This is not a binary choice for Northern Ireland between trade with the UK and trade with the EU.

Our economy is built on access to both markets and we need that to survive.

No deal makes NI a less competitive place to do business and a more expensive place to live.
Shares in Purplebricks tumbled by more than 30% after the online estate agency cut its annual revenue guidance and announced the departure of the bosses of its UK and US units.

The company revised down its guidance for the 2019 financial year to between 130 million and 140 million, compared with its initial forecast range of 165 million to 175 million, citing challenges in the US and Australia businesses.

Lee Wainwright, chief executive of the UK business, is to leave after two years with Purplebricks due to personal reasons, and will be replaced in the interim by Vic Darvey, the groups chief operating officer who joined the business in January from MoneySuperMarket.com.

Eric Eckardt, chief executive of the US business, will also leave the company after two years, with group chief executive and co-founder Michael Bruce taking on his responsibilities.

Although there are macro and industry headwinds across markets, we are well placed to capitalise on the significant opportunity for growth that exists in each countryMichael Bruce

Purplebricks said there are a number of headwinds in the Australian housing and it does not expect to meet revenue forecasts for the year.

In the US, the company said there has been a slower-than-expected response to its marketing initiative and it does not expect US revenue to meet expectations.

However, its core UK business is expected to report a 15% to 20% increase in revenue despite a challenging housing market.

Mr Bruce said: Although there are macro and industry headwinds across markets, we are well placed to capitalise on the significant opportunity for growth that exists in each country, albeit not entirely as we would have wanted before our year end.

The UK is leading the way with continued profitable growth and a strategy to deliver greater success. I am also excited to be taking the reins of the US business. The team in Australia are building on the changes they implemented late last year and Canada is delivering on plan and expectations.

The board remains confident of the long-term growth potential of the business and the opportunity to deliver substantial value for shareholders.
Jewellery chain Lunn's has announced another luxury watch store for its Queen's Arcade development in Belfast.

Luxury Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is opening a shop at the arcade in the summer.

It will join a new Rolex store in Queen's Arcade, which is owned by the Lunn family.

The family last year unveiled plans to refurbish the centre and restore some of its Victorian features.

Rob Diver, managing director of TAG Heuer Europe, said: "We are very proud to be partnering with Lunn's to open a new TAG Heuer boutique in Ireland at the Queen's Arcade in Belfast.

"We believe the opening of this new boutique will take TAG Heuer to new heights in Northern Ireland and allow clients to experience our exceptional timepieces and strong brand DNA."

Peter Lunn, chairman of Lunn's Jewellers, added: "This announcement marks our latest investment into the redevelopment of Queen's Arcade and is a further vote of confidence in Belfast as an attractive retail destination.

"TAG Heuer is a world-renowned brand which has long-standing associations with the worlds of sport and Hollywood, so for it to choose to expand its shop-in-shop presence here to a standalone TAG Heuer boutique is a huge endorsement for the city."
An impression of one of the homes

A Northern Ireland developer has won 7.2m in funding from a peer-to-peer lender to build 55 new homes in mid-Ulster.

The N&R Devine Group is in the process of building the properties, which will go on the market at prices between 105,000 and 189,000.

Twenty of the homes will be built in Cookstown, 25 in Coalisland and the remainder in Sion Mills.

The Strabane-based builder secured the funding for the developments from peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital.

Of the 55 homes, around 30 are mid-construction, with 15 already sold off-plan.

The N&R Devine Group designs and builds homes across Northern Ireland, specialising in affordable homes and social housing.

It built some 80 properties across the island of Ireland last year.

The group's Niall Devine said: "With Assetz Capital's support, we have the funding to execute our plans and construct these homes on schedule.

"The team were able to provide a flexible facility that met our requirements and we are looking forward to continuing our work with the firm as we target future projects."

Andrew Fraser, relationship director for Assetz Capital, added: "We were impressed by the scale and ambition of Niall's plans, and they required a facility to get the projects over the line to meet demand.

"The N&R Devine Group has an excellent reputation for quality, very affordable family housing in the region, so we were keen to work with the firm to deliver these properties in a timely fashion.

"With the majority of the homes already booked or sold, we have no doubt that the finished project will be a huge success for the group."

Assetz Capital said it had identified a "massive opportunity for peer-to-peer lending" in Northern Ireland when it opened an office here in January last year.

It provides different forms of lending, including commercial mortgages, bridging loans, SME-secured loans, development finance, renewable energy loans and buy-to-let loans for professional landlords.

Its first major deal in Northern Ireland was in March last year, when it granted 3m of funding to the Cobain Group for the construction of eight luxury homes in Holywood, Co Down, priced at up to 800,000.

Assetz Capital said it had funded a 15 deals, with a total value of 26.3m, during its first six months of operation in Northern Ireland.
Medtronic reported $7.5 billion in 2019 third quarter revenue, a 2.4 percent increase year over year. However, the company's spine revenue was flat at $655 million.

Medtronic executives including Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak and CFO Karen Parkhill discussed the company's vision for the future of spine during the third quarter earnings call, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

Omar Ishrak on spine growth: "We believe our strong capital equipment sales supporting our brain therapies growth are a leading indicator for future growth in our spine business as customers choose to link future spine implant purchases with the capital equipment that they're acquiring. As we execute more of these contracts, we would expect our core spine implant sales to grow over the coming quarters."

OI on robotics growth: "Regarding our robotic-assisted surgery platform, we're hitting key milestones that are on track for an unexpected launch in FY 2020. We've had several resubmission meetings with regulatory bodies around the world including the U.S. FDA. More than 100 surgeons have used the system and provided very positive feedback."

OI on flat spine sales: "In our spine division, while results were flat, when combined with sales of our capital equipment used in spine surgery, which is the way many of our competitors report their results, our spine division grew 4.6 percent including 5.4 percent growth in U.S. core spine."

Karen Parkhill on company margin projections: "We continue to forecast 50 basis points of four-year underlying operating margin expansion as we deliver to more than absorb the impact from product mix headwinds, China tariffs and the dilution from the Mazor acquisition."
Mercy Health- St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, is joining forces with OhioMeansJobs to fill positions at the hospital, according to hometownstations.com.

Areas with open positions include environmental services, patient transport, nutrition services and the new vision medical laboratory.

The job fair is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 1 in the medical center's conference room.

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A simple change to St. Louis-based Barnes-Jewish Hospital's electronic ordering system helped cut the number of unnecessary urine culture tests ordered for suspected urinary tract infections nearly in half, according to a study published Feb. 21 in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

For the study, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis implemented several interventions to reduce unnecessary testing for UTIs. In an email to Barnes-Jewish Hospital staff, the researchers encouraged the use of a urine dipstick test to identify signs of infection before ordering a bacterial culture test.

Researchers also modified the hospital's electronic ordering system to include the use of a urine dipstick test as a default before a culture test. In the 15 months before the intervention's implementation, physicians ordered 15,746 urine cultures. In the 15 months after, physicians ordered just 8,823 cultures, which marks a 45 percent decrease and translates to $104,000 in saved laboratory costs.

"Over-testing for UTIs drives up healthcare costs and leads to unnecessary antibiotic use, which spreads antibiotic resistance," senior author David Warren, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at Washington University, said in a press release. "We were able to reduce the number of tests ordered substantially without diminishing the quality of care at all, and at a substantial cost savings."

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A former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., charged with reckless homicide after a medication error led to a patient's death in 2017, pleaded not guilty Feb. 20, according to The Tennessean.

The nurse, RaDonda Vaught, was accused of inadvertently injecting a patient with a fatal medication dose and was indicted Feb. 1.

The nurse's error happened in December 2017 but was not publicly revealed until a CMS inspection report was released in November 2018.

About three dozen nurses attended the court hearing to support Ms. Vaught's defense.

Ms. Vaught declined to speak with The Tennessean but posted online about the death while crowdfunding her legal defense.

"Many feel very strongly that setting the precedent that nurses should be indicted and incarcerated for inadvertent medical errors is dangerous," she wrote.

"The many details of this incident deserve to be properly reviewed and addressed so that we all have an opportunity to learn from my mistake and create changes that will ensure the safety of all future patients as well as maintaining the future honesty, integrity & safe practices of all nurses."
Health officials on Feb. 20 ruled that women who are pregnant or lactating may now receive Merck's experimental Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports STAT.

Three things to know:

1. A committee advising the Congolese Ministry of Health made the decision with support from the World Health Organization. The rule change also allows children under age 1 to receive the experimental vaccine.

2. The decision marks the reversal of a controversial policy that excluded pregnant women from receiving the vaccine due to safety concerns. The original policy was met with large opposition from public health experts.

3. As of Feb. 20, Congo health officials have reported 844 confirmed and probable Ebola infections linked to the country's ongoing outbreak. Health workers have also administered more than 80,000 experimental Ebola vaccines to people in the Congo and nearby countries since August.



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The New York Academy of Sciences and Columbia University, both in New York City, are joining the list of universities and nonprofits reviewing their philanthropic ties to Purdue Pharma and its owners, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Five things to know:

1. The Sackler family, founders of Purdue Pharma, was ranked the 19th-richest family in America in 2016 with a net worth of $13 billion. As the family gained its wealth, it began supporting organizations with donations. While all of the family's philanthropic efforts are unclear, it is known that millions have been given away by various family entities.

A spokesman for Sackler family members said, "For more than half a century, several generations of Sacklers have supported respected institutions that play crucial roles in health, research, education, the arts and the humanities. It has been a privilege to support the vital work of these organizations and we remain dedicated to doing so."

2. The Sackler family has been under scrutiny since January, when unsealed documents were released in the lawsuit against Purdue Pharma brought by the Massachusetts attorney general. Eight Sackler family members are accused of contributing to the state's opioid epidemic through aggressive marketing of OxyContin. The lawsuit also claims Purdue Pharma's former president, Richard Sackler, MD, knew his company's opioid painkiller OxyContin was being abused, but still pushed sales to physicians and tried to divert blame to patients for becoming addicted.

3. The lawsuit also revealed that Purdue Pharma formed relationships with two Boston-based organizations  Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts University School of Medicine  to boost prescription rates and generate goodwill toward opioids as painkillers. Both organizations are reviewing the ties and allegations.

4. Now, two more organizations are joining the list. The New York Academy of Sciences is home of the Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science, which is supported by a Sackler foundation. The family's philanthropy is now under discussion with the academy's leadership.

5. Similar discussions are also occurring at Columbia University. The Sackler family has donated funds to the university to establish a professorship, several wards and an institute in the psychiatry department. The university said it is not currently accepting donations from Sackler-related entities.

"We have re-evaluated accepting donations from the Sackler family's philanthropies and are not taking gifts from them," a university spokesman told the WSJ.

Read the full report here.
The National Labor Relations Board has affirmed election results that led to the disbanding of a union at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, Calif., according to the Glendale News-Press.

The board's decision was based on a violation of procedural rules.

The violation occurred when the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West union did not serve hospital management with its objections to the election by its Feb. 7 filing date, according to Mori Rubin, a regional director with the labor board's Los Angeles regional office.

"Although the union later attempted to cure this deficiency after it was made aware of the issue," by serving hospital management on Feb. 11, "the union acknowledges that it failed to serve the employer with the objections when they initially were filed," Ms. Rubin wrote in a decision obtained by the News-Press.

Ms. Rubin also reportedly affirmed the January election results that resulted in 118 votes in favor of disbanding the union at the hospital, compared to 107 against.

The union has fought the results, claiming that hospital management improperly interfered in the election. SEIU-UHW's deadline to request review of the decision by the labor board's Washington, D.C., bureau is Feb. 27.

Union and hospital representatives declined to comment to the News-Press.

The election covered workers including certified nursing assistants, monitor technicians, obstetric technicians, central processing employees, buyers and phlebotomists.

More articles on human capital and risk:

NYC nurses show up to protest; counts differ

New York City nurses prepare for day of protest over staffing

California hospital wins order from court telling strikers to quiet down
An investigation by The Arizona Republic published Feb. 20 found board members at Phoenix-based Hacienda HealthCare engaged in nepotism and used their roles on the board to profit financially.

Of the current eight-member board, at least two individuals have private businesses that deal directly with Hacienda HealthCare, the report states.

The investigation found that board chairman Tom Pomeroy brokered health insurance contracts for some 800 Hacienda HealthCare employees through his private company on and off for the past 30 years. He told The Arizona Republic he received "normal broker compensation" and "no excess benefits."

"Hacienda receives excellent and above-standard service in their account negotiations ... and this has resulted in substantially lower-than-marketplace premiums," he said, adding, "There is, therefore, no actual conflict of interest. On any matters which might in any way be related to my business involvement, I make a presentation to management and the board of directors and abstain from any votes involving my presentations."

However, The Arizona Republic found that Mr. Pomeroy's business was accused of engaging in fraudulent practices at least twice by federal regulators.

The investigation also discovered that at least three board members' children were given jobs at Hacienda. The three individuals told the publication that they were not involved in their relatives' hiring decisions, and that their children were qualified for their respective positions and advanced up the management ladder after receiving high marks from supervisors.

Discoveries made during the investigation support other claims of improper behaviors by Hacienda leadership, including years of harassment claims filed against the institution's former CEO Bill Timmons, who resigned from his role in January.

Issues at Hacienda came to light after a patient in a vegetative state gave birth to a baby boy in December 2018. In January, police arrested one of the nurses tasked to care for the patient and charged him with allegedly raping and impregnating her.

To access the full report, click here.
A shocking ordeal straight out of a Hollywood horror movie has left residents of Samoget village in Litein town trembling in fear while demanding answers from relevant authorities.

This after a gang attacked a family of a businessman, killed his wife and gang-raped his three daughters and a housegirl at Litein trading centre on Wednesday morning.

The businessman, Richard Chepkwony, a former councilor nicknamed Mayor survived the ordeal with serious injuries.

Mr Chepkwony, his three daughters, and the housegirl were rushed to Litein AIC Mission Hospital by neighbours who responded to the distress call.

Area locals said neighbours woke up to the rude shock of the gruesome attack and alerted the police.

It is a gory scene; blood is splattered all over. The police have cordoned off the scene of the crime. It is not known yet what the criminals were after, said Mr Geoffrey Rono Katares, an area resident.

Litein Divisional Police Commander Ali Abdi confirmed the incident but could not divulge any more details.

Tension was high in the area as angry residents blocked the police from moving the body of the murdered woman from the scene.

They were demanding answers from police in what they described as runaway insecurity in the town.

People are being murdered and police are doing little to help us end it. We want answers, said a resident.

The horrific ordeal comes in the wake of a similar attack in the town last year when a teacher and his wife were murdered in cold-blood. A young child survived the ordeal.
The former CEO and a former executive of Manchester, Iowa-based Regional Medical Center misused more than $256,000 in hospital funds during an eight-year period, according to a Feb. 20 state audit report obtained by Becker's Hospital Review.

State officials opened an audit into the hospital after concerns regarding travel reimbursements to former CEO Lon Butikofer, PhD, RN, and former system fund and development director Mike Briggs. Mr. Briggs was terminated from his role at the hospital Feb. 23, 2017, and Dr. Butikofer resigned from his position four days later.

The state investigation found the two individuals made $256,675.52 in improper disbursements and $28,004.79 of unsupported disbursements between Jan. 1, 2009, and March 15, 2017.

The $256,675.52 in improper disbursements included more than $192,000 in improper payroll costs for unrecorded paid leave used by both individuals, and more than $11,000 in charges to the hospital's credit card. The investigation also found Dr. Butikofer and Mr. Briggs used hospital funds to reimburse personal trips.

The $28,004.79 of unsupported disbursements included $19,285.58 of reimbursements issued to Dr. Butikofer and Mr. Briggs, and charges totaling $8,719.21 to the hospital's credit card. However, auditors noted that "sufficient supporting documentation or other information was not available for these costs to determine their propriety."

RMC board chair Chris Tegeler gave the following written statement to KMCH 94.7 News on Feb. 20: "We understand the concerns and disappointment resulting from these individuals' behaviors and actions. It has been very upsetting to us and we are focused on moving forward and have put several additional checks and balances in place to prevent this unfortunate situation from happening again at our local hospital. We appreciate the State Auditor's office for its collaboration throughout this process and will follow any recommendations to improve our internal control processes.

"Our board has been pleased to have Charlie Button as our Chief Executive Officer. He has helped us continue to focus our healthcare system on what is best for our community. His door is open to everyone and wants to hear from members of the community. We share the goal and mission of continuing to grow and enhance our services so that we are here for you for decades to come.

"We sincerely appreciate our community for your continued support of our healthcare system as we are truly dedicated to providing quality care close to home."

To access the full audit report, click here.
Six national healthcare groups penned a letter to Congress Feb. 20 outlining principles for lawmakers to consider amid their efforts to eliminate surprise billing.

"The last thing a patient should worry about in a health crisis is an unanticipated medical bill," said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. "We must protect patients from surprise bills that could unintentionally impact their out-of-pocket costs and undermine the trust and confidence patients have in their caregivers."

America's Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Children's Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals also signed off on the letter.

The groups said lawmakers should:

Define "surprise bills," which may occur when patients receive care from a provider who is not in their insurance network, or when there are unexpected gaps in health plan coverage

Provide certainty regarding patient cost-sharing obligations and not bill patients beyond those obligations

Ensure patients have access to and coverage of emergency care

Ensure health plans and providers retain the ability to privately negotiate appropriate payment rates

Remove patients from the middle of negotiations between insurers and providers

Include an educational component in legislation so patients understand their healthcare coverage

Ensure patients are able to access "a comprehensive network of providers"

Support state laws that protect patients from surprise billing

Access the full letter here.

More articles on healthcare finance:

1 in 5 rural hospitals at high risk of closing, analysis finds

National healthcare groups urge Congress to delay Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts

3 hospital revenue cycle leaders predict how price transparency will affect healthcare
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed a fiscal year 2020-2021 budget that cancels a previously approved tax cut for hospitals and replaces it with an annual effective tax hike of about $43 million, according to The Connecticut Mirror.

"We are developing a budget that will put the state's finances on a stable trajectory over the biennium and into the future," Chris McClure, spokesperson for the governor's budget office, told the publication regarding the hospital tax. "Disruption of recurring revenue sources, such as the current hospital tax arrangement, creates additional challenges to meeting this goal."

Hospitals were supposed to see their $900 million in annual state provider tax payments reduced to $384 million next fiscal year.

But the governor's proposed budget would keep the tax at $900 million per year, and the industry would receive $453 million in supplemental payments back from Connecticut as part of an arrangement designed to increase the state's federal Medicaid funding, the Mirror reported. That's $43 million less than the $496 million the industry now receives in supplemental payments.

The Connecticut Hospital Association came out against the governor's plan on Feb. 20.

"We are strongly opposed to the proposed budget. The current administration is not honoring the bipartisan agreement for this year or next year, and the budget makes additional cuts to hospitals," Jennifer Jackson, the association's CEO, said in a prepared statement. "We continue to be willing partners to find a sustainable solution, but this is not it."

The governor's plan comes as Connecticut faces a potential $3.7 billion deficit over the new two-year budget cycle.

Read more about the budget proposal here.

More articles on healthcare finance:

US health spending estimated to reach nearly $6 trillion in 8 years

National healthcare groups outline surprise-billing principles

California proposed health-pricing transparency bill would affect Kaiser Permanente
A recent article by VisitPay reviews why community plays such a huge role in INTEGRIS' mission.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on VisitPay's website.

Whats the heart of a community? Well, that depends where you are. For some, its a local barbershop or school. For others, its a church, library or town hall. Of course, those are just places. The real heart of a community lies anywhere people who share common interests, values and goals gather for the betterment of each other.

This is why I am excited that INTEGRIS Health has joined the VisitPay family. Based in Oklahoma City, with 13 hospitals, with three more set to open soon, and 150 physician clinics spread across the state, INTEGRIS is intimately woven into the fabric of the communities it serves.

Central to our mission at INTEGRIS is the idea of returnship, which means giving back part of ourselves to the communities we serve, said Mike Weed, the health systems Senior Vice President of Financial Operations. The first impression I had of Oklahoma City and Oklahomans is just how welcoming the city is and how welcoming the people are here. Its a community of wonderful people. They clearly show that they care about each other and take care of each other. Click here to continue>>

News From Our Partners
California Democrat state Sen. Richard Pan, MD, has introduced legislation that would update healthcare price transparency and disclosure requirements to affect Kaiser Permanente.

A fact sheet included with the bill states that SB 343 would "create uniformity" by removing provisions that allow Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser to report more limited data to state regulators compared to other health plans and healthcare facilities.

"Kaiser and all other health insurers and hospitals in California should play by the same rules for transparency," according to a statement by Dr. Pan. "Consumers need clear pricing and financial information so they are able to make informed choices regarding the value of their health coverage."

California requires health insurers and health plans to submit detailed data and actuarial justification for rate increases in the individual and small group markets, according to the fact sheet. They are also required to reveal aggregate rate increases in the large group markets.

The fact sheet says state regulators can't modify or reject rate changes, but "rate review" has improved transparency about the drivers of rising health insurance costs.

The rate review process requires that health plans report the projected trend factor by benefit category. But Kaiser is not included in having to report projected assumptions. Instead it's allowed to report actual experience for the prior benefit year "using categories that are, to the maximum extent possible, the same or similar to those used by other plans," according to the fact sheet.

California also requires hospitals to report revenue by payer and by revenue center for individual hospitals. But the fact sheet states that Kaiser hospitals may report costs and revenues as a group, meaning revenue is reported as a group for either Kaiser Permanente Southern California or Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

SB 343 would delete language that allows Kaiser to use a different method of reporting in individual, small group and large group health plan and health insurance rate filings. It would also delete language that allows Kaiser to use more limited and aggregated hospital financial reporting to state regulators.

Responding to the proposed legislation, Kaiser Vice President John Nelson said: "Kaiser Permanente is extremely transparent with our purchasers and regulators. Transparency is important to inform policies that can drive greater affordability, and we welcome the opportunity to review reporting requirements. We are not exempt from any disclosure or rate review laws. Current law simply recognizes the unique nature of our highly respected integrated delivery system. We have just begun our review of this bill and do not have a position at this time."

More articles on healthcare finance:

1 in 5 rural hospitals at high risk of closing, analysis finds

National healthcare groups urge Congress to delay Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts

3 hospital revenue cycle leaders predict how price transparency will affect healthcare
Jamaican reggae artist Richie Spice has described Rastafarianism as a natural way of life.

It is a way of life as it is, with no interruption. Its not fashioned but it is just a way of life for peace. The natural me comes out through being a Rastafarian. We dont want to be mixed, Spice said during his recent visit to Kenya.

On growing dreadlocks, Richie Spice noted that his four children dont have them. He said its their choice, adding that according to their culture, followers are required to remain natural.

This is because they chose to be in that form but their hair is all natural. No chemical in their hair.

With more and more Kenyans adopting the Rastafarian culture, Spice, who is a member of the movement explained that the culture is strict.

We are against crime. We try to share what we have. We are also careful about what we eat because we are destroying the temple. We eat what is good for human consumption, he said.

The Earth A Run Red hitmaker also commented on the case of the Rasrafarian Kibera girl who was rejected by her school over dreadlocks.

Its good that the court speaks justice, knowing that its just a natural vibration. We give thanks that the child is back to school because that is who they are, he said.

The father of the Kibera student also met Richie Spice at the Nobody can stop reggae concert which went down on Saturday at KICC.
If youre tempted to feel sorry for Jeff Bezos, get over it. Even though New York City said no to hosting his second headquarters (and, ahem, creating 25,000 jobs), hell find another place to hang his hat. And did I mention hes one of the worlds richest men ($136 billion, pre-divorce) and leading one of the worlds most valuable companies ($702 billion)?

The real story here is why New York turned down a boatload of high-paying jobs, and high-tech jobs at that. Those positions are the gold standard of labor these days; saying no to thousands of them is unheard of.

But the reason kinda makes sense: In exchange for those new jobs and the glamour of hosting Amazons second headquarters, Bezos wanted $3 billion in tax breaks from Gotham. Quite a few New Yorkers said, Hey, arent you one of the worlds richest guys, heading one of the worlds most valuable companies? (Actually, they threw in some more colorful terms, but this is a family newspaper.)

Which brings us to Jefferson County, and the issue of tax abatement here. This county, like virtually every one in the country, offers tax breaks to certain corporations in exchange for putting up buildings and handing out paychecks. As with the Amazon process in New York, it can be controversial.

Ordinary taxpayers often wonder why they have to entice wealthy companies to do something that is in their best interest  building or expanding. The process is supposed to lure them here, but what if they would have come anyway? How firm should public officials be in these negotiations  without scaring off development they desperately want? Should abatement on the new project be for 10 years or five, and at 50 percent or 75 percent? Every case is different.

New York officials should have consulted their counterparts here. Had they done so, they might have found a better formula for balancing the needs of their taxpayers and Bezos. Jefferson County has a detailed abatement policy, and it has used it many times in the past two decades.

How much? Try 20 different projects in just the past four years with a total value of more than $20 billion. That would be a pleasing number for Houston or Harris County, and for a medium-sized population center like ours, its downright impressive.

County officials are sometimes accused of being too generous with these abatements, and perhaps they have been. But the guidelines are fairly tight, and in theory they prevent any corporation from making outrageous demands.

Economic expansion since Jan. 1, 2014 Jefferson County Abatements 1) Golden Pass LNG - $10 billion 2) Oil Tanking - $2.4-$2.6 billion 3) Total Par LLC - $2.4 billion 4) Exxon Blade - $1.5 billion 5) OCI - $1 billion 6) Exxon BPEX - $1 billion 7) Premcor - $900 million 8) Exxon SCANfiner - $450 million 9) Arkema - $365-$400 million 10) Colonial - $335 million 11) Orbit NGL - $300 million 12) Oil Tanking - $300 million 13) Coastal Caverns - $271 million 14) Enterprise - $209.5 million 15) BASF-Total-BPT - $130 million 16) Air Liquide - $117 million 17) Dow - $109 million 18) Phillips Methanol - $95 million 19) Phillips - $50 million 20) Seahawk Landing - $2.25 million Source: Jefferson County judge's office See More Collapse

Tax abatement is only available to industries, not commercial businesses. The county has a lengthy written policy that must be reviewed every two years. It seeks to match the incentive of abatement with the number and type of jobs that will be created  without harming any existing jobs. The hiring of minorities and use of minority businesses are strongly encouraged. Even the construction hiring and purchasing of supplies have to done in a way to let the county reap the sales tax if possible. Its an extensive process, with the companys economic impact study running 200 pages on some projects. Once construction starts, the company must provide quarterly reports on how well it is complying with the abatement agreement.

Hanging over all this is competition from our eager neighbor. Louisiana will famously offer 100 percent tax abatement for 10 years for just about any project. Thats tough to match, though Louisiana is said to get its money on the back end of those deals  sometimes with excessively high tax valuations once the abatement has ended.

If its done right, tax abatement can pay off in the long run for average taxpayers, who of course must pay full value on their home or business every year. The countys overall taxable value increases, thereby putting less pressure on public officials from raising tax revenues on those very same homeowners and small businesses.

But back to Bezos: Hes looking all over the map, trying to find another place for his second headquarters. Whats a billionaire to do?

Perhaps he should consider a site in the middle of the country in the Sunbelt, right on one of the busiest interstates, close to Gulf Coast ports, with a skilled workforce and plenty of college grads. The site Im thinking of is near the nations fourth-largest metropolitan area but still blessed with plenty of cheap land. Yes, Im talking about western Chambers County, just a brief drive from Houston  and not too far from the Golden Triangle. Im guessing that Bezos could get the tax breaks he wanted with those 25,000 jobs in his back pocket.

Unlikely? Maybe, but Amazons site selection team is looking again, and no one thought Bezos would choose New York City in the first place. Perhaps another surprise awaits, closer to us.

TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com
Minutes before the violent death of his daughter, Yohavnis Roque sent a series of cryptic messages to a longtime friend.

He was messaging me weird coded messages about the world ending, Abner Santiago told The Enterprise. He wasnt like this before when I knew him back in Miami.

In the messages sent at 10:54 a.m. Tuesday, Roque told his friend to start digging because there was going to be an all out war.

What?? Santiago replied. What do you mean war how will the war start???

Now, Roque wrote. Can u see the sky.

About 15 minutes later, according to a probable cause affidavit, Orange police were called to Roques residence in the 500 block of Azalea Avenue. They found him naked and covered in blood. His clothes were scattered around the house. His 2-year-old daughter, Savanna, was dead in the closet.

The weapon used, police said, was a hammer.

In my 29 years of being an officer, this is by far the worst case I have ever seen, OPD Capt. Robert Enmon said. Its the stuff of nightmares.

Enmon was present Wednesday morning when the 26-year-old suspect made his first appearance in court. Shackled and sitting in a wheelchair, he was arraigned on one charge of capital murder, which is allowed in Texas if the victim is under the age of 10.

Orange County District Judge Courtney Arkeen set his bond at $2 million.

He kept murmuring things, but I couldnt really hear what he was saying, Enmon said. He did say once that the government made him do it.

Roque lived in the Azalea Avenue house with his daughter and his mother, next door to other family members. At the time of the homicide, only Roque and Savanna were home, police said. Roques mother had left earlier, and returned shortly after. She was the first to find the toddlers body.

About the same time, a public official came across the police scanner: Im being flagged down by a motorist saying that her cousin just killed his daughter. Can you have OPD en route?

The dispatcher confirms, then says, Were still trying to get information. Shes just screaming.

According to the affidavit, a patrolmans body camera captured Roque at the scene saying, I killed my daughter.

He was the childs only living parent. Her mother, Rachel Foster, died in June 2016 at 24 when she was struck by an impaired driver, according to media reports in Miami, where the two lived before Roque moved to Orange.

Savanna, who family and friends call Savi, had been born just weeks before her mothers death.

The little girl loved to sing and dance, Fosters friend Dev Rodriguez told The Enterprise Wednesday. She definitely took after her mother. (She) deserved to live a happy life. Im glad she is finally where she was meant to be all along, in her mothers arms.

Haley Bruyn contributed to this article.

erica.apodaca@beaumont

enterprise.com
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Have you defaulted on your HELB loan?

If your answer is in the affirmative, you might want to do something about servicing that loan because the police intend to track you down.

The State, through Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, on Wednesday said the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) seeks to recover over Sh7.2 billion owed by 74,000 defaulters.

According to Amina, the crackdown will start any time from now in conjunction with law enforcement agencies. She also asked employers to help in tracking down loan defaulters.

We are also going to partner with our law enforcement agencies to track down those holding jobs and yet are reluctant to stand up to be counted as responsible and patriotic citizens who honour their debts, she said.

Loan defaulters based in the diaspora will not be exempted from the crackdown either. Helb chief executive Charles Ringera said they will partner with the Foreign Affairs ministry to track them down.

We are having a large number of graduates leaving the country to work abroad majority who have defaulted, Mr Ringera noted.

They were speaking during the launch of Helbs 2019-2023 strategic plan.

Below are some reactions by Kenyans on Twitter:

When Helb officials pull up to your doorstep with the whole Recce and Flying squad and ask you why you havent repaid your loan.pic.twitter.com/lLn2VLFeDx  Mutinda? (@brianmutinda_) February 20, 2019

? ? ? HELB to partner with CID and Police ?. This is crazy. What if China hunts Kenya ? down. Take us slow Helb. Mambo ni slow motion ata tala na branch wanatupeleka pole pole  Rafiki_ke ?? (@fidel_Ke) February 20, 2019

Yo!!! Kenya wont let me rest. Im in the vicinity minding my own and boom! I dunno whose family is taking over JKIA, Police are going after HELB defaulters and my governor is out here saying cirries and capacirry *I. Can. Not* pic.twitter.com/4sRylmdKql  Scheaffer Okore (@scheafferoo) February 20, 2019

In USA, student loan debt is at $1.5 trillion i.e. Kshs. 150+ trillion. Therefore, the student loan debt in Kenya is sustainable, so HELB should calm down. (Applying the comparison excuse GoK normally uses when Kenyans complain about rising public debt.)  Wambui (@Waambui) February 20, 2019

Screw HELB and the Police! You want to hunt down unemployed masses to recover loan? Its JUST 7.2bn, write it off and charge it to NYS I, NYS II, Eurobond or Afya House. https://t.co/Ugjlxb19zP  Chris (@Ngaruthi) February 20, 2019

Hahaha. HELB to partner with the police to track down defaulters? This is the biggest joke I have heard this far. You want to hunt down unemployed youth to recover loan?

Who is the bright spark behind these ideas? Write off the loan. I mean billions more were lost to corruption!  Ahmed Mohamed ((ASMALi)) (@Asmali77) February 20, 2019

I welcome the directive by Amina to track down HELB defaulters in a country where 60%+ of graduates are jobless. Infact, I suggest they save the tracking funds & just announce the prisons for the youth to go, at least theyll be guaranteed free meals in jail & no worries.  Kenya West (@KinyanBoy) February 20, 2019

Hey Amina is it possible to Just tell us the prisons you want the youths to Go to because of HELB?

Instead of wasting government resources to arrest us! Atleast some jobless graduates will be sure of 3 meals a day and place to sleep.  Moseax ?? (@Moseax) February 20, 2019
GROUPS THAT RELEASED STATEMENT ON MESA VERDE

Northern California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (NCCIJ)

Northern California Rapid Response and Immigrant Defense Network (NCRRIDN)

Freedom for Immigrants

ACLU of California

African Advocacy Network

Alianza Sacramento

Arab Resource and Organizing Center

Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach

Block by Block Organizing Network, Oakland

California Sanctuary Campaign

Building Healthy Communities Kern

Canal Alliance

Center for Gender & Refugee Studies - California

Central American Resource Center of Northern CA

Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC)

Cid and Macedo Inc.

Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County Inc.

Community Justice Alliance

Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto

California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Foundation

Democratic Women of Kern

Dolores Street Community Services

Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin

Faith in the Valley

Greenfield Walking Group

Humboldt Rapid Response Network

Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)

Immigration Center for Women and Children

Immigration Task Force, Rapid Response Network of Monterey County

Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

International Institute of the Bay Area

Jakara Movement

Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants

Kids in Need of Defense

La Raza Centro Legal, San Francisco

La Raza Community Resource Center

LAGAI -- Queer Insurrection

Latinos United for a New America aka LUNA

Law Office of Emilio J. Huerta

Law Office of Helen Lawrence

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area

Legal Services for Children

Lideres Campesinas en California inc,

Monterey County Rapid Response Network

NorCal Resist

North Bay Rapid Response Network: Solano, Napa and Sonoma Counties

Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association

Open Immigration Legal Services

Pacifica Social Justice

Pajaro Valley Rapid Response

Peninsula Temple Beth El

Radio Bilingue, Inc.

Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County, CA

Rapid Response Network of Kern

Sacramento ACT

Sacramento Immigration Coalition

Sacred Heart Community Service

San Diego Rapid Response Network

Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network (SIREN)

Sisters of Mercy

Social Justice Collaborative

STEP UP! Sacramento

Tahirih Justice Center

The Justice & Diversity Center of The Bar Association of San Francisco

The Sacramento Family Unity, Education, and Legal (FUEL) Network

UFW Foundation

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City (UUFRC) Social Action Committee

University of San Francisco Immigration & Deportation Defense Clinic

Upper Kern Democratic Club

Valley Watch, Rapid Response Network

Vision y Compromiso

Watsonville Law Center

Womens March Kern County
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Joseph Luiz can be reached at 395-7368 or by email at jluiz@bakersfield.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @JLuiz_TBC.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Kenyan musician Akothee is free to perform in South Sudan, an official from the countrys Embassy in Nairobi has indicated.

Mr Peter Jok said the reported banning of the controversial musician from setting foot in South Sudan is fabricated.

He was responding to an article published on Jubaeye.net, which claimed that the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr Nadia Arop Dudi, rejected Akothees application to perform in the country.

According to the South Sudan publication, Dr Dudi claimed that Akothee is too immoral, a bad influence and lacks self-respect.

I watched Akothees performances on YouTube, and with the way she immorally behaves on stage, I conclude she is not the right musician to entertain our youth, a quote attributed to Dr Dudi read in part.

Reached for comment, Akothee responded to the rumors saying: Where is South Sudan? I dont even know where that country is from Kenya. I havent sought permission to go perform there. However, if they want my services, tell them that I charge Sh1.5 million for a single show. Honestly, guys have been on my case and I wouldnt want to respond to unsubstantiated gossip spreading on social media. I am not in the right state of mind now, excuse me, kindly.

And now, the South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi has released a statement to clarify the reports.

The minister [of culture and youth] is not involved, whatsoever, in approving or rejecting artistes application to perform in South Sudan. I have read the quotes attributed to Dr Dudi, and I want to confirm that they are fabricated. Akothee has not, in any way, been stopped from headlining shows in South Sudan. What was published on that website [Jubaeye] are purely lies founded on desperation for eyeballs, said Peter Jok.

RELATED: Akothee Catches The Attention of Ezekiel Mutua With Raunchy Dance Moves
Hiking up the side of one of the peaks above Hidden Valley. (Source: Morgan Loew)
An inter-Burundian, inclusive dialogue remains the only viable option for lasting settlement of the political crisis and the holding of elections in 2020 in a peaceful environment, the United Nations Special Envoy for the country, Michel Kafando, told the Security Council on Tuesday.

On the political front, Mr. Kafando noted that Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza reiterated on 22 December 2018 his decision not to seek a new mandate in 2020 and that the request for official recognition of the new opposition party, the National Congress for freedom, was finally approved on 14 February by the Government.

I encourage the Government to continue in this direction and urge it to be more inclusive, particularly in the context of ongoing discussions on the adoption of a new Electoral Code, he said, recalling that the general elections, including the presidential election, were scheduled for sixteen months.

The Special Envoy also noted that the human rights situation remains a concern in Burundi according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

At the same time, he said the humanitarian situation had improved since 2017, except in some parts of the country, particularly in the eastern and northeastern border provinces.

About one and a half million people, however, remain threatened by food insecurity because of persistent socio-economic difficulties, Mr. Kafando warned.

As of December 31, 2018, the UN estimated that 140,000 people were displaced and more than 347,000 were still Burundian refugees in neighboring countries (down from 380,000 refugees last November).

The Special Envoy traveled to Burundi from 20 to 29 January, with the intention of holding talks with President Nkurunziza and the Burundian authorities on the conclusions of the Security Council meeting of 21 November 2018, but also to reaffirm on the eve of the East African Community (EAC) Summit, United Nations support for the inter-Burundian process.

Unfortunately, these talks could not take place, Mr. Kafando told the Security Council.
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The development of a comprehensive partnership with the United States is one of the main priorities of Kazakhstan's foreign policy.

Peter Foster, the president of Air Astana said that the opening of a direct flight to the United States from Kazakhstan may take place at the end of 2020, the press service of the Civil Aviation Committee reports.

He told at an extended meeting of the board of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development that the process of obtaining approval from the U.S. Department of Civil Aviation is much simpler, but in terms of security, the audit process will take some time.

As Foster noted, the implementation of these flights to New York is being considered through an intermediate point, which will also require the signing of an additional agreement on commercial traffic.

He added that if everything goes according to plan, then it is planned to start flying in 2020.

First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin inquired from First Vice Minister Roman Sklyar about the specific dates for opening a direct flight to Japan and the United States.

Askar Mamin stated that President Nursultan Nazarbayev set the task and the issues of route subsidies will be solved at the government meeting on January 30.

Roman Sklyar explained that institutional support is the introduction of amendments and additions to the law on transport, which will be heard on March 13 in the second reading in Majilis.

A package of documents is being prepared specifically for subsidizing international flights.

Sklyar noted, there is a legal basis between Kazakhstan and Japan, which allows you to open flights between countries with a frequency of up to 14 flights per week.

This year, the issues of providing state support to domestic companies for opening such flights to Japan and the U.S. will be worked out. In the second half of 2019, we plan to launch a flight to Japan. Air Astana must pass an audit of U.S. aviation authorities for compliance with safety criteria, which will take about two years. Therefore, it is possible to attract at the first stage American airlines, concluded Vice Minister.

Air Astana was incorporated in late 2001 and its maiden flight was on the 15th May 2002.

Today Air Astana operates a fleet of 34 western aircraft with an average age of 8.45 years. It operates over 60 domestic and international routes. Its passengers are served by more than 4,700 highly qualified staff, the majority of whom are from Kazakhstan, supplemented by experienced foreign personnel.

The U.S. became the first country in the world to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan.

Diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the United States were established on January 7, 1992.

More than 500 companies with U.S. capital work in Kazakhstan. In recent years, such companies as Primus Power, Spancrete, Uber, Starbucks, McDonalds and Netflix have entered Kazakhstan.

Imports of goods from the United States to Kazakhstan are machines, electrical equipment, ground vehicles and aircraft.

Exports of goods to the United States from Kazakhstan amounted to products of the chemical and related industries, products in the form of granules or powder, machinery and equipment.

The introduction of a visa-free regime for up to 30 days for U.S. citizens since the beginning of 2017 plays a positive role in promoting tourism in Kazakhstan.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Relations between the U.S. and Armenia have sharply become colder. Washington cancelled the planned visit of Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to the United States, towards which the Armenian side had been working for a long time.

Recently, National Security Advisor to President John Bolton and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation. During the conversation, Bolton asked if the decision to send a mission to Syria was final and inevitable, and received a positive response.

Although the Armenian Foreign Ministry is trying to alleviate the situation and in particular to receive an invitation from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Mnatsakanyan, but still without result.

It is not excluded that Armenia will seek the help of lobbyists for the organization of this visit. The Armenian ambassador in Washington is not in a very good position as well.

The United States has repeatedly warned Yerevan against the need to stay away from Russian force missions. Armenia's former President Serzh Sargsyan perceived these warnings quite realistically and therefore did not succumb to the pressure of Moscow, which demanded that Armenia join its mission in Syria.

Nikol Pashinyan, because of inexperience and arrogance, sent to Syria a group of 83 so-called 'specialists'. After this decision, the Russian media restored its negative attacks against Azerbaijan.

However, this is nothing more than a pyrrhic victory.

It was clear from the statement of the State Department that the United States was very unhappy with the dispatch by Yerevan of Armenian troops to Syrian Aleppo. Since the summer of 2018, the American side made it clear at different levels to the Armenian side that its appearance in Syria as part of the Russian mission is unacceptable.

Even the fact that Pashinyans meeting with Donald Trump, which had been prepared for several months, did not take place just in the light of these discussions, the Armenian PM tried to ignore, counting on his revolutionary charm.

A group of Armenian specialists in humanitarian demining, medical personnel and ensuring the safety of the specialists themselves, arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo to provide humanitarian specialized assistance to the Syrian people on February 8.

Sending humanitarian contingent to Syria was announced in September 2018. PM Pashinyan called the humanitarian operation in Syria an Armenian-Russian humanitarian project unprecedented in scale.

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a statement in which the U.S. State Department expressed its position on the Armenian humanitarian mission in Syria on February 13. Washington did not support any interaction with the Syrian Armed Forces, regardless of whether it is about providing assistance to civilians or is of a military nature.

The Foreign Ministry of Armenia responded to the statement of the State Department, stating that after a relative truce and establishment of security, Armenia intends to continue its contribution to the humanitarian mission.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Trend

During the talks in Ashgabat, the heads of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, stressed that the main issue on the agenda was ensuring lasting peace and security in the region, Trend reports via Turkmenistan State News Agency.

Turkmenistan also confirmed its readiness for further active and fruitful participation in resolving issues of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, in restoring its economy, creating conditions for the participation of the Afghan people in the fate of their country.

The state and prospects of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, the possibilities for a significant increase in the volume and diversification of trade were reviewed. Turkmenistan has repeatedly stated its readiness to provide its political space for conducting peace talks on Afghanistan.

The instability in the neighboring country remains a serious obstacle to the implementation of infrastructure projects in the region, including the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI). However, Afghanistan claims that it can ensure the safety of the route.

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By Trend

Presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, signed an agreement on strategic cooperation between the two countries in Ashgabat on Feb. 21, Trend reports via Turkmenistan State News Agency.

Moreover, at the intergovernmental level, the following were signed: agreements on customs cooperation and air traffic, on the location of international railway crossing at the common state border, memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector and on increasing the volume of Turkmen electricity supplied to the Afghan province of Herat.

A memorandum of understanding was also concluded for the construction of the Akina-Andkhoy railway and the rules for organizing the railway communication between the Serhetabat-Turgundi stations at the joint state border were adopted.

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Armenia again proves disinterest in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, announcing the need to return to the negotiating table the occupation authorities of Karabakh.

The leadership of Azerbaijan had certain hopes in connection with the arrival of the new authorities in Yerevan. Most likely, they were due to the guarantees of some geopolitical centers that the new government in Armenia will take bold and constructive steps.

Political technologist Vigen Akopyan recalls that a similar term was used by John Bolton during his visit to Yerevan. He considers this optimism was also transmitted to Azerbaijan.

As Akopyan said, Pashinyan wanted to understand for some time, what processes are underway in the negotiations on Karabakh.

But after meetings with Ilham Aliyev, in particular, in Davos, Armenian Prime Minister finally realized what expectations Azerbaijan had and how this correlated with the interests of Armenia, said political technologist.

Nikol Pashinyan understood that Azerbaijan, in its ideas of mutual concessions, did not retreat a centimeter. He might have held political consultations on this issue, including with some partners.

After that, the position of the Armenian Prime Minister sharply tightened. It immediately caused confusion in Azerbaijan.

Now Yerevan declares that it cannot talk about any concessions until Azerbaijan shows that it is also ready for such steps. Moreover, Armenia makes illogical statement saying that talks with Azerbaijan on the whole package of issues should involve separatist regime of occupied Karabakh.

Besides, Armenia's current opposition accuses Pashinyan of lack of information, experience and knowledge about the Karabakh conflict.

The conclusion is that the Armenian society is interested in the current status quo and does not intend to take any constructive steps to resolve the conflict.

However, Azerbaijan will not give up its principled position on Karabakh. Baku stands on the position that conflict should be resolved only on the basis of the norms and principles of international law, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored and four resolutions of the UN Security Council must be implemented.

Azerbaijan is the most stable state in the region. It is stronger for the economic and military mean. Baku is looking for and is seeking the friendship of Moscow, Washington, Tehran and is the closest strategic ally for Ankara.

Azerbaijans military budget is growing, military-technical cooperation is developing, all new countries are involved in it, including CSTO members.

Nikol Pashinyan and his team, having a high level of popular support, should compromise with Azerbaijan and thereby contribute to resolving the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Only, in this case, democracy has a chance to overcome finally nationalism in Armenia.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

For several years in a row, Armenia ranks third line in the ranking of the most militarized countries of the world, lagging behind only Israel and Singapore. It seems that Russia has decided to provide Armenia with promotion in this ranking.

By the way, reduction of Armenian population and an increase in the flow of arms from Russia may well contribute to this.

Earlier, Defense Minister David Tonoyan stated that Armenia is conducting negotiations with Russia on new supplies of multi-purpose Su-30SM fighters. It is planned that Yerevan will receive four such aircraft from Moscow at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020.

According to Armenian media reports, Yerevan has not yet begun paying its defense credits to Russia, the total amount of which today is $300 million. Apparently, the Russian side does not wait for payments, realizing the real possibilities of Armenia.

It is not excluded that the goal of the loan is only to camouflage a large amount of the transfer of arms to Yerevan for sale. In addition, this debt of Armenia makes it possible to Russia keep its ally under control.

So, Armenia is going to purchase eight more expensive aircraft from Russia in order to make regular provocations in the sky over Karabakh. Although, Yerevan still has not paid for the armament received on the first, $200 million weapon loan.

In turn, military expert Van Ambartsumian is sounding the alarm, claiming that Azerbaijan is going to acquire the newest Russian multipurpose fighter Su-30 MKA and has therefore sent part of its pilots to Algeria for training on the Algerian Su-30 MKA purchased earlier from Russia.

He considers these aircraft are superior in their combat and technical characteristics to the Russian Su-30 SM, which Yerevan should receive under a contract from Russia in 2020.

"But the problem also lies in the fact that it takes at least five years to train pilots. At the moment, Armenian pilots are not trained to fly such modern airplanes, since they had been flying all the time on subsonic Su-25 fighters," concluded the expert.

No matter how much Yerevan is armed, Azerbaijan will always be a few steps ahead of Armenia.

Recently, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces acquired Turkish super modern cruise missiles SOM  B1, which are manufactured using the Stealth technology and specifically designed to destroy air defense and missile defense targets.

These missiles are designed not only to bypass the air defense and missile defense systems but also for their direct destruction. So, the S-300 PS and S-300 PT anti-aircraft missile systems, which are in service with the Armenian Armed Forces, are a common goal for them.

These cruise missiles have a range of up to 250 kilometers, despite the fact that the minimum flight altitude is 10 meters. The minimum height of destruction of the aerodynamic targets of the Armenian S-300 PS and S-300 PT, which form the basis of Armenias air and missile defense, reaches 25 meters. At the same time, the maximum range of destruction of objects at these installations is 75 kilometers, and the maximum height is 27 kilometers.

These new Turkish missiles have the ability to round the terrain during the flight, and since Armenia is a mountainous country, this factor greatly complicates the work of air defense and missile defense.

Thus, Armenia is not able to become a rival of Azerbaijan even with the help of loans from Russia.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Trend

A meeting with the EU delegation on the implementation of the Border Management Program in Central Asia was held at the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan, Trend reports referring to the State Migration Service.

The main strategy of the Program is to promote the stability and security of the countries of Central Asia through integrated border management and regional cooperation.

The Program also assists the countries of Central Asia in their pursuit of regional economic development and trade facilitation among neighboring Central Asian countries and as well as with the EU member countries.

Turkmenistan shares land borders with Kazakhstan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and maritime borders with Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.

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By Trend

A delegation led by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar will leave for the US on Feb. 20, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.

Akar together with the delegation, which also includes Chief of the General Staff Yasar Guler, will leave for Washington.

Akar will meet with US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.

The Syrian issue, as well as regional issues and relations between the two countries will be discussed during the meeting.

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By Trend

The reason for the presence of Armenian citizens in Turkey is the economic crisis in Armenia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Trend reports with reference to the Turkish media.

Erdogan was speaking at the Budapest Process forum on migration issues in Istanbul.

He noted that about 100,000 Armenians live in Turkey, and 40,000 of them are citizens of Turkey.

Turkey doesnt expel Armenians who have to flee their country due to the economic crisis, Erdogan said.

He added that despite this, anti-Turkish propaganda regarding the 1915 events is being conducted in Western countries, in particular, in Europe.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 51,800 tourists from Armenia visited Turkey in 2018, which is 7.37 percent more compared to 2017.

According to the ministry, 3,900 Armenian citizens visited Turkey in December 2018, which is 10.26 percent more compared to December 2017. Every month the number of Armenian citizens visiting Turkey grows by at least 3 percent.

According to the Turkish media, monthly at least 200 Armenian citizens stay in Turkey and work illegally. This can be called Armenias "people's diplomacy", or rather, the method of settling in Turkey.

According to the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), nine companies with Armenian capital were registered in Turkey in 2018. The total capital of companies registered in Turkey for this period amounted to 1.1 million liras (approximately $213,500).

The companies with Armenian capital were mainly registered in Istanbul (eight companies) in 2018.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, allegedly carried out "genocide" against the Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915.

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By Trend

Azerishig JSC is launching the modernization of the power supply system in a number of villages of Bakus Khazar district, Tanriverdi Mustafayev, head of the press service of Azerishig, told Trend.

According to Mustafayev, work on the complex reconstruction of the electricity network of Baku and its adjacent settlements is carried out according to the instructions of the head of state.

"At this stage, the renewal of the electricity network is envisaged in the village of Bina and adjacent settlements. To this end, 10 sets of transformers, powerlines, ABC cables, 7,000 reinforced concrete pillars and other equipment are being sent to the area," Mustafayev said.

According to Mustafayev, the power grid infrastructure of the capitals townships was renewed years earlier, which ensured uninterrupted electricity supply. However, the rapid development of the housing stock, along with the emergence of new buildings, contributed to the overload of the power grid. As such, an upgrade of the system is needed.

Currently, the number of subscribers in the Khazar District exceeds 80,000 people, over 30,000 of whom live in the village of Bina. Thanks to the reconstruction, the quality of customer service in the Khazar District will improve, while the load on the power grid will significantly decrease.

The renewal of the electrical network of the Khazar region is the third large-scale work carried out by Azerishig since early 2019.

Prior to this, work began in Aghstafa, Aghsu, Shamakhi, Gabala, Jalilabad, Lankaran, Sabirabad districts of the country, as well as in Bakus villages, including Kand Binagadi, Sulutepe, Khojasan and Bilajari.

Last year, renovation works were completed in Masazir, Mammadli, Yeni Saray, Jeyranbatan and in adjacent settlements. An uninterrupted power supply was successfully ensured. Work was also carried out in other districts of the country, including remote communities.

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By Trend

Romanias Romgaz company has signed the Letter of Intent addressed to the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council, expressing interest to analyze opportunity to use the SGC, Trend reports citing a message from Romgaz.

On the fifth annual meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council (SGC Advisory Council) in Azerbaijan, Romgaz restated its support for the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, while considering to continue the transmission infrastructure by finalizing the Bulgarian-Romanian Interconnector and BRUA Project, in the context of developing the relationship with Azerbaijan and the potential partnership with SOCAR, reads the message.

Romgaz CEO, Adrian Volintiru signed the Letter of Intent addressed to SGC Advisory Council.

Romgaz expressed in this formal letter the interest to analyze the opportunity to use the Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure to secure natural gas supply safety and the possibility to diversify the gas sources both for Romania and for neighboring countries as well, said the company.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been recently connected on the Turkish-Greek border.

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By Leman Mammadova

The launching ceremony of the "Lachin" oil tanker was held at the Baku Shipyard on February 21.

Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Vice President of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR Suleyman Gasimov, Director of the State Maritime Agency Gudrat Gurbanov, Chairman of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC Rauf Valiyev and Executive Director of Baku Shipbuilding LLC Imanverdi Hasanov attended the ceremony.

The new oil tanker will be commissioned in June 2019. The tanker's hull has been constructed. The remaining construction will be carried out in the water.

The length of the tanker is 141 meters, width - 16.9 meters, height - six meters. The deadweight of the tanker in the sea is 7,884 tons, on the river  5,455 tons. Its speed can reach 10 knots per hour. The tanker has six cargo compartments with a capacity of 9,190 cubic meters each. The Odessa Marine Engineering Bureau designed the tanker.

In general, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC intends to purchase over 70 vessels, including cargo ships, passenger ships, tankers, boats and other vessels within ten years.

Two RoPax vessels are being built in the Baku Shipyard upon the order of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC.

Chairman of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) Rauf Valiyev said that ASCO plans to receive five new vessels during the year.

He said that two vessels will be built at the Baku Shipyard, and the rest will be acquired from foreign companies.

The corresponding contract was signed by Chairman of ASCO Rauf Valiyev and Executive Director of Baku Shipyard LLC Imanverdi Hasanov.

The new tankers will have the same dimensions as the "Lachin" oil tanker.

In general, the ASCO plans to annually purchase two vessels from the Baku Shipyard each year, he noted.

He reminded that the fleet renewal process has been going on for the past five years. During this period, ASCO acquired 20 new ships, he said.

Valiyev added that the Baku Shipyard continues to build four more vessels for ASCO.

We must constantly update our fleet in order to ensure continuous development in conditions of high competition, Valiyev said.

The tanker Lachin is a part of the policy of turning Azerbaijan into a key logistics center of the region, he added.

The ASCO was established by merging country's two largest fleets - the Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company and the Caspian Sea Oil Fleet of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, on October 22, 2013, with the aim of continuing fundamental structural reforms in the economy, enhancing local and international shipping in the maritime sector, strengthening the country's competitiveness and transit potential.

ASCO provides transport services related to offshore oil and gas operations within Trans-Caspian as well as the transshipment of cargoes and passengers.

The company includes specialized fleet, shipyards as well as transport fleet.

The tanker fleet of the ASCO holds a leading position in the Caspian basin. The company attaches particular attention to equipping its fleet with new vessels in order to keep its weight in the field of freight transportations.

The Baku Shipyard LLC is a joint venture of SOCAR, Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited company. Keppel company owns 10 percent of the factory's shares and is fully responsible for its management and operation. SOCAR is the largest shareholder of the enterprise with a share of 65 percent, and it is followed by the AIC, which owns a quarter of the shipyard's shares.

The factory has been designed for the construction of a wide range of specialized and commercial vessels, including multi-purpose naval vessels such as platform supply vessels, as well as tankers and cargo vessels. The conditions for ship repair have also been created at the enterprise.

Baku Shipyard is capable of constructing various vessels ranging from offshore support vessels, general cargo vessels, tug boats, crane vessels, specialized vessels and passengers vessels to tankers.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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By Trend

Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will strengthen the energy security of the whole European Union, Trend reports citing Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

She made the remarks during the 5th meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council held in Baku Feb.20, reads a message from Bulgarian energy ministry.

Bulgaria has the extraordinary advantage that the Southern Gas Corridor passes through the Southeast European region. It strengthens the energy security not only of our country but also of the whole European Union, she said.

The minister noted that the construction of Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), a key element of the Southern Gas Corridor, and the joint initiative of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary for the construction of the Vertical Gas Corridor is of great geostrategic significance for the diversification of gas supply.

Petkova informed the meeting participants that Bulgaria plans to start the construction work in the middle of this year and to complete the work in 2020 with the launch of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). .

Bulgaria is an integral part of the Southern Gas Corridor and will continue to work on gas projects that provide real diversification of natural gas supply sources and routes, Petkova said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been recently connected on the Turkish-Greek border.

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By Trend

Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipeline is an essential link for Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, Secretary of State with Romanian Ministry of Energy Iulian-Robert Tudorache said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He pointed out that along with the Interconnector between Romania and Bulgaria, BRUA project has a significant relevance at the regional level, assuring the possibility of integrating the natural gas sources from the Caspian Region with the Central and Western Europe, after the completion of the natural gas infrastructure projects of the Southern Gas Corridor.

"BRUA is a very important component of the Vertical Corridor which will integrate the gas transmission systems from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. This is why BRUA pipeline is an essential link in the context of Azerbaijani gas transmission towards Europe," noted the deputy minister.

Talking about the BRUA project, Tudorache said that it has three execution phases.

"Once the phases 1 and 2 are completed, a new gas corridor for the Caspian Sea gas will be created, stretching from the Southern border of Romania, further through to the North-Western border of Romania with Hungary. In concrete terms, the phase 1 of BRUA consists of a 479 km pipeline on the territory of Romania and three Gas Compression Stations, assuring bidirectional gas flow. I can tell you that the BRUA project has progressed very well so far: we are in the full process of implementation of phase 1 and the works on the territory of Romania are on the agreed schedule, some of them being even finalized in advance. The works on the compressor stations started in April 2018 and the pipeline construction works started in August 2018," he added.

Tudorache noted that the estimated deadline for the completion of Phase 1 works of the BRUA project is December 2019.

"We have made sure that BRUA receives all necessary funding, in a timely and efficient manner. TRANSGAZ company has obtained two grants from the European Union through the National Agency for Innovation and Networks (INEA). The first grant was granted for financing the design for the three compression stations within the project and the second, more than 180 million EUR, was granted to finance the BRUA Phase I project implementation. The project is also funded by loans from the EIB and EBRD. This shows the importance of the BRUA project for the future energy map of Europe," he said.

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By Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to construct Kolgishlaq-Mirashelli-Ahmadaghali-Chirakhli road in Aghdam.

Under the presidential order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 2.3 million manats for the construction of the road connecting five residential areas with a total population of 9,000 people.

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By Trend

Turkey-Azerbaijan relations are experiencing a golden age, which is happening thanks to the heads of the two countries - presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Yalcin Topcu, Turkish presidential adviser, in an exclusive interview with Trend Feb. 21.

Everyone knows the statement of the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev that Turkey and Azerbaijan are 'one nation, two states', Topcu said. Turkey and Azerbaijan not only share a common fate, but also look to the future from a single position.

He noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan are two states, the opinions of which are important in the region and the world, and which have close relations in all spheres.

Topcu added that Azerbaijan always proves its fraternity to Turkey, and in the most difficult days, fraternal Azerbaijan was beside Turkey.

During the military coup attempt in Turkey, Azerbaijan once again proved its brotherhood, and it was very important for us, he stressed.

Topcu noted that President Ilham Aliyev at one of the international conferences, where Turkey didnt participate, provided important support to the brotherly country.

The words of the Azerbaijani president 'There are no representatives of Turkey at this table, but I am here' will forever remain in the memory of the Turkish people, and we are grateful to President Ilham Aliyev for such support, Topcu said.

Topcu noted that the further strengthening of relations between the two countries is a priority of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

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By Trend

Appointment of Mehriban Aliyeva as First Vice-President of Azerbaijan was the beginning of a new chapter in the welfare of the people of Azerbaijan, Rob Sobhani, director general of the Caspian Group Holdings, told Trend.

Within a short period, Mehriban Aliyeva has elevated Azerbaijan's status on the global stage in the areas of culture and heritage. She has promoted the rich history of Azerbaijan in world capitals such as Rome and Paris, he said.

Sobhani noted that Mehriban Aliyevas kind heart has touched the lives of ordinary Azerbaijanis through her philanthropy.

Mehriban Aliyeva is not only the First Lady of Azerbaijan but she is also the First Lady of Kindness. For the people of Azerbaijan to have Mehriban Aliyeva as First VP has been a blessing, because she has used her position for the benefit of the citizens of Azerbaijan, noted the expert.

Sobhani pointed out that Mehriban Aliyeva is very detail oriented and as such, her attention to the problems of the citizens of Azerbaijan does not go unnoticed.

This is very important, because she can instruct ministers and other officials to be more careful in addressing the needs of citizens -- whether they live in Baku or Ganja or Lankaran. The people of Azerbaijan can also be proud of their First VP, because she has elevated the name of Azerbaijan around the world. Today people in France and Italy know about the rich history of Azerbaijani music because of Mehriban Aliyeva, he said.

The expert believes that equally important, Mehriban Aliyeva pays close attention to issues of woman entrepreneurs, helping woman create their own businesses and being an equal partner in the economic growth of Azerbaijan.

It is also worth mentioning that Mehriban Aliyevas attention to science is important for the people of Azerbaijan, because this allows for the exchange of knowledge to enter into Azerbaijan for the benefit of the people of Azerbaijan, such as state of the art hospitals, Sobhani concluded.

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By Trend

Accredited foreign military attaches in Azerbaijan visited the enterprises of the countrys Ministry of Defense Industry, Trend reports referring to the ministry's message.

The military attaches visited the Iglim research and production enterprise, along with the Electronic Computing Machines (ECM) factory, and observed the production process.

They were thoroughly informed about the activities of enterprises.

The military attaches also attended an exhibition held at the ECM factory for military products produced and manufactured at the enterprises of the Ministry of Defense Industry.

They then visited the Iglim research and production enterprise where military products are manufactured. It was mentioned that the firearms manufactured at the enterprise are demonstrated at international exhibitions and exported to foreign countries.

A total of 32 representatives from 21 countries were present during the visit.

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By Trend

The first meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea was held on February 19-20, 2019 in Baku, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The Azerbaijani, Iranian, Kazakh, Russian and Turkmen delegations attended the talks.

The sides adopted the Rules of Procedure of the High-level Working Group on the Caspian Sea.

The sides exchanged views on the implementation of the agreements reached following the 5th Caspian Summit, reviewed the various aspects of cooperation in the Caspian Sea and reported on the process of implementing domestic procedures on the signed agreements, in particular, on the process of ratifying the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

The provisions of the draft agreement on the method of establishing direct baselines in the Caspian Sea were discussed. A number of provisions of the draft agreement have been agreed.

This document will be further discussed.

The delegations appreciated the results of the negotiations and expressed deep gratitude to Azerbaijan for the high level of organization of the first meeting.

The next meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea will be held in April 2019 in Kazakhstan.

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By Laman Ismayilova

Winners of Azerbaijan Shakespeare Carpet Competition have been announced.

In honour of Shakespeares 450th anniversary, the British Council Azerbaijan in partnership with the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum announced the carpet competition.

The project brought together Azerbaijans rich cultural heritage in carpet design and the place of Shakespeare in world literature.

In her speech, Director of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, Chairman of ICOM Azerbaijan Shirin Melikova noted that the competition was announced in 2016 and held by British Council Azerbaijan together with the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan and the State Academy of Arts.

By the decision of the jury, three carpets were selected, each of which is presented in a special nomination.

Minister of Culture Abulfaz Garayev expressed his gratitude to the British Embassy in Azerbaijan and the British Council for their assistance in organizing and holding the competition.

The minister stressed that such events bring Azerbaijan and the UK closer together in the field of culture and art.

It was also noted that a cooperation agreement was recently signed with the British Council, under which many interesting projects will be implemented.

UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy Baroness Emma Nicholson and the head of the British Council in Azerbaijan Samr Shah expressed their gratitude to the Ministry of Culture and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum for their efforts to preserve and promote the art of carpet weaving throughout the world.

Speakers at the event congratulated the winners of the competition and wished them continued success.

Then the guests got acquainted with the works of the contest winners - Telman Shikhiyev (the absolute winner), Suray Muganli (winner in the general category) and Aydan Sadikhbeyli (special jury prize).

These carpets for a month will be on display in the Carpet Museum, and then transferred to the British museums.

In conclusion, the director of the Carpet Museum Shirin Melikova presented a memorable gift to Baroness Emma Nicholson.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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By Trend

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov has met with World Banks Regional Director for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon in the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to the Cabinet Feb. 21.

During the meeting, the deputy prime minister said that the provision of quality services in the healthcare sector is one of the fundamental principles of the social policy pursued in Azerbaijan. Ahmadov spoke about the need to implement serious reforms in connection with the application of mandatory health insurance.

Tembon stressed that the World Bank Group attaches great importance to close and sustainable cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The regional director noted that the World Bank is ready to provide any assistance for the implementation of Azerbaijans development program, sustainable economic growth of the county.

Tembon also said that the bank is ready to provide any support for the formation of an institutional structure related to mandatory health insurance, improvement of healthcare financing mechanisms for organizing and improving the quality of medical services.

During the meeting, an exchange of views on other issues of mutual interest took place.

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By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

The delegation of the Azerbaijani parliaments working group on Azerbaijan-Australia interparliamentary relations met with Rick Wilson, chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources of the Australian parliament, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament.

During the meeting, Wilson stressed that the Australian government shows great interest in cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of agriculture, adding that during the upcoming visit to Azerbaijan he intends to hold the talks on this issue with the countrys corresponding structures.

Learning from Australias experience in the field of cotton-growing and the use of its advanced technologies may be one of the main priorities, he added.

Wilson also stressed his country's rich experience in irrigation.

The opportunities for cooperation in the mining sector, livestock sector, cultivation of melons and gourds, including Australias experience, as well as the training of specialists for Azerbaijan, were discussed at the meeting.

The Azerbaijani delegation consists of head of the Working Group, MP Khanlar Fatiyev, as well as chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Reforms Party, MP Asim Mollazade and Azerbaijans temporary charge d'affaires in Australia Eljan Habibzade.

Australia and Azerbaijan successfully cooperate in trade, investment and other areas. There is great potential for developing cooperation between the two countries.

Australian experts were also involved in organizing the first European Games, Formula 1 competitions, the IV Islamic Solidarity Games and other international events held in Azerbaijan. The number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan from Australia continues to grow.

There are ample opportunities for the development of cooperation between Australia and Azerbaijan. Recall that in 2015, friendship group with Australia was established in the Parliament of Azerbaijan. In addition, in 2015, the Australia-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group was established in the Australian Federal Parliament. Within these groups, many reciprocal and fruitful visits have been made.

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By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Almost all cars of the Khazar automobile plant in the Neftchala industrial park have been sold.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Azerbaijan Teruyuki Katori got acquainted with the production process at the plant, the Economy Ministry said.

The ambassador was informed that Khazar is the largest company in the park. The plant is capable of producing 10,000 cars per year. Khazar, AzSamand and Peugeot cars are produced here. The plant has already launched production of Peugeot Khazar with an automatic transmission. Cars produced at the plant, fully comply with Euro-5 standards and international safety standards.

The company has 200 jobs, the number of which is planned to be increased to 300 by expanding production.

Last year, the plant produced more than 1,000 cars, of which 95 percent have already been sold. Khazar cars were shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Moscow in August-September 2018.

Khazar cars will be exported to foreign countries under the Made in Azerbaijan brand.

The Japanese ambassador praised the work of the plant and stressed the great potential for the expansion of production.

The joint Azerbaijani-Iranian plant Khazar in the Neftchala industrial park opened on March 29, 2018, during a two-day visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Azerbaijan.

AzerMash OJSC - Iran Khodro Joint Venture Khazar car plant, with an annual production of 10,000 vehicles, will produce 6,000 vehicles at the first stage, such as Runna, Samand, Soren, Dena, Peugeot, Reno, by the end of 2019. These cars will be sold mainly in the local market.

The enterprise is expected to export 2,000 vehicles annually. Khazar cars are expected to be exported, first of all to the Russian market, then to be delivered also to Ukraine and Central Asian countries in the future.

A major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar, a subsidiary of AzerMash, signed an agreement on August 6, 2016 to establish a joint automobile plant in the Neftchala Industrial Zone.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $ 14.08 million. Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan holds 75 percent share while 25 percent belongs to Iran. Regarding the quality, brand received a quality certificate of "Euro 5". Cars have been sold since summer 2018.

Recently, production of Peugeot cars under the brand name Khazar has been launched in the Neftchala industrial park.

Azerbaijan, which is currently working to develop its car industry and encouraging interior purchases, is developing its own automobile manufacturing market.

As many as 969 cars were produced in 2018, which is 32.4 times more than in 2017. Such a sharp increase in the production of cars in the country was achieved by a joint Azerbaijani-Iranian factory Khazar in the Neftchala industrial park.

By the way, starting from the current year, Khazar cars are expected to be exported, first of all to the Russian market.

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By Trend

A business breakfast was organized on February 20, 2019 by the Azerbaijani-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry related to amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The event took place at the Meeting and Conference Center of Hyatt Regency Baku Hotel.

The event was opened by Mrs. Narmina Safarova, Managing Director of the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mrs. Teyba Guliyeva, the Chairperson of the Management Board. They welcomed the distinguished guests and highlighted the importance of these events, which offer a unique opportunity for building an effective dialogue between businesses and governments as well as strengthening further the business relationships.

Afterwards, Mrs. Samira Musayeva, Director General of the Tax Policy Department of the Ministry of Taxes, made a comprehensive presentation on the amendments made to the Tax Code. With its credibility, the amendments made to the Tax Code principally aimed at preventing shadow economy in the country, ensuring transparency of revenues and labor market, improving tax administration, expanding tax base, increasing economic efficiency of tax privileges, as well as expanding taxpayers rights and creating favorable tax environment for development of small and medium enterprises. Upon completion of the presentation, the participants' proposals regarding the tax system, including key issues encountered by business entities and their concerns, views and proposals were listened.

Taking the floor, Mrs. Aurelia Bouchez, the French Ambassador to our country, noted that the Azerbaijani-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry covered a very important topic and highly appreciated the recent reforms carried out in tax legislation of our country.

Later on, Mr. Alexandr Golovko, Director of Pasha Bank's Department for Small and Medium Enterprises Banking, made a presentation on Finance Supply Chain.

The interactive questions and answers session was held following the presentation.

The event was attended by representatives of the member - companies of the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry , different organizations, and Embassy of France to Azerbaijan.

Societe Generale" and Alstom were main sponsors of the event.

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Saturday looms as a flash point in Venezuela's crisis, which threatens to spill into civil strife, as thousands of members of the opposition, spurred by their leader Juan Guaido, are expected to dare dictator Nicolas Maduro and his military to stop them from forcing emergency medicine and food across the Colombian border into Venezuela.

Driving the news: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), an early shaper of the Trump administration's Venezuela policy, recently returned from the Colombian border, where more than 300 metric tons of aid are stockpiled, and told me he met with members of the Venezuelan opposition.

"They are well aware of the risks they run to their personal safety by undertaking this," Rubio said in an interview yesterday. "But if you put yourself in their position they really have no alternative."

Why it matters: Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared "interim president," has designated Saturday as the day the opposition will defy Maduro and begin to force emergency aid across the border.

Some of Trump's senior aides are frustrated that Maduro still clings to power in the face of mounting pressure from the Venezuelan opposition, mass hunger and economic ruin, and international calls for his resignation.

are frustrated that Maduro still clings to power in the face of mounting pressure from the Venezuelan opposition, mass hunger and economic ruin, and international calls for his resignation. These officials hope Saturday's confrontation will loosen Maduro's grip over his military  the key to his power.

hope Saturday's confrontation will loosen Maduro's grip over his military  the key to his power. Trump has thrown his full weight behind regime change; he recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader (as have around 50 other countries), and he's even toyed with a U.S. military intervention. Despite his bravado, however, he'd rather not commit U.S. troops to another overseas campaign.

his full weight behind regime change; he recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader (as have around 50 other countries), and he's even toyed with a U.S. military intervention. Despite his bravado, however, he'd rather not commit U.S. troops to another overseas campaign. Axios World editor David Lawler points out: The U.S. and allies like Brazil and Colombia hoped that by tightening the screws on the regime, they could peel Venezuela's military brass away from Maduro.

What's next? One of two things is going to happen on Saturday. Either Maduro's military will stop the aid entering Venezuela, "and the world will see what you're dealing with here," Rubio told Swan.

"Or, it [the aid] is going to get to in and it'll expose that the emperor here has no clothes."

is going to get to in and it'll expose that the emperor here has no clothes." "And at that point," Rubio said, "I think you could see a cascade effect."

Go deeper: As Venezuela grabs headlines, Nicaragua sinks further into dictatorship
A U.S. official announced yesterday that the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, will be absorbed into the new U.S. Embassy to Israel in March.

Why it matters: The move is of a piece with the administration's attempts to recast the Palestinian refugee issue and its apparently tenuous commitment to a two-state solution. The merger is yet another demonstration of the Trump peace team's determination to change U.S. policy toward core elements of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, both on paper and on the ground.

Background: In December 2017, President Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel and said the U.S. would open an embassy there, which occurred last May. But the embassy-consulate merger, first announced on Oct. 18 of last year by Secretary of State Pompeo, is far more than a cost-savings device or a means to improve past administrative operations. (Previously, the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv handled all matters relating to Gaza while the consulate in Jerusalem dealt with the West Bank and Jerusalem.)

Between the lines: The merger might create the impression that the administration envisions not a two-state solution, but what Israel's Netanyahu has called a "state-minus" Palestinian entity, with most of Jerusalem, save some potential adjustments, falling under Israeli sovereignty, along with much of the West Bank.

Coming a month before Israeli elections, the merger will also strengthen the bond between Trump and Netanyahu and further the perception that the administration wants Netanyahu re-elected.

The other side: Palestinians will see the merger of the consulate  after the closing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington  as a further effort to downgrade their status. It will only fuel the apprehension that the Trump administration has no policy toward Palestinians beyond pressure and that Washington has surrendered its role as an effective broker.

What to watch: The administration's most decisive litmus test for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will come after Israel's April 9 elections, when it plans to unveil its much-touted "ultimate deal" Middle East peace plan. The odds of success for such an unprecedentedly comprehensive peace plan are vanishingly small.

Aaron David Miller is vice president for new initiatives and director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center and a former Middle East analyst and negotiator at the State Department under Democratic and Republican administrations.
The Trump administration is heading into the Feb. 2728 summit with Kim Jong-un unsure whether North Korea is committed to denuclearization, but standing by its position that no sanctions relief is coming until the hermetic regime follows through.

Why it matters: The U.S. intelligence community believes North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons because it sees them as crucial to regime survival.

Senior U.S. administration officials briefing reporters today said that while Kim pledged to denuclearize last June in Singapore, the two sides don't have a shared definition of what that means, and it remains unclear whether Kim intends to follow through.

What they're saying:

I dont know if North Korea has made the decision yet to denuclearize," one of the officials on the briefing call conceded, but said they continue to feel there's an opportunity for a breakthrough.

The official acknowledged the stop-start nature of talks since the Singapore summit, but said things have progressed more smoothly since Trump and Kim exchanged letters in December.

The official said negotiations are open on a variety of areas, but we are not looking to have incremental steps as a key driver of this process."

Asked whether Trump would offer a peace treaty to end the Korean War, or the withdrawal of all U.S. troops in South Korea, another senior official on the call said those were "not the subject of discussions right now."

That official said the agenda in Hanoi, Vietnam, will be similar to what took place in Singapore, including a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Kim, an opportunity for them to share a meal, and expanded meetings with members of their delegations.

The bottom line: The officials said the goal remains the complete, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and noted that Trump's rhetoric has been focused on the "bright future" Kim could unlock by striking a deal.
The House Oversight Committee released a report this week that accuses Trump administration officials of legal and ethical breaches in their pursuit of a nuclear-plant deal with Saudi Arabia.

The big picture: While a nuclear-capable Saudi Arabia is a dangerous prospect  MBS has floated the idea of developing nuclear weapons  it's becoming something of a foregone conclusion. The world's nuclear suppliers are already bidding for the contract to construct Saudi Arabia's first two reactors, with Riyadh having shortlisted bids from not only the U.S., but also France, China, Russia and South Korea.

Reality check: If the U.S. doesn't secure a deal, another country could step in. France's nuclear industry is in disarray, while South Korea depends enough on U.S. nuclear technology to potentially necessitate U.S. involvement anyway. It would be alarming if Riyadh inked a deal with Moscow or Beijing, which both have signaled plans to export reactor technology globally.

Both China and Russia are known for lax standards on nuclear security, poor track records on safety, and a general willingness to turn a blind eye to partners violating international norms  a special consideration for Riyadh.

Between the lines: China's and Russia's growing roles in the global nuclear trade should worry U.S. policymakers more broadly. When the U.S. led the nuclear market through the 1990s, Washington cultivated long-term partnerships with emerging economies and designed strong international nuclear nonproliferation and security standards. The U.S. risks losing this advantage if Russia and China take the reins.

Moscow has a demonstrated history of exploiting energy dependencies for political gain in Europe. Beijing, too, has already made predatory investments, trapping countries in debt. Each nuclear reactor exported could serve as a source of geopolitical leverage for Russia and China over its lifespan of 6080 years.

The bottom line: Insider dealing and sidestepping of Congress, while irresponsible and counterproductive, have little to do with the national security merits of a nuclear deal. With the strictest nuclear standards, the U.S. is still the most likely candidate to prevent Riyadh from pursuing weapons research in secret.

Sagatom Saha is an international energy policy analyst and masters candidate at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
1 big thing: North Korean hackers could start stealing business secrets

As North Korea tries to rev up its economy, it may shift its hacking efforts from financial thievery to stealing intellectual property, China-style. That's according to a contested new theory from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Why it matters: North Korea is already one of the "big four" hacking threats  along with China, Russia and Iran  but it currently focuses on cash theft to fill its sanctions-drained coffers. Though experts are mixed on the likelihood Pyongyang's hackers would switch to the model China used to build its domestic industries, most seem to think it's a threat worth keeping an eye on.

The theory works like this:

North Korea's long-held strategy, known as the byungjin line, had emphasized parallel development of nuclear and economic might. Now, the only goal is the latter  the Kim regime declared victory on the former last April.

North Korea's chief resource right now, beyond its heavily sanctioned mineral deposits, is a giant corps of state-sanctioned cyber criminals.

"North Korea will want to leapfrog its way into the global economy," said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrike. "Vietnam is frequently mentioned as the model North Korea would follow to build a sustainable economy. But China would be on the table, too."

While CrowdStrike isn't seeing any current intellectual property theft, Meyers suggested a shift (if one is coming) could happen in the next two years.

Depending on the continuation of sanctions, there aren't too many ways to spur economic growth in North Korea, noted Meyers  there are no viable sources of external investment.

Yes, but: North Korea lacks the infrastructure for the kinds of high-tech manufacturing that China succeeded with. Despite the finest 1970s-era Soviet manufacturing technology, North Korea doesn't have the equipment to mass-produce cheap, modern products, even if it stole the know-how to make them.

Also, "theyre making a fair amount of money through hard currency, and they'd have to reassign those resources to do this," noted a skeptical Adam Segal, director of the digital and cyberspace policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Segal views North Korean IP theft as a technically possible but remote chance.

What they're saying: Other experts thought the possibility was, at least, something to monitor.

Robert Manning, an Atlantic Council resident senior fellow with previous stints at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and State Department, said he wouldn't be surprised by the development. But he cautioned that any intellectual property theft would probably skew toward goods that are easy to fabricate.

That would include products like pharmaceuticals and pirated movies rather than the consumer, telecommunications and computer memory chip products China appropriated. Of course, North Korea might steal more complex secrets and sell them to other nations, Manning said.

Jenny Town, an analyst for the Stimson Center and managing editor of its North Korea-focused 38 North blog, said the shift CrowdStrike is predicting is something to watch out for.

"It has been dangerous in the past to underestimate North Korea on these things," Town said.

The big picture: With a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slated for next week, the isolated regime's international situation is more in flux than it has been for decades.
President Trumps former presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort will be sentenced for bank and tax fraud on March 8, according to a Virginia court document filed Thursday.

Whats next: Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller recommended Manafort serve 19 to 24 years in prison for the crimes. Manafort also faces federal court sentencing in Washington, D.C., on March 13.
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China and Malaysia are close to reviving a $20 billion railway deal, just a year after Malaysias new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, suggested the project might be scrapped.

Why it matters: The railway deal is just the latest example of how Belt and Road Initiative projects rarely die. As for leaders in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and elsewhere, Mahathirs criticism of the BRI was not a rejection of it, but a bargaining strategy.

Background: Theres room in the deal for negotiation.

The railway could be shortened and use more local labor, and payments could be spread over a longer period of time, among other improvements.

Having allegedly inflated the costs of other projects in Malaysia, China might have an easier time finding savings.

The timing is right to negotiate, too. Mahathir will be visiting China in April and participating in the second Belt and Road Forum. Its a major diplomatic event, and Chinese officials are even more eager than usual to play up the BRIs successes and downplay its failings.

Yes, but: Counterintuitively, one of the smartest things China could do to change the narrative around the BRI is cancel more projects, getting rid of bad deals that have accumulated and raising the bar on the BRI.

The problem is that megaprojects are always hard to kill. After starting, they have strong constituencies to defend them, and few rewards for those who try to cancel them. Sunk costs can be a powerful, and dangerously misleading, justification for spending even more. Its why management experts call megaprojects Vietnams  easy to begin and difficult and expensive to stop.

Chinese projects are even harder to kill because the Belt and Road is Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy initiative. Large projects like Malaysias railway take on symbolic importance, and cancellation comes with a higher reputational cost.

What to watch: The political incentives on both sides encourage salvaging deals and saving face, creating the conditions for bigger failures later on. Keeping too many Belt and Road projects from the grave could come back to haunt China and its partners.

Jonathan Hillman is director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the country's border with Brazil closed on Thursday in response to opposition attempts to bring in foreign humanitarian aid, adding on state television that he may also shut Venezuela's border with Columbia, the Associated Press reports.

The big picture: Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared interim president, plans to force emergency medicine and food across the Colombian border into Venezuela on Saturday in defiance of Maduro. As Axios' Jonathan Swan notes, Saturday will be a flashpoint in Venezuela's crisis, with U.S. officials hoping the confrontation will loosen Maduro's grip over his military  the key to his power.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken to President Trump and recommended U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft as the next UN ambassador, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Details: Like McConnell, Craft is from Kentucky, where she and her husband, billionaire coal CEO Joe Craft, rank among the state's highest-profile Republican donors. She previously served as an alternate delegate in the U.S. delegation to the UN during the George W. Bush administration, specializing on the issue of U.S. engagement in Africa.
Hours before the registration deadline for Israel's elections, the two main political rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that they will join forces and merge their parties into a single, centrist party that will run in the April 9 contest.

Why it matters: This is the most dramatic development in the Israeli election campaign so far. According to the last few weeks of polling, a joint list led by former Minister of Finance Yair Lapid, the leader of the "Yesh Atid" party, and former IDF chief of staff Benni Gantz, the head of the new "Resilience for Israel" party, would be the biggest party in the Knesset and could possibly beat Netanyahu.

Details: The new centrist list, named "Blue and White" after the colors of the Israeli flag, will include 3 different parties and 5 heavyweight political actors  3 of them are retired Generals who previously served as the IDF's chief of staff:

Gantz's "Resilience for Israel."

Lapid's "Yesh Atid."

The "Telem" party, led by former minister of Defense and IDF chief of staff Moshe "Bogie" Yaalon, which has right-wing views, especially on the Palestinian issue.

Former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who mediated between Gantz and Lapid and remains highly popular in Israel, making his entrance into politics very meaningful.

The current head of Histadrut, the workers' union, Avi Nissenkorn, who is expected to bring with him an operational apparatus for election day.

The big picture: According to the deal, there will be a rotation agreement for the title of prime minister. If the new list should win the elections, Gantz will be prime minister for 2.5 years and Lapid for the other 18 months. Lapid will head the foreign ministry and Yaalon will act as minister of defense.

Yes, but: The joint list does not have a common political platform  and, on many issues, there are big differences between the factions. However, the main issue they all agree on is the need to replace Netanyahu.

What's next ... The joint list has one big advantage on their side: Next week, Israel's attorney general is expected to announce that he is indicting Netanyahu in 3 different corruption cases.

The combined formation of the united party and the indictments could push voters to drop Netanyahu and move their support to Gantz and Lapid. If 2 to 3 seats (or about 70,000 to 100,000 voters) switch sides, Netanyahu will lose the elections.

Go deeper: Netanyahu boosts racist far-right party with pre-election deal
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Hasson, 49, was arrested Friday in Silver Spring, Maryland, on a federal criminal complaint for drug and gun charges, with reports citing an official detention memo that included a hit list, stockpiled ammunition and contact with white supremacists.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Details: "The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country ... he must be detained pending trial," according to court documents filed this week, per the Washington Post.

Though details such as dates and times have not been made public, officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland characterized Hasson as consumed by neofascism.

Hasson called for "focused violence," and was intent on killing "almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Targets of the attack included media personalities and elected officials such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

What's next: The government is calling the initial charges the "proverbial tip of the iceberg." Hasson's arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Image: Delta

Delta officially opened its new state-of-the-art jet engine test cell at the airlines TechOps facility in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday. The test cell is capable of running a mounted, stationary engine at full power with 150,000 pounds of thrust, allowing it to test engines more powerful than anything yet built. According to Delta, it is the first cell built by a U.S. airline in more than 20 years and is currently the largest in the world, measuring 48 feet tall, with a 66-foot inlet section and an exhaust section measuring 78 feet.

This new test cell is not only great for the future of Delta, but for our future aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers, said Delta TechOps Senior Vice President Don Mitacek. The quality of work and expertise of our people are the reason why we are able to confidently invest so heavily in our future.

Delta TechOps also opened a new 127,000-square-foot engine repair shop last August. The airline says the new facility will allow it to perform maintenance on engines with more sophisticated technologies, including the powerplants found on its Airbus A350s and forthcoming A330-900neo aircraft.
We snapped exclusive photos of this prototype in Melbourne, says WhichCar.com.au on Instagram, but if you look closer at the first photo, the wheel dolly suggests this truck cant move under its own power.Another curiosity worth mentioning is the design of the front windows and doors. Notice theres no F-150 stepping stool there, and as far as the two horizontal bars in the front grille are concerned, influences from the 2019 Ranger are obvious.From the rear, the taillights and concealed logo scream Ford through every pore. But most importantly, is this prototype the 2021 Ford Ranger?Considering that Which Car was invited to photograph the mid-size truck in an outer Melbourne suburb, chances are it's true. The closest production locations are Thailand and Vietnam, and the T6 Ranger celebrates its 8th anniversary this year.Heres another snippet from the Australian magazine's report that sounds a bit peculiar. On the other hand, if it is a close copy from an unknown carmaker from China or any other part of the world, then hats off to Fords international design team for influencing the next lot of mid-sized pickups .Its hard to understand Which Cars decision not to mention who invited them to photograph the prototype, let alone play the could be, might not be game with everyone that tries to get the mystery solved.The F-Series proportions are obvious, and theres even some influence from the Super Duty in there. Whatever the future may hold for the Ranger , heres hope it will look close to this thing. And no, the four words reflected in the hood dont offer a solution to the riddle. On the other hand, is that the Blue Oval on the hub cap? Zoom in and tell us your opinion.
New trends, current challenges and the future of logistics were brought to the fore, anew, as LBC Business Solutions spearheaded the annual Asia Logistics Summit held at the Solaire Resorts Manila.

In partnership with ASIA CEO Events, the nations largest business events organization, this years summit focused on the theme: All Good Things Must Come to a New Beginning." Topics discussed during the whole-day forum included: Uberization of trucking, warehouse, and even logistics staff; Robotization of warehouses; the rise in government infrastructure investments; omnichannel shipping; supply chain social responsibility; the blurred lines between logistics providers; and the rise of virtual logistics teams. These talking points were regarded relevant in todays global logistics industry specially when the explosive growth of technology-enabled companies is destroying some businesses while driving insane progression for many others.Speakers during the summit included Robin Bradshaw, Country Manager, Cathay Pacific Airways, Philippines Guam; Jeffrey Dy, Deputy Commissioner (MISTG), Bureau of Customs ; George Barcelon, Chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI); Henry Basilio, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, University of the Philippines; Janlo Delos Reyes, Head of Research and Consulting, JLL Philippines; Aman Hau, Regional IT Head, Federal Express; Dennis Ng, Founder and CEO, Mober; Chris Leung, CEO and Ryan Lee, COO, Banlu Tech; Robbie Torres, President, Auto-Delta Volvo Bus; and, Jet Paulo, Head of Large Enterprise Sales, LBC Business Solutions.

Paulo underlined the honor and importance of hosting the Asia Logistics Summit to LBC: To be able to gather the corps d elite of the Philippine Logistics industry in one arena to find ways to cope with the dramatic shifts in technology is very crucial at this time. It is with hope that through this summit, we will be able to exchange information and ideas on how to help the Filipino people through efficient and reliable logistics service."
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Selling better than the Nissan Leaf is one thing, but at this rate, the Model 3 will catch up to the compact hatchback in no time at all. Bloomberg highlights the only problem is that Elon Musk and company cant produce enough of them.Approximately 5,589 units roll off the Fremont assembly line each week, while VINs registered with thetotal just under 225,000. So far this quarter, Tesla already produced 45,005 units of the Model 3. The total for Q4 2018 is 61,394, a record-breaking output expected to be surpassed in a month's time.Not everything is rosy at Tesla, though. Even though every Model 3 variant in the U.S. is $1,100 cheaper, the federal tax credit now accounts for $3,750 of the price. In other words, the most affordable Model 3 costs $34,850 including the government's incentive. But remember what Elon Musk said a few years ago? Before the tax credit, the electric sedan shouldve cost $35,000 with rear-wheel drive and the 220-mile battery.At the present moment, the Mid Range battery option with RWD is the cheapest option , promising 264 miles as per the Environmental Protection Agency. Before savings ($4,300 for gas savings and $3,750 for the federal incentive), youre looking at $42,900.The first European shipment of the Model 3 arrived in Zeebrugge port in Belgium at the beginning of February 2019, but Tesla is far from satisfying demand in this part of the world. Over the next few months, the Palo Alto-based automaker expects to ramp up Zeebrugge shipments to 3,000 Model 3 units per week.Order books further opened in China , and some of the differences from the European and American models is the addition of the GB (Guobiao) charging port. Over in Europe, customers get CCS (Combined Charging System) because the Supercharger network is fairly limited over there.
We have maintained our certification under the federal government's National Carbon Offset Standard since 2015. We have been focused on reducing our carbon emissions for many years, and as an organisation these reduction efforts continue through the work of our staff-run sustainability committees, he said.

The efforts have led to a 7.3% reduction in the firms emissions in FY18, following cuts of 9% in 2017 and 10% in 2016, he said. Maintaining also means that the firm offsets its carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, there remain emissions that cannot be eliminated, which we offset. We choose to offset our unavoidable emissions by purchasing offsets from high-quality programs that align with our broader community engagement goals in the jurisdictions in which we operate, Stewart said. This includes purchasing offsets from Indigenous organisations in the North West Kimberly region of WA and the West Arnhem region of NT as well as programs that reduce carbon emissions in both Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. We are given access to retire these offsets though the Qantas Future Planet Program, of which we were the founding partner. The program now boasts such partners as Tesla, ANZ, DHL, GE Australia, Destination NSW and Ernst & Young.

For its certification, G+T said that it has a proud community-conscious record on environmental issues. Its sustainability program boasts feats such as an Australian Legal Sector Alliance (AusLSA)-certified environmental management system, a commitment to maintain a 5-star NABERS Energy (Tenancy) rating for its Sydney headquarters, and a commitment to annual public reporting of the firms sustainability performance to the AusLSA.

Being certified as a carbon-neutral firm was only natural for the firm, it said. G+T announced last year that all its offices in Australia have become carbon neutral.
"Digital assets, anyone?" "Digital assets, anyone?"

Cryptocurrencies are hot, real, and profitable! One of my favorite alternative investment fundsthe Stonegate Diversified Digital Asset Master Fundannounced 2018 results, continuing its record of significant outperformance of both the cryptocurrency market specifically and overall asset markets generally. The fund launched October 2017, and has generated inception to date returns of 638 percent! For 2018, the fund generated 8.56 percent, versus the average crypto related hedge fund which have had average losses of approximately70 percent during the year. The Stonegate Diversified Digital Asset Master Fund, which is Stonegate Global Financial Groups flagship Blockchain/digital asset fund, is one the best performing Blockchain technology and digital asset hedge funds in the world, and manages both liquid and illiquid investments. The fund makes opportunistic illiquid investments including venture capital and private equity, as well as security token offerings, which are also used to provide some level of liquidity back to the fund when possible. Stonegate Diversified manages multiple discretionary and systematic quantitative and arbitrage strategies trading long/short liquid exchange-traded digital assets, tokens, and cryptocurrencies, and acts as a fund of funds in select situations. The fund uses dynamic tactical asset allocation, which is deployed for the objective of increasing performance and minimizing drawdowns and volatility. Stonegate Global Financial Group is a diversified financial services company and an industry leader in the global alternative investment funds business. The company is headquartered in the United States in Atlanta, GA, with satellite offices and staff in numerous cities including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Macau, Hong Kong, and Manila. The firms founder, CEO, and my friend, John McCorvey III, has over 25 years of experience in the institutional and alternative investments space, and is an alumni of the Harvard Business Schools executive education program. The firms senior management team all have between 15 and 25 years of industry experience as well. The organizations investment management arm, Stonegate Digital Capital Group, is a private equity firm that holds an interest in numerous alternative investment fund products including hedge funds, venture capital funds, real estate, cannabis funds (yes, you read that right, and highly profitable too!), as well as various Blockchain technology and digital assets funds. The Stonegate Diversified funds inception to date performance from October 2017 through December 2018 is over 638 percent, whereas the overall market was down approximately12 percent during this same time period. In 2018, the fund was up over 8 percent while the rest of the market was down approximately70 percent. Since opening to outside investors in April 2018, the fund is up over 91 percent. Stonegate Diversified was an early investor in three of the biggest unicorn deals in the space, including Telegram, a highly successful messaging app; Binance, the worlds biggest bitcoin exchange; and Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.Having been involved in the Blockchain technology and digital asset space since late 2014, the Stonegate team has a number of key strengths and consider the following as their competitive edge:  Significant expertise in all facets of the alternative investment industry as well as the Blockchain technology and digital asset sector.  Access to institutional quality deal flow.  Ability to test and deploy numerous quantitative and systematic trading strategies simultaneously.  Their management team and board of advisors experience ranges from former Morgan Stanley managing directors, to current Apollo Capital partners, former Credit Suisse First Boston senior managers, a former Disney President, all with between 15 to 30 years of experience in the institutional investments arena. If youre interested to learn more about the Stonegate Diversified Fund and Stonegate Global Fund Services, please email me to receive and review the funds performance information and information deck, the company brochure, as well as the organizations corporate deck. [email protected]
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The summer 2021 issue of Local Magazine is out. Pick up a copy of your favorite local magazine around town or peruse our e-edition below. Because the best things in life are local.
Lamborghinis New Hybrid Supercar Sells Out Before Its Release

Trending News: $2.5M Lamborghini Hybrid Supercar Sells Out Absurdly Fast

Lamborghini is expected to launch its highly anticipated hybrid supercar in September, but if you want one, well, it seems youre out of luck. Even with a hefty price tag of $2.5 million, the eco-friendly hypercar has pre-sold all 63 units in development.

The LB48H Terzo Millennios design was constructed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology back in 2017. Beneath its futuristic Batman-esque physique, the Italian speedster will have dual motors  an electric eco-friendly motor in the front and Lambos powerful 6.5-liter V12 for the rear wheels, reports Australias Motoring.

Lambos Chief Commercial Officer, Federico Foschini, told the publication that despite not making more than 63 units (an ode to 1963, the year the carmaker launched) the LB48H is really a huge product for Lamborghini.

RELATED: Buckle Up and Discover the Best Gifts for Your Favorite Car Lover

Forschini added that when t the LB48H is finally unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, it will have a much catchier name.

As many carmakers grapple with new rules to cut emissions, Lambo is expected to follow suit. When the new Aventador line eventually drops, Foschini says itll follow the LB48Hs lead with going hybrid.

We know that the electrification trend is coming, he told Motoring. So the idea is that we combine the V12 with a hybrid. Hybridization will be tuned for performance, not merely for range. It is not a car that will run for 70 or 100km full electric. At the end of the day, what we want is power and we want to have performance out of the hybridization.

Aston Martin

Meanwhile, Aston Martin isnt allowing the Italian car manufacturer to have all the fun. The British company is expected to launch its own limited-edition hypercar, the Project 003 (pictured above), by 2021. The suped-up ride is expected to cost even more than Lambos hypercar at $3.2 million a pop, according to Digital Trends. There arent many details out yet surrounding the upcoming release, but if its anything like the other cars in the Aston Martin racing series, its bound to be worth the wait.

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As Filipinos prepare to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, the recent arrest of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa reminds us that the fight to restore democracy in the country is far from over. On those fateful daysfrom Feb. 22 to 25, 1986hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) to call for an end to the Marcos dictatorship, regain their freedom, and restore democracy in the country that was for decades the bastion of democracy in the region. Ferdinand Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii at the end of those four historic days, ending almost 14 years of strong man rule and giving Filipinos hope of a new dawn of freedom. Every year since, thousands of Filipinos gather again at the EDSA Shrine, built to make sure we remember those four crucial days, to celebrate the event. But this years commemoration, as in the previous two years, will serve more as another call to action  to defend democracy and make sure that the freedom gained 33 years ago will not be lost again. The continued harassment of critics of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the repression of press freedom, the rampant disrespect for the rule of law, and the reemergence of strong man rule reminiscent of the iron-fist leadership enforced by Marcos remind us more forcefully that the spirit of EDSA must live on. One must be blind not to look at Ressas arrest as an assault on press freedom. We cannot look at it as a simple cyber libel case but consider it in the context of the pattern of harassment the Duterte administration has imposed on the progressive news site. The President must have been so peeved by the articles critical of his administration published constantly by Rappler that he had to make special mention of the news organization in his State of the Nation Address in July 2017, accusing it of being owned by Americans and that it was being funded by the Central Intelligence Agency, a wild accusation that critics and the opposition are used to hearing from the President. Remember that he has also accused the Liberal Party of plotting to oust him with the help of the CIA and some prominent Filipino-Americans. It was during the same SONA that Duterte also made allegations against the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN, which he claimed were putting out fake news and were biased against him. He accused the owners of the Inquirer of non-payment of taxes and holding on to government land beyond the terms of the contract. The Inquirer owners eventually gave up the lease on the questioned land. In fairness, the Inquirer editorial staff has continued to defy Duterte in its commitment to truth. Duterte, on the other hand, accused ABS-CBN of pocketing his money during the 2016 elections without airing his campaign advertisement, a claim for which he never presented any evidence. He said Congress is certain to remember these when it decides whether or not to renew the networks franchise, which expires next year. Shortly after the denunciation at the SONA, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Rapplers closure. Although the closure order was made by the SEC through the revocation of the websites certificates of incorporation and registration, it was obvious that the SEC acted under pressure from the administration. The Rappler eventually reopened while awaiting adjudication of the case and continued its search for the truth, but Rappler and Ressa were later on slapped with tax evasion cases.While the Duterte administration continued its persecution of Rappler and Ressa, international organizations recognized the veteran journalists commitment to press freedom. TIME Magazine named her one of its Persons of the Year last year as one of a selection of journalists combatting fake news all over the world. She was also presented the 2017 Democracy Award by the National Democratic Institute in Washington DC, the Golden Pen of Freedom Award in June last year by the World Association of Newspapers, and on November 20 last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists bestowed her its 2018 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award at its annual International Press Freedom Award ceremony held in New York City. These awards must have peeved Duterte because shortly thereafter, the Department of Justice gave the go-signal to the filing of cyberlibel case against Ressa. While Malacanang and Dutertes defenders insist Duterte had nothing to do with it, that government entities like the DOJ and the NBI were instrumental in the revival of a case that happened almost seven years ago and four months before the law on cybercrimes was passed show with certainty that this government would do anything to harass its critics. One only needs to see the pattern of harassment on Dutertes fiercest critics to realize that Ressas arrest is not just an assault on press freedom but on democracy as well. This month marks the second year of the arrest and detention of Sen. Leila de Lima, who investigated the alleged Davao Death Squad while she was chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and justice secretary and who became the Presidents harshest critics when she became senator. Last year, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who dared criticized his war on drugs, was ousted by her peers using a petition for quo warranto filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, which questioned Sereno's integrity over the alleged non-filing of some mandatory asset declarations. In July last year, warrants of arrest were issued against four former members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representativesformer Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino (Bayan Muna), Liza Maza (Gabriela), and Rafael Mariano (Anakpawis) for the alleged murder of two Bayan Muna critics in Palayan, Nueva Ecija in December 2003 and May 2004, respectively. Also last year, libel charges were filed against another fierce Duterte critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, in Davao City. All these moves show a non-tolerance for criticism by this increasingly repressive regime. They are obviously made not just to harass the harshest critics, but to send a chilling message to those who would dare defy Duterte that they could be next. As the people gather on EDSA to celebrate the four days that marked the end of strongman rule and restored democracy in the country, let us not lose sight of the fact that democracy and freedom are again under threat and that we must remain vigilant and willing to defend them. Val Abelgas is a former managing editor of Manila Standard and now lives in the US. He may be reached at [email protected]
In the Obama center case, foes of the $500 million plan have centered their objections around the site locationa perch in an historic park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1871. Almost no one objects to the Obama Presidential Center coming to Chicagos South Side, but some feel that it hoovers up an existing community asset instead of creating a new one. The question has lingered over the project since its introduction near the end of the presidents tenure in 2015.  CityLab
Closing the college and selling off the campus is the worst possible outcome for just about everybody. It ends a craft community and keeps anyone else from ever joining it. Sometimes, your community isnt large or committed enough to go on, and then, yes, thats the end of things. But asking your community to help you figure it all out should be the prior step.  Oregon Arts Watch
College official says although CTE center plan is over budget, cuts may iron it out




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Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano on Thursday said 349 government officials are providing support to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New Peoples Army by paying permit to campaign fees in areas where the guerrillas are active. Of the 349 officials, 11 are provincial governors; five are vice governors; 10 are provincial board members; 55 are mayors; 21 are vice mayors and 41 are councilors, Ano said. They also include 11 former local government executives, 10 incumbent congressmen, and a former lawmaker. We now have a watchlist, we know you. So if you are supporting communist rebels, in any way, you ascertain yourself as a supporter of terrorism and an enemy of the state, [and] you establish yourself as an accomplice to their cause, he said. We cannot win the war against terrorism if these local officials continue funding the very source of terrorism in the first place, he added. Also on the list are 126 barangay captains, 50 barangay councilors, and eight other barangay officials. This number is not alarming as compared to the total number of barangays in the country, but it sends a message that extortion starts at the community level, down in the grassroots, Ano said. These 349 officials are giving money to the terrorists, which is why they can continue to operate. Can you just imagine that? Our own government officials giving funds to the enemy, Ano said in a mix of Filipino and English. DILG spokesman and Assistant Secretary Jonathan E. Malaya said the officials come from different regions of the country, with Region V tallying the most cases, with 154. Extortion money comes from everywhere, all across the nation. Whether these officials gave their support voluntarily or involuntarily is immaterial. Politicians and local leaders should shun any connection with these communist rebels. Do not harbor, support terrorists, Malaya said. He encouraged local officials to report and work with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines if they are being harassed by the rebels. Ano also urged the public not to vote for candidates who support or who have links to communist terrorist groups.Ano said the communist rebels accumulated P195.5 million from their various extortion activities nationwide during the 2016 and 2018 polls. He said all candidates should stop paying permit to campaign fees to the NPA, which collects P300,000 to P650,000 from governors and vice governors and P200,000 to P500,000 from mayors. Paying the terrorists, he said, was a crime. You do not need them to win nor to campaign. What you need is a robust platform and a desire to serve the people within your jurisdiction, he said. The Army said the NPA rebels are struggling to recover their former strongholds in Leyte province because of a lack of support. Of the 1,393 villages in Leyte, only 178 are still affected by operations of the NPA-Leyte front committee. Seventeen had been categorized as influenced, 50 of these are less influenced, and 111 others are considered threatened. They are trying to beef up manpower by looking for potential recruits, but theyre not that successful as people report to us their sightings, said Lt. Col. Roberto Beatisula, commander of the Philippine Armys 93rd Infantry Battalion, during the provincial peace and order council meeting in Tacloban on Wednesday. With PNA They have been striving to conceal their movements in far-flung areas and mountainous areas of the province to avoid confrontation with government forces to preserve their ranks, Beatisula said. The NPA in Leyte has 75 active members with 40 classified as political and 35 as armed with light weapons. Also on Thursday, two NPA rebels were killed in a firefight with soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division in Occidental Mindoro. The soldiers recovered an M16 rifle, two rifle grenades, three backpacks, bandoleers, medical paraphernalia, and other personal belongings. With PNA
Emirates will be showcasing its flagship Airbus A380 for two days at the first ever Saudi International Airshow.

The popular double-decker aircraft will be on display on March 12th and 13th at Al Thumamah Airport in Riyadh, giving visitors the opportunity to tour its interior and experience its award-winning products across all classes, including Emirates refreshed OnBoard Lounge. The airshow is the first international aviation and aerospace exhibition of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Adil Al Ghaith, senior vice president, commercial operations, Gulf, Middle East & Iran for Emirates airline said: Emirates is proud to be part of the Saudi International Airshow, a milestone event which will help connect the global aviation and aerospace industry to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Emirates A380 being showcased during the Airshow demonstrates our commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it grows and develops its aviation landscape and elevates its position on the regional and global stage to unlock further growth.

The air transport sector plays a major role in the growth of the Saudi Arabian economy through direct, indirect and induced contributions, accounting for USD$34 billion to its overall GDP and supporting over 500,000 jobs, according to a 2017 Oxford Economics report supported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The Saudi Vision 2030 continues to herald a number of opportunities for the Kingdom to grow its aviation infrastructure as well as its connectivity for robust future traffic growth, both domestically and internationally.

Emirates has serving the Kingdom for over 30 years, when it first started operations to Jeddah. Since then, the airline has gradually developed its services to include Riyadh, Dammam and Medina and today serves Saudi Arabia with 84 weekly flights. The airline has also carried close to 24 million passengers from its four gateways, connecting travellers to destinations across its network.
MadridThe face-off between Josep Rull and prosecutor Consuelo Madrigal and state attorney Rosa Maria Seoane was tense, and forced the presiding judge, Justice Manuel Marchena, to intervene with a warning that there would be no debate over the questions and responses of the defendant and the prosecution.
MadridThere was a change of strategy by Dolors Bassa with respect to Oriol Junqueras and Raul Romeva, her party colleagues in the 1-O government. In a very measured, moderate, and calm tone, resorting to few political statements, the former Catalan Labor Minister replied to questions posed by prosecutor Fidel Cadena and the State Attorney, while her fellow ERC members opted to stick to their own attorney's questions only. She did not respond, however, to the popular accusation represented by the far right Vox party "out of respect for the women of Spain." "Zero tolerance," she said about the party that is seeking 74 years in prison for her. The public prosecutor is asking for 16 years in prison and disqualification for rebellion aggravated by misappropriation of public funds.
One day after President Rodrigo Duterte announced his unrelenting war on drugs would become harsher in the coming days, Malacanang on Thursday bared the United States had vowed to support the governments controversial crackdown against illegal drugs. According to Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, US Ambassador to the Philippine Sung Kim extended Washingtons support during a courtesy call on the President in Malacanang on Wednesday evening. Panelo said the meeting gave the President a chance to back his controversial drug war before the US official. The conversation centered on the Presidents narrative telling them how the drug war affected him and this country, that he had to declare war on drugs. And he had to do it because he wants to protect and preserve this nation, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. As recalled by Panelo, Duterte told Kim that roughly three-million Filipinos had been enslaved by the illegal drug industry, which brought many crimes and created dysfunctional families. The President also told them that he will not stop until the end of his term to end this illegal traffic of prohibited drugs, he said. In response, the US Ambassador said the US government supported the fight against drugs, Panelo added. In a related development:  The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday launched an advocacy program aimed at promoting a drug-free workplace inside hotels, bars, restaurants, condominiums, subdivisions, and warehouses. Director General Aaron Aquino said the program shall engage the management of private establishments, including security agencies, through the implementation of their own drug-free workplace program, educate employees on the ill-effects of dangerous drugs, and enforce a random drug test for all their officers and employees. He said the project was also designed to educate hotels, bars, restaurants, condominiums, subdivisions and warehouses owners to identify potential drug laboratories, drug dens and drug warehouses. Quezon City was chosen as the pilot site, he said, adding the program would be replicated in all cities and municipalities of the National Capital Region, and even in the provinces. Panelo said it was the President who raised the issue about the drug war during the one-and-a-half hour meeting with the US-Philippine Society. Thats how he started it. Telling the group about it. Perhaps, that is the hottest issue, he said. Its the President who started talking. In fact, he was talking for more than half an hour. Aside from the drug war, the President also talked about the return of the historic Balangiga bells and the corruption in the government. Balangiga... He also said that this country will not go forward unless we can stop the drug war and corruption. And not even succeeding presidents will succeed in improving the situation of this country unless we stop these twin evils, Panelo said. He [Duterte] then thanked him for that opportunity and the US-Philippine Society contributed much to the return of the Balangiga Bells. And the President said the relationship between the US and the Philippines remains strong, he added. In a chance interview on Wednesday, the President said the government would wage a harsher war on drugs in the following days, stressing that he would not allow the country to become a failed state. I am declaring war. I am not declaring a punitive police action. It cannot help and it would not help. So, early on I decided. I think Id be more, well I said, harsher in the days to come, he said. I will not allow my country to be destroyed by drugs. I will not allow my country to end up a failed state because of drugs. And I am declaring war and I said I will kill anybody who stands in the way, he added.The President also revealed that the two foreign drug syndicates, the Sinaloa and Medellin cartels, were currently operating in the country. Recently, packages of cocaine have been found in the countrys shores. Panelo then said it was difficult for the police forces to seize drugs on a wide scale because of the countrys archipelagic characteristic. Meanwhile, asked to elaborate Dutertes plan of a harsher drug war, Panelo said it was meant for the Philippine National Police to be more active in the fight against illegal drugs. In other words, the President is relentless in his campaign and hes focused on it. He has in fact instructed the police forces to do everything in their power and in accordance with law to dismantle the entire drug apparatus in the Philippines, he said. For the Palace official, police forces should engage more on intelligence work to arrest drug traffickers. You cannot arrest these people unless you have a basis, right? We need more intelligence work, he said. The approach of the President is twin: The arrest of drug traffickers as well as the rehabilitation of the drug addicts, he added. According to Panelo, the Presidents chief legal counsel, even though the President could resort to implementing martial law in the country to curb the illegal drugs, Duterte would still not use it. If there is rebellion, and there is imminence [of that], and the public safety requires  then the President can do that. But according to him, he will not, he will not because he has still many measures that he can do to quell the present threat on the drug industry, he said, emphasizing that only police actions had been used in the drug war. Asked if the President would resort to martial law for the total shutdown of illegal drugs, Panelo said: I dont think so, because he doesnt have to. We are containing it, given the official figures. Aquino said once the operation was in full swing, all local government units nationwide shall be urged to observe their local ordinances requiring all business establishments to implement a safe and drug-free environment in the workplace, pursuant to the Department of Labor and Employment Order No. 53-03 or the guidelines for the implementation of a drug-free workplace policies and programs for the private sector. One of the priorities of the program is to reintroduce and compel business owners to conform with the requirements of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation 8 Series of 2003 which mandates all private establishments employing 10 or more workers to formulate and implement a drug-free workplace program, including mandatory drafting and adoption of company policies against illegal drug use, Aquino said. He called on lessors of warehouses, condominiums and houses to regularly inspect their properties to prevent their properties from being used as drug laboratories and warehouses. Several anti-drug operations revealed that private establishments were used as choice venues to manufacture, deliver, sell and consume illegal drugs. PDEA has seen clandestine drug laboratories put up inside subdivisions and condominiums. The most recent was the dismantled shabu laboratory in Oceanaire Luxurious Residences in Pasay City last September 25, 2018. Organized parties spiked with ecstasy and other recreational drugs take place inside these establishments because detection risk is less, Aquino said. He said illegal drug transactions were actually happening inside hotel rooms, restaurants and bars because illegal drugs could be exchanged discreetly. Some drug personalities were even billeted inside residential condominiums and apartelles, and used the place as drug dens where illegal drugs can be bought and used, he added.
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Reports have surfaced indicating that Sony is planning to expand its chip operations in the next few years by investing more capital and manpower. As a part of the move, the company would be allocating 40 percent of its new engineering staff in Japan to chip technologies, which also includes image sensor research and development.

The company plans to hire 320 new engineers this year as well as next year. However, it is worth mentioning that this figure only represents the Japanese staff, and doesnt account for international staff. Comparatively, the company hired 250 employees in 2018.

The company also intends to invest 600 billion yen or $5.4 billion in imaging sensors over the course of the next three years. This means that half of the Japanese conglomerates planned capital expenditure would go into image sensor production. Currently, Sony accounts for half of the imaging sensor supply in the smartphone market and diverting more resources towards it could help the company seize increasing opportunities in IoT and self-driving cars. During its better days, the sensor business was a major contributor to the companys bottom line.

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Sony announced its third-quarter results recently, according to which sales decreased 10% YoY because of a sharp decline in financial services, lower smartphone revenue, and semiconductor volatility. Moreover over, the companys game & network services also displayed reduced profitability because of lower PS4 sales.

This compelled the company to lower its FY18 guidance in various segments, including imaging and mobile and sent its stock tumbling down. However, analysts believe that with new game software titles, the upcoming release of the Sony Xperia XZ4, and the increasing demand for image sensors by the smartphone market would improve the companys finances.

For now, the company has reduced its annual profit outlook for imaging sensors to 130 billion yen, which accounts for merely 15 percent of Sonys overall profit. This could be blamed in part to the weakening smartphone market. Although smartphone sales might pick up again with the impending arrival of 5G networks and the introduction of new form factors, it is crucial that Sony diversifies beyond smartphone technologies to tap new sources of revenue.

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According to analysts, the image sensor market will be valued at $23.2 billion by 2023. Last year, Sony led the market, trailed by Samsung and Omnivision. The companys market share increased to 42 percent in 2017 and a huge sum of its business came from Apple as the Cupertino giant uses its sensors in its iPhones.

Maintaining its lead would help Sony cash in on the growing market. Sony recently also bested Canon to become the leading camera manufacturer, although its worth mentioning that the camera business falls under the companys Imaging Products unit, which is separate from its imaging sensors wing.

In anticipation of industry growth that would be fueled by the next generation of wireless networks and artificial intelligence, various chipmakers are also planning to increase their long-term investment. For instance, SK Hynix has announced plans invest $107 billion in four memory chip factories in South Korea in 2022.
Updates to Android 9 Pie for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are now unexpectedly rolling out in some regions, beginning with Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. More directly, the update has reportedly been spotted for the DBT, unlocked variants, meaning that it is rolling out for the unbranded German version of the handsets.

One UI is included in the 1.6GB+ update for the 2017 flagships, bringing substantial changes to the overall interface. Specifically, elements across the board are shifted downward, placing interactive items within thumbs-reach while other items are shifted toward the top. The interface in the notification shade is also scaled upward with more efficient use of white space and a similar focus on shifting interactive items downward.

Aside from changes that will make the handset easier to use one-handed, the update notification also notes that the security patch level for Android is being brought forward to February 1, 2019. Samsung recommends that users create a backup for their devices before beginning the update process but also points out that some system level apps will need to be manually updated once Android Pie and One UI are installed.

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That finicky update schedule

Although Android 9 Pie and One UI were expected to arrive and did arrive in February for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, updates for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ this month were not expected. The new rollout places the update at least a week ahead of schedule. Thats because Samsungs most recent roadmap for the software set the Android 9 Pie update for the handsets in question to sometime in March.

The change doesnt guarantee that other handsets and tablets will start seeing updates sooner than planned since the changes could continue cropping up in new regions and for carrier variants throughout the next month. Samsung has not put forward a new schedule as of this writing, either.

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If plans for the remainder of scheduled updates remain the same, the next devices in line to receive Android 9 Pie will include one tablet and around a dozen handsets in April. Those are the Galaxy Tab S4 10.5, Galaxy A6, Galaxy A6+, Galaxy A7 (2018), Galaxy A8+ (2018), Galaxy A8 Star, Galaxy A9 (2018) Galaxy J2, Galaxy J2 Core, Galaxy J4, Galaxy J6+, and Galaxy On7 (2018) in April.

Samsungs Galaxy J4+, Galaxy J6, and Galaxy J8 would then see the update in May, followed by the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017), Galaxy J7 Duo, and Galaxy J7 Neo in July.

Three remaining tablets would finish out the Android 9 Pie updates beginning with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 in August. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017) and Galaxy Tab A 10.5 would round things out in October.

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Why wait for an update?

October is going to seem like its a long way off to wait for an update on older tablets. Users who also happen to be in the market for a new smartphone may not need to hold off for quite that long thanks to the companys recent announcements. Alongside the unveiling of Samsungs brand new Galaxy S10 lineup of devices this week, the Korean tech giant also unveiled a brand new handset/tablet hybrid.

Dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the new gadget is currently expected to become available on April 26 and will essentially encompass features and functionality of both a tablet and top-end smartphone  with a price to match at $1980. Two variants will be made available and the only real difference is that one supports the most current LTE standard while the one can claim 5G capabilities.

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Folded up, the device will feature a 4.6-inch non-flexible panel on the outside, functioning like any top-tier Android 9 Pie handset from Samsung. A custom-built variant of the OS and One UI will be in place to ensure that the transition between that display and the folding, internal tablet display is consistent and seamless. Opening the gadget up unveils the worlds first foldable 7.3-inch Infinity Flex display.

Other firsts with the gadget include a two-times increase to data read speeds thanks to UFS 3.0 storage but the Samsung Galaxy Fold will additionally give users 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Qualcomms 7nm Snapdragon 855 chipset will drive the experience, powered by two separate batteries operating as a single power source.
President Rodrigo Duterte is looking forward to attending the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China in April this year, the Palace said Thursday. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte had already expressed his willingness to attend the second forum on Beijings global infrastructure plan. Dutertes affirmation came after Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua reminded him about the invitation extended by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year. We wish to inform the public that Chinese Ambassador Zhao had a courtesy call yesterday. It was a long courtesy call. It took us one hour and a half, Panelo told reporters. He [Zhao] extended an invitation to the President, giving the greeting from the President of China to attend the Belt and Road Forum in late April of this year. He [Duterte] looks forward to attending that. I think its possible [that he will attend]. Zhao said he would coordinate with the Philippine agencies concerned in preparation for the Presidents looming visit to Beijing, expecting Dutertes attendance in the forum. Zhao said Dutertes attendance in the forum would attach a great importance to it, stressing that his mere presence would boost the Belt and Road cooperation and the development of bilateral relations.The Belt and Road Initiative is Beijings ambitious effort to enhance regional cooperation and connectivity. It also seeks to strengthen infrastructure, trade and investments and people-to-people linkages between China and some 65 countries. In May 2017, Duterte and some 28 heads of state and government leaders attended the first forum in Beijing. Meanwhile, according to the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, Zhao and the President tackled a wide array of discussions and exchanged views on the latest development in China-Philippines relations. The two officials even spoke highly of the good momentum of the development of bilateral ties, recognizing the importance of fulfilling the signed agreements and important consensus reached during Xis state visit. [It] highlighted the pragmatic cooperation of the two countries in areas such as security, trade and people-to-people exchanges, as well as coordination on international and regional issues in order to bring about more tangible benefits to the two peoples, the embassy said. Present during the courtesy call were Panelo, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo of the Philippines.
RTHK: Indian tycoon Anil Ambani faces jail time

India's top court told billionaire tycoon Anil Ambani on Wednesday he must pay his debts to Sweden's Ericsson or go to jail, the latest twist in a saga that forced his telecom company to file for bankruptcy.

Ambani's debt-laden Reliance Communications is some US$4 billion in debt after a brutal telecom price war that pitched him against his brother Mukesh  India's richest man  and gripped the country's business community.

Judges found Anil Ambani, 59, had refused to pay telecom giant Ericsson 5.5 billion rupees (US$77 million) as previously ordered by the Supreme Court.

They ruled the billionaire will be jailed for three months if 4.5 billion rupees are not stumped up within four weeks.

Ambani's firm said it will comply with the ruling and pay the debt. Some 1.0 billion rupees have already been deposited with the court, which said the sum will be handed to Ericsson.

Earlier this year, Reliance Communications said it had decided to start insolvency proceedings after failing to sell assets to pay back lenders.

The dispute started when Ericsson sought to recoup 16 billion rupees from Reliance Communications. They reached a settlement last May, but the Indian company failed to meet the payment deadlines.

Ambani had hoped to avoid insolvency proceedings by offloading his company's telecom tower and spectrum business to his brother's business Reliance Jio for US$2.4 billion, but the deal hit regulatory hurdles and opposition from creditors.

Reliance Communications faces liquidation if it is unable to pay back its debts by November. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
After having announced the Galaxy S10 series yesterday in San Francisco, all three models are now available for pre-order at carrier stores and from Samsungs own website  if you are looking to get the unlocked model.

The Galaxy S10e will be $749, the Galaxy S10 will be $899 and the Galaxy S10+ tops out at $999 for the range. These prices will be the same no matter where you purchase them from in the US.

AT&T

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AT&T is going to be offering all three Galaxy S10 models in four colors: Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Blue and Flamingo Pink. As mentioned, the Galaxy S10e will be $749, the Galaxy S10 at $899 and Galaxy S10+ at $999. If youre looking to finance, you can do so over a 30-month term on AT&T Next with the Galaxy S10e costing $25 per month, the Galaxy S10 costing $30 per month and the Galaxy S10+ costing $33.34 per month.

There is a BOGO offer available, allowing you to pick up any of the Galaxy S10 models and either get a free Galaxy S10e, or $750 off of a Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10+. This BOGO offer will only be available throughout the pre-order period, so that means now through March 7.

Pre-orders start today and will ship in time for the March 8 launch date. These will not be in store until March 8, so you wont be able to check it out beforehand if you are pre-ordering.

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Sprint

Sprint is also offering the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ at prices of $749, $899 and $999 respectively. Sprint is offering its Flex Lease option here on the Galaxy S10 family. With the Galaxy S10e going for $31.25, the Galaxy S10 for $37.50 and the Galaxy S10+ for $41.67 per month. This is going to be over the course of 24 months  not 30, like AT&Ts financing plan.

Unfortunately, Sprint is not offering any real deals with the Galaxy S10, but you can still trade-in a device and get up to $550 off of the Galaxy S10. And you can also get a free pair of Galaxy Buds, through Samsung, which is a nice promo to take advantage of.

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Pre-orders are open right now. And they are expected to ship by March 8, which is a few weeks from now but still a pretty quick turnaround for Samsung.

T-Mobile

Over at T-Mobile, there are some pretty sweet deals available for the Galaxy S10 series. It will also be available in Prism Black, Prism Blue, Prism White and Flamingo Pink.

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This includes a trade-in offer that can get you up to $620 off of the Galaxy S10. Though its important to note that this offer does include a new line activation. If you arent looking to add a new line, you can still get up to $390 off, by doing a trade-in or adding a new line.

The Galaxy S10e is priced at $749 or $20.84 per month, the Galaxy S10 is priced at $899 or $22.23 with $99 down and the Galaxy S10+ priced at $999 or $22.23 with $199 down. These monthly prices are good for 36 months, so far longer than the others on this list.

Verizon

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Verizon pre-orders are now open for the Galaxy S10 family, and it does include a BOGO. So if you are looking to pick up a couple of Galaxy S10 smartphones, this is a great way to do it. Essentially, purchase any Galaxy S10 smartphone and you will get a Galaxy S10e for free, or $750 towards the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10+. So even though you wont be getting a Galaxy S10+ for free, getting two for roughly $1250 is still a really good deal.

Samsung still offers its free pair of Galaxy Buds with those that do opt to pre-order the Galaxy S10  no matter where you order it from  and that will last from now until March 7.

The Galaxy S10e will set you back $749 or $31.23 per month, the Galaxy S10 will be $899 or $37.49, finally the Galaxy S10+ will be $999 or $41.66 per month on Verizons financing plans. These are good for 24 months, which is why its cheaper than the prices AT&T and T-Mobile are offering.

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Pre-orders are open on Verizon right now, and will be shipping by March 8. Verizon wont have units available in-store just yet, that will happen on March 8.

Samsung.com

Samsungs own website is selling the unlocked Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ as well as the carrier versions. So if you want to pick yours up straight from Samsung, for a specific carrier, you can do that as well. All four are unlocked and will work on all four carriers, anyways, so that is not needed.

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The Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ will be available for financing as well, on Samsungs website so that you do have the option of paying for it over two years time instead of all at once.

Samsung is also offering up a pretty good trade-in for the Galaxy S10 series, where you can trade-in an eligible device can get up to $550 off of a new Galaxy S10 smartphone. On top of that, you can also get a free pair of Galaxy Buds, if you purchase between now and March 7 (read: during the pre-order process).
Lenovo knew that buying Motorola was no get rich quick scheme, and the latest quarterly report shows the companys finances setting all-time records in some departments, indicating that the Moto buyup and the strategy shift that took place not long after are paying off. The most drastic change in the report is a total net income of $233 million, flipping the script on the net loss of $289 million that gave investors pause at the same time last year.

Part of that massive upswing is an actual net profit in the mobile department, the companys very first one since acquiring Motorola from Google back in 2014. Mobile revenue in the companys homeland quadrupled year on year, while American numbers went as far as outgrowing the market by 40% for the quarter.

Lenovo scaled back its mobile portfolio worldwide to focus on core markets and demographics, axing product lines that werent making the cut and slimming down operations elsewhere. While it could be argued that there is still some fat to trim, a refocused Motorola did fairly well in the US during the quarter. Thats due in part to the popular but aging Moto X4 making its way onto Googles Project Fi. Other Moto phones, particularly budget models like the Moto E and G lineups, sold quite well both unlocked and with prepaid carrier customers. Lenovos own brand, meanwhile, had no trouble putting up good numbers in its homeland.

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Outside of the mobile space, the bulk of Lenovos profit for the quarter came from its PC and Smart Devices business, which reported total revenue of $10.7 billion. Lenovos position as the dominant PC maker no doubt helped with that number, especially since its Yoga and IdeaPad families have many levels of the consumer market covered. The ThinkPad brand that IBM has trusted it with for close to 15 years now, meanwhile, continues to garner rave reviews and dominate the business landscape, while also enjoying the same marginal-yet-substantial enthusiast and hobbyist sales that the brand has boasted since the 90s.

Lenovos adventures outside of the PC and mobile worlds include a range of smart home and office gear, as well as AR and VR gear that managed to gain some degree of traction recently. Taken altogether, its easy to dismiss everything as Lenovos other ventures being carried along by excellent PC sales, but its really not that simple; the company has been working through the motions of a delicate balancing act for the past few years, and that approach is now beginning to seriously pay off.

Going forward, its anybodys guess as to whether Lenovo can keep up the momentum in the mobile world. The Moto Z lineup has grown stale for many, with the Moto Mod ecosystem falling flat and the quirky, rugged Moto Z2 Force left without a true sequel. Lenovos self-branded phones, meanwhile, rarely do well in the US, forcing them to perform even better in other markets to make up the difference. A teased Moto Razr revival powered by a foldable screen may put the spark back in Lenovos mobile business, but until then, its likely to be business as usual with a big chunk of its revenue coming from the budget world.

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Outside of smartphones, Lenovo is getting bolder and more innovative in recent years. Its AR Star Wars kit is only one piece of proof of that, alongside AMD Ryzen-powered ThinkPads, and a wider range of Yoga laptops than ever to cover just about every segment of the market. Overall, if things keep up as they are, the future looks bright for Lenovo. It just has to figure out how to keep its current momentum going strong.
Courtesy imageThis portrait of Pres. George Washington by Gilbert Stuart is similar to the one owned by Phillips Academy and which hangs in the George Washington Hall on the campus.
President Rodrigo Duterte did not feel alluded to by the remarks of Pope Francis who said people who denounce the Catholic Church are friends with the devil, Malacanang said Thursday. In a speech during a conference he convened to guide senior bishops on how to address the widespread abuse staining the Churchs integrity, the Bishop of Rome stressed the need to face the moment of truth and denounce the defects of the Church. But he linked to the devil those who condemn without love. One cannot live a whole life accusing, accusing, accusing the church, the Pope said. Those who constantly do, he said, are the friends, cousins, and relatives of the devil. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he does not think that Duterte, who frequently criticizes the Catholic Church and its teachings, is among those who were alluded to by the Pope as the devils friend.One of the better critics of the Church is the Pope himself. He criticizes the members of the Church who are engaged in what he perceives to be immorality, which is outside the teachings of Christ or the internal discipline of the Church, Panelo told reporters. If I will agree with that, then the Pope will be referring to himself also because he is a critic. Duterte has often viewed the Catholic Church as the most hypocritical institution for criticizing his war on drugs despite the involvement of some members of the clergy in sexual-abuse cases.
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In early February, secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. is withdrawing from the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with the Russian Federation. The reason given was the flagrant violations of the treaty by Moscow since 2008.

The intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) covered by the treaty have a range of between 310 and 3,420 miles. These missiles and launchers fall between tactical ballistic missiles, which have a range of less than 190 miles and are designed for battlefield use, and the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) for strategic use. Intermediate-range missiles give one side a distinct advantage in flexibility if the other side is without them.

In withdrawing from the INF, Pompeo stated what should be obvious: "We can no longer be restricted by the treaty while Russia shamelessly violates it." He added that the U.S. will terminate the agreement in six months unless the Russians destroy their arsenal of intermediate-range missiles and launchers.

The general reaction in Western Europe to this move is unfavorable. Although the Europeans are in agreement that Russia has long violated the treaty, they are upset that the White House acted unilaterally. The hope in Europe is that the treaty can be salvaged by bringing Russia into compliance. For now, NATO is officially backing the Trump administration's play. The alliance's political decision-making body said the allies "fully support" the American decision to suspend its obligations under the treaty.

There's an elephant in the room on this story that cannot be neglected. It's China. In a series of public and private comments by President Trump and other officials, the administration has made it clear that the U.S. would be interested in reviving the INF, but only if all countries that now field such weapons are willing to curb or eliminate them. The current treaty applies only to Russia and the United States. This would require China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea to sign on to the same agreement. Talk about "Mission: Impossible."

Perhaps the best take on America's withdrawal from the INF comes from Anatoly Karlin, writing in Strategic Culture:

Because at the end of the day, rhetoric to the contrary, nobody really cares about the INF Treaty within Europe. Force levels on both sides of the border between the West and Russia  which has moved 1,000-1,500 km to the east, in large part thanks to NATO's broken promises not to expand  are at a small fraction of Cold War levels. Few seriously believe that Russia has any territorial designs on the Baltics, and even on the off chance that it does, it's not like the 9M729 is going to make any cardinal difference. However, it is with respect to the balance of power in the West Pacific that the restrictions imposed by the INF on the US  but not on China  come into play.

Following up on that last comment, ZeroHedge adds:

It has long been obvious that the US (correctly) regards China as the real long-term threat to its global hegemony. Meanwhile, Russia is a mere nuisance, a "dying bear" that is ever approaching collapse, in the wake of which Moscow will have no choice but to sign up to America's China containment project. ... In this context, withdrawal from the INF Treaty  with Russia's alleged violations as pretext  is just the logical next step to the military component of Obama's "pivot to Asia", one that the US is entirely happy to continue and follow through with. It really is as banal as that.

Simply put, the U.S. will not allow China to be unconstrained while the U.S. is. Withdrawing from the INF treaty gives "the U.S. and her allies in the Pacific the opportunity to greatly complicate the Chinese military calculus by fielding a new U.S. force of land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with conventional warheads."

Doing so would greatly increase the uncertainty for the Chinese in judging the outcome of any planned military competition. At the same time, the ability to field new conventional missile capabilities could also provide the occasion, as during the Reagan era, to create a dynamic that leads to substantive negotiations with the Chinese with the desired result of reducing their inventory of conventional missiles in exchange for halting any deployment of new U.S. conventional land-based missiles.

What a difference it makes having a president who puts America first in word and deed and who at the same time can think ahead.
During the show, Meghan McCain challenged McCabe, "I would like you to say right here on national TV that you were not a source for the New York Times, you were never a source for the New York Times or any other publication  considering that's what you're accused of lying about."

On Tuesday, disgraced former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe went on The View to promote his new book (the title of which is too long to repeat here).

McCabe paused, visibly struck, as he clearly did not have a prepared response for such a challenge.

Then McCain added, "Basically, were you ever a leaker to the New York Times?" and, in doing so, bailed out McCabe.

McCabe immediately retorted, "Absolutely not. Not in any time ever. You should understand, Meghan, that when I was serving as deputy director, I was one of two people in the FBI who had the authority to disclose information to the media."

McCabe's answer was strikingly similar to Comey's response to a similar question during an Anderson Cooper interview on April 25, 2018.

When Cooper pressed Comey on whether he leaked memos to a Columbia professor in order to spur a special counsel investigation, Comey responded by saying, "Well, not to get tangled up in it, I think of a leak as an unauthorized disclosure of classified information."

Days earlier (Maddow, April 19, 2018), Comey stated, "There were two people who could authorize disclosures, the director and the deputy director. So, Andy had the authority to speak to the media."

So how is it again that McCabe had such difficulty in responding to McCain's original challenge while he was so adept in quickly striking down any notion that he leaked to the media?

The reason is that McCabe, just as James Comey did, was looking to parse words.

Implied in their answers is that Comey and McCabe are incapable of leaking because, when they do leak, the act is inherently authorized and therefore, by definition, not a leak.

And this after Comey told Trump in January of 2017, "I don't do sneaky things, I don't leak, I don't do weasel moves."

Tell that to former FBI agent Terry Albury, who is currently serving four years in prison for leaking to the media.
Left-wing media will say anything and destroy anyone to topple Trump

For those who seek the truth by way of credible facts and corroboration, these are trying and troubling times, as things have changed dramatically. Gone are the days when people demanded verification, solid proof, and objectivity before rendering judgment. Today, many people blindly and willingly accept information from the media that is uncorroborated, unverified, unreliable, factually deficient, or the result of slanted reporting simply because it aligns with what they want to hear (or what they believe). Corroboration and factual verification appear to have taken a back seat. All that is needed today is a good story that can negatively impact the president. This practice has resulted in many erroneous stories that have hurt and vilified many people. It has also created a dangerous precedent that places the story ahead of the presumption of innocence (due process) and treats people as simple "write-offs," or pawns, in furtherance of a specific political agenda. Unfortunately, there are too many recent examples where the "story" was more important than the actual facts and the rights of the human beings who were allegedly at fault. For example, Jussie Smollett recently claimed that he was beaten up and that he was the subject of a hate crime. Hollywood Democrats (Cher, Rob Reiner, Katy Perry) and media outlets used this uncorroborated and unverified story to blame the president. According to an article in the Boston Herald, one editor at The Washington Post wrote that the attack is "yet another reminder that Trump's ascendance and the resulting climate of hate has meant that lives have been increasingly at stake since 2015."

Recent evidence has led many to question Smollett's rendition of events and has revealed that he might have paid two acquaintances to stage the attack. However, the media and some on the left had no problem placing blame on the president and the GOP despite the absence of any corroborating and verifiable evidence. Any damage resulting from this story was simply collateral so long as it could impact the president, which was the ultimate goal. Prior to this incident, several media outlets played a video involving a MAGA hatwearing student, named Nick Sandmann, and several other students from Covington Catholic High School and Nathan Phillips. Initially, videos of the incident played by some media outlets portrayed Sandmann and the other Covington students as the aggressors against Phillips. After Sandmann was berated, ridiculed, villainized, and criticized on national television, the facts ultimately revealed the real villains and exonerated Sandmann and the rest of the students. However, the damage to Sandmann was already done. The risk of a mistake didn't seem to matter, because the uncorroborated and unverified story of a Trump-supporter berating another human being was simply worth more than the negative and devastating impact the story would have on Sandmann's life, even if it wasn't true. Once again, it was all about the story. Finally, the confirmation process involving Judge (now Justice) Kavanaugh is another perfect example of how a good story was more important than a factually based and corroborated one. Kavanaugh was accused by several women, including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, of sexual assault. There was never any evidence to substantiate the uncorroborated allegations. As a matter of fact, some of the women have since admitted to fabricating the alleged incidents involving Kavanaugh. Despite this, the media and congressional Democrats took it upon themselves to all but convict Kavanaugh without a scintilla of proof and without even affording him his due process rights. The judge and his family were humiliated, threatened, and shamed on the national and world stages. Given that Kavanaugh was a Trump appointee, the facts didn't matter. All that mattered was the story and the opportunity to hurt Trump, no matter the cost. In this case, the various stories involving Kavanaugh hurt many people, including Kavanaugh and his family, Dr. Ford, members of Congress, and the many victims of sexual assault. As these real-world examples clearly reflect, the various media outlets have a responsibility to corroborate and to verify the information they utilize in their stories. Their reports have real-world implications that dramatically impact many people. As a result, the media must ensure that the reliability and truthfulness of their information come before their deep-rooted desire to negatively impact the president. People are not pawns, and they should not be used to further the left-wing media outlets' political agendas. This is especially the case when the risks are so high. If some left-wing media outlets want to publish "good" stories that may hurt the president, they should make sure to vet their sources and corroborate the information first. If they don't, they are hurting themselves and, more importantly, many other innocent people. Mr. Hakim is a writer and a practicing attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Western Journal, American Thinker, and other online publications. https://thoughtfullyconservative.wordpress.com Twitter: @Elad3599
The Left and the right have found common ground. Together, opposite ends of the political spectrum are uncomfortable with members of the Islamic State being able to rejoin our communities. Even those who self-identify as "bleeding-heart liberals" find themselves mirroring conservatives as they blast the idea of taking back Muthana and other similar ISIS brides as unacceptable.

In recent days, outlets like CNN, ABC, and The New York Times have been running sympathetic stories about Hoda Muthana, a young woman who left her home in Alabama to go join ISIS fighting in Syria. Left-wing media have presented quotes and tidbits about her childhood meant to invoke empathy, but their strategy has failed.

Hoda Muthana was one of ISIS's most prominent English-speaking online agitators. The State Department has known about her internet presence since at least 2015, when she tweeted and made calls for ISIS sleeper cells to attack Americans during holidays and to spill American blood. One such tweet read:

Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day ... Kill them!

Now with ISIS all but finally defeated and left with no physical territories, Muthana is realizing that her support of the Islamic State has left her stateless. ABC's James Longman did an interview with Hoda Muthana as she held her baby, and while it was an obvious attempt to humanize her, it left viewers even more disturbed.

Muthana: "I went without thinking of the consequences, without thinking twice, really" Longman: "And what if you had a message for people watching this in America now?" Muthana: "I wish I could take it completely out of people's memories, really[.] ... I don't want people to picture me with that kind of mentality. I hope America doesn't think I'm a threat to them and I hope they can accept me." Longman: "Do you think you deserve a punishment for what you did?" Hoda Muthana paused and smiled brightly instead of answering, so James Longman continued, "Because going to join the Islamic State is a crime, right?" Muthana: "Maybe therapy lessons. Maybe a process to ensure us that we'll never do this again[.] ... Jail time, I don't know if it has that effect on people. Sometimes it has a worse effect on people[.] ... I'm just traumatized from my experience."

Liberal and conservative viewers, and even those not politically invested, responded not just to her word soup, evidencing a refusal to take responsibility for her own participation as she tried to pass it off as normal teenage rebellion, which doesn't deserve judicial punishment, but also commented on her soulless eyes and evil smile.

The liberal media should really stop trying to humanize her, as even their most loyal readers aren't falling for it. While Muthana chalks it up to a teenage mistake, she needs to understand that mistakes have consequences. Leaving America to join a terrorist organization should be a one-way ticket.

Although there were many calls to revoke her U.S. citizenship, claims that she is a valid citizen were challenged by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement he released on Wednesday:

Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria.

Britain is dealing with similar circumstances. Shamima Begum, another ISIS bride, fled to Syria to join the terrorist faction, but as their defeat is finalized, she finds herself begging to return to the U.K. The British are equally uncomfortable with the idea of her return to their soil, and measures have been taken to have her citizenship revoked. Begum released a statement to the news, exclaiming, "I wonder why they are doing this to me!" U.K. citizens are wondering whether the terrorists' victims thought the same thing in the last moments before their barbaric executions.

Hopefully, with the Left and right united in their stand, these ISIS brides can get out of our news cycles now and back to the Stone Age, where they belong. Is revoking their citizenship the right move, or is extraditing them back to the U.S. to face due process for their treasonous crimes more fitting? As for me, I'm just thrilled that both sides of the aisle can agree on our mutual enemy.

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Death and fear on the streets of Idlib

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which controls most part of the demilitarized zone in Idlib province in Syria, fully conforms to its internationally recognized status of a terrorist organization. In fact, HTS members use two methods of pressure and influence on civilian population usually applied by terrorists: intimidating those who doubt and killing those who resist. The commanders and spiritual leaders of HTS impose their criminal values to the citizens of Idlib, urging and forcing them to engage in illegal activities. Those who disagree and express discontent are subject to severe persecution. According to the report of Human Rights Watch, the militants regularly detain "undesirable persons" and everyone who opposes them. The detainees are mistreated, tortured, and sentenced to death without evidence. Terrorists do not provide a prisoner with a right to legal representation, nor do they give their victim a right of appeal. The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented at least 184 cases of detention in the last three months alone.

It is also worth noting that HTS clashes with other radical groups often lead to civilian casualties as well. There are multiple cases of children killed as a result of indiscriminate fire opened by the militants. These crimes are regularly reported by the Jabhat Alnusra Violations Documentation Team. At the same time, HTS representatives are trying to deny their criminal activity by all means, justifying the continuous shooting on the streets by the fight against ISIS and the illegal arrests and executions by the necessary elimination of ISIS accomplices. However, reports of international human rights organizations and foreign observers, eyewitness accounts, and mass media publications of crimes committed by HTS suggest the opposite. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, just like any other terrorist organization, constitutes a direct threat to the civilian population of Idlib and therefore must be eliminated as soon as possible.
" No reasonable prosecutor " would take the case, Comey intoned, who then let the former secretary of state and then-presidential candidate off the hook.

The news is out that then-FBI director James Comey did indeed have some credible prosecutors for Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified documents during her stint as secretary of state, passing around some of the U.S. government's most secret documents on an illegal private account attached to a server in some guy's bathroom.

Actually, there was one, at least one, and he was sitting right next to Comey: none other than FBI general counsel James Baker, who admitted in congressional testimony that he did think Clinton's dishonest act merited prosecution.

According to Fox News's Catherine Herridge:

The FBI's top lawyer in 2016 thought Hillary Clinton and her team should have immediately realized they were mishandling "highly classified" information based on the obviously sensitive nature of the emails' contents sent through her private server. And he believed she should have been prosecuted until "pretty late" in the investigation, according to a transcript of his closed-door testimony before congressional committees last October. Former FBI general counsel James Baker said high-level officials at the bureau were "arguing about" whether to bring charges against Clinton, "I think, up until the end"  and he initially thought Clinton's behavior was "alarming" and "appalling." Pursuant to the "statutes that we were considering at the time," Baker told lawmakers, it was "the nature and scope of the classified information that, to me, initially, when I looked at it, I thought these folks should know that this stuff is classified, that it was alarming what they were talking about, especially some of the most highly classified stuff. Fox News has confirmed portions of the congressional transcript of Baker's remarks. Baker's testimony was considered credible by those in the room.

Up until now, Comey's "narrative" was that Clinton was "extremely careless" (not even "grossly negligent," which is actionable) and the book was closed on the matter, as Democrats brushed the whole thing off, while hackers and Russians and Chinese and terrorists got to dig into the goodies.

Clinton was supposed to be charged with mishandling classified documents, and she wasn't.

Only three news sources are reporting this bombshell (I checked Google News, Yahoo! News, and DuckDuckGo): John Solomon of The Hill, Catherine Herridge of Fox News, and Sara Carter, all respectable heavyweights in investigative reporting, and their reports should easily merit news pickups. But the nets are nowhere, the New York Times doesn't think such a revision to its "narrative" is fit to print, and the Washington Post is going to let that one die in darkness.

Shouldn't a story about favoritism be newsworthy?

The implication now is that laws are for little guys, like that Navy sailor who was prosecuted for carelessly taking a "hi, Mom"type photo onboard a classified ship, but not for Madame Big. One wonders why we have these laws on the books at all anymore with such stunning double standards. Secrets aren't secrets if Hillary Clinton is running things. And the FBI's Comey was clearly rooting (alongside his sidekick, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe) for a Hillary victory in 2016, something he was stunned didn't happen after he put his thumb on the scale for her.

And now the whole decision is being exposed as a blatant double standard in law enforcement, except that the press has gone AWOL. It was just that funny-strange craziness in Comey's decision that might have gotten voters to elect Donald Trump president, rather than the Left's claim that Clinton's shadow of prosecution did her in. The new report about Baker's testimony blows that "narrative" to smithereens.

Somehow, that's not news. Perhaps that's because a "narrative" has been set, and the press is all in for following it. That staff revolt you hear about over at CNN regarding the hiring of a former Trump staffer certainly would support it.

The press's job is not that hard. The nets don't have to even go digging when there are people like Solomon, Herridge, and Carter doing it for them. They just need to tell the truth, wherever that may lead. They aren't doing it. They'd rather the whole problem just go away, and by their ignoring this gargantuan shift to their already set narrative, they're derelict of duty.

Image credit: Caricature by Donkey Hotey via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
At the end of 2017, the Trump administration released secretary of defense James Mattis's National Defense Strategy , the unclassified version of guidelines the administration intends to follow on issues of national security. That document listed two primary threats to the security of the United States: increasingly powerful, anti-democratic states like Russia and China and a weakening post-WWII international order.

With two years of the Trump administration's tenure now behind us, a clear picture has emerged of how this administration plans to secure the United States and preserve the post-WWII international order.

The Trump administration's solutions to these two threats are intended not just to make America safer, they are intended to remodel the post-WWII order.

Pax Americana in Peril

Since 1945, America has been the pre-eminent power on the globe and has, with the help of its vast alliance network and intergovernmental institutions like the United Nations, created the most peaceful and prosperous period in recorded human history  Pax Americana.

Pax Americana has relied heavily on America's military and guarantees to provide security across the globe from South Korea to Germany. But with so many allies relying on the U.S. and the effects of budget cuts during the Obama years, the American military has been stretched thin. The U.S. has also expended too many resources on ongoing fights in Afghanistan and the Middle East, which have distracted America from adequately addressing the threats posed by states like Russia and China.

Two recent studies from The Heritage Foundation and the National Defense Strategy Commission reveal that the technological advantage America has enjoyed for the better part of a century has eroded. Even worse, the reports warn that there are serious reasons to doubt that the U.S. can win a direct military confrontation with either of its competitors: Russia and China.

The three pillars of the post-WWII order  America, the alliance system, and intergovernmental institutions  are not ready to face the threats of the future without revision and adaptation.

The First Pillar: America

The Trump administration views America as one of the core foundations of the international order. If the international order is to remain stable into the future, America must be strong both economically and militarily.

The administration has prioritized a pro-economic growth agenda not simply because it is good for the administration's political fortunes; Trump's people understand that economic strength is a weapon all on its own and is also a necessary precursor to political and military strength. Their economic agenda is intended to provide the country with more resources to invest in technological advances and improve the military's readiness so that America can maintain its military advantage.

The Trump administration's National Defense Strategy emphasized a critical need to improve the function and lethality of the U.S. military so it can match competitors like Russia and China. Priorities include improving management structure and practices within the Department of Defense (DoD), improving financial stewardship and logistics, and strengthening the industrial base. Further, the Trump administration aimed to increase the size of the military, increase lethality with an aggressive modernization regimen to replace Cold Warera equipment, and improve soldier training.

In practice, the Trump administration's military rejuvenation plan has been executed in alignment with the stated objectives. Trump has been pushing increased funding for the DoD, he ordered the first ever audit of the DoD at the end of 2017, and he ordered an extensive look into gaps and vulnerabilities within America's military-industrial base, which most recently resulted in $250 million in investments to address supply chain issues. The administration has also pushed for a larger surface fleet, which recently led to the Navy contracting a block buy of two new aircraft carriers.

These people are not mucking about. The administration is deeply concerned about future uncertainty and is taking decisive action to meet that uncertainty head on by strengthening America's economy, industrial base, and military. Trump's people have also prioritized reorienting the military away from counter-insurgency conflicts and toward a renewed focus on countering great powers like Russia and China. However, Trump and his team are aware that the U.S. cannot preserve Pax Americana alone.

The Second Pillar: Alliances

The Trump administration views America's allies not just as important to preserving Pax Americana  it considers them more vital. The administration's National Defense Strategy was straightforward: "Mutually beneficial alliances and partnerships are crucial ... [and] will sustain American influence and ensure favorable balances of power that safeguard the free and open international order."

The administration rightly believes that the international order relies too heavily on the American military. The solution, according to the National Defense Strategy, is to "develop new partnerships around shared interests to reinforce regional coalitions and security cooperation" and to "encourage alliance and coalition commitment, greater defense cooperation, and military investment" among allies.

In plain terms, the strategy is to increase the defense capabilities of allies so they can secure their own respective regions without (or at least with less) American military commitments. This strategy is intended to strengthen the alliance system and the international order as whole, lessen the strain on the U.S. military, give the alliance system more flexibility to respond to threats as they develop, and allow the U.S. to dedicate more resources to countering Chinese and Russian aggression.

In practice, the Trump administration has followed this blueprint for a more powerful and harder-hitting alliance system in earnest. The Trump administration has made serious attempts to form an "Arab NATO" intended to counter Iran's ambitions and spearhead efforts against ISIS and other jihadist organizations in the Middle East.

The administration has also streamlined the process for foreign arms sales and been pushing hard for allies to increase their defense spending, which resulted in a 33-percent increase in foreign arms sales in 2018 over the previous year. Twenty-nineteen is expected to be an even bigger year. Already, Saudi Arabia has signed a $15-billion deal for a THAAD missile defense system, and Japan's government approved a purchase of 105 American F-35s.

The administration's campaign for increased defense spending among allies hasn't always gone so smoothly. Where conversations have gone sideways, however, Trump demonstrated dogged commitment to his vision of a stronger alliance system and showed a willingness to sacrifice significant political capital for the advancement of security.

A particularly rocky episode took place in July 2018, when Trump's unleash fury on some NATO members (particularly Germany) over their failure to follow military spending commitments, their "free-riding" problem, and what he ostensibly sees as an unacceptable lack of urgency in the face of an increasingly capable and aggressive Russia. Trump received a bombardment of ferocious political and personal attacks from foreign leaders and the press.

While causing some of the NATO allies to lose face may have been a questionable approach, Trump's criticism was justified. Even more importantly, they were successful. According to the Associated Press, "[n]ine NATO members will reach the 2 percent of GDP benchmark for defense expenditure in 2019  compared to just four members in 2014." Some of that growth was already expected. NATO's Eastern European members have been rapidly increasing spending ever since Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine. But some of it is a direct result of the Trump administration setting its strategy in motion. German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen has stated that defense spending will increase 80% by 2024.

The Trump administration is neither isolationist nor a threat to longstanding alliance networks like NATO. Quite the opposite. Trump simply wants serious partners who will "step up" to provide increased security for themselves, their regions, and the post-WWII international order.

The Third Pillar: Intergovernmental Organizations

The Trump administration sees value in continuing the modern American tradition of engagement and leadership in organizations like the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank. There is one notable exception, however: the United Nations.

The administration's 2017 National Security Strategy articulated no significant role for the United Nations in the preservation of the post-WWII international order. In fact, the U.N. was alluded to only three times in the entire document. One of these was a sugar-coated reprimand: "The United Nations can help contribute to solving many of the complex problems in the world, but it must be reformed and recommit to its founding principles." Another was the unflattering observation that "[a]uthoritarian actors have long recognized the power of multilateral bodies and have used them to advance their interests."

President Trump sees the U.N. (not incorrectly) as a bureaucratic cesspool, failing in its charge to advance human rights and global security. Before taking office, Trump articulated, with characteristic frankness, his opinion of the U.N. during a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2016: "... which brings me to my next point: the utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations. The United Nations is not a friend of democracy, it's not a friend to freedom, it's not a friend even to the United States of America."

While the Trump administration's National Security Strategy offered the option to "reform" the United Nations, the administration's track record and statements suggest that Trump's people believe that it is beyond saving. This is, after all, the organization that has states like Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola sitting as members on its farcical Human Rights Council. With reform an unlikely solution, the only other option is to reduce its credibility and influence  into irrelevance if need be.

Following this conclusion, the Trump administration removed itself in protest from the Human Rights Council in June 2018 and took some parting shots at the council's legitimacy. U.S. envoy to the U.N. Nikki Haley blasted it as a "hypocritical and self-serving organization" that "makes a mockery of human rights." That assault wasn't just about the Human Rights Council; it was a reprimand for the entire U.N.

The administration has taken other angles of attack against the U.N., questioning the legitimacy and authority of the U.N. to determine policy for sovereign nations. Trump and Nikki Haley have openly questioned the UN's authority and used the issue of national sovereignty numerous times in their defense of withdrawal of America from the Paris climate agreement in 2017 as well as their opposition to any form of U.N. interference in migration policy.

The Trump administration also removed the U.S. from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on similar grounds. "The ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority[.] ... We will never surrender America's sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy," Trump said in his U.N. assembly address in September 2018.

The Trump administration also announced a $285-million cut in funding to the United Nations in response to the U.N. General Assembly's resolution condemning the U.S.'s decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Despite widespread disapproval, U.S. ambassador Haley was unequivocal in her defense of the embassy move: "The president's decision reflects the will of the American people and our right as a nation to choose the location of our embassy[.] ... No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that."

These actions are consistent and now predictable. The Trump administration will support only those intergovernmental organizations that advance the interests of the United States and help preserve the post-WWII international order. Any organization deemed detrimental to those interests will be delegitimized and its influence undermined.

The Trump Doctrine

The Trump administration's approach to international relations was exemplified in the joint U.S.-France-U.K. air strikes against the Assad regime on April 10, 2018. Those air strikes were a punitive response to the regime's use of chemical weapons in its ongoing civil war. In the absence of any response from the U.N. and without any authorization from the U.N., the allies decided  on their own  to enforce international law's ban on the use of chemical weapons and punish the guilty party. The air strikes were technically illegal under international law. The U.S., France, and the U.K. didn't care.

The convergence of the key premises and prescriptions of the Trump doctrine were all demonstrated in this singular episode: (1) Pax Americana is going to be preserved, and it is going to be preserved through strength. (2) A stronger, harder hitting American alliance system will be the bulwark of the international order. (3) The United Nations is no longer a net asset to America or the international order, therefore its power, influence, and legitimacy will be diminished.

President Trump has a winning strategy. Whether he can successfully bring all the necessary elements of his grand vision together, in a manner so that they persist beyond his presidency, remains to be seen. So far, momentum appears to be on his side.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.
PRESIDENTIAL SIGNATURE. President Rodrigo Duterte signs the Revised Corporation Code and the Universal Health Care Act at Malacanang on Wednesday, with Speaker Gloria Arroyo among the witnesses. Presidential Press Office

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure providing additional leave benefits for employed mothers, Malacanang said Thursday.Though the Palace has yet to release a signed copy of the measure, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed to Palace reporters that the President has signed the law, beating the 30-day deadline for the proposed measure to lapse into law. Under the Expanded Maternity Leave Act, all working mothers in government and private sector will be granted 105 days of paid maternity leave credits, providing them an option to extend their leaves for another 30 days without pay. They will also be given with seven days leave transferrable to fathers. It also doubles the allowed paternity leave to 14 days. An additional 15 days will be granted to single mothers. The law applies to all instances of pregnancies, removing the four-pregnancy cap. With the passage of the law, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo allayed concerns that its implementation would lead companies to hire fewer female workers. I dont think so. The additional number of days in maternity leave, as well as the benefits, will only lessen the profits. The profits of employers are already large enough. Its like, it would be their social service, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. Discrimination is prohibited to us. [If they discriminate against women] they will be accountable to that, he said. [Besides], Filipinos are family-oriented. These businessmen will understand. Senator Risa Hontiveros, a proponent of the measure, welcomed the development as a massive victory for women and their families. The law squarely addresses our lack of maternity leave days and puts us on a par with international standards. It also supports the best available evidence and practice which are consistent with improving maternity leave policy, Hontiveros added. Tingog party-list group first nominee and Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez on Thursday said the new law should not be used as an excuse to discriminate women in the workplace as he praised President Dutertes enactment of the measure. We should remain steadfast in fighting discrimination against women, especially [as] our Constitution recognizes the role of women in nation-building and promotes equality for them, said Romualdez, one of the authors of the bill. Romualdez also congratulated her colleagues in the House for approving the measure. Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, a co-author of the measure, urged local governments to implement the law to the fullest as they can exercise their powers on business permit renewal to make sure all enterprises in their jurisdictions comply with properly implement this new law. Many women loyal, hardworking employees and some even hold key posts at our workplaces. Keeping them is good for business, Herrera-Dy said.Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin called the new law a decisive win for women workers and social justice. After 26 years of labor and birthing pains, women workers have successfully given life to a landmark legislation that upholds the, said Villarin. We look forward to the laws immediate and full implementation so more Filipino families can avail of, Villarin added. The countrys biggest labor group, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines also welcomed the signing of the 105-day Expanded Maternity Leave Law. By expanding the paid maternity leave benefits to 105 days, we have a win-win situation for both working mothers and their babies and for businesses. With the faithful enforcement of the law, the TUCP expects the next generation ofwith the measure ensuring more protection for their working mothers who nurture them. We also envisage that these babies who will become the next generation of workers will, at the same time, being healthier translate into higher profits for employers and businesses, the TUCP said. Associated Labor Unions executive vice president Gerard Seno said the effectivity of the law will encourage other countries in neighboring Asian countries to ratify and enforce an expanded maternity convention in their own setting. READ: PhilHealth ready for Health Care challenge This would create a domino effect and compel other countries in the region to replicate and do the same to improve working and economic conditions for their own women workers. Ours will help convince employers to invest in the next generation of workers, he added. Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano also hailed the new law. READ: Universal health care for Pinoys one step closer to reality This measure is an acknowledgment of the dual role of women in society: as members of the work force and as mothers, she said. The principal author and sponsor of the expanded maternity bill in the House of Representatives, Cayetano also led the passage of the original version of the measure in the Senate back when she chaired the committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality in the 16th Congress. READ: Health care law signed
It is clear now that he lied. Smollett said his attackers were white and that he would have been believed without question if his assailants had been "Muslim," "Mexican," or "black." They were black.

Conservative pundits have pointed out that Democrat elites and the so-called "mainstream" media were quick to accept actor Jussie Smollett's story of being assaulted by two Trump-supporters.

When asked why he thinks this happened, Smollett answered, "I have gone hard against 45, I have gone hard against this administration." The mainstream media were all too happy to embrace any story that promotes their belief that President Trump and his supporters are racist and "homophobic."

However, Smollett and the leftist media have a broader focus for their hatred than this president. They hate America. The alleged Smollett attack was designed not merely to prove that this president and his supporters are bigots, but to demonstrate once again that America is a hateful place where racism and homophobia run rampant.

The president's slogan, "Make America Great Again," is interpreted as code language for "make America white again." His opposition to illegal immigration is depicted as a racist ploy to keep nonwhite people out of the country. They know that President Trump is not the originator of what they see as America's sordid legacy of hatred and bigotry, but in their minds, he is its latest and best representative.

After the Charlottesville confrontation between white supremacists and radical leftists, the president's condemnation of both sides was deemed "racist." As a black Virginian, I took the same view. When he pointed out that the Mexicans who cross our southern border illegally are not that country's "best," he was stating the obvious, but that too was considered racist.

No matter what this president does to improve the lives of women, minorities, and all Americans, from the left's perspective, he is beyond redemption because he is the symptom. America is the disease. The left views us as a nation of white supremacy, white privilege, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, inequality, oppression, corporate greed, and international imperialism. Instead of "America the Beautiful," they see ugly Americans. Instead of the "land of the free and the home of the brave," they see a land of the selfish and home of the brutal. Instead of compassionate people, they see planetary parasites and climate deniers dragging the world to cataclysmic destruction.

They see America as the world's nightmare. We drive SUVs, eat rich foods, and enrich billionaires while the world starves. We believe in a judgmental God, a bigoted Bible, and an antiquated Second Amendment right to bear arms, all of which makes us a narrow-minded nation of gun nuts. Our unprecedented prosperity was built on the backs of slaves, and our entire continent was stolen from American Indians.

Our unparalleled contributions to mankind  industrial and technological advances; humanitarian generosity; the defeat of Nazism, communism, and other genocidal threats  are irrelevant. From the perspective of the left, we are an illegitimate country. Only "fundamentally transforming" America into a socialist state can pay for our sins.

Our public schools, colleges, and universities do not teach about America's history in the context of a barbaric and violent world. Instead they inculcate students with a polemic that labels America as barbaric and the cause of everything wrong in the world.

That's why Governor Andrew Cuomo could glibly say America "was never that great." That's why former vice president Joe Biden could go to Germany, the birthplace of Nazism, and call America an "embarrassment." That's why President Barack Obama never expressed pride in his country, only apologies for it. That's why his wife Michelle Obama said she was proud of her country for the first time only after voters elected her husband president. That is why Jussie lied  to prove that leftist disdain for our country is entirely justified.

Smollett undoubtedly wanted his scheme to embarrass the president, but even more, he wanted to confirm every self-hating delusion about how horrible America is. CNN reporter Brooke Baldwin said after the alleged incident, "This is America in 2019." She would have been more accurate to say, "This is how all of us on the left see America in 2019." They've been seeing it that way for 60 years.

Thank God that most of us still see America as a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the world. We see our country as a place of freedom and opportunity for every individual. We know there is no perfect nation on Earth, but America comes closer than anywhere this side of heaven.

What galls these anti-American smear merchants  Jussie Smollett, the Obamas, Al Sharpton, Hollywood celebrities, Gov. Cuomo, Joe Biden, the leftist media, the Democratic Party, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, the socialists, Marxists and communists  is that no matter how they slander our country, they cannot dampen our faith and patriotism. While spoiled millionaire athletes refuse to stand for our flag and the National Anthem, we stand. We will stand until this nation has an awakening, a new birth of freedom and gratitude in the hearts of our people, especially those who have been seduced by Marxism, moral relativism, anti-Christian bigotry, and anti-American resentment.

The American vision of "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," will prevail because it is based on love, not hatred; on truth, not lies; and on unity, not division.

E.W. Jackson is an author, speaker, and nationally syndicated radio host on American Family Radio & Urban Family Talk. He is founder and president of STAND (www.standamerica.us), and has been a candidate for lt. governor and U.S. senator in Virginia. He is bishop and senior pastor of The Called Church (www.thecalled.org) in Chesapeake, Virginia.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. But it's not clear yet what Chauvin's experience will look like.
Venezuela in theory would be among the biggest recipients of $650bn in SDR aid the IMF is planning to give to countries.
The worlds number-two carmaker said it wants to have six battery-cell factories up and running in Europe by 2030.
Protesters converged on the Department of Health office in Sta. Cruz, Manila on Thursday and blasted officials for failing to administer vaccines to millions of Filipino children despite the P7.43-billion budget for its immunization program in 2018. Carrying their babies, the protestors took turns assailing the DOH for being remiss in its mandated task, a failure that has led toin several parts of the country. They saidthat affected mostly children, saying that it the victims were immunized, the outbreaks would have been avoided. The DOH had earlier declared last month measles outbreaks in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, and Central Visayas. Based on the DOH data, measles cases have reached 8,443 from Jan. 1 until Feb. 16 with 136 deaths. The Anakalusugan party-list group challenged the DOH to account for how it spent its P7.43-billion budget for its immunization program last year. The DOH spent all of its budget last year for immunization. But by its own admission, its immunization rate in 2018 was only at 39 percent. This means more than two-million children did not get measles vaccinations, Anakalusugan party-list nominee Mike Defensor said. DOH also had an advertising budget of P634 million last year. They cannot keep on invoking the vaccination scare brought about by the Dengvaxia mess. They should have used the budget to mount a massive information campaign to encourage parents to have their kids vaccinated. Their shortcomings are very clear, he added. Anakalusugan nominee Darlo Ginete said it was impossible for the Health department to have missed the increasing number of measles cases. In 2018, DOH reported a total number of 18,407 measles cases. Compared to only 2,428 cases in 2017, last years figure represents a nearly 800 percent increase in measles cases, he said. How could they have not seen that trend? Why are they scrambling only now to raise awareness on the importance of the vaccination program when the numbers were glaringly clear as early as 2018? Ginete added. Of the total number of deaths recorded this year, 40 percent or about 54 deaths were children aged four years old and below. Measles, which is a vaccine-preventable disease, may cause complications such as pneumonia and diarrhea and can lead to death if left untreated.Immunization and Vitamin A supplementation for nine-month-old children remain the best defenses against measles. READ: Get your kids vaccinated, parents told The World Health Organization has warned that if the low immunization rate is not addressed, the Philippines is also in danger of seeing a reemergence of diseases such as polio. We are very concerned about the situation because there arethat could have been avoided if we had achieved higher vaccination coverage, said WHO country representative Gundo Weiler. Meanwhile, a lawmaker said barangay health workers are proving to be a potent weapon in the campaign against measles. READ: DOH outlay cut by P14 billion amid measles outbreak In Iloilo, local officials gave the barangay health workers due to recognition to their effort and dedication to duty despite the low pay. A total of 1,183 barangay health workers from Iloilo and Antique were the recipients of assorted grocery items distributed by Deputy Speaker Sharon Garin, along with Vice Governor Christine Garin of Iloilo, during a series of events from Feb. 1 to 13. Neoly Mendoza, a barangay health worker who has been serving at Valderama, Antique for 39 years, described the rigorous routine that she and her fellow workers in the town have been doing since the measles outbreak was declared. Six of us go to each barangay to assist midwives in the vaccination everyday, she said. The latest figures from the DOHRegion 6 shows that Negros Occidental still has the highest number of cases with 196, followed by Antique, 122, Bacolod City, 64, Iloilo Province, 39, Capiz, 18, Aklan, 22, and Iloilo City, 15. READ: Measles cases doubled, says Health chief
Former Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday said if he would win as congressman in the first district of Makati this coming midterm elections, he will push for various social programs like what he started when he was a local executive in the city. These projects, according to Binay, include college scholarships, livelihood programs, and medical assistance in state-run specialized health care institutions and hospitals. Binay, who served as Makati mayor for over two decades prior to being elected Vice President in 2010, is running under the United Nationalist Alliance of incumbent Makati Mayor Abigail Binay. If I were asked what motivates me to continue pursuing a career in public service, I would give a simple answer: I believe much still needs to be done in order to restore the dignity of the people, Binay said during the Good Governance Forum organized by the YMCA of Makati. Binay said if elected, he will also initiate tie-ups with the Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, and other agencies to develop residents into highly competent, skilled and employable workers, and successful entrepreneurs. He stated his intent to institute a medical assistance program with the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, and various state-run hospitals, to expand residents access to specialized health care and tertiary health services outside the city. Binay added that his congressional office will also allocate funds for the provision of additional equipment for the city-run Ospital ng Makati, including incubators and ventilators, among others. Binay, the first local appointee of then President Corazon Aquino after the 1986 EDSA Revolution, lamented that while the nation achieved political freedom then, the fight for freedom remained, 33 years later. Poverty in the midst of plenty is our greatest shame. It is also our greatest challenge, he said. The challenge for government, and for those who work in government, is to restore the dignity of the poor by redistributing economic opportunity. The challenge is to uphold the dignity of the people by recognizing their right to education and health care, to live in a community free from fear and hunger, and to be treated fairly and equally before the law, Binay said.It may sound like an impossible dream to many, but it was done in Makati, he said. He recalled his first year as acting mayor when he discovered that the municipality was bankrupt, with its obligations far exceeding its revenues. Today, Makati is the richest LGU in the Philippines. And that is not a baseless and self-serving claim. That distinction was accorded to Makati by the Commission on Audit, Binay said. The former mayor said that after 33 years, the city government has succeeded in extending to all citizens, especially the poor, quality health and education that were previously accessible only to a few. Our social programs have made an impact on the lives of the citizens of Makati. Poverty has dropped drastically. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, from a poverty incidence of 34.7 percent in 2000, we have succeeded in lowering the rate of poverty to 0.5 percent in 2012, Binay said. He also emphasized that far from being dole-outs that encourage mendicancy, as critics say, Makatis social programs are the rights of citizens. Makatis social programs are an investment in the future, not an expense, he said. The hallmarks of the Binay administrationprograms that promote affordable and decent health care, freedom from hunger, and good educationhave raised the bar for local government units around the country. This was how we shared prosperity in Makati. In so doing, we redeemed the peoples dignity, Binay said. A staunch believer in education as a great equalizer, then Mayor Binay established a strong public education system that have given the youth from poor families in Makati a fighting chance at succeeding in life. He prioritized the construction of modern school buildings in every barangay, and institutionalized a free education program that provides virtually all basic school needs of students, at no cost to their parents, to this day. The Makati Health Program he initiated, popularly known as Yellow Card, was named a Best Practice by the Dubai International Awards in 2002. Today, program beneficiaries enjoy subsidized hospitalization, free outpatient services, and free medicines, among others.
Two members of the Abu Sayyaf Group identified by authorities as terrorists were slain while two others were wounded in a clash with troops Thursday in a barangay in Patikul, Sulu. Military officials said the terrorists were hit by artillery fire while security forces were hunting down remnants of a militant group linked to the attacks at the Catholic Cathedral in Muslim-dominated capital town of Jolo. Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, said the battle occurred after troops from the 41st Infantry Battalion led by one Maj. Oloan who were pursuing terrorists chanced upon eight bandits in Sitio Tubig. Overwhelmed by the gun bursts from ground troops, the bandit group scampered and fled towards a hilly portion of the village. To disrupt their escape, artillery battalion fired several rounds of 105mm projectiles and 81 mm mortar against the ASG members in Luba Hill in Tanum village where the bandits were believed to have withdrawn.Besana said the troops that engaged the Abu Sayyaf were still scouring the battle site while soldiers nearby were alerted to pursue and intercept the fleeing bandits. Troops have had four encounters with the ASG following the Mt. Carmel bombing which left 23 people dead and 123 others wounded, the deadliest terror attack this year. So far, the relentless hunt against the Abu Sayyaf led by its notorious and radical chieftain Hatib Sawadjaan had resulted in the death of seven ASG members and five soldiersall taking place in the hinterlands of Patikul, Sulu. Sawadjaan reportedly ascended to the ASG leadership and becoming acting Islamic State emir in the Philippines and Southeast Asia replacing Isnilon Hapilon who was killed in the five months battle in Marawi City in 2016.
The Elizabeth Warren saga has raised many questions in the US, but not the right ones.

Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!

In this February 9 tweet, US President Donald Trump is referring to not only Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warrens enduring claims of Native American identity, and the pushback she received from various native communities, but also one of the most infamous and traumatic events in Cherokee history, the Trail of Tears  the forced relocation of Native Americans in the 19th century that caused thousands of deaths.

Trumps tweet sparked much debate over whether it is ever acceptable for a US president to use a racial slur or a genocide reference to attract attention to a political opponents alleged past indiscretions. However, the public discussions largely left out the very real complexities of Native American identity and history unexplored. The truth is, many Native American nations have struggled to define belonging for decades.

False claim to tribal membership

The controversy about Warrens claims to Native American identity first surfaced in the public domain during her 2012 Senate campaign, when her opponent accused her of having lied about her heritage to gain an advantage in her academic career.

Consequently, an investigation by the Boston Herald revealed that Harvard Law School listed her as Native American in its federal affirmative action forms from 1995 to 2004. Further inquiries demonstrated that she also claimed Native American ancestry while working at the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and identified herself as American Indian on a Texas bar registration card in 1986.

In response to accusations that she fraudulently assumed a minority identity for professional gain, Warren maintained that she based all her claims to family stories passed down over generations, and that she never furthered her career by using her heritage to gain an advantage. An expansive Boston Globe investigation in September 2018 appeared to confirm that Warren did not profit from the claims she made about her ancestry. However, the expose failed to stop President Trump and other Republicans from continuing to accuse the senator of lying about her heritage.

The storm over Warrens ancestry claim only deepened when she sought to neutralise the attacks by releasing a DNA analysis in October 2018, which said that she had a Native American ancestor six  10 generations ago. The Cherokee Nation blasted Warren for the test, which they said was a false claim to tribal membership, leading the senator to apologise.

But why does it matter if Warren alleges that she is Native American? And why did the Cherokee Nation denounce her claims?

Who is Native American?

By claiming to be of Cherokee heritage, Warren tapped into a long-running trope in American history: phenotypically white people, privy to all of the privileges associated with whiteness in the US, claiming a Native American identity.

From the colonists at the Boston Tea Party to the hippies and hipsters of today, white Americans take on Native American accoutrements (feathers, buckskin, headdresses) or Native American ancestry (almost always a small percentage  enough to make them interesting and exotic, but not enough to actually make them a person of colour) as easily as putting on a pair of shoes, using it to signal independence from state structures and responsibilities, a connection to the Earth, a certain brand of spirituality (often used to make a profit), or a desire to return to a bygone era.

By participating in this roleplaying game, these white Americans demonstrate that they view native people as exotic artefacts from an imagined past, rather than modern-day citizens who wear the same clothes, listen to the same music and deal with the same contemporary issues as themselves.

While Senator Warren grew up in Oklahoma, the state with the highest percent of Native Americans in the nation and one where the Cherokee are the largest minority group, she was raised as a white person, not as a Cherokee. She did not learn about Cherokee culture, language, or history, and shared no formal or informal ties with the Cherokee Nation.

While she may be able to show that she possesses some degree of Native American DNA, this does not necessarily make her any more Native American than all the clueless white youths wearing feathers and headdresses as fashion accessories at music festivals. Besides, tying DNA to a specific tribe is almost impossible, as North American indigenous people consistently migrated and intermarried, and DNA companies use databases that overwhelmingly feature European genetic data, with small sample sizes from Native Americans and other people of colour.

Claims of Native American ancestry are closely tied to tribal citizenship rights  a sensitive issue combining identity politics with economics and political jurisdiction.

Native American is not just a racial category, it is also a political identity because tribal nations are acknowledged as sovereign governments in the US. When someone claims to be Native American, he or she also claims access to political and economic benefits hard-won by native governments in brutal legal battles over tribal sovereignty.

This is why the Cherokee Nation denounced Warrens DNA test as inappropriate and wrong and accused the senator of undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.

In this context, it is easy to see why Warrens claim of Cherokee identity, as a phenotypically white woman with no real connection to the tribe, is problematic. However, the Cherokee Nations refutation of the senators claim is also not as honest and straightforward as it first appears.

Inclusion and exclusion

In his response to Warrens press release about the result of her DNA test, Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin, Jr stated that a DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship, implying what determines who is a Cherokee is not blood, but an individuals proven shared history with the tribe.

Yet, the Cherokee Nation have denied one group of people  the descendants of their former slaves  who had this very shared history, generations spent living alongside native people, simply because they did not see them as native enough.

Tribal membership has always been dependent upon induction into a native peoples community, either through birth, intermarriage, or adoption. But the formalisation of the idea of citizenship, a status that can be conferred (or disavowed) by a specific governmental body, is the product of colonisation.

Largely beginning in the 19th century, when native nations interacted with the American government to sell their land and receive annuities for it or distribute it in allotments, the US would send representatives to compile a list of the people who would then qualify to receive these annuities or land parcels. These people would then also be considered tribal citizens. Over time, many nations, such as the Cherokee Nation, have continued to use these same lists as the basis of tribal citizenship.

For Indian nations such as the Cherokees, as well as the Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Chickasaws, who owned black slaves, the evolution of tribal citizenship was more complicated. Their black slaves had lived among them, sharing their language, food, and homes, and this shared history spanned decades and generations.

Yet, many native people considered the people of African descent who resided in their nations a separate group, and when these five nations assembled their membership lists in partnership with the American government, they separated themselves from their former descendants, creating two categories of citizenship  one for Indians by blood and one for former slaves.

Then, throughout the 20th century, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles eventually rescinded the tribal membership of all the descendants of their former slaves, claiming they had no place in their nations because they did not have native ancestry.

The descendants of the former slaves of Cherokee women and men, an estimated 3,000 people, many of whom bear Cherokee ancestry, were denied the rights and privileges of Cherokee citizenship for years  but they fought back, filing lawsuits in tribal courts and then in American courts. In 2017, with the successful outcome of US District Court case, Cherokee Nation v Nash Vann, et al, these descendants, referred to as Cherokee Freedpeople, have been welcomed back into the fold.

Following this decision, the Cherokee Nation turned over a new, inclusive leaf and even celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr Day as an official holiday for the first time this January, in honour of their Freedmen citizens. Hopefully, this signals a readiness to return to traditional definitions of tribal inclusion that acknowledge the informal belonging and historical connection.

Now the descendants of former slaves of Creek Indians have filed a similar case in the US federal court, also seeking to reestablish their tribal membership.

As the largest of the former slaveholding Indian nations, the actions of the Cherokee Nation and the reactions of Cherokee Freedmen descendants have received the most publicity.

But all Indian nations deal with issues related to tribal membership (who should be allowed to be a member, how tribal resources should be used to provide for every member, etc), particularly in a historical moment when it is trendy to claim a Native American identity. Indian nations answers to these membership questions are shaped by the economic resources they do or dont have and by their ideas of how a member of their tribe should live and what they should look like.

There is no one answer to how a Native American nation should decide tribal membership. After all, it is largely their prerogative based on tribal sovereignty. It is not the duty of Indian nations to welcome every person who takes a DNA test and finds that they supposedly possess native ancestry; it is not their duty to take lightly a prominent, completely unaffiliated persons claims of belonging.

But as they begin to more publicly define the parameters of their definitions of citizenship, it should be their moral obligation to fully acknowledge and rectify the wrongful exclusions they have made in the past.

And, as Elizabeth Warrens election campaign gains speed and this controversy, no doubt, resurfaces again and again, journalists have an occupational obligation to transition this narrative of Indian identity from a mere punch line to a nuanced conversation about race and belonging.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
The reluctance of the West to face the truth about the Macedonia name dispute stalled its resolution for years.

The Macedonia name dispute dragged on for almost three decades, becoming the longest lasting one of its kind in recent history. To an uninformed observer, it may have looked like a curiosity: Greece being so insistent that the naming of the newly formed country constituted a threat and Macedonia (or FYROM as it had to be called) being equally adamant about retaining its name.

By all accounts, that Macedonia was both a name of a country and of a region in Greece did not sound like a serious threat to anyones security or territorial integrity. The issue was easily being dismissed as the product of the intransigence of two typically nationalistic Balkan countries.

But the truth is the dispute remained unresolved for nearly 30 years also because the Western emissaries who were supposed to mediate it simply did not want to admit what it was all about.

For years, a statement on the website of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (now taken down) made it very clear: the use of the name expresses claims on Greek cultural heritage, history, and, hence, identity and this in itself constitutes irredentism. That is, the dispute was about history and identity, and not the territory.

This was also reflected and carried in United Nations Security Council resolution 817, which recognised what it called former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as an independent state in 1993. By way of recognising a nameless state with no national identifier, the international community was basically denying it the right to national self-determination, even if it did not intend to do so. The UNSCs resolution corresponded with the Balkan history of the Macedonian question, a history of negation of the very reality of a distinct ethnic and national identity that would be called Macedonian by most of the neighbouring countries.

For years, the UN and its special envoy, Matthew Nimetz, did not want to admit to this reality because it was embarrassing; identity disputes were not supposed to be happening in 21st century Europe.

The issue would not have been solved if this simple fact had not been recognised and addressed in negotiations. But this recognition did not come from the UN or the West; it in fact came from the leadership of the two countries involved in the dispute.

Prime Ministers Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras and their Foreign Ministers Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kozias (until Ocrtober 2018), respectively, took off the gloves of western diplomatic etiquette and addressed the issue head-on: they reached a bilateral agreement that tackled identity.

The two countries had to recognise each others concerns in order to address them. The Greek side  as laid out in the foreign ministrys statement  was convinced the name laid a claim on Greek history and identity.

The Macedonian side feared that, with the change of the name of the state, the designation of the national identity and the language would be effaced. Let us note, the fear was justified: more than once, Nimetzs proposals for a resolution contained naming of nationality and language. By contesting the right to a signifier, these proposals were in fact contesting the existence of a Macedonian ethnicity/nation and Macedonian language.

Article 7 of the bilateral agreement between Greece and (now) North Macedonia addressed these issues by recognising that Macedonian can mean two different things at the same time: for the Macedonian side, it means nationality, ethnic belonging and a South Slavic language, whereas, for the Greek side, it refers to the cultural heritage of Ancient Greece and the legacy of the Kingdom of Phillip and Alexander of Macedon.

Thus, the agreement reaffirmed the principle of self-determination for the Macedonians and negotiated the inclusion of both the Slavic and Hellenic signifiers in the name.

The fact that the two Balkan nations faced the embarrassing truth and defied the self-censorship of political correctness to address the proverbial elephant in the room speaks volumes about their pollical acumen and bravery.

This is not a solution brokered by the European Union, United States or the UN, and its not just a temporary ad hoc fix to allow North Macedonia to pursue accession to NATO and the EU.

Rather, it is a resolution of a dispute between two neighbours negotiated in a way that is sensitive to their political cultures, shared history and national concerns (regardless of how inconceivable they may be to the West).

It sets a precedent in Balkan politics and can usher in a new and non-atavistic political culture that can take us beyond our nationalisms, fixation on grand historical narratives, and national complexes that we all seem to suffer from.

We would not have reached this solution had the balkanism of the dispute not been recognised and affirmed in order to be subverted and reinvented into an instrument of empowerment.

The two prime ministers, or indeed the two nations, very much deserve a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. The agreement ensures stability in Greece and North Macedonia which also guarantees the security of all of Southeast Europe and as a consequence of Europe as a whole. Both Tsipras and Zaev seem to have been acutely aware of this fact and have acted on it with much vision and sense of responsibility.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Lahore, Pakistan  Qasim Hussain, a vegetable vendor, was hopeful of celebrating Basant, the spring festival, this year after Pakistans provincial government of Punjab announced the lifting of a 13-year-old ban on the flying of kites.

But the decision was soon retracted, much to Hussains disappointment. He also claims he was arrested and beaten by the police last year for flying kites, a staple during the spring festival.

In 2005, Pakistans Supreme Court imposed a ban on the manufacture, trade or even flying of kites. The court said it was a precautionary measure to prevent the loss of lives since kite strings were sometimes laced with chemicals.

Police official Muhammad Razzaq told Al Jazeera that three surveillance teams were deployed in Lahore city to curtail kite flying from the rooftops.

That is why you dont see any kites flying in the sky, he said, adding that anybody violating the order would be immediately arrested.

Basant used to be a source of income for many households in Pakistan. But the ban has made them either unemployed or forced them to take up other jobs.

Zia Qamar, a former kite-maker, owned two shops that he and his brother Yusuf inherited from their father, Ustad Qammaruddin.

He says the family hasnt recovered financially and is trying to make ends meet since the ban.

Yusuf Salahuddin, a member of the Walled City of Lahore Authority, said a committee to ensure safe kite-flying was formed, but they never held a meeting. He says the government should find a solution.

Salahuddin also wonders why the ban on Basant was imposed only in Lahore and not in other cities.

Salahuddin told Al Jazeera that despite the ban, Lahore is still a kite manufacturing hub and even exports them to Afghanistan.
The Metro Manila Development Authority on Thursday decided to move the date of the closure of Tandang Sora Flyover and intersection to March 2 following the request of the Quezon City government. The MMDA initially set the date of the closure on Saturday (Feb. 23) to give way for the ongoing construction of Metro Railway Transit line 7. MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. said the six-day postponement would give them ample period to inform stakeholders of the impending closure that would affect more than 100,000 motorists traversing Commonwealth Avenue and 3,000 motorists using the Tandang Sora intersection. This morning, barangay leaders have started informing the residents of the closure, said Garcia in a news briefing held Thursday at MMDA headquarters in Makati City. Quezon City Second District Rep. Winston Castelo and Quezon City Vice Mayor Ma. Josefina Belmonte also joined the briefing. Garcia said the MMDA was also given until Sunday, Feb. 24, to remove obstructions, including illegally-parked vehicles and illegal vendors, on Luzon Avenue, Visayas Avenue, Congressional Avenue and other identified alternate roads. I have instructed the Task Force Special Operations to clear all obstructions in the vicinity of Tandang Sora. Parking, terminals and vending will be prohibited to maximize the roads, said Garcia. Castelo said he was thankful to the MMDA for heeding swiftly the request of the Quezon City local government and the Committee on Metro Manila Development, House of Representatives, and the clamor of the public. We will not relax but conduct massive information campaign and clearing operations, said Castelo.Signage of U-turn slots and alternative roads where motorists will be diverted will be installed as part of the concerted effort to minimize the expected traffic condition the project would cause, Castelo added. Motorists will be diverted to two temporary U-turns to be opened: One across Microtel at UP Techno Hub and another in front of CW Home Depot. For her part, Belmonte said they have asked affected barangay leaders to coordinate with the private contractor EEI Corp. and MMDA in conducting massive and exhaustive information drive. The barangays will be meeting with stakeholders. We shall deploy additional traffic enforcers, said Belmonte. She also sought the assistance of barangay leaders to identify alternate routes which motorists could use. Under the project, the flyover will be demolished for the construction of the Tandang Sora Station of the constructed MRT in March. The city government called for the temporary suspension of the closure of Tandang Sora flyover in light of complaints by some residents living in the area that they were not consulted about the closure.
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The governor of Tennessee has apologized for participating in Old South parties while he was in a fraternity at Auburn University, reports say.

Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement that he regrets joining in the parties while he was a member of the schools Kappa Alpha chapter, according to The Tennessean. Lee attended Auburn from 1977 until 1981, when the Kappa Alpha organization was known for its embrace of Confederate imagery, including displaying Confederate battle flags and members wearing Confederate army uniforms to its annual Old South formal, the newspaper reported.

Lee said in a statement obtained by The Tennessean, I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that participating in that was insensitive and Ive come to regret it.

In this 1980 University of Auburn yearbook photo, released by the office of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Lee is pictured in a confederate states costume while attending the university, in Auburn, Ala. Lee says he now regrets participating in Old South parties while he was a student at the university in which he and others dressed in Confederate uniforms. (Office of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee via AP)AP

Lee never lived in the fraternitys house.

In the 1980 Lee yearbook photo, Lee is wearing a Confederate soldier uniform and is standing with a woman in an antebellum dress. Lee's office said it did not immediately know the identity of the woman.

Another unidentified woman and man are also in the photo wearing the same kind of outfits.

Two other photos with different people in Confederate clothing are on the page, which has the caption, The South shall rise again, right Bill! When the band plays Dixie, a tear comes to our eyes. Id do anything Lee, but she comes first.

The Kappa Alpha Orders website describes Robert E. Lee, the Confederate army commander, as the groups spiritual founder. The website says Lee was a descendant of patriots who aided in the founding of the United States and said after the Civil War Lee emerged as one of the most important and nationally appreciated figures in healing the divisions of that conflict.

The site states: Lee was not a member of Kappa Alpha Order, but his religious convictions, exemplary ideals, values, strong leadership, courtesy, respect for others and gentlemanly conduct greatly influenced the students at Washington College. His requirement for all students was, We have but one rulethat every student must be a gentleman. It is in this spirit that Lee is noted as the Orders Spiritual Founder.

Gov. Kay Ivey attended Auburn a decade earlier than Lee. Her sorority's 1967 yearbook photo shows five members with black masks portraying "minstrels" in a rush skit, but Ivey said she is not in the photograph. Its caption reads, "Alpha Gam Minstrels welcome rushees aboard their showboat."

The photo is on the same page as a description of the sorority and the accomplishments of its members. The page notes that Ivey was vice president of the student body.

Ivey, a Republican, said she did not recall the skit.

"When I was shown that picture, it had to be a rush skit or something at the sorority at some point in time, but no, I didn't remember it," she said. "I certainly wasn't a part of it."

Ivey said there is no place for blackface and that she had never worn it. When asked if she had ever made a remark perceived as racially insensitive, she replied that she hoped not.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 23-year-old man awaiting trial in the bludgeoning death of his roommate in Hoover died after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the Jefferson County Jail.

The death of Ledarius Jaquad Peterson is being investigated as a homicide. According to the Jefferson County Coroners Office, the inmate was found unresponsive at 8:23 p.m. Wednesday. He was taken to the jail infirmary and then to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9:26 p.m. Authorities have not said how he was killed.

Jefferson County Sheriffs Office crime scene investigators responded to the jail Wednesday night, as did investigators with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Sheriffs Capt. David Agee said deputies were alerted at 8:15 p.m. to two inmates fighting in a cell. "Deputies responded and found one inmate was on top of the other assaulting him. The deputies stopped the assault and removed that inmate from the cell, while the other inmate was left motionless on the floor,'' Agee said.

Deputies began life-saving measures on Peterson but were unsuccessful. Authorities have not yet identified the suspect in Petersons death. Both Peterson and the suspect had previously been housed at the county jail in Bessemer.

At the root of this is going to be drugs, Agee said. Drugs plays a part in this death - either what people will do to get drugs or what people will do under the influence of drugs, but drugs definitely play a part in this incident.

Petersons death is the first homicide inside the county jail in recent memory. I do not recall a death myself, but fights happen every day. We respond to them every day, Agee said. Thats every jail in America. Youre going to have fights. Its what we do every day, breaking up fights and trying to keep the peace.

Youre going to have drugs despite our efforts to keep drugs out, Agee said. When youre dealing with human beings, they manage to get drugs in.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigators and ALEA agents responded to the county jail Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, on a homicide investigation

Peterson has been in jail since 2017 when Hoover police charged him with murder in the slaying of his roommate at The Renaissance at Galleria apartments. Police responded to the resident that Monday night and found 26-year-old Shunoah Seantel Turner dead.

Lt. Keith Czeskleba at the time said the person who called 911 was visiting the victim at his apartment and reported to police that the victim was attacked by roommate.

After the assault, Peterson fled the scene in the victim's vehicle. Hoover officer found Turner dead on the bedroom floor. He had severe injuries to his face, head and torso. Czeskleba said a hammer was found near the victim's body.

Hoover police then issued a lookout bulletin to surrounding agencies for the victims stolen vehicle. Bessemer police stopped the vehicle on Academy Drive. Petersons clothes were bloody, and he was taken into custody without incident.

"This was an extremely violent, senseless and brutal attack, and really there's just no explaining the rage that some individuals are capable of,'' said Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector at the time of Turners death. "We're fortunate in this case that there was a witness who was able to provide crucial details and give officers a description of the suspect and the vehicle. Bessemer police officers did a phenomenal job locating this individual and promptly taking him into custody."

A trial date for Peterson had not yet been set. He had appeared in court this week for a status meeting on his case.
Concerns over how Jefferson County would benefit from a potential state gas tax increase dominated the discussion at a town hall Tuesday night in Birmingham hosted by Democratic state legislators that represent the county.

Birmingham resident Tammy Smith said she was worried that the county would get shortchanged.

This gas tax that [Gov.] Kay Ivey wants  theyre going to get their gas tax and theyre going to leave us out the loop like they do every day, she told the legislators. This is very unfair. People been left out of the loop for so long in this town. They give us the crumbs.

Resident Connie Jackson Gaiter had similar worries.

Im just concerned that with a gas tax, with all of this revenue flowing in, that we wont get anything. I have a problem with that because we tend to fall by the wayside, said Jackson Gaiter, who works with children in suicide prevention. People tend to think because youre in an urban county  you can automatically get someplace. I have some clients that cant even get to treatment because of the buses.

State Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, said there is a divide between rural and urban legislators. Rural lawmakers, who outnumber their urban counterparts, want rural areas to get more tax revenue back than they would put in to a hypothetical increase.

Those rural legislators want Jefferson County to be a donor county  our citizens dont get all of that money back, Coleman said. The rub right now for many of us on the current gas tax legislation is making sure that Jefferson County gets its fair shake.

The proposal being considered in Montgomery would allocate the increased revenue to fund infrastructure projects.

More than one resident at the town hall said the increase should also be allocated for public transportation.

Is there any way that we could get a percentage of that gas tax money to get into public transportation? Because the reality of it is this: We wouldnt have to pass a gas tax right now had the state of Alabama taken the federal money when it was offered by ex-President Obama to redo our infrastructure, said the resident, who only identified herself as Anna.

But Coleman said the discussions in Montgomery would dictate that gas tax revenue can only go to roads and bridges.

Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales, who attended the meeting, said the commission is planning to consult with the state House delegation from the county to ensure that the county gets a proportional amount of revenue.

We have got to intelligently make this gas tax work for us, she said.
A Madison woman is under arrest in connection to a series of burglaries in North Alabama.

Her method of staking out victims makes the case unique, police said.

Jennifer Lynn Azizian faces four counts of third degree burglary. According to the Priceville Police, all of the burglaries occurred while the victims were attending a loved ones funeral. Azizian allegedly staked out her targets by reading obituaries.

As people were laying their loved ones to rest, little did they know that someone was adding to their grief by breaking into their homes, Priceville Police said in a statement. It was clear that the suspect had been researching obituaries for some time.

Police said they had video evidence of the suspect and her vehicle but did not know her identity. Law enforcement said they obtained a search warrant for Azizians cell phone after she was stopped by a Morgan County Patrol Sergeant after reports of a burglary in Hartselle.

Azizians bond has been set at $15,000 per charge. Additional charges from surrounding agencies are expected.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is criticizing CNN for hiring a former spokesperson for Jeff Sessions.

CNN announced yesterday Sarah Isgur Flores, who served as Jeff Sessions spokesperson during his time as U.S. Attorney General, would help oversee coverage of the 2010 presidential campaign as the political editor of the networks Washington, D.C. bureau.

Ocasio-Cortez said the hire  which CNN itself said had caused controversy  was another example of meritocracy trumping qualifications.

Sorry, didnt get the latest memo after 1,000 experienced + qualified journalists of all stripes were let go w/o warning a few weeks ago and still looking for work: are we still pretending that hires like these are evidence of a meritocracy? https://t.co/Qb9JNgcdT2  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 20, 2019

In its own coverage, CNN said employees were concerned.

They are asking what Isgur's role will be and questioning whether her sudden leap from the Trump administration to the CNN newsroom is an ethical breach, Brian Stelter with CNN Business wrote.

The network describes Flores as a longtime Republican political operative who previously worked for Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney.
The mother of slain American photojournalist James Foley said Alabamas ISIS bride Hoda Muthana should be held responsible for her actions.

Speaking on Fox News, Diana Foley said it was important that Muthana and the many thousands of ISIS fighters who have promoted terrorism...be held accountable and brought to justice.

I feel that is vital, she said.

Diana Foleys son was working as a freelance photojournalist in Syria when he was abducted by the terrorist group in late 2012. He was beheaded in August 2014.

A video of Foleys murder was circulated online.

Muthana, who fled from her Hoover home to Syria in 2014, has recently expressed a desire to come back to the U.S. During her time in Syria, Muthana married three ISIS fighters and had a son with the second one. She and her son are currently in a refugee camp.

U.S. officials said Muthana is not a citizen and will not be allowed back in the country.

In response to Muthanas pleas for understanding, Diana Foley said while she has sympathy, especially for the young child involved, the womans actions demand accountability.

Certainly as a Christian we all make mistakes and need to consider forgiveness, particularly for her young child who need to be protected and raised, Foley said. She needs to be held accountable for her mistakes and monitored very carefully.
Duterte asked to sign energy efficiency law

posted February 21, 2019 at 07:35 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores February 21, 2019 at 07:35 pm

The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance on Thursday urged for the immediate signing into law of the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Act pending with the Office of the President. The group said every month of delay was depriving the economy from the P37.8 trillion worth of energy savings expected until 2040. This means that households, small businesses, buildings, industries, public facilities and other energy end-use sectors stand to collectively save less than P37.8 trillion in avoided energy purchases between now and 2040 if the passage of the EE&C Act slips beyond this first quarter of 2019, PE2 president Alexander Ablaza said.The bicameral conference committee already approved the EE&C Act and is in the process of transmitting the measure for the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte. The committee convened to reconcile the provisions of Senate Bill 1531 and House Bill 8629 and approved the EE&C Act in January.

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.
President Trump said an Alabama woman who left her home in Alabama to join ISIS forces in Syria will not be allowed back in the United States. She began pleading to come back to America this week.

I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country! Trump said in the tweet posted just after 3 p.m. CST Wednesday.

I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

Muthana, now 24, left Alabama to join ISIS forces in Syria in 2014. In a report from The Guardian posted Monday, she says she deeply regrets her decision to join ISIS.

Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said she has no legal basis to claim American citizenship.

Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States, Pompeo said. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.

In an interview with ABC News, she said she hopes people will have sympathy for her and calls herself young and ignorant when she decided to leave the U.S.

I hope they excuse me because of how young and ignorant I was. Now Im changed. Now Im a mother and I have none of the ideology and hopefully everyone will see it when I come back, she said during an interview with ABC News. I hope America doesnt think Im a threat to them and I hope they can accept me.

Shortly after she left the country, she became a recruiter for ISIS on Twitter, calling for attacks on Americans.

She says shes ready to face the consequences of her actions, including jail time.

Hoover City Councilman John Lyda called Trumps announcement the right call:

The right call. Thankful to see this statement from @secpompeo that she is not welcome in the U.S. Shes certainly not welcome back in the @CityofHoover as far as Im concerned. https://t.co/qKJpQbJ9SI  John B Lyda (@johnlyda) February 21, 2019

Im proud to say shes not welcome back in Hoover, Lyda told AL.com during a phone interview Thursday morning. Lyda serves as the city councilman for Place 3. "The extreme view Hoda has espoused is not at all representative of the city of Hoover, Alabama or its citizens. Its uncommon and its concerning.

Lyda said the news of Muthana leaving the U.S. to join ISIS in Syria was shocking to many Hoover residents.

While he said he agrees with the president and the secretary of states comments on Muthanas citizenship, he said she should be prosecuted if higher courts determine she can return to the U.S.

I think this is the first step in a lengthy legal process, Lyda said.

5 ISIS bride Hoda Muthana is trying to get home

Updated at 11:55 a.m. to include comments from Hoover City Councilman John Lyda.
A conservative D.C. political action committee rained on U.S. Rep. Bradley Bryrnes parade on Wednesday, calling the Mobile congressman a fake politician while releasing a poll contending Freedom Caucus member Gary Palmer the preferred GOP candidate among Alabama Republican voters.

Byrne announced his Senate candidacy Wednesday in Mobile; Palmer is weighing a run.

The poll, released by Club for Growth Action, the PAC for the conservative group Club for Growth, found that the two congressman would be tied at 27 percent apiece if the GOP primary was conducted today with 46 percent undecided. But Palmer has a wide lead -- 57 percent to 26 percent -- among likely Alabama primary voters who have an opinion of both colleagues and a 39 percent to 31 percent advantage among respondents who have heard of both congressmen.

This polling leaves no question that Rep. Gary Palmer is the strongest candidate who could win the Alabama Senate seat for Republicans. When voters know both candidates, their preference for Palmer is overwhelming by a margin of 57% to 26%. And thats because people who know Byrne, know hes not a conservative," Club for Growth Action President David McIntosh said in a statement. "The people of Alabama deserve better than a fake politician who says one thing in Alabama and votes the wrong way in Washington. Alabamans [sic] already have that in Doug Jones.

Byrne campaign manager Seth Morrow took a swipe at Club for Growths misspelling of Alabamians.

Alabamians dont need or want an anti-Trump DC based special interest group telling Alabamans how to vote for their senator," he said in a statement to AL.com.

Morrow was referring to the group spending $7 million against Trump in the 2016 GOP primary.

The PACs poll of 500 likely GOP primary voters was conducted by telephone between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12. It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 percent.
Wednesdays U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning excessive fines through civil asset forfeiture will not impact Alabama because the state already has laws on the books that prevent disproportional penalties, according to the Alabama District Attorneys Association.

In Alabama, criminal sanctions are required to be proportional to the underlying criminal activity under the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment and also the Alabama Constitution, said Barry Matson, executive director of the ADAA. For almost 20 years, the state courts of Alabama have held this protection applies to forfeiture proceedings."

The Supreme Court heard an Indiana case where a $42,000 Range Rover was seized by the state from a man who was convicted of selling $400 worth of heroin. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled the seizure violated the Eight Amendment against excessive fines.

Matson added that while the court ruled that egregious fines like those in the Indiana case are unconstitutional, it did not ban civil asset forfeiture in general.

Id also point out that this case does not infer in any way that civil forfeiture is not a valid legal proceeding by the State, Matson said. Certainly, it was within the Supreme Courts wheelhouse to have done so, and it did not."

Matson said that former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry Hooper made clear 20 years ago that excessive fines were not implemented in the state.

As stated by Chief Justice Perry Hooper in 1999, The forfeiture provisions of our code are subject to the excessive fines clauses of the Alabama Constitution, Art. I,  15, and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution,'" Matson said. For the intervening two decades, state trial and appellate courts have consistently applied this rule of law.
Trading Paint, a racing movie that was mostly filmed in Alabama, is set for release on Friday, but its unclear if or when audiences will be able to see it in theaters here.

The movie will be released to ultra VOD (video on demand) on Feb. 22, and can be seen on iTunes, according to the Instagram page for Saban Films. A limited release is planned for theaters on March 22, along with on-demand services. Theres no information yet on how many theaters will screen the film in March, or where those theaters will be.

Movie lovers in the state will have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude if they want the big-screen experience. Actually, theyve been waiting since Trading Paint completed its principal photography in the Birmingham metro area in August and September 2017.

John Travolta stars in the movie, which filmed at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga and various locations in Hueytown, Hoover, Bessemer and elsewhere in the Birmingham metro area. Travolta portrays a veteran dirt-track driver who has a tense relationship with his son, an ambitious driver played by Toby Sebastian, best known as Trystane Martell on HBOs Game of Thrones."

Heres the storyline of Trading Paint, according to IMDB:

When their winning streak begins to fail, legendary father and son racing duo Sam (John Travolta) and Cam (Toby Sebastian) have a falling out. A rival racing giant takes advantage of this rift and offers Cam a lucrative opportunity racing for the adversary. Cam accepts and the gap between father and son grows even bigger. Engines rev and sparks fly as the two are set against each other in an ultimate high stakes race and the most dangerous competition between father and son.

The cast also includes Shania Twain, Michael Madsen and Kevin Dunn. Extras and background actors from Alabama were hired for the filming, and Scott Daniel of Hueytown was among the crew members, working as a graphic designer for the production.

Originally, Trading Paint was set for release in June 2018, but that date was pushed back to 2019. A trailer for the film was released in January.

Some independent film companies have been using ultra VOD -- that is, releasing their projects online first -- to market their movies and create buzz before the theatrical release dates.

The movie was directed by Karzan Kader and written by Gary Gerani and Craig R. Welch.

Travolta returned to the Birmingham area in 2018 for the filming of Moose, a thriller directed and co-written by Fred Durst, the former Limp Bizkit frontman. One of the producers for Trading Paint, Oscar Generale, also was a producer for Moose.

Since when I have arrived in Alabama, I felt a super positive energy here; places are amazing! Generale told AL.com in a 2018 email interview. I love the people here. I love the restaurants, too. The choice of filming 'Trading Paint and Moose here is because of the perfect locations you can find.
U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne became the first official Republican entrant into the 2020 U.S. Senate race announcing his intention to run in a race that could become one of the most expensive political contests in Alabama history.

Byrne, a three-term congressman from Fairhope, said he anticipates the fundraising during the lengthy 2020 campaign to eclipse the 2017 special Senate election, in which an estimated $50 million was spent during the contest. Democratic U.S. Senator Doug Jones, who narrowly defeated Republican Roy Moore in that election, raised more than $24 million.

Doug Jones is getting liberal money from around the nation  he will have a lot of money, probably more than I can possibly raise, said Byrne, who held his campaign kickoff inside Wintzells Oyster House in downtown Mobile. It was the same venue where Byrne held his victory party during the 2013 Republican runoff election for the 1st congressional district seat he currently holds. He will hold similar announcement events Thursday in Dothan, Montgomery and Decatur, followed by visits to Huntsville and Birmingham on Friday.

Byrne said he anticipates, similar to the 2017 special election, national attention paid to the Alabama Senate contest next year. The race is considered one of the few 2020 Senate contests in which a Democratic officeholder is seeking re-election against a Republican inside a state that has long been dominated by GOP leadership.

Were ready, said Byrne, who has been weighing a run for Senate ever since the day after Jones won the Dec. 12, 2017, special election and became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Alabama since 1992.

We know its coming," Byrne said. "I have sort of put out the message to the people on the left that know you are coming after me and I know you will do it inside my primary. Im ready for that.

Byrne is likely to face competition in the Republican primary, which will be held on March 3, 2020. One potential opponent is Alabama State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, who said Wednesday that he is looking seriously at it. Also weighing a run is Alabama Auditor Jim Zeigler, who has formed an exploratory committee.

Marsh, in comments earlier Wednesday to AL.com, said that Alabama needs someone who is not a another Washington politician." Marsh also said that voters should pick a businessman to represent the states interests in the U.S. Senate.

Zeigler, in a statement, said he believes the voters need to elect a watchman against waste in Washington.

Said Byrne, We need someone to fight for Alabama values and someone who will go up to (Washington, D.C.) and say, we do not do that in America and that we will not be a socialist country, we will not kill babies as they are being delivered, we wont take away your guns from you and we wont take health care away from you.

He added, I think I have a history and tradition of fighting for those values and I will continue to do that. I dont care what anyone else will say.

Unknown is what former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions might do. Sessions occupied the Senate seat Jones holds for 20 years, from 1997-2017, before resigning to join President Donald Trumps administration. Sessions resigned from as Attorney General on Nov. 7, 2018, one day after the midterm elections at Trumps request.

Byrne said he had a conversation with Sessions and received advice.

Yes, I sought his advice and he gave me good advice, Byrne said, declining to provided details. The things Jeff Sessions stood for when he was the U.S. Attorney here and the Alabama Attorney General are things I stand for. I hope I can be the sort of senator in Washington and fight for Alabama principles like Senator Sessions did.

The Jones campaign, in a statement, acknowledged Brynes failed bid for governor in 2010 when he lost that years Republican primary runoff against former Gov. Robert Bentley.

In a statement, the Jones campaign said, Given the results of his losing bid for Governor in 2010, in which he did not even win the Republican nomination, its hard to see why they would nominate a career politician like Bradley Byrne now. He has been a part of the problem in Washington for years.

Byrne said he wasnt concerned about a 2010 primary repeat nearly a decade later.

Having gone into that experience in 2010, I know what to look for, said Byrne, who has won every political race hes been involved in since the 2010 governors contest when he was defeated after the Alabama Education Association spent millions of dollars against him.

I know what will happen and what the pacing will be, said Byrne. I am just not worried about it.
ISTANBUL  Turkey will soon begin offshore drilling near the island of Cyprus, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, risking another flare-up of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and following a rebuke of his government from the European Parliament (EP) over a failure to resolve territorial disputes on the divided island.

Turkey has no formal relations with the internationally recognized government in Cyprus and keeps tens of thousands of troops in the islands breakaway north, administered by Turkish Cypriots, after invading in 1974 to thwart a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup. International efforts over the decades to reunite Cyprus ethnic Greeks and Turks have failed and the lack of a settlement has contributed to obstructing progress on Turkeys bid to join the European Union, to which Cyprus belongs and with which Turkey began formally negotiating in 2005.

The discovery of gas fields off the Cypriot coast in 2011 has further estranged Turkey and Cyprus, with Ankara unsatisfied with a Cypriot government pledge that any wealth obtained from oil and gas from beneath the seabed would be shared with everyone on the island. Exploratory drilling by US oil major ExxonMobil, Italys ENI and Texas-based Noble Energy of the Cypriot block has infuriated Ankara, and last year it dispatched naval ships to block Greek Cypriot gas exploration efforts. It has also repeatedly warned that it will hunt for gas in areas claimed by Turkish Cypriots, and in October sent ships to explore off its own coastline.

We are starting exploration in the coming days with two ships around Cyprus. It should be observed that nothing can be done in that region without us; those companies that come to that region from faraway should realize this. We will not permit anything to be done in the Mediterranean without Turkey, Cavusoglu told a business group.

Cavusoglu also accused the European Union of keeping Turkey waiting at its door, without allowing it in or letting it back away, keeping it under [its] control.

Cavugoslus remarks came on the heels of an EP committees call to freeze membership talks with Turkey over its checkered human rights record, the lack of an independent judiciary and the dispute over Cyprus. The foreign affairs committees Wednesday vote on the draft of an annual report precedes a full parliamentary vote expected next month. The ultimate decision on whether to continue formal negotiations with Turkey rests with the European Commission in Brussels.

Turkey shot back at the committee vote on Thursday, saying the draft report had no legal standing and the call to suspend talks was unacceptable. The reports unfounded allegations are an indication of the EPs partisan and prejudicial stance towards our country, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in an emailed statement.

"We expect the necessary corrections to be made and that the final report that the EPs general assembly will approve in March will be more factual, impartial and encouraging. Our country will only take such a report into consideration, he said, noting that Turkey would continue efforts to persuade European officials on the merits of its transition to an executive presidential system that has concentrated power in President Recep Tayyip Erdogans hands.

But Turkish officials refused to meet with Kati Piri, the EPs Turkey rapporteur who drafted the report, in October during her fact-finding mission to Turkey. Piri completed the draft report in November.

In an interview during that visit, Piri said the EP had made clear its red line in 2017 ahead of a constitutional referendum on the executive presidency. The European Parliaments position at the time was that if this new constitution is implemented  then it will have to lead to the reform or suspension of accession talks, she said.

The EP had has also considered freezing talks over the 2016 detention of opposition lawmakers belonging to the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party and the arrest of more than a dozen journalists and staff members at the Cumhuriyet newspaper, one of the few media outlets critical of Erdogan, Piri said. Those arrests were part of a broader crackdown that followed a 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan.

Turkey says joining the affluent bloc remains one of its strategic goals, but its long-running accession bid has all but stalled in recent years over the dispute in Cyprus and assertions that Turkey does not comply with the blocs standards on human rights and freedoms.

However, Turkey has sought to repair damaged ties over the past year, especially commercial links with its biggest trading partner during a sharp economic downturn. For its part, the EU needs Turkey to enforce a six-billion-euro pact to stem the flow of refugees to Europe.

Erdogan warned this week that his government may no longer curb irregular migration to Europe after spending $37 billion of its own funds caring for the 3.6 million Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey, making it the worlds biggest host of refugees.

The way to resolve the migration problem that originates in Syria is not by containing refugees within our borders. We can no longer bear the brunt on our own should a new wave of migration occur, he said at an international meeting on migration.
WASHINGTON  Last spring, President Donald Trump introduced a potential Qatari investor to a friend and inauguration donor seeking a few billion dollars in investment to buy an unfinished nuclear power plant in northeastern Alabama, according to interviews the donor gave to a Tennessee media outlet published this week.

Tennessee businessman Franklin Haney, 78, told the University of Memphis Institute for Public Service Reporting that Trump introduced him to the Qatari at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, of which Haney is a longtime member. He said the introduction to the Qatari, whose name he said he did not recall, came a couple weeks after he was introduced in March to Trumps then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen, whom Haney briefly hired as a consultant.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to lying to Congress, financial crimes and violating federal campaign finance laws related to hush money payments made to two women who alleged affairs with Trump before the 2016 US presidential election. Cohen is slated to testify next week before three congressional committees ahead of reporting for a three-year federal prison sentence in May.

As best as Haney recalls, he and Cohen were introduced in March, the Institute for Public Service Reporting wrote in a detailed investigative report published by the Daily Memphian on Feb. 19. A couple weeks later, the president introduced Haney to a Qatari official whose name Haney said he doesnt recall.

The institute quoted Haney as saying, He (Trump) says, I know youre working on this nuclear plant. They (the Qataris) are going to invest $45 billion (in the U.S.) and theyll loan money for nuclear plants.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Haney, who contributed a million dollars to Trumps Inaugural Committee through a limited liability corporation, had hired Cohen as a consultant in an effort to get Qatari investment for the Tennessee nuclear power project.

But it had not previously been reported until now that Trump himself had been directly involved in the effort.

The White House did not respond to a query from Al-Monitor about the report.

Trumps alleged role in linking a potential Qatari investor to a reported longtime friend and donor came amid a striking shift in Trumps public statements about the gas-rich Gulf nation, which has been the target of a Saudi-led blockade since 2017.

Trump warmly welcomed Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the White House on April 10, 2018, and praised the Qataris for buying lots of US military equipment.

Its a great honor to have the Emir of Qatar with us. Hes a friend of mine, Trump said in joint remarks to the press with Al Thani in the Oval Office April 10. Hes a great gentleman.  Were working on unity in that part of the Middle East, and I think its working out very well.

Also, we have a gentleman  who buys a lot of equipment from us, Trump said. A lot of purchases in the United States, and a lot of military airplanes, missiles  lots of different things. But theyve been great friends in so many ways.

Trumps warm words for Qatar were a striking departure from a year earlier, when he had seemed to side with Saudi Arabia in its blockade of Qatar, launched days after Trumps visit to the kingdom.

So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off, Trump tweeted on June 6, 2017. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to horror of terrorism!

Trumps effusive embrace of the Qataris came shortly after a Qatari delegation had spent several days in Miami as part of a roadshow seeking to match Qatari investors and US business projects, The Wall Street Journal report said.

On April 5, Messrs. Cohen and Haney met with the vice chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani, to seek an investment in the plant, the people familiar with the matter said, The Wall Street Journal reported.

At a second reception held on April 7 in honor of the Qatari emir, Rudy Giuliani  a lawyer whose consulting firm has worked for Qatar  mingled with other business executives and investors in attendance, according to people familiar with the event, the report continued. Mr. Giuliani joined the presidents legal team less than two weeks later.

The Qatari roadshow and encounters with several figures in Trumps close orbit coincided with intensifying federal scrutiny of Cohen.

The FBI raided Cohens home and offices on April 9.

Haney told the Institute for Public Service Reporting in a series of interviews that he paid Cohen about $200,000 before canceling the contract to try to help secure $2 billion in Qatari investment for his plans to buy the Tennessee Valley Authoritys unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, in northeastern Alabama, and then sell power to the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division. Haney said he ended the consulting contract with Cohen after Cohen was revealed to be under federal investigation, he told the Institute.

Haney also said Trump had no role in his decision to hire Cohen to try to pursue the Qatari investment. I see Donald Trump every time he comes to Florida, the Tennessee businessman told the Institute. I dont need him (Cohen) to introduce me to Donald Trump.

Cohen is scheduled to testify behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, publicly before the House Oversight and Reform committee on Wednesday and behind closed doors to the House Intelligence committee Feb. 28.

The more detailed accounts of consultations between Trump associates and the Qataris on possible investment in a US nuclear power project last spring comes as a new interim staff report by the House Oversight and Reform Committee raises concerns about Trump National Security Council officials having aggressively pursued a private companys proposal to sell sensitive US nuclear technology to the Saudis.

Multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law  efforts that may be ongoing to this day, the interim staff report said. The Trump Administrations interactions with Saudi Arabia have been shrouded in secrecy, raising significant questions about the nature of the relationship.

The report also warned that the efforts to lobby the Trump administration to sell US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may be ongoing, with reported possible internal administration interest in the plan from Energy Secretary Rick Perry, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and Trump himself. Trump met with a consortium of US nuclear energy developers and retired US Army Gen. Jack Keane, co-founder of IP3 International and a chief proponent of the plan to sell US nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia, at the White House on Feb. 12, Bloomberg reported.

Kushner and Trump Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt are slated to travel this weekend to the Middle East, in part to brief officials in six countries about the economic components of the administrations forthcoming peace plan. Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt leave this weekend for the region to build on the momentum from the Warsaw Ministerial, a White House official, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor. There will be stops in Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
Movies about terrorism and crime raked in awards this year at the Fajr International Film Festival, the oldest cinema festival in Iran.

In a cruel twist, on Feb. 13  a mere 48 hours after the award ceremony  27 people were killed in a terror attack, believed to be staged by an offshoot of Jundallah, a Sunni Baluch extremist group and the subject of the festivals top winner, When the Moon Was Full. Jaish al-Adl, founded in 2012 by members of Jundallah, claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that targeted a bus carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

When the Moon Was Full explores the life of Abdulhamid Rigi, the younger brother of Abdulmalek Rigi, the executed leader of Jundallah. The movie, directed by Narges Abyar, swept the awards for best director, best actor (Hootan Shakiba playing the role of Abdulhamid), best actress (Elnaz Shakerdust for the portrayal of his wife Faezeh) and best supporting actress (Fereshteh Sadr-Orafai as the mother of the Rigi brothers). The film also took the award for best film, beating its prominent rivals "6.5 for a Meter" by Saeed Roustayi and "Warden" by Nima Javidi.

Critics at the Fajr Film Festival described "When the Moon was Full" as a phenomenal film that provides a rare insight into an infamous terrorist group. The movie is based on the true story about the marriage of Abdulhamid Rigi and Faezeh Mansuri. Abdulhamid talks Faezeh into leaving Tehran for Pakistan along with her brother Shahab, but the family finds themselves captives of Jundallah. Shahab, who the group says is an Iranian agent, is beheaded. In the movie, Abdulmalek calls the father of Faezeh and Shahab to tell him to watch the video of your son's beheading on Al-Arabiya tomorrow night." Though Faezeh has a chance to escape, she chooses to remain in Pakistan so as not to leave her three children. Finally, Abdulhamid kills her in her sleep on the orders of his elder brother.

Though the Rigi brothers were based in Pakistan, Jundallah carried out ambushes and suicide attacks in southeastern Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Abdulmalek was arrested by Iranian intelligence in 2010 to jubilation in the province, with people handing out sweets on the streets.

At the time, Iranian officials accused the United States and some Arab countries of supporting and funding Rigi. The unnamed officers who arrested him were quoted in the Iranian media as saying that the militant leader had been on his way to a meeting with Richard Holbrooke, then US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, at the Manas air base near Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek. While Abdulmalek was en route to Bishkek from Dubai, his plane was forced to land in Iran, leading to his arrest and eventual execution the same year.

In a Feb. 7 interview with Khabar Online, sociologist Emad Afrough stated that "When the Moon Was Full" accurately depicts the extremist Islam of the group as well as the culture of the Baluch people, a group of tribes with about five million people in the province of Baluchistan in Pakistan, in Iran and Afghanistan.

Praising Abyar for taking up such a sensitive issue, especially as a female director, producer Mahmoud Razavi posted on Instagram Feb. 13, "I remember that few years ago, I had the intention of producing a TV series about Abdulmalek Rigi. I had prepared a proposal and I gave it to a veteran and famous director of Iranian cinema.  When he came to the meeting, he said, Dear Mahmoud, I love my life, they will kill me.'"

Another of the festival's controversial films was "Midday Adventures: Trace of Blood, directed by Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian. It was nominated in 11 categories and won best special effects, best costume design and best sound mixing.

The film is the second in a trilogy by Mahdavian, following the "Midday Adventures" or The Story of Noon, released in 2017. The movie is about the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization, often referred to as MEK, and their infiltration of the Iranian security apparatus in the 1980s. US national security adviser John Bolton has promoted MEK, currently based in Albania, as an alternative to the Islamic Republic. The group, which was on the United States list of terrorist organizations between 1997 and 2012, is deemed responsible for the deaths of 17,000 Iranians. In the 1980s, the group was in Iraq helping Saddam Hussein during his eight-year-war against Iran.

"Midday Adventures: Trace of Blood" narrates the 1988 Mersad Operation, the last major military operation of the war that ended in a decisive victory for Iran. While the film mostly received positive reactions, some media outlets criticized the film for being "incomplete" in ignoring the role of the late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the victory against MEK. Producer Mahmoud Razavi is close to former conservative presidential candidate Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. Mahdavian directed President Hassan Rouhani's campaign documentary in the 2017 presidential election.

Amir Homayoun Ghanizadeh, the young director of "Maskhare Baz, won the best film award in the festival's "New Vision" section but refused to receive it. He instead sent an Afghani immigrant worker to speak out about the difficulty his countrymen are facing in Iran. But whatever social message Ghanizadeh wanted to send was lost, as he was ridiculed on the social media for copying Marlon Brando in the 1973 Oscars. Brando, who won for best actor in "The Godfather," had sent a native American activist to decline his award at the ceremony.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosted talks in Moscow with his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi on Feb. 18.

Lavrov and Alawi discussed the development of relations between Moscow and Muscat, as well as the coordination of conflict settlement across the Middle East. They focused, in particular, on the Palestinian-Israeli resolution process and the situations in Syria, Yemen and the Gulf region.

Moscow and Muscat have many points of convergence due to Omans efforts to conduct its foreign policy independently from international and regional powers. Oman has managed, to a large extent, to avoid controversies with Middle Eastern actors, as it often acts as a mediator between regional rivals.

Omani leaders have also grown increasingly concerned with Washingtons policies in the Middle East. Muscat is willing to consider alternatives to American security projects in the region if the United States and its main allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, fail to revise their policies that Muscat deems  without describing them as such in public  destabilizing.

It is possible that the format of cooperation with Great Britain, Omans longtime partner, may also change. Given that Moscows engagement in the Middle East has significantly expanded since 2015, a new tone and framework has been set for the development of political contacts between Russia and Oman.

Aside from presenting an independent and multifaceted foreign policy, Muscat has also demonstrated its willingness to work with all Middle Eastern actors, including Israel. In October 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman upon the invitation of Sultan Qaboos.

Yet Foreign Minister Alawi said on Monday that "there is no normalization of relations with Israel, but rather a diplomatic process aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the Palestinian problem."

He added, "The establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state is a condition for any normalization with the Israelis."

Lavrov said, We are concerned about the atmosphere at the talks on the Middle East settlement. We see obvious attempts to revise the accepted international legal principles of the peace process in the Middle East. In light of these problems, it is extremely important for the Palestinians to show strength and responsibility in order to consolidate their forces. We are doing our best to facilitate this. In particular, we informed our Omani colleagues about last weeks consultations held in Moscow between the main Palestinian groups.

Interestingly enough, Moscow is also eyeing Oman to possibly mediate Israeli-Iranian friction, though Lavrov and Alawi didn't dwell on this at the press conference.

Oman previously acted as a facilitator for the United States and Iran in their negotiations over the contents of a nuclear deal, hosting a number of meetings. Also, in spite of being a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Muscat has repeatedly participated in military exercises with Iran, all while being a member of a counterterrorism alliance with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states. This is somewhat surprising, as Oman is officially an Ibadi state.

Moscow and Muscat also share common positions on the conflict in Yemen. Both nations maintain dialogue with all parties to the conflict. Oman has repeatedly provided negotiation venues to Yemeni factions. Its efforts may become necessary again, considering that the Stockholm agreements on Hodeidah face difficulties in implementation.

We work with every political actor," Lavrov said, "requesting them to ignore the urges to exert military pressure on each other, encouraging them to come to the table and start the dialogue under the UNs patronage."

Oman does not refrain from intervening in the Gulf's diplomatic crisis with Qatar. Muscats position on the matter has proven independent since the beginning of the crisis in 2017, when it refused to recall its ambassador from Doha or impose a blockade.

Oman's independent stances on Yemen and Qatar continue to provoke ambiguous reactions from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. For instance, the Arab Weekly reports that Yemeni sources have stated that Oman is not as neutral as it seems and actually supports the Houthis. The Saudis and Emiratis also unofficially yet regularly accuse Muscat of coordinating with Qatar against them.

Russian diplomatic sources who spoke to Al-Monitor said that despite these frivolities by Muscat, the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE place their hopes on Omans chairmanship in the GCC. In particular, they expect Muscat will help normalize relations between Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha.

Hence, the agenda for talks in Moscow included the future revival of dialogue between Russia and the GCC. Contacts between the GCC and Russia were suspended due to the split within the council itself, which virtually disintegrated after the second Qatar crisis. The GCC nations' positions toward the Syrian conflict also played a role. Omans leadership in the GCC will allow Russia to renew relations with the body, as Muscat will try to minimize the Qatar controversy's negative influence on the GCC.

Lavrov and Alawi also discussed the situation in Syria.

We have a common stand on Syria," Lavrov said. "There is no alternative to UN Security Council Resolution 2254. It should be implemented without exception." Lavrov said he updated Alawi on the Feb. 14 talks in Sochi between Russia, Turkey and Iran, and that the outcome of that summit can be "facilitated by the normalization of Syrias relations with the other Arab countries and its return to the Arab League."

Muscats policy on Syria reflects Russias approach in many ways. Oman maintained diplomatic ties with Damascus and avoided confrontation. At the same time, Oman recognized the opposition National Coalition as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people, clearing the way for mediation. However, Omans attempts to become a leading arbitrator between the regime and the opposition failed, in part because of the Russian military campaign in Syria, which dramatically altered the balance of power. Nevertheless, this approach and Muscats ability to reach compromises may be useful for a Syrian resolution in the future.

Lavrov and Alawi also discussed bilateral coordination in the global oil market. The sides emphasized the increase of trade between their countries. From January 2018 to November 2018, trade grew by 61.9% compared with the same period in 2017, amounting to $143.3 million. Moreover, transport projects are a major issue between the two countries. For example, ideas of a transport corridor extending from Oman to Iran through the Strait of Hormuz and farther on to Russia through the Caspian Sea have been floated. If implemented, it could attract investments from Oman into numerous joint projects in the North Caucasus region of Russia.

Furthermore, as discussed during the Moscow talks, facilitating the visa regime between Russia and Oman, or even abolishing it entirely, will become an impetus to the development of bilateral business contacts.
Even before Israels elections take place on April 9, there is a real possibility the Red Sea-Dead Sea desalination project could secure necessary government approval, said Oded Fixler, deputy director of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, on Feb. 18.

Normally, such a decision would have to wait for the new Israeli government to be elected, but officials are considering a special request to approve the long-awaited regional desalination and water conveyance project, for which negotiations began in 2005.

The Ministry of Justice is seeing if a decision can be made before the election; otherwise, it will be taken up after the formation of the new government, Fixler said. If the [ministry] goes with the transition team, the decision has to be announced very, very soon. The decision of the government of Israel is to advance the project. We are committed to the Red Sea-Dead Sea project.

A joint effort led by Jordan and Israel, the project will produce about 65 million cubic meters per year of desalinated water for people living in Aqaba, Eliat, Amman and Palestine  places where severe water rationing has become the norm. Ali Subah, Jordans secretary-general for water and irrigation, said Monday it is of the utmost importance to keep the momentum up and approve the Red Sea-Dead Sea project.

We hope it will happen, said Subah, adding, We are waiting. Our friends, they give us hope that soon it will be decided.

Subah said Jordanians are eager for the project to be approved. They are experiencing severe impacts from the drought conditions that have plagued the Middle East since 1998 and have been described as the longest and worst in 900 years.

We are living now with climate change, said Subah. Our water table is declining 5 to 10 meters per year. We are seeing increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall. It is affecting the reservoirs, all of our surface waters.

Phase I of the project aims to extract 300 million cubic meters of saltwater from the Red Sea and filter it through a reverse osmosis desalination plant. From there, water and brine will be piped to hydropower plants to generate electricity, and potable water will be available for residential and agricultural use.

The brine, mixed with seawater, will be piped about 125 miles north and discharged into the Dead Sea to slow the rapid desiccation and the emergence of massive sinkholes along the edge of the sea that are devastating this World Heritage site. Since 1960, the volume of the Dead Sea has shrunk by about a third due to a variety of influences, including substantial water flow diverted from the Jordan River for consumption, agriculture and other uses; decreased precipitation and higher temperatures; and heavy mining of potash from the seawater used in fertilizer to make the desert bloom. Engineers estimate adding brine could slow water level declines by about 30% so that it drops only 60 centimeters per year instead of the current rate of one meter per year. The brine can prevent the development of new sinkholes, said Fixler, but it wont stabilize the existing ones. To mitigate these, Israel is conducting geological research to better understand what is causing these to form and how best to respond.

Cost estimates for the Red Sea-Dead Sea project vary, and financing of the multiphase project is expected to come from diverse sources. In its entirety, the project is expected to cost about $10 billion. Both Jordan and Israel will contribute $40 million per year for 25 years, amounting to $2 billion, according to Gwen Ackerman in a Jan. 2, 2019, Bloomberg article.

The European Investment Bank will provide up to 200 million euros in a project finance loan to the company that will be selected to build the project, as well as a 30 million euro sovereign loan to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan blended with a European Union Neighborhood Investment Facility grant. Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the French government agency that supports sustainable development, is working to coordinate these contributions and additional international support.

The Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance is one of the key desalination projects in terms of impact, said a spokesperson from the European Investment Bank Press Office. Israel, Jordan and Palestine are all dealing with great water scarcity.

The lack of water and associated problems are expected to accelerate as climate change worsens, according to the October 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report titled Global Warming of 1.5C. In section 3.5.4.5 of Chapter 3, which details impacts to humans and natural systems, the authors warn: The Mediterranean is regarded as a climate change hotspot both in terms of increasing regional land-based temperatures as compared to the global temperature and due to the growing probability of "extreme droughts. The report anticipates drastic declines in annual rainwater runoff: The median reduction in annual runoff is projected to almost double from about 9% at 1.5C to 17% at 2C.

The Israeli government takes the IPCC special report very seriously as a baseline for planning, said Fixler. With less precipitation, we dont have enough runoff to recharge the aquifers, waterways and reservoirs. We take this into account when we plan our water master plan and future life.

One of the prime benefits the Red Sea-Dead Sea project has revealed to Israeli and Jordanian officials alike is the value of cooperation as a strategy for dealing with extreme weather and the new realities that climate change is enforcing.

Fixler said Israel and Jordan have natural strengths and expertise, and that partnering on a range of food/water/energy projects only makes sense. For example, Israels proximity to the Mediterranean Sea gives great access to seawater and the opportunity to build and operate desalination plants. Jordan has expansive desert lands, and solar radiation offers an inexpensive energy source that could be used to power such desalination projects.

If the energy from the photovoltaic will be transported to Israel, we can reduce the price of water, said Fixler. He added, We get cheap energy from Jordan, and we sell cheap water back to them. I hope all parties can sit down and agree on such a vision. Its only the beginning of our discussion. Cooperation is very, very important. After all, water is life.

Subah articulated a similar vision, saying, If you are looking for peace and prosperity of the people, start with projects like the Red Sea-Dead Sea project. If there is cooperation in water, there can be cooperation in everything. Regional cooperation is the right way for the future for many different types of issues.
Supermarket operator Puregold Price Club Inc. is increasing its authorized capital stock to P5 billion from P3 billion in preparation for possible investment opportunities in the future. Puregold said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board approved the proposed capital hike in a meeting held on Feb 20. The company will submit the proposed higher capital to shareholders for their approval during the annual meeting in May. Puregold said the company was left with just around 100 million shares in the unissued portion in its capital satock after a recent top-up placement. The increase in the authorized capital stock will prepare the company in case there is a need or opportunity to raise funds in the future. The company is just getting ready if there are good opportunity in the future. We are very near our maximum already for authorized capital. So far we have no plans for equity capital raising, said Puregold investor relations head John Hao. Puregold in January raised P4.69 billion through an overnight placement of shares. The transaction involved the sale of approximately 104 million Puregold shares at P45 apiece. The sale share represents 3.8 percent of Puregolds total issued and outstanding capital stock.Puregold chairman Lucio Co, who was the sole selling shareholder, also signed a subscription agreement to purchase the same number of shares at the same price. The company plans to use the net proceeds from the fund raising activity to fund capital expenditures related to store expansion and other general corporate purposes. The grocery chain operator this year plans to open 25 Puregold stores and four S&R Membership warehouse outlets. The Puregold Group had 397 stores nationwide as of end September 2018, comprising of 345 Puregold outlets, 16 S&R membership shopping warehouses and 36 S&R New York Style restaurant stores. Puregold, one of the countrys biggest retailers, has been opening 25 Puregold stores annually and successfully put up outlets in areas outside Metro Manila. Share price of Puregold on Thursday rose 1.5 percent to P48.79.
The senate of the American University in Cairo (AUC), which consists of representatives of the faculty, staff, students and administration, issued Feb. 5 a vote of no confidence in AUC President Francis J. Ricciardone with 80% of the votes.

Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees whose decisions are binding refused to approve the voting results at its Feb. 11 meeting and with one mind renewed confidence in Ricciardone as the sole decision-maker at AUC until the end of his four-year term that started in October 2016. The board perceived Ricciardones decisions and leadership to be substantial for the university's success at present and in the future. Based on that, an acute crisis was triggered.

The decision to withdraw confidence from Ricciardone, a former US ambassador to Egypt, stems from AUC hosting Jan. 10 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. One of the university halls was made available to the US Embassy to organize Pompeos press conference, without consulting with the various components at AUC, said faculty members in their Feb. 5 statement, which Al-Monitor received a copy of.

The Board of Trustees, which mostly consists of Egyptian and non-Egyptian businessmen, approves AUCs mission and vision, budgets, campus plans and policy changes. Board of Trustees members supervise the Universitys endowment and serve without compensation. The board also appoints the AUC president.

Hafez al-Mirazi, a professor of practice at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, told Al-Monitor over the phone that Pompeos discourse has been conclusive in the decision to withdraw confidence from Ricciardone. He indicated that most of the complaints about Ricciardone affirm that he does not abide by any of the professors recommendations and proposals, and that he deals with them as employees at his embassy. In addition, he kept quiet all of the arrangements for Pompeos visit for two weeks.

Mirazi, who voted in favor of withdrawing confidence from the AUC president at the senate meeting, believes that the problem lies in organizing Pompeos lecture without communicating with the working community, including members of the university senate. He said, The Board of Trustees refusal to approve the senates decision goes against the values of a liberal education that AUC promotes. [Such a decision] would be detrimental to [AUCs] interests and stability, and to the quality of the education it offers.

On Feb. 5, the AUC Students Union wrote a Facebook post endorsing the senates decision to withdraw confidence from Ricciardone. The current administration has proved its inability to cope with the faculty and students' needs, and accordingly must either change its actions or the administration must be changed.

Speaking to Al-Monitor over the phone, Pascale Ghazaleh, chair of the History Department, said, Ricciardone deals with AUC as being annexed to the US Embassy and as an affiliated business, subjugating everything about it to the profit-loss calculations and dealing with its professors in a patronizing way. Pompeos visit caught the faculty and senates members by surprise as it was organized without their knowledge."

Ghazaleh addressed Ricciardone Jan. 13 in a Facebook post, saying, Were any of the members of our community consulted as to whether it was a good idea to bring a former CIA director who has spoken in favor of torture to AUC?

Ghazaleh noted, Although his administrative post does not allow him to renew the professors contracts, meddling in the academics administrative contracts has been occurring in the form of [additional] low paid temporary contracts. This is in order to cut costs and ensure a firm grip over the academics jobs when the time comes for the contracts renewals. This is while permanent AUC contracts dwindled in comparison with the past.

She added, An invitation on behalf of the working community was delivered to Pompeo without said communitys knowledge in the first place.

Speaking to Al-Monitor over the phone, Rehab Saad, director of media relations at AUC, said that under the AUCs rules and regulations, the universitys senate makes nonbinding recommendations, noting that AUC respects the professors opinions and that more than one meeting will be held between Ricciardone and AUC professors.

She added that the hall where Pompeo was hosted does not accommodate more than 200 people. Based on that, the AUCs administration did not have the chance to invite all of the faculty members. Saad explained that in addition, the AUC administration was required to comply with security measures, only allowing the circulation of information about the visit shortly before it took place. She affirmed that the AUCs commitment to the principle of freedom of speech is behind hosting guests.

Commenting on whether or not the Board of Trustees decision would exacerbate the crisis, she said, Medium solutions will be reached through dialogue, which is a well-established tradition at the university.

AUC Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman told Al-Monitor over the phone that freedom and critical thinking are sacred in the eyes of the universitys administration and are espoused in the education process.

He explained that the AUC administration is entrusted with the wider role of hearing the facultys voice and sharing with them all of the facts they could have missed.

Abdel-Rahman justified the facultys criticism, saying, We are constantly keeping pace with the academic advancement via policies that would render the university more independent. The academic aspect is a prime concern for us and takes priority over the financial profits to ensure [the AUC's] survival in the long run.

He noted that it is a healthy matter to see faculty members and the Board of Trustees voicing different views, concluding, What happened underlines that we are in an academic community that clings to the importance of difference.
Qatar, disregarding the disapproval of the Palestinian Authority (PA), says it has no plans to stop supplying financial grants to the Gaza Strip.

[Qatar] will continue to support the Gaza Strip, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Feb. 17 in his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Though Hamas controls Gaza, Thani said his country does not finance the group, which Israel and a number of other countries label as a terrorist organization, but rather are helping the territory's struggling population. We are trying to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in clear ways and in front of everyone's eyes, he said.

Meanwhile, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council is disputing the amount of aid that the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Gaza has received from Qatar, saying the number is too high.

Haaretz columnist Yaniv Kubovich reported Feb. 10 that Qatar transferred more than $1.1 billion between 2012 and 2018 to the Gaza Strip, with Israel's approval. The newspaper said that about 44% of the transfers were invested in infrastructure, 40% in education and health care, and the rest was pledged to support Hamas and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Haaretz cited "figures compiled by an international source and presented to the [Israeli] political-security cabinet last month."

The article also said that Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit held a special review of the situation during which state legal and defense authorities were required to confirm that the transfers did not constitute a violation of Israeli and international sanctions on Hamas due to its status as a terror group.

In October, Qatar announced it was making a $150 million grant to the Gaza Strip, payable in monthly installments of $15 million. Some $90 million has been allocated to pay the salaries of civil employees in the besieged enclave and $60 million is designated to buy fuel to ease the ongoing power crisis. Out of this grant, three payments have been transferred so far, in November, December and January.

Israel has worked to ensure that Qatari funds are not distributed to Hamas or non-eligible Palestinian employees and citizens. It agreed with Qatar that the funds should be disbursed through post office branches in the Gaza Strip. Each beneficiary must appear in person and provide an ID card and a fingerprint.

The PA is not a party to the agreement allowing the transfer of the Qatari grant signed in November by Hamas, Qatar, Egypt, the United Nations and Israel. The PA is angry that Qatar is sending the aid to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip through Israel, rather than through the PA in the West Bank.

Samir Abdullah, a former PA planning and labor minister who now does research at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, told Al-Monitor that because Qatar's aid doesn't pass through the PA's official treasury, this undermines the PA's leverage over the Gaza Strip. Qatar is fueling internal friction between Fatah and Hamas. Qatar is fueling the flames of Palestinian division because its agenda doesn't match the Palestinian [national] agenda," Abdullah said.

Adnan Abu Halil, a Qatari journalist writing for Al-Sharq newspaper, told Al-Monitor, When Qatar offers its aid to Gaza, it isn't doing this as a charity organization that spends its money [altruistically], although this is part of its principles. Qatar seeks to strengthen its position in the region amid its disputes with major Arab and Gulf countries. Qatar sees its aid to Palestinians as a trump card. It is using this card without forcing Hamas to do anything. Besides, it is difficult to introduce funds into Gaza by force, without an understanding with Israel and the US.

Atef Adwan, head of the Economy Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor Haaretz's $1.1 billion figure is inaccurate. (The status of the largely inactive council, in which Hamas holds a majority, is in question as it faces a dispute with PA President Mahmoud Abbas over legitimacy.)

Adwan said, "This massive amount is an exaggeration. Hamas has not received any Qatari funds [directly] because this would annoy the Israelis and the Americans, who are tightening the financial grip on Hamas. The Qatari amounts were allocated directly to Palestinians and this reflected positively on Hamas. The Qatari aid eases Hamas economic obligations toward the population of the Gaza Strip.

The Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza published Nov. 11 on its Facebook page a chart detailing the total Qatari funds that entered Gaza from 2012 to 2018. The yearly amounts shown add up to less than $700 million, rather than the $1.1 billion Haaretz reported.

Qatar has played an important role in supporting the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip for many years," said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem. "It does not support Hamas, but it supports the Palestinian people in Gaza [run by Hamas] and the West Bank [run by Abbas' political party, Fatah]. The PA is attacking Qatar because [Qatar] is hindering its efforts to stifle Gaza."

He added, Fatahs attack on Qatar stems from internal Fatah disputes. President Mahmoud Abbas has strong ties with Qatar and has not publicly criticized it.

It seems the Qatari grant gave a strong boost to Gaza. The website of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza says these funds were allocated for humanitarian, health, infrastructure, sewage, water network and well projects and services for local government and municipalities. They also financed fuel for sewage and drinking water pumps and hospital generators. The funds were used to build an artificial limbs hospital and a residential city and to restore destroyed houses. Some of the money was allocated as compensation for the industrial and agricultural sectors after the 2014 war. The funds also helped finance operation of the Gaza power station, and settle salaries of Hamas civil employees in light of the movement's financial crunch.

Mohammed Abu Jiyab, editor-in-chief of Al-Eqtesadia newspaper in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that Qatari funds act "as a safety valve that defuses tension between Israel and Hamas." He added, "Qatar has invested its grants to improve its regional and international standing through Gaza. Israel is tracking and monitoring every penny that enters the Gaza Strip."

But in a Feb. 12 interview with Al-Bayan newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki criticized Qatar's role in Gaza and said defusing the tension benefits Israel.

On the same day, Hassan Asfour, a former PA minister of nongovernmental organizations, accused Qatar during a show on Egypt's TeN TV of being part of a political "axis of evil" allied with Israel.

Qatar may be the only Arab country to provide financial aid to the Gaza Strip. This confers on it a certain influence and power that other countries lack in this important area of the Palestinian territories. The sharp criticism leveled against Doha doesn't seem to be preventing it from continuing its support to the Gaza Strip, which is appreciated by both Hamas and Israel.
After years of being relegated to the sidelines for worry of angering the Israelis, a newly appointed Jordanian Islamic Waqf (Endowment) Council has roared to life, proclaiming a new era in Palestinian-Israeli politics in the holy city of Jerusalem.

More than 1,000 waqf employees in Jerusalem are part of the Jordanian Ministry of Waqf, but until recently Jordan has shied away from taking any proactive role in Jerusalem.

The new two-year council was announced by the reinstated chairman of the council, Sheikh Abdel Azeem Salhab, Feb. 14 in Jerusalem. Salhab stated in press reports that the Jordanian Cabinet approved the new council.

Wasfi Kailani, director of the Royal Hashemite Fund for the Restoration of Al-Aqsa and a key Jordanian official dealing with Jerusalem affairs, told Al-Monitor that the goals of the newly appointed Islamic Waqf Council is to support Jerusalemites and their steadfastness t hrough their solidarity with the custodianship mechanisms.

Upon the direction of his majesty King Abdullah II, the custodian of Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, the new council has been expanded from 11 to 18 members and has been entrusted to draw up an initial strategy to address the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances that threaten Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Islamic Waqf and the historic identity of the city, Kailani said.

The new council includes religious and political figures that played a leading role in the 11-day standoff in June 2017, when Muslims refused to enter the mosque through the Israeli-installed metal detectors at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque. These figures include the former mufti of Palestine, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, and Mahdi Abdul Hadi, the head of one of Jerusalems leading think tanks, as well as current and former Palestinian government ministers of Jerusalem, and leaders in the educational, media and business fields in the city.

Abdul Hadi, the founder and director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA), told Al-Monitor that the new council is taking over during the Donald Trump storm, Palestinian divisions and Arab normalization. The people of Jerusalem are laying on our shoulders a historical national responsibility to protect Muslim and Christian holy places and to preserve the cultural identity of the city, he said.

Hatem Abdel Qader, a former minister of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian government and a current member of the new council, spoke on Jordan TVs program Eye on Jerusalem Feb. 18, saying that the council is balanced, pluralistic and includes well-qualified members.

This new council reflects the large current cooperation and coordination between the Jordanian government and the Palestinian National Authority, he said, further expressing his hope that the "new council will strengthen support for Al-Aqsa and prevent any Israeli effort to divide the mosque physically or time-wise.

The addition of political symbolic figures and the presence of a senior representative from the Jordanian royal court, coupled with the initial action of the council when it entered the banned Bab al-Rahmeh gate, signal a clear change toward a more proactive stand by the new council, with political support from Amman.

Ofer Zalzberg, a senior researcher with the International Crisis Group and an expert on Jerusalem affairs, told Al-Monitor that the new council has been appointed against the backdrop of growing cooperation between the Israel police and [radical Jewish] Temple movements.

Zalzberg said that the reconstitution of the council reflects an attempt to strengthen the Waqf by providing the Muslim religious authorities with shared institutional capacities as well as the prestige and skills of prominent, experienced figures respected by Jerusalemites.

The new council wasted little time in showing that they are serious about their new mission. As part of the Waqf Councils initial meeting, council members, including the representative of the Royal Hashemite Court, decided to enter the Bab al-Rahmeh prayer hall that Israel had made off-limits to Muslims since 2003. It is unclear why Israel used the protests of the second Palestinian intifada to bar Muslims from using this prayer hall.

Kailani, who attended the first session of the new council and joined the council in a protest prayer inside Bab al-Rahmeh, told Al-Monitor that Jordan has been officially protesting the ban on entry of this location.

Israel has rejected our repeated requests since 2003 to remove this unfair decision to bar us from using the prayer hall at Bab al-Rahmeh," Kailani said. "So, we decided to visit the location with experts to check out its status after years of denial. We also carried noon prayers at that location to stress that this location is part of the entire Al-Aqsa Mosque and to declare that we reject any attempts to deny us our rights to our holy places.

The entry of the council members broke a unilateral order of the Israelis. The move of the new council caught Israel by surprise. Israeli police came rushing to the location and placed heavy chains at the gate. This was followed by four days of protests by Palestinian Jerusalemites. Israel arrested dozens of Palestinians, used tear gas against protesters and closed the mosque for a short period of time before an understanding was apparently reached to remove the chains, without giving approval to Muslims to use their own prayer hall at Bab al-Rahmeh.

Nasser Abu Sharif, a guard with the Jordanian waqf administration of the mosque, told Al-Monitor that the situation has returned to how it was before the Israelis chained the doors. Everything has returned to how it was before, but there is now an Israeli soldier and a waqf guard on the roof overlooking the Bab al-Rahmeh gate, he said.

Jordanian officials, including Kailani, insist that the Islamic Waqf Councils mandate doesnt include in any way the return of Jordanian responsibility outside of the parameter of the holy places.

The statements of Jordanian officials notwithstanding, the new council has given impetus to the people of Jerusalem and has revived their hopes that they are no longer political orphans without anyone paying attention to their future. The previous council was not empowered by the Jordanian government, but Jerusalemites feel that a new dawn is approaching and have publicly welcomed the all-inclusive council as a leadership vehicle that will allow them to express themselves and to forge ahead with a clear strategy for Jerusalem and its holy places.
The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet will be launched toward the moon from Cape Canaveral tomorrow, Feb. 22. Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, will be the smallest spacecraft ever dispatched to the moon, but its small size is not the lunar lander's only unique feature. It will also be the first such spacecraft to be launched by a private group of individuals  Yariv Bash, Yonatan Winetraub and Kfir Damari  and not by a superpower or even a state. The three young engineers will control their craft from their company headquarters in the town of Yahud, near Israel international Ben-Gurion Airport.

The Bersheet project began in 2010 as an entry in Googles international Lunar XPRIZE contest, which offered $20 million for a winning project to place a probe on the moon. The three Israeli applicants formed a non-profit organization, calling it SpaceIL, with the double goal of landing the first Israeli craft on the moon and inspiring young Israelis to undertake scientific and technological studies. They subsequently hooked up with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and raised funds from business tycoons such as Morris Kahn, Sheldon Adelson, Steven Grand and other donors.

On Jan. 23, 2018, after a year-long extension of the deadline, the XPRIZE Foundation announced that none of the 34 teams from around the world had won the competition and landed a spacecraft on the moon by the deadline. Nonetheless, the three Israelis decided to forge ahead, hoping their spacecraft would land on the moon on April 11, 2019, and make Israel the fourth country in the world after the United States, Russia and China to plant a flag on the moon.

The mission placing Israel alongside world powers will provide a tremendous impetus for Israels burgeoning space industry, Tel Aviv University researcher Adi Nino-Greenberg told Al-Monitor. This is an extraordinary achievement for a small group of young people entering the space industry, mobilizing a great many other dreamers for their enterprise, setting a target and attaining it: Building a spacecraft from scratch and dispatching it to the moon. And it was all accomplished by a privately funded and executed initiative. This is source of great pride and respect.

The deputy head of the SpaceIL project and director of its ground operations, Eran Schmidt, is convinced that the future lies in new space  that is, a private spaceflight industry. The world understands that government programs alone are insufficient to generate achievements in space, and that is why the future lies in non-governmental initiatives, he told Al-Monitor. That is why NASA signed a contract two months ago with private companies to deliver science experiments to the surface of the moon, and to eventually fly astronauts there in cooperation with private industry. Happily, we will be the first civilian group to land a spacecraft on the moon, but there will be many others after us. This story is just beginning.

Nino-Greenberg is also convinced that the space industry is moving away from state control. Private space companies currently have registered capital of some $400 billion and counting, she said. They are many start-ups developing nanosatellite constellations, mostly in the communications field. These are expected to become an alternative to  costly communication satellites."

The cost of the SpaceIL project is estimated at $95 million, about 10% of NASAs investment in sending a man to the moon 50 years ago. According to Nino-Greenberg, the cost is a dramatic innovation. The cheaper it is, the more launches there will be, the more research, study and exploitation of space  all of which will benefit humanity. For example, the Falcon 9 rocket [that will launch Beresheet] is a multi-use launcher. According to Elon Musks vision, a day after the launch, the Flacon 9 should be ready for another launch. This is also why there is cooperation today in space flights and this is also why Beresheet will be flying to the moon together with an Indonesian communications satellite.

The entire scientific world has its eyes on us, said Schmidt. The next thing will be low-cost travel to space and we are proving it is possible, and this is already generating great international interest in the Israeli space industry. Less than a month ago, based on the technology we developed, the IAI signed a contract with a German company working for the European Space Agency to build lunar spacecraft for scientific research.

Above all, SpaceIL is an educational initiative. Had they won the contest, its founders planned to donate their $20 million prize to space projects for Israeli schoolchildren. We would like to create an Apollo Effect  all the American success stories of the 1990s stemmed from the inspiration generated by the moon landing several decades earlier, Schmidt explained. It raised the level of all the American research. We want to create a Beresheet effect here in order to attract young people to study hard sciences.

Schmidt already considers the project a success, even if the landing does not go as planned. From an educational point of view, we have succeeded, he said. So far hundreds of our volunteers have already met a million children and exposed them to the story of our aircraft. That is a fantastic educational achievement.

Nino-Greenberg is also excited about the programs educational potential. I myself am developing space study programs and teaching children about space exploration, the wonders of the universe and, of course, the Beresheet spacecraft, she said. I see their eyes shining and I know that one or more of these pairs of eyes belong to a future scientist who will achieve progress in this field. The space exploration field has undergone dramatic change, and if we want to lead it, we have to raise a curious young generation hungering for progress in this area, young people that will integrate STEM studies. The future lies in space, the future lies with the younger generation that will explore space and discover more about the space in which we live. They may be the ones who will pave the way for human habitation outside our system.
The description by acting Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz of Poles as a species of anti-Semitic mammals is unlikely to be studied in the Foreign Ministrys training programs as a model of diplomatic conduct. One might have expected a seasoned politician eyeing the premiership to express himself more carefully when asked about anti-Semitism in Poland than to cite, as Katz did, the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamirs comment that Poles suckled anti-Semitism with their mothers milk.

Katz, appointed Feb. 17, thus flunked his first diplomatic test  handling a crisis with Warsaw stemming from the alleged misreporting of a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about Polish participation in the Holocaust, that caused offense. In doing so, he played into the hands of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is running for re-election and courting nationalist voters. Katzs comment in an interview exacerbated the crisis and led to the last-minute scrapping of the Visegrad summit of central European leaders that had been scheduled to take place in Jerusalem Feb. 19.

Netanyahu had entrusted Katz with watering the diplomatic seeds of friendship with European nationalist leaders that he had planted in recent years. Instead, Katz, with one remark on his first day on the job, dealt a blow to one of Netanyahus prized achievements. At a toast ahead of the Jewish New Year with Foreign Ministry staff last September, Netanyahu boasted of a diplomatic flourishing unprecedented in the history of Israel. He added that Israel was fighting not only to advance its own interests and the interests of those who cooperate with it, but also for justice, for the truth.

Netanyahu, also Israels foreign minister at the time of the toast, said Israel was waging a particularly tough battle over justice and truth vis-a-vis the European Union. Justice, according to Netanyahu, is the right of the Jewish people, and only of the Jewish people, to the Land of Israel, the entire Land of Israel. His truth is that the only nuclear state in the Middle East (according to foreign reports) faces an existential risk of a second Holocaust. According to Netanyahu, the state that has set the record in the democratic world for the longest occupation is the victim of the people it occupies. The EU refuses to recognize Netanyahus justice and truth and insists on adhering to the nuclear agreement with Iran and to its demand for an end to Israels occupation.

In the Polish and Hungarian governments, Netanyahu had found the perfect allies. All three hate foreigners, incite against leftists and aspire to wipe out every trace of liberal democracy. At the center of Netanyahu's deal with them was a promise to their leaders to bend the truth about the role the two countries played in the Holocaust and to ignore the injustice to its victims and survivors. Netanyahu forgave Morawiecki for outrageously asserting in February 2018, There were Polish perpetrators [of the Holocaust], just as there were Jewish and Russian and Ukrainian perpetrators, not just German ones.

Last year, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial center  to which Netanyahu had been scheduled to accompany the Polish prime minister along with his three Visegrad colleagues from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the Jerusalem summit  issued a document about Polish complicity in the murder of Jews. The extent of collaboration by Jews, and its underlying motives, are fundamentally different from those that characterized the eagerness of not a few Poles to help the Germans murder the Jews, wrote Yad Vashem historians. They also ripped to shreds a Netanyahu-Morawiecki joint statement issued in June 2018. Contrary to the statement, the historians wrote, The structures of the Polish underground State and the Polish Government-in-Exile did not (!) create a mechanism of systematic (!) help and support to Jewish people; and its courts did not (!) sentence Poles for collaborating with the German occupation authorities, including for denouncing Jews (exclamation marks in the original).

According to the historians, the attempts to glorify aid to the Jews, like the attempt to minimize the role of the Poles in persecuting Jews, were not only a sin against historic fact, but also dishonored the memory and courage of the Righteous Among the Nations, who risked their lives to save Jews. They quoted Irena Sendler, a Polish woman recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, who said that during World War II it was easier to hide a tank under the rug than to hide a Jewish child in ones home.

The leaders of Israel and Hungary have a shared interest. His name is George Soros, a Jewish American philanthropist of Hungarian origin who supports liberal causes. Netanyahu was silent when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban used Soros in his election campaign propaganda, which employed decidedly anti-Semitic overtones. Netanyahu continued being chummy with him even after Orban in June 2017 hailed Admiral Miklos Horthy, a known Nazi collaborator.

In an unusual statement issued at the time, the Holocaust Museum in Washington accused Orban of trying to rewrite history and to erase the part played by the Hungarian regime in the murder of Jews. Zehava Gal-On, then-chair of the left-wing party Meretz, wrote on Facebook, Netanyahu has become a collaborator of global anti-Semitism. No less.

The deal between Israel and the Visegrad Four had worked well until Israels Supreme Court forced Netanyahu to appoint a full-time foreign minister (to reduce the number of portfolios he held). He picked a politician with no diplomatic experience and during whose decade-long tenure as transportation minister Israels public and private transport systems veered off course. It is unclear whether Katzs remark was a rookie slip of the tongue or an attempt to cash in on the Holocaust in the battle to succeed Netanyahu in the Likud. Either way, the crisis with the central European states exposed the lack of coherence (hypocrisy, if you will) in the attitude of the Israeli right toward the Holocaust and 20th-century anti-Semitism.

Netanyahu and his people are quick to brand as anti-Semites any European person or organization the minute they criticize the occupation or boycott products manufactured in Israeli settlements. At the same time, they embrace European leaders whose careers have been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism. Tell me how many years you have been lording over your neighbors, and I will tell you who your friends are. Moral beggars cannot be diplomatic choosers.

On top of all this, Netanyahu has gone out of his way to guarantee a merger among far-right parties ahead of Israel's April 9 elections. When the prime minister himself takes every possible step to ensure Knesset seats for a group of radical right-wing Kahane followers, who believe in the supremacy of the Jewish people, one can hardly blame people who hate Jews, who believe in the supremacy of the white race.
This past Tuesday, for the first time in three months, an incendiary balloon was sent from the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory, where it caused two fires in the Kissufim Forest. For Israel, this incident was additional proof that Hamas has decided to stop playing by the rules and has given the green light to its operatives to renew the launching of incendiary balloons. This is despite the fact that Hamas agreed last November to stop the incendiary-balloon campaign and limit the number of protesters participating in violent demonstrations every week along the length of the Gaza-Israel border  in exchange for numerous easements of the closure and Israeli consent for the transfer of Qatari monetary aid to the Strip.

These understandings were supposed to be the first stage of a wider arrangement, but as many people anticipated, the first stage is, as of now, the last stage. Israel began its election campaign, Hamas revealed that it has no one to talk to, and no arrangement will be realized in the near future, if at all.

As far as Hamas leaders are concerned, if Israel does not meet its commitments, they too are not beholden to the understandings. Their goal is to focus international attention on the hardships of Gaza and its residents. Israels defense system updated its periodic situation-evaluation this month: Now it seems that Hamas is gearing up for an all-out confrontation with Israel in order to cause international intervention in the Strip, no matter the price. (This was mentioned in a previous Al-Monitor article.)

The incendiary balloon launched from the Gaza Strip this week is Hamas way of telling Israel that it has a stockpile of many more balloons waiting for to be launched into Israel. As strange as it sounds, these Gaza balloons have emerged as efficient weapons with capacity for creating tremendous damage, even against an advanced army like the Israel Defense Forces, which has the most sophisticated weapons in the world. The Gaza-envelope farmers can testify to this, as they lost dozens if not hundreds of millions of shekels this past summer alone.

This week, Hamas expressly instructed its balloon unit (the unit charged with balloon supply, appropriate kindling material and fire protective gear) to move to friction spots on the border and prepare to renew the struggle. For the upcoming fence demonstration on Feb. 22, Hamas may well allow the demonstrators to approach the fence and ignore the buffer zone that Israel created; in other words, to escalate the conflict. This would be the Hamas message to the Israelis that "enough is enough."

It is clear to the IDF that the first balloon launched this week will not be the last. We may be facing a new battle plan and do not know where it will end and how much Hamas will be willing to sacrifice for it. The word sacrifice is very apt when discussing Gaza and armed battle. Ultimately, the rounds of fighting till now between Gaza and Israel have been measured according to the number of killed or injured Palestinians, and the numerical breakdown of civilians versus Hamas fighters (and fighters from other organizations as well).

Al-Monitor received information that even though Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, decided to increase the pressure on Israel, not everyone in the movements leadership is happy with that decision. Some members of the Hamas leadership, those viewed as part of the movements pragmatic camp, feel that a confrontation with Israel now may be catastrophic, and not because of any military weakness on the part of Hamas Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Since 2008, Israel has launched three military campaigns in Gaza (Operation Protective Edge in 2014, Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 and Operation Cast Lead in 2008). From that period on, there have been innumerable military activities in between that ended in temporary cease-fires, and border fence demonstrations that exacted many victims. Despite all this, Hamas received strong public support in its armed struggle against Israel.

But something changed over the last year. After hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives along the fence, thousands more were injured, and a harsh reality of tremendous shortages in basic staples and food  it appears that the Palestinian population in Gaza is exhausted. They may not be able to endure another bloody round of fighting. And thats not all; there are other issues as well, in addition to the general morale.

A Hamas source who spoke to Al-Monitor said that the situation in the Gaza hospitals are so grievous that they can barely absorb the Palestinians injured in the border demonstrations. And what if theres a war that inflicts injuries on a large number of people? Who will take care of them? And how can they be treated when there is such a huge shortage of medical equipment and medicines? You dont wage wars without hospitals, he said and emphasized that under current conditions, the Gaza hospitals are unable to treat even those patients who are not connected to the armed conflict with Israel.

Two main reasons are behind the severe shortage of medical equipment and medicines in Gaza: The first is that the Gaza hospitals treated many thousands of Palestinians injured in fence demonstrations this past year, and the medical inventories were not replenished; the second is that the sanctions imposed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the Strip have severely harmed Gazas health system (the system was financed for the most part from the Palestinian Authority budget). According to our source, the PA did not stop all the funding of Gaza hospitals but did cut the funding to Gazas health system by more than half.

The situation described above is likely to deteriorate even further. On Feb. 17, Israels Security Cabinet decided to implement a law that allows Israel to deduct from the tax money it collects on behalf of the PA the funds that it pays to the families of suicide bombers and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. In response, President Abbas announced that he will refuse to accept the money (about half a billion shekels a month, or $138 million), if Israel deducts even one shekel from it. The first ones who are likely to suffer the most from this game are the Gaza residents, including the failing health system in the Strip.

The pressure of the pragmatic Hamas wing leader Sinwar has had only mixed results. Sinwar heard the voices and promised to act responsibly and act against Israel to a measured degree, but he could not commit himself to what would happen should the conflict get out of hand.

The situation of the Gaza hospitals was discussed in the Security Cabinet on Feb. 5. The IDF warned the Cabinet ministers that the health services in Gaza are on the brink of collapse, and if a military campaign breaks out it will be hard for Israel to receive international support. Clearly, the sight of injured and dying people abandoned on Gaza sidewalks in front of collapsing hospitals will fill the leading news channels throughout the world and prevent Israel from conducting a military campaign against Hamas.

The Cabinet heard all this, but did not internalize it. Israels ministers continue to make decisions that seem to be based on only one consideration: political gain in Israels current election campaign.
Former Israeli army chief and rising political star Benny Gantz and centrist leader Yair Lapid have upended Israels upcoming elections with their decision today to join forces against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Why it matters: Netanyahu and his right-wing allies were favored to win on a security platform in the April elections. But Gantzs Blue and White alliance with Lapids centrist Yesh Atid party and fellow former army chief Gabi Ashkenazi represents a major challenge. Gantzs list is full of hawkish politicians, among them Moshe Yaalon, another former army chief and former minister of defense under Netanyahu.

Polls show the joint party has a good chance of winning more Knesset seats than Netanyahus Likud, an important symbolic victory. But the complexity of building a coalition with a majority of 61 Knesset members to form a government remains a daunting challenge.

The backstory: On Tuesday, Gantz called on Lapid to join him. After two days of negotiations, the pair struck a deal to rotate at the head of the government should they win, with Gantz serving the term of two and a half years.

Netanyahu's reaction: The rattled Israeli leader canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today amid assessments that his rivals would unite. Netanyahu has worked hard to prevent losing right-wing voters, notably pressing the heads of national religious parties to join the ultra-right Jewish Power party of ultranationalist American Israeli rabbi Meir Kahane.

What's next: Netanyahu will try to make sure that none of his allies defect to the generals side. Gantz, for his part, is expected to try to peel off the center-right Jewish Home party from Netanyahus nascent coalition. Expect the generals to emphasize their military experience to challenge Netanyahu's claim that he is the only one who can keep Israel safe.

Know more: Mazal Mualem has the latest on Netanyahu's efforts to join forces with far-right parties. She also looks into Gantzs chances of pulling off a win.

- Danny Zaken
The Egyptian parliament approved Feb. 14 a draft constitutional amendment submitted by members of parliament of the pro-regime Egypt Support Coalition earlier this month. The amendments include one that would ensure President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi remains in power until 2034 by extending the current four-year presidential term to six years and abolish the current two-term limit.

The amendments are due to be approved by the parliaments Constitutional and Legislative Committee for discussion, although no date is yet scheduled, before they would be put up to a referendum so they can enter into force.

The amendments coincide with leaked sex tapes and lawsuits targeting politicians who rejected the amendments in an attempt to pass them as soon as possible without any obstacles, a member of parliament for the pro-regime Egypt Support Coalition and member of the committee told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Haitham al-Hariri, a parliamentarian for the 25-30 bloc, representing the minority opposition in parliament, who had previously rejected the amendments, posted on his Facebook page Feb. 11 a message for Egyptians to support the amendments. He said that if parliament approved the amendments, it would be the ultimate form of practicing democracy, calling on citizens to vote in the referendum on these amendments.

Hariris post sparked outrage among his followers, who commented on how he changed his position since a phone call in which he used sexual connotations went viral on Feb. 8.

Meanwhile, pro-state media praised his post, stressing that Hariri had corrected his position on the amendments and now supports passing them.

According to the constitutional amendments, Sisi will also have the right to appoint heads of courts and judicial councils and form a Supreme Judicial Council that he heads himself. The amendments also propose adding to the military establishments duty the protection of the constitution and democracy and the fundamental makeup of the country and its civil nature. In addition, the amendments include forming a Shura Council, allocating a 25% quota for women in parliament and ensuring representation for Copts, farmers and workers.

Hariri now faces an intense defamation campaign. Lawyers Samir Sabri and Tariq Mahmoud filed two lawsuits against Hariri on Feb. 12-13, before the Administrative Court of Justice to drop his membership in parliament, given the inappropriate sexual innuendos in the leaked phone call.

Meanwhile, lawyer Mohammad Salem filed another lawsuit against him, accusing him of inciting sexual violence and sexual harassment via phone.

However, filmmaker and parliamentarian Khaled Youssef, who also opposed the amendments, finds himself in a worse situation. Egyptians have been preoccupied since mid-January with dozens of sex tapes involving Youssef and several women, including two actresses. Media outlets reported that the clips were initially shared by activists and parliamentarians through WhatsApp groups.

On Feb. 7, police arrested two female artists who appeared in some of these clips, accusing them of inciting debauchery and public indecency.

Meanwhile, Youssef moved to Paris on Feb. 1.

Lawyers filed several lawsuits before courts and called on parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal to revoke Youssefs parliamentary membership. On Feb. 18, the Administrative Court of Justice set a hearing for March 16 to consider the case filed by Sabri to remove Youssef from parliament.

Anyone who says no [to the amendments] has to pay for it by being the target of defamation, Hariri told Al-Monitor, noting that he was also the victim of such defamation campaigns.

He said there is an attempt (which he did not specify) to launch moral distortion and intimidation of anyone who rejects these amendments, adding that there is also an attempt to quickly pass these amendments. Defamation campaigns are targeting those who reject the amendments in order to shut them up and stop any debate in this regard, Hariri said.

Such campaigns bring to mind "The Black Box," a TV program hosted by Abdel Rahim Ali that aired in 2014-15 on Al Kahera Wal Nas channel, which the Egyptian authorities supported. During each episode, the program would reveal private phone calls by revolutionary activists and Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Spokesman for the opposing Civil Democratic Movement Majdi Abdel Hamid told Al-Monitor, Defamation campaigns are aimed at blackmailing the opposition and deterring any voice that tries to call on citizens to reject these serious amendments.

He added that the government is waging an unfair war by seeking defamation as it tries to deliver a message  remain silent, or else you will face the same  to all those who reject the amendments.

Abdel Hamid noted that the Civil Democratic Movement and the opposition parties will not be able to create a debate in the community regarding these constitutional amendments in light of the political repression and these defamation campaigns.

However, the parliamentarian from the Egypt Support Coalition said that the government wants to pass these amendments as soon as possible, noting that it does not accept any debate in society that could hinder passing these amendments.

The member of parliament admitted that the videos and sexual recordings of the two parliamentarians came at this time in order to prevent any attempts to create a community dialogue affecting the referendum on these amendments.

He explained that some of the articles proposed were unconstitutional, especially the article on the establishment of a Supreme Judicial Council headed by Sisi, who would also have the right to appoint heads of courts and administrative councils. He pointed out that this article contradicts the principle of separating powers provided for in the constitution.

He noted that a good number of members of parliament oppose some items such as allocating 25% of parliament quota to women, workers and farmers, as well as forming a Shura Council, as this quota would take seats away from these members of parliament. However, he explained that he would vote in favor of these amendments, because the authority wants to pass these amendments as they are.

The parliamentarian said that the articles for women and representation of Copts, farmers and workers aim at attracting the votes of these sectors during the referendum, underlining that the main objective of these amendments is to extend the rule of President Sisi.
Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc., the partnership between global insurer Allianz and Philippine National Bank of airline and tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan, expects growth prospects to remain strong this year after posting a remarkable performance in the first three years of the business. The two leading financial institutions signed a 15-year bancassurance partnership in 2016, which led to the establishment of Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc. Allianz PNB Life president and chief executive Olaf Kliesow said in a speech during a private dinner celebration at the Century Park Hotel in Pasay City Wednesday evening the companys annualized premium income for 2018 stood at a historic high. It has quadrupled compared to when we started in 2016, he said, although not mentioning specific numbers. Kliesow attributed the success to the incomparable and uncompromising support from the LT Group...  and the thousands of PhilNaBankers who supported our Bancassurance goals over the years. The basic assumption of our partnership has worked out well: the local reach of the bank, its strong reputation, and its wide network coupled with the global know how of Allianz on products and digital assets that was the backbone of our success, he said.Kliesow, who has been recently re-elected president of the Philippine Life Insurance Association, lauded the companys consistent efforts in following the plans to expand the business in the Philippines. I have seen many business plans and joint ventures kicking off but I have seen none that managed to stick or even exceed the plan to the extent our collaboration has managed to do, he said. Allianz PNB Lifes premium income in 2017, according to the Insurance Commission, jumped 96 percent to P5.30 billion from P2.71 billion in 2016. The income was more than double the average industry growth rate of just 11 percent. Allianz also became the Philippines fastest-growing life insurance company in 2017. Kliesow said growth prospects remained strong and outlook for the companys core market was positive as Allianz launched a new campaign this first quarter.
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The mythical African black leopard really does exist. Biologists shot rare footage and stills of the sleek big cat walking majestically in Kenya -- the first time the animal has been photographed in Africa since 1909, reports CNN. (Note: Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper said that its photographer Phoebe Okall shot an image of a black leopard in 2013.) Photographer Will Burrard-Lucas fulfilled a lifelong dream by photographing the cat and has blogged about his experience of a lifetime. "For me, no animal is shrouded in more mystery, he noted.
DES MOINES  It has been a quiet year for agriculture so far under the golden dome of the Iowa Capitol, but several pieces of legislation important to the industry are moving through the legislative process.

One item that appears to have bipartisan support is the raising the cap for funds available for the states beginning farmer tax credit program.

Iowa House Agriculture Committee Chair Ross Paustian, R-Walcott, says a bill proposal that would raise that limit from $6 million to $12 million is being considered by the committee and he is hopeful it will eventually pass.

The program was started in 2009 and was capped at $6 million on the value of the credits that could be awarded. Legislation passed in 2013 upped that limit to $12 million, but when the states budget got tight the legislation was allowed to expire on Jan. 1, 2018.

Because of that, the state took no new applications for the credit last year (due to the fact that the credits are multi-year expenditures). Legislation was introduced last year to raise that figure, but it did not pass.

Lawmakers are also working on language for a bill to legalize industrial hemp production in Iowa. Paustian and his committees ranking minority member, Rep. Bruce Bearinger, D-Oelwein, both say they are optimistic that lawmakers will pass some type of industrial hemp legislation this spring. The fact that industrial hemp was included in the recently passed federal farm bill made a difference.

Im excited for that, Bearinger says.
Speaking on Day 1 at the IAA World Congress in Kochi on February 20, 2019, Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital Limited, discussed the potential in data content and digital media planning and buying.

According to Sorrell, first party data is driving content, and for a very good reason. He added, Control of first party data is critically important. That is where you win or lose. With the growth of fake news and political debates on platforms like FB and Twitter, theres an issue of privacy which has worried the customers. Model driven white data is critical, he said.

Giving his take on the Indian market, Sorrell observed, For me, India is an interesting market. I have been coming here on and off for about 30-35 years and the business of WPP here is a prominent one, around 50 per cent of market share. But the Indian market is still quite traditional. There are two different strategies: Seagull management/ spreadsheet management, and Consolidated  Group strategy and separate  brand-wise strategy.

He added that transparency in data is important in India, considering the fact how prominent traditional media is in India compared to ready of the world.

Sorrell also announced that his companies, S4 Capital and Media Monks, were on the cusp of setting up their operations in India. He added that the companies would follow a data-driven model in India, where we take the content, develop it and then feed that content into programmatic media buying, depending on the behaviour of the consumer. This model using data has been done before. S4 Capital is purely about digital; 40 per cent of our clients budgets suffuses digital at the moment.

Adgully caught up with Sir Martin Sorrell to know more about his India plans.

How is the experience of starting an entire new venture in your 70s?

Just like the first time. I cant tell you what its like, compared to when I was in my 40s. It is a bit different in a funny way. The good news is that you have a clean sheet of paper, but the bad news is that you have a clean sheet of paper. When I left Saatchi and went to what was Wired Plastic Products (WPP), we didnt have the resources and had to build from scratch. All there was, was the excitement of starting anew. You dont have the history, you dont have the weight of the past, the anchors and the adroitness of the past. You can set your own agenda. If Media Monks or MightyHive were available  which they were  you ask around in the industry what their reputation is, it has a pretty strong reputation among clients, business journalists, analysts, et al. You have the opportunity to fashion something in your own way, with your own ideas.

When I think about what happened before, like when I was in Saatchi, it was all about globalisation. When I was at WPP, it was about reinforcing globalisation. We were into technology in a big way  40 per cent in digital when I left. Now, 100 per cent of WPP is in digital; digital is the prime mover and globalisation is still important. But you need to ask yourself  is it necessary to be in 113 countries? We recently set up our operations in Japan and now we are all set to set shop in India, which will be our 15th country.

Could you tell us about S4 Capitals India foray?

We will start our operations in India by the end of February 2019. We have somebody in place to run the operations and we will reveal the name soon. It will be a completely Indian operation and we are not going in with a partner. We will be starting from scratch.

You have been a frequent visitor to India. What are your key observations and takeaways from the Indian advertising market?

I think the Indian market remains very vibrant. Obviously, the industry is still growing. The agencies seem to have flattened out, so it is tougher for the agencies. The agencies here see the same challenges here as they see elsewhere, but fewer ones. The market is more traditional, with traditional media playing a greater role. It might continue to be so in the future, but will be subject to new pressures.

What also interests me here is the two-tier economy in India. The pace of technology in the country is very high, with Bangalore becoming a tech hub just like the Silicon Valley. Its a great market and is heading to be the most populous one on the planet. India is full of potential and I think thats a dividend and not a liability. While India might not be the wealthiest country on the planet, but from a media point of view, it will only grow in importance.

You have stated earlier that 2019 will be a bumpy year. What are the challenges that you foresee?

There is a strange dichotomy or difference, and to me that signals that there is going to be a fair amount of bumpiness. Take Brexit, for example. To my mind, Brexit is a side show to the trade fight; its not a tiff, its a war. Governments are changing; India is set for its General Elections. I think this is about who is going to be top dog.

What would be the key revenue earners for S4 Capital in India?

Well, disruption  or bumpiness  is good for us, because we are a disrupter and we are at the early stages of our business. We are not a big far-flung company. We have 1,200 people. This year, our brokers are forecasting $225 million in revenues and $600 million in market cap. Thus, bumpiness is a good thing for us, while it is not the case for the established people. For them, it creates more and more challenges, while for us it creates opportunities. The more disruption there is in the system, the better for us.

We see a lot of spends in digital, but the market is getting more and more fragmented

When its fragmented, it throws up consolidation opportunities. So, fragmentation is not such a bad thing. I think youve got to be a bit careful about that. When an industry is in its early stages, it tends to be more fragmented. As it matures, it gets more consolidated. In 1985, when we focused on what is now called below the line, it was highly fragmented. The reason it was highly fragmented was because nobody took it seriously. It was in its early stages, so the opportunities to consolidate were significant then and thats what we did. But it is different with digital, because that is serious stuff and people understand it. Id like to think, though I may be wrong, that digital is ripe for consolidation too.

Are you relishing the David vs Goliath moment with WPP?

David defeated Goliath! I am trying to think of the small and big ways that the Lilliputians overcame Gulliver. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, is what the phrase is. It is not a question of David and Goliath, I mean Ive done this before and this is the third time. The first time was when I joined Saatchi. Then how we grew Wired Plastic Products into the WPP conglomerate. And now with S4 Capital.

How are you looking at this challenge? Are you fully geared?

I know from my experience in the last 6-9 months that if we get Media Monks or MightyHive to a client, they will win the business. They are extremely effective at winning businesses.

Will we see more of you in India once operations for S4 Capital begin?

No. Once the operations start, I will depart.
Chrome News Track is a yet another exclusive from Chrome Data Analytics and Media which conducts study on News Content aired across India by choosing the "Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed News of the week".

The survey conducted is an outcome of the data collected from 34000 Chrome DM panel homes across India. It analyses the effectiveness of the News aired on television every week and categorises it through three broad segments namely Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed.

Most Aired News in Week 07:

According to the Chrome News Track data for the Week 07 - 2019, Pulwama Terror Attack is the most Aired News this week, followed by 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. The News about Rafale Deal stood at the 3rd spot, the Robert Vadra Controversy is next in the list and News about Akhilesh Yadav Barred from Taking a Flight to Allahabad managed to take the fifth and the last spot.

Most Watched News in Week 07:

The survey also unveils that Pulwama Terror Attack is the most watched news for the week grabbing maximum eyeballs, followed by 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. The news about Robert Vadra Controversy, Rafale Deal & Akhilesh Yadav Barred from Taking a Flight to Allahabad also generated interests amongst viewers and are placed at 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively in the list.

Most Discussed News in Week 07:

On the other hand taking a closer view of the Most Discussed News category of the survey, the news about Pulwama Terror Attack has been the talk of the nation making it the most discussed news whereas the Rafale Deal happens to be the 2nd most discussed news as per the survey. Akhilesh Yadav Barred from Taking a Flight to Allahabad became the 3rd discussed most news among masses. 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and Robert Vadra Controversy are placed at 4th & 5th respectively in the list.
State-run pension fund Social Security System said the enactment of Republic Act No. 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, will add 13 more years to its fund life or until 2045. SSS president and chief executive Emmanuel Dooc said Thursday fund lifes extension would be driven by the implementation of the contribution increase and the adjustment in minimum and maximum salary credits under the newly-signed law. RA 11199 aims to strengthen the pension fund through the implementation of the gradual increase on monthly contributions from the current 11 percent to an addition of 1 percentage point starting in the year of implementation until it reaches 15 percent by 2025 and the gradual adjustment of the minimum and maximum monthly salary credit. SSS said that based on an actuarial and risk management groups study, there would be an additional P31 billion in contribution collections of the pension fund in 2019 if the 12-percent contribution rate with adjustments in the minimum and maximum MSC would be implemented. SSS fund life in 2016 was 26 years or until 2042. This was reduced by 10 years when the P1,000 additional benefit for pensioners was implemented in 2017. SSS shelled out an extra P33.26 billion in 2017 for the implementation of the P1,000 additional benefit for more than 2.3 million qualified pensioners. We would like to appeal to our members to see these reforms as additional savings and not as a burden for them. We would like to ensure that the SSS would have enough funds for their short-term and immediate financial needs during times of contingencies, Dooc said. Along with these reforms, of course, benefits and privileges for our members will also improve. One example, assuming a member who has a monthly salary of P20,000, and has paid 12 contributions in the 12-month period before the semester of contingency, his/her sickness benefit will increase to P600 per day from the current P480 per day, Dooc said.For the same monthly salary of P20,000, maternity benefit is also expected to increase to P40,000 for non-cesarean from the current P32,000. The average basic monthly pension is also expected to increase to P8,000 from the current average of P6,400. This law also provides unemployment insurance for those who will be involuntarily displaced from employment. Under the law, displaced workers will get financial assistance from SSS in the form of cash equivalent to half of their average monthly salary credit for two months, Dooc said. SSS members are currently covered with sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral and death/survivor benefits. The law also provides protection for the growing number of Filipinos working abroad as it made social security coverage of overseas Filipino workers mandatory. Filipinos who work outside the country are more prone to risks as they are exposed to the unfamiliar environment while they are trying to earn for their family. Our goal here is to ensure that all of OFWs will be protected under the SSS, Dooc said.
Many times you might have found the multiple casinos available in the online market but when you are going to...
In a reflection of the tremendous creative opportunities now possible in todays outdoor ad market, The One Club for Creativity has announced a partnership with Outfront Media, Inc, who will serve as exclusive sponsor for The One Show 2019 Out-of-Home category. Deadline for entry is today, February 21, 2019.

Outfront Media is one of the largest out-of-home media companies in North America. Headquartered in New York, the company connects brands and consumers in the real world on giant creative canvases. Their focus on creative, through in-house creative boutique Outfront Studios, has been recognised across the media industry.

As part of the partnership, Eddy Herty, National Creative Director, Outfront Studios, will lend his creative expertise to judging entries from around the world as a member of The One Show Print & Outdoor jury, which includes the OOH category.

In addition, The One Club will help co-promote an upcoming recognition program from Outfront, to be announced shortly, which celebrates personal artistic work done by members of the ad industrys creative community.

The One Show and Outfront share a passion for big creative ideas and quality of execution, said Herty. As a company focused on creative, Outfront is excited to partner with The One Club as a way to highlight the world-class creative work thats now being done in todays OOH market.

Some of the most exciting recent examples of great creative thinking to win at The One Show have come in the OOH category, said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity. Whether using the latest giant video screen technology or a simple but brilliant line of copy on the side of a bus, One Show Pencil winners in OOH have demonstrated a world of creative possibilities. Were thrilled to have Outfront as a partner to elevate and celebrate the great work being done in the category around the world.

The One Show is produced by The One Club for Creativity, the worlds foremost non-profit organisation celebrating creative excellence in advertising and design. The One Show awards will be presented on two nights during The One Club Creative Week in New York from May 6 to 10, 2019.
Nestle, Disney, Epic Games and Dr Oetker have pulled out their ads from the YouTube platform following allegations of the presence of a paedophilia network.

As per media reports, the move comes following the allegations made by vlogger Matt Watson in a YouTube video that a paedophile ring was active in the comments section of videos mostly of young girls engaged in various innocuous activities.

While these videos were not sexual in nature, the comments were highly sexually suggestive. And every time one watched these videos, YouTubes algorithm picked up similar videos and recommended them for viewing. The ads of Nestle, Disney and Epic Games were found running alongside these videos.

This is not the first time that YouTube has landed in trouble for the content on its platform. About a couple of years back, several large brands had pulled out of YouTube after their ads had appeared alongside videos of people supporting terrorist groups.
A.J Christopher who was National Head - Sales and Marketing at Eenadu Newspaper has put down his papers sources have confirmed to Adgully.

A media industry expert, A.J Christopher joined Eenadu Newspaper in 1996 and has been with the organisation for over 22 years. In that period he played a pivotal role across in the midst of the satellite TV revolution in the early 90's followed by Digital & OOH and OTT.

At part of the Eenadu Group, he was an integral part of the core team that helped establish it as one the largest and most diversified regional media conglomerate in the country with a presence in Print, TV, Radio, Digital, OTT, and OOH.
Roseville, Calif. --

The Placer County Sheriff's Office is seeking information about a case of identity theft.

The Sheriff says the suspect's photo was caught on the vicitm's surveillance camera. Early Wednesday afternoon, a Roseville man received a package with two AT&T IPhones. The victim did not order the phones, and called AT&T, where he found out he was the victim of identity theft.

While on the phone with fraud division, the sheriff's office says the suspect pulled up to the victim's home and knocked on the door. The victim did not answer the door, and instead called the Placer County Sheriff's Office. The suspct left in a newer Mercedes with custom wheels, no front license plate and paper plates on the back.

If you have any information on the person of interest or the car in the picture, you can contact Detective Crawford at 916-652-2423.

Anyone with information who wishes to remain anonymous could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 if the tip leads to arrest.

You can contact Placer County Crime Stoppers at 800-923-8191 or online at tips.placercrimestoppers.com.
Marysville Police are investigating an attempted murder and mayhem case. Police say officers were dispatched to St. Johns Episcopal Church at 800 D Street Sunday about 8:50 pm for a reported stabbing. Once officers arrived they found a 57 year old man sitting on a curb holding his left eye.

The victim told officers another man, later identified as Benny Supnet from Marysville, had stabbed him in the eye with a screwdriver. Police say Supnet fled the area prior to officers arriving. Officers were able to locate an address for Supnet from previous contacts and tracked him down. While speaking to Supnet, police say he became combative and resisted officers. Supnet also threatened to come after one of the arresting officers family when he is released from custody. Supnet continued to be combative with Yuba Deputies while being booked into the Yuba County Jail.

Supnet was booked for attempted murder, resisting/threatening officers and mayhem. The Marysville Police Department is still investigating the incident.

The victim was taken to a Sacramento area hospital due to the extent of the trauma to his left eye.
Chico continues to grapple with a housing shortage, and students in the college town say they're hoping city leaders have answers to help solve the crisis.

Alanna Pere and Nate Rettinger are among thousands of students in Chico hunting for a place to live the next school year.

"How am I supposed to find somewhere to live and continue my education up here?" Pere says.

She currently pays $500 a month for a four-bedroom apartment in Chico. The Butte College student's lease ends this July, and she's hoping to find an affordable option that won't break the bank.

"College kids won't pay as much as people who don't have a home anymore," Rettinger adds.

Rettinger says collectively, he and his four other roommates pay around $1500 dollars to rent their apartment. The Chico State student tells us, his landlord had initially said Rettinger could renew his lease through the summer. But after the Camp Fire, the deal is off the table.



Chico is under pressure to shelter thousands of more people after the Camp Fire. The city's population increased by 20%.

Action News Now reporter Stephanie Lin asked Chico Mayor Randall Stone about a possible plan of action to support students.



"I can't cordon a section off for students and say, 'we are going to isolate you from the competitiveness of the market,'" Stone responded. "It would be illegal for us to segment them. That's like saying, 'we have a special problem with Asian-Americans, so we want to create a special Asian-American set-aside for housing."

The mayor adds the university is a major player with students finding housing.

"Their directive is to consolidate and use as many housing units as possible, as quickly as possible," Stone said.



The city has put in an emergency ordinance that restricts rent increases, which cannot be more than 10% per year.



We took those words to Chico State University's Director of Off-campus Student Services, Dan Herbert.

"At this point in February, students should not be having trouble finding housing," Herbert says. "If someone at Butte College or Chico State are saying they can't find housing, then they just aren't looking hard enough."

Chico State directed us to this website that lists property management companies with options for students. Herbert says the site can be a useful tool students can use to find their next home.

"Even with the inventory that's been more limited with the fire, we still have places for $400-$500 a bedroom," Herbert adds.

Action News Now called several of the listings on the website for a check on available units. No one would speak on camera but all said the market is highly competitive and that inventory is running low.

Herbert acknowledged that while inventory is available, it is important for students to do their research and to move quickly to ensure they have a place to live for the next school year. He says he is also happy to offer services to help Butte College students.

Both the university and neighborhood property managers advise students to lock down a lease before spring break, find roomates early, and to double up.
Bravo/Greg Endries TV

Amid the heated argument, Melissa Gorga, who is both Teresa's sister-in-law and Jackie's friend, chimed in, much to Teresa's dismay.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Teresa Giudice and Jackie Goldschneider are having a war of words in season 9 reunion of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" which aired on Wednesday, February 20. Jackie made herself an enemy for Teresa after she clapped back at the latter's claims that women should be able to control their men by pointing out that Teresa's husband was in prison.

Calling the Bravo show "The Teresa Show", Teresa said to Jackie, "Anyone who goes against me, you see them here in this room anymore? No, they're not here anymore." The "Turning the Tables" author added, "I'm going to bring it, b***h. [So] come, come. I want you to come at me."

Jackie, meanwhile, wasn't planning to back down as she replied, "You're not going to win a war of words with me." She went on saying, "You have nothing. I'm up here and you're down here.  I lose brain cells talking to you."

At one point, Teresa fired back, "You think you know me so f***ing well, like, are you kidding me?" to which Jackie responded, "I don't want to know you, Teresa. You're not my kind of people," before adding, "You live a very sad life. You have zero that I aspire to, Teresa."

Teresa, though, noted that Jackie came to her book signing years ago. She accused Jackie, who joined "RHONJ" this season, a "stalker." She doubled down her attack, "You want to be me, thank you very much. That's why you've been following me for 10 years. ... You had an agenda!"

"She used to stand at my book signings. She's been following the show. She knows everything," Teresa explained to Andy Cohen. She also mimicked words Jackie allegedly told her when they first met, " 'I'm your biggest fan!' She said, 'I cant believe I'm here, standing next to you and Melissa' the first time she met me!"

In her defense, Jackie responded, "I didn't used to stand at [her] book signings." She continued, "I was walking past a shoe store where there were about four people in line to get copies of Teresa's book. I was a fan of the show and I wanted to meet Teresa. So I took the picture with the kids."

Teresa didn't stop there. The mother of four kept ripping off Jackie by calling her "bully." She said, "She's clearly very threatened by me. I think she likes to bully people. I think she tries to scare people. As she alluded to throughout the years of the show, 'Talk to me like that, you don't come back.' I think there's people on Team Teresa and they're just going to do whatever they have to do and whatever they have to say to make Teresa happy. And badmouthing me makes Teresa happy."

Amid the heated argument, Melissa Gorga, who is both Teresa's sister-in-law and Jackie's friend, chimed in, much to Teresa's dismay. "I'm not going to even talk to her anymore," she said of Melissa. "Don't talk to me. Don't f***ing talk to me."

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" reunion airs on Wednesday at 9 P.M. on Bravo.
WENN/Brian To Celebrity

The former 'Cougar Town' star admits she was 'really scared' and told her daughter she loves her as their private plane was forced to make an emergency landing.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Jennifer Aniston's recent 50th birthday trip with her best friend Courteney Cox was almost ruined by an in-flight emergency. Their private plane was forced to make an emergency landing because one of the tires blew out while they were en route from Los Angeles to Mexico. Now in an interview with Extra, Courteney opens up about the terrifying ordeal.

The Gale Weathers of "Scream" movie series remembers hearing a loud bang as soon as their plane took off. "I'm not afraid of flying at all, my dad was a pilot, but I was really scared because when we were taking off, we heard this really loud bang," she claims. "I was like, 'Oh, that sounds like we should probably check that tire.' "

"There was no tire at all, there was no wheel. Luckily, there are two wheels on each side and two in the front," she recalls. "I have to say, we were in the air for four hours, burning off fuel and just thought of what it is going to be like when we land."

The 54-year-old actress was apparently prepared for the worst as she sent her 14-year-old daughter Coco a text message to tell her daughter that she loves her. "I sent a little text to Coco, 'I love you.' I didn't say why," Courteney says. She also spoke to her boyfriend Johnny McDaid, "I told him everything that was going on and I FaceTimed him after."

Fortunately, the plane made "a really smooth landing," Courteney explains.

The flight scare happened on Friday, February 15, four days after Jennifer's birthday on February 11. Jimmy Kimmel's wife, Molly Kimmel, and Jason Bateman's wife, Amanda Anka, were reportedly also on board the flight, but no one was harmed.

After the plane landed safely at 2 P.M. at Ontario International Airport (ONT), they had to wait for a new plane at the airport to take them to Cabo San Lucas.

Jennifer also celebrated her birthday with a star-studded party at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood on Saturday, February 9 which was attended by her ex-husband Brad Pitt.
Instagram Celebrity

Both the Bravo personality and estranged husband Marty Caffrey are expected to appear before a judge in a Bergen County courtroom to finalize their divorce.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Months after filing for divorce, Danielle Staub and Marty Caffrey's marriage is finally going to end for good. It has been reported that both "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star and her estranged husband are expected to appear before a judge in a Bergen County courtroom this week to finalize their divorce.

Regarding their agreement, a source knowledgeable of the situation discloses to Page Six that Danielle is given two choices: buying their $2M marital house and its furniture or moving out by April. Marty himself will continue living there until their house is sold to someone else, should Danielle chooses to move out. In addition to that, the author has to repay all the debts she owes to Marty and return all their wedding presents.

Ahead of their divorce finalization, Marty confesses to Page Six that he has mixed feelings about it. "Now that my divorce will be final, I feel great relief as well as sadness," he tells the publication. "I bear [Danielle] no ill will, and I wish her the best in everything she does."

Danielle and Marty split in August last year, less than four months after their marriage. In her divorce filing, the Bravo personality accused Marty of physically and verbally abusing her. However, the latter denied the accusation and called her claim "so outrageous that I couldn't even think of what demented mind would come up with these things that are so illogical."

Last month, Danielle was granted a temporary restraining order against Marty that lasted for ten days. According to her rep, she did that for the personal safety of herself and her children, 24-year-old Christine and 20-year-old Jillian, whom she shares with Thomas Staub. She also had Marty removed from their marital home after officers responded to a domestic disturbance in Englewood, New Jersey.
WENN/Lia Toby TV

The actor known for his villain role in 'Mission: Impossible 2' is added to the cast ensemble of The CW series as 'Game of Thrones' director David Nutter steps down from the project.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Scottish actor Dougray Scott is set to portray Ruby Rose's TV dad in the highly-anticipated "Batwoman" series.

The "Mission: Impossible 2" star has been cast as former military colonel Jacob Kane, who is forced to reconsider his contempt for Batman's vigilantism when he discovers Gotham's latest mystery crime-fighter is his own daughter, Kate Kane, aka Batwoman.

Rose was unveiled as the DC Comics character, the first gay lead of a live-action superhero series, last summer (2018), and made her TV debut during an "Arrow"/"The Flash" cross-over TV event in December.

News of Scott's addition to the line-up emerges as "Game of Thrones" and "The Flash" writer/director David Nutter exits the project. He had been due to direct the pilot episode, but has since been forced to step aside for personal reasons, reports Variety.com.

Nutter will remain involved as an executive producer, with "The Vampire Diaries" pilot director Marcos Siega brought on as his replacement.

"Batwoman" was picked up for a pilot order at The CW network last month (January 2019).
The Department of Transportation said Thursday it is set to break ground for the P355.6-billion Metro Manila Subway Project, one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration, next week. The Metro Manila Subway is the Philippines first-ever underground railway system. Before, people cast doubts and said it is all but a dream. But on Feb. 27, we will show them that this is real, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said. Officials of the DOTr went to Osaka, Japan on Feb. 19 to inspect the tunnel boring machines manufactured by Hitachi Zosen in Sakai City. The factory of Hitachi Zosens Sakai Works already manufactured 1,300 tunneling machines and has a track record of 130 tunnels overseas. HZSW showed during the site inspection its Neo Rirse technology  a no engine power and no human operation rising sea wall that automatically rises to protect any structure from incoming floodwater, which is being considered for installation at the entrances of the Metro Manila Subway stations. A tunnel boring machine is used to excavate tunnels using a circular cross-section mechanism. It utilizes sophisticated technology that minimizes the vibration above the ground and ground subsidence or surface sinking. It is a requisite in building subway systems.The 6.9-meter diameter tunnel boring machine being considered for the Metro Manila Subway weighs more than 600 tons. In the process of procurement, the machine has to be assembled in Japan for a test run. Upon passing the tests, the machine has to be disassembled, shipped to the Philippines in parts, where it will be assembled again for construction use. The Metro Manila Subway is expected to start partial operations by 2022 with three stations at North Ave., Mindanao Ave. and Tandang Sora in Quezon City. Full operations of the Metro Manila Subway are expected by 2025. The first phase of the project is a 25-kilometer underground railway, costing P355.6 billion with a total of 14 stations from Mindanao Ave. to Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The Philippine government signed a loan agreement with the Japanese government amounting to P51.3 billion in March 2018.
Instagram Celebrity

It is also reported that this is not the first time for the 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' star and Blake Schreck to spend time together.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Amid rumors of her divorce from husband Joe Giudice, Teresa Giudice was hit with a cheating allegation. The rumors first sparked after "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star was seen holding hands with another man during a vacay in Miami while Joe is currently locked up in a Pennsylvania prison as he waits for deportation.

The photos, which were taken at the Coral Gables Country Club after a charity show event called Paws 4 You, saw Teresa showing off PDAs with 26-year-old man who was later identified as New Jersey-raised businessman Blake Schreck. During the Saturday, February 16, outing, Teresa looked stunning in a strapless black gown while sharing a laugh with the younger man.

Radar Online, which obtained the photos, stated that Blake couldn't keep his hands off the 46-year-old reality TV star throughout the evening. "They looked really into each other," a source told the site. The pair reportedly left the club around 11:30 P.M. before heading to a rented Condo where Teresa was staying.

The site further claimed that this was not the first time for the pair to spend time together. The Bravo star previously was reported to be spotted "aggresively flirting with and perusing a man in his early 20s," on New Year's Eve at Miami hotspot Big Pink, and the man was allegedly Blake.

In some pictures from the New Year's Eve outing, the two were seen sitting next to each other at a bash. "Teresa had her hands on his leg," an insider noted to Us Weekly. "At points, the two had their hands intertwined, and then the man was rubbing her leg in a romantic way."

Teresa, however, denied all the cheating allegations leveled against her, saying that Blake is nothing but a friend. "Teresa was in Miami for a charity event with a large group of friends, both men and women," her attorney James Leonard Jr. said in a statement on Wednesday, February 20. "The photos show one of those friends helping Teresa out of the venue and to her car. She had some wine and she was wearing heels."

"That's the real story," the statement continued. The statement also confirmed that Teresa is not divorcing Joe as it added, "There is no cheating, no divorce. End of story."

A Pennsylvania immigration court judge ruled in October 2018 that Joe was to be deported to his native Italy after his release from prison. He is set to be released from prison in March 2019 before later being transferred into ICE custody.

A source previously shared that Teresa told host Andy Cohen during the taping for "RHONJ" reunion that "if Joe gets deported, she's not going. She said that she and Joe had talked about it over the phone, and that he understood."
WENN/Steve Finn Music

The London ceremony, which is opened by Hugh Jackman with his 'Greatest Showman' set, also sees Little Mix, Drake, Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande among the winners.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - British rockers The 1975 and DJ Calvin Harris were the toast of the BRIT Awards in London on Wednesday night, February 20, picking up two honours apiece.

Matt Healy and his band, who picked up the Best Album and Best Group prizes, were also among the night's performance highlights at the ceremony, which Hugh Jackman opened with an ambitious set, inspired by his film and hit soundtrack "The Greatest Showman".

Meanwhile, Harris was named British Producer of the Year and also won British Single of the Year for his "One Kiss" collaboration with Dua Lipa, who teamed up with Sam Smith and Rag'n'Bone Man to perform a megamix of the DJ's hits.

Little Mix took home the second BRIT of their careers, winning the British Artist Video of the Year for their "Woman Like Me" collaboration with Nicki Minaj.

Upon accepting the award, band member Jade Thirlwall said, "We never win this! Oh my God, thank you so much! We have had absolutely no shame in asking people every day to vote for this."

George Ezra picked up the British Male Solo Artist honour, with last year's Critics' Choice winner, Jorja Smith, bagging the female prize, and Sam Fender grabbed this year's Critics' Choice award.

There were also wins for Tom Walker (British Breakthrough Act), and Ed Sheeran (Global Success Award), while Drake, Ariana Grande and The Carters - aka Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z - picked up the international gongs.

Pink, who became the first non-Brit to land the Outstanding Contribution to Music award, closed the show with a lengthy medley of her hits.

The full list of winners is:
WENN/Sean Thorton/FayesVision Movie

The Thor depicter in the 'Avengers' film franchise will team up with 'The Hangover' director Todd Phillips and 'Joker' screenwriter Scott Silver for the project about the wrestling legend.

Feb 21, 2019

AceShowbiz - Chris Hemsworth has signed on to play wrestling legend Hulk Hogan in a new movie.

"The Hangover" director Todd Phillips will take charge of the biopic, alongside his "Joker" screenwriter Scott Silver.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix bosses have snapped up the film, which will be produced by Phillips, his Join Effort production partner Bradley Cooper, and Hemsworth.

Hogan, 65, made his return to wrestling in November (2018) at the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

It was his first official wrestling event for the company since his contract was terminated in 2015, after a transcript, in which he used a racial slur to describe his daughter's former boyfriend, was leaked.

He was also removed from the WWE Hall of Fame but bosses officially reinstated Hogan last summer, after the fighter and movie star offered up an apology for his words.

"I'm looking forward to going to Saudi Arabia with the WWE, looking forward to WrestleMania," he told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper a week before his ring return. "It's exciting to have this opportunity again after all these years."

"I sure would love to be a part of the WrestleManias and the big events and the grand openings and the new conquests of the WWE. Saudi Arabia! Hong Kong! China! Antarctica! The North Pole! Whatever it is, I'd like to be part of the ongoing growth of the wrestling business, and be with WWE the whole time. That's the only place to be."
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SANTA FE  Allister Danzig Quintana, 25, of Dulce, appeared in federal court in Albuquerque Wednesday on murder and kidnapping charges in a case in which hes accused of torturing his male victim using a variety of weapons.

Quintana, initially charged last year, now faces a superseding indictment that includes counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping resulting in death, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

According to a criminal complaint and a new indictment, Quintana tortured and killed the victim at Quintanas home on February 3, 2018, apparently with the help of at least one accomplice.

Quintana is said to have used a machete, broken broomsticks, a flashlight and a sword to assault the victim, who is not identified in court documents. One of the people interviewed as the FBI investigated the death said Quintana and the dead man had fought in the past over the mans relationship with Quintanas mother.

The Jicarilla Apache Police Department Police found the body in a closet during a search of Quintanas home on Feb. 14, 2018. The victims hands and feet were bound and there was dried blood in several different parts of the home.

Law enforcement officers later determined that Quintana sent a message by social media to another person shortly before the murder saying that he was about to kill someone. A medical examiner ruled the victims death was a homicide.

The new indictment filed Feb. 13 says Quintana asked others known and unknown to assault the victim and that Quintana and the others hit the victim with their fists. Quintana also asked others to bring him a flashlight and machete to use on the victim and electrical cord to bind the man who was killed. Quintana assaulted the man with a flashlight, sword, stick and machete, the indictment reads.

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The dead man is identified in court documents only as T.H., with a birth year of 1989.

An FBI team found what appeared to be dried blood throughout the residence. In the middle of a back bedroom that had been cleared of furniture, there was a hand-made wooden stool. A significant amount of what appeared to be dried blood was splattered on the floor surrounding the stool, the FBI court complaint states.

Also found were what appeared to be improvised weapons  broken broom sticks with one end of each stick having black cloth wrapped in silver duct tape   also with dried blood on them.

After the homicide and before his arrest, when Quintana was in the Jicarilla Apache jail in Dulce on a separate matter, he told another inmate that he and Andrew had tortured and killed someone, tied that person up and put the bound body in a closet, according to the complaint.

Quintana is in custody awaiting trial. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
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Anywhere but Brazil.

Lenny Fresquez, Albuquerque MMA fighter

Holly Holms agent, on Thursday confirmed online reports that negotiations for his client to fight UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in Brazil on May 11 have fallen through.

The three sticking points, Fresquez said: location, location, location. Nunes is from Brazil, a country in which Brazilian fighters  thanks to the enthusiasm of their fans  tend to enjoy a greater home cage advantage than, say, Holm would enjoy were she to fight Nunes in the United States.

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We want that fight for Holly, but not in Brazil, Fresquez told the Journal in a phone interview. Anywhere else, just not in Brazil.

Would not Nunes, as the champion, have a greater influence in the matter than would Holm? Fresquez has always contended that Holm, in any matchup, brings as much as or more than her opponent in terms of fan interest, marketing and potential pay-per-view buys.

Shes (the UFCs) number-one female attraction, he said.

But negotiations for Holm-Nunes, Fresquez said, are only part of the equation. Holm, 37, has two fights left on her current UFC contract. Fresquez is seeking to position her for the rest of her combat-sports career.

Fresquez, though, declined comment on any contract issues beyond those for Holm-Nunes.

Holm (12-4) had been scheduled by the UFC to fight Aspen Ladd (7-0) on UFC 235 in Las Vegas, Nev., on March 2, but Fresquez repeatedly said no contract for that fight had been signed on Holms behalf. UFC President Dana White announced on Feb. 1 that the Holm-Ladd fight would not happen.

Also on Thursday, Nunes told told the Brazilian MMA website Combate that she will not fight Holm or anyone else on the May 11 card because she is dealing with personal issues and would not have time to prepare.

As she has done before, Nunes said she would like to fight Holm at some point.

BUSY SPRING: A boxing card at the Embassy Suites and a Muay Thai card at Route 66 Casino Hotel have been added to the Albuquerque-area combat-sports docket for upcoming months.

Santa Fes Pat Holmes, who promotes regularly at Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in Pojoaque, said on Thursday hell feature Albuquerque lightweight Fidel Maldonado Jr. on an April 5 card at the Embassy Suites.

One side of the card, Holmes said  subject to change  is already filled.

Maldonado (25-4-1, 19 knockouts), Albuquerque junior middleweight Jordanne Garcia (3-0-1), Rio Rancho super middleweight Bryant McClain (4-1-2, one KO) and Espanola light flyweight Leanna Martinez (4-1, two KOs) will be joined on the A side by Albuquerque amateur Santiago Giron, wholl be making his pro debut.

On April 20, Lion Fight, a 9-year-old Muay Thai promotional company, will come to Route 66 with a card that includes Los Lunas heavyweight Cody East (13-4 MMA, 2-1 (two KOs) boxing). East will be making his professional Muay Thai debut against Joe Stripling (8-10 MMA) of Wilmington, Del.

As previously reported, Albuquerques Legacy Promotions has scheduled a card on March 30 at the Lujan Building at Expo New Mexico. Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres (19-6-2, 11 KOs) is matched against Mexicos Francisco Javier Castro (28-9, 23 KOs) in the main event.

UFC AT LAST: As reported by Southwest Fight News, Albuquerque MMA flyweight Jordan Espinosa (13-5) will make his UFC debut on March 23 in Nashville, Tenn., against Eric Shelton (12-5) of Lawton, Okla.

Jordan signed with the UFC in June after defeating Riley Dutro on Dana Whites Tuesday Night Contender Series. He was scheduled to make his debut in November against Mark De La Rosa but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

The UFC has not announced the Espinosa-Shelton pairing.
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FARMINGTON  The San Juan County Commission put the county firmly on record Tuesday as a Second Amendment sanctuary county, and Wednesday officials in the City of Farmington said they may hear a similar measure soon.

San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari told the County Commission Tuesday he is concerned gun control bills working their way through the state Legislature could violate constitutional rights to bear arms and due process rights.

The commission then voted 4-1 to pass a resolution on a 4 to 1 vote supporting Ferraris decision not to enforce these bills if they become law unless a court rules that the measures do not violate the constitution.

Ferrari expressed concern with two bills

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There were two bills in particular that Ferrari addressed that have both passed in the state House of Representatives.

The first bill would require a federal background check whenever a gun is sold. Violating the law would result in a misdemeanor.

The second bill he addressed is referred to as a red flag law. It would allow law enforcement or family members to ask a judge to remove the firearms from a person who has been deemed a threat to themselves or others.

The idea is not unique to New Mexico. Thirteen states have passed similar laws.

Ferrari said he is concerned that the measure would violate due process rights and could put his officers in danger if they went to confiscate guns.

He said he would like to see legislation that increases penalties for felons in possession of firearms and legislation that would target repeat offenders. Ferrari added that the state also needs to do more to address mental illness. In terms of school safety, he said schools need more funding for security measures.

Farmington will likely consider similar resolution

While the resolution states San Juan County Sheriffs Office will not enforce the measures if they are enacted, other local law enforcement agencies may still enforce them. The resolution does not apply to Farmington, Aztec or Bloomfield police departments.

In a joint statement from the Farmington Police Department and the city, City Manager Rob Mayes said the City Council will likely consider a similar resolution in the near future.

As a law enforcement agency, our job is to uphold the law, and we take an oath to uphold the Constitution, Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in the statement. We are dedicated to ensuring a safe community and will be keeping a close eye on all proposed legislation.

Mayor Nate Duckett encouraged residents to reach out to their elected officials.

Currently these measures have only passed in the State House of Representatives, he said in the statement. Citizens should voice their concerns about the constitutionality of proposed legislation to their elected representatives at the State Senate and governors office.

San Juan County is represented by Sen. Steve Neville, R-Farmington, and Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington.

Bloomfield City Manager George Duncan said the city has not drafted a resolution like the countys measure, however it did pass a resolution in August supporting Aztec Police Chief Mike Heals efforts to get legislation passed that Heal says will protect students.

Heal has been pushing for the legislation that would allow guns to be confiscated from people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Aztec mayor chastises county resolution

Im adamantly opposed to the actions of the county sheriff last night, said Aztec Mayor Victor Snover.

He said Aztec will not consider a sanctuary city resolution.

Snover expressed support for Heal and said he is disappointed in the countys decision. He said Aztec lost two students in a school shooting in 2017. Snover described the legislation as common-sense gun control that could give law enforcement tools to protect people including students.

Theyre making public safety a partisan issue and thats wrong, Snover said.

Ferrari said he understands why Heal has pushed for the red flag laws, however he does not believe any of the legislation that has been introduced could have stopped the Aztec High School shooting.

Sheriff expresses frustration with Legislature

Ferrari said these bills are being approved at the Legislature with little discussion and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has already stated she will sign them if the Legislature passes them.

None of the gun safety measures that the Governor has endorsed in any way infringe in second amendment rights, said Nora Sackett, a spokeswoman for the governor. As such, these statement resolutions amount to expressions of opinion, which is absolutely fine. State law will be followed.

The resolution uses a term generally prescribed to undocumented immigrant safe havens

The idea of a sanctuary county comes from the term used to describe counties and cities where immigration laws are not enforced. Ferrari said in those sanctuary counties and cities immigrants are safe from deportation.

What Im doing is Im saying the Second Amendment is safe in San Juan County, Ferrari said.

The crowd packed into the county offices and flooding out the doors onto the sidewalk outside burst into cheers.

After Fortner read the resolution out loud, the people in the crowd got to their feet, clapped and chanted USA, USA before the commission had even voted on the measure. After the vote, the crowd responded in the same manner.

Resolution passed on party lines

Commissioner GloJean Todacheene, the lone Democrat on the commission, cast the sole dissenting vote.

After the meeting, Todacheene said the bills have not been signed into law and she wanted to know more about what it means to be a sanctuary county.

She said there need to be laws to protect the public. However, Todacheene said she recognizes that in rural areas people often keep guns for self defense. She said that is a valid concern.

Were a rural area and sometimes law enforcement doesnt get there as quickly as in an urban setting, Todacheene said.

During the meeting, Todacheene asked how the Sheriffs Office would determine if a gun law was constitutional.

Ferrari explained that the courts would make that decision.

At several points in the meeting, Todacheene directly asked the crowd to allow Ferrari to answer questions rather than yelling out responses.

He is the one who has the resolution, so he gets to answer my questions, she said.

A member of the audience responded yelling, but hes speaking for us.

San Juan County Democratic Party Chairwoman MP Schildmeyer said there are no provisions in any of the bills introduced that would remove guns from law-abiding citizens.

I think the resolution was premature, ineffectiveand by dividing the law enforcement community could endanger the citizens of San Juan County, she said.

Counties throughout the state pass resolutions in response to firearm legislation

San Juan County is one of more than half a dozen counties that have passed resolutions in response to the firearm legislation.

Lincoln, Quay, Union, Socorro, Eddy, Cibola and Curry have all passed similar resolutions.

Taos County postponed voting on a Second Amendment sanctuary county resolution Monday to give the sheriff time to refine the measure. The Taos News reported some residents were concerned the wording would give the sheriff nearly supreme authority when deciding which laws to enforce.

Hannah Grover covers government for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652 or via email hgrover@daily-times.com.



2019 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)

Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

It will be at least two more months until Albuquerque leaders decide whether to proceed with a ban on plastic bags.

After public testimony from about 35 different speakers who raised concerns about everything from red chile, dog poop and burned trees, the City Council on Wednesday voted 6-3 to defer action on the Albuquerque Clean & Green Retail Ordinance for another 60 days.

Councilors pushing for the delay said they wanted to see the results of a pending economic analysis of the bill, arguing that it would likely affect nearly everyone in the community in some way and deserved careful consideration.

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The bill would ban retailers and restaurants from distributing single-use plastic bags and nonrecyclable single-use carryout food containers. It would also limit the use of single-use plastic straws.

Councilors Isaac Benton, Cynthia Borrego, Pat Davis and Diane Gibson, all Democrats, co-sponsored the legislation. Borrego was the only member of the group to vote in favor of the 60-day deferral proposed by Councilor Don Harris.

Ive found anywhere in life  theres a conflict in doing something fast and doing something right, Harris said. And I really want to do this right.

But Davis contended that sponsors and their staff members had already done some research to understand the impact and said a shorter deferral of 30 days would ensure continued momentum and sense of urgency.

Gibson urged quicker action, too.

What this comes down to, to me, is convenience versus  environmental stewardship. While the economic analysis is being done, there is no way they can quantify the harm thats being done to animal life and other environmental and health impacts, she said.

Both supporters and opponents turned out Wednesday to speak. The bills sponsors have credited a group of grade-schoolers who spoke at a December Council meeting for helping to inspire the proposal, and many young children showed up Wednesday to recommend passage, arguing they want a cleaner, healthier community.

Satori Arellano and Andrea Moreno from Mountain View Private School spoke about their volunteer trash pickups around Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, saying that the once-a-month efforts had yielded more than 200 bags of trash in one year.

Thats a lot of trash. This is not healthy for our environment, Moreno said.

Added Arellano: We need to change something; it starts here and with us. Plastic is so harmful to our water and planet.

One student from Mountain Mahogany Community School urged the council to act to protect the future that right now looks like burned trees and plastic waste everywhere.

Others who identified themselves as moms, college students, and members of environmental groups echoed the sentiments.

Hannah Leonard, a local veterinarian, spoke in favor of the bill alongside her young son.

I will consent that change is difficult, but I do feel its imperative we reconsider our ways and that we evolve. And Im encouraged, and feel that this is our chance for Albuquerque to be part of a solution, which feels really good, she said.

But a few restaurateurs, as well as representatives from the New Mexico Restaurant Association and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, related their concerns to the Council, asking for more study and possible alternatives they think would be less onerous  especially on small businesses they argued would be disproportionately impacted.

Dan Garcia of Garcias Kitchen said that converting to compliant bags and to-go containers would cost the local restaurant chain an estimated $250,000 a year. He also said paper bags and recyclable to-go containers may not work well with New Mexican food.

Weve tried to figure out, like, if you had some chile in here and chile spills, if its a paper sack, its going to fall through the paper sack, he said.

Sherman McCorkle, a member of the chamber of commerce, said other cities have restricted plastic bans in a less drastic way.

The chamber very much appreciates and respects the intent of this proposed ordinance, but an outright ban on all these items might not be the best way to proceed, he said.

Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, a libertarian-leaning think tank, raised several concerns, including what it meant for cleaning up after canine companions.

Good luck trying to pick up steaming hot dog poop with a paper bag, he said.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Police are looking for a couple who they say shot and injured a man while driving on Interstate 25 over Valentines Day.

Albuquerque police spokesman Simon Drobik said Steven Lovato and Oniesha Herrera, both 22, are wanted in connection with the apparent road-rage shooting of 21-year-old Tanner Barnes on Feb 14.

Drobik said both are reportedly in Espanola, and Lovato may have since shaved his beard.

Police got wind of the two after an anonymous tipster called Wednesday to report that the couple bragged about the incident on Facebook.

An arrest warrant charges Lovato with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and criminal damage to property. Herrera is charged with harboring or aiding a felon and reckless driving.

Officers responded to the shooting around 10:30 a.m. and found Barnes bleeding from the leg on the shoulder of southbound I-25 near the Martin Luther King Jr. exit.

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According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court, Barnes was headed westbound on Interstate 40, near Wyoming, when he saw a Nissan Armada driving erratically and weaving in and out of traffic.

Police say the Armada cut off Barnes, causing him to swerve, and he made an obscene finger gesture toward the vehicle.

Barnes told police thats when the SUV pulled up alongside him and the passenger shot him with a black handgun.

An anonymous tipster reported to police that the couple were bragging about the shooting on Facebook and Lovato posted a comment saying he had shaved his beard and was hiding in Espanola.

Detectives pulled Facebook photos of Lovato and Barnes identified him as the man who shot him.
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SANTA FE  In a rare move for the minority party, House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled an alternative spending plan to a Democratic-backed $7 billion budget proposal thats expected to be voted on today by the full House.

House GOP members acknowledged its unlikely their plan will move forward, as Democrats hold a 46-24 majority in the chamber.

But the Republicans said New Mexicans should at least be presented with an alternative to a budget bill they described as unsustainable.

We are being asked by families in our districts to be the rational voices in Santa Fe, Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho, told reporters.

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The $6.6 billion budget plan proposed by House Republicans would use part of an unprecedented state budget surplus to give $200 rebates to every New Mexico resident.

The state last issued direct rebates to residents in 2008, during the final years of then-Gov. Bill Richardsons tenure.

Overall, the GOP budget plan would increase state spending by roughly $300 million  or 5 percent  over current levels.

The Democratic-backed plan that cleared a House budget-writing committee earlier this week calls for a spending increase of $684 million  or about 10.8 percent.

Both plans would provide 6 percent pay raises to state teachers and other education professionals.

But the House GOP plans total spending on New Mexicos public school system would be less than under House Bill 2, the official budget bill.

It would also not provide raises to all state workers  just teachers and employees in some hard-to-staff agencies.

Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, said education spending should not tie local districts hands and should be targeted wisely.

The thing that matters is that we create programs that are sustainable, Dow said.

Top-ranking Democrats have defended their budget plan as fiscally prudent, pointing out that it would leave a projected $1.6 billion in cash reserves at the end of the coming budget year  or 22 percent of state spending.

And Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said spending levels must be increased to fill state government positions that remained vacant for years under her predecessor, former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.

The governor and Democrats have put forward bold but eminently reasonable investments in shared priorities  or at least what should be shared priorities, Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said.

The budget thats ultimately adopted by the state House will move over to the Senate with just over three weeks remaining in this years 60-day session.
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Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

Using the last of their financial resources, an Idaho couple traveled more than 700 miles to Albuquerque in February 2016 to terminate a pregnancy that they say they could not afford.

But the medication provided to induce the abortion ultimately failed, and unable to pay for a follow-up procedure, the two now want Planned Parenthood and others to shoulder the cost of raising an additional unplanned child.

According to a lawsuit filed last week, Bianca Coons was about six weeks pregnant when she and her partner, Cristobal Ruiz, made the trip to avoid Idahos mandatory waiting period, which would result in the baby being much more advanced in development.

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The family of four was destitute and attempting to maintain and limit the size of their family.

A medication abortion, also known as the abortion pill, uses two different medications to terminate a pregnancy in its early stages, according to Planned Parenthoods website. The procedure causes an abortion in 94 to 98 out of 100 cases when a woman is eight or fewer weeks pregnant, according to the organization. The abortion medication can be used in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The lawsuit says Coons took the first medication at the Planned Parenthood clinic on San Mateo and was given instructions to take the second later.

The family returned to Boise, and the next day, Coons went to an emergency room with severe nausea. She was treated for dehydration and learned that her baby was fine and had a strong heartbeat.

A doctor there contacted Planned Parenthood and was told that Coons should take the next round of medication, which her attorney, John McCall, said she did. McCall declined to comment further on the lawsuit.

Days later, Coons spoke with Planned Parenthood staff who told her she should take a blood test to determine whether the medication worked. During that conversation, according to the lawsuit, Coons said she would like to have a second medication abortion if she was still pregnant.

The staff member told her she could receive a second procedure free of charge if she returned to New Mexico or she could visit a clinic in Idaho where she would have to pay for additional procedures, the lawsuit says.

By early March, a still-pregnant Coons told a Planned Parenthood staff member that she could not afford a second round of the abortion protocol.

The lawsuit also says, The fetus had now developed to somewhere around nine weeks. Ms. Coons could not morally sanction further action to terminate the fetus.

Planned Parenthood then sent a letter to Coons warning that the medication she had taken can cause birth defects.

The couples son was born a month early with jaundice and blood sugar issues. And the family continues to worry that he may carry a defect or injury into adulthood.

The defendants failure to properly supervise and administer the abortion service directly resulted in the failure of the pregnancy termination which resulted in injury to plaintiffs interests in family planning and their interests in financial planning for the future of their family, the lawsuit says.

In addition to $765,000 in compensatory damages, the couple are seeking damages for breach of contract, unfair trade practices, violation of consumer protection laws and emotional distress, among other claims.

Named as defendants are two Planned Parenthood branches, the hospital in Boise where Coons sought treatment, and various medical personnel. Its unclear where Ruiz and Coons live now.

The Planned Parenthood website says that in the unlikely event that you are still pregnant after the procedure, you may need another dose of medication or to have an in-clinic abortion to end the pregnancy.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood said she was unable to comment on pending litigation, and out of respect for patient privacy, she could not discuss specific patients.
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SANTA FE  New Mexicos governor and state lawmakers would share appointment authority over the State Game Commission under legislation that passed the state House on Wednesday.

The proposal, House Bill 263, now heads to the Senate for consideration.

The governor currently has authority to appoint all seven members of the commission.

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Under the legislation, the governor would appoint three members and the Legislative Council  a panel of top-ranking lawmakers from both parties  would appoint four.

There would also be requirements for political and geographic diversity, and some spots would be reserved for certain constituencies.

The governor, for example, would have to appoint someone from each of New Mexicos three congressional districts.

The legislative appointments, meanwhile, would have to include a rancher or farmer, a conservationist, a hunter or angler, and a scientist.

Once appointed, members could be removed only under certain circumstances, such as incompetence or malfeasance in office.

Rep. Matthew McQueen, a Galisteo Democrat who sponsored the bill, said he hoped to create a more stable, professional board, rather than one that swings in membership every time a new governor is elected.

I believe theyve been overly political, he said.

Republican lawmakers assailed the proposal as an attempt to fix a body that already works well. Hunters and ranchers should have greater influence, they said, and the proposal wouldnt actually diminish political calculations.

Rep. Phelps Anderson, R-Roswell, said he feared the proposed composition of the board would be not as supportive of New Mexico sportsmen and their community.

McQueen said the membership slots were intended to serve as a minimum standard for each constituency, and there wouldnt be a limit on how many, say, hunters could serve on the board if they met the other requirements.

The commission sets hunting and fishing regulations, among other duties.

House Bill 263 passed 45-20 after about two hours of debate.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The next step in the University of New Mexicos Grand Challenges initiative is set.

The public and campus community is invited to an Out-of-the-Box event at 9 a.m. on Friday at Ballroom C of UNMs Student Union Building to help discuss proposals for health, environmental and societal impact in New Mexico.

During the 90-minute interactive event, team leaders for each of the Challenges will present their goals, teams and plans and then respond to audience questions.

To RSVP, visit grandchallenges.unm.edu/rsvp/. It will also be live-streamed via UNMs YouTube channel and available thereafter for later viewing.

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The Grand Challenges, which were announced last week by President Garnett Stokes, include:

 Substance Use Disorders  Project lead: Brandi Fink, assistant professor, psychiatry and Katie Witkiewicz, Regents Professor, psychology.

The goal of this challenge is to reduce mortality and substance use disorders including alcohol, opioid and other substance misuse.

 Successful Aging  Project lead: Janice Knoefel, professor, neurology.

The goal is to focus on researching and implementing strategies that will improve the quality of life for New Mexicos senior population, and extending the time that seniors can remain independent.

 Sustainable Water Resources  Project lead: Kerry Howe, professor, civil engineering.

The focus is on developing the Rio Grande Watershed as a vibrant and resilient trans-boundary watershed that supports a thriving economy, healthy landscapes and aquatic ecosystems, and vibrant communities.

The 14 proposals, representing 160 faculty and staff from over 60 departments across the university, were evaluated by both professional external reviewers and emeriti faculty. The steering committee recommended three areas of research to Stokes, who then selected the three Grand Challenges.

I was so impressed by the quality and scope of proposals we received, Stokes said in a statement. Each one represents a unique opportunity for UNM to serve and impact New Mexico, and all of them strongly reflect a collaborative approach to research and scholarship that spans not only fields of study, but also generations, cultures and perspectives.

For more information, visit grandchallenges.unm.edu.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Albuquerque Public Schools is solidifying its intent to revoke the charter of La Resolana Leadership Academy, which would shut down the school.

The board unanimously voted at Wednesday nights Board of Education meeting to advance the revocation process, scheduling a hearing for next month.

On March 20, the Board of Education will hold the hearing, air its concerns about the school and have the chance to officially revoke the charter. At the hearing, the roughly 70-student school and the public will get a chance to weigh in.

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Rob Leming, La Resolana Governing Council president, said he found Wednesdays decision by the board disappointing.

Frankly, weve been steamrolled, he said.

The APS boards notice of revocation includes pages of federal and state law the school allegedly broke.

Albuquerque Public Schools has found that La Resolana Leadership Academy School has failed to provide adequate support to its Special Education students, and has violated special education federal and state statutes, and New Mexico Administrative Code, the letter says.

Deborah Elder, executive director of the Office of Innovation and School Choice, told the board a site visit at the school was conducted as recently as January.

But Leming said he felt like the school hasnt been heard during this process, stressing theres more to the story.

We have evidence that contradicts the conclusions given to the board, he said, adding he will present this at the hearing.

Many of the schools issues, according to APS documents, have been around how the school conducted individual education plans, or IEPs, which are personalized accounts of progress, needs and goals for each student utilizing special education services.

The school, on the corner of Truman Street and Grand Avenue NE, has been scrutinized since the summer.

Joseph Escobedo, director of the Office of Innovation and School Choice, told the Board in May that the schools special education program had violations of federal and state law regarding special education compliance.

After that, the APS board decided to withhold approval of La Resolanas contract in 2018, but the school appealed to the Public Education Department.

Then-PED Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski concluded the district didnt go through the proper channels to shut down the school and required a PED-approved contract be executed.

The school has been operating since, with APS having continuing oversight.
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Its unfortunate a few state lawmakers appear hell-bent on hanging a Closed for Business sign on the state, keeping us a bottom feeder when it comes to being attractive to business.

To review, we came up 45th in the 2018 Forbes list of business-friendly states. Among our neighbors, Utah is No. 2, Texas No. 3, Colorado No. 8 and Arizona No. 17. Not surprisingly, we also rank in the bottom tier in median household income.

So the best way to address what ails us is not to tell business we dont want them here. Yet Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, kicked off her freshman term by sponsoring SB 459, legislation that would put a four-year moratorium on new hydraulic fracturing permits  something the industry that pumped more than $2.2 billion into state coffers last year and employed thousands of New Mexicans says would be devastating. The N.M. Oil and Gas Association says virtually all new wells use fracking, the EPA under Obama found no evidence fracking had led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources, and putting a four-year hold on new drilling kills new jobs and revenues for the state.

Sedillo Lopez, a former University of New Mexico law professor, points out the moratorium applies only to new permits and does not affect the record number now pumping. She says it would give the state time to beef up resources to enforce current drilling laws, get a grip on exactly how many permits are in place and study the impact of fracking on our water, land, air and people. As for the moratoriums economic impact, she is still waiting for legislative staffs Fiscal Impact Report.

Sedillo Lopez and co-sponsor Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, are right that New Mexico needs to protect its natural resources and is woefully behind in its regulatory homework. The state Oil Conservation Division is understaffed (Sedillo Lopez says eight employees are responsible for oversight of 64,000 wells) and the last state land commissioner, a Republican-turned-Libertarian, announced a year ago the rush to make a quick buck is coming at the expense of New Mexicos environment. Our agency and the OCD need to step up to protect our state and its lands from being damaged by the California-style gold rush happening in Southeast New Mexico.

But its not in New Mexicans best interests to say new investment, jobs and revenue must come to a standstill while the state gets its regulatory act together. The two missions should not be mutually exclusive.

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Sending the same closed-for-business notice are Sen. Mimi Stewart and Rep. Gail Chasey, both Albuquerque Democrats. Their bill requires public agencies to conduct an environmental assessment for just about any project anywhere in the state estimated to cost more than $2 million. HB 206, the Environmental Review Act, would mandate state agencies in charge of leasing, permitting or licensing development projects assess environmental consequences. Despite its 27 pages, what that means isnt entirely clear  a climate change study for a new grocery?  but it would be in addition to local and state licensing and permitting processes in place in a state notorious for an excessive supply of red tape and multiple inspections by different bureaucracies. Business groups have expressed alarm, arguing the bill will make us less competitive, delay new construction, add unnecessary additional regulation and deter investment. The Sandoval County Economic Alliance says it would cripple the states economy. If thats an overstatement, its not by much  page 13 requires reasons why a projects effects arent enough to stop it.

Yes, New Mexicos natural beauty is one of our greatest assets and must be protected. But we need an approach that not only protects our air, water and land but also spurs investment, creates jobs and allows people to pursue the dream of making a better life for themselves and their families.

These pieces of legislation, as written, do the opposite.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Earlier this month a 2nd Judicial District Court judge released a property crime suspect  with a long and sometimes violent record  finding he was not a danger to the community.

But police say he robbed a woman on Tuesday, putting a pistol in her mouth and beating her with it, before fleeing in a stolen car with her belongings.

The suspect, 32-year-old Donald Delahunt, is back behind bars on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and receiving and transferring a stolen motor vehicle.

The suspect, 32-year-old Donald Delahunt, is back behind bars on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon and receiving and transferring a stolen motor vehicle.

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It is frustrating when folks like this, with a lengthy criminal history, are let back onto our streets, District Attorney spokesman Michael Patrick said. All we can do is identify these people who we consider as dangerous to our community and seek to detain them. Its up to the judge to decide if they perceive this person as a danger.

District Court spokesman Sidney Hill said he could not comment on the specific case.

A judge cannot continue to hold a defendant pending trial unless the DA proves by clear and convincing evidence that no release conditions will reasonably protect the safety of any other person or the community, Hill said, speaking generally.

Court records show that state District Judge Alisa Hart denied pretrial detention for Delahunt on Feb. 11 after he was arrested on stolen vehicle and drug possession charges in Albuquerque.

During the hearing, prosecutors presented Delahunts history, including domestic violence, burglary and drug charges. In a 2013 case, Delahunt beat a man until he thought he was dead and called a friend to ask for help burying the body.

The DAs office also submitted five bench warrants and eight probation violations stemming from Delahunts noncompliance, resulting in him being unsatisfactorily discharged from probation three times.

Due to his history and non-compliance with court orders, Delahunt ranked a five out of six on the tool used by a judge to help decide whether to detain someone.

Hart found prosecutors had shown there was no way to ensure Delahunts compliance with court conditions, but did not prove his dangerousness to the community, according to court documents. She noted most of the offenses were non-violent and those that were violent were older.

As a result, Hart released Delahunt to pretrial services and he failed to report to the Judicial Supervision and Diversion Program.

Instead, he was back in jail on Wednesday in connection with the armed robbery.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, police received two calls of an armed robbery, one from a man that disconnected, and another from a woman saying she had been beaten and robbed by two men.

The woman told police her friend Jason Campbell and another man, later identified as Delahunt, showed up to her northeast Albuquerque apartment.

Police say Delahunt pulled out a gun and placed it inside her mouth before striking her with it multiple times.

The woman told police Delahunt demanded pills and cash from her while telling her to take her clothes off.

Police say thats when Campbell called police himself and Delahunt began striking him with the gun and calling him a snitch for calling 911.

The woman told police she ran to a back bedroom and the two men left with her pills and cash.

According to the complaint officers pinged Campbells phone and found the men inside a stolen SUV in a parking lot a few miles away.
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SANTA FE  The New Mexico Lottery would no longer have to send at least 30 percent of its revenue to a popular scholarship program, under a bill that won broad approval Wednesday in the state Senate.

Backers say the proposal, Senate Bill 283, could give the lottery more flexibility and, eventually, lead to bigger prizes being offered.

What youve seen is stable revenues, but we have not had the opportunities for growth, said Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, one of the bills sponsors.

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But the measure, which is similar to legislation that has stalled in the House in previous sessions, passed the Senate on Wednesday only after several changes were added.

Those changes include a provision the lottery would still have to pay a minimum of $40 million for scholarships during the coming budget year  and slightly more than that in future years.

In addition, starting in July 2022, unclaimed prize money would be funneled into the scholarship fund, instead of going into the lotterys operational budget.

And under an amendment tacked on Wednesday, the 30 percent requirement would be reinstated if the lottery failed to meet the minimum payout to the scholarship program.

Lottery scholarship advocates lauded those changes, saying they would provide a safeguard of sorts.

Fred Nathan, executive director of the Santa Fe-based Think New Mexico, which has fought against previous attempts to remove the 30 percent distribution requirement, said the additions to the bill offer important protections to students.

Overall, New Mexico Lottery revenue levels have remained largely static over the past 15 years  going from $133.6 million in the 2003 budget year to $134.1 million last year, according to a bill analysis.

Thats led to stagnant funding for the scholarship program, which has faced increasing pressure in recent years due to escalating tuition costs and its widespread popularity.

The lottery-funded scholarship program used to cover all tuition for qualifying students, but it now covers only a portion after lawmakers enacted changes to the program. Roughly 26,000 scholarships are expected to be paid during the current school year.

During Wednesdays floor debate, some senators said its time to try something new to generate more revenue.

The lottery is here  weve got to maximize it, said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming.

The bill ultimately passed the Senate 40-1, with Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, casting the only no vote. It now advances to the state House.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  State Police arrested two teenagers at a northeast Albuquerque apartment complex Wednesday after they walked away from a boys reintegration center earlier this week.

State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said an anonymous tip led officers to Jose Lopez and Randy Torrez, both 16, in a vacant apartment at Canyon Vista Apartments, near Montgomery and Carlisle NE.

Both were taken into custody without incident, he said.

State Police had been looking for the boys since Monday night when they walked away from the Albuquerque Boys Reintegration Center at 4000 Edith.

At the time, the boys were believed to be heading back to Roswell where they are originally from.

The boys were remanded to the reintegration center on separate charges, Lopez for unlawful possession of a handgun and Torrez for aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm.

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WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump said Wednesday that tariffs on autos imported from Europe are something we certainly think about as the White House reviews a Commerce Department report on whether imported vehicles and parts pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Trump made it clear that any final decision on the matter hinges on trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union. In public hearings last year, the idea of imposing import taxes on autos drew almost no support, even from the U.S. auto industry.

If we dont do the deal, well do the tariffs, Trump told reporters before a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

U.S. automakers ostensibly would benefit from a tax on their foreign competitors. But many U.S. automakers depend on imported parts that could be subject to Trumps tariffs and could become more expensive. They also could be subject to retaliatory tariffs, as occurred when Trump last year imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum in the name of national security.

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Trump described the U.S. and Austria as having a great trade relationship. But he complained about the U.S. running a trade deficit with the EU that he estimated at about $151 billion annually. Trump said the EU is very tough to make a deal with.

The Commerce Department has been investigating whether imported vehicles and parts pose a threat to national security. The president could impose tariffs if the department concludes they are a threat. Trump was asked whether the departments report had changed his mind on imposing tariffs.

He described the Commerce Department report as a study thats underway, but the bottom-line result is whether or not we can make a deal with the EU

In addition to imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump has imposed tariffs on dishwashers, solar panels and hundreds of Chinese products. Targeting autos would further raise the stakes. The United States imported $340 billion in cars, trucks and auto parts in 2017.
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SANTA FE  A bill that would prohibit any new charter schools from opening until 2022 moved forward at the Roundhouse on Wednesday, despite opposition from parents and other ardent charter school supporters.

The proposed charter moratorium, House Bill 434, passed the House Education Committee on a 10-3 vote and now goes to House State Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee.

Rep. Christine Trujillo, D-Albuquerque, the bills co-sponsor, said it would provide time for the state to analyze existing charters academic outcomes.

The issue is not about closing them down. The issue is about stopping for a short time new charter schools until we can recheck everything, she said.

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Matt Pahl, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools, said the bill discounts the successes charters have had in the state, emphasizing that charters currently have accountability measures in place.

In New Mexico, charter schools are entities of the state or entities of the district that authorizes them and they have the exact same financial requirements that a school district has, Pahl said.

There are 96 charter schools in New Mexico, according to an analysis of the legislation.

Pahl said the state has the same number of charters as it did five years ago.

Representatives of Albuquerque Public Schools and the state Public Education Commission, the states two largest authorizers of charter schools, also spoke in opposition to the bill.

Art Melendres, an attorney who represents APS, said the decision to authorize a school should be up to local school boards.

Excellent Schools New Mexico, Public Charter Schools of New Mexico and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce released poll results recently that showed 68 percent of Bernalillo County parents are against a moratorium.

Bruce Langston, president of the Mission Achievement and Success Charter School Governing Board, said he came to talk to the House Education Committee as a parent.

He said the charter moratorium bill would attack parents freedom of school choice.

Im asking you not to seriously curtail my freedom and my liberty to do whats best for my children, he said.

But supporters of the bill  including prominent teacher unions  say House Bill 434 is a chance to look at the landscape of charter schools, study funding in the state and review ripple effects of the charter movement, noting that the moratorium is not permanent.

Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein said charters have siphoned resources from other public schools and a moratorium would give a chance to evaluate this.

I think this is a moment in time where were able to just stop, tap the brakes  and think about what we as a state want in terms of supporting a very diverse public school system, she said.

Daniel Benavidez, superintendent of Zuni Public School District, who is a former charter school director, said he supports the bill because he thinks the state needs to reflect on which charters are working and which are not effective.

The New Mexico School Boards Association and the New Mexico Superintendents Association also backed the bill.

Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, wasnt sold, though. She questioned why the bill was necessary and what it would achieve, ultimately voting against it.

A fiscal impact report indicates a charter moratorium could result in some savings for the state.

The report says new charter schools typically take advantage of a funding component that gives extra dollars to smaller schools. But without new schools claiming that money, there could be an increase in school funding formula money, according to the report.

The report also says the budget process doesnt always account for new charters.

The Legislature has typically not included additional funding in the public school support budget to fund charter school growth, leading to a dilution of funding for existing charter schools and traditional public schools, the report says.

However, the document also shows the bill would contradict the purpose of a $22.5 million federal grant the state has to spur charter development.

Proposals in previous years to enact a New Mexico charter school moratorium have stalled in the state House, but Democrats have an expanded majority in the chamber after gaining eight seats in the November general election.
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DETROIT  Detroits Cobo Center, which hosts the auto show and other major events, is changing its name to remove the surname of a former mayor known for his racist policies, officials announced Wednesday.

The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced it has sold Cobo Centers naming rights to Detroit-based Chemical Bank in a 22-year deal that will generate $1.5 million annually. The new name will be announced later this year, after Chemical Banks holding company acquires another financial institution , Minnesota-based TCF Financial Corp. In the meantime, the centers prominent exterior digital signage will combine the center and bank names.

Authority Chairman Larry Alexander, who also serves as president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he sees the move as killing two birds with one stone  making the right decisions financially and socially.

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No question that name, Cobo, has a negative history and connotation attached to it, he told The Associated Press. I will have to say that our financial concerns were the first priority, but our second concern was to be sure we eliminate any past negative issue associated with the name.

Albert Cobo, who served as mayor from 1950 to 1957, sought to keep blacks out of predominantly white neighborhoods. The convention center opened on the Detroit River waterfront in 1960, three years after Cobo died.

The Cobo era was marked by the wiping out of African American neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal. I dont believe our civic center  should be celebrating that era, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said during Wednesdays announcement.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer echoed Duggans sentiments, saying the Cobo name is synonymous with division.

Right now, in our country and in our state, weve got enough division, Whitmer said.

Vestiges of racism and intolerance are slowly being moved and removed in Michigan and other northern states, spurred by more widespread efforts in the South to erase the nations slave past. In the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, a statue of former Mayor Orville Hubbard  who spent decades trying to keep the city all white  was socked away for more than a year after leaders decided it didnt belong outside a new City Hall. The Hubbard statue now stands beside a small museum. At the University of Michigan, regents have voted to strip a former presidents name, Clarence Cook Little, from a campus science building because he lent his expertise to groups that favored selective reproduction, also known as eugenics.

A bust of Cobo is no longer prominently displayed in Cobo Center. It now sits at the end of a long, little-used and dimly lit hallway a floor below the centers main entrance.

In addition to the North American International Auto Show, Cobo Center also hosts the annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, the largest fundraiser by the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The organization says it draws 10,000 people each year.

You cant change everything, but you can change some things. You can begin anew, pastor and Detroit NAACP branch president the Rev. Wendell Anthony said at Wednesdays announcement.

The center was owned and operated by the city until 2009, when the regional authority was created. Officials said in a release that the money made from the deal with Chemical Bank will save state taxpayers millions of dollars and help the center move toward becoming a self-sustaining facility within about five years.

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Associated Press reporter Corey Williams contributed to this story.

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This story has been corrected to show that Duggan said, The Cobo era was marked by the wiping out of African American neighborhoods, not whitening-out.
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Just how important it is to come up with a plan for redevelopment of the city-owned college campus off St. Michaels Drive has been brought into focus, again, by some of the numbers floating around City Hall.

A $961,000 budget adjustment was needed just to maintain the 64-acre campus, most recently the home of the defunct Santa Fe University of Art and Design, through the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

A city finance officer says maintaining the campus for all of next fiscal year is expected to cost $2 million, at least. The money is needed for building upkeep, security and other costs.

Thats on top of the $2.2 million of annual debt service on the campus, which was purchased and improved by city government with a $29.6 million loan from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2009 after the old College of Santa Fe folded.

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That means the campus, without a college tenant, costs more than $4 million annually.

The campus has been largely vacant since the for-profit SFUAD decamped at the end of the 2018 spring semester. The school was paying rent that covered the debt service.

(The Garson Studios film studio is still running on the campus and The Screen art-house cinema was commendably re-opened last year, under terms where rent was covered by the value of the filmic services provided by the operator, the Center for Contemporary Arts.)

Meanwhile, City Hall has been fussing over an $8.2 million software upgrade whose benefit has been described, more or less, as changing life as we know it in Santa Fe  via accountability, transparency, streamlining and speed of process. All the hype may be true. But only seasoned translators of various acronym-laden dialects  those used in the worlds of big bureaucracies, and high-tech and management gurus  can know for sure.

The upgrade was seen as so important that $400,000 in raises were deemed warranted for city employees working on the project, until the raises were withdrawn amid controversy, and consultants proclaimed last fall that the upgrade was at risk of failure. A $2.7 million budget adjustment was approved recently to bring more of the project management in-house.

Last week, a City Council committee OKd a $1.1 million increase to the budget to upgrade the citys natural gas fueling station, which now will cost about $5 million.

These recently discussed expenses are noted here to put the cost of the Mid-City campus lying fallow in context. Were coming toward the end of one year of a vacant campus. Two years of nothing on the property apparently would come to something $8.4 million in expenses  more than the budget for the big software project.

Theres no reason to think city leaders dont see the urgency of finding new uses for the campus, although the issue has gone silent for a few months.

A lot of energy was generated last year with solicitation of (often fanciful) ideas for the site and paring down the wish list to things like apartments, an educational institution and expanding on film production with Garson Studios as a centerpiece. George R.R. Martin, our friendly go-to cultural benefactor, apparently has some ideas for the campus Greer Garson Theatre, an absolutely professional facility for plays and other performing arts.

None of this will be easy, and its fair to assume that negotiations or discussions are going on outside the public eye. But with the clock ticking and the costs mounting, it would be nice to see some progress reports, or the establishment of a board or other governing structure for the campus development, which is something Mayor Webber mentioned last July.

Getting redevelopment of the campus right is priority number one. But the public cost of the empty property means time should also be of the essence.
Kelda J.L. Pharris

kpharris@aberdeennews.com

The 2018 Christmas campaign for The Salvation Army in Aberdeen fell shy of its $207,250 goal.

We raised a total of $198,757.49, said Maj. Dale Hunt by email Wednesday.

Thats almost an $8,500 difference.

Of the total amount, $72,489.25 came in specifically through red kettle donations, down from about $74,000 in 2017. The rest of the Christmas donations come via mail or walk-ins.

In 2017, the Christmas campaign took in about $203,000, Hunt said in November.

The Salvation Army, along with other nonprofit groups, saw an increased need for food, utility help and mortgage or rent assistance because of the 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, according to information from the United Way of Northeastern South Dakota last month.

The Salvation Army gets food donations from grocers and restaurants that arent reflected in the budget. Those items go to the food pantry or are used to make noon meals at The Salvation Army, 1003 Sixth Ave. S.W. The agency makes about 40 to 50 lunches Monday through Friday, but that number tapers off when the weather is bad, Maj. Mary Hunt said during a meeting in December.
Staff reports

Aberdeen News

A recent headline in the American News read Senate passes resolution supporting wall. History-making Gov. Kristi Noem, in her State of the State Address, mentioned the need to secure our southern border.

It was a great surprise that the Cornhuskers south of our border are threatening to invade the land of the Coyotes and Jackrabbits.

Do those informed senators know that our South Dakota-Nebraska wall would need to be 400 miles long? Do they know that 280 miles of that wall will be on farmland and prairie?

Donnys wall will cost $5.7 billion at a cost of $20 million per mile. This amount spent would build 285 miles of wall. The border that Donny wants walled is 2,000 miles long.

It is known that walls dont stop border-crossings. Those who cross are good at digging tunnels. To reduce tunnel building, that wall would need an 8-foot deep foundation to hinder tunneling. That would really add to the cost. Another $5 million per mile perhaps?

Who will pay for these walls? I think Donny may still be negotiating with Mexico to fund his. Noem needs to begin talks with the Nebraska governor to urge that state to pay for our wall. If all else fails our governor could declare a state of emergency and call our National Guard to build the wall.

Our legislators in Pierre had the foresight to prepare for this invasion. They passed a bill allows them to carry their favorite firearm while in session.

The legislators need to be advised to concentrate on real issues that affect their constituents, such as increasing Medicaid spending to prevent numerous more nursing home closures (as in Mobridge) and providing adequate funding for education, infrastructure improvement and more.

Leonard Linde

Mobridge
In outlining their argument prosecutors contend that Jensen used the interstate to travel to North Dakota for a day trip wrestling tournament where he conducted "hernia checks" to recruit at least one teen into the "The Program".
Weather Alert

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO 8 PM MDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures up to 102 degrees expected for multiple days. * WHERE...Bitterroot Valley, Missoula, Highway 93 Sula to Lost Trail Pass, Lolo Pass, Highway 200 Bonner to Greenough, Highway 83 Seeley Lake to Condon, and I-90 East Missoula to Bearmouth. * WHEN...From noon Tuesday to 8 PM MDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. &&
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Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-21-2019 06:51 PM











Post: #1 Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean

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Iran is to launch a three-day annual navy drill from Friday in a vast area of the Gulf and the Indian Ocean including a sensitive global shipping route, state TV reported on Thursday.



"The drill will be held in the waters of Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and the north of the Indian Ocean, covering 2 million square kilometres and going on for three days," said Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Iran's navy commander.



The exercise aims to evaluate the navy's equipment, practice launching weapons and "enable the troops to gain readiness for a real battle," he added.



The strait at the mouth of the Gulf is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a third of the world's seaborne oil passing through it every day.



The show of military might comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iran's main regional rival Saudi Arabia and with Washington, which last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.





https://www.france24.com/en/20190221-ira...dian-ocean Yesterday Iran warned that they could be facing military action against Israel. Now this. You know it is coming. March 5th.Iran is to launch a three-day annual navy drill from Friday in a vast area of the Gulf and the Indian Ocean including a sensitive global shipping route, state TV reported on Thursday."The drill will be held in the waters of Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and the north of the Indian Ocean, covering 2 million square kilometres and going on for three days," said Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Iran's navy commander.The exercise aims to evaluate the navy's equipment, practice launching weapons and "enable the troops to gain readiness for a real battle," he added.The strait at the mouth of the Gulf is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a third of the world's seaborne oil passing through it every day.The show of military might comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iran's main regional rival Saudi Arabia and with Washington, which last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-21-2019 06:53 PM











Post: #2 RE: Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean







Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi told Mehr News correspondent that missile with different ranges will be launched from warships and for the first time submarine-launched missiles will also be practiced in the large-scale naval drills dubbed 'Velayat-97', which kicked off earlier today.



According to Khanzadi, the 'Velayat-97' is carried out in a vast maneuver area which starts from the Strait of Hormuz and the Oman Sea, to the Indian Ocean.



The Navy commander said part of the Iranian naval forces capabilities will be displayed in the war games, adding that all the fleets participating will display their preparedness in the face of enemies threats.



He added that missiles will also be launched from the coast towards floating targets in the sea. The commander further noted that UAVs and helicopters will carry out their missions on deck of home-made Sahand destroyers.



With regard to the goals of 'Velayat-97' naval drills, khanzadi said that displaying the capabilities of the Iranian naval forces in addition to increasing the preparedness and skills of the naval forces are two major goals of the exercises. He added that the drills will also show the Iranian naval forces readiness to secure the access of friend and neighboring countries to international waters.







https://en.mehrnews.com/news/142755/Iran...in-massive Iran Navy to test-fire submarine-launched missiles in massive naval drills.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi told Mehr News correspondent that missile with different ranges will be launched from warships and for the first time submarine-launched missiles will also be practiced in the large-scale naval drills dubbed 'Velayat-97', which kicked off earlier today.According to Khanzadi, the 'Velayat-97' is carried out in a vast maneuver area which starts from the Strait of Hormuz and the Oman Sea, to the Indian Ocean.The Navy commander said part of the Iranian naval forces capabilities will be displayed in the war games, adding that all the fleets participating will display their preparedness in the face of enemies threats.He added that missiles will also be launched from the coast towards floating targets in the sea. The commander further noted that UAVs and helicopters will carry out their missions on deck of home-made Sahand destroyers.With regard to the goals of 'Velayat-97' naval drills, khanzadi said that displaying the capabilities of the Iranian naval forces in addition to increasing the preparedness and skills of the naval forces are two major goals of the exercises. He added that the drills will also show the Iranian naval forces readiness to secure the access of friend and neighboring countries to international waters. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-21-2019 06:55 PM











Post: #3 RE: Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean







Zarif: Iran Will Not Rule Out Possibility of Military Conflict With Israel.





Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif accused Israel of engaging in adventurism with its bombing campaigns in Syria and said he could not rule out the possibility of a military conflict between the countries.



Zarif told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that Iran was in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government, while Israel was violating Lebanese and Syrian air space, as well as international law.



There is adventurism on Israels side, and adventurism is always dangerous, Zarif told the newspaper in an interview to be published on Thursday.



Asked if he saw an emerging military conflict between Iran and Israel, Zarif said, I do not, but we cannot exclude the possibility.





https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/02/21/za...th-israel/ And this is why they are doing military exercises now.Zarif: Iran Will Not Rule Out Possibility of Military Conflict With Israel.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif accused Israel of engaging in adventurism with its bombing campaigns in Syria and said he could not rule out the possibility of a military conflict between the countries.Zarif told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that Iran was in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government, while Israel was violating Lebanese and Syrian air space, as well as international law.There is adventurism on Israels side, and adventurism is always dangerous, Zarif told the newspaper in an interview to be published on Thursday.Asked if he saw an emerging military conflict between Iran and Israel, Zarif said, I do not, but we cannot exclude the possibility. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-21-2019 07:12 PM











Post: #4 RE: Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean

aggs Wrote: (02-21-2019 07:05 PM) Is this also 5D chess?



That's Israel's problem. Maybe Trump the Messiah should man up

Trump is pro Israel, he will. Trump is pro Israel, he will. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-21-2019 07:16 PM











Post: #5 RE: Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean

aggs Wrote: (02-21-2019 07:15 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-21-2019 07:12 PM) Trump is pro Israel, he will.

he will what?





Depopulate America of Zionists and use women as shields?

That seems to be the plan and not only for America. That seems to be the plan and not only for America. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 490100

02-21-2019 07:34 PM











Post: #6 RE: Iran announces 3-day navy drill from Gulf to Indian Ocean













You mean this Iranian Navy?

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silversides

The bare necessities of life

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02-21-2019 07:52 AM



Posts: 22,994











Post: #1 The Grave Creek Mound & Tablet Controversy

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctur8xx_Sjg



--



The Grave Creek Mound in the Ohio River Valley in West Virginia is one of the largest conical-type burial mounds in the United States, now standing 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter.[3] The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about 250150 BC.

Present-day Moundsville has developed around it near the banks of the Ohio River. The first recorded excavation of the mound took place in 1838, and was conducted by local amateurs Abelard Tomlinson and Thomas Biggs.[4] The largest surviving mound among those built by the Adena, this was designated a National Historic Landmark in the mid-20th century.



In 1978 the state opened the Delf Norona Museum at the site. It displays numerous artifacts and interprets the ancient Adena Culture. In 2010, under an agreement with the state, the US Army Corps of Engineers gave nearly 450,000 artifacts to the museum for archival storage. These were recovered in archeological excavations at the site of the Marmet Lock, and represent 10,000 years of indigenous habitation in the area.[5]



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Creek_Mound



--



The Grave Creek Stone is a small sandstone disk inscribed on one side with some twenty-five characters, purportedly discovered in 1838 at Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia. If genuine, it could provide evidence of a primitive alphabet, but the discovery that the characters can be found in a 1752 book suggests that it is probably a fraud. The only known image of the actual stone is a photograph of items in the E.H. Davis collection (circa 1878) before the majority of the collection was sold to the Blackmore Museum (now part of the British Museum).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Creek_Stone Monkey Magic

The Grave Creek Mound & Tablet Controversy--The Grave Creek Mound in the Ohio River Valley in West Virginia is one of the largest conical-type burial mounds in the United States, now standing 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter.[3] The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about 250150 BC.Present-day Moundsville has developed around it near the banks of the Ohio River. The first recorded excavation of the mound took place in 1838, and was conducted by local amateurs Abelard Tomlinson and Thomas Biggs.[4] The largest surviving mound among those built by the Adena, this was designated a National Historic Landmark in the mid-20th century.In 1978 the state opened the Delf Norona Museum at the site. It displays numerous artifacts and interprets the ancient Adena Culture. In 2010, under an agreement with the state, the US Army Corps of Engineers gave nearly 450,000 artifacts to the museum for archival storage. These were recovered in archeological excavations at the site of the Marmet Lock, and represent 10,000 years of indigenous habitation in the area.[5]--The Grave Creek Stone is a small sandstone disk inscribed on one side with some twenty-five characters, purportedly discovered in 1838 at Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia. If genuine, it could provide evidence of a primitive alphabet, but the discovery that the characters can be found in a 1752 book suggests that it is probably a fraud. The only known image of the actual stone is a photograph of items in the E.H. Davis collection (circa 1878) before the majority of the collection was sold to the Blackmore Museum (now part of the British Museum).
The addition of primary care physicians can increase overall life expectancy more than having extra specialists can, but the former are in shorter supply in regions throughout the country, a new study finds.



Researchers from the medical schools at Stanford and Harvard determined that for every 10 additional primary care doctors per 100,000 people, a community experiences a 51.5-day rise in life expectancy. By contrast, the increase is just 19.2 days with the addition of 10 specialists. Published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, the study analyzed data from 2005 to 2015.



Though the number of primary care doctors has increased, disproportionate losses  in rural areas and overall population growth have led to decreased per-patient rates, according to a Stanford news release about the study.
Elisa Gabbert at The Paris Review:

I wondered whether Shelleys misfortunes in the 1820s were also responsible for the novels obsession with loneliness. Everyone in the story, in particular the three men who take control of the narrative in turnif the monster can be called a manlongs desperately for companionship. Walton writes, in his second letter posted from Archangel, a Russian port on the White Sea: I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret  You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. He does not expect to find one on the ocean, but he does, in Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein left his lifelong friends behind to attend university; it may be his isolation that leads him astray. The monsters loneliness is especially keen. He calls the poor cottagers, who are ignorant of his existence, his friends: When they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys. I saw few human beings besides them, and if any other happened to enter the cottage, their harsh manners and rude gait only enhanced to me the superior accomplishments of my friends.

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US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports ALADIN

* weird wizard1*

User ID: 485250

02-21-2019 03:24 AM



Posts: 5,426









Post: #1 US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports

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Austria will continue buying Russian gas despite US pressure and fear-mongering from Poland and Ukraine about dangers to European energy security. The cost of importing US gas is just not right, says its Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.



Meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, the 32-year-old chancellor stood up for Austrias continued support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is due to be completed later this year.



Austria wants a secure gas supply, Kurz told local media after meeting with Trump, adding that Vienna has no problem with buying liquid natural gas (LNG) from the US, but as long as the price is better, Russia is more attractive as a partner, as Trump can certainly understand as a former businessman.



The price of US imports is currently not competitive, Kurz said, so the gas for Austria will continue to come mainly from Russia in the foreseeable future.



Germany has also pushed back on US pressure to halt the pipeline in recent days, with the new leader of the ruling CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer describing the project as something that just cant be turned back and adding that Germany has quite legitimate economic interests in energy supply.



Once completed, Nord Stream 2 will have the capacity to stream 110 million cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany, and onwards into Europe. While this makes Berlin and Vienna happy, the prospect is apparently keeping the authorities in Warsaw and Kiev  who currently profit from transit fees on Russian gas  awake at night.



https://www.rt.com/business/452034-europ...ia-gas-us/



It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas importsAustria will continue buying Russian gas despite US pressure and fear-mongering from Poland and Ukraine about dangers to European energy security. The cost of importing US gas is just not right, says its Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.Meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, the 32-year-old chancellor stood up for Austrias continued support for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is due to be completed later this year.Austria wants a secure gas supply, Kurz told local media after meeting with Trump, adding that Vienna has no problem with buying liquid natural gas (LNG) from the US, but as long as the price is better, Russia is more attractive as a partner, as Trump can certainly understand as a former businessman.The price of US imports is currently not competitive, Kurz said, so the gas for Austria will continue to come mainly from Russia in the foreseeable future.Germany has also pushed back on US pressure to halt the pipeline in recent days, with the new leader of the ruling CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer describing the project as something that just cant be turned back and adding that Germany has quite legitimate economic interests in energy supply.Once completed, Nord Stream 2 will have the capacity to stream 110 million cubic meters of gas from Russia to Germany, and onwards into Europe. While this makes Berlin and Vienna happy, the prospect is apparently keeping the authorities in Warsaw and Kiev  who currently profit from transit fees on Russian gas  awake at night. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 488763

02-21-2019 04:52 AM











Post: #2 RE: US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports

F#ck the USA. Britain owns them anyway. Damnrod

Pull my finger

User ID: 297746

02-21-2019 04:58 AM



Posts: 7,591









Post: #3 RE: US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports

They can't stop until they get that Saudi/Qatar pipeline through Syria



Make no mistakes about it



The Syrian rebellion started shortly after Assad told them no on the pipeline through Syria and directly into Europe...everything else is propaganda that 95% of the sheep still believe.



Until they get that pipeliine, European countries have to buy Russian gas "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"...Thomas Jefferson



"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it"...Thomas Jefferson





(This post was last modified: 02-21-2019 05:00 AM by Damnrod .) Natura Naturans

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02-21-2019 05:28 AM



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Post: #4 RE: US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports

Manosteel Wrote: (02-21-2019 04:58 AM) They can't stop until they get that Saudi/Qatar pipeline through Syria



Make no mistakes about it



The Syrian rebellion started shortly after Assad told them no on the pipeline through Syria and directly into Europe...everything else is propaganda that 95% of the sheep still believe.



Until they get that pipeliine, European countries have to buy Russian gas

And THAT's the truth! I don't know why people don't just google these things. I have put up posts on this many times but people listen to the fing US propaganda. And THAT's the truth! I don't know why people don't just google these things. I have put up posts on this many times but people listen to the fing US propaganda. The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza SkeptiSchism

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02-21-2019 05:36 AM



Posts: 33,320









Post: #5 RE: US arm-twisting & pipe dreams aside, Europe just wont quit Russian gas imports

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-21-2019 04:52 AM) F#ck the USA. Britain owns them anyway.

A piece of us at least, the other pieces belong to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican.



A piece of us at least, the other pieces belong to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican. Collectivism is basically totalitarianism disguised as humanitarianism.



Brandon Smith

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Recognize bias

ROBERT BECK

social worker

WAVERLY  The recent reawakened awareness of blackface could remind us we have all grown up in an America that has been and, to some extent still is, racist, anti-semitic, homophobic and generally xenophobic, with roots in western civilization and religion. As such we are bound to have embedded racist thoughts and feelings. So the important thing is not to deny these but to recognize and admit them and then work to change them.

As nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed in 1915 for treating enemy soldiers, declared, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have not hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

Ark Encounter

ELLEN BAUER

WAVERLY  Recently someone asked you about the Ark Encounter. My husband and I have been there many times.

We visited the Creation Museum in August 2007 after it opened in May 2007. As we left, we knew the world needed to know about this place. That was the start of a ministry. We took our first bus load to Kentucky in June 2008. Since then we have taken 20 bus loads.
WATERLOO -- The estimated cost for the Senate District 30 special election is $41,500, according to the Black Hawk County Auditor's election office.

The office broke down the cost for The Courier in an email, showing the highest cost -- an estimated $29,000 -- is to pay election day poll workers.

"There are 24 polling places for (the special election)," said Grant Veeder, Black Hawk County Auditor. Only people in those 24 polling areas will be able to vote in the special election. The district includes all of Cedar Falls and parts of Hudson and Waterloo.

Other costs include $1,000 for ballot publication; $2,500 for testing, setting and transporting election day equipment; $1,500 for satellite voting operations; $1,500 for precinct supplies; $1,000 for absentee and special voter precinct board workers and supplies; and $5,000 for ballot printing.

The auditor's office doesn't have the money in its budget to cover the costs, and may need to do a budget amendment later in the year.

"We can't bill it to somebody else, like when we had the special elections in December," Veeder said. "That was paid for by the city of Waterloo and the Dunkerton school district."
DES MOINES  An amendment reducing the scope of Republican-backed changes to Iowas judicial nominating process was narrowly approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, making it somewhat more palatable to the bar and increasing the likelihood it becomes law.

We think thats an improvement to the bill because we always maintained and believed that the judicial nominating commissions were working well, both at the state level and the district level, Iowa State Bar Association lobbyist Jim Carney said.

The amendment leaves the current process largely unchanged for Iowas 15 district judicial nominating commissions, where half the members are appointed by the governor and the other half are appointed by Iowa lawyers.

However, the bar still opposes the proposal that would have the governor appoint eight members to the state judicial commission that nominates members of the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate would each appoint two members, and the court would appoint one.

Groups supporting what they call reforms to the process still are on board but prefer the original version of House Study Bill 110 that applied changes to the nomination process to district and appeals courts.
According to a 2013 report from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a national think tank, one report suggested e-verifys error rate was just 4.1 percent  3.3 percent of which were unauthorized workers incorrectly authorized and .7 percent of which were authorized workers wrongly rejected.

But the report also found e-verify caught just more than half of the workers it should have rejected, an issue the report attributed to document fraud.

Dave Stitz, the owner of a Des Moines construction company, said he has used e-verify for a dozen years. He is required to use e-verify when working on federal government contracts, but Stitz said he uses it for all hires. He said the system is easy to use and typically reliable.

But Stitz also made a plea to lawmakers that immigration reform is needed to bring immigrants living in the country illegally out of the shadows so companies can feel comfortable hiring them. Stitz said he has a difficult time finding workers willing to do construction work.

We have such a hard time finding that work ethic, Stitz said. Lets just get (immigrants here illegally) in the mix and make them legal. Thats my personal opinion.

The bill requires county attorneys to prosecute any business found to be employing workers living in the U.S. illegally and creates punishments up to the suspension and, on second offense, revocation of business licenses.

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WATERLOO  One of two teens charged in the 2017 slaying of a Waterloo man has pleaded to charges he was involved in robbing the victim on the night of the fatal shooting.

Terrion Lamar Gamblin, 16, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in adult court in the death of 39-year-old Cedric Craft at Crafts Courtland Street home.

On Feb. 14, Gamblin pleaded to the robbery charge, and he was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Because he is a juvenile, there is no mandatory minimum sentence for the robbery charge.

+3 Waterloo man dies following Monday shooting WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was shot in the head during a burglary to his home has died, a

The murder charge is still pending, and Gamblin has waived his right to trial within a year of being charged.

The other person arrested for murder and robbery in Crafts death, 17-year-old Quintarius Lamark Brown, also is awaiting trial in adult court.

Authorities allege the two had been involved in a plan to rob Craft on Dec. 11, 2017. Police were called to the house shortly after 7 p.m. and found Craft with a gunshot wound to his head. He later died at a local hospital. The investigation determined items had been removed from the house.

Court records allege Gamblin waited outside during the robbery and acted as a lookout. Brown allegedly told others he had shot Craft.

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WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who struck and killed a bicyclist in July 2018 had been the subject of a FBI wiretap probe into meth sales, according to court records.

Joshua Ray Summerhays, 39, was arrested last year for homicide by vehicle in the crash outside Washburn that claimed the life of competitive cyclist Connie Inks of Waterloo.

Authorities said Summerhays was under the influence of amphetamine at the time of the collision, and a court date in the case has been set for March.

+5 UPDATE: Waterloo man charged with vehicular homicide in death of competitive bicyclist WATERLOO  A Waterloo man was driving on drugs and distracted when he struck and killed a co

Court records show the fatal crash came a year after police searched a Hammond Avenue home where he was living.

Summerhays wasnt charged in connection with the drug raid at the time, but on Tuesday he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver as part of the drug investigation.

Investigators with the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the FBI started looking into a meth ring that involved Summerhays in 2015, according to court records.

The probe involved a federal wire tap of Summerhays cell phone, which picked up more than 500 drug-related conversations during a one-month period in 2015, records state.

Police searched his home on July 6, 2017, and found a digital scale and less than 5 grams of what appeared to be methamphetamine.

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WATERLOO  A sex offender who allegedly shirked his registration responsibilities has been arrested for allegedly forcing oral sex with an 82-year-old woman.

Waterloo police arrested Manuel Montrell Causey, 30, of Waterloo, on Wednesday for first-degree burglary and second-degree sexual abuse. He was also arrested for outstanding warrants for sex offender registry violations.

Court records indicate authorities had been looking for Causey, who has a prior sexual assault conviction from Illinois, since October when he allegedly failed to show up for a court date for firearm charge. On Feb. 11, police sought sex offender registry violation warrants because Causey had allegedly moved without giving notice and neglected to show up for quarterly appointments.

Then on Wednesday, Causey showed up at the elderly womans house and asked to shovel snow. He allegedly forced his way inside, took her to the bedroom and demanded either oral or anal sex, telling her he was known to get violent, according to court records. After the attack, he took the womans jewelry and left, records state.

The woman called police, and officers used a tracking K9 before they found Causey in a nearby basement with a ring and earrings, records state. Causey told investigators the sex was consensual and the jewelry was a gift.

Causey was being held without bond Thursday.

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Waterloo library hosts book sale

WATERLOO  Friends of the Library will host a book sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the basement of the Waterloo Public Library, 415 Commercial St.

Shoppers will have access to fiction and non-fiction books, audiobooks, DVDs and records.

Attendees can purchase bags for $4 each and fill them with material. Friends members will have access to a special section of the basement to purchase the best merchandise at Friends Used Book Shop pricing (memberships are available at the door).

Sale proceeds benefit special events and programming at the library.

Art exhibition set in Waterloo

WATERLOO  A new Science of Surprise exhibit by Christa Reuel is on view in the Waterloo Center for the Arts Forsberg Riverside Galleries through May 6.

An artist reception and gallery talk with refreshments and live music is planned for 6 p.m. March 1.

Sponsored by Friends of the Art Center, the reception is free and open to the public.

Button Club meeting set
President Trump is on a full court press to win a Nobel Prize for peace; South Koreas leadership knows it and is terrified that Trump will sell their security out when he meets with North Koreas dictator Kim Jong Un in Vietnams capital Hanoi, on February 27. On the same day, Trumps former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will be spilling long-kept secrets about the President, his businesses and family to Elijah Cummings and the House Oversight Committee.

By James DiGeorgia

Mark off February 27, 2019, on your calendar as the day Michael Cohen voluntary testifies and spills the beans on a wide range of topics regarding President Trump to the House Oversight Chair Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and his committee. According to a memo released by Rep. Cummings, Cohen will be expected to discuss and testify on the following subjects

 the Presidents debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election

 the Presidents compliance with financial disclosure requirements

 the Presidents compliance with campaign finance laws

 the Presidents compliance with tax laws;

 the Presidents potential and actual conflicts of interest

 the Presidents business practices

 the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C

 the accuracy of the Presidents public statements

 potentially fraudulent or inappropriate practices by the Trump Foundation

 public efforts by the President and his attorney to intimidate Mr. Cohen or others not to testify

Michael Cohen canceled his last scheduled testimony committee out of fear for his and his familys safety. Cohen, however, will testify voluntarily, will not be under subpoena publicly on February 27 and then will also testify before the committee on February 28 to discuss matters that cannot be discussed publicly.

To facilitate the testimony, Michael Cohen has been able to push back the date he must report to prison by two months  from March 6 to May 6 to serve the three years in prison he was sentenced to last year.

For over a decade Cohen had been Donald J. Trumps personal lawyer and fixer. Cohen is believed by many news and legal analysts to know most if not all of Trumps darkest secrets. As a result, his testimony has the potential to be very damaging to the president, his businesses and his three oldest children who are intricately involved in the family businesses.

Cohen has been a loyal member of the Trump entourage now considers himself a whistleblower who is boldly telling the truth and is speaking out against the presidents corruption. Cohen has nothing to lose at this point he has already pleaded guilty to committing campaign finance crimes at Trumps direction, implicating the president as an un-indicted co-conspirator. Cohen has also pleaded guilty to perjuring himself in front of Congress regarding his work on the presidents behalf to negotiate a deal with the Russian government to build a Trump Tower Moscow during the campaign.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Cohen will not discuss Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation but has been quoted in the past as saying Trump has not been honest about the Russia issue, and Mueller said he had provided details central to the investigation.








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.
"If there is one thing we can all agree upon, its that the process of transferring is too difficult," Dr. Janet Marling said in her "Welcome" statement in the National Institute of the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) conference program.

Higher education faculty and staff dedicated to improving the complex issues facing transfer students met at the 17th annual NISTS conference Feb. 13-15 in Atlanta. More than 600 higher education professionals attended the conference to share ideas and explore promising practices through workshops, discussions and presentations.

NISTS was founded in 2002 by University of North Georgia (UNG) President Bonita Jacobs in response to a lack of professional development opportunities and research literature focused specifically on transfer students. During this years conference, NISTS recognized more than a dozen individuals for their efforts regarding the success of transfer students.

More than 600 higher education professionals attended the 17th annual National Institute of the Study of Transfer Students.

The most prestigious award, the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Award, was given to Debra Bragg. It is awarded to a person who has played a significant role in advancing the national transfer conversation.

"Transfer Champions have demonstrated exceptional advocacy and leadership on behalf of transfer students at the state or national level," said Marling, executive director of NISTS which is based on UNG's Dahlonega Campus. "Throughout their careers, they have significantly improved transfer student access, persistence and success in areas such as policy, research or advocacy."

Bragg is the director of Community College Research Initiatives at the University of Washington in Seattle and founding director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was also named an endowed university professor. She currently leads a study of high-performing transfer partnerships with higher-than-predicted baccalaureate attainment rates for students of color and low-income students.

Bragg is one of 13 higher education faculty and staff honored with an award. Four received the Catalyst Award, three were named Rising Stars, four were tapped as Transfer Student Ambassadors, and one earned the Dissertation of the Year award.

The Catalyst Award recognizes mid-career professionals who are game-changers in the transfer field and have worked over time to make a significant impact at the institutional, regional and/or state level. The winners were:

Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher, associate dean of the Graduate School at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also serves as a professor in education policy, organization, and leadership and the director of OCCRL.

John Fink, senior research associate for the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College in Columbia University.

Paulina Palomino, dean of Student Services at East Los Angeles College, where she is an essential part of increasing partnerships between two- and four-year institutions in Southern California.

Russell Baker, vice president for Academic Affairs at Ivy Tech Community College.

The Rising Star Award recognizes individuals who make significant contributions in the early stages of their careers, creating or improving programming that is responsive to the specific transfer student population and shows evidence of success. The awardees were:

Crystal Flowers, transfer coordinator and admissions specialist at Florida A&M University, where she is an award-winning student life skills (SLS) instructor.

Jason Dodge, University of Central Floridas director of Transfer and Transition Services (TTS).

Robert Charlebois, a transfer coordinator for Academic Advising and Transfer Services at the University of South Alabama, where he launched an academic advising and transition support program for prospective transfer students called Pathway USA.

Transfer Student Ambassadors were selected through a national competition intended to recognize outstanding students who represent the heart of transfer work. All four demonstrated excellence in leadership, public speaking, and their potential for sharing meaningful information with higher education transfer professionals. They were:

Jevaughney "Jay" Francis of Appalachian State University

Jennifer Hernandez of University of Illinois at Chicago

Bianca Hill of Baylor University

Taylor Smith of Spelman College

Winning the 2019 Barbara K. Townsend Dissertation of the Year Award was Laura W. Yavitz, Ph.D., for her "Vertical Transfer and Baccalaureate Completion for Adult Community College Students: Milestones and Momentum Points that Matter." The study examined the impact of the academic momentum theoretical framework on adult community college students.

For more information, visit the NISTS website.
Search for Poker Player Missing In Ireland Takes Place Feb. 23

February 21 2019 Matthew Pitt

The Irish poker community is asking for help in searching for a poker player missing in Dublin since Feb. 9.

Jon Jonsson arrived in Dublin from Iceland on Feb. 8 and has not been seen since 11:07 a.m. on Feb. 9. Members of the Irish poker community have been posting on social media channels that they are to conduct a major search from 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 23 starting at the Bonnington Hotel and that everyone is welcome to assist them.

Jon was seen on CCTV at McGettigans bar at 11:07 a.m. on Feb 9, exiting onto the Swords Road heading northbound towards the airport. CCTV then captured Jon, for the last time, at the exit of Highfield Hospital heading northbound on the Swords Road towards Collins Avenue. He has never been to Dublin previously and does not know the area.

A police description describes Jon as 41-years-old, six-feet tall with short brown hair, of medium build and was last seen wearing a black padded jacket. The missing poker player has a distinctive dragon tattoo on his upper left arm.

Members of Jons family have been posting on social media describing how the father / step-father of four children is a kind and gentle soul who is extremely intelligent and reserved but outgoing.

Anyone with any information at all is urged to contact Ballymun Garda Station on 01-6664400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111 or any Garda Station.

Should you wish to help in the search for Jon, please contact Nick OHara via Facebook as he is trying to put a finger on the number of people who will be searching.

There is also a fundraising efforts underway on Facebook where the poker community hope to raise 5,000 to help with the expenses being incurred by Jons partner and sibling travelling to Ireland in search for Jon. You can find the donation page here.
The new Independent Group of MPs has already polled with 14% of voters support, according to YouGov (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

The new Independent Group of MPs has already won the support of 14% of voters, a new YouGov poll has revealed.

The YouGov voter intention poll asked the public how they would vote if the Independent Group became a political party and put up candidates at the general election.

It found that 14% would support the new group, while the Conservatives had 38% of the vote, Labour 26% and the Liberal Democrats 7%.

The difference is not necessarily down to voters switching allegiance to the new, as-yet unformed, political party, YouGov said, but because many Labour voters said they didnt know who they would vote for in that situation.

YouGov also said it was important to bear in mind that the poll was carried out on Monday and Tuesday when the Independent Group was made up only of former Labour MPs and the defection of several Conservative MPs on Wednesday could affect how the group is seen.

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Tweeting the results of the poll, Henry Zeffman, political correspondent at The Times, also pointed out that one in five people who voted for Labour in 2017 had said they would switch to the Independent Group.

The poll results come as turbulence was set to continue in Westminster, with warnings that more people could join The Independent Group.

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Former Conservative Sarah Wollaston claimed that a third of the Cabinet could walk out if it appeared that Theresa May could steer Britain towards a no-deal Brexit.

South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen agreed, saying that around 100 of her former Tory colleagues were as frustrated as she was, telling ITVs Peston that a third of the party shared her views.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has announced new measures in a bid to combat anti-Semitism, which he said had reached its worst levels in France since the Second World War.Macron's scheduled address to the CRIF, the council of French Jewish Institutions on Wednesday evening, coincided with a recent concentrated spate of anti-Semitic acts.He told his audience that French Jews had been failed and that it was time to take tougher action and pass laws.Macron announced that France is to change its definition of anti-Semitism to include anti-Zionism. He stressed that such a change would not prohibit criticism of Israel or its government.Some new racist and anti-Semitic groups are to be banned and new legislation to fight online hate speech, similar to that recently introduced in Germany, is to be introduced by May at the latest.Macron declared that the reality of anti-Semitism in today's France must be publicly acknowledged, affirming that there are anti-Semites on the far left and in radical islamist communities, as well as among supporters of the far right.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced new measures in a bid to combat anti-Semitism, which he said had reached its worst levels in France since the Second World War.

Macron's scheduled address to the CRIF, the council of French Jewish Institutions on Wednesday evening, coincided with a recent concentrated spate of anti-Semitic acts.

He told his audience that French Jews had been failed and that it was time to take tougher action and pass laws.

Macron announced that France is to change its definition of anti-Semitism to include anti-Zionism. He stressed that such a change would not prohibit criticism of Israel or its government.

Some new racist and anti-Semitic groups are to be banned and new legislation to fight online hate speech, similar to that recently introduced in Germany, is to be introduced by May at the latest.

Macron declared that the reality of anti-Semitism in today's France must be publicly acknowledged, affirming that there are anti-Semites on the far left and in radical islamist communities, as well as among supporters of the far right.
Gas hobs could be banned from UK kitchens within the next six years (Pixabay)

Kitchens across Britain could look very different over the next few years after ministers were told that gas cookers should be banned.

A report from the Committee on Climate Change says that developers should be forced to install low-carbon heating systems so that Britains legally binding emissions targets can be met.

This would mean that newly-built homes would not be able to have gas boilers or stoves fitted, stopping them being connected to the gas grid.

The committee accepted that low-carbon heating systems and extra insulation would add up to 5,000 to the cost of a new home, which would also take longer to heat up.

But they insist that the gas ban in new homes needs to be enforced by 2025 at the latest to cut 14% of total UK greenhouse emissions caused by household energy use.

Ministers have been told the ban needs to be introduced so the UK can meet legally binding emissions targets (Flickr)

The Home Builders Federation condemned the proposal, arguing that it would make houses harder to sell.

A spokesman told The Times: Builders need to sell homes and so alternative energy sources have to be attractive to consumers and commercially viable.

Gas boiler systems are currently the most attractive option for consumers and so are what builders tend to install, and limitations remain with the alternatives available.

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It must be ensured that alternatives are suitably attractive, available and efficient before withdrawing existing options.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that it would carefully consider the Committee on Climate Changes recommendations.

Britain is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% on 1990 levels by 2050, as part of the Climate Change Act 2008.
The trial of a private company accused of selling counterfeit sculptures of French artist Auguste Rodin has opened in the Paris Court of Appeal. Investigators believe the Italy-based company, led by an American businessman Gary Snell, produced some 1,700 bronze reproductions of 52 of the artists works, including The Thinker and The Kiss, and sold them for an estimated 60 million euros.The Paris-based Musee Rodin museum, which holds the moral rights of the artist, considered the reproductions to be counterfeits and filed a complaint for fraud and forgery in 2001.In November 2014, a Paris court declared it had no jurisdiction in the case, arguing it had not been established that the sculptures were manufactured, exhibited or sold on French territory.Prosecutors obtained a new trial on appeal in 2017 but by that time, Gruppo Mondiale had ceased to exist and Snell and other two accused were absent.The trial was delayed again in 2018 until this week.During the first trial, Snell acknowledged that 500 pieces had been created.He argues the works are in the public domain and that the museum, which he says was notified of the posthumous casts, was seeking to protect a monopoly on sales of the artists works.Prosecutors accused the company of false advertising and sold the works with a certificate of authenticity susceptible to trick buyers.

The trial of a private company accused of selling counterfeit sculptures of French artist Auguste Rodin has opened in the Paris Court of Appeal.

Investigators believe the Italy-based company, led by an American businessman Gary Snell, produced some 1,700 bronze reproductions of 52 of the artists works, including The Thinker and The Kiss, and sold them for an estimated 60 million euros.

The Paris-based Musee Rodin museum, which holds the moral rights of the artist, considered the reproductions to be counterfeits and filed a complaint for fraud and forgery in 2001.

In November 2014, a Paris court declared it had no jurisdiction in the case, arguing it had not been established that the sculptures were manufactured, exhibited or sold on French territory.

Prosecutors obtained a new trial on appeal in 2017 but by that time, Gruppo Mondiale had ceased to exist and Snell and other two accused were absent.

The trial was delayed again in 2018 until this week.

During the first trial, Snell acknowledged that 500 pieces had been created.

He argues the works are in the public domain and that the museum, which he says was notified of the posthumous casts, was seeking to protect a monopoly on sales of the artists works.

Prosecutors accused the company of false advertising and sold the works with a certificate of authenticity susceptible to trick buyers.
Tourists gather in front of the National Theatre which displays a banner that reads in Spanish: "New Constitution, of all and for all", in Havana, Cuba, February 18, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer. Picture taken on February 18, 2019.

By Marc Frank

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans go to the polls Sunday to ratify a Communist Party-proposed overhaul of the islands 1976 Magna Carta.

The proposed constitution maintains the one party political system, socialist economy, universal and free healthcare and education, but would also codify changes in Cuban society that have occurred since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union while restructuring the government.

Here are details of how the charter might change Cuba, how open the process of adopting it has been, and what it means for investors.

COMMUNISM

The new version keeps the Communist Party as the only legal party and maintains its role as the guide of the nation, stating that this is irrevocable. At the same time, it eliminates a ban on the use of private property to exploit the labour of others.

SOCIALISM

The new version reinforces the states dominance over the means of production and land, as well as the role of centralized planning. This too is deemed irrevocable. However, for the first time it recognises the market as a fact of economic life, though it can be countermanded at will by the government.

PRIVATE BUSINESS AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Private businesses and non-farm cooperatives are included for the first time in the new version as legitimate economic actors. The role of joint ventures and other forms of foreign investment is upgraded from secondary to important or fundamental.

GOVERNMENT

The president of the nation, who is elected every five years by the national assembly, may serve only two consecutive terms and must be under 60 years of age when first taking office.

The president of the national assembly will now head up the Council of State, previously led by the president of the nation.

A prime minister has been added at the national level to supervise the day-to-day operations of the government, in particular the state-owned economy. The prime minister will be appointed by the president.

REGIONS

Provincial assemblies modelled on the national assembly are eliminated in the new version and replaced by a presidentially appointed governors and deputy governors, whose nominations must be ratified by municipal governments. The governor will preside over a provincial council made up of municipal leaders.

Story continues

MUNICIPALITIES

Municipal authority is strengthened. Terms of ward delegates to municipal assemblies are doubled to five years. The position of mayor has been added to that of president of the municipal assembly.

LGTB RIGHTS

The prohibition of discrimination in the new version adds sexual orientation to an existing ban on differentiating on the basis of race and gender.

LEGAL RIGHTS

The new version adds the presumption of innocence in criminal cases and the right to a lawyer immediately upon arrest and habeas corpus. For the first time a person can sue the state for damages and negligence. However, the judicial system remains unchanged and all lawyers are government employees.

OPPOSITION DOUBTS

Government opponents have blasted the top-down process as a fraud and the referendum as "illegitimate".

They say that since the final version was approved the government has used its monopoly over the media and most public space to campaign for ratification while censoring other points of view and harassing dissidents.

BOTTOM LINE

Cubans are expected to ratify the new constitution, but by a lesser margin than the 97.6 percent ratification of the current one. [L1N20A0US]

The proposals do not by themselves reduce risk or change the rules of doing business in Cuba, but they do further legitimize foreign investment and are another step toward a mixed economy and modern society, according to foreign businessmen and diplomats.

Cuban officials say changes in government structure aim to improve accountability and administration of the state-run economy.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Steve Orlofsky)
Former Prime Minister David Cameronmade a last-ditch bid to try and stop three Tory MPs from quitting to join a newly-formed group in the Commons.

Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston announced that they had left the Conservative Party shortly before PMQson Wednesday to join former Labour MPs in The Independent Group (TIG).

But Ms Soubry told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent them a text saying: 'Is it too late to persuade you to stay?'

Mr Cameron later said of the defections: 'I respect their decision, but disagree with them: we need strong voices at every level of the party calling for the modern, compassionate Conservatism that saw the Conservative Party return to office.'

The three MPs who quit on Wednesday said they had not been contacted by the current leadership before their decision, despite the intervention by Mr Cameron.

The Independent Group34

The Prime Minister said she was 'saddened' by their decision to quit and insisted that under her leadership the Tories were offering 'decent, moderate and patriotic politics'.

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The newly-formed TIG are already polling high, securing support from 14% in a recent YouGov poll  double the support of the Lib Dems.

More MPs from both Labour and the Tories are thought to be on the verge of quitting and joining TIG in the coming days and weeks, while TIG MP Dr Wollaston believes up to a third of the Cabinet could walk out if Theresa May steers the country towards a no-deal Brexit.

Dr Wollaston claimed the Tory party was 'destroying itself' as Mrs May drifted to the right under pressure from the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteers.

The former Prime Minister said he disagreed with the Tories who quit the party (Getty)

The geographical make up of The Independent Group (PA)

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit.

Story continues

'Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.'

Dr Wollaston said 'the Tory party has changed, I think it has changed irredeemably', adding: 'I would say the Tory party is destroying itself.'

The state of the Commons after the formation of The Independent Group (PA)

Fellow TIG MP Ms Allen said that around 100 of her former colleagues on the Tory benches shared her frustrations at the direction of the Conservative Party.

Ex-education secretary Justine Greening and former attorney general Dominic Grieve both indicated they would leave the party if the Government backed a no-deal Brexit.

Ms Greening told Today she was staying in the Conservative Party 'for the moment'.

The Independent Group is currently made up of former Labour and Tory MPs (PA)

Asked if she would follow her three former colleagues to the Independent Group she said: 'It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment.'

Former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson said he felt 'morally compromised' staying in Labour following anti-Semitic abuse endured by people such as ex-Labour MP Luciana Berger.

He told ITV's Peston: 'Now what is Jeremy Corbyn going to do about this? I mean, this risks growing from a splinter into a cavernous split in our party if he doesn't take action to stop it.'

Lord Mandelson urged Labour MPs to remain in the party.

- This article originally appeared on Yahoo UK
The government has admitted it has run out of time to roll over existing trade pacts with Japan and Turkey in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

A document released on Thursday by the Department for Trade showed it was seeking to continue deals with 40 trading partners currently covered by EU membership, accounting for 11% of all UK trade.

But it confirmed that in the case of Japan - whose trade pact with the EU only came into force this month - "it is unlikely that we will reach an agreement prior to exit day".

It said the same was true in the case of a third nation - Algeria.

The publication prompted the leader of one major business group to accuse ministers of under-delivering.

The International Trade Secretary Liam Fox had earlier expressed confidence in completing the work ahead of 29 March - when the UK is due to leave the EU.

The government document read: "This concerns guidance for a no deal scenario.

"Leaving the EU with a deal remains the government's top priority. This has not changed.

While a number of these continuity agreements are likely to be concluded by exit day, it is the duty of government to produce a highly cautious list of those that may not be in place in order that businesses and individuals ensure that they are prepared for every eventuality."

By ruling out a deal before 29 March with Japan - by far the largest of the current trading partners with 10bn of exports in goods to the country annually - it means cargo arriving there - or here from Japan - on 30 March will be subject to World Trade Organisation rules and therefore additional tariffs.

Sky News was in Felixstowe on Monday as the giant container ship Thalassa Mana departed for Osaka - with the cost of its cargo at destination hanging in the balance.

That is because it is due to arrive on 30 March.

In addition to announcing which countries would have no transitional trade arrangement ahead of the deadline, the government confirmed it had signed continuity agreements with Switzerland, Chile (Stuttgart: 704599.SG - news) , the Faroe Islands, Eastern and Southern Africa, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Story continues

Most agreements on the list were listed as "engagement ongoing", including arrangements with Canada.

Adam Marshall, the chief executive of the British Chambers of Commerce, responded: "The lack of progress revealed today is an incredibly disappointing, though not an unexpected admission.

"This is unfortunately yet another example where politicians have over-promised and under-delivered - and it is businesses and consumers both at home and abroad that will pay the price."

Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) 's economics editor Ed Conway said the government document underlined just how exposed the UK economy is to disruption in the event of no deal.

He said: "Goods on their way to different countries would face tariffs, there would be questions about how easily they could pass through ports, and there probably would be major disruption at the UK border as well."

He added: "Of course, in the end these continuity agreements are dwarfed by the scale of the main task: agreeing a withdrawal deal with the EU.

"If that is achieved Britain gets the transitional deal that would prevent all this temporary disruption."

Japan accounts for 2% of UK exports.

The Brexit issue has been at the centre of a spate of recent decisions by Japanese firms operating in the UK.

Panasonic (Swiss: MAELI.SW - news) and Sony (Hanover: SON1.HA - news) have shifted their European headquarters from the country to ensure full access to EU markets.

Both Nissan - through its u-turn to build a new model at Sunderland - and Honda, which is closing its Swindon plant, have however distanced their decisions from any Brexit link.
DGAP-News: RIB Software SE / Key word(s): Agreement





The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



21-February-2019 The RIB Group invests in an MTWO MSP Partner in India and UAE (No. 1 / 2019) Stuttgart, Germany, 21 February 2019. The RIB Group invests into a 250 people leading IT company headquartered in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Bangalore (India), called Levtech Ltd. (Levtech Consulting). With 150 R&D employees in Bangalore, India's IT headquarters, Levtech develops, maintains and supports the delivery of their own cloud industry solutions for the international Real Estate Industry (Property 365) and Construction Industry (Payroll and Projects 365) as well as asset management software for CAPEX owners (EAM 365) based on Microsoft Dynamics Technology. In addition to software sales and development, Levtech has 95 enterprise consultants to run international digital transformation projects in all English-speaking countries. Levtech was founded by seven entrepreneurs (3 Investors / 4 Management) and serves today 19,000 USERS from 5 offices in India, Singapore, UAE, Qatar and KSA. The consulting firm is a three-time Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle awardee and was ranked 12th in the Dubai SME100 program. RIB has taken over 60% of the shares from Levtech Investors, based on an enterprise value calculated using 8 times EBIT/DA. 40% Management shares will be still owned by the four previous Directors in India and UAE. 3,600 Levtech USERS are already using Cloud and partly MSP services. The company has reached over USD 11 Million revenue and is planning to grow the business within a double-digit margin in 2019. Even with having invested heavily into the Cloud and switching from on-premise licenses to subscription-based, industry-specific offerings, Levtech reached a 15% average positive EBIT/DA margin p.a. in the past 3 years, not including Microsoft revenue. Within the RIB & Levtech cooperation, it is planned to integrate Levtech's Microsoft Dynamics 365 based industry solutions, Property 365, Payroll 365, Projects 365 and EAM 365 with the MTWO platform, and to integrate the modules into the iTWO 4.0 architecture as ready to go cloud ERP industry solutions for the Real Estate and Construction Industries. It is also planned to transfer thousands of Levtech USERS to the MTWO cloud platform and train the 95 Levtech consultants in iTWO 4.0 implementation to support international RIB clients. RIB plans to use the Bangalore R&D center as the third international RIB global R&D delivery and 24/7 support center for iTWO 4.0 with a special focus on U.S. and countries using British building standards and rules. The target is to enter a high revenue growth phase, to win by 2019/2020 10,000 USERS for MTWO, to achieve a 20-30% EBIT/DA margin in the midterm, and to support the target to increase the regional MTWO USERS to over 200,000 in the midterm. Anilesh Kumar, CEO of Levtech: "Levtech's top management shares the vision of Microsoft and RIB to build with MTWO the global No.1 vertical cloud for the building and infrastructure industries. With strong capabilities in business applications and analytics, we are experts in digital transformation technology and consulting and have carefully analyzed the global market before we decided to join the MTWO platform initiative. The synergy between MTWO and Levtech's industry solutions based on Dynamics 365 will bring the latest in construction and real estate technology to enterprises across the world. We are now proud to be "running together" with the RIB team and delivering one of the globally most advanced cloud/AI based enterprise ERP solution to the Real Estate and Construction Industries." Mark Kefford, Chairman of RIB Asia/Pacific: "MTWO is targeting to win 2 Million USERS worldwide in the midterm and is today one of the most advanced cloud-based enterprise solutions in the AEC and EPC Industry. With our Bangalore investment, we will not only get access to an extremely strong management and a fantastic new technology, but also, we get direct access to a market with 5 Million English speaking IT workforce to support the fast-growing demand for iTWO technology and to reach our target to satisfy up to 2 Million MTWO platform USERS in the future. With the UAE we will have a strong team in a region that intends to invest more than USD 1,2 Trillion in buildings and infrastructure in the near future. With our R&D Centers in Guangzhou, China and Bangalore, India, we are positioned in two countries which are standing for almost 40% of the world's population." This investment follows RIB's previous investments in ICS located in the U.S., A2K headquartered in Australia and SaaSplaza located in the Netherlands and continues the MTWO initiative with Microsoft following the capital increase in the first half of 2018 to build up the world's first vertical cloud for the construction and real estate industries, which account for USD 10 trillion in global expenditure, or 14% of global GDP in 2017, and expected to grow to USD 14 trillion by 2025 according to a McKinsey Global Institute report. About RIB Group RIB Software SE is an innovator in building and construction industry. The company creates, develops and offers cutting-edge digital technologies for construction enterprises and projects across various industries worldwide. iTWO 4.0, RIB's flagship cloud-based platform, provides the world's first enterprise cloud technology based on 5D BIM with AI integration for construction companies, industrial companies, developers and project owners, etc. With over 50 years of experiences in construction industry, RIB Software SE focuses on IT and engineering and becomes the pioneer in construction innovation, exploring and brining in new thinking, new working methods and new technologies to enhance construction productivity. RIB is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany and Hong Kong, China, and listed on the prime standard Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2011. With over 1,200 talents in more than 30 locations worldwide, RIB is targeting to transform the construction industry into the most advanced and digitalized industry in the 21st century. About Levtech Consulting Established in 2009, Levtech Consulting is a Microsoft gold-certified partner and has been previously awarded Microsoft "Reseller of the Year" for the MEA region. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, Levtech Consulting delivers best-of-breed business solutions and industry-specific consulting services from international technology companies such as Microsoft and LS Retail. Today, Levtech operates from offices in U.A.E., Singapore, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India. Driven by a strong management team with diverse industry experience, the practice consists of some of the finest talent in the areas of Business Consulting and Project Management for Enterprise Applications. With a team size of over 250 consultants, the firm has helped over 200+ customers transform their business globally.

21.02.2019 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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As published in The Guardian, after a meeting with Theresa May, four ministers (the Secretary of Justice, Labor and Pensions, the Enterprise and the Scotsman) asked her to stop using the idea of a non-commercial Brexit, adding that at this crucial moment for the country, merchants and entrepreneurs need definitions.

This requirement is presented just shy of a couple of days for the visit of Theresa May to Brussels, a visit that is full of expectations for the results that can be obtained in terms of achieving or not an agreement on Brexit.

The Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, and the Brexit secretary, held a meeting with the European Union's negotiator, Michel Barnier, which was about Theresa May's request to discuss the retirement agreement again, although this does not seem to likely to happen, since the legal representatives of the two parties hope to get to present the legal text on the subject, but there has been no talk of restarting the issue of withdrawal.

For the President of the European Commission, the outcome of the negotiations on Brexit, are in the "hands of God," adding that a precise date could not be given for how long the withdrawal could be postponed.

The use of the agreement as a measure to negotiate the Brexit

The ministers who made the request, do not believe that using the agreement to negotiate is indicated, but before the increase in the number of warnings made by employers and manufacturers, in recent days, has been a decisive factor for discarding this option.

The results of the meeting have not yet been released, and it is expected to be this Tuesday when they are presented at the weekly cabinet meeting. Those who oppose Brexit are expected to maintain their position not to accept an agreement.

The parliamentary defeat of Theresa May

In the parliamentary session held last week, Theresa May was strongly opposed to a possible agreement. It is expected that the meeting will hold an agreement with the President of the European Commission.

Deputy David Lidington has stated his position on the possibility of reaching an agreement, stating that if not, the damage that can be caused to the country economically can be incalculable.

It is expected that the speech that must be presented by the Attorney General should be the one that indicates the way for the necessary changes to be made, to avoid being trapped in inaction and paralysis and even worse consequences.
Tyler, TX (75702)

Today

A shower is possible early. Mainly clear. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. Mainly clear. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
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US sitcom One Day at a Time may not proceed to a fourth season unless it can increase its audience numbers, according to Show runner Gloria Calderon Kellett.

She met with Netflix execs to discuss a season renewal.

NEWS: Met with @Netflix about @OneDayAtATime S4 They made clear that they love the show, love how it serves underrepresented audiences, love its heart & humor, butwe need more viewers. They'll decide soon. I wish I felt more confident WHAT CAN YOU DO? Tell friends to watch! pic.twitter.com/bkbqxp0qDC  Gloria Calderon Kellett (@everythingloria) February 20, 2019

A reimagining of the Norman Lear classic, it centres around a Cuban-American family and features Justina Machado and Rita Moreno.

Season 3 premiered on Netflix earlier this month.

Related
Nines Director of News & Current Affairs has denied a Daily Telegraph report which claims focus groups have referred to Todays Georgie Gardner as an ice maiden.

The dynamic between the hosts is one major issue which came from the research, a network insider told the newspaper.

Viewers feel that the banter between the hosts is forced.

Audiences are not loving Georgie. The data shows she was accepted as a newsreader, then when she returned as host they never warmed to her.

They find her cold, an ice maiden.

It claims independent analysts have been commissioned to conduct focus groups and that secret meetings were held by Wick on Tuesday.

This is one of the most deliberate acts of bullying Ive ever seen. There are no facts attached to the claims. And the reporter didnt bother to contact Nine to put the claims to me or anyone else for comment, Darren Wick said in a statement.

Nines position is that this is an outrageous, false, reckless and defamatory attack on Georgie Gardner and the Today Show. The claim by the Daily Telegraph reporter that Nine has conducted focus groups this year is wrong. We havent as yet commissioned any focus groups for the Today Show, let alone held them in 2019.

The allegations from the article that Georgie Gardner was perceived as an Ice Maiden and is somehow responsible for the poor numbers of the show this year is a fabrication and irresponsible reporting.

Nine conducted a number of focus groups throughout the last six months of 2018, under my supervision, and the feedback from those viewers was overwhelmingly positive about Georgie Gardner. She rated head and shoulders above every other on-air presenter. And thats consistent with all Today Show focus groups weve held during the last seven years, while Ive been in the National News Director role.

Today remains under pressure as numbers fall for the show. Mondays episode was the lowest rated episode of Today ever, using the 7-9am survey standard. Media articles continue to scrutinise its performance, including by Nine-owned and rival-owned newspapers.

I dont shy away from the weaker numbers the Today Show has recorded in 2019. But just five weeks into a new team on-air, were not about to hit the panic button. Weve been through this battle before with other programs, where a section of the media is quick to write us off. Were in for the long haul, Wick insisted.

Updated: On 2GB radio this morning Wick confirmed the News Corp journalist contacted Nine Publicity yesterday but did not enquire about focus groups.

Related


Third update:

The Hollywood Reporter notes Jussie Smollett is already back on the set of Empire  with added security, shortly after leaving Chicagos Cook County jail. After posting $100,000 bail, the 36-year-old headed back to the set of the FOX drama.

Empire is currently shooting the penultimate episode of season five. As the legal process has unfolded over what local authorities are calling a hoax attack, the writers of the Lee Daniels and Danny Strong drama have multiple options they are considering for the season finale. Those options include keeping Smolletts character, fan-favorite Jamal Lyon, in the script or writing the embattled actor out of the episode. It is yet to be renewed for season six.

Second Update:

TMZ reports Jussie Smollett has been released from custody into a mob of reporters, security and police officers. He got in a black SUV and quickly left the courthouse. Bail was just set by a judge at $100k. He has to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions and post 10% of his total bail to be released from custody. Hes also subject to pre-trial monitoring.

Updated:

A Chicago judge set a $100,000 bond as Jussie Smollett made his first court appearance.

Smollett faces one felony count of filing a false police report. Police allege that Smollett staged a Jan. 29 attack, telling detectives that he was accosted by two men who used racial and homophobic slurs.

During a press conference on Thursday morning, the Chicago PD stated they believed Smollett staged the attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary on Empire. They also said that Smollett had sent a threatening letter to himself that was received at FOX days before the attack. Federal investigators are still probing that aspect of the case.

Variety reports Prosecutors allege that Smollett gave the brothers a $100 bill to purchase supplies for the attack, including red hats, ski masks and rope. Smollett wanted to stage the attack so that it would be captured on surveillance cameras, according to the bond proffer. He wrote a personal cheque to Abel Osundairo for $3500, which was deposited.

Smollett intended for the attack to take place at 10 p.m. on Jan. 28, but his flight from New York to Chicago was delayed by four hours. According to the proffer, Smollett rescheduled the attack for 2 a.m. Prosecutors say that Smollett was about four minutes late, and that the brothers waited at the designated location until he arrived. They allege that the staged attack took about 45 seconds, and was just outside of camera range.

The brothers ran away, and Smollett went home. When police responded, he allegedly told them that his attackers had poured bleach on him and put a rope around his neck, and said that this is MAGA country. He also claimed that he had received a threatening phone call on Jan. 26, in which the caller said You little f and hung up.

Prosecutors allege that Smollett stayed in touch with the two brothers, who left for Nigeria later that day. Phone records show that Abel Osundairo and Smollett spoke for more than eight minutes on Jan. 30, while Osundairo was in Istanbul.

We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options, 20th Century FOX TV and FOX Entertainment said in a joint statement.

Earlier:

Empire star Jussie Smollett is now in the custody of Chicago Police and due to appear in court for allegedly filing a false report of a crime.

According to media reports, Smollett turned himself in at 5:15 a.m. local time and made a statement to police before being taken into custody. His lawyers, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, were not present at the time.

Press Briefing: Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives. At 9am at #ChicagoPolice Headquarters, Supt Eddie Johnson, Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki will brief reporters on the investigation prior to the defendants appearance in court. pic.twitter.com/9PSv8Ojec2  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019

At the time of writing Chicago police are due to hold a press briefing.

Media reports suggest producers are considering suspending him on Empire.

This post updates.

Source: Yahoo

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Second Update: FOX is considering removing Jussie Smollett from Empire. Sources close to the production told Variety that producers are weighing whether to suspend him after he was charged with filing a false police report.

A spokesperson for 20th Century FOX Television, which produces the series, declined to comment. It has previously supported the star.

Updated: Empires Jussie Smollett has now been charged with filing a false police report.

Chicago Police will contact his lawyers to proceed with his arrest. If convicted, Smollett could face one to three years in prison.

Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest. pic.twitter.com/LvBSYE2kVj  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019

Earlier:

Empires Jussie Smollett has now been named as a suspect by Chicago Police, three weeks after he reported he was the victim of a hate crime.

Detectives are presenting evidence to a grand jury, which is expected to determine whether to indict him on a charge of filing a false police report.

Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury. pic.twitter.com/FhDcbBKsuU  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 20, 2019

Variety reports Chicago detectives have been seeking to interview him since Saturday, following new evidence changed the trajectory of the case.

Smollett has not spoken with police since officers released two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo, after questioning. Local media claim the brothers told detectives that Smollett paid them to stage the attack and there is some speculation it was linked to him being dismissed from Empire.

Smollett has angrily denied all claims.

He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack, his attorneys said in a statement. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.

Federal authorities are also investigating a purported threat letter that was sent to Smollett at the Empire studio prior to the alleged attack.

Meanwhile Empire producer 20th Century FOX TV said they stand by the actors on-set conduct and have never discussed his exit from the show.

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, the network and studio said in a statement.

A source told The Hollywood Reporter that the plan for Smolletts character is in flux while the investigation continues.

Cook Countys prosecutor Kim Foxx has also abruptly recused herself from the investigation Tuesday evening out of an abundance of caution based upon her familiarity with potential witnesses in the case, according to a statement from her office.

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Adrian Edwards/GC Images via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Meghan Markle's wedding to Prince Harry last May was a star-studded affair, and her baby shower Wednesday in New York City proved no different.



Amal Clooney and Serena Williams were reported to be the co-hosts of Meghan's private baby shower reportedly held at the Mark Hotel on New York's Upper East Side.



Meghan's close friends designer Misha Nonoo, actress Abigail Spencer stylist Jessica Mulroney and makeup artist Daniel Martin, who did Meghan's wedding makeup, were spotted entering the five-star hotel Wednesday.



"CBS This Morning" anchor Gayle King and fitness guru Taryn Toomey were also among the guests photographed entering the Mark Hotel, both carrying gift bags.



In addition to the high-profile guests, photographers also caught baby shower-friendly items like cotton candy machines and a harp being brought into the hotel Wednesday.



The Duchess of Sussex, 37, was seen cradling her bump and surrounded by security when she left the Mark Hotel Tuesday for an outing with Spencer, her former "Suits" costar.



Meghan, who is due this spring, arrived in New York City from London last Friday. She is expected to depart New York City for London soon after the baby shower.



Meghan and Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Susssex, kick off a three-day official visit to Morocco on Saturday.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Police in Vietnam announced Wednesday they had initiated legal proceedings against two local women who brought mothers to China in order to sell their infants.

Moong Thi Ly and Moong Thi Oanh, residents of Nghe An Province, are being investigated for making arrangements for people to arrive in a foreign country illegally.

The duo, both 32, are not being detained because they are pregnant.

In September 2018, Oanh asked Ly to find pregnant women to be taken to China and promised to give her some profit for every successful baby sale, case records show.

Oanh and Ly found several women from four to eight weeks pregnant and then unlawfully took them to China.

While Oanh was carrying the expectant mothers to hospital for a pregnancy test in the Chinese province of Hebei in late September, one of them died in a car crash.

One of the surviving mothers gave birth to a boy the following month, according to the case records.

She and her baby were brought back to Vietnam as part of a cooperative effort of the Vietnamese police and the Hanoi-headquartered non-governmental organization Blue Dragon Childrens Foundation in late January this year.

Oanh and Ly were placed under investigation nearly one month after their activities were discovered.

Police said 25 pregnant women from an ethnic community in Nghe An had been illegally transported to China to sell their children up until November 2018, and six of them were confirmed to have sold their newborns for VND80-140 million (US$3,440-6,020).

Not all of those cases were arranged by Ly and Oanh, however.

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Read what is in the news today, February 21!

Society

-- US military transport aircraft Boeing C-17 Globemaster landed at Hanois Noi Bai International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, as a preparation for the North Korea-US summit in the capital slated for February 27 and 28.

-- Vietnamese premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the supreme court and police ministry to impose the possible strictest punishment on five men who had abducted, raped and killed a college student earlier this month.

-- Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged health authorities to step up their effort in containing the spread of African swine fever after the first cases of the highly contagious disease was confirmed on farms in Vietnams northern provinces of Hung Yen and Thai Binh on Tuesday.

-- Police are detaining a woman on murder charges after she allegedly burned her husband as he was in drunk sleep to death behind a locked door at their house in the southcentral province of Binh Phuoc on Monday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City administration required its officials and public servants not to trade threatened wild animals and use them as a gift, nor free invasive species  those likely to cause environment and human health damage.

-- A 28-year-old man in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam, was arrested on Wednesday night while he was brandishing a knife in an attempt to attack his parents. He was supposedly in the influence of drugs.

-- Police in the north-central province of Nghe An said Wednesday they are pressing on with legal proceedings against two women accused of convincing poor local women to travel to China and sell their to-be-born infants there at VND 80-140 million ($3,440-6,020).

-- One person died and seven others were injured in a crash between a tractor trailer and four motorcycles in Long An Province, next to Ho Chi Minh City, on Wednesday afternoon.

Business

-- Vietnams finance ministry is planning to purchase 280,000 metric tons of rice, 80,000 of it for stockpiling, from the countrys southern rice basket in the Mekong Delta as a measure to increase rice prices.

-- Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup said Wednesday it had successfully created the main part of its sport utility vehicle prototype and the complete automobile will be tested on March 6.

Education

-- The Hanoi-based British Embassy in Vietnam has launched a competition where female candidates in the 13-22 age bracket have the video they submit judged and the winner will join British Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward for one-day events on the upcoming International Womens Day.

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Vietnamese Party chief and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and President of Argentina Mauricio Macri have agreed to intensify their two countries comprehensive partnership toward a strategic partnership in the near future.

The two leaders joined talks in Hanoi on Wednesday, as part of President Macris first state visit to the Southeast Asian nation from February 19 to 21, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

During the conversation, President Trong affirmed that Vietnam considers Argentina as its leading Latin American partner, and wants to enhance the bilateral comprehensive partnership, especially in economic matters, trade and investment.

President Macri praised Vietnams reform accomplishments over the last three decades, underlining that Argentina is determined to strengthen bilateral friendship and cooperation, thus further contributing to each sides development.

Both sides agreed on maintaining high-level meetings and mutual visits at all levels, as well as increasing relations between the countries parliaments, parties and people.

The Vietnam-Argentina Inter-Governmental Committee and the political consultation between the two foreign ministries have also played an essential role.

The two countries will promote negotiations on agreements in different fields and work to create a long-term legal framework for bilateral ties, the leaders said.

They stressed that bilateral trade turnover reached US$2.9 billion in 2018, which was double the figure five years earlier.

The two sides reached consensus on further diversifying trade to ensure more balanced interests, increasing the trading of products with higher added value, and boosting cooperation between animal and plant quarantine agencies.

They vowed to facilitate dialogue and cooperation between the two business communities through forums and trade and investment promotion activities.

A feasibility study on a trade agreement between Vietnam and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) bloc, of which Argentina is a member, will be conducted.

Focus will also be directed on experience sharing, technical cooperation, and knowledge and technology exchange via cooperation projects in such fields as agriculture, forensic anthropology, and the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.

Ties in healthcare, defense, security, culture, sports, tourism, and information and communications will be enhanced.

Vietnam and Argentina will reinforce coordination and mutual support at international organizations and multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, and South-South Cooperation.

Regarding global and regional issues, they agreed that sovereignty and territorial disputes need to be resolved by peaceful means with respect for international law.

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One week from a scheduled meeting between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea in Hanoi, an air of urgency permeates the Vietnamese capital as the hosts beef up preparations for the high-profile summit.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are poised to meet in Hanoi on February 27-28, their second meeting in less than a year after a historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

On Wednesday afternoon, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the third one this month, landed at Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital city, carrying a helicopter and other equipment for President Trumps upcoming visit.

Journalists from foreign news agencies and media outlets have also started to arrive in Hanoi and station themselves at critical locations to capture the early preparations for the summit.

On the downtown streets of Giang Vo, Tran Duy Hung and O Cho Dua, workers could be seen putting up summit banners, planting flowers and fixing things up to welcome two of the worlds most high-profile leaders.

Nguyen Van Thanh, who works for an advertising company in Hanoi, said his team had finished erecting welcome banners, with the main text reading DPRK-USA Hanoi Summit Vietnam, on some downtown streets on Wednesday after starting their workday at 4:00 am.

The national flags of the U.S. and Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea are flown on a street in Hanoi. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre

Security is tightened at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel and a government guesthouse on Ngo Quyen Street in Hoan Kiem District, though no official information has been released about where the leaders will stay during the summit.

A worker told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that cleanup and repaint jobs have been ongoing at the sites since February 15 and are expected to complete this weekend.

A barbershop in Hanoi is offering free haircuts to anyone wanting to copy President Trump and Chairman Kims distinctive locks.

The hairstyle of Kim Jong Un is currently popular with my customers since its easier to do, while President Trumps hairstyle is more complicated and takes more time to design, said Le Tuan Duong, who owns the salon.

"I feel happy with this haircut because people will think I look like the leader of North Korea," said nine-year-old To Gia Huy, whose hair had been molded to perfectly match the slicked-back top and shaved sides of Kim's unique coiffure.

Foreign reporters set up cameras on a street in Hanoi. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday afternoon chaired a meeting to review preparations for the upcoming summit.

The fact that Vietnam was chosen to host the second Trump-Kim summit continues to underline our countrys growing international stature, and reflects Vietnams active role and contribution in international matters, Phuc said at the meeting.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hanoi being recognized as a City for Peace by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), making more meaningful the fact that it will be part of the peace progress on the Korean Peninsula.

A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III lands at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on February 20, 2019. Photo: Nguyen Khanh / Tuoi Tre

A helicopter (at the back) to be used by U.S. President Donald Trump during his second meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is unloaded from a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. Photo: Quang Minh / Tuoi Tre

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UNITED NATIONS, United States  A UN Security Council sanctions committee has agreed to allow North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns delegation to travel to Vietnam for a summit meeting with US President Donald Trump, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Vietnam had asked the committee to grant an exemption to senior North Korean officials who are on a UN sanctions blacklist to allow them to attend the February 27-28 summit in Vietnam.

The sanctions provide for a global travel ban that bars governments from granting them visas to come into their countries.

UN diplomats said Vietnam had requested a blanket exemption for the North Korean officials and that none of the 15 Security Council members had objected.

The committee also granted exemptions to allow the delegation to attend the US-North Korean summit in Singapore in June.

In Washington, Trump said Kim must make a "meaningful" gesture on denuclearisation if he wants the UN sanctions to be eased.

"The sanctions are on in full. I havent taken sanctions off," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"Id love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something thats meaningful on the other side."

"Chairman Kim and I have a very good relationship. I wouldnt be surprised to see something work out," Trump said, without providing further details.

Trump reiterated his view that North Korea has "great" potential for economic development and suggested the Vietnam summit would not be the last.

At their landmark meeting in Singapore last year, the US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work toward "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Trump on Tuesday said that while he hoped his next meeting with Kim would yield much progress, he was also in "no rush" for results.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders meanwhile said Trump spoke by phone with Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two men "reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearisation of" North Korea.
WASHINGTON/HANOI -- A week before a second summit with North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. President Donald Trump held out the prospect of an easing of tough sanctions on the country, but only if it does something thats meaningful on denuclearization.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump also said he expects to meet with Kim again after their Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

Trump said he did not think North Korea was reluctant to denuclearize, in spite of a lack of concrete progress since he and Kim met for a first summit in Singapore in June.

I dont think theyre reluctant; I think they want to do something, he said. Well see what happens. The sanctions are on in full. I havent taken sanctions off, as you know. Id love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something thats meaningful on the other side.

Trump said he and Kim had a good relationship and added: I wouldnt be surprised to see something work out.

He said he and Kim have made a lot of progress but that doesnt mean this will be the last meeting.

Trumps comment was his most explicit yet that the United States might be willing to consider easing sanctions on North Korea before Pyongyang completely abandons its nuclear weapons program.

The administration has previously said that sanctions will remain in place until North Koreas complete denuclearization.

Trump spoke as his special envoy for North Korea was due in Hanoi to finalize preparations for the summit. Stephen Biegun is expected to hold talks with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Trump said on Tuesday he wants North Korea to end its nuclear program ultimately, but had no pressing time schedule for this, provided it stuck to a freeze in nuclear and missile testing in place since 2017.

When Trump and Kim met in Singapore, it was the first ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Kim pledged then to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but negotiations have made little headway since, with North Korea demanding a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

In September, Kim expressed willingness to permanently dismantle facilities at his countrys main nuclear site of Yongbyon in return for corresponding U.S. moves.

Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang this month which he said would include discussion of such corresponding steps, but the State Department had offered no sign of any specific progress.

Biegun said after his North Korea visit his talks had been productive but there was hard work to do before the summit.
A Vietnamese woman has spent the last 27 years looking after an elderly woman whose husband, siblings and children gave their lives in support of the national liberation and protection of Vietnam.

Huynh Thi Bich Lieu, deputy head of the womens union in Pho Minh Ward, Duc Pho District, Quang Ngai Province is known for her heart of gold.

Every day, after running her morning errands at the local market, Lieu makes a beeline for the dilapidated house a few hundred meters down the street where 89-year-old Huynh Thi Thinh lives alone, with only the memories of her deceased husband and children to keep her company.

Thinh is one of thousands of Vietnams Heroic Mothers  a solemn title given to women whose husbands and children made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

A lonely sorrow

A lively smile spreads immediately across Thinhs wrinkled face the moment she sees Lieu making her way down the street each morning.

Both women share this mutual happiness knowing they will spend the next few hours in each others company.

The moment Lieu walks in the door, she gets to work preparing food and sweeping the house. Only after these vital chores are taken care of do the two sit down to chat and relax.

The tiny, dilapidated house is filled with reminders of the sacrifices Thinh and her family have made for Vietnam.

Elegantly worded plaques and shiny medals line the walls. She has no choice but to accept them as her companions, in lieu of family, for the remainder of her life.

The First Indochina War (1946-1954) robbed Thinh of her husband, Tran Sung, who fought to expel Frances colonial force from the country.

Her two young brothers shared a similar fate on the battlefields of the American war in Vietnam that ended in 1975.

Her younger sister was not a soldier, but that did not stop the enemy from taking her life while she was at school.

Tran Hoang Phuong  her only son and last living family member  followed in the footsteps of his courageous father and uncles and died for his country in 1967.

A fear of losing anyone else kept Thinh from searching for new love. Following the death of her son, she spent the next 25 years as a recluse, allowing herself to come to grips with a life of solitude. That is, until Lieu came along.

In 1992, Lieu  a newlywed at the time  followed her husband to Quang Ngai.

That was when I met Mother Thinh, said Lieu. I saw that she had no relatives to lean on but still offered help to her neighbors and the needy in our community, so I began to form a bond with her.

An up-close take on heroic Vietnamese mother Huynh Thi Thinh, whose entire family sacrificed their lives in wartime. Photo: My Lang / Tuoi Tre

Another mother

Lieu began looking after Thinh in 1992, and it was not long before she considered the heroic mother a second mom to herself.

In the past, when Thinh was able to move with ease, Lieu would buy food from a local market and she would prepare her own meals.

As time passed, however, Thinhs health began to deteriorate to the point that even standing became a chore.

The natural thing was for Lieu to take on the role of a cook.

Twice a day, Lieu finds the time to visit Thinh to prepare her meals and help her with daily chores.

Ive become so attached to Mother Thinh that when I find myself having to travel and am forced to rely on my relatives to care for her, I get very anxious and call her several times to check in, Lieu admitted.

Though their bond is strong, caring for Thinh has not always been easy. After all, Lieu does have her own family for support.

In 2014, her father-in-law, then 94, was on his deathbed after being bedridden for nearly three years.

Though she wanted to fulfill her duty as his daughter-in-law, doing so meant she would have to abandon Thinh.

Luckily I have my husband, who was very supportive of me continuing to take care of Mother Thinh, Lieu said.

As Lieus kind gesture became well known in the community, other neighbors have chosen to chip in and help care for Thinh.

Once they got wind of my situation, my colleagues arranged for me to leave work early so that I would have time to care for Mother Thinh, Lieu said.

Each month, the local Peoples Committee gives Thinh a stipend which she is able to live off of, she further added.

Despite her selflessness, in Lieu still lingers a pang of guilt, and a sense of regret of not being able to take care of her own mother, who lives far away.

But she has made up her mind to seriously take care of Thinh, as  from her reasoning  her mother has four daughters-in-law and capable sons, while Thinh enjoys only her companionship.

Lieus next goal is to help rebuild Thinhs house, which has fallen into disrepair over the past thirty years.

Despite her status as a heroic Vietnamese mother, Thinh never asks for anything.

"I just want her to have a proper house to live in, Lieu shared.

From pity sprouts love

Since Thinhs old age has made her weak, Lieu has began sleeping at her side in case she has a problem at night.

She only returns to her own house at 5:00 am each morning.

In 2014, she even steered a raft to Thinhs house to save her from a flood.

At first, I was worried. I dont spend my nights with Mother Thinh because I feel obligated. I do it because it gives me joy, Lieu admitted.

Talking of the future, Lieu said her mother-in-law too was killed by shrapnel during wartime when her husband was just six years old.

I think of Thinh as my mother-in-law. My husband and I plan to care for her for the rest of her life, she affirmed.

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OPINION: "The fact that he kept this small black book for almost nine decades suggests he may have wanted us to learn more about him, even after he was gone," writes Amy Hirshberg Lederman.
We hope you have enjoyed your complimentary access for the month.

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A winter storm warning is in effect until 5 p.m. Friday for the southeast Arizona mountains, with heavy snow expected.

Officials have closed the road to Mount Lemmon, except to residents and employees. Following the storm, road and safety crews will work to clear the road for people who want to go up and enjoy the snow.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department is recommending that people who go up the mountain once the road has reopened bring essential survival supplies such as food, water and warm clothes to be prepared for any sudden weather changes.

Weather officials predict 2 to 12 inches of snow above 3,500 feet, 12 to 24 inches above 5,000 feet and between 20 to 40 inches above 7,000 feet.

The storm warning will expand at 11 p.m. Thursday to include parts of Graham and Cochise counties, Oracle and the Chiricahua Mountains.

As well, rain is expected for southeast Arizona later Thursday morning and early afternoon.

High: 53

Low: 41
The Tucson City Council backed a resolution on Tuesday night to support the Nogales City Council's fight to take down razor wire along the border wall.

The seven Democrats on the Tucson City Council unanimously backed the resolution that opposed the Trump administration's efforts to increase militarization of the border region.

In a memo to the city manager, Councilmembers Regina Romero, Steve Kozachik and Richard Fimbres asked for the resolution nearly two weeks ago.

"Razor wire is used in prison facilities and in war zones. It has no place serving as a visual and physical barrier between us and our neighbors in Mexico," the three Councilmembers wrote. "Along with the Nogales Mayor and City Council we say, Mr. Trump , tear down this wire."

The Nogales City Council, which passed a similar ordinance two weeks ago, said the concertina wire laid in horizontal rows would "indiscriminately harm or kill anyone who actually scales the border wall."

Romero said on Tuesday night that the razor wire in Nogales is painful to witness.
He told colleagues that more than a third of the people who die in traffic accidents in Arizona are not wearing a seat belt.

So if our officers could have more tools, a better ability just to remind people that they need to have those seat belts on, we could save 300 to 400 lives here in Arizona, he said.

Warnings and fines aside, Thorpes bill would also expand the law. Right now it covers only the front-seat occupants; if approved, HB 2539 would mandate belts for everyone in the vehicle.

Not all committee members were convinced that police should get the power to stop vehicles for unbuckled motorists and passengers.

Rep. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, said he is not convinced by the data. He said if a third of those who died in accidents were unbuckled, two thirds died even though they were belted in.

The public safety committee approved the measure by a 4-3 vote Wednesday.

The bills future remains unclear. It did not get a second scheduled hearing Wednesday in the House Transportation Committee.

Thorpe said there are efforts to have the measure still go to the full House.
Oro Valley police just got a new member  and he's got four legs and lots of fur.

The department recently welcomed 2-year-old police dog Diesel, a Belgian Malinois born in the Czech Republic.

Diesel is set to replace K-9 Emerson, who joined the department in 2011 and recently retired due to age and health. Emerson is currently enjoying his retirement in the home of Officer Kevin Peterson  the same officer who will handle Diesel.

Because of a $12,000 donation from local realtor Lisa Bayless, the department was able to snag Diesel.

"One of the reasons people move to Oro Valley is because its a safe town," Bayless said in a news release. "The OVPD obviously plays a large role in creating a safe environment for all the residents to enjoy. I was happy to support their efforts because I love Oro Valley and I love dogs."

In addition to the donation from Bayless, the Canyon Del Oro Kennel Club donated $3,000, which went toward Diesel's certification process.

Diesel recently completed 12 weeks of training and has been certified in narcotics detection, suspect apprehension, and building and area searches. He'll handle a variety of service calls.

Contact reporter Gloria Knott at gknott@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @gloriaeknott

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The odds are looking increasingly poor that Arizona and other Western states will meet a March 4 federal deadline for wrapping up Colorado River drought plans.

Thats not just because of the ongoing conflict over a now-shelved water rights bill for Eastern Arizona that prompted a threat from the Gila River Indian Community to bolt this states drought plan.

Its also not just because of a Southern California irrigation districts efforts to secure $200 million in U.S. funds to shore up the dying Salton Sea. Without that money, the Imperial Irrigation District  which holds more Colorado River rights than anyone else  says it wont sign onto the drought plan that is supposed to cover all seven river basin states.

Even if those high-profile issues are settled, more mundane matters seem increasingly likely if not certain to keep Arizona in particular from meeting U.S. Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burmans deadline.

That would mean Burman would start the potentially politically explosive process of seeking comments from the seven river basin states about how to manage the over-allocated Colorado. By August, she would make a decision on that.
PHOENIX  A House committee voted Wednesday to ensure that edible forms of marijuana remain available for sale in Arizona, no matter what the Arizona Supreme Court eventually decides.

HB 2149 would spell out that the 2010 voter-approved law that allows marijuana to be used for medical purposes also legalized anything made from the resins. That can include something as simple as a tincture that a parent can give a sick child or more complex and commercial products like gummy bears and chocolate bars containing tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive elements of marijuana.

The 5-2 vote by the House Committee on Public Safety came over the objections of Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.

Although she did not appear at the hearing, Polk submitted comments calling the proposal by Rep. Tony Rivero, R-Peoria, very irresponsible.

The potency level in THC extracts have reached unprecedented levels causing psychosis and harm,  she wrote. Polk said the change in the law is about profit, not medicine.
The former operator of an adult-care home in midtown who was charged last year with elder abuse and endangerment has pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Cynthia Hermann, owner of the now closed Angeliques Adult Care Home at 5101 E. Eighth St., pleaded guilty last week to two amended counts of endangerment before Pima County Superior Court Judge Danelle Liwski.

Hermanns sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 1, said Krisanne LoGalbo, a court spokeswoman.

The home was shut down in July after authorities rescued nine residents from the residential-care facility near East Broadway and North Rosemont Boulevard.

Hermann, 71 at the time, was arrested on suspicion of five counts of vulnerable adult abuse and nine counts of endangerment.

The older adults, including some under hospice care, were removed because the air conditioner was broken for days and the residents were in distress from the heat inside the house, requiring five to be taken to the hospital, authorities said.

The situation was discovered by a nurse of one of the residents who went to check on her client. She found the residents  ages 64 to 86  in distress from the heat that was recorded at nearly 104 degrees inside the home.
Today might be a victory for No More Deaths, but people continue to die and disappear every day in the desert, Hollarsmith said in the news release. Our hearts remain with the families of the disappeared. As long as border policy funnels migrants into the most remote corridors of the desert, the need for a humanitarian response will continue.

Lawyers for Deighan and her co-defendants had asked the court to dismiss the charges because the volunteers were acting out of necessity in a life-or-death situation.

A woman in Phoenix called a No More Deaths hotline and said two of her cousins and a friend were lost near Growler Valley, an area of the wildlife refuge where many remains of migrants have been found, according to court records.

The volunteers called the Border Patrol, but agents didnt respond for hours, their lawyers said. The volunteers went to the wildlife refuge to find the border-crossers and the Border Patrol later sent a helicopter. One of the lost men was never found.

Last month, Natalie Hoffman was convicted of operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area. Hoffman and Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco McCormick were convicted of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit and abandoning property there.
The study was a scaled-down version of a $1 million U.S. Geological Survey study that was canceled in 2010 amid budget cuts. It would have been the last in a series of three studies funded by the USGS and Arizona Department of Water Resources exploring how groundwater pumping could affect the San Pedro River.

Silver questioned why Bureau of Land Management officials have not weighed in on a project that affects waters under their management in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

We cant replace these places, he said. BLM has been silent, even though its their water thats going to be stolen.

BLMs Arizona director Ray Suazo could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In a Feb. 18 email to Gillespie, the U.S. Department of Justice attorney representing the Army Corps said the agency may be able to make a decision on the suspended permit  whether to reissue, further modify or revoke it  before it must file a response to the environmentalists lawsuit in April.
As Peacock described it, Turo maintains a website to connect people who want to rent out the vehicles they own to those who need a car or truck for several hours or several days. But she said the actual details are worked out between the vehicle owner and the renter, with Turo taking a share of the transaction costs, which Peacock said is in the 25 percent range.

Much of that money, she said, provides basic insurance coverage. But Turo also runs its own insurance firm selling coverage to renters who want additional protection.

Sen. David Livingston, R-Peoria, who crafted the measure, grilled Peacock about how the business operates, including whether people can rent out multiple cars that they own. And she said that, at least theoretically, owners could be renting out 10, 20 or 30 or more cars.

That concession took Livingston aback.

You made it sound like its mom and pop only, he said, people sharing personal vehicles when they dont need them versus people buying vehicles specifically to rent them out.

Peacock said 95 percent of those on her companys website have no more than two or three vehicles.

Sen. Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, said his big issue is safety.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich got the court rulings declaring in-state tuition off limits to DACA recipients.

Since that time the Board of Regents has adopted its own version of what Carter is proposing: a special rate for high school graduates who do not otherwise qualify for in-state tuition because of Proposition 300. That rate is set at 150 percent of the resident tuition, a figure that regents say covers the actual cost of instruction, meaning there is no subsidy of state dollars.

It still is far lower than what those in the DACA program would have to pay in out-of-state tuition. At the University of Arizona, for example, current resident tuition and mandatory fees for a new undergraduate total $12,447 a year. That same figure for someone from out of state is $36,346.

So far there have been no moves by Brnovich to challenge the 150 percent tuition as being illegal.

An aide to Brnovich, Ryan Anderson, said Wednesday that the legality of SB 1217 depends on what the regents, who oversee the universities, and community college officials do with the mandate for the new rate.

Ultimately, if a student pays a tuition rate that is equal to the cost of actual instruction, theyre not receiving a subsidy, Anderson said.
While Sinemas bill doesnt go as far as the Legions resolution, allowing expanded access to Legion membership would be a step in that direction.

American Legion service officers work to assist veterans regardless of membership status, but allowing more service members to join is a necessary change, Raughter said.

We do believe membership in the American Legion is important as far as camaraderie goes, as far as being able to participate in the activities of their post at a local level and just the pride in being a Legionnaire, he said.

Sinema introduced the legislation during the 100th anniversary of the American Legion, which Raughter said is significant.

Although the Enewetak veterans havent had much success getting changes theyre pushing for in Congress, Sinema doesnt expect any opposition to the bipartisan bill.

As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, working on veterans issues is one of Sinemas priorities, said Hannah Hurley, a spokeswoman. Sinema also worked on veterans issues during her time in the House, with bills such as the VA Mission Act, now law, which expanded access to healthcare for veterans who dont live near a VA facility.
Peter Tork, a musician who became a sensation as a member of the Monkees, the made-for-TV pop group that soared to fame in the 1960s, has died at 77.
Its fair to say that the predictability of weather seems to be less so (with climate change), Gootee said. People often reference storms being more intense or frequent, or less frequent but way more intense. In the Grand Canyon, when it comes to climate change, there are definitely some things that are going to be impacted.

Gootee cited groundwater withdrawal as one of the most significant potential impacts of climate change in the Canyon. Increase in groundwater use or pumping can cause declining groundwater tables, which is the level below the surface of the ground where water can be found. This could then result in declining spring levels throughout the canyon.

The majority of ecosystems and wildlife rely on these springs, which are the minority of the Grand Canyon real estate. There arent that many of them, he said. So, the impact on the springs will have a huge impact on the ecosystems on all levels.

Another potential impact of climate change on the Grand Canyon is debris flow into the Canyons water sources.
Whats next: Ive been working on this trilogy for six years and desire another shift and challenge. Nothing ever stops. Ink will guide me to the next story, but I want to delve into new territory and push myself in different ways  dive into other themes that continue to challenge me as an artist.

The talk: The evening ends not with the dancing, but with The Dialogue, as Brown and dancers come back out to converse with the audience. Its been a feature of company performances since 2012.

 The Dialogue is a verbal extension of the work, she said. The dance has ended, but the conversation continues as the artists and the audience members decompress together. Its an exchange of immediate thoughts and reactions.

It might be disturbing for those under 14: Technically, were not doing anything up there people have not seen or heard. Language and movements are associated with stereotypes, so we are embodying these characters on stage. Its odd, because how do you prepare someone for the things they already see in the world? And thats the complexity of race in America.

Susan Isaacs Nisbett is a longtime journalist who writes extensively about dance and classical music.
There was no discussion of the World View cutbacks at Tuesdays supervisors meeting, and nothing related to the company was on the agenda.

Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, a staunch critic of the World View lease deal, was quick to pounce on the layoff news, tweeting, Crony capitalism at work.

But Huckelberry in his memo to the supervisors said he met with World view officials in January and was told the company was reorganizing as it transitions from research to production.

He said World View was not required to report the layoffs under its agreement with the county, which requires the company to employ an average of 100 employees with minimum annual salaries of at least $50,000 in the first four years of its lease and stepping up in five-year increments to 400 by 2032.

In its most recent required quarterly report, World View reported 83 full time employees at an average salary of $86,397.

Huckelberry said World View is having trouble hiring software engineers and other tech workers who are in short supply nationwide.
A spokeswoman for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe declined to comment further Wednesday. A spokesman for the Northern Arapaho Tribe said he would attempt to get comment from leadership but did not provide any statement to the Star-Tribune by press time.

Watkins said the community was dismayed by the decision, as it was when SageWest closed other units.

But you know they are a private corporation, they make those decisions based on their business plan, she said, referring to SageWests parent company, LifePoint. While that is emotionally daunting, you know, they are a for-profit corporation that is there to return to their investors an income on their investment.

Her group, which includes a number of prominent Riverton residents, has been expressing concern about what its perceives as SageWest and LifePoint siphoning resources from Riverton in favor of Lander. The group has accused LifePoint of turning the Riverton hospital into a Band-Aid station and say it is critically understaffed, reducing services available. The hospital had previously closed its OBGYN services.
What we have here is a situation in which this county has voted in this fashion, Brown said. These commissioners have put these laws in place because their community has decided this is what they wanted. And if you dont like it, you elect new commissioners.

It sets a precedent that if you have a county disagree with you and you dont like it, and you have enough money, you can come down here and lobby to get a law changed for you, he said, in a nod to the Friess family, sitting in the gallery. I disagree with that.

With three legislators missing, the bill went through its second reading on the House floor on Thursday, surviving several amendments that would have further differentiated private schools treatment by the state from public schools.

An amendment to SF49 by Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, would have made private schools responsible for paying for the costs incurred by municipalities for constructing infrastructure attachments to those schools, including roads, bridges, streets, traffic controls, sidewalks, sewer systems, gas and electric hookups and any other improvements necessary for the development of a private school. However, that amendment failed by nine votes.
GILLETTE (WNE)  A Campbell County man whose cellphone was seized last summer as evidence for a suspected hunting crime now faces additional criminal charges after the same phone had images of a woman showering.

Clifton Kennedy, 61, pleaded not guilty Feb. 1 to two felony counts of voyeurism.

Kennedy and a woman were investigated in June for allegedly killing big game animals out of season and for trespassing on private property. He reportedly admitted to Wyoming Game and Fish investigators that photos of the illegally killed animals had been taken on his cellphone, according to an affidavit.

The investigators found numerous photos of the animals on the cellphone, but they also found two videos and a photo that appeared to have been taken from outside of a home looking through a bathroom window. They showed a nude woman preparing to take a shower, according to the affidavit.

The woman didn't know Kennedy was outside, and when she turned toward the window, he ducked out of view.

Gillette police were able to identify the home because at the end of one video, the camera turned toward Garner Lake Road, according to the affidavit.

Police then identified the woman, who told them she hadn't given permission to Kennedy to record her.

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The banking trade union ALEBA is following discussions concerning a fiscal convention between Luxembourg and France very closely.

The French parliament recently approved the document which concerns the taxation of French cross-border workers. Whilst Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies has not yet examined the convention, the trade union has already outlined its concerns.

In the press release, the trade union highlights that the convention would avoid double taxation. However, cross-border workers would have to pay the difference calculated between the taxes they pay in Luxembourg and taxes as calculated by the French fiscal regime. Whilst ALEBA stressed that it must examine the convention in detail, it was clear that the above is unacceptable.

Consequently, the trade union hopes to contact Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna to discuss these points.
Good news for Luxembourg Airport! As of October 2019, budget airline Ryanair will offer direct connections to the French city of Toulouse.

The airline will fly between the cities three times a week for the duration of winter 2019.

Already, customers can book flights up until March 2020. In celebration of the new route, Ryanair is selling seats starting at 19,99 for October flights.

In order to take advantage of these low prices, Ryanair's Yann Delomez recommends booking on their website and by midnight on Friday 22 February.
Luxembourg MEP Tilly Metz, UK MEP Molly Scott Cato, and French MP Michele Rivasi have been in police custody since 9am on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning the three MEPs, all members of the Green party in their respective countries, protested against American nuclear warheads that have been in storage at the military base in Kleine-Brogel in Belgium since 1984.

The three MPs climbed over the fence at 8.10am and were taken into custodyby the police just fifteen minutes later. Initial information suggested five individuals had crossed the fence, but later news confirms that it was the three MPs.

Eight over people supporting the three MPs outside the fence were also taken into police custody. The general context of the protest is the end of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The suspension of the treaty has a significant impact on Europe, as the USA and Russia are no longer bound to eliminate their long-range nuclear weapons.

The European Green Party advocates a complete removal of nuclear weapons in Europe. The Kleine-Brogel military base is based in northeastern Belgium at the Dutch border, around three hours away from Luxembourg.

On Facebook, CSV MEP Christophe Hansen criticised Metz's actions, interpreting them as her launching her European election campaign. He stressed that he does not believe politicians are above the law and called it irresponsible to use justice authorities, the police, and the army as "hostages for political marketing". Hansen also criticised the fact that Metz's press release was published on RTL minutes after the news emerged.

Whilst also expressing a stance against chemical and nuclear weapons, Hansen highlighted the responsibilities of politicians in seeking alternative methods to making such points.

Hansen ended by addressing the Green Ministers of Defence and Justice, Francois Bausch and Felix Braz, asking whether they condone their colleague's actions.
The parliamentary question by Christian Social People's Party MP Marc Spautz was on the topic of children who had to be placed externally.

The number of external aid measures provided by the child and youth welfare agency went up in recent years. In 2014, the child and youth welfare agency had to intervene in 4,735 cases. In 2018, the number of those cases was up to a little over 7,000.

The number of people taking advantage of direct aid measures by the national children's office (ONE) has also gone up. Last year, around 3% of young people under the age of 26 received financial aid by ONE. Back in 2014, this number was only at about 2%.

These numbers were provided by the ministry for education and the ministry of justice in their joint answer to the parliamentary question.

CSV MP Marc Spautz posed the parliamentary question after having read an article in the Luxemburger Wort (LW) newspaper entitled "Forced into a strange home". The article claimed that there are children in Luxembourg that have been split up from their parents because of the family's financial troubles and have been placed in another family or even a children's home.

The LW article went on to say that in Luxembourg, about 1,300 children and teenagers no longer live with their own family. About 81% of those are minors that have been placed elsewhere following a legal decision.

The ministries of education and justice refuted these claims. They stated that these types of measures, in particular children being places in homes and with new families upon a court order, could and would never be taken purely on the basis of the parents' financial standing.

While judges and juvenile courts can decide to remove minors from their home, they have to be considered to be at risk. This means that the child or the teenager in question would have had to be neglected physically and mentally, or on the level of their education, to warrant such an order. The abuse of minors is another case in which child protective services usually have to step in.

However, the government's answer to the parliamentary question revealed that there is often a correlation between financial difficulties and mild mistreatment in cases where children have to be removed from their homes. But before families are broken up, a host of other aid measures will have been taken first.
Today

Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. High near 85F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
A blog for students in my introductory classes in government, and any interested passersby. You'll find news items and random stories that illustrate any of the topics we cover in class. Special attention will be paid to the constitutional issues associated with contemporary issues and disputes. Feel free to send me stories you find important. Please note that due to spam, I'm limiting the ability of people to comment on these pages. My apologies.
A grim-faced Smith briefed the soldiers and helicopter crew. There were no smiles on the faces of anyone as the helicopter flew north above U.S. Highway 301 at an altitude of about 1,000 feet. Down below were hundreds of trucks and cars stranded on U.S. 301. At the intersection with Interstate 26, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snow and stranded vehicles going toward Columbia and Charleston. 

The only persons on the helicopter who did not have a weapon were the two pilots and this writer. I had a camera, pad and pencil and a real fear of what we were flying into. As the helicopter approached the Holiday Inn, a group of about six men came out of the motel and began waving as if they wanted to be rescued. Closer in, the crowd of waves multiplied about 10 fold.

As the chopper set down on the Holiday Inn snow, a crowd of more than 100 happy people were there to welcome the soldiers with nothing but smiles and words of appreciation. The happiest person out of it all was Smith who, with his soldiers, was expecting the worst and hoping for the best. There was no rioting or any semblance of disorder at the Holiday Inn. In fact, the inn's stranded guests were some of the nicest and most appreciative of South Carolina hospitality of any of the strandees throughout the ordeal.
A plastic injection molding company announced Wednesday it is expanding its Orangeburg County operations.

Canada-based Quality Model Group said it is going to invest $9.5 million and create 37 new jobs at its Orangeburg plant over the next five years.

The QM Group is pleased to reaffirm, through this investment, our confidence in the Orangeburg community and in South Carolina for fostering the appropriate competitive advantages for our business," QM Group founder and owner Bill Szekesy said.

"Our preference for this location has been established to the point where we have now designated it as our U.S. operations headquarters, he said.

Orangeburg County is providing the company with economic development incentives including the fee-in-lieu of taxes and job tax credits. The project will be placed in a multi-county industrial park.

About $8 million of the new investment will be used for machines. The rest will be used to purchase land.

The new jobs will include office, engineering and other technical positions with an average hourly wage of about $15.
ELLOREE -- Horse racing excitement and tailgating fun come together each March at the Elloree Trials.

Thousands of people -- 5,000-plus most years -- arrive at the Elloree Training Center early to set up coolers, cookers and tables covered with homemade entrees and side dishes.

And while adults relax after a week of work, children spend time away from their electronics, kicking a ball around or blowing bubbles and watching them fly away.

The event got its start in 1939 when land was purchased for the purpose of building a race track.

On July 25, 1940, Palmetto Racing Park Inc. officially opened with lancing tournaments and horse races, drawing a crowd of thousands.

Gambling was legal at the time but was halted in 1947 when Strom Thurmond was elected governor of South Carolina.

Horse racing at the track halted, and Palmetto Racing Park fell silent.

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In 1960, Phil Utman, a thoroughbred owner/trainer from Iowa, purchased the facility and revitalized it as Utman Training Center.
Orangeburg County

Sheriffs Office

Two Orangeburg County residents have been scammed out of thousands of dollars, according to sheriffs office incident reports.

A 62-year-old Holly Hill man reported Tuesday afternoon that someone called him claiming to represent SCE&G on Saturday morning.

He told deputies that after he spoke with a phony SCE&G representative, another person called him claiming to be a technician.

The fake technician told the man he had an order to disconnect the mans electricity if he didnt pay a bill by noon.

The fake technician told him to go to Dollar General and purchase two reusable cash cards and place $789.63 on them to pay the phony SCE&G representative who called a little earlier.

He told deputies that he sent the money to the first caller and then received an additional phone call claiming that his account would go to a collections agency.

That caller told the man he needed to pay $800 in the same way he did with the first installment.

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The man told deputies that he made the second installment around 6 p.m.
Comcast recently completed a sizable upgrade to its local infrastructure, preparing the area for future growth that leaders hope also will help ensure Kokomos economic placement.

Within the Comcast headend facility on East Center Road, work finished up recently to move vast stacks of equipment to a newer, larger area. This move entailed upgrading the local infrastructure for internet users, but also left room for growth as the population continues to up its reliance on internet access. The new, 2,100-square-foot addition to the headend facility even may prove to be a valuable business asset to Howard County.

As the needs of houses grow, the way were looking at it the internet of things is huge, said Michael Wilson, Comcast director of public relations. Rural broadband is more of a legislative discussion. The discussion piece around this is more like houses and even businesses have a lot more things on the internet. They have a lot of IoT devices. Now its not just like, Well, I have two phones and an iPad. I have a dishwasher, my garage, three cameras.  theres so many more devices on there. Thats why its important to build the products that are behind those devices too.

The latest networking index forecast by Cisco puts this upped reliance into full perspective. According to the forecast, North American Consumers are expected to, on average, have 13 internet-connected devices per household by 2021. That boils down to about four devices per person.

As this trend continues to evolve, so too has local internet infrastructure. Comcasts headend upgrades not only help the internet provider handle the load, but it also helped prepare for the projected growth of internet reliance.

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But beyond personal usage, there also are ramifications within the business world to expanding an areas internet coverage.

Wilson said businesses, now more than ever, take internet infrastructure into account when selecting where to locate.

If Im a business owner and Im looking at expanding my facility, theres a lot of things I look at, said Wilson. I think we saw with Amazon  when were trying to shop and get a business and lure them in, network infrastructure is huge. Thats a thing any business owner will look at, whether Amazon or a mom-and-pop shop. Everybody is looking at reliability, speed, upload and download, and accessibility to fiber, which are all good things. Thats where it becomes pivotal that we do our part and that weve got that network in place.

Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight weighed in on the investment by Comcast, hoping it would help keep the city competitive in a global economy.

Kokomo continues to see growth in manufacturing, research, entrepreneurship, innovations, and the use of the newest technology, boosting our economic opportunities, said Goodnight. Comcasts investment in its gigabit network facility helps to ensure our position in the global economy along with enhanced quality services for our citizens.
Halbrook put it this way: "They make financial decisions and policies that don't follow what the rest of the state wants."

Halbrook said the resolution is also meant to spotlight what he calls "intrusive and overreaching" regulations. He identified gun regulations, saying that issues with gun dealers in the Chicago area should be policed there and that Chicago politicians should refrain from forcing such regulations on the rest of the state.

Here's the thing: Pretty much everybody who lives in Illinois takes a dim view of state government and how it reflects their values, priorities and general outlook.

The SIU study polled residents across Illinois with this question: "How much attention do you feel state government pays to what the people in your community think when it decides what to do?"

Statewide, just 5 percent responded "A good deal." In Chicago, 7 percent said that. Downstate, it was just 3 percent.

Statewide, 70 percent said "Not much." In Chicago, that answer captured 72 percent of the answers. Downstate, it was 73 percent.

An eye-opener in the study looked at the revenue generated in taxes in Illinois counties compared to the money those counties receive from the state.
IPGA research of publicly available ICC records also reveals that Ameren has thus far used existing customers to finance just over 65 percent of its gas main extension projects in areas previously considered too expensive to reach with natural gas. Such financing efforts entail Ameren offering new customers free service pipe, while existing customers will assume the cost of that free pipe in their monthly bills for decades. What some may find more offensive is the fact that Ameren extension projects to date have benefitted the owners of vacation homes in places like Lake Carroll. We will not know where, or how expensive, the next expansion project will be until Ameren files a request with the ICC, but we do know that Ameren is always looking for new customers.
The state last week issued a seal order for Sterigenics U.S. in Willowbrook. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the order was based on air sampling by local officials and the U.S. EPA that consistently found high outdoor ambient levels of ethylene oxide.

In seeking an emergency order to reopen, Sterigenics attorney Gerard Kelly on Wednesday told U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly the plant's shutdown is "causing a crisis" for its customers. He said medical supply companies will be in a lurch without Sterigenics' products because it will take them months to find a new place to get what they need.
SESSER  Despite being charged with drug- and weapons-related crimes, former Sesser Mayor Ned Mitchell does not stand to lose his state-funded pensions.

Mitchell was charged earlier this month with five felonies after a search of his house in January led to his arrest. Mitchell was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, felony manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance near a school, public housing or public park, and two felony counts of Category 1 armed violence, assessed when a person commits a felony while possessing a dangerous weapon.

Charges against former Sesser mayor include drug manufacturing, weapons charges SESSER  Ned Mitchell, the former longtime mayor of Sesser, is facing five felony counts after he was arrested on charges of unlawful possessi

According to previous reporting by The Southern, he also was charged with felonious permitting unlawful use of a building, assessed to a person who controls a building, and knowingly grants, permits or makes the building available for use for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance, quoting in part 720 ILCS 570/406.1 of the Illinois Controlled Substance Act.

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In all, he faces two Class 4 felonies and three Class X felonies, according to court records website Judici.

According to Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Communications Manager John Krupa, the pension Mitchell paid into over his three decades as Sessers mayor is safe.
A popular Christian artist will bring the fourth season of his solo tour to Mount Vernon. SCC Solo: Hits, History and Influences, celebrating more than 30 years of music from Steven Curtis Chapman, will stop at 7:30 p.m. March 3 at Central Christian Church.

Chapman said this differs from his past tours in several ways.

First of all, it is the first tour I have ever done that is just me and my guitar, Chapman said.

Although he had done solo events here and there, this is the first after night of solo performances as a tour. He said SCC Solo started about 18 months ago and is in its fourth and final iteration.

"I hit on something I really enjoy and the audience really enjoys as well. Its just me on stage singing my songs, the ones folks listened to through the years, Chapman said.

The tour also includes music from Chapmans first album of worship music. He believes the music helps people understand the basis of what they believe.

It has really been my favorite tour ever. It feels really special for people coming and enjoying the intimacy of the night, Chapman said.

The songs his fans know and love also have become mile markers on Chapmans life and faith journey.
Jackie Spinner, award-winning journalist and SIU alumna is the winner of the 2019 Mike Covell Award for her film Dont Forget Me, which debuted in the United States for the first time on Tuesday. Earlier in the day she spoke with students in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

The Covell Award honors an SIU Carbondale alumnus whose film shows passion, engagement and original perspective. Covell, who retired in 2007, began the film festival in 1979 after his arrival on campus in 1975 after finishing graduate school at Ohio University.

Spinners 28-minute documentary examines challenges that Moroccan parents and their children with autism face in that country. The documentary is inspired by Spinners two Moroccan-born adopted children with autism.

Spinner spent 14 years with the Washington Post beginning with the papers bureau staff where she worked as a metro reporter and financial reporter. Her career included covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, surviving mortar attacks, car bombs, the battle for Fallujah, and a kidnapping attempt outside of Abu Ghraib prison.
Route 51 Brewing Co., along with WDBX and The Louisiana Gumbo Pot, are hosting a two-day Mardi Gras party, which they're calling "Mardi Gras Madness."

The event is at Route 51 Brewery and Banquet Center, at 18967 N. U.S. 51.

There is a suggested $10 donation at the door, which will benefit independent radio station WDBX-FM. Presale tickets are available at Plaza Records in Carbondale for $15, which includes a special event T-shirt.

Events on Friday, Feb. 22, start at 5 p.m. with a variety of Cajun food specials, including smoked alligator. Folk-rockers Beattie Rhodes Band will perform from 5 to 7 p.m. Then, Creole Stomp performs from 7 to 10 p.m. Robert Russell and Dennis Stroughmatt front Creole Stomp and play a variety of music including blues, zydeco, honky-tonk and Cajun swing.

The party starts again at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23. Live music will go all day until 10 p.m. The lineup includes: Joey Odum Blues Band, Cash Johnson, Honey & Tar, Eastwood Frisch, Fiddle Rick & the Bourbon Boys and The Magnatones.

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GeekBetty Vintage will bring her vintage pop-up shop to Fringe the Salon in downtown Carbondale on Sunday, Feb. 24.

The shop will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. and will feature vintage clothing for sale from collector and seller GeekBetty Vintage and art by Samantha Ronketto.

GeekBetty offers a curated collection of vintage clothing, jewelry and accessories from the 1890s to the 1980s, according to a news release.

Fringe the Salon is at 112 N. Illinois Ave.

Donations for the Carbondale Warming Center will also be collected; event organizers are asking for warm socks, safety razors, travel-size shave cream and hand sanitizer, wet wipes, chap stick, scarves and gloves.

For more information, visit facebook.com/geekbettyvintage.

 The Southern

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I would usually make jokes about "Open Mike" ("the often off-topic Editorial page of TOP") being a day late, but this is no time for cracking wise. Yesterday I didn't feel like writing this. I was feeling a curious species of grief. I got an email yesterday from my Texan colleague-in-arms and e-friend-I've-never-met, Kirk Tuck, who told me that he is hanging up his spurs for a while and stabling his blog, The Visual Science Lab.

Kirk

No problem

He assured me that nothing's wrong. He hasnt been injured, he's not sick, not broke, and he's not miffed or having a spat with anyone. (Kirk is an uncommonly good-natured guy, as you might guess). Still, the news is bittersweet.

He's leaving the site up and not officially calling it quitshe's leaving the door open for a return one day. That's the sweet part. The bitter part was Kirk's characteristic straight, unadorned honesty about what it's like to toil in a declining field. (That the fieldwriting about photography onlinealso happens to be my own doesn't help soothe the sting.) In the public announcement he made yesterday, he said things like: "Photography has changed profoundly since the inception of this blog in 2009," and "I sometimes feel as though I'm showcasing a style of lighting (and portrait engagement) that's become more of a temporal sign post of past practices than any good learning curriculum about current styles and trends," and "[I] can hardly shake the feeling that photography as we knew it and practiced it has changed so profoundly that the Visual Science Lab is now, more or less, irrelevant."

Sad to hear him say that.

Doesn't matter if any of us agree with that assessment (I don't, and maybe you don't either). It's the way Kirk feels. I get that, because I feel mournful over a lot of things these days. Not just things in my personal life, but the "drifting away" of things like prints as the end-product of photography; books on paper as the way to read long-form writing; principled, orderly government in my native country; and even...email. Commercialism has more or less ruined email as a means of convenient private communication among citizens, and our methods of staying in touch have begun to fragment into different walled-off corners of a Babel called "social media." I think that's a shame culturally and socially. An opportunity missed.

Imagine, mourning for email.

There's a (German) word for that

Maybe it's just the Weltschmerz* of a good guy getting on in years. And if so we might find that fact hard to stomach because, frankly, we just like Kirk, that's all. He can write about swimming or whatever else he cares about, like I can write about things like pool and stereos and George Kittredge and the meaning of words, in his usual voluble, articulate, friend-over-the-fence way, and we're pleased to spend time in his company. That doesn't seem to require "relevance" to continue. But on the other hand, all good things must come to an end; things rise, things fall. Where the truth of that is concerned, there's nothing new under the sun.

Kirk has other ways to make a living and lots of other things to do, at least. He is an accomplished and energetic professional with a mutifaceted business. He has five times the energy and business ability I do. If I were faced with the task of supporting myself with my photography, hoo law, in no time at all I'd be a shivering little girl in a ragged shawl selling pencils out of a tin cup in Dickensian London! They'd cart me off to the grim 'n' grimy workhouse instanter. Kirk also decided early on not to monetize his blog, and he notes that "last month was the first month that the blog logged a negative fifty six cents for affiliate earnings." I'm loathe to make this post about me (in my 12-step program we chide each other for egocentrism with the phrase "it's all about me/you," which can be topped with a question mark or an exclamation point, can fire in any direction, and can be a reminder, a note of caution, or a zinger), but TOP is being preservedsaved!by the 682 "core readers" who are sending along a few bucks every month via Patreon. It's a neat solution, if you ask me...it's like switching to a subscription-only model but without closing the doors to the public. I still need about 200 more supporters, or 300 if Providence is kind. But currently one or two more trickle in every day, so by Summer maybe we'll have made that mark.

But I digress. (Can we be generous and say that digression is part of my charm?) Anyway, I've offered Kirk carte-blanche** to pen guest posts here on TOP any time he wants to, about any subject he's moved to unspool his thoughts about. We have a fair amount of overlap in our readerships, so I figured it could be a nice way for him to occasionally connect with part of his old audience. Don't know if he will take me up on that, but I shall renew the invitation from time to time. It's the most I can do, but it's also the least I can do.

New chapter

Bottom line: New chapter for our friend. Let's try not to be sad.

Wishing Kirk the best.

Mike

(Thanks to John Camp and several other readers)

*A German word with a fascinating history. Literally "world pain," it's defined as "a feeling of melancholy and world-weariness."

**Literally "blank document" in French, it means "to give full discretionary power."

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Heres the situation

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Martin D: "Weltschmerz is a fine and essentially critical word describing a slightly over-the-top mental state that is, I think, particular to German-language culture and quite different from the kind of sadness you are reporting on. Your sadness relates to a feeling where someone who has experienced a certain richness in some aspects of social life now sees this social richness diminishing. The loss is real; the diminished reality is felt against the contrast of a richer one that was part of the sad person's actual experience.

"Weltschmerz I think is different, the image to have before you is 'young man who regrets all the things he could have done.' A young person who feels a kind of pre-emptive feeling of nostalgia and loss. Having had a small number of deeply-felt actual experiences, and a large number of imagined ones, the young man regrets the way the world is going, having barely done any real living yet. I cannot prove it but I am quite sure that this is what we refer to when we talk of Weltschmerz. I will think some more on whether we have a German-culture term for the kind of real loss of environmental richness and authenticity that you describe; many of us no doubt feel similarly."

Paul Richardson: "On a related note, just yesterday I was perusing a list of recommended photography blogs that I was unfamiliar with, for the most part. The list, as far as I could tell, was about four years old. Anyway, I checked the sites out, and sad to say, almost all of them had been inactive for at least a couple of years, some longer. I think this speaks to how exhausting it must be to stay at it over time, no matter how passionate you areand Im assuming youd have to be pretty passionate about your subject to start a blog in the first place. I tried blogging for a while about ten years ago, and after a few months I started feeling like I was talking to myself. I got discouraged and gave up. So I congratulate anyone who stays with it for years. I dont know how you do it, but Im glad that you do."

John: "Ive not been reading Kirks blog for that long, but I do recall this is the second time since I started that he said he would stop blogging. Ill expect him back soon, expect and hope, because he and you are my only daily blog reads."

Bruce: "I, too, lament Kirk's 'slowing down'...my top three 'favourites' on my feed are TOP, Kirk Tuck, and LuLa...(loved, then left, revisited, and it's sort of growing back). Beautiful writing from you both; I can't begin to admire the output of both of you bothand, yes, I make a very small contribution through Patreon to you, Mike. Kirk's contribution to the business of photography reinforced what a huge job it is to make a living in this fickle world. Without any obvious monetisation from his site. Who could have predicted this conversation even fifteen years ago, let alone thirty (only 1989!!) The speed of change is only mirrored by the slowdown of us 'oldies' (I'm 70, and still active in a fairly diverse area of corporate photography) trying to keep up with the world. Fortunately, I'm still relatively fit, but can't hold a candle to Kirk and his swimming! But I still get gigs as a wedding photographer, 'cos I can interact with people and make them laugh.... What else do you need???"

Paul: "Im a regular VSL reader and will miss his posts. I dont know how hes managed running a photography business, family commitments, taking photos for fun, swimming and blogging. Just writing this makes me feel tired. I wish him all the best at what ever he chooses to do."
By Ivan Ssenabulya.

Makindye West Member of Parliament Allan Ssewanyana has this afternoon been released on police bond.

The legislator was being detained at Nagalama police station in Mukono district since Monday, after his arrest during a demonstrating at Kirudu hospital.

He has ben charged with inciting violence and ordered to report back at police on Friday 22.

The MPs lawyer Abdallah Kiwanuka has told KFM that to secure his release, they had to engage Katwe Police Station.

Allan Ssewanyana together with residents were protesting the sewerage flowing from the hospital to their houses.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, AppliChem Inc., Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument, Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Cetram Pty Limited, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Densit Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. 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Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments LLC, ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. 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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.
Zoe Herrington, owner of Noble House Jewelers on St. Simons Island, and coming soon to downtown Brunswick, believes in investing in two kinds of jewels  those of the precious stone variety and those people who are treasured, esteemed or indispensable, but may fly under the radar.
OLYMPIA  Tattooed eyeballs are apparently rare in Washington state. A House committee was asked Wednesday to keep it that way, with a bill that would ban tattoo artists from doing anything to the whites of your eyes.

They are known as scleral tattoos because they scratch or dye the sclera or white part of the eye. Just the description of them made some members of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee shudder.

Everybodys creeped out by this, Chairwoman Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle, told the bills sponsor, Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim.

Its odd, but its not a joke, Tharinger said. There is serious damage that can happen to peoples eyes.

His bill would put an outright ban on the practice and provide a civil penalty of as much as $10,000 for those who give someone a scleral tattoo.

Aaron Lee, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Washington and a member of the state Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, outlined some possible damage. The needle used for the tattoo could puncture the cornea, damage or detach the retina or introduce an infection that could only be treated by removing the eye.
Longview high school students will deliver donation bags Saturday to city households in preparation for the annual Civil War Food Drive. The drive runs March 4-9.

They deliver bags two weeks ahead to get (the drive) into peoples minds, said Travis Ruhter, Mark Morris leadership adviser.

The local tradition takes the energy of the Mark Morris-R.A Long rivalry and uses it to provide hunger relief across the county, Ruhter said. Students at Mark Morris and R.A. Long face off to to see which student body can raise the most food. The goal this year is to collect 20,000 pounds of food and $5,000 for the Lower Columbia Community Action Program (CAP), a local assistance program.

The food drive is just for the common cause of getting as much food as we can to donate, said Julia Wright, student advertising chair at Mark Morris.

Donations are collected at every Longview school and in bins at Fred Meyer and Grocery Outlet, Wright said. The students also do a walk-and-knock at the end of the drive to pick up the donation bags they distribute before the event.
In a historic announcement Wednesday, Lower Columbia College said it will add a bachelors degree to its offerings next fall with the introduction of a four-year teaching program.

The degree will help meet the demand for teachers in the region by preparing candidates for teaching positions in preschool through eighth grade, according to a college news release.

People will be able to stay local to fill the in-demand jobs in elementary education and early childhood education, said Wendy Hall, LCC spokeswoman. We are very excited to offer our first applied bachelors degree, and we think this is the perfect place to start.

The college will accept up to 30 candidates in the first year of the program, which starts with the fall 2019 semester, according to the website.

The program pairs the colleges associates degree with upper division courses in teacher education, the release says. It offers certified and non-certified pathways.

Certified students will be able to teach in Washington public schools, while non-certified candidates can teach in early childhood education and in non-public school settings, like Head Start preschool, the release says.
The family had moved from Syria to Canada two years previously writes Anadolu Agency.

Seven children of a Syrian family were killed in a house fire in Canadas province of Nova Scotia, police said Tuesday.

Halifax Police said seven children  including a three-month-old baby  were killed in the early-morning fire.

The childrens parents were injured while attempting to rescue them.

The family moved to Canada around two years ago.

Our entire municipality is heartbroken and our thoughts are with the loved ones of the family, the citys mayor said in a statement following the incident.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Syrian Kurdish political leader Ilham Ahmed has urged the UN and Western states to provide an international observer force and air support for Kurdish forces fearing a Turkish assault writes Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

A prominent Syrian Kurdish leader has called on the international community to assemble an observer force to protect Kurds from what she claimed was a threat from Turkey.

Ilham Ahmeds pleas follow President Donald Trumps sudden announcement in December that the US will withdraw its forces from Syria.

We would like to see an international power on the border as observers to ensure that Turkey does not attack, Ahmed told The Guardian.

We saw this in Afrin last year as they tried to erase our culture and remove people from their homes, she claimed, pointing to Turkeys Olive Branch offensive in 2018.

Human rights groups accused Turkey of failing to protect civilians during the operation, and for allowing allied rebel groups to commit human rights violations. Turkey denies the accusations and says it has intervened in Syria to protect itself from jihadis and Kurdish factions it designates as terror groups.

Huge massacres have been committed by the Turks. A further attack will only bring more war, displacement, occupation and an attempt to destroy our culture.

The Western-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which Ahmed is the leader of the political wing, fear a full-scale Turkish assault in the wake of a US withdrawal.

Turkey considers the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), which command the bulk of the SDF, as one and the same as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist militia which has been engaged in an on and off insurgency in Turkey for more than 30 years. Turkey, the US and other states consider the PKK a terrorist organisation.

On Monday, the YPGs leader urged US troops to stay in Syria.

Ahmed, who is currently touring Washington, Paris and London to convince Western powers not to leave Kurdish forces and civilians exposed to a Turkish attack, asked for the UN and states involved in the war against the Islamic State group to assemble an international observer force on the Turkish border.

She also requested these states provide aerial defences for Kurdish forces.

If there is an attack, we will regard those that remain silent in the face of those threats as guilty of crimes against humanity, warned Ahmed.

She rejected Turkeys plans to establish a safe zone in northern Syria, saying any such zone would constitute an occupation.

Ahmed also called on the international community to provide support for the Kurdish prosecution of an estimated 800 to 900 Islamic State fighters in detention, warning that if the UN and Western states failed to prevent a Turkish assault, the fighters could escape.

If the Turks attack then it is true we will be fighting for our own existence and it is possible we may not be able to keep them under control and they may return to Europe, she said.

It would be better if they are tried in their own countries, Ahmed added. Germany and France on Monday refused US calls to immediately repatriate suspected IS fighters.

The regime has shown no signs of interest in a meaningful dialogue with us about Syrias future, Ahmed said, denying reports that Kurdish forces had sought to ally themselves with the Assad regime in order to protect themselves from a Turkish offensive.

On Monday, the US stated that it would categorically refuse to assist Kurdish forces if they allied with Assad.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
There are believed to be as many as 7,000 women held inside regime prisons, with torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence common report Alsouria Net.

An international conference was held on Wednesday to raise awareness of the suffering of women and young girls imprisoned by the Syrian regime.

The Conscience Movement held the conference with participants from 45 countries, including Syria, Britain, South Africa, Ecuador, Qatar, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Brazil.

Among the participants are Baroness Pola Uddin, a member of the British House of Lords, Zwelivelile Mandlesizwe Dalibhunga Mandela, chief of the Mvezo Clan Traditional Council in South Africa and grandson of Nelson Mandela, and Ana Belen Marin Aguirre an MP from Ecuador.

The conference aims to draw international attention to the situation of the Syrian women in prisons during the Syrian civil war and the torture and extreme violent sexual crimes they are subjected to.

The movement issued a statement indicating that more than 13,500 Syrian women have been detained since the war started in March 2011. Of those, 7,000 are still imprisoned and often suffer from torture, rape, or sexual violence.

The international initiative was founded last March, after an all-women international convoy gained international success by raising awareness of women imprisoned by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
There is no agreement (between the major powers with forces in Syria) about what to do with the Syrian Kurds and their SDF militia, which was largely responsible for destroying ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Syria, including capturing their capital city Raqqa. There is a conundrum about how to handle the Kurds/SDF. It goes like this;

The Syrian Kurds want an autonomous Kurdish region in the northeast, similar to what the Iraqi Kurds have had (for 25 years) next door in Iraq. The Assads are inclined to allow that (as the Assads have been able to work with the SDF for years even though the SDF are technically Syrian rebels). The Turks and Iranians oppose the Kurdish autonomous region while the Russians and Americans support it.

The Turks want to control a security zone on the Syrian side of the border and use this territory to resettle (perhaps by force, as most do not want to return) the Syrian refugees in Turkey. This zone will extend 30 kilometers from the Turkish border. Everyone opposes this but the Turks are insistent. The Americans are trying to get the Turks to guarantee Kurdish security but the Turks refuse and also keep talking about fighting the SDF to eliminate them as a threat. The Turks are also known to support some Islamic terror groups although they officially deny it. The Americans want to make a best effort to negotiate a compromise with the Turks but that is not going well. Such a compromise is essential if the Turks are to remain in NATO because a growing number of NATO members see the Turks as hostile and unreliable and not really worth keeping in NATO. The Turkish population is divided by this issue as well and most Turks are uneasy about their own government, which identifies itself as Islamic and democratic but over the last decade has become more irrational, corrupt, authoritarian and paranoid. The Turks had long (since the 1930s) been seen as a secular and stabilizing force in the Middle East. But once the Soviet Union (a major threat to the Turks) collapsed in 1991 Turkish attitudes towards the West and the Middle East began to change. Since 2000 the ruling party has been one that identifies as Islamic and not interested in becoming more Western.

The trouble is, most of the Middle Eastern nations dont trust the new Turkey either because up until 1918 most were or had been conquered provinces of the Turkish Empire. The Turks preferred to be feared rather than loved or just respected and obeyed by their subjects and reacted harshly to any disorder or disobedience. Most of Turkeys neighbors believe the Turks have not changed. Only the West was willing to accept the new Turkey but the current Turkish government has turned its back on the West. In short, most everyone sees the Turks as trouble rather than a potential solution to anything.

The Iranians want the Assads to accept Iranian domination (as Hezbollah does in Lebanon) and agrees with Turkey the Syrian Kurds should not get autonomy and should except rule by the Iran backed Syrian government as well as Turkish control of border areas. Iran has a major problem in that no one wants them in Syria much less acting as an occupying military force in Syria dedicated to starting a war with Israel.

The Russians would prefer that the Turks and Iranians got out of Syria and that the Assads and Kurds worked out a compromise (which the two seem willing to do). The Americans, Israelis and most other Middle Eastern nations agree with this approach.

Israel wants Iran out of Syria and would prefer that the Kurds got their autonomy. Israel is willing to make a peace deal with Syria and Turkey. Israel has successfully attacked Iranian efforts to build a military infrastructure (bases, arms factories, forces on the Israeli border) in Syria and this has made the Iranian leadership angrier and very frustrated. Iran is seen as even more unstable and unpredictable than Turkey.

The Americans (and most NATO members) want Turkey to act more like a NATO member and less like a Turkey trying to reestablish its imperial influence in the Middle East and Islamic world. The Turks are seen as unreliable and dangerous by just about everyone. For somewhat different reasons the Iranians are viewed the same way. The Americans are also threatened with attack and destruction by the Iranians but the Turks still like to at least pretend they are a NATO member in good standing and would like the Americans to appreciate what the Turks are trying to do. The West has been unable to understand, appreciate or support whatever it is the Turks are trying to do. The Americans are trying to negotiate some sort of compromise with the Turks but this is not going well and the Turks seem less concerned about being expelled from NATO and regarded as a hostile force than to the Americans and other NATO members.

The ISIL Last Strand

In the east (Deir Ezzor province) the last visible remnant of ISIL is surrounded by the Kurdish led SDF rebels in the town of Baghuz near the Iraq border. There several hundred ISIL gunmen fortified buildings during the first week of February. Many of these ISIL men had wives and children with them and there was some disagreement if the families would remain for the fight to the death. Some wives refused to stay and SDF troops saw some of them trying to escape with children and being fired on by ISIL gunmen. Apparently, ISIL considers such defectors as likely to let the enemy know details of ISIL defenses. These defenses contain roadside bombs, landmines and explosive traps in some buildings. There are also some tunnels dug under streets for shelter or to moves from one fortified building to another. Sometimes, but not always, escaped family members do talk, but usually, do not. The most recent group of civilians to leave the ISIL fortified zone was apparently the last and did so without being fired on. Most of the ISIL fighters inside that zone would prefer not to die fighting in a last stand. The surrounded ISIL forces are trying to negotiate a withdrawal to Idlib province in the northwest, where a much larger number al Qaeda Islamic terrorists are surrounded. The al Qaeda forces in Idlib want nothing to do with any ISIL members. Nor does anyone else anywhere. For these trapped ISIL fighters the choice is unconditional surrender (and long prison sentences or even execution) or death in battle.

There are still smaller groups of ISIL men hiding out in Sunni Arab portions of eastern Syria and across the border in Iraq. The SDF clashes with ISIL fighters several times a week and some main roads in the province go through villages believed to harbor ISIL members who are remaining quiet for the moment.

The Other Islamic Terrorists

In the northwest (Idlib province) the largest number of surviving Islamic terrorists are trapped. Technically all Islamic terrorists in Idlib belong to the HTS (Hayat Tahrir al Sham), which al Qaeda supports but does not entirely trust. HTS is a coalition of coalitions and many of the factions do not trust each other. The major fear is that another faction, or even HTS leadership, is making a deal with Turkey which, so the story goes, wants to control HTS as a sort of Sunni Hezbollah and use it to drive Shia Iran and its Lebanese Hezbollah out of Syria. Many HTS leaders do have a history of working with the Turkish government.

Other conspiracy theories have some HTS factions seeking to make a deal with the Assad government which, while largely composed of Shia and other non-Sunni (like Druze and Christians) factions has a long history of working with and even supporting Sunni Islamic terrorists. The one thing everyone here can agree on is the destruction of Israel. The current Turkish government is not as outspoken about this as other Israeli foes, but the Turks are on record as wanting Israel gone. While everyone is trying to make a deal the Islamic terrorists controlled parts of Idlib are at the mercy of the Turks who control the roads used for foreign aid deliveries. HTS controls over a million civilians, most of them supporters. The Turks do not want a lot of these civilians trying to get into Turkey as refugees.

Russia and Iran oppose Turkish plans for Idlib and Kurdish held areas to the east (all the way to the Iraq border). The Turks want permanent control over the Syrian side of the border to improve their own border security and, more importantly, cripple Syrian Kurdish efforts to establish an autonomous Kurdish region in the northeast. This puts the Turks at odds with Syrians in general and especially the Iran backed Assad dictatorship in Syria. Now into its second generation, the Assad clan feels it has won a major victory that will not be complete until all foreigners (Turks in the north, Americans in the east and Israelis in the Golan Heights) are out of Syria. None of those foreigners want to cooperate because they feel the Turks, at least the current Islamic government, cannot be trusted. Arabs, in general, do not trust the Turks, who ruled most of the Arab Middle East for centuries (until 1918) and are still resented and feared because of that.

Currently, about 70 percent of Idlib province is controlled by the HTS coalition. This takeover was completed by early 2019 despite Turkey, Russia and Iran-backed Syria having a plan to prevent it. That plan was never implemented because no one wanted a major battle in Idlib, except possibly Iran. Any attack on Idlib would be very costly without Russian airpower and unthinkable if Turkey opposed it (because of the risk of many Idlib civilians trying to flee into Turkey.) The Russian and Turkish leaders have met several times since mid-2018 to try and work out a new agreement about Idlib, one that can be carried out. So far the Turks refuse to back an attack. Iran and Russia could do it but it would be costly in terms of personnel and equipment losses. The Islamic terrorists in Idlib are known to have a lot of modern weapons, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. The Assads point out that the Iranian mercenaries would have to provide most of the ground forces for the attack because the Syrian Army has serious morale problems because so many of the troops have been in uniform since 2011 and not enthusiastic about seeing any more heavy combat. A major part of the Iranian mercenary force in Syria consists of Lebanese Hezbollah militiamen. These forces have suffered heavy casualties since 2012 and most are not being sent back to Syria because Hezbollah leaders report that the fighting in Syria was unpopular with many Lebanese, including Hezbollah supporters. It has gotten to the point where Iran had to back off on its demands for Hezbollah troops in Syria. At the same time over 20,000 Hezbollah militiamen got combat experience in Syria, where they usually fought organized as regular army units (company and battalion size units). Israel has noted this and identified which Hezbollah combat units are now considered combat experienced and which are still rated as militia. The Israelis are adapting their tactics and training accordingly.

The American Presence That Cannot Be Ignored

During 2018 American airstrikes in Syria and Iraq declined by 78 percent from 2017 (the peak year with 39,577 smart bombs and missiles used.) The previous two years (2015-16) were nearly as intense with about 30,000 bombs and missiles used each year. In 2018 the number of manned fighter-bomber sorties only declined 20 percent and there were simply far fewer targets to hit. The aerial surveillance sorties declined by half in 2018 simply because there was a lot less ISIL activity on the ground in both Iraq and Syria. That and the fact that the surviving ISIL members had learned to either hide well or die. Not having ISIL controlled territory helped as well.

Despite the decline in activity in 2018, there were still twice as many American armed aircraft sorties in Syria/Iraq than in Afghanistan. In Syria/Iraq only ten percent of those sorties involved using a weapon. In Syria/Iraq the peak years of 2016-17 saw half of the armed aircraft sorties resulting in a weapon being used. In 2018 it was only about nine percent of sorties resulted in a bomb or missile used.

Afghanistan was always much less intense and the difference in weapons used was even greater (nine times as many) in 2017. The fighting in Syria/Iraq is far more intense and destructive with more than twice as many deaths in 2018 and even greater disparity (up to five times as many deaths) in Syria/Iraq in previous years. Afghanistan has always been a more low-level war as it is more about drug gangs using the Taliban to terrorize opposition (to drug-related activities) as well as the tribal warfare and rural banditry which has long been a feature of Afghan life even during peacetime. In other words operations on the ground are quite different in Afghanistan compared to Syria/Iraq. The one constant is the effectiveness of American aerial surveillance and airstrikes.

Corruption

For Syrians, a major casualty of the civil war has been any progress in reducing corruption. One of the major problems for Syrian economic growth before 2011 was dealing with persistent corruption. In 2018 there was no perceptible progress, despite the increasing poverty caused by years of civil war and general mismanagement (by local and national leaders). The Middle East has long been known as one of the most corrupt regions in the world and that explains why there are so much unrest and lack of social, economic and political progress. It also explains why some nations succeed and many do not. Israel and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) have done a better job of dealing with it than most.

According to international surveys of corruption, Syria ranks 178th out of 180 countries (same in 2017). Progress, or lack thereof, can be seen in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index where countries are measured on a 1 (most corrupt) to 100 (not corrupt) scale. The most corrupt nations (usually North Korea/14, Yemen/14, Syria/13, South Sudan/13 and Somalia/10) have a rating of under 15 while of the least corrupt (New Zealand and Denmark) are over 85.

The current Syrian score is 13 (14 in 2017) compared to 62 (64) for Israel, 35 (32) for Egypt, 18 (18) for Iraq, 41 (40) for Turkey, 49 (49) for Saudi Arabia, 28 (28) for Lebanon, 49 (48) for Jordan, 33 (32) for Pakistan, 26 (28) for Bangladesh, 41 (40) for India, 16 (15) for Afghanistan, 28 (29) for Russia, 39 (41) for China, 17 (17) for Libya, 70 (71) for the UAE (United Arab Emirates), 72 (75) for the United States, 72 (73) for Japan, and 49 (49) for Saudi Arabia.

A lower corruption score is common with nations in economic trouble and problems dealing with Islamic terrorism and crime in general. Syrias corruption score has changed for the worse since 2012 when it was 26. A lower corruption score is common with nations in economic trouble. African nations are the most corrupt, followed by Middle Eastern ones. Fixing an existing culture of corruption has proved a most difficult challenge.

Worldwide Islamic Terrorism

Worldwide, Islamic terrorism-related deaths have fallen by over 50 percent since 2014, when there were 35,000. Global deaths hit 19,000 in 2017 and under 14,000 for 2018. Since 2014 five nations (Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan) have accounted for most of these deaths. In 2016-17, however, al Shabaab in Somalia accounted for more of the deaths in Africa than Boko Haram. In Syria, most of the 2018 deaths were still civilians because the Assad tactic of going after pro-rebel civilians in an effort to persuade these Sunni Arab Syrians to leave the country.

The largest source of Islamic terror deaths during that period was ISIL, a more radical faction of al Qaeda that currently is where the most radical practitioners of Islamic terrorism are found. Islamic terrorists continue to be, as it has been since the 1990s, the main source of terrorism-related deaths, accounting for about 90 percent of the fatalities. The remainder of the terrorist-related deaths are ethnic (often tribal) conflicts in Africa and Asia. Purely political terrorism accounts for a fraction of one percent of all terrorist-related deaths and is outnumbered by terrorism deaths inflicted by common (often organized) criminals.

February 20, 2019: In the east, the American troops continues to occupy positions in Syria at the Tanf border crossing to Iraq. This key crossing is near the Jordan border. With the American forces present there is a 55 kilometers deconfliction zone maintained by American forces that unwelcome military forces (Russian, Syrian and Iranian) are banned from. The unwelcome are unhappy about this and have expressed their feelings by not allowing supplies to reach the American run refugee camp within the zone. Most of the 50,000 Syrian refugees are women and children and the U.S. has to bring in all the supplied from Iraq.

February 19, 2019: France and Britain, the only other NATO nations with some troops in Syria supporting the Kurds, confirmed that they will not remain in Syria when the Americans leave but will pull their troops out as well. The Americans had asked Britain and France to keep their support forces in Syria given that Syria is more of a European than American problem.

February 14, 2019: Leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met and agreed that there would be no military offensive against the thousands of Islamic terrorists trapped in Idlib province but that other, unspecified, measures would be taken to increase the pressure on the trapped Islamic terrorists to surrender. There were also no details on the issue of recent fighting between pro-Russian Syrian Assad troops and Iranian mercenaries. Russia and Iran are competing for the position of the main foreign supporter of the Assad government. The Assads would prefer the Russians, who are not as ideologically fanatic, economically weak and diplomatically isolated as Iran. Russia has to be careful here because the Iranian ground forces (over 20,000 Shia mercenaries) are the largest infantry force in Syria. Russia does not want a war with Iran but they do not want Iranian forces to remain in Syria because Iranian plans for Syria will not end well for anyone.

February 11, 2019: In the north (Golan Heights), Israeli tank fire destroyed what turned out to be an Iranian observation post near the Israeli border. Two Iranians died in that attack. Apparently as a result of this attack and several recent airstrikes on Iranian bases in Syria Iran has pulled back its forces from the Israeli border. These forces are being moved to bases closer to the Iraq border, making it easier to move them into Iraq if necessary. If Iran sets up missile launchers in Iraq aimed at Israel the Israelis would bomb them and the Iraqis now it do not want to get involved in that sort of thing. Syrian army forces could be seen coming in to replace the departed Iranian troops.

Russia once more proclaimed that Israeli airstrikes in Syria were illegal. At the same time, Russian officials agree that Israel has the right to defend themselves. Russia also refuses to open fire on Israeli aircraft or missiles. The Russians want to avoid a demonstration of Israeli countermeasures that work. This would reduce confidence in Russian weapons, which are an important export item for Russia.

February 6, 2019: In northwest Syria (Latakia province), Israel identified a new assembly plant for GPS guided rockers outside the port of Latakia and near the Hmeimim (or Khmeimim) Russian airbase in Syria. This is apparently a rebuilt version of a similar facility destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2018. The new one technically belongs to Syria and many of the components are dual-use items imported by Syrian companies.

February 4, 2019: Ukraine and Israel have become allies of sorts and Israel has been purchasing Ukrainian EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment that has been successfully used against the Russians by Ukrainian forces. A recent example of this is the Ukrainian Kolchuga passive sensor system. This system is built to passively (just by listening) detect a wide variety of Russian military equipment, including nearly all their air-defense systems that use active sensors (radars and control signals). Israel purchased a Ukrainian Kolchuga M system in 2018 and it was operational late that year. This made it easier to locate and monitor all Russian air defense systems in Syria, especially the mobile ones. That was a key element in the ability of the Israelis to destroy Syrian air defense systems which were used against Israeli attacks even after Israel warned Syria not to do so.
The condition sheet is out, and everybody who cares about racing at the Meadowlands Racetrack  be it management, employees, horsepeople or bettors  has an awful lot to be excited about.

Beginning Friday, March 1, purses at the Big M  thanks to the recent purse subsidy legislation signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy  will get a $40,000 per-card boost. Purses will get another $40,000 jolt on March 29. After a Saturday (Feb. 16) night program that saw a 2019-best $3,166,920 in all-source wagering, there is reason for great optimism at the East Rutherford, New Jersey mile oval.

In recent years, the Big M has experienced a lull in interest from horsepeople once the Pennsylvania tracks opened in March, but the playing field has now been levelled with a swipe of Gov. Murphys pen.

As far as competing with area tracks for horses, said Meadowlands Racetrack Director of Racing Pete Koch, it certainly puts us back in the ballgame. We paid attention to the non-winners of two, three and four classes, and weve written some races for higher-priced claimers.

On February 9, Castle Flight was claimed by Dylan Davis for $50,000, and he came back one week later to finish second to K Ryan Bluechip in the $21,000 Preferred Handicap for pacers, a race that five weeks from now will offer a $30,000 purse.

With the drop off in purses in recent years, said Koch, the higher-priced claimers have evaporated. With additional funds, we are hoping to bring them back. The $50,000 claim on Castle Flight was probably our highest in six or seven years.

Carding more straight claimers, said trainer Bob Lounsbury, its very interesting to me and a lot of my owners. A lot of my owners just want claiming horses. If we get beat, fine. But then we want the chance to take the winner. Combining claimers with conditioned horses is tough because the conditioned horses have an advantage.

I have some guys right now who want to claim a $30,000 or $40,000 horse (a class that is offered on next weeks condition sheet). As a matter of fact, I had a couple of owners claim some horses last week. Both said the same thing: If there are going to be bigger purses, then we have to claim something. It might take a couple of weeks to get going, but it should work, and me and my people are going to support the Meadowlands.

It will take not only support from horsepeople but fan participation as well to make this thing work. With the increased purses, we are encouraging horsemen to race with us, said track COO/GM Jason Settlemoir, because for the supplement to continue into the future, we need to show some handle gains to fulfill some of the parameters of the subsidy. As last weekend proved, bigger fields mean bigger handle, and we have a positive outlook moving forward.

Not surprisingly, last Saturdays 50-Cent Pick-5 and 50-Cent Pick-4 saw their biggest pools of the year. The Pick-5 saw $79,108 in play while the Pick-4 took $115,218 in action. The month of February has seen a betting bonanza at the industrys handle leader, as all-source total wagering has averaged $2.92 million per program.

Other single-pool highlights from Saturdays card:

 $80,873 Exacta (Race 5)

 $60,966 Trifecta (Race 7)

 $52,199 Win (Race 7)

 $46,974 Superfecta (Race 3)

Fans of the 20-Cent Jackpot Super High-Five have a $50,930 carryover to shoot for in Race 5 on Fridays card, when racing resumes at 7:15 p.m. Free program pages for the Pick-4 are available at playmeadowlands.com and ustrotting.com.

LINEUP CHANGES: Look for some new faces on the small screen as some usual members of the Meadowlands TV team  Dave Brower, Dave Little and Bob Hollywood Heyden  will be in Florida at the Dan Patch Awards dinner.

On Friday (Feb. 22), Harrahs Philadelphia track announcer and one-half of the podcast team of Post Time with Mike and Mike, Mike Bozich, will serve as co-host of the live Racing from the Meadowlands simulcast show. Rich Mattei, the assistant racing secretary at Freehold Raceway, will bring his big-time handicapping skills to TVGs live coast-to-coast presentation of the Meadowlands races.

Saturday (Feb. 23) will find Bozich in the announcers booth calling the races as Ken Warkentin will serve as host of the show. Occasional fill-in Pete Kleinhans will take another turn as co-host, while the newest member of the Big Ms TV team, Jessica Otten, will make her TVG debut.

(With files from the Meadowlands Racetrack)
Umeko Motoyoshi is having a moment.

As VP of Technology at Sudden Coffee, 2018 Sprudgie Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement In The Field of Excellence, and creator of the Rainbow Cupping Spoon Project, you'd be hard pressed to name a more influential and socially active coffee professional in the world today. And now comes CHANGING STRUCTURES, a new event they've created in collaboration with the #CoffeeToo project.

Sprudge co-founder Zachary Carlsen caught up with Motoyoshi to learn more about how they got here, and where they're headed next. From the early genesis of the Rainbow Cupping SpoonI wanted to disarm something that scared meto global inspirations and new projects, Motoyoshi's work represents nothing less than a shift in coffee's traditional power structure. Hundreds of rainbow spoons are now making their way around the planet, in case you had any doubt, and that's just the start.

For this wide-ranging and candid interview, Carlsen spoke with Motoyoshi digitally from San Francisco.

In the 2018 Sprudgie Awards, you were a finalist in the social media category for @umeshiso_, an honoree for your Rainbow Cupping Spoons, and the winner in the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. First I just want to say congratulations, Umeko.

Thank you! I appreciate that so much, and I appreciate Sprudge for creating these awards, and the community for engaging in such a thoughtful and passionate way.

Youre the VP of Technology at Sudden Coffee and also freelance. Tell us how you got there!

As we know, cafe equipment only breaks at the worst possible times. I used to manage cafes, and it felt hard to be at the mercy of a technicians schedule when steam was shooting out of the espresso machine. I tried apprenticing with an espresso tech, but he kept pressuring me to sleep with him. So I paid out of pocket to take La Marzoccos technician training course. It was really life-changing for me. I had always loved La Marzocco machines, and learning how to repair them just made me fall deeper in love.

La Marzocco also connected me with Daymond Jordan, who refurbished and modded their machines in Seattle. It felt like a really big deal to have folks from La Marzocco support me in that wayat that time I had never even met a woman espresso tech. I was extremely lucky to apprentice with Daymond, because he truly was a master at his craft. His creativity and passion deeply influenced me, and I carried a mechanical interest throughout every subsequent job in coffee.

So when I ended up at Sudden seven years later, it was a dream job. I jumped in right away with sourcing and designing industrial coffee brewing equipment. Suddens founders, Josh and Kalle, were extremely invested in my professional development, and they also gave me a lot of autonomy. They handed me this wild mechanical project, and said, No ones ever done this before, but you can figure it out. So I did, and I kept doing more projects, and eventually I ended up with a VP title.

A few months ago, I started taking on freelance workmostly writing and mechanical projects. The writing is focused on creating HR policies, manuals, blog posts, and handbooks for coffee companies, and Im also writing a book this year.

Im also interested in working with specialty coffee companies who are getting into the RTD space. It can be challenging to find scaled brewing solutions that deliver consistent high quality and shelf stability. And operationally there can be so many challenges, too. But I really believe in RTDs as an important way to make specialty coffee accessible to a new audience. So its exciting to me that my work over the past few years puts me into that space in terms of experience.

Over the past month, Ive been transitioning into full-time freelance work. Id like to focus on writing, community organizing, building cool coffee science projects, and growing my webshop, Umeshiso. Im expanding the wholesale part of my business and introducing some fun options like custom engraving.

It is definitely weird to realize that, in a few more weeks, I wont be at Sudden anymore. I was the first employee, and I cant begin to express how much it means to me. I know its normal to transition, and I am proud of myself for starting my own businesses and being responsive to my own development as a human. But I will miss the team a lot! So its a tender time for me right now, with a lot of growth and looking forward, while I honor everything that has brought me to this place.

Your father led tea ceremonies. Where and when? Tell us more about this, and how that influenced your life/career.

My dads name was Paul Motoyoshi. He was one of the funniest people Ive ever met, and one of the smartest, and kindest, and most eccentric. He was born in a US concentration camp during World War II, and after the war there was intense pressure on Japanese Americans to assimilate. But no one on the Japanese side of my family gave two fucks about what they were supposed to do. This landed some of them in prison a few times, for protesting different oppressive structures throughout history.

So my dad, coming from Motoyoshi blood, didnt give a fuck about the pressure to assimilate. Im very proud of my dads accomplishmentshe was incredibly hard-working and studious during his childhood, was an Eagle Scout and a valedictorian, and got a free ride scholarship to Harvard. And Im very proud that he did all this while actively engaging in learning about Japanese culture, writing poetry in Japanese, learning Japanese arts and Japanese cooking. He became a Japanese tea ceremony master in his thirties and taught tea throughout his life.

Tea ceremony, and specifically the way that my dad taught it, impacted me tremendously. I learned from him that ritual is sacred and it also is warm, and kind, and should be offered with humility. I learned that something as simple as preparing a hot drink for someone can hold more feeling and meaning than words can express. When there are no words, there is ritual.

So it was kind of destined that I would get into specialty coffee and that Id pursue it passionately. But I was also heavily influenced by the humor that my dad brought to his teaching. He liked to start his classes all dressed in his beautiful Japanese tea robe, and hed get up and very sternly tell his students that tea ceremony was incredibly difficult. Its very hard, so listen very closely, hed say. You boil water and then you make tea. Everyone would burst out laughing, and from there the classes would be very interactive and funny. He was such a great teacher because he made people laugh.

I think its so important for us to make specialty coffee welcoming in this way, human and funny and kind and unexpected. Its no accident that I am my fathers child, and I ended up making specialty instant coffee for a living!

I wanted to talk about your Honoree designation in the Sprudgies Best New Product category. Tell us about your glorious rainbow cupping spoons!

Aw man. So, I have cupping trauma. The cupping table can be a huge opportunity for everyones insecurities to come out. And some peoples insecurities come out as them being really insistent on their rightness, punishing coffees super severely just to show off, and engaging in a wide range of other macho maneuvers. When I first started attending cuppings, it was usually all white dudes and then me with my little pink pixie cut and bright outfits, and the way they talked about the coffees scared the crap out of me.

Its so weirdly traumatizing to be told that someones ultra-specific and arcane tasting notes are empirical fact. Like, that his mouth is basically the same as a liquid chromatography chamber. Throughout my early twenties, I just kept trying to figure this out, because it made no sense to me. Yet I was surrounded by People In Charge who kept insisting that there was only one right way to taste a coffee.

Over time, as I researched and researched and talked with food scientists and chemists, I established for myself, for my own knowing and peace of mind, that flavor is truly subjective. That different people perceive different things in coffee, and scour their own unique bank of sense memories to arrive at a tasting note. That when I said pine, and that white guy with a beard corrected me and said cedarwe both were right, because there is no right.

And then I was mad about it. I was mad that Id spent so many years having my reality questioned on a daily basis. I wanted to scale the Empire State Building and yell through a megaphone: Organoleptic perceptions of coffee are not fucking factual!

Instead of doing that, because it seems slightly unsafe, I decided that I was going to find a rainbow-anodized cupping spoon. I wanted to disarm this thing that had become a source of trauma and anxiety, by bringing my own spoon and my own approach and my own knowing. And my own self.

Last year I had a severe mental breakdown and was diagnosed with Complex PTSD and Bipolar II Disorder. As I recovered, I found a direct supplier of rainbow spoons and established a relationship, and I started mailing spoons out to my friends for free. After I mailed out 75 spoons, I realized I would have to start selling them otherwise Id go broke. And that is how Umeshiso started.

Its amazing to me that my cupping trauma and my mental breakdown gave rise to something that has positively impacted people all over the world. Every time someone tells me that their rainbow spoon makes them feel confident at cuppings, I want to cry.

At UK Cup Tasters last year, each competitor was gifted a rainbow spoon. A little girl in attendance became so fascinated with the spoons that she started mimicking the cuppers, pretending to compete. Mat North gifted her a rainbow spoon of her own. It makes me so happy just to be a part of something like that.

Theres so much love for this cupping spoon. I love how they are popping up all over the world. Where have they gone and where are they going next?

I was really, really excited when I was able to get an order through to someone in Iran. Its so tough to get anything into Iran from the US, so it felt miraculous when the rainbow spoons got through! My customer and I worked together on it, DMing back and forth on Instagram, and it was really exhilarating when the spoons finally made it. It was like, Fuck our governments. We are just two people who respect and care about each other, and like colorful spoons.

I also love sending out orders to countries that grow coffee. Ive sent spoons to Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Yunnan region of China, and a few others. My customers in the UK are awesome, and throughout Europe generally. I ship to every country, so there are rainbow spoons out there all over the world.

Antarctica and Africa are the only continents I have yet to ship to, and I feel like Antarctica may not happen anytime soon. If anyone is going to an African country, DM me so I can send you some spoons to bring! And of course, if anyone knows about some cuppings in Antarctica, let me hook it up with rainbows!

You were also a finalist in the social media category. Your account highlights so many voices in coffee (and the world). Tell us about your current initiative for Black History Month.

Every coffee person is their own person, outside of work, and has their own sphere of influence. So I post a lot of things on my Instagram that may seem, on the surface, unrelated to coffee. Because as we grow together in community, as people, we bring what we learn into our work. And we share our progress with friends who work in other fields, and they bring that to their own spheres. This is how we make our industry, and the world, better.

The US has a massive race problem, and I cant always speak to that solely through the lens of coffee. Sometimes its just like, this is important for all of us as people, and its up to us to transform our learning into practical application in our work.

I deeply admire Rachel Cargle, a writer and lecturer at Columbia University. On her Instagram this month, shes posting daily prompts about significant moments, movements, and figures in American Black history. The intent is for white folks and non-black PoC to research the prompt on their own, which is such a wonderful concept. Black history is American history, but in our schools we mostly just learn about white history, from a white perspective.

I am always googling everythingcuriosity just runs in my familyand I also love to share about what I learn. So as I follow Rachel Cargles prompts, I take screenshots from my research and assemble them into daily Instagram posts. Ive learned so much from this, and am now hoping to do some similar work for Filipino Heritage month and Native American Heritage month. For someone like Rachel Cargle to post these prompts, and for FREE, is an incredible learning opportunity. So I want to use whatever skillset I have to amplify her work.

So many white folks and non-Black PoCI am bothare either uninformed or misinformed about Black history. Its a huge problem! How can I begin to understand todays racial dynamics, when my understanding is built on an ignorance of history? This ignorance is foundational to the continued functioning of racist structures, while the burden of education almost always falls on Black people, the very people who are harmed by these structures.

Rachel Cargles project places the emphasis on white folks and non-Black PoC to take charge of their own learning. She is putting in the daily emotional and intellectual labor to make this happen, and she shouldnt have to. It should be taught in schools. She is incredibly generous for doing this important work, and she deserves all the credit (and all the monetary compensation). If anyone out there is enjoying the posts Ive made about her prompts, I encourage you to donate to her! Rachel has a Patreon and you can also make a one-time donation at her PayPal.

Name a few people in world who you turn to for inspiration, encouragement.

Im super introverted but I also really love community. So I connect with people a lot through Instagram and other online platforms, and Ive ended up in close friendships with people Ive never met before IRL. These relationships bring me so much joy and strength.

I live on opposite coast from my friend Kristina Jackson, who works at Intelligentsia, and were learning Spanish together. I feel so proud of us! The other day my friend Ashley Rodriguez, who lives in Chicago, Venmod me $5 and was like I care about you, go get a coffee! Likejust really tender and special shit. I never really had that before, and it grew from community organizing and shared belief.

In real life, my best friend Hana Yoshimoto is a constant inspiration. She has more emotional intelligence than anyone Ive met. I look up to Jenn Chen and Michelle Johnson so muchthey were the first people I saw starting bold conversations about race and gender in coffee. For the first time, I felt like I could be myself and honestly represent what I care about. And it made me want to model that for other people, the way Jenn and Michelle modeled it for me.

And my mom is just fucking amazing. Every time we talk, I learn something new about her. And Ive known her my entire life. A few years ago, she casually mentioned that she used to work for a coffee business in San Francisco, before specialty coffee was even a thing. The shop was focused on selling roasted coffee, with a coffee service aspect was built into it. My mom talked her customers through the different coffees and their flavor profiles, and shed make them pour-overs so they could taste the coffees before buying. Id worked in coffee for ten years before my mom told me that.

She is one of the smartest and most curious people Ive known, shes completely brilliant. And she is so lowkey about it. She just does her thing and doesnt really care if other people notice or not. She teaches me so much about critical thinking, about questioning, about building your own path. I am incredibly lucky that my mom is my best friend. I look up to her so much, and she constantly encourages and inspires me.

What are some things you wish you had known when you started your professional journey?

I wish I had known these three things:

Youre good enough. In fact, youre extra. Anyone who tells you otherwise is mistaken. No one will give you permission to do what you want to do. Because they wont understand it. So you will have to do it without permission. Informed, supported, and encouraged communities are the most effective means of decentralizing power.

Do you have a favorite book, piece of art, music composition?

I continually turn to Emergent Strategy, by Adrienne Maree Brown. In biology, emergence describes how collective properties arise from smaller individual parts. Emergent Strategy examines, with joy and Rihanna references, radical movements past and present  through an emergent lens.

Heres a poem from the book, that I have saved as the wallpaper on my phone:

i am not afraid

of what i came here to do

im made of stardust

we are not afraid

of what were called now to do

were all made of god

Adriennes work is an affirmation and an inspiration. My understanding of the book shifts each time I read it, and I still do not fully understand any part of it. At the same time, I understand it in my body.

And my favorite movie is Spice World.

You won the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Sprudgie Award in 2018. Tell us what that means for you.

To me, it means that the work Ive been a part of has created positive impact. It means that the connection I feel with my community is real, and the values we share are important. It felt like a huge, overwhelming honorone of my role models, Michelle Johnson, won this award in 2016, and I look up to her so much. When I voted for Michelle in 2016, and again in 2018, I voted because she is a phenomenal human being and I believe in her, and I see her continually create new possibility in our industry. The Sprudgies have become such an amazing vehicle for change, as the community continues to expand what and whom we celebrate, and why.

The 2018 nominee list was like an A-Team of people who 1. I idolize and 2. Hold identities that, in the past, would have meant them getting passed over, not rightfully acknowledged. So I want to recognize Sprudge for creating the only awards in coffee (I think!) that are given by popular vote. Because it allows our community to bolster new faces and new names who perhaps wouldnt have been recognized by The Establishment. So thank you!

Tell us more about Changing Structures and the genesis of this incredible project.

When I stepped off the cafe floor in 2016, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was sick of getting paid low wages for extremely skilled work, I was sick of having to put up with harassment from customers, I was sick of the way that asymmetrical power informed every aspect of my experience as a worker. I loved coffee, and I loved service, and through every job I held in coffee I also worked regular floor shifts (because I loved it). But it had been 10 years and I just couldnt deal with being treated like I was disposable.

It was a great privilege to be able to step off the floor when I couldnt take it anymore. And when I benefit from privilege, I feel its my responsibility to work toward dismantling the structure that allows me that privilege, while denying it to others. There are so many people who work in coffee, who are brilliant, and sensitive, and creative, and who care so deeply about coffee and about the human community. Its a travesty when they are overlooked and excluded from important conversationsconversations that would benefit from their perspectives. So I envisioned CHANGING STRUCTURES, an interactive panel event, as a direct response to that.

Each panelist has come up against a structure in coffee that didnt serve them, and didnt serve their community, and they built an alternative. We want this to be both a how-to and an invitation. We want everyone in our community to know that they are important, and they are needed, that no one is disposable, that everyone has a valuable perspective to bring to the table.

I am so thankful for my co-organizer, Molly Flynn, who founded #coffeetoo. Weve worked together to make CHANGING STRUCTURES an intentionally welcoming space. Events can be overwhelming for a lot of folksI often feel intimidated and out of place at themso we wanted to create the kind of hospitality that many of our guests provide in their cafes.

Someone will be at the door to greet you, thank you for coming, and orient you in the space; to point out the Liberty cocktail bar, the refreshments, where to sit.

Well hand out a zine, laid out by Kat Melheim of Coffee People Zine, for guests to read if theyre feeling more introverted, and to take with them for inspiration on our next steps as a community. Theres a section in the zine for notes, and well even have little pink pencils!

Were also doing a raffle giveaway to benefit #coffeetoo, and we went all out with the prizes. In addition to Umeshiso spoons and other swag, Fellow is contributing an entire matte black EKG and Acaia donated a GOLD Pearl. Which I didnt even know was a thing! We really wanted the giveaway to be amazing for our guests and our sponsors came through in a major way!

Well hear from Radhika Kapur, founder of Third Culture Coffee in Bellevue. Her menu features exquisitely prepared coffee drinks from all over the world, breaking from the US-centric idea that good coffee can only be an espresso, or a light-roasted SO pour-over taken black. The story of her travel and meticulous research is incredible.

We also will hear from Ian Williams, who founded Deadstock Coffee in Portland. A former shoe designer for Nike, Ian combined his love of sneakerhead culture with a passion for specialty coffee. This pairing, combined with a diverse team of baristas, creates a space that feels like home for a wide demographic of guests, especially Black folks and other people of color, who did not previously feel welcomed in many cafes.

Laura Perry, founder of LUNA Coffee in Vancouver, BC, will share about her path as she shifts conversations about the cost of green coffee. As a green buyer, she continually identifies and creates alternatives to exploitative colonial structures, and has built a completely unique coffee sourcing protocol for her business.

CHANGING STRUCTURES is an invitation to anyone and everyone whose voice hasnt been heard yet. We want our guests to leave feeling empowered and a part of something, and with tools and stories and examples. And this isnt just a kumbaya thingour industry is facing urgent existential crises and we need all hands on deck. There are so many people entering coffee today who are passionate and brilliant and driven, and as an industry we cant afford to keep excluding them from important conversations. Fuck that.

Were saying, Lets be a part of this together. Here are our stories and our ideas. We want to hear yours.

You do such a wonderful service shining a light on people and projects in the world. Who is making coffee more wonderful right now?

Thank you! Im just trying to grow my platform so that more people can stand on it. To be honest, I dont know how to start answering this question because there are SO MANY PEOPLE making coffee a better place.

And its easy for me to name people who are thought of as leaders, but leaders are nothing without community. Our community, in this little part of the world, is working so hard and working together, and supporting one another, boosting each others work, earnestly and actively engaged in learning, each unique person bringing their perspective to the table.

I am proudest to be a part of a community, and this community specifically. In a lot of ways, were a hot mess, but we are working so hard to change for the better. Were working so hard to grow. And in other ways, were really leading other industries. Most cafes on the west coast now have gender-neutral bathrooms, as an example. And taking a wide view of the industry as a whole. Specialty coffee is the only industry *founded* on the idea that we should pay MORE for raw materials. Because its just fucking fair.

So I mean this in complete and total sincerity, not as a cop-out, not as a woo-woo moment: when we work together, as a global community, to improve each others lives, we make coffee more wonderful.

Thank you so much for your time!

Thank you!

Changing Structures happens Thursday, February 21st in Seattle. More information here.

Oatly is the presenting sponsor of the 10th Annual Sprudgie Awards.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.
Ahoy there, dean. Its no secret that Stumptown Coffee loves to gleam the cube. Skateboard culture has long been part of the brands aesthetic, and the company even took a few of their pro skater friends to Antigua, Guatemala to shred some Central American gnar for the Sprudgie-nominated short film Flower of Flowers. And now they're taking the next logical step with their love of skateboarding. (No, I don't mean setting up a GS/3 at the lip of an empty pool, though that would totally rip and sip.)

Stumptown has announced the creation of a new Skate Team, featuring notable skate legends Chet Childress, Silas Baxter Neal, Nick Boserio, and Elissa Steamer, a fan favorite and legendary playable character in the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. As a recently certified B Corporation, the Skate Team is one of the many ways Stumptown invests in their employee culture, per a press release from the company.

For the inaugural Lords of Stumptown, next month the brand will release Breaking The Crust, a 20-minute short film to showcase the companys newestand technically speaking the raddestventure, a preview of which can be seen below.

The coffee company is also releasing a limited edition cold brew and whole bean coffee, both made of the Colombia El Jordan sourced through fellow B Corp Caravela Coffee. Now available in-store and online, the bag design for the special release coffee was designed by Childress, and $1 of every bag and can sold goes to one of three skateboarding non-profits chosen by Stumptown employees, two of which are female-led. Non-profits slated to receive donation from the Skate Team are Skate Like A Girl, Exposure Skate, and the Harold Hunter Foundation.

For more information on the Skate Team (or maybe even to buy the limited edition Skate Team box set), visit Stumptown's official website.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Disclosure: Stumptown Coffee is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network.
Number of diabetics with amputated feet has increased

Slovakia lacks centres and experts who could teach people how to care for their wounds.

The number of limbs amputated as a consequence of so-called diabetic foot is increasing in Slovakia. Doctors removed 3,886 limbs in 2016, an increase of 731 compared with the year 2013.

But the current state of medicine could solve the problem in another way.

It is important to catch the problem early and educate and inform patients about the possibilities of treatment, said Tibor Balasz, senior doctor of the endovascular programme at the Bratislava CINRE clinic, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

The endovascular methods of vein reinforcement or vein reconstruction can save a limb before amputation in 92 percent of cases.

Lacking centres

However, centres to treat and monitor open wounds after patients go home from hospitals are missing in Slovakia. The same applies to centres that would deal with the complex vein treatment.

There are about seven or eight such centres in Slovakia, said Balazs, as quoted by TASR, while in the Czech Republic there are seven only and they are in Prague.

The treatment of such wounds is complex, said nurse and president of the Slovak Wound Care Association (SSOOR) Beata Gress Halasz.

Cooperation between internists, surgeons and other doctors is important, she said, as quoted by TASR.

More education about wound treatment

SSOOR would like to see a certified study programme for nurses and also more information for doctors in this field.

Read also: Busting myths: The risk of migrants importing dangerous diseases is low Read more

The distribution of information in communities and from the doctors has failed in Slovakia, according to her and not enough money is invested in education and prevention.

Also experts in nursing who could teach patients with amputated limbs and their relatives about how to take care of their wounds after amputations are missing.

21. Feb 2019 at 23:09 | Compiled by Spectator staff
One year after the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, large protests took place around Slovakia.

One year after the murder of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, thousands of Slovaks took to the streets again to commemorate the murdered journalist and his fiancee, repeating the demands that the protesters have been voicing throughout 2018. Organisers estimate that about 30,000 people participated in todays event in Bratislava, according to the Sme daily, and hundreds of others from other towns across Slovakia and also abroad, joined in.

Read also:

Read also: Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were murdered one year ago (timeline) Read more

The father of Jan Kuciak, Jozef Kuciak, addressed the crowd in Bratislava, with Jan's sister, Maria, by his side. He thanked the protest organisers and the people who supported his family at this difficult time.

He said the saddest thing is that one year into the investigation of the murder, they discovered Jan Kuciak was followed by former SIS members and screened in police databases.

Everyone can make their own judgement about what kind of democracy we live in and whom should actually apologise, Jozef Kuciak said.

Read also: Journalists one year after the murder: We will not forget Read more

Calling for many resignations

The commemoration also included a prayer for the murdered couple, who were Catholics. The priest said that the murder of Jan and Martina was for Slovakia what the fall of the Twin Towers was for the US.

Our demands are still on, one of the protest organisers, Juraj Seliga, said. They are still calling for an independent investigation of the murder and refuse political interference with the investigation. They call for a trustworthy government and a prime minister who does not need the approvals of his party leader.

The organisers also called on Parliament's Speaker Andrej Danko to step down and called him a disgrace to the parliament.

In addition, they mentioned the failed election of Constitutional Court judges, due to one power-drunk MP. We cannot let them capture the Constitutional Court.

Enough of Fico, the crowd responded with chants. Seliga called on Robert Fico to go into oblivion, the crowd chanted to jail.

Special Prosecutor Dusan Kovacik was also mentioned, Karolina Farska called on him to resign and accused him of covering up crimes.

Most-Hid leader Bela Bugar has disappointed Slovakia and we will never forget that, the organisers said from the stage.

Many changes have happened because we did not give up, the change is at hand, we can achieve it if we hold on, said Farska.

Kocner behind bars just the beginning

Actors of the Slovak National Theatre and the Astorka theatre also addressed the crowd, just like they did at last year's protests. Richard Stanke thanked journalists for the work they are doing and promised Jan and Martina and their families that we will not give up.

Kocner in Leopoldov must be just the beginning, not the end of this case, Stanke said.

He also thanked farmers for joining the protests.

We will elect a president for whom justice and constitutionality is above all, Stanke said and directly addressed Smer's candidate, Maros Sefcovic: Bad luck, we will not rely on your character.

The Constitutional Court is not yours, Stanke told the ladies and gentlemen of the ruling coalition. The court must be open for the best constitutional lawyers that Slovakia has.

Farmers who made their way to Bratislava in the days leading up to the protest addressed the crowd too. They are supported by geodesists, veterinary doctors and foresters.

Read also: Farmers blocked the traffic in Bratislava Read more

We are here because our government covers up fraud and corruption in agriculture, which destroys us, Magdosko said.

Representatives of scientists and NGOs also addressed the crowd from the stage.

Journalists: We are not going anywhere

The protesters also refused the proposed changes to the Press Code and instead called for better protection of journalists.

Read also: Murder of journalist: We need to see indictments of masterminds soon Read more

"We will continue asking if the investigation is independent," said Sme daily editor-in-chief Beata Balogova.

"We did not forget, we are are not going anywhere ," said Matus Kostolny, editor-in-chief of Dennik N. He reminded the public that one year after the murder, Robert Fico still calls journalists criminals.

Journalists thanked the crowd for their support and for not forgetting.

The Para band played their song, with Bratislava Mayor Matus Vallo playing the bass guitar.

Kusnirovas mother addressed the crowd in Kosice

About 7,000 people attended the gathering in Kosice, with Zlatica Kusnirova, the mother of Martina, and President Andrej Kiska being among speakers.

Zlatica Kusnirova thanked the crowd for coming. She talked about her last meeting with her daughter.

I didnt think about anything causing their deaths, even in my worst dreams, she said, as quoted by the Korzar regional daily. They were innocent children. We arent living anymore, just surviving. We must clean up this mafia state.

Kiska does not think that the situation has improved much in the past year.

Read also: The murder of journalist changed Slovakia, but not all of it Read more

I want to praise the investigators and police for the fact that, in all probability, we have caught the people involved in the murders and probably know who the murderer actually might be. We also know at least one person who ordered the murder, Kiska said, as quoted by Korzar.

He added though that we had all hoped that the links would have been revealed by now and that he also understands that the investigators and law enforcement bodies need time.

We expect the answers as soon as possible because there are still many questions, Kiska added.

Starting at 20:20, the Kulturfabrik Tabacka is planning a 24-hour public marathon during which all the texts written by Kuciak will be read, according to the daily.

21. Feb 2019 at 18:55 | Michaela Terenzani
Newport Beach Police(NEW YORK) -- The sister of a little girl who was strangled to death in 1973 didn't expect to see a conclusion to the mysterious cold case, she told ABC News hours after a man's arrest was announced on Wednesday.



"I never really thought that they would actually ever find the individual responsible," Cindy Borgeson, a sister of Linda OKeefe, told ABC News. "After all this time, finding out there is a face and a name...just brings additional closure."



OKeefe, 11, was abducted on July 6, 1973, as she walked home from summer school, the Newport Beach, California, Police Department said. Her strangled body was found the next day.



Their mother "carried that guilt the rest of her life," Borgeson said.



James Neal, 72, who lived in Southern California and worked in construction in the 1970s, was arrested this week in Colorado, where he had been living, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said at a Wednesday news conference.



DNA recovered from O'Keefe shortly after her death was put into the Combined DNA Index System  the law enforcement database known as CODIS  but there was no hit, said Spitzer.



However, through the genealogical data of his family members, who voluntarily submitted their DNA to genealogy databases, investigators were able to corroborate the DNA from O'Keefe's body and the DNA obtained from the suspect, according to Spitzer. The genealogical hit came in January, officials said.



"I had closure when they found her body," Borgeson said about the fateful day 46 years ago. But she added that she was thankful for the "additional closure" brought to her by the investigators who never gave up, as well as the new technology, which made it possible to process the crime scene DNA.



"I'm astonished at what they were able to accomplish," Borgeson, 64, said. "My hope is that this [case] brings hope to other families who haven't had closure yet."



O'Keefe, who was seven years younger than Borgeson, was "an old soul" with a "go with the flow" personality, Borgeson said.



While their parents did not live to see an arrest, Borgeson said, "I'm sure she [O'Keefe] and my parents are rejoicing."



"I'll get to be with them again," she added.



As for her sister's suspected killer, Borgeson said, "because of my profound faith, I've been able to forgive the individual."



"I couldn't carry that burden in my heart of hating an individual even though he committed this horrible crime," she said. "I hope that he has remorse."



Borgeson said, if she gets a chance to speak to Neal, she would "let him know that I've been praying for him."



Borgeson said she also prayed for Neal's family as his arrest was announced.



"They probably are so shocked," she said. "I'm sure they're going through a lot of grieving of their own."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
One year after the murder: Journalists must be able to do their work freely and without fear

The representatives of 22 embassies and representation offices in Slovakia lit candles for the murdered journalist and his fiancee.

The representatives of embassies in Slovakia came to commemorate Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova. (Source: Radka Minarechova)

In all democratic societies, journalists must be able to do their work freely and without fear, Natasha Franceschi, Charge d Affaires a.i. of the US Embassy in Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator.

She and the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Slovakia, Henk Cor van der Kwast, initiated the commemoration that took place at the SNP Square on February 21. The representatives of 22 embassies and representation offices in Slovakia lit candles and commemorated the one year anniversary of the murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova.

We think its important to commemorate and underline how important freedom of the press and a good investigation is, the Dutch ambassador said.

We must send a clear message to everyone that attacks on journalists are unacceptable, according to British Ambassador to Slovakia Andrew Garth.

It's also important to support the people of Slovakia who want to see justice as well, he said.

The representatives of the embassies also praised the progress of the ongoing investigation into the murders and expressed hope that those responsible for them will be brought to justice.

21. Feb 2019 at 14:18 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Pellegrini: I dont want a divisive Slovakia, the murder should not divide society anymore

Police Corps President thanked the team of investigators.

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Ahead of the planned gatherings taking place around Slovakia tonight, PM Peter Pellegrini is calling for pthe eaceful commemoration of murdered journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova.

He also wished for the murder not to divide society anymore, he does not want a divisive Slovakia, he stated in a video published on his Facebook profile.

Lets commemorate the murdered peacefully, he said in the video one year after the double murder. It is a memento and dignified message that we all wish for such events never to happen in our society again.

Read also: It started with the murder of a journalist. How did Slovakia change in 2018? Read more

This tragic event shook Slovakia, Pellegrini said. It was a brutal act against two young people and against one of the pillars of Slovakia's young democracy  freedom of speech.

He repeated that the murder investigation is one of the priorities of his government. He thanked the investigators and prosecutors for their work.

Punishing and sentencing the perpetrators

The police also published their own video to mark the first anniversary of the murder that has forever inscribed itself in Slovak's history in black, as the video puts it.

Police Corps President Milan Lucansky thanked all the police officers participating in the investigation. He also wished for as many journalists as possible like Jan Kuciak.

Police Corps President Milan Lucansky (Source: Pavol Zachar, TASR)

I would like to thank the team and the people who working in it, Lucansky said in the video, also thanking the prosecutors for the way they are leading the investigative team.

I want to assure everyone that this team has my support and we will do everything to punish and sentence the perpetrators, he added.

21. Feb 2019 at 13:33 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Investigative centre: Fico spoke on the phone with Vadala years ago

After the last, unfinished story of Jan Kuciak, he claimed he had nothing to do with the people linked to the Italian mafia.

Former prime minister Robert Fico spoke on the phone with Antonino Vadala years ago, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported on February 20, one day before Slovakia commemorates the first anniversary of the murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova.

Vadala is one of the main characters in the last unfinished story of Jan Kuciak. His colleagues from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) continued investigating the story.

They found that the Italian prosecutors recorded a phone conversation between Vadala and Fico in 2012. The content of their talk has not been published. The wiretapping of Vadala was approved on suspicions that he was involved in drug trafficking.

Italian prosecutors confirmed the recording

We know from the Italian prosecutors office that this record exists, said Pavla Holcova, Czech investigative journalist and former colleague of Jan Kuciak, for the public-service radio RTVS. La Repubblica only published their findings, she said.

Read also: Holcova: Organised crime has not noticed Czechoslovakias break-up Read more

Italian investigators did not pay attention to the phone call until Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were murdered.

Fico denied the phone call with Vadala. Vadala is suspected of cooperating with Italian mafia Ndrangheta. He was doing business in Slovakia in agriculture and real estate.

Smer spokesperson Jan Mazgut wrote in reaction that the information about the phone call is not true. The Italian daily published it to stir up an atmosphere before Thursday protests in Slovakia, he stated.

Kuciaks last story

After the murder of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, Fico ruled out the possibility that he would have anything to do with the Italian mafia. This despite the fact that in his last unfinished story Kuciak described links between Ficos assistant Maria Troskova, and former security council secretary Viliam Jasan, to the Italians living in eastern Slovakia.

Read also: A murderer, an MP, a model: Who is who in the case Kuciak was investigating Read more

In 2012, Vadala was the lover and business partner of Maria Troskova, who later went on to become Ficos assistant. He was doing business with the son of Viliam Jasan, former Government Office head.

In 2012, Radicovas cabinet fell and Robert Fico became PM again. It is not clear whether the phone call happened when he was an opposition MP or the PM.

After publishing Kuciaks last story, a photo of Smer MP Robert Madej with Antonino Vadala was leaked to media. Even though they are posing smiling with thumbs up, Madej said they do not know each other. Vadala claimed that Madejs law company was helping him with the purchase of companies and legal services.

21. Feb 2019 at 13:29 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Russian MiGs will continue protecting the Slovak skies

The contract should be valid until 2023 when Slovakia is expected to acquire the American F-16.

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The Defence Ministry recommends prolonging the contract with a Russian company for the operation of MiG-29AS/UBS fighter jets. The contract should be valid until the end of 2023, with the possibility of being prolonged for one year.

Read also: Government has approved the purchase of F-16 jets Read more

The current technical condition, valid legislation and maintaining the training level of Slovak pilots were the reasons stated by the ministry as reported by the TASR newswire.

The ministry considered three possibilities in the analysis  the protection of airspace by NATO planes, the cooperation with Poland or continuing in cooperation with the Russian state company RSK MiG. Slovakia should pay more than 2.5 million per jet per year with the last, selected option.

Russians will service the MiGs and Slovakia will pay at least 120 millions to RSK MiG. The overall costs for the five-year operation of MiGs should reach 177 million - including VAT, the payments to Russians or costs for repair, which will be an authority of the Slovak army, Dennik N reported.

Most-Hid objected the Russian option

Ministers of Most-Hid, the junior coalition partner, had objections to prolonging the contract, according to Justice Minister Gabor Gal.

We didnt vote, he said, as quoted by TASR. We stated that we are not happy about the proposal.

He added that they would be happier if Slovakia got rid of the old MiGs and would not rely on Russian supplies anymore.

Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak said that he would welcome having the document checked by the experts of his ministry.

I would be glad if the document was not presented directly to the cabinet meeting, he said, as quoted by TASR. Now, I have to rely on the assurance of the defence minister.

PM Peter Pellegrini said that there was probably negotiation about the document of the Security Council when Lajcak was away on an official trip.

The government took the process into account. Pellegrini said it does not differ from the current situation. He also pointed out that Slovakia can also terminate the contract sooner.

21. Feb 2019 at 13:40 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Murder of journalist: Slovak authorities must ensure safety of journalists

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic welcomes the progress made in the investigation of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak's murder but calls for vigilance.

It has been a year since the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova.

"My thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues, for whom this will have been an unimaginably difficult year," said Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic in her statement.

At the same time, the commissioner welcomed a number of developments in the investigation, which have led to the arrest of four suspects involved in the murders and the possible identification of one person who may have ordered them.

"However, extreme vigilance is necessary to guarantee the independence of the investigation," said Mijatovic.

Many reports, which suggest suspects allegedly had contacts or links with politicians and officials in the police and prosecution service, are a strong incentive for investigators to concentrate on the independence, she added.

Polarising rhetoric

Read also: Murder of journalist: How did Jan and Martina die? Read more

Mijatovic is concerned for the continuous occasions when politicians "engage in highly polarising rhetoric towards the media" despite the horrible murder of Kuciak and Kusnirova. Such rhetoric threatens the process of rebuilding trust, she added.

"There is a key role for public figures to ensure an enabling environment for journalists and refrain from adopting legislative measures that would interfere with media freedom," pointed out Mijatovic.

Media freedom & safety of journalists

"The Slovak authorities have a duty to ensure media freedom and the safety of journalists in the country, including the provision of protection when journalists face threats," Mijatovic claimed.

Special attention should be paid to investigative journalists, who may face intimidation and violence, the commissioner added.

"Their work is essential in a free and democratic society and strengthening it will be the best way to honour the memories of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, Mijatovic pointed out.

21. Feb 2019 at 13:48 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Constitutional Court's groundbreaking decision scraps constitutional law

Four Constitutional Court judges, who voted against the proposal, claim the Constitutional Court has exceeded its competences.

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The controversy surrounding the election of nine Constitutional Court judges has undoubtedly been the most strikingly visible manifestation of the existence of the Constitutional Court.

It even overshadowed the January ruling, by which the Constitutional Court scrapped the security clearances required for its judges. This decision was groundbreaking since the Constitutional Court has never abolished a constitutional law before and the timing is dubious as it happened just before a large turnover of judges at the Court.

Four of the Constitutional Court judges, Lajos Meszaros, Marianna Mochnacova, Ladislav Orosz and Rudolf Tkacik voted against the abolition of security clearance. However, none of them is a Constitutional Court judge any more. Their terms of office ended on February 16.

The security clearance of judges is born

Smer, which was the only party in power in 2014, pushed through the constitutional law on the security clearance of judges with the support of the Christian Democrats (KDH). They managed to accumulate 102 votes in parliament, which was enough to comfortably overrun the constitutional majority of 90 votes.

21. Feb 2019 at 10:15 | Peter Kovac
Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were murdered one year ago (timeline)

These are the notable moments of the first year since the murder.

February 21, 2018  Investigative reporter of Aktuality.sk, Jan Kuciak, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, were murdered in the evening hours in their house in Velka Maca, a village about 50 kilometres away from Bratislava.

Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova were murdered on February 21, 2018. (Source: Gabriel Kuchta, Sme)

February 26, 2018  The police discovers the dead bodies of the murdered couple and the first media reports about the murder appear in the morning. Police admit the murder is likely connected with Kuciaks work.

Read also:

Read also: Sme daily editor-in-chief: We are now deciding what the world will be like after the murder Read more

February 27, 2018  Slovak dailies run black front pages in memory of Jan and Martina. PM Robert Fico organises a press conference, standing in the governments office room next to a table with 1 million in cash on it, a reward for information about the murderers.

PM Robert Fico organises a press conference, standing in the governments office room next to a table with 1 million in cash on it. (Source: Jozef Jakubco, Sme)

February 28, 2018  Slovak media publish the last, unfinished story of Jan Kuciak about links between the Italian mafia Ndrangheta operating in eastern Slovakia and Ficos close collaborators at the Governments Office.

Marek Madaric resigns from the post of culture minister.

March 2, 2018  Memorial gatherings are held around Slovakia, the biggest march takes place in Bratislava. Journalists address the crowd. Martina Kusnirovas funeral, with hundreds of people in attendance, takes place in her native village of Gregorovce.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/wRdHbO_-I4k

March 3, 2018  Jan Kuciak is buried in his native village of Stiavnik.

Jan Kuciak 1990-2018 (Source: Gabriel Kuchta, Sme)

March 9, 2018  Biggest protests since the 1989 Velvet Revolution take place. In the capital alone, more than 60,000 people take to the streets. Slovaks living abroad organise gatherings to support their country. Protesters demand a fair investigation of the murder, the resignation of Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak and PM Robert Fico. In the next few weeks, protests would repeat every Friday evening.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/dDFj9gqP6z0

March 14, 2018  PM Robert Fico tells President Andrej Kiska he would step down given three conditions. Kiska accepts them.

Robert Fico and Andrej Kiska (Source: Jozef Jakubco, Sme)

Read also: Fico fell. These are good, not perfect, developments Read more

March 22, 2018  The president appoints Peter Pellegrini as the new prime minister. Several ministers change: Slovakia also gained a new Interior Minister Tomas Drucker (previously Robert Kalinak), Justice Minister Gabor Gal (previously Lucia Zitnanska), Culture Minister Lubica Lassakova (previously Marek Madaric) and Health Minister Andrea Kalavska (previously Tomas Drucker).

Read also:

Read also: Five things that the murders of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova have changed Read more

April 16, 2018  Tomas Drucker resigns, Denisa Sakova later replaces him as the new Interior Minister.

April 17, 2018  PM Pellegrini announces the resignation of Police Corps President Tibor Gaspar, as of May 1. Milan Lucansky then takes over as acting police corps president.

May 5, 2018  The day of the planned wedding of the murdered couple, a memorial service and a concert takes place in Gregorovce.

Read also:

Read also: Being a journalist in Slovakia in 2018 Read more

May 9, 2018  General Prosecutors Office finds errors in nine cases linked to group of Italians in eastern Slovakia from Kuciaks last story.

May 21, 2018  Special Prosecutors Office announces they found shortcomings in the first operations at the scene of the crime, especially during the inspection.

May 29, 2018  Police conducts reconstruction of the murder in Velka Maca.

"Love is stronger than evil." (Source: Jozef Jakubco, Sme)

May 30, 2018  Kuciak becomes one of the first awarded by Prize for journalists, informers and advocate of the law and information by the European Parliament.

September 27, 2018 - SWAT team raids family houses in Kolarovo and detains eight people suspected of participating in the double murder.

October 1, 2018 - Four people charged with the murder are taken in pre-trial custody. The public also learns that a sum of 70,000 was paid for the murder and the perpetrators received the money in 500 banknotes packed in napkins.

Read also: An unknown translator, a man who owes a million on taxes Read more

During her first meeting with Zoltan A., the go-between, the woman who ordered the killing, Alena Zs., had a video documenting Kuciaks whereabouts, his photos and address. Zoltan A., a businessman from Komarno, gave the information to the hitman and his driver, Miroslav M., through the mobile phone where everything was saved. Second hitman Tomas Sz. had two individually customized submachine guns of 7.65 mms, as well as a silencer for firearms.

Tomas Sz. and Miroslav M. allegedly asked for more money after the case was highly publicised, and ultimately, they received it. However, the precise amount is not known.

October 4, 2018  The four accused in the Kuciak case, Alena Zs., Zoltan A., Tomas Sz. And Miroslav M. allegedly planned to kill Deputy General Prosecutor, Peter Sufliarsky, prosecutor Maros Zilinka and lawyer Daniel Lipsic. Zoltan A. has testified that the murder was ordered by businessman Marian Kocner. Businessman Marian Kocner threatened murdered journalist Jan Kuciak.

Read also:

Read also: Kuciak did not even have a computer as a child and he grew up to be an analyst Read more

October 22, 2018 - One year and a half prior to the murder, controversial businessman Marian Kocner had five journalists followed. Dennik N cites sources from the criminal prosecution, who leaked information to the daily about the police interrogation of former journalist-turned-spy Peter Toth. Toth turned to the police of his own initiative days after four people were arrested and charged with the murder, admitting that he worked for Kocner.

Toth denied that the police have a testimony with his name and signature on it in the murder investigation file.

January 24, 2019 - Alena Zs. is accused in another murder case. She might have been involved in the murder of the ex-mayor of Hurbanovo.

January 25, 2019 - Chair of the Intelligence Unit of the Financial Police, Pavol Vorobjov, screened Jan Kuciak's police files in autumn 2017, a few months before the murder. Tibor Gaspar, who is also Vorobjovs neighbour, allegedly issued the instruction to screen Kuciak. Gaspar denies this.

Read also:

Read also: All for Jan: The year of magical thinking in Slovakia Read more

February 21, 2019  A big gathering takes place to mark the first year since the murders of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova.

21. Feb 2019 at 5:55 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Dr. Swaroop Rawal

Dear friend and actress-turned-teacher Dr Swaroop Rawal nee Sampat is one of the ten finalists for the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, whose winner will be announced on March 24 in Dubai. Instituted by the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, the ten finalists for 2019 have been chosen from 10,000 nominations from 179 countries. It is remarkable enough for Swaroop to be one of the ten from the 10,000, it is entirely possible that she might just bag the big one.

I have known Swaroop for close to 35 years as a particularly sharp and substantive mind. In the run-up to the prize, I republish a story I did about her for The Indian Diaspora on August 30, 2016.

Nearly 33 years ago while she rode a wave of extraordinary popularity as a television star 26-year-old Swaroop Sampat frequently spoke of drama as a tool of education. For a former Miss India (1979), who appeared set for a definite movie career, Swaroop came across as someone who could break the mould any moment and pursue something entirely different. Today, children's books authored by her has been accepted by Australia's school system.

In fact, she would often joke that a doctorate in education was not as improbable for her as her turn as a studiedly ditzy Renu Verma on the hit series Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi might suggest.

That was 1984. In 2016, she holds a doctorate on the theme how to employ drama in school education. Marriage to the well-known actor Paresh Rawal and two grown up sons later, Dr. Rawal is now fully focused on her main passion - drama as a tool to transform school education. As part of her doctoral work, she demonstrated how to use drama as an educational tool to enhance emotional understanding, understanding self, empathetic understanding and creativity in children with special learning disability in a school in Mumbai.

Her latest project, though not necessarily an offshoot, is a continuation of her work in education. It is a set of six childrens books, meant for the fourth and fifth grade levels by her along with her son Aditya has been accepted by the Australian Quality Education Programme. The books address themes of childrens rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in a manner that fresh minds can internalize them without being preached.

Dr. Rawal told The Indian Diaspora, The purpose of the books is to gently introduce children at the fourth and fifth grade levels to the idea of respectful behaviour and standing up for what is right.

I think child rights education is an important facet we are missing out on. For example, it is vital to note only in the last century that gender equality as a concept has been introduced into our educational lexicon as it exists in Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child or CRC, she added.

Colourfully illustrated by Suman S. Roy and written by Dr. Rawal with significant inputs from her son Aditya the books are making their way to Australia even before they find traction in India. They have also been endorsed by Save the Children-India-International, which is affiliated to Save the Children-International. Fiji is also considering the books, Dr. Rawal said.

In India, the books are being reviewed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Once approved Dr. Rawal and her publishers plan to have it translated in all major Indian languages.

The books address a diversity of challenges that children in the demographic face. From the problem of bullying at school to how diverse and yet unique Nature is, Dr. Rawal weaves in ideas in a way that appeals to her reader demographic.

The child protagonists in the books, Krish and Tara, often counter their parents and other adult family members with sound logic when it comes to issues such as which sport to play. Swaroop also throws in occasional correctives with older brother Krish helping younger sibling Tara in her pronunciations.

It is always a challenge to keep children at that age engaged, informed and entertained but Dr. Rawals stories do an effective job of creating a world they are so familiar with.

In a story titled The New Boy in Class, a character called Samir is introduced who is autistic. While most people at school are mean and unfriendly to him Tara and Krish go out of their way to make him feel comfortable.

In a passage about Samirs autism, the particular book explains, Actually, Krish had a plan. He had learnt from class teacher that Samir was an autistic child. That is why he seemed to be different. Children with autism are different from others, but so is every single person in this world. Just because Samir is out of the ordinary,it does not mean he is silly. It just means that he is different. Autism is something that people are born with. Having autism means that Samirs brain is wired in another way. Still Samirs brain works perfectly well. It just does things differently from other peoples brains. That is what makes him distinctive.

In another book titled The Six Stars Club children form a club that includes two former bullies Nikhil and Roy as well as Samir. The idea is to introduce a sense of common purpose and inclusiveness.

These are simple books that unobtrusively familiarize children of a certain age group with themes that will stand them in good stead throughout their lives. Each book carries details about the UNCRC and a note from Thomas Chandy, CEO of Save the Children India where he points out how Dr. Rawal has woven in the rights of children as part of the stories. Perhaps at a time when the adult world has become so fractious and judgmental, it makes sense to reclaim some of the lost ground of decency via children.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Connected physical security equipment, like networked surveillance cameras and smart access control systems, offer many advantages for facility and safety managers responsible for securing the premises of retail, industrial, government, and other organizations.

Research on this physical security slice of the Internet of Things (IoT) device market and real world events, however, show adoption of these systems introduces complex cyber risk issues.
There is an old Yiddish expression called a bubbe meise (pronounced my-seh). I guess the closest English interpretation of this expression would be a grandmothers tale, or in the common vernacular, an old-wives tale.

Of late, I am seeing a bubbe meise about the importance of central bank buying of gold, and it is making its rounds on websites all over the internet.

We have been hearing for many years about how gold is supposed to soar because countries and central banks are buying the precious metal. Most of the fundamentalists in this market are convinced that this is a bullish signal. In fact, one article I read explained that central bank buying is significant, as central banks are the smart money given their influence on global economics and access to non-public information.

And, all I can think is that this writer does not know their history.

All we heard between 2011 to 2014 was how bullish the gold market was because China and India were buying huge amounts of gold. Yet, gold topped at the time when central banks began their huge buying spree in 2011 and continued down for years during this buying spree. Smart money indeed.

So, unfortunately, the facts do not support the commonly accepted proposition which seems to be making the rounds. In fact, historically, it is more common to see countries selling their gold at the bottom rather than buying.

From 1999-2002, Great Britain sold about half of its gold reserves. But guess what happened after the sales? Yes, gold began its parabolic climb from just below $300 an ounce to over $1,900 within nine years. In fact, that bottom in gold became dubbed the Brown Bottom, named after Gordon Brown, the U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, who made the decision to sell the gold at that time.You see, governments are usually the last actors within a sentiment trend. Think about it. Arent governments enacting new laws to protect investors at the end of bear markets  after all the damage has already been done? So, it is not unreasonable to believe that governments would be the last sellers to the market to conclude a bear market. Moreover, it is common to see them as buyers when markets are near some form of high, such as they seem to have done during 2011-2014. And this is why I was awaiting news of a government selling its gold reserves to represent the culmination of a selling trend several years ago.

Back in 2015, I read an article noting that Venezuela could be selling more than 3 million ounces of gold reserves before year-end. The country had more than $5 billion in maturing debt and interest payments due before year-end without the ability to repay it.

While the 12 million ounces of gold sold by Great Britain at the Brown Bottom is clearly more than the 3 million ounces that Venezuela was considering selling, recognize that Great Britains proceeds from its sale were estimated at around $3.4 billion, whereas the Venezuela sale would have likely netted around $3 billion.

Additionally, back in 2015, the major players within the gold market turned bearish. At Septembers Denver Gold Forum in 2015, a panel of gold-industry experts came to a consensus that gold is still overvalued and would likely fall below $1,000, perhaps to around $800. Moreover, at the LBMA/LPPM gold conference in Vienna, an expert panel discussion on gold came up with almost an identical consensus. The panel also expected that gold will drop to below $1,000, and perhaps to $800 or less.

Again, more smart money?

In fact, based upon the sentiment exhibited in the media, as well as in my charts, I noted at the time: These recent events somewhat bolster my argument that the bottom to this market may be closer than most believe, and it may not drop as deep as many believe. As the next, and final, decline takes hold, we will be able to pinpoint the target more accurately. But I have been having strong doubts about whether gold will actually break below $1,000 with so many believing it is almost a certainty. Remember what happened back in 2011 when almost everyone (other than yours truly) believed that it was a virtual certainty that gold was going to exceed $2,000? As the late Yogi Berra would say, this might be deja vu all over again.

And, in the last quarter of 2015, we rolled out a Miners Portfolio service at Elliottwavetrader.net, and started buying mining stocks for the first time since 2011. In fact, one of our first purchases was Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) when ABX was in the $7 region. A little over 3 years later, and even after a multi-year correction in the complex, the stock is still up 85% and poised to run higher. How many stocks do you know of which have been up 85% in the last 3 years, even after a multi-year pullback?

I was also on the phone with Doug Eberhardt the night that gold hit its final lows putting in my final buying order, as I expected we were hitting the bottom that night. To this end, Doug actually posted: I can attest to your accuracy on actually buying both gold and silver from us as close to the bottom as one could.

Then, in January of 2016, it was announced that Venezuela sent $1.3 billion worth of gold bars to Switzerland, according to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. In fact, it seems that the Central Bank of Venezuela had reduced its gold holdings in 2015 by 25%, and this is even before hearing about this transfer in 2016. Again, are we supposed to believe this is smart money action?

To add to this bottoming evidence, in early 2016, it became known that the Bank of Canada sold all the rest of its gold. Yes, you heard that right. Clearly, we have more evidence of smart money activity! At the time, I noted that I would consider this akin to the Brown Bottom which marked the bottoming of gold back in 2002. I further noted that while 2002 became known as the Brown Bottom, 2016 may yet become known as the Maple Leaf Low.

So, I am going to let you in on a little secret at this time. If you want to know what is going to happen in the metals complex, it is not the central banks buying you want to watch. Right now, I would be watching Newmont Mining (NEM) very closely. As long as it remains below 34.29, it still has potential to strike lower lows below those seen in 2018. However, should you see it break out over that level, it will confirm for me that a bottom has been struck, and we are on the verge of a strong rally about to take hold in the complex.

https://slopeofhope.com/2019/02/why-is-central-bank-buying-of-gold-so-important.html

Why Is Central Bank Buying Of Gold So Important?

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The election trolls have logged on. Except, despite the cleanup efforts of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube following the 2016 campaign, they never really logged off, with coordinated disinformation campaigns still trying to sow confusion on social media during the 2018 midterms. But now theyre getting ready for the big show. With 12 Democratic candidates already vying for the White House and more to come, memes and misinformation that appear to be coordinated and possibly connected to foreign propaganda efforts are already afflicting the race. According to a report Wednesday in Politico, Democratic contenders have been the targets of online propaganda aimed at sensationalizing missteps and promoting falsehoods. If these troll campaigns share a goal with the efforts of 2016 and 2018, then the point may be to widen societal divisions already prominent in American life and, in particular, weaken the Democratic Party. In particular, they seem intent on weaponizing a productive moment in our politics in which public figures are finally being held to account for their past actions, and Democrats are sometimes asking other Democrats to resign. The trolls want Democrats to eat each other.

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So far, we dont know the source of this activityits not clearly linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Russian disinformation factory that was behind thousands of accounts stirring unrest during the 2016 and 2018 elections. Wherever its from, what has been found so far does appear to be coordinated and bears many of the traits of past foreign operations. Politico analyzed data collected by a group called Guardians.ai, a firm that specializes in protecting pro-democracy groups from cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. Guardians.ai analyzed a network of 200 Twitter accounts that were active in one of the largest influence operations of the 2018 cycle in churning out extreme and divisive content, some of which displayed signs of automation. Looking at those same accounts again, the group found that since the start of this year, the network pivoted to focus on Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren as well as former Rep. Beto ORourke. The researchers found that over the course of 30 days this year, between 2 and 15 percent of all Twitter mentions of the four Democratic politicians originated from this network. In other words, a group of trolls that stirred the pot during the midterms is very, very busy once again.

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Take one recent rumor that was boosted by the apparent troll network on social media, accusing Warren of having a piece of racist memorabilia on top of her kitchen cabinet. The meme was a blurry screenshot from a Warren Q&A on Instagram Live that posters claimed contained a Sambo figure biting into a piece of watermelon. The allegation was promoted by right-wing pundits on Twitter and Facebookuntil it was debunked. It turns out the knick-knack wasnt a racist memento at all, but rather an ordinary reproduction of a Greek vase, according to Snopes. The false allegation was shared on the New York City Republicans Facebook page in a now-deleted post, according to PolitiFact. The meme later traveled far enough that Warrens campaign felt the need to debunk the claim on her campaign website. The intent was obvious, and it dovetailed with Warrens cringe-worthy attempts to prove her Native American ancestry last year: The trolls didnt just want Warren to look like shes tin-eared on race, but like an actual racist.

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This example of disinformation appears to have been initially promoted on the anonymous, anything-goes message board 4Chanoften an early stop of any effort to spread misinformation onlinethough its not clear who planted the meme or what their motivation was, other than adding to a narrative that paints Warren as racist. Right now, candidates on the left are particularly susceptible to such character attacksif they are true, after all, they might be disqualifying. Beto ORourke was also targeted on Twitter by an account that had only tweeted once since it was created in May 2018. That one tweet, however, carried the allegation that the Texas politician once left a message on an answering machine in the 1990s that contained racist language. The single missive was quickly amplified by other accounts and reached as any as 1.3 million people, Politico reported.

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These troll efforts arent only trying to smear candidates using issues of concern to the leftsometimes theyre just sexist and racist. Sen. Harris appears to be a favorite early target, according to Guardians.ai, which found that Harris attracted more activity on Twitter than any other Democratic presidential candidate in the 30-day period it studied. Days after Harris announced her candidacy, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wrote a terse op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle admitting that he dated Harris, apparently because reporters had been calling him about it. That was on Jan 26, but even now, weeks later, chatter about their decades-old relationship is still proliferating on social media. On Facebook, videos made about their relationship have racked up hundreds of thousands of views, and on Twitter, replies to Harris tweets are saturated with lewd comments accusing Harris of using sex as a ladder to success.

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Trolls of both foreign and domestic vintage helped make the 2016 election the cacophony we remember. Now, as candidates struggle to differentiate themselves at a time when voters on the left may punish a candidate who has crossed ethical lines, its safe to expect trolls on social media to play every misstep up to its fullestpotentially as part of another propaganda effort to ensure victory for Donald Trump. Even if a meme you see that disparages a Democratic candidate is based on truth, its important to remember that its goal might be to simply weaken Democrats by making candidates toxic for swaths of the left, and ultimately make 2020 a repeat of 2016.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
After 15 years of diligently exploring the surface of Mars, the Opportunity rover finally succumbed to the elements and went offline Feb. 13. As obituaries and tributes to Oppy surfaced, fans caught a glimpse into the robots final moments: the last picture it sent, its last words, the last-ditch attempts to revive it. Scientists wept as they said their final farewells.

Or, rather, sang them. As employees swayed and embraced, mission control sent one final transmission to Oppy: Billie Holidays 1944 recording of Ill Be Seeing You. The muted, intimate timbre of Holidays voice helped millions say goodbye to the little robot who could:

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Ill find you in the morning sun, And when the night is new, Ill be looking at the moon, But Ill be seeing you.

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Holidays song is just one example in a long history of music and space exploration. For millennia, humankind has used sound to try to make sense of cosmic transcendence. While modeling arithmetical relations in musical tuning in the sixth century B.C., Pythagoras posited that each planet emitted a unique harmony as it orbited Earth. Some thousand years later, the Roman philosopher Boethius wrote that musica universalisthe music of the sphereswas an inaudible, organizing force in the universe. Another thousand after that, Johannes Kepler further linked musical harmonies to planetary motion, though this time as they moved around the sun. Invigorated by the scientific revolution and Enlightenment ideals, composers in the 18th and 19th centuries drew inspiration from the cosmos: Haydn, Beethoven, and, most famously, Holst, whose orchestral suite The Planets (1914) remains the composers most popular work.

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At the twilight of the long 19th century, however, the unfathomability of space gave way to possibilities of conquest and colonization. New musical instruments like the theremin lent their otherworldly sounds to the nebulous nature of space, weaving in and out of tones as if navigating the solar system. Take, for example, Les Baxters 1947 gramophone record Music Out of the Moon, which arranged lunar themes for the theremin and a lounge jazz ensemble. So transformative were these early sounds of space that Neil Armstrong brought Baxters albumthis time on cassette tapewith him aboard Apollo 11 in 1969.

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Even before Armstrongs walk on the moon, the space race was as much a sonic phenomenon as it was a scientific and geopolitical one. Listeners around the world tuned in on Oct. 4, 1957, to hear the now-famous beeps of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. With visual confirmation difficult to achieve, the beeps were broadcast over radios and televisions throughout both the Soviet Union and United States as a sort of sonic confirmation that the space race had, indeed, begun.

Music allows us to reflect on the cultural joy of space exploration.

Sputniks orbit provided plenty of creative fodder for composers and performers alike. Many took advantage of spaces romantic potential, as one can hear in songs like Roosevelt Sykes Satellite Baby and Ella Fitzgeralds Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer. Others turned the nuclear underpinnings of the space race into jaunty satire. In their song Sputniks and Mutniks, for example, Ray Anderson and the Homefolks sing in jest about satellites and Soviet space dogs flying everywhere. Their upbeat, jostling performance betrays a certain acceptance of Cold War nuclear fears and a new Atomic Age.

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With each cosmic developmentYuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkovas flights as the first man and woman in space respectively, Alexei Leonovs spacewalk, and morecame new opportunities for musical commemoration. Singing a few lines of the patriotic song during his return to Earth, Gagarin ensured that Shostakovichs The Motherland Hears would become the first song in space. Several cosmonauts, too, recounted singing songs to one another during orbit to keep themselves occupied. (Even astronauts, it seems, get bored on long trips.)

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Soviet primacy in the cosmos would fade, however, in the second half of the 1960s, and the Apollo 11 mission marked a decisive turning point in the space race. Disembarking from the lunar lander, Buzz Aldrin one-upped Gagarin by playing a cassette tape of Frank Sinatras Fly Me to the Moona fitting choice, no doubt, for the moons first exposure to human music. Back on Earth, musicians celebrated Apollos achievement with performances like Pink Floyds Moonhead, a live improvisation for the BBC, and Duke Ellingtons Moon Maiden, which appeared on ABC. And, watching these and other broadcasts live, millions of viewers around the world celebrated, too.

As space grew ever more contested, music provided the possibility of a sort of sonic detente. During preparations for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint endeavor in space between America and the USSR, the American commander Thomas Stafford reached out to country star Conway Twitty about recording a version of his hit song Hello Darlin  in Russian. After several hours of phonetics lessons, Twitty recorded Privyet Radost, which Stafford then gave to his Soviet counterpart, Alexei Leonov, as a gesture of goodwill in 1975.

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As our conception of the cosmos grew in both distance and scale, so too did our understanding of musics potential in space exploration. Just two years after the Apollo-Soyuz, scientists and engineers launched the Voyager program, two robotic probes sent to study the outer reaches of the solar system. Nestled onboard is the Voyager Golden Record, a playlist of mankinds greatest hits, so to speak, designed to carry forth a utopian terrestrial for scientific (and interspecies) posterity. The record includes music by Chuck Berry, Beethoven, Aka Pygmies, and a Navajo ensemble, among others. Bach sounds besides gamelan music, Japanese shakuhachi begets an Indian ragaa human Top 40 for any interstellar traveler to find.

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Though musics position as a universal language has been convincingly debunked, the enduring belief that it can speak across divisions, species, and light-years makes it a compelling symbol for the Space Age. It humanizes that which seems inherently inhuman: aliens, galaxies, and machines alike. More importantly, however, it gives us pause and allows us to reflect on the cultural joy of space exploration amid all the technological jargon and logistics. And so, as we #thankoppy, celebrate interstellar accomplishments, and dream of cosmic futures, we might do well to remember that we will not only, as Holiday sings, be seeing space. Well be listening to it, too.

Who knows, someone might just be listening back.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
When something went wrong with my grandmothers computer, she would call me, the granddaughter who studies cybersecurity. I would try to walk her through fixing whatever had gone wrongusually the Firefox icon disappearing from her dock, or a file vanishing from her desktop, or a strange pop-up window demanding that she agree to something she couldnt understand. Most of the time these werent cybersecurity threats; they were just normal computer hiccupsthough there was that time she responded to a phishing email with her credit card information. But regardless of whether the problems were serious, my grandmother got upset every time this machine she relied on acted in some strange, unpredictable way. I like to think it helped a little bit that she knew exactly what to do when this happened: call me.

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Thats why I was impressed to hear about the Israeli cybersecurity hotline that was officially launched this year, after an earlier pilot period. When people in Israel think they may be dealing with computer security threats or intrusions, they can just dial 119. Launched by Israels national Computer Emergency Response Team, the line is staffed by students of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and provides support and guidance to people who call with concerns about their computers. Already the line is receiving 200 calls per day, according to the Times of Israel, but the operators did not specify which types of problems are most frequently being reported to them. (CERT also did not respond to my request for comment and more information.)

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Its meant specifically for people who think that they may be experiencing some kind of online attack or threat, not people who simply cant find the Firefox icon, but it reminds me in many ways of how I used to help my grandmother. For one, its a phone-based systemsomething that makes a big difference to people who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with computers in the first place, and may therefore be more likely to fall prey to certain types of scams or viruses. There is no shortage of online advice about what to do if you start seeing certain types of messages or problems on your computer, but if youre comfortable navigating those websites, youre probably not panicked by computer malfunctions in the first place. Being able to use a phone and talk to an actual person may be easier and more reassuring than accessing online resources for some people. And if your computer has been locked by a ransomware program or compromised by some other virus, it may also simply be more practical to reach someone by phone than to turn to the internet for advice.

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The hotline model has other benefits too, not just for the people who use it but also for Israels Computer Emergency Response Team itself. It gives them access to information from people all over the country who are calling in about potential threats. Many of those calls will probably be about dealing with fairly routine risks, and some may not be tied to any actual threats at all (a Times of Israel reporter, for instance, tested out the 119 number by asking an operator what to do about her computer running slowly), but they still offer Israels CERT a window into potential new threats and problems that people in the country are encountering. If ransomware is spreading rapidly via a particular email attachment or phishing messages impersonating a certain bank are gaining traction or web browsers are being infected by a strain of malware, this is one way for the CERT to find out and take steps to alert others. It also probably brings in data from a population that may not be aware of the CERTs other functions or likely to report incidents to it by other meansthis, again, is part of the power of using a phone line.

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One of the ongoing challenges for people who work in cybersecurity is trying to promote education and awareness about online risks to the general population, and many of the ways we try to do that are simply not very effective. I recently completed a mandatory online cybersecurity training for my job that included a multiple-choice quiz in which I was asked to select which response was NOT a reason for understanding why cybersecurity is important. The correct answer? Attackers love it when potential victims understand how to defend themselves.

Theres no doubt that educating people about these threats is important, but theres also something practical and hands-on about the approach of simply creating a way for people to get help when they need it. Not every computer problem can be solved with a phone call, of course, and the hotline will probably have challenges and frustrations of its own. But its one of the first cybersecurity initiatives Ive seen that I can imagine my grandmother using, and understanding, and even finding helpful, and that all by itself seems like progress.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
A Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist accused of plotting a mass killing was arrested after federal investigators uncovered 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in the basement of his Maryland home. Christopher Paul Hasson, a veteran of the Marine Corps who worked at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in D.C., was contemplating pulling off chilling acts of domestic terror to sow violence and disorder, including biological attacks and tainting American food supplies, according to court documents. Hassons violent musings contemplated ways to kill almost every last person on earth and establish a white homeland. The government described the illegal weapons and drug charges that led to Hassons arrest Friday as the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

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In the drafts folder of his email, investigators found a note saying, Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads.  Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world. During unrest target both sides to increase tension, Hasson wrote in another email in June 2017, according to the court filings. In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence.

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A search of Hassons computer found he had created a hit list featuring Democratic leaders and members of media. Hassons spreadsheet of targets included Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and media personalities, including MSNBCs Joe Scarborough and Chris Hayes. On Jan. 19, Hasson created an Excel spreadsheet of traitors on his work computer. The list was compiled shortly after Hasson conducted a series of internet searches, including are supreme court justices protected.

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8:54 a.m.: what if trump illegally impeached 8:57 a.m.: best place in dc to see congress people 8:58 a.m.: where in dc to congress live 10:39 a.m.: civil war if trump impeached 11:26 a.m.: social democrats usa

The court documents did not specify what tipped off investigators to Hassons violent ambitions, which included a possible bombing/sniper campaign. The court filing did not say whether Hasson had a specific date planned to carry out an attack, but his behavior was troubling. In addition to a disturbing online history, which included thousands of visits to websites selling weapons or tactical gear, investigators also say Hasson appeared to be mimicking the attack prep outlined by Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breiviks 1,500-page right-wing manifesto. Breivik went on a violent spree in 2011 killing 77 in Norway. Breivik took steroids and narcotics, believing it would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks, the Washington Post notes. When law enforcement raided Hassons apartment, they said they found a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormone. He has also ordered more than 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol since 2016, along with synthetic urine to allegedly bypass possible random drug screenings at work, they said.

Hasson, a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, is expected to appear before a judge Thursday. Given the severity of the charges, prosecutors are pushing the court to keep Hasson in custody while he awaits trial. The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country, the government said in its filing.
Dutch historian and author Rutger Bregman has been celebrated as something of a folk hero by many on the left since his appearance at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January. Bregman told a room full of wealthy and powerful people they should pay more in taxes, and his speech went viral. It apparently caught the attention of some on the right as well.

On Feb. 11, Bregman tweeted that he had done an interview for Tucker Carlsons Fox show and that it had not exactly gone well. According to Bregman, Carlson himself had emailed him after the taping to tell him off. I loved what you said at Davos, so I had high hopes for our interview, Carlson wrote in what appeared to be a screenshot of the email. But you turned out to be far dumber, far more dogmatic and less impressive than I expected. Youre professional academic, so I guess I shouldnt be surprised, but it was still disappointing. Also for what its worth, youre an asshole.

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The next day, Bregman tweeted at Carlson to ask why his show hadnt aired the segment.

It wasnt really clear what had happened until Wednesday, when NowThis published a recording of that interview. In the interview, things start off friendly with Carlson, who introduced Bregman by saying hed take [his hat] off to him over his respect for his comments at Davos. Are you the first person to ever note that people are flying private to talk about global warming and that none of them mention tax avoidance?

It is a bit hypocritical, isnt it? Bergman said.

Tucker laughed. Yes it is, and others have noted that. Weve noted it on our show.

But Bergman did not let things remain chummy for long:

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You know, the vast majority of Americans for years and years now according to the polls, including Fox News viewers and including Republicans, are in favor of higher taxes on the rich. Higher inheritance taxes, higher top marginal tax rates, higher wealth taxes, its all really mainstream. But no ones saying that at Davos, just as no ones saying it on Fox News, right? And I think the explanation for that is quite simple, is that most of the people in Davos, but also here on this channel, have been bought by the billionaire class. You know? Youre not meant to say these things. So I just went there, and I thought, you know what, Im just going to say it, just as Im saying it right here on this channel.

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Carlson, who tried to steer the topic back to tax avoidance, threw off a comment that it would be interesting to know how many hours of Fox youve watched. In the exchange that followed, Bregman acknowledging that tax avoidance was an major issue but asserted that raising taxes would help the American economy.

America is still pretty much the most powerful country in the world, right? So if it really would want to, it could easily crack down tax paradises. But the thing is, you guys have brought into power a president who doesnt even want to share his own tax returns. I mean, who knows how many billions he has hidden in the Cayman Islands or in Bermuda. So I think the issue really is one of corruption and of people being bribed, and of not being, not talking about the real issues. What the familywhat the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance.

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Carlson was not pleased with the answer. And Im taking orders from the Murdochs, thats what youre saying?

No, I mean, it doesnt work that directly. Bregman responded. But I mean, youve been part of the Cato Institute, right? Youve been a senior fellow there for years.

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Well how does it work?

Well, it works by you taking [the Koch brothers] dirty money. Its as easy as that. I mean, you are a millionaire, funded by billionaires, thats what you are. And Im glad you now finally jumped the bandwagon of people like Bernie Sanders and AOC, but youre not part of the solution, Mr. Carlson. Youre part of the problem, actually.  All the anchors, all the anchors of Fox

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You would have to be a moron, you would have to be

Theyre all millionaires, Bregman said. How is this possible? Well its very easy, youre just not talking about certain things.

Carlson then brought up a separate point of protest: It doesnt evenFox doesnt even play where you are.  Youve never seen Fox before.

I have, actually. I cant say Im a great fan of your show, but I do my homework when you invite me on your show. So I mean, youre probably not going to air this.  But youre a millionaire funded by billionaires and thats the reason youre not talking about these issues.

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But I am talking about these issues.

Yeah, only now. Come on, you jumped the bandwagon. Youre all like, oh, Im against the globalist elite, blah blah blah.  Its not very convincing to be honest.

I wanna say to you, why dont you go f yourself, you tiny brainand I hope this gets picked up, because youre a moron. I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too fucking annoying for me to

Bregman cut him off. You cant handle the criticism, can you?
A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors, including Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, violated federal law when they arranged a plea deal for the multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who spent just 13 months in jail despite being accused of trafficking underage girls and personally abusing scores of young victims. According to the judge, the prosecutors violated the rights of Epsteins victims by arranging the plea deal secretly.

In his opinion, District Judge Kenneth Marra said that Acosta, who was then the U.S. attorney in Miami, should have prosecuted Epstein under federal sex trafficking laws. Epstein used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him, Marra wrote. Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others.

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According to the Miami Herald, Marras ruling gives the government 15 days to speak with Epsteins victims and come up with a resolution. The case will likely not overturn Epsteins sentence.

In an investigation published last fall, the Herald reported that Epsteins lawyers, a team that included Alan Dershowitz (who has himself denied allegations he had sex with underage girls at Epsteins direction) and Ken Starr, were largely allowed to set the terms of their clients plea deal.

The Herald identified more than 80 possible victims who said Epstein, a powerful and well-connected man, had molested them when they were teenagers. Many were from low-income or unstable homes, and they said Epstein coerced them into sex acts after paying them for massages, often repeatedly. At least one victim alleged a violent rape. Meanwhile, others accused Epstein of using an international modeling agency to traffic underage girls from Europe, Ecuador, and Brazil.

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In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related charges in state court and was sent to serve 13 months in a private wing of the Palm Beach, Florida, county jail. During that time, he was allowed to leave six days a week for up to 12 hours at a time to work out of his office. He was also registered as a sex offender and ordered to pay restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI.

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More outrageous than its leniency was the way the deal quashed other lines of investigation. The plea deal effectively shuttered an ongoing FBI investigation into whether there were other guilty partiespossibly other wealthy and powerful peopleand guaranteed Epstein and any co-conspirators immunity from federal prosecution. Acosta has said that Epsteins legal team intimidated him and the other prosecutors out of taking the case to trial. Emails between Acosta and the lawyers published by the Herald showed that Acosta explicitly allowed Epsteins lawyers to set the terms of the deal.

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And in what Marra found this week to be a violation of the law, the prosecution sealed the deal, preventing Epsteins victims from being able to protest its terms or speak at Epsteins sentencing.

That decision, Marra found, was in violation of the federal Crime Victims Rights Act, which guarantees victims the right to be notified of any court proceedings and to speak with prosecutors about possible plea deals. Two of Epsteins victims filed a lawsuit in Florida based on those rights in 2008.

After the Herald investigation was published, House Democrats called for the Department of Justice to investigate Acosta. At his confirmation hearing in 2017, Acosta was questioned about the plea deal and defended it, saying, Based on the evidence, professionals within a prosecutors office decided that a plea that guarantees someone goes to jail, that guarantees he register [as a sex offender] generally and guarantees other outcomes, is a good thing.
This post is part of Outward, Slates home for coverage of LGBTQ life, thought, and culture. Read more here.

On Thursday morning, Empire star Jussie Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police on charges of making a false police report, a felony in Illinois that could earn the actor up to three years in prison. The arrest was the most recent in a dizzying series of events in the case, which began with an outpouring of support after Smolletts Jan. 29 claim of a racist, homophobic attack by MAGA-hatted Trump supporters, proceeded through an investigation in which elements of the story fell into doubt, and ended with a Feb. 21 statement from the CPD saying that the attack did not occur. In a press conference on Thursday, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career, referencing allegations that Smollett was motivated by dissatisfaction with his salary. Im left hanging my head and asking why.

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While Smolletts ultimate legal fate is yet to be determined, both conservatives and liberals are busy making meaning out of this sad case. For conservatives, Smolletts hoax has fueled liberal biases that the Trump administration is racist and stoked unnecessary divisions in what would otherwise be a peaceful, prosperous, totally healthy and normal Trump presidency. Shame on him! (But at least its funny that liberals got pwned.)

This reaction is obvious nonsense. The story did not create these divisions. It resonated because of the divisions that we all know already existand the racist, homophobic records of our president and vice president will continue to stand on their own.

Meanwhile, many on the left will be tempted to conclude that if Smollett orchestrated a false hate crime against himself, it will have a grave, long lasting impact on victims and perhaps on the larger fight for civil rights as well. His fabrication will lead to real victims being doubted and mocked, and it will give the impression that hate crimes dont really happen.

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But the reality is this mess wont change much of anything. Although Smolletts fame made the attack national news for a few weeks, his alleged deceit wont have a lasting impact on anyone but himself. A hoax like this would never have worked if we werent already divided about how seriously to treat hate crimes and whether victims should be believedtoo divided for an isolated incident to make things worse.

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To be sure, Jussie Smolletts name will doubtless be invoked for years to come as a means of distraction and evasion whenever the subjects of hate crimes, anti-gay prejudice, racism, or believing victims comes up. But the sort of people who believe that racism isnt that bad, that gay bashing isnt real, that victims are often liars, and that liberals are dummies for caring would have believed those things with or without his help. The sorts of people who scoff at the idea of hate crimes dont do it because a high-profile case turned out to be a hoaxthey seize on hoaxes and whatever else they can find because they politically oppose civil rights.

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If it was important to such people that the Jussie Smollett case was a hoax, then it would be important that the case of Robin A. Rhodes, who in January 2017 assaulted a woman wearing a hijab yelling Trump is here now. He will get rid of you, was not a hoax. Or that the case in Florida later in 2017, where Brandon Ray Davis yelled anti-gay slurs and Youre in Trump country now, as he ran down two gay men with his scooter was not a hoax. Or that Trump said there were very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville, Virginia, even though one side consisted of violent white supremacists, one of whom murdered a woman.

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Likewise, if Smollett was about to singlehandedly cause people to stop believing victims with serious, substantial claims, then over 20 women who have credibly accused Donald Trump of groping and worse would have been taken seriously until now. Blaming the victim of a rape or assault would be a new concept, not a phrase that feels trite due to repetition despite being as relevant today as it has ever been.

Honestly, it would be a better world if Smollett had that sort of power: a world where we could regain dignity and justice for victims of hate crimes simply by adequately finding and punishing the rare hoaxer. A world where, if we learned to withhold judgment for a few extra days or weeks, the truth would come out, and the true stories victims told would no longer be ignored and shrugged away. But Smollett cant exacerbate racism in a country where the president is a nationalist who paints poor Latin-American immigrants fleeing violence as an invading army and mocks an opponent with a racial slur, or fuel homophobia if the vice president is among the most virulently anti-gay politicians in the country.

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Its certainly embarrassing for those who expressed concern or solidarity with Smollett to consider that weve likely been misled, our empathy for the actor misplaced. But dont confuse your very reasonable embarrassment and anger in the wake of having been duped for a more permanent kind of harm. No one who invokes the name of Jussie Smollett to cast doubt on real victims would have believed them, but for this. Homophobes who regularly link gays to pedophilia or believe that same-sex marriage is a sign of civilizations downfall werent on the brink of a change of heart, but for this. Neither were racists like U.S. Rep. Steve King, who believe that America wont be America unless the majority of her population is white. People who believe these ugly things, and the much larger group who dont believe anything except that its not their business to care, dont seize on hoaxes because an isolated case proves they are right. They do it because they will use anything and everything to distract from the fact that they are wrong.

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If he is ultimately shown to have perpetrated a fake hate crime, Smollett will have done grave harm to himself and his career. Its a disturbing prospect for a young man who had so much talent and promise, and I wont enjoy watching it play out. But theres no larger message here, and were not all victims of his crime. Haters, proverbially, are going to hate. They did it before, and they wont miss a step after this sad, weird story is done. We may get sick of hearing Jussie Smolletts name repeated in lieu of an actual argument. But those of us who understand that one hoax doesnt invalidate countless true stories of homophobic or race-based violence will not be deterred.
Dear Prudence,

Recently, after a few drinks, my mother confessed to me that my stepbrother years ago had been arrested for downloading child pornography and spent three months in jail for it. Apparently she and her husband (my stepbrothers father) only recently found out when my stepbrother was asked to leave a family function by someone who knew about it. She promised both of them to never tell a soul and has felt burdened ever since. She blames herself for breaking the promise and feels guilty for telling me. But I was able to persuade her to tell my brother about this because he has children who have met my stepbrother. In some ways this revelation has brought my mother and me closer, because Im proud of her for telling us. But I want to let the rest of our stepsiblings (all adults with children) know, since I think they have the right to decide for themselves how to deal with this information. I think my mother is afraid her husband will be extremely upset if she pushes the issue, and she doesnt want to split the family. I now feel the burden has been passed on to me. I avoid going to family gatherings because I worry about my stepbrother being there, and I feel terrible for keeping this information from my other stepsiblings. Dont they have the right to know? How can I support my mother and assure her that Im on her side while still convincing her to inform the others?

Creeped Out and Concerned

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Theres no merit in keeping a promise made under secretive and unfair circumstances, and your mother is in no way honor-bound by her promise to keep your stepbrothers arrest a secret forever. Nor are you, when it comes down to it. Youre not trying to run him out of town or get him fired; youre saying that his arrest for child pornography isnt a secret youre comfortable keeping, especially since it might affect whether your siblings want him to spend time with their kids. I think you should tell your mother that if she doesnt tell the rest of the family, you will, and then do so. If her husband gets angry about it, then its worth fighting him on this one. It was wrong of him and his son to ask your mother to keep this information to herself. Thats an unfair and unrealistic expectation to place on anybody, and while its one thing to try to start life over after paying ones debt to society, its quite another to try to force other people to keep secrets for you. If he had really changed, he would not be trying to spend time with other peoples children while keeping his arrest a secret.

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Dear Prudence,

My husband and I confided in my sister-in-law and her husband about our fertility issues. A couple of months later, she got everyone together for a surprise pregnancy announcement, which included me. I felt like I had been punched in the gut, left immediately, and was inconsolable after. I felt like inviting me was extremely inconsiderate and in bad taste. Im undergoing in vitro fertilization and have avoided her throughout her pregnancy. She will have her baby any day now, and I dont feel like I can bear being around her until we are expecting our own. This diagnosis has been extremely painful, and I dont know that I will ever completely get over it unless we have our own child. Am I correct in feeling her surprise announcement was insensitive? Does she owe me an apology? How do I better cope with these terrible feelings?

Struggling Sister

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The pain youre dealing with now is completely understandable, but I dont think your sister-in-law was wrong to include you in her pregnancy announcement. You say that you dont know how you can stand to be around her until you have your own child, but you must know on some level that theres not much she could do, short of not having any children herself, that would make things easier for you. You deserve support in dealing with your frustration and grief, but its not fair to ask your sister-in-law not to get pregnant, or not to be excited about being pregnant, in the meantime. People in your life will continue to get pregnant, and my hope for you is that you will be able to find ways to cope with your feelings such that you dont have to avoid them and pretend their children dont exist. If your sister-in-law had been dismissive of your fertility struggles or cruel when you confided in her, that would be different, but simply getting pregnant isnt something shes doing to or at you. That doesnt mean that you have to throw your sister-in-law a baby shower yourself or that youre not allowed to take time and space when youre feeling overwhelmed. But please dont ask her to apologize for wanting to tell you about her pregnancy.

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Consider seeing a grief counselor or, if you cant afford that right now, put aside a little time each day to write about what youre feeling. Set small, achievable goals like texting her something friendly once a week, and ask your husband for support in meeting them. If you feel comfortable doing so, you might even tell your sister-in-law that youre working on being able to celebrate with her, but its going to take a little while and you might occasionally need to take a step back. I dont know whether having biological children is going to be possible for you and your husband. If its not, my greatest hope for you is that you can find concrete ways to honor and mourn your loss that are ultimately compatible with remaining close with friends and family members who do have biological children. That doesnt mean you should force yourself to do things youre not ready for or that you should tamp down your tears and put on a happy face, but avoid pregnant friends and relatives until I have a biological child of my own is not a strategy that will result in long-term happiness or security for you.

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 Send questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)

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Dear Prudence,

I recently moved to a new city and found an apartment with an acquaintance from high school. My roommate is generally conscientious, clean, and quiet. Our living patterns mesh pretty well. However, shes a grade A bummerIve never met anyone with a more negative outlook on life. If I tell her a story about my day, she will find a way to pull out the most negative aspect and complain about how she hates that thing. If were talking about a hobby, shell go on about how shes so bad at it she might as well give up. If I thank her for sharing her cooking with me, shell talk about how she cooked it wrong and now it tastes terrible. Even silence isnt proof against her negativity; shell often pipe up with bombs like I dont think I can feel feelings anymore! which is hard to ignore. Being constantly super cheerful around her is exhausting, and asking her to change anything leads to such a torrent of hand-wringing and agonized apologies that I dont think being direct with her is possible. How can I set boundaries with her without those boundaries becoming another source of performative angst? How can I enjoy my time at home with Eeyore moping around in the kitchen?

Living With a Rain Cloud

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Treat her as a roommate and not a friend you get to live with is the best advice I have for trying to salvage a lousy situation. In the long term, I dont think youre ever going to love living with her, so whenever your lease is up, you may want to start looking for a different living situation. But in the short term, limit your interactions with her, tell her fewer stories about your day, and if she interrupts a pleasant anecdote in order to pick apart the most negative thing, politely ask her to stop: I really dont want to focus on the negative here. Can you please drop it? If she throws a tantrum when you try to set a reasonable limit, say, Lets take some time to cool off and talk about this later. Dont place the burden of being constantly cheerful on yourself, in part because that sounds exhausting and in part because I dont think itll workshe doesnt strike me as someone who ever follows someone elses emotional lead. I get that it can be hard to parse general internet-influenced speech like Im a garbage fire or everything is trash, but if she blithely announces that she doesnt know how to feel feelings, you can respond to it at face value, tell her that youre sorry to hear that and you hope she can find a therapist to talk to, and then go spend time in your own room or out of the house.

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Dear Prudence,

My boyfriend of two years and I recently moved across the country from my hometown, away from all of my friends and family, for his new job. For him, this was just another move, but for me it meant leaving everything I knew behind. Im really close to my family and made it clear to him that while I was on board, I really wanted to be engaged before we took such a big step together. I know its probably silly, but its something I care about. We talked a lot about our mutual vision of a future together, and he said he was struggling with the timing because were also dealing with his mothers estate and trying to sell her house from across the country right now. The move ended up happening faster than we expected, and weve been here almost three months. Im lonely, I miss my friends and family, and Im not thrilled about my job. Plus, were still not engaged.

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I tried ignoring the feelings, but things came to a head, and I explained how I was feeling (through tears, unfortunately). He assured me hes ready to be engaged, wants to marry me, etc., but listed reasons for not moving forward, like not knowing where to start with ring shopping (he offered to shop together and has apparently forgotten about the discussion, as it hasnt been brought up again and was ignored when I mentioned going). It makes me feel like an idiot for uprooting my entire life for someone who seems like he wont commit. On the other hand, we bought a house together and talk about getting married and having kids, so Im aware that there are commitments already in play. Part of me knows I should be content with that and the fact that it will happen, but a bigger part of me cant take this someday timeline. I also dont want to keep bringing it up and feel like Im forcing an engagement. I know Im probably leaning toward the unreasonable end of the spectrum, but Im really struggling here (and the constant barrage of holiday engagement announcements and takeover of engagement ring ads on every social platform I use isnt helping). Any advice on either getting over myself and my timelines or helping him understand how much this is really tearing me up inside?

Stuck

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You say that youre probably being unreasonable, that wanting to be engaged is silly, and that its unfortunate that you cried about something thats important to you. It seems like youre working overtime to minimize your own desires. Maybe because you think wanting to be married is foolish, or your boyfriend thinks its foolish, and you worry if you really asked him to be honest with you about what he wanted, hed let you down. Its not silly or petty to want to be engaged, especially when youve made a pretty significant sacrifice of your present happiness for what youve assumed is a shared vision of the future. I dont know what your boyfriend is holding back from the conversation right now, but theres something hes unwilling to say to you, because its an insult to your intelligence to say, Id like to get engaged, but theres just insufficient information about where to buy an engagement ring. If hes smart enough to figure out how to plan and execute a move across the country, hes smart enough to Google engagement rings [name of city you live in] where to buy.

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You told him you didnt want to move away from your hometown without getting engaged, but when the time came and he didnt propose, you moved anyway. I dont say that to blame you for your present situation but as a reminder that youre not just making this up or inventing a problem where one doesnt exist. Please dont just push down your anxieties and try to convince yourself that just because hes bought a house with you or has been willing to have a vague conversation about kids that you two are on the same page. He asked you to make a pretty significant sacrifice for him with the understanding that you two were going to take steps toward getting married, and if hes holding back some reservations, its important for you to know now before you invest more time and energy in this relationship.

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Tell him: You know it was important to me to get engaged before we moved, but theres something missing from this conversation, and I hope youll be honest with me about what it is. I think theres something youre holding back, because I dont believe that you just dont know where to find engagement rings. Even if youre afraid it will upset me, Id rather you tell me the real reason youve held back on this, because its an insult to my intelligence when you agree with me and then dont take actions or offer flimsy excuses. I would so much rather know what youre really thinking, even if we disagree. We both know why its important to me to be engaged. Why is it important to you that were not engaged right now? At a certain pointand I cant tell you when that point is, youll have to decide for yourselfyoure going to have to take uncertainty, deferrals, excuses, and soon, if and I would, but as the no they really are. I guess what it comes down to is this: Do you want to be married to someone you had to beg and convince to propose to you? Or do you want to be married to someone who shares your excitement?

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Dear Prudence Uncensored

This definitely feels like a very 90s Sex and the Citystyle scenario.

Daniel Mallory Ortberg and special guest Grace Lavery discuss this letter in this weeks Dear Prudence Uncensoredonly for Slate Plus members.

Dear Prudence,

My husband and I have been married for five years. We met while he was divorcing from his first wife. They had no kids and dont keep in touch at all. This year, my husbands brother died after a short battle with cancer. My husbands been devastated, but we are managing; my problem is with my mother-in-law. We have a wonderful relationship, and I love her like my own mother. Shes been putting up more pictures of her dead son around the house in remembrance. Some of those old family photos include my husbands first wife, and my mother-in-law is actively looking for someone to photoshop his ex-wife out and photoshop me into them! I think its very considerate that shes worrying about offending me, but I dont want to be photoshopped into a picture I was never a part of! Im also not actually offended by looking at the occasional picture that includes my husbands ex-wife in these memorials. Its not ideal, but Im really not bothered by it. Any ideas on how to handle this?

No Need to Shop Me In

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I wish everyone could understand, as you do, that pictures from a different phase in a spouses life dont mean that you, as their new partner, suddenly cease to matter. Since you and your mother-in-law are pretty close, I think you can just tell her exactly what you told me: that youre very moved shes thinking so much about your comfort while she grieves the loss of her son, but that you dont have any problem seeing the occasional picture of your husbands first wife and dont want her to worry about photoshopping any of them. If you think it would sound better coming from your husband, you could ask him to tell her this on your behalf, but I think it makes more sense coming from you, since it involves you directly and you two normally get along so well. My guess is that shell be relieved to not have to do any extra work, and youll feel better for having relieved even a small part of her burden as she grieves.

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Dear Prudence,

Im 30, and I have been with my husband for six years. We met in the military; his contract ended last year, and mine ends next month. I joined to help pay for my education, and my long-term plan ever since my husband and I met has been to finish my military career and go to graduate school in Alaska. My father spent years living there and used to bring us up for visits. Its my favorite place on Earth, and its always been my plan to move there. I spent a summer in Anchorage in college and cant wait to make it my home. When my husband and I got serious (hes from the South and very close to his family), we had a long talk about the reality of living in Alaska and came to a compromise. He didnt want to spend his whole life so far from home, so we agreed that if I were accepted to graduate school there, wed live there for the two to three years it would take to finish my degree. I was accepted, and now he says he wont go. I feel duped. This was his compromise, and weve been telling people for years that our plan was to go to grad school in Alaska. He was supportive when I applied months ago. I feel like he co-signed this plan believing it was a pipe dream, and now that its a reality, hes just trying to brush me off. I have to respond to the offer in a few weeks. I love my husband, but my mother always taught me never to sideline your ambitions for a man. I dont want to leave him over this, but I sort of feel like he played me.

Anchorage Away

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It sounds like youve only had one conversation about this so faryour husband dropped a bombshell on you, and youve been reeling ever since. Now is a good time to ask him a lot of follow-up questions. Did something happen to make him change his mind? Did he say he always considered this a pipe dream, or has something recently changed thats made him more reluctant to go off on an adventure? Is he worried that once you get there, he wont be able to find work or make friends, or that youll want to stay forever? You need more information from him than just Im not going anymore.

I think you should accept and move forward with your plans but figure out what he needs in order to give this at least the old college try. Lots of people in the military and grad school spend a couple of years in a long-distance relationship, but you should leave that as a last resort. What if he agreed to give it six months and if, at the end of that time, he was absolutely miserable, he could go home? Or what if you two could make a budget for traveling home every year during your time at grad school? He should be prepared to talk openly and at length about what hes prepared to do, given that hes sprung a very sudden change of heart on you at the last possible second. Hes had years to prepare for this or discuss his reservations with you, and you have a right to ask him to at least try it before deciding its impossible.

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Classic Prudie

Im recently engaged to the most honest, thoughtful, and loving man Ive ever met. He has supported me through many hard times. Heres the but about him: He has ambitions, and hes smart, but will likely only bring a middle-class income at best. Now heres the but about me: Im really, really pretty. My whole life people have told me I could get any man I want, meaning a rich man, and are shocked that Im engaged to my fiance, nice though he is. Ive never dated a rich man, but it does make me curious. So part of me thinks Im squandering my good looks on this poor man, and the other part of me thinks that Im so shallow that I dont even deserve him or anyone else. Am I a fool for thinking that a poor man can make me happy or an idiot for believing a sexist fantasy?
Seemingly out of the blue, Donald Trump weighed in on the future of U.S. wireless technology Thursday morning.

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on.........  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

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....something that is so obviously the future. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

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The reference to 6G tech, which does not actually exist, prompted a lot of jokes about 7-minute abs and razor blades. But, while they may have sounded a bit goofy, Trumps comments could have significant implications for the administrations stance toward China. Washington and Beijing officials are resuming trade talks on Thursday (they supposedly have a March 1 deadline for reaching a deal, though its unclear how firm that is), and one of the major points of diplomatic tension between the two countries in recent months has been the U.S.s aggressive pushback against Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant that is a leader in 5G tech, and which American leaders have accused of posing a national security threat. U.S. intelligence officials have worried that China could use Huaweis hardware to spy on other countries and have urged allies not to adopt it. In December, Canada arrested Huaweis CFO, Meng Wanzhou, on behalf of U.S. authorities, which are seeking to extradite her. Huawei and Meng, who is the daughter of company founder and CEO Ren Zhenfei, have been indicted stateside on charges of violating sanctions against Iran; the company faces separate criminal charges that it stole trade secrets from T-Mobile. A Huawei employee was also arrested in Poland last month on spying charges.

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With trade talks picking back up this week, CBS News has been airing an interview with Ren, in which the CEO has denied the spying allegations. In a segment that aired this morning, he complained that the U.S. government has been regarding 5G as the technology at the same level of thesome other military equipment. 5G is not an atomic bomb.

He later added: Now we are rolling out 5G and soon well welcome 6G. And in the future, I said there will be new equipment that is suitable for the United States. Soon is almost certainly an overstatement. Chinas government has said it plans to start research on 6G technology next year, with the hope of rolling it out by 2030. But regardless of whether Ren was exaggerating, it seems likely Trump picked up on his comments (otherwise it seems unlikely hed be talking about a still-imaginary wireless standard). As CNBC notes, by saying he doesnt want to block more advanced tech from entering the country, the president may be signaling a softening attitude toward Huawei.

Trump has reportedly been preparing an executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE from operating in the U.S., which would grant U.S. companies a little more cushion to build their own 5G networks. Now it seems Trump could be reconsidering a ban on Chinese telecoms.

So, as the Onion would say, fuck everything, were going to 6G.
SIOUX CITY -- A public discussion on immigration has been rescheduled.

Immigration Forum: Immigration Nation was supposed to be held Wednesday, but it was canceled due to weather. The forum will now be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. March 6 at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St.

This forum, which is being sponsored by the Sioux City Human Rights Commission, will focus on the reality of immigration from the real-world experiences of Siouxland community members and explore the connection to the national conversation. A light meal will be served.

Pre-registration is required. Call 712-279-6985 to reserve a seat. The deadline to pre-register is March 4th.

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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OMAHA -- A Walthill, Nebraska, man has pleaded guilty to firing a handgun at a van full of people.

Angelo Russell, 38, entered his plea Thursday in U.S. District Court in Omaha to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm. As part of a plea agreement, a charge of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence will be dismissed. Sentencing was scheduled for May 31.

According to court documents, Russell chased six men from his home on Feb. 11, 2018, and fired several shots at their van. At least one shot struck the van.

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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SIOUX CITY -- A federal grand jury has indicted two people accused of robbing a Le Mars, Iowa, bank in December.

Filed Wednesday, the indictment charges Karen Merrick, 35, and Phillip White, 32, both of Sioux City, with bank robbery. White faces an additional charge of interference with commerce by threat or violence for the armed robbery of a Sioux City cab driver in October.

Both are scheduled to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

A federal complaint was filed against the two last month, accusing them of the Dec. 12 robbery of Iowa State Bank, 301 Plymouth St. NW.

According to court documents, White exited the bank with $16,190 in currency after telling a teller he had a weapon and wanted a bag of money.

Witnesses told authorities they saw White get into a U-Haul van, in which Merrick was waiting for him, the complaint said. Merrick led law enforcement officers on a pursuit out of Le Mars and onto county roads before she was stopped. The stolen money was recovered from the van.
SIOUX CITY -- While the snow front that dumped nearly 5 inches of the white stuff in Sioux City Wednesday has left the area, the clean-up continues.

Sioux City Street Division Supervisor Ed Pickens said street crews will continue to work, 24 days a day, to remove snow from main streets in addition to cleaning up side streets.

This task isn't easy because of the residents who aren't complying with Sioux City's snow emergency ordinances, Pickens said Wednesday afternoon.

"It would make our job easier if people would follow parking rules when a snow emergency is declared," he said.

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However, Sioux City's snow emergency is expected to be lifted at 7 a.m. Thursday. The vehicles will be able to park on both sides of the street, unless otherwise posted.

Still, Sioux City did come on the low end in terms of precipitation, according to Jeff Chapman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls.

"Northern parts of Siouxland were hit especially hard with this system," Chapman said, noting that Emerson Neb. had 7.5 inches of snow while Rock Rapids had 8 inches of wintry precipitation.
SIOUX CITY -- Jeremey Malenosky will be a constant presence when more than 1,000 show choir students attend the Crusader Classic Show Choir Invitational, Friday and Saturday, at Bishop Heelan Catholic High School.

However, he is neither a show choir member nor is he a show choir director.

Instead, Malenosky, an Echo Electric Supply Company counter salesman by day, is one of about 16 volunteers known as "Duct Tape Dads."

So, what does a Duct Tape Dad do?

Well, pretty much everything. When Heelan's show choir has an out-of-town engagement, the dads transports all of the gear -- costumes, risers, musical instruments -- in trailers to the performance site and back.

They quickly assemble -- and disassemble -- equipment within minutes. If something breaks, they fix it. If it can't be fixed, well, that's where duct tape comes in handy.

For the Crusader Classic, Malenosky and crew will set up Heelan's high school auditorium for middle school teams competing from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. Then, they'll regroup while setting the "Pit," the affectionate nickname for Heelan's old gymnasium at 1021 Douglas St., for competing high school performers, beginning at 8:30 a.m., with finals starting at 7:30 p.m.
For Andrei Trupceac, the breaking point came when courts in his native Moldova overturned the results of a local election that had been won by an opposition candidate. "That day I understood that justice doesn't work here," said the 30-year-old, one of thousands of people who protested the decision last summer in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Trupceac is now part of a wave of young Moldovans, in the country and abroad, campaigning against corruption ahead of a general election on Sunday. A week before the vote, he handed out anti-corruption leaflets in the small town of Orhei, north of Chisinau in this poor ex-Soviet republic wedged between Romania and Ukraine. Last year the country ranked 117 out of 180 nations in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The NGO warned the government was putting pressure on activists. The World Bank meanwhile said in a recent report that Moldova was "captured by oligarchic interests". "Successive governments promised to combat corruption and transform the judiciary... but little has changed on the ground", it noted. - 'Used to corruption' - Some in the country's large diaspora have decided to come back from work or study abroad to protest corruption before the election. Among them are Alex Mihailenco, a 33-year-old who works as a start-up developer in London and is behind a movement called "Free Moldova". "Sunday's legislative elections are an opportunity to try to heal the country," he told AFP in Chisinau. "Moldovans have got used to daily corruption, they think it's the same in all countries, but it's not true," he added. "Free Moldova" uses online donations to print informational leaflets and posters, he said. Maria, a 27-year-old who declined to give her last name, had also temporarily returned to Moldova from Britain for the vote. She welcomed the birth of civil society in her home country, though many compatriots did not understand the need for such a movement. "It's something new which has nothing to do with our Soviet heritage," Maria said. The pair are among almost 800,000 Moldovans, of a population of 3.5 million, who work abroad and send money to their families back at home. These transfers -- estimated last year to total around $1.2 billion -- are the equivalent of 20 percent of Moldova's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank. - Dirty money - Sunday's election is shaping up to be a three-way race between the pro-Russian Socialist party of President Igor Dodon, the ruling Democratic party, and a pro-European alliance. Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2014, but Moscow still exerts a strong influence in the region. In rural areas, young activists are received with hostility and accused of being paid by "foreign interests". But those campaigning to clear dirty money out of politics insist they have no ulterior motives. Lilia Nenescu, a 25-year-old anthropology graduate based in Chisinau, said she dreams of "changing the world, as naive as this sounds". "We don't want to see our country governed by oligarchs anymore, even if they give electoral presents and are buying votes," she added. The candidacy of Ilan Shor, a businessman who is currently appealing a prison sentence over a billion-dollar fraud, is for many a symbol of the rot at the heart of Moldova's political system. He is all but guaranteed to win a seat, despite his conviction. In Chisinau, Adina Raetchi was going door-to-door to encourage people to get informed about their candidates and then turn out to vote. "Corruption is present in all areas, including education," the 21-year-old law student said. "I would just like there to be a change to the justice system -- this is essential if young people are going to have a future in the country."
Venezuela's political tug-of-war morphs into a battle of the bands on Friday, with dueling government and opposition pop concerts ahead of a weekend showdown over the entry of badly needed food and medical aid. The spectacle will play out on opposite ends of a 300-meter bridge connecting Venezuela with Colombia to the west. That span, called the Tienditas bridge, is one of the conduits that opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido wants to use to bring in humanitarian assistance to his economically crippled country. The bridge is now blocked with freight containers left there by the military, with President Nicolas Maduro refusing to let aid in and arguing it would be the first step toward a foreign invasion. The opposition charity concert organized by British billionaire Richard Branson -- called "Venezuela Aid Live" will be held in the Colombian border town of Cucuta. The stated goal is to raise $100 million in donations. Big stars from the Spanish-speaking world are scheduled to perform, and the presidents of Colombia, Chile and Paraguay have said they will attend. The government has not said who will perform on the Venezuela end of the bridge. That concert's slogan is "Hands Off Venezuela." "All the artists that are going to sing in Colombia must know that they are committing a crime. They are endorsing a military intervention," said Maduro. On Thursday he ordered the closure of Venezuela's border with Brazil -- one of the main potential avenues for aid delivery -- as part of the power struggle with Guaido over bringing in aid. Maduro said he was considering closing the border with Colombia, too. Guaido meanwhile was traveling in a convoy of vehicles to personally pick up US aid being stockpiled on the Colombian border, defying Maduro's military to stop him. Recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, he left the capital Caracas in a convoy of vehicles with tinted windows for the 900-kilometer (560-mile) trip. The 35-year-old leader of the Venezuelan legislature proclaimed himself acting president January 23 and wants to oust Maduro, set up a transitional government and hold new elections. Guaido scored important symbolic boosts Thursday as 11 Venezuelan diplomats based in the US declared their support for him. - Fight over aid- Maria Teresa Belandria, Guaido's designated ambassador in Brazil, said 100 tons of food, medicine and emergency kits were waiting to be trucked from Boa Vista to Pacaraima on the Venezuelan border. Meanwhile, Maduro -- mirroring Guaido's move in an attempt to show his socialist government was able to look after its people -- ordered a shipment of thousands of food boxes to be distributed to the needy along the Colombian border. He also announced on Thursday the arrival of another 7.5 tons of medicine and medical supplies from Russia. Shipments of food and medicine for the crisis-stricken population have become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido. Guaido, who says 300,000 people could die without an influx of aid, says he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing it in by Saturday. It remained unclear how he proposed to do so if the blockade continues, but experts have pointed to the notoriously porous 2,200 kilometer (1,360-mile) border, which is perforated by well-worn drug trafficking and contraband routes. - Invasion 'wouldn't make sense- Guaido said the planned entry points for aid were the Brazilian and Colombian borders, the island of Curacao and the seaports of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira. The opposition says teams of volunteers will spread out to bring aid in through states bordering Colombia and Brazil and from the city of Falcon in the north which looks out to Curazao. Colombian police say there are some 30 clandestine border crossings into Venezuela. Venezuela's vice-president Delcy Rodriguez said the government was shutting down air and sea links between Curacao and Venezuela. The White House said Vice-President Mike Pence would visit neighboring Colombia on Monday in a show of support for Guaido. The US has repeatedly said "all options," including military, are on the table. But Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao dismissed US threats of military intervention in Venezuela as "premature" and said it "wouldn't make sense." "I think they're more in the realm of rhetoric than action," Mourao said of the threats in an interview with AFP.
To make it easier for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to achieve their dream of getting a car for their families, Toyota Motor Philippines has announced that it is offering special Toyota Vios packages exclusive for the countrys modern-day heroes.

Under the special financing packages offered through Toyota Financial Services, Filipino overseas workers and seafarers may avail of the all-new Toyota Vios for as low as PHP7,394 a month for the XE CVT variant (50-percent down payment, 60 months to pay). Other flexible financing packages may also be applied to selected variants in the Vios lineup.

Toyota recognizes the hardworking OFWs and seafarers who are doing noble work all over the world in order to provide their families a better life, said Cristina Arevalo, Toyota Motor Philippines First Vice President for Brand and Product Planning Cluster. We believe the Vios can be a valuable addition to their householdmaking it easier, safer and more comfortable for their family members to go to work or school or to just go places and bond as one family.

To avail of the special OFW packages, OFWs and seafarers may visit the Toyota Vios display at the SM Mall of Asia on February 21-22 and February 25 to March 6; and at the Duty Free Philippines Fiesta Mall on February 25 to March 3.

Toyota marketing professionals will be on-site to assist the OFWs and seafarers in knowing more about the advanced features of the all-new Vios and all the available easy financing options.

To qualify for these special Vios financing packages, OFWs or seafarers simply need to present their OWWA-issued OFW ID or MARINA-issued seamans book, contract of employment, certificate of employment, last 3 months payslip and last 3 months proof of remittance.

Known to embody the Toyota brands quality, durability, and reliability, the Vios is the most-preferred sub-compact sedan in the Philippines selling more than 25,000 units in 2018.

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With its reasonable maintenance cost and excellent resale value, Vios is seen as a wise investment option by those looking for their first car purchase or additional family or business vehicles, said Arevalo.

To know more about the all-new Vios, visit the official website at toyota.com.ph or join the verified Facebook page at Facebook.com/ToyotaMotorPhilippines. For more information about the OFW packages, call the Toyota Customer Assistance Center at (02) 819-2912.

Toyota Vios

The post Toyota PH Offers Special Toyota Vios Promo for OFWs appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
A deadly car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group hit US-backed forces in eastern Syria on Thursday as they tried to negotiate the release of civilians trapped in the jihadists' last sliver of territory. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are working towards evacuating civilians remaining in the holdout, so they can finish off the dying IS "caliphate" either through an assault or a surrender deal. The jihadists overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but several offensives have retaken all but half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) of their territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz. A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS said international forces "continue to support the SDF as they negotiate having innocent civilians released" and their captured fighters returned. As the SDF pressed the last IS diehards, a car bomb killed 14 oil workers and six of the Kurdish-led alliance's conscripts near the Omar oil field that it uses as its main base in the region, the US-backed group and a monitor said. IS claimed responsibility for the blast on Telegram, saying its fighters had planted and detonated the explosive-laden car. SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said the explosion in the village of Shheel, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Baghouz, was another example of IS cells attacking its fighters behind the front line. "This is what we've been talking about in the past... about sleeper cells trying to impede our progress in Baghouz," he said. A day after hundreds of people were evacuated from the last IS remnant, more than 50 trucks on Thursday returned near empty from Baghouz to SDF territory, an AFP correspondent said. "We couldn't enter Baghouz," said a man who had accompanied the convoy. "We got to an SDF point and we found around 15 people -- women and children including a French woman and an Egyptian woman. We took them," he said. "The fighters asked us to go back tomorrow at 8 am." - Hundreds evacuated - Thousands of people have escaped IS territory in recent weeks, but the flow slowed to a trickle at the weekend, before Wednesday's first batch of evacuees. Paul Bradley, from the Free Burma Rangers volunteer group, said people fleeing painted a grim picture of life inside. "They showed us this bread that's basically mashed up wheat with water burnt on both sides, $16 a kilo," he said. SDF spokesman Afrin said most of those trucked out on Wednesday were civilians, but they also included IS fighters. On Thursday, the AFP reporter saw hundreds of people waiting in a screening area where the SDF have been questioning new arrivals in recent weeks, to separate out suspected jihadists from the civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Wednesday that negotiations were being held "for the surrender of the last IS fighters". It said there were "reports of a deal" but the details were unclear. - French jihadist 'killed' - At the height of its rule, IS imposed its brutal ideology on a territory roughly the size of the United Kingdom, attracting thousands of supporters from abroad. But the jihadists have since lost almost all their territory, and hundreds of foreigners suspected of being IS fighters, as well as related women and children, are being held by the SDF. Other foreign members have been killed. A top French jihadist, who voiced an audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 attacks in Paris, was killed in an overnight airstrike, security sources told AFP on Thursday. Fabien Clain, who is believed to have gone to Syria in March 2015, was killed in Baghouz, they said. Across the border, security officials in Iraq said the SDF handed over 130 Iraqi jihadists to Baghdad on Thursday, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali denied the claim. Syria's Kurds have long demanded the repatriation of foreigners accused of belonging to IS in their custody, but their home countries have been reluctant. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was barring a US-born former IS propagandist from returning home from Syria, where the conflict has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since 2011. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the diplomatic status of the father of Alabama woman Hoda Muthana meant she was not a US citizen. It came after a lawyer for the family of Shamima Begum, 19, who fled London to join the jihadists when she was 15 said Britain was revoking her citizenship. In Washington, the White House said it would keep around 200 troops in Syria after Trump's pullout for an unspecified period. The announcement comes amid criticism of Trump's decision to withdraw around 2,000 troops from Syria by April 30, with members of his own Republican Party blasting the move.
A Singaporean activist was Thursday fined for organising an illegal public discussion in the tightly-controlled city-state that featured a prominent Hong Kong democracy campaigner speaking via Skype. Jolovan Wham was convicted last month of breaking public order laws after he failed to apply for a police permit before inviting activist Joshua Wong to speak via video call to an audience. The 39-year-old was also found guilty of refusing to sign a written statement to police. On Thursday he was handed a fine of Sg$3,200 ($2,300). Wham, who is currently out on bail, said he will appeal the sentence, but if that fails he said he will choose to serve a 16-day jail term rather than pay the fine. The activist, who is also an advocate for migrant workers' rights, had described the gathering in November 2016 as "a harmless and straightforward discussion about social movements". Wong, who was among the leaders of massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014, spoke to the audience about the role of civil disobedience and democracy in building social movements. Organising a public assembly without a permit in Singapore is punishable by a fine of up to Sg$5,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to Sg$10,000 or jailed for a maximum of six months or both. Wealthy Singapore is regularly criticised by rights groups for its heavy-handed response to political dissent and freedom of expression. In December, the editor of a Singaporean website was charged with defamation for publishing a letter alleging corruption among the country's leaders. The same month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued a blogger for defamation after he shared an article on Facebook linking the leader to a corruption scandal in neighbouring Malaysia. Lee said the article was false and without basis.
As a shy, studious teenager in Alabama, Hoda Muthana rarely made waves. After her abrupt transformation into a fiery supporter of Islamic State extremists, she is under the scanner of the top levels of the US government. The 24-year-old, who has since been married to three different jihadist men and has a toddler son, says she regrets her turn to radicalism and wants to return home -- but President Donald Trump has personally intervened to block her. Growing up in Hoover, Alabama, a prosperous suburb of Birmingham with a sizable Muslim community, Muthana was raised by strict Yemeni immigrant parents who forbade her from owning a smartphone -- ubiquitous among US teenagers -- until she finished high school. The phone opened her world. Muthana says she was pulled in by messages of the Islamic State group which brainwashed her into flying furtively in 2014 to the militants' self-styled caliphate, which then reigned over vast stretches of Syria and Iraq and had drawn in hundreds of Westerners, mostly Europeans of immigrant upbringing. Once she arrived, social media gave the Alabama girl a global audience among jihadists. In one tweet, she appeared to torch her US passport. In another, she called Americans "cowards" for not coming in greater numbers to the caliphate's de facto capital of Raqa where she lived among Australians. In a message preserved by George Washington University's Program on Extremism, Muthana hailed the deadly 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French newspaper that satirized the Prophet Mohammed, writing "Hats off to the mujs in Paris" and urging similar attacks. Detained by US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria as the Islamic State's territory dwindles to its last sliver, Muthana said she no longer believes in the extremist ideology. "It's not Islamic at all. Anyone that says so, I will fight against it," she told ABC News, speaking in a soft, flat voice and sporting a blue veil. "I'm just a normal human being who has been manipulated once and hopefully never again," she said. - New world on smartphone - Jordan LaPorta, who attended Hoover High School with Muthana from 2009 to 2013, said he saw her nearly every day as they took advanced classes together. "We were courteous, and she was a nice, quiet young woman," he told AFP. "No one, myself included, had any idea that this radicalism was festering when the original story broke in 2015. People far closer to her than I were stunned by the news," he said. LaPorta, now a student at the University of Alabama Law School, said that Muthana later threatened him for comments he made after her turn to radicalism, by tagging him on Instagram, calling him a "nerd" and saying he "deserved a neck" -- a threat he reported to the FBI. Muthana's father gave her a smartphone when she graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She "really found a place of belonging on her phone, online," said Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the family. Islamic State recruiters "preyed upon her" and "gave her so much attention and played with her mind and they cut her off from her friends, from her family, from her community, from her mosque," Shibly said. - Father feels American - In a highly unusual move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Muthana is not a US citizen, even though she traveled to Syria on a US passport. "This is a woman who inflicted enormous risk on American soldiers, on American citizens. She is a terrorist. She's not coming back," Pompeo told the Fox Business Network on Thursday. The US Constitution's 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, grants citizenship to everyone born in the country -- with the exception of children of diplomats, as they are not under the jurisdiction of the United States. US officials say that Muthana's father, Mohammed, served at the Yemeni mission at the United Nations and that his daughter was never entitled to citizenship. The family lawyer contests this, saying Mohammed Muthana was no longer a diplomat when his daughter was born in New Jersey. Mohammed Muthana, in a 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News when his daughter's case came to light, voiced sorrow. "America is my country now," he said. "My kids' country. And if for me as an American citizen, if asked to me to defend this country, I will defend it." LaPorta, her classmate, said that Hoover residents in a private Facebook group overwhelmingly said they did not want her back. He said she should return but face charges. "As for me, I do have some degree of sympathy. Young people make mistakes, and she has a young child not implicated in any of this due to any fault of his own," he said. "But fleeing the country to join a terrorist organization is not an act of mere youthful indiscretion. Actions have consequences."
Singapore State Courts (AFP Photo/Mohd Fyrol)

The trial for a secondary school teacher accused of committing multiple sexual offences against a 15-year student within two months began on Thursday (21 February).

The 40-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, faces 20 counts of digitally penetrating the girl and having sex with her on 10 occasions between 10 August and 24 September 2015. He was then teaching the victim, who is now 19 years old, at the same secondary school.

The prosecution will be proceeding with all 20 charges against the man.

The man, who taught in the school located in the northeast of Singapore, is said to have brought the girl to his flat in the same area. The school also cannot be named to protect the victims identity.

On Thursday, Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew said that the prosecution would be calling the victim and the investigating officer as witnesses. The victim then took the stand and the court was vacated for the trial to be heard behind closed doors.

The hearing will resume on Friday.

For digitally penetrating a person under the age of 16, the man faces a maximum jail term of 10 years, or a fine, or both, on each count. For having sex with a person under the age of 16, he faces the same punishments.
Two young Saudi sisters in Hong Kong said Thursday they had been intercepted by kingdom officials at the city's airport while attempting to escape to Australia, in the latest case of women fleeing the ultra-conservative country. The pair, who have adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan, said in a statement from their lawyer they had renounced Islam and fear the death penalty if forced to return to Saudi Arabia. The sisters aged 20 and 18, whose representatives say they suffered violent abuse, fled to Hong Kong in September from a family holiday in Sri Lanka and were planning to fly on to Australia. But they say they were obstructed by Saudi officials and have been living in hiding in the Chinese city for nearly six months since. "We fled our home to ensure our safety. We hope that we can be given asylum in a country which recognises women's rights and treats them as equals," the pair said in the statement shared by prominent lawyer Michael Vidler. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most restrictive countries for women. The case has emerged a month after 18-year-old Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun drew global attention with her dramatic escape from an allegedly abusive family, gaining refugee status in Canada last month. Justice Centre Hong Kong, a migrants' rights group aiding Reem and Rawan, said the sisters had also fled "gender-based violence". According to the lawyer's statement, they were intercepted during their stopover by unknown men who took their passports and "attempted to deceive the sisters" into boarding a flight back to Saudi Arabia. They later learned one of the men was Saudi Arabia's consul general in Hong Kong, and that their onward flight booking had been cancelled, it added. The Saudi consulate in Hong Kong did not respond to requests for comment. After failing to board a second flight and fearing they were about to be "forcibly abducted", the sisters say they left Hong Kong airport to enter the city as visitors. They have been forced to change locations 13 times for fear of their safety, their statement said, after police reportedly tried to take them to meet with male relatives and Saudi officials. "We dream of being in a safe place where we can be normal young women, free from violence and oppression," the sisters said. They tweeted Thursday, using the account @hksisters6, to say their passports had been invalidated and they feared being forced to go to the Saudi consulate in Hong Kong. "We do not want to face the same fate as Mr Jamal Khashoggi," they wrote, referring to the prominent journalist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who was murdered at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Hong Kong police told AFP the case is under investigation and confirmed they received a missing person report and a separate report made by "two expatriate women" in September. Hong Kong's Airport Authority declined to comment.
The wife had tried to dissolve her marriage on the basis that it had broken down irretrievable due to the husbands unreasonable behaviour. (Photo: Getty Images)

A wife who wanted to divorce her husband of nearly 17 years claimed that he was abusive towards her, travelled frequently without informing her, refused to visit her relatives, and slept apart from her for several years.

Apart from providing photos of the husband sleeping in the living room in 2016, the wife also claimed that he had an affair way back in 2002 and had thrown a plate of noodles on the floor in 2007  more than a decade before she applied to the family court for the divorce.

But the husband, a taxi driver, told the court that it was the wife, a remisier, who had asked him to move out of the master bedroom as he had a snoring problem, and denied any unreasonable behaviour on his part.

In judgment grounds made last Friday (15 February), and released on Wednesday (20 February), District Judge Guo Zhuo Neng rejected the divorce, which had been filed on the grounds that the marriage had broken down irretrievably due to the husbands unreasonable behaviour.

Said the judge, It was clear to me that the wife wished to leave the marriageHowever, in order to grant a divorce, I had to be satisfied that the husband had acted unreasonablythere was insufficient basis to make such a finding.

Pointing out that communication in a marriage is a two-way street, the judge added, If the wife was not happy with the husbands behaviour all these years, she should have notified him of how she felt.

The wife was also ordered to pay the husband $2,000 in costs. She is appealing against the judges decision.

The couple got married in July 2001 and have a child aged 11. The wife filed for divorce in May last year. Both parties were not named in judgment grounds.

The wife claimed that the husband was not emotionally supportive of her when she had to take responsibility for financial losses suffered by her clients around January 2016. But the husband claimed that the wife had extravagant habits and had proposed that their flat be sold off to pay her debts, to which he refused. As of February 2016, the wife owned her creditor $295,620.54, the judge noted.

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The wife alleged that a year after they got married, the husband went on a biking trip to Hatyai, Thailand. When he returned, he showed her photos which revealed him sitting very closely to a woman and he even had his arm around her in some photos. The couple quarrelled over the photos and he moved out of their home for more than six months, she said.

The wife also claimed that a friend of her husband told her that he went to Penang as he was having an affair with a woman there. The husband denied having another relationship or that he had deserted the wife.

The judge noted there was no evidence submitted to the court to support the wifes allegations.

The couple went on to have their child in 2007. The wife alleged that the husband threw a fax cable at her that year and also smashed the home phone. But the husband denied the incidents happening, and there was again no evidence in support of the wifes claims.

The same year, according to the wife, the husband also threw a plate of noodles on the floor in the presence of their then-four-month-old baby. The husband admitting doing so, but said it was because he was angry over how his wife had used the Baby Bonus.

The judge said while the allegation had been made out, it must be put in context. The incident happened more than 10 years prior to the filing for divorce, and the single incident cannot amount to unreasonable behaviour justifying a divorce.

The wife also claimed that in March 2017, they got into an argument and her husband threw the pot cover in her direction but it did not hit her. The husband said the wife had thrown the pot cover at him first, and he picked it up and threw it at the floor instead.

The judge found that it was quite unlikely for the pot cover to have missed the wife if the husband had intended for it to hit her.

The wife also alleged that the husband used vulgarities on her and their child, but he denied this. She further claimed having a recording of his violent outburst towards the child. But no video was submitted by the wife.

The judge noted that it was hard to give any credibility to the wifes allegation when there was no evidence given to the court.

While the wife claimed that the husband had not participated in events involving her family since 2008, the husband said he was busy working as a taxi driver.

And while she alleged he went on holidays without informing her, he said he always told her about his trips. The husband had a motorcycle which he rode up at least fortnightly to Johor Bahru. And when he went to Thailand for a holiday last year, he gave their child money for expenses.

Under the Womens Charter, one of the grounds for a spouse to file for divorce is when the marriage has irretrievably broken down, in that one spouse has behaved in such a way such that the other spouse cannot reasonably be expected to live with the other.

Other Singapore stories:

Prosecution seeks 5 years jail for man who cheated 6 women of nearly $440,000

Cleaner sentenced to jail and caning for molesting 2 residents in condominium lift

Secondary school teacher on trial for committing multiple sex acts with 15-year-old student
Both Singapore-based companies have joined on a mission to make sure patients can get personalised healthcare at lower cost

Digital healthcare platform MyDoc today announced a partnership with Homage, a personalised nursing service provider.

The partnership will result in nursing care integration into MyDoc with the goal of offering affordable and enhanced outpatient healthcare support for employers and insurers.

According to MyDoc, the partnership rings true to its strategy which includes simplifying healthcare to be able to catch chronic diseases before it reaches terminal stage. This is also something that Singapores Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat addressed during Budget 2019 in terms of cost-effectiveness and access to the general population suffering from chronic conditions, regardless of income.

Also Read: Digitised school tuition startup InfraDigital raises seed funding from Fenox Ventures

Using MyDoc, patients can have a personal professional healthcare service with capabilities to enhance the patient experience and steer patients onto effective personal care pipeline that help each individual get well, stay well, and out of hospitals.

The partnership will see through two patient care models, that include expanding onsite clinics staffed by nurses who are supported by remote doctors, and a Clinic Care Capabilities thatll enable patient to follow up care at home and better distribution of patient load.

Patients can use MyDocs platform to contact their nurses, provided by Homage and trained and certified by MyDoc. These telenurses are to monitor patient oxygen levels, heart rate, respiration, blood glucose level, and more.

On the other hand, nurses will be able to launch teleconsults with doctors from patients homes or offices to provide comprehensive doctor and nurse care, all at an affordable cost for each onsite visit and consult.

Adding nurses to the MyDoc CARE team is a natural step in our strategy to enhance our patient-centric primary care continuum. Nursing care at home would be a significant value add to patients who need post-hospital discharge follow up services like wound reviews, dressing changes, intravenous therapies, and vital monitoring, said Dr. Vas Metupalle, CIO and co-founder of MyDoc.

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As the country of an estimated one million aged people by population by 2030, Singapore must tackle challenges of the high costs of care, especially home care.

At Homage, we are professionalising home caregiving in Singapore by ensuring that all of our nurses possess the right certification and training, said Gillian Tee, CEO and founder of Homage.

Also Read: Lalamove raises US$300M in Series D funding round to widen expansion

Homage is the most recent addition to MyDocs value-based digital healthcare platform. Other strategic partners in the region include Guardian, IHP, Acumed, Aetna, AIA Vitality, Cigna, and many others.



The post MyDoc, Homage join forces to make on-site healthcare affordable appeared first on e27.
Both Singapore-based companies have joined on a mission to make sure patients can get personalised healthcare at lower cost

Value-based digitally managed healthcare platform MyDoc announced a partnership with Homage, a personalised nursing service provider. The partnership will result in nursing care integration into MyDoc with the goal of offering affordable and enhanced outpatient healthcare support for employers and insurers.

The partnership rings true to MyDocs strategy includes simplifying healthcare to be able to catch chronic diseases before its terminal, which is also something that Singapores Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat addressed during Budget 2019 in terms of cost-effectiveness and access to the general population suffering from chronic conditions, regardless of income.

Also Read: Digitised school tuition startup InfraDigital raises seed funding from Fenox Ventures

Using MyDoc, patients can have a personal professional healthcare service with capabilities to enhance the patient experience and steer patients onto effective personal care pipeline that help each individual get well, stay well, and out of hospitals.

The partnership will see through two patient care models, that include expanding onsite clinics staffed by nurses who are supported by remote doctors and a Clinic Care Capabilities thatll enable patient to follow up care at home and better distribution of patient load.

Patients can use MyDocs platform to contact their nurses, provided by Homage and trained and certified by MyDoc. These telenurses are to monitor patient oxygen levels, heart rate, respiration, blood glucose level, and more.

On the other hand, nurses will be able to launch teleconsults with doctors from patients homes or offices to provide comprehensive doctor and nurse care, all at an affordable cost for each onsite visit and consult.

Adding nurses to the MyDoc CARE team is a natural step in our strategy to enhance our patient-centric primary care continuum. Nursing care at home would be a significant value add to patients who need post-hospital discharge follow up services like wound reviews, dressing changes, intravenous therapies, and vital monitoring, said Dr. Vas Metupalle, CIO and co-founder of MyDoc.

Story continues

As the country of an estimated one million aged people by population by 203., Singapore must tackle challenges of the high costs of care, especially home care. At Homage, we are professionalising home caregiving in Singapore by ensuring that all of our nurses possess the right certification and training, said Gillian Tee, CEO, and founder of Homage.

Also Read: Lalamove raises US$300M in Series D funding round to widen expansion

Homage is the most recent addition to MyDocs value-based digital healthcare platform. Other strategic partners in the region include Guardian, IHP, Acumed, Aetna, AIA Vitality, Cigna, and many others.



The post MyDoc and Homage join forces to make on-site healthcare affordable appeared first on e27.
Good news to commuters who take the daily stretch from Metro Manila to Calamba, Laguna: the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has created the first Filipino-built train: the Hybrid Electric Train (HET).

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The air-conditioned train, which uses Toyota Priuss technology, can accommodate 880 passengers. It will be stationed on the Philippine National Railway (PNR), and will stretch from Metro Manila to Calamba, Laguna.

Five years in the making

It took DOST five years to build the HET. It underwent rigorous testing, and according to its engineers, is safe and reliable compared to the trains they import abroad.

According to Manila Standard, the HET cost DOST PHP120 million to develop the HET. It still costs less, compared to the USD47.4 million or PHP2.37 billion Indonesian-made trains DOST imports from Indonesia.

Ideally, the PNR should have 15 trains, although there are only six to seven of them working daily. There are also five others that are currently undergoing maintenance.

According to DOST engineering team head Paolo Acuin, they conceived the HET in 2012 and designed it in 2013. Featuring a diesel-powered generator, an electric motor, a bank of electrical batteries, and regenerative braking technology, it works by using kinetic energy lost when a train slows down, converting it to electricity in the process. This is then stored in 260 lead acid-batteries, which can be utilized to run the HET or power the trains automatic doors, air-conditioner, and the CCTV cameras.

@news.abs-cbn.com

Once the design was in place, DOST asked local bus and special trucks manufacturer company, Fil-Asia Automotive and Industries Corp., to produce the train. However, they outsourced the motor, chassis, engine, motor, axle, and wheels from abroad.

The post Meet the First Filipino-Built Train: The Hybrid Electric Train (HET) appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
Hong Kongs legal fraternity is mourning the loss of leading land law scholar Michael Wilkinson, who taught many of the citys lawyers, including its first chief justice. He died on Wednesday evening at the age of 74.

The University of Hong Kongs law faculty told students of his death in a circular late on Wednesday night. The school was in touch with the family regarding memorial service arrangements.

I have probably taught 60 to 70 per cent of all lawyers in Hong Kong, the veteran educator told legal publication Hong Kong Lawyer last year. And the best part of my work is interacting with my students.

After graduating from the University of Cambridge and becoming a barrister in Britain, Professor Wilkinson was offered a teaching position at the same institution, where he briefly taught Andrew Li Kwok-nang, who later become Hong Kongs first chief justice.

In 1983, after spending 13 years teaching in Africa, Wilkinson joined HKU, where he taught law for more than three decades, making him the universitys longest-serving scholar.

He was a member of the Law Reform Commission from 2008 to 2014, and wrote much-cited practitioners guides to civil procedures and conveyancing. He served as HKUs public orator from 2008 to last year, representing the university to deliver citations for recipients of honorary degrees.



Wilkinson was admitted to the Law Society of Hong Kong as an honorary member last year for his contributions to legal education and Hong Kongs legal field. This made him the second non-solicitor, after Li, to receive the honour.



The late law professor was known for his passion for teaching. Even after a double cancer diagnosis in recent years, including lung cancer, he continued to hold classes.

For the last three weeks or so, his health deteriorated and he had to be hospitalised, but he even asked for permission from his doctor to temporarily leave the hospital and return to his teaching, said HKU colleague Eric Cheung Tat-ming, who once studied under Wilkinson.

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He loved to teach. In fact he even said he never wished to retire

Michael Hor, HKU law dean

He loved to teach. In fact he even said he never wished to retire, HKU law dean Michael Hor Yew Meng said.



At one point last year, after Wilkinson underwent chemotherapy, students were asked to wear surgical masks in class to avoid infecting him. He delivered his last lecture on January 28.

HKU alumnus and senior counsel Alan Leong Kah-kit said the professor was very popular and had tried to make law easy for both students and practitioners to understand.

Land law expert Edward Chan King-sang expressed sadness at Wilkinsons passing and praised him for his knowledge of the field.

He always presented his views in a simple and direct manner, Chan said in a written response to the Post, adding he had every reason to believe students had found it easy to follow the scholars lectures.



This article Legal scholar Michael Wilkinson, who taught many of Hong Kongs lawyers, including its first chief justice, dies at 74 first appeared on South China Morning Post

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A man was left fighting for his life after a knife attack at a Hong Kong McDonalds on Thursday morning.

The 26-year-old was in the 24-hour outlet on the junction of Hing Wah Street and Un Chau Street in Cheung Sha Wan when the predawn attack took place at about 3am.

The victim was slashed in the arms and legs, a police spokesman said.

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After the attack, three assailants wearing face masks ran from the restaurant and fled in a getaway car.

The victim was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Lai Chi Kok and was in critical condition. His condition later improved to serious.

Soon after 6am, a car believed to have been used by the attackers was found abandoned and on fire on Kwai Yue Street, Kwai Chung, 6km away from the crime scene.

Separately, four boys aged 13 to 16 were arrested on Thursday for allegedly punching and kicking two teenagers at a shopping centre in Tin Shui Wai. Police began investigating the case on Wednesday after a video clip of the incident was posted online.

Officers from the Yuen Long police district anti-triad squad arrested the suspects in Tin Shui Wai shortly after midnight on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The offence carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.

An initial investigation showed the two male victims, aged 15 and 16, were attacked at about 10pm on January 11, according to police.

As of 10am on Thursday, the four suspects were being held for questioning and had not been charged.

This article Knife attack: three masked assailants slash man in Hong Kong McDonalds first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
Fire and explosions that ripped through apartment buildings packed with illegal chemical stores killed at least 70 people in the Bangladeshi capital which was left stunned by its latest disaster. The inferno started in a building where chemicals for deodorants and other household uses were stocked amid apartments. It spread at lightning speed to four nearby blocks, the fire service said. Chemical fireballs set ablaze the clogged narrow streets even engulfing passengers on rickshaws in flames. Witnesses told of harrowing scenes as people became trapped by flames at a bridal party and in restaurants. Bangladesh fire chief Ali Ahmed gave a death toll of 70. Doctors said at least 10 of the scores of injured were in critical condition. Hundreds of firefighters who took almost 12 hours to bring the fire under control went through the blackened floors of the building, littered with spray cans, looking for bodies. "We found 24 bodies in one corner of a building and another nine bodies at a pharmacy where the shutters were down," firefighter Shariful Islam said at the scene. "They thought they would survive by bringing down the shutters." The fire started late Wednesday night in the Chawkbazar trading district in the old Mughal part of the capital. Ahmed said it may have been started by a gas cylinder and quickly spread because of the chemicals stored in rooms alongside the apartments. Authorities promised a crackdown after a similar blaze in 2010, in an old Dhaka building also used as a chemical warehouse, that killed more than 120 people. But no effective action was taken, according to critics. "After the warehouse owners, the city corporation and the law enforcers are mainly to blame for this," said Abu Naser Khan, head of the POBO citizens lobby group. Chemicals were also stored in the nearby buildings which exploded in a chain as the fire spread. "It spread so quickly that people could not escape," the fire chief said. Fire trucks had struggled in the narrow streets to reach the scene and there was a lack of water for the battle, officials said. The main gate of one five storey building was also chained up, trapping residents inside, according to images shown on Bangladesh television. - 'Flames were everywhere' - Members of a bridal party in a nearby community centre were caught in the fire and many were injured along with customers in small restaurants, police said. "I saw the charred body of a woman who was holding her daughter in her lap as their rickshaw was caught in the fire," said one witness. Haji Abdul Kader, whose shop was destroyed, survived the blaze as as he had left to go to a pharmacy. "When I was at the pharmacy, I heard a big bang. I turned back and saw the whole street, which was jam packed with cars and rickshaws, in flames. Flames were everywhere," he told AFP. Haji Mohammad Salahuddin, among those critically injured, told how he saw bolts of fire fall from the sky, setting ablaze the narrow road clogged with cycle rickshaws, vans and cars. "The explosions were so loud it was like a war. The chemical jars were exploding in the upper floors and fireballs were falling on the streets," he told AFP. "I saw bodies burning all over the road." Doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said at least 55 people were injured, including 10 in a critical condition. Hundreds of people rushed to the hospital looking for missing relatives. Most of the dead were charred beyond recognition however. Chawkbazar is one of Dhaka's largest trading hubs and residents said most of the buildings in the area were used to store goods and chemicals. "We have warned them. But it fell on deaf ears. You can make good money by renting out building floors for chemical storage," said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
(SCREENCAP: sites.google.com/a/guiaeducation.com)

The American fraudster at the centre of a massive HIV data leak in Singapore ran an education centre in Hong Kong, charging as much as HK$8,000 (S$1,379) for each assessment of a child with special needs, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Thursday (21 February).

Mikhy Farrera-Brochez, 34, who is believed to have been in Hong Kong before moving to Singapore in 2008, is listed on the website of a local centre called Guia Education as its executive director.

Guia Educations website carries a photograph of Brochez and lists his credentials as APA, APS, MCollT, MS DPSY, DipED. APA refers to the American Psychological Association and APS to the American Physiological Society.

The site  created in December 2009 and last updated in February 2015  also lists eight other staff members.

But neither Brochez nor any of Guia Educations staff are on the APA member database, wrote the SCMP, citing an APA spokesperson.

The education centres Facebook page has also not been updated since April 2016.

The site also lists its office address as the 16th floor of Island Place, Kings Road No 500 in North Point, but the SCMP only found a low-rise shopping centre during a visit there.

While in Singapore, Brochez worked at an unnamed educational services company as well as taught in Temasek Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. His full employment history in Singapore remains unknown.

His educational certificates, reportedly including a linguistics degree from Vanderbilt University, a Masters degree in developmental and child psychology as well as a doctorate in psychology and education from the University of Paris, were later found to be forged during police investigations.

The SCMP reported that Brochez could be charged in Hong Kong for fraud and violating the trade descriptions ordinance if he had used fake qualifications to sell services to parents, citing Albert Luk Wai-hung, a barrister from the Chinese territory.

Brochez could be charged with these two offences, even if the centre never had any clients and if he did, he could face further charges, Luk was quoted as saying.

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Allegations by Brochez refuted

Brochez was named by the Ministry of Health (MOH) last month as the culprit behind a massive HIV registry leak containing confidential data of 14,200 HIV-positive individuals and 2,400 others who were identified through contact tracing.

The leaked data included the affected individuals names, identification numbers, contact details, HIV test results, and related medical information.

He was then in a relationship with Ler Teck Siang, 37, the former head of the MOHs National Public Health Unit who oversaw the HIV registry. According to the SCMP, the couple got to know each other on a gay dating site and met for the first time in Hong Kong in 2007.

In June 2016, Ler was charged under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for failing to retain possession of a thumb drive containing data from the HIV registry. His OSA charge has been stood down pending his appeal.

Brochez, however, was only issued a stern warning for his OSA offence as it was deemed that he would likely receive only a fine or at most a few weeks jail for it, revealed Health Minister Gan Kim Yong in Parliament last Tuesday.

The American has repeatedly denied his involvement in the leak and detailed his allegations against the authorities in a lengthy interview with Vice News published a day after.

A series of posts repeating these claims was also put up on Facebook on the same day by a user claiming to be Mikhy Brochez, prompting the authorities to issue statements rebutting what they termed as baseless claims made by a pathological liar.

The Facebook profile was removed by the social media giant less than 24 hours later for violating its user policies.

Among Brochezs allegations included being sexually assaulted in prison and contracting HIV while serving a 28-month sentence in Singapore for fraud and drug-related offences. He was deported from Singapore in April last year.

Brochez also claimed that Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist who treated him in prison, had given him a list of HIV-positive inmates and originally told him that he did not have HIV.

Dr Leong denied the allegations.

Last Sunday, the Singapore Prison Services said that it has filed a police report over an email sent by Brochez containing the confidential data of 13 HIV-positive individuals.

The email was sent a day before to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam as well as media organisations, including Yahoo News Singapore, Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times, US-based Lexington Herald Leader and Vice News.

It remains unclear whether the 13 individuals were part of those affected in the massive data leak.

Brochez, who is now in the US, appeared before a district court in Kentucky on 18 February (US time) to face a third-degree criminal trespass charge for trespassing his mothers home in Clark County in December last year.

His case there would be heard again on 4 March, according to a report by Channel NewsAsia.

Related stories:

Singapores HIV data leak: 5 burning questions to ask MOH and others

Singapores HIV data leak: A recap of what we know so far

COMMENT: HIV data leak  What is your excuse now, MOH?

HIV data leak: Affected persons can sue MOH but proving damages would be hard, lawyers say
Former Renault and Nissan head Carlos Ghosn and his wife invited friends to a $260,000 Carnival party in Brazil last year and charged it to his employers, documents seen by AFP show, a move Ghosn's lawyer defended as a routine corporate function for a multinational CEO. News of the party is the latest evidence of Ghosn's expensive lifestyle to emerge as his time as one of the top executives in the auto industry faces fresh scrutiny following his arrest in Tokyo last November. According to documents seen by AFP, which confirm a report in the Express magazine, Ghosn invited eight couples to watch the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro in February last year from a beach-side luxury hotel. While the guests were asked to pay their own air fare, the invitations specified that local teams would take charge of transport, lodging and other expenses. "On behalf of Mr and Mrs Ghosn, I have the pleasure to inform you that they would be delighted if you would accept to be their guest at the 2018 Rio Carnival," according to the December 2017 email invitation. "You will be responsible to book your flight and the team will take care of you from the Rio airport," it said, adding that the guests would be staying at the beachside Hilton Hotel in Copacabana. The event required costly security measures including two bullet-proof vehicles which were put at the guests' disposal. Nissan's Brazilian subsidiary later sent a bill of $257,872 (around 227,000 euros at current exchange rates) to the Renault-Nissan holding company based in the Netherlands. The Dutch firm coordinates the operations of the French-Japanese alliance, which Ghosn built into the world's top-selling automotive group before his stunning downfall on charges of under-reporting his salary. The 64-year-old French-Brazilian-Lebanese executive has denied any wrongdoing, but remains in detention awaiting a trial in Japan which could still be months away. "Friendly relations do not preclude business relations, they can even help them," Ghosn's French lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne told AFP. "We're told it involved Carlos Ghosn's personal relationships, but does that mean we can conclude there was some form of misuse of funds at the alliance?" he said. Among the guests were Mario Saradar of the family-owned Lebanese banking group, where Ghosn sits on the board; and Misbah Ahdab, a Lebanese lawmaker. American property developer Harry Macklowe was also invited, as was Khalil Daoud, head of the Lebanese postal service. "Before getting indignant, we should check if they were truly not involved in any Renault-Nissan business," Le Borgne said, noting that the Lebanese post office "required a large fleet of automobiles." Renault has said it is reviewing Ghosn's tenure as chief executive, a post he resigned last month following his dismissal as chairman of Nissan and their other alliance partner Mitsubishi. Earlier this month, Renault said it had informed prosecutors about a suspect transaction involving Ghosn's extravagant wedding at the Versailles Palace outside Paris in 2016. Versailles waived the usual 50,000-euro rental fee for the wedding under a sponsorship deal signed between the palace and Renault months before. Le Borgne has said Ghosn is ready to repay the bill.
FILE PHOTO: Senior Elysee senior security officer Alexandre Benalla (L) stands next to French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the Paris International Agricultural Show, February 24, 2018. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/Pool/File Photo

By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) - French senators urged an investigation into three top aides to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, saying there was reason to believe they had withheld information from an official inquiry into a scandal involving Macron's former bodyguard.

Delivering a scathing report after the seven-month inquiry into the so-called Benalla Affair, named for former security aide Alexandre Benalla who was caught on film beating a protester on May 1 last year, the senators said they had uncovered a number of questionable practices.

As well as doubts about the testimony of senior aides, the senate's investigative committee said it had reason to believe Benalla may have lied to them under oath, and it called for prosecutors to investigate both charges.

"What happened on May Day now appears to be the tip of the iceberg," Philippe Bas, a senator from the opposition centre-right Les Republicains party and head of the investigative committee, told reporters.

In response, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Macron's office would in due course reply to the "many untrue elements" in the Senate's findings.

Later a presidential palace official said that the Elysee would not react to the content of the report out of "respect for the separation of powers".

MACRON ON DEFENSIVE

Over recent months the Senate investigation has revealed how Benalla, who was fired from his job, was able to continue travelling on a diplomatic passport.

The committee's findings bring the mishandling of the Benalla affair closer to Macron, who took office in 2017 promising to raise ethical standards in public life.

Macron's defiant reaction to the scandal prompted a slump in his popularity ratings in the summer, from which he is only now showing signs of recovering as he seeks to quell a popular rebellion over inequality and his policies.

The committee concluded that Alexis Kohler, Macron's most senior aide, and his chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, had both withheld details in their testimonies, notably about the remit of Benalla's role as security adviser.

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The committee said Benalla also appeared to have misled senators over his alleged link to a contract between Russian billionaire Iskander Makhmudov and a French security firm, which was revealed by investigative website Mediapart.

A lawyer for Benalla did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

There was evidence, the senators said, that Macron's security and France's national interests had been put at risk.

"There is no doubt that the indirect relationship between a Russian oligarch and a close aide of the president, who is directly involved in the presidency's security ... would compromise the head of state's security and, further still, the nation's interests," the report read.

The committee recommended that Benalla, who was found to have eight passports, four of them personal and four of them either issued for work or on diplomatic grounds, be prosecuted for perjury during the investigation.

It also recommended that the upper house notify prosecutors of the evasive answers it received from Macron's aides.

Senate president Gerard Larcher has already indicated he will follow through on the recommendations and file the necessary complaints with the prosecutor's office.

Lying to parliament under oath is punishable by up to five years in prison and a 75,000 euro ($85,000) fine in France.

($1 = 0.8821 euros)

(Reporting by Michel Rose, Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)
Former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop announced her retirement from politics Thursday in a fresh blow to the conservative government already struggling just months ahead of general elections. Bishop, widely considered the most popular politician in the ruling Liberal Party of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, stunned her parliamentary colleagues with the decision not to re-contest her West Australian seat in elections due by mid-May. "I will leave this place, positive about the future, proud of the service that I have been able to give to my electorate of Curtin, my beloved Liberal Party, the state of Western Australia and my country," she said to standing applause from both sides of parliament. Bishop was the first woman to serve as Australia's foreign minister, from 2013 to 2018, and as the deputy Liberal leader, a position she held for 11 years. She is the latest of several Liberal women MPs to either retire or quit the party to become independents. Her standing in the party suffered when right-wing powerbrokers ousted moderate Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal leader and prime minister in August. Bishop was one of three candidates to run for the leadership in Turnbull's place, but was snubbed by party colleagues despite opinion polls showing her as the most popular Liberal politician. "Thank you @JulieBishopMP for your service to our nation and our Party and, above all, your friendship over so many years," Bishop's close ally Turnbull tweeted soon after her announcement. "You have been our finest Foreign Minister -- eloquent, elegant and always courageous advancing our national interest in these challenging times," he said. Defections by female Liberal MPs and a by-election loss have put the Morrison government into the minority in parliament, while opinion polls show the opposition Labor Party comfortably ahead in the run-up to the elections. - 'Ground-breaker' - But in announcing her decision, Bishop said she was confident the Liberals and their National Party coalition partners would still prevail in the election, accusing Labor of "learning nothing from its past failings". She said the current government "will be returned to office because it is focusing on the matters that matter to the Australian people." "On that basis I have reconsidered my position as the member for Curtin." Morrison, who won the vote to replace Turnbull, heralded Bishop as a "ground-breaker" for women in public life. "Julie has been a good friend. I have valued her judgement, appreciated her insight and admired the tireless way she has served the party, the parliament and Australia," he said. The departure of Bishop and a number of other moderates from Liberal ranks since Turnbull's ouster has coincided with a shift to the right by Morrison's government on issues ranging from immigration and national security to climate change. It has also again put the spotlight on the Liberal Party's difficulty in recruiting and retaining women in its top ranks. Renowned for her steely gaze dubbed the "death stare", Bishop's highlights as foreign minister included her strong condemnation of Russia over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
Chemical fireballs rained down and set rickshaws ablaze, while explosions rocked the streets and pedestrians engulfed in flames ran for their lives, witnesses said after the inferno that killed dozens in a dense Dhaka neighbourhood. Dozens were killed in the latest fire disaster to hit the Bangladeshi capital, which gutted four crumbling apartment buildings in the old city where chemicals were illegally stored. Charred husks of cars, rickshaws and vans littered the narrow streets along with hundreds of spray cans fired out by the explosions. Shocked firefighters told of the carnage they had witnessed. "We found 24 bodies in one corner of a building and another nine bodies at a pharmacy where the shutters were down," firefighter Shariful Islam said at the scene. "They thought they would survive by bringing down the shutters." Those who did escape counted their blessings. Mohammad Salim was walking home from his factory Wednesday night when a series of powerful explosions knocked him to the ground. "Another man fell on me. His whole body was in flames. As I ran for safety, I heard one explosion after another and saw a woman and her child in flames in a rickshaw," he said from his bed at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. About a quarter of the 45-year-old's body suffered burns, and doctors listed him in critical condition. Nine others at the hospital were also being treated for severe burns. - Flaming streets - Haji Mohammad Salahuddin, among those critically injured, told how he saw bolts of fire fall from the sky, setting ablaze a narrow road clogged with cycle rickshaws, vans and cars. "The explosions were so loud it was like a war. The chemical jars were exploding in the upper floors and fireballs were falling on the streets," he told AFP. "I saw bodies burning all over the road." Haji Minto, another resident of the area, said it was like "doomsday". "The flames were so intense that the firefighters could do nothing for the first few hours," he said. The inferno started in a building at Chawkbazar, a 300-year-old Dhaka neighbourhood, where chemicals for making deodorants and other household uses were illegally stored. It quickly spread to four nearby buildings where many people were trapped. Hundreds of firefighters rushed to the scene but traffic jams in the narrow streets held them up. It took almost 12 hours to bring the fire under control, as firefighters went through the blackened floors of the buildings, littered with spray cans, looking for bodies. Ali Ahmed, Bangladesh national fire chief, said the inferno may have been started by a gas cylinder. The chemicals illegally stored in the buildings only helped speed up the killer blaze through nearby apartments. Chawkbazar is known as one of the largest trading hubs in the capital, and residents said most of the buildings in the area were used to store goods and chemicals. "We have warned them. But it fell on deaf ears. You can make good money by renting out building floors for chemical storage," said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. Authorities have ordered a probe into the fire, and a minister said there would be a new crackdown on residential buildings which double up as high-risk chemical stores. "We'll have a permanent solution soon," Obaidul Quader, the road transport minister, told AFP. Critics like Abu Naser Khan, head of the POBO citizens lobby group, were doubtful. A previous crackdown was ordered after an earlier tragedy in 2010 in which more than one 100 died. "The law enforcers were reluctant to have those chemical warehouses moved from that densely populated area," said Khan. "After the warehouse owners, the city corporation and the law enforcers are mainly to blame."
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
Colorized transmission electron micrograph showing particles of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus that emerged in 2012 | Credit: NIAID

(UPDATED) A male Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from Saudi Arabia who was rushed to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on Wednesday over suspected Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), has tested negative for the disease, the Department of Health said.

The RITM released the results of the laboratory tests conducted on the patient around 7 P.M. Wednesday, according to DOH Region 4A Director Eduardo Janairo.

The patient was instead diagnosed with pneumonia, Janairo said, and his condition is currently being monitored and treated.

Nandoon pa siya sa RITM. Doon muna inoobserbahan, malaman natin progreso ng kaniyang sakit, kung mag-detoriorate o hindi. Pero at least ang ating diagnostic, hindi na MERS-CoV. Ninerbyos lang tayo diyan kasi nga galing sa Saudi, sa Riyadh since Feb. 10. May mga record na may MERS-CoV sa area na yun, Janairo explained.

Sa ngayon, wala ng dapat ipangamba kasi negative naman yung kaniyang viral infection. Ang hinahanap natin ngayon, ano ang cause ng pneumonia at ubo niya o fever. Kailangan malaman natin yun, Janairo added.

MERS is a viral respiratory infection caused by a novel CoronaVirus (CoV). Its symptoms may range from mild to severe fever, cough, chills, vomiting or diarrhea and shortness of breath. It was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

The patient was first rushed to the Laguna Doctors Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on February 19 after complaining of coughs and high fever but was transferred to the RITM in Muntinlupa City for further analysis and observation.

The emergency room of the Laguna Doctors Hospital has also been opened to patients after it was temporarily closed on Wednesday for general disinfection.  Robie de Guzman (with reports from Sherwin Culubong)

The post DOH: Suspected MERS-CoV patient from Laguna tests negative appeared first on UNTV News.
The startup raises seed funding from investors like Appworks Ventures, Fenox Ventures, and Googles and Netflixs angel investors

Indonesia-based fintech platform that seeks to create a cashless system in schools, InfraDigital, announced yesterday that it has raised a seed funding from Appworks Ventures, Fenox Ventures, and Googles and Netflixs angel investors.

Also Read: Lalamove raises US$300M in Series D funding round to widen expansion

Our vision is to create a cashless system in school, support more efficient earnings, and higher standard in financial management for education sector, said Ian McKenna, Founder of InfraDigital Nusantara.

InfraDigital, or IDN, was a GNB Accelerator graduates that launched in early 2018. Its an app thats aimed to help the education organisation management to have an easier payment system for school tuition fee and other regular fees charged on students in a form of a digital bill and online payment through multiple bank channels and payment apps available locally.

We believe that paying school tuition fee should be as easy as topping up your electricity tokens. Bank or no bank, parents shouldnt have to encounter problems in paying school tuition fee on time with our solution. The solution that IDN has also helps the school to focus more on education development rather than being caught up in financial management because its all automated and filed in the monthly report, said McKenna.

IDN plans to focus more on improving its service to all of its school networks by adding features that are needed as well as adding more schools across the country into their platform.

Also Read: Dentsu Aegis Network acquires digital agency Happy Marketer

To date, IDN said it has assisted more than 90 schools, unis, and Islamic schools (pesantren) for their financial digitisation that helps 20,000 students.

IDN is available in multiple online payment platforms like local convenient stores like Indomaret and Alfamart, local banks BNI or BNI Syariah, Mandiri, Danamon, apps like Ayopop, Kaspro, Mobilepulsa, and others.



Image Credit: InfraDigital

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The acquisition is said to direct people-based marketing offering in Asia Pacific region

The renowned agency Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the acquisition of Southeast Asias data-driven digital marketing agency Happy Marketer Group. The acquisition will effectively rebrand the digital marketing agency as Happy Marketer, a Merkle Company and will support the digital agencys people-based marketing at scale across the region through a strategic foundation for its data, analytics, and CRM solutions.

Also Read: SensorFlow secures US$2.7M Series A funding from Pierre Lorinet

We are excited to partner with Merkle and Dentsu Aegis Network to work closely to create a playbook to capture market share through Happy Marketers data-driven, technology-led, people-based marketing solutions, said Rachit Dayal, Founder and CEO at Happy Marketer, and Prantik Mazumdar, Managing Partner of Happy Marketer.

Joining the leadership team from Happy Marketer is Managing Partner, Rachit Dayal, who will work directly with Ted Bray, Managing Director and Chief Growth Officer of Merkle Asia Pacific.

The acquisition of Happy Marketer will significantly accelerate Merkles ability to bring our full suite of services to Singapore and to the Southeast Asian market. It will also provide strategic leadership and geographic link with our existing Asia Pacific footprint in China, India, and Australia, said Zhengda Shen, President of Merkle Asia Pacific.

Based in Singapore, Happy Marketer has been in operation since 2009 with a digital marketing delivery center in Bangalore, India.

Happy Marketer describes itself as Googles go-to provider in Southeast Asia for Google Analytics training and provides analytics services to companies across Southeast Asia. The agency offers marketing technology capability in leading marketing technology platforms such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, HubSpot, Oracle Marketing Cloud, and Adobe Experience Cloud.

Also Read: ViSenze raises US$20M Series C funding round co-led by Gobi Partners, Sonae IM

Story continues

In the past, Happy Marketer agencys achievements included being awarded Marketings Agency of the Year, MARKies, as well as Agency of the Year for Best Digital Agency at Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy Conference.



Image Credit: Happy Marketer

The post Dentsu Aegis Network acquires digital agency Happy Marketer appeared first on e27.
Late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's old fortress in Medellin is to be razed to the ground with explosives to make way for a park dedicated to the victims of drug trafficking, the town hall said on Thursday. "The Monaco building will fall. It's not about erasing history but starting to tell it in honor of our true heroes: the victims," said the town hall in a Twitter post. The ostentatious eight-story concrete bunker where Escobar and his family lived is to be demolished at 11am on Friday in a public show. In its place will be built a 5,000 square meter (54,00 square feet) commemorative space to honor the thousands of victims killed during the 1980s and 90s as drug traffickers fought a bloody war against the authorities. It is part of an initiative to show another side to the story of Medellin that is rarely told in television dramatizations or sightseeing tours. Every day, groups of tourists visit the white building constructed in El Poblado, one of Medellin's most exclusive neighborhoods, in the 1980s. Now empty, it was once used by the police. Escobar had been one of the world's richest men, according to Forbes magazine, on the back of the empire he built on drugs and terror. He was killed by police in 1993. As part of the initiative, since 2018 visitors to the building on the many "narcotours" are met with posters informing them of the police, journalists, civilians and judges murdered on Escobar's orders. "Respect our pain, honor our victims (1983-1994). 46,612 lives less," says one such poster. While some decry the tearing down of a part of Medellin's history, the mayor Federico Gutierrez insists the story be told from the perspective of the victims. "The demolition is one step but maybe the vindication and the voice of the victims is what could most lay to rest the ghost" of Escobar, said Alonso Salazar, a former mayor of Medellin and author of a book on the drug baron. It won't be the first such move. At the end of January a replica of the first plane that carried a cargo of cocaine to the US was removed from another former Escobar property, Hacienda Napoles. That was once a 20 square kilometer ranch containing a zoo, but is now a park. What won't be torn down, though, are the 443 homes Escobar built for families living in a Medellin rubbish dump, an act that earned him the "Colombian Robin Hood" moniker. Escobar may be dead but Colombia remains the biggest producer of cocaine in the world, much of which is bound for the US.
Tensions between China and the United States will ease in the next few months as the two sides reach consensus on a series of trade issues, while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could be released as early as April, according to a senior adviser to the Communist Party.

But whatever the outcome, ties between the two countries would never be the same again, said Xie Maosong, assistant to the secretary general of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, a Beijing-based think tank.

Xie offered the assessment at the South China Morning Posts annual China Conference, where various analysts predicted that China-US relations would be volatile and competitive in the long term  although businesses were finding ways to weather the storm.

Speakers also addressed the Greater Bay Area plan released on the weekend, highlighting Hong Kongs uniqueness and the contribution that greater connectivity and pilot programmes in the area could benefit national growth.

In the opening remark, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said president Xi Jinping has highlighted the importance of Hong Kongs role in Chinas success story during their last meeting.

Hong Kong is proud of the contribution to the country and our own progress in the past 40 years, she said.

Xie, an adjunct professor at the Central Party School, which trains senior party cadres, said he expected Beijing and Washington to hold further trade talks within the next three months based on agreements reached in Washington this week.

Xie also said he was optimistic Meng would be released in the coming weeks.

My personal assessment is that there should be some sort of deal in March and Meng Wanzhou will likely be released in April or May, he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Xie said that he was confident of such a result because of the countermeasures China had taken  specifically the detention of two Canadian citizens accused of endangering state security  to put pressure on Canada.

Story continues

Meng, the 46-year-old daughter of Huaweis founder, was detained on December 1 in Canada at the request of the US and is on bail in Vancouver.

In January, US law enforcement officials announced 23 criminal charges against Huawei and Meng  including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and intellectual property theft.

Xies comments came as Chinas Vice-Premier Liu He arrived in the United States for top-level trade talks on Thursday and Friday with a team led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Liu, a special envoy to Chinese President Xi Jinping, will be discussing a possible memorandum of understanding to suspend the trade war between the two countries. Xie said he was confident the two sides would be able to resolve some of their differences but that it would not be all plain sailing.

The US wont remove all of its tariffs as it wants to leave some room for negotiation, he said.

There is likely to be another round of talks, and by June most of the tariffs on the US$250 billion worth of Chinese products will be lifted.

Xie said that while China was willing to make concessions on trade  because of its huge trade surplus  it would be less flexible on structural changes.

That is Chinas bottom line, he said. The US will get some benefits in trade terms, but it will have to concede on the issue of economic structure.

He said it was also important for China to gain buffer time for its economic growth.

US President Donald Trump was also likely to want to reach a deal by June to aid his re-election campaign later in the year, Xie said.

Trump will say that it was because of him that the China-US trade problems were resolved.

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Xie said he also expected the US economy to enter a recession cycle this year after a decade of high growth and that the stock market rout late last year was a precursor to the downturn.

He said China should reconsider whether it should help the United States by buying US Treasuries as it did during the 2008 financial crisis.

At that time then US treasury secretary Henry Paulson asked China to help buy US Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds. Chinas vast market also saved US companies like General Electric and Apple, and that is why there was 10 years of prosperity in the American economy and stock market, Xie said. Is the US grateful for that?

While its trade war with the US had exposed many problems in China, it also gave impetus for deeper reforms over the next 10 or 20 years, he said.

It also meant the relationship between the two countries had been irrevocably altered, he said.

Long-term competition was inevitable and cooperation would be limited, especially if the US was unwilling to relinquish some of its global dominance.

Chinas rise is a nightmare for the US, Xie said. Its a nightmare not because China will become an unpredictable or uncertain factor as the US has claimed, but because the US will lose the hegemony it has enjoyed unreasonably in many areas.

That is why its difficult to be optimistic about China-US relations.

If the US wants to maintain the superpower status [it has enjoyed] since the second world war, there will be no win-win between the US and any other country.

China-US relations had been transformed and the US would use many ways to contain China, he said.

Despite the scale of its conflict with the US, Beijings main concern was domestic, Xie said.

If China cant achieve high economic growth over the next 10 years it will face many problems, so it cant let that happen.

That is why the next 15-20 years will be very important, he said.

China wont be in direct competition with the US, but it also wont back down. It will find a middle path, he said.

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 "Evaluating the Impacts of Eliminating Prosecutorial Requests for Cash Bail" | Main | U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Public to hold public briefing on "Women in Prison: Seeking Justice Behind Bars" 

Over at The American Conservative, Nila Bala and Emily Mooney have this lengthy new commentary titled "Sending Our Prisoners to College: Just think of it as an up-front investment, one that will pay dividends down the road." I highly recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts:

At the heart of conservative thinking are the tenets of individual dignity, public safety, family values, and fiscal prudence. Yet far too often, society fails to apply these principles to the criminal justice system. As a result, our current correctional system is failing all of us. It is clear that something must change.

Generally speaking, our correctional facilities do too little to prepare prisoners for their lives beyond prison walls. Not surprisingly, recidivism rates are disturbingly high. An estimate from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that almost three fifths of those released from prison will be convicted of a new offense within five years of their release....

No one should be shocked by these results; prisons are dehumanizing places that do not produce favorable outcomes for incarcerated individuals, families, or communities. If we want prisoners to treat others with human dignity when they re-enter society, we must practice these principles in our treatment of them....

We have a choice to make: we can let incarcerated individuals sit behind bars  isolated and idle  or we can take steps to provide education to incarcerated individuals who, as a result, will be more employable, stable members of our society when they are released.

The idea of educating incarcerated individuals has been met with strong opposition from those who question why Americans should be taxed so that those behind bars  who have done something wrong  receive a benefit. This sentiment led to the elimination of Pell Grants for prisoners in 1994. Pell Grants exist to provide all students with financial need with aid for college. Without financial support from these grants, the number of postsecondary prison programs plummeted from 772 programs to just 8 within three years.

By the late 2000s, individuals on both sides of the aisle began to recognize that prison systems were not stopping the continuing tide of crime. A more effective solution was needed to address the growing prison population. Finally, in summer 2015, the U.S. Department of Education announced the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program as part of the Experimental Sites Initiative. This program allowed some colleges to apply to pilot the use of Pell Grants to increase access to postsecondary education in correctional facilities, with the federal government evaluating the academic and life outcomes of those who received postsecondary education.

We are now over two years into the experiment. It is still too early to assess the initiatives impact on recidivism rates. However, removing barriers has increased enrollment: from fall 2016 to fall 2017, enrollment at Second Chance Pell experimental sites increased by 236 percent. As of fall 2017, over 954 postsecondary credentials have been awarded, giving incarcerated individuals a better chance of obtaining employment through career technical certificates as well as two- and four-year degree programs. Both the Trump administration and many leaders in the Republican Party have expressed interest in the program.

Given these promising signs, policymakers should consider expanding postsecondary education programming to prisoners nationwide. Such programming brings gains for both prisoners and public safety, rebuilds families, is fiscally prudent, and acknowledges the individual dignity of those in prison....

Education has a transformative effect on incarcerated individuals and how they view themselves. It affords individuals a glimpse at a new world of opportunities that they may not have been exposed to prior to incarceration. In the classroom, prisoners are seen as individuals worthy of investment; their teachers and coursework engender a sense that they have something to offer to society. Postsecondary courses take otherwise dead time and use it to engage prisoners in productive activity....

Practically speaking, postsecondary courses give incarcerated individuals something to do and help corrections personnel create a structured routine for participants. These factors reduce the chance that prisoners will fill their time with less productive (and potentially criminal) activities. Ultimately, postsecondary education can make the difficult job of corrections both easier and safer  for staff as well as those behind bars.

The transformative effects of postsecondary education do not stop behind prison walls; they also bring meaningful benefits to public safety. A recent study found that earning a postsecondary degree while incarcerated may reduce an individuals chances of re-arrest by 14 percent and their chances of a return to prison due to a new offense by 24 percent. Though selection bias may come into play (i.e., students who choose to enroll in education programs may have characteristics that also make them less likely to re-offend), research has continued to identify such programming as a cost-effective model for increasing public safety....

Many people, and especially conservatives, have an instinctual bias against paying for prisoners education. Yet the reality is we already pay a high cost  fiscal, social, and personal  because we do not educate most prisoners. Indeed, the cost of an education is insignificant when compared to the costs our society suffers from criminal activity. Postsecondary education may require an upfront investment, but its one that will reduce the fiscal burden of government in the long run.

Our correctional system is in crisis. Ten thousand individuals are released from prison every week, many of whom are wholly unprepared for the world they will enter. Our public safety, families, and economy are undermined when released individuals resort to crime. We have tried building more prisons, increasing sentences, and making confinement more punitive. But time and again, this tough on crime approach has not worked. Instead, it has proven not only a fiscally wasteful policy that threatens public safety and family cohesion, but an affront to basic human dignity.

Supporting prison education does not mean being soft on crime. Rather, it is one of the clearest, cheapest, and most effective methods to get control over crime and make our correctional facilities safer. It paves the way for new family legacies based on education, productive labor, and prosperity, creating positive generational effects for years to come.

Conservatives should lead the way on repairing our broken criminal justice system. Study after study has identified the provision of postsecondary education in prisons as a promising approach to preventing crime and to facilitating future economic opportunity. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program has created an opportunity to provide much-needed educational programs to incarcerated individuals. And, by expanding access to prison education programs, we can move toward an approach that embraces redemption, compassion, and second chances  and benefits society as a whole.
 Lots worth reading from lots of sources for criminal justice fans | Main | Making a robust case for "Sending Our Prisoners to College" 

The title of this post is the title of this notable new research from Aurelie Ouss and Megan Stevenson now available via SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Recent criminal justice reform efforts have focused on electing progressive prosecutors to implement change, such as the reduction of cash bail as a requirement for pretrial release. However, critics worry that removing cash bail will decrease accountability and increase failure-to-appear in court.

We test this by looking at the effects of the No-Cash-Bail reform policy initiated by Philadelphias recently elected District Attorney, Larry Krasner. Under this policy, the DAs office stopped requesting cash bail for defendants charged with a large variety of different offenses, both misdemeanor and felony. This policy led to an immediate 23% increase (12 percentage points) in the fraction of eligible defendants released with no monetary or other conditions (ROR), and a 22% (5 percentage points) decrease in the fraction of defendants who spent at least one night in jail, but no detectable difference for longer jail stays. The main effect of this policy was therefore to reduce the use of collateral to incentivize court appearance.

In spite of this large decrease in the fraction of defendants having monetary incentives to show up to court, we detect no change in failure-to-appear in court or in recidivism, suggesting that reductions in the use of monetary bail can be made without significant adverse consequences. These results also demonstrate the role of prosecutors in determining outcomes over which they have no direct authority, such as setting bail.
Ward chair accused of beating local woman

A ward chairman from Puthauttarganga Rural Municipality in Rukum (East) has been charged of beating a local woman.
Education Reporter

Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe.
Vice-chairman of Social Welfare Council among five sacked

The government has sacked five staffers of the Social Welfare Council including Vice-Chairman for working with malicious intention and against the law.
Blockchain is a notable buzzword, and while the technology is being rapidly adopted by many industries, the mining sector has been criticized for staying stuck on old models.

"The world has been transformed by new technologies such as the internet and the blockchain, mining has continued to do business slower and more expensively than is necessary, said Grant Lenaarts, CEO of Mineral Assurance  an Australian start-up aiming to bring the power of blockchain to the global mining industry media statement late last year.

Miners are explorers to the core, so why are they under exploring blockchain? Blockchain is still a baby in mining, and a topical issue, as specialists weigh the possible risks and opportunities for the industry.

Blockchain is still a baby in mining, and a topical issue, as specialists weigh the possible risks and opportunities for the industry.

Theres certainly no shortage of discussion, just little action, Lenaarts said.

For experts, its not a matter of if the industry will adopt blockchain, but when.

Deloittes 2018 Tracking the Trends report reaffirms that growing reliance on data in the mining sector introduces the potential to use blockchain technology to create fully transparent, secure, and traceable transaction histories.

Blockchain is often thought of for finance applications like enhancing accounts payable processes by eliminating the need to reconcile purchase orders and invoices or streamlining trade finance by supporting the creation of smart contracts to automatically execute payments, the report reads.

Vince Sorace, CEO of Kutcho Copper, a veteran of the mining space and founder of Vancouver- based MineHub Technologies, was looking for a way to make a blockchain-based impact on the industry. Related: Decentralizing The Internet One Torrent At A Time

MineHub and IBM (NYSE: IBM) recently announced a collaboration to use blockchain technology to help improve operational efficiencies, logistics and financing and reduce costs in the high-value mineral concentrates supply chain  from mine to end buyer.

IBM is collaborating with MineHub to develop the MineHub Platform, utilizing IBMs Cloud and blockchain infrastructure tools. Sorace emphasized that blockchain is an underlying technology with many uses other than creating cryptocurrency tokens.

IBM has been pushing into the blockchain space for a couple of years, they have missed all of the other big technology moves over the years, so they have actually been pushing hard on blockchain and cloud services, Sorace told MINING.com.

As far as Minehub goes we wanted to build a platform that we can obviously make available and give license to anybody and everybody in the ecosystem of the mining world and the supply chain, Sorace said. To do that right we wanted to pull in on the corner points called key stake holders within the mining supply chain and obviously those are the miner itself [and] whoever owns the supply chain.

Sorace emphasized that blockchain is an underlying technology with many uses other than creating cryptocurrency tokens.

This is where you see its not a tendency for everyone in the world but high frequency transaction businesses. This is where you see the adoption starting to come from banking, security, healthcare any platform where you want to control what information is going to who, insurance companies etc. all those kinds of companies have been the early adopters of it, he said.

The reason why no one [in mining] has been paying attention to thisthe reason why digitizing the supply chain hasnt really become front and center is because we were never able to achieve the level of efficiencies that you can utilizing blockchain.

There is no amount of tech in that past that would have been able to give you the amount of transparency and real time data sharing, up to date information as blockchain is giving you right now, Sorace said.

Sorace asserted that mining is the slowest industry to adapt to new technology.

There is Goldcorp using AI for resource modelling and theres these other pieces that are coming together that help, but there is no other digital nerve center. Anything with high-frequency trading and transaction type of system you can cut the middleman and basically do things more efficiently. That is where blockchain thrives, Sorace said.

The miners had their day in the sun, but now you have declining rate curves and increasing costs so how are they going to start adapting to this and how are they going to drive the bottom line now? Sorace asked.

For now, the first collaboration with IBMs first use case will be built on the MineHub platform and will manage concentrate from Goldcorps Penasquito mine in Mexico throughout its path to market.

By Mining.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com
The EU

Google says the EU requires a notice of cookie use (by Google) and says they have posted a notice. I don't see it. If cookies bother you, go elsewhere. If the EU bothers you, emigrate. If you live outside the EU, don't go there.
No one was injured after a truck with two people in it rolled into the Gardner River in Yellowstone National Park early Monday evening.

The crash occurred "just north" of the Boiling River at about 5:45 p.m. after the northbound driver lost control of the truck, according to Linda Veress, a spokesperson for the park.

The vehicle rolled down a slope into the river and landed on its roof. After the crash both people, who Veress said were adults, were able to exit the vehicle and get to shore where they were helped by passersby.

The truck was partially underwater after the crash. A park road closed while the vehicle was towed. No one was injured, Veress said by email.

The driver of the truck had an out-of-state driver's license. No citations were issued.

The Boiling River, one of the park's many famous thermal features, is located in Montana south of the town of Gardiner. The Boiling River is a name for a section of the Gardner River where cold water mixes with water from the Boiling River hot spring.

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We have a bigger room than in the operating room, there are a lot of people and a lot of equipment, so you need a lot of space in there, Camden said. Plus, we have room for things we use the most like blanket warmer and fluid warmer, so we dont have to run in and out of the room as much.

Dr. James Zubernis said the cesarean surgery room just across the hall from the labor rooms in the obstetrics unit was designed with a dedicated focus.

We keep the traffic down in this area to reduce infection possibilities and babies like it quiet, he said. This surgery room has state-of-the-art equipment. It is as high-tech as it needs to be because we only do one type of surgery here. This is a dedicated space and we dont do any other types of surgery here. 

Sterility is kept with seamless floors and walls; positive pressure air flow; sterile cabinets for equipment, tools, scrubs and medicines. The room has LED operating light panels that are cool, able to be aimed, change the intensity, size of the spot area and the color temperature. The room also has newest anesthesia unit available (and identical to the ones in the hospital operating rooms and the new surgery center that is opening in April).
Critics of presumptive probation say repeal would be only the first step, with additional programs to address drug addiction to follow. Treatment programs, however, were also supposed to follow upon the 2013 reforms. Money saved by not building prisons was supposed to be invested in meth prevention and helping addicts recover. That never happened.

If state government was unable to find money for drug programs then, whats the likelihood it will occur once state prison costs rise by tens of millions of dollars every year?

Critics of repeal say forcing more nonviolent drug offenders into prison is an expensive and ineffective means of addressing addiction. Filling prisons without providing treatment results in more hardened criminals and kicks the can down the road.

So, problems exist with 2013 fix. It still seems a bad idea to return to the costly problem that caused us to choose that fix in the first place.

What we need is a comprehensive plan that addresses both sentencing and drug treatment in a cost-effective manner. Perhaps the guidelines governing presumptive probation need refinement. Its likely that any real solution will require continuous adjustment.

Millions of dollars and thousands of lives are at stake. We should know what will happen before acting.
After 45 minutes of public comment Tuesday night that was nearly all in opposition to a proposed apartment complex, the Rapid City Council narrowly approved three measures that pave the way for the Mount Rushmore Road project.

The Rapid City Council voted 6-3 in favor of two ordinances that rezone a 14-acre property from general agriculture and general commercial districts to an office commercial one. In order to go into effect, the ordinances must be passed during a second reading.

The council also voted 5-4 to approve an initial development plan  with 14 stipulations  for a four-story apartment complex at the site, located at the northwest intersection of Mount Rushmore and Fox roads, just north of National American University.

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The initial plan includes an exception that allows the apartment buildings, proposed by Samuelson Development, to have four floors rather than the three stories allowed in office commercial zones. The final development plan must address the stipulations that include conducting a traffic study, keeping open space and trees where the property borders existing homes, and creating a design that fits into a more rustic Black Hills look rather than a modern one.
A Minnesota company plans to conduct exploratory drilling for gold near Silver City in the central portion of the Black Hills National Forest, while two other companies have withdrawn proposals to drill on forest land.

Big Rock Exploration, of Minneapolis, has submitted a proposed plan of operations for the Silver City area, said Mark Van Every, the forest supervisor. He divulged some information about the plan Wednesday during a meeting of the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board at the Mystic Ranger District Office in Rapid City.

Van Every said the company wants to drill about 40 holes on national forest land. The proposed drill sites are near the west end of the Pactola Reservoir, in an area accessible by roads including Jenney Gulch Road and Sunnyside Gulch Road.

Forest Service officials are working on an agreement that would require the company to fund an environmental analysis, said Van Every, who added that it could be six months or more before that analysis is complete and a plan of operations is approved.
BISMARCK, N.D. | North Dakota is looking to make computer science and cybersecurity courses accessible to all students across the state.

A group of educators this month completed a final draft of K-12 computer science and cybersecurity standards, which, pending State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler's approval, will go into effect this fall.

These academic standards are not mandatory, as cybersecurity and computer science are not required courses of instruction. But Baesler said the overall goal of these standards is to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to learn computer science.

"Every aspect of our lives is being touched (by computer science), so we felt it was really important that North Dakota stay on top of that and make sure our students have the same sort of opportunities," Baesler said.

Once these standards are adopted, North Dakota will become the first state to incorporate cybersecurity into its K-12 standards, according to Baesler.

Many states have responded recently to the push for computer science education in K-12 schools by adopting computer science standards. Twenty-two states have such standards, according to a report last year from the Code.org Advocacy Coalition and the Computer Science Teachers Association.
The BHSU Music Department continues their schedule of events for the 2019 spring semester with performances from each vocal and band ensemble as well as senior recitals and a special choir performance in Sioux Falls. Performances are located in the Clare and Josef Meier Recital Hall on the Black Hills State University campus and are free to community and students, unless noted.

Throughout the semester, each ensemble in both the BHSU band and choir programs will have performances. Several BHSU seniors will perform their graduating recitals as well. These recitals are essentially senior capstone projects, according to Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Christopher Hahn.

It is always exciting to see how our students have progressed and show off what they can do before they graduate or go off to student teach, says Hahn.

Students begin preparing for their senior recitals a year in advance to show off how far they have come. Performances last about 40 minutes each and can vary from instrumental to vocal performances based on the students focus area.

Seniors performing their recitals this spring include (see schedule for individual recital times):

Abby Belus, graphic design and music major from Circle, Mont.
The rules of engagement keep everyone on the same page.

Kids are still kids, Mack said. You have to balance the situation with the fact that you have a teen going through something.

Im going to try to exhaust every other avenue I have, Chrisman said of dealing with a potentially heated moment. That might mean wearing the teacher hat, or the counselor hat, he said. The law enforcement, that comes third.

Hickstein agrees that a different strategy is required.

Were dealing with kids. Theyre not adults, he said. The SRO gauges the safety threat at all times, but by being pro-active and de-escalating situations, and using the relationships theyve worked to build, situations dont have to get out of hand.

Problems seen elsewhere may be explained by poor training or poor assignments.

Not every cop can be an SRO, Hickstein said.

CPD goes through a rigorous evaluation process before assigning an officer to SRO duty.
Redrawing political boundaries will be a new experience for 48 of Nebraska's 49 state senators when the Legislature tackles the task in two short years.

The only lawmaker who was in the Legislature during the last redistricting process, in 2011, was Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop, who returned to the body after sitting out four years because of term limits. He'll be around in 2021, but Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has also been through the process, will be out because of term limits.

The lack of experience, as well as a tendency for Nebraska to change how it approaches redistricting each decade, has led to several attempts to codify best practices into law.

This year, a pair of Omaha lawmakers have offered plans that would create greater statutory clarity for the 2021 redistricting and beyond, providing the Legislature a divergent set of options to pursue.

The first is Sen. Sara Howard's plan (LB466), which would keep the Legislature's Redistricting Committee intact while standing up more guidelines and greater opportunities for public feedback.
OPD contracts with Millard, Elkhorn, Omaha Public Schools and District 66 to provide school resource officers and has had nothing but positive results, he said. The contracts include memorandums of understanding and training that exceeds what's required in the bill, he said.

About six years ago when I was promoted, we were under fire not so much for who we arrested but why, he said. The goal was to keep kids in school. We had that paradigm shift with SROs and thats what were doing. Arrests are down dramatically.

Officials from several police departments opposed Chambers bill to eliminate school resource officers, including Steve Hensel, Crete police chief and president of the Police Chiefs Association of Nebraska.

In the Crete schools, which have a large percentage of Hispanic students, the school resource officer has been there for five years and she has taken only one student into custody for an outstanding warrant, he said.

Law enforcements most fundamental task is to serve, he said. Nowhere is this service seen with more variety and positive impact than through an effective school resource officer program. School resource officers enrich the lives of Nebraska children.
Professional network seeks to help women find jobs

The Asian Development Bank has announced a partnership with a new professional network to promote more female practitioners in South Asias energy and power sector.
Chicago Police Dept.(CHICAGO) -- A Chicago judge set Jesse Smollett's bond at $100,000 on Thursday and ordered him to surrender his passport, hours after a remarkable Chicago Police Department press conference in which Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson blasted the 'Empire' star, saying that Smollett's alleged staging of a hoax attack was a "publicity stunt...to promote his career."



Standing before Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke, Jr., Smollett appeared to remain steadfast in his refutation of the charge against him. He has repeatedly insisted that the attack was real and that he was merely a victim, not a perpetrator.



When first assistant state attorney Risa Lanier told Lyke that the actor had picked up two brothers who authorities say carried out the staged attack on him at his direction and showed them the location of where he wanted to be attacked, Smollett shook his head in disagreement.



When Lyke told Smollett that the allegations, if true, are "utterly outrageous," the actor nodded his head in agreement -- doing so again when Lyke said the noose detail would be the most despicable part of the alleged scheme.



The judge also ordered pre-trial monitoring of the actor, and ordered him to stay away from the two brothers he allegedly conspired with to stage the hoax attack, according to police.



The tense courtroom appearance followed on the heels of a morning press conference at which a visibly angry Johnson castigated the actor for betraying his race and his city with such an incendiary false claim.



"Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career," a visibly angry Johnson said. I am left hanging my head asking why?. Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? ... How can an individual who's been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in the city in the face with these false claims?"



Johnson charged that Smollett, an actor on the hit show 'Empire' who has consistently denied any role in staging the alleged attack, orchestrated it because he was "dissatisfied with his salary."



In addition to staging the attack, officials said, Smollett also sent himself a hate-filled letter to the Fox studio where the hit show is filmed.



Smollett turned himself in at 5:15 a.m. local time and made a statement to police before being taken into custody. His lawyers, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, were not present at the time but they released a statement the night before.



"Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."



Backlash



Police add that Smollett gave no statement to police after turning himself in and that his lawyers had reached out to them Wednesday night to discuss his surrender. Smollett wanted to turn himself in near midnight, but authorities suggested he come in at 5 a.m. instead, to avoid spending the night in jail. Smollett arrived early Thursday morning accompanied by a female lawyer and an entourage of five or six people.



Smollett was silent as he went through the motions of being booked and processed.



By late morning on Thursday, the backlash against the actor began at the top, with an angry tweet from the President of the United States.



".@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA" President Donald Trump wrote in a tweet after the press conference.



In an earlier interview with ABC News, Smollett was asked why he thought he was targeted and he replied that he is a strident critic of the Trump administration.



I come really really hard against 45," he said. referring to Trump, the 45th U.S. president. "I come really really hard against his administration, and I dont hold my tongue.



'I'm offended'



During a press briefing later Thursday morning, Chicago law enforcement officials said that Chicago police detectives interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed dozens of police cameras trying to get to the bottom of Smollett's claims.



Johnson, a well-regarded and popular big city police chief and Chicago native, appeared genuinely aggrieved as he described how, he said, Smollett took advantage of the pain of racism to advance his career.



"Why would anyone use the symbol of a noose" to further his "own public profile," Johnson wondered aloud.



"I'm offended by what happened and I'm angry," Johnson continued. "This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didnt own and certainly didnt deserve."



Johnson, who oversees one of the nation's largest police departments in one of its most violent cities, seemed disheartened by all the attention paid to the Smollett affair.



The accusation within this phony attack received national attention for weeks, Johnson told reporters during a press conference. Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor."



"When you get the opportunity," he said with a mixture of derision and frustration, "the shooting victims and their families? Give them the same amount of attention."



After the press briefing, 20th Century Fox, the station that airs "Empire," released a statement which read, "We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options."



'Self-inflicted' wounds



Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men near his apartment in Chicago. The two men, Smollett initially said, shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him as a rope was wrapped around his neck and a chemical compound was poured on him. The alleged assailants yelled "MAGA country," a reference to President Donald Trump's "Make American Great Again" slogan, police were told.



In an interview with "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts, Smollett said he was heartbroken when he found out that people questioned his story.



Asked why he would leave the rope draped around his neck until police arrived because he "wanted them to see."



"I was looking at myself, just like checking myself out," he told Roberts. "I saw the bruise on my neck, you know, like the little -- the rope burn around my neck. 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."



Asked why he wait until the second interview to tell police that the assailants yelled MAGA country at him during the attack, Smollett seemed to take offense at the insinuation.



"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 on ABC News. "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."



'Chicago trusted this young man'



Johnson said on Thursday that Smollett's seeming injuries from the incident also appeared to be phony.



The brothers had on gloves during the staged attack where they -- they punched him a little bit, but as far as we can tell, the scratches and bruising that you saw on his face was most likely self-inflicted."



Police identified and questioned two "persons of interest" captured on surveillance video near the scene around the time of the alleged attack. The men, who are brothers, were arrested on Feb. 13 but then released without charges, with police saying they were no longer considered suspects.



While being questioned by investigators, the brothers claimed that Smollett paid them to help orchestrate and stage the crime after he became upset that a letter threatening him, sent Jan. 22 to the Fox studio where "Empire" is filmed, did not get enough attention, sources told ABC News.



On Wednesday, Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false crime report. By that evening, police officially had classified the actor as a suspect in the ongoing investigation. Detectives subsequently presented evidence to a Cook County grand jury.



"That was a pretty hateful allegation, and it really put a terrible look on Chicago," Guglielmi told ABC Chicago station WLS in a telephone interview Thursday morning. "Chicago trusted this young man. We loved 'Empire,' and we took this very seriously that something this hateful could happen in our city."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
In fact, every Republican in Congress should vote for such a resolution. Stopping executive overreach and restoring Congress's Article I powers was a key plank in Republicans' 2016 Better Way agenda. "Our President has been acting more like a monarch than an elected official," House Republicans declared. "That stops now."

Trump would no doubt veto a resolution. But the fact that a bipartisan majority of both houses voted to overturn Trump's declaration would bolster the legal case against his action. As Justice Robert Jackson wrote in a concurring opinion for Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, presidential powers "are not fixed but fluctuate, depending upon their disjunction or conjunction with those of Congress." When a president acts with congressional support, his power is "at its maximum." When Congress has not spoken, "there is a zone of twilight." But "when the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb," Jackson declared. A disapproval resolution would make clear that not only is Trump ignoring the will of Congress, but also Congress has further expressly disapproved of his actions.
But Stitz also made a plea to lawmakers that immigration reform is needed to bring immigrants living in the country illegally out of the shadows so companies can feel comfortable hiring them. Stitz said he has a difficult time finding workers willing to do construction work and that he regularly looks first for foreign-born workers because they are.

We have such a hard time finding that work ethic, Stitz said. Lets just get (immigrants here illegally) in the mix and make them legal. Thats my personal opinion.

The bill requires county attorneys to prosecute any business found to be employing workers living in the U.S. illegally and creates punishments up to the suspension and, on second offense, revocation of business licenses.

Garrett said his proposal is modeled after a similar Arizona law that was cleared in a legal challenged that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

This bill and what were trying to do, it helps both the law-abiding employer and the law-abiding employee, and right now theyre being unfairly taken advantage of. And we all just look the other way, Garrett said.

Business groups that testified at Wednesdays hearing mostly said they were neutral or undecided of the bill, and some stated concerns in how such a law might be applied. One group, the Iowa Chamber Alliance, said it could not support the legislation because of its uncertainty with the accuracy of e-verify.

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While winter continues to challenge residents of the Quad-Cities, cold, snow and ice pile on challenges for businesses, too.

David Brown, owner of Cinnamon-N-Sage, 1115 W. 2nd St., Suite D, Davenport, says the restaurant has experienced a 60 percent decline from the summer.

Because of the weather, We had to close down the store multiple times," he said. "We had to close the doors because no one was coming through the doors, and our electric bill is insane.

The restaurant, which offers made-to-order healthy food, opened Dec. 4, 2017.

This whole winters been bad, basically since the low temperatures started, he said. People havent been out-and-about.

On Monday, the restaurant posted a plea for customers: Now more than ever, we need people, it says. We need people coming in the doors and ordering from the restaurant.

If you are one of those people who says I want to try that place, now is the time. Give us the opportunity to win you over.

We have maybe a month we can operate if business doesnt pick up and then we will have to close," the post says.
Wait and see.

That's the only option for residents living south of Davenport's 53rd Street as they watch the building of a Portillo's restaurant and three other buildings where nine homes were demolished last year.

They lost the fight that rezoned a long-time residential neighborhood into 6  acres of planned commercial, and now they can only wait and see what effect the development will have on stormwater and traffic in their neighborhood, between Lorton Avenue and Fairhaven Road, south of Costco Wholesale.

Several residents have filed a lawsuit against the city with a trial set for July 11-12.

Many residents vividly recall the rain storms of last June when torrents of brown flood water coursed through their neighborhood, filling drainage ditches in their front yards and creating lakes in some back yards.

Jeff Talbert, a resident on the south end of the neighborhood, recorded video during one of the storms. The sound is like that of a robust waterfall.

Lisa VanDamme, living on East 51st Street, took photos of water flowing across her driveway and into her backyard where there was so much that it pooled against her backyard fence.

The overriding problem, say Talbert and Craig McManus, another neighbor, is that city leaders were so eager for the $20 million development and the additional tax revenue it would bring that they approved rezoning for the development even though the infrastructure of their neighborhood  streets and storm sewer  doesn't support it.

The neighborhood developed before it was incorporated, so the streets don't meet city standards and it has no underground storm sewers.

Water that flows in from above  including from Costco  collects in two open, above-ground drainage ditches bordering Lorton Avenue and Fairhaven Road and then flows into Hanlin's Creek at the bottom of the hill.

Of the 6 1/2 acres of the development, 79 percent will be impervious surface  made from impenetrable materials such as asphalt and concrete  including rooftops and parking lots.

As part of the development agreement, WCT Properties, of East Peoria, Illinois, is installing two stormwater detention containers underground that will collect water from all the new impervious surfaces and release it through 6-inch pipes into the two ditches, WCT President William Torchia said. Together, the tanks can hold 650,000 gallons.

Releasing the water through pipes will reduce the rate of water flow to what it would have been before development, Torchia said. The design will exceed Davenport's ordinance requirements, according to information the company provided the city during the rezoning process.

But for now, it's wait and see.

While the rate of water flow will be reduced to pre-development, rate is different from total volume over time. What will happen to the drainage ditches as they convey flood water for longer periods?

"The city said maintaining ditches is the property owner's responsibility because it's in the right-of-way," Talbert said. "I couldn't drain my sump pump onto my neighbor's property, but the city is doing the same on right of way and saying 'it's your problem.

Knotty traffic

Traffic is another concern.

Some residents expect that, despite traffic surveys to the contrary that were considered by the city, backups will occur on 53rd and drivers might ditch out onto Lorton, which extends south to 46th Street. At 46th, Lorton Ts, giving drivers the option of turning left toward Elmore or right toward Jersey Ridge, thereby avoiding the 53rd and Elmore intersection.

Talbert said he sees backups on 53rd now, and refers to the Chick-fil-A restaurant at 2945 E. 53rd St. where a police officer directs traffic every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. because congestion is so bad. The restaurant has been doing this for about two years, the owner said.

VanDamme says the traffic is bad during the week, too. "You can't get out of Aldi" at lunch time, she said. And she doesn't think Costco traffic has reached its peak.

All three neighbors  Talbert, VanDamme and McManus  think the Portillo's development, and Costco, for that matter, were "shoe-horned" into this area.

If Lorton were a bonafide, paved, two-lane road with curbs and gutters, and if it was bounded by sidewalks, that would be one thing, McManus said. But its not. Its a narrow, black-topped country-type road with significant ups and downs that reduce visibility and where neighborhood kids play and people walk their dogs.

"Is this going to be the next north-south freeway?" McManus asked.

In August, McManus, Talbert and several other neighbors filed suit in Scott County District Court alleging the city did not follow proper procedures in approving the rezoning for the development. In addition to McManus and Talbert and their wives, five other neighbors are plaintiffs in the suit.

By the time the trial is underway in July, Portillo's is expected to be open. Late May is the anticipated opening date for the restaurant.

But McManus and others hope a favorable verdict will bring relief in the form of two main changes: Making Lorton a cul-de-sac at 53rd so that, with the exception of emergency vehicles, it would carry only neighborhood traffic, and that Lorton and Fairhaven be resurfaced.

Secondary changes would be installation of a three-way stop sign at the intersection of 51st Street and Lorton Avenue and speed bumps on Lorton between 46th and 53rd and prohibition of trucks from either road.

Allegations in the suit are that the city did not properly figure the number of property owners it was required to notify of their right to protest the rezoning; that rezoning of Fairhaven Road was illegal because it was done before it was vacated as a street and before it was owned by WCT Investments; that the rezoning does not comply with setback requirements (specified distance between structures); that the traffic study that informed the rezoning was flawed, and that the high-intensity commercial use is not permitted according to the 2025 Davenport Comprehensive Plan.

The city denies all allegations.

And not all residents agree, either. Neighbor Courtney Wilson said in a letter to the city council that she and her husband "very much oppose" the thoughts and ideas brought forth by McManus, although she did not name him. "He does not speak for everyone on Lorton Ave.," she wrote.

She explained that she does not want Lorton to become a cul-de-sac because of safety concerns (emergency vehicle access) and because she thinks it would create more "turnaround" traffic from people driving north on 46th street, unaware that they could no longer get through to 53rd and that there is no other way out.

City's reasoning, concern for neighborhood

The city's reasoning on traffic is laid out in the documents that were part of the rezoning consideration.

 There will be only two entrances into the development, both from 53rd. One is at the shared intersection with Costco, where there is a traffic light, and the other will be a driveway in the footprint of Fairhaven Road, which was vacated as part of the development. It will be right-in, right-out only.

No access will be permitted into the development from the neighborhood, as it will be bordered on all three sides by combinations of fencing, retaining walls and landscaping.

Specifically, a 25-foot-wide landscape buffer with a six-foot high fence is to be maintained along the south property line, and there is to be a 25-foot- wide landscape buffer along the west.

In her letter to the city council, resident Wilson said the buffering caused her to be much more "optimistic" about the development than she had been originally.

 The city's public works department measured traffic on Lorton and, taking into account projections of a total build out, concluded there would be "a small increase in traffic on Lorton."

A study done for WCT Properties by Traffic Impact Group that was among documents considered by the city council stated that "acceptable levels of service (would be) maintained with existing intersection configurations" on 53rd.

In addition, the traffic study done for WTC said the development would "have long stacking lines available within (the) site for drive-thru traffic for Portillo's and for the future restaurants, for both incoming and outgoing vehicles."

And, inside the development, there will be a total of 353 parking spaces, according to documents filed with the rezoning request.

Additionally, East 53rd is being designed to be improved to two east and two west lanes with center turn lanes from Brady to west of Elmore Circle, according to city plans.

Even so, in August, the city's engineering division was directed by the city council to study traffic levels and speed on Lorton from 53rd and 46th and to report back in a year with recommendations for modifications.

Overall, McManus, Talbert, VanDamme and others regard their neighborhood as a quiet, peaceful gem in the middle of the city, and they want to keep it that way.

It's wait and see.

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Friday night look for freezing rain before 2 a.m., rain, possibly mixed with freezing rain between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., then rain likely after 3 a.m. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a low around 30 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent with new ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible.

The Q-C region is under a hazardous weather outlook. It reads, "A potent storm system is forecast Friday night through early Sunday. Initially, precipitation is expected to start as freezing rain north of U.S. 34 and rain south. Warmer temperatures will then change the precipitation to all rain Saturday morning which will continue into the evening. As colder air sweeps into the area Saturday night into early Sunday morning, the rain will change to snow, but significant accumulations are not expected at this time. Another significant aspect of the storm will be wind. Gusts up to around 40 mph are possible Saturday afternoon into early Sunday morning. Since this weather system is still three days away, some of these details could very well change."
Senate majority Republicans plan to release their own budget targets.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said they will not be the same as the House targets, though Grassley expects them to be close.

The targets are guidelines for appropriation subcommittee chairs to work with as they address budget line items. So Grassley couldnt say where specific spending increases would occur.

The budget is helped by the fact the Legislature repaid about $131 million it borrowed from reserve funds in 2017 to cover revenue shortfalls. Lawmakers made a down payment last year and repaid the rest in the current budget.

Also, legislators are expected to approve a supplemental funding bill to cover about $119 million in mostly one-time Medicaid expenses.

That explains how Republicans plan to increase health and human services spending even though the budget shows a $21 million decrease, Grassley said.

By freeing up those funds, Grassley explained, legislators can make an investment in a nursing home rebate program and help cover a decrease in federal funds for Iowas 82 rural hospitals. The rural hospitals had been reimbursed at a rate of 100 percent plus one. The plus 1 percent has gone away.
Cobham, a major defense and aerospace manufacturer based in the United Kingdom, plans to enhance its Davenport facility with $67 million in upgrades and add 150 high-paying jobs to its local operation.

Company officials outlined parts of that plan for Davenport council members Wednesday during the citys committee-of-the-whole meeting. The multi-million-dollar upgrades would go toward an addition on the companys existing plant to make room for as many as 1,300 employees and build up the companys research and development operation, said Kevin McKeown, Cobhams vice president and general manager.

The developments will happen over the next three years, McKeown said. He also noted the company has experienced rapid growth recently, pointing to the hiring of more than 170 people  50 of them engineers  and 20 percent overall business growth within the last year.

Cobham in Davenport has a really great story to tell, McKeown said, adding that hes worked for the company for more than 20 years and continues to see it as an impressive place.
Inside the home, agents also located a handwritten drug ledger; two digital scales, one of which contained a white crystalline residue on it; a Colt .25-caliber pistol; a single shot Savage Arms .20-gauge shotgun; assorted ammunition; drug paraphernalia; and less than a gram of marijuana.

Agents located several items of "Batman" clothing and memorabilia inside the residence also.

Agents spoke to Cruzs girlfriend, Cidney Marie Ogden, who said the firearms belonged to her. An agent spoke to Cruz on the phone, but he declined to be interviewed.

The Special Operations Unit conducted another search at the home on Tuesday as part of a drug and theft investigation.

Agents found methamphetamine pipes, marijuana pipes, digital scales and stolen merchandise from a Davenport business, according to an arrest affidavit.

Ogden, 23, was arrested on a Rock Island County traffic warrant. She also was charged with possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors, from the October search and drug paraphernalia from the search on Tuesday.

Cruz was seen leaving the residence in a vehicle and was detained nearby. He admitted to an agent that he had lived at the home since approximately the summer of 2018.
Sodawasser creates a sympathetic, utterly conflicted hero who pursues his serial killing methodically, but with humbleness and unpretentiousness that's missing from most everyone else in Monty's crazy family.

Sodawasser shows off both tender, poignant vocal lines (such as in Foolish to Think), and unerring instinct for just the right tempo, emotion and timing, with masterfully crisp diction, which is important in the numbers packed with words (such as Poison in My Pocket). The clever, refined score has music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak and the book and other lyrics by Robert L. Freedman.

Arguably the biggest test for each production is the single actor tasked with embodying all eight murder victims, as well as another surprise family member at the end. And Brett Mutter, a 25-year-old Ohio native, tackles the D'Ysquith family roles with manic glee and abandon. It's an actor's dream (or nightmare, depending on your attitude), playing dress-up for these ridiculous characters.

Running through each, in Mutter's dominating interpretation, is self-assurance bordering on flamboyance or imperiousness. His first death is as an old, inebriated clergyman who ascends to the bell tower with Monty and meets his maker after a gust of wind (and a little help) sends him to the pavement.
WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. home sales fell 1.2 percent in January to their worst pace in more than three years, as persistent affordability problems have put a harsh chill in the real estate market.

The National Association of Realtors says that sales of existing homes declined 1.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.94 million last month, the slowest sales rate since November 2015.

During the past 12 months, sales have plunged 8.5 percent. Would-be homebuyers are increasingly priced out of the market as years of climbing prices and strained inventories have made ownership too costly. Buyers may find some relief as average mortgage rates have declined this year.

The median sales price in January was $247,500, a slight increase of 2.8 percent from last year.

March 2 blood drive at Geneseo Fareway

GENESEO  Fareway will host a community blood drive 9:30 a.m. to noon March 2 at 540 Pritchard Drive, Geneseo.

For more details, contact Bill Lanphere at 309-944-6702 or visit bloodcenterimpact.org and use the code 1440 to locate the drive.

Food handlers class set in Henry County
Prithvi Highway becoming a route for drug trafficking

On February 10, three Indian nationals were held in possession of 360 kgs of hashish in Gajuri, Dhading, along the Prithvi Highway.
We've always found that counterintuitive because the folks who are elected to run our local government bodies have the power to impact every aspect of our daily lives.

The water we drink, the streets we drive on, the schools our children attend, the safety and quality of our neighborhoods, the size of our tax bills and so much more depend on the local officials who will be elected on April 2.

It's important to remember, too, that in local races, our votes have far more impact than the ones we cast for president or governor, or even our local lawmakers. Indeed, a single vote often has been the difference between winning and losing in many a close local race.

Yet, remarkably, even in years when important referendums are on the ballot, mayoral seats are contested, and there are competitive races for city council and school board, fewer than 30 percent of registered voters bother to cast ballots.

It's even worse in elections like this one when there are so few candidates that some open seats have no candidates at all, and too many others are uncontested.
"We need both. The president's budget requests both. What we see are narcotics coming in between the ports in increasing numbers. They're using these groups of families to divert our agents, and then bring smugglers in behind with narcotics. ... Barriers prevent that kind of activity. The No. 1 priority sector is in the Rio Grande valley. That's the No. 1 crossing point for human smugglers. ...

"The $5 billion would help us shut down the south Texas corridor all the way to Laredo, and bolster security at El Paso and El Centro."

-- Trump's Border Patrol chief Carla Provost to Fox News, Dec. 13, 2018:

"We certainly do need a wall. Talk to any border agent and they will tell you that ... The new wall system integrates technology with the wall. It is much sturdier, has anti-dig features [and] detection technology, and is set up to attach additional technology. It's really [an entire] system. ...

"The president has listened to my men and women on the ground and has listened to me as we have described what we need to secure the border. We need the impedance that the wall brings, we need more technology and more agents on the grounds. ...
During Gov. Jim Edgars time in office the so-called Edgar Ramp was created, which was touted as a cure-all for the states pension woes.

It wasnt. It isnt. And it never will be.

It simply delayed the states Day of Reckoning.

And, in fact, it made things worse.

Back in the 1990s the states finances were a mess. Pensions were underfunded in part because annual payments had been skipped and the money spent on other things.

For months, Edgar, legislative leaders and union bosses hashed out how to solve this predicament.

And they gave birth to a rat.

In a nutshell, the grand compromise Edgar championed called for having low annual pension payments while he was in office and higher ones when future governors were in office.

He kicked the can down the road. He made his problem that of future governors.

And now Hynes is ripping a page out of that old playbook and talking about adding seven years onto the ramp so it ends in 2052 instead of 2045.

Bad idea.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the GI Bill of Rights, and more ev
Bustos said he will present the same slideshow to the court when the case is heard.

During public comments on Tuesday, several people spoke in support of saving the courthouse.

Rock Island resident Tom Sparkman said if the courthouse is sold to a private developer, Bustos would no longer have to worry about its upkeep and security.

"Everything Sheriff Bustos said goes away if that courthouse is privatized," Sparkman said. "There are serious investors who really want to talk to you. They have money available and tax incentives will fund up to $3 million per project. Why don't we listen to them? This building is an asset. It has historical value, financial value, aesthetic value.

"The city of Rock Island has offered their services for economic development," Sparkman said. "Why don't we talk to them? I've never heard anyone on the county board come up with a good reason why we need to tear this building down."

Architect Bill Handel dismissed Bustos' safety concerns.

"The sheriff talks about security concerns with the new annex," Handel said. "Well, who decided to put a giant glass fish bowl on that side of the courthouse?"
WHAT WE KNOW: In December, Hillsdales mayor, village attorney and three trustees resigned. In January, trustee Joni Reiss was named acting mayor, Tom Sikardi was named to one of the vacant trustee seats and former village attorney Virgil Thurman agreed to serve as attorney at least until the new board is seated in May.

WHAT'S NEW: At Tuesdays meeting, Reiss said Thurman told her the two empty board seats do not have to be filled due to the April 2 municipal elections. At December caucuses, Democrat nominees selected were T.J. Francis for mayor and Margie Moffitt and Jan Lease for four-year trustee position. Republican nominees selected were Sadie Bundy for mayor, Jane Lundquist for village clerk, Bill Cole for two-year trustee and Kyle Fox, John Lundquist and Lisa Nicholson for four-year trustee.

WHAT'S NEXT: Hillsdale will invite an Illinois EPA contact to the village's March meeting to discuss ongoing improvements and planned projects. Dan Helm, wastewater operator, said the bioaugmentation measures recently taken by the village have been a "step in the right direction."

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"(Over the last 10 years), our audience is basically the same size it always has been. But what has happened is it has shifted from a very print-centric focus to a very mixed focus ... And we think this is going to continue," Junck said in response. "We have not given up on print. We have a huge focus on print ... because print drives a lot of revenue for us. But at the same time, we know that it's important to drive digital revenue and digital subscribers."
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
Binod Ghimire covers parliamentary affairs and human rights for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2010, he has reported primarily on social issues, focusing on education and transitional justice.
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
13 hours ago

| June 26th | 2021 6:00 AM

What to Do When Your Portfolio Bores You: Go Skydiving Instead

You're allocated, diversified and saving 10% or more for retirement. You (or your robo-advisor) have the rebalancing thing down pat. But you're a little bored. Life isn't all that exciting. And when Bobby next door makes money in some obscure cryptocurrency, you might feel a little, well, put out. Your returns aren't 400% like his. And so, you look into tweaking your portfolio.
12 hours ago

| June 26th | 2021 6:00 AM

What to Do When Your Portfolio Bores You: Go Skydiving Instead

You're allocated, diversified and saving 10% or more for retirement. You (or your robo-advisor) have the rebalancing thing down pat. But you're a little bored. Life isn't all that exciting. And when Bobby next door makes money in some obscure cryptocurrency, you might feel a little, well, put out. Your returns aren't 400% like his. And so, you look into tweaking your portfolio.
FORT ANN  A man from Vermont was jailed this week when he drove to Fort Ann to have sex with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl, authorities said.

John Curley, 48, of Chester, Vermont, was arrested after an investigation that began when undercover officers communicated with him through a social media network known as Skout and he arranged to meet with a person he believed to be a child for sex.

Police said he was arrested in Fort Ann, though the location was not released.

He was charged with traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of meeting a minor for sex, a felony filed in U.S. District Court in Albany.

Curley was arraigned Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel and sent to an unspecified jail, pending further court action.

The FBI, New York State Police and Child Exploitation Task Force handled the case.

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QUEENSBURY  A man who led police on a chase at speeds of 110 mph last summer and was found to illegally have a loaded handgun when he was arrested is headed to jail for 6 months after his guilty plea Wednesday.

Austin K. Blodgett, 37, of Mount Holly, Vermont, pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in connection with his arrest for a 30-mile pursuit last Aug. 2 that began in central Essex County and ended on the Northway in the town of Bolton.

When police finally got Blodgett to stop his car, he was found to have a loaded 9mm Ruger handgun, for which he did not have a permit.

State Police had been seeking Blodgett after he was involved in an encounter at a gas station in Westport earlier that day in which he was seen with a handgun in the waistband of his pants making derogatory comments about the government and a statement about going out in a blaze of glory.

He left the station in a Subaru WRX sedan, and a witness called police.

State troopers spotted the car later in the day on Blue Ridge Road in North Hudson, but it fled south to the Northway, accelerating to over 100 mph as he refused to stop for the officers behind him, according to State Police.
Nirmala will get justice: PM Oli

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that the Nirmala Pant rape and murder case has tarnished the image of Nepal in the international arena.
HARTFORD  A Hartford man was charged with felony strangulation and two misdemeanors after he allegedly choked a woman during a domestic dispute over the weekend, police said.

Dale M. McCarthy, 41, was arrested after police were called early Sunday about an alleged attack on a woman he knew in the town of Hartford, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Police said the victim was injured. The charge of strangulation alleges a victim was either injured or choked unconscious.

McCarthy was also charged with misdemeanor assault and unlawful imprisonment, police said in a news release. He was arraigned and released pending prosecution in Hartford Town Court.

Sheriff's Deputy Jason Flynn and Investigator Brad Hamilton handled the case.

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BALLSTON SPA  A Glens Falls man who was arrested last year for repeated sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl and for filming the sexual assaults pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge.

Kevin A. Fisher, 44, of Thornberry Drive, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual act in Saratoga County Court for a series of sexual assaults of the girl in Saratoga County last spring.

Under the terms of a plea deal, he faces 15 years in state prison to be followed by up to 20 years on parole.

The charges stem from an alleged sexual relationship Fisher had with a girl in Halfmoon whom he had met through social media, police said.

He was arrested by State Police from the Clifton Park station in May, after the girls family members became suspicious of her activity.

Police said Fisher used social media to communicate with the child and then drove to her home to pick her up for sexual encounters.

Fisher is being held in Saratoga County Jail, pending sentencing April 17 by Judge James Murphy.

His attorney, Saratoga County Assistant Public Defender Matthew Maiello, has not responded to requests for comment on the case.

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Were now able to offer a treatment cure for HCV that was previously very hard to obtain for many of our patients, said Hudson Headwaters Chief Executive Officer Dr. Tucker Slingerland. In the past, treatment for hepatitis C had many side effects, but this is no longer the case. Now people often have no trouble sticking to the treatment plan.

He said the program is especially important in this area because opioid addiction had led to many people sharing needles. Thats one way of spreading hepatitis C, and it has led to many young people getting infected.

Hudson Headwaters will offer hepatitis C testing for at-risk patients at many of its health centers. The grant will also pay for outreach so that Hudson Headwaters can offer testing to people in the community who arent patients of the health group.

At-risk people include those born between 1945 and 1965, people who have injected or inhaled illegal drugs, HIV and AIDS patients, people who got tattoos in unsanitary conditions, those who have spent time in prison and health-care workers.

Statewide health plan

Last week, the New York Health Act was reintroduced in the Assembly and Senate. The bill has one main change: It would also cover long-term care and support services.
The former Glens Falls city assessor who sued after she was fired in 2016 for misconduct has had her lawsuit reinstated after a state appeals court ruled in her favor on Thursday.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court found in Lauren Stacks favor, determining her lawsuit seeking to undo her termination that was filed in 2017 should not have been thrown out over a technicality related to how quickly it was filed.

Justice Robert Muller ruled in November 2017 that Stacks counsel had filed it too late, missing a four-month deadline to take legal action.

But the Appellate Division disagreed with Mullers determination as to when Stack was formally notified. The appeals court ruled that a newspaper article about a public meeting at which her termination was discussed could not be considered a formal notification, and that she was not notified until receiving a letter from the city of Glens Falls on Oct. 13, 2016.

The lawsuit was filed Feb. 10, 2017, three days short of the four-month deadline.

Petitioner herself heard nothing and, having been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings against her, did not notice any additional disruption in her work routine, Appellate Division Justice Eugene Devine wrote.
LAKE GEORGE  The town is trying to find an alternative route for a popular section of snowmobile trail that lets riders use a one-mile stretch of Warren County Bikeway, amid concerns about the trail being closed and damage to the bikeway.

The bike path between Bloody Pond Road and the lake has been used as a connector for snowmobile trail networks in Warren and Washington counties for nearly a decade, as it is technically closed to bicycles in the winter. But snowmobile treads have damaged the path during a few winters, and some landowners next to the path have complained about trespassing. They say the path was created with a promise that motorized vehicles would not be allowed on it.

The latest issue arose after visiting snowmobilers complained earlier this month that the section of trail on the bikeway was gated off. The county, which owns the bike path, closes the gates when the Warren County Department of Public Works believes the snow cover is insufficient to protect the pavement from spikes on snowmobile treads. Snowmobiles have damaged the path in places in past winters.

Three families from Connecticut who came to the region to snowmobile last weekend happened to arrive during one of the closures, and they contacted the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce to find out why.
While the origin of the expression, a walk in the park, is unclear, its a safe bet the author wasnt a planner trying to stitch urban parks and trails together to create flowing greenways throughout a city like Pittsburgh.

Pittsburghs bountiful and diverse parks range from popular destinations, such as Schenley Park in the heart of the city and Emerald View overlooking Downtown, to more than 150 smaller ones tucked into city neighborhoods. But linking them in a network that touches neighborhoods in ways that make it easier for residents to visit them remains a challenge.

Connecting urban parks to improve access is a concept embraced long ago in some cities, such as Boston, where planners in the late 19th Century started designing the Emerald Necklace with seven miles of parks and pathways from the Boston Common to Franklin Park. That wasnt the case in Pittsburgh.

When the parks system was built out in Pittsburgh it wasnt really thought of as a system of parks, said Jayne Miller, president and CEO, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group and fundraising arm for the citys parks. They didnt think about how to cross the city and get from place to place. How do we provide 100 percent access, so that everyone is a 10-minute walk from a park?

That 10-minute walk is one of the key factors separating Pittsburgh from cities considered to have elite park systems and something city officials hope to improve. Giving all city residents such close proximity is the goal stated in a recent Parks Conservancy television commercial. Achieving the kind of connectivity meeting that goal is a tall order. But cities that are the most successful tend to agree on a bold vision, plan carefully, and rally government and community support, including strong financial backing.

Visions of Greenways

Access to parks is one of the main metrics planning groups use to evaluate park systems. The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit parks advocacy group, rates city park systems with Park Score, an index that considers a number of key characteristics, such as acreage, amenities, investment and access. Pittsburgh ranked 23rd out of 100 U.S. cities in last year. Minneapolis took top honors.

In Pittsburgh, 84 percent of residents can access a park in a 10-minute walk, which isnt bad. But cities with leading park systems do better. In Minneapolis, 97 percent of the population can walk to a park in 10 minutes.

Miller came to Pittsburgh from Minneapolis, where she was superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Minneapolis has a legacy of connectivity not unlike Boston and the vision for its park system dates to the late 19th Century and landscape architect Horace Cleveland. The crown jewel is the Grand Round, a 55-mile ring of pathways throughout the city that flows through parks designed so that pedestrian and bike paths are located nearest to the water and wooded areas and roadways through the parks are set farther out.

It wasnt built overnight, but over decades, with an eye toward improvement. The city is now working on a long-range plan, East of the River Master Plan. It addresses the systems missing link by including a five-mile extension across the Prospect Park, Southeast Como and Mid-City Industrial neighborhoods of Minneapolis to complete the loop around the city.

Pittsburgh has recent experience with switching old railways to bike paths in the development of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. Some cities are going further.

Atlantas BeltLine plans call for converting 22 miles of old railway into a multi-use trail that will ring the city. Its designed to connect 45 neighborhoods and provide links to some of Atlantas most underserved neighborhood parks. The BeltLine is a work in progress. Last year, the city purchased the southern end of a railway on the loop, giving it control over a missing piece between the completed Eastside and Westside trails. Only about 20-30 percent of the proposed trail outside of the citys pockets.

While some cities buy land to connect parks and trails, others have leveraged easements to allow trails that cross through private property for recreational purposes. The landowner grants access, but still owns the property. In Baltimore, several easements were used to connect pieces of the 15-mile Gwynns Falls and 10-mile Jones Falls trails, creating a multi-use greenway through the city. The trails flow through parks, neighborhoods and along waterways. At several points, they connect to public transportation. The two trails also make up a thread of the larger East Coast greenway, an ongoing project of connecting trails for an interstate greenway running from Florida to Maine.

Pittsburgh has an opportunity to be creative in identifying assets and crafting strategies for future parks, Miller said. That includes looking at the more than 17,000 vacant parcels of land in the city. Are there opportunities to use those parcels for trail use or connectivity or a potential park? Can we fit bike lanes through parts of those? Is there even a corner of a vacant property we could use?

One piece at a time

There isnt a one-size-fits-all template for urban park design. Even if there were, Pittsburgh with its hills and valleys and rivers would have to stray from the recipe and improvise. A 10-minute walk in Pittsburgh is different than a 10 minute walk in Manhattan. You have to factor in barriers such as steps, topography, roadways, said Miller. The topography makes it more challenging. Trails might need to be built be made to make a connection. In other cases, we might need to add another park to a neighborhood.

Some projects are underway in isolated parks in the city, such as Mon Wharf Landing, a small park along the river in Downtown Pittsburgh. The nonprofit, Riverlife, is working on connecting a riverfront loop through the Downtown and riverfront parks, including the Mon Wharf Landing. When it was built, we had an opportunity to turn it into a riverfront park and trail. But there wasnt an opportunity to connect it through both ends from Point State Park and the existing trail network on the other end, said Stephan Bontrager, vice president, communications and outreach for the nonprofit Riverlife. The park was built and it sat there unused because it wasnt easily accessible. Its suffered because of that. There hasnt been a steady stream of bike, walkers users passing through there.

Schenley, Highland Park and the citys other expansive destination parks may be the best known and most visited, but how well the smaller neighborhood parks are tied together will determine whether the city meets its goal of making them reachable to everyone willing to take a 10-minute stroll. Those are the ones that people can walk to and that become gathering places for the neighborhood, Miller said. Those are the predominant parks in Pittsburgh.
The company upped the ante when it winnowed its list of potential cities to 20 in January 2018, though the safe money was on New York City or Washington, D.C., emerging as the victor. Instead, Amazon split the difference and, in November, decided to divide the HQ2 spoils between those two East Coast behemoths.
The reputations of political institutions are everywhere in tatters. We have, after all, a president who exemplifies misogyny and encourages racial and ethnic resentment for political purposes. And these failures are implicitly blessed by many leaders on the religious right, who will apparently swallow any character failure as long as the right kind of judges are appointed. It is a form of hypocrisy that achieves an unholy twofer: lowering the standards of our public life while undermining the standing of religious institutions.
Nevada and Illinois have since passed the amendment, though there are discussions about whether time has expired on the amendment. It is not clear it will get to that point, however; it has died five times in the state's Republican-controlled House after passing in the Senate and it is believed to be a long shot to pass this year before Saturday, the end of the General Assembly session.
"I am sorry for the hurt I caused back then and the hurt it will cause today," Carroll wrote in a column published Wednesday. "Clearly the 21-year-old me who oversaw the book and that page didn't understand how offensive the photo was. I wish I had. Today's 51-year-old me of course understands and is crushed by this mistake."
Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.
Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focused violence" to "establish a white homeland" and dreamed of ways to "kill almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and searched the internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected."
Damen Ellington Graham, 27, of Virginia Beach, was found by officers at the apartment in the 6700 block of Chartwell Drive. Officers were dispatched there around 12:16 a.m. for a report of a person suffering a gunshot wound. The apartment complex is off Providence Road, between Indian River Road and Military Highway.
Hawkins-Hendrix has her own story to share. Her family has lived on the same land in the Bayside area since the 1890s, though she said the houses will soon turn into condominiums. Her father, who died a couple of weeks ago, started farming at 12, she said. He was known for his collard greens, and Hawkins-Hendrix said people would drive from New York to buy some. (Coefield backed up the claim, though she said she lived in Chesapeake.)
"I believe deeply in my bones that we can walk together shoulder to shoulder for the good of this commonwealth," he said, "but it will take a desire to address that which is uncomfortable and every ounce of compassion and understanding that we can summon from within ourselves."
The Virginian-Pilot sought to track down why Sessoms and two other residents were provided city signs  similar to ones found at municipal lots or metered spaces  for their parking pads when public street spaces near the Oceanfront are at a premium. It's become such an issue that the Cavalier Shores Civic League has approached the City Council with a proposal to limit parking to three hours a day. Council members will consider the issue March 5.
This was a gorgeous dish. Every element was carefully paired with the other. The orzo risotto was creamy and rich, and it was the perfect decadent platform for sweet, tender scallops, richly flavored shrimp and vegetables. It was a good portion size, leaving me not wanting any more food, but not so full that all I wanted to do was take a long afternoon nap. It was also simply, but deliciously, seasoned.
"I figured, if I died someone had to know about this," said Sue Hall, who lives in Fredericksburg. "Janny was determined to do the best thing for the twins and we always wondered about them. And I always thought that if the twins wanted to find us they would have by now.
US Dry Cleaning Services Corp. which lists an Arizona number on its website that goes to an answering service, claims to own four brands including Zoots and One Price Dry Cleaning. A financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2014 notes that US Dry Cleaning owned 68 stores in five states at that time, including 11 in Virginia, and three production plants, including one in Portsmouth. The company noted it bought Zoots in Virginia in 2008 and that it had several large customers including the Navy.
When standing directly in the forest around Yading (Nyiden) village, China one may not perceive the number of species in a close proximity as exceptionally high. However, the nature of the forest changes rapidly as one moves uphill, downhill, or into another valley. Credit: Adrien Favre/Senckenberg

Biodiversity is one of Earth's most precious resources. However, for most places in the world, scientists only have a tiny picture of what this diversity actually is. Researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now constructed from scattered data a world map of biodiversity showing numbers of tree species. With the new map, the researchers were able to infer what drives the global distribution of tree species richness. Climate plays a central role; however, the number of species that can be found in a specific region also depends on the spatial scale of the observation, the researchers report in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The new approach could help to improve global conservation.

Around the world, biodiversity is changing dramatically and its protection has become one of the greatest challenges confronting mankind. Researchers still know very little about why some places are biologically diverse while others are poor, and where the most biodiverse places are on Earth. Also, the reasons that some areas are more species-rich than others are often unclear: What role do environmental factors like climate play, and how important are historical factors like past ice ages for the biodiversity we observe today? Current knowledge is based on scattered local surveys and is full of gaps, especially in tropical regions, where biodiversity can be particularly high. Closing all gaps by comprehensively surveying the whole planet, is, however, simply impossible.

Satellite imagery can close some data gaps, for example, when collating information on forest cover, but these techniques have their limits. "We don't just need to count the trees, we also need to identify what species they are," explains Dr. Petr Keil, lead author of the new study. "In the tropics, we find hundreds of different tree species in a single hectare. We can identify these only onsite. Therefore, most areas haven't been surveyed for biological diversityand probably never will be." Keil and co-author Prof Jonathan Chase are scientists at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Another example of an area with an exceptionally high variety of forest types and thus, high regional diversity are the Mountains in Harenna Forest, Ethiopia. Credit: Laica ac from UK, CC BY-SA 0.2

Despite the patchy data, Keil and Chase wanted to create a world map of tree species richness. In a first step, they compiled well over 1,000 lists of tree species. These came either from small forest plots that had been surveyed in previous studies, or from whole countries. It is known which tree species can be found in most countries, but not exactly where, and it is also often unclear whether specific species are rare or common. In order to calculate the number of tree species for the extensive blank spaces on the map, the researchers developed a statistical model. The trick is that the model combines the available patchy information on the surveyed plots with the information on the country level, and also integrates established data on environmental factors like climate. The result is a complete map of biodiversity in all the forested areas of the world.

"It was like a 1000-piece puzzle for which we only had a few pieces, and we didn't even know what the big picture was," says Jonathan Chase. "With our approach, we were able to calculate the missing pieces and put the puzzle together." Using the new method, the researchers can calculate the number of tree species for areas of different sizesa nature reserve, a country or an entire continent. This enabled them to investigate the underlying causes of the variation of tree diversity on Earth. Their analysis revealed that climate is the most important factor; the highest number of tree species can be found in the hot, humid tropics. Nevertheless, the number of tree species also varies across different regions with the same climate, in some cases quite substantially. In southern China, for example, the researchers see a much higher diversity than in other regions with a similar climate.

Importantly, however, just how much 'extra' diversity is found in places like China depends on the view of the observer. "If you're standing in a forest counting the number of species around you, you might not even notice the difference between China and other climatically similar areas. However, when you move from one site to the next and add up species observed across many sites, the difference really pops out," Jonathan Chase says.

Upper figure: The first global map of species richness of trees, as produced by the new model. It illustrates the number of tree species that can be expected within areas of one hectare. The highest number of tree species (orange to yellow) can be found in the hot, humid tropics. The remaining white spaces are unforested areas. Lower figure: When tree diversity is observed on the scale of larger regions, the picture changes. A particularly high number of species (orange to yellow) can now be observed in mountainous areas like southern China, Mexico, or in the Ethiopian highlands, which all have high beta diversity. Credit: Petr Keil and Jonathan Chase

This disparity between adjacent areas is called beta diversity. Within a larger region, it leads to a high total diversity. Keil and Chase have shown in their analysis that this measure of diversity is particularly high in the dry (not wet) tropics, especially in mountainous areas like in southern China, Mexico, or in the Ethiopian highlands. One reason for this high beta-diversity might be events in the geological past, like ice ages. "During the last glaciation, the trees could survive only in mountain valleys, and different populations were isolated from each other as a result," explains Petr Keil. "If you stand in one of these valleys today, you see a medium number of tree species. But if you climb over the ridge and hike down into the neighbouring valley, you find different tree species, and still others in the next valley."

Keil and Chase are primarily concerned with understanding how biodiversity is distributed on the planet and what factors are driving it. But their model can also be useful for developing strategies for conservation, especially in forests where tree diversity has not been heavily influenced by humans. For example, in the case of the mountains of China, protecting only one valley is not enough; it is the diversity of different valleys which gives this area its high biological value. "In order to really understand and protect biodiversity, we have to look at the local and regional scale at the same time," says Keil. "That is, we need both the perspective of a naturalist standing in a forest and the big picture of an entire country. Our approach now enables that."

Explore further Animals and fungi enhance the performance of forests

More information: Petr Keil et al, Global patterns and drivers of tree diversity integrated across a continuum of spatial grains, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2019). Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution Petr Keil et al, Global patterns and drivers of tree diversity integrated across a continuum of spatial grains,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0799-0

Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Layered lava flows within the Wai Subgroup from near Ambenali Ghat, Western Ghats. Credit: Courtney Sprain

UC Berkeley scientists have obtained more precise dates for the Deccan Traps volcanic lava flows, linking peak activity more closely to the asteroid or comet impact 66 million years ago and the coincident mass extinction. But if greenhouse gases emitted before the impact created a hothouse climate that set life up for a fall when the impact cooled the planet, those gases did not coincide with the largest lava flows from the Deccan Traps.

Based on new data published today in the journal Science, it seems increasingly likely that an asteroid or comet impact 66 million years ago reignited massive volcanic eruptions in India, half a world away from the impact site in the Caribbean Sea.

But it leaves unclear to what degree the two catastrophes contributed to the near-simultaneous mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs and many other forms of life.

The research sheds light on huge lava flows that have erupted periodically over Earth's history, and how they have affected the atmosphere and altered the course of life on the planet.

In the study, University of California, Berkeley, scientists report the most precise and accurate dates yet for the intense volcanic eruptions in India that coincided with the worldwide extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period, the so-called K-Pg boundary. The million-year sequence of eruptions spewed lava flows for distances of at least 500 kilometers across the Indian continent, creating the so-called Deccan Traps flood basalts that in some places are nearly 2 kilometers thick.

"Now that we have dated Deccan Traps lava flows in more and different locations, we see that the transition seems to be the same everywhere. I would say, with pretty high confidence, that the eruptions occurred within 50,000 years, and maybe 30,000 years, of the impact, which means they were synchronous within the margin of error," said Paul Renne, a professor-in-residence of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and senior author of the study, which will appear online Feb. 21. "That is an important validation of the hypothesis that the impact renewed lava flows."

The new dates also confirm earlier estimates that the lava flows continued for about a million years, but contain a surprise: three-quarters of the lava erupted after the impact. Previous studies suggested that about 80 percent of the lava erupted before the impact.

If most of the Deccan Traps lava had erupted before the impact, then gases emitted during the eruptions could have been the cause of global warming within the last 400,000 years of the Cretaceous Period, during which temperatures increased, on average, about 8 degrees Celsius (14.4 degrees Fahrenheit). During this period of warming, species would have evolved suited to hothouse conditions, only to be confronted by global cooling from the dust or by climate cooling gases caused by either the impact or the volcanos.

Map outlining exposed areas of the Deccan Traps in modern day India. Credit: Courtney Sprain

The cold would have been a shock from which most creatures would never have recovered, disappearing entirely from the fossil record: literally, a mass extinction.

But if most of the Deccan Traps lava emerged after the impact, this scenario needs rethinking.

"This changes our perspective on the role of the Deccan Traps in the K-Pg extinction," said first author Courtney Sprain, a former UC Berkeley doctoral student who is now a postdoc at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. "Either the Deccan eruptions did not play a rolewhich we think unlikelyor a lot of climate-modifying gases were erupted during the lowest volume pulse of the eruptions."

The hypothesis that climate-altering volcanic gases leak out of underground magma chambers frequently, and not just during eruptions, is supported by evidence from present-day volcanos, such as those of the gas-spewing Mt. Etna in Italy and Popocatepetl in Mexico, the researchers said. Magma stewing below the surface is known to transmit gases to the atmosphere, even without eruptions.

"We are suggesting that it is very likely that a lot of the gases that come from magma systems precede eruptions; they don't necessarily correlate with eruptions," Renne said. In the case of the K-Pg extinction, the symptoms of significant climate change occurred before the peak in volcanic eruptions.

Flood basalts

Renne, Sprain and their colleagues are using a precise dating method, argon-argon dating, to determine when the impact occurred and when the Deccan Traps erupted to clarify the sequence of catastrophes at the end of the Cretaceous Period and beginning of the Tertiary Periodthe K-Pg boundary, formerly referred to as the K-T boundary.

Lead author Courtney Sprain standing in front of an inflated sheet lobe in the Jawhar Formation in a quarry north of Mumbai, India. Credit: Loy?c Vanderkluysen

In 2013, using rocks from Montana, they obtained the most precise date yet for the impact, and in 2018, they updated that to 66,052,000 years ago, give or take 8,000 years. Then, in 2015, they determined from a handful of samples in India that, in at least one spot, the peak of the Deccan Traps eruptions occurred within about 50,000 years of that date, which means, in geologic time, that the incidents were basically simultaneous.

Now, with three times more rock samples from areas covering more of the Deccan Traps, the researchers have established that the time of peak eruptions was the same across much of the Indian continent. This supports the group's hypothesis that the asteroid impact triggered super-earthquakes that caused a strong burst of volcanism in India, which is almost directly opposite the impact site, the Chicxulub crater in the Caribbean Sea.

Sprain and Renne argue that the coincident catastrophes likely delivered a one-two punch to life on Earth, but the details are unclear. Volcanic eruptions produce lots of gases, but some, like carbon dioxide and methane, warm the planet, while others, like sulfur aerosols, are cooling. The impact itself would have sent dust into the atmosphere that blocked sunlight and cooled the Earth, though no one knows for how long.

"Both the impact and Deccan volcanism can produce similar environmental effects, but these are occurring on vastly differing timescales," Sprain said. "Therefore, to understand how each agent contributed to the extinction event, assessing timing is key."

Which gases in the Deccan Traps are emitted when is a question that's hard to answer, because there are no flood basalt eruptions going on today, despite numerous ones in Earth's history. The most recent, near the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, dwindled 15 million years ago after 400,000 years of eruptions.

The paucity of information about flood basalts is one reason Renne and Sprain are interested in the Deccan Traps, which are still young enough to contain information about the sequence, effects and scale of the eruptions, and perhaps the cause.

"It makes we wonder whether we may see some external forcing mechanism, like the impact for the Deccan Traps, for other flood basalts that lead up to major peaks in eruptions, like the Columbia River basalts or the Siberian Traps," Renne said. "Could a major earthquake in nearby subduction zones or the accumulation of pressure due to rising magma unleash these major episodes in flood basalts?"

Sprain noted that, in the same issue of Science, a research group at Princeton University also will publish new dates related to the Deccan Traps, some of which differ from those of the Berkeley group. Whereas the Berkeley group dated the mineral plagioclase from the actual lava flows, the Princeton group dated zircons in the sediment deposited between flows. Because it's unclear where the zircons came from, however, those dates provide only a maximum age for the lava, she said.

More information: C.J. Sprain el al., "The eruptive tempo of Deccan volcanism in relation to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary," Science (2019). C.J. Sprain el al., "The eruptive tempo of Deccan volcanism in relation to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary,"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aav1446 B. Schoene el al., "U-Pb constraints on pulsed eruption of the Deccan Traps across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction," Science (2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aau2422 Journal information: Science
Nepal celebrates International Mother Language Day with a poetry festival

Nepal Academy organised a poetry event to observe International Mother Language Day in Kathmandu on Thursday. The festival featured poets from various ethnic backgrounds who recited 36 poems in 32 different languages.
Trypanosomes, which cause African sleeping sickness, under the microscope (left) and the crystal structure of the tryparedoxin dimer (right): The two inhibitor molecules are highlighted in red. Credit: Ute Hellmich, Annika Wagner

Scientists working in a range of disciplines joined forces to identify a new approach to combat African sleeping sickness. Fundamental research undertaken under the supervision of Professor Ute Hellmich of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has revealed a promising strategy to develop a suitable agent. "There is still a long way to go before we arrive at a pharmaceutical product," said Hellmich. "But our highly interdisciplinary work involving parasitology, theoretical and organic chemistry, structural biology, and biochemistry has shown how the parasite that causes sleeping sickness can be rendered harmless." The researchers succeeded in demonstrating how a specific inhibitory substance docks on to and deactivates a vital protein of the parasite.

African sleeping sickness is caused by trypanosomes, unicellular protozoans transmitted by the bite of an infected tsetse fly. According to the World Health Organization, the number of infected people has declined in recent years, down to an estimated 15,000 in 2014. However, establishing the actual incidence of the disease is difficult, as the early symptoms are similar to those of malaria. "Not only the poorest people in sub-Saharan Africa are threatened, but also their cattle, which are affected on a dramatic scale by certain species of Trypanosoma brucei," explained biochemist Professor Ute Hellmich.

Currently, only a handful of drugs to treat sleeping sickness, which is fatal if left untreated, are available and these treatments are often accompanied by severe side effects and even fatalities in up to 10 percent of patients. Although new drugs are currently being developed, the approach of Hellmich's group goes one step further: "Our inhibitor opens up the future prospect of being able to design inhibitors on a fundamental level and could thus possibly also be used in the treatment of infection with other, related pathogenic parasites, such as Leishmania," said Annika Wagner, lead author of the study recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Inhibitor induces dimerization of essential parasite protein

The principle is based on the fact that a small, selective inhibitor binds to the enzyme tryparedoxin. This protein is essential for the parasite, protecting it from oxidative damage, but is not present in humans, making it a viable drug target. To their surprise, the team of researchers discovered that when the inhibitor binds to the protein, two of the resulting inhibitor-protein complexes then combine to form a stable dimer. When this occurs, the usually monomeric protein ceases to function.

"We were astonished and initially thought it was a chance effect due to experimental conditions," said Hellmich. The investigation was then extended, and it was verified in a large-scale study using various methods that the dimerization effect could be reproduced. In addition to the Mainz research teams of Professor Ute Hellmich and Professor Till Opatz, researchers from the universities of Frankfurt, Wurzburg, Heidelberg, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble were involved.

Highly interdisciplinary research proves successful

The dimerization that the research has uncovered is unusual because the molecule responsible is extremely small. Most molecules that act like a molecular adhesive to combine individual monomers to form a dimer are relatively large. "Our molecule is much smaller and able to directly recognize the protein," explained Hellmich. Small molecules are also easier to smuggle into cells, which might be the starting point for new drug concepts.

By precisely demonstrating the mechanism by which the parasite protein is chemically inhibited and dimerized by the small molecule, the interdisciplinary research partnership has staked out the fundamentals underlying such a new concept. "It was crucial that we didn't stop at our original goal of merely determining the crystal structure of the protein-inhibitor complex," said Hellmich. "Instead, we took a second look at the result and then discussed it with experts from different fields. Research only progresses when we work together."

Explore further Decoding sleeping sickness signals could aid quest for treatments

More information: Annika Wagner et al, Inhibitor-Induced Dimerization of an Essential Oxidoreductase from African Trypanosomes, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2019). Journal information: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Annika Wagner et al, Inhibitor-Induced Dimerization of an Essential Oxidoreductase from African Trypanosomes,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/anie.201810470
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers at CU Boulder are starting work on a new collaborative grant from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that will improve solar wind modeling.

The team at CU is led by the Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center with contributions from Stanford University, Lockheed Martin and the National Solar Observatory in Boulder. This is the first such grant the new center has received and the first time a group from CU has worked with the National Solar Observatory on a NASA grant, said center Director Thomas Berger.

The Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center is a multidisciplinary center within the College of Engineering and Applied Science. The center, a main component of the university's Grand Challenge, brings together diverse research on space weather occurring across the university and the Front Range.

The project, which runs for 12 months and is funded at $287,000, is titled Improving Magnetic Field Boundary Conditions for Solar Wind Models. It is part of a new NASA and NOAA Operations to Research (O2R) program, which aims to communicate space weather forecasting challenges to the research community who can then find innovative solutions.

Solar wind is the stream of high energy charged particles carrying the sun's magnetic field into our solar system, where it can interact with planetary magnetic fields. There can also be large eruptions of magnetic field, known as coronal mass ejections, embedded in the solar wind that can significantly disturb the Earth's magnetic field, causing large "geomagnetic storms."

The best-known impacts of these storms are the colorful lights of the aurora borealis. If they are powerful enough, however, they can cause problems with satellite communications, transmission lines and GPS navigation. While those effects are rare, our society is increasingly reliant on those technologies. That makes it important to understand and predict these storms as accurately as possible.

Currently, both NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.S. Air Force use a combination of models to forecast the solar wind speed and density conditions at Earth. The input to these models comes from the National Solar Observatory's Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) telescope array, a collection of six solar observatories positioned around the world. But because these telescopes are ground-based, they are challenged when imaging the sun through the Earth's own turbulent atmosphere.

That can lead to inaccurate data, said Berger.

"The measurements of the solar magnetic field are not as uniform as we'd like, and it is difficult to calibrate them to get accurate magnetic field values into the current model," he said. "In addition, because we see the sun only from Earth, in the ecliptic plane of the solar system, we cannot measure the magnetic field of the solar polar regions very well. The polar regions are the source of the fastest solar wind streams so getting these fields wrong means the forecast models are often wrong."

Berger said the new project will "recalibrate" the GONG data to make them more accurate across the entire solar disk and compare the GONG ground-based magnetic field data with data measured in space by Japan, the U.S. and the United Kingdom's Hinode mission and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The grant will also fund work to test these new inputs and gauge the level of improvement in the forecasts.

The Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center aims to produce breakthrough research advances and innovative mission technologies that are directly tied to the needs of the operational forecasting enterprise. Their goal is to ensure closure of the research to operations loop, and Berger said this award fits that mission perfectly.

"The O2R program is the first time that NASA and NOAA are working together to fund improvements to space weather forecasting, and CU's new space weather center is at the forefront of this exciting effort," he said.

Explore further DSCOVR is the linchpin of next-generation space weather forecasts
Several Goddard technologists are involved in a new CubeSat technology-demonstration mission called SNoOPI, which employs a novel remote-sensing technique for measuring soil-moisture levels. From left to right: Jeffrey Piepmeier, Chase Kielbasa, who is holding a first-generation prototype circuit board for the SNoOPI instrument, Joseph Knuble, Manuel Vega, Michael Coon, and Derek Hudson. Credit: NASA/W. Hrybyk

Work has begun on a new CubeSat mission that will demonstrate for the first time a new, highly promising technique for measuring soil moisture from spacedata important for early flood and drought warnings as well as crop-yield forecasts.

The technology-demonstration mission, SigNals of Opportunity: P-band Investigation, will validate a remote-sensing technique called signals of opportunity. Although scientists have proven the concept in ground-based campaigns, SNoOPI, as the mission is also known, will be the first on-orbit demonstration when it's deployed into a low-Earth orbit in 2021.

Ultimately, scientists want to fly a constellation of tiny satellites, all employing the same technique, to determine the amount of water stored in snowpack and that which is present in soil in the root zonemeasurements not possible with current space-based technology.

To gather this data, SNoOPI will operate a little differently than other missions. Instead of generating and transmitting its own radio signals toward Earth and then analyzing the returned signal, it will take advantage of already-available telecommunications signals.

Specifically, SNoOPI will retrieve the P-band radio signal, which is sensitive to moisture levels, in transmissions from a telecommunications satellite orbiting 22,000 miles above Earth's surface. As with visible light, these signals hit Earth, interact with the environment, and literally bounce back into space where SNoOPI's sole instrument lies in wait to collect the P-band frequency. By analyzing the returned signals, scientists can derive moisture readings.

Ideal Application

For the SNoOPI mission, the signals-of-opportunity technique is ideal, said Jeffrey Piepmeier, one of several engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, involved in the mission led by Purdue University Professor James Garrison. NASA's In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies, or InVEST, program is funding SNoOPI's development.

This graphic shows how a technology-demonstration CubeSat, called SNoOPI, will collect soil-moisture measurements at the root level. Credit: NASA

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, mission is currently gathering moisture data. However, instead of P-band, it employs another radio frequencythe higher-frequency L-bandto map the amount of water in the top two inches of soil everywhere on Earth's surface. However, SMAP can't gather moisture readings at the root level. It also encounters difficulties when measuring soil moisture in forested and mountainous areas.

Lower frequencies, like the P-band, can travel four times deeper into the soil or snowpack, thereby overcoming the L-band limitation. But P-band has its own shortcomings. Because traditional P-band instruments are prone to radio interference caused by signal spillover from neighboring spectrum users, they require a large antenna to actively transmit and receive signals to obtain sufficient spatial resolution.

Because SNoOPI reuses already-existing telecommunications signals, it doesn't need a transmitter. Furthermore, the telecommunications signal SNoOPI ultimately captures after it bounces back into space is extremely powerful, eliminating the need for a large antenna, Piepmeier explained.

"The signal efficiency makes this technique very cost effective," Piepmeier said. "Because we eliminate the need for a large antenna, it enables the technique's use on a CubeSat, which can be the size of a loaf of bread."

Goddard and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are building SNoOPI's instrument and an external vendor will provide the CubeSat bus. Garrison, who conceived the P-band signals-of-opportunity technique, is managing the overall mission-development effort.

Should the technique prove effective in space, the team believes NASA could fly as many as nine small satellites along a polar orbit to build root-zone maps needed by weather forecasters, water managers, farmers, and power-plant operators.

Small satellites, including CubeSats, are playing an increasingly larger role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA, including: planetary space exploration; Earth observations; fundamental Earth and space science; and developing precursor science instruments like cutting-edge laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement capabilities.

Explore further Satellite technology could help agricultural producers more accurately measure subsurface moisture
Italy's antitrust authorities fined two low-cost airlines over their cabin baggage policy

Italy's antitrust authority on Thursday slapped fines on low cost airlines Ryanair and Wizzair over their cabin baggage policy.

Both carriers allow small bags into the cabin free of charge only if they can be stowed under the seat in front of passengers.

Bigger bags of up to 10 kilos require a luggage fee, or a fee-paying priority boarding pass.

Ryanair was fined three million euros ($3.4 million) and Wizzair one million euros.

The Italian antitrust agency said that most passengers expected to travel with a larger carry-on bag and that by imposing an extra payment of between 5 and 25 euros the airlines were raising ticket prices in a "non-transparent" manner.

After Ryanair announced its new cabin bag policy in August, Italian regulators ordered the airline - as well as Hungary's Wizzair - to suspend the measure, saying it misled consumers and distorted competition with carriers that transported cabin luggage for free.

Ryanair rejected the Italian decision, saying its policy was transparent and helped flight punctuality as it speeded up boarding.

It went into effect in November.

Explore further Italy tells Ryanair, Wizz Air to suspend bag charge

 2019 AFP
A juvenile bottlenose dolphin plays with seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon. Credit: HSWRI 2017; A. Fabry 20170131 S150150; NOAA Fisheries permit no. 20377-01.

Using telemetry units in hospitals to monitor patient health is standard practice. Now, a similar approach is proving to be invaluable for dolphins, too. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and collaborators have conducted the most extensive radio-tracking effort of bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) using radio-telemetry.

Findings from their study reveal new and surprising information about how they use their habitats, how they spend their time, and how they interact with their own species.

A population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) consider the IRL along the Atlantic Coast of Florida their "home sweet home." Yet, little is known about their short-term movements, association patterns, activities, and habitat usefactors that are critical to understanding and managing animal populations. Moreover, these long-lived, top-level predators are impacted by ecological changes following large-scale environmental shifts including seagrass loss, fish kills and algal blooms.

Although IRL bottlenose dolphins have routinely been monitored via photo-identification surveys, this method only provides an intermittent evaluation. Radio-telemetryon the other handenabled the researchers to consistently observe, track and monitor the dolphins in close proximity over time.

The study, recently published in the journal Aquatic Mammals, emphasizes the value of radio-telemetry as an important method to evaluate seasonal ranging patterns and provides essential baseline data on habitat preferences.

For the study, Greg O'Corry-Crowe, Ph.D., co-author and a research professor at FAU's Harbor Branch, Wendy Noke Durden, M.S., lead author and a research scientist at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, and collaborators, selected and fitted nine IRL bottlenose dolphins with radio tags in June 2007 and June 2010. Eight were male, one was female, and all of the animals were adult except for one juvenile.

They conducted radio-tracking by boat, with assistance from a Cessna 172 aircraft, and visually located and followed each animal several times per week. Over the course of 122 hours of observation, they compiled a total of 1,390 scan samples.

Results of the study show that these tagged dolphins spent most of their time traveling (53 percent), followed by milling together in groups (27 percent), foraging (17 percent), and socializing (2.3 percent). They also spent a surprising amount of their time on their own for such a famously social animal. The juvenile dolphin spent the most time alone, documented at 72 percent in 2007 and decreasing to 36 percent in 2010.

"The fact that these dolphins seem to have a lot of alone time adds a new dimension to our understanding of the sociality of the Indian River Lagoon dolphins," said O'Corry-Crowe. "It also was fascinating to find that many dolphins have brief encounters with many other dolphins. The tracking approach is really adding a whole new dimension to how we view and ultimately conserve this species."

The researchers found that some dolphins also formed longer associations. Adult males often pair up, but they also found one pair in the company of a female. According to the researchers, it appears that they primarily hang out to forage and eat rather than reproduce.

"Like other social mammal species, bottlenose dolphins exhibit a 'fission-fusion' social association where they hang out in a group or split up during the day. These associations can change frequently in composition and size or remain stable over the years. For example, male bottlenose dolphins have been known to form male-male alliances that last for years," said Noke Durden. "Our study reveals how dynamic the fission-fusion aspect of dolphin societies can be over short temporal periods, with tagged dolphins having brief associations with a large number of marked and many other unmarked individual dolphins."

Other findings show that only the social interactions and play activity varied by age class, with the juvenile animal spending more time socializing and playing with foreign objects like mangrove seeds and seagrass. The juvenile dolphin's activities changed over time, increasing in time spent traveling and decreasing in time spent milling with other dolphins as it approached reproductive maturity.

Habitat-use patterns varied among the individual dolphins, however, the tagged dolphins predominantly used shallow to mid-depth water. They also foraged and played more in shallow waters compared to other depths. The fewest observations occurred in deep water. Social behavior, however, did not occur significantly more at any of the four water depths categories in the study.

One concern of the researchers is the fact that bottlenose dolphins and other animals consider the lagoon their permanent home, given the recent environmental changes in the IRL.

"Our finding that shallow water habitats are used extensively by Indian River Lagoon bottlenose dolphins, particularly for foraging, indicates that these habitats are likely critical to their health and fitness. Ecosystem changes in the lagoon could significantly impact them," said O'Corry-Crowe.

Likewise, one animal only ranged approximately eight miles over 97 days, while on average dolphins ranged 17 miles during the course of the study.

"Given recent ecosystem changes in the IRL, fixed habitat utilization is concerning as animals inhabiting areas undergoing significant ecological pressures will need to adapt and or modify ranging patterns or inevitably suffer decreased fitness," said Noke Durden.

Collaborators of the study, "Small-Scale Movement Patterns, Activity Budgets, and Association Patterns of Radio-Tagged Indian River Lagoon Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncates)," are University of Central Florida; Seven Degrees of Mapping, LLC; Bayside Hospital for Animals; Georgia Aquarium; and Protect Wild Dolphins Alliance.

Explore further 21 dolphins die after washing up on Mexico beach
The gnathostomulid Rastrognathia macrostoma, these microscopic animals have a jaw apparatus similar to Amiskwia, which the scientists of this study now propose are among the closest living relatives of living arrow worms. Amiskwia proves to be the fossil link between these groups of animals. Credit: Martin Vinther Srensen/SNM Denmark

Amiskwia was originally described by the famous palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) in 1911 who compared it to the modern arrow worms (chaetognaths) - a group of ocean-dwelling worms that are fierce predators, equipped with an array of spines on their head for grasping small prey.

Such organisms are found world-wide at sites like the famous Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies, where their soft bodies are preserved intact.

The strange anatomies exhibited by these animals led the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) to speculate that these organisms represented extinct body plans that are no longer seen today and that if we were to wind back the clocks to the Cambrian, more than 500-million-years-ago, and re-run the tape of life, then perhaps the animals alive today would look very different.

More than 50 years after Doolittle Walcott came up with his theory about Amiskwia, scientists investigated its affinities and rejected his interpretation as they could not find evidence of the canonical grasping spines.

Instead, they suggested it could be a ribbon worm, or its own distinct lineage only distantly related to anything that resembles it today.

When Dr. Jakob Vinther from the University of Bristol's Schools of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences and Luke Parry, now at Yale University, studied specimens of Amiskwia, kept at the Smithsonian Institution they found something that had been missed before.

Dr. Vinther said: "I coated the specimen with ammonium chloride smoke to make the relief of the fossil stand out and then I could see that in the head was a pair of robust elements."

The fossil, Amiskwia sagittiformis from the Burgess Shale (508 million years old), preserving bilateral jaw elements inside its head. These jaw elements resemble those seen in rotifers and gnathostomulids, while the body resemble arrow worms. Credit: Luke Alexander Parry/University of Bristol--Yale University

Interpreting these structures as a set of jaws, their resemblance led him to think of a group of animals, called gnathiferans, which include rotifers, gnathostomulids and micrognathozoans. These animals are microscopic worms, with a distinctive internal jaw apparatus.

The scientists realised that Amiskwia suddenly had a jaw of a gnathiferan, but a body of an arrow worm.

Dr. Vinther said: "The bizarre combination of anatomy seemed altogether alien back in 2012.

"Some people have proposed that there could be a relationship between arrow worms and gnathiferans based on their shared possession of a jaw apparatus, both made of a substance called chitin.

"However, there was little other evidence to suggest a relationship, such as evidence from phylogenetic analyses of DNA."

Luke Parry added: "It altogether seemed like heresy to propose that gnathiferans and arrow worms may be related back then so we held off publishing our intriguing results out of fear of criticism from our peers.

"However, new DNA studies have since emerged that found arrow worms to be more and more closely affiliated to the Gnathifera in the Tree of Life.

The head of the arrow worm, Parasagitta elegans. This group of animals are the closest living relatives to Amiskwia. Credit: Rafael Martin Ledo/Consejeria de Educacion de Cantabria

"In particular, some researchers found that arrow worms share a duplication of the important Hox genes with a gnathiferan, the rotifers. We suddenly felt no more in a deadlock situation."

Now the authors have published their findings in the journal Current Biology. The study follows a new phylogenetic study, which finds robust support for arrow worms forming an evolutionary group with gnathiferans.

Luke Parry said: "We were excited to see that these researchers found a relationship between arrow worms and rotifers.

"Our phylogenetic analysis, based on anatomical features, strongly suggest a relationship between these two groups of animals as well."

The researchers find that Amiskwia is a stem lineage to arrow worms that possess the jaw apparatus seen in gnathiferan worms.

This jaw evolved into the fearsome grasping spines in living arrow worms, which now is an important link in the marine food chain. Small crustacean larvae have evolved long protective spines to protect themselves from being swallowed by arrow worms.

Explore further Bizarre 'bristle-jaw' creatures finally placed on tree of life

More information: 'Bilateral jaw elements in Amiskwia sagittiformis bridge the morphological gap between gnathiferans and chaetognaths' L. Parry and J. Vinther, Current Biology, 2019. Journal information: Current Biology 'Bilateral jaw elements in Amiskwia sagittiformis bridge the morphological gap between gnathiferans and chaetognaths' L. Parry and J. Vinther,, 2019.
South Island Adzebill. Aptornis defossor. From the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand., 2004, Masterton, by Paul Martinson. Credit: Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird  the now extinct adzebill  showing that some of its closest living relatives are the pint-sized flufftails from Madagascar and Africa.

Led by the University of Adelaide, the research in the journal Diversity showed that among the closest living relatives of the New Zealand adzebills  which weighed up to 19 kilograms  are the tiny flufftails, which can weigh as little as 25 grams. The closeness of the relationship strongly suggests that the ancestors of the adzebills flew to New Zealand after it became physically isolated from other land.

This finding mirrors the close relationship between New Zealand's kiwi and the extinct Madagascan elephant birds, published by University of Adelaide researchers in 2014, hinting at an unappreciated biological connection between Madagascar and New Zealand.

Like the better-known moa, the two species of adzebill  the North Island adzebill and South Island adzebill disappeared following the arrival of early Maori in New Zealand, who hunted them and cleared their forest habitats. Unlike the moa, adzebills were predators and not herbivores.

"The adzebill were almost completely wingless and had an enormous reinforced skull and beak, almost like an axe, which is where they got their English name," says Alexander Boast, lead author and former Masters student at the University of Adelaide.

"If they hadn't gone extinct, they would be among the largest living birds."

A team of researchers from Australia, New Zealand, and the US analysed genetic data from the two adzebill species.

Adzebill skeleton on display. Credit: Canterbury Museum, New Zealand

"A lot of past genetic research and publicity has focused on the moa, which we know were distant relatives of the ostrich, emu, and cassowary," says co-author Dr. Kieren Mitchell, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide.

"But noone had analysed the genetics of the adzebill, despite a lot of debate about exactly what they were and where they came from."

"We know that adzebills have been in New Zealand for a relatively long time, since we previously discovered a 19 million-year-old adzebill fossil on the South Island," says co-author Associate Professor Trevor Worthy, a palaeontologist at Flinders University.

"A key question is whether they've been present since New Zealand broke away from the other fragments of the supercontinent Gondwana or whether their ancestors flew to New Zealand from elsewhere later on."

Researchers at both the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA and Curtin University's Ancient DNA Lab sequenced adzebill DNA from fragments of bone and eggshell. They compared this to DNA from living birds to discover the identity and origin of the adzebill.

"It's possible that ancient migration of birds between Madagascar and New Zealand may have occurred via Antarctica," says Dr. Mitchell.

"Some coastal regions of the continent remained forested and ice free until as recently as 30 million years ago," said Dr. Paul Scofield, Senior Curator Natural History at Canterbury Museum says: "The North Island adzebill likely evolved from its South Island counterpart relatively recently. We know the North and South Islands were joined by a narrow piece of land around two million years ago. Adzebills probably developed in the South Island, then walked over this land bridge to the North Island."

Explore further Miniscule flightless birds have lived in New Zealand's wetlands for millions of years

More information: Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand's Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae. Diversity. doi.org/10.3390/d11020024 Mitochondrial Genomes from New Zealand's Extinct Adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) Support a Sister-Taxon Relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae.
Carlos Ghosn invited several guests to a Carnaval party in Rio de Janeiro in 2018 that was paid for by the Renault-Nissan alliance he used to lead

Former Renault and Nissan head Carlos Ghosn and his wife invited friends to a $260,000 Carnival party in Brazil last year and charged it to his employers, documents seen by AFP show, a move Ghosn's lawyer defended as a routine corporate function for a multinational CEO.

News of the party is the latest evidence of Ghosn's expensive lifestyle to emerge as his time as one of the top executives in the auto industry faces fresh scrutiny following his arrest in Tokyo last November.

According to documents seen by AFP, which confirm a report in the Express magazine, Ghosn invited eight couples to watch the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro in February last year from a beach-side luxury hotel.

While the guests were asked to pay their own air fare, the invitations specified that local teams would take charge of transport, lodging and other expenses.

"On behalf of Mr and Mrs Ghosn, I have the pleasure to inform you that they would be delighted if you would accept to be their guest at the 2018 Rio Carnival," according to the December 2017 email invitation.

"You will be responsible to book your flight and the team will take care of you from the Rio airport," it said, adding that the guests would be staying at the beachside Hilton Hotel in Copacabana.

The event required costly security measures including two bullet-proof vehicles which were put at the guests' disposal.

Nissan's Brazilian subsidiary later sent a bill of $257,872 (around 227,000 euros at current exchange rates) to the Renault-Nissan holding company based in the Netherlands.

The Dutch firm coordinates the operations of the French-Japanese alliance, which Ghosn built into the world's top-selling automotive group before his stunning downfall on charges of under-reporting his salary.

The 64-year-old French-Brazilian-Lebanese executive has denied any wrongdoing, but remains in detention awaiting a trial in Japan which could still be months away.

"Friendly relations do not preclude business relations, they can even help them," Ghosn's French lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne told AFP.

"We're told it involved Carlos Ghosn's personal relationships, but does that mean we can conclude there was some form of misuse of funds at the alliance?" he said.

Among the guests were Mario Saradar of the family-owned Lebanese banking group, where Ghosn sits on the board; and Misbah Ahdab, a Lebanese lawmaker.

American property developer Harry Macklowe was also invited, as was Khalil Daoud, head of the Lebanese postal service.

"Before getting indignant, we should check if they were truly not involved in any Renault-Nissan business," Le Borgne said, noting that the Lebanese post office "required a large fleet of automobiles."

Renault has said it is reviewing Ghosn's tenure as chief executive, a post he resigned last month following his dismissal as chairman of Nissan and their other alliance partner Mitsubishi.

Earlier this month, Renault said it had informed prosecutors about a suspect transaction involving Ghosn's extravagant wedding at the Versailles Palace outside Paris in 2016.

Versailles waived the usual 50,000-euro rental fee for the wedding under a sponsorship deal signed between the palace and Renault months before.

Le Borgne has said Ghosn is ready to repay the bill.

Explore further Renault board maintains Ghosn as CEO, says pay was legal

 2019 AFP
White patches on these little brown bats are signs of white-nose syndrome. Credit: Michael Schirmacher, Bat Conservation International

Although white-nose syndrome (WNS) has pushed some bat populations to extinction, researchers have found that higher fat stores are helping some little brown bats to survive this deadly disease. The study, led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz, was published February 19 in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

WNS is a debilitating disease that has decimated bat populations throughout North America. The disease is caused by a fungal pathogen that infects the skin of hibernating bats, often appearing as white fuzzy patches on their noses and wings. Eventually, WNS causes bats to burn through stored fat reserves, resulting in death by starvation.

The paper's authors set out to learn more about why certain populations of little brown bats in the Northeastern United States are persisting while afflicted with WNS, even after initial population declines. First author Tina Cheng, now a postdoctoral researcher with Bat Conservation International (BCI), conducted the study as part of her thesis research at UC Santa Cruz, where she worked with coauthors Marm Kilpatrick and Winifred Frick, both faculty members in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Frick is also chief scientist at BCI.

The researchers wanted to determine if the persisting populations of bats were protected by increased fat stores in winter or if they were resistant to or escaping infection. The team collected data on disease status and fat stores from six remnant colonies of little brown bats, comparing data from 2009, when WNS first hit, to 2016, several years after these bat colonies started to show signs of stabilization.

"Understanding how bats are able to survive WNS is important for helping us to strategically help other affected bat colonies," said Cheng. "What's interesting about these surviving little brown bats is that they are using a physiological mechanism of building up higher winter fat stores that helps them tolerate this disease. It shows that these bats have a great deal of resilience, and that other affected colonies may also be able to survive if we can give them a helping hand."

The study suggests that helping bats to survive WNS may require a holistic approach. In lieu of extinguishing or reducing the fungal pathogen, people may be able to help bats improve their body condition in preparation for winter through actions such as protecting or restoring wetlands and other critical foraging habitats.

Little brown bats and other bat species play critical roles in our ecosystems as consumers of insects, including agricultural pests. Research on how bats respond to perturbations such as WNS informs ongoing efforts to protect these and other affected colonies.

Explore further Some bats develop resistance to devastating fungal disease

More information: Tina L. Cheng et al. Higher fat stores contribute to persistence of little brown bat populations with white-nose syndrome, Journal of Animal Ecology (2019). Journal information: Journal of Animal Ecology Tina L. Cheng et al. Higher fat stores contribute to persistence of little brown bat populations with white-nose syndrome,(2019). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12954
The 2017 Chilean wildfires, along with those in Portugal, were confirmation that the new type of fire was here to stay. Credit: Pablo Trincado, licensed under CC BY 2.0

We're fighting a different kind of wildfire whose behaviour experts are struggling to predict.

Climate change and negligent forest management are causing higher-intensity, faster-moving fires that can generate enough energy to evolve into erratic firestorms, known as pyroCbs, in the face of which first responders can do little.

"Traditionally we could predict the fire behaviour and the direction of the fire but under those conditions and those moments it's not possible," said Marc Castellnou, president of the Spanish independent wildfire prevention group Pau Costa Foundation.

As a wildland fire analyst with the Catalan fire services, Castellnou reconstructs wildfires using simulations, satellite, on-the-ground and other data.

This wildfire shows a different behaviour than those of the past, he says. "It eats everything."

While these fires are rare, when one strikes it can generate 100,000 kilowatts of energy per metre. In firefighting terms, this is 10 times what a firefighter can handle, but even at 4,000 kilowatts, firefighters cannot go near the flames and require aerial support. "The old way of fighting fires by sending firefighters  that's gone," Castellnou said.

New normal

There have been signs of trouble since the 1990s, according to Castellnou.

"This change has been cooking for a long time, but the first time we realised something wrong was happening were the years 2009 and 2012," he said, referring to the Black Saturday bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria that killed 173 people and wildfires in Spain, Portugal, Chile and California, US. Many in the fire community initially thought these were just abnormal events, he says.

But then wildfires in Chile and Portugal in 2017 indicated that those weren't simply extreme years. "That was the new normal arriving. 2018 has confirmed that," he said, referring to the deadly wildfires in Greece and in California.

On October 15, 2017, Castellnou was in central Portugal to conduct analysis then support the local services as the wildfires became firestorms.

"What I saw was the pace of the fires ... You think: "Well that cannot be real." When you go there (and see the damage) you understand that that is the reality," he said.

Castellnou, who spoke about the future of fighting wildfires at the EU's security research event in December 2018, first joined the Catalan fire and rescue services as a seasonal firefighter when he was a teenager. In the past, he says, a fire that destroyed 25,000 hectares a day was considered extreme. According to his figures, the October fires in Portugal consumed 220,000 hectares of forest, an area 22 times the size of Lisbon and killed more than 40 people. Castellnou says that at their peak, wildfires burned at a rate of 10,000 hectares per hour over seven hours.

"This is something that blew my mind and I cannot use technology to simulate that because models can't predict it," he said. The challenge is now predicting how they will behave, he says. "We're still not there. We're struggling."

Flammable

Wildfire experts say that climate change, causing a long-term rise in temperature and less rainfall, is creating unprecedented flammable conditions that are making forests burn with more intensity. Wildfires now occur in the wintertime and affect regions in latitudes beyond the fire season-prone countries of Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal and France. Castellnou says that wildfires are expected to affect highly populated areas like central Europe.

"Last summer, it was the first time in history we were having wildfires in (nearly) every single country in Europe," he said.

"It's not that climate change will create these new scenarios. No, no. The new scenario is already here, and it has come a lot faster than expected."

According to experts, urbanisation and poor forest management for reducing fuel  the grasses and shrubs that fires feed on  are also to blame.

David Caballero, who also spoke at the security research event, assesses the wildfire risks in populated areas, focusing on the wildland-urban interface, where infrastructure and urban development intermingle with forests and other wildlands. He is contributing to a project called Clarity that is working to join up different IT systems to protect cities and infrastructures from the effects of climate change.

He says we're seeing more fast-growing, high-energy fires affecting populated areas.

"We have to be prepared. Whenever we have forest in Europe, we eventually will have forest fires," he said.

He travelled to the seaside village of Mati, Greece, in the immediate aftermath of Europe's deadliest wildfires last year which killed 99 people in the region of Attica. Speaking to firefighters and survivors, he learnt that many people did not expect the fires to cross the highway that runs parallel to the coast. In the past the fires had halted at this point, but this time they leapt across, burning through Mati.

"There was an enormous amount of fuel due to the lack of management for 40 years," he said. The fires tore through the village and reached the coast in just 20 minutes.

Caballero says that all along the Mediterranean coast, unregulated construction with little regard for safety and evacuation routes and lax vegetation management mean that more places are at risk. He says local and regional authorities can no longer afford to be negligent. "We are living surrounded by fuel," he said.

Culture of risk

Pau Costa Foundation, established to speed up the sharing of information and know-how between fire services and society, works on a number of prevention campaigns. For a project called Heimdall, set up to contribute to an EU-wide information system about fires and other emergencies, the foundation is ensuring that the general public has a voice in shaping it.

One of the foundation's aims is to change the social perception of wildfires. A tendency to fight every fire, small or large, has let landscapes thrive artificially, Castellnou says. "Not all fire is bad," he said. By clearing old trees, fires can make way for the growth of new forests that are adapted to climate change.

Smaller fires, through activities such as prescribed burning, also have a role to play in creating scars in the land which break up a bigger fire's path. "A mosaic of landscape of different ages and low-intensity fires is the best protection against the big fires," he said.

Oriol Vilalta, director of the foundation and a volunteer firefighter, says with wildfires killing more people in Europe, causing more than 200 deaths in the past three years, it's time we learnt how to coexist with them.

"We need to create a culture of risk. The Japanese know very well what to do in case of an earthquake, but we don't know what to do in Europe with fires," Vilalta said.

In the past, the tendency was to evacuate people, but the general public must become part of the solution through self-protection, he says. '(That's) what to do and what not to do, where to stay and where not to stay in case of a fire."

Explore further Yes, climate change is making wildfires worse
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Scientists at Scripps Research, inspired by the refined electrochemistry of these batteries, have developed a battery-like system that allows them to make potential advancements for the manufacturing of medicines. Their system avoids safety risks associated with a type of chemical reaction known as dissolving metal reduction, which is often used to produce compounds used in the manufacturing of medicines. Credit: Baran lab

Recent advances in battery technology, from the engineering of their cases to the electrochemistry that takes place inside them, has enabled the rapid rise of Teslas, Leafs, Volts and other electric cars.

Now, scientists at Scripps Research, inspired by the refined electrochemistry of these batteries, have developed a battery-like system that allows them to make potential advancements for the manufacturing of medicines.

Their new method, reported today in Science, avoids safety risks associated with a type of chemical reaction known as dissolving metal reduction, which is often used to produce compounds used in the manufacturing of medicines. Their method would offer tremendous advantages over current methods of chemical manufacturing, but until now, has largely been sidelined due to safety considerations.

"The same types of batteries we use in our electric cars today were far too dangerous for commercial use a few decades ago, but now they are remarkably safe thanks to advances in chemistry and engineering," says Phil Baran, Ph.D., who holds the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research and is a senior author of the Science paper. "By applying some of the same principles that made this new generation of batteries possible, we have developed a method to safely conduct powerfully reductive chemical reactions that have very rarely been used on a large scale becauseuntil nowthey were too dangerous or costly."

"This could have a major impact on not only the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals," Baran adds, "but also on the mindset of medicinal chemists who traditionally avoid such chemistry due to safety concerns. This problem was in fact brought to our attention by co-author Michael Collins, a medicinal chemist at Pfizer, for precisely this reason."

One of the most powerful reactions, and representative examples of this deeply reducing chemistry that chemists use to make new molecules is the Birch reduction, which was largely pioneered by Australian chemist Arthur Birch in the 1940s. This reductive reaction involves dissolving a reactive metal in liquid ammonia to manipulate ring-shaped molecules that can be used as the foundation for making many chemical products, including drug molecules.

The procedure calls for condensing ammonia or similar compounds, which are corrosive, toxic and volatile, and combining it with metals such as lithium that are prone to bursting into flames if exposed to air. The process must take place at extremely cold temperatures, requiring expensive equipment, and specialists.

A rare example of the use of a dissolving metal reduction in pharmaceutical manufacturing is a Parkinson's disease drug candidate (sumanirole) developed by Pfizer, a remarkable achievement in chemical manufacturing that required a herculean effort. The system to produce the compound on a large scale requires enough gaseous ammonia to fill three Boeing 747 airliners and must be conducted at -35 degrees Celsius. The lengths to which Pfizer went to utilize this chemistry are a testimony to the reaction's its synthetic power, and the great desire to use it in large-scale manufacturing over any known method.

To overcome these significant barriers to using such chemistry, Baran and his team looked to the advances made in battery manufacturing by joining forces with experts at the University of Utah, led by Shelley Minteer, Ph.D., and the University of Minnesota, led by Matthew Neurock, Ph.D.

The lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries used in modern electronics such as mobile phones, laptop computers and electric cars rely on advances in an internal component called the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). The SEI is a protective layer that forms on one of the electrodes inside a Li-ion when the battery is first charged and allows the battery to be recharged. Producing the safe and efficient batteries now used in consumer electronics relied on years of advances in optimizing the chemical conditionsthe composition of electrolytes, solvents and additivesthat produced the SEI.

The team noted that the reaction that forms the SEI in batteries is an electrochemical reaction akin to the Birch reaction and its relatives. They surmised that they could borrow from what battery makers had learned to pursue a safe and practical method of conducting electroreduction reaction.

"In many ways you're looking at similar situationspowerful reactions that, when effectively harnessed, can provide tremendous utility," says Solomon Reisberg, a graduate student in the Baran lab and one of the co-authors on the Science paper. "The team took advantage of the hard-won knowledge about the conditions that make reductive electrochemistry in batteries practical and used that knowledge to rethink how deeply reductive chemistry could be used on a large scale."

The Scripps Research team began by testing a range of additives used to prevent overcharging in Li-ion batteries and found that a combination of two them, substances called dimethylurea, and TPPA, made the Birch reaction possible at room temperature.

Testing various other materials used in batteries, Baran's team came up with a set of conditions that allowed them to not only conduct reductive electrosynthesis safely but also to increase the versatility of the reaction to create a wider variation of products that was not possible with previous electrochemical methods.

This method avoided the need for dissolving liquid metals in large quantities of ammoniaand the associated cost and risksand instead used an electrolyte system similar to that used in batteries. In addition to the Birch reaction, the researchers were able to apply the technique to other types of powerful reactions often used in synthesis but rarely, if ever, used in an industrial settings.

The researchers synthesized multiple versions of important single-ring compounds as well as molecules where multiple rings were combined to create more complex structuresstructures that form the skeletons of drugs and other chemical products. In contrast to the enormously expensive devices previously required to conduct reductive chemistry in large quantities, the team collaborated with Asymchem Life Science, a chemical manufacturer based in Tianjin, China, to build a small modular device capable of generating large quantities of products for less than $250.

"This demonstrates that kilogram-scale synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant building blocks can be produced by adapting what we've learned about electrochemistry from the rapid advance of battery technology," Baran says. "We anticipate that this will be a boon to industry, allowing them to finally bring these reactions to practical use."

More information: "Scalable and safe synthetic organic electroreduction inspired by Li-ion battery chemistry" Science (2019). Journal information: Science "Scalable and safe synthetic organic electroreduction inspired by Li-ion battery chemistry"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aav5606
This illustration shows the structure of a new synthetic DNA molecule, dubbed hachimoji DNA, which uses the four informational ingredients of regular DNA (green, red, blue, yellow) in addition to four new ones (cyan, pink, purple, orange). Credit: Indiana University School of Medicine

In a research breakthrough funded by NASA, scientists have synthesized a molecular system that, like DNA, can store and transmit information. This unprecedented feat suggests there could be an alternative to DNA-based life, as we know it on Earth  a genetic system for life that may be possible on other worlds.

This new molecular system, which is not a new life form, suggests scientists looking for life beyond Earth may need to rethink what they are looking for. The research appears in Thursday's edition of Science Magazine.

DNA is a complex molecule that stores and transmits genetic information, is passed from parent to offspring in all living organisms on Earth, and its components include four key ingredients called nucleotides  all standard for life as we know it. But, what about life on other worlds?

"Life detection is an increasingly important goal of NASA's planetary science missions, and this new work will help us to develop effective instruments and experiments that will expand the scope of what we look for," said Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.

One way to imagine the kinds of foreign structures found on other worlds is to try to create something foreign on Earth. A team of researchers, led by Steven Benner at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Alachua, Florida, successfully achieved the fabrication of a new informational molecular system that is like DNA, except in one key area: The new molecule has eight informational ingredients instead of four.

The synthetic DNA includes the four nucleotides present in Earth life  adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine  but also four others that mimic the structures of the informational ingredients in regular DNA. The result is a double-helix structure that can store and transfer information.

Crystyal structure of a hachimoji double helix built from four naturally-occurring bases, G (green), A (red), C (blue), T (yellow), and four synthetic bases, B (cyan), S (pink), P (purple), and Z (orange). Notable is the geometric regularity of the pairs, a requirement for evolution. Credit: Millie Georgiadis, Indiana University School of Medicine

Benner's team, which collaborated with laboratories at the University of Texas in Austin, Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis, and DNA Software in Ann Arbor, Michigan, dubbed their creation "hachimoji" DNA (from the Japanese "hachi," meaning "eight," and "moji," meaning "letter"). Hachimoji DNA meets all the structural requirements that allow our DNA to store, transmit and evolve information in living systems.

"By carefully analyzing the roles of shape, size and structure in hachimoji DNA, this work expands our understanding of the types of molecules that might store information in extraterrestrial life on alien worlds," said Benner.

Scientists have much more to do on the question of what other genetic systems could serve as the foundation for life, and where such exotic organisms could be found. However, this study opens the door to further research on ways life could structure itself in environments that we consider inhospitable, but which might be teeming with forms of life we haven't yet imagined.

"Incorporating a broader understanding of what is possible in our instrument design and mission concepts will result in a more inclusive and, therefore, more effective search for life beyond Earth," said Mary Voytek, senior scientist for Astrobiology at NASA Headquarters.

One of NASA's goals is to search for life on other planets like Mars, where there was once flowing water and a thick atmosphere, or moons of the outer solar system like Europa and Enceladus, where vast water oceans churn under thick layers of ice. What if life on those worlds doesn't use our DNA? How could we recognize it? This new DNA may be the key to answering these questions and many more.

This work also interests those interested in information as part of life.

"The discovery that DNA with eight nucleotide letters is suitable for storing and transmitting information is a breakthrough in our knowledge of the range of possibilities necessary for life," said Andrew Serazin, president of Templeton World Charity Foundation in Nassau, The Bahamas, which also supported this work. "This makes a major contribution to the quest supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation to understand the fundamental role that information plays in both physics and biology."

Explore further New NASA research consortium to tackle life's origins

More information: Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building blocks, Science 22 Feb 2019: Vol. 363, Issue 6429, pp. 884-887, science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6429/884 Journal information: Science Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building blocks,22 Feb 2019: Vol. 363, Issue 6429, pp. 884-887, DOI: 10.1126/science.aat0971
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Boys from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit most from early schooling, helping to narrow the skills gap with boys from high socio-economic backgrounds, according to new research.

The study, by researchers from the University of York and UCL, reveals that an additional term (4 months) of early schooling has a positive effect on boys from disadvantaged backgrounds up until age 11  improving relationships with teachers, academic interest and disruptive behaviour.

For this group, early schooling also increases test scores in language and numeracy at age 5 by 16-20 percent, personal, social, and emotional development at age 5 by 8 percent, and language and numeracy skills at age 7 by about 10 percent. For boys from high socio-economic backgrounds, on the other hand, many of these effects are close to zero.

Impact on skills

The researchers analysed information on more than 400,000 children born in 2000-01 who attend state schools in England and whose records are included in the National Pupil Database. This was combined with information on more than 7,000 English children from the same birth cohort who took part in the Millennium Cohort Study.

They examined locally varying school entry rules according to which most children entered reception class (first year of primary school) at the start of the academic year, but summer-born children in some local authorities were deferred by one or two terms.

The study investigated how earlier versus later transition into reception class impacts on cognitive and non-cognitive skills up until age 11 (final year of primary school).

They showed that universally all children benefit from early schooling, however the average effects are stronger for disadvantaged boys.

Optimal age

On average across all children, an additional term of early schooling increases age 5 test scores in language and numeracy by 6-10 percent and age 7 language and numeracy skills by about 2 percent. The effects on cognitive skills largely disappear four years later at age 11.

Co-author of the study, Professor Thomas Cornelissen from the Department of Economics at the University of York, said: "The starting age of formal schooling differs widely across countries, with the UK among the countries in which formal schooling starts the earliest. Yet, to date there exists little evidence on what the optimal starting age for formal schooling is.

"Overall our findings confirm that exposure of 4 year olds to early learning in a school setting fosters a range of important social skills throughout age 5, 7 and 11."

The study also suggests there are lasting effects on non-cognitive outcomes. At age 5, there are positive effects on physical development (covering coordination and fine motor control); creative development; and personal, social, and emotional development, with increases of about 5 percent for one additional term of early schooling. Earlier school entry further improves the pupil-teacher relationship and non-cognitive skills such as academic interest and good behaviour at ages 7 and 11.

Positive effects

Co-author of the study, Professor Christian Dustmann from UCL said: "An important finding of the study is that the large skills difference between boys from advantaged and disadvantaged family backgrounds can be substantially reduced by early schooling.

"This is in line with findings of higher positive effects for disadvantaged children of early childcare programmes in other countries, such as Germany.

"The reason why boys from low socio-economic backgrounds benefit more strongly from early schooling may be that they experience lower-quality childcare when not enrolled in early childhood education."

The study also found impact of summer-born children deferring school entry because the flipside of the positive effect of an additional term of early schooling is that there is a negative effect of losing one term due to deferment.

School-entry policy

Professor Cornelissen added: "The idea behind deferment by one or two terms is to give the youngest children some time to become more mature and school ready. But it seems that on average the negative effect of losing one term of reception class outweighs the potentially positive effect of deferment, in particular for boys from disadvantaged family backgrounds.

"The school-entry policy that should be recommended based on our results is a uniform school-entry date at the start of the academic year, while allowing deferment in exceptional circumstances. Importantly, this is the policy that most local authorities today have adopted."

Explore further Immigrant and disadvantaged children benefit most from early childcare

More information: Early School Exposure, Test Scores, and Noncognitive Outcomes. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20170641 Early School Exposure, Test Scores, and Noncognitive Outcomes.
Coral reefs around Big Island in Hawaii, where coral reefs exist in close contact with human populations. Credit: Brian J. Zgliczynski

Marine biologists working to save the world's coral reefs say that they are increasingly being affected by human activities. As a result, the marine biologists now need to include an assessment of the effects of activities, perhaps in distant markets or cities, on the survival of coral reefs.

Writing in a special issue of Functional Ecology, "Coral reef functional ecology in the Anthropocene," and using coral reefs as an example, the scientists call for the inclusion of socio-economic activity into account when predicting future ecosystem responses of coral reefs.

Rather than solely considering local human impacts such as fishing, and nutrient run-offs into the sea from agriculture, or sedimentation as a result of coastal development, models will need to include the effect of economic or demographic activity in distant markets, through increases in global CO 2 levels, global demands for fish or tourist numbers.

Dr. Gareth Williams of Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences, lead author of the paper and a Guest Editor of the special edition explains:

"Predicting what drives the dynamics of coral reefs today in the Anthropocene requires a radical shift in thinking, a new approach to coral reef ecology. This will involve collaborative research between natural and social scientists across scales. We have called this new approach 'social-ecological macroecology.'"

Coral reefs in the entrance to Curacao harbour in the Caribbean. These reefs are subjected to intense human pressures, such as boat traffic, fishing, and land runoff. Credit: Mark Vermeij

"Measuring only local effects such as fishing is missing the wider picture. In fact, there are complex socioeconomic drivers that ultimately dictate fishing levels on a reef, drivers such as trade, consumer demands, distance to markets and human migration. We need to work to understand how these global human activities are linked to local-scale effects such as fishing, and how they interact across scales."

Guest Editor and co-author, Prof Nicholas Graham of Lancaster University's Environment Centre said:

"We hypothesise that, although biophysical drivers still influence coral reef ecosystem structure and function, their ability to offer predictive capacity over many ecosystems, including coral reefs, will become increasingly compromised as we move further into the Anthropocene."

Describing the changes facing coral reefs and the marine environment in general, the paper outlines how our seas are particularly vulnerable to human impacts- not only from sea-temperature rise and increasing acidification but also from alien species and microorganisms, which are able to cross the vast ocean by attaching themselves to or sheltering under mobile floating plastic islands. This has been shown to be a dispersal mechanism for tropical fish and for Atlantic fishes to cross the deep-water Mid-Atlantic Barrier. It is also facilitating alien species invasions and providing a mechanism by which disease-causing pathogens of reef corals can spread.

Recent research has even suggested that human infrastructure, such as oil and gas installations across the North Sea, could provide a connected regional network of coral ecosystems capable of supplying larvae to natural populations downstream. Needless to say, we live in a new era and so do coral reefs and we need to adapt how we study them accordingly.

More information: Gareth J. Williams et al. Coral reef ecology in the Anthropocene, Functional Ecology (2019). Journal information: Functional Ecology Gareth J. Williams et al. Coral reef ecology in the Anthropocene,(2019). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13290
LSU Mechanical Engineering graduate student Tatiana Mello of Piracicaba, Brazil. Credit: LSU College of Engineering

Who knew a potentially deadly bacteria could be used for good?

LSU Mechanical Engineering graduate student Tatiana Mello of Piracicaba, Brazil, is currently working on genetically engineering and optimizing E. coli bacteria to produce bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner. This undertaking has garnered the attention of many in the engineering and biology fields and has also given her the opportunity to speak about her research at the recent National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego.

Mello proposes using E. coli bacteria to expand biodiesel production by creating a new type of feedstock.

"The main feedstocks used in the U.S. for biodiesel are soybean and corn oil," she said. "The actual production is enough to feed us, but you have the surplus that nobody knew what to do with, so biodiesel was created. This market is growing and growing. They expect within a few decades, the surplus won't be enough to produce biodiesel. E. coli is cheap and abundant, and you can just genetically modify it to fulfill this need."

Mello's main goal is to create Malonyl-CoA bioproducts, such as biodiesel, plastics, polymers, and pharmaceuticals. Malonyl-CoA is found in bacteria from humans and has important roles in regulating fatty acid metabolism and food intake; it's also an attractive target for drug discovery.

"Malonyl-CoA maximization is the topic of my research because it's a precursor for so many things," she said.

Mello, who has worked on this project for two years, had the privilege of presenting her project at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego last month. Only 12 university-level science majors in the country who are interested in learning about the biodiesel industry receive travel scholarships to attend. However, only four of those students are asked to present their research.

Mello did so as part of the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel, of which she is a member. She said attending the conference not only impacted her career and research, but also her understanding of the biodiesel industry.

"I was opened up to a new world after the misconception about the food industry and the biofuel industry competing for cropland was demystified," she said. "The many new concepts, regulations, and issues presented during the fast-paced event prepared me much better for the entire biodiesel business."

After earning her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Sao Paulo, Mello decided she needed one more degree in order to apply her scientific knowledge.

"First I got into biology because I was all about studying life," she said. "It fascinated me. When I was finishing my biology degree, I realized I couldn't apply anything to what I was studying. Those were the engineers. I needed bioreactors and machinery. So, I decided to get an engineering degree."

Mello stayed at Unicamp, where she earned her ME degree and then began working for Caterpillar Inc. in Brazil.

"While there, I realized I wanted to combine my two bachelor degrees," Mello said.

She connected with LSU ME Professor Marcio de Queiroz, who is also from Brazil and now serves as her advisor. She also has co-advisors, such as LSU Biological Sciences Professor Grover Waldrop, and says they all work together and have submitted a patent on her project.

Mello is set to graduate from LSU in May and plans to stay in southeast Louisiana, hopefully finding a job in the Baton Rouge area. Of course, it all depends on which company will be open to her new idea.

"We have this method, and it's working, but we need industry partners to scale it up," she said.

Explore further Alligator fat could be used to make biodiesel
Alchemists dreams distracted from real scientific goals. Credit: Justus Gustav van Bentum/Wikimedia Commons

Artificial intelligence researchers and engineers have spent a lot of effort trying to build machines that look like humans and operate largely independently. Those tempting dreams have distracted many of them from where the real progress is already happening: in systems that enhance  rather than replace  human capabilities. To accelerate the shift to new ways of thinking, AI designers and developers could take some lessons from the missteps of past researchers.

For example, alchemists, like Isaac Newton, pursued ambitious goals such as converting lead to gold, creating a panacea to cure all diseases, and finding potions for immortality. While these goals are alluring, the charlatans pursuing them may have secured princely financial backing that would have been better used developing modern chemistry.

Equally optimistically, astrologers believed they could understand human personality based on birthdates and predict future events by studying the positions of the stars and planets. These promises over the past thousand years often received kingly endorsement, possibly slowing the work of those who were adopting scientific methods that eventually led to astronomy.

As alchemy and astrology evolved, the participants became more deliberate and organized  what might now be called more scientific  about their studies. That shift eventually led to important findings in chemistry, such as those by Lavoisier and Priestley in the 18th century. In astronomy, Kepler and Newton himself made significant findings in the 17th and 18th centuries. A similar turning point is coming for artificial intelligence. Bold innovators are putting aside tempting but impractical dreams of anthropomorphic designs and excessive autonomy. They focus on systems that restore, rely on, and expand human control and responsibility.

Updating early AI dreams

Back in the 1950s, artificial intelligence researchers pursued big goals, such as human-level computational intelligence and machine consciousness. Even during the past 20 years some researchers worked toward the "singularity" fantasy of machines that are superior to humans in every way. These dreams succeeded in attracting attention from sympathetic journalists and financial backing from government and industry. But to me, those aspirations still seem like counterproductive wishful thinking and B-level science fiction.

Even the dream of creating a human-shaped robot that acted like a person has lasted for more than 50 years. Honda's near-life-size Asimo and the web-based news reader Ananova got a lot of media attention. Hanson Robotics' Sophia even received Saudi Arabian citizenship. But they have little commercial future.

By contrast, down-to-earth user-centered designs for information search, e-commerce sites, social media and smartphone apps have been wild successes. There is good reason that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are some of the world's biggest companies  they all use more functional, if less glamorous, types of AI.

Today's cellphones feature speech recognition, face recognition and automated translation, which all use artificial intelligence technologies. These functions increase human control and give users more options, without the deception and theatrics of a humanoid robot.

The robot Sophia spoke at the United Nations.

Yielding control

Efforts that pursue advanced forms of computer autonomy are also dangerous. When developers assume their machines will function correctly, they often shortchange interfaces that would allow human users to quickly take control when something goes wrong.

These problems can be deadly. In the October 2018 crash of Lion Air's Boeing 737 Max, a sensor failure caused the newly designed automatic pilot to steer the plane downwards. The pilots couldn't figure out how to override those automatic controls to keep the plane in the air. Similar problems have been factors in stock market "flash crashes," like the 2010 event in which US$1 trillion disappeared in 36 minutes. And poorly designed medical devices have delivered deadly doses of medications.

The National Transportation Safety Board report on the deadly May 2016 Tesla crash called for automated systems to keep detailed records that would allow investigators to analyze failures. Those insights would lead to safer and more effective designs.

Getting to human-centered solutions

Successful automation is all around: Navigation applications give drivers control by showing times for alternative routes. E-commerce websites show shoppers options, customer reviews and clear pricing so they can find and order the goods they need. Elevators, clothes-washing machines and airline check-in kiosks, too, have meaningful controls that enable users to get what they need done quickly and reliably. When modern cameras assist photographers in taking properly focused and exposed photos, users have a sense of mastery and accomplishment for composing the image, even as they get assistance with optimizing technical details.

Without being human-like or fully independent, these and thousands of other applications enable users to accomplish their tasks with self-confidence and sometimes even pride.

A new report from a leading engineering industry professional group urges technologists to ignore tempting fantasies. Rather, the report suggests, developers should focus on technologies that support human performance and are more immediately useful.

In a flourishing automation-enhanced world, clear, convenient interfaces could let humans control automation to make the most of people's initiative, creativity and responsibility. The most successful machines could be powerful tools that let users carry out ever-richer tasks with confidence, such as helping architects find innovative ways to design energy-efficient buildings, and giving journalists tools to dig deeper into data to detect fraud and corruption. Other machines could detect  not contribute to  problems like unsafe medical conditions and bias in mortgage loan approvals. Perhaps they could even advise the people responsible on ways to fix things.

Humans are accomplished at building tools that expand their creativity  and then at using those tools in even more innovative ways than their designers intended. In my view, it's time to let more people be more creative more of the time, by shifting away from the alchemy and astrology phase of AI research.

Technology designers who appreciate and amplify the key aspects of humanity are most likely to invent the next generation of powerful tools. These designers will shift from trying to replace or simulate human behavior in machines to building wildly successful applications that people love to use.

Explore further Survey of trends in artificial intelligence finds advances in working with human languages, global reach

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Ren Zhengfei was never really one for the limelight.

Before his daughter and Huawei Technologies deputy chairwoman Sabrina Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver in December at the request of the US government, the 74-year-old founder of the company had never given a television interview. Nor did he often speak to journalists.

Now he is everywhere. US network CBS News aired its interview with Ren on Tuesday, in which the Chinese entrepreneur pledged that Huawei will not share data with the Chinese government. The day before, BBC News broadcast its interview with Ren, during which the ex-soldier described the arrest of his daughter as politically motivated. He also said there is no way the US can crush Huawei.

In the past month, Ren has spoken with reporters from both foreign and domestic media organisations. He gave his first-ever TV interview to state broadcaster China Central Television. He has maintained a consistent message: Huawei does not spy for the Chinese government and will not share data with the Chinese government. Before this, the last time he spoke to international media was in 2015.

Yet in the first month since the crisis erupted with Mengs detention on December 1, Ren was content to allow his lieutenants do the talking. Huawei's rotating chairman Ken Hu Houkun held a round table on December 18 with journalists from 14 international media organisations at the companys new campus in Dongguan. Chairman Liang Hua spoke to a group of mainland media in Huaweis Shenzhen headquarters a week later.

Huawei approval by UK could sway more European states against US, analysts say

But as US pressure increased on Huawei over allegations of intellectual property theft and evasion of Iran sanctions, Ren decided to speak to the media in a bid to regain control of the narrative.

In his talk with foreign journalists in Shenzhen on January 15, responding to a question about his daughter, Ren said he missed her very much in a rare comment about his family. According to an official transcript of the media question-and-answer session, Ren also thanked the lawyers and judge in the case for their fairness.

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In an interview with the BBC on February 19, Ren went further, saying that the arrest of his daughter was politically motivated. Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable, Ren told the BBC.

The move into the limelight is unusual for the normally low profile Ren, who generally likes to focus more on internal management and communicate with employees in small groups, said people close to the company, who declined to be identified because the information is private.



Ren has changed his mind since the spate of incidents from last year, as speaking directly to the media works better than letting the media write on groundless information, said one of the people familiar with the company. We can tell that Huaweis voice has been heard by more people after Ren decided to speak out.

Huawei to deploy ultra-fast 5G network coverage at Shanghai rail station

Ren is an influential person and its important that he speaks out on behalf of the company, especially with the current challenges Huawei is facing, said another person familiar, adding that all Huawei executives are communicating more proactively with the outside world these days as the company seeks to project a more transparent and open image.

During the January media interview at Huaweis Shenzhen campus, Ren related to reporters his motivation for joining the engineering corps of the Peoples Liberation Army and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, facts which have been widely cited by the US government and in media reports as proof of Huaweis close links to the Chinese government.

Ren, the son of schoolteachers and a survivor of Chinas great famine between 1958 and 1961, also said that while he supports the Communist Party, he would never do anything to harm any other nation.

Privately-owned Huawei, the worlds largest telecommunications equipment supplier that was established by Ren with a capital of 21,000 yuan (US$3,125) in 1987, is facing growing pressure from Western countries, particularly the US, over claims it has close ties with the Chinese government and that its equipment could be used for espionage purposes.

How Huawei became the worlds No 1 telecoms gear supplier

Huawei did not provide an official statement to explain why Ren has taken a more active role in interviews lately. In his interview with CCTV, Ren joked that he had been forced by his public relations team to speak out.

Burson Cohn & Wolfe, the public relations agency that handles Huawei's international PR affairs and crisis communication, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In mid-February, Huawei also posted a page called Huawei Facts on its website, available only in English, aimed at answering common questions about the Chinese company, such as its background, its global businesses, and its official responses to recent business setbacks.

This article Why low profile Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has grabbed the microphone to defend telecoms giant first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
THE suggestion by the head of the National Youth Commission (whose name I couldnt even remember while I am sipping my coffee now) to kick out state scholars from the program for going against government policies is reflective of the kind of primitive mindset prevailing in governance nowadays. I was a student activist during the rule of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos and not even the dictator could countenance what this young sipsip hatched. The dictator, at least was an intellectual, a genius even. This youth leader is... never mind.

To think Marcos had to put up with the best that Filipino youth activism could offer. Remember the Diliman Commune? The clash between state forces and the students then turned violent at times. Of course, student activists would later get the brunt of the fascist attacks after military rule was declared on Sept. 21, 1972. But at least Marcos was wise enough to declare martial law first before raising the level of the harshness of his attacks a million times.

I consider the fascist mindset primitive because reason is not its best suit. It knows only the language of force. When a problem crops up, the first thing that comes to mind for those with that world view is to intimidate, harass and even kill. That a supposed youth leader is suggesting a shakedown for activists who are famously known as the Iskolar ng Bayan shows how far the fascist mindset has seeped down this countrys bureaucracy.

And in fairness to diehard Duterte supporters, not even the President suggested that path in dealing with student activism, among whose best practitioners are from state universities and colleges. That is why I agree with Sen. Francis Escuderos response to that sipsip NYC leaders suggestion: his utter lack of understanding of the pertinent provisions of the Constitution (to that I might add a lack of respect for basic freedoms) should prod him to resign from his post.

What the sipsip youth leader obviously wants is to purge state colleges and universities of the activist mindset that is a necessary component of leadership. He wants to transform students in state colleges and universities into sipsips of which he is the greatest practitioner. He wants colleges and universities to be like the current version of the House of Representatives that is being led by a discredited former president.

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The truth is many of the best products of, say, the University of the Philippines, and who eventually became among this countrys greatest public servants, were forged in the fire of student activism. Conversely, those who became tyrannical as leaders werent. Critical or analytical thinking cant be developed by sipsipism.

Sipsips, obviously dont have a mind of their own. They wait for every statement or act of their boss then nod their heads and even sing songs of praise for that statement or act. The popular example: when their boss orders them to jump from a building, their response is always, from what floor?

Pathetic, isnt it?
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British health minister Matt Hancock quit on Saturday after he was caught breaking COVID-19 rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office, enraging colleagues and the public who have been living under lockdown.In the latest scandal to rock a government that has overseen one of the highest death tolls from the coronavirus pandemic, Hancock, 42, wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign, saying he had let people down."I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, that you have made and those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and that's why I've got to resign."Since The Sun newspaper published photos on Friday of the married minister embracing a woman whom he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role to scrutinize the performance of his department, an increasing number of his fellow Conservative lawmakers had privately called for him to go.Hancock has been at the center of the government's fight against the pandemic, routinely appearing on television to tell people to follow strict rules and to defend his department against criticism of its response to the crisis.While Hancock had been heavily criticized for his initial response to the crisis, the government has been boosted by a rapid rollout of vaccines, with 84% of adults having had one dose and 61% both, well ahead of most countries.Despite the improving situation, the revelations around Hancock had sparked anger and accusations of hypocrisy. They also reignited the charge that Johnson's government is beset by cronyism.Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said on Saturday former finance minister Sajid Javid will replace Hancock as the country's health minister.
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

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Thursday, February 21, that the 10-year-old daughter of the suicide bombers in the deadly Jolo blast is now under the care of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu.

Ano, who is a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said his sources told him that the ASG is training the 10-year-old child to become a suicide bomber like her parents.

"Based on the information provided by our sources in the mountains (of Sulu), it was confirmed that there is a 10-year old daughter who is currently in Sulu," he said in a press conference in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

"She was entrusted to the Abu Sayyaf Group under Hatib Hadjan Sawadjaan in Patikul (Sulu). This was also confirmed by some of the suspects who surrendered to us in connection with the Jolo bombing," he added.

Earlier, Ano said the suicide bombers responsible for the Jolo blast on January 27 were believed to be Indonesian nationals. They left behind their 10-year-old daughter in Sulu. The bombing killed 23 people and wounded 95 others.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde said the PNP and the AFP are already hunting the said child.

Ano said the child may play a vital role in the investigation of the police and the military particularly in the identification of her parents.

We are looking for this daughter kasi maganda ma-interview mo kung saan sila galing and based on the cross matching ng DNA test malalaman na daughter talaga yan. For now we have so many sources but until we really get the official and formal confirmation, thats the only time that we can say that they are really Indonesians, he said. (SunStar Philippines)
Hundreds of Nepali students in limbo after a tech college in Australia gets deregistered

Uncertainty looms over the future of hundreds of Nepali students enrolled in an Australia-based technical institution as the countrys regulator for vocational and training sector deregistered the college after it failed to abide by existing education rules.
TELEVISION host Korina Sanchez and husband, Senate aspirant Mar Roxas, welcomed Thursday the arrival of their twins.Sanchez announced the news on her Instagram account when she posted a photo with the

TELEVISION host Korina Sanchez and husband, Senate aspirant Mar Roxas, welcomed Thursday the arrival of their twins.

Sanchez announced the news on her Instagram account when she posted a photo with the caption: "I think if you believe hard enough, the miracle you most want can come true. Announcing the arrival of our little boy and little girl."

She even asked her followers to help them think of names for the babies.

"We're thinking of names. Any suggestions? Jack and Jill? Sonny and Cher? MariKor and KoriMar? Daniel and Kathryn?" she said.

"Did you ever think it could still happen for me? I never stopped believin," she added.

Sanchez did not reveal how the twins were conceived, but ABS-CBN reported that the babies were born by surrogacy from the embryos of Sanchez and Roxas.

Sanchez, 54, and Roxas, 61, were married in October 2009. (LMY/SunStar Philippines)
MANILA -- With the advent of technology and digital innovations, the relevance of public libraries, physical books, and educational materials is being challenged. Majority of Filipinos have turned to online

MANILA -- With the advent of technology and digital innovations, the relevance of public libraries, physical books, and educational materials is being challenged. Majority of Filipinos have turned to online platforms and apps to get their access to various reading materials.

For Quintin Pastrana, founder and managing director of the Library Renewal Partnership (LRP), these advancements actually drive the need to build more community education centers, especially for those residing in rural areas with little to no access to knowledge -- physical or virtual. More than anything, it calls for the local government to both revive and enliven the purpose of libraries in cities and towns big or small.

"Globally, we have seen how libraries have transformed as community centers where they've turned into hubs for community gatherings, alternative classes, entrepreneurial spaces and even venues for disaster relief operations, and we've observed the same trend happening in the Philippines too," Pastrana said.

"Libraries are providing communities with third spaces, which are a universal benefit and vital feature of modern societies, allowing democratic access for citizens regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic background, and religion, to come together in a conducive environment to learn, collaborate, and grow as individuals and as a community," he added.

Building community centers in remote areas

What began as a research paper in Oxford up to its project fruition in his hometown in Kalibo, Aklan, LRP is now a strong coalition of local and international partners building community education centers and libraries in different remote areas in the country.

LRP currently works with a number of government agencies and key partners to build libraries with educational materials for public use. The goal is to share love and knowledge to over two million Filipinos across the country, especially those in the farther areas where access to libraries is limited. It has already established 950 libraries dispersed throughout remote communities such as Sagada, Mountain Province; Kalibo, Aklan; Lubuangan, Kalinga; and Tiwi, Albay.

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"For almost 10 years, it continues to be a great accomplishment for us to see our education centers flourish and witness how communities benefited from the educational and informative materials that they now have access to. We are thankful for the continuous support from our partners who stood by our side to fulfill our mission in equipping communities in need of resources to boost literacy and education," Pastrana said.

Going further with Ford

Just recently, LRP launched its 950th partner library as part of its collaboration with Ford Philippines as its automotive partner. Ford has been supporting LRP since 2017, delivering books onboard the Ford Ranger pick-up truck to five far-flung libraries -- two in La Union, one in Ilocos Sur, and two in Ilocos Norte.

"We were able to reach far-flung areas and fill up three libraries in the span of three days, thanks to our partnership with Ford. The Ford Ranger was a true game-changer in this initiative with its great ride, fuel efficiency, superior handling and capabilities, and the spacious bed which allowed us to carry tons of books that we delivered to the libraries," added Pastrana.

"Through this partnership, we have shown that our Ford Ranger pick-up trucks are not just about power and performance, but also about purpose. They are 'Built Ford Tough' and are able to withstand the long drives, changing weather conditions, and rocky terrains to deliver the much needed educational materials to help several beneficiaries and give them the opportunity to learn," said EJ Francisco, AVP, Communications, Ford Philippines.

This year, the LRP, with the support of partners like Ford, aims to reach the 1,000 library-mark and expand its scope to more remote areas in Visayas and Mindanao, with a commitment to help boost literacy one library at a time. (PR)
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

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has issued an administrative order creating a task force that will expedite the rehabilitation and restoration of the coastal and marine ecosystem of the Manila Bay.

Administrative Order (AO) 16 mandates the task force to ensure the "complete rehabilitation, restoration and conservation of the Manila Bay."

The task force will be chaired by Environment Secretary and vice chaired by Local Government and Tourism secretaries.

Members are secretaries of Public Works, Health, and Agriculture; housing czar; Metro Manila Development Authority chair; Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission executive director; Local Water Utilities Administration administrator; Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System administrator.

Other members include Philippine National Police-Maritime Group director; Philippine Coast Guard commandant; Philippine Ports Authority general manager; and representatives from Manila Water Company Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Incorporated.

The task force is mandated to ensure that public and private establishments within the vicinity of Manila Bay would immediately construct or connect sewage lines.

It Is also tasked to prepare and commence the implementation of a comprehensive plan for massive relocation of informal settler families, especially in priority areas of Metro Manila along the Manila Bay.

The comprehensive plan should include the identification of suitable relocation sites; strategies for economic and social integration of the informal settler families in the area; and long-term solutions to address ongoing migration into the Manila Bay.

AO 16 further directs the task force to undertake remedial measures using engineering and technological interventions like sustained and targeted reduction in the coliform level in all major river systems and tributaries within the Manila Bay region to improve its water quality.

The task force should also prepare a comprehensive plan for expediting the local sanitation program of local government units (LGUs) within the Manila Bay by 2026.

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It should also fast-track compliance with the writ of continuing mandamus issued by the Supreme Court, including full implementation of the Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy (OPMBCS).

The task force should also facilitate a massive information, education, and communication drive to get public support for the Manila Bay clean-up, rehabilitation and restoration efforts, as well as the preservation of the ecosystem in the Manila Bay region.

It should also improve resource management of the Manila Bay and create models of inter-LGus cooperation in ecosystem management, with special focus on the Laguna Lake and Pasig River.

The task force is required to submit a quarterly report on the implementation of AO 16 to the Office of the Executive Secretary.

All heads of government departments, bureaus, and offices, including government-owned or -controlled corporations and state universities and colleges, are enjoined to extend full support to the task force.

AO 16 also delegates all city and municipality mayors in Metro Manila as well as governors and mayors of Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan, and Cavite to implement environmental laws within their respective jurisdictions.

The funding for the AO's implementation would be taken from the existing appropriations of the member-agencies of the task force and other sources that will be identified by the Budget department.

Duterte signed AO 16 on February 19, but a copy of the the document was released by Malacanang on Thursday, February 21. (SunStar Philippines)
On Tuesday, February 19, MCE Shipping Lines held its inauguration of the MyBoat coastal routes at the Naga Baywalk beside the Philippine Coast GuardNaga City substation.

The inaugaration was led by Dr. Nelson Mejia Jr. , chief executive officer of MCE Shipping Lines, and attended by Mayor Elanito Pena of Minglanilla, Cebu 6th District Rep. Samsam Gullas, Cebus 3rd District Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, Mayor Vanessa Chiong of Naga City, and Maritime Industry Authority OIC Narciso Vingson Jr.

The MyBoat fleetwhich is comprised of 15-seater boats dubbed water jeepneyswill serve passengers traveling from Talisay City to Cebu City and vice versa. Meanwhile, a bigger vessel with a 64 passenger-carrying capacity will cater to passengers heading to Naga City from Cebu City and vice versa. Both routes are scheduled to start operations in March.

Dr.Mejia said that that the water jeepneys will have a maximum travel time of 30 minutes, offering a great alternative to those who face the grueling Metro Cebu traffic on a daily basis.

According to Mejia, commuters who will take the sea routes only have to endure 30 minutes of travel time from Naga City to Cebus Pier 3, adding that the Naga-bound vessel is now 90 percent complete and will soon be delivered by its manufacturer, Steven Deans Marine Inc., in Liloan, Cebu.

Minglanilla to Pier 3 will take you for only 20 minutes, he added. When you are from Talisay, you only have 10 minutes to reach Cebu City.

Traffic congestion is a sign that there is progress in a place. On the other hand, each one of us has experienced traffic. Sea transport system will augment such problem, he said, referring to a recent study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency stating that Metro Cebus traffic accounts for PHP1.1 billion in economic and opportunity losses.

 Dr. Nelson Mejia

The post Cebu Shipping Firm Launches Water Jeepney appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
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

AUTHORITIES arrested in Bulacan on Thursday, February 21, two women who yielded P25 million worth of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu).

Cristina Joan Webb Trinidad, 39, and Ruth Francisco, 34, were arrested in their rented apartment in Barangay Sta. Barbara, Baliwag, Bulacan in a drug operation conducted by the local police around 3:50 a.m. Thursday.

Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan Provincial Police Office director, said the two women were arrested after a poseur buyer purchased P10,000 worth of illegal drugs from them at their residence.

Seized from the suspects were 3.7 kilograms of shabu worth P25.744 million and other drug paraphernalia.

Bersaluna said the two suspects are not on their drugs watchlist.

But with the value of illegal drugs seized from their possession, they may be considered as high-profile drug traffickers.(SunStar Philippines)
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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



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Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



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Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



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Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!


Gas bottlers threaten to disrupt supply over commission dispute

Gas bottlers are putting pressure on the government to increase their commission by threatening to disrupt the supply of cooking gas if their demand is not fulfilled.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
Following the U.S. sanctions, Venezuelas oil inventories have swelled to a five-year high, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing satellite dataa sign that Venezuelan oil buyers are fleeing and the country sitting on top of the worlds largest crude resources is struggling to sell its oil.

At the end of January, the U.S. imposed sanctions on PDVSA to help prevent further diverting of Venezuelas assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela. The path to sanctions relief for PdVSA is through the expeditious transfer of control to the Interim President or a subsequent, democratically elected government, Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin said.

The sanctions block all payments to PDVSA accounts, and buyers of Venezuelan crude are directed to deposit payments in a separate account, to which PDVSA doesnt have access.

A week after the U.S. sanctions were announced, people familiar with the matter told The Journal that Venezuelan oil exports are sharply falling while oil storage tanks in the country are filling up, as Nicolas Maduros regime is struggling to find new buyers for Venezuelas oil.

The U.S. sanctions not only cut off Venezuelas exports to the United Statesits key outlet market until a few weeks agobut also ban U.S. exports of naphtha to Venezuela, which the country uses to dilute its thick heavy oil to make it flow. Analysts expect that a shortage of diluents could accelerate from this month the already steadily declining Venezuelan oil production and exports.



Related: The End-Game For Libyas Oil Crescent

Last week, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton warned countries and companies against buying crude oil from Venezuela, after the Latin American countrys Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said during a surprise visit to India that Venezuela wants to sell more oil to the fast-growing Indian market.

According to energy research and consulting firm Rystad Energy, in the low case scenario, where the status-quo continues and Venezuela is unable to offset the effects of U.S. sanctions and secure new financing, the country could see its crude oil production decline by an additional 20-percent in 2019, dropping to about 800,000 bpd, before sliding to 680,000 bpd in 2020.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A technical committee monitoring the implementation of the OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts has found that the allies achieved an 83-percent compliance with the pledged reduction, four delegates told Reuters on Wednesday.

OPEC and a group of non-OPEC producers led by Russia decided in December to cut production by a total of 1.2 million bpd between January and June in a renewed effort to rebalance the market and drive oil prices up.

OPECs Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) showed last week that the cartels crude oil production dropped by 797,000 bpd from December 2018 to average 30.81 million bpd in January 2019. Saudi Arabia cut production by 350,000 bpd to 10.213 million bpd, below its 10.311 million bpd ceiling in the production cut pact. Saudi Arabias Arab Gulf allies Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also cut output substantially. Iraq reduced production by 43,000 bpd from December to 4.669 million bpd in January. This is still way above Iraqs quota of 4.512 million bpd.

OPECs lower production in January was also helped by more than 50,000 bpd declines in each of Libya and Venezuela, which, however, are exempted from the cuts together with Iran.

Among non-OPEC nations, Russia is taking the lions share of the non-OPEC cuts and pledged to reduce production by 230,000 bpd from Octobers 11.421 million bpd level, to 11.191 million bpd.

Moscow, however, has repeatedly said that due to weather and geological conditions in the cold Russian winter, it cannot cut its oil production too quickly.



Related: Cheaper Natural Gas Is Coming To Europe

In mid-January, Khalid al-Falih, the energy minister of Saudi Arabiathe OPEC kingpin and key Russian ally in all OPEC/non-OPEC production policy deals since early 2017had said that Russia was moving with the cuts slower than Id like.

Referring to Russias share of the cuts, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said last week that as of February 14, the country had reduced its production by 80,000 bpd-90,000 bpd from Octobers levels.

Novak said last week that the Russian companies would be trying to accelerate the cuts to reach the target by April.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
As the U.S. sanctions on Irans oil industry have already started to mount pressure on Tehran and have halved Iranian oil exports, the Islamic Republic announced that its Navy would hold an annual drill in the Strait of Hormuzthe worlds most important oil chokepoint.

Iran will begin on Friday a three-day drill in the Strait of Hormuz, with maneuvers extending as far as the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean, The Associated Press quoted Iranian Admiral Hossein Khanzadi as saying on Irans state TV on Thursday.

Warships, submarines, helicopters, and surveillance aircraft will take part in the drills, which will also include missile launches from the vessels.

Last September, a month after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Irans financial industry and less than two months before the U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil kicked in, the Islamic Republics Air Force and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps held fighter jet drills near the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has threatened to close for all tanker traffic if the U.S. drives Iranian oil exports to zero.

In August, Iran stepped up rhetoric about controlling the most vital oil flow chokepoint in the world. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rebuffed Irans claims saying in a statement posted on Twitter:

The Islamic Republic of Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Related: The Ultimate Tool To Prop Up Oil Prices

The Strait of Hormuz is the worlds most important chokepoint, with an oil flow of 18.5 million bpd in 2016, the EIA estimates. The Strait connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and is the key route through which Persian Gulf exportersSaudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrainship their oil. Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipelines that can ship crude oil outside of the Persian Gulf and have additional pipeline capacity to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which is a route of more than 30 percent of daily global seaborne-traded crude oil and petroleum products and more than 30 percent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows.

Some 80 percent of the crude oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz goes to Asian markets, the EIA has estimated using data from Lloyds List Intelligence tanker tracking service. China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Singapore are the largest destinations for oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Amid the geopolitical quagmire among Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over a number of issues ranging from Tehran's nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile program and its regional hegemony overtures which have Riyadh scrambling for a response, China is joining the fray.

Yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the speaker of Irans parliament that Chinas desire to develop close ties with Iran will remain unchanged, regardless of the international situation. Xis remarks came just one day before the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to China to drum up support since several western powers have taken a harder line against the young prince over his alleged involvement in the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Xi met Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday and added that the two countries had a long friendship and shared a long-tested mutual trust. No matter how the international and regional situation changes, Chinas resolve to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged, Xi was quoted a saying in comments published the next day by Chinas Foreign Ministry. China and Iran should further deepen strategic mutual trust and continue to support each other on core interests and major concerns, Xi added.

Chinas geopolitical advantage

Beijing is able to court both Iran and Saudi Arabia at the same, something the U.S. is unable to do since American foreign policy is often dictated by human rights concerns. China, however, prides itself on not taking sides in domestic politics of other nations, even if those nations have a dismal human rights history. A recent example of this is Chinas support of Sudan. According to Amnesty International, systematic human rights abuses have occurred in Sudan, including killing, torture, rape, looting and destroying of property by all parties involved in the conflict, but primarily by the Sudanese government and government-backed Janjawid militia. Related: An Underestimated Niche In Oil & Gas

More than a decade ago, western oil companies pulled out of Sudan under pressure from human rights organizations, but China remained, continuing to support the government as well as building the countrys oil infrastructure. A Bookings Institute report at the time said that Chinese companies have turned a blind eye to the brutal way in which Sudan forced 200,000 to 300,000 of its citizens from oil-rich lands without compensation. Nor have these companies shown concern that Sudan uses oil revenue to purchase arms for its wars against its black African population.

Saudi complications

Now, however, the higher moral ground that the U.S. has taken as part of its foreign policy (which peaked under President Obama) has taken a hit due to the decades-long alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The killing of Khashoggi in October, likely at the hands of Saudi operatives and also likely under the direction or at least acknowledgment of MbS, complicates the situation. Related: The Ultimate Tool To Prop Up Oil Prices

While members in both the House and Senate, both Demarcates and Republicans, have called for tougher sanctions against Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing, President Trump has resisted. For Trump its a no-win situation, the President needs Saudi assurances to help keep a lid on global oil prices, particularly as the 20202 presidential election nears. However, resisting calls from both sides of the aisle in Congress to take a tougher stance against Saudi Arabia has also damaged the presidents standing even more among human rights advocates and even those within his own party who largely support the president on other issues, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Going forward, China will continue to play a delicate balancing act by befriending both Iran and Saudi Arabia to help keep oil imports from both producers secure, though Iran's oil exports are already impacted by fresh US sanctions, but also to use a aambit against Washington. As U.S. resolve in the middle east wanes under first Obamas and now Trumps watch, Xi Jinping will be more than happy to position China as a new power broker in middle eastern affairs - albeit without the human rights attachment that Washington has to adhere to.

For Saudi Arabia, it will find a willing partner in China that will not only remain silent over human rights abuses but will criticize other nations for meddling, all the while enhancing its own geopolitical and energy security.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

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In the late sixties, an economic debate began between East Coast economics departments (saltwater universities) and midwestern colleges (freshwater universities). Milton Friedman, the spokesperson for the freshwater universities, made the claim that money mattered. Others in the Midwest took this perspective and ran with it to the point where they asserted that only money mattered.

Friedman made his point to take on the Keynesians at the saltwater institutions, who for decades had argued it was deficit spending that determined economic activity. Monetary issues tended to be ignored in the standard Keynesian model. If asked, proponents would assert that liquidity traps essentially made monetary actions useless.

The debate was eventually resolved, at least partially, when Friedman, Paul Samuelson, and Robert Solow (all Nobel laureates) discussed the issue at MIT and several other locations. Their conclusion at the time was that money matters. This did not mean that deficit spending did not matter, as the Republican Congress that just ended has clearly demonstrated. However, monetary policy is important.

(Click to enlarge)

In the same way, oil price volatility matters. To drive the point home, see Figure 1, which compares daily Brent prices to the CBOEs oil price volatility index. The graph presents 1,274 observations. One does not need a computer, a statistics degree, or a Ph.D. in econometrics to understand that low values of volatility are associated with high prices and high values with low prices.

Figure 2 shows the relationship between WTI prices and the same volatility index. Again, the results are clear. High prices are associated with low price volatility and low prices with high volatility. Volatility alone explains forty percent of the day-to-day variation in WTI prices from 2014 to 2019 in a model where adjustments are made to remove autocorrelation.

(Click to enlarge)

The same results are obtained for Dubai crude, even though it is delivered halfway around the world. The long arm of US markets reaches the Persian Gulf. As can be seen from Figure 3, the relationship is essentially identical to those for Brent and WTI. CBOE volatility explains forty percent of the variance in Dubai crude prices, just as it explains the movement of Brent and WTI prices.

(Click to enlarge)

These data make it clear that oil-exporting countries seeking higher prices need to reduce volatility. Simply meeting and talking about production cuts no longer seems to be enough. Perhaps investors or speculators hearing the talk no longer believe anything will be done. It is even possible that some participants hear the talk and sell futures or buy puts, betting against OPEC or OPEC+. Their actions boost volatility and drive prices down.

Related: Permian Production To Break 4 Million Bpd In March

The independent oil producers developing U.S. shale production, as well as participating in offshore developments such as in Guyana, are also affected by price volatility. Take, for example, the impact of price volatility on the share price of Hess, an independent producer, that I show in Figure 4.

(Click to enlarge)

In a statistical test in which I regressed the day-to-day change in share price, I found that, since July 1, 2018, changes in volatility explain ninety-seven percent of the variance in the Hess share price. The managers at Hess clearly need to suppress price volatility to boost their share value.

John Hess, Hess CEO, has not yet recognized the importance of volatility. (Perhaps he will read of my observation in some report.) Instead, he believes the oil industry needs to hire publicists, as he explained at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:

How do you get the hearts and minds of investors back? That is a real challenge for our industry, said John Hess, the founder of independent U.S. producer Hess Corp.

He said investor frustration with the oil industry was manifested by the fact that the share of energy companies in the S&P index had shrunk to 5.5 percent from 16 percent 10 years ago.

We will have to compete against other industries in the S&P to create the value proposition that makes us more attractive. A new paradigm is coming up which is to generate free cash and share some of this cash with investors, he said.

Hess later added that we [oil firms] need to engage with policymakers and the public to understand the huge task we have ahead. He and other executives from major oil companies pointed to the billions they believe must be invested in exploration and production.

I note first that the Hess share price has declined twenty-one percent from its peak in August 2014. In part, the decline can be explained by the last line of Mr. Hess statement, that is, the company has shared some of its free cash with investors. The companys dividend yield has been put at 1.75 percent. This would be significantly higher if the firm shared more cash with investors and drilled less. ExxonMobil shares yield 4.3 percent, for example, while the dividend yield on Chevron is four percent.

The simple fact is that Hess seems not to be offering investors an attractive reward. However, the firms problems go beyond cash-flow generation. At Davos, Hess, executives from other major oil companies, and OPEC secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo all bemoaned the industrys inability to attract investors. As Figure 5 illustrates, the share of oil companies in the S&P 500 has declined steadily from the sixteen-percent peak achieved in 2008. Investors are just not attracted to oil.

I doubt many readers believe that Hess, the oil industry as a group, or even the oil industry acting in cooperation with OPEC can change investor views through a public relations campaign. Such efforts are almost always counterproductive unless accompanied by other actions.

(Click to enlarge)

There is also little likelihood that policymakers will be convinced to do much to address the huge task [oil firms have] ahead. Oil producers and the oil industry are on their own.

There is something, though, that oil-producing countries or even states such as Texas and provinces such as Alberta could do to address the investor issue. Even companies acting alone to avoid violating antitrust statutes could help. All they need do is take steps to lower price volatility.

Let me repeat that statement. Oil producers, oil states, and oil provinces with an interest in higher oil prices can reach this goal by lowering oil price volatility, which they can achieve by intervening in the market to slow price declines or increases.

Related: MIT Professors: This Is The Energy System Of The Future

Over the last forty-five years, oil ministers from OPEC, and now other producers who have joined their efforts to manage the market, have operated on the belief that they can move the market by issuing statements on production and export decisions after their sporadic meetings. For example, in November 2018, Saudi oil minister Khalid al Falih said, We need to do whatever it takes to balance the oil market in a talk he gave a month before an OPEC meeting. The minister likely expected markets to respond positively the day after this pronouncement. In this case, though, prices were down another seven percent within a week.

The story would have been very different had Minister al-Falih or other Saudi officials stepped in and purchased oil. Saudi Arabia could have bought back a cargo scheduled to load if the original buyer agreed. Alternatively, Saudi Arabia could have acquired oil on the Dubai spot market. For that matter, Saudi Arabia could have purchased a cargo of Brent or WTI. All that was needed was an action that took oil off the market.

An easier, quicker tactic would be to buy oil in the futures markets. Indeed, a government purchase of a relatively small number of futures would have stopped the price decline cold. The action would be equivalent to buying physical oil but could occur instantaneously. The price decrease would have been arrested rapidly if these purchases were followed by an agreement to cut supply.

Today, those interested in stabilizing pricessuch as ministers from oil-exporting nationsneed to recognize their words have little or no impact unless they are accompanied by immediate actions such as canceling shipments or selling physical oil from stockpiles. Oil markets, particularly futures markets, have grown to a point where traders can add or subtract the equivalent of one days global consumption, one hundred million barrels, to or from supply in a minute. Furthermore, these volumes are backed by cash held at the worlds major financial institutions.

In less than one month, representatives from the world oil industry will reconvene at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston. The topic raised by John Hess in Davos will likely be one of the most important subjects discussed. If the executives gathered in Houston actually want to see higher prices, though, they would focus on a price-stabilization program. The futures markets should be seen as a tool that could help them reach their goal.

By Philip Verleger for Oilprice.com

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Saudi Arabia will invest US$100 billion in Indias infrastructure and energy industry as it seeks to strengthen its position in the country that is registering the fastest growth in oil demand.

"We want Saudi Aramco to be a household name in India," Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said as quoted by S&P Global Platts, adding that India was the number-one priority for the Kingdoms oil giant.

Saudi Arabia has already committed hefty investments in India, the biggest among them the US$44-billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Ratnagiri, which will be the largest in the country, with a capacity of 60 million tons annually. Aramco is participating in the project together with Emirati Adnoc, sharing a 50-percent stake in the project. The other 50 percent are divided between three Indian refiners: Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp., and Bharat Petroleum Corp.

The project is behind schedule, however, because the partners behind it had to pick a new location after strong opposition from farmers in the original one. Because of the delay, construction work will begin in 2021 and the facility should be operational by 2025, the chief executive of the company set up for the project told Bloomberg this week.

"We are not limited to that investment, which is the mega refinery," Aramcos chief executive Amin Nasser told S&P Global Platts. We are looking at other opportunities. India is an investment priority for Saudi Aramco. There is a lot of growth potential. We are in discussions with other companies as well, including Reliance Industries."

India is a focal point for oil producers. Last year, its demand for the commodity went up by 245,000 bpd, accounting for 14 percent of global oil demand growth. This year, according to Wood Mackenzie, growth will continue strong. Over the longer term, according to OPEC estimates, oil demand in India will rise by 5.8 million bpd until 2040.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Could cracks be forming in the bromance between Saudi Arabia and Russia over oil production quotas? According to one analyst, the answer could be - yes. The background for one of the biggest structural changes in global markets in recent history dates back only a few years when OPEC defacto leader Saudi Arabia mismanaged its decades-old role as global oil markets swing producer and actually ramped up production in late 2014 in response to a then saturated oil market.

The Saudi thinking at the time was straight forward. Since US shale oil producers had caused the supply overhang and since shale oil producers at the time had a relatively high oil production break-even point, the Saudis would simply turn on the oil production spigots to flood markets even more, driving prices down to points below shale producers break-even points, thus driving them out of business. Though the Saudis have always denied this line of reasoning, its apparent from their actions at the time that this was their agenda, as well as jealously protecting oil market share, especially in Europe and Asia.

Yet, that plan backfired and with OECD oil inventory levels spiking with the next year plus, prices dipped below the $30 per barrel price point by January 2016. In response, Riyadh had to not only backpedal, it also had to seek help outside of OPEC, and turn to non-OPEC members, particularly Russia, to forge the first OPEC+ deal to return markets to a semblance of equilibrium and support prices.

Fast forward just a few years and the second OPEC+ deal was reached in December and implemented in January for a period of six months with a review period to be held in April. However, this time Russia is reportedly not trimming production per terms of the new OPEC+ deal, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Saudi Arabia. Related: New Sanctions Threat Puts Russian Energy Sector On Edge

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, told CNBC in January that Moscow had moved "slower than I'd like. In response, Russian energy minster Alexander Novak, who reportedly is on al-Falih's smart phone speed dial list, responded in kind. In early February, Novak said Russia was "completely fulfilling its obligations in line with earlier announced plans to gradually cut production by May this year."

The numbers dont lie

However, the numbers come down against Russias claims that it is shouldering its part of the new deal. Per terms of the deal, OPEC+ members agreed to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day(bpd). Saudi Arabia agreed to make up for most of the cut among OPEC members and has also confirmed it will drop its crude oil production by a further 400,000 bpd to 9.8 million bpd in March. If that output cut is reached, it would mean that since December (one month before implementation of the deal), Saudi Arabia has become responsible for 70 percent of the total OPEC+ target.

Russia, for its part, was supposed to account for the greater share of non-OPEC cuts, but from October to the beginning of February had only decreased output by 47,000 bpd. Related: The Worlds Largest Battery To Power The Permian

Now, Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal MENA politics analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, is weighing in on the development, according to a CNBC report. In a note Tuesday, he wrote that any end to Russian-Saudi coordination would likely add significant downward pressure on prices. "Although our base case is still that Riyadh and Moscow find a compromise to extend the agreement, the pact is now looking more fragile than ever," said Soltvedt. He added that to save the pact he expected Saudi Arabia may even have to settle for "low levels of (Russian) compliance to save the pact."

Going forward

However, going forward, the biggest risk is not the still freshly minted bromance between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but for global oil markets. If the OPEC+ group unravels and Russia once again turns in the oil production spigots, it would force Saudi Arabia into a weakened state, similar to where it was in early 2016, when it had to turn to non-OPEC members, and Russia, for help soaking up oil supply overhang. This dynamic, along with U.S. oil production which is poised to pass a once imaginable 12 million bpd, would not only inflate global oil inventory levels, but with significant downward pressure on prices, both Brent and West Texas Intermediate.

Likewise, a deterioration of Saudi-Russian cooperation in oil markets would also impact the two sides geopolitical interests, especially since Riyadh and Moscow are on opposite sides in the ongoing Syrian Civil War, and more importantly, on opposite sides in how to deal with Irans regional hegemony ambitions, as well as it ballistic missile and nuclear development ambitions.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

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Millions of Nepalis migrate abroad in search of better jobs and opportunities. They remit their income back home to support their family which has also been a major contributor of Nepals GDP.


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The Bramble Cay which was formally declared extinct as a result of human-induced climate change in Australia this week. (Queensland Government)

This tiny rodent is the first known mammal to become formally extinct as a consequence of human-induced climate change.

The Morrison government, in Queensland, Australia, changed the status of the Bramble Cay melomys from endangered to extinct on Monday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Geoff Richardson, an environment department official, told Senate estimates on Monday night that research efforts since 2014  including a pretty rushed trip in 2015  had failed to identify any melomys individuals in their only known location on Bramble Cay, a tiny Torres Strait island near Papua New Guinea.

Declaring its extinction was not a decision to take lightly, Mr Richardson said. Theres always a delay while the evidence is gathered to be absolutely certain.

The rat-like Bramble Cay melomys has not been spotted in its habitat, which is a sandy island in far northern Australia since a decade

The federal extinction listing comes almost three years after the Queensland government reached a similar conclusion, with a finding that the demise of the melomys probably represents the first recorded mammalian extinction due to anthropogenic climate change.

The limited range of the animal, living on a five-hectare island less than three metres high, left it vulnerable to climate change.

However, its 2008 recovery plan, drawn up when numbers were likely down to just dozens of individuals, downplayed the risks.

[T]he likely consequences of climate change, including sea-level rise and increase in the frequency and intensity of tropical storms, are unlikely to have any major impact on the survival of the Bramble Cay melomys in the life of this plan, the five-year scheme stated.

Leeanne Enoch, Queenslands Environment Minister, said the animals extinction showed we are living the real effects of climate change right now.

We have consistently called on [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison and Melissa Price to show leadership on climate change, instead of burying their heads in the sand.

Minister Melissa Price said: [It is] incredibly disappointing when any species is formally declared extinct, and everybody has feared the worst for some time, given the Bramble Cay melomys hasnt been sighted since 2009.

Story continues

Our agencies will continue to focus their efforts on protecting species identified as priorities, supported by the Governments $425 million investment in threatened species programs.

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Bridge project by Pappu Construction moving at snails pace

Pappu Construction has resumed the construction of a bridge over Lalbakaiya River at Tikuliyaghat in Rautahat district. However, locals claim that the construction work is going on at a snails pace.
ABC/Randy HolmesOffset's highly anticipated solo debut album is officially underway.

On Thursday, the Migos front man shared that his new effort, Father of 4, would arrive at midnight. Taking to Instagram, Offset shared a short clip of his son Kody Cephus announcing the project's intended release.

Father of 4 was originally scheduled to drop in late December 2018, but was postponed due to Offset's marital woes. However, things appear to be back on course with the Atlanta phenom: He dropped off the album's lead single, "Red Room," early last week.

While details regarding the album's track list or guest spots are scare at the moment, Offset had previously teased that the forthcoming effort would feature production from Metro Boomin and Southside.

In a recent interview with Esquire, Offset also shared that creative process behind making the album was an emotional one.

I cried to myself while I was doing this album cause I was talking about my story and my kids," the rapper told the publication.

He continued, "When I did a song, I started getting memories of my grandma, my struggles, my partner that was killed, the thoughts I had while I was incarcerated, and my kids faces were there in my head. I love my kids, this is who I do it for.

In addition to Kody, Offset is also the father of daughters Kulture and Kalea, as well as son Jordan.

Offset added that his new music will also address his highly-publicized relationship with his wife Cardi B because he "aint too tough.

Father of 4 is set to be made available on Friday via streaming services every where.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Social Life of DNA Has Unique Power

Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste

The rise of genetic testing over the past 20 years, especially with respect to genealogy, has revealed DNAs social power in addition to its biological power, said Dr. Alondra Nelson at a Jan. 17 Wednesday Afternoon Lecture in Masur Auditorium.

Genetic analysis, including genetic ancestry testing, is popping up in new social domains almost every day, said Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council and professor of sociology at Columbia University.

In the early 2000s, companies started to offer direct-to-consumer genetic/genealogy testing. Nelson said that among the early adopters of genetic testing were educated African-American senior citizen women. At first, she wondered why this community was interested in pioneering these new technologies even though they had historical reasons to be wary of science.

She found that genetic testing gave them the opportunity to learn where their ancestors came from. Genetic data, Nelson said, is the ultimate big data. It can be used in medicine and forensic science in addition to genealogy.

The first research papers using genetic analysis answered long-standing questions about slavery and race in the United States, Nelson explained. One article, for example, used genetic analysis to claim that Thomas Jefferson fathered the children of Sally Hemings, one of his slaves.

Genetic analysis has also revealed clues to the history of buried slaves. In 1991, the General Services Administration began constructing an office building in lower Manhattan. Soon after work began, the remains of more than 300 men, women and children were discovered. Eventually, it was determined the site was a burial ground for slaves.

What started as a construction site became an [anthropological] excavation, she said.

A forensic anthropology team at a local college began to exhume the remains. Activists calling themselves Descendants of the African Burial Ground were concerned that the approach the college was using to examine the remains would reduce their ancestors social identity to skin color.

Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste

As a result of their concerns, the remains were sent to a laboratory at Howard University. Nelson said the lab conducted a rigorous historical, archeological and biological examination of each body to provide a detailed account of each person buried there.

Most African Americans know little about their ancestors who were sold into slavery. A company called African Ancestry infers individuals African heritage using DNA testing. Those who use the service receive their results along with a certificate of ancestry detailing their African roots.

African Americans who receive inferences about where their ancestors may have come from may use that information to connect with the past, Nelson said.

Descendants of an ethnic group from Sierra Leone invited Nelson to a ceremony of remembrance called a sara on the banks of a river outside Charleston, S.C. Saras are held every 7 years after the death of someone to remember his or her soul. The ceremony was held on the site of at least two slave auctions.

Attendees told Nelson their results from African Ancestry had allowed them to feel that they could participate in this ceremony of remembrance. The ceremony gives a lot of psychic and religious satisfaction to those who participate, she added.

Others have used genetic data to strengthen their legal argument for reparations for slavery. In 2002, activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann organized a class action lawsuit by descendants of slaves. The lawsuit was dismissed because the plaintiffs could not establish a personal injury by merely alleging some genealogical relationship to African Americans held in slavery hundreds of years ago.

Farmer-Paellmann then purchased African Ancestry DNA testing kits for the plaintiffs. She submitted the results of the tests in response to the dismissal. However, the court again rejected the lawsuit because genetic mapping or DNA testing is alone insufficient to proving decisively a link to a homeland.

Nelson said the case was one of the first instances in which an upper-level court has had to deal with commercial and cultural output of the human genome project.

Some seek to use DNA to unite people of African heritage with Africa. Leon Sullivan, a civil rights activist who focused on creating jobs for African Americans, organized summits beginning in 1991 to bring together African leaders to work on projects related to economic development. By 2008, the summit began encouraging the development and use of DNA testing to identify specific linkages to African ethnic groups among members of the African diaspora to enable and inform choices about national affiliation.

Genetic ancestry data has given communities the ability to find information they wouldnt be able to find otherwise, Nelson concluded. The testing sits in the center of some of our endeavors to use genetics to advance issues of health equality and move forward with scientific research.
Bangladesh building fire kills at least 70, toll could climb

A fast-moving fire killed at least 78 when it swept through a historic district of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.
Home | World | Africa | Mangudya kills forex black market?

INDUSTRIALISTS and market watchers have hailed the monetary policy statement presented yesterday by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya, saying it will kill the foreign currency parallel market and help increase production.

They described the monetary policy statement as "an excellent" intervention.

Dr Mangudya announced a raft of measures designed to preserve the purchasing power of RTGS money and to restore export competitiveness within the economy.

The measures include the establishment of an inter-bank foreign exchange market; putting in place local nostro foreign currency accounts settlement platform; implementing a monetary targeting framework and ensuring the stability and resilience of the financial system through a macro-prudential framework, among others.

Industrialists and economic commentators have been lobbying for such measures for a long time, principally to ease foreign currency shortages, which were now manifesting themselves in high prices of basic goods.

Critically, the introduction of an inter-bank foreign exchange market unshackles manufacturers, particularly those not on the priority list, to source foreign currency on the formal market and avoid being jailed for 10 years for illegal dealing in forex.

In September 2017, Government gazetted Exchange Control Regulations empowering the police to arrest anyone trading in currency without a licence and allow for seizure of such cash. Fines not exceeding the value of the currency and sentences not exceeding 10 years are some of the penalties.

Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited CEO Mr Antony Mandiwanza told our Harare Bureau yesterday that the pronouncements by the central bank chief were "positive".

"From an industry perspective, what I am looking at is that if I am going to access my foreign currency to support production that will have a positive effect of increasing production," he said.

"Secondly, the cost of imports will come down, which means that the cost of goods and services on the consumer will also come down, therefore, we will focus on volumes instead of focusing on price increases."

Mr Mandiwanza said measures on forex retention by exporters were also encouraging.

"I think you look at it from two angles, there are some exporters who were earning 100 percent, but their retention is now reduced to 80 percent," he said.

"Prima facie, you think it's a reduction, but that reduction is compensated by forward value in the balance of the 20 percent. So, the net effect I think is still positive."

Manufacturers are now expected to retain 80 percent of their export proceeds, while gold producers keep 55 percent; all other minerals (50 percent); tobacco and cotton merchants (80 percent); tobacco and cotton growers (30 percent); horticulture (80 percent); transport (80 percent) and tourism (80 percent).

Economic consultant and University of Zimbabwe lecturer Professor Ashok Chakravarti said; "This is an extremely important development, which was essential in ensuring that the Transitional Stabilisation Programme can be achieved because on the fiscal side, the Ministry of Finance has taken steps, but on the monetary side, you have a problem because strictly speaking, Zimbabwe, is not short of foreign exchange, but we got used to the idea that we are short.

"The problem was that there was no mechanism by which holders of foreign currency could trade legally with those people who needed foreign exchange.

"So, that is a platform that has been created and I am sure CZI (the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries), ZNCC (Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce), and all the industrial associations are going to stand up and say 'thank you to the Reserve Bank' because they will be in a position to access the desperately needed foreign exchange. "You increase production, increase capacity utilisation and increase employment."

Prof Chakravarti believes the inter-bank foreign exchange market will choke the parallel market, and rates will start to decline before it "collapses over time".

He said since the parallel market consists of trades of smaller amounts of money, the inter-bank market will be popular with businesspeople given that they deal in large sums.

Agribank CEO Mr Sam Malaba said; "It's excellent measures. Basically, we allow the market to set the rate for foreign currency and we allow it to be done through the inter-bank market and those are very positive measures.

"You reduce the level of arbitrage and allow these things to be done on a willing seller, willing buyer basis. The Reserve Bank has also committed to providing foreign currency to banks so that they also stabilise the foreign exchange market.

"This will manage the movement of the rate. Critically, imports for electricity and fuel would still be done through the central bank and I think what is important now is that exporters would be paid the market rate in terms of the RTGS, so exporters will not be subsiding importers."

It is widely expected that the measures will help transform the economy.

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Home | World | Africa | Callistus Ndlovus body to be airlifted to Plumtree rural home

THE body of the late national hero and former Cabinet Minister, Professor Callistus Ndlovu is set to be airlifted to his Brunapeg, Plumtree rural home today ahead of burial at the National Heroes' Acre in Harare on Saturday.

Prof Ndlovu (83), who was also Zanu-PF's Bulawayo provincial chairman and Central Committee member, collapsed and died on Wednesday last week in the neighbouring country, where he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Christopher Sibanda said Prof Ndlovu's body will be airlifted to his Brunapeg rural home at 9AM today and will be returned to Bulawayo this afternoon.

Tomorrow, a funeral service will be held at St Mary's Cathedral Basilica - Roman Catholic Church at 8.30AM.

On the same day, from 10AM to 12PM, another service will be held at the Large City Hall and after that the body will be airlifted to Harare at 2.30PM. Prof Ndlovu will be buried on Saturday at the National Heroes' Acre.

Sibanda said the party had organised 10 buses to ferry people to Harare and urged the people of Bulawayo and other provinces to join the party in celebrating the life of the national hero. Prof Ndlovu was born on February 9, 1936 in Plumtree, where he did his primary and secondary education. He joined the National Democratic Party in 1960.

He subsequently trained as a teacher, enrolling for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Pius XII University College in Lesotho where he became involved with Zapu in 1963 as chairman of the party's residents and students branches.

At the university, Prof Ndlovu was also president of the Student Representative Council (SRC) from 1963 to 1964. He was also publicity secretary of the National Union of Basutoland Students (NUBS) from 1964 to 1965.

Prof Ndlovu also studied at the University of South Africa, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1965 majoring in History, Economics and Political Science. Back in Zimbabwe, he taught at Empandeni High School, Mafakela Government School and Mpopoma High School. While teaching at Mpopoma in 1966, he was detained by the Rhodesian regime which felt that his influence among African teachers was not good for the regime which accused him of promoting the objectives of Zapu guerrillas.

Prof Ndlovu was released after 90 days and left the country in 1967 for New York University where he did his Masters and PhD studies. During the course of his studies at New York University, Prof Ndlovu became very much involved with Zapu, and became the party's chairman in North America from 1967 to 1971. He set up an office near the United Nations.

This was quite an important office for Zapu because the party co-ordinated most of its external relations outside Africa and the office in London, United Kingdom depended on information from his office. He once lectured at the Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. Prof Ndlovu was also granted Freedom of the City of Minneapolis in 1972. He received a number of honours, which include an award for Distinguished Teaching in America in 1973 and was a Fellow of the Aggrey Fellowship of the Edward Hazen Foundation. Prof Ndlovu also attended the Geneva talks as a political advisor in the Zapu delegation in 1976 as well as the Lancaster House Talks on Zimbabwe.

For nine years up to 1980 he was a member of the Revolutionary Council and represented the party at the United Nations and North America. After independence, he worked as a director at Carbin Finance and the group industrial relations manager at Union Carbide Corporation in the early 80s.

Prof Ndlovu was a Central Committee member from 1980 to 1983 and the Bulawayo provincial chairman of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) from 1984 to 1987. He was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1985 and a Member of the Senate from 1985 to 1990. At the same time he was an MP and senator, he was appointed the Minister of Construction between 1982 and 1983 before he was appointed the Minister of Mines from 1983 to 1984. Between 1984 and 1989, he was the Minister of Industry and Commerce.

In 1990 he was an executive consultant with the Treger Group of Companies and a member of the Joint Private Sector Standing Committee to promote trade between Zimbabwe and Botswana and also worked as the chief executive officer at Calding Consultants (Pvt) Limited in 1991.

In 2000, Prof Ndlovu was a member of the Constitutional Commission of Zimbabwe. Prof Ndlovu also worked for the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management (Zipam) for several years. He was once chairman of the Board of Directors at NetOne and chairman of the Foundation Task Force of the Gwanda State University. At the time of his death, Prof Ndlovu was a member of the Zanu-PF Central Committee and Bulawayo provincial chairman. Prof Ndlovu is survived by wife Angeline, several children and grandchildren.

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Home | News | General | 2019 election: Osinbajo urges Nigerians not to be discouraged from voting

- Nigerians have been urged not to be discouraged by the earlier postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections

- According to Yemi Osinbajo, the only way to promote good governance is to exercise one's franchise during the polls

- Praying for victory for President Buhari and all APC candidates, the vice president, urged the people to come out en mass and vote

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday, February 21, urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by the earlier postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The vice president made the plea in Ilorin during a courtesy visit to the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that he said the only way Nigerians could help to sustain the nations democracy and promote good governance was to come out en mass on Saturday, February 23, to exercise their franchise.

READ ALSO: Alarming amount of foreign currency flooding the country - Buhari

Osinbajo also commended the monarch for his fairness toward political parties and their candidates in the state.

The vice president said: "I do not envy you because your sons are vying for different positions across different parties in Kwara."

He prayed for the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and all the partys candidates in the general elections.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

The monarch, in his remarks, thanked the vice president for the visit and prayed for the success of the party at the polls.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Yemi Osinbajo debunked the rumour that he resigned from office. According to Osinbajo, the report is nothing but fake. He warned the public against believing fake news.

The vice president said he is committed to the service of the Nigerian people under the leadership of his principal, President Buhari.

He lamented the rise of fake news in the country, especially as Nigerians prepare for another election. The vice president made the statement while reacting to claims by PDP chieftain, Doyin Okupe, and others that he threatened to resign after he was excluded from a meeting.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: We have updated to serve you better!

#Election2019: International, local observers comment on poll's shift | Legit.ng TV:

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Home | News | General | Buhari raises alarm over too much foreign currency in circulation ahead of 2019 election

- The EFCC has been commended by President Buhari for successfully tracking millions of US dollars intended to use for influencing the coming elections

- President Buhari said some politicians are flouting money laundering regulations in their desperate bid to capture political power

- According to the president, his administration is determined to wage a relentless war against money laundering and terrorist financing

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, February 20, expressed surprise at the huge amount of foreign currency flooding the country, intended to influence the forthcoming general elections.

In a statement by the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, President Buhari accused some politicians of flouting money laundering regulations in their desperate bid to capture political power.

The president who made the accusation during the Federal Executive Council, meeting, however, commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for successfully tracking the money in millions of United States dollars.

READ ALSO: I will not sell NNPC to my friends if elected president - Atiku

Buhari reassured the nation of his administrations determination to wage a relentless war against money laundering and terrorist financing.

He also appealed to Nigerians, especially politicians to place the interest of the country above all others, as they troop out to cast their votes in the coming elections.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that a business partner and lawyer-friend to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP, was reportedly arrested and detained by operatives of the EFCC.

Uyi Giwa-Osagie is said to be suspected of laundering about $4 million, described by the EFCC as suspicious election cash.

It was learnt that the action of the commission followed a suspicious transaction by a bureau de change operator.

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In a related development, the PDP accused the presidency of releasing over N6 billion looted from federal funds to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assembly candidates to rig the rescheduled elections.

The opposition further alleged that the looted funds are to be used by the APC to dress fake security agents, arm thugs and bribe compromised INEC officials to manipulate the elections in the various senatorial and federal constituencies across the country.

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Home | News | General | Just in: Lagos, Kaduna top as INEC releases total number of PVCs collected ahead of elections ( full list)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that a total of 72.7 million of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) were collected across the country ahead of the general elections.

The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, at a press conference on Thursday, February 21, noted that the 72.7m of PVCs collected represents 86.3% of the over 84m registered voters in the country, The New Telegraph reports.

The electoral commission stated that a total number of 11.2m PVCs remain uncollected, which implies that 11.2m Nigerian who did not collect their cards would not be able to vote in the 2019 general elections.

READ ALSO: Elections 2019: Alarming amount of foreign currency flooding the country - Buhari

According to the breakdown of the number of the PCVs collected in each state, Lagos leads with 5.5m PVCs collected, followed by Kano with 4.7m PVCs. The data further showed that Kaduna has 3.6m PVCs collected and that Katsina has 3.2m collected, while Rivers has 2.83 million PVCs collected.

Below is a list of the total number of PVCs collected in each state:

Lagos leads with 5.5m PVCs collected followed by Kano with 4.7m PVCs, credits: INEC

Source: Facebook

Meanwhile, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the INEC, has said only an act of God" can stop the conduct of the rescheduled presidential and National Assembly elections slated for Saturday, February 23.

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The INEC chairman stated this in Abuja while addressing a cross section of the diplomatic community and international election monitoring groups in Nigeria for the 2019 elections, NAN reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the briefing which was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with INEC, is aimed at engaging with friends and partners of Nigeria on the rescheduled election.

Yakubu, who was represented by an INEC national commissioner, Dr Mustapha Lecky, said that the commission had put in place everything possible to ensure the elections hold on Saturday.

The INEC boss said that the commission had no reason to feel that anything would stop the conduct of the election on February 23.

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Home | News | General | Opinion: Understanding Nigerian Armys role in defending Nigerias sovereignty by Philip Agbese

Editor's note: Philip Agbese, a researcher in human rights law at the Middlesex University, London writes on the role of the Nigerian Army in defending the nation's sovereignty.

Agbese also reaction by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar on a directive against ballot-box snatchers by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.

Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@corp.legit.ng drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

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Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Twitter.

I recall that a section of the polity has decided to drag the Nigerian Army into the murky water of politics for their selfish reasons. This arose from the charge given by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces President Muhammadu Buhari for the Nigeria Army to deal ruthlessly with those who intend to snatch ballot boxes during the elections or engage in acts of thuggery aimed at disrupting the polls.

I must confess that I am amazed as to how the PDP bigwigs and sympathizers have blown the issue out of proportion.

They forgot that for the credibility of the polls to be achieved, there ought to be a level of security in place to guard against vices such as ballot box snatching, vote buying and other evil acts associated with elections in this country.

While I am not against these folks airing their opinion on issues they have reservations, I am however taken aback with the way and manner they have so politicized the issue with the aim of misleading the unsuspecting members of the public to believe that there is indeed something sinister in the directive.

Yes, the Chief of Army Staff addressed his principal officers that included the General Officers Commanding the various divisions in the country to remind them of the task at hand which is necessary to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country and the need for the troops to respect the constituted authorities.

I see nothing wrong with this. And I wonder how the PDP interpreted or is interpreting issues, especially in the build-up to the elections.

It even gets confusing when it is common knowledge that over time, the Nigerian Army in discharging its constitutionally recognized and authorized mandate, focuses on two cardinal objectives, and they are subservience to constituted authority and the respect for human rights.

This is also sufficing to add that the Nigeria Army has overtime provided that needed support to the Nigerian police in the effective discharge of its duties in times of elections and other emergencies.

And if this is and has been the case, why cry wolf where none exist? I think that the members of the general public should resist the antics of some unscrupulous elements hell-bent on causing disaffection in the polity to win the sympathy of the electorates with some days left to the general elections.

READ ALSO: Withdraw your statement on ballot-box snatching - Army chief tells Atiku

There are abound instances where the Nigerian Army had ensured that voters carry out their civic responsibility without fear or favour.

The Ekiti and Osun states elections are glaring examples of the invaluable role the Nigerian Army plays in entrenching and sustaining democracy in Nigeria.

Ordinarily, Nigerians should not have any cause for worry or concern if they do not have ulterior motives during the elections.

But those that want to incite and cause mayhem should have every reason to be afraid because I think that any action that negates peace and tranquility would and should be resisted by the Nigerian Army. And this should give every true lover of democracy a cause for concern.

The desperation to rig the election at all cost is what has driven the PDP to begin to act towards every other citizen even worse than what Boko Haram have done in North East Nigeria.

This desperation led by Obasanjo and some Governors to return an Atiku Abubakar who has become desperate as to drag the Nigerian Army despite its apolitical nature into politics is what many today have become afraid of.

The fear of ballot box snatcher is real, and every Nigerian looks up to the Army to be able to provide the needed security for them to be able to exercise their franchise.

One would, therefore, plead with the PDP to allow the Nigerian Army to focus on its role and responsibilities as those who have nothing to hide should have nothing to fear.

The Nigeria Army under Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai is a responsive organization and one that has tremendously shown respect for the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Worthy of mention also is the fact that the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai is a professional officer and one whose loyalty can never be doubted.

He is also a refined promoter of human rights as evident in his numerous interactions with the civilian populace through the Directorate of Civil-Military relations. This much has been said about him in multiple forums and how he has done so much in three years to reflect on the average soldier in the country.

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It is also on record that the Nigerian Army has not unlawfully engaged any citizen in any arms struggle and this very much we are aware the Army has continued to imbibe.

An example of the professionalism of the Nigeria Army under Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai was in 2016 in Rivers state when militants opened fire on troops during a rerun election. Guess what? The Army didnt retaliate but instead fished out the criminals and handed to the police.

Now, that is just an example of the professionalism of the Nigerian Army under Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai in recent times. The public outcry by the PDP and its agents are in poor taste and meant to mislead.

Needless I add that there is no rest for the wicked. And make no mistakes, the Nigerian Army would rise to the occasion during and after the elections in Nigeria. For those who may not want a python dance with the Army, it is simply thumb print on your ballot paper and AVOID the box itself.

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Home | News | General | Ignore fake news about Osinbajo's resignation - Group tells Nigerians, accuses PDP of being behind it

- Nigerians have been urged to ignore the fake news about Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's resignation

- The call was made by a political group, Initiative to Save Democracy, which alleges that PDP is behind the fake news

- Sunday, James Akinloye, president of the group, says the opposition party will stop at nothing to lay its hands on Nigeria's treasury

Fake news making the rounds that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has resigned from his position has been described by a group, Initiative to Save Democracy (ISD), as the desperation of the Peoples Democratic Party to stir unnecessary controversy in the southwest.

The president of the group, Sunday James Akinloye, called on Nigerians to ignore the news, adding that PDP would stop at nothing to lay its hands on Nigerias treasury, Vanguard reports.

Legit.ng notes that Akinloye said: This is completely laughable. How can some people concoct a story that is entirely false, sending thousands of Nigerians into frenzy over nothing?

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This shows that the PDP is desperate and they will stop at nothing to lay their hands on Nigerias treasury but their plans will not work, in fact, it is dead on arrival.

They claimed in 2015 that President Muhammadu Buhari was going to Islamize Nigeria once he is voted in but we found that that is a lie.

They claimed he was Jubril from Sudan and they even claimed that he could not stand or campaign for himself but the man has proven them wrong over and over again.

The PDP is a destructive party and nothing good can come out of them. The foundation of PDP is faulty and the only thing they know is propaganda and lies even to the detriment of the lives of many Nigerians.

They have said it, they want to enrich themselves and their friends, and they do not care about the common man on the street.

They say they want to come and share the money, we must not allow that to happen. We must be steadfast in the slow and steady path we have embarked upon."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo accused the Goodluck Jonathan administration of carrying out grand corruption with impunity during its tenure.

Osinbajo made the accusation on Monday, November 12, when delivering the 40th anniversary lecture of the Association of Friends in Lagos.

Citing instances of alleged corruption that took place under the previous administration, the vice president said in one day $292m (about N70bn) was moved out from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), without any contract or any real explanation.

He said on another occasion, the sum of N60bn was moved out for security purposes without any evidence of what the money was used for.

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Osinbajo said it was surprising that the Jonathan administration left behind a debt of $63.806bn despite earning $381bn from crude sale between 2010 and 2014 - the highest that the country had ever earned.

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Home | News | General | PRP endorses presidential candidate 3 days to election

- The PRP has adopted President Buhari as its candidate

- The party noted that it was comfortable with the president's policies

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in Jigawa state has endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for re-election.

Daily Trust reports that the party adopted Buhari as its presidential candidate on Wednesday, February 20.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Friday, February 22 as public holiday

Ahmed Kaugama who is the PRP governorship candidate in Jigawa state spoke in Dutse where he said the party was comfortable with the policies of President Buhari.

Kaugama who was represented by his running mate, Shamsuddeen Aujara, said the party has no presidential candidate which is why it endorsed President Buhari

He however noted that his partys support was only for the president but at state level, his party was firm and fully on ground in the governorship race.

Recall that Social Democratic Party (SDP) has called on its members and other electorate to vote en masse on Saturday for its adopted presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A factional Chairman of the party, Chief Supo Shonibare, made the call at a news briefing after the factions National Working Committee meeting on Wednesday, in Abuja.

Shonibare urged the electorate across the country not to be deterred by the postponement of the election but to come out to vote for Abubakar, who would tackle poverty, unemployment and undemocratic tenets.

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He said that the adoption of Abubakar by the SDP as its candidate was in consonance with the agreement reached among the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) members, which SDP was part of.

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Assaulting free speech

The provisions in the new bill could further curtail free speech and silence dissenters
Home | News | General | Tinubu reacts to claim that he boasted about stealing money

- Bola Tinubu denied boasting about stealing money or receiving money from the government

- The APC chieftain said mischief makers were behind the alleged leaked tapes

- The former governor said there could be no leaked tapes in a public address

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Sen. Bola Tinubu on Wednesday refuted reports alleging that he boasted in Yoruba language to have stolen money.

There are reports circulating in the media allegedly based on a leaked audio tape of Tinubu at a crowded public meeting of APC supporters in Lagos on Feb. 14.

The reports claimed that Tinubu boasted that he stole money.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Friday, February 22 as public holiday

Tinubus through his Media Officer, Mr Tunde Rahman, said in Lagos, however, that he could never have uttered what was ascribed to him.

He said that in a desperate attempt to paint him in a poor light, the reports grossly mistranslated his statements to imply corruption and election malpractice.

Politics is an arena where mischief and exaggeration may not be the best craft but are permitted excesses of the trade.

However, when people engage in wilful defamation, they have crossed the line into the impermissible.

I addressed a meeting attended by hundreds of people. The meeting was open to the public at large. Moreover, the media was present and visible.

There can be no leak involved when a statement is publicly made and the media present there.

The reports claim that I boasted that I stole money. The merchants of this outlandishness used the fact that I was speaking Yoruba at the meeting as the basis for their falsehood.

Thus, non-Yoruba speakers are left to accept their translation of my words. Had I spoken in English they would not have a story to sell for my words clearly do not say what they claim I said, he said in a statement.

Tinubu said one of the issues addressed was the reward system for loyal party members and supporters after securing victory for APC in the 2019 elections.

In short, I promised the party faithful, APC supporters and members a reward for their efforts to secure victory in the 2019 elections.

I have previously stated the goal of getting three million people in Lagos to sufficiently believe in the vision of the APC that they will vote for President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo.

I said I will not go to Alausa and I will not steal money nor ask for government funds. Instead, I will recognise the successful efforts of APC members using only my personal funds.

The falsifiers seek to paint my statement as improper. However, it is common practice to give tokens of gratitude to party members for their work. It is feeble to suggest that such a practice somehow amounts to vote-buying.

No one was directed to give money to potential voters. I made it clear that the token rewards will only take place after the election.

As far as any reasonable person can discern, it is somewhat impossible to purchase a vote after an election has already taken place, he said.

Tinubu said he would not be cowed by the ugly attack, saying that he was a progressive politician used to the bite and venom of those who will hold Nigeria back.

They attack me as they do because they fear my appeal to the people. For my popular goodwill is something they do not have and can never get. I earned it through serving the people.

Thus, I shall continue to fight to keep Nigeria from the clutches of those who will run the country not as a nation but as if it is their private country club.

In the end, when everything that needs to be said is said, and all that needs to be done is done, progress and hope shall defeat deceit and the unjust privilege that is deceits master, he said

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Meanwhile Tinubu, on Wednesday appealed to Igbos in Lagos State to vote the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February and March elections.

Tinubu made the appeal in Ikeja while addressing party faithful at a stakeholders meeting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was called to perfect the partys preparedness for the rescheduled elections on Feb. 23 and March 9 in the state.

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Home | News | General | Breaking: Friday, February 22 declared as public holiday, bankers excluded

The federal government has declared Friday, February 22 as public to enable Nigerians prepare for the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, February 23.

The Cable reports that the federal government through the ministry of interior declared the holiday on Wednesday, February 20.

It however excluded bankers and those providing essential services from the holiday.

Federal Government declares Friday 22, February 2019 as work-free day. Those providing essential duties and bankers are excluded,

The work-free day is to enable citizens return to their poling units for the reschedule Presidential & National Assembly elections.

Security agencies have been directed to ensure safety of lives and property before, during and after the general election.

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) reportedly invited some top officials of the INEC over the recently postponed general election that was said to have caught political parties unawares.

Some of those to be questioned, according to a report by Premium Times, include Chidi Nwafor, the director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Ken Ukeagu; Osaze Uzzi, the director of voter education and publicity and Bimbo Oladunjoye, the assistant director of ICT.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the DSS had summoned Okechukwu Ibeanu, a professor of political science and INECs operations and logistics.

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Home | News | General | DSS denies tapping telephone lines of Nigerians

- The DSS has denied tapping the telephone lines of Nigerians

- The security outfit denied the allegation levelled against it by a political party

The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied tapping the telephone lines of Nigerians.

A political group had alleged that the DSS had tapped the telephone lines of Nigerians.

But Peter Afunanya, the Public Relations Officer of the DSS, said in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja that the organisation was committed to its professional ideals and would not engage in unethical conduct.

READ ALSO: Breaking: FG declares Friday, February 22 as public holiday

He said the DSS had been criticised by unpatriotic citizens who fed the public with fake news and hate speeches against it.

The spokesman said that the social media had been awash with wrong information regarding the operations of the DSS that were misunderstood and misrepresented.

It is obvious that some merchants of violence are determined to use their platforms to misinform the public for their selfish and political ends, he said.

He warned mischief makers against misleading the public, adding that the law would catch up with them.

The DSS is a responsible organisation and thus professionally adheres to the ideals of intelligence and security governance expected of it in a democracy, he said

Afunanya urged the public to disregard the claims of the political group.

He said that the DSS should be left out of politics to maintain its usual transparency and neutrality in the discharge of its mandate.

The spokesman enjoined carriers of fake news and social media manipulators to always think of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) reportedly invited some top officials of the INEC over the recently postponed general election that was said to have caught political parties unawares.

Some of those to be questioned, according to a report by Premium Times, include Chidi Nwafor, the director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Ken Ukeagu; Osaze Uzzi, the director of voter education and publicity and Bimbo Oladunjoye, the assistant director of ICT.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the DSS had summoned Okechukwu Ibeanu, a professor of political science and INECs operations and logistics.

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Home | News | General | Our business suffered a huge setback after the election was postponed - aggrieved traders speak

- Traders in popular Lagos market have condemned the postponement of the presidential elections

- Investigations by Legit.ng revealed the dissatisfaction of business owners and the situation of the market after the decision made by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

- Some of the traders who spoke with our correspondent informed that businesses suffered a huge setback and others said, the postponement resulted to low profit

Traders in a popular Lagos market have reacted to the postponement of the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Findings by Legit.ng at Mile 12 market in Lagos showed the mixed reactions of most traders and a reasonable response from others.

According to the traders, the postponement did not come as a surprise rather, it appeared like a norm in the polity of the country.

Trucks parked by the roadside at Mile 12 market, Mile 12, Lagos. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

A trader who sells food items like rice, beans and garri said the postponement was expected; adding that the authorities in charge of the electioneering process are to be blamed.

He said: The electoral bodies are to be blamed not the present administration. The postponement of the election is a big disappointment in the political system of the country. How can an election that was planned for four good years be postponed? It is painful that this country keeps dragging backward despite our God-given resources.

Prior to the day of the election, most traders have sold off their goods before the weekend so as not to suffer loss. We had hope to purchase new goods immediately after election, only for some of us to get the gist late; six hours before it commences. It is pathetic. Because we sold our goods at an affordable price; but when it was then postponed we didnt really make sales as some of us had almost empty the shop some days before the election.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), called for an emergency meeting before the fixed day which led to the postponement of the elections.

Also, the presidential election which was scheduled Saturday, February 16th, has been shifted by a week to Saturday February 23rd while the governorship polls had been moved to March 9th, 2019.

Despite the electioneering activities, rice is now cheap at various market in the state. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

Aggrieved traders, who spoke with our correspondent, explained how this development by the electoral body has affected their businesses on a daily basis.

On a daily basis, we make sales because health they say is wealth. A week to the election, we recorded huge profit because most buyers came to purchase the goods in large quantity. As soon as election drew nearer some businesses closed for the week but immediately we heard of the cancellation, we were confused.

Some shops were opened after the postponement but I will tell you everywhere look like a graveyard. The market was dry and quiet as people were still scared to go out and carry out their daily tasks. I couldnt come out because whats the point of coming out. They have already disrupted our business activity for the day.

For our business, weekend is the period we sell a lot because that is when most buyers shop for the new week ahead and at this time we record profit from N30,000 upward daily. But the postponement of the election was a huge loss to traders, Mr. Kelechi, a foodstuff dealer at the market told Legit.ng.

Egusi and Ogbono is now gold in the market amidst the election season. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

A meat seller at the market, identified simply as Mr. Ibrahim opined that the postponed elections was frustrating and not encouraging.

He said: The type of goods I sell is a perishable one, if one do not preserve it well, it will get bad and we will be at a loss. The news was shocking and discouraging as this has become a usual practice in the country by the same electoral body. After four years of adequate preparation, an election will just be postponed without proper consideration of the effect it will have on the economy.

As for me, as soon as I heard the news, I came out to sell my goods which is the normal thing to do as I sell on Sundays too and I cant sit back in the house, I need to fend for the family and meet the needs of my family.

We should not forget that the decision resulted to poor sales at the market as some traders came out late rather than come out in the early hours of the day which is the time buyers troop into the market by weekends.

Meat sellers at the market are not smiling as they continue to lament low profit after daily sales. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

Similarly, a fresh fish dealer, Mummy Segun revealed to Legit.ng why she came out few hours after the postponement of the election.

We were in shock when the news broke, it is disheartening. Some of us got the news from the radio in the early hours of the scheduled date but fish sellers who sells both roasted and fresh fish do not have a choice but to come out to sell our goods or else we will be at the receiving end. Prior to that day, we had decided to come sell our goods from Sunday but we still came out that same Saturday so as to avoid setback at the long run.

I must confess business has been dull after the election was postponed; some traders who come to purchase goods from us said they were scared of spending the cash they have now as they are not sure of what would be the outcome of the rescheduled elections.

Before now I sell over two cartons of fish daily but now, to sell a carton of fish is difficult because people now go for the available (quantity) and not quality. They prefer buying in cheaper rate than expensive rate. So, we are at a loss this period. Traders all over are facing a tough time to stay in business. It is not easy for us at all.

The reason for the recent market condition was due to the fact that some people traveled to their different location in the country where they will be able to exercise their franchise. And the ones that didnt travel are spending their money wisely now; they just buy goods to fill up the stomach and not to get satisfied, The mother of two lament.

LEGIT.NG Weekly Price Check: Traders count their loss few days after postponed general elections

Source: Original

While some are counting their loss, others see this development by the electoral body as an opportunity to make good sales.

A trader, who sells provision items at the market, says the timing was wrong and businesses in the country were affected to an extent.

The time at which the decision was taken by INEC was wrong. We never expected such from them but notwithstanding we are sure the conduct would still hold. I would say the profit realized that day was low compared to other days before election. But we are grateful to God whatever the outcome may be.

Now, business has return to normalcy but buyers are very cautious of their spending. The fact being that there is low circulation of resources in the country as the previous weeks has been all about election campaign and rally. The truth is, the economy of the country is dying on a daily basis, and we just hope the turnout of the election will bring about a positive change in the country.

So far, sales have been encouraging. We normally sell from Monday through Fridays but even after the election was postponed, we make sales but the gain was low compared to previous months. We are really finding it hard to survive as traders in this part of the world as nothing seems to be working in the system of government. But no matter the situation of the country, we are confidence of a better and greater Nigeria, Alhaja Balikis explained to our correspondent.

Further discoveries by Legit.ng showed that the acceptance by some was impressive as others rejected the excuse by the electoral body. They are optimistic that things will turn out for the good of the populace in due time but others fault the late decision made.

Traders at the market display their goods as they await prospective customers. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

Kenny, a buyer at the market who was seen buying foodstuff, described this decision as a laudable one by the electoral body. In his words, the fair in complexion guy understood that: A lot of us dont know what the electoral body has seen before arriving at such conclusion at the last-minute. It is a welcome development because it would have been worse if the decision was made after the elections have been conducted. It would have been a failure as a country that will require answers to questions that will be raised by world leaders.

I wont say the election has affected the prices of goods in the market because the food prices are not fixed but I would say, the electioneering activity so far has affected our economy to a large extent. The funds used could have done a great lot to the growth of the economy.

I commend the officials who quickly locate the problems and are ready to fix things before they get out of hand. So, this is a welcome development at the right time and it is for the good of the people in other to make their votes count.

Another buyer in the market opined that the rescheduling of the election wont have taken place if the electoral bodies are committed to the discharge of their duties after four years.

Mrs. Njoku said: The electoral body has failed in proper delivery of their service after four years of adequate preparation. Apart from the effect on the economy, the decision will affect the people during the time the exercise will commence proper. Their decision is faulted and the people are not happy. On that fateful day, most people will be reluctant to go out and cast their vote.

Seriously, they are to be blamed, it has been a usual practice for them every election year. We just hope this wont repeat itself in the years to come.

When it comes to affordable goods in the market now, pepper and tomatoes top the list. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

In another development, Legit.ng had a chat with a trader who sells second-hand wares at the market. He made an appeal to Nigerians, encouraging them to support the decision, to carry out what is expected of them and expressed optimism that the rescheduled election would be free, fair and credible. Adding that, the country will be great again.

Immediately the news broke, most Nigerians were disappointed with the authorities concerned. But, this is our country and we have to join hands to bring about the development that we crave for; together we can achieve this if we support one another.

We complain a lot and later, nothing seems to change. Its time to stand up and make our vote our voice. The deed has been done, let us move forward but make sure on the rescheduled date of the election, let us come out and make our votes count. The government cannot do it alone; they need our support too. This decision by INEC was made so as to have a free, fair and credible election, Mr. Livinus told Legit.ng.

Provisional items did not witness any significant change in prices this season. Photo credit: Esther Odili

Source: Original

Legit.ng also spoke with some traders who pleaded anonymity; they urged everyone to be calm and not discouraged towards the rescheduling of the election, expressing confidence that the electoral exercise would be peaceful.

Street Gist: Will postponement of election have any effect on the outcome? via Legit TV

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Director of the Stephen Centre International School, Abeokuta, Isaac Oluwole Newton-Wusu, on Wednesday, appeared before an Ogun high court over alleged rape and indecent assault on five female students of the school.

The police arraigned Newton-Wusu on a five-count charge, but he pleaded not guilty.

According to the police, the director indecently assaulted and raped two students aged 12 years and 14 years in 2008 and 2010 in his office.

The police also said that Newton-Wusu indecently assaulted three other female students by squeezing and fondling their breasts in 2007 and 2008, in contravention of Sections 358, 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2016.

Justice Solomon Olugbemi granted the defendant bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in like sum.

Olugbemi ordered that the sureties must own landed property within the courts jurisdiction and have building plan approval.

He also ordered that the sureties must show evidence of three years tax payment to Ogun Government.

He adjourned the case until April 4, for mention.

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The Nigeria Police Force says it is investigating the authenticity of a photo showing some policemen endorsing President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term.

In a photo which has since gone viral on social media, three policemen are seen throwing up eight fingers, a sign that has been adopted by the Buhari campaign organisation to mean four plus four.

In a Twitter post, the police said, IGP M. A Adamu has charged the Digital and Forensic Unit of the police to investigate the authenticity of the photo to ascertain whether it is real or photo-shopped. The outcome of the investigation and appropriate actions will be made known to the public.

In a related development, another photo of soldiers endorsing Buhari surfaced on social media on Wednesday.

In the photo, four soldiers clad in camouflage wielding AK47 rifles are seen holding up eight fingers signifying continuity of the Buhari administration.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen John Agim, said in a terse statement that the photo was being investigated.

He, however, maintained that the military would remain neutral during the elections.

Agim said, The Defence Headquarters wishes to disassociate itself from the pictures of the four armed men dressed in military camouflage doing a four by four fingers sign connoting a campaign symbol of a political party.

The Armed Forces of Nigeria is apolitical and remains apolitical. The pictures are being investigated to ascertain the true identity of the men in the photograph. If it is found out that they are military personnel, they will be sanctioned according to extant rules and regulations.

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  February 20, 2019  Zacks Market Edge is a podcast hosted weekly by cks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here:

Please use the Soundcloud link from this URL for the PR. Thanks: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/355796/are-tech-giants-in-india-facing-a-new-reality)

Are Tech Giants in India Facing a New Reality?

Welcome to Episode #167 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life.

In this episode, Tracey is joined by Zacks Director of ETF Research, Neena Mishra, to discuss what is going on with Indias online retail and technology scene.

Online Retail is Hot

In past podcasts, the emphasis has been on which companies were getting the upper hand in online retail. Hundreds of millions of Indians now have smartphones and Internet data plans are cheap. That has meant an explosion in online shopping and online payment options.

Several years ago, Amazon AMZN dedicated $5 billion in order to build out its marketplace business in India.

Walmart WMT recently became a big player when it bought Indias Flipkart for $16 billion.

Combined, Amazon and Flipkart have 70% of the online retail market.

New Regulations: Leveling the Playing Field?

But small merchants have been getting squeezed as the dominant players have lowered prices on products from preferred vendors and have taken market share.

As a result, starting on Feb 1, 2019, new e-tail regulations went into effect which have upended the online retail market place as it forbids an ecommerce marketplace from mandating that a seller sell products exclusively on its platform.

It also prohibits marketplaces from making more than 25% of purchases from one sole vendor.

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As a result, thousands of products disappeared from Amazons marketplace overnight.

Can Walmart and Amazon work around these new regulations?

Or will companies like Paytm, Indias large e-commerce payment system and digital wallet, which is backed by Alibaba BABA, gain an opening to take market share?

New App Regulations: Will They Stick?

In addition to cracking down on the big players in online retail, there have been proposed rule changes to mobile apps.

Facebooks FB WhatsApp is still one of the most popular in India, with over 250 million users.

But in recent months, several Chinese apps have become popular, including ByteDances TikTok lip-syncing app that is popular with young people.

Concerns about data privacy have been growing.

New proposed regulations entail requiring Internet companies to proactively screen user posts, videos and messages to make sure the posts arent libelous, hateful or deceptive in some way.

Can the apps find workarounds?

Microsoft MSFT has already commented about the tremendous cost with complying with this new rule.

Find out the challenges, and opportunities, facing big technology in India in 2019 on this weeks podcast.

[In full disclosure, the author of this article owns shares of AMZN and FB in her personal portfolio.]

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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Zacks Investment Research
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  February 21, 2019  Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Features: Tesla TSLA.

The Revolving Door at Tesla (TSLA) Keeps Spinning

Its Elon Musks company.

Of course its not really his company. Tesla belongs to the shareholders, of which Musk is only one of many, though he does own the single largest chunk of shares  roughly 20% of the company.

Hes also no longer Chairman of the Board, thanks to a settlement with the SEC in which he agreed to relinquish that role after his infamous funding secured tweet.

It remains clear however, that the direction of Tesla as well as the culture that exists inside the company is still primarily controlled by the iconoclastic visionary who took the company from a niche electric car manufacturer to one of the biggest automakers in the world.

It was precisely that culture that was mentioned as the principal reason for the departure of Tesla general council Dane Butswinskas on Wednesday. After just two months in the GC role, the DC-based attorney will return to his role as partner at Williams and Connolly  the firm that also acts as Teslas outside council.

Butswinskas cited a poor cultural fit as a factor in his decision to leave, though he will continue working with the company in as outside counsel. He will be replaced by Jonathon Chang, who has worked in several roles in Teslas legal department for over seven years.

Its the latest in a series of executive exits at Tesla over the past few years that included the senior VP of engineering, the head of human resources, and the CFO three times in the past three years  including the same person twice when Deepak Ahuja retired, returned to the CFO role after the departure of Jason Wheeler, then retired again earlier this year.

Often, investors see a pattern of executive departures as a sign that something is seriously wrong with the management or operations inside a company that the public isnt aware of yet. Watching the crew bail off the sides of a ship Is a clue that it may be sinking.

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Thats not the case at Tesla, however. There are no accounting irregularities, OSHA violation issues or legal problems. Paradoxically, Butswinskas resignation is actually confirmation of that. If a relative outsider accepted the General Counsel position and then left two months later, an observer might surmise that he became aware of dubious legal practices and decided he didnt want to be a party to them.

Williams and Connolly has been employed by Tesla for several years, and Butswinkas was presumably intimately acquainted with the companys legal strategies and issues long before he left the firm where he had spent the past 30 years to become Teslas general council. If there was anything amiss, he would have been amongst the first to know, well before he went to work there.

The problem instead seems to the constant demands of working for Musk. By all accounts, Tesla is not an environment where the phrase I cant is met with any sort of understanding. Thats exactly the philosophy that made Teslas improbable rise to mainstream automaker possible - even as similar competitors failed, and it doesnt appear to have changed now that the company is producing more than 5,000 cars/week and has posted positive cash flows and net profits in two consecutive quarters for the first time in its history.

In fact, a high rate of turnover at Tesla is not only likely to be the norm going forward, it can actually be viewed as a positive indicator of progress. As the company continues to grow to 500,000 cars/year and beyond and pursues fully autonomous driving capabilities, Musk will continue to burn through talented individuals who eventually choose to take a breather from the torrid pace of change he demands.

When you see complacency in the C-suites at Tesla, with fat-and-happy executives hanging around to collect the spoils of their previous efforts, thats the time to get worried.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%. See Latest Stocks Today >>

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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Zacks Investment Research
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  February 21, 2019  Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian says, Looking at Q4 as a whole, combining the actual results that have come out with estimates for the still-to-come companies, total earnings for the S&P 500 index are expected to be up +13.6% from the same period last year on +6.8% higher revenues.

Q4 Earnings Season Winding Down

Note: The following is an excerpt from this weeks Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>>

Here are the key points:

Total earnings for the 84% S&P 500 members that have reported Q4 results already are up +12.7% from the same period last year on +7.3% higher revenues, with 67.1% beating EPS estimates and 62.1% beating revenue estimates.

As expected, Q4 earnings and revenue growth is tracking notably below what we had seen from the same group of 419 index members in other recent periods. Surprisingly, positive EPS beats have been the lowest in more than 5 years.

Estimates for Q4 had come down significantly ahead of the start of this earnings season. But the relatively low EPS beats suggest that estimates were either not low enough or that business conditions weakened unexpectedly.

Looking at Q4 as a whole, combining the actual results that have come out with estimates for the still-to-come companies, total earnings for the S&P 500 index are expected to be up +13.6% from the same period last year on +6.8% higher revenues.

The strongest year-over-year earnings growth in Q4 is expected to come from the Energy, Transportation, Construction, Aerospace, and the Retail sectors. Excluding the Energy sectors strong growth, Q4 earnings growth for the rest of the index comes down to +10.4% (from +13.6%)

Estimates for Q1 as well as full-year 2019 have been steadily coming down, with 2019 Q1 earnings growth now in negative territory, the first quarterly earnings decline since 2016 Q2.

For the small-cap S&P 600 index, total earnings for the 322 index members that have reported results are up +11.4% on +5.0% higher revenues, with 58.4% beating EPS estimates and 62.4% beating revenue estimates.

The small-cap indexs Q4 performance thus far is weaker than we have seen from the same group of companies in other recent periods.

Looking at the small-cap index as a whole, total Q4 earnings are expected to be up +6.0% on +6.5% higher revenues. This would follow +36.7% earnings growth on +7.8% revenue growth in Q3.

For full-year 2019, total earnings for the S&P 500 index are expected to be up +4.8% on +5.8% higher revenues, which would follow the +20.5% earnings growth on +4.9% higher revenues in 2018. Estimates for 2019 have been steadily coming down, with the current +4.8% growth rate down from +9.8% in early October 2018.

The implied EPS for the index, calculated using current 2018 P/E of 17.7X and index close, as of February 19th, is $156.83. Using the same methodology, the index EPS works out to $164.31 for 2019 (P/E of 16.9X) and $182.36 for 2020 (P/E of 15.2X. The multiples for 2018, 2019 and 2020 have been calculated using the indexs total market cap and aggregate bottom-up earnings for each year.

Q4 Earnings Season Scorecard (as of February 20th, 2019)

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With results from 419 S&P 500 members or 83.8% of the indexs total membership already out, the bulk of the Q4 earnings season is now behind us. The Retail and Utilities sectors are the only ones that still have sizable number of reports still to come.

Total earnings for these 419 S&P 500 members are up +12.7% from the same period last year on +7.3% higher revenues, with 67.1% beating EPS estimates and 62.1% beating revenue estimates.

We knew that growth would be decelerating in Q4 and we are seeing that in the results thus far. But positive surprises are also tracking below what we had seen from the same group of 419 index members in other recent periods.

Please note that the Q4 beats percentages started out on the low side for both EPS as well as revenues. The revenue beats percentage has since improved modestly, but the proportion of these index members beating EPS estimates has continued to track below what we have been seeing from the same group of companies in other recent periods. In fact, the Q4 EPS beats % is the lowest in more than five years.

More than positive EPS and revenue surprises for Q4, it is managements guidance for the current period that will help anchor the markets expectations. Global economic slowdown has emerged as a recurring theme this earnings season for companies in a variety of industries.

Apple AAPL got the ball rolling on the global growth question when it came out with a negative pre-announcement in early January, with the company specifically pointing to weakness in China as a major reason. Many other companies since then, including Caterpillar CAT, Nvidia NVDA and others, have cited the same reason(s) for their weak outlook.

No doubt estimates for the current year and full-year 2019 have been steadily coming down.

This is only an estimate at this stage and actual March-quarter earnings growth could very well be in positive territory. But it nevertheless shows that the growth picture will be a lot more challenged and problematic in the coming quarters.

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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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Airport tax money not being spent as intended: Tourism Ministry

The Tourism Ministry said Tribhuvan International Airport had not been spending the money collected as airport development tax as intended, warning that the schemes term may not be extended if it did not produce a strategic working plan.
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  February 21, 2019 - Stocks in this weeks article are Synopsys, Inc. SNPS, The Progressive Corp. PGR, Equinix, Inc. (REIT) EQIX, AMETEK, Inc. AME and Carlisle Companies Inc. CSL.

Buy These 5 Stocks with Attractive Sales Growth Right Now

Steady sales growth is vital to the survival of any business. Sales growth not only offers an insight into product demand and pricing power, it also is important for growth projections and strategic decision making.

Nonetheless, investors often fail to consider sales growth as a dependable metric. This might be because of investors preconceived notion that a companys stock price is typically sensitive to its earnings momentum.

But investors must look for a strong relationship between sales growth levels and the value of an enterprise. This is because in cases where companies incur a loss, albeit transitorily, they are valued on their revenues, as top-line growth (or decline) is usually an indicator of a companys future performance.

Further, investors should make sure that sales are not only increasing but the growth rate is rising as well. Sales growth rate for the current year should exceed the prior years growth.

Therefore, the Price-to-Sales (P/S) ratio can turn out to be an appropriate metric for stock valuation. This metrics importance lies in the fact that management has limited opportunities to manipulate revenues, unlike earnings.

However, a huge sales number does not necessarily convert into profits. Hence, considering a companys cash position along with its sales number can prove to be a more dependable strategy. Substantial cash in hand and a steady cash flow give a company more flexibility with respect to business decisions and investments.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/355511/buy-these-5-stocks-with-attractive-sales-growth-right-now

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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

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Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL February 21, 2019  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Intercept ICPT, Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX, Alkermes plc ALKS and Clovis Oncology CLVS.

Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog:

Biotech Stock Roundup: ICPT, GILD, VRTX and More

As we approach the tail end of earnings results, regular pipeline updates and data read outs take centerstage in the biotech sector. Key among those include Intercept, which surges on the back of positive data from the phase III trial on NASH drug, and Vertex, which too reports favorable outcomes on Symdeko.

Recap of the Weeks Top Stories:

Intercept Soars on NASH Drug Trial Results: Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals jumped after the company announced upbeat findings from its late stage study  REGENERATE  of obeticholic acid (OCA) in patients with liver fibrosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The study results show that once-daily OCA 25 mg met the primary endpoint of fibrosis improvement (1 stage) without any worsening signs of NASH during the planned 18-month interim analysis. Moreover, a greater proportion of patients under both OCA treatment arms compared with placebo achieved the primary endpoint of NASH resolution with no deterioration of liver fibrosis noticed even though the evaluation did not reach any statistical significance.

Nevertheless, the study was required to attain one of the two primary goals per the FDA which it did. Intercept intends to file for regulatory approval in the United States and Europe in the second half of 2019. The news significantly boosted investor sentiments given the market potential of NASH and the fact that biotech bigwig Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced the failure of a late-stage study on selonsertib involving patients with compensated cirrhosis (F4) due to NASH. This in turn, puts Intercept ahead in the race to get a drug approved for NASH.

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Vertex Reports Positive Data on Symdeko: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that the late-stage study on Symdeko, conducted in Europe and Australia, was successful. The phase III study was performed on children aged 6 to 11 years with cystic fibrosis (CF), who have either two copies of the F508del mutation or a single one of the F508del mutation and one residual function mutation. The study met its primary endpoint of absolute change in lung clearance index (LCI2.5) through an 8-week regime as it demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in LCI2.5 among patients treated with Symdeko. The investigation was under way to seek Symdekos label expansion for the patient population enrolled in Europe. We note that Vertex had earlier submitted an sNDA to the FDA for Symdeko, based on a previously completed phase III safety study on 6-11 year-old children in the United States and Canada.

Gilead Clinches Approval for Yescarta in Canada: Gilead Sciences notified that Health Canada has granted a Notice of Compliance (NOC) to chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell therapy, Yescarta axicabtagene ciloleucel). The therapy has been approved for treating adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, high grade B-cell lymphoma and DLBCL, arising from follicular lymphoma (transformed follicular lymphoma, or TFL).

Alkermes Collaborates With Clovis: Alkermes plc entered into a research collaboration pact with Clovis Oncology. Both companies will evaluate ALKS 4230, Alkermes' investigational engineered interleukin-2 (IL-2) variant immunotherapy, combined with Rubraca  Clovis' approved PARP inhibitor  and lucitanib, Clovis' investigational tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Per the terms of the agreement, Alkermes and Clovis will perform preclinical studies to examine the mechanism of action and efficacy of the combinations of ALKS 4230 with Rubraca and ALKS 4230 with lucitanib on multiple tumor models. Both entities will share costs related to the preclinical probes.

Alkermes currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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To become eligible for Social Security disability benefits, you must be unable to engage in substantial gainful activity. However, you may be able to earn a small amount of income while receiving Social Security disability payments.

"It is possible to qualify for Social Security disability benefits and still work in a limited capacity," says Nick Ortiz, a board-certified Social Security disability attorney and owner of Ortiz Law Firm in Pensacola, Florida. "Social Security has special rules for work activity called work incentives."

[Read: How Much You Will Get From Social Security.]

To make the most of your benefits and job opportunities, it can be helpful to know what's available. Read on for a look at what's involved with Social Security disability benefits, as well as the rules related to working while receiving benefits.

How to Know if You Are Eligible for Social Security Disability Benefits

If you don't currently receive benefits for being disabled, but want to apply for them, start by reviewing your last paychecks. To be eligible for Social Security disability benefits, you'll need to make $1,220 or less per month in 2019. If you're blind, the limit is $2,040. This amount is known as "substantial gainful activity," and is adjusted each year. "If an individual is engaging in SGA, then they are not disabled," says Andrew November, a disability lawyer at Liner Legal in Cleveland. "It's a line in the sand, broadly speaking." If you're self-employed, you might not receive a steady paycheck. You'll need to go through several income-related tests to determine if you are eligible to receive the benefits.

To qualify for disability benefits, your condition must limit your ability to do basic activities such as lifting, walking or remembering for at least 12 months. The Social Security Administration has a list of medical conditions it considers significantly disabling, but also considers claims for other conditions. "Have a long talk with your primary care physician or specialist," November says. You can discuss how your disability impacts your ability to work. Your doctor might then write a letter on your behalf to explain your situation and the need for benefits.

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To apply for benefits, you can fill out an application online or call or visit a Social Security office in your area.

Working While Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits

After you start receiving Social Security disability benefits, you may be able to continue working in some form. Again, you'll need to keep a careful eye on your earnings. If you receive less than $880 per month from your job, your benefits are likely to continue.

Notably, if you spend money on job-related activities because of your disability, you might be able to subtract the amount from your monthly income. "You can deduct impairment-related work expenses from that total," says Danielle Kunkle Roberts, co-owner of Boomer Benefits in Fort Worth, Texas. For example, if you need to take a taxi instead of public transportation to get to your job, you might be able to deduct those expenses from your income. Other expenses could include special medical equipment you have to purchase on your own or counseling services.

You'll need to report work-related information regularly to the Social Security Administration, including start and stop dates for a job, changes in duties and hours worked. You'll also have to report your monthly wages and work-related expenses due to your disability.

[See: 10 Ways to Increase Your Social Security Payments.]

What the Trial Work Period Means

If your monthly income (after deducting disability-related expenses) is $880 per month or more, your benefit situation could change. "If the amount earned in a month is between $880 and $1,220, then Social Security will evaluate the claim under its 'trial work period' rules and regulations," Ortiz says.

This trial work period is designed to help you test your ability to work. "Social Security wants to encourage beneficiaries to return to work when they can," Ortiz says. During the trial work period, your full benefits will continue, even if your monthly total earnings are more than $880. You'll need to keep reporting your work-related income and continue to have a disability to maintain benefits.

The trial work period continues until you have earned $880 or more for nine months during a 60-month timeframe. It is important to note that these months do not have to be consecutive. "If earnings are less than $880, then the trial work period is not triggered," Ortiz says. "Even if the earnings do exceed $880 in any given month, it will not be considered as showing that the disability has ended, so long as the beneficiary does not exceed $880 in one month more than nine times in a 60-month period."

What Happens After the Trial Work Period

Once your earnings are higher than $880 for nine months during a 60-month period, the Social Security Administration will review your income record. If your average earnings during the trial work period hit or surpassed the substantial gainful activity threshold of $1,220 for 2019 ($2,040 for the blind), your benefits will likely stop. But if your average earnings during the trial work period were below that amount, your benefits will continue.

If you are able to work while continuing to receive benefits, you can enter what is known as an extended period of eligibility. This is another way to help you further test your working abilities while receiving benefits. After your trial work period, you have 36 months during which you can receive benefits for any month your earnings fall below the substantial gainful activity threshold.

Keep in mind that even if your benefits end due to continued employment, they can be reinstated during a period when your disability makes you unable to work. This is referred to as expedited reinstatement. You'll have five years after your benefits stop to ask to have benefits begin again because of your inability to engage in substantial gainful activity.

[Read: Social Security Changes Coming in 2019.]

Free Services to Help You Work While on Disability Benefits

Social Security has a program called Ticket to Work designed to help disabled individuals who want to pursue a career and become financially independent. "If a beneficiary is contemplating a return to work, then he or she should seriously consider participating in Social Security's Ticket to Work program," Ortiz says. It's a free and voluntary program, and more information on the services it provides can be found at ChooseWork.ssa.gov.

It can also be helpful to talk through your situation on a one-to-one basis. "If people are going to return to work, really work with an individual and determine if you can," November says. Look for a community work incentive coordinator in your area to discuss your working options and benefits. You can call 866-968-7842 to find the nearest community work incentive coordinator.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.  Melissa Deloatch died a hero, her mom, Joan Christopher, said.

Deloatch, who was several weeks pregnant, shielded her 11-month-old in a stroller from a driver speeding toward them Wednesday afternoon outside a 7-Eleven in New York.

She died instantly, her family said, but 11-month-old Unique lived.

"It was a twin stroller, and it looked like an accordion," Deloatch's dad, Richard Christopher, said at a relative's house in Nyack this afternoon. "That stroller made me cry. Why would you want to hurt kids? They didn't do anything to you."

The driver, Jason Mendez, is accused of driving into Deloatch, her husband and six children  all under the age of 10  after Deloatch's husband asked him not to smoke near the kids, Haverstraw police said.

Police:Driver purposely runs over family of 8, killing the mother

'Absolutely horrific': Oregon man allegedly killed four family members, including infant

Mendez drove into the family, then reversed his car about 20 feet and drove forward and struck them again.

He was charged with second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

"We got a call from her husband saying, 'Melissa was in an accident. She's not waking up. She's not breathing,'" her mom said.

Deloatch, her husband and children walked and took public transportation from where they lived with her in-laws in Stony Point to surprise Deloatch's family in Nyack. They stopped at 7-Eleven in Garnerville to pick up snacks for the kids.

"They always try to pop in when they're around. They're good like that," Joan Christopher said. "Next thing you know, the kids are running through the house and yelling, 'Grandma.'"

During happier times, the Christopher/Deloatch family is tight-knit and loving. Melissa was the prankster of the family since she was a teenager, her mom said.

When Melissa was around 14, she gave her dad blonde highlights and put peroxide in her brother's hair.

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"She thought she was a beautician," Joan Christopher said. Her dad chuckled.

There was also their birthday tradition of cake in the face, where Melissa would act as if she's bringing out cake, and then rub it all over their face.

"She was a prankster," her mom said. "But she would give you her last piece of bread if you were hungry ... That's how she was."

Her family said she was close with her entire family but was closest with her brother, Ryan Christopher, who said Melissa was "the most genuine person you'll ever meet."

The siblings were inseparable. They went on fishing trips together and brought the kids as their "good luck charms," he said.

"I even got her to go dirt biking and quading," her brother said. "As we got old, we got closer and closer."

More: New Jersey family killed in mansion fire remembered as 'beautiful people' during funeral

More: Wisconsin mother is the only survivor after family of five's kayak capsizes on Lake Superior

Follow Christopher J. Eberhart on Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Woman killed after driver ran over family of 8 'died a hero,' mom says
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday a woman born in the United States who joined the Islamic State militant group did not qualify for U.S. citizenship and had no legal basis to return to the country.

Hoda Muthana, 24, travelled to Syria over four years ago to join Islamic State, also known as ISIS. She married a succession of Islamic State fighters and went on Twitter to encourage attacks on the West.

In media interviews this week from a detention camp in Syria, Muthana said she was sorry for her actions and wanted to return to her family in Alabama with her toddler son.

Pompeo said Muthana was not a U.S. citizen and would not be admitted into the United States.

"She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," Pompeo said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter he had directed Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!"

Pompeos statement did not explain why the State Department did not consider Muthana a U.S. citizen.

The action followed Britain's move to revoke the citizenship of a teenager after she joined Islamic State, citing security concerns.

14TH AMENDMENT

The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but U.S. officials appeared to be basing their position on an exception in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

Muthanas father was a Yemeni diplomat, working in the United States. Children born in the United States to accredited diplomats, under the 14th Amendment, do not acquire citizenship since they are not "born ... subject to the jurisdiction of the United States," according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Hassan Shibly, a representative for the Muthana family and a staff member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tweeted that she was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in October 1994, months after her father informed the U.S. government he was no longer a diplomat.

Charles Swift, director of the Constitutional Law Centre for Muslims in America, said her father's revocation of his diplomatic status meant Hoda Muthana was a U.S. citizen. Swift said he planned to file a lawsuit over her case.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Peter Cooney)
President Donald Trump meets with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh - REUTERS

The White House has been accused of pushing a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite objections from national security officials.

A report released by a Democrat-controlled congressional committee said whistleblowers within the administration had witnessed "abnormal acts" regarding the White House's proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the kingdom.

Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if US technology is transferred without proper safeguards.

Donald Trump has made the kingdom a centrepiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran.

According to the report, the nuclear effort was pushed by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in early 2017.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Donald Trump Credit: Donaldson Collection

Derek Harvey, a National Security Council official brought in by Flynn, continued work on the proposal, which has remained under consideration by the Trump administration.

Elijah Cummings, Democrat chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, announced the investigation Tuesday.

The committee's report details how National Security Council and ethics officials repeatedly warned that the actions of Flynn and a senior aide could run afoul of federal conflicts of interest law, and statutes governing the transfer of nuclear technology to foreign powers.

Congressional investigators are also probing the role of Tom Barrack, a proponent of the nuclear proposal who ran Mr Trump's presidential inaugural committee.

A spokesman for Mr Barrack said in a statement that he will cooperate with the House probe.

According to the report, the whistleblowers came to the committee because they had concerns "about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law - efforts that may be ongoing to this day."

The nuclear proposal is known as the "Marshall Plan for the Middle East".

According to the report, H R McMaster, who replaced Flynn as national security adviser, directed that work stop on the proposal because of concerns about its legality, but it continued.
By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - Union leaders for West Virginia teachers ended a two-day strike on Wednesday that they had called to oppose charter schools, clearing the way for classes to resume for about 270,000 students.

The state's educators, among the lowest-paid in the nation, sparked a wave of U.S. teachers' strikes last year when they walked off the job to demand higher pay. That nine-day strike ended after West Virginia agreed to a 5 percent raise.

In their latest job action, teachers went on strike on Tuesday to protest a bill in the West Virginia legislature that would have allowed the state's first seven charter schools to open.

Although the bill was defeated on Tuesday in the House of Delegates, the strike continued on Wednesday, keeping most of the state's 700 schools closed as teachers rallied to stop lawmakers from reviving the bill.

"Our voices were heard," Fred Albert, president of the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Teachers will return to work on Thursday, Albert said, but union leaders would monitor deliberations in the state legislature this year to oppose the charter school proposal.

Charter schools are publicly funded but run by private groups. Advocates say the schools offer parents a wider array of educational opportunities for their children. Critics say they benefit profit-driven private organizations and that some of them oppose organized labor.

While the strike in West Virginia wound down, another one is looming in Oakland, California. Teachers there are expected to strike on Thursday over charter school accountability. The teachers are also seeking raises and more nurses and guidance counselors.

WEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS

Union officials have complained that wealthy organizations from outside West Virginia are pushing for charter schools.

Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, had vowed to veto the charter schools legislation, which had passed the state Senate but was defeated in the House of Delegates.

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A separate bill, backed by the governor, which authorizes the promised pay raise for teachers and does not address charter schools, was advancing in the legislature, the West Virginia Democratic Party said on Twitter on Wednesday.

West Virginia is one of only six U.S. states that does not allow for charter schools, according to non-profit research group the Education Commission of the States.

The American Federation of Teachers called the charter schools bill an act of retaliation for the strike last March that secured higher pay for teachers. That strike was followed by similar actions in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, Chicago and Los Angeles.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Leslie Adler)
Weingarten Realty (WRI) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.55 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.57 per share. This compares to FFO of $0.61 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of -3.51%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this real estate investment trust would post FFO of $0.58 per share when it actually produced FFO of $0.58, delivering no surprise.

Over the last four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus FFO estimates.

Weingarten Realty, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry, posted revenues of $123.99 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.70%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $135.80 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Weingarten Realty shares have added about 20.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 10.9%.

What's Next for Weingarten Realty?

While Weingarten Realty has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of estimate revisions.

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Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Weingarten Realty was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus FFO estimate is $0.55 on $120.89 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.23 on $490.12 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, REIT and Equity Trust - Retail is currently in the bottom 43% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.



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The week of Feb. 14 in photos A child cries while being lifted by men disguised as Namahage wearing a demon like mask and a costume made of straw in Oga, Akita Prefecture, Japan, on Feb. 10, 2019. Namahage, considered divine messengers bringing blessings to people, visit houses in the area every New Years Eve, yelling and telling children they have to behave themselves in a tradition designated as one of Japans important intangible cultural assets. (Photo from Richard Atrero de Guzman/Nur Photo)

Last week saw parts of the world blanketed in snow, ice and flowers, with Valentines Day falling in the dead of winter.

While people from Canada to Gaza stopped to smell the roses, thousands of right-wing demonstrators gathered in Spain to protest the countrys Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The week also brought healing in Paradise, Calif. where residents are beginning to rebuild following the devastation of the Camp Fire in November, and in Parkland, Fla. where a community marked the first anniversary of the deadly Parkland school shooting on Feb. 14, 2018.

From back-to-back ice storms to the dark, hidden world of forced rhubarb farming, here are some of the most compelling images from last week.
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China is stepping up its diplomatic outreach over controversial camps in its heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang, inviting more foreign diplomats to visit as it seeks to head off criticism from Muslim-majority countries and at the United Nations. Since December, China has taken at least three groups of foreign diplomats to visit to what it calls re-education and training facilities, but rights groups say are internment camps. A fourth group is scheduled to visit this month. The country's foreign ministry said on Saturday that Geneva-based diplomats from Pakistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Egypt, Cambodia, Russia, Senegal and Belarus were visiting Xinjiang on a trip that ended on Tuesday. Six diplomatic sources told Reuters that the government had invited for the next visit China-based diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Russia, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Hungary and Greece. Two sources said that trip was scheduled for next week. Officials from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Russia, Hungary, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Greece did not respond to requests for comment. Officials from Singapore, Bangladesh and Turkmenistan declined to comment. Cambodian officials said they were unaware of the visit. A source at the Lebanese foreign ministry said Lebanon would not participate. Georgian diplomats received an invitation, but would not be able to attend, its foreign ministry press service said. China's Foreign Ministry, in a faxed response to Reuters, confirmed the Xinjiang government was inviting China-based diplomats to visit in coming days, but did not give details. "We believe this trip will help increase their understanding and knowledge of Xinjiang," it said. "Xinjiang is open, and we believe that anyone who is unprejudiced can objectively see the success of Xinjiang's development." Xinjiang officials did not respond to requests for comment. Separately, government officials will on Friday brief foreign envoys in Beijing about the situation in Xinjiang, four of the diplomats said. China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that meeting. 'VERY RATTLED' Diplomatic sources say China has become increasingly worried about the overseas backlash against the camps, especially threats of U.S. sanctions, and has sought to counter that with a public push for a friendlier narrative. "They're very rattled," one senior diplomat, who has discussed Xinjiang with Chinese officials, told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Muslim countries have generally held off criticizing China, at least in public. But in February, Turkey called on China to close the camps, saying they are a "great shame for humanity," prompting an angry reaction from Beijing. "China does not want any other Muslim countries joining Turkey in criticizing the camps," a second Beijing-based diplomat said. All the diplomats who spoke to Reuters requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. China's Foreign Ministry told Reuters that the country's efforts in Xinjiang had made "positive contributions" towards regional peace and security. "China's relevant measures have received understanding and support from numerous Islamic countries. Terrorism is the common enemy of mankind," the ministry said in a separate faxed statement. The government has also taken foreign reporters to the camps, including a small group in January that included Reuters. The tightly choreographed and chaperoned visit marked the first time non-Chinese media had been given access the camps. U.N. MEETING China hopes to mute criticism of its Xinjiang policies at two upcoming events, diplomats say. One is the United Nations' Human Rights Council, which starts on Monday in Geneva; the other is the Belt and Road summit in late April in Beijing, at which leaders from several Muslim nations are expected. This month, rights activists urged European and Muslim nations to establish a U.N. investigation into the Xinjiang camps. Switzerland, Germany, Britain and the United States were among the most critical of China's policies in Xinjiang at its Universal Periodic Review by the U.N. Human Rights Council in January. Yang Shu, head of the Institute for Central Asia Studies at Lanzhou University in northwestern China, told Reuters that it was important to take foreign visitors to Xinjiang, but that the effect would probably not be obvious. "For countries that have good relations with China and have similar problems, it is easy for both to reach consensus on the Xinjiang issue," said Yang, an expert on security and terrorism. "For other countries, explanations will not have much effect. The United States and other countries have been criticizing China for a long time over the Xinjiang issue, and an explanation will not change their minds," he said. "But overall, it's better to do it than not to do it." China has pointed to the lack of attacks in the two years or so since it began running the camps as evidence of their success. Hundreds of people had died during unrest there, which the government blames on separatists and Islamist extremists. The ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily wrote last week, in a commentary excoriating Turkey for its criticism, that "the facts win out over oratory." Several Western diplomats told Reuters in recent weeks they were frustrated at Muslim countries' unwillingness to speak out about Xinjiang. A group of about a dozen ambassadors from Western countries wrote last year to request a meeting with Xinjiang's top official, Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, to discuss their concerns. No meeting has been scheduled. The letter was circulated widely, but no Muslim country signed it, diplomats say. Turkey's outburst, however, has given some hope that the wider Islamic world could soon start making critical comments about Xinjiang, though Beijing-based diplomats admit this is unlikely, as many of them have human rights problems of their own. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze in Tblisi, Tom Perry in Beirut, Ahmed Eljechtimi in Rabat, Prak Chan Thul in Phomn Pehn, James Pearson in Hanoi, Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Antoni Slodkowski in Yangon, Maria Tsvetkova in Athens, Jack Kim in Singapore, Serajul Quadir in Dhaka, Marton Dunai in Budapest, Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty, Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva and Christian Lowe in Moscow; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) on Thursday followed fellow Democratic presidential contender Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) in calling for the government to pay reparations to African Americans to atone for slavery and subsequent discrimination.

Warrens campaign told the New York Times that she does support some form of government reparations for the descendants of slaves, but did not specify what policy she we would pursue if elected in 2020.

Warrens support for reparations came after Harris came out in support of the idea during a radio interview last week.

We have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities, she said. Im serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities.

Video: Warren Proposes Sweeping Universal Child Care Program

For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

Since angering much of the progressive-activist community last year by publicizing the results of her DNA test to substantiate her claim of Native American ancestry, Warren has prioritized racial equity in laying out her 2020 presidential platform. She has called for a special home-buying-assistance program that would help alleviate the effects of racial red-lining, a phenomenon in which African Americans are prevented from buying homes in certain neighborhoods. She has also presented a universal-child-care proposal that would create a network of government-backed child-care centers available to families making under 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Other prominent Democratic presidential contenders, including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have not yet come out in support of reparations. Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) dismissed the idea of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves as impractical during his 2016 presidential run but has not weighed in on the issue since.

More from National Review
VMware (VMW) is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended January 2019. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price.

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on February 28, 2019, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This cloud computing company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.87 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +11.3%.

Revenues are expected to be $2.50 billion, up 8.3% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.18% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

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Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for VMware?

For VMware, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +1.41%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination indicates that VMware will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that VMware would post earnings of $1.50 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.56, delivering a surprise of +4%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

VMware appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.



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BANGKOK (AP)  Vietnam, the location of President Donald Trump's next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has come a long way since America abandoned its war against communist North Vietnam in the 1970s.

North and South united into a youthful nation that now has 95 million people, and in the mid-1980s the country embraced global trade, starting its rise as a production base for South Korea's Samsung and many other manufacturing giants. The "Doi Moi" reforms adopted by its communist rulers, modeled largely on China's transformation into the world's factory floor, could be a model for North Korea.

___

GOING FOR GROWTH: The Vietnamese economy expanded at an estimated annual rate of just above 7 percent in 2018, fueled by a double-digit increase in manufacturing output. At 5.54 quadrillion Vietnamese dong ($238 billion in 2017), its GDP ranks in the world's top 50 economies. As the economy has grown, poverty rates have fallen and life expectancy has risen, to 76 years.

SAMSUNG FACTOR: Heavy investment by South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of computer chips and cellphones, led commitments by other big global manufacturers like Microsoft and Intel. Samsung opened Vietnam's first mobile phone plant in 2009 and now employs more than 100,000 people in its factories there. In 2017, the company accounted for more than a quarter of Vietnam's total exports. Samsung had no comment on speculation that Kim might visit one of its factories outside the capital, Hanoi, where he is to meet with Trump.

EXPORT BONANZA: By joining the World Trade Organization and regional groupings including the Pacific Rim accord called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vietnam has leapfrogged its neighbors in taking advantage of lowered tariffs, and its exports have soared. In the meantime, manufacturers from South Korea, Japan and China have crowded in to take advantage of lower costs and other incentives. Exports surged to $214 billion in 2017, up by more than a fifth from the year before. The U.S. is Vietnam's largest export market, at nearly $42 billion in 2017. It's not all cellphones: Vietnam's main exports also include electronics, shoes and apparel.

CHALLENGES: Having just barely reached middle-income status, Vietnam is struggling to raise productivity  the key to ensuring living standards will continue to improve. Economists say the country's productivity is only about a third of China's and much lower than in affluent countries. Heavy reliance on export-led growth leaves the country vulnerable to global downturns. Vietnamese leaders also have emulated China in keeping a tight grip on the media, political dissent and other freedoms. Rural poverty, pollution and corruption are serious concerns, and like its huge neighbor to the north, Vietnam is struggling to revamp state-dominated industries that are a legacy of the earlier era of central planning.

THE OUTLOOK: After years of absorbing large flows of foreign investment, Vietnam could see that flow taper off along with global cutbacks. To sustain growth and remain competitive, the country needs to give a freer rein to private businesses, the World Bank and other experts say, and encourage adoption of more advanced technologies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Venezuela's deputy U.N. military attache, Colonel Pedro Chirinos, said in a video on social media that he recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president, increasing pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, highlighted Chirinos' announcement in a note posted on Twitter on Wednesday but misidentified him as the military attache to the United Nations.

"Venezuela's military attache to the United Nations, Colonel Pedro Chirinos, has announced his official recognition of Juan Guaido as Interim President of Venezuela," Bolton said in his note.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he was not aware of any notifications from the Venezuelan U.N. mission on changes to its delegation.

In a video shared by Bolton on Twitter, Chirinos identified himself and called Maduro's government "illegally constituted," while dressed in a military uniform and standing in front of the flags of Venezuela and the United Nations.

"I recognize, and offer my support and obedience, to the transition government led by the president, Juan Guaido," Chirinos said.

The United States and scores of other countries have openly backed Guaido, who last month invoked constitutional provisions to assume the interim presidency after declaring Maduro's re-election last year illegitimate.

Maduro retains the support of Russia and China and control of Venezuelan state institutions, including the security services. He says Guaido is leading a U.S.-directed coup against him.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney)
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has closed the nations border with Brazil, amid an escalating standoff over allowing aid from the US to enter the country.

In a televised address from the nations largest military base, Mr Maduro said he was also considering shuttering the border with neighbouring Colombia, two days before the opposition has vowed to move aid from the US and other nations inside Venezuela.

I dont want to take any decision of this type but I am evaluating it, a total closure of the border with Colombia, he said.

Some Venezuelans crossed over into the Brazilian city of Pacaraima to stock up on supplies shortly before the border was closed late Thursday night, according to Brazilian media.

Earlier on Thursday opposition leader Juan Guaido set off for the border with Colombia, where much of the US-supplied aid is warehoused.

Mr Guaido  who last month declared himself interim president and was recognised by the US, UK and other nations  has called on thousands of ordinary Venezuelans to assemble there on Saturday to help bring it across.

Through this call for humanitarian aid, the population will benefit from the arrival of these goods to the Venezuelan border, opposition politician Edgar Zambrano told the news agency.

The opposition leader appears to be using the weekends plan to bring in aid in a test of Mr Maduros will, according to some observers.

The whole humanitarian aid operation is just a public relations stunt, and has been denounced by real humanitarian aid organizations including the International Red Cross and the United Nations, Mark Weisbrot, a regional expert and co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank in Washington DC, told The Independent. And we know that Trump himself has been looking for a war in Venezuela, for which this confrontation could serve as pretext.

The Venezuelan president has said he is happy to accept aid shipments overseen by the UN, but believes the aid Mr Guaido seeks to bring in is part of an attempt to overthrow his government  something both Mr Guaido and Donald Trump have stated is their desire.

Story continues

Long-time observers of Latin America have pointed out that the US has previous used aid shipments to smuggle in weapons to groups fighting the elected governments of several nations.

Meanwhile, UN agencies have been stepping up their work inside Venezuela while urging that the distribution of aid not become politicised. On Tuesday, Brazil, whose recently elected right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro is among those that recognise Mr Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate leader, said it would work to distribute the aid.

Brazils foreign ministry said in a statement the aid will be placed in Boa Vista and the border town of Pacaraima to be collected by what it described as the government of acting President Juan Guaido.

Brazil is thus joining this important international initiative to support the Guaido government and the people of Venezuela, the statement said.

A US envoy is heading to Colombia as part of a mission to send food and other emergency supplies into Venezuela. The State Department announced late Thursday that special representative Elliott Abrams will lead a US government delegation transporting humanitarian supplies.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Voice of America the UN was closely monitoring the situation on the border.

The ideal scenario is that humanitarian aid is provided independent, independent of any political or other considerations, then the pure humanitarian and that is based on need and need alone, said Mr Laerke.
Rome (AFP) - Vatican representatives met Wednesday with victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests a day ahead of a landmark conference on the protection of minors, the Holy See said.

"The credibility of the Church, the Vatican and the pope are at an apocalyptic stage," Francois Devaux, co-founder of the victim's association "La parole liberee" (Freed speech), said afterwards.

The Vatican's organising committee met "12 people, men and women, from different parts of the world who belong to various organizations," a Vatican statement said.

"The members of the committee are very grateful to the victims who participated for their sincerity, the depth and the strength of their testimonies," it added.

It would help committee members grasp "the gravity and urgency of the difficulties that they will confront" during the meetings, the statement said.

Some victims nonetheless criticised the pope's absence on Wednesday, along with a lack of concrete measures to halt the abuse.

"Where is the pope" asked Peter Isely from the international survivors network Snap.

"What good will this meeting do," Devaux asked in turn.

He noted that more than 100 senior Vatican officials would search for a response to the crisis, and asked: "Don't we already know what to do?

"In Lyon the archbishop (Philippe) Barbarin acknowledged that he transferred a paedophile priest and today he is still archbishop," Devaux added by way of illustrating the Church's lack of response.

On Thursday, the pontiff is to launch four days of debate and prayer meant to "leave its mark" in the fight against the "scourge" of sexual abuse, Vatican spokesman Andrea Tornielli said in a statement.

The gathering of heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent "offers new opportunities for awareness, listening to victims, responsibility, accountability, and transparency," he added.
Vans unveils new ComfyCush technology for the classic Era style. (Photo: Courtesy of Vans)

Comfort and style stride side by side with Vans latest footwear launch. The new ComfyCush Era sneakers, the company says, feel as if youre walking on a cloud. Vans has been working on the new comfort-based technology since 2016, and its now finally ready to be shared with the world, starting with the classic Era style.

The original Era sneakers first debuted in 1976, 10 years after the Vans company was founded in Anaheim, Calif. Interestingly, the sneakers were designed by two skateboarders: Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta. The Eras feature a low, top-lace structure, durable double-stitched canvas upper, padded tongue and waffle outsole.

The decision to launch ComfyCush was simple. Its about diversifying Vans available options. Our consumers make us who we are today, so by listening closely, we built exactly what they were asking for, Matt Pino, Vans global footwear category manager tells Yahoo Lifestyle. More comfort without sacrificing style, which led to pushing the innovation of the Era to the next level. Weve been working on this technology since 2016, really focused around a rubber product (foam) that was designed specifically for comfort.

Vans will release new ComfyCush Era colors and styles throughout the season. (Photo: Vans)

A closeup of the new Vans ComfyCush footbeds (Photo: Vans)

Aesthetically, the new ComfyCush Era sneakers look exactly like the original. The ComfyCush elements are hidden within the foundation and structure of shoes. They feature new tongue tie-down elastic straps that help improve the overall fit and feel, says Pino. It eliminates the possibility of the tongue sliding to either the medial or lateral side of the foot. Theres additional arch support and a new foam and rubber cushion and grip that help keep your feet more comfortable all day long.

Bridging the gap between comfort and style seems like a no-brainer, especially for a brand like Vans, which is competing with the juggernauts Adidas, Converse and Nike. Its important our consumers know we arent asking them to trade off any of our icons, but that we are simply providing them with an option that may meet the need of a particular lifestyle  that doesnt compromise style, says Pino.

Story continues

Three Yahoo Lifestyle editors put the new ComfyCush Era sneakers to the test. Read our firsthand reviews below.

Editor test:

Julie Tong, Yahoo Lifestyles fashion editor, tests out the new Vans ComfyCush Era sneakers in Syracuse, N.Y. (Photo: Julie Tong)

Julie Tong, Yahoo Lifestyle fashion editor

Ive been a Vans fan ever since I was a teen. I can still remember walking through my high school hallways, past the rows of burnt-orange lockers, wearing my trusty pair of navy-blue Era sneakers. I wore them until they were smudged with dirt and the blue canvas started to wear away. Still, I didnt care. I loved them. Now, hearing that Vans is making my favorite sneakers more comfortable? I had to try them out.

Over the weekend, I tested the new Vans ComfyCush Era sneakers while visiting my boyfriend in upstate New York. At first glance, I loved the off-white and checkered design. I dont usually wear white sneakers, but the print and Vanilla shade felt refreshing, yet still inherently Vans. The real treat came when I placed my feet inside the shoes. On Sunday, I spent the afternoon going to brunch, grocery shopping at Wegmans, and ended the day catching a flight back to Manhattan. There were even times I wore them on the icy snow patches that lined the Syracuse streets. I was surprised to find how well they kept up through it all. No slippage! My feet stayed dry and warm even in these harsh conditions (because lets be real, they werent intended to be worn in the snow).

Throughout my day, I noticed how consistently sturdy the footbeds felt and how soft the cushions were that supported my ankles. Im someone who has wide feet, and they never once felt too tight around my toes, which is a big plus. In my experience, theyre perfect for running errands and traveling in, but most importantly  walking in. I think the longer I wear them, the more they will mold to my feet, too. The final verdict? Theyre keepers. I now have a reason to bring these beloved sneakers back into my life.

Dana Oliver, Yahoo Lifestyle beauty director, tests out the new ComfyCush Era sneakers on a full day of errands. (Photo: Dana Oliver)

Dana Oliver, Yahoo Lifestyle beauty director

This was my first time ever wearing a pair of Vans, and the experience was far from what I had expected. Id previously had my eye on the brands classic slip-on sneakers  as a new mom, I need shoes that are simple to get on and off when taking care of an infant. I gave the ComfyCush Era sneakers a trial run on a busy Saturday: My schedule included a Baby & Me yoga class, shopping at Whole Foods and tidying up at home. With my son all set in his car seat, and the Lyft driver just four minutes away from picking us up, I was surprised at how easy it was to get quickly dressed in the kicks.

The slender cut fit my narrow feet perfectly. Not to mention, after gaining roughly an extra half size in foot length post-pregnancy, I still managed to have enough toe space in the shoes. As I maneuvered around the grocery store with a stroller and no shopping basket, I soon learned why these sneakers carry the ComfyCush title: They make your feet like youre gliding on air.

The thick sole also managed to help with my posture, forcing me to stand straighter and walk with even more confidence. And with all the bending down I had to do to pick up my son or his teething toys, the fabric of the shoe didnt awkwardly bend or bulk.

While I love the subtle checkerboard design of the Marshmallow and True White colorway I tested, I wouldnt sport these every day, simply because it would be too difficult to keep them pristine. So overall, Im giving these ComfyCush Era Vans 4 out of 5 stars!

(Photo: Vans)

Adrianna Barrionuevo, Yahoo Lifestyle senior beauty editor

Ive been a Vans loyalist for as long as I can remember. I would go as far as to call myself a Vans aficionado. So when I heard about the new Vans ComfyCush Era sneakers, I was beyond excited to slip on a pair of my favorite style. While I wasnt skateboarding or strolling down to TK Burger in my old home of Newport Beach, Calif., I was navigating the busy streets of Manhattan to make it to Central Park for off-leash hours with my pup.

As soon as I took my first few steps, I noticed a difference in comfort level. From my heel to my toes, I felt much more supported and cozy compared to previous styles Ive worn. I ended up wearing my sneakers all day long, clocking in a total of about 15,000 steps, and my feet felt comfortable every step of the way (even when I had to chase my pup to get him back on the leash to head home). I would recommend these to anyone looking for a stylish, yet casual shoe, whether theyre skateboarding or strolling around the city.

You can shop the new ComfyCush Era unisex sneakers below.

Shop it: $60, vans.com

The editors at Yahoo Lifestyle are committed to finding you the best products at the best prices. At times, we may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.

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Willemstad, Curacao (Netherlands Antilles) (AFP) - A plane carrying food and medical aid from the United States landed on the Caribbean island of Curacao Thursday en route to Venezuela, whose government has vowed to block it.

AFP reporters saw the jet land at the airport in Curacao, one of the focal points of a volatile standoff between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and self-declared head of state Juan Guaido.

A dozen Venezuelan opposition supporters cheered and sang their national anthem as the plane touched down after flying from Miami.

Cargo handlers started unloading pallets of aid in which bottles of water were visible.

The pro-opposition organizers of the shipment say it will help relieve Venezuelans suffering in a severe economic crisis.

One of them, Miguel Rodriguez, said the plane contained 50 tons of food and medicine for Venezuelans suffering shortages.

He told AFP a boat was ready to ship the aid to Venezuela, whose coast lies some 40 miles away.

He said the pallets would be transferred by Saturday to a nearby seaport pending the local government's authorization to sail for Venezuela.

"We are waiting for the conditions to be in place. We want this to be resolved in the coming hours so that the aid can get to Venezuela."

Maduro has branded the aid a "show" and a smokescreen for a US invasion. His supporters have rallied in the streets to denounce the aid as a sham.

Maduro has vowed to block other consignments of aid from entering Venezuela across the Colombian and Brazilian borders. His government has also ordered sea and air links with Curacao to be suspended.
As the debate continues as to whether the UK courts have taken command of global FRAND determinations or whether it is all storm in a teacup,

(

) has some critical analysis to share as to the role of the English courts in FRAND determinations in the absence of a dispute resolution mechanisms in SSOs and what that means moving forward. Over to Michael:





The English High Court has established itself as one of, if not, the leading forum for resolving international FRAND licensing disputes. All a standard essential patent (SEP) owner needs is a UK SEP and an implementer which operates in the UK and they can force the implementer into taking a global portfolio licence with FRAND terms set by the UK court. The Court probably doesnt see it this way, jurisprudentially, but that it is how it is working out in practice. In two recent decisions (Unwired Planet and Conversant) ( here; Unwired Planet v Huawei [2018] EWCA Civ 2344 , IPKat post Huawei v Conversant [2019] EWCA Civ 38, IPKat post IPKat post here ) , the English Court of Appeal has endorsed this practice.





Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory? From the English courts perspective, it is simply allowing a patent owner to enforce its UK patents against an implementers UK sales. In the usual way, an injunction will be granted stopping UK sales unless the implementer has a licence. But heres the catch  the implementer has to accept the SEP owners FRAND offer; the SEP owner doesnt have to accept the implementers FRAND offer. And moreover, in all likelihood, under the SEP owners licence, the implementer will have to pay royalties for historical sales on a worldwide basis. So, in practical terms, the SEP owner has forced a global portfolio licence and recovered damages on its global SEP portfolio, in the English court.





Now the English court would point out that it is not forcing the implementer into taking the licence. It is merely deciding whether UK patents are valid and infringed, and if proven, granting the usual remedy of an injunction with effect only within UK borders. But practically that leaves the implementer with no choice but to take the global licence. ZTEs position offers a stark example of the operation of this practice. ZTEs UK mobile sales amounted to only 0.07% of its global sales. ZTEs choice is to take Conversants global FRAND licence or shut down its UK operations.





At the heart of the problem is the reluctance of standard-setting organizations (SSOs) such as ETSI and its members to agree to a dispute resolution mechanism. The English courts have stepped up and filled the gap.





In a world with national patents and global standards, a massive and growing market, and no accepted international dispute resolution process for resolving diametrically opposed licensing philosophies, it is hardly surprising that highly complex and strategic litigation (some might call it game-playing) has ensued. And that opposing camps take increasingly entrenched and opposing positions, each with plausible, and sometimes even convincing, justification.





The SEP owners over declare, are sitting on invalid and increasingly obsolescent patents and manipulate the standards in their favour. Increasingly they do not manufacture and are immune from counter-suit and cross-licence.





The implementers are free riders and game players, avoiding and delaying paying a fair royalty for using innovation developed by others.





It's a problem that doesnt lend itself to finding middle ground, easily or even tenaciously. It seems that the balance in the UK has settled very much in the SEP owners favour. But is this outcome Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory?





A patent owner which is in the privileged position of influencing technical standards and obtaining patents on their contributions knowing that those in the industry will have no choice but to adopt those standards and use their patents must (1) declare relevant patents to the SSO; and (2) undertake irrevocably that it is prepared to grant irrevocable licences on FRAND terms and conditions.





Unwired case, both English Courts found that the global portfolio licence was FRAND and that a UK licence was not FRAND. In the Conversant case, both Courts found they had jurisdiction, and were an appropriate forum to consider whether the terms of a global portfolio licence were FRAND as part of their consideration of whether the asserted UK SEPs were valid and essential and whether an injunction should be granted to restrain infringement of those UK SEPs. Huawei has sought permission to appeal the Unwired case to the Supreme Court. If the further appeal proceeds, a decision is unlikely before late 2020. In the meantime, the Court of Appeals approach will be applied. In thecase, both English Courts found that the global portfolio licence was FRAND and that a UK licence was not FRAND. In the Conversant case, both Courts found they had jurisdiction, and were an appropriate forum to consider whether the terms of a global portfolio licence were FRAND as part of their consideration of whether the asserted UK SEPs were valid and essential and whether an injunction should be granted to restrain infringement of those UK SEPs. Huawei has sought permission to appeal thecase to the Supreme Court. If the further appeal proceeds, a decision is unlikely before late 2020. In the meantime, the Court of Appeals approach will be applied.





All courts in both cases have therefore found that the English High Court has jurisdiction to consider and determine the terms of a global FRAND licence recognising that they do not have power to compel either party to agree such a licence  they cannot force either the SEP owner or the implementor to enter into such a licence. The Courts effective power is found in its remedies. The Court will not grant an injunction to a SEP owner which has not offered a licence with FRAND terms and it will not injunct an implementor where the implementor agrees to enter into a licence on FRAND terms.





But what happens where the different licensing terms proposed by the SEP owner and the implementor are both FRAND?





Unwired on this one point, that there can be more than one set of FRAND terms for any given set of circumstances having regard to the complexity of patent licences, the commercial priorities of the parties and the experience and preferences of the parties involved. The Court of Appeal recognised that FRAND licences may be structured in different ways in terms of the particular contracting parties, the rights to be included, the geographical scope, the products to be licenced, royalty rates and how they are to be assessed and payment terms (Unwired Planet at paragraph 121). The English Court of Appeal has decided, overturning Birss J inon this one point, that there can be more than one set of FRAND terms for any given set of circumstances having regard to the complexity of patent licences, the commercial priorities of the parties and the experience and preferences of the parties involved. The Court of Appeal recognised that FRAND licences may be structured in different ways in terms of the particular contracting parties, the rights to be included, the geographical scope, the products to be licenced, royalty rates and how they are to be assessed and payment terms (at paragraph 121).





What of the Vringo problem? In Vringo v ZTE ( [2013] EWHC 1591 (Pat) and [2015] EWHC 214 (Pat)) , Birss J considered the situation where there were multiple licences all of which were FRAND. He anticipated difficulty where the Court was asked to award an injunction in circumstances where the implementor had refused the SEP owners (global) FRAND offer and the SEP owner had refused the implementors own (country or regional) FRAND proposal. Birss J considered that the grant of an injunction in these circumstances could amount to international coercion. Birss J was clearly struggling to reconcile why one FRAND proposal should dominate over the other.





Unwired case, Birss J solved, or perhaps avoided, the Vringo problem by deciding that there could only be one set of FRAND terms as between any two parties in any given set of circumstances. But the Court of Appeal disagreed. So how do they solve the Vringo problem? In thecase, Birss J solved, or perhaps avoided, the Vringo problem by deciding that there could only be one set of FRAND terms as between any two parties in any given set of circumstances. But the Court of Appeal disagreed. So how do they solve the Vringo problem?





The Court of Appeal considers the answer to the Vringo problem to be simple  the SEP owners terms prevail. If the terms offered by the SEP owner (a global portfolio licence) are FRAND and the implementor refuses to accept those terms, the implementor will be injuncted ( Unwired Planet at paragraphs 124-127). at paragraphs 124-127).





SEP owners FRAND terms. The implementor will not escape a licence by agreeing to enter into a licence on the implementors own So the statement made earlier in this note that the court will not injunct an implementor where the implementor agrees to enter into a licence on FRAND terms is not quite right. The implementor will only escape an injunction by entering into a licence on theFRAND terms. The implementor will not escape a licence by agreeing to enter into a licence on theown

proposed FRAND terms.





The Court of Appeal appears to proceed on the basis that the obligation on the SEP owner is simply to offer FRAND licences. Paragraph 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy requires the SEP owner to give an irrevocable undertaking to grant irrevocable licences on FRAND terms. It seems arguable that the SEP owner has not complied with its obligation to grant licences on FRAND terms if an implementor offers a FRAND licence which is refused.





The Court of Appeal remarks on the concern raised by Birss J about the potential imbalance and international coercion, stating the term coercion is used in this context to imply improper duress or compulsion. But if both the global and the national licence were FRAND, the SEP owner would be guilty of no such behaviour by offering the global licence. That global licence would, on this hypothesis, be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. It would then be a matter for the prospective licensee whether to accept it ( Unwired Planet at paragraph 127). at paragraph 127).





The Court of Appeal also rejected these concerns as resulting from an elision of two separate but related matters: first the relief to which a SEP owner is entitled if it establishes infringement of its monopoly right, and secondly, what the SEP owner must do to satisfy the undertaking it has given to ETSI ( Unwired Planet at paragraph 127). at paragraph 127).





It is not entirely clear to me that the SEP owner is satisfying the undertaking it has given to ETSI if it refuses to grant a FRAND licence proposed by the implementor. There is nothing in the wording of that undertaking that exempts a SEP owner from granting licences on FRAND terms which have been offered by the implementor. Nor is there any guidance in the CJEU decision in Huawei v ZTE ( nor in the Guidance issued by the European Commission ( CoM [2017] 712 final 29.11.2017) . I am not aware of any court in any other country addressing this issue. ECU:EU:C.2015 - 477)CoM [2017] 712 final 29.11.2017)





The conclusion that a SEP owner can insist on its own proposed international patent portfolio licence and refuse to grant a FRAND licence proposed by the licensee also, with respect, ignores the practical outcome and the extraordinary imbalance between the fair and proper reward for national IP rights on the one hand and the benefit of the global licence on the other. The Court is effectively saying the implementor can only have access to the UK SEP they have been held to infringe if they agree to take a worldwide licence over the SEP owners entire patent portfolio, potentially across all telecoms standards, and in every country in the world and provided they pay historical royalties over all those patents for all technologies throughout the world. In ZTEs case, UK sales were less than 0.07% of their global sales. It is difficult to think of any other field of intellectual property where the indirect consequence of infringement of a UK right has an effect, exponentially greater than the local direct effect of that right.





One solution is for the implementor to abandon the UK. The injunction which the English Court grants is an injunction not to infringe the UK SEPs which the Court has found to have been infringed unless it enters into the (SEP owners) FRAND licence. If the implementor refuses to accept the SEP owners terms (even if the SEP owner has refused the implementors FRAND terms) the UK injunction will bite and the implementor will not be able to supply or sell products which infringe the UK SEPs which were enforced in those UK proceedings. The SEP owner would have to enforce its SEPs in other jurisdictions and seek to obtain a licence or licences through other routes.





The Court does not elaborate in detail on its rejection of the suggestions of unfair leverage and international coercion. In the Unwired case both Courts found that a UK-only licence was not FRAND. The point on whether a national or regional licence could be FRAND has not yet been fully considered in the Conversant case. But the Court of Appeal in Conversant appears to acknowledge that a national licence could be FRAND. And courts in other countries might also be of the view that national or regional licences are FRAND. We face the risk of contradictory court decisions on FRAND terms relating to the same parties and the same patents.





But if there is no injunction in relation to the UK SEP, what is the appropriate and proportionate remedy in the UK proceedings? One possibility is that the SEP owner will be entitled to damages for infringement of its UK patent in relation to the implementors historical (UK) infringing sales and damages in lieu of an injunction for the implementors future infringing UK sales. The damages in

Unwired that a FRAND royalty limited to the UK would be higher than the FRAND royalty for a global or regional licence. The Court would also be able to consider broader factors in relation to the damages in lieu in line with the Supreme Court decision in lieu are likely to be based on the reasonable royalty. Birss J already recognised inthat a FRAND royalty limited to the UK would be higher than the FRAND royalty for a global or regional licence. The Court would also be able to consider broader factors in relation to the damages in lieu in line with the Supreme Court decision in Morris-Garner v One Step ( Damages in lieu of an injunction have already been considered in other areas of technology, notably life sciences, where largely for reasons of public interest, the patent owner has not sought an injunction or where the Court has considered a period of time should elapse to enable a transition before any injunction is effective ( See for example Boston Scientific v Edwards per Arnold J [2018] EWHC 1256 (Pat)). [2018] UKSC 20 ).See for exampleper Arnold J [2018] EWHC 1256 (Pat)).





Vringo case), does not help the SEP owners cause. Enforcement of individual national patents in the world of telecommunications would be horribly inefficient. But that is not the fault of the patent system. The patent system has always acknowledged, and indeed respected, the national nature of patent rights. So, while there is an administratively efficient system for obtaining patents in Europe through the EPO, those patents are ultimately national patents and must be validated, maintained and enforced as national patents in their respective national courts. The inefficiencies of the European system for enforcing patents have been recognised and a possible solution by the creation of the Unified Patent Court in Europe has been devised. The fault really lies with the SSOs. They and their members have failed to provide an adequate dispute resolution system. They have also failed to provide proper guidance as to FRAND licences to try to remove the extent of disagreement. Perhaps they should also be more vigilant in declarations of essentiality. The standards system is largely one of self-certification with no requirement of maintaining the currency of the declarations. SEPs are not removed when they become irrelevant. The combination of ambiguous international technology standards with a patent granting system which, by its very nature, is bound to grant some patents which should not be granted provides fertile ground for disagreement as to the importance in value of the rights under discussion. The rejection of patents as invalid or inessential from what is in effect a proud list of patents which are asserted (5 out 6 in thecase), does not help the SEP owners cause.





de facto, international court for a standard system? Global licensing between global players makes commercial and economic sense. But is it right that the Court of one country becomes the, international court for a standard system?




Elizabeth Warren, one of the  what is it now, 211 candidates for president?  seems intent on proving that having been a Harvard law professor is no bar to fatuous policy prescriptions. She has endorsed the farrago of foolishness called the Green New Deal, promises to tax the rich to make the economy work for us, and recently proposed a shiny new policy idea fresh from 1971: government-funded, universal pre-school.

Decade after decade, this old chestnut is trotted out as a pro-family, pro-middle-class reform, and every time, assumptions about governments competence to perform this task are blithely assumed.

Any sentence that begins In the wealthiest country on Earth . . . is bound to introduce a massive government program of some sort, and Warrens recent pronouncement is no exception. She urges that affordable and high-quality child care and early education should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the rich. Sounds expensive. Who will pay? Warren proposes to tax the wealth of ultra-millionaires  those with a net worth of more than $50 million. 

Two things about taxing the rich: 1) They dont have enough to pay for the fond schemes of politicians, and 2) they can afford to pay the estate planners and tax lawyers who know how to minimize taxes.

But even supposing the ultra-rich would hold still while the state extracted a fixed yearly portion of their net worth, any plan for universal pre-K deserves skepticism  the opposite of what most news stories convey. ABC News, for example, contends that the benefits of early child care have long been documented, even showing taxpayers can make money back when investing in high-quality early education.

This is tendentious and wrong. The links ABC provided dont even support its assertion. The first is to a National Education Association publication (hardly a neutral arbiter), citing one famous study of extremely high-quality day care, the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project. That program got good results, but it was utterly unrepresentative of most day cares in the U.S. It was generously funded and staffed by college graduates. Teachers read aloud to the children, responded to their questions, and encouraged their abilities. According to a 2006 survey by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, only 9 percent of American pre-schools were rated very high quality.

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The second link ABC provided also references the small, unrepresentative Abecedarian program, but this paper, far from agreeing that the benefits of day care are documented, notes that the matter is strongly contested.

Not only are high-quality day cares rare, there is abundant data that day care can be harmful in large doses, especially for very young children, and particularly for boys. A Tennessee study found that kids enrolled in pre-K seemed at first to perform well on cognitive tests but fell behind their peers by third grade. You have school systems that are pushing pre-K when they have demonstrably failing K-12 systems, Dale Farran, one of the studys authors told FiveThirtyEight. It makes me cringe.

The sort of program Senator Warren envisions has already been implemented  in the Canadian province of Quebec. Universal pre-school for just $5 (later $7) a day was introduced in 1997. The number of families placing their children in care increased by 33 percent. But a follow-up study in 2015 found that boys in day care showed more hyperactivity and aggression, while girls showed more separation anxiety. Quebecs teenagers who had benefitted from the program were less happy with life in general than those from other provinces, and Quebec experienced a sharp increase in criminal behavior among those who had been in care.

Among the many cautionary notes to arise from the Canadian experience was the effect that universal pre-school had on parents. As the Atlantic reported last year, in How Universal Child Care Affects Boys vs. Girls, a 2015 study found that girls with access to universal child care . . . . experienced fewer positive interactions with their own parents. In particular, the parents of such girls were two times less likely to spend time reading to, laughing with, or doing special activities like going to the library with their child.

There is a relentless push to move children and even babies into the arms of the educational establishment even as there is nearly universal agreement that our schools leave much to be desired. Who has confidence that Senator Warrens scheme would produce quality care at a reasonable price? And who doesnt worry about the three-year-olds pushed too soon from the nest?

 2018 Creators.com

More from National Review
Philip Hammond will welcome the latest borrowing figures. Photo: Andy Buchanan/PA Wire/PA Images

UK government borrowing has fallen to its lowest level since 2001, with the highest budget surplus since records began as income tax receipts soared last month.

The latest figures will be welcomed by Conservative chancellor Philip Hammond, with economists agreed it gives him headroom to stimulate the economy in his pre-Brexit budget statement next month.

But a separate report out today suggests the UK may have paid a heavy price for government spending cuts, not only in human terms as frontline services reach breaking point but also in economic terms.

Higher tax income boosts the public finances

Official figures show the British government has borrowed 21.2bn ($27.6bn) in the tax year so far up to January, the lowest amount needed in 17 years to cover the gap between its spending and its income.

Last month the government received 14.9bn more in tax and other income than it spent, the highest January budget surplus since records began in 1993, and larger than predicted by many economists.

READ MORE: No-deal Brexit could wipe 9.3% off GDP growth

January typically sees better-than-average figures, as self-assessed income tax and capital gains tax payments flood in before the annual deadline.

Government income from VAT and corporation tax also reached record January highs of 21.4bn this year, according to the Office for National Statistics figures released today.

The cost of spending cuts

Austerity has been widely blamed for rising foodbank use. Photo: Andy Buchanan/PA Wire/PA Images

Lower borrowing levels also reflect nearly a decade of austerity since the Conservatives first came to power, with public spending now more than 40bn lower than in 2009-10.

A new analysis of official figures by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) suggests nine years of austerity has driven down British GDP, suppressing growth by 100bn in the past year alone.

READ MORE: IMF says no-deal Brexit could increase government spending

Alfie Stirling, head of economics at the NEF, said: What [todays figures] dont show is the economic damage it has caused to get here.

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Whether rising homelessness, frozen benefit payments, overcrowded school classes or excessively long waits in hospital A&E services, the starved ambition and resources of our public realm have touched the lives of almost everyone.

The borrowing figures may add to political pressure on the chancellor to reverse some spending cuts, particularly after prime minister Theresa May promised last year to end austerity.

Room for manoeuvre as Brexit looms

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said keeping spending merely at current levels, rather than continuing with planned cuts, would need the Chancellor to find another 19bn in higher growth or substantial tax rises.

Most economists welcomed todays figures in the context of huge economic uncertainty as Brexit looms.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC, said: So far the public finances seem to have been largely immune to the adverse effects of Brexit-related uncertainty, because this has mostly affected business investment.

He said the numbers gave the chancellor room for manoeuvre in his Spring Statement to stimulate the UK economy as Brexit looms on 29 March.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon, said strong growth in income tax and VAT suggested the economy probably hasnt lost as much momentum as many gloomy business surveys implied.
By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and North Korea will seek a common understanding of what denuclearization means when President Donald Trump presses Kim Jong Un next week to give up all of the North's nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Trump and Kim are set to meet in Vietnam for their second summit in an effort to thaw relations between the former foes and reduce one of the world's biggest nuclear threats. U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for the meeting, and Trump has made clear he does not expect it to be his last with Kim, a dictator he once derided as "little rocket man" but now considers a partner with whom he can work. Critics have said Trump gave Kim too much simply by meeting with him in Singapore last year. That criticism may be levied again for the Vietnam summit. But the U.S. officials said the United States remained focused on getting the North Korean leader to denuclearize, even if he had not made that decision himself so far. "I don't know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearize, but the reason why we're engaged in this is because we believe there is a possibility," one official said. The two sides have not agreed previously on what denuclearization means. Kim agreed in Singapore to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, which could be taken to include removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea and nuclear-capable forces, while the United States has been demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs. It is ultimately about the denuclearization of North Korea. That was what was agreed between the two sides and that is the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit. This is an important step towards that ultimate goal," the official said. He said the United States would press for a freeze on all weapons of mass destruction and missile programs and a "roadmap" to set expectations for negotiations. The two sides are not discussing the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea, however. The United States keeps some 28,500 troops in South Korea. Asked whether Trump was open to withdrawing all U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula for a peace treaty that would formally end the war, a second official said that was "not the subject of discussions." The officials noted that punishing U.S. sanctions would remain in place to give North Korea an incentive to move. Trump's national security adviser John Bolton is traveling to South Korea for consultations with South Korean officials ahead of the Hanoi summit, a senior White House official said. U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun is already there, negotiating with North Korean officials ahead of the summit. The two sides are seeking to build the goals outlined in a joint statement from the Singapore meeting to recast relations between the United States and North Korea, establish peace on the peninsula, denuclearize, and return the remains of those missing or killed in action during the Korean War. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Susan Heavey; Editing by James Dalgleish)
By Nelson Renteria

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The United States and three Central American nations on Wednesday announced an effort to combat trafficking of people to the U.S.-Mexico border, days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, citing large-scale unlawful immigration.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen called immigration from the region a "humanitarian crisis" and said the regional security plan with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras would secure the border and improve conditions in the countries.

The total number of people apprehended crossing illegally into the United States from the southwestern border is sharply down from a decade ago, but more families from Central America, citing poverty and violence, are making the journey, many seeking asylum.

Trump last week declared the situation at the border a "national emergency" to free up billions of dollars to fund a border wall, a decision that has been challenged in a lawsuit by 16 U.S. states and another by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a statement, El Salvador's government said the new initiative was aimed at attacking the finances, logistics and communication platforms of people-trafficking networks.

The three Central American countries will seek to harmonize their legislation for tackling such groups and other criminal gangs, the statement said. Along with the United States, the three countries will increase the use of intelligence-sharing technology.

It was not immediately clear if the United States would provide additional funding for the new effort.

Not all migrants heading north from Central America pay people smugglers to help them cross perilous, drug cartel-controlled territory in Mexico or to ensure their passage across the heavily patrolled U.S.-Mexican border.

Thousands of Central Americans have banded together in so-called caravans this year as a form of protection against the perils that typically stalk migrants headed to the U.S. border.

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"Today I ask everyone to show leadership to stop the formation of the caravans that have brought crime, violence and instability to the region," Nielsen said.

While some caravans have been encouraged by activists, others emerged spontaneously, as news spread through neighbourhoods about groups forming to head to Mexico and onward to the United States.

Fuelled by attention from Trump, the caravans have attracted widespread media coverage. The number of people travelling in them, however, is a fraction of the total number of migrants who head for the U.S. border.

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Delphine Schrank; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Peter Cooney)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call on Thursday to carry out the U.S. military withdrawal from Syria in line with their mutual interests, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said. In December, Trump confounded his own national security team with a surprise decision to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring that Islamic State had been defeated there. Erdogan previously said that uncertainty remained over the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, adding there was talk of the pullout taking place in April or May. During their phone call, Erdogan and Trump agreed that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria should not damage the mutual goals of Ankara and Washington, Anadolu said. Turkey wants to set up a safe zone with logistical support from allies and says it should be cleared of the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist organization linked with Kurdish militants on its own soil. Erdogan and Trump also discussed bilateral relations and the latest developments in Syria, Anadolu said, adding that the two agreed to support a political resolution to the Syria conflict. Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey's desire to maintain close ties with the United States in the phone call and the two leaders agreed to improve bilateral economic ties, Anadolu said. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
Istanbul (AFP) - Two Turkish ships will begin drilling in search of oil and gas off Cyprus "in the coming days", Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday, in a move likely to stoke tensions on the divided island.

The discovery of gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean has prompted claims by the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government and Ankara, which backs a breakaway Turkish Cypriot administration in the north of the island.

"We will start drilling operations off Cyprus, with two ships, in the coming days," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.

European Union-member Cyprus has been pressing to develop offshore gas deposits and has signed deals with energy giants Eni, Total and ExxonMobil that have seen them carry out exploratory drilling.

Ankara claims that such exploration deprives the Turkish Cypriot minority of benefiting from the natural resources that surround the island.

Analysts fear there is a risk that the tensions over the resources could escalate into a major standoff.

"We will not stop searching for hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean simply because the Greek Cypriots do not want it," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

"We will continue our exploration operations."

In February 2018 a drillship for Italy's Eni abandoned an attempt to search for gas off Cyprus after it was blocked by Turkish warships.

Turkey has had thousands of troops stationed in the northern third of the island since invading in 1974 in response to a Greek military junta-sponsored coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.

The northern part of the island was declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is only recognised by Ankara. UN-sponsored efforts to reunify the island have failed.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that he would prevail over a multistate lawsuit challenging his emergency declaration to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he expected to do "very well" against the suit, adding that he had an "absolute right" to make the declaration.

"I think in the end we're going to be very successful with the lawsuit," Trump said. "I actually think we might do very well, even in the 9th Circuit, because it's an open and closed case."

A group of 16 states, including California, New York and Colorado, filed a lawsuit Monday against Trump's emergency declaration. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges Trump's declaration is unconstitutional.

All the states involved in the lawsuit have Democratic attorneys general.

Using a broad interpretation of his executive powers, Trump declared an emergency last week to obtain wall funding beyond the $1.4 billion Congress approved for border security. The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

Trump's use of the emergency declaration has drawn bipartisan criticism and is already facing a number of legal challenges. Another suit was filed Tuesday in the Northern District of California by the American Civil Liberties Union. Filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, it says there is no emergency to justify the president's action and accuses Trump and other members of his administration of violating Constitutional limits on their authority.

Democrats are also planning to introduce a resolution disapproving of the declaration once Congress returns to session and it is likely to pass both chambers. Several Republican senators are already indicating they would vote against Trump  though there do not yet appear to be enough votes to override a veto by the president.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, would not explicitly say Tuesday whether she would support a resolution of disapproval if one came before the Senate. But she made clear she was worried about the precedent that could be set by Trump going around Congress to fund the wall.

"I'll be very direct. I don't like this. I don't like this. I think it takes us down a road, and with a precedent, that if it's allowed, that we may come to regret," said Murkowski, who said she supports efforts to bolster security at the border but is concerned about an erosion of checks and balances.

A top White House adviser said Sunday that Trump was prepared to issue his first veto if Congress votes to disapprove his declaration of a national emergency. Stephen Miller told "Fox News Sunday" that "the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration."

Trump argued Tuesday that the wall was needed to "stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking." He has repeatedly sought to paint a dire picture of conditions at the border, though illegal border crossings are down from a high of 1.6 million in 2000.

After weeks spent battling with Congress over border funding and what constituted a wall versus a fence, Trump said, "I can call it a barrier, but I think I don't have to do that so much anymore, we'll call it whatever we want."

Democrats quickly seized on the move as an example of executive overreach. The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a press release Tuesday that stated: "No one is above the law. Republicans must join Democrats to uphold the Constitution and stand with the American people  against the President's brazen assault."

Earlier Tuesday, Trump singled out California for its lead role in the suit, seeking to link the state's high-speed rail project to his plan for the wall.

On Twitter, Trump claimed the "failed Fast Train project" was beset by "world record setting" cost overruns and had become "hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!"

The estimated cost for a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles train has more than doubled to $77 billion. That's about 13 times the $5.7 billion Trump sought unsuccessfully from Congress to build the wall.

Hours later, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it planned to cancel $929 million in federal money allocated to California's rail project and seek to claw back $2.5 billion the state has already spent.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom charged it was a reaction to the lawsuit and pledged a fight to keep the money.

"It's no coincidence that the Administration's threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the President's farcical 'national emergency,'" Newsom said in a statement. "This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won't sit idly by."

The spat over the rail project comes after Newsom said last week the project "as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long." He said the state would focus on completing a shorter segment in the state's Central Valley while seeking new funding sources for the longer route.

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Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Calif., contributed.

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This story corrects that the 16-state lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, not the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump will have a one-on-one meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong during their summit in Vietnam next week, a US official said Thursday.

The two leaders, who met for the first time in Singapore last June, are due to hold talks in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on February 27-28.

Trump is seeking to persuade the North Korean leader to abandon his nuclear arsenal.

A US officials said next week's meeting would be "similar in format to what we saw last June in Singapore... there will be an opportunity for the two leaders to see one another one-on-one" before holding meetings with their respective teams.

Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy to Pyongyang, is already in Hanoi holding talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol.

US officials have declined to speculate on what elements might be included in a joint statement at the end of the meeting.

On Wednesday, Trump again praised his relationship with the North Korean leader but said he would have to make a "meaningful" gesture on the nuclear front if he wants to see sanctions lifted.
Donald Trump has called on American companies to become leaders around the world in "5G, even 6G" technology in a series of tweets.

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible, the president tweeted on Thursday morning. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind.

There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future, he continued. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!"

The president's tweets arrived as Finland is scheduled to take part in the largest mobile event in the world next week. The rest of the global economy has only just begun to adapt to the idea of implementing 5G technology, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

In a statement, Finlands Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner said, Finland plans to be a forerunner as a user and developer of 5G technology. Our Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, has created a 5G ecosystem that will accelerate the development of new innovations and services through collaboration with other 5G experiments.

Still, the 6G technology Mr Trump is tweeting about is not due until at least 2030, according to Network World.

The trade magazine spoke to Ari Pouttu, professor for Dependable Wireless at the University of Oulu in Finland, who said "6G will emerge around 2030 to satisfy the expectation not met with 5G" and "will eventually offer terabits per second." The technology remains in the very beginning stages of research and development.

The Academy of Finland, which is funded by the Finish government, has reportedly dedicated $290m (221m) towards a new programme called 6Genesis, which will conduct developmental efforts towards 6G capabilities.

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Finland is the perfect environment for 5G trials, because our pro-trialing legislation and flexible regulation encourages trialing of new technologies and innovations, Ms Berner continued. The ecosystem has already almost seventy different member entities that include for example cities, ports, aviation and research centres.

It's unclear whether the White House plans to announce new measures towards 5G or even 6G developmental research. A request for comment was not immediately returned.

While the 5G standard has been set and networks are slated to continue rolling out in the coming years, what impact the advancements may have on the US and global economies, workplaces and more remains to be seen. Study groups spearheading research into the future technologies are currently exploring products and capabilities that do not yet exist, PC Magazine reported last year.

The tweets were just a pair of social media posts the president published on Thursday. Mr Trump also  once again  shared a video of barrier construction along the US-Mexico border in New Mexico.

THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW! he wrote.
The Trump administration has been blocked from systematically breaking up migrant families, but hundreds of children crossing the border continue to be separated from their parents in a process requiring none of the oversight used to remove children in the United States from their homes, according to a USA TODAY review of the system.

Separating a child from a family in most communities requires a child welfare specialist and involvement of the judicial system, often with a judge scrutinizing the case for months or even years.

At the border, the decision is made solely by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the field. No child welfare specialist is required, and no judge is involved in a decision that cannot be appealed.

Rebekah Fletcher, a supervising attorney at Kids in Need of Defense, a group that provides lawyers to migrant children in U.S. courts, says the removal of a child from a family in the U.S. is, by design, a difficult, multi-layered process involving people from multiple branches of government. But not so for children at the border.

To put those similar types of determinations solely in CBPs hands  the room for error and the room for misinterpretation is dangerously high, she said.

Even the border protection agency characterizes its family separation process as "brief and expeditious in nature," according to a statement provided to USA TODAY.

President Donald Trump and U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw both ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop separating migrant families as a systemic practice in June.

There is an exception, however: When a parent presents a danger to a child.

What constitutes a "danger" is not clearly defined, but it can include obvious cases of abuse, where the child is covered in bruises, and harder-to-detect cases, where immigration agents believe a child is in peril.

In the seven months after Trump and Sabraw issued their orders, Homeland Security separated at least 245 children from their parents in part by using the danger exception, according to a Department of Justice estimate filed in court on Wednesday. Immigration attorneys believe the number is far higher, with the Texas Civil Rights Project releasing a report on Thursday that found 272 separations in that time period in the McAllen, Texas, area alone.

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A Border Patrol agent speaks with Central American immigrants after they crossed the border from Mexico on on Feb. 1, 2019, in El Paso, Texas.

Immigration attorneys and family law experts say the process used to separate children, most commonly carried out by Customs and Border Protection agents, has been shrouded in mystery, provides no due process for the parents and is vulnerable to abuse or mistakes.

The agency defended its family separation process as one that balances the desire to "maintain family unity to the greatest extent operationally feasible" with strong protections for children who may be in danger.

"When handling children it is a practice to always err on the side of caution and to act in the best interest of the child," a statement from the agency said. "The moment of suspicion that a threat to a child exists, it becomes an inquiry and potentially an investigation into the welfare of that child."

More: Democrats grill Trump administration officials over family separation policy on the border

More: Watchdog: Thousands more migrant children may have been separated at border than previously reported

'An end run' around the courts?

Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike expressed shock over the process during a committee hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month. The separation process will be further scrutinized in a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The ACLU briefly raised the question in federal court on Thursday, when lawyers appeared before Sabraw as he continues to monitor the reunification of more than 2,800 children separated under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. But lawyers spent the majority of that hearing debating whether the government should be required to identify potentially thousands of other families that were separated before the "zero tolerance" policy was officially announced.

Sabraw has allowed the government to continue separating more families under the exception to ensure that migrant children are not being trafficked or abused.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said the most recent separation cases have shown that the government may be abusing that exception.

"The government appears to be doing an end run around the court order by unilaterally declaring parents a danger and failing to give parents the ability to rebut that charge," Gelernt said.

When a migrant family crosses the border, either legally at a port of entry or illegally between ports, an immigration agent processes the case. That includes taking down basic information  names, birth dates, country of origin, whether families are applying for asylum or other forms of protection.

The family members are given a medical check and entered into various databases to determine if they have immigration violations or criminal backgrounds, Customs and Border Protection said. The immigration agent also tries to verify the parent-child relationship to ensure the child isn't being trafficked by a smuggler posing as a parent.

All the while, the agent observes the family to gauge whether the parent poses a danger to the child. But no clear-cut definition of such danger exists to guide Border Patrol agents when making that determination. Complicating the decision are language barriers or children too young to offer information.

Agency officials said their decisions are based on multiple U.S. laws and regulations that govern the treatment of migrant children in government custody. None of those lays out a process for separating a migrant parent from his or her child.

Is child 'afraid of parent ... or Border Patrol?'

The separation process, which is being challenged in court, was explained to USA TODAY by a senior Border Patrol official who was authorized to speak only if his name was withheld.

The official said his agents can generally determine if a child has been abused based on the agents' experience as law enforcement officers and history of interviewing suspects. Agents don't receive any training on identifying child trauma. "We're not trained behavioral scientists," the official said.

But the Border Patrol official said agents' experience as a father or mother can help them make the determination. The official said agents can order an additional medical examination of the child to identify signs of injuries and can interview the parent and child separately to ensure that their stories line up.

"You size up people with their demeanor and you can tell if they're angry, if they're upset, if they had an altercation," he said. "There's a lot of non-verbals that stand out."

Throughout the U.S., that kind of analysis is usually done by child welfare experts who studied the field and are working for state or local child welfare agencies.

Vivek Sankaran, a clinical professor of law and director of the Child Advocacy Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, said identifying child trauma, and the cause of it, requires years of education and training.

"It is universal among mental health professionals that the idea of removing a child from a parent is one of the most traumatic things we as a society can do to the child," he said. "So you want somebody who has been very well-trained to make sure that we need to inflict (a separation) on the child."

Even a former Customs and Border Protection commissioner questioned whether agents should be conducting the child welfare investigations alone.

Gil Kerlikowske, who headed the agency in the Obama administration, said in an interview that migrants are being screened at one of the most stressful moments of their lives, having just completed an exhausting journey across Mexico during which they are frequently victims of robberies, kidnappings and sexual assaults.

Kerlikowske said agents are operating without information that is available in normal child abuse investigations, including a list of official visits to the home and interviews with neighbors and relatives.

"How do you determine whether the child is afraid of the parent, or afraid of the Border Patrol agent in the green uniform?" he asked.

Criminal history matters, but what crimes?

Another factor contributing to the evaluation is a parent's criminal history, either in the U.S. or in their home country. The U.S. government shares criminal databases with Central American countries and can identify whether there are warrants out for their arrest.

But the border protection agency did not specify what kinds of crimes it's researching.

Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Womens Refugee Commission, said she has seen cases where a parent is found to be a danger over immigration violations or minor criminal convictions that do not indicate whether the parent may abuse the child.

"There's a lot of people (in the U.S.) with all sorts of convictions and it doesn't even trigger a child protective services investigation," Brane said. "If you have a shoplifting conviction, or didn't pay child support, or you stole a car, does that really put the child at risk?"

The border agency says officers are allowed to get assistance from child welfare specialists from local and state agencies, but that is not a requirement, and the agency does not track how often such requests are made.

The final decision to separate a family is made by the front-line officer with approval from a supervisor. The decision is final and cannot be reviewed by a judge.

Once the decision to separate is made, the child is sent to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, which takes custody of the child and starts searching for a suitable sponsor in the U.S.

Customs and Border Protection says its agents are required to flag the separation in each case file and provide a reason for the separation, but HHS officials and immigration attorneys say agents regularly fail to so do so.

HHS spokesman Mark Weber said caseworkers ask all incoming children about their parents to make sure separated children are properly identified.

Fletcher, supervising attorney for Kids in Need of Defense, said the group gets the full picture of a child's separation only after filing a federal Freedom of Information Act request, which can take weeks or months to come back.

Bipartisan support for improving the process

Though it has been difficult for any kind of immigration bill to pass Congress in recent years, Democrats and Republicans alike are starting to look into ways to improve the family separation process.

In the congressional hearing this month, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said that there need to be clear guidelines to separate a family and that child welfare professionals need to be involved. Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., agreed.

"We don't have a terrific system, we don't have standards, we don't have procedures," Brooks said. "What should we be doing?"

Suggestions are plentiful. Cristina Muniz de la Pena, a mental health expert who testified before the committee, said the guidelines and practices that should be imposed on Homeland Security already exist in child welfare agencies around the country.

"We could adapt those guidelines in the immigration context and bring those professionals to really counsel the people on the ground," she said.

Kerlikowske, the former border protection commissioner, said the agency could hire a dozen child welfare experts in the four border states who could be on call and required to step in to evaluate any migrant parent suspected of abusing a child.

Sankaran, the University of Michigan Law School professor, suggested taking things a step further: Place all migrant families where abuse is suspected directly into the state juvenile court system.

Anything short of that, Sankaram said, would only tinker with a Homeland Security process that is fatally flawed and prolong the anguish of family separations that should have been put to rest last summer.

"None of us would tolerate this process for our own families," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Despite ban, separating migrant families at the border continues in some cases
By David Shepardson and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has formally ended talks with California over federal plans to roll back fuel economy rules, the White House said on Thursday, setting the stage for what could be a lengthy legal fight over the state's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. California could be joined in any court fight by 12 other states that have adopted its standards and want stricter rules to fight climate change. Several other states have also demanded the administration abandon its August proposal to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards after 2020 and take away California's ability to impose stricter emissions rules. The administration has said tighter emissions controls would make automobiles too expensive. "The administration is moving forward to finalize a rule later this year with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner and more affordable vehicles," the White House said in a statement. California has been allowed to set state standards that are stricter than federal rules under an exemption granted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The administration wants to revoke that waiver, saying California should not "dictate" policy for the rest of the country and arguing that another law pre-empts California from setting its own vehicle rules. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the administration's decision to scrap the talks was a sign of its "weakness and fallibility." "California and states throughout America are prepared to defend our national Clean Car standards even if the Trump administration intends to go AWOL," he said in an email statement. California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said the end of negotiations was "unfortunate." General Motors said it was "disappointed" that the talks ended. GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles generate most of their global profits from U.S. sales of large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. All three have discontinued or plan to drop small and medium-sized sedans from their lineups, making it harder for their fleets to meet tighter emissions standards. "We continue to prioritize the need for one national program and remain hopeful that the parties can find a solution to achieve this goal," GM said, adding that it was committed to "an all-electric future." Ford said that it wanted "regulatory certainty, not protracted litigation." "A coordinated program with every stakeholder is in the best interest of Fords customers, and is the best path forward to achieve reductions in carbon dioxide emissions," Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of global operations, said in a statement. An administration official familiar with the negotiations said California had failed to compromise. Instead, the official said, the state insisted on sticking with tougher Obama-era mandates and it would offer only a short extension in applying them. The official also said California "demanded" that the federal government "surrender" authority to set emissions and economy standards for the rest of the country. Trump escalated his administration's power struggle with California on Tuesday, when the administration canceled $929 million in federal funds for a California high-speed rail project. The state's governor said the move was in retaliation for California leading a 16-state coalition challenging Trump's national emergency to obtain funds for building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Obama-era rules would require automakers roughly to double average fuel efficiency by 2025, sharply reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, which is linked to climate change. It was one of that administrations most significant climate policy actions. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, one of 13 states that had adopted California's standards, said he was "deeply disappointed" by failure of the talks. "Repeatedly, I have urged this administration to strike a deal with the State of California and seize the win-win opportunity to keep the American auto industry globally competitive and create more good paying jobs here at home while protecting our environment," he said in a statement. (Reporting by Ben Klayman, Joe White, Valerie Volcovici, David Shepardson, Susan Heavey and Chris Sanders; Writing by Diane Bartz and Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)
Senior Trump administration officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia over the objections of ethics officials, according to a congressional report, in a move that could have benefitted a company which has since provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner.

Citing whistleblowers within the US government, the report by the Democrat-led House oversight and reform committee alleges abnormal acts in the White House regarding the proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the kingdom.

The committee on Tuesday opened an investigation into the allegations, which include concerns over whether White House officials in the early months of the Trump administration sought to work around national security procedures to push a Saudi deal that could have financially benefited close supporters of the US president.

According to the report, the nuclear effort was pushed by former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in early 2017 and is awaiting sentencing for lying to the FBI in the Russia investigation.

Derek Harvey, a National Security Council official brought in by Flynn, continued work on the proposal, which has remained under consideration by the Trump administration.

Relying on the whistleblower accounts, email communications and other documents, the committees report details how National Security Council and ethics officials repeatedly warned the actions of Flynn and a senior aide could run afoul of federal conflicts of interest law and statutes governing the transfer of nuclear technology to foreign powers.

The report also notes one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from such a deal includes Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a company which struck a deal in August to rescue the Kushner familys 666 Fifth Avenue tower in Manhattan from massive debts.

Detailing the White Houses continued efforts to promote the deal, the report highlights how in May, energy secretary Rick Perry told a congressional committee he tried to really drive home to Saudi Arabia how you have to use Westinghouse for the best reactors in the world.

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It also notes Mr Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and adviser, allegedly remains directly involved with those efforts, and that he would be travelling to Saudi Arabia in late February to share elements of the economic plan of a US peace proposal in the Middle East.

The White House and Mr Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The report comes at a time when lawmakers are increasingly uneasy with the close relationship between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia, which has raised alarms even among members of the presidents party in Congress.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the US technology were transferred without proper safeguards.

Mr Trump has made the kingdom a centrepiece of his foreign policy in the Middle East as he tries to further isolate Iran. In the process, he has brushed off criticism over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudis role in the war in Yemen.

Congressional investigators are also probing the role of Tom Barrack, a proponent of the nuclear proposal who ran Trumps presidential inaugural committee, which is under separate investigation by federal prosecutors in New York. Rick Gates, a former Barrack employee and cooperator in Mr Muellers investigation, was also involved in advocating for the nuclear proposal.

A spokesman for Mr Barrack said in a statement he will cooperate with the House probe.

Mr Barracks engagement in investment and business development throughout the Middle East for the purpose of better aligned Middle East and US objectives are well known, as are his more than four decades of respected relationships throughout the region, the statement said, noting that Mr Barrack never joined the Trump administration.

Mr Harvey did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to the report, the whistleblowers came to the committee because they had concerns about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law  efforts that may be ongoing to this day.

A 2017 article by the nonprofit news outlet ProPublica detailed some of the concerns raised inside the National Security Council about the nuclear proposal  known as the Marshall Plan for the Middle East  advocated by a company called IP3 International.

IP3 is led by a group of retired US military officers and national security officials, including retired rear admiral Michael Hewitt, retired Army general Jack Keane and former Reagan national security adviser Bud McFarlane.

IP3 and other proponents of nuclear power in the Middle East argue the US needs to be involved because otherwise it will lose out to Russia, China and others on billions of dollars in business. They also say that US involvement - and the limits on nuclear fuel that come with it - are essential to stem an arms race in the region.

The only way to address concerns over development of weapons of mass destruction is for the US to participate in the introduction and secure operation of international nuclear power plants, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. It also said it looks forward to sharing what we know with the House committee.

Up until the month before he joined the Trump administration, Flynn listed himself on public documents as an adviser to an iteration of Mr Hewitts company advocating for the nuclear power proposal.

Last year, IP3 told the Washington Post that Flynn was offered a role in the company but never formally came aboard. On Tuesday, the company said Flynn was never an advisor to IP3 or its affiliate, he had no stake in the company and was never compensated or reimbursed for expenses by IP3.

Still, according to the report, Flynn served as a conduit for IP3 inside the White House.

Just days after Mr Trumps inauguration, the company sent Flynn a draft memo for the presidents signature that would have appointed Mr Barrack as a special representative in charge of carrying out the nuclear power proposal and called on the director of the CIA and the secretaries of state, energy, treasury and defense to lend him support.

The report also quotes former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland as saying Mr Trump personally told Mr Barrack he could lead the plans implementation.

The report also catalogs the actions of Mr Harvey, the Flynn confidant who was put in charge of the NSCs Middle East and North African affairs.

According to the report, upon entering the White House in January 2017, Mr Harvey saw his mission as getting Mr Trump to adopt the nuclear proposal despite the objections of ethics and national security officials.

Even when HR McMaster, who replaced Flynn as national security adviser, and NSC lawyer John Eisenberg directed that work stop on the proposal because of concerns about its legality, Mr Harvey continued pursuing the proposal, according to the report.

Mr Harvey was fired from the NSC in July 2017. He then joined the staff of Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California, a Trump ally and the former Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee.

Additional reporting by AP
By Rodi Said NEAR BAGHOUZ, Syria (Reuters) - Air strikes targeted Islamic State's last pocket in eastern Syria late on Tuesday as U.S.-backed fighters pressed for a victory that would bring the jihadists' self-proclaimed caliphate to its bloody end. Dozens of trucks earlier headed toward Baghouz, a village on the banks of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border where hundreds of Islamic State militants were making their last stand. They were going to evacuate the remaining civilians, a source in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia said, a crucial step toward taking control of the area. But by nightfall the trucks had not departed, and reporters there witnessed two air strikes against the jihadists. Islamic State's defeat in Baghouz would herald the final collapse of a project declared in 2014, when their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood in a Mosul pulpit to declare himself caliph, claiming sovereignty over all Muslim people and land. Nearly five years later, that dream has been crushed by separate military campaigns in Iraq and Syria that, though backed by foreign powers, have been fought mainly by local, mostly Muslim, forces. Though Islamic State (IS) fighters still hold out in a patch of desert in central Syria, and have staged guerrilla attacks in areas they have lost in both countries, their territorial state there is finished. HIDING AMONG CIVILIANS As in other places they have defended in the Middle East, the jihadists in Baghouz have sheltered among civilians to escape the worst of intense U.S.-led air strikes that razed much of their former strongholds of Mosul and Raqqa. The SDF, which has taken the quarter of Syria's territory east of the Euphrates from Islamic State since 2015, has said isolating civilians there from the remaining jihadists is vital. The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said earlier on Tuesday that some 200 families remained trapped and called for their safe passage out. U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters traveling with him in Syria on Monday that the SDF was moving cautiously. "Theyve got a lot of civilians in there, they hold some Syrian Democratic Force prisoners and they are using them as human shields," Votel said of Islamic State. Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of foreign relations in the region held by the SDF, said the SDF had captured around 800 foreign Islamic State insurgents. Around 700 of their wives and 1,500 of their children were also in camps in Syria, with dozens more fighters and relatives arriving each day. The jihadists lost most of their territory in 2017 in both Iraq and Syria to separate military campaigns by the SDF and the Iraqi and Syrian governments. However, Islamic State has carried out attacks in areas it controls and numerous Western and Middle East officials have said it still poses a threat. It has stepped up guerrilla attacks against the SDF, the militia said on Tuesday, with sleeper cells moving "on a daily basis", the militia's spokesman said. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mehdi said on Tuesday Iraq was carefully monitoring the situation across the border amid concern that fleeing IS militants could slip across it. "We are concerned because most of the remaining fighters there are Iraqi, and that they could try and infiltrate (Iraq)," he told his weekly news conference. Some Western officials believe IS leader al-Baghdadi may still be hiding in Iraq. (Reporting by Rodi Said with additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Raya Jalabi; Writing by Tom Perry and Angus McDowall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Passengers check in for flights at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Pearson International Airport is Canadas largest and busiest airport. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A record-breaking number of tourists are flocking to Canada.

New data from crown corporation Destination Canada show more than 21 million travelers visited Canada in 2018  the second consecutive record-breaking year.

The data also show tourism creates 745,300 jobs and contributes $102.5 billion to the economy.

The results released today once again demonstrate that tourism is a key part of the Canadian economy, says Melanie Joly, Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie.

Canadas tourism sector creates good jobs and supports middle-class families in every region of the country.

Joly says her government is developing a new tourism strategy to help the sector reach its full potential.

(Destination Canada)

A key highlight is overnight arrivals from countries other than the U.S. reached an all-time high of 6.7 million  or 32 per cent. Overseas tourists typically stay longer and provide a bigger boost to the economy by spending more money.

Destination Canada says factors that led to another record-breaking year include marketing efforts, new flight routes, and visa changes. Additional visa application centres in China led to a 6 per cent jump to a record-breaking 737,379 tourists coming to Canada.

France and Mexico also set new records with 604,166 and 404,402 respectively.

Americans came to Canada in droves too. Around 14 million visited in December alone  the most since 2004.

Japan and South Korea were outliers with 15 per cent and 16 per cent declines respectively in 2018. Destination Canada blamed economic uncertainty in the two countries.

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Paris (AFP) - A tiny cousin of T-rex discovered in the United States could provide a key missing link in understanding how the apex predators evolved to top the food chain, scientists who unearthed the dinky dinosaur said Thursday.

The Moros intrepidus, standing just three feet (one metre) high at the hip and weighing as much as an adult human, roamed the plains of modern-day Utah around 96 million years ago, making it the earliest member of the Tyrannosaur family yet identified on the North American continent.

The team behind the discovery believes the new dinosaur -- whose name means "harbinger of doom" -- offers clues as to how its more famous cousin reached its epic size.

"Early in their evolution, Tyrannosaurs hunted in the shadows of (dinosaurs) such as Allosaurs that were already established at the top of the food chain," said Lindsay Zanno, paleontologist at North Carolina State University and lead author of the study detailing the findings.

By the time of the Cretaceous period -- around 80 million years ago -- Tyrannosaurs had evolved into the enormous, iconic predators so well known today.

But the discovery of Moros intrepidus shows they achieved such size and dominance in a relatively short time-scale of roughly 15 million years.

"When and how quickly Tyrannosaurs went from wallflower to prom king has been vexing paleontologists for a long time," said Zanno.

"Moros is key to understanding how quickly Tyrannosaurs ascended from minor players in the ecosystem to top of the food chain," she told AFP.

The specimen found by Zanno and the team would have weighed a shade less than 80 kilogrammes (175 pounds), making it extremely nimble.

"We know that Moros was lightning fast and likely hunted on smaller prey," she said.

"Although the earliest Cretaceous Tyrannosaurs were small, their predatory specialisations meant that they were primed to take advantage of new opportunities when warming temperatures, rising sea-level and shrinking ranges restructured ecosystems."

The study was published in the journal Communications Biology.
By Elizabeth Piper, William James and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Three lawmakers from Britain's governing Conservatives quit over the government's "disastrous handling of Brexit" on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union. The lawmakers, who support a second EU referendum and have long said May's Brexit strategy is being led by Conservative eurosceptics, said they would join a new independent group in parliament set up by seven former opposition Labour politicians. The resignations put May in an even weaker position in parliament, where her Brexit deal was crushed by lawmakers last month when both eurosceptics and EU supporters voted against an agreement they say offers the worst of all worlds. While the three were almost certain to vote against any deal, the hardening of their positions undermines May's negotiating position in Brussels, where she heads later to try to secure an opening for further work on revising the agreement. With only 37 days until Britain leaves the EU, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit are redrawing the political landscape. The resignations threaten a decades-old two-party system. "The final straw for us has been this government's disastrous handling of Brexit," the three lawmakers, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, said in a letter to May. Soubry later told a news conference that the Conservative Party had been taken over by right-wing, pro-Brexit lawmakers. "The truth is, the battle is over and the other side has won. The right-wing, the hard-line anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every (Conservative) leader for the last 40 years are now running the ... party from top to toe," she said. May said she was saddened by the decision and that Britain's membership of the EU "has been a source of disagreement both in our party and in our country for a long time". "But by ... implementing the decision of the British people we are doing the right thing for our country," she said, referring to the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted by a margin of 52-48 percent in favor of leaving the EU. Asked what May would say to others considering resigning, her spokesman said: "She would, as she always has, ask for the support of her colleagues in delivering (Brexit)". INDEPENDENT GROUP The three sat in parliament on Wednesday with a new grouping which broke away from the Labour Party earlier this week over increasing frustration with their leader Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit strategy and a row over anti-Semitism. Another former Labour lawmaker joined their ranks late on Tuesday, and several politicians from both the main opposition party and Conservatives said they expected more to follow from both sides of parliament. What unites most of the group of 11 is a desire to see a second referendum on any deal May comes back with, now that the terms of Brexit are known in detail - something the prime minister has ruled out. For May's Brexit plan, the resignations are yet another knock to more than two years of talks to leave the EU, which have been punctuated by defeats in parliament, rows over policy and a confidence vote, which she ultimately won. Britain's 2016 EU referendum has split not only British towns and villages but also parliament, with both Conservative and Labour leaders struggling to keep their parties united. May has faced a difficult balancing act. Eurosceptic members of her party want a clean break with the bloc, pro-EU lawmakers argue for the closest possible ties, while many in the middle are increasing frustrated over the lack of movement. Those who have resigned have long accused May of leaning too far towards Brexit supporters, sticking to red lines which they, and many in Labour, say have made a comprehensive deal all but impossible to negotiate. But May will head to Brussels hoping that her team will get the green light to start more technical negotiations on how to satisfy the concerns of mostly Brexit supporters over the so-called Northern Irish backstop arrangement. The "backstop", an insurance policy to avoid a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland if London and Brussels fail to agree a deal on future ties, is the main point of contention in talks with Brussels. British officials are hoping they can secure the kind of legal assurances that the backstop cannot trap Britain in the EU's sphere to persuade lawmakers to back a revised deal. But May's argument she can command a majority in parliament if the EU hands her such assurances is getting weaker. A government defeat last week showed the eurosceptics' muscle. One pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker, Andrew Bridgen, said: "I would find it very difficult to accept a legal document from the same (party) lawyer whose definitive advice four weeks ago was that we could be trapped in the backstop in perpetuity." (Reporting by Kylie Maclellan, William James and Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Stephen Addison and Mark Heinrich)
By Jibran Ahmad and Abdul Qadir Sediqi PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan Taliban leaders said on Thursday that their new political chief will not be attending peace talks with U.S. envoys due to take place in Qatar next week. U.S. officials had been keen to negotiate with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, hoping the Taliban's co-founder and military veteran would add momentum and have the clout to discuss tough issues surrounding the end of America's longest war. But senior Taliban leaders said Baradar would not be traveling to Qatar, citing different reasons including problems obtaining travel documents as well difference among the leadership over his precise role in the talks. Baradar was released from a Pakistani jail in October and his appointment was widely seen as marking a new push by the Taliban to emerge from the political and diplomatic shadows. Baradar, who earlier led the insurgent groups military operations in southern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2010 by a team from Pakistan and U.S. intelligence agencies. A co-founder of the movement, he was a close friend of the reclusive late Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre, "Baradar" or "brother". "Actually Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar wanted to go to Qatar and personally head the peace talks but due to a host of reasons, he would not be able to travel to Qatar and participate in talks," one leader told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin said earlier this week that he was unable to say whether Baradar would be attending. JANUARY TALKS The last round of talks ended in Qatar in January with both the hardline Islamist movement and U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad hailing progress after a longer-than-expected six-day session. U.S. officials familiar with discussions said they were hoping to get more details over fresh assurances from the Taliban that they would not allow Afghanistan to be used by groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State to attack the United States and its allies - a key demand by Washington. The timing of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of foreign forces remain sticking points, while Washington is also pushing the Taliban to talk to the Afghan government. The movement has so far boycotted the government, saying it is a puppet of the United States - a position that has alarmed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Another Taliban official said they were not expecting breakthroughs in the coming talks, adding that they also wanted to discuss the exchange of prisoners and lifting bans on the movement of Taliban leaders. The Taliban side will continue to be headed by lead negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a figure who has been increasingly active diplomatically and who recently met Afghan opposition politicians in Moscow. The movement earlier announced that its team would meet U.S. negotiators this week in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, as well holding talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. The meetings did not take place for reasons that remain unclear. Staging near daily attacks against the Western-backed Afghan government and its security forces, the Taliban contest or control nearly half of Afghanistan and are widely seen as more powerful than at any time since being toppled from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The United States has nearly 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan defense and security forces as well as a separate counter-terrorism effort. (Additional reporting by Rupam Jain in Kabul; Writing by Greg Torode; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's ruling party unveiled its latest attempt to create Asia's first gay marriage law on Thursday, a bill offering same sex-couples "permanent unions" as well as limited adoption rights, despite stiff opposition from conservatives.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has had a stuttering and troubled journey towards delivering on their 2016 election promise to grant same-sex couples equal marriage rights.

In November, conservatives won a referendum against revising the island's Civil Code to allow gay marriage, in a blow to President Tsai Ing-wen's party and a stark illustration of the social divide caused by the issue.

The referendum came after Taiwan's Constitutional Court voted to legalise gay marriage in 2017 -- the first place in Asia to do so -- arguing that denying same-sex couples marriage rights was unconstitutional.

The court ordered the government to amend the law by May 24, 2019 but did not specify how it wanted gay marriage to be brought in.

The bill published Thursday by the cabinet is the Tsai administration's attempt to square that circle -- a new law that meets the court's demands while trying to respect the referendum result by not altering the Civil Code which currently defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The draft law released by the justice ministry proposes allowing "two persons of the same sex to create a permanent union of intimate and exclusive nature for the committed purpose of managing a life together to realise the equal protection of the freedom of marriage".

Gay couples will be allowed to adopt the biological children of their partner while both parties are financially responsible for each other and are entitled to inheritance rights.

The law is set to take effect on May 24 but needs to pass parliament, where the DPP holds a majority.

Taiwan is seen as one of the most progressive societies in Asia when it comes to gay rights, and it stages the biggest gay pride parade in Asia annually.

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Gay marriage rights receives high approval ratings among young people in particular.

But it also remains a staunchly conservative place with powerful religious lobbies, especially outside of urban areas and analysts say DPP underestimated how controversial their gay marriage proposals would be.

President Tsai openly supported the legalisation of gay marriage before she was elected but has since said there needs to be more consensus in society.

If the bill is passed it would be Asia's first gay marriage law. In December Thailand's junta rulers proposed a similar bill but it has yet to make it parliament in the kingdom that is currently in the midst of an election campaign.
Near Baghouz (Syria) (AFP) - A deadly car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group hit US-backed forces in eastern Syria on Thursday as they tried to negotiate the release of civilians trapped in the jihadists' last sliver of territory.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are working towards evacuating civilians remaining in the holdout, so they can finish off the dying IS "caliphate" either through an assault or a surrender deal.

The jihadists overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but several offensives have retaken all but half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) of their territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS said international forces "continue to support the SDF as they negotiate having innocent civilians released" and their captured fighters returned.

As the SDF pressed the last IS diehards, a car bomb killed 14 oil workers and six of the Kurdish-led alliance's conscripts near the Omar oil field that it uses as its main base in the region, the US-backed group and a monitor said.

IS claimed responsibility for the blast on Telegram, saying its fighters had planted and detonated the explosive-laden car.

SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said the explosion in the village of Shheel, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Baghouz, was another example of IS cells attacking its fighters behind the front line.

"This is what we've been talking about in the past... about sleeper cells trying to impede our progress in Baghouz," he said.

A day after hundreds of people were evacuated from the last IS remnant, more than 50 trucks on Thursday returned near empty from Baghouz to SDF territory, an AFP correspondent said.

"We couldn't enter Baghouz," said a man who had accompanied the convoy.

"We got to an SDF point and we found around 15 people -- women and children including a French woman and an Egyptian woman. We took them," he said.

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"The fighters asked us to go back tomorrow at 8 am."

- Hundreds evacuated -

Thousands of people have escaped IS territory in recent weeks, but the flow slowed to a trickle at the weekend, before Wednesday's first batch of evacuees.

Paul Bradley, from the Free Burma Rangers volunteer group, said people fleeing painted a grim picture of life inside.

"They showed us this bread that's basically mashed up wheat with water burnt on both sides, $16 a kilo," he said.

SDF spokesman Afrin said most of those trucked out on Wednesday were civilians, but they also included IS fighters.

On Thursday, the AFP reporter saw hundreds of people waiting in a screening area where the SDF have been questioning new arrivals in recent weeks, to separate out suspected jihadists from the civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Wednesday that negotiations were being held "for the surrender of the last IS fighters".

It said there were "reports of a deal" but the details were unclear.

- French jihadist 'killed' -

At the height of its rule, IS imposed its brutal ideology on a territory roughly the size of the United Kingdom, attracting thousands of supporters from abroad.

But the jihadists have since lost almost all their territory, and hundreds of foreigners suspected of being IS fighters, as well as related women and children, are being held by the SDF.

Other foreign members have been killed.

A top French jihadist, who voiced an audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 attacks in Paris, was killed in an overnight airstrike, security sources told AFP on Thursday.

Fabien Clain, who is believed to have gone to Syria in March 2015, was killed in Baghouz, they said.

Across the border, security officials in Iraq said the SDF handed over 130 Iraqi jihadists to Baghdad on Thursday, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali denied the claim.

Syria's Kurds have long demanded the repatriation of foreigners accused of belonging to IS in their custody, but their home countries have been reluctant.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was barring a US-born former IS propagandist from returning home from Syria, where the conflict has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since 2011.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the diplomatic status of the father of Alabama woman Hoda Muthana meant she was not a US citizen.

It came after a lawyer for the family of Shamima Begum, 19, who fled London to join the jihadists when she was 15 said Britain was revoking her citizenship.

In Washington, the White House said it would keep around 200 troops in Syria after Trump's pullout for an unspecified period.

The announcement comes amid criticism of Trump's decision to withdraw around 2,000 troops from Syria by April 30, with members of his own Republican Party blasting the move.
HOUSTON (AP)  A long legal fight over whether a Texas death row inmate could be executed ended Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 59-year-old man is intellectually disabled and thus cannot be put to death.

The Supreme Court's ruling came after prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney's Office agreed with Bobby James Moore's attorneys that he should be spared the death penalty. The Texas Attorney General's Office had asked to take over the case in an effort to carry out the execution.

"The Harris County District Attorney's Office disagreed with our state's highest court and the attorney general to stand for justice in this case. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed. Bobby Moore is intellectually disabled," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement.

Cliff Sloan, Moore's attorney, said he was "very pleased that justice will be done."

Moore fatally shot 72-year-old Houston grocery store clerk James McCarble in 1980 during a robbery. He has been on death row for nearly 39 years.

This was the second time Moore's case had come before the high court. In 2017, the Supreme Court said the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had used outdated standards to decide that Moore was not intellectually disabled. The case went back to the Texas appeals court, which in June again ruled Moore was not mentally disabled.

The Supreme Court in 2002 barred execution of mentally disabled people but has given states some discretion to decide how to determine intellectual disability. However, justices have wrestled with how much discretion to allow.

Texas looks at three main points to define intellectual disability: IQ scores, with 70 generally considered a threshold; an inmate's ability to interact with others and care for himself or herself; and whether evidence of deficiencies in either of those areas occurred before age 18.

In 2004, the Texas appeals court created additional factors, including whether an individual's conduct showed leadership and whether a person could "hide facts or lie effectively."

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In Tuesday's 6-3 ruling in the Moore case, the Supreme Court criticized the Texas appeals court for continuing to rely on the additional factors it had created.

The high court has said these factors, named after a former death row inmate named Jose Briseno, have no grounding in prevailing medical practice and invite lay stereotypes to guide assessment of such disability.

The Supreme Court said the Texas appeals court did not discuss evidence that seemed to support Moore's claims of intellectual disability, including that when he was in school, Moore was made to draw pictures when other kids were reading and that by sixth grade, he struggled to read at a second-grade level

In a concurring opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts  who had previously sided against Moore  joined the majority, saying the Texas appeals court "repeated the same errors that this Court previously condemned."

Moore's case is expected to be remanded back to a judge in Houston, who will resentence him to life in prison. While the change in his sentence means Moore would be eligible for parole, prosecutors say it's highly unlikely he will be released.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
If the teachers in Oakland, California, walk out Thursday as planned, they would become the third group of public school educators from one of the countrys 50 largest cities to strike this year, joining their Los Angeles and Denver counterparts. Chicago also had a charter school teachers strike.

Heres what you need to know about this latest labor dispute between teachers and their school district:

What are the teachers demanding?

Oakland educators have worked without a contract since mid-2017. They want a 12 percent pay raise over a three-year deal that would be retroactive, and theyre also asking for more support staff.

Union president Keith Brown said current salaries  which range between $47,000 and $84,000 depending on experience  are not enough for teachers to afford living in the pricey Bay Area, leading to a high turnover rate. He also contends Oakland schools on the average have one nurse for every 1,350 students and one guidance counselor for every 600 students and would like those ratios at least cut in half.

In addition, the union wants smaller class sizes, and its fighting the closure of 24 schools predominantly attended by minority students.

Whats the Oakland school district offering?

The latest offer hiked the pay raise from 5 percent to 7 percent and included a 1.5 percent bonus, but the wage increase was spread over four years instead of three. The union rejected it Wednesday and got ready to strike.

The proposal does not get at the essential heart of the matter, investing in our students by providing a living wage for our educators to keep them in Oakland, Brown told USA TODAY.

A neutral fact-finder said a 9 percent raise would come closer to putting Oakland teacher salaries on par with their peers in other districts; the union says theyre the lowest paid in Alameda County.

Striking teachers wave at passing cars outside Poca

However, the arbitrator also noted the Oakland Unified School District couldnt afford that kind of raise, considering its already operating at a deficit. So he recommended a 6-percent increase over the first two years of the contract, with an economic reopener for the third year.

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How many people would be affected by a strike?

The Oakland school district serves more than 36,000 students and includes about 3,000 teachers and other staffers. And of course, tens of thousands of parents would be seriously inconvenienced by a walkout.

The district said it would provide information about the strike via automated calls, e-mails and texts, in addition to postings on social media and its website.

Would schools close if teachers walk out?

No. The district is encouraging students to attend class, pointing out that attendance policies would remain in place. The OUSD website said central office employees, temporary teachers and principals would be at the schools to supervise, care for and educate students. The district acknowledged it wont be school as usual and lesson plans wont be picked up, but meal services and after-school programs will remain in effect.

The union is also making contingency plans to help parents who need supervision for their school-age kids, with some volunteers and community-based organizations like churches and rec centers pitching in.

Are teachers striking elsewhere?

Los Angeles and Denver settled their labor issues, but teachers in West Virginia picketed Tuesday and Wednesday over their objection to reforms in a controversial education bill, forcing all but one of the states 55 counties to close down schools.

As opposed to last year, when they struck over wages, the West Virginia instructors are protesting Senate Bill 451, which would divert some public funds to charter schools and education savings accounts to pay for private schools.

The legislation appeared dead when the state House of Delegates rejected it Tuesday, but the union wanted to ascertain the measure would not be revived before sending teachers back to work.

More: How a year of teacher strikes was inspired by the bloody West Virginia Mine Wars

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Strike three: Oakland teachers set to walk out Thursday
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's far-right party Vox debuted in the upper house of parliament by blocking a motion calling for an official stance against homophobia in sport. Vox automatically obtained the right to send one representative to the senate after it won 12 seats in a regional election in Andalusia in December, the first electoral success for the far-right in Spain in four decades. The declaration that was meant to mark support for policies combating homophobia in sports, ahead of the International Day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, required unanimity to be adopted. Vox's Senator Jose Alcaraz took part in his first senate session on Wednesday. A Senate official said the proposal had been pulled late that day after Alcaraz signaled he would not back it. The draft declaration "is not a mere declaration against discrimination, it is an ideological pamphlet with which the PSOE (socialist party) and the groups that back it try to sneak gender ideology through the back door", Vox tweeted, to explain the new senator's opposition to the text. Vox said that Alcaraz had not backed any initiative on his first day as senator because he hadn't had time to prepare or table amendments. "In Spain, there is no LGTBphobia," the party's official account also tweeted. Memories of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, meant Spain had long been immune to the growing popularity of far-right parties in much of Europe. But Vox has become increasingly popular in Spain in recent months. The first opinion polls published since Socialist Prime Minister Sanchez on Friday called snap elections for April 28 forecast Vox would win between 16 and 46 seats in Spain's 350-strong lower house of parliament. Spain's senate is made up of senators sent by each region and senators elected directly by voters. (Reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Paul Day and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Susan Fenton)
By Fathin Ungku

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singapore court fined a rights activist on Thursday for organising an assembly without a permit after he organised a public conference where a high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy leader spoke via Skype.

Activist Jolovan Wham was sentenced a fine S$2,000 ($1,478.52) for organising a public assembly without a permit. He was also sentenced to a fine of S$1,200 for refusing to sign a statement that he gave to police.

Judge Kessler Soh told the court that Wham went ahead with the event "despite being informed that the event needed a permit".

His lawyer, Eugene Thuraisingam said that Wham will appeal the conviction but if that fails, Wham will not pay the fines.

According to the court's ruling, Wham would be jailed for 16 days unless the fines are paid.

The multi-ethnic city-state has strict laws regulating public assembly and bans foreigners from participating in events dealing with a political cause.

Its laws have been subject to criticism by rights groups who say that they severely limit freedom of speech and assembly.

The government has held the position that Singapore's laws and regulations were needed to maintain social order and harmony.

The "Civil Disobedience and Social Movements" conference took place more than two years ago and involved a panel of activists critical of the Singapore government.

Pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong, who helped organise protests in Hong Kong in 2014, participated in the event via Skype.

The 2014 "Umbrella Movement" in Hong Kong blocked major roads for 79 days, presenting Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges in decades.

Last year, Hong Kong's highest court freed Wong and two others, reversing a decision by a lower court to jail them for unlawful assembly.

($1 = 1.3527 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis kicks off a red-letter global child protection summit Thursday for reflections on the sex abuse crisis, while victims tired of hearing pledges for change clamour for incisive reforms.

The pontiff has set aside three and a half days to convince Catholic bishops to tackle paedophilia in a bid to contain a scandal which hit an already beleaguered Church again in 2018, from Chile to Germany and the United States.

The 82-year-old hopes to raise awareness through prayers, speeches, working groups and testimonies from victims.

The idea is that the 114 heads of bishops' conferences will return home with clear ideas on how to spot and deal with abuse.

The task is made difficult by the fact that some churches, in Asia and Africa in particular, deny the problem exists.

"My hope would be that people see this as a turning point," said American Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of the pope's trusted allies in the United States and one of the summit's four organisers.

The US Catholic Church has been shaken by one of the gravest crises in its history, with the defrocking last week by Pope Francis of a former cardinal -- American Theodore McCarrick -- over accusations he sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago.

- 'Silence a no-go' -

"It's not the end game, no one can ever say that... (but) we're going to do everything possible so people are held responsible, accountable and that there is going to be transparency," Cupich told journalists said ahead of the meeting.

These three themes -- responsibility, accountability and transparency -- will form the backbone of the summit and provide its 190 participants with the keys to ensuring child safety, he said.

There are reforms in the pipeline, such as the "tweaking" of certain canon laws, according to another of the organisers, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna.

But the suggestion that Church laws need only fine-tuning has angered many, including Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a public database that documents cases of proven or suspected cleric sex crimes.

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"Canon law has to be changed: not tweaked, not modified, but fundamentally changed, so that it stops prioritising the priesthood... over the lives of children, and vulnerable adults who are sexually assaulted by them," she said.

Scicluna insists that summoning Church leaders from all continents to Rome "is in itself a very important message".

The Maltese spent 10 years as the Vatican's top prosecutor on paedophilia cases, and was picked by Francis to travel to Chile last year to hear from victims whose voices had previously been silenced by an internal Church cover-up.

Scicluna has called for an end to the code of silence and culture of denial within the centuries-old institution.

"Silence is a no-go, whether you call it omerta or simply a state of denial," he said this week.

"We have to face facts because only the truth of the matter, and confronting the facts, will make us free," he added.
Washington (AFP) - As a shy, studious teenager in Alabama, Hoda Muthana rarely made waves. After her abrupt transformation into a fiery supporter of Islamic State extremists, she is under the scanner of the top levels of the US government.

The 24-year-old, who has since been married to three different jihadist men and has a toddler son, says she regrets her turn to radicalism and wants to return home -- but President Donald Trump has personally intervened to block her.

Growing up in Hoover, Alabama, a prosperous suburb of Birmingham with a sizable Muslim community, Muthana was raised by strict Yemeni immigrant parents who forbade her from owning a smartphone -- ubiquitous among US teenagers -- until she finished high school.

The phone opened her world. Muthana says she was pulled in by messages of the Islamic State group which brainwashed her into flying furtively in 2014 to the militants' self-styled caliphate, which then reigned over vast stretches of Syria and Iraq and had drawn in hundreds of Westerners, mostly Europeans of immigrant upbringing.

Once she arrived, social media gave the Alabama girl a global audience among jihadists. In one tweet, she appeared to torch her US passport. In another, she called Americans "cowards" for not coming in greater numbers to the caliphate's de facto capital of Raqa, Syria where she lived among Australians.

In a message preserved by George Washington University's Program on Extremism, Muthana hailed the deadly 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French newspaper that satirized the Prophet Mohammed, writing "Hats off to the mujs in Paris" and urging similar attacks.

Detained by US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria as the Islamic State's territory dwindles to its last sliver, Muthana said she no longer believes in the extremist ideology.

"It's not Islamic at all. Anyone that says so, I will fight against it," she told ABC News, speaking in a soft, flat voice and sporting a blue veil.

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"I'm just a normal human being who has been manipulated once and hopefully never again," she said.

- New world on smartphone -

Jordan LaPorta, who attended Hoover High School with Muthana from 2009 to 2013, said he saw her nearly every day as they took advanced classes together.

"We were courteous, and she was a nice, quiet young woman," he told AFP.

"No one, myself included, had any idea that this radicalism was festering when the original story broke in 2015. People far closer to her than I were stunned by the news," he said.

LaPorta, now a student at the University of Alabama Law School, said that Muthana later threatened him for comments he made after her turn to radicalism, by tagging him on Instagram, calling him a "nerd" and saying he "deserved a neck" -- a threat he reported to the FBI.

Muthana's father gave her a smartphone when she graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She "really found a place of belonging on her phone, online," said Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the family.

Islamic State recruiters "preyed upon her" and "gave her so much attention and played with her mind and they cut her off from her friends, from her family, from her community, from her mosque," Shibly said.

- Father feels American -

In a highly unusual move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Muthana is not a US citizen, even though she traveled to Syria on a US passport.

"This is a woman who inflicted enormous risk on American soldiers, on American citizens. She is a terrorist. She's not coming back," Pompeo told the Fox Business Network on Thursday.

The US Constitution's 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, grants citizenship to everyone born in the country -- with the exception of children of diplomats, as they are not under the jurisdiction of the United States.

Muthana's father, Ahmed Ali, served at the Yemeni mission at the United Nations. He filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to affirm his daughter's citizenship, saying he had left his diplomatic post several months before her birth.

In a 2015 interview with BuzzFeed News when his daughter's case came to light, he voiced sorrow.

"America is my country now," he said. "My kids' country. And if for me as an American citizen, if asked to me to defend this country, I will defend it."

LaPorta, her classmate, said that Hoover residents in a private Facebook group overwhelmingly said they did not want her back. He said she should return but face charges.

"As for me, I do have some degree of sympathy. Young people make mistakes, and she has a young child not implicated in any of this due to any fault of his own," he said.

"But fleeing the country to join a terrorist organization is not an act of mere youthful indiscretion. Actions have consequences."
The 12 senators co-sponsoring the Green New Deal resolution that Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) unveiled earlier this month have accepted nearly $1.1 million from oil, gas and coal companies since entering Congress.

But the 88 senators who have declined to support the measure have collected far more from those industries  close to $59 million, according to nonprofit Oil Change USA, which analyzed 30 years of data. That comes out to about $670,000 per nonbacker, or more than 7 times what the average sponsor took in.

The disparity illustrates what advocates say is a glaring conflict of interest for lawmakers deciding how to move forward on the only proposal yet to emerge that matches the scale of the climate crisis. The donations come from the powerful, deep-pocketed industry with the most to lose from any policy that restricts the sources of planet-warming emissions.

The Green New Deal shows the level of ambition that climate and energy policy could have if Big Oil, Gas, and Coals grip on Washington were weakened, David Turnbull, a spokesman for Oil Change USA, said in an email. The cosponsors of the Green New Deal have by and large bucked the influence of the out-of-control fossil fuel industry, and that shows in their willingness to stand up for bold climate solutions like what we see in the Green New Deal resolutions.

The Green New Deal resolution, jointly released with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), proposes an outline for future legislation that could radically reshape the U.S. economy by aggressively working to phase out fossil fuels and expand access to high-wage jobs, union representation and health care to millions of Americans. The resolution quickly gained more than 70 co-sponsors in the House and a dozen in the Senate, and signaled a dramatic shift in the way climate policy is framed for voters.

The Green New Deal seeks to deploy the entire U.S. economy to build lots of renewable electricity infrastructure and repair roads, bridges and seawalls to withstand extreme weather  the kind of mobilization of resources that the U.S. has not seen since World War II.

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The data on fossil fuel donations come from publicly available filings dating as far back as 1989, compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. They include donations from both corporate political action committees and individuals who gave $200 or more.

Between 1989 and 2018, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accepted the most of any Green New Deal sponsors, with lifetime contributions of $290,487 from the oil and gas industry, and $2,500 from the coal mining sector. Markey came in second, with $154,891 from oil and gas, but zero from coal. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)  both of whom are running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020  ranked third and fourth, with Gillibrand taking $128,376 from oil and gas and none from coal, and Sanders accepting $123,975 from oil and gas and $4,280 from coal.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the Green New Deal's most vocal champion, announces her joint resolution earlier this month alongside Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). (Photo: Alex Wong via Getty Images)

There are nuances to the numbers. Over the past two years, Markey and Sanders each took the No Fossil Fuel Pledge, an oath overseen by Oil Change USA and others, committing candidates to reject PAC money and donations over $200. Sanders donations overwhelmingly came from individual donors, with corporate PACs making up just $311,004 of the donations hes received since 1989.

Fossil fuel donations overwhelmingly favor Republicans, who received nearly $47 million of the $52.3 million the oil and gas industry gave out in campaign contributions to current senators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed last week to hold a vote on the Green New Deal resolution in an apparent bid to torpedo the movement behind the proposal. The Kentucky senator has received nearly $3.1 million from fossil fuel donors throughout his career as a federal lawmaker. He ranks fourth behind Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the all-time top recipients of oil and gas money in the sitting Senate.

The future of the Green New Deal resolution is less clear in the House, where Democrats command a majority. But the gap in fossil fuel donations between co-sponsors and opponents is nearly as large as it is in the Senate.

The Green New Deals 85 co-sponsors in the House accepted a total of $2.2 million from oil and gas contributors and $24,250 from the coal industry. The other 350 House members accepted nearly $50 million from oil and gas and $5.1 million from coal.

The donations come as the fossil fuel industry and other opponents of the Green New Deals decarbonization goals are rallying against the resolution.

On Monday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce  the corporate lobby abandoned by some of the worlds largest companies over its vehement rejection of the realities of climate change  published a blog post from its president, Thomas Donohue, calling the Green New Deal a Trojan Horse for socialism. On Tuesday, E&E News reported that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff is now fundraising for a new dark-money group aimed at supporting candidates who oppose a Green New Deal.

Yet no opponent of the Green New Deal has proposed a policy that could conceivably decrease emissions enough to keep global warming from soaring beyond 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point scientists say the damage from climate change could exceed $54 trillion.

Clarification: This story has been updated to note that Oil Change USA, not Oil Change International, analyzed the data on oil and gas industry donations.

Related Coverage

McConnell Trolls Democrats By Pledging A Vote On The Green New Deal

Green New Deal Activists Shift Focus To Vulnerable Republicans Ahead Of Senate Vote

Likely 2020 Voters Support Parts Of Green New Deal, Despite Reservations Over The Cost

Also on HuffPost

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Alaska

The impacts of climate warming in Alaska are already occurring, experts have warned. Over the past 50 years, temperatures across Alaska increased by an average of 3.4F. Winter warming was even greater, rising by an average of 6.3F jeopardising its famous glaciers and frozen tundra.

Venice

The most fragile of Italian cities has been sinking for centuries. Long famous for being the city that is partially under water, sea level rise associated with global warming would have an enormous impact on Venice and the surrounding region. The Italian government has begun constructing steel gates at the entrances to the Venetian lagoon, designed to block tidal surges from flooding the city. However, these barriers may not be enough to cope with global warming.

Antarctica

The West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming areas on Earth, with only some areas of the Arctic Circle experiencing faster rising temperatures. Over the past 50 years, temperatures in parts of the continent have jumped between 5 and 6 degrees F a rate five times faster than the global average. A 2008 report commissioned by WWF warned that if global temperatures rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial averages, sea ice in the Southern Ocean could shrink by 10 to 15 percent.

The Great Barrier Reef

The rapid decline of the world's coral reefs appears to be accelerating, threatening to destroy huge swathes of marine life unless dramatic action is swiftly taken, leading ocean scientists have warned. About half of the world's coral reefs have already been destroyed over the past 30 years, as climate change warms the sea and rising carbon emissions make it more acidic.

The Himalayas

The world's highest mountain range contains the planet's largest non-polar ice mass, with over 46,000 glaciers. The mammoth glaciers cross eight countries and are the source of drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectric power for roughly 1.5 billion people. And just like in Antarctica, the ice is melting.

The Maldives

An expected 2C rise in the worlds average temperatures in the next decades will impact island economies such as the Maldives with extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels.

The Alps

Over the last century, global warming has caused all Alpine glaciers to recede. Scientists predict that most of the glaciers in the Alps could be gone by 2050. Global warming will also bring about changes in rain and snowfall patterns and an increase in the frequency of extreme meteorological events, such as floods and avalanches, experts have warned.

The Arctic

The Arctic is ground zero for climate change, warming at a rate of almost twice the global average. The sea ice that is a critical component of Arctic marine ecosystems is projected to disappear in the summer within a generation.

Micronesia and Polynesia

Called the "epicenter of the current global extinction," by Conservation International, this smattering of more than 4,000 South Pacific islands is at risk from both local human activity and global climate change.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Montana lawmakers on Wednesday shot down a resolution formally opposing the sale of the state to Canada, an intended tongue-in-cheek pushback to a now-viral petition.

The petition, launched one week ago on Change.org, calls for sale of the Treasure State to our neighbors up north for a cool $1 trillion, which would then supposedly help eliminate the national debt.

"We have too much debt and Montana is useless," the petition's founder, identified as Ian Hammond, wrote. "Just tell them it has beavers or something."

The petition drew 11,000-plus signatures, sparking a gobsmacked column in the Great Falls Tribune and catching attention of Rep. Forrest Mandeville, a Republican from Columbus and chair of the state's House Administration Committee.

He had an idea. A vision. A proposal for "a little fun": a formal House resolution from lawmakers opposing the petition's goal.

As the 20-person committee convened Tuesday morning, Mandeville spelled out just what the resolution could entail.

"Im thinking stuff like ... 'Whereas, we dont know the Canadian national anthem after the first two words," he said. "Some stuff like that just to have a little fun.

More:Selling Montana to Canada? What nerve.

Swift opposition came from Rep. Jessica Karjala, a Billings Democrat. What about those of us who would like more maple syrup, better tea and free health care? she said.

You can vote against it, Rep. Karjala," Mandeville said.

Or you could move," said Rep. Wendy McKamey, a Republican from Great Falls.

"Theres still an option to move to Canada," Mandeville said. "We wouldnt take that away.

Rep. Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus

He needed three-quarters approval to authorize a draft of the resolution. He got it: 15-5.

The naysayers raising their hands seemed unamused.

Staffers could now begin work on a resolution pushing back on this preposterous petition. "Montana is worth a heck of a lot more than $1 trillion!" Mandeville later said.

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More: 5 reasons California wont split into three states

But the victory was short lived, he told USA TODAY on Wednesday: The committee had reconsidered the bill request, and it was defeated. There would be no bill on the issue, Mandeville said

His fun deprived, Mandeville seemed unconcerned about the petition's success.

"I don't think anyone really believes there is a snowball's chance in Florida that the U.S. will sell Montana to Canada," he said. "So, it's easy to sign a petition that will not really affect anything."

Contributing: Kristen Inbody, Great Falls Tribune

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sell Montana to Canada? State lawmakers aren't opposed to it. Formally, at least.
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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that state and local governments are not exempt from the Constitutional prohibition against imposing excessive fines on citizens, significantly constraining the ability of law enforcement to seize the property of criminal suspects.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for eight of the nine justices, argued that state and local governments unconstrained by the Eighth Amendments excessive-fines clause are likely to abuse their power.

For good reason, the protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history: Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties, Ginsburg wrote. Excessive fines can be used, for example, to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies. . . . Even absent a political motive, fines may be employed in a measure out of accord with the penal goals of retribution and deterrence.

The case in question concerned Tyson Timbs of Marion, Ind., who had his $42,000 Land Rover seized after pleading guilty to selling less than $1,000 of heroin. Tysons property was seized via civil asset forfeiture, which allows the authorities to confiscate property they suspect was used in criminal activity before a suspect is found guilty or even charged with a crime.

A trial court subsequently rejected the civil-forfeiture suit brought by the state, holding that the fine should be considered excessive because the vehicle was purchased for more than four times the maximum penalty of $10,000 that Timbs could be subjected to for selling heroin under state law.

The Indiana Supreme Court then reversed that decision on the grounds that the excessive-fines clause of the Constitution applied only to the federal government in a ruling that was vacated by the High Court on Wednesday.

Civil-liberties advocates celebrated the ruling as a reversal of a trend in which state and local governments increasingly rely on asset forfeiture to fund their operations.

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Increasingly, our justice system has come to rely on fines, fees, and forfeitures to fund law-enforcement agencies rather than having to answer to elected officials for their budgets, Scott Bullock, the president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice, said in a Wednesday statement. This is not just an ominous trend; it is a dangerous one. We are grateful that the U.S. Supreme Court established that the U.S. Constitution secures meaningful protections for private property and limits the governments ability to turn law enforcement into revenue generators.

More from National Review
CNN has appointed a former Trump administration official with no journalism experience as a political editor, provoking consternation among the broadcasters staff and Democrat politicians.

Sarah Isgur Flores, who served as chief spokeswoman and senior adviser for the US Department of Justice under attorney general Jeff Sessions, is to join the network to coordinate coverage of the 2020 presidential election.

Ms Isgur Flores has previously been communications director for Republican National Committee and worked on the campaign teams of former presidential hopefuls Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz.

CNN employees have reportedly been unsettled by the appointment of an outspoken conservative and long-time Republican political operative to a senior editorial position.

The reaction has been strong, said Brian Stelter, the networks chief media correspondent. CNN employees are concerned, according to numerous people who reached out to me on Tuesday.

They are asking what Isgur's role will be and questioning whether her sudden leap from the Trump administration to the CNN newsroom is an ethical breach.

A CNN staffer told The Daily Beast the decision to hire Ms Isgur Flores was extremely demoralising for everyone. Another said employees were generally confused and described her arrival as very bizarre.

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised the appointment in light of the wave of job losses in newsrooms in recent weeks.

The New York representative tweeted: Sorry, didnt get the latest memo after 1,000 experienced + qualified journalists of all stripes were let go w/o warning a few weeks ago and still looking for work: are we still pretending that hires like these are evidence of a meritocracy?

Adam Blickstein, a former Democrat strategist, added: Central problem with CNN hiring Sarah Isgur Flores is it degrades and devalues the work of all the solid journalists who work there. If I were them I'd be livid.

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While it is not unusual for former government workers to move into the media, they typically do so as analysts or commentators rather than editors.

CNN said Ms Isgur Flores, who has previously appeared as a talking head on news programmes, would help manage teams in the field and coordinate the use of stories between the network's television and digital arms.

Based in Washington, she will be one of several editors supervised by political director David Chalian and will not be in a policy-making role.

She will have no involvement in coverage of the justice department, given her previous position, the broadcaster added.

Ms Isgur Flores has previously derided CNN as the Clinton News Network, defended Mr Trumps Muslim travel ban, and attacked the medias coverage of the president as biased.

However, she was also repeatedly critical of Mr Trump during his election campaign, describing his threat to prosecute Hillary Clinton as scary and dangerous.

The president is said to have subsequently objected to her appointment to the justice department and according to The Washington Post required her prove her loyalty to him before Mr Sessions was allowed hire her.

CNN has been the prime target of Mr Trumps attacks on the media he regularly lambasts as fake news and the enemy of the people.

The network has been approached for a comment.
By Maria Vasilyeva and Tom Balmforth MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state prosecutors on Thursday formally charged top U.S. investor Michael Calvey, the founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group, with fraud, hours before Washington accused Moscow of denying its diplomats access to him. Calvey was first detained last week along with three other executives from his fund after investigators accused him and others of embezzling 2.5 billion roubles ($38.17 million). Calvey denies the allegations against him, saying the case is being used to apply pressure on him in a business dispute over a Russian bank in which he is a shareholder. The case has raised concerns among some foreign investors in Russia who are worried about the business climate. In a sign those concerns are being taken seriously in some circles, the head of Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund and its biggest state bank have spoken out in Calvey's favour. RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev on Thursday requested via his lawyers that a Moscow court free Calvey from a pre-trial detention facility in Moscow and put him under house arrest instead. Hours after Calvey was charged on Thursday, the U.S. embassy in Moscow said Russia was denying its diplomats access to him. It said it had asked to visit Calvey multiple times, but had not been granted access, something it said flouted consular rules between the two countries. "We insist on access now," the embassy said in a statement. Calvey is being held in a cell with seven other people and is experiencing back pain, Ivan Melnikov, a member of a public commission for the rights of inmates, told Reuters. Melnikov, who visited Calvey in custody on Wednesday, said the U.S. national was sharing a cell with people being held over non-economic crimes in contravention of prison regulations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Calvey's case was in the political spotlight. "The question lies at the centre of a very lively political discussion. And I think that all the circumstances of the case will be taken into account when the legal hearings take place soon," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. "As far as I understand he was not a very visible person in the public realm. But of course I've heard what people whom I deeply respect have said about him, and I think many people have heard this," Lavrov said. Calvey is due to appeal his arrest next week. ($1 = 65.4925 roubles) (Additional reporting by Andrey Kuzmin; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)
Tlaxiaco (Mexico) (AFP) - Yalitza Aparicio once was a newly qualified pre-school teacher living in a dusty mountain town in Mexico.

Now, the 25-year-old is the star of Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" and an Oscar nominee -- a fairy tale marred by racist barbs the indigenous actress has encountered along the way.

Aparicio -- who is part Mixtec and part Triqui -- grew up in Tlaxiaco in the southern state of Oaxaca, home to about 40,000 people.

She had never even seen a movie on the big screen until she was 15 and went on a school trip to Puebla, a city some 350 kilometers (220 miles) away.

Tlaxiaco closed its only movie theater years ago, explains Miguel Angel Martinez, who runs the small city's tiny cultural center. Even then, it had only shown films that had screened everywhere else years before.

The theater's demise was hastened by the advent of pirated DVDs, a flourishing black market that at least brought more up-to-date movies to Tlaxiaco.

Now, in an open-air market next to the church and clock tower, a stall advertises "Roma" on sale for 20 pesos, or one dollar.

In the film, Aparicio plays an indigenous nanny living with a family in Mexico City -- a tale drawn from Cuaron's own childhood in the 1970s.

In real life, Aparicio grew up in a tiny house among flowers, chickens and cows, before becoming Cuaron's unlikely on-screen muse.

- Racist insults -

Since bursting onto the big screen, her performance has been lauded from Europe to the United States, and her face has appeared on the covers of prestigious magazines.

She is the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

But with her newfound fame has come a wave of racist comments on social media, and even some from fellow actors.

Sergio Goyri, a 60-year-old Mexican soap opera star, was caught on camera criticizing the Academy for nominating an "Indian" -- using a vile profanity.

Other actors have questioned her talent, sparking indignation from Cuaron.

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"Yalitza is one of the best actors I have worked with. It is wrong and racist to think that she is only playing herself," he said.

"It sets such huge limitations on a woman, just because of her indigenous background."

- Mixed response at home -

But even in her hometown, Aparicio's work has often received a lukewarm response.

"I don't like the movie, and I like her performance even less. It's all very trite," said Rogelio Lopez, a seller of costume jewelry.

Others in Tlaxiaco are more supportive.

"I really want her to win an Oscar," said Catalina Chavez, a 39-year-old artisan.

"I'm very proud that she is representing us -- as women, as indigenous people, as Mexicans, as country people and as domestic workers, as so many things!"

Gladys Morales, a 24-year-old who went to school with Aparicio, says she admires the down-to-earth way her former classmate has coped with the international limelight.

"I was here in December [for New Year's festivities]. I saw her just walking with her mom. They were doing some shopping," Morales said. "Everything here is as simple as ever."

Aparicio has defended herself against "offensive comments," saying she hopes "we are done with this idea."

"I personally always thought I could never be a part of this [showbiz]. It all seems like a fairy tale because all my life, I have been seeing women who didn't look like me on the screen," she told reporters.

- 'Not here for the casting call' -

So how did this humble young woman reach the peaks of cinematic glory?

That in itself is a fairy tale of improbable casting.

In April 2016, Cuaron put out a casting call in Tlaxiaco and other towns to find the lead actress for "Roma."

Martinez, the cultural center head, said he thought the role would go to Aparicio's older sister Edith, explaining that she has a "magnificent singing voice" and is "very talented, outgoing, with a lot of charm and charisma."

The two sisters went to the casting call together, and Edith threw herself enthusiastically into the session, which consisted of a photo shoot and questions about her personal life.

But the casting official insisted that Yalitza also part.

"I didn't come for the casting call. I only came to keep Edith company," Yalitza said, according to Martinez.

But Edith "took her by the hand" into the test.

She quickly found herself cast in "Roma" without even knowing who Cuaron was, said Martinez.

"She was a 'virgin' for these sorts of things -- that's what allowed her to act so naturally," he said.
Barcelona (AFP) - Activists blocked roads and rail lines in Catalonia on Thursday while tens of thousands took to the streets during a region-wide strike against the trial of separatist leaders for their role in a failed 2017 secession attempt.

On Thursday evening 40,000 people rallied along one of Barcelona's major avenues, police said, while earlier around 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the central University Square, where the city's oldest university stands.

Four people were arrested with 37 people injured in clashes including six police.

Called by a small pro-independence union, Intersindical CSC, but without the backing of larger unions, the one-day strike was not widely followed in the northeastern region.

Public transport in Barcelona was slower than usual but most shops remained open.

Traffic authorities in Catalonia said activists cut off around 20 roads, including the A7 highway that links Spain to France, the A2 between Madrid and Barcelona and the main entry points to the Mediterranean city.

Police cleared several of the road blocks and detained two protesters, a spokesman said.

Activists also briefly blocked train traffic by occupying the tracks at a station in Barcelona and in other parts of the region, according to the company that manages Spain's rail network.

"We're here in solidarity with those who are victims of a trial that just doesn't hold water," said Jaume Sole, a 45-year-old engineer.

- 'Politically-motivated' -

The Catalan employers' association has denounced the work stoppage as politically motivated.

Separatist parties and associations are backing it.

They began mobilising last week in solidarity with the Catalan separatist leaders on trial for pushing a secession referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban, and a subsequent short-lived declaration of independence.

On Saturday, around 200,000 people including regional president Quim Torra protested in central Barcelona, police said, behind a banner that read "self-determination is not a crime."

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Torra's separatist executive has expressed solidarity with the strike and cancelled all official events planned for Thursday.

The trial of the Catalan separatists started on February 12 under intense domestic and foreign scrutiny.

It was due to last three months but the court on Wednesday sped up the process to try and finish the trial before snap general elections on April 28.

Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium soon after the declaration of independence on October 27, 2017, is not among the defendants as Spain doesn't judge people in absentia for major offences.

So far, those on trial have defended the peaceful nature of the secession movement.

They have justified holding the referendum on a democratic mandate they say they got from voters in Catalonia who handed separatist parties a majority in 2015 polls.

This prompted unusually outspoken comments from King Felipe VI on Wednesday who said it was "unacceptable to appeal to a so-called democracy that is above the law."

- 'Criminalising' a protest -

Defendants have also said the proclamation of independence was a mere political declaration without legal effect.

On Thursday, Santi Vila, a regional government member at the time, said the referendum was actually "a big political mobilisation" rather than a plebiscite given the Constitutional Court had banned it.

"It was about tightening the rope without it breaking," Vila, who faces up to seven years in jail for misuse of public funds and disobedience, told the court.

Prosecutors accuse the defendants of implementing a strategy concerted by the regional government, parliament and pro-independence associations to achieve secession outside the law.

They accuse nine of them of rebellion, a serious offence that implies a "violent uprising."

Prosecutors point for instance to damage made to police cars during a pre-referendum protest on September 20, 2017, or claim separatists used citizens as "human walls" against police dispatched to stop the referendum.

Independence supporters and the defendant's lawyers, however, argue there was never any violence.

Jordi Sanchez, head of the powerful ANC pro-independence association who was at the protest on September 20 and faces up to 17 years in prison, accused prosecutors of "criminalising and penalising a demonstration."
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Rio de Janeiro's favelas are known for high crime. But in one of the city's poor neighborhoods, rights groups say residents face a new threat: police snipers.

According to an investigation by human rights organizations, at least five people were shot dead between October and January from a police tower in the northern Manguinhos favela.

That has set off alarm bells, as experts fear rising police brutality, fueled by President Jair Bolsonaro's "zero tolerance" on crime -- rhetoric that is echoed by Rio governor Wilson Witzel.

Carlos Lontra, 27, was shot dead in a Manguinhos plaza on January 25. Four days later, 37-year-old Romulo da Silva was shot dead as he rode his motorcycle in the same place. Another 22-year-old was shot on January 29 in similar circumstances, but he survived.

"Residents said the victims posed no threat to anybody when they were shot," Maria Laura Canineu, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, told AFP.

"That makes these accusations extremely serious because they represent, if proved, totally illegal and excessive actions by the police," she added.

Shootings are commonplace in Rio's favelas, where stray bullets have claimed many lives.

But witnesses in Manguinhos say the recent deaths were different: this was isolated gunfire, with bullets that came from a tower at a police station 250 meters away.

"There was no police operation or exchange of gunfire (when the deaths occurred)," Pedro Strozenberg, ombudsman of Rio's public defender's officer, told AFP.

- Summary executions? -

The reports add to another case that shocked Rio on February 8: a police operation in a favela in the touristy Santa Teresa neighborhood left 13 dead, sparking accusations of summary executions.

During campaigning for last year's election, Witzel promised to deploy snipers to combat armed civilians -- even if they posed no immediate risk to officers.

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And for Strozenberg, what has happened in Manguinhos "is a materialization of declarations that seemed abstract during the election campaign."

"It is worrying, because the hypothesis is that the shots came from a Rio de Janeiro police unit and randomly hit residents passing through the area," he added.

On the other hand, Canineu thinks it is too early to make the link between Witzel's statements and Manguinhos -- branded by authorities a "red zone" overwhelmed by drug trafficking.

But, she added, "logically, Witzel's positions in favor of hardline security policies create an environment more disposed to excessive policing."

- Self-defense -

Official figures say over 1,500 people were killed during police interventions in Rio last year.

"We know that many of these murders result from confrontations, but our historical work in Rio de Janeiro state indicates that many others are executions, that is to say, serious human rights violations committed by police," said Canineu.

Now, Justice Minister Sergio Moro is pushing for legislation that would allow police who intervene "during an armed conflict" or where "risk of imminent armed conflict" exists to claim self-defense.

But for human rights advocates, that gives police free reign to execute suspects -- in a country that already is one of the most violent in the world, with 63,000 murders per year.
Maputo (AFP) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Mozambican government Thursday of arbitrarily detaining journalists covering the fight against a jihadist insurgency in the country's north.

About half-a dozen journalists have been arrested in the line of duty since last June, as well as drivers, interpreters, and other crew members, according to an AFP count.

Two reporters remain in custody.

"Mozambiques state security forces are intimidating, detaining, and prosecuting journalists covering the fighting against an armed Islamist group in the northern province of Cabo Delgado," HRW said in a statement.

State forces are battling a group reportedly seeking to impose Sharia law in the Muslim-majority province.

Originally known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama -- Arabic for "followers of the prophet" -- the group is commonly referred to by locals and officials as "Al-Shabaab", although it has no known link to the notorious Somali jihadist group of the same name.

Since October 2017, Islamist fighters have terrorised remote communities in the gas-rich region, killing about 200 people and forcing thousands from their homes.

Rights groups have accused security forces combatting the group of serious abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary detention.

"The Mozambican governments actions to silence the media in Cabo Delgado obstruct public scrutiny of the military operations and alleged abuses," said HRW's southern Africa director Dewa Mavhinga.

"Mozambiques fight against insurgents is no excuse to unduly constrain media freedom."

This week, Germano Daniel Adriano, who works for a local radio and television broadcaster, Radio e Televisao Macomia, was the latest to be arrested. He remains in custody.

Before him, Amade Abubacar, who works for the state-owned Comunitaria Nacedje de Macomia broadcaster, was seized by police on January 5 at a bus stop while conducting interviews and taking photographs of people fleeing militant attacks. He is being held on espionage charges.

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HRW said the "government has barred various media organisations and correspondents from visiting the province, while the army detained journalists who managed to go there or police arrested them on bogus charges".

The rights watchdog listed several cases over the past nine months of journalists, including foreign correspondents and academic researchers, being detained while working in the region, or being denied accreditation.

It said the BBC was refused accreditation to report from the region last June.

A local journalist said intelligence officers had warned him not to write about the badly-hit towns of Macomia and Mocimboa da Praia unless government officials were visiting.

Another, who often arrived first on the scene after a jihadist attack, told HRW he was warned by a police detective to "stop acting like a brave man if I loved my life and my family."

An editor based in the provincial capital Nampula told HRW that journalist are being forced to operate under cover to avoid arrest.
An aerial view of the Pentagon.

A senior Pentagon official approved $280,000 in fraudulent bonuses to seven officials preparing to leave the department, according to a report released Thursday by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.

Ellen Ardrey served as the director of human development at the Pentagon's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a massive agency based in Springfield, Virginia, that employs 14,500 people who provide situational intelligence on everything from counterterrorism and weapons of mass destruction to wildfires and Super Bowls.

According to the report, Ardrey allowed senior officials at the NGA to downgrade their positions for one pay period, which in turn allowed them to leave the agency with a $40,000 early-retirement buyout incentive. Such "early out" packages can be quickly approved by agency directors such as Ardrey for non-senior officials when an agency goes through downsizing, but they must receive clearance from the undersecretary for defense for all senior officials.

After a two-year investigation that included interviews with 16 witnesses and the review of more than 31,000 emails, the Inspector General's Office found that Ardrey complained that the process to receive approval for buyouts for senior officials was "onerous" and "slow," telling leadership, "The juice ain't worth the squeeze on this."

Instead, Ardrey suggested to senior officials that they downgrade their position for one pay period to speed up the process. She told investigators that she believed she was acting legally and that there was no law or policy that prohibited her from temporarily downgrading senior officials to hasten their buyout packages.

"However, DoD buyout incentive subject matter experts that we interviewed told us that Ms. Ardreys downgrade and buyout incentive plan for senior officials was 'gross mismanagement,' 'improper use of government resources,' 'looks like a shell game just to get them the opportunity to get an incentive,' and would only make sense 'if somebody wanted to get around the onerous approval process  for senior officials,'  the report concluded. "We agree."

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In a response to the report, Ardrey wrote that she had conducted similar downgrades at another government agency and that other employees at the NGA told her the process "was not prohibited."

"The investigations preliminary conclusion is based on inference and opinion, with insufficient evidence to substantiate intentional circumvention of DoD policy," Ardrey wrote. "The recommendations I developed  were consistent with policy and followed established authorities."

Ardrey could not be reached for comment.

An NGA statement on Thursday said Ardrey is still employed at the agency, and that officials there are dealing with the report internally.

"NGA encourages its employees to report misconduct and sets a high standard of conduct for all employees, regardless of grade," the statement read.

The investigation into Ardrey's actions started in 2017 when four anonymous complaints were filed against her, according to the report.

More: Sexual assault, harassment spikes at military academies, strategies fail to stem crisis

More: Pentagon Do-si-don't: Selling Girl Scout cookies in office earns general a demerit badge

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Report: Pentagon official gave out $280K in fraudulent bonuses
This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use ASM International NV's (AMS:ASM) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. ASM International has a price to earnings ratio of 19.11, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 5.2%.

See our latest analysis for ASM International

How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price  Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for ASM International:

P/E of 19.11 = 103.75  5.43 (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)

Is A High P/E Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each 1 the company has earned over the last year. That isn't a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business's prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E.

How Does ASM International's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. We can see in the image below that the average P/E (29.2) for companies in the semiconductor industry is higher than ASM International's P/E.

ENXTAM:ASM Price Estimation Relative to Market, December 20th 2019

ASM International's P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitor director buying and selling.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. When earnings grow, the 'E' increases, over time. That means unless the share price increases, the P/E will reduce in a few years. And as that P/E ratio drops, the company will look cheap, unless its share price increases.

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ASM International shrunk earnings per share by 11% over the last year. But it has grown its earnings per share by 58% per year over the last three years.

Don't Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits

One drawback of using a P/E ratio is that it considers market capitalization, but not the balance sheet. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth.

While growth expenditure doesn't always pay off, the point is that it is a good option to have; but one that the P/E ratio ignores.

Is Debt Impacting ASM International's P/E?

ASM International has net cash of 505m. That should lead to a higher P/E than if it did have debt, because its strong balance sheets gives it more options.

The Bottom Line On ASM International's P/E Ratio

ASM International trades on a P/E ratio of 19.1, which is fairly close to the NL market average of 20.5. While the absence of growth in the last year is probably causing a degree of pessimism, the healthy balance sheet means the company retains potential for future growth. So it's not surprising to see it trade on a P/E roughly in line with the market.

Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock.

You might be able to find a better buy than ASM International. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings).

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.



We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
Peter Tork, co-founder of The Monkees, has died at the age of 77.

Torks sister, Anne Thorkelson confirmed news of her brothers passing to The Washington Post. The cause of death was not immediately clear.

Initially conceived as Americas answer to The Beatles, The Monkees were assembled by veteran television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider specifically for a television series, which aired from 1966 to 1968. However, the bands popularity would ultimately grow far beyond the small screen; members gained control over musical output, and hits such as Im a Believer and Daydream Believer helped the band push 50 million records worldwide.

It was Torks college friend, Stephen Stills, who got Tork a gig in the Monkees. Stills had auditioned for the TV series, but was turned down. Instead, producers were looking for something with an open, Nordic look, which led Stills to suggest Tork for the part.

(Buy: The Monkees on Reverb LP)

A proficient musician, Tork was the lone member of the band allowed to play an instrument  third chair guitar  on their first two albums. He played keyboards, bass guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and other instruments on later recordings.

Following The Monkees initial breakup in 1968, Tork pursued a solo career, collaborated with George Harrison on the soundtrack to the 1968 film Wonderwall, and launched a production company, which ultimately went belly up and left Tork bankrupt. As a result, he and his wife were forced to move into David Crosbys basement.

Tork subsequently reunited with fellow Monkees Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz in 1985 in celebration of the bands 20th anniversary. They continued to play shows together throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, and also recorded an album in 1996s Justus, which also featured fourth Monkee Michael Nesmith. Following the passing of Jones in 2012, Tork, Dolenz, and Nesmith embarked on a tribute tour. In 2016, The Monkees released Good Times, which featured contributions from Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard, Noel Gallagher, and Paul Weller.

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In 2009, Tork was diagnosed with the rare tongue cancer adenoid cystic carcinoma, but he made a full recovery. He ceased touring altogether in 2016 due to unknown health issues. Update: According to a statement from his family, Tork died peacefully this morning at a family home in Connecticut [after succumbing] to a 10-year bout with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer of the salivary glands.
Purplebricks sign in Birmingham, UK. Photo by Mike Kemp/In PIctures via Getty Images.

Online estate agent Purplebricks (PURP.L) saw its shares plummet by more than a third after it warned about the challenging UK property market and lower overseas growth.

The value of shares in the British firm, which has enjoyed significant expansion since launching in 2012, fell by 37% on Thursday.

It came after the company said its UK and US chief executives were both set to leave, and downgraded its revenue forecast for 2018-19.

The online firm said it now expected overall revenue of 130-140m, rather than the 165-175m previously forecast.

It said revenue in the USA and Australia would not meet its expectations, with a US marketing initiative not as successful as hoped.

READ MORE: UK house price growth at five-year low

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: Cracking foreign markets is never as easy as it looks and Purplebricks has issued a pretty horrid profit warning today for this very reason.

He said the firm had been unfortunate to see the US and Australian markets turn sour just as it sought expansion, adding that the firms slashed revenue forecast had been severely punished by investors.

Purplebricks shares have tumbled. Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire/PA Images

But Purplebricks is still expecting a 15-20% rise in UK revenue for 2018-19, despite signs of a slowdown in growth in the wider UK property market.

The company also expects to maintain its 75% share of UK online instructions and for Purplebricks to continue to be the clear market leader in UK hybrid estate agency, the firm said in a statement.

It announced UK chief executive Lee Wainwright will leave, citing personal reasons, while no reasons were given for the departure of US chief executive Eric Eckardt.

Vic Darvey, chief operating officer, who only joined the company in January 2019 from MoneySuperMarket.com, will take over as UK chief executive.

READ MORE: The signs are not good for property prices in 2019
Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump are meeting for a second summit next week in Vietnam - REUTERS

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, is reported to have purged senior aides ahead of a landmark summit on nuclear weapons next week with Donald Trump, the US president, in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Seasoned diplomats who have worked for the regime since the eras of Kims father and grandfather are said to have been replaced with new, younger advisers chosen for their ideology and loyalty.

The biggest rotation has been the removal of Choe Son Hui, the vice foreign minister who spearheaded nuclear talks ahead of the first summit between Mr Trump and Kim in Singapore in June, and her replacement with Kim Hyok Chol, a former ambassador to Spain.

According to Reuters, Mr Kim has been working at the State Affairs Commission, a top governing body chaired by the North Korean leader, and is now acting as negotiating partner to Stephen Biegun, the US envoy to North Korea. Mr Biegun has already landed in Hanoi for pre-summit planning.

Its a big boys game and many diplomats are being neglected, as they face fierce inter-agency rivalry and questions about their ideological faithfulness given their experience in richer, capitalist nations, a South Korean official told the newswire.

Kim Hyok Chol is a career diplomat too, but he apparently has passed a loyalty test to become the point man in the negotiations.

Portraits of Kim and Mr Trump as Hanoi is gripped by summit fever Credit: Manan Vatsyayana/Reuters

The reshuffle of top aides appears to be part of a wider purge of North Koreas moneyed elite. An investigation by the North Korea Strategy Center, a Seoul-based think-tank, has detailed 50 to 70 individuals who have been targeted by Kim, reported the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

The crackdown, which has resulted in assets seizure, exile, imprisonment or the execution of suspected opponents of Kims diplomacy towards the US and South Korea has been portrayed as an anti-corruption drive but also hints at an effort to silence critics.

The young leader has become suspicious of veteran diplomats in particular after a couple of high-profile defections. Once-trusted officials who appear to have lost his confidence have paid the price.

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Han Song Ryol, who was vice foreign minister in charge of US relations until early last year, has allegedly been purged on charges of spying for the United States.

Mr Han was previously one of the most highly respected North Korean diplomats working in the US, dealing extensively behind the scenes with the so-called New York channel, a vital diplomatic conduit between Pyongyang and Washington.

However, NK News reported in January that Mr Han had not been seen since last February and could have either retired or been killed.

Another report in the Chosun Ilbo, quoted an official in South Koreas unification ministry as claiming that he had been sent to one of the regimes most notorious hard labour camps.

Meanwhile, Ri Yong Ho, the foreign minister, is said to have been sidelined in favour of Kim Yong Chol, the former spy chief who met with President Trump in the White House earlier this year.

Thae Yong Ho, a defector and former diplomat to London, speculated at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday that Kim had changed his negotiating team as a tactic to push Mr Trump to negotiate directly with him rather than rely on senior advisers.

A Hanoi barber is offering a choice between a Kim or a Trump haircut Credit: Linh Pham/Getty Images

Few details have been released yet on the agenda of next weeks summit which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

However, Mr Trump revealed to reporters in Washington on Tuesday that while he wants to see North Korea eventually give up its nuclear weapons programme, that he is in no rush as relations with Pyongyang are currently good.

I have no pressing time schedule, he said, in a marked softening of the White Houses previous position ahead of the Singapore summit that North Korea should quickly commit to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation.

Mr Trump added: I really believe that North Korea can be a tremendous economic power when this is solved As long as there is no [missile] testing, Im in no rush. If theres testing, thats another deal.

The second meeting of the two leaders is expected to take place in the Government Guesthouse, an elegant building in central Hanoi designed in a French colonial style, reported Reuters.

Kim, who had to borrow a Chinese plane to fly to Singapore, is set to arrive in Hanoi after a long journey by train, according to security and logistics planners.

It could take an estimated two and a half days to journey through China towards Vietnam and Kims train will stop in the border station of Dong Dang to allow him to travel the final 105 miles by car.

Hanoi is gearing up to roll out the red carpet for both leaders and their sizeable delegations, with US and North Korean flags already hanging by roadsides alongside a new emblem designed for the summit that shows two hands held together inside a blue circle.

In a quirky gimmick, one Hanoi barber has proposed the unique offer of haircuts styled in the fashion of Kim or Mr Trump.

Those customers bold enough to do so can opt for the sharp, slick top and shaved sides preferred by the North Korean leader or the orange tones made famous by the US president.
Paul Krugman gets teased from time to time for once having predicted that the Internet, then in its adolescence, would prove no more significant a technological advancement than the fax machine. Professor Krugman has of course since confessed his error, which, while embarrassing, is not relevant to most of what he writes.

With exceptions.

Writing in the New York Times, the economist-turned-partisan-carnival-barker heaps scorn on the question of how to pay for the grand promises put forward in the so-called Green New Deal. He is not the first to do so: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the current mascot of the socialist movement, sneered that the same people asking about how to pay for the Green New Deal would, had they been around at the time, have demanded the same thing of Dwight Eisenhower regarding the Interstate Highway System. The honorable lady from the Bronx has on occasion made it plain that she is lightly educated about the institution in which she serves. (She seems to be somewhat vague about how a bill becomes a law and what it is that Congress does.) As a matter of fact, the question of how to pay for Eisenhowers folly was hotly debated at the time  and remains an item of contention. (E.g., Highway Trust Fund is on fumes and time is running out, The Hill, May 18, 2018.)

Professor Krugman is something of a specialist in lending his Nobel-laureate prestige to poorly considered political proposals (that is his function; it is impossible to believe that even the sworn enemies of the English language who edit the New York Times opinion pages keep him around for his prose), and on the Green New Deal he performs as required: To the extent that its a public investment program, demands that its supporters show how theyll pay for it show more about the critics bad economics than about the GNDs logic.

To the extent that its a public-investment program . . .

Well.

Public investment is a favorite incantation associated with progressive magical thinking  investments that purportedly pay for themselves are the Democrats answer to the deathless Republican superstition of tax cuts that pay for themselves. As with the relationship between the occult ministrations of the Paraclete and papal pronunciations ex cathedra, there is an element of logical circularity and question-begging in the formulation. What counts as a public investment?

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Professor Krugman offers this: The defining characteristic here is that its spending that will enhance societys future productivity. And how do we predict with confidence the productivity-enhancing outcome of such spending? Professor Krugman does not offer very much guidance, only dismissing the deficit scolds to declare: If you can raise funds cheaply and apply them to high-return projects, you should go ahead and borrow. The implication there  in the comparison between cost of borrowing and return on spending  is that spending on public investment pays for itself because public investment is defined as spending that pays for itself in the form of increased productivity.

There is an obvious speculative element in that which is not, strictly speaking, a question of economics at all. I share Tom Nicholss despair at the death of expertise, but the experts have some blood on their hands, too, inviting contempt and skepticism by pretending, as Professor Krugman does here, that political and social questions are instead technical questions.

Which brings us back to the Internet-as-glorified-fax machine. Professor Krugman is an intelligent man, but he entirely failed to understand the significance of the Internet. What are the chances that a committee comprising considerably less intelligent people is going to, say, rebuild the entire U.S. electricity-generating apparatus and the grid that distributes it while making good judgments about the vastly complex technological and logistical questions involved? Of course, theyll have access to expert advisers  like Paul Krugman.

If expertise in mere economics were sufficient to predict the evolution of something as complex as the U.S economy, then it would be impossible for an economist such as Krugman to make a flub like the one he made about the Internet. But he wasnt being asked an economic question  and neither are the people presented with the vague and unserious agenda summarized in the so-called Green New Deal.

Expect flubs. They are not the exception.

Californias newly elected Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has partly pulled the plug on a very large and very expensive public investment in his state, an abortive high-speed-rail line that would have connected Los Angeles to San Francisco, for reasons that must remain mysterious to anyone familiar with the cutting-edge technology of . . . 1967. (As of this writing, the best deal on a nonstop 90-minute LAXSFO flight is $97, round-trip.) Hilariously  honestly, I thought this was a joke when first I heard it  Governor Newsom intends to go ahead and build out the part of the line that already has been begun, meaning that billions of dollars will have been invested in a bullet train connecting Merced to Bakersfield across a stretch of ghastly blasted desert and exurbia, bisecting downtown Fresno in a route that all but demands to be crossed at irresponsible speed in a brown 1977 Camaro.

The investment went about the way youd expect: Delays and skyrocketing costs have been the norm, as the Fresno Bee gently put it.

Until there is a reliable economic model that accounts for the greed, mendacity, ideological rigidness, partisan self-interest, and incompetence of the people who decide what counts as an investment and how such alleged investments are managed  and also for a broader political system so deformed that a witless yokel such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been elevated to a prominent position within it  then this is not really a question of economics. It is a question of politics, and a question of prudence.

And, in that context, How the hell do you propose to pay for that? is an eminently sensible question.

More from National Review
Wachiwit/iStock(NEW YORK) -- The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Johnson & Johnson regarding alleged asbestos contamination in its baby powder.



The New Jersey-based pharmaceuticals and consumer goods giant said that it is cooperating with the government inquiries and that it has been subpoenaed.



The investigations were revealed in an annual report for the fiscal year ending Dec. 30, 2018, which was filed with the SEC on Wednesday. It is the first time the investigations were made public.



"The Company has received preliminary inquiries and subpoenas to produce documents regarding these matters from Senator [Patty] Murray, a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company is cooperating with these government inquiries and will be producing documents in response," according to the SEC filing.



The SEC and DOJ declined to comment.



The company also addressed the increasing number of lawsuits it was facing from asbestos-related claims, the filing showed.



"The number of pending product liability lawsuits continues to increase, and the Company continues to receive information with respect to potential costs and the anticipated number of cases. Lawsuits have been primarily filed in state courts in Missouri, New Jersey and California. Cases filed in federal courts in the United States have been organized as a multi-district litigation in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey," according to the filing.



Johnson & Johnson "has successfully defended a number of these cases but there have been verdicts against the Company, including a verdict in July 2018 of $4.7 billion," according to the SEC filing. It added that the company believes "it has strong grounds on appeal to overturn these verdicts."



On Thursday, Johnson & Johnson denied that the company's iconic baby powder contained asbestos and maintained it safety.



"These inquiries are related to news reports about the ongoing talc litigation that adversely impacted our share price in late December 2018. The news reports included inaccurate statements and also withheld crucial information that had already been made public in the litigation and in prior media reports. Decades of independent tests by regulators and the worlds leading labs prove Johnson & Johnsons baby powder is safe and asbestos-free, and does not cause cancer. We intend to cooperate fully with these inquiries and will continue to defend the Company in the talc-related litigation," a spokesman wrote to ABC News in an emailed statement.



In December, Reuters published an explosive investigation alleging the opposite.



Through its investigation, Reuters says it counted 11,700 plaintiffs claiming that J&J talc caused cancer  specifically thousands of cases of women suffering from ovarian cancer.



The news agency reported that "an examination of many of those documents, as well as deposition and trial testimony, shows that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the companys raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos, and that company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public."



In one of the biggest asbestos-related civil judgments to date, a St. Louis jury awarded 22 women the aforementioned $4.7 billion after they successfully claimed the company's talc powder caused their ovarian cancer.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
By Tim Reid

(Reuters) - A Democratic group seeking to persuade former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke to run for president will launch mobilization efforts on college campuses nationwide to coincide with what they believe will be his entry into the race by month's end.

The Draft Beto campaign, founded in December by former staffers to O'Rourke and to former President Barack Obama, is organising "Students for Beto" chapters on roughly 100 campuses in about 30 primary and general election states, said Nate Lerner, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of DraftBeto.org.

"Our goal is to replicate the model and success of Beto's student outreach efforts during the midterms," Lerner told Reuters on Wednesday. "Winning the Millennial vote will be key for Beto in both the Democratic primary and to defeat Trump."

O'Rourke, 46, has said he will decide by the end of February if he will enter the already crowded Democratic field seeking to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in next year's election.

Chris Evans, a spokesman for ORourke, said in an email: We are not coordinating with the Draft Beto movement. Betos Senate campaign put a historic emphasis on investing in and following the lead of college students and young people.

Lerner, also a former Obama staffer, said he had not spoken to O'Rourke or those in his inner circle in recent days but that he expected the former congressman to run.

O'Rourke received huge support from young Texans after campaigning at many colleges during his bid to unseat Republican Ted Cruz from the U.S. Senate but narrowly lost in November.

O'Rourke garnered 61 percent of voters aged 18-34, a 23 percentage point advantage over Cruz, according to the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll conducted online with voters on election day.

In addition to weighing a White House bid, O'Rourke said at a lunch honouring him in his native El Paso on Tuesday that he had not ruled out being a 2020 vice presidential candidate or challenging Texas's other Republican U.S. senator, John Cornyn, when Cornyn seeks re-election next year.

Speculation around O'Rourke's plans has mounted this month after several high-profile public appearances. He sat for an interview with Oprah Winfrey in New York and held a rival rally to decry Trump's immigration policy as the president promoted his planned border wall in El Paso. He also visited the general election battleground state of Wisconsin last week.

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, James Dalgleish and Leslie Adler)
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis is hosting a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, a high-stakes meeting designed to impress on Catholic bishops around the world that the problem is global and that there are consequences if they cover it up.

The meeting opening Thursday comes at a critical time for the church and Francis' papacy, following the explosion of the scandal in Chile last year and renewed outrage in the United States over decades of cover-up that were exposed by the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Here is a look at what's in store for the summit.

___

WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA?

The meeting is divided into three thematic days, with the final day  Sunday  devoted to Mass and a concluding address from the pope.

Day 1 explores bishops' responsibilities to their flocks, including their legal responsibility to investigate and prevent abuse.

Day 2 is dedicated to accountability and is focused on church leaders working together, along with rank-and-file Catholics, to protect children.

Day 3 focuses on transparency, and features remarks from a Nigerian religious sister, a German cardinal and a Mexican journalist.

Testimony from survivors is interspersed throughout during moments of prayer, but there are no sessions dedicated to hearing their stories. Participants were told to meet with victims before coming to Rome to learn first-hand of their pain  and to drive home the idea that clergy sex abuse isn't confined to certain parts of the world.

___

WHO IS COMING?

About 114 presidents of bishops conferences are expected, though at least two  Chilean Archbishop Santiago Silva and Costa Rican Archbishop Jose Rafael Quiros  are sending deputies because they themselves are implicated in covering up abuse.

The guest list includes 14 leaders from eastern rite churches, 12 religious superiors of men's orders and 10 from women's religious orders. About a dozen Vatican prefects, as well as a half-dozen of the pope's cardinal advisers and a handful of others, round out the 190 participants.

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Organizer the Rev. Hans Zollner acknowledged the relative lack of women represented  and how crucial they are to the church's efforts to prevent abuse around the globe. "It is true that women, especially religious women, especially in Africa and Asia, are of utmost importance for safeguarding," he said.

___

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES?

Zollner has said he hopes the summit will result in the creation of task forces on each continent to help national bishops' conferences develop guidelines to fight abuse and tend to victims.

The Vatican in 2011 told these conferences to draft such guidelines, but to date only about half have adopted policies that have been approved by the Holy See. Not even Vatican City has a policy on the books.

Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican sex crimes investigator, stressed that follow-up for the meeting would be key, mentioning "audits" of conferences to check their progress.

___

WILL GAY PRIESTS AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF ADULTS BE DISCUSSED?

The scandal over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last week after being convicted by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians, exposed both the issue of homosexuality among Catholic leaders and the sexual abuse of adults under their authority. Francis' recent comments about the sexual abuse of nuns also made clear that minors aren't the only victims of predator priests.

Neither is on the summit agenda, however.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of the summit organizers, said the sexual abuse of adults needs to be addressed. But he said the four-day summit must remain focused on its original intent.

"Young people, minors don't have a voice. They are kept in silence," he said. "This is about making sure their voice is heard."
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis promised that concrete action against child sexual abuse by priests would result from a conference he opened on Thursday, with one cardinal acknowledging that the Church had to fight "the enemy within". Francis convened Catholic leaders from around the world for the four-day meeting to address the scandal that has ravaged the Church's credibility in the United States - where it has paid billions of dollars in settlements - Ireland, Chile, Australia, and elsewhere over the last three decades. His opening remarks appeared aimed at countering scepticism among victims who said the meeting looked like a public relations exercise. "Faced with the scourge of sexual abuse committed by men of the Church against minors, I wanted to reach out to you," Francis told the assembled bishops and heads of religious orders. He asked them to "listen to the cry of the little ones who are seeking justice". Francis, opening the conference of nearly 200 participants in a Vatican auditorium, added that victims deserve "concrete and efficient measures" and not mere condemnations. Victims were mixed in their response, with some expressing cautious optimism and others saying it was too little, too late. Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota said the damage was home-grown, in large part because bishops had closeted themselves in a clerical mentality and some thought they could act with impunity. "The first enemies are within us, among us bishops and priests and consecrated persons who have not lived up to our vocation. We have to recognize that the enemy is within," he said. The pope and the participants watched a video of five victims, most of whom wished to remain anonymous, telling painful stories of abuse and cover-up. "From the age of 15 I had sexual relations with a priest. This lasted for 13 years. I got pregnant three times and he made me have an abortion three times, quite simply because he did not want to use condoms or contraceptives," a woman said. "MURDERERS OF THE FAITH" Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean, said on the video that when he reported abuse to religious authorities he was treated as a liar and an enemy of the Church. "You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed - in some cases - into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith. What a terrible contradiction," he said. Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines broke into tears as he read a keynote speech that acknowledged: "Wounds have been inflicted by us, the bishops, on the victims". A list of 21 "reflection points" written by the pope was handed out. The first was that each diocese should have a "practical handbook" on steps to be taken when cases emerge. They included actions such as informing civil authorities of substantial accusations in compliance with local law and making sure non-clerics are involved in Church investigations of abuse. "Putting together a handbook after all this time is laughable," said Peter Isely, who was abused by a priest as a boy and now heads the advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse. Most of the 21 points are already practiced in countries like the United States. In Ireland, the sexual abuse scandal shattered the power of the Church which four decades ago dominated society. In the past four years, voters approved abortion and gay marriage, defying the Vatican. In Chile, all of the country's bishops offered their resignations to the pope last year over a widespread cover-up. Francis accepted seven of the resignations and dismissed two others from the priesthood. A report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania last year revealed that priests had sexually abused about 1,000 people over seven decades in that U.S. state alone. Before the conference started, some victims' groups said the event was an attempt to cleanse the image of the 1.3 billion-member Church. But Anne Barrett-Doyle of bishopaccountablity.org, which tracks abuse cases around the world, said she was pleasantly surprised by the pope's opening remarks. "They said this was going to just be a teaching session, but he is now talking about concrete measures. That's good, but let's see how it ends up," she told Reuters. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Mark Heinrich)
Washington (AFP) - The father of an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria sued Thursday to bring her home after the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of declaring that she was not a US citizen.

Hoda Muthana, 24, says that she regrets joining the extremists and is willing to face prosecution in the United States over her incendiary propaganda on behalf of the ruthless but dwindling group.

A day after President Donald Trump declared on Twitter that he had issued orders to bar her, Muthana's father filed an emergency lawsuit asking a federal court to affirm that his daughter is a US citizen and let her return along with her toddler son, whose father was a Tunisian jihadist killed in battle.

The brewing legal battle hinges on the murky timeline of bureaucratic paperwork in 1994 when Muthana was born and her father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, left a position at Yemen's mission to the United Nations.

The US Constitution grants citizenship to everyone born in the country -- with the exception of children of diplomats, as they are not under US jurisdiction.

"Upon her return to the United States, Mr. Muthana's daughter is prepared and willing to surrender to any charges the United States Justice Department finds appropriate and necessary," said the lawsuit filed with the US District Court in Washington.

"She simply requires the assistance of her government in facilitating that return for herself and her young son," it said.

- Born as father left UN mission -

In the lawsuit, Ahmed Ali Ahmed said he was asked by Yemen to surrender his diplomatic identity card on June 2, 1994 as the Arab country descended into one of its civil wars. Hoda Muthana was born in New Jersey on October 28 of that year and the family later settled in Hoover, Alabama, a prosperous suburb of Birmingham.

The State Department initially questioned Hoda Muthana's right to citizenship when her father sought a passport for her as a child because US records showed he had been a diplomat until February 1995, the lawsuit said.

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But it said that the State Department accepted a letter from the US mission to the United Nations that affirmed that he had ended his position before his daughter's birth and granted her a passport.

The lawsuit said that Hoda Muthana was also entitled to citizenship due to her mother as she became a US permanent resident, anticipating the loss of diplomatic status, in July 1994.

Ahmed Ali Muthana additionally asked for the right to send money to support his daughter and grandson, who are being held by US-allied Kurdish fighters at the forefront of fighting the Islamic State militants.

She furtively went to Syria in 2014 when the Islamic State group was carrying out a grisly campaign of beheadings and mass rape and turned to social media to praise the killings of Westerners.

- 'She's not coming back' -

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was named in the lawsuit along with Trump, in a terse statement Wednesday said that Hoda Muthana was not a citizen.

Pompeo did not outline the legal rationale but in an interview Thursday, asked if the key issue was that her father had been a diplomat, Pompeo said, "That's right."

"She may have been born here. She is not a US citizen, nor is she entitled to US citizenship," Pompeo told NBC television's "Today" show.

In a separate interview with the Fox Business Network, Pompeo dismissed the "heart-strings" pitch in Muthana's pleas to return home.

"This is a woman who inflicted enormous risk on American soldiers, on American citizens. She is a terrorist. She's not coming back," he said.

It is extremely difficult for the United States to strip a person of citizenship, a step taken by Britain in the case of homegrown jihadists.

Trump's order on Muthana came even though he is pushing other Western countries to bring back hundreds of jihadists to prosecute at home as the United States prepares to withdraw troops from Syria.
Warsaw (AFP) - A foundation supporting victims of paedophile priests in Poland on Thursday released a report documenting nearly 400 cases of sex abuse by clergymen in the staunchly Catholic country.

The publication of the 27-page report, which activists presented to Pope Francis on Wednesday, coincided with the pontiff gathering the world's top Catholic bishops at the Vatican at a summit on tackling clerical sex abuse.

Images broadcast on Polish television showed Pope Francis kissing the hand of Marek Lisinski, head of the "Be Not Afraid" foundation, as he handed over the report to the pontiff.

The document details the cases of 85 priests convicted of paedophilia, another 88 whose alleged abuse has been exposed by the media and 95 others accused by alleged victims.

The report also names 24 Polish archbishops and bishops accused of covering up abuse.

"We expect resignations among Poland's church hierarchy, otherwise nothing will change," Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska, one of the report's authors, told AFP on Thursday.

She documented cases where paedophile priests were "protected" by bishops or other superiors.

Father Pawel Rytel-Adrianik, the spokesman for the Polish episcopate, said on Thursday that he had not yet read the report.

The Polish episcopate insists it has "zero tolerance" for criminal acts such as paedophilia.

It has vowed to publish statistics on the number of child victims of priestly sex abuse, covering the period starting in 1989 when communism fell.

However, for Diduszko-Zyglewska the episcopate is "only pretending to take action" by adopting rules that are "fair, certainly, but not realised".

The foundation insists that church authorities in Poland are "avoiding contact" with it and victims of abuse despite the steady trickle of criminal allegations.

"We are already struggling to record and verify" a growing number of historic and current cases of abuse, Diduszko-Zyglewska told AFP.
By Anna Koper

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland should form a consortium of private and state companies to develop 5G network infrastructure to ensure lower costs and better protection from security threats, the chief executive of Poland's state-owned telecom group Exatel said.

Along with other European countries Poland is rushing to keep pace with the installation of 5G services offering far faster data downloads, yet some implementation plans are being complicated by security doubts around Chinese equipment vendor Huawei.

"The problems of Chinese equipment manufacturers certainly increase awareness that the state should maintain a certain degree of control over the telecommunications infrastructure,"

Exatel CEO Nikodem Boncza Tomaszewski told Reuters.

"And this is guaranteed by the 5G wholesale operator model proposed by Exatel," Boncza Tomaszewski said, arguing Exatel should have more say in how the likes of Orange Polska, Polkomtel (a unit of Cyfrowy Polsat), T-Mobile and Play Communications develop 5G networks in Poland.

Poland's government is considering a ban on Huawei products following concerns over potential cybersecurity threats.

"The best organizational formula ... would be to establish the company by Exatel (with) private mobile operators, possibly other state companies with telecommunications needs such as energy and railway companies," Boncza Tomaszewski said.

The Exatel chief said initial meetings had been held with operators last year but the approaches had not yet led to any formal offers.

Orange Polska told Reuters it did not see the need for a wholesale operator to be launched for the 5G network as the current model of building mobile networks by major operators had worked well.

"However, we do not rule out cooperation between operators for the 700 MHz band on the basis of voluntary decisions of individual operators," it said in an e-mailed statement.

Poland's other leading telecom operators - T-Mobile, Polkomtel and Play - did not respond to requests for comment.

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Cyfrowy's main shareholder Zygmunt Solorz was quoted as saying earlier this month by Rzeczpospolita daily that Poland should consider building one 5G network in order to implement it fast and effectively.

Boncza Tomaszewski said the consortium should oversee 5G network construction in Poland for the 700 MHz band, which is meant to cover the entire country, unlike other bands that will be available regionally.

(Reporting by Anna Koper; Editing by David Holmes)
(Reuters) - Online image search site Pinterest Inc has confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company and its underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co are planning for a late-June listing and is seeking a valuation of at least $12 billion, the newspaper reported. Pinterest could raise around $1.5 billion in the IPO, Reuters had reported in January, citing sources. The company, which was valued at $12 billion in its last fundraising round in 2017, is among a host of technology startups with popular consumer brands gearing up for multi-billion IPOs in 2019, including Uber, Lyft, AirBnB and Slack. Pinterest monetizes its website through advertisements, which it places among the "pins" that users put on the site. The San Francisco-based company has grown rapidly since its founding in 2008, boasting 250 million monthly active users last September. Pinterest told Reuters it did not comment on market rumors. (Reporting by Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)




An online campaign that would expand the size of Canada appears to have gone viral.

A petition called Sell Montana to Canada for $1 Trillion to eliminate the national debt was launched last week on Change.org by a person who identified himself as Ian Hammond. Since then, it has garnered more than 13,000 signatures.

We have too much debt and Montana is useless, Hammond wrote. Just tell them it has beavers or something.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the U.S. national debt set a new high by surpassing $22 trillion. The number has grown by $2 trillion since U.S. President Donald Trump entered the White House, according to Business Insider.

History.com says Montana is the fourth largest U.S. state by area and one of the least densely populated states. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2017 the area known as Big Sky Country was home to 1.05 million residents, a number that has been steadily increasing for the past three decades.

Montana is home to seven protected forests and 53 state parks. It also shares the Yellowstone National Park with Wyoming and Idaho, the worlds first national park. The state currently borders British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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This Montanan totally supports the idea, Michelle Erb chimed in on Change.org.

Im Montanan and hoping to join Canada without the moving costs. Lets do this. Please adopt us, CJ Williams stated.

Im Canadian and making Canada bigger is cool, Edgar Desrochers added.

Hammond admitted hes surprised that so many people have backed his petition. All in all this is pretty epic, he wrote.

Canada has its own national debt, a number that has reached $761 billion and continues to grow, according to Global News. Paying $1 trillion for Montana would make Canadians further indebted as a country.

Plus, a U.S. lawmaker has already stated that Montana is worth more than $1 trillion. U.S. Rep. Forrest Mandeville of Montana told the publication that he doesnt see the petition going anywhere as there are no plans to table a bill on the matter.

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I dont think anyone really believes there is a snowballs chance in Florida that the U.S. will sell Montana to Canada, Mandeville told USA Today.

In the mean time, Canadians may want to focus their attention on keeping Alberta after billboard signs popped up this week in Edmonton and Calgary asking Albertans whether the province should ditch Canada.
By Sijia Jiang and Donny Kwok HONG KONG (Reuters) - Lenovo Group, the world's largest personal computer maker, posted better-than-expected quarterly results and shrugged off the impact of a bruising Sino-U.S. trade war, sending its shares soaring 11 percent to three-year highs. The company, dual-headquartered in China and the United States, is optimistic of further growth in China and will focus on the premium market, CEO and chairman Yang Yuanqing told Reuters after December quarter revenue rose to the highest in four years on a strong showing across its major business groups. "Definitely we dont want to see more trade war, political tension. If that continues, that would affect everyone, not just us, all multinationals," Yang said in an interview on Thursday. Lenovo shares rose 11.4 percent on Thursday morning, poised for their best one-day gains in almost 10 years, and adding about $1 billion to their market value. Yang said Lenovo is well-prepared for geopolitical and economic volatility as its manufacturing facilities are spread across China, the United States, India, Brazil, Japan and Mexico, ensuring a stable supply. Lenovo, which bought IBM Corp's personal computer and server businesses, relies on the Americas for 31 percent of its total revenue, versus 26 percent from China. Net profit for the quarter was $233 million, ahead of the $207 million average of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv and up from a loss of $289 million in the same period a year earlier when Lenovo took a one-off hit due to U.S. tax reforms. Lenovo said its share in the global PC market rose to 24.6 percent and that it expanded in premium markets such as workstations, thin and light PCs and gaming PCs. Total revenue in the quarter rose 8.5 percent to $14.04 billion, while that from its PC and smart devices group rose 12 percent to a record $10.7 billion. Industry tracker Gartner said last month worldwide PC shipments fell 4.3 percent in the December quarter and 1.3 percent in 2018, but that the biggest three vendors - Lenovo, HP Inc and Dell Inc - expanded their market share in the quarter to 63 percent of total shipments from 59 percent. Lenovo's mobile phone business recorded a pre-tax profit - of $3 million, its first pre-tax profit since it bought Motorola's mobile business in 2014 for $2.9 billion and struggled to integrate the assets. But revenue declined 20 percent, with Lenovo attributing the fall to a strategy of focusing on core markets. Yang said he expects the PC market to consolidate further and that Lenovo would "leverage suitable opportunities". He also said the group sees further growth potential in the China PC market, which still lags the U.S. industry in sales volume and revenue. This is not consistent with our population," Yang said, drawing reference to China's smartphone and automobile markets, which are the world's largest. The loss in Lenovo's data center business narrowed to $55 million from $86 million a year earlier, while revenue grew 31 percent. Yang said a new joint venture with U.S. cloud storage company NetApp would give a further boost to this segment, but declined to give a target date for breaking even. (Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Harunori Kojima still remembers the hot tears of joy that warmed his face against the sleet as he watched two Soviet ships set sail in December 1959 from Japan's Niigata port.

Destination: North Korea, which lured nearly 100,000 Koreans from Japan with fantastical propaganda promising returnees a "Paradise on Earth."

Now 88, Kojima recalls how a brass band parped out patriotic tunes lauding then North Korean leader Kim Il Sung as some 1,000 people boarded the ships for a new life.

They were part of a grand repatriation programme that continued on and off until 1984, carried out by the Red Cross Societies in Japan and North Korea and paid for by Pyongyang.

In all, 93,340 people -- mainly Koreans but also Japanese spouses -- enthusiastically moved to North Korea, blissfully unaware it was a land of no return.

Initially reluctant, the Japanese government also backed the scheme, with media touting it as a humanitarian campaign for Koreans struggling to build a life in Japan.

But Kojima, who was a communist at the time and helped oversee the repatriation, now looks back on the scheme with bitterness.

"I was actively involved in the project, believing it was something positive. But as a result, I led people into Hell," he told AFP.

During Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, millions of Koreans moved to Japan, either voluntarily or against their will.

When Japan surrendered, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans remained, reluctant to return to their devastated homeland. They were stripped of their Japanese nationality and became stateless.

According to journalist and expert Yoshiaki Kikuchi, Kim's North -- economically better off than the South after the 1950-53 Korean war -- wanted to use the mass repatriation to emphasise Socialism's "superiority" over the US-puppet South.

Most Koreans in Japan hailed from south of the 38th parallel but then South Korean President Syngman Rhee cut them adrift and former colonial ruler Japan offered no help to alleviate their poverty and discrimination.

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For these reasons, many believed propaganda films portraying an idyllic life in North Korea and submitted to the agents of the General Association of Korean Residents or Chongryon -- the de facto embassy of the North in Japan -- as they went door-to-door.

- Starving to death -

But the reality in "Paradise" was a far cry from the propaganda.

Eiko Kawasaki, now 76, was shocked to see the locals gathered to welcome them in the northeastern port of Chongjin.

"The way the local people looked was heartbreaking. Both the men and the women had lifeless faces with darkened, dry skin. All wearing the same humble working clothes," Kawasaki recalled.

She was 17 and had travelled alone, with her family set to follow, convinced by Chongryon propaganda.

"They would say North Korea was a wonderful country where we could help build the Socialist state and then proudly go home after the North and South were unified," she said.

"They would encourage us to go, saying we were disgraced and bullied (in Japan), unable to get decent jobs."

The agents promised her "at least a three-month supply of rice" and that "a furnished house and beds" would be waiting for her.

The reality was starvation and famine.

But even though people were hungry, "no one protested," Kawasaki said, adding: "No one even questioned for what cause they were starving."

She tried to hint to her family not to come in letters, hoping to fool censors who immediately imprisoned and often "purged" anyone who complained.

It took her 10 years -- and 18 months hiding in China -- but Kawasaki eventually escaped back to Japan.

- 'National kidnapping' -

Manabu Ishikawa, 60, once known as Lee Jay Hak, recalls living off scraps of grain at poultry farms that were considered unfit even for animals.

He has never been able to erase the memory of a small girl, maybe nine or 10, dying of starvation on the street.

"She was actually smiling... with relief, clutching a piece of bread in her hand," he said.

Ishikawa fled to China in 2001 -- his wife and two sons followed later -- but many more were not so fortunate.

The Chongryon accepts no criticism of the programme.

"It was a campaign to protect the rights of Koreans in Japan, the freedom to return to their fatherland," O Gyu Sang, a historian at the pro-Pyongyang body, told AFP.

"If they had lived without discrimination and had jobs to make a living, not so many would have gone... Japanese politicians too must have thought it was a good chance to get rid of annoying Koreans."

The effects still reverberate.

Last year, five former returnees, including Kawasaki and Ishikawa, sued North Korea and the country's leader, accusing them of "national kidnapping" and demanding those returnees left in the country be free to travel.

The Tokyo District Court is expected to hear the case, lawyer Atsushi Shiraki said.

"I dropped my Korean name long ago," Kawasaki said, partly to stay anonymous and protect her four children still living in the North.

"I do not want to die without seeing my family again. But I cannot see them unless North Korea ends its rights violations."
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Palestinian finance minister on Thursday announced salary cuts for civil servants, days after Israel said it would withhold tens of millions of dollars in tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved the freezing of $138 million (122 million euros) over the PA's payments to the families of prisoners, or prisoners themselves, jailed for attacks on Israelis.

Israel, which collects taxes on behalf of the PA, says the payments encourage further violence.

The PA claims they are a form of welfare to families who have lost their main breadwinner.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he would not accept anything but full payment of the tax transfers owed by Israel.

The PA, which is already running a deficit, will "pay the salaries of civil servants in time, but they will be reduced", said PA finance minister Shukri Bishara after a meeting with EU representatives in Ramallah.

The cuts will not apply to salaries "paid to pensioners and families of martyrs, wounded or prisoners", he added, adding that wages below 2,000 shekels ($550) would also not be affected.

Many Palestinians view prisoners and those killed while carrying out attacks as heroes in their conflict with Israel. Palestinian leaders often venerate them as martyrs.

Under a 1994 agreement, Israel collects around $190 million each month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports.

The money it then transfers to the PA is the authority's most important source of revenue.

The Palestinians want EU countries to pressure the Israeli government to rescind its decision, said Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy of Abbas's Fatah party.

Palestinian leaders will take steps to "boycott Israeli goods", he said, adding they had already prepared "a list of Israeli products that have local (Palestinian) equivalents".
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP)  Torrential rains lashed several cities in Pakistan on Thursday, triggering flash floods and leaving at least 26 dead across the country, many swept away by the waters or killed when their roofs collapsed before dawn, authorities said.

The provincial Disaster Management Authority said 14 people, including children, were killed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

Flash floods submerged villages near the southwestern town of Lasbella, in Baluchistan province, killing three people there and affecting 200 families. Imran Zarqoon, a spokesman for the provincial disaster authority said emergency workers were trying to rescue people from flooded parts of Lasbella.

At least nine were killed in central Pakistan in three incidents of roofs collapsing amid the rains, four of them in the city of Multan, according to police and rescue services.

Every year, many cities and towns in Pakistan struggle to cope with the annual monsoon deluge, drawing criticism about poor planning.
Bunkers are being rebuilt and a blackout has been ordered, but schools and bazaars remained open Thursday in Chakothi, a border village in Pakistani-held Kashmir, after a deadly attack sent tensions with neighbouring India soaring.

Residents were worried but life was going on in the village of some 3,000 inhabitants just three kilometres (two miles) from the "Line of Control", the de facto border which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Schoolchildren attended classes as usual and customers crowded the markets and stalls of the bazaar.

India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, have been fighting for seven decades over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, now one of the most militarised zones in the world.

Tensions have spiralled in recent days following a suicide attack in Indian-held Kashmir that killed 41 Indian paramilitaries and was claimed by Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), based in Pakistan.

Many observers expect Indian retaliation in the coming days. Pakistan has promised to fight back if it is attacked.

Shabbir Ahmed Pirzada, a resident of Chakothi, decided to rehabilitate an old bunker next to his house that was first built in 2000, when the Indian army frequently bombarded the area.

Chakothi has not been touched since a ceasefire was declared in 2003.

"God forbid, if such situation develops, we can save ourselves in the bunker. We are not afraid, as we have seen Indian shelling in the past," he told AFP.

- 'Mischievous action' -

Local authorities have encouraged residents in areas near the Line of Control to take additional precautions against the risk of "mischievous action" by the Indian army.

"Bunkers should be constructed in areas where they don't exist. Unnecessary lighting should be avoided after sunset and people should refrain from travelling on roads located close to LoC," the local disaster management agency has warned residents.

"We are scared for our children when they go to school," said Jamila Kathoon, a housewife, pointing out that the local school had been hit by shelling in the past.

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"We had built bunkers in our mud houses in the past, for our safety. Now we have houses with tin roofs, which are not safe. There will be more loss if there is shelling in the area," added another resident, Zaheer Ahmed.

"We are very worried," he said.

Others are worried about the economic consequences of the crisis.

The cross-border bus service serving both sides of Kashmir since 2005, as well as modest barter operations implemented in 2008 as part of peace efforts, were partially halted this week by Delhi.

"There will be huge losses to the traders... The two countries should find a political solution to the Kashmir issue," said Jan Muhammad, a Kashmiri trader.
Pakistan on Thursday banned two groups believed to be fronts for the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, amid heightened pressure on Islamabad to act against militants.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation were designated "proscribed organisations", the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered officials to accelerate action against banned groups.

The statement did not provide further details.

JuD and FIF are considered by the UN to be fronts for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group accused by Washington and New Delhi of carrying out the Mumbai attack, which killed 166 people and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The latest move against JuD and FIF comes amid heightened tensions in South Asia.

New Delhi has blamed Pakistan-based militants of carrying out a deadly suicide bomb attack in Kashmir that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries, and renewed pressure on Islamabad to take action.

Washington and New Delhi have long urged Pakistan to take action against LeT, which was banned by Islamabad in 2002 but re-branded itself as JuD and FIF, two groups that say they are charities and deny links to militants.

The US placed a $10-million bounty on JuD leader Hafiz Saeed, but despite that, he has largely operated freely in Pakistan. He has denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Islamabad, long under pressure to act against JuD and other militant groups, began seizing the group's assets last year after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- a global anti-money laundering watchdog -- listed Pakistan on a watchlist of countries not doing enough to combat terror financing.

The FATF is expected to announce its latest set of recommendations on Friday.
The beauty pageant-mad Philippines welcomed home freshly crowned Miss Universe Catriona Gray on Thursday with a joyous parade through the capital that drew tens of thousands of screeching fans held back by police.

The 25-year-old danced, smiled and waved a tiny Philippine flag from atop a float, shielded from the pounding tropical sun by attendants holding pink umbrellas as some in the crowd scaled utility poles to catch a glimpse.

Manila's already notorious traffic was brought to a complete stop by a police motorcycle escort that blocked roads as confetti cannons sprayed the crowd, which was pushed back by officers.

"I was overwhelmed when I saw her and she looked at me!" said Ednor Yaunbaes, 22, as he waved a pink flag. "At least I can say that before I die, I already saw a Miss Universe."

Manila police estimated a crowd of some 10,000 at the final stop alone of the three-hour parade, which wound through the heart of the densely-populated metropolis that is home to some 12 million people.

Manila office worker Sharlene Panganiban told AFP her boss allowed her to leave early for the parade, which included a troupe of drummers in feather headdresses and bright masks.

"Just the thought of seeing her gives me goosebumps. I feel like her crown will fall on me," said the 22-year-old, who added she too had competed in local beauty contests.

Beauty pageants are must-view spectacles in the nation of 106 million people, and winners of global titles are treated like heroines.

Gray -- a student of music theory -- beat more than 90 contestants from around the globe in the 67th instalment of Miss Universe, which was held in Bangkok in December.

Social media exploded with clips of fans jumping for joy and hugging each other as the Filipina contestant went through each successive round and eventually won.

Gray works at a non-government outfit that provides free education for children in a Manila slum and has lent her voice to her country's most controversial issues, including legalising medicines that contain marijuana.

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Recent pageant success by Filipinas has given a lift to a nation mired in crushing poverty, debilitating corruption and an annual deluge of typhoons, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters.

Gray, whose father is Australian, was the fourth Filipina winner of the prestigious beauty pageant, and the second since Pia Wurtzbach in 2015.

"To come back here as Miss Universe 2018, it was such a fast journey. I want to scream!" Gray told reporters on Wednesday.

"It brings me so much pride and honour to be able to bring so much joy to my country of the Philippines."
Oscar-nominated stars of Netflix's 'Roma' on why they relate to it personally and what the film means for domestic workers originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Yalitza Aparicio, the star of the Netflix film "Roma," is the Cinderella story of this Oscar season. Aparicio is the first indigenous Mexican woman nominated for best actress.

"I heard my name, and I just started crying because of the excitement," Aparicio said in Spanish through a translator in an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" co-anchor Juju Chang.

When asked what she thought about the state of representation in Hollywood, Aparicio said, "There are still so many characteristics that aren't reflected on screen, and the fact of sharing this category with women who are mostly white -- well, it's flattering to be in that category."

PHOTO: Actress Yalitza Aparicio attends the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon in Los Angeles, Feb. 4, 2019. (David McNew/Reuters)

The 25-year-old first-time actor has also made strides in Mexico, where she is among the few indigenous women to ever make the cover of Vogue Mexico, on which she appeared in December 2018.

"When I was young, and I would watch television and would always see women who were so different from the ones I knew and who looked like me," she recalled through a translator.

In "Roma," which was shot in black and white and entirely in Spanish, Aparacio plays Cleo, a housekeeper and nanny.

PHOTO: Director Alfonso Cuaron and actress Yalitza Aparicio are pictured on the set of the Netflix film, 'Roma.' (Netflix)

The movie is a look at Cleo's intimate inner world and shows her relationships with the three young kids she cares for and her boss Sofia, played by classically trained actress Marina de Tavira, who is nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar.

De Tevira said she felt especially connected to her character's line about women having to take care of themselves.

"When [director Alfonso Cuaron] told me that line I really said I can really relate to this. I've seen it I've seen it in my mother. I've experienced it myself I've seen lots of women going through and I always ask myself why is this," de Tavira told Chang. "Why are women and children left so vulnerable in life?"

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PHOTO: Marina de Tavira speaks onstage while Yalitza Aparicio looks on during the 71st Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards on Feb. 02, 2019, in Hollywood, Calif. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

The film, which Cuaron wrote and directed, is the Academy Award-winning director's love letter to his nanny who helped raise him.

Aparicio set aside her career as a teacher to audition, moved by her own mother's sacrifices: leaving her own children to take care of others.

"I was inspired by her work. The reason why I chose to do the film was to pay tribute to her so she would realize how valuable her work is. Once I was filming, I tried to remember moments in which I saw how she did her work and thus achieve the character," Aparicio said through a translator. "I had the best mom in the world. She always taught me that just because we didn't have the means, did not mean you couldn't fulfill your dreams."

"Roma" has spurred a new wave of activism fighting for a national domestic workers' "Bill of Rights."

Cuaron even shot a public service announcement in conjunction with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and Participant Media, which also produced "Roma."

Adela Seally is a nanny living in the Bronx and works full-time caring for a 7-month-old in the suburbs of New York. She says she is fortunate in her situation, and advocates for others who often dont have a voice. She is traveling to Los Angeles for a special Oscars viewing party on behalf of NDWA.

"I hope when people see this film they see there are many Cleos out there," Seally said. "To be able to embrace the profession as a real profession... I think would help people have more respect and dignity and encourage people to be happier about their profession."

"It's the work that happens inside of our homes that makes it possible for all of us to go out do what we do in the world every day knowing that the most precious elements of our lives are in good hands," Ai-Jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, said. "We have to change policy and politics but we also have to change culture. The fact that we've so devalued the work of caring, and the work that goes into supporting families is a cultural phenomenon."

To de Tavira, Cuaron's "Roma" "was just about time for someone to say thank you" to people who are sometimes invisible.

"We need to be grateful because -- for example, for me, that I'm here, because there is a woman that lives with me and of course a father and my own mother. But that woman is like really the one that knows everything about what about schedule's about food about everything about illness and we really share motherhood," she said.

And as for the upcoming Oscars, both de Tavira and Aparicio say they never could have dreamed that this could happen to them.

"Sometimes my friends would joke like, 'What would you say if you won an Oscar or if you were nominated?' And I was, I never even dared to joke about that. It was like so far away from any reality I could ever imagine. So really, it's, like, I don't know. I'm still waiting to wake up," said de Tavira.

"It's been amazing to get to visit new places," Aparicio said through a translator. "I've had a chance to travel all the way to the other side of the world, a thing I never expected to do."
Hate groups grow more popular even as Ku Klux Klan membership plummets: Report originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The number of hate groups in the U.S. has reached an all-time high, even as membership in the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi outfits have fallen, according to a report by a legal advocacy organization that tracks them.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's annual "Year in Hate and Extremism" report counted 1,020 hate groups in the nation, an increase of 7 percent from the 954 tallied in 2017.

The previous record for hate groups in the country was in 2011, when 1,018 were counted at the "height of a backlash" against the first black president of the U.S., Barack Obama, said Heidi Beirich, director of intelligence for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

PHOTO: Police tape is viewed around the area, Oct. 28, 2018, outside the Tree of Life Synagogue after a fatal shooting in Pittsburgh, Oct. 27, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

This year's report showed that the number of hate groups has grown for four straight years.

"This time period dovetails with [Donald] Trump's campaign and then his presidency, a period that has seen a 30 percent increase in the number of these groups," Beirich said.

(MORE: Divisive Politics Cited as Fuel for Rise in Hate Groups)

PHOTO: Local and federal authorities remove a suspicious package found at a US postal facility in Wilmington, Del., Oct. 25, 2018. A law enforcement official said suspicious packages addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden were intercepted. (David Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group as an organization that in its principles or statements from its leaders attacks or maligns an entire class of people typically for their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Several groups on the list have blasted the organization for political bias and exaggerating the threat of hate. Some organizations have also sued to have the hate-group label removed. In 2018, the SPLC publicly apologized and paid out $3.4 million to political activist Maajid Nawaz for including him on its anti-Muslim extremist list in 2016.

California, the country's most populous and solidly Democratic state, had the most hate groups with 83; followed by Florida with 75 and 73 in Texas, according to the report.

(MORE: Sen. Orrin Hatch urges Trump to speak out against hate groups)

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The report also showed the number of white nationalist groups climbed 48 percent from 100 in 2017 to 148 in 2018.

"These are basically racists who wear suits, khakis, and polos who argue for a white ethnostate, a white political space controlled by whites," Beirich said.

She said the number of black nationalists groups also jumped 13 percent from 233 in 2017 to 264 in 2018.

"These are groups that are typically anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT and anti-white. They are very different than some of the white hate groups that we talk about often and track since they have virtually no supporters or influence in mainstream politics, much less the White House," Beirich said of the black nationalist groups.

The center's report also found that for the third straight year, the number of Ku Klux Klan groups fell from 130 in 2016 to 51 in 2018, and the number of neo-Nazi groups fell 7 percent from 121 in 2017 to 112 in 2018.

"The Klan has begun to be a part of the white supremacist movement that just isn't attracting many folks to its message," Beirich said. "It's simply becoming less important, which is a big change."

The report shows as the number of hate groups has risen, so has the number of hate crimes.

The FBI shows the number of hate crime incidents reported increased about 17 percent in 2017 compared with previous year.

PHOTO: Gregory Bush is led into a courtroom for an arraignment on murder charges in Louisville, Ky., on Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. (Dylan Lovan/AP)

She pointed to a two-week period around the midterm elections in November when the country saw suspects professing to be white supremacists go on shooting rampages.

On Oct. 27, Robert Bowers, 46 -- who authorities said "made statements regarding genocide and his desire to kill Jewish people" -- shot and killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Bowers is believed to have posted his intent to commit the massacre on the social media platform Gab, which is popular with white supremacists and the alt-right, investigators said.

(MORE: KKK groups dwindle as white nationalism becomes 'hip' in 2017: Report)

On Oct. 26, Cesar Sayoc, 56, was arrested on charges of mailing more than a dozen pipe bombs to prominent Democrats, other high-profile liberal figures and CNN. Sayoc called himself a white supremacist and was found in a van plastered with pro-Trump stickers, investigators said. He has pleaded not guilty to charges.

On Oct. 24, Gregory Bush, 51, allegedly shot and killed two African-Americans at a Kroger market in Louisville, Kentucky. A grand jury charged him with murder and hate crimes because he allegedly targeted his victims based on their race, prosecutors said. Bush pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Beirich said a total of 40 people were killed in hate crimes in the U.S. and Canada in 2018.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. NCLH reported fourth-quarter 2018 earnings per share (on an adjusted basis) of 85 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of by 6 cents. Earnings also increased on a year-over-year basis.

How Was the Estimate Revision Trend?

Investors should note that the earnings estimate revisions for Norwegian Cruise Line depicted an stable picture prior to the earnings release. The stock had seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings being stagnant over the last 30 days

Nonetheless, Norwegian Cruise Line has an impressive earnings surprise history. Even before posting the earnings beat in the fourth-quarter, the company delivered positive surprises in each of the trailing four quarters. The average earnings beat was 9.8%.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Price and EPS Surprise

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Price and EPS Surprise | Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Quote

Q4 Revenue Picture

Norwegian Cruise Line recorded revenues of $1,381.19 million, marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,395.2 million. The top line, however, improved 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. The year over year improvement was due to the 15% increase in passenger ticket revenues to $958.4 million.

Key Data:Norwegian Cruise Line expects earnings per share (excluding special items) of approximately 70 cents in the first quarter of 2019. The Zacks Consensus Estimate currently stands at 57 cents per share. The company expects earnings (excluding special items) in the band of $5.20 to $5.30 for full-year 2019. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $5.15 per share.

Fuel price per metric ton, net of hedges, is projected at $456 and $465 for the first quarter and full year 2019, respectively.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Norwegian Cruise Line carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) which is subject to change following the earnings announcement. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Stock Movement: The earnings beat and the upbeat guidance pleased investors. Consequently, shares of the company were up in pre-market trading at the time of writing.

Check back later for our full write up on this Norwegian Cruise Line earnings report later!

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Today

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to isolated thunderstorms overnight. Low 74F. SSE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to isolated thunderstorms overnight. Low 74F. SSE winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea has warned that it is facing a food shortfall of some 1.4 million tons in 2019 and has been forced to almost halve rations, blaming high temperatures, drought, floods and United Nations sanctions in a memo seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The release of the undated two-page memo by the North Korean mission to the United Nations comes ahead of a second summit next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Washington has been demanding that North Korea give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States, while North Korea has been seeking a lifting of punishing sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

The 15-member U.N. Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

"The DPRK government calls on international organizations to urgently respond to addressing the food situation," read the North Korean memo, which the country's U.N. mission described as a follow-up to joint assessment with the World Food Programme between Nov. 26 and Dec. 7, 2018. WFP declined to comment.

The official name for North Korea is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The memo said North Korea's food production last year was 4.951 million tons, 503,000 tons down on 2017. The United Nations confirmed these figures as official government data provided at the end of January and said North Korea's food production included rice, wheat, potato and soy beans.

North Korea said it would import 200,000 tons of food and produce about 400,000 tons of early crops, but that it would still be left with a gap and from January would cut daily rations to 300 grams (10.5 ounces) per person from 550 grams.

U.N. officials and aid groups in North Korea are consulting with the government to "further understand the impact of the food security situation on the most vulnerable people in order to take early action to address their humanitarian needs," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.

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He said the United Nations and aid groups were only able to help one third of six million people estimated to be in need last year due to a lack of funding. A U.N. appeal for $111 million in 2018 was only a quarter funded, Dujarric said.

The United Nations estimates a total of 10.3 million people - almost half the population - are in need and some 41 percent of North Koreans are undernourished, Dujarric said.

Along with extreme weather, the North Korean memo also blames U.N. sanctions for restricting the delivery of farming materials and hindering fuel supply for the agricultural sector.

Humanitarian aid nearly ground to a halt last year as the United States stepped up the enforcement of the U.N. sanctions, even though the Security Council North Korea sanctions committee has said sanctions "are not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population."

"While Security Council sanctions clearly exempt humanitarian activities there have been unintended consequences on humanitarian operations," Dujarric said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by James Dalgleish)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - North Korea has asked UN aid agencies for help to address a looming food crisis after figures forecast a sharp drop in crop production for this year, a UN spokesman said Thursday.

Pyongyang has told the United Nations that it is facing a shortfall of 1.4 million tons in food production this year, including crops of rice, wheat, potato and soybean.

"The government has requested assistance from international humanitarian organizations present in the country to address the impact of the food security situation," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

UN agencies are holding talks with Pyongyang "to take early action in order to address humanitarian needs," he said.

Some 10.5 million North Koreans, or 41 percent of the population, are in need of food aid, according to UN figures.

The appeal from the government came ahead of a summit next week between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un to agree on steps toward ending Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missiles program.

North Korea is demanding an easing of international sanctions after it halted its nuclear and missile tests and to build trust with the United States in the diplomatic dialogue.

During a first summit in Singapore last year, North Korea agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but there has been no concrete step to dismantle its weapons program.

The United Nations maintains that maximum pressure from sanctions will remain in place until North Korea has completely scrapped its military arsenal.
By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) - The son of the Republican candidate in a disputed congressional race in North Carolina said on Wednesday he warned his father to be suspicious of a political operative now accused of running an illegal ballot operation to sway the November 2018 election. A state probe into the election for the 9th Congressional District has uncovered the fraudulent scheme by a consultant working for the campaign of candidate Mark Harris. The probe could lead to a new election to fill the seat, which has remained vacant since state officials refused to certify Harris' apparent victory over Democratic rival Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast. The five-member State Board of Elections heard evidence this week that the political consultant, Leslie McCrae Dowless, hired workers to solicit and collect absentee ballots from voters in violation of state law. Harris's son, John, told the board on Wednesday he suspected Dowless had run a similar scheme in a 2016 primary election while working for Republican U.S. House candidate Todd Johnson. John Harris expressed these concerns about Dowless and "his people" in an email to his father, he said. He also told his father that collecting ballots was a felony. "The key thing that I am fairly certain they do that is illegal is that they collect the completed absentee ballots and mail them all at once," he wrote in an email to his father on April 7, 2017, a day after Mark Harris met with Dowless. John Harris gave the board a copy of his email, which was then distributed at the public hearing. Harris said he did not believe his father or anyone in his family was aware that Dowless had engaged in any illegal ballot collecting behavior on behalf of his father. Dowless served six months in jail after he was convicted of felony fraud in 1992, court records show. Media have reported that it was insurance fraud. Andy Yates, founder and partner of consultancy Red Dome Group and Harris' top strategist, earlier this week testified that he did not know of Dowless' past criminal record when Red Dome hired him in 2017. Yates said Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballot requests, among other duties pertaining to the 2018 election, but that he never paid Dowless to collect actual ballots. Dowless' lawyer has said he did nothing wrong. State Republicans have pushed for the board to certify Harris as the district's representative. The U.S. House of Representatives would then determine whether to seat him. McCready's lawyer, Marc Elias, considered one of the nation's top election law specialists, said earlier this week the testimony had revealed "massive election fraud" that justified a new election. If Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the House after taking control of the chamber in November. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Jeffrey Benkoe and Sonya Hepinstall)
WASHINGTON  North Carolinas elections board has ordered a new election in the nations last undecided congressional race after reviewing evidence that it was tainted by absentee ballot fraud.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted 5-0 on Thursday to hold a new election in the 9th Congressional District. The board did not immediately set a schedule.

Following last Novembers election, Republican Mark Harris had held a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready in unofficial results from the district running from Charlotte through several counties to the east.

But the state refused to certify the win because of charges of absentee-ballot irregularities.

Harris said Thursday during the hearing that he thought a new election should be called  reversing months of urging state election officials to certify him as the winner.

Through the testimony Ive listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called, Harris said. Its become clear to me that the publics confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.

Harris and Democrat Dan McCready have been battling to represent the 9th Congressional District, three months after voters went to the polls Nov. 6.

In a case marked by twists and turns, Harris testified Thursday saying political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. told him his team wouldn't handle absentee ballots, which is in violation of state law.

Ill never forget. He said it again and again. He said: We do not take the ballot, Harris testified.

Harris son, John Harris, an assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina, testified Wednesday that he warned his father about some questionable practices of Dowless.

Harris, who cried as his son testified, has said he didnt know of any ballot problems.

The race is the last of the 2018 midterms to be decided. The district, which includes Charlotte, doesnt have a representative yet in the new Congress.

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Whats been going on?

The state board of elections has been holding hearings since Monday on the controversial case. Some witnesses working for Dowless testified that, among other things, they forged signatures.

Dowless refused to testify.

What are state election officials investigating?

The State Board of Elections delayed certifying election results last fall because it said it would launch an investigation into charges of voting irregularities.

Dowless, a political operative in the area, is accused of leading an effort that had workers encouraging voters to request an absentee ballot, then collecting those ballots and turning them in, which is illegal in North Carolina. The allegations led to charges of ballot tampering.

In this Dec. 5, 2018 file photo, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. poses for a portrait outside of his home in Bladenboro, N.C.

Why did the race get national attention?

The race landed in the national spotlight last November after Harris, who was leading by 905 votes, claimed the narrow win and McCready conceded. But it took a turn after charges of voter fraud surfaced.

The State Board of Elections didnt certify the election.

The North Carolina race was one of several that raised concerns about voter fraud and voter suppression by Democrats and civil rights groups. Georgia election officials had come under scrutiny after Democrats charged that they tried to suppress the rights of black voters. Civil rights groups fought back a plan last fall to close polling sites in a predominately black county in Georgia.

Why do we care?

The outcome wont change which party controls the House. Democrats have a majority in that chamber and will continue to do so this Congress.

But Democrats have made voting rights and elections a priority and are holding hearings focused on election concerns. A House elections subcommittee led by Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, is holding field hearings on elections, including one in North Carolina.

Fudge  citing North Carolina's disputed race  said she expects Republicans to support some election reforms..

They see that it is not reflecting well on any of us that we would have an election in question," Fudge said in an interview with USA TODAY last month. "It doesnt reflect well on this county that people have no confidence in our electoral system. Everybody knows something needs to be done on both sides."

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, talked about her plans for a House subcommittee on elections in her office Jan. 11, 2018.

Contributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY, and The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disputed North Carolina House race: Elections board orders new election
By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - A little known security provider at the center of a political storm over why Australia gave it a lucrative contract for a remote Pacific detention center denied on Thursday media reports of a history of improper payments and contract defaults. Less than three months ahead of an election, the controversy has put the spotlight on immigration policy, helping to shore up support for the conservative government in the face of efforts by the opposition Labor Party to ease the law. In January, the government agreed to pay A$423 million ($303.16 million) to the company, Paladin Group, for security services at a detention center in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where Australia detains hundreds of asylum seekers. But the contract has drawn scrutiny after media said Paladin left a string of bad debts and failed operations across Asia. In its first public comments on the issue, Paladin said the Australian media had erroneously linked it to a company with a name similar to a sister firm. "We reject the notion in the media that any contract with a Papua New Guinea entity is tainted by corruption  we find this notion offensive," a company director, Ian Stewart, said in a statement posted on Paladin's website. "We do not have any bad debts or failed contracts." However, the statement has not defused mounting opposition pressure for the government to explain why it invited only Paladin to bid for the contract renewal. "I have asked the Australian National Audit Office to launch an urgent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Department of Home Affairs procurement of garrison support and welfare services in Papua New Guinea," said Shayne Neuman, an opposition lawmaker. Australia has previously used corporate heavyweights with a long history of providing similar services in remote spots. Paladin, which earlier provided some limited security and cleaning services on PNG, won the Australian tender after Broadspectum, owned by a Spanish conglomerate, Ferrovial, decided not to seek renewal of a contract. The Department of Home Affairs, which oversees the Pacific detention centers, said it was forced to limit the contract tender after PNG reneged on plans to take over camp operation. A spokesman for PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neil did not immediately respond to requests for comment, though he told the domestic Post-Courier newspaper he would seek a briefing from Australia. Under Canberra's controversial asylum seeker policy, more than 1,000 asylum seekers have been held on the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru for six years after they were intercepted trying to get to Australia by boat. The laws have been widely condemned internationally but remain popular domestically. ($1=1.3953 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Warri (Nigeria) (AFP) - A Nigerian comic is making an unlikely bid for election to parliament, combining a strong social media presence with a campaign almost entirely in Pidgin to win young followers.

Mr Jollof's videos on Instagram, where he has 354,000 followers, mercilessly poke fun at the nation's politicians and lash the authorities for incompetence.

In one, he criticises lawmakers in his home state of Delta, in the oil-rich south, for failing to develop regional tourism.

"You know how much dey go Mauritius? 800,000 naira for economy ehn?" he asks in Pidgin, lamenting that the cost of a ticket to the island nation could be used closer to home.

The money would be better spent improving local villages to "go do am like Mauritius" -- bring them up to the same standard, he added.

If the 31-year-old stands out as a candidate in Saturday's elections, it's not just because his name is the same as the beloved spicy national dish.

His straight-talking persona, delivered in the language of the poor rather than the elite, has won him fans across the political divide as he campaigns in his native Warri.

"I chose Mr Jollof because everybody loves jollof rice," the comedian -- real name Freedom Atsepoyi -- told AFP.

- Pidgin politics -

Pidgin, often referred to as "broken English", is widely used in Africa's most populous country as a lingua franca understood among speakers of some 500 local languages.

It is also widely spoken across West Africa and is gaining popularity, including in the media, where the BBC even launched a dedicated Pidgin language service last year.

The country's electoral commission has appealed to voters in Pidgin to "no join election katakata" (not get involved in violence) or "ballot tiff-tiff" (ballot snatching).

It has also warned about "pikin who no reach age to vote" (under-age voting).

But adopting Pidgin as a campaign strategy has drawn criticism from Nigeria's established political class, for whom standard English is the preferred way to communicate.

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An official from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed Atsepoyi as unqualified and said government positions shouldn't be given to "learners".

Pidgin has long been associated with the poor and has been used only sparingly in Nigerian election campaigns -- even though it is mainly the poor who vote.

In Warri, a commercial hub considered the home of Nigerian Pidgin, the patois has a distinct style instantly recognisable around the country for its vibrancy.

Atsepoyi has brushed off the criticism and said it was an effective means of connecting with Nigeria's poorer masses, who are often overlooked by the major parties.

"I can come out and blow big grammar," he explained at his small campaign office in a shopping complex.

"But if the people do not understand then I have not said a thing.

"I believe the people I am going to represent in the House of Representatives understand and accept Pidgin English more."

- A new approach -

Atsepoyi is running as a candidate of the African Action Congress party (AAC), a small, new political group challenging the incumbent PDP member of parliament.

The PDP has almost total control of parliamentary seats in the state, making it a formidable opponent with a well-established party machine -- and money -- behind it.

But by shunning a more formal way of political campaigning and using language and comedy, Mr Jollof has drawn large crowds of young supporters.

He said his approach is more fitting in a country of 190 million people where the average age is just 18.

"People are tired of the old-school politicians style," said Toye Sokunbi, from Native Magazine, an online culture and music site which describes itself as "the reliable pulse of the African millennial".

"This guy is so fun and smart. He is one of the few politicians in this country to tell the truth, that's why young people like him," he added.

Despite his popularity, the odds are stacked against Atsepoyi for electoral victory this weekend. But he said he will fight all the way.

"I am not going there for the fun of it as I already have a name for myself, I just want to go there and make a change for the people of Warri," he said.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reached a preliminary election deal with two fringe religious-nationalist parties in a bid to unify his hard-line bloc ahead of April elections.

Netanyahu's Likud party announced it would reserve the 28th spot on its parliamentary list for the Jewish Home party and grant it two Cabinet ministries in a future government if it merges with the Jewish Power party.

Jewish Power is comprised of hard-line religious nationalists who have cast themselves as successors to the banned Kahanist movement, which dreamed of turning Israel into a Jewish theocracy and advocated forced removal of its Palestinians.

Recent polls project Likud winning about 30 of Parliament's 120 seats, while Jewish Home and Jewish Power may not have enough support to enter Parliament on their own. Together, the two small parties would likely cross the electoral threshold and capture several parliamentary seats.

The Jewish Home party sealed the deal in a committee vote on Wednesday, a day before parties running the April 9 parliamentary election must finalize their lineups.

Among the prominent figures in the joint Jewish Home-Jewish Power list are Bezalel Smotrich, a self-avowed "proud homophobe," Itamar Ben Gvir, an attorney who has made a career defending radical Israeli settlers implicated in West Bank violence, and Benzi Gopstein, leader of an extremist anti-assimilation group whose Twitter handle translates to "Kahane was right."

The late American-born Rabbi Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League is considered a terrorist organization by the FBI.

Ben Gvir, a member of Jewish Power, said that his faction "put personal honor aside" to prevent Netanyahu's main election rival from forming a government.

Netanyahu's gambit drew criticism from opposition politicians. Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay called the move "bankruptcy" of the Likud party's values.

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Benny Gantz, a former army chief who is Netanyahu's main challenger, criticized the prime minister's courting of extremists. His Israeli Resilience party said: "Netanyahu lost touch with his Zionism and with his dignity."

Netanyahu's move to unite right-wing nationalist parties ahead of Thursday's party list deadline was one of several last-minute negotiations across the spectrum to form broader blocs.

Gantz and Yair Lapid, a leading opposition politician and former finance minister, also spent much of Wednesday hashing out a possible centrist union.




The SNC-Lavalin controversy is showing no end in sight after taking a dramatic turn this week when the prime ministers right-hand man resigned.

Gerald Butts, a top Liberal aide and longtime friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stepped aside from his principal secretary role in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) amid allegations of political interference in the criminal court case of SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based construction giant accused of fraud and corruption.

Butts resignation comes less than a week after former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould left Trudeaus cabinet amid the controversy. Both Butts and Trudeau have denied allegations that the PMO pressured the now-former attorney general to intervene in the case of SNC-Lavalin, as reported by The Globe and Mail.

This is the biggest political crisis that the Liberals have faced since 2015 and it opens the door for all opposition parties to capitalize on that, former NDP national director Karl Belanger told Yahoo Canada. There are very serious allegations at play  This is not good news for the Liberals.

The Liberals have been running into major troubles lately, according to Belanger. Canadas ambassador to China resigned last month, a week after the Liberal candidate for the Burnaby South byelection stepped aside. Now, the Liberals are facing claims so serious that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called for a public inquiry into the matter.

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Another option for voters

Enter the NDP, a party that has been floundering in the polls since Singh took over as leader. Less than two weeks ago, pollster Nik Nanos was on CTV News discussing numbers that suggested bad news for the New Democrats. Earlier this month, Nanos Research had the NDP trailing behind the Liberals and Conservatives with only 13 per cent support nationwide.

We sort of slipped back into a period where people see the party system as a two-party system, Sanjay Jeram, senior politics lecturer at Simon Fraser University, told Yahoo Canada. [Singh] hasnt really found a way out of that.

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After 15 months as NDP leader, the former Ontario MPP is still trying to secure a seat in the House of Commons. The Feb. 25 byelection in Burnaby South  one of three scheduled for that day  could be Singhs chance to finally get some much-needed momentum heading into the fall election.

But not everyone is happy about the Scarborough, Ontario natives run for a seat in a riding he doesnt live. One Burnaby, B.C. resident ruffled feathers this week after calling out Singhs actions disgusting. In a poll conducted by Yahoo Canada, 90 per cent of readers frowned upon the idea of a politician running for a position outside his home riding.

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The pressure is on Singh to secure a victory in a seat last held by former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart. CBC News reported last month that NDP MPs warned Singh his days as leader are over if he doesnt win his byelection.

He was showing so much potential during the leadership race, but that has not materialized with the general public, at least not until now, Belanger said. I would argue that hes still a fairly unknown entity to Canadian voters. So thats a challenge, but its also an opportunity.

While Belanger admits the learning curve has been steeper than most would have expected, he adds theres still time for the NDP to turn things around.

Jeram says from what he has heard from people on the ground, the new leader is performing fairly admirably and showing dedication. Hes knocking on doors every day, Jeram revealed.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, left, places a sign on a lawn in Burnaby, B.C., in January 2019. Singh is trying to win the Burnaby South riding that was last held by former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart. Photo from The Canadian Press.

Belanger acknowledges the key to success for Singh will be showing that he can grow the party. The New Democrats won 44 seats in 2015, the second-most in the partys history.

Can Jagmeet Singh build on that and do better? That really is the litmus test for Jagmeet Singh and his long-term tenure as a leader, Belanger explained. He needs to find a way to connect with [voters] and to tell a story that they can relate to. So far, he has been unable to establish that kind of narrative.

Theres no guarantee it will be easy, but the SNC-Lavalin controversy could be the kink in Trudeaus armour that turns the tide for the NDP. Belanger says the time is now for Singh to capitalize.

The opportunity is there for the NDP to rebound and capture a share of the voters theyve lost since 2015.
Nairobi (AFP) - Profiles of key suspects in last month's terror attack in Nairobi point to the worrying rise of a new generation of Kenyan jihadists, analysts say.

Police are hunting Ali Salim Gichunge, the suspected mastermind of the January 15 attack on the Dusit hotel and office complex that left 21 dead, and Violet Kemunto Omwoyo, described as a Christian convert to Islam.

Their background and ethnic origins are starkly different from that of typical Kenyan members recruited in the past by Al-Shabaab.

Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate has mainly used recruits from Kenya's ethnic Somali community or coastal Muslim communities.

In addition, Shabaab's major previous attacks in Kenya, against the Westgate shopping mall in 2013, which left 67 dead, and the University of Garissa in 2015 in which 148 people died, were planned in Somalia.

"Unlike previous attacks that had aspects of external planning and involvement, this particular incident points to local planning," and includes converts from Christianity, a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Gichunge, believed to be aged about 23, is from central Isiolo and is the son of a Kenyan soldier. His name is from the country's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu.

Omwoyo, aged in her late twenties, is believed to be from Kisii in western Kenya.

The pair shared a home in Ruaka, northwest of the capital, where police say they found guns stashed in a hole in one of the rooms.

Police found the hideout after Gichunge was identified as the owner of a vehicle which transported the attackers to the hotel and office complex.

He was initially thought to be among those killed.

But it emerged both he and Omwoyo were on the run at the time of the operation, and had put household items up for sale in the days before the attack.

- Somalia remains epicentre -

However, there are still similarities with the Westgate and Garissa attacks.

The five Dusit attackers were all killed during the attack, and at least three of them were from Kenya's ethnic Somali community, one came from the coastal region and another has yet to be identified.

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The weapons they used were transported from Somalia via Lamu county where the Islamist group has long held a strong presence in the Boni forest, or via the Mandera town border with Somalia, according to police sources.

Investigators say that Gichunge spent time training in Somalia.

"Somalia remains the epicentre of the Shabaab movement," said Matt Bryden, an analyst with the Sahan think-tank.

However as Shabaab has spread into the region -- hitting five countries with terrorist attacks -- it "has evolved a lot", said Bryden.

In 2015, Sahan warned that to escape scrutiny, the jihadists had shifted their recruiting drive in Kenya away from the big cities of Nairobi and Mombasa to new areas, including the Rift Valley and the west of the country.

The report also noted the increasing recruitment of Christian converts, notably due to the granting of bursaries for Islamic Studies, and of girls and young women.

In this light, Bryden said the involvement of suspects such as Gichunge and Omwoyo was not a surprise but rather a sign that Shabaab's recruitment strategy in Kenya was paying off.

"What we have is a generation that is coming of age. They have just proved that they are able to organise rather complex operations," he said.

- Anti-Somali rhetoric -

The jihadists were recruited by the Kenyan branch of Shabaab, known as Al-Hijra, which the US State Department says has openly recruited in Kenya and facilitated transport to Somalia for "terrorism purposes".

"These are people who know Kenya well, they know the language well, and they can move around the country quite easily," as they do not look ethnically Somali, a Kenyan human rights activist said on condition of anonymity.

The Somali people mainly live in Somalia, but large populations also live in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The new jihadists are radicalised in "areas which are not closely watched" and "they use hideouts in places where the police will not expect them," the source said.

They can do this because of what Human Rights Watch researcher Otsieno Namwaya said is the "ethnic profiling" of jihadists in the country.

"In the minds of many Kenyans, Shabaab are necessarily from the Somali community. The reason for this is they have been blinded by the anti-Somali rhetoric of the government," said Nanwaya.

He referred, among other things, to the government's efforts in 2016 to justify closing the Dadaab refugee camp in the east of the country -- home mostly to Somalis -- by claiming it was there the Westgate attack was planned.

"We're not having the discussions we should have about the reasons that push some Kenyans to radicalise, precisely because we're not asking the right questions," said Namwaya.
Washington (AFP) - North Carolina officials on Thursday ordered a new congressional election after the contest -- the last undecided race in the US House of Representatives -- was tainted by fraud accusations.

The southeastern state's board of elections voted to hold a new House race in the 9th District after Republican candidate Mark Harris, who is accused of hiring an operative involved in an absentee ballot tampering scheme, dramatically reversed course and called for a new vote.

Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in uncertified returns in the district.

"It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted," Harris told the board of elections.

The five-member panel said it voted unanimously for a new election and will set the date at a subsequent meeting.

McCready hailed the move as "a great step forward for democracy in North Carolina."

In earlier testimony, Harris had maintained he was unaware of any absentee ballot tampering, and had suggested there was a Democratic plot afoot to deny him a seat in Congress.

On Wednesday his own son John Harris, a federal prosecutor, testified that he had warned his father about hiring the operative, McCrae Dowless.

"In weighing it out, I did not consider John's to be a warning that this was a problem," the elder Harris said. "I just believed he was over-reacting."

According to press reports, Dowless was responsible for the collection of incomplete absentee ballots from voters in at least one county.

Harris reportedly won 61 percent of the absentee ballots in rural Bladen County -- the only county in the district where mail-in ballots favored the Republican.

Democrats seized control of the US House in January following the November 2018 mid-terms, dealing a major blow to Republican President Donald Trump's ability to push his legislative agenda through Congress.

Cases of outright US electoral fraud are rare despite Trump's claims following the 2016 presidential election that "millions" of people had voted illegally.
A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the Small Heath area of Birmingham (PA)

Police in Birmingham have launched a murder investigation after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death on Wednesday night  the second teenager killed in the city in a week.

The teenager, who has not yet been named, was discovered with fatal injuries on Herbert Road in Small Heath, Birmingham, at around 8pm on Wednesday, West Midlands Police said.

The boy had suffered serious stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 15-year-old boy was treated by paramedics after he was assaulted and suffered minor injuries, the force added.

On Thursday, a wide police cordon surrounded Sara Park, its childrens play area and several nearby streets, with a few officers guarding the scene visible from the barrier tape.

The boy had suffered serious stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene (PA)

In the early hours of Monday, a 22-year-man was stabbed during a fight outside the Karahi King takeaway in Coventry Road, just a few yards away from the park.

The latest attack comes just seven days after 16-year-old student Sidali Mohamed, who had fled war-torn Somalia with his family as a toddler, was stabbed outside Joseph Chamberlain College in Balsall Heath, a few minutes drive from the latest attack.

His life support machine was turned off two days later and police arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder.

MORE: Gas hobs in your kitchen to be banned within six years to meet emission targets

MORE: Donald Trump bars Alabama woman who joined Isis from returning to the United States

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: Detectives have launched a murder investigation after a teenager was discovered with fatal injuries in Birmingham last night.

Officers were called to Herbert Road, Small Heath, at around 8pm.

A 16-year-old boy was found critically injured having suffered stab wounds. Despite the best efforts of medics he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another teenager was assaulted during the incident (PA)

A 15-year-old boy was assaulted and suffered minor injuries, he was treated at the scene.

A cordon has been put in place while enquiries are carried out in the area.

Story continues

One Birmingham MP said she would be seeking emergency meetings with Home Secretary Sajid Javid in light of the recent spate of knife crime.

Birmingham Yardley Labour MP Jess Phillips tweeted: Waking up to news of another young man murdered on edge of my constituency.

Will seek emergency meetings with Home Sec & we are already meeting with Local Govt ministers next week.

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They hollowed away our youth services/early intervention, they must make reparations to my community.

Residents and councillors have also expressed their shock and concern at another stabbing on their doorstep.

City councillor Zaheer Khan, whose Small Heath ward borders the scene, said the boys death represented another victim of knife crime, and was a tragic loss.

Last summer, we had a spate of stabbings and murders in Small Heath, he said.

Personally, since those incidents, I have written to police several times about a lack of visible police presence.

I feel that lack of police resources means people believe they can do whatever they want.

Police have said a cordon is in place while inquiries are carried out in the area (PA)

Yasmin Akhtar, a support worker who lives locally and has a 10-year-old son, said she feared for his safety after the murder.

She said: I have a son and I really fear what is going to happen to him. Is it safe where were living? Its such a shame.

The 44-year-old, who had come to the police cordon surrounding the park, added: My son goes to the school just here, by the park, Regents Park Primary, right by here.

Last week, we had that young lad who died at Joseph Chamberlain (College), and another stabbing up the road. Its a joke.

Investigators are combing the area for evidence (PA)

Detective Chief Inspector Edward Foster, from the forces homicide team, said on Thursday: The investigation is in its early stages and we are keen to hear from anyone who was in Herbert Road or Sara Park at just before 8pm last night.

A teenager has sadly lost his life and another was assaulted. We are working hard to establish the circumstances around what happened.

Police have said a cordon is in place while inquiries are carried out in the area.

The force is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

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WASHINGTON  President Donald Trumps legal team is bracing for the imminent delivery of special counsel Robert Muellers report on the nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lead attorney Rudy Giuliani said Thursday.

Giuliani told USA TODAY that it's been weeks since Muellers team has contacted the presidents attorneys, and there has been no further discussion about obtaining additional testimony from the president for about a month.

He said the extended period of silence has the presidents lawyers preparing for Muellers required notification to new Attorney General William Barr that the special counsels work has been completed.

We expect something in the next two weeks, Giuliani said.

He said the legal team has been preparing a report of its own that, depending on Muellers findings, may be made public.

Rudy Giuliani in the East Room of the White House on July 9, 2018, in Washington.

If (Mueller) clears the president, we walk away and say, Thank you. If it is damaging, then we will respond, he said.

A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment on the timing of the final report. Thursday, spokesman Peter Carr also declined to describe the Mueller team's interactions with the president's lawyers.

Last month, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said the inquiry was close to being completed."

The statement by Whitaker, who had been overseeing the investigation since he was elevated to the temporary post in November, marked the first time anyone familiar with its inner workings had offered even a hint in public of its likely trajectory. He did not elaborate.

Trump said he would defer to his new attorney general on whether the report should be made public.

Trump said that decision was "totally up to" Barr.

Justice Department officials declined to discuss the matter.

Department rules require that Mueller submit a confidential report to the attorney general when his work is done.

According to the rules, the confidential report must explain why he filed the charges he did and why he might have declined to bring charges. It would be up to the attorney general to provide a summary of the report to submit to Congress.

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Barr cast doubt on what part of the document, if any, would be released to the public.

During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Barr told lawmakers he couldn't commit to releasing Mueller's report in full. Neither was he clear on whether he would permit Mueller to testify to Congress about his work. He said he wanted to be transparent about Mueller's findings but offered few details.

"Where judgments are to be made by me, I will make those judgments based solely on the law and department policy and will let no personal, political or other improper interests influence my decision," Barr told the Senate panel.

More: William Barr sworn in as attorney general, takes charge of investigations of the president

More: Robert Mueller has spent two years investigating Trump, and he hasn't said a word. It's possible he never will.

Though Giuliani said he believes Trump remains "a subject" of Mueller's investigation, he has "never been told" that the president is a target of the inquiry.

Trump provided written responses to questions from Mueller's team, and Giuliani said that exchange is over.

"We are not going to consider any more questions," Giuliani said. "There is no subject that they (investigators) don't now have a complete picture of."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mueller's Russia investigation: Trump's legal team braces for report, hasn't talked with special counsel in 'weeks'
Michael Cohens lawyer says that his client plans on revealing some chilling details about what it was like to work in the Trump Organisation boardroom for nearly a decade, before Donald Trump became president.

He needs to tell his personal story to the American people, Lanny Davis, Cohens attorney, told ABC News.

He continued: And when he does, youre going to hear personal, front-line experiences of memories, and incidents, and conduct, and comments that Donald Trump said over that 10-year time period behind closed doors that, to me when I first heard Michael tell me all this, even as much as I knew about Trump that was negative, was chilling.

During his interview, Mr Davis said that Cohen will discuss Mr Trumps behaviour as a private businessman.

He treats people badly, Mr Davis said of Mr Trump. He has no moral character in defrauding people in his businesses, and going bankrupt, and taking cash out, and putting people out of work. He lacks the moral compass that we expect in our presidents.

Cohen has indicated that he will testify before closed sessions of the Senate and House intelligence committees, and that he will also testify in public before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

He is expected to report to prison on 6 March, after pleading guilty to six felonies in August. Those charges were related to his personal business dealings, and included making false statements to a bank, tax evasion, and felony campaign finance violations.

In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress after it was disclosed that he misled politicians about the timeline of talks for a real estate project in Moscow.
Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday voiced full backing for European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in a widening row with Hungary's hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Separately, Manfred Weber, the leading candidate of the European Parliament's dominant centre-right bloc EPP, also took Juncker's side in the rift roiling the conservative group.

Both Juncker and Orban's parties are part of the EPP, but the Hungarian government on Tuesday launched a new anti-immigration media campaign accusing the commission president and US philanthropist George Soros of allegedly supporting illegal migration.

As the direct attacks fuelled calls for Orban's Fidesz party to be expelled from the European People's Party (EPP) bloc ahead of May's European parliament elections, Merkel clearly voiced whose side she was on.

"Jean-Claude Juncker has my full solidarity and we will make that clear too in our talks with Hungary," the German leader told journalists.

Later Thursday, Weber of Merkel's Bavarian allies the CSU also warned Orban that "he is currently moving further away from the EPP."

Orban's latest campaign against Juncker has sparked "incomprehension and anger" within the EPP group of parties, Weber told Sueddeutsche daily, adding that "some formulations are unacceptable".

Orban cannot be part of the EPP while "campaigning against the EPP commission president in office," warned Weber, in a sharp change in tone vis-a-vis the Hungarian leader.

The leading German candidate of the EPP's election campaign had previously defended the bloc's decision to allow Orban's Fidesz to swell its ranks in the Strasbourg assembly.

Juncker had already said last year that Orban's party has no place in the EPP.

Orban's government, which has frequently clashed with the EU on migration, has regularly undertaken similar campaigns in the past, including "Let's Stop Brussels" and "Don't let Soros have the last laugh."

In recent years, Orban has blasted the Hungarian-born Soros, 88, as a "public enemy" for allegedly backing uncontrolled mass immigration.
David Axe

Security,

Is this the fighter India needs?

Meet the 'New' F-21 Fighter: An F-16 On Steroids (With F-22 and F-35 DNA)?

Lockheed Martin in mid-February 2019 offered to sell India a new fighter the company calls the "F-21."

Only it doesn't look like a new fighter at all. The F-21 looks like an F-16.

In fact, the F-21 is an F-16 that Lockheed has upgraded with new cockpit displays, conformal fuel tanks, a larger airframe spine that can accommodate additional electronics, fittings for towed radar decoys, a new infrared sensor and a refueling probe that's compatible with India's Russian-made aerial tankers.

"The F-21 addresses the Indian air forces unique requirements," Lockheed stated.

The rebranding raises an important question. At what point do upgrades transform an old fighter into a new fighter?

It isn't a purely academic question. The number of different fighter types that a country simultaneously can produce is a useful marker of that country's war-making capacity.

India for years has been struggling to replace a large fleet of old, Russian-made warplanes. In 2018 the Indian air force operated 244 1960s-vintage MiG-21s and 84 MiG-27s that are only slightly younger.

The MiG-21s, in particular, are accident-prone . Since the first of 874 MiG-21s entered Indian service in 1963, around 490 have crashed, killing around 200 pilots.

New Delhi wants to spend around $18 billion building 115 new fighters to replace the old MiGs. The new planes would fly alongside European-designed Jaguars, French Mirage 2000s and Rafales, Russian MiG-29s and Su-30s, and India's own indigenous Tejas fighter in what Lockheed described as "the worlds largest fighter aircraft ecosystem."

Competitors for the 115-plane purchase include the F-21, Boeing's F/A-18E/F, the Rafale, the European Typhoon, the Swedish Gripen E and the Russian MiG-35 and Su-35. Indian companies would assemble the new jets on license.

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Lockheed initially implied India could follow an acquisition of F-21s with a separate purchase of the company's F-35 stealth fighters.

"The F-21 has common components and learning from Lockheed Martins fifth-generation F-22 and F-35 and will share a common supply chain on a variety of components," Lockheed stated on its website on the morning of Feb. 20, 2019.

A few hours later, that claim disappeared from the site.

For the purposes of Lockheed's marketing campaign, the F-21 is a new fighter, although it shares many of its major features with the F-16V the company has sold to Bahrain, Greece, Slovakia, South Korea and Taiwan. Lockheed can build new F-16Vs or upgrade older F-16s to the V-standard.

Still, renaming the F-16V isn't only semantic. An F-16V or F-21 is a radically different warplane compared to the F-16A that first flew in 1978. The F-16A is a nimble, eight-ton fighter with an unsophisticated radar and short-range weapons. The F-16V weighs 10 tons, boasts a cutting-edge radar and other sensors and carries a wide array of long-range weaponry, all at the cost of maneuverability.

The only thing an F-16A and an F-16V have in common to any meaningful degree is their basic shape. So why not call the F-16V something different?

U.S. officials at one time deliberately stuck with an old designation for a new plane, all in an effort to make a program seem less risky than it actually was.

After canceling several fighter programs on cost grounds in the early 1990s, the U.S. Navy tapped Boeing to develop a new fighter with the same basic shape as the existing F/A-18, but with a larger fuselage and wing and more powerful engines and sensors.

The Navy called the new plane the "F/A-18E/F." But in every way that mattered, it was a new fighter with different capabilities than the original F/A-18 possessed.

Likewise, the Pentagon acquired three separate stealth fighters with the F-35 designation -- the land-based F-35A, the vertically-landing F-35B and the carrier-based F-35C.

The three F-35 "variants" share very few design elements outside of their cockpits. Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, then the head of the F-35 program office, in 2016 told a seminar audience that the F-35 models are only 20- to 25-percent common.

The danger in not giving a new fighter a new designation is in the impression it creates. In early 2019 China manufactured several fighter types with the basic airframe of the Russian Su-27. Each type has a unique designation. J-11. J-15. J-16.

Add in other fighter types that China was developing at the same time and it would be accurate to say that the country simultaneously made a dozen different fighters for domestic and foreign markets.

By contrast, the United States appeared to make fewer fighter types. After all, as of early 2019 only the F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and F-35 were in production at American factories. And three of the types first appeared in the 1970s or 1980s.

The American tendency to cling to old designations created that false impression. In reality, U.S. companies in early 2019 produced at least six modern fighters types.

They include an advanced F-15 variant that Boeing offered to the U.S. Air Force as the "F-15X" and a new F/A-18E/F model that has almost nothing in common with Boeing's 1980s-vintage F/A-18A/B.

Lockheed meanwhile made three kinds of F-35 plus the F-16V. Or "F-21," if you will.

New Delhi could select its new fighter in 2019. If it picks the F-21 and opts to keep Lockheed's designation for the type, it rightfully could claim to be the first operator of a brand-new fighter.

Even if that fighter appears to the casual observer to be just another old F-16.

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels War Fix, War Is Boring and Machete Squad.

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Marcus & Millichap (MMI) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.66 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.51 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.51 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 29.41%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this commercial real estate brokerage firm would post earnings of $0.46 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.53, delivering a surprise of 15.22%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

Marcus & Millichap, which belongs to the Zacks Real Estate - Development industry, posted revenues of $230.28 million for the quarter ended December 2018, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.24%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $202.78 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Marcus & Millichap shares have added about 15.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 10.9%.

What's Next for Marcus & Millichap?

While Marcus & Millichap has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

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Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Marcus & Millichap was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.53 on $180 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.17 on $819.60 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Real Estate - Development is currently in the bottom 39% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.



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Greater Manchester Police said they had arrested someone in connection with the racist graffiti (PA)

A 54-year-old man has pleaded guilty to daubing racist graffiti on the door of a father and sons home in Salford.

Vaughan Dowd, 54, of Irlam Square, Salford, pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court after being arrested and charged with criminal damage and racially aggravated criminal damage, earlier in the day.

It followed an incident which made headlines as much for the response of the police as well as the incident itself.

Jackson Yamba reported the abhorrent crime to the GMP after the words NO BLACKS, visible in dripped white paint, were painted on his family door.

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When Mr Yamba said he was told there were not enough staff when he contacted GMP on February 8, Mr Hopkins replied: That is frankly just not good enough.

He said it took a week for the police to respond.

Mr Yamba posted the image on Twitter and said: How do I assure my traumatised 10 year old that he is safe in his home?

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After taking to social media, chief constable Ian Hopkins said he had only just become aware of the appalling crime and apologised for the lack of response.

There may have been other issues at the time, but we should have followed up quickly. Its an appalling crime you and your family have suffered.

After taking to Twitter, Mr Yamba and his son received many messages of support.

A GoFundMe page was set up for Jackson and his son (Jackson Yamba)

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help the pair replace their door, and exceeded its 1,000 target in less than six hours.

And they were invited to be special guests at a local rugby match and meet the Salford Red Devils.

On Thursday, Mr Yamba took to Twitter again to say thank you for the support following the arrest.

Just a quick update. The suspect has been arrested this morning by Greater Manchester Police, he wrote.

My son I are very grateful for your ongoing support, kind messages and solidarity displayed across Salford, the Country and all over the world.

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Jerusalem (AFP) - The two main challengers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an April poll announced an electoral alliance on Thursday in a bid to defeat him.

Benny Gantz, a respected former armed forces chief of staff, and centrist politician Yair Lapid said in statements they would form a joint list for the April 9 election and rotate as prime minister if they won.

Gantz heads his recently launched centrist Israel Resilience party, while Lapid leads Yesh Atid, which currently holds 11 of the 120 seats in parliament.

Opinion polls have shown the two as the main challengers to Netanyahu, who has been expected to win despite corruption investigations into his affairs.

Gantz has been the target of repeated barbs from the prime minister for being a "weak" leftist, which he had brushed off, drawing criticism that he lacked a fighting spirit.

But in a campaign speech in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, he hit back at Netanyahu chiding him for his long years studying and working in the United States, and accusing him of becoming "addicted to the pleasures of power, corruption and hedonism."

Former defence minister Moshe Yaalon had previously joined Israel Resilience and another former chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, will also join the new alliance, their statements said.

"Out of a sense of deep national responsibility, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and Moshe Yaalon decided on the creation of a unified list which will serve as Israels new party of government," the statement from Yesh Atid said.

"The party will put forward a new leadership team which will guarantee the security of Israel and will reunite the divided elements of Israeli society."

Netanyahu has been prime minister for around 13 years in all and currently leads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

His Likud party issued a grim warning following the merger.

"The choice is clear: it's either a leftwing Lapid-Gantz government with the support of the Arab parties, or a rightwing government led by Netanyahu," a statement said.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu brokered a controversial agreement that united three small ultra-right parties in a bid to boost the number of seats held by the right and far-right following the April vote.

Thursday night is the deadline for submitting party lists for the election.
President Trump reacted Thursday to the news that Jussie Smollett has been charged with falsifying a police report about a racist and homophobic attack by men allegedly shouting MAGA country!

What about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA Trump tweeted, referring to his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.

Smollett was taken into custody by police in Chicago early Thursday, three weeks after the Empire actor claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack. Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct for falsifying a police report, a Class 4 felony that is punishable for up to 3 years in prison.

He originally told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was leaving a Subway fast food restaurant near his apartment in Chicago around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. Smollett, who is black and gay, initially said the men shouted racist and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him and tied a rope around his neck.

Smollett claimed the alleged attackers yelled MAGA country!

Police later identified and questioned two persons of interest captured on surveillance video near the scene around the time of the alleged attack. The men, brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, told police that Smollett paid them $3,500 to help orchestrate and stage the crime after he became upset that a threatening letter  addressed to him and sent to the Fox set where Empire is filmed  did not get enough attention.

Jussie Smollett and President Trump. (Photos: RTNSadou/MediaPunch /IPX/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The crude letter also had MAGA written on it. Police said Thursday that they believe Smollett sent the letter to himself.

Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career, Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a press conference. This stunt was orchestrated by Smollett because he was dissatisfied with his salary.

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Johnson was asked by reporters what he would consider justice in Smolletts case.

Absolute justice would be an apology to this city that he smeared, admitting what he did, Johnson said.

Trumps tweet was the first time the president had weighed on the case since expressing shock when it was first reported. But his son Donald Trump Jr. and other conservative figures have been criticizing the medias coverage of the Smollett case.

Has anyone set the over-under on how long it will take Jussie Smollett and his Hollywood/Media enablers to find a way to blame America and society for his disreputable actions? Trump Jr. tweeted Wednesday. We all know its only a matter of time."

___

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LONDON (AP)  Shamima Begum, a London teenager who left Britain four years ago to join the Islamic State group, is to be stripped of her U.K. citizenship by the government, her family's lawyer said Tuesday.

Attorney Tasnime Akunjee tweeted that the family is "very disappointed with the Home Office's intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship."

He said the family is "considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision."

ITV News reported that the family had received a letter from the Home Office, which oversees immigration, saying that the order revoking Begum's British citizenship had already been made. The letter said Begum could appeal the decision.

Begum left London with two friends in 2015, when she was 15, and traveled to Syria. Now 19 and living in a refugee camp, she says she has given birth to a baby and wants to come home.

The case has reignited a debate in the U.K. about how to deal with citizens who joined IS but want to return home now that the group is on the verge of collapse. U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded that European countries take back their citizens who fought in Syria, but European nations are worried about security.

Begum was found this month by The Times newspaper in a refugee camp in Syria. She said she had fled the Islamic State group's last enclave.

The teenager said she had married an IS fighter, had lost two children through malnutrition and disease, and wanted her newly born baby boy to grow up in Britain.

In a series of interviews with British media, she criticized some aspects of the Islamic State group and its self-proclaimed caliphate, but said she does not regret going there.

She said she had been "OK with" beheadings carried out by Islamic State adherents because she believed it was allowed under Islamic law.

"I think a lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I've been through," she told Sky News. "I just was hoping that maybe for me, for the sake of me and my child, they let me come back."

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Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who oversees immigration, said Monday he would not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who traveled abroad to join IS.

The British government has the power to remove citizenship on national-security grounds, though not if it would make the individual stateless. It was not immediately clear whether Begum has a second nationality.

Javid told lawmakers on Monday that more than 100 dual nationals had been stripped of their U.K. citizenship for terrorism-related reasons.

Hundreds of Britons have already returned from IS-controlled areas. Some have been prosecuted, and others put through deradicalization programs.

British officials say about 900 Britons went to areas of Syria and Iraq that were controlled by the group. Of those, around 20 percent were killed, and about half of the survivors have returned to Britain.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP)  Congressional Democrats from Florida and Texas on Tuesday toured a migrant camp, where they said children are being held for too long in a place that has a "prison-like" feeling.

The lawmakers held a news conference after visiting a facility in Homestead, Florida. They pledged to work for children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border to reunite with their families already in the U.S. The Democrats say those who cross with siblings, aunts or uncles should remain together.

Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell says she met a girl who was separated from her aunt and had been at the center for nine months. Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, the chairman of the Hispanic caucus, was part of the delegation.

"What we saw today as we visited the facility was very troubling. It had a prison-like feeling," said Mucarsel-Powell, whose district includes Homestead, a Miami suburb.

Mucarsel-Powell said she does not want teenagers "aging out" at the facilities and handed over to immigration agents when they turn 18. Also, lawmakers said labeling the migrant children as "unaccompanied" like the government does is misleading because some children are arriving with relatives who are not their parents.

Federal requirements implemented last year mandated more stringent background checks on their families, which slowed the children's release to family members. The average length of stay at Homestead went up from 25 days last June to 67 days last December.

The government has said the facility can expand to house up to 2,350 children. Plans for Homestead's expansion were announced at the same time authorities announced the closure of a controversial detention camp in Tornillo, Texas, which shut down in January after months of protests by immigrant advocates and politicians. The Homestead camp is now the only temporary facility in use.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offered a press tour last week, showing a large room where 144 teenagers slept in bunks, and portable toilets were housed in adjacent tents. The children walked in groups of 10 to 15 in single file, usually led by a uniformed employee.

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The employees do not undergo state screenings for child abuse and neglect, and the facility can operate unlicensed because it is located on federal property  a former Labor Department Job Corps site.

The company that runs the center is Comprehensive Health Services, which is part of Virginia-based Caliburn. Officials say it costs the government $750 per child per day at a temporary facility.

U.S. Rep. Michael C. Burgess, a Republican lawmaker from Texas, released a statement saying he also toured the Homestead facility on Tuesday and "was pleased to see children receiving excellent care."
On Wednesdays The Ingraham Angle, the host, Laura Ingraham, and a frequent contributor on the show, Raymond Arroyo, took issue with the furor over a 1971 Playby interview of John Wayne that resurfaced this week because of controversial statements made by the actor.

In the interview, Wayne stated, among other things, I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.

Arroyo, an author and journalist, said that people shouldnt judge the past in light of shifting moral, ethic and cultural codes of today. Ingraham agreed and took the argument a step further.

Theyre either defacing statues or pulling them down, Ingraham said of todays critics of Wayne. This is what the Taliban does. The Taliban used to rip down historical markers, destroy churches. ISIS did the same thing, does the same thing. They dont want any vestige of what was. Even if its bad, they dont want any vestige; even if its good, they dont want it.

Some viewers on Twitter didnt necessarily agree with this assessment.

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Others seemed to enjoy the dialogue Ingraham and Arroyo were engaging in.

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Before ending the segment, Arroyo did offer some other options for critics.

Theyre impugning America, he said. If you want to settle a racist score, if you want to settle scores, talk to Jussie Smollett. Go talk to the governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia, theyve got plenty of scores to settle there.

Check out what The View had to say about an internet conspiracy theory involving Whoopi Goldberg hosting this years Oscars:

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on lawsuits against the Trump administration over a border wall (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The Trump administration is facing another lawsuit over the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. court in San Francisco that there is no emergency to justify the president's action. It accuses President Donald Trump and other members of his administration of violating Constitutional limits on their authority.

California and 15 other states have also sued Trump on similar grounds.

Trump declared an emergency to obtain wall funding beyond money Congress approved for border security.

He has criticized California's lead role in the multistate lawsuit by comparing the border wall to the state's cancelled high-speed rail line.

___

6:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is criticizing California's lead role in a multistate lawsuit challenging his emergency declaration to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

On Twitter Tuesday, Trump noted last week's decision by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Trump claims the "failed Fast Train project" was beset by "world record setting" cost overruns and had become "hundreds of times more expensive than the desperately needed Wall!"

Trump complained about the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco. He incorrectly identified the plaintiffs as "16 cities" but later corrected that to "16 states."

California and 15 other states are parties to the suit filed Monday that alleges that Trump's declaration is unconstitutional.

Trump declared an emergency to obtain wall funding beyond money Congress approved for border security.
The Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly faking his own purported attack and faces up to three years in jail if convicted - the latest twist to a real-life drama that has gripped the nation.

Three weeks after the 36-year-old actor filed a police report saying he had been attacked in Chicago by two masked men who hurled homophobic and racist abuse at him, police said Smollett was now being treated as a suspect rather than a victim.

The actor has been charged by Cook County States Attorneys Office with disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives were now looking to arrest Smollett.

Felony criminal charges have been approved by Cook County states attorneys office against Jussie Smollett for disorderly conduct/filing a a false police report, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter. Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.

There was no immediate comment from Smolletts lawyers, or his agent, over the charges statement.

In their latest comment, released at the weekend, they said the actor was angered and victimised by reports he may have played a role in staging the attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, said in a statement.

Smollett, who is black and came out as gay in 2015, made a tearful appearance on Good Morning America this month and said he had been forever changed by the alleged attack.

He said: I will never be the man who this didnt happen to.

I am forever changed and I dont subscribe to the idea that everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us, good and bad.

Asked what message he wanted to send by speaking about the attack, he replied: I want young people, young members of the LGTBQ community, young black children, to know how strong they are, to know the power they hold in their little pinky.

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Smollett has starred in Foxs musical drama Empire since 2015. He plays Jamal, the gay son of a music mogul, played by Terrence Howard.

Earlier on Wednesday, 20th Century Fox Television said it was standing by the star and offered its support.

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, the company said in a statement.

Reports said that Smolletts lawyers met with Cook County prosecutors earlier during the day. One report said the actor has not provided a follow-up interview to police, although they had now asked for one.

The Washington Post said while police had not publicly discussed the new evidence that prompted them to request a follow-up interview, the information emerged from interviews with two individuals who were arrested by officers last week and released on Friday without being charged. Police say at least one of the two men  brothers of Nigerian descent  worked on the show.

The men were questioned after surveillance camera footage showed they were walking on a sidewalk near where Smollett said he was assaulted. The case took another turn on Tuesday after Chicago police began investigating a claim that Smollett was seen inside his apartment building with the two men. That proved to be a false lead.

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The saga surrounding Smolletts claim that he was attacked exposed a cultural fault line within the country, especially after inconsistencies about his story grew. Many initially said the incident underscored the toxic environment confronting people of colour in the US, and sought to blame Donald Trump and his rhetoric for fuelling such a situation with his frequently racist rhetoric.

By contrast, as reports revealed police in Chicago were struggling to substantiate the actors claims, many on the right used the incident to attack the media and progressives.

One of the most outspoken of those, was the presidents eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, who repeatedly questioned why people from Hollywood who had denounced the reported attack, had not then admitted they were wrong.

He recently tweeted: Has anyone set the over-under on how long it will take Jussie Smollett and his Hollywood/Media enablers to find a way to blame America and society for his disreputable actions? We all know its only a matter of time.
Washington (AFP) - An angry US judge issued a gag order on Thursday on Roger Stone after the former advisor to Donald Trump posted a picture of her on Instagram with crosshairs in the background.

Stone, 66, is charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction stemming from his contacts with WikiLeaks, which published Russian-hacked communications from Democrat Hillary Clinton's camp during the 2016 election campaign.

Stone has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which resulted from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether the president's campaign colluded with Russia.

Stone was ordered to appear in court by US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson after he posted the inflammatory picture of her on his Instagram account several days ago.

A caption accompanying the image said Jackson was an "Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges again(st) Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime."

During Thursday's hearing, Stone apologized to the judge for what he called a "stupid lack of judgment" and appeared to blame an unnamed assistant for the offensive Instagram post.

"I am kicking myself for my own stupidity, but not more than my wife is kicking me," he said.

Jackson was having none of it and after saying his apology rings "quite hollow" she ordered him not to communicate publicly about the case anymore.

Jackson told him she was giving him a "second chance" but warned that he would not get another and could face prison time if he violates the gag order.

Stone left court without speaking to reporters.

Jackson had imposed a partial gag order on Stone last week, telling him not to speak to the media or make public statements around the courthouse or in its immediate vicinity.

Stone's court appearances have been rowdy affairs featuring supporters and opponents and a large media contingent.

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Stone pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington last month to the seven charges against him. He is the sixth campaign associate of Trump indicted by Mueller's team.

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 Republican 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 office has indicted a total of 34 people -- including Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager -- but so far, no charges of outright collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow have been filed.
Jean-Claude Juncker made his damning assessment of Brexit the morning after talks with Theresa May. (PA Images)

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said today that Brexit is the past and that he has Brexit fatigue.

Speaking to the European Economic and Social Committee the morning after talks with Theresa May, Mr Juncker called Brexit a disaster, blaming the gridlock in the House of Commons.

He said: Brexit is deconstruction, it is not construction. Brexit is the past, it is not the future.

We are trying to deliver our best efforts in order to have this Brexit being organised in a proper, civilised, well-thought-out way.

But we are not there, because in the British Parliament there is, every time they are voting, a majority against something, there is never a majority in favour of something.

The UK is set to leave in EU of 29 March 2019.

The head of the EC said he is not optimistic that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided, spelling out the consequences of Britains departure without a deal.

If a no-deal would happen  and I cant exclude this  this would have terrible economic and social consequences, both in Britain and on the continent, and so my efforts orient in a way that the worst can be avoided.

But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue.

The damning assessment does not bode well for the Prime Ministers plan to reopen the Brexit negotiations and negotiate concessions from the EU in order to get her deal through Parliament.

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Mrs May was in Brussels last night for further talks with Mr Juncker in yet another attempt to wrestle concessions out of the EU.

The PM is trying to persuade the 27 to make changes to the Irish backstop agreement contained within the deal she negotiated with them.

A joint statement released yesterday by Mr Juncker and Mrs May said that talks had been constructive but offered little detail about any concrete progress.

Brexiteers say the backstop will trap the UK into abiding by rules made in Brussels and that Britain needs to have the power to terminate the backstop when they choose.

The EU has said multiple times it is not willing to renegotiate and that avoiding a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is their priority.

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Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox are in Brussels to try and break the impasse over the backstop issue.

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MILAN (AP)  Italy's state railway has confirmed it is in talks with Delta Air Lines and EasyJet as possible industrial partners in relaunching the troubled Alitalia airline.

The state railway was given a lead role in taking over Alitalia, which struggled amid competition from low-cost carriers and has failed to come up with a sustainable plan to establish Italy's flagship airline as a long-haul player.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte's office said in a separate statement on Wednesday that it is ready to participate in establishing a new company to run Alitalia as long as the new business plan is sustainable and follows European guidelines.

Italy's government has been shopping around Alitalia's assets since the airline declared its latest bankruptcy two years ago.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 27, Netanyahu's office said on Thursday, with the focus likely to be on Middle East issues led by Syria. The two leaders had been scheduled to meet this week, but that was postponed, with no reason give. At the time, the Kremlin said Netanyahu and Putin were to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including Syria. Thursday's statement offered no further details. Israel's air force has repeatedly attacked what it describes as Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including Lebanons Hezbollah. The air strikes have long caused friction between Israel and Russia, which apart from Iran is Syrian President Bashar al-Assads other major foreign backer. Israeli officials have spoken in the past of an agreement with Moscow under which they have made clear their strikes on Syria would not threaten Assad, while Russia has promised to help limit Iranian influence near the Israeli frontier. A hotline set up since 2015 is aimed at ensuring Russian forces in Syria are not surprised by Israeli attacks. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Washington (AFP) - An unmanned rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel's Beresheet spacecraft, aiming to make history twice: as the first private-sector landing on the Moon, and the first from the Jewish state.

The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet, which means "Genesis" in Hebrew, lifted off at 8:45 pm (0145 GMT Friday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Takeoff was followed live back in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watching alongside engineers at the control center of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

So far, only Russia, the United States and China have made the 384,000-kilometer (239,000-mile) journey and landed spacecraft on the Moon.

"This is a very proud moment," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying.

"True, along with China, Russia and the US, we constitute about one-third of the world's population, but our contribution is vast, regardless of our small size. We are giants."

"While this is a great step for Israel, it is a huge step for Israeli technology," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli craft was placed in Earth orbit, from where it will use its own engine to undertake a seven-week trip to reach the Moon and touch down on April 11 in a large plain.

The rocket also contains an Indonesian satellite and a satellite of the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

The mission is part of renewed global interest in the Moon, sometimes called the "eighth continent" of the Earth, and comes 50 years after American astronauts first walked on the lunar surface.

China's Chang'e-4 made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon on January 3, after a probe sent by Beijing made a Lunar landing elsewhere in 2013.

"This is history in the making - and it's live! Israel is aiming for the #moon and you're all invited to watch," said a Twitter message from SpaceIL, the non-profit organization that designed the Israeli craft.

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It was backed notably by businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn, who financed the development of a craft. "Make us proud," he said Thursday.

For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the Moon's formation.

Technically, it is far from a trivial mission.

After its initial boost from the Falcon 9, the Beresheet's British engine will have to make several ignitions to place the spacecraft on the correct trajectory to the Moon.

When it arrives, its landing gear must cushion the descent onto the lunar surface to prevent Beresheet from crashing.

- India plans to follow -

Beresheet carries a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.

At a cost of $100 million, "this is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft on the Moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding," IAI said.

"Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the Moon as a result of a private initiative, rather than a government."

After China earlier this year, and now Israel, India hopes to become the fifth lunar country in the spring with its Chandrayaan-2 mission. It aims to put a craft with a rover onto the Moon's surface to collect data.

Japan plans to send a small lunar lander, called SLIM, to study a volcanic area around 2020-2021.

As for the Americans, who have not been back to the Moon since 1972, a return is now the official policy of NASA, according to guidelines issued by President Donald Trump in 2017.

"This time, when we go to the Moon, we're actually going to stay," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said last week.

To achieve this, the US space agency is changing its model and no longer wants to design the missions itself.

NASA, which has installed equipment on Beresheet to upload its signals from the Moon, said last week it aims to land instruments later this year or next year and that it is inviting private sector bids to build and launch the US probes.

The US space agency plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the Moon's orbit by 2026, and envisages a manned mission to Mars in the following decade.
Cows on the street in County Kerry, in south-west Ireland. Pic: PA

The Irish government will offer Irelands beef industry substantial amounts of money and relax state aid rules in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the countrys deputy prime minister said on Thursday.

Simon Coveney told Irish parliament that his government was more than aware of the threats to the [Irish] beef sector posed by a no-deal scenario.

The European Commission, he said, has made it clear that it will support the Irish beef sector to ensure that it survives and comes through a Brexit transition.

If it comes to it, this government will not be found wanting to support and work with this sector, should a no-deal Brexit materialise, Coveney remarked. That will involve significant amounts of money and a relaxation of state aid rules that allows us to support this sector.

Hypothesising about what tariffs the UK might apply to goods after a no-deal Brexit, Coveney said that the only thing that might differentiate Irish beef from that of other countries was its quality.

That, he said, is not reassuring to Irish farmers. Almost 50% of Irish beef exports go to the UK and around 70% of UK beef imports came from Ireland in 2018.

Reports in the Irish media have suggested that the UK is threatening to favour Brazilian beef over Irish using a system of tariffs and quotas, something that could result in low-priced beef flooding the market.

Word Trade Organisation tariffs are currently applied to Brazilian beef imports to the UK.

There has been a growing appetite for Brazilian beef across the world, with exporters in the country expecting China to drive demand to a record high in 2019.
DUBAI (Reuters) - The commander of the overseas arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened Saudi Arabia with revenge over a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Iran on Feb. 13 that killed 27 Guards members, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. "Saudi Arabia is building its regional influence with money only. This is a false influence and a failure...We will take revenge for our martyrs...(and) it might be anywhere around the world," Qasem Soleimani said, according to Tasnim. The Islamic Republic has accused arch regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of backing militants who carry out attacks on security forces in Iran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have denied any connection with the attacks. The Sunni Muslim militant group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis in Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack near the border with Pakistan. Irans 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. "I am warning you: Don't test Iran's tolerance," Soleimani said in the latest in a series of warnings issued by Iranian officials since the attack was carried out. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Robotics research facility. Photo: Monty Rakusen/Getty

Venture capital investment in the UKs artificial intelligence sector leapt almost six-fold from 2014 to 2018, according to figures released on Thursday.

Research by market intelligence firm Dealroom found investment in UK AI startups reached a record 997m (1.3bn) in 2018, continuing upward trends since 2014, when investment was just 153m.

The research was carried out on behalf of startup accelerator Tech Nation and the UKs Digital Economy Council.

READ MORE: The Oracle of AI  these four kinds of jobs will not be replaced by robots

According to Dealrooms figures, the biggest surge in interest in AI came between 2016 and 2017, when venture capital funding for UK companies almost doubled from 500m to over 900m.

Dealroom recorded 82 venture capital fundraisings across UK companies last year, compared with 70 the previous year. One of the biggest fundings was Graphcore, the Bristol startup, which raised 153m from a consortium of investors.

Other UK AI companies that raised funds last year include Renalytix AI, a developer of AI for kidney disease, which raised over 22m through an AIM flotation; healthtech company Medopad (20m); HR software Beamery (21.5m); and accident and disaster recovery startup Tractable (19m).

READ MORE: Apple reportedly bought an AI marketing start-up as it looks for opportunities beyond the iPhone

The figures from Dealroom shows the UK raised almost as much for AI startups as the rest of Europe combined last year. French companies raised 307m and Germany raised just 230m, while Israel was second place behind the UK with about 600m.

Investments in AI have been across all sectors, but fintech and healthtech have seen particularly strong growth. The UK counts at least five AI unicorns among the total number of private tech companies with a valuation of $1bn (767m): these are Darktrace (1.3bn valuation), Benevolent AI (2.1bn); Improbable (1.6bn); Graphcore (1.3bn) and Blue Prism (997m).

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Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, said: These statistics are further confirmation that the UK is Europes undisputed number one tech hub. Our success in artificial intelligence is thanks to a unique combination of talent, location, our business friendly environment, unrivalled access to capital and world-leading universities.

READ MORE: AI industry suffers from deep gender gap, World Economic Forum says

We are determined to make the UK the best place to start and grow a digital business, and through our modern Industrial Strategy we are using the power of technology to change peoples lives for the better.

Tech Nations own research in 2018 found investment in AI is growing at a faster rate than investment in tech more broadly.

Last week it was revealed up to 40 UK AI and data analysis projects have received a portion of 13m in government investment.
I had a column in the New York Post yesterday morning about the so-called ISIS bride, Hoda Muthana, who is detained in a Syrian refugee camp and now pleading to come back home to her family in Alabama. I argued that, despite the fact that she has treasonously waged war against our country, she had a right to be readmitted if she tried to enter because she was  according to the facts available at the time  a natural-born American citizen.

Now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that Muthana will not be allowed to reenter the U.S. because she is not an American citizen: While born in America, she was the daughter of a diplomat and thus not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. As the secretary put it in his statement, Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States.

This conclusion is disputed by Muthanas family and allies, and they may have a case. I would strongly urge the Justice Department to file an indictment against Muthana for treason, material support to terrorism, and any other readily provable offenses. She is less likely to press the issues of citizenship and right to enter if she understands that she faces prosecution and, very likely, lengthy imprisonment if she succeeds in coming here.

But its worth taking a closer look at the citizenship question itself. To my mind, the concept of citizenship implies not just the benefits of being a full-fledged member of the body politic, but also a duty of fealty to the nation. In a rational world, then, a citizen who made war against the United States would be stripped of citizenship.

Alas, that is not the law. As I related in the Post column, Supreme Court precedent holds that natural-born citizens may not have their citizenship revoked without their consent. (This is in contrast to naturalized citizens, who may have their citizenship revoked if they join a subversive organization within five years of being naturalized, but this is not relevant to Muthanas case.)

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Reports indicate that Muthana, the daughter of Yemeni immigrants, was born in New Jersey in 1994. For the most part, she appears to have grown up in Alabama, attending high school and starting college there. As weve noted here at NR when the issue is debated from time to time, the prevailing interpretation of the 14th Amendment generally provides for birthright citizenship: If you were born here, you are a citizen, regardless of whether your parents were citizens  even regardless of whether your parents were legally in the United States. But there is an exception, and the State Department is seizing on it here.

According to the New York Times, government officials contend that Muthanas father was not merely a Yemeni immigrant but a diplomat of that country. Children born of diplomats are deemed to be citizens of the diplomats sovereign. Apparently, Muthanas camp concedes that Muthana pere was a Yemeni diplomat, but contends that she was born 30 days after Yemen discharged him from his diplomat position. We are not told what his immigration status supposedly was at that point, or if he had a legal status. But Muthana would no doubt argue that even if she was an illegal alien, shed be as entitled to birthright citizenship as any other child of an illegal alien born in the U.S.

Pompeo emphasized that Muthana does not have a valid U.S. passport or a visa to travel to the U.S. That is true, but probably irrelevant. Passports and visas are just forms of travel authorization. They have no bearing on whether an American citizen may be denied entry into her own country. If an American citizen presents herself at a port of entry, the government has no authority to bar the citizen from entering (although the citizen may, of course, be detained while the authorities make certain that she is who she claims to be; and she may be prosecuted for violating travel regulations).

The Times further reports that Pompeo is taking a hard-nosed position here because President Trump has directed him not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country  as the president put it on Twitter. It is entirely appropriate for the official constitutionally responsible for protecting the nation from foreign threats to direct his subordinates to take all legal steps to prevent a terrorist enemy combatant from entering the country. But, to reiterate, if Muthana is an American citizen, she has the right to enter the U.S. if she presents herself at a port of entry; she may not be barred just because the president wants her turned away.

Again: If the president and the secretary do not want Muthana to try to come back to the United States, the best strategy is to have the Justice Department indict her on serious felony charges. She may seek another alternative if she knows the risk of coming back here is decades of imprisonment. Of course, Muthana may decide to come anyway. After all, (a) she might see life in an American prison as better than her other alternatives, and (b) if she is an American citizen, there is a good argument that her young son is a citizen, too  hed have a more promising chance of survival and a decent life here than in Syria (or wherever else in that godforsaken region they could end up).

In any event, the State Department has made its decision. Now it is up to Muthanas supporters to establish her citizenship if they can, and for the Trump administration to indict her if it chooses.

More from National Review
By Neha Dasgupta and Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is pressing for Pakistan to be kept on a terrorism financing watchlist following an attack in disputed Kashmir that was claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group, three Indian government officials said on Thursday. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body created to counter terrorism financing and money laundering, has been meeting in Paris this week and Pakistan has been hoping to get off a "grey list" of nations with inadequate controls over such activities. But two Indian government officials dealing with the issue said new information had been provided to the FATF relating to Pakistan after the car bombing last week in the Pulwama district of Kashmir in which 40 paramilitary police were killed. The Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. A third Indian official said details relating to the militant group's operations were provided to the FATF. "It was a post-Pulwama brief," said one of the officials when asked about the information provided to the watchdog. The officials declined to be named as the talks were still underway in Paris Pakistan has been on the grey list since June, making it harder for it to access international markets at a time when its economy is stumbling. While there are no direct legal implications from being on the list, it brings extra scrutiny from regulators and financial institutions that can chill trade and investment and increase transaction costs, experts say. Pakistan's finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The attack chilled long frosty relations between India and Pakistan, with India accusing Pakistan of failing to crack down on militant groups operating from its soil, and saying it would work to isolate Islamabad diplomatically. It has canceled Most Favored Nation trade privileges for Pakistan and imposed 200 percent duty on goods coming from Pakistan, further squeezing the barely $2 billion bilateral trade. Pakistan has demanded India provide evidence for its claims that it supports militant groups and warned of retaliation if India attacks. The FATF said it would release the results of its review after a meeting of the group's decision-making body. "We will publish the outcomes from the meeting, including our updated statements identifying high-risk and other monitored jurisdictions, at the end of the meeting, on Friday afternoon," Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel, FATF communications management advisor, said in an email. Over 800 officials from global multilateral bodies including the IMF, World Bank are in Paris for the six-day FATF gathering. The Indian finance ministry did not reply to a Reuters email seeking comments. But an official said India's case was that Pakistan had done very little to close down the financing streams of militant groups, despite making assurances to the watchdog. Pakistan, which has opened talks with the International Monetary Fund about a possible bailout, faces a struggle to avoid a balance of payments crisis that has left it with growing debts and foreign exchange reserves sufficient only to cover two months of imports. (Additional reporting and editing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The International Monetary Fund's staff has agreed to support the economic policies of the Ecuadorean government with $4.2 billion over the next three years.

The arrangement is expected to be brought to the IMF Executive Board for its final approval in the coming weeks.

The IMF said the agreement is part of a broader effort by the international community that totals $10 billion and includes financial support of almost $6 billion over the next three years from the Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Latin American Reserve Fund and the World Bank.

"The government's plan is aimed at creating a more dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive economy," said Anna Ivanova, the IMF's mission chief for Ecuador.

Ecuador faces a fiscal deficit of $10 billion, which has caused delays in paying salaries to government employees and suppliers.

The agreement marks the end of at least a decade-long estrangement of the South American nation with the IMF since then-President Rafael Correa kicked out the IMF mission short after taking office in 2007.

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Luis Alonso Lugo on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/luisalonsolugo
To learn more about zebras' mysterious stripes, researchers decided to put black- and white-striped capes over horses.

And, aside from feeling more fashionable, the horses attracted less flies, according to researchers from the University of Bristol in the U.K. and University of California Davis.

In a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, researchers at a farm in Great Britain detail how flies land on captive zebras and horses dressed in black, white and also black-and-white stripes. Three zebras and nine horses were observed for a total of about 16 hours.

Flies appeared just as attracted to naked horses as they were to zebras or horses wearing costumes, but Tim Caro of the University of California notes that flies hardly ever landed on stripes. So, horses wearing black-and-white striped coats appeared to have a sort of insect repellent compared to the animals wearing a solid color.

Joren Bruggink of Aeres University of Applied Sciences, at left, and Jai Lake of the University of Bristol investigate how horse flies behave around horses wearing different colored coats. This was part of an experiment with the University of California.

"Stripes may dazzle flies in some way once they are close enough to see them with their low-resolution eyes," Royal Society University Research Fellow Martin How said in a statement.

Researchers note this effect was only observed in European flies and flies might not behave the same in Africa.

Caro told USA TODAY the next phase of this research will include experimenting with different varieties of stripes and color combinations to try and determine how the stripes "confuse" flies.

Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Horses dressed up like zebras for a study, and they might have liked it
The Honda plant in Swindon, which the company is planning to close in 2021. Photo: Steve Parsons/PA Wire.

Hondas announcement this week that it was shutting its Swindon UK factory as part of a move to accelerate its commitment to electrified cars and not because of Brexit was met with scepticism and even anger in Britain.

The company had said in September that it was committed to Swindon, but warned of the exorbitant costs it would face in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

How are Honda supposed to calculate the costs and benefits of staying in the UK in the overall global context against such lack of clarity on the future terms of trade? Sir David Warren, former British ambassador to Japan, told the Guardian.

While it may have been diplomatic, or polite, to deny the decision was Brexit-based, Japanese companies in Britain have been warning loudly for years that Brexit will hurt their businesses. Deal or no-deal, Honda wont need Britain as a gateway to the EU market, as Japanese carmakers have done since the 1980s. Tokyos new trade deal with the bloc means they will be able to export their vehicles to the EU tariff-free in the future.

Read more: Hondas plant closure puts 7,000 car industry jobs at risk

For Honda, the threat of Brexit is dwarfed by the more worrying advent of the electric-vehicle age, which is sending automakers intent on survival scrambling to develop electric cars as fast as possible.

Honda has been regarded as somewhat of a laggard in terms of mass battery-car development. Out of the Japanese car giants, Nissans Leaf holds the crown for the most popular electric car of all time, selling over 360,000 units as of the end of last year. Honda launched the Insight hybrid just ahead the Toyota Prius, in 1999, but it was the Prius that went on to global triumph.

Honda has produced some other plug-ins in the last two decades, like the Fit, and a plug-in Hyrbid version of the Accord, but has spread its bets on hydrogen fuel cell at the same time. Out of its current Clarity series, which comes as plug-in hybrid (PHEV), fuel cell, and battery versions, the PHEV topped those sales charts in the US in December.

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Honda says it wants electric cars to make up two-thirds of European sales by 2025. Currently, however, the company makes just 3% of its global sales in the EU, and sells just two electric models, the CR-V Hybrid, which is produced in Japan, and the NSX sportscar, produced in the US.

The company declined to comment on future EV production locations or investment levels to Yahoo Finance, however, president and CEO Takahiro Hachigo, told Autoweek in June 2017 that by 2030, we would like 65% of our total sales to come from electrified vehicles of some sort.

Other global car brands have been open about the huge amounts of money theyve earmarked for the switch to electrification. Ford last year said it plans to invest $11bn in electric cars by 2022, and add 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles to its model lineup. Reuters recently reported that Volkswagen is going all in, ring-fencing a whopping 80bn (69bn) for the transformation, and says it aims to produce 3 million electric cars annually by 2025.
Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the Home Office decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, saying she should be allowed to return to the UK to face questioning.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid made the move after the teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join Islamic States self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria, said she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn son.

The Labour leader has now criticised Mr Javids action as very extreme after diplomatic tensions broke out with Bangladesh denying the 19-year-old had citizenship in the nation she has apparently never visited.

Mr Corbyn told ITV News: She obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain.

Jeremy Corbyn says Isis bride Shamima Begum should be allowed to return to Britain (PA)

On that return she must obviously face a lot of questions about everything she has done and at that point any action may or may not be taken.

But I think the idea of stripping somebody of their citizenship when they were born in Britain is a very extreme manoeuvre indeed.

Indeed, I questioned the right of the Home Secretary to have these powers when the original law was brought in by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday insisted he would not leave an individual stateless after he was questioned about the future of Begum.

The Labour leader described the Home Secretarys actions as very extreme (Getty)

Mr Sajid made an order to strip the 19-year-old from London, who fled to Syria aged 15, of her of UK citizenship this week.

Mr Javids decision is only permissible under international law if Ms Begum is a citizen of another country.

It has been claimed that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there but Bangladeshs minister of state for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam denied this on Wednesday.

Asked about the situation on ITVs Peston, Mr Javid said: Im not aware of any Home Secretary in any party in any previous government that has taken a decision that would leave anyone stateless.

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Im not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless.

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The Bangladeshi minister of state for foreign affairs said yesterday: The Government of Bangladesh is deeply concerned that she has been erroneously identified as a holder of dual citizenship shared with Bangladesh alongside her birthplace, the United Kingdom.

Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh.

It may also be mentioned that she never visited Bangladesh in the past despite her parental lineage.

So, there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh.

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Sajid Javid revoked Begums British citizenship this week (Getty)

The statement added that Bangladeshi authorities had only been made aware of the situation by the media.

Asked whether she had been left stateless by Britain, the Begum familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: Its certainly something we will be adding to the mix in terms of our appeal.

He has said Begum was born in the UK, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen.

Human Rights Barrister Philippe Sands said that it is crystal clear that removing Ms Begums citizenship would make her stateless.

He said: Making a person stateless has huge consequences and we should not be playing around with peoples futures, however difficult, unfortunate and even horrible are some of the things this young woman has said in recent days.

Its very hard not to conclude that at the date the decision was taken, this individual had a single nationality. Its a humungous mess and frankly it is completely incompetent.

A Home Office spokesman said Mr Javids priority was the safety and security of the country.

Bangladeshs minister of state for foreign affairs denied Begum had citizenship there (PA)

Decisions to deprive people of citizenship were based on all available evidence and not taken lightly, the spokesman added.

Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join the terror cult in 2015 and resurfaced heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week.

When shown a copy of the Home Office letter that announced her British citizenship would be stripped, she said it was a bit unjust on me and my son.

She went on to say she may try for citizenship in the Netherlands, where her husband is from.
Mike Pompeo says Muthana, 24, is not a US citizen but refusal to take her back likely to face legal challenge

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said the state department will block an American-born woman who left Alabama to join Islamic State in 2014 from returning to the US.

Hoda Muthana, 24, told the Guardian this week that she regretted leaving the US to join the terrorist group and wants to return from Syria with her 18-month-old son.

Pompeo said on Wednesday that the US will refuse to take Muthana back, saying she is not a US citizen.

The refusal to admit Muthana could set precedent and face legal challenges as it is generally extremely difficult to lose US citizenship.

In a brief statement that gave no details as to how the determination was reached, Pompeo said Muthana has no legal basis to claim American citizenship.

She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States, the secretary of state said. We continue to strongly advise all US citizens not to travel to Syria.

Donald Trump claimed credit for the move, tweeting: I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!

In the UK, there has been debate over whether Shamima Begum, a teenager who travelled from east London to Syria to join Islamic State in 2015, should be allowed to return. She is expected to be have her UK citizenship revoked, a controversial move she has described as kind of heart-breaking.

Muthana, who was captured by Kurdish forces after fleeing the last pocket of land controlled by Islamic State, has said she deeply regrets travelling to Syria four years ago to join the terror group and has pleaded to be allowed to return to her family in Alabama.

Speaking from al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, Muthana, who was once one of Isiss most prominent online agitators, said she had been brainwashed and had misunderstood her faith when she aligned herself with Isis.

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A state department spokesperson on Wednesday echoed Pompeos remarks and said Muthana was not born a US citizen and has never been a US citizen.

Hassan Shibly, an attorney for the womans family, said the administrations position is based on a complicated interpretation of the law involving her father.

Theyre claiming her dad was a diplomat when she was born, which, in fact, he wasnt, Shibly told The Associated Press. Hoda Muthana was born in 1994 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the lawyer said.

Muthana was born to parents from Yemen who became naturalized American citizens, according to the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship but there are exceptions.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

Pompeos statement on Muthana  one of the few Americans among the hundreds of Europeans to have joined the ranks of the Islamic State group in Syria  is at stark odds with his calls on other countries to bring back and prosecute their own jihadist nationals.

In late 2014, shortly after moving to Syria, Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of four women who appeared to torch their Western passports, including an American one.

She went on to write vivid calls over social media to kill Americans, glorifying the extremist group that for a time ruled vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

But with the Islamic State group down to its last stretch of land, Muthana said she had renounced extremism and wanted to return home.

Muthana, who has been detained by US-allied Kurdish fighters, said that she had been brainwashed online and was ashamed of her past support for the militants. She was married three times and has a toddler son.
Donald Trumps refusal to let an American-born woman return to the US after she ran away to join Isis amounts to a dangerous overreach by a president who wants to operate by executive fait, immigration lawyers and critics say.

The criticism comes after the Trump administration announced this week that 24-year-old Hoda Muthana would not be allowed to return to the US saying she has no legal basis to be in the country, in spite of her lawyers and familys claims that she was issued a US passport in 2014 before leaving the country.

She is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday in a statement.

Ms Muthana is among roughly 13 individuals identified as Americans who are currently being held by Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, and who have encountered similar issues with repatriation into the United States recently as Isis has lost nearly all its significant geographical strongholds.

Men in similar circumstances have reportedly been subject to sealed indictments, and sent back to the US for charges.

24-year-old Ms Muthana was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1994, just after her father left his job as a former United Nations diplomat from Yemen, according to documentation presented by the family and their lawyers.

In 2014, she is said to have left her studies at an Alabama school to travel to Turkey, and then was smuggled into Syria to join Isis. Before that trip, she reportedly renewed her passport that she had been first issued as a child. After she went missing in Syria, her family says they received a letter indicating her passport had been revoked.

Documentation they said the presented to prove their daughter was born after her father stopped receiving diplomatic protections  protections that would have disqualified Ms Muthana from US citizenship even if she were born on US soil  were not returned.

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David Leopold, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told The Independent that denying Ms Muthana the ability to return to America and argue her case denies her an essential right laid out in the US Constitution, which protects an individuals right to due process. Regardless of what heinous crimes she may have committed if she joined forces with Isis, he said, the US government is required to grant her due process before the courts.

The possession of a passport creates an irrefutable presumption of citizenship, he said. It is proof of citizenship. If I need to prove my US citizenship, I show my US passport.

It goes right to the fundamental rights of our democracy  due process, Mr Leopold continued.  We dont just strip someone of citizenship.

Cesar Garcia Hernandez, an associate professor of law at the University of Denver says that the US State Department is very careful when issuing passports to citizens, to the point that individuals sometimes have to take the US government to court in order to be issued the documents.

The fact that the government did issue her a US passport  means that she should at the very least have the ability to challenge the State Departments decision to ban her from returning to the United States, Mr Hernandez said.

He continued: Citizenship is the most fundamental legal tie between a person and the country and it should not be up to an individual person to sever that tie, even if that person is the secretary of State.

There are few instances in which an individual can give up their citizenship, or have it revoked, but Mr Hernandez and Mr Leopold say that those are relatively long, involved processes. One route would be to declare allegiance to a foreign state  which Isis is not  while another would be to be convicted of treason  which would require repatriation and a trial.

Mr Leopold said that the efforts by the Trump administration to keep Ms Muthana out of the US fall in line with the way the president has treated the federal government writ-large.

Were dealing with the mindset of an authoritarian. And this is the kind of thing that you see in authoritarian countries, Mr Leopold said, noting that the president is also attempting to circumvent normal legal practice by declaring t state of emergency in the US to build a US border wall after Congress refused to fund the effort.

We dont just make declarations based on what we see on Fox News or in the newspapers, he continued. The president unfortunately does.
Harvey Weinstein in court, Jan. 25, 2019, in New York, for a hearing on changes to his legal team defending him on sex-crime charges.

Harvard law professor Ronald Sullivan Jr. has built a sparkling resume of high-profile cases with clients like Michael Brown and Aaron Hernandez thats earned him the reputation as a top mind in criminal law nationally.

But his move in January to join the legal defense team of Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged sexual misconduct ignited the #MeToo movement, has caused a stir on the Ivy League campus.

Sullivan also serves as faculty dean of the colleges Winthrop House, a prestigious title that makes him a resident and leader of one of 12 buildings that house undergraduate students.

Since Sullivan emerged as one of the attorneys representing Weinstein in the movie producers highly publicized sexual assault case in New York, Sullivan has faced a backlash among some students.

Weinstein's upcoming trial, where he faces multiple sex-crime charges, is tentatively set to begin in June.

Around 50 students demanded that Sullivan be removed as Winthrop House faculty dean at a demonstration last week outside the presidents office on Harvard Yard. Some wore tape covering their mouths. They held signs that read, Down with the Dean, Remove Sullivan and Harvards Legacy Ignoring Survivors.

Fueling the controversy further: recent comments Sullivan reportedly made in defense of Harvard economics professors Roland Fryer Jr., who has been accused of sexual harassment and is the subject of Title IX investigations. Sullivan was quoted last month calling the investigation process deeply flawed and deeply unfair.

Right now theres a lot of unease around the campus because survivors of sexual assault, rape and sexual harassment are the least likely to speak up anyway, said Danu Mudannayake, 21, a junior majoring in visual and environmental studies, who is leading the effort to remove Sullivan from the dean position. I personally just felt an obligation to give those people a voice.

Sullivan, the first African-American in Harvards history to be named dean of a house, also serves as director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute.

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He represented the family of Brown in reaching a $1.5 million settlement with the city of Ferguson, Missouri, in 2017; helped Hernandez, the now-deceased former New England Patriots player, defeat a double-murder charge; and represented a Harvard student last year following an arrest that raised concerns about excessive police force.

A decade ago, Sullivan worked to release wrongfully incarcerated inmates in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Huffington Post dubbed him The Man Who Dealt the Biggest Blow to Mass Incarceration in 2017.

Sullivan did not respond to a message from USA TODAY seeking comment.

But in an email to Winthrop housemates last month, Sullivan responded to criticism by inviting students to stop by his office to chat. He also gave a lengthy defense of due process, decrying the countrys long history of mob justice and arguing that its even more important that unpopular, vile, or undesirable defendants have their rights.

To the degree we deny unpopular defendants basic due process rights we cease to be the country we imagine ourselves to be, he wrote.

But Mudannayake said she and other demonstrators have never challenged Sullivans right to defend who he chooses or the right of anyone to have a defense  a point that she said has been misconstrued.

She instead questioned Sullivans ability to simultaneously carry out a dean position  one whose duties she said include being a protector of students and ensuring they feel comfortable sharing concerns, including about sexual assault. She called his comments in defense of Fryer an even greater "breach of trust" because it involves allegations made on campus.

Mudannayake said it is the professor's choice to serve as a faculty dean.

He doesnt have to be a faculty dean. He can still be a great professor of the law school and represent whoever he wants," she said. Hes effectively wearing two hats here, but in our opinion, as students, his hat as a faculty dean means a lot more and should have been more important.

Harvard has had faculty lawyers represent notorious defendants before  perhaps most notably, attorney Alan Dershowitz worked for O.J. Simpsons legal defense in 1995 . Dershowitz this week joined Weinstein's defense as well.

The student-run Harvard Crimson published a recent op-ed co-written by Mudannayake and sophomore Remedy Ryan calling for Sullivans removal as faculty dean. We believe Harvard should do what is right for survivors, the opinion piece reads.

Theres also an online petition, led by Mudannayake as well, that has garnered more than 250 signatures.

For those of you who are members of Winthrop House, the petition reads, do you really want to one day accept your diploma from someone who for whatever reason, professional or personal, believes it is okay to defend such a prominent figure at the center of the #MeToo movement?"

If Sullivan does not wish to put student needs ahead of professional projects, the petition says, then he should step down.

The Association of Black Harvard Women entered the debate Thursday with a letter to Sullivan that says he's "failed us" as one of Harvard's few black deans, calling for him to leave the role.

"In taking this case, you have compromised the trust placed in you to serve and listen to survivors needing your sympathy and support as they deal with their trauma," the letter reads, calling him "apathetic" to students' concerns. "You have underestimated, and continue to underestimate the effect of your actions on the student body that you are meant to serve."

In a statement, Rekesh Khurana, dean of Harvard, said he takes the concerns of the students "seriously" and has worked this past week to ensure that the residential staff at the Winthrop House feel supported. He said he also met with Sullivan to discuss his responsibilities at the Winthrop House and "communicated that the college believes that more work must be done to uphold our commitment to the well-being of our students."

He also seemed to offer support for Sullivan in comments made separately to the Crimson.

I think a faculty member is given academic freedom to make decisions that are right for them, Khurana told the publication. I also think that every individual is entitled to a vigorous defense. It's a cornerstone of our justice system.

Bruce Green, who directs the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School in New York, said Sullivan's involvement in the Weinstein case is "an opportunity for the Harvard students to learn a little bit more about the role of lawyers in a democratic society.

"Representing a client in a criminal case doesn't mean that you endorse their activities  criminal activities, moral activities or other activities," he said, adding that he doesn't see why having a particular client would prevent Sullivan from providing guidance to students. "Understanding his role as a lawyer, students shouldn't think that has any significance for his role as a faculty advisor."

But Ryan, 20, a Harvard student majoring in social studies and studies of women, gender and sexuality, said this is not a situation where he can perform both jobs.

"I think that for survivors, it's not so easily separated," Ryan said of Sullivan's job as a lawyer versus a dean. "In some ways, Sullivan is just going to be associated with Weinstein now and with everything that case represents for survivors. I think it already is a situation where survivors feel uncomfortable. And so it's not really a situation in which he can do both jobs."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvard deans legal defense of Harvey Weinstein sparks controversy on campus
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Greek authorities say they have rescued 21 migrants found adrift in a small boat in a section of the northeastern Aegean Sea off the usual illegal immigration route.

The migrants were located Thursday between the island of Samothraki and the northeastern port of Alexandroupoli, after Greek authorities received an emergency call reporting their boat was in trouble.

Most migrants entering Greece illegally by sea from Turkey prefer the much shorter crossing to the eastern Aegean Sea islands, and the longer, northern route is rarely used.

Also Thursday, police in the northeastern region of Thrace said they detained nine Syrian and Afghan migrants found squashed into a car that was being driven west after crossing the land border from Turkey.

The driver, a 20-year-old Syrian, was arrested on suspicion of people-smuggling.
Gran Tierra Energy Inc. GTE is scheduled to reportfourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 27, before the opening bell.

In the last reported quarter, the upstream energy player posted a positive earnings surprise of 200%. Moreover, the company has an average positive earnings surprise of 24% for the last four quarters.

Which Way Are Estimates Treading?

Lets take a look at the estimate revision trend to get a clear picture of analyst opinion on the stock before the earnings release.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter 2018 earnings of 6 cents remained the same in the past seven days. The estimate reflects a year-over-year improvement of 50%.

Further, the consensus estimate for revenues of $154.4 million shows an increase of 21.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Factors Likely to Affect Results

Through fourth-quarter 2018, the Brent crude plunged from an average monthly price of 81.03 a barrel in October to $57.36 in December last year, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Being an oil explorer and producer in Colombia, the decline in commodity price will likely prove unfavorable. Despite this, the companys production increased during the quarter. Gran Tierra recently announced that its daily fourth-quarter 2018 production grew 11% year over year and 6% sequentially to 38,220 barrels of oil equivalent (BoE).

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not show a beat for Gran Tierra this earnings season. That is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is -33.33%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Gran Tierra carries a Zacks Rank #2, which when combined with an Earnings ESP of -33.33%, lowers the possibility of an earnings surprise.

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Conversely, Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 and 5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few firms that you may want to consider on the basis of our model. These have the right combination of elements to beat estimates this quarter.

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. PARR has a Zacks Rank #2 and an Earnings ESP of +21.70%. The company will report quarterly earnings on Mar 5. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earthstone Energy, Inc. ESTE has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +6.52%.

Goodrich Petroleum Corporation GDP has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +2.36%. The company will release quarterly earnings on Mar 5.

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By Paresh Dave SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google has a new cloud computing boss and big ambitions to someday produce more revenue from that business than from advertising. Now comes the hard part: winning over big-spending customers. Alphabet Inc's cloud computing division remains a distant third behind Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp in terms of global revenue, according to analysts' estimates. A few major companies manage their data on Google's servers. But Google has nowhere near the vast customer base of Amazon, according to a new Reuters analysis of company regulatory filings. Businesses generally are not required to disclose their cloud vendors. Reuters found 311 out of about 5,000 worldwide that did so in 2018. While not comprehensive, the data provide a window into Google's challenge. Thirty five of those companies named Google as a cloud provider. The largest by market capitalization were oil major Total SA and bank HSBC Holdings Plc. Graphic: Amazon's cloud dominance - https://tmsnrt.rs/2BMpryP Amazon Web Services led with 227 clients, including travel company Expedia Group Inc and industrials giant Siemens AG. Microsoft's Azure cloud had 69 firms, among them weapons maker Axon Enterprise Inc and business data firm Dun & Bradstreet Co. Thirty four of the companies cited multiple clouds. The previously untracked data show the work ahead for Thomas Kurian, who is weeks on the job as chief executive of Google Cloud. Kurian has vowed to double down where Google has seen promising results. Specifically, he plans to target governments and top companies in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, media and finance. "A lot of our focus as we go forward is making sure that our sales organization has the background and the ability to sell to large, more traditional companies," Kurian said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference last week. "There's enormous appetite in those companies to consider Google." Google declined to comment or make Kurian available for an interview. Graphic: Why cloud vendors get disclosed - https://tmsnrt.rs/2BKFoFP People familiar with his plans said he is looking to reshape his division's culture. A key part is developing or acquiring easy-to-use, industry-specific corporate applications, an area that Amazon and Microsoft do not dominate. "Its about the on-ramp onto their cloud," said Daniel Ives, a New York-based financial analyst following the cloud industry for Wedbush Securities. "The main way to get that is through applications." A 22-year veteran of Oracle Corp, Kurian gave the database company fresh life as the product leader behind its move to selling cloud services. His hire is already making potential customers reconsider Google, said Ray Wang, founder of Constellation Research, a Monta Vista, Calif.-based firm that helps businesses negotiate cloud deals. "They've worked with him," Wang said. "There's a trust factor that wasn't there before." Kurian also must reassure some investors bewildered by Google's cloud ambitions: Diversifying revenue beyond advertising is a plus, but it is not coming cheap. Google, Microsoft and Amazon combined spent nearly $53 billion on capital expenses last year, driven by data center projects to house their clouds. With gross margins of 20 percent or less, selling cloud storage or tools for which customers need specialized staff is less lucrative for a small vendor, industry experts said. But margins on the type of software Kurian likely wants to offer can top even the 60 percent of Google's ad business. "The next wave of growth is going to have to come from the heavy hitting applications," said Kerry Liu, chief executive at Rubikloud, which helps retailers with cloud projects. 'GEEKY, TECHY PLATFORM' Google got serious about the cloud around 2016, five years after Amazon Web Services had become a multibillion-dollar behemoth. But Google's reputation for limited customer support has attracted mostly newer businesses or those with significant tech know-how. Mike Fisher, Etsy Inc's chief technology officer, said Google's superior AI tools helped win over the New York-based crafts marketplace. Fisher expects data-crunching algorithms to account for 25 percent of its server use this year, up from 10 percent last year. "Weve been more pleasantly surprised than we thought," Fisher said of the cloud's benefits. Advertising software company OpenX recently agreed to spend at least $110 million on Google Cloud over five years. The Pasadena, Calif. firm bet its clients would benefit from transacting on the same infrastructure as Google's ads system. "Its a bit more of a geeky, techy platform, but were that kind of company," said Chief Technology Officer Paul Ryan. Graphic: Battle for large cap customers - https://tmsnrt.rs/2BMyzTY KURIAN'S PLAN To attract more traditional corporate clients, Google Cloud will need to do some handholding, executives at its partners and rivals said. Kurian is well-suited to the role. Two of his former colleagues said his follow-up and candid disclosures about product limitations helped seal deals at Oracle. An early riser, Kurian impressed staff with his meticulous preparation for morning meetings as well as his recall of the tiniest details of clients' systems from years before. Kurian also managed billions of dollars in acquisitions at Oracle, including the purchases of software firms BEA Systems and Taleo. Applications could come through similar deals and internally: Google is testing product recommendation software for shopping apps, a person familiar with the project said, to add to its small set of specialized tools. Kurian told the investor conference that "you will see us continue to expand our footprint there." (The story corrects job title in eighth paragraph) (Reporting by Paresh Dave; Additional reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson)
Washington (AFP) - Google-owned YouTube said Thursday it was taking action to close a loophole that enabled users to share comments and links on child pornography over the video-sharing service.

The response came after a YouTube creator this week revealed what he called a "wormhole" that allowed comments and connections on child porn alongside innocuous videos.

"Any content -- including comments -- that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube," a spokesman said in an email to AFP.

"We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors. There's more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly."

The move came after Matt Watson, a YouTube creator with some 26,000 subscribers, revealed the workings of what he termed a "wormhole" into a pedophile ring that allowed users to trade social media contacts and links to child porn in YouTube comments.

Watson, who uses the name MattsWhatItIs, added that YouTube's recommendation algorithm "due to some kind of glitch is actually facilitating this."

Because ads automatically appear with many YouTube videos, Watson said the actions of the company amounted to "monetizing" the exploitation.

The post by Watson sparked a series of news reports, and according to some media, boycotts of YouTube ads from major firms including Nestle and Disney.

AT&T, which owns the WarnerMedia entertainment unit, confirmed it was pulling its ads from the service.

"Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube," AT&T said in a statement to AFP.

Epic Games, known for its popular online game Fortnite, said it was suspending ads on YouTube following the news.

"We have paused all pre-roll advertising" on YouTube, a company spokesman said.

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"Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they'll take to eliminate this type of content from their service."

The glitch appeared to allow some users to circumvent bans on child porn by Google and other internet platforms.

The incident raised fears of a fresh "brand safety" crisis for YouTube, which lost advertisers last year following revelations that messages appeared on channels promoting conspiracy theories, white nationalism and other objectionable content.
San Francisco is sitting courtside as the Golden State Warriors make a play to expand the footprint of its $1.5 billion, 18,000-seat Chase Center arena project with the addition of a 142-room hotel that would include another 25 condo units on the propertys upper floors. The proposed building would take the place of an already approved 24,000-square-foot retail building, though the new proposal would still have restaurant and retail components. The Chase Center is being privately funded through the Golden State Warriors' corporation and ownership. SH Hotels & Resorts, an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, would operate the 1Hotel-branded property. Although an architect has yet to be selected, the Warriors are planning to build up to the neighborhoods 160-foot height limit.

The president of the Golden State Warriors, Rick Welts, has explained that Mission Bay neighborhood businesses and residents have expressed a need for hotels, particularly for visitors to the UCSF Medical Center. Marriott is already in the midst of building a 250-room hotel at Third and Channel streets. The goal is to activate use of the site every day of the year, said Welts. Three-quarters of the events that take place there will not be Warriors events. Pending further approval from local agencies and the citys Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, the Warriors plan to begin construction in 2021 and open in 2023.

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A commercial shipment of frozen strawberries coming from Mexico contained $12.7 million worth of methamphetamine, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Tuesday.

The alleged drug-smuggling operation was discovered at the cargo facility at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in southern Texas on Feb. 16, a release says. Officers found 906 pounds of the drug concealed in a trailer, CBP says.

A 42-year-old man who is a Mexican citizen was arrested in connection with the seizure, according to the release.

An analysis of data from the southern border indicates the vast majority of narcotics enter through U.S. ports of entry.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics, 87 percent of methamphetamine seized along the border in the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year was caught trying to be smuggled in at legal crossing points.

Contributing: Alan Gomez, USA TODAY; Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Frozen strawberry shipment from Mexico contained $12.7 million worth of meth, authorities say
Bamako (AFP) - A senior government official and a journalist who were freed from suspected jihadi kidnappers met the Mali president on Wednesday, as authorities said a third hostage had died.

Makan Doumbia, the prefect of Tenenkou commune in central Mali and journalist Issiaka Tamboura were received by Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at the presidential palace for lunch following their ordeals.

Doumbia, the most senior government representative in the commune, was abducted in the Mopti region on May 8 last year, while Tamboura was taken in central Mali in December.

Both were released on Monday "thanks to an action by state security", a source told AFP.

The two men thanked Keita for "all the efforts made by his government in the happy outcome of the situation in which their lives were in danger", the president's office said.

In a separate statement, the government said their release was "the fruit of a long process initiated to save their lives", without giving details.

However, Mali's justice minister said that another hostage who was kidnapped in November 2017 -- an unnamed judge from Niono -- had died.

Islamist militias linked to Al-Qaeda seized the north of Mali in 2012, but were pushed back by French troops the following year.

A peace agreement signed in 2015 by the Bamako government and armed groups was aimed at restoring stability.

However the accord has failed to stop violence by Islamist militants -- who have also staged attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
If you have been looking for Allocation Balanced funds, a place to start could be Franklin Income A (FKINX). FKINX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

FKINX is one of many Zacks' Allocation Balanced mutual funds to pick from. Allocation Balanced funds seek to invest in a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. Investors utilize Allocation Balanced funds as a way to get a good start with diversified mutual funds, as well as for core holdings in a portfolio of funds.

History of Fund/Manager

FKINX is a part of the Franklin Templeton family of funds, a company based out of San Mateo, CA. Franklin Income A debuted in August of 1948. Since then, FKINX has accumulated assets of about $39.71 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.16%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 9.44%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. FKINX's standard deviation over the past three years is 7.19% compared to the category average of 8.72%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 8.38% compared to the category average of 8.69%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In the most recent bear market, FKINX lost 39.13% and underperformed comparable funds by 2.73%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.

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Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.63, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. FKINX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.81, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FKINX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.71% compared to the category average of 0.88%. So, FKINX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1,000, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Franklin Income A ( FKINX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

This could just be the start of your research on FKINXin the Allocation Balanced category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.



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Paris (AFP) - Faced with a worrying surge in attacks on Jews, France plans to introduce tough new legislation governing social media platforms to combat online hate speech and officially recognise anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism.

"France needs to draw new red lines, and we will do so, with concrete measures," President Emmanuel Macron told Jewish leaders Wednesday.

"For years and years we have condemned, announced plans, sometimes even passed laws. But we have not been able to act effectively, it's true," he said.

Just a few hours after his speech, residents in southern Paris woke up to swastikas scrawled on doors and bus stops, and graffiti including "Dirty Jew" written next to the nameplate of a doctor's office.

France, home to Europe's biggest Jewish community, hopes that curbing incendiary hate speech online and an increased focus on educating against racism in schools will help cut down on real-world assaults.

Macron said the government would move to hold social platforms like Facebook responsible for quickly removing hate speech -- most likely within 24 hours -- with a new law to be adopted shortly.

Social networks will also have to make it easier to report offensive content, and they will have to reveal to police the identity of users spreading racist images and comments.

"Every minute this content stays online increases the harm done to victims and to our society," Digital Affairs Minister Mounir Mahjoubi told France Info radio on Thursday.

Germany in 2018 introduced fines of up to 50 million euros ($57 million) if online platforms don't remove flagged hate speech within 24 hours.

But as of last June, no fine had been imposed against Facebook or Twitter during the first six months of the tougher law's introduction.

- Anti-Zionism -

France will also adopt a parliamentary resolution condemning anti-Zionism, which opposes the movement that established Israel but has also encompassed virulent criticism of Israeli policies.

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It will join Germany, Britain and other European nations in adopting the definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and endorsed by the European Council in December.

"Anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism," Macron said on Wednesday.

Jewish leaders had long urged France to penalise anti-Zionism, though government officials said France's penal code would not be changed to specifically include such insults.

But critics say alleged anti-Zionism may prove too vague.

"One poll for example found that 71 percent of French people thought the Israeli government was at fault because no talks were being held with the Palestinians," Adrien Quatennens of the France Unbowed opposition party said on France 2 TV Thursday.

"Are we going to suspect 71 percent of the French of being anti-Semites? It's not serious," he said.

Such claims were rejected by Macron, who said legitimate criticism of Israel would remain protected.

But he said police and judges would now be better able to combat "the fundamental hatred of Jews that hides behind the rejection of Israel, the refusal of its right to exist."

- 'Killing people' -

Macron also vowed to study reports that Jewish parents have "too often" resorted to pulling their children from public schools in some areas because of insults or threats.

"Such departures from our schools say something, at times about what we don't want or cannot see," he said.

Macron also said authorities would move more forcefully to shut down racist groups, beginning with three far-right ones -- Bastion Social, Blood and Honour Hexagone, and Combat 18.

Officials accuse both far-right and far-left extremists of infiltrating the "yellow vest" anti-government protests that started in November.

In recent weeks, the protests have coincided with a spate of anti-Semitic vandalism.

The insults and violence aren't new, however, with the interior ministry announcing this month a 74 percent surge in anti-Semitic offences last year, after two years of declines.

The violence in recent years has included murders such as the brutal killing last year of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mirielle Knoll.

"Once again... anti-Semitism is killing people in France," Macron warned.
Extra Space Storage (EXR) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $1.22 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20 per share. This compares to FFO of $1.12 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of 1.67%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this self-storage facility real estate investment trust would post FFO of $1.19 per share when it actually produced FFO of $1.20, delivering a surprise of 0.84%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus FFO estimates two times.

Extra Space Storage, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, posted revenues of $307.35 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.36%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $281.84 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Extra Space Storage shares have added about 9.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 10.9%.

What's Next for Extra Space Storage?

While Extra Space Storage has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of estimate revisions.

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Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Extra Space Storage was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus FFO estimate is $1.15 on $310.43 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.87 on $1.28 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, REIT and Equity Trust - Other is currently in the bottom 44% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.



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By Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A visibly angry judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump's former political adviser Roger Stone to stop speaking publicly about U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal case against him or else he will be sent to jail pending trial. In a tense court hearing on Thursday, U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said that Stone's apology and explanations for why he posted a photo of her next to the image of the crosshairs of a gun on his Instagram account were not credible. Jackson made her ruling after a highly unusual hearing in which Stone, who is charged with crimes related to Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, took the stand to testify about the posting. Stone's seemingly contradictory statements and at times foggy recollections about the post's origins during a cross-examination by the government frustrated Jackson, who later concluded he "could not even keep his story straight on the stand." Stone, a longtime Republican political operative, friend of Trump and self-proclaimed "dirty trickster," was arrested on Jan. 25. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. Besides probing the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow ran an operation to hack Democratic Party computers and spread disinformation to undermine candidate Hillary Clinton and the American electoral process, Mueller is also investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow officials. Trump denies collusion and Russia denies allegations of meddling. Stone apologized to the judge for the post on Instagram and asked for a second chance. "Thank you, but the apology rings quite hollow," Jackson told Stone. "What all of this means, Mr. Stone, is that any violation of this order will be a basis for revoking your bond and detaining you pending trial. So I want to be clear - today I gave you a second chance. But this is not baseball. There will not be a third chance." Jackson had ordered Stone to appear in court to review whether the posting on his Instagram account violated his conditions of release and a narrowly tailored media gag order she imposed last week. He is out on a $250,000 bond and is free to travel without court permission to certain cities. The media gag order did not explicitly bar Stone from speaking publicly about the case as long as he was not on courthouse grounds. However, it cautioned him to tread carefully and said he would not be able to complain later if he decided his own comments had tainted the jury pool. The original posting on Monday on Stone's Instagram account not only contained a photo of Jackson next to the crosshairs, but also had text that ranted against Mueller as a "hitman" and called Jackson "an Obama-appointed judge" a reference to Trump's Democratic predecessor in the White House. Stone later took the image down and apologized, but afterwards he gave an interview on conspiracy website Infowars defending the post. At Thursday's hearing, Stone said: "I abused the order," Stone said. "I am kicking myself over my own stupidity." "Your honor, I can only beseech you to give me a second chance," Stone said. "Forgive me the trespass. I'm hurtfully sorry." The investigation has clouded Trump's two years in office and has been a frequent target of the president and his allies. So far, the investigation has ensnared 34 people. The most tense exchanges of Thursday's hearing were during a cross-examination by prosecutor Jonathan Kravis, who repeatedly tried to get Stone to reveal who had selected the image for him. Stone testified he has between five and six volunteers who come and go freely from his home and have access to his cell phone. He rattled off the names of some volunteers, but also said he could not remember all of them. At first when asked by his lawyer Bruce Rogow if one of those volunteers had posted the image, Stone testified he did not select or review it. Later, however, Stone said he had seen the picture and posted it himself, but did not realize its implications. "Excuse me, did you not just tell me under oath less than five minutes ago that someone else posted it?" Jackson asked Stone. "That's not inconsistent - I didn't choose the image. I did post it," Stone replied. Later, he again changed the story, saying he had at his disposal several images of the judge to choose from before the posting. "I erased all of the images of your honor because I did not want to make the same mistake twice," he said. "You had a choice?" an incredulous Jackson asked. "You closed your eyes and picked?" (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball; additional reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by Tim Ahmann; editing by Grant McCool)
A former policeman sentenced to hang in Malaysia for the murder of a young woman in a scandal linked to the country's ex-prime minister, has lost a bid for asylum in Australia.

Sirul Azhar Umar, who has been in Australian custody since fleeing Malaysia in 2015, has maintained that he was ordered by "important people" to murder Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Canberra's policy is not to extradite people to countries where they may face the death penalty. Sirul could face deportation however if Malaysia goes ahead with abolishing the punishment, as it has promised to do.

Altantuya, 28 at the time, was killed and her body blown up with military-grade explosives in 2006.

Her death is said to be part of a scandal involving claims an associate of Malaysia's ousted prime minister Najib Razak arranged huge kickbacks for the purchase of French submarines in 2002.

Allegations have long circulated that Najib -- then deputy premier -- and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in the killing. Both have denied the claims.

Sirul, who has previously offered to tell all in exchange for a full pardon from Malaysia, has tried to claim asylum in Australia on the grounds that his crime was political.

His claim had been denied, and on Monday the Administrative Appeals Tribunal rejected his appeal in Sydney.

"There are serious reasons for considering that the applicant committed in Malaysia a serious non-political crime before entering Australia," the tribunal said in a report issued on its findings.

Political heavyweight Anwar Ibrahim, who was imprisoned under Najib until the prime minister's shock defeat in May elections, has slammed Canberra's "tainted" policy towards the former government, calling for Sirul to be sent home.
By Clare Roth BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The number of illegal migrants entering the European Union fell sharply for the third year in a row in 2018 but arrivals remain high and stronger border controls are needed, the head of the EU's border control agency Frontex said Wednesday. Fabrice Leggeri said that despite the drop in arrivals to 150,114 last year from 204,750 in 2017, the agency was still beefing up its border control measures through more staff and technology. "Three is no burning crisis with the irregular crossing at external borders," Leggeri told a news conference. But he added that: "All EU citizens need to be checked when coming back home or leaving the EU," maintaining that security at airports, for example, was as important as security on the external borders. The arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers to Europe in recent years has created a humanitarian crisis, with thousands dying each year at sea trying to make crossings in overloaded boats, and a political crisis with the rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties across the continent. The number of illegal migrants repatriated from the EU by Frontex edged down to 13,700 in 2018 from around 14,200 in 2017. In the middle of the 2015 migrant crisis, the agency returned only some 3,600 migrants to their home countries. Returns facilitated by EU countries have also decreased by 5 percent. Leggeri said Frontex and member states refused entry to the EU to 191,000 people last year, up from 183,000 in 2017. The number of people coming across the central Mediterranean sea has dropped to the lowest since 2012 due to the danger of such crossings. Migrants and asylum-seekers are instead traveling along the eastern and western Mediterranean routes, Leggeri said. The western Mediterranean route was the most active in 2018, replacing the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. Most refugees took the eastern Mediterranean route into Greece during the 2015 migrant crisis, when nearly a million people crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands. But that route all but closed after the EU and Ankara agreed a deal to stop the flow in March 2016. Morocco is the main departure point into Europe now, with many migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. Moroccans, followed by Guineans, Malians and Algerians have become the top-reported nationality of migrants traveling into Europe by the western route. (Reporting by Clare Roth; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Empire star Jussie Smollett was arrested police early Thursday after he was charged with allegedly filing a false police report  weeks after he told Chicago police that he was the victim of a horrific racist and homophobic attack.

Chicago police announced about 5:30 a.m. that Smollett was taken into custody for the felony charge of disorderly conduct in falsifying a police report. The class 4 felony is punishable by up to three years in prison. A bond hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Smolletts lawyers said that the actor plans to mount an aggressive defense against the charge. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked, the statement said, according to the Associated Press.

Smollett, who is black, openly gay and is known for a portraying a character who is also gay, allegedly told police that he was assaulted by two men in the early hours of Jan. 29. Smollett said that the attackers beat him, used racist and homophobic slurs, splattered him with chemicals, draped a rope around his neck and shouted, this is MAGA country.

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On Wednesday, Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said detectives presented evidence to a grand jury that Smollett falsified his story to police.

After Smolletts story first became public, he received an outpouring of public support. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Donald Trump and Sen. Kamala Harris were among those who spoke out to condemn the attack.

In recent days, however, Smolletts account has been met with increasing public skepticism. Last week, a pair of Nigerian brothers were apprehended, questioned and then released without charges. Police also said that the phone records Smollett had submitted to them were insufficient to help with the investigation.

Last Thursday, Smollett gave an interview to ABCs Good Morning America to speak about the alleged attack. He said that he had been forever changed by the incident, and spoke out against people who said his claims were a hoax.

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Its not necessarily that you dont believe that this is the truth. You dont even want to see the truth, Smollett said.

On Sunday, Guglielmi announced that there had been new developments in the case, and that they intended to interview the individual who reported the incident.

A representative for Smollett did not immediately return a request for comment.

FOX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Washington (AFP) - Ecuador has agreed to receive $10 billion in financial aid from global development bodies over three years, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

The IMF said a staff-level agreement had been reached with Quito for $4.2 billion in loans, with the remainder coming from the Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the Latin American Reserve Fund.

"Our objective has been and remains to support the authorities' efforts to improve the living standards of all Ecuadorians," Anna Ivanova, the IMF's top official in Ecuador, said in a statement.

President Lenin Moreno plans to boost growth following four principles: increasing competitiveness, protecting the poor, sustainable fiscal policy and combating corruption, Ivanova said.

The IMF agreement with Ecuador is subject to approval by the fund's board, which will consider the arrangement "in the coming weeks," according to the IMF.
Editors Note: In the last week of January, Jay Nordlinger attended the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev. Here are the first three parts of his journal: I, II, and III. The journal concludes today.

In the Western Folklife Center, some high-school students are reciting poetry  mainly others, but one girl recites her own. (All the students are girls, at least while I am present.) The poems are not exactly light little ditties. The first one is by Ha Jin, no less. The very first line speaks of grief. The second poem is by Ernest Hilbert, an American born in 1970:

Maybe youve heard about this. Maybe not.

A man came home and chucked his girlfriends cat

In the wood chipper. This really happened.

Okay, then.

One of the students is a girl named Masha, who originally comes from Moscow  not Idaho but Russia. Her poem is by Elizabeth I, or attributed to: On Monsieurs Departure. Just think of it: a Russian girl at a cowboy festival in northeastern Nevada channeling a 16th-century British monarch. Only in America.

 Let me pause for some pronunciation: There are all sorts of ways of pronouncing poem  poetry, too, but Im mainly thinking of poem. I hear poim here sometimes (to rhyme with coin with an m on the end). When I was a kid, I think I said pome, to rhyme with home.

 On the edge of town, I see the below sign:

You will see a sign like this anywhere in America, no matter how remote. Earnest, hard-working, go-getting  may I say that Gujaratis are among the most natural Americans?

 I see a T-shirt that says If music be the food of love, swing on.

 Outside a casino, there is a banner. It shows a handsome, smiling miner, face neatly smudged. Boy, he couldnt be happier. The banner reads, THANK YOU LOCAL MINERS! Thats nice. Like theyre thanking war veterans or something. COME STRIKE IT RICH WITH OUR $10 E-CASH AND $10 BAR COMP THANK YOU BONUS. Ooh, a thank-you bonus! JUST BRING YOUR MINING BADGE TO GUEST SERVICES. Yeah, just bring your badge, and watch your fortune roll in!

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Bastards, bastards, enticing others to blow their money, and with it, possibly, their lives. This is nasty, sulfuric stuff.

 Well, Ill give you something pleasanter  the boots around town. This pair is in front of the courthouse:

Elsewhere:

Elsewhere:

An almost psychedelic one:

And this?

 I wonder if you know the Cowboy Commandments  theyre the Ten Commandments, but rendered in cowboy language. No. 10 (about coveting) is, Dont be hankerin fer yer buddys stuff.

 A star of this show  a star of the Elko gathering, and of cowboy poetry generally  is Paul Zarzyski. Maybe not your typical cowboy name, but there you go. Also, Zarzyski is from Wisconsin, which is not your typical cowboy place  but, again, there you go. Zarzyski has a very musical ear. His poems make sense, rhythmically and so on, and he reads them very well  musically.

The guy is funny, too. If I have understood him correctly, he has always been afraid of the man in the gray flannel suit  i.e., a normal civilian boss. What he is not afraid of is grizzly bears, cougars, and the like: anything I can see before it eats me.

 Earlier in this journal, I quoted some poetry etched into an Elko sidewalk. Heres another snatch, by Rod McQueery, an Elko native:

So if you make the poems and jokes

To entertain these western folks,

Who herd the cows and tend the sheep,

For their sake, keep it light

And take the laughter for your pay,

Because right now tears are cheap.

 In the house tonight  at the Western Folklife Center  is the governor of Nevada. He is Steve Sisolak. His wife, Kathy, is also introduced, described as the first Chinese-American first lady in American history.

 It was Hal Cannon, apparently, who came up with the idea of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, all those years ago. Hes in the house  with his trio, the 3hattrio. (Really.) They are from Virgin, Utah, and they perform whats billed as American desert music. One of their songs is about dust devils. It is positively demonic, and almost mesmerizing. The hair on the back of your neck stands up.

 A later session is called Bull-slingers, Braggarts & Blowhards. Onstage is Sourdough Slim, a.k.a. Rick Crowder. Im glad to be here, he says. Of course, as an accordion-playing yodeling cowboy in the 21st century, Im glad to be anywhere. He sprinkles his act with funny jokes. I especially appreciated this: Ive often thought to myself, You know, Id kind of like to be the last man on earth  just to find out if all those women were lying to me. His delivery, and even his look, are almost Fieldsian, as in W.C. Though Im not sure Fields played the accordion or yodeled or danced or twirled a lariat (all at the same time, as Sourdough Slim does for his grand finale).

 In my hotel, you see the Code of the West  I mean, printed out. There are ten items, like the Commandments. The first is Live each day with courage. In the middle is When you make a promise, keep it. At the end is Know where to draw the line.

 Early in the morning, in the breakfast room, the hostess asks, Does anyone have a poem? A young man speaks up: I dont have my hat with me, but I do have a poem. Yes, youre allowed to recite one without wearing a cowboy hat. Ill read a poem by a poet you probably all know here: Wild Bill Shakespeare. This is very brief  Sonnet 51.

Nice (and unexpected).

 On my way back to Salt Lake City, I pass the exit for Beverly Hills  Beverly Hills, Nev. That, too, is unexpected. I also stop for another jamocha shake. That is the least unexpected thing in the world.

More from National Review
Donald Trump says Alabama Isis recruiter Hoda Muthana should not be allowed to return to the United States (Getty/AP)

Donald Trump has barred an Alabama woman who fled to Syria to join Isis from returning to the United States.

Hoda Muthana and her son are now at a refugee camp in Syria after fleeing the terrorist group she joined in 2014.

She now wants to return to the US to protect her 18-month-old son but the President tweeted his decision to block her attempt.

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Trump tweeted: I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!

In a brief statement, Mr Pompeo confirmed the decision, arguing that Muthana was not a US citizen.

He said: Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States.

MORE: Home Secretary says he would not make someone stateless  days after stripping Isis bride of UK citizenship

MORE: Cowardly hit-and-run driver with three previous driving bans jailed for killing 11-year-old boy

She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.

But her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined Isis.

He said she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the Trump administration made their decision (Getty)

Mr Shibly said: Shes an American. Americans break the law.

When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and thats all shes asking for.

Mr Shibly said Muthana was just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman when she became enamoured by Isis, believing it was an organisation that protected Muslims.

He said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was brainwashed by Isis and compelled to marry one of the groups soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

The Muthem case echoes that of Shamima Begums desire to return to the UK (PA)

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she became disenchanted with the marriage and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Story continues

In a handwritten letter released by Mr Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made a big mistake by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Isis.

During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me, she wrote.

The President recently called on European countries to take back citizens who joined Isis (Getty)

To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly.

Mr Shibly said that the administration argues that Muthana did not qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat.

But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status for months before her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

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The announcement came a day after Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that he was stripping the citizenship of Isis bride Shamima Begum.

It also comes as Trump recently told the UK and other European countries to take back and put on trial captured Isis fighters.

Mr Shibly said he intends to file a legal challenge to the governments decision to deny her entry to the country.
Thousands of people took part in a protest in Paris on February 19 following an anti-Semitic attack at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France in which swastikas were spray painted on tomb stones, the latest in a series of such incidents.

The protest was one of several held across France on that date.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Quatzenheim cemetery in Alsace on February 19 and wrote on Twitter that anti-Semitism is the negation of what France is.

This footage shows a large crowd of protesters singing near the Place de la Republique in Paris. Credit: Zelda Citroen via Storyful
WASHINGTON  House Democrats will initiate action Friday to try to block President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency along the southern border.

Trump announced the declaration last week as a means of freeing up billions to pay for his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border after Congress failed to give him the money he demanded.

Democrats have called the declaration an overreach of Trump's power and have vowed to fight it but on Wednesday, they laid out their plans.

According to a letter sent by Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro's office, the Texas Democrat will introduce a resolution Friday morning that, if passed by both the House and Senate, would terminate the emergency declaration.

A copy of the one-page resolution was sent out by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Wednesday to others in the House, where she urged members to join in backing the move. She said the House "will move swiftly to pass the bill" and vowed to have it move quickly through committees so that Congress could vote on the measure.

"All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution," Pelosi said in her letter. "The Presidents decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated. We have a solemn responsibility to uphold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the Presidents assault."

The resolution is likely to have strong support in the Democratic-led House. But it faces a tough fight after it's passed to the Republican-controlled Senate.

President Donald Trump visits US Border Patrol McAllen Station in McAllen, Texas, on Jan. 10, 2019, with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, right. Trump travels to the US-Mexico border as part of his all-out offensive to build a wall, a day after he stormed out of negotiations when Democratic opponents refused to agree to fund the project in exchange for an end to a painful government shutdown.

Many Republicans have said they were uncomfortable with the president declaring a national emergency to get funding for a wall along the southern border but it's unclear whether they would vote for such an effort.

Trump made the emergency declaration after Congress allocated $1.375 billion for a barrier along the southern border, far short of the $5.7 billion Trump had demanded. The fight over wall funding led to a 35-day government shutdown  the longest on record.

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White House officials have said the emergency declaration and other budget maneuvers would free up an additional $6.6 billion, which would build at least 234 miles of border wall.

Along with Congress moving to void the order, the move has also drawn as number of legal challenges in court.

Sixteen states already filed a lawsuit over Trump's emergency declaration, arguing it exceeds the power of the president and unconstitutionally redirects federal money that Congress had set aside for other purposes.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats prepare resolution to try to stop Trump's declaration of an emergency at the border
With only eight days left in their trade truce, top US and Chinese officials on Thursday returned to the daunting task of bridging a chasm between the world's two largest economies.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed the talks with Beijing are going "very well," but concrete signs of progress have not been apparent in the three months since the two sides agreed to pause their trade war in December.

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday the two sides would "go a step further in deepening their communication."

But analysts say the distance separating Washington and Beijing and the short time remaining before the March 1 deadline make it likely the outcome will feature banner announcements but fall short of Trump's most far-reaching goals.

"I think the consensus of people that have been following this thing is that they're not making nearly as much progress as the president tweets that they've been making," said William Reinsch, a former US trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Chinese trade envoy Liu He is leading Beijing's delegation in the fourth round of negotiations with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other American officials Thursday and Friday as they work to head off an escalation of US tariffs.

Trump this week said a March 1 deadline to reach a deal was in fact "not a magical date," raising hopes that he could delay the plan to more than double US duties on $200 billion in Chinese goods.

Since July, Washington and Beijing have hit each other with tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, weighing on the manufacturing sectors in both countries.

Washington has demanded that Beijing reverse much of its industrial policy, charging that China has sought global dominance through the alleged theft of American technology, massive subsidies and the promotion of mammoth state-owned enterprises.

Story continues

- When Trump can claim 'victory!' -

Trump has said the ultimate bargain will be struck at a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping.

Reinsch told AFP the two sides were likely to strike some kind of deal.

"I'm sure they'll come up with something that will be more than cosmetic but less than we're asking," he said.

"It'll probably in the area of intellectual property theft and more open investment in China because they're the things that benefit them as well as benefit us."

But other changes -- such as subjecting China's state-owned enterprises to free-market principles -- could weaken the communist party's hold on power, making Chinese officials very reluctant to budge, he said.

China's retaliatory tariffs have severely hit US farm exports. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Beijing offered to increase purchases of American agricultural exports such as soybeans, corn and wheat by $30 billion a year.

Elsewhere on Thursday, top Trump Cabinet officials said Washington was focused on making sure any deal had teeth and could be enforced.

"I know our trade team is hard at work making sure that the American people get that," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

He said "this unlawful transfer of American wealth, American innovation" over decades requires that china "put structural changes in place to prevent it from taking place."

"The Trump administration is determined to push back against it."

Asked about an offer from China to buy more American crops, US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said it was "premature" to discuss the details since as any proposal will depend on reaching a "grand deal."

"Clearly, the real issue is structural reforms regarding intellectual property guarantees, enforceability of those provisions," he said at a separate event on North American trade.

"I think if we could get those kinds of assurances regarding China taking intellectual property theft seriously, then we could see renewed and expanded agricultural trade between the two countries."

China's economy slowed sharply amid the dispute, eroding prospects for global growth this year.

Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a former US trade official now at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he expected China to make a mega offer to buy more American exports, and possibly even to remove tariffs on US goods.

"I'm thinking there'll be an eye-catching announcement as to how much China will buy in the next year or so that will enable Trump to say 'victory! victory!'" he told AFP.

But should the agreement fail to hold -- causing Washington to resume imposing tariffs while accusing Beijing of backsliding -- that could pose prove embarrassing for the Americans, he said.

Wall Street closed lower on the talks' first day, also driven down by negative European and Japanese economic data.
Watch the full episode 16 of Yahoo UKs show The Royal Box, here.

Since speculation of a feud between the Duchess of Sussex and Duchess of Cambridge began last year, there has been a narrative in some areas of the press, which has pitted the two women against one another.

Coverage of Meghan and Kates fashion choices has been one example.

The Duchess of Sussex proudly dressed her baby bump in a black one shoulder Givenchy gown for the British Fashion Awards in December. Her outfit was deemed vulgar by numerous outlets and headlines suggested she had broken royal protocol, with her choice of black nail varnish.

Less than two months later, the Duchess of Cambridge accompanied the Duke to the BAFTAs in a similar one shoulder dress by Alexander McQueen. In contrast, Kates look was referred to as ethereal and angelic.

Meghan at the British Fashion Awards 2018 and Kate at the 2019 BAFTAs [Photos: Getty]

Royal correspondent Omid Scobie told Yahoo UKs The Royal Box: This definitely illustrates some of the bias that we have in some of the tabloids at the moment, certainly with online click bait.

I think its become almost a bit of a trend to just sort of kick Meghan when shes down and highlight things that may not necessarily actually be breaks in protocol.

The Daily Mirrors fashion and beauty director Amber Graafland cant understand why Meghan would have been criticised for her outfit and points out that the Fashion Awards was a special night for the duchess.

She says: She [Meghan] was presenting an award to her wedding dress designer Clare Waight Keller, who for Givenchy, who had designed that beautiful dress for her.

So actually to criticise her on an evening that had some kind of emotional connection for her was doubly mean.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Meghan Markle returns to London after NYC baby shower

Kate Middletons style file: Every outfit the Duchess of Cambridge has worn to work in 2019

Meghan Markles 2019 style file: Every outfit the Duchess of Sussex has worn out this year
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A look at the shareholders of Bharat Gears Limited (NSE:BHARATGEAR) can tell us which group is most powerful. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies. Warren Buffett said that he likes a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people. So its nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

With a market capitalization of 1.2b, Bharat Gears is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutions are not really that prevalent on the share registry. Lets delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about BHARATGEAR.

Check out our latest analysis for Bharat Gears

NSEI:BHARATGEAR Ownership Summary, February 21st 2019

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bharat Gears?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Since institutions own under 5% of Bharat Gears, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But its clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. If the business gets stronger from here, we could see a situation where more institutions are keen to buy. When multiple institutional investors want to buy shares, we often see a rising share price. The past revenue trajectory (shown below) can be an indication of future growth, but there are no guarantees.

NSEI:BHARATGEAR Income Statement, February 21st 2019

We note that hedge funds dont have a meaningful investment in Bharat Gears. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Bharat Gears

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Bharat Gears Limited. Insiders own 393m worth of shares in the 1.2b company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over BHARATGEAR. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 17%, of the BHARATGEAR stock. Its hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 3.6%, of the BHARATGEAR shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

Its always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Bharat Gears better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
PHOENIX  Caitlin Secrist, a 21-year-old college student blocked from lifesaving surgery because she can't get copies of her medical records, will receive the file after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and a judge intervened Wednesday.

Secrist can't eat, can't work, delayed her college graduation and is in constant pain because of acute pancreatitis. She wears a feeding tube around the clock and depends on handfuls of medications. More than a dozen hospitalizations later, the next pancreatitic attack could kill her.

All conventional treatments have failed. Secrist hopes a drastic surgery to completely remove her pancreas, spleen and appendix could help.

But a top doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital refuses to perform the operation without a complete understanding of Secrist's health history, including what her organs looked like when she was originally diagnosed, she said. Without the first scans taken in 2017, Secrist can't move forward.

Caitlin Secrist, 21, and her parents Suzette and Bill

Secrist is among more than 300 patients who have tried and failed to get their medical records since Florence Hospital at Anthem and Gilbert Hospital went bankrupt and closed last summer, The Arizona Republic reported. Creditors have been bickering since then over who should cover the $92,000 needed to access the repossessed electronic-records system.

Feb. 20: College student could die because she can't get copies of her medical records

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After reading the Republic story, Ducey directed his staff to see whether they could help Secrist obtain her records. Their efforts are underway.

"We've spoken with the patient's family and other outside organizations that could help with this to find any avenue possible to get these records to her," said Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for the governor.

Pleading her case in court

Secrist and her parents drove an hour and a half from their Florence, Arizona, home to a court hearing on the impasse Wednesday, hoping to speak to the judge.

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Secrist had penned a heart-wrenching letter to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roger Brodman the day before. Her doctor also wrote the court, saying that Secrist was in "dire need" of the records.

Brodman considered competing proposals to resolve the situation:

Make patients pay potentially thousands of dollars for their records.

Send the bill to former hospital executives.

Force the electronic-records company to shoulder the costs.

Dig into hospital assets that otherwise would go to the senior creditor, a New York investment firm, which opposed the plan.

"Everybody agrees this is a critical issue," Brodman said. "The hospital has the duty to produce the records. The inherent problem here is there is no hospital. The hospital has gone kaput."

Secrist didn't get to speak during the court proceedings. But as it turned out, the judge didn't need Secrist's encouragement.

Brodman ruled quickly that the most efficient, fastest and probably least expensive option was to use remaining hospital assets.

That plan will reactivate the electronic-records system for 90 days, launch a publicity blitz to alert patients and hire employees to collect the records and respond to requests.

Indigo-DLI Holdings, the New York lender that opposed the plan because it would eat into the money it would recoup from the hospitals, may appeal to stop the plan, attorney Kyle Hirsch said in court.

He was the only attorney in the lawsuit that has not expressed sympathy for patients.

"This is a very important issue," Hirsch told the judge. "If the patients want their records they should pay a reasonable fee. ... But imposing the entire expense on Indigo doesn't seem fair."

For now, the plan will move forward.

Next steps for patients

If all goes well, Secrist can expect to receive her file in two to three weeks, attorneys said.

She could get the records even faster if Ducey's office can locate her files through a third-party records vendor the state has a relationship with.

Any patients who need records from Florence and Gilbert hospitals  and have not already requested them  should do so as soon as possible.

The window of opportunity to receive records is expected to be roughly March through May.

'It's a good feeling'

Secrist and her parents said the decision was a "big win" for her and hundreds of other patients.

"It's a good feeling," Secrist said outside the courthouse. "I can finally get those records and get on my way to getting better."

An aspiring nurse, Secrist hopes to schedule her surgery soon so she can get back to school and a more normal life.

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Her mother, Suzette Secrist, said she was grateful to the judge.

"He realized there's a human part to all of this," she said.

The Republic's investigation probably helped motivate the parties to secure a solution, Suzette Secrist said.

"The first thing the attorneys asked us this morning was, 'Have you read the story?'" she said. "We appreciate all the help we've gotten. It was way more than I expected."

Solutions to broader problem

Secrist's case poses the wider question of why Arizona patients were put at risk at all.

Disputes between health care facilities and software and server companies over billing, access and obligations to patients have cropped up as medical records across the country have been moved online. There are not always clear answers in current federal and state law.

For instance, attorneys for Medhost, the electronic record company used by Florence and Gilbert hospitals, argued that it is not a "health care provider" and thus was not subject to records-retention regulations that apply to hospitals and doctors.

And the Arizona Department of Health Services declined to intervene in the case despite requests from attorneys. It's not clear why.

The Governor's Office hopes to review state laws for possible loopholes that contributed to the quagmire, Ptak said.

"We are open to discussions about how to prevent something like this from happening in the future if a hospital were to close," he said.

Follow Rebekah L. Sanders on Twitter: @RebekahLSanders

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: College student who needs lifesaving surgery will get her medical records
Cimarex Energy (XEC) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.98 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.75 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.47 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 13.14%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this oil and natural gas company would post earnings of $1.52 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.99, delivering a surprise of 30.92%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Cimarex, which belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry, posted revenues of $624.12 million for the quarter ended December 2018, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.44%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $550.94 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Cimarex shares have added about 21.8% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 10.9%.

What's Next for Cimarex?

While Cimarex has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

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Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Cimarex was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.30 on $582.73 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $6.11 on $2.64 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States is currently in the bottom 23% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.



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As per usual, Chris Cuomo briefly joined Anderson Cooper 360 Wednesday night ahead of the start of Cuomo Prime Time, but this conversation was anything but usual. In it, Cuomo responded to being one of dozens of people on a hit list, which included prominent Democrats and critics of Donald Trump in the media. Cuomos first thoughts were of his family.

This is scary, Cuomo said. This is something that the people who get named, we have to deal with, especially with our family because while we accept it as just the nature of the world we live in these days, my brother, this is very scary to the people and the little ones at home. So weve got to deal with that.

Earlier in the day, news broke that a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant, and self-described white nationalist, Christopher Paul Hasson, who was arrested last week on weapons and drug charges, was planning a large-scale terrorist attack. It was also discovered after the arrest that Hasson, who had amassed a large cache of weapons and ammunition, had compiled the hit list shortly after internet searches for things like what if Trump illegally impeached, best place in dc to see congress people, civil war if trump impeached and social democrats usa.

We need ways, if it turns out he is sick, we need ways to keep weapons like the arsenal that this man put together from people who shouldnt have them, Cuomo said. We have to be able to find a better way. God forbid someone like this takes action and then we learn too late.

This is the second time in just a few months that high profile critics of the president have been targeted. Last October, Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc was charged with sending over a dozen pipe bombs to Trump critics. And though Trump consistently refers to the media as the enemy of the people, Cuomo was careful not to place blame.

He knows his words have power. He knows he should choose them carefully, Cuomo said, adding, Hes gotta be careful about what he says, but you gotta be careful about causation and correlation.

Story continues

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But while Cuomo was hesitant to place blame, CNN colleague Don Lemon, who was also on the list, made a direct correlation to the presidents words and peoples actions.

We need to thank the Coast Guard and law enforcement for stopping this in time, Lemon said. But we need to talk about why, once again, critics of the president are being targeted with violence. He later added, These things dont happen in a vacuum. The presidents words matter.

Prominent democrats on the hit list include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, former Rep. Beto ORourke and former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Other media personalities included Van Jones of CNN, and Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes and Ari Melber of MSNBC.

Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on CNN. Cuomo Prime Time airs weeknights at 9 p.m. on CNN. CNN Tonight airs weeknights at 10 p.m. on CNN.

Watch former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe question where Trumps loyalties lie:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
As per usual, Chris Cuomo briefly joined Anderson Cooper 360 Wednesday night ahead of the start of Cuomo Prime Time, but this conversation was anything but usual. In it, Cuomo responded to being one of dozens of people on a hit list, which included prominent Democrats and critics of Donald Trump in the media. Cuomos first thoughts were of his family.This is scary, Cuomo said. This is something that the people who get named, we have to deal with, especially with our family because while we accept it as just the nature of the world we live in these days, my brother, this is very scary to the people and the little ones at home. So we've got to deal with that.Earlier in the day it made headlines that a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant, and self-described white nationalist, Christopher Paul Hasson, who was arrested last week on weapons and drug charges, was planning a large-scale terrorist attack. It was also discovered after the arrest that Hasson had compiled the hit list shortly after internet searches for things like what if Trump illegally impeached, best place in dc to see congress people, civil war if trump impeached, and social democrats usa. Hasson had also amassed a large cache of weapons and ammunition.

We need ways, if it turns out he is sick, we need ways to keep weapons like the arsenal that this man put together from people who shouldnt have them, Cuomo said. We have to be able to find a better way. God forbid someone like this takes action and then we learn too late.This is the second time in just a few months that high profile critics of the president have been targeted. Last October, Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc was charged with sending over a dozen pipe bombs to Trump critics. And though Trump consistently refers to the media as the enemy of the people, Cuomo was careful not to place blame.He knows his words have power. He knows he should choose them carefully, Cuomo said, adding, Hes gotta be careful about what he says, but you gotta be careful about causation and correlation.But while Cuomo was hesitant to place blame, his colleague at CNN Don Lemon, who was also on the list, made a direct correlation to the presidents words and peoples actions.We need to thank the Coast Guard and law enforcement for stopping this in time, Lemon said. But we need to talk about why, once again, critics of the president are being targeted with violence. He later added, These things dont happen in a vacuum. The presidents words matter.Prominent democrats on the hit list include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Tim Kaine, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Former Rep. Beto ORourke and Former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.Other media personalities included Van Jones of CNN, and Joe Scarborough, Chris Hayes and Ari Melber of MSNBC.
PeskyMonkey/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Apple is said to be teaming up with Goldman Sachs on a joint credit card that both companies plan to begin issuing this spring.



Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports the card, which will use Mastercard's network, will be rolled out to employees in the next few weeks for testing before being launched officially.



Apple and Goldman Sachs hope to garner interest in the card by offering users extra features on Apples Wallet app, like the ability to set spending goals, track rewards and manage balances, the people told the newspaper.



The card will also offer cash back on most purchases, the Journal reported, with possibly higher returns on purchases of Apple products.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Chicago (AFP) - An American TV actor was criminally charged Thursday for allegedly masterminding an elaborate "publicity stunt" that sought to exploit the "pain and anger of racism" with a staged assault on the streets of Chicago.

It was the latest twist in a weeks-long saga that has seen 36-year-old Jussie Smollett, the gay, African-American actor who stars on Fox music industry drama "Empire," go from victim to suspect after he reported an assault late last month.

An incredulous Chicago police chief accused Smollett of first sending himself a fake threatening letter and then staging an attack to tap into Americans' anxieties over political and racial divisions, because he was allegedly "dissatisfied with his salary."

In a sign of the national attention the case has drawn, President Donald Trump weighed in Thursday, taking issue with the fact Smollett claimed his assailants invoked the president's "Make America Great Again" slogan along with homophobic and racist slurs during the purported attack.

"'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told an emotionally-charged news conference -- during which he lashed out angrily at the actor for sullying the city's image.

"Smollett paid $3,500 to stage this attack and drag Chicago's reputation through the mud in the process," he said. "This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly didn't deserve."

Smollett turned himself in early Thursday morning, was arrested and charged with a felony count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, and was granted $100,000 bond.

He was freed from jail late in the afternoon, and said nothing to the throng of media. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

His legal team pushed back hard later Thursday, claiming the police press conference had been prejudicial and "the presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon."

Story continues

"Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system," attorney Jack Prior told AFP in a statement.

"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."

Smollett had claimed that two masked men beat him late at night in downtown Chicago, poured bleach on him and tied a rope around his neck -- but police grew suspicious of his account after they failed to corroborate it.

Trump took aim at the actor for having tarnished his supporters, tweeting: "what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?"

Meanwhile, Fox Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television, which produce "Empire" and had stood by the actor, said "we understand the seriousness of this matter" and "are considering our options."

- Mountain of evidence -

Authorities said the two men who staged the attack with Smollett were brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, who have both previously worked on "Empire," and were acquaintances of the actor -- while one provided him with drugs.

The brothers have cooperated with police since their arrest late last week and have not been charged with a crime.

Smollett allegedly first concocted a false threatening letter he had sent to himself -- which is under a separate FBI investigation -- and when that did not get enough attention, paid the brothers to have the assault staged.

Prosecutor Risa Lanier detailed an elaborate plot that Smollett allegedly orchestrated with exacting detail -- telling the brothers when and how to attack him, including pointing out a street camera he assumed would capture the event, but was in fact pointing in a different direction.

The allegations were backed by a mountain of evidence, including a cashed check that Smollett wrote to pay for the stunt, authorities said.

- Rush to judgment -

Initial news of Smollett's claims led to widespread condemnation and shock, and an outpouring of support from celebrities and politicians alike, including Democratic 2020 presidential candidates Cory Booker and Kamala Harris who denounced "an attempted modern day lynching."

Trump initially described the alleged attack as "horrible."

Since then, Smollett's story has become a cautionary tale in an era where incomplete information is quickly spread via social media.

Opinion writers have complained about a rush to judgment, and politicians, celebrities and nonprofit groups have felt pressure to explain their initial reactions.

The president of the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign said the Smollett news was "both devastating and frustrating."

"I want to ask everyone feeling angry, hurt & disappointed to channel that into productive activism  because there are thousands targeted by hate violence each year who need our help," Chad Griffin tweeted.
The Gap, Inc. GPS is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 results on Feb 28.



Notably, the company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having outpaced estimates in six of the trailing seven quarters. Further, it delivered an average four-quarter earnings beat of 0.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 69 cents, mirroring 13.1% growth year over year. Estimates remained unchanged over the past 30 days.

The Gap, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

The Gap, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | The Gap, Inc. Quote

How Things Are Shaping Before 4Q18 Earnings



Gaps consistent focus on enhancing its omni-channel capabilities including e-commerce growth by adopting numerous initiatives is encouraging. Apparently, the company has expanded online presence across all of its brands and is likely to reach the target of more than $3.5 billion sales in fiscal 2018. Its strategic efforts to improve product quality and responsiveness to changing consumer trends are an added positive.



Further, the companys growth strategy that mainly focuses on the Old Navy and Athleta brands is boding well. Gap has been witnessing continued strength at its Old Navy brand fueled by higher traffic. Moreover, its Banana Republic brand has been reporting positive comparable-store sales (comps) for a while now. These, in turn, are likely to drive comps in fiscal 2018. Comps are anticipated to be flat to up slightly. Earnings are envisioned to be $2.55-$2.60 per share for the fiscal year.



Notably, Gap surpassed sales estimates in last eight quarters now. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter sales at Old Navy stands at $2,178 million, up about 1% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus mark for overall quarterly sales is pegged at $4,720 million.



However, persistent softness across Gaps namesake brand for quite a while now is a major concern. Apparently, comps fell 7% at the Gap brand in the last reported quarter mainly due to operational headwinds across the business and assortment issues. For fiscal 2018, management expects the brands results to be weak, which might dent the overall comps growth and profitability. The consensus mark for sales at the Gap brand is pinned at $1,532 million, mirroring a 4.6% decline year over year.



Zacks Model



According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) stocks are best avoided, especially if they have a negative Earnings ESP. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.



Although Gaps Earnings ESP of +4.21% increases the chances of an earnings beat, its Zacks Rank #4 makes surprise prediction difficult.



Stocks Likely to Beat Earnings Estimates



Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:



Abercrombie & Fitch ANF has an Earnings ESP of +0.94% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO has an Earnings ESP of +0.60% and a Zacks Rank #2.



The Home Depot, Inc. HD has an Earnings ESP of +1.22% and a Zacks Rank #3.



Today's Best Stocks from Zacks



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WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish charity helping victims of child abuse committed by Catholic priests accused 24 bishops on Thursday of concealing perpetrators of sexual molestation of minors. The "Have No Fear" charity made the allegation in a report released as Pope Francis convened Catholic leaders from around the world to address scandals over child sexual abuse by priests that have ravaged the Church's credibility over the last three decades. The report, which has been delivered to the pope, named Polish bishops whom it said had "concealed clerical crimes and moved pedophilic priests from one parish to another". It added: "Despite the fact that the Polish mass media almost every day talks about the abuses of children by clergy, bishops still do nothing about it." Responding to the report, an Episcopate spokesman said: "In the Catholic Church, every believer can present his case to the Holy Father...The Holy See, on the other hand, has the opportunity to evaluate and verify reported cases." He added, "It should also be recalled that the Church strongly and decisively condemns all sexual abuse of minors in the Church and in society as a whole." The four-day conference at the Vatican, dedicated to "prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults", is intended to help faltering attempts to coordinate a global response to the crisis. The "Have no Fear" NGO also said some Church representatives still fail to report clerical sex crimes to Polish prosecutors. Led by a former victim of clerical abuse, Marek Lisinski, the charity hopes its report will trigger resignations from top positions in the Church in devoutly Catholic Poland. In Chile last year, all of the country's bishops offered their resignations to the pope over a widespread cover-up of sexual abuses. Francis accepted seven of the resignations and dismissed two others from the priesthood. In Poland, victims of abuse by priests are often accused of making false accusations, even long after the offender has been jailed, since Catholic priests enjoy high social prestige. "We demand the opening of the archives of the Polish Church and provision to law enforcement authorities of all information about the offenders, because the Church cannot be above the law," Have No Fear said in its report. (Reporting by Marcin Goclowski; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Liang Hua (centre), Chairman of Huaweis Board of Directors, sits with Eric Li (second left), President of Huawei Technologies Canada and Mr Christian Chua (far right) President of R & D Huawei Technologies Canada, as they attend a media roundtable event in Toronto, on Thursday, February 21, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. says it is committed to investing in research and development in Canada, regardless of whether the federal government decides to ban the company from supplying equipment for 5G networks.

Speaking to a media roundtable at a Toronto hotel on Thursday, Huaweis board chairman Liang Hua told reporters through a translator that the Chinese telecommunications giant was committed to maintaining and growing its business in Canada, one that has spanned the last decade.

We will continue to step up our investments in research and development in Canada, Liang said.

No matter what their decision will be Huawei will be committed to bringing our 5G technology, solutions and products to the Canadian market and customers.

The Canadian government is in the midst of conducting a security review of Huawei, looking specifically at the equipment it supplies for the development of 5G telecom networks. Currently, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. have partnered with and use Huawei technology.

And Huawei is planning on growing its presence in Canada. The company announced Thursday that it will boost its research and development investment in Canada by 15 per cent from $180 million in 2018, while at the same time increasing its Canadian workforce by 200 employees. Huawei also said it will change its investment practices in Canada to ensure intellectual property developed in partnership with Canadian universities remains in the country.

The nearly two-hour roundtable with members of the North American media comes as the telecommunications company faces significant scrutiny and a battered reputation around the world over security concerns related to the rollout of 5G mobile networks.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the U.S. would not be able to partner with or share information with companies that adopt Huawei technology.

Were not going to put American information at risk, Pompeo said.

Liang said cyber security remains a significant challenge not just for telecommunications companies, but the entire world, and that Huawei remains compliant with all cyber security and privacy protection laws in Canada.

Story continues

Huawei would never do anything to harm any country, any organization or any individual, Liang said. He also added that the government should partner with telecom operators and vendors to create clearly defined rules that will help build confidence among the public in networks.

Huawei has also been at the heart of strained relationships between Canada and China since the companys chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in December on behalf of U.S. authorities for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

On Thursday, Liang pointed to comments made by now-former Ambassador John McCallum, who had said Meng has good arguments on her side due in part to comments made by U.S. president Donald Trump.

Even the former Canadian ambassador said Ms. Meng has a good defense of the political character of the U.S. extradition request, so I cannot say the U.S. charges against Ms. Weng are not political, he said, adding that there are problem that need to be solved between Canada and China.

To be honest, the current relationship between China and Canada is not ideal.

Still, he insisted that Mengs arrest and potential 5G bans will not impact the companys investments in research and development and expansion plans in Canada.

The approach has nothing to do with the 5G projects in Canada, he said. But he hopes the governments decision will be based on technology instead of other factors. If it the company does end up being banned from participating in the Canadian 5G market, it has other options.

If Huawei were to be excluded from the deployment of 5G in the country, then there are still customers that will choose us, he said. In that case, we will continue to provide good services to those customers that have chosen us.

With files from Reuters.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
What happened?

A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute last July. The boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, snatched Alesha from her grandparents flat and took her to the grounds of a disused hotel were he raped and killed her. Her body was found in nearby woods a few hours after she went missing from the house her father shared with his parents on the island, where she was staying for part of the school holidays.

The most evil crimes this court has ever seen

The jury unanimously found the boy guilty after a two-week trial during which a mountain of forensic evidence against him was shown. His semen was found inside and on her body, and fibres from his trousers were found on her clothes. A coroner told the trial Alesha had catastrophic injuries to her genitals, some of which were inflicted while she was still alive.

The boy maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming he never met the little girl. He instead blamed Aleshas death on Toni McLachlan, the girlfriend of Aleshas father. The 16-year-old said he had sex with Ms McLachlan, who then planted his semen on Aleshas body to frame him for the crime. He also claimed that Aleshas father, Robert, was abusing Ms McLachlan. This defence was described as preposterous by the prosecution and rejected by the jury.

The judge told the boy he had committed some of the wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard and deferred sentencing until March 21. As the accused was led downstairs a man in the public gallery shouted evil and another said f***ing scumbag.

Read more about this story

Boy, 16, found guilty of the rape and murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail (The Telegraph)

Mother of Alesha MacPhails killer led police to his door (The Guardian)

Mountain of evidence against boy, 16 (Sky News)

The overwhelming majority of Brits think that Brexit will be delayed. With just weeks to go until the proposed March 29 exit, a new poll of the British public reveals 79% of people think there will be a hold-up that stalls the UK leaving the European Union. Read the full story here (Yahoo News UK)

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Corbyn: Shamima should be allowed back to UK

Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the Home Offices attempt to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, saying she should be allowed to return to the UK to face questioning. The Labour leader said Sajid Javids action was very extreme after diplomatic tensions broke out, with Bangladesh denying the 19-year-old had citizenship in the nation she has apparently never visited. Mr Corbyn said: She obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain. Read the full story here (Sky News)

Rachel Riley planning to sue dozens of people over horrendous abuse

Countdown presenter Rachel Riley has begun legal action against Twitter users who allegedly targeted her with horrendous abuse and harassment over her comments about Jeremy Corbyns handling of anti-Semitism allegations within Labour ranks. Her lawyer said he was preparing to take potential action against up to 70 people who are almost exclusively Labour supporters for alleged libel or harassment of Riley. Read the full story here. (PA News)

These paddle boarders got more than they bargained for when they witnessed this spectacular whale breach off the coast of Hawaii. Kathy Daly said she and her friends had seen them earlier in the day and decided to hang out and see where the whales were going. As you can see from this footage, it was definitely worth the wait.





6cm

The wingspan of the largest known bee on the planet, which has been rediscovered for the first time since 1981. A group of scientists and conservationists travelled to the forests of Indonesia in search of a Wallaces giant bee, finding one on the fifth day of their expedition. The female of the species, which one biologist called the holy grail of bees, is four times the size of the typical European honeybee and has the wingspan of 6cm. Read the full story here. (Mashable)
By Susan Taylor

TORONTO (Reuters) - Jerry Dias, the leader of Canada's auto union, is unsparing in his rhetorical attacks on General Motors Co's decision to close its Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant and lay off thousands of union workers by year-end.

But when it comes to action, Unifor's president has been far more circumspect.

Dias promised "drastic measures" to compel GM to extend production of sedans and pickups, including the Silverado, to Sept. 21, 2020, when the current labor contract expires.

For more than a century, GM's complex in Oshawa, a city east of Toronto, has been an economic engine for Ontario and Canada, anchored by thousands of highly paid manufacturing jobs.

After GM's November announcement of a broad restructuring, including Oshawa, the union backed brief production disruptions, a call to boycott GM's Mexican-made vehicles and a "solidarity" concert for workers by British musician Sting.

But Dias has not yet deployed the biggest weapon in his arsenal  a general strike to fully halt production of Silverado and Sierra pickups, vital to the Detroit automaker's profitability.

Dias concedes there is mixed support for a walkout among union workers. Some Oshawa workers fear that shutting down GM Canada would hurt them much more than the company.

Unifor represents 2,600 assembly-line workers at GM Oshawa and 1,800 workers at plants supplying the Oshawa operations, whose contracts typically have lower pay, benefits and security. Some 1,500 work at feeder plants that are entirely reliant on Oshawa.

That is a sharp drop from the mid-1990s, when Unifor's predecessor union counted 14,750 hourly members in Oshawa.

"We're working in the GM plant, but we're not GM," said Sheri Steel, a forklift driver at CEVA Logistics. "Whenever GM shuts down, we do too. We get sent home and we lose pay."

Strikes can be a "dangerous tactic" when plants face closure, and could drive GM to an earlier exit, she said.

Story continues

Workers are pressing for talks on closure terms, which can improve on guaranteed worker provisions in a contract, said CEVA local Chairperson Keith Poulin. Unifor has declined those requests, saying it intends to keep the plant open, he said.

"We live paycheck to paycheck," said Poulin's wife, Jean Poulin. More than seven years ago, the couple were hired by companies supplying the GM plant for C$14 an hour.

Over time, their wages rose to C$20.50, but the 51-year-olds say that with limited severance, no pension and no savings, they cannot afford to retire.

"With a mortgage and bills, we are scared," said Jean, who delivers parts for Syncreon Automotive.

'THEY DON'T SCARE ME'

Some union members are nervous about their future, Dias told Reuters in an interview, but he is not. "They've got a lot of power," he said of GM. "But they don't scare me at all."

Unifor has laid the groundwork for tougher action. It charged GM with breaking terms of the 2016 collective agreement, committing it to keep Oshawa open until the deal ends in 2020. It filed a grievance that is proceeding to arbitration.

GM Canada says the agreement notes that market conditions may arise beyond the company's control. "The union has also been aware since 2016 that Oshawa truck production was temporary and ending in 2019," said spokesman David Paterson.

So far, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has refused to retreat from her restructuring plans despite criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian politicians and unions in both countries. She has also declined to meet with Dias.

"We have a lot more cards to play," Dias said. "But I'm not going to find a solution playing solitaire."

Dias has looked for support from his U.S. counterparts in the United Auto Workers union. The two unions, which broke apart more than three decades ago, discussed cooperating on their campaigns to save plants, but provided no details.

In the past 23 years, there have only been two autoworker strikes in Canada, said Unifor's director of research.

"We used to have strikes at every round of bargaining among auto assemblers right from the beginning in 1937," said Bill Murnighan. "But Canada now has a very low number of strikes compared to past eras and compared to other countries."

A GM THAT CAN SAY NO

GM's decision to end production at Oshawa and four U.S. plants is emblematic of a global shift, as automakers restructure and invest in next-generation vehicles, including electric and self-driving cars. With North American sales projected to flatten or decline, automakers are also wary of maintaining unnecessary capacity in the region.

Politicians on both sides of the border have reminded GM that the U.S. and Canadian governments rescued it with public money a decade ago.

After contributing more than C$10.5 billion to the 2009 GM bailout, the Canadian and Ontario governments sold their final equity stakes in 2015. A set of financing commitments, including domestic production, expired one year later, GM's Paterson said.

Trump has threatened to cut all GM subsidies, a tough stance that Unifor has asked Canadian officials to adopt. But politicians from Ottawa and Toronto have taken a more moderate approach, saying there is nothing more they can do without GM's cooperation. Dias calls their response inadequate.

"That couldn't be further from the truth. ... We have been having conversations repeatedly," said a federal government official. "I don't think the solution is just throwing money at the company."

The provincial government agrees.

"We've asked many, many times - and offered all kinds of different things - What can we do, as the government of Ontario, for you to change your mind?" said Economic Development Minister Todd Smith. "And the answer has always been: 'Nothing.'"

($1 = 1.3176 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Susan Taylor in Toronto; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Joseph White and Peter Cooney)
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's top bureaucrat on Thursday slammed accusations of political interference in the prosecution of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin as false and defamatory, while warning that heated discourse over the bombshell risked inciting violence.

Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick said a Globe and Mail article that touched off a political firestorm and the resignations of a cabinet minister and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top advisor "contains errors, unfounded speculation and, in some cases, is simply defamatory."

Testifying before the House of Commons justice committee looking into the meddling allegations, he also warned about the increasingly negative tone of current political discourse surrounding the matter.

"I worry about the rising tide of incitements to violence when people use terms like treason and traitor in open discourse," he said.

"Those are the words that lead to assassination," he said. "I'm worried that somebody is going to be shot in this country this year during the (upcoming) political campaign."

For weeks, Trudeau's government has been rocked by allegations that undue pressure was put on former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould for an out-of-court settlement with SNC-Lavalin.

The Montreal-based firm was charged in 2015 with corruption for allegedly bribing officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011 to secure government contracts during former strongman Moamer Kadhafi's reign.

It lobbied the government, including senior officials in Trudeau's office, for an out-of-court settlement that would include paying a fine and agreeing to put in place compliance measures.

But Wilson-Raybould refused to ask prosecutors to settle with the company, and the trial is set to proceed.

Earlier this month she quit Trudeau's cabinet.

Days later Trudeau's longtime friend and principal secretary Gerry Butts, at the center of the controversy, also resigned.

Story continues

Trudeau has steadfastly denied the allegations, saying that he had made clear to Wilson-Raybould that any decision on the case "as attorney general was hers alone to make."

He and his Liberals, however, have faced what Wernick described as a barrage of hateful comments and "trolling from the vomitorium of social media."

Wilson-Raybould is scheduled to testify before the justice committee on Monday.

Canada's independent ethics commissioner, meanwhile, has also launched an investigation.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.  Lawmakers in California have introduced bills that would reinstate the individual mandate, requiring all state residents to have health insurance starting in 2020 or pay a tax penalty.

Identical bills introduced in the state Senate and Assembly are an attempt to reverse the revocation by Congress of the federal mandate that was part of the Affordable Care Act.

Opponents of the mandate, including President Donald Trump, argued it was not fair to penalize someone for not having insurance. Supporters of the California bills say the insurance market will fall apart without the mandate.

I dont see a very rosy picture of what is happening now that the (federal) mandate is gone, said Bill Youngblood of William Youngblood Insurance Agency in Rancho Mirage. The pricing of insurance will increase without a mandate. You need everyone paying into the system to keep insurance premiums down. Insurance premiums paid without the mandate will not be enough to make a healthy insurance system for California or even the country.

Since the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was implemented in 2013, the states uninsured rate has dropped from 20 percent to 7 percent. A new study estimates that without a mandate, up to 800,000 more Californians under age of 65 will be uninsured by 2023, according to the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduces his proposed state budget for fiscal year 2019-20 on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.

If everyone in California  both healthy and sick people  are paying into the pool of health insurance premiums, then it increases the available funds to cover medical procedures. The more people paying insurance premiums, the less each person must pay. If only people who are sick are paying into the pool of health insurance premiums, then there is less money to cover those same medical procedures, meaning those select people will have to pay higher premiums.

We need young people to pay into the health insurance system, even though they think they will live forever and nothing will ever be wrong with their health, Youngblood said. By everyone paying into the system, it helps keep insurance prices stable and more affordable for everyone.

Story continues

Without the mandate, Youngblood said, insurance premiums will increase exponentially.

But Ken Wheat, Eisenhower Health chief financial officer, said he doesnt expect to see a significant impact from the loss of the federal mandate.

It is likely that the people who choose to pay the penalty have not opted in to Covered California previously and have not had insurance, Wheat said, referring to the state's official health care marketplace. There may be some fluctuation in the number of uninsured patients in the emergency department, but overall impact is not expected to be substantial.

Jan Emerson, California Hospital Association spokeswoman, said the association is in support of both bills because it keeps those patients out of the emergency room.

If people dont have coverage, then they wait until they are very sick to seek medical care and end up in the emergency room, which is the most expensive place to get medical care, Emerson said. Its better for people and for the health care system if everyone gets routine medical care.

Emerson said Covered California has already seen a drop in coverage since the federal mandate was revoked.

Covered California saw new enrollment for health insurance drop about 24 percent this year, which the agency attributes to the removal of the federal mandate.

More: Judge grants stay after ruling Affordable Care Act unconstitutional

More: New York City to provide health care to all city residents, mayor announces

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Californians could be required to have health insurance starting in 2020
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - A controversial British former media adviser to Malaysia's toppled leader is being sought by authorities for allegedly laundering $3.4 million, officials said Thursday, nine months after his boss was ejected from office.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Paul Stadlen, who is believed to have fled Malaysia shortly after the long-ruling government of former prime minister Najib Razak suffered a shock election defeat.

Najib's government faced claims of huge corruption, including that he and his cronies plundered billions of dollars from a sovereign wealth fund and used it to buy everything from high-end real estate to art.

Stadlen was known for staunchly defending Najib even as corruption allegations against him multiplied, and was reputed to have a hard-partying, playboy lifestyle during his years in Kuala Lumpur.

A source in the Malaysian attorney-general's office told AFP that charges against Stadlen were presented to a Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court Wednesday in order to get an arrest warrant.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said the warrant was then passed on to international police organisation Interpol. This may trigger an international hunt for Stadlen, whose current whereabouts are unknown.

Stadlen is accused of two separate counts of money laundering amounting to more than 14 million ringgit ($3.4 million).

He was alleged to have funnelled the money in 2014 and 2015 from an account belonging to a law firm to "several individuals and companies", the source said.

An official from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which drew up the charges, confirmed an arrest warrant had been issued for Stadlen.

The law firm's managing partner was Hafarizam Harun, the legal adviser to Najib's party. He was charged in court Thursday for alleged money laundering, state news agency Bernama reported.

British law firm Mishcon de Reya said Stadlen "categorically denies any wrongdoing".

"The Malaysian government has a political agenda, and Paul is now caught up in the backlash against former prime minister Najib Razak," the firm said in a statement.

Since losing power, Najib has been arrested for alleged corruption and is due to go on trial.
Brussels (AFP) - British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn warned Thursday a no deal Brexit was a "very serious and present" risk and blamed Prime Minister Theresa May's inflexible negotiating position.

Corbyn met EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels one day after May also met top European Commission officials and as talk in London grew of a possible breakthrough in the coming days.

A Brexit deal struck by May and the other 27 EU leaders in November was rejected by British lawmakers in January and since then she has struggled to thrash out a compromise over the so-called "Irish backstop" issue.

Corbyn said he had "useful, informative and very frank" conversations with Barnier and other EU officials, outlining his Labour Party's proposal that Britain should enter a customs union with the bloc when it leaves -- an idea unacceptable to many Brexit supporters who say it would tie London's hands on trade deals.

"The danger of no deal exit from the EU for Britain is a very serous and present one," Corbyn told reporters afterwards, urging May to soften her negotiating stance, which he said was being driven by her Conservative Party's ultra-Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) of MPs.

"She is allowing herself to be held to ransom by a small group in her party called the ERG and that is some of the problem. She has got to change her ways, otherwise the danger of a no deal exit, with all the chaos that would cause, is a very real possibility," he warned.

While Corbyn was travelling to Brussels, British finance minister Philip Hammond raised hopes of a breakthrough in the coming days, telling the BBC there had been "some movement" by the European Union.

He said progress in the ongoing negotiations could result in a fresh vote next week on May's divorce deal, while Thursday will also see Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox hold "detailed discussions" with Barnier in Brussels.

The stumbling block has been the Irish backstop, which provides for Britain to remain in the EU customs union until a way is found -- such as a future free trade deal -- to ensure that Ireland's border with Northern Ireland remains open.

Brexiteers in the Conservative party warn that Britain may be trapped in the bloc indefinitely, and have demanded a time limit or exit clause./ach
British Gas warned about a price cap. Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Archive/PA Images

British Gas owner Centrica (CNA.L) has warned the UK governments cap on energy prices will hit its results in 2019.

The warning from Britains biggest energy supplier comes despite plans for a 10% price hike on its standard variable tariff from 1 April, which will affect around four million customers.

Shares in the firm, which owns British Gas, dropped more than 11% in early trading this morning.

The firm reported a 12% rise in operating profit last year as it announced its results today, but sounded the alarm over a new government price cap aimed at helping consumers.

READ MORE: Watchdog says cap could save customers 1 billion a year

Ian Conn, group chief executive, said in a statement: Centricas financial performance in 2018 was mixed against a challenging external backdrop.

Our 2019 financial performance will be impacted by the UK default tariff cap and continuing lower volumes in exploration and product and nuclear, meaning our 2018-20 target range for average adjusted operating cash flow is under some pressure.

He said the firm was working hard to improve efficiency and secure financial discipline in the year ahead, with 250m in savings planned across the group.

The firm will also sell 500m of its non-core operations in 2019.

Prime minister Theresa May has called energy price hikes a rip-off and introduced a cap. Photo: Hannah McKay/PA Archive/PA Images

British Gas followed other energy firms last week in announcing it would hike tariffs from April, after regulator Ofgem raised the level of its cap on price increases.

The move will see customers on its standard variable tariff face a rise in average bills to 1,254 a year. Prepayment customers will see prices rise by an average of 9%.

Ofgem introduced the price cap amid widespread criticism of the energy industry over rising bills in recent years, with prime minister Theresa May calling them a rip-off.

The cap is calculated to reflect suppliers costs, but firms believe it is set too low and Centrica is seeking a judicial review of the way it is calculated.
By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Britain are moving towards a separate legal statement in which the bloc would again stress the temporary nature of the so-called Brexit backstop for the Irish border, diplomats in Brussels said. They spoke of a "parallel declaration" or "interpretative instrument" on the backstop, a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May and the head of the European Union's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, met in Brussels to seek a way out of the Brexit deadlock. The backstop is an insurance policy designed to avoid border controls between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland after Brexit. Some UK lawmakers fear the backstop could trap the country in a permanent customs union with the EU. "We are also looking at updating the declaration on future EU-UK ties after Brexit to give more prominence to the 'alternative arrangements' sought by Britain," said one EU diplomat who deals with Brexit. "But May won't get any firm wording before Feb. 28." A second diplomat, briefed on the May-Juncker talks on Wednesday evening, confirmed the EU would only signal this was the direction of travel before the British prime minister faces another round of Brexit votes in the UK parliament. "The parliament needs first to indicate clearly this option would then gain their support in the form of ratifying the Brexit deal. If they do that, we hone out exact words in the second week of March and it goes to the summit for approval." Otherwise, the summit of all EU national leaders that is due on March 21-22 in Brussels, would have to agree a Brexit delay for Britain beyond March 29, the sources said, to delay the worst-case-scenario of an abrupt split without a divorce deal. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Robin Emmott and Gareth Jones)
Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) - Botswana's government on Thursday proposed ending a strict ban on hunting, which was introduced to protect wildlife in this game-rich southern African country, prompting conservationists to warn it could harm tourism.

The controversial proposals, which must be debated by cabinet before becoming law, would overturn a hunting ban that was introduced in 2014 to reverse a decline in the population of elephants and other wildlife.

"If needs be, we will give the opportunity to parliament to also interrogate it," said President Mokgweetsi Masisi after receiving the report.

The ban was one of the flagship policies of his predecessor, former president Ian Khama, who was an ardent conservationist.

The ruling Botswana Democratic party has been lobbying to overturn the ban, especially on elephant hunting, saying populations have become unmanageably large in parts -- placing the animals on a collision course with humans.

The proposals also include the introduction of elephant culling to manage numbers.

But conservationists laid into the proposed legislation, describing it as "a disaster".

"Botswana has got two million residents and the economy thrives on diamonds and tourism," said Dex Kotze, an independent conservation expert.

"This can do major brand damage to Botswana's tourism industry. It's crazy."

Masisi took over as president in April last year and the review began five months later, just days after a wildlife charity said some 90 elephants had been slaughtered for their tusks, suggesting a sudden spike in poaching.

But the government quickly sought to debunk the claims by Elephants Without Borders (EWB).

According to a report put together by Rural Development Minister Frans Van Der Westhuizen, overturning the hunting ban would "promote conservationism".

And rural communities, he wrote, would no longer be "concentrating on the negative aspects of property destruction and loss of human lives caused by wildlife".

Landlocked Botswana has the largest elephant population in Africa, with more than 135,000 of them roaming freely in its unfenced parks and wide open spaces.

Over the past decade, the number of elephants on the continent has fallen by around 111,000 to 415,000, according to figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM reported impressive fourth-quarter 2018 results, wherein earnings and revenues outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This marked the companys second straight earnings and sales beat. Further, management updated its guidance for 2019.



Following the quarterly results, shares of Boston Beer have increased 3.2% in after-hours trading yesterday. Also, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has rallied 38.9% against the industrys 17.5% decline in a years time.





Q4 Highlights



Boston Beers fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.84 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.77. Including tax benefits, earnings per share came in at $1.86, down from $2.57 mainly due to tax benefits in the year-ago period.



Net revenues advanced 9.2% year over year to $225.2 million and edge past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $223 million. This outperformance can be primarily attributed to a 6.3% improvement in shipment volume to nearly 958 thousand barrels. Excluding excise taxes, the top line rose 8.5% year over year to $239.2 million.



Additionally, depletions grew 11% in the quarter mainly backed by major innovations, quality and strong brands alongside solid sales execution and support from distributors. Moreover, increases in Twisted Tea, Truly Hard Seltzer and Angry Orchard brands aided depletion growth, which was partly offset by fall in the Samuel Adams brand.



Depletions for the year-to-date period through the six weeks (ended Feb 9, 2019) are anticipated to have grown nearly 12% from the comparable year-ago period.



The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Quote

Costs & Margins



Gross profit improved 8.2% year over year to $116.9 million, while gross margin contracted 50 basis points to 51.9%. Elevated processing costs due to increased production at third-party breweries and higher temporary labor at company-owned breweries as well as escalated packaging costs resulted in gross margin decline. These factors were partly negated by price increases, cost-savings at company-owned breweries and lower excise taxes.



Furthermore, advertising, promotional and selling expenses decreased nearly 14% to $63.1 million, mainly on fall in spending on media advertising and point of sale marketing, somewhat compensated with improved local marketing, higher salaries and benefits expenses along with increased freight to distributors on escalated rates and volumes.



However, general and administrative expenses grew 32.4% to $24.9 million driven by higher salaries and benefits costs as well as stock compensation expenses.



Financials



As of Dec 29, 2018, Boston Beer had cash and cash equivalents of $108.4 million and total stockholders equity of $460.3 million.



During 52 weeks (ended Dec 29) and the period between Dec 30, 2018, and Feb 15, 2019, Boston Beer bought back about 350,000 shares worth roughly $88.3 million. With this, it had nearly $90.3 million remaining under its $931-million share buyback authorization as of Feb 15, 2019.



Outlook



Boston Beer remains impressed with robust depletions and shipment growth. Further, the company is confident about its investment plans for the Angry Orchard brand this year. Also, it remains focused on innovations including Angry Orchard Rose, Truly Berry Variety Pack, Truly Wild Berry, Sam'76 and Samuel Adams New England IPA.



These apart, the company is on track to launch three more brands namely, 26.2 Brew, Wild Leaf Hard Tea and Tura Alcoholic Kombucha to address health and wellness prospects. Also, it remains committed toward cost savings and efficiency initiatives.



Further, management updated guidance for 2019. It estimates depletions and shipments percentage growth of 8-13% along with national price increases between 1% and 3%. The company expects double-digit growth in revenues and a robust increase in operating income as well.



Gross margin is still anticipated to be 51-53%. Investment in advertising, promotional and selling expenses is envisioned to increase $20-$30 million, down from $25-$35 million projected earlier. Notably, this guidance excludes any changes in freight costs for the shipment of products to the company's distributors.



Moreover, the adjusted effective tax rate is estimated to be roughly 27% for the year. Also, adjusted earnings per share are envisioned between $8.00 and $9.00. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings stands at $8.22. Furthermore, the company continues to expect capital spending of $100-$120 million.



For the first quarter of 2019, the company expects shipments growth to be considerably higher than depletions.



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(Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson on Wednesday said he hopes a concert in Colombia aimed at raising money for crisis-wracked Venezuela will encourage the country's soldiers to defy orders from President Nicolas Maduro and let humanitarian aid cross the border.

Some 250,000 people are expected at Friday's concert in the Colombian border town of Cucuta that organizers say will raise about $100 million to buy food and medicine for Venezuelans suffering widespread shortages.

Branson, who is backing the show, dubbed "Venezuela Aid Live," told Reuters he expects money to flow in from many countries if the Tienditas Bridge crossing from Colombia to Venezuela can be opened.

"I think that if we can persuade the soldiers to open the bridge, that's the ideal outcome from this concert," he said in an interview via satellite link from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. "That will then mean that people who are dying from cancer because they're not getting the right pills, or other illnesses, they will be able to get help medical help."

The United States and scores of other countries have openly backed Maduro's rival, opposition leader and congress chief Juan Guaido, who last month invoked constitutional provisions to declare himself interim president.

The opposition plans to send aid into Venezuela on Saturday from collection points in neighbouring countries including Colombia via sea and land, despite Maduro's refusal to let it in, setting up a possible clash with authorities.

Maduro, who is facing growing international pressure to step down after his disputed re-election last year, denies there is a humanitarian crisis and has blocked the bridge leading from Colombia to prevent aid getting through.

The presidents of Colombia and Chile have publicly said they will attend the free concert, which has evoked comparisons to Irish rock star Bob Geldof's 1985 global "Live Aid" concert to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Story continues

Two other world leaders may attend, organizer Fernan Ocampo told reporters in Cucuta earlier on Wednesday, without naming them.

"We've got quite a few presidents from South America coming to the concert who have pledged to put a considerable amount of supplies into Venezuela once we can get the bridges opened," he said.

The event will feature performances from at least 35 artists including Alejandro Sanz, Maluma, Luis Fonsi and Carlos Vives.

While still unclear how the aid will get across the border, Branson said 1 million people are expected on the Venezuelan side of the bridge, led by Guaido, to distribute the aid.

Branson also responded to comments made on Tuesday by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, who criticized the concert as a U.S.-backed effort to tarnish Maduro's socialist government, saying there was no mayhem, no murder, no apparent dictatorship in Venezuela.

"I don't think that Roger Waters is the best expert when it comes to what's going on in Venezuela. He says that it's a democracy, people are not suffering, and it's just not true," Branson said. "Anybody who knows anything about Venezuela should know that that is a load of a rubbish and Venezuelans need help."

Donations to the event will be received online and via direct deposits.

Hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian aid from the United States and other countries are being stored in warehouses in Cucuta.

Maduro is planning rival concerts on the Venezuelan side of the border on Friday, and the Venezuelan government says it will distribute aid to poor Colombians.

(Reporting by Labib Nasir in Washington, D.C., and Nelson Bocanegra, Julia Cobb and Helen Murphy in Bogota; Additional reporting by Paul Vieira in Mexico City; Writing by Helen Murphy; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Leslie Adler)
Independent senator, 77, to run again on leftwing platform

Raises $4m from 150,000 donors in first 12 hours after launch

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont whose 2016 presidential campaign helped energize the progressive movement and reshaped the Democratic party, has entered the 2020 race for the White House.

Sanders, a self-styled democratic socialist who spent much of his nearly 30-year congressional career on the political fringe, cast his candidacy as the best way to accomplish the mission he started three years ago when he ran against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution, he said in an email announcing his decision to supporters on Tuesday morning. Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for.

Sanders, 77, running as a Democrat again, believes he can prevail in a crowded and diverse field that includes several female and minority candidates, and then beat Donald Trump, whom he called on Tuesday the most dangerous president in modern American history.

Asked in an interview on CBS on Tuesday morning what would be different about his 2020 campaign, Sanders replied: Were gonna win.

Whether he can once again capture grassroots support, and whether the energy of his past campaign will pass to other candidates, will likely be a central factor in determining who Democrats nominate to take on the sitting president.

The progressive policies Sanders helped popularize in 2016  Medicare for All, a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, tuition-free college, demands to fight climate change more aggressively and to tax the wealthy at a higher rate  have now been broadly embraced by several other presidential candidates.

Sanders wrore: Three years ago, during our 2016 campaign, when we brought forth our progressive agenda we were told that our ideas were radical and extreme. Well, three years have come and gone. And, as result of millions of Americans standing up and fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority of Americans.

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Sanders will face opposition from moderate Democrats and from Republicans who are likely to use his candidacy to paint the party as too liberal. In a preview of Trumps re-election campaign, the president used his State of the Union speech this month to warn against what he said was the creep of socialism in America.

Trump 2020 campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement: Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.

But the American people will reject an agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling dictators like those in Venezuela. Only President Trump will keep America free, prosperous and safe.

Sanders made clear on Tuesday that he plans to go after Trump directly in his campaign.

In an interview with Vermont Public Radio, where he first announced his bid, he said: I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country. I think he is a pathological liar. I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants.

After a midterm election cycle that saw women and minority candidates sweep to power, the nominating contest is likely to be fought not only over ideology but over identity and electoral strategy. Already, the 2020 candidates are being pushed on how they can appeal to the Democrats broad range of demographic groups, which includes working-class families, black and Latino voters, suburban women and young people.

This year, Sanders apologized publicly and privately to former female staffers after allegations of sexual harassment by male staffers on his 2016 campaign. He has also continued to stumble on questions about race, despite a years-long effort to improve his standing with minority voters.

Still, no candidate will enter the race with as many advantages as Sanders, who ended the 2016 primary with more than 13m votes and nearly $230m raised, much of it through small donations. Now he begins a second run not as a political outsider but as a top-tier candidate with near-universal name recognition, a dedicated following and an unrivaled donor list.

Yet he will likely face far greater scrutiny, in a growing field already populated by colleagues and allies including the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, his closest friend in Congress.

Senators Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have all entered the race, as have lower-profile contenders including the former San Antonio mayor and federal housing secretary Julian Castro and Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The former vice-president Joe Biden, former Texas congressman Beto ORourke and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg are all weighing whether to run.

With a fractured Democratic field, advisers believe Sanders core support, should he retain it over the next year, will be enough to power his campaign in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the early voting states that helped lift his 2016 campaign.

He is likely to benefit from a campaign waged by his allies to reform the partys primary process, which succeeded in stripping voting power from the so-called superdelegates, a major source of controversy in 2016 when Sanders lost the battle for the nomination to Clinton.

Born to Jewish parents with roots in Poland and Russia, Sanders grew up poor in a cramped apartment in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the University of Chicago, where he became involved in the civil rights movement. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont. In 1990, Sanders became the states sole representative in Congress, where he served until he joined the Senate in 2006.

Following the election of Trump, Sanders published a book titled Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. He has four children and is married to Jane OMeara, a former president of Burlington College and his closest adviser.
By Barbara Lewis

LONDON (Reuters) - Wholesale prices for lab-grown diamonds have fallen by up to 60 percent since De Beers began selling synthetic stones for jewelry in September, CEO Bruce Cleaver said on Thursday, adding margins for the sector would continue to fall.

De Beers, part of mining group Anglo American, shocked the diamond industry last year when it announced it was reversing a decades-old policy of selling natural diamonds only for jewelry and synthetic stones for industrial uses.

Its Lightbox brand, created for the new synthetic venture, is starting small, selling 20,000 carats by the end of 2019, but De Beers has invested in a synthetic diamond factory in the U.S. state of Oregon, which should produce more than half a million rough carats a year when fully operational in 2020.

Already, the impact on synthetic pricing had been huge, Cleaver said, citing De Beers' analysis that showed an up to 60 percent fall in wholesale prices. He said the slide would continue as improved technology increases the quality and volume of lab-grown diamonds.

"The margins that were out there are not sustainable," Cleaver told Reuters in an interview. "I like to compare it to a flat screen TV. The first ones were very expensive and the quality was poor."

Cleaver however denied synthetic diamonds were cutting into the price of natural stones, which he says are a different product. "It's a perfectly legitimate business. It's just a different business," he says of lab-grown diamonds.

Much of the aim of De Beers, the world's leading diamond seller by value, in launching Lightbox is to differentiate diamonds grown in a laboratory from those found in the earth.

In contrast to the commodities that form the bulk of Anglo American's portfolio, demand for diamonds, which is listed in its results statement as among the company's "principal risks and uncertainties," is reliant on marketing.

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Without giving numbers, Cleaver said De Beers would boost its marketing budget for natural stones this year, which already in 2018 was the highest in a decade at $166 million.

While Anglo American's overall core earnings for 2018 rose by 4 percent, De Beers' underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) fell by 13 percent.

Cleaver attributed the fall to expenditure, including on Lightbox, as well as volatile market conditions, although he said the biggest markets for diamonds, the United States and China, were robust.

(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; Additional reporting by Arathy S. Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes)
OAKLAND, Calif.  More than 3,000 teachers and staff walked off the job and onto picket lines Thursday, claiming they are among the lowest-paid educators in the Bay Area and demanding a 12 percent pay hike over three years.

Waving signs and chanting bilingual slogans, including "Up with teachers. Down with school closures" and "Education, not incarceration," scores rallied outside Manzanita Community School on a sunny but chilly day.

"Today is a historic day in the city of Oakland," Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown told the exuberant crowd. "Teachers, educators are united with parents and students  and we are demanding that we have the schools our students deserve."

The districts final offer of a 7 percent raise over four years and a 1.5 percent bonus is not enough for Oakland teachers to live in the high-priced Bay Area, Brown said.

Brown said salaries range from $47,000 to $84,000, depending on experience. According to an analysis from Zillow, an earner in the lower range would have to spend more than 90 percent of his or her monthly income to pay for the median mortgage in the typical Alameda County home, or about 80 percent for the typical monthly rent.

A neutral fact-finder recommended 6 percent over the first two years of the contract, and a third year the subject of further negotiation.

Teachers are standing up and telling the Oakland Unified School District that its time to listen to parents and the community. It is time to reinvest in our public schools, Brown told the crowd as passing drivers honked their support. We cannot feed young minds and starve the schools out of essential resources.

Patrick Vaughn and his son Whitworth, a third grader , rally in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2019.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said she supported the striking teachers.

"They deserve a living wage and the tools they need to give our kids the very best education," she said, adding that she was hoping for a "quick agreement" that would get the district's 36,000 students back in class.

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The teachers are the third group of public school educators from one of the nations 50 largest cities to strike this year after their Los Angeles and Denver counterparts. Chicago also had a charter school teachers strike.

Teachers across the state of West Virginia returned to work Thursday, ending a two-day strike. Union leaders there said they were confident lawmakers would not try to tie a raise for teachers to funds for the state's first charter schools.

In Oakland, educators have worked without a contract since mid-2017 and want their pay raise retroactive. Theyre also asking for more nurses, guidance counselors and other support staff and a halt to plans that could result in two dozens schools being closed.

"Do we starve our public neighborhood schools so that they are cut and privatized or do we re-invest in our public neighborhood schools for our students and for a thriving city?" the state Education Association said in a tweet Thursday. "Oakland teachers say re-investment."

Pastor Patrick Vaughn and his third-grade son Whitworth joined the picket line to show solidarity. They are thrilled with the teachers at Manzanita SEED, a dual-immersion school on the same campus as Manzanita Community School.

Vaughn also has a kindergartner at the school, and he appreciates his kids growing up with a bilingual education. At 8, Whitworth understands Spanish well and has a better accent than his father, a Spanish major in college.

But Vaughn is concerned that so many teachers are leaving.

To be a city that flourishes and thrives, we need to have good teachers, and teachers who stick around, Vaughn said. Weve had a lot of turnover at our school in the four years weve been here. Its understandable. Oaklands such an expensive city to live in.

First-grade teacher Estefana Ramos said the community needs to know that schools won't be shut down. The city's 86 public schools now serve 36,000 students.

"It is not easy to be a teacher in a class with 25 wiggling first-graders on the run," he said. "And to know in the back of my mind that the school is at risk of being closed down."

Andrik Cardenas, who runs a mental-health consulting business along with his wife, is volunteering at the Dimond Park Rec Center, which is serving as a solidarity school.

Cardenas and his wife, who was hosting five kids at their house, have two daughters in Oaklands Sequoia Elementary. He wore a red T-shirt on Thursday that read, Teachers are the heart of Oakland.

When we found out this was a possibility, we started working on, What are we going to do? How do we help families who are supportive of the strike but dont have a lot of options? he said. Thats really what this location is about. Thats the intent of the solidarity schools.

Cardenas said they have only gotten about 10 kids today, even though they have capacity for 40, but thats mostly because the strike started on a Thursday and many parents felt like they could manage until the weekend. That may change if the strike lasts into next week.

If nothing is resolved, I think were going to see some increased demand going into next week, he said. We have a schedule (of parent volunteers), but it has been difficult to fill all the slots.

After a rally in front of City Hall, a crowd of a few hundred, most of them carrying signs with messages such as Keep teachers in Oakland, fund our schools, marched toward the Oakland Unified School District headquarters.

There, Futures Elementary teacher Magdaline Armstrong lamented the number of colleagues she has seen come and go because they cant afford to live in the area.

Students are the ones who are suffering the most, Armstrong said, because our district wont pay enough to attract great teachers or to keep great teachers.

Bacon reported from McLean, Va.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Don't 'starve our schools': Oakland teachers are the latest to walk out for more pay
WASHINGTON  Meghan McCain didn't hold back any criticism of 2020 hopeful Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday during an appearance on ABC's "The View."

During Gabbard's appearance on Wednesday, co-host McCain questioned the Hawaiian Democrat's views on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who earlier this month she said was not an enemy of the U.S.

Gabbard's appearance started warm. She told hosts why she was joining the large pool of Democratic candidates vying for the White House and talked about her military service overseas in Iraq.

But as she started talking about her views on when the U.S. should get involved in regime-change wars and stressed her non-interventionist approach, including with the ongoing conflict in Syria, McCain stopped her.

"Can I interrupt you?" asked McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.

"When I hear the name Tulsi Gabbard, I think of Assad apologist," McCain started. "I think of someone who comes back to the United States and is spouting propaganda from Syria."

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More: Democrat Tulsi Gabbard announces 2020 run for president to take on Trump

More: Who is running for president? Here's a list of the candidates who have declared so far

She continued, seeming to target Gabbard's heavily criticized visit to Syria in 2016 where she met with Assad, who is accused of war crimes including using chemical weapons on his people.

Gabbard said at the time it was important to meet with adversaries if "you are serious about pursuing peace."

McCain thanked Gabbard for her military service then questioned Gabbard's stance on Syria and Assad.

"You have said that the Syrian president, Assad, is not the enemy of the United States yet hes used chemical weapons against his own people 300 times," McCain said. She questioned Gabbard's view on regime-change wars being hurtful and asked wouldn't his use of chemical gas on children be more harmful overall.

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"It's hard for me to understand where you come from, from a humanitarian standpoint if you were to become president," McCain said.

Gabbard replied by saying that McCain had put words in her mouth and said that what the issue boils down to whether U.S. involvement has helped the situation in Syria.

"This regime change war we've been waging in Syria has not helped the Syrian people, it has made their lives worse off," Gabbard said. "It has also undermined our national security."

She added that there was "no disputing the fact that Bashar al-Assad and Syria is a brutal dictator" who has "used chemical weapons and other weapons against his people."

But, she added while the U.S. has been involved, al-Qaeda has formed a stronghold in the country. She said as president she would push to solve the conflict in a peaceful manner.

Gabbard's presidential campaign has gotten a rocky start since she announced in last month.

She apologized over her past remarks and actions against members of the LGBTQ community and has had hiccups with her staff. She has also faced backlash over her comments about Assad and her previous visit with the leader.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'He's used chemical weapons': Meghan McCain confronts Tulsi Gabbard over Syrian president
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Jack and Diane, two senior mixed-breed dogs, are in it for the long howl.

Earlier this month, the staff at Kennebec Valley Humane Society in Augusta, Maine, threw the canine couple a dog wedding in order to raise awareness among potential adopters that they are a bonded pair and need to be placed in a home together.

(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

Stevanie Roy, the director of operations at KVHS, told HuffPost that the doggie duo was found in a cemetery in Chelsea, Maine, in August 2018 with their leashes tied together. The staff at the shelter figured they were close, but their adorable behaviors toward each other quickly confirmed that their feelings ran much deeper than puppy love.

Roy noted that the two can be found snuggling together for hours, but the cuteness doesnt stop there.

Roy explains that Jack, 10, is a pretty laid-back guy, very treat motivated and  most importantly  a true gentleman.

He sacrifices all toys and comfy beds for his lady, keeping chivalry alive, Roy said.

Diane, 7, seems to be the boss in the relationship and tends to decide their adventures together. But she also adores her beau.

She always gets super excited when getting reunited with Jack, and is always found doing a little dance when she sees him coming towards her, Roy said.

(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

Since Jack and Diane have been at the facility for some time, the staff thought throwing a dog wedding would be a good way of getting the word out about them. Plus, Roy notes, We have always called them our old married couple.

The KVHS staff threw the ceremony during a team meeting so everyone could celebrate the big day. Diane got ready in a dressing room where she could put on her veil with a flowered collar in private.

(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

Jack, outfitted in a bow tie, patiently awaited his bride-to-be at the altar.

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(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

Diane was walked down the aisle as John Mellencamp played in the background.

(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

Roy officiated their union, and when she asked the couple to say, I do, each dog slobbered on her cheek to give their approval. In lieu of a first kiss, they grabbed a stuffed toy together.

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(Photo: Sabrina Beggs)

The reception consisted of a pizza party in which Jack and Diane devoured bits of pepperoni slices that members of the staff snuck to them.

The shelter hopes that the wedding will help the two find a home together. Roy said that the two were adopted once, but were returned to the shelter in November because they werent a great fit for the home.

The adopters quickly learned that they would be a better fit in a quiet retirement home, Roy said.

KVHS is now looking for potential adopters who live nearby in Augusta, Maine. For more information, click here.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
WASHINGTON  Former acting-FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Thursday that top lawmakers "knew exactly" that the FBI had opened a counterintelligence inquiry into President Donald Trump when they were briefed on the status of the Russia investigation shortly after the 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey.

McCabe, in an interview with reporters linked to the continuing rollout of his new book, offered additional details surrounding the bureau's extraordinary action against the president and the secret briefing provided to Congress' Gang of Eight outlining the bureau's decision.

"I am confident that everyone in the room knew exactly what we were doing," McCabe said, referring to the bipartisan group of lawmakers who are regularly briefed on classified intelligence matters.

While opening such an inquiry would have served as a blunt acknowledgment that federal investigators regarded the president as a possible threat to national security, McCabe said this week that none of the lawmakers objected to the action.

McCabe said the investigative action was ultimately prompted by Comey's firing and Trump's alleged efforts to persuade Comey to drop the agency's investigation into Russian contacts involving former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The lawmakers have not responded to requests for comment.

Before briefing congressional leaders, McCabe said Thursday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also had been "fully advised" of the FBI's decision to launch the counterintelligence investigation.

McCabe said that he met personally with Rosenstein in the chaotic days after Comey's firing to notify him of the bureau's intentions.

"He didn't tell me to stop; he didn't tell me not to do it," McCabe said, referring to the deputy attorney general.

The Justice Department declined to comment on McCabe's account.

Rosenstein later accompanied McCabe to the congressional briefing where the deputy attorney general also disclosed his decision to appoint a special counsel  former FBI Director Robert Mueller  to take over the investigation that is now grinding to a close.

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"I think Rod not only did the right thing, but the best thing he could have done under those circumstances," McCabe said. "How it turned out for me hasn't been great."

McCabe, who was tapped to serve as interim director following Comey's abrupt dismissal, was fired on the eve of his retirement last year for misleading Justice investigators about his contacts with reporters.

More: Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director fired by attorney general, launches legal defense fund

More: McCabe on '60 Minutes': FBI had good reason to open counterintelligence investigation into Trump

The career FBI official is expected to challenge that dismissal in a lawsuit expected to be filed against the government soon.

McCabe has been a constant target of Trump's wrath, even though the president elevated him to acting FBI director's position following Comey's firing.

Trump took particular aim at McCabe's wife, asserting that her failed candidacy for the Virginia state Senate in 2015 and the support she received from allies of Hillary Clinton, represented a conflict for her husband as the FBI pursued its investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server.

More recently, Trump has focused on McCabe's book, suggesting that the work was akin to "treason."

McCabe has dismissed Trump's claims, saying that the book was subjected to a four-month pre-publication review by the FBI.

"We don't open cases for political reasons; we don't close cases for political reasons," McCabe said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Andrew McCabe 'confident' top lawmakers understood FBI had launched probe into President Trump
Lilongwe (Malawi) (AFP) - Amnesty International upbraided a Malawian minister on Thursday after he blamed assaults on those living with albinism on the victims' families.

Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi said on Tuesday, "these people are being killed by their relatives."

Albinism is a genetic hereditary disorder that causes a partial or total absence of pigmentation in the skin, the hair and the eyes.

Apart from violence and discrimination, albinos are also exposed to eye problems and a heightened risk of skin cancer.

Dausi also attacked the Association of People With Albanism in Malawi (APAM) for previously suggesting community members may be safer living abroad.

When they say they want to seek asylum elsewhere, do they want to insult government? Seriously? he said.

"The latest comments from Minister Nicholas Dausi are yet another indication that persons with albinism in Malawi are on their own when it comes to their safety and security," said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International's deputy director for southern Africa.

"For years, people with albinism have been living at the mercy of criminal gangs who target them for their body parts," he said in a statement.

"The recent spike in attacks shows that the government, despite amending the Anatomy Act and the Penal Code to ensure stiffer penalties, hasn't lived up to its commitments on protecting this group."

The rights group said that since December 31, two people with albinism had died and three had been kidnapped.

Of those who were abducted, two were later rescued by community members while one remains missing, it said.

Just 30 percent of the 148 attacks against albinos since 2014 have been conclusively investigated, according to official statistics, and only one murder and one attempted murder have been successfully prosecuted.

Malawi, one of the world's poorest and most aid-dependent countries, has experienced a surge in violent attacks on people with albinism since late 2014.

In many cases those with albinism are targeted for their body parts to be used in witchcraft.

Of the 600 cases of violence against albinos in 28 African countries, Malawi accounted for nearly a third.
Algiers (AFP) - Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is aiming for a fifth term in April elections, will head to Switzerland for "routine medical checks", his office said Thursday.

The 81-year-old will have a "short" stay in Geneva, it said in a statement carried by the government APS news agency.

In power since 1999, Bouteflika has used a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.

He regularly visits hospitals overseas, most recently spending five days in Switzerland in August for unspecified tests.

Bouteflika spent 80 days in hospital in Paris following his 2013 stroke, which affected his mobility and speech.

He last appeared in public on November 1 and no longer delivers public speeches, fuelling constant speculation on his health.

He did however appear on television on Thursday, alongside other senior officials attending the swearing-in of the new president of the Constitutional Council president Tayeb Belaiz.

On February 10 Bouteflika announced he would seek a fifth term in April elections, in a message published by state media, after he was endorsed by his party and the ruling coalition.

"Of course, I am no longer the same physical force as before -- something that I have never hidden from the people," the statement read.

"But the unwavering desire to serve... has never left me and it allows me to transcend the constraints linked to health troubles which everyone may one day face."

Last weekend Algerians held rallies against his fifth mandate, and social media users have called for Friday demonstrations to oppose his candidacy.
Adwoa Aboah has broken into the makeup industry with Revlon, all in aid of girls' mental health awareness.

The supermodel and activist has teamed up with the cosmetics giant via her Gurls Talk' platform, which offers young women a space to discuss topics such as female identity, mental illness, addiction, sexuality and racial diversity. Together, the duo have launched three self-care Revlon X Gurls Talk' makeup kits, all of which are now available on Asos.com in the UK for a limited time, as reported by Bustle.





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The kits, which are titled Love Yourself', Celebrate Yourself' and Every Feeling', each feature a Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick', Nail Enamel' and Eyeshadow Putty', in pink, lilac or gold hues.





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The launch is accompanied by a series of short films that sees Aboah testing out the products and talking about makeup preferences and the power of cosmetics. She is joined on camera by Tana Jane Bishop (the founder of the charity The Pants Project), activist Scarlett Curtis of The Pink Protest group, and Gurls Talk community figure Mofe Sey.

This is not the first time that Aboah and Revlon have worked together -- the fashion star was unveiled as an ambassador for the makeup label last year. The move marks the latest major milestone in the model's career, which has skyrocketed over the past few years -- the past 12 months have seen her take to the catwalk for houses including Chanel, Miu Miu and Dior, in addition to fronting campaigns for Mango, Giorgio Armani and Marc Jacobs Beauty.
Warsaw (AFP) - Three activists overturned a statue of a Polish priest accused of sex abuse in the northern city of Gdansk early on Thursday, local police said.

Video footage on social media showed them using a rope to topple the statue of Father Henryk Jankowski, who died in 2010 and has faced accusations of paedophilia.

They then draped underwear and altar boy clothing onto the fallen statue.

Fresh claims of abuse against Jankowski emerged in December when the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza published an article reviving allegations that first surfaced years ago.

Police said the statue was toppled before dawn with the three suspects taken in for questioning.

The incident occurred several hours before the opening of a landmark Vatican summit on fighting child abuse within the Catholic Church.

In a message to independent Polish website OKO.press, the activists -- Warsaw residents known for joining protests against the conservative government -- said they wanted to "symbolically knock down the false memory and veneration of Henryk Jankowski from a societal pedestal".

"We accuse the Catholic Church and its representatives of not having reacted despite being aware of the harm done by Henryk Jankowski," they said.

It was not the first time the statue was targeted, with activists splashing red paint on its hands shortly after the Gazeta Wyborcza article was published, symbolising blood.

Privately financed, the statue was unlikely to be restored to its pedestal.

Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, the city's interim mayor, acknowledged that while the statue did not belong in a public place, vandalism was not the right response.

"We're on the side of the victims, we feel for their families. Let's not forget, however, that we need to act in accordance with the law," she said in a statement.

Jankowski was formerly a close aide to Lech Walesa during the Gdansk shipyard strikes in 1980 which were led by the anti-communist Solidarity movement, and which led to the creation of Poland's first union outside government control.

But after the fall of communism, he became increasingly known for his anti-Semitic remarks.
Courtesy Wegmans

The most celebrated grocery chain in the nation is 100 years old, but you've probably never heard of it. And even if you have, you've probably never set foot in one of its stores. The retailer recently dethroned Trader Joe's as America's favorite supermarket, yet you won't find its stores in 44 states.

But don't fret for Wegmans. What the Rochester, N.Y., company lacks in name recognition and geographic reach, it makes up for in other ways. Wegmans stores are bigger and more abundantly stocked than those of rival chains, and its shoppers exhibit a cult-like devotion to its products and service. Case in point: You might need a reservation - a reservation! - to eat at one of Wegmans' in-store restaurants.

I'm no stranger to Wegmans. I shopped there frequently during my many years living in Upstate New York. I also covered Wegmans and the Wegman family for two decades in my job as a business journalist in Syracuse, getting an inside look at what makes the company tick. Here's what you'll want to know before you make your first trip.

SEE ALSO: 20 Secrets to Shopping at Costco

Stores Are Really, Really Big

Courtesy Wegmans

The shopping experience at Wegmans is rich. And textured. And huge. Stores range in size from 75,000 square feet to 140,000 square feet, versus 46,000 square feet for a typical supermarket, according to the Food Marketing Institute, a trade group for food retailers and suppliers. The open, airy layout begins with a signature produce section that evokes a European market. Bins are piled high with fruits and vegetables that often are in season and locally sourced.

Choices abound. Wegmans stocks up to 70,000 products in its larger stores, while the average supermarket carries about 42,000 products. Expect to be bombarded with free samples (along with cooking demonstrations and recipes) on the busiest shopping days.

The approach is paying off for Wegmans. Annual per-store sales at its Boston-area locations top $80 million, while competitors' sales average $30 million, Andrew Wolf, managing director for BB&T Capital Markets, told the trade publication Supermarket News.

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"So each [Wegmans] location is doing the equivalent of two or three other stores,'' says Wolf.

Good Luck Finding a Location Near You

Courtesy Wegmans

Wegmans' stores might be big, but the company's national footprint is small. There are just 89 locations in six states: Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Live anywhere else and you're out of luck. By comparison, Kroger operates 2,778 grocery stores in 35 states.

Founded in Rochester, N.Y., a century ago, Wegmans didn't even expand outside of its hometown until the 1960s. Its first out-of-state store, in Pennsylvania, opened in 1993. Since then, the company has slowly spread in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Thirteen new Wegmans stores are in development, including five in Virginia; two each in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts; one in Maryland; and one in Brooklyn, the first foray into New York City. As for new states, Wegmans is exploring expansion into North Carolina.

SEE ALSO: 6 Things You Can Get at Costco Without a Membership

Prices Are Competitive

Courtesy Wegmans

The downside of Wegmans' huge selection and abundant product displays is the perception that its prices are higher than competitors' prices. According to Jim Hertel, senior vice president at Willard Bishop, a retail industry consulting firm owned by Inmar Analytics, that's not necessarily the case. In particular, Wegmans' store-branded products can be a bargain.

"The quality is as good as the national brand,'' says Hertel. "And if a national brand costs $1, a typical store brand costs 82 cents."

We puts Wegmans' store brands to the test against the store brands of three competitors in Northern Virginia: Giant, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods. We compared regular non-sale prices on a basket of eight everyday items: a can of diced tomatoes, a jar of pasta sauce, a box of dried spaghetti, a can of tuna, a half-gallon of 1% milk, a large container of plain yogurt, a dozen Grade A eggs and a package of frozen corn. We didn't factor in savings from coupons or store loyalty programs.

The winner: Wegmans. Of the four stores, the basket of eight store-brand items cost the least at Wegmans ($14.62), followed by Giant ($15.03), Harris Teeter ($20.00) and Whole Foods ($21.13).

SEE ALSO: 12 Biggest Shopping Mistakes at the Supermarket

It's a Good Place for Dinner...or a Date

Courtesy Wegmans

Wegmans is more than just a supermarket. Many visitors to its stores are hanging out, eating a meal and socializing, in addition to stocking up on groceries. Analysts who track the industry call this trend destination retailing.

"Most supermarkets are around 45,000 square feet, and shoppers can't wait to get out," says Phil Lempert, a supermarket industry analyst who runs SupermarketGuru.com. "Wegmans' stores are double that size and more, and shoppers want to spend the day there -- to shop, to see their friends and to enjoy the wonderful prepared foods."

To encourage lingering, the company has been rolling out restaurant concepts located within or adjacent to its stores. Some locations even accept reservations. The Pub, for example, serves craft beers and dressed-up bar fare. Amore specializes in Italian food and wine. The menu at Next Door ranges from seared fois gras to sushi. There's also a Burger Bar and a Seafood Bar.

"The culture of shopping has changed," says Lempert. "Millennials shop differently than baby boomers or Gen X. They never want to eat the same thing twice in their lifetime."

Everybody (Hearts) Wegmans

Courtesy Wegmans

Wegmans has been piling up accolades for years. As an employer, it's been on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list every year since 1998, ranking No. 4 in 2016. (It was No. 1 in 2005.) It also ranks fourth on Forbes' list of "America's Best Employers" for 2016. Wegmans employs more than 46,000 workers.

Customers like it, too. Wegmans was picked as America's favorite grocer in a recent survey of 10,000 shoppers by Market Force Information. Publix finished in second place, followed by Trader Joe's, which had held the top spot for four years in a row. Wegmans also ranked first among supermarkets in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, ahead of Trader Joe's.

Need more proof of its popularity? Wegmans says more than 4,000 people contacted the company in 2015 asking for stores to be opened in their communities.

SEE ALSO: 23 Best Benefits of Amazon Prime

Competitors Copy Its Practices

Courtesy Wegmans

Even if you've never been to a Wegmans, you've likely seen Wegmans' influence in your local supermarket. The chain's practices are widely imitated in the industry.

"We go around the country, and we see evidence that other retailers have visited a Wegmans," says Hertel, the retail industry consultant. "There are signs all over the place.''

Those covered shopping cart corrals in your grocer's parking lot? The Wegmans effect, he says. The design protects the expensive carts during harsh Upstate New York winters. If you walk into the produce section and see bananas selling for 39 cents a pound, that's a Wegmans touch, too. Hertel says displaying the cheap fruit front and center creates an impression of value for shoppers entering the store. Tilt tables showcasing mounds of fresh produce? Wegmans, again.

"Many, many grocers have gone to school on Wegmans," says Hertel.

The Wegman Family Still Runs the Business

Courtesy Wegmans

Wegmans traces its origins to 1916, when brothers Walter and John Wegman were peddling fresh produce to the citizens of Rochester. The company has been privately owned and family operated ever since. Robert Wegman, son of Walter, joined the business full time in the 1930s. He assumed leadership in 1950 and guided Wegmans' expansion as chairman until his death in 2006.

Wegmans' current CEO is Danny Wegman, son of Robert. He joined the company in 1964. One of Danny's two daughters, Colleen, is president of Wegmans (pictured here on a store tour). The other daughter, Nicole, is a senior vice president. Both are in their forties, planting the Wegmans name firmly in the executive lineup for years to come.

Independence is unusual in the rapidly consolidating supermarket industry. Among the latest grocery-store mergers: Albertsons snatched up Safeway in 2015, and Kroger acquired Harris Teeter in 2014. But Wegmans seems to be in good hands. Annual sales hit $7.9 billion last year, up from $7.4 billion in 2014, placing Wegmans at No. 33 on trade publication Supermarket News's "Top 75 Supermarkets" list based on sales volume.

Say 'Cheese'

Courtesy Wegmans

Many Wegmans shoppers rave about the cheese selection. And why not? Visit the "Cheese Shop" on Wegmans.com and you'll find more than 300 kinds to choose from. And we're not talking Kraft Singles. Wegmans' fancy cheeses venture into the gourmet realm of cave-ripened bries, camemberts and triple cremes.

The secret to Wegmans' success? It operates its own cheese caves -- sort of. There are no stalagmites sticking up or bats hanging down. Rather, Wegmans built a high-tech facility near Rochester to replicate the effect that cave ripening has on cheese.

Aging cheese in natural caves is a long-established practice in Europe. The controlled climate allows "good" bacteria and mold to go to work on cheese and enhance (ripen, in cheese-speak) the flavor. Wegmans' eight artificial cheese caves housed within the facility perform the same function.

"Our customers will get a cheese that's absolutely perfect, with the taste and texture they prefer, every time," Cathy Gaffney, who oversees cheese for Wegmans, said when the cheese caves went into operation in 2014.

SEE ALSO: 18 Kirkland Products Everyone Should Buy at Costco

EDITOR'S PICKS



Copyright 2016-2019 The Kiplinger Washington Editors
I didnt need to do this, President Donald Trump said after declaring a national emergency last week over unauthorized immigration along Americas southwestern border. The proclamation opens the door for him to direct money toward building a border wall that Congress refused to fund.

But many Americans agree with Trumps moment of honesty: The lack of a border wall isnt a national emergency, they say, and he shouldnt have declared it one just to defy legislators. HuffPost asked readers to share what they feel is a real national emergency facing the country. In hundreds of replies, readers spoke with urgency about various challenges America faces. Weve shared some representative responses below.

Immigration/family separation

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley in an August 2018 photo provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 2,700 migrant children were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border last year. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Unless we restore these innocent, migrant children in detention camps to their loved ones, we are truly an abhorrent country and no better than Hitler or Himmler and their supporters. There is no way to rationalize this: Irreparable harm is being done to these childrens psyches.  Susan Bunny Gibson

Children separated from parents at the border with no real records of where they went, who has them or how to reunite them with their parents. This is the biggest crisis! Its a crisis of Trumps doing, and should be the lead-off story every day until these children are found and reunited. We still talk about the girls taken in Africa by Boko Haram (400 girls), yet we have separated thousands with no real tracking accountability. Why is this not the lead story every single night until they are found?  Carol Kamenish

Gun Violence

A man pays his respects at a makeshift memorial in Aurora, Illinois, near the Henry Pratt manufacturing company, where a gunman killed five people on Feb. 15. It was the 39th mass shooting in the U.S. this year. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The real national emergency is that there is a president in the Oval Office that is out of touch with reality and feeds off chaos in our world so he creates it. And Republicans in office that look the other way and bury their heads in the sand while lining their pockets with NRA money, which allows this gun violence to erupt in such a fashion that we the people are afraid to send our kids to school, shop at a mall, work with disgruntled employees, go to a nightclub to have fun, attend a music festival. All because stronger gun laws need to be put in place and they refuse to address it and actually put in measures to work at a solution!  Cheryl Tompot

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Last year, my sons did their first ever lockdown drill. My 8-year-old son came home and had 100 questions. One of them was, What if someone came to the house with a gun? I responded that he was to go with his older brother and get out of the house, get to the neighbors and call for help. After a few minutes he realized I had essentially told him they would be leaving me and his large beloved dog behind. ... This is the world we live in now. [My kids] have to have a plan in case a gunman comes in their school. In case one comes in their home. ... I dont understand why background checks and confiscation of guns from those who have restraining orders and mental health issues is too much to ask. Somehow, asking my preteen children to learn how to hide from gunmen is not too much to ask?  Anne Davis

The real national emergency is our current domestic terrorism problem. We have entitled white men who have easy access to guns that are sexist and racist. Their misogyny and prior domestic abuse are typically ignored  because whats more normal than that?  and then when they continue to believe theyre entitled to so much that theyre not getting, they grab their easily accessible assault weapon and go kill those that they think have wronged them. If they dont kill themselves, the police take them in peacefully. And thats the end of the story. The cycle just continues.  Teal Waxelbaum

Climate Change

Activists in Los Angeles call for action on climate change on Jan. 26. President Donald Trump has dismissed a report by his own government warning of devastating effects from global warming. (Photo: MARK RALSTON via Getty Images)

As for global warming, the United States is actively contributing to the problem rather than being the leader it could be. Global warming affects the entire planet and has already had permanent consequences on this earth: species extinction, disappearing glaciers, catastrophic weather events and sea level rise. We have the opportunity to mitigate some of the damage currently happening and shift the focus to being responsible stewards of this planet rather than plundering it for shareholders. A president who declares global warming a national emergency would be a responsible, forward-thinking president concerned with the longevity of this planets diversity. And unfortunately, we dont have that kind of president.  Konrad Juengling

Our country and, I daresay, our globe are under attack, and its imminent. Global warming is the single biggest threat to everything. If our country does not take a progressive stance in fighting [climate change], its all for nothing anyway.  Nicole Gillen

The real national emergency is climate change  the undeniable fact that our planet is deteriorating and that unless the world (not only our country) changes [its stance on] pollution and many other things that contribute to climate change, our planet will no longer exist. And then it wont matter who the president was.  Samantha Crosby

Intolerance/Racism

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Neo-Nazis and white supremacists surround counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Trump has repeatedly refused to condemn racism, and white nationalists have been emboldened since his election. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The real national emergency is the stoking of fear of other. Brown, black, gay, transgender, non-Christian. An innate human trait is to fear what is different, Trump and the GOP are exploiting that fear to gin up support, to the peril of those others. A few weeks ago, a woman said straight to my face that sure, she believes that gay and transgender people are born like that  then she went on to say that its because nature is defective. She did not know that my young child is transgender or that 1 in 1,600 humans are born gender ambiguous.  There is not a mass uprising of good Americans running to the defense of fellow LGBT humans. There should be and needs to be. When we read the history books about what happened to the Jewish people and how the Germans turned blind eyes, remember this is exactly how atrocities begin. Dehumanization is dangerous. The 2016 GOP platform declared humans like my child against the laws of God and nature under a section explaining its judiciary appointment belief system. Disturbing and horrific.  Amy Czyz

The real state of emergency is the conditions of the black nation within America. We are the very foundation upon which this country was built. It was our blood, our sweat, our tears and our free labor that built this nation ... [but] our health care is in jeopardy. Whether its our high infant mortality rates, diabetes, heart disease, mental illness or being poisoned by high levels of lead in our water. Our youth are being miseducated. And our culture is not only being stolen but erased. We witness the brutal killings of our brothers and sisters at the hands of the police forces who are here to protect and serve the interests of the ruling class, which happens to not be us. And it seems that to even think of demanding reparations for these injustices is laughable to the United States.  Iman Essiet

Flint Water Crisis

Water fountains with signs warning against drinking from them at a high school in Flint, Michigan, in May 2016. In 2014 the city changed its water source, resulting in lead contamination that persisted for more than a year. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

I believe wholeheartedly that Americas most pressing national emergency is the lack of clean water still in Flint, Michigan. There are people suffering, and we are doing nothing. Nobody has been brought to justice. They cant sell their houses because they cant afford to or, mainly, its difficult to sell because theres a lead hazard. I believe that its due to racism that this is still occurring because many of the residents are [people of color]. Flint needs help, and the rest of the world turned its back once it got enough press for 10 minutes.  Monika Porch

I think the real national emergency is Flint! Flint hasnt [had] clean water, and its affecting the community and the people of Flint. I can believe that the racists are willing to donate money for a wall thats going to cost billions but everybody [acts as if] Flint doesnt exist.  Mariame Conde

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
LONDON (AP)  Brexit-driven cracks in Britain's political party system yawned wider Wednesday, as three pro-European lawmakers quit the ruling Conservatives to join a new centrist group of independents who oppose the Conservative government's determination to take Britain out of the European Union with or without a divorce deal.

Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston resigned to join eight ex-opposition Labour Party lawmakers in an alliance dubbed the Independent Group. The defections involve only a small fraction of the 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons, but mark the biggest shake-up in decades for Britain's political parties.

The breakaway lawmakers hope to gain members from disgruntled pro-Europeans in both the Labour and Conservative parties and forge a new force at the center of British politics. They are inspired in part by the "En Marche" movement of French President Emmanuel Macron, which dominated France's most recent presidential and legislative elections at the expense of the country's mainstream parties.

"Both our parties are broken. We are going to #ChangePolitics for the better," the group tweeted Wednesday.

In a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, the three ex-Conservatives accused party leaders of abandoning the political center, and said "the final straw for us has been this government's disastrous handling of Brexit."

Britain's departure from the EU is scheduled for March 29 but no deal on divorce terms has been agreed on yet by British lawmakers. The three departing lawmakers accused May's government of allowing the Conservatives' hard-core pro-Brexit wing to push the country to the edge of an economically damaging "no-deal" exit from the bloc.

Allen said May had been "bullied into submission" by Brexiteers and was "dragging the country and Parliament kicking and screaming to the edge of a no-deal abyss."

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Soubry said attempts to modernize the right-of-center party by encouraging a more diverse membership and tackling social problems had been wiped out by the all-consuming obsession with Brexit.

"I'm not leaving the Conservative Party  it has left us," she said.

May said she was saddened by the decision, but said the government was "doing the right thing for our country" by implementing voters' decision to leave the EU.

The three join eight Labour rebels who quit the main opposition party this week over its direction under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour defectors accuse him of mounting a weak opposition to May's plans for leaving the EU and of failing to stamp out anti-Semitism in the party.

Joan Ryan, one of the ex-Labour legislators, said the party had become "infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism" under Corbyn, a longtime supporter of the Palestinians.

There have long been signs that voters' 2016 decision to leave the EU could spark a major overhaul of British politics. Brexit has split both the Conservatives and Labour down the middle into feuding pro-Brexit and pro-EU wings, and has empowered the ideologically driven wings of both parties at the expense of centrists.

It's unclear whether the fraying of the two parties that have long dominated politics will help break Britain's political impasse over Brexit. Last month British lawmakers rejected the divorce agreement agreed upon by May's government and the EU, and May's attempts to win changes to the deal from Brussels have not borne fruit.

Members of the Independent Group want to hold a new referendum on Brexit that could keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc. May's Conservative government opposes that idea, and Labour under Corbyn has been lukewarm about it.

More lawmakers are likely to join the Independent Group in the coming weeks, but its chances of success are hard to predict.

Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said the realignment  "a cross-party split of the center against the extremes"  was unprecedented in postwar British politics.

And while Britain's political system has long been resistant to change, Ford said the dominance of the two big parties, Conservatives and Labour, was weakening.

"People don't have a 'team' that they feel attached to in the numbers they used to," he said. "So that makes it easier for a new force to break through.

"And there is a new form of tribal attachment in town, which is attachment to your (Brexit) referendum vote. This new party is clearly going to be the political wing of 'Remain.'"

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
As people wonder what might happen if humans eat meat from "zombie" deer, there is at least one group of people who already know.

On March 13, 2005, a fire company in Oneida County, New York, fed the meat of a deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease to 200 to 250 people. The company didn't know the meat was from a diseased deer. Laboratory tests for one of the deer served came back positive for CWD later.

Because little was known about what happens to people who eat infected meat, the Oneida County Health Department monitored the group's health through a surveillance project. About 80 people who ate the venison agreed to participate. Together with the State University of New York-Binghamton, health experts checked in with the group of mostly white males over the course of six years to see whether they developed any unusual symptoms.

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In a study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Public Health, researchers found the group had "no significant changes in health conditions." They did report eating less venison after the whole ordeal. Otherwise, observed conditions, including vision loss, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, weight changes, hypertension and arthritis, were credited to old age.

More: Will deer with chronic wasting disease attack humans?

"Its the only study Im aware of that has this progressive follow-up of a known point source contamination where we know the people ate a contaminated animal," researcher Ralph Garruto, professor of biomedical and biological sciences at Binghamton University, told USA TODAY.

Garruto said his team checks in with the group every two years and plans another follow-up in spring. Though he said the chance of symptoms appearing dwindles with time, there's a small possibility that someone might show signs of the disease.

"It only takes one case," he said.

Story continues

There have been no reported cases of CWD in humans, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state wildlife offices urge hunters to take precautions in areas where the disease has been found in animals. In laboratory studies, CWD has been able to cross species.

More: How to prevent CWD and avoid eating infected meat

More: 'Zombie' deer disease is in 24 states and thousands of infected deer are eaten each year, expert warns

"Right now, most scientists believe there is a pretty strong 'species barrier,' which means that its unlikely the disease will jump to a new species," Krysten Schuler, wildlife disease ecologist and co-director at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, told USA TODAY.

But some experts have predicted CWD could one day infect humans. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said it's "probable" that humans will come down with the disease after eating meat "in the years ahead."

Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In 2005, about 200 people ate zombie deer meat. Heres what happened
Corrections & Clarifications: This story was updated to reflect the fact that certain new advanced safety components are encouraged in the Consumer Reports scoring system but not necessarily required to obtain a recommendation.



Subaru and Toyota dominated the Consumer Reports list of the best new vehicles of 2019.

While Toyota scored four wins in the 10 vehicle categories, surging Japanese automaker Subaru was named as the best brand in the industry, beating even luxury competitors.

Subaru ranked first overall among 33 brands, followed by four luxury brands: Genesis, Porsche, Audi and Lexus.

Subaru also nabbed two of the 10 best-vehicle awards, with the Subaru Forester prevailing as best compact SUV and the Subaru Ascent winning best-midsized SUV.

The company has been on a tremendous sales streak in the U.S., surpassing Hyundai in 2018 as the seventh biggest new-vehicle seller among all manufacturers, according to car-buying advice site Edmunds.

"The big winner really looks like Subaru," said Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports. "In terms of reliability, the ways the cars test and safety, they really are No. 1."

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The publication's annual Top Picks list serves as an influential guide for many American consumers as they shop for new vehicles.

The list gauges customer satisfaction through comprehensive surveys and combines those measures with Consumer Reports' testing of fuel economy performance and reliability. It does not take into account styling preferences or popularity.

Toyota won large car, subcompact car, hybrid/electric car and midsized car for the Avalon hybrid, Yaris, Prius hybrid and Camry hybrid, respectively.

But it might not help much. Hybrid sales have tanked, and subcompact cars have fallen out of favor amid a nationwide SUV boom. As a brand, Toyota ranked ninth out of 33.

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"Toyota really excels in terms of reliability" and safety, Fisher said. But "they're not as well-rounded as Subaru" due to some models that didn't test well.

Consumer Reports also said it can no longer recommend the Tesla Model 3 electric sedan after noticing substantive manufacturing defects, including "loose body trim" and "glass defects," such as windows cracking too easily.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has argued that the company is repeatedly improving the Model 3 through manufacturing changes and software upgrades. But the company's aggressive move to accelerate the pace of production in 2018 may have caused some issues, Fisher said.

Yet "people who have told us they have problems with the car have also told us theyre very satisfied with the car," Fisher said.

That reflects the popularity of the Tesla brand and its position as a status symbol for many buyers, he said.

"You may not be buying a Tesla Model 3 because you want the most reliable car," Fisher said.

As a brand, Tesla ranked 19th, just behind Buick and just ahead of Ford.

Tesla said in a statement that its cars are "the safest and best performing vehicles available today."

"Were setting an extremely high bar for Model 3. We have already made significant improvements to correct any issues that Model 3 customers may have experienced that are referenced in this report, and our return policy allows any customer who is unhappy with their car to return it for a full refund," the company said.

In addition to the Model 3, several other models lost their Consumer Reports recommendation, including the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Acura RDX, BMW 5-Series and Volkswagen Tiguan

Fiat and Jaguar ranked last and second to last among the worst-performing brands in the industry, though Fisher noted that the Consumer Reports ranking doesn't reflect elements like "panache" and vehicle styling.

Fiat Chrysler said in a statement the "Fiat brand results continue to be skewed by limited models and sample sizes."

"We encourage people to experience Fiat vehicles for themselves, and we thank our loyal customers who continue to love our Italian-designed, fun-to-drive vehicle lineup," Fiat Chrysler said.

2019 JD Power reliability rankings: Lexus, Toyota, Porsche top list of most reliable cars in America

Consumer Reports approved: Best cars under $25,000 for first-time buyers

2018 CR rankings: Toyota dominates Top Picks for vehicles

In one key change for 2019, the publication updated its criteria this year to reward automakers for adapting new advanced safety components, including pedestrian detection systems that trigger automatic emergency braking.

Here's how Consumer Reports ranked the top brands in the industry:

Subaru Genesis Porsche Audi Lexus Mazda BMW Lincoln Toyota Hyundai Volkswagen Kia Honda Infiniti Mini Acura Mercedes-Benz Buick Tesla Ford Nissan Chrysler Volvo Chevrolet Dodge Cadillac GMC Alfa Romeo Jeep Mitsubishi Land Rover Jaguar Fiat

Here are the Consumer Reports 2019 Top Picks:

Full-sized pickup truck: Ford F-150

Price as tested: $52,535

This is the nation's most popular vehicle for a reason. The perennial best-seller also nabbed the top spot on the Consumer Reports list for its "brisk acceleration, effortless towing ability and impressive fuel economy."

Compact SUV: Subaru Forester

Price as tested: $29,341

Redesigned for 2019, the Forester prevails in probably the most crowded category. It's solid all around, including comfort, steering, safety and fuel economy. Fisher said it's also impressive that the overhauled model made the list since it often takes a while for automakers to get things right on a redesigned vehicle.

Midsized SUV: Subaru Ascent

Price as tested: $43,867

Talk about a nice rookie outing. This 3-row SUV is new, so it's a big surprise to see it make this list. But Consumer Reports said the vehicle is smooth and efficient with a comfortable and functional interior.

Subcompact SUV: Hyundai Kona

Price as tested: $25,025

The Kona is starting to make its mark. As a small SUV, it has a lot of competition, but Consumer Reports said it's versatile with good safety equipment and affordability.

Large car: Toyota Avalon hybrid

Price as tested: $38,643

The Avalon hybrid's spacious interior and impressive fuel economy stood out. In Consumer Reports testing, the vehicle got 42 mpg overall and 52 mpg on the highway, which are "astounding numbers for such a large car," the publication said.

Subcompact car: Toyota Yaris

Price as tested: $17,570

The Yaris has "an impressive degree of quality and a joyful driving experience at an affordable price." Its ride handling is "responsive."

HYBRID/ELECTRIC CAR: Toyota Prius

Hybrid/electric car: Toyota Prius

Price as tested: $27,323

The Prius owns the Consumer reports record for most times on the Top Picks list: 16. In the publication's testing, it got 52 mpg overall and 59 mpg on the highway.

Midsized car: Toyota Camry Hybrid

Price as tested: $28,949

With 47 mpg overall, it's "hyper efficient" for a midsized vehicle. But it also has a comfortable ride and good safety.

Compact luxury car: Audi A4

Price as tested: $48,890

This premium ride delivers "precise handling, the latest technology and undeniable cachet," according to Consumer Reports. It has a quiet interior, exceptional materials and ample horsepower.

Luxury SUV: BMW X5

Price as tested: $68,730

This is "one of the best SUVs that CR has ever tested," the publication said. That's high praise, especially because the X5 was redesigned for 2019. BMW delivered strong acceleration and fuel economy, as well as a luxurious interior.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: These are the 10 best cars, SUVs and pickups of 2019, according to Consumer Reports
Millions of retired Americans count on Social Security to pay their bills, but many rush to claim benefits without thinking it through. The result? Seniors are consistently shortchanging themselves, and it's all because they don't commit a single number to mind: their full retirement age.

In fact, a 2017 Fidelity survey revealed that just 26% of Americans could correctly identify their full retirement age for Social Security purposes. But if you don't know that number, you might file at the wrong time -- and reduce a critical retirement income stream as a result.

Your filing age matters

Your Social Security benefits are calculated based on how much you earned during your top 35 working years. But the age at which you initially file for benefits can cause that number to fluctuate. If you wait until full retirement age to collect benefits, you'll get the full amount your earnings record entitles you to. But if you file ahead of full retirement age, you'll reduce your benefits for each month you claim them early.

Senior man holding book in bookstore.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

How much of a hit are we talking about? Social Security benefits are reduced by about 6.67% a year for the first three years you file early and by 5% for each year thereafter. Therefore, if your full retirement age is 67 but you claim benefits at the earliest possible age of 62, you'll reduce them by 30%.

Some people think that they can file early, take an initial hit on benefits, and then have those payments made whole once full retirement age kicks in. Not so. Unless you manage to withdraw your benefits application within a year of filing and repay every cent you collected from the Social Security Administration, the benefit amount you start out with will be the amount you receive for life. Therefore, if you're planning to file ahead of full retirement age, know that you could end up losing out on a substantial amount of income in your lifetime.

Of course, some people file early despite that reduction because they don't need the money, but rather, they want the money to enjoy retirement while they're a bit younger. If that's the situation you're in, then filing early might not hurt you. But if you're low on savings and are counting on Social Security to cover many of your basic living expenses, then you'd be wise not to reduce your benefits on a permanent basis. Or, to put it another way, if you don't wait until full retirement age to file, you could end up struggling more than necessary during an already financially precarious period of life.

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Know your full retirement age

There's no universal full retirement age for Social Security recipients. That age is based on your year of birth, as follows:

1943-1954 66 1955 66 and 2 months 1956 66 and 4 months 1957 66 and 6 months 1958 66 and 8 months 1959 66 and 10 months 1960 67

DATA SOURCE: SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.

That said, there is one scenario in which you don't necessarily want to wait until full retirement age to claim your benefits, and it's when your health is poor. If you pass away at a relatively young age, you'll generally get more from Social Security in your lifetime by filing as early as you can.

Imagine your full retirement age is 67, at which point you're entitled to a $1,600 monthly benefit. If you file at 62 instead, you'll collect just $1,120 a month, but you'll get 60 more individual payments. You'll break even in both scenarios at roughly age 78 1/2 -- meaning, by that point, you'll have collected the same lifetime total regardless of whether you filed at 62 versus 67. If you only live until 73, however, you'll come away around $32,600 ahead by virtue of filing at 62.

In fact, filing for Social Security at your precise full retirement age doesn't always make sense. There are some scenarios in which it pays to claim benefits sooner, and it often pays to delay benefits until age 70, because in doing so, you'll accrue credits that boost your payments by 8% for each year you hold off past full retirement age. The key, however, is to know what your full retirement age is and let it guide your decision accordingly.

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Moscow praises Armenia for sending humanitarian mission in Syria, Russian ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin told on Thursday at the reception in the Russian embassy dedicated to the Day of Homelands Defender.

According to him, the presence of Armenian specialists in the Syrian land once again confirms the special nature of the relations between the two countries.

The states are based on their firm Armed Forces, which are considered the guarantors of their freedom and independence, but in contemporary world it is always necessary to have the support of the ally states. Only thanks to the strong and lasting ties between the allies it is possible to solve the most important issues the international community is facing  ensuring peace and security both in the world and the region, he stressed.

A group consisting of humanitarian de-miners, doctors and Armenian specialists ensuring their safety, a total of 83 people, departed for Syrias Aleppo on February 8 aimed at providing professional humanitarian support to the Syrian people.
YEREVAN.- On February 21, the Chair of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Ruben Rubinyan received Judith Farnworth, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Armenia.

Welcoming the guest in the Armenian National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan has noted that the parliament highly assesses the level of the relations existing between the two countries.

During the meeting the sides discussed the priorities of Armenias foreign policy, underlined the mutual understanding on the foreign policy issues between the two states.

The speakers also touched upon the importance of the parliamentary oversight mechanisms and discussed issues on the improvement of the Committees capabilities.

Issues on cooperation between the legislative and executive bodies were also discussed, referring to which Ruben Rubinyan underlined the parliaments commitment for providing system of checks and balances, especially emphasizing the role of the parliamentary oversight institute.
Russian MP welcomed Armenias move to provide assistance to the people of Syria.

Speaking during the discussion on Armenias mission, Igor Morozov said Armenia made a sovereign decision to send a mission, and further decisions have to be made based on the national interests as well.

The Syrian people have right to count on Armenia as Syria was one of the first to lend a helping hand to Armenians after the genocide in 1915. In this context we can even assume that the mission was a belated one, said Morozov, member of Russia's Federation Council.

Armenias assistance to the Syrian people is very important, given that the Armenian community of 140 thousands decreased to 60 thousand in 2019, he added.

Something that Armenia did is a great thing for the Diaspora and the Syrian people, he said.

The more common ground in the international sphere between Armenia and Russia, the greater will be the development opportunities for two friendly nations.

In this sense, interaction in Syria is also important. Russia has established a very serious international mine clearance center. Armenian sappers have an opportunity to undergo training, having the opportunity to better adapt to local conditions, he concluded.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today announced the decision on the case of Mamedov and others against Azerbaijan, contact.az reported.

The complaint was filed in connection with the violation of rights and death in custody of the former editor of the newspaper Tolyshi Sado and the head of the Talysh cultural center Novruzali Mamedov. The first complaint was also written by Mamedov himself when he was alive, complaining about the ill-treatment of employees of the Ministry of National Security (MNS). On June 24, 2008, the court sentenced N. Mamedov under the Article 274 (high treason), and on August 17 he died in custody. The spouse and son of the deceased filed a new complaint in connection with the death of N. Mamedov. On April 16, 2011, the son of N.Mamedov died, and his spouse continued the proceedings in the court in his place. N.Mamedov was a linguist and worked at the Linguistic Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. He was a Talysh and conducted research on the Talysh language. Mamedov also worked as an editor of the bilingual newspaper "Tolishi Sado" and regularly published articles in it.

He was detained on February 2, 2007 and taken to the MNS, where he was interrogated about cooperation with Iranian intelligence. There Mamedov was subjected to physical pressure and torture. On February 3, 2007, he was unexpectedly released, but immediately on the street he was detained by the police and arrested for 15 days for "not submitting" to the police. After the trial, he was again taken to the MNS and tortured again. Despite the fact that Mamedov was seriously ill, they did not provide him with medical assistance and were not given any medicine.

At the same time, Mamedov was blackmailed by the arrest of his sons. On August 17, 2009, N.Mamedov died in custody as a result of cerebral ischemic infarction. After his death, the Nizami District Prosecutor's Office began a criminal investigation into the circumstances of his death and refused to file a lawsuit due to the lack of corpus delicti. However, the ECHR recognized the violation of the rights of N. Mamedov under the Article 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (right to liberty and personal integrity) of the European Convention on Human Rights and decided to pay 20,000 euros to Maryland Mamedova as his widow"s compensation expenses.
YEREVAN.- Those who steal from the people of Armenia must get caught, charged, embarrassed, morally destroyed and sent to prison, Prime Minister Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting today, addressing the efficient spending of credit and grant resources given to Armenia.

"During this period we have again received this kind of grants and will again receive in the future. When we add the sums of these grants, basically, we get astronomical amounts. If we ensure the effective spending of these funds, it cannot not have result, the citizen of Armenia cannot not feel concrete changes as a result of spending of these sums. Therefore, the issue is very clear, we must create 100% guarantees that overall the state, credit, grant resources get spent targeted, Pashinyan said.

In Pashinyans words, if nothing is changing in the lives of people it means that someplace, someone is stealing something. There is simply no other option. Tens of millions of dollars cant enter complete sectors with nothing changing, everything staying the same and even getting worse. I want to say the following to the representatives of the government: vigilance in combating corruption occurrences should not get weakened not for a single second, not for a single second. Today too bribes are taken in Armenia, and the fact that from time to time we are having fact-based arrests is the most direct proof of this. But if this occurrence exists, it means we shouldnt have 1-2 arrests in a month in this issue, but 10, 20 and more. I dont care at all if the given person is an official, an ex-official, a representative of any political party, my family member or a family member of a neighbor. Those stealing from the people of the Republic of Armenia must get caught, prosecuted, embarrassed, morally destroyed and sent to prison, the PM said, adding that everyone must pay special attention on this issue.
YEREVAN.  Filing a lawsuit is a constitutional right of the citizen, director of Armenia's National Security Service Arthur Ventsyan told reporters asked whether he was sued by son of the former president.

Sedrak Kocharyan is free to file a lawsuit, and the judge will decide whether we are guilty or not, Vanetsyan said, adding that this is not about political persecution.

A civil lawsuit was filed against Vanetsyan in connection with the statement made during a press conference.

Immediately after the press conference, I stated that I had incorrectly formulated the idea, and therefore I gave an explanation. That is, I dismissed something for which they appealed to the court, said Vanetsyan.

The director of the National Security Service stressed that he did not violate the presumption of innocence, explaining that speaking of the Kocharyan family, he means all its members, but he has no personal problems with them.

The Kocharyan family did nothing to me personally. Robert Kocharyan was the second president, and there were good deeds during his presidency. He was the first president of Artsakh, and as an officer, as an employee of the National Security Service, who served during those years, I cannot have personal problems with this family, he added.
Tunisian PM: $ 6 billion government projects halted

Over 5,000 prisoners amnestied in Iran

CEC of Armenia completes recount of votes

Five US-backed SDF fighters killed in Syria

Ilham Aliyev says there is no territorial unit of Nagorno-Karabakh

Canadian FM announces new mission to support democracy in Armenia

Austrian MFA on Yerevan-Baku reconciliation: Our goal is to establish trust

15 of 23 patients being treated at Gyumri Infectious Diseases Hospital are discharged

Armenia villagers who closed off road end their protest action

Helicopter carrying Colombia president attacked

Criminal case opened into foreign reporter being threatened by Azeri soldiers with weapon on Armenia border

US lawmakers urge Biden to reverse Trump's pro-Israel policies

Tokayev to Pashinyan: Kazakh-Armenian relations will continue to strengthen

Karabakh army ex-spokesman: Azerbaijan doing everything towards final destruction of our statehood

18 killed in shootout between Mexico drug cartels

Khatibzadeh: Not Iran but US has left JCPOA and has not fulfilled its obligations

Artsakh Security Council chief convenes working consultation

EurAsEC Institute director: I am 99% convinced there will be Turkish military base in Azerbaijan

China threatens to cut off coronavirus vaccines to Ukraine

Villagers block Yerevan-Armavir motorway

Macron: Tensions with Turkey eased

Head of Union of Communities of Armenia: Calls by authorities to fire community leaders are illegal

IAEA demands answer from Iran regarding monitoring

Pedestrian woman, 55, dies on the spot after being hit by car in Armenias Shirak Province

Blinken: Current pace of Iran nuclear program could complicate talks on JCPOA

93 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Analyst: Armenia, Azerbaijan authorities views on Artsakh issue coincide

US to continue providing assistance to Afghanistan army after withdrawal of American troops

George Floyd murder case: Ex-cop sentenced to 22 years in prison

Newspaper: Authorities want to make radical changes in Armenia diplomatic corps

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM considering forming political council comprising extra-parliamentary forces?

Armenia ombudsman: Azerbaijan soldiers threaten to kill international reporter near Gegharkunik Province village

Panasonic sells its stake in Tesla

Why has the Armenian dram sharply valued against the dollar?

Indian strain of COVID-19 detected in Abkhazia

Garibashvili: Mediation for return of Armenian POWs is victory of Georgia's policy

'I Have Honor' bloc on consultations for applying to Armenia Constitutional Court regarding electoral violations

Armenia President hosts Diaspora Armenian actress Nora Armani

Armenia Administrative Court abolishes Central Electoral Commission's warning against Nikol Pashinyan

Armenia President receives Austrian, Lithuanian and Romanian FMs who are on visit to the region

Armenian acting PM discusses Armenia-European Union agenda with FMs of EU countries

Grassy area at park near Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan is burning

Armenia acting MOD pays visits to arms industry companies

Karabakh emergency situations service: Searches for remains of servicemen continue in Varanda (Fizuli) region

Ilham Aliyev has no intention to continue negotiations over Artsakh issue

Prince Harry receives millions from Prince Charles after final break

Armenian doctor says Armen Charchyan is in bed with oxygen mask, blood pressure is fluctuating

Armenia Administrative Court grants Armenian political party leader's claim

Barcelona Metro removes Azerbaijani posters

Magnitude 4.0 earthquake hits Turkey

Robert Kocharyan holds meeting with heads of 'Armenia' bloc's supportive communities

Digest: Armenia soldier goes missing for month; Macron, Putin congratulate Pashinyan on election win

Armenia acting deputy PM: There was widespread increase in pensions in 2020

539 Armenian doctors hold protest in front of Armenia Prosecutor General's Office in support of Armen Charchyan

Armenia economic activity index up by 10.9% in May compared to same period last year

Ursula von der Leyen says it is necessary to be ready for decline in relations with Russia

Ameriabanks Mashtots Branch Opened its Doors and Has a Special Offer on Privileged Terms for New Clients

Ombudsman attends UN online discussion, condemns Artsakh isolation by international community

US President Joe Biden declares emergency in State of Florida after building collapse

One dollar drops below AMD 500 in Armenia

Group leaves inscription on George Floyd's statue in New York

Iran MFA says Canada not qualified to present reports on crash of Ukrainian airliner

Armenia MP applies to government with proposal regarding servicemen

Tert.am: Azerbaijanis complete engineering work, install serious equipment in Armenias Syunik Province village

14 Armenian POWs may face 14-20 years in prison or life imprisonment in Baku

Armenian NGO president on results of snap parliamentary elections in Armenia

Austrian Prime Minister condemns Turkey for human rights violations

Armenia ruling party MP drops mandate after receiving it a week ago

Armenia President receives acting high-tech industry minister

Lockdown announced in Sydney

US Congressman Schiff: We must not allow Azerbaijan to violate human rights with impunity

Armenia conscript not yet found more than one month after going missing

Leaders of 27 EU states instructed Borrell to prepare options for sanctions against Russia

New program in Artsakh: Other countries citizens also can be appointed to police positions

UK ambassador to OSCE congratulates Armenian people on snap elections

NGO director: Armenia authorities have actually transferred countrys security to Azerbaijan

Belarusian MFA intends to response to European sanctions

NGO chief: Armenia authorities contribute to Azerbaijanis return to Artsakh

5 political forces at Karabakh parliament: Polarizations are observed which are accompanied by labeling

Biden confirms plans to send billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to other countries

President meets with Prosperous Armenia Party leader, they discuss internal political situation

Woman, 59, dies at hospital 6 days after Armenia road accident

Commander of Armenia air defense troops is sacked

Head of Armenia army engineering troops is dismissed

One new case of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

EU leaders instruct European Commission to prepare new financial aid to Turkey for refugees

Analyst: Azerbaijan has launched total psychological attack on people of Karabakh

Pope Francis recalls his visit to Armenia

102 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Biden says US COVID-19 death toll to rise due to Delta strain

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

About 150 people injured due to tornado in Czech Republic

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
A Turkish prosecutor on Wednesday sought life in prison for 16 suspects including philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala charged with attempting to overthrow the government, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Kavala, who has been held in custody for more than a year without being formally charged, is accused of backing 2013 anti-government protests in Istanbul and the failed 2016 coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Kavala of "financing the terrorists" during the anti-government protests that threw up one of the biggest challenges to his rule. Erdogan was prime minister at the time.

Two of the suspects are in detention and six remain at large, reported Anadolu. Among those still at large are Turkish actor and government critic Mehmet Ali Alabora and dissident journalist Can Dundar, it said. Dundar fled to Germany after being convicted in 2016 over an article published in the opposition Cumhuriyet daily alleging that Ankara had supplied weapons to Islamist groups in Syria.

Alabora is accused of having played a role in the anti-government protests through a theatre play dubbed "Mi Minor" featuring a revolt against the ruler of a fictional country. He is currently abroad.

All the suspects are facing the charge of "attempting to overthrow the government". Some are also accused of "damaging public property" and "damaging worshipping houses and cemeteries," Anadolu said.

The Gezi protests were one of the largest wave of movements in modern Turkish history and the government's sometimes heavy-handed response drew criticism from human rights advocates and Turkey's Western allies.
Pat Browns son, Jerry, was next, coming in with an agenda of social change, such as collective bargaining rights for public employees and farm workers, and environmental issues. However, Brown became distracted by Potomac Fever, running for president (twice) and the U.S. Senate.

Voters not only rejected Browns 1982 Senate bid, but elected a polar opposite, Republican George Deukmejian, as governor, with just two major objectives  building more prisons to lock up more felons and keeping a lid on other state spending  and succeeded in both.

However, he failed to recognize an immense socioeconomic wave that broke over the state in the 1980s  high population growth from immigration and a new baby boom, and a coincident transformation to a post-industrial economy.

Pete Wilson, who defeated Browns 1982 Senate bid, continued Republican control of the governorship in 1990, but he was a sharp contrast to Deukmejian.

Wilson sought to be a Tory reformer in the Warren mold with an ambitious agenda he called preventive government, dealing with issues before they became crises. However, he largely set it aside to manage an unprecedented wave of natural and human-caused disasters.
She radioed that shots had been fired at 11:05 p.m., the Sheriffs Office said. Within minutes, social media was abuzz with locals listening to the police scanner.

The Sheriffs Office held a news conference Wednesday afternoon for Bay Area media that provided new information about Sundays fatal encounter on a rural south Napa County road. The names of the deputy and the dead motorist were released for the first time.

Hernandez Morales, 43, is a Napa resident and former farmworker. He had a criminal history in the county and had several aliases that had to be investigated before the Sheriffs Office could release his name, Undersheriff Jon Crawford said.

A PowerPoint presentation showed five of Hernandez Morales Napa County jail mugshots taken between 2010 and 2016. He had been arrested for crimes such as having a concealed, loaded weapon, driving under the influence and assaulting a peace officer.

The Sheriffs Office said it takes loss of life seriously, but Crawford said the department was proud of the composure and poise Jarecki showed while fighting for her life. She is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances and could be gone anywhere from two to four weeks on paid administrative leave, Crawford said.
Detainers are requests that a jail notify ICE if a person is going to be released from custody, and that the jail hold the person until ICE officials can arrive.

ICE told ABC 7 that it issued detainers to Napa County jail regarding Hernandez Morales in 2014, 2015 and 2016. None of those detainers were honored, according to the report.

Henry Wofford, spokesperson for the Sheriffs Office, said the department would not address Hernandez Morales immigration status and deferred to ICE. Hernandez Morales had family in Napa, he said.

Napa County Board of Supervisors chairman Ryan Gregory said at the press conference on Thursday afternoon that the county just learned about ICEs statement hours earlier, and it would seek additional information from ICE regarding the claims made in its statement.

Gregory said that in 2010, Hernandez Morales was arrested, brought to the Napa County jail and later released to ICE. He noted that the countys policies changed since passage of state laws that require counties to limit interactions with immigration agents.
Nothing brings smiles to our faces and joy to our hearts like our pets. Our beloved fur babies offer a much-needed distraction these days, so 
No decision has been taken by security officials on whether to recommend to the U.K. government it should ban Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co, according to the countrys cyber security chief.

The National Cyber Security Centre Chief Executive Officer Ciaran Martin said at a cybersecurity conference in Brussels Wednesday that everything is on the table, adding that the U.K. will not compromise on the improvements we need to see from Huawei.

A report on the resilience and security of Britains telecoms supply chains is due to conclude in March. Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright will use it to make recommendations to the National Security Council, as the country introduces its fifth-generation telecom networks. Huawei faces bans in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. over fears the Chinese government could use its systems to spy on other countries.

5G security is not a simple, binary choice, Martin said. It is about complex technical functions, a complex global threat environment, and a complex global market. One thing is clear: the way that market works has to change. Security must be a bigger consideration in market decisions in the future than it has been to date.

Over the last two years the government has attributed state-sponsored malicious cyber activity against the U.K. to Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Last year some U.K. networks  including telecommunication systems  were attacked by Russia, Martin said.

As far as we know, those networks didnt have any Russian kit in them, anywhere, he said. The techniques the Russians used to target those networks were looking for weaknesses.

The annual report by the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre Oversight Board into how the company conducts its U.K. operations is expected to criticize its failure to act on shortcomings outlined in the previous report, a person familiar with its conclusions said in January.

These problems are about the standard of cyber security; they are not indicators of hostile activity by China, he said. Should the supplier market consolidate to such an extent that there are only a tiny number of viable options, that will not make for good cyber security, whether those options are Western, Chinese, or from anywhere else.
I recently re-upped my membership in the World Federation of Music Therapy . I have to admit that I haven't been a member for a long time, but I decided it was something that I need to do as a music therapist in the world. I am also a certificant of the Certification Board for Music Therapists and a professional member of the American Music Therapy Association as well. My memberships with those last two organizations have been constant (while my membership with the World Federation has not been steady at all) because I find that membership is important.

I am of the opinion that if I don't join, then I have no leg to stand on when it comes to changing what these organizations do to represent my profession. Nothing frustrates me more than someone complaining that "AMTA doesn't do enough to..." and then mentioning that they aren't members. (By the way, I feel the same way about voting in our quasi-democratic process of governance - if you don't bother to offer your vote, then you cannot complain about how people govern you.)

A friend of mine recently released a podcast about this very topic. Now, this is specifically targeted towards marriage and family and licensed counselors, but it has some implications for us music therapists as well. The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide is run by a childhood friend of mine and a friend of hers. I get absolutely no compensation for adding this link to my blog, so feel free to check them out and see if Katie and Curt can do something for you in your situation in life.





Do I agree with every decision that AMTA and CBMT and WFMT make on my behalf? Of course not. (I also don't agree with every decision made by elected officials in government.) I am glad that, by participating through my membership dollars, I have a voice. My voice may be in the minority at times and in the majority at other times, but I still have the ability to call folks up and make my opinions known.





I have always made membership a priority in my life. My mother is my example for this practice. She was always a member of her professional organization, even when she was a stay-at-home mother, not really doing her occupational therapy job outside of the home. She was always a member of AOTA, especially when she didn't have to be. My father supported her by making our budget work around those dues, even when things were financially tight. I have had many years when the membership dues would have meant getting some other bills paid off or when that money would have meant less macaroni and more meat, but I've always felt that membership was important.





I am looking forward to being an active member of the World Federation of Music Therapy again. My one-time membership fee will cover the rest of the three-year membership term, and then I'll re-up in 2021. I'm not anticipating going to the World Congress next year (South Africa is just a bit too far to take my sister on many airplanes), but I do want to get more involved in what is going on in the world of music therapy worldwide, and this is one way to do this!





If you are also a member, thanks for being with me. If you are not a member, I hope that you consider becoming a member of at least one of our professional organizations - we cannot evolve into what we want to be if we are not present and making our needs and visions known to others.





End of lecture. Beginning of day.








"It signals to people that this person was significant," she said. "It signals the hotel regards the person as significant" and the importance may be conveyed to guests when they visit.

Wing plans to summarize the contributions of Alexander Clark and his son, Alexander Clark Jr., during her remarks. The Clarks graduated from law school at the University of Iowa. Clark Jr. was the first black graduate from the college in 1879, and just a few years later in 1884, Clark Sr. became the second black graduate. They opened the door for black law students in the late 1800s. But that doesn't mean black people "just walked through the door," Wing said; there were and are barriers to education.

"Work done back in the 1800s was just the beginning of maybe an infinite process of giving black children educational opportunities," she said.

Additional events planned

Ahead of the planned events, Mayor Diana Broderson will sign a proclamation at Thursday's Muscatine City Council meeting marking Feb. 25 as Alexander Clark Day in the city. Clark was born 193 years ago Monday in Washington, Pennsylvania, and settled in Muscatine when he was 16 years old.
MUSCATINE  Officials at Muscatine Power and Water believe the newly enlarged and reconstructed operations center can survive any weather challenge that Iowa can throw at it.

"The facility is now capable of withstanding winds of up to 250 miles per hour," MP&W's Utility Service Director Tim Reed told an audience of around 75 people at Tuesday's ribbon cutting and open house for the expanded and reinforced Network Operations Center, located at the north end of MP&W's Administration and Operations headquarters on Cedar Street.

Reed, who served as the Project Sponsor, said the planning began three years ago. He told the audience a number of alternatives were considered, but work got underway shortly after Woodruff Construction of Fort Dodge, Iowa, was awarded the contract.

According to the company's website, the Network Operations Center (NOC) houses key communications equipment that receives and helps MP&W deliver TV, internet, and phone services to its customers. Additionally, the overhead power supply to the NOC was bored underground to provide a seamless, uninterruptible power supply for critical communications gear in the event of an emergency, and air conditioning units were upgraded to accommodate additional equipment housed in the NOC.
Addressing the committee on Feb. 13, Moore noted the high turnover among child protection workers: 35 percent for each of the past two years.

"High turnover begets high turnover," Tucker Finley, a child protection specialist, told the committee. "This incentive would keep more people in the field and reduce their financial strain."

"This bill would get people in the field and keep them there," said another child protection specialist who added that he has $50,000 in educational debt and is working toward an advanced degree while carrying a caseload of 50 children in 27 families.

Asked by Rep. Jessica Karjala, D-Billings, to give examples of the challenges for child protection workers, division administrator Marti Vining told of going out to a residence last fall on a report of children in a meth house. When Vining and other staff arrived, they could see a toddler and three preschoolers through a window. The children were crying, but no adult answered the door. The child protection workers called law enforcement officers who got parents to answer the door. The parents were actively using meth and the house was unsafe and filthy with a toilet overflowing with feces.
Employees of the state of Montana and its university system stand just a signature away from hourly wage increases in each of the next two years.

House Bill 175 carried by Rep. Julie Dooling, R-Helena, passed the Montana House of Representatives for the second time Thursday in a 68-31 vote. With approval from Gov. Steve Bullock, the bill would raise the pay of state and university employees by 50 cents per hour on the first calendar days of 2020 and 2021.

The bill also provides benefit increases for public employees, such as higher meal allowances for traveling employees, at an annual cost of just over $700,000.

Allowances are currently $5 for breakfast, $6 for lunch and $12 for dinner. HB 175 would increase each by $2.50, the first increase since 1993, Dooling told the House Appropriations Committee Jan. 22.

HB 175 first passed the House 91-7 on Jan. 28. The bill then cleared the Senate 47-0 on Saturday after a slight amendment from Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork.
Man pleads not guilty to strangulation

A Butte man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegations that he violated a restraining order for a third time by breaking into a womans home and choking her.

Trevon William Adam, 28, pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary, strangulation of a partner or family member and violating a protective order for a third of subsequent offense, all felonies. If convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced up to 47 years in prison.

According to police and prosecutors, Adam came into the womans house through an unlocked door without her permission on Jan. 17, grabbed her neck, lifted her off the ground and pinned her against a door.

She said she started to lose consciousness and felt as if Adam was going to kill her, according to charging documents. She bit him and broke free but he found her behind a bush near Silver Bow Homes, grabbed her again and slammed her against a house.

District Judge Robert Whelan accepted Adams not guilty pleas, set the next hearing for March 27 and remanded Adam back to jail with bail set at $100,000.

Pleas entered in drug cases
Both the Montana Attorney General's Office and Department of Public Health and Human Services turned out in support of the bill Thursday in the Senate panel. Barbara Smith, administrator of the senior and long term care division at DPHHS said it would make definitions more consistent in efforts to root out elder abuse.

"The other thing it does is it helps us raise awareness to the fact that the crime does exist and behind each of those crimes, or a majority of those crimes, exists another form of abuse," Smith said.

In particular, Mercer's bill clarifies that someone charged with exploitation of an elder person or person with a developmental disability must have done so "by means of deception, duress, menace, fraud influence, or intimidation."

The ambiguous language hasn't let others off the hook in Missoula since Deschamps' ruling, however. In November, Missoula Judge Karen Townsend denied requests by two different defendants for their charges to be dismissed on the basis of Deschamps' ruling. In one case, a woman and her husband used the victim's Social Security funds for themselves, leaving the nursing home debt unpaid. In the other, Townsend ruled that even having the power of attorney for a victim did not create immunity for the defendant if the actions were done by means of criminal conduct.
Miles and Knox are both current Beaverhead County deputies under Sheriff Paul Craft.

In an interview prior to the release of this group statement, Craft told The Montana Standard that his decision to run for Beaverhead County Sheriff was partly motivated by issues with labor going on" and the fact that he "didnt agree with the way they were handled.

I saw things that needed to change and believed I could change them, Craft said.

Moving forward, Craft, a retired Dillon police chief, said he wants to work more collaboratively with the Dillon police and the Beaverhead County Attorney's office, along with other facets of county law enforcement. To improve that collaboration, he said he meets or talks with those other players almost every day.

Craft also said he wants to create a better work environment for his deputies, ensuring they know hes got their back and developing a better sense of trust throughout the department.

Its a hard job, they have to make hard decisions, Craft said. They need to know someone is backing them in making those decisions.
They use a lot of the same half-hitches, Greg said of the rope skills for loading gear on horses. I showed them our quick-release ties, and they asked what that was for. I said in case you have a wreck and a horse goes down. They just laughed and said We dont have any wrecks.

The Schatzes got introduced to the Darkhad families through Cliff Montagne at Bozeman-based BioRegions International. The nongovernment organization has been working in Mongolia since 1998.

Montagne explained that livestock herding in Mongolia is reaching a sustainability limit. The average Darkhad family of herders has around 800 animals; usually a mix of sheep, goats, yaks and horses. They move them four or five times a day, leaving no time to farm vegetables. Climate change in the country, sandwiched between northern China and southern Russia, has reduced the forage that can support livestock, adding pressure to their traditional nomadic culture. So some families in the area are working with BioRegions International on business plans that add tourism money to their income.

Greg said the Mongolians self-sufficiency traditions would need lots of cross-cultural tweaking.
Donald Trump is the worst person in the country. Thats worst person. Not worst president. Although he is.

All the felons in our prisons  thieves, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, jaywalkers  are less horrible than your president in the Oval Office. Assuming he is there and not having executive time; watching TV, phoning his rich pals and eating Big Macs.

Vote Republican? You support a morally bankrupt party bereft of character. Theyre spineless. Its their fear of your support for this unqualified president that makes them unable to say no to even the most criminally insane stuff he puts forth.

While your common, mainstream felonious scum focuses his evil on one or two individuals at a time, your president destroys families by the hundreds, separating children from families at our southern border. Hundreds of kids are yet to be reunited and feared to remain orphans!

Trumps trade wars have pushed record numbers of farmers into bankruptcies. Real bad times for those American families.

Hes responsible for almost 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico resulting from his withholding aid after the hurricane. That tops serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who comes off looking like a slacker with only 33 victims.
C-PACE is modeled on a tried and true method that municipalities have used for decades. It works like a special improvement district for sidewalks or sewers. The financing is repaid as an assessment on the propertys regular tax bill for up to 20 years. What is different about C-PACE is that its completely voluntary. Only individual property owners receiving the upgrades are assessed for the cost, not everyone in the district. It simply gives individuals the option to consider this financial tool if they choose.

The reason C-PACE has succeeded throughout the U.S. is because its designed to save money from day one. Properties only qualify for the program if an energy audit determines they will save more on their utility bills than they would owe on their annual assessment. From a business perspective, this makes C-PACE especially attractive.

C-PACE has already garnered bipartisan support from over a dozen legislators across the state because its just good, common-sense legislation. Its a public-private partnership, using private capital from banks and investors. Montana lenders are ready to participate once C-PACE is enabled by law.
On their last night together, Kim Sutton showed his son how to use a handsaw. Travis, 12 years old at the time, had a school assignment to show a tree's annual rings. While Travis struggled to cut through the piece of wood, his dad made quick work of it in just a few swift thrusts of the saw.

Afterward Travis went to bed. Sometime during that night the boy awoke. He didnt know why. He didnt hear voices. There were no loud sounds.

He went downstairs to see what his dad was doing  Kim Sutton had a utility room in the basement where he stored various tools and materials for his appliance repair business. Halfway down the stairs his dad met Travis. He seemed calm, but firm. Kim Sutton walked his son back to his room.

That was the last time Travis saw his father.

Kim Sutton, 34, died Feb. 21, 1989, after an explosion in their home launched him into a neighboring tree.

The explosion also ripped Travis from his bed and threw him over the backyard into the alley. He survived with a dislocated hip and burns covering one-quarter of his body.

I woke up without a dad, and without a house, Travis Sutton told the Billings Gazette recently.

His mother was out of the picture and his stepmother had left a week before. Travis was alone.

Thirty years later, Travis Sutton is still looking for closure after his father's sudden death.

Empty lot

Lee Sherseth didnt hear the explosion, but he felt it. It jolted him awake, just after 4 a.m., and in a daze he ran out of his bedroom down the hall and looked out the window.

That house isnt there anymore across the street, Lee Sherseth remembers telling his wife, LaWanda. The sky outside glowed red.

What do you mean its not there? she replied.

Everythings gone.

The lot at 2625 Custer Avenue was empty. There was a gaping hole in the ground from the basement. The sky was red, and full of debris. The neighborhood stood still, shocked by the blast, before the ensuing chaos. As Sherseth ran into his basement to get his daughter he wondered if World War III had started.

Two houses down, Beth Ferries rubbed her eyes, holding onto her second-grade daughter, Jenny, and stared in disbelief at a car resting wheels-up on her neighbors garage. Glass and insulation littered Ferries kitchen floor. Cupboards sat empty, their contents strewn everywhere. Beth Ferries' husband, Dave, pulled on shoes and ran to Alice Timmel's house nearby, which had caught fire. Timmel made it out, but her house burned down.

Don Brunner woke up from a dream thinking an airplane had crashed into his house. Jerine, his wife, collected their four children amid the panic. The explosion could be heard from Laurel, people claimed.

It would be months before much was known about the explosion in the Suttons' home.

The Billings Gazette reported four cylinders of refrigerants found in the home. The plastic valve tops were burned off three, and one was on its side, ruptured and leaking liquids onto the floor.

A fire burned for two hours before the utility room exploded, then-police Detective Gordon Hirschi said.

But the fire investigator at the time, John Staley, doesnt remember evidence of a fire.

Eventually the explosion was ruled accidental, cause unknown.

Growing up

Hirschi said he had to park a block away  there was too much debris on the 2600 block.

Travis Sutton lay on the ground behind where his home once stood.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, the boy inched toward a dumpster to try to hoist himself up. His only thought was getting up. He was unwittingly making his way toward downed power lines. The next thing he remembers was someone covering him with a blanket.

Randy Vogel, a Billings police officer, found the 12-year-old in the snowy alley. Vogel remembers Travis standing and moving around. Vogel brought him to his patrol car, waited for the ambulance and then went to look for Kim Sutton. Vogel found the man dead near a large pine tree. Sutton had crashed into the top of the tree, breaking it.

Travis Sutton was taken to St. Vincent Hospital, and from there to a burn unit at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Eleven days later the boy was discharged. He spent the rest of his healing time in Portland, Oregon, with an aunt and uncle on his dads side. Later that year he returned to Billings to live with his mother, Mary Ann Sutton. From there Travis Sutton bounced around, from living with relatives to bunking with friends.

I chose not to accept help from a lot of people, Travis Sutton said recently. Because my dad was like the only person in my life. He raised me, and so when he was gone I didnt really take authority from anybody.

He spent time in Oregon, Wyoming and in various places around Montana. His schooling suffered from the lack of stability, and he didnt finish high school.

I put it lightly when I say I ran wild for a while, he said. I just partied and whatever happened, happened. Its a little shameful, like, man, I sure wasted a lot of time.

When Travis Sutton was 22 he decided to turn his life around. It was 1999, and he went from living a life to building a life, he said. He calls the situation stereotypical. While sitting in jail he began reading a Bible, and the message clicked.

It felt like my eyes were open and I dont think it was anything I did, he said. It is amazing. In my opinion, Gods plan is amazing.

He later got his GED, and from 2007 to 2015 served in the Army National Guard  following in his fathers footsteps.

Kim Sutton served in the Army before Travis was born, and he was discharged in 1973. He incorporated the discipline of the Army into his parenting.

He would make it fun though, Travis Sutton said recently. Hed pretend like he was disciplining me and make me do sit-ups and leg lifts, make you peel potatoes or something, whatever they did back then. It made it glamorous for me. I always wanted to be in the military.

After being discharged from the Army, Travis Sutton returned to Billings. Now he works for the BNSF Railway building and maintaining bridges.

In 2012, Sutton married his current wife, Desiree Sutton. They now have two children together, Shaye, 8, and Skailar, 6. Hes lived in his house seven years  his first permanent home since the explosion.

Unknown cause

The investigation lasted four months. Evidence was sent to the state crime lab, chemists were enlisted from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Officials interviewed Kim Sutton's neighbors, friends and colleagues.

In June 1989 the explosion was ruled accidental. The Fire Departments investigation was never able to find the cause of the explosion, Staley, the fire investigator at the time, said recently.

There wasnt a chemist in town or person with a state crime lab that could come up with a combination of gases," he said.

All the while, rumors circulated, Travis Sutton said. Everybody talked  kids at school, neighbors, the town. Theories ran wild. Some said his dad was running a meth lab in the basement. Others said his dad was trying to build illegal fireworks or a bomb. Some called it an attempted suicide.

But Travis Sutton maintains his house wasnt a drug house or a firework factory; no one was building a bomb. For Travis Sutton it was just his home.

Fire Marshal Larry McCann told the Billings Gazette at the time there was no reason to suspect any criminal activity. It was to remain inactive unless new evidence was presented.

Staley still regrets that an answer was never found.

"Id love to give him that answer just for the respect I have for him from that night," he said.

Without a known cause, theres still room to speculate at Kim Suttons death.

Bette Brotzel, who lived a few houses down at 2623 Custer Ave., said recently, I dont feel like we ever had the right answers.

Beth Ferries still has her opinions.

It was almost like a secret, like we arent supposed to know about it, she said.

Travis Sutton has thought of every way the fire could have started.

It was a chintzy way out, in my opinion, to say yeah it was an accident,  he said. But I dont think it was conclusive.

The unresolved case keeps his wounds from closing.

What Im working on in my personal life is forgiveness. But of what, I dont know.

If it was just an accident, his father got cheated. If it wasnt an accident, his father got cheated.

Travis Sutton keeps turning the facts over from that night and the weeks leading up to it, searching for an explanation.

A few days before the explosion Kim Sutton woke his son up to ask the boy where hed like to travel if he could go anywhere in the world.

Canada, Travis Sutton remembers saying, unaware of the cold and snow that settle on the country in mid-February.

How about somewhere south? Travis Sutton remembers his dad suggesting. That morning they got in their car and headed to Arizona. Travis Sutton remembers he was excited to go on an adventure with his dad  a quest for warmer weather and to see Travis grandfather.

At the time the boy didnt realize the real purpose of the trip. His father was going through a divorce with his second wife, Zoe.

He was giving her a chance to move out. We left so she could have her time to do what she had to do, Travis Sutton said. Looking back, putting it all together, he was in a lot of pain.

They returned from their trip Feb. 21, 1989. Zoe Sutton had moved out.

But without any evidence, Travis Sutton is hesitant to conflate the two traumas.

Its so far gone right now, thered be no proof of anything," he said. "But it could have been an accident. Im open to that too. I leave all the possibilities open. ... But, to be honest, I dont want to believe it was an accident.

Rebuilding

While Travis healed, the neighbors bonded.

For months Custer Avenue looked like a parade. Lookie loos would come up and down the block to see the carnage.

But the neighborhood rebounded quickly. In September 1989 the Custer Avenue neighborhood closed off the block to celebrate the final touches on their refinished homes.

They made T-shirts for the block party that read, I survived Custers last blast.

The explosion created a close-knit group of friends. They helped each other and checked on each other; some of them picked out new furniture together.

We all went through the same thing, Ferries said recently. We understood what it was like to move out and not know where we were going or what were going to do.

Years later some of the neighbors moved away, died or lost contact. But those who stayed in touch still talk to each other today. They discuss their lives, their careers, families and grandchildren. The Custer Avenue explosion still comes up in conversation.

Since the explosion Beth Ferries has always made sure she has flashlights accessible. She remembers struggling to get around scattered glass in her dark home.

Don Brunner always makes sure there is a clear path out of his house before he goes to bed.

Keith Walkers, who lived down the street, finally moved to another home. He feels much safer in the new house, he said.

But they all moved on.

Still, back in your mind you never forget that. What if that ever happened again? Ferries said. Eventually she and her husband moved back to Sheridan.

We loved our neighbors. It was hard for us to come to Sheridan, she said.

Ferries thinks about the explosion here and there. She also thinks about Travis Sutton often, but never tried to reach out to him. She didnt feel like it was her place to dredge up painful memories.

Ive always thought and wondered about him. He went through much more than all of us, she said. Your house is a material possession. You cant get your dad back.

Returning

A few days before the 30th anniversary of the explosion, Sutton walked around the 2600 block of Custer with his two children. It was one of only a few times that hes visited the neighborhood.

Snow coated the ground Saturday, not unlike 30 years ago. In front of the house the memories are fading, like what color his home was, or whether there were curtains in the windows. In the alley the memories are more potent.

Travis approached a black dumpster.

This is important, he said. Hes spoken with his daughters about what happened to him. Its important for them to know, he said  to keep the memory of their grandpa alive.

A few paces from the trash can he demonstrated how he landed years ago. His daughter asked him how he got new skin after the burns. It grew back, he told her.

Right before losing consciousness, while still airborne, he said he felt his fathers presence to the right of him.

His voice choked up as he looked toward the neighbors backyard. Police had said that his dad would have survived the explosion if he hadnt collided with a tree.

I wish I knew which tree, he said.

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Anderson said DPHHS would be able to increase the safety of youth and add more transparency about how the programs operate.

Sen. Sue Malek, a Democrat from Missoula, tried to press Bovington about details revealed in the Missoulian series, specifically about one of the schools that was banned from operating in Mexico and later shut down here.

"Why is that happening in Montana?" Malek asked. "How can they receive a license in Montana?" Malek also pressed about how background checks were conducted.

Bovingdon said she could not speak about specific applications from schools. And Sen. David Howard, a Republican from Park City, chided Malek for her questions.

"We are not going to condemn a witness that comes in here. We're not going to condemn the past program," Howard said.

The Labor Department said it costs about $130,000 to operate the board, money that would be shifted to the health department's budget if Sands' bill passes. The Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee did not take immediate action on the bill Wednesday.

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The Montana legislature is targeting vaping in the boys room.

A bill carried by Great Falls Republican Sen. Fred Anderson would legally ban products like electronic cigarettes and other nicotine alternatives in schools. It was heard Tuesday in the House Business and Labor Committee.

The use of electronic cigarettes already is not allowed; schools widely ban the products, and health officials have tabbed vaping as an addictive health threat on par with smoking.

And the rules likely won't actually halt vaping among teens, much like laws against cigarettes in school didn't completely halt smoke breaks. But advocates framed them as playing a critical role in the fight to reduce vaping among teens.

The 2017 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that almost half of Montana teens have tried vaping, compared to about one-third who have tried cigarettes, and that about 23 percent regularly vape.
Jon Bennion, Montana's deputy attorney general, announced Thursday he's running for attorney general in 2020.

Bennion, a Republican, has been at the attorney general's office since 2013. He's originally from Billings.

"I was born and raised in Montana, I met the love of my life in Montana, and we have raised our son in Montana. Im running for attorney general because I care about our state and I want to continue fighting for it, Bennion said in a press release Thursday.

State Rep. Kimberly Dudik, a Democrat from Missoula, announced her bid for attorney general in December.

Current Attorney General Tim Fox is termed out from running again and is seeking the GOP nomination for governor.

In the press release, Bennion highlighted his work on conservative causes, such as pro-life and Second Amendment cases and challenging the Obama Administration's Waters of the U.S. rule.

At the Department of Justice, Bennion has worked on legislative efforts including human trafficking law reforms, DUI laws, sexual assault laws and consumer protection efforts. In the previous three legislative sessions, Bennion worked on the passage of all 40 legislative priorities from the DOJ.
It didn't take long for the old Herberger's space at Southgate Mall in Missoula to get a new tenant.

The mall announced Wednesday that construction has begun on a remodel that will allow Dillard's to expand to the space.

Dillard's is already an anchor store in the mall and the project will simply expand the store's offerings into more space. Herberger's closed its Missoula location last August following a national bankruptcy and company-wide liquidation sale.

We had confidence that valuable space would not remain dark for long, said Tim Winger, general manager of Southgate Mall. That location is tied to an area we call our 50-yard line with dozens of community events occurring nearby throughout the year."

Dillard's is one of the nation's largest fashion retailers with annual sales of over $6.2 billion, according to government filings. It has more than 290 stores in the U.S.

Lou Conforti, CEO and director of Washington Prime Group, Southgate Malls parent company, said in a press release that he wants to establish the mall as a dominant town center.
Brown said that RVs arent allowed as primary residences in most Montana communities and arent held to the same building standards. Tiny homes would have to be built to residential building codes, even though they can be transported on wheels.

Right now, local governments in the state dont have codes that allow them to regulate tiny home villages or tiny homes on wheels.

Theres no way for the current legal structure to deal with tiny homes on wheels, he said. Its a gray area. The hearing was great. Were going to figure out a path forward. We had bipartisan interest and were going to form a committee to make it all work.

Brown said he got the idea after seeing news articles about the town of Chico, California, turning to tiny homes as a solution to homelessness after a season of devastating wildfires last summer.

This is seen as a solution in communities across the nation that are dealing with homelessness and affordable housing issues, he told the committee on Tuesday. There are advocates that have tried to get specifically tiny homes on wheels permitted as an option in communities and often the answer is we dont know where that would fit in state law.
Organizations

AA MEETINGS Call 888-607-2000 or visit aa-montana.org. Early Sunrise Group Discussion (C/H), 6:30 a.m., Unity Church, 546 South Ave. W.; Early Birds Discussion (C/H), 7 a.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Sunrise Group Discussion (C/H), 8 a.m., Unity Church, 546 South Ave. W.; Sober Steppers Beginners (O/H), 10 a.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; High Noon Group Discussion (O), noon, First United Methodist Church, 300 E. Main St.; Thompson Falls Group (O), noon, behind Bear Muscle Fitness, 107 Spruce St.; Attitude Adjustment (O/H), noon, Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Pathway to Serenity Discussion (O), 3:30 p.m., Clark Fork West Church, 34 St. Regis Ave., St. Regis; Downtowners Discussion (O/H), 5:30 p.m., Fourth D Alano Club, 1500 W. Broadway; Silvertip Group Discussion (C), 6:30 p.m., Immanuel Lutheran Church, 830 South Ave. W.; Big Book Study Group (O/H), 7 p.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Do It Sober Discussion (O/H), 7 p.m., St. Luke's Conference Room, 107 Sixth Ave. SW, Ronan; The Blackfoot River Group, 7 p.m., Out Savior Lutheran Church, 8985 Highway 200, Bonner; Solution Group Discussion (C/H/B), 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. Fifth St. W.; Plains Group Big Book Study (O), 7:30 p.m., Plains United Methodist Church, 206 Meany St.; Not a Glum Lot (O), 7:30 p.m., Thompson Falls Community Church, 306 Church St.; Missoula Group Beginner's, (O/H), 8 p.m., 112 N. Pattee St.; Young Guns in Sobriety Literature Study (O), 10 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. Fifth St. W.
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GLEN STUBBE AP

As Sen. Jeff Brandes put it Wednesday, "The end is in sight, were not far.

Both the House and Senate bills to repeal a ban on smokeable medical marijuana are hitting some of their final stops this week, bringing them one step closer to the chamber floors.

The House bill, brought by Rep. Ray Rodrigues and the Health and Human Services Committee, passed favorably in appropriations Thursday, including a strike-through that got rid of requirements for filters on medical marijuana cigarettes. The amendment also appropriates $1.5 million in recurring general revenue to fund a consortium to research the effects of medical marijuana.

Only Rep. Clay Yarborough, a Jacksonville Republican, voted no.

Bronchitis, lung issues, all these other things that are a big concern to me, he said about the bill last week.

The two bills have grown more similar through each committee stop, which Brandes said has helped the process. A key difference is that Senate version doesn't limit smoking to pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes and instead allows for a 35-day of whole-flower supply.

The House bill recommends the Board of Governors designate which state university will hold the consortium, a change from the bill's former language specifying the University of Florida. It also sets aside about $705,000 for three positions at the Office of Medical Marijuana Use and about $215,000 for technology upgrades to the medical marijuana registry.

Lawmakers in both chambers agree that more needs to be done to make access more affordable and accessible to patients across the state. But they say they plan to address that kind of legislation in the future, and are more focused now on getting smoking ban repeal bills to the Governor's desk by the deadline.

"I've been given assurance that future legislation that will be considered by this body will address cost and affordability concerns," said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat who voted yes on the bill. "Although this isn't perfect, it's hard for me to vote against it."

Rep Joe Geller, D-Aventura, said he thinks Rodrigues' bill will help patients, but that issues like vertical integration will need to be taken up in a future bill. Vertical integration is the part of the medical marijuana law that requires license holders to grow, process and sell their own product, as opposed to offering contracts to other vendors.

"There are some things we need to do that aren't addressed in this bill, and don't need to be," he said. "Something needs to be done to break the logjam that is keeping the medicine from the people who need it."

Gov. Ron DeSantis in January tasked the Legislature with amending Florida law to allow smoking medical marijuana. If legislators dont by the deadline, the governor said he will do so with litigation.

In 2016, about 71 percent of voting Floridians approved a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana. While the 2017 bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott legalized access to the drug in pill, oil, edible and vape form, it made smoking it illegal. In addition to the ban on smoking, the law also capped the number of medical marijuana licenses and the number of dispensaries in the state.

The provision, which became known as the smoking ban, was challenged in circuit court in July 2017. In its complaint, People United for Medical Marijuana, Inc., argued the smoking ban altered the definition of marijuana and by banning smoking in public, implicitly authorized smoking marijuana in a private place.

In May 2018, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers declared the smoking ban unconstitutional, but the Department of Health appealed the ruling later that month.

After DeSantis announced his intent to drop the appeal should the Legislature not act to remove the smoking ban, both parties filed a motion to stay the appeal until March 2019.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Inducing labour at 41 weeks of pregnancy leads to a small reduction in birth complications compared with expectant management (a "wait and see" approach) until 42 weeks in low risk women, finds a clinical trial published by The BMJ today.

However, the absolute risk of serious problems was low in both groupsand a linked editorial says the results are not sufficiently conclusive to change current practice, which is in line with the authors' interpretation.

Late term pregnancy (at or beyond 42 weeks) affects about 15% of women and is associated with increased problems at birth (known as adverse perinatal outcomes), including death.

Some studies suggest that inducing labour from 41 weeks onwards improves outcomes for both mother and baby, but these studies were different regarding their measures, protocols and time frames of comparison and so the results need to be interpreted with caution.

Yet despite these concerns, induction at 41 weeks is now an accepted policy in many countries throughout the world.

So researchers of the INDEX-team led by senior researcher Esteriek de Miranda at the Amsterdam UMC-University of Amsterdam, set out to compare induction of labour at 41 weeks with expectant management until 42 weeks in low risk pregnancies.

The trial included 1800 women (mainly white and younger than 35 years) with an uncomplicated pregnancy recruited from 123 midwifery practices and 45 hospitals in the Netherlands.

Women were randomised to either induction at 41 weeks or expectant management until 42 weeks with subsequent induction if necessary.

Adverse perinatal outcomes were assessed using a combined measure of the newborn's health (including perinatal death, Apgar score of less than 7 five minutes after birth, and admission to an intensive care baby unit). Other outcomes included type of delivery and mother's health just after giving birth.

Fifteen women (1.7%) in the induction group had an adverse perinatal outcome compared with 28 (3.1%) in the expectant management groupan absolute risk difference of 1.4% in favour of the induction group.

Eleven (1.2%) infants in the induction group and 23 (2.6%) in the expectant management group had an Apgar score of less than 7 out of 10 at five minutes.

No infants in the induction group and three (0.3%) in the expectant management group had an Apgar score of less than 4 out of 10 at five minutes.

One fetal death (0.1%) occurred in the induction group and two (0.2%) in the expectant management group. No neonatal deaths (deaths in the first 28 days of life) occurred.

Three (0.3%) infants in the induction group versus 8 (0.9%) in the expectant management group were admitted to an intensive care baby unit.

No significant differences in the mother's health or in caesarean section rates were found between groups.

The researchers point to some potential limitations, but say in this large trial induction of labour at 41 weeks resulted in less overall adverse perinatal outcome than a policy of expectant management until 42 weeks, although the absolute risk of severe adverse outcome was low in both groups.

As with every intervention in the natural birth process, the decision to induce labour must be made with caution, as the expected benefits should outweigh possible adverse effects for both mother and child, they add.

As such, they say their results "should be used to inform women approaching 41 weeks of pregnancy, so they can weigh the respective outcomes and decide whether to be induced at 41 weeks or to continue pregnancy until 42 weeks."

In a linked editorial, Professor Sara Kenyon at the University of Birmingham and colleagues welcome this new trial, but say the results "are not sufficiently conclusive to change current practice."

They point out that, if the Apgar scores are excluded, "the remaining data suggest little to choose between the two management options." And they warn that increasing induction rates (35% of women giving birth for the first time are currently induced in the UK) "may also impact negatively on women's birth experience."

Explore further Inducing labor can reduce birth complications without increasing Cesareans

More information: Induction of labour at 41 weeks versus expectant management until 42 weeks (INDEX): multicentre, randomised non-inferiority trial, BMJ (2019). Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Induction of labour at 41 weeks versus expectant management until 42 weeks (INDEX): multicentre, randomised non-inferiority trial,(2019). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l344
We're often told we are responsible for our own happiness. But in challenging situations, a UC Riverside study not only demonstrates the benefits of positive reframingfinding a "silver liningbut also suggests our partners can be more adept at finding that silver lining than we are.

A UCR psychology researcher says the findings, based on a study of couples coping with breast cancer, may provide a roadmap for a more contented spouse.

Previous studies have demonstrated that women with breast cancer who engage in positive reframing not only have less distress, but may even find some benefit in the experience. But the question has remained: what's to credit for the ability to find a silver lining?

Psychology researchers know that a great source of support is a "socially similar" other who has faced the same stress, but has found a way to cope more calmly. The researchers in the current study theorized that socially similar otherwhen facing a challenge such as breast canceris likely a romantic partner.

For the current study, 52 couples coping with breast cancer wore an "Electronically Activated Recorder," or EAR, over one weekend to record 50 seconds every nine minutes during their waking days. After the couples' weekend with the EAR device, researchers looked at the degree to which word use indicated positive reframing and successful coping, or the reduction of stress.

Of the thousands of sound files collected, researchers found participants were speaking about 46 percent of the time. About 4 percent of "talking" sound files were about cancer. Research assistants were asked to examine these files and look for instances in which someone appeared to be changing a negative view into a positive one.

The couples were asked to self-report their positive reframing (e.g., when experiencing a stressful event, "I look for something good in what is happening"), and their stress levels.

The findings affirmed that spouses can help with coping by positively reframing the cancer experience and other negative experiences. In general, positive reframingfinding the silver liningwas associated with less stress. It bears out the original theory, the value of the "socially similar" other's support.

"Word use can be a window into people's thoughts and feelings without having to directly ask them. Positive emotion words, like 'happy' or 'calm,' can indicate what someone is feeling, and cognitive processing words, like 'think' or 'because,' reveal that someone is processing a thought," said Megan Robbins, a psychology professor at UCR and author of the study, which was published recently in the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.

"It's possible that spouses' positive emotion and cognitive processing words indicated that they were helping patients see a new, more positive perspective on cancer."Robbins said it's likely that spouses who can help reframe a topic as "heavy" as cancer in a more positive light may be able to do the same for everyday stressors.

For those whose partners have cancer, and for those whose partners do not, however, Robbins issues a caution: "To push your partner into positivity when they're not ready is not advisable."

Why are partners better at finding silver linings? Robbins said it may be because the partner who doesn't have cancer has more resources, like energy. It could even be due to a gender effect, i.e., men are more likely to positively reframe cancer than women though more research is needed to affirm that.

"Interventions should focus on patients and spouses, as coping can be a social activity," Robbins said. "These interventions should stress the importance of active and appropriate coping strategies to both the patient and their potentially less distressed partner."

More information: Megan L. Robbins et al, Interpersonal positive reframing in the daily lives of couples coping with breast cancer, Journal of Psychosocial Oncology (2019). Megan L. Robbins et al, Interpersonal positive reframing in the daily lives of couples coping with breast cancer,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/07347332.2018.1555198
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Scientists with the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health report motor skills problems in children exposed during pregnancy to plasticizer chemicals known as phthalates that are widely used in personal care products like moisturizers and lipstick, as well as plastic containers and children's toys.

Results of the study of 209 New York City children are published in the journal Environmental Research.

The researchers measured levels of phthalates and their metabolites in urine collected from women during late pregnancy and from their children at ages 3, 5, and 7 years. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency short form (BOT-2), a screening test for motor problems, was administered at age 11 to assess motor skills.

The findings suggest that maternal exposure to phthalates in late pregnancy could have long-lasting adverse effects on motor function in children in later childhood, particularly in girls. There was also evidence that childhood exposure to phthalates may have more harmful effects on motor function in boys.

"Almost one-third of the children in our study had below or well-below average motor skills," says senior author Pam Factor-Litvak, Ph.D., professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School. "Children with even subtle motor problems often have difficulty participating in daily activities of childhood, particularly sports. Children with motor problems may also experience low self-worth and self-esteem, high rates of anxiety and depression, as well as behavioral disorders, such as ADHD."

Phthalate exposures likely occurred when expecting mothers and their children unknowingly ingested small amounts of products like lipstick or plastic food containers or packaging. They may also have absorbed these chemicals through their skin.

"This study adds to the substantial body of evidence on the health risks of phthalates for children, which also includes elevated risk for asthma and cognitive issues," says Julie Herbstman, Ph.D., associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of CCCEH. "To the extent possible, expecting mothers should minimize their exposures to products like lipstick and moisturizers that contain these chemicals by paying attention to product labels. In addition, policymakers and manufacturers should consider steps to limit or eliminate the use of these chemicals. No chemicals should be this widely available until they are proven to be safe."

Explore further Household chemicals may impair thyroid in young girls

More information: Arin A. Balalian et al, Prenatal and childhood exposure to phthalates and motor skills at age 11 years, Environmental Research (2019). Journal information: Environmental Research Arin A. Balalian et al, Prenatal and childhood exposure to phthalates and motor skills at age 11 years,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.01.046
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Bats don't only carry the deadly Ebola virus, but are also a reservoir for a new type of influenza virus. These newly discovered flu viruses could potentially also attack the cells of humans and livestock, researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown.

Seasonal outbreaks of the flu are caused by influenza viruses that can only infect people. Influenza types that circulate in birds or pigs are normally not a threat to humans. However, in rare cases an avian or pig virus can pass on to humansa process called zoonotic transmissionwhich at worst can lead to a global influenza pandemic with numerous serious illnesses and deaths.

About six years ago, a new kind of influenza virus was discovered in bats in South America. The flying mammals have been the focus of virologists for a long time because they carry many kinds of viruses, including lethal ones such as the Ebola virus. However, it has previously been unclear whether bat influenza viruses also present a threat to humans. An international research team led by the University of Zurich (UZH) has now discovered that these new influenza viruses have the potential to also infect humans and livestock.

Previously known influenza viruses bind to host cells via sialic acids. These groups of chemicals can be found on the surface of almost all human cells and in various animals. This is one of the reasons why influenza viruses can infect species that are very different from one another, such as ducks, chickens, pigs and humans. Unlike these viruses, the bat influenza viruses don't bind to sialic acids, which is why several research teams all over the world started searching for the receptor through which they enter human cells.

Bat viruses use MHC-II molecule to enter cell

Silke Stertz and her team at the Institute of Medical Virology at UZH have now been able to identify this "entry gate."

"The influenza viruses use MHC-II molecules to enter the host cell," says study lead Stertz. These protein complexes are normally located on the surface of certain immune cells, and their role is to distinguish between the body's own cells and structures and those that are foreign. A few other virus types also enter cells in this way.

"What surprised us is that bat influenza viruses can not only use the MHC-II complexes of human cells, but also those of chickens, pigs, mice and several bat species," explains UZH Ph.D. candidate Umut Karakus, first author of the study. The influenza viruses of bats thus have the potential to infect both humans as well as livestock, at least at the level of entering cells. "Such an infection has not yet been observed. However, our findings show that the viruses generally have this zoonotic potential," adds Silke Stertz. This is reason enough for the UZH virologist to continue researching the potentially dangerous viruses, not least since due to migration and travel the problem is not restricted to South America.

Explore further Why Asian horses don't get sick with the flu

More information: Umut Karakus et al, MHC class II proteins mediate cross-species entry of bat influenza viruses, Nature (2019). Journal information: Nature Umut Karakus et al, MHC class II proteins mediate cross-species entry of bat influenza viruses,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0955-3
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in collaboration with several other institutions, have discovered a genetic defect linked to Biliary atresia (BA), the most common pediatric cause of end-stage liver disease, and the leading indication for liver transplantation in children.

Their findings were published January in the journal Hepatology.

"We don't know the cause of Biliary atresia, which interferes with our ability to treat affected children," said study co-author Ronald Sokol, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Children's Hospital Colorado and Director of the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) at CU Anschutz.

By identifying a genetic mutation linked to the disease, Sokol, along with researchers from Emory University, University of Utah, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Washington University at St. Louis, and others, may finally determine the cause of this devastating condition. The group used next-generation gene sequencing to discover that a genetic defect of the gene PKD1L1 was linked to BA in a subset of patients.

Some children with BA also have splenic abnormalities and cardiac malformations called biliary atresia splenic malformation syndrome or BASM. Researchers hypothesized that the genetic factors causing an asymmetric position of organs in the body could also cause the development of BA in BASM patients, and that the genes involved could be discovered using whole exome sequencing.

So they sequenced DNA specimens from 67 subjects with BASM, including 58 patient-parent trios. Researchers looked at 2,016 genesa subset of the full genomethat were associated with proteins that were candidates to cause a disease like BA. The study found five patients who had two copies of mutations in the gene PKD1L1 and three additional patients who had one mutation in the gene.

"The importance of this is that researchers have never identified a gene, when mutated, that causes BA," Sokol said. "This is the first time it has been found."

The CCTSI's Pediatric Clinical and Translational Research Center played a key role in the study. The patients who were participants came from a liver disease research network, which Dr. Sokol chairs, the Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN). This network has been funded by the NIH for 15 years and includes 14 centers across the nation, Canada and the UK.

The gene that was identified may be the first of other genes to be found to be linked with BASM or BA. Understanding what causes BA is a breakthrough that could lead to new therapeutic approaches that would ultimately avoid liver transplantation.

In the first analysis of the data, researchers looked at more than 2,000 genes. Now that they have the data from the whole exome sequencing, researchers can go back and analyze the other 18,000 genes for other genetic causes of BA.

"What we learn about what causes the disease could translate into new therapeutic targets and strategies," Sokol said.

Explore further Gene sequencing may help tailor treatments for young kidney transplant recipients
Brain tissue reveals scar formation (at left) and inflammation (on right) in mice after stroke. Bottom images show less scarring and inflammation (in red) in animals treated with the drug maraviroc, which blocks the CCR5 gene. Credit: UCLA/Carmichael lab

More than 6 million Americans live with disabilities following a stroke. Even mild strokes can leave survivors with arm and leg weakness, poor muscle control and memory lapses that worsen with age.

Now UCLA neuroscientists have found that patients born without a gene called CCR5 recover better from mild stroke than patients with the gene. The team partnered with Israeli researchers to study the missing gene's effect on brain function.

Published Feb. 21 in the journal Cell, the findings could lead to the first pill to reverse the physical and mental aftermath of mild stroke.

"This is the first time that a human gene has been linked to a better recovery from stroke," said senior author Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, chair of the neurology department at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Our discovery offers exciting potential for improving patients' health and enhancing their quality of life."

CCR5 plays multiple roles in the body. In HIV, the gene unlocks the cellular doorway that the virus must enter to infect the immune system. It's also the same gene that Chinese scientists reportedly altered with a genetic engineering technique known as CRISPR to edit human embryos.

The current study builds upon earlier UCLA research in mice showing that suppressing CCR5 enhances neurons' ability to form new connections and rewire the brain after injury. Led by UCLA neurobiologist Alcino Silva, the 2016 study also demonstrated that maraviroc, an FDA-approved drug that targets CCR5 to slow HIV progression in patients, improved learning and memory in mice.

Because maraviroc blocks CCR5, Carmichael and his team hypothesized that the drug may also accelerate recovery from stroke. His lab partnered with pharmacologist Esther Shohami at Hebrew University to test the drug's effectiveness in suppressing CCR5 in a mouse model.

"We found that maraviroc blocked CCR5 in mice and boosted the animals' recovery from traumatic brain injury and stroke," said Carmichael, a member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute. "The big question left to answer was whether eliminating CCR5 would produce the same results in people."

Knowing that CCR5 deletion is common in Ashkenazi Jews, Carmichael and his team reached out to researchers at Tel Aviv University. In a lucky coincidence, the Israeli scientists were already following 446 stroke patients in an observational study.

Led by neuroscientist Einor Ben Assayag, the study focused only on patients who had suffered mild or moderate strokes. Her team documented the patients' improvements in walking, arm and leg control, and other types of movement.

"Einor's lab had the patients' blood samples and was evaluating their recovery from stroke after intervals of six months, one year and two years," said Carmichael, who is also co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. "People missing the CCR5 gene showed significantly greater recovery in motor skills, language and sensory function."

One year after stroke, patients missing CCR5 also scored higher in tests assessing memory, verbal function and attention.

Neurons produce CCR5 only during or after stroke. The CCR5 deletion appears to promote recovery by enhancing plasticitythe ability of the brain to rewire itself after injury.

"When you suffer a stroke, part of your brain dies, severing those cells' connections with neurons in other regions. That's why stroke patients often suffer paralysis or lose speech," Carmichael said. "When CCR5 is missing or blocked, neurons can make new connections and rewire the brain, enabling patients to regain some lost function."

The scientists' next step will be to launch a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of the drug maraviroc on stroke patients with the CCR5 gene.

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AndreyPopov/iStock(ATLANTA) -- A Georgia couple who says their home was robbed is looking for the thieves  people who rented the space through Airbnb.



The couple rented out one of its properties on Airbnb to four guests for a three-night stay over the weekend, Luke, one of the homeowners, told ABC News on Wednesday. He said they were surprised to find video from their Nest home camera showing the moving their TVs and most of the home's contents into a car parked outside. He said he loaded the videos onto his Facebook page to find the renters and that the videos have since gone viral.



Luke, who works in corporate sales, asked that his last name not be used because he was afraid the burglars would "find him."



The Airbnb tenant was new on the platform and had no reviews on his profile, Luke said. He was also a local, which made Luke wonder if maybe he wanted to have a party, but not at his own house. The couple accepted the booking because they were "trying not to pre-judge someone, give them a fair opportunity," Luke said. The stay cost $835 for three nights.



Luke and his husband, Rob, had installed a Nest camera at the house's entryway. The first night, they noticed 10 to 15 people leaving the house, which "flagged that they might be having a party," Luke said.



The next day, at 5:30 a.m., Luke said he saw a woman and a toddler leave the house in the car that had been parked in the driveway all night. An hour later, another car arrived. The driver parked the car and sat in the driveway.



Then, Luke said, the Airbnb houseguest put a 60-inch TV into the car with the help of two people who had been sitting in the car.



The group then proceeded to take most of the couple's possessions, including sheet sets, large bottles of body wash and other toiletries and cleaning supplies they kept in a locked master closet to turn the house over quickly between guests.



Airbnb did not return a request for comment. The DeKalb County Police Department did not return several calls for comment either.



"Airbnb has been responsive," Luke said, asking for an itemized list and serial numbers of the stolen items. He said he's not that worried because no one got hurt and because they are insured up to $1 million with Airbnb.



Luke and his husband have several properties and are Superhosts on Airbnb. They have hosted about 500 Airbnb bookings in the last several years and this has been their only bad experience, Luke said.



In addition to the house being trashed, Luke said the guests left behind a mess: about 30 joints left partially smoked, liquor bottles, food containers and shattered French doors, which are visible in the video he uploaded to Facebook.



But the couple remains committed to staying Airbnb Superhosts.



"We continue to book the house," Luke said, adding that he's going to be more cautious with local renters and take off the feature that allows people to book without the host's specific approval. The house was being cleaned and serviced right away.



Their next guest arrives on Friday.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Assessing the accuracy and value of an increasingly popular and free online patient management app, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and other institutions say that physicians with more training and experience perform better in selecting appropriate diagnoses for sample patient scenarios.

In a report on the study, published in the Jan. 11 issue of JAMA Network Open, the investigators conclude that the app, called The Human Diagnosis Project, or Human Dx, can reliably be used to determine physicians' skills in forming accurate, efficient diagnoses.

"Doctors are constantly trying to stay up to date on current best practices to better provide patients with high-value care," says study co-author Reza Manesh, M.D., assistant program director for clinical reasoning for the Osler Medical Training Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an assistant professor of medicine. "We do this by reading new research, staying apprised of clinical practice guidelines and attending educational conferences; however, there is no way for doctors to self-assess how well they incorporate that new knowledge into how they make decisions for patients. There is an urgent need to objectively evaluate a physician's clinical reasoning and ensure they are making the right decisions for their patients."

While there is no ideal or single metric to assess diagnostic performance, Manesh adds, "This online tool is a step in the right direction."

Medical "board" exams, for example, feature multiple choice questions to test diagnostic skills, "but if you think about it, patients don't come in to the hospital or the clinic with a list of multiple choice questions," Manesh notes.

Human Dx, free online, combines physician crowdsourcing of expert knowledge with machine learning, merging the collective wisdom of the worldwide medical community for benchmarking and mimicking real-world practice decisions in which clinicians must rule in or rule out dozens of possibilities and symptoms to make the right diagnosis. The tool is designed to facilitate these so-called "differential diagnoses" without the limitations posed by multiple choice.

Manesh and his co-investigators set out to test the ability of Human Dx to assess users' diagnostic skills based on their reported level of experience.

To do that, the investigators analyzed a total of 11,023 Global Morning Report cases solved by U.S. physicians and medical students using Human Dx between Jan. 21, 2016, and Jan. 15, 2017. Cases were solved by 1,738 users (239 attending physicians, 926 resident physicians, 347 intern physicians and 226 medical students) across 170 individual scenarios. The average number of cases solved by each participant was 74. Investigators used three key metrics to assess diagnostic performance: (1) efficiency, a percentile score calculated based on the proportion of findings revealed before the user included the correct diagnosis; (2) accuracy, analyzed by how high on the differential diagnostic scale the correct diagnosis was listed, and by how often the correct diagnosis was listed first; and (3) diagnostic acumen precision performance (DAPP), calculated from a weighted average of the percentiles of both accuracy and efficiency for each attempt to get the right diagnosis.

To use the diagnostic portion of Human Dx, physicians or students log on to the app to view sample cases that offer basic information about a simulated patient case, as well as X-ray or lab test results. Human Dx provides immediate feedback to users who suggest a differential diagnosis listing potential causes.

Cases cover a range of inpatient and outpatient scenarios from general adult medicine to subspecialty disciplines. All cases and diagnoses offered are first peer-reviewed for accuracy by a member of an independent editorial board comprising attending physicians at academic medical institutions. Johns Hopkins physicians contribute to this peer-review process.

Human Dx has been used by over 16,000 subscribers.

Based on the ranking of the correct diagnosis compared with all users who solved the cases, the highest average score for attending physicians (assumed to be the most highly trained and experienced group overall) was 76.9 (the highest possible score any one user could get was 100). For residents, the highest average score was 76.8, and for interns it was 74.7. Studentsthe least experienced groupshowed a highest average score of 68.8.

Overall, investigators found that attending physicians had higher accuracy scores than medical students (difference of 8.1 percent), residents (difference of 8 percent) and interns (difference of 5.9 percent). Attending physicians also had higher efficiency compared with residents (difference of 4.8 percent), interns (difference of 5 percent) and students (difference of 5.4 percent); and significantly higher DAPP scores than residents (difference of 2.6 percent), interns (difference of 3.6 percent) and students (difference of 6.7 percent).

Forty percent of participants (496 people) were affiliated with one of the U.S. News and World Report top 25 medical schools. DAPP scores were highest for attending physicians affiliated with one of these top 25 schools compared with attending physicians for other institutions, a difference of 80 versus 72. In addition, residents affiliated with one of these schools had higher DAPP scores compared with their nonaffiliated peers (75 versus 71), as did interns (75 versus 69).

Thirty-two percent of participants (417 people) were affiliated with one of the top 25 institutional recipients of National Institutes of Health research grants. Again, DAPP scores were higher among attending physicians, residents and interns affiliated with these institutions compared with their nonaffiliated peers (81 versus 72 for attending physicians, 75 versus 71 for residents, and 76 versus 69 for interns).

The Institute of Medicine, in its 2015 report "Improving Diagnosis in Health Care," estimated that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, and that "getting the diagnosis right" is a crucial component of effective health care, Manesh says. It has been estimated that $100 billion or more may be wasted annually in the U.S. as a result of inaccurate diagnosis, Manesh adds. "Diagnostic errors affect an estimated 12 million Americans each year, and likely cause more harm to patients than all other medical errors combined."

The authors caution there were several limitations of the study, including that poor-quality attempts to solve the cases were dropped from the data set, so effort by users likely varied. In addition, unlike actual patient encounters, in which clinical information must be gathered and synthesized over time, the case simulations provide clinical data up front. There also may have been performance bias in favor of more technologically advanced individuals.

Manesh and colleagues also are studying the ability of Human Dx to identify master diagnosticians compared with those with good or average abilities. This could help institutions identify their best diagnosticians.

Human Dx was launched in 2015 as a partnership among public and private organizations involved in medical education and practice, including the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Medical Association, boards of medical specialties and academic medical centers such as Johns Hopkins, Harvard, the University of California, San Francisco, and MIT. Financial support has come from the MacArthur Foundation, Moore Foundation and others. The Human Diagnosis Project says it has thousands of users in 80 countries and 500 medical institutions involved in building the project, and that ultimately they plan to give any physician, organization or patient direct access to its toolbox.

Explore further Direct supervision by attendings doesn't reduce medical errors

More information: Souvik Chatterjee et al, Assessment of a Simulated Case-Based Measurement of Physician Diagnostic Performance, JAMA Network Open (2019). Journal information: JAMA Network Open Souvik Chatterjee et al, Assessment of a Simulated Case-Based Measurement of Physician Diagnostic Performance,(2019). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.7006
This scanning electron microscope image shows the characteristic spiral, or corkscrew, shape of C. jejuni cells and related structures. Credit: De Wood; digital colorization by Chris Pooley/ Public Domain

A University of Otago study reveals the incidence of non-viral gastroenteritis in New Zealand children has declined over the past 20 years with researchers concluding improved food health standards the key contributor.

The study of children aged under 15 is the first in New Zealand to analyse longitudinal data on childhood gastroenteritis caused by non-viral pathogens. Looking at data from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2015 medical student, now trainee intern, Emma Jeffs and Associate Professor Tony Walls from the University of Otago, Christchurch, found there were 74,454 notifications (57.6 per cent male) and 3192 hospitalisations (56.4 per cent). The overall trend was a reduction in both notifications and hospitalisations.

Ms Jeffs says the decline in both notifications and hospitalisations for most non-viral pathogens included in the study (Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Yersinia, E.Coli, Giardia and Cryptosporidum) is reassuring.

Campylobacter was the disease most frequently notified and accounted for 51.7 per cent of all notifications and 43.4 per cent of all hospitalisations. Campylobacter infection is a common water and food-borne illness caused by bacterium that can be found in raw chicken meat, offal, raw milk, raw milk products, and other foods. Notification rates peaked at 326 per 100,000 in 2006 and almost halved to about 171 per 100,000 in 2008, gradually decreasing to a low of 141 per 100,000 in 2015.

The study shows that between 2004 and 2008, and most notably between 2006 and 2008, there was a reduction in Campylobacter notifications that was consistent across all age groups. Ms Jeffs says this reduction coincided with the introduction of a range of voluntary and regulatory interventions by the NZ Food Safety Authority (now the Ministry for Primary Industries) to reduce Campylobacter contamination in poultry. Interventions included the development and implementation of microbiological surveillance activities and increased reporting.

"The observed reduction in Campylobacter incidence in children seen in this study provides evidence of the positive effects of a food safety measure on child health," Ms Jeffs says.

However, while the results are encouraging, she says there is some suggestion from the analysis that Campylobacter notification rates may have plateaued since 2008. This may, in part, be attributable to recent outbreaks, which have been water, rather than food-borne, or other changes such as the increasing popularity of the consumption of raw milk. The researchers suggest this observation warrants purposeful surveillance.

Associate Professor Walls, a paediatrician at Christchurch Hospital and infectious diseases specialist, says nontyphoidal Salmonellae are also common bacterial pathogens associated with acute gastroenteritis in children and the leading cause of childhood bacterial enterocolitis requiring hospitalisation. Although the food safety interventions were targeted predominantly at Campylobacter, they may also have helped reduce the incidence of disease due to Salmonellae, which is also commonly transmitted via poultry.

"The observed reduction in the incidence of nontyphoidal Salmonella between 1997 and 2016 (as for Campylobacter) supports this hypothesis," Associate Professor Walls explains.

An unexpected finding from the study was that Maori children had lower notification rates for disease when compared to non-Maori. The researchers say disparities in Maori access to health care are well documented and may be contributing to the lower rates of notification in Maori children because for notification to occur, children must present to a healthcare provider and be tested. Therefore, the results observed could be due to lower rates of both presentation and subsequent testing.

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More information: Emma Jeffs et al. The epidemiology of non-viral gastroenteritis in New Zealand children from 1997 to 2015: an observational study, BMC Public Health (2019). Journal information: BMC Public Health Emma Jeffs et al. The epidemiology of non-viral gastroenteritis in New Zealand children from 1997 to 2015: an observational study,(2019). DOI: 10.1186/s12889-018-6229-4
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Counties in the United States with greater gaps between rich and poor have a higher rate of homicide deaths involving firearms, according to a national study by researchers at the University of Washington School of Public Health. These same counties experienced higher levels of crime and poverty, and lower levels of community social networks.

The study, published today in Injury Prevention, sought to quantify the association between county-level income inequality and the number of firearm homicide victims per 100,000 residents in the county.

Researchers found this association to be positively correlated when looking at all races together and at individual race and ethnic groups. It was especially persistent among African-American populations. In this group, the firearm homicide rate was almost 10 percent higher for every 0.04 greater value of the Gini index, a common measure of income inequality.

"This study examines the distribution of county-level income inequality and the magnitude of its association with gun homicide rates. These findings aim to help shift the underlying societal forces that produce, fuel, or sustain violence at the population level," said lead author and Associate Professor of Epidemiology Ali Rowhani-Rahbar.

Rowhani-Rahbar and his colleagues from the UW Department of Epidemiology, including assistant professor Anjum Hajat, adjunct professor Frederick Rivara, alumnus Duane Alexander Quistberg, and current doctoral student Erin Morgan used U.S. Census data from 1990 and 2000 to look at the distribution of income in 3,106 counties to create a Gini index.

The team hypothesized that the stresses on a community from income inequality are felt over time, so they chose to analyze the association with firearm homicide rates between 5 and 15 years after their measures of income inequality. Using the All-county Mortality Microdata maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers looked at the firearm homicide deaths rates between 2005 and 2015, specifically at individuals between the ages of 14 and 39, an age group with the highest firearm homicide rate in the United States.

Income inequality has increased in the United States since the late 1970s. Previous research has found that greater income inequality is associated with higher levels of stress and crime, declining trust in others, and a decrease in social capital or networks of people, such as church groups and neighborhood associations.

"This study adds to the existing body of literature on the negative consequences of income inequality," Rowhani-Rahbar said. "We need to promote policies that help close the gap between the rich and the poor, which may also have the potential to reduce firearm violence."

Explore further Suicide and homicide rates show large racial disparities across US states

More information: Ali Rowhani-Rahbar et al, Income inequality and firearm homicide in the US: a county-level cohort study, Injury Prevention (2019). Journal information: Injury Prevention Ali Rowhani-Rahbar et al, Income inequality and firearm homicide in the US: a county-level cohort study,(2019). DOI: 10.1136/injuryprev-2018-043080
(HealthDay)A blood test that can quickly diagnose dangerous sepsis infections has been developed, according to research published in the Feb. 1 issue of Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

The experimental microelectrode device created by scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland analyzes a patient's blood and provides results in as quickly as 2.5 minutes. The small device tests for interleukin-6, a biomarker of sepsis. Current testing methods for sepsis can take up to 72 hours, CNN reported.

"The implications for this are massive, and the ability to give the right antibiotic at the right time to the right patient is extraordinary," said study author Dr. David Alcorn, of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, CNN reported.

Explore further Sepsis common in terminal hospitalizations, discharges

Copyright  2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Both CT angiography and transcranial Doppler have limited accuracy in detecting cerebral vasospasm and predicting delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to ruptured aneurysm, reports a study in the inaugural edition of Critical Care Explorations, the official open-access journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM).

"Cerebral vasospasm is frequently present on CT angiography and transcranial Doppler, lacking accurate prediction of DCI or unfavorable outcome after six months," according to the report by J. Joep van der Harst, MD, and colleagues of University of Groningen, The Netherlands. The paper is among the first to be published in the new open-access journal Critical Care Explorations (CCE), which will premiere at SCCM's 48th Critical Care Congress, opening today at the San Diego Convention Center. Designed to complement SCCM's flagship journals Critical Care Medicine (CCM) and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM), CCE provides additional articles and information that encompass the broad scope of critical care.

Study Compares Two Screening Tests for Cerebral Vasospasm after SAH

The prospective study included 59 patients with aneurysmal SAH treated at the authors' neurocritical care unit and neurosurgical ward between 2013 and 2016. At five and ten days, the patients underwent both CT angiography and transcranial Doppler.

The study is the first to directly compare the diagnostic performance of the two tests, which are commonly used for early detection of cerebrovascular spasm (CVS) to detect the "dreaded secondary complication" of DCI. "The optimal screening modality for detecting symptomatic CVS is a matter of debate," the researchers write. (They also note that the causative role of CVS is unproven.)

On both days, CT angiography showed CVS in at least one vessel in nearly all patients. In contrast, transcranial Doppler showed CVS in less than half of patients. Agreement between the two tests was just 0.47.

Sixteen patients had DCI, while 12 patients had unfavorable outcomes at six months. CT angiography was highly sensitive in predicting DCI for prediction of DCI, but it had "extremely low" specificity compared to transcranial Doppler. On day five, accuracy in predicting unfavorable outcomes was 61 percent with transcranial Doppler versus 27 percent with CT angiography.

The results suggest that CVS after aneurysmal SAH is a common finding, and that neither test is an accurate predictor of DCI or unfavorable outcome. "Our study does not support a prominent role of screening with TCD or CTA," Dr. van der Harst and coauthors conclude. "Detection of CVS that does not become clinically manifest likely leads to overtreatment and prolonged hospital stay."

Critical Care Explorations Debuts at the 48th Critical Care Congress 2019

"This prospective study on pressing clinical question is an excellent example of the discovery-centric, evidence-based focus of our new open-access journal," comments CCE Editor-in-Chief, Timothy G. Buchman, Ph.D., MD,

MCCM, from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "The open-access journal offers especially timely review, quick publication, and global dissemination of new ideas and syntheses that practitioners can bring to the bedside."

Critical Care Explorations is designed to facilitate rapid communication of innovations and new information with the potential to influence critical care research and practice. It features a prestigious international Editorial Board with the same rigorous peer-review process as CCM and PCCM.

"As a fully open-access journal, CCE's content is available all the time and is truly global, offering greater opportunities for exploring international perspectives on issues related to critical care," Dr. Buchman adds. Also available to read now are an introductory editorial, describing the vision behind CCE and providing practical information on the submission and publication process; as well asas well as a tribute to the late Vladimir ('Vlad') Kvetan, MD, FCCM, renowned for his leadership of Disaster Medicine and for the innovative concept of the 'ICU Without Walls.'

Explore further Over half of former ICU patients in the UK report symptoms of psychological disorders

More information: "Transcranial Doppler Versus CT-Angiography for Detection of Cerebral Vasospasm in Relation to Delayed Cerebral Ischemia After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage", journals.lww.com/ccejournal/Fu  giography_for.3.aspx "Transcranial Doppler Versus CT-Angiography for Detection of Cerebral Vasospasm in Relation to Delayed Cerebral Ischemia After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage", DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000001
A pair of requirements deep in the Affordable Care Act had a sizable effect on the ability of people with diabetes to get health insurance, a new study suggests.

Before the requirements took effect in 2014, the percentage of people with private health insurance who had diabetes had declined, the study shows.

But it began to increase again in the first two years after the ACA required insurers to accept people with pre-existing conditions, and limited their ability to charge higher rates to older people, the study finds. Those requirements lie at the heart of a current national court case.

A team from the University of Michigan reports its findings in the American Journal of Public Health.

The rise from 2014 to 2016 in the percentage of people with private health insurance coverage who had diabetes was sharpest in people in their 50s. For those with Type 1 diabetes, the increase was 20 percent; for people with Type 2 diabetes, it was 15 percent. People in their 40s also saw a rise, of 10 percent for those with Type 1 diabetes and 3 percent for those with Type 2 diabetes.

U-M researchers Mary A. M. Rogers, Ph.D. and colleagues performed the study using insurance data from 2005 to 2016 from a major private insurance company.

"From the point of view of health insurance companies, people with diabetes tend to be expensive to cover, especially as they become older and develop more complications," says Rogers, a research associate professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School. "These findings suggest that the Affordable Care Act helped people with diabetes obtain health insurance, especially those working-age adults in their 40s and 50s."

Before 2014, diabetes was considered a pre-existing condition and health insurers could deny insurance coverage to people with either form of the disease. The new research shows the decline in coverage of people with diabetes was especially sharp during the first years of the Great Recession, when many people lost jobs that may have included health insurance coverage.

Rogers points to data from a 2014 Health Care Cost Institute report, which showed that people with diabetes have annual medical expenses about $10,000 higher than others.

The senior author of the new paper, assistant professor of internal medicine Renuka Tipirneni, M.D., M.Sc., notes that before the pre-existing condition clause took effect in 2014, insurance companies could set higher monthly rates if they agreed to cover them. They could also charge far more to people in their 40s and 50s; the ACA limited those rates to no more than three times what the plans charge a younger person.

"For people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, having insurance coverage can mean the difference between being able to afford crucial medications such as insulin, or getting sick and requiring emergency care," says Tipirneni. "As a physician, I know how important it is for patients with diabetes and other chronic health conditions to be able to take their medications and get regular check-upsservices made possible by affordable health insurance coverage."

The new study shows that people with complications of diabetes were more likely to obtain health insurance after the pre-existing condition clause took effect. One-third of people with diabetic complication, such as damage to their nerves, eyes or kidneys, obtained coverage after 2014, compared with about a quarter of those who were enrolled before 2014.

The ACA requirements regarding pre-existing conditions and limits on rate differences for people of different ages are among the issues being contested in a national court case. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief stating that it would no longer enforce the ACA clauses known as guaranteed issue and community rating. The guaranteed issue clause mandates that insurers offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, while the community rating requires insurance premiums to be affordable with adjustments only for age, tobacco use and geographic area.

The lawsuit over this matter, and over the constitutionality of the entire Affordable Care Act, is currently working its way through the courts, and is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The study is based on nationwide data from 75 million people covered through a large insurer (the Clinformatics Data Mart Database) purchased by the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, of which the authors are members.

Explore further Many adults with diabetes have no insurance coverage
(The asking price) is for the turnkey operation, Diane said.

She said Soldier needs a few other additions to help it fully achieve its potential.

Soldiers a very cool mountain in that its got stuff for beginners and families, Diane said. What we need to move forward is some snowmaking and some summer operations, both of which are doable.

The McFerrans have offered to stay on-site under a new owner, with Diane continuing her role as lodge manager and Matt continuing his as mountain manager.

We feel like weve connected well with the community, and if someone doesnt run the day-to-day, wed be happy to stay on, Diane said. I know that when we bought it four seasons ago, that was something that was common in other potential buyers. Most people wanted to buy it but not run it.

Diane said several Idahoans have expressed interest in backing or buying the resort, and interested buyers were on the mountain last week from out of state.
In all, 11 Treasure Valley residents have died by murder-suicide in the past year, alone. Meridian itself has seen three murder-suicide cases since July.

This is a problem.

We hear the arguments against such laws, primarily concerns over due process. As the argument goes, anyone could make an accusation against someone, and the police would come and take their guns away, whether the accusation were true or not.

But a strong vetting process by a judge before issuing an order to seize someones guns would provide that measure of due process. Further, such orders would be temporary, meaning the suspect would get his or her guns back at some point. It would simply provide enough time to defuse an escalating domestic violence situation.

It likely would have helped in the most recent murder-suicide, in which Heidi De Leon, 40, and her husband, Jose Pablo Diaz De Leon, 47, were killed by Heidi De Leons ex-husband, Edward Lynn Epps Jr., who then killed himself in a house in Meridian in January.

Heidi DeLeon had reported that at one point, Epps got a gun and put it to my chest and said if I dont do what he asks then hell kill me.
Brandon Toby Morrison (aka Toby Brown) died unexpectedly Mon, Feb 18th 2019. He is the son of Robert and Cathy Brown of Twin Falls, and of Larry and Rena Morrison of Chandler, AZ. His mom married Bob when he was 2 years old. All of his close friends and family knew him as Toby. Brandon was the name that he used after high school. As a baby Toby was very alert and didnt miss a thing. He began reading when he was just 3 years old and he loved learning. He attended Harrison Elementary, Robert Stewart Junior High School, and Twin Falls High School. He was active in cub scouts earning his arrow of light, and his Eagle Scout when he became a Boy Scout. He was able to go to the National Scout Jamboree with Bob in 1985 in Norfolk, VA touring many national monuments with the Smithsonian and the Aerospace Museum being his favorite. He was always so obsessed with airplanes, and could point one out of the sky, and tell you everything about it. After graduating from High School Toby attended Ricks College for a year. He then served a mission in the Tegucigalpa Honduras mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved the Spanish people and language, which he used throughout his life. Upon returning to Idaho after his mission he continued his education at CSI in Twin Falls where he met his wife Wendy Gilbert. They were married on June 18, 1993 in the Logan Utah LDS temple. In 1994 they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to pursue higher education. Later that year their oldest son Joshua Matthew was born. In 1995, Toby graduated with a bachelors degree in mortuary science, and returned to Idaho, where he began working as a funeral director. During this time they had two more children, Sariah Kimberlee (Born 1997), and Adam Henry (Born 2000). He also earned his MBA degree at NNU in Nampa, ID graduating in 2000. In 2005 they moved their young family to Albuquerque, New Mexico, while living there their family grew with the addition of Katie Ella (2008), and Maggie May (2010). They moved back to Idaho Falls, Idaho in December of 2015, then on to Middleton, Idaho. Toby worked as a funeral director through most of his adult life, working in funeral homes in the Boise Metro area and in Albuquerque, NM. Toby truly loved his work as a funeral director, often calling work his ministry. He genuinely thought that this was what he was born to do. Toby was an incredible family man and one of the most compassionate people that you will ever have met. He was always the first to come to serve, whether it was moving someone, digging a hole, cleaning the church, anything to help somebody else. He was loving and caring and we will always love and miss him. He was easy to recognize in a crowd because of his loud voice, and his Safety Orange shirt, that he would never leave the house without. Toby had a big personality, and always had a story or kind words for others. There will always be a big hole in our heart without him.
TWIN FALLS  Twin Falls resident Kathy Williams was worried as she watched her husband, Dave, struggle with symptoms last year similar to Parkinsons disease  including shaking and balance problems  so she contacted their primary care physician.

His doctor adjusted his medications, but Daves condition continued to deteriorate. He was losing control of his balance. Rapidly, the problem became so severe he started falling.

In May 2018, Dave took an unexpected fall at home and broke his ribs. Kathy knew there had to be some explanation for what was happening to her husband. Finally, their physicians office advised seeing a neurologist.

But when Kathy called St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Centers neurology clinic in Twin Falls in May to request an appointment, the first available date for a new patient was Sept. 26  more than four months away. Dave was put on a cancellation list.

It seemed the only option was to wait. But a stroke of luck  and the kindness of a nurse practitioner  led to a different outcome, one that uncovered a serious medical issue requiring treatment much sooner than September.

A shortage of specialist providers like neurologists is an issue nationwide, but its particularly tough in rural areas like the Magic Valley. For some specialties, new patients wait months to get an appointment. That leaves them to either wait  essentially, delaying care  or travel outside their home community to try to get an earlier appointment.

Kathy hopes the physician shortage will be addressed soon so that patients can access care in a more timely manner. But as the population continues to increase in the Magic Valley, she expects the problem will only get worse and stress the health care system even more.

Magic Valley hospitals are looking at ways to alleviate the problem and keep patients close to home, including using telehealth offerings  connecting a patient with an out-of-town specialist via live video conferencing  and using a team-based approach to care, including staffing clinics with more specialized nurse practitioners. Hospitals are attempting to provide additional support to primary care providers and conducting additional screening of referrals to determine which patients are most in need of specialty care.

With the exception of St. Lukes Magic Valley  a 224-bed hospital in Twin Falls  south-central Idaho is home largely to critical access hospitals. Theyre small, rural hospitals with 25 or fewer in-patient beds and a limited number of specialist providers.

If somebody needs care, they need it when they need it, not when you can get it, Kathy said. Its a bad situation.

Access to care

For the last couple of years, Idaho has ranked 48th or 49th in the nation for the number of physicians per capita. As of 2016, Idaho had 192.6 active physicians for every 100,000 residents, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

A shortage of primary care physicians and specialists exists locally and across Idaho. And 27 percent of Idahos physician workforce is older than 60, adding stress to a health care system already stretched thin.

Relative to the population, there are not enough physicians in general, said Susie Pouliot, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association.

The Idaho Medical Association is the largest organization in the state, representing physicians of all specialties, practice settings and geographic areas, Pouliot said. One of the associations top priorities for many years has been increasing the physician workforce.

That, in turn, provides additional access to care for patients in various parts of the state, Pouliot said.

Important pieces of the accessibility  which are sometimes overlooked  include delivering care geographically where patients can access it, and whether patients have the means to pay for it, said Dr. Samuel Pullen, assistant medical director of behavioral health services for the St. Lukes Health System. We need to look at all of those elements there.

Access to care has been problematic for the Williams family, but fortunately, things turned around for them.

A stroke of luck

When Kathy went to her quarterly appointment at the neurology clinic in late May to get shots for her migraine headaches, she told the nurse practitioner about her husbands condition.

The nurse practitioner was concerned, Kathy said, and offered to see Dave during her lunch hour one day. After examining him, she stepped out of the room and brought in a neurologist, who said he didnt think Dave had Parkinsons disease, and that he needed an MRI.

That same day, on a Thursday, Dave received an MRI, and its results prompted an appointment the following Monday with a neurosurgeon in Boise.

Doctors discovered that Daves C2 vertebrae in his neck was badly damaged, already affecting his circulatory system, and posing a potential threat to his respiratory system.

In early June, Dave underwent extensive surgery  just several days after his initial appointment with the neurosurgeon.

Kathy said the issue was caused by long-term damage  likely, from years Dave spent working underneath cars at The Automotive Clinic. He had just retired about a year ago.

The surgeon told Dave its very rare to have that extensive of a surgery, one in which his entire neck was essentially fused. If Dave had fallen again, he could have ended up in a wheelchair for life, or worse  it could have killed him.

Kathy can only imagine what could have happened if her husband had waited until late September for his neurology appointment.

At St. Lukes Magic Valley, the typical wait time for a new patient neurology appointment is four to five months. The wait time has gotten longer over the years, despite adding more hours and providers. And getting follow-up appointments as an existing patient can be problematic, as well.

Its a tough road for neurologists, too. Dr. John Steffens, a neurologist at St. Lukes Magic Valley, is one of just two neurologists in Twin Falls. When hes in the clinic, hes there from as early as 7 a.m. until 7 or 8 p.m.

Steffens is often overbooked by four or five patients per day. He sees patients early in the morning and during lunchtime. And its a burden on his support staff, too, working overtime.

Obviously, Im not enjoying the extra hours, he said.

But he isnt the only one shouldering the stress of the situation. He knows patients are also frustrated. The patients themselves are quite concerned, as far as I can tell, he said.

A shortage of specialists in Twin Falls

It can be tough to get an appointment with a specialist even in Twin Falls, the regions health care hub. From a hospital hiring standpoint, the specialty jobs hardest to fill are for behavioral health, neurology and rheumatology physicians, said Debbie Kytle, a clinic administrator for the St. Lukes Health System.

Thats true nationwide, she said. We are not unique to that.

In rheumatology, for instance  a specialty focused on conditions such autoimmune issues like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus  St. Lukes Magic Valley only has one physician, although there quite a few more at St. Lukes locations in the Treasure Valley.

St. Lukes Magic Valley has had recruiting success recently with other specialist physicians, Kytle said, including hiring a psychiatrist, gastroenterologist, two new orthopedic physicians and one urologist.

Another challenging area is in pediatric subspecialties such as endocrinology, which deals with hormone problems. Our community is not quite big enough to support pediatric subspecialists, Kytle said, so the hospital partners with St. Lukes Childrens Hospital in Boise to bring visiting subspecialists to the Magic Valley to reduce travel stress facing families.

Theres also a specialized cardiology physician  in electrophysiology, which examines the hearts electrical activity to diagnose problems  from the Treasure Valley who travels to Twin Falls to see patients. With physician shortage, were really trying to think about what we can do differently, Kytle said.

For example, St. Lukes Magic Valley is looking at options if it cant recruit more neurologists  including teleneurology  for outpatient appointments or consults when a patient is in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital.

Yet another way St. Lukes is working to bridge the gap is by utilizing nurse practitioners who specialize in a particular area, such as neurology. Its a team-based approach to patient care, Kytle said, which allows more patients to be seen.

The challenge for critical access hospitals

Rural hospitals are connecting patients with specialty care by relying on visiting specialists and by signing agreements with larger hospitals to provide telehealth services.

St. Lukes looks across the entire eight-county region  and into northern Nevada  to determine health care needs, Kytle said, and partners with other hospitals by sending visiting St. Lukes specialists out to those communities.

At Cassia Regional Hospital in Burley, officials are acutely aware of access concerns and are constantly working on making it better for patients, Hospital Administrator Ben Smalley said.

Last year, it improved its days to provider  how long a new patient has to wait for an appointment with a specialist  by 10 percent.

Its a challenge to recruit some specialists  particularly, in neurology, rheumatology and cardiology, said Brad Reynolds, ancillary services and physician clinics director. The hospital employs specialists in orthopedics, general surgery and OB/GYN.

However, Cassia Regional Hospital is part of Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare, which utilizes live video technology to connect local patients with specialists in Utah. It also helps local physicians communicate with specialists on treatment options for patients.

Intermountain Healthcare has a network of 23 hospitals and Cassia Regional is the only one in Idaho.

Hospital officials say it would be extremely costly for Cassia Regional to employ its own full-time neurologist  and there may not be the patient load to justify it  so telemedicine allows local physicians to consult with Utah-based neurologists, especially when a patient has stroke symptoms.

Telemedicine is also available in areas such as infectious disease, intensive care and neonatology  a subspecialty of pediatrics that provides medical care for newborn infants.

Cancer treatment at Cassia Regional Hospital

Cassia Regional patients who need a consult with an oncologist can receive that via telemedicine.

Declo resident Portia Schrenk uses telehealth through Cassia Regional while she undergoes treatment for gallbladder and liver cancer. Her oncologist is based in Salt Lake City.

Schrenk receives her treatment at the hospital in Burley and doesnt have to travel often. It has worked wonderfully, she said. And it has saved a lot of time and money.

Schrenk started cancer treatment in 2016 and had to undergo surgery. Since the cancer returned at the end of August 2018, she has been undergoing chemotherapy  which she receives at Cassia Regional  and started radiation in late January.

For appointments, nurses at Cassia Regional take her vital signs and the oncologist talks with her via video.

Its just like a doctors appointment, Schrenk said.

Telehealth at Minidoka Memorial Hospital

Minidoka Memorial Hospital  an independent hospital in Rupert  recently signed an agreement with Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center to offer telestroke and telebehavioral health care. Offerings will be up-and-running in February or March.

The telestroke service will allow emergency room patients or those admitted to the hospital who have stroke symptoms to be assessed remotely by a neurologist without waiting.

Those are life-changing consults that we can really help people get the care they need right away, hospital administrator Tom Murphy said.

There are patients who really need access to specialists, but are too immobile to travel, Murphy said. They often must wait until family members are available to take them, or worse  go without care. Its one of the cons of being in a rural area, he said.

Receiving care close to home, Murphy said, is the best for patients when its possible and telehealth offerings are a really big help getting access to specialized care to our community, at least on a limited or emergent basis.

Minidoka Memorial Hospital employs a few specialists in orthopedic surgery and general surgery. Patients also have access to a visiting ear, nose and throat specialist. Cardiologists visit from Twin Falls two days a week. That really helps, Murphy said.

One of these days, the hospital will probably need a full-time cardiologist, he said, but it could take at least a couple of years to find a provider. Other pressing areas of need also exist. We could probably use a urologist, he said.

It took Minidoka Memorial Hospital officials three years to find four full-time emergency room physicians, Murphy said. And its virtually impossible for the hospital, he said, to find providers in rheumatology and endocrinology. Theres a pretty big need in our area for both of those.

Specialty needs at North Canyon Medical Center

North Canyon Medical Center in Gooding  an 18-bed critical access hospital thats independent and locally-controlled by a board of directors  has two main telehealth offerings: behavioral health and dermatology, both through a partnership with the University of Utah.

For behavioral health, telehealth appointments are available every other Wednesday. When the offering started 18 months ago, there were only two appointment slots available per month, totaling two hours. Now, thats up to eight hours. Even then, were still short coverage, North Canyon chief operating officer JDee Adams said.

About a year ago, the hospital hired consulting firm Coker Group to compile a community/physician needs assessment, which was released in January 2018.

As part of the report, the hospitals physicians were surveyed on which specialties are most needed for the hospital. They are, in order of need: hospitalist, orthopedic surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics and psychiatry.

Since the study came out, North Canyon has hired an orthopedic surgeon and recently announced it hired a second to work out of its new Twin Falls clinic, which is slated to open this spring.

Neurology is an underserved specialty

Here in the Magic Valley and nationwide, one of the specialties being hit hardest by the physician shortage is neurology. Nationwide, there will likely be a 20 percent shortage in the number of neurologists by 2025, according to the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology is an underserved specialty nationwide, Steffens said.

Steffens, who was born in Idaho and did his undergraduate education at the University of Idaho, has practiced for about 10 years here in the Magic Valley. In addition to his clinic in Twin Falls, he spends part of his time at the University of Utah, where hes on the faculty part-time. Steffens has gradually added more time to his practice in Twin Falls, where he currently spends 75 percent of his time. About 70 percent of his patients have multiple sclerosis or Parkinsons disease.

In addition to patients from here in south-central Idaho, Steffens has patients from states like Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, Montana and Utah who travel for appointments. Once patients find a neurologist they have good rapport with, he said, theyll go to great lengths to stay with them, and can be devastated if theyre unable to receive care from them anymore.

Many neurologists are highfalutin, Steffens said, and dont want to be in an area perceived as rural and not a cultural center. On paper, being a neurologist in Idaho looks like an unattractive job, he said. Also, some new neurologists coming out of their residency dont want to work more than 40 hours a week, Steffens said.

Efforts have been underway for years for St. Lukes Magic Valley to recruit more neurologists, Steffens said, but he noted the quality of the applicants has been poor, and they wouldnt be a good fit for the community.

Despite a long wait time for neurology appointments in Twin Falls, the situation isnt necessarily much better elsewhere. For example, at the University of Utah, the wait time is often three to six months for routine consults, Steffens said. If a physician contacts a neurologist directly about a patients needs, that can sometimes expedite the process of getting a patient in sooner, like in a few weeks, Steffens said. But most of the time, he doesnt hear directly from a referring physician beyond receiving a referral.

Some people who need to be seen quicker are never brought to our attention, he said.

Another factor contributing to long wait times for appointments is that neurologists spend a big chunk of time with patients  significantly longer than in a primary care clinic. The average new patient appointment is 45 minutes of face-to-face time, Steffens said, and one to two hours at an academic medical center.

The St. Lukes neurology clinic has begun to screen every referral to determine which patients truly need to see a neurologist. As the triaging process improves, that will hopefully make it easier for patients to get in, Steffens said.

A lot of patients who are referred to neurology could be treated in other settings, Steffens said. That could mean getting tests done elsewhere or simply having a neurologist provide input to a primary care doctor on a patients condition. There needs to be better training for primary care physicians, Steffens said, but they dont have the luxury of spending large amounts of time with patients.

When providers dont receive training in neurology, its an area that seems scary, he said, adding its a phenomenon commonly referred to as neurophobia. Also, with medical legal pressure, he said, providers dont want to miss something when treating a patient, so they often refer them to a specialist.

We definitely have a shortage of behavioral health providers

Another one of the most in-demand specialties both here in the Magic Valley and across Idaho is that of behavioral health specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists. We definitely have a shortage of behavioral health providers, Pullen said. Theres a mismatch between the needs of the patient population compared with what kind of resources we have.

On average, one in five adults in Idaho will be diagnosed with a mental health or substance abuse condition that impacts their productivity and functioning, Pullen said. The Magic Valley could support many more psychiatrists and therapists than it currently has, he said. It means a lot more patients who could benefit may not get the care and services they need.

Embedding services into medical facilities may ameliorate the issue  like primary care clinics, emergency departments and hospitals  where most patients get mental health care. But there will always be some patients whose conditions are more complex than a primary care clinic can accommodate, Pullen said, and need to be referred to a behavioral health clinic.

St. Lukes is in the midst of a transition phase in how its providing behavioral health services, he said, and its a pretty significant culture change.

Whats being done in Idaho to address the physician shortage?

Statewide, efforts are underway to try to expand medical school and residency program options, with the goal of getting more physicians to stay once they finish their education. Once a physician graduates from medical school, he or she must complete a residency based on their specialty. The Idaho Medical Association is pushing to expand the number of residency training opportunities here in the Gem State through legislative advocacy, Pouliot said.

Theres a very high correlation between where a physician does their residency and where they ultimately practice, she said. Between 50 and 70 percent stay within 100 miles of where they completed their residency.

The Idaho State Board of Education, along with the Idaho Medical Association, adopted a 10-year residency development plan and the state Legislature decided in 2018 to appropriate a large portion of year one funding.

The Idaho Medical Association plans to present the second year of the plan to the legislature this session, seeking a funding increase of $2.9 million to train an additional 28 residents and fellows  for a total of 176 residents across the state.

But most of the training slots  existing and those proposed  are for primary care, not in specialty areas.

Once physicians have completed their residency and are looking for a job, one incentive can be loan repayment.

Idaho has increased funding for its rural physician incentive program. Physicians who practice in a rural area  or in an urban area thats considered underserved  can receive $25,000 per year or a maximum over $100,000 over four years toward loan repayment. Eligibility is determined by a scoring system set by the federal government.

Getting a medical education is very, very expensive, Pouliot said, and many physicians graduate with heavy debt loads.

Ultimately, the goal of these types of incentives is to encourage physicians to come to areas like the Magic Valley to help patients.

Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Idahos first medical school, opened in fall 2018 in Meridian. Nationwide, about half of practicing osteopathic physicians  or DOs  are primary care specialists and many work in rural or underserved communities.

Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed physicians who practice in all areas of medicine, according to the American Osteopathic Association. Emphasizing a whole-person approach to treatment and care, DOs are trained to listen and partner with their patients to help them get healthy and stay well.

There are other medical school options in the western United States as well, including WWAMI through the University of Washington School of Medicine that accepts applicants from several states, including Idaho.

Looking ahead

Today, Dave  whos 66  is still a patient at St. Lukes neurology clinic and now, its no longer an issue getting appointments, Kathy said. He is able to enjoy life more, even testing his hand at hobbies, like painting sculptures.

St. Lukes and other local hospitals are pushing to find ways to shorten the wait time for appointments and attract more specialists. But in the meantime, many patients still face a long wait. Kathy remains hopeful for the future of specialized care, but concerned for those currently in the situation her husband was in not too long ago. Its the new patients that are put on the backburner, she said.

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HAILEY  As the state grapples with an overworked public defense system, one south-central Idaho county is establishing its own public defenders office in the hope that it will make compliance with statewide reforms easier.

Blaine County, which currently contracts with private attorneys for public defense services, is now accepting applications for an in-house chief public defender to head the department. County officials expect that he or she will later be joined by one additional attorney, one paralegal and an administrative staff person.

The decision was made in light of recent statewide reforms to the public defense system, including new caseload standards from the Public Defense Commission approved by the Legislature last month, Commissioner Jacob Greenberg told the Times-News. Those guidelines were created in the wake of a study that found Idaho public defenders spend an average of four hours on each felony case  a far cry from the 38 hours they reported needing.

Blaine County hasnt had any issues meeting the caseload standards set by the state, Greenberg said. But he and other officials believe establishing an in-house department, with attorneys who can dedicate all of their time and energy to public defense cases, will raise the quality of public defense in the county.
A man and woman from Twin Falls have been sentenced to probation and fines for lying about being caregivers for a person who was actually out of the country.
The Krieger case went cold until 2017, when Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Chris Sheehan, in Boise, said he and another investigator had been assigned to the case.

There is new evidence that has come out, Sheehan then told the Times-News, declining to give details.

Rodriguez was taken into custody without incident in Minidoka County and was taken to the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center, where he is being held on a no-bond warrant issued by the Cassia County Magistrate Court.

I knew we were getting closer and I was fully aware that it was going to happen, Reginas mother, Rhonda Hunnel, who now lives in Las Vegas, Nev., told the Idaho Statesman on Wednesday. My excitement level is very high. I couldnt be more pleased.

Gilberto Flores Rodriguezs criminal history dates back to the 1990s in Cassia County, and he faced serious drug charges at one point, the Statesman reported.
You might remember him as the "Rapping Weatherman." Now, this former KMVT meteorologist will host a prime-time show for a new Fox Weather video service from New York City.
In this week's political podcast, Milfred and Hands assess the finalists for mayor, and play clips from their primary night victory speeches.

Satya Rhodes-Conway survived a crowded field of candidates by drawing the sharpest contrast with Madison's "mayor for life." Incumbent Paul Soglin is still the favorite. But Rhodes-Conway could benefit from outrage over a conservative Supreme Court candidate.

"Center Stage with Milfred and Hands"  click the play button above to listen  is the State Journal's weekly podcast from the sensible center of Wisconsin politics, featuring editorial page editor Scott Milfred and political cartoonist Phil Hands, half of the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board.

Follow or subscribe to "Center Stage" on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or Google Play.
Such statements hark back to Americas past glories, much like Trumps State of the Union address where he made numerous mentions of World War II. But Monday, in the context of Venezuela, Trump spoke directly to Maduro and his military.

The Trump administration is hoping to step up international pressure on the dictator, whos blocking at the Colombia border millions of dollars in humanitarian aid from entering his country. U.S. Sen Marco Rubio, who has taken a leadership role in the Venezuelan effort, and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart flew to the Colombia-Venezuela border over the weekend to attract international attention to the blockaded food and medicine. Maduro is being given until Saturday to allow the goods in. The unspoken plan is that if the aid gets in, the Venezuelan people, who are experiencing tremendous shortages, may welcome it enough to turn on Maduro.

The Venezuelan military must now turn its back on Maduro and allow aid to enter Venezuela, the president, senator and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis all said.

You must not block this humanitarian aid, Trump said. We seek a peaceful transition of power. But all options are open. If you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. Youll lose everything.
It turned out the boys were innocent. But the social justice warriors of the left shrugged and moved on, looking for the next story with which to portray America as a hateful nation  because it fits their politics  and some found it in Smollett.

For a list of media examples, you might want to go to Mediaite and the article Did the Media Jump the Gun on the Jussie Smollett Story? by Caleb Howe.

Or you might consider CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin. She looked into the camera, and sighed, and her sigh was full of her politics.

This is America in 2019, she said.

We get it, Brooke. Were terrible. Donald Trump is the president, and everythings gone to hell.

Nothing is new there. Trump is a political-lightning-rod president, inspiring irrational hate in some and irrational adoration in others and most likely both groups are tribal and wrong.

But America isnt a hateful nation. America is the least hateful nation, and the best hope of humankind on Earth.

A few weeks ago, after Smollett began telling his tale  in which hes the hero fighting oppression and hatred  a 1-year-old child was shot in the head.
Wisconsin utility regulators have launched a study of electric vehicles.

The Public Service Commission on Thursday voted to open an investigation that will focus on customer expectations, legal questions and the role of regulators and utilities.

Its an exciting time, I think, in the automobile industry, said Commissioner Mike Huebsch. Its somewhat akin to when the automobile was first invented.

Huebsch and Chairwoman Ellen Nowak, the PSCs two Republican appointees, said they want to see if there are laws or regulations that could hinder the growth of the fast-growing technology.

Were not necessarily looking to add regulation here, Nowak said. Sometimes the best thing we can do in government is to get out of the way  and allow markets to flourish.

Commission Rebecca Valcq, who will take over next month as chairwoman, said she also supports the investigation and wants the commission to do more of this kind of fact gathering.
Sport

Federer coy over Olympics; Ostapenko claims Eastbourne title, Kerber delighted with Bad reasons

London: Roger Federer is still not sure whether he will compete at the Tokyo Olympics, saying on Saturday that he and his team plan to reassess the s...
Just one in six voting-age residents in Madison cast ballots in Tuesdays primary despite citywide contests for mayor and School Board.

More localized races for City Council drove higher turnout in some wards. But overall, just 37,706 ballots were cast in a city with an estimated voting-age population of 210,926 people, or 17.8 percent.

Incumbent Paul Soglin and challenger Satya Rhodes-Conway were the top two vote-getters in the mayoral race at 29 percent and 28 percent of the vote, respectively. Advancing to the April 2 general election in races for Madison School Board were Cristiana Carusi and Kaleem Caire for Seat 3, Ali Muldrow and David Blaska for Seat 4 and Ananda Mirilli and TJ Mertz for Seat 5.

The only other Dane County races on the ballot Tuesday were primaries for one seat on the Fitchburg City Council  with Janell Rice and Ed Kinney advancing to the general election  and president in the village of Brooklyn, where 78 of an estimated 675 voting-age residents cast ballots  with Brit Springer and Kyle Smith the top vote-getters.

Turnout for spring primaries in odd-numbered years is usually low unless theres a statewide race on the ballot. In 2015, just 22,397 people voted in the spring primary for Madison mayor, which was won by Soglin and Scott Resnick.

By contrast, in the 2018 mid-term election in November, which also featured races for governor and attorney general, 67.5 percent of the voting-age population in Madison cast ballots, as did almost 70 percent in Dane County.

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Three people allegedly trying to steal from a construction site on the North Side Wednesday night were tripped up by technology, including their own walkie-talkies.

Cory Tornai, 37, Madison and Katelyn Kratochwill, 30, Stoughton, were tentatively charged with being party to the crime of burglary, and Jeana Corrado, 40, Stoughton was tenatively charged with burglary,Madison police said.

The incident happened at the site of a new multi-story apartment building under construction in the 4700 block of Creekwood Lane, a new street off of Darwin Road.

Officers went to the site in response to a burglar alarm, the construction site surrounded by a security fence.

"The project manager was on the phone with police from his home, but he was able to monitor surveillance video coming from the site," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.

The manager had been watching a white van circling the area, with at least one person getting inside the security fence.

"Officers started searching and found a woman hiding near some copper wire," DeSpain said. "The manager said they had been having problems with copper thieves."
A federal grand jury indicted a Madison man Wednesday on charges that he coerced a 14-year-old Tennessee girl to make child pornography and that he lied to FBI agents when they questioned him about the girls whereabouts.

Bryan Rogers, 31, was initially charged in a federal criminal complaint on Feb. 4 with the sexual exploitation charge. Prosecutors had said they were also considering seeking an indictment for taking a minor across state lines for sexual purposes, but instead the grand jury indicted Rogers for allegedly lying to FBI agents.

Rogers is accused of persuading the girl between Dec. 24 and Jan. 13 to video record herself being sexually assaulted by a man in her hometown of Madisonville, Tennessee, whom she said had repeatedly assaulted her, then having her send the recording to Rogers.

Rogers had told the girl that she needed video evidence of the assaults so that she would be believed, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Feb. 4.
Monroe County authorities arrested two suspects accused of stealing a car and being subjects of an ongoing statewide mail theft and fraud investigation Sunday evening.

Jacob S. Williams and Sara A. Williams, both 27 with no permanent address, have been subjects of an ongoing statewide mail theft and fraud investigation, according to the Monroe County Sheriffs Office.

A Monroe County deputy stopped to assist them after their vehicle slid off the road, struck a mailbox and got stuck in the snow, according to police. Jacob and Sara fled the scene while the deputy was gathering information about the crash.

The deputy located the vehicle a short distance up the road and discovered both suspects had fled on foot, authorities said.

More police joined the search and found the Williamses hiding in nearby barns.

Authorities executed a search warrant on the vehicle, which bore the wrong license plate and was stolen from Eau Claire, Wis. Police said they also recovered stolen property, mail from multiple areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Dozens of victims and potential victims have been identified, and investigators will be reaching out to those victims as they continue to gather more information, the sheriffs office.

The Williamses are in the Monroe County Jail and the sheriffs office expects additional charges.
Dear Editor: Donald Trump has famously said that he "fought" the Vietnam war in New York City by avoiding sexually transmitted disease, despite not being required to serve in the real U.S. military thanks to a diagnosis of bone spurs.

But now President Bonespurs is headed to Vietnam to meet in Hanoi with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un.

This is the same Kim that Trump said he "fell in love" with while meeting last year in Singapore. As we know, no details of their meeting have ever been released. Knowing that absence makes the heart grow fonder, we can only speculate on how deep the love will be in Hanoi.

Perhaps it might be a good sign for denuclearization progress if Trump announces that he and his autocratic lover will be sharing a bed while in Hanoi. Or maybe we would know more if the White House would release the texts of the Valentine's Day messages that Don and Kim exchanged a couple of weeks ago.

For now, all we have to rely on is a reported conversation between Trump and former FBI administrator Andrew McCabe in which McCabe said Trump assured him that North Korea does not yet have a nuclear ICBM that could reach the United States, despite a totally contradictory assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies.
Beyond projects that bring renewable energy to a particular school building, students are beginning to unite beyond their individual schools into groups such as the Mad Youth Climate Team. Students within groups such as these are encouraging the Madison Metropolitan School District to develop plans to acquire energy from renewable sources consistent with the IPCC guidelines. These students have begun a petition to galvanize support around a clean energy resolution that they encourage the school district to embrace ( 100renewmadison.org ).The resolution will be introduced at an upcoming School Board meeting.

While students are focused upon ensuring that they will be learning in settings that do not harm the environment, many of our local leaders are bringing forth clean energy resolutions so as to ensure that our governmental buildings and vehicles do not contribute to climate change as well. Local leaders in Madison, Middleton, and many other communities have passed these resolutions, which resolve to transition their communities to renewable energy sources as rapidly as possible. The leaders who have pursued such resolutions should be applauded for their commitment to a sustainable future. Citizens who agree with similar pending proposals in communities such as Fitchburg, which will vote on Feb. 26, and Monona, which will vote on March 4, are encouraged to contact their local representatives to ensure that every local community meets the goals established by the IPCC.
But the "neo-liberalism" the left associates with Clinton and Blair came under fierce progressive assault after the 2008 economic implosion for being too financier-friendly, insufficiently attentive to rising inequality, and too confident in the benefits of free trade and deregulation. The backlash in Britain was particularly vigorous in response to Blair's strong support for President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Again, whatever Republicans may claim, Democrats are a long way from embracing Corbynism. But the bitterness of the growing divide between the left and center-left in Britain is a warning of how debilitating intra-progressive strife could become in Congress and in the 2020 primaries.

Given that the defeat of Donald Trump is the absolutely necessary first step toward a more humane politics, more moderate and more adventurous Democrats can ill afford to concentrate their fire on each other. The stakes are too high for self-indulgent sectarianism.

And differences in approach over how to guarantee everyone health coverage or how to fight climate change are less important than agreeing that both problems are urgent and need solving. Remembering that your opponents would prefer to do nothing at all on these issues is a good way to put such disagreements into perspective.
Democurmudgeon blogger John Peterson accuses the Wisconsin Institute on Law and Liberty of predetermining its conclusion that Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin will actually cost money rather than save it. The conclusion by the conservative-supported institute flies in the face of everything the state knows about the effects Medicaid expansion would have on the state budget. In short, he adds, it spreads a myth.

WisOpinion posts the text of a speech delivered by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's Matt Rothschild, who claims that Donald Trump's "in touch with his inner Fascist." He remarks that we were all taught as kids that our system of checks and balances is especially strong. Turns out, he says, that Trump is proving that's not true.

People will be interested to know, says Political Environment blogger James Rowen, that the Trump administration's tax "reform" law has opened -- perhaps inadvertently -- free parking lots provided by employers for their employees to a new tax that could raise the cost of providing those lots by 21 percent.
On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised serious consequences if four yeshivas continued to bar NYC Department of Education inspectors from their buildings. Now the deadline for scheduling those inspections has passed, but officials are still negotiating with the schools.

Some dates [for the inspections] have been provided and we're in continuing conversations with the yeshiva representatives, DOE spokesman Will Mantell said Wednesday.

Asked about the yeshivas still denying access during the Brian Lehrer Show on Friday, de Blasio said most of the dozens of yeshivas in question were working with education officials to improve their curricula.

A number of them opened their doors and agreed to a corrective plan, he said. There are precisely four yeshivas left in all of New York City that are not cooperating. Today is the deadline so my message to them is very cleartimes up.

He said if those yeshivas didnt cooperate, they could lose public funding.

Calls and emails to representatives of the yeshivas and their supporters were not answered.

The current debate dates back to at least 2015, when a group of parents, former students and former teachers filed a complaint expressing deep concern about the poor quality and scant amount of secular education at 39 yeshivas primarily located in Brooklyn. The letter said students at those yeshivas generally learned English and math for a total of 90 minutes four days a week from ages 7 to 13and other subjects such as science and social studies often werent taught at all.

Last fall, the state revised its guidelines for all private and religious schools, outlining educational requirements and setting a deadline for inspectors to visit all schools. The guidelines also call for inspections every five years and require officials to work with non-compliant schools on improvement plans. Schools that fail to improve could lose substantial amounts of public funding that covers food, textbooks and transportation for students in non-public schools.

The state held joint trainings for city inspectors and yeshiva representatives in recent months. A state education department spokesman called the trainings productive.

But Naftuli Moster, founder and executive director of Young Advocates for a Fair Education (YAFFED), said the investigation has dragged on for too long, with far too few results.

I think the city should have taken a much tougher approach the minute they realized our allegations seemed to be true, that tens of thousands of children are being denied an education, he said.

Moster and his group have led the fight for decent secular education in the ultra-orthodox Jewish schools which focus most of their lessons on religious texts. He said the focus on the four holdout schools has distracted from the larger issue, namely what all the yeshivas are doing to improve secular education and on what timeline.

The state and city have to come down on any school choosing to deny children a basic education, he said.

Jessica Gould is a reporter in the newsroom at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @ByJessicaGould.


Tim Parks, a planner with the city of Madison, said Gorman must come back for approvals because the 2015 approval expired and plans for then versus now are sufficiently different enough to warrant a new approval.

In 2017, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Gorman was having trouble finding a grocer to take the space after Fresh Thyme backed out. That story pointed out that there are several grocery stores near the site, including the Festival Foods and Hy-Vee stores on East Washington Avenue.

Asked about the possibility of a grocery store Tuesday, Ted Matkom, Wisconsin market president for Gorman, said the firm would love to find a grocery store that fits within this space.

According to Ald. Marsha Rummels blog, the new SIP would need approval from the citys Urban Design Commission, Plan Commission and City Council. Matkom said Gorman could possibly submit its plans to the city in March if the neighborhood is receptive.
After accepting a cabinet position from Gov. Tony Evers, Supervisor Mary Kolar will be stepping down from the Dane County Board.

Evers appointed Kolar, a retired Navy captain, to serve as secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. Kolar has represented District 1 on the board since 2013.

With my foundation of military service and my local government experience, I expect to serve the 360,000-plus Wisconsin veterans and their families well, Kolar said in a statement.

During Kolars time on the board, she chaired the Zoning and Land Regulation Committee and led the first comprehensive rewrite of Dane Countys zoning ordinance since 1938.

Im particularly proud of the completion of the long over-due comprehensive rewrite of Chapter 10 of the Dane County Zoning Ordinance, Kolar said in the statement. Many said it couldnt be done, but after nearly three years of efforts by staff, sub-committees, work groups and the Dane Counties Town Association, we got it completed.
Gov. Tony Evers will propose spending nearly $28 million in his first budget to fund efforts to expand access to women's health care, reduce infant mortality rates and restore eligibility to Planned Parenthood for funding that was stripped away under former Gov. Scott Walker.

The governor's "Healthy Women, Healthy Babies" plan would create an Infant Mortality Prevention Program within the state Department of Health Services, expand post-partum coverage for mothers insured under Medicaid, increase grant funding for programs aimed at reducing health disparities and boost funding for programs and grants that help provide cancer screenings and STI testing.

Evers, who is scheduled to release his entire two-year budget proposal on Feb. 28, shared advance details of the proposal with the Cap Times. The proposal was shared on the condition that its details not be shared with others before publication.

"We cant have healthy communities without healthy women and babies," Evers said in a statement. "That is why my budget will connect the dots and increase access and coverage, as well as create innovative programs to ensure quality health care for women, and healthy beginnings for our children."

Addressing racial disparities
Vietnam is on high alert after African swine fever was discovered in its northern provinces.

More than 200 pigs have been slaughtered after household farms in Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces were suspected to be contaminated, the Department of Animal Health said.

The strange thing is the affected areas are far from China  where the disease is ravaging its pork industry  raising questions of how the disease spread to the remote farms.

Tourists, often perpetrators in the spread of the disease across borders by carrying contaminated products, are one suspect, according to a posting on the departments website Wednesday. The illegal transport, sale and consumption of smuggled pigs and pork products in Vietnams northern border provinces, which increased at the year-end and before the Lunar New Year, were cited by the department as another possible cause.

One other, perhaps more worrying, suggestion from the Vietnamese authorities is that migrant birds, which may have been in contact with dead infected hogs, carried the disease across its borders.

African Swine Fever is a hardy virus that can survive and remain infective for a long period of time in environment and pork products, said Pawin Padungtod, senior technical coordinator at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizations Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases. Experience in China suggest that the virus is mostly spread by transport vehicles and humans, Hanoi-based Pawin said.

After the deadly virus was first detected in China in August, authorities across Asia have hunkered down to stem the spread, with border controls tightened, transport of pigs banned, and travelers caught carrying pork products slapped with fines. While farm gates and barriers may go some way to stop contamination via wild boars, the possibility that birds are spreading the disease takes the threat to the regions pork industry to a whole new level.

One culprit for the transmission could be insects. Soft ticks, a known vector of African swine fever, are promiscuous in their host preferences and have occasionally been recovered from birds, according to a review of the virus in the Frontiers in Veterinary Science. This complicates the control and eradication of the disease, the report said.

Authorities in Vietnams Thai Binh and Hung Yen provinces have sterilized contaminated farms and high-risk areas, and are closely controlling the transport of pigs, pork products, the slaughter of pigs and consumption of pork products in affected areas, according to the departments emailed statement. No new cases have been found in the two provinces since suspicions were first reported on Feb. 1, the department said.

While Vietnams hog figures pale in comparison to China, which is still the worlds largest pork producer with typical consumption of 700 million pigs a year, its still a sizable market. The smaller Asian neighbor ranks sixth globally for pork production, which last year rose 2.2 percent to 3.8 million tons, and had 27.4 million hogs in 2017, the general statistics office said.

In China, African swine fever has led to the deaths of almost 1 million pigs, with authorities struggling to control its spread across the country. Outside of China, Mongolia reported its first outbreak last month. The virus, which typically kills pigs within a few days but isnt known to harm humans, was discovered in Russia in 2007, where nations have managed the disease through the growth of highly industrialized farms with stringent bio-security measures. Bloomberg
Lawmakers at the Legislative Assembly expressed concerns over the record number of visitors registered during the latest Lunar New Year Golden Week, which broke the 1.2 million mark.

The first of the legislators expressing concern was Leong Sun Iok, who noted that while the government regularly celebrates record- breaking figures, several border checkpoints, namely the Border Gate, and some tourist landmarks had to be subject, for several days, to crowd control measures.

Given the high number of tourists, which has increased significantly, some residents say the city is doomed to explode, said Leong, while urging the government to pursue measures that would ease the pressure on residents.

For example, Leong suggested attracting tourists of high consumption and enforcing pedestrian-only areas during the Golden Week. The government might also consider promoting attractions in Cotai that would relieve the pressure on popular spots of central Macau.

Following on from Leongs remarks was Song Pek Kei, who called for a balanced solution for tourism.

According to Song, if it is true that the large number of tourists has brought us economic development and an increase in financial income, it is also true that infrastructure and resources are lacking, and too many tourists and the rapid development of the sector will result in unbalanced social development, giving rise to strong contradictions between the demand for more tourists and the life of the population.

Kou Hoi In and Ip Sio Kai signed a joint enquiry criticizing tourism policies and measures applied to tackle the problem of overcrowded tourist attractions.

As in the past, the government has deployed more police to maintain order and control the crowds [in the central area, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and Saint Pauls Ruins]. The tourists in these areas were pushed to follow the crowd by the same path, as if they were a flock of ducks, it said.

These control measures are effective at dispersing people, but they reduce the freedom of tourists. They cannot stop to take photographs or make purchases  they can only follow the people in front of them, which results in a bad experience.

The lawmakers also highlighted the growing dissatisfaction among residents saying, too many tourists on public roads seriously affects the commute of residents, who complain that every day on their way home, they have to fight hand-to-hand with tourists.

Lawmaker Chan Hong adopted a different approach to the topic, urging the government to incentivize shop owners, namely in the surroundings of tourism areas, to keep their establishments open during the holiday season.

Most of the tourists concentrate in the casinos, Almeida Ribeiro and the Ruins of St Pauls, which shows that the flow of people was not effectively diverted to other old areas, she said.

The surrounding areas were quiet, and even if there were tourists, the shops were closed. At Rua da Felicidade, the closure of many stores during the Chinese New Year contributed to an even further degradation of the environment, reducing tourists willingness to visit these areas.

Chan also suggested the government to continue with the renovation of public areas in addition to remodeling the facades of buildings in the old quarters and in the world heritage areas, improving in this way the image of the city as a tourism destination.
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Macau gaming concessionaire SJM Holdings, which is building a hotel designed by Karl Lagerfeld, says its deeply saddened by news of his death.

Lagerfeld, the iconic couturier whose designs at Chanel and Fendi had an unprecedented impact on the entire fashion industry, died Tuesday in Paris, prompting an outpouring of love and admiration for the man whose career spanned six decades.

SJM Holdings Ltd. said in a statement that it was an honor to work with Lagerfeld on the hotel, which the company looks forward to completing as a legacy to his creative genius.

SJM is deeply saddened by the news of the passing away of Karl Lagerfeld, and offers our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. Our thoughts are with them and with all those in the design world to whom he was such an inspiration, the statement said.

It has been an honor for SJM to work with him, and we look forward to completing the Karl Lagerfeld Hotel at the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau as a legacy to his creative genius.

The Karl Lagerfeld Hotel is part of a glitzy multi-billion-dollar casino resort that SJM is building in the former Portuguese enclave. The Grand Lisboa Palace resort, which is due to open in the second half of 2019, will also feature a Versace-themed hotel. DB/AP
President Vladimir Putin signaled Russia will aim new weapons at the U.S. if it stations missiles in Europe after quitting a landmark Cold-War-era treaty, amid growing fears of a new arms race.

Still, the tone of Putins annual state-of-the-nation speech was less belligerent than a year ago, when he showed computer-graphics demonstrations of a series of new missiles and other high-tech weapons that appeared to target the U.S. With its only graphic displays focused on economics, this years address was devoted primarily to pledges to improve living standards and boost welfare benefits.

Russia doesnt plan to deploy missiles banned by the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that the U.S. has said it plans to abandon, Putin said. But if the U.S. does, Russia will be forced to produce and deploy weapons that can be used not only against the territories from which we face this direct threat but also those where the decision is made to use these missiles, he said, eliciting applause from the hundreds of officials gathered in the hall near the Kremlin.

The U.S. and its allies are laying the groundwork to deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Europe for the first time since they were banned by the treaty. With a second pact covering nuclear weapons likely to expire in two years, the risks of confrontation are growing.

Putin blasted the U.S. for ignoring Russias interests, saying officials in Washington should count the range and speed of our future weapons systems.

He said many of the weapons he displayed last year will soon be deployed, including a hypersonic glider that could carry nuclear weapons and evade U.S. missile defenses, a laser cannon and an underwater drone called Poseidon.

His warnings came at the end of a speech that focused mainly on a pledge to deliver improvements in living standards in 2019, after years of stagnant or falling real incomes that have sharply dented his popularity.

Already this year people should feel changes for the better, Putin said. We cant repeat the mistakes of the past decades and wait for the achievement of Communism, he said, referring to Soviet promises of an ideal society that never materialized in 70 years of one-party rule.

The Russian leader, who won a new six-year term in 2018, has been feeling the heat domestically, with popular dissatisfaction at the erosion in living standards heightened by decisions to raise the retirement age and increase the value-added tax.

Patriotic fervor that bolstered Putin after the annexation of Ukraines Crimea peninsula in 2014 has dissipated. His electoral rating is now at the lowest level in six years according to the Public Opinion Foundation pollster, while public trust in him as a leader is at the worst in more than a decade, according to the state-run VTsIOM research organization. Henry Meyer and Irina Reznik, Bloomberg
The biggest bank operating in the Baltics, Swedbank AB of Sweden, has now been drawn into the regions deepening money-laundering scandal.

Swedbank spokesman Gabriel Francke Rodau acknowledged that the lender has identified suspicious transactions, which he says have been reported to the police.

The comments followed a report by Swedish broadcaster SVT, alleging that some 50 customers at Swedbank, who all displayed clear warning signals regarding suspected money laundering, transferred about 40 billion kronor (USD4.3 billion) between Swedbank and Danske Bank A/S from 2007 to 2015. Rodau said Swedbank doesnt recognize those numbers.

Bill Browder, the Hermitage Capital Management co-founder who has made it his profession to chase money launderers, warned that the amounts cited in Swedish media are likely to be just the beginning. He said he has his own evidence linking Swedbank to the Danske case and that he had been planning to bring a criminal complaint against the Swedish lender.

Swedbanks shares fell about 10 percent in Stockholm on Wednesday, putting it at the very bottom of the Bloomberg index of European financial stocks. SEB AB, the second-biggest bank in the Baltics, fell almost 3 percent in trading in the Swedish capital.

If the information is correct, there are two alternatives: they have known about it but let it continue or they havent checked and the transactions havent triggered any alarm, said Joakim Bornold, a savings adviser at Soderberg & Partners in Stockholm. I dont know whats worst.

Alecta, which is one of Swedbanks biggest investors with about 5 percent of the shares, has been in touch with the lender to discuss the allegations, according to Ramsay Brufer, head of ownership at the occupational-pensions provider.

Money laundering is one of the biggest challenges for the banking sector today, Brufer said in an emailed response to questions. It is a crime that we take very seriously.

Swedbanks share-price decline yesterday shaved about USD2.3 billion off its market value, representing its worst day since August 2011. SVT said that the 40 billion kronor in suspicious transactions translates into almost USD6 billion, when using an average dollar-krona exchange rate for the nine-year period during which the illicit transfers are alleged to have taken place.

Denials Will Be Overlooked

The SVT report shows that the biggest lender to the Baltic region cant fully shake off links to Danskes probe, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Philip Richards and Georgi Gunchev wrote yesterday. While alleged amounts are swamped by those of its Danish rival, the banks denials will remain overlooked until the full facts are known, in our view.

The development comes as a USD230 billion scandal engulfing Danske continues to spread, with the financial regulators in Denmark and Estonia now under formal investigation by the European Banking Authority. Swedens financial regulator declined to immediately comment on the SVT report.

Before yesterday, Swedbank had vehemently denied any involvement in the case, with Chief Executive Officer Birgitte Bonnesen repeatedly going on the record to say management had looked and found no links to the Danske laundering scandal.

Swedbank must take this very seriously, Bornold said. The big mistake Danske did was that they were too nonchalant and it cost them huge values and even the Estonian permission yesterday. Niklas Magnusson, Hanna Hoikkala & Frances Schwartzkopff, Bloomberg
The Health Bureau (SSM) has replied to an accusation filed by lawmaker Agnes Lam at the Legislative Assembly (AL), with the authority expressing deep regret for some false statements.

During the plenary session, Lam commented on the case of a woman who sustained severe burns as a result of domestic violence and is now seeking medical treatment abroad.

The lawmaker accused the Bureau of only being concerned with its own image and motivated by economic interests, disregarding the right of the patient and family to be informed of all the possible solutions.

Lam said, the SSM only reacted after the case was made public when the family of the patient organized an event to raise funds for her treatment.

In the Bureaus statement, the SSM clarified that before the press conference organized by the family of the victim of domestic violence, which aimed to announce the fundraising for treatment in the United Kingdom, the government departments had already informed the lawmaker [Lam] of the existence of a charity organization available to subsidize the patients surgical treatment.

Although refuting Lams accusations in general, in the same statement, the SSM acknowledged that when the Health Bureau became aware of the intention of a charity to support the victim to have surgery abroad, the Singapore medical institution was immediately contacted and the patient and family members were clearly informed of the situation in order to minimize the psychological pressure on the patient.

There was no intention to delay the [medical] information that [would support] decision- making.

As the whole process involves the high expenditure of funds from the public purse [], the Health Bureau had the obligation to clarify and protect the publics right to information, added the Bureau, in order to avoid misunderstandings and confusion.
The former Coast Guard lieutenant and longtime white nationalist arrested last Friday had allegedly been planning not only a terrorist attack of massive proportions, but also targeted violence against several Democratic politicians and media personalitiesNew York Senator Chuck Schumer and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among them.

Journalists are sharing stories about where I live the same day its shared that myself + others were targeted by a mass shooter.



All this paired w/ amplifying unvetted conspiracy theories. Its reckless, irresponsible & puts people directly in danger.



This isnt a game. https://t.co/gcJWcKinxI  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2019

Federal investigators arrested 49-year-old Christopher Paul Hasson on Friday, on charges pertaining to illegal weapons and drug possession: According to the Washington Post, officers seized 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition when they raided his home in Silver Springs, Maryland, along with narcotics and 30 vials of a substance they suspect to be human growth hormone.

All of this seemed to be in service of his larger goal, outlined in his personal writings: Inciting law enforcement and the government to an overreaction, "which should help to escalate violence." According to his emails, Hasson considered exploiting "BLM protests or other left crap," using "focused violence" to "kill almost every last person on the earth" and ultimately "establish a white homeland," according to prosecutors.

Hasson allegedly began stockpiling his weapons cache in 2017, perhaps earlier, and his troubling Google searches"where in dc to [sic] congress live"; "best place in dc to see congress people"; "are supreme court justices protected"suggest he had particular political targets in mind. On January 19th, he created a spreadsheet of "traitors," including Schumer, Ocasio-Cortez, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Massachusetts Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Chris Hayes, and a number of other prominent figures.

Although he had allegedly been considering an attack for many years, investigators say Hasson had not yet settled on a method. According to the Post, he kept a "things to do" list, on which a "bombing/sniper campaign" ranked among the options, but he also considered a plague: NBC reports that, in his emails, Hasson wondered where he might get his hands on "Spanish flu, botulism, [and] anthrax."

He had allegedly been combing through neo-Nazi and fascist literature online, and also consulted the manifesto penned by Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who murdered 77 people in a terrorist rampage in 2011. According to the Washington Post, he drew inspiration and sourced tips from the 1,500-page document, borrowing Breivik's "cultural Marxist/multiculturalist traitors" classification system and amassing a huge cache of steroids and opioids because Breivik wrote that carrying out such an attack would be physically taxing.

Hasson started work at the Washington, D.C. Coast Guard headquarters in 2016, serving in the Marine Corps and Army decades before that. According to NBC, the Coast Guard took notice when Hasson conducted his internet searches at work, and reportedly cooperated with the FBI and the Department of Justice in their investigation.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," the government said in court filings, published by the Washington Post. "The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country."
With their second summit fast approaching, speculation is growing that President Donald Trump may try to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to commit to denuclearization by giving him something he wants more than almost anything else: an announcement of peace and an end to the Korean War.

Such an announcement could make history. It would be right in line with Trumps opposition to forever wars. And, coming more than six decades after the fighting essentially ended, it just seems like common sense.

But, if not done carefully, it could open up a whole new set of problems for Washington.

Heres why switching the focus of the ongoing talks between Pyongyang and Washington from denuclearization to peace would be a risky move  and why it might be exactly what Kim wants when the two leaders meet in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28.

THE STANDOFF

The Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel after World War II, with the U.S. claiming a zone of influence in the south and the Soviet Union in the north. Within five years, the two Koreas were at war.

Though the shooting stopped in 1953, the conflict ended with an armistice, essentially a ceasefire signed by North Korea, China and the 17-nation, U.S.-led United Nations Command that was supposed to be replaced by a formal peace treaty. But both sides instead settled ever deeper into Cold War hostilities marked by occasional outbreaks of violence.

The conflict in Korea is technically Americas longest war.

North Korea, which saw all of its major cities and most of its infrastructure destroyed by U.S. bombers during the war, blames what it sees as Washingtons unrelenting hostility over the past 70 years as ample justification for its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. It claims they are purely for self-defense.

The U.S., on the other hand, maintains a heavy military presence in South Korea to counter what it claims is the Norths intention to invade and assimilate the South. It has also implemented a long- standing policy of ostracizing the North and backing economic sanctions.

Trump escalated the effort to squeeze the North with a maximum pressure strategy that remains in force.

A combination of that strategy and the Norths repeated tests of missiles believed capable of delivering its nuclear weapons to the U.S. mainland are what brought the two countries to the negotiating table.

WHY KIM WANTS A TREATY

Getting a formal peace treaty has been high on the wish list of every North Korean leader, starting with Kim Jong Uns grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

A peace treaty would bring international recognition, probably at least some easing of trade sanctions, and a likely reduction in the number of U.S. troops south of the Demilitarized Zone.

If done right, it would be a huge boost to Kims reputation at home and abroad. And, of course, to the cause of peace on the Korean Peninsula at a time when Pyongyang says it is trying to shift scarce resources away from defence so that it can boost its standard of living and modernize its economy with a greater emphasis on science and technology.

Washington has a lot to gain, too.

Trump has said he would welcome a North Korea that is more focused on trade and economic growth. Stability on the peninsula is good for South Koreas economy and probably to Japans as well.

Though Trump hasnt stressed human rights, eased tensions could create the space needed for the North to loosen its controls over political and individual freedoms.

But its naive to expect North Korea to suddenly change its ways.

According to a recent estimate, it has over the past year continued to expand its nuclear stockpile. And even as it has stepped up its diplomatic overtures to the outside world, Pyongyang has doubled down internally on demanding loyalty to its totalitarian system.

PEACE OR APPEASEMENT?

After his first summit with Kim, in Singapore last June, Trump declared the nuclear threat was over.

He isnt saying that anymore.

Trump made no mention of the word denuclearization during his State of the Union address. Instead, he called his effort a historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula and stressed that Kim hasnt conducted any nuclear or missile tests, released Americans who had been jailed in the North and returned the remains of dozens of Americans killed in the war.

Kim, meanwhile, has good reason to want to turn his summits with Trump into peace talks.

The biggest win for the North would be to get a peace declaration while quietly abandoning denuclearization altogether, or by agreeing to production caps or other measures that would limit, but not eliminate, its nuclear arsenal. Simply having a summit without a clear commitment to denuclearization goes a long way toward establishing him as the leader of a de facto nuclear state.

Unless Washington is willing to accept him as such, that will only make future talks all the more difficult.

The U.S. has, however, continued to take a hard line in lower-level negotiations leading up to the summit.

Stephen Biegun, Trumps new point man on North Korea, stressed in a recent speech that as a prerequisite for peace, Washington wants a complete understanding of the full extent of the North Korean weapons of mass destruction missile programs, expert access and monitoring of key sites and, ultimately, the removal and destruction of stockpiles of fissile material, weapons, missiles, launchers, and other weapons of mass destruction.

The question is whether Trump will similarly challenge Kim or choose an easier and splashier  but less substantive  declaration of peace.

TALK VS TREATY

If he chose to do so, Trump could unilaterally announce the end of the Korean War.

It would be great TV. But it wouldnt necessarily mean all that much.

Trump cant by himself conclude an actual peace treaty. China, and possibly a representative of the U.N. Command, would have to be involved. South Korea would naturally want to be at the table. The U.S. Senate would have to ratify whatever they came up with.

Back in 1993, the administration of President Bill Clinton reached a familiar-sounding agreement with Pyongyang to achieve peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

The next year the two sides vowed to reduce barriers to trade and investment, open a liaison office in the others capital and make progress toward upgrading bilateral relations to the ambassadorial level. In 2000, Clinton and Kims father, Kim Jong Il, added a promise of respect for each others sovereignty and non-interference in each others internal affairs.

But by 2002, George W. Bush was back to calling the North part of an axis of evil. In 2006, North Korea tested its first nuclear device.

The lesson? Whatever grand proclamations are made, establishing real peace will go well beyond just another Trump and Kim summit.

But it could be a start. Eric Talmadge, Tokyo, AP
In the world of multibillion dollar defense contracts, India stands out.

Home to one of the biggest armed forces on the planet, the country has an uneasy co-existence with neighbors Pakistan and China. Its rapidly aging fighter jets make it a lucrative potential prize for the likes of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. While India wants to upgrade its fleet, theres one big road block: New Delhis famed red tape.

The country  the worlds biggest arms importer, with an annual defense budget of USD43 billion  has been dangling a potential $15 billion fighter jet deal for more than a decade, with Lockheed and Boeing, the worlds two largest contractors, vying for the chance to refit Indias air force.

Although drawn-out negotiations arent uncommon in the arms world, India took 32 years to seal a deal with the U.S. to buy 145 howitzers from BAE Systems Plc, with arcane procurement rules and shifting specifications contributing to the lengthy delays.

In a country with a long history of corruption allegations  a scandal involving Bofors AB guns in the 1980s brought down a government and delayed the subsequent howitzer deal that was eventually hammered out last year  bureaucrats have turned extra cautious to avoid misdeeds, adding layers of vetting for negotiated contracts.

A wary India, which is hosting its flagship air show this week, has also derailed plans by Lockheed and Boeing to breathe new life into their aging F-16 and F/A-18 programs. India is still seeking to replace its Soviet-era MiG aircraft, while countries such as Japan and South Korea have acquired modern stealth fighters such as Lockheeds F-35.

The Indian Air Force is facing a critical shortage of combat assets and other equipment, said Caron Natasha Tauro, an analyst at Janes by IHS Markit. With a two-front threat in its north from Pakistan and China, this shortage is perceived to be an immediate threat to national security.

About a third of Indias 650-strong fleet is more than 40 years old and set to be phased out over the next decade. The IAF has estimated it needs at least 45 squadrons to repel a joint attack from Pakistan and China, compared with a current active strength of about 25. The need is immediate. MDT/Bloomberg
The daughter of a Chinese Communist Party veteran boycotted his funeral yesterday, calling it an improper tribute to a man who once worked for Mao Zedong but later became a fierce critic of the regime.

Li Ruis memorial was held at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, where many high-ranking former officials are buried. His daughter Li Nanyang said the ceremony was against her fathers wishes, which according to her were: to not have a memorial, to not be brought to Babaoshan, and to not be draped with the party flag.

Li was 101 years old when he died of organ failure in Beijing last Saturday.

He was completely disappointed by the party, his daughter said in a phone interview from her home in the U.S. He felt that China was devoid of freedom of speech and that corruption was rampant in a system which allowed Communist officials to get rich while ordinary peoples lives stagnated, she said.

I believe that if my fathers soul is in heaven, he will be crying at the sight of his body covered by a party flag, Li Nanyang wrote in a statement to supporters. She said she chose not to attend the funeral in order to make her fathers stance clear.

Li Nanyang said people in China told her Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent flower wreaths to the memorial.

How hypocritical can you be? she remarked, calling it very ironic that the leaders would appear to honor her father when his books are banned in mainland China. They give an inside account of the partys tumultuous history.

He should be commemorated and remembered because he was Li Rui, not because he was a high- ranking Communist Party cadre, she said.

Li Rui joined the party more than a decade before the Peoples Republic was founded in 1949. He briefly served as one of Maos personal secretaries, but then was ousted from the party for expressing dissent. Li spent eight years in prison, regaining his party membership only after Maos death.

In an interview with the BBC in 2017, Li said he refused to write a self-criticism after he advocated tolerance for the students protesting in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Whenever there is a clash between the party and humanity, he said, I insist on humanity. AP
The Venetian Macao has been named Best Hotel in Macau at DestinAsian magazines 14th Readers Choice Awards, which was held in Singapore recently.

According to a statement issued by the gaming operator, Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, Cotai Central, The St. Regis Macao, Cotai Central and Conrad Macao also received top 10 recognition in the same category.

Results based on the experiences of members of the public are highly valued by the hospitality industry, so this makes the result even more meaningful. It validates the hard work and commitment of our team members and further drives us to continue exceeding guest expectations at every level, said Mark McWhinnie, Senior Vice President of Resort Operations & Development, Sands China Ltd.

The annual awards are based on DestinAsians reader nominations across 31 categories including best destinations, airlines, airports and hotels in the Asia-Pacific region.

MGM awarded in forbes travel guide

Forbes Travel Guide yesterday unveiled its annual Star Rating list, naming MGM Macau as a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Hotel for the fourth year in a row. This year, Tria Spas at both MGM Macau and MGM Cotai have also joined the Four-Star roster.

Grant Bowie, CEO and executive director of MGM China Holdings Limited, said, Id like to thank all of our team members for their dedication and passion, consistently creating great moments for, not only our guests, but also for the company with the earning of these prestigious accolades.

We are honored to once again be recognized as a top luxury travel destination in the world and will continue to strive for the best in all that we do, he added.
A professor who has held positions in both Hong Kong and Macau has been appointed as a consular adviser for the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau.

The academic, Dr. Emilie Tran, is currently an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University in the Department of Government & International Studies, and was formerly a professor and researcher at the University of St. Joseph, Macau.

The position of Conseillers Consulaires (consular advisers) was created by a law passed in France on July 22, 2013, which reformed the governance of the representation of French nationals living abroad.

For this position, officials are elected through direct universal suffrage by overseas French. The first such elections were held in 2014, and each mandate lasts for six years.

The representatives liaise with the members of the French parliament  the Senate and the National Assembly  to whom these officials relay the concerns of French people living overseas.

As I was the warden for the French living in Macau for many years, I was invited to join the campaign and my list back then in 2014 was the only one that included a French [national] from Macau, Tran told the Times.

It was then a significant gesture as the French in Macau might feel somewhat remote from the French community, since the French General consulate and French school are located in Hong Kong, she added.

The advisers also elect the representatives to the Assemblee des Francais de lEtranger, an assembly of 90 consular advisers, as well 12 senators (French Senate) and 11 legislators (National Assembly) representing the overseas French.

Since the French community is very large in Hong Kong, we are four [consular advisers] for Hong Kong and Macau  representing different political parties. Actually, my list is independent, not affiliated to any party in particular, said the official.

I share the same concerns as my fellow countrymen and women: schooling our children in a place with no French school  as it was the case in Macau  social security and retirement, taxation in our home country, [and so on], Tran concluded.

Tran has been living in China for the past 19 years in regions including Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau. She has been a contributor for Macau Daily Times since 2012. LV
China is barring foreign travelers from Tibet over a period of several weeks that includes a pair of sensitive political anniversaries questioning the legitimacy of Beijings rule over the Himalayan region.

Travel agencies contacted yesterday said foreign tourists would not be allowed back into Tibet until April 1. Its not clear when the ban started, although some monitoring groups said it began this month.

The ban was confirmed by the online customer service portal of the Tibet Youth International Travel Service, as well as staff at the Tibet Vista and Go to Tibet travel agencies. Both are based in the southwestern city of Chengdu  the main jumping-off point for visits to Tibet.

Staff members declined to give their names or offer details.

March 10 is the 60th anniversary of an abortive 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, while anti-government riots occurred March 14, 2008, in the regional capital Lhasa.

Although the foreigner travel ban is an annual occurrence, the occasion of the 60th anniversary is drawing added attention.

Amid heavy security on the ground, Tibet is almost entirely closed to foreign journalists and diplomats and information about actual conditions there is difficult to obtain.

The 1959 uprising resulted in the flight of Tibets traditional Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in India and the beginning of increasingly harsh Chinese rule over the region. Nearly five decades later, anger exploded in a series of protests in an around Lhasa that culminated in attacks on Chinese individuals and businesses in which the government says rioters killed 18 people.

An unknown number of Tibetans were killed by security forces in the aftermath.

China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for more than seven centuries and regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist.

Many Tibetans insist they were essentially independent for most of that time and have protested what they regard as Chinas heavy-handed rule imposed after the Peoples Liberation Armys battled its way into the Himalayan region in 1950.

More recently, traditionally Tibetan regions of western China have been racked by a series of self-immolations by Buddhist clergy and lay people protesting Chinese rule and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, now aged 83.

Despite the suffocating level of security, Tibet is an increasingly popular destination for tourists looking for mountain adventure and monuments to its unique Buddhist culture.

In 2017, more than 25 million trips from around the world were made to Tibet, an increase of 10.6 percent over the year before, generating 37.9 billion yuan (USD5.6 billion) in tourist revenue, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Numbers of visits rose again last year to more than 33 million, a rise of 31.5 percent, Xinhua said.

While Chinese may travel to Tibet at will, foreigners are required to obtain a special permit in addition to their Chinese visas.

While China has at times denied closing Tibet and never offered an explanation for any such measures, monitoring groups say its part of a strategy of concealing the extent of repression in the region.

This most recent development is part of the overall policy of the Chinese government to restrict access to Tibet for independent observers in order to maintain an iron grip in the region while at the same time avoiding any form of external scrutiny, Washington, D.C.-based International Campaign for Tibet said in an emailed statement. Christopher Bodeen, Beijing, AP
The Legislative Assembly has approved the Basic Law of Judicial Organization, including a controversial article that bars non-Chinese judges from ruling on matters of national security. That particular article was approved after a request for a separate vote with 28 in favor and three opposed. According to Radio Macau, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan justified the governments position on the discrimination by reiterating that, Macau  as part of China  has to safeguard the interests of the State.

Urban planners approve Lai Chi Vun maps

The Urban Planning Committee has approved draft maps of three areas in the Lai Chi Vun area of Coloane outside of the shipyards buffer zone. According to the plan released after yesterdays meeting, new buildings in the area will be limited to a maximum height of 8.9 meters. New buildings in one particular zone will be required to adopt the style of the heritage shipyards located in the area. The Executive Council concluded the listing of the Lai Chi Vun shipyards as a cultural and archaeological site of interest in December.

IFT to host smart tourism public forum

The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) will host a public forum with the theme of Smart Tourism, Smart Destinations as its fourth special, open-to-the-public such event. According to the education institution, the public forum forms part of its Greater Bay Area initiatives for training, education and research, undertaken jointly with Sun Yat Sen Universitys School of Tourism and the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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Letters to the Editor: UA Local 114 supports jobs, supports Aera; Poor design is a problem; A better plan than Green New Deal; We need Animal Rescue and Julia DiSieno
Seven of the 17 candidates who will appear on next weeks ballot for Public Advocate sparred Wednesday night on issues ranging from how the city should do successful economic development in the wake of the failed Amazon deal to whether Mayor Bill de Blasio should run for president. (On that there was no debate: everyone said no.)

This was the second and final televised opportunity for candidateswhat the New York City Campaign Finance Board dubbed the leading contenders debateahead of next weeks citywide special election on February 26th. To qualify, each candidate had to participate in the citys matching funds program, have raised and spent $170,813 (3.75% of the expenditure limit for Public Advocate) by the filing deadline, and received an endorsement from a local elected official or from a city-based organization with at least 250 members.

Participants included Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake, Brooklyn City Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr., Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim, investigative journalist Nomiki Konst, former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, attorney Dawn Smalls, and Brooklyn City Councilman Jumaane Williams.

Even with the focus narrowing to seven candidates, the stage was crowded and time limited; things got feisty, especially around a few key issues. Here are the highlights:

After Amazon, How to Invest Locally

When candidates debated for the first time earlier this month, opposition to the new Amazon campus was a theme for all but one candidate. City Councilman Eric Ulrich of Queens, the only elected Republican on the ballot, unequivocally supported Amazon. But he didnt qualify for the second debate.

This time the conversation was differentwithout the tech giant to kick around anymorethe question was how should the city and state be doing successful economic development.

Assemblyman Ron Kim of Queens called for more investment at the local level, in our infrastructure, our schools, and our arts communities. Those are the things that attract the talent and the people to the city of New York, which in turn attracts the companies, said Kim, who also pushed for states to forgo competing against each other with subsidy offers to corporations.

"Stop being a corporate Democrat," @rontkim says to @blakefornyc as the #AmazonHQ2 debate goes a little off the rails  Brigid Bergin (@brigidbergin) February 21, 2019

Several candidates urged city and state officials to focus more on supporting small business development. We can invest to make sure we can create 2,500 new businesses here in our city that can employ at least 10 people and that will bring us the 25,000 jobs that we need in our city, said Espinal, adding, but also create entrepreneurs and keep our wealth within the five boroughs.

Nomiki Konst, who is running an activist grassroots campaign, leaned in to her opposition to the tech giant. The politicians on the stage have been all over the place on this deal...I was the only person on the panel consistently saying that they wanted to kill the deal, said Konst.

Homeless SheltersNo Good Place to Site Them

In an effort to address the citys ongoing homelessness crisis, Mayor de Blasio announced plans to open additional shelters across the city with the aim of keeping people in their home neighborhoods. Candidates were asked if they ever opposed a shelter coming to their neighborhood and whether they support opening new shelters across the city.

Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake invoked the story of his own mother, who worked to escape homelessness in Jamaica and the struggle his family faced as a child making sure they had money to pay the rent. Still, Blake said shelters needed to be distributed equitably to ensure all neighborhoods were bearing their share of the burden and said he had opposed new shelters in his district because of oversaturation. The city needed to do more, he argued, to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place.

Maybe we should take away tax credits from landlords that are not implementing rent stabilization in the first place, said Blake. He added, Maybe we should help someone be able to keep their home in the first place. Maybe we should make sure someone has the support and the families have the support in the first place, instead of putting money into hotels.

Smalls, who has made combatting homelessness for women and children a central plank in her campaign platform, said shelters should be built where there is the greatest need. She said the goal should be to keep families near their kids schools.

I think if there are more homeless people in the Bronx there should be more homeless shelters in the Bronx to accommodate people from the Bronx, said Smalls.

After Blake interrupted, Smalls made the same point using the Upper East Side. If someone was born and raised on the Upper East Side, they should have a homeless shelter in the Upper East Side so that they can have continuity, can go to the same shops, go to the same schools and make sure that those services are available to them in their home communities, she said.

Is De Blasio Qualified To Run For President?

Whether or not he decides to make it official, de Blasio has made it clear that he intends to rack up the miles traveling around the country spreading his progressive policy ideas. While candidates were asked whether they thought the mayor was qualified to run for president, each candidate invariably offered their own reason for why de Blasio should sit out the 2020 race.

I mean legally if he is he's over the age of 35, he could run said Konst, but who argued instead that he should focus on local issues like the crumbling conditions at NYCHA.

I think he's completely delusional, said Kim, who blasted the mayors handling of schools, the subways and affordable housing.

If you can't handle those issues here in our own city I don't think you can handle the big stage, added Espinal.

This is a clear indication of why you have to think about who you elect for public advocate, said Blake, noting the public advocate is the first in line for succession to the mayor and also has the ability to introduce legislation to city council. While de Blasio is taking vacations, I'm ready to do the work for the people of New York, he said.

Even candidates who once endorsed the mayor shot down the idea of him as president.

He was supposed to be the blue wave before it occurred, said Williams, calling de Blasio, a disappointment particularly around policing and housing.

Without a doubt, the candidates see @JumaaneWilliams as the leading candidate in the Public Advocate's race. They all keep asking him questions, giving him the most air time by far. #NYCVotes  Brigid Bergin (@brigidbergin) February 21, 2019

Mark-Viverito, whose perceived closeness with the mayor was scrutinized during her time as speaker, was no less blunt. If it's not his pet project, then he's not focused on it and that's a disservice to the city of New York, she said. Mark-Viverito added, There are many things that we have pushed forward, like the closing of Rikers, like making sure that we decriminalize low level offenses, etc. that need focus to create a more just and equitable New York City. He's been absent on that and I have great concerns about that.

Smalls said the mayor was free to run but he would not be her candidate. Instead, she was excited by the number of women and people of color who were entering the race. Pivoting to a closing argument for her own candidacy ahead of Tuesdays special election, Smalls stressed the importance of diverse representation at all levels of government.

Right now the city's leadership is all white men, said Smalls, who is black. She added, It is important to have women's leadership not just in the White House but here in the city as well.

The special election for Public Advocate is Tuesday, February 26th. More details, including how to find your polling place, here.

Brigid Bergin is the City Hall and politics reporter for WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @brigidbergin.


Ojai naturalist Lanny Kaufer will venture out to Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve in Ojai on Saturday, May 25 -- and he's inviting the public.
It shouldnt take celebrity Instagram posts to kindle New Yorkers outrage about an unexplained and possibly unnatural death in one of our state prisons. Yet that is what happened in the case of Anthony Myrie, who died last week at the age of 24 after collapsing at Greene Correctional Facility in the northern Hudson Valley. More to the point, its something that seldom happens at all, in a reputedly progressive state with a prison system where subhuman conditions, widespread abuse, medical neglect and even death regularly go unnoticed and unremarked.

On February 11, just hours after speaking with her husband on the phone, Myries wife received a call from the prison with the devastating news that he had died. For days, his family tried to get more information about what had happened to Myrie, a Brooklyn native and father of three who was just a few months into his sentence for attempted sale of a controlled substance. In grief and anger, and suspecting a coverup by the prison, Myries brother finally took to Instagramand caught the eye of rappers Meek Mill and Cardi B.

So no major news platforms gonna cover this?????, wrote Mill, who has 15.5 million Instagram followers. His family cant find his body after they contacted his family and said he died in state custody!!! New York speak up!!! Cardi B, with 40.8 million followers, wrote, GREENCORRECTIONAL FACILITY YOU NOT FUCKING GETTING AWAY WITH THIS ONE BITCH!!, adding that a friend of hers had been beaten by corrections officers at Greene.

Both posts went viral, drawing tens of thousands of enraged commentsand soon, dozens of stories in the local and national media. Only a few of them mentioned that while the treatment of Myries family was surely a travesty, and the circumstances of his death might turn out to be nefarious as well, neither one was a unique or even uncommon occurrence in the annals of the New York State prison system.

Likewise, the horrific conditions recently endured by people held in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who were trapped in cells without heat or light on the coldest days of the winter, received widespread media coverage and visits from local and national elected officials. New Yorkers were shocked by the vision of desperate men and women pounding on barred windows above a Brooklyn street. But desperation of many kinds is felt behind the walls of prisons located in remote corners of upstate New York, and remains largely unnoticed except by those with incarcerated loved ones.

Much of what happens in prison stays in prison, but some stories do make it beyond the walls via lawsuits, investigative journalism, and incarcerated people who are willing risk retaliation to expose the truth. These stories are enough to show a pattern of unrestrainedand often unpunishedbrutality and neglect in the past five years alone, spanning many of the states 54 prisons.

For example, the high-profile escape of two men from Clinton Correctional Facility, in the summer of 2015, brought on a paroxysm of violence as officers tried to torture information out of men who knew the escapees, beating them while handcuffed and choking them with plastic bags. Their efforts were futile, since the only people who had aided in the escape were members of the prison staff.

A single corrections officer, Troy Mitchell, has cost New York state almost $1 million in settlements of abuse and sexual harassment cases. Most recently, in a federal lawsuit filed last year, Matthew Raymond alleges that Mitchell waterboarded him and beat him so badly in Auburn prison in 2016 that he can no longer urinate without a catheter. He also says that he did not receive outside medical treatment for months after the attack. Mitchell was finally suspended without pay in August 2017 after reports of similar attacks on two other men.

At times, the physical abuse is deadly. In 2015, a 30-year-old man named Samuel Harris, who had a history of bipolar disorder, was fatally beaten by up to 20 officers at Fishkill Correctional, including a group known as the Beat Up Squad. Incarcerated men who witnessed the attack said he was thrown or dragged down a staircase and jumped on like he was a trampoline. An autopsy classified Harris death a homicide, but the officers did not face criminal charges. Several incarcerated witnesses of the violence said they were put in solitary confinement and threatened physically after speaking about the attack.

Sexual abuse is appallingly commonplace in New Yorks state prisons, as well. In 2012, at the now-closed Bayview Correctional, a 24-year-old woman was repeatedly raped by an officer named James Ford Jr, who had also assaulted other women over the previous four years. Some assaults took place in full view of the officers station, and in one instance Ford smiled and tipped his hat at the security camera. According to the most recent available numbers, there were 258 reports of sexual misconduct by staff members in New York State prisons in 2015, and 242 in 2016far outnumbering reports of such acts committed by incarcerated people.

Individuals who report physical and sexual abuse are sometimes sent to solitary confinement on manufactured disciplinary charges. Despite incremental reductions in the use of solitary, New York still holds about 3,600 people, or 7.5 percent of its prison population, in 23-hour-a-day isolationa rate far above the national average. While UN guidelines recommend limiting solitary to 15 days, there are men in New York who have been in solitary for more than 30 years. And solitary sentences are doled out to African Americans and Latinos at far higher rates than to whitesjust one expression of the endemic racism in many upstate prisons.

The use of solitary confinement is likely one of the factors contributing to a prison suicide rate in New York that was 56 percent higher than the national average; about 30 percent of those suicides happened in solitary. In 2014, 21-year-old Benjamin Van Zandt, who had a history of mental illness, hanged himself in his solitary confinement cell at Fishkill. His father, Douglas Van Zandt, like Anthony Myries family, recalls that we were treated horribly by the prison the entire time. I was frantic after we learned our son was dead and tried to get information, but nobody would take my call.

Some incarcerated lives are lost not to brutality or torture, but to simple neglect. An unpublished November 2018 report by a medical review board found that over the previous five years, around 50 deaths in New York prisons could have been prevented by commonplace medical or mental health care.



On June 6, 2015, Governor Cuomo toured Dannemora correctional facility where two inmates escaped (Governor's Office)

Its no secret that the public tends to pay less attention to suffering and death when they take place behind bars, and to place less value on the lives of people who have been branded as criminals. But none of the abuse that happens in New Yorks correctional facilities is supposed to be part of any prison sentence. And in fact, we are all more responsible for these violations of human rights and human decency when they take place in public institutions that are purportedly maintained on our behalf.

State oversight bodies have proved themselves unable to significantly affect conditions in New Yorks prisons, especially in the face of resistance from NYSCOBPA, the powerful correction officers union. But New Yorkers now have a direct opportunity to bring about real change in our prisons and jails. With the new legislature in place in Albany, bills have been introduced or are expected soon on bail reform, speedy trials, parole reform, and early release for some aging people in prison.

The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, in particular, would seriously challenge the brutal punishment paradigm in our prisons and increase transparency and oversight. At present, it is close to passing in both houses, but has not yet received the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo. (The governors office did not immediately return a request for comment.)

The governor has introduced his own set of less sweeping criminal justice reforms. But New Yorkers should push for real changes that have the rule of law behind them. Only then will our prisons cease to be a shame to our state, and only then will families like those of Anthony Myrie, Samuel Harris, and Benjamin Van Zandt be spared unbearable and unconscionable losses.

Jean Casella and Katie Rose Quandt are Co-Director and Staff Writer, respectively, for Solitary Watch, a watchdog group that investigates and exposes the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.
Davey Steele took his first head coaching job when he still was attending classes at the University of Idaho, and coaching has been a major aspect of his life since.
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Marti and Jerry Vavra of Gates were busy Wednesday assembling their dog photography booth. Marti sets up the dogs and her husband uses a quick shutter finger to capture the perfect pose. They started out taking photographs of people, but after attending a seminar featuring information on dog photography, they switched their focus.

We had two Shelties and they would do anything I wanted, she said.

The Vavras used to travel as far as Texas to attend shows, but now confine their schedule to about 15 weekends in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

We have families come from as far as Seattle to have their puppies photographed, Marti said. We also take photos of older dogs so their owners can have memories of them.

She added that its important to know what each breed should look like.

German shepherds should have their ears up and their mouths open, she said. Cocker spaniels should have their ears down and their mouths shut. Its all based on the American Kennel Club standards.

One of their photos is of 10 puppies facing forward, without the use of Photoshop.
Memory and thinking skills naturally slow with age. Scientists are now looking inside living brains to tell if depression might speed aging. The scientists report that some of the signs they have found are worrisome.

Depression has long been linked to some cognitive problems. Depression late in life even may increase the risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Yet how depression might harm the ability to remember things and think clearly is not yet known.

One possibility: Brain cells communicate by sending messages across connections called synapses. Generally, good cognition is linked to more and stronger synapses. With a weakening of cognitive ability, those connections slowly shrink and die. But until recently, scientists could count synapses only in brain tissue collected after the person dies.

Yale University scientists used a new method to study the brains of living people. They discovered that patients with depression had a lower density of synapses than healthy people of the same age.

The lower the density, the more severe the signs of depression. Yale University neuroscientist Irina Esterlis says this is especially true of problems with loss of interest in activities patients once enjoyed. She spoke at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Esterlis was not studying just older adults, but people of all ages, including those too young for any cognitive changes to be noticeable. She was working from a theory that early damage can build up.

We think depression might be accelerating the normal aging, she said.

Her studies are small. To prove if depression really does increase the risk of cognitive problems as we age would require more investigation. Jovier Evans is a scientist with the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. He proposed a study of synaptic density on larger numbers of people as they get older, to see if and how it changes over time in those with and without depression.

Esterlis has announced plans for a larger study to do that. Volunteers would be injected with a radioactive substance that links up to a protein in the vesicles, or storage containers, used by synapses. Then each volunteer would be given an imaging test, known as a PET scan. During the test, areas with synapses light up, enabling researchers to see how many are in different parts of the brain.

Esterlis said there are no medications that target synapse damage.

Doctor Mary Sano directs the Mount Sinai Alzheimers Disease Research Center in New York. She was not involved in the new research.

Sano warned that normal cognitive aging is a complex process that involves other health problems, such as heart disease. It might be that depression does not worsen synaptic weakening. It could just makes the problem more noticeable, she said.

With depression at any age, theres a hit on the brain. At an older age the hit may be more visible because there may already be some loss, she explained.

Im Ashley Thompson.

Lauran Neergaard reported this story for the Associated Press. George Grow adapted her report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

cognitive  adj. of or being related to thinking, reasoning or remembering

accelerate  v. to move faster

visible  adj. able to be seen

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
President Vladimir Putin says Russia is prepared to target American decision-making centers if the United States sends new missiles to Europe.

The Russian leader spoke Wednesday during his state-of-the-nation address in Moscow. He said Russia would answer any U.S. move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own new missiles closer to America or by deploying faster missiles.

Putin said Russia does not plan to be the first to deploy new intermediate-range nuclear missiles. But he warned of possible action against new U.S. nuclear missile deployments in Europe that would put the weapons much closer to Russia.

They will only take 10-12 minutes to reach Moscow, Putin said. Its a very serious threat to us, and we will have to respond.

He said Russia could deploy new weapons of its own that would be designed to reach enemy targets just as quickly.

Russia will be forced to create and deploy new types of weapons that could be used not only against the territories where a direct threat to us comes from, but also against the territories where decision-making centers directing the use of missile systems threatening us are located, he said.

In his address, Putin also spoke about the U.S. plan to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. American president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty in 1987. It banned the production, testing and deployment of land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

Intermediate-range weapons were seen as especially dangerous because they reach their targets much faster than long-range missiles. An attack with intermediate-range missiles would leave effectively no time for decision-makers to react, raising the possibility of a world nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

The U.S. has accused Russia of violating the INF treaty by deploying a kind of missile that violates its limits.

Putin said the U.S. accusations were unfounded and were used to justify (Americas) withdrawal from the treaty. He added that the move will also give the U.S. the chance to build and deploy new missiles.

The president did not explain how or where Russia planned to deploy missiles with a shorter strike time. One possibility would be to put them on land of an ally near U.S. territory.

Russia could also deploy faster missiles on submarines, or use one of the hypersonic weapons it says it has been developing. Such weapons are called hypersonic because they operate at an extremely high speed. They can travel as fast as several times the speed of sound.

Putin said a new submarine designed to carry an underwater drone with nuclear strike capability - called Poseidon - would be launched this spring.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page .

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Words in This Story

intermediate  adj. between the highest and lowest levels of something

respond  v. say or do something as an answer or reaction to something that has been said or done

located  v. to be in a particular place

justify  v. give a good reason to make something seem acceptable

drone  n. a kind of small air vehicle that flies without a pilot


Living in outer space for nearly a year had some interesting effects on American astronaut Scott Kelly.

Scientists found signs of increased activity in his immune system, the bodys natural defenses against disease. Life in space also changed the activity of some of Kellys genes compared to those of his identical twin brother, who stayed on Earth.

The scientists reported their findings at a conference earlier this month. But they admit they do not yet know if the changes are good or bad.

The findings are part of a larger, special study of twins from NASA, the United States governments space agency. The study raises new questions for doctors as agency officials make plans to send people to the planet Mars.

Tests of Kelly and his genetically identical brother have given scientists a chance like never before to study details of human biology. They are able to examine how an astronauts genes turn on and off in space differently than on Earth.

One unexpected change announced at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Kellys immune system was hyperactivated.

Geneticist Christopher Mason helped lead the study. Mason is with Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Universitys medical school in New York City. He told the Associated Press that doctors are now looking for this unusual condition in other astronauts.

Its as if the body is reacting to this alien environment sort of like you would a mysterious organism being inside you, Mason said.

The health effects of space exploration

Since the beginning of space exploration, NASA has studied its effects on astronauts bodies. One effect is bone loss, which results from being in a low-gravity environment over an extended period. As a result, astronauts are now required to perform physical exercise during long space flights.

Usually astronauts are 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.

Ive never felt completely normal in space, Kelly wrote in an email to The Associated Press. He noted congestion and pain in his head, trouble paying attention, and stomach problems.

But this study was a look into the molecular level, with former astronaut Mark Kelly, Scotts twin brother, on the ground for comparison.

A number of genes connected to the immune system became hyperactive, Charles Mason said. It is not a change in DNA, the carrier of genetic information, but in what is called gene expression. This term is used to describe how genes turn off and on and increase or decrease their production of proteins.

Mason also noted an increase in the bloodstream of another marker that prepares the immune system. Yet at the same time, Kellys blood showed fewer of another kind of cell that is an early defense against viruses.

New discoveries

It is not a surprise that gene activity would change in space  it changes in reaction to all kinds of conditions.

The good news is most everything returned to normal shortly after Kelly returned to Earth in March 2016. However, those immune-related genes, seemed to have this memory or this need to almost be on high alert even six months later, Mason added.

Craig Kundrot heads space life and science research for NASA. He seemed pleased with the findings.

There are no major new warning signs. We are seeing changes that we didnt necessarily anticipate but it is unclear if those changes are important, Kundrot noted.

From four Russians living in space for more than a year, NASA already knew it is possible for people to spend large amounts of time away from Earth, Kundrot said. He added, We also aim for more than just possible. We want our astronauts to do more than just survive.

In the end, the twin study gives NASA a list of things to watch for on future space missions to see if other astronauts react the same way. Astronauts on future flights will be able to do some of this testing in space instead of freezing blood and other material for scientists back home, Mason said.

A human mission to Mars, which NASA hopes to launch in the 2030s, would take 30 months, including time on the surface, said Kundrot.

Radiation is a top concern. The trip would expose astronauts to radiation levels higher than NASAs own safety limits. Its just a little bit over, he said.

On Earth and even on the space station, Earths magnetic field protects astronauts from high levels of radiation. There would be no such protections on the way to Mars and back, but special structures could help them on the planet, Kundrot said.

Im Anna Matteo.

And Im Pete Musto.

Lauran Neergaard and Seth Borenstein reported this story for the Associated Press. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

How eager would you be to live in outer space, or on another planet, for a long period of time? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Quiz - New Study: Life in Outer Space Puts Bodys Defenses on Alert Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz



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Words in This Story

identical twin  n. either member of a pair of two babies that are produced from a single egg and who look exactly alike

hyperactivated  adj. made more active than is usual or desirable

alien  adj. not familiar or like other things you have known

congestion  n. a condition where a part of the body is blocked with fluid, such as blood or mucus

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)  n. a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of plants and animals

alert  n. the state of being ready for something you have been warned about, such as an attack

anticipate  v. to think of something that will or might happen in the future

expose  v. to cause someone to experience something or to be influenced or affected by something

mission  n. a flight by an aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific task
After Amazon decided not to build a giant corporate campus in Queens last week, the blame has mostly been spread amongst progressive activists, State Senator Michael Gianaris, the $3 billion in grants and subsidies, anddear Godeven Amazon itself. Among the many people who weren't directly involved: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sure, she tweeted about it a few times, but she had zero authority or oversight over the deal itself, and she doesn't even rep the district in Long Island City where Amazon was landing. Nevertheless, she is a lightning rod for frothing-at-the-mouth, right-wing inanity, which might explain why a conservative group put up a giant billboard in Times Square this week sarcastically thanking AOC for tanking the Amazon deal she had nothing to do with.

Check out the sign in Times Sq.! Thanks to @JobCreatorsUSA! pic.twitter.com/iIN0DTo8r2  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 20, 2019

The Job Creators Network (JCN), an "advocacy group" founded by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and funded primarily by Republican megadonors the Mercer Family Foundation, said they were putting the billboard up on 42nd Street near 8th Avenue for a week. "The pullout of Amazonbecause of anti-business politicians, notably Ocasio-Cortezis a major blow to the New York economy," they said in a statement.

"The Amazon pullout is a perfect example of what weve been saying: socialism takes and capitalism creates," said Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO. "The economic consequences of Amazons pullout is just a small taste of the harm that is to come if Ocasio-Cortezs anti-business canon comes to fruition and is made federal policy."

AOC, of course, was typically unfazed by the attack against her: "Few things effectively communicate the power weve built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers)," she wrote on Twitter. "(PS fact that its in Times Sq tells you this isnt for/by NYers.)"

She's also turning rancid lemons into lemonade by fundraising off of the billboard attacks as well, sending an email out to supporters today saying, "right-wing groups are seizing that chance to smear Alexandria and attack her for supporting community activists."

The group that bought this billboard in Times Square doesnt care about New Yorks 14th district, or the people of New York. Its just a front group, funded by the Mercer Foundation and bolstered by Breitbart. Their founder was the second largest donor to Donald Trumps 2016 campaign. This isnt about jobs, and these right-wing provocateurs couldnt care less about the working-class families that would have been displaced by Amazon. This is about sending a message to local politicians that dare to question the backroom deals that give massive corporations billions of dollars that could be spent on our subways and schools.

And then she threw in some (justified) Michael Scott comparisons just for a laugh:

Billionaires paying to put up anti-progressive propaganda in Times Square is like the obscenely rich version of the scene where Michael Scott points to the Bubba Gump and saying This is it, this is the heart of civilization, right here.  https://t.co/NJXggcSZJv  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2019

As Investopedia has previously reported, "It costs between $1.1 and $4 million a year to buy advertising space in Times Square. Moreover, it can cost up to $3 million per month to advertise on Time Square's largest billboard."

Three million per month works out to roughly $750,000 per week, which is less than what Jeff Bezos makes every four minutes.
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has a record of breaking out of prisons. The head of an illegal drugs organization escaped from two high-security Mexican prisons before being captured and taken to the United States for a trial.

Last week, a U.S. federal court found El Chapo guilty of buying, selling and transporting illegal drugs. Since Guzman is likely to receive a life sentence, where will the U.S. imprison someone like him?

Experts say Guzman will likely serve his sentence at the federal governments supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The prison is also known as administrative maximum or ADX. It is so secure and removed from society that it has been called the Alcatraz of the Rockies. Alcatraz was a highly secure federal prison on an island off the coast of San Francisco.

ADX is located outside an old mining town about two hours south of Colorados capital of Denver. The prison houses the nations most violent offenders. Many of its 400 prisoners are held alone for 23 hours a day in 2.1-by-3.7 meter cells. The few objects in the cells are made of concrete.

Cameron Lindsay had run three federal prisons, including the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He said, Id be absolutely shocked if hes not sent to the ADX.

Prison escapes

In 2015, Guzman escaped from the maximum-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico. In that case, he communicated with helpers outside the prison for weeks using mobile phones. Guzman escaped through an opening beneath his shower. He then rode on the back of a waiting motorcycle through a 1.6 kilometer-long passageway to freedom.

In 2001, Guzman got out of another top-security Mexican prison in a laundry basket.

Mike Vigil is a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. He said that Guzman had to have had help from people working in the prisons in order to escape. He added, There is no doubt corruption played a role in both of his spectacular escapes.

Bob Hood was a former warden of ADX Florence. He told the television program Inside Edition, "No one has [escaped] so far, since 1994 when they opened.

A report by the non-governmental organization Amnesty International found that prisoners at ADX often go days with only a few words spoken to them.

Most prisoners at ADX are given a television. But their only view of the outside world is through a 10-centimeter window. The windows design prevents them from even knowing where they are housed in the prison. There is little contact with other human beings. Prisoners eat all meals in their individual cells, less than one meter from their toilets.

The prison itself is guarded by sharp-edged wire fences, gunmen in tall structures, heavily armed guards and attack dogs.

Burl Cain is a former warden of the maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He said, If ever there were an escape-proof prison, its the facility at Florence. Its the prison of all prisons.

Federal officials have not said for certain where El Chapo will be housed. But U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said after last weeks verdict that Guzman faces, in his words, a sentence from which there is no escape and no return.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Jim Mustian reported this story for the Associated Press news agency. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

maximum  adj. greatest possible in amount or degree

concrete  n. a hard, strong material that is used for building and made by mixing cement, sand, and broken rocks with water

laundry basket  n. a container made for clothes, towels, sheets, etc. that need to be washed or that have been washed

spectacular  adj. causing wonder and admiration; very impressive

warden  n. an official who is in charge of a prison

facility  n. something such as a building or large piece of equipment that is built for a specific purpose

verdict  n. the decision made by a jury in a trial
Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Tenure Committee at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has voted to recommend to SULC's Chancellor that Angela A. Allen-Bell, Regina L. Ramsey, and Wendy K. Shea, who are currently associate professors of legal analysis and writing, receive immediate tenure and the title of Associate Professor of Law. The SULC Chancellor announced that he would recommend their tenure to the board of supervisors in March. The tenure committee also voted to award an endowed professorship to Wendy Shea.

Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a 1998 graduate of the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Prior to entering law school, she served as a Program Director for the National Council of Negro Women of Greater New Orleans. After law school, she spent ten years working at an appellate court and, in this capacity, gained an expertise in appellate law. In 2008, she left the judiciary and began her career in academia as a law professor. Professor Allen-Bell frequently lends her time to causes involving social and/or restorative justice, criminal justice reform and prisoner reentry. She is regular speaker to community groups and professional organizations. Her topics range from motivational messages to diversity and cultural competency talks to presentations about social, restorative or criminal justice and/or constitutional, civil or human rights issues. She has the distinction of having worked on several historic advocacy campaigns, such as the Angola 3 case, the case of Soledad Brother John Clutchette and the abolishment of Louisianas non-unanimous jury law.

Professor Regina Ramsey is the associate vice chancellor for evening division and emerging programs and serves on the legal analysis and writing faculty. She joined the Southern University Law Center as director of career counseling and development in September 2000. Before joining the Law Center administration, Ramsey was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable John Michael Guidry of the First Circuit Court of Appeal. She is also a former associate with McGlinchey Stafford in the firms New Orleans office and then in the Baton Rouge office. She is a magna cum laude law graduate who ranked number one in her class. She was editor-in-chief of the Southern University Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board, where she was winner of awards for Best Brief and Best Team in the Intra-school Competition. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, where she was inducted in Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma. Her research and scholarship focuses on education law and constitutional law. She is also a frequent CLE speaker on issues of professionalism and ethics.

Wendy K. Shea joined the Southern University Law Center faculty in 2008 as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Analysis and Writing. Shea had served as a law clerk for the Illinois Appellate Court of Illinois and taught legal writing as an adjunct instructor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and DePaul University College of Law. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Valparaiso University School of Law where she was a Presidential Honors Scholar and an associate editor for the VUSL Law Review. Shea received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Mary in North Dakota.

Hat tip to Professor Gail S. Stephenson, the Louisiana Outside Counsel A.A. Lenoir Endowed Professor and Director of Legal Analysis & Writing at the Southern University Law Center.

(mew)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legalwriting/2019/02/sulc.html
Wednesday, February 20, 2019

In its unanimous opinion in Timbs v. Indiana, the United States Supreme Court held that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Recall that the oral argument heavily pointed toward this outcome. While there was some discussion during oral argument about the relationship between excessive fines and civil in rem forfeiture, the Court's opinion, authored by Justice Ginsburg, rejected Indiana's attempt to "reformulate the question" to one focused on civil asset forfeitures. This was not the argument that the Indiana Supreme Court ruled upon. Moreover, the question of incorporation is not dependent on whether "each and every particular application" of a right passes the incorporation test, using as an example the Court's unanimous opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina (2017), in which the Court did not ask whether the First Amendment's "application to social media websites was fundamental or deeply rooted."

Instead, the Court clearly held that the "safeguard" of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment is "fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty" with "deep roots in [our] history and tradition," citing McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the Court's most recent incorporation case. In an opinion of less that ten pages, Ginsburg discusses the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights after the Glorious Revolution, the inclusion of the Clause in colonial constitutions and in state constitutions at the time of the Fourteenth Amendment, the misuse of excessive fines in Black Codes, and the current inclusion of the provision in the constitutions of all 50 states.

Justice Thomas, in a concurring opinion longer than the Court's opinion, reiterates the position he articulated in McDonald v. Chicago that it should not be the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that is the vehicle for incorporation but the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Justice Gorsuch writes a separate and very brief concurring opinion acknowledging that the appropriate vehicle for incorporation "may well be" the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause, but "nothing in this case turns on that question."

Given that this is a unanimous opinion, unlike McDonald in which Justice Thomas was necessary to the five Justice majority regarding the incorporation of the Second Amendment, the attempt to resurrect the Privileges or Immunities Clause carries little precedential weight.

Thus, now the only rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights that are not incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment to the states are: the Third Amendment prohibiting quartering of soldiers, Fifth Amendment right to a grand jury indictment in a criminal case; and the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in civil cases.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2019/02/scotus-declares-excessive-fines-prohibition-incorporated-as-against-the-states.html
UC Davis Chancellor Selects Renetta Garrison Tull as Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Chancellor Gary S. May of the University of California, Davis, has selected Renetta Garrison Tull to serve as vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, a new position May announced last March to engage more effectively with the recruitment and retention of the best and brightest students, faculty and staff. Tull is a passionate advocate, global mentor, education policy strategist, and champion for equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Tull is associate vice provost for strategic initiatives at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), as well as director of graduate and professional pipeline development and special assistant to the senior vice chancellor for the University System of Maryland (USM). She is co-director and co-principal investigator of the USMs Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), which covers three universities and two affiliate campuses and aims to increase the number of STEM bachelors and graduate degrees earned by students from historically underrepresented groups.

Im thrilled that Renetta will join my leadership team and advance a culture of excellence and collaboration on both the Davis and Sacramento campuses, Chancellor May said. Renetta is a seasoned leader with a deep dedication to fostering pathways for underrepresented students in STEM fields.

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The new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which Tull will lead, will comprise four units: Campus Community Relations; Office of Academic Diversity; Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Davis Campus; and UC Davis Healths Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

I am excited to join the UC Davis family, and I appreciate the warm welcome that is being extended, Tull said. It will be an honor to champion and uphold tenets that create an environment that is supportive of all students, faculty and staff. I am grateful to senior leadership, my colleagues and students from UMBC and the University System of Maryland for their generous support and well wishes. I carry the foundation of inclusive excellence with me.

In addition to directing the LSAMP program at UMBC, Tull is co-principal investigator and founding director for the National Science Foundations PROMISE: Marylands Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate (AGEP) for 12 institutions in the state university system. She has led workshops for students from across the United States and Latin America to prepare them for graduate school. A few sponsors of those workshops include AGEP, National GEM Consortium, National Society of Black Engineers, Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Alliance/Merck Ciencia Hispanic Scholars Program.

Deep commitment to inclusive excellence

My UMBC colleagues and I congratulate UC Davis on its wise decision to recruit Dr. Renetta Tull, UMBC President Freeman A. Hrabowski III said. Over the past 16 years she has contributed substantially to our progress, both on this campus and in the University System of Maryland. She will bring extraordinary problem-solving skills, a deep commitment to inclusive excellence, and the rare quality of emotional intelligence. We will miss her here in Maryland  she is admired broadly here by faculty, students and all of us.

Tull is Professor of the Practice in UMBCs College of Engineering and Information Technology, where she focuses on humanitarian engineering. She has also served as adjunct faculty in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is vice president of initiatives for the Latin and Caribbean Consortium for Engineering Institutions, and she has been a speaker at the United Nations, as a guest of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for side events of the Commission on the Status of Women. Her work in diversity has been recognized by the Global Engineering Deans Council and the accreditation board for engineering and technology.

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Renetta is a perfect fit for UC Davis, said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law, who served as the chair of the recruitment advisory committee. She has an impressive record of diversity, equity and inclusion advocacy and support for diverse and excellent students from coast to coast and beyond through an array of national initiatives and efforts.

The UC Davis campus community is fortunate indeed to have a diversity, equity and inclusion expert of Renettas caliber.

STEM and Society

Tull has written more than 50 publications, given more than 200 presentations on various STEM topics, and is a Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer. She also engages the public on topics related to STEM and society, and was a speaker for Diversity, STEAM and Comics, where A adds the arts to STEM, at Awesome Con last March.

She is a member of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, and served on the board of advisors for the Pacific Northwest Circle of Success: Mentoring Opportunities in STEM (PNW-COSMOS, an alliance for graduate education and the professoriate) to increase the number of American Indian/Alaska Native students who complete STEM graduate programs. She has served on boards that develop policies for faculty diversity, and is a committee member for the Science of Effective Mentoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Tull earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Howard University, and, then, at Northwestern University, a masters in electrical engineering (focused on speech signal processing) and doctorate in speech science. She was an Anna Julia Cooper postdoctoral fellow, researching vocal physiology, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A passion for communicating to diverse audiences is demonstrated by Tulls long list of speaking engagements, blog, interviews. awards and recognition. Her husband of more than 25 years, Damon L. Tull, shares her commitment to equity and access. She is active on Twitter with the handle: @Renetta_Tull #ThinkBigDiversity.

Tull will begin as vice chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on July 1.
U.S. Bank Honors West Angeles CDC Executive Director

Dr. Belinda Allen, executive director of West Angeles Community Development Corporation, is being honored as part of the Black History Month observance sponsored by U.S. Bank.

Celebrating Black History Month is an opportunity for us to celebrate the leaders in our communities who we partner with to make a tangible difference, said Greg Cunningham, vice president, diversity and inclusion for U.S. Bank.

The other honorees Jackie Taylor, founder and CEO of Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago; Dr. Eve M. Hall, president of the Milwaukee Urban League; and Linda Harris, senior vice president of the Urban League of Metro St. Louis.

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Through Community Possible, were proud to support the communities where we live, work and play  and these nonprofit organizations who make life better for all our neighbors, Cunningham said.

The West Angeles Community Development Corporation helps West Angeles residents achieve their possible, noted Allen, who shared that the organizations mission is to increase social and economic justice, demonstrate compassion and alleviate poverty. The CDC reaches more than 20,000 clients each year.

I believe in giving back to the community where you live and where you work, said Allen.

From youth financial education, wealth building and leadership programs, to employment, small business assistance, homeownership and senior housing, West Angeles Community Development Corporation is committed to revitalizing the community so people of all ages can thrive, said Bonnie Tseng, vice president and community development manager at U.S. Bank.

West Angeles CDCs multimillion dollar, transit-oriented affordable housing development, was also recently financed by U.S. Bank.

U.S. Bank has been a partner with us for over a decade, Allen noted. The partnership allows us to offer our services more efficiently and effectively, and on a broader scale.

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Learn more at westangelescdc.org or usbank.com/blackhistorymonth.
Success On The Way Ask Dr. Jeanette-Single Mothers Got It Right!

Recurring challenges and adventures of single motherhood, raising children may seem an impossible achievement. Mothers all over prove their strength/fortitude to overcome innumerable confrontations. Fabulous single mothers manage to make it despite unexpected hardships. There are emotional, financial, physical and housing challenges. Sometimes they may not know where the next meal is coming from; but they persevere with faith, never giving up. They find inner strength and support from the Lord, grandparents and other relatives who jump right on in there to help. Some mothers are abandoned, others divorced, and unexpected death leaving children to become orphans, etc. But, these great mothers still love their children and support them through thick and thin.

Oh! The love of mothers! Bless them! Good mothers dont come prepackaged, highly educated and rich. One important factor is: these single mothers chose the road to childbirth rather than abortion. They laid aside fear and challenges of childrearing. Lets applaud them, congratulate them and call them Blessed! Just think of great people who never made it through the birth channel. Millions did not. These did.

Kanye Wests parents divorced when he was three-years-old, at which point he was raised solely by his mother in Chicago, Illinois. Age: 41. Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. President Barack Obama was raised by his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, from the time that he was born until he was four-years-old, when she married Lolo Soetoro. Age: 57. Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America.

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Halle Berrys parents, Judith Ann Hawkins and Jerome Jesse Berry, divorced when she was four years old. The Catwoman star was then raised by her mother and had little contact with her father.Age: 52. Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America. Jay-Z was raised by his mother in New York after his father abandoned his family. Age: 49. Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States of America. Hitch actress Eva Mendes was raised by her mother after her parents got divorced. Age: 44. Birthplace: Miami, Florida, United States of America. Eddie Murphys father died when he was very young. He was raised by his mother, Lillian, in Roosevelt, New York.Age: 57. Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States of America. Keanu Reevess father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves, Jr., abandoned his family when the Matrix actor was just three years old. Reeves was then raised by his mother, Patricia Bond, and at times, various stepfathers. Age: 54. Birthplace: Beirut, Lebanon.

Ben Carson: SonyaRobinson Carson, a single mother with little formal education, of Ben Carson, renowned pediatric is credited with having been the molding influence on his life; he has acknowledged numerous times.All that I am is because of the love of my mother. She was one of Gods greatest blessings to me, and it was her foresight and discernment that pushed me to reach my dreams. Teach Our Children. Jeanette Grattan Parker, Ph.D. Founder/Superintendent Todays Fresh Start Charter Schools, www.todaysfreshstart.org[email protected]
State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell Joins the Race for 2nd District Supervisor Seat

Last Thursday, February 14, 2019, State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell announced that she is entering the race for the 2nd District seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Today I am excited to share that I am officially launching my campaign to serve on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for District 2.

Over the past nine years Ive had the honor of representing the people of Los Angeles as State Senator for Californias 30th District. This experience has provided me with the opportunity to hear directly from communities on the issues impacting their lives and to achieve legislative victories that align with our shared values.

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I am proud of the wins we have made in criminal justice reform, increasing access to quality healthcare, and to have passed two state budgets that expanded funding for vital services for infants, students and working families.

I have never backed down from doing what is right and necessary. I believe in the best Los Angeles County has to offer and I am willing to fight for it. This is why I am running for County Supervisor.

Whether youre a third generation Angeleno like me or someone who just moved here, our communities must continue to be a place of possibility for all residents no matter their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or economic status.

We live in a time where the progress we have made and continue to fight for is under attack. Our communities are expecting their leaders to represent their voice and to be a moral compass for our country. I can guarantee you that as County Supervisor, I will lead with the moral integrity and effectiveness that we deserve.

The 2nd District stretches from Culver City to Carson and encompasses about half of the countys Black population. Political veterans Councilman Herb Wesson former Councilmember Jan Perry are also competing for the seat. Mark Ridley-Thomas is the current 2nd District Supervisor.

To learn more about how to get involved go to www.hollyjmitchell.com
Sentencing Set In Race-Based Shooting Amid Katrina Chaos

A white man who fired a shotgun at three black men in a race-based attack amid the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was set for sentencing Thursday in a federal courtroom in New Orleans.

Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year prison sentence for Roland Bourgeois Jr., who pleaded guilty to two federal criminal counts in October.

The shooting happened roughly three days after Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. Power was out, levee failures had flooded most of the city and emergency resources were strained.

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Bourgeois, 56, fired a shotgun at three black men who were trying to evacuate the area, wounding one seriously. Prosecutors said that he and others had discussed shooting black people and defending the Algiers Point neighborhood of New Orleans from outsiders after the storm. Before and after the shooting, his conversations were punctuated with racial epithets. And, his original indictment said, he told one African-American neighborhood resident: Anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot.

Bourgeois was indicted in 2010. His case dragged on for years with a series of delays and hearings related to his physical and mental health.

He was free on bond for part of that time but was jailed in August 2017 for a bond violation. Documents show that, at the time he was arrested for violating conditions of his release, U.S. Marshals recovered 10 rifles and seven handguns from the residence where he was living.

In June of last year, Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon set a November trial date. Trial was avoided in October when Bourgeois pleaded guilty to interference with rights and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, according to a plea agreement. That agreement said his prison sentence would be at least five years and at most 10 years.
Roberta Reddick  Early Trailblazer for Black Females in Law Enforcement

Todays Los Angeles Police Department is populated with African American women, but that wasnt always the case. When Roberta Reddick entered LAPDs ranks in 1947, only a very small number of Black females  less than 10  were on the force.

But, the racial and gender barriers did not deter her from rising to the rank of LAPD sergeant in 1966 and going on to become a commander in the Compton Police Department in 1977, the highest ranking African American female officer in California at the time. She even served one month as acting police chief of Compton, overseeing the agencys staff of 300 people.

Reflecting on her 30-years in law enforcement, Reddick credits necessity as the reason that she became a police officer. Living in South L.A., divorced with four children to support, she began to apply for a job.

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I took all of the civil service examinations that I was able to and passed the police exam. Thats how I became a policewoman  by necessity. Necessity is the mother of invention, she said, while acknowledging it was a challenging job.

The most challenging was being a Black woman police officer, recalled Reddick. In the 1920s, 30s and 40s, women were second-class citizens and certainly men were not too happy to welcome them into traditional male positions in the department.

In fact, the options for LAPD women were limited during that era to matrons caring for female prisoners and juvenile investigators working with wayward youth. Women were not assigned to work in patrol cars.

Still, Reddick said, I needed a job. I had a family to take care of, so she remained with LAPD, continuously seeking promotions and consistently ranking at the top of the lists. However, it took 17 years before she attained the position of sergeant.

In the interim, Reddick did earned a spot as a juvenile inspector and it worked out pretty well for her. Since she lived near the station, the assignment allowed her to keep on eye on her children as well.

I was assigned to the 77th Street Division, which meant working Watts. That was the most rewarding thing that I could do. I had an opportunity to help. It wasnt just to investigate and arrest children. It was to also help make referrals to agencies for assistance to families, she noted.

When it came to help, Reddick was able to assist her nephew, Russell Moore, who was caught with two friends shoplifting cookies from a local market when he was 12-years-old. The store manager called the police, who ferried the youngsters to the 77th St. station.

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She (Reddick) was as shocked to see me as I was to see her, said Moore with a laugh. But, instead of sending us to the city attorney for prosecution, she took us under her arms and worked out a program for us. It had a life-lasting effect on me and I did well in life after that.

Reddicks life turned out well, too. She raised her children, remarried her husband, retired from LAPD and returned to school.

I had always wanted to complete a college education and I learned that UCLA was offering a scholarship to people in law enforcement. If you took advantage of it and worked three years after you graduated, the cost would be forgiven. I took advantage of it because my mother graduated from UCLA in 1919. It was L.A. State Normal at the time and I always wanted to a degree from there, too, said Reddick.

She received her Bachelors degree in human services from UCLA and completed graduate courses in public administration at USC. Reddick also earned a management certificate from the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training and a lifetime limited teaching credential from California Community Colleges.

After leaving LAPD in 1968, Reddick was working as a hearing officer with the L.A. City Attorneys Office when she received an offer from Comptons police chief to join their department as an inspector in command of the Professional Standards, Technical Services and Community Services Bureaus.

She later served as an assistant city manager of Compton, chairman of the L.A. County Grand Jurys Criminal Justice Committee and a management consultant for McCann Associates in Pennsylvania.

The L.A. Sentinel archives contain many articles highlighting Reddicks career. Thanks to then-executive editor James Cleaver and then-features writer Libby Clark, stories about Reddick range from her 1963 meeting with parents in the Jordan Downs housing project to her 1977 appointment as Comptons inspector to her 1999 selection as a living legend.

Considering her longevity in law enforcement, many women still count her as a mentor and she willing shares advice on the keys to career success.

Unfortunately, there is still this idea that you have to act like a male to get anywhere in a mans world. Its not true. You can act like a lady, but think like a man as Steve Harvey says, insisted Reddick. One of the things that I have said to young women all along is, you dont progress on your back. You progress on your feet. Stand up and be who you are. Get your education, learn what is necessary and use that information to progress.

Remember that there are possibilities, set your goals and trust in God, continued Reddick. Have faith that God knows what is best for you. If may not be what you believe. It may not come when you want it, but it will come. Trust in God.
Report Sheds Light on Georgias Voting System Failures

The Coalition for Good Governance released a report this month highlighting a significant number of drop off votes for lieutenant governor in the state of Georgia, the highest number from largely black neighborhoods, they said. According to the report, over 100,000 voters in Georgias 2018 election voted for everything else but mysteriously skipped lieutenant governor. Some reporters, closer to the states politics are suggesting there may have been some funny business, citing suspect activity in the actual governors race between Democrat Stacy Abrams and incumbent Brian Kemp.

As Georgias longtime secretary of state, Kemp presided over the states elections, voting machines and vote tallying. And as a vote suppressor, Kemps record of disenfranchising voters was unmatched, writes Michael Harriot in an article recently published in The Root.

Kemp wasnt afraid to publicly warn his colleagues about the dangers of black voters. He disproportionately purged black voters from rolls. He threw out black absentee ballots. He used unauditable voting machines and left voter data unsecured. He essentially got to referee his own match.

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And in the end, Brian Kemp won

In fact, the CGG noted in its report, that voting machines were the likely culprits of the missing votes, though they stopped short of contributing that fact to untoward party tactics.

The extreme undervote issue occurred at statistically significant levels in 101 of Georgias 159

Counties, reads the analysis.

However, the undervotes on voting machines are concentrated in precincts where African

American voters make up the majority of the precincts registered voters. The rates of touchscreen machine reported undervotes in such precincts in the Lt. Governor contest are far greater than the

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undervote rates in nonAfrican American neighborhoods regardless of whether those neighborhoods lean Democratic or Republican. The undervote problem did not happen at the same exaggerated levels in many primarily White neighborhoods that overwhelmingly voted for Stacey Abrams and other Democrats, rebutting the argument that the difference can be explained by party-driven voter behavior

But the report still raises questions about Georgias election integrity. That was something highly questioned in 2018, since Abrams had been on track to become one of the countrys first black female governors. She narrowly lost the election to Kemp by two points.

Kemp cancelled a gubernatorial debate to take place between the two, just a week before election day, in order to attend a rally for President Donald Trump. He blamed the cancellation on Abrams, saying she refused to reschedule. She responded, We refuse to callously take Georgians for granted and cancel on them. Just because Brian Kemp breaks his promises doesnt mean anyone else should

Experts have long warned of the dangers of electronic voting that cannot be relied on for accuracy or audited or recounted when problems like missing votes arise, the report further notes,

Georgias system is exceptionally vulnerable to attack, manipulation and human error in programming. First, the design of Georgias Diebold touchscreen voting system is so fundamentally flawed that the National Academies of Sciences recommended immediately abandoning all such systems before the 2018 mid-terms, which echoed the recommendations of most federal agencies and multiple Congressional committees. Further, Georgias unacceptable systems problems are exacerbated by the fact that the system was compromised by its exposure to extreme cybersecurity risks in 2016 and 2017, and the impacts were never mitigated, meaning that residual malware may reside in the system, including 27,000 voting machines and thousands of additional vulnerable components.

Georgia state and county officials including every countys bi-partisan election board conducted this election on a system that they, and everyone else, knew was compromised.

Members of CGG said the purpose of their analysis is to help state lawmakers as well as Congress to better understand system failures.

We at Coalition for Good Governance believe it is imperative that Georgia voters, U.S. Congress, Georgia lawmakers, election officials, and the press be provided with essential information

concerning the manner in which the electronic voting system failed in the 2018 mid-terms.

The systemic failures must be understood and their causes broadly communicated to protect the nations future elections.
TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wayland Group Corp. (CSE:WAYL) (FRANKFURT: 75M) (OTCQB:MRRCF) (Wayland or the Company) announces the following change to its Board of Directors.



Michael Stein has resigned as Director of Wayland Group Corp. Wayland would like to thank Mr. Stein for his many contributions to the Company and wishes him well in his future endeavors.

About Wayland Group



Wayland is a vertically integrated cultivator and processor of cannabis. The Company was founded in 2013 and is based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada and Munich, Germany, with production facilities in Langton, Ontario where it operates a cannabis cultivation, extraction, formulation, and distribution business under federal licenses from the Government of Canada. The Company also has production operations in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, Regensdorf, Switzerland and, Allesandria, Piedmont, Italy. Wayland will continue to pursue new opportunities globally, including the consummation of its previously announced transactions in the United Kingdom, Australia, Colombia, and Argentina, in its effort to enhance lives through cannabis.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release

For more information about Wayland, please visit our website at www.waylandgroup.com

Contact Information:

Investor Relations

Graham Farrell

VP, Communications

Graham.Farrell@waylandgroup.com

647-643-7665

Media Inquiries: media@waylandgroup.com

Corporate Headquarters (Canada)

Wayland Group Corp. (Toronto)

845 Harrington Court, Unit 3

Burlington Ontario L7N 3P3

Canada

289-288-6274

European Headquarters (Germany)

Wayland (Deutschland) GmbH

c/o Wayland

Max Joseph Str. 7

80333 Munich
Prada Announces Diversity Council After Blackface Outrage

Italian brand Prada said it is forming a diversity council to elevate voices of color within the company and fashion industry at large, a move that follows accusations of racism in the luxury fashion world.

Two Americans, artist Theaster Gates and film director Ava DuVernay, will chair the council, Prada said Wednesday. The group will work to develop diverse talent and create more opportunities for students of color, the luxury fashion house said.

Gates said his work amplifies the voices that have been absent from the broad cultural conversations, and he was happy to work with Prada to help make the company more reflective of the world today.

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Prada apologized in December and immediately withdrew bag charms that resembled black monkeys with exaggerated red lips. Critics said the charms recalled the blackface caricatures that long propagated racist stereotypes in the United States.

The fashion world controversy intensified after a similar misstep this month by Gucci. Another prominent African-American director, Spike Lee, said he would wear neither Prada nor Gucci until they included black designers.

Prada is committed to cultivating, recruiting and retaining diverse talent to contribute to all departments of the company, said Miuccia Prada, CEO and creative director. In addition to amplifying voices of color within the industry, we will help ensure that the fashion world is reflective of the world in which we live.

She said the initiative would help us grow not only as a company, but also as individuals.

Blackface caricatures popularized in 19th century minstrel shows also have attracted renewed attention in the United States after old photos emerged of white politicians wearing blackface or condoning it.
NNPA President Talks Black History, Diversity During Fireside Chat with Volkswagen

The history of Black people long pre-dates the indignity of slavery.

Our history didnt begin in slavery, said National Newspaper Publishers Association President Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. We were kings and queens. We had dynasties long before the slave trade, Chavis said during Volkswagen Group of Americas Black History Month fireside chat.

The automaker has proudly served as a sponsor for the NNPA and chose Chavis to speak candidly to its employees during an inspiring discussion that included: reflections on the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Wilmington 10, and the importance of the Black Press of America.

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We should look back, but we have to learn, Chavis said. I think that particularly among the millennials, I try to make them realize that they should not take for granted where we are today, he said.

When I was a young person, there was no social media. So, how do we use technology to make the world a better place? We learn from one another and we learn from history, Chavis said.

At Volkswagen Group of America, officials have long touted their goal to be recognized as a top company for diversity and inclusion practices. Part of the companys diversity effort involves partnering with organizations such as the National Urban League, the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers and its association with NNPA.

VW has a stated commitment to diversity and inclusion that company officials say supports their overall goal to become one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, as well as a Top 50 Company for Diversity.

Its that commitment that impressed Chavis and resonated with those in attendance at the fireside chat. Those who wanted to know more about his work  both current and past.

Chavis is renowned for his work in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King and hes also a part of the famed Wilmington 10, a group of nine black men and one white woman who, in 1972, were convicted over a North Carolina store firebombing.

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The group always maintained their innocence and argued that they were political prisoners and victims of racially biased prosecutors.

Their sentences were reduced in 1978 by the states then governor, Jim Hunt, and two years later their convictions were overturned in federal court for reasons of misconduct by the prosecutors.

In 2012, the group finally received a pardon.

One of Dr. Kings most powerful things was that he challenged us not to allow ill will to set in, Chavis said.

When asked for his thoughts on what Dr. King would think of today, if he were still alive, he replied, If Dr. King were alive today in 2019, he would still be focused on equal opportunity where every child of God gets an opportunity to fulfill their God-given gifts and talents, he said.

Dr. King would also be concerned about climate change and see it as a Civil Rights issue and he would see right through the false ideology of white supremacy, Chavis said. While he was an elegant voice for the masses, he also had humility. He believed we should constantly study, Chavis said. Hed always ask us what we studied, what literature did we use and how does that apply to our day-to-day activities. He said an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Chavis said the NNPA and its 215-member newspaper and media companies reach more than 22 million weekly subscribers and millions more daily via Blackpressusa.com and NNPA member websites.

The trade organization continues to reach out to millennials and Chavis said he wants to see more collaboration between television, the digital space and companies like Volkswagen, that value diversity. Corporate social responsibility should be a paramount value of all corporations in America and globally, Chavis said.

We all should practice what we preach, and I think we can learn from each other if we talk to each other. When I look around, I see a lot of diversity in the employees here and I thank Volkswagen for being one of our sponsors, he said.
New Executive Takes Top Post as State Newspapers Tackle Minority Concerns on Statewide Issues Like the 2020 U.S. Census

Riverside-based publisher of the Black Voice News, Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds, was recently sworn in as the first African-American president of the California News Publishers Association (CNPA). The 131-year-old organization, headquartered in Sacramento, represents more than 400 newspapers across the state.

The CNPA installed Brown-Hinds at its annual conference on February 6, 2019. Over a hundred California media professionals  from major big city dailies and small campus weeklies to historical Black, Latino and Asian outlets  attended the gathering. This years discussions touched on issues facing minorities in the upcoming 2020 Census. It also tackled sticky, longstanding media industry problems and pulled apart laws that could impact news operations across the state in the future.

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We have always valued the work CNPA has done on behalf of the industry, Brown-Hinds told her colleagues in her inaugural speech as President. The work that the Black Voice News has done over the years is impactful work in the community that changed lives, policy. I knew it was important for me to do this as well.

Taking the helm of the CNPA is history-making not only because Brown-Hinds is the first African American and ethnic minority to lead the influential statewide organization. Her personal and family history of advocacy and community service brings a certain grassroots heft that has the potential to benefit the organization as it takes on major legislative issues facing the media across the state in 2019. She is also a professor at the University of California Riverside, and board member of the James Irvine Foundation.

[Paulette] is a fearless leader. Shes not afraid to confront complex issues. She never stops working and is a shining example of diplomacy, said Ron Hasse, immediate predecessor.

Part of our mission, she said. is giving voice to the voiceless. That is why I appreciate the press, in particular the Black press, because it is rooted in advocacy.

As Brown-Hinds takes the helm of the CNPA, she faces a number of important policy issues that California newspapers have the responsibility to unpack for their audiences across the state. One of them is the upcoming 2020 Census.

This years CNPA conference dedicated a panel discussion to exploring the details of the decennial census. The Trump administrations decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 national population count was a hot topic. Panelists explored how that decision may or may not impact the participation of minorities, immigrants and undocumented people in California.

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The panelists also talked about how Census enumerators in the past have undercounted ethnic minorities and other hard-to-count populations in California and other states by millions of people. Those inaccuracies could result in the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding and even cost California a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. During the,2010 Census, about 200,000 minority children in California alone were undercounted.

Power comes from numbers. Power comes from data. If your numbers are wrong and your data is wrong, it undermines your power, said Arturo Vargas, the Chief Executive Officer of NALEO Educational Fund. His organization is a national non-profit that promotes the participation of Latinos in civic life.

The way the Census Bureau will categorize and sub-categorize people by race on next years questionnaires may also pose problems for some Asians, Blacks, Latinos and other minority groups. For example, People of Arab descent from places in North Africa and the Middle East like Egypt, Syria and Morocco will be counted as White. Afro-Latinos from places like the Dominican Republic will only also be able to only identify as Latino  with no option to choose Black.

The NAACP has filed a lawsuit in Maryland arguing that the 2020 Census is designed purposefully to undercount Blacks, Vargas told the media professionals in the room.

Ditas Katague, the Director of the California Complete Count Office, was a panelist as well. She has also served on the U.S. Census Bureaus National Advisory Committee on Race, Ethnicities and Other Populations.

Having worked on three censuses in the past, Katague sees the problems looming with next years count in California. She approaches them, though, with a surprising sense of confidence. She is familiar with the process and has decades of experience working with minorities and the media across the state to successfully increase participation.

After the 2020 census, she told the journalists in the room, What I want to see is that California achieves a complete and accurate count and we outpace the entire country.

In an effort to reach that goal, Katagues organization plans to spend tens of millions of dollars partnering with California media, including ethnic media who she says hard-to-count minority populations trust.

Locally created messages resonate. Understand your audience. Educate your audience, she told them.
Malcolm X and the Ethics of Martyrdom: Witness, Service, Struggle and Sacrifice

This is the month that marks another anniversary of the martyrdom of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Min. Malcolm X, who was assassinated and martyred in the 39thyear of his life, February 21, 1965, and who rose in radiance in the heavens and now sits in the sacred circle of the ancestors, among the doers of good, the righteous and the rightfully rewarded. In 1966, we of Us designated this day as Siku ya Dhabihu, the Day of Sacrifice, i.e., the day of his martyrdom, to honor him for the life he lived, the work he did and the struggle he waged for the liberation of our people. We call it Dhabihu, the Day of Sacrifice, to raise up the awesome sacrifice he made in the full sense of the word. Indeed, in Kawaida philosophy, sacrifice in its fullest sense, means a dedicated and disciplined self-giving, expressed in five basic ways. These are: the self-giving of heart and mind; effort; time material possessions; and the wholeness of ones self whether in life or death.

Thus, we could, as too often is done, frame our conversation talking about his assassination, but that would focus on what the oppressor and his collaborators did, not what Malcolm sacrificed and achieved. And we would then miss the lessons of his martyrdom, his conscious choice to give the wholeness of himself to his people and to his faith in a lifetime of witnessing, i.e., teaching truth, service to the people, struggling for liberation, and ultimately sacrificing himself to open the way to a new and righteous world.

His is an awesome history, central to the sacred narrative of our people as a whole. So, we remember and honor him in his praise names: Mlima, mountain, who would not move even during an earthquake under it; Moto wa Ogun, Ogun fire  fire on earth, fire on water and fire in the heavens, burning bright everywhere, forever lighting the way forward; Mtafuta wa haki, justice seeker, who having been indicted with his people by society, turned the table around and put the judge, jury, prosecutor, prison system, police and society itself on trial; Shahid, noble martyr, who gave his life so we could live free, fuller and more meaningful lives; and Mujahid, righteous soldier, who confronted the grey and greedy monsters of the world without fear, genuflection or forfeiture of the defiant dignity, integrity and audaciousness for which he will always be known and honored.

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Malcolm tells us in his Autobiography that he felt and hoped that his lifes account, read objectively. . .might prove to be a testimony of some social value. And surely, it is a testimony of great social value. Indeed, it is both testimony and testament, righteous witness and a sacred will, awesome evidence and instruction on how we can live our lives, and if need be, give them up with the unwavering commitment and uncompromising courage Malcolm modelled and mirrored for us. Malcolm, honored teacher of the liberating truth, thus taught us how to live and die, and even before his death, he had already given his whole life to his people, his faith and the struggle. It was again one of his defining features which he described as the one hundred percent dedication I have to whatever I believe in.

It is this total commitment to a causefaith and freedom; the way of Allah and the liberation struggle of Black peoplethat molds and makes Malcolm into the man, Muslim and martyr he becomes. Malcolm stated that after studying history and Islam, I had pledged on my knees to Allah to tell the White man about his crimes and the Black (people) the true teachings. . .(and) I dont care of it costs me my life. Indeed, he said, This was my attitude. These were my uncompromising words, uttered everywhere, without hesitation or fear.

Malcolm comes to the battlefield as a noble witness for his people and for his faith and in the basic and early meaning of shahid in Islam. He declared that he spoke the plain and naked truth, free of falsehood, hype and hypocrisy. The oppressor, he tells us, kept us in the darkness (and grave) of ignorance (and) made us spiritually blind by depriving us of the light of truth. But Malcolm offers us a liberating truth which will truly set us free . . . open our eyes and enable us to see ourselves and our oppressor as we and he really are, and it will give us strength and knowledge to build a new, just and good world.

Malcolm, as a living witness, does not simply bear witness in speech, but also in conduct, especially in committed, unselfish and consistent service in reaffirmation of his faith, in furtherance of the aims and aspirations of his people and in meeting their concrete needs. Indeed, in daily life, the shahid bears witness to the truth of his or her faith by exemplifying a life of being good and doing good in the world. And this is ultimately expressed in self-giving service to others, especially the masses of the people, as Malcolm taught, the needy, the downtrodden, and the vulnerable who constantly seek ways out and upward from oppression.

Especially within the context of the Nation of Islam, but also afterwards, Min. Malcolm built and supervised programs to give food to the hungry, homes to the homeless, treatment to the addict, freedom to the captive, jobs to the unemployed, spiritual anchor to the drifting, and ethical grounding to those caught up in the whirlwind of self-injuring and self-destructive practices.

In the final analysis, an ethics of martyrdom is an ethics of self-sacrifice, an ultimate self-giving rooted in conviction, love of the people and transformative struggle. Thus, his life was, of necessity, founded and flourished in righteous and relentless struggle, called in his Islamic faith jihad. As righteous struggle, jihad is both internal and external, and the internal struggle is not only to consistently live the good and righteous life, but also to prepare oneself for and engage in the external struggle to create a context of freedom, justice and peace in which this is best suited. And it is also to prepare one to accept the fact, as Malcolm said, that societies often have killed the people who have helped to change those societies.

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Here, Min. Malcolm, in anticipating his own martyrdom and that of Dr. Kings, noted that in the racial climate of this country today, its anybodys guess which of the extremes in approach to the Black mans problems might personallymeet a fatal catastrophe first  non-violent, Dr. King, or so-called violent me. Not knowing he would in fact be the first martyr, he still felt a sense of urgency to accomplish his work saying Anything I do today, I regard as urgent. No man is given but so much time to accomplish whatever is his lifes work. Thus, he was willing to make the sacrifice as he said, if he could die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that would help destroy racism and radically restructure society, opening the way to the liberation of Black people and a new history of humankind.

Malcolms life and death offer us a model and mirror of excellence by which we can measure and mold our lives around ethical principles and practices of witness, service, struggle and sacrifice. And it is this rich and enduring legacy of lessons he has given us that makes us praise him in the manner of our ancestors saying, He will forever be a glorious spirit in the heavens, and a continuing powerful presence on earth. He shall be counted and honored among the ancestors. His name shall endure as a monument. And what he has done on earth shall never perish or pass away.
Its Time to Stop Marginalizing African Americans in Public Higher Education

Students across the country are putting final touches on their applications for some of our countrys most prestigious public institutions. Higher education officials and policymakers alike need to ensure that these universities are not underserving Black students.

Unfortunately, theres a lot of work to do. A new study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce shows that African Americans arent attending selective colleges (e.g. the University of Michigan, University of South Carolina, University of Houston, and others) at the same rates as their White peers. Even states with a sizable population of average-college-aged Black people (18-24 years old) are falling short. In Delaware, for example, African Americans account for 26 percent of 18-24 year olds, but only 6 percent of students at the University of Delaware.

These public colleges should serve a representative cross-section of students, and be engines of mobility for all students. Unfortunately, they are not. White students make up 54 percent of 18-24 year olds, but account for 64 percent of freshman enrollment in selective public colleges. Meanwhile, Black students account for 15 percent of 18-24 year olds in the United States, but only seven percent of students in public selective colleges.

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Some argue that African American students are less qualified to attend selective enrollment schools, but that isnt the case. Among students who score in the upper half of standardized test scores, 31 percent of White students enroll in a selective college, but only 19 percent of Black students get that chance. All of these students are highly likely to graduatestudents in the upper half of high school test distribution scores have an 85 percent chance of graduating from college. And evidence suggests that some schools may over-rely on these scores, a practice that may over-emphasize affluence and access to quality K-12 schooling. This can hide race and class inequality behind a facade of quantitative metrics.

The Georgetown study also acknowledges Black students may be choosing to attend colleges other than the highly selective public universities. In fact, Black students are going to college in greater numbers than ever. Unfortunately, the open-access colleges they are attending are overcrowded and under-resourced. This is likely affecting their chances of obtaining a degree, as graduation rates are significantly lower for students at open access colleges than they are at selective schools.

Americas higher education system sees the problem, but it is getting worse, not better. Over the last decade, Black representation at selective public colleges fell. For every 100 average college-age African Americans, four fewer are attending public selective colleges than a decade ago. The largest Black underrepresentation in selective public colleges is in the Deep South. In Mississippi, for example, African Americans account for 44 percent of 18-24 year olds, but only 11 percent of students at the states selective public college (the University of Mississippi).

The same states where African Americans are underrepresented in selective public colleges are also underfunding the open-access colleges that African Americans attend. According to Georgetowns study, selective public colleges spend nearly three times more on instruction and academic support than open access colleges. At a time when we need to further invest in developing a skilled workforce for a changing labor market, its more important than ever to adequately support public open-access colleges and hold selective public colleges accountable to avoid underserving Black students.

We must bring an end to this separate and unequal education system. It is in our countrys best interest to engage with people from all communities to reach their educational potential. Increasing skills and expanding the number of people who have access to higher paying jobs will help grow the economic pie for all Americans.

Adequately supporting open-access colleges and holding selective public colleges accountable for educating people from all communities would take us a long way toward a public university system that truly serves the best interests of all members of the public.
Immanuel Praise Fellowship Holds Rites of Passage Program for Black Teens

Immanuel Praise Fellowship (IPF) in Rancho Cucamonga recently held the opening initiation for its eight-weeks Rites of Passage Manhood Development and Selfhood Mastery program. The training focuses on African American teenagers, ages 16-to-18.

The program is offered every other year to boys in the local community who demonstrate that they are ready to embark on the journey from boys to men. Rites of Passage participants, called Simbas, and their parents, are requested to prioritize program participation and participate in all classes and activities. This year, eight boys accepted the challenge, including IPF rs college-bound son, Joshua.

Speaking about her sons participation, Taylor-Dunn said, As he prepares to go off to college this year, the IPF Rites of Passage program is timely because it is designed to facilitate the maturation process and move young boys to spiritual, physical, and emotional maturity with the end result being a transitioning from boyhood to manhood.

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The IPF Rites of Passage program was created to prepare African American boys to live long and productive lives, said Bishop Kelvin Simmons, IPF pastor. Because this world can be an unsafe and hostile place for African American men and boys, Simbas will be challenged to be their best selves period.

Topics include Why Africa Matters, Black men in history, public speaking, finance management, dating and sexuality, and the 4Ps of Manhood. Each class, homework assignment, and activity is designed to promote participant cultural and spiritual development. Simbas also are required to complete a community service component.

Also, IPF partners with Sacred Sistahs, Inc., founded by Dr. Tonia Causey Bush, to offer a bi-annual Rites of Passage P.E.A.R.L.S. program for teenage girls. All Rites of Passage programs are free to the public.

IPF is located at 9592 7th Avenue in the city of Rancho Cucamonga. To learn more, visit immanuelpraisefellowship.org .
Gucci to Step Up Diversity Hiring After Blackface Uproar

Italian fashion house Gucci announced a major push Friday to step up diversity hiring as part of a long-term plan to build cultural awareness at the luxury fashion company following an uproar over an $890 sweater that resembled blackface.

Gucci also said it will hire a global director for diversity and inclusion, a newly created role that will be based in New York, plus five new designers from around the world for its Rome office.

It also will launch multi-cultural scholarship programs in 10 cities around the world with the goal of building a more diverse and inclusive workplace on an ongoing basis.

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The announcement came after Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri met in New York Citys Harlem neighborhood with Dapper Dan, a well-known African-American designer, and other community members to hear their perspectives.

Dapper Dan, who collaborated with Gucci in 2017 on a menswear line, has emerged as a leading voice demanding accountability from Gucci over the sweater, which was black with a pull-up neck featuring a cutout surrounded by cartoonish red lips.

Bizzarri said Gucci has spent the past days conducting a thorough review of the circumstances that led to this and consulting with employees and African-American community leaders on what actions the company should take.

I am particularly grateful to Dapper Dan for the role he has played in bringing community leaders together to offer us their counsel at this time, Bizzarri said in statement.

Earlier Friday, Dapper Dan tweeted that the participants at the meeting made great demands of Gucci. He said he would announce a town hall meeting in Harlem for us to talk about what they have proposed.

In May, Gucci said it will begin conducting annual one-day unconscious-bias training sessions for its 18,000 employees around the world.

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The design scholarship program will be launched in New York, Kenyas capital of Nairobi, New Delhi, Beijing, the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Beirut, London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company described it as a 12-month fast-track program leading to full-time employment.

Gucci has apologized for the sweater, which creative director Alessandro Michele said was not inspired by blackface but by the late Leigh Bowery, a performance artist, club promoter and fashion designer who often used flamboyant face makeup and costumes.

I look forward to welcoming new perspectives to my team and together working even harder for Gucci to represent a voice for inclusivity, Michele said in statement Friday.
Confronting Jackie Lacey: The Mamas of Those Slain by Police Demand Justice during Black History Month

In 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson was victorious in a hard-won fight to center the lives, contributions, and ongoing struggles of Black people in the United States, establishing Black History Week. In 1969, Black students at Kent State University claimed the entire month of February, advancing an agenda of Black power. Perhaps Associate Pastor George Van Alstine and congregants of Altadena Baptist Church missed this history, never read Woodsons The Miseducation of the Negro, and failed to understand Zora Neale Hurstons admonition that all skinfolk aint kinfolk. For some ungodly reason, the church chose to honor District Attorney Jackie Lacey this past Sunday, February 17 for their 35thAnnual Black History Month program. The same DA Lacey who has been charged with prosecuting crimes in the County of Los Angeles since January 2012, over which time more than 450 killings of community members by police have occurred and only one prosecution of an officer has been filed.[1] It is imperative that we remember that each of these 450 cases are real people: sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members. When people are murdered by police, it leaves unimaginable pain for the hearts of their loved onesespecially their mothers. On Sunday evening, a cadre of five mothers, family members and supporters refused to allow Lacey to smile, wave, invoke God, and dishonor the Spirits of their slain children. They confronted her in, what may be, the most appropriate of all places, church.

#WakieshaWilson is Los Angeles own #SandraBland, a Black woman who was arrested for a minor crime and held in LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center. Like most of our people, Wakiesha was not flush with cash; rather than giving a bail bondsman money that would never be returned, she assured her family that she could wait until her arraignment a few days later when she was sure she would be released on her own recognizance. Her mother, Lisa Hines, already anxious because she hadnt heard back from her daughter on Easter Sunday, (which was also the birthday of her favorite aunt, Sheila Hines-Brim), waited in court that entire Tuesday. Wakiesha never appeared. Frantically, her mother spent the remainder of the day, and into Wednesday evening trying to locate her daughter. Finally, she was connected with the Coroner who confirmed her greatest fear, that Wakiesha was deadand had been dead for nearly four days. No one bothered to notify her. No one offered condolences. For almost three years her family, supported by Black Lives Matter, has been struggling for justice in her name. We know that it is impossible for Wakiesha to have hung herself in a jail cell from a phone booth that sits two feet from the floor, with a cord that is 11-inches long, then move her own body to the middle of the cell postmortem. We know that it says something when the guard charged with her oversight is fired. We know that there is no explanation other than cover-up, when 22-minutes of surveillance videotape is missing, including the part where Wakiesha allegedly kills herself. We also know that it is Jackie Laceys job to prosecute all of those involved in Wakieshas murder.

It is Laceys job to prosecute the police who murdered #EricRivera, a 20-year-old Latino and Egyptian young man who was armed with no more than a neon green water pistol on a hot summer day. It was also Laceys job to prosecute the Torrance officers who murdered 20-year-old #ChristopherDeAndreMitchell as he slept in a car in a parking lot, just weeks before this last Christmas holiday. And it was the job of Jackie Lacey to prosecute the murderers of Donte Jordan, a father killed with two bullets to the back in Long Beach in 2014. And then there is #JohnHorton beaten to death inside Mens Central Jail; the Coroners report confirms that Johns liver, kidneys, spleen, and ribs were all busted; he had a flashlight imprint in his skull. For nearly ten years now, his mother, Helen Jones, has been trying to win justice for him. Still no answers and no prosecution. The DA hasnt challenged the Sheriffs ridiculous assertion that John committed suicide.

On Sunday night, though, the mamas assembled, embraced each other, prepared, and prayed about an hour before the church program was to start. They arrived at Altadena Baptist and sprinkled around the church, taking their seats in pews, calling upon the Spirits of their children, their Ancestors, and the Creator. A few organizers were present to provide moral support and to record. They swayed to the music and sang along with the church hymns. A short, older, White woman, with red glasses, approached the microphone and offered a glowing introduction about a kind, capable, and God-fearing Jackie Lacey that belied her history of allowing police to get away with murder. As Lacey approached the pulpit in an expensive-looking, tailored, peach suit, Black Lives Matter-Pasadena lead, Jasmine Richards Abdullah stood up and belted out, We are soldiers in the army. We have to fight although we have to die. We got hold up the blood-stained banner. We got to hold it up until we die. The mothers slightly revised the words to the classic hymn, We are mothers The mamas began to file down the aisle, led by Sheila Hines-Brim, with others following. With a Spirit that overflowed, words poured out, telling the stories of their murdered children, reminding Jackie of her duty to bring justice. Sister Sheila and Jackie locked eyes, reminding the DA that these mamas had power, that their children had power, that Spirit had power. The choir began to sing We Shall Overcome. Then chaos ensued. Churchgoers, peeved that their perfectly planned program had been disrupted, forgot where they were; they began cussing, challenging, and shoving the mamas. With no shame, these Christians called upon Laceys security detail (LA County Sheriff) to toss the mamas out, to traumatize them  again. The mamas were relentless; filled with Spiritual energy, they continued to call on the names of their children. They chanted with all of their righteous indignation. The church refused to hear them in that moment, but those names will follow them and haunt them.

Many of these mamas are the ones who have been circled-up outside Jackie Laceys office every Wednesday afternoon for the last 72 weeks. They are undoubtedly Divinely guided. Sunday was another step towards justice for them and for us. As Jackie Lacey parades around with her hand out for votes and campaign contributions, she will not do so unchallenged. There is a movement to hold her accountable. There is Spirit that will continue to whisper to her conscience. And then there are names450 of themchalked into the steps of her office and onto the front walkway of her home. It is still Black History Month; Jackie Lacey still has a choiceto honor the legacies and work of those who came before her, who made her position possible, or to betray themand bear the consequences.

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[1]Against LAPD Officer Luke Liu who murdered Francisco Garcia in San Pedro by shooting into a moving car outside a 7-Eleven.
Chicago Police Announce Shift in Investigation Regarding Jussie Smollett Case, Confusion

On the night of February 16, the Chicago Police Department announced that their investigation into the alleged hate attack on actor Jussie Smollett had shifted. The actor was allegedly attacked by two men in the early morning hours of January 29 in Chicago. Smollett has been a star on the FOX Television show Empire.

On February 17, an attorney for Smollett said he the actor was angered and devastated by recent reports stating that the police were changing their theory of the case to the direction of an orchestrated hate attack. Unsubstantiated rumors swirled that the two suspects arrested in the crime provided evidence to the investigators that contributed to the change in direction on the part of the investigators.

We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed in a statement. Weve reached out to the Empire cast members attorney to request a follow-up interview, he added.

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Smolletts response to rumor that the attack was staged was pointed.

As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with. He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying. Smollett stated through his attorneys.

One of these purported suspects was Jussies personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video, the statement continues. It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussies complicity. At the present time, Jussie and his attorneys have no inclination to respond to unnamed sources inside of the investigation, but will continue discussions through official channels.

While we havent found any video documenting the alleged attack, there is also no evidence to say that this is a hoax, Chicago Police spokesman Guglielmi told reporters. The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect, he added.

Several reports claim that Smollett offered to pay two Nigerian models, Abimbola Abel and Olabinjo Ola Osundairo, $4,000 to stage the January 29 assault. Those reports are unconfirmed.
Celebrate Life Cancer Ministry & Drew Hosts Conference For Cancer Survivors

Pastor Rhonda Holbert Santifer (aka Pastor Rhonda), CLCM founder and CEO and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Division of Research and Training, hosted Living the New Normal: Cancer Survivors and Caregivers Conference, on Saturday, February 16, at Charles R. Drew Medical Center.

The day was launched by Niki Inspiration, the mistress of ceremony who was able to bring humor to a not to so humorous subject. Sharing educational information does not have to be boring, said a participant. Greetings were given by the executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, Dr. Steve Michael, Dr. Diane Breckenridge, dean of nursing, and Dr. Ebere Ume, program director, RN-BSN, PI Cancer Survivorship and Caregiver Program, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

The keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Helen Easterling Williams, dean of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, opened with a powerful message that encouraged all to release the stress and live the new normal. The panel of prostate cancer survivors, Rev. Charles Latchison, Lead Pastor of Light & Life West Church, Bishop Lonnie McNamee, Pastor of Do Right Christian Church and Rev. Robert Taylor, Pastor of Beulah Baptist Church, led a discussion of their personal cancer experiences and how family members can support them.

The men found it important to know and remember that each man is different, understand that a diagnosis of prostate cancer affects the mind and the body. They encouraged men to allow family to support them in their journey.

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Dr. Sharon Cobb and Dr. Ebere Ume, Co-PIs of the Cancer Survivorship and Caregiver Program, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science provided a stimulating conversation regarding depression and anxiety for both the cancer survivors and caregivers. Dr. Kimlin Ashing, City of Hope: CCARE and Dr. Kathye Jenkins, Cynthia Perry Ray Foundation informed the survivors of the importance of having a cancer survivors care plan at the beginning of the journey so that you can track and keep up with the care being given. The conference wrapped up with a presentation by Dr. Annette Stanton and Kimberly Martin from UCLA Project SOAR, on the importance of clinical trials and the statewide breast cancer research project they are working on.

Celebrate Life Cancer Ministry understands that it takes a community to conquer cancer, says Pastor Rhonda. She says conference was put together with the help of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Women of Color Breast Cancer Project, Life Worth Saving, Sisters Breast Cancer Survivors Network, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, City of Hope, Shiloh Baptist Church, National Congress of Black Women, Susan G. Komen Los Angeles County, UCLA CTSI, Cynthia Perry Ray Foundation, The Denise Roberts Breast Cancer Foundation and the Watt Area Ministers (WAM).

For those seeking assistance through their cancer journey feel free to reach out to Pastor Rhonda Holbert Santifer 424.258.5433 or email [email protected]
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonalysts, Inc., will move forward as the vendor of choice for the Engineering Sprint stage of the MGMWERX Spacecraft Engagement Simulation Experiment Challenge.



The Waterford, Conn., based company was selected by MGMWERX and its partner, the Blue Horizons Program at Air University, from a narrowed field of three vendors following the Design Sprint.

This collaborative effort is answering a call for the development of a mobile-friendly application that leverages simulations and gamification to deliver lessons in spacelift, orbital mechanics, operational implications of orbit type, and satellite constellation design for the U.S. Air Force.

During the Engineering Sprint, Sonalysts will develop a working prototype of the tool to demonstrate a mission at each layer of space operations for evaluation by MGMWERX and Blue Horizons. Once complete they will move into the Build Sprint and ultimately final beta testing.

Our goal is to enable a result that is faster, better, and cheaper than that of the traditional acquisition cycle, said Steve Werner, MGMWERX director.

MGMWERX offers a unique capability to reach new commercial talent to quickly solve Air Force problem sets. In a matter of months Airmen have a tool in their hands to begin addressing operational needs," said Lt. Col. Edward G. Ferguson, a Blue Horizons fellow at Air University.

In the case of SESE we are pursuing an accelerated timeline for prototype delivery, a new concept to familiarize Airmen with the challenges of space operations, and pushing the boundaries of mobile technology, Ferguson added. None of this is possible without the flexibility and adaptability Blue Horizons gets from its partnership with MGMWERX.

MGMWERX Challenges engage a broad audience to join the problem-solving process like the one presented for space training. Mock Science and ExoAnalytic contributed as top-three vendors and provided expertise, alternative thoughts and approaches to solving the issue.

The sprints have given the Blue Horizons-MGMWERX team the opportunity to quickly and competitively identify the best partner to develop and implement an unclassified gamification of space operations principles, said Ferguson. Each vendor provided a novel approach to our problem set and the biggest challenge was selecting a single partner.

We have benefitted from the diversity of ideas received from the field of idea-submitters in the initial Challenge Phase and applied some of the ideas received to shape the specifications, added Werner. Overall, the final design specification has been made much better, by virtue of the variety of ideas presented throughout the different phases.

Participants in the Design Challenge were compensated for their time, labor, materials; and will continue to have the opportunity to secure funding for prototype and experimentation, a government contract, or promote their work with the Air Force.

For more information on MGMWERX and their Challenge opportunities, visit: www.mgmwerx.org.

MGMWERX

info@mgmwerx.org

334-240-9481

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e4426f17-86cd-43e0-841d-6449c03e7dbb
Black History Month: Two Centuries of Black History and the Black Press

In the March 2018 story, Race News: Chronicling the Black Press and fight for Justice, journalist Tony Pecinovsky noted that the rocky relationship between journalism and the struggle for African-American equality, like any other courtship, is full of ebbs and flows, fluctuations that often times mirror larger societal changes.

Exploring this relationship, in all its nuance and complexity, is especially important today as we try to discern and understand contemporary reality, a reality the Trump Administration increasingly attempts to obscure and mystify with its reliance on alternative facts facts that oftentimes lack quantifiable, tangible evidence, Pecinovsky said.

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In that context, he said Fred Carrolls book, Race News: Black Journalists and the Fight for Racial Justice in the Twentieth Century, is a welcome addition to the understanding of both journalistic and African-American history.

Some historians have rightly begun to see the struggle for African-American equality through the lens of the long Civil Rights revolution.

Thankfully, Carroll also sees the role of race news through the lens of a long struggle and notes that early twentieth century commercial publishers proudly traced their lineage back to black journalisms beginnings to its very first newspaper, Freedoms Journal, which was founded in 1827, Pecinovsky said.

He also noted that the black news industry was owned, produced, and consumed primarily independent of white oversight, thereby enabling black journalists to package their mission of ending racial discrimination and securing citizenship rights within a profit-oriented, objective presentation of current events designed to cater to the many interests of the largest possible black readership.

The Black Press remains as viable as ever.

The Black Press is an aspect of the fabric of the Black existence in America that is not getting enough attention or support from the community, Kisha A. Brown, the founder and CEO of Justis Connection, told NNPA Newswire.

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Justis Connection is an organization committed to connecting top legal talent of color to local communities and Brown said the Black Press plays a large role in telling the stories of those communities.

She said African Americans need to honor that.

We rally to support athletes and artists who are wronged by the system but what we fail to honor is the voice of the Black Press that has been capturing our stories for centuries, Brown said.

Long before Black Twitter and online blogs  and so the Black Press is not only an essential voice, but it is also a historical and cultural archaeological goldmine that we must preserve.

One of the oldest Black-owned business industries in America, The Black Press began more than 191 years ago.

On March 16, 1827, the first edition of Freedoms Journal was published, thrusting African-Americans into the bustling publishing business. At the time, Blacks in America werent even considered citizens, most were slaves and forbidden to read or write.

However, John Russwurm and Reverend Samuel Cornish rose up bravely, declaring that, We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.

Dorothy Leavell, publisher of the historic Chicago Crusader newspaper and Chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), said in an earlier interview that when Russwurm and Cornish established the Black Press by publishing Freedoms Journal, they wanted to provide a voice for Black people.

The Black Press became one of the only means of communication between Black people.

Black men and women were vilified in the New York press in the 1800s, Leavell said. Some White newspaper publishers sought to defend the dignity, honor and character of Black people, however, Russwurm and Cornish said they, wish to plead our own cause.

Without the Black Press, genuine stories of African-Americans would go untold, Robert W. Bogle, the publisher of the The Philadelphia Tribune, said during a recent NNPA conference.

Bogle said that only Black people can tell their stories accurately. We are as relevant today as we were when the Freedoms Journal said they wanted to tell our story in our words, said Bogle.

NNPA, the Black Press of America, represents more than 215 African-American owned newspapers and media companies around the country with a combined weekly subscribership of more than 22 million.

When celebrating the 190th anniversary of the Black Press in 2017, NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., said that March 16, 2017 is a sacred historical day in the long, multi-dimensional freedom struggle of African people in America and throughout the world, because of the courage of Russwurm and Cornish who dared first to publish the Freedoms Journal.

Chavis said that the Black Press in America has been on the frontlines of social change in the United States for [more than 190] years. Today, more than ever, the Black Press remains the trusted and audacious voice of Black America, said Chavis.

Today, the NNPA continues this irrepressible tradition of publishing truth to power. Our freedom fighting publishers are all united as we reaffirm the vital importance and relevance of the Black Press now and into the future.

And, as African Americans and others observe Black History Month, Brown said shed like to see the Black Press continue to capture current events that arent borne from reports done by other media outlets.

Tell the story of the Black entrepreneur. There are so many people who are reconnecting with the spirit of our ancestors to get our own bootstraps to pull ourselves up with, Brown said.

Black entrepreneurs are daring to defy the business norms in an effort to explore financial freedom and chart new territory that we can call our own.
Black History Month: Bill Traylor

Its never too late to embrace your passions and make your life a work of artas Bill Traylor did.

Born circa 18531949, Traylor created an extensive body of graphic artworks during his eighties, over a span of 5 years. He is among the most important American artists of the 20th century having lived through the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, the Great Migration and the steady rise of African American urban culture in the South.

Born in antebellum Alabama, Traylor was born into slavery, the son of Bill and Sally Calloway, on the plantation of George Hartwell Traylor. After emancipation in 1863, he stayed on the plantation working as a farmhand and sharecropper. After two marriages and fathering many children, and eventually leaving plantation life, he moved to Montgomery, Alabama.

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In Montgomery, Traylor worked at a shoe factory, but rheumatism ended his working and he struggled to make ends meet. Through government assistance and shelter at the Ross-Clayton Funeral Home, Traylor found some relief. It was on Monroe Street, which was the hub of the Black neighborhood in downtown Montgomery, that his art career would begin. He began to draw pictures on any available cardboard or paper.

Using pencils, crayons, charcoal and straight-edged stick on discarded shirt cardboard, the self-taught artist created a visual autobiography of images extracted from his memories and experiences. His pictures depicted life on the plantation and urban life in general. Traylor also drew animalsrabbits, dogs, cows, birds in daily life. Most of his drawings of people were shown wearing accessories like a cane, pipe, top hat, or purse either standing still, as silhouettes, or drinking, dancing, conversing, or arguing with another person.

He was discovered by artist Charles Shannon in Montgomery, Alabama in 1939. Shannon purchased some of his drawings and began supplying Traylor with materials. In 1940, he arranged an exhibit featuring 100 of Traylors works at the New South Gallery and School in Montgomery. He organized another exhibit of Traylors work in 1941 at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Riverdale, New York. In 1942, Shannon left Montgomery to serve in World War II and had acquired some 1,200 of Traylors works.

Traylor eventually went to live with a daughter in Detroit and relatives in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, Traylor developed gangrene and had to have his left leg amputated. He later returned to Montgomery in 1946 to live with another daughter and later, to a nursing home, where he passed away. The only known works by Traylor were undated, but produced between 1939 and 1942.

When he died in 1949, Traylor left behind more than 1,000 works of art. The 1982 exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art entitled Black Folk Art in America brought Traylor to national attention as a major artist and visual storyteller.

The critically acclaimed exhibition Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor will remain open to the public through Sunday, April 7 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition brings together 155 drawings and paintings from 51 public institutions and private collections.

Organized by Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition presents a comprehensive picture of Traylors stylistic development and artistic themes, explored in the context of the profoundly different worlds Traylors life bridged: rural and urban, black and white, old and new.

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It is only with extraordinary effort and cooperation that an exhibition of this magnitude can be extended, and in this case, we were fortunate to have many like minds share the belief that Bill Traylors most shining moment should not be cut short, said Umberger.

Rarely do the stars align to allow us to extend an exhibition of this scale with so many lenders from around the country and the world, said Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. We are deeply grateful to the collectors, museums and foundationseach and everyone one of whom agreed to extend their loanfor their continued generosity in sharing these important works with the American public.

Brian W. Carter contributed to this article.
Bank of Americas Black Executive Leadership Team Continues to Advocate for the African American Community

Bank of America (B of A), prides itself on offering valuable support, banking, investing, asset management, and other resources to businesses, large corporations, and individual consumers. However, very few community members are aware of the presence B of A has in the South Los Angeles area. Recently, the Los Angeles Sentinel met with one of the worlds leading financial institutions to discuss their Black Executive Leadership Team (BELT) and the positive work they are committed to in the Black community.

According to Bank of Americas senior vice president, strategy execution manager in consumer lending, Telebah Woods, the Bank of America BELT program was created as a strategic and thoughtful approach to best serve the community, following the recession with associates who know the community best.

As stated in programs mission, the purpose of BELT is to serve as brand ambassadors to the clients, companies, non-profits, and influencers that represent the African American community in Los Angeles. [BELT accomplishes] this by being champions of responsible enterprise growth and community engagement to deliver power of Bank of America to the key stakeholder in L.A.s African American community.

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Currently, the BELT program consists of 16 Black senior employees and leaders with an average of 20 plus years in the financial services industry. All of the BELT members serve on at least one or two non-profit boards and live in either the South Los Angeles or the greater Los Angeles area, which gives them the opportunity to better connect and understand the issues faced by local residents.

It [BELT] focuses on different areas of business within the company. I am in home loans and Anthony is in commercial banking, and we have others who do an array of things like small business, Merrill Lynch, finance investment, said Woods.

Externally, our focus has been to drive financial literacy and building that foundation of financial literacy within the community through programs we have like Better Money Habits, [which gives us] that pathway to be able to volunteer and connect with our community in a way that is a little bit different than I think if we were doing it on our own.

Another way Bank of America has been able to grow its community engagement is by maintaining a presence in the African American community.

In South Central and South L.A. alone, we actually havent closed any financial branches in over 20 years, so we have maintained dozens of them, said spokesperson Collen Haggerty.

So this year, we were looking to consolidate branches, where we had a lot of redundancy, meaning there were other [branches] nearby. In this case, we decided to consolidate two of them; one on Western and one on Crenshaw. Within a mile and a half of those two, there are still seven branches. We felt comfortable that we had such as overwhelming presence there. [However,] these were branches that for financial reasons, low volume, or low foot traffic, we knew that we could still maintain the level of customer service in that community but pull back some.

Since the start of the program, BELT has seen positive outcomes for local youth and families. Through one of the programs they do with Junior Achievement, BELT members have been able to work with 120 at-risk youth and their parents at Finance Park in Burbank to teach them about budgeting, taxes, the IRS, and other related financial literacy tools and resources.

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We have been doing this program for close to five years now, said Anthony D. Turner, senior vice president / senior relationship manager in the Los Angeles Metropolitan office of the Global Commercial Banking Group.

I have had some kids, who have gone off to college say, that program saved me. Once I got to school, I was able to budget. I didnt get in trouble with my credit cards, and I understood the importance of my FICO score They said it really gave them a head start compared to their classmates who were struggling with balancing money.

Through the community engagement activities and events like the Junior Achievement and the Taste of Soul Family Festival, BELT is able to prove that they not only walk-the-walk but talk-the-talk.

The future of the BELT program can be summed up in three objectives: (1) grow their business, (2) grow their brand, and (3) grow their talent.

We have done a pretty job at establishing relationships with the business leaders in the community, the non-profit leaders, and some community activists, said Turner.

I think we continue to develop those relationships, and continue to be there for community and educate them as to what the bank can do. Our community is underserved and [they] dont know everything the bank has to offer, so its our job to make sure we get out there and explain the power the bank has to offer specifically to the Black community.

Turner and Woods go on to say that the next step is brand awareness to ease the frustration in the referral process.

When you have an issue, whatever it is, and you dont know exactly who to call, its always good when you have an advocate. Whatever it is  bank related, [we] can take care of you or get you to the right person, said Turner.

For more information or questions regarding the BELT program please contact Turner at [email protected], (213) 621-3694 or Woods at [email protected], (323)-313-2942.

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A tale of love and redemption: Spiritual parents throw surprise party for man who broke into their church

Two weeks ago, 24-year-old DeAndre Bramlett felt hopeless and alone. He had no job, no prospects, and no money to take care of his son, Kamyron, only a year old.

Tuesday, he turned 25. And in all his 25 years, DeAndre had never had a birthday cake. That all changed when his new, spiritual parents, Pastors Henry and Lorre Lavender, threw his a surprise party. And his new God family was thereclapping and cheering.

Considering that DeAndre had recently broken into the congregations new church home, the scene was pretty remarkable.

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It all started two weeks ago. DeAndre didnt wake up that day with the intent of burglarizing a church. But by nightfall, there he was. Breaking into the building only days before the Living Life in Victory congregation was scheduled to move.

He was with some other guys. They were there to steal the copper wiring. It sells well in the scrap metal marketno questions asked. A window was already open, and all he had to do was walk in. The other guys had busted up the wallslarge holes in the drywall so they could just walk right through. The tools were right there. DeAndre saw them. His role would be simple. All he had to do was carry the copper outside.

Only, once inside, things took a different turn. The police showed up while the robbery was still in progress. The downstairs alarm had been disabled, but the thieves had no idea about the one upstairs. A television news crew was already on the scene. DeAndres face was everywhere, plastered all over the late news broadcast. So many flashing blue lights and video cameras.

He and the other culprits were taken to a holding area down at 201 Poplar.

There was so much overcrowding because of the government shutdown, there was no place to put us, said Bramlett. So we sat all night in the holding area. They let me make some calls. I called my girlfriend and my mother. Thats how I found out I was all over the news. They already knew where I was.

Pre-trial processing noted that his record was pretty clean, and he was released the next day with a court appearance set for Monday, February 18thPresidents Day.

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Im going to do my best to be down there with him in court, said Pastor Henry Lavender. He understands the power he wields in standing up for Bramlett in court. The victim begging mercy for the offender.

How did they connect? Im glad you asked.

DeAndre got out. And when he got online, he saw that the news report about the burglary was still up. This was his homehis neighborhood. He knew Pastor Lavender had seen the report by now. And so, the remorseful, unlikely thief calls the church. He leaves message after message on the answering machine.

It was Sunday, and like most pastors, Rev. Lavender waits for Monday to check any messages that had been left. Hes there and the phone rings again.

Hello, this is Pastor Henry. How may I help you?

My name is DeAndre Bramlett.

Okay. Make me know who you are.

Im the guy that was caught in your church. I just want to apologize and ask your forgiveness. And I want to do everything in my power to help repair the damage that was done.

Pastor Lavender was stunned into silence. DeAndre promised to come to church. Pastor Lavender tells him, If I dont hear from you in a few weeks, I am going to reach out to you.

Jesus taught forgiveness, and we have the ministry of reconciliation, Rev. Lavender says. A loving response to a confused, young man is required.

This is not an ordinary church. We are a family church. We are the village. Mr. Bramlett promised to come, and he did just that. He brought his family, too, and here we are.

Pastor Lavender worked in Shelby County Corrections for 10 years, and has held other law enforcement posts over the course of his career. He understands that young men need guidance.

I appreciate DeAndre because he broke a cycle in his life, said Pastor Lavender. Now, he has his own son to raise. The cycle is broken. Jesus makes it possible for DeAndre to live free. His son can be free. The logo of our church has the Jewish symbol in it. That is on purpose. It means Israel shall live. We do have victory when we forgive and love one another.

Neither Bramlett nor his church family know what is going to happen in court on the 18th. But they are hoping for a miracle, that DeAndre is given a second chance, just as they have given.

(Living Life in Victory is located at 4300 Raleigh-LaGrange Road. For additional information, call the church office at: 901-207-1054.)
A. Philip Randolph: Cultural Grounding Key to His Success

Todays column highlights of the significance of the A. Philip Randolphs enormous contribution to the progress of the Black Community. He was a multi-faceted Black leader and renowned head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He had exceptional organizing skills and access to powerful people, including two United States presidents. Randolph also played a prominent role in the civil rights movement and though an integrationist, the main reason for his effectiveness was his unapologetic love and commitment to Black people.

Randolphs grounding in his own culture enabled him to successfully collaborate with others, including Whites, other labor unions, government officials and politicians. Racial and cultural grounding are prerequisites for effectively working with others and must become part of conversations and strategies to reverse Blacks current self-denigrating mindsets and ineffective leadership. That said, the following are highlights in A. Philip Randolphs quest to improve the quality of life for Blacks and other oppressed people.

In his cry for freedom and justice, A. Philip Randolph echoed the fury of all of those enslaved. From the day he arrived in Harlem in 1911, he was involved in the thick of the struggle for freedom for Black Americans.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 were the results of seeds he and his co-workers planted years before. He believed a good weekly paycheck had to be won first, and then, a better fight could be waged for dignity and self-pride. With this always in mind, Randolph traveled throughout the nation just before World War II, to unite Blacks against the discrimination which shut them out of well-paying jobs. Consequently, in 1941, all over the United States, Black committees were forming to March on Washington.

Finally recognizing that Randolph could not be swayed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order six months before Pearl Harbor in June of 1941 which called for the end of discrimination in government defense plant jobs. This was the beginning of the fair employment practices laws. The first March on Washington was never held because Roosevelt yielded to the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters!

In 1948, Randolph fought discrimination against segregation and Jim Crow in the U.S. Armed Forces. Again, the power of his persuasion swayed President Harry S. Truman, who ordered an end to discrimination, not only in the armed forces, but in federal civil service jobs.

Of course, 1963 was another high point in Randolphs struggle for equality for Blacks and other oppressed people. He was chief architect of the March on Washington in which more than 250,000 Americans joined under the slogan, Jobs and Freedom. In 1966 Randolph developed the Freedom Budget that included $185 billion over ten years for a government assault on poverty.

Randolph started organizing Blacks from his first days in Harlem, but initially, had little to show for his efforts. He came into his own when a group of Pullman porters went to him for help. They wanted the right to bargain for better wages, working conditions and a chance to run their own affairs. After a long struggle and many secret meetings, the organization of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was announced publicly at the Elks Hall in Chicago, August 25, 1925. But it took 12 years before the Pullman Company would bargain with the Brotherhood.

The Pullman Company used massive strength in attacking Randolph. It fired union members and threatened others with tougher assignments, fewer assignments and layoffs. The law too failed the Brotherhood, as did mediation and arbitration; when the men prepared for a strike as a last resort, the company recruited strikebreakers and private police. At the last moment, the strike was called off; the leadership decided the Brotherhood was simply not strong enough to win at that time.

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Randolph always had the same sermon for the Pullman porters: They were being called upon to prove that Black men are able to measures up, and in the end, they did. By 1935, not only had the Brotherhood survived, it won an election supervised by the National Mediation Boardthe same year the American Federation of Labor reversed its previous position and voted to grant an international charter to the Brotherhood.

In 1963, Randolph was drafted for the presidency of a new organization, the National Negro Congress (NNC), which was made up of a number of groups that planned to build a Black mass movement by working with and through trade unions. Although the NNC was successful in a number of organizing drives, for a variety of reasons, Randolph resigned and the NNC disbanded.

Randolph was also the conscience of organized labor in its attempt to set its own house in order and to remove racial discrimination from within the ranks of the AFL-CIO. He also called on organized labor to join Blacks in their struggle for freedom and thus, rise to its full moral stature.

Even in the last years of his life, A. Philip Randolph actively supported efforts to correct laws and practices that denied civil and human rights to Blacks and other oppressed people. His unwavering pride in his culture and his people enabled him to persevere despite the enormous racist barriers. Our lives are greatly enhanced by this mans extraordinary strength and determination to move our people forward.

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2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Julian Castro Headlined Charles R. Drew Universitys Diversity Panel Discussion

Julian Castro, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, provided the keynote address at a panel discussion entitled Diversity in Higher Education: Race Matters at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences (CDU) fourth annual Presidents Breakfast on Tuesday, February 19, at the Marina Del Ray Marriott. The panel was moderated by CDU President/CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle and featured other notable leaders from academia, business, philanthropy and healthcare who have been champions of equality.

Panelists included Wendy Garen, president and CEO of the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Wm. Jahmal Miller, MHA, DHL, director of Corporate Reputation and Thought Leadership at Blue Shield of California, Francisco Rodriguez, PhD, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College, and Maria Salinas, president and CEO of the LA Area Chamber of Commerce.

Secretary Castro noted the tremendous competition we face as a nation and the importance of providing access to education to all. The U.S. needs well-educated people now more than at any time in our history, he said. If we want to compete in the 21st century, theres not a single person we can waste. But he decried the income inequality that makes it difficult for manyespecially those from communities of colorto get the education they want. America is the land of opportunity, but its also an America in which its more and more difficult for people of color to get ahead, he said.

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He called for the nation to invest early in the success of children in under-resourced communities, especially those at pre-kindergarten age, when the childs mind is growing, and to make higher education more affordable and accessible, including four-year universities, communities colleges and apprenticeship programs.

With the U.S. projected to become a majority-minority country within three decades (and with California already there), diversity in higher education has become a pressing national topic. Its not only a matter of social justice and education equity, its a matter of national competitiveness, said CDU president and CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle. California will be 2.4 million college-educated workers short of workforce demand by 2030. Students of color who are currently disadvantaged on college campuses are needed to meet future workforce demands. Its in everyones interest for them to have the education to prepare them for those jobs.

Presenting sponsor for this years Presidents Breakfast was Torrey Pines Bank. Advocate for Higher Education Access Sponsors included L.A. Care and L.A. County Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

For more information, visit http://www.cdrewu.edu/, and follow CDU on Facebook, Twitter (@cdrewu), and Instagram (@charlesrdrewu).
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 10:43 am

Whether you are a fair-weather fan or an unapologetic elitist nerd, the Michigan State University Comics Forum has a page-turning fix for all.

This years event will feature tours of the worlds largest comics collection in MSU Special Collections, 16 dialogue and discourse panel talks on comics, an artists alley with over 30 vendors and keynote presentations by comic artist Gregory Seth Gallant and comic scholar Qiana Whitted.

Dr. Julian Chambliss and Dr. Salah Hassan of MSU will kick off the forum on Feb. 19 with a panel discussion on a Muslims journey in comics. Chambliss is the incoming panel coordinator for the MSU Comics Forum and assistant professor in the MSU Comics Minor.

My colleague and I are going to be doing a discussion around Green Lanterns Vol. I: (Rebirth) Rage Planet, which is a series that starts in 2006 with two Green Lantern characters.

In the comic, Simon Baz of Dearborn receives the fabled Green Lantern ring.

This is a way to talk about the depictions of Muslim-Americans in comics. Baz is a real attempt to update and improve what has been somewhat stereotypical depictions of Muslims in comics, think characters like Ras al Ghul in Batman for example.

Other panel discussions on comics range from cultural re-contextualization to Afro-futurism.

Keynote speaker Seths illustrations and comics have appeared on the cover of The New Yorker and New York Times Magazine. He was also the designer of the complete collection volumes of popular comic strip The Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

Seth is the kind of creator that the comic forum strives to bring to the public. He is someone whos had a long and very consistent career as a creator, Chambliss said. He cultivated a style that is professional and fans of his work have taken to because of the authenticity and voice he brings.

Despite indie hits like Palookaville, published on Drawn and Quarterly comics, Seth is still a relative unknown, Chambliss said.

This is a great opportunity for MSU to bring him into the spotlight. He puts a spotlight on the diversity, the complexity and the innovation you can find in comics. Im looking forward to his keynote.

The second keynote speaker, Qiana Whitted, wears many hats. Shes a comic scholar, associate editor for INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, chair of the International Comic Arts Forum and director of the African American Studies Program at the University of South Carolina.

She is currently in the process of releasing a book titled EC Comics: Race, Shock, and Social Protest in 2019.

EC Comics was a very famous comic book publisher, Chambliss said. Tales From the Crypt was a comic book from EC. Those horror comics from the 1950s were renowned for the shocking twists and social commentary.

The questions of race and equity depicted in those comics are still relevant today, he added.

We are doing something to bring attention to these narratives of race and identity at a pivotal moment. The kids that are reading those books the same time they were accepting the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

If interested in seeing EC Comics or any others, Special Collections will offer the tour of its Comic Art Collection Feb. 23. It is the largest collection of comics in the world, totaling 300,000 items from 1840 to present day.

The envy of other comic repositories around the world is an intact set of seven 1840 first edition comics from Swiss cartoonist Rodolphe Topffer. It is considered to be the first comic ever made.

Attendees must reserve tour spots via email to emcordes@lib.msu.edu.

If you view comics as a unique art form with a lot of respectability and engagement with a broad audience, now is the golden age of comics," Chambliss said. "There is both a serious consideration of comics as a literary art form and source of scholarly engagement.

For more information, visit comicsforum.msu.edu
Lorenzo Lopez stirs his enchilada sauce as part of his cooking demonstration at Casa de Rosado.

Bringing People Together

At Casa de Rosado, more than a dozen are gathered to watch Latino activist Lorenzo Lopez demonstrate on how he cooks his signature enchiladas. It has the atmosphere of a lighthearted cooking show, sangria is poured and tortilla chips with salsa  made with Lopezs own recipe  are served. Many interject with jokes as Lopez proceeds with his instructions and laughs are shared.

When the food is served and the forks finally connect with the soft, warm chicken-filled tortillas doused with the homemade enchilada sauce, everyone seems immediately elated.

The day was a great opportunity to learn more about what makes Mexican food so endearing to so many. A sort of microcosm of Mexican cuisines ability to bring people together with its dishes that provide infinitely unique flavors, with seemingly no one true method of preparation. For several attendees, it was a great opportunity to learn.

I am not Latino, so I have everything to learn. Its hard if you dont know the ins and outs  having to try every single restaurant, said Jessica Bibbee. I think its important for everyone to know what goes into the food and to know a little bit about the history and techniques.

Every family regardless of regional roots in Mexico seems to have its own take on how to make tamales, tacos, burritos  each incorporating different sauces, meats and cheeses. So, its almost impossible to nail down a single recipe as the single true authentic way.

The concept of an enchilada is universal. But how you prepare the sauce, which tortilla you use and what you put in it is your own choice. Its not right or wrong, Lopez said. When you say things like, None of them get it right, well they get it right according to them.

Lopez elaborated that the history of several Mexican dishes go so far back in time, and involve so much assimilation and commodification between different cultures, that making the distinction of an original recipe is nearly impossible.

What is todays modern Mexican food originated thousands of years ago with all of the indigenous cultures that thrive in what is now Mexico. Before the Europeans came, all of those indigenous groups had their own cuisine, Lopez said.

Add a healthy dose of regional traditions and it gets even more complex.

The cool thing about Mexican cuisine is theres a lot of dishes that can vary from a lot of different areas  lets say southern Mexico or northern Mexico, said Victor Banda, owner of the Taquero Mucho food truck. Then theres the street style, which is the street tacos you can find in the city at any little food stand in Mexico.

Restaurants in Town

But theres always a discussion among Lansing eaters about how Americanized dishes rank up with the traditional Mexican methods. The access Lansing has to great authentic Mexican food is palpable  there are countless local options beyond Taco Bell or QDoba.

Mexican food restaurateurs in Lansing are happy to prepare the original recipes and also provide the versions many Americans have grown accustomed to via these massive chain operations.

We didnt want to separate ourselves with authentic and American styles. We wanted to mix it up; we wanted to set it up so our customers could choose. They can see what both styles are like at the same time, said Jorge Vera, manager and co-owner of Acapulco Mexican Grill, in Frandor.

Food has always been central in Veras household, whether while growing up in Guanajuato, in Central Mexico, or after his family moved to Lansing and started the Cancun Mexican Grill chain of restaurants across Mid-Michigan and now Acapulco.

Growing up in Mexico, everywhere you go  the first thing they do is ask you if you want to eat. As you walk in the house they are like, Oh, youre hungry, you want to eat? Vera said.

Veras favorite restaurant besides his own? Pablos Old Town Mexican Restaurant.

Pablo Maldonado outside of Pablo's Old Town Mexican Restaurant.

Pablo Maldonado opened Pablos in 2005 after looking to purchase a mixer to make bread to sell to his friends as a side business to his truck-driving career. Upon meeting with a woman selling her mixer, he learned she was selling everything  all the equipment and the building itself.

My main focus is to give the customer what they want. If I go somewhere and eat, I expect the best, Maldonado said. Why would I give somebody something that I dont like it? Thats the most important part.

Maldonado himself has felt the growth in popularity in Mexican food, noticing the increase in customers that arent Latin or Hispanic.

A lot of people who arent Mexican that prefer good Mexican food, Maldonado said. Most of my customers are from other countries, especially Americans.

I eat at Pablos and I feel like I am back home, Vera said.

Alongside Pablos, another favorite of many is Aldacos Taco Bar, opened in 1995 by Juvencio Aldaco. After Famous Taco, which opened in 1968, its Lansings oldest, still-running Mexican restaurant.

Aldacos Taco Bar was born when Juvencio tried to offer advertising to a restaurant, only to be told by the owner that it was hemorrhaging money and that would he sell it to him on the spot for $5,000.

Juvencio took him up on it, returning home and letting his family know he planned to purchase a restaurant. As he knew little about the food industry, Juvencios family stepped in. Juvencios son Daniel said the recipes all came from his stepmother, Maria. Aldacos Taco Bar would open that New Years Day.

My stepmom got the recipes from her mom, and I learned them too. Basically, all of the recipes from Aldacos come from our family, Daniel Aldaco said.

Having been in the business for more than two decades, Aldacos Taco Bar has been subject to the changing landscape of Mexican food. Still, Daniel maintains the clientele has been steady; hes just noticed that more people of different backgrounds visiting the restaurant.

When we were in Old Town when we first opened, it was more Hispanic people  now its everyone, Daniel said.

Tacos Monterrey is a newcomer to the scene. Owner Ismael Alejandro Puente Rodriguez based the concept off his mother Alejandras food truck in Monterrey, Mexico, and felt he could do a lot of things better than the restaurants he had been working for.

When it is real, authentic Mexican food, you are going to know it when you are tasting the food, Rodriguez said. You can taste artificial flavors; artificial seasonings  you can detect when something is cooked fresh daily and hasnt been frozen for days or weeks.

Since he moved to Lansing in 2010, Rodriguez said the scene has grown handily.

In the past four years, Ive seen a lot of new Mexican restaurants come to Lansing.

Food Trucks

A big purveyor of Mexican food culture trends for Lansing has been the food truck. Mexican food, with many of its hallmarks easily prepared on a flattop griddle, is conducive to the mobile restaurant formula.

Victor Bandas Taquero Mucho is one of the new trucks that earned some fanfare in 2018.

You dont really need an upscale restaurant to bring out the good flavors in Mexican food, Banda said.

Taquero Muchos dishes are directly inspired by the food Bandas mother prepared for him as a child.

The basic idea of opening up a food truck was a dream my mother had. It was something I wanted to do for her, Banda said.

Its a common thread for many Mexican restaurants in Lansing, especially the food trucks.

El Oasis  often seen as the crown jewel not just for Lansing food trucks but Lansing restaurants in general (Mexican or not)  shares a similar history. Its current owner, Ricardo Gutierrez, took over for his mother after he graduated from East Lansing High School.

The recipes have stayed in the family from generation to generation. We make family style meals, Gutierrez said.

The fact these trucks are able to survive in such inclement weather  Taquero Mucho reopens March 1 after facing the brunt of the polar vortex  is a testament to the love Lansing has grown for them.

We appreciate it and thats why were here. We may not be as cold, but were still chilly. We still got to come here and shovel the snow, Gutierrez said. People are loyal; we appreciate everybody and respect them.
Do you wonder why President Donald Trump fails to confront Russias Vladimir Putin, or why he suspended military maneuvers with South Korea while North Koreas Kim Jong Un continues to develop more nuclear weapons? Why wont he condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

Do you wonder why hes willing to retreat from Syria and Afghanistan? Why did he walk away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and cede economic hegemony of South Pacific trade to China? And why does he constantly denigrate NATO, a major deterrent against Russian aggression in Europe?

Americas economy is still the worlds greatest, and our military is the worlds most capable. Since the end of World War II, our alliances and military have not only kept America safe, but are key to our economic prosperity. Trump doesnt seem to understand this.

According to Jon Meachams biography of President George H.W. Bush, Destiny and Power, Bush learned that American engagement was crucial if America wanted markets, allies and, perhaps above all, stability. In Asia and around the world, America needed to be visible but not push, muscular but not domineering.

Theres no greatness in retreat. Like it or not, Trump is the leader of the free world and commander in chief of the worlds most powerful military. Do you really want to make America greater? If you do, stop acting like the worlds wimp in chief.

Dan Betz

East Cocalico Township
THE ISSUE

UPMC Pinnacle announced Friday that, in advance of its Feb. 28 closure of its Lancaster hospital, only patients who come through the emergency department will be admitted as inpatients to the Lancaster facility formerly known as Lancaster Regional Medical Center and, before that, St. Joseph Hospital. A news release from UPMC Pinnacle stated that ambulance service will cease this Saturday and emergency department doors will close to walk-in patients at 7 a.m. Feb. 28, when any remaining inpatients will be transferred about 7 miles to its sister hospital, UPMC Pinnacle Lititz. As LNP staff writer Heather Stauffer has reported, the closure of UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster has raised concerns about Lancaster General Hospitals ability to handle the overflow of emergency department patients.

The numbers reported by Stauffer are worrying.

According to 2017 state records, the latest available, LGHs emergency department had 115,990 visits.

UPMC Pinnacle Lancasters emergency department had 23,360 visits.

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health spokesman John Lines told Stauffer that the LGH emergency department was designed to handle 90,000 visits a year  25,990 fewer than it saw in 2017. So even before UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster closes its doors to emergency room patients, LGHs emergency department  last expanded nearly two decades ago  is being taxed.

Anyone whos visited the LGH emergency department in recent months may have experienced not just considerable wait times, but may have seen beds in the hallways because the departments 54 bays were all occupied.

So we were heartened by the announcement Tuesday that LGH plans to expand the capacity of its emergency room with a temporary 2,500-square-foot modular building.

It will open in July, so the relief wont be immediate. But at least some is coming.

Lines said the $3 million addition is among the approaches both underway and under consideration to address the projected growth in demand for emergency care.

The temporary remedy, he said, will afford us the necessary time to address the financial and patient care and workforce impacts a more permanent expansion would require.

Clearly, a more permanent expansion is going to be necessary. As LNPs Jeff Hawkes reported last March, Lancaster Countys 0.7 percent population growth rate made ours the sixth-fastest growing county in Pennsylvania.

And while the Affordable Care Act has helped to expand insurance coverage to people who once went without it  enabling more people to get the primary care that keeps them out of the ER  there are still gaps in health care coverage. Even with the proliferation of urgent care centers in the county, the emergency department remains, for some people, the place of first resort.

No wonder some Lancaster city residents are so worried about the closure of the hospital once known as St. Joes. Activists plan protests for this weekend, including a candlelight vigil across the street from the College Avenue facility. Sadly, an estimated 150 employees  30 percent of the UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster workforce  will lose their jobs. Our hearts go out to them; losing a job can be devastating to an individual and a family.

Were concerned, too, about city residents who will find it difficult to seek emergency care at UPMC Pinnacle Lititz. And about the pressure on the LGH staff members who will face waiting rooms crowded with patients exasperated by longer wait times. And about those patients, who will need to cope not just with sickness or injury but with the inconveniences that come with a hectic ER.

This is, to put it succinctly, a mess.

Some health care officials here told LNP they assumed UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster would close eventually, as the hospital was underutilized.

But the closure is occurring during flu season.

Its also happening when late-season winter storms make traveling to a hospital outside of Lancaster city  say, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (which has 72 emergency department beds), or UPMC Pinnacle Lititz (14 beds), or WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital (27 beds)  can be difficult for those who live a distance away.

UPMC didnt announce that it was stopping inpatient admissions (save for emergency department transfers) at its Lancaster city hospital until Friday  the very day those admissions stopped.

UPMC officials followed that pattern with other units  not alerting the public as to when those units would be closing, but acknowledging, when LNP asked, that those units had closed.

They have kept the public largely in the dark about what was coming next in the closure process, even as some citizens protested and wrote angry letters to the editor of LNP. (Pro tip: Communicating with the public can defuse tough situations and win an organization goodwill.)

Moreover, what information has been doled out has done little to reassure us that the closure of UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster wont have serious repercussions.

UPMC officials didnt offer any details about how the closure would unfold until the hospital was two weeks away from closing its doors.

For an organization that keeps talking about continuing the spirit of compassion of the iconic former St. Joes, UPMC has failed to do the one thing that might make those more than just pretty words: Fully acknowledge the concerns of the people it hopes to keep serving.

As for LGH, it was discussing a modular unit to expand its emergency department in January 2018. Its finally going to install one this summer. We understand that the closure of UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster added more urgency, but the situation has been urgent for years  in 2013, for instance, the LGH emergency department saw nearly 113,000 visits, which was 23,000 more than it was designed to handle.

Were lucky this flu season hasnt been as bad as it could have been. When it comes to emergency care, however, we shouldnt have to rely on luck.
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against, Liberty Health Science Inc. (Liberty or the Company) (OTCMKTS: LHSIF) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and indexed under 19-cv-00161, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise, acquired Liberty common stock between June 28, 2018, and December 3, 2018, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Liberty Class A common stock between June 28, 2018, and December 3, 2018, you have until March 8, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Liberty was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) on November 9, 2011, as SecureCom Mobile Inc. The Companys principal business activity is the production and distribution of medical cannabis through its wholly-owned subsidiary DFMMJ LLC (d/b/a Liberty Health Sciences Florida Ltd.)

Aphria Inc. (Aphria), which also produces and distributes cannabis, has had longstanding ties with Liberty, starting from the very beginning of both companies. When Aphria was founded in 2014, Victor Neufeld (Neufeld) joined the firm as CEO and co-founder. One of Aphrias other early institutional backers included The Delavaco Group, Front St. Capital, York Plains, and Broadband Capital of NYC.

Neufeld became the Chairman of Liberty while Cole Cacciavillani, Aphrias chief agronomist and co-founder, also became one of the executives at Liberty. Liberty was heavily influenced by Aphria and individuals involved in the management of Aphria. Neufeld and the Serruya are large shareholders in both companies.

The complaint alleges throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Liberty, in conjunction with Aphria, was involved in a scheme whereby numerous fraudulent acquisitions and transactions were made to provide undue benefits to both companies insiders; and (ii) as a result, Libertys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

In September 2018, Aphria announced that it had sold off its stake in Liberty. On December 3, 2018, Quintessential Capital Management and Hindenburg Research issued a report entitled Aphria: A Shell Game with a Cannabis Business on the Side, claiming that Aphria was part of a scheme involving the acquisition of shell companies at artificially inflated prices. Specifically, the report alleged: Aphria is part of a scheme orchestrated by a network of insiders to divert funds away from shareholders into their own pockets. The article detailed a thorough and on-the-ground investigation into Aphrias latest investments that revealed the poor quality and worth of the assets of those investments. For example, the article was accompanied by pictures showing that Aphrias latest investment in Jamaica was an abandoned building on dilapidated property.

On this news, Libertys stock fell $0.36, or nearly 34%, over the next two trading days to close at $0.70 on December 4, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980
Height gap with parents, not genetics, determines onset of puberty -- Ben-Gurion U. study

BEER-SHEVA, Israel...February 21, 2019 - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have found that the age puberty hits is based on the gap between the parents' and child's ultimate height, not genetics.

In the study, published in the PLOS ONE journal, Dr. Yehuda Limony and Dr. Michael Friger of the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences, together with Slawomir Koziel at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, discuss the significance of this "height gap" and their new prediction model for determining onset of puberty.

"We found that the age a child reaches puberty is based on how the body responds to the child's individual growth needs," Dr. Limony says. "When a 'tall' child seems to be exceeding a parent's height, he may begin puberty earlier than his fellow peers to slow his growth and ensure that his final adult height is in the 'target' range.

"The opposite is also true: 'short' children don't reach puberty until later than the societal average because their bodies are giving them extra time to grow in order to reach a parent's height."

The researchers said that while there is a wide variation for what is considered a "normal" age for puberty to begin, scientists have not been able to validate the prevalent assumption that genetics plays a major role in determining when an individual will begin puberty.

BGU's observational, retrospective study focused on groups of Israeli and Polish children. The Israeli group of 110 boys and 60 girls had been referred to an endocrinology clinic in southern Israel from 2004 to 2015 because of a "normal" but below average or short stature, or early or late puberty. The Polish group of 162 girls and 173 boys attended Warsaw elementary schools. Researchers followed the boys from ages 8 to 18, and the girls until age 17.

"A child who hits puberty earlier than his peers, but at a time consistent with a parental height gap model, should be considered 'healthy'," Dr. Limony says. "We believe having the ability to determine normal ranges more accurately will reduce the need for unnecessary diagnostic procedures and help doctors better explain the emergence of early- or late-onset puberty to concerned parents."

###

About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more.

AABGU, headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information visit https:/ / aabgu. org/ .

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Trump foreign policy, in as much as anyone can make sense of it, is contradictory and confusing .

Yet, in his crude blunderbuss way President Donald Trump is on to something. Hidden beneath his barstool yammering is a germ of truth.

The post-Cold War world he inherited was not stable and hopeful illusions were fading. With the collapse of the Soviet Union there was the expectation that a new international system would bind the major powers in mutually beneficial relationships. The World Trade Organization included China and Russia. NATO would transform itself into a European security system in which Russia would participate. Defeating radical Islamic groups would be a project the major powers would join.

From a rational perspective this appeared to make sense. However, as we have learned from the bitter lessons of history, rational perspectives often give way to nationalist, religious and tribal resentments.

Trumps presidential campaign voiced the American resentment that this economic and political order was leaving millions of working-class Americans behind. International trade was benefiting the affluent in the information sectors, while neglecting workers in the manufacturing and extractive industries.

China was not willing to accept a role as a status quo power. Instead it was acting as a revisionist hegemonic power, extending its power to the South China Sea. Neither was it playing by the rules of international trade, brazenly stealing American intellectual property and technology secrets.

Our NATO allies were content to let American troops shoulder most of the burden of fighting radical Islamic groups. After years of American sacrifices in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, those countries remained rife with political instability. Mexico was implicitly encouraging its citizens to illegally cross our border, adding to our financial burdens, bringing dangerous drugs and lowering the wages of low-skilled laborers.

Trumps opponents accuse him of sounding the discredited themes of nativism, isolationism and protectionism. There is truth in those accusations, but there is also truth in Trumps grievances. As his presidency has unfolded, it is painfully clear that Trump seemed unable to convert his grievances into a coherent national security strategy. Hence, the turnover of his senior national security team, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and national security advisers in less than two years.

Despite this upheaval, the Trump Administration has made some progress. Islamic State group has been deprived of territory in Iraq and Syria; China is at least willing to discuss the issues of intellectual property theft and distorted trade balances; the NATO nations are beginning to increase their defense contributions; and North Korea has put aside its nuclear threats, as talks continue.

None of this ensures permanent progress. When American troops withdraw from Syria, Islamic State could re-establish itself. There is no guarantee that NATO, despite its increased defense spending, has the will or the strategy to combat Russian incursions in Ukraine and to aid in the fight against radical Islamic groups. Nor is there assurance that China will renounce its rapacious policy of international theft and military intimidation.

Can we find a coherent national security policy that avoids the shoals of endless intervention and nostalgic isolationism? Inaction and withdrawal are not a policy. Why we are still militarily involved in such unstable nations as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen? What is our national interest in these countries and what is the military strategy to pursue those interests?

We have witnessed a shameful retreat from such a discussion. President Trump has contributed to this debasement and he has had considerable help. Moderate voices with knowledge and wisdom are missing from the national dialogue. If the president will not speak as a serious leader, others must try.

Is there a presidential candidate of either party willing and able to present a coherent view of Americas role in the world? Is there any serious voice in the Congress able to do the same? We need serious people for these serious times. Such voices are essential to help guide the world out of its current miasma. No other country can do it.

Robert J. Bresler is professor emeritus of public policy at Penn State Harrisburg and lives in Lancaster Township.
Ephrata police

CORRUPTION OF MINORS

EPHRATA TWP.: Magaly Bonilla-Rohena, 47, and Jessnia Cruz, 27, both of Reading, were charged with corruption of minors and retail theft after stealing over $330 worth of items Feb. 9 from Walmart, 890 E. Main St., Ephrata, police said. While Cruz paid for other items at the self-checkout, Bonilla-Rohena told Cruzs children to push the cart with the unpaid items out of the store, police said.

Manheim Township police

BURGLARY

MANHEIM TWP.: A chainsaw worth $200 was reported stolen Feb. 18 or 19 from a warehouse at 1060 Manheim Pike, police said.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

MANHEIM TWP.: A vehicles four tires were slashed while it was parked overnight Feb. 14 in the 1100 block of Manheim Pike for a loss of $400, police said.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

LANCASTER TWP.: Kenneth Clark Jr., 38, of Lancaster, was charged after creating a disturbance Feb. 14 inside Elite Dental, 1210 Millersville Pike, police said.

HARASSMENT

LANCASTER TWP.: Bryan Johnathan Lugo, 27, of Lancaster, was charged after a domestic dispute Feb. 18 at his home in the 1200 block of East King Street, police said.

LANCASTER TWP.: Christain I. Jordan, 18, and a 16-year-old juvenile, both of Lancaster, were charged with harassment and disorderly conduct after a fight Sept. 21 in the 1400 block of Millersville Pike, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: Shylee Trettes, 22, of Lancaster, was charged after a disturbance Jan. 30 at Eden Resort Inn, 222 Eden Road, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: Marion Smith Jr., 33, of Lancaster, was charged after a domestic dispute Jan. 28 at his home in the 600 block of Janet Avenue, police said.

PFA VIOLATION

MANHEIM TWP.: Brian Kenneth Skaggs, 35, of Lancaster, was charged with violation of a protection from abuse order after trying to contact a protected person Feb. 13 in the 2800 block of Lititz Pike, police said.

STRANGULATION

MANHEIM TWP.: Frank A. Doman, 44, of Lancaster, was charged with strangulation, simple assault and criminal mischief after a domestic incident Jan. 16 in the 1300 block of Blue Jay Drive, police said. Doman attacked another person during an argument, police said. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Police ask anyone with information to call 717-569-6401.

THEFT

LANCASTER TWP.: A 49-inch television was reported stolen from a front porch Feb. 18 in the 100 block of East King Street for a loss of $219, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: A wallet and contents were reported stolen from a locked locker Feb. 12 at LA Fitness, 1300 Lititz Pike. Credit cards were used to make fraudulent purchases totaling over $4,000, police said.

THEFT CHARGES

LANCASTER TWP.: Claudia Gerbert Yingling, 18, of Lancaster, was charged with theft and criminal conspiracy to commit theft after she conspired with a person to steal $50,000 worth of jewelry from a family member and pawn it for cash between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1 in the 1300 block of Valley Road, police said.

State police

PEDESTRIAN STRUCK

SALISBURY TWP.: A 7-year-old boy from Gap was hit by a pickup truck Feb. 19 and taken by helicopter to duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware, police said. The boy ran across Route 340 at Plank Road and was struck by the truck driven by Mark Berkey, 50, of Honey Brook, police said.
Two men charged by Lancaster police in a foiled armed robbery of Smithgall's Pharmacy will also face a federal indictment, officials announced Thursday.

If convicted on the new charges, Brandon Galette, 24, of Harrisburg, and Andrew Garrett, 24, of Steelton, face a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The men along with two others were charged by Lancaster city police after the alleged attempted robbery of the West Lemon Street pharmacy Oct. 23. According to Lancaster police, Galette brandished a firearm inside the business and demanded opioids.

The robbery was foiled after Galette was shot and injured by former Lancaster mayor and pharmacy owner Charlie Smithgall, police said. Smithgall was cleared by the Lancaster County district attorney's office, which said he "faced the threat of imminent death."

Lancaster police charged Garrett in December, alleging he acted as a lookout. Garrett and Galette have been held in Lancaster County Prison.

The federal indictment came Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Both are charged with attempted robbery which interferes with interstate commerce and one count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Galette was also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The mandatory minimum sentence upon conviction is seven years. A sentence would run consecutively to any other sentences and include an additional five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Johnny L. Straining Jr., 22, and Lamar Black, 29, both of Harrisburg, were also charged in December with being involved in the attempted robbery. Asked if Straining and Black could also be indicted, a representative for the U.S. Attorney's Office said the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain said "stemming the tide of violent crime in our communities is a top priority of the Department of Justice and my office."

People looking to make a quick buck by robbing convenience stores, pharmacies, and other businesses beware: this conduct is a federal crime, and if you are convicted, you will face stiff penalties under federal law," McSwain said in the release.

The case is also under investigation by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy M. Stengel.
A Berks County man faces charges of homicide by vehicle for an accident police say occurred when he fell asleep and struck a car alongside Route 283 in September 2018, killing a woman and injuring her adult son.

Luckner Alexis, 58, of Reading, was charged Wednesday with homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and other related charges regarding the Sept. 28 crash, according to documents filed by East Hempfield Township police.

Alexis, driving a tractor-trailer, allegedly struck a car with Inez Nolan and her son, Thomas Nolan Jr., inside. Inez Nolan was taken to a Philadelphia hospital and died six days after the crash. An obituary published by a Monroe County funeral home says she was 56 years old and lived in Hershey.

Police said in charging documents that the crash occurred after Alexis nodded off while driving a tractor-trailer around 8 p.m. on Route 283 between the Salunga and State Road/Route 722 exits.

The Nolans were in a car parked legally on the right shoulder waiting for a tow truck, police said. Inez Nolan had driven to the scene to assist her son, whose car had a mechanical issue. Both cars were on the right shoulder with their four-way flashers on, police said.

Alexis fell asleep with his foot on the accelerator, police said. Dash cam video and data from the trucks engine showed Alexis made no attempts to slow down or move into the left lane.

Alexis drifted to the right over the fog line, side-swiped Thomas Nolan Jr.s car and then struck Inez Nolans car, where both were inside, according to an arrest affidavit.

Thomas Nolan Jr. was seriously injured. He suffered head trauma, broken bones and spinal fractures, according to police.

Police determined that Alexis vehicle did not have any mechanical issues and that he did not have a medical issue.

"After repeatedly working long, overnight hours while maintaining his personal life over a course of several weeks, Alexis was naturally tired. Despite this, he ignored typical signs of fatigue and consumed caffeinated beverages in an effort to remain alert to continue driving," said Officer Josh Sandman in the arrest affidavit.

Alexis faces charges of homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and three traffic citations, according to court documents.
Manheim Township School Districts lawsuit against municipal tax collector Patricia Kabel will proceed after a judge denied her request to dismiss it.

The lawsuit alleges Kabel has caused significant monetary damage to the school district since July 1, the beginning of tax season, when she unexpectedly started diverting taxpayers to the district.

Obviously, the district is pleased with the courts ruling and looks forward to prosecuting its lawsuit against Mrs. Kabel and obtaining compensation for the damage Mrs. Kabel has unnecessarily and improperly caused, district Superintendent Robin Felty said in a statement, which was read aloud during a Feb. 14 school board work session and subsequently posted on the districts website.

Kabels lawyers, Michael Peters and Michael Pidgeon, of Eastburn and Gray, requested that Judge David Ashworth toss the lawsuit because Kabel was ordered to cease school property tax collection duties on July 2 amid a related pending legal case.

Kabel entered the fiscal year without the legally required surety bond to collect school property taxes, despite suing the district eight months earlier to do so. The district has been processing tax bills manually ever since, which, it said, has forced the district to hire extra staffing and miss out on interest and investment earnings.

Peters said in an email Wednesday that he disagreed with the districts assertion that it incurred unnecessary financial damage due to his clients actions. Kabel, he added, remains fully committed to seeing this matter through, to securing a fair and proper compensation for the collection of district taxes, and to commencing the collection of those taxes.

Tried by phone and email Wednesday, Kabel diverted questions to her lawyers.

The district has paid about $74,000 in legal costs since Kabel took surprise legal action in November 2017, according to district spokeswoman Marcie Brody.

It's processed 16,345 total tax bills so far this fiscal year, district chief operating officer Donna Robbins said Wednesday.

Kabels original lawsuit, which the district is trying to get dismissed, remains active. Oral arguments may be scheduled in the near future if the court decides to proceed.
Its been 23 years since Suddenly, Tammy! has taken the stage.

The piano-driven rock trio was formed by siblings Jay and Beth Sorrentino and friend Ken Heitmueller in Lancaster in the early 90s. By 1992, the band had gained national attention. It later signed to Warner Brothers and opened for acts such as The Cranberries and Jeff Buckley.

But after the deal with Warner Brothers went south, the band decided to take a break.

It ended up being a pretty long break  23 years, to be exact.

That hiatus will come to an end Friday night, when all three original members take the stage at the Chameleon Club during Lancaster Roots & Blues.

These days, band members are spread out throughout the country. Beth lives in Los Angeles, Jay is in Austin, Texas, and Ken is in New York City.

The Sorrentinos grew up together in Mountville. Jay, the elder sibling, started playing drums before he reached double digits. When Beth started playing piano, they naturally started playing together.

We were kind of playing in a band together all of our lives without even knowing it, Beth says. It was kind of forming all along.

When they got older, they initially played in separate bands. But after Jay heard Beth play with Ken, he got involved in their project, too. Ken worked as the sound engineer at the Chameleon Club, often pulling double duty by working the sound board at the bands shows.

IF YOU GO What: Suddenly, Tammy! at Lancaster Roots & Blues. Where: Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St. When: Friday, 7 p.m. Cost: $65 for one-day general admission ticket to entire festival. $25 for Friday only at the Chameleon Club. More info: lancasterrootsandblues.com.

The bands earnest music blended pop and rock with upbeat enthusiasm. Beths sweet vocals deepened the charm.

Suddenly, Tammy! embraced the DIY ethos of the time, making their own T-shirts, copying their own tapes, and hand-coloring the artwork on their cassettes.

They gained a following locally in Lancaster, but also in Philadelphia (thanks to radio station WXPN), and later in New York City.

The Sorrentino siblings both point to the same moment when trying to pinpoint when they made it big.

One day in 1992, Jay received a call from Karl Heitmueller, Kens brother who managed BBC Records in downtown Lancaster. He just received a fresh copy of College Music Journal.

He called me and he was like, Youre not even going to believe it. Youre on the cover of CMJ,  Jay says.

Jays response? Shut up.

It was a big deal. The magazine was a trusted resource for college radio stations and music junkies alike.

People followed that magazine like gospel, Beth says.

The Sorrentinos had put the number for their familys landline on their cassettes. After their CMJ cover debuted, the phone started ringing off the hook, Beth says.

More success followed. They earned gigs as the opening band for major national acts. At a New York City show opening for The Cranberries, famed producer and industry executive Lenny Waronker of Warner Brothers records showed up to scope out the band  a rare occurrence for an executive of his stature.

They signed with the label, which released the bands 1995 sophomore album We Get There When We Do. It later self-released its third album.

Suddenly, Tammy! played its last show before hiatus at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. Beth and Ken moved to New York City, and Jay opened a recording studio in a Gothic revival church in downtown Columbia in 1999.

Beth has played separately with Jay and Ken as duos on occasion since the Tin Angel performance. But the trio hasnt performed together since.

The band was encouraged to reunite at Lancaster Roots and Blues after festival founder Rich Ruoff ran into Ken at an event last year.

All three members had been hoping for a reunion for some time, it turns out.

I thought, you know what, this might not be such a bad time, Beth says. None of us are getting any younger.

Suddenly, Tammy! will include songs from each album in its setlist. The band plans to present the music chronologically, too.

Plant Me, Hard Lessons and Rushmore are among the songs Jay is most looking forward to playing.

Theyve been practicing solo in their respective cities and will have one day to rehearse in the Sorrentinos fathers basement before the show  a fitting location, Beth says.

Thats where we all started, Beth says. We all started in that basement.

Theyre excited to see family, friends and fans at the Chameleon Club. But most of all, theyre just excited to be making music in unison again.

It really is magical when the three of us play together, Beth says.
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(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 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As we all know, Los Angeles and the surrounding areas have had lots and lots and lots of rain this winter. So much rain, in fact, that this week, Southern California Edison announced they're lifting mandatory conservation requirements for residents and businesses on Catalina Island.

In a statement, the company announced that water levels at the island's Middle Ranch Reservoir have reached full capacity. The decision ends years of drought fighting efforts on the part of island dwellers.

Water rationing on Catalina Island began in 2014, when residents were asked to adopt mandatory conservation efforts -- such as only watering landscapes on certain days -- in an effort to reduce their consumption by 25 percent.

In 2016, water levels at the Middle Ranch Reservoir dropped to 11 percent of capacity, and SCE began asking their customers to reduce their water consumption by between 40 and 50 percent.

During those efforts, SCE imposed citations and fines for water waste.

Robert Villegas, a spokesperson for SCE, says that Catalina residents were extremely proactive and successful at reducing their water use.

"Folks on the island know very well what a precious resource water is," he says. "Even though we were requiring them to reduce by 25 percent overall [in 2014], customers reduced their consumption by 40 percent."

Villegas added that residents took steps like washing their dishes in buckets and then using that water to water their plants, and that some restaurants began only providing bottled water, rather than tap.

"It was extraordinary efforts from hotels and restaurants on the island, and residents taking pretty stringent measures" to reduce the amount of water they used, he said.

Since the Middle Ranch Reservoir is back to capacity, all required conservation efforts are technically ending. But Villegas adds that it never hurts to continue to be conscientious.

"The more responsible we are with the water," he says, "the better off we will all be."
MONTREAL, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amex Exploration Inc. (Amex or the Company) (AMX: TSX-V; FRA: MX0) announces the completion of the previously announced non-brokered private placement, in the amount of $5,442,875.



In connection with the offering (the Offering) 7,256,000 units, each priced at $0.75 (the Units) were issued, with each Unit consisting of one common share and one half () of one common share purchase warrant (the Warrant) having an exercise price of $1.25 and a term of 18 months provided that, the Company may issue a notice of acceleration to the Warrant holders if the volume weighted average price of the common shares is greater or equal to, $1.50 for 20 consecutive trading days in which case the Warrants will expire 30 days later.

Victor Cantore, President and CEO of Amex Exploration commented, With this financing we are very pleased to welcome Mr. Eric Sprott as a new strategic investor. Mr. Sprott is a renowned precious metals investor with an excellent understanding of gold projects. Cantore continued, Our drill program is continuing at a very good pace and this hard dollar financing provides us with the financial resources to fully explore the potential of our gold property.

Mr. Eric Sprott, through 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a corporation which is beneficially owned by him, acquired 4,000,000 Units under the Offering for a total consideration of $3,000,000. Following the completion of the private placement, Mr Sprotts holdings represent 7.40% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company, on a non-diluted basis, and 10.71% on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the Warrants acquired hereunder and forming part of the Units. Mr. Sprott did not beneficially own any securities in the Company prior to this investment. The Units were acquired by Mr. Sprott for investment purposes and with a long-term view of the investment. Mr. Sprott may acquire additional securities of the Company either on the open market or through private acquisitions or sell securities of the Company either on the open market or through private dispositions in the future, depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors. A copy of 2176423 Ontario Ltd.s early warning report will appear on the Company's profile on SEDAR and may also be obtained by calling (416) 362-7172 (200 Bay Street, Suite 2600, Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J2).

Three directors of Amex, Victor Cantore, Pierre Carrier and Andre Shareck, have participated in the private placement for the aggregate amount of $210,000. Pursuant to Policy 5.9 of the TSXV and Regulation 61-101 Respecting protection of minority security holders in special transactions (Regulation 61-101), each of these transactions constitute a related party transaction and as such, minority shareholder approval and a formal valuation may be required. However, such transactions meet the exemptions set out in Regulation 61-101 as the fair market value of the consideration for the transactions, as they involve related parties, does not exceed 25% of Amexs market capitalization, as per Sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of Regulation 61-101. A material change report in respect of this transaction will be filed however, the Corporation could not do so 21 days prior to the anticipated closing as their intent to participate was not determined at such time.

In connection with the private placement, Amex paid finders fee to several eligible intermediaries, including Generic Capital Corporation and Stephen Avenue Securities, in the aggregate amount of: $19,125 paid in cash; 307,440 Units in lieu of cash; and 332,000 non transferable broker warrants, having the terms and conditions of the Warrants issued under the Offering. All securities issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a 4-month and one day hold period and the transaction remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Amex

Amex Exploration Inc. is a junior mining exploration company, the primary objective of which is to develop and bring into production viable gold and base metals deposits in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Amex has multiple highly prospective projects: the 100% owned Perron gold project located 110 kilometres north of Rouyn Noranda, Quebec, consisting of 116 adjacent claims covering 4518 hectares; the 100% owned Eastmain River gold properties consisting of 135 claims covering 7,102 hectares and the 100% owned Cameron project located in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Quebec, comprising 263 claims covering 14,743 hectares. In addition, Amex has an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Gowan Property located near the Kidd Creek Mine.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

For further information please contact:

Victor Cantore

President and Chief Executive Officer

Amex Exploration: 514-866-8209

The securities to be issued pursuant to the offering have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or under any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, or delivered within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy such securities in the United States.

Forward-looking statements:

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may occur. Although Amex believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct or that it will complete the private placement, as contemplated herein, as such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements.
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Thousands of Southern California college students have been going without financial aid and money from federal loans for weeks while their schools' parent organization moves along the road to bankruptcy.

Students at Argosy University and Art Institute, with multiple campuses around California, and Western State College of Law in Irvine are struggling to make ends meet without funds they borrowed from the federal government for living expenses. Many of these students say they can't pay rent and utilities or put food on the table until the situation is resolved.

"No groceries, gas, all of that," said Kiera Michel, a first-year law student at Western State. On Tuesday night, she was in the audience at a Mission Viejo town hall held by 45th district Congresswoman Katie Porter. "I'm lucky I have my parents to help support me, but not everyone has that."

The money has been missing since Jan. 18, when students were due their financial aid and loan disbursements. That's when the administrations at dozens of colleges run by Los Angeles-based nonprofit Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH) were informed the schools were being put in federal receivership. Without major changes, the schools may no longer be eligible for federal Title IV funds.

"These are our loans, just like you would take a loan out for a car or for a home. But we're not getting our money," said Western State student Oliver Congleton.

On stage at the town hall, Porter said the DCEH schools have been placed under Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 status by the Department of Education.

"It's what it sounds like. It's not good," Porter said. "It means we really are concerned about where money is going in and out of the university."

Up until her successful run for Congress, Porter was a UC Irvine law professor specializing in bankruptcy and debt collection.

She said her staff is working on getting emergency food services arranged for students and reaching out to the United Way to support those that are struggling.

The students said the path forward is murky, and they're not getting many answers from school officials.

"We have uncertainty whether the school is going to stay open next semester," Congleton said.

Congleton plans to go into criminal defense, starting out as a public defender. But the financial hardship and questions surrounding Western State's future are threatening to derail his goals. "If we all have to transfer, where do we go?"

Michel said classmates in honors programs have been forced to drop out because they can't cover day-to-day expenses.

"They're telling us to stay focused on what we can. Complete our studies, do our readings and go to class like everything is normal," she continued. "But it's hard, we're still worried about what's going on."

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

DCEH has been in a financial spiral for the last two years. When it was placed in receivership in January, a court-appointed mediator -- Mark Dottore of Cleveland -- took over its business dealings.

In 2017, DCEH bought a network of schools, including Argosy University, South University and Art Institute from a company called Education Management Corporation. The goal was to turn the for-profit campuses into a thriving network of nonprofits. But things didn't go as planned. DCEH said the school network's financial picture was worse than expected. It shuttered 30 campuses in December.

When Dottore opened the books last month, funds were scarce.

After payroll and other expenses were covered, there was only $3.8 million left in the bank to run the schools, according to a letter Dottore wrote to the Department of Education dated Feb. 7. He called the cash situation "dire."

According to the letter, the school owes at least $13 million in student stipends.

"There's millions of dollars that students were expecting in financial aid that has not been disbursed to them, and at the same time the receiver in federal court is saying 'I can't find millions and millions of dollars,'" Porter explained.

Earlier this month, Dottore told the Arizona Republic his office would communicate with bill collectors and landlords to explain the situation if students were facing serious hardship.

"I do not -- repeat, do not -- have this money, nor would I be hanging onto it if I had," Dottore told the paper. "When I find it, the second I have access to it, I'll give it to these students."

His office didn't respond to a KPCC/LAist request for comment.

At her town hall, Porter questioned whether due diligence was done to look into the structure, governance and viability of DCEH when it took over the for-profit schools network.

"I would like to ask Secretary (Betsy) DeVos some really tough questions," she said. "This is a good example of where additional oversight is needed."

Porter said she hopes the House Committee on Education and Labor will take up the issue.

On Friday, the Department of Education told the Washington Post it would forgive any federal student debt for the DCEH schools' spring semester. But so far, there's no help for the students' living expenses.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut last week sent a joint letter to Attorney General Bob Barr, asking his office to investigate the Education Department's handling of the DCEH case.

Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-Irvine) talks with Western State College of Law students after a town hall event on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (Libby Denkmann/LAist)

WHO IS AFFECTED?

Dream Center Education Holdings runs dozens of campuses across the country. In addition to Western State College of Law, DCEH schools include Argosy University locations in Los Angeles, the city of Orange, and Santa Ana, and Art Institutes like the one in Hollywood.

In a press release last year, DCEH touted its reach: 62 campuses in the U.S., with 10,000 employees serving more than 50,000 students. The organization told Inside Higher Ed there are about 22,000 students enrolled at the Art Institute, more than 17,000 at Argosy University and more than 14,000 at South University campuses.

On its website, Western State College of Law says its student body numbers 411.

KPCC/LAist reached out to several DCEH schools around Southern California for comment, but emails and calls went unreturned. Argosy University in Los Angeles said they had no information to share, and all questions should be directed to the receiver in Cleveland.

Despite its recent for-profit history, Congresswoman Porter stressed that Western State College of Law should not be written off as a shady institution doomed to fail. Founded in 1966, the college is the oldest law school in Orange County and provides solid legal training, according to Porter.

"These are students getting a good education so they can become quality practicing lawyers, and they are in a very difficult situation right now," she said.

However, Argosy University and its affiliated schools are in danger of losing accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

There have been a couple of major for-profit college meltdowns in recent years.

Californians will remember Corinthian Colleges Inc., which was forced to shut down after a federal investigation revealed predatory and fraudulent practices, like falsifying job placement data. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

The next year, then-Attorney General Kamala Harris had reason to crow over when her office won a $1.1 billion judgment on behalf of students. Corinthian targeted low-income and disadvantaged communities, according to the Attorney General's office.

The company had around 81,000 students enrolled across the country.

And last year, 750,000 former students won a legal victory against for-profit behemoth ITT Tech, which shut down in 2016. A federal judge gave final approval in November to erase $600 million in debt owed to the school.

WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS DOING?

They're going to classes, studying for exams, and trying to piece together money from relatives and friends to pay for expenses that their stipends would normally cover.

Several Western State law students at Porter's town hall Tuesday night said it's been hard to organize a larger protest when most of them are neck-deep in schoolwork and worried about finances.

The school has a well-regarded immigration clinic which started a GoFund Me page to cover basic expenses to keep the office up and running.

During this uncertain time, "the Clinic is representing a full docket of detained asylum, bond, and other removal defense cases," the page says.

Elsewhere, others are pitching in to help Western Staters. "Some local attorneys and alumni have donated Visa gift cards, things to help us get by," said student Jose Michel. "We have a food pantry at school helping us day by day. But we just want some transparency."

This story has been updated. A previous version incorrectly identified the Los Angeles Film School as an Art Institute campus. It has an articulation agreement with the Art Institute but is not part of the school network owned by Dream Center Education Holdings.
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Linda Ann O'Keefe was last seen walking home from summer school on July 6, 1973, in Newport Beach. She was 11 and wore a white dress with light blue flowers. The next day, two men riding bikes found her body in a ditch along Back Bay Drive.

Now, more than 45 years later, authorities have arrested James Alan Neal, 72, in connection to the killing.

The break in the cold case came six months after the Newport Beach police used their Twitter account to try again to solve the mystery of who killed Linda and why. Using the hashtag #LindasStory, Newport Beach police reconstructed her final day.

Ultimately, it was DNA rather than witnesses or storytelling that led authorities to investigate Neal.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Wednesday that the online genealogy site, Family Tree DNA, pointed detectives toward Neal. Spitzer declined to say whether it was Neal or a family member who had uploaded DNA to the site.

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, detectives from the NBPD arrested this man - James Alan Neal, DOB 7/28/46 - in Colorado Springs, CO for murder. My murder. #LindasStory pic.twitter.com/bDNcrKwGeS  Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) February 20, 2019

Once that connection was made, detectives surveilled Neal, who was living in Colorado. Officials said they collected a sample of his DNA and matched it to DNA found on the victim shortly after she was killed. Spitzer hailed the method as key to solving this and other old cases.

"Through both traditional DNA and genealogical DNA, we have every opportunity in the world to solve so many of these cold cases that we never had hope in the past of solving," he said.

A similar method was used last year to pinpoint Joseph James DeAngelo as the suspected Golden State Killer.

Prior to that, authorities used familial DNA to identify Lonnie Franklin Jr. as the serial killer who had been dubbed the Grim Sleeper. Franklin was sentenced to death in 2016 for the murder of 10 people: nine women and a teenage girl.

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, detectives from the NBPD arrested this man - James Alan Neal, DOB 7/28/46 - in Colorado Springs, CO for murder. My murder. #LindasStory pic.twitter.com/bDNcrKwGeS  Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) February 20, 2019

A SHOCKING KILLING

The killing of an 11-year-old girl in Newport Beach in 1973 shocked the community and garnered national attention. It also dogged the Newport Beach Police Department, where several generations of detectives tried unsuccessfully to find her killer. They were constantly reminded of the unsolved case by a photo of Linda hanging on the wall.

Last year, on the 45th anniversary of her death, Newport police took to Twitter to revive public interest in the case. They posted a series of tweets recreating the day that O'Keefe went missing, putting the story into her imagined words.

Mom's starting to get a little worried. She knows I was angry about her not picking me up, but she thought Id sulk a bit and then come home to eat. Its been three hours since she heard from me, which is a lot when youre a young girl with no lunch in her stomach. #LindasStory  Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) July 6, 2018

Hi. Im Linda OKeefe (or Linda ANN OKeefe, if Im in trouble with my mom). Forty-five years ago today, I disappeared from Newport Beach. I was murdered and my body was found in the Back Bay. My killer was never found. Today, Im going to tell you my story. #LindasStory pic.twitter.com/G25n2IppZb  Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) July 6, 2018

Police also released a composite sketch of what the suspected killer might currently look like today, 45 years later, using DNA found at the murder site.

But now, 45 yrs later, I have a voice again. And I have something important to say. There is a new lead in my case: a face. A face that comes from DNA that the killer left behind. Its technology that didnt exist back in 1973, but it might change everything today. #LindasStory pic.twitter.com/GsZClKFwPj  Newport Beach Police (@NewportBeachPD) July 7, 2018

Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis said that although the social media campaign wasn't what led detectives to the suspected killer, it inspired a renewed effort to solve the case.

Lewis also said he hoped O'Keefe's story might coax leads in other cases.

"We will never know who Linda's story touched," he said. "Did it touch someone in another country, in another state somewhere that was inspired to report something that they thought was wrong or something they could've had information about?"

Neal was arrested Tuesday in Colorado Springs with the help of local law enforcement. At the time of O'Keefe's murder, Spitzer said Neal had been living in Orange County and working in construction. He then went by the name James Alan (or possibly, Allen) George Layton.

He later changed his name to James Alan Neal after what Spitzer described as an "incident" in Florida. Spitzer declined to elaborate and also declined to answer whether Neal had been linked to other crimes.

Neal is being charged with murder, kidnapping, and lewd and lascivious acts with a child. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of life in prison without parole.

O'Keefe's parents are both deceased, but authorities have informed her two sisters of the arrest.
I dont think theres an interagency council in the nation where the governor has decided to take the time and energy to chair it, he said. It shows how much of a priority it is for the governor.

Volk said the bills are a step in the right direction considering Wisconsin has had no plan for many years, which is unlike a majority of states. But more could still be done, he said, such as adding more money for homelessness prevention and including goals or metrics to monitor the agency overseeing it.

Evers will introduce his 2019-21 budget proposal Feb. 28, though its unclear how much money Evers will ask for homelessness services.

The governor believes we need to be connecting the dots on systemic issues like homelessness facing our state, an Evers spokesperson said in a statement. Gov. Evers looks forward to working with Council members, legislators, and stakeholders to get to work on this pressing issue.
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HOUSTON, Minn.  The International Festival of Owls is now in its 17th year. Many events have become annual staples, like the live owl programs, international owl art contest, photography contest, pellet dissection, nest box building, owl prowls, banquet, World Owl Hall of Fame awards and Sunday birding trip.

But this year, organizers will have several very special activities, some free, during the March 1-3 event that takes over the city of Houston.

Professional chainsaw carver Molly Wiste will be back, this time to carve a very elaborate owl bench from a large log. The log will be carved in place in Trailhead Park, near the Houston Nature Center. The benchs location is immediately adjunct to the future home of the International Owl Center. There is no charge to watch the carving.

A new, true childrens story will be released in April: Greta the Great Horned Owl. You will be able to purchase an advance-release copy at the Festival and have it autographed by author Christie Gove-Berg on Saturday.

The Secret Life of Owls aired on The Nature of Things on Canadian television in 2017, but has yet to be released in the USA. It is not even viewable online. This stunning film will be shown on Sunday afternoon during the Festival, and includes a segment on the Owl Centers vocal research.
A few did pretty well  nowhere near 22, 23, 24 or 25, mind you, but respectably well. Truth be told, they should score well because knowing that stuff is their job, while mine is just reporting what people say, objectively and clearly, through the lens of impartiality and without a hint of bias.

One question was entertaining, posing the question of how many added sugars are in a popular quinoa granola bars label. How hard can that be  the answer is right there in print, and all you have to do is count. Wrong, I was, because the company used so many words to disguise sugar that my count was way off.

I learned a few synonyms for sugar  Lewis claims that sugar has an astounding 61 synonyms  as well as some items I didnt know had sugar. Out of fear of legal blowback, I wont name the company because lawsuits make me a quaker.

Still, I didnt feel lonely, because Lewis stated that only 12 percent of U.S. adults can claim health literacy. I hope all docs and nurses, etc., are in that 12 percent because it would be bad if they were in the 88 percent who must be illiterate.

People who are health illiterates might be more inclined go to the ER, or a doctor or another provider at the drop of a hat or the rise of a temperature, he said.
Calling Trump a dictator short on facts

Feelings vs. facts: In a Feb. 8 Letter to the Editor its announced that President Trump seeks to be a dictator. The writer cites a 2017 essay called 7 Steps to Becoming A Dictator (sub-titled A manual for strengthening your power position as elected leader). The essay cites methods and motives of famous leaders in history, written less than a month after the inauguration, with no mention of Trump anywhere. The letter writer cites nothing except the bullet list from the essay, and then asserts that the president exhibits all of these in spades but with no facts.

Some delight that the president has shaken the establishment or pulled the curtain back on what goes on inside the Capitol. Others have suffered with buyers remorse since November 2016.

One thing I know is that ignoring history, and how politicians behave once in power in general, is simply replacing facts with ones feelings. Facts are pesky things.

Lincoln is a hero to many, but in 1864 he declared martial law in a friendly state and had his generals round up and jail his political opponents. JFK made his own brother the Attorney General! One can hardly ignore that the vast majority of media certainly dont seem to like Trump. Does that sound like Trump controlling the media?
A flat track motorcycle racer from Wisconsin died Thursday from injuries he sustained during a crash Aug. 7 at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, according to a release from the American Motorcyclist Association American Flat Track series.

Alec Muth, 22, of Black River Falls, Wis., "succumbed to his injuries" on Thursday despite "the immediate action of first responders and the best efforts of the very experienced staff at Rapid City Regional Hospital," according to the release.

The Harley-Davidson Black Hills Half-Mile was held the night of Muth's accident at the Black Hills Speedway in conjunction with the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. According to the American Flat Track website, Muth was riding a Honda CRF450R and racing in the American Flat Track Singles 15-lap Main Event that night.

The release called Muth an up-and-coming rider, and said he will be deeply missed by fans and peers alike.

Alec was a popular guy in the paddock and had a lot of friends in the flat track community, said Michael Lock, CEO of AMA Pro Racing. He scored his first points in AFT this year and recorded a very impressive top-ten finish at the OKC Mile, in June. It is extremely sad that his journey through life has been cut so short, and our thoughts are with his family at 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.
- Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray has shared her opinion about the issue of lowering the age of criminal responsibility in the country

- The Palace said that the beauty queen is misinformed about the issue

- However, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that he is glad that Gray has addressed the issue

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Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray has recently commented about the issue with regard to lowering the age of criminal responsibility. However, KAMI learned that the Palace said Gray should be educated on the age of criminal liability.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the Miss Universe 2018 is misinformed about the aforementioned issue and she has to be educated about it, as reported by Inquirer.

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On the other hand, Panelo said that he is glad that the beauty queen has addressed the issue because it only shows that she is concerned.

In a report by GMA News, Gray aired her side about the issue of lowering the age of criminal responsibility. She said that instead of lowering the age, the government should address the reasons behind why the children commit such crimes.

"I would rather address the focus to what can we do to get the children out of those circumstances that they may be pressured in that way to do something," Gray said.

"I would rather that the efforts be refocused to why those children maybe committing those crimes cause working with kids, you know, that when they are that young, when they are 11, 10, nine years old, they're not developed in that way cognitively to make decisions, knowing full way the consequences," she added.

According to CNN Philippines, the Miss Universe 2018 will be kicking off her grand homecoming parade today (Thursday). It will start at 2 p.m. at the Sofitel grounds. She will pass through Roxas Boulevard, TM Kalaw, Taft, Gil Puyat Avenue, and in Makati.

The beauty queen will also have another parade on February 23 that will happen in Cubao, Quezon City.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Our HumanMeter team attended a special screening of Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil's new movie "Alone /Together"! There, we were able to conduct a super edition of tricky questions. The people's responses were super hilarious as well  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
English French

OTTAWA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) President Debi Daviau will hold a press conference Monday on Parliament Hill to mark the third anniversary of the Phoenix pay system.



President Daviau will speak on the PIPSC Week of Action and the series of demands that will go a long way to remedy the ongoing pay problems.

Members will be available to speak to the personal consequences of the Phoenix failure.

Date: Monday, February 25, 2019

Time: 10:30 AM

Place: 135-B Press Conference Room, West Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

Speakers:

Debi Daviau, President, PIPSC

President, PIPSC Stephane Aubry, Vice-President, PIPSC

Teleconference: Media representatives wishing to participate via a teleconference may dial 1-866-797-9099 (toll-free) or 613-787-5142 (local). The Conference ID: 8705669 #.

Phoenix Week of Action event

Photo-op (cameras only):

Date: Monday, February 25, 2019

Time: 7:30 AM  8:45 AM

Place: Place du Portage  STO stop at 200 Portage, as well as various entry ways

President Debi Daviau, Vice-Presidents Stephane Aubry and Steve Hindle will be available for photo opportunity. On site contact person: Shelley Melanson, 613-668-3334.
The secrecy was compounded when Racine County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz, inexplicably  at the behest of Letteney  put the entire case under seal when he made a ruling. It marked the first time in our memory that a judge had hidden from the public a decision involving open records and the publics right to know.

But that was just the start of this bizarre and now long-running case. Weidner appealed the decision to Court of Appeals and last fall was hauled back before Judge Gasiorkiewicz and found in contempt for violating his secrecy order for talking to reporters about the case.

The Court of Appeals, which still has the case, directed Gasiorkiewicz to review his decision and release some of the documents in the case. That partial release  thus far  has revealed mundane and inconsequential emails and Weidners defense on why they were, in some cases, open documents that were readily available and even posted on city websites.

It also opened the doors to reveal the billing costs for the Milwaukee law firm, which Letteney had previously declined to release saying it was under seal by the court.

Thats where the $76,669.01 figure came from  it was released after an open records request was filed by The Journal Times. And the legal meter is still running.
EAU CLAIRE  Former state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and her husband told authorities their fireplace was the cause of the blaze that destroyed their rural Alma farmhouse early Saturday morning.

Vinehout, who just left office last month after 12 years representing a swath of west-central Wisconsin from Alma to Eau Claire, and her husband, Douglas Kane, said they were the only ones home when they were awakened at about 1 a.m. by the sound of fire alarms going off and quickly realized their house was engulfed in flames, according to a news release from the Buffalo County sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office received a report at 1:17 a.m. Saturday from a neighbor saying she woke up and noticed the home at W1490 Cesler Valley Road was on fire.

When emergency units arrived, about a third of the house was up in flames, the news release states.

Kane told authorities the couple had started a fire in the fireplace and that it was still going when they went to bed.

The Alma, Mondovi, Fountain City, Tri-Community, Nelson and Waumandee Montana Lincoln fire departments fought the fire but were unable to put it out, with weather and road conditions near the house hampering their efforts, the release indicates.
But none of this is easy. Its not easy stuff, but thats where a CDA comes in  to make that positive change in your community. This is one of those sites youre probably going to have to take an active role in for this to actually change.

The CDA decided to take up the Quik Mart discussion again at its next meeting. By then, the CDA plans to obtain records from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that will show any environmental concerns from the gas tanks.

Other properties left alone

As for the vacant Burger King building, 1141 15th Ave., and vacant bank drive-thru, 1201 15th Ave., the CDA decided to hold off on any action because the buildings are just off the villages busiest intersection, which could be an appealing location for developers. The restaurant closed last June.

The .98-acre Burger King property was assessed last year at $478,000, a $35,300 reduction from 2017. It is not publicly listed for sale, but Village President Mike Aimone said at the meeting that last he heard, the owner wants about $500,000 to $550,000 for it.

Just west of the restaurant, the .73-acre bank drive-thru property is listed for sale at $299,000. It was assessed at $211,100 in 2018, down $15,600 from 2017.
MADISON  Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, in his first major legislative act as Wisconsins chief executive, vetoed a Republican bill that would have tapped state surplus funds to cut taxes for the middle class, calling it fiscally unsound and lacking bipartisan support.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, called Evers divisive for insisting on something to which they say theyll never agree: capping a state tax credit for large manufacturers. Evers wants to cap the credit at $300,000 to offset part of revenue lost through his tax cut.

Evers issued a statement late Wednesday announcing his veto, which he had signaled was coming. A veto message from Evers said the GOP bill would be unsupported going forward as it relies simply on draining state reserve funds.

The message said Evers objects to the bill being enacted apart from the process by which lawmakers typically make big tax-and-spending decisions: the state budget. Evers plans to announce his state budget proposal next week, and he has said it will include his plan for a middle-class tax cut.

Evers also wrote that he is troubled and disappointed that the GOP bill was introduced and passed without bipartisan support and cooperation. It passed the Legislature last week on party-line votes.
MADISON  A proposed law looks to make it tougher on drunken driving suspects in Wisconsin, where punishments for operating while intoxicated are already considered among the most lenient countrywide.

Right now, police are able to release someone arrested under suspicion of operating while intoxicated if any of the three following conditions are met:

The initial arrest occurred more than 12 hours prior.

A chemical test shows that the individuals blood alcohol concentration is at or below 0.04 percent.

The suspect is able to be released to a responsible adult.

The bill proposal  authored by state Reps. Samantha Kerkman, R-Salem Lakes, and Jim Ott, R-Mequon  seeks to remove the third provision, disallowing suspects to leave custody while they may still be inebriated.

This is about getting drunk drivers off the road, Kerkman said.

Repeat offenders

Kerkman said that the legislation was in part inspired by an Aug. 9 incident in Kenosha County in which a nurse driving to work was struck and nearly killed by someone who had been arrested earlier that night for operating while intoxicated.
RACINE  After a frigid 15 minutes or more in the water, emergency workers rescued a 15-year-old boy who fell into Lake Michigan Wednesday evening.

According to a preliminary investigation, the Racine County Sheriffs Office reported that the boy and a 16-year-old friend were walking on the icy shore when the ice underneath them gave way, dropping the younger boy into the lake.

Racine Police Sgt. Tim Koetting said the incident occurred near the Racine Yacht Club, 1 Barker St. He said the friend called 911 at 6:19 p.m.

After slipping into the water, waves continued to crash down on the boy and he hung on for dear life to a piece of ice, Koetting said.

Rescue workers pulled the boy out of the water at 6:35 p.m., according to Susan Palubicki, Racine Fire Department battalion chief. The boy was then rushed to Ascension All Saints Hospital. As of about 10 p.m. he was in stable condition and being treated for symptoms related to his time in the cold water, the Sheriffs Office reported.

Palubicki described a group rescue effort with RFD, Racine Police and the Sheriffs Office working together.
Most of us know the story of Jesus from Maundy Thursday through Easter Day, but what about the other days leading up to that, beginning with Palm Sunday? What was Jesus doing? What was the context? And what does it mean for us today? These questions will be answered in the series.

FIRST-PERSON PORTRAYALS PLANNED

Gods People  One Body  Represented by the Reformers Martin Luther and John Wesley will be first-person portrayals by the Rev. Sue Leih and student pastor Chris Van Beek during the 8 and 10:15 a.m. worship services Sunday, Feb. 24, at Yorkville United Methodist Church, 17645 Old Yorkville Road, Yorkville. Holy Communion will be offered.

POEMS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

An event titled Poems of the Underground Railroad is scheduled to be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 1, at Greater Grace Temple Church of God in Christ, 522 N. Memorial Drive. This free evening of poetry reading, praise dancing and African music celebrates Black History Month, and the life and legacy of runaway slaves that sought freedom in Racine County.

SIENA RETREAT CENTER PROGRAMS

These programs are being offered at Siena Retreat Center, 5637 Erie St., Caledonia:
In his State of the Union speech, President Trump called for unity. He has succeeded already.

Congress gave him a united vote against withdrawing from Syria and in compromising on a response to his demand for a border wall.

Let's hope that his success will continue.

Vernon Williams, Lincoln

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RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the recent renewal of the SECU Public Fellows Internship program, nine campuses in the University of North Carolina (UNC) System have been awarded funding in 2019 to support paid internships for up to 20 eligible in-state undergraduates. Universities accepting SECU Foundations invitation to participate in this years program include: Appalachian State, East Carolina, Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, NC Agricultural & Technical, UNC-Pembroke, UNC-Wilmington, Western Carolina, and Winston-Salem State. SECU Foundations investment totaling $850,000 demonstrates SECU members ongoing commitment to providing students with local apprenticeship opportunities in rural communities, helping them gain practical experience and job opportunities close to home.



The internship program was first announced in 2015, collaborating with the UNC System for a three-campus pilot. The success of the pilot, along with the growing need for paid undergraduate internships led SECU Foundation to expand the reach to nine universities. The Public Fellows Internship program is designed to help students learn, grow, and develop their professional skills as they work with leaders of community-based businesses, non-profits, or government agencies, and receive funding to support themselves during the internship.

The Public Fellows Internship program is filling a financial gap for students who might not otherwise be able to participate as an intern, remarked Bob Brinson, SECU Foundation Board Chair. This is a chance for students to obtain real experience under the guidance of a mentor and broaden their perspective on how their skills can be used to make a difference in our communities. On behalf of the members of State Employees Credit Union, were proud to continue our investment to benefit North Carolina students  our future leaders.

Since 2015, 100 Appalachian students have been able to fully invest and focus on a professional, full-time internship thanks to the SECU Public Fellows Internship program, said Susan McCracken, EdD, Director of Career Development and Economic Engagement at Appalachian State University. They understand the value of internships and how the work experience will enhance their education and future career. It has been a real joy to provide students with this opportunity, to see their accomplishments, and watch where their career paths move forward. Were thankful for SECU Foundations ongoing partnership and support to make this internship program such a success!

Appalachian State University graduate Jeffrey Sedlacek interned in 2018 with Insight Human Services in Winston-Salem, N.C. and shared, Through working with Insights substance prevention branch, I was able to provide information to people about the effects of drugs and assist local governments with resources to make their communities healthier. My experience allowed me to see how much of a positive impact non-profit organizations have in rural communities. This internship was an exciting opportunity, and it would not have been possible without SECU Foundation and Insight Human Services.

About SECU and the SECU Foundation

A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the State of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for over 81 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.3 million members through 265 branch offices, nearly 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone and a website, www.ncsecu.org. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of more than $154 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide.

Contact: Jama Campbell, Executive Director

Office: 919-839-5562 | secufoundation@ncsecu.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/96fa171c-0344-4981-a524-f500ca5869e6
On Presidents Day, show respect

Respect is a key word to consider as we marked Washington's birthday this week. 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.

The two presidents whose February birthdays we commemorated 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.

Why don't we use this as an opportunity to take a breath and think of something positive about our leaders? There's unquestionably something positive to be said about each of our 45 presidents. Find at least one, and ponder that.

- Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review

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At 14 years of age, I found myself desperate for help. I needed one person to listen to me. Instead, I looked around at the small, cold, bare room my body was in instead. I was all alone.

White walls stared at me with no windows for a glimpse of light. There was no sink, no toilet. Sometimes, I was granted a thin, bare mattress. These conditions reinforced dissociation of my mind. A camera ominously stared down at me from the ceiling, possessing no warmth or comfort.

There was no human connection or support within the four walls of the locked room in which I had found myself. My healing most certainly did not take place there.

Reasons for my placements in solitary in a local psychiatric facility -- where I spent roughly six months -- began the first night I was admitted, when staff refused to explain the content of form in an age-appropriate manner and so I refused to sign it. I was told to drag a mattress to a hidden, secured room. Staff locked me inside with it.
CHADRON  Bighorn sheep in the Panhandle are sporting some new accessories thanks to the work of a helicopter crew, wildlife professionals and volunteers.

A team of about 50 people from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and other agencies worked to capture and process 48 sheep Monday and Tuesday  22 in the Wildcat Hills near McGrew and 26 at locations in the Pine Ridge near Chadron and Crawford.

Wildlife professionals have increased monitoring efforts in recent years to combat disease issues with Nebraskas bighorn sheep, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said in a news release. In addition to the sheep captured, processed and released, seven chronically ill ewes from the Pine Ridge were taken to South Dakota State University in Brookings to be examined.

The sheep that were released received new tracking collars and ear tags, in addition to undergoing a series of tissue samples and vaccinations. The ewes received vaginal implant transmitters, which have been used in recent years to study lamb mortality.

The processing teams include personnel from Omahas Henry Doorly Zoo, the Lincoln Children's Zoo and private veterinarians, along with Chadron State College and South Dakota State University.
She also asked the judge to limit the topics he can question Cody's accuser about, including anything about past sexual assault reports she's made against people other than Cody, about romantic relationships she had with other officers or about her mental health after Cody's arrest.

Ball argued that four hours was unreasonable given that an entire team of Nebraska State Patrol investigators worked on the case and spent at least 20 hours interviewing the accuser.

He said he hasn't spent one second with her.

As for the proposed limits on what he could question her about, Ball said the bottom line is, the rape shield statute doesn't apply to depositions.

"That applies to trial, what does a jury hear," he said.

Ball said he's never heard of a court requiring a defense attorney, in essence, to give the court a script of its questions, which he argued would be just as fair as requiring Goodro to give him a script of what she planned to ask Cody on cross-examination.

"The bottom line is, a deposition is there for me to discover evidence," he said. "And I can't be hamstrung."

Ball said he also isn't required to give the state a heads-up on how he's going to try the case.
Crews were already bracing for the week's next winter weather system, expected to arrive Friday night.

Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister and Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said less than a handful of crashes reported early Wednesday signaled plowing and treatment operations on the city and county's major thoroughfares were working and motorists were driving carefully, if at all.

Outside of Lincoln, weather conditions were blamed for an 11-vehicle crash that closed eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in central Nebraska for several hours.

An Indiana man was flown to a hospital in Kearney with life-threatening injuries after being injured in the pileup Wednesday morning on I-80 between Giltner and Aurora.

Nebraska State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said Jason Palmer was one of three injured in the chain-reaction crashes that started about 9:10 a.m.

Thomas said that as traffic was stopped for the initial crash, another semi jackknifed while trying to avoid stopped traffic. Moments later, another crash occurred just to the west of the scene, involving two more semis and a minivan.

The interstate reopened at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
He traveled to Paris and studied painting and sculpture, married to his high school sweetheart, Alta.

In 1936, Douglas began the art department at Fisk College in Nashville, Tennessee, where hed painted a mural for the black colleges library wall as an artist in residence six years earlier. He led the department; taught classes.

Critics called his work a mix of modernism and traditional African imagery, part art deco and part cubism, visually utopian and groundbreaking.

Douglas was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration and painted a series of massive murals, Aspects of Negro Life, for the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library.

He disavowed the white notion that black faces arent beautiful. It takes a lot of training or a tremendous effort to down the idea that thin lips and a straight nose is the apogee of beauty, he wrote. But once free you can look back with a sigh of relief and wonder how anyone could be so deluded.

He visited the White House on the 100-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, a guest of President John F. Kennedy.

The artist was 80 when he died in Nashville in 1979.

His time in Lincoln was short.
"If he had weird plans for me, he never got a chance to do it," said Lincoln real estate agent Ben Bleicher. "I don't have any reason to believe he was going to shoot me, but it sure gives me the heebie-jeebies."
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Danske Bank A/S (Danske or the Company) (OTC MKTS: DNKEY). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.



The investigation concerns whether Danske and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On September 5, 2017, Reuters reported that Danske had hired the former head of Denmarks intelligence agency to help it in its effort to counter money-laundering claims. Then, on September 21, 2017, the Company issued a press release revealing that it had expand[ed] its ongoing investigation into the situation at its Estonian branch. Two months later, on December 21, 2017, Reuters reported that Danske had been fined 12.5 million Danish crowns ($2 million) by Denmarks Financial Supervisory Authority (the DFSA) for violating anti-money laundering rules in relation to the monitoring of transactions to and from correspondent banks, and that Danske was examining whether its Lithuanian and Latvian branches had been involved in money laundering, expanding an investigation beyond its Estonian operations.

On May 3, 2018, Reuters reported the DFSA issued a report stating it had identified serious weaknesses in Danskes governance and that the Company was exposed to significantly higher compliance and reputational risks than previously assessed.

On July 18, 2018, Danske stated that it wished to pay back approximately $230 million earned in connection with its alleged role in an international money laundering scheme involving illicit funds from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, calculated based on profit from Danskes Estonian office. On this news, Danskes American depositary receipt price fell $1.43, or 9.42%, to close at $13.81 on July 18, 2018.

On September 14, 2018, The Wall Street Journal disclosed that a whistleblower had approached the SEC at least two years earlier, and, as a result, U.S. law enforcement agencies had begun investigating the scandal.

On October 23, 2018, the full extent of the Companys misconduct was revealed when The Wall Street Journal published an article disclosing that in 2013 the whistleblower had alerted Danskes senior executives and that Danske sought to silence the whistleblower for years.

Upon the full revelation of the Companys misconduct and the extent to which it relied upon the illegal profits, the price of the Companys American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) had plummeted approximately 54%, from a high of $20.90 on February 16, 2018, to a low of $9.50 on October 23, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980
Former U.S. Sen. David Karnes, testifying on behalf of the IT Alliance for Public Sector, said the change would promote good business practices on Nebraska's behalf, as well as due process for companies, while former Department of Health and Human Services CEO Kerry Winterer said Kolterman's bill created "an efficient, effective and unbiased process" that would engender confidence in state agencies as well as vendors.

The interim CEO of the Department of Health and Human Services, Bo Botehlo, said enacting a judicial review process could lead to long delays before contractors could begin work for state agencies.

Botehlo, a former director at the Department of Administrative Services, said LB21 could lead to delays of 18 months or longer as district court and appeals court judges review the procurement process, while adding that some projects may see appeals from multiple companies.

Kolterman said he will work to create "a process everyone can live with," but pointed to the recent failed projects as proof that a change needs to be made.

There is some estimated cost to the bill  compensation to hearing officers, court reporters, and others involved in the appeal  but Kolterman said rooting out contractors who cannot successfully complete the jobs could ultimately help the state save money.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS.

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The caller on the other end of the line said he was from Alaska, and he wondered why Larry D. TeSelle of Milford had phoned him with a bogus story about his daughter being in trouble on the interstate.

The problem, TeSelle told the Legislature's Transportation and Telecommunications Committee on Tuesday, was that he had never made the call.

Someone had used commercially available software to imitate TeSelle's cellphone number in an apparent scam in a growing phenomenon known as "spoofing."

Nearly half of all cellphone calls made in 2019 will originate from scammers, according to a report from First Orion, an Arkansas-based telecommunications company. Some of those calls will appear to be made from phone numbers that appear familiar to the recipient.

Spoofing has "effectively hijacked" the advances made in telecommunications over the past few decades, said Sen. Steve Halloran, and has become the scourge of reputable telemarketing companies.

Halloran has introduced the Neighbor Spoofing Protection Act (LB693), which would make call spoofing with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value illegal in Nebraska.
Change is hard, and it's harder for some people than others, and harder in some circumstances than others.

For example, change of water placed in a freezer to become ice is hard.

Oh -- didn't even see that coming, did ya?!

OK, I will apologize for that one the next time I see y'all.

I know some people often look back and wonder what would have happened "if" this, and "if" that, but I don't often do so. I am glad things work out the way they do, most of the time, in the long run.

My dad's birthday was Tuesday, and he would have been 74. He died at age 61 back in 2006. I was lucky that circumstances changed for me about three years before that.

Going back to 2002, I was the editor of the Houston Voice newspaper in Houston, Texas, and it happened that all three of my sisters were pregnant at the same time. They each had children in 2002 -- my second, third and fourth niece/nephew. That year also, a dear friend of mine and the office manager at the paper, Carolyn, died suddenly at the age of 42.

Life started to get more in focus for me. My mom was having more trouble with her Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and it didn't take the long for the gears to grind enough in my head for me to realize what was right in front of my face.

It was time to go home.

I started job hunting, and after more than a year, I was hired here in Mattoon to work for the Journal Gazette and the Charleston Times-Courier. It was like a dream come true to be so close to home and still in newspapers. I cried tears of joy just a little when then-Managing Editor Bill Lair called and offered me the job as night news editor.

I'm so very grateful for the years from July 2003 on and the time I got to spend with Dad that I might not have if I hadn't moved close to home. I was able to go to Shelbyville almost anytime, and thankfully was close when he and Mom needed assistance when he got sick.

When I was a kid, we lived in the same place until I had moved to college at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. At the beginning of my sophomore year in college, my parents made the decision to move to town from out in the country near Clarksburg.

I'd never moved, except away to college. I was devastated.

My dad told me then the old saying, "Home is where you hang your hat." I didn't understand it. But I do now.

I've lived in numerous places since college, ranging from little Lawrenceville farther southeast in Illinois to Effingham to St. Elmo (where both my parents grew up) to Atlanta, Georgia, to Houston, Texas, and now Mattoon.

I've learned lessons from each locale, and enjoyed every one in for different reasons.

Lawrenceville was my learning grounds. I was a young and eager reporter, and I served as the main photographer for the paper, too. Different times found me crouching on a concrete berm near a raging river to document spring floods, or slowly approaching an accident scene with my heart pounding in my chest, knowing it was likely a fatal wreck.

Personally, I loved the small town, as it was a lot like Shelbyville.

At the newspaper in Effingham, I got a taste of management for the first time, and I can honestly say I wasn't ready for it and I went about several things the wrong way. But I learned.

I enjoyed living in little St. Elmo, which was familiar to me as my parents' old stomping grounds.

Then came Atlanta, Georgia, where, upon arriving about 3 a.m. for the first time, I wondered aloud at why so many people were up and out on the town in the middle of the night. I got a taste of both suburb and city work and life. I learned that some people really do panic if they get enough snow to make a footprint.

I took the job in Houston before I had ever even been to Texas -- hey, it was a promotion and more money, so I wasn't asking too many questions.

And I re-learned that family is most important when I moved to Mattoon almost 16 years ago.

Some people love change. They thrive on it. Others go kicking and screaming into the future, fingernails clawing at what they've become accustomed to like they need the same ol', same ol' in order to breathe.

As usual, I'm somewhere in the middle.

Of course, good change is almost always good for all of us, and bad change we naturally don't like. But good can be bad, and bad can be good.

Gosh. I feel about as profound as Porky the Pig right now.

But you know what I mean. I've known people who had horrible things happen in their lives, yet they made the best of them and, somehow, went on. Sometimes, you simply don't have a choice but to go on.

At times, things you think are bad changes turn out to be good. I believe there's something good in everyone and in almost every situation, if you just look for it.

It's how you view things. Changing underwear? Good ... but then, you have more laundry to do. Bad.

Gaining a new child? Wonderful! But you might not be so sure at the time, for a moment, when that surly teenager is standing in front of you with his or her arms crossed, defying you as a parent.

Change is sometimes hard for me, and I usually act like a dog with a bone -- I have to chew on the details and chew and chew and chew until I can digest it all. I don't typically make quick changes.

But I don't often look back with regret. First of all, it's a waste of time, and second, I prefer to look forward and not back.

I'm grateful for the change that brought me to Mattoon. I'm more deeply saddened by the loss of my dad at such a young age than I could express. I'm eternally grateful for the years that we did have with him, and those last three years I got to be close by.

Embrace change. I'm not the best one to advocate that, as I don't always do so with great gusto. But life is change, so why fight it, anyway?

I'm all about self-improvement, so I'm going to work on accepting changes of all kinds a little better. I hope I'm relatively flexible in my movement through this adventure called "life"; at least, I try.

Now, let me bid you farewell for today. I have a hot soda that needs some ice, so I'm headed to the freezer ... hoping for some change.

Penny Weaver is the general manager and editor of the JG-TC. Her columns include her own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinion or editorial position of the JG-TC. Contact her at pweaver@jg-tc.com or 217-238-6863, and follow her on Twitter @PennyWeaver.

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SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker's budget plan, or at least his address Wednesday, did not win over those on the other side of the aisle but did instill confidence in local leaders from his own party.

Coles County Democratic Party Chairman Paul Wieck said he found the speech to be an "interesting mix" of plans to address both the state's immediate and future needs.

"Too often, we budget on the short term and don't think about the long-term effect," he said. "This budget focuses on the long term."

Others like Travis Coffey, Coles County Republican Party chairman, thought it did just the opposite. Coffey said the speech felt like more of the same from a Democratic governor.

"Spend more. Tax more. Borrow more," Coffey said.

Pritzker's debut piqued Coffey's interest initially with the promise of a balanced budget. He said he was disappointed that promise was based on things that are not in place but are hoped for.

State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, mirrored those sentiments. Miller was frustrated that the balanced budget was based on taxes and tax plans that don't exist yet.

A person would have to have a "Disneyland-type of imagination to think this budget is balanced," he said.

It is like putting "the cart before the horse," Coffey said.

Wieck said Pritzker's current budget plan is based on the state's present income tax, making it "austere" and with "no fantasy line items."

For Coffey, policy plans should not be made on things that might happen, pointing to the graduated tax plan Pritzker mentioned several times in his speech. The plan would require a constitutional amendment that would require a hefty majority of voters.

In turn, the governor called for re-directing and re-prioritizing resources plus future tax changes, Wieck noted. He welcomed those as "spending improvements and opportunities for people."

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said Gov. Pritzker did a good job in his budget address of laying out real figures on the financial challenges facing Illinois. However, Righter said he has concerns about the remedies that the governor is proposing for the state's budget deficit and debt from unpaid bills.

Righter said his reading of Pritzker's budget proposal is that it would involve $2 billion in borrowing by the state, almost $1 billion in various tax increases and creations, $800 million in pension payment deferral, and at least $700 million in spending beyond current budget levels.

"My concern is these look like remedies that have been tried in the past. I am wary of them," Righter said.

These local Republicans also were especially disappointed by the governor's announcement of more pension payment deferrals or an extended "pension ramp" as Pritzker put it.

In particular, Righter said deferring $800 million in pension payments now will result in taxpayers having to pay more than $1 billion more in coming years for pension liabilities and interest on them. He said the state would be better off to make these payments now.

"It is kicking the can down the road again," Coffey said.

Coffey was also struck by the lack of any meaningful announcement of cuts to spending, especially amid several announcements of more spending.

Among these announcements, the governor touched on increases to early education, higher education and state police spending. Miller would be excited to see education get more state support, but "Illinois is broke," he stressed.

"How are we going to pay for it?" he said.

"J.B. is playing Santa Claus with taxpayer money."

Miller and Coffey said they wanted more discussion about pension reform, where they feel many of the state's budgetary solutions can be found.

The local Republican leaders were also dubious of the progressive tax plan itself. Coffey was frustrated the governor did not better specify the tax plan outside of mentioning it. Miller said, from his understanding, it would only hurt those in middle-class brackets.

Wieck added that he found it "refreshing" that Pritzker called for focusing on personal relationships and "not demonizing" those of opposing political parties and views.

There's already "some validation" of that in Pritzker's appointing of former Gov. Jim Edgar and former Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, both Republicans, to his transition team, he said.

Miller felt Pritzker's policy painted the opposite picture. Miller said the speech does not present room for compromise, but there is not much need to with a majority Democratic stake in Springfield.

Still, Righter said Pritzker's budget address is the beginning of a long process of debate, hearings and negotiations that is slated to conclude with the General Assembly voting on a final budget in late May. He said the governor has talked about being bipartisan and open-minded on preparing the budget.

"This is going to be his chance to prove that," Righter said.

Miller is hopeful that his district will thrive in spite of what Springfield is doing.

Contact Jarad Jarmon at (217) 238-6839. Follow him on Twitter: @JJarmonReporter

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Jarad Jarmon Reporter Jarad Jarmon is a reporter for the JG-TC. He covers the city of Charleston, Eastern Illinois University, Mattoon schools and the Regional Office of Education. Follow Jarad Jarmon 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
CHARLESTON -- Improvement plans at three Charleston schools will focus on "people and instruction," the Charleston school board heard Wednesday.

District Assistant Superintendent Kristen Holly told the board that grants the district will receive for the plans will largely go to programs such as before and after school tutoring and summer school.

"That's where the bulk of funds will go, to pay people to work with kids," she said.

The district had to adopt improvement plans for three schools: Charleston Middle School and Carl Sandburg and Jefferson elementary schools.

That was because of the result of state tests and subsequent designations in district "report cards" from the Illinois State Board of Education issued last fall.

By approving the plans by the Feb. 28 deadline, the district can now receive grant money for work at the three schools.

Each school first received a designation as "under performing" but the middle school's was later changed to "commendable"

Holly said that followed review and corrections of preliminary data and changes in how the Charleston schools performed compared to others.

The middle school's status changed in October from its original designation issued in July, she said. She also told the board that some other districts' schools had their designations lowered after the review.

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"We were pleased that we had a school change in a positive direction," Holly said.

The grants for the two elementary schools will be about $30,000 each and CMS is set to receive $15,000, she added.

Some money will go to computers and other technology and for substitute teachers to allow time for school teachers to take part in planning, she also said.

Also Wednesday, the board approved assignments for district administrators for the 2019-20 school year. There will be one change, while the rest of the assignments will remain as they are currently.

The change will assign Eddie Williams as a full-time assistant principal at Jefferson Elementary School. Williams current splits time between that position and as assistant principal at CMS.

Superintendent Todd Vilardo said he plans to later recommend the hiring of a dean of students for the middle school.

Vilardo said additional administration support is needed at Jefferson, which is second in size by enrollment to Charleston High School in the district.

A dean of students at CMS should be sufficient to cover student matters such as discipline and attendance, he said.

In another vote, the board approved Vilardo's recommendation to have Brad Oakley provide supervisory support at Mark Twain Elementary School during principal Denise Titus' upcoming maternity leave.

Oakley is a teacher at CMS and formerly served as that school's principal, so he has experience and meets requirements, Vilardo said. Titus is expected to be absent from mid-April until the end of the school year, he said.

Vilardo also reported to the board on the start of negotiations with the Charleston Education Association teachers union. The district's current contract with the union expires Aug. 15.

Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave

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About Me William Kelly I am a freelance writer, journalist and historian whose major interests are music and history, with a special emphasis on the assassination of President Kennedy. View my complete profile

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Welcome, Neighbor!

Thank you for sharing my journey with me. It's a bumpy ride, but hopefully you'll find it worthwhile! To reach out to me, send me an e-mail at jamesbradfordpate@yahoo.com.


East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 19th February, 2019: The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany committed a grant of over USD 35 million (EUR 31,5 million) to the East African Community (EAC) to further support the regional organisation in the areas of health, regional economic integration and education.





The EAC Secretary General, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, and the German Ambassador to the EAC, Dr. Detlef Wachter, jointly signed the Agreements in Arusha today.





Germanys commitment includes USD 14.5 million (EUR 13 million) for the continuation of the joint financial cooperation programme under the  Regional Network of Reference Laboratories for Communicable Diseases and EUR 3 million for the technical cooperation programme Pandemic preparedness in the EAC Region, thereby supporting the EACs efforts in fighting communicable diseases and strengthening the EACs capacities in dealing with pandemics.





USD 10.7 million (EUR 9.5 million) were committed to the continuation of the technical cooperation programme Support to the EAC Integration Process which supports the EAC in increasing intra-regional trade through value addition in productive sectors, better market access, improved customs processes and harmonized standards. USD 1.1 million (EUR 1 million) were committed for the ongoing programme  Strengthening of a Regional Quality Infrastructure that focusses on reliable quality control mechanisms and services for products in selected sectors that are traded in the EAC region and exported abroad.





USD 5.5 million (EUR 5 million) are dedicated for the continuation of the EAC Scholarship Programme which supports East African Master students and is implemented in cooperation with the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA).





The German Ambassador underlined: "Germany remains a strong supporter of the EAC and the organisations efforts to enhance regional integration in its different facets. Strengthening economic integration, supporting the EAC in addressing key health and education challenges are at the core of our joint cooperation. Regarding our health cooperation, we believe it is vital to support the secretariat and the EAC Partner States to be better positioned when it comes to epidemics and pandemics.





The current Ebola crisis in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo highlights the necessity for regional cooperation dramatically. On Germanys commitment in the education sector, the Ambassador went on saying: We know from our experience in Europe that regional integration is futile if we leave the youth and young generation behind.





The East African students that will benefit from this scholarship programme will not only have improved job perspectives through this programme but they themselves will become ambassadors for the East African Community. We need this young generation to carry the EACs vision forward. added,German Ambassador





On his part, the EAC Secretary General, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko said that the Federal Republic of Germany and the EAC have historically had strong and cordial relations since the founding of the EAC almost 20 years ago. For the last 20 years, German development cooperation has supported the EAC to the tune of USD 350 M including the new commitments signed today .




VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued under the same headline earlier today by Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia, please note that the last day to contribute to an RRSP is March 1, 2019, not February 28, 2019 as previously mentioned in the first paragraph of the release. The corrected release follows:

Time is running out, as March, 1, 2019 is the last day you can contribute to your RRSP. Here are three tips from the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) to help you maximize the benefits of your RRSP:



1. Tax Savings from an RRSP

If you have an RRSP deduction limit (as shown on your 2017 Notice of Assessment), and you are a B.C. resident, you may be able to realize the following income tax savings from making an RRSP contribution:

If your taxable income is $11,809 - $46,605 $46,606 - $93,208 $93,209 - $144,489 $144,490+ A $1,000 RRSP contribution would reduce your 2018 taxes by Up to $227 ~$227 to $328 ~$328 to $407 ~ $407 to $498

2. RRSP as a Tax Deferral Vehicle

Remember, an RRSP is a tax deferral vehicle  you will be taxed on the funds once you make a withdrawal from your RRSP. That said, would you rather pay $1 of income tax tomorrow or $1 of income tax today? Since you likely will be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, actual tax savings should result if you wait until retirement to withdraw from your RRSP.

3. Spousal RRSP

A spousal RRSP can help shift future income from a higher income spouse to a lower income spouse. This can provide some tax savings when the receiving spouse withdraws funds from his or her RRSP, RRIF, or annuity. Using a spousal RRSP might also reduce the clawback on Old Age Security payments from the higher income spouse and allow the lower income spouse to claim the pension income tax credit.

Spousal RRSPs provides immediate tax savings, since the higher-income spouse making the contribution gets the tax deduction while the lower-income spouse, rather than the contributor, is taxed on any withdrawals at a future date.

Learn how to maximize your RRSP benefits with CPABCs RRSP and Tax Tips at rrspandtaxtips.com .

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: CPAs are available for interview. Share this RRSP infographic with your audience.

Please credit Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) for use of the content and include the following disclaimer: Tax rules relating to these RRSP tips are complex. This is not intended as tax advice, and you should not make tax decisions based solely on the information presented in these tips. You should seek the advice of a chartered professional accountant before implementing a tax plan or taking a tax filing position.

About CPA British Columbia

The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) is the training, governing, and regulatory body for over 36,000 CPA members and 5,000 CPA students and candidates. CPABC carries out its primary mission to protect the public by enforcing the highest professional and ethical standards and contributing to the advancement of public policy. CPAs are recognized internationally for bringing superior financial expertise, strategic thinking, business insight, and leadership to organizations.
Imran Khan has a lot to do, and will need nerves of steel to do it

In the preface to his play Major Barbara, George Bernard Shaw writes It is exceedingly difficult to make people realize than an evil is an evil. Yet, that is precisely what the rest of the world has been trying to make Pakistan realize for the last two decades or more.

Countries that Pakistan engages with, and those that it doesnt, have been trying to convince our neighbor that giving a safe harbor to terrorist outfits, providing security to known terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, Maulana Azhar et al, is an evil. Providing finance and expertise to Kashmiri jihadists in the name of religion, who use that money to convince young Kashmiris boys and girls to pick up an AK 56, is another evil.

Worst of all, to believe that the rats you breed wont bite your own backside is the biggest evil.

Perhaps driven by its own insecurity of having lost three wars with India, or perhaps driven by an inability to create any globally acclaimed business skill (I am ruling out terrorism exports as an acclaimed business skill), run by a military establishment for better part of its existence which has no other goal except to want to prove its relevance by creating a need, today Pakistan stands at the crossroads of an existential crisis.

To understand the nature of the crisis, we have to move away from the rhetoric of the army-terror-ISI axis to one that is a little more prosaic  the economic nature of the problem. Today, with the exception of a few agrarian products, just about everything in Pakistans economy is coming from outside. In fact, there is a joke that I read in one of Pakistans news sites, which said Made in Pakistan  MIP is equal to RIP. The country exports nothing, except agricultural goods, and a few low-end engineering products. Of course, their major exports  terrorism, does nothing to boost the formal economy (so one assumes).

Khurram Hussain, a Dawn Journalist, in his article Fiscal Blowout in the Making, while describing the sorry state of the countrys economy, writes that while spending on Defence went up by 18%, the spending on Development has been cut by as much as 42% in the first quarter and another 32% in the second quarter.

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Hussain concludes One ends up sounding like a broken record when commenting on the direction of the economy in this country. It would be lovely to have the opportunity to point to all the wonderful, positive work that is being done in many places. But that would be like the grin on a dogs face, given the fact that our very own prime minister has sat with the managing director of the IMF recently and asked for financial assistance, and promised deep structural reform in return. Countries whose prospects are brightening, that have cleared the storms of uncertainty, are usually not found on the doorstep of the IMF, unless they are on the way out.

Now compare to the euphoria of Pakistan over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) and the Saudi largesse. Both, according to analysts within the country, are game changers. However, as experts point out, the Saudi MoU, is just that  an MoU. It is NOT a firm commitment to hand over $20bn to the Pakistani Exchequer. The MoUs, if they come to fruition, will take at least another 10 years for the Petrochemical complexes and the RLNG plants to be built. Writer FS Aijazuddin rightly calls it a $20bn glass slipper.

Take CPEC, which is supposed to be a $50bn project, but which is actually a strategic thought of Chinese President Xi Jinpings Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Maritime Silk Road projects, two development plans that seek to deepen Mainland Chinas economic cooperation with a number of Asian and European countries. Sure, it will help Pakistan, but then it is expected to benefit China more, and strategically. More about that later.

On the other hand, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan Tariq Bajwa has said that the country has come out of the financial crisis with the help of friendly countries, and the economy has been set on the right path. For an independent countrys chief money man to come out and say that the country has been saved due to doles from other countries reflects the economic truth of Pakistan.

And therein lies Pakistans existential crisis.

Stands as it does, accused of fomenting evil, convinced as it is that it is not, the country today has to decide its future  to be the vassal state of Saudi Arabia, or that of China. The current status quo is just not sustainable.

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Vietnamese shop owner Truong Thanh Duc prints t-shirts for sale with images of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of USA-DPRK Summit in Hanoi Vietnamese shop owner Truong Thanh Duc prints t-shirts for sale with images of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of USA-DPRK Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Kham

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and North Korea will seek a common understanding of what denuclearisation means when President Donald Trump presses Kim Jong Un next week to give up all of the North's nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Trump and Kim are set to meet in Vietnam for their second summit in an effort to thaw relations between the former foes and reduce one of the world's biggest nuclear threats.

U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for the meeting, and Trump has made clear he does not expect it to be his last with Kim, a dictator he once derided as "little rocket man" but now considers a partner with whom he can work.

Critics have said Trump gave Kim too much simply by meeting with him in Singapore last year. That criticism may be levied again for the Vietnam summit.

But the U.S. officials said the United States remained focused on getting the North Korean leader to denuclearize, even if he had not made that decision himself so far.

"I don't know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearize, but the reason why we're engaged in this is because we believe there is a possibility," one official said.

The two sides have not agreed previously on what denuclearisation means.

Kim agreed in Singapore to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, which could be taken to include removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea and nuclear-capable forces, while the United States has been demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs.

It is ultimately about the denuclearisation of North Korea. That was what was agreed between the two sides and that is the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit. This is an important step towards that ultimate goal," the official said.

He said the United States would press for a freeze on all weapons of mass destruction and missile programs and a "roadmap" to set expectations for negotiations.

Story continues

The two sides are not discussing the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea, however. The United States keeps some 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Asked whether Trump was open to withdrawing all U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula for a peace treaty that would formally end the war, a second official said that was "not the subject of discussions."

The officials noted that punishing U.S. sanctions would remain in place to give North Korea an incentive to move.

Trump's national security adviser John Bolton is travelling to South Korea for consultations with South Korean officials ahead of the Hanoi summit, a senior White House official said.

U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun is already there, negotiating with North Korean officials ahead of the summit.

The two sides are seeking to build the goals outlined in a joint statement from the Singapore meeting to recast relations between the United States and North Korea, establish peace on the peninsula, denuclearize, and return the remains of those missing or killed in action during the Korean War.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Susan Heavey; Editing by James Dalgleish)
The murder of over 40 CRPF personnel by a suicide bomber allegedly from the Jaish-e-Mohammad on 14th February has shaken the nation

If the terrorist attack in Pulwama a week ago was soul-shattering, the shameless use of the same by certain (predictable) sections to paint themselves as victims and murkily politicise the issue has been equally dispiriting.

The bulk of India has come forward and showed commendable solidarity with the victims families and the Indian army. Marches expressing condolences to those perished in the heinous attack, candle-light vigils, posters of sympathy and empathy - all from the common public across the country  point to a mood of cohesion and being one with the nation at this moment of crisis.

Of course, there is also helpless anger among the people, and those extremely emotional have resorted to words and terms that should not be used in public platforms. Right wing trolls on social media platforms have been downright nasty and provocative. The verbal attacks on Kashmiris living elsewhere in the country are wrong and need to be nipped in the bud. There have been reports, too, of physical attacks on Kashmiris in other States. But when the media got down to investigate, almost all of them turned out to be false alarms.

But that has not stopped the bleeding-heart liberals from making a hue and cry on social media platforms, as if all of Kashmiris are under siege now. In fact some them have made this non-issue as being bigger than the original tragedy.

Seriously, we checked and analysed many of reported events emanating from various parts of the country. Most cases were simply instances of someone saying there was a threat of attack, or hearsay. But it has been played up significantly on social media. We are not belittling peoples fear, but when things are blown out of proportion, they need to be called out. Unfounded rumours and motivated claims are what they have turned out to be.

Also, most of these reports are, illuminatingly, emerging from places like JNU, Jamia, AMU. They are political tinder boxes even in normal times. Now, they are rife with all kinds of extreme emotions. Without beating around the bush, these places of education do harbour forces that are inimical to the nation. But their actions have long been condoned by the Lutyens media and the liberals under the ground that democracy has place for all kinds of dissent.

Story continues

Indeed, a healthy democracy does allow a free run for all shades of opinions. And this government has been guilty of using heavy-handed methods when faced with criticism. But it is equally a fact that the so-called dissenting sections have been using their democratic rights to undermine the very idea of democracy.

JNU student leader Shehla Rashid has been booked for promoting enmity for her tweet.

Take for instance Shehla Rashid, one of the leaders of this motley. She put out a tweet about Kashmiri girls trapped in a Dehradun hostel. The Uttarakhand police swung into action quickly, and it was a clear instance of fear-mongering. A case has been filed against her, which of course will come in handy for her supporters to play victim that the governmental system is harassing them.

As you can see, there is a clear pattern to this. Raise false alarm, get found out, but play victim when faced with action or criticism. That these people who call themselves liberals are resorting to this in the backdrop of major calamity is the biggest tragedy of all.

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Chantilly, VA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa Community Management Corporation (CMC) is proud to announce that its managed community, the Shenandoah Homeowners Association, has won the Community Associations Institute - Washington Metropolitan Chapter (WMCCAI) 2018 Community Association of the Year award in the medium category.



Shenandoah Homeowners Association is comprised of single-family homes built by Shea homes, a Trilogy community, which will consist of approximately 1,000 homes upon completion. The community sits on more than 900-acres of woodlands nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The community is in the heart of Northern Virginias famed and majestic Shenandoah Valley with surrounding areas rich in American history, including the Verdant Hills and Shenandoah River.



The Community Association of the Year award is a prestigious industry award that recognizes community associations that embody WMCCAIs core values of promoting the community association industry and providing excellent service in the bustling Washington Metropolitan area.



CMC is excited that the Shenandoah Homeowners Association was recognized for being the best-of-the-best in community associations operations and governance, stated John Tsitos, Associa CMC president, CMCA, AMS, PCAM. We are honored to manage this one-of-a-kind community and will continue to help the board and residents reach their ultimate vision.



With more than 180 branch offices across North America, Associa delivers unsurpassed management and lifestyle services to nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 10,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise and trailblazing innovation. For more than 40 years, Associa has provided solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.



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NewsBytes

The Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus, feared to be a potential catalyst for the third wave, has spread to 12 states in India. There are currently 51 cases of the new strain in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number at 22. However, the government says its prevalence is still very limited and it is not showing an upward trend as yet.
CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:MEI), a global designer and manufacturer of electro-mechanical devices, will release its third-quarter Fiscal 2019 results for the period ended January 26 , 2019, on Thursday, March 7, 2019, before the market opens.



Following the release, the Company will conduct a conference call and Webcast to review financial and operational highlights led by its President and Chief Executive Officer, Donald W. Duda, and Chief Financial Officer, Ron Tsoumas, at 10:00 a.m. Central time.

To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 407-9210 (domestic) or (201) 689-8049 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start of the event. A simultaneous Webcast can be accessed through the Companys Web site, www.methode.com , by selecting the Investor Relations page, and then clicking on the Webcast icon.

A replay of the conference call will be available shortly after the call through April 7, 2019, by dialing (877) 481-4010 and providing Conference ID number 44548. On the Internet, a replay will be available for 30 days through the Companys Web site, www.methode.com, by selecting the Investor Relations page and then clicking on the Webcast icon.

About Methode

Methode (NYSE:MEI) is a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. We design, manufacture and market devices employing electrical, electronic, wireless, safety radio remote control, sensing and optical technologies to control and convey signals through sensors, interconnections and controls. Our business is managed on a segment basis, with those segments being Automotive, Interface, Power Products and Other. Our components are in the primary end markets of the automobile, commercial vehicle, computer, information processing and networking equipment, voice and data communication systems, consumer electronics, appliances, aerospace vehicles and industrial equipment industries. Further information can be found on Methode's website www.methode.com .

For Methode:

Kristine Walczak

Vice President, Corporate Communications

kwalczak@methode.com
Rianne Hawkins, former deputy city clerk, is challenging incumbent city clerk Frank Lesko in the April 2 election.

As elective offices go, the Springfield city clerks post isnt the sexiest.

Its an administrative position, tasked with keeping minutes of city council sessions and otherwise collecting, maintaining and disseminating the citys records, from birth and death certificates to tickets for code violations incurred by property owners. The office isnt big  not counting the elected clerk, who makes slightly less than $90,000 per year, it employs four people.

That doesnt mean the position isnt worth a fight.

Rianne Hawkins, once deputy city clerk, lost by 472 votes in 2015, when nearly 26,000 votes were cast in the race and more than 1,300 voters who voted in municipal elections that year didnt check a box for city clerk  by contrast, fewer than 120 voters four years ago didnt express a choice for mayor. Hawkins is, again, running against Frank Lesko, the incumbent who brings a long record as an elected official and government employee. Hes held elective office in Sangamon County since 1997, when he became a member of the Springfield Park District board, then became a city alderman. He gave up the chance for a third term on the council to run for clerk in 2015. Hes also held jobs with the city, the county and the state.

City races are, officially, nonpartisan. Lesko is a Republican who has won the county partys endorsement. Hawkins is a Democrat whos gotten financial support from a campaign fund controlled by Bill Houlihan, downstate director for U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin. Both candidates have received contributions from labor groups.

Since leaving the city clerks office after Lesko beat her in 2015, Hawkins has worked for the AFL-CIO as a campaign coordinator and, most recently as a project manager and lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Illinois. She said she doesnt believe her current work for Planned Parenthood should influence the outcome in a town where many voters are Catholic.

The clerks office doesnt have anything to do with Planned Parenthood, Hawkins says. I think the race is about the issues in the city clerks office, not about my current employer.

Hawkins says the city clerks office hasnt done enough to get information to the public. For example, she says that building code violations should be posted on the citys website as a matter of course; as it stands now, requests made under the state Freedom of Information Act are required to get information about code violations, and the city can take five days or longer to respond. Administrative court records should be indexed and easy to find, she adds. The city posts FOIA requests submitted to the city, but not responses, as it did before Lesko became clerk. Hawkins says responsive documents to FOIA requests should be posted. Businesses should be able to apply for licenses online, she adds.

We cant afford four more years of a clerk who isnt actively looking for ways to move the city forward, Hawkins says.

During his first three years in office, Lesko says hes reduced the clerks budget by more than $65,000. Weve just cut back on a lot of the expenses that we use in the office, he says. Were working smarter, as far as we do a lot of things online now. He says he also expects to have a kiosk installed in the city clerks office so that people without internet access can quickly get information.

Lesko says hes talked to departments about putting code violations and other routine information online so that FOIA requests arent required. They havent said that they dont want to do it, he says. It would be more work for them. ... Everyones been very cooperative and very open to making government more transparent.

Lesko says he isnt sure that posting responses to FOIA requests online would be a good idea. Sometimes, it could get into proprietary information, he says. Under state law, however, whats public is public  government cant keep secret from one person what it releases to someone else.

Both candidates say they would continue online posting of FOIA requests, except requests made for police or fire department records, so that anyone easily can see what records requests have been made to the city. Why bother? Both candidates say its a matter of transparency. Overall, I cant say that Ive seen a problem, Hawkins says. Lesko agreed.

The benefit is to keep people informed, I guess, Lesko says. If one person wants to know what another person is doing, or what requests have been made, its a way for someone to find out without making a call to the clerks office. I think that is the benefit.



Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
Lisa Badger, a first-time candidate for office who is running for the Springfield Park District Board, says she decided to run because she feels strongly there should be diversity in government. Badger and Park District Board president Leslie Sgro are the only two women in the race. If they win, the board will remain representative of Springfields population, at least when considering gender. I do think government should reflect all people, Badger said.



Women account for approximately 52 percent of the population in Springfield and Sangamon County, according to early estimates from the Census Bureau, yet their representation as elected officeholders doesnt align with that statistic.

Courtesy Lisa Badger Lisa Badger, Springfield Park Board District candidate, out campaigning Jan. 5 in Ward 2.

Out of 127 people running for office in Sangamon County, 44 percent are women. However, female candidates in Springfield city elections are at roughly 38 percent, an improvement when compared to prior municipal elections.What were witnessing is a gradual process, said Carol Moseley Braun, the first woman, as well as the first African-American woman, elected as a U.S. senator from Illinois.Change doesnt happen overnight, and that its happening warms my heart. Im very pleased to see the direction our politics are going, said Mosley Braun, who now teaches political science classes at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

National surge



Photo: Lindsey Salvatelli Doris Turner, Sangamon County Democratic Party chair, is one of two women who currently sit on Springfield City Council.

Courtesy Misty Buscher From left to right: Lisa Hills, Sangamon County Board District 23; Kristin DiCenso, Ward 6 Alderwoman; treasurer Misty Buscher; Jamie Stout, membership and annual giving for Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation; and Val Yazell, director of the city

The 2018 election cycle had a historic number of female candidates. A similar phenomenon occurred in 1992, which was dubbed the Year of the Woman.Much like the 1992 elections, female candidates in 2018 were responding to something they found abhorrent. Then, it was the sexual harassment allegations Anita Hill recounted during a 1991 televised Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the vulgar and inappropriate behavior she had endured from Clarence Thomas before his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2018, it was Christine Blasey Ford delivering testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what she characterized as an attempted sexual assault against her by Brett Kavanaugh when they were teenagers. Despite the womens testimony, Thomas and Kavanaugh were subsequently confirmed to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.Another occurrence that was mirrored in 1992 and 2018 was the number of seats left open from incumbents who retired, creating an opportunity for new candidates.The difference between 1992 and 2018 is President Donald Trump.Sheila Stocks-Smith, former Springfield mayoral candidate, said the number of females running in local elections this year is unprecedented, and she can think of one person who helped influence the surge.I would argue Donald Trump is recruiting candidates, Stocks-Smith said. This is whats happening nationally since Trumps election. Women are stepping up and realizing the need to be involved at all levels.Trump has been the focal point of many outspoken activists who disagree with the language he uses toward women, his denial of climate change and what some would say are overtly racist policies, to name a few.The way he is governing has unleashed a lot of pent-up activism, said Doris Turner, chair of the Sangamon County Democratic Party. I think that people are seeing that they really need to step up and become more active, not only in national politics, but local politics as well.Illinois women remain underrepresented in Congress, with just 17 females elected to the House since 1921 and two serving as senators.The first woman to win a congressional seat in Illinois was U.S. Rep. Winnifred S.M. Huck in 1921, who was elected to fill a vacancy that was left open after her fathers death. She served in her role for a year. Huck was elected to office nine years after the Illinois General Assembly voted to allow women to vote in presidential elections. However, Illinois voters didnt elect a female congressional senator until Moseley Braun in 1992. Since then, Illinois has elected one other female senator, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, who also served as a congressional representative from 2013 to 2017.Moseley Braun said the increase in female candidates was bound to happen, and shes glad to bear witness to what she believes is the strengthening of democracy. This gender inequity is not partisan; its on both side of the aisle, Moseley Braun said. This is about enlivening our democracy.The issue of disparity between the female population and female officeholders isnt isolated to national elections. In the Illinois General Assembly, female lawmakers currently represent 36.2 percent of the chambers, the most representation women have had since the creation of the General Assembly. When comparing the partisan breakdown of female lawmakers, Republican women are severely underrepresented since the majority of the females elected are Democrats.That same trend appears on the local level. The increase of female candidates in city elections also tends to lean left, with more women seeking endorsement by Democrats than Republicans, although the municipal elections are officially considered nonpartisan.Turner, the Sangamon County Democratic Party chair, said the group has yet to decide on endorsements for the upcoming elections.The Sangamon County Republican Central Committee, which has endorsed five female candidates in countywide elections, reported during a recent call that most of the people running the office are female.Turner said that while women have been involved in politics in the past, they usually played a supportive role, as opposed to running for office. We have always had a large number of women whove been involved, Turner said. Theyve been involved in a number of campaigns.Regardless of what role women play in politics, whether they are at the forefront as a candidate or in a supporting role on the campaign, Democrats and Republicans have different views on choosing candidates for office.Theres a fundamental difference in primary voters and the importance they place on women, said Christine Matthews, the president of public opinion research company Bellwether Research and Consulting. Republican primary voters dont think its important to elect women because theyre women and Democratic primary voters do.Matthews said Republicans believe endorsing a candidate simply because of their gender is identity politics, a strategy used by Democrats, and fails to place emphasis on a candidates qualifications.Additionally, Matthews said females were energized after the election of Trump, because of some of his rhetoric and his threat to repeal the Affordable Care Act. She said women who run for office typically do so because of their opinion on a specific issue, such as health care or gun control.They tend to be galvanized by issues, theyre not running out of a sense of ambition, Matthews said.Whether women receive a party endorsement because theyre the most qualified for the job, or they are selected to provide more diversity, is a point both parties will need to address. However, Moseley Braun said the addition of women in politics has created a necessary voice and had a profound impact when lawmakers shape policies. In addition, the presence of women in politics can also encourage more females to run for office. Lakeisha Purchase, an aldermanic candidate for Ward 5, said when she was around the age of 12 she would see her godmother, state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, participate in political meetings. That exposure, along with the support she has received from other women, gave Purchase the confidence that she herself could run for office.Park board candidate Badger said its comforting to know that support for fellow women is just a text or phone call away.Its empowering at times, as a woman, to know that we have a lot of really great, smart, caring and driven women that want to make a difference and want better for our community, Badger said.Its certainly not new to have women running for office in Springfield and Sangamon County. After all, back in 1995, Springfield voters elected Karen Hasara as mayor, and she served for two consecutive terms. The first woman to get a seat at the city council table was Republican Gwenn Klinger in 1991.Currently, out of the 10 aldermen elected to the council, only two are women. If female candidates running in the ward races win in April, there could be as many as six women sitting on the council.The city treasurers office and Ward 6 will have a female representative regardless of who wins. Both incumbents are being challenged by female candidates.Buscher, whos running against Jennifer Notariano for treasurer, is the only female city candidate backed by the Sangamon County Republican Central Committee. Buscher said she came from a man-dominated world before running for treasurer. She said females existed in banking but took positions that are more rank-and-file, such as customer service representatives. Now, she said, she sees more females seeking powerful positions in banking and sees a similar trend in politics.Its very similar to my background, I feel. Politics is heavy with male-dominance, but I think its slowly becoming a little bit more [populated] with females who are comfortable enough to run, Buscher said.Ward 6 Alderwoman Kristin DiCenso is facing a challenge from political newcomer Elizabeth Jones. DiCenso won a 2017 special election to fill a vacancy left by Alderman Cory Jobe, which doubled the number of women on the council to two. The only time more than two women have served on the council occurred briefly between 2002 and 2003 when Mary Pat Madonia finished her husbands term after his death.Its not like Im shattering any glass ceiling here, but when it comes to city council, it has been predominantly a male body, DiCenso said. As far as the volume of females running, this is a nationwide phenomenon. This isnt just unique to Springfield. This is the goal.Stocks-Smith, who is a longtime Democratic activist, created a support group which includes DiCenso, Badger, Purchase, Notriano and other women who are running for election. The group helps the women share ideas about campaigns, but it also gives them a support system that they can rely on when overcoming obstacles.Doris was definitely there every step of that way, Purchase said, describing the support she received from other women. I was able to call her at 11:30 at night and she picked up the phone at home.Although its not a completely balanced representation, the current consolidated race in Springfield is part of trend that shows more females are running for office each election cycle.Women do bring a different element to the operation of government thats been missing, and I think its been perfecting our democracy to have more women involved, Moseley Braun said.Some would argue that the reason female elected officials arent reflective of the population is because females dont run for leadership positions as often as men.The good news is thats no longer true, said Moseley Braun. When I came through, that was more often the case. Women stepping out and into office was really bucking the system and swimming upstream. Now, its not unexceptional.
Here are the novels that made the top 100 in both the US and UK as determined by their public broadcasters: the BBCs Big Read of 2003 and PBSs Great Amer...

53 minutes ago
Pianist Adam Clark will perform at Hope College as a guest artist on Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Clark will perform a variety of works as part of the colleges Free @3 Series. He will begin the concert with Arioso, from Keyboard Concerto in F Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach and Alfred Cortot. He will also play two pieces by Ludwig Van Beethoven, Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 81a Das Lebewohl and Sonata in F-sharp Major, Op. 78. The program will also feature a variety of pieces by Frederic Chopin, including Nocturne in F-sharp Major, Op. 15. No. 2, Prelude in F-sharp Major, Op. 28. No. 13, and Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60. Closing the concert Clark will play Fantasy in F-sharp Minor, Op. 28, by Felix Mendelssohn.

Clark has been praised for his artistry and intelligence as a soloist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist throughout the United States, as well as in Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Australia and South Korea. His performances have been broadcast on WPLN in Nashville, WMUK in Michigan, and MBC National Television in Korea. He has been published in American Music Teacher Magazine, the College Music Societys Symposium and Piano Pedagogy Forum.

He is currently an associate professor of piano at Middle Tennessee State University. He was on the faculty of Hope College from 2008 to 2014, and prior to that held teaching positions at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Texas at Austin.

The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.
DECATUR  Two incumbents and two challengers are vying for the two open seats on the Richland Community College Board of Trustees in the April 4 election.

Dale Colee, who is finishing his second term on the board, and David Cooprider, who is completing his first term, hope to retain their seats, while Decatur educator Juanita Morris and Hakeemah Leverson have not served on the board previously.

I have a commitment to the community, Morris said. My background is in education, in higher education, and I have a master's and Ph.D. in higher education administration.

Morris is the founder of the Girls Who Code group and the summer math academy for youngsters. Her own children attend Decatur schools, and Morris is an Eisenhower High School graduate. She and her husband, Jeremy, moved back to Decatur from Mississippi, where he is from, to finish raising their children in Morris' hometown.

All my foundation is here at home, Morris said. "It allows me to give back to the community that prepared me  teaching, running a business, creating. I'm invested.

Sometimes, people run for office because they see something that needs to be changed, Morris said, but that's not her motivation.

I don't believe anything's wrong (at Richland), she said. I just feel I can add value, a different perspective and experience.

As a Richland graduate herself, Hakeemah Leverson said, she wants to help both recent high school graduates and adult students who are looking to improve their skills and job prospects.

"I've been there," she said. "I know what it's like to want to excel."

Leverson earned an associate's degree in business at Richland, and she said that helped her obtain a promotion at AT&T, where she works. Later, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration. With three children, ages 18, 12 and 9, she said, Richland is important to her family's future.

"I'm very interested in being active in the community, and looking for opportunities to collaborate and network and join forces to invest in those that are interested in improving their future," Leverson said. She's a Decatur native and a graduate of MacArthur High School.

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Cooprider has extensive education experience and served 29 years as regional superintendent of schools for Macon-Piatt, and was Richland's first librarian. He has also taught at Richland.

I think Richland is a very good college, and it's a very good board, Cooprider said. I've been very happy to serve on the board, and it fits my background and experience very well. It's a good service to the community, and I'm glad to do it.

As Richland turns its attention to expansion of its job training programs, Cooprider said, he is behind that push, as well as continuing the transfer agreements with area universities.

Students who go through Richland and transfer to U of I or Eastern or Illinois State just universally do very well, he said. Our program has established itself.

His experience with K-12 schools while regional superintendent has given him an understanding of the needs of surrounding districts, and forming liaisons with those districts so that students are prepared for college work when they come to Richland is important to him, he said.

Cooprider also enjoys bumping into former students from his Richland class, though he doesn't always remember them, having taught more than 1,000 students over the years.

I always inquire, 'What happened to you?' he said.

Colee, a Decatur pharmacist, said he sees the impact Richland has on the community, not just on its students.

I like that, he said. I feel that I have more of an input (because I'm) on the board and help the college move forward and help the community and college be more interactive together.

Colee's wife, Rita, was a trustee before him, he said, and all of their children have earned credits at Richland, either through dual-credit classes in high school or by attending the college after high school.

He's particularly excited about the continuation of the Farm Progress Show, the collaboration with the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center and the college's agribusiness focus.

(President) Cris Valdez is a perfect candidate for getting us to the next level, Colee said. He takes care of finances and the responsibility we have as a community college and has put us in a great position as far as one of the strengths of Richland," Colee said, noting, for example, the school's ability to navigate the loss of state funding in recent years.

"Richland is a crown jewel of Decatur, and I just like to be a part of it, Colee added.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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DECATUR  A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Akorn Inc. of misleading investors about the severity of manufacturing issues at its Decatur facility.

The lawsuit cites problems in the manufacturing plant at 1222 W. Grand Ave., which the company spent $25 million to expand in a project completed last year. The generic drug maker also operates a packaging facility on Wyckles Road in Decatur, and it has more than 300 employees in the city.

Akorn makes products that include topical creams, ointments and gels, oral liquids, ear and eye solutions and respiratory drugs. The federal lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Illinois, said investors lost money because the Lake Forest-based company did not disclose problems found by the FDA during an inspection in April and May 2018.

Akorn acknowledged Jan. 9 that it had received a warning letter from the FDA detailing what the agency described as "violations of current good manufacturing practice regulations for finished pharmaceuticals." The letter said an inspector found contaminants on sterile gloves, employees were not following procedures to prevent drugs from being contaminated and Akorn could not ensure stability of one drug, acetylcysteine, because it had not been tested for impurities since 2016. The company recalled that medicine in June.

The company's shares fell 11.6 percent after it announced that it had received the FDA warning letter, according to the lawsuit. As a result, the lawsuit said, shareholders suffered "significant losses and damages." Plaintiffs are asking that Akorn pay damages, interest and attorneys' fees.

Akorn did not respond to a phone message and email seeking comment Thursday afternoon. Last month, it issued a statement pledging to work with the FDA to resolve all issues highlighted in the warning letter.

The company has full confidence in the quality of the products manufactured at the Decatur facility and expects to continue production at the plant, it said.

The plaintiffs are being represented by Pomerantz LLP and The Rosen Law Firm. Phillip Kim, an attorney with Rosen, said it does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit said it is being brought on behalf of people and entities who bought Akorn stock between Aug. 1, 2018, and Jan. 8, the day before the FDA warning was made public.

The 25-page complaint includes a detailed description of the problems that the FDA said it found in the Decatur plant. The agency initially notified the company of the issues in a document called a Form 483, a type of report that investigators use to document conditions they believe could compromise a products quality.

Akorn told investors in November that it had received a Form 483 from the FDA in May and that it had submitted a robust response in June. We have made substantial progress ... and we are on track to complete the majority of the remaining action items by the end of 2018, it said.

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But in the letter dated Jan. 4, the FDA told Akorn that its responses were inadequate. It said the company needed to redesign parts of its operation to prevent contamination and determine the scope of poor sanitation practices observed at the facility, including which employees were involved.

Your quality system does not adequately ensure the accuracy and integrity of data to support the safety, effectiveness, and quality of the drugs you manufacture, the FDA wrote.

The agency told Akorn to provide an investigation into the extent of inaccuracies in its data and reporting, a risk assessment of the potential effects of the observed failures on the quality of your drugs, and a management strategy that includes details of its corrective action plan.

The lawsuit comes after the drugmaker lost another legal battle with the German healthcare company Fresenius Kabi. In 2017, the companies had planned to merge in a $4.3 billion deal, but Fresenius backed out after questions about Akorn's data integrity and compliance with the FDA.

This is not the first time that an FDA inspection has noted issues at Akorn in Decatur. The agency also reported issues after inspections in 2016 and 2017. The 2017 report said the inspector saw particles coming off a conveyor belt on which sterile drug products were made, among other issues.

Jaylyn Cook contributed to this story.

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Contact Allison Petty at (217) 421-6986. Follow her on Twitter: @allison0512

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Boston, MA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) student Cam Do, along with seven students from all over the U.S., is recognized at this weeks Achieving the Dream (ATD) conference in Long Beach. Do was a participant in the ATDs Community College Student Leadership Program, a year-long program designed to enhance the selected scholars leadership, critical thinking and networking skills. She will receive a $1000 scholarship, sponsored by the community college honor society Phi Theta Kappa. Do read her poem at an opening ceremony in front of 2000 people, I am from a refusal to surrender I am from the myth that introverts cannot be leaders. I dare not to be silent. I dare to speak up. I am from poverty to advocacy. I am from insignificance to leadership.





From the encouragement of her parents, Do came to the United States from Vietnam. She knew the best way to escape poverty was through pursuing an education. At BHCC, Do majors in mathematics and holds several leadership positions on and off campus. She served as the Student Trustee in the 2018-2019 academic year on the BHCC Board of Trustees, Vice President of the Asian Cultural Association, Treasurer of S.H.O.C.W.A.V.E.S. Volunteering Club, Student Budget Committee, state-wide Massachusetts Student Advisory Council and Chinatown (Boston) Pao Arts Centers Branding Committee.





The ATDs 15th annual DREAM Conference is a convening of experts from colleges throughout the U.S. to examine strategies for critical issues facing two-year and four-year colleges and universities. BHCC President Pam Eddinger gave remarks at the plenary session where she highlighted milestones of ATD over the past 15 years and introduced the ATD scholars, including Cam. Eddinger also presented on a panel discussing innovative collaborations, transforming the student experience: making dreams come true. The program concludes with a student presentation at the annual conference in front of 2,300 attendees.

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DECATUR  A coroners jury returned verdicts of accidental death Wednesday on a Decatur couple found dead on a mattress after an autopsy said they overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl.

The bodies of Beau W. Ford, 34, and Jacinda M. Jiles, 30, had been found just after 2 a.m. Jan. 19. David Dailey, a detective with the Decatur Police Street Crimes Unit, said they had been living in a corner of a mechanics repair shop in the 900 block of West Eldorado St.

Under questioning from Macon County Coroner Michael E. Day, Dailey said people who knew the couple described them as drug users, and the coroner said he been told the same story by their families.

There was no indication of foul play or violence? asked Day. No, sir, replied Dailey.

In other inquests, the Jan. 1 death of Decatur man David W. Murray, 38 , was ruled a homicide after the jury was told by Decatur Police Detective Scott Hastings that Murrays girlfriend, Billie Jo L. Soyster, 22, had confessed to stabbing him with a shard of broken mirror.

Police had found Murray bleeding from a chest wound after being called to his home in the 500 block of East Division Street he shared with Soyster. She has since appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder.

But in the hours after the stabbing and under police questioning, Hastings said Soyster said she had snatched up the mirror shard  broken in an earlier argument  and lashed out at Murray who had been calling her names that she did not like.

The jury also ruled on the fire death of Decatur woman Bertha Harden, whose body was found Dec. 28 in the burned-out ruins of her home at 1608 E. Cantrell St., and decided she lost her life by accident.

Day told the jury an autopsy showed Harden, 67, had died from carbon monoxide intoxication.

Giving evidence, Fire Inspector Mike Wigginton with the Decatur Fire Department said fire crews had feared someone was inside when they first arrived at the early morning fire scene, but the flames stopped them from making a thorough search at first. He said at one stage the fire created a back draft effect which blew out the west exterior wall of the home.

Wigginton said the fire appeared to start in the basement but the cause was still unknown. He said, however, that it was definitely some kind of accident. We dont suspect any type of foul play, he added.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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DECATUR  A 55-year-old Decatur man is pleading not guilty to sexually assaulting a girl younger than 13 on multiple occasions.

Frank E. Sherman appeared in Macon County Circuit Court on Wednesday with his attorney, Todd Ringel. Sherman denies four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

He waived a formal preliminary hearing and Judge James Coryell set a pretrial hearing for March 7. Sherman remains held in the Macon County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

A sworn affidavit by Decatur police detective Jamie Wrigley said the child had first spoken of the assaults in December and said they dated back over the summer. She said Sherman would assault her and try to perform sexual acts on various occasions when he could get her alone.

On one occasion he assaulted her in a car while other members of her family had left them briefly together to go shopping, the affidavit said.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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Lancet Study:

These findings firmly counter those of a Cochrane review of direct-acting antiviral treatment trials that could neither confirm nor reject if direct-acting antivirals had an effect on long-term HCV-related morbidity and mortality. They also provide the best evidence to date to support guidance documents that recommend direct-acting antiviral treatment for all patients with chronic HCV infection.





Latest Update Feb 12, 2019A systematic review published by the Cochrane Collaboration suggested achieving SVR (cure) for patients using hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) doesn't correlate with any long term benefits. View each rebuttal and all ongoing media coverage.
Sen. Steve Dainess and Rep. Greg Gianfortes support for President Trumps recent national emergency declaration should alarm Montana Democrats and Republicans alike. First, there is no emergency. According to the Department of Homeland Security, illegal immigration along the Mexican border has steadily declined since the early 2000s. Second, this illegitimate declaration of a fabricated crisis will make it much easier for a future president, of either party, to defy Congress and weaken its constitutional role as a counterweight to the executive branch.
As far as real estate deals go, illegally gating a public road in Montana is about as cheap as it gets.

Under the current law, violators risk a fine of only $10 per day to close off public access for their own personal benefit. Yet that paltry fine is never even levied because it would cost the county more to enforce it than the amount of the fine. As a result, bad actors can close off access to public roads with little to no repercussions.

That is a sweetheart deal for those seeking to create exclusionary havens of prime hunting and fishing opportunity by shutting off public access to public land. Unfortunately, there are some landowners across Montana who are willing do just that, and in doing so they threaten to undermine the rule of law and they put the countys resources and personnel in jeopardy by ignoring a judges declaration regarding their illegally closed county roads.
As of Wednesday morning, the county jail held 96 inmates (91 for felonies and five for misdemeanors). In total, the county has 124 inmates at various detention facilities. One-hundred-two clients are serviced by the 24/7 sobriety program. Of these, 53 are on Personal Breath Test, 32 are on Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor bracelet, eight are on GPS and nine are on house arrest. Pretrial Services is currently working with 290 clients.
Lawmakers have given the initial OK to a budget for the state health department that they say comes close to rebuilding cuts made after the 20
Oh well, thats the fun of it all, right?

Roma was the best film of 2018, with Cold War the stunning runner up. Cold War is now playing at the Myrna: (Get thee to the jail, movie lovers!) They are two masterpieces in search of an Oscar, although Cold War was bypassed for Best Picture, reasons unknown.

But is the Academy willing to vote for a subtitled film in Spanish as Best Picture?

So, if not Roma, then who?

The Oscar buzz says that Green Book is rising, and some favor The Favourite which had 11 nominations.

But if the Academy wants to light the fuse on the cultural grenade, it could pick A Star is Born. Its a perfectly fine and safe choice, but in this year, it would be greeted with cynicism.

And the Oscar goes to? I'm going to bet my heart on Roma. Its a black-and-white masterpiece, telling a subtle story of Mexican history through the eyes of a domestic worker (Aparicio) who is the soul of a home filled with sadness.

If the Academy wants a standing roar from its members, it could choose Black Panther which would be the ultimate cultural statement. I could live with that. Yibambe!
" " A nurse checks the board at Grady Memorial Hospital's emergency department in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia is one of the states where Anthem may deny paying for an ER visit it deems unnecessary. Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images

Navigating the healthcare system is already pretty dicey, and a new program put forth by insurance giant Anthem is muddying the waters even more for some. Known as the Emergency Department Review (ED Review), the company's program launched in 2017, with the intent of reducing unnecessary visits to the nation's emergency rooms.

In and of itself, the ideal isn't such a bad thing, since emergency departments are sometimes ill-used. In fact, a 2010 report found $38 billion per year in wasteful spending thanks to ED overuse. However, per Anthem's policy, if a person goes to the ED with symptoms or a condition that turns out not to be life-threatening, they could wind up holding the bag for a whole lot of money.

"If a consumer chooses to receive care for non-emergency conditions at the ED when a more appropriate setting is available, Anthem will request more information (including additional medical records) from the hospital and a statement from the consumer as to why they went to the ED," explains Christina Gaines, communications director for Anthem, Inc. in an email. Then, "an Anthem medical director will review the additional information using the prudent layperson standard, and the claim might be denied as not a covered service. In the event a consumer's claim is denied, they have the right to appeal."

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'A Prudent Layperson'

Much of the controversy surrounding this program lies with the prudent layperson standard Gaines mentioned. The standard was enacted by the U.S. Congress back in 1997, with 47 states opting to also work it into state law, as well. It was done to add a layer of protection for healthcare consumers, so that they can seek care without working up a huge ED bill.

"The Prudent Layperson Standard requires health insurance companies to cover visits based on the patient's symptoms, not the final diagnosis. This means if a patient has chest pain but turns out to have a non-urgent medical condition, such as a gastritis or muscular pain, the insurance company must still cover the visit," says Dr. David Farcy, president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) in an email interview. "We have a duty to safeguard patients and cannot expect our patients who have little to no medical training to be doctors and know the difference between a minor or a life and death medical condition. Anthem is forcing the patients to be doctors and completely disregard federal and state laws that protect patients."

Indeed, anyone who's ever been in a potentially emergent situation knows that sometimes the most logical choice isn't always the most obvious. This is further convoluted by a healthcare system in which it's often difficult, if not impossible, for a person to see a primary care physician or a specialist in a timely manner. Hence, ED visits that could have been handled elsewhere.

Such was nearly the case for Baltimore, Maryland-based lactation expert Amanda Gorman. "I was almost forced to go to the ER [emergency room] this week [early February 2019] because of [a] kidney stone, and couldn't get a new appointment with a urologist," she recalls via email. Gorman is a nurse practitioner married to a physician and was trying to go to the hospital where her husband works. "So if we're having trouble navigating this, I can't imagine the struggles for regular patients," she says.

Gorman ended up finding an appointment with an out-of-network specialist, a potentially costly risk in itself. "It's probably 6:1 in terms of expense (what I'll pay out of pocket for out of network vs an ER copay) but I would've rather avoided the hassle of the ER and I am stubborn, knowing how poorly the healthcare system is currently operating. It shouldn't be this disjointed," she adds.

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The Experts Weigh In

Many emergency medicine experts don't mince words about the potentially damaging effects of the plan. "This will harm people and lead to injuries and deaths. The goal of this program is not the denials, it is about the fear. People will be afraid to seek emergency care. ACEP feels this policy is incredibly dangerous and puts people at risk in the name of profits," says Dr. Ryan Stanton, a Lexington, Kentucky-based emergency physician and spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). "I have talked to a number of people that were denied and the common theme was how upset they were, but more importantly, they are now afraid to go to the emergency department, even if they feel they have an emergency."

Both doctors hammer home the point that many conditions present with similar symptoms, whether they wind up being benign or truly life-threatening. "Chest pain can be a heart attack or heartburn. Abdominal pain can be appendicitis or gas. A headache can be a ruptured aneurysm or a hangover. The challenge with medicine is that it deals in shades of grey and rarely black or white. The key is that if you feel your life or health are at risk, go to the ER," Stanton says.

Not everyone thinks Anthem's program is completely off base, however. Lindsey Artola is a health policy expert with Sage Health Strategy who supports some type of penalty for unnecessary use of the ED. "The Emergency Room is by far the most expensive way to get health care, and with the advent of urgent care centers, nurse triage lines, and other alternatives it is a poor use of health system resources for folks to use the ER as a primary care office," she emails. "I think a financial penalty for misuse of health system resources isn't necessarily a bad idea."

So how bad is the problem of "misusing" the ER? Statistics vary widely. A 2017 study published in the International Journal for Quality in Health Careusing data from 2005-2011 ER visits found that only 3.3 percent of ER visits were avoidable, in line with the 2015 CDC statistic of 5.5 percent. Meanwhile, Truven Health Analytics, drawing on insurance claims data from 2010, said that 71 percent of ER visits were unnecessary and avoidable. Clearly, the word "avoidable" has different meanings for different people.

"Consumers who reasonably believe that they are experiencing an emergency medical condition should always go to the emergency room or call 9-1-1," says Anthem spokesperson Gaines. She points out that Anthem will always cover ED visits under certain conditions, for example:

A consumer was directed to the emergency room by a provider (including an ambulance provider).

Services were provided to a consumer under the age 15.

The consumer's home address is greater than 15 miles from an urgent care center.

The visit occurred between 8:00 p.m. Saturday and 8:00 a.m. Monday or on a major holiday.

The patient received surgery, IV fluids, IV medications or an MRI or CT scan

The patient had conditions such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, convulsions, fainting, drug overdoses, etc.

Many of these exemptions were added in January 2018 after public objections to its original policy. Gaines adds that Anthem's ED program is currently in effect in five states  Missouri, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana  with no current plans to extend its reach.

Learn more about health insurance in "Don't Buy That Health Insurance: Become an Educated Health Care Consumer: The Educated Health Insurance Consumer's Guide to Reducing Health Care Costs" by K. R. Woodfield. HowStuffWorks picks related titles based on books we think you'll like. Should you choose to buy one, we'll receive a portion of the sale.

Now That's Important An unexpected bill is one of the worst kinds of surprises there is. Unfortunately, "surprise billing" is a fairly common side effect of an ED visit, since it's totally possible to go to a hospital that's in-network, only to be treated by a doctor who isn't! In fact, this happens about 22 percent of the time, leading to some pretty hefty, unanticipated bills.
Boston, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Bridgespan Group, a global nonprofit organization that collaborates with mission-driven organizations, philanthropists, and investors to break cycles of poverty and dramatically improve the quality of life for those in need, published new research on large philanthropic commitments to social-change causes, as part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) Special Edition supplement, Unleashing Philanthropys Big Bets for Social Change.





We believe that philanthropys big bets have a major role to play in improving the lives of millions of people, said William Foster, a partner at Bridgespan Group and head of Bridgespans consulting practice. We hope that the research and opinions voiced in this special edition of SSIRprompt nonprofit leaders and their funders to take a step back and think about what is possible in a big way.

Unleashing Philanthropys Big Bets for Social Change. features the following research papers:

Becoming Big Bettable : This article addresses nonprofits, mainly those who already have received support from donors with the capacity to give big bets but who have not yet been able to secure grants at that level. It guides them to identify ways to position themselves to better attract and effectively deploy large philanthropic investments, ultimately creating more investment opportunities that can transform the world. This paper was written by Bridgespan Partners William Foster and Gail Perreault, along with their colleague Bradley Seeman.

: This article addresses nonprofits, mainly those who already have received support from donors with the capacity to give big bets but who have not yet been able to secure grants at that level. It guides them to identify ways to position themselves to better attract and effectively deploy large philanthropic investments, ultimately creating more investment opportunities that can transform the world. This paper was written by Bridgespan Partners William Foster and Gail Perreault, along with their colleague Bradley Seeman. Reimagining Institutional Philanthropy: This article highlights how historic growth in wealth globally and the rise of new philanthropists threaten the relevance of institutional philanthropy. It also offers ideas for leaders in institutional philanthropy to revitalize their role, from setting time-bound, right-sized goals to ceding control of strategies. The paper was written by Bridgespan Senior Director of Philanthropy Alison Powell and Bridgespan Partners Willa Seldon and Nidhi Sahni.

The SSIR supplement also includes a range of opinion articles from thought leaders in the field about the state of big bet philanthropy, including:

The Benefit of Being the Runner-up Learning from Competition by Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, director of the Rice 360 Institute for Global Health at Rice University.

by Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, director of the Rice 360 Institute for Global Health at Rice University. Big Bets Are Important . But So Is a Big Heart by David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy .

. by David Callahan, founder and editor of . Big Gift, Big Impact by Andrew Youn, co-founder and executive director of One Acre Fund, and Matthew Forti, managing director of One Acre Fund USA

by Andrew Youn, co-founder and executive director of One Acre Fund, and Matthew Forti, managing director of One Acre Fund USA Doing More with Big Bets by Barbara Picower, p resident and chair of the board of directors of JPB Foundation.

by Barbara Picower, resident and chair of the board of directors of JPB Foundation. Empowering Nonprofits by Dan Cardinali, president and CEO of Independent Sector.

by Dan Cardinali, president and CEO of Independent Sector. Hacking the Bias in Big Bets by Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green.

by Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green. Investing in Population-level Change by Jim Shelton, most recently president of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives Education division and formerly deputy secretary of the US Department of Education.

by Jim Shelton, most recently president of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives Education division and formerly deputy secretary of the US Department of Education. From Promising Model to Major Investment by Nancy Roob, president and CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and CEO of Blue Meridian Partners, and Mark Edwards, co-founder and co-CEO of Upstream USA.

by Nancy Roob, president and CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and CEO of Blue Meridian Partners, and Mark Edwards, co-founder and co-CEO of Upstream USA. Renewing Common Purpose and Collective Action by Kathy Calvin, president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation.

In addition to the two Bridgespan-authored research papers and nine outside opinion pieces, Unleashing Philanthropys Big Bets for Social Change provides a detailed overview and analysis of big bets data:

Profiles of Big Bets : This section highlights five philanthropic gifts of $25 million or more made to support social change efforts, and the enormous impact these investments can have on the worlds most pressing problems.

: This section highlights five philanthropic gifts of $25 million or more made to support social change efforts, and the enormous impact these investments can have on the worlds most pressing problems. Big Bets, 2015-2018: This list features each of the over 150 commitments of $25 million or more that went to social change. An interactive version of the 2015-2018 list, including information about the donor and recipient, the grant amount, and the specific initiative that the grant focused on is available on Bridgespans web site at: https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/big-bets/u-s-donor-philanthropic-big-bets-database



About The Bridgespan Group

The Bridgespan Group (www.bridgespan.org) is a global nonprofit organization that collaborates with mission-driven organizations, philanthropists and investors to break cycles of poverty and dramatically improve the quality of life for those in need. With offices in Boston, Mumbai, New York, and San Francisco, Bridgespans services include strategy consulting, leadership development, philanthropy and nonprofit advising, and developing and sharing practical insights.

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Grand Old Partisan honors David Tod, born in Youngstown this day of 1805. He prospered as a lawyer in the coal and iron and railroad industries. This young Democrat won a state senate term, but lost twice for governor and once for Congress. President Polk named him ambassador to Brazil. He chaired the 1860 Democratic National Convention.

During the Civil War, angered by his party's lack of patriotism, Tod shifted toward the GOP. In 1861, Republicans nominated him for governor. He won handily and took office for a two-year term. He crushed Democrat-Copperhead collaboration with the Confederacy, attended the Loyal Governors Conference, and fended off two rebel cavalry raids. Abraham Lincoln said: "Governor Tod has aided me more and troubled me less than any other governor."

In 1864, the President offered to name him Treasury Secretary. Lincoln observed: "He is my friend, with a big head full of brains... He made a good governor, and has made a fortune for himself". Citing poor health, Tod declined. Apoplexy ended his life four years later."

Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XS26J4aNAjQ

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

Each day, Michael Zak's 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"


The North Magnetic Poles Mysterious Journey Across the Arctic



Scientists accelerated the update of a model of Earths fluctuating magnetic field, which is needed to keep navigational systems functioning. Many wondered whats happening inside the planets core.



By Shannon Hall





Aurora borealis over Canada, as seen from the International Space Station in 2017. The spectacular display is caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.CreditCreditJSC/NASA







The north magnetic pole is restless.



Distinct from the geographic North Pole, where all the lines of longitude meet at the top of the world, the magnetic pole is the point that a compass recognizes as north. At the moment, its located four degrees south of the geographic North Pole, which lies in the Arctic Ocean at 90 degrees north.



But that wasnt always the case.



In the mid-19th century, the north magnetic pole floated much further south, roaming around Canada. For the past 150 years, however, the pole has been sprinting away from Canada and toward Siberia.



That change of address cannot be ignored, given that magnetic compasses still underpin modern navigation, from the systems used by civilian and military airplanes to those that orient your iPhone.



In 1965, scientists launched a data-based, mathematical representation of Earths magnetic field in order to better keep track of the poles ever-changing home. The World Magnetic Model is updated every five years  most recently in 2015  because the magnetic field is constantly shifting.

In early 2018, it became clear that 2015s edition was in trouble, because the poles Siberian stroll had picked up speed, rendering the model  and therefore a number of navigational systems  incorrect.



So for the first time, scientists have updated the model ahead of schedule, which they released Monday afternoon. Since this work was completed in the wake of the partial government shutdown (which delayed its full release), researchers still are trying to get a handle on the mysteries within Earths core that must be driving the magnetic poles surprising behavior.





A continuous makeover























































The north magnetic poles dizzying dance was first discovered nearly 400 years ago, when Henry Gellibrand, an English mathematician, realized that it had jumped hundreds of miles closer to the geographic pole over the course of 50 years.



That was a big, monumental recognition that the field was not static, but dynamic, said Andrew Jackson, a geophysicist at ETH Zurich.



It didnt take long, however, before magnetic north flipped direction and started to move away from the geographic pole  demonstrating that the field is not just dynamic, its unpredictable.



The problem that were still facing today is that we dont have a good scheme to predict how the field will change, Dr. Jackson said.



So scientists began tracking the ever-changing magnetic field. The first magnetic maps, which were hand-drawn by exploring sailors, revealed that for the next two centuries, magnetic north twirled among the many islands and channels of the Arctic Archipelago.



Then around 1860, it took a sharp turn and bee-lined toward Siberia. Since then, the pole has traveled nearly 1,500 miles and was most recently found in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, still en route to Russia.



Scientists attribute this wanderlust to the liquid iron sloshing within our planets outer core. That iron is buoyant  it rises, cools and then sinks. And that motion below carries Earths magnetic field with it, producing changes above.



The north magnetic pole is distinct from the geographic north pole, which is where all the lines of longitude meet at the top of the world. The magnetic pole is the point that compasses recognize as north.CreditNorman Kuring, NASA/GSFC/Suomi NPP





To more accurately map those changes, scientists launched the precursor to the World Magnetic Model nearly 55 years ago, which began as a collaboration between the United States and the United Kingdom.



The map we know today has existed in its current form since 1990 and is created by an agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Geological Survey (BGS). Its commissioned by American and British military agencies, and used by many other militaries across the world.



Alongside GPS, navigational systems utilized by satellites, aircraft, ships, submarines and other vehicles rely on magnetic compasses to ensure theyre traveling in the correct direction. Perhaps the most visible sign of this can be found at the end of every airport runway, where large white numbers reflect the runways magnetic heading.

But as the magnetic field shifts, those headings change and runways get a makeover. Later this year, for example, the runways that make up the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kan., will receive new names that match their new headings. The process  which includes repainting the huge numbers at the end of each runway and replacing other signage  will likely cost several hundred thousand dollars.



And it all depends on the World Magnetic Model, which is not easy to build. Unlike the kilogram or the second, the magnetic field cannot be defined once and then used for decades.





The magnetic field is constantly changing, said Susan McLean, the retired chief of the geophysical sciences division at NOAA, who helped set the magnetic model in the past. It changes with time. It changes with location. And it changes the way it changes. Tracking the planetary magnetic field, she added, is more akin to forecasting the weather.



And like the weather, perfectly predicting where the pole will move is downright impossible. But scientists can get close with a wealth of data collected from satellite and ground-based observatories. That data allows them to deduce how the magnetic field has changed over the past several years and to extrapolate into the future with a model that will  hopefully  remain accurate for the next five years.







A changing magnetic pole will require repainting the headings on airport runways. The shift also affects navigation on flights with routes over the geographic North Pole.CreditMichael Phillips, via Getty Images







After scientists released the World Magnetic Model in 2015, they periodically checked it against field measurements to ensure that it was accurately predicting variations in Earths magnetic field. When they ran that check in early 2018, they discovered that the model and reality were out of alignment.



We noticed that the error in the Arctic was increasing faster than what we would expect, said Arnaud Chulliat, a geophysicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and NOAA.



Although the north magnetic pole has long been scurrying away from Canada and toward Siberia, the rate at which it moves drastically changes. Throughout most of the 20th century, it drifted at roughly 6 miles per year. In the 1980s, magnetic north picked up speed, and by the year 2000 it was traveling at 35 miles per year on the way out of Canada.

Then, in 2015, the pole actually slowed to 30 miles per year. So when the team issued the most recent magnetic map, scientists predicted that the speed would continue dropping  only it didnt.

Just after the model was released, the north magnetic pole picked up momentum again, and now it is fluctuating at around 35 miles per year. In late 2017, the pole crossed the international date line into the Eastern Hemisphere.





Its not the fact that the pole is moving that is a problem, its the fact that its accelerating at this rate, said William Brown, a geophysicist at the British Geological Survey. The more acceleration or deceleration there is, the harder to predict where the thing is going to be.



And that means the model is currently incorrect  at least, in the Arctic.



While many of us might not spend much time  or any time  at the top of the world, some international airline flights fly close to the geographic North Pole. They need the magnetic model to be accurate for safe journeys.



If you were to use the current model to travel to the north magnetic pole, you would end up 25 miles away from where the pole actually resides.



So scientists raced to fix the model by feeding it several years of recent data. Together, B.G.S. and NOAA have made a new version available. But efforts to finish the revision on publicly available online systems maintained by NOAA were delayed by the partial government shutdown in the United States. The researchers were able to complete the update on Monday.



The public maps will have many uses, from recalculating runway names to ensuring that Defense Department systems are properly installed. Engineers incorporate the model into the navigation systems on your smartphone and in your car, Dr. Brown said.

But for most people at low- and mid-latitudes, the current model is safe to use.







South of 65 degrees north and away from Canada, the average user will notice very little difference to their daily life, said Ciaran Beggan, a geophysicist at B.G.S.





Geomagnetic apocalypse? Probably not



With the updates now complete, scientists are anxious to understand the causes of the poles Siberian sprint. Its clear that something strange is happening, said Phil Livermore, a geophysicist at the University of Leeds in England.



On multiple occasions during Earths long history, the magnetic field has weakened dramatically. The north magnetic pole slipped toward the bottom of the planet, and the south magnetic sauntered toward the top. The process took a few thousand years, but by the time the fields full strength returns, it has flipped.



The poles recent journey, along with other changes  like a weakening of Earths magnetic field  has led some scientists to wonder whether such a reversal might be around the corner, geologically speaking.



It does tick off some of the boxes of magnetic reversal, said Courtney Sprain, a geophysicist at the University of Liverpool in England, who added that, we definitely cant say that for sure.



Most scientists, including Dr. Sprain, doubt an impending geomagnetic reversal. First, while the north magnetic pole does appear to be on the move, it doesnt represent a global phenomenon, just a regional one.



Dr. Livermore, for example, thinks there are two large magnetic structures in the planets outer core, one beneath Canada and one beneath Siberia, which interact together to emit the magnetic pole.

The Canadian patch is weakening, which means that its essentially losing a tug-of-war, causing the north magnetic pole to turn toward Siberia. At the same time, the south magnetic pole is standing relatively still.





Second, while Earths magnetic field is weakening, many experts argue that its still above the long-term geologic average.





Peter Olson, a geophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, thinks that the current changes represent a transient fluctuation and not a reversal.



Its the analogy between a stock market correction and a worldwide depression, he said. How do you know the stock market today is not heading toward a worldwide depression, a crash? Well, it could be. But much more likely, its a correction and it will rebound.



Even if the magnetic field were on the edge of a flip, scientists argue that its not an apocalyptic scenario. Although the field provides essential protection from the suns powerful radiation, fossil records reveal no mass extinctions during past reversals.



And whatever the risks to power grids and communications, humanity would have ample time to prepare.



Of all the problems we have, this is not a top 10 problem, said Dr. Olson.
STANS, Switzerland, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NLS-1 Pharma (NLS), a Swiss biotech firm focusing on the development of novel treatments for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other cognitive disorders and impairments, today announced an exclusive license agreement to develop and commercialize its clinical-stage ADHD therapy, Nolazol (Mazindol CR), in Central & South America (Latin America) with Eurofarma, a Brazilian pharmaceutical company with a presence in 20 Latin American countries.



We are pleased to establish a partnership with Eurofarma, a strong partner to support the development and commercialization of Nolazol across Latin America. We believe that there is a significant opportunity for Nolazol for ADHD in Latin America, and with an established presence in 20 Latin American countries, we believe Eurofarma has the critical local expertise and resources to execute on regulatory approvals and commercialization for Nolazol in this region, says Alex Zwyer, CEO of NLS. As a non-amphetamine molecule with stimulant-like efficacy, we believe that Nolazol has the potential to disrupt the ADHD market by offering an effective, and importantly safer, alternative to the standard of care currently available in the region.

The terms of the agreement have not be disclosed. Eurofarma will be responsible for seeking the required regulatory approvals and, once approved on a country-by-country basis, for commercializing Nolazol in Latin America.

Nolazol is a controlled release formulation of mazindol currently being developed as a non-amphetamine DEA schedule C-4 treatment option for ADHD. NLS's recent Phase II study demonstrated efficacy levels equivalent to, or greater than those previously only seen with amphetamine stimulant treatments, with no serious treatment-related adverse events. NLS is currently planning a Phase III clinical study in ADHD for Nolazol in the U.S., which is expected to reach the U.S. market as early as 2022, pending regulatory approval and other factors.

It is estimated that only 10% of children diagnosed with ADHD in Brazil receive the correct treatment, due to parents' fear of using controlled medications1, in particular those which require medical monitoring, psychological, educational and family support. Medications currently available in the American market for treating ADHD are limited to amphetamine-based drugs or other stimulants.

Eurofarma is a Brazilian multinational pharmaceutical company, with a presence in 20 Latin American countries. The company is ranked second in medical prescriptions and the third in the generic segment in Brazil. Eurofarma operates in the areas of medical prescription, Over-The-Counter, generic, hospital, bids, oncology, veterinary and services for third parties segments. In Brazil, the portfolio is composed of more than 330 brands, with around 1,000 presentations covering 28 medical specialties and 48 therapeutic classes.

1 Brazilian Association of Attention Deficit (BAAD) Treatment. Available at https://tdah.org.br/tratamento/

About NLS-1 Pharma

NLS is a privately owned, Swiss-based biotech firm focusing on the development of first-in-class treatments for ADHD, sleep disorders, cognitive impairment and other neurological disorders that remain largely under-diagnosed and for which unmet medical needs are significant. NLS has built a large portfolio of promising clinical-stage compounds being developed by an experienced team of proven experts in ADHD and sleep related disorders and working closely with key opinion leaders.

About Mazindol

Mazindol is an imidazo-isoindole agent, originally developed as an appetite suppressant in the 70's, and classified at that time as a DEA scheduled C-4 controlled substance (low probability for misuse/abuse). It was withdrawn from US markets by 2002 due to commercial reasons unrelated to efficacy or safety. Mazindol controlled release is a novel formulation with a lower Cmax than the immediate release formulation and an equivalent AUC, designed for once daily dosing, which is under investigation for the treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements pursuant to U.S. Federal securities laws. For example, NLS is using forward-looking statements when it discusses its belief that there is a significant opportunity for Nolazol for ADHD in Latin America and that Eurofarma has the expertise with regulatory approvals and commercialization for Nolazol in the region, and its belief that Nolazol has the potential to disrupt the ADHD market. These forward-looking statements and their implications are based on the current expectations of the management of NLS only, and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in technology and market requirements; NLS may encounter delays or obstacles in launching and/or successfully completing its clinical trials; NLSs products may not be approved by regulatory agencies, NLSs technology may not be validated as it progresses further and its methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; NLS may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of its products; unforeseen scientific difficulties may develop with NLSs process; NLSs products may wind up being more expensive than it anticipates; results in the laboratory may not translate to equally good results in real clinical settings; results of preclinical studies may not correlate with the results of human clinical trials; NLSs patents may not be sufficient; NLSs products may harm recipients; changes in legislation may adversely impact NLS; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of NLS to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, NLS undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Investor relations contact

LifeSci Advisors - Daniel Ferry: +1 617-535-7746

Partnering contact

NLS-1 Pharma Alex Zwyer, CEO: +41 41 618 80 00
TORONTO, Ontario and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (TSX: PMN) (OTCQB: ARFXF), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, welcomed Mr. Timothy G. Rothwell to its Business Advisory Board today. Mr. Rothwell is a highly accomplished pharmaceutical leader with more than three decades of experience directing the development and commercialization of new therapies. In his advisory role, Mr. Rothwell will work with ProMIS to provide guidance for business development, particularly as it relates to partnering of ProMIS neurodegenerative disease programs, which aim to provide disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimers, Parkinsons and ALS by selectively targeting the toxic oligomer, a shared root cause.



Timothy G. Rothwell has been the Chairman of Emisphere Technologies Inc. (OTC: EMIS), since early 2012 and prior to that a Director of the Company. Mr. Rothwell is also the Chairman of Speracura LLC, a healthcare consulting company.



Mr. Rothwell was formerly U.S. Chairman of Sanofi from February 2007 to October 2009. He also served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Sanofi-Aventis from September 2004 to February 2007. Prior to that Mr. Rothwell was President and Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi-Synthelabo, Inc. and was instrumental in the formation of Sanofi-Aventis U.S. in 2004. Mr. Rothwell served in various capacities at Pharmacia, including as President of the companys Global Prescription Business. Mr. Rothwell also served as worldwide President of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals and President of the companys Global Pharmaceutical Operations. In his long career, Mr. Rothwell was Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales at Burroughs Wellcome and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the U.S. for Squibb Corporation which later became a Division of Bristol-Myers Squibb.



In addition to having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Archimedes Pharma LLC, Tim has held board positions with several pharmaceutical companies, served as a trustee at the Childrens Health Fund, on the Institute of Medicines Evidence-Based Medicine roundtable, and as Chairman of the Pheo Para Alliance, a non-profit organization serving patients with pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma.



Mr. Rothwell holds a Bachelor of Arts from Drew University and earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University.

Mr. Rothwell joins ProMIS accomplished board of business advisors, each of them recognized leaders in the fields of biotech business management, diagnostic product development and monoclonal antibody design and manufacture. Advisory Board members currently include:

Mara G. Aspinall, MBA, a diagnostic industry pioneer, and Executive Chairman of GenePeeks, a company leading a paradigm shift at the intersection of personalized medicine and computational genomics with genetic testing. Ms. Aspinall is also CEO of Health Catalysts, a healthcare investment firm. Aspinall is former President and CEO of Ventana Medical Systems, a leader in cancer diagnostics. Mara previously spent 12 years as President of Genzyme Genetics and Genzyme Pharmaceuticals.

Nigel Burns, PhD., a 20+ year veteran of the biotech sector, particularly in the field of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of chronic disease. Dr. Burns has held a series of industry leadership roles including Senior Vice President of Cambridge Antibody Technology, and most recently, CEO and Founder of SweetSpot Therapeutics Ltd. He was entrepreneur-in-residence for Imperial Innovations and has served on multiple national and international scientific and industry advisory boards and committees.

Michael Higgins, MBA, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Polaris Partners. Previously, Mr. Higgins held a variety of leadership roles at Genzyme, including Vice President of Corporate Finance and Vice President of Business Development, and was involved with multiple business units, including Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy and Orphan Diseases.

In addition to its Business Advisory Board, ProMIS has assembled and consults the Scientific Advisory Board to help guide the successful advancement of its disease-modifying programs. Last month, ProMIS announced that renowned neuroscientist Dr. Rudy Tanzi joined its team of scientific advisors. Dr. Tanzi is one of the worlds leading scientists in research aimed at preventing and treating Alzheimers disease.

Commenting on Mr. Rothwells appointment, ProMIS Executive Chairman Eugene Williams said: Were thrilled that Tim will contribute his tremendous experience and wisdom to our mission, which benefits not only ProMIS but the larger neurodegenerative diseases community as we collectively bear down on these diseases, finally targeting their root cause. Crossing the finish line to disease modifying therapies requires the expertise and fortitude of the best minds in the field. Were honored to be working with many of them, including Tim and also Rudy, who joined our SAB last month, to help get us there.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect tens of millions of people worldwide. Alzheimers disease in particular presents one of the most vexing public health challenges of both the past and future decades. Numerous studies show that the root cause of Alzheimers, and other neurodegenerative diseases, is the toxic oligomer, a misfolded protein that derives from naturally occurring proteins in the brain. Using its novel drug discovery engine, ProMIS can create antibodies that uniquely and selectively target the toxic oligomer, filling a critical gap for drug developers: traditional approaches to developing antibodies are unable to isolate and target the toxic oligomer with adequate precision. The companys lead antibody candidate, PMN310 for Alzheimers disease, demonstrates a high degree of binding to toxic oligomers without binding to non-toxic forms of naturally occurring amyloid beta protein. Its Parkinsons disease program is based on the development of several potential antibody therapeutic candidates selectively targeting toxic forms of the protein alpha-synuclein, considered a root cause of Parkinsons disease. ProMIS has also identified antibody candidates that selectively target toxic forms of the protein TDP43, considered a root cause of ALS.

About ProMIS Neurosciences

ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. is a development stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing antibody therapeutics selectively targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimers disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinsons disease (PD). The Companys proprietary target discovery platform is based on the use of two complementary thermodynamic, computational discovery engines -ProMIS and Collective Coordinates  to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique precision approach, the Company is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and PD. ProMIS is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ProMIS is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PMN, and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol ARFXF.

Visit us at www.promisneurosciences.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

For media inquiries, please contact:

Shanti Skiffington

shanti.skiffington@gmail.com

Tel. 617 921-0808

For Investor Relations please contact:

Alpine Equity Advisors

Nicholas Rigopulos, President

nick@alpineequityadv.com

Tel. 617 901-0785

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release contains certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


(All amounts expressed in U.S. Dollars unless otherwise stated)



TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Torex") (TSX:TXG) reports the Companys financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Fred Stanford, President & CEO of Torex stated:

2018 is now in the record books and it left some memories. Most of the memories are very good. Excellent safety and environmental performance, record production, Sub-Sill ramped up, SART plant ramp-up, successful exploration at Sub-Sill and ELD, successful infill drilling at Media Luna, and rapid advance of the Muckahi technology. A couple of experiences werent quite so fulfilling. Hopefully, this is the last time I ever use the word blockade in a press release and we didnt quite get to design levels in the processing plant (93%). We could spend capex to close the gap, but dont see it as a good investment since the future underground ores are softer and dont need the capacity that the investment would produce. Well diligently work on the last 7% the old-fashioned way, with continuous improvement in operations and maintenance practices. Life will continue, if it takes a bit longer to get there. A year of operating at 93% adds a month to the six-year mine life of the open pits, which in effect, delays the need for the investment in the replacement underground ores.

With a strong foundation of a splendid asset and team, and the potential of a proprietary game changing technology, we have lifted our eyes to the horizon and like what we see. The Morelos Property has already delivered the ELG open pits, Sub-Sill, Media Luna, and ELD, and most of the property remains unexplored. There is tremendous potential to develop new brownfield ore sources to take advantage of the infrastructure investments already made. We also have an interest in diversifying our single asset risk. If proven successful in 2019, the Muckahi technology will reduce the costs of future underground mining on the Morelos Property and will provide us with a competitive advantage when bidding on potential acquisitions and pursuing other options for commercial deployment. The testing program for the Muckahi technology is expected to be completed in 2019. The first of four Muckahi machines is on site in Mexico and we anticipate breaking rock with it in the next couple of months. As the other machines arrive, we will incorporate them into the test program. In the meantime, we will continue to add value with the drill bit, optimize our processes, generate free cash flow from the open pits, and continue to develop the safety culture. These are interesting and exciting times at Torex/MML.

This release should be read in conjunction with the Company's December 31, 2018 Financial Statements and MD&A on the Company's website or on SEDAR.

HIGHLIGHTS

Record gold production at the top end of guidance of 353,947 ounces. Gold production in the quarter totalled 96,316 ounces.

of 353,947 ounces. Gold production in the quarter totalled 96,316 ounces. Mine production in the quarter totalled 11,299 kt, averaged 122,815 tpd. Mine production for the year totalled 32,625 kt, averaged 93,214 tpd.

in the quarter totalled 11,299 kt, averaged 122,815 tpd. Mine production for the year totalled 32,625 kt, averaged 93,214 tpd. Mine ore production in the quarter totalled 1,234 kt, averaged 13,413 tpd. Mine ore production for the year totalled 4,329 kt, averaged 12,368 tpd.

in the quarter totalled 1,234 kt, averaged 13,413 tpd. Mine ore production for the year totalled 4,329 kt, averaged 12,368 tpd. Grade mined in the quarter averaged 2.76 gpt, and 2.69 gpt for the year.

in the quarter averaged 2.76 gpt, and 2.69 gpt for the year. Plant throughput continued to accelerate in the quarter achieving 1,197 kt, averaged 13,011 tpd. Plant throughput in the year of 4,152 kt, averaged 11,863 tpd.

continued to accelerate in the quarter achieving 1,197 kt, averaged 13,011 tpd. Plant throughput in the year of 4,152 kt, averaged 11,863 tpd. Grade processed in the quarter averaged 2.93 gpt and 2.97 gpt for the year.

in the quarter averaged 2.93 gpt and 2.97 gpt for the year. Gold recovery averaged 85% in the quarter and 87% in the year, consistent with design expectations.

Initial results from the Media Luna in-fill diamond drilling program1

Highlighted intercepts from the first 23 holes include 10.5 gpt Au Eq. over 39.2m in borehole ML18-222A, 7.0 gpt Au Eq. over 49.6m in borehole ML18-215, 7.1 gpt Au Eq. over 45.9m in borehole ML18-219W and 8.3 gpt Au Eq. over 22.6m in borehole ML18-208W.

There are currently 6 drills active on the Media Luna Project. On average each drill completes two holes per month, which indicates completion of the program by the end of 2019.

Continued exploration success in the Sub-Sill zone2

The Company announced the results from 57 holes, from its in-fill and step-out drilling programs in the Sub-Sill zone. Highlighted intercepts include 30.2g/t Au over 8.1m in borehole SST-101, 48.9g/t Au over 3.6m in borehole SST-118 and 34.4g/t Au over 4.6m in borehole SSUG-059. The deposit remains open in several directions.

Muckahi3

Initial components have arrived on site and significant testing of the Muckahi Mining System (Muckahi) is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

Financial results

Record gold sold for the year was 347,640 ounces for total proceeds of $438.3 million at an average realized gold price 4 of $1,261 per ounce. Gold sold for the quarter was 104,169 ounces for proceeds of $128.6 million at an average realized gold price 4 of $1,235 per ounce.

was 347,640 ounces for total proceeds of $438.3 million at an of $1,261 per ounce. Gold sold for the quarter was 104,169 ounces for proceeds of $128.6 million at an average realized gold price of $1,235 per ounce. Revenue was $130.7 million and cost of sales was $96.5 million, or $926 per ounce of gold sold for the quarter. Revenue was $442.9 million and cost of sales was $334.7 million, or $963 per ounce of gold sold for the year.

was $130.7 million and was $96.5 million, or $926 per ounce of gold sold for the quarter. Revenue was $442.9 million and cost of sales was $334.7 million, or $963 per ounce of gold sold for the year. Earnings from mine operations were $34.2 million for the quarter, and $108.2 million for the year.

were $34.2 million for the quarter, and $108.2 million for the year. Income before income tax was $20.4 million for the quarter, and $60.4 million for the year.

was $20.4 million for the quarter, and $60.4 million for the year. Net income after current and deferred income tax expense was $1.4 million or $0.02 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the quarter, and $23.2 million, or $0.27 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the year. The weakening of the peso adversely impacted deferred tax expense for the quarter.

after current and deferred income tax expense was $1.4 million or $0.02 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the quarter, and $23.2 million, or $0.27 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the year. The weakening of the peso adversely impacted deferred tax expense for the quarter. Adjusted net earnings 4 , which excludes, amongst other items, foreign exchange gains and losses, totalled $13.9 million, or $0.16 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the quarter, and $19.7 million, or $0.23 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the year.

which excludes, amongst other items, foreign exchange gains and losses, totalled $13.9 million, or $0.16 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the quarter, and $19.7 million, or $0.23 per share on a basic and diluted basis for the year. Cash flow from operations totalled $59.3 million for the quarter, and $226.8 million for the year.

totalled $59.3 million for the quarter, and $226.8 million for the year. Cash balances as at December 31, 2018 totalled $149.0 million (including restricted cash of $26.8 million).

as at December 31, 2018 totalled $149.0 million (including restricted cash of $26.8 million). Total cash costs 4 per ounce of gold sold of $627 for the quarter, and $646 for the year ended December 31, 2018.

per ounce of gold sold of $627 for the quarter, and $646 for the year ended December 31, 2018. All-in sustaining costs 4 per ounce of gold sold of $926 for the quarter, and $964 for the year ended December 31, 2018.

per ounce of gold sold of $926 for the quarter, and $964 for the year ended December 31, 2018. Principal repayments of $15.0 million in the quarter and $56.3 million in the year were made to reduce the Debt Facility to $333.5 million.

of $15.0 million in the quarter and $56.3 million in the year were made to reduce the Debt Facility to $333.5 million. Passed the operating covenants for the six months ended December 31, 2018. There are no further operating covenants under the Debt Facility, which makes it less constricted, and provides the Company with alternatives for redirecting the restricted cash balance.

Qualified Persons

Scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Clifford Lafleur, P.Eng., Director Technical Services of Torex Gold Resources Inc. and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today at 9:00 am (ET) where senior management will discuss the 2018 operational and financial results. Access the conference call as follows:

Webcast access: A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the Companys website at www.torexgold.com .

Telephone access: Please call the numbers below approximately ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. Toronto local or international 1 (416) 915-3239

Toll-Free (North America) 1 800-319-4610

Toll-Free (France) 0 800-900-351

Toll-Free (Switzerland) 0-800-802-457

Toll-Free (United Kingdom) 0 808-101-2791

The webcast will be archived on the Companys website.

About Torex

Torex is an intermediate gold producer based in Canada, engaged in the exploration, development and operation of its 100% owned Morelos Gold Property, an area of 29,000 hectares in the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt located 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. The Companys principal assets are the El Limon Guajes mining complex (the ELG Mine Complex), comprised of the El Limon, Guajes and El Limon Sur open pits, the El Limon Guajes underground mine including zones referred to as Sub-Sill and El Limon Deep, and the processing plant and related infrastructure, which is in the commercial production stage as of April 1, 2016, and the Media Luna deposit, which is an early stage development project, and for which the Company issued an updated preliminary economic assessment in September 2018. The property remains 75% unexplored.

For further information, please contact:

TOREX GOLD RESOURCES INC. Fred Stanford

President and CEO

Tel.: (647) 260-1502

Email: fred.stanford@torexgold.com Gabriela Sanchez

Vice President Investor Relations

Tel.: (647) 260-1503

Email: gabriela.sanchez@torexgold.com

CAUTIONARY NOTES

PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

The Company prepared a technical report (the Technical Report) on Morelos Property entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report ELG Mine Complex Life of Mine Plan and Media Luna Preliminary Economic Assessment, which has an effective date of March 31, 2018, has been filed with SEDAR and posted on the Companys website.

The Technical Report includes a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Media Luna Project. A preliminary economic assessment should not be considered a prefeasibility study or feasibility study, as the economics and technical viability of the Media Luna Project have not been demonstrated at this time. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of the inferred mineral resources will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the conclusions or results as reported in the Media Luna PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The Media Luna PEA includes information on Muckahi. It is important to note that Muckahi is experimental in nature and has not been tested in an operating mine. Many aspects of the system are conceptual, and proof of concept has not been demonstrated. Drill and blast fundamentals, standards and best practices for underground hard rock mining are applied in the Muckahi, where applicable. The proposed application of a monorail system for underground transportation for mine development and production mining is unique to underground hard rock mining. There are existing underground hard rock mines that use a monorail system for transportation of materials and equipment, however not in the capacity described in the Technical Report. Aspects of Muckahi mining equipment are currently in the design stage. The mine design, equipment performance and cost estimations are conceptual in nature, and do not demonstrate technical or economic viability. The Company expects to complete the development and test the concept by the end of 2019 for the mine development activities and up to five years for the mine production activities (approx. second quarter 2023). Further studies would be required to verify the viability of Muckahi. Muckahi is not intended as a trade off study but is shown in the PEA to merely demonstrate the potential benefits Muckahi may have using the Media Luna deposit as an example. It includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Notwithstanding the Company's efforts, there can be no guarantee that the Company will not face unforeseen delays or further disruptions of its operations including without limitation, delays caused by blockades limiting access to the ELG Mine Complex and the Media Luna Project or by blockades or trespassers impacting the Companys ability to operate. Forward-looking information also includes, but is not limited to, the expected successful completion of the ramp-up of the processing plant, the completion and timing of the drilling program on Media Luna, plans to further examine the potential of the new mining technology (Muckahi) including the expected timing and completion of the testing of the first prototype and the testing of the completed system, the expectation that Muckahi, if proven, will be game changing technology and will reduce the costs of future underground mining on the Morelos Property and will provide the Company with a competitive advantage when bidding on potential acquisitions and pursuing other options for commercial deployment, and plans to continue in the interim to continue to add value with drilling programs optimizing processes, generating free cash flow from the open pits, and continued development of the safety culture, the exploration potential of the Morelos Property, plans to conduct brownfields exploration and expectation any new deposits could utilize the current infrastructure at the ELG Mine Complex and continued safety and security, plans to diversify the Companys single asset risk, and the Companys alternatives for redirecting restricted cash balance under the Debt Facility. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or potential or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, uncertainty as a result of the preliminary nature of the PEA and the Companys ability to realize the results of the PEA, uncertainty regarding the inclusion of inferred mineral resources in the mineral resource estimate, uncertainty involving resource estimates and the ability to extract those resources economically, or at all, risks associated with skarn deposits, uncertainty involving drilling programs and the Companys the regulatory process and actions, the success of the Muckahi mining system, the ability to fund the development and testing of Muckahi, the ability to finance the Media Luna Project on reasonable terms, the uncertainty of diversifying the Companys single asset risk, the possibility of amendments to the restrictions in the Debt Facility, and those risk factors identified in the Technical Report and the Companys annual information form and managements discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information are based on the assumptions discussed in the Technical Report and such other reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date such statements are made. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

_________

1 For more information on the drill results, see the Companys news release titled Torex Reports Initial Results from the Media Luna In-fill Diamond Drilling Program issued on October 25, 2018, and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website at www.torexgold.com .

2 For more information on the drill results, see the Companys news release titled Torex Reports Continued Exploration Success In the Sub-Sill Zone issued on November 20, 2018, and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Companys website at www.torexgold.com .

3 The Media Luna PEA (as defined below) is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. The Media Luna PEA includes information on Muckahi (as defined below). The PEA economics for the Media Luna Project in the Technical Report (as defined below) are based on conventional mining methods. In addition, Muckahi, a Torex proprietary mining method, is introduced and described in the Technical Report. The Technical Report uses the Media Luna Project as a platform for comparison to demonstrate the potential benefits that could be possible if the Muckahi method is proven and ultimately applied to the Media Luna Project, or any other deposit that does not employ caving methods. It is important to note that Muckahi is experimental in nature and has not been tested in an operating mine. Many aspects of the systems are conceptual, and proof of concept has not been demonstrated.

4 Refer to Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures in the Companys December 31, 2018 Managements Discussion and Analysis for further information and a detailed reconciliation.
MANASSAS, Va., Feb. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) recently reached an agreement for NOVEC to purchase approximately 300 megawatts (MW) of electrical energy output from solar facilities owned by DESRI. NOVEC selected DESRI from among multiple bidders to provide the cooperative with additional renewable resources.

This agreement with DESRI is another step toward meeting our customers expectations for more renewable energy in NOVECs resource mix. Purchasing the output from these new solar facilities will be a valuable addition to our energy supply, says NOVEC President and CEO Stan Feuerberg.

The agreement between NOVEC and DESRI formalizes the partnership to develop and construct solar-electric generation facilities within the Dominion/PJM footprint. PJM is a regional transmission organization that serves 13 states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

This addition of solar generated electricity will become NOVECs largest source of renewable energy. Additionally, its projected cost is competitive with the marketplace for comparable on-peak energy, says Gil Jaramillo, Manager, portfolio optimization and business development.

DESRI owns and operates solar facilities across the United States and has additional facilities in development and under consideration. The planned facilities that would sell energy to NOVEC are expected to consist of ground-mounted solar panels that track the suns movement throughout the daylight hours to produce an estimated 300 peak MW of electricity. These in-development solar facilities are expected to achieve commercial operation by 2023.

The solar plants are a welcome addition to NOVECs current 60 MW of renewable resources that include hydroelectric, woody biomass, solar, and landfill methane gas recovery, says John Rainey, Director, origination and plant operations.

The DESRI team is thrilled to partner with NOVEC to bring low-cost solar power to Virginia residents, says David Zwillinger, DESRI President. We are committed to growing the renewable energy economy in the region.

The solar facilities involved in the agreement are expected to produce enough electricity to power nearly 73,000 homes, or the equivalent of taking nearly 37,000 passenger vehicles off the road. They are also expected to create 250 jobs during construction with an emphasis on hiring from local communities.

NOVECs strategy is to continue improving our environmental footprint through the addition of new renewable energy sources that are not only clean, but also affordable. The partnership with DESRI does just that, says Feuerberg.

About NOVEC:

NOVEC , headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, is a not-for-profit corporation that provides electricity to more than 170,000 metered customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Clarke counties, the City of Manassas Park, and the Town of Clifton. It also supplies natural gas and energy products and services to consumers in the Washington, D.C., region. The utility serves more customers than any other Virginia electric co-op and is the 11th largest electric cooperative in the U.S. as measured by retail customers. For more information, visit www.novec.com .

About D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments:

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. (DESRI) and its affiliates acquire, own, and manage long-term contracted renewable energy assets in North America. DESRI's portfolio of renewable energy projects currently includes 31 wind and solar projects that represent more than 1,600 MW of aggregate capacity. DESRI is a member of the D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm with more than $50 billion in investment and committed capital as of December 1, 2018, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Please visit www.deshaw.com for more information about the D. E. Shaw group.

Contacts

The D. E. Shaw Group:

DESRI commercial inquiries 

Hy Martin

hy.martin@deshaw.com

Press inquiries 

Amanda Ely

amanda.ely@deshaw.com

Northern Virginia Electric

Cooperative:

Lisa R. Hooker

Communications@novec.com
MASON CITY | As if polar vortexes, multiple school cancellations and delays weren't enough for one calendar month, Mason City got hit with snow again on Wednesday just days after the last wintry mix.

The latest onslaught of snow brought 6.1 inches over a 24-hour period through 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, per the National Weather Service, along with 13 mph winds and highs near 30 degrees.

That amount would put the total for the month of February around 20 inches which would make it the second snowiest recorded February in Mason City's history, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Allan Curtis.

"The snowiest February on record is in 1962 and there was 25.5 inches," Curtis said.

While this month's totals are inching ever closer toward that mark, they're nowhere near the March 1951 record.

According to Curtis, in that month, Mason City received 38.1 inches of snowfall.

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At a Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, County Engineer Brandon Billings had the foresight to acknowledge that snow removal for Wednesday would "Take longer to clear because of how heavy it's going to be."
MASON CITY - Tips from the public have helped identify two women, according to police.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, Mason City Police thanked the public for helping identify two women in connection with an incident at a local business. Police have not released the women's identities.

"We have given all of the information to the case officer for follow-up," police posted on Facebook. "We appreciate the support of our community!"

Original story

MASON CITY - Police are asking for the publics help identifying two women involved in an incident in Mason City.

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Mason City Police posted three security camera pictures of two women on Facebook Wednesday afternoon, saying the women were involved in an incident at a local retailer.

We appreciate your help in getting a chance to meet them, the post said.

One woman is pictured with brown hair with bangs pulled back in a ponytail, glasses, wearing a yellow hoodie with 33 on the front, a dark winter coat and carrying a large patterned duffle bag.
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In the Times interview, King was quoted as saying, White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization  how did that language become offensive? The backlash was severe, and days later Republican Congressional leadership stripped King of his committee assignments.

King has said  and repeated Thursday  that his question referred only to the term Western civilization, and he rejects the ideology of white nationalism and white supremacy. He added those terms have been weaponized by the left.

Ive said it multiple times: theres no part of me that believes in anything that is advocated by folks that identify themselves as white nationalists or white supremacy, King said.

King said he will run in 2020 for a 10th term in Congress. He already faces three Republican primary opponents in western Iowas conservative 4th Congressional District, including a state senator.

King thinks Republicans in western Iowa agree with him on policy and the votes he takes in Congress, and he does not think he will be a drain on the Republican ticket in the 2020 general election, when the GOP will have President Donald Trump at the top and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst fighting for her first re-election.
CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Benco Family Foundation will donate PRO-SYS toothbrushes to every Chicago Public School elementary student in celebration of National Childrens Dental Health Month as well as contribute an additional 40,000 toothbrushes to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry community service programs. With these contributions, the Benco Family Foundation will top 1 million toothbrushes donated.

Since 2015, the Benco Family Foundation has assisted people worldwide through toothbrush donations with its Buy-One-Give-One program. For every PRO-SYS adult tapered or antimicrobial toothbrush purchased from Benco Dental, the philanthropic arm of Americas largest family-owned dental distributor donates a toothbrush to someone in need.

According to Patrick D. Smith, DMD, MPH, Clinical Assistant Professor, UIC-College of Dentistry, The Division of Prevention and Public Health Sciences supports community-based initiatives geared toward increasing access to care and reducing oral disease of underserved populations. Our dental students work with over 35 community partners across the state to provide dental care and oral health education. This donation from the Benco Family Foundation will further those experiences and support our partners as they promote oral health in their respective communities.

The Benco Family Foundation is dedicated to improving the dental health and quality of life in its local communities and around the world. Established in 2005, the foundation supports oral health solutions and community organizations that are innovative, sustainable, measurable and impactful.

Through our toothbrush donation, the Benco Family Foundation is excited to build a strong relationship with the Chicago Public Schools and hopes to bring Lessons in a Lunchbox: Healthy Teeth Essentials & Facts About Snacks for the 2nd and 3rd grade classes next year during the Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting, said Executive Director, Rebecca Binder. This national oral health and nutrition program reaches underserved elementary school children with a bright orange lunchbox filled with all the supplies for healthy teeth and smiles.

Learn more about the Benco Family Foundation: https://www.benco.com/about-us/benco-family-foundation/



About Benco Dental

Benco Dental, headquartered in Northeastern Pennsylvania, is the largest family-owned dental distributor in the United States, offering a full array of supplies, equipment and services to dentists across the nation. Founded in 1930 by Benjamin Cohen, the company has remained family-owned and focused on its unique mission to deliver success, smile after smile. Within the past 88 years, the company has grown from a single downtown location to a national network that includes five distribution centers, and three design showrooms, one at the companys Pa. headquarters, one in Southern California, and one in Texas. Benco, which has been named one of Fortune Best Workplaces in Health Care and Biopharma for the past three years, one of the NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women for the second consecutive year, and Pennsylvanias Best Places to Work for 12 of the past 14 years, is proud to feature a highly skilled team of more than 400 professionally trained sales representatives and over 300 factory-trained service technicians. For more information, visit benco.com or call 1.800.GO.BENCO.

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Researchers get to the bottom of fairy circles

Fairy circles are round gaps in arid grassland that are distributed very uniformly over the landscape and only occur along the Namib Desert in southern Africa and in parts of Australia. Various theories circulate about the actual cause of these unusual spatial patterns, ranging from poisonous Euphorbia plants or rising gases, to ants, termites or plant competition for sparse water resources. Scientists from the University of Gottingen, Australia and Israel have now got to the bottom of their cause with soil investigations and drones. The results suggest that the fairy circles in Australia were caused by processes such as the weathering of the soil by heavy rainfall, extreme heat and evaporation. The extensive data collected by the researchers argued against a causal relationship to underground termite structures.

So far, fairy circles are only known from southwestern Africa around the Namib Desert and from Western Australia near the miners' town of Newman. While the origin of Namibia's fairy circles has been puzzled over since the early 1970s, the Australian fairy circles were only discovered in 2014. Despite a distance of around 10,000 kilometers, both occurrences have an identical spatial pattern, which makes them direct "relatives".

Supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the scientists now dug a total of 154 holes in 48 fairy circles east of Newman over a length of twelve kilometers in order to assess the possible influence of termites objectively and systematically. With the help of drones, they mapped areas of 500 by 500 meters to compare typical vegetation gaps - such as those caused by harvester termites in large parts of Australia - with typical fairy circle gaps. In addition, they investigated the soil conditions in the area of the fairy circles and in adjacent reference areas, where no grass grows over large areas.

"The vegetation gaps caused by harvester termites are only about half the size of the fairy circles and much less ordered", explains Dr Stephan Getzin from the University of Gottingen. "And in most cases, we didn't even find any hard subterranean termitaria that elsewhere in Australia prevent the growth of grasses". According to the researchers, however, the high soil compaction and clay content in the investigated fairy circles and vegetation-free reference areas are indications that the fairy circles are formed by abiotic processes such as mechanical weathering of the soil by heavy rain in cyclones, extreme heat and evaporation.

"Overall, our study shows that termite constructions can occur in the area of the fairy circles, but the partial local correlation between termites and fairy circles has no causal relationship", explains Getzin. "So no destructive mechanisms, such as those from termites, are necessary for the formation of the distinct fairy circle patterns; hydrological plant-soil interactions alone are sufficient."

In Namibia, research has so far concentrated on typical fairy circles in homogeneous landscapes. With the support of the Schimper Foundation, in a pilot study the scientists now for the first time focused on extraordinary fairy circles in atypical environments in order to better understand the actual threshold conditions for circle formation. Using Google Earth imagery, they found unusual circles - huge ones more than 20 meters in diameter, chain-like oval ones more than 30 meters long in drainage lines, circles in car tracks and circles in particularly dry, disturbed or Euphorbia-rich areas.

"Here our soil moisture studies showed that under such varied conditions the fairy circles function less as water reservoirs than under typical homogeneous conditions where they are extremely well ordered", says Getzin. With this work, the scientists intend to open up a new thematic field, as they hope to gain further insights into the formation and persistence of the fairy circles from studying "extraordinary" fairy circles.

###

Original publications:

Stephan Getzin, Hezi Yizhaq, Miriam Munoz-Rojas, Kerstin Wiegand & Todd E. Erickson. A multi-scale study of Australian fairy circles using soil excavations and drone-based image analysis. Ecosphere 2019. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1002/ ecs2. 2620 .

Stephan Getzin & Hezi Yizhaq. Unusual Namibian fairy circle patterns in heterogeneous and atypical environments. Journal of Arid Environments 2019. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1016/ j. jaridenv. 2019. 01. 017 .

Contact:

Dr Stephan Getzin

University of Gottingen

Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology

Department Ecosystem Modelling

Buesgenweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany

Email: stephan.getzin@uni-goettingen.de

http://www. uni-goettingen. de/ en/ 112105. html

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: Three Tory MPs quit over Brexit

Three MPs quit Britain's governing Conservatives on Wednesday over Brexit, saying the issue had "re-defined" the party and was "undoing all the efforts to modernise it".

The trio said they planned to sit in parliament alongside eight former Labour lawmakers who, also citing their opposition to Brexit, resigned from the main opposition party this week to form the new Independent Group.

"It is with regret that we are writing to resign the Conservative whip and our membership of the party," Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston said in a joint letter to Prime Minister Theresa May.

"We no longer feel we can remain in the party of a government whose policies and priorities are so firmly in the grip of the ERG and DUP," the MPs stated, referring to the European Research Group, a pro-Brexit faction of Conservative lawmakers, and the party's Democratic Unionist allies from Northern Ireland.

"There has been a dismal failure to stand up to the hard line ERG which operates openly as a party within a party, with its own leader, whip and policy," they added.

The three lawmakers all backed Britain remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum and have since voted against multiple elements of the government's Brexit legislation.

In a swift response to their resignations, May said she was "saddened" by their decisions and thanked them for their "dedicated service to our party over many years".

She noted Britain's membership of the EU has been "a source of disagreement both in our party and our country for a long time" but would not stop her delivering on the referendum result.

"I am determined that under my leadership the Conservative Party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve," she added.

Earlier Wednesday, an eighth MP quit the Labour Party in protest against its veteran socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn, joining the mounting internal rebellion sparked by rows over Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Joan Ryan told BBC radio that Corbyn had "introduced or allowed to happen in our party this scourge of anti-Semitism. It has completely infected the party".

Joined by the trio from the Conservatives, at 11 MPs, The Independent Group would be the joint fourth-biggest bloc in the Commons. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Residents living downstream of Peterson Air Force Base were among eight communities selected for a national study examining the levels of toxic chemicals in their blood from contaminants in millions of Americans drinking water.

Security, Widefield and Fountain residents were chosen to participate in the long-awaited, $10 million study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the agencies announced Thursday.

Liz Rosenbaum, who leads the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition, said she was very happy and ecstatic that southern El Paso County was included.

The hope is that they are willing to work with the community and to let them know the community is here to support them, Rosenbaum said. And we are looking forward to some answers.

The study will examine exposure levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances  otherwise known as PFAS  and it will serve as a foundation for future studies evaluating the impact of PFAS exposure on human health, the agencies news release said.

It aims to include about 400 people from southern El Paso County  all of whom will receive copies of their blood tests once completed. Study organizers also plan to host a community meeting to present the overall results.

The assessments are expected to start this year and continue into 2020, the agencies said. A process for enrolling participants is still being finalized.

The move marks the second such study in southern El Paso County, where the chemicals have contaminated the Widefield aquifer. The man-made chemicals, also called perfluorinated compounds, were used for decades in a firefighting foam at Peterson Air Force Base, as well as in a host of nonstick household cooking items.

In December, the Colorado School of Public Health and Colorado School of Mines released the findings of a study that showed participants had extremely high levels of the toxic chemicals in their bodies compared with other Americans.

The $275,000 study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that one type of chemical, known as PFOS, appeared about twice as high among the 220 study participants in Security, Widefield and Fountain as the general U.S. population.

Another chemical, known as PFOA, was found at levels 40 percent to 70 percent higher than other Americans.

Both chemicals were included in a lifetime health advisory issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2016, which sparked the crisis and led water districts to spend millions of dollars treating water in the area. They are the only two types of PFAS chemicals the EPA is considering regulating  a process that could take several years to finalize.

The chemicals have been linked to several health ailments, including cancer, liver disease and high cholesterol.

Still, a third type of chemical not included in the health advisory, known as PFHxS, appeared about 10 times higher among the studys participants than the general U.S. population, the study found.

Thats important, researchers said, because the chemical is often strongly associated with a toxic firefighting foam used for decades at Peterson Air Force Base and hundreds of other military installations around the world. Its also harder to remove from drinking water and stays in the body longer than its larger molecular cousins.

A recent report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry suggested its health impacts include liver damage and a decreased ability to respond to vaccines.

At least a dozen varieties of PFAS compounds  including those three  will be included in the study, the agency said.

Still, concerns emerged shortly after Thursdays announcement that the new study would not break new ground.

The latest study appearing to have a similar focus as the earlier study  chemical blood levels, not those chemicals health effects  is dispiriting, said Susan Gordon, who lived in Security for years as manager of the Venetucci Farm.

Theres a pretty significant body of research out there that tells us pretty clearly that this stuff has some pretty damaging effects to our health, Gordon said. Its a positive thing, but again, I think what we need is more action that would protect people going forward.

Its going to just tell us more of what we already know.

Still, Rosenbaum expressed hope the latest study would expand the areas understanding of the contamination, by testing far more people, as well as groups left out of the earlier study, such as children.

Drinking water supplied by districts in Security, Widefield and Fountain no longer include six of the most well-known types of chemicals at detectable levels, district managers say.

The public concern that followed the health advisories led the water districts to shut off wells connected to the aquifer and build water treatment systems, or pipe in water from elsewhere, at a cost of millions of dollars.

The Air Force also pitched in millions of dollars to help provide clean water, though the military has said it cannot reimburse the districts for the full amount that they spent.

The newly announced federal study builds off two pilot assessments conducted in Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Westhampton, N.Y., the agencies said. More communities might be selected to participate.

The project also includes a study around Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, which will examine the relationship between exposure to the chemicals and health effects experienced by residents there.

Other locations picked for the study include communities surrounding Eielson and Fairchild Air Force bases; Shepherd Field, Barnes, Stewart and New Castle Air National Guard bases; and Reese Technology Center in Texas.
A 72-year-old Monument man arrested after his DNA tied him to the 1973 rape and murder of an 11-year-old California girl has yet to decide whether he will fight extradition.

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit with his hands cuffed behind his back, James Alan Neal nodded at his crying relatives as he was led into court Thursday for a brief appearance.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Deborah Grohs scheduled a Feb. 28 hearing where Neal could disclose if he will fight efforts to send him to California to face murder allegations.

Neal is wanted in the killing of Linda Ann OKeefe, who was sexually assaulted and strangled after being kidnapped while walking home from summer school in Newport Beach on July 6, 1973.

The girl is survived by her two sisters.

Although the crime remains unsolved, evidence preserved for decades led investigators to develop a DNA profile of the suspected killer.

Authorities said data on a genealogical website pointed to Neal as a possible suspect. They declined to explain their methods, but credited FamilyTreeDNA, a DNA testing company, with providing information that led them to conduct surveillance on Neal to obtain a recent sample of his DNA for comparison.

The California case is among several high-profile crimes that have been solved with the help of genealogy websites where users voluntarily submit their DNA in hopes of learning more about their pasts.

The Orange County District Attorneys Office said it is considering the death penalty against Neal.

Its unclear if he has a criminal history, but he doesnt appear to have prior convictions in Colorado.

Records indicate he moved to Monument in 2016 with his wife, his stepdaughter, her husband and at least one grandchild.

Neals relatives declined to address reporters as they were escorted in and out of court to attend Thursdays advisement. No charges have been filed against Neal in El Paso County.
When the amateurs couldnt figure out how to rescue an injured bald eagle, they called in an expert.

Working in deep snow and below-freezing temperatures Monday near Eleven Mile State Park by Lake George, Colorado Parks and Wildlife volunteer Joe Kraudelt and a team of concerned neighbors used a fishing net, a plastic dog kennel and a sled to get the raptor out of a 2-foot-wide and 20-foot-long drainage culvert.

We were concerned that it was going to be hypothermic and maybe dead by the time we got there, because it got down below zero that night, but it was still alive in the culvert, said Kraudelt, a 30-year CPW volunteer.

The team worked for about three hours before getting the eagle to come to one end of the long culvert. One of the neighbors, Denise Kelly, crawled down into the culvert and placed the net over the raptor. Kelly said she had to be pulled out by her ankles while grasping the eagle.

They got the eagle into a dog kennel and pulled it through a half-mile of Park County forest on a sled.

A man walking his dog Sunday afternoon in Eleven Mile Canyon below the dam and park spotted the eagle sitting on an unusually low branch, a CPW news release says. He told a neighbor, who tried to catch the bird but only scared it into the culvert.

Word eventually reached Kraudelt, 67, who drove out to the canyon first thing Monday.

Im always very cautious with a big raptor like this, Kraudelt said. I have picked up numerous hawks that were injured and also a golden eagle, and theyre usually much more intense and aggressive. This one, actually, by the time we got to it, I think was hypothermic, because it was alert but not real aggressive. So when we pulled it out of this culvert, two of us were able to grab it and cut its talon loose from the net that we had put over it and get it into a dog crate without it trying to fight us too much.

After the rescue, Kraudelt brought the eagle to Catamount Wildlife Center in Woodland Park, where it was found to have a bruised wing and a claw missing from one talon. Then he picked it up Wednesday morning and brought it to the Wildlife and Nature Discovery Centers raptor campus in Pueblo for rehabilitation.

Theyre gonna assess it and make sure its able to fly, and then when they deem that its ready to go, Ill go back down there, pick it up, and well bring it back up here and turn it loose where we found it, Kraudelt said.

The bird is expected to make a full recovery.

Being that close to a bald eagle is breathtaking, let me tell you, Kraudelt said. And this was a big, mature bird. He wasnt a little juvenile one.

Kraudelt recently was honored by CPWs Southeast Region for his volunteer work with the agency, including serving on the county Bear Aware team and frequently transporting injured wildlife to rehabilitation facilities, the release says.

This is a great example of the dedicated work of Colorado Parks and Wildlifes volunteers, Tim Kroening, a CPW wildlife officer in Teller County who works closely with Kraudelt, said in the release. They care so deeply for the wildlife and will go out in terrible weather on weekends and holidays to help perform a rescue like this. Our agency, and the wildlife of Colorado, are so fortunate to have committed volunteers like Joe.
English French

Press release

Neuilly-sur-Seine, February 21, 2019

The Gaumont Board of directors, which met on February 20, 2019 under the chairmanship of Nicolas Seydoux, approved the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018.

FULL-YEAR CONSOLIDATED RESULTS as of December 31, 2018

Key figures from operations (in millions of euros) 20181 2017 % change Consolidated revenue 196.2 177.0 10.8 % Operating income after share of net income of associates -8.2 133.1 na. Net income, Group share -8.8 123.0 na. Investments 99.3 113.4 -12.4 % Key balance sheet figures (in millions of euros) December 31, 20181 December 31, 2017 % change Equity, Group share 272.1 305.1 -10.8 % Net borrowings -20.1 27.7 na 1 Audit for 2018 is being processed

In 2017, Gaumont decided to sell its movie theater operation business to focus on production, particularly series production in the U.S., Germany and the UK. 2018 and 2019 represent a transition and development period for these new activities, which should start to yield results in 2020.

2018 REVENUE

Consolidated revenue for 2018 amounted to 196.2 million, versus 177.0 million in the previous year.

Cinema production

Revenue from the cinema production and distribution business amounted to 95.5 million in 2018, compared to 96.9 million in 2017:

revenue from film distribution in French movie theaters stood at 20.4 million in 2018, compared to 30.7 million in 2017. In 2018, the 10 movies released in theaters sold 8.4 million tickets, compared to the 12.2 million tickets sold in 2017 for 13 movies;



revenue from video and video on demand distribution in France amounted to 12.4 million in 2018, versus 11.6 million in 2017. Physical video sales increased, with more than 1.2 million video units sold. This was mainly due to the performance of the new releases. The same applies to digital sales (VOD and SVOD);



sales of broadcasting rights to French television channels amounted to 24.0 million in 2018, compared with 18.6 million in 2017. Sales of catalog titles to historical television channels and digital channels increased, with close to 190 films sold during the year;



revenue from international film production and distribution stood at 33.3 million in 2018, versus 30.9 million in 2017. Sales of new releases were down whereas sales of catalog films were in line with the previous period.



Television production

Revenue from the production and distribution of television programs totaled 92.0 million in 2018, compared to 74.6 million in 2017.

Sales of American series accounted for 75.4 million of revenue in 2018, versus 67.8 million in 2017. Two series were delivered to Netflix for online release in November 2018.

Revenue from the production and distribution of television drama and cartoon series came to 16.6 million in 2018, versus 6.8 million in 2017. It includes sales of two six-episodes drama series, broadcasted respectively on Canal+ and France 2, as well as episodes from three cartoon series for Disney and France 5.

2018 RESULTS

Gaumont recorded a Group share net loss of 8.8 million in 2018, as against a profit of 123.0 million in 2017.

The 2017 and 2018 annual results are not comparable: 2017 profit includes the gain on disposal of the 34% minority interest in Les Cinemas Pathe Gaumont for 143.9 million, and the 8.4 million contribution from this business to Gaumonts results until the disposal date.

Operating income from cinema production and distribution, excluding overheads, totaled 20.5 million in 2018, compared to 12.6 million in 2017.

Operating income from the television production business in France and in the United States, excluding overheads, amounted to 9.0 million in 2018, versus 9.9 million in 2017.

Revenue from the holding and real estate businesses totaled 6.0 million in 2018, mainly due to trademark royalties, compared to 11.5 million in 2017.

Net financial income stood at 0.2 million in 2018, compared to a net financial expense of 8.1 million in 2017. The change reflects favorable foreign exchange rate effects.

Income tax expense for the period totaled 0.6 million, versus 2.0 million in 2017.

EQUITY AND BORROWINGS

Group share of consolidated equity stood at 272.1 million as of December 31, 2018, versus 305.1 million as of December 31, 2017. The decrease in equity was due essentially to the year loss and to the purchase of non-controlling interests from subsidiaries in the United States.

Gaumonts borrowings have fallen. Net cash stood at 20.1 million as of December 31, 2018, versus net borrowings of 27.7 million as of December 31, 2017. This mainly includes a positive cash balance of 130 million, the Gaumont SA bond for 60 million and self-liquidating loans of 42 million, based on proceeds from pre-financing and release of American series.





OUTLOOK

Ten movies have been released or are scheduled to be released in theaters in 2019:

Edmond, directed by Alexis Michalik, starring Thomas Soliveres, Olivier Gourmet, Mathilde Seigner and Clementine Celarie, was released on January 9;

The Mystery of Henri Pick, directed by Remi Bezancon, starring Fabrice Luchini, Camille Cottin, Alice Isaaz and Bastien Bouillon, will be released on March 6;

Ailos Journey, a wildlife documentary directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky;

No filter, directed by Eric Lavaine, starring Alexandra Lamy, Jose Garcia, Anne Marivin and Michel Vuillermoz;

Pure as Snow, directed by Anne Fontaine, starring Lou de Laage, Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Macaigne;

Ibiza, directed by Arnaud Lemort, starring Mathilde Seigner and Christian Clavier;

Pappy Sitter, directed by Philippe Guillard, starring Gerard Lanvin and Olivier Marchal;

La Vie Scolaire, directed by Fabien Marsaud, starring Alban Ivanov and Zita Hanrot;

The Specials, directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, starring Reda Kateb and Vincent Cassel;

Jaccuse, directed by Roman Polanski, starring Jean Dujardin, Emmanuelle Seigner, Gregory Gadebois and Louis Garrel.

Point Blank, first feature film produced by Gaumont Films in the United States, will be delivered to Netflix in the first half of 2019.

Five television series will be delivered in 2019:

Narcos season 5, a 10-episode American drama directed by Eric Newman, to Netflix;

El Presidente season 1, an 8-episode Latin American drama, to Amazon;

The Art of Crime season 3, a 4-episode drama, to France 2;

Noddy season 2, a cartoon series, to France 5;

Tin Star season 3, to Sky.

DATES OF NEXT FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION

A press release on the half-year consolidated results as of June 30, 2019 will be published on September 11, 2019.





APPENDIX: Full-year and 2nd half consolidated revenue

Consolidated revenue by business segment (in millions of euros) Dec-31-2018 Dec-31-2017 % change Cinema production and distribution 95.6 96.9 -1 % Movie theaters France 20.4 30.7 -33 % Video France 8.1 7.7 5 % Video on demand France 4.3 3.9 12 % Television France 24.0 18.6 29 % International films 33.3 30.9 8 % Other movie distribution income1 5.5 5.1 6 % Television production and distribution 92.0 74.6 23 % American dramas 75.4 67.8 11 % French and European dramas 8.4 3.6 135 % Animated films and series 8.2 3.2 154 % Trademark royalties 6.2 3.6 72 % Other miscellaneous income2 2.5 1.9 32 % GAUMONT GROUP 196.2 177.0 11 % 1 Primarily includes spin-off products, music publishing and the Gaumont Pathe Archives business 2 Primarily includes miscellaneous services provided to third parties and real estate leases





2nd half Consolidated revenue by business segment (in millions of euros) 2018 2017 % change Cinema production and distribution 44.2 56.1 -21 % Movie theaters France 7.1 19.1 -63 % Video France 3.3 3.6 -7 % Video on demand France 1.9 1.8 6 % Television France 11.0 10.8 1 % International films 18.7 18.0 4 % Other movie distribution income1 2.2 2.9 -22 % Television production and distribution 80.0 61.3 31 % American dramas 73.8 54.8 35 % French dramas 2.9 3.5 0 % Animated films and series 3.8 3.0 29 % Trademark royalties 4.5 1.9 142 % Other miscellaneous income 2 1.4 1.0 46 % GAUMONT GROUP 130.7 120.2 9 % 1 Primarily includes spin-off products, music publishing and the Gaumont Pathe Archives business 2 Primarily includes miscellaneous services provided to third parties and real estate leases





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Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low 51F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low 51F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
With flu having already claimed the lives of two Colorado children, strep throat, several strains of flu, head colds, stomach viruses, respiratory infections and other unwanted bugs continue to make the rounds in local classrooms.

Several of our schools have sent messages to families about washing hands frequently, covering the mouth when coughing, keeping students at home if they have a fever or are vomiting and other guidance from our nurses, Colorado Springs School District 11 spokeswoman Devra Ashby said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environments weekly Colorado Flu Report released Tuesday showed widespread flu activity statewide last week, along with the years second influenza death of a child under 18 years old. The agency does not release details on the identity of victims.

Both deaths were associated with influenza A, H1N1, which the state reports is the predominate strain this season, although H3N2 and B viruses also are circulating.

The states first child death occurred in the second week of January. Last year, through mid-May, Colorado saw just one death associated with influenza in children younger than 18 years.

Schools can attest to the problem.

Our head nurse has said its a bad year for the flu, Ashby said.

Its been a doozy of a flu and cold season, Academy School District 20 spokeswoman Allison Cortez said.

Anecdotally, it feels like its worse this year, she said. Every person on our senior leadership team has had some sort of cold or flu in the last two weeks.

D-20 has not had problems finding substitute teachers so far, she added.

Nearly 10 percent of students at Explorer Elementary missed school due to illness on Tuesday, Cortez said. On Wednesday, Liberty High School had 100 kids out sick, up from 64 on Feb. 6. Discovery Canyon Campus absences have declined since hitting a peak in mid-February.

Many of our schools have been sending communication home to families describing the symptoms of the flu, providing insight as to when students should stay home or head to the doctor and discussing the cleaning measures taking place at the school, Cortez said.

Flu among student and staff led Miami-Yoder School District JT-60 in Rush to shut down last Friday, Superintendent Dwight Barnes said.

About 25 percent of this years 305 students were out on Thursday, he said.

Ninety-percent had all the flu symptoms, Barnes said.

But the biggest problem last week was that 15 staff members fell ill, Barnes said, and the small rural district couldnt withstand that large of a hit to its ranks.

We just took Friday off, he said. We were hoping after four days off we could get everybody healthy.

Some kids and staff are still out sick this week, but not as many as last week, Barnes said.

Attendance also has rebounded at James Irwin Charter Schools, which closed its three campuses and five buildings for four days over the holiday weekend for thorough cleaning.

Students and staff were dropping like flies with a host of symptoms, said Linda Carroll, advancement director of the charter school network based in Colorado Springs.

More than 10 percent of the nearly 2,000 students were sick by Thursday, she said, and school officials could not find enough substitute teachers to keep classes going.

The charter network hired professionals to do a super deep clean and sanitize the schools over Presidents Day weekend.

The effort appears successful, with 95 percent student attendance and a 97.5 staff attendance rate this week, she said.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656
The Broadmoor hotels proposal to more than double its Broadmoor Hall exhibition space won approval from city planners this week.

The public has until 5 p.m. March 1 to appeal that approval, said Lonna Thelen, a principal planner with the citys Land Use Review Division. An appeal would send The Broadmoors proposal to the city Planning Commission for review March 21, she said.

The hotel is seeking to build a nearly 170,000-square-foot addition to Broadmoor Hall, which opened in 2005 as part of the five-star resorts campus in southwest Colorado Springs. The addition would provide about 93,500 square feet of open floor space that would be paired with the 60,000-square-foot Broadmoor Hall to help accommodate the annual Space Symposium convention at the hotel.

The Space Foundation, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit, has staged the symposium at The Broadmoor each year since launching the event in 1984. Its the Springs largest annual convention, attracts thousands of government, military, aerospace and media attendees from around the world and pumps an estimated $30 million into the local economy. This years event is April 8-11.

About 200 symposium exhibits and displays fill the 60,000-square-foot Broadmoor Hall and spill over to a temporary, tent-like structure. But the Space Foundation says it needs more space and has a waiting list of 60 to 70 vendors and exhibitors.

In addition to meeting the symposiums needs, the Broadmoor Hall addition would help attract events during the hotels slower times of the year, from fall through spring, Broadmoor President Jack Damioli has said.

Those events  multiday functions and not single-day events  would help boost business at The Broadmoor as attendees stay overnight, eat at the hotels restaurants and shop at its stores, Damioli said. Spinoff business from those events also would benefit area hotels and restaurants, while The Broadmoor could add to its workforce, he said.

We believe we have a very good, solid plan to not only retain the Space Symposium at The Broadmoor and in Colorado Springs for the foreseeable future, but also to create more off-season business at The Broadmoor that will create more full-time employment, Damioli said.

In a letter to city planners, Broadmoor consultant N.E.S. Inc. of Colorado Springs responded to questions raised about the project. Among those issues, N.E.S. said The Broadmoor plans to use shuttle buses from off-site parking lots to reduce vehicle trips on neighborhood streets, decrease congestion at intersections and minimize parking in nearby residential areas.

Planning Commission appeals can be made by going to www.coloradosprings.gov/planning. Click on the land use review link, then applications and finally checklists and letters to find a link and form for the appeal of an administrative decision to planning commission.

Appellants must fill out the form, enclose an appeal statement and include a $176 check to cover the appeals cost. Appeals must be dropped off at the citys Land Use Review Division office, 30 S. Nevada Ave., Suite 105, in downtown Colorado Springs.

The Broadmoor is owned by the Denver-based Anschutz Corp., whose Clarity Media Group owns The Gazette.

More information: lthelen@springsgov.com or 385-5383.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low 51F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low 51F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Tensions between regional archrivals India and Pakistan have rapidly escalated after the deadliest militant attack on Indian forces in decades.

Leaders of the South Asian neighbors have warned each other about potential military strikes after the Pakistan-based Jaish-e Muhammad militant group claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack that killed more than 40 soldiers in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Islamabad of a "befitting reply after the attack, the worst during the three-decade-long insurgency in Kashmir. But Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said his country will not think of retaliating; we will retaliate if attacked.

Such retaliatory strikes could eventually escalate into a full-fledged war. The two nuclear-armed countries have already fought three wars and spend a large part of their national resources on maintaining two of the worlds largest militaries.

While experts say a conflict is likely, whether it would escalate into a war remains a question. A conventional war has the potential to morph into a nuclear nightmare, one that could not only ruin the lives of some 1.6 billion people in India and Pakistan but have grave consequences for South Asia and beyond.

Shashank Joshi, The Economist's defense editor in London, says the likelihood of an Indian military response is high given the severity of the attack and its timing months ahead of a hotly contested parliamentary election.

The risk of an Indian retaliation and a Pakistani reprisal that causes some sort of spiral, I think, is reasonably high, he told RFE/RLs Gandhara website. We are in one of the most dangerous situations since 2008 -- possibly even since the major standoff that occurred after the parliament attack in 2001.

Tensions between India and Pakistan skyrocketed after New Delhi accused Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Taiba of orchestrating coordinated attacks on luxury hotels, a Jewish center, and the central train station in Indias commercial hub, Mumbai. At least 166 people were killed in the November 2008 attacks.

Earlier in 2002, India and Pakistan mobilized close to 1 million troops after New Delhi accused Jaish-e Muhammad of carrying out attacks on the state assembly building in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and the Indian Parliament in 2001.

The probability of military conflict is quite high, said Christopher Clary, a South Asia expert at the University at Albany, State University of New York. There is probably the greatest risk of such an outcome since 2001-2002.

He says the more likely scenario is one of limited strikes similar to the surgical strikes in 2016 that Modi claimed were conducted to avenge the killing of some 20 Indian soldiers in Uri, a town in Indian-administered Kashmir. Officials in Islamabad, however, denied New Delhis claim.

Given Indias larger size, population, and economy, its forces appear bigger than those of Pakistan. Indias estimated 2.1 million active duty and reservist troops are twice those of Pakistans 1.1 million. The countries have a similar disparity in terms of tanks and artillery vehicles. Both countries have missiles and nuclear weapons. The Indian Air Force is larger, but many of its aircraft are aging Russian jets such as the MiG 21, while the Pakistani Air Force has modernized some of its inventory. Given Indias vast coastline, the country has a much bigger Navy compared with that of Pakistan.

Joshi, however, says New Delhi will struggle to mobilize its conventional superiority on the battlefield.

It can take India weeks to bring its forces to the border to use against Pakistan, and Pakistan is in some respects more agile and move its forces to the [eastern] border with India more quickly, Joshi noted. The two sides are still more evenly matched than you might think from the major discrepancy in the sizes of their economy and the respective defense budgets.

Clary says that in the absence of a full-scale war between the two rivals since 1971, it is not clear whether India could easily defeat Pakistan in a major conflict.

War has changed a lot since 1971, he said. And the limited war in Kargil, where Pakistan had difficulty reinforcing its troops, tells us very little about the fighting ability of either country in a full-scale war.

According to Kyle Mizokami, a defense and national security writer, New Delhi envisions a major offensive against Pakistan under a doctrine called Cold Start. In January, however, Pakistan launched a short-range, nuclear-capable rocket that can hit targets within a 70-kilometer range to deter a surprise conventional attack.

Clary, however, says it is improbable that a full-scale war would escalate to the nuclear level because the weapons were not deployed in two previous conflicts between the Soviet Union and China in 1969 and India and Pakistan during the limited war in Kashmirs remote Kargil region in 1999. In 1999, we are still debating whether India or Pakistan put nuclear forces on alert, he told Gandhara.

Joshi says the use of nuclear weapons, even low-yield tactical ones, would have a devastating impact on millions of people in northwest India and Pakistans eastern province of Punjab, which borders it.

The India-Pakistan border area is a fairly small place, and the fallout from any nuclear use -- given prevailing winds and climatic conditions -- would have devastating impact on both the Indian and Pakistani sides, he said.

International diplomacy has successfully prevented such scenarios. But unlike the crises in 2008 and 2001, Washington now seem less keen on de-escalating tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

China, a neighbor and close ally of Pakistan, however, is advocating restraint. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told journalists that Beijing hopes Pakistan and India can exercise restraint, engage in dialogues, and realize an early soft landing of this issue.

Clary, however, sees a limited clash on the horizon because he says that, unlike his predecessor, Modi seems to believe that re-establishing deterrence with Pakistan may be part of what a new India needs over the long run to grow and prosper.

Over the medium term, India probably can build up pressure to further isolate Pakistan economically, especially given Pakistan's likely need for international lending institutions to help it with its foreign currency situation, he said.
Former U.S. Sen. David Karnes, testifying on behalf of the IT Alliance for Public Sector, said the change would promote good business practices on Nebraska's behalf, as well as due process for companies, while former Department of Health and Human Services CEO Kerry Winterer said Kolterman's bill created "an efficient, effective and unbiased process" that would engender confidence in state agencies as well as vendors.

The interim CEO of the Department of Health and Human Services, Bo Botehlo, said enacting a judicial review process could lead to long delays before contractors could begin work for state agencies.

Botehlo, a former director at the Department of Administrative Services, said LB21 could lead to delays of 18 months or longer as district court and appeals court judges review the procurement process, while adding that some projects may see appeals from multiple companies.

Kolterman said he will work to create "a process everyone can live with," but pointed to the recent failed projects as proof that a change needs to be made.

There is some estimated cost to the bill  compensation to hearing officers, court reporters, and others involved in the appeal  but Kolterman said rooting out contractors who cannot successfully complete the jobs could ultimately help the state save money.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS.

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PLATTSMOUTH  An Omaha man who assaulted a Plattsmouth woman last year will spend time in state prison for the offense.

Manuel Rodriguez-Madera, 33, appeared in Cass County District Court Tuesday for a sentencing hearing. He pled guilty in December to a Class IIIA felony of false imprisonment-first degree and a Class I misdemeanor of third-degree assault. He also pled guilty to a Class II misdemeanor charge of interfering with a public service company.

The state agreed to dismiss four other charges in exchange for Rodriguez-Maderas plea. Prosecutors also agreed to recommend a prison sentence of two years on the felony charge, 364 days on the Class I misdemeanor charge and 180 days on the Class II misdemeanor offense.

Rodriguez-Madera went to a Plattsmouth residence in January 2018 and began arguing with a female there. Deputy County Attorney Steven Sunde said Rodriguez-Madera became very angry with the female and punched a hole in a wall. He then took out a knife and threatened to use it to harm himself.

The situation escalated when Rodriguez-Madera trapped the victim in the bathroom for a time and later kept her in a bedroom. Sunde said Rodriguez-Madera grabbed the woman hard enough to cause bruising in her arm. He also took her phone and prevented her from using it to call for help.
Mamy Gueye conjures up her version of thiebou diola - a marinated fish and rice dish, served with green sorrel leaves - at a roadside eatery in Senegal's capital Dakar.

Her way of cooking, using traditional methods with a mix of shop-bought flavourings, is a demonstration of how cooking and shopping habits are evolving in West Africa.

She douses fillets of sea bream with lemon juice and garlic, and then crumbles a few Maggi stock cubes, each costing 25 CFA francs ($0.04), into a bowl of chopped onions to make sauce.

As the mixture cooks down, she chucks in a cube made by rival Senegalese brand Doli. "It adds a good garlic flavour and a touch of sugar," Gueye, 41, said.

Since they were introduced by Nestle in the 1950s, Maggi cubes have transformed cooking across the region - providing a boost to flavours that need a careful and often time-consuming juggling of herbs and spices.

They have become an essential ingredient in many everyday dishes, including Ivory Coast's "poulet braise" and spicy "jollof rice" in Nigeria.

Maggi still dominates West Africa's stock cube market - valued at $375 million by market research firm Fact.MR.

But local upstarts also are getting a taste of the market, fuelled by the continent's demographic boom and a budding middle class who have more cash to spend on food and higher expectations when it comes to taste.

Across Dakar, six wholesalers and retailers said they were buying more local brands in response to rising customer demand for different flavour varieties of stock cubes and powder to complement the Maggi classics.

A woman cooks braised chicken and fish marinade with a mixture made with Doli cubes | Photo: Reuters

Senegal's Patisen, which makes Doli, also has branches in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. It aims to double bouillon production by 2020, its president, Youssef Omais, said.

But, like in many countries, a focus on food provenance and authenticity is growing, partly due to concerns over health, and advocates are pushing a return to traditional cooking.

In Abidjan's five-star Pullman hotel, chef Loic Dable prepares pepe soupe, a spicy fish and vegetable stew. He flavours it with chilli paste and sumbala, a fermented locust bean patty. Before stock cubes, he said, "you cooked fish in sea water to make it salty, and served it with cassava and plantains, which you either braised or baked in the earth".

Some consumers have cut back on stock cubes because health experts say the salt in them can contribute to heart problems.

Senegal limited the salt content of all cubes to 55 percent in 2017, the first country in West Africa to regulate their components. Nestle says it had already reduced Maggi's salt content, after the World Health Organization published guidelines on salt consumption in 2012. Health concerns aside, however, taste is still the bottom line for Lucie Teihi, who sells braised chicken at an outdoor grill in Abidjan. She is sticking with Maggi cubes.

Awa Konate sells seasoning at a market of Adjame in Abidjan | Photo: Reuters

"If my chicken is bland, customers will go elsewhere," she said.
OAKLAND, CA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dougs Varin-- a rare and highly sought-after cannabis formulation which contains the highest concentrations of THCV(tetrahydrocannabivarin) is now available for sale in limited quantities at SPARCs five dispensaries located in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.

This first limited distribution will include two THCV-rich vape pen product lines: Dougs Varin ORIGINAL and Dougs Varin RELIEF. Both contain 25%-30% THCV cannabis oil,found naturally in the resin-glands of rare cannabis flowers, and are reputed to offer possible long-awaited personal health benefits. The high THCV levels are enough to activate the compounds surprising effects.

We are thrilled to partner with SPARC to offer for the first time our new line of Dougs Varin products in the San Francisco Bay area, said David Lampach, CEO of California Cannabinoids, Inc. Dougs Varin contains the highest levels of THCV currently in the marketplace, offering cannabis consumers the possibility of exciting, new health benefits.

We know there is a strong consumer demand for Dougs Varinand its unique THCV offering, said Erich Pearson, CEO of SPARC. We look forward to being the first to offer consumers access to this highly awaited cannabis product.

California Cannabinoids, Inc. will announce additional product availability in the coming months, along with new Dougs Varin product lines and licensing agreements. For more information on initial retail locations, product offerings and licensing opportunities, please visit www.dougsvarin.comand www.sparcsf.com.

# # #

About Dougs Varin and California Cannabinoids, Inc.: Formed in 2017, California Cannabinoids, Inc. is a California corporation based in Oakland, with the mission of providing the cannabis industry and consumers access to rare cannabinoids. The company is the exclusive provider of Dougs Varin which contains the highest concentrations of tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) currently available in the marketplace. CEO David Lampach is a long-time industry expert, grower and advocate for clean, safe cannabis. Prior to founding California Cannabinoids, he was Co-Founder and CEO of Steep Hill Labs and served a consultant to several states concerning the creation and implementation of various aspects of medical and recreational cannabis regulation. To learn more, visit: DougsVarin.com.

About SPARC: Founded by Erich Pearson in 2010 as a nonprofit medical cannabis dispensary dedicated to providing safe, consistent, and affordable medical cannabis to patients and for adult use, the SPARC family of dispensaries is a trusted source of cannabis products for discerning individuals seeking to enhance their quality of life through mindful cannabis use. Built on the mission of San Francisco Cannabis Collective, SPARC fills the needs of qualified low-income patients whose doctors have prescribed medical marijuana to address serious illnesses. SPARC also collaborates with local hospices, residential care facilities, and dispensaries to successfully supply medical marijuana at no cost to seriously ill patients. With five retail cannabis dispensaries, three in San Francisco with its new Love Shack and two in Sonoma County, SPARC is known as an industry leader and innovator promoting an intelligent approach to cannabis cultivation, production, distribution, and use as these expand to meet the needs of a broader audience. To learn more, visit: sparcsf.org.

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BUCHAREST (Reuters) - World Trade Organization members are now clear what the United States's concerns are over how the group settles disputes, but there is no sign of resolution to a crisis that threatens to paralyse the global trade body, the WTO head said on Thursday.

The United States has blocked appointments at the WTO appellate body, which hears appeals in trade disputes between countries, threatening the biggest crisis in the 24-year history of the WTO.

The organisation normally has seven members but currently only has three, and two of those are set to complete their mandates in December.

"What is clear to me is that the clock is ticking," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told a news conference in Bucharest before meeting EU ministers responsible for trade over dinner.

Azevedo said there would be a significant slowdown of cases and "eventually paralysis down the road".

The European Union has made proposals for WTO reform, agreeing with China, India and other countries on changes to the WTO's dispute settlement. However, it has struggled to engage the United States on the topic.

Azevedo said there was at least clarity about U.S. concerns, some of which were also shared by other WTO members.

"But what is not clear yet is what solutions can we find to fix those problems," he said.

"I would say there is a consensual view that we need to address this, that this is a big priority. But I don't have at this point in time any signals that I could use to say we have a light at the end of the tunnel. At this point in time, I don't see that."

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Sydney, Australia-headquartered customs and logistics software provider WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) yesterday released details of massive increases in revenues and profits.

ASX-listed WiseTech reported that total revenues increased by 68 percent (AU$93.4 million/ USD$67 million) in the July-December 2018 period to stand at AU$156.7 million in the first half of 2019. Australia's financial year runs from July to June. Gross profit increased 64 percent to AU$126 million. Operating profit increased 59 percent to AU$35.9 million and net profit after tax increased 48 percent to AU$23.1 million.

CEO and founder Richard White, said, "We continued to deliver high quality growth in 1H19... a reflection of our strategy to accelerate WiseTech's global growth and industry penetration, driven by geographic expansion, relentless innovation and deepening product capability, all of which saw usage by the world's largest logistics providers increase."

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Top line revenues

Organic revenues from existing and new customers delivered "nearly half" of the company's total first half revenues of AU$156.7m. By way of comparison, these results are higher than the company's entire 2017 financial year revenues of AU$153.8m.

Recurring on-demand revenues accounted for AU$114.1 million of the total revenues; recurring one-time-license and maintenance revenues accounted for another AU$24.9 million and one-time-license and support services accounted for AU$17.7m.

The company attributed top line revenue growth to increased usage of the company's software products by its existing customers. About 89 percent of the company's revenues (approximately AU$139.5 million) are recurring revenues. WiseTech also commented that there was increased usage by "many of the world's largest freight forwarding groups," pointing out that it now counts all 25 of the world's top global freight forwarders (as ranked by consultancy Armstrong & Associates) as customers. The company added that seven of the top 25 are on, or have finished, global rollouts of its flagship product, CargoWise One.

Other revenue drivers included a continued transition to transaction-based licensing, growth in revenues from larger multi-region customers, and underlying growth by customers themselves.

Story continues

Acquisitions

WiseTech is an active corporate acquirer, buying 11 companies in the first half of the current financial year (in Australia, Italy, North America, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the U.K.). It also acquired a Norwegian company in this month (February 2019). The company also acquired businesses in previous financial years.

Acquisitions have, over time, been accretive to revenues. Revenues from customers of acquired businesses increased AU$32.8 million in 1H2019, up 150 percent over the prior corresponding period. That figure includes AU$30.6 millon from 26 acquisitions completed in the last 18 months. WiseTech generated AU$17.7 million from one-time-licensing and support services. The company noted that many of its acquisitions have higher levels of revenues from one-time-licensing and support services.

The company also noted that it has a customer attrition rate of less than one percent.

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Costs and expenses

Costs of revenue generation increased by 87 percent to stand at AU$30.1 million. WiseTech notes that the businesses it acquired have higher product and support costs and lower cost leverage, which lowers gross profit margins. However, the company expects the dilutive effect to disappear over time as acquisitions become integrated into WiseTech's product offerings.

Product design and development costs were AU$39.3 million, sales and marketing expenses were AU$19.7 million, while general and marketing expenses were AU$31.7 million. The main costs of the business (excluding financing costs) therefore were AU$120.8 million in the first half of 2019, a 140.5 percent increase on the prior corresponding period's AU$49.9 million.

WiseTech explained that much of the company's operating expenses could be accounted for by total research and development investment, particularly in its main global software product, CargoWise One. Another research cost is related to the expansion of the development workforce. A further AU$12.6 million of costs were investments in the acquired businesses, "which typically have higher levels of maintenance and support costs."

Just under AU$20 million, an amount equivalent to 13 percent of revenues, was allocated to sales and marketing. It reflects an extra AU$4.2 million of sales and marketing expenses baked into the 26 acquisitions it has made since the beginning of the 2018 financial year.

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A 53 percent increase in general and administrative expenses (from AU$20.7 million to AU$31.7 million) was driven by costs from acquired businesses that had their own general and administrative costs. Costs also rose due to extra headcount in finance, growth, M&A, and People & Culture teams, along with investments in management systems and additional infrastructure.

The company also gave guidance for the financial year ending June 30, 2019. Given the growth of the main CargoWise platform, the low customer attrition rate and general global expansion, the company is forecasting full financial year revenues of AU$322 million to AU$335 million, representing growth of 45 percent to 51 percent.

Balance sheet

Turning now to the balance sheet, the company has AU$762 million in total assets and AU$375 million of total liabilities.

Current assets total AU$95.1 million as of year-end 2018, down about 41 percent from the AU$160.8 million recorded as of June 30, 2018. The biggest decline in current assets was in cash and equivalents, down from AU$121.8 million to AU$42.2 million. However, trade receivables were up about 46 percent.

In the non-current assets account, WiseTech nearly doubled its intangible assets in six months from AU$360 million to AU$651 million. Much of this account is goodwill from acquisitions and stands at AU$491 million as of Dec 31, 2018. Previous half-year periods track the growth clearly  it was AU$237 million at July 1, 2018 and a year earlier it was AU$55 million (June 30, 2017). The other major intangible assets owned by WiseTech are computer software (AU$94 million); development costs (work-in-progress) at AU$43.6 million; intellectual property (unspecified) of AU$33 million; customer relationship of AU$24 million; and trade names AU$13 million. The company also owns AU$15 million of property, plant and equipment.

On the liabilities side of the ledger, WiseTech has total current liabilities of AU$138 million. It has payables of just under AU$26 million, which is largely flat from the previous six-month period. It also has about AU$82 million of "other current liabilities." About AU$61.5 million of this is "contingent consideration," which is the amount owed to the former owners of acquired businesses and is payable if a conditional trigger event is met. There is also AU$16.4m of customer deposits.

In the non-current liabilities account, there is AU$175.318 million of "other liabilities" and, again, these are mostly comprised of contingent consideration, about AU$174 million worth.

WiseTech has markedly increased its borrowings too, up from AU$1.4 million to AU$30 million. About AU$2.6 million of that debt originated in acquired companies. The rest results from a restructuring of WiseTech's debt structure. The company retired an AU$100 million debt facility (of which AU$29.9 million had been drawn down) with Westpac Bank at the end of 2018 and replaced it with AU$190 million of finance syndicated from HSBC, Citibank and Westpac. WiseTech also negotiated a further AU$200 million "accordion facility," which is a type of expandable loan.

About WiseTech

WiseTech counts over 12,000 logistics organizations as customers in 130 countries, generating over 54 billion data transactions each year. It employs over 1,600 people across 40 offices mostly in Oceania, Asia, Europe and North America. It also has four offices in Latin America and two in South Africa.

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Amsterdam/`s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, 21 February 2019



On 21 February 2019, Van Lanschot Kempen will start the repurchase of up to 370,000 of its own shares (depositary receipts for Class A ordinary shares). At the closing price of 20 February 2019, the programme will cost 7.7 million. It will serve to cover the depositary receipts to be allocated to employees under the existing remuneration policy and share plans.

The share buy-back programme will end on the day before the publication of Van Lanschot Kempen`s 2019 annual figures, or sooner if the maximum number of repurchased shares is reached before then. Van Lanschot Kempen has tasked ING with the implementation of its share buy-back programme. ING will make its trading decisions independently of Van Lanschot Kempen.

Updates on the share buy-back programme will be announced in press releases and on the Van Lanschot Kempen website on a weekly basis (www.vanlanschotkempen.com/sharebuyback).



Media Relations: +31 20 354 45 85; mediarelations@vanlanschotkempen.com

Investor Relations: +31 20 354 45 90; investorrelations@vanlanschotkempen.com



About Van Lanschot Kempen

Van Lanschot Kempen, a wealth manager operating under the Van Lanschot, Evi and Kempen brand names, is active in Private Banking, Asset Management and Merchant Banking, with the aim of preserving and creating wealth for its clients. Van Lanschot Kempen, listed at Euronext Amsterdam, is the Netherlands` oldest independent financial services company with a history dating back to 1737.

vanlanschotkempen.com

Disclaimer

This is an announcement pursuant to Article 5, paragraph 1, of Regulation (EU) Nr. 596/2014.

This document does not constitute an offer or solicitation for the sale, purchase or acquisition in any other way of or subscription to any financial instrument and is not an opinion or a recommendation to perform or refrain from performing any action.

This document is a translation of the Dutch original and is provided as a courtesy only. In the event of any disparities, the Dutch version will prevail.

Press release







This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.



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

Source: Van Lanschot Kempen via GlobeNewswire

HUG#2235869


Trade secretary Liam Fox. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images

Britain will not be able to maintain current trade terms with Japan if it leaves the EU without a deal on 29 March, the UK government has admitted.

The department for international trade made no mention of the failure to roll over the deal in a press release, but the revelation was contained in an attached report about plans for bilateral no-deal agreements.

The move is likely to be seen as an embarrassing blow for the prime minister Theresa May, who has pushed for closer ties between the UK and Japan.

The Japanese government has previously warned that Britains economy would be severely damaged if it left the EU without a deal.

Japan is one of the UKs biggest investors, and Britain imports around 10.6bn ($13.7bn) in goods a year from Japan.

READ MORE: Britain is forgetting about its powerful investor  Japan

It comes after Nissan announced it had abandoned plans to build its new X-Trail model in Sunderland in the north of England earlier this month, despite the government promising to support the Japanese car manufacturer amid Brexit uncertainty.

The department, run by international trade secretary Liam Fox, admitted today that trade with Japan will take place on World Trade Organization (WTO) plans in a no-deal scenario.

We will not transition this agreement for exit day, its report said, adding that engagement was ongoing.

The Financial Times reported earlier this week that Japanese officials had accused Fox and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt of high-handed behaviour and failing to bring enough specialists to talks.

Britain will also not have an agreement in place with Turkey by the planned exit date, it was confirmed today.

The government also suggested that a substantial amount of UK trade was still not covered by bilateral deals to replace arrangements signed via the EU.

Japan PM Shinzo Abe and UK PM Theresa May. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images

It said only more than a quarter of UK trade covered by such agreements had been rolled over, despite Brexit only being weeks away.

Switzerland, Chile, the Faroe Islands, Eastern and Southern Africa, Israel and the Palestinian Authority are the only agreements signed so far.

Story continues

Mutual recognition agreements, which are said to prevent additional bureaucracy and allow trade as freely as today, have been signed with the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

But the government said it would be signing more trade agreements in the coming days and weeks.

Current agreements have still not been replicated with countries including Canada, Egypt, Mexico and Kenya.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2019) - Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) ("Ucore" or the "Company") announces its acknowledgement of a press release issued by IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. ("IBC") on February 20, 2019, at 9:00 AM EST. This press release purports to announce IBC's decision to terminate the letter agreement, dated March 14, 2015, between Ucore and IBC, entitled "Option to Purchase IBC", as amended and extended (the "Option Agreement").

"This is not an unexpected maneuver on the part of IBC, as Ucore exercises its contractual right to acquire the target company," said Jim McKenzie, President and CEO of Ucore. "We believe IBC has materially appreciated in value since the execution of the Option Agreement. As with all assets experiencing appreciation, the vendor may be tempted to seek a progressively higher purchase price, or free agency, after a deal has already been fully secured."

"In turn, all corporate acquisitions will experience an inflection point prior to the completion of sale, when motivated parties will attempt to cast doubt on the unfolding events," continued McKenzie. "This is understandable and within the bounds of expectation. A frequent strategy is to allege 'manufactured breaches' by the purchaser. In the case at hand, IBC has approached Ucore with a number of professed material breaches, all of which Ucore categorically denies and contrary to IBC's claims, have been adequately addressed. Further, the major financial backers of Ucore have reviewed the IBC agreements and concur that allegations of material breach are invented and without merit."

"These financiers stand solidly behind Ucore," concluded McKenzie. " We have their full support for the Company's vision and plan to transition as a leading provider of advanced mineral separation products and services to the mining and minerals extraction sectors."

Story continues

Background

Both sides in this contractual dispute are seeking court intervention to resolve the dispute and enforce compliance with the agreements between the parties. Ucore asserts the Option Agreement is a valid and enforceable agreement that has the express contractual support of IBC shareholders holding a majority of the shares of IBC. IBC alleges that the Option Agreement has been materially breached and is therefore subject to termination by IBC. The parties are also seeking redress for activities related to the Option Agreement and a completely separate and contractually independent letter agreement, dated April 29, 2014, between Ucore and IBC, entitled "Research Projects, Pilot Plant, Separation Plant and Prospective Joint Operating Enterprise", as amended (the "Research Agreement").

As mentioned in Ucore's earlier press releases and the Company's 2018 Q3 MD&A (filed on SEDAR on Nov. 29, 2018), the Company has retained the services of the international law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP as Ucore's U.S. legal counsel (with offices in Utah and Alaska) to facilitate the intended exercise of the Company's option to purchase IBC. Ucore believes that during the years in which IBC and Ucore have been working together, the business potential of IBC in the metals extraction and purification industry has increased immensely, thereby making decisions about short-term business objectives, day-to-day control and determining the priority of the parties' prospective joint venture projects a challenge to agree upon in regard to the implementation and launch of the high profile and co-marketed joint venture that had been earlier agreed to by the parties pursuant to the Research Agreement.

In addition, the financial opportunities and business potential that have emerged in the metals extraction and purification industry generally (especially in regard to technology metals such as lithium, cobalt, tungsten, and many more) have made it compelling for the Company to intend to exercise its option to acquire IBC. Ucore and IBC have exchanged detailed listings about concerns and sensitivities regarding the agreements between them, the mechanics and deliverables of the due diligence process inherent in the acquisition, as well as expectations regarding the transfer of the ownership of IBC. IBC has stated that it believes that the parties are on divergent paths and has demanded that the Company waive its rights under the Option Agreement or otherwise terminate the agreement. The Company does not intend to do so.

In late 2018, IBC attempted to assert that both the Option Agreement and the Research Agreement had already been terminated. The Company indicated that there are no written or verbal agreements to terminate either of these agreements, and reiterated that it will not be swayed in its intention to exercise the mutually binding and fully executed Option Agreement. IBC's press release of yesterday is contradictory to its earlier allegations that the Option Agreement had already been terminated by the parties, and adds substantial proof to Ucore's assertion that IBC's claim of termination in 2018 had no founding.

In early 2019, subsequent activities included: (i) Ucore's press release dated February 14, 2019 which was entitled "Ucore Initiates Acquisition of IBC"; (ii) Ucore's February 14, 2019 issuance of a Notice of Commencement related to the acquisition of IBC and the subsequent due diligence review process, and (iii) IBC's February 19, 2019, filing of a complaint in the Third District Court of the State of Utah alleging contractual, common law and statutory claims against Ucore. As referred to in Ucore's press releases dated November 28, 2018, December 11, 2018, and February 14, 2019, the interpretation of the contractual relationship between Ucore and IBC has come to include applications and complaints to the courts in both Nova Scotia and Utah.

Arbitration & Enforcement

Aside from the current court actions and applications in Nova Scotia and Utah, both the Research Agreement and the Option Agreement have arbitration clauses that may provide and allow for an orderly and structured forum to resolve these differences. The Company is hopeful that a structured approach to good-faith settlement negotiations, whether that being formal mediation, arbitration or otherwise, will expedite a satisfactory resolution between the parties that will allow for development of the opportunities that both parties envisioned at the onset of engaging in the various agreements amongst these parties.

About Ucore

Ucore Rare Metals is a development-phase company focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. The Company has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare Earth Project. On March 31, 2014, Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for Senate Bill 99 (2014), which authorized the AIDEA to issue up to USD $145 Million in bonds for the infrastructure and construction costs of the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare Earth Project.

Ucore's vision and plan is to transition as a leading nanotechnology company that provides mineral separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry. This vision includes the development of a Strategic Metals Complex (initially announced on Nov. 15, 2016) in Ketchikan, Alaska and the development of the Company's rare earth minerals property located at Bokan Mountain in Alaska (technical report filed on SEDAR on March 14, 2013).

For further information, please contact Mr. Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. at: +1 (902) 482-5214 or visit http://www.ucore.com.

Cautionary Notes

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future business acquisition activities (including related required financings), timelines, litigation outcomes, events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Ucore has assumed that it will in the near future be able to obtain interim financing and sufficient additional financing to acquire IBC in compliance with the terms contemplated in the existing agreements with IBC and its shareholders holding a majority of its shares. Ucore has also assumed that there will be no material adverse findings in its upcoming expected comprehensive due diligence review of IBC. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: Ucore not being able to raise sufficient funds to acquire IBC (including the non-acquisition payments owed under the previous and existing agreements); adverse capital market conditions; unexpected due diligence findings; unexpected or adverse outcomes in the currently outstanding litigation matters between Ucore and IBC; resistance to or noncompliance by IBC or its key shareholders with the existing agreements; the emergence of alternative superior metallurgy and mineral separation technologies; the inability of IBC to retain its key staff members and clients; the inability of IBC to protect its intellectual property; unexpected transaction costs or other deal completion setbacks; the availability and procurement of any required interim financing that may be required; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42979
By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday as concerns about global crude oil demand and uncertainty over the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks countered investor optimism around tightening supplies. Brent crude slipped 5 cents to settle at $66.45 a barrel, hovering below its 2019 high of $66.83 reached on Monday. U.S. crude was up 50 cents to $56.09 a barrel, its highest since November 2018. Washington's sanctions on oil out of Venezuela, a top supplier of sour crude to the United States, has helped support U.S. futures prices, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "Some of those sour grades are lifting the WTI... That seems to be the situation short term," Flynn said. In the bigger picture, "I think the market is looking for an excuse to follow through on the breakout, but there are still a lot of questions surrounding the U.S.-China trade deal" and the global economy, he said. A fresh round of talks aimed at resolving the trade dispute between the United States and China began on Tuesday in Washington, with higher-level discussions planned for later in the week. Traders said they were cautious about taking large new positions before the outcome of the talks. In a red flag about the economic outlook, Europe's biggest bank HSBC warned it may delay some investments this year as it missed 2018 profit forecasts due to slowing growth in China and Britain. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week lowered its forecast for growth in world oil demand in 2019 to 1.24 million barrels per day. Some analysts believe it could be weaker. "Given a continuously uncertain economic picture, our already relatively bearish outlook for 2019 of below 1 million bpd in global oil demand growth may be subject to further downwards revisions," analysts at JBC Energy wrote. To stop a build-up of inventories that could weigh on prices, OPEC+, which includes members of the producer group and allies like Russia, began a new supply cut of 1.2 million bpd on Jan. 1. The cuts have helped crude rise more than 20 percent. Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, said they supported continued coordination on the global energy markets, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Investors said the statement eased doubts that Russia would stick to the pact. U.S. sanctions against exporters Iran and Venezuela have also supported oil prices. Venezuela is a major crude supplier to U.S. refineries. Iran's exports, while down steeply since sanctions began in November, have risen in early 2019, according to tanker data and sources. (Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Henning Gloystein and Colin Packham; Editing by Dale Hudson, Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
President Donald Trump says Attorney General William Barr will decide how much of special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions to make public.

Reports have said Mueller could soon wrap up the investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Attorney General William Barr will decide whether to release special counsel Robert Mueller's findings from the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

"That'll be totally up to the new attorney general," the president told reporters during a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. "He's a tremendous man, a tremendous person who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department."

Trump's comments follow a CNN report Wednesday saying Barr could announce the end of Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election as early as next week. The attorney general, nominated by Trump and sworn in last week, would then send a summary of the special counsel's confidential report to Congress, according to CNN. NBC News previously reported that Mueller could submit a report as early as mid-February.

Americans across the country, as well as congressional Democrats, have awaited answers from the special counsel about whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, or whether the president himself tried to derail the investigation. But it is unclear how much information will become public.

Justice Department regulations say the attorney general "may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions."

Barr took over jurisdiction of the special counsel's investigation, which Trump has repeatedly slammed as a politically charged "witch hunt." Some Trump allies believed the attorney general's confirmation gave the president more power over the probe than he had previously. Trump had raged against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who by recusing himself from the Russia investigation, allowed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint Mueller.

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During his confirmation process, Barr tried to ease concerns about how he would handle the Mueller investigation. He noted that he would try to make the special counsel's findings as public as he could. Barr also said he does not "believe Mr. Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt."

A memo Barr sent to the Justice Department in June raised concerns about his confirmation. He argued that Mueller's focus on whether Trump obstructed justice "is fatally misconceived."

Trump will welcome the end of the investigation. It has hung over him since he entered office in January 2017. Behind the scenes, the president has tried to undermine various investigations surrounding his White House, according to a New York Times report Tuesday .

On Wednesday, he called the newspaper's article "false." He prompted a rebuke from the Times' publisher by calling the outlet a "true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"

Mueller has brought charges against several Russian nationals related to election meddling. His investigation has also led to guilty pleas from several people who used to occupy Trump's inner circle, including his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and ex-national security advisor Michael Flynn.

The probe has also led to charges against Trump's longtime political advisor Roger Stone. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress.

 CNBC's Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report

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DENVER, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Greater Denver Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) will host the National Real Estate and Cannabis (NREC) Summit June 13 at the newly completed Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center.

The one-day summit aims to empower real estate professionals to navigate the nations fastest-growing industry in a new age of expanding cannabis legalization and earns participants 7 CE credits from the Colorado Division of Real Estate. The days speakers are experts in the legal aspects of cannabis, the impact on both residential and commercial properties and leases as well as whats next for cannabis legalization across the nation.

NRECs goal is not to take a position for or against the cannabis industry, but to provide the information real estate professionals need to make the right decisions for their properties in this new era of expanding medical and recreational legalization, said Jennifer Plunkett, IREM Greater Denver president. Our speakers represent years of experience in Colorado, and were confident what they have learned will be the perfect jump-start for both information and building important industry resources.

Keynote Speakers: Turning Lessons into Legal Leadership

The Keynote Address will be delivered by David Blake, former Colorado Deputy Attorney General and now with Squire Patton Boggs, and Melissa Kuipers-Blake, the Emerging Regulated Industries chair at Brownstein Farber Hyatt & Schreck. The address will touch on the ups and downs of Colorados path to legalization and how the state is turning lessons into leadership. Following the Keynote Address, they will participate in a panel discussion and be joined by:

Moderator Dana Coffield, senior editor, Colorado Sun.

Jason Thomas, Founder, CEO and managing broker, Avalon Realty Advisors.

John Lord, CEO, LivWell Enlightened Health.

Shannon Gray and Kyle Lambert of the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division. er

Additional speakers and topics at the Inaugural NREC Summit are:



Brandy Keen, co-founder and senior technical advisor, Surna, Inc.: Just What is the Cannabis Industry, and How Does it Impact Your Property? Sean T. McAllister, founding attorney, McAllister Garfield: The Future of Legalized Cannabis: A National Forecast. Mark N. Tschetter, senior managing partner, Tschetter Hamrick Sulzer: What Landlords Need to Know About Leasing & Cannabis. Gustin Tubbs, operations consultant, MJ Freeway: HR, IRS, and Other Pitfalls: What Makes a Healthy Cannabis Tenant? Glen Weinberg, managing partner, Fairview Commercial Lending: Show Me the Money  Financing Real Estate with Cannabis Clients.



Understanding legal cannabis can be challenging for real estate professionals, but this event will help everyone address these challenges in a proactive way, said Dan Murphy, IREM Greater Denver president-elect. The knowledge being shared at this event will not be available anywhere else, and real estate professionals would be wise to leverage Colorados experience in navigating legal cannabis for the past five years.

For more information or to register to attend, please visit the NREC Summit registration page.

###
The series of tweets rang as odd because 6G technology doesn't exist.

The tweets come as the Trump administration resumes crucial trade talks with Chinese negotiators ahead of a March 1 deadline to reach a deal.

Trump has reportedly been preparing an executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE from operating in the U.S.

President Donald Trump sent a pair of bizarre tweets Thursday morning mentioning a "6G" wireless network and seemingly hinting that he could take a softer stance on Chinese telecom company Huawei.

The tweets rang as odd because 6G technology doesn't exist. U.S. telecom companies are barely on the cusp of 5G wireless networks, and they're facing stiff competition to build it before Chinese companies.

"I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future," Trump said in the first of two tweets.

He added: "I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!"

Trump doesn't name China or Huawei, but that's likely what he's referencing. Chinese companies are at the forefront of 5G technology, and the Trump administration resumed trade talks with Chinese negotiators Thursday. Both nations face a March 1 deadline to reach a deal, although Trump has indicated he could back off of it.

Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly been preparing an executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE from operating in the U.S., which would grant U.S. companies a little more cushion to build their own 5G networks. Now it seems Trump could be reconsidering a ban on Chinese telecoms.

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It's unclear whether a potential ban on Huawei and ZTE would factor into negotiations, but such an executive order would likely invite some bad blood between the world's two largest economies.

The U.S. and other countries have long feared Huawei's equipment could be used for spying .

TPG Telecom dropped plans to use Huawei equipment in Australia, which banned the use of Huawei's equipment. New Zealand and Japan have similar prohibitions in place. The U.K. hasn't made a decision either way, but the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank, warned earlier this month that allowing Huawei equipment could be "naive" and "irresponsible."

Germany has considered similar measures, but said earlier this month that it isn't ready to ban Huawei and that it will allow all 5G equipment vendors in the country.

U.S. carriers AT&T T and Verizon VZ are still activating fledgling 5G networks in select cities, and T-Mobile TMUS and Sprint S-GB plan to launch theirs later this year. Most experts think it will take until at least 2020 for 5G to become widespread.

Samsung just announced the first phone that will run on the faster network , but it won't launch until the second quarter of this year.

Trump's reference to nonexistent "6G" might just be an indication he wants technology to be running full speed ahead, but it's not something that anyone will be able to use in the near future.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: Here's what you need to know about the Huawei debate

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(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump challenged U.S. telecommunications companies on Thursday to boost their efforts to build advanced networks and said leadership should come from competition, not by blocking competitors.

American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind, Trump said in the first of two morning tweets. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on something that is so obviously the future.

The worldwide mobile industry is racing to deploy advanced 5G networks that promise faster connections, allowing uses such as autonomous vehicles and remote surgery. China has a narrow lead over the U.S. and South Korea, according to research commissioned by CTIA, a Washington-based trade group for mobile carriers.

I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies, Trump said in morning tweets.

The tweets suggest Trump wont immediately sign an expected executive order to block U.S. companies from purchasing Chinese telecommunications equipment, Paul Triolo, who leads global technology studies at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said in a note.

The order is in limbo as the two countries engage in trade talks, Triolo said in the note.

Trumps tweets today about 5G suggest that he is not going to sign the directive during the trade negotiations, and he may decide not to issue it at all if there is a deal, Triolo said.

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co. is pushing to take a global leadership position in 5G, but many American officials suspect the companys products could be used by Beijing to spy on Western governments and companies.

The Trump administration is pressuring allies to keep Huawei gear out of their telecommunications networks, and Congress barred government agencies from buying the providers gear.

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request for more information.

Trumps tweets came hours after Fox Business Network aired an interview with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, in which host Maria Bartiromo pressed the top U.S. diplomat on whether the administration wants to restrict the use of equipment from Huawei.

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They are creating a real risk for these countries and their systems -- the security of their people, Pompeo told Bartiromo. Europeans care deeply about their privacy. The risk to privacy from this technology is very, very real, and were out sharing this information.

Read More: EU Shouldnt Be Naive on Huawei Cyber Risk, Selmayr Says

Pompeo went on to say that a governments reliance on Huaweis 5G technology could mean the U.S. will reconsider having an embassy or military outpost in the country, saying its possible we wont be able to work alongside them.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, says the U.S. is wrong to treat 5G as an atomic bomb and said his company will be rolling out new equipment that is suitable for the United States.

Nevertheless, the Trump administration is said to be preparing an executive order that could significantly restrict Chinese state-owned telecom companies such as Huawei from operating in the U.S. over national security concerns.

We share the presidents commitment to leading the world in next-generation 5G wireless, the trade group CTIA said in an emailed statement Thursday. With the administrations continued backing, the U.S. wireless industry can bring more robust 5G networks to more communities faster.

CTIA represents companies including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.

(Updates with analyst comment on potential executive order from fifth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs and Bill Faries.

To contact the reporters on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net;Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
In the oval office on Wednesday, President Trump threatened tariffs on auto imports, if the United States cannot agree to a trade deal with the European Union.

Its something we think about and were negotiating with [the EU]. If we dont make the deal, well do the tariffs, the President said.

On Sunday, the Commerce Department submitted a report to the White House, detailing its findings on whether auto imports pose a threat to national security. The report has not yet been made public. When asked about the report on Wednesday, the President did not give any details about its findings.

Weve studied it very carefully. Weve seen the results, but the bottom line result is whether or not we can make a deal with the EU thats fair, said Trump.

The President has 90 days after receiving the report to made a decision on tariffs.

Were trying to make a deal. Theyre very tough to make a deal with, the EU. Theyve been very difficult, said Trump.

Democratic Senator and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Ron Wyden has called on the White House to release the Commerce Department report.

American families, small businesses, farmers and ranchers have a right to know what Donald Trump is considering when it comes to slapping tariffs on cars and trucks and even on parts used to assemble autos in the U.S. To me, the notion that importing autos and parts is a threat to our countrys national security is a tough sell, said Wyden in a statement.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Lawmakers in the Presidents own party have warned him not to put tariffs on auto imports.

Misusing the Section 232 trade tool hurts #Ohio workers & consumers. I hope the admin moves away from imposing auto tariffs, said Republican Senator Rob Portman in a tweet.

Portman also urged lawmakers to pass his Trade Security Act, which would reform the 232 tariff process.

On the Senate floor last week, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said auto tariffs would be damaging to the economy.

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Raising tariffs on cars and parts would be a huge tax on consumers who buy or service their cars, whether those cars are imported or domestically produced. And make no mistake  Americans will be paying those taxes, Grassley said.

A BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research report released on Wednesday said the administration is most likely to threaten tariffs without actually enacting them.

The report also said that in a worst case scenario, full-blown tit-for-tat auto tariffs could trigger a global recession.



Jessica Smith is a reporter for Yahoo Finance based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.

Read more:

Lawmakers work to scale back the presidents trade authority as auto tariffs loom

Congress readies for marijuana banking hearing

Senators propose legislation to end Congressional pensions
For Abbi, 37, working as an advertising project manager at an agency in New York City meant long hours and high stress  "it was a work hard, play hard office," she says. After three years at the company, Abbi realized she needed to take time for her mental health. To top it all off, her father, who lived across the world in Australia, was battling pancreatic cancer; she desperately wanted to be there for her him.

I initially went [to my boss] thinking Id only be allowed to take an extended break without pay, she says. But after explaining her situation  and presenting a list of possible solutions  Abbi was granted a leave. They were extremely supportive and sympathetic to my situation, and offered me short-term disability so I'd be somewhat financially covered.

Though Abbis case is unique, the circumstances leading to her leave are not. Today, millennials are grappling with some serious challenges at work. According to recent statistics, three in ten millennials say they are very often or always burned out, and also experience work-disrupting anxiety  twice as much as the national average. And it doesnt stop there: Millennial depression is also on the rise.

For those facing climbing levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues, the ability to take time away from work to recover  even while forgoing pay  can seem appealing. But what exactly does such leave entail? And is it a good idea?

Today, there are a few options for workers feeling the weight of a stressful job. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees who work for eligible employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specific medical or family reasons, such as pregnancy, adoption, or personal or family illness. But these options are not available to everyone, and those who wish to take time away from work for mental-health reasons may need to consult with their employer to design an appropriate plan of action.

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In Abbis case, she was granted a leave of four months and ended up spending five with her mother and ailing father in Australia. After her father passed away, Abbi returned to her life and job in New York, though she regrets jumping back in so soon. Coming back to reality was very tough, she explains. I went back to work straight away, thinking I owed my boss and should bury myself in work, which I now know was a mistake.

Still, Abbis leave of absence proved to be a worthwhile decision. She says the experience changed her perceptions of work in a positive way. I was so thankful I didnt assume the worst of my employer and just quit my job before checking if they'd support me through a tough time, she says. "After going through this, I have reprioritized my life, putting self care, personal happiness and not sweating the small stuff so much." However, not every leave of absence turns out this way.

When Salma*, 29, graduated from college, she found a job as a medical assistant at a large healthcare corporation in Chicago. She soon realized the culture wasn't exactly healthy. Our boss wanted us to always come in early and leave late; it felt like we were constantly under watch, Salma explains, adding the company had a severe turnover problem. I didnt want to be there.

Salma realized she was experiencing burnout and approached her manager about it. She was kind of supportive, but also asked who was going to do my work, since I was one of the main people running the show, says Salma. Her boss reluctantly agreed to give her time off, but since the company was not eligible for FMLA, Salma ended up putting her vacation time toward her leave. [The rest] was unpaid, but I thought my sanity was more important.

Salma took three weeks away, traveling to her native Bangladesh, where she began building a healthcare nonprofit for women and children. After she returned, however, things felt "really tense." Back in the office, Salma's manager brought up the discussion theyd initially had when Salma first asked to go on leave, in which she shared with her boss that she might need to give notice if her experiences at work didnt improve.

"She told me that she would gladly accept my resignation, [even though] I hadnt brought up [the topic] since before I went on my leave, Salma says, adding that the manager then asked her to write a statement of resignation. I said okay, and that was that. That was my last day. Still, though Salmas leave ultimately resulted in the end of her job, she doesnt regret taking time to re-center. I am grateful for this experience," she says. "It made me realize what I dont want in a boss and helped me to identify red flags."

Matt Besser, an employment lawyer based in Cleveland with a practice focused on employment discrimination, regularly deals with issues around medical leave. Besser encourages employees to figure out whether they are legally entitled to request a hiatus. In addition to FMLA and the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are many state laws, union contracts, and other employer policies that might protect a mental health-related absence.

But Besser acknowledges that there are also risks that may come with taking a leave. "A response we see from employers more and more  especially for mental health issues  is to spy on employees on leave," Besser explains. "It seems far-fetched, but courts have held [that] employers are allowed to spy on employees on FMLA leave and can fire them when they suspect the employee is missing leave."

Given this reality, Jaime Klein, the Founder and President of Inspire HR, believes that a top-down culture shift is needed. We need to shift mindsets so that a request for a stress leave for mental health is treated like leave for physical health, Klein says. Leaders speaking openly about times that they or loved ones needed to take some time off to deal with stress can start to normalize stress leaves in office culture.

Ultimately, todays workers often face work cultures that can feel unsustainable. Because of this, its crucial that employees do their due diligence when seeking jobs, in order to avoid toxic workplaces that could cause burnout. Beyond this, candid conversations with bosses can also help to shift the mental-health narrative as it intersects with work.

No matter what happens, taking time away from an overtaxing situation is almost always a good idea. Even for Salma, who ended up losing her job, the need to care for herself in an unhealthy situation outweighed the negative consequences of staying in that position.

After I left, I realized there were so many other options; I felt free  like I was able to breathe, Salma says, noting she now feels fulfilled in her job as a campaign director at a maternal health nonprofit. If a workplace doesnt give attention to your mental health, thats a sign you need to get out.

*Name has been changed

If you are experiencing anxiety and/or depression and are in need of crisis support, please call the Crisis Call Centers 24-hour hotline at 1-800-273-8255.

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* Three resign to join independent group in parliament

* Blow to PM May in efforts to clinch deal on exit from EU

* May says she's saddened, presses on with Brexit plans (Adds Soubry comments, second referendum)

By Elizabeth Piper, William James and Kylie MacLellan

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Three lawmakers from Britain's governing Conservatives quit over the government's "disastrous handling of Brexit" on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union.

The lawmakers, who support a second EU referendum and have long said May's Brexit strategy is being led by Conservative eurosceptics, said they would join a new independent group in parliament set up by seven former opposition Labour politicians.

The resignations put May in an even weaker position in parliament, where her Brexit deal was crushed by lawmakers last month when both eurosceptics and EU supporters voted against an agreement they say offers the worst of all worlds.

While the three were almost certain to vote against any deal, the hardening of their positions undermines May's negotiating position in Brussels, where she heads later to try to secure an opening for further work on revising the agreement.

With only 37 days until Britain leaves the EU, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit are redrawing the political landscape. The resignations threaten a decades-old two-party system.

"The final straw for us has been this government's disastrous handling of Brexit," the three lawmakers, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, said in a letter to May.

Soubry later told a news conference that the Conservative Party had been taken over by right-wing, pro-Brexit lawmakers.

"The truth is, the battle is over and the other side has won. The right-wing, the hard-line anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every (Conservative) leader for the last 40 years are now running the ... party from top to toe," she said.

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May said she was saddened by the decision and that Britain's membership of the EU "has been a source of disagreement both in our party and in our country for a long time".

"But by ... implementing the decision of the British people we are doing the right thing for our country," she said, referring to the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted by a margin of 52-48 percent in favour of leaving the EU.

Asked what May would say to others considering resigning, her spokesman said: "She would, as she always has, ask for the support of her colleagues in delivering (Brexit)".

INDEPENDENT GROUP

The three sat in parliament on Wednesday with a new grouping which broke away from the Labour Party earlier this week over increasing frustration with their leader Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit strategy and a row over anti-Semitism.

Another former Labour lawmaker joined their ranks late on Tuesday, and several politicians from both the main opposition party and Conservatives said they expected more to follow from both sides of parliament.

What unites most of the group of 11 is a desire to see a second referendum on any deal May comes back with, now that the terms of Brexit are known in detail - something the prime minister has ruled out.

For May's Brexit plan, the resignations are yet another knock to more than two years of talks to leave the EU, which have been punctuated by defeats in parliament, rows over policy and a confidence vote, which she ultimately won.

Britain's 2016 EU referendum has split not only British towns and villages but also parliament, with both Conservative and Labour leaders struggling to keep their parties united.

May has faced a difficult balancing act. Eurosceptic members of her party want a clean break with the bloc, pro-EU lawmakers argue for the closest possible ties, while many in the middle are increasing frustrated over the lack of movement.

Those who have resigned have long accused May of leaning too far towards Brexit supporters, sticking to red lines which they, and many in Labour, say have made a comprehensive deal all but impossible to negotiate.

But May will head to Brussels hoping that her team will get the green light to start more technical negotiations on how to satisfy the concerns of mostly Brexit supporters over the so-called Northern Irish backstop arrangement.

The "backstop", an insurance policy to avoid a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland if London and Brussels fail to agree a deal on future ties, is the main point of contention in talks with Brussels.

British officials are hoping they can secure the kind of legal assurances that the backstop cannot trap Britain in the EU's sphere to persuade lawmakers to back a revised deal.

But May's argument she can command a majority in parliament if the EU hands her such assurances is getting weaker. A government defeat last week showed the eurosceptics' muscle.

One pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker, Andrew Bridgen, said: "I would find it very difficult to accept a legal document from the same (party) lawyer whose definitive advice four weeks ago was that we could be trapped in the backstop in perpetuity."

(Reporting by Kylie Maclellan, William James and Elizabeth Piper Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Stephen Addison and Mark Heinrich)
The top executive of one of the nations largest gun manufacturers on Thursday said an expected sales bump from the 2018 elections did not happen, but predicted that interest could rise amid an expected new push in Congress for tighter regulations on the firearm industry.

We thought there might be an uptick in demand following the midterm elections. That largely did not occur, Sturm, Ruger & Co. CEO Christopher Killoy told investors. We see a lot of things on the political front that may drive demand in the near future.

With Democrats now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the party is expected to try to advance long-sought gun control measures that Republicans previously blocked.

In the past, firearm sales have increased in tandem with a political environment that favors gun control. Background checks, for example, fell after President Trumps victory in 2016  given his strong support for Second Amendment rights and the likelihood that he would be able to appoint Supreme Court justices who would defend the industry. It was also a reflection of the significant increase in background checks in 2015 ahead of the presidential election.

At Ruger, fourth-quarter sales grew to $121 million, while profits rose to 69 cents per share  both below Wall Street estimates. Overall for 2018, sales at the Southport, Connecticut-based firm fell 5 percent to $496 million and profits dropped to $51 million, or $2.88 per share.

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Killoy attributed the decline to a reduction in industry demand, given that adjusted background checks fell 6 percent last year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation processed over 26 million background checks in 2018, according to the agency's database.

Trump's double-digit tariffs on steel imports is also driving up demand for U.S. production of the metal, increasing costs for Ruger, which has typically sourced its materials domestically, Killoy said.

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English French

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SuperSonic Imagine (Euronext: SSI, FR0010526814, PEA-PME eligible), a company specialising in ultrasound medical imaging, will introduce Aixplorer MACH 30 at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR 2019), which will be held in Vienna, Austria, from 27 February to 3 March 2019.



The Congress, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, is organised by the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and attracts more than 28,000 medical imaging professionals every year, from more than 100 countries.

We are very excited to present Aixplorer MACH 30 at the European Congress of Radiology. An increasing number of our new ultrasound systems are being installed across Europe; we have begun to install them in radiology departments of university hospitals and private radiology clinics in Germany, Romania, Italy and of course France. Users underline the image quality and optimised diagnostic performance of the different modes, notably ShearWave PLUS, as well as the new ergonomics making the ultrasound system easier and quicker to use, points out Michele Lesieur, CEO of SuperSonic Imagine.

Aixplorer MACH 30 gives a new insight to ultrasound imaging

A new example of disruptive technology from SuperSonic Imagine, Aixplorer MACH 30 is introducing a new generation of UltraFast imaging which helps optimise all modes of imaging (Doppler UltraFast, Angio PL.U.S  Planewave UltraSensitive Imaging and TriVu) to provide better diagnostic performance while offering exceptional image quality on all conventional imaging modes thanks to preserved purity of the ultrasound signal.

A new generation of ShearWave elastography (SWE PLUS), even more powerful, is also emerging, making it possible to view and measure tissue stiffness in real time on a significantly improved colour map, notably in terms of acquisition speed, size of the elastography region of interest and examination depth.

It includes the SonicPad touchpad, an unprecedented enhancement in the world of ultrasound systems, designed to simplify user experience. The SonicPad improves the radiologists workflow by reducing from 77% the users movements and thus reduce the time per exam of more than 30%.

The enhanced performance, elegant and functional design, and streamlined user experience of Aixplorer MACH 30 appeal to users around the world.

Model demonstrations with Aixplorer MACH 30 will be organised throughout the ECR on SuperSonic Imagines stand (no. 504, Expo X5).

Learn more about Aixplorer MACH 30 at supersonicimagine.com or aixplorer-mach.com

About SuperSonic Imagine

SuperSonic Imagine specializes in ultrasound medical imaging. The company manufactures the flagship Aixplorer series of products, which feature the exclusive UltraFast technology. UltraFast has given rise to new imaging modes that set the standards of care for non-invasive characterization of breast, liver and prostate diseases. The first groundbreaking UltraFast mode developed is ShearWave Elastography (SWE), which enables doctors to view and instantly analyze tissue stiffness, a vitally important factor in the diagnosis of many conditions. To date, more than 600 published articles have validated the diagnostic value its technologies.

The most recent addition to the Aixplorer range is the Aixplorer MACH 30 ultrasound platform that introduces the next generation of UltraFast imaging, which optimizes the systems innovative imaging modes: ShearWave PLUS, Doppler UltraFast, Angio PL.U.S, and TriVu.

The company has more than 2,000 ultrasound systems installed in over 80 countries. Its main growth markets are China, the United States and the European Union (France). The company generated a turnover of 24.7 million in 2017, representing annual growth of 11%. SuperSonic Imagine is listed on Euronext (symbol: SSI).

Find out more at www.supersonicimagine.com .

Contact information
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

CVS Health CVS  CVS reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2.14 per share, beating the $2.05 consensus estimate. However, revenue fell short of forecasts, and CVS also gave a weaker than expected full year outlook due to deterioration in its long-term care business.

Garmin GRMN  The maker of GPS devices posted adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share , 22 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also came in above Wall Street forecasts, with Garmin reporting strength in its fitness and outdoor product lines.

Gannett GCI  The USA Today publisher fell 2 cents a share short of estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 44 cents per share. Revenue also missed forecasts. Gannett notes improvement in its digital business and said it remains committed to a goal of achieving more than half its ad revenue from digital sources.

Apple AAPL  The company is hoping to combine its apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac by 2021, according to a Bloomberg report.

Wolverine World Wide WWW  The maker of shoe brands like Sperry, Hush Puppies, and Saucony earned an adjusted 52 cents per share for its latest quarter, 3 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in below forecasts, however, and the company's 2019 adjusted earnings forecast range falls largely below current consensus.

Owens-Corning OC  The maker of insulation and other construction materials beat estimates by 12 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.38 per share. Revenue came in above estimates, as well.

Southwest Airlines LUV  Southwest is investigating a surge in maintenance-related flight disruptions, according to Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven. He issued a statement saying the increase had come despite no change in the airline's maintenance programs or policies. Separately, Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to "sell" from "neutral," citing both valuation and a deterioration of profit margins due to its new flights to Hawaii.

Story continues

NxStage NXTM  The Federal Trade Commission approved the acquisition of the U.S.-based home dialysis equipment maker by Germany's Fresenius Medical Care FME-DE . The companies agreed to sell NxStage's bloodline tubing business in order to win approval for the $2 billion transaction.

Tesla TSLA  Tesla is planning to launch a leasing option for its Model 3 automobile, according to the news website Electrek. The site quotes an email sent to employees saying they would be able to lease a Model 3 within two weeks, although it did not specify when consumers will have that option.

Teva Pharmaceutical TEVA-IL  Teva settled with the US in a case involving the drugmaker's agreements with rivals. The government had charged that those agreements kept cheaper generic drugs off the market.

LendingClub LC  LendingClub reported adjusted quarterly profit of three cents per share, a penny a share above estimates. The online lender's revenue was slightly below Wall Street forecasts. The company's 2019 revenue forecast of $765 million to $795 million falls below the consensus estimate of $796 million.

Herbalife Nutrition HLF  Herbalife came in 2 cents a share, ahead of estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of 63 cents per share. The health products maker's revenue came in slightly below consensus, however. Herbalife also raised its sales growth forecast for 2019.

Cadence Design CDNS  The maker of electronic design software reported adjusted quarterly profit of 52 cents per share, 5 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat Wall Street forecasts. Cadence gave stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue guidance for the current quarter and full year.





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Southwest Airlines Co. LUV has provided a bearish outlook on revenues and operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM: a key measure of unit revenues) for the first quarter of 2019 following the recent U.S. government shutdown. The company also stated that the loss of revenues due to the 35-day shutdown would be beyond what was earlier expected. Post this downbeat guidance, shares of the company declined more than 5% at the close of business on Feb 20.



The damage was not just limited to Southwest. Other notable industry players like Delta Air Lines DAL, American Airlines AAL and Spirit Airlines SAVE also saw their shares take a hit.



The carrier now anticipates first-quarter revenues to suffer an adverse impact of $60 million. Previously, the airline predicted revenues to reduce by $10-$15 million pertaining to government shutdown. Although the government shutdown ended on Jan 25, the company continues to struggles with softness in bookings and passenger demand. There is also speculation of a second government shutdown, which is hurting demand. As a result of weak bookings, the airline now forecasts RASM to increase in the range of 3-4% compared with a rise of 4-5% expected earlier.



Apart from hampering sales, the shutdown has delayed the carriers plans to launch its Hawaii flights. The operations are now anticipated to begin next month. Previously, the carrier hoped to begin selling tickets for its new service by the end of 2018.

Southwest Airlines Co. Price

Southwest Airlines Co. Price | Southwest Airlines Co. Quote





Operational Delays



This Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy) company has lately been going through turbulent times due to mechanical issues, which have rendered a large number of its aircraft unfit for flying. The disturbance has been causing large-scale flight cancellations since Feb 15, the day the carrier called for an operational emergency. Meanwhile, management stated that it would investigate the mechanical problems to check whether the ongoing negotiations with Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) are sparking the trouble. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Notably, the AMFA currently represents approximately 2,400 mechanics at Southwest. The airline has been negotiating with the union, mainly on pay-related issues for more than six years.



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In a High-Level Event to be held in Geneva

DOHA, QATAR / ACCESSWIRE / February 20, 2019 / Since its inception in 2008, Silatech has been working to combat unemployment, poverty, extremism, and marginalization of young people by restoring hope. Through innovative economic solutions, Silatech connected over 1,000,000 young people with jobs, including displaced youth in the MENA region and beyond, equipping them with the necessary tools to become agents of change in their communities.

To expand on this success, Silatech will be hosting a high-level event entitled "Empowering Youth, Transforming Societies,'' in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, Founder and Chairperson, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate, on Monday, March 4, 2019, in Geneva at 9:30 a.m. at the Centre International de Conferences Geneve (CICG).

The event comes at a time when global youth unemployment is rising at an alarming rate. Increasing poverty, unemployment, and marginalization is affecting people's livelihoods and destabilizing regions plagued by political conflict and social unrest.

"We want to place youth empowerment issues at the top of the global agenda. By securing 1 million jobs for young people, we give them not just a decent livelihood but also a purpose in life to alienate them from embracing radical ideologies,'' said Ms. Sabah Al-Haidoos, Chief Executive Officer of Silatech.

''Together, we can empower more youth. We aim to inspire the international community to mobilize resources and invest in youth development for the security of our nations and the world. Empowered youth contributes to the economic growth and stability in their societies,'' concluded Ms. Al-Haidoos.

Silatech will utilize the event platform to showcase its ongoing quest to empower young men and women and will announce its future plans by revealing a highly ambitious youth employment quota for 2022, thereby putting theory into practice.

Prominent figures and decision makers from across the international community such as the United Nations, the European Union, organizations concerned with social and economic development, influential figures from various sectors, including governmental and NGOs, financial institutions and the private sector will be attending.

Story continues

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Founder and Chairperson of Silatech, will give the opening speech, followed by a keynote address from Prime Minister of Somalia, Hassan Ali Khayre, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Through an engaging multi-media exhibition, Silatech will illustrate the expertise behind creating the first 1 million jobs by highlighting the various practical tools, innovative solutions and successful programs adopted in tackling this mission. Stories of lives empowered, and impactful partnerships; vital for the empowerment of youth will also be showcased.

The event is an opportunity to develop a network of resources and cultivate grounds for future partnerships. Silatech welcomes collaboration with all stakeholders to provide young people with the skills and opportunities to empower them and enhance their access to jobs.

If you are passionate about empowering young men and women, join in the responsibility and attend the event in Geneva! You can register by visiting the Silatech event page. For information and registration, please visit: https://silatech-register.com and https://silatech.org/ . If you have any question, please email: ceo-office@silatech.org

About Silatech



Silatech is an international social development, nonprofit NGO that focuses on empowering youth by connecting them with economic opportunities and employment initiatives, by acting as a connecting catalyst between the youth and jobs, and by providing resources to establish and sustain successful enterprises. This is achieved by working with national, regional, and international partners to provide innovative solutions in Employment and Enterprise Development.

Silatech

Email:ceo-office@silatech.org

Tel:+(974)4469 0877 or +(974) 5554 0721 or +(974) 6675 5590

SOURCE: SV Advisory Group





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/536282/Silatech-Marks-a-Decade-of-Combating-Unemployment-and-Empowering-Over-1-Million-Young-People




Wall Street expects a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN) reports results for the quarter ended December 2018. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on February 28. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This telecommunications service provider in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.31 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +121.4%.

Revenues are expected to be $160.76 million, up 6% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Story continues

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Shenandoah Telecom?

For Shenandoah Telecom, the Most Accurate Estimate is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that there are no recent analyst views which differ from what have been considered to derive the consensus estimate. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of 0%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #1.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Shenandoah Telecom will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Shenandoah Telecom would post earnings of $0.15 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.31, delivering a surprise of +106.67%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates three times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Shenandoah Telecom doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.



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TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On February 14, 2019, Jared Berry (the Acquiror), c/o 1712 Pioneer Avenue, Suite 1923, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 82001, USA, acquired an aggregate of 9,382,677 common shares (the Purchased Shares) of Isodiol International Inc. (the Issuer) by way of: (i) the indirect acquisition by the Acquiror of ownership of an aggregate of 8,340,157 common shares of the Issuer pursuant to an asset purchase agreement between Carlsbad Naturals LLC (Carlsbad NM), the Issuer and ISO International LLC (ISO) in consideration for the sale by Carlsbad NM to ISO of certain assets of Carlsbad NM; (ii) the acquisition by the Acquiror of control and direction over an aggregate of 521,260 common shares of the Issuer pursuant to an asset purchase agreement between Carlsbad Naturals LLC (Carlsbad WY), the Issuer and ISO in consideration for the sale by Carlsbad WY to ISO of certain assets of Carlsbad WY; and (iii) the indirect acquisition by the Acquiror, through Elvis Monroe LLC, of ownership of an aggregate of 521,260 common shares of the Issuer pursuant to a private placement of the Issuer (collectively, the Transactions). The Issuers head office is located at 2710-200 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 1S4.



Immediately prior to the completion of the Transactions, the Acquiror did not own or exercise control or direction over any common shares of the Issuer. Immediately following the completion of the Transactions, the Acquiror had ownership of and control over an aggregate of 9,382,677 common shares of the Issuer representing approximately 18.4% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Issuer on a non-diluted basis. The 9,382,677 Purchased Shares were issued from treasury of the Issuer at a deemed price of CDN$1.27 per share for aggregate consideration of approximately CDN$11,916,000.

The Purchased Shares were acquired for investment purposes. The Acquiror, Carlsbad NM, Carlsbad WY and/or Elvis Monroe LLC may, from time to time, take such actions in respect of their holdings in securities of the Issuer, as they may deem appropriate, in light of the circumstances then existing, including the purchase of additional common shares or other securities of the Issuer or the disposition of all or a portion of their security holdings in the Issuer, subject in each case to applicable securities laws and the terms of such securities.
Semiconductor stocks are on a tear.

The SMH semiconductor ETF and SOXX iShares semiconductor ETF SOXX have both rallied 18 percent so far this year, tracking for their best quarters since September 2016. The XSD S&P semiconductor ETF XSD has done even better, racing more than 20 percent higher for 2019.

Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, said whether you invest in the SMH, SOXX or XSD ETFs comes down to market cap.

"You really have to determine whether or not you like the large-cap, mega-cap companies," Rosenbluth told CNBC's " ETF Edge " on Wednesday. "Intel INTC is the [14.5 percent] position in the SMH, hefty weighting again in the SOXX product, whereas it's more of a 2 or 3 percent weighting within the XSD."

The SOXX and SMH ETFs are market-cap weighted meaning their larger holdings' performances hold more influence, while the XSD ETF is equal weight.

The five largest holdings in the SMH  Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor 2330-TW , Texas Instruments TXN , Nvidia NVDA and Qualcomm QCOM  make up 42 percent of the SMH ETF. By comparison, XSD components have individual weightings of less than 4 percent.

"If you think that small caps are going to do better in the semis space as they've done at the start of this year then XSD from State Street is a better way of going," Rosenbluth said.

Small caps should continue to drive further upside for the XSD, according to Kim Arthur, founder and CEO of Main Management.

"This year has been a cyclical risk-on rally so small-cap growth is leading every asset class year to date for the U.S. side so the XSD gets you clearly that smaller-cap exposure," Arthur said Wednesday on "ETF Edge." "If you look on a valuation basis, it's still a couple multiple points below its historic valuation on a forward basis so there's probably still some more room to run for that."

The XSD ETF trades at 17 times forward earnings, higher than the nearly 15 times multiple for the SOXX and SMH ETFs.

Story continues

The XSD's top components include Marvell Technology MRVL , Qorvo QRVO , Cypress Semiconductor CY , Integrated Device Technology IDTI and Texas Instruments.





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(Updates with Moelis, Morgan Stanley declining to comment)

By Hadeel Al Sayegh

DUBAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Shopping malls operator Arabian Centres Company, owned by Fawaz Alhokair Group, is seeking $1 billion from a public share listing in the second quarter, sources told Reuters.

Arabian Centres, which has applied for an initial public offering with the Capital Market Authority, is looking to sell a 30 percent stake to investors on Riyadh's stock exchange, the Tadawul, sources told Reuters in January.

Goldman Sachs and EFG Hermes have been appointed as bookrunners and Credit Suisse and Citigroup, may also join, two sources who declined to be named due to commercial sensitivities said on Thursday.

They also said that Moelis was acting as an independent financial adviser, Morgan Stanley as global coordinator and Saudi investment banks Samba Financial Group, and National Commercial Bank as financial advisers.

Arabian Centres, a developer, owner and operator of 19 malls across 10 cities in Saudi Arabia, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Goldman Sachs, EFG Hermes, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Moelis and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Samba and NCB were not immediately available to comment.

Saudi Arabia is encouraging more family-owned companies to list in a bid to deepen its capital markets under a reform push aimed at reducing the kingdom's reliance on oil revenues.

The IPO will come more than a year after Fawaz Alhokair, a major shareholder in Fawaz Alhokair Group, became the subject of an anti-graft probe by Saudi authorities under which dozens of senior officials and businessmen were detained at Riyadhs Ritz Carlton Hotel in late 2017.

Many, including Alhokair, were released after being cleared or reaching settlements with the government. The crackdown increased caution among banks in their dealings with those firms and in some cases delayed lending to companies with links to the individuals involved. (Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar, Davide Barbuscia and Marwa Rashad; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jane Merriman)
Italy's antitrust authorities fined two low-cost airlines over their cabin baggage policy (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Milan (AFP) - Italy's antitrust authority on Thursday slapped fines on low cost airlines Ryanair and Wizzair over their cabin baggage policy.

Both carriers allow small bags into the cabin free of charge only if they can be stowed under the seat in front of passengers.

Bigger bags of up to 10 kilos require a luggage fee, or a fee-paying priority boarding pass.

Ryanair was fined three million euros ($3.4 million) and Wizzair one million euros.

The Italian antitrust agency said that most passengers expected to travel with a larger carry-on bag and that by imposing an extra payment of between 5 and 25 euros the airlines were raising ticket prices in a "non-transparent" manner.

After Ryanair announced its new cabin bag policy in August, Italian regulators ordered the airline - as well as Hungary's Wizzair - to suspend the measure, saying it misled consumers and distorted competition with carriers that transported cabin luggage for free.

Ryanair rejected the Italian decision, saying its policy was transparent and helped flight punctuality as it speeded up boarding.

It went into effect in November.




A federal judge in Washington ordered Roger Stone to appear in court Thursday after the longtime Trump ally posted a photo on social media this weekend showing the judge next to crosshairs.



U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is summoning Stone to court to explain why his release conditions and a media contact order she placed in the case shouldnt be revoked or changed in light of the picture. Jackson had previously placed an order prohibiting Stone and all other parties in his case from making public comments outside the D.C. federal courthouse. She also barred lawyers for the parties and witnesses from speaking with media.



That limited order could be in jeopardy after Stone posted a picture on his Instagram account this weekend showing an image of Jackson next to crosshairs. The post was taken down afterward, but not before it caught significant social media attention.



Stones lawyers apologized to Jackson for the improper photograph and comment in a notice of apology filed with the court Monday.



I had no intention of disrespecting the Court and humbly apologize to the Court for the transgression, Stone said in that filing.











 Keep up with Trumps legal team and the latest maneuvers in the Mueller investigation. Sign up for Trump Watch by Ellis Kim.











Stone is fighting charges that he lied to congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, obstructed justice and tampered with a witness. Those charges were brought by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller III and the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., Jessie Liu. Their offices are jointly handling Stones case.



Stone is represented by Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based attorneys Bruce Rogow, Grant Smith of StrategySmith, and Robert Buschel of Buschel & Gibbons. He also has a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, L. Peter Farkas of Halloran Farkas + Kittila.



Read more:



Roger Stone's Lawyers Already Want a New Judge in Mueller Case



Mueller Prosecutors Are Unleashed From Paul Manafort Plea Agreement



Justice Thomas Urges Court to Revisit Landmark Defamation Ruling
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the United States during his state of the nation speech Wednesday, saying his country would be willing to participate in nuclear arms control talks if Washington initiates the conversation.

We dont want confrontation, particularly with such a global power as the U.S., said Putin, according to the Associated Press.

This olive branch was shrouded by Putins reminder for U.S. officials to take into account the range and speed of our prospective weapons before threatening Russia. He also called U.S. sanctions against Russia destructive.

The Trump administration pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at the start of this month, arguing Russia had violated the 1987 agreement. During his speech Wednesday, Putin again spoke in Russias defense, saying no such violations occurred. He also stated that Russia will not deploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe unless the U.S. places such weapons there, says the AP.

Putins state of the nation address served as an introduction for a naval hypersonic missile, the AP reports. According to Putin, the Zircon can travel at nine times of the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).

He also announced the successful test launch of a nuclear-powered underwater drone known as Poseidon.
LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Credit rating firm S&P Global expects Turkey's lira to fall steadily for the next three years and the level of bad bank loans to double to 8 percent in the next 12 months.

"We see the currency steadily depreciating all the way to 2022" S&P sovereign analyst, Maxim Rybnikov, said during a webcast question and answer session on Tuesday.

Banking sector analyst Magar Kouyoumdjian added that the level of non-performing loans (NPLs), defined as loans with payments at least 90 days overdue, would top out at around 8 percent around the end of the year although a broader definition of problem loans would reach 15-20 percent.

"The question is whether we have seen the last of the crisis," Kouyoumdjian said. (Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Tom Arnold)
TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VitalHub Corp. (the Company or VitalHub) (TSXV: VHI) is pleased to announce that it has imminent plans to enter the rapidly growing global patient flow market through a targeted acquisition strategy.



Patient flow is the movement of patients through a healthcare facility, and involves the physical resources, coordination of medical care, and internal systems that guide patients through the delivery of care, from admission to discharge. The global patient flow solutions market is projected to reach US$2.53 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 21.32% from 2017 to 2025. (Verified Market Research, August 2018)

Improving patient flow is a critical component in the quality and delivery of care, and in ensuring the efficient use of resources required to continue to drive down medical costs. In North America, inefficient patient flow is attributed to an average $49,500 loss per bed, per year, with an average of 45 days lost per bed per year. Some estimates have cited the current North American cost of inefficient patient flow to be $900B. The massive costs stemming from patient-flow inefficiencies comprise the following issues: hospital gridlock, low demand capacity, poor care coordination, low bed turnover, low cost containment, poor discharge planning, high wait-times and re-admissions, and inefficient resource utilization.

Many members of the VitalHub team have had extensive experience successfully addressing the patient flow market through the growth of Medworxx, an international Healthcare IT company that was publicly traded on the TSX.V, and specialized in unique patient flow solutions, originating from use in Canadian hospitals. Medworxx grew internationally before being sold to Aptean, a subsidiary of Vista Equity Partners, in October 2015.

VitalHubs entry into the patient flow market is strategically timed with the Ontario Ford government pushing to transition toward value-based care models, in aiming to improve efficiencies and lower costs across the healthcare system. "Ontario Premier Doug Ford uses the term 'hallway medicine' to describe the overcrowding in hospitals." (Doug Ford can end hallway medicine by letting health-care providers actually compete, Financial Post, Jan 17, 2019) As the Ontario healthcare systems undergoes restructuring and reorganization, VitalHub believes its patient flow product offerings will comprise a meaningful part of the solutions required to address the hallway medicine issue, in support of the Ford government initiative.

Presently, VitalHub has signed an LOI for an acquisition with an internationally based patient flow vendor. Although there is no guarantee, the Company expects this LOI to materialize into a closed transaction.

The patient flow market represents a great opportunity for us to broaden our existing portfolio, using strategic acquisitions to fuel meaningful growth, said Dan Matlow, CEO of VitalHub. The capacity of healthcare systems, globally, is extremely strained, with rising demands continuing to outpace available supply. Inefficiencies are costly, and more tools need to be developed to address this problem. While we will be focusing on all aspects of patient flow, we will place emphasis on the mental health space, where we believe the increasing awareness of mental health will continue to drive capacity issues, forcing the need for effective solutions. The patient flow market will allow VitalHub to pursue significant international expansion, serving a large addressable market, while contributing to solving a critical problem.

ABOUT VITALHUB:

VitalHub develops and supports mission-critical healthcare information systems in the Mental Health (Child, Youth and Adult), Long Term Care, Community Health Service, Home Health and Hospital sectors. VitalHub technologies include Blockchain, Mobile, and Web-Based Assessment and EHR solutions.

VitalHub's aim is to create high-value, secured solutions enabling interoperability among existing health data systems. VitalHub is primarily focused on working with organizations in the Mental Health, Acute and Long-Term Care space, to further extend organization's applications across the continuum of care, powered by the security, efficiency, and trust of Blockchain technology.

The Company has a robust two-pronged growth strategy, targeting organic growth opportunities within its product suite, and pursuing an aggressive M&A plan. Currently, VitalHub serves 200+ clients across North America. VitalHub is based in Toronto, Canada, with an offshore development hub in Sri Lanka. The Company is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "VHI".

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Corporation and its business, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the appointment of a new directors. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of each entity, and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Although the management of each entity believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, including the share consolidation proposal, may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the companies, including risks regarding the technology industry, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals, market conditions, economic factors, the equity markets generally and risks associated with growth and competition. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dan Matlow

Chief Executive Officer, Director

(416) 727-9061

dan.matlow@vitalhub.com
Kris Osborn

Security,

The US Navy is making an aggressive push toward "offensive" mine warfare designed to attack and destroy enemy ships and submarines with undersea explosives - all while preparing a complex suite of interwoven mine countermeasure technologies.

Offensive Mine Warfare: How the U.S. Navy Plans to Sink Enemy Warships and Submarines

Here is the latest...

The US Navy is making an aggressive push toward "offensive" mine warfare designed to attack and destroy enemy ships and submarines with undersea explosives - all while preparing a complex suite of interwoven mine countermeasure technologies.

We will produce a mine warfare plan to include offensive mine lines of effort. We are asking the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) to sign in the next 90 days, Maj. Gen. David Coffman, Navy Director of Expeditionary Warfare, told an audience recently at the Surface Naval Association Symposium.

Mine technology, including both shallow and deep water mines, is not only advancing quickly but also rapidly proliferating around the world, therefore reaching a wider swatch of potential US enemies. Advances in offensive seamine technology is something the US plans to leverage itself while working to sharpen its focus on countering the growing mix of enemy mine threats.

Greater volumes of advanced deep water mines represent an area of concern for Coffman and other maritime warfare leaders, who recognize that the weapons are not restricted to littoral areas - but also substantial threats when it comes open or blue water warfare.

While it appears that the Mine Warfare Plan is currently being refined and reviewed by Navy leadership, Coffman indicated that the services offensive and defensive mine warfare strategy will seek to leverage US undersea technology superiority.

We are making a strong push toward offensive mining using an undersea capability. We are drawing upon the CNOs wisdom in exploiting what we have strength in. We know we have dominance undersea, Coffman said.

Story continues

This approach is likely to draw upon some of the fundamentals of US undersea technology, such as advanced sonar, quieting technologies and submarine missile launch tubes increasingly able to launch mine-detecting drones.

Offensive mine technology will consist of a mixture of more detectable and hidden weapons, each consisting of different combat tactics.

Covert is good and overt is good too. We need a lot of arrows in the quiver because there are different warfighting scenarios, Coffman said.

Following Coffmans reasoning, it would seem that more visible or find-able mines have a strategic and operational value - if less covert. Naturally they could be missed by an enemy or overlooked in some way, yet they certainly can function as weapons intended to deny an enemy access to a strategically vital location or asset. Covert mines, by comparison, would likely function with the more narrowly configured intent to avoid detection and simply explode an enemy.

There are a variety of ways in which this emerging Navys mine-warfare strategy is already becoming more manifest, to include video-guided undersea drone explosives, unmanned weapons and sensors and advanced airborne countermine technologies engineered to destroy mines beneath the surface.

This strategy, and its corresponding warfare technologies, will in part be executed by elements of the Navys now-in-development Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Mission Package for the Littoral Combat Ship. This includes specially configured MH-60 helicopters, deck-mounted drones such as the Fire Scout, surface sweeping drone boats such as Textrons Unmanned Influence Sweep System and deep diving drones engineered to detect mines buried beneath the ocean floor - such as Knifefish.

The overall MCM system, integrating these and other technologies, is slated to be operational by 2022; however, several elements of the system are ready for war today, service developers said.

For MCM, we can field the aviation mission packages on the even (Independence variants of the LCS fleet) ships today, Capt. Ted Zobel, Mission Modules Program Manger, told Warrior Maven following his presentation at SNA.

The air assets, such as the Navys Airborne Mine-Neutralization System and Airborne Laser Mine Detection Systems, hinge upon successful coordination and command control synergy with surface and undersea assets. Naval Sea Systems Command recently announced it has has verified communications links between an Independence variant of the LCS and both the surface sweeping UISS and Knifefish mine-detecting drone.

The Navy now operates a series of test ranges for mine warfare, to include locations in Panama City, Fla., and San Diego, Zobel said.

For each one of the program of records we put together, the mission package goes through its own test. We lay mine fields and go to work against them, he told reporters at the Surface Naval Association Symposium.

The development of MCM technologies is, by design, intended to lay the foundation for new mine warfare systems in future years. The effort, Zobel said, is called "Mission Package Next."

We talk with the research sponsors regularly about Mission Package Next and what it might entail. We scan industry to see what is available, but right now we are focused on the three mission packages we have, Zobel explained.

Airborne Laser Mine Detection System

Instead of purely relying upon more narrowly configured, mechanized or towed mine detection systems, the Navy has been developing airborne laser systems to expand the surface area from which mine detection takes place.

The system, called Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) enables shallow-water warships such as the LCS have a much safer sphere of operations as commanders will have much greater advanced warning of mine-cluttered areas.

Northrop and Navy developers are looking at ways the ALMDS can be further enhanced through ongoing modernization efforts, such as current work to integrate AI.

We are looking at automating the entire kill chain for MCM. Now the ALMDS flies on an MH-60. Perhaps we can get that into a smaller form factor and put it on the Fire Scout, Kevin Knowles, Director of Business Development for LCS, Northrop Grumman, told Warrior Maven in an interview at SNA.

The ALMDS pod is mechanically attached to the MH-60S with a standard Bomb Rack Unit 14 mount and electrically via a primary and auxiliary umbilical cable to the operator console, according to a statement from the systems maker, Northrop Grumman.

It does not use any bombs. It flies at a certain altitude and a certain speed. The laser emits beams at a certain rate. Cameras underneath the helicopter receive reflections back from the water. The reflections are processed to create images displayed on a common consol on the helicopter, Jason Cook, the Navys Assistant Program Manager, ALMDS, told Warrior Maven in an interview last year about the system.

Cook explained that the camera or receiver on the helicopter is called a Streak Tube Imaging LIDAR (STIL). The laser is released in a fan pattern, and photons received back are transferred into electrons, creating a camera-like image rendering.

Northrop information on ALMDS further specifies that the system can operate in both day and night operations without stopping or towing equipment in the water.

Allowing untethered operations, it can attain high area search rates. This design uses the forward motion of the aircraft to generate image data negating the requirement for complex scanning mechanisms and ensuring high system reliability, Northrop information states.

Having this technology operational, it seems, offers a few new strategic nuances. First and foremost, detecting mines more quickly and at further ranges of course makes the LCS much more survivable. It will be able to pursue attack, anti-submarine and reconnaissance missions with a much lower risk of mine-attack. Furthermore, identifying the location of mines at greater distances brings the added advantage of enabling lower-risk small boat missions to approach target areas for shore missions, surface attack or recon.

Also, given that attack submarines are routinely able to launch attacks, conduct recon and access enemy areas in closer proximity to island and coastal areas, compared with many deeper draft larger surface combatants, ALMDS could measurably improve submarine operations.

Finally, given that the LCS is engineered for both autonomous and aggregated operations, ALMDS could provide occasion for the ship to alert other surface and undersea vessels about the location of enemy mines. In fact, Northrop writes that ALMDS provides accurate target geo-location to support follow on neutralization of the detected mines.

Some of the technical details of the system are further delineated in a research paper written by Arete Associates  a science and technology consulting firm with a history of supporting entities such as the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force.

A high resolution 3-D image of the scene is produced from multiple sequential frames formed by repetitively pulsing the laser in synchrony with the CCD (Charge Coupled Device) frame rate as an airborne platform "push broom" scans or as a single-axis scanner on a ground-based platform scans the laser fan beam over the scene, the Arete Associates essay titled Streak Tube Imaging LIDAR For 3-D Imaging of Terrestrial Targets, writes. The backscattered light from the objects and the terrain intersecting the fan beam is imaged by a lens.

STIL technology, while only recently becoming operational with ALMDS, has been in development as a maritime surveillance system for many years. A 2003 study from the Naval Surface Warfare Center cites how pulsed light sent out from a three-dimensional electro-optic sensor STIL system can identify objects of interest on the ocean bottom.

Airborne Mine Neutralization System

The Navy can now use sonar and video-guided underwater warheads to attack and destroy enemy sea mines at the bottom of the ocean, improving protection for submarines and surface ships while bringing new combat ability to maritime war operations, service officials said.

Airborne Mine Neutralization System lowers a mothership into the water from a helicopter and then deploys mini-torpedoes that are on a fiber-optic cable.which swims up to a mine and explodes, Knowles said.

Operating from a MH-60S maritime helicopter, the Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS) is designed to enable Carrier Strike Groups, Expeditionary Strike Groups and Amphibious attack missions to improve combat access while lowering risk to surface ships and sailors.

The AMNS, also called the Archer Fish, receives surveillance information from a range of different Navy systems before it reconfirms the target, lowers beneath the surface, and destroys the mine.

The system consists of a Load Handling System (LHS) and destructor, or warhead. The LHS, which is used as an interface between the explosive destructor and common console on board the helicopter, can carry up to four destructors.

The destructor is equipped with a sonar system, video camera and light to confirm the identified enemy mine; it connects with the common console through a fiber-optic data link, Navy officials said. The LHS contains all the data-processing hardware and software, developers explain.

The destructor is negatively buoyant, has six degrees of motion, can maintain a hover position and can be operated in either automatic or manual mode. The destructor can monitor depth and relative distance from the bottom and has the ability to avoid bottom plowing. The destructor's position is determined by an Integrated Track Point II acoustic tracking system contained in the LHS, NAVSEA Spokesman Alan Baribeau told Warrior Maven last year - for a report on the system.

The abundance and sheer variety of mine threats can also make detection more challenging. Some so called bottom mines can be buried or shallow-water mines easily triggered by surface ships or submarines. Moored mines, however, often tethered to the ocean floor, can be found in deeper parts of the water column. They can linger below the surface or possibly operate at much greater depths to target deeper draft ships, according to a 2014 NATO essay called Naval Mines and Countermeasures.

The explosive and detonating mechanism (of moored mines) is contained in a buoyant metal or plastic shell. The depth below the surface at which the mine floats can be set so that only deep draft vessels such as aircraft carriers, battleships or large cargo ships are at risk, the NATO paper writes.

Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army - Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has a Masters in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

This first appeared in Warrior Maven here.

Read full article
MarketWatch

Whether youre 27 and starting a career or 57 and planning for retirement, you may wonder, Do I need to hire a financial planner? Will paying an advisers fee result in substantially better financial decisions and fewer costly mistakes? If youre a diligent saver and competent investor, you may figure theres little reason to purchase an advisers services. If you dont know something, such as whether converting to a Roth IRA makes sense or not, youre comfortable researching the answer on your own.
Plus, more signs of a sputtering U.S. economy stoked fears of a bigger economic slowdown and sent stock prices lower today.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve index of current manufacturing activity fell from a reading of 17 in January to (-4.1) this month -- its first negative reading in almost three years. The Commerce Department also reported that core capital goods orders fell 0.7 percent in December versus an expected gain of 0.2 percent.

The dismal economic news sent all three major stock indexes down on the day with the Dow, off 0.4 percent, falling furthest. The Entrepreneur Index declined 0.52 percent as technology stocks, REITs and Tesla were sharply lower.

TSLA Quotes by TradingView

Tesla shares got hammered after the company's new mass-market Model three sedan was trashed by Consumer Reports. The product-rating organization said it would no longer recommend the vehicle because of reliability issues raised by owners. A Tesla spokesperson told CNBC that many of those issues had been corrected since the Consumer Reports survey was conducted in the summer. The stock was nevertheless down 3.74 percent, the biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index today.

The technology sector continued to struggle with twelve of thirteen stocks on the Entrepreneur Index posting losses today. Twitter had the biggest decline in the sector, falling 1.94 percent. TripAdvisor Inc. also fell 1.84 percent. The stock is down 16 percent since the online travel website missed earnings estimates with financial results released last week. NVIDIA Corp. (-1.75 percent), was also down sharply, while Facebook and Alphabet Inc. fell 1.55 percent and 1.51 percent respectively. Salesforce.com, (0.29 percent), was the only tech stock on the index to post a gain today.

The REITs sector was also weak today, though not as broadly as yesterday when all nine REITs on the Entrepreneur Index declined. Extra Space Storage again had the biggest drop, falling 3.87 percent after a 3.14 percent decline yesterday. It reported financial results after the market close yesterday. The company topped funds from operations(earnings) estimates but missed slightly on revenues. Apartment Investment and Management Co. (-2.17 percent) was also down sharply. Simon Property Group, (1.63 percent), and Equity Residential, (1.62 percent), on the other hand, posted good gains.

Story continues

Comcast had the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index today, rising 1.8 percent. Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. (1.0 percent) and clothing-maker Ralph Lauren Corp. (0.73 percent) were also up nicely.

Ford Motor Co. fell 2.57 percent today. The stock was up sharply on Tuesday after the company announced it would stop making commercial trucks in South America, but remains mired below the $10 level. Down 28 percent since last June, the stock now has a very fat 6.9 percent dividend yield.

Other notable declines on the Entrepreneur Index today included L Brands, (-2.62 percent), Jefferies Financial Group, (-1.97 percent) and Bed Bath & Beyond, (-1.84 percent).

The Entrepreneur Index collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
Microsoft MSFT recently broadened the reach of its AccountGuard offering, which is part of its Defending Democracy Program, to 12 new markets in Europe.



The company announced the development via a blog post by the companys corporate vice president, Customer Security & Trust, Tom Burt.



AccountGuard service, which is already available in the U.K. and Ireland, has now been extended to 12 new European countries, namely Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Slovakia.



Notably, the service is accessible across the United States and Canada.



AccountGuard Features & Benefits



Microsoft AccountGuard is developed to provide highly targeted individuals and organizations in the political space with robust protection from cybersecurity threats. The service is free of cost to eligible organizations and other enterprises utilizing Office 365 email address.



Per the terms of AccountGuard service, the customers will be notified and provided with recommendations in case a threat is verified. The customers are also anticipated to benefit from security guidance and associated practices, including access to cybersecurity workshops and webinars.



We believe Microsofts expansion of AccountGuard offering is well-timed, given the uncertainty regarding Brexit and European Parliament elections around the corner. The fact that selection of the new free service complements Office 365 adoption makes it a smart move.



Into the Headlines



Microsofts Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) have recently identified activity targeting democratic institutions in Europe.



Microsoft notes that the attempts to disrupt elections is broad-based and is not just limited to democratic institutes but also targets education institutes, think tanks and non-profit organizations.



In fact, the company claims to have identified attacks targeting employees of The Aspen Institutes in Europe, The German Marshall Fund and the German Council on Foreign Relations.



Microsoft claims to have notified the concerned organizations of the phishing attempt. The company is of the opinion that the group it calls Strontium is behind the cyber attacks which took place between September and December 2018.



In this regard it is important to note that in the recent past, Microsofts solid execution to thwart Russias attempts to disrupt U.S. mid-term elections has been commendable. Notably, Strontium is also suspected to be responsible for the 2016 Democratic National Committee (DNC) email leak.



In the past two years, Microsoft has disabled over 84 fake websites connected with the group, known variously as Fancy Bear, APT28 or Strontium.



What the Investors Need To Know?



The growing need for stringent security measures will compel governments and enterprises to increase spending on cyber-security software.



Going ahead, higher spending on defense globally in 2019 as reflected in the latest Deloitte study is anticipated to boost innovative cybersecurity schemes.



Moreover, there is an underlined correlation of increasing cyber attacks and elections primarily in democratic nations. With European Parliament elections around the corner and the Presidential elections in the United States in 2020, demand for cyber security solutions is projected to grow.



In fact, per MarketsandMarkets data, worldwide cyber-security spending is anticipated to reach $231.94 billion by 2022. Microsofts initiatives in cybersecurity position it well to capitalize on the alluring prospects.

Story continues

Microsoft Corporation Price and Consensus

Microsoft Corporation Price and Consensus | Microsoft Corporation Quote

To Conclude



Microsoft is assessing various opportunities wisely and devising strategies to fortify its position in the technology sector. The companys efforts in digitizing retail outlets, revolutionizing education mechanisms, among others highlight its well-versed technology capabilities.



In fact, its plans to up the ante in cybersecurity with AccountGuard solution are a welcome move. With these initiatives, we believe Microsofts brand reputation is likely to get a boost.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector include Benefitfocus, Inc. BNFT, salesforce.com, inc. CRM and MeetMe, Inc. MEET. All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.



Long-term earnings growth rate for Benefitfocus, salesforce.com and MeetMe is projected to be 25%, 24.2%, and 20%, respectively.



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Zacks Investment Research
CARACAS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday the government was considering closing the border with Colombia and would close the border with Brazil ahead of opposition plans to bring in humanitarian aid despite his objection.

In televised comments, Maduro said the stockpiling of aid for Venezuela in the Colombian border town of Cucuta was a "provocation". He argues the opposition's plans are a cheap show to undermine his government.

Maduro said the government would close the border with Brazil on Thursday night after the Brazilian government pledged to also send aid in. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero Writing by Sarah Marsh Editing by Angus Berwick)
OTTAWA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UrbanGold Minerals Inc. ("UrbanGold" or the "Company | TSXV: UGM) is pleased to announce the acquisition of the StarGold property consisting of 105 claims (5990 hectares) in the area of the Urban-Windfall Gold Camp. The historical discovery was originally made by Castle Rock Exploration Corp and announced in their news release dated April 20, 1998. (Angular Boulder Yields Exceptional Gold Values). Grab samples from the boulder were reported to assay 8.99 oz/ton gold (279 g/t gold) and 2.9 oz/ton Ag within stockwork quartz veining with variable amounts of chalcopyrite and sphalerite. UrbanGold geologists have examined samples from the boulder. It is to be noted that grab samples are selective in nature and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.



UrbanGold has agreed to pay the non-arms length vendors a one-time payment of $15,000 for a 100% interest in the 105 claims subject to a 1% NSR royalty. The large group is intended to cover the area of the potential source of the boulder.

Very limited exploration was undertaken after the discovery of the boulder, which coincided with the 1998 downturn in the mining industry. A review of existing data suggests that airborne electromagnetics and magnetics are ideally suited for potentially identifying the source.

Mathieu Stephens, President and CEO of UrbanGold commented: The size, shape and nature of the boulder all point to a nearby source. In addition, local forests have been harvested since 1998, adding new road infrastructure that will allow our exploration team to easily and effectively canvas the area as soon as ground conditions permit.

Jens E. Hansen, P. Eng, Chairman of UrbanGold states The boulder area opens important new potential in area located just 70 km south of the Windfall gold deposit.

Please refer to the UrbanGold website and the map accompanying this press release for the location of the StarGold property with respect to Monaco property and Windfall deposit. The 1998 news release by Castle Rock Exploration Corp. is also posted.

StarGold Map: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/958b2ebf-65c3-4bc7-82f7-e4052d523d1f

Qualified Person

This news release has been prepared by Mathieu Stephens, P.Geo., President and CEO for UrbanGold Minerals, the Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About UrbanGold

UrbanGold is incorporated under the federal laws of Canada and has its principal office in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Company is engaged in the evaluation, acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada, and its current focus is Quebec. The Company plans to ultimately develop the properties, bring them into production, option or lease the properties to third parties, or sell the properties outright. The Company has not determined whether these properties contain mineral reserves that are economically recoverable, and the Company is considered to be in the exploration stage.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. Forward-looking information includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as may, will, expect, intend, anticipate, believe, continue, potential or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information. See Risk Factors in the Companys Final Prospectus dated December 13, 2018 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks.

The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

For further information

Mathieu Stephens, Chief Executive Officer

mstephens@urbangoldminerals.com

Jens Hansen, Chairman of the Board

jhansen@urbangoldminerals.com

Phone (613) 721-2919

www.urbangoldminerals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
(Bloomberg) -- In dozens of cities around the world, you seemingly cant walk a couple blocks without stumbling over an electric scooter. Startups are looking to cover sidewalks with two-wheeled vehicles for rent using an app. This prospect, it turns out, is very expensive.

Lime, one of the largest scooter-rental companies, expects to overcome this hurdle by dialing up the speed on a strategy it already employs: raising capital from investors. Lots of it. That responsibility will now largely fall to Ted Tobiason, a private capital dealmaker from Morgan Stanley. Lime plans to announce Thursday that Tobiason will leave his post as a managing director at the bank to become the startups chief financial officer.

At Morgan Stanley, Tobiason helped Uber Technologies Inc. pursue a similar tactic. He assisted in fundraising efforts for Uber, which has burned through more than $10 billion in its lifetime and is on track for whats expected to be a blockbuster initial public offering in the coming months. Tobiason worked closely with David Richter, who was head of business at the ride-hailing company during a period of tumult and transition. Richter joined Lime in October.

In a little over two years, investors have put more than $770 million into Lime, the company said. Almost half of that came this month in a deal with Alphabet Inc.s GV, Andreessen Howoritz, Bain Capital Ventures and other investors. The company just raised a considerable amount of money, Tobiason said. We have certainly some time to work on deploying that capital.

Yet, Lime plans to follow the Uber playbook of persistent private fundraising, in a bid to establish itself as the dominant player for electric-scooter rentals, Tobiason said. He said the industry will soon consolidate and reward companies like Lime that run with efficiency and scale. A market that deploys capital to everybody, that smears capital like peanut butter is not an efficient market, Tobiason said. I dont have the brilliance of mind to tell you who the next investors will be, but I can tell you the field is open.

Story continues

Lime has been in a fierce rivalry with Bird Rides Inc. since 2017, when both companies were established in California. Collectively, the two startups have raised more than $1.2 billion in that time. Last summer, Uber bought stock in Lime.

Bird was started by a former Uber executive, Travis VanderZanden, but Lime has filled its ranks with talent from the ride-hailing company. Lime recently named the chief of staff to Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi as its global head of operations strategy and former corporate attorney Lindsey Haswell to oversee legal matters, human resources and communications.

Haswell said shell hand over her HR duties to Nancy Lee, the new chief human resources officer who previously played a key role in setting diversity strategy at Google. Lee started at Lime this week.

Lime will need to master Ubers strategy better than Uber itself. The much larger transportation company recently started offering its own electric scooters and bicycles for rent in cities, as has the second-largest U.S. ride-hailing operator Lyft Inc. and other companies around the world. Uber said its building tens of thousands of personal electric vehicles for deployment in the U.S. this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Jillian Ward

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
John W. Weeks Bridge with clock tower over Charles River in Harvard University campus Boston. Photo: Shutterstock.com



In a lawsuit against Harvard University, the plaintiffs allege that the undergraduate school deliberately discriminated against Asian-American applicants. The plaintiffs claim that the college did this by manipulating parts of its admission process, especially hard-to-quantify nonacademic measures, including a personal rating. The three-week trial in federal district court in Boston ended Nov. 2, 2018. The judge heard final arguments Feb. 13.



Many commentators contend that the Harvard Admissions case is about the legality of affirmative action. The trial court need not and probably will not address this issue. Nor is the court likely to address another underlying fundamental legal question: the legality of discrimination against overrepresented groups within the majority.



The Supreme Court has ruled that, to improve the educational environment, universities may try to achieve racial/ethnic diversity. That means that colleges may classify students into racial/ethnic categories and identify underrepresented groups, which the school can favor in admissions. I shall label as the majority the members of groups not favored. Assume that the Supreme Court has ruled that such discrimination is legal.



The Supreme Court has never addressed the following question. To achieve the optimal diversity for the educational experience, may a university create categories within the majority, identify an overrepresented group, and discriminate against it? That is the underlying fundamental legal issue in the Harvard admissions case.



Discriminating against an overrepresented group within the majority is not the same as discriminating in favor of an underrepresented minority group. With a zero-sum game like college admissions, favorable treatment of underrepresented groups inevitably adversely affects the remaining majority. Even were one to label this adverse effect as discrimination, that would be discrimination against the majority as a whole, not against an overrepresented group within the majority.



The only way to justify the latter would be to recategorize everyone else within the majority as an underrepresented minority. Oversimplifying, whites would become an underrepresented minority that deserves affirmative action.



If that is what Harvard is doing, it should explicitly say so. Affirmative action in favor of whites is far different from affirmative action in favor of other underrepresented minority groups.



Were affirmative action in favor of whites permitted, Harvard would have discretion to create a classification called Jew, conclude that Jews are nonwhite and overrepresented, and, discriminate against them for the sake of diversity and improvement in the educational experience.



Geographically, Israel is in Asia. Apparently, Harvard does not classify Jews as Asian. Were Harvard to discriminate against Jews for the sake of diversity either because Harvard considers them Asian or because it simply views Jews as overrepresented, the number of victims of its discrimination would increase.



In the 1920s, Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell wrote: To prevent a dangerous increase in the proportion of Jews, I know at present only one way, which is at the same time straightforward and effective, and that is a selection by a personal estimate of character on the part of the Admission authorities, based upon the probable value to the candidate, to the College and to the community of his admissions.



Many organizations have filed amicus briefs on behalf of Harvard. If these briefs argue that Harvard has discretion to discriminate against an overrepresented group within the majority, these institutions may not appreciate the implication of their position.



In any event, the trial court probably will not reach the issue of discrimination against an overrepresented group. Instead, the court may assume that such discrimination is illegal and decide whether Harvard is guilty of such discrimination. The underlying fundamental legal issue, however, needs resolution by the Supreme Court.



William K.S. Wang is Emeritus Raymond Sullivan Professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law.
* Evacuation of civilians delayed, but efforts continue

* US-backed force hands more than 150 jihadists to Iraq

* Fall of Baghouz marks a milestone

* But Islamic State still seen a threat (Updates with more detail on French jihadist)

By Rodi Said

NEAR BAGHOUZ, Syria, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The operation to destroy Islamic State's final vestige of rule in Iraq and Syria hit a temporary snag on Thursday, as an expected evacuation of the remaining civilians from its last enclave in eastern Syria did not go ahead.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has steadily driven the jihadists down the Euphrates, has surrounded them at Baghouz near the Iraqi border, but does not want to mount a final attack until all civilians are out.

Iraqi sources said the SDF handed over more then 150 Iraqi and other foreign jihadists to Iraq on Thursday, under a deal involving a total of 502.

The SDF had expected to pull the last civilians from Baghouz on Thursday, but trucks it sent in left empty. "We can't get into details, but today no civilians came out," SDF official Mustafa Bali told Reuters.

Baghouz is all that remains for Islamic State in the Euphrates valley region that became its final populated stronghold in Iraq and Syria after it lost its major cities of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State was verifying whether an air strike in Baghouz on Wednesday killed French jihadist Fabien Clain, who voiced the recording claiming the November 2015 attacks on Paris, U.S. and French sources said.

In the 2015 attacks, gunmen and suicide bombers killed 129 people in the French capital. "During coalition operations to regain the Islamic State's last bastion, it is possible indeed that Fabien Clain was killed," French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on her Twitter account.

France's military and foreign ministry declined comment.

The capture of Baghouz will nudge the eight-year-old Syrian war towards a new phase, with U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to withdraw troops leaving a security vacuum that other powers are seeking to fill.

Story continues

Though the fall of Baghouz marks a milestone in the campaign against IS and the wider conflict in Syria, Islamic State is still seen as a major security threat.

The group has steadily turned to guerrilla warfare and still holds territory in a remote, sparsely populated area west of the Euphrates River - a part of Syria otherwise controlled by the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies.

Bali told Reuters the SDF would attack Baghouz once the civilian evacuation was complete. He did not say how much more time was needed to finish off the remaining Islamic State militants, or give a new estimate of how many fighters remained.

The SDF has previously estimated several hundred fighters - believed mostly to be foreign jihadists - are still inside.

A Reuters witness saw warplanes in the sky over Baghouz on Thursday though there was no sound of fighting or shelling.

The U.S.-led coalition said on Wednesday "the most hardened" jihadists remain in Baghouz.

More than 2,000 civilians left the enclave on Wednesday, the SDF said. It has said more than 20,000 civilians left Baghouz in the days leading up to the start of the SDF's final push to capture the enclave this month.

The SDF has not ruled out the possibility that some Islamic State fighters had left Baghouz with the civilians.

SDF and coalition forces are recording the names and questioning everyone who has left in the civilian convoys.

Many of the people who left the enclave in civilian convoys have been Iraqis, some of whom said they had crossed from Iraq into Syria as Iraqi government forces made gains against Islamic State on the other side of the frontier.

FACING THE CONSEQUENCES

Two Iraqi military sources told Reuters the handover of Islamic State fighters on Thursday was the first of several.

"The majority of the fighters are Iraqi," said a military colonel whose unit is stationed at the Syrian border. "But we have a few foreigners."

Islamic State, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself "caliph", or leader of all Muslims, in 2014, attracted members from all over the world, including many Western states.

A Turkish official said Turkey was doubling down its own security measures to make it harder for foreign fighters still in Syria or Iraq to pass through Turkey, noting that the threat was much greater than the 800 that the SDF says it is holding.

Western countries refusing to repatriate jihadists were not living up to their responsibilities and leaving countries like Turkey to face the consequences, the official added.

Britain has stripped the citizenship of a teenager who went to Syria aged 15 to join Islamic State. But interior minister Sajid Javid said he would not take a decision that would leave anyone stateless, after Bangladesh said it would not accept her.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a woman born in the United States who joined Islamic State did not qualify for U.S. citizenship and had no legal basis to return to the country.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Raya Jalabi in Erbil, Tom Perry in Beirut and Tulay Karadeniz, Writing by Tom Perry Editing by Angus MacSwan, Angus McDowall, William Maclean and Frances Kerry)
Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky high school student who last month was videoed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., staring at Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder, is suing the Washington Post for defamation.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, seeks $250 million in damages over the Posts coverage of the incident.

As reported in the Post and other media outlets, Sandmann and classmates from the all-boys school in Park Hills, Ky., seemed to be taunting Phillips, a participant in an Indigenous Peoples March. Sandmann, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat from President Trumps campaign, denied the characterization, as did his classmates.

Lawyers for the teens family allege the Post engaged in a modern-day form of McCarthyism and wrongfully targeted and bullied the teen.

Its unclear why the family singled out the Post. Other news outlets also covered the incident. According to Fox News, Sandmanns lawyers did send more than 50 media outlets, celebrities, and politicians preservation letters intended to preserve potentially relevant information.

Mediaite reported last month that attorney Robert Barnes was hired by some families of the Covington teens. During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Barnes vowed he would take legal action against a number of journalists and celebrities over their comments about the teens.

Sandmann is represented by L. Lin Wood and Todd McMurtry, who wrote in the lawsuit: The Post bullied an innocent child with an absolute disregard for the pain and destruction its attacks would cause to his life. The lawsuit also claims the Post ignored the truth.

The president renewed his support Wednesday for the Covington teens, tweeting, Go get them Nick. Fake News!

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

In a statement to Fox News, Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti said the news organization is reviewing a copy of the lawsuit, and we plan to mount a vigorous defense.

Fortune has contacted the Post for comment.
By Stephen Jewkes and Pamela Barbaglia

MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) - Italian power grid operator Terna has hired Spanish bank Santander to scout investors that could plough cash into its transmission businesses in Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Terna could raise 200 million to 300 million euros from the process, two of the sources said.

The process kicked off recently and aims to raise funds to help Terna strengthen its footprint in Latin America, the sources said.

Terna and Santander declined to comment.

Italy's state-controlled power transmitter ranks as one of the world's biggest power grid players with a market value of 10 billion euros (9 billion pounds).

But it heavily relies on the Italian market where it makes most of its money from returns set by the regulator to help it improve the country's high voltage transmission grid.

As part of its diversification push, Terna is looking to non-regulated businesses and international developments where investments could command fatter returns, fuelling earnings and dividend payments.

Terna counts State Grid Corporation of China as its second-biggest shareholder, after state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

One of the sources described South America as a "good platform to boost growth".

The Rome-based company has concessions to develop power transmission lines in Brazil, Uruguay and Peru where it has pledged to invest around 245 million euros to 2022.

It recently unveiled a new 158 km power line in Brazil to carry power produced from wind farms in the south of the country into the national grid.

With over 80 percent of electricity produced from green sources and wind production on the rise, Brazil is seen as one of the world's top energy markets.

"Early days but there's been a lot of interest in the Brazilian assets," said another source familiar with the matter.

In its 2018-2022 business plan unveiled last year, Terna said it expected to generate an estimated 150 million euros in core earnings from international operations, primarily in Latin America.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Pamela Barbaglia, additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez in Madrid; Editing by Susan Fenton)
BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the publication of The Status of Open Source for 5G. This 5G Americas white paper provides an overview of 5G architecture, with a focus on its application of open source principles, based on 3GPP Release 15-defined 5G system architecture.



Mobile operators worldwide are pioneering both 5G and Open Source technologies by leading the standards organizations and community-driven projects, stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. Mobile operators have begun deploying the solutions produced by various projects to demonstrate the benefits of Open Source for 5G.

The Status of Open Source for 5G covers key aspects such as:

Open Source Model Provides different license types and importance of governance models Compares similarities and differences between the standards and open source models

5G Architecture Gives a high-level overview of the 5G system architecture per 3GPP Release 15

Open Source Applicability in 5G Discusses the opportunities in open sourcing key areas of the 5G system architectures and network infrastructure References existing open source efforts in the respective areas



This paper is intended to serve as a call to action for the 5G community of operators, solution providers and developers, to participate in the existing open source efforts applicable to 5G, or initiate new ones, in areas such as Infrastructure and Management and Control where the 5G ecosystem will likely benefit the most. Community involvement is important to help achieve critical backing of the projects to avoid one-off solutions.

Different operators have different strategic technical plans for the evolution of their networks to 5G. Each operator environment is unique and there is no single open source effort that caters to the needs of all operators, stated Lyle Bertz, Director - Core & Services, Technology Innovation & Architecture at Sprint and a co-leader of the white paper working group. 5G system architecture gives mobile operators much more openness than ever before; and operators and OEMs can leverage open source principles to benefit competitively in the marketplace.

The Status of Open Source for 5G white paper was written by co-leaders Lyle Bertz from Sprint and Bejoy Pankajakshan of Mavenir as well as representatives from member companies on 5G Americas Board of Governors who participated in the development of this report. The white paper is available for free download on the associations website 5gamericas.org .

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technologies and their evolution to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at www.5gamericas.org or Twitter @5GAmericas.

5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Intel, Kathrein, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefonica and WOM.
MILAN (Reuters) - Banco BPM said on Wednesday Italian tax police had seized 84.6 million euros ($96 million) in funds from the country's third-largest bank as part of a probe into alleged fraudulent diamond sales to customers.

Italian police carried out a seizing order for 700 million euros on Tuesday as Milan prosecutors probed allegations of fraud over sales of diamonds as an investment at inflated prices, sources have told Reuters.

The probe targets Banco BPM, three other Italian banks and two diamonds brokers. Under Italian law, companies can be held responsible for their employees' illegal actions.

Banco BPM said the bank and the director general had been placed under investigation.

The three other banks being investigated -- Intesa Sanpaolo, Monte dei Paschi and UniCredit -- have declined to comment.

Banco BPM said the probe focused on the fact that, between 2003 and 2016, it had passed to diamonds broker IDB the names of customers interested in purchasing stones as an investment.

Banco BPM, created in 2017 from the merger of Banco Popolare and Popolare di Milano, said it had been fully cooperating with authorities and put aside provisions last year to cover for risks linked to diamonds sales following IDB's bankruptcy.

The bank has put aside 150 million euros to reimburse clients, analyst say.

($1 = 0.8825 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Edmund Blair)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s favorite barber, Nelson Malden, 85, has been cutting hair since he was a teenager and has spent over 60 years running his own business in Montgomery, Alabama.

From the window of Malden Brothers Barber Shop, he watched the famous Montgomery bus boycott, protest campaigns against segregation in which African Americans refused to board public buses for about a year, from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956.

Malden learned to cut hair from his father, a barber in Pensacola, Florida, before moving to Montgomery in 1952 to attend Alabama State. He made a living by cutting hair in between classes, several times a day, on Saturdays and during the summer.

The barber shop back then is what we called the black mans country club, Malden told Yahoo Finance in a telephone interview.

Credit: The Center for Public Television, Wilson Weirich & Jeb Brackner

I thought I was bigger than he was

Malden was 21 years old when he first met King in 1954. They knew each other well and Dr. King always came to him for haircuts, says Kelly Navies, an oral history museum specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

When Malden first met Dr. King, he didnt notice anything extraordinary about him.

When he came in the shop, he was just an ordinary little new customer. I had no idea that I would be cutting one of the most historical figures in the 20th century at that time.

In fact, Malden thought that he was more of a hotshot than King.

If I had any idea at that time that he was gonna be that greatbe in the history books, then I probably [would have] handled myself differently. When I first met him, I thought that I was bigger than he was becauseI was a barber in the leading barber shop, a student in college, he said.

Malden says Martin Luther King, Jr. insulted him after that first haircut.

I gave him the mirror and said how he liked his haircut. He kind of insulted me because he said ... pretty good. And you know when you tell a barber pretty good, that was an insult.

Story continues

Two weeks later, King was back.

I remember that sarcastic statement he made. I said that must have been a pretty good haircut. He said youre all right, which was another insult, says Malden.

He opened his business with his brothers in 1958 in the Centennial Hill neighborhood, the center of the black business community in Montgomery.

Credit: The Center for Public Television, Wilson Weirich & Jeb Brackner

A safe space to talk about civil rights

By creating a safe space for men to talk about civil rights, Malden and his brothers played an integral role in supporting that movement.

[Their customers] were educated people, these are teachers, ministers, local black professionals getting their hair cut and many of them were involved in the movement and so these were things that would be discussed in the barber shop. So getting your haircut was more than simply getting your haircut, says Navies.

Malden and his brothers rented the barber shop space for about $200 a month.

The [landlord] was really kind of doing us a favor by being young men going into business for ourselves. I think she really just gave us a break, says Malden.

Haircuts at the time cost $3.50 to $4, and business was booming. Malden and his brothers each made about $200 to $300 a week.

For black barber shops, during the 50s you didnt have too much competition with the other black barber shops. We worked all day without a break some days because we had so much volume and business, says Malden.

Credit: The Center for Public Television, Wilson Weirich & Jeb Brackner

When the Montgomery bus boycott began in 1955, Malden observed daily how successful it was as no blacks boarded the bus. He says that the Cloverdale neighborhood in Montgomery, Alabama, was the most impacted because it had the most demand for domestic help.

Cloverdale  thats where your lawyers, your doctors, your stock brokers  they all lived in that section. There was more employment on that side for domestic help then the other side of town, says Malden.

The public bus transported black chauffeurs, yard men, nannies, and cooks to the east side of town, but because of the boycott blacks used other forms of transportation such as carpooling and discounted black taxi driver rides.

[Blacks] were asking for more human treatment on the bus. A lot of white women couldnt get their help. The city was losing money. It really affected the economy, says Malden.

The bus boycott really bonded the black community of Montgomery. If you were a black person, everybody participated whether you wanted to or not. Your uniform is the black race. That was the case. If you were black in Montgomery Alabama, you was automatically in that group.

Credit: The Center for Public Television, Wilson Weirich & Jeb Brackner

As a business leader, Malden was uniquely positioned to support the civil rights movement.

Often people were threatened with having their jobs taken from them or being kicked off their land if they didnt own their own land if they participated in the movement. So if you owned your own land, and you owned your own business then you were in a different position, says Kelly.

Black businesses like Maldens barber shop provided critical financial support.

Hes just representative of a very significant segment of the black community that most people dont think of when they think about the brave warriors of the civil rights movement. A lot of the money was raised by black business owners and also blacks who owned their own property. You didnt always have to go to the marches necessarily, if you gave money or paid the bills. The role of the black business community was very important to underwrite the movement and to provide spaces where people could meet, says Kelly.

By owning a barber shop where Dr. King and other civil rights leaders could chat fearlessly, Maldens contribution to the civil rights movement cant be overstated.

Even today when you think about spaces where people feel safe to talk about things. There arent as many spaces to do that. Thats why the black church continue to be so important, says Kelly.

Malden retired two years ago, but you can still get a fresh haircut today at MLKs favorite barbershop in Montgomery, Alabama.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's government is still in talks on whether China's Huawei will be allowed to participate in building the country's high-speed internet infrastructure, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday.

Asked to comment on a Wall Street Journal report saying that a preliminary decision had been made by a group of relevant ministries to allow Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, to participate, Altmaier said:

"I explicitly cannot confirm this report, because we are still in the process of discussing this with other ministries."

Huawei is facing intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and allegations of enabling state espionage, which it denies. The United States has called for its allies not to use Huawei technology.

The Wall Street Journal report said that the decision to give Huawei's involvement in Germany's 5G network the go-ahead was due to be discussed by leading members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives later.

A German government source told Reuters earlier on Tuesday that Berlin would probably not take a quick decision on whether to let Huawei participate in building its next-generation mobile infrastructure.

An auction for the 5G mobile network is due to start in the second half of March amid growing signs that the government may not exclude Huawei altogether.

Berlin plans to tighten security requirements for telecoms firms wanting to join the 5G build-out in Germany, Altmaier told Reuters last week, effectively making tighter oversight of Huawei possible.

And Huawei's head in Germany told Handelsblatt that the Chinese government did not get involved in its business, adding the firm would work on being open and transparent.

"The state does not have a stake in Huawei and it keeps out of our business," Dennis Zuo told the newspaper.

Ulrich Kelber, Germany's data protection commissioner, told Handelsblatt he had no indications that Chinese products were taking significant amounts of data through the backdoor, adding that China might be doing things that were not compatible with European law.

"Therefore we should have some technological autonomy - from hardware right up to software solutions," Kelber said.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Alexander Smith)
INVITATION

Inventiva's Full Year 2018 Financial Results publication

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Inventiva's full year 2018 financial results will be released

at 5:45 pm (Paris), 4:45 pm (London).

They will be available at the same time on Inventiva's website: http://inventivapharma.com/fr/accueil/

The company would like to invite you to a conference call to present

its results, followed by a Q&A session,

at 6:15 pm (Paris), 5:15 pm (London).

The speakers will be:

Mr. Frederic Cren, Chairman, CEO & Co-founder

Mr. Pierre Broqua, CSO & Co-founder

Mr. Jean Volatier, CFO

The conference and the slides of the presentation will also be

web casted live:

https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/bd3zaabj

* Further details below *

To connect to the live audio conference call:

France Dial-In Number: +33 (0)1 70 73 27 27

Belgium Dial-In Number: +32 (0)1 039 1206

Denmark Dial-In Number: +45 32 72 75 18

Germany Dial-In Number: +49(0)69 2222 4910

Netherlands Dial-In Number: +31 (0) 20 715 7366

Switzerland Dial-In Number: +41 (0)44 580 4873

UK Dial-In Number: +44 (0) 203 009 5710

USA Dial-In Number: +1 917-720-0178

Access code: 2271029

Please note that the lines will be opened 10 minutes before the start of the conference call.

The conference call presentation will also be available on Inventiva's website.

For additional information, please contact:

Yannick Tetzlaff, Brunswick

Phone: +33 1 53 96 83 83

Email: inventiva@brunswickgroup.com

Attachment
(Bloomberg) -- Foldable phones are creating a buzz in the consumer electronics sector, and in Chinas equity market.

Display maker Tianma Microelectronics Co. rallied 77 percent this year through Wednesday, in the lead up to Samsung Electronics Co. unveiling a $1,980 smartphone with a foldable screen. Fellow display producer BOE Technology Group Co. had jumped 46 percent since the start of year.

Turnover in both stocks soared as investors bet on hefty demand for screens, especially if Chinese smartphone makers like Huawei Technologies Co. follow Samsung into foldable models. More than $612 million worth of Tianma shares traded Wednesday, about 18 times the daily average turnover for last year, while over $1 billion of BOE shares traded every day in the past week in Shenzhen, far outdoing Tencent Holdings Ltd., Asias biggest stock by market value. Both companies continued to see heavy turnover on Thursday.

The surge in flexible panel makers was partly due to valuation recovery, coupled with support from easing liquidity, said Mark Huang, an analyst with Bright Smart Securities. Samsungs release of its foldable phone may kick off a new round of upcycle he said.

Investors went beyond panel makers in the hunt for potential beneficiaries of a foldable phone frenzy. Puyang Huicheng Electronic Material Co., which provides materials used in panels, has jumped 60 percent this year and Shantou Wanshun Package Material Co. is up 32 percent. China International Capital Corp. counts both among its top picks for investors to capture the theme.

The stocks all retreated a bit on Thursday, falling at least 0.6 percent. Though for Ray Kwok, an analyst with CGS-CIMB Securities Hong Kong Ltd., the trade has even further to run as valuations are below their historic averages.

Investors who join the trade now may start to feel a little bit of pressure as stocks have gained in the past few weeks, though sector valuation catch-up will continue, adding fuel to the speculation, he said.

Story continues

Samsung Revamps Flagship Range With 5G, Low-Cost Options

Tianma trades at about 18 times 12-month forward earnings, still 23 percent below its five-year average. BOE Technology is approaching its five-year average of 24. Kwoks price targets suggest 33 percent more upside for Tianma and 11 percent for BOE from Thursdays close.

Not everyone is that optimistic. He Qi, a fund manager at Huatai PineBridge Fund Management Co., said the stocks may soon face a reality check as gains so far have been driven by speculation rather than fundamentals.

Flexible is still just an idea, He said of the phones. Its not guaranteed that panel makers will be able to make a profit out of it -- it normally takes two to three years before a new tech proves profitable.

Suppliers elsewhere have also been boosted by Samsungs new phone. Equipment-maker Finetek Co. jumped as much as 24 percent Thursday morning in Seoul, before paring to 3.7 percent gain. The two-day rally was the biggest since August 2016. Samsungs shares, though, fell as much as 1.5 percent before adding 0.1 percent at the close.

(Updates with Thursdays prices.)

--With assistance from Min Jeong Lee and Heejin Kim.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Cindy Wang in Taipei at hwang61@bloomberg.net;Ludi Wang in Shanghai at lwang191@bloomberg.net;Sofia Horta e Costa in Hong Kong at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net;Amanda Wang in Shanghai at twang234@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Richard Frost at rfrost4@bloomberg.net, Will Davies, Magdalene Fung

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
In interviews with Axios and CNN, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the federal government may intervene in states' vaccine exemptions.

Some states are considering proposals that would eliminate vaccine exemptions for personal or philosophical reasons.

In 47 states, parents are exempted from vaccinating their children for religious reasons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

If states don't tighten vaccine exemption laws, the federal government may step in, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said.

"Some states are engaging in such wide exemptions that they're creating the opportunity for outbreaks on a scale that is going to have national implications," the FDA head said in an interview with CNN .

Gottlieb's comments come as some states are considering proposals that would change vaccine exemptions for personal or philosophical reasons. He first made the comments in an interview with Axios .

Gottlieb told CNN that "certain states" could "force the hand of the federal health agencies" if they don't make changes.

However, the FDA has not made any plans or announcements, and it's not certain the agency will.

In Washington state, lawmakers are considering two bills amid a measles outbreak that has infected at least 64 people in the state. One would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. A second bill would ban personal or philosophical exemptions for all vaccines required by schools and licensed day cares.

In Oregon, state Rep. Mitch Greenlick will propose a bill that would eliminate all non-medical exemptions for vaccines, according to the Willamette Week . Greenlick's office did not return CNBC's request for comment.

On Tuesday, the Iowa state Senate rejected two bills related to vaccines . One would have allowed vaccine exemptions for philosophical reasons, and another would have stopped health care providers and insurance companies from discriminating against people who refuse immunizations, the Associated Press reported .

Story continues

Gottlieb called the Washington outbreak an "avoidable tragedy" on CNBC's "Squawk Box" in late January . "As vaccination rates decline, these kinds of epidemics are going to become more common," he said.

The outbreak in Washington prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency on Jan. 25.

Of the 64 cases in Washington, 63 were in Clark County, Washington. The county's public health department reported 55 of the 63 infected were not vaccinated against measles, six cases were unverified and two cases had received one dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

In Clark County, 45 of the 63 cases were children between the ages of 1 and 10 years old.

In 2018, there were 372 cases of measles reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control . From Jan. 1 to Feb. 14, 2019, 127 cases of measles have been confirmed in 10 states, according to the CDC.

In 47 states, parents are exempted from vaccinating their children for religious reasons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . Seventeen states, including Washington, allow philosophical exemptions from vaccines.





More From CNBC


bitconnect crypto scam

Like most scams, it will be years before Bitconnects operators have felt the full weight of their actions. However, the US government wants victims to help bring the $2.5 billion crypto Ponzi scheme to justice.

FBI Wants to Talk to Bitconnect Victims

fbi bitcoin crypto

Bitconnect victims should contact the FBI to help the agency investigate the infamous crypto scam. | Source: Shutterstock

The FBI is looking to talk to people victimized by the Bitconnect scheme. It is publicly taking applications and information via its website. The agency will contact those it deems interesting enough to help with the investigation.

The FBI writes:

Read the full story on CCN.com.
By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - NASA has warned SpaceX and Boeing Co of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems, according to industry sources and a new government report, threatening the U.S. bid to revive its human spaceflight program later this year.

NASA is paying SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion to build rocket and capsule launch systems to return astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since America's Space Shuttle program went dark in 2011.

Just ahead of the first scheduled un-manned test flight slated for March 2 under NASA's multibillion-dollar Commercial Crew Program, NASA's safety advisory panel cited four "key risk items" in its 2018 annual report earlier this month.

For Boeing, they include the capsule's structural vulnerability when the heat shield is deployed. For SpaceX, the report mentioned the redesign of a SpaceX rocket canister following a 2016 explosion and its "load and go" process of fueling the rocket with the crew already inside the capsule. "Parachute performance" remained an issue for both companies.

"There are serious challenges to the current launch schedules for both SpaceX and Boeing," the report said.

For an interactive version of this story, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2V6pXyN

Two people with direct knowledge of the program told Reuters that the space agency's concerns go beyond the four items listed, and include a risk ledger that as of early February contained 30 to 35 lingering technical concerns each for SpaceX and Boeing. Reuters could not verify what all of the nearly three dozen items are. But the sources familiar with the matter said the companies must address "most" of those concerns before flying astronauts and, eventually, tourists to space.

The NASA risk database is updated routinely during the course of NASA's stringent certification process, which includes data collection, tests and collaboration with SpaceX and Boeing, the people said. The Boeing and SpaceX systems have already been delayed several times in recent years, which is common in this sector given the complexity of building multibillion-dollar spacecraft capable of shedding earth's gravity.

Story continues

NASA spokesman Joshua Finch deferred all technical questions on Boeing and SpaceX systems to the companies, citing confidentiality, but said: "Flying safely always takes precedence over schedule."

Boeing spokesman Josh Barrett said the company "closed out" the capsule's structural vulnerability risk when it completed its structural test program in January. While Boeing is working through a number of other issues, they "are not driving any major architectural system changes."

"Our numbers show we are exceeding NASA's safety requirements," said Barrett.

SpaceX spokesman James Gleeson said the company, working with NASA, has developed "one of the safest, most-advanced human spaceflight systems ever built."

"There is nothing more important to SpaceX than safely flying crew," said Gleeson, calling it "core to our company's long-term goal of enabling access for people who dream of flying to space."

Founded by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, SpaceX has cut the cost of rocket launches with its pioneering reusable rocket technology, while Boeing traces its space business back to the first U.S. human space missions of the 1960s and is also the world's largest planemaker.

The clock is ticking. The U.S. has been paying Russia about $80 million per ticket for a ride to the International Space Station, a $100 billion orbital research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth.

There are no seats available for U.S. crew on the Russia spacecraft after 2019 given production schedules and other factors. NASA said last week it was considering paying for two more seats to the space station for this fall and spring 2020 to ensure U.S. access.

The NASA plan for extra seats came a week after its safety panel said Congress should come up with a "mitigation plan" in case delays threaten U.S. access to the space station - echoing earlier concerns from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

NASA is set to conduct a flight readiness review on Friday for SpaceX's mission without a crew on March 2. NASA will decide whether to approve the test flight without a crew, while SpaceX addresses the issues raised for a human mission.

PARACHUTE WEAKNESSES

Three people familiar with the project say the U.S. space agency has identified some design discrepancies between earlier SpaceX capsules designed to haul cargo to the International Space Station, and a newer version designed to carry humans.

Some of the risks - such as those identified in the designs of the enormous parachutes that deploy when the capsule plummets back to Earth at supersonic speeds - are uncommon given how close SpaceX is to test flights, two of the people said.

The timing of deployment of the SpaceX parachutes and the interaction of the parachutes themselves have raised concerns about parachute performance, and potentially whether they will be able to slow down the capsule enough to ensure the crew's safety, two people said.

SpaceX has completed 17 parachute tests for the Commercial Crew Program so far, with an additional 10 tests planned prior to Crew Dragon's second demonstration mission, Gleeson said. He also said its parachute systems are designed with redundancy so the vehicle can still safely splashdown in the event that one parachute fails.

NASA's safety panel said in its report that SpaceX may be required to re-design its parachute system. A re-design would likely trigger more testing and potentially weeks or months of extra delays, two of the people said.

NASA also found design problems with the system that helps orient SpaceX's capsule in an upright position once it lands in the ocean, raising the risk of taking on excessive amounts of water, according to two industry sources and confirmed by a NASA official.

SpaceX's Gleeson said Crew Dragon's outer shell is water-resistant, and the spacecraft itself is buoyant and does not pose a risk to crew members after splashdown.

RISK OF MORE DELAYS

NASA announced earlier this month that SpaceX was now targeting March 2 instead of Feb. 23 for its un-crewed Crew Dragon test flight, with its astronaut flight planned for July. NASA explained the delay by citing vague concerns for both contractors, such as the need to complete hardware testing and other work.

NASA said Boeing's un-crewed Starliner would fly "no earlier" than April, with the crewed mission currently slated for August. This is the schedule now at risk, according to the NASA report.

The challenges in front of Boeing include last year's failure during a test of its launch-abort engines, which spilled caustic fuel on the test stand, Boeing's Barrett said. The accident was caused by faulty valves which Boeing has re-designed and re-ordered from the supplier, though the new valves must be re-tested, Barrett said.

The test flights are also part of collecting the data needed to close out some risk items, NASA said.

"SpaceX and Boeing both have challenges, both comparable, from a safety perspective," said one U.S. government source.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Washington and Joey Roulette in Orlando, Florida; Editing by Edward Tobin)
(Bloomberg) -- A mobile app created by a former Goldman Sachs banker obsessed with fresh food is disrupting South Koreas retail industry by giving grocery shoppers fewer reasons to visit a store.

With the Market Kurly app, shoppers can order in the evening and have fresh vegetables, eggs and other perishable foods delivered directly to the doorstep by sunrise. The company promises delivery before 7 a.m. for orders made before 11 p.m.

The overnight service has caught on among high-income families with little time to go grocery shopping and is nipping at the heels of chaebol-run companies like E-Mart and Softbank-backed Coupang over the countrys 23-trillion-won ($20 billion) fresh-food market.

Market Kurly is becoming an alternative for hypermarkets like E-Mart, whose sway over fresh foods has been unchallenged until now, said Kim Hyun-Su, a fund manager at IBK Asset Management. More and more people who work will probably turn to this kind of service.

Working moms

After mostly focusing on Seouls posh Gangnam neighborhoods the delivery service is expanding beyond the countrys largest city thanks to a 67 billion won ($60 million) investment last year from investors including Sequoia Capital Ltd.

I knew this type of business would thrive with the rise of working women, including moms, said Sophie Kim, the 35-year-old founder of Kurly Inc. As income rises, people start caring more about quality.

Kim began her career as a banker in mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Hong Kong before working at firms like Temasek Holdings Pte and McKinsey & Co. It was at management consulting firm Bain & Co. that she came up with the idea for Market Kurly, after becoming frustrated with spending most of her downtime searching for fresh foods to take care of her deteriorating health. Kurly, formed in 2015, is a play on the word culinary

About 300,000 people now use the app each month to buy everything from salmon and beef to sea cucumbers and kale, according to Kim, who sometimes stays up at the companys warehouse on the outskirts of Seoul until 3 a.m., when delivery begins.

Story continues

Competition rising

A typical pack of 10 eggs sold on Market Kurly can cost from 5,400 won to 19,000 won while a similar product will sell for less than 5,000 won on other online stores. Most customers range in their thirties and forties with many enjoying posting photos of their food on social media like Instagram, Kim said.

Kim, who declined to provide company sales and earnings for 2018, said she hopes to have Kurly turn a profit in a couple of years and is pushing for more funding from other investors. The company probably quadrupled its revenue to 160 billion won ($142 million) in 2018, according to business journal E-Today.

Other retailers are trying to catch up. E-commerce startup Coupang last year began to offer overnight delivery for fresh foods in certain locations, and E-Mart also rolled out a similar service, hoping to stem the hemorrhage of store customers. Kim said she welcomes the competition because itll help expand the market for overnight delivery services.

Some rivals are trying to build their own shipping centers for grocery and catch up with Market Kurly, said Park Hee-jin, analyst at Shinhan Investment. But Market Kurly is competitive in its selection of premium foods, which may not be readily available at E-Mart or at other grocery stores.

To contact the reporters on this story: Heejin Kim in Seoul at hkim579@bloomberg.net;Kyungji Cho in Seoul at kcho54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Kim at skim609@bloomberg.net, Peter Pae

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.




Forms Joint Venture Partnership with EcoXtraction LLC

Alameda, CA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- NewBridge Global Ventures, Inc. (NewBridge or the Company), (OTCQB: NBGV), a company focused on the emerging and dynamic legal and regulated cannabis industry, today announced a joint venture partnership with EcoXtraction LLC that gives NewBridge rights to Hydro Dynamics patented cavitation extraction technology for the cannabis industry.

The joint venture with EcoXtraction LLC, named CleanWave Labs LLC, includes an exclusive licensing agreement as well as Intellectual Property, patents, and extracting equipment which utilize "controlled cavitation for extraction in the cannabis industry.

NewBridges Chief Technology Officer Dr. John Mackay commented, The Controlled Cavitation Extraction Process has many advantages over the other extraction technologies currently being used in the hemp industry, as well as at a number of cannabis facilities. The key advantage is the ability to process fresh or fresh frozen biomass, thereby eliminating the need to dry the biomass before processing, saving substantial time and the risk associated with the drying and curing cycle. The second major advantage is the ability to extract without the use of solvents or toxins, using only water at low pressure and temperatures, thus preserving the plants cannabinoids, and the separated or extracted oil mirroring the compounds found in the original plant. In addition, the continuous processing of controlled cavitation, versus batch processing, also contributes to a significant reduction in extraction time and avoids the use of hydrocarbons such as hexane and butane and polar liquid solvents like ethanol.

The Hydro Dynamics patented methodology represents a paradigm shift for fluid processing and is truly a next-generation industrial technology that improves efficiencies, requires lower capital expenditures, cuts maintenance costs and reduces the environmental impact.

Dr. MacKay, a well-known scientific expert on extraction, has been applying his extensive scientific skills and experience in the cannabis field to build the Company to a leadership position in extraction.

Were excited to bring Hydro Dynamics technology to NewBridge Global Ventures and the cannabis industry, added Dr. MacKay. The benefits of Hydro Dynamics technology are truly disruptive and will, we believe, afford NewBridge a competitive advantage through our licensing agreement. The technology has the potential to change the standard process used for extraction throughout the industrial hemp and cannabis industry. We look forward to reporting on the results produced from the Extractors we are installing across NewBridges operations over the next months.

About Hydro Dynamics

Hydro Dynamics, Inc., founded in 1991 and located in Rome, Georgia, is the developer and manufacturer of the cavitation-based ShockWave Xtractor Technology. The ShockWave Xtractor equipment uses the physical phenomenon of cavitation, normally known as a destructive force, and harnesses it to solve critical industrial mixing, extraction and heating problems. The technology can now be found on four continents in applications ranging from biodiesel production to hops extraction for beer. Learn more at: www.hydrodynamics.com

About NewBridge Global Ventures

NewBridge Global Ventures, Inc. (OTCQB: NBGV) is a US public company acquiring and currently operating a vertically integrated portfolio of California cannabis and hemp companies. Our vertical structure includes genetics, cloning, cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution. We believe by focusing on compliance, industry best practices, standardization, and corporate governance, NewBridge Global Ventures, Inc. will be squarely positioned for rapid sales growth in the legal California cannabis and industrial hemp Industry. For more information go to: www.newbridgegv.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements about the expected timing, and all other statements in this press release, other than historical facts, constitute forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and are based on current expectation and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. A number of the matters discussed herein that are not historical or current facts deal with potential future circumstances and developments that may or may not materialize. This press release speaks only as of its date, and except as required by law, we disclaim any duty to update.




Using E. coli to create bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner

BATON ROUGE - Who knew a potentially deadly bacteria could be used for good?

LSU Mechanical Engineering graduate student Tatiana Mello of Piracicaba, Brazil, is currently working on genetically engineering and optimizing E. coli bacteria to produce bioproducts, like biodiesel, in a cost-effective manner. This undertaking has garnered the attention of many in the engineering and biology fields and has also given her the opportunity to speak about her research at the recent National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego.

Mello proposes using E. coli bacteria to expand biodiesel production by creating a new type of feedstock.

"The main feedstocks used in the U.S. for biodiesel are soybean and corn oil," she said. "The actual production is enough to feed us, but you have the surplus that nobody knew what to do with, so biodiesel was created. This market is growing and growing. They expect within a few decades, the surplus won't be enough to produce biodiesel. E. coli is cheap and abundant, and you can just genetically modify it to fulfill this need."

Mello's main goal is to create Malonyl-CoA bioproducts, such as biodiesel, plastics, polymers, and pharmaceuticals. Malonyl-CoA is found in bacteria from humans and has important roles in regulating fatty acid metabolism and food intake; it's also an attractive target for drug discovery.

"Malonyl-CoA maximization is the topic of my research because it's a precursor for so many things," she said.

Mello, who has worked on this project for two years, had the privilege of presenting her project at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Diego last month. Only 12 university-level science majors in the country who are interested in learning about the biodiesel industry receive travel scholarships to attend. However, only four of those students are asked to present their research.

Mello did so as part of the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel, of which she is a member. She said attending the conference not only impacted her career and research, but also her understanding of the biodiesel industry.

"I was opened up to a new world after the misconception about the food industry and the biofuel industry competing for cropland was demystified," she said. "The many new concepts, regulations, and issues presented during the fast-paced event prepared me much better for the entire biodiesel business."

After earning her bachelor's degree in biological sciences at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Sao Paulo, Mello decided she needed one more degree in order to apply her scientific knowledge.

"First I got into biology because I was all about studying life," she said. "It fascinated me. When I was finishing my biology degree, I realized I couldn't apply anything to what I was studying. Those were the engineers. I needed bioreactors and machinery. So, I decided to get an engineering degree."

Mello stayed at Unicamp, where she earned her ME degree and then began working for Caterpillar Inc. in Brazil.

"While there, I realized I wanted to combine my two bachelor degrees," Mello said.

She connected with LSU ME Professor Marcio de Queiroz, who is also from Brazil and now serves as her advisor. She also has co-advisors, such as LSU Biological Sciences Professor Grover Waldrop, and says they all work together and have submitted a patent on her project.

Mello is set to graduate from LSU in May and plans to stay in southeast Louisiana, hopefully finding a job in the Baton Rouge area. Of course, it all depends on which company will be open to her new idea.

"We have this method, and it's working, but we need industry partners to scale it up," she said.

###

Contact

Josh Duplechain

LSU College of Engineering

225-578-5706

josh@lsu.edu

Libby Haydel

LSU College of Engineering

225-578-4840

ehaydel1@lsu.edu

Ernie Ballard

LSU Media Relations

225-578-5685

eballa1@lsu.edu

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
DP World announced that it will repurchase P&O Ferries from Dubai World according to a DP World press release. The acquisition will be worth BGP (British pound sterling) 322 million or $421 million. (All values will be converted to U.S. dollars.)

DP World, based in Dubai, is a global port operator with a portfolio of 78 marine terminals in 40 countries. It's owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). P&O Ferries is a pan-European logistics business which manages 2.5 million tons of freight through its logistics arm, P&O Ferrymasters. According to Reuters, P&O Ferries has 21 vessels which connect the United Kingdom with Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. Dubai World is a Dubai-based investment company which manages UAE government assets, including DP World.

Reuters said that DP World acquired P&O Lines in 2006, but then sold P&O Ferries to Dubai World later that year. According to Gulf News, the current acquisition is part of DP World's plan to expand its global footprint using investments in the international logistics industry. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019.

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"We are pleased to announce the return of P&O Ferries back into the DP World family," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World group chairman and chief executive officer. "P&O Ferries is a strong, recognizable brand and adds a best-in-class integrated logistics provider into our global portfolio. Importantly, P&O Ferries provides efficient European freight connectivity building on last year's acquisition of Unifeeder [see below]. This transaction is in line with our strategy to grow in complementary sectors, strengthen our product offering and play a wider role in the global supply chain as a trade enabler."

P&O Ferries had revenue of $1.4 billion in 2017, carried over 10 million passengers and completed more than 30,000 voyages according to the company's website.

"P&O Ferries has delivered a robust performance in recent years and we aim to drive further value through increasing efficiencies and offering value-added solutions to our customers," said Sulayem. "Overall the transaction offers compelling value strategically and financially, and we look forward to P&O Ferries contributing to driving shareholder value in the coming years."

Story continues

The acquisition follows DP World's acquisition of Unifeeder (a Denmark-based, containerized logistics solutions provider) in December 2018. DP World also acquired majority shares in DP World Australia from New York-based Gateway Infrastructure Investments in January 2019. That same month, DP World also agreed to buy a 71.3 percent stake in Santiago, Chile-based Puertos y Logistica, giving the company exposure to Latin American maritime terminals.

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 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf, Iran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo

By Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran's exports of crude oil were higher than expected in January and are at least holding steady this month, according to tanker data and industry sources, as some customers have increased purchases due to waivers from U.S. sanctions.

Shipments are averaging 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, Refinitiv Eikon data showed and a source at a company that tracks Iranian exports said. They were between 1.1 and 1.3 million bpd in January, higher than first thought.

A high rate of Iranian shipments would weigh on oil prices and work against a global push to cut supply in 2019 led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC member Iran negotiated an exemption from the production-cutting pact.

"We think people are taking more ahead of the deadline," said the industry source who tracks Iranian exports, referring to the scheduled end of U.S. sanctions waivers in May.

Increased exports from the Islamic Republic might prompt renewed U.S. efforts to clamp down on flows. However, this would run the risk of driving up oil prices as Washington is also seeking to curtail exports from another foe, Venezuela.

Iran's exports have become more opaque since U.S. sanctions on the country's oil sector took effect in November. While most agree they have dropped steeply, views on flows can differ by as much as several hundred thousand barrels per day - enough to affect prices.

The February shipments are up from January's 1.1 million bpd, according to Refinitiv. The industry source estimated January exports at 1.3 million bpd, close to February's level.

In any case, the January figures are higher than initial estimates. Some had predicted Iranian crude exports would stay below 1 million bpd last month, a similar rate to that in December.

A source at a second company that tracks Iranian exports said shipments in the first 10 days of February were above 1.1 million bpd and on a rising trend - higher than the source expected.

Story continues

Washington gave waivers to eight buyers - including China, India, Japan and South Korea, which were all purchasing Iranian crude in February, according to Refinitiv.

The rise in shipments raises the prospect of less generous waivers, should Washington renew such exemptions when those in place expire. The U.S. special representative for Iran said last month there would be a much deeper reduction in Iranian exports.

Shipments have dropped steeply from at least 2.5 million bpd in April 2018, the month before U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions.

Tehran has vowed to keep exporting oil despite U.S. efforts to reduce its shipments to zero.

(Editing by Dale Hudson)
(Recasts with Trump)

By Steve Holland and James Pearson

WASHINGTON/HANOI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A week before a second summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. President Donald Trump held out the prospect of an easing of tough sanctions on the country, but only if it does "something that's meaningful" on denuclearization.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump also said he expects to meet with Kim again after their Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

Trump said he did not think North Korea was reluctant to denuclearize, in spite of a lack of concrete progress since he and Kim met for a first summit in Singapore in June.

"I dont think theyre reluctant; I think they want to do something," he said. "Well see what happens. The sanctions are on in full. I havent taken sanctions off, as you know. Id love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something thats meaningful on the other side."

Trump said he and Kim had "a good relationship" and added: "I wouldnt be surprised to see something work out."

He said he and Kim have made a lot of progress but "that doesnt mean this will be the last meeting."

Trump's comment was his most explicit yet that the United States might be willing to consider easing sanctions on North Korea before Pyongyang completely abandons its nuclear weapons program.

The administration has previously said that sanctions will remain in place until North Korea's complete denuclearization.

Trump spoke as his special envoy for North Korea was due in Hanoi to finalize preparations for the summit. Stephen Biegun is expected to hold talks with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Trump said on Tuesday he wants North Korea to end its nuclear program "ultimately," but had no pressing time schedule for this, provided it stuck to a freeze in nuclear and missile testing in place since 2017.

When Trump and Kim met in Singapore, it was the first ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Story continues

Kim pledged then to work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but negotiations have made little headway since, with North Korea demanding a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

In September, Kim expressed willingness to permanently dismantle facilities at his country's main nuclear site of Yongbyon in return for corresponding U.S. moves.

Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang this month which he said would include discussion of such corresponding steps, but the State Department had offered no sign of any specific progress.

Biegun said after his North Korea visit his talks had been "productive" but there was "hard work to do" before the summit.

Sources in Hanoi said earlier that Vietnam was preparing for Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for the summit with Trump.

It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel the thousands of kilometres (miles) through China by train, from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to Vietnam, meaning he would have to set off later this week in time for his planned Feb. 25 arrival. (Reporting by Steve Holland in WASHINGTON and James Pearson in HANOI; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Makini Brice in WASHINGTON, Joyce Lee in SEOUL and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel and James Dalgleish)
Company exceeds 2018 CAF II program requirements as it continues to make progress on broadband initiatives in Northern New England

PORTLAND, Maine, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. , (CNSL) continues to deploy broadband Internet services to unserved and underserved rural communities in Maine and today announced that it exceeded its 2018 year-end Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) Connect America Fund, Phase 2, (CAF II) program goals. To date, the Company has completed 304 broadband projects or more than 80 percent of its funded locations, exceeding the 60-percent 2018 program requirement. When the program ends in 2020, Consolidated Communications will bring broadband services to a minimum of 35,500 eligible, underserved locations in Maine.



Residents in these rural communities  some of which lacked internet connectivity altogether  now have broadband internet with speeds of 10 Mbps up to 100 Gigabits, said Michael Shultz, vice president of regulatory and public policy at Consolidated Communications. Consolidated Communications is committed to bringing faster broadband speeds and enhanced services to Maine. And, were continuing to invest to offer enhanced products and services, and increased network reliability and stability.

Consolidateds participation in the CAF II program has especially benefited seven municipalities: Fort Fairfield, Madison, Millinocket-East Millinocket-Medway, Brooklin, Dover-Foxcroft-Guilford-Greenville, Bingham and Greenbush. The Company accepted $13.3 million in annual CAF II funding for Maine to expand broadband services in the state. This investment has made possible the extension of more than 500 fiber miles serving more than 21,000 Maine residences in rural areas of the state.

The FCC CAF II program expands access to voice and broadband services in areas where it is unavailable by providing funds to local service providers to subsidize the cost of building new network infrastructure or performing network upgrades. It is a multi-year program that began in 2015 and will be completed by 2020.

Story continues

Last year, Consolidated Communications upgraded more than 500,000 passings across Northern New England, offering faster speeds to residents and small businesses. More than 200,000 of those passings are located in Maine. Upgraded homes and businesses throughout New England now can get speeds two to three times faster than what was previously available. Additionally, consumers now have access to the latest, on-demand streaming content including: HBO Now, DIRECTV NowSM, and fuboTV. The companys MyCCIAccount.com center enables existing customers to place new orders and upgrade services online. Visit https://www.consolidated.com/progress to find more details about Consolidateds work in Northern New England.

Customers may check to see if Consolidated Communications broadband services are available in their area by visiting https://www.consolidated.com/residential/internet.

About Consolidated Communications

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (CNSL) is a leading broadband and business communications provider serving consumers, businesses, and wireless customers, and wireline carriers across rural and metro communities and in a 23-state service area. Leveraging an advanced fiber network spanning 37,000 fiber route miles, Consolidated Communications offers a wide range of communications solutions, including: high-speed Internet, data, phone, security, managed services, cloud services and wholesale, carrier solutions. From our first connection 125 years ago, Consolidated is dedicated to turning technology into solutions, connecting people and enriching how they work and live. Visit www.consolidated.com for more information.



Media Contact:

Kate Rankin, Consolidated Communications

207.535.4122, kate.rankin@consolidated.com




Dublin, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Ink Additives Market by Type ( Dispersing & Wetting Agents, Foam Control Additives, Slip/Rub Materials, Rheology Modifiers), Process, Technology, Application (Packaging, Publishing, Printing), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global ink additives market size was USD 1,407.52 million in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 1,963.18 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2018 and 2023.



Additives in the printing inks industry are the key chemicals used to modify the quality of the ink to be printed on the substrate based on requirements from the consumer. Ink additives can be produced from various sources. However, the cost of production plays an important role among manufacturers in choosing the right raw material for additives production. The most common raw materials used for manufacturing ink additives include silicone oils, paraffin waxes, and crude oil derivatives. The growing popularity among consumers for bio-based sources is expected to drive the market for sunflower oil and other such renewable sources of raw materials for ink additives.



Printing ink is widely used in the publishing industry. The shift of trend from newspapers, magazines, and traditional advertisement media toward e-books and online libraries has had a direct impact on the printing ink industry and furthered the ink additives market. Over the past few years, the demand for printing ink has substantially increased in the packaging industry. The growing demand for corrugated boxes and flexible packaging is expected to drive the ink additives market.



The growth is attributed to the increasing applications, technological advancements, and rising demand from the packaging industry in APAC, mainly from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.



The ink additives market is dominated by various players depending on their core competencies. New product launch and merger & acquisition were the frequently adopted strategies from 2013 to 2019.



The key players in this market are ALTANA AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Evonik Industries (Germany), Elementis PLC (UK), Solvay SA (Belgium), Harima Chemicals Group (Japan), Munzing Chemie GmbH (Germany), Shamrock Technologies Inc. (US), Dow Corning (US), and Lubrizol (US).

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in the Ink Additives Market

4.2 Ink Additives Market, By Type

4.3 Ink Additives Market, By Region

4.4 APAC Ink Additives Market, By Type and Country

4.5 Ink Additives Market Attractiveness



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Increased Demand From Flexible Packaging

5.2.1.2 Growing Demand for Corrugated Boxes Owing to Increased E-Commerce Sales

5.2.1.3 Development of Multipurpose Additives

5.2.1.4 Rising Demand for Biodegradable and Renewable Products

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Meeting Regulatory Standards

5.2.2.2 Shift From Print to Digital Media

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Rising Demand in APAC, Especially in India and China

5.2.3.2 Strong Growth in the Inkjet Segment

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Volatile Raw Material Prices

5.2.4.2 Costly Regulatory Registrations

5.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.4 Macroeconomic Overview

5.4.1 Introduction

5.4.2 Growth of GDP Per Capita

5.4.3 Global Industrial Outlook



6 Ink Additives Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Rheology Modifiers

6.2.1 Several Advantages Offered By Rheology Modifiers is Driving Its Demand

6.3 Dispersing & Wetting Agents

6.3.1 Demand for Dispersing & Wetting Agents is High in Inks Manufacturing

6.4 Foam Control Additives

6.4.1 The Demand for Foam Control Additives is Rising From the Flexographic and Gravure Printing Processes

6.5 Slip/Rub Materials

6.5.1 The Increasing Demand for Waxes in Ink Manufacturing is Spurring the Demand for Slip/Rub Materials

6.6 Others



7 Ink Additives Market, By Technology

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Solvent-Based

7.2.1 The Demand for Solvent-Based Ink Additives is Due to their Low-Cost Investment

7.3 Water-Based

7.3.1 The Demand for Water-Based Technology is Rising Due to their Eco-Friendliness

7.4 Others



8 Ink Additives Market, By Process

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Lithographic

8.2.1 Low Economies of Scale is Driving the Demand for the Lithographic Process

8.3 Gravure

8.3.1 The Ability of Gravure Process to Offer Excellent Quality of Print and Color Densities is Boosting Its Demand

8.4 Flexographic

8.4.1 The Demand for Flexographic Process is Growing as It is More Eco-Friendly Than the Lithographic and Gravure Processes

8.5 Digital

8.5.1 Several Benefits of Digital Printing Process is Increasing Its Demand in Various Applications

8.5.2 Others



9 Ink Additives Market, By Application

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Packaging

9.2.1 The Growing Need for Flexible Packaging is Driving the Demand of Ink Additives in the Packaging Industry

9.3 Publishing

9.3.1 The Usage of Printed Books in APAC is Driving the Demand From the Publishing Industry

9.4 Commercial Printing

9.4.1 Moderate Demand for Marketing Campaigns Will Drive the Commercial Printing Application



10 Ink Additives Market, By Region



11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Market Ranking

11.3 Competitive Scenario

11.3.1 New Product Launch

11.3.2 Merger & Acquisition

11.3.3 Expansion

11.3.4 Partnership& Agreement



12 Company Profiles

12.1 ALTANA AG

12.2 BASF SE

12.3 Dow Corning

12.4 Elementis Plc

12.5 Evonik Industries

12.6 Harima Chemicals Group

12.7 Shamrock Technologies

12.8 Munzing Chemie GmbH

12.9 Solvay S.A.

12.10 Lubrizol

12.11 Additional Company Profiles

12.11.1 Keim Additec Surface GmbH

12.11.2 Allnex

12.11.3 Croda International Plc.

12.11.4 Honeywell International Inc.

12.11.5 Dorf Ketal

12.11.6 Polyone Corporation

12.11.7 Clariant

12.11.8 Martnez Ayala

12.11.9 Siltech

12.11.10 Uniqchem

12.11.11 Venator

12.11.12 Raybo Chemical Company

12.11.13 The International Group, Inc

12.11.14 Krishna Antioxidants Pvt. Ltd

12.11.15 Patcham



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tqw5xx/ink_additives?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Coca-Cola CEO and incoming Chairman James Quincey says greater global uncertainty is the biggest issue.

Like others at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Quincey said he expects to see slower growth this year.

But he says U.S.-China trade tensions are not weighing on him.

As international business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum weigh slowing economic growth, Coca-Cola KO CEO and incoming Chairman James Quincey has another concern  uncertainty.

"I think that in a way, the biggest issue is not so much that we see a little less growth, but there's more uncertainty," Quincey said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC's " Worldwide Exchange " in Davos, Switzerland.

Quincey does agrees with other business titans in Davos, including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman , that economic growth will slow this year, but he doesn't see that as a headwind just yet.

"There's been more volatility over the last couple years, so I think people are going into it going, 'OK, a little harder than last year,' but I feel a degree of uncertainty out there that you can't quite put your finger on," Quincey said.

One source of uncertainty is the U.S. and China trade war. The countries are trying to negotiate a deal before a 90-day tariff truce expires on March 2. But he said the effect on the beverage company is "slightly indirect" because its products for the China market are made there.

No matter what happens with the economy and global uncertainty, Quincey said the company will focus on keeping up with consumer tastes and solving problems like the sugar content of its drinks and reducing packaging waste.





More From CNBC


Third instalment of 2019 Security Report highlights the cloud and mobile attack vectors used to target enterprises: nearly 1 in 5 organizations experienced a cloud security incident in the past year

VIENNA, Austria, Feb. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CPX  Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, has published the third instalment of its 2019 Security Report. It highlights how threat actors are increasingly targeting the weakest, least protected points in an organizations IT infrastructure  their public cloud and mobile deployments.



The third instalment of the 2019 Security Report reveals the key cyber-attack trends used by criminals to target enterprise cloud and mobile estates during 2018. It also reveals enterprise IT and security teams key security concerns about these deployments. Highlights of the third instalment include:

18% of organizations globally had a cloud security incident in the past year: the most common incident types were data leaks / breaches, account hijacks, and malware infections.



The top four public cloud security threats: IT professionals rated misconfiguration of cloud platforms, leading to data loss or breaches as the biggest threat, cited by 62%; followed by unauthorized access to cloud resources (55%); insecure interfaces and APIs (50%); hijacking of accounts or data traffic (47%).



30% of IT professionals still consider security is the responsibility of the cloud service provider : this worrying finding negates recommendations that cloud security should follow the mutual responsibility model, in which security is shared by both the cloud provider and the customer.



59% of IT professionals do not use mobile threat defences: a majority of organizations have not deployed mobile security solutions capable of detecting leading threats including mobile malware, fake or malicious apps, man-in-the-middle attacks and system vulnerabilities.



Only 9% of IT professionals consider threats on mobile a significant security risk: yet malware can propagate from unprotected mobile devices to organizations cloud- or on-premise networks, exploiting this weak link in enterprise security defences.

The third instalment of our 2019 Security Report shows just how vulnerable organizations are to attacks targeting their cloud and mobile estates, because there is a lack of awareness of the threats they face and how to mitigate them. As nearly 20% or organizations have experienced a cloud incident in the past year, its clear that criminals are looking to exploit these security gaps, said Zohar Alon, Head of Cloud Product Line, Check Point Software Technologies. By reviewing and highlighting these developments in the Report, organizations can get a better understanding of the threats they face, and how they prevent them impacting on their business.

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Check Points 2019 Security Report is based on data from Check Points ThreatCloud intelligence, the largest collaborative network for fighting cybercrime which delivers threat data and attack trends from a global network of threat sensors; from Check Points research investigations over the last 12 months; and on a brand new survey of IT professionals and C-level executives that assesses their preparedness for todays threats. The report examines the latest emerging threats against various industry sectors, and gives a comprehensive overview of the trends observed in the malware landscape, in emerging data breach vectors, and in nation-state cyber-attacks. It also includes expert analysis from Check Points thought leaders, to help organizations understand and prepare themselves for todays and tomorrows complex fifth-generation cyber-attacks and threats.

For full report go to: https://research.checkpoint.com/vol-3-2019-security-report/

Follow Check Point via:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/checkpointsw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/checkpointsoftware

Blog: http://blog.checkpoint.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CPGlobal

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/check-point-software-technologies

About Check Point Research

Check Point Research provides leading cyber threat intelligence to Check Point Software customers and the greater intelligence community. The research team collects and analyzes global cyber-attack data stored on ThreatCloud to keep hackers at bay, while ensuring all Check Point products are updated with the latest protections. The research team consists of over 100 analysts and researchers cooperating with other security vendors, law enforcement and various CERTs.

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading provider of cyber security solutions to governments and corporate enterprises globally. Its solutions protect customers from cyber-attacks with an industry leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and other types of attacks. Check Point offers a multilevel security architecture that defends enterprises cloud, network and mobile device held information, plus the most comprehensive and intuitive one point of control security management system. Check Point protects over 100,000 organizations of all sizes.

INVESTOR CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACT:

Kip E. Meintzer Gil Messing

Check Point Software Technologies Check Point Software Technologies

+1.650.628.2040 +972.3753.4514

ir@checkpoint.com press@checkpoint.com
The Chinese stock market is changing at breathtaking speed and is on track to reach maturity faster than any other in history. Global investors have been reluctant to dive in, but there are good reasons to get acquainted with the companies serving the worlds second-largest economy.

A Stock Markets Adolescence

Many investors prefer mature markets, where they can invest relatively easily, the government leaves the market more or less alone and provides consistent oversight, and companies disclose their finances, operations and risks so investors can make informed decisions.

Chinas current A-shares market, which is composed of stocks that trade on the mainland exchanges, looks a lot like the US stock market circa 1965. Its still unevenly regulated, marked by patchy governance of its listed companies, and dominated by retail investors, whose tendency to buy high and sell low can exacerbate volatility.

Those traits make many global investors nervous, but are changing fast, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Chinese stocks in the MSCI Emerging Market Index in 2018. Regulators had to make sweeping (and beneficial) changes to enable China A-shares to be included, and foreign and institutional participation has already increased as funds that track the index buy Chinese shares to match its holdings. Institutional investors, driven less by emotion than fundamentals, tend to lend stability to retail-dominated markets.

MSCI expects to continue adding Chinese stocks to the index, with the next proposed addition coming in August 2019, bringing A-shares from 0.7% of the index to 2.8%. We expect A-shares to be fully includedcomprising 16% of the indexin just three to five years. Thats half the time it took South Korea (six years) and Taiwan (nine years) to reach full inclusion. (Overall, Chinese assetsincluding those that trade on Hong Kong exchangeswould make up 42% of the EM Index.)

Three Steps Toward Maturity

China first started moving toward market maturity by simplifying access for foreign investors. In 2014, regulators launched Stock Connect, allowing foreign investors to buy stocks traded on the mainland from Hong Kong without a license or quota. Recently, it widened another access road by doubling the quota for foreign capital investment in Chinese markets through the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program.

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Another sign of a mature market is that it operates more or less freely and efficiently. On that score, the government has been much less prone to meddling in the A-shares market compared with a few years ago. In July 2015, when equity markets grew turbulent, around half of Chinese companies suspended trading to avoid major hits to their share prices. Some suspensions dragged on for months. In response to investor protests, in 2016 regulators limited suspensions to three months.

While months-long suspensions would be unheard-of in the US or UK, China is moving in the right direction in this regard. In November 2018, Chinese regulators announced that they would further reduce the duration of suspensions.

The government has also stopped directly intervening to support domestic equities. In 2015, regulators instructed state-connected investment firms to shore up markets by buying stocks. Their silence in 2018 during another bout of volatility spoke loud and clear.

Third, for good governance and transparency, companies in mature markets must hold up their part of a contract with shareholders. Toward that end, Chinese securities and environmental regulators announced last year that listed companies must disclose the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks to their businesses by 2020.

Those risks have abated somewhat recently, largely due to the Chinese government cracking down on corruption and bad corporate behavior. That means punishing companies that pollute the nations air and water, including by shutting factories down indefinitely and even jailing executives.

Forget the Wild East

Investors in A-shares still face volatility risks and exposure to geopolitical and trade uncertainty. Economic imbalances, including the rapid growth of debt in the financial system, wasteful infrastructure development and sky-high prices in parts of the housing market, are a continuing concern.

But the market is no longer, as many investors seem to think, the Wild East. Its a maturing market that allows investors to tap into the worlds fastest-growing consumer market as well as industry-leading technology companies. Its not just that China will be too big to ignore; its that investors wont find this kind of potential anywhere else.

The post Chinas Stock Market Is Growing Up appeared first on Emerging Market Views.
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CDW Corporation (CDW), a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare, announced today that Christine A. Leahy, chief executive officer of CDW, and Collin B. Kebo, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will participate in a question and answer session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference to be held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California on Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 8:25 am PST/10:25 am CST. The session will be webcast live on http://investor.cdw.com . An archived copy of the webcast will be available for 180 days on the same website.



Christine A. Leahy will also present at the Raymond James 40th Annual Institutional Investors Conference to be held at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida on Monday, March 4, 2019 at 7:30 am EST/6:30 am CST. The presentation will also be webcast live on http://investor.cdw.com . An archived copy of the presentation will be available for 180 days on the same website.

About CDW

CDW is a leading multi-brand technology solutions provider to business, government, education and healthcare organizations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. A Fortune 500 company with multi-national capabilities, CDW was founded in 1984 and employs more than 9,000 coworkers. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the company generated net sales over $16 billion. For more information about CDW, please visit www.CDW.com .

Investor Inquiries

Beth Coronelli

Vice President, Investor Relations

(847) 419-7524

Media Inquiries

Sara Granack

Vice President, Corporate Communications

(847) 419-7411

CDWPR-FI






The market expects California Resources (CRC) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended December 2018. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on February 27. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This oil and natural gas company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.03 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +109.1%.

Revenues are expected to be $702.80 million, up 54.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 15.48% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

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Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for California Resources?

For California Resources, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -20%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that California Resources will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that California Resources would post a loss of $0.08 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.81, delivering a surprise of +1,112.50%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates three times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

California Resources doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.



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



California Resources Corporation (CRC) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Ottawa, ON, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

THURSDAY FEB 21, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:





OTTAWA, ON - Students from across Canada hand-delivered a giant report card with a failing grade to Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Merrillee Fullertons constituency office in Ottawa today.





The government announced on January 17 that it would cut tuition fees in Ontario by 10%, but provide no new funding for the post-secondary education sector, and that it would make several cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program as well as make student ancillary fees optional as part of its Student Choice Initiative.





This is nothing more than a red herring, said Sofia Descalzi, national chairperson-elect of the Canadian Federation of Students and current chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador organization. Premier Ford and Minister Fullerton are determined to mislead the hard-working people of Ontario, wipe out students groups and charge students more for their education.





According to Descalzi, the Ford government is targeting students organizations who have been critical of its post-secondary education agenda by introducing opt-out student ancillary fees starting in the fall of 2019.





Students unions provide essential services on campus such as health and dental plans, sexual assault support centres, food banks and support services for LGBTQ students, Indigenous students and students with disabilities, she said. By allowing students to opt-out of student fees that have been democratically decided upon by the students themselves, Ford is trying to destroy student organizations that bring students together to hold his government accountable.





Kayla Weiler, vice-president external of the University of Guelphs Central Student Association, who also attended the protest, said the Ontario government has failed to consult students and she wants the government to reverse the Student Choice Initiative and its changes to OSAP.





The January 17 announcement spelled out nothing but bad news for students, their families, colleges and universities in Ontario. Fullerton has failed. The Ford government is failing. We the students will not stand for this attack on students and our right to organize, said Weiler.





The Canadian Federation of Students is the oldest and largest student organization in Canada, representing more than 500,000 college and university students across the country.





-30-





Attachments
* Britain, EU working on new legal text

* Hammond: Vote on deal possible next week

* UK source says deal will not be ready next week

* Juncker pessimistic on chances of a Brexit deal (Updates after Barclay-Barnier-Cox meeting, adds detail on delaying Brexit)

By Kylie MacLellan and Gabriela Baczynska

LONDON/BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union on Thursday played down the chances of clinching an immediate Brexit divorce deal but diplomats said they were edging closer to a legal compromise that Prime Minister Theresa May hopes will win over the British parliament.

May is trying to get changes to the divorce package before putting it to another vote in parliament. If she fails, May will have to decide whether to delay Brexit or endanger the world's fifth largest economy by leaving without a deal on March 29.

May's finance minister, Philip Hammond, raised hopes that a revised deal was on the cards by saying lawmakers could get an opportunity as early as next week to vote on a revised deal.

But within hours of his comments, a British government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, played down the likelihood of a deal within days.

"It doesn't feel like we will have a deal by next week," the source said.

May's biggest problem is the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy to keep the border open between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland if a future trade deal falls short after Brexit.

Parliament instructed her to replace the backstop by reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, but the EU ruled that out.

Britain's Brexit ministry said after talks in Brussels on Thursday that negotiations were now focused on getting new guarantees on the temporary nature of the Irish backstop.

In a statement after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox met EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the ministry gave a clear indication that May was no longer pushing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, even if that remained the government's preferred option.

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"The simplest way to get legally binding changes on the backstop is to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. That remains the Government's position," the ministry said.

But, referring to talks on Wednesday between May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, it said the two leaders "agreed that work would now focus on guarantees relating to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature and give appropriate legal assurance to both sides, as well as alternative arrangements and the political declaration."

Diplomats said the two sides were moving towards a separate legal statement - a "parallel declaration" or "interpretative instrument" - on the backstop.

"We are also looking at updating the declaration on future EU-UK ties after Brexit to give more prominence to the 'alternative arrangements' sought by Britain," said one EU diplomat who deals with Brexit.

"But May won't get any firm wording before Feb. 28."

Barclay, Barnier and Cox were due to continue talks "urgently" at a technical level, the UK's Brexit ministry said.

BREXIT COMPROMISE?

Legal assurances that the backstop is temporary would address a key concern of many Brexit-supporting members of her party who fear it could lock Britain into EU rules indefinitely.

Brexit-supporting members of May's Conservative Party have been conspicuous by their silence about the shift from aiming to replace the backstop, as they demanded, to a legal addendum.

May, once a reluctant supporter of EU membership who won the top job in the political chaos following the 2016 referendum, has promised to give lawmakers a chance to decide what to do about Brexit on Feb. 27 unless she can bring back a deal.

A second diplomat, briefed on the May-Juncker talks, confirmed the EU would only signal this was the direction of travel, rather than offering a precise text, before May faces another vote in parliament.

"The parliament needs first to indicate clearly this option would then gain their support in the form of ratifying the Brexit deal. If they do that, we hone out exact words in the second week of March and it goes to the summit for approval."

Otherwise, the summit of all EU national leaders that is due on March 21-22 in Brussels, would have to agree a Brexit delay for Britain beyond March 29, sources in the bloc said, to delay the worst-case scenario of an abrupt split without a deal.

May will have a further chance to lobby EU leaders at the weekend in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh during an EU-Arab League summit focused on migration, trade and security.

British lawmakers voted 432-202 against her deal on Jan. 15, the worst defeat in modern British parliamentary history.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, Britain is ensnared in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project that it joined in 1973.

Juncker said failure to agree an orderly divorce would be economically devastating.

"If no deal were to happen, and I cannot exclude this, this would have terrible economic and social consequences in Britain and on the continent," he said. "But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue."

(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Andrew MacAskill in London; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge Editing by Alison Williams and Frances Kerry)
MELBOURNE, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Australia's three east coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants are unlikely to ever run at their combined full capacity of 25.3 million tonnes a year as there is not enough gas to feed them and meet local demand, a study released on Thursday said.

The three plants - Queensland Curtis LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and Gladstone LNG - were the world's first LNG exporters to use coal seam gas rather than gas from conventional fields.

But the wells they source their gas from in Australia's Surat and Bowen basins in Queensland state have turned out to be less productive than expected.

As a result, the three plants - each with two processing units - have been running below capacity, operating at average 82 percent in 2018.

"Unfortunately, there are serious headwinds coming and the outlook is less rosy as the industry over-reached by building three projects of six trains," EnergyQuest CEO Graeme Bethune said in a statement.

QCLNG, run by Royal Dutch Shell averaged 87 percent capacity, and GLNG, run by Santos, only 65 percent, EnergyQuest, an industry consultancy, said.

In a detailed study of government and company drilling and production data and reserves booked at coal seam gas (CSG) prospects and licenses, it found that only 56 percent of booked proven and probable reserves had shown any commercial productivity.

"The emerging and critical shortages are resulting from the fact the CSG LNG projects were sanctioned on ambitious estimates of proved and probable (2P) reserves, not proven reserves (1P) that underpin conventional LNG projects," Bethune said.

He predicted that by 2025 at least two trains would have to be shut to keep four trains running at full capacity, which would reduce medium-term exports to around 17 million tonnes a year, down from about 21 million tonnes in 2018.

About 70 percent of exports go to China, 16 percent to South Korea and 9 percent to Japan.

Exacerbating the problem, the producers have come under pressure to step up gas sales into the domestic market, with supply in Australia's southeast falling as ageing offshore fields dry up and as states restrict drilling onshore.

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The three projects supplied about 25 percent of Australia's eastern demand in 2018.

"With dwindling production from southern gas fields, the political pressure on the LNG producers to divert gas to the domestic market is likely to intensify," Bethune said.

($1 = 1.3961 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Richard Pullin)










A New York lawyer-turned-artist has combined the ancient technique of collage and a modern U.S. Supreme Court opinion into a work of art celebrating the career of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.



Geoffrey Stein is showing the 30-by-30-inch collage, "R.B.G. 2019," at Denise Bibro Fine Art in New York City. Ginsburg's 1996 opinion in United States v. Virginia, which struck down the male-only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute, is the material for the collage. Stein worked with acrylic and pencil on canvas.



"I thought this was a great time to celebrate her career and her presence on the court," Stein said in an interview. He said it took him about a month to finish the piece.



A graduate of Albany Law School, Stein, who has an MFA from London's Slade School of Fine Art, began painting full time in 2000. He earlier practiced insurance law at a number of firms, his last being Mendes & Mount. He said he struggled to squeeze in art classes on nights and weekends while practicing law.



Patricia Poglinco, his wife whom he met in law school, tired of hearing him complain about being a lawyer and told him to make a choice, Stein said. Poglinco is partner at New York's Seward & Kissel, where she is co-head of the investment management group.



"There was a lot of really good tough love there," Stein said. "I had spent about 10 years thinking about it and failing to combine the practice of law and doing my art. It's hard to blow off a brief for attending a class." His wife, he said, was very supportive of his decision to choose art.





R.B.G, 2019 Collage material from U.S. v. Virginia. Artist: Geoffrey Stein. Courtesy photo





Breaking away from law is hard, Stein said. "When you tell people, 'I'm a lawyer,' that's the end of the discussion. They know who you are. But say, 'I'm an artist,' and what does that mean? Do you paint paintings or do you sit there and get stoned? It's a more complicated engagement."



Stein, admitted to the New York bar in 1987, has no regrets about his choice, but he did keep his law license. "I figured if I ever had to practice, I could do it," he said. "I worked for a defense firm doing med mal and asbestos defense, and then insurance defense. It's a very civilized practice."



In making collages, Stein said he tries to use materials from the subject's world, similar to the signifier that appears in Renaissance portraits. In 2009, Stein put together a portrait seriesIrrational Exuberancewhen the nation's economy was in dire straits. He used text from the Wall Street Journal for portraits of Tim Geithner, Alan Greenspan, Sheila Bair and others involved in the economic crash. When the Dodd-Frank Act was passed, in 2010, the text from the bill served to create a portrait of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. Later, a Donald Trump collage used the legal papers from Trump's third bankruptcy.



The Trump collage took six weeks "and I felt like I was being abused going in every day to work on it," Stein said. "I did another Trump on a stop sign. Who knew you could buy a stop sign? I wanted to get out of the Trump business. I wanted to do something of someone I respected and that made me happy and proudit was Justice Ginsburg."



When he was considering a Ginsburg collage, Stein had to choose between the justice's earlier career as an advocate and her tenure on the bench. "Ultimately I decided I would go with the Supreme Court. The Virginia case is one I had heard about and seemed a good place to start. Once I got the case, there was more than enough material," Stein said.



The collage is on display now, until March 2, at Denise Bibro Fine Art in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.



Ginsburg returned to Virginia Military Institute in 2017 to talk about her ruling, and the knowledge that the decision "would make VMI a better place." Ginsburg recounted how she and the late Justice Antonin Scalia shared and reviewed more than a dozen drafts, going back and forth "like ping-pongs." Scalia opened his dissent with the line: "VMI is dead."



Ginsburg said in the 2017 discussion: "One of the exhilarating things for me in my lifetime is to see how the military has opened opportunities for women."



Stein said his favorite medium is "what I'm doing at the time," but he does a lot of collage. He is thinking about doing portraits of some of the Democratic presidential hopefuls and, he added, "I'd love to get some commissions from lawyers who want their best case or brief as part of their self portraits."









Story continues

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Justice Ginsburg Returns to the Supreme Court With Vigor



Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lauding #MeToo, Spurns 'Boys Will Be Boys'



Justice Ginsburg: 'The Returns Aren't In. This Was One Term'



Colbert Asked RBG Whether a Hotdog Is a Sandwich. Here's What You Say



Ginsburg Visits Military Institute Whose Doors She Opened to Women
Fort Worth, TX, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Water Now, Inc. (OTCQB: WTNW), a world leader in water purication, in conjunction withAsia Pacic Prime Corporation, attended and exhibited at the 39th annual Philippine Association of Water Districts annual exposition held in Iloilo City, Philippines February 7-9, 2019.

Asia Pacic Prime Corporation CEO Gene Rojas explained, Clean, safe drinking water is obviously a critical concern of every single person in the world. In the Philippines it takes on extra urgency because of the frequency of natural disasters ranging from typhoons to volcanic eruptions. When commercial power is interrupted, people are left without reliable sources of clean water. The Aqua 125 was a big hit with the many water districts that saw the system at the expo.

Water Now, Inc. supports all of Oceana, including the Philippines, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, Rota, Palau, and other South Pacic states through its distributor, Guam based Asia Pacic Prime Corporation.

Learn more about Water Now, Inc. and its incredible family of life saving water purication products at www.waternowinc.com .




(Bloomberg) -- It would be odd for Apple Inc. to offer a jointly developed credit card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and not with Synchrony Financial, MoffettNathanson analyst Lisa Ellis said, since Synchrony dominates the market for co-brand offerings.

Goldman must be offering Apple a very good deal, Ellis said by email. She added that the Goldman partnership makes the card more risky for Apple, as it would be Goldmans first foray into a consumer credit card. The card could blow up on them, particularly if we head into a macroeconomic slowdown.

Ellis also said that theres nothing about what Apple is launching that makes it look like it will be particularly successful. She noted that there are many co-brand cards, which are typically niche offerings that appeal to a particular segment of consumers, while big co-brands, like the Marriott/Starwood, Costco, and Delta airline cards, carry heavy rewards. She expected this new card may appeal to consumers who are Apple zealots.

While there is clearly opportunity for Apple to play in financials, news, and video, there is also significant competition and much greater room for Apple to mis-execute, KeyBanc analyst Josh Beck wrote in a note. This increases risk to the brand that we believe offsets the profit potential based on details we have seen so far, he said. He didnt expect any material change to processing economics, which pointed to minimal impact for Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.

While this move makes a great deal of sense for Goldman it is unlikely to create any profits for the company for the foreseeable future, Odeons Richard Bove wrote in a note. Moreover, it could actually create a minor drag on earnings for the next couple of years.

If Goldmans Marcus were to eventually gain better access to Apple customers, that might increase the competition for marketplace lender LendingClub Corp., Beck said. Shares of LendingClub, which were battered on Wednesday amid concerns about the companys results, extended losses on Thursday, falling as much as 5.3 percent.

Story continues

The Apple-Goldman card, which is set to run on Mastercard Inc.s network rails, may be marginally positive for Mastercard and neutral-minus for Visa Inc., Ellis said, as it poses nothing threatening to Visas business model, just a minor co-brand win for Mastercard.

It may be a modest negative for PayPal Holdings Inc., as its another indication that Apple is continuing to invest in payments, and neutral-minus for Square Inc., as Square is pushing into consumer financial health services as part of its Square Cash Wallet. It also may have no impact for acquirers Worldpay Inc., First Data Corp., and Global Payments Inc.

Ellis is keeping an eye on what financial health features Apple may roll out in the Apple Wallet as part of the card launch. If those features are good, and are available across any/all cards stored in the Apple Wallet, not just the Apple co-brand, then it would make the Apple Wallet, in conjunction with Apple Pay, potentially more threatening to PayPal.

The overall ongoing trend is that the wallets -- PayPal, Apple Wallet, and Amazon Pay -- continue to look for ways to provide bank-lite services to get consumers to spend more time in their wallets, and less in their banking apps, Ellis said.

Apple shares fell about 0.3 percent in Thursday mid-day trading, while Goldmans were down as much as 1.4 percent, as the broader market edged lower. Visa and Mastercard were both down as much as 1.1 percent, while PayPal rose 0.8 percent and Square fell about 2.3 percent.

In May, it was reported that Goldman was said to be issuing Apples new co-brand credit card, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the investment bank deepened its push into consumer finance.

(Updates to add analysts comments in fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs. Updates share trading in 10th paragraph.)

--With assistance from Jenny Surane.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felice Maranz in New York at fmaranz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Sebastian Silva, Janet Freund

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
U.S. trade officials have threatened to enact tariffs on China on March 1, barring a deal between the two economic powers. Now U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated that the deadline is squishy. Its not a magical date, he told reporters on Tuesday, in a statement that undercuts the stance of his top trade official.

The U.S. and China have been ratcheting up, then ratcheting down their rhetoric, tariffs, and threats of more tariffs for the better part of a year. Just last week, Trump told reporters that there was a possibility that hed extend the cut-off date, depending on how trade negotiations go.

The statements undermine his top trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer, who said in late January: The deadline is March 1. That is the deadline.

If the deadline is extended, [China] could be asked for a great deal more in exchange for a little time, Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad told the Wall Street Journal. That could be to the advantage of the U.S. But a delay might also undermine the credibility of the negotiating team.

The U.S. extended the January 1 deadline to March 1 after Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in December. Both sides believe that the principled agreement reached between the two presidents has effectively prevented the further expansion of economic frictions between the two countries, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said after that meeting.

In his remarks to reporters Tuesday, Trump said, They are very complex talks. Theyre going very well. Stocks rose late in the day.
Based on new data published today in the journal Science, it seems increasingly likely that an asteroid or comet impact 66 million years ago reignited massive volcanic eruptions in India, half a world away from the impact site in the Caribbean Sea.

But it leaves unclear to what degree the two catastrophes contributed to the near-simultaneous mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs and many other forms of life.

The research sheds light on huge lava flows that have erupted periodically over Earth's history, and how they have affected the atmosphere and altered the course of life on the planet.

In the study, University of California, Berkeley, scientists report the most precise and accurate dates yet for the intense volcanic eruptions in India that coincided with the worldwide extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period, the so-called K-Pg boundary. The million-year sequence of eruptions spewed lava flows for distances of at least 500 kilometers across the Indian continent, creating the so-called Deccan Traps flood basalts that in some places are nearly 2 kilometers thick.

"Now that we have dated Deccan Traps lava flows in more and different locations, we see that the transition seems to be the same everywhere. I would say, with pretty high confidence, that the eruptions occurred within 50,000 years, and maybe 30,000 years, of the impact, which means they were synchronous within the margin of error," said Paul Renne, a professor-in-residence of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and senior author of the study, which will appear online Feb. 21. "That is an important validation of the hypothesis that the impact renewed lava flows."

The new dates also confirm earlier estimates that the lava flows continued for about a million years, but contain a surprise: three-quarters of the lava erupted after the impact. Previous studies suggested that about 80 percent of the lava erupted before the impact.

If most of the Deccan Traps lava had erupted before the impact, then gases emitted during the eruptions could have been the cause of global warming within the last 400,000 years of the Cretaceous Period, during which temperatures increased, on average, about 8 degrees Celsius (14.4 degrees Fahrenheit). During this period of warming, species would have evolved suited to hothouse conditions, only to be confronted by global cooling from the dust or by climate cooling gases caused by either the impact or the volcanos.

The cold would have been a shock from which most creatures would never have recovered, disappearing entirely from the fossil record: literally, a mass extinction.

But if most of the Deccan Traps lava emerged after the impact, this scenario needs rethinking.

"This changes our perspective on the role of the Deccan Traps in the K-Pg extinction," said first author Courtney Sprain, a former UC Berkeley doctoral student who is now a postdoc at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. "Either the Deccan eruptions did not play a role - which we think unlikely - or a lot of climate-modifying gases were erupted during the lowest volume pulse of the eruptions."

The hypothesis that climate-altering volcanic gases leak out of underground magma chambers frequently, and not just during eruptions, is supported by evidence from present-day volcanos, such as those of the gas-spewing Mt. Etna in Italy and Popocatepetl in Mexico, the researchers said. Magma stewing below the surface is known to transmit gases to the atmosphere, even without eruptions.

"We are suggesting that it is very likely that a lot of the gases that come from magma systems precede eruptions; they don't necessarily correlate with eruptions," Renne said. In the case of the K-Pg extinction, the symptoms of significant climate change occurred before the peak in volcanic eruptions.

Flood basalts

Renne, Sprain and their colleagues are using a precise dating method, argon-argon dating, to determine when the impact occurred and when the Deccan Traps erupted to clarify the sequence of catastrophes at the end of the Cretaceous Period and beginning of the Tertiary Period - the K-Pg boundary, formerly referred to as the K-T boundary.

In 2013, using rocks from Montana, they obtained the most precise date yet for the impact, and in 2018, they updated that to 66,052,000 years ago, give or take 8,000 years. Then, in 2015, they determined from a handful of samples in India that, in at least one spot, the peak of the Deccan Traps eruptions occurred within about 50,000 years of that date, which means, in geologic time, that the incidents were basically simultaneous.

Now, with three times more rock samples from areas covering more of the Deccan Traps, the researchers have established that the time of peak eruptions was the same across much of the Indian continent. This supports the group's hypothesis that the asteroid impact triggered super-earthquakes that caused a strong burst of volcanism in India, which is almost directly opposite the impact site, the Chicxulub crater in the Caribbean Sea.

Sprain and Renne argue that the coincident catastrophes likely delivered a one-two punch to life on Earth, but the details are unclear. Volcanic eruptions produce lots of gases, but some, like carbon dioxide and methane, warm the planet, while others, like sulfur aerosols, are cooling. The impact itself would have sent dust into the atmosphere that blocked sunlight and cooled the Earth, though no one knows for how long.

"Both the impact and Deccan volcanism can produce similar environmental effects, but these are occurring on vastly differing timescales," Sprain said. "Therefore, to understand how each agent contributed to the extinction event, assessing timing is key."

Which gases in the Deccan Traps are emitted when is a question that's hard to answer, because there are no flood basalt eruptions going on today, despite numerous ones in Earth's history. The most recent, near the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, dwindled 15 million years ago after 400,000 years of eruptions.

The paucity of information about flood basalts is one reason Renne and Sprain are interested in the Deccan Traps, which are still young enough to contain information about the sequence, effects and scale of the eruptions, and perhaps the cause.

"It makes we wonder whether we may see some external forcing mechanism, like the impact for the Deccan Traps, for other flood basalts that lead up to major peaks in eruptions, like the Columbia River basalts or the Siberian Traps," Renne said. "Could a major earthquake in nearby subduction zones or the accumulation of pressure due to rising magma unleash these major episodes in flood basalts?"

Sprain noted that, in the same issue of Science, a research group at Princeton University also will publish new dates related to the Deccan Traps, some of which differ from those of the Berkeley group. Whereas the Berkeley group dated the mineral plagioclase from the actual lava flows, the Princeton group dated zircons in the sediment deposited between flows. Because it's unclear where the zircons came from, however, those dates provide only a maximum age for the lava, she said.

###

Other co-authors of the paper are volcanologist Stephen Self and graduate student Tushar Mittal of UC Berkeley, Loyc Vanderkluysen of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Kanchan Pande of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai, India. The work was funded by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, UC Berkeley's Esper S. Larsen Fund, Heising-Simons Foundation, National Science Foundation (EAR-1615021, EAR-1615203 and EAR-1615003) and Berkeley Geochronology Center.
New study reveals functional changes among sensitive and motor brain areas after limb amputation, shedding light on the mechanisms behind the false idea that the limb is still present.

After a limb amputation, brain areas responsible for movement and sensation alter their functional communication. This is the conclusion of a new study published today in Scientific Reports. According to the authors, from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the findings may help to understand why some patients report phantom sensations and others do not.

Entitled "Lower limb amputees undergo long-distance plasticity in sensorimotor functional connectivity", the study represents a step forward a complete comprehension of a phenomenon called brain plasticity, which means the brain's ability to change itself in response to daily life situations. This ability is greater during the early stages of development but is still critical for learning, memory and behavior throughout our whole life. Investigating the underpinnings of brain plasticity is the key to develop new treatments against mental disorders.

In order to go deeper on that, neuroscientists from Brazil decided to investigate the brain after lower limb amputation. In a previous study from the group, a magnetic resonance imaging experiment revealed that the brain overreacts when the stump is touched. Also, they found that the corpus callosum - brain structure that connects cortical areas responsible for movement and sensations - loses its strength. These findings have raised curiosity about what would be the impact of an impaired corpus callosum on the cortical areas it connects.

Led by Fernanda Tovar-Moll, radiologist and president at IDOR, researchers investigated the differences in functional connectivity (i.e. the communication of brain areas) among motor and sensitive areas connected by the corpus callosum in nine lower limb amputees and nine healthy volunteers.

The results showed that authors' idea was correct: in response to the touch on the stump, sensitive and motor areas of patients' brains exhibited an abnormal pattern of communication among the right and left hemispheres, probably as a consequence of impaired corpus callosum. In addition, sensitive and motor areas of the same hemisphere showed increased functional communication in amputees.

"The brain changes in response to amputation have been investigated for years in those patients who report the phantom limb pain. However, our findings show that there is a functional imbalance even in the absence of pain, in patients reporting only phantom sensations", explains Ivanei Bramati, medical physicist and Ph.D. student at IDOR.

According to the authors, understanding the changes of neural networks in response to the amputation can pave the way for the development of new technologies and devices to treat this disorder and offer patients a better quality of life.

###

Reference

Ivanei E. Bramati, Erika C. Rodrigues, Elington L. Simoes, Bruno Melo, Sebastian Hoefle, Jorge Moll, Roberto Lent & Fernanda Tovar-Moll. Lower limb amputees undergolong-distance plasticity in sensorimotor functional connectivity. Scientific Reports, volume 9, Article number: 2518 (2019).
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a new blood test for genetic disorders that may allow parents to learn about the health of their baby as early as 11 weeks into pregnancy.

The simple blood test lets doctors diagnose genetic disorders in fetuses early in pregnancy by sequencing small amounts of DNA in the mother's and the father's blood. A computer algorithm harnessing the results of the sequencing would then produce a "map" of the fetal genome, predicting mutations with 99% or better accuracy depending on the mutation type.

Prof. Noam Shomron of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine led the research, which was conducted by TAU graduate student Tom Rabinowitz with Avital Polsky, Artem Danilevsky, Guy Shapira and Chen Raff, all from Prof. Shomron's lab. The study is a collaboration with Dr. David Golan of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Prof. Lina Basel-Salmon and Dr. Reut Tomashov-Matar of Rabin Medical Center. It was published on February 20 in the journal Genome Research.

"Noninvasive prenatal tests are already available for chromosome disorders such as Down syndrome," Prof. Shomron says. "Our new procedure is based on fetal DNA fragments that circulate freely in maternal blood and bears only a minimal risk for the mother and fetus compared with such invasive techniques as the amniotic fluid test. We will now be able to identify numerous mutations and diseases in a safe and simple procedure available at the doctor's office.

"The genetic mechanism behind Down syndrome affects a very large portion of the genome and therefore is easier to detect," Prof. Shomron explains. "We performed upgraded noninvasive fetal genotyping, using a novel approach and an improved algorithm, to detect many other diseases that are caused by smaller parts of the genome. This is like looking at a map of the world and noticing not only that a continent is missing, but also that a single house is missing.

"The practical applications are endless: a single blood test that would detect a wide range of genetic diseases, such as Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis and many others."

Prof. Shomron and colleagues tested blood samples from three families at Rabin Medical Center in the 11th week of gestation. They extracted maternal and paternal DNA from their white blood cells and fetal DNA from a placental cell sample. They also extracted circulating cell-free fetal DNA from the maternal blood.

"We sequenced all these DNA samples and created a computer algorithm that utilizes the parental DNA as well as the cell-free fetal DNA to reconstruct the fetal genome and predict mutations," says Prof. Shomron. "We compared our predictions to the true fetal DNA originating from the placenta. Our model is the first to predict small inherited insertions and deletions. The method described can serve as a general framework for noninvasive prenatal diagnoses."

The researchers are working on further improving the accuracy of the method and extending it to detect even more types of mutations.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. TAU is ranked ninth in the world, and first in Israel, for producing start-up founders of billion-dollar companies, an achievement that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,500 US patents have been filed by Tel Aviv University researchers -- ranking TAU #1 in Israel, #10 outside of the US and #43 in the world.
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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOVA LEAP HEALTH CORP. (TSXV: NLH) ("Nova Leap" or the "Company"), a company focused on the home health care industry, is pleased to announce it has achieved the #10 ranking in the 2019 TSX Venture 50 in the Clean Technology & Life Sciences sector. The TSX Venture 50 is the TSX Venture Exchanges annual ranking of Canadas top 50 emerging publicly traded companies.

We are pleased to have been recognized as one of the top performing companies in the TSX Venture Exchange, said Chris Dobbin, President & CEO of Nova Leap Health Corp. This recognition stems from having talented people in the U.S. and Canada to execute on our strategy. We remain steadfast to our long-term plan of building a very large multi-national organization aimed at providing high-quality home care to our current clients and to those that will require assistance in the future.

The TSX Venture 50 acknowledges the top 10 performing companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in five industry sectors: mining, oil & gas, clean technology & life sciences, diversified industries, and technology. The winners are selected based on three equally weighted criteria: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation and trading volume. The TSXV created a video profile on Nova Leap and other 2019 TSX Venture 50 winners, available at www.tsx.com/venture50.

About Nova Leap

The Home Care Providers industry is becoming one of the fastest growing healthcare industries in the United States and Canada. Home care saves patients billions of dollars every year by treating them in their own homes instead of in hospitals. An aging population, the prevalence of chronic disease, growing physician acceptance of home care, medical advancements and a movement toward cost-efficient treatment options from public and private payers have all fostered industry growth. Nova Leap is focused on a highly fragmented market of small privately-held companies providing patients one on one care in their homes. Nova Leap's post acquisition organic growth strategy is to increase annual revenue per location through a combination of increased employee investment, including training, focused sales and marketing efforts, billing rate increases, expansion of geographical coverage, and improved referral sources.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION:

Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com .

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
DORADO, Puerto Rico, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In todays press release issued by GSRX Industries Inc. (OTCQB: GSRX), weve been informed by the company the date in the first paragraph should be Thursday, February 21, 2019 instead of Thursday, February 19, 2019. Completed Corrected text follows.

GSRX Industries Investor Webinar on February 21 to Provide Update on Recent Developments

GSRX Industries Inc. (OTCQB: GSRX) (GSRX or, the Company) announced today that it will participate in an investor webinar and Q&A session on Thursday, February 21, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. EST hosted by RedChip Companies.



The webinar will feature a presentation by Christian Briggs, Chairman of GSRX, who will discuss recent developments, including the Companys entrance into the CBD space, as well as key upcoming milestones.

To view the webinar, please visit: https://www.redchip.com/events/38/GSRX-Industries-Webinar

About GSRX Industries Inc.

GSRX Industries Inc. (OTCQB: GSRX), through its subsidiaries, is in the business of acquiring, developing and operating retail cannabis dispensaries, and is in the process of expanding its business to include the cultivation, extraction, manufacture and delivery of cannabis and cannabinoid products. Currently, GSRX operates five cannabis dispensaries in Puerto Rico under the name Green Spirit RX, one dispensary in California under the name The Green Room, and has five additional pre-qualified locations in Puerto Rico, all of which are in various phases of development and construction. GSRX also owns and operates the e-commerce site GetPureAndNatural.com, which offers a broad range of pharmaceutical grade CBD products.

Websites:

Green Spirit RX https://www.greenspiritrx.com/

Spirulinex https://www.spirulinex.com

Get Pure and Natural GetPureAndNatural.com



Instagram:

Spirulinex https://www.instagram.com/spirulinex/

The Green Room https://www.instagram.com/greenroommendo/

Facebook:

Green Spirit RX (Puerto Rico) https://www.facebook.com/Green-Spirit-Rx-746194692378429/

Spirulinex https://www.facebook.com/spirulinex/

The Green Room https://www.facebook.com/greenroommendo/



Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements include statements regarding our expectations, hopes, beliefs or intentions regarding the future, including but not limited to statements regarding our market, strategy, competition, development plans (including acquisitions and expansion), financing, anticipated revenues, operations, and compliance with applicable laws. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in any such statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include the risks described in greater detail in the following paragraphs. All forward-looking statements in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except where applicable law requires us to update these statements. Market data used throughout this prospectus is based on published third party reports or the good faith estimates of management, which estimates are based upon their review of internal surveys, independent industry publications and other publicly available information.



Contact:

Bruce Haase

RedChip Companies

bruce@redchip.com

407-644-4256, ext. 131




Oxford PhD scores success thanks to challenges from her teacher

VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Tue Anh, PhD, researcher at Oxford University, is not only famous for her research in public services and infrastructure, but also for activities to help young people.









Ms Nguyen Tue Anh









Leaving Vietnam at the age of 15, Nguyen Tue Anh is now a researcher in public policy at Oxford University.



Anhs working days are busy. She gets up at 4 am to catch the train and finishes her working day at 11 pm.



I have an old soul



Anhs father is a professor of economics and her mother is a finance & accountancy expert.



Anh said she likes reading books. At 30, she describes herself as having an old soul as she likes philosophy books.





Nguyen Tue Anh, PhD, researcher at Oxford University, is not only famous for her research in public services and infrastructure, but also for activities to help young people.



I have read books since I was small. My parents never refused any of my requests on books, including the thickest and most expensive, she said.



Anh always keeps one book in her handbag which she reads when she has free time.



Her daughter, Panda, 6, also likes reading books. The first grader now has two bookcases with 400 books.



Studying economics to better understand social issues



When her father asked Anh, who was about to go abroad to study, if she was aware of problems that could arise, Anh replied I am ready.



Anh decided to study economics as there were many issues about life and society that she was interested in.



I believe that everything in society has relations with the economy. Therefore, if you understand economic issues, you will better understand social matters, she said.



I am grateful to the challenges issued by my teacher



Anh visited a professor on the first day of her course for her masters degree and asked him: Will you become my instructor if I can obtain a scholarship? The professor lectures about energy policy were admired by Anh.



The professor said he would consider it. The reply was considered by the young student as a challenge and she vowed to become his student, though the professor did not accept many students, especially master level students.



Finally, the professor accepted her request, but told her to do everything herself without his help. You can do this, you will be able to prove your capability, the professor said.



Anh fulfilled her dissertation which was later recognized as Best Postgraduate Dissertation. The award gave her a chance to deliver a speech at a conference of the World Energy Economic Organization.





RELATED NEWS

Vietnams universities make breakthrough in publishing scientific articles

Health minister gets Oxfords visiting professor title again





Nguyen Thao
Kitchener, ON, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diva International Inc. (Diva) is continuing to break the stigma on periods by launching a new North American campaign, dubbed Inner Revolution. To create more positive conversations around periods and to raise awareness about alternative menstrual products, Diva teamed up with TAXI Vancouver for a brand overhaul that would cut through period standards and cliches and encourage people to join the Inner Revolution. The advertising campaign kicks-off with a Times Square takeover on Monday, February 25, followed by TV, print, out of home, radio, social and digital ads across North America.



As a Certified B corporation, Diva has been a leader in the reusable menstrual care category for over 15 years with its revolutionary, bell-shaped menstrual cup  the DivaCup. A homegrown business founded by a mother and daughter team, the DivaCup has had a loyal base of followers from the beginning, but needed to amplify its message to a wider audience. Eco-friendly, reusable and wearable for up to 12 hours, the DivaCup is the Inner Revolution people need, as the average person will use over 11,000 disposable, one-time-use menstrual products in their lifetime.



Weve always believed in championing sustainable options for a better period experience. Our brand was created to provide a revolutionary product that would start authentic conversations and help to dispel period stigma, says Carinne Chambers-Saini, CEO and Co-Founder of Diva. TAXI took our core values and created a campaign that embodies the spirit of what the DivaCup represents. We are so proud to be sharing the message of the Inner Revolution and cant wait to see the energy it creates!



In conjunction with the campaign launch, Diva has evolved its packaging and kept elements of the iconic design, including the colours, script, name and the window to showcase the product to the curious. Starting mid-March, this new contemporary look and feel will be incorporated at retail and online. The packaging design uses materials that are 100 per cent recyclable.



About Diva International Inc.

Diva International Inc., maker of the DivaCup, revolutionized the international menstrual care industry in 2003 by being the first-to-market menstrual cup brand, making it a category leader. The DivaCup is the eco-friendly, cost effectiveand leak-free way to experience total period comfort. DivaCups mission is to champion period enlightenment by creating a better period experience for everyone. In addition to product innovation, Diva works to invest knowledge, time and resources in educational, community and international organizations that offer healthcare, empowerment and menstrual health education around the world.



Attachment
Washington: On Wednesday, US authorities imposed sanctions on an Indian man and his parents for their roles in an alleged global smuggling network for heroin, opioids and other drugs. The US Treasury Department said Jasmeet Hakimzada, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, is a "significant foreign narcotics trafficker" who since 2008 has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars. "Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world," Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement "This action is a result of years of effort with our US and foreign partners."



also read Bangladesh:56 people died in a huge fire on chemical warehouses

It is to be noted that Treasury designated Hakimzada's parents, who also live in the UAE, as traffickers, describing the father as his "primary" trafficking and laundering partner and the mother as an officer for two front companies in India. Treasury said Hakimzada has allegedly smuggled heroin, cocaine, ephedrine, ketamine and synthetic opioids into the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

also read 'Don't mess with my country' reads Pakistan PM Imran Khan's facebook post
NEW DELHI: On Wednesday Former Pakistan Prime Minister Pervez Musharaff accepted Jaish-e-Mohammed's role in the Pulwama terror attack that claimed lives of over 40 jawans. In an interview to a private news channel on Wednesday, Musharaff expressed grief over the attack and condemned it. Calling it a terrible, the former Pakistan PM said, It is terrible. We regret and we condemn it. There is no sympathy that I will have I was attacked by a Jaish cadre. I don't think even Imran Khan would have sympathy for (Jaish).

However, He is firmly maintained that Pakistan had no role in the attack. Maulana did it, Jaish did it but let us not blame the (Pakistan) government... There should be a joint investigation team and get the details. And if the government is involved it will be regrettable."

also read Killed jawans wont get martyr status but anil Ambani get a gift of Rs 30000: RaGa

He said in a veiled reference to the nation's economic crisis The condition in which Pakistan is, I don't think the government will get into such a situation,. Musharaff further added that action should be taken against the banned terror outfit JeM. They should be banned.

On February 14, over 2000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district. The attack resulted in the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel and injured many others. JeM claimed responsibility for the attack and Kashmiri local Adil Ahmad Dar was identified as the suicide bomber.

According to intelligence agencies, the RDX used to attack the bus was procured by Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi and handed over to JeM operatives. The process of collecting RDX reportedly began in March 2018 and the explosives were smuggled using backpacks, cylinders and coal bags to Tral village of Pulwama mainly by women and children.

In the aftermath of the attack, three Jaish terrorists were killed by armed forces in a 16-hour operation in Pulwama's Pinglan area, 12 km from the spot of the February 14 attack. An Army major and four security personnel also lost their lives.

India also withdrew the status of the Most Favoured Nation to Pakistan.

also read Builders of modern India Maulana Abul Kalam Azad death anniversary, Today
New Delhi:In the wake of coward terror arrack in Pulwama, a ceramic factory in Morbi district of Gujarat has found a unique way to protest against neighbouring country Pakistan. The company started manufacturing tiles with the inscription 'Pakistan Murdabad'

A Pakistani prisoner lodged in Rajasthan's Jaipur Central Jail was found dead

Company manufactures the tiles which feature Pakistan's national flag in the background and are inscribed with Pakistan Murdabad'. According to reports tiles will be used for the construction of public toilets in protest against Pakistan supporting terrorist groups.

Going viral : Morbi ceramic industry are producing tiles with print Pakistan Murdabad which will be distributed for free of cost for use in construction of public toilets.

Proud of you Morbi Ceramics. #PulwamaTerrorAttack @SureshNakhua @TajinderBagga @girirajsinghbjp pic.twitter.com/fla47zFBNK  Adv. Dhaval Nakhva (@dhaval8456) February 19, 2019

factory owner Suresh Kasundra tol ANI said, We are doing it to register our protest against Pakistan. We will increase the production of tiles with demand. Now, these tiles will be used in public toilets of Morbi. But, if we get demand from the other places then we will provide it to them for free as well.

Today, a sessions court start hearing in the Sunanda Pushkar death case

Entire nation is an state of sock and anger after the Pulwama attack. Nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed when their convoy was rammed by an explosive-laden SUV by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based and backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Ankiti Bose was just 23 years old when she chatted with Dhruv Kapoor, then 24, at a house party in India's tech capital, Beganluru, around five years ago. Bose and Kapoor, both software engineers, quickly realized that they had similar interests and ambitions which would later lead to the inception of an incredibly successful start up.



Four months later, they had quit their jobs and each had invested Rs 20 lakhs in savings, to find Zilingo, an online platform which allows the merchants in South East Asia to build their business. Now the Singapore based Zilingo has grown into a major company whose net worth is estimated to be in the millions. That makes 27-years-old Ankiti one of the youngest female chief executives to lead a start up. What makes her achievement amazing is the fact that there are just 23 start ups, in the world, that are founded by women. The success saga of Zilingo continues as the popularity of the online shopping keeps increasing.

It was one of her trips to Bangkok which changed Ankitis life as it made her realize the incredible scope of the online shopping. The small scale sellers lacked technological knowledge and this posed a challenge for the company initially. The company gave prime importance to make the sellers acquaint with the latest technology by introducing software. Since setting up their presence in Thailand and Cambodia for the first time, Zilingo has offices in eight countries with more than 400 employees. It operates e-commerce in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines and would soon launch in Australia as well.

Ankiti was raised in India and was constantly on the move owing to her father's job at an oil company. It exposed her to different cultures and languages and taught her to seamlessly adapt with various situations. Her mother, who was a college professor, left her job to concentrate on Ankiti's education. Economics and mathematics were Ankiti's favourite subjects. She landed a coveted job at one of the leading multinational companies, immediately after completing her education.

She took the plunge into start up after carefully observing and studying many leading start ups, to gain enough expertise. "As a kid, I kept raising my hand and said, Teach me everything. It must be that attitude which helped me later. I worked hard, often working 18 hours a day. It was all for Zilingo, which is growing on a rapid pace," says Ankiti.
Washington: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left in November 2014 to join IS, to return to the US - despite her recent public plea to come back and stand trial in America.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!," Trump tweeted.

Hours earlier, Pompeo declared that Muthana, who is detained in a Kurdish refugee camp, is not an American citizen, reports CNN.

I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the US. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the US," Pompeo said in a statement.

Muthana, now 24, was a college student when she travelled to Syria over four years ago to join IS -- eventually marrying three fighters and calling for the killing of Americans on Twitter.

In a series of interviews this week from a sprawling camp in northern Syria with her infant son, she expressed deep remorse.

"When I left to Syria I was a naive, angry, and arrogant young woman," she said in a handwritten statement provided to CNN by a representative. "To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."

Hassan Shibly, a family representative for Muthana, denied that she was not a citizen, and called the move by the Trump administration to claim otherwise "very dangerous."

According to Shibly, Muthana was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.

"The Trump administration continues its attempts to wrongfully strip citizens of their citizenship," Shibly said in statement.

"Hoda Muthana had a valid US passport and is a citizen. She was born in Hackensack, NJ in October 1994, months after her father stopped being diplomat," he added before later tweeting a picture of what he claimed is Muthana's birth certificate, that appeared to confirm her place and date of birth.

Asked about Muthana's case on Tuesday, State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino noted that "the situation of American citizens or possible American citizens in Syria is by definition extremely complicated and we're looking into these cases to better understand the details."

Palladino would not speak to the specific case, but said that in cases involving "American citizens or potential American citizens or alleged American citizens," US policy "would be to repatriate them, and it's what we call on all countries to do who have (foreign terrorist) fighters in Syria too."

Read more World News
Munich: Two men were shot dead in the southern German city of Munich on Thursday but there were no indications that it was a terrorist attack, a police spokesman said.

Germany has been on high alert since December 2016, when a Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed it into a crowded market place in Berlin, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens.

Police spokesman Sven Mueller said one of the two dead men had fired the shots, adding that nobody else appeared to have been hurt in the incident.

"There is no danger for people there anymore," Mueller said.

Local residents had reported the shots being fired at a construction site on Thursday morning.
Dublin, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Cassava Processing Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2019-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global cassava processing market grew at CAGR of around 2.6% during 2011-2018, reaching a production volume of around 253.4 Million Tons in 2018.



Majority of the population of Africa, Latin America and Asia depends on cassava for sustenance as it provides food as well as occupation to farmers and traders. A major part of cassava is consumed directly and the rest is processed as starch, flour, pellets, chips, etc. Processing of cassava removes the toxins, increases its shelf life, reduces its weight and enhances its overall value. Processed cassava has various applications in a number of industries, some of which include - food, ethanol, paper and cardboard, textiles, pharmaceutical, glues and adhesives.



This latest study has analysed the market on the basis of the end uses of cassava. Food industry accounts for around a half of the total global cassava consumption followed by feed industry. Region-wise, Nigeria is the world's leading producer of cassava accounting for around a fifth of the world's cassava production followed by Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana, Congo and others. The report has also analysed the key global players operating in the cassava processing market.



Some of the players analysed by this report include - Avebe U.A., Global Bio-Chem Technology Group, Emsland Group, Cargill Incorporated and Ingredion.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the cassava market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What are the key regional markets in the global cassava industry?

What are the key application segments in the global cassava industry?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the cassava industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the cassava industry?

What is the structure of the cassava industry and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the cassava processing industry?

What are the profit margins in the cassava processing industry?

What are the key requirements for setting up a cassava processing plant?

How is cassava processed?

What are the various unit operations involved in a cassava processing plant?

What is the total size of land required for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the machinery requirements for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the raw material requirements for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the packaging requirements for cassava?

What are the transportation requirements for cassava?

What are the utility requirements for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the manpower requirements for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the infrastructure costs for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the capital costs for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What are the operating costs for setting up a cassava processing plant?

What will be the income and expenditures for a cassava processing plant?

What is the time required to break-even?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology

2.1 Objectives of the Study

2.2 Stakeholders

2.3 Data Sources

2.4 Market Estimation

2.5 Forecasting Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Cassava Industry

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.2.1 Volume Trends

5.2.2 Value Trends

5.3 Price Trends

5.4 Market Breakup by Region

5.5 Market Breakup by End-Use

5.6 Market Forecast

5.7 SWOT Analysis

5.8 Value Chain Analysis

5.8.1 Raw Material Suppliers

5.8.2 Processors

5.8.3 Distributors

5.8.4 Exporters

5.8.5 End-Users

5.9 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.10 Key Market Drivers and Success Factors



6 Performance of Key Regions

6.1 Nigeria

6.2 Thailand

6.3 Indonesia

6.4 Brazil

6.5 Ghana

6.6 Congo

6.7 Others



7 Market by End-Use

7.1 Food Industry

7.2 Feed Industry

7.3 Others



8 Competitive Landscape



9 Cassava Processing

9.1 Product Overview

9.2 Detailed Process Flow

9.3 Various Types of Unit Operations Involved

9.4 Mass Balance and Raw Material Requirements



10 Project Details, Requirements and Costs Involved

10.1 Land Requirements and Expenditures

10.2 Construction Requirements and Expenditures

10.3 Plant Layout

10.4 Plant Machinery

10.5 Major Machinery Pictures

10.6 Raw Material Requirements and Expenditures

10.7 Raw Material and Final Product Pictures

10.8 Packaging Requirements and Expenditures

10.9 Transportation Requirements and Expenditures

10.10 Utility Requirements and Expenditures

10.11 Manpower Requirements and Expenditures

10.12 Other Capital Investments



11 Loans and Financial Assistance



12 Project Economics

12.1 Capital Cost of the Project

12.2 Techno-Economic Parameters

12.3 Product Pricing and Margins Across Various Levels of the Supply Chain

12.4 Taxation and Depreciation

12.5 Income Projections

12.6 Expenditure Projections

12.7 Financial Analysis

12.8 Profit Analysis



13 Key Player Profiles



Avebe U.A.

Global Bio-Chem Technology Group

Penford Corp

Cargill Incorporated

Ingredion

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/989m6k/global_cassava?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Dhaka: The death toll from a fire in a centuries-old area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, jumped dramatically to 70 on Thursday, a fire official said, and could keep climbing as fire fighters combed the wreckage of the destroyed building.

Large building fires are relatively common in impoverished Bangladesh, due in part to lax regulations, and have killed hundreds of people in recent years.

"So far, 70 bodies have been recovered. The number could rise further as the search is continuing," Julfikar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told Reuters.

The fire started in a four-storey building on Wednesday night and spread to nearby buildings in the Chawkbazar area of Old Dhaka, which dates back to the Mughal period more than 300 years ago.

Rahman said at least 50 people had been taken to hospital, some in critical condition. Hundreds of people rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital to search for missing relatives, witnesses said.

About 200 firefighters fought for more than five hours to bring the blaze under control. They told reporters the building where the fire began had housed a plastics warehouse and contained flammable material.

At least 45 people were injured in the blaze. Photo: Reuters

Rahman said the cause was still under investigation.

He said firefighters had struggled to find enough water to fight the blaze and had to draw supplies from a nearby mosque.

The fire is likely to focus attention on lax enforcement of building safety regulations in Bangladesh, where accidents kill hundreds every year.

The Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 killed more than 1,100 workers and a fire in a garment factory in 2012 killed 112 people.

Read more: Latest World News
Bengaluru: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) Chairman R Madhavan said on Thursday said that the companys morale is intact, finances steady and the image has not been dented as being portrayed in the media.

Taking questions from the media, first time after HAL got embroiled in a series of controversies over the Rafale deal, depleting finances and the recent Mirage crash, Madhavan presented his army of Directors at the media interaction during the second day of the Plane Carnival.

We feel bad when things are reported against us, but it has not affected us. We are more enthusiastic. These incidents do not affect our business, Madhavan said.

He said the financial condition of HAL is very stable and there are no issues as being projected.

Our reserves and surpluses are very good at this point. Our targets are being met, our profitability is increasing. The only issue was the cash flow, because of some receivable delays and budget allocation delays, even they are being sorted out, Madhavan said.

Confirming that the cash flow from the armed forces have begun to come, Madhavan said HAL was expecting more resources to come in before March.

Owing to the financial crunch, HAL had to take a loan of Rs 1,000 crore to pay the salaries of around 30,000 staff in December 2018.

Refusing to comment on the raging Rafale row, HAL chief said since it was a direct purchase (36 aircraft), the company did not have any interest on the same.

If it was the manufacturing, we are interested in it. We are not interested in the offsets in the direct purchases. Also it was a government decision, Madhavan said.

On the Mirage crash, he said HAL will talk only after the court of inquiry was over.

When asked about the status of Sukhoi, Madhavan said the company was hoping to get an additional squadron of the frontline fighters from the Indian Air Force.

HAL said the first flight of the upgraded version of Tejas (Mk1A) will be around 2022 and the company is exploring options to export the product.

We are looking at countries in the Asia pacific and North Africa regions. We are taking our product to other air shows. Only after they evaluate and finalise their specification, we can comment on that, Madhavan said.

He said the additional orders for Tekas Mk1A (83) is expected to come soon with the Defence Ministry currently working out the details.

HAL said it would take at least 3-4 years to complete the Tejas MK1A development. We are yet to receive the order from IAF but parallel with our own funds, we have started going into the developmental activities, Madhavan said.

To a specific query from Onmanrama on the efforts put in by HAL to fix the oft-repeated complaint from the customers on the quality of products, Madhavan said there are a number of internal mechanisms in place to check quality.

We have constant internal quality audits that look into various aspects of production and these are ongoing process, he said.

Read more India News
New Delhi: Jawans of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to take a commercial flight to join duty or while going on leave as the government Thursday issued authorisation orders, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

It said the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh paramilitary personnel of the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector who were otherwise not eligible earlier.

"This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, ie, while going on leave from J-K to home and return," it said.

The facility, it said, is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs where an entire aircraft is booked for the force personnel from either Delhi or Jammu to Srinagar and back.

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in J-K, will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force.
Amaravati: Launching a scathing attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his remarks on Islamabad's claim of it not being involved in the Pulwama terror attack, BJP president Amit Shah Thursday said the former had more faith in Pakistan prime minister than on Narendra Modi.

"Chandrababu endorses what Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan says on Pulwama that his country is not involved in the dastardly attack. He is taking Imran Khan's side in his greed for vote bank politics and is seeking to create doubts on India's prime minister. Don't indulge in such mean and low politics," the BJP president said.

Shah said the people of Andhra Pradesh would seek an answer from Naidu on this in the coming elections.

"Fix a border... how low do you want to stoop in politics," Shah said.

Naidu had Wednesday reportedly said: "Pakistan has made it clear that it has no role in the Pulwama attack. Suspicion is now strengthening across the country that political expediency could be behind the attack. We will not tolerate such things to further political vested interests."

The Telugu Desam Party had initially circulated this message on the Telegram mobile App about Naidu's remarks during the teleconference with party leaders and local television news channels also ran scrolls on it.

Some time later, the message was apparently replaced with another one that read there were 'doubts' on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks.

It said: "There are many doubts on Pakistan Prime Minister's remarks. There is a debate in the country on the remarks by (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee."

"The country's security is in danger due to the inefficiency of the rulers. BJP leaders have ruined the country through their dubious acts," the TDP quoted Chandrababu as saying in the fresh narrative.

During Thursday's rally, Shah again accused Naidu of indulging in gross corruption, particularly in the development of the state's new capital city Amaravati and the multipurpose Polavaram project.

He said the Centre had been giving funds to the state to build these projects, but the state government was indulging in 'large-scale corruption'. "It could not spend the funds for Amaravati or Polavaram," he said.

"I don't know whether or not he gets an award for any achievement, but Chandrababu will surely bag the political deceiver award in the country. He deceived his own father-in-law and TDP founder N T Rama Rao, later Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi. All this only to further his political vested interests," Shah said.
Kasaragod: Some revelations made by the suspects arrested by the police for the twin murders of Youth Congress workers Sharathlal and Kripesh at Periya in Kerala's Kasaragod district nailed the lies of the CPM.

According to police, four of the seven suspects, including prime accused and CPM local committee member (expelled now) A Peethambaran, were hiding in CPM office after they killed the duo on Sunday night. Police said this was revealed by the arrested persons. They stayed in the CPM office near Chattanchal till Monday morning. Three other suspects in the case spent the night at houses of party affiliates.

All seven were moved to a secret location early on Monday. Highways were avoided to evade arrest with the help of local party members, police said after questioning the arrested persons.

Party leaders then called the police and made the suspects surrender. Accommodation for all, including Peethambaran, was arranged in an influential area of the party.

A car, jeep and a van have been seized in connection with the murders. Forensic team has detected blood stains and marks of a crash on the car. Weapons believed to have been used for the murders are yet to be recovered.

According to police, more arrests are likely on Thursday. Saji George, who was arrested on Wednesday, will be produced in the court on Thursday. He is a CPM affiliate and a long-time friend of Peethambaran. On Peethambarans request, Saji had boarded the auto-rickshaw, police said.

The family of Peethambaran revealed that the CPM had attempted to pacify his wife Manju by offering money.

Five suspects are in custody now and the other two are yet to be nabbed. Repeated questioning has not yielded fresh clues to the case as all in custody are parroting the statement that Peethambaran, along with the auto-driver, committed the crime. The police, however, do not believe this theory.

Read more: Latest Kerala news
Thiruvarur: The protesting students of the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) here called off their hunger strike after vice-chancellor A P Dash agreed to look into their grievance on Wednesday.

The VC has constituted a four-member committee with senior faculty members from the university. This independent panel will study the grievances the protesting students had raised. The committee will submit its report on March 6.

The students had launched an indefinite strike on Friday to protest the termination of services of two contractual staff -- A Aazhiarasi and S Saranya -- of the Department of English.

They claimed the authorities terminated their services without giving any prior information or any explanation.

As the students went on indefinite strike, the officials of the administrative department, including the registrar S.Bhuwaneswari, asked their parents to take the students back.

The students have demanded the revocation of the service termination and action against some faculty members, including S. Nagarajan, the dean of students welfare, and L.Kavitha, chief warden of girls hostel, accusing them of mental torture.


South India is the only bastion which is not fully conquered by the saffron brigade in Lok Sabha elections. The region, comprising five states and two Union territories, is a battleground where non-BJP parties hold sway. While regional parties have an upper hand in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, BJP and Congress are fighting it out in Karnataka. In Kerala, the battle is between the CPM-led LDF (Left Democratic Front) and Congress-led UDF (United Democratic Front).

Of the 131 Lok Sabha seats in South India, NDA won 39 seats in the 2014 elections, UPA 24, Left parties 8 and others 60. This is the only belt in India where Rahul Gandhi leads in popularity over Narendra Modi, according to opinion polls.

It is felt that the Congress and UPA would improve their position in South India in the coming Lok Sabha elections. In case the Congress-DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu betters its tally, that would have a major impact on the national scene.

Andhra: A divided state

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh enjoyed the honour of being the state having the largest number of Lok Sabha seats in the south  42. Andhra also sent the third highest number of MPs to the Lower House of Parliament in India. But the bifurcation of the state led to a drastic fall in the Lok Sabha seats, which stand at 25 at present. Meanwhile, Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, has 17 Lok Sabha seats.

Congress became the single-largest party in the country after the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls, thanks to its excellent show in united Andhra Pradesh. While the partys tally was 29 in the 2004 general elections, it was 33 five years later. However, the Congress lost its ground following the division of Andhra Pradesh and drew a blank in the 2014 elections.

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi

The TDP, which was in the opposition for 10 years, returned to power in the assembly polls held along with the Parliament elections. The TDP and BJP had formed an alliance and won 17 Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of 45.88 per cent. The traditional votes of the Congress went to YSR Congress of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy which won 8 seats and 43.68 per cent votes. Congress secured a mere 2.73 per cent votes. The party polled over one lakh votes in only two seats  Vizianagaram and Kurnool.

Jaganmohan leads in surveys

The main poll issue this time is the denial of special status to Andhra, which was a poll promise of the Central government. The state is in the grip of a severe financial crisis and the Chandrababu Naidu government is facing an anti-incumbency wave. All pre-poll surveys predict an upper hand for the YSR Congress.

Jaganmohan Reddy, who is taking out a statewide campaign on foot, is expected to reap rich dividends.

Meanwhile, the Congress party is engaged in a vigorous drive to give itself a fresh lease of life. AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy is leading the partys activities in the state. Jaganmohan Reddy, who is taking out a statewide campaign on foot, is expected to reap rich dividends. All major parties  BJP, Congress, TDP and YSR Congress  are fighting it out alone in the state. The Janasena Party of actor Pawan Kalyan has entered into an alliance with the Left parties.

Results of the Andhra polls are also expected to have a major impact on the power equation in Delhi.

Congress, TRS fight it out in Telangana

The TRS had secured two-thirds majority in the assembly elections held a few months ago in Telangana. Contesting alone, the party had defeated the Congress-TDP alliance. With the tie-up failing to produce results, Congress and TDP are expected to try their luck independently this time. Fighting jointly, TDP and BJP had secured two seats in 2014; but under the changed conditions, both parties may contest on their own.

The main battle in Telangana will be between TRS and Congress and the former would have a good haul of Lok Sabha seats if it could repeat the performance in the assembly polls. But the Congress views Lok Sabha and assembly polls differently. The BJP is also looking at improving its tally. The AIMIM (All India Majlis-e Ittihadul Muslimeen) will in all probability repeat the show in its stronghold.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao,

TRS had a vote share of 46.9 per cent in the assembly polls, which was an improvement of 9.33 per cent over its Lok Sabha share. Meanwhile, Congress polled 1.88 per cent votes more. In the Parliament elections, the party had 26.52 per cent vote share.

Chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the election campaigns in Telangana.

TN without Karunanidhi and Jaya

Of the total 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK won a whopping 37 in the 2014 polls. PMK and BJP emerged victorious in one seat each. All others got nothing. While PMK leader Anbumany Ramdas won Dharmapuri, BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan secured Kanyakumari.

The main feature of the upcoming polls is the absence of former chief ministers M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. After Jayalalithaas demise, AIADMK faced a split and T T V Dhinakarans Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam is expected to win over some AIADMK supporters. In the assembly bypoll held at R K Nagar, which Jayalalithaa had represented, Dhinakaran registered a victory with a margin of over 40,000 votes.

During the previous elections, Congress and DMK had contested separately. But they have announced an alliance in the coming polls. Meanwhile, leading actor Kamal Haasan launched a new party, Makkal Neethi Mayyam, but he has not revealed any plan for a tie-up.

AIADMK will be in the fray jointly with PMK and BJP. However, the front faces a big challenge as the Central governments move to introduce reservations for economically backward people among the forward castes has evoked a hostile reaction in Tamil Nadu.

The main feature of the upcoming polls is the absence of former chief ministers M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa.

In the previous elections, AIADMK had a vote share of 44.92 per cent, BJP 5.56 per cent, DMK 23.91 per cent and Congress 4.37 per cent. Meanwhile, pre-poll surveys forecast a good show by DMK-Congress alliance.

JDCong tie-up crucial in Karnataka

Karnataka is the lone state in South India where Congress and BJP are engaged in a direct contest. Of the 28 seats here, 17 were won by the BJP in 2014. Congress secured nine and Janata Dal (S) two.

In last years Assembly polls, BJP emerged as the largest party, but the second largest party Congress extended support to Janata Dal, which had finished third, to form the government. However, it remains to be seen if the Congress-Janata Dal alliance would be in place during the Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, Janata Dal has placed a demand for 12 seats with the Congress.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and BJP state chief Yeddyurappa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will be leading the campaigns in Karnataka. With the only southern state where the BJP has some chance, the party hopes to win the maximum number of seats from Karnataka. During the 2014 polls, it was from Karnataka that Congress sent the most number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. The partys strategy for the state is being thrashed out by AICC general secretary and Malayali K C Venugopal.

Even though the BJPs efforts to influence MLAs of the ruling parties in Karnataka have not succeeded, it hopes to bring down the government soon. The Congress and Janata Dal are working towards holding the alliance together till at least the Lok Sabha elections.

What worries the BJP in Karnataka is the waning popularity of Modi, particularly among the urban middle-class voters. Meanwhile, the Congress and Janata Dal are hoping to cash in on the loan waivers announced for farmers by Kumaraswamy government.

What's in store for Kerala

Of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, UDF won 12 in 2014 while the rest went to LDF. However, it was BJPs O Rajagopal who finished second in Thiruvananthapuram. BJPs vote share was 10.45 per cent.

Kerala is now the only place in the country where the Left parties have a significant strength. It is also the lone state from where they hope to send MPs to Lok Sabha in the upcoming polls. Of the 12 Left MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha, eight were from Kerala, while there were two MPs each from West Bengal and Tripura. This time, the Lefts chances in Bengal and Tripura are minute.

Local issues such as the entry of young women to the Sabarimala temple are expected to influence the poll outcome in Kerala. All three fronts hope to gain from these developments. But with 45 per cent of the electorate belonging to minority communities, their preference would be the Congress, which they feel is the alternative to the BJP at the national level, say political observers.

Congress leader Oommen Chandy with party president Rahul Gandhi

All the pre-poll surveys too predict an upper hand for the UDF.

Lakshadweep and Puducherry

The Union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry have one Lok Sabha seat each and the Congress has high hopes at both places. Even though traditional Congress strongholds, the party had lost the seats in 2014. While in Lakshadweep, sitting MP Hamdulla Syed of the Congress was defeated by P P Muhammed Faizal of NCP by 1,535 votes, it was N Radhakrishnan of N R Congress who had won in Puducherry. The losing candidate of the Congress was the present Puducherry chief minister V Narayanaswami.

Read more: Latest on LS polls
Much like the children of other Bollywood celebrities, actor Ajay Devgn and Kajols 15-year-old daughter Nysa and 8-year-old son Yug, get a lot of media attention and are often targeted by social media trolls.

In an interview to IANS, Devgn, a protective father, said social media users should not judge his children.

He said: "Judge me, but don't judge my kids. Kajol and I are the actors, judge us...it's because of us, our children are under the spotlight everytime."

"Being judgmental about someone is not a good thing. If I start passing a judgement on someone, that person would obviously feel bad...so do my children," he added.

The "Singham" star, who was in Delhi to promote his fortcoming film "Total Dhamaal", said, "Honestly speaking, those people don't really matter. But I feel bad sometimes when my kids go through such harsh trolling."

The star couple's first child Nysa recently got trolled and body-shamed for her airport look - and this was not the first time she was being targetted.

Asked about how Nysa deals with "such harsh comments", Devgn said: "She used to get upset over trolling earlier, but now she doesn't care about it anymore. She knows how to deal with it. She has accepted that there will be some people who will keep judging no matter what."

On how to tackle trolls, he said, "Avoid it... If you will react, they will react more and this will continue. So better to stop fighting against trollers."

Commenting on how people have reacted angrily to remarks by some actors on the Pulwama terror attack, Devgn said: "In such a crucial situation, it is better if we become conscious while choosing our words because people are angry and you never know how someone at the opposite end interprets your message or post.

"One can be misinterpretted anytime and then you can't sit down and explain to people that what were your real intentions. It's better if we all become little conscious and don't react to things immediately. Think twice before writing anything on social media to avoid hurting someone's sentiments."
Malayalam actor Dileep has spoken about the importance of his family and how his kin stood by him during the turbulent times of his life.

Life is a struggle for all of us in one way or the other, and it is only love that helps one overcome it, Dileep said.

Dileep opened up about his 'struggles' at the trailer launch of his latest movie 'Kodathisamaksham Balan Vakeel' in Dubai. The program was hosted by World Wide Films and Novo Cinemas.

Dileep said that family is the only ones who will help you in troubled times, and their support and love give immense relief. The actor's words were received loud applause from the audience.

However, the actor did not spell out which 'difficult times' he was talking about. Dileep, an accused in the February 2017 actress attack case, was arrested and let out in bail. The police had said the conspiracy to abduct and assault the popular actress was hatched by Dileep.

Dileep was granted permission to visit Dubai and Doha till February 23. During his visit, Dileep also visited his 'Dhe Puttu' Restaurant in Dubai. However he restrained from the press meet organised in Dubai Wednesday. The movie will be released in Kerala and Dubai on Thursday.



In the flick, Dileep plays a lawyer with speech disability who struggles to present his case, even though has ample legal knowledge. Director B Unnikrishnan, World Wide Films representative Noufal Ahmed and Brijesh Mohammed took part in the event.


Kuravilangad: Devutty Babus constant companion was privation but now she can sleep tight in the safety of a solid house. The Kuravilangad Janamaithri police, students of Uzhavoor OLL Higher Secondary School, Student Cadet Police (SPC), National Service Scheme unit, Scouts and Guides, parents and school authorities had joined hands to build a house for Devutty who had been living along with her ailing mother in a hut at Uzhavoor near here in Kottayam district.

The house warming ceremony of the house, constructed at a cost of Rs 6 lakh, was held and the keys were handed over to Devutty, who was the best Student Police Cadet of the OLL Higher Secondary School. Devutty had also scored 97 per cent marks in last years higher secondary examination.

Kuravilangad police station CPO Niyaz, who is in charge of the SPC, got the shock of his life when he went to Devuttys house to congratulate her on being selected as the best student police cadet. Her house was nothing but a shack with a cloth curtain covering it, and her ailing mother and uncle, along with other relatives, were cramped into that small living space.

Following this, many altruists came together to build a house for this studious student. The Brilliant Academy in Pala also decided to sponsor Devuttys education. The first challenge was to find a piece of land to build house and that problem was solved when Devuttys grandmother gave 5 cents of land to her.

Later, the house construction began under the Snehaveedu project, which was launched by the OLL Higher Secondary School as part of its centenary celebrations.

The Janamaithri police contributed two cots, almirah, study table, chairs and window curtains. Devutty and her family started living in the new house from Wednesday, and the Nila Residents Association handed over Rs 16,000 to the family.

DySP K Subash was the chief guest at the function organized to hand over the house keys to Devutty.

Read more Kottayam News


SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via CannabisNewsWire -- Beverage Trade Network organises the first-ever event, focusing on cannabis-infused beverage industry, Cannabis Drinks Expo. The trade event is scheduled to be held on July 25, 2019 in San Francisco, USA. It will be the first event to tackle the issue head-on.



Cannabis Drinks Expo will give the worldwide drinks industry, and North America in particular, the chance to come together and look at ways it can address legalised cannabis and find ways to start the fight back against this enormous threat to the future of the overall industry.

It will be the first time that drinks producers, manufacturers, brand owners, distilleries and brewers can come together and collectively look at ways they can benefit from legalised cannabis. It will provide a platform and meeting place for major players within the legal cannabis sector to come forward, meet their counterparts within the drinks industry, share ideas and potentially find ways they can work together. Assess, analyse and implement ways they can both individually and together take advantage of what is effectively a new major consumer goods market.

It is a truly must attend event for leading players from all areas of the main drinks industry as well as all the other support sectors and services that rely on it. Cannabis Drinks Expo will help you grow your business, network with professionals and learn about the new trends and key market forecasts.

With so many moving parts to understand, this event will cover all the key issues surrounding the legalised cannabis market.

With the cannabis drinks industry currently segmented along a state-by-state basis, the Cannabis Drinks Expo will be an attempt to widen the perspective of market participants on the national dimensions of the industry. Regulatory and legal changes at the state level are now showing the potential to be expanded to a truly national level, and that has raised the interest level of all participants within the global drinks industry.

Since the event is being hosted in San Francisco, one focal point of the expo will be the emerging relationship between the states wine industry and the states newly legalized recreational cannabis industry. While many winemakers and grape growers initially viewed the rise of the cannabis industry as a threat, the competitive dynamics have recently shifted. Now, winemakers appear ready to seize new opportunities for collaboration.

In addition to a trade show floor showcasing the latest products and services, the expo will feature a one-day business conference. Renowned Speakers from the cannabis drinks industry will discuss a range of important topics, including:

- What innovations are coming to market soon in the cannabis drinks industry?

- Insights and observations about the current legal and regulatory environment

- New business models for the cannabis drinks industry

- New routes to market and distribution channels for the cannabis drinks industry

The list of speakers include Bruce Linton, Chairman & CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation, Omar Figueroa, Founder of the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa, author, and cannabis law expert, Stacy Hostetter, General Counsel, CannaCraft, SF, Jeff Maser, President and CEO, Tinley Beverages, and many more. View the full list of speakers here .

Choosing San Francisco as the host city for the venue just made a lot of sense, says Sid Patel, CEO and founder of Beverage Trade Network. Weve hosted events in San Francisco previously for the global wine and spirits industry, and California has now emerged as an influential voice determining the future growth of the cannabis drinks industry.

If you have an exciting new idea for a new cannabis drink, or are curious about ways that your distillery, winery or brewery can get involved in the U.S. cannabis industry, the Cannabis Drinks Expo needs to be on your calendar for 2019!

About Beverage Trade Network

Beverage Trade Network (BTN) is a producer of competitions, conferences, expos and trade shows for the alcohol beverage trade industry around the world. BTN is the alcohol beverage industrys leading network and is committed to helping importers and distributors find new suppliers from all over the world. BTN hosts events in London, New York, and San Francisco, including the highly acclaimed International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show ( London and San Francisco ), the London Wine Competition (London) and the USA Trade Tasting show (New York).

Beverage Trade Network Contact:

www.BeverageTradeNetwork.com

855.481.1112 Office

Info@BeverageTradeNetwork.com
New Delhi: The GST Council Wednesday deferred a decision on rationalisation of tax rates on real estate and lottery till February 24 as some non-BJP states demanded that a meeting, where members are physically present, be convened for deciding on such crucial issues.

The 33rd meeting of the Council, held through video conferencing, also decided to extend the deadline for filing summary sales return - GSTR-3B - for January by two days till February 22.

"Considering the speed at which returns are getting filed, thousands of returns being filed every hour, the suggestion before the GST Council was to extend the deadline by two days for all states; and since some areas are facing disturbance, for Jammu & Kashmir it be extended till February 28. So we took that decision," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

The GST Council, headed by Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, was also slated to discuss the reports of the group of ministers (GoM) on under-construction housing property and lottery. Ministers from all states attended the meeting.

Briefing reporters after the meeting of the Council, Jaitley said the report of the GoM on real estate was considered, and since some states wanted a physical meeting before a final decision is taken on the issue, hence, a final decision would be taken after a physical meeting on February 24.

However, GST on lottery was not be taken up for discussion by the Council on Wednesday.

"The discussion which remained incomplete today through video conferencing... Few ministers expressed their opinion and the rest will express their opinion and we will try and take a decision on this issue on Sunday. So the meeting stands adjourned as of day for Sunday," Jaitley said.

During the meeting, opposition-ruled states like Delhi and Kerala demanded that a physical meeting be held to decide on crucial issues like real estate and lottery, while the representative from Punjab flagged a technical point relating to land cost being included while deciding on GST rate.

"I have always followed an approach of moving as per consensus, and since some of the states wanted a meeting where members are physically present, keeping the idea of consensus in mind, I adjourned the meeting to Sunday so that a physical meeting can be held and the same issue will be discussed on Sunday," Jaitley said.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in a tweet later said substantial issues on which there are differences of opinion should not be decided through video conferences. "This was the consensus reached in the first Council meeting. Therefore today's VC was an unfortunate aberration. Finally good sense prevailed".

The GoM on real estate sector, headed by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, had earlier this month suggested cutting GST on under-construction residential properties to 5 per cent without input tax credit (ITC), from 12 per cent, currently. On affordable housing segment, it suggested that GST be slashed to 3 per cent, from 8 per cent.

At present, GST is levied at 12 per cent with ITC on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.

During the Council meeting on Wednesday, the representative from Bihar suggested that GST on affordable housing segment be brought down to 1 per cent. It also suggested that where 90 per cent area of a property is used for residential purposes and 10 per cent is used for commercial purpose, it should be treated as residential property for GST purposes.

Isaac said the GoM on lottery in its meeting on Monday went ahead deciding on GST rate despite the request for postponement of the meeting by him and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

"What national calamity is going to befall if changes in lottery tax regime is postponed for more deliberations," Isaac questioned.

The GoM on lottery, under Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, favoured a uniform GST rate of either 18 per cent or 28 per cent.

Currently, a state-organised lottery attracts 12 per cent GST while a state-authorised lottery attracts 28 per cent tax.

The GoM favoured hiking GST rate on the state-organised lottery to either 18 per cent or 28 per cent and lowering rate on state-authorised lottery to 18 per cent or retaining it at 28 per cent.

On Tuesday, Isaac had strongly objected to the suggestion of the GoM saying this would benefit "lottery mafia" and that a decision should be taken only during a physical meeting.

"I will walk out of the February 20 Council meeting if any decision is taken on lottery. Also I will henceforth not attend any Council meetings till the elections are over. This is not cooperative federalism," Isaac had said.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had also written to Jaitley on Tuesday, seeking that a meeting be held where all members are physically present.

The two GoMs were set up by the GST Council last month.

PwC India Partner and Leader Indirect Tax Pratik Jain said restricting the input credit is not a good idea for any sector, particularly real estate which requires more formalisation.

"If at all the final decision is to introduce a 5 per cent levy without input credit, it is important that other related issues such as reduction in GST rate on cement and on construction contracts are also deliberated in detail, along with aspects such as treatment of input credit which may already be accumulated in the books," Jain said.

Read more Business News
By Matthew Lee, KYODO NEWS - Feb 21, 2019 - 20:45 | World

A Hong Kong bookseller who fled China in 2016 after being detained for selling banned titles in the mainland said Wednesday his fate could be sealed if Hong Kong reaches an agreement with mainland China to surrender fugitives.

The government's proposal last week to amend laws to facilitate the handover of people wanted in jurisdictions where no extradition agreement with Hong Kong exists, such as Taiwan and China, is bad news for Lam Wing-kee.

"If I stay in Hong Kong, I will most definitely (be extradited to mainland China) under the new arrangement," Lam, 63, told Kyodo News in an interview. "Having been captured in the mainland, knowing the tactics of the authorities, I'm as good as dead if extradited."

(Lam Wing-kee)

One of five Hong Kong booksellers whose disappearances into mainland China in 2015 caused widespread concern about overreach by Chinese law enforcement, Lam jumped bail during a conditional release from nearly eight months of detention.

Of the remaining four, naturalized Swedish publisher Gui Minhai is in custody in mainland China for allegedly "stealing state secrets," two others are barred from leaving the mainland and one is free but under pressure to keep mum, according to Lam.

Recalling the ordeal he has faced since being taken into custody in Shenzhen in October 2015, Lam said thoughts of suicide came up when he was told he could forever lose his freedom.

"(The extradition pact) has a big influence as it covers not only Hong Kong people but Taiwanese, or people from foreign countries, or anyone in Hong Kong. The Chinese government could claim that someone violated the relevant offenses and ask the Hong Kong authorities for extradition," Lam said.

"Political dissidents or advocates for independence in Hong Kong could be extradited to the mainland," he said.

Hong Kong has not signed a deal over fugitive transfer with China or Taiwan, which have differing judicial systems, since the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997.

The government is proposing to amend the law in the wake of a Taiwan murder case in which there is no legal means for Hong Kong to hand over the suspect to Taiwan.

Hong Kong man Chan Tong-kai, then 19, fled Taiwan after allegedly killing his Hong Kong girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing, 20, while the pair were traveling in Taipei in February last year.

After returning to Hong Kong, Chan was arrested for theft after using Poon's stolen bank card to withdraw money from her bank account in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has ignored Taiwan's repeated requests for mutual legal assistance over the case.

Security Secretary John Lee has insisted the amendment, in order to effectively plug legal loopholes, must not only cover Taiwan but all jurisdictions without extradition agreements with Hong Kong.

Critics including pro-democracy lawmakers say the government intends to use the Taiwan murder case as a pretext to facilitate China's extradition requests and thereby stripping protections guaranteed under the Basic Law, the mini-constitution by which Hong Kong's semiautonomous status was stipulated.

Under the amendment, extradition requests will be examined on a case-by-case basis, and Hong Kong's leader would have to issue an "authority to proceed" before a court vets a case in an open hearing.

It would apply to 46 types of crimes including murder, with allegations related to politics, religion and race not considered to be valid reasons for extradition.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in the legislature Wednesday that her duty in the extradition arrangement would be "only to initiate the procedure." She did not say if she could or would deny requests for extradition from China.

"I had thought that I could safely stay in Hong Kong after the bookstore incident. How would anyone imagine that the authorities will resort to such extreme measures to stifle free speech?" Lam Wing-kee said.

"(With the extradition pact) China's constitution is literally implemented in Hong Kong, overruling the Basic Law. One cannot live happily in Hong Kong when freedom, like breathing, is constrained."

He said living in Taiwan is an unlikely option and he might seek to move overseas to avoid being probably sent to China once the law is amended.

Apart from Lam, the extradition pact could affect a few others including Hong Kong businessmen Joseph Lau and Steven Lo who were sentenced in absentia to imprisonment by Macau in a corruption trial, and fugitive siblings Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, both former Thai prime ministers, who frequently visit Hong Kong.

Currently, Hong Kong has no extradition agreement with Macau and Thailand.

The amendment bill is expected to be introduced within months.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2019 - 11:15 | Feature, All

An anonymous donation of around 100 million yen ($900,000) in old banknotes has been delivered to the Ehime prefectural government in western Japan, it said Thursday.

The prefectural government intends to use the money to finance rebuilding from last summer's heavy rain in the region, Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura said at a press conference.

A cardboard box addressed to the governor containing wads of 10,000 yen banknotes arrived at the prefectural government office on Jan. 29. In a handwritten letter in the box, the donor asked for the money to be put to good use, according to the prefecture.

As some of the faded banknotes are stuck together and difficult to separate, the prefectural government will ask the Bank of Japan to verify their authenticity and replace them with new ones.

"We will use it for the welfare of people in the prefecture in accordance with the donor's desire," Nakamura said.

(A road is blocked by a landslide in Ehime Prefecture in July, 2018, following torrential rains that hit a wide area of western Japan)

A record 3,451 mudslide disasters occurred in Japan in 2018 due to torrential rain in the west of the country.

According to land ministry data, 161 people died in mudslides, the third highest on record, and 1,443 homes were damaged or destroyed.

More than a third of the landslide disasters, or 1,243, occurred in Hiroshima Prefecture, followed by 419 in Ehime, 237 in Hokkaido, 193 in Yamaguchi and 171 in Kochi.

Related coverage:

Dog found alive in rubble after 6 days cheers up disaster-hit community

Over 250 schools in Japan damaged in rain disaster

Death toll reaches 200, thousands still in shelters in flood-hit Japan
Dr. Alan Needleman, Dr. Robert Skelton and Dr. James E. Hubbard Jr. were named permanent members by the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study. | Image: Texas A&M College of Engineering

Three faculty from the Texas A&M University College of Engineering were among seven former faculty fellows to be named permanent members by the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study. This honor recognizes each of the renowned scholars who accepted faculty positions at Texas A&M.

The title permanent member is an honorific title to recognize these excellent scholars for their ongoing contributions to the university and the Hagler Institute in their role as tenured faculty, said Dr. John Junkins, founding director of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study. They are already making an indelible impact on advancing scholarship at Texas A&M.

Based on nominations solicited from the Texas A&M faculty, the Hagler Institute selects its faculty fellows from among top scholars who have distinguished themselves through outstanding professional accomplishments and significant recognition. These scholars then collaborate with Texas A&M faculty and students on research projects designed to solve some of the worlds toughest problems and challenges.

The following from the College of Engineering were named permanent members in the Hagler Institute:

 Dr. Alan Needleman, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and a 2012-13 Hagler Faculty Fellow. Needleman joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2014 following appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University and the University of North Texas. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

 Dr. Robert Skelton, Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Eminent Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, and a 2014-15 Hagler Faculty Fellow. He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2015 following appointments at Purdue University and the University of California, San Diego. Skelton is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a life member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

 Dr. James E. Hubbard Jr., TEES Eminent Professor, J. Mike Walker 66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, and a 2017-18 Hagler Faculty Fellow. Hubbard joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2018 following previous positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Optron Systems Inc., and the Photonics Center at Boston University. Hubbard co-founded PhotoSense Inc. and iProvica Inc.

The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study was established in December 2010 by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to build on the growing academic reputation of Texas A&M and to provide a framework to attract top scholars from throughout the nation and abroad for appointments of up to a year. The selection of faculty fellows initiates with faculty nominations of National Academies and Nobel Prize-caliber scholars who align with existing strengths and ambitions of the university.
The United States and North Korea will seek a common understanding of what denuclearization means when President Donald Trump presses Kim Jong Un next week to give up all of the Norths nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said on Thursday, Trend reported citing Reuters.

Trump and Kim are set to meet in Vietnam for their second summit in an effort to thaw relations between the former foes and reduce one of the worlds biggest nuclear threats.

U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for the meeting, and Trump has made clear he does not expect this one to be his last with Kim, a dictator he once derided as little rocket man but now considers a partner with whom he works well.

Critics have said Trump gave Kim too much simply by meeting with him in Singapore last year. That criticism may be levied again for the Vietnam summit.

But the U.S. officials said the United States remained focused on getting the North Korean leader to denuclearize, even if he had not made that decision himself so far.

I dont know if North Korea has made the choice yet to denuclearize, but the reason why were engaged in this is because we believe there is a possibility, one official said.

The two sides have not agreed previously on what denuclearization means.

Kim agreed in Singapore to work towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, which could be taken to include removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea and nuclear-capable forces, while the United States has been demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs.

It is ultimately about the denuclearization of North Korea. That was what was agreed between the two sides and that is the overriding goal that President Trump is seeking to achieve with this summit. This is an important step towards that ultimate goal, the official said.

He said the United States would press for a freeze on all weapons of mass destruction and missile programs and a roadmap to set expectations for negotiations going forward.

The two sides are not discussing the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea, however. The United States keeps some 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Asked whether Trump was open to withdrawing all U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula for a peace treaty that would formally end the war, a second official said that was not the subject of discussions.

The officials noted that punishing U.S. sanctions would remain in place to give North Korea an incentive to move.
The United States is not discussing with North Korea the possibility of removing U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula and is unsure whether Pyongyang has decided to fully denuclearize, senior Trump administration officials said on Thursday, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Ahead of a summit meeting next week between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, U.S. officials said the two sides would be working toward a shared understanding of what denuclearization means.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called on U.S. telecommunications companies to boost their work to build faster 5G wireless communications networks, saying they were lagging and at risk of being left behind other countries efforts, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind, Trump said in a pair of tweets.

I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies, he added, although he did not explain what blockage the president was referring to. Representatives for the White House could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Trump administration has been seeking ways to speed the deployment of faster wireless communications systems that could help a number of industries.

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC) moved to eliminate regulatory barriers to 5G deployment by capping local fees and requiring faster application reviews.

The Republican presidents administration has also been warning other countries against adopting 5G systems from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, citing security concerns.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey is holding large-scale international military exercises in its Kars province on the border with Armenia, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media on Feb. 21.

The representatives of 15 countries are taking part in the military exercises titled "Ks 2019" (Winter 2019).

Turkey is using domestic weapons during the exercises.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was watching the exercises through video conference, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

A new canal with a length of 9.2 kilometers will be built in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Trend reports via the country's media.

Erdogan stressed that the ruling party is paying close attention to the development of all cities, and intends to continue the implementation of mega-projects.

The construction of the canal in Ankara was planned in 2014, for which a tender was announced, but the results were annulled by the Ankara Mayor's Office.

It was reported that the canal was not intended for commercial purposes and its construction was aimed at preventing mudflows.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure had earlier told Trend that the construction of a canal is also being constructed in the country's Edirne province. The canal construction in Edirne began in 2015. The total length of the canal will be 7.8 kilometers, and width - 50 meters.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Johnstown, PA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Retired Navy Commander Jennifer Tetatzin has been named Senior Principal Program Advisor of Concurrent Technologies Corporations (CTCs) Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) Installation Energy program.

Tetatzin, the former Director of Installation Energy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations & Environment), will now be a leader in CTCs Strategic Advisory Services group.

Commander Tetatzin has tremendous experience and insight into the Navy and Marine Corps missions, challenges, and priorities, said CTCs Senior Director, Strategic Advisory Services, Susan Van Scoyoc. Through her leadership and expertise, CTC is poised to deliver increasingly impactful value to our clients across the Department of Defense.

Tetatzin has 20 years of experience in the Navy leading professionals in facilities investment, energy and utilities operations, and construction management. Most recently, she was responsible for overseeing enterprise-wide installation energy policy and investment programs for the Secretary of the Navy. Tetatzin led innovation, security, mobility and efficiency initiatives in energy programs throughout the Navy and Marine Corps, working to ensure reliable and resilient utilities, lower cost transportation options and critical facilities operations to support maritime and aviation missions worldwide.

Having served alongside soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in three different combat zones, I know how important dependable installation support is to the operational forces, said Tetatzin. My first priority in this role is to update the energy program objectives to ensure every Marine Corps base has resilient, reliable and efficient utilities to provide power and water when and where needed.

In September 2018, CTC won a competitively awarded contract to provide energy program expertise to the U.S. Marine Corps. This work falls within CTCs Strategic Advisory Services group, which has supported the highest levels of government within the Department of Defense by helping them understand and plan for an uncertain future. CTC offers an integrated team of highly experienced analysts and engineers from diverse disciplines, all dedicated to improving policy, programming, planning, and implementation.

Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization. Together with our affiliates, Enterprise Ventures Corporation and CTC Foundation, we leverage research, development, test and evaluation work to provide transformative, full lifecycle solutions. To best serve our clients needs, we offer the complete ability to fully design, develop, test, prototype and build. We support our clients core mission objectives with customized solutions and strive to exceed expectations. For more information about CTC, visit www.ctc.com.

Attachment
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Ten militants have been detained in Turkey's Izmir province during a special operation against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Trend reports via Turkish media.

Reports said that the terrorist attacks were planned to be carried out during municipal elections.

According to media reports, the detainees were also involved in the explosion of a homemade bomb on a street in the industrial zone of Izmir on Feb. 15, 2019.

On Feb. 20, Turkey prevented a series of terrorist attacks, which were planned to be carried out during the municipal elections.

Reports noted that terrorist attacks were planned by the militants of the Kurdish terrorist organization PKK in various cities of Turkey and, in particular, in the province of Diyarbakir.

The municipal elections in Turkey will be held March 31, 2019. They are held every five years.

The conflict between Turkey and PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has lasted more than 35 years, claiming more than 40,000 lives. PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Tariffs could cost German car makers "billions of euros" a year, Volkswagen Group (VW) chief executive Herman Diess told the Financial Times on Thursday, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

He agreed that in the "worst case scenario" the tariffs could cost VW as much 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 bln) each year.

The statement comes amid reports that US President Donald Trump may act on a secret Commerce Department report on how car part imports could affect national security.

Informally referred to as the "232" report, the document, which is yet to be made public, could recommend tariffs as high as 25 per cent on auto parts and cars imported into the US.

Earlier, independent analytical company Evercore ISI claimed that based on a 25 per cent import tariffs, Germany's big three auto firms [VW, Mercedes-maker Daimler and BMW] would see an immediate 6.25 billion euros ($7 bln) hit to earnings before interest and tax each year."

The company predicted that the Volkswagen Group would lose around 2.5 billion ($2.8 bln), while Daimler and BMW would suffer a 2 billion ($2.7 bln) and 1.7 billion ($1.9 bln) loss, respectively.

During a press briefing with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the White House, Trump said that if we dont make the deal [with the EU] well do the [auto] tariffs, adding that the EU has been difficult to negotiate with.

A trade row between the US and the EU intensified after Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent tariffs on aluminium imports from the 28-nation bloc and a spate of other countries in March 2018.

Although Trump said in July he would refrain from slapping new tariffs on EU goods, he has repeatedly threatened to hit the bloc with 25 per cent tariffs on car exports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday issued its recommendations on the composition of the influenza vaccines for use in the 2019-2020 northern hemisphere influenza season, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

The recommendations were issued after a consultation meeting by a WHO advisory group in Beijing, sponsored by the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

The WHO organizes consultations with an advisory group of experts to analyze influenza virus surveillance data and issue recommendations on the composition of the influenza vaccines for the northern and southern hemispheres respectively in the following influenza season.

The recommendations are used by the national vaccine regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical companies to develop, produce and license influenza vaccines.

It is the first time that the WHO has held such an event for northern hemisphere outside its headquarters in the past two decades.

The China CDC said in a statement that China was willing to further share its surveillance data with the world, provide technical training for underdeveloped countries and work with the WHO and the global influenza surveillance network in fighting influenza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his condemnation of the "terrorist attack" against Indian security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir and subsequent violence, his spokesperson, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

In a statement, Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general urgently appeals to the governments of both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.

"It is the belief of the secretary-general that all difficult challenges can be resolved peacefully and satisfactorily through meaningful mutual engagement," the statement said.

It also stressed "it is essential that there be accountability under international law and the perpetrators of terrorist acts be brought swiftly to justice."

On Feb. 14, a suicide blast in Indian-controlled Kashmir left 40 paramilitary troopers dead.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

On Tuesday, Pakistan offered to cooperate with India in investigating the attack. Islamabad also sent a letter to Guterres, seeking his help to reduce the tensions between the two countries.

That attack was the worst against Indian forces in the history of the disputed Kashmir, where rebels have been fighting Indian rule.

Since independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the two but claimed by each in its entirety.
A delegation of senior members of Israels Council for Higher Education will visit Jewish institutions in the US next week to drum up interest in plans to boost the number of foreign students at Israeli universities, Trend reports referring to The Times of Israel.

They want to spread the word that universities in Israel are gearing up to cater for foreign students by setting up programs in English and providing registration forms in English, Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats, the chairman of the council, which is in charge of higher education in Israel, said in a phone interview.

The representatives will meet with Chabad and Hillel officials, as well as other organizations she said. Chabad is one of the largest Jewish religious organizations in the world, and Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world. The council has also employed the services of the US-based Institute of International Education, which supports educational and cultural exchange programs globally, to help set out its international strategy, parts of which will be presented to the delegation during the visit.

The idea is create internationalism at home, Zilbershats said. Diversity in the student body, allowing for different backgrounds, enables local students to open up up to a variety of cultures and ways of thinking, and that enriches both local and foreign students. The council wishes to attract Jewish and non-Jewish students, she said.

The council has allocated some NIS 435 million ($120 million) through 2022 to boost the number of foreign students at its universities and colleges, in order to make local academia more competitive with universities abroad and strengthen Israels branding as a country of international academic excellence. This will also help fight boycotts and increase diplomatic, social and economic ties with foreign countries, the council believes.

Data collected by the OECD shows that in the developed world the average number of foreign students at universities is 6 percent of the total student corps, the council said. The US is one of the countries that attracts a high percentage of foreign students, from such countries as India, China and Israel, who later on stay on and find jobs locally.

In Israel, the number of foreign students is a low 1.4% of the total student body.

The councils target is to bring the total number of foreign students in Israel to 3%-6% by 2022, she said, which means raising the number from 11,000 to at least 24,000.

While the perceived security situation might deter some students from studying in Israel, the main obstacle is that most courses in Israeli universities are still only offered in Hebrew. There are also obstacles such as visas and work permits for spouses, which limits institutions ability to open their doors to international students, the council says.

Since setting out its plans in 2017, Israeli universities such as Tel Aviv Univeristy, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have started planning changes to their infrastructure and programs to attract foreign students. Some have already launched foreign programs. Tel Aviv University, for example, already has a full BA degree in electric engineering, Zilbershats said.

She said the greater number of foreign students will not come at the expense of Israeli students, as the former are not part of the quotas that determine funding.

Acceptance criteria will be the same for all students, a spokesman for the council said, and the cost of the international programs will be NIS 12,000 to NIS 13,000 ($3,300 to $3,600) a year, slightly above the cost for Israeli students, who pay some NIS 10,000 a year, but still significantly lower than other similar international programs. Selected students will also have access to scholarships, he said.

The council said in 2017 that it would award half a million shekels to universities and colleges that move toward offering courses and programs in English, training teachers to teach in English and reaching out to exceptional foreign post-doctoral students. They would also need to set out mentorships and support system for these students.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was originally scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, spoke to him instead by phone and the two agreed to meet in the near future, Trend reports referring to The Jerusalem Post.

According to a statement put out by the Prime Minister's Office, the two leaders discussed developments in the region.

Thursday's meeting in Moscow was believed to have been postponed to allow Netanyahu to deal with the political situation in Israel.
A planned meeting between Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been postponed, an official in Jerusalem said, Trend reports referring to Xinhua.

The official told Xinhua on anonymity that the meeting, planned to be held in Moscow on Thursday, was delayed in mutual consent and a new meeting will be scheduled in a few days.

Instead of the meeting, Netanyahu and Putin will speak over the phone on Thursday.

Israeli local media reported that Netanyahu cancelled the meeting because of domestic political affairs and amidst efforts to unite forces with other right-wing parties ahead of the elections to be held on April 9.

Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper reported that Netanyahu cancelled his trip because of an assessment that his main rival, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Benny Gantz, will join forces with the central party of Yesh Atid.

The meeting was supposed to be Netanyahu's first trip to Moscow since Syrian forces mistakenly intercepted a Russian surveillance plane during an Israeli airstrike. Russia held Israel accountable for the downing of the plane.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said that the meeting was aimed at strengthening the military coordination of both countries' military activities in Syria and "prevent friction between the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the Russian army."

The meeting was also supposed to focus on Israel's efforts to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria.

Israel and Russia hold a hotline to avoid their air forces from clashing in the Syrian battlefield.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of deadly airstrikes in Syria, saying that they targeted on Iranian sites and weapons' convoys to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militia.
The Spanish government on Thursday welcomed a provisional European Union deal meant to mitigate the impact of a hard Brexit on airlines, Trend reported citing Reuters.

We have obtained seven months to avoid any problem, Spanish Industry Minister Reyes Maroto said. We have more time for the company to decide which changes it opts for.

Spains national flag carrier Iberia is majority-owned by Britain-based Anglo-Spanish group IAG.

Maroto was referring to a provisional deal reached in Brussels to ensure, among other things, that companies can continue to provide scheduled flights for seven months after the date of application of post-Brexit air traffic regulations.

Airlines that will no longer be majority owned by EU nationals once Britain leaves the bloc face the threat of losing their right to fly within the EU after Brexit due to share ownership rules.

If Britain leaves the EU without a deal on March 29 there would be no transitional period in which the airlines could sort out their shareholdings.

This is solved, we have been given a moratorium of seven months in the regulation that will be approved, and we are working with the company to find a definitive solution, Maroto told reporters.

The provisional agreement referred to by Maroto needs approval from member states ambassadors in the EU Councils Permanent Representatives Committee.

Iberia carries 19 million passengers a year and is a major employer in Spain with almost 17,000 workers.

IAG, which also owns British Airways, is registered in Spain but headquartered in Britain and has shareholders from around the world.
A bill against hate speech on the internet will be introduced in the French parliament in spring, President Emmanuel Macron said, Trend reported referring to Sputnik.

"From the month of May, lawmaker Laetitia Avia will introduce in the parliament a bill to fight hate on the internet," Macron said in his speech at the French association of Jewish organizations (Crif) on Wednesday.

The president noted the effective experience of Germany in this area.

"We should be inspired by what our German colleagues have managed to achieve in an effective and pragmatic manner  introduce legal sanctions, both financial and criminal, and hold both people and internet platforms accountable," Macron pointed out.

The initiative follows a scandal in French media industry which erupted after a group of men, working for mostly left-wing media outlets, was accused of running an online campaign against female journalists, feminists and members of the LGBT community.
Nearly two dozen people have lost their lives and a number of others sustained injuries when a powerful bomb explosion struck a minibus carrying workers employed in a major oil facility in Syrias eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, Trend reported citing Press TV.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a car rigged with explosives was detonated remotely in the town of al-Shuhayl, close to an oil field, which serves as a base for the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Britain-based group added that six members of the Kurdish-led SDF were also killed as they escorted the workers.

Activists with relatives in the area said many of the young men in the blown-up minibus had come from work in the nearby al-Omar field.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but it bears the hallmark of attacks carried out by the Daesh Takfiri terror group.
FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dataguise , the leader in Personal Data Provisioning, today announced that Dr. Sagi Leizerov has joined its management team as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Privacy Solutions. Leizerov is currently a member of the board of directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) as well as a member of the Forbes Technology Council. At Dataguise, Leizerov will work with senior management and customers to maximize the capabilities of the Dataguise Privacy-on-Demand (PoD) Platform for addressing the enterprise privacy and data protection needs of data-driven enterprises.



Im excited to join the Dataguise team, as I believe the company is well positioned to lead in the privacy technology space with two unique advantages over the multitude of new entrants to this field, said Leizerov. First, Dataguise has long mastered the biggest challenge technology vendors are now facing in this spacethe ability to scan large amounts of data quickly and effectively for accurate discovery of sensitive and personal data. Second, Dataguise offers a comprehensive suite of information security solutions, including monitoring, masking, and encryption, integrated with automated discovery and privacy management products. No other company has that powerful combination.

With more than 20 years of experience as a privacy professional, Leizerov has worked with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies in a wide range of industries, from financial services and technology to manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and automotive. Prior to joining Dataguise, Leizerov served as Chief Data Solutions Officers of Prifender and as Ernst & Youngs Global Privacy Leader. He is a frequent speaker in privacy- and data-related conferences, and his thought leadership articles have appeared in business and professional publications.

With his deep privacy background, Sagi brings tremendous strategic value to our leadership team as we focus our resources on addressing the privacy requirements of data-driven enterprises, said Manmeet Singh, Dataguise CEO. You cant have privacy without security, but neither should prevent organizations from leveraging data to drive business growth. By working with Dataguise to take a proactive, comprehensive approach to protecting privacy and personal data, organizations can confidently manage risk and compliance to deserve their customers digital trust.

Dataguise will be sponsoring the IAPP CCPA Comprehensive on February 25, 2019 in Fremont, California. This day-long examination of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will prepare organizations to manage compliance while avoiding pitfalls and major disruptions. Dataguise will offer demonstrations of the Dataguise Privacy-on-Demand (PoD) Platform at the conference. To learn more and register, visit: https://iapp.org/conference/ccpa-comprehensive/ .

Tweet This: @Dataguise Adds Privacy Expert to Executive Leadership Team - http://bit.ly/2pi1bQm #privacy #security #ccpa

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In small groups, people follow high-performing leaders

BROOKLYN, New York, Thursday, February 21, 2019 - While the "wisdom of the crowd" shapes the behavior of large groups of people, less is known about small-group dynamics and how individuals interact to make decisions, particularly when it comes to the emergence of leaders, a key area of inquiry in organizational research. The phenomenon is critical to arriving at an understanding of social networks of all kinds.

Now, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have cracked the code on how leaders arise from small groups of people over time. The work is detailed in a study, "Social information and Spontaneous Emergence of Leaders in Human Groups," published in The Royal Society Interface.

The team comprised Maurizio Porfiri, professor in the of Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and of biomedical engineering at NYU Tandon; Shinnosuke Nakayama, postdoctoral researcher at NYU Tandon; Elizabeth Krasner, an undergraduate student at NYU Tandon; and Lorenzo Zino, a visiting Ph.D. student at NYU Tandon from Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

To conduct the research, the team convened several groups of five volunteers each to participate in a cognitive test arranged in 10 consecutive rounds. The task involved estimating the number of dots displayed for just half a second on a large screen. In each round, participants were asked to choose one from multiple answers using a custom-made clicker, without verbally communicating with one another. Because the dots were visible for only an instant, group members, lacking the time to count them, had to venture a guess. However, the experiments were structured so that participants could alter their answers based on the answers of others in their group: once all participants had chosen their initial answers, the screen -- viewable by all -- displayed the current answers of all members along with their past performance in selecting correct responses. Participants then had a 10-second window in which to change their responses based on those of the others in the group.

The researchers, analyzing how participant responses evolved over the course of the experiment, found that individuals did not choose the simple majority rule, as posited by the wisdom of crowds. Rather, they dynamically decided whom to follow in making decisions, based on how well each group member performed over time. Based on their observations, the researchers inferred a dynamic evolution of the network of interaction, in which participants were nodes and the links were the consequences of social influence. For example, the investigators generated a link from one participant to another if the first had changed his or her answer to that of the second. The speed at which the network grew increased over the course of each of the rounds.

"Individuals used social information more and more over time, and the more accurate the information, the more influence it had over participants' choices," said Porfiri. "Therefore, the relationship between participants' performance and their social influence was reinforced over time, resulting in the emergence of group leaders."

To discern the influence of social networks within evolving group dynamics, the investigators noted that:

Participants were influenced by social information in changing their answers. On average, participants changed answers to ones that nobody had selected only about 5 percent of the time. (There were more than 9 instances over all rounds in which participants changed answers to those of others and only 0.6 in which they changed answers to those no one had selected.)

Participants were more likely to be copied by others if their performances were good, even if their answers differed from those of the group majority.

Nakayama, the lead author, explained that the behavior of small groups is strikingly different than that of much larger gatherings of people.

"Where a large crowd would adopt a simple majority rule, with an increase in the accuracy of performance over repeated interactions, individuals rely more on social than personal information and as a consequence, good performers would emerge as group leaders, exerting a stronger influence on others over time, "he said.

Porfiri noted that while most studies of social connections are based on static networks, defined by fixed established relationships, his team's research looked at functional networks, based on constantly changing connections.

"Historically, people have looked at social networks as equivalent to an anatomical network based on static ties between people. We are putting forward the idea that in small groups, networks evolve in time based on actions," he said, adding that these time-based actions are like networks in the brain, where physically distant neurons forge connections toward a specific function. "Our approach is analogous to learning about neural circuits based on how they function in the brain, rather than how they are anatomically connected."

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This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (CMMI 1561134 and CBET 1547864).

Social information and Spontaneous Emergence of Leaders in Human Groups Is available at https:/ / royalsocietypublishing. org/ doi/ 10. 1098/ rsif. 2018. 0938

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country's foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering. nyu. edu .

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in China in what is the final stop of his Asian tour that has seen him visit Pakistan and India during the past week, Trend reports referring to Al Arabiya.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the Saudi Crown Prince will meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday. Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng and Crown Prince Mohammed will then co-chair the third meeting of the China-Saudi Arabia High-Level Joint Committee.

In recent years, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Saudi Arabia has maintained a sound momentum of development with deepening political mutual trust and fruitful practical cooperation in such areas as energy, infrastructure and space satellite, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

The two-day visit to Beijing, according to the spokesman, will seek to promote the greater development of Sino-Saudi relations and deepen cooperation on Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.

We hope this visit can further strengthen the China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership, build greater synergy between our development strategies, deepen cooperation in various sectors under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, and boost in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern, so as to achieve greater progress in China-Saudi Arabia relations, he added.

During the visit, a Saudi-Chinese Forum in Beijing is scheduled for Friday to promote joint economic cooperation between the two countries and consolidate economic and cultural relations to achieve the goals of sustainable development in various fields, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Iraqi security forces Wednesday killed five suicide bomber from the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the Iraqi military said, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

A joint force from Iraqi army and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi ambushed five suicide bombers wearing explosive vests and surrounded them in their vehicle in Badoush area in northwest of Mosul, Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said in a statement.

The troops opened fire on the vehicle, killing the five suicide bombers and set the vehicle ablaze, the statement said.

Earlier, the Iraqi Army's Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi told reporters at a press conference that Iraqi security forces captured 24 IS militants, including four leaders, who infiltrated from neighboring Syria to Mosul.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that Iraq is concerned about developments of the battles in neighboring Syria, which is witnessing the clearing of the last pocket of IS extremist group near the Syrian border with Iraq.

Iraqi security force and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi brigades are deployed on the borderline between Syria and Iraq, which extends to some 600 km in west of the two provinces of Nineveh and Anbar.

The long borderline between the two countries has long been used by insurgent groups and IS militants for logistic support and to carry out cross-border attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Iranian Intelligence Ministry said on Thursday that two terrorist groups, which were to plant bombs and take mischievous acts in Kurdestan Province, were identified and arrested, Trend reported citing IRNA.

According to Intelligence Ministry's Public Relations Department, intelligence forces managed to identify and arrest 13 elements, affiliated to Daesh (ISIS) grouplet, who were in two groups to plant bombs, kill people and assassinate certain Iranian Sunni clergies in Kurdestan Province.

Some of them had undergone military training abroad and were to launch terrorist action through guidance of one of the Daesh grouplet's military operation ring leaders.

Remote control bombs, arms and munitions were explored from the elements.
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 21

Trend:

Iran's Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri has expressed the need for mutual understanding to solve the problems in the country's economy, including privatization.

Referring to the country's economic problems, he said, "Today some say the problem in economy is that it is public, but whenever there are efforts for privatization some say there is corruption in it," Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.

He said Iran's dependency on oil has caused the "enemies" to implement sanctions on oil sales.

"On the other hand, the private sector is not very strong and cannot carry the economy alone. Therefore, the sector should be improved while the government's revenues are limited."

"The country's current condition is difficult and it requires mutual understanding to surpass the obstacles, instead of chaos," he added.

The official also said that at the recent Warsaw summit "some by the help of Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia wanted to create phobia against Iran. They have done this before and have failed, and this time they will be defeated again, but we should have a logical and moderate approach towards these efforts."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran has started military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and in the north of the Indian Ocean in a territory of about 2 million square kilometers, Trend reports referring to IRNA.

At the opening ceremony of the military exercises, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Commander of Iranian Army Navy, stated that some of the military equipment will be used for the first time during the military exercises and a submarine will make its first shot.

According to Khanzadi, remote-controlled intelligence aircraft will be used in the military exercises.

Sea-land, sea, and land operations will be held during the military exercises.
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 21

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the head of Central Command of The US Armed Forces, General Joseph Votel, Trend reports with reference to the presidential press service.

The American military arrived in country to attend the conference of chiefs of the general staffs of Central and South Asia countries.

"Special attention was paid to the expansion of Uzbek-US military and military-technical cooperation and interaction in the field of security at the meeting," the press service stated.

Uzbek president noted that the conference of chiefs of staff of Armed Forces of Central and South Asia, organized by Central Command of The US Armed Forces that held for the first time in Uzbekistan, is a platform for discussing and developing joint approaches to solving one of the most acute problems of - the armed conflict in Afghanistan.

The commander of Central Command of The US Armed Forces expressed the hope that the parties would be able to work out a strategy for developing and deepening constructive partnership for the sake of peace and prosperity in the region based on the results of the planned event.

Earlier Votel, while speaking in the Senate of Congress, announced the desire of the United States to ensure that Central Asian countries refused military procurement from Russia and switched to contracts with The US.

"Uzbekistan expressed interest in diversifying its military supplies and provided a list of American systems and equipment in which they are interested in buying. This interest represents a unique opportunity to divert Uzbekistan away from military purchases from Russia and deepen our relations," said Votel.

Moreover, Votel met with Uzbek Minister of Defense, Major-General Bahodir Kurbanov.

The sides discussed issues of the current state and prospects for the development of Uzbek-American cooperation in the field of defense and military education, exchanged views on strengthening mutually beneficial relations in the military-technical direction. It was noted that over the past year countries managed to achieve significant results in the development of comprehensive and multifaceted intergovernmental relations, including in the field of defense.

Currently, the multi-faceted Uzbek-US relations are being consistently strengthened, joint programs and projects are being implemented in the fields of innovation, industry, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and other industries. The volume of mutual trade in 2018 doubled.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 21

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, signed an agreement on strategic cooperation between the two countries in Ashgabat on Feb. 21, Trend reports via Turkmenistan State News Agency.

Moreover, at the intergovernmental level, the following were signed: agreements on customs cooperation and air traffic, on the location of international railway crossing at the common state border, memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector and on increasing the volume of Turkmen electricity supplied to the Afghan province of Herat.

A memorandum of understanding was also concluded for the construction of the Akina-Andkhoy railway and the rules for organizing the railway communication between the Serhetabat-Turgundi stations at the joint state border were adopted.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 21

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

During the talks in Ashgabat, the heads of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, stressed that the main issue on the agenda was ensuring lasting peace and security in the region, Trend reports via Turkmenistan State News Agency.

Turkmenistan also confirmed its readiness for further active and fruitful participation in resolving issues of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, in restoring its economy, creating conditions for the participation of the Afghan people in the fate of their country.

The state and prospects of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, the possibilities for a significant increase in the volume and diversification of trade were reviewed. Turkmenistan has repeatedly stated its readiness to provide its political space for conducting peace talks on Afghanistan.

The instability in the neighboring country remains a serious obstacle to the implementation of infrastructure projects in the region, including the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI). However, Afghanistan claims that it can ensure the safety of the route.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 21

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A meeting with the EU delegation on the implementation of the Border Management Program in Central Asia was held at the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan, Trend reports referring to the State Migration Service.

The main strategy of the Program is to promote the stability and security of the countries of Central Asia through integrated border management and regional cooperation.

The Program also assists the countries of Central Asia in their pursuit of regional economic development and trade facilitation among neighboring Central Asian countries and as well as with the EU member countries.

Turkmenistan shares land borders with Kazakhstan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and maritime borders with Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

A business breakfast was organized on February 20, 2019 by the Azerbaijani-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry related to amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The event took place at the Meeting and Conference Center of Hyatt Regency Baku Hotel.

The event was opened by Mrs. Narmina Safarova, Managing Director of the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mrs. Teyba Guliyeva, the Chairperson of the Management Board. They welcomed the distinguished guests and highlighted the importance of these events, which offer a unique opportunity for building an effective dialogue between businesses and governments as well as strengthening further the business relationships.

Afterwards, Mrs. Samira Musayeva, Director General of the Tax Policy Department of the Ministry of Taxes, made a comprehensive presentation on the amendments made to the Tax Code. With its credibility, the amendments made to the Tax Code principally aimed at preventing shadow economy in the country, ensuring transparency of revenues and labor market, improving tax administration, expanding tax base, increasing economic efficiency of tax privileges, as well as expanding taxpayers rights and creating favorable tax environment for development of small and medium enterprises. Upon completion of the presentation, the participants' proposals regarding the tax system, including key issues encountered by business entities and their concerns, views and proposals were listened.

Taking the floor, Mrs. Aurelia Bouchez, the French Ambassador to our country, noted that the Azerbaijani-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry covered a very important topic and highly appreciated the recent reforms carried out in tax legislation of our country.

Later on, Mr. Alexandr Golovko, Director of Pasha Bank's Department for Small and Medium Enterprises Banking, made a presentation on Finance Supply Chain.

The interactive questions and answers session was held following the presentation.

The event was attended by representatives of the member - companies of the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry , different organizations, and Embassy of France to Azerbaijan.

Societe Generale" and Alstom were main sponsors of the event.
BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EB Research Partnership (EBRP), the largest nonprofit dedicated to funding research aimed at treating and ultimately curing Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Plunge for Elodie event, taking place on March 2, 2019 in Wellesley, Massachusetts at 8:00 am, the Saturday following the global Rare Disease Day on February 28. Beginning in 2018 as a small hometown polar plunge, Plunge for Elodie has not only evolved into New Englands largest fundraiser for this devastating rare skin disease but also a nationwide event, making big waves for a little known cause.



Plunge for Elodie is organized by a group of ten childhood friends to honor Emily Kubiks 2-year-old daughter Elodie, who suffers from EB. 100% of the proceeds benefit EBRP to advance innovative and life-saving treatments. This event launched in 2018 with a $15,000 fundraising goal. However, an unexpected outpouring of support swiftly changed that: $150,000 was raised, and the cause spread virally, all the way to Hollywood with actress Jessica Biel taking a virtual plunge for Elodie on social media. Her video was shared to her 7.4 million social followers and dubbed the Virtual Plunge for Elodie The Next Ice Bucket Challenge.

The 2019 Plunge for Elodie strives to keep the momentum going with a fundraising goal of $200,000 and an official Virtual Plunge campaign on social media happening the week prior to the event - from February 23-March 2, 2019 - to coincide with global Rare Disease Day.

Its so hard to get attention for rare diseases. 99.9% of people we communicate with about the event have never even heard of EB, but they are immediately touched and want to help. Whether they take the Plunge on March 2nd, share our posts on social media, or make a donation to the cause, we firmly believe that every ounce of support helps, no matter how small or large. It takes a village to generate awareness, and we are devoted to this event and to continuing to expand our reach and message, said Plunge for Elodie Co-Chair Kristan Fletcher Khtikian.

A life-threatening genetic skin disease, it is estimated that 500,000 people worldwide have EB. Children with EB are called Butterfly Children because their skin is as fragile as the wings of a butterfly: they face severe pain, open wounds, and a grueling bandaging process on a daily basis. There is currently no treatment or cure for EB, however EBRP is dedicated to changing that as rapidly as possible.

When we started EB Research Partnership in 2010, there were only 2 clinical trials in EB. Today, there are nearly 20. While that is tremendous progress in less than a decade, there are still no approved treatments. However, leading researchers believe that both a cure and life-changing treatments are within reach. Our bold and singular goal is to accomplish this by bringing together the greatest minds and resources in research, medicine, industry, philanthropy, and dedicated and passionate ambassadors of the patient community just like Plunge for Elodie, said Michael Hund, Executive Director of EBRP.

Plunge for Elodie is open to the public with no registration fee. It is followed by a family breakfast event at the Wellesley College Club. This year, a same-day Satellite Plunge for Elodie will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, at Edgewater Park Beach, sponsored by Abeona Therapeutics, further boosting the goal of spreading EB awareness far and wide.

We are moved by the support Plunge for Elodie continues to receive; it has come from so many places, including fellow EB families, former high school classmates, and complete strangers who hear our story. Coupled with the inspiring work EBRP is doing, we have hope that there will come a day when Elodie, and all those with EB, no longer have to suffer or feel pain, said Elodies parents Emily and Dave Kubik, That keeps us forging forward every day.

Learn more at www.plungeforelodie.org

Contact:

EB Research Partnership

Michael Hund, +1-646-844-0902

mhund@ebresearch.org

About EB Research Partnership

Founded by a dedicated group of parents and Jill and Ed Vedder (Pearl Jam), EB Research Partnership (EBRP) is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to funding research aimed at treating and ultimately curing Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a group of devastating and life-threatening skin disorders that affect children from birth. EB Research Partnership works to treat and cure EB as quickly and efficiently as possible and fulfills their mission by partnering with non-profit and for-profit organizations, foundations, individual donors, and the EB and research communities.
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 21

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

The Uzbek bank Asaka signed a syndicated loan agreement with the Swiss branch of Commerzbank AG (Germany) and the Swiss bank Zurcher Kantonalbank, on February 18, 2019 in Zurich, Switzerland, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

This syndicated loan is the first joint project for Swiss banks and Asaka Bank. The amount of the Agreement is 37.4 million euros with a maturity of 10 years under the insurance coverage of the Swiss export credit agency SERV for financing the textile project Ko-kchatekstil LLC.

The project provides for the modernization of current spinning production and the organization of the release of dyed fabric based on cotton. The supplier of technological equipment is the Swiss company "Rieter Machine Works" Ltd.

This project will create more than a thousand additional jobs; will establish the production of cotton fiber fabrics, dyeing and manufacture of printed fabric and will establish sewing of finished products subsequently.

The annual capacity of the enterprise will be 20,000 tons of cotton yarn and 4.8 million linear meters of printed fabric. Finished products manufactured at this enterprise will be exported to the near and far abroad.

Asaka Bank is ready to finance investment projects in Uzbek regions with the involvement of foreign financial institutions.

Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV insures political and economic risks involved in exporting goods and services. The company insurance and guarantees protect Swiss exporters from default and facilitate export financing. SERVs solutions also help companies obtain low-interest loans or higher credit limits in order to conserve cash when exporting goods and services.

Rieter Machine Works is the worlds leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning. Based in Winterthur (Switzerland), the company develops and manufactures machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and man-made fibers and their blends into yarns.

Zurcher Kantonalbank was established in 1870. With total assets of 164 billion CHF and more than 5,000 employees, the bank is the biggest cantonal bank in Switzerland and one of the biggest Swiss banks.

Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank in Germany. For Private and Small Business Customers as well as Corporate Clients, the Bank offers a comprehensive portfolio of financial services. It has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks and leads in financing for corporate clients in Germany.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Romanias Romgaz company has signed the Letter of Intent addressed to the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council, expressing interest to analyze opportunity to use the SGC, Trend reports citing a message from Romgaz.

On the fifth annual meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council (SGC Advisory Council) in Azerbaijan, Romgaz restated its support for the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, while considering to continue the transmission infrastructure by finalizing the Bulgarian-Romanian Interconnector and BRUA Project, in the context of developing the relationship with Azerbaijan and the potential partnership with SOCAR, reads the message.

Romgaz CEO, Adrian Volintiru signed the Letter of Intent addressed to SGC Advisory Council.

Romgaz expressed in this formal letter the interest to analyze the opportunity to use the Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure to secure natural gas supply safety and the possibility to diversify the gas sources both for Romania and for neighboring countries as well, said the company.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been recently connected on the Turkish-Greek border.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

The Southern Gas Corridor, which is a systemically important project for the Azerbaijani economy, promises to bring the country billions in foreign exchange earnings, doctor of economic sciences, expert economist, professor Elshad Mammadov told Trend Feb. 21.

The expert noted that the economic power of Azerbaijan was essentially associated with the implementation of the so-called Contract of the Century, when serious investments started entering Azerbaijan and the country received revenues from oil exports.

The Southern Gas Corridor is continuation of this energy policy, he said. As is known, the volume of supplies through the Southern Gas Corridor at the initial stage is about 6 billion cubic meters for Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters for Europe. At first glance, it is not a very significant figure for Europe, which consumes an average of about 500 billion cubic meters of gas. However, it should be understood that there is sharp, I would even say, critical dependence on gas imports and the issue of diversification of energy sources suppliers including gas suppliers is very serious.

The expert added that in order to reduce dependence on one supplier, Europe makes great efforts, and in this regard, (considering that energy production in Europe is critically falling), Azerbaijan is one of the important alternative sources of gas supplies, noting that Europe placed a serious bet on this country.

Therefore, the significance of Azerbaijan and the Southern Gas Corridor project initiated by our state will be important from the point of view of European economic policy management, he said. As for the benefits that the Southern Gas Corridor can provide to Azerbaijan, according to my information, we can get about 2-3 billion of earnings annually from the implementation of this project.

He noted that from the point of view of balancing, optimizing the balance of payments of Azerbaijan, considering gross domestic product and state budget revenues, the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project can be significant for the Azerbaijani economy, and these opportunities should be used to redirect investment flows to priority areas, to the real sector of economy.

The 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council was held Feb. 20 at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku.

The participants in the event included energy ministers from the Southern Gas Corridor member-states and representatives of a number of organizations, as well as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, acting co-chair of SGC Advisory Council Gunther Oettinger.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been recently connected on the Turkish-Greek border.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipeline is an essential link for Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, Secretary of State with Romanian Ministry of Energy Iulian-Robert Tudorache said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He pointed out that along with the Interconnector between Romania and Bulgaria, BRUA project has a significant relevance at the regional level, assuring the possibility of integrating the natural gas sources from the Caspian Region with the Central and Western Europe, after the completion of the natural gas infrastructure projects of the Southern Gas Corridor.

"BRUA is a very important component of the Vertical Corridor which will integrate the gas transmission systems from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. This is why BRUA pipeline is an essential link in the context of Azerbaijani gas transmission towards Europe," noted the deputy minister.

Talking about the BRUA project, Tudorache said that it has three execution phases.

"Once the phases 1 and 2 are completed, a new gas corridor for the Caspian Sea gas will be created, stretching from the Southern border of Romania, further through to the North-Western border of Romania with Hungary. In concrete terms, the phase 1 of BRUA consists of a 479 km pipeline on the territory of Romania and three Gas Compression Stations, assuring bidirectional gas flow. I can tell you that the BRUA project has progressed very well so far: we are in the full process of implementation of phase 1 and the works on the territory of Romania are on the agreed schedule, some of them being even finalized in advance. The works on the compressor stations started in April 2018 and the pipeline construction works started in August 2018," he added.

Tudorache noted that the estimated deadline for the completion of Phase 1 works of the BRUA project is December 2019.

"We have made sure that BRUA receives all necessary funding, in a timely and efficient manner. TRANSGAZ company has obtained two grants from the European Union through the National Agency for Innovation and Networks (INEA). The first grant was granted for financing the design for the three compression stations within the project and the second, more than 180 million EUR, was granted to finance the BRUA Phase I project implementation. The project is also funded by loans from the EIB and EBRD. This shows the importance of the BRUA project for the future energy map of Europe," he said.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

The delegation of the Azerbaijani parliaments working group on Azerbaijan-Australia interparliamentary relations met with Rick Wilson, chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources of the Australian parliament, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament.

During the meeting, Wilson stressed that the Australian government shows great interest in cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of agriculture, adding that during the upcoming visit to Azerbaijan he intends to hold the talks on this issue with the countrys corresponding structures.

Learning from Australias experience in the field of cotton-growing and the use of its advanced technologies may be one of the main priorities, he added.

Wilson also stressed his country's rich experience in irrigation.

The opportunities for cooperation in the mining sector, livestock sector, cultivation of melons and gourds, including Australias experience, as well as the training of specialists for Azerbaijan, were discussed at the meeting.

The Azerbaijani delegation consists of head of the Working Group, MP Khanlar Fatiyev, as well as chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Reforms Party, MP Asim Mollazade and Azerbaijans temporary charge d'affaires in Australia Eljan Habibzade.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Irans National Development Fund has allocated $1.5 billion within rural employment program, Iranian Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare Mohammad Shariatmadari said.

Some $50 million of those funds was allocated to the provinces in accordance with the official currency rate within the rural employment program, Shariatmadari added, Trend reports referring to IRNA.

He added that the provinces will obtain $750 million via the Integrated System for Hard Currency Transactions (NIMA).
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) plans to receive five new vessels during the year, Chairman of ASCO Rauf Valiyev told reporters in Baku Feb. 21, Trend reports.

He said that two vessels will be built at the Baku Shipyard, and the rest will be acquired from foreign companies. In general, the ASCO plans to annually purchase two vessels from the Baku Shipyard each year, he noted.

He reminded that the fleet renewal process has been going on for the past five years. During this period, ASCO acquired 20 new ships, he said.

Valiyev added that the Baku Shipyard continues to build four more vessels for ASCO.

We must constantly update our fleet in order to ensure continuous development in conditions of high competition, Valiyev said.

The tanker Lachin, which was set afloat Feb. 21, is a part of the policy of turning Azerbaijan into a key logistics center of the region, he added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

A new oil tanker, "Lachin", will be commissioned in Azerbaijan in June 2019, Trend reports on Feb. 21.

The tanker launching ceremony was held at the Baku Shipyard on Feb. 21.

Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Vice President of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR Suleyman Gasimov, Director of the State Maritime Agency Gudrat Gurbanov, and Executive Director of Baku Shipbuilding LLC Imanverdi Hasanov attended the ceremony.

The tanker hull has been fully constructed.

The length of the tanker is 141 meters, width - 16.9 meters, height - six meters. The deadweight of the tanker in the sea is 7,884 tons, on the river  5,455 tons. Its speed can reach 10 knots per hour. The tanker has six cargo tanks with a capacity of 9,190 cubic meters. The Odessa Marine Engineering Bureau designed the tanker.

In general, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC intends to purchase over 70 vessels, including cargo ships, passenger ships, tankers, boats and other vessels within ten years.

Two RoPax vessels are being built in the Baku Shipyard upon the order of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC.
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 21

Trend:

Iran is to import livestock from Romania to the West Azerbaijan Province through Turkey, while the province is to expand agricultural ties with Azerbaijan.

Governor of West Azerbaijan Mohammad Mehdi Shahriari told Trend about a recent trip of an Azerbaijani trade delegation to Iran.

"Azerbaijan Parliamentary speaker visited the province two months ago and recently a group of businessmen and academics visited and held negotiations about apple exports and other agricultural products," said Shahriari.

"The Azerbaijani tradesmen have also noted the high quality of agricultural products from West Azerbaijan Province and expressed readiness to exports these products specially apple and grape to foreign countries including Russia," he added.

He went on to add that fortunately, there has been good connection established, so it is expected that Azerbaijan would evaluate the market of West Azerbaijan Province, and export the province's exports to former Soviet countries, including Russia and Belarus.

"The West Azerbaijan Province has usually remained on the sidelines of diplomatic meetings between Iranian, Turkish or Azerbaijani officials, but after Azerbaijan Parliamentary speaker Ogtay Asadov's visit to Iran, there were discussions on joint cooperation in agriculture and industry sectors," Shahriari noted.

He added that various delegations from Turkey's provinces have also visited West Azerbaijan Province and the connections were established.

Shahriari also mentioned that Iran is set to import live sheep from Romania to West Azerbaijan Province through Turkey's port of Trabzon next week.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

The Astana Hub international technological park of IT startups should attract 4.8 billion tenge of investments this year, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

Minister of Information and Communications of Kazakhstan Dauren Abayev made the remarks at a meeting of the ministry.

"Astana Hub is already showing good results. As of today, three acceleration programs have been carried out, as a result of which 47 startups were selected and more than 180 million tenge of investments were attracted," the minister said.

He also noted that a lot of normative work was carried out both in venture financing and in creating favorable conditions for both investors and IT companies.

Abayev stressed that this year work will continue to improve the legislation.

"In particular, a draft law has been developed on amendments and additions to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on the regulation of digital technologies. The law is intended to create a basis for legal regulation of the early introduction of technologies such as blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence and robotization," the minister concluded.

(376.3 KZT = 1 USD on Feb. 20)

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Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid
Las Vegas, NV, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- DLT Resolution Inc. (OTC: DLTI), a Distributed Ledger Technology (Blockchain) Voice and Data and Information Technology company, is pleased to announce it has been selected to provide critical communications services to the chain of Leggat Auto Dealerships in Canada.



DLT will be providing critical voice and data services as well as its both primary and failover internet services (LTE Failover) to all 10 of the Leggat dealers in Canada.

Following the migration of the Burlington Mazda location and successful completion of the evaluation period, DLT Resolution is currently migrating 4 dealerships over the next 30 days. The remaining 5 dealerships will be completed in the second quarter of 2019.

Commenting on the migration John S. Wilkes, President, said, "Following the success of this installation, we believe that we can leverage the testimonial from this client to market to the multitude of other dealerships in South Western Ontario and beyond."

About Leggat

With 10 car dealerships across Ontario, the Leggat Auto Group is a respected automotive dealer and leasing company. The Company was formed in 1922 and its decades of quality service has made it one of Canadas most respected auto dealers. Learn the history behind this successful company.

http://www.leggatleasing.ca/leggat-story

About DLT Resolution Inc.

DLT Resolution Inc. currently operates in three high-tech industry segments: Blockchain Applications; Telecommunications; and Data Services which includes Image Capture, Data Collection, Data Phone Center Services, and Payment Processing. Its clients represent some of the top businesses from a variety of sectors. DLT Resolution helps organizations that have invoices, ledgers, statements, applications, surveys, employee and customer rewards programs and a wide range of other non-core functions benefit from data management. DLT Resolution also operates a Health Information Exchange providing the ability to request and retrieve medical information & records while meeting all of today's Security & Compliance demands for HIPAA, PIPEDA and PHIPA. Through RecordsBank.org , the Company offers an easy to use online gateway to its centralized system for patients, lawyers and insurers to retrieve and access medical records.

Learn more at: www.dltresolution.com

Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations or forecasts of future events, can be affected by inaccurate assumptions, and are subject to various business risks and known and unknown uncertainties, a number of which are beyond the control of management. Therefore, actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information respecting the factors that could materially affect the Company and its operations are contained in its annual report on Form 10K and Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

The State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan is creating an open-end investment fund with the participation of foreign organizations in order to attract investments to finance new projects in the country, Trend reports with reference to the bank.

On the basis of an international tender for preparation of a feasibility study and a business plan in this area, a contract was signed earlier with Baker Tilly Rus Consulting JSC (Russian Federation).

The State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan is the official agent of the country in the international capital market and attracts medium- and long-term foreign loans to finance strategic investment projects.

In order to diversify the manufacture of export-oriented products of Turkmenistan, the bank actively attracts foreign loans for projects in the gas and chemical industry.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov has met with World Banks Regional Director for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon in the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to the Cabinet Feb. 21.

During the meeting, the deputy prime minister said that the provision of quality services in the healthcare sector is one of the fundamental principles of the social policy pursued in Azerbaijan. Ahmadov spoke about the need to implement serious reforms in connection with the application of mandatory health insurance.

Tembon stressed that the World Bank Group attaches great importance to close and sustainable cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The regional director noted that the World Bank is ready to provide any assistance for the implementation of Azerbaijans development program, sustainable economic growth of the county.

Tembon also said that the bank is ready to provide any support for the formation of an institutional structure related to mandatory health insurance, improvement of healthcare financing mechanisms for organizing and improving the quality of medical services.

During the meeting, an exchange of views on other issues of mutual interest took place.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

The staff of Azerbaijans State Border Service has foiled an attempt of five citizens of Sri Lanka to illegally cross the state border, Trend reports with reference to the service.

The citizens of Sri Lanka were detained at a border checkpoint in the Bilasuvar district while trying to cross into Iran.

It was established that the detainees officially arrived in Azerbaijan on a Sharjah-Baku flight. During the interrogation, they said that they wanted to cross the state border of Azerbaijan to Iran and from there to Turkey.

A criminal case was launched against the border violators, and a measure of restraint in the form of arrest was taken against them. Operational and investigative activities regarding the criminal case continue.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Ivonyak, who was transporting the batches of raisins from Irans Malayer city to Odessa by Renault truck, was detained at the Astara customs post in Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

The vehicle was inspected by the customs officials and the batches with raisins were unloaded from the truck.

Then the representatives of the cynological service continued to inspect the truck and found 54 packets with heroin weighing more than 28 kilograms.

The investigation is underway.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Undergraduates of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) conducted Make Happy, Be Happy! charity concert organized with the support of the BHOS Student Senate and attended by representatives from other national universities. Prior to the event, the students held a charity book and painting exhibition and craft sale. This humanitarian project was mainly aimed at increasing public awareness of the needs of children without parental care and raising funds to provide them with necessary assistance.

Opening the event with welcome address, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov highly praised the BHOS students initiative. The Rector said that this socially important project serves the interests of the society and reflects the young peoples eagerness to help children in need of care and support. In his words, participation in such projects helps the students to understand the true value of kindness and compassion, which are traditionally associated with qualities inherent in Azerbaijani people.

The concert, which took place at the Congress Hall, was performed by the members of the BHOS Musical Club Zarifa Abdulova, Gunel Huseynli, Vugar Hasanov, Orkhan Sayidov, Orkhan Alizadeh, Nulifer Asgerzadeh and members of the Higher School Rap Club Famil Babayev and Gazanfar Gazanfarli. The guest performers included students of Azerbaijan National Conservatory Farid Garagoz and Ali Aliyev, young musicians Safa Eldar and Ramil Nabran, and ASSA dance group.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Accredited foreign military attaches in Azerbaijan visited the enterprises of the countrys Ministry of Defense Industry, Trend reports referring to the ministry's message.

The military attaches visited the Iglim research and production enterprise, along with the Electronic Computing Machines (ECM) factory, and observed the production process.

They were thoroughly informed about the activities of enterprises.

The military attaches also attended an exhibition held at the ECM factory for military products produced and manufactured at the enterprises of the Ministry of Defense Industry.

They then visited the Iglim research and production enterprise where military products are manufactured. It was mentioned that the firearms manufactured at the enterprise are demonstrated at international exhibitions and exported to foreign countries.

A total of 32 representatives from 21 countries were present during the visit.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The genocide in Azerbaijans Khojaly town is the most serious crime committed against humanity, Azerbaijani MP Bakhtiyar Aliyev said, Trend reports.

He was giving speech Feb. 21 at an event at the Caucasian Muslims Office dedicated to the anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

He stressed that the perpetrators of crimes against the Azerbaijani people will answer for them before the military tribunal.

He noted that throughout the history, acts of genocide were committed against the Azerbaijani people and deportations were carried out.

The Soviet authorities in 1948 decided to deport thousands of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, from their ancestral lands, he added. The reason for this was the need to accommodate Armenians arriving from abroad. Wouldnt such a huge country like the USSR have a place for accommodating those Armenians at that time? Unfortunately, it was a purposeful policy.

The Khojaly genocide is a bloody page of the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide carried out for more than 200 years by Armenian nationalist aggressors against the Azerbaijani people.

During the Karabakh war, on Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women, were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey-Azerbaijan relations are experiencing a golden age, which is happening thanks to the heads of the two countries - presidents Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Yalcin Topcu, Turkish presidential adviser, in an exclusive interview with Trend Feb. 21.

Everyone knows the statement of the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev that Turkey and Azerbaijan are 'one nation, two states', Topcu said. Turkey and Azerbaijan not only share a common fate, but also look to the future from a single position.

He noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan are two states, the opinions of which are important in the region and the world, and which have close relations in all spheres.

Topcu added that Azerbaijan always proves its fraternity to Turkey, and in the most difficult days, fraternal Azerbaijan was beside Turkey.

During the military coup attempt in Turkey, Azerbaijan once again proved its brotherhood, and it was very important for us, he stressed.

Topcu noted that President Ilham Aliyev at one of the international conferences, where Turkey didnt participate, provided important support to the brotherly country.

The words of the Azerbaijani president 'There are no representatives of Turkey at this table, but I am here' will forever remain in the memory of the Turkish people, and we are grateful to President Ilham Aliyev for such support, Topcu said.

Topcu noted that the further strengthening of relations between the two countries is a priority of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to construct Kolgishlaq-Mirashelli-Ahmadaghali-Chirakhli road in Aghdam district.

Under the presidential order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 2.3 million manats for the construction of the road connecting five residential areas with a total population of 9,000 people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The genocide in Azerbaijans Khojaly town shouldnt be forgotten even for a minute and it is necessary to make the whole world imprint it in its memory, said Mubariz Gurbanli, chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

He was giving speech at the event Khojaly genocide - the eternal memory of the people: justice for Khojaly! at the Caucasian Muslims Office.

He said that events are being held in Azerbaijan and other countries in connection with the Khojali genocide.

Serious work has been done in Azerbaijan to bring the realities of Khojaly to the whole world, and this work continues, he noted. At the initiative of great leader Heydar Aliyev, the genocide received political and legal assessment. The merit of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in bringing the truth about the genocide to the whole world is undeniable. As a result of the work done, there are positive developments in terms of recognizing this genocide.

Gurbanli said that the atrocities committed in Khojaly are a crime against humanity.

Such criminals should be brought to criminal responsibility no matter where they are, he noted. Sargsyan, Kocharyan, who led those who perpetrated the Khojaly genocide, will someday answer for their crime.

The Khojaly genocide is a bloody page of the policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide carried out for more than 200 years by Armenian nationalist aggressors against the Azerbaijani people.

During the Karabakh war, on Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.
Waltham, MA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CallMiner, the leading provider of award-winning speech and customer engagement analytics platform CallMiner Eureka, announced today a partnership with Morae Global Corporation, a full-service, technology-enabled, integrated solution provider for the legal and compliance function. The new partnership combines CallMiners speech analytics for behavioral insight with Morae Globals unique expertise in legal risk and compliance for financial services to spotlight threats that model-based solutions are incapable of capturing.

Regulations such as Dodd-Frank, MiFID II and MAR place increasing demands on compliance and risk departments, trading desks, CFOs and legal teams in the financial markets. Intensified regulatory scrutiny means that companies must engage in the active monitoring of employee actions to ensure compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. Such monitoring will identify and address potentially noncompliant and fraudulent activity.

CallMiner and Morae Global deliver a new regulatory risk mitigation and compliance solution that steps beyond traditional compliance approaches by leveraging sophisticated speech analytics technology to analyze audio interactions and uncover potential noncompliant behavior. Advanced audio analytics, delivered through Morae Globals Audio IQ platform, apply CallMiners AI-fueled speech analytics technology to uncover undesirable behavior based on what is being said, when it was discussed and how the conversation occurs in context with previous or subsequent actions or communications. Key benefits are:

Predictive  Prior actions and indications of illicit behavior can be used to train models to identify similar scenarios and occurrences enabling proactive mitigation and compliance.

 Prior actions and indications of illicit behavior can be used to train models to identify similar scenarios and occurrences enabling proactive mitigation and compliance. Comprehensive  A highly scalable solution capable of 100 percent surveillance means every call is monitored.

 A highly scalable solution capable of 100 percent surveillance means every call is monitored. Manageable  Automated objective risk scoring efficiently focuses attention on the most critical activities.

Enabling legal and compliance teams to become aware of emerging threats allows them to correct illegal, noncompliant or simply troublesome behavior long before it results in legal or regulatory problems for the company, says Morae Global President & Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Bashir. Our relationship with CallMiner lets us help our clients build preventative programs that can provide enormous value legally, financially and reputationally.

Focusing on the behavior that matters most is supported by risk scoring based on voice and conversational analytics. Morae domain expertise contributes to uniquely effective communications categorization to provide accurate threat identification while minimizing false positives. Traders are scored based on unique speech characteristics and other conversational elements that provide some indication of noncompliant behavior. When used in context with each other, review-worthy occurrences are then color-coded based on user-established criteria, making it easy for compliance officers to spot behavior for further investigation.

CallMiner and Morae Global now offer a regulatory and compliance solution that helps financial institutions and others more effectively address regulatory requirements and protect fundamental business integrity with unobtrusively persistent conversational behavioral surveillance and analytics, says Paul Bernard, CallMiner president and CEO. Our partnership with Morae Global enables a new class of risk mitigation and compliance support through audio analytics.

Morae Global will offer this solution as a managed service. For more information about CallMiner, visit www.callminer.com. For more information about Morae Global, visit www.moraeglobal.com.

About CallMiner

CallMiner empowers organizations of any size to extract and take action on intelligence from customer interactions for improving customer experience, sales, marketing, and compliance, as well as agent and customer engagement center performance. Highlighted by multiple customer achievement awards, including eight Speech Technology implementation awards in the past six years, CallMiner was recently named a leader in the industry analyst report Forrester New Wave: AI-Fueled Speech Analytics Solutions, Q2 2018. www.callminer.com.

Media Contact: Scott Kendrick | VP Marketing | scott.kendrick@callminer.com | 239-288-0174

About Morae Global Corporation

Morae Global Corporation provides end-to-end legal and compliance solutions to General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officers. Moraes team of experts is comprised of some of the most seasoned and knowledgeable professionals in the legal industry who are trusted to transform legal and compliance departments worldwide. Core service lines include CLUTCH Information Management & eDiscovery, Legal & Compliance Consulting Solutions and Alternative Legal Services. Using performance-based management consulting and technology-enabled information, discovery and on-demand legal services, Morae Global is redefining the business of law. Morae Global has offices throughout the United States, including in Houston, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., and internationally in London, Bangalore, Zurich and Hong Kong. For more information about Morae Globals legal solutions, visit www.moraeglobal.com.

Attachment
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Sabir Hajiyev, member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, is headed to Chisinau, Moldova to observe parliamentary elections as part of the international observation mission of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the CIS Executive Committee, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Parliament.

Hajiyev will also take part in the event organized in commemoration of the Khojaly genocide. He will tell the participants of the event about the tragedy, as well as the work carried out for the global recognition of the Khojaly genocide.

The visit will end on February 26.

During the ongoing Karabakh war, on February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As a result of the genocide, 613 people were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly, 487 people became disabled, and 1,275 residents were taken hostage.
Details added (first version posted at 12:10, Feb. 20).

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Gunther Oettinger.

The successful implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project was hailed, the importance of the Advisory Council meetings was emphasized at the meeting.

President Ilham Aliyev stressed the European Union`s active involvement and role in the implementation of the project, and hailed the successful realization of the SGC.

Gunther Oettinger conveyed President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker`s greetings to President Ilham Aliyev. He said he is glad to participate in the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council. Gunther Oettinger hailed the professionalism of the Azerbaijani team in the implementation of the project. He described Azerbaijan as a reliable partner in the successful realization of the SGC.

The head of the state expressed his gratitude for President of the European Commission`s greetings and asked the Commissioner to extend his greetings to Jean-Claude Juncker.

The sides also exchanged views on Azerbaijan-EU cooperation in other fields.
Details added (first version posted at 14:23, Feb. 20)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Regional Director of the World Bank for the South Caucasus Mercy Tembon.

The head of state thanked Tembon for participating in the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude for the World Bank`s continued support for the Southern Gas Corridor and other projects implemented by Azerbaijan. The president hailed Azerbaijan-WB cooperation as long-term and fruitful.

Praising the successful realization of the Southern Gas Corridor project, the head of state pointed out that a significant progress was made in the implementation of the project last year and that it continues this year too.

Recalling his meeting with Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva in Davos, the head of state noted that they broadly discussed future cooperation.

Mercy Tembon extended Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva`s greetings to the head of state. She emphasized that President Ilham Aliyev touched upon important issues in his substantial speech at the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.

Mercy Tembon underlined that the World Bank CEO was deeply impressed with her meeting with President Ilham Aliyev in Davos. Regional Director Mercy Tembon said that consecutive measures have been taken to implement the issues discussed between Azerbaijan and the World Bank.

President Ilham Aliyev thanked for Kristalina Georgieva`s greetings and asked Mercy Tembon to extend his greetings to the Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Appointment of Mehriban Aliyeva as First Vice-President of Azerbaijan was the beginning of a new chapter in the welfare of the people of Azerbaijan, Rob Sobhani, director general of the Caspian Group Holdings, told Trend.

Within a short period, Mehriban Aliyeva has elevated Azerbaijan's status on the global stage in the areas of culture and heritage. She has promoted the rich history of Azerbaijan in world capitals such as Rome and Paris, he said.

Sobhani noted that Mehriban Aliyevas kind heart has touched the lives of ordinary Azerbaijanis through her philanthropy.

Mehriban Aliyeva is not only the First Lady of Azerbaijan but she is also the First Lady of Kindness. For the people of Azerbaijan to have Mehriban Aliyeva as First VP has been a blessing, because she has used her position for the benefit of the citizens of Azerbaijan, noted the expert.

Sobhani pointed out that Mehriban Aliyeva is very detail oriented and as such, her attention to the problems of the citizens of Azerbaijan does not go unnoticed.

This is very important, because she can instruct ministers and other officials to be more careful in addressing the needs of citizens -- whether they live in Baku or Ganja or Lankaran. The people of Azerbaijan can also be proud of their First VP, because she has elevated the name of Azerbaijan around the world. Today people in France and Italy know about the rich history of Azerbaijani music because of Mehriban Aliyeva, he said.

The expert believes that equally important, Mehriban Aliyeva pays close attention to issues of woman entrepreneurs, helping woman create their own businesses and being an equal partner in the economic growth of Azerbaijan.

It is also worth mentioning that Mehriban Aliyevas attention to science is important for the people of Azerbaijan, because this allows for the exchange of knowledge to enter into Azerbaijan for the benefit of the people of Azerbaijan, such as state of the art hospitals, Sobhani concluded.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Commitment by Azerbaijan and Armenia to prepare their populations for peace is a very promising signal, Trend reports citing Thomas Greminger, Secretary General of the OSCE.

He made the remarks during the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna.

We hope to see progress in the Minsk process working towards a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The committment by the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan to prepare their populations for peace is a very promising signal. I would like to stress the need to intensify our efforts to work together contructively in all the existing mediation formats, said Greminger.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 26 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 21, 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.
Long before being famous for its firebrand hardliners, problematic missile and nuclear programs, chaotic foreign relations and compulsory hijab, Iran was always known as an oil-rich country. Yet the scarcity of gasoline has always been a major problem in the Islamic Republic's domestic energy market.

Like most other things about Iran, there is yet another paradox about gasoline which remains a mystery to some observers. If gasoline supplies are always insufficient because of lack of refining capacity, why over ten million liters of it is smuggled out of Iran on a daily basis? This adds up to 3.65 billion liters every year.

This is only one of many estimates about the smuggling of gasoline from Iran. On December 19, 2018 a government spokesman said everyday 11.5 million liters of gasoline is smuggled out of Iran. Ali Adyani, a member of the Iranian Parliament's Energy Committee has quoted various sources as putting the gasoline smuggling figure at ten, 15 and even 20 million liters a day.

Mohammad Hassan Nejad, another member of the committee, says the smuggled fuel amounts to 22 million liters per day. With a 50 cent per litre profit, the total daily income adds up to 400 trillion rials annually or $3.3 billion, nearly the same as the country's annual development budget.

In addition to gasoline smuggling, other fuels such as kerosene and diesel are also smuggled; not in lesser quantities.

Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh ruled out that figure, saying it is logistically impossible to carry that much gasoline across the border every day. But all smuggling is not just small-scale wheeling-dealing. At least at certain times fuel smuggling has been a way to circumvent oil export sanctions.

Observers say all of these figures can be true at different times depending on the availability of fuel inside the country and changes in demands in the neighboring countries.

Gasoline and other fossil fuel smuggling takes place in various forms and in many ways, say those who know the market. Most gasoline smugglers are unemployed Iranians who manipulate middle-size vans and minibuses and add two or three fuel tanks with a capacity of up to 500 liters or more to carry gasoline across the borders. They sometimes need to bribe border guards on both sides.

Bigger smugglers, such as a cabinet minister under Iran's ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), have allegedly used their connections to run convoys of tankers across Iran's northern borders on a daily basis for years, even when Iran imported nearly all of its gasoline due to severe shortage in its refining capacity.

A former police chief was accused at one point of being a ring leader in a widespread network of smuggling gasoline and other fuels. None of these cases have been officially proven in court, but every four years some of the candidates running for President in the past two decades have been accusing each other during of helping their aides smuggle fuel.

According to foreign-based economist Mehrdad Seyed Asgari in an article on Radio Farda's Persian website, the price of one liter of gasoline in Iran is currently about 8 cents while the price in the destination of smuggled fuel in Turkey, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistanis, Iraq, Afghanistan and Armenia is at least 1.23 US dollar. This means that every liter of smuggled fuel brings in a profit of more than a dollar.

The astonishingly low gasoline price in Iran is because the government subsidizes more than 90 percent of the cost; just the opposite of what many other countries do when they heavily tax fuels to reduce consumption.

The devaluation of the Iranian currency in the past one year has made gasoline at least three times cheaper in dollars. That has made smuggling even a more profitable venture.

Another problem is that this subsidy comes out of the countrys wealth but mainly benefits those who have a car and can afford to drive a lot. The richest 10 percent of the Iranian population benefits from the subsidy 11 times more than the poorest ten percent.

In 2016, 43 percent of Iranian families had gasoline fuelled cars. The other 53 percent do not own a car, so they do not benefit from the gasoline subsidy. The shocking reality is that the richest urban families own at least one car while only one percent of the poorest rural families have a vehicle.

A major part of the problem is systematic smuggling and systematic corruption. The government believes between 30 to 40 million liters of fuel, including 10 million liters of gasoline is smuggled across the border every day.

Not all of that fuel is handled by individual smugglers. Rural institutions and industrial units benefiting from gigantic quotas for subsidized gasoline and other fuels channel them into the smuggling market.

The security problem involved in fuel smuggling is that countries under financial sanctions, such as Iran, can turn it into mechanism to circumvent sanctions.

To what extent Irans fuel smuggling is a centrally organized venture, is hard to say, but potentially it could be a way to turn some of the oil wealth into hard cash, despite U.S. sanctions on its oil exports. During the previous round of international sanctions, it was widely reported that Iran was helping to smuggle fuels to regional countries to secure some income.

This could explain why after forty years of smuggling gasoline the problem is still there without any solution in sight.
Iranian security has arrested six Iranian Christian converts in the northern city of Rasht during February, according to sources who spoke to Radio Farda.

Converting to another religion is forbidden in Islam and in countries where religious law applies converts can be prosecuted. Iran regularly arrests Christian converts, whose numbers have been rising in recent years, reaching tens of thousands or more according to some estimates.

A well-informed source named the detainees as: Khalil Pour-Dehghan, Hossein Kadivar, Abdolreza Ali Haghnezhad, Kamal Nemanian, Mohammad Vafadar and Mohammad Eslamdoost.

Dozens of other Christian converts have been arrested in the past decade in Iran, some receiving lengthy prison sentences.

Muslims who convert to Christianity usually assume new names, but they cannot do it openly and officially. Their new Christian names remain known only to a close circle of other converts.

Iran allows traditional Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christian minorities to practice their religion, but it persecutes missionary churches, which exist in secrecy.

United Nations organs and committees, as well as international human rights organizations have repeatedly urged the Islamic Republic to respect the right to choose ones religion and beliefs, which are supposed to be protected by Irans international obligations.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry has confirmed its strategic course toward partnership with Russia, at the same time voicing the need to gradually improve relations with NATO countries.

The ministry held a briefing for foreign states' military attaches on Thursday, the ministry's press service said.

"During the briefing, whose subject was 'The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. Modern Phase of Development', those present were informed of the main principles of the adjusted concept of international military cooperation for 2029-2023, as part of which the strategic course toward partnership with Russia was confirmed," the press service said.

At the same time, the concept "declares the need for a step-by-step process of improving relations with member countries of NATO, the European Union and also other states that respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus and develop a trust-based and equal dialogue with the country."

"Interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been determined as promising, and special attention has been given to relations with Serbia," the ministry said.

Issues concerning the creation of a "belt of good neighborly relations" make up a separate section of the concept.
INTERPOL under a request of judicial agencies of Israel has issued a red notice against Ukrainian businessman Oleksandr Hranovsky (Granovskyi), who has business assets in hospitality, publishing and financial areas.

According to information on the website of INTERPOL, Hranovsky is charged with obtaining anything by deceit, money laundering, performing a prohibited transaction with property and false entry in documents of a body corporate.

According to information from Israel's G. Willi-Food International Ltd., Hranovsky and Hryhoriy Hurtovy (Gregory Gurtovoy), former controlling shareholders and officers of the company, transferred from subsidiaries of Willi Food approximately $60 million to foreign banks as pretended foreign deposits, while pledging such funds to secure loans to private foreign companies related to them.

During January 2016, these persons transferred $3 million from a company controlled by Willi Food, for an investment registered in the company's books as an investment in bonds of a hotel in the Czech Republic, while in fact such investment served as a collateral for repayment of a loan of a company affiliated to Hranovsky and Hurtovy.

Willi Food said that on January 7, 2019 Hurtovy and Joseph Schneerson (former director of Willi Food Investments Ltd. implicated in the case) signed a plea bargain.

Hranovsky held a controlling stake in Willi Food via Ukraine's Vertex United Ltd., which provided services in the hotel management sphere. In December 2014, he was appointed a member of the board of directors of Willi Food.

Vertex United also had assets in investment and development, hospitality, and financial (PJSC Finbank, declared insolvent in April 2017 and liquidated in January 2019) and the media business (Focus magazine).
ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (Radisson or the Company") announces that following the completion of the 2018 drilling program, of which assays are pending for 3,850 metres (m), the company completed a litho-structural modeling and reviewed the current geological model for the OBrien property. The OBrien gold project is composed of two contiguous properties representing 4.5 km of strike in the Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp along the Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break halfway between Rouyn-Noranda and Val-dOr in Quebec, Canada. (See figure 1 and figure 2 )



Using a 3.5-grams/tonne gold (g/t Au) cut-off grade, the OBrien deposit currently contains 233,491 ounces (oz) at grade of 6.45 g/t Au in the Indicated category and 194,084 oz at a grade of 5.22 g/t Au in the Inferred category (InnovExplo, 2018). 13,226 metres of drilling were completed since closing of the database for resource current resources.

Current resources area begins 600 metres east and along strike of shaft No. 2 of the Old OBrien mine having produced 587 121 oz at a head grade of 15.25 g/t Au between 1926 and 1957 (InnovExplo, 2018).

Litho-structural Modeling presentation

A summary of Ore zones network interpretation and the revised litho-structural model will be made available on the companys website in the coming weeks.

See Ore Shoots 3D Longitudinal view

See Plan view of the OBrien gold project (Level 500)

Press release highlights:

The new structural interpretation is based on current and historic drill holes and highlights a strong compatibility with the historic data and geometry of the Old OBrien mine, where 90% of gold production came from the crossing of a conjugated veins system (Sauve et Trudel, 1990).

Three preferential mineralized orientations are observed; EAST-NORTH-EAST (ENE), EAST-SOUTH-EAST (ESE) and EAST-WEST (EW).

ENE mineralized corridors appear to be spatially associated with the interpreted ENE faults

Steep eastward plunging gold enrichment vectors (ore shoots) are identified on F, 36E and Vintage zones . These vectors occur at the intersection of the conjugated ENE and ESE quartz veins and locally, along the axes of asymmetrically folded quartz veins.



and . These vectors occur at the intersection of the conjugated ENE and ESE quartz veins and locally, along the axes of asymmetrically folded quartz veins. The structural interpretation significantly increases our comprehension of the OBrien gold project. This will allow Radisson to generate high potential drill targets.



significantly increases our of the OBrien gold project. This will allow Radisson to generate high potential drill targets. In current resources area, the vertical extension of the known ore shoots was defined by drilling to a depth of 550 metres. In comparison, the Old OBrien mine production reached a depth of 1,100 metres and remains untested below.

Revision of the geological and litho-structural model allows to highlight the strong analogy between 36E zone and the Old OBrien mine where historic production returned a phenomenal head grade. Not only it increases our confidence level in the extension of known ore shoots defined in the deposit, it also unlocks the potential for the discovery of other ones on the OBrien project as a whole, commented Mario Bouchard, President and CEO.

Qualified Person

Richard Nieminen, P. Geo, Exploration manager, acts as a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

About Radisson Mining Resources Inc.

Radisson is a gold exploration company focused on its 100% owned OBrien project, located in the Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp along the world-renowned Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break in Abitibi, Quebec. The Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp has produced over 21,000,000 ounces of gold over the last 100 years. The project hosts the former OBrien Mine, considered to have been the Abitibi Greenstone Belts highest-grade gold producer during its production (1,197,147 metric tons at 15.25 g/t Au for 587,121 ounces of gold from 1926 to 1957; InnovExplo, May 2018).For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:





Mario Bouchard

President and CEO

(819-277-6578

mbouchard@radissonmining.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, including the scheduled Closing date, but other than statements of historical fact, is forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking information can be found in Radissons disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com .

Figures accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9fb2d15d-2a5a-4a48-901b-337e0d9db8e3

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b9ead63c-e080-4caa-8e4f-b8a05d72894f

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/207faeba-ff6e-4968-90f9-934c2474252d
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that the Ukrainian sailors captured by Russian security forces near the Kerch Strait in November 2018 and illegally kept in the Moscow detention centers are prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention and called Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres on behalf of Ukrainians to exert pressure on Moscow for their release.

"Last November the Russian naval forces committed a direct, brutal and unprovoked attack on Ukrainian warships in the international waters of the Black Sea. Russia's actions fall exactly under the definition of aggression according to UN General Assembly Resolution of 1974. As a result, the vessels were damaged and seized, 24 crew members, including three wounded, were captured and are now in illegal detention in Russia. I want to stress that they are not criminals; they must be treated as prisoners of war under Geneva Conventions," Poroshenko said at a UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on February 20.

The Ukrainian president recalled that the Russian authorities ignore the numerous appeals of the international community for the immediate release of the illegally detained Ukrainian sailors.

"Today I brought with myself an appeal to the Secretary General to press on Moscow to release the Ukrainian crewmembers. It was signed by thousands of Ukrainians over the last few days. And I speak on behalf of all of them. We sincerely count on your support," he added.
Further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine to full-scale war is already a reality because of the concentration of a large assault group of Russian military forces on Ukraine's border, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"Military experts would tell it straight that an armed grouping at the Russian border with Ukraine is offensive strike group personnel. It has nothing to do with defense. They are meant for military strike. This is what the Kremlin is being prepared for. Thus, further escalation to a full-scale war is not an unrealistic prospect," Poroshenko said during debates at the United Nations General Assembly meeting, titled "The Situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," held in New York City on Wednesday.

Therefore, there should be a comprehensive, a real-time monitoring of the situation along the Russian border with Ukraine, he said.

"Back to the figures, I have to underline that the overall number of illegal armed formations stands now at around 35,000 militants, along with 2,100 servicemen from Russian regular armed forces. The total number of the Russian armed forces along the Russian-Ukrainian border is over 87,000 military," he said.

Poroshenko told the UNGA that in Donbas, Russian armed formations have 496 tanks. "Please know that this number is bigger than that of Germany or France, Spain or Italy," he said. The Russia-led forces also have 938 armored combat vehicles, 128 multiple launch rocket systems, 776 artillery systems (including self-propelled ones).

"It makes Ukraine a true eastern flank of NATO in defense of trans-Atlantic freedom and democracy," he said.

He recalled that in 2018 the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Donbas on several occasions took video coverage of convoys of the Russian military hardware, illegally crossing the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border not controlled by the Ukraine authorities.

Monitors also determined the presence in the occupied territory of the newest Russian systems of radio electronic warfare and radio intelligence as well as electronic UAV jamming systems.

"These systems have never been in a possession of the Ukrainian armed forces. There is only one country capable to produce and supply them: Russia!" he said.

"To hide these illegal supplies, the Russian Federation simply blocks the SMM OSCE monitoring activities in the areas, close to the temporarily uncontrolled segment of the state border. The SMM also continues to suffer from huge restrictions on its every day activity in the occupied territory," he added.
Russia-occupied Donbas recognized as most dangerous area for civilians because of land mines  Poroshenko

Russia-occupied Donbas is recognized as the most dangerous area for civilians because of land mines, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"This area, according to the UN, has already become the most mine-contaminated stretches of land in the world," he said during UN General Assembly debates in New York City on Wednesday, February 20.

Civilians continue to face serious risks to their safety due to the saturation of land mines and other explosive ordnances in the occupied Donbas, he said.

According to him, to overcome humanitarian consequences of the Russian military aggression, UN agencies have mobilized more than $460 million over the last five year.

"We are grateful for the assistance provided by our international partners to millions of people in need," he said.
The introduction of an UN-mandated multinational peacekeeping mission in Donbas will be a pivotal factor in bringing peace to the region, and Kyiv is willing to discuss this initiative, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"I am still a strong believer that an UN-mandated multinational peacekeeping operation with a clear objective to end the Russian aggression and restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity could be a decisive factor in bringing peace to Donbas," Poroshenko said at the debates in the UN General Assembly addressing the situation on "Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories" in New York City on Wednesday.

Ukraine is ready for a constructive discussion of this initiative, he said.

Sending a technical assessment mission to Donbas to work out respective options of the peacekeeping operation would help discuss this initiative, Poroshenko said.

"And a technical assessment mission which the UN Secretary General could send to Donbas in order to elaborate respective options would definitely assist to this discussion," Poroshenko said.

For Kyiv it is a matter of principle that any decision on launching a peacekeeping operation in Donbas extends its mandate over the entire territory of Donbas, including the Russian border. The introduction of UN peacekeepers to Donbas should "provide for withdrawal of Russian troops and proxies and their weaponry from our territory," Poroshenko said.

"It is also important that any peacekeeping operation is based on key UN peacekeeping principles  to be impartial, unbiased, and neutral in the first place," he said.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko spoke of an "unprecedented militarization by Russia of the Black Sea region."

"Russia changes the strategic balance in the region and well beyond its borders. It turns Crimea into a launch pad for its missiles," Poroshenko said during debates at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

"By February 2019, in the occupied Crimea Russia has deployed up to 32,500 military personnel, 88 artillery systems, 52 multiple launch rocket systems, 372 armored combat vehicles, 113 warplanes, 62 combat helicopters, as well as 6 combat ships and 6 submarine ships equipped with the Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles. One cannot exclude eventual deployment of nuclear weapons in the peninsula," Poroshenko said.
Volodymyr Zelensky, a showman, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, has discussed building a liberal economy with former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk and ex-Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius.

"Building a liberal economy is an important point of our program. We regularly hold meetings with many experts in this field. We've recently talked with Oleksandr Danyliuk and Aivaras Abromavicius," according to a posting on the Facebook page of Zelensky's team (ZeKomanda).

The photo of the participants in the meeting is posted on the same page.

Former Finance Minister Danyliuk confirmed the meeting was held. According to him, in addition to economic issues, they spoke "about the end of the war in the east, working with western partners, eliminating the influence of oligarchy and renewing the state apparatus."

"He noted the following priorities: liquidating the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and reformatting it into counter-intelligence, which is able to effectively fight against Russia's hybrid aggression, reforming the prosecutor's office, creating the Financial Investigations Service to effectively combat financial crimes against the state," Danyliuk said on Facebook.

Danyliuk also noted the importance of "a thought-out cooperation with Western partners, in particular with the IMF," as well as preventing the curtailment of the VAT reform and transparency of government financing.

"Of course, I initiated the question of PrivatBank nationalization and relations with Kolomoisky [Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky]. And received the answer that he runs for president not to return PrivatBank," the ex-minister said.
More than quarter of Donbas industrial potential illegally moved to Russia - Poroshenko at UNGA

More than a quarter of the industrial potential of Donbas has been moved to Russia, including equipment from large industrial enterprises located in the region, as a result of the conflict in Donbas, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

"Some 27% of the industrial potential of Donbas was illegally transferred to Russia, including the equipment of 33 local industrial giants," Poroshenko said during debates at the United Nations General Assembly meeting titled "The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine" held in New York City on Wednesday.

At the same time, the president noted that other enterprises located in the occupied part of Donbas cannot fully function due to a lack of professional staff, financial resources and the loss of cooperative ties with other parts of Ukraine.

The ecological situation is also worsening in the occupied areas of Donbas, in particular, due to the flooding of coal mines, which creates the risk of groundwater pollution.

In addition, Poroshenko said that there is a number of potentially dangerous objects near the line of contact between the parties that, due to regular shelling by illegal armed groups, could become the epicenter of environmental and man-made disasters.

"Critical infrastructure facilities, electricity, gas and water supplies, damaged by shelling, require urgent repair," he said.
Budget receipts from tourism fee in Ukraine in 2018 increased by 29.2%, to UAH 907 million, and taking into account tax payments the tourism industry raised payments by 20.7% last year, to UAH 4.2 billion, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has reported.

"This indicates an increase in the volume of domestic tourism flows and the effectiveness of implementation of the decentralization reform, namely local fiscal discipline improvement," the agency said.

The ministry added there were also qualitative changes in the structure of foreign tourist flow to Ukraine in 2018. According to the ministry's press release, the State Border Service recorded an increase in the number of tourists from the countries not bordering Ukraine, particularly Europe: from Spain by 68% Britain by 47.3%, Lithuania by 23.4%, Italy by 15.4%, Germany by 13.3%, and France by 9.2%.

The number of tourists from India over the past year rose by 57.4%, China by 38.8%, Japan by 38.3%, Israel by 21.7%, and the United States by 19%, while cross-border traffic, on the contrary, declined, the ministry said. According to the authority, this was achieved thanks to visa liberalization, and an increased offer of direct and low-cost flights.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Viscount Mining Corp. (TSX-V: VML) (OTCQB: VLMGF) (Viscount or the Company) conducted a two-hole reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) drill test totaling 434 meters (m) or 1,425 feet (ft) on the Cherry Creek property in late November and early December 2018. Hole numbers are CC045 and CC046. The purpose of the drilling was to test the Star Vein and the Exchequer Vein systems in the vicinity of their namesake historic mines for continuity of the veins at depth, and to better understand the nature of the mineralization in the veins and host geology. The holes were drilled utilizing a Foremost Explorer 1500 RC drill supplied by Boart Longyear of Elko, Nevada.



Mark Abrams, Viscount Director and geologist, stated: The two-hole reconnaissance drill test program accomplished the objectives we hoped to achieve. First, hole CC045 established that the South Star Vein extends much deeper than previously known from review of existing underground mapping. Further, the vein possibly widens at depth, although more drilling is required to confirm this. Hole CC045 also successfully tested the upper level of the lesser known North Star Vein and established gold and silver mineralization is present within 132 m (434 ft) of the surface, even though the vein has not been mapped on the surface. We are encouraged by this and intend to explore for the North Star Vein on the surface. Additionally, both hole CC045 and CC046 appear to have identified quartz vein stockwork alteration which we plan to investigate further. Stockworks are a common feature in many mineral deposits and mines worldwide. They consist of swarms of thin discontinuous veinlets that can host mineralization.

RC Hole CC045 test of the Star Vein System

The Star Vein system is comprised of the South Star Vein and the North Star Vein emplaced about 9 m (30 ft) apart and are subparallel to each other. Both veins have a production history, with the South Star Vein having the greatest production. Mineralization in the Star veins is hosted in a black phyllite and grey/tan quartzite of the Precambrian Prospect Mountain Formation.

Hole CC045 was drilled across the North Star and South Star veins. The hole was designed to test the deeper portion of the South Star vein, as well as, the North Star Vein. It was drilled to 261 m (855 ft) on an azimuth of 204 and at a -65 angle to horizontal.

After encountering an underground working from 123.4 to 125 m (405-410 ft), hole CC045 intersected 7.6 m (25 ft) to 132.6 m (435 ft) of quartz-veined black phyllite interpreted to be an unmined portion of the North Star Vein and its footwall. This intercept of 4.5 m (14.76 ft) estimated true thickness assayed 1.6 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) or 0.051 oz/ton and 24.88 grams of silver per tonne (g/t Ag) or 0.796 oz/ton. The intercept includes two higher grade intervals: 3.26 g/t Au (0.10 oz/ton) and 36 g/t Ag (1.15 oz/ton) over 1.52 m (126.49-128.01 m or 415-420 ft) and 2.42 g/t Au (0.08 oz/ton) and 27.5 g/t Ag (0.88 oz/ton) over 1.53 m (131.06-132.59 or 430-435 ft), respectively of estimated true thickness 0.90 m (2.95 ft) and 0.91 m (2.97 ft).

Hole CC045 also intersected what is interpreted from the presence of quartz and sulphides in several sections to be an unmined portion of the South Star Vein from 230.1 m (755 ft) to 260.6 m (855 ft) where caving backfill in historic mine workings caused the hole to be terminated. The 30.5 m (100 ft) interval has an estimated true thickness of 19.59 m (64 ft) whereas the historic production width was in the 0.5-2.0 m range.

Included in the above interval was 1.52 m (5 ft) of quartz-veined black phyllite from 240.79 to 242.31 m (790-795 ft) that assayed 0.822 g/t Au (0.026 oz/ton) and 30 g/t Ag (0.96 oz/t). Estimated true thickness is 0.9 m (2.95 ft).

RC Hole CC046 test of the Exchequer Vein System

The Exchequer Vein system is comprised of the Exchequer Vein (also known as the New Century or Imperial Vein) and the Blue Vein. The Exchequer and Blue Veins are distinct, subparallel, approximately 9 to 18 m (30 to 60 ft) apart along the Exchequer Fault and separated by quartz monzonite which hosts disseminated gold and silver mineralization as reported in Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 14, Spruce Mountain District, Elko County and Cherry Creek (Egan Canyon) District, White Pine County, F.C. Schrader (USGS), August 1, 1931.

Hole CC046 was drilled to 174 m (570 ft) across the Exchequer and Blue veins at an azimuth of 200 and angle of -65. It was designed to test the deeper portions of both veins as well as the intervening mineralized intrusive.

The geology encountered by hole CC046 is complex due to the Exchequer Veins propensity to feather out in quartzite of the Precambrian Prospect Mountain Formation. This Formation in the Exchequer Mine area hosts numerous veins as well as a mix of intermediate intrusive dikes that have intruded parallel to the veins. A feathered appearance noted in drill sample chips of the Exchequer Vein may indicate potential for a stockwork type of mineralization surrounding the main veins and, if so, suggests the possibility for a much larger mineralization target. Surface rock sampling of stockwork quartz veining along the strike of the Exchequer Vein in an area of no historic mining or drilling has yielded sample results up to 1.69 g/t Au (0.054 oz/ton) and 320 g/t Ag (10.24 oz/ton), also providing encouragement to search for a nearby bulk tonnage target.

Based on the amount of quartz vein and fine-grained sulfide in the chips, the Exchequer Vein is interpreted to have been intersected from 91 to 110 m (300-360 ft) in hole CC046. The true thickness is estimated at 12 m (39.3 ft). A dark porphyritic dike from 126.5 to 129.5 m (415-425 ft) is likely the quartz monzonite dike noted in the literature as occurring between the Exchequer Vein and the Blue Vein. The Blue Vein, as evidenced by the abundance of blue-green chlorite in a 90% quartz matrix, was cut from 166 to 174 m (545-570 ft for an estimated true thickness of 5 m (16.4 ft). Assayed intervals from both veins were not anomalous.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") Measures, Chain of Custody

The Company has implemented a rigorous QA/QC program using best industry practices at the Cherry Creek Property. Drill cuttings samples are split down on the rig to 3-4 kilograms and placed in securely-sealed bags for transportation to the ALS laboratory in Elko, Nevada; for sample preparation and subsequent analysis at ALS Canada Ltd. in Vancouver. A small B split of each of drill cutting sample interval was collected at the rig and archived in secure storage. The sample pulps and rejects will be retrieved from ALS. The insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates as well as logging was conducted by Viscount personnel at the property site.

Assays for gold are completed at ALS using the Au-ICP21 method. This method includes a fire assay fusion of a 30 gram sample charge that has been pulverized to 85% passing 200 Mesh, followed by ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). Analysis for silver and pathfinder elements was also completed at ALS using the ME-ICP41 method. This method utilizes a 0.5 gram sample charge that has been pulverized to 85% passing 200 Mesh followed by Aqua Regia dissolution and then analyzed by ICP-AES.

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dallas W. Davis, P.Eng, FEC, an independent consulting geologist who is a "Qualified Person" (QP) as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). It is noted that seasonal weather conditions have prevented a field inspection which will be conducted by the QP as soon as possible in the Spring.

About Viscount Mining (TSX VENTURE: VML) (OTCQB: VLMGF)



Viscount Mining is a project generator and an exploration company with a portfolio of silver and gold properties in the Western United States, including Silver Cliff in Colorado and Cherry Creek in Nevada.



The Silver Cliff property in Colorado lies within the historic Hardscrabble Silver District in the Wet Mountain Valley, Custer County, south-central Colorado. It is located 44 miles WSW of Pueblo, Colorado, and has year-around access by paved road. The property consists of 2,319.48 acres where high grade silver, gold and base metal production came from numerous mines during the period 1878 to the early 1900s. The property underwent substantial exploration between 1967 and 1984.

The property is interpreted to encompass a portion of a large caldera and highly altered sequence of tertiary rhyolitic flows and fragmental units which offers potential to host deposits with both precious and base metals. This has been demonstrated in the mineralization historically extracted from the numerous underground and surface mining operations. Drilling in the 1980s by Tenneco resulted in a historical pre-feasibility study on which basis it was planned to bring the property to production. The plan was abandoned following takeover by another company.



The Cherry Creek exploration property is in an area commonly known as the Cherry Creek Mining District, located approximately 50 miles north of the town of Ely, White Pine County, Nevada. Cherry Creek consists of 293 unpatented and patented claims as well as mill rights and is comprised of more than 2,442 hectares. Cherry Creek includes more than 20 past producing mines.

For additional information regarding the above noted property and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.viscountmining.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jim MacKenzie



President, CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

Viscount Investor Relations

Phone: 1 844 863 3622

Email: info@viscountmining.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Viscount Mining Corp. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Viscount Mining Corp. management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Viscount Mining Corp. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Once environmental problems are addressed locally, people often assume that they have been solved. But if demand for whatever they are trying to conserve  land, wildlife, energy resources  stays high, people will obtain them from other sources. In the process, they cause environmental damage in locations or economic sectors that are less strictly regulated.

These scenarios often shift impacts from developed nations to emerging economies. For example, a study based on data from 2001 indicated that 31 percent of timber harvest reductions in the United States were shifted to less developed nations, including tropical forest countries in South and Central America, southeast Asia, and west and central Africa as well as boreal forest countries like Russia. Companies sought timber from these countries to satisfy demand in the United States and other parts of the world created by reduced U.S. exports.

Such effects are common in forestry. One study estimates that 42 to 95 percent of logging reductions in specific countries or regions are shifted elsewhere, offsetting environmental gains. Less wealthy countries that get the additional business often benefit economically, but in many cases they have not yet developed policies to help ensure that they use their natural resources sustainably.
Still, companies have active claims that werent affected by the ban and could resume mining.

Lacayo said the area where the plastic buckets were stored was not a part of the tour of the building known as the Museum Collection, though people did walk past the area.

Stephenson told the Arizona Republic the buckets were near a taxidermy exhibit where children sometimes stopped for presentations, and the lid on one bucket wasnt sealed.

Jani Ingram, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Northern Arizona University, said its not uncommon for uranium ore to be used in research. But, she said, its typically sealed in a metal container so that radon gas and dust arent released into the air.

Uranium can be harmful to peoples health depending on the amount and grade of ore, how people interact with it and the exposure time, she said. Geiger counters can be a good, initial indication of the presence of radiation but further study would be needed to determine the risk.

You cant say, oh my gosh, all those kids are going to develop cancer in five years because you just dont know how close they were, how long they were there, she said. But that open bucket was probably the most concerning. It seemed that maybe whoever it was didnt understand what they had.

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Feb. 20

Dawson G. Barnes, 52, of Elko was arrested at 2065 Idaho St. for violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence. No bail



Mark A. Cramm, 51, of Reno was arrested at Motel 6 for two counts of intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; possessing or receiving forged instruments or bills; forgery, felony possession of a controlled substance; destroying or concealing evidence; establishing or possessing financial forgery laboratory; and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $33,140



Marie A. Deluca, 33, of Sparks was arrested at Motel 6 for conspiracy intent to utter a fictitious bill, note or check; felony possession of a controlled substance; destroying or concealing evidence; and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $13,140



Lara A. Mangum, 31, of Carlin was arrested at Chestnut and 13th streets on a warrant for felony possession of a controlled substance. Bail: $5,000



Janell M. Mann, 37, of Elko was arrested at 775 W. Silver St. for failure to prevent truancy after notice. Bail: $195
ELKO  An Idaho mans alleged admission of molesting children for decades has extended to Elko County because he lived here from roughly 1996 to 2003.

Mac William Henderson, 58, was arrested Dec. 15 by police in Caldwell, Idaho, on two felony charges of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16.

During the Caldwell Police Departments investigation, detectives discovered that Henderson was alleged to have sexually assaulted a boy and girl over the course of many years and in one case over a decade, according to a release from the Elko County Sheriffs Office.

The release said Henderson initially denied the accusations and then later admitted to detectives I have been molesting kids for a while. He also said This goes back years. I should have been taken back in the late 70s.

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The Idaho victims told police that Henderson would not only physically sexually assault them, he would also make the victims watch pornography, including child pornography.

Henderson previously lived in California, Oregon and Nevada, prior to Idaho. The Elko County Sheriffs Office listed five addresses with the hope of discovering prior victims.
CARSON CITY  In their heydays in the boom-and-bust mining culture of the late 1800s, the mining camps of Aurora, Nevada and nearby Bodie, California had a combined population of nearly 20,000.

Keeping the thriving camps supplied was an ongoing challenge.

A little-known piece of history of the two boomtowns  the role of the Chinese woodcutters who supplied firewood and charcoal to the camps  is the subject of a major new exhibit at the Nevada State Museum.

Fueling the Boom: Chinese Woodcutters in the Great Basin, opens Friday, Feb. 22 in the museums South Gallery.

The exhibit highlights the significance of the woodcutting residents of Chinese Camp near Aurora, who felled pinyon pines to supply Bodie and Aurora with firewood and charcoal from about 1875 to 1915.

The exhibit will draw on historical objects from the Nevada State Museums Morrill-Santini Chinese Camp Collection, historical photographs from the 1950s to 70s by Robert Morrill, who originally collected the artifacts; and contemporary photographs of the area by Apollonia Morrill for the project Charcoal Camp.
PHOENIX, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast welcomed Seafarer Exploration (SFRX)(the Company), a publicly traded underwater salvage and exploration company. Matthew Milstead, an Advisory Board member and one of the Companys largest shareholders, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.

Milstead began the interview by explaining how he got involved with Seafarer Exploration. Originally Milstead started with the Company by providing funding and serving as an advisor. Now Milstead celebrates a total of nine years of being with the Company, and shares that it has been an exciting process.

Milstead explained that the Companys core focuses have remained the same throughout the years, all revolving around underwater salvage and exploration. However, the Company has expanded during recent years and now has two subsidiaries. It has been part of the strategic plan all along at Seafarer to try to find technologies, either existing or emerging, that could assist in the core business, stated Milstead in regards to the Companys expansion.

Instead of being a user or consumer, we wanted to become a participant in those technologies, added Milstead. He then continued by explaining that the Companys two subsidiaries have made this possible.

Jolly then asked whether or not the Company plans on leasing their technology to other exploration companies. Milstead stated that while it may be possible in the future, their main focus is building and enhancing their current projects. By utilizing these new technologies for their business, they are able to diversify their revenues and enhance their exploration capabilities.

It is critical to separate Seafarer from the rest of the pack in terms of efficiency and success, stated Milstead. Were starting to see the fruits of our labor. That being in the two subsidiaries that have been formed, as we continue to participate in the development of those technologies, implement them directly into the business, and then provide diversification for our shareholders, Milstead continued.

Jolly then asked Milstead about the potential profits of underwater explorations. Milstead explained that the opportunity for both monetary and historical profits are exponential. To close the interview Milstead shared that Seafarer is truly a special company. He added that the people behind the Company are dedicated to the preservation of the historical artifacts found and sharing their significance with the public. Milstead added that the Company also offers a unique and diversified business plan that is only continuing to grow.

To hear Matthew Milsteads entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-advisory-board-member-matt-milstead-of-seafarer-exploration-inc-otcpink-sfrx/

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of Stock Day, and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the companys message board at https://investorshangout.com/

About Seafarer Exploration:

Seafarer Exploration Corp. is a publicly traded underwater salvage and exploration company traded under the symbol SFRX. The principal business of the company is to develop the infrastructure necessary to engage in the archaeologically-sensitive research, documentation, exploration, recovery and conservation of historic shipwrecks. The company has secured multiple sites it believes contain historic and valuable shipwrecks. The company will use accepted archaeological methods to properly document, research and recover portions of the wrecks. Seafarer employs scientists and historians and is committed to preserving the cultural and historical significance of every wreck it finds. www.seafarercorp.com

Disclaimer:

The press release may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts but are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements may include the description of our plans and objectives for future operations, assumptions underlying such plans and objectives, and other forward-looking terminology such as may, expects, believes, anticipates, intends, projects, or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of such terms. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein. Such information is based upon various assumptions made by, and expectations of, our management that were reasonable when made but may prove to be incorrect. All of such assumptions are inherently subject to significant economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies beyond our control and upon assumptions with respect to the future business decisions which are subject to change. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that actual results will meet expectation and actual results may vary (perhaps materially) from certain of the results anticipated herein.

Contact:

Kyle Kennedy

(813) 448-3577

About Uptick Newswire and the Stock Day Podcast

Founded in 2013, Uptick Newswire is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Uptick provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. Uptick is the sole producer of its Stock Day Podcast, which is the number one radio show of its kind in America. The Uptick Network Stock Day Podcast is an extension of Uptick Newswire, which recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona.
It is critical for urban and rural communities in Nevada to communicate together and learn from each other, Manfredi said. Utilizing arts and culture as a convener to improve community interactions and quality of life indicators is a focal point of the Nevada Arts Council. We are thrilled with the response from arts leaders across the state who will be participating in this new initiative and look forward to growing from the outcomes.
Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) recently reached an agreement for NOVEC to purchase approximately 300 megawatts (MW) of electrical energy output from solar facilities owned by DESRI. NOVEC selected DESRI from among multiple bidders to provide the cooperative with additional renewable resources.

"This agreement with DESRI is another step toward meeting our customers' expectations for more renewable energy in NOVEC's resource mix," says NOVEC President and CEO Stan Feuerberg. "Purchasing the output from these new solar facilities will be a valuable addition to our energy supply."

The agreement between NOVEC and DESRI formalizes the partnership to develop and construct solar-electric generation facilities within the Dominion/PJM footprint. PJM is the regional transmission organization that serves 13 states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

"This addition of solar generated electricity will become NOVEC's largest source of renewable energy," says Gil Jaramillo, manager, portfolio optimization and business development. "Additionally, its projected cost is competitive with the marketplace for comparable on-peak energy."

DESRI owns and operates solar facilities across the United States and has additional facilities in development and under consideration. The planned facilities that would sell energy to NOVEC are expected to consist of ground-mounted solar panels that track the sun's movement throughout the daylight hours to produce an estimated 300 peak MW of electricity. These in-development solar facilities are expected to achieve commercial operation by 2023.

"The solar plants are a welcome addition to NOVEC's current 60 megawatts of renewable resources that include hydroelectric, woody biomass, solar, and landfill methane gas recovery," says John Rainey, director, origination and plant operations.

"The DESRI team is thrilled to partner with NOVEC to bring low-cost solar power to Virginia residents," says David Zwillinger, DESRI president. "We are committed to growing the renewable energy economy in the region."

The solar facilities involved in the agreement are expected to produce enough electricity to power nearly 73,000 homes, or the equivalent of taking nearly 37,000 passenger vehicles off the road. They are also expected to create 250 jobs during construction with an emphasis on hiring from local communities.

"NOVEC's strategy is to continue improving our environmental footprint through the addition of new renewable energy sources that are not only clean, but also affordable," says Feuerberg. "The partnership with DESRI does just that."

About NOVEC

NOVEC, headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, is a not-for-profit corporation that provides electricity to more than 170,000 metered customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Clarke counties, the City of Manassas Park, and the Town of Clifton. It also supplies natural gas and energy products and services to consumers in the Washington, D.C., region. The utility serves more customers than any other Virginia electric co-op and is the 11th largest electric cooperative in the U.S. as measured by retail customers. For more information, visit www.novec.com.

About D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments:

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. (DESRI) and its affiliates acquire, own, and manage long-term contracted renewable energy assets in North America. DESRI's portfolio of renewable energy projects currently includes 31 wind and solar projects that represent more than 1,600 MW of aggregate capacity. DESRI is a member of the D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm with more than $50 billion in investment and committed capital as of December 1, 2018, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Please visit www.deshaw.com for more information about the D. E. Shaw group.

Contacts:

The D. E. Shaw Group:

DESRI commercial inquiries -- Hy Martin, hy.martin@deshaw.com

Press inquiries -- Amanda Ely, amanda.ely@deshaw.com

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative:

Lisa R. Hooker, Communications@novec.com
The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) has completed its evaluation of applications submitted in response to a funding opportunity for the production of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU).

"Mo-99 is such a critical tool in healthcare. Doctors count on it every day," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. "This industry outreach helps to develop a reliable domestic supply of a vital medical isotope, reduce dependence on foreign imports, and bring new opportunity to the heartland."

Based upon the evaluations and recommendations of an independent technical review panel, DOE/NNSA selected the following four U.S. companies to begin negotiations for potential new cooperative agreement awards.

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, located in Beloit, Wisconsin

SHINE Medical Technologies, located in Janesville, Wisconsin

Northwest Medical Isotopes, located in Corvallis, Oregon

Niowave, Inc., located in Lansing, Michigan

With support from Congress, DOE/NNSA is appropriated to fund cooperative agreements up to $15 million for each company. Industry partners will match any awarded funding amount.

DOE/NNSA is supporting the establishment of a redundant, reliable supply of Mo-99 produced in the United States without the use of HEU. Therefore, the United States is supporting companies to achieve the objective of supplying approximately 3,000 six-day curies of Mo-99 per week.

In addition to these cooperative agreements, DOE/NNSA also funds National Laboratories to advance industry efforts to produce Mo-99 domestically without HEU.

Mo-99 is used in over 40,000 procedures in the United States every day to diagnose heart disease and cancer, to study organ structure and function, and for other important medical applications.

The American Medical Isotopes Production Act (AMIPA) of 2012 directed DOE/NNSA to implement a technology-neutral program, in cooperation with non-Federal entities. A technology-neutral program is open to all methods of producing Mo-99 without using HEU.

For more information on DOE/NNSA efforts to establish a reliable supply of Mo-99 without the use of HEU, click here.

News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940
After more than a century of providing safe, reliable, affordable electricity to customers, Plant Gorgas is closing because of costly, federally driven environmental mandates.

Government regulations related to the handling of coal ash and wastewater are the main cause behind Alabama Power's decision to close Plant Gorgas, said Jim Heilbron, the company's senior vice president and senior production officer.

"We recognize that Plant Gorgas and the men and women who have operated it have brought great value to Alabama Power, our customers and the local community," Heilbron added.

The company estimates it would cost approximately $300 million to comply with the latest round of environmental mandates and continue operating the plant's three coal-fired generating units.

"We are also concerned that more regulations are on the horizon that could require additional, costly expenditures at the plant," Heilbron said.

Plant Gorgas has gone through many changes since its first generating unit began operating in 1917. That original unit has long been retired, but the plant has provided reliable electricity to Alabama Power customers since its inception. Plant Gorgas will officially close April 15.

The closing of Plant Gorgas will not affect the company's ability to provide reliable service to customers. Alabama Power and its employees will continue to be a part of, and involved in, supporting the local community.

Federally driven environmental mandates related to coal, and the costs to comply with those mandates, are changing the way Alabama Power provides electricity to customers. Since 2015, these cost pressures have caused the company to reduce its coal-fired generating units from 23 to 10. After Plant Gorgas is retired, the company will have seven coal-fired units remaining, at three power plants. Prior coal unit reductions have been accomplished either through retirements or by converting units to natural gas.

Using a diversity of fuels provides Alabama Power the flexibility to switch fuel sources and protect customers in a volatile energy market.

"Alabama Power is focused on providing our customers reliable, affordable electricity while protecting the environment we all share," Heilbron said. He added that the company continuously examines its generating fleet and fuel mix to determine the most cost-effective way to meet the needs of customers, while meeting all government requirements.

Learn more about Alabama Power at www.alabamapower.com.
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Reihan Salam Poised to Bring Manhattan Institute to New Heights

New York Post



Our favorite think tank, the Manhattan Institute, just got a new president: the brilliant, heterodox writer Reihan Salam. Born and bred in Brooklyn and a graduate of the citys public schools, hes an excellent choice to lead the nations top institution for right-of-center urban policy. And, as a writer who for more than a decade has been leading the push to refocus the Republican Party on the needs of less-affluent Americans, hes also a perfect pick for the challenges of the Trump era. Read more here....
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TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (Kirkland Lake Gold or the Company) (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today announced that the Company has revised and increased its consolidated three-year production guidance and improved its unit-cost guidance for 2019. The Company also announced today Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates for December 31, 2018, which include growth in Mineral Reserve ounces and average grades at both Fosterville and Macassa, as well as on a consolidated basis.

Key Highlights of the Production Guidance and Mineral Reserve Estimates Include:

Potential for a million ounces in 2019 with three-year production guidance increased to 920,000  1,000,000 ounces for this year, 930,000  1,010,000 ounces for 2020 and 995,000  1,055,000 for 2021; Fosterville three-year guidance revised to 550,000  610,000 ounces for 2019 and 2020, with production guidance for 2021 remaining unchanged at 570,000  610,000 ounces, respectively; Production to resume at Holloway, with 20,000 ounces expected in 2019 increasing to 50,000 ounces by 2021





with three-year production guidance increased to 920,000  1,000,000 ounces for this year, 930,000  1,010,000 ounces for 2020 and 995,000  1,055,000 for 2021; Fosterville three-year guidance revised to 550,000  610,000 ounces for 2019 and 2020, with production guidance for 2021 remaining unchanged at 570,000  610,000 ounces, respectively; Production to resume at Holloway, with 20,000 ounces expected in 2019 increasing to 50,000 ounces by 2021 Consolidated unit-cost guidance for 2019 improved , with operating cash costs per ounce guidance revised to $300  $320 from $360  $380 previously, with AISC per ounce sold improved to $520  $560 compared to previous guidance of $630  $680; Fostervilles 2019 operating costs per ounce sold guidance improved to $170  $190 from $200  $220 previously





, with operating cash costs per ounce guidance revised to $300  $320 from $360  $380 previously, with AISC per ounce sold improved to $520  $560 compared to previous guidance of $630  $680; Fostervilles 2019 operating costs per ounce sold guidance improved to $170  $190 from $200  $220 previously Consolidated Mineral Reserves increase 1.1 million ounces or 24% to 5,750,000 ounces @ 15.8 grams per tonne (g/t) at December 31, 2018 (total additions of 1,860,000 ounces before depletion of 750,000 ounces)





to 5,750,000 ounces @ 15.8 grams per tonne (g/t) at December 31, 2018 (total additions of 1,860,000 ounces before depletion of 750,000 ounces) Fosterville Mineral Reserves increase 1,020,000 ounces or 60% to 2,720,000 ounces @ 31.0 g/t at December 31, 2018 from 1,700,000 ounces @ 23.1 g/t (total additions in 2018 of 1,386,000 ounces before depletion of 366,000 ounces); Growth in Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2018 reflects 34% increase in average grade and 19% growth in total tonnes, to 2,720,000 tonnes from 2,290,000 tonnes at December 31, 2017





to 2,720,000 ounces @ 31.0 g/t at December 31, 2018 from 1,700,000 ounces @ 23.1 g/t (total additions in 2018 of 1,386,000 ounces before depletion of 366,000 ounces); Growth in Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2018 reflects 34% increase in average grade and 19% growth in total tonnes, to 2,720,000 tonnes from 2,290,000 tonnes at December 31, 2017 Mineral Reserves at Macassa increase 11% to 2,250,000 ounces @ 21.9 g/t from 2,030,000 ounces @ 21.0 g/t at December 31, 2017 (total additions of 464,000 ounces before depletion of 244,000 ounces)

Tony Makuch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: Since November 2016, Fosterville has been transformed into one of the worlds highest-grade, most profitable gold mines, which has greatly benefited Kirkland Lake Gold and its shareholders. The completion of Fostervilles December 31, 2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates, with the related revisions to its life of mine plan and production profile, have taken that transformation to an even higher level, with the potential for much more to come. Largely driven by the 34% increase in the Fosterville Mineral Reserve grade, we are now on track to achieve significantly higher levels of production at Fosterville in 2019 than previously expected and could reach one million ounces of annual gold production as early as this year. Just as encouraging as the growth in ounces, is the fact that with a higher average grade at Fosterville, as well as at Macassa, our Mineral Reserve ounces are more valuable, which means improved unit costs and increased cash flow per ounce going forward based on current gold prices.

Looking at our Mineral Reserves in more detail, the 24% increase in consolidated Mineral Reserves is a testament to the effectiveness of the infill drilling programs at Fosterville and Macassa. At Fosterville, there is considerable potential for further Mineral Reserve growth at a number of areas, including the Swan Zone, other parts of the Lower Phoenix system, Harrier and a number of other targets, like Robbins Hill, where early exploration results demonstrate the potential for attractive economic orebodies. Turning to Macassa, we converted close to half a million ounces of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves in 2018 and have a number of high-potential areas in and around the South Mine Complex (SMC) that we are targeting for future growth in Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources.

Improved 2019 Full-Year Guidance

On February 21, 2019, the Company announced revised and improved full-year 2019 consolidated guidance. The revision included increasing guidance for consolidated production to 920,000  1,000,000 ounces from the previous guidance of 740,000  800,000 ounces, announced on December 11, 2018. The revision to consolidated production guidance resulted from an increase in production guidance in 2019 for Fosterville to 550,000  610,000 ounces from 390,000  430,000 ounces, with the improvement related to changes to the mine plan to provide access to high-grade Swan Zone stopes earlier than previously expected, as well as increased average grades at the mine included in the December 31, 2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates. Also contributing to the increase in consolidated production guidance was the decision to resume operations at the Holloway mine, which is expected to contribute approximately 20,000 ounces of production in 2019.

A number of other components of the Companys full-year 2019 guidance have been revised as a result of the increase in target production. Operating cash costs per ounces sold in 2019 are now targeted at $300 $320 compared to $360 - $380 previously. Fostervilles operating cash costs per ounce sold guidance is revised to $170  $190 from $200  $220. New full-year 2019 guidance for operating cash costs per ounces sold at Holloway is introduced at $760  $780 as a result of the restart of operations at the mine. Full-year 2019 operating cash costs on a consolidated basis is revised to $290  $300 from $270  $280 to reflect the addition of close to $20 million of operating cash costs related to production at the Holloway mine. AISC per ounce sold guidance for full-year 2019 is also improved, to $520  $560 compared to $630  $680 in the initial guidance released on December 11, 2018. The significant improvement in AISC per ounce guidance mainly reflects the increase in target production at Fosterville.

Full-Year 2019 Consolidated Guidance

Revised Guidance Initial Guidance ($ millions unless otherwise stated) February 21, 2019 December 11, 2018 Gold production (kozs) 1 920 - 1,000 740  800 Operating cash costs/ounce sold ($/oz)2 300 - 320 360  380 AISC/ounce sold ($/oz)2 520 - 560 630  680 Operating cash costs2 290 - 300 270  280 Royalty costs 25 - 30 25  30 Sustaining capital2 150 - 170 150  170 Growth capital2,3 155 - 165 155  165 Exploration and evaluation 100 - 120 100  120 Corporate G&A expense3 26 - 28 26  28

(1) Production and unit-cost guidance for 2019 does not include results for the Northern Territory.

(2) See Non-IFRS Measures set out starting on page 35 of the MD&A for the three and nine months ending September 30,2 018 for further details. The most comparable IFRS Measure for operating cash costs is production costs, as presented in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income, and total additions and construction in progress for sustaining and growth capital. Operating cash costs per ounce and AISC per ounce sold are comparable to production costs on a unit basis. Operating cash costs, operating cash cost per ounce sold and AISC per ounce sold reflect an average US$ to C$ exchange rate of 1.33 and a US$ to A$ exchange rate of 1.39.

(3) Includes general and administrative costs and severance payments. Excludes non-cash share-based payment expense.

Improved Three-Year Production Guidance 1

On February 21, 2019, the Company announced revisions to its three-year production guidance. The increases reflected higher levels of target production at Fosterville due to a significant increase in the average grade in the mines December 31, 2019 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates. In addition, the planned restart of operations at the Holloway mine is expected to contribute an additional 20,000 ounces of production in 2019, 30,000 ounces in 2020 and 50,000 ounces in 2021.

Three-Year Production Guidance

Revised (Feb. 21/19) Macassa Holt Complex2 Fosterville Consolidated 2019 (kozs) 230  240 140  150 550  610 920  1,000 2020 (kozs) 230  240 150  160 550  610 930  1,010 2021 (kozs) 245  255 180  190 570  610 995  1,055 (1) Three-year production guidance does not include any production from the Northern Territory. (2) Includes production from the Holt mine, Holloway mine and Taylor mine.





Initial (Dec. 11/18) Macassa Holt Complex2 Fosterville Consolidated 2019 (kozs) 230  240 120  130 390  430 740  800 2020 (kozs) 230  240 120  130 500  540 850  910 2021 (kozs) 245  255 130  140 570  610 970  1,005 (1) Three-year production guidance does not include any production from the Northern Territory. (2) Includes production from the Holt mine, Holloway mine and Taylor mine.



CONSOLIDATED MINERAL RESERVES AND MINERAL RESOURCES AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2018

Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2018 were estimated using a long-term gold price of $1,230 per ounce (C$1,635 per ounce; A$1,710 per ounce). All Mineral Resource estimates are provided exclusive of Mineral Reserves. Comparisons to previous Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources in this news release are to estimates as at December 31, 2017. For more historical comparisons, Mineral Resource estimates for the Australian operations prior to the mid-year 2017 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates for Fosterville, released in June 2017, were calculated inclusive of Mineral Reserves and, therefore, are not directly comparable to the December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 estimates. Detailed footnotes for the December 31, 2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates are provided later in this news release.

CONSOLIDATED MINERAL RESERVE ESTIMATE (EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 31, 2018)

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Depleted Oz

2017 (000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Macassa 3,190 21.9 2,250 244 3,010 21.0 2,030 Taylor 751 4.9 117 64 1,090 4.8 167 Holt 3,580 4.3 491 75 3,600 4.2 486 Hislop(1) 176 5.8 33 0 176 5.8 33 Holloway(1) 257 4.3 36 1 54 5.8 10 Total CDN Operations 7,950 11.4 2,920 384 7,930 10.7 2,730 Fosterville 2,720 31.0 2,720 366 2,290 23.1 1,700 Northern Territory(1) 666 5.0 107 0 2,800 2.4 215 Total AUS Operations 3,390 25.9 2,820 366 5,090 11.7 1,910 Total 11,340 15.8 5,750 750 13,020 11.1 4,640 (1) The Hislop mine is a formerly producing open-pit mine acquired as part of the St Andrew Goldfields acquisition in January 2016. Hislop has not been operated by the Company since the acquisition. The Holloway mine was placed on care and maintenance effective December 31, 2016. The Cosmo mine and Union Reefs mill were placed on care and maintenance effective June 30, 2017.



CONSOLIDATED MEASURED & INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCES (EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 31, 2018)

Measured & Indicated December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Macassa 1,787 17.1 982 3,800 17.1 2,090 Taylor 826 5.0 133 1,830 6.2 370 Holt 6,883 4.0 895 6,510 4.1 860 Aquarius 22,300 1.3 926 22,300 1.3 930 Holloway 1,955 4.0 251 1,370 5.3 230 Hislop 1,147 3.6 132 1,150 3.6 130 Ludgate 522 4.1 68 520 4.1 70 Canamax 240 5.1 39 240 5.1 40 Total CDN Operations 35,660 3.0 3,426 37,720 3.9 4,720 December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Fosterville 14,800 4.4 2,110 13,900 4.8 2,150 Northern Territory 22,200 2.5 1,750 24,100 2.3 1,810 Total AUS Operations 36,900 3.3 3,860 38,000 3.2 3,960





CONSOLIDATED INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES (EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 31, 2018)

Inferred December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Tonnes

000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold Ozs

(000s) Macassa 610 16.7 328 1,920 22.2 1,370 Taylor 1,988 5.3 337 2,570 5.2 430 Holt 8,523 4.7 1,286 8,000 4.8 1,220 Holloway 5,309 4.1 706 2,710 5.2 460 Hislop 797 3.7 95 800 3.7 100 Ludgate 1,396 3.6 162 1,400 3.6 160 Card 238 3.3 25 240 3.3 30 Canamax 170 4.3 23 170 4.3 20 Runway 213 3.7 25 210 3.7 20 Total CDN Operations 19,240 4.8 2,990 18,020 6.6 3,810 Fosterville 10,300 5.5 1,830 8,280 7.1 1,900 Northern Territory 18,100 2.6 1,490 16,300 2.5 1,280 Total AUS Operations 28,400 3.6 3,320 24,580 4.0 3,180





CANADIAN OPERATIONS MINERAL RESERVES AND MINERAL RESOURCES AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2018

Macassa

Mineral Reserves at Macassa in 2018 increased 11% after depletion of approximately 244,000 ounces, with total Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2018 of 2,250,000 ounces at an average grade of 21.9 g/t, which compared to Mineral Reserves of 2,030,000 ounces at an average grade of 21.0 g/t at December 31, 2017.

Measured and Indicated (M&I) Mineral Resources at December 31, 2018 totaled 982,000 ounces at an average grade of 17.1 g/t, while Inferred Mineral Resources totaled 328,000 ounces at an average grade of 16.7 g/t. By comparison, Mineral Resources at December 31, 2017 totaled M&I Mineral Resources of 2,090,000 ounces at an average grade of 17.1 g/t, and Inferred Mineral Resources of 1,370,000 ounces at an average grade of 22.2 g/t. The change in Mineral Resources compared to the prior year resulted from conversion of 464,000 ounces of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves. In addition, following a review of existing Mineral Resources, the Company determined that approximately 1.0 million ounces of Inferred Mineral Resources and 0.6 million ounces of M&I Mineral Resources should be removed from Mineral Resources, largely in areas of historic mining outside of the SMC, with some additional deletions relating to reinterpretations based on new drilling.

During 2019, the Company is planning approximately 90,000 metres of underground drilling at Macassa, using three underground drills. The 2019 drilling program is mainly targeting the continued expansion of the SMC to the east, the west and to depth, with the aim of growing Mineral Resources in support of future growth in Mineral Reserves.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017

% Change

Macassa Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 288 21.7 201 386 16.7 207 30 -3 Probable 2,900 22.0 2,050 2,620 21.7 1,830 -1 12 Proven + Probable 3,190 21.9 2,250 3,010 21.0 2,030 4 11 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves

Measured 453 18.4 268 1,570 17.8 900 3 -70 Indicated 1,335 16.6 714 2,230 16.6 1,190 -1 -40 Measured + Indicated 1,787 17.1 982 3,800 17.1 2,090 4 58 Inferred 610 16.7 328 1,920 22.2 1,370 -25 -76

Taylor

Mineral Reserves at Taylor at December 31, 2018 totaled 117,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.9 g/t, which compared to Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2017 of 167,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.8 g/t. The reduction in Mineral Reserves in 2018 reflected 64,000 ounces of depletion that was not replaced through the conversion of Mineral Resources. M&I Mineral Resources at Taylor at December 31, 2018 totaled 133,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.0 g/t, which compared to M&I Mineral Resources at December 31, 2017 of 370,000 ounces at an average grade of 6.2 g/t. Inferred Mineral Resources totaled 337,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.3 g/t at December 31, 2018 versus 430,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.2 g/t at the end of 2017. The reduction in Mineral Resources compared to the December 31, 2017 estimates reflected reinterpretations of zones and weaker than expected grade continuity in some areas, as well as a concentration of drill metres on step-out drilling aimed at identifying new areas of gold mineralization and following up on previous extensions of gold mineralization rather than resource conversion.

In 2019, the Company is planning approximately 44,000 metres of surface and underground drilling (26,000 metres from surface and 18,000 metres from underground). Key targets of the 2019 drilling program will be areas below and to the East of the 1004 Zone of the West Porphyry Deposit.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Taylor Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven - - - 445 5.5 78 N/A N/A Probable 751 4.9 117 646 4.3 89 14 31 Proven + Probable 751 4.9 117 1,090 4.8 167 2% -30% Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured - - - 590 8.1 150 N/A N/A Indicated 826 5.0 133 1,240 5.3 210 -6 -37 Measured + Indicated 826 5.0 133 1,830 6.2 370 -19 -64 Inferred 1,988 5.3 337 2,570 5.2 430 2 -22

Holt

Mineral Reserves at the Holt mine at December 31, 2018 totaled 491,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.3 g/t, a slight increase from 486,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.2 g/t at December 31, 2017. The mine converted 81,000 ounces of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves, which more than offset the 75,000 ounces of depletion during 2018. Measured and indicated resources totaled 895,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.0 g/t, a 4% increase from 860,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.1 g/t at December 31, 2017. Inferred Mineral Resources at December 31, 2018 totaled 1,286,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.7 g/t, 5% higher than 1,220,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.8 g/t at the same time the previous year.

The Company is not planning extensive exploration drilling in 2019 subject to completing a revised royalty agreement relating to the Holt properties.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Holt Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 1,930 4.1 253 1,770 4.0 229 3 10 Probable 1,660 4.5 238 1,830 4.4 257 2 -7 Proven + Probable 3,580 4.3 491 3,600 4.2 486 2 1 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured 4,036 4.1 527 3,730 4.1 500 - 5 Indicated 2,847 4.0 367 2,780 4.1 370 -2 -1 Measured + Indicated 6,883 4.0 895 6,510 4.1 860 -2 4 Inferred 8,523 4.7 1,286 8,000 4.8 1,220 -2 5

Holloway

The Company announced today plans to resume operations at the Holloway mine as a result of entering into an amended and restated royalty agreement with Franco-Nevada Corporation, which will establish a fixed 3% net smelter returns royalty from the Holloway properties. With a planned restart of production activities, the Company is now targeting approximately 20,000 ounces of production in 2019, growing to approximately 50,000 ounces by 2021.

At December 31, 2018, Mineral Reserves at the Holloway mine totaled 36,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.3 g/t, which compared to Mineral Reserves of 10,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.8 g/t at December 31, 2017. M&I Mineral Resources at December 31, 2018 totaled 251,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.0 g/t, while Inferred Mineral Resources totaled 706,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.1 g/t. By comparison, M&I Mineral Resources at December 31, 2017 totaled 230,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.2 g/t, while Inferred Mineral Resources totaled 540,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.2 g/t.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Holloway Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 24 3.8 3 - - - - 10 Probable 233 4.4 33 54 5.8 10 -24 230 Proven + Probable 257 4.3 36 54 5.8 10 -26 260 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured 286 3.8 35 156 4.1 21 83 66 Indicated 1,669 4.0 217 1,211 5.4 210 -26 3 Measured + Indicated 1,955 4.0 251 1,367 5.2 230 43 9 Inferred 5,309 4.1 706 2,710 5.2 460 -21 53





AUSTRALIAN OPERATIONS MINERAL RESERVES AND MINERAL RESOURCES AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2018

Fosterville

In 2018, the transformation of Fosterville into one of the worlds most profitable, highest-grade gold mines gained further momentum. Exploration work during the year at Fosterville focused on infill and extension drilling at a number of in-mine targets, as well as work to evaluate district targets in close proximity to the mine. Encouraging infill drilling results from the Swan Zone were reported in July, September and December in support of Mineral Resource conversion into Mineral Reserves. In addition, development of an exploration drift at Harrier South at Fosterville commenced during Q2 2018, with drilling from the drift commencing in Q4 2018 in order to test the depth potential of the Harrier South system. Harrier is a highly attractive exploration target where concentrations of quartz veining with visible gold have been intersected similar to those found at the Lower Phoenix system near the high-grade Swan Zone.

Largely based on the success of the Swan Zone infill drilling, Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2018 increased 1,020,000 ounces from the December 31, 2017 Mineral Reserve, to 2,720,000 ounces at an average grade of 31.0 g/t from 1,700,000 ounces at an average grade of 23.1 g/t at December 31, 2017. The increase in ounces represented 60% growth, while the average grade was 34% higher than the prior years Mineral Reserve estimate. The 60% increase in Mineral Reserve ounces was achieved after depletion of 366,000 ounces through 2018 gold production, resulting in total additions to Mineral Reserves of 1,386,000 ounces. With the completion of the December 31, 2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates, the Mineral Reserve at Fosterville has grown by a total of 2,476,000 ounces or 1,015% from 244,000 ounces at December 31, 2015 Mineral Reserve estimate, the existing Mineral Reserve when Fosterville was acquired by Kirkland Lake Gold in November 2016.

Mineral Reserves in the Swan Zone doubled from the prior year level, increasing to 2,340,000 ounces at an average grade of 49.6 g/t at December 31, 2018 from 1,160,000 ounces at 61.2 g/t at December 31, 2017. A significant proportion of Swan Mineral Resources at December 31, 2017 were converted into Mineral Reserves in the December 31, 2018 estimates, consistent with the priority placed on Mineral Resource conversion in the 2018 drilling program. In addition to continued infill drilling to convert Mineral Resources, future drilling around the Swan Zone will also target continued expansion of the Zone, including following up on drill results in 2018 that intersected the Lower Phoenix Gold System approximately 750 metres down-plunge from the deepest Mineral Resources in the Swan Zone.



Fosterville continues to have a large base of Mineral Resources to support future growth in Mineral Reserves, as well as a number of attractive exploration targets with significant potential to add future Mineral Resources. At December 31, 2018, M&I Mineral Resources totaled 2,110,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.4 g/t, which compared to M&I Mineral Resources of 2,150,000 ounces at an average grade of 4.8 g/t at December 31, 2017. Inferred Mineral Resources at December 31, 2018 totaled 1,830,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.5 g/t, versus 1,900,000 ounces at an average grade of 7.1 g/t at December 31, 2017.

During 2019, exploration work at Fosterville is focusing on continuing to extend known mineralized zones and test new mineralized structures in the Lower Phoenix and Harrier systems, and at Robbins Hill. In addition, work is continuing on the LODE (Large Ore Deposit Exploration) program, which is evaluating a number of regional targets, some of which are beneath former open pits along known fault structures around the Fosterville mine.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Fosterville Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 178 16.7 96 236 14.8 112 13 -14 Probable 2,550 32.0 2,620 2,050 24.1 1,590 33 65 Proven + Probable 2,720 31.0 2,720 2,290 23.1 1,700 34 60 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured 1,900 2.9 177 1,940 2.9 181 - -2 Indicated 12,900 4.7 1,930 11,900 5.1 1,970 -8 -2 Measured + Indicated 14,800 4.4 2,110 13,900 4.8 2,150 -8 -2 Inferred 10,300 5.5 1,830 8,280 7.1 1,900 -23 -4





December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Swan(1) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 62 27.6 55 0 0 0 N/A N/A Probable 1,410 50.6 2,290 588 61.2 1,160 -17 97 Proven + Probable 1,470 49.6 2,340 588 61.2 1,160 -19% 102 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured 2 59.6 4 0 0.0 0 N/A N/A Indicated 32 15.7 16 46 116 171 -86 -91 Measured + Indicated 34 18.3 20 46 116 171 -84 -88 Inferred 249 13.4 107 570 36.6 671 -63 -84

(1) The Swan Zone Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates are components of the estimates for the Fosterville mine.



Figure 1.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b130f2c7-7fca-429a-aaa3-11cd0b2e571f

Northern Territory (Cosmo Mine/Union Reefs Mill)

On June 30, 2017, Kirkland Lake Gold suspended operations at the Cosmo mine and Union Reefs mill with the operations being placed on care and maintenance. Following the move to care and maintenance, the Cosmo mine and Union Reef mill are being maintained in a state of readiness to resume operation in the event that new Mineral Reserves are delineated which establish an economic deposit or deposits in the Northern Territory.

In 2018, an extensive program of surface and underground exploration drilling and development was completed involving approximately 114,700 metres of drilling and the development of three exploration drifts at the Cosmo mine into the Lantern Deposit. On April 30, 2018, the Company announced that high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization had been intersected 1,000 metres below surface down plunge of former producing open pits at Union Reefs, the location of the Companys processing facility. The results highlighted the potential that exists to establish additional sources of gold production in the Northern Territory. On November 5, 2018, the Company reported additional high-grade, visible-gold bearing mineralization at the Lady Alice Deposit at Union Reefs and also announced the discovery of high-grade mineralization at depth to the south of the existing Mineral Resources at Union Reefs. On December 11, 2018, the Company announced that work in the Northern Territory was moving to the advanced exploration phase, with a focus on a potential restart of mining and milling operations as early as the second half of 2019.

Mineral Reserves in the Northern Territory at December 31, 2018 totaled 107,000 ounces at 5.0 g/t, which compared to 215,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.4 g/t at December 31, 2017. The doubling of the average Mineral Reserve grade in the December 31, 2018 estimate resulted from an increase in the cut-off grade for the purpose of Mineral Reserve calculations at the Cosmo mine, the impact of additional drilling at Lantern and the removal of lower-grade ounces at other targets. M&I Mineral Resources totaled 1,750,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.5 g/t versus 1,810,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.3 g/t at December 31, 2017. Inferred Mineral Resources increased 16% at December 31, 2018 to 1,490,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.6 g/t from 1,280,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.5 g/t at December 31, 2016.

In 2019, exploration drilling is focusing on Mineral Resource growth and definition of the Lantern Deposit and the continued evaluation of targets at Union Reefs. Advanced exploration work is progressing towards a possible restart decision.

December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 % Change Northern Territory Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Tonnes

(000's) Grade

(g/t) Gold

Ounces

(000s) Gold

Grade Gold

Ounces Mineral Reserves Proven 33 3.1 3 92 3.5 112 -11 -73 Probable 633 5.1 103 2,710 2.4 1,590 113 -50 Proven + Probable 666 5.0 107 2,800 2.4 1,700 108 -50 Mineral Resources Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Exclusive of Mineral Reserves Measured 1,770 4.7 268 1,750 4.7 264 - 2 Indicated 20,400 2.3 1,480 22,400 2.1 1,540 10 -4 Measured + Indicated 22,200 2.5 1,750 24,100 2.3 1,810 9 -3 Inferred 18,100 2.6 1,490 16,300 2.5 1,280 4 16

Technical Reports

The National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) 2016 Technical Report for Fosterville dated March 30, 2017 and effective December 31, 2016 along with the 2017 Technical Report for Fosterville dated April 2, 2018 and effective December 30, 2017 supports the Companys end-of-2018 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource disclosure and was prepared by Troy Fuller, MAIG, and Ion Hann, FAusIMM.

An updated NI 43-101 Technical Report effective December 31, 2018 will be available on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com for both the Fosterville and Macassa mines within 45 days of this news release.

Qualified Persons

Pierre Rocque, P.Eng., Vice President, Technical Services operations is a "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved disclosure of the Mineral Reserves technical information and data for the Canadian assets included in this news release.

Ian Holland, FAusIMM, Vice President, Australian Operations is a "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the Mineral Reserves technical information and data for the Australian Assets included in this news release.

Simon Hitchman, FAusIMM (CP), MAIG, Principal Geologist, is a "qualified person" as such term is defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the Mineral Resources technical information and data for the Australian Assets included in this news release.

Detailed footnotes related to Mineral Reserve Estimates (dated December 31, 2018)

CIM definitions (2014) were followed in the calculation of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves were estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,230/oz (C$1,635/oz; A$1,710/oz). Cut-off grades for Canadian Assets were calculated for each stope, including the costs of: mining, milling, General and Administration, royalties and capital expenditures and other modifying factors (e.g. dilution, mining extraction, mill recovery. Cut-off grades for Australian Assets from 0.4 g/t Au to 3.0 g/t Au, depending upon width, mining method and ground conditions; dilution and mining recovery factors varied by property. Mineral Reserves estimates for the Canadian Assets were prepared under the supervision of P. Rocque, P. Eng. Mineral Reserves estimates for the Fosterville property were prepared under the supervision of Ion Hann, FAusIMM. Mineral Reserves estimates for the Northern Territory property were prepared under the supervision of Pierre Rocque. P. Eng. Mineral Reserves for Fosterville relate to Underground Mineral Reserves and do not include 649,000 tonnes at an average of 7.7 g/t for 160,000 ounces of Carbon-In-Leach Residues  25% recovery is expected based on operating performances. Totals may not add exactly due to rounding.

Detailed footnotes related to Mineral Resource Estimates for Canadian Assets (dated December 31, 2018)

CIM definitions (2014) were followed in the calculation of Mineral Resource. Mineral Resources are reported Exclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources were calculated according to KL Golds Mineral Resource Estimation guidelines. Mineral Resource estimates were prepared under the supervision of Eric Kallio, P. Geo. Senior Vice President, Exploration. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,230/oz (C$1,635/oz). Mineral Resources were estimated using a 8.6 g/t cut-off grade for Macassa, a 2.9 g/t cut-off grade for Holt, and a 2.6 g/t cut-off grade for Taylor, a 3.9 g/t cut-off grade (Holloway), a 2.5 g/t cut-off grade for Canamax, Card, Runway and Ludgate, a 2.2 g/t cut-off grade for Hislop and 0 g/t cut-off grade for Aquarius. Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Detailed footnotes related to Mineral Resource Estimates for Australian Assets (dated December 31, 2018)

CIM definitions (2014) were followed in the estimation of Mineral Resource. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,230/oz (A$1,710/oz) Mineral Resources for the Australian assets are reported exclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources at Fosterville were estimated using cut-off grades 0.7 g/t Au for oxide and 1.0 g/t Au for sulfide mineralization to potentially open-pitable depths of approximately 100m, below which a cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t Au was used. Mineral Resources in the Northern Territory were estimated using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au for potentially open pit mineralization and cut-offs of 1.0 to 2.0g/t Au for underground mineralization. Mineral Resource estimates for the Fosterville property were prepared under the supervision of Troy Fuller, MAIG. Mineral Resource estimates for the Northern Territory properties were prepared under the supervision of Owen Greenberger, MAIG. Totals may not add up due to rounding.

About Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is a mid-tier gold producer operating in Canada and Australia that produced 723,477 ounces in 2018 and is on track to achieve significant production growth over the next three years, including target production of 920,000  1,000,000 ounces in 2019, 930,000  1,010,000 ounces in 2020 and 995,000  1,055,000 ounces in 2021. The production profile of the Company is anchored by two high-grade, low-cost operations, including the Macassa Mine located in Northern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine located in the state of Victoria, Australia. Kirkland Lake Gold's solid base of quality assets is complemented by district scale exploration potential, supported by a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

For further information on Kirkland Lake Gold and to receive news releases by email, visit the website www.klgold.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to planned exploration programs, costs and expenditures, changes in Mineral Resources and conversion of Mineral Resources to proven and probable reserves, and other information that is based on forecasts of future operational or financial results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future exploration potential, project economics, timing and scope of future exploration, anticipated costs and expenditures, changes in Mineral Resources and conversion of Mineral Resources to proven and probable reserves, and other information that is based on forecasts of future operational or financial results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management.

Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Exploration results that include geophysics, sampling, and drill results on wide spacings may not be indicative of the occurrence of a mineral deposit. Such results do not provide assurance that further work will establish sufficient grade, continuity, metallurgical characteristics and economic potential to be classed as a category of Mineral Resource. A Mineral Resource that is classified as "Inferred" or "indicated" has a great amount of uncertainty as to its existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that any or part of an "indicated Mineral Resource" or "Inferred Mineral Resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category of resource. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into proven and probable reserves.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include, among others, risks related to international operations, risks related to obtaining the permits required to carry out planned exploration or development work, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of gold, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Companys Annual Information Form and other disclosures of "Risk Factors" by the Company and its predecessors, available on SEDAR. Although Kirkland Lake Gold has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors - Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimates

All resource and reserve estimates included in this news release or documents referenced in this news release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") - CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended (the "CIM Standards"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators, which established standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. The terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve" and "probable mineral reserve" are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards. These definitions differ materially from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7") under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act.

In addition, the terms "Mineral Resource", "measured Mineral Resource", "indicated Mineral Resource" and "Inferred Mineral Resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and are normally not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "Inferred Mineral Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in very limited circumstances. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a Mineral Resource exists, will ever be converted into a Mineral Reserve or is or will ever be economically or legally mineable or recovered.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Anthony Makuch, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director

Phone: +1 416-840-7884

E-mail: tmakuch@klgold.com
Russia accounts for over 70% of fuel assemblies bought by Ukraine for its nuclear power plants in 2018

The share of Sweden was 28.4%.

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NABU finds traces of Ukrainian corruption in 65 countries

Most corruption schemes, especially related to the activities of state enterprises and the implementation of national projects, were carried out with the participation of companies registered abroad.

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Ukroboronprom agrees to modernize Egypt's air defense systems

The parties are also considering a project to establish joint production of high-precision and conventional ammunition for artillery systems of various calibers.

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Belarus cuts supply of petroleum products to Ukraine

As reported earlier, the Kremlin has been applying pressure on Belarus to stop such supplies to Ukraine, while also putting pressure on financial and industrial groups in the CIS member states to destabilize Ukrainian foreign trade.

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Vietnam airport gets ready to receive US president

U.S.'s Boeing C17 arrives at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi for President Donald Trump's state visit in November 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do

Five landing spots will be earmarked, including two for the Air Force One planes on which U.S. president travels, as Trump arrives for his February 27-28 meeting with North Korean leader Kim.

This weekend the U.S. will fly several Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a large military transport aircraft, to Noi Bai with equipment and vehicles Trump will use in Vietnam, including two cars and a helicopter.

The U.S. has sent personnel to check security inside and around the VIP guest house at the airport where the president will be received on landing.

Security inside the airport will be handled by U.S. personnel while the Hanoi police and airport security personnel will be in charge of security outside.

One landing strip will be earmarked exclusively for Trumps aircraft.

At the time of the U.S. delegations arrival, the airport will have the highest level of aviation security with over 800 personnel deployed.

But Noi Bai will seek to ensure that commercial aviation activities are not affected and there are no flight delays or cancellations.

An airport spokesperson said: "Air Force One of the U.S. President will be landing at Noi Bai on February 27. We will do our best to guarantee security and safety and make sure everything goes smoothly so that the outside world will know Vietnam as a safe destination."

North Korean diplomatic authorities have surveyed some areas in the airport but have yet to discuss anything in detail with the Vietnamese side.

South Korean TV and radio network MBC has said Kim plans to reach Vietnam two days before the summit.

The summit will mark Trumps second visit to Vietnam. He had taken part in the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russias Vladimir Putin in the central city of Da Nang in November 2017, before paying a state visit to Hanoi the same month.

Doan Loan
US special envoy in Hanoi to prepare for Trump-Kim summit

Biegun looks as then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces him as special representative to North Korea in August 2018. Photo by AFP/File

A delegation of six U.S. officials led by special envoy Stephen Biegun landed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi early on Thursday, a source told VnExpress.

Traveling with Biegun are officials specializing in economic development and North Korea in the U.S. National Security Council, the source said.

As planned, Biegun will meet with North Korean special envoy Kim Hyok-chol, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday night, to continue preparations for the second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that has been scheduled for February 27-28 in the capital city of Vietnam.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told a news briefing on Wednesday he had no details of the meetings Stephen Biegun would have in Hanoi, Reuters reported.

Biegun spent three days in North Korea from February 6-8, a trip he said was aimed at agreeing on "concrete deliverables" for the coming Trump-Kim summit. The State Department said after those talks that Biegun agreed to hold further meetings with his counterpart Kim Hyok-chol ahead of the summit.

Biegun said after that trip his talks in North Korea had been "productive" but there was "hard work to do" before the summit.

The U.S. has been demanding that North Korea give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States. The second summit will seek to build on the results achieved at the first summit in Singapore last June.

North Korea has been seeking a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

Phuong Vu
UN permits North Koreans to travel to Vietnam for Trump-Kim summit

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un meet at the start of their summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore June 12, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programs, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Under the sanctions, 12 North Koreans are subject to a global travel ban and asset freeze. While it was not known if any of them will travel to Vietnam, the councils North Korea sanctions committee approved Vietnams request for a blanket exemption, according to an internal document dated Tuesday seen by Reuters.

The approval allows the participation of the North Korean delegation in the February 27 and 28 summit and preparation work in Vietnam beforehand.

Trump and Kim first met in Singapore in June, but the summit produced only vague commitments from Kim and little concrete progress since toward denuclearization.

A confidential report to the Security Council by U.N. sanctions monitors earlier this month found that North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programs remain intact and the country is working to make sure those capabilities cannot be destroyed by any military strikes.

Washington has been demanding that North Korea give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States, while North Korea has been seeking a lifting of punishing sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

Since the Singapore summit, Russia and China suggested the Security Council discuss easing sanctions on North Korea as a reward and encouragement toward denuclearization. But the United States and other powers say sanctions must be enforced until there is full denuclearization.

Russia has also blamed U.N. sanctions for creating "serious humanitarian problems" in North Korea.

"We need to encourage humanitarian supplies to North Korea. We think that it is appropriate to encourage them economically and that might necessitate lifting, at least partially, some of the sanctions," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Wednesday.

He said Moscow hoped the Vietnam summit would end with a positive result but added: "You cannot expect to solve it at a two-day meeting, this is a long road."

Reuters
Trump says he expects to meet North Korea's Kim again after Hanoi summit

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un hold a signing ceremony at the conclusion of their summit in Singapore in June 2018. Photo by Reuters

Speaking at the White House, Trump said he would like to remove sanctions on North Korea, but that he needs to see Pyongyang make a move first on denuclearization.

"I dont think this will be the last meeting by any chance," Trump said.

The United States has been demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States. North Korea has been insisting on the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

Trump has been eager for the February 27-28 summit in Vietnam, even though a first meeting in Singapore in June produced only vague commitments from Kim and little concrete progress since.

"I think they want to do something. Well see what happens," Trump said, adding that he would need to see "meaningful" progress from the other side before making any changes to the U.S. sanctions.

On Tuesday, Trump had reiterated that he wants North Korea to end its nuclear program, but added that he is in no rush and had no pressing time schedule for Pyongyang.

Reuters
Trump-Kim summit shows Hanoi as a global connector

Martin Rama, a World Bank economist

At the end of February U.S. President Donald Trump and North Koreas Chairman Kim Jong-un will meet in Hanoi to discuss disarmament and peace between their two countries. During two intense days the worlds media attention will be focused on this high-level meeting, whose outcome could shape geopolitics for decades. But regardless of the outcome, Hanoi will acquire a new global standing.

The world already knows about Hanoi, of course. Millions of tourists visit the city every year to enjoy its vibrancy and its charm. Its sidewalk life, its delicious cuisine, its elegant French buildings, its beautiful lakes... are a magnet for people from all around the world. And many of those who visit fall for the city. Including me! I visited Hanoi for the first time two decades ago, I lived there for eight years while I served as the lead economist of the World Bank for Vietnam, and I keep returning to Hanoi as frequently as I can. Twenty years later I have no doubt that I am still totally in love with her.

Yet, for decades Hanoi was isolated from the world. There were few embassies, almost no tourism, no exposure to international debates, and very few opportunities to travel abroad. It was only with the 1980s economic reform Doi Moi that the city started opening up. One of the guiding principles of Doi Moi was for Vietnam to become friends with all countries. It is telling that at the end of this month President Trump will be welcomed by Hanoi as a friend from a respected and admired country, much the same as Presidents Clinton and Obama were welcomed before him.

Hanois stature as the venue of high-level international meetings has grown gradually, but steadily, since the time of Doi Moi. In recent years the city has hosted major events related to ASEAN, the Asia-Europe Meeting, or the World Economic Forum.

A milestone in that process was the convening by Vietnam government and the World Bank, of the Consultative Group meetings. On their occasion, at the end of every year, representatives from all the countries and multilateral organizations providing development assistance to Vietnam would get together to discuss the progress made, the needs and the challenges.

A first Consultative Group meeting for Vietnam had been organized by the World Bank in Paris, in 1995. But the 1997 decision to hold the meeting in Hanoi, with the Vietnam government as a co-chair, created a global precedent. Up to then, similar meetings for other developing countries had always been held in advanced economies, often in the capitals of their former colonial powers. In the following years, Hanois precedent became the norm.

I feel privileged that I could participate in all the Consultative Group meetings for Vietnam while I lived there. These meetings were an extraordinary opportunity to candidly exchange information and ideas with the leaders of the country, the business community, and civil society organizations. Such willingness to consider different viewpoints and to find better solutions together is, no doubt, the most important ingredient for any meeting to be successful.

A billboard in downtown Hanoi promotes Hanoi as "The City for Peace" on one side and announces the Trump-Kim summit on the other side. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

That kind of openness is also what makes a city attractive as the venue of high-level international meetings. In a way, countries engage with the world through their most open cities. New York in the U.S., Paris in France or Shanghai in China are the international "connectors" for their countries. These are cities where business thrives, where innovation takes place, where ideas are debated, where artists create... The high-level meeting between President Trump and Chairman Kim at the end of the month is one more milestone in Hanois journey to become a global connector too.

It may seem ironic that countries are now coming to Hanoi to seek peace, when Hanoi itself was for so long at war. Almost exactly 40 years ago a ferocious conflict erupted in the northern border, and it was feared that it could reach the nations capital at any time. Less than a decade earlier, at the end of 1972, Hanoi suffered 12 days of massive bombings. And in 1945, the turbulent liberation of the city marked Vietnams independence.

Some of the citys most beautiful streets remind us that todays peace took many centuries to be secured. Tran Hung Dao Street, where I lived during all my years in Hanoi, was named after the military commander who defeated invasion in the 13th century. Two streets away, the name of the street honors the courage of the Trung sisters, who bravely fought occupation in the 1st century.

But peace is also Hanois vocation. Few would dispute that Hoan Kiem Lake incarnates the soul of the city. There, in 1428, the lakes giant turtle surfaced and grabbed the sword of King Le Loi out of his hands, taking it deep into the water to make him understand that the time for battles had ended. A long cycle of peace and prosperity followed. If this story were to happen today, the sword would have to be replaced by nuclear weapons. And if they could be made to disappear, like King Le Lois sword, the giant turtle would feel proud to see Hanoi become, once again, a city for peace.

*Martin Rama is Chief Economist for South Asia at the World Bank and Project Director at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, under the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences. The views expressed are his own.

Martin Rama
Trump-Kim summit affirms Vietnam's geopolitical status: S Korean envoy

Ambassador Kim Do-hyon affirmed that the upcoming summit in Hanoi is evidence of the trust in Vietnam's role in promoting world peace. Photo by VnExpress

Speaking to correspondents Wednesday, Kim Do-hyon underlined the great importance of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month for peace and stability in the Korean peninsula.

The summit would be a solid foundation to promote "concessions" by the two sides to achieve the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula, he said.

By hosting this key summit, Vietnam has proven its geopolitical importance and demonstrated that both the U.S. and North Korea have great trust in its capability, he said.

"The summit brings great opportunities and creates a new driving force for Vietnam."

He said the summit will promote the image of Vietnam as a center of Southeast Asia, a factor that builds peace and contributes to solving the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.

"This is even more meaningful as Vietnam will be assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN next year," he said.

Hailing Vietnam as a dynamic and peace-loving nation, he said hosting the summit would also create an opportunity for Vietnam to further develop its trade relations with South Korea.

"Vietnam is in the process of integrating into the global economy and becoming a manufacturing center of the world. Many foreign companies from Europe and even South Korea are coming to Vietnam.

"After this summit, Vietnam-South Korea economic relations could also be expanded beyond the current state."

Speaking at a meeting on the preparations for the summit on Tuesday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said it would be an important international event that has captured the world's special attention.

Vietnam being chosen as its host therefore helps underscore the country's rising status and demonstrates its role and positive contributions to international issues.

The summit is an opportunity for Vietnam to globally promote its image and development achievements, attract investments, boost tourism, and promote trade, he pointed out.

The second summit between Trump and Kim on February 27-28 will seek to build on the results they achieved at their first summit in Singapore last June.

The two countries delegations have arrived in Hanoi for preparatory work.

Staff reporters
ENDEAVOUR APPOINTS NEW

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

View News Release in PDF

Abidjan, February 21, 2019 - Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV OTCQX: EDVMF) ("Endeavour") announces the appointment of Mark Morcombe as Chief Operating Officer, with effect from May 6, 2019. He will take over from Jeremy Langford who will be leaving Endeavour on February 28, 2019.

Mr. Morcombe has more than 25 years of experience in the mining industry with extensive expertise in leading cost and productivity initiatives. Prior to joining Endeavour, Mark was Chief Operating Officer of Centamin Plc and has previously held senior roles at several Africa-focused mining groups, including Acacia Mining, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields.

Sebastien de Montessus, President and CEO of Endeavour Mining, said: "We are very pleased to welcome Mark to Endeavour as he has a strong operating track record, notably with Tier 1 African mines.

We would like to thank Jeremy for his contribution to Endeavour, notably for leading the design and build of most of our operating assets, and for training and assembling a core construction team. He has played a key role in successfully building Hounde and de-risking the Ity CIL construction with its main milestones now complete and wet commissioning underway. As our near-term construction focus is expected to shift from large builds to asset optimizations, which marks the end of several years of large capital-intensive project builds, we support Jeremy's decision to pursue other opportunities and wish him success."

ABOUT MARK MORCOMBE

Mr. Morcombe has more than 25 years of experience in the mining industry with extensive expertise in leading safety, environment, mine planning, cost and productivity initiatives. Prior to joining Endeavour, Mark was Chief Operating Officer of Centamin Plc, operator of the Sukari Mine in Egypt, since joining in January 2018. Before this, he held the same role at Acacia Mining, which operates three mines in Tanzania. From late 2010 to April 2016 he held several senior roles at AngloGold Ashanti, including Senior Vice President, Planning and Business Development, followed by more than three years as SVP Ghana, leading the Obuasi gold mine turnaround project.

He holds a degree in Mining Engineering from the Western Australian School of Mines.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Martino De Ciccio



VP - Strategy & Investor Relations

+44 203 011 2719

mdeciccio@endeavourmining.com Brunswick Group LLP in London



Carole Cable, Partner

+44 7974 982 458

ccable@brunswickgroup.com

ABOUT ENDEAVOUR MINING CORPORATION

Endeavour Mining is a TSX listed intermediate African gold producer with a solid track record of operational excellence, project development and exploration in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt in West Africa. Endeavour is focused on offering both near-term and long-term growth opportunities with its project pipeline and its exploration strategy, while generating immediate cash flow from its operations.

Endeavour operates 4 mines across Cote d'Ivoire (Agbaou and Ity) and Burkina Faso (Hounde, Karma) which are expected to produce 615-695koz in 2019 at an AISC of $760-810/oz.

For more information, please visit www.endeavourmining.com.

Corporate Office: 5 Young St, Kensington, London W8 5EH, UK

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to, statements with respect to Endeavour's plans and operating performance, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of future production, future capital expenditures, and the success of exploration activities. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts", and "anticipates". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Endeavour operates. Although Endeavour has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to Endeavour's most recent Annual Information Form filed under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting Endeavour and its business. AISC, all-in sustaining costs at the mine level, cash costs, operating EBITDA, all-in sustaining margin, free cash flow, net free cash flow, free cash flow per share, net debt, and adjusted earnings are non-GAAP financial performance measures with no standard meaning under IFRS, further discussed in the section Non-GAAP Measures in the most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis.
Hanoi finalizes security plans for 10 hotels for Trump-Kim summit

The facade of a five-star hotel in downtown Hanoi is repainted ahead of the Trump-Kim summit. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Du

The hotels, whose names have not been revealed, have been approved by both countries though they have yet to choose where their respective delegations would stay, a source told VnExpress.

The police have finalized the security protocol and would make final plans once the delegations choose their hotels, the source added.

The entire police force numbering tens of thousands of officers would be deployed to maintain order and security during the summit, patrolling roads and in the vicinity of hotels, train stations and airport.

Major hotels have decorated their interiors ahead of the summit. Surrounding roads had trees trimmed, signs painted and cameras installed for beautification and security purposes.

The second Trump-Kim summit will be held in Hanoi on February 27 and 28.

The first was held in Singapore last June, but negotiations failed to achieve much owing to disagreements over the concept of denuclearization.

Both sides are hoping to make headway at the upcoming summit.

Ba Do
Vietnamese veteran Duong Van Dau places flowers on the headstones of North Korean pilots at the memorial site for North Korean pilots who fought and died during Vietnam War, in Bac Giang Province. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Hai

On a hill in northern Vietnam, 14 headstones mark a lifelong friendship between Vietnam and North Korea.

One February morning, veteran Duong Van Dau walked to a memorial on a hill in a forest in Tan Dinh Commune, Lang Giang District of Bac Giang Province, 70 km (43 miles) northeast of Hanoi.

Standing in front of a stele that reads "Where 14 North Korean soldiers were laid to rest," Dau offered incense, folded his hands and bowed his head in prayer.

Behind the steel stands 14 headstones, each one carved with personal information including full name, year of birth and death. The tombs face northeast, towards their homeland.

The headstones today commemorate the 12 North Korean soldiers and two officers who had come to support the North Vietnamese air force during the war against the U.S. more than 50 years ago. The oldest of them was nearly 40 and the youngest was just 19.

In the early 1960s during the American War, the Soviet Union supported the North Vietnam air force with different types of advanced aircraft. This helped the resistance forces shoot down more than a few U.S. aircraft that rained bombs on the country.

As South Korea deployed more than 300,000 troops to South Vietnam from 1964 to 1973, second only to the U.S. military force, North Vietnam was helped by North Korea.

North Korea sent 100 pilots to Vietnam to learn about flying techniques and fighting, said major-general Phan Khac Hy, former political commissar of the North Vietnamese Air Force Command.

"After the course, some suggested the Vietnam's air force let them fight alongside Vietnamese soldiers," and the visiting North Korea pilots mostly fought in the skies over provinces near Hanoi, Dau said.

In September 1965, when fighting against the U.S. at the Kep Air Base, an airfield of the Vietnam People's Air Force near Kep Town in Bac Giang, a 19-year-old pilot was killed.

In 1967, 12 more North Korean soldiers died. The 14th pilot was shot down early in 1968.

Incomplete statistics show that between 1966 and1969, the North Vietnam air force shot down 222 American planes, 26 of them by North Korean pilots.

Given the war situation then, the North Korean army decided to bury its fallen soldiers in Vietnam. It was the North Korean Embassy in Vietnam that chose the hill in Lang Giang District for the cemetery.

Dau has volunteered to take care of the cemetery for almost two decades.

In 2002, North Korea exhumed and took the mortal remains of their martyrs back home. Bac Giang Province then turned the cemetery into a memorial.

Dau said that before the remains were exhumed, delegations from the North Korean Embassy would visit the cemetery and offer incense, but the frequency of such visits have dropped since.

Dau, who lives just 300 meters away, walks from his home to the memorial several times each month. On days when his leg hurts too much because of a war injury, his wife would do the task instead.

That February morning, at the foot of each headstone was a yellow daisy.

Dau said he put the flowers there during Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday.

Apart from Tet, he places flowers at the tombs on December 22, Vietnam People's Army Day, also known as National Defense Day, "because those soldiers fought and died for Vietnam."

"I'm a soldier, I'm a war invalid, so I see them as my comrades."
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany August 30, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Germany wants to bury "noticeable differences" of the past and strengthen strategic partnership with Vietnam.

In a Wednesday meeting in Berlin, Maas and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh discussed resetting ties between the two countries after differences broke out over the return of former oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh from Germany to Vietnam in 2017.

Maas said Vietnam was a key partner for Germany in Southeast Asia, and praised Vietnam for making important progress in opening its economy and enacting other reforms in recent years.

Germany is Vietnams leading trading partner in Europe.

A Reuters report quoted a statement issued by Maas before the meeting took place: "In the past there were noticeable differences between Germany and Vietnam.

"Today we want to reach agreement about resetting the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Germany and filling it with new substance."

Maas underscored the importance of common values in any strategic partnership.

"Vietnam, like Germany, is committed to multilateralism and free trade. It has taken on increasing global responsibility and is engaged in climate protection," he said. "These are all areas in which Germany and Vietnam can work together more closely in the future."

Maas also said Germany supported early ratification of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Vietnam.

In response, Minh affirmed that Vietnam had always valued its strategic partnership with Germany and considered the European country a leading, priority partner in the region.

The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1975 and elevated their ties to a strategic partnership in 2011.

Former oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh fled to Germany in 2016 as Vietnam opened investigation into his financial malfeasance at the state-owned PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) of which he was chairman. PVC is a subsidiary of giant PetroVietnam.

In August 2017, Vietnam said it regretted accusations made by the German government that it had "kidnapped" Thanh from Berlin to bring him home to face charges.

Vietnamese police said he returned to Hanoi and turned himself in. He was sentenced to life in prison in early 2018 for his crimes.
Dang Le Nguyen Vu (R) wants to have the majority of the asset he jointly owns with Le Hoang Diep Thao. Photos by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen

Vietnams so-called coffee king wants 70 percent of the 30 percent stake he jointly owns with his estranged wife in Trung Nguyen Group.

Dang Le Nguyen Vu, founder and chairman of the coffee giant, made this demand Wednesday at a Ho Chi Minh City court where he and his wife Le Hoang Diep Thao are seeking a divorce.

He owns 20 percent of Trung Nguyen and she owns 10 percent.

She has asked for their combined 30 percent stake to be divided equally.

The remaining 70 percent stake is held by Trung Nguyen Investment Corporation owned by the couple jointly with others, but it will not be divided.

Vu also wanted their combined assets worth an estimated VND802 billion ($34.58 million) to be divided in a similar 70-30 ratio.

Besides he has proposed giving VND10 billion ($431,135) a year to the four children they have together, while Thao wants him to give each a 5 percent stake in Trung Nguyen.

Thao proposed Thursday that she would withdraw her divorce petition, but Vu disagreed.

Last December Thao had accused Trung Nguyen Group of forging signatures to remove her from the Trung Nguyen Instant Coffee Corporations (Trung Nguyen IC) and replace her with him.

In 2006 she had been appointed Trung Nguyen's deputy general director, and she said under her management its charter capital had increased from VND150 billion ($6.5 million) to VND2.5 trillion ($108.7 million) and both its revenues and profits had grown tremendously.

But she alleged that in July 2014 Vu dismissed her without the board of directors' approval. He had also instructed his employees to demolish her office and block her from entering the company's headquarters, she said.

Last September the court reinstated her as deputy general director, co-owner and co-founder of Trung Nguyen Group, but the very next day Vu dismissed her for a second time, accusing her of threatening his partners.

Trung Nguyen Group is a top coffee firm in Vietnam. It earned revenues of VND3.95 trillion ($170.5 million) and profit before tax of VND681 billion ($29.4 million) in 2017.
Michael Flynn by Nancy Ohanian



The Republicans put Gym Jordan in as ranking member of the House Oversight and Reford Committee, basically to obstruct oversight and reform. He has 17 GOP members behind him, although two of his members, Justin Amassh (R-MI) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) are know to sometimes weigh things from a patriotic, rather than a partisan perspective. Not that it matters that much. Chairman Elijah Cummings is backed by 23 Democrats. And it's not just the number disparity that favors the Dems. Look who's on the committee: Ro Khanna (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD)... FIRE. CRACKERS. And the committee is about to come front and center.





If there's a group who can confound the fascist-oriented new "legal" theory by crackpot wing nuts David Rivkin and Elizabeth Price Foley that Congress can't investigate Trump because there are too many crimes , Cummings has the team. And, like the House Judiciary Committee, they're taking one crime at a time. I'm particularly interested in something that has caught Ro Khanna's attention: a plot my Trump insiders to subvert the law by transferring nuclear technology to the Saudis.





Flynn may be headed to prison and I've been predicting that eventually Trump crooked billionaire crony Tom Barrack would eventually follow him. But now the two of them appear to be at the heart of this scheme to sell the Saudis and other Middle East players nuclear technology as Trump was being sworn in to his illegitimate "presidency." NBC has been reporting the story for 3 days and it's being picked up widely now. But there are still some important at the center of this that will have to be answered by Cummings and Khanna, if not Mueller. Were the whistleblowers encouraged by Netanyahu-- or someone else within the Israeli establishment-- for example?









This morning Ro Khanna told me that "Its is deeply concerning given the financial interests Tom Barrack has that he was driving our policy in selling nuclear secrets to the Saudis. For context, Barrack has defended the murder of Khashoggi as legitimate. He raised $100 million plus for Trumps inaugural and he would stand to gain millions from the sale of nuclear technology to the Saudis."





What Ken Dilanian reported for NBC News is that "whistleblowers" from within Trump's National Security Council have told the Oversight Committee that "efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it."

The House Oversight Committee has formally opened an investigation into the matter, releasing an interim staff report that adds new details to previous public accounts of how Flynn sought to push through the nuclear proposal on behalf of a group he had once advised. Tom Barrack, a prominent Trump backer with business ties to the Middle East, also became involved in the project, the report says.



Just days after Trump's inauguration, backers of the project sent documents to Flynn for Trump to approve, including a draft Cabinet memo stating that the president had appointed Barrack as a special representative to implement the plan and directing agencies to support Barrack's efforts, the report says.



Career national security officials objected to the plan, citing what they deemed Flynn's conflict of interest, and also that the proposal sought to bypass a policy review that is required whenever nuclear technology is transferred to another country, the report says.



The proposal, which involved enlisting the U.S. nuclear power industry to build nuclear plants across the Middle East, was backed by a group of retired generals who formed a firm called IP3. Flynn described himself in financial disclosure filings as an "advisor" to a subsidiary of IP3, IronBridge Group Inc., from June 2016 to December 2016  at the same time he was serving as Trump's national security adviser during the presidential campaign and the presidential transition, the report says.



The report quotes one senior Trump official as saying that the proposal was "not a business plan," but rather "a scheme for these generals to make some money," and added, "OK, you know we cannot do this."



"The whistleblowers who came forward have expressed significant concerns about the potential procedural and legal violations connected with rushing through a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia," the report says.



"They have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes. They have also warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction, and backbiting."



The Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said its investigation of the plan "is particularly critical because the administration's efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing."



On Feb. 12, the report notes, Trump met with nuclear power developers at the White House about sharing nuclear technology with countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Next week Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is set to embark on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals-- including Riyadh-- to discuss the economic portion of the administration's Middle East peace plan.



"Experts worry that transferring sensitive U.S. nuclear technology could allow Saudi Arabia to produce nuclear weapons that contribute to the proliferation of nuclear arms throughout an already unstable Middle East," the report says.





Khanna has been reminding people that "the Saudis have a track record of providing weapons to Americas enemies-- such as Al Qaeda In Yemen . We should be very concerned about the threat of nuclear proliferation if the Saudis were to acquire sensitive nuclear technology." He added when we spoke that he "will work on the Oversight Committee to get to the bottom of the financial interests that are driving the Administrations policy to sell nuclear technology to the Saudis. I also will work to make sure Congress opposes under the Atomic Energy Act any such sale to the Saudis."





In a press release from Cummings office Tuesday, there were two highlighted sections:













and, ominously...













Aside from a letter to Senor Trumpanzee's clownish Chief of Staff , Cummings sent letters to multiple entities involved with promoting this plan, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, and Treasury; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Central Intelligence Agency; Flynn Intel Group; IP3; ACU Strategies; Colony NorthStar; and Mr. Barrack.




The only federal contribution I could find from Goodloe Sutton of Linden, Alabama (population, almost 2,000 is about half white) was to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. I can certainly understand the affinity. Sutton edits the local newspaper, theand he's a proud Klan guy. Tuesday,shined a light on Sutton's coat and tie brand of murderous KKK extremism . Wait, wait... he didn't kill anyone, as far as we know; he just urged others to-- people in DC. There's one very gerrymandered congressional district in Alabama. It goes hither and thither to sweep up as many African American communities as possible and wall them off in one district: AL-07. Linden (and Marengo County, of which it is the county seat) wound up in the 7th-- which is only 32% white and also happens to be the 431st poorest congressional district out of the country's 435. I have a strong feeling Goodloe Sutton isn't happy his Representative is Terri Sewell, a black woman and a Democrat.

Last Thursday-- Valentine's Day-- Sutton penned a short Op-Ed, Klan Needs To Ride Again. Take a look:

Questioned about it by Melissa Brown, a reporter from the Montgomery Advertiser Sutton said "If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we'd all been better of."

Asked to elaborate what he meant by "cleaning up D.C.," Sutton suggested lynching.





"We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them," Sutton said.





When asked if he felt it was appropriate for the publisher of a newspaper to call for the lynching of Americans, Sutton doubled down on his position.





"... It's not calling for the lynchings of Americans. These are socialist-communists we're talking about. Do you know what socialism and communism is?" Sutton said.





When asked if he recognized the KKK as a racist and violent organization, Sutton disagreed, comparing the Klan to the NAACP.





"A violent organization? Well, they didn't kill but a few people," Sutton said. "The Klan wasn't violent until they needed to be."





Sutton, 79, said he didn't know any Klan remaining in the area, stating most died out after the 1960s.





The editor said he welcomed people to call him, write him a letter or boycott him.





Sutton, who has worked at the paper since 1964, inherited the publication from his father.





...Locals in west Alabama say the Democrat-Reporter has a history of inflammatory, racist and offensive language on the editorial page. A review of archived print editions reveal headlines such as "Homosexuals take black spotlight" and an editorial which stated "Slavery was a good lesson for Jews."





In 2015, the paper ran a headline titled: Selma black thugs murder Demopolite Saturday night. At that time, the paper had about 3,000 subscribers.





The paper also regularly republishes what appear to old editorials from the 1930s and 1940s, which include multiple instances of racist slurs.





Judson Coleman, a 38-year-old who calls the Linden and Demopolis area home, said the Democrat-Reporter has "called for violence against minorities for years."





"It has gone unchecked for decades," said Coleman, who is African-American.





Coleman said people in the community have "become numb" to the weekly newspaper. But he's frustrated by the idea that outsiders might have of Marengo County, which was about 51 percent black and 46 percent white, according to 2018 U.S. Census numbers.




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.
Thank you Gary Betts for your very true words of wisdom to Oregon residents (Mailbag, Feb. 17). The Democrats, led by Her Highness in Salem, are having a field day with complete and unfettered power afforded to them by the voters in Oregon. As most real Americans know, the only citizens who get harmed by foolish and incompetent politicians are those that actually follow the laws of the land.

Brown, as did Pelosi with Obamacare details, didn't allow the citizens of Oregon to see her package of bills to come before the election. She used her powers of her kingdom to forbid their release until after the election.

Oregon is on a path to totalitarianism as is well under way in neighboring Washington. Hopefully, we the people, will strike back hard through the courts to stop the foolishness spewing forth from Salem.

Ralph Menweg

Albany (Feb. 18)

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LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

From Tuesday

Sex crime plea  William Aaron McMurry of Junction City pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree sex abuse and harassment. The crimes occurred in March 2017 and June 2017. The victim of the attempted sex abuse was a girl under the age of 18. The victim of the harassment was a different female. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 12.

Failure to appear  Marcus Charles Dodson, 26, of Albany, was charged with felony first-degree failure to appear.

Elude  Brenton Keith Greiner, 37, of Albany, was charged with felony attempt to elude (by vehicle), giving false information to a police officer, third-degree escape, reckless driving, recklessly endangering another person and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. The crimes allegedly occurred on Saturday, and the Linn County Sheriffs Office was the investigating agency.

Theft  Jennifer Elizabeth Griner, 37, of Lebanon, was charged with first-degree theft, aggravated identity theft, identity theft, computer crime and fraudulent use of a credit card. The crimes allegedly occurred in January, and the Lebanon Police Department was the investigating agency.
During the time he was at the paper mill, he served as a professional lobbyist for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW) from 19791992. Shortly before his retirement he was co-founder of Carroll Industries, a machine shop serving the forest products industry of Oregon. Later in 1992, he founded Samard Maintenance Consulting (SMC), rebuilding and repairing test equipment for the pulp and paper industry, which continued through 2017. Dusty was also a safety coordinator/consultant for Professional Mechanical Inc.

Arlen (Dusty) volunteered in many ways, including: Tangent Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter and training officer for 17 years. During this time he trained at the National Fire Academy where he was given the title that so adequately fit him throughout his life of Mr. Congeniality, and serving on the Board of Directors for the fire department for four years. Arlen (Dusty) was awarded firefighter of the year in 1976 and served on the Willamette Council of Camp Fire Board of Directors, volunteering in various positions including property management chairperson. As such, he was responsible for managing Camp Kilowan (a 500-acre parcel of land, and another 1000-acre owned by Willamette Industries), recruiting volunteers and soliciting funds for several projects to improve Kilowan over a 28-year period. He was appointed by Governor Victor Atiyeh to the Workers Compensation Labor-Management Advisory Council, serving as a committee member and later as chairperson; was co-founder of the Workers/Compensation Labor Management Study Group, serving as chair for four years, with seven years of total involvement; he was chairperson of AWPPW Oregon Council as well as the local AWPPW #3 Political Action Committee. He was spokesperson for the advisory committee on Workers Compensation issues for several members of the Pulp and Paper Industry including, James River  Regional Manager, Willamette Industries Vice President, Georgia Pacific  Regional Manager Workers Compensation, Weyerhaeuser Company Corporate Manager; and he worked with Judge Bob McAllister, Washington State Court of Appeals on several occasions surrounding his involvement in the above areas. Dusty also served as a Western Kraft Employee Federal Credit Union (WKEFCU) Supervisory Committee member in the 1990s for several years.
Pure and Natural Retail Locations are Brick-and-Mortar Counterparts of GetPureAndNatural.com



DORADO, Puerto Rico, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GSRX Industries Inc. (OTCQB: GSRX) (GSRX or, the Company) announced today that the Company has leased retail space for a new Pure and Natural store location in Nashville. Pure and Natural retail locations are the brick-and-mortar extensions of the Companys eCommerce platform GetPureAndNatural.com , and feature the Companys own brand of pure, full-spectrum Hemp-based non-THC CBD products that are naturally certified organic. Each Pure and Natural location carries a broad range of pharmaceutical grade CBD products, including health, wellness, skin care and pet products.

Pure and Naturals first Nashville retail store will be located at 2305 West End Ave, across the street from Vanderbilt University, and in the very heart of the citys busy medical district. There are numerous medical practices located nearby, and four hospitals (St. Thomas Midtown, TriStar Centennial, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Childrens) within a 2-mile radius of the new location. The Company anticipates opening the store in the 2nd quarter of this year.



The first Pure and Natural retail location is in a kiosk at Governors Square Mall, just north of Nashville in Clarksville, TN, and a second location, a storefront in the Austin suburb of Lakeway, is currently under construction and expected to open in May.

A wide range of Pure and Natural CBD products are available at each location, including CBD Softgels , which are also available with Melatonin for sleep, and an anti-inflammatory Curcumin formula; CBD Energy Drink Packets ; CBD Oil Tinctures ; CBD Salve ; CBD Vape Pens and CBD Pet Products .



In establishing Pure and Natural retail locations, GSRX further expands the Companys presence in the fast-growing hemp industry which, according to Hemp Business Journal, logged sales of $190 million in hemp-derived CBD products during 2017. The publication projects hemp-derived CBD consumer sales of $646 million annually by 2022. ( Hemp Business Journal )

About Pure and Natural

All Pure and Natural CBD products are held to GSRXs high growing and manufacturing standards, and are brought to market following a seven-step process, beginning with organic farming in Colorado, through proprietary extraction and solids separation, distillation and refining, then rigorous in-house laboratory testing and certification in order to deliver what we consider to be the purest and most natural CBD products on the market today. Manufactured in an FDA-certified GMP facility, Pure and Natural CBD products contain only full spectrum oils, extracted using either supercritical CO2 or food grade ethanol, and are made using proprietary nanoemulsion technology, which gives Pure and Natural CBD products a higher bioavailability than that of standard products.



About GSRX Industries Inc.

GSRX Industries Inc. (OTCQB: GSRX), through its subsidiaries, is in the business of acquiring, developing and operating retail cannabis dispensaries, and is in the process of expanding its business to include the cultivation, extraction, manufacture and delivery of cannabis and cannabinoid products. Currently, GSRX operates five cannabis dispensaries in Puerto Rico under the name Green Spirit RX, one dispensary in California under the name The Green Room, and has five additional pre-qualified locations in Puerto Rico, all of which are in various phases of development and construction. GSRX also owns and operates the e-commerce site GetPureAndNatural.com, which offers a broad range of pharmaceutical grade CBD products.



Websites:

Green Spirit RX https://www.greenspiritrx.com/

Spirulinex https://www.spirulinex.com

Get Pure and Natural GetPureandNatural.com



Instagram:

Spirulinex https://www.instagram.com/spirulinex/

The Green Room https://www.instagram.com/greenroommendo/

Facebook:

Green Spirit RX (Puerto Rico) https://www.facebook.com/Green-Spirit-Rx-746194692378429/

Spirulinex https://www.facebook.com/spirulinex/

The Green Room https://www.facebook.com/greenroommendo/



Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements include statements regarding our expectations, hopes, beliefs or intentions regarding the future, including but not limited to statements regarding our market, strategy, competition, development plans (including acquisitions and expansion), financing, anticipated revenues, operations, and compliance with applicable laws. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in any such statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include the risks described in greater detail in the following paragraphs. All forward-looking statements in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except where applicable law requires us to update these statements. Market data used throughout this prospectus is based on published third party reports or the good faith estimates of management, which estimates are based upon their review of internal surveys, independent industry publications and other publicly available information.
Around 880 high school juniors attended the Benton County Career Convention Tuesday at the LaSells Stewart Center and the adjacent Oregon State University Alumni Center.

The event, which gives students a chance to meet career readiness graduation requirements necessary to earn an Oregon diploma, included mock interviews, a career fair and career speakers.

Donna Keim, who has organized the event for the Corvallis School District since it started more than a decade ago, said the concept is to give all Benton students the chance to meet their career requirements without asking volunteers to attend career readiness events at nine separate schools.

Keim said the event had about 270 volunteers this year and around half of them have volunteered at the event since its start.

Keim said so many volunteers come back year-after-year because the event gives them a chance to connect with local students.

They are so impressed to meet them, she said.

Keim said this year was a difficult one to recruit volunteers because of the federal shutdown. Many were so behind after returning to work, she said, that after the shutdown ended they couldnt make time to attend. In all, she estimates she lost 30 to 50 volunteers.
A teacher from Ashbrook Independent School in Corvallis was arraigned on child pornography accusations in Linn County Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Scott Alan Gerweck, 35, was charged with four counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse and four counts of second-degree encouraging child sex abuse.

The crimes allegedly occurred in November and December, according to the charging document. At the time, Gerweck was living in Albany. He now resides in Eugene.

The next hearing in the case was scheduled for March 18.

A probable cause affidavit in the case, filed by an Oregon Department of Justice agent, indicates that Gerweck uploaded 32 images of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct on the networking and blogging website Tumblr. The company reported the activity to the Nation Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which then contacted authorities.

When a search warrant was served on Gerwecks Albany residence on the morning of Jan. 4, he told the DOJ agent that the content he had on his Tumblr account was supposed to be of 18-year-olds or older, the PC affidavit states. Gerweck told the agent that the average person would assume the females pictured were between 13 and 18.
SALEM  The Linn Economic Development Group will makes a final pitch before the Oregon Transportation Commission at 1:50 p.m. today in its bid to develop an intermodal transloading facility in Millersburg.

Also making a presentation will be a group from the Oregon Port of Willamette, which believes the facility should be developed on property near Brooks.

The commission will meet all day, starting at 8 a.m., but the intermodal session is slated to begin at 1:50 p.m. at the Gail Achterman Conference Room 103, Oregon Department of Transportation, 355 Capitol Street NE.

The hearing will include comments from the from the Department of Transportation and Business Oregon staff.

The hearing is likely the last before a final decision is made in March.

A field of five finalists was narrowed to the Millersburg and Brooks projects several months ago. The goal is to reduce heavy truck traffic on Interstate 5 and congestion in the Portland metro area.

The project was announced publicly in July 2017, when former State Rep. Andy Olson, R-Albany, said the state was examining the possibility of two intermodal sites as part of its $7 billion long-term transportation plan. One site was to be in the mid-valley and the other in eastern Oregon.
The Central Albany Revitalization Area advisory board directed staff Wednesday to gather more information on the possibility of installing electric-vehicle charging stations in downtown Albany.

Economic Development Coordinator Sophie Dykast cited an increase in electric vehicle usage and the lack of stations in the area. Seven charging stations are located in the city, with six closer to Interstate 5 than to the downtown shopping area.

Dykast said electric vehicles are expected to make up 20 percent of new cars purchased by 2020. There are 18,901 electric vehicles registered in Oregon and 1,271 public charging stations in 528 locations around the state.

Timing was highlighted as a major factor in moving forward with the project. Pacific Power is offering grants to fund the purchase and installation of charging stations to nonresidential entities, with applications due in May. Moreover, the city recently purchased the old Wells Fargo property downtown, which Dykast and CARA members suggested as a possible location for stations.

The upfront cost is more than the long-term cost, Dykast said.

She went on to explain that the city would have ways to recoup the cost of operating the stations by passing those costs onto users.
 Adrian Galash and Ralph Musni, performing a selection from Concerto for Two Clarinets by Franz Krommer.

 Bettine Rehr-Zimmerman, performing selections from "Carmen Fantasy" for violin and orchestra by Pablo de Sarasate.

 Eric Russell, performing selections from Gordon Jacob's Concerto for Horn.

 Oboists Robert Koll, Stephanie Brannan and Janie Anderson, with horn players Eric Russell and Luke Schroeder, will perform the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Carlson will surrender his baton for that selection to Rolly Toribio, an OSU music education student.

Carlson said most of the selections in the first half will be a movement from a larger piece. The exception is "Rhapsody in Blue," which stubbornly resisted any attempts at trimming.

Carlson added that performing with the orchestra requires each of the students to "ratchet up their game," but was confident that each performer would do just that.

"I just think this is terrific," he said.

The concert's second half is taken up with the Stravinsky masterpiece, which caused a scandal upon its premiere and still has plenty of power to shock audiences.
Carrie French was at an oboe convention, taking a music lesson, and lamenting to the teacher how she didn't have anyone with whom to play music.

French, a freelance writer and music teacher, had found that she didn't have the opportunities she once had to perform at a high level with other musicians since graduating from college.

Maybe it was a complaint that the teacher had heard before. In any event, instead of offering sympathy, the teacher had a challenge for French: "Why don't you just do something about that?"

So French did: Last year, she reached out to musicians she knew (most of them performed together at West Albany High School). She asked them the same question that the teacher had asked her, but perhaps in a nicer way: "Do you also need something fulfilling artistically?"

And that's the origin story of the A Bene Placito Winds. (The name means "up to the performer.") The ensemble aims to offer quarterly performances that highlight repertoire that's fun to play and listen to with none of the stuffiness that can go along with classical music performances.

The ensemble performs for the second time at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 at the United Presbyterian Church, 330 SW Fifth Ave. in Albany. Admission is free, with a $5 suggested donation.
About the exhibit: "The nine images, mainly black and white and a few color images, displayed cover a range of years photographing the Hawaiian island of Molokai, taken during a workshop entitled, 'Rekindling the Creative Spirit.' Images were made from the dry west end through and to the wet east end of Molokai, including in parts of Mo'omomi, one of the two most spiritual locations where I have visited. Molokai has no resorts, traffic signals, and few people. The freedom to make images in a land so open and beautiful has been a blessing."
Denver, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The latest acquisition for Symbia Logistics, a Colorado-based warehousing, logistics and e-commerce fulfillment company, is Chicago-based iD Commerce + Logistics (IDC), a leader in third-party logistics (3PL) and e-commerce fulfillment. This acquisition -- the fourth in the past 12 months -- positions Symbia to more effectively provide economical shipping options for its clients throughout the Midwest and Northeast.





This is a strategic acquisition to not only broaden our reach, but add depth to the services we provide our clients across the U.S., Symbia President Tom Flynn said. iD Commerce + Logistics has an established network and client base in consumer products, healthcare and beauty, and subscription box fulfillment services, which is a large focus of our growth strategy.



IDC was co-founded in 1998 by Dan Arriola, who has served as CEO, and will now join the Symbia executive team. Arriola said, "Delivering world-class 3PL services nationwide can be a daunting task for any company on its own. That is why were thrilled to join forces with Symbia Logistics in a move that will help us better serve the U.S. market more effectively and efficiently. We believe that our expertise in the industries we serve will enhance Symbias already impressive portfolio so the company will continue to be looked upon as a leading 3PL provider."

IDC will continue its Chicago operations under the iD Commerce + Logistics name with its current workforce. Its local leadership will remain in place to guide the organizations operations, and they will also support Symbia in its efforts to expand the companys e-commerce capabilities across the nation.

We take pride in the fact that we are able bring the best third-party logistics providers under one umbrella, Symbia CEO Megan Smith said. Our recent acquisitions in Nevada, Colorado, Missouri and now Illinois have allowed us to bring together exceptional industry leaders with niche logistics experience and regional knowledge to streamline the last mile logistics process of moving product from the manufacturer to the end user.

Arriola added, This is a win for us all. Simply put, this acquisition bolsters the reach and logistics capabilities available to our current and prospective customers.

To learn more about Symbia Logistics expanded capabilities and future growth plans, visit symbia.com/id-commerce-logistics.

About Symbia Logistics

Symbia Logistics is a privately held business with warehouse facilities in the United States and Canada. The company has been developing customized solutions and processes for logistics clients since 1989. The Symbia Logistics team provides facility-based supply chain support to a variety of industries including sporting goods, apparel, dry grocery, health and beauty, aerospace, chemical, industrial goods, kitting and direct-to-consumer fulfillment services. Company executives believe in establishing long-term partnerships with their clients and are committed to exceeding customer expectations. Symbia maintains its corporate headquarters in Edwards, Colo., and operates an executive office at its new e-commerce facility in Aurora, Colo. For more information visit symbia.com.

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Attachments
Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences awarded for pioneering studies in paleogenomics

Hoboken, N.J--February 20, 2019--The Wiley Foundation today announced the 18th annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences will be awarded to Svante Paabo and David Reich for sequencing the genomes of ancient humans and extinct relatives, revealing the origin and ancestry of contemporary humans and our diverse populations.

Svante Paabo, PhD, is Director at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

David Reich, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

"The 2019 Wiley Prize recognizes Drs. Svante Paabo and David Reich for their pioneering studies of ancient human DNA that revealed the origin and migration of contemporary humans and our relationship to extinct relatives," said Dr. Titia de Lange, Chairperson of the Awards Jury for the Wiley Prize at The Rockefeller University in New York City.

"The Wiley Foundation honors research that champions novel approaches and challenges accepted thinking in the biomedical sciences. The work of the 2019 Wiley Prize recipients, Svante Paabo and David Reich, truly upholds this mission," said Deborah Wiley, Chair of the Wiley Foundation. "We honor them for their pioneering studies of ancient and extant hominid DNA that is detailing the story of human evolution across both time and geography."

First awarded in 2002, the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences is presented annually to recognize contributions that have opened new fields of research or have advanced concepts in a particular biomedical discipline. Among the many distinguished recipients of the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, nine have gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and two have gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

This year's award of $50,000 will be presented to the winners on April 5, 2019 at the Wiley Prize luncheon at The Rockefeller University. The winners will then deliver an honorary lecture as part of The Rockefeller University Lecture Series. This event will be live streamed via the Current Protocols' Webinar Series and registration is free.

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Additional Information

Media Contacts

Wiley: Josh Glickman (US) +1 201-748-6572

newsroom@wiley.com

Follow us on Twitter @WileyNews

About the 2019 Prize Winners

Svante Paabo has developed techniques and approaches that allow DNA sequences from archaeological and paleontological remains to be determined. This has allowed ancient DNA from extinct organisms, humans, animals and pathogens to be studied. His research group has determined high-quality Neandertal genome sequences, allowing for the reconstruction of the recent evolutionary history of our species and the realization that Neandertals contributed DNA to present-day humans who live outside Africa. By studying DNA sequences from a small Siberian bone they discovered Denisovans, a previously unknown hominin group distantly related to Neandertals. Paabo also works on the comparative and functional genomics of humans and apes, particularly the evolution of genetic features that may underlie aspects of traits specific to humans.

David Reich focuses on realizing the potential of ancient DNA to shed light on biology, and his work has established the central role of population mixture in our species. He led the analyses of the Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes proving interbreeding between archaic and modern humans. By implementing a series of technical improvements, his lab has produced more than half of the world's published ancient genomes. His team's analyses have highlighted the power of ancient DNA to reveal previously unknown events, for example showing that "whites" are a mixture of four groups as different as Europeans and East Asians; that Europe and South Asia were both impacted by massive migration from the Eurasian Steppe after 5,000 years ago; and that there were equally large population turnovers in East Asia, the Americas and Africa. He also works on using ancient DNA to track how biological traits evolved in the last 50,000 years, and on making ancient DNA technology accessible to all scholars interested in using it.

About Wiley

Wiley is a global leader in research and education. Our online scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, and our digital learning, assessment, certification and student-lifecycle services and solutions help universities, academic societies, businesses, governments and individuals to achieve their academic and professional goals. For more than 200 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The Company's website can be accessed at http://www. wiley. com .

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen's attempt to regain jurisdiction over death-penalty cases ended Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court when the nation's justices declined to consider his challenge to the ruling that bars him from presiding over capital-murder proceedings.





Griffen, 66, had sued in federal court to regain that authority, but a U.S. district judge in Little Rock and then the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his arguments. He petitioned the Supreme Court to consider his case in December. In typical fashion, the federal justices' decision on Tuesday to reject him did not state a reason.





The seven justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court stripped Griffen in April 2017 of the authority to hear capital-murder cases or any litigation related to the death penalty. He then sued to overturn that ban.





The state justices did not state any reason for the decision, but the move came three days after Griffen, in his capacity as a Baptist minister, participated in a death-penalty protest at the Governor's Mansion. The same day, he had presided over a lawsuit in which he barred prison authorities from using an execution drug, the ownership of which was in dispute.





Griffen complained that the state high court's ruling violated his due-process, religious and free-speech rights, since the justices acted without warning and did not give him a chance to defend himself. He filed his federal First Amendment lawsuit against the seven justices six months later.





The justices and Griffen also brought dueling ethics complaints to state judicial regulators. A recommendation that the justices face ethics charges was rejected by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission in November, but the complaint against Griffen is proceeding. Potential sanctions include being stripped of his judgeship.





A former state Court of Appeals judge, Griffen was elected to the 6th Judicial Circuit of Perry and Pulaski counties in 2010. He returned to the bench in an unopposed election in 2016.





In April 2017, Arkansas was preparing to execute seven convicted killers in two weeks before a portion of its supply of lethal-injection drugs expired. Ultimately, four men were put to death over eight days -- Jack Jones, Ledell Lee, Kenneth Williams and Marcel Williams -- in the first executions in 12 years.





Griffen was outside the Governor's Mansion for a Good Friday prayer vigil with members of his New Millennium Church. He was photographed with protesters standing next to him as he lay on a cot with ropes around him. He later said he was portraying the crucified Jesus Christ. Some spectators speculated that Griffen, dressed in white, was emulating a condemned prisoner awaiting lethal injection.





Almost simultaneously, Griffen temporarily blocked prison authorities from using the paralytic portion of the lethal-injection protocol in response to a lawsuit filed by the drug's supplier that accused the state of acquiring the chemicals under false pretenses and then refusing to fulfill a promise to return them.





Griffen's order barred the state from using the drug until a hearing on the issue, which was scheduled for four days later, but that delay would have prevented one execution and could have thrown off the timetable for carrying out the remaining executions before some of the drugs expired.





Attorney General Leslie Rutledge petitioned the Arkansas high court to nullify Griffin's ruling, which it did at its first opportunity. She complained in court filings that "Judge Griffen cannot be considered remotely impartial on issues related to the death penalty" and "has demonstrated that he is unlikely to refrain from actual bias regarding matters related to the death penalty, and at a minimum, he cannot avoid the appearance of unfairness and his impartiality might reasonably be questioned."





The high court issued a separate order barring Griffen from considering any case that involves the death penalty.





"To protect the integrity of the judicial system, this court has a duty to ensure that all are given a fair and impartial tribunal. We find it necessary to immediately reassign all [Griffen] cases ... that involve the death penalty or the state's execution protocol, whether civil or criminal," the high court's order stated.





The justices' decision also caused the drug-supplier lawsuit to be transferred to another judge, who similarly blocked the state from using the drug, although that decision was also overturned by the state high court.





Griffen had not been the only judge standing in the way of the executions. A federal judge had also barred the state from moving forward, but the ban, by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker, only lasted about 48 hours before it was dissolved by the 8th Circuit, acting on the same day the state high court moved against Griffen.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Weng Jen-hsien bought 20 liters of gasoline and waited until his family was celebrating Lunar New Years Eve together before he burst in and set them on fire





The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld convicted arsonist Weng Jen-hsiens () death sentence.





Weng, 53, had twice previously been found guilty of killing six people, including his parents and three relatives.





Weng had shown no remorse for his crime and there was no likelihood of rehabilitation, the court said.





Weng was convicted of killing direct family members and relatives, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment under the Criminal Code.





Weng purchased 20 liters of gasoline, which he placed into bottles and plastic containers, and deliberately waited for a day until Lunar New Years Eve on Feb. 7, 2016, when the victims had scheduled a family gathering, an investigation found.





Weng ran into the house, doused his family members with gasoline and set them alight, it found.





Weng killed his parents, two cousins, a cousins wife and his parents caregiver. Five other relatives sustained burns.





The High Court ruling reaffirmed the previous two rulings, which said that Weng had planned the murder  an extremely vicious crime  had no regard for human life and was devoid of any moral values.





Throughout the investigation and court proceedings, Weng did not show any remorse and his crime had affected family members and relatives, the court said, adding that he remains a danger to his family.





Weng had said that he intended to kill all of his family, because he believed that, being the youngest of the seven siblings, his parents had neglected him, and that since childhood he had to do most of the work on the farm the family owned in Taoyuans Longtan District ().





However, according to other testimony, Weng had a malicious nature and his siblings had their share of farm labor.





When Wengs elder brother was called as a witness, Weng said: My family members deserve no respect, they are worse than animals  If I could reincarnate 10 times, I would kill you 10 more times.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
HOUSTON, Texas -- A long legal fight over whether a Texas death row inmate could be executed ended Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 59-year-old man is intellectually disabled and thus cannot be put to death.





The Supreme Court's ruling came after prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney's Office agreed with Bobby James Moore's attorneys that he should be spared the death penalty. The Texas Attorney General's Office had asked to take over the case in an effort to carry out the execution.





"The Harris County District Attorney's Office disagreed with our state's highest court and the attorney general to stand for justice in this case. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed. Bobby Moore is intellectually disabled," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement.





Cliff Sloan, Moore's attorney, said he was "very pleased that justice will be done."





Moore fatally shot 72-year-old Houston grocery store clerk James McCarble in 1980 during a robbery. He has been on death row for nearly 39 years.





This was the second time Moore's case had come before the high court. In 2017, the Supreme Court said the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had used outdated standards to decide that Moore was not intellectually disabled. The case went back to the Texas appeals court, which in June again ruled Moore was not mentally disabled.





The Supreme Court in 2002 barred execution of mentally disabled people but has given states some discretion to decide how to determine intellectual disability. However, justices have wrestled with how much discretion to allow.





Texas looks at three main points to define intellectual disability: IQ scores, with 70 generally considered a threshold; an inmate's ability to interact with others and care for himself or herself; and whether evidence of deficiencies in either of those areas occurred before age 18.





In 2004, the Texas appeals court created additional factors, including whether an individual's conduct showed leadership and whether a person could "hide facts or lie effectively."





In Tuesday's 6-3 ruling in the Moore case, the Supreme Court criticized the Texas appeals court for continuing to rely on the additional factors it had created.





The high court has said these factors, named after a former death row inmate named Jose Briseno, have no grounding in prevailing medical practice and invite lay stereotypes to guide assessment of such disability.





The Supreme Court said the Texas appeals court did not discuss evidence that seemed to support Moore's claims of intellectual disability, including that when he was in school, Moore was made to draw pictures when other kids were reading and that by sixth grade, he struggled to read at a second-grade level.





In a concurring opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts - who had previously sided against Moore - joined the majority, saying the Texas appeals court "repeated the same errors that this Court previously condemned."





Moore's case is expected to be remanded back to a judge in Houston, who will resentence him to life in prison. While the change in his sentence means Moore would be eligible for parole, prosecutors say it's highly unlikely he will be released.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

The Associated Press, February 20, 2019
New Hampshire lawmakers are once again considering a bill to repeal the death penalty, less than six months after failing to override Republican Gov. Chris Sununus veto of an identical measure.





The state hasnt executed anyone since 1939, and the repeal bill would not apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006 and is the states only death row inmate. But supporters of capital punishment argue that courts will see it differently.





If you repeal the death penalty, I want you to understand that Michael Addisons sentence will be commuted to life without parole, which would not be just and would send the wrong message to criminals when it comes to killing police officers in the state of New Hampshire, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte told the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.





Ayotte, a former attorney general, was the lead prosecutor in the Addison case. She reminded lawmakers that the shooting happened after a crime spree that would have already been enough to put Addison in prison for life.





What are we saying if youre a career criminal whos been on a crime spree and are already facing a life sentence and theres no death penalty, no other punishment to impose? Why not, in that circumstance, unfortunately, kill the police officer? Because thats what happened that night. That is why the jury imposed the death penalty, she said.





There should be a penalty for what happened to Officer Michael Briggs, she said. Our law enforcement officers deserve this protection and they deserve this deterrent.





The president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police also spoke against the repeal bill, but nearly all the other speakers favored repeal, including two other former attorneys general, a retired judge, and a man who spent nearly a decade on death row in Maryland before DNA evidence cleared him of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Several relatives of murder victims also testified, including Andrea LeBlanc, of Barrington, who lost her husband in the second plane to hit the World Trade Center on 9/11.





State sponsored killing is an act of violence, she said. I refuse to give permission to the government to kill in my name.





New Hampshires death penalty applies in only seven scenarios: the killing of an on-duty law enforcement officer or judge, murder for hire, murder during a rape, certain drug offenses or home invasion and murder by someone already serving a life sentence without parole. Lawmakers have considered bills to repeal it every session for the last two decades. Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, vetoed a similar bill in 2000. In September, the Senate fell two votes short of the 16 needed to override Sununus veto, but after the November election, it appears to have a veto-proof majority in favor of repeal.





Its less clear what will happen in the 400-member House, but at least one former capital punishment supporter has changed his mind since the last vote. Rep. David Welch, has supported the death penalty for 34 years as a lawmaker and former chairman of the Criminal Justice committee. But his wifes death two years ago changed that, he said.





My grief has been really hard to deal with, he said, pausing to steady his voice. I always supported the death penalty because of police officers... but everyone who goes into prison and jail has a family. Regardless of what crimes they committed, they still have a family. When that person is executed by the state, it just goes against my grain to have the state put that family into grief.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

The Associated Press, Holly Ramer, February 19, 2019
LAS VEGAS -- Two Democratic state lawmakers proposing an end to capital punishment are pointing to costly appeals and court-ordered postponements of a lethal injection case that ended last month when the inmate killed himself.





"It's a burden to taxpayers," said state Sen. James Ohrenschall, who is sponsoring the bill with Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo. The two lawmakers separately backed similar measures that failed in 2017.





"Folks committing heat-of-passion crimes or calculated crimes don't look at a state sentencing structure," Ohrenschall said. "Bottom line, I don't believe it has proved to be a deterrent."





The law would add Nevada to the list of 20 states and the District of Columbia that ban capital punishment.





"In effect, we don't have the death penalty in Nevada," Fumo said. "This just codifies it."





The state hasn't carried out an execution since 2006, and the two lawmakers pointed to court challenges that twice stopped scheduled executions of Scott Raymond Dozier.





"We've seen the drug companies go to court to block their products from being used, and win," Ohrenschall said.





Fumo is a Las Vegas defense attorney who has represented death row inmates. He estimated the average cost of mandatory appeals for death row inmates at $500,000, and said the state spends a billion "warehousing" people in jails and prisons before, during and after death penalty trials.





"If we can reduce the cost, that money can go to teacher salaries," he said.





The lawmakers said they hope new Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who said during last year's campaign that he supports the death penalty "in extreme cases," might reconsider.





"I think Gov. Sisolak realizes we have problems with capital punishment in Nevada with the economics, the cost and the lack of deterrent to crime," Ohrenschall said.





Sisolak's spokeswoman, Helen Kalla, said late Tuesday the governor is aware of the bill and will follow the debate in the Legislature. Kalla did not say if Sisolak would sign the measure if it passes.





Nevada has 77 inmates on death row awaiting appeals, according to the state Department of Corrections. No executions are currently scheduled.





Dozier, a twice-convicted killer, gave up his appeals in 2016 and volunteered to die, but a series of court fights postponed his execution. He was found dead last month at Ely State Prison. His death was ruled a suicide.





His death ended several lawsuits without a court ruling on whether Nevada's plan to use a never-tried combination of drugs  including high doses of the powerful opioid fentanyl and a muscle paralyzing agent  would cause an unconstitutionally cruel and inhumane death.





The state Supreme Court has given a pharmaceutical company a March 1 deadline to say why its challenge of the use of its product in a Nevada execution still matters.





Both Ohrenschall and Fumo noted that inmates sentenced to life without parole are not later eligible for reduced sentences.





"In Nevada, that means you leave prison in a pine box," said Fumo. "To my clients, the worst punishment would be life without the possibility of parole."

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
I am not opposed to all charter schools; I believe if the public schools are failing then parents and students should be given other options. However, we must make sure we give them a better option. I cannot support general expansion because over one-third of charter schools opened in the last 20 years have closed due to poor performance or financial mismanagement. Missourians have spent $620 million on failed charter schools. I believe we need to be looking for the best options for students not just another option.
Last year, we were able to fund about 75 percent of the government. It was a step in the right direction, but we need to get 100 percent of our work done this year. That means debating and voting on every appropriations bill one-by-one and getting them to the presidents desk on time. We have to get out of this pattern of dysfunction in the appropriations process. The families I talk to are tired of it and so am I.
New Zealand gen-tailer Meridian Energy continues to grow its presence in Australia, taking its electricity and gas customer base to well over 110,000 via its retail arm, Powershop, and boosting generation from its Australian fleet of wind farms and hydro power stations.In its half-year results announcement on Wednesday, Meridian said Powershop had grown its electricity retail customer base in Australia to a total of nearly 99,400 in December 2018  about 2,000 more than in December 2017, and a 2 per cent rise since June 2018.Powershop's retail reach in Australia was bolstered by the business in Victoria, where the introduction of a gas offer in that state reportedly helped lift contracted sales by 15 per cent and notched up 12,500 new (gas) customers by the end of 2018.And while retail sales in Australia were down by around 3 per cent for the half-year, Meridian's generation of electricity for sale into the National Electricity Market was up.The company said generation volumes from its two wind farms and three hydro stations in Australia were 37 per cent higher than a year earlier at 419 GWh.Meridian beefed up its renewables presence in Australia in January last year, with the acquisition of three New South Wales hydro plants from Trustpower, and via power purchase agreements with wind and solar providers Tilt Renewables, CWP Renewables and Total Eren.The results report said that the Australian energy margin was $66 million in 1H FY2019, $9 million (16%) higher than the same period last year.'With the inclusion of seasonal generation from hydro stations and despite lower wind generation, total generation in Australia was 37 per cent higher than last year, albeit at lower average prices due to falling large-scale generation certificate prices,' the report said.Australian earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 14 per cent to $41 million, the company said.In a results announcement and press conference on Wednesday, Meridian CEO Neal Barlcay referred appeared reluctant to comment in detail on any new renewable development plans, but referred to a 'number of moving parts' in the company's Australian business.Earlier this month, Meridian  which is no stranger to Australia's fickle energy policy environment  hit out at the federal Coalition's threat to force divestment in the energy market, as well as confusing new rules about contracting.'This is totally unworkable,' the company said in a submission. 'The only prudent response that an investor can take to this increased uncertainty is to increase the required return from any such investment with this leading to higher prices and or delayed investment, placing reliability at risk.'Already the mere threat of this legislation has made us question whether we should hold back on, or require greater returns from, investments which we are currently contemplating to increase reliability and security of supply.'In the half-year report update on Australian policy and regulation, Meridian noted that the federal government's NEG had been dumped, and that the proposed divestment legislation had been 'widely criticised.'Back in 2014, Meridian dumped plans to develop a 37MW hydro project in Northern Queensland, due to 'the federal government's protracted efforts to reduce the Renewable Energy Target.'A year later, the company said it was not interested in investing in new wind farms in Australiaas long as it was run by a government which did not like renewable energy.Meridian's fortunes in Australia looked up in 2018, however, thanks to the stunning low prices uncovered by Powershopafter it went to market for renewable energy procurement proposals in 2017.In comments at the results briefing, Meridian CFO Paul Chambers said the market was still fiercely competitive and that the company was still winning business in Australia.Sophie VorrathSophie is editor of One Step Off The Gridand deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
The newborn son of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum has been pictured for the first time, as it emerged the baby could get UK citizenship despite hers being revoked.The 19-year-old, who fled the UK to join the terror group four years ago, is currently living in a Syrian refugee camp with her child but wants to go home.New footage published by ITVshowed her cradling her son, Jarrah, and reading a copy of the Home Office letter which said her UK citizenship would be revoked.'I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son,' Begum told ITV after hearing the news.Begum said she only has 'one citizenship'and it was wrong for the UK to revoke it.It is illegal under international law to revoke someone's citizenship if it leaves them stateless.BBC Newsreported it was possible to strip the teen of her UK nationality as she has Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother, believed to be a Bangladeshi national.Bangladeshi law reportedly includes a right of 'citizenship by descent' to anyone with a Bangladeshi parent.However, Bangladesh's state minister of foreign affairs, Sharial Alam, said Begum was not a Bangladeshi citizen and did not have dual citizenship.'Bangladesh asserts that Ms Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh  There is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh,' he told the Guardian.As her family's lawyer explores their 'legal avenues' around the Home Office's decision, Begum said she will look into a potential citizenship route through her Dutch husband.Begum wed Yago Riedijk, a convicted terrorist from the Netherlands, three weeks after she fled to Syria. He is reportedly being held in a different refugee camp.'Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland. If he gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison,' Begum told ITV.Begum was one of a group of schoolgirls from London's Bethnal Green neighbourhood who went to Syria at a time when Islamic State's online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.Begum said she had been only a 'housewife' during her time with ISIS militants.'I never did anything dangerous. I never made propaganda. I never encouraged people to come to Syria. So they'd only have proof I didn't anything that is dangerous,' she said.The teen added she had been 'OK with' beheadings carried out by Islamic State adherents because she had heard it was allowed under Islamic law.Begum's case has reignited a debate in the UK about how to deal with citizens who joined ISIS but now want to return.
An Alabama woman who joined ISIS group in Syria won't be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US said yesterday.In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.'Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States,' he said.'She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.'But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined ISIS in 2014.He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.'She's an American. Americans break the law,' said Mr Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.'When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for.'Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of ISIS.Mr Shibly said that the administration argues that she didn't qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat.But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.He released a copy of the woman's birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on October 28, 1994, to support his claim.The lawyer also provided to The Associated Press a letter from the US Mission to the United Nations to what was then known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services attesting to the fact that the woman's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission to the UN from October 15, 1990 to September 1, 1994.President Donald Trump said yesterday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that 'I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!'The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join ISIS and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.It also comes as the US has urged allies to back citizens who joined ISIS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.Muthana's lawyer said she was 'just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman', when she became enamored of ISIS, believing it was an organisation that protected Muslims.Mr Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was 'brainwashed' by ISIS and compelled to marry one of the group's soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.After her second husband was also killed she married a third ISIS fighter but she 'became disenchanted with the marriage', and decided to escape, the lawyer said.Mr Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the government's decision to deny her entry to the country.Muthana's status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one US official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.The official would not elaborate but said Pompeo's statement was based on the lawyers' conclusions.The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Muthana's case, citing privacy law.Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions.Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the US to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to US law and is not automatically considered a US citizen at birth.However, Muthana's case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a US passport.Passports are only issued to citizens by birth or naturalisation, according to Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who has studied the phenomenon of foreign ISIS fighters and families.Mr Hughes said the decision is also unusual because it comes just days after the Trump administration urged European nations to repatriate extremists from Syria as the Islamic State nears collapse.'If you are trying to make the case that others should take back their people, it stands to reason that you would do that, too,' he said.Muthana, who says she dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son, her lawyer said.
OTTAWA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orezone Gold Corporation (TSXV:ORE) (Orezone or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on its development schedule and achievements at its 90%-owned Bombore gold project (Bombore) together with progress on its 2019 Sulphide Expansion Feasibility Study (2019 FS).



Project Development Update

The Company recently completed a detailed review of all project development and construction activities at Bombore with the goal of optimizing the project development and expenditure schedules. Based on this review, the Company has prepared a new project development schedule that further minimizes project execution risks.

Specifically, the optimized development schedule provides a number of significant benefits including:

Additional flexibility in the implementation of the upfront Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) by extending the construction schedule to ensure the pace of home construction is readily achievable, thereby maximising local workforce training and hiring practices and maintaining the local community and government support.

Reduced operational risks and costs to the projects main infrastructure: Off-Channel Reservoir (OCR) construction to meet the projects production water demands will now preferentially commence in the dry season. Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) will consume less water for its dam embankment construction and will have a more simplified liner installation.

Improved capital deployment schedule for the project: 2019 burn rate significantly reduced with the Company fully-funded to January 2020.



The key aspect of the review that allowed for a later construction start was the decision to better coordinate the start of the OCR excavation before the onset of the rainy season. This OCR excavation will now commence in Q1-2020, concurrent with major plant earthworks and the TSF construction. Furthermore, with recent completion of the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work, all major equipment lead delivery times have been fully identified and incorporated into the schedule as have major construction timeline requirements. The overall impact of this revised schedule is that commissioning and plant start up is now scheduled for Q2-2021.

As a result of this detailed review, the Company expects 2019 project expenditures to be significantly reduced from spending under the original project schedule. The Company is budgeted to spend US$25.2 million on project development for 2019 which will include costs for early stage construction works (e.g. main access roads and camp improvements), FEED completion, construction of Phase I RAP resettlement villages and associated infrastructure, and advancement of permitting efforts for the sulphide expansion and P17S satellite deposit. The Company anticipates a further spend of US$5.0 million for corporate G&A, the 2019 FS report, and project financing efforts.

With a 2018 year-end cash balance of over US$31 million, the Company is fully funded for this upcoming year which the Company will utilize to secure the remaining financing required to construct Bombore.

RAP Construction Update

RAP construction is progressing with beaconing of houses on the main resettlement sites completed and brick fabrication by local construction contractors well-advanced in preparation for house construction as ongoing foundations are completed. The required Phase I RAP is scheduled for completion by November 2019 which will allow one additional crop harvest by local communities before relocation commences which has been very well-received by local community members.

The Company plans to provide ongoing details and photographs of RAP construction activities on its website throughout 2019.

Sulphide Expansion Feasibility Study Update

The independent 2019 FS is being completed by a team of highly qualified engineering and environmental firms: Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd. (study lead), AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd., Knight Piesold and Co., Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA), Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd., and Antea Group. RPA is updating the 2017 Mineral Resource Estimate to incorporate the previously excluded Restricted Zones and to expand the resource estimate at the high-grade P17S sulphide target for the additional drilling completed during the 2016 to 2018 period.

The 2019 FS will incorporate the combined oxide and sulphide circuits, and will be based on an expanded plant throughput of 5.2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) as opposed to the 4.5Mtpa used in the 2018 feasibility study. The sulphide plant will be constructed in Year 2 of oxide operations and sulphide feed will commence in Year 3 at a planned rate of 1.2Mtpa.

Recently completed metallurgical testwork has confirmed the ore grind and gold recoveries from work undertaken in earlier studies. Work indices and abrasion indices have also been confirmed for the various sulphide materials.

The current work for the 2019 FS includes detailed mine scheduling, water balance and waste rock storage designs, and an update of the environmental and permitting studies to provide essential data for the Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) update necessary to permit the expanded mine plan.

The Company is on target to release the results of the 2019 FS by the end of Q2-2019.

Patrick Downey, President & CEO stated I am pleased that this detailed project review has optimized the construction schedule for Bombore, and will improve project execution and solidify community support. The Company will continue to work aggressively to advance development and financing through 2019, and look forward to incorporating the results of the updated sulphide expansion FS into our financing negotiations. The sulphide expansion FS is on track and we are excited to see the results of this update in terms of annual gold production and project economics. Our RAP is progressing, and we continue to have the strong support and input into this process from our local communities. Local employment has significantly increased which has been the result of our recent training programs.

Qualified Persons

Pascal Marquis, Geo and SVP and Patrick Downey, P.Eng and CEO of Orezone, are Qualified Persons under National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the information in this news release. Orezone has also prepared and filed a current technical report on the Bombore Project titled NI 43-101 Technical Report Feasibility Study of the Bombore Gold Project Burkina Faso with a date of 23 August 2018, and which is available at www.sedar.com and at www.orezone.com. The technical report includes relevant information regarding the effective dates and the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource and reserve estimates at the Bombore Project, as well as information regarding data verification, and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release. Readers should also refer to the annual information form of Orezone for the year ended December 31, 2017 and other continuous disclosure documents filed by Orezone since January 1, 2018 available at www.sedar.com, for this detailed information, which is subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein.

About Orezone Gold Corporation

Orezone is a Canadian company with a successful gold discovery track record and recent mine development experience in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The Company owns a 90% interest in Bombore, a fully permitted, low cost, development stage gold project in Burkina Faso, situated 85 km east of the capital city of Ouagadougou, adjacent to an international highway.

For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (778) 945-8977 or visit the Companys website at www.orezone.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, potential, possible and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may, will, could, or should occur.

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements. These include statements regarding, among others, the optimization of the new project schedule and capital deployment, improved flexibility in the RAP implementation schedule, reduced project operational risks and costs to the construction of the projects main infrastructure (OCR and TSF), anticipated commissioning and plant start up in Q2-2021, budgeted 2019 spending and sufficiency of Companys 2018 year-end cash balance to fully fund 2019 project and corporate expenditures, inclusion of the Restricted Zones and expansion of the P17S resources in the update to the 2017 Bombore Mineral Resource Estimate, expansion of the combined oxide and sulphide circuits to 5.2Mtpa in the 2019 FS, the construction start-up of the sulphide plant extension in Year 2 of commercial production with the commencement of gold production from the sulphide circuit starting in Year 3 at a planned sulphide feed rate of 1.2Mtpa, completed and remaining work on the 2019 FS, and the release of the results of the 2019 FS by the end of Q2-2019.

All such forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by management and qualified persons in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management and the qualified persons believe are appropriate in the circumstances. Readers are cautioned that actual results may vary from those presented.

In addition, all forward-looking information and statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, use of assumptions that may not prove to be correct, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, accidents and equipment breakdowns, political risk, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic, market or business conditions, the failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, and other factors described in the Companys most recent annual information form and management discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR on www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

This news release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (i) fluctuations in the price of gold; (ii) results of drilling; (iii) results of metallurgical testing, process and other studies; (iv) changes to proposed mine plans; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licenses.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The Murdoch media campaign against climate policies and renewables plumbed new depths on Thursday, with a front page lead story in The Australian promoting patently absurd costings that were quickly endorsed by the Coalition government as proof of the dangers of Labor's proposed energy and climate policies.The Australiannewspaper , two days after publishing a grossly misleading front page lead on the cost to households of rooftop solarrebates, said a report byBrian Fisher of BAEconomics suggested the cumulative economic losses from Labor's 50 per cent renewables target and 45 per cent emissions target would be $472 billion.The story was quickly embraced by the Coalition government, with energy minister Angus Taylor saying it was further proof that under a Bill Shorten Labor government, Australians will be poorer, and that even a 50 per cent renewables target would be a wrecking ball through the economy.To highlight the absurdity of that stance, Taylor appears to have ignored the fact that Fisher's analysis claimed that the Coalition's own emissions target  of 26-28 per cent by 2030 that the government says will be met in a canter and at little cost  would actually cost around $70 billion.The Australiansought to paint Fisher as some sort of middle-man, straddling both sides of politics and acting as an advisor on climate policy to both Labor and Coalition governments.Truth is, the former ahead of ABARE has been a relentless campaigner against climate action and renewable energy policies for decades, and his private firm has produced many equally improbable reports for the fossil fuel lobby, and in particular the Minerals Council, who supplied prime minister Scott Morrison with the lump of coal he infamously waved around parliament, and whose former deputy CEO now serves as Morrison's chief of staff.Fisher was also hand-picked by Tony Abbott to sit on the RET Review panel that he hoped would lead to the scrapping of the renewables target  a mechanism that was not scrapped and which is now credited with the investment boom in wind and solar that is likely to take Australia within several short hops of Labor's 50 per cent target.As Origin Energy underlined on Thursday, new projects are now being contracted at prices vastly lower than the current wholesale price  set almost uniquely by black coal and gas plants indicating that they are being developed without subsidies. The futures price of large-scale certificates reflects this.Fisher's estimates are based on the assumption that wind and solar and storage cost more, but this flies against all other serious analysis. AGL has said repeatedly that renewables and storage is cheaper even than trying to extend the life of ageing generators like Liddell, and says the argument over costs on renewables versus new coal was lost long ago.If further evidence was needed, the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator released a report late last year that also concluded that wind and solar, backed by either battery or pumped hydro storage, was clearly cheaper than new coal plants.Tristan Edis, from Green Energy Markets and a veteran policy analyst, says Fisher has been wrong about technology costs for a very long time. In 2006, Edis says, Fisher co-authored a report that suggested coal and gas would remain cheaper than non hydro renewables such as wind or solar until 2050.It assumes that wind and solar may nearly halve their costs over the 50 year period considered. Instead, in just over a decade, solar has slashed its costs by 90 per cent and wind by more than 50 per cent.This is what the CSIRO recently concluded were the current prices of various energy sources,with wind and solar at half the cost of coal and gas.New coal is about twice as expensive as wind and solar, Edis notes.New gas is at least 30 per cent more expensive and potentially twice as expensive as wind and solar. Given (Fisher)'s track record I wonder why The Australian thinks his predictions are worthy of front page news.He noted another report by Fisher in 2012, for the oil and gas lobby, also called for the RET to be scrapped because gas would provide cheaper abatement. That prediction has not worked out so well.But government ministers were out in force on Thursday embracing the Australian story, downplaying Glencore's commitment for no new coal mines, saying it was an endorsement of their decision to do little on climate and energy.Resources Minister Matt Canavan, who now proudly includes a logo from a privately owned coal company on his Twitter handle,joined Taylor to dismiss Glencore's move as self-serving nonsense and later said it was about the European antipathy to coal.As for Fisher's report, he described it as data that showed what would happen if a Labor government came in and pushed a unilateral target of a 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions.Canavan then went on to describe the threats to refineries and smelters in regions, ignoring the fact that zinc refiner SunMetals in far north Queensland sees solar as the basis of its future, as does Sanjeev Gupta in the revitalisation of the Whyalla Steelworksthat would likely have closed without a commitment to green energy.Rod Campbell, policy director at The Australia Institute, says Fisher's record was often ignored by media, and conveniently so by the Coalition government.BAEconomics have put out some outrageous things for the Minerals Council on the supposed costs of the RET, and have been spruiking for coal mines, Campbell told RenewEconomy, whose readers may be familiar with Fisher's record in past storiesIf you are going to roll out a modelling report  effectively a four page rant  and yet somehow you get a front page story with the word apocalypse' - I think we've reached peak stupid for economic modelling, Campbell said.Note: The Australian, as far as we can tell, has yet to correct its story on rooftop solar, despite it being reproduced cross the Murdoch media empire, and in free-to-air TV, talkback radio and climate denialist blogs.But on Thursday, the paper did write an editorial calling for the end to rooftop solar rebates, describing them as government incentives for the wealthy or ideologically inclined.It did not repeat its false claim that the rebates would cost $195 a year (actually only about $34), offering only: Renewable energy spruikers might quibble, claiming the cost benefits of renewables should be taken into account.Incidentally, Fisher also called for the scrapping of rooftop solar subsidies way back in 2014. About the same time, as we reported,that he availed himself of the subsidy for his hobby farm near Canberra.Giles ParkinsonGiles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Gridand founder/editor of The Driven. Giles has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework operational curbs on Bank of India (BoI), Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC).

These public sector banks are out of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. This will aid in making marked improvements in the capital positions and asset quality.

The PCA restrictions were lifted after these banks provided a written commitment that they would comply with the norms of minimum regulatory capital, net NPAs (Non-performing Assets) and leverage ratio on an ongoing basis. These Banks have also apprised RBI of the structural and systemic improvements they have put in place.

Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework

Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework has been issued by the RBI to maintain the sound financial health of banks. The RBI will initiate certain structured and discretionary actions for the bank under the PCA when the Banks breach any of the three key regulatory trigger points:

Capital to risk-weighted assets ratio

Net non-performing assets

Return on assets.

The PCA framework is aimed at nudging the banks to take corrective measures in a timely manner, in order to restore their financial health.
150 students of Srilanka from all 25 districts were awarded the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi scholarships for study in India. The Scholarships were awarded by Sri Lankan Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a special ceremony in Colombo.

Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships

The Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships are merit-cum-means based Scholarship instituted in 2006-07 for Sri Lankan students and is awarded annually by the High Commission of India in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka.

Recipients of the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarships receive cash assistance during their two years of Advanced Level studies. The High Commission of India has increased the scholarship amount from Rs. 2,000 to 2,500 per month from 2015-16 onwards and accordingly; this years awardees will receive Rs. 30,000 annually during their two years of Advanced Level studies. The Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship has benefitted more than 1,100 meritorious students since its inception in the year 2006.

Other Initiatives of India to boost the Education in Sri Lanka

India and Sri Lanka have a robust relationship and India is taking giant steps to help the education sector of Sri Lanka. They include:

India is constructing new classrooms in 27 schools in the North.

India handed over the largest University Auditorium in Sri Lanka in the University of Ruhuna, in the South.

India has provided assistance for the new trilingual school in Polonnaruwa and Saraswathy College Kandy.

The government of India is also providing opportunities to young Sri Lankans to study in reputed Indian Institutions of higher education through more than 270 scholarships per year, besides providing 370 short-term training slots every year to working professionals from Sri Lanka under ITEC programme.
Rather than listen to special interests, I urge you to listen to Americas young people, Eastmond told the Judiciary Committee.

Lindquist had a message too. In this debate, it is about emotion, she said. Facts and viewpoints like hers, matter less.

The two young women were seated side-by-side. They clearly heard the power of each others testimony.

There is a way for Congress to fairly address both women.

And that is to remain focused on gun violence as a public health crisis rather than as a political talking point.

Nearly 40,000 Americans died by guns in 2017. They were shot in homicides, in acts of domestic violence and in accidents, which are nearly always preventable. And the largest category gun deaths is suicides.

One of the outrageous aspects of our national problem with gun violence is how haphazardly it has been studied. The data sets we have are incomplete and in some cases cherry-picked. It is not an exaggeration to say that the gun lobby has consistently undercut government funding for research into gun violence.
Clearly, for many politicians the road to the news desk is proving less difficult to travel than the road to the White House or to Capitol Hill.

Networks are staffing up for what will be roughly 600 straight days of analysis about the 2020 election. Cable channels in particular need articulate commentators, since the big threeFox, CNN and MSNBCall fill vast amounts of airtime with talking heads.

What they learned in the 2016 campaign was that finding a mix of compelling opinions was difficult. On CNN, for example, Kayleigh McEnany, who had held a few minor, non-elected political jobs and was still in her twenties, was called upon to represent the conservative side in heated debates with a panel of largely liberal pundits. McEnany was out of her depth and resigned after the election.

CNN fared much better by hiring a polished pol, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in 2017. Santorum has provided calm, reasoned analysis on the panelthe very thing CNN is now seeking by opening its door to other former office-holders.

Of course, politicians taking TV posts isnt new: Sarah Palin tried it on Fox and failed, while Joe Scarborough did it on MSNBC and has been quite successful.
Information is from police reports and may be incomplete depending on the status of an investigation. Phone numbers are nonemergency.
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The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom and journalist safety news from around the world. Subscribe here.

New York Times correspondent David D. Kirkpatrick was denied entry into Egypt on Monday. His phone was confiscated and he was held in the airport for seven hours without food or water before authorities forced him onto a flight back to London without explanation. The move against Kirkpatrick comes after authorities detained a local journalist, Ahmed Gamal Ziada, in Cairo upon his return to Egypt from Tunisia in January. Ziada was held incommunicado until his charges, for spreading false news, were announced on February 13. According to CPJs 2018 census, Egypt had 19 journalists imprisoned on false news charges, the highest of any country.

CPJ analyzes how Iraqi militias, some of which are backed by Iran, use threats and violence to silence press in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The journalists CPJ spoke with described feeling helpless as these abuses go unpunished.

The New York Times correspondent David D. Kirkpatrick. (Onur Pinar)

Global press freedom updates

Spotlight

CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said and CPJ EU Representative Tom Gibson visit Jan Kuciaks memorial in Bratislava, Slovakia. (CPJ)

Thursday marked one year since Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was murdered alongside his fiancee Martina Kusnirova. CPJ has repeatedly called on authorities to seek justice in his case. While four individuals have been identified in carrying out the murder, the party ultimately responsible has not been publicly identified.

CPJ representatives visited Kuciaks memorial in Bratislava this week, and joined a vigil outside the Residence Palace in Brussels on Thursday to honor the slain reporter and keep up pressure on Slovak authorities. Kuciak was one of 34 journalists murdered in 2018 in connection to their work.

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Saudi Arabia wants India to open up its real estate sector to foreign ownership, which will lead to investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in residential and commercial properties, according to Kamil S Al-Munajjed, Chairman of Saudi India Business Council. It also wants India to change laws to allow Saudis to own agricultural land to help enhance food security while reducing excessive dependence on oil, he said.



Saudi and Indian businesses are also likely to significantly increase direct bilateral business, instead of routing it through the United Arab Emirates or Mauritius because of legacy investment and legal issues, Al-Munajjed told ET in an interview ahead of the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.



"Wherever we go, we like to buy real estate for personal use or business," Al-Munajjed said. "India forbids that for non-residents This is one of the issues we are discussing, including agricultural land." He said Saudi businessmen are ready to pour money into real estate. "Hundreds of millions of dollars will come into the real estate market in India if rules are relaxed. Saudis will not invest in infra projects. That is for governments. For the private sector in Saudi Arabia, real estate is the business," he added.



Al-Munajjed, a Managing partner of real estate and construction firm Urjuan Property Developers and a director of Span Arabia, a logistics firm in the Gulf region, said numerous Indian entrepreneurs were active in his country, though the official number was small. "In Saudi, we have 400-500 Indian companies, officially. Unofficially, we have tens of thousands. The Crown Prince has solved legal and investment problems," he said. "A lot of Indian companies would work from the UAE because within the Gulf Cooperation Council, any UAE citizen can work freely. They would all go to Dubai, where they found a nice environment and open business in Saudi Arabia."

People from Kerala run 90% of Riyadh's 100,000 groceries, he said. "One of the largest supermarket chains is owned by an Indian," Al-Munajjed said. "He had a Saudi sponsor. Two years ago, he bought 100% of the business. Now, with new rules in Saudi, you are allowed 100% of your business. Only (in) two to three (sectors), like oil exploration, you have to be Saudi (national). Other than that, foreigners can own 100%."



Similarly, only 50 Saudi companies operate in India directly, but the actual number is in hundreds, Al-Munajjed said. "Legally, they are incorporated under a UAE or Mauritius entity," he said. "Now, with reforms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has changed. I think what the PM did is amazing. Businesses are undeclared due to tax reasons or fiscal reasons. But now with changes, things are much clearer."



Asked if Indo-Pak tension would hurt business sentiment, particularly in the wake of the Crown Prince's visit to Islamabad, he said Riyadh had strongly condemned terrorism. He said the Indian Ambassador had abruptly canceled a dinner engagement on the evening of the terror attack. "By 6 pm, there was a strong condemnation statement. As a Saudi, I can tell you, it's a huge thing to get the statement on February 22."



Al-Munajjed said,"Three weeks ago, we met (Commerce Minister Suresh) Prabhu in Mumbai. I've never seen anyone as enthusiastic to develop business ties with Saudi Arabia."

Himangshu Watts, Economic Times, Delhi/NCR
THURSDAY, Feb. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- First came confusion, shock and fear, as people struggled to process the emergency warning they'd received.

"There's a missile threat here right now guys. I love you all and I'm scared as [expletive deleted]."

Later came anger, mistrust and denunciation, when they found the frightening warning had been false.

"And now, should there be another ballistic missile threat, how can we trust it knowing the last one was a grave mistake???"

Tens of thousands of Twitter messages provide a real-time window into the public reaction to a 2018 errant alert warning Hawaiians that a ballistic missile had been fired at their island state, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The reactions show the powerful effect a government warning can have on citizens, and the loss of credibility that can happen if someone has cried wolf.

But on a more positive note, the messages also display the power of social media to help inform people during a crisis, said lead researcher Dr. Bhavini Patel Murthy, a CDC medical epidemiologist.

"People on social media did turn to government organizations, as well as news media, to try to find out what was going on and how they should react," Murthy said. "Given that social media has transformed the way individuals consume and share information, that is how we can effectively communicate to the public, whether it's to a certain area or nationwide."

The false alert came at 8:07 a.m. on Jan. 13, 2018, in Hawaii, the result of a state Emergency Management Agency employee mistaking a training drill for an actual threat, researchers said.

The alert said there was a ballistic missile headed toward Hawaii: "Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill." It ran over television and radio, and even popped up on people's cellphones.

Escalating tensions between North Korea and United States lent the alert plausibility. North Korea had conducted several ballistic missile tests during the previous year, raising concerns that Hawaii could be the target of a nuclear attack.

It took state officials 38 minutes to retract the alert. Investigations subsequently led to the resignation of the state's emergency management administrator.

As the event unfolded, tens of thousands of people took to Twitter to share information and learn more about the crisis, Murthy and her colleagues found.

Analysis revealed that 127,125 tweets were sent out in the 38 minutes following the alert and the 38 minutes after it had been retracted, researchers reported in the Feb. 22 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The researchers boiled all those messages down to 14,530 initial tweets, excluding retweets and quote tweets.

They found that four themes emerged in the tweets sent while the threat was believed to be real:

Information processing, as citizens try to figure out what's going on: "Sirens going off in Hawaii, ballistic missile threat issued. What's happening?"

Information sharing with others: "Just got an iPhone alert of inbound balistic [sic] missile in Hawaii. Said Not a Drill."

Authentication: "Is this missile threat real?"

Reactions of fear and panic: "Woke up and started crying after seeing the Hawaii missile alert. Called my parents and balled [sic] my eyes out because I was so worried."

After the alert was rescinded, people continued to use Twitter to share information and express their emotions regarding the false alarm, researchers said.

But three new themes also emerged in the minutes after people learned they'd been warned for nothing:

Denunciation of officials: "How do you 'accidentally' send out a whole [expletive deleted] emergency alert that says there's a missile coming to Hawaii and to take cover, AND TAKE THIRTY MINUTES TO CORRECT?!?"

Concern over insufficient guidance given to citizens: "My friend and I were running around the hotel room freaking out because HOW DO WE TAKE SHELTER FROM A [expletive deleted] MISSILE?!"

Mistrust of authority: "We all need to know who is behind this!!! This is not a joke. How can we trust the emergency alarm now?"

Still, all these tweets highlight the opportunity that social media provides for public health and emergency response officials to communicate with citizens during a crisis, Murthy said.

"Public health practitioners should consider how people interpret, share and react to public health messaging as a situation unfolds, and how we can meet people where they are to convey timely information," Murthy said.

Tamer Hadi directs strategic technology for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response. She said the study shows that "public health agencies must use social media bidirectionally -- as in, using social media for both outgoing risk communication as well as incoming feedback from the public and media."

Officials should stay on top of social media during a crisis, said Hadi, a member in the Public Health Communications Committee of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. He was not involved with the CDC study.

"Upon picking up on trends of questions, concerns or misinformation by both the general public and the news media, health departments should use that information to revise and repeat key points to ensure clarity and understanding," Hadi said.

Timely communication is also key.

"It is critical that public health agencies release communication on social media as quickly as possible after an incident," Hadi said.

"It is important to acknowledge both what is known and unknown, and follow up consistently from that point on. The longer time that passes without official information, the more time there will be for misinformation and rumors to be exchanged," he noted.

More information

Ventura County, Calif., has more about preparation and response to a nuclear explosion.
Portland, OR, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled,  Body Contouring Devices Market by Product (Non-invasive Devices [Radiofrequency Devices, High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Lipoplasty Devices, and Cryolipolytic Devices], Minimally Invasive Devices [Laser-Assisted Lipolysis Devices, Radio Frequency Assisted Liposuction Devices and Others], and Invasive Devices [Ultrasonic Assisted Liposuction (UAL) Devices]), Application (Fat Reduction and Skin Tightening), and End User (Hospital & Clinic, Medical Spa, and Clinical Research Laboratory): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20172025. According to the report, the global body contouring devices market garnered $933 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $3,446 million, registering a CAGR of 17.7% from 2018 to 2025.

Increase in obesity worldwide, rise in aesthetic consciousness, and advancements in the field of body contouring facilitate the growth in the market. However, high cost related to body contouring procedures restrains market growth. On the other hand, the increase in medical tourism and untapped potential in emerging economies create new opportunities.

Request Report Sample at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/5093

The report segments the global body contouring devices market into product, application, end user, and region. Based on product, non-invasive devices contributed to nearly three-fifths of the total market share in 2017 and would grow at the highest CAGR of 18.1% from 2018 to 2025. This is due to its ability to offer lesser risk and pain as compared to traditional surgical devices and procedures. Based on application, skin tightening application held the major share in 2017 and is expected to grow at the largest CAGR of 18.3% from 2018 to 2025.

End users analyzed in the research include hospitals & clinics, medical spas, and laboratories. Hospitals & clinics contributed to nearly two-thirds of the total market share in 2017 and will dominate throughout the forecast period, owing to the availability of certified staff & physicians. Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 19.0% from 2018 to 2025, owing to rise in obesity in different countries of the region and surge in demand for body shaping devices among men in South Korea.

Leading market players analyzed in the report include Allergan plc, Bausch Health Companies Inc., Hologic, Inc., Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Erchonia Corporation, MicroAire Surgical Instruments, LLC, Cutera, Inc., InMode Aesthetic Solutions, Sciton, Inc., and El.En. S.p.A. (Asclepion Laser Technologies GmbH).

About Us:



Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business -consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.
For the times we can't be in air conditioning 24/7, there are thankfully many low-cost, energy-efficient ways to cool off during summer heat t
In September 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland," prosecutors wrote.

Hasson routinely read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that prosecutors said instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools, court papers said. Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage.

Hasson also expressed admiration for Russia. "Looking to Russia with hopeful eyes or any land that despises the west's liberalism," he wrote in the draft email. Prosecutors say during the past two years he had regularly searched online for pro-Russian as well as neo-Nazi literature.

Prosecutors allege that Hasson visited thousands of websites that sold guns and researched military tactical manuals on improvised munitions.

Federal agents found 15 firearms  including several rifles  and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside Hasson's basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland. They also found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormone, court papers said.
After the polygraph examiner saw unspecified indications of deception, investigators explored suspicions he sexually assaulted women he knew, the affidavit said.

One woman later told investigators that Bridgmon sexually assaulted her outside of Cook in July 2007, when she was 17 and he was 19, according to the affidavit.

He had picked her up in his car and as they drove away he groped her, she told the State Patrol.

When she told him to stop and let her out, he kept driving, the investigator said.

He drove the car to a rural area, told her to get out of the car and he raped her, she said.

As he drove her back home, they saw her friends and Bridgmon told her to lie if they asked why she was crying, according to the affidavit.

She told investigators she hasn't spoken to him since 2013. To date, the investigation has led to four other potential victims.

Those assaults occurred in different, unspecified counties, where prosecutors are reviewing the cases, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Attorney General's Office said.

Bridgmon made his first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon, and a judge ordered him not to contact his accusers.
Renee Fry, executive director of Open Sky Policy Institute, opposed the bill, warning that it would result in "significant cuts to our schools and other vital services."

The proposal provides "large tax cuts to wealthy Nebraskans, does little for the middle class or small businesses and does not provide meaningful property tax relief," she stated in an accompanying analysis.

"The bill also would deplete the state of revenue needed for schools, public safety and other key services at a time when state revenues are lagging amid what could be the beginning of a long run of budget shortfalls," Fry warned.

Hilgers urged the committee to consider elements of his proposal when it begins to shape a tax reform package.

Major tax reform proposals already have been presented by Sens. Tom Briese of Albion, Curt Friesen of Henderson and Mike Groene of North Platte, all of whom are members of the committee.

"There's a lot to like in those other proposals," Hilgers said.

The state's current property tax credit fund "does not provide meaningful property tax relief," said Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, committee chairwoman.

"The opportunity is here to make something happen," Friesen told Hilgers as he completed his testimony.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSDon.

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Lawmakers moved onto other business Wednesday morning after three hours of debate on a bill to update Nebraska's Americanism statutes.

The bill's (LB399) sponsor, Sen. Julie Slama of Peru, said she has the votes needed to end a filibuster by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, meaning it will likely come back later this week.

Slama's bill, as well as the pending Education Committee amendments to it, would require Nebraska students to take the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization exam, attend a public meeting and write a report about it, or complete a research paper or project about a person or event from American history.

Chambers, who criticized the bill as requiring students to learn one version of American history, filed several motions repealing words or entire sections from Slama's bill during Wednesday's truncated debate.

Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz also sought to strike language from the bill allowing school boards to remove teachers or other school employees from their positions if judged to have not completed the requirements under the statute.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
In 2016, Habanos SA released a regional release to Great Britain under its Juan Lopez line known as the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana. Looking at the massive portfolio for Habanos SA, the Juan Lopez brand is one of the smaller ones. However over the years it has sustained a popular following by cigar enthusiasts. Habanos SA is known for doing many exclusive regional releases and despite the fact that Juan Lopez is one of the smaller brands, it has been no stranger to regional releases in areas such as France, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Andorra, Asia Pacific, Benelux, Portugal, Austria, Germany, and Canada. There was even a previous regional release in 2010 to the United Kingdom with the Seleccion SupremoEdicion Regional Reino Unido. Today we take a closer look at the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana.

The Juan Lopez brand has origins that go back to 19th century Cuba. The brand was created in 1876 by Juan Lopez Serra (known as Juan Lopez Diaz). The brand was eventually passed to his heirs and then sold to Sociedad Cosme Del Peso y Cia in 1918. When the Cuban Revolution occurred and Cubas cigar business was nationalized, the brand was taken over by the Cuban government. It would eventually become a part of the Habanos SA portfolio.

Without further ado, lets break down the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Wrapper: Cuban

Binder: Cuban

Filler: Cuban

Country of Origin: Cuba

Factory: n/a

Vitolas Offered

Habanos SA Edicion Regional releases, for the most part, offer special and exclusive sizes for a brand to a particular region. The Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana is no exception. It is offered in one size  150mm x 54  which translates roughly to 5 9/10 x 54. The vitola is the Cuban Geniales size.

At a 54 ring gauge, it is one of the larger sizes offered under the Juan Lopez brand. Edicion Regional releases for Andorra and France have seen 55 ring gauges while Switzerland received a 54 (measuring 164mm in length).

Appearance

The wrapper to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana has a medium brown color with a rosado tint to it. Upon closer examination, there is some mottling that can be seen on the surface. There wasnt much in the way of oil on the wrapper. The surface of the wrapper had a bumpy surface. There were some thin visible veins and the wrapper seams were that were visible were minimal.

There are two bands to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana. The primary band pays homage to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Suprema Edicion Regional Reino Unido in that it is a very similar band. The band has a red background with gold trim, gold adornments, and text in white font. In the center of the band is a gold crown. Above the crown is the text JUAN LOPEZ and below the crown is the text HABANA. Across the center of the band is the text SUPERBA SELECCION. (the one difference from the Selection Supremo Reino Unido band) The left and right sides of the band have the text CUBA and HABANA respectively.

The secondary band is similar to ones found on other Edicion Regional cigars. It is red with white and silver trim with the text EXCLUSIVO GRAN BRETANA in white font.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana. Once the cap was removed, the dry draw delivered a mix of wood, natural tobacco and subtle notes of chocolate and citrus. Overall, this was an excellent pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to light up the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana and move on to the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The start to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana produced notes of chocolate, wood, grass, citrus, and a mix of red and green pepper. The chocolate and wood notes moved into the forefront early on, with the chocolate notes taking over as the primary flavor later. Meanwhile, there was a layer of cedar that came from the retro-hale.

During the second third, the chocolate notes remained in control. As the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba moved through the second third, there was an increase in the sweetness stemming from the citrus. As the cigar moved past the midway point, there was an increase in both the pepper and grass notes. The grass notes increased in intensity at a more rapid rate.

By the last third, the grass notes joined the chocolate in the forefront as primary notes. While there was more grass in the profile, the chocolate/citrus sweetness and pepper notes rounded out the flavor profile nicely. Some of the woody notes still remained as well. As the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion cigar experience came to a close, the resulting nub was soft to the touch and warm in temperature.

Burn

For the most part, the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana maintained a straight burn path. There was some jaggedness and curviness on the burn line, which required slightly more touch-ups above what I would consider the norm. The resulting ash wasnt overly firm, but wasnt loose or flakey either. This ash had a mostly dark gray color. The burn rate was ideal. While for most of the cigar experience the burn temperature was ideal, toward the last third, I found it skewed toward the warmer side.

Draw

The draw to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana was on the open side, but Id stop short of calling it a loose draw. It still was slightly more open than I personally prefer. At the same time, this was a cigar that was quite easy to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana is a cigar that started out with mild to medium strength and medium body. The strength increased and by the second third, it moved into medium territory where it remained for the duration of the smoking experience.

Meanwhile, the flavors delivered were medium-bodied from start to finish. There wasnt much in the way of variance of the intensity levels. When it came to strength versus body, the body had a slight edge throughout the cigar experience.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

I have personally found Juan Lopez to be one of the more enjoyable brands from Habanos SA. When it comes to the Juan Lopez Seleccion Superba Edicion Regional Gran Bretana, I found this to be a good cigar, but not one that is great. Each time I smoke it, I seem to get something different from it. This s a cigar that also has seemed to improve with age. Still closing in on the $40.00 USD price point, its an expensive cigar and its a little difficult to recommend more than encouraging you to see if you can try this cigar first. In the end that is going to be quite a tall order because this is only available in Great Britain and quite limited.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Bakers Spice, Fruit, Black Pepper, Bread, Wood

Burn: Very Good

Draw: Good

Complexity: Medium Plus

Strength: Mild to Medium (1st Third), Medium (Remainder)

Body: Medium

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Assessment: Try a Sample

Score: 89

References

News: n/a

Price: 29.00 GBP ($37.85 USD)

Source: Purchased

Brand Reference: Habanos SA

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
Photo - Midge Point Beach through the trees

Since 2011 the Laguna Quays Respite facility on the Whitsundays mainland has been available to missionaries and ministers (pastors) for respite and this year, eight years later a second facility was established at Aldinga Beach a little south of Adelaide.

Mr Basil Sellers AM has sponsored this second facility opened in 2016 which is designated for triage missionary respite. August 2013 Basil Sellers visited Laguna Quays Respite and from that visit he requested four missionary executives meet with him in Sydney to discuss triage respite.

The rest is history. Dr Omar Djoeandy (SIM), Reverend Canon Malcolm Richards (CMS), Reverend Ken Clendinning (Global Interaction) and Reverend Viv Grice (Clergy and Missionary burn out) met with Basil Sellers. Omar took the proposal to Mission-Interlink who endorsed it at their October with a formal set of parameters and personnel based at Aldinga Beach.

On the 14 January, Basil Sellers along with my wife Delma and me, South Australia's Mission-Interlink's Geoff Colan visited Aldinga Beach under the guiding hand of Ben and Robyn McLean, former missionaries with Pioneer with respite experience.

Photo - Lillies at the billabong

Reflections

There has been much media comment on the enormous benefits for the nation when political figures have 'thinking time', and the obvious question for Christian ministry is whether parishioners and missions likewise provide permission to their clergy and missionaries to stop and think and reflect.

This all came to a head in the media some 5 years ago, and has continued since, when the former Treasurer Peter Costello made the point that 'thinking / reflection time' was essential for national decision makers. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has always maintained that 'thinking time' is more than essential.

Remember when President Barack Obama was on the same track - "The most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you're doing is thinking." Christian ministry / missions add the words 'reflection', 'ponder', 'prayer', 'supplicative'.

If these politicians of all persuasions recognise the innate value of this type of personal "reflection", why is it, that so many local Christian congregations think so poorly of their Minister / missionary taking time out for being physically "still" but mentally active, and "thinking"?

Critical to ministry / mission

In Christian circles, particularly within my experience of evangelical and likewise Pentecostal practices, reflection and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit for directional guidance is advocated, yet the 'actions' of clergy do not necessarily match the 'words' in this regard.

The perceived sentiment in the 'free church', the 'non-conformist' traditions, is that the Minister should be busy doing Christ's work; particularly that of evangelism.

This is sad. It has become code for getting out and about, and telling people about Jesus and Salvation; the converse sentiment is the silent code that emphasises that a Minister who is 'not' engaged in these activities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is viewed negatively and condemned as being idle. It is considered that he is being paid by the congregation to be active.

Why is the rhetoric that is so keenly espoused for 'thinking time' not translated into action, and its importance emphasised to those sitting in the pews, so that they can celebrate the wisdom of their pastor / missionary?

Photo - A restful lake, Proserpine, Qld

Three reasons for this dichotomy

The non-conformist philosophical tradition has not placed a high practical value on 'thinking time' as they have on 'out-there evangelism'.

In non-conformity, there has never been an academic tradition where 'evangelism' is intrinsically linked to a priory of 'thinking time'.

The non-conformist historically is linked to the Protestant work ethic, where idleness is considered to be at the root of evil thought, leading to wickedness. Therefore every effort is made to be active (or to be seen to be physically active).

Yet, in complete contrast to this way of non-conformist theological thinking, the greatest of all the evangelists since the Reformation in the 16th Century have been people who had taken time out to 'think' and actively reflect.

The difference between these two is that those great evangelists on the one hand ignored the silent pressures to 'conform to being busy' and on the other, were great leaders and could demonstrate that they had earned the 'right' to have time to think."

My conclusion is that, in our present society, unless the clergy can prove themselves in the market place of evangelism, they have not earned this 'right' to take time for stillness and quiet reflection. Consequently, the clergy follow the pathway

Photo - Mark Tronson on Midge Point Beach

of Christ, ignore the criticisms, be faithful to their calling and take time to listen carefully and thoughtfully to the voice of God.

Laguna Quays Respite

In some strange sense these past eight years of the Laguna Quays Respite ministry has developed so well and with such an amazing visitor rate that this in itself has provided the where-with-all that reflection and thinking time is indeed a vital part of the evangelists' weaponry for the spiritual battle.

Mission and Church personnel wishing "timeout" are welcome to contact me for your booking for your Whitsundays retreat 0419 917 713 timeout@bushorchestra.com

Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.

Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
The sign outside an all-gender (gender neutral) restroom at San Diego airport in California,

United States. It reads "anyone can use this restroom, regardless of gender identity or expression"

(Credit: Checkingfax, under CC 3.0)

The Welsh Government is to review the introduction of unisex toilets in schools after a campaign group said girls were suffering shame and embarrassment in using them because of their periods.

The review was announced after Women's Voices Wales said that some girls were experiencing sexual harassment and 'period shaming' as a result of using unisex toilets.

Official guidelines require that girls over the age of eight have access to single-sex toilets and that mixed toilets only be installed in addition to single-sex toilets, not to replace them.

However, in a recent Facebook post, Women's Voices Wales said not all schools were meeting statutory requirements and that in some places, mixed toilets were replacing separate toilets for boys and girls.

The group claimed that as a result of the changes, some girls are even missing school or going the whole day without drinking water because they don't like using the mixed toilets.

While schools have been introducing unisex toilets to prevent bullying and be more inclusive to transgender students, the group is concerned that students and parents are not being properly consulted.

'We already know of some parents and girls who have raised concerns about mixed sex toilets, but found they were ignored and dismissed by school staff,' it said.

'We also know of parents and pupils who do not want mixed sex toilets, but did not know how to complain or who to raise concerns with.

'We know some schools seem to engage better with their school community than others, but it is clear there is a serious lack of consistency, and crucially, no centrally recorded data.

'What we've heard so far ranges from girls not drinking water during the day so they can avoid using the toilets, to 'period shaming' from boys.

'Anxiety about coping with menstruation in schools has a serious effect on female pupils, including refusing to attend school.'

It added: 'We are particularly concerned about any sexual harassment or intimidation taking place in mixed sex toilets.'

According to the the Express, a Welsh Government spokesman has said the group's findings will be looked into to see if any more guidance is needed.

'When local authorities develop new schools, key stakeholders are consulted during the process, including the governing body, school council, staff, and the pupils themselves to ensure that the school offers facilities that are fit for purpose,' the spokesman said.

'The Welsh Government has agreed to work with the Children's Commissioner's office to explore their findings on this issue and to consider whether further guidance to local authorities is required.'
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement that he looks forward to seeing details of Evers plan to address infant mortality and applauds the effort to increase cancer screenings.

However, I am adamantly opposed to his plans to increase government funding for abortion providers in the upcoming budget, Fitzgerald said.

Kit Beyer, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Republicans wont support giving Planned Parenthood any additional money.

Wisconsin Right to Life executive director Heather Weininger said in a statement it is impossible to have healthy babies when Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in our country and state.

For children to have healthy beginnings, we must allow them to be born, she said.

The proposal includes nearly $23 million to extend post-birth coverage for women on Medicaid from 60 days to a year. To make the change, Evers would need a waiver from the federal Childrens Health Insurance Program.

The move would improve the health of mothers and children, and give families time to find affordable private insurance, Evers said.
TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (Canada House or the Company) (CSE:CHV) is pleased to announce the opening of its first Toronto clinic this Spring at the Champagne Centre, a multidisciplinary medical complex in North York. As a pioneer in cannabinoid therapy clinics, Canada House Clinics (CHC) is expanding to larger centres due to a significant and growing demand amongst key demographics including Boomers and Seniors, in addition to the Veterans historically serviced by its clinics.



Building on our special relationship with Veterans, Canada House is helping all Canadians who are serious about using medical cannabis to improve their health and well-being, says Chris Churchill-Smith, CEO. The Champagne Centre is ideal due to the large number of patients using the facility on a daily basis. We are extremely excited to have secured a lease there for our first Toronto clinic as we look to execute on Clinic expansion plans targeting larger urban centres throughout Canada.

The Champagne Centre is an innovative 270,000 square foot health, sports, and wellness complex that includes the PolyClinic Family and Specialty Medicine Facility which has over 70 physicians and a wide range of diagnostic testing facilities. The strategic location will assist Canada House in extending its reach to new patients with specific health and wellness concerns. In addition, a major hospital in North York recently announced its plans to open a large outpatient clinic in the Champagne Centre in 2019, adding to the 1,200 patients per day that visit the Champagne Centre.

The philosophy of the Champagne Centre to create a quality health village with all specialties and services in one location resonates with the medical mission of Canada House Clinics, says Alex Kroon, President Canada House Clinics. We look forward to working with referring doctors in the Champagne Centre and across Toronto.

Canada House is committed to working with the health system to secure coverage for medical cannabis patients by taking an evidence-based medical approach to responsible and effective cannabinoid therapy. CHCs first Toronto clinic is yet another step in this direction, endeavoring to reach out to potential new users of medical cannabis.

For further information, please contact:



Boom Capital Markets

Steve Low

647-620-5101

steve@boomcapitalmarkets.com



Canada House Wellness Group Inc.

Chris Churchill-Smith, CEO

514-313-0102

chris.smith@canadahouse.ca



___________________________________________________________________________



ABOUT CANADA HOUSE WELLNESS GROUP INC.

Canada House is an experienced, integrated medical cannabis company providing patient-specific cannabinoid therapy products and services through its clinics and licensed producer. Canada House is the parent company of Canada House Clinics Inc., Knalysis Technologies and Abba Medix Corp. For more information, please visit www.canadahouse.ca or www.sedar.com.



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information. This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to, among other things, the Companys clinic, production and technology businesses, its future plans, the Companys markets, objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as may, will, could, should, would, likely, possible, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, plan, objective and continue (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements.



Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Material assumptions used to develop forward-looking information in this news release include, among other things, the regulations related to cannabis use under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and the act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts, passed by the Canadian Federal government, making cannabis legal for recreational use by October 17, 2018; Company liquidity and capital resources, including the availability of additional capital resources to fund its activities; level of competition; the ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; the ability to attract and retain key executives; and the ability to execute strategic plans. Additional information about material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found in the Companys most recent annual and interim Managements Discussion and Analysis under Risk and Uncertainties as well as in other public disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.



Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




Mrs. Lois Ann Ramharter, 92, died the day after Valentines Day, Feb. 15, 2019, with her spirit joining her love of her life, George Ramharter.

Lois Ramharter was born in Cadott, the daughter of John Svoma and Mary (Straka) Svoma. Lois attended Eau Claire State Teachers College, attaining a two year teaching certificate. Her first teaching position was in a one room grade school, where she taught eight grades! She married George Ramharter in 1947, when he returned from the war and he attended Eau Claire State Teachers College, while she taught. While living in Chippewa Falls, they had the first two of their three children, Brentt George (1949) and Catherine Mary (1950). They moved to Mellen, Wis., as George accepted his first teaching position and while there, she had their third child, Joanne Marie (1953).

Lois continued her teaching career as a fourth grade teacher in Chetek, while she also attended evening classes to try and obtain her undergraduate degree. Just short of her final credits, they relocated to Madison, Wis., where she began a career in Wisconsin State Government, working at the Hill Farms State office building for the Department of Administration. She loved her jobs and eventually retired at age 62.
The personal blog of Peter Lee a.k.a. "China Hand"... Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel, and an open book to those who read. You are welcome to contact China Matters at the address chinamatters --a-- prlee.org or follow me on twitter @chinahand.




[This travel happened late December of 2015. I am just posting now because shortly after our arrival from that trip the external drive that carried all of my 2015 photos, including the ones from this trip which included Taipei, Bali, and Bangladesh, got corrupted and I lost everything. We tried to recover them, but to no avail. Thankfully, we also used cell phones and videocam to document the trip, which is why I am able to post this now.]My husband was born and raised in Bangladesh, although he's lived longer in the USA than Bangladesh. Every few years we go visit relatives, especially his only sister who still lives there with her family. The past two times we visited we also included a side trip outside of the capital city to relax and sight see. On this particular visit, we decided that it's high time we got to see the Sundarbans.The Sundarbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world (140,000 ha), lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal. It is adjacent to the border of Indias Sundarbans World Heritage site inscribed in 1987. The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes. The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python. [ source (photo from Google photos)The travel period was between Christmas and New Year and so it was a perfect weather for travel. From Dhaka (capital) we took an 11-hour train ride to Khulna, the day before the trip. We stayed overnight in Khulna and early in the morning the following day, we went to the port and got on the boat. This was going to be cruise/tour. However, as a foreigner, I was required to present a copy of my passport, which we currently do not have. Thankfully, in small operations like this one they are more lenient and allowed the husband to return to the hotel so he can make photocopies of our passports. We have digital copy, but we need wifi and printer.The Sundarbans is huge and the only way to visit it is to join a tour (cruise). At the time of the trip, we paid $100 per person. Without access to my trip journal (also digital, also got corrupted), I cannot be 100% sure if this was a 3-night or a 4-night trip.In the mornings, we took boat rides on the many narrow canals and in the serenity of the surroundings, we watch birds and other wildlife. We also got to go for morning (once even afternoon) walks in the forest and grasslands.We pass the time on the boat by socializing with tour mates on the deck and by watching the tranquil scenery.A Vietnam vet friend of mine said these photos remind her of Mekong delta.The Sundarbans is also the home of the royal Bengal tigers and we all went on this trip with high hopes for a Bengal sighting. As a matter of fact, each time we leave the boat for a walk or an outing, we get an armed guard with us, just in case.No sight whatsover, but we managed to find a fresh print.We visited an eco-tourism park where they breed deer and crocodile and went to another one where the forest is filled with monkeys.In captivity.My favorite part of the trip, however, was when we walked through the forest to get to the beach, Jamtola beach. The beach is peaceful, clean and beautiful. Very picturesque. There are many trees on the side and there is a wide beach. We were the only tour group there at that time.We also walked through a muddy plain, which was quite interesting - a new experience. However, as we were walking back to the shore to get on the boat, the late afternoon lighting was fantastic.One morning, we woke up very early and decided to leave our cabin to breathe the fresh morning air. And this was the sight that awaited us.Sunrise in foggy Sundarbans. SKYWATCH is a weekly gathering of sky lovers and sky watchers. Join us.
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..JNS.org..19 February '19..The precise details of the forthcoming Trump administration Mideast peace plan are not yet known, but the basic principle was declared by senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner at last weeks Warsaw conference.Both sides will have to make compromises, he said.Kushners statement follows numerous similar statements by American officials, including the president himself. In his Feb. 9, 2017 interview with, U.S. President Donald Trump said: I think that both sides will have to make significant compromises in order for achieving a peace deal to be possible.That was followed by a report inon Feb. 20, 2018, quoting Kushner and the administrations other top Mideast envoy, Jason Greenblatt, saying that both sides are going to love some of [the plan] and hate some of it. And then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a Feb. 22, 2017 speech in Chicago: The plan wont be loved by either side. And it wont be hated by either side.Lets take a closer look at what the both-sides-have-to-compromise approach means, both in principle and in practice.
The Yukon government is desperately looking for money from the United States to help maintain the north Alaska Highway.

Since 1977, the U.S. has helped pay for maintaining the stretch of highway between Haines, Alaska, and Beaver Creek, Yukon, contributing over $400 million over those decades.

But that agreement has since expired, leaving the territory to pay for the road on its own.

Yukon Minister of Highways and Public Works Richard Mostyn says the Alaska Highway is vitally important for all the goods being trucked into Alaska.

The territory simply does not have hundreds of millions of dollars. - Minister Richard Mostyn

"There's no two ways about it, it is a very important conduit for the continent," he said. "It is the sole highway access to Alaska, to Anchorage, to Fairbanks."

Mostyn says without the pot of American money to repair and maintain the section of highway, Yukon is in a tight spot.

"We are a territory that is half the size of B.C., with the tax base of Campbell River [a B.C. community with a population of about 35,000]," he said.

"It is a very small territory, population-wise, we simply do not have the resources to keep that highway in the north to the industrial grade that's demanded by the United States."

CBC

Highway needs work

Mostyn says the north highway needs hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work.

"The climate is warming and the road is degrading on a regular basis," Mostyn said. "I doubt the Yukon is going to be able to maintain it to a standard to which Alaskans have come to depend.

"The territory simply does not have hundreds of millions of dollars."

Mostyn said the government will "do what it can" to maintain the road.

But he adds that's very challenging, especially after the United States rejected a funding proposal for $25 million.

"We have no support from Alaska or Washington, we have applied for money from Washington, unfortunately, that bid didn't get chosen."

Mostyn says he'll meet with his counterparts in Alaska to try and find money from Washington.
Short on the basic necessities of life, Wade and Marilyn Fitzpatrick had to make the tough decision to get out of Haiti this past weekend.

The Weyburn couple spend half the year in Haiti with the mission, Haiti Arise.

But as protests against the Haitian government blocked major highways and cut off supplies to the Haiti Arise compound, the Fitzpatricks say they made the decision to get out.

"Nothing was coming in and nothing was going out," said Wade Fitzpatrick, who was a pastor for 27 years before spending the last seven years working in Haiti. "We were starting to run out of diesel, and water, and food and all those things we need to have to keep living."

(Facebook)

They had a team of 22 people living in the compound at the time.

They tried most of last week to leave by vehicle, but every day, they woke up to news reports that the roads were still blocked, Marilyn said.

With the situation becoming more dire, on Friday, they hired a helicopter company to come and airlift people out to the Port-au-Prince airport, which is about 65 kilometres away.

A total of 26 people were airlifted out Friday and Saturday. All but the Fitzpatricks were from Alberta.

Protests

Since Feb. 7, protests have erupted across Haiti over billions of dollars in allegedly misappropriated government dollars and a miserable devaluation of the Haitian currency, the gourde.

The gourde is currently worth only about two Canadian cents. It's worth around half of what it was worth in 2010, after the major earthquake, and salaries have not kept up.

"Things started falling apart quite badly in the summer," Wade said, adding the situation worsened again in the fall. "We were getting a little nervous about what was going to happen."

Then on Feb. 7, on the 33rd anniversary of the fall of the Jean-Claude Duvalier regime, the protests began.

"They're hungry," said Wade. "There are 11 million people living on a dot 1/25th the size of Saskatchewan. So when that many hungry people get mad, they can create quite a storm."

Story continues

(Facebook)

Mission work

The aid group Haiti Arise compound is located near Grand-Goave, about 47 kilometres west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

The Fitzpatricks have been team hosts for the past seven years.

"We have about 15 teams that come down each year and Marilyn and I take care of them," Wade said.

"They are generally 10 people to a team and they come down to do construction work, building houses, schools, a children's village and medical clinic at Haiti Arise," added Marilyn.

Marc Honorat, who co-founded the aid group with his wife Lisa, is still in the compound with a few Haitian staff and is giving daily updates.

Going back

Marilyn said there is always an underlying unrest in the country.

"The people will demonstrate to get a message across about a number of things," she said. "But you kind of used to that. Where we live it is rural and so it's fairly peaceful. We hear about demonstrations in Port-au-Prince but they really don't affect us directly most of the time.

"But when it escalates to the point that it did the last couple of weeks, it becomes quite apparent that it is fairly risky to be there."

Currently, the Canadian government is advising against any travel to Haiti. The Fitzpatricks intend to return when things cool down and the advisory is lifted.

Wade said they are fortunate, as they are able to leave the country, which is not true for many others.

"All these many 11 million Haitians are there living in a crisis made by man and they are really, really hurting for it," he said.
TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSXV: LABS) (OTCQB: MLCPF) (FSE:MLZ) (MediPharm Labs), a leader in specialized, research-driven cannabis extraction, distillation, purification and cannabinoid isolation, is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Inc. (MediPharm Labs or the Company), has entered into its first definitive international sales agreement, dated February 20, 2019, with AusCann Group Holdings Ltd. ("AusCann") to supply private label purified, pharmaceutical grade cannabis oil concentrates, or resin, from MediPharm Labs own inventory of oil for export to Australia. AusCann will use MediPharm Labs concentrates to manufacture hard-shell cannabinoid capsules to address the medical patient demand and critical need for precision and consistency of dose in cannabinoid medicines.



MediPharm Labs has quickly established a global reputation as the go-to producer of high quality, pharmaceutical grade cannabis concentrates at commercial scale. We are thrilled to have been selected by AusCann as a supplier of choice for their medical products and clinical trials, said Patrick McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer of MediPharm Labs. As the first extraction-only LP to begin exporting to Australia, this agreement marks an important milestone that accelerates our expectations for future growth. Looking ahead, we expect to begin supplying additional international markets to build our robust global distribution platform.

MediPharm Labs significant market share combined with proprietary methodology ensures reliable supply of pharma-grade cannabinoid extracts and AusCanns continued ability to develop and deliver quality cannabinoid medicines for distribution in Australia, said Dr. Paul MacLeman, Interim CEO of AusCann. Critical to our process is repeatability in manufacturing, reliable dosing, and purity assurance. MediPharm Labs concentrates will form an important foundation to our products that will allow delivery of effective, trusted and safe medicines for the treatment of chronic pain.

This marks the Companys first international export agreement and establishes MediPharm Labs as the first extraction-only licensed producer in Canada to commence exporting pharmaceutical grade cannabis oil to Australia. To date, MediPharm Labs has completed 5 private label sales agreement since receiving its sales license in November 2018. The first export of cannabis concentrate is expected be completed in the coming months, subject to regulatory requirements. The agreement has a two-year term. The Company expects to continue expanding its international distribution of its proprietary cannabis concentrate products for resale globally on a private label basis for medical markets. Initially this demand will be serviced from its wholly-owned, leading facility in Canada, and once its Australian laboratory, now under construction, is fully licensed and operational, Australia and Asia-Pacific demand can be addressed regionally.

About AusCann Group Holdings Limited

AusCann Group Holdings Limited (ASX:AC8) is an Australian-based pharmaceutical company that is working to produce high quality, economical, and clinically validated cannabinoid medicines. AusCann is bringing together leading expertise and operations across all aspects of the medical cannabis value chain, beginning with cultivation and production, through to manufacture and distribution of products. Through partnerships with industry experts, existing leading market participants and doctors, AusCann is building operations and educating the medical community about the benefits of cannabinoid medicines. Incorporated in 2014, AusCann holds all necessary licenses to grow and manufacture cannabinoid medicines in Australia. The company is initially targeting medications for neuropathic and chronic pain in Australia and Chile, whilst exploring global export opportunities.

About MediPharm Labs Corp.

Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs has the distinction of being the first company in Canada to become a licensed producer for cannabis oil production under the ACMPR without first receiving a cannabis cultivation licence. This expert focus on cannabis concentrates from our cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and ISO standard clean rooms and critical environments laboratory, allows MediPharm Labs to produce purified, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis oil and concentrates for advanced derivative products. MediPharm Labs has invested in an expert, research-driven team, state-of-the-art technology, downstream extraction methodologies and purpose-built facilities to deliver pure, safe and precisely-dosed cannabis products to patients and consumers. MediPharm Labs private label program is a high margin business for the Company, whereby it opportunistically procures dry cannabis flower and trim from its numerous product supply partners, to produce proprietary cannabis oil concentrate products for resale globally on a private label basis. MediPharm Labs was recently named START-UP OF THE YEAR at the Canadian Cannabis Awards.

Through its subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Australia Pty. Ltd., MediPharm has also completed its application process with the federal Office of Drug Control to extract and import medical cannabis products in Australia.

For further information, please contact:

Laura Lepore, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications

Telephone: 705-719-7425 ext 216

Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com

Website: www.medipharmlabs.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSXV) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, expected expansion of international distribution, expected GMP certification and the establishment of operations in Australia. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the inability of MediPharm to obtain adequate financing; and the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, MediPharm assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.
American Hoda Muthana (not pictured) wants to come home and face the U.S. justice system, her familys lawyer tells USA TODAY.

As U.S.-backed Kurdish forces make a final push against ISIS in Syria, the number of ISIS prisoners  including fighters and their families  detained in Syria grows too.

And as the number of Canadians detained in Syria grows, so does the urgency with which Canadians debate whether or not the government should be working to repatriate them.

In an attempt to soften the affect of its exit on Kurdish troops still fighting ISIS and managing those prisoners, the U.S. is urging allied countries to repatriate their prisoners.

But while other countries have begun to bring their prisoners home  France has collected 80 of 130 citizens  Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he wont put Canadian diplomatic officers or consular officials at risk to retrieve the Canadian prisoners from Syria, where Canada currently has no diplomatic presence.

While Canada cannot strip Canadians of their citizenship unless they are found to have obtained it fraudulently  meaning Canada cant turn away a Canadian ISIS fighter or their spouse at the border  Goodale has said that bringing ISIS fighters or their families home is not a priority.

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Of the approximately 5,000 Islamic State detainees currently being held in Syria, CBC News reports that 32 are Canadian. Among those 32 are women who left Canada to live in Syria with their ISIS-fighter spouses, and children below the age of five.

One such woman, identified by the first name Kimberly, told CTV she was lured to join the terrorist group in Syria by her first husband three years ago, but that she quickly became disillusioned once there. She described how it was dangerous to talk about going home.

Another Canadian woman, identified as Amy, told CTV the husband she followed to Syria died there and she wants to come home. She wants her two young Canadian-born sons and unborn child to grow up in a safe environment and have access to a proper education.





In an interview with CBC, UN official Agnes Callamard said Canada has a duty to bring its foreign fighters and their families home and have them face justice here. Whatever crimes the women might be suspected of committing, Callamard told CBC, they cant expect a fair trial without being brought back to Canada first.

What do you think? Should Canada work harder to bring the Canadian spouses and children of ISIS fighters home? Let us know by answering the poll above, or have your say in the comments.
A provincial government directive to health authorities to start charging rent to doctors is still not being followed consistently across the province three years after it was issued  and according to a small town mayor, that's making it difficult to recruit and retain doctors in rural areas.

The four regional health authorities  Eastern, Western, Central and Labrador-Grenfell  were directed to charge fee-for-services physicians who use space inside health authority facilities $2,400 a month, according to a Western Health memo obtained by CBC News.

But emailed statements from health authority spokespeople show a patchwork of systems across the regions, with some adhering precisely and others straying from the directive.

Central Health charges all physicians $2,400 a month for overhead operating costs, while Labrador-Grenfell Health charges doctors a flat fee but would not say what the rate was.

We've had a very difficult time over the years to attract physicians here on any long-term basis. - Fogo Island Mayor Wayne Collins

Western Health charges doctors "rent which is based on market value of the space they are using," according to a spokesperson.

Eastern Health, the province's largest health authority, said in an email "some fee-for-service physicians with Eastern Health pay an overhead fee for some of the costs related to running their offices," but no doctors "are paying rent for the physical space itself at this time."

Another email from an Eastern Health spokesperson said the policy had not been fully implemented and the health authority was reviewing it.

Fogo petition

In December, hundreds of people on Fogo Island signed a petition asking Central Health not to implement overhead fees for the two doctors practicing on the island of 2,300 people.

Melissa Oakley/CBC News

Central Health didn't adopt the fees immediately in 2016, a spokesperson said, recognizing the need to remain competitive in "hard-to-recruit areas."

Story continues

Fogo Island Mayor Wayne Collins understands just how difficult it is to attract physicians to his tiny community. He and others feared doctors would leave when the fees were phased in last year.

"We've had a very difficult time over the years to attract physicians here on any long term basis," he said.

"Those fees should be waived."

Health minister John Haggie said he never heard concerns about the overhead fees until the petition began circulating in Fogo.

"Basically, nobody brought it to my attention," he said. "I think the bigger picture is, what was the purpose of this policy? What has it achieved?"

Not in the contract

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) came out against overhead fees when they were introduced in 2016. President Tracey Bridger says the group's position hasn't changed.

"We felt that it was not what the physicians had agreed to in their contracts," she said.

"The right way to do it is with negotiation and not just making a unilateral decision and saying 'take it or leave it' because some people might leave."

Submitted by Kay Burns

Haggie acknowledges the 2016 budget addressed overhead fees, but he said a decision to implement them was made by the previous government. He said he had no reason to think it was contentious and thus no reason to change course.

How can we get doctors to particular areas? What can we do to make their lives good so that they'll stay? - Tracey Bridger, NLMA

"To be perfectly honest, it was presented to me as part of the stuff that I had to tidy up when I came in through the door."

The minister pledged to examine the fee to figure out whether it makes sense to keep charging it and whether it's having any unintended consequences, like discouraging doctors from practicing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sherry Vivian/CBC

He also wants to know why Eastern and Western Health didn't implement a flat fee back in 2016 as instructed.

"That is an issue," he said.

'They're passing the buck'

David Brazil, the Progressive Conservative health critic, said he didn't recall a directive coming from his government. Steve Kent, the health minister in the previous PC government, also denied the claim.

"They're just passing the buck," Brazil said, adding that even if the PCs had introduced the fees, the Liberals have had nearly four years to cut them.

Katie Breen/CBC

"They have the ability to look at something and say if it's not in line with their policies."

The health critic said he believes the policy of charging overhead fees runs counter to the province's need to attract and retain doctors.

"If we start imposing more restrictions when we know other jurisdictions are making offers to lure professionals away, then we're going to have some challenges."

It's a sentiment echoed by the NLMA's Bridger, who said the issue points to a bigger problem for a cash-strapped province with an aging population.

"How can we get doctors to particular areas? What can we do to make their lives good so that they'll stay?" she said.

"I think these are the things that we really need to think about."

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
A group of Canadian MPs is calling on the corporate titans of social media  including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg  to appear before an international hearing Ottawa is hosting this spring to talk about the spread of disinformation online.

The House of Commons standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics will play host to the second meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News in May, according to a release from the committee today.

The global group is made up of parliamentarians from Canada, the U.K., Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Ireland, Latvia and Singapore.

Along with Zuckerberg, the committee says it also sent invitations to:

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg,

Google CEO Sundar Pichai,

Former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt,

Apple CEO Tim Cook,

Apple COO Jeff Williams,

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andrew Jassy,

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey,

WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton and

Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel.

Conservative MP Bob Zimmer, chair of the Canadian committee, said it will be a chance for the executives to explain what they're doing to protect individuals' privacy and stop the spread of disinformation.

"It is vitally important that we hear from these top executives so that we can get the answers we've been seeking," he said. "We will not be accepting testimony from regional representatives at this meeting, as previous experience has shown that their answers have proven to be, frankly, inadequate."

The global group held its inaugural meeting late last year in London, U.K., where members were hoping to grill Zuckerberg about the website's involvement with Cambridge Analytica.

Stephen Lam/Reuters

The consulting firm, which worked on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, obtained the personal data of 87 million Facebook users from a researcher, drawing attention to the use of data analytics in politics.

Instead of Zuckerberg, Facebook sent Richard Allan, the company's vice president of policy solutions, to address the committee.

Story continues

Minister suggests studying regulation of Facebook, Twitter

NDP MP Charlie Angus made international headlines after that first meeting for lambasting Zuckerberg for not personally answering questions on the matter.

"We've never seen anything quite like Facebook," Angus said at the time. "While we were playing on our phones and apps, our democratic institutions  seem to have been upended by frat-boy billionaires from California.

"Mr. Zuckerberg's decision not to appear here at Westminster to me speaks volumes."

This week, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould floated the idea of imposing new rules on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the lead-up to the next federal election. Testifying before the Procedure and House Affairs committee yesterday, Gould suggested the committee study the role of social media in elections. "I would encourage this committee to do a study of the role of social media in democracy, if that is something that you think is interesting," she said. "To hold the social media companies to account. "I would welcome suggestions and feedback in terms of how to appropriately regulate or legislate that behaviour, because I think one of the biggest challenges  and you can see this around the world  is the path forward is not as clear."

The international committee is meeting in Ottawa May 28.
A new children's book about the Beothuk culture brings back a lot of memories for the people who wrote it, and fulfills a long-held dream for the retired teacher who helped make it all happen.

Melissa Tobin/CBC

Back in 2007, the students of Anne Warr's Grade 2 class in Woodland Primary in Grand Falls-Windsor collaborated on the book, The Mammoth Bakeapple. The story follows a Beothuk family as they try to pick the biggest berry in the bog.

It was one of many projects the class took on to learn about Indigenous history in Newfoundland and Labrador. They lobbied to rename a monumental rock in the Exploits after the Beothuk chief Nonosabatsut, and even wrote letters to the government of Scotland to ask for the return of Beothuk remains to the province.

Deborah Oake says they owe a lot to their former teacher.

"I was seven years old, learning about my heritage and learning about Newfoundland and what we came from," Oake said.

Melissa Tobin/CBC

"I've learned a lot from Ms. Warr. She's a big inspiration when it comes to her students."

The book was something now-retired teacher Warr always wanted to publish. With last year's dedication of Nonosabatsut Rock, and the recent news that Beothuk remains would be returned to Canada, the part of the province's history covered by the book is getting fresh attention.

Beothuk remains to return

In January, it was announced the remains of two Beothuk people will be transferred to Canada from Scotland.

The news helps complete the project for former student Carter Kenny.

Melissa Tobin/CBC

"To have to think about that at a young age, that someone took what could have been someone's mother, grandmother's remains and then treat it like it's some some artifact. It was disrespectful. And to hear them come back to their home province to finally be laid to rest is probably the most comforting thing about all this."

But the work isn't over for Warr. The sales from the self-published book, which is available at the local library, will go towards a statue of of Nonosabasut and Demasduit holding their newborn child to be placed on the banks of the Exploits River.

Story continues

Warr said she hopes to get support from the local and provincial government for the eventual construction of a statue. And says she's is glad to see things her class' efforts are still making a difference.

"This is wonderful, especially if we get the sculpture. I think it would be the ultimate thing."

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Many British employees want to work less. Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Archive/PA Images

A third of Brits would take a pay cut to work a four-day week, a new poll suggests.

UK employees surveyed by peer-to-peer lender Zopa said they would sacrifice an average of 7% of their salary to work one day less every week.

Six in 10 of the 1,500 people surveyed reported that their work-life balance was suffering from their current working habits.

Just under two-thirds said they were not paid enough for the hours they worked, while almost half of those paid a bonus said they would swap it for more time off.

A good work-life balance was the second most important feature of any job highlighted by participants, just behind a good salary.

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The idea of moving to a four-day week is not likely to be embraced by many businesses, but research suggests it could be less damaging to productivity than widely assumed.

It received prominent backing last month from two economic experts involved in the World Economic Forum (WEF) conference at Davos, Switzerland.

Psychologist Adam Grant and economist Rutger Bregman said a three-day weekend would not only make workers happier and reduce stress, but also increase staff productivity and loyalty.

READ MORE: Could a three-day weekend be good for business?

They said one study had even shown a 20% rise in productivity among staff.

Adam Grant, based at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said: I think we have some good experiments showing that if you reduce work hours, people are able to focus their attention more effectively.

They end up producing just as much, often with higher quality and creativity, and they are also more loyal to the organisations that are willing to give them the flexibility to care about their lives outside of work.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Adipic acid market size is anticipated to around USD 8.2billion by 2026, this market is anticipated to grow with 5.0% CAGR during the forecast time period. Adipic acid market is gaining prominence due to expanded need the product in various verticals such as automotive.



Expanding product demand from the automotive business for the assembling of lightweight vehicles is a prime factor in charge of the market.

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Development of the nylon 66 showcase is probably going to positively affect the adipic acid market demand in India. Nylon 66 represents a lion's share in adipic acid's demand. Quickly developing purchaser gadgets industry in Asia is additionally one of the main considerations contributing toward the business advancement.

The Asia Pacific locale holds phenomenal potential for the market infiltration as adipic acid's supply in this region is upset attributable to low spot costs.

In addition, the district has business-accommodating climate and is near the nylon and polyurethane manufacturing industry. The product demand in this area is relied upon to achieve 1,551.8 kilo tons before the finish of the conjecture time frame.

Adipic acid makers are as of now strategizing to physically position themselves between crude material supply center point and end-use ventures to accomplish ideal development and overall revenues. Major adipic acid producers and merchants working the world over incorporate Asahi Kasei Corporation, BASF SE, Invista, Lanxess AG, and Ascend Performance Materials LLC.

The global adipic acid market is segmented into application and region. On the basis of application, the global adipic acid market is segmented into Nylon 66 Fiber, Nylon 66 Resins, Polyurethanes, Adipate Esters, and Others. On the basis of region the global Adipic acid market is bifurcated into Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific.

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Adipic acid is utilized as a monomer in the assembling of nylon 6,6. Roughly 70% to 80% adipic acid produce to create nylon 6, 6. Different uses of adipic acid incorporate polyurethanes and adipic acid esters, for example, Di-2-Ethylhexyl Adipate (DOA) which are used as plasticizers for Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) gums. Polyurethane (PU) is probably going to develop as the second quickest developing portion over the gauge time frame representing 15.98% of the adipic acid market. There is an appeal for inventive PU (inflexible and adaptable) froths in a few end-use enterprises by virtue of their strength, adaptability, minimal effort, and high usefulness.

These froths are considered as astounding and safe filling materials for sleeping cushions and seating cushions. PU froths can likewise be effectively modified to the required thickness and, in this way, offer adaptability to furniture fashioners for creating inventive new products. They are utilized in a few industry verticals including construction and buildings, automotive, furniture and bedding, footwear, electronic machines, and Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers (CASE).

North America is one of the real supply centers for designed polymers, along these lines, making it a potential goal for adipic acid. North America's adipic acid demand was evaluated to be around 858.6 kilo tons in 2015 and is assessed to become further at a rate of 2.6% over the coming years.

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Developing automotive industry in this area is probably going to be the central point for the market development. The Asia Pacific market is displaying a critical potential for adipic acid producers to set up base in this district attributable to business-accommodating climate. The product demand in this area is required to achieve 1,551.8 kilo tons before the finish of the coming years. Adipic acid makers are at present strategizing to physically position themselves between crude material supply center point and end-use ventures to achieve ideal development and net revenue. Glue and sealant makers are moving assembling bases close adipic acid supply center point is one of the huge patterns in the business. These moves are indicated towards accomplishing supply productivity.

The key players catering to the global Adipic acid market are Ascend Performance Materials LLC, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Invista, BASF SE and Lanxess AG. Significant strategic initiatives undertaken by global businesses include partnerships, new product launch, and acquisitions.

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Opinion / Columnist

Brian Maregedze is a Zimbabwean historian, author and columnist. He is a member of the Zimbabwe Historical Association [ZHA] and researcher with Leaders for Africa Network [LAN]. He can be contacted at bmaregedze@gmail.com.



In the recent past few years, it had become a norm in February to see pomp and extravagance in Zimbabwe's state and independent media with preparations towards and celebrations on the birthday of "comrade" Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Watching the birthday interview by Tarzan Mandizvidza at State House was another important feature I remember on Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Television (ZBC TV). Listening to tips_ on how to have a long life and responding to political opponents and others within Zanu PF on expectations of a new successor was another dimension that kept people wanting to follow the interviews. Obscene extravagance of the then First Family used to dominate commentaries from independent media in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, the 21st movement of 2018 and 2019 bear different narrative altogether in relation to R. G Mugabe. Having such a scenario, I thought of reflecting on R. G. Mugabe National Youth Day and the dynamics of Zimbabwe's politics on national hero status as well as its complex nature.Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the long time former president of Zimbabwe who was at the helm of the landlocked country's leadership for 37 years only to be ousted in an operation code-named Operation Restore Legacy in November 2017. He was replaced by his long time protege, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.R.G Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924 at the Kutama Mission village in Zvimba. 21 February was pronounced a public holiday in Zimbabwe under the leadership of E. D Mnangangwa as per request by the ZANU PF Youth league. The Latin phrase damnatio memoriae means condemnation of memory. It is historically known as a political strategy to subdue one's enemies, current and future. In some circumstances, damnatio memoriae involves condemning the souls of the dead bodies of one's enemies to oblivion, filibustering them from an afterlife. In Ancient Egypt and Imperial Rome, incidents of attacks on sculptures of leaders after their fall from power would take shape, at times disfiguring and hid them from sight. The Rhodes Must Fall Movement and decolonisation in South Africa is another typical example of domnatio memoriae. Although Robert Gabriel Mugabe's representation is still the face of the National Heroes Acre as a sight, some sentiments questioning his lasting legacy if any has been posited soon after his exit in Zimbabwe's political landscape. In relation to R.G Mugabe, some undertones to the ancient Roman Empire ideology of damnatio memoriae seem to be apparent.The Herald Zimbabwe newspaper has been well documented for its role in providing a state narrative in the [de]construction of heroes/heroines in independent Zimbabwe. Munyaradzi Huni in an opinion analysis in the Herald Zimbabwe Newspaper (18.03.2018), Do Revolutionaries really exist? Critically engages nationalists' historiography literature. Robert Mugabe has been the face of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle as an epitome of heroism and resistance to colonialism. Various narratives indicate a strong principled leader who fought for universal suffrage for the black majority from the colonial period and also uncompromising. According to the late doyen of Zimbabwean history T.O Ranger (2004), patriotic history was made possible from various spaces, that is, through Robert Mugabe speeches, state television, state-controlled press, youth militia camps, philosophical eulogies and glosses over those speeches by the then Zimbabwe's state media controller, Tafataona Mahoso. Huni's analytical article posited challenges proffered by liberation war narratives from scholars on nationalism such as Terrence Osborne Ranger, Ngwabi Bhebe, David Martin, David Lan and Phyllis Johnson. These scholars, Huni concurs with Ndlovu-Gatsheni that they were "too close" to the cause of nationalism to the extent of producing "praise texts." Is this an attempt to re-write history and deploy damnatio memoriae?Reports after November 21, 2017 on the personality of Robert Mugabe have lost the title of "comrade" to "Mr." Being viewed as a comrade forms a significant facet for those who fought in the liberation struggle and an appendage for heroism. Comradeship is loaded with loyalty and principle to the liberation cause. The Sunday News Zimbabwe (June 2017) deployed comrade' in close relation to fellow combatant or fellow fighter. As such, damnatio memoriae is well evident on R. G. Mugabe.Joseph Chinotimba a popular war veteran in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle made remarks about Robert Mugabe and the national liberation shrine. Joseph Chinotimba argued that those who lost the party's principle would not be recognised as national heroes just like others before him such as Ndabaningi Sithole who was among the father founders of the ruling party ZANU PF but was not accorded national hero status and again not buried at the shrine. Ndabaningi Sithole despite being a founding leader of ZANU PF was later perceived a betrayer and hence was not accorded national hero status.In another Herald Zimbabwe newspaper of 05 August a few days before Zimbabwe celebrated the annual Heroes Day, a story titled War Vets blast sell-out Mugabe was written. The story had it that Robert Mugabe was being "blasted" by the war veterans for aligning himself with opposition politics. This was in relation to Robert Mugabe's presser on 29 July 2018 in which he showed his critical view of the way he exited the Zimbabwe government as president. Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu (2008) observed that ZANU PF banked on Robert Mugabe's liberation credentials to win elections. The 2018 elections provided the post-nationalist era that Gatsheni-Ndlovu yarned for. It is from this context that narratives critical to Robert Mugabe's heroism and his relevance to the national heroes' acre are emerging, simultaneously, cognizance of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Youth Day.The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWA) Bulawayo provisional treasurer Cde Lazarus Nyoni was quoted comparing Robert Mugabe to the biblical Judas Iscariot for being involved in opposition politics (Herald newspaper, 07.08.2018). This was said at the burial of a Provincial war heroine Cde Ketty Dube in Nkulumane. Judas Iscariot carries the tag of a sell-out in biblical studies and general daily conversations. The twist and turns in Zimbabwe's liberation war accounts have immediately unmasked the role of the Herald Zimbabwe newspaper as an ideological state apparatus so to borrow from Althussian terminology. Robert Mugabe used to have a bigger share of celebratory articles attached to him from the same paper with names such as "Zimbabwean Moses," "African Icon," "a veteran" of the bush war among others used. The case of Robert Mugabe also points to a sharp-turn to a personality who used to denounce opposition politics by all means possible having changed to partial positive comments.Just like the French Queen during the French revolution of 1789, Marie Antoinette who was arguably unpopular in French history due to her extravagance at the court, so was Grace Mugabe towards the end of the Mugabe era winning the tag, "Gucci Grace." Some critics labelled Grace Mugabe, the wife to the former president as the biblical wicked Jezebel, accusing her of influencing her husband in statecraft. The Civil Society and opposition politicians as well some members within the ruling party, Zanu PF saw in Grace Mugabe a petticoat government manifesting. Jabulani Sibanda, former war veterans' leader in 2014 talked of a "bedroom coup" landing himself in trouble with other Zanu PF stalwarts loyal to Grace Mugabe.Following the Sunday News (17.02.2019) opinion analysis by Michael Mhlanga, titled The paradox of Chete Chete! Emerging understandings in 2019, it is possible observe that Nelson Chamisa and Robert Mugabe are well dealt with. Tracing from 2014, the Zanu PF congress is used as an entry point to "One centre of power" criticism which saw the intensification of cultism of a political leader, Robert G. Mugabe and his eventual exit in Zimbabwe's political stage. The One Centre of power strategy worked hand in glove with the political slogan, "VaMugabe Chete Chete!" (President Mugabe is the only leader). Interestingly, R.G. Mugabe is situated in the Chamisa Chete Chete (CCC) [Chamisa in the only president, within his political camp] narrative.This narrative, although focusing on factional loopholes within the opposition camp, it remains uncontested that Robert Mugabe's name is deployed from a deconstruction approach. The narrative implicitly or explicitly champions Zanu PF party decision/s being made simultaneously exposing the lack of wisdom in statecraft which used to be written in "state history" over the years. Again, the opinion analysis by Michael Mhlanga is timely as it was published few days before Robert Mugabe's birthday. In damnatio memoriae and Robert Gabriel Mugabe Youth Day, re-writing of history is underway. Robert Mugabe falls into the trap of drinking from his chalice with poison as he continued the tradition of a myopic dichotomized categorization of heroes and sell-outs in dealing with heroes/ines situations during his tenure as head of state and government. Tendai Katsvere (2018) observes that the "sell-out persona" was "a blade cutting on both sides" as it served individual interests for political expediency during the liberation struggle. Those who worked with the Rhodesia Security Forces (RSFs) were primary targets, although even peasants and other guerillas used the sell-out persona to settle their disputes. Robert Mugabe due to his "fall-out" with long time cadres also attracted the tag of Judas Iscariot that is sell-out. In the Herald Zimbabwe newspaper (2013) opinion analysis, using a fictional character or pseudonym, Nathaniel Manheru, George Charamba labelled those who do not belong to ZANU PF as "darkened souls." Having such evidence, damnatio memoriae can be observed in light of Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day.To some critical of Zimbabwe's establishment, the pronouncement of the monetary policy on 20 February 2019, a day before the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Youth Day is a conspiracy to downplay the generally celebrated day. However, the Zimbabwe's unending economic crisis has led to the Mugabe nostalgia despite the celebration which emerged on the eve of his Asante Sana moment.Also notable in making 21st February a "youth day" in Zimbabwe is how the calendar affirms the Robert G. Mugabe centric narrative written on the national memory during his tenure. In addition to this, a ZANU PF Youth League now consciously or unconsciously pursuing the grand narrative of history in the name of #ED Will Never Walk Alone, Presidential Solidarity Rally. It is however commendable as E.D Mnangagwa didn't pursue the Presidential Birthday bashes which his predecessor enjoyed in the face of a decaying economy. It is no surprise a Zimbabwean social commentator Xavier Katanda in relation to Mugabe using his social media Facebook page noted,"A vindictive autocrat with an unparalleled vulgarity who fed on the carcasses of a decaying economy."Another damning paradox, at least according to Farai Maguwu on his social media Facebook page is well noted."Its too soon! Can't believe ED will proclaim a national holiday to honor a man he dethroned through a coup 15 months ago. Crazy!Having said that, permanent imprints of Robert Gabriel Mugabe are still present in major roads in Zimbabwe's urban centres, the Robert Mugabe International Airport and the Robert Mugabe School of Intelligence. More notable to those critical of the Emmerson Mnangagwa led government is the notion that the spirit of Pan Africanism and black economic empowerment is shifting its gravity from Zimbabwe to elsewhere, possibly, to South Africa with the youthful Julius Malema, or to Uganda with Yoweri Museveni. This, nonetheless, is a controversial discourse on power in grand narratives. The neo-liberal path pursued by the Zimbabwe government after the end of R.G Mugabe's political career has opened up such reflections. Again, some analysts still believe R. G. Mugabe was the voice of the "global South" in the world order. Asa Mudzimu a historian pursuing his PhD Studies at Oxford University opined that Robert G. Mugabe remains a hero to some for his contributions in leading the country out of white-minority rule, spear heading the Third Chimurenga but to some he is seen as a traitor-how heroism is constructed in a society, how history can twisted-the same way he did to Nome de Guerrier "Teurairopa" Joice Mujuru. I find damnatio memoriae on Robert Gabriel Mugabe unfolding in the face of the claimed honour to him. Happy birthday Gushungo, Robert Gabriel Mugabe @95.
News / National

by Staff reporter

BULAWAYO- BASED Madzibaba Emmanuel Mutumwa of Johanne Masowe Echishanu undertook a public HIV test prior to his birthday last week.The young prophet, who turned 27 years last week, decided to open up to his followers regarding his HIV status.Said Madzibaba Emmanuel:"I am delighted to see church yechipostori ichisimudziridzirwa after being labelled with all sorts of names by other churches."I want to take the church to another level and I was shocked to receive a car as a birthday present from my congregants."It shows church haina kusara and we are doing the right things."Added Madzibaba Mutumwa:"I encourage all my congregants to behave themselves, have discipline because nyika yatiri yakaipa."Vanhu vanofanira kuzvibata and the church was happy to see their leader getting tested and coming out with negative results."So tiri kurova basa tichienda mberi and Christians should be tested and stayed vachiziva pavamire."We denounce all those churches who insult our church, this is the church of the people and isu hatisi varombo, we are also important, and churches can say negative things about our church but we are moving forward."And those who curse our church should remain silent and i am pushing the gospel of Johanne Masowe forward," he said.Meanwhile, Madzibaba Mutumwa will be touring some areas preaching the gospel.His results"I will be having tours to areas like Mberengwa, Mugamini in Bulawayo and I have a wish to tour the whole country preaching the true gospel of God."
News / National

by Staff reporter

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has no plans to meet his predecessor, former President Robert Mugabe, even on the occasion of the latter's 95th birthday today, NewsDay has reported.Mugabe turns 95 today and Information ministry secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana yesterday said there were no plans to give the former Zanu-PF leader a treat."Nothing specific as far as I know. I will inquire with the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Misheck Sibanda)."But I think it's likely to be a private affair as it was last year," Mangwana said.Mnangagwa's spokesperson, George Charamba also said he was not aware of any planned engagement between his principal and the former President."I am not aware of anything," was all Charamba said.Mugabe was forced out of power after a coup in November 2017 and was succeeded by Mnangagwa, who he had sacked two weeks earlier. Towards the end of his reign, the former guerrilla leader's birthday was declared a national holiday at the behest of the Zanu-PF youth league as his lieutenants sought to curry favour with Mugabe amid a vicious internal power struggle.Zanu-PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo was not too enthusiastic about the holiday."It's a Youth Day. I don't know if anything has been planned. Ask the (Zanu-PF) youth league," Khaya Moyo said.Zanu-PF secretary for youth affairs Pupurai Togarepi said: "We have made a request to meet him, but we are yet to receive a response. Our plan is for a small indoor function at which selected youths will get entrepreneurial advice from different resource persons who we will invite."Togarepi could not be drawn into commenting on whether Mugabe had been invited to the event, but insisted that Zanu-PF will cherish its former leader's contributions to the "revolution"."Of course, we will remember him for the work he did in leading the country, as well as the revolution. That is why we have Youth Day falling on his birthday. We still hope we will be able to meet him," Togarepi told NewsDay.
News / National

by Staff reporter

LUPANE State University (LSU) is set to complete construction of a students' hostel on campus to ease accommodation challenges.The shortage of accommodation last year saw students protest against the university's decision to force them to share rooms. This followed plans by the university to relocate some of the students to its main campus in Lupane.LSU spokesperson Zwelithini Dlamini yesterday confirmed the developments to Southern Eye."According to the plan, the hostel will be for female students but for now, that same hostel accommodates both male and female students. We are hoping that by the beginning of this year, the other hostel for males will be finished and ready for occupation," he said."Unfortunately, construction has its own matrices and takes time for some of the work to be completed. Right now, we have one major outstanding works which should be completed and that is the fitting of electricals and of the interior works. We are hoping that by at least the first quarter of the year  end of March or mid-April, the contractor should be done."Dlamini said the current hostel is filled up to capacity and they have had to assist the students to find accommodation outside campus."As of the beginning of this week, the director of campus and dean of students are seized with assisting students to find accommodation outside campus. Three part-four students are supposed to share one room, four part-three students have to share a single room," Dlamini said."But because we have been overwhelmed by student numbers, we have had to request that the part fours accept being accommodated in fours. So precisely, our students are now accommodated in fours per room."Dlamini dismissed reports that eight students were being accommodated in one room."It is unfortunate that we have heard stories that we have eight students in a room, which is not true.
A Tanzanian politician has raised eyebrows after he decided to tie the knot with his 25-year-old lover at the age of 73.

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Juma Kapuya, the former parliamentarian at Urambo constituency, wedded his youthful lover on Sunday, February 17, in a low-key yet lavish ceremony.

Photos and videos accessed by Briefly.co.za showed the odd couple exchanging vows in front of a lively crowd as Juma said 'I do' to one Mwajuma Mwiniko in the ceremony which was held in line with Muslim customs.

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A number of online users weighed in on the wedding, with some surprisingly saying it was fully within the moral standards especially since Mwajuma was an adult capable of making sound choices on her life.

READ ALSO: Maimane asks Ramaphosa to tell SA truth about Chinese-owned power station

There is, however, one peculiar way to look at the marriage which would perhaps place things in perspective a little.

When Juma's bride was born, he was two years shy of clocking 50 and was en route to becoming a member of the National Executive Council of the then governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.

He went on to hold that position for eight years and was then appointed minister of defense and national service.

His is not a very strange union particularly in an African setting as stories had previously being reported of a number of weddings involving old men popularly refereed to as 'sponsors' or 'blessers' and youthful women.

Trade unionist Francis Atwoli also has a youthful wife in the form of TV girl Mary Kilobi

Kenya's very own Francis Atwoli is another such example as he is happily married to KTN news anchor Mary Kilobi despite theirhuge age gap.

Prominent and controversial Uasin Gishu businessman 84-year-old Jackson Kibor, divorced his wife of 51 years in the most confounding circumstances and went on to express his desire to remarry. He settled for a younger woman.

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
You may have seen the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman in a viral video last month, in which he appeared on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos and berated the attendees for their tax-evasion and insisted that no amount of philanthropy can make up for starving the state of the money it needs to provide for everyone under democratic guidance.



The net-fame earned Bregman an invitation to appear on Tucker Carlson's show, presumably as part of the wave of extremely selective right-wing interest in trustbusting and railing against elites.





But Bregman was capable of understanding that just because Carlson thought he was on Bregman's side, it didn't follow that Bregman should be on Carlson's side, especially not after Carlson's years of carrying water for sinister, manipulative, pro-monopoly billionaires like Rupert Murdoch and David Koch.

So Bregman lit into Carlson, calling him a "millionaire funded by billionaires" who was "part of the problem."

Carlson lost his shit, flipped out, called Bregman a "moron" and a "tiny brain" and told him to "go fuck yourself," adding that he "tried to give you a hearing but you were too fucking annoying."

Predictably, Carlson never aired the segment, but thankfully Bregman made his own recording and leaked it to Now This news, and it's online for all to see.



Bregman then accuses Carlson of being bought by the Murdoch family and the Cato Institute, a rightwing thinktank of which Carlson was a fellow until 2015. Bregman says Tucker took the "dirty money" of the institute, which is funded in large part by the Koch brothers and opposes higher taxes. He says Carlson is "a millionaire funded by billionaires" and "not part of the solution" but "part of the problem, actually". Bregman finishes by acknowledging that the interview probably wouldn't be aired, but saying that he "went to Davos to speak truth to power and I'm doing exactly the same right now". Carlson, near-speechless for much of the interview, replies by saying: "Why don't you go fuck yourself, you tiny brain. You're a moron. I tried to give you a hearing but you were too fucking annoying."



Historian who confronted Davos billionaires leaks Tucker Carlson rant

[Sam Wolfson/The Guardian]

Watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson call one of his guests a 'tiny brainmoron' during an interview. NowThis has obtained the full segment with historian Rutger Bregman that Fox News is refusing to air. pic.twitter.com/kERYPUaGLY  NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 20, 2019

(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC-BY-SA)
"The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control."

This is a heck of a story about how genetic surveillance, powered by American know-how, is being used to oppress the Muslim minority Uighur population and others in China, from the New York Times.

The Uighur people of China are mostly Muslim, and China does awful things to make them comply with state rule. More than a million people, many Uighur, have been detained in what Xi Jinping's administration calls "re-education" camps. Now, DNA technology has become a useful weapon.

China used Thermo Fisher's equipment to map the genes of its people, according to five Ministry of Public Security patent filings. Authorities in Xinjiang said that Thermo Fisher's machines are important for DNA inspections in criminal cases and have "no substitutes in China."  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Thermo Fisher is the Massachussetts-based firm highlighted in this report. They're on Twitter.

And Yale geneticist Kenneth Kidd is the American whose expertise was so central to the plan.

Excerpt from Sui-Lee Wee's NYT report:

Collecting genetic material is a key part of China's campaign, according to human rights groups and Uighur activists. They say a comprehensive DNA database could be used to chase down any Uighurs who resist conforming to the campaign. Police forces in the United States and elsewhere use genetic material from family members to find suspects and solve crimes. Chinese officials, who are building a broad nationwide database of DNA samples, have cited the crime-fighting benefits of China's own genetic studies. To bolster their DNA capabilities, scientists affiliated with China's police used equipment made by Thermo Fisher, a Massachusetts company. For comparison with Uighur DNA, they also relied on genetic material from people around the world that was provided by Kenneth Kidd, a prominent Yale University geneticist. On Wednesday, Thermo Fisher said it would no longer sell its equipment in Xinjiang, the part of China where the campaign to track Uighurs is mostly taking place. The company said separately in an earlier statement to The New York Times that it was working with American officials to figure out how its technology was being used. Dr. Kidd said he had been unaware of how his material and know-how were being used. He said he believed Chinese scientists were acting within scientific norms that require informed consent by DNA donors. China's campaign poses a direct challenge to the scientific community and the way it makes cutting-edge knowledge publicly available. The campaign relies in part on public DNA databases and commercial technology, much of it made or managed in the United States. In turn, Chinese scientists have contributed Uighur DNA samples to a global database, potentially violating scientific norms of consent.

READ MORE: China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise [image: shutterstock]

Tweets from the reporter with background about how this investigative feature was reported.

Sometime last year, @CRTejada had asked a couple of us to look into U.S. companies doing business in Xinjiang. Was there anyone we shld be looking at in particular? I said yes! Thermo Fisher, a U.S. maker of DNA sequencers that was selling their equipment to the police.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

I had told @wang_maya I would look into Thermo Fisher's role in Xinjiang but only got around to it late last year. The only problem was: I felt I didn't have enough to take the story forward. @hrw had done a fantastic job documenting the company's interests in the region and   Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

the @WSJ had also blazed a trail with their reporting on China taking DNA samples from innocent and guilty people. Read this piece by @natashakhanhk @xinwenfan @Liz_in_Shanghaihttps://t.co/sCjFgf69Ed  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

But thanks to Maya's sources, I heard that scientists affiliated with China's police had teamed up with prominent American geneticists to better understand how to differentiate between ethnicities. They collected DNA samples from Uighurs, Tibetans and the Han   Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

And sought help from Kenneth Kidd, a prominent geneticist from Yale. They invited him to China and one of them asked to spend 11 months at his lab. That person was the chief forensic physician from the ministry of public security's Institute of Forensic Science   Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Who then took DNA samples from Dr. Kidd's lab in Yale back to China. The Chinese researchers started filing patents on DNA methodology using Kidd's samples WITHOUT TELLING HIM.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

When I contacted Kidd, he said he had no idea that the patents were filed using his lab's DNA samples. But the cooperation also went the other way. Chinese govt researchers contributed the data of 2,143 Uighurs to a database run by Dr. Kidd that was partially funded by the DOJ.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

When I contacted Kidd, he said he had no idea that the patents were filed using his lab's DNA samples. But the cooperation also went the other way. Chinese govt researchers contributed the data of 2,143 Uighurs to a database run by Dr. Kidd that was partially funded by the DOJ.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

I never say holy cow, but this was my holy cow moment. I remember calling @CRTejada being all breathless. He's dealt a lot with my "you can't believe this!" moments   Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at NYU, said this sharing of data could violate scientific norms of informed consent because it is not clear whether the Uighurs volunteered their DNA samples to the Chinese authorities. "No one should be in a database without express consent."  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Back to Thermo Fisher. I see now that it's the nexus between these American geneticists and the Chinese police. In 2015, the company co-sponsored a conference that brought all of these people together.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

China used Thermo Fisher's equipment to map the genes of its people, according to five Ministry of Public Security patent filings. Authorities in Xinjiang said that Thermo Fisher's machines are important for DNA inspections in criminal cases and have "no substitutes in China."  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

In an earlier statement to me, Thermo Fisher said that it was working with American officials to figure out how its technology was being used in Xinjiang. Then I wake up to news on Wednesday that the company said it would stop selling its equipment in Xinjiang   Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

It is widely believed that the Chinese police cross-sell equipment across provincial and regional lines, so it remains to be seen whether this announcement by Thermo Fisher makes any difference.  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Will let @SophieHRW explain in her own words: "It's an important step, and one hopes that they apply the language in their own statement to commercial activity across China, and that other companies are assessing their sales and operations, especially in Xinjiang,"  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019

Underpinning all of this, of course, is the Uighurs who had to give their DNA samples to the state. @dtbyler

told me he spoke to 5 Uighurs and dozens of others whose relatives had to do so. "There was a pretty strong coercive element to it."  Sui-Lee Wee  (@suilee) February 21, 2019
Is the National Enquirer running scared? There's not a mention of either Amazon chief Jeff Bezos or president Donald Trump in this week's edition. Could it be that the threat of investigation and possible prison time for hacks accused of extortion and blackmail against Bezos and burying sex scandals about Trump have finally silenced the nattering nabobs of negativism? Bezos and The Donald escape lightly this week, but others aren't so lucky.

Prince Charles "Disowns Harry!" proclaims the Globe cover. Prince Harry reportedly refused Charles' demand that he divorce wife Meghan, and in the ensuing row Charles raged that DNA tests have proven he's not Harry's father. Which would explain why Charles allegedly said: "You're a common-born bastard." Aren't we all? The odds that this conversation actually happened? Infinitesimally small. The odds that the Globe has a source inside Kensington Palace revealing this private conversation? Even smaller.

The Globe claims that serial killer Ted Bundy's daughter has been "found hiding in Britain" under an assumed name. No, it's not "Meghan Markle." And the woman their reporter approached said: "I'm sorry, I'm not the person you're looking for." Sounds like an admission of guilt if there ever was one.

"Scientology Leader's Missing Wife Found After 13 Years!" declares the Enquirer cover, though the headline above the inside spread is far less confident, asking: "Is This Shelly Miscavige?" It's definitely a photograph of a dark-haired woman, reportedly seen disembarking a Scientology cruise ship and heading to Florida, which as we all know is a state where Scientologists have been known to live. But is it cult leader David Miscavige's wife? The Enquirer hopes so  it's going to be one heck of a lawsuit if it's the wrong woman. And strictly speaking, Shelly Miscavige hasn't been missing for 13 years  she just hasn't been seen in public. When ex-Scientologist and Miscavige's former friend, actress Leah Remini, filed a missing persons report in 2013, Los Angeles police reported that they had seen and spoken with Shelly, and declared that fears of her abduction or imprisonment were "unfounded."

Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder have "Run Away To Save Marriage," reports the grammatically-challenged Enquirer. Or maybe they just went to Rome on vacation?

Particularly obnoxious reporting from Us magazine relating how actor Orlando Bloom's marriage proposal "Saved Katy" Perry, who has "been so unlucky in love" but "is finally getting her happily ever after." Because Katy Perry couldn't possibly be a strong, independent woman, and must be incomplete until the hole in her heart is filled by a loving man. Right?

Former supermodel Christie Brinkley turns 65 and tells Us mag, "I've Never Felt More Beautiful." Or looked more airbrushed.

People magazine devotes its cover to its 1986 "Sexiest Man Alive," NCIS star Mark Harmon, talking about "Fame, Family & What I've Learned." He's learned not to reveal anything personal, evidently.

Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at Us mag to tell us that Ciara wore it best, that Lindsay Lohan hates truffles (what's wrong with truffles?) and has over 20,000 pairs of shoes (take that, Imelda!), that Nicole Scherzinger loves chocolate truffles (not quite the same as the fungal delicacy) and carries them along with Band-Aids and antiseptic cream in her Dior handbag, and that the stars are just like us: they buy groceries, walk their dogs, and compose text messages. And they all have strong opinions on truffles, one imagines.

Onwards and downwards . . .
English Danish





Company announcement















Announcement no. 5/2019





Holmens Kanal 2-12

DK- 1092 Kbenhavn K

Tel.+45 33 44 00 00



















21 February 2019















Annual general meeting of Danske Bank 2019

Danske Bank A/S will hold its annual general meeting on Monday, 18 March 2019 at 3.00pm at Tivoli Congress Center, Arni Magnussons Gade 2-4, Copenhagen. The agenda, including the complete proposals, is attached to this announcement.

Election of members to the Board of Directors

In respect of election of members, the Board of Directors nominates Christian Sagild and Gerrit Zalm as new candidates for the Board of Directors.

Considering their experience and competencies, I feel confident that the two candidates will be able to make a positive contribution to the Board of Directors and Danske Bank. Gerrit Zalm will bring management experience from both regulatory bodies and banks, and Christian Sagild will bring extensive experience from the management of financial businesses, says Karsten Dybvad, Chairman.

Identifying potential new candidates who possess the right competencies, in particular individuals from the other Nordic countries, is an ongoing priority of the Board of Directors.

Hilde Tonne has informed the Board that she will not seek re-election as she has been appointed chairman of the Research Council of Norway. Also, Ingrid Bonde has informed the Board that she will not seek re-election due to her appointment to a position of trust yet to be made public.

In November 2018, Carol Sergeant and Rolv Erik Ryssdal stated their intentions of not seeking re-election at the coming annual general meeting (see company announcement no. 61). However, at the request of the Board of Directors, Carol Sergeant has agreed to seek re-election and thus ensure continuity for the Board of Directors.

I would like to thank Rolv Erik Ryssdal, Hilde Tonne and Ingrid Bonde for their efforts, and I respect their decision to seek new challenges. I am pleased that Carol Sergeant, contrary to her previous announcement, will seek re-election. This means that we will ensure continuity for the Board of Directors and that we will be able to draw on her knowledge of Danske Bank and her regulatory and financial sector insights, says Karsten Dybvad, Chairman.

Accordingly, the Board of Directors proposes Lars-Erik Brene, Karsten Dybvad, Jan Thorsgaard Nielsen, Jens Due Olsen and Carol Sergeant for re-election.

Danske Bank





Attachments


Yahoo! JAPAN



Yahoo! JAPAN
NAACP Prison Gerrymandering Case Heating Up

Last summer, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state of Connecticut over prison gerrymandering, and recently, the federal district court rejected the state's motion to dismiss, allowing the case to move forward towards summary judgment.

As the court explained, based upon the allegations, the NAACP and the several individual plaintiffs have adequately pled that the state's prison gerrymandering violates equal protection.

What's Prison Gerrymandering?

If you are unaware of what prison gerrymandering involves, simply, it's the practice of considering incarcerated individuals residents of the voting district where they are incarcerated, rather than where they lived prior to incarceration.

Due to the demographics of prison populations and where the prisons are physically located, this ends up relocating a lot of voting power out of urban areas and into rural areas. What's more is that the practice of prison gerrymandering actually makes the votes of rural voters in districts with prisons more impactful.

This happens based on the body counts in the voting districts. Essentially a rural district can cover more land if it has a prison, and the voters in that district can carry more sway, because the prison population can't vote.

What's Next in This Case?

Next up in this matter are discovery, then summary judgment. And unfortunately, the litigants are working against a clock as the case seeks to resolve the gerrymandering problem prior to the 2020 election.

Related Resources:
Muc suy giam cua kieu hoi toan cau trong nam 2020 thap hon so voi nam khung hoang tai chinh toan cau 2009 (4,8%).
Immediately after a 2013 accident at a North Dakota coal mine, doctors gave Johnny Renaud a 1 percent chance of survival.

The heavy equipment operator for BNI Coal was part of a crew working to remove a bulldozer stuck in the mud at the Center Mine. Renaud was severely hurt after getting crushed between a steel cable and the dozer blade, requiring the amputation of his leg.

Today, Renaud works as a safety specialist for BNI Coal and shares the story of his injury and long recovery, with the goal of preventing future incidents.

Ive got a daily, constant reminder of the mistake I made that day. Its a hard mistake, said Renaud, 39, of Mandan. My hope is nobody else has to make the same mistake that I did.

Renaud is one of more than 1,000 people expected to attend the North Dakota Safety Councils 46th annual Safety and Health Conference this week in Bismarck. On Thursday, Renaud and others who have been affected by preventable injuries and fatalities will be featured in a booth at the conference.

Not today

The incident that changed Renauds life occurred about 9:05 a.m. Nov. 18, 2013.

He and his co-workers were using scrapers hooked up in tandem with a steel cable to remove the bulldozer that was stuck.

Renaud said he made the mistake of putting himself in a pinch point between the cable and the bulldozer blade. Another operator, unaware the cable was still hooked up, began operating the scraper, causing Renaud to become crushed by the cable behind his pelvis. He estimates it was about seven seconds before a supervisor ordered work to stop and the cable went slack.

I wasnt sure in my mind what was going on, Renaud recalled this week. I do remember the crushing. I remember the screams from myself, from my co-workers. The feeling. I can still remember how much pressure was put on me that day and the breaking of the femur.

Renaud suffered severe injuries, including the rupture of his femoral artery. Doctors said he lost six units of blood between the mine and Sanford Hospital in Bismarck.

Renaud spent 12 days in an induced coma and was flown to the Hennepin County Medical Center when he became stable enough. Doctors then presented him with the option of trying to save his leg or amputate. It became clear that his best chance at walking again and returning to an active life was to amputate and be fitted with a prosthetic.

The easiest hardest decision in my life was to tell them to take the leg, Renaud said.

A year after the incident, Renaud got a tattoo on his arm with the image of the grim reaper, the date Nov. 18, 2013, and the words Not Today.

Advocate for safety

After nine months of recovery, including learning to walk with a prosthetic, Renaud returned to work. Renaud said he struggled with whether to return to mining, an industry hes worked in for 20 years in Canada and the United States. He opted to stay in the industry but focus on safety, enrolling at Bismarck State College to get a degree in occupational health and safety.

The only way to do that with one leg was to kind of shy away from the manual labor part of it and start using the academics, he said.

Today Renaud shares his story with other miners as well as people in different industries, with a presentation focused less on the injury and more on the difficult recovery and impact to his life.

At his lowest point, Renaud said, he contemplated suicide. But his daughter, 8 years old at the time, kept him focused on recovery.

I had to stick around for her, he said.

Renaud also continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, which is antagonized each time he gives his presentation.

In the end, its all worth it to get this message out, he said.

Jeff Forsberg, safety director for BNI Coal, said Renauds presentation often leaves people shaken to the core.

Theres generally not a dry eye, Forsberg said. What he talks about is the cause and effect and how his life was really turned upside down.

Forsberg, who was the EMT who assisted Renaud, said BNI Coal reviewed its procedures and took steps to prevent a similar incident from happening again. Today, the company does not shy away from talking about lessons learned from the incident, Forsbeg said.

Renaud emphasizes that workers should be constantly alert and plan ahead to assess the risks of the job. He strongly advocates communication and avoiding rushing on the job. Renaud also talks about the emotional impact on other workers involved with the incident.

Renaud said he tries to make the hair stand up on peoples necks when he describes the potential consequences of becoming complacent on the job.

There are some functions in life that I just cant do anymore. Theres nine months of recovery that I cant ever get back, Renaud said. If you want to rush today, if you dont want to talk today, these are the things that you get to look forward to.

(Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com)

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SEATTLE, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xnor , the company that is making AI available on every device, has appointed Matt Welsh to the position of principal engineer. Welsh joins Xnor from Google, where he was an engineering lead on the Chrome Mobile team for the past eight years. Welshs mobile expertise will be crucial as Xnor scales its platform for consumer and commercial applications.



Xnors AI technology has already been adopted by companies in the security, home automation, industrial hardware, video conferencing and automotive industries. One of its computer vision models involving face identification can identify multiple faces quickly and accurately, directly on a device, making it ideal for home and building security systems and automakers. Unlike traditional AI, Xnors technology doesnt require expensive hardware such as GPUs and neural accelerators. Xnors models are so compact and efficient they can run directly on a CPU with no loss in speed or accuracy.

Welshs experience solving a variety of difficult research and engineering problems made him a natural fit for the Xnor engineering team. Matt has designed and implemented large systems that support more than a billion users, says Jon Gelsey, CEO at Xnor. His ability to think at a very high level about how Xnor works, from training through model deployment, will be critical as we scale our platform. We are excited to add his technical expertise and look forward to his leadership in making AI accessible on any device.

Prior to Google, Welsh was a professor of computer science at Harvard, where his research focused on systems, networks and wireless. Welsh also taught the operating system class at Harvard in which Mark Zuckerberg was a student. He is the author of several books about the Linux operating system.

Xnor is doing work on the bleeding edge of AI and embedded systems, both areas Im passionate about, says Welsh. Theres a tremendous opportunity to make this technology more widely available, and this is the perfect next chapter for me professionally.

About Xnor

Xnor is dedicated to accelerating AI and deep learning in consumer and business devices. Its enterprise AI models and Ai2GO self-serve developer platform deliver AI everywhere, for everyone. Unlike traditional AI that either runs in the cloud on massive data centers or requires expensive hardware such as GPUs or neural accelerators, Xnor enables AI to run at the edge on inexpensive devices with no internet connectivity. This new, highly scalable approach ensures complete privacy of data, eliminates the need for connectivity, and significantly reduces memory load, latency and power consumption without compromising accuracy. Xnor was built using award winning research conducted at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. It is used by global corporations in aerospace, automotive, industrial hardware, retail, photography, and consumer electronics. Founded in 2017, Xnor is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
It wouldnt seem like anything could ruin a fishing trip worse than the theft of your pickup, your trailer, your 4-wheeler and all your fishing gear.

But Wyatt Wahl, of Bismarck, and Tanner Ouellette, of Dickinson, found out that the goodness of the people in Selkirk, Manitoba, overshadowed the bad deed done by the person or persons who stole their stuff.

Wahl, 21, and Ouellette traveled to Selkirk on Feb. 14. They arrived late that night, and early the next morning grabbed coffee and breakfast sandwiches at a nearby McDonalds. Their plans were to go ice fishing on Lake Winnipeg, north of Selkirk. They left Ouellettes GMC pickup running and thought they had locked the doors. In the time it took to get breakfast, somebody took the pickup and all their equipment.

We were stunned, Wahl said. You think it only happens in the movies.

Wahl asked workers at the restaurant to call police, who asked a lot of questions. Ultimately, all the two North Dakotans could do was wait in their motel. It wasnt a long wait, as the authorities found the pickup about 15 miles away and used its OnStar equipment to shut it off.

But police wouldnt let the two take the pickup once it was recovered because they needed to continue their investigation.
Factoring in the artists time, paint and supplies, Cochran says the mural is worth about $2,500. Many of the artists refused payment, however, so his out-of-pocket expense was $400.

Shortly after the artwork was in place, Cochran was cited by the city's code enforcement for placing a mural on the front of the building without a permit. He applied for a mural permit Oct. 28, which was denied by the Mandan Architectural Review Committee in November.

A city guideline prohibits placing murals on the front of buildings.

The committee also denied the mural application due to zoning regulations surrounding downtown design, with code stating: In order to maintain a sense of harmony within the area, the colors and materials used should generally be compatible with, or complementary to, those used for buildings on adjoining parcels.

Cochran appealed to the city commission, but failed to appear to provide testimony at its Tuesday night meeting. He says he was busy elsewhere with his daughter. The commission denied his appeal by a unanimous vote and ordered the mural be removed.

During the meeting, Commissioner Dennis Rohr indicated he understand the intent of the rule.
The state's first medical marijuana dispensary is expected to open next week in Fargo.

The dispensary, called The Botanist, will be located at 4302 13th Ave. South, Suite 19, in Fargo, according to a news release from the North Dakota Department of Health. It will be operated under the company Acreage Holdings.

"Registered qualifying patients and their designated caregivers will be able to consult with dispensary personnel and receive educational information prior to making a purchase," said Jason Wahl, director of the Division of Medical Marijuana.

Patients and caregivers must show their registry identification cards in order to enter the display area of the dispensary, which will officially open next Thursday. The health department said it has issued more than 120 registry cards so far.

The dispensary will "reflect what the future of cannabis retail looks like," with design elements such as a "lush botanical wall,"according to a news release from Acreage Holdings.

We're thrilled and eager to introduce The Botanist brand to the Fargo market," said Harris Damashek, chief marketing officer for Acreage Holdings.

The dispensary will receive medical marijuana products from the manufacturing facility Pure Dakota in Bismarck.
Rep. Pat Heinert, R-Bismarck, who used to be the sheriff in Burleigh County, also urged passage of the bill as he worked with Roers Jones and others on the bill.

He said there is a "tremendous amount" of marijuana in the state despite laws. "There's more than anyone thinks," he said.

He urged approval, but said that he didn't like the provision about the "delivery" of less than one ounce of marijuana; he said that could have been changed in the Senate.

However, other legislators spoke out about the measure.

Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, said he was opposed because it seemed like the Legislature was giving more people the opportunity to be a criminal. He said his wife was at a teenager addiction program this week and the young people there said it was a gateway drug and it shouldn't be legalized.

Rep. Chuck Damschen, R-Hampden, said he thought the voters spoke clearly about recreational marijuana in the last election and they know the difference between that and medical marijuana.

"I don't think the public wants to make it easier to have just a little bit of marijuana," he said. "I'm going to stand with the public."
Dave Steckler, the principal of Mandan's Red Trail Elementary School, has been named North Dakota's National Distinguished Principal for 2019.

The National Association of Elementary School Principals' program honors elementary and middle school principals from across the country.

Steckler is among 62 other principals who received the award this year, according to a news release from Mandan Public Schools.

"This (award) goes much deeper than just test scores, and it begins with learning about the child and then developing those relationships to be effective educators. I love creating a positive culture and climate to help students increase their learning," Steckler said in the release.

Steckler is in the process of developing plans for a greenhouse at Red Trail to help the school's fourth- and fifth-graders improve their math and science skills.

(Reach Blair Emerson at 701-250-8251 or Blair.Emerson@bismarcktribune.com)

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By a slight margin, the North Dakota House voted down a so-called "stand your ground" bill that supporters said would "empower potential victims."

House Bill 1497 failed by a vote of 41-49 on Wednesday. Rep. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, introduced the bill to the House Judiciary Committee in January, which gave an 8-6 "do-pass" recommendation to the bill after amendments in committee work. Similar legislation failed in 2017.

"This bill would allow an individual to defend themselves when being attacked by removing the requirement to attempt a retreat before using deadly force," Magrum said.

Lawmakers questioned scenarios associated with the bill's intent.

"What about my friend who's being stalked by her ex-husband?" asked Rep. Mary Adams, D-Grand Forks. "If he comes to the door, does she get to shoot him because she's afraid he's going to do bodily harm?"

Others highlighted North Dakota's so-called "castle doctrine," or the right to essentially use deadly force in one's home, vehicle or workplace. People generally have a "duty to retreat" when assailed in public, unless use of force can't be avoided.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee tabled the latest proposal to abolish capital punishment on vote of 11-8. Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, sponsored House Bill 350 to strike the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without possibility of parole. This change would assure that justice is done in sentencing the worst criminals and that victims' families would no longer wait for 30 years or more to see the sentence carried out.

Two days before the committee rejected HB350, the panel held a hearing where Montanans who favored abolition outnumbered those who wanted to keep capital punishment on the books. David Andersen, of the Montana Association of Christians, said "the death penalty is inconsistent in our view with Christian values and biblical witness."

"In using it, we continue to model the taking of life to settle scores," Susan DeBree, the mother of a murder victim and proponent of HB350, told the House committee. "We kill people to teach people they shouldn't kill."

With HB350 tabled and the bill transmittal deadline just over two weeks away, chances for reviving it are slim, but the reasons to abolish capital punishment still matter. Replacing it with life in prison would be more just, more certain and more fiscally responsible. And for some convicts, like David Dawson, living behind bars is the greater punishment.

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Its often said that Montana is like a small town with long streets. Montanans may be separated by hundreds of miles but its amazing how many mutual friends you find you have after talking with someone for five minutes in this giant small town.

A defining characteristic of small towns is that people care about one another and rally together in challenging times. Chances are youve attended at least a few community benefits to raise money for medical bills or to help a family that had some other misfortune strike.

Today, our giant small town of Montana is facing a threat to the continued existence of many members of our small town, unless we rally together and begin to turn things around.

Forty-four of Montanas 56 counties are slowly losing their life blood  the youth who go away to college or trade school and dont return. Many wish they could come back to the communities and way of life they love, but after getting established in Montanas booming counties, or out of state, the only time they may come home is for a class reunion, holiday, wedding or funeral.
As a doctor, I am very familiar with the health care challenges Montana families face every day. People have real concerns about the high cost of coverage and access to care, and policymakers who are charged with making the system work have proposed many ways to fix and improve the health care system.

I commend those who have worked toward solutions to improve patients care; its an issue that affects every one of us, and there arent always simple answers to every question. Measures like the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion have made significant strides toward providing affordable and high-quality health coverage to more people, but there are certainly improvements that still can and should be made to our health care system.

While politicians in both parties move forward towards a long-term solution that will provide health care for all, I believe that in the immediate term there are important steps that can be taken  without throwing out policies that are working now. Montanans have always gotten things done by bringing both sides together to make commonsense compromises, and healthcare should be approached in the same way.
Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert echoed Jacobson, saying that expanding populations lead to more road disputes and the potential of an increased fine acts as a disincentive to those illegally gating roads.

Testifying in opposition was Abigail St. Lawrence, representing the Rocky Mountain Stockgrowers Association and an attorney who detailed the sometimes complicated nature of designating a county road. The process may be lengthy and expensive, particularly in cases where groups sue to push access, she said.

A road might be adjudicated a county road, but they dont know that until its gone through the court process, she said.

Chuck Denowh with United Property owners of Montana characterized the bill as putting a boot on the scales of justice in favor of counties over property owners.

Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Andy Hunthausen testified that illegally gating roads is not uncommon. The cases are typically negotiated but do sometimes end up in court, he said, adding that there are legal processes to apply for an encumbrance or to petition the county to abandon an unused county road.

Bryson also testified that the $10 fines are rarely levied, although counties have successfully recuperated costs through the courts.
CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Accounting technology company Ceterus announces a partnership to fuel the growth of North Carolina-based CPA and advisory firm LBA Haynes Strand, PLLC. Through this strategic partnership, LBA Haynes Strand will be better positioned to provide client accounting services, particularly for their growing client base in the dental industry.



Client accounting services (CAS) is a fast-growing and profitable business segment for CPAs. Building upon their highly successful automated accounting and benchmarked reporting solution, financial technology company Ceterus has designed a platform to automate the CAS practice for CPA firms. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Ceterus automates manual data-entry tasks, allowing accountants to focus more time on strategic client needs.

Our philosophy at LBA Haynes Strand is accounting ahead of the curve, and were always looking for the best partners and tools to bring that idea to fruition, says LBA Haynes Strand Principal, Brad McKeiver. We needed a way to scale-up our services in the dental sector as we have grown. We want to continue allowing our team to spend time with clients, specifically in the advisory capacity and this helps us accomplish that goal. By leveraging Ceterus, were able to grow more efficiently while providing added value to our dental clients, which in turn helps them grow, too.

In addition to automated bookkeeping, Ceterus provides LBA Haynes Strand with customized, industry-specific reporting, and benchmarking tailored to the needs of their dental clients. This technology empowers LBAHS CPAs to provide their dentistry clients with industry best practices and strategic advisory services to increase Practice profitability and growth.

As the industry landscape continues to change, client accounting services has become an increasingly important way for CPA firms to grow, says Ceterus CEO Levi Morehouse. Were proud to provide the technology that enables firms like LBA Haynes Strand to focus on this value-add, while helping their SMB clients grow strategically.

Ceterus developed this CPA automation technology based on years of experience serving as a CPA vendor, as well as data collected during an Intuit and Bill.com-sponsored mastermind with small to mid-sized accounting firms.

Ceterus has deep knowledge of the CPA space, adds Brad McKeiver. This expertise is evident in the customizations and detail built into their automation technology.

For more information, please visit: https://www.ceterus.com/cpafirms .

About LBA Haynes Strand, PLLC

LBA Haynes Strand, PLLC is a full-service accounting and advisory firm headquartered in North Carolina delivering accounting, assurance, tax, and consulting solutions. While a general accountant may be easy to find and work with, having a CPA with deep industry expertise on your side is vital to the success of your Practice. The LBAHS dental team is uniquely qualified and ready to support Practice owners regardless of what lifecycle stage they are in.

For more information, please visit: www.LBAHS.com

About Ceterus

Ceterus empowers entrepreneurs with done-for-you accounting and benchmarked reporting and provides CPA firms powerful technology to fuel their firms. Ceterus pairs technology with people to deliver a one-stop solution for entrepreneurs and the CPA firms that support them. Headquartered in Charleston, SC, Ceterus has been named to the Inc. 5000 three consecutive years. For more information, visit http://www.ceterus.com .
That concern was also raised by insurance companies that oppose Morigeau's bill.

In a letter to the committee, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies said "  this proposed language, which may be emotionally satisfying, is rife with unacceptable due process implications which are bad for society in the aggregate.  The legal process needs to be fair and balanced for BOTH parties, even when we as a society absolutely deplore the alleged behavior of one of the parties "

Morigeau said there is still the same burden of proof, however, even decades after a crime was committed.

These are cases you have to prove. You have to have a jury and a judge, and you have to provide evidence. You dont get to just make stuff up, Morigeau said. I dont care how much time has (gone) by, you still have to prove the case."

Morigeau said he doesn't want to decrease the window for claims below 25 years from the assault and five years from when it's recognized. To do so, he said, would fail to recognize what studies have found about when people report abuse that happened when they were young.
In a departure from the governors proposal to fund the Healthy Montana Kids program, lawmakers voted to use $23 million in general funds to pay for the states share of the federal childrens health insurance program that's commonly known as CHIP.

Bullock had planned to fund CHIP with money from the state's tobacco tax, contingent on a bill increasing that tax. Most Republicans have long said they would not support any tax increases this session.

The Affordable Care Act in 2015 enhanced the federal matching rate for the children's health insurance program to nearly 93 percent, meaning the federal government paid for most of the costs, but that rate will drop near the end of 2019.

Caferro said she was frustrated the state didn't set money aside when the federal rates were high to prepare for the expected drop.

We knew that was temporary. I fought everybody that session to say, 'Do not sweep the funds, were going to need them some day. Put them in a reserve and save them for when the temporary (rate increase) goes away.' Well, its gone away and the chickens have come home to roost, Caferro said.

Moore emphasized that the committees work is a starting point and that members will continue exploring ways to get money for the program in the future.
Daines said he was glad to introduce the bill. He added that he and Leahy have heard similar complaints about the issue.

We both face similar feedback from people that we have a chance to serve, and that is that were getting too much runaround from insurance companies. They deny claims multiple times back and forth to try to get a claim addressed, higher prices, lack of transparency, he said. And thats something whether youre in Montana or Vermont. Its a common experience.

Christopher Tampio, director of Congressional Affairs for the ADA, is a lobbyist for the national group. Asked what opposition he had seen to the bill, Tampio said it mostly has come from state insurance commissioners.

They believe this is their sandbox, Tampio said. States handle a lot of issues better than the national level.

But he added that research done by the ADA has shown that since McCarran-Ferguson became law more than 50 years ago, There has not been one action taken by a state insurance commissioner against a health care insurance company, dental, vision or health care that has to do with anti-competitive matters.

The bottom line, Daines said, is creating a system that has the best outcome for patients.
Trial in the case of a 17-year-old accused of raping five other teens will be set for January 2020 at the earliest.

In a hearing Thursday in Yellowstone County District Court, Brayden Jaymes Pond waived his right to a transfer hearing, which would have determined whether the case moved to youth court.

Pond, who has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse without consent, faces possible life in prison now that the case remains in district court.

If the case had been transferred to youth court, he would have faced significantly reduced penalties, defense attorney Paul Chaon noted, including the possibility of supervision until the age of 21 or 25.

Pond said he understood the differences and nonetheless chose to waive his right to a transfer hearing.

At such a hearing, Montana law requires that the court would have to find that transferring the case to youth court would serve the interest of community protection, that the nature of the offense did not warrant prosecution in district court and that transferring the case to youth court would be in Ponds best interest.

District Court Judge Michael Moses said trial could take up to two weeks and January 2020 was likely the earliest trial could proceed.
Opponents of the bill said that instituting reporting requirements, however, did not actually address the problems they were working to address, saying that the bill was unnecessary and an example of government overreach.

Whats the good that needs to be done here? asked Rep. Sara Burlingame, D-Cheyenne, who argued that whatever issue the bill sought to resolve was already covered under existing state statutes. The heart of it for me is this assertion that this is a bill that is not about abortion -- because its about abortion.

Looking back to the 1970s and the aftermath of landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, laws introduced at the state level have sought a delicate balance between the rights of the patient, provider and state, Burlingame argued, and while Wyoming hasnt found that balance yet, House Bill 103 was not the legislation needed to strike that balance.

We do this with gun laws, she said. If there is a bill on the books and it addresses this very thing, lets look at that. Lets sit down with the people making these decisions in a rational way so people dont feel terrified and unheard.
Montana State University Billings announced three finalists for the schools vice chancellor of student access and success position on Wednesday.

The university hopes to fill the position no later than July 1, 2019 according to a press release.

The three finalists are Cheryl Johannes, Carmen Panlilio and Kimberly Hayworth.

Each candidate will speak during a forum about enrollment and retention strategies. They will also be available to meet students, faculty and staff during the open forums.

All forums will be held at the MSUB campus in Library 148 at 4 p.m. on Feb. 22, 26 and 28.

Cheryl Johannes is the current director of admissions, records and registrar at MSUB. Shes been at MSUB since 2001, first as academic advisor and then working as the director of advising. Johannes has three degrees from Montana State University, including a doctorate of education and a masters in public administration. Johannes will present Friday, Feb. 22.
That was the message Billings Clinic officials also echoed: Patients with lesser ailments ought to consider seeking care at walk-in clinics at the hospital or around town, or by calling the hospital's HealthLine. Dr. Nathan Allen, medical director of the Emergency Department, said calling the clinics for an appointment will cut down on the wait time, they said, and risk less exposure to illness.

"That's one of the best ways to stay healthy, by limiting your exposure to other people who might be sick in a waiting area," Allen said.

While high demand is typical this time of year  when the cold weather induces more respiratory illness  the numbers are still unusually high. Merchant, a longtime physician, said Billings Clinic, the largest health care center in the state, is at the highest number of patients he's seen during his tenure.

He and the others are studying data, trying to figure out what's causing the rise in census at the large hospitals around the state, citing respiratory ailments and elective and emergency surgical procedures among possible factors.

"As we look at it, it is not any one thing," he said. "We're not able to pinpoint what's driving it, which to be honest, makes me a little nervous."
For the last year or so, the idea of visiting a local restaurant and requesting to be seated outside wasnt simply a way to enjoy a meal and a
My blog is mostly about wildlife, particularly birds, walking, days out, all growing things and anything else that comes to mind.


Dublin, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Pulse Oximetry Market - Global Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global pulse oximetry market will grow at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period

The market has witnessed steady growth in the past few years, and the development in technology with the introduction of lightweight, compact, and easy to use wearable pulse oximeters has increased the acceptance of pulse oximeters in the market. The global market is fueled by government endorsement to use pulse oximeters.



The market continues to grow, and pulse oximeter is one of the most widely used respiratory monitoring systems due to its features and capabilities. The advanced technology has made the device simple and fast along with the precise use of mobility at the point of monitoring. Vendors are focusing on new product launch and targeting the end-users perspective. The majority of the revenue is generated by the leading players in the market with sales dominated by Masimo Corporation, Medtronic, Philips, GE Healthcare, Smith Medical, and Nihon Kohden Corporation.



North America accounted for the largest share of the global pulse oximetry market in 2018. The primary reasons for growth in North America are the increasing incidence of chronic diseases, growing technological advancements, increase in general surgical procedures, and the introduction of smart pulse oximeters with high efficacy. Asia Pacific is likely to witness the fastest growth rate due to the large patient pool and rising healthcare expenditure.



In 2018, the table-top pulse oximetry segment occupied the largest share due to its ability to monitor for long hours constantly. Also, these systems are versatile and have good efficacy.

In 2018, hospitals gained the highest share in the pulse oximetry market with the largest diagnostic volumes globally.



Geographically, North America is the global leader with the US accounting for the significant market share, followed by Europe. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the pulse oximetry market. In October 2018, Mindray became the first Chinese company to obtain List A CE mark.



Pulse Oximetry Market Research Competitive Analysis

The global pulse oximetry market has massive growth opportunities in both developed and developing regions. Initiatives are being taken by the governments to progress the current application areas of pulse oximeters. In 2017, The European Pulse Oximetry Screening Workgroup recommended pulse oximetry screening (POS) for CCHD. Recently, in June 2018, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health & Prevention also adopted this for monitoring patients during critical and emergency care. All these endorsements for the devices in various applications have helped the market to grow.



The integration of AI with pulse oximeters has increased the demand for home care settings. Therefore, many players are concentrating on expanding their product portfolio for home care settings. In June 2016, Nonin Medical introduced Apple iOS-compatible NoninConnect Elite Model 3240 Bluetooth Smart Wireless Finger Pulse Oximeter.

Key Competitive Facts



The market is highly competitive with all the players competing to gain market shares. Intense competition, rapid advancements in technology, government policies, and the prices are the key factors that confront the market.

Smart devices are designed to improve better management of daily medication. Mobile platform and wearable devices are developed to predict oxygen saturation of the patients at various end-user settings.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Industry Outlook

1.1 Industry Overview

1.2 Total Addressable Market

1.3 Industry Trends



2 Report Outline

2.1 Report Scope

2.2 Report Summary

2.3 Research Methodology

2.4 Report Assumptions



3 Market Snapshot

3.1 Market Definition

3.2 Segmented Addressable Market (SAM)

3.3 Industry Trends

3.4 Related Markets

3.4.1 Nebulizers

3.4.2 Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

3.4.3 Capnography

3.4.4 Anti-Snoring Devices



4 Market Outlook

4.1 Evolution

4.2 Porter 5 (Five) Forces



5 Market Characteristics

5.1 Evolution

5.2 Market Segmentation

5.3 Market Dynamics

5.3.1 Drivers

5.3.1.1 Rising Prevalence of Respiratory Diseases

5.3.1.2 Government endorsement to use pulse oximeter

5.3.1.3 Inexpensive nature of the devices

5.3.2 Restraints

5.3.2.1 Limitations of Pulse Oximetry

5.3.2.2 Availability of substitutes

5.3.2.3 Stringent regulations for approval and mandatory licensing for practitioners

5.3.3 Opportunities

5.3.3.1 Technological advancement

5.3.3.2 Growing demand for home care settings

5.3.4 DRO - Impact Analysis

5.4 Key Stakeholders



6 Product Types: Market Size and Analysis

6.1 Overview

6.2 Fingertip pulse oximeters

6.3 Handheld pulse oximeters

6.4 Wristband pulse oximeters

6.5 Tabletop pulse oximeters

6.6 Others



7 End Users: Market Size and Analysis

7.1 Overview

7.2 Hospitals

7.3 Ambulatory Surgical Centers

7.4 Homecare



8 Regions: Market Size and Analysis

8.1 Overview

8.2 North America

8.3 Europe

8.4 Asia Pacific

8.5 Rest of the World



9 Competitive Landscape



10 Vendors Profile

10.1 Masimo Corp

10.2 Philips Healthcare

10.3 Medtronic Plc

10.4 GE Healthcare

10.5 Smith Group Plc

10.6 Nihon Kohden Corp



11 Companies to Watch for

11.1 Dragerwerk

11.2 Becton Dickinson and Company

11.3 Nonin Medical, Inc.

11.4 OMRON

11.5 Mindray Medical International Limited



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/n69tth/pulse_oximetry?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Tom Campbell

Do you remember the TV game show Family Feud? It was good fun as one family competes with another for cash prizes, but we all know that real life family feuds can be bitter, divisive and cause great damage.For many years the United Methodist Church, along with many other denominations has been having differences over human sexuality, specifically about whether to ordain homosexual pastors, as well as whether or not to marry gay couples. Those discussions have become heated and emotionally charged, pitting families and congregations with different beliefs against each other. It has reached a point where the issue now threatens the unity in the United Methodist Church. Methodists comprise the third largest faith organization in our nation.Next week, in St. Louis, Methodist delegates from four continents gather to attempt to resolve those differences. Among the thousands of delegates attending this special session of the General Conference will be traditionalists, contextualists and progressives. Traditionalists believe in marriage between one man and one woman. They want greater accountability and fidelity within that union and disallow the ordination of and marriage of homosexuals. Contextualists acknowledge there are differences within various settings and are willing to allow those disparate beliefs and practices. Progressives want full inclusion of all persons in the life of the denomination and believe the church can celebrate same-sex marriages.For almost two years 32 people representing 9 countries have been praying about, meeting and discussing this issue. They represent a cross section of the Methodist faith and have been tasked with finding "a way forward," a solution that will cause the least damage to the denomination, result in the fewest loss of members or financial support, and have the least impact on the overall mission of making disciples for Jesus. It should come as no surprise that after two years this group has been unable to find a solution that can be universally embraced. Now they are taking it to the church as a whole for a solution.Already this issue has torn asunder the Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations. In both instances the resulting survivors are smaller in numbers, less influential and significantly weaker financially. Next week's St. Louis conference threatens that same outcome for Methodists.This gathering is symptomatic of society today. Nobody admits to wanting to widen divisions among races, sexes, religious faiths or political parties, yet few are willing to compromise or yield their positions significantly enough to prevent the resultant damage. The feuds rage on.We continue to fight these cultural, philosophical and religious battles, an acknowledgement that we never really learned from feuds from the past.Nobody knows for a certainty what will happen at the Methodist summit. You don't have to be a Methodist to be in prayer that people of faith and good will can summon the grace, compassion, understanding and wisdom to find a solution that will continue them united. And, if they are able to do so, that they will come home and demonstrate to us how to reconcile differences and heal wounds.The family feud might make a good game show, but in real life there are losses on all sides and the experience can wreak damage for years to come. Hopefully all will agree that at this moment we need some reconciliation and peace.
It's no secret that Americans pay more for health care than any other industrialized country in the world. In 2017, health care spending reached 3.5 trillion or roughly $10,739 a person. The share of health care spending as a portion of GDP reached 17.9 percent. CMS projects health care spending will grow at a rate of 5.5 percent a year until the year 2026 where Americans will spend a projected $5.7 trillion.Hospital prices have been a major point of concern for many patients and health scholars. Provider networks are one of the culprits. Facilities and physicians can either be "in-network" or "out-of-network." The negotiations between network providers and insurance companies are among the factors that determine the final bill when a procedure is completed."Surprise" bills arise when private insurance providers, health care facilities, and physicians can't agree on pre-negotiated prices for specific services or procedures. The customer bears the costs of those failed agreements.What if insurance companies did not negotiate on behalf of the patient? What if patients were able to choose from a variety of doctors willing to perform the procedure? That is the idea behind an auction-based system of purchasing health care.Auction-based systems place the patient in control of the purchasing process. Patients get to choose the doctor who will perform the procedure they require. In this type of arrangement, there is downward pressure on physicians and facilities to respond to the market demands of the patients. Instead of a guaranteed procedure through an insurance contract, providers would have to compete with each other to win the business of the patient. Patients are better off when there is more competition between providers to offer the highest quality procedure at the lowest cost. Medibid is a pioneer in this type of medical purchasing arrangement. Medibid offers a platform for cash-paying customers to have licensed physicians around the world bid to perform procedures needed by patients. There are ratings for the physician and the facility, reviews of previous patients, and a real-time second opinion from another physician. Often, these providers agree to rates that are less than the rates paid by Medicare for the same service.The health care industry has some of the least transparent pricing procedures in the entire country. Few know what the true price of care because the price negotiation between insurers and providers, rebates, kickbacks, and other processes split the link between quality and price in the health care system. In an auction-based system, all this information would be presented to the patient before rather than after the procedure occurs.A recent study published in Health Affairs concluded that hospital facility fees , not physician prices, were a more significant driver of increased health care costs in hospitals. The study also found that inpatient prices grew faster than outpatient prices. So, why are hospital costs rising?One possible answer could be that in states like North Carolina, certificate-of-need laws insulate hospitals and other providers from competition. When there is no market competitor who offers the same service for a lower price, the incumbent providers have the power to charge their desired rates.The rate and size of hospital mergers as well as hospital system acquisitions of independent providers may also be to blame. As a hospital system purchases additional facilities and practices, its share of the market grows. As its share of the market grows and competition decreases, its power to set prices increases.By allowing licensed physicians to bid for their procedures, auction-based purchasing of health care could solve the pricing problem. This may not be an appropriate arrangement for all medical purchasing, but one can see how patients could benefit from the purchasing of larger medical procedures in this type of arrangement.There are a few limitations to the proposed auction-based method of selecting physicians for a procedure. In metropolitan areas, there are large concentrations of hospital-dominated facilities. In cases like these, there may not be significant variations in the proposed prices offered to patients. This pricing uniformity may be common in major markets, so the patient may be in a similar position as they would be with insurer negotiating prices.An auction-based method also would allow doctors from out of state to bid on a procedure they could offer for a lower price. The patient then would have the choice to travel for a medical procedure, that is, utilize a form of medical tourism. This presents another trade-off that patients have to make in this auction-based setting. Should a patient be compelled to schedule a procedure at a hospital down the road when an out-of-state facility offers it at a lower price?Although there are some limitations to this proposal, the idea to have medical providers bid for services is a potentially disruptive innovation because Americans have trusted insurance companies to do the negotiating for them for generations. However, as stated above, when there is a break down in those negotiations, the result is often surprise billing and higher costs.As policymakers attempt to address the systemic problems of high health care costs, they would be wise to keep in mind the market forces that have driven down prices for goods and service in almost every other industry. In the traditional third-party payer system, there are very few market forces. Future health insurance or facility pricing reform should try to incorporate principles that Medibid has incorporated into their business model: let the consumers have the power and increase competition between the providers. When providers compete for the scare dollars that are spent on health care, they are forced to respond to the market demands of patients.
EHL Ingredients has expanded its premises, investing 1 million in a new 8,000 sq ft site in Stockport.

The new premises joins EHL Ingredients other two facilities on the Broadstone Industrial Estate, Reddish, Stockport, taking the total site space up to 40,000 sq ft.

The latest addition houses new machinery, including a vertical form filler which fills pillow bags and tubs for dried herbs and spices, seeds and powders, as well as other products. EHL Ingredients said the additional space would allow the company to process greater volumes of ingredients.

Weve outgrown our capacity in terms of storage, staff, machinery, administration and loading areas, so needed a space to allow us to expand the business longer term, said Tasneem Alonzo, joint managing director at EHL Ingredients.

This new site will allow us to process more orders and higher volumes more efficiently and quickly, and the installation of the new machinery will enhance production and allow us to continue to innovate further.

In addition to the new premises, EHL Ingredients is also celebrating some key achievements within the business. In July it launched foodservice brand Lahde, which features a range of premium, organic and conventional ingredients and blends for foodservice providers. It has also made several key staff appointments in blending and packing departments and, once again, achieved Class A British Retail Consortium accreditation in its recent audit.

Despite the uncertain times we are in, were confident in our position as a company. Weve strengthened our teams, developed many new herb and spice blends, broadened our product portfolio and expanded our customer base into new territories, especially in Scandinavia, Alonzo added.

Weve had some landmark achievements in the last year, and indeed over the 23 years of operating, and were looking forward to further growth and to building on our reputation as a leading supplier of food ingredients from around the world.
Trump used this to his advantage while campaigning.

When you manufacture a crisis, you have to give it emotional resonance. Trump pledged he would ask Congress to name a law after Kate Steinle, a civilian victim of an unauthorized immigrants bullet (he was acquitted of intentionally shooting her), on his first day in office if elected. Trump said hed name another law for two officers killed by an illegal immigrant who returned after deportation. And he took the term Angel Moms, which was used to depict parents who are bonded by the loss of a child for any reason, and redefined it to refer to parents of children killed by undocumented immigrants.

Its hard to imagine anything more devastating than losing a child, for whatever reason. But the president is exploiting some surviving families and ignoring others to bolster his claim of a national crisis by creating a distinct class of victims. When a reporter asked him last week what he would tell critics who said he was making up a national emergency, the president replied, Ask the Angel Moms. Do you think Im creating something? Ask these incredible women who lost their daughters and their sons.

So in lobbying for one kind of wall, Trump built another kind: one that separates parents who lost a child one way from all the other ways.
When asked if the snow day preparations worked Nayeli swore by them.

It works every time, at least its worked every time we have tried it, she said. Sometimes if theres a fun activity the next day at school and theres a storm coming, we wont do the traditions because we want to go to school.

For Scarlett, 10, and Lilly Ellison, 7, there is some parental disagreement about the effectiveness of wishing for snow days. Travis, the girls' father, told the sisters there was no point in wishing on snow days, as they were not having much success. However, when their mother Shannon and their aunt got involved, the girls luck started to change.

The women shared the voodoo tricks of the snow day with the two girls, and Scarlett and Lilly have found success putting those traditions to use.

Scarlett learned the importance of using the right ice cubes.

We use the small ones because they go down the gutter easily. We used daddys bourbon ice cubes once, but they are really big and got stuck in the toilet. We use the right ones because we dont want another plumbing issue, the girls said.

In addition to the ice cubes, the Ellison girls also put wooden spoons in their bedroom windows.
I heard one or two shots and then a whole flurry of shots. The whole thing was over in less than five seconds, Michelle Matthies, Sean's mother, said.

Isnt that just the most heartbreaking, yet endearing, response to the chaos? Reasor said of Seans reactions. We live in a world when we never know when or where this is going to happen. We are not just preparing them for school safety, we are clearly preparing our students for an unpredictable world. We are teaching them situational awareness, and Im so proud of Sean for immediately applying what he has learned in an awful situation.

I was kinda nervous, like really nervous, so I asked my dad if I could sleep on the floor and he could sleep in my bed. I realized at that point that it wasnt a drill, Sean said. I slept really well that night with daddy.

The following morning when Michelle Matthies took Sean back to school, she passed along a message to his teacher and principal.

Thank you for taking safety so seriously at Marshall. We stared in amazement as our son grabbed his little brother and a book. He told us all to stay calm and that we are safest in a lockdown. He read to his little brother in the corner, adding calm to the chaos, Michelle said.
These are recent reports of missing children made to local law enforcement. If you think you have seen a missing child, contact the National C
McCarthy said he had been impressed by what the developer was willing to concede in order to make the development more appealing to council, but that obviously many of his colleagues felt differently.

Additionally, McCarthy said if he had complete control of the project, it would look very different from what McGrath proposed but added, We cant expect a developer to do what we want to do unless we are going to pay them.

Throughout the negations with council, officials with McGrath lowered the number of four-bedroom units, designated 10 percent of units as affordable housing and committed to providing a free bus pass to all residents for the first five years of operation.

Councilmembers hoped the development might add more affordable housing than what was initially proposed, but were told by the developer that it would not be able to do so while keeping the development financially viable.

However, another issue for council had been the potential loss of property within city limits zoned for industrial uses.

Councilmember Charlie Odegaard told the Arizona Daily Sun the loss of industrial zoned land had been at the top of his mind during the vote.
In preparation for the upcoming winter storm, Coconino County announced that it will close a seven-mile stretch of Lake Mary Road, also known as Forest Highway-3 (FH-3) beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

According to the county, the road will be closed because high winds and drifting snow along are likely to cause near zero visibility.

When drifting occurs, visibility becomes limited and there is an increased difficulty for snowplow operators to keep the road clear of snow, according to a county press release.

During this closure traffic will detour along the West Side Mormon Lake Road, which loops around Mormon Lake and goes through Mormon Lake Village.

The closure will be in effect at the north entrance of Mormon Lake (near the scenic overlook) to the south entrance of Mormon Lake, which is about 35 miles southeast of Flagstaff.

Matt Rudig, spokesperson for Coconino County said the closure of this section of road is not particularly rare; it often occurs about once a year depending on the weather.

At the moment, there is no set time for the road to reopen.

Adrian Skabelund can be reached at the office at askabelund@azdailysun.com, by phone at (928) 556-2261 or on Twitter @AdrianSkabelund.

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21 February 2019

Danske Bank in dialogue with US securities industry regulator

As stated in the press release of 4 October 2018, Danske Bank is currently in dialogue with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which is conducting a criminal investigation in relation to the case of possible money laundering at Danske Banks branch in Estonia.

In addition to dialogue with the DOJ Danske Bank has received an inquiry from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is also carrying out an investigation.

Danske Bank is cooperating with all relevant authorities in order to clarify the full details of the case.

We have no information about when the investigations conducted by DOJ and SEC are expected to be completed, nor do we know what the outcome of these will be. We continue to cooperate with the authorities in order to establish a complete picture of the events of the case, says Jesper Nielsen, Interim CEO of Danske Bank.

Danske Bank

Contact:

Group Press Officer Kenni Leth, telephone +45 45 14 14 00

Attachment
Putting data privacy in the hands of users

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A new platform developed by MIT and Harvard University researchers ensures that web services adhere to users' preferences on how their data are stored and shared in the cloud.

In today's world of cloud computing, users of mobile apps and web services store personal data on remote data center servers. These data may include photos, social media profiles, email addresses, and even fitness data from wearable devices. Services often aggregate multiple users' data across servers to gain insights on, say, consumer shopping patterns to help recommend new items to specific users, or may share data with advertisers. Traditionally, however, users haven't had the power to restrict how their data are processed and shared.

In a paper being presented at this week's USENIX Networked Systems Design and Implementation conference, the researchers describe a platform, called Riverbed, that forces data center servers to only use data in ways that users explicitly approve.

In Riverbed, a user's web browser or smartphone app does not communicate with the cloud directly. Instead, a Riverbed proxy runs on a user's device to mediate communication. When the service tries to upload user data to a remote service, the proxy tags the data with a set of permissible uses for their data, called a "policy."

Users can select any number of predefined restrictions -- such as, "do not store my data on persistent storage" or "my data may only be shared with the external service x.com." The proxy tags all the data with the selected policy.

In the datacenter, Riverbed assigns the uploaded data to an isolated cluster of software components, with each cluster processing only data tagged with the same policies. For example, one cluster may contain data that can't be shared with other services, while another may hold data that can't be written to disk. Riverbed monitors the server-side code to ensure it adheres to a user's policies. If it doesn't, Riverbed terminates the service.

Riverbed aims to enforce user data preferences, while maintaining advantages of cloud computing, such as performing large-scale computations on outsourced servers. "Users give a lot of data to web apps for services, but lose control of how the data is used or where it's going," says first author Frank Wang SM '16, PhD '18, a recent graduate of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. "We give users control to tell web apps, 'This is exactly how you can use my data.'"

On that thread, an additional perk for app developers, Wang adds, is establishing more trust with users. "That's a big thing now," Wang says. "A selling point for your app would be saying, 'My app's goal is to protect user data.'"

Joining Wang on the paper are PhD student Ronny Ko and associate professor of computer science James Mickens, both of Harvard.

Creating "universes"

In 2016, the European Union passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which states that users must consent to their data being accessed, that they have the right to request their data be deleted, and that companies must implement appropriate security measures. For web developers, however, these laws provide little technical guidance for writing sophisticated apps that need to leverage user data.

In the past, computer scientists have designed "information flow control" (IFC) systems that allow programmers to label program variables with data policies. But with so many variables and many possible interactions between variables, these systems are difficult to program. Thus, no large-scale web services use IFC techniques.

Primarily, Riverbed leverages the fact that the server-side code of an app can run atop a special "monitor" program -- programs that track, regulate, and verify how other programs manipulate data. The monitor creates a separate copy of the app's code for each unique policy assigned to data. Each copy is called a "universe." The monitor ensures that users who share the same policy have their data uploaded to, and manipulated by, the same universe. This method enables the monitor to terminate a universe's code, if that code attempts to violate the universe's data policy.

This process incorporates a custom interpreter, a program that compiles programming language into code that's understood by a computer. Interpreters are also used to help runtime programs implement low-level commands into an original program as it runs. The researchers modified a traditional interpreter to extract defined policies from incoming user data and labels certain variables with specific policy direction. Labels will, for instance, denote whitelisted web services for data sharing or restrict persistent storage -- meaning the data can't be stored when the user stops using the web service.

"Say I want my data to be aggregated with other users. That data is put into its own universe with other user data with the same policy," Wang says. "If a user doesn't want to share any data with anyone, then that user has their own whole universe. This way, you don't have any cross-pollination of data."

For developers, this makes it much easier to comply with GDPR and other privacy laws, Wang says, because users have given explicit consent for data access. "All users in each universe have the same policies, so you can do all your operations and not worry about what data is put into an algorithm, because everyone has the same policy on data in that universe," Wang says.

Efficient copying

In the worst-case scenario, Wang says, each user of each service would have a separate universe. Generally, this could cause significant computation overhead and slow down the service. But the researchers leveraged a relatively new technique, called "container-based virtualization," which allow the Riverbed monitor to more efficiently create multiple universes of the same program. As a result, universe management is fast, even if a service has hundreds or thousands of universes.

In their paper, the researchers' evaluated Riverbed on several apps, demonstrating the platform keeps data secure with little overhead. Results show that more than 1,000 universes can squeeze onto a single server, with added computation that slows down the service by about 10 percent. That's fast and efficient enough for real-world use, Wang says.

The researchers envision the policies as being written by advocacy groups, such as Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an international nonprofit digital rights group. New policies can be "dropped in" to a Riverbed-run service at any time, meaning developers don't need to rewrite code.

###

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

ARCHIVE: Private browsing gets more private

ARCHIVE: Protecting web users' privacy

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
As defined by irrefutable knowledge source Wikipedia, a biographical film (or biopic) is one that takes the actual history of a person or persons and dramatizes them to tell a story about said person or persons. In theory, a biopic usually intends to tell the comprehensive story of a persons life, or at least the most historically important years of their lives.

You can probably think of a dozen biopics that veer from that course. Ultimately there are no hard and fast rules. And it sometimes seems that thats become truer and were seeing more documentaries (Fyre) and biopics (Bohemian Rhapsody) presented as what really happened made by people who have good reasons to present biased versions of that story. We often let it slide because the story is entertaining enough as-is, such as with Fyre, or because most audiences arent really there for the accurate facts anyway, such as Bohemian Rhapsody.

But that need for accountability still has to exist and should be pushed for. Otherwise, well fall victim to an ever-growing crop of biopics and documentaries that tell us what someone wants us to think, rather than what actually happened.

Thats the concern behind the impending Hulk Hogan biopic, which was announced Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter. Per their report, Chris Hemsworth, best known for portraying a mighty blonde guy who beats people up, will portray Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) in a film directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover movies, the upcoming Joker film).

On paper, that sounds like a cant-miss idea. Hulk Hogan was a true icon to a generation (or two) of wrestling fans in the 1980s and early 1990s. He helped legitimize professional wrestling as a billion-dollar business and crossed over to become a legitimate celebrity who appeared in movies, merchandising, and Saturday morning cartoons. He then helped re-revolutionize the business once again by turning heel (a bad guy) in the mid-to-late 1990s for WWE rival WCW, igniting a rating war between the two companies that reshaped the business moving forward.

If thats all Hulk Hogan did, it would be enough for a decent story about a guy who went from rags-to-riches, almost lost it all thanks to steroids, and reclaimed the mantle despite being a complicated personality behind the scenes.

But thats not all Hogan did.

As his pro wrestling career fizzled out, Hogan pivoted into becoming a reality TV star, which was a precursor to his divorce, his daughters failed singing career, and a car accident that sent his son to jail and left the passenger with brain damage. Then, Hogan was duped by his radio host best friend, who videotaped a sexual encounter between him and the hosts wife. That tape was leaked online in 2012 and Gawker posted it on their site, setting in motion a legal dispute that would alter the online media landscape and raise serious questions about the role of big money in controlling journalism. Around this time, Hogan was also fired from the WWE after a leaked racist rant, in which he says the n-word and, literally, I am a racist.

So, yeah, when you add in all of that, it takes what would have been an interesting biopic and makes it an absolutely fascinating biopic. The kind of thing that the writers could really sink their teeth into about the impact one man can have on so many aspects of the culture, positively and negatively. They could get into the paradox behind this man who presented himself as a representation of what it means to be an American but was, behind closed doors, a racist skeeveball. And they could perhaps draw use Hogan as a metaphor for whats happening now in this country. Theres a lot of ways they could take all of this.

But then you realize thats never going to happen. Thats because Hogan himself is an executive producer on the film and will also act as a consultant. Furthermore, longtime Hogan friend and collaborator Eric Bishoff is also a producer on the film. So instead of getting the real story about who Hulk Hogan is, were going to get a sanitized version of what they want us to see.

The biopic will not delve into those years or attempt to encompass Hogans entire life, says THR, Instead, sources say it will focus on his rise and is described as an origin story of the Hulkster and Hulkamania.

This isnt a biopic, its a rehab job.

Hogans reputation is pretty much mud in most circles right now. Hes hated by those who blame him for putting Gawker out of business and allowing himself to be Peter Thiels instrument to do so. Hes also hated by those who rightfully think hes a racist based on his racist comments, which hes never really apologized for in a true sense. And hes disliked by some in the wrestling community for having a reputation as an egomaniac who demanded that he always look good instead of helping to put over other wrestlers.

Hogan and WWE have been testing the waters recently to see how fans would react to his return to the company. Hes back on their website and has made multiple appearances on their shows, though not in a storyline capacity. The reaction may have been positive among those in attendance, happy to see their childhood idol return no matter what, but theres still enough bad PR waiting for them if and when they bring him back fulltime.

Thats what makes a biopic like this so valuable. While the film will undoubtedly touch on some unsavory topics, such as Hogans steroid troubles and perhaps fears of being past his prime, it sounds like the film wont go anywhere near the topics that people actually want to see. You cant tell a complete story about Terry Bollea without talking about whats happened to him in the past decade. And you cant gloss over those topics just to make the claim you mentioned them. But the point isnt to tell the whole story, the point is to tell the story Bollea wants you to hear.

It sounds like a shame and a real missed opportunity. We did get a Netflix documentary about the Gawker trial and impact but it still feels like theres more to that story. Perhaps theres a feature film separate from Hogans involvement that well get one day. One that isnt afraid to show us every side of the man, including the truly dark ones.

In theory, this Hulk Hogan biopic can still be enjoyable. Theres an audience for those who just want to watch Hemsworth put on the yellow gear, rip his shirt off, and tell kids to ear their vitamins. It could still be a decent story. But, as far as it sounds right now, it wont be the real story.

[THR]
WASHINGTON, D.C.Last week, a group of libertarian organizations led by the Cato Institute filed a court brief in the Backpage.com case, protesting the governments seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in assets owned by the shuttered sites owners, Michael Lacey and James Larkin.

The brief said that the asset seizures violated the United States Constitution on First Amendment grounds, because Backpage should be assumed to be engaged in protected free expression. But a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down on Wednesday could end up directly affecting the Backpage seizures based on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Eighth Amendment is most often invoked in death penalty cases, due to its prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. But the same amendment also bars the government from imposing excessive fines.

In Wednesday's case, Timbs v. Indiana, the courts liberal and conservative wings came together in a unanimous decision holding that the excessive fines prohibition should be included in the 14th Amendments guarantees of due process, to bar excessive property seizures by police and government agencies.

In the Timbs case, a man who had pled guilty to selling $225 worth of heroin to undercover cops sued the state of Indiana after police seized a $42,000 Land Rover that Timbs had purchased using money from his fathers life insurance. The police said that Timbs used the vehicle in the commission of his crimes, according to The New York Times.

But the court said that the police had gone too far.

The protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history, wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the unanimous court. Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties. Excessive fines can be used, for example, to retaliate against or chill the speech of political enemies.

While the impact of Wednesdays decision on the Backpage case remained unclear just one day after the ruling came down, Ginsburgs opinion echoed the view of a lawyer for Lacey, prominent free speech advocate Paul Cambria, who made the First Amendment argument in a November court hearing.

There's no doubt, number one, that this is a First Amendment case," said Cambria at the court hearing. "These are publishing activities. We have had case after case of litigation, both state and federal, indicating that these are First Amendment activities."

In an interview last August, Larkin claimed that the case against Backpage was the result of a political vendetta, stemming from investigative journalism by The Phoenix New Times, a newspaper founded by Lacey and Larkin in Arizona.

Part of the reason this has really worked is because you have Cindy and John McCain involved and they see an opportunity to even a score," Larkin said in the interview.

"We spent 40 years doing journalism, groundbreaking journalism, and they want to take all that away," Lacey added.

Photo by Kjetil Ree/Wikimedia Commons
The government of South Korea already bans porn, but the countrys online censors have long found it impossible to completely block access to online adult sites. In the tech-savvy country of just over 50 million people, at least 90 percent of homes have high-speed internet access, while nearly as many own smartphones, and South Koreans have generally found ways to search out and find their favorite porn sites.

But starting on February 22, the site Torrent Freak reports, the government will put new technology in place that will allow censors the ability to eavesdrop on secured internet connections, blocking even more sites.

The government announced that it plans to cut off South Koreans access to 895 overseas sites that it was previously unable to fully block, including hundreds of porn sites, among them Pornhub, according to The Korea Times newspaper.

The new ban also extends to gambling sites, and other sites with content that the South Korean government has deemed harmful. But the eavesdropping technology lets the government see the contents of user data packets that would otherwise be securely encrypted, which opponents of the new measure say will lead to China-style full-scale internet censorship.

The idea of opening up user data packets is not desirable and could invade privacy even though most information is encrypted," Lee Gwan-hoo, an information technology professor at American University's Kogod School of Business, told the Korea Times. The reason is that once the packet is open, even the encrypted information could be decrypted if the government finds out the 'private key.'"

South Korea has been suffering an epidemic of revenge porn and other types of non-consensual porn, such as "upskirt" and "spy cam" videos, in recent years, as AVN.com has reported, leading to calls from womens groups for further government crackdowns.

But the country has seen protests in the last week against the new government porn-blocking measures, including a petition posted on the official presidential website with 200,000 signatures, protesting South Koreas porn ban, according to The Korea Bizwire.

In response, the government has issued a statement pledging not to use the new eavesdropping technology to conduct surveillance of private individuals. But those assurances have done little to comfort the critics of the porn ban.

Laws in South Korea call for a years imprisonment and a fine of about $9,000 for a conviction of distributing pornography. But there are no laws against viewing porn and legal experts say that blocking online sites amounts to a punishment for an act which is not illegal, according to Bizwire.

Photo By Matthew Bowden / Wikimedia Commons
Today, fans of Joey Mills can find out more about the Helix Studios star in a new book inspired by his life experiences. Titled Electric Soul, it is the third novel in the Rise Up series from 13 Red Media, written by Taylor Saracen.

Electric Soul is a coming-of-age novel that depicts Mills life before he became a prominent gay adult star. Readers meet a teenage Millsreckless, brazen and unapologetically outspokenwho is still hiding a key part of his true self from the world. The book illuminates the struggles Mills faced as a troubled teen, his relationship with his mother and his path to self-discovery.

13 Red Media Ltd. founded by Keith Miller of Helix Studios, is a media company focused on providing consumers with fresh LGBT content. Electric Soul is available in select bookstores, Amazon and most e-book retailers on February 21. Following the book release, Mills will be making appearances in New York, California, Chicago and Missouri.

Electric Soul is a view at teenage life that isn't necessarily what parents or educators want to believe is true in America today, but it is, explains author Saracen, a former middle and high school teacher. She holds a bachelor's degree in applied developmental psychology and is interested in the plight of youth whose path to adulthood may appear unorthodox. I seek to de-stigmatize those who work in the adult film industry by showing how closely their struggles mirror our own, she says. They are a community that has been marginalized and maligned. They deserve better representation.

Her previous novels in the Rise Up series are His Own Way Out, inspired by the early life of Helix model Blake Mitchell, and Twink, a book about Helix model Kyle Ross. While the characters change and the stories vary in each Rise Up novel, common themesincluding the struggle for independence, identifying ones passions, searching for acceptance and loveare interwoven through all three.

Saracens hope is that the series illuminates how difficult the teenage years can be for young people, and how the complexities can be compounded by confusion or shame about sexuality.

Saracen says she grew close with Mills while writing Electric Soul. The beginning of the writing process was sitting down and talking to Joey about his early life and coming out. As I wrote the novel, I sent each chapter to Joey and we texted or Facetimed to make sure everything felt right.

Mills also gave her access to his mother and sister. His family plays an important role in his story and it was incredibly helpful to get their input on events.

Saracen came to admire Joey Mills energy and effervescence so much, she titled the novel after a lyric from "Young and Beautiful, a song by Lana Del Ray: and all the ways I got to know your pretty face and electric soul.

I hope his magnetism comes across in the pages, she says.

The follow dates are planned for Mills book signing tour.

Monday, February 25 at 7 p.m.

Strand Book Store NYC

828 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

(212) 473-1452

Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m.

BookMonster

212 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401

(424) 238-8576

Saturday, March 23 at 5 p.m.

City Lit Books

2523 N Kedzie Blvd., Chicago, IL 60647

(773) 235-2523

Sunday, March 24 at 4 p.m.

Barnes & Noble Fenton

721 Gravois Road, Fenton, MO 63026

(636) 326-4619

There is also party on March 2 in West Hollywood at Radiant Space. Click here for more information.

Pictured above, Joey Mills on the red carpet at the 2019 GayVN Awards; photo by JFK/FUBARWebmasters.com
Auburn sex offender sentenced for failure to register social media accounts AUBURN  An Auburn sex offender was sentenced to prison for failing to report social media a

"I would like to say that my actions were foolish," Brown said Thursday, admitting he ruined his life and his ability to be a responsible father to his daughter. "I've definitely learned from these mistakes."

Brown, who is currently at Upstate Correctional Facility, was sentenced to 1.5 to three years in prison. His sentence will run consecutive to to his current sentence for a 2017 conviction of second-degree burglary in Erie County. His earliest release date had been in July, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

 An Auburn man was sentenced for stealing about $1,280 of merchandise from Dick's Sporting Goods in Aurelius.

Supreme Hines, 25, of 13 Lawton Ave., pleaded guilty to both third-degree burglary, a class D felony, and fourth-degree grand larceny, a class E felony, in December. At the time, he admitted to entering the store, knowing he wasn't allowed to enter in the first place, with the intent to commit larceny and stealing more than $1,000.
The prisons in Auburn and Moravia are two of the county's largest employers.

Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, argued that prison closures will have a significant impact on communities.

"Countless local mom and pop stores, vendors, restaurants, community and jail support groups, just to name a few, will be upended overnight," Powers said. "It goes without saying local governments will suffer dramatically as their tax base will disappear."

Auburn Mayor Michael Quill said it would be difficult to imagine the city without the prison.

"We support the men and women in corrections who continuously keep our community safe," Quill continued. "We encourage the governor to recognize the important role and contribution our correctional facility has always made and continues to make to our community and our economy."

Even if the Auburn or Cayuga correctional facilities don't close, officials worry that adding inmates to crowded prisons could lead to more inmate-on-staff assaults.

DOCCS reported last year that there were 973 assaults on staff in prisons in 2018, up from 799 in 2017.
CCC's child care program serves more than 80 children. It's available to students, staff and members of the community.

While child care is available at community colleges, it remains a concern for single parents pursuing degrees. A study at Monroe Community College found single parents who used the school's child care center had an on-time graduation rate three times higher than students who didn't use the program.

Supporters of the proposal also view it as a way to address the gender pay gap. In New York, women earn 89 cents for every $1 a man earns. That's higher than the national average  women in the U.S. earn 80 percent of what men get paid  but state leaders want to close the gap.

Dina Bakst, co-founder and co-president of the legal advocacy organization A Better Balance, lauded the plan to create a child care pilot program at the state's community colleges.

"All too often, single mothers are unable to access higher education and job opportunities," Bakst said. "By providing women with everything from on-campus child care to advisement and educational supports, the pilot program will help lift women out of poverty and set them up for economic success."

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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For Andrei Trupceac, the breaking point came when courts in his native Moldova overturned the results of a local election that had been won by an opposition candidate. "That day I understood that justice doesn't work here," said the 30-year-old, one of thousands of people who protested the decision last summer in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. Trupceac is now part of a wave of young Moldovans, in the country and abroad, campaigning against corruption ahead of a general election on Sunday. A week before the vote, he handed out anti-corruption leaflets in the small town of Orhei, north of Chisinau in this poor ex-Soviet republic wedged between Romania and Ukraine. Last year the country ranked 117 out of 180 nations in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The NGO warned the government was putting pressure on activists. The World Bank meanwhile said in a recent report that Moldova was "captured by oligarchic interests". "Successive governments promised to combat corruption and transform the judiciary... but little has changed on the ground", it noted. - 'Used to corruption' - Some in the country's large diaspora have decided to come back from work or study abroad to protest corruption before the election. Among them are Alex Mihailenco, a 33-year-old who works as a start-up developer in London and is behind a movement called "Free Moldova". "Sunday's legislative elections are an opportunity to try to heal the country," he told AFP in Chisinau. "Moldovans have got used to daily corruption, they think it's the same in all countries, but it's not true," he added. "Free Moldova" uses online donations to print informational leaflets and posters, he said. Maria, a 27-year-old who declined to give her last name, had also temporarily returned to Moldova from Britain for the vote. She welcomed the birth of civil society in her home country, though many compatriots did not understand the need for such a movement. "It's something new which has nothing to do with our Soviet heritage," Maria said. The pair are among almost 800,000 Moldovans, of a population of 3.5 million, who work abroad and send money to their families back at home. These transfers -- estimated last year to total around $1.2 billion -- are the equivalent of 20 percent of Moldova's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank. - Dirty money - Sunday's election is shaping up to be a three-way race between the pro-Russian Socialist party of President Igor Dodon, the ruling Democratic party, and a pro-European alliance. Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2014, but Moscow still exerts a strong influence in the region. In rural areas, young activists are received with hostility and accused of being paid by "foreign interests". But those campaigning to clear dirty money out of politics insist they have no ulterior motives. Lilia Nenescu, a 25-year-old anthropology graduate based in Chisinau, said she dreams of "changing the world, as naive as this sounds". "We don't want to see our country governed by oligarchs anymore, even if they give electoral presents and are buying votes," she added. The candidacy of Ilan Shor, a businessman who is currently appealing a prison sentence over a billion-dollar fraud, is for many a symbol of the rot at the heart of Moldova's political system. He is all but guaranteed to win a seat, despite his conviction. In Chisinau, Adina Raetchi was going door-to-door to encourage people to get informed about their candidates and then turn out to vote. "Corruption is present in all areas, including education," the 21-year-old law student said. "I would just like there to be a change to the justice system -- this is essential if young people are going to have a future in the country." Moldovan NGOs are trying to motivate voters and battle corruption ahead of the country's general elections One political activist says Moldovans "have got used to daily corruption, they think it's the same in all countries2 Moldovan candidate Ilan Shor, mayor of Orhei, is appealing a conviction for fraud but is likely to win a seat in parliament
A propaganda app that puts China's powerful President Xi Jinping in anyone's pockets has become a hit in the country -- with a helpful nudge from Communist Party officials. Millions have downloaded the app, which tracks the amount of time users spend browsing inspirational quotes from the Chinese leader and watching short videos of his speeches and travels. People are rewarded with points for sharing articles or answering quizzes on Communist heroes, and one day they may be able to redeem their scores for gifts such as pastries and tablets. But it's not all fun and games. Some people say they felt pressured to download it, others hope it can help their careers, and local government officials have been heavily promoting it. The app's name -- "Xuexi Qiangguo" or "Study to Make China strong" -- is a pun as the Chinese word for studying, Xuexi, can also be read as "Study Xi". It has been downloaded nearly 44 million times on Apple and Android devices since its launch in January, according to Beijing-based statistics provider Qimai Technology. "It's a perfect example of propaganda in the Xi era... that appeals to China's large online population," said Manya Koetse, who tracks social trends in China as editor of What's on Weibo. "The party will go wherever the people are." - 'Xi cult' - Xi, who could rule indefinitely after parliament lifted presidential term limits last year, has enjoyed a level of officially stoked adulation unseen since Communist China's founder Mao. The party's propaganda arm has become tech-savvy in its battle for the country's hearts and minds, delivering its message through rap songs, comics and stickers on popular messaging app WeChat. Last May, it launched another free app called "Learn about China", featuring Xi's first book along with academic papers analysing his views. The new app gives users access to thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, university publications and TV serials and movies. Users must register with their mobile phone number and name their employer. An employee at a state media company said she posts her scores on her WeChat social media account because she is in line for a promotion and hopes her bosses will see she has "the right mindset". "It's a way to get some brownie points," she told AFP. One state worker said she felt under pressure to use the app, although it was not officially mandatory for civil servants. A doctor at a state hospital in Beijing, who only gave her last name Xu, said she had her parents use the app to take quizzes and read articles on her behalf. "Our scores are valid for two years and I am not sure whether they'll be useful (for my career) later," she added. Li Xin, who works for a state-run oil company, said it promotes a "Xi cult". - Bad reviews - Dozens of provincial and county governments across the country have held workshops to promote the app in recent weeks, local media reports showed. Beijing's municipal propaganda department chief Du Feijin told a workshop last week that the app was a "powerful starting point for implementing the spirit of the important instructions of General Secretary Xi", state-run newspaper Beijing News reported. Even China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma is a Communist Party member, is making a contribution: job ads on the company's website shows it has been hiring software developers to work on the app. While "Study Xi" became the top app in Apple's China app store last month, it only managed to get an average rating of 2.4 stars out of five. Ratings and reviews for the app were disabled last week. But analytics firm App Annie has preserved nearly 500 reviews -- many with a hint of sarcasm -- submitted by Apple users in previous weeks. "It's totally voluntary," quipped one reviewer who gave the app one star. "My employer wants us to learn enough to get 35 credits every day... So we have no choice but to carry our children with one hand and our phones with the other and chase points with no life," wrote another. The 'Study Xi' app tracks the amount of time users spend browsing inspirational quotes and following his speeches and travels "Study Xi" became the top app in Apple's China app store last month but only got an average rating of 2.4 stars out of five Corn dries in front of an image of China president Xi Jinping has enjoyed significant - if officially stoked - adulation
Dublin, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Molecular Diagnostics Market: Focus on Product Type (Kits and Consumables, Systems, Software & Others), Applications, Technologies, End-User, Country Data (15 Countries), and Competitive Landscape: Analysis and Forecast: 2018-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The market is expected to continue to grow with a double digit CAGR of 10.89% during the forecast period, 2018-2028. Growing at a CAGR of 11.08% during the forecast period of 2018-2028, the kits and consumables product segment is anticipated to generate a value of $20.33 billion in 2028. However, the global market for software and other products is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 11.74% during the forecast period 2018-2028.

The growth of the precision medicine market over the last few years (2010-2017) has been colossal and has significantly contributed to giving rise to a number of parallel fields of study and possible healthcare implementations. Molecular diagnostics have revolutionized the overall precision medicine industry by adopting highly advancing technologies, further giving rise to several inclusive applications including core molecular diagnostics, companion diagnostics, liquid biopsy, and non-invasive prenatal testing.



As one of the most transformative, and dynamic areas of diagnostics, molecular diagnostics have made significant strides in research and treatment dissemination that have been continuously revolutionizing healthcare across a broad continuum of diseases and health conditions. The evolution of molecular diagnostics into a more integrative aspect of healthcare routines has been widely established by significant laboratory tests in infectious disease and genetic screening, and a continuously increasing number in oncology. The insurgence of massively parallel methods is increasingly allowing the sequencing of entire genomes at very low costs.



Further, owing to the rapid advancements being undertaken in the industry and being led by revolutionary initiatives of developing mobile point-of-care systems and optimizing assays with the confluence of multiplexing at low costs, the global molecular diagnostics industry is set to witness significant evolution into more precise and accurate diagnostics. With a critical role in the global precision medicine phenomenon, molecular diagnostics are responsible for ensuring safe and effective application of targeted therapeutics, thus enabling better care with the ultimate aim of lowering the economic burden of diseases on populations.



The increasing prevalence of chronic disorders and an overall increased demand for preventive medication with minimal/no side-effect are promoting the growth of the global molecular diagnostics market, providing platform for the designing and development of highly enhanced and optimum products that would direct patients to their appropriate treatment modules. These individualized care regimes are improving quality of life of the patients and reducing economic, societal, and clinical burden, projecting a future of prosperity.



Presently, product categories within the molecular diagnostics market include kits and consumables, systems, and software and others. Till date, the healthcare industry has witnessed a number of successful products that have contributed significantly to the enhancement of technological advancements in making molecular diagnostics more precise. However, the consistent evolution of the market has further necessitated the insurgence of more advanced research initiatives that look to devise the optimum assay with the confluence of multiplexing and low cost. Additionally, with systems being developed at the interface of different technologies, precision diagnostics is soon to become a widespread reality.



As of 2018, the molecular diagnostics can be seen to have exposure in almost all the developed countries. However, with the rapid advancements taking place and an exponential progression in the number of companies entering the space, access to consumers is bound to become easier, thus significantly increasing the exposure in less-developed countries. The global molecular diagnostics market has been witnessing a steady growth since the end of the Human Genome Project in 2003.



Based on the region, the global molecular diagnostics market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest-of-the-World (RoW). North America is the leading contributor to the global molecular diagnostics market and was responsible for a 46.29% share of the global market values in 2017. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest pace among all other regions with a CAGR of 12.80% during the forecast period 2018-2028.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Market Overview

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Market Definition

1.3 Historical Perspective

1.4 Significant Technologies

1.5 Classification of Molecular Diagnostics

1.6 Global Footprint

1.7 Future Potential



2 Market Dynamics

2.1 Overview

2.2 Iceberg Analysis - Global Molecular Diagnostics Market

2.3 Impact Analysis

2.4 Market Drivers

2.4.1 A Highly Increasing Prevalence of Infectious Diseases and Various Types of Cancer, Globally

2.4.2 Growth in the Biomarker Identification Market and Advancements in Molecular Techniques

2.4.3 Increase in Awareness and Acceptance of Personalized Medicines on a Global Level

2.4.4 Significant External Funding for Executing Research and Development Exercises

2.5 Market Restraints

2.5.1 Uncertain Reimbursement Scenario

2.5.2 Lack of High-Complexity Testing Centers

2.5.3 Complex Regulatory Frameworks Delaying the Approval of New Molecular Diagnostic Tests

2.6 Market Opportunities

2.6.1 Massive Scope for Adoption of Molecular Diagnostics in Emerging Nations

2.6.2 Increase in the Adoption of Automation & Multiplexing of Technologies

2.6.3 Rise of Next Generation Ultrasensitive Molecular Diagnostics

2.6.4 Novel Revenue Streams



3 Competitive Landscape

3.1 Key Strategies and Developments

3.1.1 Synergistic Activities

3.1.2 Approvals

3.1.3 Product Launches and Enhancements

3.1.4 Acquisitions

3.1.5 Funding and Expansion Activities

3.2 Market Share Analysis

3.3 Growth Share Analysis (Opportunity Mapping)

3.4 Industry Attractiveness



4 Regulatory Framework

4.1 Legal Requirements and Framework in the U.S.

4.2 Legal Requirements and Framework in Europe

4.3 Legal Requirements and Framework in Asia-Pacific

4.3.1 China

4.3.2 Japan



5 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market (by Product)

5.1 Overview

5.2 Kits and Consumables

5.3 Systems

5.4 Software and Other Products



6 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market (by Application)

6.1 Overview

6.2 Core Molecular Diagnostics

6.2.1 Infectious Diseases

6.2.2 Genetic Testing

6.2.3 Blood Donor Screening

6.2.4 Oncology (Excluding Companion Diagnostics and Liquid Biopsy)

6.2.5 Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Testing

6.2.6 Other Applications

6.3 Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT)

6.4 Companion Diagnostics

6.5 Liquid Biopsy



7 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market (by Technology)

7.1 Overview

7.2 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

7.3 Sequencing

7.4 Microarray

7.5 In-situ Hybridization

7.6 Immunohistochemistry

7.7 Nucleic Acid Amplification

7.8 Isothermal Amplification

7.9 Others



8 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market (by End-User)

8.1 Overview

8.2 Hospitals

8.3 Diagnostic Centers

8.4 Out-Patient Clinics/General Practitioners

8.5 Research Laboratories



9 Global Molecular Diagnostics Market (by Region)

9.1 Overview

9.2 North America

9.2.1 The U.S.

9.2.2 Canada

9.3 Europe

9.3.1 Germany

9.3.2 France

9.3.3 Italy

9.3.4 The U.K.

9.3.5 Spain

9.3.6 The Netherlands

9.3.7 Rest-of-Europe

9.4 Asia-Pacific

9.4.1 Japan

9.4.2 China

9.4.3 India

9.4.4 Australia

9.4.5 Singapore

9.4.6 Rest-of-APAC

9.5 Latin America

9.5.1 Brazil

9.5.2 Mexico

9.5.3 Rest-of-Latin America

9.6 Rest-of-the-World



10 Company Profiles



Abbott Laboratories

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Becton, Dickinson and Company

bioMrieux S.A.

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.

Danaher Corporation

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG

GUARDANT HEALTH, INC

HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc.

Illumina, Inc.

Invivoscribe Technologies, Inc.

MolecularMD Corporation

QIAGEN N.V.

QuantuMDx Group Ltd.

Siemens Healthineers, Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

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A top French Islamic State jihadist who became notorious after voicing an audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 attacks in Paris has been killed in an overnight airstrike, security sources told AFP. Fabien Clain, who is believed to have gone to Syria in March 2015, was killed in the terror group's last Syrian redoubt of Baghouz, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Clain is a seasoned jihadist, who was found guilty of helping send extremists to fight US forces in Iraq in 2009 before leaving himself to live in Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate six years later. In his video after the Paris attacks, Clain can be heard announcing that "eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" had conducted a "blessed attack on... Crusader France." The chilling propaganda recording warned that the Paris 2015 jihadist rampage was just "the beginning of the storm". The IS gunmen slaughtered 129 people in coordinated attacks at restaurants and bars around Paris, the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium in an atrocity that stunned the world. His brother Jean-Michel, also a jihadist, was wounded in the same raid that killed Fabien in Baghouz, where the last IS fighters are holding out against US-backed Syrian forces, the sources said. There was no immediate confirmation of the report from the French defence or foreign ministries. Fabien, also known as Brother Omar, or Abu Adam Al-Faransi, converted to Islam in the 1990s and is thought to be in his early 40s. He was originally from the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, but later moved to mainland France. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 for organising a network responsible for sending recruits to fight US soldiers in Iraq. At the time, he and brother Jean-Michel were active in a radical Islamist network, known as the Artigat cell, in the Toulouse area of southwest France. They are believed to have been radicalised by a Frenchman of Syrian origin, Olivier Corel, dubbed the "white imam". The IS gunmen slaughtered 129 people in coordinated attacks at restaurants and bars around Paris, the Bataclan concert hall and the national stadium Clain converted to Islam in the 1990s and is thought to be in his early forties
With flaming barricades and widespread looting, 10 days of street violence in Haiti have all but buried a tourism industry that managed to resurrect itself after a devastating earthquake in 2010. Ugly, violent footage beamed around the world has again sent the message that this impoverished Caribbean country is politically unstable and no place to go on vacation. The final straw was the helicopter evacuation last week of 100-odd Canadian tourists trapped as angry protesters demanded the resignation of the president, whom they accuse of corruption. "We have been through 12 days of hell. We managed the crisis but today we are suffering from the aftershocks," said Tourism Minister Marie-Christine Stephenson. - Blacklist - Beside the direct effects of the demonstrations, the United States delivered another crushing blow on February 14 when it urged its citizens not to travel to Haiti, which thus joined a no-go list with war-torn countries like Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. The minister said the US travel alert for Haiti was too harsh, calling the riots something that flared up unexpectedly and are now over. "OK, they lasted 12 days but I am not sure that other Caribbean countries, which have had riots of their own, have been punished as severely and quickly as we have," said Stephenson. Overnight, the decision by the US State Department hit the tourism industry hard. Travel web sites simply stopped offering flights to Haiti's two international airports. Hotels are reporting cancellation of reservations and many empty rooms. Officials in the industry have yet to tally up the damage but say that for the second time in less than a year, they will have to lay off workers. In July of last year, three days of riots over a government attempt to raise fuel prices ruined the summer vacation season for Haiti's tourism industry. It is not just hotels that will suffer again, said Beatrice Nadal-Mevs, president of the Haitian Tourism Association. "This is going to affect everyday people because these are direct jobs that are going to be lost and supply chains will be threatened: farming, fishing, crafts, transport," Nadal-Mevs said. - Mardi Gras cancelled - With the opposition planning more demonstrations to seek the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, the sector got yet more bad news with word that Carnival celebrations have been called off in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. City Hall said it could not guarantee revelers' safety. The festivities, which this year were planned for March 3-5, usually draw many Haitians living abroad and fleeing the winter cold in Canada and the eastern US. Another major Carnival celebration is scheduled to take place in the city of Gonaives, but the government has not said if it will go ahead. As grim as things are, some foreign tourists have gone ahead with visits to Haiti. On Wednesday, a group of Australians under police escort visited a square featuring statues of heros of Haiti's independence from France. Days ago, demonstrators at the same plaza were throwing rocks at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas grenades. A woman named Carole, who did not want to give her last name, said, "I trust the company we're traveling with. They not only want to take us but they want to bring us back." Kevin McCue, another of the people in the group of 20, said he was glad that their tour operator had not opted for Plan B, which would have meant skipping Haiti and spending the whole week in the neighboring Dominican Republic. "Tourism is alive and well here. People should come. The more they come, the better they spread some money among people who need it and the better for Haiti," said McCue. Violent footage beamed worldwide has sent the message impoverished Haiti is no place to go on holiday Angry protesters in Haiti demanded the resignation of the president, whom they accuse of corruption Haiti's tourism minister The minister said the US travel alert for Haiti was too harsh, saying the riots are now over
A group of bystanders on their way to work are being hailed as heroes after they helped drag a woman from a flaming car wreck moments before it erupted into a fireball.

The 41-year-old woman was sitting at a red light in Garyville, Louisiana when Richard Preston II crashed into her car, causing the vehicles to catch fire.

Dramatic video captured at the scene shows four men desperately pulling the woman out through the driver side window as flames engulf the back of her car.

Jeremy Zeringue was on his morning commute to work when the chaos unfolded in front of him.

The three bystanders rushed over to the car as it burst into flames. Source: Facebook/Anita Haley

She had seconds left. It was touch and go for a second. I really thought I was going to see that lady die, the 24-year-old hero told local TV station WPTV.

(The truck) hit her hard enough to shove her under the dump truck. Thats when both of them caught on fire.

The group used a fire extinguisher to smash through the drivers side window, with one of the rescuers suffering burns to his face as the flames grew in size.

It burned one guys face and his eye, so I put my hood on because it was heating my face up. Basically when we broke the glass, (the fire) was in her backseat already, Mr Zeringue added.

They used a fire extinguisher to smash the window and drag her through the drivers window. Source: Facebook/Anita Haley

He said he doesnt know any of the people who helped him save the woman but said he wouldnt have been able to get her out without their help.

The woman was transported to a nearby area hospital with moderate injuries.

Preston, 22, has been arrested on charges including driving under the influence. Its unclear if he has a lawyer.

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Two feet deep, below a plot of farmland outside the Syrian city of Raqa, lies a large and deadly legacy of the Islamic State group: a mass grave holding an estimated 3,500 people. First responders learned of the burial site in the al-Fukheikha agricultural suburb last month, more than a year after US-backed forces captured Raqa from IS and as they closed in on the group's final redoubt of Baghouz further south. The belated discovery is the biggest example yet of how the violence IS sowed during the reign of its "caliphate" will be harvested for years to come, diggers and activists said. Several dozen mounds of dirt line one side of the al-Fukheikha plot, marking the more than 120 bodies already dug up by the Rapid Response Division of Raqa's civil defence service. "These are individual graves, but behind us, by the trees, are the mass graves of those executed by Daesh (IS)," said Asaad Mohammad, the 56-year-old forensic assistant at the site. "There are some 2,500-3,000 bodies estimated there, plus between 900 and 1,100 bodies in the individual graves, so at least 3,500 total," he said. Eight other mass graves have already been identified around the northern Syrian city, including one nicknamed "Panorama," from which more than 900 bodies had been exhumed. "Al-Fukheikha is the largest grave since IS came to Raqa" in 2014, said Mohammad. - 'Unidentified' - Earlier this week, diggers in flimsy medical masks excavated a small bundle wrapped in greying, damp cloth. They peeled away the fabric to reveal a decomposing body with a detached blackened jawbone, which Mohammad examined. "Estimated 35 years. Third-degree burns," he said. Apart from his stoic partial-autopsy, the only sounds to be heard were the grating of hand shovels against the dirt, and the rustle of the wind through the nearby fir trees. His colleagues carefully placed the bundle in a white tarpaulin body bag onto which Mohammad scrawled the date, location, and a word he has become accustomed to writing: "Unidentified." By noon, his team of 10 had dug up eight bodies. Some had been dead so long there was little left of them, and the diggers had to weigh down the body bags with rocks to keep them from flying away in the wind. They logged any identifying details into a ledger and loaded the bodies into a white pickup to be re-buried about 10 kilometres (six miles) away at a proper cemetery. It has become a macabre routine, said Mohammad -? one he was sure will eventually be played out again in Baghouz, the last speck of IS territory further south. "The same thing that happened here will have happened there," he said. "Maybe it's even worse there, because the fighting is more intense as they've got nowhere else to go." - Missing foreigners - Since the Raqa division began its work in January 2018, it has exhumed more than 3,800 bodies, said the force's supervisor Turki al-Ali. Among them are 560 that were identifiable and were handed over to their families for a proper burial, he told AFP. The site at al-Fukheikha could help identify even more of the several thousand people whose fates remain unknown, including foreigners imprisoned by IS. "We've heard accounts from residents of al-Fukheikha that they would see people gathering with someone in an orange suit," said Ali, referring to the garb in which IS would typically dress its executed captives. US journalist James Foley was wearing such a suit when he was killed, and analysts believe footage of his death indicates he may have been killed around Raqa. Another American captive, Kayla Mueller, is thought to have died near Raqa as well. Their bodies have never been recovered. "These mass graves hold the answers to the fate of people who had been executed by IS fighters, who died in coalition air strikes, or who have been missing," said Sara Kayyali of Human Rights Watch. Even as the battle against IS as a territorial force comes to an end, she told AFP, there was much more to be done. "No matter how much we try to deny it, the work against ISIS is by no means over. It's likely the hard work is just starting." Civil defence workers survey bodies excavated from a mass grave in the northern Syrian city of Raqa, once the capital of the Islamic State's caliphate An estimated 3,500 people are believed to be buried in the mass grave in Raqa, a legacy of the brutal three-year rule of Islamic State jihadists who were finally routed in October 2017 Map of the last pocket of IS territory in Syria Civil defence workers excavate the site of a mass grave near the northern Syrian city of Raqa which may also contain the bodies of some foreigners imprisoned by Islamic State jihadists, whose fates remain unknown Thousands of bodies found in Raqa mass graves remain unidentified
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Rail industrys most modern four-axle direct current locomotive for Poland launched at Bombardiers Wroclaw site

Launch emphasises commitment to manufacturing, operation and services localisation in Poland

BERLIN, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Note to editors: To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/af195878-1d36-4b31-9ebb-052ea391a0ad

Mobility technology leader Bombardier Transportation and rolling stock leasing company Akiem introduced the innovative BOMBARDIER TRAXX DC3 locomotive for Poland today during a media event at Bombardiers site in Wroclaw, Poland. The TRAXX DC3 locomotive is now the most modern and efficient locomotive operating under direct current in Poland.

As the official launch customer, Akiem ordered 20 of these locomotives in November 2018, under contracts for a total of 33 TRAXX AC, DC and MS locomotives. The 33 locomotives are scheduled for delivery between 2019 and 2021.

Fabien Rochefort, CEO of Akiem, said, Were proud to have been serving a large number of Polish customers operating domestic and international traffic for more than five years. We have decided to commit further to the growth and performance of rail transport in Poland as well as in Central Europe by investing in some 30 new locomotives dedicated to Polish domestic and cross-border operations. Our fleet will count no fewer than 180 TRAXX locomotives by 2020, among which will be 55 locomotives operable in Poland. We are officially opening an office in Warsaw to support the development of both Akiem and mgw Service in this region and were delighted to embed new local skills and expertise to better serve our customers.

Peter Ammann, Head of Global Ecosystem Freight Corridors, Bombardier Transportation, emphasized, This project shows once again that we are supporting the Polish economy by producing carbodies for the domestic market and exporting them almost worldwide  including more than 2,400 locomotive car-bodies so far. Every single carbody for our European and North American locomotives comes from our site here in Wroclaw. This recent contract with our long-term partner Akiem has also extended the scope of our innovative TRAXX DC3 locomotive, the most advanced in Europe, to Poland, where the previous generation of TRAXX locomotives has been operating reliably.

Bombardier and Akiem are displaying their expertise in the rail sector by offering a wide portfolio of products, rail traffic control systems and services in Poland. Bombardier is busy at its four Polish manufacturing sites, with a total of 2,800 employees and engineering sites in addition to two permanent service depots, and Akiem has opened a new office in Warsaw and built a strong network of local partners. For the operators of TRAXX locomotives, the companies services include spare parts management, maintenance and a support hotline, all of which are managed by Polish teams.

With the new generation of locomotives, Bombardier offers the rail markets most modern and comprehensive range of electric four-axle locomotives. Its three models, TRAXX AC3, TRAXX MS3 and TRAXX DC3, cover Europes mainline applications under all four catenaries and offer optional Last Mile function, a support diesel engine which bridges non-electrified sections. The new locomotives are based on the successful TRAXX platform, with 18 years of experience and more than 2,000 vehicles currently in operation in Europe.

About Akiem Group

Akiem Group is a major player in locomotive leasing and related services in Europe. It has the benefit of the maintenance network of its subsidiary, mgw Service, which specialises in rail equipment maintenance. As the owner of a 440-strong locomotive fleet, Akiem Group generates revenue of 140 million euros with some 50 customers, who operate in freight or passenger transport in most of the European countries. Almost 150 employees based in France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Poland work for the leasing and maintenance business units of Akiem Group, which is held by Transport et Logistique Partenaires and DWS.

About Bombardier Transportation

Bombardier Transportation is a global mobility solution provider leading the way with the rail industrys broadest portfolio. It covers the full spectrum of solutions, ranging from trains to sub-systems and signalling to complete turnkey transport systems, e-mobility technology and data-driven maintenance services. Combining technology and performance with empathy, Bombardier Transportation continuously breaks new ground in sustainable mobility by providing integrated solutions that create substantial benefits for operators, passengers and the environment. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bombardier Transportation employs around 40,650 people and its products and services operate in over 60 countries.

About Bombardier

Bombardier is the worlds leading manufacturer of both planes and trains. Looking far ahead while delivering today, Bombardier is evolving mobility worldwide by answering the call for more efficient, sustainable and enjoyable transportation everywhere. Our vehicles, services and, most of all, our 68,000 employees are what make us a global leader in transportation.

Bombardier is headquartered in Montreal, Canada and our shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, we posted revenues of $16.2 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier .



Notes to editors

For news, related material and photos, visit our newsroom at www.rail.bombardier.com/en/newsroom.html . Please subscribe to our RSS Feed to receive press releases or follow Bombardier Transportation on Twitter @BombardierRail .





Bombardier and TRAXX are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

For information

Akiem Group Bombardier Head of Group communications

Valerie Barral

+33 1 80 43 01 74

valerie.barral@akiem.com Maciej Kaczanowski

Media Relations, Poland, Eastern Europe and CIS

+48 501 394013

press@rail.bombardier.com
Northern France, with its huge ports and historic trading links to England, has more to fear than most if Britain makes a messy exit from the European Union next month, but local leader Xavier Bertrand insists everything is ready. For months, politicians on both sides of the narrow stretch of sea that separates France and Britain have been warning about the consequences of a disorderly "no deal" Brexit, from transport chaos to major trade disruption. But Bertrand, who until recently feared monster traffic jams himself around the port of Calais, now predicts that cars, trucks and trains will continue flowing smoothly to Britain whatever the outcome of the tortuous Brexit negotiations. "From our point of view, for the ports and the tunnel, we will be ready," he told AFP in Lille, the capital of the Hauts-de-France region that sits just 27 kilometres (17 miles) from southern England at the narrowest point of the Channel. "Perhaps having sounded the alarm, that woke everyone up," said the head of the region since 2015, a right-wing independent who is widely viewed as having national, perhaps even presidential, ambitions. Finding solutions for Brexit, which will in theory see Britain leave the common customs system of the European Union on March 29, has entailed forward-planning, extra resources and technology, he explained. Around two million trucks head to Britain every year on ferries from Calais, while an estimated 17 percent of all goods exported from Britain travel in the opposite direction through Dover. Bertrand says that truckers will be encouraged to fill out their customs paperwork on a new online platform before arriving at Calais or the nearby port of Dunkirk -- which will speed up the loading of boats. Anyone without papers will be stopped kilometres from the coast in newly created holding areas where customs officials -- an extra 700 are being recruited nationally -- will assist with the formalities. New facial recognition technology will also be deployed to speed up passport controls. - 'Pragmatism' needed - Problems, if there are any, are likely to come from the British side -- or EU headquarters in Brussels, Bertrand believes. "I know that for Dover it is more difficult," he said, referring to physical restrictions imposed by the white cliffs surrounding the town. "The access to their port is more difficult." And he has pleaded for "pragmatism" from EU leaders and officials dealing with the process of detaching Britain from a trading bloc it joined more than 40 years ago. The biggest error would be to insist on re-instating inspections on food and animals being transported between the countries, given that the health and safety norms are currently the same. "If the Brits change their norms, then we'll change our controls, but until then, let's show some common sense," he said. And any attempt to introduce visas for Britons travelling to continental Europe, and vice versa, would also be impossible to manage in the short-term. "We'd need hundreds of border agents who won't be there for March 29 nor even for 2020," he said. - Brexit business - Further ahead, once Britain's divorce from the EU is finally agreed, Bertrand sees business opportunities, like his political rivals in areas of Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands which also sit across the sea from Britain. On his Twitter account, he trumpets every new investment announced by a British company, from drugmaker AstraZeneca to metals group Liberty House and most recently a driving experience group called Palmer Sport. "It's not about going to poach them," Bertrand said. "When you see friends in difficulty you shouldn't try to take advantage." But he's clear that Brexit will have an economic cost for Britain and that the Hauts-de-France region, with its cheap real estate and manufacturing base, particularly in the car industry, could benefit. "If they want to leave, they'll have the easiest conditions with us," he claimed. He has already proposed a low-tax trade zone to attract companies to the area around the port of Calais and the entrance to the Channel tunnel, which has provided a high-speed rail link between Britain and the continent since 1994. "The president (Emmanuel Macron) has said yes," Bertrand said. A new international school in Lille is also part of efforts to make the city more attractive to British executives, who can reach London in one hour and 20 minutes by train. There are fears Brexit could lead to monster traffic jams around the port of Calais and also in Dover in the UK President of the Haut-de-France region Xavier Bertrand has called for "pragmatism" over Brexit


Former foreign minister Julie Bishop is retiring from parliament after two decades in politics.

I will not re-contest the seat of Curtin at the next election, she said on Thursday, declaring she believed the government would win the coming poll.

Ms Bishop said a number of extraordinarily talented people, including women, had contacted her about running in the West Australian seat if she decided to stand down.

I will work hard in the meantime to assist a new Liberal candidate to win the seat, she said.

It is time for a new member to take my place.

Former Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has resigned. Source: AAP (file pic)

She thanked the prime ministers who chose her to serve as a minister  John Howard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

The 62-year-old also paid tribute to Senator Marise Payne as incoming foreign minister adding she was very proud of her.

Ms Payne choked back tears as she said Australia should be proud of its high status in the international community.

Ms Bishop hugs Minister for Jobs Kelly ODwyer after announcing her retirement. Source: AAP

It is in no small measure attributable to her leadership, her drive, and her commitment as Australias foreign minister for five years that that is the case, Senator Payne told a Senate estimates hearing.

Many have contributed in the past, but in recent times, her personal leadership has made an enormous contribution to that standing.

Ms Bishop has been an MP since 1998, and was Australias first female foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Ms Bishop and tweeted whoever replaces her will have big shoes to fill.

The former foreign minister addresses parliament on Thursday. Source: AAP

A giant of the Liberal Party

In a statement, he said Ms Bishop is a is a giant of the Liberal Party and she has been a ground breaker for women in public life.

Julie has been a good friend, Mr Morrison said.

I have valued her judgement, appreciated her insight and admired the tireless way she has served the Party, the Parliament and Australia.

On behalf of the Government and the Liberal Party, I thank Julie for her great service to Australia for nearly two decades.

The prime minister added was one of Australias truly great foreign ministers.

Story continues

He praised her efforts in dealing with Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster in 2014, when 38 Australians were killed.

Ms Bishop with then prime minister John Howard in 2004.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Ms Bishop had been a trailblazer in her roles in foreign affairs and as deputy Liberal leader.

He also thanked her for the way she fought for the families of the MH17 victims on the world stage.

She did Australia proud that day and in those weeks, Mr Shorten said.

He said he hoped to see her stay in public life.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said Ms Bishop has been Australias finest foreign minister and called her eloquent, elegant and always courageous.

Failed leadership bid

She served as deputy to three leaders, watching from close proximity as each copped the knife.

But it was never Ms Bishop bearing the fruits of the killing by stepping into the outgoing leaders shoes.

In August 2018, after a turbulent week in the Liberal Party that concluded with the end of Malcolm Turnbulls prime ministership, she tried for the top job.

But she fell well short, winning only 11 votes  including her own  in the partyroom vote of 85 MPs.

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It emerged that she never had a hope, with her own moderate faction urging each other to put their votes behind Scott Morrison to stop Peter Dutton becoming prime minister.

Her 20-year career in federal politics will end when the next general election is called.

Now 62, she entered parliament at the 1998 election as Perths member for Curtin and its where she opted to stay.

It was in the Howard government in 2003 that Bishop joined the front bench as aged care minister.

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John Howard rewarded her with the education portfolio and made her responsible for womens issues in 2006 but it was short-lived, with the government falling in the November 2007 Ruddslide.

She was elected deputy Liberal leader under opposition leader Brendan Nelson after the 2007 poll and was handed the shadow employment and workplace relations role.

When Mr Nelsons leadership imploded 11 months later she remained deputy under Malcolm Turnbull and took on the shadow treasury role.

Widely considered a failure in the portfolio, she stepped aside months later and shifted to foreign affairs  a job in which she thrived.

Incoming leader Tony Abbott kept her by his side after his one-vote partyroom win over Mr Turnbull in December 2009 and she kept the portfolio after Labor scraped into minority government in 2010.

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As Mr Abbott shunted the train wreck that was federal Labor in 2013, Australias first female foreign minister faced some tough challenges.

But she reaped the benefits of Labors lobbying for a United Nations Security Council seat, making the most of it to tackle issues including Iran, Islamic States rise in Iraq and Syria and shaming Russia over the MH17 tragedy.

The families of the Malaysian Airline disaster victims appreciated her deep and ongoing interest and sympathetic response.

She undoubtedly played a key role in healing the damage caused to relations with Indonesia by Labors live cattle debacle, boat turn backs as well as the Indonesian president phone tapping scandal.

Ms Bishop with former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2011. Source: AAP

At times, her profile put her ahead of Mr Turnbull in the popularity stakes.

In a March 2017 poll by Roy Morgan, 30 per cent of people surveyed said she was their preferred Liberal Party leader, compared to 27 per cent for Mr Turnbull and 5 per cent for Dutton.

Asked in 2013 if she could withstand several terms of government as foreign minister, the reportedly indefatigable Ms Bishop was unwavering.

Absolutely, she said without a moments hesitation.

You have to have inexhaustible supplies of energy to be a federal politician from Western Australia anyway.

With AAP


A friend of the two European tourists missing from a NSW beach has shared a harrowing message to social media as hopes fade of finding the pair.

Police scaled back their search for the pair on Wednesday afternoon, two days after their personal items were found on Shelly beach near Port Macquarie.

Englishman Hugo Palmer, 20, and Frenchman Erwan Ferrieux, 21, havent been seen since passers-by discovered their belongings at Shelly Beach on Monday morning. Source: Hugo Palmer/Instagram

Englishman Hugo Palmer, 20, and Frenchman Erwan Ferrieux, 21, havent been seen since passers-by discovered their belongings on Monday morning.

Their rental car was found in a nearby car park with a number of other belongings  including travel documents  still inside.

One local claims to have seen towels and gear belonging to Mr Palmer and Mr Ferrieux on the sand late on Sunday afternoon, raising questions about when the pair arrived at the beach.

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Friends arrives at Shelly Beach begging to have boys back

Two female friends of the missing tourists had planned to travel from Sydney to meet them, but instead arrived in Port Macquarie on Wednesday to watch as police search for the European nationals.

One of the girls, Caraa Blackburn, shared a picture of the ocean to Instagram story on Wednesday night, begging for the sea to return her friends.

Give us back our boys you monster, she wrote with the picture.

A friend of the two missing European tourists shared a harrowing message to social media as hopes fade of finding the pair. Source: caracatai/Instagram

A ground and water search involving police divers, Marine Rescue, SES and others resumed on Wednesday morning but was scaled back in the afternoon.

Based on advice from experts, police have scaled back the air and sea search, but sweeps of the coastline and foreshore will continue over the coming days, NSW police said in a statement.

A smaller search with local water police resumed on Thursday.

Family realistic about chances of survival

Police Inspector Peter Neville said a family member of one of the men had arrived in Australia and was being realistic about the chances of finding the pair alive.

Shes had a fair bit to absorb, Insp Neville told reporters at the scene.

Its a very difficult conversation to have sometimes, but we have been very honest with the friends and the family here and have told them what has occurred.

Story continues

They travelled here today not only to support the operation but also their friends, Insp Neville said.

Police divers and surf lifesavers during the search operation at Shelly Beach. Source: 7 News

Insp Neville said police did hold out some hope the men were alive.

We have not completely discounted the chance that these men may have survived or something else has happened to them, he said.

Surf Life Saving NSW dispatched jet skis and inflatable rescue boats to search the rocky coastline and beaches closer to shore.

Mr Palmer and Mr Ferrieux have been close friends for years, according to their Facebook pages. They both appear to have attended Sackville School, south of London.

NSW Police have been communicating with both the British and French consulates.

Police are still appealing to anyone who might have seen the men, or their car, near the Shelly Beach car park or in the surrounding streets to contact them.

with AAP

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If its too good to be true, it probably is.

Three Filipino call center agents have been sentenced to five months of jail time in Hong Kong over an alleged bank account scam, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement yesterday.

The Filipinos were identified by Hong Kong-based newspaper The SUN Hong Kong as Enrique Vargas, Ryan Illustrisimo, and Maureen Gutierrez.

The DFA said they were sentenced on Monday after their free Hong Kong tour turned out to be a scam to open bank accounts using forged documents.

The three arrived in Hong Kong on Oct. 9. Using forged documents given to them by locals, they all opened bank accounts at the Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank. Authorities suspect these will be used for money laundering.

Despite successfully opening an account, bank officials became suspicious and the three were arrested when they returned to Bank of China on Oct. 12.

Vargas, 30, told investigators the three of them didnt know each other. He said he opened the bank account in exchange for free travel and lodging in Hong Kong, an offer he allegedly saw on social media. Illustrisimo, 30, and Gutierrez, 23, said they took up the same offer.

Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Antonio Morales said the three are expected to be released in March after serving a reduced sentence for pleading guilty to two counts of using a false instrument before the Eastern Magistrates Courts.

Morales said that the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has been giving support and legal advice to the three, including jail visits to ascertain their condition.

This article, Filipino tourists jailed in HK for bank account scam, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!
With only eight days left in their trade truce, top US and Chinese officials on Thursday returned to the daunting task of bridging a chasm between the world's two largest economies. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed the talks with Beijing are going "very well," but concrete signs of progress have not been apparent in the three months since the two sides agreed to pause their trade war in December. China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday the two sides would "go a step further in deepening their communication." But analysts say the distance separating Washington and Beijing and the short time remaining before the March 1 deadline make it likely the outcome will feature banner announcements but fall short of Trump's most far-reaching goals. "I think the consensus of people that have been following this thing is that they're not making nearly as much progress as the president tweets that they've been making," said William Reinsch, a former US trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Chinese trade envoy Liu He is leading Beijing's delegation in the fourth round of negotiations with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other American officials Thursday and Friday as they work to head off an escalation of US tariffs. Trump this week said a March 1 deadline to reach a deal was in fact "not a magical date," raising hopes that he could delay the plan to more than double US duties on $200 billion in Chinese goods. Since July, Washington and Beijing have hit each other with tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, weighing on the manufacturing sectors in both countries. Washington has demanded that Beijing reverse much of its industrial policy, charging that China has sought global dominance through the alleged theft of American technology, massive subsidies and the promotion of mammoth state-owned enterprises. - When Trump can claim 'victory!' - Trump has said the ultimate bargain will be struck at a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping. Reinsch told AFP the two sides were likely to strike some kind of deal. "I'm sure they'll come up with something that will be more than cosmetic but less than we're asking," he said. "It'll probably in the area of intellectual property theft and more open investment in China because they're the things that benefit them as well as benefit us." But other changes -- such as subjecting China's state-owned enterprises to free-market principles -- could weaken the communist party's hold on power, making Chinese officials very reluctant to budge, he said. China's retaliatory tariffs have severely hit US farm exports. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Beijing offered to increase purchases of American agricultural exports such as soybeans, corn and wheat by $30 billion a year. Elsewhere on Thursday, top Trump Cabinet officials said Washington was focused on making sure any deal had teeth and could be enforced. "I know our trade team is hard at work making sure that the American people get that," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox Business Network. He said "this unlawful transfer of American wealth, American innovation" over decades requires that china "put structural changes in place to prevent it from taking place." "The Trump administration is determined to push back against it." Asked about an offer from China to buy more American crops, US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said it was "premature" to discuss the details since as any proposal will depend on reaching a "grand deal." "Clearly, the real issue is structural reforms regarding intellectual property guarantees, enforceability of those provisions," he said at a separate event on North American trade. "I think if we could get those kinds of assurances regarding China taking intellectual property theft seriously, then we could see renewed and expanded agricultural trade between the two countries." China's economy slowed sharply amid the dispute, eroding prospects for global growth this year. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a former US trade official now at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said he expected China to make a mega offer to buy more American exports, and possibly even to remove tariffs on US goods. "I'm thinking there'll be an eye-catching announcement as to how much China will buy in the next year or so that will enable Trump to say 'victory! victory!'" he told AFP. But should the agreement fail to hold -- causing Washington to resume imposing tariffs while accusing Beijing of backsliding -- that could pose prove embarrassing for the Americans, he said. Wall Street closed lower on the talks' first day, also driven down by negative European and Japanese economic data. Chinese trade envoy Liu He smiles during talks in Washington US-China goods trade US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (R) and White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, have demanded far-reaching changes to Chinese industrial policy US President Donald Trump speaks with China's Vice Premier Liu He
Arsenal reached the last 16 of the Europa League by comfortably seeing off BATE Borisov 3-0 on Thursday and overturning a first-leg deficit that had threatened one of the tournament favourites with elimination. BATE came into the clash at the Emirates with hopes of an upset after beating Arsenal 1-0 in Belarus last week, but the hosts were level on aggregate after just three minutes when Zakhar Volkov sliced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's low cross past Denis Scherbitski in his own goal. Unai Emery's side poured forward and put themselves deservedly ahead in the tie when Shkodran Mustafi thumped home a header six minutes before the break. Maksim Skavysh missed a good chance to put BATE ahead on away goals when Arsenal failed to clear three minutes after the restart, but another powerful header, this time from Sokratis on the hour mark, put the Gunners into Friday's draw. "We wanted this result but also we wanted to play for our supporters here, to improve and build our mentality after the first match away, which was not good. We did our best to come back (in the tie) and the team worked very well," Emery told BT Sport. "The players did our game plan as we wanted and they arrived in the box a lot with a lot of crosses. And we showed the efficiency we went, which we didn't have away." Arsenal will be joined by another of the tournament favourites in Napoli after Carlo Ancelotti's team, who have struggled for goals recently, breezed to a 2-0 win over FC Zurich that saw them win 5-1 on aggregate. Adam Ounas starred on the night for the Serie A outfit after laying on Simone Verdi's 43rd-minute opener before scoring the hosts' second with 15 minutes left. "We reached our objective with a serious performance, without causing ourselves too many problems," said Ancelotti. "I'm satisfied because we've refound our scoring touch ... sometimes we're too altruistic (in front of goal)." - Azmoun stars for Zenit - RB Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb and Zenit Saint Petersburg all also overturned first-leg deficits, with Austrians Salzburg hammering Club Brugge 4-0 to go through 5-2 and Croatian champions Dinamo 4-2 winners on aggregate after a storming 3-0 victory over Viktoria Plzen. Zenit meanwhile overcame Fenerbahce 3-1 in Russia, Magomed Ozdoev and Sardar Azmoun giving the hosts an aggregate lead before Mehmet Topal put the Turks ahead on away goals just before the break. However, on his home debut for Zenit, Iranian international Azmoun struck again 14 minutes from the end to see Sergei Semak's side through to the last 16. Pablo Fornals snuck Villarreal past Sporting Lisbon with a fine curling strike that gave the La Liga side a 1-1 draw on the night and a 2-1 win overall. Scotland's participation in Europe ended on Thursday after 10-man Celtic fell 1-0 at Valencia, already 2-0 up from the first leg in Glasgow and winners in Spain thanks to Kevin Gameiro's 70th-minute strike. Eintracht Frankfurt swept past Shakhtar Donetsk with a pulsating 4-1 win over the Ukrainians that gave the Bundesliga side a 6-3 aggregate victory. Sevilla cruised into the next round 3-0 on aggregate on Wednesday after a 2-0 win over Lazio that saw Wissam Ben Yedder score his second goal of the tie after 20 minutes before Pablo Sarabia lashed home Jesus Navas' pass with 12 minutes to play. Later on Thursday, Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea look to put recent turmoil behind them when they host Malmo with a 2-1 first-leg lead, while inconsistent Inter Milan look to hold their single-goal advantage over Rapid Vienna at the San Siro. Sokratis scored Arsenal's decisive third goal to see them past BATE Borisov at the Emirates Stadium and into the Europa League last 16
Regulatory press release 21st of February 2019



JAYS Group AB has signed a binding agreement to acquire the award-winning Danish lifestyle audio brand CLINT Digital which has been among the pioneers in Nordic design multiroom streaming speakers. The CLINT brand will be included into the JAYS Group AB organization from 1st of March 2019.



A dedicated team for CLINT Digital will be established in Denmark to further develop and grow the CLINT brand and to bring new exciting smart speakers and connected audio products to market already in second half of 2019. This team will be run by the original founder and commercial director of CLINT Brian Larsen together with Head of Product Development Rene Larsen and the Product designer & Creative Director Phillip Bodum, who all have strong knowledge for the brand as well as the worldwide market for connected audio and lifestyle loudspeakers in general.



The closing date is planned the 28th February 2019, when all CLINT activities including IPR rights will be transferred to JAYS Group AB, a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq First North. At closing Jays will pay a fixed purchase price of 750 000 SEK for all the CLINT activities including IPR rights, tooling and inventory etc. The seller EET and JAYS have agreed to honor the co-operation and sales of certain products through EET Groups sales and distribution channels, and that JAYS will continue to develop the product portfolio of the CLINT brand. The closing is planned to 28th of February 2019, when the final settlement will be made in relation to the transfer of the assets between the seller EET Group and the buyer JAYS Group. JAYS forecast the sales revenue of the CLINT activities to between 9 - 18 MSEK per annum 2019-2020 with a positive EBITDA result, with a strong growth opportunity following the new upgraded and more complete product portfolio planned to be released quarter 3 of 2019.



The previous owners - EET Group A/S  one of the largest European IT distribution companies, which have activities in more than 25 European countries, have been a proud owner of Clint Digital for the last 5 years and within that time helped in bringing this upcoming brand to market. Alongside the product development EET, have just begun expanding the sales channels in the Nordics from a one-reseller strategy to a multi-channel strategy, including major retail chains, A/V and Hi-Fi stores, telecom operators and lifestyle resellers.

This journey for the Clint brand has just begun and we are pleased to secure that the product portfolio will be further and rapidly expanded under the new owner JAYS Group. EET and Jays will continue its newly established partnership and expect increased opportunities to co-operate in the future, says CEO Sren Drewsen from EET Group A/S.



The new brand strategy agreed with the new owner JAYS is to begin to upgrade the entire CLINT product portfolio to latest industry standards with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, and at the same time also support the latest Apple Airplay 2 standards. By keeping the brand DNA and classic modern designs and adding the Nordic lifestyle brand and product approach already available at JAYS Group this will bring valuable expertise for sales and marketing for CLINT and will take the brand further among the rapidly growing Smart Speaker and Connected audio category, says Brian Larsen, founder of CLINT Digital and acting Commercial Director.



JAYS Group AB believes strongly in the CLINT brand, which have already won many prestigious worldwide awards, including IF Design Awards, Red Dot awards, Good Design award etc. All because of the Nordic design legacy which the brand carry and the overall focus for Nordic living and less-is-more concept. It goes well hand in hand with JAYS Groups communicated growth strategy and our future expansion plans to create a strong group within audio & sound and smart mobility & connectivity areas. We are very much looking forward to strengthen the partnership with the seller EET Group, and to develop the Clint brand together with the two founders Brian Larsen, Rene Larsen and the Product designer & Creative Director Phillip Bodum, says CEO Henrik Andersson from JAYS Group AB.



All customer and supplier contacts have been handed over to the new owner, who is to be contacted in the future in this regard as well as other inquiries related to future commercial business involving CLINT Digital.



Advisor

Advokatfirman Vinge KB has acted as legal counsel to Jays Group for its acquisition of CLINT Digital.



For overall and general information in regards to this Press Release, please contact:

Henrik Andersson, CEO, Jays Group AB

Phone: +46 76 199 35 55

Email: henrik@jaysheadphones.com



This information is information that Jays Group AB (Publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 21st February 2019, 08:30.
Sixteen states that joined in the first of a string of expected lawsuits over President Donald Trumps national emergency maneuver to fund a southern border wall could lock up nearly $7 billion in national spending if the funds come under the courts jurisdiction.

The lawsuit filed in a federal district court for the Northern District of California seeks an injunction to stop the Trump administration from using $7 billion in federal funds already allocated to states to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The diversion of funds is likely to be held up in the courts for most or all of the remainder of President Trumps first term, a report from Rabo Research, a Global economics and market research firm, said.

Drawn out court battles that withhold the funds from the economy, the firm said, could negatively impact GDP growth. Consumer confidence, business, and investment could be negatively impacted, as well.

Very hard to generate the legal case

Whether courts will permit legal challenges at all is questionable. None of the parties that have sued the administration easily satisfy standing requirements typically required to maintain an action against the federal government over executive action.

Unless the emergency order targets a class of people who have a right to be treated differently than they're treated under the universal declaration, it's actually very hard to generate the legal case that would challenge the emergency declaration, Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of international affairs at Princeton University, told Yahoo Finance.

Jay Platt holds a sign during a protest in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. People gathered on the Presidents Day holiday to protest President Donald Trump's recent national emergency declaration. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Plaintiffs must have an injury in fact, meaning an injury that has already occurred or is imminent, and that is not hypothetical. They also must be able to connect the alleged injury to the defendant and show that the court is capable of mitigating the injury.

The 16 states named in the California complaint allege varying injuries. Some say diverting funds away from the states causes injury to state citizens because the state can no longer use funds to stop the flow of illegal drugs and carry out separate law enforcement activities. Others say funds diverted from military projects will stymie general economic growth and, in turn, depress state tax revenues.

Story continues

Whether those types of injuries are enough for the court to grant an injunctive order that and temporarily halt the use of $7 billion is anyones guess.

If California says youve taken the funds that well need for next year's fire season, it's a hypothetical injury and it's a long way off and Congress can re-top the funds, Scheppele said. Though with courts in uncharted territory, Scheppele said they may find ways to substantiate the states lawsuit.

In all, the president announced $8 billion for border protection. $1.375 billion is not under immediate scrutiny because it was appropriated by Congress for border fencing. According to the administration, the remaining $7 billion could fund actual border wall construction, including $3.5 billion accessed through the emergency declaration, $2.5 billion tapped from a defense department account used to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S., and $600 million from a Treasury Department forfeiture fund used to fight crime.

U.S demonstrators hold U.S flags at the open border to make a human wall in support of the construction of the new border wall between U.S and Mexico in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico February 9, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

The administration said it first plans to tap funds that do not rely on the emergency declaration. If courts find those funds are outside their purview it could lessen projected negative impacts on GDP.

Other potential lawsuits

In 2014, a federal district court paved the way for the U.S. House of Representatives to sue a sitting president. At the time, a district court granted House republicans standing to bring a claim against then President Barack Obama who sidestepped Congresss power of the purse by reallocating unappropriated government funds to the Affordable Care Act.

Because The National Emergencies Act of 1976 gives the president authority to invoke national emergencies and provides a measure for Congress to remedy executive overreach, courts have been reluctant to grant Congress the right to sue under the Act.

Theres a group called Protect Democracy thats planning to file a lawsuit, Scheppele said. The organization is comprised of former White House Counsel attorneys from Republican or Democratic administrations who rely on a body of informal executive branch laws handed down from previous administrations.

Going back decades it has been a kind of secret law of the executive branch, Scheppele said. The group, she explained, may have standing because they have a big stake in the continuity of executive office legal constraints.

Private property owners whose land the federal government would need to build border walls and fencing are another group of potential plaintiffs, though their claims would not be heard as a direct challenge to the Constitutionality of the emergency declaration itself.

I didnt need to do this

Trump may have undermined his position that drugs, human traffickers and gangs crossing into the U.S. supports a need for a national emergency declaration. While fielding a question about the declaration from an NBC, the president said, I didn't need to do this, I wanted to get it done faster.

Critics challenging the presidents interpretation of an emergency point to the speed with which he chose to declare it. If drugs, human trafficking and gangs were a true national emergency, they say, the action would have been invoked as soon as the president became aware of the purported crisis.

That argument, Scheppele says, might not be as potent as critics think.

The National Emergency Act does not define an emergency in any way, she said, explaining that under normal circumstances courts would defer from self-defining what constitutes an emergency.

Alexis Keenan is a New York-based reporter for Yahoo Finance. She previously produced live news for CNN and is a former litigation attorney. Follow her on Twitter at @alexiskweed

More from Alexis:

Weed consumers no longer stoner that lives in his moms basement: CEO

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How legalized cannabis changed Colorado in the past five years

Legal experts disagree on whether Trump can declare 'emergency' to build his wall
Happier days - Patrick Pruaitch and Peter O'Neill were once branded 'The Inseparables' (PNG Facts)

PATRICK PRUAITCH CMG | PNG Opposition Leader

PORT MORESBY  I am alleging that Peter ONeills election as prime minister of Papua New Guinea on 2 August 2017 is unconstitutional and therefore null and void.

I am alleging that the illegality arises out of two distinct and separate grounds.

Firstly, the provision of the organic law, section 63, under which the head of state has relied upon to invite the Peoples National Congress Party to form government following the 2017 general election is unconstitutional. The ensuing election of Mr Peter ONeill is, as a consequence, null and void

Secondly, the election of Peter ONeill as prime minister should have taken place on the next sitting day after the notice of his nomination was given on 2 August 2017 to parliament.
New MPs John Pasquarelli, Simogun Pita, Sinake Giregire and Graham Pople show off their new suits - tailored free of charge to wear in parliament - soon after their election to PNG's first House of Assembly in 1964

JOHN PASQUARELLI

TOWNSVILLE  My long friendship and onetime political partnership with Graham Pople MBE has ended. My old buddy died in Cairns earlier this month.

He was 83 and had been ill for some time.

Graham and I were amongst Papua New Guineas first parliamentarians democratically elected on a common roll.

PNGs first election, involving the entire adult population of the then Australian territory, was held in February-March 1964, 55 years ago.

Graham Pople, Keith Tetley, Keith Levy, Barry Holloway and I were five white men elected to what were described as parliaments open seats (that is, open to all comers, black, white or brindle).

The House of Assembly was a 100-member chamber which, apart from open seats, had special seats reserved for expatriates and official seats reserved for white bureaucrats appointed by the Australian Administration.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Embassy of Armenia in the United States hosted a gala concert and dinner celebrating the richness and diversity of Armenian art and music on February 19 kicking off the Post Classical Ensembles Spring 2020 Armenian Festival. Attended by the members of the upcoming festivals executive committee, festival sponsors and supporters, the evening featured a stunning performance by world-renowned Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, accompanied by Post Classical Ensembles Concertmaster Natanel Draiblate, who enchanted the audience with their renditions of works by Bach, Ligeti, Khudoyan, Kodaly and others, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia.

In his opening remarks Ambassador Varuzhan Nersesyan spoke about the power of cultural diplomacy, the synthesis of cultures throughout history and the promotion of cross cultural ties. Later during the evening PCE Executive Director Joseph Horowitz gave a brief outline of the upcoming festival.

The Color of Pomegranates: An Armenian Odyssey 2020 Armenian Festival, co-chaired by Armenian-American benefactors Aso Tavitian and Noubar Afeyan, will comprise a series of events, including an Armenian Film Festival at the National Gallery of Art and an unprecedented multi-media immersion experience and concert at the Washington National Cathedral, featuring the PCE (ensemble-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral), cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, composer Vache Sharafyan and visual artist Kevork Mourad. In addition to these, a number of other events such as Armenian art exhibitions and concerts are slated to be held in Washington DC and New York. The 2020 Armenian Festival will be the third major cultural event in the US in the past few years exploring Armenian cultural heritage and traditions, following last years Smithsonian Folklife Festivals Armenian program and the Metropolitan Museums landmark Armenia' exhibition.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to the Holy See Karen Nazaryan met with H.E. Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See on February 18.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, during the meeting the Ambassador presented the agenda of the development of relations between Armenia and the Holy See and the upcoming measures and initiatives in this direction.

Ambassador Nazaryan conveyed to the high ranking representative of the Holy See the official invitation of Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to pay a visit to Armenia.

Under the light of the regional developments the interlocutors referred to their approaches and priorities.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The humanitarian mission of Armenia in Syria is an aid to the Armenians in Syria, ARMENPRESS reports Member of the Russias Federation Council, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Colonel of Special Services Igor Morozov said on February 21.

We welcome the step of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, that responded to the call of Russia to provide humanitarian aid. This is not a support to Russia, though its very important for us when the CSTO and CIS member states support our foreign policy initiatives, but its rather a support to the Armenians living in Syria and we are thankful for that step, Morozov said.

He added that currently Russia has a heavy burden of humanitarian mission on its shoulders in Syria and calls on all allies and partners to provide assistance to the Syrian people.

The member of RF Federation Council noted that the Armenian people have traditional and historical links with Syria and the fact that the group of Armenian de-miners and doctors is in Syria is a great step in terms of deepening the friendly relations between the Armenian and Syrian peoples.

A group consisting of humanitarian de-miners, doctors and Armenian specialists ensuring their safety, a total of 83 people, departed for Syrias Aleppo on February 8 aimed at providing professional humanitarian support to the Syrian people.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Defense Minister of Georgia Levan Izoria on February 21 who is in Armenia on an official visit.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the PM welcomed the visit of the Georgian defense delegation to Armenia, highlighting the deepening and development of friendly relations between the two states in various spheres. Pashinyan referred to his meeting with Georgian PM Mamuka Bakhtadze in Bolnisi in January, noting that the existing friendly and working atmosphere between Armenia and Georgia will foster the expansion of cooperation and raise it to a new level. In this context the Armenian Premier highlighted the frequent high-level mutual visits between the two states.

Noting that he is glad to be in Armenia on an official visit, Levan Izoria highlighted his meeting with the Armenian Defense Minister and the signing of the 2019 Action Plan on bilateral defense cooperation. According to him, Georgia is interested in strengthening and deepening the relations with friendly Armenia and is ready to continue the effective partnership in that direction.

The interlocutors discussed issues referring to the Armenian-Georgian defense cooperation.

The sides exchanged views on regional security and stability and peaceful settlement of conflicts, emphasizing the importance of mutual efforts in that direction. Pashinyan highlighted the balanced position of Armenia and Georgia on regional conflict settlement processes. The Georgian Defense Minister noted that Georgia highlights the establishment of friendly relations in the region and support the efforts aimed at peaceful settlement of conflicts.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Ruben Rubinyan, chairman of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, on February 21 received UK Ambassador to Armenia Judith Farnworth, the Parliament told Armenpress.

Welcoming the guest, Ruben Rubinyan said the Parliament highly values the current level of relations between the two countries.

At the meeting the sides discussed Armenias foreign policy priorities and highlighted the mutual perception between the two states on foreign policy matters.

They also touched upon the importance of parliamentary control mechanisms, as well as discussed issues relating to the improvement of the capacities of the committees.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government approved the proposal to sign the EU for Armenia: Territorial Development financing agreement with the European Union, reports Armenpress.

Minister of economic development and investments Tigran Khachatryan said within the frames of the agreement the EU will provide 31 million 250 thousand Euro grant to Armenia.

The main objective of the agreement is to implement the general and balanced inclusive growth in northern regions of Armenia, Shirak, Lori and Tavush provinces, through the promotion of smart and sustainable agriculture, innovative tourism and creative industry branches. The program aims at assisting and boosting the market-based venture companies which propose solutions to territory specific challenges, as well as to give impetus to small and medium enterprises with an opportunity of quick growth, the minister said during the Cabinet session.

The agreement is funded by the EU within the frames of the European Neighbourhood Instrument. The timetable for implementing the agreement comprises 72 months.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Former Minister of Nature Protection and former MP Aram Harutyunyan (pictured above) has fled the country by illegally crossing the border, National Security Service Director Arthur Vanetsyan told reporters today.

Harutyunyan is wanted on corruption-related criminal charges.

Speaking about Levon Sargsyan, the younger brother of ex-President Serzh Sargsyan, Vanetsyan said that he had crossed the country borders legally. Levon Sargsyan was serving as Ambassador At-Large at the foreign ministry when criminal charges were pressed against him. But Vanetsyan says he was able to leave the country because at that time there was no court order. At that time there was no measure of restraint against him, thats why I, as NSS Director, did not have any authority to restrict his freedom of movement, he said.

Arrest warrants for Harutyunyan and Sargsyan remain outstanding.

Levon Sargsyan is charged with illicit enrichment and false asset declaration.

According to Vanetsyan, they have intelligence on the whereabouts of Levon Sargsyan, however they need to have mechanisms in order to apprehend and bring him back. Asked to elaborate on the location of Sargsyan, the NSS Director only said that he is in one of the Arab countries.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Working Opportunity Fund (EVCC) Ltd. (the Fund) today announced that, in connection with the transition of the Funds manager to PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. (Pender), the Board has approved the appointment of Maria Pacella as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Fund and Gina Jones as Chief Financial Officer of the Fund, effective March 1, 2019. As the Fund continues its transition of management, the Fund and Pender have amended the new management agreement to designate March 1, 2019 as the effective date on which Pender will assume management of the Funds Venture Series and Commercialization Series.



Maria Pacella, CFA is Senior Vice President, Private Equity and Portfolio Manager with Pender. Maria has been investing in emerging growth companies, with a focus on technology businesses since 2001. She spent 11 years with the Funds initial manager, during which time she invested in multiple early-stage ventures and served on a number of boards, mostly in the areas of enterprise software, e-commerce and health-tech. As a result of this experience, certain common investments in the Funds portfolio and Penders management of the Pender Growth Fund, Ms. Pacella and the rest of the investment team of Pender have significant experience with a number of the portfolio companies of both the Venture Series and the Commercialization Series. Ms. Pacella is currently a director on the boards of Clarius Mobile Health and BasicGov Systems and an observer on the board of Tantalus Systems. She is also on the SFU Beedie School of Business Advisory Board. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, is a CFA charterholder and an active member and a past President of CFA Society Vancouver.

Gina Jones joined Pender as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer in June 2017. In June 2018, she became Penders Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Ms. Jones was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of an independent brokerage firm in Vancouver, as well as the CFO of its US parent. Prior to that, Ms. Jones was CFO at two Vancouver investment dealers. Ms. Jones holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC, articled with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and is a CPA, CA and CF, a Chartered Professional Accountant with Corporate Finance specialty designation. She holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Cindy Oliver, Chair of the Fund commented: We are pleased to have Maria and Gina appointed officers of the Fund as well as Maria as a director. We welcome the experience and expertise they, and the rest of the Pender team, bring to the Fund as we continue to reduce daily operating costs and work towards a reorganization, which we believe will provide potential liquidity to shareholders."

Maria Pacella remarked: As company builders and long-term investors, we are looking forward to working with the Board of the Fund to maximize the value of the underlying investments in the Fund and to help enhance liquidity for the existing shareholders of the Fund over time.

Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains forward looking statements which primarily relate to the ability to announce future plans to reduce costs and enhance liquidity. All forward looking statements are based on the Fund's current beliefs and assumptions which are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include delays in obtaining third party information and/or any required regulatory and/or shareholder approval, obtaining opinions from professional advisors, and the Board of Directors of the Fund reaching decisions based on that information and opinions. There can be no guarantee that these required approvals will be received and/or that the Fund completes a reorganization as previously described or otherwise. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Neither the Fund nor its manager assumes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this release.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Those who steal from the people of Armenia must get caught, charged, embarrassed, morally destroyed and sent to prison, Prime Minister Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting today, addressing the efficient spending of credit and grant resources given to Armenia.

We are once again discussing a bill on receiving a major grant. During this period we have again received this kind of grants and will again receive in the future. When we add the sums of these grants, basically, we get astronomical amounts. If we ensure the effective spending of these funds, it cannot not have result, the citizen of Armenia cannot not feel concrete changes as a result of spending of these sums. Therefore, the issue is very clear, we must create 100% guarantees that overall the state, credit, grant resources get spent targeted, Pashinyan said.

In Pashinyans words, if nothing is changing in the lives of people it means that someplace, someone is stealing something. There is simply no other option. Tens of millions of dollars cant enter complete sectors with nothing changing, everything staying the same and even getting worse. I want to say the following to the representatives of the government: vigilance in combating corruption occurrences should not get weakened not for a single second, not for a single second. Today too bribes are taken in Armenia, and the fact that from time to time we are having fact-based arrests is the most direct proof of this. But if this occurrence exists, it means we shouldnt have 1-2 arrests in a month in this issue, but 10, 20 and more. I dont care at all if the given person is an official, an ex-official, a representative of any political party, my family member or a family member of a neighbor. Those stealing from the people of the Republic of Armenia must get caught, prosecuted, embarrassed, morally destroyed and sent to prison. This is the principle. Otherwise, we are taking this money and doing what? the PM said, adding that everyone must pay special attention on this issue.

Certainly we are having working discussions regularly and will continue having in this regard. But it is very important that we very clearly realize this message, he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. A few months earlier the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition had notified Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on a study that shows the majority of mines in Armenia to be owned by offshore companies.

The PM said at a Cabinet meeting today that he forwarded the notice to the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources.

Why arent we forwarding this notice to the law enforcement bodies for a probe?  the PM said, tasking the ministry to redirect the letter to the general prosecution.

Because it seems that the majority of Armenias mines are being managed from a single place and this is an odd fact in itself. I think its worth the law enforcements [attention], he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministers of Armenia and Georgia Davit Tonoyan and Levan Izoria signed the 2019 military cooperation program, the Armenian defense minister said during todays joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart in Yerevan, reports Armenpress.

We have discussed the bilateral relations of Armenia and Georgia in the defense sector. We have signed the 2019 military cooperation program between Armenia and Georgia which is being signed since 2010. This year the program is full of events relating to the defense field, such as military education, human rights, military medicine, as well as various measures for fighting corruption. Armenia and Georgia mutually perceive and respect each others preferences and believe in the idea of having a more secure and prosperous South Caucasus, Davit Tonoyan said.

In his turn the Georgian defense minister said the Georgian side is ready to share its experience with the Armenian Armed Forces in a number of sectors.

We had very productive discussions with the Armenian defense minister on issues relating to how to deepen the cooperation between our Armed Forces. The Georgian side is ready to share its experience with the Armenian side. The Georgian side successfully shares its experience with a number of NATO member states. I appreciate the participation of the Armenian servicemen in the Noble Partner 2018 held in Georgia under the auspices of NATO which included several partners, Georgian defense minister Levan Izoria said.

The Georgian defense minister arrived in Armenia on an official visit on February 21.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. During todays Cabinet session a decision was made to provide financial assistance to the parties and party blocs which gained 3 and more percent of votes during the 2018 parliamentary elections, reports Armenpress.

The government will provide financial support to the ruling My Step bloc, Prosperous Armenia, Bright Armenia parties, the Republican Party of Armenia and the ARF.

My Step bloc will receive 78 million drams, Prosperous Armenia  9.1 million drams, Bright Armenia  7 million drams, RPA  5.2 million drams and ARF  4.3 million drams.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The traffic department of the German infrastructure ministry told Armenias ministry of transport, communication and information technologies that on February 21, as of 10:00, the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles, the ministry told Armenpress.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Foreign minister of Artsakh Masis Mayilian is in South Ossetia on a working visit where he met with the top officials of the country.

One of the reports about these meetings said that, Artsakh FM Masis Mayilian has allegedly noted that the Republic of Artsakh is ready to support the recognition of the Genocide of the South Ossetian people. Artsakhpress News Agency asked Information and Public Relations Department of the Artsakh Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comment the information.

-How would you comment on the report of the South Ossetian news agency on the readiness of the Republic of Artsakh to promote the issue of recognition of the Genocide of the South Ossetian people?

-First of all, it should be stressed that during numerous bilateral meetings with our counterparts in South Ossetia, the issue of promoting the recognition of the Genocide of the South Ossetian people was not raised by the South Ossetian side. At the same time, it should be noted that Artsakh and South Ossetia have established close and trusting relations, and there are no closed topics for discussion.

It is this stance that was expressed by Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Masis Mayilian during the joint press conference with the Foreign Minister of South Ossetia.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan has called for a powerful civil procession on March 1, the 11th anniversary of the deadly 2008 post-election events in Yerevan that claimed 10 lives.

This year marks the 11th anniversary of the [March 1] events. The decision on holding a procession was made as a result of discussions. This procession will be dedicated to the victory of the Armenian citizen, will be directed against vote rigging, violence, corruption and crime. The procession will mark the milestone that in Armenia the victory and power of the citizen are irreversible. No longer will there be vote rigging in Armenia, we are firmly standing against any violence, as well as political violence, corruption and illegal [activities], Pashinyan said in a live Facebook broadcast.

He said that on that day they will also pay homage to the victims of the 2008 March 1 events and overall to all victims of political violence.

So, I am inviting everyone to the Freedom Square [Yerevan] at 18:30, March 1, 2019 to hold a civil procession heading to the Myasnikyan statue on the occasion of the 2008 March 1 events. I also intend to address the nation on that day. On March 1, we must demonstrate our decisiveness and dedication to democracy and peoples power in Armenia, he said.

In March of 2008, 10 people, including two security officers, were killed in violent post-election unrest clashes in Yerevan. The outgoing president at that time was Robert Kocharyan, currently jailed amid an ongoing criminal investigation into the very same events. Other officials are also under investigation. The unrest was sparked when Serzh Sargsyan was named winner of the 2008 presidential election, which the then-opposition claimed was rigged.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
AHORA

El presidente @MartinVizcarraC visita la bocatoma La Pena, en el distrito de San Jacinto, como parte de la inspeccion de las zonas afectadas por lluvias en la region #Tumbes. #EstamosJuntosEnEsto pic.twitter.com/gVjfEK8goJ
According to the legislative resolution authorizing the trip, the Head of State will be overseas from February 24 to March 3, 2019.

The top official will visit Portugal on February 25-26. There, he will hold meetings with his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , Prime Minister Antonio Costa, as well as other high-ranking authorities.
El presidente @MartinVizcarraC: La naturaleza nos ha confrontado con una realidad innegable: debemos seguir trabajando para mitigar los efectos de los desastres naturales e incorporar la gestion de riesgos en nuestros proyectos de inversion y en nuestro ejercicio ciudadano. pic.twitter.com/2vkUVhy9oN
According to the international consulting company, mining investment surpassed all expectations in 2018 , as it posted a 26% increase, whereas the Economy-Finance Ministry (MEF) and the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) had estimated a 19% rise.
Mandarin Chinese could help us understand how infants learn English

Infants may be more sensitive to non-native speech sounds than previously thought, according to a study published in the Journal of Memory and Language. The findings shed light on the way babies begin to understand language.

The study, coauthored by Jessica Hay, an associate professor in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Department of Psychology, and Ryan Cannistraci, a PhD student in experimental psychology, looks at how lexical tones can affect an infant's ability to associate words with objects.

Lexical tone is the manipulation of a word's pitch contour. Although English words do not make use of pitch contours within words to convey meaning, many languages--such as Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Thai--do.

For example, by changing the pitch contour, the Mandarin word ma can mean either "mother," "horse," "hemp," or "to scold."

What differentiates Hay and Cannistraci's study from others in the field of infant language learning is its focus on these non-English sound structures.

"Most research on early word learning has focused on what is referred to as intonation languages, where pitch changes are used at the phrase level but not to mark changes in word meaning," Hay said. "However, over half of the world's languages use pitch contours to communicate meaning."

The researchers based their experiments on a cognitive skill called task switching--the ability to unconsciously shift attention between different tasks. The research involved presenting 14-month-old subjects with two novel objects paired with a novel pseudoword. The babies had English as their primary household language.

Once the infant was used to the association between the object-label pairs they underwent two sets of trials. In the "same" trials, infants were presented with objects along with their correct label. In the "switch" trials, the labels were reversed. By measuring average attention for both trial types, researchers were able to gauge whether the subjects had truly learned the object-label association. It may seem intuitive that the infants would have an easier time discerning between two objects when the labels differ greatly in tone, but this is not always the case.

In fact, the researchers found that the babies were able to learn the association between an object and its label more easily when they heard a sound with a high-pitch contour, just as babies that have Chinese as a primary household language would hear.

"We think it may be the case that English-learning infants are able to learn from the rising pitch contour in our experiment because they hear rising pitch contours in their everyday life," Cannistraci said. "In English, rising pitch contours are prevalent in infant-directed speech, and are also often used to solicit attention and to mark questions."

The experiments pave the way for a more inclusive approach to understanding how language is learned.

"In order to be able to generalize what we know about how children learn languages, it is important to study all sorts of different languages," Hay said. "By incorporating non-native lexical tones into our studies, we have learned that infants are able to apply what they know about their own language when learning words in a new language. This suggests that infants are motivated to learn language and will use any potentially relevant information available to them."

###

Learn more about the Infant Language and Perceptual Learning Lab and the Child Development Research Group.

CONTACT: Andrea Schneibel (andrea.schneibel@utk.edu, 865-974-3993)

Will Wells (wrw@vols.utk.edu)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Viruses that linger in the gut could trigger type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, provide new evidence supporting an association between elevated levels of enteroviruses in the intestinal tracts of children and islet autoimmunity, a precursor to Type 1 diabetes. The paper appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

Approximately 40,000 cases of Type 1diabetes are diagnosed each year in the U.S. In Australia, where the study cohort originated, almost 60 percent of newly diagnosed cases are in children and people younger than 25 years.

Researchers examined blood and feces collected from 93 children as part of the Australian Viruses In the Genetically at Risk study (VIGR), a prospective birth cohort of children with at least one first-degree relative with Type 1 diabetes. The study used Virome-Capture-Sequencing for Vertebrate-infecting viruses (VirCapSeq-VERT), a viral sequencing tool developed at the CII that is up to 10,000 times more powerful at identifying viruses than conventional high-throughput (next generation) sequencing methods.

A test of fecal samples found 129 viruses that were more abundant in the guts of children with islet autoimmunity versus age and gender-matched controls, including five enterovirus-A viruses significantly more abundant in cases. The enterovirus A species includes viruses that are the source of common infant infections such as hand, foot and mouth disease, but also encephalitis; in most cases, however, infections are asymptomatic or mild. Researchers say further study is needed to pinpoint the specific virus or viruses that can lead to islet autoimmunity and Type 1 diabetes.

Blood samples did not show an association between enteroviruses and islet autoimmunity, a finding the researchers say is in keeping with the fact that the body clears viruses from the bloodstream more quickly than from the gut.

"These findings strengthen the model that enteroviruses can spread from the gut into a child's pancreas and trigger autoimmunity in the cells that regulate blood sugar," says Thomas Briese, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology and CII lead on the project. "Knowing the virus types involved is a critical step toward developing new strategies for prevention and treatment of Type 1 diabetes."

###

The study's first author is Ki Wook Kim of the University of New South Wales. Co-authors include Jessica L. Horton, Chi Nam Ignatius Pang, Sonia R. Isaacs, William D. Rawlinson, Maria E. Craig, Preston Leung, Rowena A. Bull, Fabio Luciani, and Marc R.Wilkins, also of the University of New South Wales; Jacki Catteau, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia; and Komal Jain , W. Ian Lipkin, and Thomas Briese of the CII at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health.

The study was supported by the Diabetes Australia Research Grant, Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Grant, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, Practitioner Fellowship, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (Center for Research in Diagnostics and Discovery, U19AI109761). The authors declare no competing interests.

About VirCapSeq-VERT

VirCapSeq-VERT, a streamlined version of unbiased sequencing, references a library of sequences selected from among approximately 2 million genetic pieces, representing all viral taxa known to infect vertebrates. These genetic pieces are used to constitute a probe, which is mixed with the material taken from the sample being tested. Magnetic beads are then used to "pull out" the segments from the sample that match the probe; only these segments are finally analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. A 2015 study reported that the method resulted in 100 to 10,000-fold increases in viral matches compared with conventional high-throughput tests. The test has been used in studies of Chikungunya in Brazil, respiratory disease in Uganda, and unexplained illness in Tanzania.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Newscity Shooting Coincides with Security Training Authorities with Cleveland and Rio Rancho High Schools are training 10 armed security guards to patrol campuses and plan to install a gun detection system following a shooting that occurred last week at Cleveland High School. KOB4 reports the security guardsall of which are retired police officers, each with over 20 years of experiencewere already training when 16-year-old high school student Joshua Owen allegedly opened fire on a group of students. According to school authorities, security footage shows Owen entering the campus wearing a mask. He reportedly removed the mask and approached three students before pointing a gun at them. The gun failed to fire, and police say Owen manipulated the weapon and fired off a round. He then allegedly put the gun on the ground and ran away. No one was hurt during the incident. School authorities say security guards will complete their training within the next few weeks and will be allowed to start carrying weapons at that time. Cleveland and Rio Rancho High Schools will also be seeing a gun detection system that will alert school security when a weapon is discharged on campus and immediately locate the source. The system should be in place within the next few months.

Foundation Disputes APS Budget Findings Officials with Albuquerque Public Schools say they won't have enough funds to pay for certain programsthe Rio Grande Foundation says that isn't true. According to KOAT, recent property tax increases and bond requests made by APS were denied by Albuquerque voters. Because of the results, APS said they would not have enough funds to cover schools' equipment, furniture and technology needs. The district received $190 million from the state over the last six years, but the funding ends after the current year. But the Rio Grande Foundation told reporters that APS still has $321 million dollars left in its coffers. APS claims it is still receiving funding from another source for the next three years, but that money can only be used for construction.
Joe Monahan

In an effort to check the power of an absurd and dangerous president, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham along with Attorney General Hector Balderas led New Mexicans in joining 16 states that filed suit to block the Trump administrations unconstitutional use of emergency powers to fund a border wall.

Not Today

The complaint was filed on Presidents Day in US District Court for Northern California. The other states joining California are New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia. All of these states have Democratic governors and most have Legislatures controlled by Democrats.

There is zero real world basis for the emergency declaration, and there will be no wall, Gov. Lujan Grisham said. Lujan Grisham has challenged Trump's narrative of a security crisis on the border head-on. She recently withdrew most of the state's National Guard contingent, leaving a small group of troops along a well-traveled corridor to help cross-border migrants. The real emergency is the humanitarian crisis at the border, which most folks agree has been caused by Trump policies.

Filed on behalf of many millions of citizens in the 16 states, the lawsuit claims that Trump engaged in an unlawful scheme when he used the pretext of a manufactured crisis of unlawful immigration to declare a national emergency, seeing to redirect billions in federal dollars meant by Congress for the military, law enforcement and health-related areas to build his wall.

A Disinformation Campaign

Trump and his minions say immigrants are running across the desert to invade our country with drugs, disease and crime. Waves of facts and evidence counter these untruths. Most of the migrants reaching the New Mexico border are Central American parents with children and unaccompanied minors traveling alone to ask for asylum from unreasonable conditions. Asylum is a legal claim that is decided in federal immigration court.

I am appalled that President Trump would bypass the rule of law, manufacture an emergency, and weaken our national defense and readiness for a potential terrorist attack or catastrophic natural disaster, Attorney General Balderas added.

New Mexico and California are two of the four border states that would incur irreparable environmental damage, the suit says. Another separate lawsuit has also been filed in the District of Columbia on behalf of three Texas landowners who say they would be negatively impacted by an unnecessary wall built along the border.

More Legal Action

Many more lawsuits are expected in coming days and weeks.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, filed a suit that says Trumps administration has failed to identify any legal authority to take such an action. This complaint alleges that a border barrier would prevent wildlife from being able to freely pass within their natural habitat which could result in the extinction of jaguars, ocelots and other endangered species within the United States, in violation of Federal environmental law.

The American Civil Liberties Union is preparing an additional lawsuit claiming Trump cannot redirect taxpayer money during an emergency unless its for military construction projects that directly support the armed forces.

Who Is On Board

In a recent Albuquerque Journal article, Border Industrial Association CEO Jerry Pacheco summed things up when he questioned Trumps emergency declaration and description of the border in crisis. Theres not anybody here who lives on the border who can look at you with a straight face to say this is a national emergency, Pacheco said. The general sentiment I feel down here is everybody is sick of being used as a pawn or being used as a scapegoat to try to declare a national emergency, Pacheco said.

Not all Republicans are on board with this dangerous precedent. One Texas Republican lawmaker said publicly that he opposed the declaration of an emergency.

Should the presidency be able to declare gun violence a national emergency and dictate new rules where everyone but the police turns in its guns? Should the presidency be able to declare opioid overdoses a national emergency and create new regulations that seriously impede the market place? Should a president be able to declare global warming an emergency and ban all oil and gas and machines that use them? Those are three emergencies with real threats to the lives and businesses of thousands of citizens, much more so than asylum seekers at our southern symbolic Statue of Liberty.

Trump has responded that he is pretty sure there will be lawsuits but once it gets to the or as he sees it, his Supreme Court, he will prevail. We shall see and in the meantime that will surely follow, will continue to resist such power grabs for what they are.
Dateline: Kansas

Authorities who responded to a bomb threat at a Home Depot were surprised to find the bomb in question was merely a bowel movement. According to KWCH in Kansas, an employee at a Wichita Home Depot called 911 last week to report a bomb threat. We just had a customer here made what may have been a bomb threat, they told the dispatcher. He said, 'Somebody told me there's a bomb in here and you need to leave the building.' He said it three times. Police were sent to the location, where a witness told them the threat had been made in the restroom. According to witnesses, a man entered a stall in the restroom and then loudly announced to the other occupants, You all need to get out of here because I'm fixin' to blow it up. One witness told police that he had assumed it was a joke and laughed. Upon further investigation, officers were able to find the man in question, and it was learned that he had been referring to a particularly intense bowel movement and not an incendiary device. Last year a similar situation occurred in New Orleans, La., involving a man who was arrested at a chicken restaurant for allegedly telling staff that he was going to leave a bomb on one of the restaurant's tables. When he was apprehended, he told police he'd been talking about using the restroom, although a spokesperson for Willie's Chicken Shack pointed out that at no time following the suspect's statement did he attempt to use the facilities.

Dateline: United Kingdom

A resident of the small Sussex town of Newhaven is pleading with the local council to erect a statue of rapper Eazy-E. The Argus reports NWA fan Guy Stevens approached the council last week to propose that Eazy-E, who died over 20 years ago, be honored for his achievements with a monument on city property. According to Stevens, the site would become a tourist attraction. I think it would be unique, it would stand out, and would be eccentric, he said. It would add to the town and bring some interest. He also mentioned that since Eazy-E died of complications due to AIDS, the memorial would raise awareness of things like sexual health. He went on to call the rapper a legend and bemoaned the town's lack of quality landmarks. Just do it, he told the council. Get a statue or a plaque up. Why not? You just wasted money on a bandstand on Denton Island no one cares about so why not an Eazy-E memorial? Stevens claimed to have posted an online poll concerning the idea which resulted in 60 percent win for those in favor of the monument. The council appeared to be confused by the request and reportedly said it had no idea who Eazy-E is. Deputy mayor of Newhaven Graham Amy said, Ive lived all of my life in Newhaven and Ive never heard of himnot a clue. He said if he had his way, statues of The Beatles would be erected instead. Stevens responded by saying The Beatles suck. The council has not formally responded to Stevens' request.

Dateline: Connecticut

A woman was seriously injured last week after mistaking a stick of dynamite for a candle. According to Fox-61 in Connecticut, a Bridgeport street lost power last week, prompting a family to seek out emergency lights at a Home Depot. The store was closed, however, and they reportedly remembered seeing what they thought were candles left in the basement of their home by its previous owner. Police officials say the family returned to their home, where the mother lit what she believed to be a candle. The candle was, in fact, a quarter stick of dynamite which exploded in her hand, causing extreme injury which could result in the loss of more than one fingers. The woman's face was also seriously injured during the blast. Her husband and two children were unhurt. Police searched the family's house and found one other explosive. It was removed and later detonated by state police. As a precaution, authorities searched neighboring homes as well, but found no other explosive devices. Police are calling the incident a tragic accident and will not be charging the homeowners with possession of an illegal explosive.

Dateline: Principality of Hutt River

Prince Leonard, founder and once-sovereign ruler of the Principality of Hutt River has died at the age of 93. The West Australian reports confirmation was received last week that the prince died in his sleep after living with emphysema for 20 years. He had been admitted to St John of God Hospital in Geraldton, Western Australia, with a severe chest infection earlier in the month. Prince Leonard ruled the Principality of Hutt River for 47 years before abdicating his throne in 2017. The current monarch of the micronation is his youngest son, Prince Graeme. The principalitylocated near Northampton, Western Australiawas founded in 1970 when Leonard Casley declared his farm an independent province over a dispute about wheat production quotas. The micronation, which has its own currency, stamps and passports, has become a major tourist attraction. The Principalitys Acting Minister for Electronic Communications Lord Steven Baikie said the nation's border will be closed for three weeks. A service for Prince Leonard will be held at a later date.
Eric Williams Photography

They are called Lindy Vision.

And they are formidable. Listening to one of their records is like having the universe of funky no-wave glitch over for lunch. Of course, their shows are something else, graceful and gamboling but with the glam and gravity to knock you the hell out.

And so yeah, youve got to have vision. The ability to find a path, much less navigate it through the churning waters of rock-and-roll-landia toward your own version of success can be traumatizing, even disintegrating. In any case lets just say that the journey is transformative, whether you come out the other side ground up, disfigured like a million others or built into a musical machine for the ages, como Lindy Vision.

Even then, youll need every ounce of your ability to continue to see clearlypast, present and futurein order to survive a world made from guitars and good intentions, self-doubt and self-preservation. Because rock.

It also helps if youve been listening. Taking in the scene, listening to everything that nature presents. Letting the sound crawl through your ears and into your heart and then your mind can provide just the right sort of fuel, the kind you are gonna need to fly ever closer to the sun in your search for sonic certainty.

Thats a long introduction for a local band that gets to have their next album release party at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, a venue thats hosted acts like Waxahatchee and Ty Segall as it drives up the hep avant-garde quotient among venues in central New Mexico.

Clearly the Cuylear sistersNatasha, Dorothy and Carla, who are Lindy Visionknow whats at stake as they navigate the waters with aplomb, dropping bombs, beautiful buckets of tuneage from this world and beyond, as they proceed to conquer a scene that until recently, has been dominated by white men.

Last Friday, Lindy Vision took time from their notable lives outside the bubbleas lawyers and pharmacists, for Crissakesand appeared at Weekly Alibi. In what seemed more like an arcane ritual derived from the practices of Patti Labelle and Sly and the Family Stone, a photoshoot preceded one of the most interesting conversations heard at this joint in a many a month. The four of us chatted through all sorts of mostly musical moments. Heres a transcript.

Weekly Alibi: Ill tell you, I remember when your last album, Jute, dropped. I remember I just listened and listened and listened to that record, trying to figure it out; its so good and has so many influences floating through it. Whats up with you all now, a year later?

[The three sisters laugh at the interviewers nonchalance]

Dorothy Cuylear: Were weirdoes!

Youre weirdoes? Thats cool; I can tell from the makeup.

Really, were workaholics. Its funny you mention our last album. Jute was recorded at Sonic Ranch, in Tornillo, Texas.

Yeah, thats one of the best studios in the region, like our Muscle Schoals.

Dorothy: We were very honored to record there, a lot of artists we really respect have done work there, like Beach House. Its an honor to work there, with our team.

Natasha Cuylear: So were here to promote our new album, Adult Children, which we also made at Sonic Ranch. This is part one.

Dorothy: We also have a part two, we havent talked about the release date for that yet; later this year or maybe next year.

Natasha: Our love affair with Sonic Ranch began because they recorded some of the bands we really love, that weve been listening to; we were captivated.

Ive noticed that your studio sound is lush; it seems like the perfect environment for you all to grow your sound and let it blossom.

Carla Cuylear: Yeah, thats a good point. We wanted to experience a sort of studio magic, like what The Beatles or Radiohead got.

The world of experimentalism opens up?

Carla: Right, so on this album you are going to hear sounds that are similar to Jute, but a little bit more textured.

Natasha: Therere just the three of us. We each play one instrument when we write the songs, but in the studio we add layers. This is the first album weve worked on with a producer, Enrique Tena Padilla.

Wow. Good choice. He recorded a couple of Oh Sees records I really dig. Whats the new album about, what direction did you take with Padilla?

Natasha: I think weve definitely evolved as artists on this album. We took more time with the writing process. Dorothy is our lyricist, maybe she can speak to that [laughs] 

Dorothy, do you write the song titles too? I really dig the one word titles on Jute. And the songs are lyrically intense, with names like Pills and Fake. Where does that sense of danger and dissolution come from?

Dorothy: We wanted to do the one-word titles as a reference to Kendrick Lamars DAMN. album. Overall its about trying to capture the one word thing that describes that song. For me, lyrically, those words, those one-word titles are part of my manifesto, they symbolize things in my life and are part of a diary or journal. When we do the lyrics, one line becomes one song. My technique is improvisatory and then I kinda finesse it and sew the beast together. Ill have my own ideas about it, Natasha and Carla will have their own ideas about it. We work together to tweak it into something meaningful.

Natasha: Each album we do captures a moment in our lives. Jute was super intense because that was the time when our mother passed. Her picture is made the cover. It felt like that, frantic, with a whats going on in the world, its the end of the world vibe. But also a feeling that weve got to survive. We identify as survivors of all sorts of things. Its in our history.

Dorothy: Thats where the title of the new record comes from; theres a book called Adult Children of Alcoholics. I have a really good friend thats in recovery. She and I have been talking for months, years really. Shes like, Heres this book. It was the first time I ever encountered that; Ive been going to counseling since elementary school and none of the practitioners I saw suggested that book. But weve had substance abuse in my family, weve struggled with addiction. Just being in the music industry, late nights, using alcohol as an anxiolytic, to loosen up can be a problem.

So how do those personal experiences inform the new album?

Dorothy: Theyre not fictitious stories. These things really happened to us. One of our songs, Ngirls is about a bullying instance we had here in Burque as part of the scene. I wrote that as like, hey, were just trying to make music and be ourselves and we dont wanna beef with you. It was just me venting; we felt attacked. It was personal but now its like our anti-bullying song.

And youve been working in Burque for years, que no?

Natasha: Yeah. We have a fan base here now. Were getting more and more visible, out there playing.

Carla: But were very private people and we dont hang out a lot.

I know the feeling.

Carla: Were very reclusive, surprisingly, for being in a band.

Has the scene here been welcoming, has it been difficult?

Dorothy: I think the rock scene here is kinda tough. And every Southwest American city might have a similar situation, seems the same. But I think for us, when we started, people werent very welcoming. There were a few people on the scene who said, yeah, I get Lindy Vision and they would give us a chance, let us open for so and so or ask us to play more shows. That was nice, but it was very few people.

When it came time to schedule a show for your album release, what happened?

Natasha: We scheduled the event to happen at Meow Wolf. We went that route, even though we consider ourselves an Albuquerque band, because a local venue we requested here was unavailable. But when one door shuts, another opens.

Dude. Thats a total score. Thats a for realz engagement; I think you can forget about rock clubs for awhile if you have that joint under your belt.

Dorothy: We were really stoked because Meow Wolf is synonymous with really happening performances and its culturally relevant. Theyre offering whats above and beyond whats available at other outlets.

Its a huge coup. Who gets to have their album release party at Meow Wolf? Damn good on ya.

Dorothy: I really have to give credit to our friend Wake Self, who helped us put the date together. And speaking of the community, I will say that the hip-hop scene here has been really welcoming.

I grok that. I feel totally comfortable, like Im in my element at those shows.

Natasha: Its really open. Its a very different scene than the rocanrol scene we have. I enjoy it, too; Im all about it.

Well, the thing I like most about your work is that it demonstrates all sorta knowing influences from everywherefrom indie rock to electronica to rap and discopresented within a winking glam, no-wave context. So to me youre part of many scenes.

Dorothy: Thanks! We listened to so much music growing up, the Pixies and Strokes especially.

We could argue about the significance of The Strokes for hours, but I also hear the glitchy and esoteric in your work too, you know Radiohead, Bjork.

Natasha: Thats about what we listen to 

Carla: Youve just described some of the artists we love the most.

Dorothy: I think weve just always had music going, been playing music, all of our lives. There are still a lot of songs to come, a lot of songs that we havent captured a feeling for yet. We really want to do something that approaches the Pixies Where is my Mind?. Weve gotten close, but Im like, no not yet. We really want that, something great, a sound that is singular, but informed. Lindy Vision!
Christina Hartsock

The craft beer movement is thriving in Albuquerque, as evidenced by the popularity of established breweries like Marble and Bosque Brewing, as well as the frequency with which new breweries are popping up all around the city. It remains to be seen if the Duke City can support all of these burgeoning microbreweries, but there is no doubt that Sidetrack Brewing Company (413 Second Street SW) has put down roots in the Downtown business scene, with a devoted neighborhood clientele and owners that are dedicated to their work.

I used to live very close to Sidetrack, and I enjoyed drinking beer on their sunny back patio, my dog in tow, in warm weather. During winter it was a comfortable spot to post up inside with my laptopthe brick walls and soft lighting provided coziness on cold evenings. Im far from what you would call a beer expert, but I like Sidetracks beer, the atmosphere, friendly service and the music (theyre always spinning vinyl). Its a super inviting space.

Dan Herr and Ann ONeill are the owners and operators. They are foremost present, involved and committed to their business. Weve also had great luck with staff, Herr says. Their relationships with staff arent superficial; theres an ease and warmth in their communication with employees, which translates to low turnover and knowledgeable help. Nestor Escamilla, one of the beertenders at Sidetrack, has been with them since 2017. All the patrons appreciate his friendly demeanor.

Herr is now making a career out of what once was a hobby. For 25 years he was an architect for a firm that was previously located in the building where Sidetrack is now, and which Herr now owns. Although both Herr and ONeill had separate careers, it seems like they were destined to enter a profession together. ONeill bought Herr his first home brewing kit about 20 years ago, and he was hooked right away. ONeill says, Dan loved to brew beer, and I loved to drink it. It was many years later, but they eventually found a way to channel that love into a growing business in the form of Sidetrack.

The trajectory of Sidetrack is an interesting one, possibly influenced initially more by coffee than by beer. In 2012, Herr was approached by a woman named Pilar Westell who told him she wanted to open a coffee shop in the building he owned. She opened Zendo Coffee the next year. Zendo was a magical thing that happened, says Herr. With Zendos impact the neighborhood vibe started growing. The craft beer movement was in full swing, and Herr and ONeill decided they wanted to do their own thing. After lots of renovation they opened Sidetrack Brewing Company in the space next to Zendo on January 1, 2016.

I recently visited Sidetrack for a tasting of some of their beers. The first beer I taste is the American Blonde Ale, which is aptly named Guera (sort of a friendly Spanish slang for white girl). Its mildly hopped and citrusy, due partially to the tiny amount of orange zest Herr adds in the brewing process. With an alcohol content of 6.4 percent, its on the boozier side. Herr says, we try not to go to extremes, and are generally moderate in creating our flavors and alcohol content.

Next we tasted the Ringwood English Ale. The Ringwood yeast gives this beer a lot of its distinctive fruity flavor, and the aromas of apple and pear pop.

Then we try a cask beer called Dark Engine Stout with cacao nibs. Sidetrack may be the only brewery in town currently using this cask conditioning method, which historically pre-dates carbonation (most beers are now force carbonated). The ingredients are sealed in a stainless steel cask, and the CO2 is the byproduct of fermentation. This gives the cask beer a creamy head and a softer, smoother mouthfeel. It seems like more flavors come out and I can definitely taste dark chocolate and vanilla.

The fourth tasting is the force carbonated version of the Dark Engine Stout. Although tasty, it has less of a head and the mouthfeel is sharper, edgier.

Finally, we taste the Old School IPA. Ive never been a fan of IPAs, which always taste too bitter to me, but this IPA has a sweetness to it that balances out the bitterness well.

Sidetrack and their beers beam with the talents and dedication of its owners. Although Herr and ONeill didnt expect to go into the beer business 20 years ago, theyve taken to the trade exceedingly well. One just has to visit the place on a Friday evening to see the proof. ONeill proudly says, this is our life now. Its a life they obviously enjoy.
The Oscars are an annual opportunity for Hollywood in generaland the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in specificto celebrate the best writers, actors, directors, editors, costume designers and so on. Unlike in previous years, there are few connections between nominated films and the bustling production hub known as New Mexico. (The Ballad of Busters Scruggs, partially shot in our state, is up for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Original Song.) But local movie fans will still find plenty to cheer for. Or boo at, as the case may be.

The Academy Awards are no stranger to controversy. As always, there was plenty of kerfuffle leading up to this Sundays telecast. It started back in December when comedian/actor Kevin Hart was named as this years Oscar host. Rather quickly some old tweets and several jokes from earlier in his career, all of them clearly homophobic, surfaced. Hart apologized (sorta, depending on your perspective), but the damage was done. Former Oscar host Ellen Degeneres actually tried to talk Hart into reconsidering his decision to step down, dismissing his critics as haterswhich only landed the talk show host her own wave of LGBTQ backlash. In the end, the Academy opted to go without a host this yearproving that Oscar Host is Hollywoods highest-profile, least desirable job.

The Oscars also got in the middle of an ugly incident when veteran Mexican actor Sergio Goyri called called up-and-coming actress Yalitz Aparicio a f**cking Indian. Aparicio, who stars in Alfonso Cuarons semi- autobiographical film Roma, is the first indigenous woman ever nominated for an Oscar. The 25-year-old Aparicio responded to Goyris comments, saying, I am proud to be an Oaxacan indigenous woman and it saddens me that there are people who do not know the correct meaning of words. Goyri eventually apologized (not really, depending on your perspective), offering the now-standard It was never my intent to offend anyone. Goyri was the most vocal but certainly not the only person to denigrate Aparicios achievement. Late last year Aparicio appeared on the cover of Vogue Mexico, the first Mixtec (a broad term covering most of Mexicos indigenous Mesoamerican people) to do so. The magazines editor admitted to The New York Times that she worried spotlighting the young actress would only increase the number of hostile comments being lobbed at her. Its great that the Academy is honoring Aparicios work in Roma, but its sad that the honor is also highlighting Mexicos own battles with racism.

The next controversy was fully orchestrated by AMPAS itself. In early February, the Academy issued a statement saying it would cut four award categories Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short and Makeup & Hairstyling from the live Oscars telecast, handing out those awards during commercial breaks. The move was supposedly an effort to trim down the notoriously long-running three-hour show. But Academy members hit back at the idea. Guillermo del Toro, who won several Oscars last year for his film The Shape of Water, took to social media, saying, I would not presume to suggest what categories to cut during the Oscars show butCinematography and Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself. Stars from Brad Pitt to Spike Lee signed an open letter to the Academy last week denouncing the move. Thankfully particularly for those nominatedthe Academy reversed its decision, allowing all awards to be seen during the telecast.

AMPAS also stepped in it, briefly, when the organization said only two of the nights Best Original Song nominees would be performed live on the telecast. That seemed like a bad decision, given the uncharacteristically high quality of this years song choices. That rash idea was quickly abandoned, allowing Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper to perform Shallow on stage (duh). Joining them will be Bette Midler, performing The Place Where the Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns, Jennifer Hudson performing Ill Fight from RBG, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings performing When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. No confirmation yet on who will perform the fifth and final song, All the Stars from Black Panther.

And in an effort to make up for all the controversytime limit be damnedthe Academy is also welcoming to the stage Adam Lambert and the surviving members of Queen. Theyll undoubtedly perform something from Bohemian Rhapsodywhich wont count as an original song, but will certainly be a highlight of the evening.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Organic grain production in the US is not growing fast enough, according to a new report from the US Organic Grain Collaboration in partnership with the Organic Trade Association.

The amount of US farmland devoted to the production of organic corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and barley grew by over 20% from 626,000 acres to 765,000 between 2008 and 2016. During roughly the same timeframe, however, the US organic livestock products industry nearly tripled in size from $1.2 billion in sales to $3.3 billion.

As the demand for organic products and ingredients continues to grow, increasing numbers of US farmers are interested in converting all or portions of their acres to organic production. Between 2015 and 2016, organic food sales increased by 23% to $7.6 billion in 2016, while the number of organic farms increased by just 11%. The US is making up for the shortfall with imports from overseas countries including Turkey, the UK, India, Turkey, and Argentina.

Barriers to Organic Conversion

There are many barriers to entry that make converting to organic a challenging proposition for farmers, however.

Before a farm can be certified organic, it must use organic farming practices for three years, according to the USDAs National Organic Program requirements. This means that the farmer must incur the expense of the transition as well as any increased expenses of organic production without being able to capture the price premium that certified products bring.

Theres also the educational barrier.

The biggest challenge for farmers is the fact that conventional production is mainly a plug-and-play system: if I have this problem, I use this product. Whereas organic production requires more intricate management and you need to have a different set of management skills. It requires you to observe everything because everything is interrelated: pollinators, soil health, wildlife, nearby water sources, etc. Its a big leap and it can feel like a lot to learn, Zoe Schaeffer, a media relations specialist for organic agricultural research service Rodale Institute, told AgFunderNews.

Rodales Midwest Organic Center

Rodale wants to help recently announcing plans to open a Midwest Organic Center (MOC) in Iowa to provide farmers in the row crop belt with more information and resources regarding organic production. Located at the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the MOC will conduct research on regenerative organic farming methods while providing educational support and resources to help farmers implement those practices. The goal is to expand the amount of organic acreage in the Midwest while exploring the differences between conventional and organic farming methods in the regions unique climate.

Rodale currently operates a 333-acre certified organic trial farm in Pennsylvania, which is a vastly different growing climate compared to other farm-heavy areas in the US such as Iowa. Duplicating its research in the Midwest will help deepen its understanding of organic production.

The number of certified organic farms in the US increased by 11% between 2015 and 2016, according to USDA data, bringing the total amount of certified acres to 5 million. California led in both categories, with 2,713 certified farms and 1.1 million acres, comprising 21% of total US certified organic land.

California farmers may have the highest rates of conversion, but they arent the only operators considering organic production.

We are seeing an increased interest in organic methods all over the place, including the Midwest, Schaeffer adds. Bridging the conventional gap is definitely a challenge, but we are so encouraged by how much interest there is. We wouldnt go to the Midwest if we didnt hear a need from so many farmers interested in or ready to transition to organic who need one last piece of the transition puzzle. We hope to be that last piece.

In addition to the three-year production requirement and gaps in education about organic management practices, some farmers are skeptical about whether the conversion costs will be recuperated through premium prices and have apprehensions about more expensive inputs and heavier labor demands, Schaeffer adds.

And while many conventional farmers are well versed in agtech tools, particularly those deployed for precision agriculture such as the variable application rate of seeds and inputs, these tools are not always adapted or relevant for organic farming.

The organic supply chain has become more mature and we see more dedicated organic grain handlers that werent there a few years ago, Tom Rabaey, a research agronomist for General Mills agriculture research team, told AgFunderNews. But one of the things we struggle with is decision support software for organic growers. They can use the same tools like variable rate seeding technology or yield monitoring, but where a conventional farmer might say a crop needs more fertilizer, an organic farmer might say it needs a different cover crop.

Agtech for Organic Farming?

On the input side, there are some obvious biotechnologies providing farmers with suitable organic alternatives to conventionally used products such as chemical pesticides. Biopesticide makers Marrone Bios and Aphea.Bio and nitrogen-fixing microbe producer Pivot Bio are three examples.

There is also a bevy of technologies focused on growing crops indoors hydroponically which still count as organic, despite a major rift in the organic industry over whether soilless hydroponic operations can be certified organic. The National Organic Standards Board rejected a proposal in November 2017 that would have disallowed hydroponics and aquaponics from being certified organic,

But when it comes to digital tools for outdoor farmers to use in the transition, there are few options out there. AgriSecure is a Nebraskan startup that helps row crop farmers transition to organic farming by providing a farm management software program to track compliance and help farmers make management decisions about their organic farms. The co-founders identified the need for their platform when they were making the transition to organic themselves.

We really struggled with the availability of information and support we could get, so we created a resource tool that takes a lot of the work involved with recordkeeping, certification, knowledge, identifying inputs, and putting together budgets off their plates, co-founder J.P. Rhea told AgFunderNews. A farmer by trade, Rhea operates a large-scale organic farm with his brothers in Nebraska.

Whats unique about the software is that its designed around compliance. We also have an advisory service where we provide a lot of knowledge that takes a lot of the burden off the grower.

AgriSecure and FBN See the Opportunity

AgriSecures story is a classic example of necessity being the mother of invention, but it also highlights the unique set of challenges that organic growers face. The compliance piece is far more intricate than what conventional growers face and a primary reason that many growers stick to conventional production. With the increased demand for organic products and ingredients including snowballing interest at the big food level, however, its hard to understand why more tech companies havent created dedicated products to assist organic farmers.

Organic row crop production is relatively small compared to conventional row crop production; there are only about 200,000 acres of organic corn (compared to 90 million acres overall). So, it hasnt attracted a ton of attention from larger tech companies. There just arent enough large-scale organic farmers to get tech companies attention, Rhea explains. Whats much more common is utilizing the existing technologies in organic farming. Outside of the specific need around extremely detailed recordkeeping, a lot of the tools we need are already out there, they just have to be applied in different ways.

But a big challenge with existing digital decision support tools is that they often respond to problems after theyve taken hold on the farm; organic production requires a greater emphasis on planning and staying ahead of problems, according to Rhea.

Farmers Business Network, the ag data sharing platform and agribusiness marketplace, recognizes the opportunity in organics and invested in AgriSecure in July 2018 to try and help its members take advantage of the industrys premium pricing.

Theres a total mismatch existing between the fact that we are sitting in some of the most fertile corn and soybean ground in the world but the US is still importing a large amount of organic corn from places like Romania, India, and Turkey, Baron told AgFunderNews. Obviously, theres a big opportunity for US farmers. For us, this is a really important option to bring to our members. What FBN can do for AgriSecure users is to provide support around the grain merchandising, buyer access, and organic inputs acquisition components.

For Baron, the case for technology in organics is even more compelling than in non-organic production based on the much higher level of price sensitivity that organic producers experience.

Say you are growing GMO corn in Illinois averaging 200 bushels per acre. If you are able to achieve a 1% yield gain at a price of lets say $3.50 per bushel, thats a two bushel gain yielding $7. If you are an organic producer averaging 100 bushels per acre and you get a 1% yield gain at an approximate price of $10 per bushel, you are now making $10 more per acre for that 1% gain, he explains. Your upside is so much greater if you can find gains, so your incentive to find new practices and to deploy new technologies is very high, whereas if you are growing GMO corn, getting those marginal field gains in a system that is already highly optimized requires an enormous amount of work for decreasing returns.

Baron sees opportunities across the board for organic-specific technologies as FBN works to make organics easier for growers. Based on the higher incentive of organic growers to chase a few extra bushels per acre, even production-agnostic technologies would benefit from targeting organic growers in their marketing.

A Growing Conversion Support Ecosystem

Farmers interested in making the switch may be short on organic-specific tech tools to ease the transition, but there are quite a few companies and nonprofits stepping up to the plate to provide transition resources.

As a major buyer of grain-based ingredients, General Mills has been active in the organic support space, serving as a partner on the US Organic Grain Collaboration report. One of the reports recommendations to improve domestic organic grain production is to increase the number of farmer networks for organic production and to provide more educational resources.

General Mills Pivot and Grow program offers a range of online resources to help cereal growers shift to organics, while it helped transition 34,000 acres of farmland in South Dakota to organic production. In 2016, it announced a similar transition agreement with Organic Valley, the largest organic cooperative in the US, to help dairy farms convert to organic dairy production.

We financially support a lot of organic research efforts across the Northern Plains where we source cereal grains like oats, wheat, and oilseed crops, added Rabaey. We see the demand for these ingredients and we want to make sure we have ample production of those grains. We form partnerships with ingredient suppliers to foster some of those practices or transition times to move to organic if need be in that channel.

Organic food and drink company Clif Bar just announced the launch of Clif Ag Fund, a new initiative intended to help increase the economic resilience of organic farmers in its supply chain. Its providing $500,000 in seed funding for a $10 million wind energy program that will allow farmers to lease a small wind turbine from United wind to provide their electricity needs.

Costco, the largest organic products retailer in the US, has provided financing to help farmers purchase land so they can ramp up their organic production and just a few days ago it confirmed rumors that it is considering setting up an organic farm in Hawaii to supply its island state market with locally grown produce in lieu of shipping it overseas from the mainland.
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Le Courrier Independant Voir mon actu Suivre

Here honoured by her friends of the traditionnal Breton dance club, Sue Taylor is deeply involved in the associative and political life of her french commune. (Le Courrier independant)

Sue Taylor is a British municipal councillor at Le Cambout (Cotes-dArmor). A few days ago, she attended a meeting in Lorient with an official of the British Embassy in France, Olaf Henricson-Bell. What he said did not reassure anyone, at a time when the British Prime Minister has, once again, been outvoted by the supporters (and opponents) of a  hard  Brexit.

She was interviewed after the meeting by Le Courrier independants chief editor, Jean-Francois Podevin. (Linterview originale en francais est a retrouver ici.)

 Sue Taylor, did the embassy official enlighten you on the issues you raised in our columns a few weeks ago ?

 We can see things more clearly in a way, because, in everything that can be read on the Internet or in the British press it is very difficult to tell true from false. Olaf Henricson-Bell gave us an overview of the situation if the United Kingdom left the European Union with or without an agreement; on the situation with Ireland and the backstop, this safety net that should prevent a border between the two Ireland from being re-established. If the United Kingdom left the Union with an agreement, there would be a transition period  that is, time to solve all the problems. But if we were to leave without any agreement on March 29, then

 Regarding your daily life, what would be the fate of the British living in France ?

 They will have to apply for a residence permit. But a new card will be put in place after Brexit. As a first step, we could be granted a residence permit valid for one year. Before joining the European Union, the residence permit was renewable every 4 or 5 years. It seems that there are many problems with residence permits, as the system can be different from one prefecture to another. In addition, the prefectures are overcrowded and many nationals cannot have an appointment until 29 March, the deadline for leaving the United Kingdom from the European Union. All this leads to great uncertainty about our future

 What else do you worry about ?

-It would also be necessary to change our driving licence, as the British one would no longer be valid in France after Brexit : only European licences are authorised. Although we wont need to pass the licensing exam again, all this means new, and perhaps expensive, administrative formalities. At the moment, prefectures are overworked. It would take us a year or more to get a permanent driving licence. However, a provisional certificate might replace it.

 Many British people living in France are concerned about the accessibility of health care

 If we leave the EU with no agreement, the rights will change. But as the embassy representative pointed out, no one knows how. And even if there is a global agreement, the United Kingdom will have to conclude agreements with each country. So we dont know how its going to work.

 There is also the problem of retirement pensions. Unlike in France, everyone in the United Kingdom receives the same amount. The difference is in the level of the contribution to get higher pensions

 Yes, we know that the pensions of British people living in France will go on being paid to us. But we do not know if they will be upgraded. If not, il will imply a loss of purchasing power. As for private pensions, they are currently paid in Ireland because the Bank of England refuses to pay them in euros. So we have accounts in Ireland were our money is changed. But how long will this last, since Ireland remains in the EU ? Will those who pay our private pensions still be able to do it as before? No one knows that.

There are also categories of Britons who face other problems: students who do not know if they will be able to carry on their studies in France, at what cost, and with what rights ? So do public servants. At the meeting in Lorient, there was an English teacher who teaches in France. After Brexit, he will no longer be allowed to be a civil servant in Europe

 You are currently a town councillor in your commune (Le Cambout), what is your  political  future?

 We will no longer be allowed to vote for European elections, and well no longer have the right to run polling stations. We will no longer have a right to vote or run for municipal office, so we will no longer be able to be elected. This means that many British people will be deprived of the right to vote. Indeed, if you have lived in another country for more than 15 years, under British law, you lose your right to vote in the United Kingdom. You become a kind of stateless person.

 What is your general feeling after this meeting with the embassy official ?

 I think most British people are very angry and worried. They believe that the British Government has forgotten them and is not doing enough to ensure the future of its citizens in Europe.

 What will the British still living in France do?

 Many have already left, others are looking to sell their homes. Others still hesitate. And then there are others who, like me, are asking for our naturalization. It is very expensive, and it takes two years But we have no choice. We love France  all we want is to live here in peace

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The Criminal Code of Ukraine provides punishment in the form of detention for 5 years and seizure of property

Swastika at shopping mall in Kyiv Social media

Ukraines Security Service started a probe under the article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on propaganda of Nazi totalitarian regime concerning the incident when swastika graffiti appeared in Kyiv mall Gorodok Gallery, SBU reports.

It was reported that on February 19, SBU and the Prosecutors Office launched an investigation under the article of the Ukrainian Criminal Code on production, distribution of communist, Nazi symbols, propaganda of communist and national-socialistic totalitarian regimes for setting Nazi symbol in one of capitals malls.

Ukraines Security Service will continue reacting to such incidents severely, and will do everything possible so that the organizers and executors of this provocation are punished, the message says.

As it was reported, a swastika symbol appeared on the LED-staircase at Gorodok Gallery shopping mall in the Ukrainian capital. The incident actually occurred on February 16.

The mall's administration reported a hacker attack on their computer network and apologized for the incident.
The President of Ukraine called Donbas most heavily mined region in the world

The President of Ukraine delivers speech at the UN General Assembly, February 20, 2019 Presidential Administration press office

Russian armed formations have 496 tanks in occupied Donbas. This is more than Germany, France, Spain and Italy have, as the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said during the debates on the situation on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the UN General Assembly, the Presidents Administration reported.

He also stated there were 938 armored combat vehicles, 128 multiple rocket launchers and 776 Russian combat artillery systems including motorized ones.

Donbas literally became a production line for Russias killing machine. As cynical as it is, they even send their young military cadets to Donbas to get practice in the battlefield. In mothers place, I would ask Russian president where their sons are? Poroshenko said.

He pointed out that the total number of the Russian army located along the Russian-Ukrainian border is around 87,000 military.

Its truly mind-boggling that even after all these decisions the Russian Federation is still trying to present itself as a peaceful state that fully implements its obligations under the UN Charter. There are no so-called de-facto authorities, the President noted.

Poroshenko stressed that Ukraine restrains Russian army, so it is a real eastern flank of the UN, which protects 
Any new school or kindergarten was built in Lviv during three cadences of Sadovy

Olexandr Hanushchyn, the Chairman of Lviv Regional Council 112 Agency

Lviv Mayor Andry Sadovy does not execute his duties as he sees himself as the candidate for the presidency, as 112 Ukraine reported citing Chairman of Lviv Regional Council Oleksandr Hanushchyn.

The city roads are the responsibility of the city head. Unfortunately, our Mayor does not execute his functions directly as he sees himself as the candidate for the presidency. The economic sphere of the city suffers because of it, he said.

The roads are only the beginning because I think that a lot of people remember the issue of garbage in Lviv, which was successfully transferred to the regional level by Sadovy. I think that he needs to prepare for the return to work as the city head, Hanushchyn added.

Moreover, the official added that any new school or kindergarten was built in Lviv during three cadences of Sadovy.

Our city head is serving his third cadence now. Any new school or kindergarten was built in Lviv during his office, he said.

Hanushchyn noted that all new kindergartens are created as the private.

Yesterday I took my child to the private kindergarten, as there are huge queues to the public kindergartens ruled by Lviv City Council. The whole fund of the kindergartens is not replenished by new kindergartens but it is replenished by the private sector, which develops, he added.

As we reported after winter, Lviv roads are terrible. Such a situation occurred for the first time over many years, as the member of Lviv City Council Valeriy Veremchuk said.

Earlier it was reported that Lviv drivers complain about the bad roads in the city. The activists put in the masks of Lviv officials, poured paint over the hollow spots and put there water balloons symbolizing asphalt.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Josep Borrell Open source

The members of EU have started to review the agreement of the on the exit of Great Britain from the EU at an extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels today. Josep Borrell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, stated this, as Bloomberg reports.

So the Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May arrived in Brussels in order to add some changes to the agreement on February, 20, the summit itself is to be held in Egypt on Sunday. February 24 is regarded as the new opportunity for the parties to negotiate.

I think the agreement is in the process of signing, there is no need to go to Sharm el-Sheikh in order to do so. We keep in touch all the time, - Borrell said.

As we reported earlier, Heads of states of governments of 27 member countries of the European Union have adopted the agreement on the exit of Great Britain from the EU at an extraordinary meeting of the European Council.

President of the European Council Donald Tusk claimed based on the results of an informal summit of the leaders of the EU countries that the plan suggested by the UK wont work out. He is sure that the proposed structure of the economic interaction wont work because it can undermine the united market.
Previously, US Envoy for Ukraine's Affairs said Russia is not willing to negotiate on the settlement of the situation in Donbas until the presidential campaign in Ukraine is over

Kurt Volker, the Special Envoy for Ukraine's Affairs has not been involved in the negotiations on the settlement of Donbas conflict since he took a unilateral and personal position in this regard. This is the opinion of Viktor Mevdedchuk, the head of the Political Board of 'Opposition Platform - For Life' party.

The pro-Kremlin political figure in Ukraine's political life, Medvedchuk commented on Volker's recent statement, as the diplomat said Russia would not be negotiating on this matter until the presidential campaign in Ukraine is over.

'Mr. Volker sends confusing signals here. He is the one no one talks to for certain reasons - taking into account his stance towards the negotiation process. Mr. Volker was the Envoy of the U.S. Department of the State in the talks with Russian presidential advisor, Mr. Surkov, as they discussed peaceful plans and settlement in Donbas. The last meeting took place last January, and this process has stalled since then, given the personal stance of Mr. Volker who took one side in the negotiation process; he furiously stands for it, which, of course, will not contribute to the normalization of the talks process - or desire to get involved in any negotiations with him', the politician said.

Previously, Volker said Russia took a pause and would not be involved in the talks on solving the ongoing armed conflict in Donbas until the presidential election is over in Ukraine.

As we reported earlier, Viktor Medvedchuk, the politician and the head of 'Ukrainsky Vybir' (Ukrainian Choice) political party faces prosecution in Ukraine. Prosecutor General's Office has opened the case against him under two charges.

'On February 5, Prosecutor General's Office submitted the information about criminal violations committed by Viktor Medvedchuk, as filed by MP Andriy Teteruk (...). Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the pro-Russian organization 'Ukrainian Choice - The Right of the People' and the Head of the Political Board of 'Opposition Platform-For Life' party made a loud statement during the party convention in Kyiv on January 29. He claimed that there's a need to create the so-called 'autonomous region of Donbas', including the creation of its own parliament and government - and the following legalization of such status in the Constitution of Ukraine. His plan foresees that the autonomous region of Donbas is created in the composition of Ukraine. He believes that such agreements on the status of Donbas may be reached within the Kyiv-Donetsk-Luhansk-Moscow format', Larysa Sargan, the spokeswoman of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, wrote.

Medvedchuk is a well-known oligarch, lawyer and the politician famous for his pro-Russian views.
Kyiv is ready to conduct the exchange procedure as soon as possible, the Ukrainian official says

Ukraine is ready to exchange 25 Russian citizens for 25 Ukrainians in the near future. Lyudmyla Denisova, the Parliamentary Envoy for Human Rights posted this on Facebook.

'I confirmed the readiness of the Ukrainian side to provide the free access to the facilities governed by the State Criminal and Executive Service of Ukraine... so that Moskalkova may visit the detained Russian citizens, under the condition of my simultaneous access to the detained Ukrainian in Russia and on the Crimean peninsula. In particular, I urged for an immediate solution of exchanging 25 Ukrainian citizens for 25 citizens of the Russian Federation. We're ready to conduct the exchange in the near future', Denisova said.

Previously, we reported that about 70 Ukrainians are held in Russia and the annexed Crimea. 24 among them were servicemen, who had been detained near Crimea by the Russian militants. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated this, according to Radio Freedom.

Over 70 citizens of Ukraine had been detained by the Russian Federation Forces under falsified politically motivated accusations till February, 6. At least 30 persons are kept on the Russian territories (without taking into account those 24 servicemen of Ukrainian Naval Forces, detained near Kerch Strait) and over 40 persons are kept on the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, the Ministry reported.
The assassination attempt to be committed by one of the nationalist organizations

The so-called State Security Ministry of unrecognized Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) states that it possesses information about a prepared assassination attempt on Head of Political Council of Party Opposition platform  For life Viktor Medvedchuk, as Ukrayinska Pravda reported.

The assassination attempt on Medvedchuk should be committed by one of the specially trained groups of the military men of the 8th Detached Regiment of Special Forces (A-0553) based in Khmelnytsky.

The main developer and perpetrator of the campaign on the elimination of the undesirable politicians is the Chief Intelligence Department of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine. Head of the Department Vasyl Burba manages this work and his deputy Pavlo Yatsyuk directly develops the process. The Security Service of Ukraine has to get operative information about the lifestyle of the politicians. Head of the National Statehood Department Danylo Dotsenko organizes the surveillance of the potential victims in the security service, the message said.

The so-called State Security Ministry stated that the assassination attempt should take place on behalf of one of the nationalist organizations, the activity of which is completely controlled by the Ukrainian special services.

As we reported earlier, Viktor Medvedchuk, the politician and the head of 'Ukrainsky Vybir' (Ukrainian Choice) political party faces prosecution in Ukraine. Prosecutor General's Office has opened the case against him under two charges.

Members of the European Parliament condemned the criminal proceeding against Viktor Medvedchuk, the representative of the "Opposition Platform - For Life" political party.
The diplomatic office replied to the request from the Ukrainian reporter, referring to the recent incidents at Boryspil international airport

Israeli flag Open source

The Israeli Embassy in Kyiv replied to the information request by the correspondent of 112.ua news agency. The authority has cleared its position on the recent incidents with entry refusals for Israeli citizens in Ukrainian airport, namely Boryspil international airport.

'We are concerned about the situation at the airport. According to the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority, while there has been an increase of Ukrainian tourists to Israel since the establishment of the visa-free regime, there has been no increase in the number of Ukrainian citizens refused to enter Israel in the past 3 years. We work together with the Ukrainian authorities in order to diffuse this crisis'.

Earlier, we reported that the number of entry bans for Israeli citizens in Ukraine has grown up lately. Oleg Slobodyan, the assistant head of the State Border Guard of Ukraine said this in his commentary for 112.ua news agency.

'The reason, most often, is that some of them could not confirm the goal of their visit; some don't have the return tickets or don't know where they would live', he said.

Slobodyan added that since the beginning of the year, the number of such cases already reached 96. 'It's not much because, over the same period of time, more than 500 Ukrainians were banned from entering Israel. One cannot really say there's any sort of bias against the Israeli citizens. There's no way that symmetrical response would take place', the official stressed.

He added that the border control in Ukraine was toughened because of the complicated military and political situation. "As for citizens of Israel, it is about the growing number of people who cannot confirm the goal of their visit', Slobodyan said.
The amendments provide the extension of the action of the Gas directive to the gas pipelines of the third countries

The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COPERER) has approved the draft amendments to the gas legislation of the EU. In the case of their final adoption, the action of the Gas directive of the EU will extend to the gas pipelines of the third countries, including the Nord Stream 2 as DW reported.

According to the DW sources in the EU diplomatic circles, 27 states voted for the draft law, while Bulgaria refrained. The parties added that the text was agreed without changes.

The issue is about the text agreed on February 12 during the negotiations of the representatives of the Council of the EU, European Parliament and European Commission. The observers expect that the draft law will not be changed in the further adoption process.

The voting of the Council of the EU is needed for the final approval and its next session is planned for March 4 as well as the voting of the European Parliament. It is expected that the MEPs will considers this issue at the plenary session in April.

The amendments provide the extension of the action of the Gas directive to the gas pipelines of the third countries but only to those sections, which are situated at the territory and territorial waters of the state, where the pipeline is connected to the gas transporting system of the EU.

In the case of the Nord Stream 2, it means that the applying of the EU rules to this pipeline will be supervised by the European Commission, Germany.

Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda urged the German government to give up on Nord Stream 2 construction. He insisted that the new pipeline would breach the current energy balance, posing danger to the energy safety of some countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Russian president Putin claimed that the Russian Federation was ready to save the gas transit through Ukraine after the launch of the Nord Stream 2.

Gazprom and its partners intended to begin the realization of the Nord Stream 2 project, which costs ten billion dollars. It is expected that the 1,200-km gas pipeline will be laid through the Baltic Sea, and will connect Russia and Germany bypassing Ukraine, Poland, and Baltic countries. The capacity of the gas pipeline will be twice increased compared to that of the first Nord Stream. The construction is estimated to be completed by the end of 2019.

Ukraine is adamantly opposed to the construction by calling it politically motivated and suggesting the EU to create a consortium with the involvement of European companies to manage the existing more efficient transportation route through Ukraine. A number of EU countries have expressed their disagreement with the Nord Stream 2 project in particular Poland and Lithuania.
Developing the national stock market and the infrastructure of the Ukrainian investment business is extremely acute today

Developing the national stock market and the infrastructure of the Ukrainian investment business is extremely acute today.

Therefore, it is necessary to promote such a process, in which the participants themselves, not the corrupt state bodies, would choose what they like thus developing the Ukrainian investment service. And actively offer financially wealthy citizens to invest their free funds in new financial instruments.

For the practical implementation of such a large-scale project, Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers should create a working group to implement specific measures of the National Strategy on the "Network of Development Projects."

The strategy could become the main driver of many companies and private investors. However, at the initial stage of the formation of such a market, a certain financial overhang should arise in Ukraine.

Only, in this case, private capital in large volumes will come to our country, as investors will notice the liquidity. And when other foreign investors see that you can earn money here, then everyone will come to our market tomorrow. This is clearly illustrated by world experience. There is no other way.

We need to come up with modern mechanisms and tools to infuse long investment money into the real sector of the economy and preserve the remaining savings of the population. We would prepare a roadmap for launching a pilot project for the creation and development of the National Direct Investment Fund, following the principles of public-private partnership, which will be a logical continuation of the reform of our capital markets.

And, as you know, financial and economic reforms always have three mandatory rules. First, these reforms must be fair. Secondly, resolute. And, thirdly, pretty fast.

In the face of fierce competition for investors and human resources, the question is: will we be able to fulfill at least one of these three rules this year?

Would the underdevelopment of national capital markets, which still do not have their own legislative base, be a difficult challenge for the economy of Ukraine? Yes, the leading experts are actively discussing whether the crisis of our stock market is in the past or we are still experiencing it? I dare say: the crisis was in the past, we feel it now, and we will face it in the future.

For example, trade in Ukrainian stock markets in 2018 amounted to 8,7 billion USD, this is 26.8% more than a year earlier. It seems to be a positive trend, but let us reveal these numbers.

The volume of trading in domestic government bonds (DGB) has increased by 29.6% to 8,75 billion USD, the volume of trading in corporate bonds increased by 67.8% to 367,000 USD, other securities decreased by 27.4% to 135 million USD, shares decreased by 4,3 times - to 42 million USD.

What does this mean? The investment money does not go to the enterprises of the real sector of the Ukrainian economy, and the Ministry of Finance is placing government bonds at record high-interest income (up to 20% per annum without taxation), primitively patching the "holes" in the state budget.

But a producing economy does not work.

Entrepreneurs seek to appear in front of their counterparties in the best possible light in order to effectively reorganize a joint stock company or raise capital with a successful entry into the market with an Initial Public Offering, IPO.

However, after Verkhovna Rada has rejected the draft Law on Capital Markets and refused to start the accumulative level of the pension system from January 1, 2019, we have almost zero involvement of private and institutional investors in the country's economic processes.

According to preliminary estimates, in the case of full coverage of the cumulative system of all categories of insured individuals (under 40 years old) and the size of contributions (7% of the wage fund), the annual amount of income to the cumulative level could exceed 714 million USD.

Ukraine should increase the volume of trading on the organized stock market by at least 50-60 times by attracting domestic and foreign investors. Our economy really needs this long investment money.

We are constantly provided with technical assistance by experts and analysts from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Association of Swaps and Derivatives (ISDA), an organization uniting participants of the OTC derivatives market (headquarters in New York, unites more than 800 members from 56 countries the world), the National Futures Association (NFA, USA), the US Futures Trading Association (FIA), as well as representatives of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, USA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Finally, due to the lack of an International Investment Hub in Kyiv, we tail along the global financial centers. That is why the investment climate in Ukraine is not just bad, but terrible.

Our entrepreneurs are not ready to take risks, pool financial resources, and implement various investment projects.

What should we do then? Once again, we need to implement a National Strategy "Network of Development Projects" with a number of large-scale private investment projects.

At this stage, the main thing is to direct the movement vector to transfer savings of financially wealthy citizens to venture investment funds and step up lending to the real sector of the economy. Everything else is a just technical details.

And, of course, given that liquidity drives the stock market, not to rely on the optimistic forecasts of many politicians, but to choose only those investments where the return is clear and not connected with the market movement.

Read the original text at 112.ua.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
The official statistics does not reflect the coal supplies from Belarus; Ukrainian experts maintain that the responsible Ukrainian companies could diversity the supplies, sending them to Belarus

In 2018, Belarus exported anthracite coal to Ukraine to the amount worth totally 50.36 million U.S. dollars (980 times more than in 2017). Meanwhile, the volumes of export of anthracite coal from Belarus to Ukraine grew by 340 times, making 8.82 million dollars in total. Radio Liberty reported that on Thursday.

In August 2018, Belarusian media expressed suspicions that the coal from the occupied Donbas comes to Belarus, bypassing Ukraine. Poland was considered the main consumer of this coal. Besides, there were assumptions that Belarus could be the transit country for this raw material.

An anonymous source in the energy sector of Ukraine assumed that the commercial structures are involved in the coal supplies; he stated there could be Ukrainian companies taking the coal to Ukraine, while the Russian companies could be taking coal to Europe. These companies enjoy the status of Belarusian residents, but they possess no Belarusian capital.

According to Ukraine's State Statistics Service, in 2018, Ukrainian companies bought coal in the EU, Africa and the Americas, as well as in Russia, Moldova and Kazakhstan. The official statistics, however, does not reflect the coal supplies from Belarus; the State Statistics Service avoided to answer the questions of Belarusian reporters, urging them to send the official information request in this regard.

Ukrainian experts maintain that the responsible Ukrainian companies could be doing this to diversity the supplies, sending them to Belarus. In this case, the Belarusian company could play as the re-exporter of coal, which was bought in Russia. This is also the way for minor thermal power plants to buy coal in Belarus.

There are two major consumers of coal in Ukraine - DTEK company, which belongs to Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, and TsentrEnergo.
All these so-called authorities are illegitimate, even Russia does not recognize them, Iryna Gerashchenko says

Ukraine is not going to lead any direct negotiations with the self-styled 'republics' in Donbas or facilitate the legitimization of Kremlin's puppet regimes. Iryna Gerashchenko, the representative of Ukraine in Minsk trilateral contact group posted that on Facebook.

'All these so-called 'authoritative bodies of the republics are illegitimate and non-recognized, even in the Russian Federation. This is why the statements of their so-called 'representatives', whatever their names are, are just the nonsense of the Kremlin. We will discuss the liberation of Donbas with the Kremlin, enjoying the mediation of our international partners - not with the Kremlin's puppets', Gerashchenko wrote.

She added that the dialogue will take place exclusively in the Minsk format, which means the trilateral shape of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE.

'Russia is not a mediator, but the full-fledged side, responsible for living up to Minsk agreements and all of the provisions related to security, economic and humanitarian blocs. There are signatures of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE under these deals. Minsk agreements do not contain a single reference to these abbreviations', the official added.

Previously, the leaders of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DNR) stated they were ready to negotiate with Ukraine 'for reaching peace in Donbas'.
Some part of the surnames was already published, the second part of the surnames will be published soon

The enrollment of people in the Wagner Group took place in annexed Crimea. Later these people were sent to Sudan as Pryamy TV channel reported citing Head of Apparatus of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ihor Huskov.

We know about not unique cases of the participation of the citizens of Ukraine in the so-called Wagner Group when our former citizens participated in it. Moreover, today we can say that the enrollment in the Wagner Group took place in occupied Crimea and the group aimed to Sudan. We have already published some of the surnames, and we will publish the second part of the surnames along with the journalists soon, Huskov said.

Earlier the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published a list of 149 mercenaries of Wagners group, who participated in the suppression of the democratic protests in Sudan at the beginning of 2019.

As we reported the SBU claimed about the presence of the evidence on the involvement of the Russian mercenaries from Wagner Group in the murder of three Russian journalists Orkhan Dzhemal, Aleksandr Rastorguev, and Kirill Radchenko in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The Wagner Group has been involved in Donbas conflict since May 2014 till August 2015. Then, it has moved to Syria, assisting the Syrian army in a number of combat operations.
Accident pe Autostrada Transilvania de la Turda spre Cluj. Doua masini au fost avariate

Sambata, 26 iunie, s-a produs inca un accident pe Autostrada Transilvania, de data aceasta pe sensul de mers de la Turda spre Gilau. Doua masini au fost avariante. Din fericire nu au fost persoane... Acesta este doar un sumar [citeste mai departe]
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 4:17 am

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.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 4:42 am

A group of 11 Democratic lawmakers aims to address the rights of homeless people and their ability to survive in public.

Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-Seatac, is the primary sponsor of House Bill 1591. The representative said she seeks to create a more-permanent solution to the homeless crisis instead of quick-fix laws.

HB 1591 would allow homeless people to survive in a vehicle or public space without fear of obstruction. The bill would also permit the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy in ones personal property.

Chronically homeless people are frequently burdened with civil infractions and criminal charges related to homelessness, said Gregerson at a public hearing on Tuesday.

The legislation prohibits a homeless person from being subject to civil or criminal penalties by law enforcement for having no reasonable alternative other than living in a public space. Existing local shelters are inadequate in number or are functionally inaccessible, the bill states.

The measure intends to codify the rights of people experiencing homelessness, prohibit discrimination based on housing status and create a civil cause of action.

Research proves that it is far more expensive to criminalize homelessness than it is to pursue non-punitive alternatives, such as low-barrier shelters, permanent supportive housing and mental health and substance abuse treatment, Gregerson said.

We are in a homelessness crisis, but we are not alone, Gregerson said, adding California, Rhode Island, Illinois and Connecticut are enacting similar legislation.

In a related lawsuit of Martin v. City of Boise, it was decided that sitting, lying or sleeping are unavoidable consequences of being human. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September that cities may not impose criminal sanctions against the homeless for sleeping outdoors on public property if no alternative shelter is available.

Olympia City Councilwoman Renata Rollins testified in support of HB 1591. The current solution to the homeless crisis is dependent on a failed policy to punish peoples basic livelihood with civil and criminal penalties, she said. Punitive factors are expensive and ineffective, she added.

Fining people of meager means, slapping them with a criminal record and confiscating their humble belongings all contribute to lengthening the amount of time it takes a person to escape homelessness, Rollins said.

She told the story of a quiet, homeless encampment in a greenbelt outside of downtown Olympia called Nickerson. Determined residents of the camp organized, cleaned and maintained the property with the help of neighbors and advocates, she said.

Nickerson is an example of 21st century-based solutions at no additional cost to taxpayers, Rollins said.
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019 4:46 am

Over the last 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 seven or younger are legally incapable of committing a crime. If a child is between 8 and 11, they are assumed to be capable of crime, but that presumption can be overcome by evidence presented by the prosecutor. Kids 12 and older are presumed to have the capacity to commit a crime.

In the last 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-old teens 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.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 22:08:48|Editor: Liangyu

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LONDON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the UK should resist interruptions and bring the bilateral relations back on track at an early date, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said here Wednesday.

Liu said in his keynote speech at the KPMG Breakfast Meeting that 2019 marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-UK diplomatic relationship at the level of charge d'affaires.

He recalled that over the past 65 years, China and the UK have achieved fruitful results in cooperation across the board, thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides. "There have been numerous highlights in our economic, trade, investment and financial cooperation," he said.

"However, China-UK relations encountered some setbacks last year. In order to cherish the hard-won momentum in the relations and keep to the direction of the "Golden Era", both China and the UK should resist interruptions and bring the bilateral relations back on track at an early date," said the Chinese diplomat.

The Chinese ambassador hoped that the British business community, including KPMG, would leverage its advantages and seize the enormous opportunities of cooperation with China, which will "inject much needed positive energy into the 'Golden Era' and produce more 'golden fruits'".

Liu stressed that Chinese economy, as the most important growth engine in the world, will maintain robust development and play an indispensable role in global economic growth.

He suggested that the UK businesses could find opportunities in forging a strong link between China and the UK based on industrial and policy synergy, in building a platform for cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative as well as in the innovations brought about by the new round of scientific and technological revolution.

"I sincerely hope that, in the new year, the business communities of our two countries will join hands to seize the opportunities and deepen cooperation. Together, you could make greater contribution to the steady and sustained development of the China-UK 'Golden Era,'" concluded the ambassador.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 06:06:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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YAOUNDE, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's indigenous languages will soon be officially taught in schools as part of the country's reforms to "enhance social integration and unity," minister of basic education said on Thursday.

"It is now an official policy. The state wants to generalize the use of indigenous languages in schools," Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa said in the capital, Yaounde, during a ceremony to mark the International Mother Language Day.

There are 260 indigenous languages in Cameroon but only French and English are official. Ngoa said the new initiative intends to gradually make official all the indigenous languages.

"Are we going to insert all of them (indigenous languages) in school programs? It's not possible. We will therefore begin by experimenting mother tongues that are fluently spoken in our country. In fact, we have had some experiments that produced satisfactory results. We will now see how to start implementing them in official programs," Ngoa said.

He said UNESCO has pledged to support Cameroon in the implementation of the program.

"It will be much easier with the availability of technology and artificial intelligence," Ngoa said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 05:20:59|Editor: Yamei

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Image provided by Venezuela's Presidency shows Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro (C, front), taking part in a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, Feb. 21, 2019. Maduro on Thursday ordered the country's southern border with Brazil be sealed off. The measure will be in effect until further notice, the president said during a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces. The move comes amid what he called "provocation" from Brazil's right-wing government. Venezuela is also considering sealing its border with Colombia, he added. (Xinhua/VENEZUELAN PRESIDENCY)

CARACAS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered the country's southern border with Brazil be sealed off.

"I have decided: in south Venezuela, starting at 8 p.m. today Thursday Feb. 21, the land border with Brazil will be totally and absolutely closed," said Maduro.

The measure will be in effect until further notice, the president said during a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces.

The move comes amid what he called "provocation" from Brazil's right-wing government.

Venezuela is also considering sealing its border with Colombia, he added.

"I don't want to have to make these types of decisions, but I am evaluating it -- the total closure of the border with Colombia," said Maduro.

Both Colombia and Brazil have aligned themselves with Venezuela's right-wing opposition and its campaign to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist PSUV party from power.

The president called on Colombia's armed forces to refrain from taking part in the Washington-orchestrated maneuvers, including an announced Feb. 23 attempt to deliver humanitarian aid, which Venezuelan officials believe is a pretext for military intervention.

The responsibility "for any outbreak of violence on the border between Colombia and Venezuela rests on (Colombian President) Ivan Duque," Maduro said.

According to Maduro, Duque informed his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that "he does not have the backing of the Colombian armed forces for an attack on Venezuela."

On Wednesday, Caracas announced the indefinite suspension of air and maritime connections with the neighboring islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which face Venezuela's Caribbean coast.

Political tensions between the government and opposition groups in Venezuela came to a head after Maduro was sworn in to a new term on Jan. 10.

The opposition, which largely boycotted the presidential elections in May, refuses to recognize Maduro's reelection win and has been demanding a new round of voting.
File Photo: Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu speaks at a UN Security Council meeting on mercenary activities in Africa, at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Thursday that China supports the United Nations Security Council to adjust relevant sanctions on the Central African Republic (CAR) in line with the changing situation.

"When the CAR situation is turning for the better, China supports the Council, in looking at the situations on the ground, and the will and need of the CAR, to adjust relevant sanctions," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, told a Security Council meeting on the CAR situation.

"Imposing sanctions on the CAR is aimed at bringing back national stability, and law and order to the country at an early date," the envoy said, adding that "the priority at this moment is to assist it in achieving peace and reconciliation."

"The Council must stay united and provide conditions for the CAR situation to turn for the better," he added.

The Global Peace Agreement in the CAR, signed by the CAR Government and 14 armed groups in Bangui on Feb. 6, was the major focus of the day's meeting.

"All parties must honor their commitments under the agreement, translate the political will into real actions, and effectively promote the peace and recognition process of the CAR," said the Chinese ambassador.

"Regional countries and the international community must provide support for the implementation of the agreement," he said.

Noting that the long-term peace and stability of the CAR would not be possible without sustained support from the UN, the African Union, regional countries, and international partners, Ma said that "all parties must increase coordination with the CAR Government, respect its leadership, and on the basis of the evolving situation and the needs on the ground, provide tailored support."

The Security Council on Jan. 31 unanimously voted for the extension of the arms embargo against the CAR for a year. It decided to extend its sanctions regime on the country - including an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze - until Jan. 31, 2020.

The Security Council noted, however, if the CAR government meets the key benchmarks by Sept. 30 this year, the Council will reconvene to ease the arms embargo measures.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 04:35:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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KIEV, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia remained the largest exporter of nuclear fuel to Ukraine in 2018, local media reported Thursday, citing data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Last year, Ukraine imported about 523.2 million U.S. dollars worth of nuclear fuel from abroad, with Russia covering 71.6 percent of the purchases, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

According to the report, Ukraine imported the rest of the nuclear fuel from the European branch of a U.S.-based nuclear power company.

In 2017, Russia accounted for 69.17 percent of Ukraine's total nuclear fuel imports, while Westinghouse accounted for 30.83 percent, said the report.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Ministry had voiced plans to reduce the share of imports from Russia to 45 percent in 2018.

Ukraine, which relied on Russia for more than 90 percent of its nuclear fuel imports in 2013, has reduced the purchases due to the tensions between Kiev and Moscow that started in 2014.

As nuclear energy accounts for over half of power generation in the country, Ukraine heavily depends on nuclear fuel for its 15 reactors in four nuclear power plants.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 04:20:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Italy's state-owned investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and UniCredit bank have entered into a partnership to support Italian companies in China, the CDP said in a statement on Thursday.

The two lenders have set up a 300-million-euro revolving line of credit, and have agreed to facilitate access to credit for Italian companies in China through co-financing and through renminbi-denominated funding instruments, the statement said.

"Exports were the principal source of development for Italian companies in the most intense years of the economic crisis, and will continue to be strategic for Italy's strongly manufacturing-based production system," CDP executive Nunzio Tartaglia said in a statement.

"In this context, China is clearly one of the main outlet markets for many made-in-Italy products," Tartaglia said.

UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking co-head Gianfranco Bisagni added that the partnership with CDP "lays the foundation for stable cooperation, to the advantage of companies that represent the most dynamic part of Italy's economic and productive system".

"This is extremely important news, because China is undoubtedly one of the most important markets on a global level," China-Italy Chamber of Commerce Secretary-General Marco Bettin told Xinhua.

"Any company that wishes to take its business abroad must rely on lenders such as UniCredit," Bettin explained.

UniCredit is one of the largest lenders in Italy, and has maintained a presence in Asia's main financial and industrial hubs for the past 40 years, according to its website.

The public-private partnership between the bank and CDP "will allow for investments, guarantees, and 360-degree support" for Italian companies in China, Bettin said.

The CDP-UniCredit partnership will also provide "specialized assistance" to small and mid-sized Italian companies operating in China or wishing to do so, added Bettin, who also serves as chief operating officer at the Italy China Foundation.

"This means the possibility of guiding and accompanying Italian businesses in their dialogue with China, for example in deciding how to invest, or the best location in which to set up," Bettin told Xinhua.

State-owned CDP, whose job is to promote Italy's economic development by investing in industry and infrastructure, was founded in Turin in 1850, according to its website. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 04:00:36|Editor: Li Xia

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Photo taken on Feb. 21, 2019 shows the United Nations Security Council holding a meeting on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), at the UN headquarters in New York. The Global Peace Agreement in the CAR, signed by the CAR Government and 14 armed groups in Bangui on Feb. 6, was the major focus of the day's meeting. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior envoy told the United Nations Security Council Thursday that the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains serious despite the recent signing of a peace deal.

"The signing of the Global Agreement for Peace and National Reconciliation on Feb. 6 is the culmination of a long process," said Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN mission in the CAR.

The global peace agreement, signed by the CAR Government and 14 armed groups in Bangui on Feb. 6, was the major focus of the day's meeting.

In his final briefing to the Security Council, Onanga-Anyanga said that "Central Africans have come a long way, and despite numerous challenges...they deserve our admiration and encouragement."

Since conflict began in the CAR in 2012, due to fighting between the mostly Christian anti-Balaka militia and the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition, thousands of civilians have been killed and two out of three people in the small Central African nation have become dependent on humanitarian aid.

"While we are right to welcome the fact that our multifaceted efforts have allowed this important political advance in the Central African Republic, we must remain vigilant because the situation remains serious," said the UN envoy, adding that "the unbearable fate of displaced people and refugees, as well as scenes of senseless violence and the many victims (are a nagging reminder) of this."

Onanga-Anyanga stressed that the signing of the peace deal was a "necessary and decisive step, certainly, but only one step. The hardest thing is indeed to come. The real test will be in the full and good faith implementation of the agreement," he said.

With that in mind, he called on all stakeholders to scrupulously honor the commitments they have made under the agreement and not to betray the confidence placed in them by the Central African people and all those who accompanied them in throughout the peace process.

"The country today has the opportunity to open a new page full of promise and that turns its back, definitely, to a painful story," said Onanga-Anyanga, and he urged the parties to always pursue dialogue to sustain the new political and social consensus put forward by the Feb. 6 agreement.

Onanga-Anyanga said that the support of the Security Council, the countries of the region and the wider international community remain essential for the successful implementation of the peace agreement.

Heading up the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) since August 2015, Onanga-Anyanga will be succeeded by Mankeur Ndiaye of Senegal.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 03:50:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel's first spacecraft was set to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in the United States later on Thursday, Israeli officials said.

If succeeded, Beresheet, or Genesis in Hebrew, would be the first privately-funded spacecraft to land on the moon.

The 585-kg and 1.5-meter-high spacecraft is designed to land on the moon and eject a robotic vehicle that will tour its surface.

According to a statement by Israel's Science and Technology Ministry, Beresheet is scheduled to take off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 8:45 p.m. local time (0145 GMT Friday).

Its journey to the moon will take a few weeks, with landing expected on April 11, the statement said.

Together with scientists at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and an international team of experts, Beresheet is due to carry out scientific experiments on the lunar surface, including measuring and mapping the moon's magnetic field, the ministry said.

It was built by SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit space venture, and state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with a budget of 100 million U.S. dollars raised mostly by SpaceIL.

SpaceIL Chairman Morris Kahn, a South African-born Israeli billionaire entrepreneur, told reporters on Monday that he hopes Beresheet will herald the beginning of a new area for Israel in space.

"We show our initiative, and we've developed technology, which I think is going to be important. I think we got to take Israel into space," he said.

Meanwhile, Israel's Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis said the launch will mark "national and historic events in the history of the state. The event is one of the greatest prides for the country and a national event in every respect."

"The fact that Israel will be the fourth country in the world, alongside the United States, Russia and China, to land a spacecraft on the moon is cogent proof that we are an international science and technology power," he noted.
File Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laughs as President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for Pompeo at the State Department in Washington, U.S., May 2, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday he has "ruled out" running for a Senate seat from his home state of Kansas in 2020.

"It's ruled out," Pompeo, 55, said during an interview on NBC's "Today". "I'm here. I'm loving it."

He added that he will serve as secretary of state as long as President Donald Trump will allow him.

The Washington Post reported last month that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell personally urged Pompeo to run for a seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts.

Pompeo reportedly had since met with Roberts, who announced earlier this year that he would not seek another term.

Trump said he was confident that Pompeo would not leave his administration to run for Senate.

The president told CBS's "Face the Nation" earlier this year that the State Department chief told him "he's absolutely not leaving."

A former Kansas Congressman, Pompeo joined the Trump administration first as director of the Central Intelligence Agency before replacing Rex Tillerson, who was fired by Trump, as secretary of state.

Kansas is typically a red state but Republicans are worried that Democrats could pull off a victory next year as Democrat Laura Kelly beat Republican Kris Kobach in the governor's race last year.

Republicans hold 53-47 advantage in the Senate but they will have to defend 22 seats in next year's election, while Democrats will be trying to hold on to a dozen.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 02:25:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said Thursday that China supports the United Nations Security Council to adjust relevant sanctions on the Central African Republic (CAR) in line with the changing situation.

"When the CAR situation is turning for the better, China supports the Council, in looking at the situations on the ground, and the will and need of the CAR, to adjust relevant sanctions," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, told a Security Council meeting on the CAR situation.

"Imposing sanctions on the CAR is aimed at bringing back national stability, and law and order to the country at an early date," the envoy said, adding that "the priority at this moment is to assist it in achieving peace and reconciliation."

"The Council must stay united and provide conditions for the CAR situation to turn for the better," he added.

The Global Peace Agreement in the CAR, signed by the CAR Government and 14 armed groups in Bangui on Feb. 6, was the major focus of the day's meeting.

"All parties must honor their commitments under the agreement, translate the political will into real actions, and effectively promote the peace and recognition process of the CAR," said the Chinese ambassador.

"Regional countries and the international community must provide support for the implementation of the agreement," he said.

Noting that the long-term peace and stability of the CAR would not be possible without sustained support from the UN, the African Union, regional countries, and international partners, Ma said that "all parties must increase coordination with the CAR Government, respect its leadership, and on the basis of the evolving situation and the needs on the ground, provide tailored support."

The Security Council on Jan. 31 unanimously voted for the extension of the arms embargo against the CAR for a year. It decided to extend its sanctions regime on the country - including an arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze - until Jan. 31, 2020.

The Security Council noted, however, if the CAR government meets the key benchmarks by Sept. 30 this year, the Council will reconvene to ease the arms embargo measures.
Helicopters take part in an international military exercise codenamed "Winter 2019" in Kars, Turkey, on Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Qin Yanyang)

ANKARA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is holding a large-scale international military exercise in extreme weather conditions in its Eastern Kars Province bordering Armenia, local press reported Thursday.

Representatives of 15 countries are taking part in the drills code-named "Winter 2019," which are expected to end on Friday, according to a report by public broadcaster TRT.

Soldiers take part in an international military exercise codenamed "Winter 2019" in Kars, Turkey, on Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Qin Yanyang)

The aim of the exercise is to test and improve tactical and strategic abilities in harsh winter conditions and enhance coordination between participants, it said, adding that the temperature dropped to minus 25 degrees Celsius in the exercise area.

Soldiers take part in an international military exercise codenamed "Winter 2019" in Kars, Turkey, on Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Qin Yanyang)

Some 250 personnel from 15 allied countries, including Qatar, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are attending the drills.

According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also watched the exercise through a video conference in the capital Ankara.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:29:41|Editor: xuxin

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A man casts his vote at a polling station during the presidential and National Assembly Elections in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, Feb. 23, 2019. More than 72 million Nigerians are expected to vote in the general elections in the country, according to Mahmood Yakubu, the electoral chief who told media earlier. (Xinhua/Guo Jun)

ABUJA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 72 million Nigerians are expected to vote in the coming general elections in the country, according to the electoral chief on Thursday.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told reporters in Abuja that a total of 72,775,502 Nigerians had so far collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs) which qualify them to participate in the elections.

The figure, Yakubu said, represents 86.63 percent of the over 84 million registered voters in the most populous African country.

The Commission halted the distribution of voter cards in the country since Feb. 11, ahead of the earlier scheduled polls last Saturday.

On Jan. 7, INEC had said the total number of registered voters in the country stood at 84,004,084 -- just 42 percent of Nigeria's population which currently stands at about 198 million.

Just hours before the opening of polls scheduled on Feb. 16, the electoral body announced a one-week delay in polling, citing logistical issues.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:24:38|Editor: Xiaoxia

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SOFIA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The approaching 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Bulgaria would boost bilateral cooperation, a Chinese official said here on Thursday.

Yan Jianqun, Chinese charge d'affaires in Sofia, said Bulgaria was the second country in the world to recognize new China in 1949, and the governments of the two countries would jointly organize a series of events to celebrate this anniversary.

This good occasion would also provide a great impetus for further bilateral cooperation in areas such as healthcare, culture and tourism, said Yan who was invited to address the annual meeting of the members of Bulgaria National Association for the Belt and Road.

Meanwhile, he expressed satisfaction that in 2018 the friendly relations and cooperation in various fields such as economy, finance and culture have achieved "tremendous successes."

In particular, Yan recalled that in July 2018, during the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Bulgaria and his participation in the seventh leaders' meeting of China and 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), the two countries reached a number of important consensuses on cooperation in different areas.

Yan underlined that the two countries are now actively communicating on the preparation for the establishment of the Global Partnership Center of CEECs and China in Bulgaria.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:14:35|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Namibia and Ghana will strengthen bilateral cooperation in different areas of mutual interest at the upcoming 3rd session of the Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation (JPCC) from Feb. 25 to 27 in Windhoek, an official said Thursday.

During the upcoming session of the JPCC, the two sides will promote cooperation in fields including industrialization, trade, mining and energy, according to acting director of Namibia's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation Jerobeam Shaanika.

Ghana will be represented by about 31 delegates, composed of representatives from various sectors, and legal experts, while the Namibian side is expected to be led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister, accompanied by other senior government officials from various line ministries.

Shaanika said on trade and investment, the two sides are expected to further explore how to accelerate trade between each other.

Similarly, Ghana will also look to expedite exporting its products to the Namibian market, he added.

The 3rd Session of the Namibia-Ghana JPCC is a follow-up to a successful 2nd Session which was held in Ghana in Nov. 2016. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:09:34|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BERLIN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Henkel is planning to increase its dividend to record high despite its first declines in both turnover and profits in years, the German consumer goods company announced on Thursday.

With its 2018 business figures, Henkel announced the first decline in turnover in five years while profits declined for the first time in 10 years.

The company recorded a slight decrease of 0.6 percent in turnover to 19.9 billion euros (22.6 billion U.S. dollars) while net profits even declined by 8.3 percent to 2.3 billion euros in the fiscal year 2018.

"Negative currency effects" would have been responsible for a decline in sales of 1.1 billion euros, according to Henkel.

Nevertheless, the company is planning to increase the dividend of their shares by 3.4 percent to 1.85 euro per preferred share and 1.83 euros per ordinary share. This would be the highest dividend payment in the history of Henkel.

After the publication of the annual business figures, Henkel's share price increased by about 0.5 percent to around 89 euros at the German stock index DAX. However, Henkel's share prices are still far away from their 2018 annual high of around 114 euros in March.

Henkel would be perfectly healthy as "we continued to deliver profitable growth" in 2018, said Hans Van Bylen, chief executive officer (CEO) of Henkel. Besides "substantial negative currency effects" the company would have faced increased "direct material prices" in 2018, added CEO Van Bylen.

Adhesive Technologies, Henkel's glue business, remained the most important with a slight increase of 0.2 percent in turnover to 9.4 billion euros and adjusted operating profits grew by 1.6 percent to 1.8 billion euros.

Van Bylen reaffirmed his plans of investing an additional 300 million euros in order to "capture additional growth opportunities" mainly in Henkel's consumer goods businesses as well as to further "accelerate the digital transformation" of the German company that was founded in 1876.

Taking the "increased growth investments from 2019 onwards" into account, Henkel is expecting organic growth rates between 2 and 4 percent for the fiscal year 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:09:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (C), who also comes as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (R) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin co-chair the formal opening of a fresh round of high-level economic and trade talks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Feb. 21, 2019. China and the United States on Thursday morning kicked off here a fresh round of high-level economic and trade talks. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States on Thursday morning kicked off here a fresh round of high-level economic and trade talks.

The Chinese delegation is headed by Vice Premier Liu He, who also came as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping; while the U.S. team includes Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Liu, Lighthizer and Mnuchin co-chaired the formal opening at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House.

The Chinese attendees of the opening include Governor of the People's Bank of China Yi Gang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min, Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun, Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen, as well as Cong Liang, secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission.

On the U.S. side, major officials attending the opening include Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, and Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy and director of the National Trade Council, among others.

The two-day talks, the seventh round since last February, came on the heels of the previous round held in Beijing from Feb. 14 to 15, and the working-level consultations between the two sides that have started here on Tuesday.

Altogether, these discussions aim to resolve outstanding issues regarding the economic and trade relations of the worlds two largest economies, as negotiators of both sides have strived to beat a 90-day deadline that ends on March 1.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-22 00:09:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A powerful explosion hit Syria's northern city of Afrin on Thursday following a military parade by Turkey-backed rebels in the city, a war monitor reported.

The explosion occurred as a car bomb was detonated near a hospital in the Vellat Street, causing many injuries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Some of the injured are in critical conditions, the London-based watchdog said.

During the parade, the Turkish slogans and banners were used by the rebels who are in control of Afrin.

Afrin had been controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and its allied militia groups.

Last year, Turkey spearheaded an operation to dislodge the YPG from Afrin with the help of its allied rebels.

Multiple explosions have rocked the city since it fell to the Turkey-backed rebels.

Around 350,000 people were displaced from Afrin when the Turkey-backed rebels took over the city.

Kurdish militia groups including the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) repeatedly said they would retake Afrin from Turkey-backed rebels.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 23:44:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and Saudi Arabia agreed Thursday to further boost financial cooperation.

The two countries will enhance communication and coordination of macro policies, develop the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan through the financial sector and promote inclusive growth and sustainable development of both countries, according to the meeting of a financial sub-committee under a high-level committee to coordinate bilateral cooperation.

At Thursday's meeting, jointly chaired by Chinese vice finance minister Zou Jiayi and her Saudi Arabian counterpart Harmad Al-Bazai, the two sides agreed to support multilateralism, step up policy communication and support under multilateral mechanisms and cooperate to enhance the effectiveness of multilateral mechanisms.

The two countries will support reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and support new multilateral development institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to play more active roles.

They will also boost settlement in local currencies and cross-border bond issuance as well as encourage their financial institutions to expand businesses in each other's market.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 23:19:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Innovation is boosting coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to authorities.

This helps further integrate Hong Kong and Macao into the country's overall development, the authorities said. New opportunities are being created with a faster flow of talent, capital, information and technology within the area.

China on Monday released the outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area.

Innovation is needed in systems and mechanisms to address the complexity of the area's development, with the coexistence of three customs territories and three currencies.

Some progress has been made. A one-stop port was set up at an artificial island on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, saving travelers' time to cross borders.

Zhu Yongling, former director of the management bureau of the bridge, described the bridge's management as a "systematic and institutional innovation."

Other innovations included the co-location arrangement at the West Kowloon Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, which sped up cross-border passengers' journeys, providing an example of the Greater Bay Area's innovation.

The Greater Bay Area is also a hotbed for technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

As of the end of last year, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub in Shenzhen had created 340 start-ups, about half of which were founded by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao. They had secured financing worth 1.5 billion yuan (223 million U.S. dollars).

Similar incubators include the Songshan Lake Xbot Park in the city of Dongguan, which specializes in robotics and smart hardware.

A Hong Kong entrepreneur surnamed Lau has set up offices in both Qianhai and Songshan.

"We conduct our research and development in Hong Kong, produce prototypes in Shenzhen and then turn to mass production in Dongguan," Lau said. "Based in the Greater Bay Area, we are able to create products that are loved by customers worldwide."

"Talent is the key to innovation, and the flow of talent in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will create a great power of innovation," said Tang Xiao'ou, who holds teaching and administrative posts in both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology.

He personally led the effort to set up a joint lab between the two higher learning institutes to facilitate cooperation between researchers from Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Deng Fei, founder of a technology company in Shenzhen, said: "Starting one's own business is full of uncertainties, but one thing is certain. It is easier to turn ideas into reality in the Greater Bay Area than in any other place," Deng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 23:14:10|Editor: huaxia

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ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ali Mohamed Shein, president of Tanzania's archipelago of Zanzibar, said on Thursday that his government plans to build seaweed processing plant to improve price of the marine resource.

President Shein unveiled the plan when speaking to the ruling party leaders in Zanzibar's Unguja South District.

"I am aware of the challenges facing seaweed growers including unreliable and unpredictable prices. But, I can assure you that all those challenges will be addressed as soon as possible and seaweed farmers would also benefit from the sweat," he said.

According to the government, the seaweed farming sector used to employ about 23,000 people, whereby 90 percent of whom were women.

He said that his government has already talked with an Indonesian seaweed processing company, which agreed to build giant seaweed processing plant in Zanzibar, which consist of many small islands and two large ones, Unguja and Pemba.

According to Shein, this is a result of his last year's visit to Indonesia, where he met with different seaweed stakeholders who agreed to come up with cooperation agreement on seaweed farming development.

"What is remaining is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the cooperation to be fruitful," he said.

Commercially viable seaweed was first introduced to Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, in the late 1980s from the Philippines.

Zanzibar has historically been among the largest exporters of seaweed in the world. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 23:14:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHANGSHA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Police in central China's Hunan Province have detained 15 suspects involved in trans-provincial drug trafficking, police in the provincial capital Changsha announced Thursday.

In early July 2018, police found evidence of a drug trafficking gang and launched investigations in Changsha and the city of Shaoyang into the activities of the members of the gang and their drug trafficking network.

On Jan. 20, police found that the gang attempted to transport a batch of drugs from Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, to Changsha through logistics transport.

The police launched a raid and arrested two suspects, surnamed Xu and Yang, around 4 p.m. as they arrived at a logistics park in Changsha County to fetch the drugs. Police then arrested a further 13 members of the gang and seized 3.6 kg of drugs, one gun and 36 bullets.

An initial investigation found that Xu had bought drugs several times in Yunnan, starting December 2018, and sold them to other drug dealers and users in Changsha.

Further investigation is underway.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 22:49:00|Editor: ZX

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DAMASCUS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Dua al-Bustati, 28, was born without arms. However, it is probably a blessing for her to destroy the limits and express her soul through drawing various paintings with her feet.

With a constant smile on her face, al-Bustati is proud of herself with the paintings she draws.

She said her talent started when her sister used to bring her photos and ask her to paint them. She started by painting cartoon characters when she was a little girl.

But painting is not the only thing she can do with her feet.

In fact, the determined woman does almost everything on her own, as she can drink coffee and use a cellphone and even do some cooking with her feet.

The secret behind her determination is her positive thinking as she said positiveness in life is what matters and she is blessed enough to have the positiveness to make her excel in life.

"The positive thinking is what enabled me to enter and graduate from the Fine Art College and I was called an artist and I made several exhibitions," she said.

During a visit of Xinhua reporters in Damascus to al-Bustati's house, she said difficulties are part of her life.

"I was born without arms and faced many difficulties and I did everything with my legs," she said.

"I attended the school for people with special needs so it was fine. But in the university, the situation was so difficult as there was no place designed for me, so I used to sit on the ground to draw. I overcame this situation with my strong will," she added.

Throughout her life, she did not like the way people would look at her as a girl without arms and this feeling pushed her to do her best in school and in university to compete with the normal people.

Her graduation project was paintings of people with tied hands. It was a message to the people that gives her strange looks on the street.

The paintings aim to tell a message that the people who look at me with sympathy cannot live a day with their hands tied, she said.

She said the arms are no longer important for her as she can do anything with her legs.

"For me, the hands are no longer important but for sure they are important for other people and that is my message to the world from my graduation project," she told Xinhua.

In her house in the suburb of Sehnaya, some of the paintings al-Bustati drew are hanged on the walls or laid down on the ground.

She said she participated in several exhibitions in the country as she has drawn around 100 paintings so far.

"The people's reaction was so positive and they liked my drawings even before they knew my situation. After they knew me they were so surprised that the paintings were drawn by feet not hands," she said.

She said her dream is to be famous around the world.

Al-Bustati said her paintings largely focus on the old Damascus's lanes and nature, noting that people sense her inner situation through the paintings in the exhibitions.

"All my paintings represent me as each of them mirrors my spirit in different situations," she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 22:33:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAPE TOWN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Africa will continue to support peace operations in Africa under the United Nations and the African Union missions, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

South Africa's national defence force "is a source of enduring pride" whether it is engaging in anti-piracy patrols in the Mozambique Channel, doing border patrols or participating in peace-keeping missions on the African continent, Ramaphosa said at an event in Cape Town to mark the National Armed Forces Day which falls on February 21.

The South African National Defense (SANDF) has been involved in international peacekeeping missions on the continent, notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the UN Stabilization Mission.

The SANDF currently has around 1,200 troops in the DRC and is also part of the Force Intervention Brigade together with Tanzanian and Malawian troops.

In addition, the SANDF provides humanitarian assistance and disaster relief under General Military Assistance operations both in the country and in the Southern African Development Community region, Ramaphosa said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 22:25:00|Editor: mmm

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File photo taken on March 6, 2017 shows Zhuang Yan, deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), speaking on a panel discussion with other deputies from northeast China's Liaoning Province in Beijing, capital of China. Zhuang Yan, 47, is a sanitation worker with Hengjie Sanitation Company in the Lishan District of Anshan city. In addition to performing well in her own work, Zhuang always thinks about how to better play her role as an NPC deputy. Whenever she goes to a northern city, Zhuang pays much attention to local curbs and their corrosion degree. Based on her research, Zhuang proposed to NPC about the use of environmental friendly snow-melting agent. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:58:45|Editor: Liangyu

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WARSAW, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- If Poland bans Chinese tech giant Huawei from 5G development in the country, it could delay the entire network growth, the CEO of T-Mobile Poland said Thursday.

"If you exclude a market leader, and Huawei is a market leader in new technology, and knowing that you have almost all operators having Huawei equipment, this will bring some difficulties, this is clear. This could end up in a delay," Andreas Maierhofer, the T-Mobile Poland CEO, was quoted by media as saying during a press conference about the company's annual results.

T-Mobile Poland, owned by Deutsche Telekom, launched a commercial 5G network in Warsaw at the end of 2018, using technology from Huawei. Initially tested on selected business partners in the center of the capital, it would be expanded gradually into other cities.

The U.S. has been urging Poland and other EU countries to exclude Huawei from 5G development, claiming the company's technology would compromise users' security. Huawei denies claims that its technology could be used for espionage, and until now no evidence has been raised to support the allegations.

Huawei said earlier this month that the company has an excellent cyber security record, with its devices being approved by strict reviews by multiple regulators and operators.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:58:45|Editor: xuxin

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria found her way back home blocked, after Britain said it may prevent a London IS bride from returning, citing "hate for our country."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that Hoda Muthana, an Alabama native who joined the IS in 2014, is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to enter the United States.

Muthana "does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," Pompeo said in a statement.

Now in a refugee camp in Syria, 24-year-old Muthana said she made a mistake in joining the IS and wants to return to the United States with her 18-month-old son.

"The situation of American citizens or possible American citizens in Syria is by definition extremely complicated, and we're looking into these cases to better understand the details," said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino, when asked about Muthana at a press briefing on Tuesday.

The Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained some 900 foreign fighters during their campaign against the IS in northeastern Syria, media reported. The SDF has warned that they may not be able to hold IS fighters after the departure of U.S. forces.

"The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday.

Trump said it was time "for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing" after the U.S. had expended plenty of resources in Syria.

This came after British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Friday that the British government may try to prevent Shamima Begum, who left London as a schoolgirl in 2015 to join the IS, from returning.

"We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh (the IS) were full of hate for our country," Javid said.

Legal problems may loom, however, if Begum's wish to return is rejected, said British Justice Minister David Gauke on Saturday. He told Sky News that people should not be made stateless.

As part of Europe remains silent on this issue, France took a different path. It is preparing for the return of scores of French jihadists, most of them children, who were held by Kurdish authorities in Syria after the U.S. withdrawal, said French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet on Jan. 31.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:53:44|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to launch the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft with an international crew on board for the International Space Station (ISS) on March 14 from Kazakhstan, crew members said Thursday.

The basic crew, including Russian astronaut Alexei Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, were introduced at a press conference in Moscow.

The back-up crew comprise Russian astronaut Alexander Skvortsov, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.

Ovchinin said the crew plan to perform scientific experiments and complete tasks of dismantling and delivering to the Earth equipment for checks of how it was affected by spaceflight.

He said he considers a spacewalk scheduled for May the most interesting part of the mission.

Koch could not confirm a plan for performing an all-female spacewalk with another U.S. astronaut currently in orbit, Anne McLain. But she said she had good training and was ready to perform a spacewalk with any crew member.

Ovchinin and Hague will go to the ISS after a launch failure of their mission in October, when they had to make an emergency landing shortly after liftoff due to a carrier rocket malfunction.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:33:39|Editor: xuxin

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BANGKOK, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Thai police on Thursday stepped up security and sealed off a buddhist temple which was attacked by insurgents in the southern province of Pattani on Wednesday.

The temple was hit by gunshots from unidentified insurgents on motors for at least 10 times, police said.

Five monks were living in the temple and no one was injured. Some buildings were destroyed. The bullets also hit two rubber trees in the temple's compound, police said, adding that the insurgents might aim to create disturbance in the country's south.

Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala are the three southernmost provinces haunted by an ongoing conflict involving gunshots and bomb attacks.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:28:37|Editor: Liangyu

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SHANGHAI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,800 Tesla electric cars, including over 1,600 Model 3 from the United States, will arrive at a port in Shanghai in the early hours of Friday, marking the first large-scale shipment of Tesla's new models to the eastern Chinese city.

Shanghai customs said fast clearance will be granted to the vehicles, meaning all 1,800 Tesla cars will be transported directly to dealers soon after the disembarkation at Pudong Waigaoqiao Port.

Customs figures show the city imported 373,000 cars in 2018, down 9.8 percent. The average price for each imported vehicle rose by 5.7 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:13:33|Editor: ZX

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) meets with representatives from Caribbean countries which have diplomatic ties with China in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 21, 2019. The representatives came here to attend the seventh round of foreign ministries' consultations between China and their countries. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for closer ties with Caribbean countries on Thursday.

Wang made the remarks when meeting with representatives from Caribbean countries that have diplomatic ties with China.

Wang said China and the Caribbean countries had fostered a paradigm of relations of equal treatment and win-win cooperation between big and small countries.

He called on all countries to safeguard the international order with the United Nations at the core, as well as multilateralism based on international rules.

Stressing the importance of sustainable development, he called for intensified cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and jointly safeguarding the global and regional peace and stability.

The Caribbean countries stand ready to jointly construct the Belt and Road with China, and intensify coordination on climate change so as to safeguard common interests, said the Caribbean representatives who came to attend the seventh round of foreign ministries' consultations between China and their countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 21:03:30|Editor: xuxin

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NAIROBI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Enclosed in sheds made of timber, iron sheets and concrete on the farm in Bisil, Kajiado County, are Friesian and Ayrshires animals.

Some are munching hay placed in the feeders while others are lying on their stomachs on cow mattresses chewing the cud or licking salt blocks hanged at various places in the dairy unit.

Some years back, such a setting on farms in Kajiado, a bedrock of pastoralists from the Maasai community was unimaginable, but this is now the modern reality as an increasing number of herders take up zero-grazing for more income.

The herders, a majority of whom own huge tracts of land, are steadily learning the mode of farming as they embrace the hybrid animals and ditch the local breeds that they have kept for eons.

"I love zero-grazing because you only keep a small number of animals but the amount of milk you get is more. From 10 animals you get over 200 liters of milk every day. It's what one would milk from 100 animals of the local breeds," said Bernard Sankei

Until four years ago, Sankei was one of the biggest cattle-keepers in Bisil, rearing some 350 cattle of the indigenous Zebu breed, tens of goats and sheep.

The animals would daily roam on his 100 acres and beyond in search of pasture and return to their kraal in the evening.

His turning point, however, was in 2015 when a severe drought hit most parts of the east African nation making pasture for animals and food for human scarcer.

He lost some of his animals to the drought. Like many other pastoralists in the region, he was forced to sell the rest to meat traders from the capital Nairobi for as little as Sh5,000 (50 U.S. dollars) to avoid losses.

"It occurred to me that I had to change the way I was keeping cattle because pastoralism was no longer viable. I attended training on zero-grazing offered by the county government and its partners to learn what I needed to do," he recounted.

The farmer sold part of his land and used the proceeds to buy five Friesian animals from Kiambu on the outskirts of Nairobi, build dairy units and grow pasture.

"I started with five animals, now I have 12, including calves, having sold some and I get 150 liters of milk that I sell in Kajiado Town at 0.60 dollars per liter. The market is insatiable due to the growing population," he said, noting that he could not sustain market with milk from the indigenous breed.

The change of tide has also benefited Stephen Oloishona, who keeps some eight hybrid animals and supplies milk to a factory in the county.

"I get 100 liters from my six animals every day and sell some to a hotel in Isinya and to a nearby factory. This would not have been possible if I continued with the old practice of herding," said Oloishona.

Like Sankei and other former pastoralists who have embraced zero-grazing, Oloishona has become an expert in silage making, growing fodder grasses that include Boma Rhodes to make hay, embraced artificial insemination for breeding his animals and record-keeping.

"Over the years, pastoralism has stood the test of time but it is increasingly becoming expensive to herders as the weather becomes too unpredictable, land use changes, with real estate taking up most of the space and children who used to herd the cattle go to school. Pastoralists certainly now have to change their ways and zero-grazing is the way to go," said Felix Akatch, a livestock specialist from Egerton University.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:53:26|Editor: zh

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Helicopters take part in an international military exercise codenamed "Winter 2019" in Kars, Turkey, Feb. 21, 2019. Turkey is holding large-scale international military exercises in extreme weather conditions in its Eastern Kars Province. Representatives of 15 countries are taking part in the drills which are expected to end on Friday. (Xinhua/Mustafa Kaya)

ANKARA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is holding large-scale international military exercises in extreme weather conditions in its Eastern Kars Province, bordering Armenia, local press reported on Thursday.

Representatives of 15 countries are taking part in the drills codenamed "Winter 2019," which are expected to end on Friday, according to a report by public broadcaster TRT.

The aim of the exercises is to test and improve tactical and strategic abilities in harsh winter conditions and enhance coordination between participants, it said, adding that temperatures dropped to minus 25 Celsius in the exercises area.

Some 250 personnel from 15 allied countries, including Qatar, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are attending the drills. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also watched the exercises through video conference in Ankara.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:48:25|Editor: Lu Hui

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Photo taken on June 6, 2017 shows the construction site of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in the Lingdingyang waters, south China. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have unveiled the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to build it into a role model of high-quality development, an international first-class bay area and a world-class city cluster.

The bay area consists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and nine cities in Guangdong Province, with a combined population of about 70 million at the end of 2017 and a gross domestic product of about 10 trillion yuan (1.48 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2017.

The plan, released on Monday, covers the period from now to 2022 in the immediate term and extends to 2035 in the long term.

Promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area is a major decision made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core.

With his broad vision and profound wisdom, President Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has planned the bay area's development.

The following is a timeline of some key moments of Xi's involvement in pushing forward the project.

-- In December 2012, Xi visited Guangdong in his first inspection trip outside Beijing after the 18th CPC National Congress. He expressed the hope for Guangdong to partner with Hong Kong and Macao to create a more competitive world-class city cluster.

-- On July 1, 2017, Xi witnessed the signing of a framework agreement between the National Development and Reform Commission and the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao on deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation.

-- In October 2017, development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was mentioned in the report Xi delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress.

-- On Dec. 18, 2017, at the Central Economic Work Conference, Xi stressed well-conceived planning in the development of the Greater Bay Area and the need to set up coordination mechanisms at an early date.

-- In May 2018, Xi presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee during which the outline development plan of the Greater Bay Area was reviewed.

Xi repeatedly stressed, instructed and provided guidance to the bay area's planning, demanding higher standards of the top-level design.

More specific instructions had also been made. These include letting market play a decisive role in allocating resources, and exploring ways to promote two-way investment, trade facilitation and create new modes of cooperation.

-- In October 2018, Xi inspected Guangdong again, calling on Guangdong to regard developing the Greater Bay Area as a key opportunity and major task in the reform and opening-up and make earnest efforts to push it forward.

-- On Oct. 23, 2018, Xi announced the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a supergiant sea-crossing traffic project that links Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. This supergiant sea-crossing project has become a model of Greater Bay Area connectivity.

-- In November 2018, meeting with a delegation from Hong Kong and Macao in Beijing, Xi expressed the hope for Hong Kong and Macao to take the lead in attracting capital, technology and talent to contribute to national high-quality economic development and the new round of high-level opening-up.

For Hong Kong and Macao, Xi said, the implementation of national strategies such as the Greater Bay Area development presents significant new opportunities.

Government ministries and agencies have responded with new policies and initiatives to advance the bay area's development. Private businesses and the general public are also enthusiastic. A great idea has been turned into a good plan and is becoming a reality.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:43:24|Editor: xuxin

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BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) anti-dumping investigation on China steel wheels lacks factual and legal basis and will hurt EU consumers' interests, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

The European Commission has begun an investigation into whether Chinese producers are dumping steel vehicle wheels into Europe at very low prices.

The case's application does not meet the filing standards of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as it lacks accuracy and adequacy in the qualification of the applicant's representativeness, Chinese steel and energy markets as well as Chinese products' impact on EU sector, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a press conference.

Gao pointed out that the EU steel wheel sector is generally in good shape, and China is not the EU's main importer in this field, adding that Chinese products contribute to the market's diversity.

The investigation will add to market uncertainty and hurt EU consumers' interests, Gao said.

China is always against abuse of trade remedy measures and hopes the European Commission will honor the WTO's rules and deal with this case prudently to avoid impact on normal bilateral trade and cooperation, he said.

China will closely follow the development of this case and take necessary steps to protect Chinese firms' legitimate rights and interests, Gao added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:33:18|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Chyngyz Aidarbekov in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday held talks with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Chyngyz Aidarbekov in Beijing, pledging to expand reciprocal cooperation.

Wang said China and Kyrgyzstan enjoy sound mutual trust and political foundation, and no outside interference can affect the development of bilateral ties.

He said China will work with Kyrgyzstan to implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, promote the synergy of their development strategies, facilitate economic and trade cooperation and steadily push forward capacity cooperation, so as to lift bilateral relations to a new level.

Wang expressed hope that they will continue to explore mutually beneficial cooperation by jointly building the Belt and Road.

Aidarbekov said the Kyrgyz government firmly supports China's legitimate position on domestic issues including those related to Xinjiang, will firmly adhere to the one-China policy and spare no effort to safeguard their friendship.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:23:14|Editor: Liangyu

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LISBON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Cai Run said here on Wednesday that China-Portugal cooperation has broad prospects, especially under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

He said the two countries, marking the 40th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties, have been promoting mutual understanding, respect and trust, as well as enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation.

The two sides have carried out pragmatic cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, investment, energy, science and technology, ocean, finance, education, culture and tourism, bringing tangible benefit to the two peoples, said Cai in a joint interview with Chinese media.

He said since China proposed in 2013 the BRI, which refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, more than 140 countries and international organizations including Portugal have signed documents on cooperation under the initiative and substantial progress has been made in a large number of key projects.

He added that China successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and Portugal was also an important participant.

The Sino-Portuguese cooperation under the BRI framework was built on a natural advantage, as Portugal is a maritime country and an important hub connecting the silk road on the land and in the sea, he said.

The Chinese ambassador also mentioned that Portugal is an important partner of China and is one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China.

He added that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa have stated that Portugal supports the BRI and is willing to expand pragmatic cooperation with China in various fields under the BRI framework.

The ambassador said China and Portugal could work together to further integrate the bilateral cooperation with their respective development strategies, so as to better benefit the two peoples.
Cold-temperature variability important in evaluating climate change

BINGHAMTON, NY - New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York, highlights the importance of considering cold temperature variability, and not just warming temperatures, when evaluating the impact of climate change.

A team of Binghamton University researchers including Jessica Hua, assistant professor of biological sciences, and George Meindl, assistant professor of environmental studies, investigated the effect of climate change on amphibian health and their susceptibility to contaminants and parasites. When it comes to climate change, public attention often focuses on the effect of rising average temperatures. In contrast, this study focused on the effect of cold and variable temperatures, which are also consequences of climate change. The researchers discovered that cold temperatures make amphibians more susceptible to road salt but less susceptible to parasites. These findings reveal the importance of considering cold-temperature variability, and not just warming temperatures, when evaluating the impacts of global climate disruption, said Hua.

"There is a lot of misconception that global climate change only refers to an increase in warming temperatures," Hua said. "We feel that the research in this paper is important because it highlights that global climate change is more complex than just an increase in average temperature. In fact, global climate change is also predicted to increase the prevalence of extreme cold temperature events, as well as increase the amount of variation in temperature fluctuations."

Lead author Matthew Wersebe from the University of Oklahoma agreed and said that many people overlook the impact of climate change on plants and animals.

"We all recognize that climate change [is] one of the most serious issues facing us today," said Wersebe. "However, as much as it is recognized as [a] serious concern for people, the impacts to animal and plant populations is much less front and center. Along with this, many studies only consider warming, or changing patterns of water availability on natural systems, and not the impact of the variability in the short-term that is also expected with climate change. Studies like these are critical to understanding the full impacts of climate change."

Due to the rising temperatures from climate change, organisms begin breeding earlier in the spring, which paradoxically leads to an increased risk that these organisms are exposed to heightened fluctuations in temperature during early development, including harmful cold-temperature regimes. It is important to note that while these cold temperatures may not always be deadly, they may alter the susceptibility of amphibians to other stressors, including contaminants and parasites. By placing wood frog embryos in various cold temperature regimes, researchers looked specifically at the consequences of exposure to these lower temperatures.

The research team discovered that amphibians exposed to constant cold conditions as embryos were more susceptible to road salt contamination, but were able to recover as they aged. This is particularly relevant as road salt use is predicted to increase during extreme cold temperature events. The team also found that amphibians exposed to cold temperatures as embryos were generally smaller as they aged, and developed slower, which ultimately made them less prone to parasites because their miniature size made them less attractive. However, these results were not anticipated.

"We initially predicted that exposure to cold temperatures would be stressful to developing embryos. As a consequence, we expected that exposure to stressful conditions early in life would make amphibians less able to deal with other stressors later in life (i.e. parasites)," Hua said. "We were also surprised because past studies have found that cooler temperatures can increase amphibian susceptibility to another parasite (the fungus, chytrid). In this case, the negative effects of the cooler temperatures on amphibians are driven by the fact that the fungus survived better in cooler temperatures."

Ultimately, the study concluded that variation in cold temperatures can lead to unique consequences on amphibian growth, development and responses to other stressors, such as contaminants and parasites. Whether the impact from the cold was harmful or helpful for the amphibians is difficult to gauge.

"In some cases, exposure to cold temperatures was harmful. For instance: exposure to cold temperatures during the egg phase made young tadpoles more susceptible to road salt," said Wersebe. "However, if we allowed these tadpoles to grow older, we found that exposure to cold temperatures during the egg stage no longer mattered for their susceptibility to road salt (i.e. older tadpoles were able to overcome the negative effect of embryonic exposure to cold). Exposure to cold also made amphibians smaller--this is potentially harmful to amphibian populations because smaller amphibians have fewer offspring and this can over time potentially contribute to populations declines. Amphibian populations are declining globally, so considering the effects of cold temperatures may be important in understanding how to protect this imperiled group of animals."

With further research, Hua hopes to test other amphibian species and look closer at why cold temperatures make amphibians more susceptible to salt during their egg phase.

###

Contributing to this research were former and current Binghamton University students in the Hua lab: Matthew Wersebe (now at University of Oklahoma), Paradyse Blackwood, Ying Tong Guo, Jared Jaeger (now at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Dyllan May, Sean Ryan (now at University of Connecticut), and Vivian Wong.

The paper, "The effects of different cold-temperature regimes on development, growth, and susceptibility to an abiotic and biotic stressor," was published in Ecology and Evolution.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:23:14|Editor: xuxin

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday, a day after a meeting between the two leaders in Moscow was canceled.

"They agreed to hold a working meeting in Russia in the near future," the Israeli office said in a statement, adding the two sides also "discussed regional developments."

The talk was held instead of a planned face-to-face meeting, which was canceled by Netanyahu on Wednesday. Israeli media reported the cancellation was due to domestic political affairs amid efforts to unite forces with other right-wing parties ahead of the elections to be held on April 9.

The meeting was supposed to be Netanyahu's first trip to Moscow since Syrian forces mistakenly intercepted a Russian surveillance plane during an Israeli airstrike. Russia held Israel accountable for the downing of the plane.

Israel and Russia hold a hotline to avoid their air forces from clashing in the Syrian battlefield.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:18:11|Editor: xuxin

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by Mohamed al-Azaki

SANAA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- It is hoped that Stockholm agreement on Yemen's key port of Hodeidah will be the first step to end the four-year civil war.

However, experts are skeptical of sensitive issues that caused two previous negotiations in Switzerland in late 2015 and Kuwait in 2016 to collapse.

The toughest issues have not been put on the table, including disarming rebels' ballistic missiles and holding early presidential elections to end the legitimacy of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

According to a UN statement, other major issues will be on the table of negotiations in the next round of talks once the Hodeidah truce deal is fully implemented.

The Stockholm truce deal was reached in December 2018, focusing on Hodeidah as a starting point of the ongoing peace process sponsored by the UN and backed by Britain and the United States.

The deal was considered a major breakthrough into the four-year conflict that has killed more than 10,000 of people, displaced 3 million others and pushed more than 20 million people to the brink of major famine.

The cease-fire went into force on Dec. 18 and has been largely held in Hodeidah, the country's key port which is the main gateway for the much-needed food imports and humanitarian aid.

The UN said this week that both Yemeni warring parties have agreed to withdraw their forces from the city's ports and surrounding outskirts in line with Stockholm peace deal and that the troops' withdrawal would take place within days.

The deal will see Houthi rebels withdraw from three ports of the Red Sea city on first phase and hand over management of the ports to a UN supervisory team, while the government troops pull back from the southern outskirts. In addition, both rival sides should also begin to exchange thousands of war prisoners.

Abdulaziz Omar, a Yemeni political analyst, said the peace process is very complicated and will take "maybe" very long time to end the conflict.

"It's the right time to drive the warring parties into the first process toward reaching an inclusive political settlement, as both rival forces have been exhausted by daily fighting which badly affected the whole nation," Omar said.

"It's also the right time to begin moving into the peace course because both warring parties have run out of money after four years of fighting and they are now in dire need for cash to continue to hold on to power," Omar told Xinhua.

In the past two years, both rival forces have made no major progress on the ground as fighting has kept in the same frontlines.

"The conflict will never be solved by a military solution," Omar added.

In September 2014, the rebels advanced from their main mountainous stronghold in the far northerner province of Saada into the capital Sanaa and other major cities, seizing power and forcing Hadi and his government into exile in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab military coalition intervened in Yemen, launching a major air and ground campaign to back the government troops loyal to Hadi and managed in few months to liberate Aden and forced the rebels to withdraw from other southern and eastern cities.

Military experts suggested to recapture Sanaa, the loyal troops should first retake control of Hodeidah port, which is the main gate of lifeline imports to all northern cities.

The government troops backed by the coalition forces moved on the plan and recaptured Mocha town, about 170 km south of Hodeidah, from the rebels in preparation to advance to Hodeidah. However, the battle to retake Hodeidah took them more than five months until they finally secured the small town early 2017, that underlined the battle for Hodeidah would cost much of lives and time.

In June 2018, the troops advanced into the southern coastal outskirts of Hodeidah in preparation to storm the city but the coalition halted its military advance to support the peace efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths who successfully gathered the warring parties in Stockholm to strike the partial truce agreement at the end of the same year.

Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that the attack to retake Hodeidah will risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians living at the verge of starvation in the besieged port city and will cause what the UN calls the humanitarian most catastrophe in the history.

Mohammed Alawy, a military expert, said the starting step of the peace plan from Hodeidah was a "wisdom."

"The truce aimed to secure the Red Sea international shipping lanes and push the conflict away from the lifeline ports," Alawy told Xinhua.

"The warring parties have agreed on Hodeidah truce deal after a lot of international pressures from Britain and the United States," Alawy said.

The Houthi rebels have said they would accept any political solution that guarantees their rights in the power.

"Giving that the Houthis are now controlling maybe two-thirds of the population and that they are at the peak of their power, they would go to implement the starting steps of the peace deal but they are more likely not to surrender their weapons and ballistic missiles," Alawy said.

"The rebels would also not accept to negotiate any legitimacy of a weak president in exile and these issues were behind much of failure of previous peace talks in Switzerland and Kuwait," Alawy said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:13:10|Editor: xuxin

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COLOMBO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government will identify tourism development zones throughout the island which will concentrate on tourism related activities, a statement from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said here Thursday.

The SLTDA embarked on a mutual partnership with the the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to identify the zones which will be set up to avoid undesirable activities.

The zones are likely to be set up in places such as the central highlands of Ella and Nuwara Eliya, the southeastern coast of Arugam Bay, the north western coast of Kalpitiya, the southern coastal towns of Beruwala, Hikkaduwa and Pinnawala, situated 90 kilometers away from capital Colombo.

These areas are popular tourist spots.

"Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the fast-emerging tourist destinations in the South Asian Region. The island's biodiversity, long lasted culture, historic monuments, exotic beaches, and evergreen environment can be identified as the key attractions for international tourists," the SLTDA said in the statement.

Last year, Sri Lanka received 2.3 million tourists while this year it is aiming to welcome 3 million tourists.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 20:03:06|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has conducted the first central bank bills swap (CBS) as the latest move to boost the country's real economy.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced the operation Wednesday, which is designed to improve the liquidity of perpetual bonds. Dealers will be allowed to transfer perpetual bonds into central bank bills worth 1.5 billion yuan (about 222 million U.S. dollars) and hold the bills for one year with a fixed rate of 0.25 percent.

Perpetual bonds are often used to replenish capital for commercial banks and therefore have better financing capability to support the real economy. Such bonds are not redeemable but pay a steady stream of interests.

As central bank bills can be pledged as collateral, the PBOC hopes the swap program will make perpetual bonds more attractive to dealers and improve market expectations.

Analysts said perpetual bonds, by replenishing bank capital, will effectively relieve the financing difficulties of the real economy, prompting stronger financial support for private companies -- small ones in particular.

The bonds will strengthen the banks' capability of risk prevention, said Zeng Gang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "With a consolidated risk-prevention mechanism, lenders will perform better in making loans and serving the real economy."

Given continued downward pressure on the economy, China has launched various measures to direct funds to cash-starved businesses to help them weather out economic hardship.

The central bank has cut the level of cash that banks must hold for reserves to unleash more loans from the banking system and given incentives to lenders willing to put more emphasis on financing services to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The PBOC also stressed that the CBS is not quantitative easing, since it neither increases nor decreases in the monetary base, and the bank does not hold the ownership of perpetual bonds or take credit risks.

China will keep its prudent monetary policy "neither too tight nor too loose" and maintain market liquidity at a reasonably ample level, according to the agenda-setting Central Economic Work Conference held in December.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 19:58:05|Editor: xuxin

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ALGIERS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Defense Ministry on Thursday confirmed the killing of two crew members of a SU24 jet fighter aircraft which crashed Wednesday overnight in a vacant agricultural area in Tiaret province, 220 km south-west of the capital Algiers.

The military aircraft, which belongs to "Ain Ouessara Airbase in the 1st Military Region, crashed following a planned night training flight on Wednesday overnight," the source noted, adding that the crash occurred in an uninhabited agricultural area around 10 p.m. in the locality of Rechaiga, in Tiaret province.

This "incident claimed the life of two crew member officials, who were the pilot and co-pilot," specified the statement.

Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Defense Minister, Ahmed Gaid Salah, "extends his condolence to the family members of the victims," as he ordered "the opening of an investigation to determine and elucidate the circumstances and causes of the crash," noted the statement.

Several crashes of military aircrafts were reported in recent years. The latest and worst air disaster in the history of Algeria dates back to April 2018, as 257 people were killed in the crash of Ilyushin I-76 military airplane moments after taking off from Boufarik military airport, 30 km south-west of Algiers.

The majority of the victims were soldiers and members of their families, according to Defense Ministry.

In June 2017, one army troop died when a military helicopter crashed in the province of Naama, 700 km south-west of Algiers.

In May 2017, three troops were killed in the northern province of Tipaza when their military helicopter crashed.

In Feb. 2014, 77 troops were killed when a C-130 Hercules aircraft belonging to the Algerian Air Force crashed in Oum El Bouaghi province, 400 km eastern Algiers.

In March 2016, 12 troops were killed and two others were injured in the southern locality of Reggane when their helicopter crashed.

In April 2015, a helicopter crashed in the southernmost province of Illizi, killing two soldiers.

In Nov. 2014, an air force MIG-25 'Foxbat' fighter also crashed, but the pilot managed to eject himself out of the plane before the crash.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 19:53:04|Editor: xuxin

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by Fatima Aruri

RAMALLAH, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- An art performance by a Chinese opera troupe was held in the West Bank's Ramallah city recently, as part of the celebrations marking the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, attracting hundreds of Palestinians.

The performance by the Gansu Provincial Troupe named "Dunhuang Rhyme and Silk Road Feelings" included traditional dance, music and singing.

One of the performers amazed his Palestinian audience by singing an anthem of "Mawtini-My Homeland."

The event, organized by the Office of the People's Republic of China to the State of Palestine, aims to boost friendship between Palestinian and Chinese people through cultural exchange.

Director of the Office of the People's Republic of China to the State of Palestine Guo Wei told Xinhua "in the past few years, the cultural exchange between both countries has intensified, and so has the depth of the Palestinian people's knowledge about China's history and culture. This means that the exchange between the peoples is fundamental in enhancing the historic Palestinian-Chinese relations."

Head of the Palestinian-Chinese Friendship Association Adnan Samara said that the show enriched his own knowledge and passion of Chinese culture.

"We want to extend the bridges between the Chinese and Palestinian people, because with the official relations at the highest representation, we want to create relations with all sectors of the Palestinian people and art is the best project and the best program to consolidate this relationship between the two nations," said Samara.

The Gansu Opera House was founded on 1939 and has received several prestigious awards for many of its shows.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 19:53:04|Editor: xuxin

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Photo taken on Feb. 21, 2019 shows a lantern show in celebration of Chinese lantern festival in Christchurch, New Zealand, Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Qiaoqiao)

WELLINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The annual South Island Lantern Festival kicked off on Thursday in Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel told the opening ceremony that the Lantern Festival this year for the first time returned to the landmark Victoria Square eight years after the devastating earthquake struck the city on Feb. 22, 2011, which was hailed as a milestone of the eight-year post-quake reconstruction.

Eight years ago, the Victoria Square, the city's original site of market days, fairs, and trade in ancient time, and the nearby Town Hall were severely damaged by the 6.3-magnitude quake.

Dalziel said the festival for the first time involved the whole South Island and will last for three days instead of two days.

Chinese Consul General in Christchurch Wang Zhijian said the festival fully demonstrated the importance attached to the Chinese culture and the intention to enhance cooperation with China.

He said China will continue to encourage domestic companies to invest in New Zealand's South Island.

China has ranked as the second largest source of overseas visitors to New Zealand and the fastest growing inbound market, Wang said, adding that China welcomes more New Zealanders to visit China.

"Lantern Festival will give impetus to such cross-cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and New Zealand," he said.

Loren Heaphy, general manager of Destination and Attraction of ChristchurchNZ, the event's organizer, told Xinhua the annual festival is hugely popular and draws big crowds every year.

As the city embraces multiculturalism, the Chinese culture plays a big part in events like the Lantern Festival and helps to promote positive relationships among New Zealand's diverse population.

The Lantern Festival has been part of Chinese New Year celebrations since the Han Dynasty (206BC-221AD). Usually held on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it marks the end of New Year festivities.

It is said that the holiday evolved from an ancient Chinese belief that celestial spirits could be seen flying about in the light of the first full moon of the lunar calendar. People used torches and lanterns in every shape, size and color to help them in spotting the spirits.

The lanterns come in all shapes and sizes, some of which are created in the form of animals, insects, flowers, people or even machines and buildings. A favorite subject is the zodiac animal of the year, the pig.

Christchurch held the first Lantern Festival in 2005.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 19:48:03|Editor: Liangyu

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HONG KONG, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Officials from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday pledged to capitalize on their advantages to contribute to the Greater Bay Area development at a symposium on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Carrie Lam, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an enormous market with a population of 70 million and a gross domestic product of 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars.

As one of the most open and economically vibrant regions in China, the Greater Bay Area is well placed to give new impetus to the development of Hong Kong, providing the people of Hong Kong, especially young people, with new horizons and new opportunities for developing their career, she said.

Lam emphasized that the HKSAR government's future work focuses include consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong's status as international financial, transportation and trade centers as well as an international aviation hub; developing an international innovation and technology hub; expanding the scope of development for sectors in which Hong Kong's strengths lie; strengthening infrastructural connectivity; fostering youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

Deputy Chairman of the Office of the leading group for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Lin Nianxiu said that the Greater Bay Area development is an important element of the country's development as a whole, and the building of the Greater Bay Area has an important significance in realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Lin said that the Greater Bay Area development will further enhance the implementation of "one country, two systems" principle, allow promotion of higher quality opening up and reform, and provide new solutions to bottleneck issues faced by the three places.

Governor of Guangdong Province Ma Xingrui said that the Greater Bay Area development is a great opportunity for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Guangdong will seize this opportunity and take forward greater bay area development with quality and much higher level, and will continue to lead at the forefront and act as an important window for the country's development.

Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chui Sai On said that Macao, as a core city leading Greater Bay Area development, was committed to, and proactively deploying resources for the efforts to accommodate the city-cluster initiative.

In order to boost the development of science and technology, the Macao SAR government will double its efforts in supporting development of the science and technology sectors as well as other innovation-focused industries, he said.

The symposium was co-organized by the government of Guangdong Province, the HKSAR government and the Macao SAR government, with more than 800 people from different circles attended, including Tung Chee-hwa, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Wang Zhimin, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in HKSAR.

Director General of the Department of Regional Economy of the National Development and Reform Commission Guo Lanfeng gave a briefing on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

On Monday, China unveiled the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 19:38:01|Editor: xuxin

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BEIRUT, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali said Thursday that Syria cares for Lebanon because the two countries complement each other on many levels, local media reported.

"Lebanon's security stability falls within the interests of Syria even if some parties in Lebanon have been communicating false stances toward our country," Ali was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an independent online newspaper.

Ali added that the geography and families in the two countries are deeply interconnected.

"Lebanon cannot be fully secure if it thinks or behaves only within the scope of its borders," he said.

Although Lebanon has not cut diplomatic or trade ties with Syria, it has kept relations at "arm's length" avoiding official contacts with the Syrian government.

But some political parties in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, Amal movement, and Free Patriotic Movement, have been pushing the government into normalizing ties with Syria in a bid to solve the issue of refugees and their safe return to Syria, take part in Syria's reconstruction and promote mutual trade.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:57:47|Editor: Liangyu

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CHENGDU, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A century and a half after French zoologist Armand David became the first European to discover the giant panda, an officially-compiled chronicle on the mammal has been published to help improve comprehensive knowledge of the species.

The book is China's first complete sourcebook on the species, according to the Sichuan provincial local gazetteer office, the publisher.

The giant panda, that lives mainly in southwest China's Sichuan Province as well as neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu, is China's national treasure, cherished as a symbol of peace and friendship.

As the main habitat of giant pandas, Sichuan naturally shoulders the responsibility to make a detailed document on them, according to the publisher.

Besides archival research, panda experts who contributed to the chronicle have carried out extensive field research in cities and counties in Sichuan, including Ya'an, Baoxing and Tianxing.

They have made abundant collections of historical data by interviewing witnesses to important events involving the giant pandas.

It took 12 years for the editors to complete the 820,000-word book. The events chronicled in the book date between the end of the Neolithic period to 2005, mainly focusing on the period from 1950 to 2005.

The book chronicles elaborate details on China's native bear. According to the publisher, it records the origin, population and distribution patterns of the giant panda, as well as food crises they have gone through and rescue, and this will provide China and the world with references for wildlife protection and management.

There are more than 1,800 giant pandas in the wild in China, and the number of pandas bred in captivity reached 548 globally as of last November.

Historical records indicate that giant panda's first tour abroad may have happened in the early Tang Dynasty (618-907) when in the year 685, Wu Zetian, China's only empress, sent two "white bears" as a gift to Emperor Tenmu of Japan.

The worldwide popularity of the giant pandas has grown since Armand David introduced the creature to the west.

In 1939, Sun Mingjing, a Chinese motion-picture pioneer, recorded a giant panda in his documentary "A Glimpse of Xikang." It was the first appearance of the animal in a movie. Many film directors in China and overseas have since come to Sichuan to make videos of it.

Desmond Morris, then curator of mammals at the Zoological Society of London, outlined 20 factors in his 1981 book, "The Giant Panda," to explain the human obsession with the animal.

Besides movies and literature, images of the giant panda are often seen on stamps. China Post has issued several sets of panda-themed stamps since 1963, as have at least 14 other countries in Asia, Europe and America.

France's postal service company La Poste issued a commemorative stamp on the day in December 2017 when the first panda cub born in France got its name Yuan Meng, which means "dream comes true" literally.

La Poste put a new set of panda stamps on sale last Saturday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:57:47|Editor: Liangyu

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SINGAPORE, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Harbin Institute of Technology Robot Group (HRG), one of China's leading robot manufacturers, and Temasek Polytechnic (TP) on Thursday jointly launched the TP-HRG Robotics Innovation Center in Singapore.

The two sides said in a statement that the center's setting-up marks the first step towards establishing a framework for research and training in the field of robotics, automation and other enabling technologies, in line with Singapore's Industry 4.0 initiative.

HRG's CEO Wang Meng said at the opening ceremony of the entre that Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, and Singapore, with its superior geographical position, is strategically important to Chinese companies.

Peter Lam, Principal & CEO of Temasek Polytechnic, said by coupling TP's expertise in robotics and automation with HRG's experience in implementing robotics solutions globally, the two sides will be able to provide not just the technology but also the highly relevant training and skills upgrading that are vital to a successful and sustainable digital transformation.

He added that the center is established with two key objectives. One is to expand the efforts in training students and adult learners in robotics and automation. Another is to provide greater support to help companies, particularly the small and medium enterprises, to implement robotics and automation solutions, and enhance their productivity and competitiveness.

HRG and TP signed an MoU in May 2018 to cooperate in research & development, training, as well as the designing, delivering, test-bedding and integrating of solutions in relevant technologies in support of industry players, including small and medium enterprises, in Singapore and around the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:52:46|Editor: mmm

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PARIS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A fire in an apartment building in a northeastern suburb of Paris left one elderly resident dead and two firefighters seriously injured on Thursday, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.

The blaze, which broke out in a flat on the second floor of the 14-storey building at around 7 a.m. (0060 GMT), seemed to have started from the bed of an elderly person, the minister said.

The fire, whose cause was not known yet, killed the elderly person and seriously injured two firefighters, aged 20 and 21 years old, the minister said, adding that one of the young firefighters was in critical condition.

Some 150 firefighters had battled the blaze for more than an hour to bring it under control, the minister said.

Fires are common in Paris suburbs where there are many poorly-maintained buildings, some of which are more than 100 years old.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:47:43|Editor: mmm

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LONDON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain's first ever nationwide program of industry-funded Artificial Intelligence Masters level courses will see thousands of graduates destined to become qualified experts in AI, an official said Thursday.

The new post-graduate AI drive to boost productivity and create high skilled jobs is part of Britain's modern industrial strategy, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright announced in London.

The strategy comes as new figures show inward investment in Britain's AI sector has increased by 17 percent over the past year, more than the whole of Europe combined, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said in a joint statement.

The new skills and talent package is a major milestone supported by industry funding and up to 114 million U.S. dollars of British government investment.

The strategy will see up to 200 new AI Masters places at British universities funded by companies in collaboration with the Institute of Coding and the British Computer Society.

Up to 1,000 students will have the opportunity to enhance their skills with new PhDs at 16 dedicated UK Research and Innovation AI Centers for Doctoral Training across the country.

A number of AI research fellowships will be created in collaboration with Britain's prestigious Alan Turing Institute to attract and retain the best research talent from around the world.

This AI skills and talent investment will help nurture leading British and international talent to ensure we retain our reputation in research and development, said Business Secretary Clark.

"Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy," Clark added.

"We are leading the way on work to ensure AI innovation has ethics at its core," Digital Secretary Wright said, adding that working with world class academic institutions and industry, the country will be able to train the next generation of top-tier AI talent and maintain Britain's reputation as a trailblazer in emerging technologies.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:47:42|Editor: Liangyu

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TAIYUAN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- On a bluestone road, performers in ancient Chinese costume charge on horses, stretching their arms and shouting all the way through.

Audiences stand shoulder to shoulder by the road and on rooftops alongside the ancient alley, cheering with loud drum beats.

The performance was held Wednesday at Xiadongzhai Village, in the city of Yangquan in north China's Shanxi Province.

"It is a custom that has lasted for over a thousand years, and represents the martial spirit," said Yuan Yuxiang, Party secretary of the village.

Back in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Xiadongzhai Village was a military relay station, where army messengers got food, shelter and spare horses before they moved on to the next destination.

The process of transferring horses and leaving the station was later adapted into a folk performance that is held every year, a day after China's Lantern Festival.

Many are attracted by the boldness and skills of the horse riders. They use no saddles or stirrups during the speedy charge.

Over the years, the activity becomes the most celebrated event in the village.

"No matter how faraway people are from home, or how busy they are, they try their best to return home for the fair on that day," Yuan said.

This year, nearly 10,000 people gathered at the road 100 meters long and 4 meters wide for watching the event.

However, the custom was once on the brink of being lost.

The village with around 300 people raised funds for the event mostly from villagers, who found it harder and harder to afford.

Luckily, as the event's fame spread, tourists brought in more revenue for the village.

"At last year's event, I sold all the goods in my store in less than half a day," said Li Haixia, a villager who opened her grocery in 2017. This year, she is considering opening a restaurant.

To further boost tourism, the village held activities during last year's seven-day National Day holiday.

"More than 10,000 people visited the village, which exceeded my expectation," Yuan said.

The local township also supported their cause by buying horses, building race tracks and setting up professional horse-riding teams.

"In the past, the event extended the villagers wishes for a bumper harvest year," Yuan said. "But now it has become a signature for the ancient village and brings real money for the villagers."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:42:39|Editor: Liangyu

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by Mahmoud Fouly

ASWAN, Egypt, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Upper Egypt's Aswan Province is "the jewel of the Nile River" and it invites Chinese tourists to enjoy its unique archeological and cultural sites, Aswan governor told Xinhua in an interview.

"Aswan gates are always open for the Chinese tourists and we would like them to visit and see the high level of security and safety in Aswan as well as the love, respect and warm welcome of Aswan people," Ahmed Ibrahim said.

Tourism in Egypt started to recover after years of recession due to political turmoil and relevant security challenges that resulted from the ouster of two heads of state in 2011 and 2013.

The tourism sector brought Egypt about 13 billion U.S. dollars in revenues in 2010 alone, when some 14.7 million tourists visited the country.

With regards to Chinese tourists, their number increased from about 135,000 in 2015 to 160,000 in 2016 and gradually to more than 300,000 in 2017, making China the fourth largest tourist exporter to Egypt according to official Egyptian and Chinese reports.

"The number of tourists coming from Asia, particularly from China, to visit Aswan has greatly increased this year," Ibrahim noted. "We hope that the numbers will rise every year."

The Egyptian governor said that the occupancy rate of Aswan hotels neared 100 percent, "as there are no vacant rooms in Aswan hotels at the moment."

The southern Egyptian province is currently hosting the seventh edition of Aswan International Festival for Culture and Arts, which gathers more than 20 folklore bands and traditional art groups from at least 13 countries, including China's Shaolin Kungfu group.

"We feel that the Chinese group performs here with a spirit of friendship and there's closeness between them and the Egyptian people," Ibrahim told Xinhua.

Held by the Egyptian Culture Ministry from Feb. 17 to 22, the event includes troupes from Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mauritius, China, Indonesia, Poland and Greece, performing songs, dances and shows reflecting their unique cultures and traditional arts.

It is mainly held to celebrate Egypt's current presidency of the African Union.

Aswan governor, who attended the opening performances of the festival, said that he visited China many times, expressing appreciation of China and describing it as "a beautiful country with many unique cultural features."

Shaolin Kungfu, also called Shaolin Wushu, is one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of Chinese martial arts, and it was originated and developed at the Shaolin Temple in central Henan province.

The Chinese Shaolin Kungfu masters, dressed in light gray robes and black belts, performed professional, skillful and simultaneous moves of martial arts during the festival, including animal-like fighting styles, such as those of the snake, tiger and monkey.

"I am very happy with the Chinese group and we hope to see them every year," the Egyptian governor told Xinhua.

The Chinese Shaolin Kungfu artists are scheduled to continue their shows until Feb. 22, when a carnival will be held to mark the early morning sunray illumination of Ramses II statue inside one of Abu Simbel twin temples, after sunshine penetrates the whole length of the temple to reach and light up its inner sanctuary.

Aswan International Festival for Culture and Arts is regarded as a cultural and artistic gathering, said Ibrahim, adding that culture and arts are among the most important roots of communication, interaction and approach among people worldwide.

He hailed the growing friendship and closeness between the Egyptian and the Chinese people, adding that communication between the two sides is based on mutual love and respect.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:37:38|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China aims to build several metropolitan areas with global influence by 2035, according to the country's top economic planner.

Notable progress should be made by 2022 with improvement in infrastructure integration, freer markets, more coordinated industries and more livable environments, according to the guidelines released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Metropolitan areas are regions in city clusters which circle around a big city and are within an hour commute. China plans to build 19 city clusters by 2020.

Support will be given to develop sectors like industrial design, cultural and creative products, and financial services to establish an industrial mix with modern services as the main pillar.

Developing metropolitan areas will help optimize demographics and economic structures and stimulate effective investment and potential consumption demands, lending steam to economic expansion, the NDRC said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:27:36|Editor: ZX

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Jerome Walcott, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade of Barbados, in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday met with Jerome Walcott, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade of Barbados.

Wang said Barbados has always pursued a friendly policy towards China, and the two countries will sign cooperation documents on jointly building the Belt and Road during Walcott's visit.

It will not only inject new meanings to bilateral friendly relations, but also bring new prospects for their mutually beneficial cooperation, Wang said.

Walcott said Barbados highly values relations with China, and welcomes and supports the Belt and Road Initiative.

He said Barbados expects to strengthen cooperation with China under the framework of the Belt and Road.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:22:35|Editor: xuxin

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TRIPOLI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Libya's eastern-based army Wednesday clashed with Chadian opposition militants in the southern city of Murzuk, some 900 km south of the capital Tripoli, and lost three soldiers, a military official said.

"Three soldiers were killed as our forces took control of the entire city of Murzuk and seized a number of weapons and vehicles from the Chadian opposition," the official, who declined to be identified, told Xinhua later on the day.

"Dozens of Chadian opposition militants were killed and injured. A number of them were arrested as well," said the official. "The operation was a success after taking over the city of Sabha (largest southern Libyan city)."

The official added that the army would take over the entire southern region soon.

The army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has been launching a military campaign against terrorism and crime in the south since mid-January.

The army has made significant progress since the beginning of the military action, and also taken over the largest oil field in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 18:12:31|Editor: xuxin

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by Dana Halawi

BEIRUT, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Tourism Minister Avedis Guidanian said that the priority for Lebanon in the short term is to promote the country's tourism in the Chinese market.

"We aim at promoting Lebanon's tourism in two Chinese cities for the time being since the country is too big," Guidanian told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Guidanian said that Lebanon has a variety of attractions which a big pool of Chinese tourists will be interested in.

"Lebanon is characterized by its four seasons and by having activities that are compatible with all these seasons," he said.

Guidanian said that the Lebanese tourism ministry, in coordination with the Chinese embassy in Lebanon, has already cooperated with China's National Tourism Administration in arranging full tourism programs for tour operators in China to invite them to Lebanon.

The minister added that Lebanese travel agencies have also invited tour operators in China to come to Lebanon.

"The latest group of tour operators from China came three months ago and they were impressed with Lebanon and its touristic attractions," the minister said.

Guidanian said that the tourism ministry is planning on promoting Lebanon in China through social media.

"We can promote Lebanon through social media on websites owned by tour operators who can send videos about our country to their clients," he said.

"This would bring great results because clients tend to ask for the opinion of tour organizers when they want to go on vacations," he added.

Guidanian said that the ministry is also aiming at promoting Lebanon by inviting Chinese TV Channels to come to, write and take photos about Lebanon.

He added that the tourism ministry will also take part in exhibitions taking place in China in a bid to be aware of what Chinese tourists are mostly interested in when they come to Lebanon.

"Our infrastructure and atmosphere must be ready for the Chinese tourists," he said.

One of the most important steps to be taken by the ministry in the coming few days, according to Guidanian, is its plan to meet with airline companies from nearby countries to arrange combined tourism programs with Cyprus, Dubai, Jordan and Egypt.

"This way the Chinese tourist can come to the Middle East and experience two destinations at the same time since he is traveling a long distance," the minister said.

Guidanian said that opening up Lebanon's tourism to the Chinese market is not an easy task.

While it is easy for Chinese tourists to have access to the Lebanese visa, Lebanon faces many challenges in promoting its tourism sector to the Chinese.

"What we need in Lebanon are Lebanese tour guides who know very well how to speak Chinese," he said.

Guidanian noted that opening up to a new market is not an easy task. "We need two to three years in preparations to receive a new market," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 17:52:25|Editor: xuxin

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces received Thursday 150 Islamic State (IS) militants captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in neighboring Syria, a tribal leader told Xinhua.

"The SDF handed over a total of 150 IS militants to al-Jazira Operations Command in Iraq's western province of Anbar after arresting them during the battles of liberating the last IS stronghold in Baghouz area in eastern Syria," Qateri al-Obaidi, from the government-backed paramilitary tribal fighters of Anbar province, told Xinhua.

"Most of the IS militants received by the Iraqi forces were criminals wanted by Iraqi authorities, for committing killings and torture against Iraqi civilians as well as fighting against Iraqi security forces," al-Obaidi added.

The handover process between Iraqi forces and SDF was carried out through cooperation between the Iraqi army and the Iraqi intelligence service," he said.

Separately, an Iraqi army brigade general, who spoke anonymously to Xinhua, said that among the 150 detainees received from SDF were women and children, noting that they will be handed over to concerned authorities for further scrutinize.

Earlier in the month, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that around 200 IS militants surrendered to the SDF as part of an undeclared deal in the eastern Euphrates.

Later, media reports said that the U.S.-backed SDF detained more than 900 foreign fighters during their campaign against the IS in northeastern Syria, after it has captured the town of Baghouz, which was the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Deir al-Zour province.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 17:42:22|Editor: xuxin

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NAIROBI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) late Wednesday donated assorted wildlife crime scene forensic kits to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to boost protection of endangered species.

Philip Muruthi, the president of AWF donated scene of crime kits, forensic bags and hand books to strengthen Kenya's anti-poaching efforts.

"Our main focus is to stop the killings of wildlife, trafficking of illegal wildlife trophies and the demand for trophies," said Muruthi.

He urged all conservation partners to commit and support national institutions that are promoting the welfare of wildlife.

Murithi noted that Kenya was last year removed from the global list of the countries of primary concern with regard to illegal trade in ivory due to the country's concerted efforts to conserve wildlife.

Charles Musyoki, acting KWS Director General thanked AWF for the support adding that the organization has supported the wildlife agency through capacity building, donation of equipment, construction of an exhibition room and the launch of a modern canine facility.

Musyoki said that the scene of crime management was critical to KWS law enforcement because it enabled staff to do the right thing at the right time and ensured robust prosecution.

"Our staff are being empowered with the tools to put into practice what they have been taught by learning how to gather evidence to expedite prosecutions," said Musyoki.

He noted that with the equipment, the staff will be able to execute their duty effectively and on time to arrest and arraign perpetrators promptly.

"We are ready to increase our efforts in wildlife conservation by acting fast ahead of criminals," said Musyoki.

The donations included packets of latex gloves, crime scene tapes, forceps and scissors, Swiss Army knives, flashlight headsets, retractable measuring tapes, tweezers, scalpels, and crime scene numbers.

Besides this donation, AWF had in the past trained rangers and also sensitized members of the Judiciary on the dangers of wildlife crime.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 17:27:20|Editor: xuxin

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SHANGHAI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has maintained strong momentum in foreign investment growth, with contracted foreign capital soaring 197.6 percent year-on-year to 10.1 billion U.S. dollars in January, statistics show.

About 1.4 billion dollars of foreign investment were materialized in the month, up 33.5 percent year on year, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce said.

Commercial, science and technological services were the main areas. Foreign-invested manufacturing also continued to grow in January.

In January, Shanghai became the new regional headquarters for four new multinational corporations.

Shanghai was home to 674 regional headquarters of multinational corporations and 443 foreign-funded research and development centers as of the end of January 2019.

Quan Heng, deputy head of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the increase of foreign investment suggested a positive economic outlook of the city.

The municipal government rolled out a series of measures this month to foster a better business environment and energize market players.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 17:07:18|Editor: xuxin

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by Olatunji Saliu

ABUJA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- As the rescheduled Nigerian presidential election is just two days away, experts have warned that effects of the vote delay still linger and it is not clear where the pendulum swings.

Just hours before the opening of polls scheduled on Feb.16, Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week delay in polling, citing logistical issues.

The decision triggered widespread anger among Nigerians and the two main political parties blamed each other for the delay. Many experts believe the postponement have negatively affected the country's credit rating, investment and trading sector.

TWO-HORSE RACE

About 84 million Nigerians, representing about 42 percent of the country's population of 198 million, were registered to vote in the general elections, according to INEC.

More than 70 presidential candidates have been greenlighted by INEC earlier. However, the election will, no doubt, be a two-horse race between Muhammadu Buhari of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) party and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The incumbent President Buhari is seeking a second term of office on the platform of the APC. He came into power in 2015, becoming the first Nigerian opposition candidate to unseat an incumbent president.

Buhari's campaign slogan for the 2015 election was "change." Through this slogan, he promised to turnaround the economy for good, fight endemic corruption and enhance the security of the country.

In November 2018, Buhari launched his re-election campaign with a new slogan: "Next Level 2019", in which he put jobs, infrastructure and the business environment ahead of security and fighting corruption.

Buhari is revered by many Nigerians, especially by northerners who call him "Mai Gaskiya" (a Hausa expression which means: one who always speaks the truth). Others call him "Mr. Integrity," who has zero tolerance for corruption.

Accusing the incumbent president of failing to address Nigeria's economic problems in the past years, Abubakar unveiled a campaign manifesto covering issues of job creation, national security, healthcare, education, infrastructure and other critical sectors of the economy.

Abubakar was Nigeria's vice president from 1999 to 2007. As one of the most successful businessmen in Nigeria, local experts believe that he knows how to deal with the economic difficulties of the most populous African country.

However, the multiple allegations of corruption and fraud levelled against Abubakar continue to taint his image.

A Senate investigation in 2006 found Abubakar guilty of illegally taking funds belonging to the Petroleum Training Development Fund (PTDF).

The former vice president has also been consistently linked with jailed U.S. Congressman William Jefferson who was sentenced to 13 years in a U.S. jail for bribing Nigerian officials in 2007.

Azu Ishiekwene, a local political analyst, said whatever the shortcomings of Buhari and Abubakar, their parties believe they are the best candidates they can produce at this time.

In this light, he said Nigerians would have to choose from what they have, or sit idle for another four years.

RESCHEDULED POLLS

The postponement of this year's presidential polls in Nigeria was greeted with criticism. This development could cause some to boycott Saturday's election, according to local experts.

Ahead of last week's rescheduled elections, enthusiasm had been high among the citizenry. The election had also drawn the attention of the international community given the position and prospects of Nigeria in the global arena.

According to Ifeanyi Onuba, a public affairs analyst, the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections by INEC has monumental adverse economic impacts. These costs were escalated by the fact that the announcement came on the very day the elections were to be held after a number of irreversible steps had been taken by various economic agents and stakeholders.

Many people had traveled far distances just to exercise their franchise before the INEC decision, while many organizations such as banks, insurance firms, manufacturing companies, among others, had to shut down temporarily last Saturday.

Onuba noted apart from the closure of companies, domestic and international flights were canceled, borders were shut, and markets, schools, and production plants were also closed.

Shakirudeen Olaleye, a political analyst, told Xinhua that those willing to participate in the rescheduled polls might put the aforementioned implications into consideration.

"While some may think it's sabotage against a certain political party, others might angrily cast their votes for different parties. For the two leading parties, I can tell you that chances of winning in this election are now 50-50," Olaleye said.

Journalist Folorunsho Amsat said that one of the side effects of the postponement could be low voter turnout when the election is finally held.

"The momentum is dying," he said. "I hope it's not dead within one week."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 16:17:02|Editor: Liangyu

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URUMQI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A truck bearing the TIR sign entered China Tuesday through Horgos, a major land pass in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, marking the first inbound transport to Xinjiang since Horgos became a TIR pilot port last May.

Carrying 12 tonnes of German-made lubricant, the truck departed from Germany and was bound for Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, a 7,700-km journey.

TIR stands for Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports. It is an international customs transit system to help save time and money for transport operators and customs authorities when moving goods across borders.

"We passed six countries including Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan before arriving at Horgos. It was a smooth trip," said Ma Yanxin, the truck driver from a Xinjiang-based company.

According to data from the Horgos customs, a total of 129 vehicles using the TIR procedure have left China through Horgos since May 2018, mostly heading for countries like Russia, Turkey and Poland.

"We have prioritized customs procedures for TIR vehicles, allowing them to pass within three minutes under normal circumstances," said Mai Xiaoyu, an official at the Horgos customs.

China joined the UN TIR Convention in July 2016 to simplify and streamline administrative formalities of international road transport.

Currently, China has six TIR pilot ports including Horgos and Manzhouli, a border port with Russia in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 16:07:01|Editor: Liangyu

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CHONGQING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality saw its foreign trade volume rise 17.5 percent year on year to 47.78 billion yuan (7.07 billion U.S. dollars) in January, according to Chongqing Customs Wednesday.

Chongqing's exports recorded a year-on-year increase of 27.2 percent to 31.78 billion yuan, while its imports totaled 16 billion yuan, up 1.9 percent from the previous year, said Li Yu, deputy director of the customs.

Trade with countries along the Belt and Road, the European Union and the United States grew by 4.4 percent, 37.6 percent and 9.2 percent respectively.

Electronic products such as laptops were Chongqing's major exports, while the integrated circuits were the major imports over the past month.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 15:41:50|Editor: xuxin

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HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- At least five Taliban militants were killed and two narcotic-drug labs and a bomb-making factory were destroyed following a military operation in Afghanistan's western province of Herat overnight, authorities said Thursday.

"Afghan National Army's Special Operations Forces conducted an operation in Zir Koh district, Herat province last night. Upon arrival of security forces, a gunfight erupted resulting in five militants killed and four others wounded," Afghan army Corps 207 Zafar said in a statement.

Those among the injured was a Taliban commander named Amroddin Khan, the statement added.

Security force members, who were supported by the NATO-led coalition forces, also destroyed three militants' vehicles before returning to a military camp, the statement said.

Civilians and security personnel weren't hurt, the statement said.

Taliban militants haven't commented on the report yet.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 15:01:37|Editor: xuxin

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GABORONE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Botswana has amended its Financial Intelligence Agency Act to crack down on money laundering and terrorism financing.

Hilda Mocuminyane, registrar of Companies and Business Names at Companies and Intellectual Property Authority, said on Wednesday that the amendments require companies to register all of their beneficiaries and their details.

She said beneficial ownership registration is not peculiar to Botswana, as corporate registries are a norm around the world.

"Beneficial ownership registry is a key tool for increasing transparency of the companies register, curbing corruption and reducing instances of money laundering and terrorism financing through identifying the real owners of registered companies," said Mocuminyane.

Mocuminyane said the new amendments requires applicants to provide the names, addresses and details of all beneficial owners of the company.

Last week, the European Union placed Botswana and 22 other countries on its blacklist for money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Analysts have already hinted that the development has the potential to discourage or slow inflows of foreign direct investment into Botswana.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 14:56:35|Editor: ZX

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Ning Jizhe (L, Front), deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, meets with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (R, Front) in Vientiane, Laos, on Feb. 20, 2019. A Chinese high-ranking delegation led by Ning Jizhe visited Laos from Monday to Thursday to promote bilateral cooperation on the China-Laos Economic Corridor. (Xinhua/Chinese Embassy in Laos)

VIENTIANE, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese high-ranking delegation visited Laos from Monday to Thursday to promote bilateral cooperation on the China-Laos Economic Corridor.

Ning Jizhe, deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, led the delegation

The visit was aimed at implementing bilateral consensus on building the China-Laos Economic Corridor, steadily pushing forward China-Laos productivity capacity cooperation as well as the construction of the China-Laos railway.

During his visit, Ning called on Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Deputy Prime Minister Somdy Douangdy, and held meetings with Minister of Planning and Investment Souphanh Keomixay and other officials of the China-Laos Economic Corridor working group members including the Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and National Economic Research Institute.

Ning Jizhe also met Minister of Industry and Commerce and Chairperson of Laos-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee Khemmani Pholsena and Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport Santisouk Simmalavong.

The Chinese delegation, during the visit, went to the China-Laos railway project construction sites and Vientiane-Vangvieng expressway project headquarters to conduct a field research.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 14:56:35|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Navy vessels can fire 40 hypersonic cruise Zircon missiles at a time and successfully hit U.S. military control centers, Russian retired Rear Adm. Vsevolod Khmyrov said Thursday.

The Zircon could reach targets 500 kilometers (311 miles) away in five minutes, Khmyrov was quoted as saying by the Sputnik news agency.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his address to Russia's Federal Assembly that the advanced hypersonic Zircon would have a speed of 9 Mach (11,000 kph or 6,900 mph) and a flight range of over 1,000 kilometers.

"Such a hypersonic system as Zircon penetrates practically any air defense and missile defense system," Khmyrov said. "There is no protection from it."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 14:16:20|Editor: Yang Yi

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by Julia Pierrepont III

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The high-speed train project was a dream of former California Governor Jerry Brown for affordable, environmentally-friendly public transportation. But the fledgling bullet train project in the U.S. state was derailed last week.

Former mayor of San Francisco and newly-elected Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, sidetracked the initiative.

The Democratic governor did so days after the national Democratic leadership released their "Green New Deal" to dramatically cut U.S. carbon emissions, including an extensive high-speed rail network expected to replace intrastate, short-haul flights and long-haul car trips.

Newsom said during a speech last week, "The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long."

Originally planned as a 850-km rail system linking San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California's bullet train is years behind schedule and, according to the state audit report, 600 million U.S. dollars over-budget. And its original price tag of 39 billion dollars has spiraled to estimates as high as nearly 100 billion dollars.

This grim fiscal reality, plus legal, political and environmental challenges that have impeded the full-length coastal line from its inception prompted Newsom to dial it down a notch to a more modest 257-km link in California's rural, sparsely-populated, inland Central Valley.

That is "a region hungry for investment ... good jobs," Newsom said. "The high speed rail project can be part of that." He dismissed criticism that he's building a "line to nowhere," justifying the truncated route as a way to reinvigorate the local economy.

"We can align our economic and workforce development strategies, anchored by High Speed Rail, and pair them with tools like opportunity zones, to form the backbone of a reinvigorated Central Valley economy," said the governor.

U.S. President Donald Trump demanded California return 3.5 billion dollars in federal high-speed rail money after Newsom's speech. The U.S. Department of Transportation also announced Tuesday that it plans to cancel 929 million dollars awarded to the project and wants the western state to return an additional 2.5 billion that it has already spent. In response, Newsom has vowed a fight to keep "California's money."

Maria Salinas, head of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, told Xinhua that while the Chamber appreciates the governor's commitment to not wasting public resources already spent on the project, it is concerned that the scale of his rail "is not adequate to meet the needs of a growing, geographically diverse state."

At the same time, some bullet train advocates see a significant silver lining to building the Central Valley line first.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association told media, "If the high-speed line can be connected to commuter rail lines serving the Bay Area or other transportation from Los Angeles in the south, it could be a success."

"We cannot financially sustain forcing everyone to drive a car for every trip they want," Harnish continued, voicing the urgent rationale for a greener rail system.

"It's not good for people's health, not good for our communities, not good for the environment. We need a game-changer like high-speed rail to reconnect people," he said.

USA Today reported that Karen Philbrick, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University in the Bay Area, sees the economic impact of high-speed rail as more far-reaching in scope and a potential key solution to the state's housing shortage.

"I am thrilled the project will continue in the Central Valley, but I think it's a missed opportunity not to extend it as originally conceived," she said, disappointed that the new program won't provide the commuter options for LA- or SF-based employees seeking affordable housing outside the city.

Currently the United States relies on an aging, outdated rail infrastructure and is lagging far behind areas like China and Europe. Many bullet train advocates think it's essential to have high-speed rail built in the United States.

"It's so important to get one up and running," said Andy Kunz, CEO of the advocacy group, U.S. High Speed Rail Association.

"By focusing on a single working leg, Newsom can show people the potential - building enthusiasm that could foster other projects around the country."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 13:51:14|Editor: WX

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KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian economy is projected to grow at a slower rate during the period of April to June, the country's latest indexes showed Thursday.

The Malaysian Statistics Department said in a statement that the leading index, which is designed to monitor the economic performance for an average of four to six months ahead, decreased 1.4 percent month-on-month to 117.3 points in December last year, weighed down by the six out of seven components.

The significant decreases were seen by two components - real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals, and number of housing units approved - contracted 0.5 percent month-on-month respectively.

On the year-on-year basis, the leading index registered a negative growth of 1.7 percent for the reference month.

The coincident index, a measure of current economic activity, remained unchanged in December 2018.

The real salaries and wages in manufacturing sector increased 0.2 percent while real contributions to Malaysian government-owned pension fund Employee Provident Fund rose 0.1 percent.

The increases, however, were offset by the decreases in capacity utilization in manufacturing sector which dropped 0.2 percent and industrial production index that fell 0.1 percent.

On the year-on-year basis, the coincident index grew at 3.6 percent.
Abraham Lam (2nd R) prepares to get on a bus heading to Shenzhen Bay Port at a bus stop in Yuen Long of Hong Kong's New Territories, Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

HONG KONG, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- On at least three workdays per week, Abraham Lam commutes between his home in Hong Kong's New Territories and his workplace in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. He has been such a "dual-city commuter" on the one-hour trip over the past three years.

Lam, born in Hong Kong and now in his 30s, was studying for his PhD at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2012 when he established a startup for innovation on information and communications technology (ICT) solutions for office building facility and energy management.

After his graduation in 2015, Lam decided to set up a branch of his company in Shenzhen's Qianhai, where a Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone was just launched and the governments of both Shenzhen and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) were encouraging young entrepreneurs to seek opportunities at the startup incubator there.

Abraham Lam passes through an automatic channel at Shenzhen Bay Port, Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

"As our ICT solutions had received recognition in the Hong Kong market, we started to consider developing our own intelligent hardware," Lam said, adding that when it comes to hardware development and production, Shenzhen is "a place with abundant resources and talents."

Lam and his partners made the decision also because they agreed that the country's development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which consists of nine cities of Guangdong Province as well as Hong Kong and Macao SARs, would bring them more opportunities.

As a role model for deepened cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong in the future, Qianhai has adopted a management mode similar to that of Hong Kong. Lam said this made it easier for Hong Kong entrepreneurs to get started in the mainland market.

Instead of "culture shocks," Lam said he was more impressed by the convenience of life in Shenzhen. "When I first got here, I downloaded various APPs on my mobile phone and then I could buy food, hail a taxi and pay bills easily with my phone. It's so convenient."

For the next step, Lam intends to expand his business into the "much bigger" mainland market. He is turning his eyes on other cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Abraham Lam (Standing, R) talks with the staff in the office of his company in Shenzhen's Qianhai, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

"The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been put into use, making it much easier to get Zhuhai from Hong Kong. I think Zhuhai may be an ideal place for us to set up a sales center due to lower costs and good talents," he said. "We are also considering moving the business of intelligent hardware packaging and installment there."

After an outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was unveiled by the Chinese central government earlier this week, Lam expected Hong Kong to better position itself in the future world-class bay area "so as to give full play to its advantages and overcome its shortages by interacting with other cities in the area."

"In Hong Kong, we practice our skills, and now we are going outside to apply our expertise in a better place," Lam said, expecting to expand his business as well as his living circle beyond Hong Kong and Shenzhen and to other places in the Greater Bay Area.

Besides closer connectivity between cities in the area, he also anticipated more facilitative policies and measures in the Greater Bay Area for Hong Kong young people to "jump on the bandwagon of the country's rapid development."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 11:40:47|Editor: Yamei

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CANBERRA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Minister for Home Affairs has revealed proposed new laws that will ban Australians who pose terrorist threats from returning to country for two years.

Under the legislation, which was introduced to Parliament by Peter Dutton on Thursday, security agencies will have the power to delay, monitor and control the return of Australians who have been involved in terrorism abroad.

It would also give the Minister for Home Affairs the power to impose "temporary exclusion orders" on foreign fighters returning from the Middle East, preventing them from entering Australia for two years.

Dutton said that the ability to issue the orders was essential to keep Australians who took up the fight for Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East "as far from our shores as possible."

"Australians who are involved in supporting terrorism, and who may have fought with terrorists in Syria or Iraq, pose a significant threat, especially since the military collapse of IS," he told News Corp Australia on Thursday.

"That's why we're introducing temporary exclusion orders, which would prevent Australians involved in terrorism overseas from legally returning to Australia for up to two years."

Those who are subject to a temporary exclusion order could only return Australia before the two years is up through a permit issued by the minister.

"The return permit can specify the conditions under which the person returns to Australia, such as date of return, specific flights and security arrangements, to further manage any potential threat," Dutton said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 11:15:42|Editor: xuxin

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addresses the UN General Assembly meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 20, 2019. At a UN General Assembly meeting held here on Wednesday, Ukraine and Russia clashed over border issues following remarks by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that a full-scale war along the Russian border with Ukraine is "not an unrealistic prospect." (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- At a UN General Assembly meeting held here on Wednesday, Ukraine and Russia clashed over border issues following remarks by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that a full-scale war along the Russian border with Ukraine is "not an unrealistic prospect."

"There is no so-called 'crisis in Ukraine' nor 'internal conflict in Ukraine,' but an ongoing military occupation and armed aggression by Russia against Ukraine," said Poroshenko.

According to Poroshenko, by February 2019 Russia has deployed up to 32.5 thousand military personnel in Crimea, and in Donbas, Russian armed formations have 496 tanks. The number of the Russian armed forces along the Russian-Ukrainian border is over 87,000 personnel.

Crimea, which was previously part of Ukraine, was incorporated into Russia in 2014 following a referendum, which was recognized by Moscow but rejected by Ukraine and Western powers.

Relations between Moscow and Kiev have worsened since the referendum, while Ukraine said the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia. Ukraine, the United States and some European countries have accused Russia of arming and encouraging insurgents in eastern Ukraine, but Russia has repeatedly denied the charges.

Russia denounced Ukraine's claim. Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that President Poroshenko has failed to keep his promise of ending the conflict in Donbas, and he has become "the president of war, which continues to this day."

The Russian envoy also said that there are no regular Russian forces in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Several European countries showed their support to Ukraine during Wednesday's meeting. Norway's Permanent Representative to the UN Mona Juul called on Russia to stop "fueling the conflict by providing financial and military support to the armed formations and to withdraw its military equipment and personnel from non-government controlled areas."

"Regrettably, the implementation of the Minsk agreements are not moving forward. The ceasefire to which the parties have committed has only been upheld a few days since the agreements were signed in 2014-2015," said Juul.

The Minsk agreements envisage a ceasefire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange and local elections under Ukrainian law, among other measures.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 11:00:41|Editor: WX

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YANGON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is planning to hold an international agrimach expo in Yango early next month to showcase agro equipment, latest innovation in technology, fertilizer and input, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

Scheduled for March 1 to 3, the expo will be joined by exhibitors from Japan, Italy, Switzerland, India, China, South Korea and Thailand, the Myanmar Paddy Producers Association (MPPA) was quoted as saying.

These countries will display items such as farm equipment, value-adding technology, agro-products and input, said MPPA, which is the organizer of the expo.

The aim of the expo is to mark Myanmar Peasants' Day falling on March 2 and help build connections with international participants, hold demonstrations, business-to-business matching and display latest agro-based machinery.

In addition, educative talks, seminars and performances will be attached to the expo.

The expo will feature 80 stalls from 40 local and foreign companies.

Myanmar is implementing a three-year master plan (2018-2021) for development of agriculture in Yangon region, worked out by agricultural organizations and experts.

The master plan includes 22 agricultural development projects under government-private partnership and is designed to create more than 6,000 job opportunities, officials said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 10:55:40|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his upcoming Hanoi summit with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), would be "successful."

Trump told press that his trip to Vietnam next week would be "very successful," anticipating his two-day meeting with Kim would "accomplish a lot."

"That doesn't mean this is going to be the last meeting, because I don't believe it will. But we have subjects to discuss which will be very fruitful," Trump said.

Trump also hinted that Washington would consider easing sanctions if Pyongyang would do "something meaningful."

Trump said Tuesday that he would like to see the "ultimate denuclearization" of the DPRK, but at the same time noted that he was "in no particular rush" given that the sanctions remain in effect and Pyongyang has refrained from nuclear and missile testing.

Also on Tuesday, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino reaffirmed at a press briefing that the sanctions on the DPRK would "continue to be maintained until we've achieved our final result of a fully, finally verified denuclearization."

Trump announced on Feb. 8 that his second meeting with Kim would take place in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. He met with Kim for the first time in Singapore in June 2018 resulting in improved U.S.-DPRK relations.

However, differences on such key issues as a road map for denuclearization, the lifting sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration still hinder negotiations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 10:25:34|Editor: WX

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SYDNEY, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Work has stopped at an outback mine in the Australian State of Queensland after a worker was killed and a number of others injured in an underground vehicle collision on Wednesday afternoon.

The man was driving a grader which crashed into a personnel carrier at the Moranbah North coal mine in central Queensland.

Mine operator, Anglo American, said in a statement that 10 people who were in the personnel carrier were treated for head, neck and facial injuries and four were treated for possible spinal impairments, while two were flown to a nearby hospital for further assessment.

No cause is yet clear, the company said, and investigations will be carried out.

"Our focus is on continuing to respond to the emergency situation, including the treatment and care of injured employees and supporting the affected families and colleagues," they said.

The incident has been referred to the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 09:55:22|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant working in Washington D.C. aspired to mass murder "on a scale rarely seen in this country," federal prosecutors said in a detention memo released Wednesday.

Christopher Paul Hasson was arrested Feb. 15 on drug and gun charges. Prosecutors said he had compiled a target list of prominent politicians and journalists.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," the memo said.

From January 2017 to January 2019, "the defendant conducted online searches and made thousands of visits for pro-Russian, neo-fascist, and neo-Nazi literature," the memo said.

Hasson also searched and read the manifesto of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist who shot and killed 77 people in 2011.

"I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth," reads a draft email found on Hasson's computer.

"I am a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military," another letter on his computer reads.

The search of his residence in Silver Spring in the state of Maryland, which borders D.C., yielded 15 firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, according to local media reports.

He was also accused of abusing the narcotic tramadol. The authorities also found 30 bottles of human growth hormones at his residence.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 07:51:52|Editor: Yurou

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Combination photo taken on Feb. 15 (L) and Feb. 16, 2019 shows a flower grower in southwest China's Yunnan Province "sends" a flower to a woman in Bangkok, Thailand. Fresh flowers packed in Kunming of Yunnan will be available for sale at a Bangkok market in less than 40 hours thanks to the Kunming-Bangkok Expressway. The warm climate in Yunnan allows flowers of various kinds to blossom during all seasons. Dounan, as China's largest fresh flower wholesale market, exports more than 500 varieties and 40 categories of flowers to over 50 countries and regions every day, among which 20 to 30 percent are sold to South and Southeast Asian countries. Yunnan has expanded more cooperation with neighboring countries in recent years under China's Belt and Road Initiative. (Xinhua/Hu Chao, Zhang Keren)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 07:38:12|Editor: Yurou

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Passengers queue to enter the Wuxi Station in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 20, 2019. China's railways are expected to face the post-holiday travel peak over the next few days when millions of travelers return to their workplaces or schools as the Spring Festival celebration has come to an end. Trains will likely carry 11.04 million passengers on Wednesday, up from 8.72 million on Tuesday, official data showed. Some 930 extra trains will be put into use to meet the travel demand. Hundreds of millions of Chinese went back to their hometowns to celebrate the Spring Festival. The annual travel rush around the festival, known as "chunyun," often puts the country's transportation system to the test. (Xinhua/Hai Yueliang)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:59:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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KHARTOUM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chief of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) Salah Abdalla on Wednesday said that any initiative for resolving the current political crisis in Sudan that is not consistent with the existing constitutional legitimacy will not be accepted.

The NISS chief on Wednesday briefed the Sudanese parliament on the popular protests in the country.

"There are many proposed initiatives, but everybody should know that any initiative which deviates from the existing legitimacy has no place," Abdalla told reporters after the briefing.

"Any initiative should be based on the existing legitimacy, and the legitimacy is the constitution, the law and the legislations enacted by the Legislative Council," he added.

Earlier, many political trends in Sudan have proposed initiatives for resolving the current political crisis in the country. The most prominent one was presented by a group of 52, calling for the formation of a transitional government to address the country's crises.

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.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:59:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SKOPJE, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The police in North Macedonia detained on Wednesday the former parliament speaker Trajko Veljanovski and two former ministers, Spiro Ristovski and Mile Janakievski, here upon an order of the Public Prosecution Office for suspicion of involvement in the violence events on April 27, 2017.

Late Wednesday, the Public Prosecution Office in North Macedonia declared that five persons in total are suspected of organizing events and of committing the crime of "endangerment of the constitutional order and security."

"The suspects used party structures and enabled continual shrinking of the number of police officers at the protests. On April 27 (2017), they organized the mass entry of people in the parliament and hired individuals to commit violent acts," read the press release.

Their arrest relates to the violent events occurred on April 27, 2017 in the then Macedonian parliament where protesters stormed in and used violence against many of the former opposition members of parliament.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:34:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Declining demand for furs in China is being felt in the Finnish "fur producing belt" in central western Finland, media reported on Wednesday.

"I hope the banks will show understanding. Also the next book keeping cycle is certain to end in red numbers," fur entrepreneur Jari Plusisaari from Kalvia told the business daily Kauppalehti.

"The prices of furs are now so low that we can make no profit," he said, adding that his family is not going to lay off workers, but will wait for better times. "Otherwise when the market gets livelier, we would be just the family here."

Kauppalehti reported that the predominantly Swedish speaking town of Nykarleby is currently particularly badly hit. Mats Brandt, director of Nykarleby, told national broadcaster Yle recently that the 7,500-people town suffered from the situation.

Some 14 percent of municipal tax revenue comes from fur producers. In 2017, local fur farms sold furs worth almost 40 million euros.

Kauppalehti quoted the International Fur Federation describing the market in China as difficult. The federation said in January that the demand in the key area in northeastern China declined last year by 50 percent.

The current downturn has continued for five years. In 2013 Finland exported furs worth 810 million euros, but in 2017 the figure was 430 million, Kauppalehti reported.

There are about 1,000 fur farms in Finland. In the 1950s there were over 4,000 fur producers in Finland. At the turn of the century there were still 1,700. (one euro is now equal to 1.13 U.S. dollars)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:24:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TIRANA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Albanian Parliament canceled its Thursday plenary session ahead of the Feb. 21 opposition rally, Speaker of Parliament Gramoz Ruci announced at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to Ruci, the session is cancelled due to the appeal given by Albania's strategic partners, based on the reports of law enforcement and intelligence bodies and for the preservation of the integrity of the Parliament hall.

Ruci called for reflection and more maturity and cooperation among the political forces.

"It is our duty to create space and the opportunity to return to the institutional path," said the speaker.

Meanwhile, Albanian State Police on Wednesday warned for violence and criminal activities during Thursday's protest.

In a statement, the police urged organizers of the protest to openly distance themselves from violence and call for respect for law by every protester.

Moreover, offices of the European Union (EU) delegation and other foreign representative in the country have warned Albania's opposition against violence.

Opposition lawmakers from the Democratic Party and the Socialist Movement for Integration have announced that they planned to resign from parliament.

The Socialist Party holds 74 seats in the 140-seat parliament.

On Feb. 16, thousands of protesters under the direction of opposition parties clashed with police and attacked the office of the Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The opposition protested against the government, asking for Rama to resign and for early elections. The protesters broke through the police cordon, attacked the front door of the prime minister's office, throwing Molotov cocktail and bottles filled with gasoline.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:24:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- As many as 2,000 people, including 150 Islamic State (IS) militants, left the IS last stronghold in eastern Syria on Wednesday, a war monitor reported.

The vast majority of people who left the outskirts of the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province are families of the IS fighters, including foreign nationals, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A total of 200 people remained in the farmlands of Baghouz and they are expected to leave on Thursday, said the Britain-based watchdog group.

The evacuation of the IS militants and their families came as part of an undeclared deal between the IS and the U.S.-led coalition, the Observatory said.

It added that the evacuees were transported by the coalition's buses and their destination is still unknown amid reports that the IS militants wanted a safe passage to the Iraqi desert region, which is close to Deir al-Zour.

The U.S.-led coalition has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in their push to eliminate the IS from the eastern Euphrates River region since last September.

Over 35,000 people and the IS militants left the eastern Euphrates to areas controlled by the IS since December last year.

The IS remained in their last stronghold in the farmlands of the town of Baghouz before reaching the deal with the coalition, which carried out countless airstrikes to root out the IS from that part of the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 05:19:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Wednesday the appointment of Major General Zia Ur Rehman of Pakistan as force commander of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Ur Rehman succeeds Major General Wang Xiaojun of China, whose tour of duty ended on Feb. 17, a statement by the spokesperson of Guterres said, adding the secretary-general is grateful to Wang for his "exemplary service and contribution to the work of MINURSO."

Ur Rehman has 30 years of national and international military leadership experience, including as commander of military formations on operations and directing staff appointments at command, staff and war college level.

Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania at the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1976. When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector and asserted administrative control over the whole territory.

Fighting broke out between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. A ceasefire was signed in 1991.

On April 29, 1991, the UN Security Council in its resolution 690 decided to establish the peacekeeping UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, better known by its French acronym MINURSO.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 04:49:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish government has completed an action program to prevent criminality with immigration background.

However, most of the fifty policy changes announced on Wednesday by the Finnish interior ministry will require amendments in legislation and would remain for the government to start after the April election.

Interior Minister Kai Mykkanen singled out "the risk of being deported from Finland" as the most effective preventive factor.

A bill being currently processed in parliament would allow the deportation of a dual national for crimes such as high treason or terrorism, but the intention now is to include more "ordinary" aggravated crimes as well.

Mykkanen said that it is undeniably true that asylum seekers from certain countries are over represented in statistics of sexual crimes. While the punishment will be increased, asylum seekers would be briefed more extensively in reception centers.

The new law would take rejected asylum seekers into custody if the persons are deemed as a danger already after their first rejection. Currently, they can file a legal complaint without losing their personal freedom.

Mykkanen said the number would be "hundreds rather than thousands", and "a wider use (of the prisons) would require more capacity in detention facilities".

The requirements for a permanent residence permit and citizenship would be made stricter. A knowledge test on the basic norms of Finnish society would be required and healthy adults must have a record of several years at work or school.

Mykkanen underlined, however, that Finland continues to adhere to the joint asylum policies of the European Union, but "will try to affect them".

Tarja Mankkinen, head of planning at the Ministry of the Interior, said that Finland aims at punishing those who have committed crimes, but the legal situation is challenging.

"Departing from Finland with terrorist intentions" was not criminalized until in 2016, and most of those who left had gone earlier and the law does not apply retroactively.

"This means terrorist acts while outside Finland should be proven. But it will be difficult to provide evidence that would hold in court", Mankkinen told newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.

Martin Westerlund, a senior inspector at the Security Police, said though that it is not certain that the Islamic State fighters of Finnish origin would want to return to Finland.

Finnish intelligence information has indicated that 85 Finnish nationals or residence permit holders have left to join the IS, and 20 of them have returned so far and 15-20 are presumed dead.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 04:49:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab said on Wednesday that Lebanon is keen to receive military aid from the United States to modernize the Lebanese army, local media reported.

"We are looking forward to receiving more military aid from the U.S. to help to modernize our army and enable it to use advanced technology in all areas," Bou Saab was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

Bou Saab's remarks came during his meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard to discuss the potential of enhancing cooperation between the armies of the two countries.

Richard said that the U.S. is committed to pursuing its aid program to the Lebanese army, adding that the U.S. is the biggest provider of arms and military equipment for Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has received a total of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in military aid from successive U.S. administrations since the war with Israel in 2006.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 04:39:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi tribal fighters on Wednesday killed five Islamic state (IS) militants in a clash in the desert in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial police source said.

The incident took place when the government-backed tribal fighters from the town of Haditha, some 200 km northwest of Baghdad, carried out a search operation looking for truffle collectors kidnapped by IS militants, the source told Xinhua on anonymity.

As the tribal fighters were searching Horan Valley in the desert, they clashed with the extremist militants hiding in the valley, leaving five IS militants killed, while two of the tribal fighters were wounded, the source said.

Meanwhile, Col. Faisal al-Dulaimi, leader of tribal fighters affiliated with Hashd Shaabi brigades, confirmed the clash and the casualties of both sides in Horan Valley and said that the tribal fighters seized weapons and ammunition from the extremist militants.

The IS militants are still active in the vast Anbar desert that stretches to the border with neighboring countries of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as many civilians have been kidnapped or killed by the extremist group recently.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared they had fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, groups of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban or in deserts and rugged areas, and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 04:34:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The currency depreciation happened last year is still influencing Turkey's medicine market, as drug companies reduced supply to avoid fluctuations, leading more patients return from pharmacies empty-handed as a result of medicine shortages.

The pharmacies accused the drug warehouses of not providing enough medicines and they had to supply drugs from each other.

Turkey's Ministry of Health regulates drug market on a method of indexing prices to a fixed Lira-Euro exchange rate for drug purchases, setting the Euro rate at 2.69 Liras at the beginning of 2018.

However, the local currency had lost nearly 50 percent of its value in the same year. The Euro is traded at 5.99 Liras Wednesday and the exchange rate for pharmaceuticals in 2018 was barely half the current market rate.

The increasing gap between the fixed exchange rate and the real foreign exchange prices lies at the heart of the problem.

As a new adjustment of fixing exchange was set on February 19, the drug stores abstained to deliver medicine to pharmacies and medicine shortages came to a crisis point in February, according to Suzan Yilmaz, who works in a pharmacy in Cankaya district of Capital Ankara.

"We have been facing this problem for two to three months," she said, adding that medicines for insulin, cardiovascular diseases, and high blood pressure were even harder to find.

There was already difficulty in the production and import of certain drugs due to the rising costs associated with the depreciation of the Lira.

The expectation of an increase in drug prices worsened supply of a large number of drugs in the market in recent weeks.

Last week, the Ministry of Health announced that they would increase medicine price by 26.4 percent for 2019 in line with the increase in foreign currency.

"We have reached an agreement with the pharma industry regarding the exchange rate adjustment which took effect on Feb. 19," the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca told state-run Anadolu Agency.

"The value of 1 Euro used to calculate the drug prices would be the 70 percent of the annual average Euro value. We agreed with the pharma industry that this coefficient should be 60 percent. Thus, the exchange rate has been hiked by 26.4 percent," he added.

In his earlier statement, the minister said there were shortages for 41 types of medicines in the market, although they increased the amount of drug supply for 17 percent.

"Some warehouses, producers, and pharmacies hoarded drugs anticipating a hike in drug prices," the minister said, noting that they carried out inspections and determined that 42 producers, 20 warehousemen and 32 pharmacists hoarding drugs to sell after the price hike.

"As a result of the amendment, we see the consensus with the pharmaceutical sector as a positive step for the relief of access to medicine," the Turkish Pharmacists Association (TEB) said in a written statement.

The amendment will ease the drug industry, but the problems of the patients and pharmacies will continue, said the TEB, stressing that as the price of the drug increases, the pharmacists' profitability decreases and expenses are increasing.

In a long term, indigenous drug policies need to be developed to be independent of the Euro rate for easy and qualified medicine access, said the TEB.

"We have been living this hardship for the past three years," said Zafer Cenap Sarialioglu, Chairperson of the Istanbul Chamber of Pharmacists.

The medicine prices are updated on Feb. 19 as a rule, therefore the companies limit supply in the previous three months in order to sell on increased prices, according to Sarialioglu.

He proposed to make price amendments in every three months instead of once a year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 03:59:05|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, on Wednesday was granted a two-month delay to surrender himself to federal prison.

Federal Judge William Pauley has approved Cohen's request to adjourn his surrender to prison from March 6 to May 6, a court document revealed.

Cohen recently had "a serious surgical procedure" and needs more time for recovery, according to his lawyer Michael Monico.

Earlier, House Intelligence Committee postponed Cohen's closed-door testimony until Feb. 28. The Senate Intelligence Committee has also subpoenaed Cohen for an appearance in a closed door session.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to charges that included campaign-finance violations for paying hush money to women who claimed to have had sex with Trump and for lying to Congress about the extent of negotiations for a Trump Tower in Russia. He was sentenced in December to three years in prison.

Trump has slammed Cohen as "a weak person" and the Russia probe as a "witch hunt."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 03:44:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran will halt the operation of Bushehr nuclear power plant to change the fuel and do necessary repairs, an Iranian official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.

"Based on the plan, the operation of Bushehr nuclear power plant will stop on March 1 for the change of its fuel and the required repair work," the Deputy Head of the AEOI Mohammad Ahmadian said.

"The plant will come on stream again after the repair work," he said, adding that loading fuel and implementing basic repairs are natural processes for the operations of nuclear plants.

The construction of the Bushehr plant was started in 1975 by several German companies. However, the work was halted when the United States imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 Revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.

The power station became officially operational and was connected to Iran's national grid in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent capacity. The plant reached its maximum power generation capacity, namely 1,000 megawatts, in August 2012.
File Photo: Vassily Nebenzia (R), Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, shakes hands with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza during a Security Council emergency meeting on the situation in Venezuela, at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Wednesday that his country is "categorically" against regime change in Venezuela.

"Russia is categorically against this regime change that we see is being implemented," said Nebenzia, adding that he hopes that "there are no foreign troops whatsoever coming to Venezuela from whatever country."

Nebenzia made the remarks when speaking to the press on the second anniversary of former Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin's death.

Churkin died in New York on Feb. 20, 2017, the eve of his 65th birthday. The immediate cause was heart failure, according to Russian diplomat Sergei Ordzhonikidze. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Churkin died while at work and expressed condolences to Churkin's family.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 02:43:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security said Wednesday that 24 Islamic State (IS) militants, who infiltrated from neighboring Syria, were captured in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh.

The Iraqi Army's Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi told reporters at a press conference near the provincial capital Mosul that four of the captured were group leaders.

Al-Ghanimi's comment came during his visit to Nineveh's Operations Command which is responsible for the security situation in northern Iraq, including the border areas with Syria.

He stressed the need to take precautionary security measures to maintain security in the city of Mosul and other areas in the province.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that Iraq is concerned about developments of the battles in neighboring Syria, which is witnessing the clearing of the last pocket of IS extremist group near the Syrian border with Iraq.

Iraqi security force and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi brigades are deployed on the borderline between Syria and Iraq, which extends to some 600 km in west of the two provinces of Nineveh and Anbar.

The long borderline between the two countries has long been used by insurgent groups and IS militants for logistic support and to carry out cross-border attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-21 01:53:35|Editor: WX

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Photo taken on Feb. 20, 2019 shows a hospital where injured soldiers are treated in Ankara, Turkey. At least five soldiers were injured on Wednesday in an ammunition explosion in the suburban district of Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. (Xinhua)

ANKARA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 5 soldiers were injured on Wednesday in an ammunition explosion in the suburban district of the capital Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The incident occurred at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) at a military base during an artillery training, the defense ministry said.

The injured were taken to hospital, it added.

The ministry did not touch on the nature of the accident or injuries.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-20 19:42:15|Editor: Yurou

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Passengers arrive at the Chongqing North Railway Station in Chongqing, southwest China, Feb. 20, 2019. China's railways are expected to face the post-holiday travel peak over the next few days when millions of travelers return to their workplaces or schools as the Spring Festival celebration has come to an end. Trains will likely carry 11.04 million passengers on Wednesday, up from 8.72 million on Tuesday, official data showed. Some 930 extra trains will be put into use to meet the travel demand. Hundreds of millions of Chinese went back to their hometowns to celebrate the Spring Festival. The annual travel rush around the festival, known as "chunyun," often puts the country's transportation system to the test. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's railways are expected to face the post-holiday travel peak over the next few days when millions of travelers return to their workplaces or schools as the Spring Festival celebration has come to an end.

Trains will likely carry 11.04 million passengers on Wednesday, up from 8.72 million on Tuesday, official data showed. Some 930 extra trains will be put into use to meet the travel demand.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese went back to their hometowns to celebrate the Spring Festival. The annual travel rush around the festival, known as "chunyun," often puts the country's transportation system to the test.

This year's Spring Festival travel rush started on Jan. 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent.

Air travel will likely see some 73 million trips during the 40-day period, surging 12 percent, while boat trips are predicted to hit 43 million, about the same as last year.

From Jan. 21 to Feb. 12, air travel saw 41.47 million trips, up 10.4 percent year on year.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)  One Tallahassee bookstore is inviting the community to celebrate black history month by talking about reading.

Midtown Reader is using their Read to Lead Series to highlight black community leaders and the books that shaped them.

The panelists will talk about the books that have made an impact on their lives and aided in their success.

Thursday's Read to Lead will be moderated by Dr. Ann L. Wead Kimbrough, a professor in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at FAMU.

The panelists include John Marks, the former Mayor of Tallahassee and co-owner of the Tallahassee-based Black Television News Channel, and Funmi Ojetayo, a senior attorney with the Florida Department of Agriculture.

The free event starts at 6 p.m. at Midtown Reader on Thomasville Road.

Midtown Reader will have other topics for their Read to Lead series, including a topic on journalists coming up later this year.


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) --- A year ago, state Sen. Lauren Book wanted to allow human-trafficking survivors to sue hotels that turned a blind eye to abuse. But after that idea did not pass, the Plantation Democrat is back with a different proposal: training hotel employees to spot trafficking.

Florida is one of the hotbeds for human trafficking in the United States. We can and must do more, said Book, chairwoman of the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee.

Books bill (SB 540), filed for the legislative session that starts March 5, would require public-lodging managers and employees to be trained on how to recognize and report human trafficking to law enforcement. Operators would face fines of up to $1,000 per day if training requirements are not met.

The proposal would also mandate creation of two other things: a registry for pimps and johns and an organization that would collect money and provide resources to help trafficking survivors.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday. But approval came after sex workers and social workers raised a number of concerns, mainly related to the creation of the Solicitation of Prostitution Registry.

I thought this was a slam dunk, but after hearing all the opposition, its a little bit surprising, said Sen. Randolph Bracy, D-Orlando.

Book assured the committee that the registry would only include people who solicit sex, not sex workers, but speakers still protested the concept.

Sandra Brown, who identified herself as a consensual sex worker, said that if her criminal activity as a prostitute ended up in the registry it would destroy her life.

I know this is not great for me to say because I am admitting to a criminal act, but the proposed registry, as a consensual sex worker, will destroy my life, Brown said. You put me on that registry, and my life is over.

Christine Hanavan, who works with SWOP Behind Bars, a group that provides resources to incarcerated sex workers, asked lawmakers to oppose any bill form with a prostitution registry.

Registration will create targets for traffickers to approach and exploit, Hanavan said. It gives them a list of people that they can reach out to and offer to help manage them, to help them find work.

The registry would be administered under the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, but details about whether it would be public or only available to police have not been ironed out.

Alan Wilkett, a corporal with the Pasco County Sheriffs Office, said it would be essential to have the registry if the state wants to drive down the demand for buying sex.

For years, law enforcement culture has really gone off after the prostituted, but the john and the pimp has really lived under the veil of anonymity. We are asking you to strip that," Wilkett said.

The registry was not the only concern, though. University of South Florida professor Jill McCracken said the board that would oversee an organization under the Department of Children and Families would be heavily influenced by law enforcement. That body would collect fines from operators of hotels, motels and vacation rentals that dont complete training for managers and employees; it would also act as a liaison for trafficking victims.

This is another criminal bill that is going to continue to criminalize people, which will only create the same cyclical problems, McCracken said.

The board would be made up of 13 members appointed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Attorney Generals Office, the Florida House speaker and the Senate president.

I would highly recommend that if you do create a direct-support organization that you have people on the board that have had direct experience with people who have engaged in sex work and who have been exploited, McCracken said.

Meanwhile, a human trafficking survivor named Savannah spoke in favor of the bill. Savannah has worked closely with Book in drafting the bill and is advocating for training hotel employees to identify human trafficking.

When she was a child, Savannahs mother sold her to a trafficker in exchange for drugs. She was locked in a hotel room, Book said, where she was abused for years in Central Florida.

I feel like if hotels were training employees and had some type of protocol to report human trafficking, I wouldnt have been trafficked the way that I was, said Savannah.

Books bill would have to be approved by two other committees before it could go to the full Senate for a floor vote.

Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, is sponsoring an identical bill (HB 851) in the House. It was filed last week and has not yet been assigned to committees.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  A U.S. soldier grievously wounded in a suicide bombing two years ago in Afghanistan is suing an American defense contractor that employed the bomber, saying its negligence allowed the man to carry out the attack.

Army Spc. Winston Hencely filed his federal civil suit Wednesday in South Carolina. It accuses Fluor Corporation of failing to supervise Ahmad Nayeb as he built an explosive vest on the job using the company's tools and parts.

The Army concluded Nayeb killed himself, three U.S. soldiers and two other Fluor employees in the explosion at Bagram Air Base on Nov. 12, 2016. Hencely suffered severe brain injuries and is still recovering at his home in Springfield, Georgia.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Fluor spokesman Brett Turner said the company had no immediate comment.
PORT RICHEY, Fla.  Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad is charged with attempted murder after shooting at a Pasco County SWAT team Thursday morning.

I used to be up in the DC area. They had Marion Barry up there. This is Port Richeys version. An individual that you wouldnt believe should be in office and this is what happened," said Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco. He shot at our members. Hes lucky hes not dead.

Massad has been charged with attempted murder.

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Caj Jospeh calls Dale Massad her hero, but says her boyfriend was scared when a SWAT team shot through the front door before dawn.

I ran into the closet because I was scared. I thought we were getting killed. I thought somebody was coming into to murder us or something," she said.

She says they didnt know it was law enforcement.

Massad was upstairs when he fired his gun while the deputies were still outside.

Dont you think if he shot at the officers, they would have killed him?

Friday, Massads attorney told a Pasco County judge the shots were not premeditated, but the judge still denied the mayor a chance to bond out of jail.

At City Hall, the reorganization of the government is still going on.

The city managers still in charge of the city. And I believe somebody on the city council will temporarily take the seat of the mayor," said Police Chief Gerald DeCanio.

The police chief says they were first tipped off that Massad was practicing medicine without a license, but handed the case over to FDLE.

Weve been accused in the past of favoring the mayor. And we didnt want any improprieties," said DeCanio.

As for Joseph, she says shes known Massad for 30 years and hes a good person with Port Richeys best interest at heart.

He loves the city. I dont know why. They keep badgering and badgering him. But he just loves it. Hell do anything. Hed put his own money in if he could to help this city.

Meanwhile, Florida's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis tannounced he has directed his fraud detectives to investigate any alleged insurance fraud relating to Massad.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, As a result of the recent findings surrounding Mayor Massads arrest, I have directed my office to investigate whether or not he fraudulently profited from insurance policies while practicing medicine without a license. As this case remains ongoing, we ask members of the community to come forward with any information they may have surrounding this case.

On Friday, Massad appeared in a Pasco County court where a judge denied bond. He will remain at the Land O' Lakes jail.

Nobody is above the law. It doesnt matter what your position is. Everybody is going to be held accountable," said Nocco.

The Florida Department Law Enforcement says the Port Richey Mayor was treating people at his home even though he lost his medical license in 1992.

Massad is also being investigated for insurance fraud.

In December of 2017, Massad removed a fish hook from a "patient" who returned to him in April of 2018 to get a shot of cortizone, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by ABC Action News. On August 24, 2018, another "patient" came to Massad for a "surgical procedure" to close a laceration on his left ankle. During that procedure, Massad administered a local anesthetic and gave the "patient" stitches.

One recent treatment sent a patient to the hospital.

FDLE along with Pasco deputies came to Massad's home early Thursday morning with a search warrant.

Cindy Stark lives nearby the mayors home.

I am totally disgusted. It just blows my mind that we could elect a leader that would not only be breaking crime. But shooting at the police," said Stark.

Im not surprised. Im not happy about it, you know, said Bill Columbo, former Port Richey City Council Member and Vice Mayor.

Columbo says Port Richey will rebound and is confident no matter what happens with Massad, other city leaders will step up.

My concern would be the stability of the city and the morale of the city employees and the welfare of the citizens," he said.

Last year, ABC Action News reported in depth on Mayor Massads legal troubles.

We found that police had been called to his home dozens of times.

Then in August he and a girlfriend were both arrested on domestic violence charges.

Massad later told us that was one of the worst experiences of his life.

The main thing I learned from the jail is I dont want to go back," he said.

The Pasco Sheriffs Office says Massad was a known drug user and had guns in the house.

He admitted to us hed even fired a gun inside.

I shot one of my smoke detectors because I couldnt get up there to get it. It wouldnt go off and it was 3 a.m.," Massad said.

Deputies say three other people were inside the home, but so far there are no other arrests.

We reached out to other Port Richey leaders, but haven't heard back from any of them.

Massad was taken to the Pasco County Jail and Attorney General Ashley Moody's Office will handle the case, according to FDLE.

On Friday Massad officially resigned. according to the Pasco County Supervisor of Election's Office. This comes after Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order suspending Massad.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.


DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP)  Authorities say Florida deputies shot and wounded a woman who was chasing another woman with a meat cleaver.

The Sun Sentinel reports that the shooting occurred Wednesday morning in Dania Beach.

The Broward Sheriff's Office says deputies were responding to a domestic disturbance when they spotted the two women. Investigators say the deputies ordered the armed woman to drop the meat cleaver multiple times. Officials say the woman then charged the deputies, prompting them to fire.

Sheriff Gregory Tony says the woman was hit at least once. Her injuries weren't considered life-threatening.

Investigators weren't immediately saying how the two women knew each other or why one was chasing the other with a meat cleaver. Officials weren't saying how many deputies were involved.

State law enforcement officials will investigate the shooting.



Information from: Sun Sentinel , http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Wrexham Maelors A&E waiting times worst in Wales- health board say January saw significant increase in demand

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 21st, 2019

A&E waiting times at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital were the worst in Wales last month  however the health board said it saw a significant increase in demand compared to this time last year.

Figures released today by Stats Wales show that 49.3 per cent of patients spent less than four hours waiting to be seen. This is compared to the four hour target of 95 per cent.

A total of 5,459 people attended the hospital in January, with Stats Wales showing that 2,691 of those patients were seen within four hours.

A further breakdown shows that 4,028 or 73.8 per cent of patients were seen within eight hours and 4,734 / 86.7 per cent were seen within 12 hours.





The figure is down slightly on the 50.6 per cent recorded for the hospital in December 2018.

Across Betsi Cadwaladr Univeristy Health Board  which covers health organisations across North Wales  Ysbyty Glan Clwyd saw 54.6 per cent of patients seen within four hours and 70.5 per cent at Ysbyty Gwynedd.

A spokesperson for the health board said there a had been a significant increase in demand compared to 12 months ago, with 675 more people attending its three Emergency Departments.

The spokesperson continued: Other challenges included an increase of ten per cent in acutely unwell patients in our most serious triage category and the impact of more cases of flu.

Despite this, there were improvements in some areas of our emergency care performance including a 56 per cent reduction in ambulance handover delays outside our hospitals, and fewer delays for people who are ready to go home from hospital.

We are working with partners to co-ordinate action across all parts of the system including community services, hospitals, voluntary sector, social care and the ambulance service.

We know there is still more to do and we are determined to make further progress. We would like to thank our staff for their continued hard work and dedication.

Locally there have been a series of changes undertaken at A&E, with a faster flow of patients from ambulances into the department.

During a meeting last month between councillors, the health board and the ambulance service, it was noted that although the average waiting times in the Wrexham Maelor Emergency Department in December was nine and a half hours, there has been a seismic shift in the ambulance transfer times compared to this time last year.

However earlier this week Wrexham.com reported that the health board was to remain in Special Measures by the Welsh Government, despite progress and a series of improvements across several areas.

Commenting on todays result, Health Minister Vaughan Gething, said it was the busiest January on record for Welsh emergency departments.

Mr Gething said: It is testament to our hard-working NHS staff that despite this pressure the number of patients seen and treated within the 4-hour target was the highest for January since 2014.

Four health boards improved their four-hour performance compared to January last year. While the ambulance target was surpassed for the 41st consecutive month and the average response time for red and amber patients improved compared to the same time last year.

However, I am disappointed to see an overall drop in emergency departments performance indicators, which has been particularly affected by the poor performance at two of the three Emergency Departments in north Wales.

I have been clear with the Chief Executive and Chair of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board that I expect to see immediate and continuous improvement following substantial Welsh Government support.

We are committed to whole system solutions to drive improvement  this is not an Emergency Department issue but one that can be improved by the wider health and social care system.

But Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru AM for North Wales, described the long-term situation in Wrexham and Glan Clwyds A&E departments as dire.

He added: Staff are under huge pressures and clearly more support is needed. I look forward to hearing how the new chair of Betsi Cadwaladr intends to address this long-standing problem and have asked for an urgent meeting.

Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services, Helen Mary Jones AM, added: These figures are completely unacceptable and demonstrate a serious lack of competence on the Welsh Governments part. Winter happens every year  along with seasonal bugs and flus, and it can all be prepared and planned for.

The real issue here is a lack of planning and taking adequate preventative measures to deal with the winter months.

We need a real out of hours GP service, social care that works to care for people over winter, more community beds, and a clear plan to ensure hospital bed occupancy stays as safe levels so surges can be dealt with.

These are all achievable and effective steps that would dramatically improve A&E figures.
Welsh Government Cabinet to hold meeting in North Wales today to help combat perception of north south divide

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 21st, 2019

Welsh Government Ministers will hold a Cabinet meeting in North Wales today following a series of meetings on Anglesey focusing on the island and the regions economy.

First Minister Mark Drakeford will meet Horizon at Wylfa, before meeting the leader of Anglesey Council and hosting a roundtable of council and business representatives from across North Wales. The Cabinet meeting will be in the Welsh Governments Llandudno Junction office.

He will be accompanied by Ken Skates, the newly appointed Minister for Economy and North Wales.

Commenting on todays Cabinet meeting, the First Minister said: One of my immediate priorities has been to ensure North Wales has a strong voice in government and in the Cabinet so we have a strong focus on the region and its future.





I appointed Ken Skates as Minister with responsibility for North Wales. Holding an early Cabinet meeting in North Wales is part of that effort.

There has been some difficult news for North Wales over the past few weeks, and the uncertainty of Brexit is a source of concern for businesses across the region  Airbus has been clear about its views in the last week, for example.

But we must  and we will  deliver for North Wales. We are committed to the region and are investing in the areas economy.

We will provide whatever assistance we can to support individuals and companies affected by the recent announcements. I will be listening carefully to what people tell me today.

I have previously called on the UK Government to put in place a funding model to deliver large infrastructure projects such as Wylfa Newydd and I repeat that today.

Ken Stakes, Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales, added: We have strong relationships, which have been built across North Wales over many years, these are crucial now as we work together to respond to the announcements about Wylfa Newydd and Rehau and to the challenges of Brexit.

Our commitment to North Wales is clear. We are making unprecedented investment in transport in the region, with 600m of developments planned. These include the Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass, with work now underway.

We are moving ahead with the next stages of the third Menai crossing, which includes the appointment of technical advisers to develop the scheme in more detail with stakeholders and we are making progress with the vital A494-A55 Flintshire Corridor.

The Welsh Government is investing significantly in supporting the long-term North Wales economy, including 20m in a new Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRI) at Broughton.

We have invested 20m of Welsh Government and European funding in the Menai Science Park on Anglesey, which has enjoyed a successful first year, and we have pledged to match the UK Governments commitment to the North Wales Growth Deal and called on it to increase the contribution to allow the region to maximise its impact.

Last month during a visit to Wrexhams Salvation Army on Friday, the First Minister and Mr Skates acknowledged that more work is to be done to stop the perception of a north and south divide in Wales.

Speaking at the time Mr Drakeford said that Cardiff can often seem remote  but noted it was more of a perception of a divide rather than a reality.

You can read the interview with the First Minister and new Minister for North Wales here.

You can also view our video below:

Top pic: Minister of North Wales
Budget passes final vote  Wrexham Council Tax going up with more warnings that settlement from Cardiff Bay must improve

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Feb 20th, 2019

Council tax for households across the county borough is rise to by more than five per cent.

A clear majority of the councillors present in the Guildhall voted in favour of going ahead with the 5.5 per cent increase at this afternoons full council meeting.

This will mean the average bill for a Band D property will rise to 1,153 with some other community charges yet to be decided on top  with 61,601,358 expected to be raised in council tax in 2019/20.

The increase comes as part of the now approved budget, which was unanimously backed along with a number of other savings by Executive Board members back in January.





Today was the first time non-executive board members had the chance to cast their vote on whether the council tax increase and proposed savings for the upcoming financial year should be introduced.

Speaking this afternoon Leader of Wrexham Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard said that there some tough decisions had made during the budget process and that he was he was grateful to the public for giving their views in last years difficult decisions consultation.

One of the more controversial proposals locally and across Wales has been a larger than normal increase in council tax  with households locally set to see an increase of 5.5 per cent on their bill from April 2019.

The budget also includes an additional three per cent funding for schools  with proposals to review transport to faith schools and a 30 green bin charge taken off the table for now.

Cllr Pritchard continued: We have listened to the public and have kept council tax as low as possible. We will set it at 5.5 per cent. This hasnt been easy, it has been extremely difficult.

We as an administration have worked tirelessly to keep council tax as low as we can.

There has been some touch decisions and the meetings Ive sat in elected members did not want to go in this direction.

There were also warnings that further cuts to services are on the horizon, with Cllr Pritchard stating that there are major challenges for the 2021 / 2022 period with cuts of a further 10 million required.

The report was seconded by Cllr David A Bithell who added that the budget process has been extremely challenging during what are extremely difficult times.

However Cllr Marc Jones, leader of the Plaid Cymru Group spoke of the anger and frustration from members of the public  stating they are paying more and getting less.

He continued: Funding from the UK Government has been squeezed as the Conservatives dont believe in public services.

The burden has been passed to those on low incomes and the services that survive had also been hollowed out.

Cllr Jones also called for those in the chamber to bear responsibility and not take pay rises, and pay for their own iPads, which could make savings of 100,000 over a five year period.

Cllr Dana Davies, leader of the Labour Group, said they would be supporting the budget before them this afternoon, but put forward several suggestions for the upcoming year, as well as recognising some things they considered successes.

These included setting funding at an appropriate level for secondary schools, enhancing public transport for local communities via an Arriva Click model and continuing to support the towns Citizens Advice Service.

The meeting also saw renewed calls for the number of executive board members to be reduced from 10 down to eight  a suggestion that has been raised several times over the years.

Cllr Davies called for the size and effectiveness of executive board and portfolio responsibilities to be more evenly distributed  with Cllr Jones adding he would rather see people cleaning streets and mending roads than 10 members on the executive board.

Commenting on the reduction of executive board members Cllr Pritchard said: If I am tasked by this council and the alliance to the look at the executive board then I will. I will also look at planning, scrutiny chairs and licensing.

He added, Could you reduce the scrutiny numbers and the executive board? You could before noting he would also want a wider look at all such extra paid roles  although did not mention the Mayor.

Clr Pritchard also rejected the cut from the top claims on senior management, pointing out that after recent changes there are now just 8 senior staff rather than a previous 18.

Cllr Alun Jenkins reiterated his calls from last month to increase council tax by more than the proposed 5.5 per cent.

He continued: I cant support the proposals for the reasons I presented to the executive board in January meeting

I regret now that for another year we are facing 5.8 million of savings.

Wrexham has the seventh lowest council tax in the whole of the UK. In the executive board I suggested what we needed to do was to increase council tax by a further four per cent and raise a further 2 million.

I dont take any pride that we have the lowest council tax levels. We will have to look to even more cuts in the future.

If we value local councils then we have to be prepared to put our money into local services to keep them going. It is a no win situation for councillors, we are criticised severely if put council tax up and as much if we take away services.

But Cllr Pritchard said that increasing council tax is not the answer and that things will not change unless the local authority receives a better financial settlement from the Welsh Government.

He also called on local councillors whose parties have representatives in the Senedd to go and campaign for more money, although appearing to be more at ease with the Labour Groups support in voting through the budget, saving his ire for Clr Marc Jones of Plaid Cymru specifically calling it camouflage locally when Plaid Cymru supported the overall Welsh Government budget that contained the poor settlements for councils in Wales.

The budget was approved with 42 councillors voting in favour of the proposals and two voting against (Clr Marc Jones and Clr Carrie Harper). A further two councillors abstained from the vote (Clr Mike Davies and Clr Alun Jenkins).

Six councillors were absent from the meeting.

Below are our live tweets from the meeting, starting with a piece of history, in reverse order as that is how the Twitter API works

Wrexham.com @wrexham Earlier we checked out how budgets were done in Wrexham back in the good old days  PIC:



(Click for large)

Wrexham.com @wrexham Everyone stands as the whacking great mace is lifted and carried out, then the Mayor and the meeting ends.

Wrexham.com @wrexham All done and dusted so Mayor formally welcomes Clr Blackwell back after a recent serious injuries, he gets a round of applause. Clr Blackwell thanks colleagues for their kind words.

Wrexham.com @wrexham With the budget stuff done inside an hour  meeting has moved to talk about co-opting membership of the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee (report here if interested link )

Wrexham.com @wrexham Incidentally aside from us and the BBC no one else in the public gallery here.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Mike Davies and Clr Alun Jenkins abstained.

Wrexham.com @wrexham VOTE: Budget passes 42 in favour, 2 against (Plaid Group) and two abstain.

Your council tax is going up!

Wrexham.com @wrexham Final words from Chief Exec Ian Bancroft, who looks to the future and speaks of an in year budget decision. Looks like wont be set piece style budget & cuts, more of a rolling programme of change.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Prtichard bats the responsibility for the budget down to Cardiff Things wont change unless we get a better settlement asks those Cllrs who are part of parties who are in the Senedd to go lobby their AMs for more cash for councils. PIC:



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Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Pritchard Dont abstain. That is the easy way out. You are either for the budget or not. If you are not, stand up in this chamber and say why. We are going into a place we have never been before, we are struggling for money.

Wrexham.com @wrexham @zionhopkins1 link has it from the app every 30mins

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Mark Pritchard glowing over Labour backing the budget, picks out Clr Marc Jones over Welsh Gov budget and thus local gov settlements, Plaid supported Labour to bring this Your group have supported it. A shout of well done Mark from one cllr.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Pritchard says it is easy to throw the blame at the Executive Board, asks councillors to ask the same question of pay for Chairs of Scrutiny or committees. Lets have the debate.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Prtichard wraps up, says increasing council tax is not the answer notes 1% extra brings in 500k. Picks up on cut from the top comments, says there were 18 senior staff at Wrexham Council to 8.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Atkinson will support budget as it is the only show in town, notes no alternative budgets on the table to even consider.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Beverley Parry-Jones will support the budget, but says she is critical of a south wales bias on the Welsh Gov settlement.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Alan Edwards implies that 13k wage for councillors is not enough to encourage younger people to come in, and says abuse needs to stop.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Alan Edwards reminds the chamber of those in low paid jobs or limited incomes where council tax and subsequent increases can hit them proportionately harder. Slams Cardiff for not taking responsibility & points to mooted extra AMs and the cost of creating & paying them.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Jenkins reads out other authority council tax rises, higher than Wrexham, also says they are starting from a higher tax take so are better off. After a generous extra time, Clr Jenkins says he will not support the budget.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Mayor Andy Williams has a timer with a 5 minute beeper (he pointed out he is allowed to use it) but Clr Jenkins carries on warning some of the basic things the council does will disappear over the coming years.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Jenkins on his feet, say Wrexham has 7th lowest council tax in whole of UK. Reiterating points made last month wanting a bigger council tax rise  back then he was expecting criticism, and got it, for such an idea link

Wrexham.com @wrexham @chrisjones4seal @purefreedom1 @DeesideDotCom @FlintshireCC Confirmed in Wrexham that the pay increase comes from council finances, where does it come from in Flintshire?

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Davies says Labour Group *will* support the budget, but has fed back to the Chief Exec about future improvements to the budget setting process.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Davies echos call from Clr Jones for less Exec Board members saying would create positive budgetary outcome also has a dig at workloads and number of reports presented. Implication is some Exec members do more than others, no names mentioned!

Wrexham.com @wrexham Cllr Davies points to recent pay rise coming out of Council budget  up the road in Flintshire this councillor called a resident silly for linking council tax rise to councillor pay link

Wrexham.com @wrexham Labour Group Leader Dana Davies now speaking saying they recognise the action to streamline the Senior Structure noting they asked for it in June 2015

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Marc Jones wraps up noting that Plaid Cymru will not be supporting budget, and encourages cuts to number of Executive Board members but does not expect turkeys to vote for Christmas. A phrase, or does he think Exec are turkeys?! PIC:



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Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Marc Jones says we should cut senior management posts, and glad to see that is happening if we have to cut it should be at the top not the front line. The people in this chamber should refuse payrises noting it is a small gesture but over term would save 100k

Wrexham.com @wrexham Clr Marc Jones speaks from the floor first, Cutting essential staff is what is happening and will happen in future years if we do not stand up to these cuts noting the problem is not peculiar to Wrexham we have to join forces and say enough is enough

Wrexham.com @wrexham Report seconded by Cllr David Bithell who says the budget process this year has been extremely challenging and that these are extremely difficult times

Wrexham.com @wrexham Debate on the revenue budget / council tax setting now underway. Council leader Mark Pritchard says cuts of 10million are required and will have to be found over the next two years.

Wrexham.com @wrexham Nearly a full house here this afternoon  all but six of the 52 councillors in attendance
West Point, NE (68788)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Two girls are on their way to the square for the Dress Contest Festival in Zhiyi village, Zhonghe town, Yongren vounty, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province on Feb. 19, 2019. [Xinhua]

The Dress Contest Festival was held in Tuesday, the 15th day of the first lunar month of the Pig's Year, in Zhiyi village, Zhonghe town, Yongren county, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.

The festival is held on 15th day of the first lunar month of each year. On this day, Yi people in the village dress up in new clothes and invite friends to the central square of the village to participate in various activities.

The custom has been inherited for more than 1,300 years, known as the ancient "fashion show ".

Villagers watch the activities of festival. [Xinhua] Women bring their children to the festival. [Xinhua] Villagers dance at the festival. [Xinhua]

(Source: Xinhua)
Combination photo taken on Feb. 15 (L) and Feb. 16, 2019 shows a flower grower in southwest China's Yunnan Province "sends" a flower to a woman in Bangkok, Thailand. Fresh flowers packed in Kunming of Yunnan will be available for sale at a Bangkok market in less than 40 hours thanks to the Kunming-Bangkok Expressway. The warm climate in Yunnan allows flowers of various kinds to blossom during all seasons. Dounan, as China's largest fresh flower wholesale market, exports more than 500 varieties and 40 categories of flowers to over 50 countries and regions every day, among which 20 to 30 percent are sold to South and Southeast Asian countries. Yunnan has expanded more cooperation with neighboring countries in recent years under China's Belt and Road Initiative. [Xinhua/Hu Chao, Zhang Keren]
First HPV vaccine impact project in Africa

The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute will evaluate the impact of HPV vaccine schedules on the prevalence of this virus on SA adolescent girls.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer, the leading cancer amongst women aged 15-44.

The study by the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) will evaluate the impact of two-dose and one-dose HPV vaccination schedules on community level HPV prevalence in South African adolescent girls.

In 2014, the National Department of Health introduced HPV vaccination as a central strategy for cervical cancer prevention in South Africa. The current vaccine schedule requires administration of two doses. However, there are a number of barriers to the administration of the second dose in particular, and there is growing interest in the potential of a single dose of HPV vaccine to provide enough protection.

In February and March 2019, the research team will conduct an HPV vaccine catch-up campaign using a single dose of HPV vaccine in a population of adolescent girls in Grade 10 in Lejweleputswa District of the Free State, who would have been too old to receive the vaccine in 2014 when it was introduced.

To evaluate the impact of the HPV vaccine in reducing HPV infection, the team will establish a network of surveillance sites. These will include five primary healthcare clinics in Lejweleputswa and three others in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West provinces.

In 2019, 2021 and 2023, researchers will conduct HPV prevalence surveys in these clinics among women aged 17-18 years seeking family planning services. These surveys will enable researcher to measure changes in the prevalence of HPV infection in age cohorts that were not eligible for vaccination compared to those that were, and received either one or two doses of vaccine.

The results of this study will have important implications for future programming, If a single dose is as effective as two doses in preventing HPV infection, this may translate into increased cost savings and improved vaccine coverage, which ultimately leads to better cervical cancer prevention and control, says Professor Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, project lead at Wits RHI. Final study results are expected in early 2024.

The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made two awards to fund this study over the next five years.

About Wits RHI

The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) is a leading African research institute focusing on HIV, sexual and reproductive health and vaccine preventable diseases. It is the largest research institute of the University of the Witwatersrand and has contributed to health policies in South Africa. Wits RHI is also a Medical Research Council-collaborating centre, a World Health Organization- collaborating centre, and a United Nations Population Fund strategic partner.
Lawyer: Paul Award Excessive, New Trial Requested

By The Associated Press

BOWLING GREEN - The attorney for a man who attacked U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in a dispute over lawn maintenance has appealed a jury's decision to award the lawmaker $580,000 in damages.The Daily News reports attorney Matt Baker argued in a motion filed last week for a new trial that the financial penalties levied against Rene Boucher at the civil trial were excessive given Paul's injuries and Boucher's cooperation with authorities.Paul had testified during the three-day trial that he feared for his life as he struggled to breathe after Boucher slammed into him in their upscale Bowling Green, Kentucky, neighborhood in late 2017.An apologetic Boucher acknowledged he wasn't thinking rationally and called it "two minutes of my life I wish I could take back."A hearing has been set March 20 to consider the motion.
House Committee OKs Senate School Safety Bill

By West Kentucky Star Staff

FRANKFORT - The House Education Committee has approved Senate Bill 1, the General Assemblys landmark measure designed to address growing safety needs in Kentucky schools.The measure is based on recommendations from the 2018 School Safety Working Group, which traveled the state to gather feedback from stakeholders and propose solutions to the growing epidemic of school violence.Rep. Chris Freeland of Marshall County described the importance of the measure to his community in light of the shooting at Marshall County High School last February, which claimed the lives of two students, Bailey Holt and Preston Cope.The eyes of the nation were on our community last February when this horrific event claimed the lives of two precious children and had a lasting impact on Marshall County, Rep Chris Freeland said. Im proud of the way our community came together in the aftermath of the shooting, and happy to see the General Assembly come together in a bipartisan way to tackle this problem.House Majority Leader Bam Carney of Campbellsville co-chaired the working group with Senator Max Wise, and both men presented the bill to the committee. SB 1 now advances to the full House for consideration.
Odor Prompts Evacuation of Murray Middle School

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - Murray Middle School was evacuated briefly on Wednesday.A message to parents about 10:30 am from Murray Independent Schools said there was concern about an odor in the school, so students were sent to other locations until the cause could be investigated.Fourth and fifth graders went to the Calloway County Public Library, while sixth, seventh, and eighth graders were taken to the WATCH Center.Another message from the district indicated that the Fire Department had determined everything was safe about 11:30 am. The odor was apparently caused by hydrolic fluid leaking from a door closer.Students were bused back to the school and were back on normal schedule by noon.
Mayfield Man Jailed on Gun, Fleeing Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MAYFIELD - A Mayfield man is facing gun and other charges after an incident on Wednesday.

The Mayfield Police Department said officers responded to Central Avenue after being told that 28-year-old Benjamin Riley was at a home with a gun. They said Riley fled on foot and allegedly discarded a bag containing a 9mm handgun.

Riley was apprehended and placed under arrest. Officers said the recovered weapon had recently been reported stolen to the Graves County Sheriff's Office.

Riley was charged with fleeing or evading police on foot, tampering with physical evidence, receiving stolen property (firearm), carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Riley also had two existing warrants for bail jumping and probation violation.

He was lodged in the Graves County Jail.
Marshall County Crash Leads to DUI Arrest

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MARSHALL COUNTY - A crash Wednesday in Marshall County led to a woman's arrest on DUI and other charges.The Marshall County Sheriff's Office says a deputy responded to a collision on Big Bear Highway, where he made contact with Jessica Whitaker. The deputy determined that Whitaker was driving under the influence.Whitaker was arrested and charged with DUI second offense, driving on a DUI suspended license, failure to produce insurance card, failure to notify address change to department of transportation, and failure to maintain required insurance. She was booked into the Marshall County Jail.Deputies did not report any injuries in the crash.
Man Accused of Robbing Two Banks in Two Weeks

By West Kentucky Star Staff

FULTON - A man who has been on parole for less than a month is now a suspect in bank robberies in Fulton and South Fulton.The Fulton Police Department said they responded Wednesday along with South Fulton Police to a reported robbery at Simmons Bank in South Fulton. They said a male suspect came into the bank, demanded money and fled on foot.Fulton Police said the suspect's methods were similar to those of a man wanted for the robbery of Security Bank and Trust in Fulton on February 6.South Fulton Police tracked Wednesday's suspect and he was eventually arrested by the Weakley County Sheriff's Department.The man was identified as 37-year-old Shantez Burnside of South Fulton. A Franklin woman, 37-year-old Julie Lee Olds was also arrested, and money from Wednesday's robbery was reportedly recovered.The two suspects were turned over to Obion County authorities.Fulton Police said their investigation led them to determine Burnside was also responsible for the robbery on February 6. Burnside was charged with robbery 1st degree and theft by unlawful taking in Kentucky.Police said Burnside was released by the Kentucky Department of Corrections on February 1.
Paducah Man Sought on Multiple Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Police are asking for help locating a Paducah man who is wanted on multiple arrest warrants.According to the Paducah Police Department, 29-year-old John C. Smith is charged in warrants with three counts of absconding probation supervision, four counts of violating an EPO/DVO and one count of 4th degree assault - domestic violence.Anyone with information about Smith is encouraged to contact Paducah Police at 270-444-8550.Information also may be provided anonymously through West Kentucky Crime Stoppers by texting WKY and your tip to 847411 (tip 411) or by downloading the app WKY Crime Stoppers from the Apple Store or Google Play. Tipsters also may access the online tip form through the City of Paducah website at http://paducahky.gov/west-ky-crime-stoppers. Information leading to an arrest or indictment may result in a reward of up to $1,000.
Halls Sophie Garner-MacKinnon has been named the 2020-21 Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year, according to a release from Gatorade. Garner-MacKinnon is the first Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Hall High School.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.


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A presentation on the Great Lake-to-Lake Trails project, which is a plan to connect all the non-motorized riding trails in Michigan, was recently presented to the members of the Richmond City Council.

Presenters were Andrea LaFontaine, trail ambassador for the nonprofit Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, and Mark Brochu, director of St. Clair County Parks and Recreation. LaFontaine was hired to oversee Route 1, which stretches from South Haven to Port Huron, and make sure it all gets connected.

Our mission is to be the statewide voice for non-motorized trail users and to develop trails throughout the state, LaFontaine said. We really support an active outdoor lifestyle in Michigan.

She said the program originally started out as Michigan Rails to Trails. Now based in Ohio, it was decided that Michigan needed its own group, so the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, which is affiliated with the Michigan Fitness Foundation, was established in 2005.

LaFontaine said there are five Great Lake-to-Lake Trails throughout the state, and only one of them is 100 percent complete.

When I say non-motorized users, we think of hiking and biking, LaFontaine said. We also have a quite a large equestrian crowd over in the Livingston County area and cross-country skiers. So we have noticed over time that people in the last five years are starting to prioritize trails in the communities, and they are starting to see the benefits.

The alliance is working to have signage placed and is planning rides for communities along the trail. LaFontaine said Richmond can apply to receive a Trail Town Designation by Pure Michigan.

Brochu told the council a study of all the routes in the county is being conducted to determine what gaps to need to be filled and connected. He said Richmonds planning and economic development director, Troy Jeschke, has been involved with the work to make sure things align with Richmond trails and their priorities.

This spring, St. Clair County Metropolitan Planning Commission staff will assess all paved trails in St. Clair County. The information will be compiled and relayed back to the master plan that is being developed to strategically identify what the conditions of the trails are, which ones need work before they are too far gone and the costs for repairs.

Its about sustainability, Brochu said. Just like the roads, you build them, but you cant just walk away. You have to start planning for fixing them and replacing them.

The study data will be used to apply for state grants.

It takes a long time, Brochu said. I always tell people with trails, You need patience and perseverance. If you dont have both of those, youre not going to get to the finish line. We are really excited about connecting up to your beautiful Macomb Orchard Trail.

Mayor Tim Rix said the city was the promotor of the Macomb Orchard Trail when it first began, and from there it took off on both ends.

Weve always been a big supporter of the trail, Rix said. We had the opportunity to buy from Main to Oak Street just east a few blocks and we grabbed it. It took us a number of years to get Grand Trunk to do anything  took forever.

But were definitely in, he added. Its part of the councils goals and objectives. Were all about the trail.

He said that from an economic standpoint, the trail has been great for Richmond. Restaurants have benefited and property values have increased.

People have fixed up their homes that abut the trail, Rix said. Its created better neighborhoods, also, so I think we are all in.

City Manager Jon Moore said he appreciated Brochu coming out to explain the St. Clair County side of things related to planning and grants, adding that he thinks the city needs to get Macomb County involved more, too.

We need some discussion now to look at whose working on this gap or this grant, and I think thats where Andrea, Macomb County and the city of Richmond need to get together, Moore said.

We definitely want to be on board and be right there, Rix said. And if no one else is moving, we want to continue to move on things.

Barb Pert Templeton is a freelance reporter. She can be contacted at barbperttempleton.reporter@yahoo.com.
Ben-Gurion U. develops new AI platform for ALS care

BEER-SHEVA, Israel...February 20, 2019 - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform for monitoring and predicting progression of neurodegenerative diseases to help identify markers for personalized patient care and improve drug development.

The platform, developed by Prof. Boaz Lerner of the BGU Department of Industrial Engineering and Management will initially be used for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and ultimately for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

"One of the big challenges of designing and managing clinical trials for ALS is that it is a rare disease, and clinical variability makes it hard to identify markers for severity," says Prof. Lerner. "As a result, after decades of research, there is still no real cure for ALS and several other challenging neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's.

"Our new technology will more accurately predict disease progression, a crucial ingredient for clinical trials, and better identify the interrelationships between demographics and other measurable factors identified through physical examinations and patient functionality."

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes death of motor neurons which control voluntary muscles. This muscle atrophy leads to progressive weakness and paralysis, difficulty speaking, swallowing and breathing. The average survival time for people who are typically diagnosed between ages 40 to 60 is two to five years from onset of symptoms.

ALS population heterogeneity complicates research and drug development because of symptom variability at onset, disease progression rates and patterns, and survival statistics. This variability makes it difficult to predict disease progression rate and pattern for individuals.

Having a reliable personalized prediction platform could improve patient care and quality of life for many patients and their caregivers. The new AI platform could also improve clinical trial design by identifying markers for various patient sub-populations' treatment.

The BGU platform integrates demographic and clinical data with machine learning and data mining algorithms to produce models that can predict the rate and pattern of ALS progression, identify specific lab tests or vital signs, and stratify similar sub-groups from the diverse ALS population. The algorithms, and their ability to predict disease progression, will improve as clinical data is added for each patient.

"Now that the algorithms required to produce effective models have been established and evaluated, the funding we received from the Israel Innovation Authority will enable researchers to create a system that patients, physicians, caregivers, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, and insurers can use on desktop and mobile applications to monitor and predict ALS progression," says Itzik Mashiach at BGN Technologies, BGU's technology-transfer company.

"We are now seeking an industry partner to further develop and commercialize this innovative patent-pending technology."

###

About BGN Technologies

BGN Technologies is the technology-transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. BGN brings technological innovations from the lab to the market and fosters research collaborations and entrepreneurship among researchers and students. To date, BGN has established more than 100 startup companies in the fields of biotech, high-tech and cleantech, and initiated leading technology hubs, incubators and accelerators. Over the past decade, BGN Technologies has focused on creating long-term partnerships with multinational corporations including Deutsche Telekom, Dell-EMC, IBM, PayPal, and Bayer, securing value and growth for Ben-Gurion University and the Negev region. For more information, visit the BGN Technologies website.

About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more.

AABGU, headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information visit https:/ / aabgu. org/ .

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Normal, IL (61790)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Its a very family-oriented part of town, with a lot of families taking their kids for walks or kids biking along the sidewalks, but its not a road that people treat like a 35 mile per hour road, Shawler said. Theres got to be some sort of traffic calming and a way to make pedestrians feel safer at the same time, so I think thats needed in conjunction with wider sidewalks and bike lanes.
Webb was charged in May 2017 with the murder of his mother after James City County police tied a pair of his blood-stained pants to a pair he wore when he stopped at a 7-Eleven convenience store hours before his mothers body was found, according to the court documents. Two people, unidentified in the criminal complaint, told police Webb had the motive to kill his mother and had previously made threats to kill her and bury her body.
HRSD plans to refill the Potomac Aquifer with treated wastewater. The aquifer, which is the primary groundwater source for the Peninsula and stretches across eastern Virginia and beyond, has been depleted through overuse by human consumption faster than it can naturally recharge itself. In some parts of eastern Virginia, the aquifers water level has dropped 200 feet or more in the past century.
UW Entrepreneurship Leader to Speak in Gillette

The chief operating officer of the University of Wyomings new Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) is scheduled to be in Gillette Thursday, Feb. 28, to speak to local service clubs.

Jack Mason, a successful businessman who has personally founded multiple companies and helped establish many more, will discuss how the IIE aims to create a more robust entrepreneurial ecosystem across the university and the state.

He will speak at the Gillette Energy Rotary Club meeting at noon at the Prime Rib Restaurant, 1205 S. Douglas Highway. UW College of Business Dean David Sprott also is scheduled to attend.

Mason then will speak at the Kiwanis Club of Gillettes meeting at 6 p.m., also at the Prime Rib Restaurant. Sprott and College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Michael Pishko also are scheduled to attend.

Mason earned his bachelors degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to earn a masters degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, and a masters degree and Ph.D. in engineering from MIT. At Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, he redesigned and repositioned the entrepreneurial studies program over the past five years. Before that, he taught at the University of Colorado.

Mason has founded eight businesses, including a firm in Boulder, Colo., that provided an electronic commerce platform and services to support energy procurement. Mason led the acquisition of more than 30 Fortune 1000 clients and fundraising of $1.1 million in venture capital.

He served as principal of the energy and management consulting firm Mason Energy and Management; vice president of E Source LLC; chief executive and founder of Energy Window Inc.; senior vice president of Indus International; and principal of PRISM Consulting Inc.

The IIE calls on innovators from throughout the state as it works to instill entrepreneurial thinking to empower the leaders of tomorrow. Adding needed programs and curriculum that draw together all UW colleges, business services and entrepreneurship competitions, the IIE serves as the universitys front door for the states entrepreneurs.
The 2021 USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships came to Knoxville on Father's Day weekend. This is the fourth year for Knoxville to host the U.S. Pro Road and Individual Time Trial Championships and the third year to host the U.S. Pro Criterium Championships.
The Government of Mali launches new National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Assimilated Practices (2018-2022)

Bamako, Mali - 21 February 2019 - The Government of Mali has just adopted a new five-year plan to fight against trafficking in persons officially launched on Friday 1 February 2019 at the Ministry of Justice.

The result of a collaboration between the National Coordination Committee against Trafficking in Persons and Assimilated Practices (CNCLTPA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and thanks to funding from the European Union, the Governments of the Netherlands and the United States, this plan essentially aims to strengthen the response of the Malian authorities in the fight against human trafficking. "The Ministry of Justice welcomes the fact that there is now a national action plan for all actors to combat trafficking in persons. This document, it must be remembered, is meant to be holistic because it takes into account the four axes of the struggle ", says Mr. Tiena COULIBALY, Minister of Justice, in the preface of the document.

The new National Action Plan focuses on four (4) strategic areas related to international standards against trafficking in persons: prevention of trafficking in persons, prosecution at the criminal justice level, protection and assistance to victims of trafficking and the promotion of coordination and cooperation in the fight against trafficking in persons.

On this occasion, UNODC and IOM seized the opportunity of the monthly meetings of the Committee to present the new National Action Plan to all its members. On Friday, February 1, 2019, an official launch ceremony was held, open to the public and in the presence of various donors, national and international partners and the press. About forty (40) people were present.
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Its the Turkey of days gone by at Gul Pension and Restaurant in Faralya. No airs and graces, here. A bit like Bulentin Yeri in Kayakoy. Whilst exclusive boutique hotels and luxury villas have certainly found their way to the steep, terraced mountainsides of Faralya, village life also continues to tick along as it has always done.

Supporting Local At Gul Pension And Restaurant, Faralya

Many of the villagers living on the main road that climbs and snakes from the resort of Oludeniz to Kabak (taking in Faralya en route) have, of course, tapped into the entrepreneurial side of their being. They take the opportunity to get in on the tourism action.

For Sale

Get a sign out there and tell the passersby what youre selling! Why not? The ubiquitous gozleme signs catch the eye of the traveller  some signs painted neatly; others only just about legible. It doesnt matter. You know its going to satisfy when you sit down to eat it.

Other signs offer accommodation of varying standards. Although some hikers continue for a few kilometres to Kabak, Faralya is the first main resting point on the famous Lycian Way long distance footpath. Set off from Ovack to Faralya and youll have done 14 kilometres with a good 4 kilometre-long climb thrown in for good measure.

Simplicity

And its due to this stretch of the hike that we are so familiar with Gul Pension and Restaurant. Remote Faralya is home to those exclusive boutique hotels but many of the hikers and backpacking travellers in this area are more than happy with a place to pitch their tent or with getting their heads down in a simple room for the night.

Gul Pension and Restaurant offers both of those. Weve never stayed there. No. For us, Gul Pension is the most welcome of sights. Just where the Lycian Way track abruptly ends and spits you onto the road; there, directly opposite you, is your little oasis. Rest, food, refreshment and friendly faces await  and you are going to be really looking forward to it!

Out Of The Ordinary

From the road, you head directly onto the simple terrace. Locally made, simple pine furniture, potted plants and an intriguing little seating area. Sofas, yes. Portrait of Ataturk; of course. And then there are all the other little extras that you really dont expect to see in a village roadside joint perched on the edge of a sheer cliff face.

Old vinyl singles (we never have looked who the artists are for some reason), classic sewing machines, lanterns. Oh, and if you like, you can purchase a bit of handmade jewellery, too. Whether you come to Gul Pension and Restaurant on foot or by vehicle, this is definitely one of those Faralya village establishments that takes the opportunity to try to upsell. And why not?

Getting Your Fill

But lets get to the food. Thats our main reason for being here, at Gul Pension and Restaurant  and a couple of beers to wash the food down with, of course. This is one of those typical Turkish village places that is family owned. A real cottage industry. You walk onto the dining terrace and mum is often sat at a table podding barbunya beans or preparing some other vegetables for the home.

Dad is usually pottering about somewhere  and likes to impress people like us by leaning over the terrace railings and calling his sheep and goats down below. And they do come running. Because this is their family home, its not a feeling of eating out. You feel like youve landed at their house and theyre going to feed you up with something simple but satisfying.

Always With The Sigara

The menu is a laminated piece of card with just a few snacks and dishes on there. There arent many Turkish village eateries vying for passing trade that dont serve sigara boregi. On our last visit to Gul Pension and Restaurant, we were four hungry people so we ordered two portions of the cheese-filled, crisp phyllo rolls to munch on whilst we decided what to eat.

Orders placed, cold beers on the table, we sat back and took in the mountain views and clean air. It was October. And, although the intense summer heat had subsided a little, the haze was still there. Barely any horizon at all with the sea and the sky melting into each other and becoming one.

This is the precipice of Butterfly Valley and it is also your view from the dining terrace at Gul Pension and Restaurant. On a clear winters day, you can see the Greek island of Rhodes from the hillsides of Faralya. Nothing like that on this particular day.

Is It A Restaurant?

If youre not overly familiar with Turkey, in lots of cases, the term restaurant is a bit of a blanket word for any type of establishment that serves food. Were quite used to this from our many years of living here. But if, like us, you are from a place where a restaurant is usually a place of refined menu and sophisticated decor, remove that from your mind.

Gul Pension & Restaurant feels like one of those places that you just drop into and the owner says they can rustle something up for you if youre hungry. Big basket of fresh village bread and our orders (there isnt much more choice on the menu than this) arrived.

Butterflied chicken, omelette, whole trout and homemade kofte. Grilled meals are served with homemade chips and the accompaniments you can see in the kofte photo. Like we said;. simple but really does the trick after you have hiked all that way. And youve also got a cold beer and an idyllic Mediterranean view

Canl Alabalk

Oh, and do let us point out that the whole trout is canl alabalk. This means the trout is (initially) alive. Gul Pension and Restaurant has live, farmed trout. So, if you order one, dont be surprised to see it being fished out of the water before it hits the kitchen.

Hiking Not Essential

I should own up at this point and tell you that on this particular occasion we were two couples. The guys had hiked from Ovack. The women were far more sensible / lazy and got the dolmus from Fethiye to meet the boys at the end of their hike. I have, however, enjoyed the post-hike replenishment at Gul in the past.

Loo With A View

Once youve had your fill at Gul and perhaps one or two more beers than you intended, theres also another little quirky treat before you take your leave. Should you decide to use the loo, its not so much a window as a hole in the wall. And its a loo with a mountain view.

And when you step outside to wash your hands, be sure to look in the mirror above the sink. The reflection reveals fabulous views of the mountain road, dwarfed by the colossal cliff face that skirts the fringe of Butterfly Valley hundreds of metres below. This is a truly special area of Turkey!

As well as slowing down and taking time to appreciate all thats around you, slow travel is all about supporting local businesses. This is easily done in places like Faralya where the roadside businesses will take the opportunity to sell their home produced goods.

Honey Is A Good Buy

Faralya is a beekeeping area. And, as such, is famous for its honey. Cam bal (pine honey) and cicek bal (flower honey) are the most common varieties. We buy a jar of pine honey when we leave Gul Pension and Restaurant.

Honeycomb is also for sale, as are eggs laid by the family hens. Homemade jam, pekmez (grape molasses) and nar eksisi (sour pomegranate molasses) are also for sale. All available in the local supermarkets but much better to buy from these cottage industries whilst youre in the area, dont you think?

Gul Pension And Restaurant, Faralya: Useful Information
Rana Faqihi, the assistant undersecretary for Public Revenues Development, has signed a contract with international payment specialists Planet Payment to begin work on the VAT refund scheme for tourists, said a report.



Planet Payment has been chosen to oversee Bahrains VAT tourist refund scheme based on their knowledge and expertise in the field of international payment solutions, said a report in BNA.



Planet has been operating for 30 years in 58 different countries regionally and worldwide, and currently operate the UAEs VAT tourist refund scheme, it said.



The new refund system will be established and ready during this year, Faqihi noted.



Upon completion of the payment infrastructure, tourists visiting Bahrain will be able to claim refunds on a percentage of VAT paid on purchases during their visit to the kingdom. Reimbursements will be made through a fully integrated digital system that connects registered companies in the scheme to the points of exit at Bahrain International Airport, the report said.
Emirates will be showcasing its flagship Airbus A380 for two days at the first ever Saudi International Airshow, taking place at the Al Thumamah Airport in Riyadh from March 12-14.



The popular double-decker aircraft will be on display on March 12 and 13, giving visitors the opportunity to tour its interior and experience its award-winning products across all classes, including Emirates refreshed OnBoard Lounge. The airshow is the first international aviation and aerospace exhibition of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.



Adil Al Ghaith, senior vice president, Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East & Iran for Emirates airline said: Emirates is proud to be part of the Saudi International Airshow, a milestone event which will help connect the global aviation and aerospace industry to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Emirates A380 being showcased during the Airshow demonstrates our commitment to Saudi Arabia as it grows and develops its aviation landscape and elevates its position on the regional and global stage to unlock further growth.



The air transport sector plays a major role in the growth of the Saudi Arabian economy through direct, indirect and induced contributions, accounting for $34 billion to its overall GDP and supporting over 500,000 jobs, according to a 2017 Oxford Economics report supported by the International Air Transport Association (Iata). The Saudi Vision 2030 continues to herald a number of opportunities for the kingdom to grow its aviation infrastructure as well as its connectivity for robust future traffic growth, both domestically and internationally.



Emirates has been adding economic value by facilitating tourism and trade in the kingdom for over 30 years, when it first started services to Jeddah. Since then, the airline has gradually developed its services to include Riyadh, Dammam and Medina and today serves Saudi Arabia with 84 weekly flights. The airline has also carried close to 24 million passengers from its four gateways, connecting travellers to destinations across its network.



Anticipated to be popular with aviation enthusiasts as well as the general public visiting the Saudi International Airshow, the Emirates A380 will feature 14 luxurious First Class suites, 76 flatbed seats in Business Class and 426 spacious seats in Economy Class. Emirates A380 static tour will take visitors across the aircrafts two decks, giving them a real-life glimpse of the spacious cabins and seats in Economy Class, lie-flat seats in Business Class and luxury First Class Private Suites. Guests will also get to see the A380 Shower Spas and OnBoard lounge that are both fully set-up and equipped to portray an authentic inflight experience.



Emirates flies its flagship A380 to 50 destinations around the world, and has flown two one-off missions to Riyadh. The airline currently has 109 A380s in service. - TradeArabia News Service
The first S Hotel in the Middle East celebrated its grand opening in Dubai on February 20, with VIP guests and media gracing the grand ceremony.



A stylish and elegant retreat for modern travellers, The S Hotel Al Barsha is centrally located at the heart of the new lifestyle hub of the city  the Dubai Science Park in Al Barsha.



"We are pleased to launch The S Hotel Al Barsha, a new gem in Dubais growing travel and tourism scene," said Shailesh Grover, general manager of The S Hotel Al Barsha. "We offer local residents, hotel guests and tourists a premium accommodation combining connectivity and convenience. We want them to treat our hotel as their own home during their stay.



Our target market would be travellers and tourists from GCC & Middle East, Southeast Asia, Far East Asia, Europe and Latin America. We also plan to target other evolving markets who visit the UAE often for business or pleasure," Grover added.



The five-star property offers its guests a calming and relaxing ambience through its personalised service where Middle Eastern charm meets with superb hospitality.



Featuring 246 spacious and well-equipped rooms, 12 stunning suites, three distinctly themed restaurants and a world-class spa, The S Hotel Al Barsha ups the ante in the hospitality industry in Dubai.



Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, managing director of Dubai Science Park (DSP), said: As Dubai Science Park continues to expand, we are pleased to welcome the first S Hotel to the region. The launch of The S Hotel Al Barsha assists in diversifying our offerings within our community as professionals continue to work and live on the premises. Our Science community supports the introduction of this hotel, which will be crucial in supporting our residents with options provided for events, dining and community initiatives. We are happy that DSP is a partner of choice and look forward to the success of the hotel.



Within close proximity to prominent business districts, top attractions and the airports, the new hotel is the perfect address for bleisure travellers.



Dining options include the Fusion restaurant which excites your palate with dishes from all over the world, prepared in a fascinating interactive kitchen. Guests can choose from the theme of the day, order from a select a la Carte menu, or enjoy the extensive buffet. A soon-to-open Baker & Spice, an award-winning restaurant with locations in Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia will also offer delectable cuisine.



For busy executives, they can book meeting rooms suitable for a wide variety of events. With more than 3,000-sq-ft total of banqueting space, the hotels facilities provide flexibility and room for up to a maximum of 150 guests. The holistic spa and wellness centre offer treatments to re-energise guests. Fitness buffs can keep fit and healthy with a state-of-the-art fitness and wellness centre and a rooftop pool.



A few minutes away from Mall of the Emirates and Dubais tourist attractions and business centres such as the Dubai World Trade & Exhibition Centre, the hotel is the ideal base from which to explore all that the city has to offer. The S Hotel Al Barsha provides guests easy access to iconic shopping malls, IMG World, Global Village and business hubs such as JAFZA, Dubai Investments Parks, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. - TradeArabia News Service


A total of 27 French companies will be showcasing their innovative equipment and applications for power generation, transmission and distribution at the upcoming Middle East Electricity Show in Dubai, UAE, in co-ordination with Business France, the national agency supporting the global development of the country's economy.



The upcoming event is a major opportunity for the French excellence sector that is both innovative and dynamic to enjoy the spotlight, said a statement from Business France.



France is home to leading players recognised across the world, in each link of the value chain, whether electrical and telecommunication network operators, engineering companies, integrators, equipment manufacturers, component producers or ICT companies.



Those taking part in the event are 3X Engineering; Addev Materials; AEG Power Solutions; AOIP; ARC Informatique; Arras Maxei France; AUD Innov; Augier; Cahors International; Chauvin Arnoux; Citel 2 CP; Delta Box; Enerdis; Ensto Novexia; GS Yuasa Battery France; Industrielle De Controle Et D'Equipement; Infosec Communication; JST Transformateurs; Made; Metal Deploye Resistor; Michaud; Export; Niled; Obsta; RS Isoltec; Saft; Sediver and Tecnor Middle East.



With such strong players on its soil, France enjoys some of the highest-quality power supply in the world, and can offer electrical equipment on par with the best, said the French agency.



The Middle East Electricity Show is truly a springboard for companies looking to expand in the broader Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, it added.



Many opportunities exist in this very fast-growing market, driven by the staggering development in several sectors: retail distribution, transport, logistics, infrastructure and residential.



With major international events, such as the Dubai World Expo 2020, to be hosted in the region, and the return of major real estate projects announced by public contractors, French experts attending the show will have many opportunities to seize, said the French agency in its statement.



The exhibitors on site will cover the full range of the industry: equipment and applications for power generation, transmission and distribution, protection and security products and systems, and lighting, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
The near and distant future of the financial world in general and banking in particular was showcased at the third Middle East and Africa FinTech Forum, which saw industry experts from around the world speak to hundreds of delegates on trending topics such as financial inclusion, open banking, and artificial intelligence (AI) among others, writes Abdulaziz Khattak for Trade Arabia.



The forum was this year hosted by Bank ABC and Arab Financial Services (AFS) under the theme Banking  Beyond Disruption.



Officials from the Central Banks of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia attended along with senior representatives from the Mena regions banking, finance, telecom and tech industries.



Moderated by Aaron Heslehurst, host of BBC World News programme Talking Business, the conference started with a speech by Sophia  the worlds most famous social humanoid robot  on the potential of FinTech and AIs contribution to the development of society.



Sael AI Waary, the Deputy Group CEO of Bank ABC and AFS Chairman then spoke about the current state of FinTech and even made predictions for the future.



Al Wary specifically highlighted the potential impact of FinTech on corporate banking, which has till now been overlooked.



He also unveiled Fatema, Bank ABCs and the regions first emotionally-intelligent digital employee. Built by New Zealand-based Soul Machines, Fatema engages with customers using cutting-edge digital neurology and AI.



Overall, AI Waary said digital banking would greatly reduce the cost of banking services but will improve their quality.



This was followed by Heslehursts discussion with the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Governor Rasheed AI Maraj, who stressed that CBB is not only a regulator but an enabler of innovation and advancement in banking.

Al Rasheed emphasised that a practical approach was needed to find the right balance between enabling innovation and protecting the financial system.



Next off was Brett King, author of Amazon best-seller Bank 4.0 and host of a top-ranked FinTech podcast in the world, Breaking Banks.



Tracing the advancements banking had gone through  from Bank 1.0 until Bank 4.0  he said there had been radical changes in the industry with much more to come.



King said last year in China alone, more than $22 trillion worth of transactions were made in mobile payments.



He predicted that banking would become ubiquitous with many firms opening their own virtual banks. "Voice recognition will be the primary mechanism of payment in the future and that by 2035 I expect to see more robots than humans," he quipped.



King said the primary advantage AI has over humans is its vast database and this aspect will make, for example, autonomous cars safer.



The top author also predicted that AI in banking will be based on behaviour and that the industry will see a shift from banking products to more of banking experience. There will also be more advice given through AI than through human interactionsm, he added.



Global cryptocurrency expert Henri Arslanian, PwCs Fintech and Crypto leader for Asia, spoke of the rise of cryptocurrencies and their future development.



He pointed out that the industry would see stable coins  cryptocurrencies backed by real assets  coming up, citing the example of JP Morgans JPM Coin.



Arslanian highlighted the increasing importance of Fintech and how governments were dealing with this. To prove his point, the industry expert cited the case of Denmark appointing an ambassador to deal with the big tech firms.



Anthony Thomson, the founder of Metro Bank and Atom Bank (both in the UK) and 86 400 (Australia), in his presentation spoke about challenger banking and his reflections on recent experiences in launching mobile lender 86 400 in Australia.



Later in a panel discussion, Thomas Blood of Amazon Web Services and Steve Kirsch, CEO of open banking software provider Token, spoke on the challenges facing regulators in open banking. They argued that the opportunities are too great for banking executives and regulators to ignore or avoid.



Kirsch said the CBB understands this and "thats why it is leading the way for others in the region." Seconding him, Blood said the kingdom's central bank had taken a great step forward in embracing the new trends.



In his address, Dr Pippa Malmgren, former chief adviser to US President George W Bush for economic policy and financial markets, outlined the traits required for senior leaders in modern financial services organisations and argued that a narrow focus on analytics and reductionism was insufficient to deal with modern challenges.



She stressed that cognition and not intelligence was the future and how machines were attempting to think biologically through deep learning.



Malmgren also said organisations needed storytellers to give more clarity to their vision in peoples minds.



The forum concluded with an audience poll which was held mainly to get their views on Fintech and the banking industry.



An overwhelming majority of 94 per cent expressed confidence in the future of digital banking; and 75 per cent saying yes to banks becoming more of a utility like water or electricity in the future.



To a question if Sophia or Fatema would replace bankers in the next five years, 54 per cent said no; while 55 per cent emphasised that regulators and not Fintechs would still play a key role in facilitating financial inclusion for all.



The poll on whether traditional banks will cease to exist by 2030 was a narrow escape with 51 per cent believing that they would continue; while 83 per cent thought that imagination rather than knowledge would the most important skill for future leaders.



At the forum, exhibitors had setup a range of stalls to showcase innovative fintech products, giving visitors the opportunity to see the latest in wearable payment tech, mobile applications, and other developments.-TradeArabia News Service
Despite the hopes of some, the 2019 polar vortex is unlikely to have had much of an effect on the emerald ash borer population in Pennsylvania. Infestations of the insect have decimated the ash tree numbers across the country and required infected trees to be cut down.
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ELANGENI  A teacher who was allegedly found in his house with a 15-year-old pupil who had been reported missing from her home has been charged with rape, granted bail and suspended from work.



Mbongeni Simelane, a teacher at Elangeni High School, was arrested in a dramatic fashion which saw police officers pouncing on him in the middle of the night.



During his arrest, Simelane was allegedly found in the company of the minor, who at the time of disappearing from her home, was in Form II at the same school.



Narrating what transpired on the day of his arrest when applying for bail, the teacher said police descended at his house in the company of the minors parents. He alleged that police did not want to hear anything about his side of the story as he tried to share certain information with them. He disputed that he had sexual intercourse with the minor and that he was in a relationship with her.



Simelane alleged that he only assisted the minor with a place to sleep after he met her at around 9pm on the day of the arrest. He alleged that the minor said she had no place to sleep but did not reveal to him why she was not at home at that time of the night. He alleged that the pupil kept on crying.



According to Simelanes charge sheet, he allegedly had sexual intercourse with the minor without her consent. The charge sheet states that the alleged offence was accompanied by aggravating factors. It was alleged in the charge sheet that the accused exposed the minor to the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.



Charged



Simelane was charged with violating Section 3(1) of the stinging Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, 2018. According to the aforementioned sections, A person who rapes another commits an offence of rape and, for purposes of this Act, the offence of rape is committed either by a male or female person against another.



The Act, in the subsequent section, defines rape as an unlawful sexual act with a person.

Simelane was granted E50 000 bail by Judge Mumcy Dlamini. He was, however, ordered to pay E5 000 and provide surety for the balance.

The pupil who is the subject of the matter, disappeared from home and was reported missing by her guardians.

According to a report that was circulated by the Royal Eswatini Police Service, the pupil went missing from her home in the Lubombo Region. Police also said the minor was staying around Lobamba.



Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati was quoted to have said the minor was last seen wearing black jeans, a grey sweater and black and white sneakers.



Fighting his legal battles was not the end for Simelane as on January 21, the Acting National Commissioner of Police wrote a memorandum to the TSC informing it about what he allegedly did. The acting NATCOM informed the commission that Simelane was arrested and charged with alleged rape on December 6, 2018 and appeared before the Mbabane Magistrates Court the next day.



The TSC in a letter to Simelane, which reporters from this publication have seen, suspended the teacher with immediate effect (February 4, 2019).

The TSC stated that this was in terms of Regulation 15(4) and Regulation 18 of the Teaching Service Regulations of 1983.



Regulation 15(4) of the Teaching Service Regulations reads, If a manager considers the misconduct alleged against a teacher to be of a serious nature, he may suspend the teacher from service pending a decision by the commission thereon.

Meanwhile, Regulation 18 states that a teacher charged with a criminal offence shall be suspended from duty by his or her manager who shall in turn refer the matter to the commission for its consideration.

Portion of salary

It goes on to state that the suspended teacher shall receive a portion of his salary not exceeding one half of his full salary as the commission may determine.

Should Simelane be convicted on the charges levelled against him and sentenced to imprisonment exceeding three months or a fine exceeding E100 or both, the commission will terminate his appointment.

This is per Regulation 18(4) which also states that the fired teacher shall not be re-employed into the service before the expiry of 12 months calculated from the day the sentence was passed.

Simelane is not the first teacher to be accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a pupil as another one was charged with the same last week after he was found half naked with a pupil at Mhlatane High School.

The girl who was found in a compromising position with the teacher was believed to be around 20 years of age and was in the upper grades at the same school.
LOBAMBA - The Finance Sessional Committee has questioned why non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were benefitting from government.

This was with particular reference to the Junior Achievement (JA) programme and Women Farmer of the Year.



This was during the scrutinisation of the E76m Supplementary Budget presented by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg last Thursday.

The MPs wondered why such programmes were benefitting these organisations when there were a lot of others which were not part of the government budget.



In response, the MPs were told that as the Planning and Budgeting Committee, they received guidance from Cabinet to allocate resources to some organisations. It was reported that it was under that premise that JA was allocated resources.



recorded



However, the MPs were requested to note that the money that went to JA was a grant from Taiwan and was coming through government as per the donor policy that all funds coming to the country should be recorded with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.



The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade reported that JA had written to Taiwan requesting for funding and it was given E2.2 million in total.

The disbursement of the funds is in tranches and the E882 000 is the balance after having received the other payment,  reads the Finance Sessional Committee report which was tabled yesterday.



recurrent



The report continued to state that the previous Cabinet granted JA funding from the national budget as they had E500 000 in recurrent budget which was transferred to the organisation. It was reported that a memorandum of understanding with an approval from Cabinet was signed between the ministry and JA in this regard.
Sir,



Allow me to vent out my frustrations at the terrible service that we are currently getting from our sole supplier of electricity in the country.

The service they provide is shambolic at best and they continue to get away with it by asking us all to be patient.



But honestly, how much patience can one exercise when one is encountered with rotten monthly supplies every time one opens the fridge because there has been no electricity for the past three days?



How much patience are we supposed to exercise when we are provided with slow platforms through which it takes an eternity to even lodge a complaint?



Rude



And worse yet, the call centre attendants are rude to you after putting you on hold for the longest time.

This is honestly sad because we purchase these electricity units - which they charge us an arm and a leg for - and then receive such an poor service, which further compounds our misery.



Valuable



Suffice to say then that the small guy in the street is not considered a valuable customer by EEC because he is left without electricity for days after a storm, yet the big customers are attended to without any noticeable delay. Shame on you EEC, I hope you guys go to bed satisfied everyday that you provide the worst service possible.



Sibusiso Kunene



NOTE: In an effort to afford the company the right to reply, this letter was emailed to them on February 5, 2019 but unfortunately there has been no response. However, it should be stated that the company, through an advert in the media, is notifying the public that it is conducting a customer satisfactory survey across the country.



Ed
LAST week I mentioned that the first cut is the deepest and today I wish this was not true because the first cut was a disappointment.

The behaviour of our parliamentarians in their early days gives credence to what my critics have always argued; that they have long lost trust in Parliament. I am not sure how I will respond after what I heard was discussed in the House last week.

I fear that the first cut, which is supposed to be the deepest, was the wrong cut. I am now wondering what we should expect from the Legislature. Who would blame me if I come to the conclusion that we are going to have a worse Parliament if parliamentarians will continue along the route they have taken in their early days.



I read that parliamentarians were complaining that they were tricked into passing certain legislation because they were made to pass the laws when they were already rushing for their holidays. I then wondered if such a person is worthy of the responsibility of passing laws for the country.



Basically, the Member of Parliament was saying they had no problem of passing laws without even knowing what they meant. Whether the law was going to sell the whole country it was not important to them but they just wanted to go enjoy a holiday. This then reminded me of the time when the laws governing our elections were passed, where again Parliament was made to hastily pass them without going through the laws and properly debating them. But our jelly-back parliamentarians just simply passed the laws. The question is, if this person is admitting this and he is back in Parliament what will stop such from happening again?



Understand



I wonder if parliamentarians do give themselves time to read and understand the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. I wish the Human Rights Commission had time and resources to go unpack the Bill of Rights in the House.

I have read, in the Constitution, about equality in all spheres of life, especially between the different genders. Is it not discriminatory when female Members of Parliament are told how they should wear their hair? Is the hair necessary for the business to be carried out in Parliament or is it the brains that are necessary? Why treat the female members of the House differently if we are talking about equality?



Somewhere the Constitution speaks about women not being forced to adhere to certain cultures they are consciously opposed to. But we have a Parliament that is forcing women to adhere to a certain culture without finding out from them if they are not opposed to that culture.



The truth is; it is our culture and some of us respect it that women should cover their hair. But in this day and age you cannot force another person to do that. That it was said they could improvise and stylishly cover their hair is not good enough. Why force them to do it in the first place?



The culture argument will not hold for me because I am of the view that it is people who are married or of a certain age that have to cover their hair. Does this mean that girls who are culturally not supposed to cover their hair will never be allowed into Parliament? Is that not discriminatory? Is that not what is discouraging women in the country from running for a Parliament seat? Is it not the reason we have few females in Parliament?

This submission should not be interpreted to say people should dress badly or show disrespect and go to Parliament. No, that is not what I am saying but we should not discourage people with rules that are not necessary. As a country we are supposed to be encouraging women to take up such positions.



Affirmative action



The affirmative action of having four women elected from the regions should come to an end because it appears to be patronising the women yet they are supposed to stand for elections and win them. But with such rules, capable women who do not like to cover their heads will be discouraged and the image of the country will be at stake.



This left me wondering; are we to expect our Parliament to concern itself with such trivial issues that are giving the wrong image about the country? To me it appears there were a lot of issues of importance that were supposed to be discussed than ladies covering their hair.

If they were discussing how they would make sure that they read and understood the Bills before they are passed, that would have been worthwhile. I do not wish to think that this is what we are to see coming from Parliament.
MBABANE - MTN Eswatini has jumped onto the Mens Conference social media frenzy to deliver a series of hilarious adverts that have hit home for the brand during this years Valentines Day.



This was not by coincidence as Senior Manager Consumer, Meshack Maseko said the brand was working hard to entrench itself into culture, by looking more actively and purposefully at the culture buzzing around them - especially on social media, to use that awareness to inform how they should best position and integrate themselves into the world.



The #MensConference2019 which got more people scrolling their social media timelines and wondering what on earth it was, started trending before this years Valentines Day and eventually reached its climax on day where men ran on with the notion of having to have attended the non existing conference.



Though the #MensConference was fictional, social media was abuzz, with fans sharing memes (humorous images, GIFs, and videos) both as a build-up towards the conference, and fictional activities that took place at the conference apparently held on Valentines Day. As a result, women on social media were so concerned about this sudden conference, as they felt left out and were itching to know what it was all about.



Opportunity



Maseko said this was a perfect opportunity for the brand to integrate itself to the world. This also came at a time when the company had just launched its new customer centric campaign dubbed, #HereForYou. Through its agency, TBWA\Yati, MTN came up with a series of hilarious ads that won the hearts of its customers on Valentines Day.



For the concerned ladies, MTN came up with an ad, which had a headline copy that read, Is Bae off the Mens Conference? Get MTN Data Bundles and Stream your favourite show. Men who couldnt make it to the conference were also not left out; they were, invited to catch all the action from wherever they were using MTN Wow Bundles.
MBABANE  The Kingdom of Eswatinis bid to host the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat continues to gain momentum.



With barely two months before the bid team arrives in the kingdom to assess readiness to host the AfCFTA, the countrys political leaders have already taken a leading role in enlisting support from neighbouring countries.



Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini last week engaged some of Eswatinis counterparts within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This was during the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 10-11, 2019.



Support



Eswatini has previously lobbied during different forums such as the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Summit, held in Gaborone, Botswana in June 2018 as well as the 7th meeting of Ministers of Trade (AMOT) held in Cairo, Egypt in December 2018.



The prospects of hosting an African secretariat in the country are very exciting for the Kingdom of Eswatini. It is very encouraging that most of the SADC countries are already beginning to openly support the countrys bid. It is such kind of support that emboldens my ministry to step up our efforts to achieve this important national objective, said Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo.



The minister reiterated that a directive to the AfCFTA National Steering Committee headed by E. Nathi Dlamini was to multiply their efforts to ensure that Eswatini wins this bid.



Competition



We are aware that we are competing against big countries, but competition breeds excellence and as a country we need to embrace it. The days when countries were freely given projects on a platter just for the asking are now long gone as every project now entails fierce competition among peer countries, Khumalo explained.



Other members of the steering committee are Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Siboniso Nkambule, Deputy Attorney General Zandile Dlamini, CEO of the Federation of Eswatini Business Community Dudu Nhlengetfwa and CEO of Eswatini Tourism Authority Linda Nxumalo. Also, Head of Human Resources at MTN Eswatini Mncedzi Ngomane, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Jennifer Neves and Director for International Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade Sizwe Ntshangase is Secretary.



The minister clarified that the benefits of hosting the AfCFTA Secretariat at the Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) office building which has recently been vacated by the Eswatini Revenue Authority (SRA) were many and varied  from job creation to economic spin-offs.



Khumalo disclosed that PSPF has agreed in principle to host the Secretariat at the building located at their office park opposite the Ministry of Home Affairs offices.

The Secretariat is expected to employ local and international professionals in the hundreds; and these professionals will live in Eswatini, rent their executive homes from emaSwati, send their children to local schools, shop in local supermarkets; use local clinics as well as fly in and out using our new international airport. I am particularly excited about the job creation aspect of this project and hope the labour movement will support government in this bid, added Khumalo.



What is AfCFTA?



African heads of government agreed to establish a continental free trade area in 2012 and started negotiations in 2015.

The agreement is set to be signed by all 55 member states of the African Union, bringing together 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$2 trillion.




MBABANE  Eswatini has entered into a grant advisory agreement worth E13.6 million with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).



The agreement, in relation to the kingdoms trade facilitation and competiveness, was signed with the member of World Bank to focus on six priority areas.

These are: simplification and harmonisation of processes, Time Release Study (TRS), review of trade related legislation, support to coordinated border management, support to transparency and accountability together with risk management.



Participation



It should also be mentioned that the business community in Eswatini and other COMESA member States were also set to benefit from E150 million provided by the European Union (EU) to support increased private sector participation in regional and global value chains.



This followed the signing of another financing agreement between the EU and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to implement the Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP).



COMESA Secretariat Head of Corporate Communications Mwangi Gakunga explained that the programme ,which was signed in Lusaka, Zambia, was supported under the 11th European Development Fund.



Secretary General of COMESA Chileshe Kapwepwe and the Head of the EU Delegation to Zambia and COMESA, Ambassador Alessandro Mariani, signed for their respective organisations.



He stated that the programme had two key result areas: the first was to ensure that competitiveness and market access of small and medium enterprise (SMEs) and other firms in the targeted value chains were sustainably enhanced.



Under this result, Gakunga said the programme would facilitate networking, access to knowledge, vital market information and support formal business linkages between SMEs, key regional suppliers and lead firms.




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With the development of new technologies in the area of AI, many companies are jumping into the field with both eyes wide open. It is very possible that artificial intelligent androids will work alongside their human companions in the future. They will not only work in the same office or building but also independently in their own home. Artificial intelligence has opened up many doors in the past and looks to continue that pace in the future. There are several reasons as to why companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, IBM and others are all jumping into the pool
film

Audrey Hepburn at The Academy Awards in 1954. Image Credit: Fred Baby via Flickr

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of course

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To mark the end of the '60s, Barbra Streisand wore this Arnold Scaasi two-piece to the Oscars, where she would win the best actress award for her role in Funny Girl (1968). She tied for the award with Katharine Hepburn, but its Barbra whose look we remember fondly from the evening.

W Magazine I had no idea that when the lights hit that outfit, it would become transparent! I wanted a white collar and cuffs, which it had, and I wore my hair under my chin because I thought to myself, Im going to win two Oscars in my lifetime, and Ill be more conservative next time. The look was a total game changer for the Oscars and for women in general, with many women feeling inspired to try more daring looks. It was rare for women to rock trousers at a formal event, let alone wear a see-through sequined suit. Barbra herself claims she didn't know the outfit would end up see-through, tellingThe look was a total game changer for the Oscars and for women in general, with many women feeling inspired to try more daring looks.

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Of course we're interested in the films, but the real stars of the Oscars have always been the dresses. With everyone from Grace Kelly to Audrey Hepburn to Elizabeth Taylor walking the red carpet, it's become a huge part of fashion history. To celebrate the 91st Academy Awards, taking place on the 24th February, we look back at the most iconic looks to ever grace the red carpet.The 1954 Academy Awards were a big deal for Audrey Hepburn, she won her first ever Oscar for her role as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday. Collecting her award she wore a stunning belted floral gown with a full skirt, a silhouette very typical of the decade. Although many people believe the dress to be by Givenchy it's actually an Edith Head design. Edith Head was one of the most influential costume designers in Hollywood - and worked as the designer for Roman Holiday. A homage to her work in the film, the dress Hepburn wore at the Oscars was actually adapted from the costume she wears in the iconic final scene of the film The ivory dress marked one of the last looks that Hepburn wore publically that wasn't designed by her dear friend Givenchy. The gown itself wasin an auction at Christie's back in 2011.A year after Audrey Hepburn wowed Hollywood with her Edith Head gown, the designer dressed another best actress winner. Grace Kelly, or as she was later known, Princess Grace of Monaco, wore this breathtakingly beautiful mint green satin gown designed by Head when she received her best actress award. Like Hepburn and Givenchy, Kelly and Head worked very closely together throughout the Princesses acting career,This dress, teamed with elbow-length cream gloves,everything old Hollywood glamour. This dress wasn't a one-off either, and Kelly had actually worn it the year before at the premiere of her film The Country Girl (1954) and again on the cover of LIFE magazine just a few weeks after her win. So it seems like The Duchess of Cambridge isn't the only royal to wear her clothes more than once.Shortly before they tied the knot (for the first time) Natalie Wood attended the Oscars alongside her boyfriend, Robert Wagner. Aged just 17, Wood was at the awards as a guest of Wagner's and therefore nobody knows for sure who designed her dress. Knowing the designer or not didmake the gown any less memorable, however. A huge satin gown, with an off the shoulder neckline and matching gloves, Wood's look was every inch the leading lady. The best part of the whole ensemble, however, wasthe tiara she wore on her head. Not many people would go to an awards ceremony as a plus one and wear a ball gown and a tiara... but then again not many people are Natalie Wood.In 1970, Oscar favourite Edith Head made another triumphant return to the red carpet. Hollywood royalty Elizabeth Taylor wore this stunning violet coloured gown, complete with some serious diamond accessories (of course.) Whilst the dress was beautiful, it was the jewellery that was the real focal point of the look. The necklace, cut into its pear shape by famous jeweller Harry Winston, was later to be known as the Taylor-Burton diamond, and although she originally planned to wear it as a ring,Elizabeth walked the red carpet on the arm of husband Richard Burton (this was during their first marriage) and completely stole the show when she presented the award for best picture. The legacy of this Oscar's look lives on, and after Taylor and Burton's (second) divorce,, which in today's money equates to around $78 million. Now that's iconic.In 1973, Sonny and Cher were at the very height of their careers. Walking hand-in-hand into the Oscars, Cher turned heads in a daring Bob Mackie two-piece. The sheer but heavily embellished look would be incredibly hard to pull off for anyone who wasn't Cher, but the pop-icon managed it with ease. In a big shakeup for the Oscars, the look exposed her (incredibly toned) midriff, rather than being covered up like a traditional gown. Cher was clearly a big fan, as she turned to Bob Mackie multiple times again in her career to create some of her best-loved looks. The look has gone down in fashion history, with Kim Kardashian and her pal Jonathan Cheban recreating the look for Halloween in 2017, bringing it to a whole new audience.Staying in the '70s, another iconic look that has surpassed the ages to remain timeless and effortlessly chic is Lauren Hutton in Halston. The rainbow printed dress worn by the model and actress is a dress that would not look out of place at the 2019 Oscars and would still reach the best-dressed list. The softly coloured pastel shades of rainbow perfectly complimented the soft floaty texture of the dress, and in true '70s style, Hutton accessorised with a large rust coloured fur coat. She was at the ceremony to present the award for best documentary, but all eyes were on that dress, a dress that very much remains on everybody's minds.The '80s are often referred to the decade that fashion forgot, and in terms of Oscars looks that's definitely true - so we're skipping from the late '70s straight to 1999. Who can forget Gwyneth Paltrow in that pink dress? Ralph Lauren created the dress for Paltrow, who won the award for best actress for her role in Shakespeare in Love (1998), where she gave one of the most talked about acceptance speeches of all time (she essentially cried the entire time - a girl after our own hearts). The spaghetti strap baby pink frock was quintessentially '90s, and although it was very much of its time it had a renaissance last year whenwore a similar dress and the internet went crazy with comparisons.Never has 'business in the front,in the back' been apt than in 2005, when Hillary Swank wowed everybody in this Guy Laroche gown. From the front the navy blue dress was beautiful but it didn't have that extra something until she turned around, the entire back was cut out into a very low V - a look that had never been seen on the red carpet. Not only did she win the best actress award for her stint as Maggie in Million Dollar Baby (2004), she won every single best-dressed list from the evening and remains not only one of the best Oscars looks but one of the best red carpet looks of all time.This dress is so iconic it has its own Wikipedia page. A modern classic, Michelle Williams in Vera Wang is a look that has gone down in Oscars history. The fashion world let out a collective gasp when Williams strolled down the red carpet on the arm of her then-boyfriend Heath Ledger wearing a yellow dress. No one ever wears yellow, especially someone pale and with blonde hair - it's a total fashion no-no, but somehow Williams not only pulled it off - she owned it. Although Williams lost out to Rachel Weisz on the award for best supporting actress for her role in Brokeback Mountain (2005), she definitely won the award for best dressed. The saffron old-Hollywood gown has been cited by many as one of the most beautiful dresses of all time.Last but by no means least, we could not have a best Oscars looks of all-time roundup without the red carpet queen herself. In 2014, a relatively unknown Lupita Nyong'o owned the red carpet in this breathtakingly beautiful baby blue Prada gown. She won the award for best actress for her role in 12 Years A Slave (2013) - her second ever film and her breakout role in the film industry. She's since gone on to become a staple on the best-dressed lists at any Hollywood events, with her impeccable style meaning she's since become one of the faces of Calvin Klein and is on the cover of multiple fashion magazines. Would that have happened without this Oscar moment? An Oscar dress can send an actress's career into the stratosphere - designers will fight over who gets to clothe these women and thus cement their place in fashion history. With the 91st Academy Awards taking place on Sunday, we wonder if any of the looks will make their way to the best dressed of all time list. With Lupita Nyong'o in attendance, there's always a chance. Lead Image Credit:
With a storyline of con men and intrigue, the play takes us back to another era of theatre. Inspired by Moliere but with a feel of Restoration Comedy, the play is done with such an ease and relevance, that it leaves the modern audience roaring with laughter.

Image credit: Idil Sukan

The shapeshifting god, Dionysus, has come to earth to create mischief and have some fun playing with the life of humans. His chosen form is Keith (Joseph Millson), a South African New life-guru and ex-weapons dealer. The victim for the gods playtime is the rich business owner Morgan (Mark Jax) who, after the scare of a heart attack, has decided to change his life. And as a god-send miracle, right there in the hospital he meets Keith. Morgans family, daughter Roxy (Natalie Klamar) and ex-wife Veena (Sara Powell) are less than sure about Morgans new-found shaman, and decide to intervene - and so this crazy and fast paced comedy begins. The design by Jemima Robinson is simple and elegant, with an almost bare stage done up with parquet wood flooring, and plants and lightbulbs in different sizes hanging from the ceiling, as a subtle reminder of the wealth of the family.The ensemble is put together by a very strong cast. Aki Omoshaybi is wonderfully chilled and charming as Mo, Roxys new Muslim boyfriend. His performance creates a nice feeling of calm amidst all the farcical chaos. Joseph Millson is nothing less than hilarious in the role as the shapeshifting god Dionysus, especially as the Serbian Hitman Zeljko. Dressed as if stepped out of the Matrix, his serious straight faced descend down the Drainpipe, makes the audience roar with laughter. Mark Jax as Morgan is oblivious and innocent in his new found spirituality, and his interactions with his ex-wife and daughter and the juxtaposition between the characters are very well written, acted and directed. Sara Powell as the powerful Veena has to be mentioned - though there are one or two too many menopause jokes, she delivers everything with a straight face and a sincerity that makes it all work. Roxy (Nataly Klamar) the eccentric daughter, is on the surface totally ready to live a life with Mo, where love and God will provide for them, but in reality is deeply addicted to the luxury of her fathers money. These scenes are funny and have a very hectic energy, but at times working a little too hard to get the comedy across, which is not needed. Lizzie Winkler plays the Brazilian cleaner Anna, and though her performance is very committed, this is the one character that feels superfluous. With a G-string pulled high up over her jeans, and very exacerbated movements, Anna, whether do to writing, acting or directing, becomes a recurring cheap joke that feels unnecessary in an otherwise very funny production. This is a show that captures life in modern Britain, and how everyone, in spite of the Freedom of Speech, are holding their tongues, terrified of saying the wrong thing, sounding racist, misogynistic, too feministic, too anti-feministic, homophobic, transphobic and saying anything that might unintentionally insult someone in our newly sensitive society. Director Oscar Pearce has created a great show of Patrick Marmions sassy play, that points a fun-making finger at everyone and everything from Me-too to Brexit. A very fun and politically incorrect laugh, which is ecactly what the doctor orders, in a time where you cant say anything without stepping on someones toes.
Salida, CO (81201)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 48F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 48F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Bailey, CO (80421)

Today

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Study finds melanoma brain metastases are immunosuppressive with treatment-resistant metabolism

Melanoma tumors that have spread to the brain are equipped to thwart immunotherapies and targeted therapies that succeed against tumors growing in other sites. Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Cancer Discovery that the heavy reliance of these tumors on a specific metabolic pathway presents a potentially new therapeutic against these lethal tumors.

The team's in-depth analysis of brain metastases and comparison of those tumors to others that had spread to different parts of the body was the first such application of advanced RNA sequencing and uncovered a variety of factors that make tumors in the brain so difficult to treat.

"Brain metastases are increasingly recognized as one of our biggest challenges in cancer," said senior author Michael Davies, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology. "Melanoma patients with advanced disease have the highest risk of developing brain metastases among common solid tumors, and they are a leading cause of death from this disease."

Tumors in the brain are diagnosed in up to 60 percent of metastatic melanoma patients. Across all cancers, an estimated 100,000 to 170,000 new cases of brain metastasis are diagnosed annually.

"This research provides new insights into why these tumors may be worse, and it, importantly, found something that might be targetable - oxidative phosphorylation metabolism - with drugs that are in clinical trials now," Davies said.

Beyond the blood-brain barrier

Even as immune checkpoint blockade drugs and targeted therapies have extended survival of melanoma patients with metastatic disease, they've had less success against tumors in the brain. The blood-brain barrier, tight construction of blood vessels that pass through the brain to protect it from toxic elements in the bloodstream, has long been the main suspect in treatment failure.

"There's lots of evidence that the blood-brain barrier alone cannot explain the poor outcomes that we've seen in patients with brain metastases," Davies said. "There is growing evidence in multiple tumor types that other differences occur in brain metastases that likely contribute to their aggressive behavior."

Previous clinical trials of immune checkpoint and targeted therapy combinations showed some success shrinking brain metastases, with the immunotherapy combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab demonstrating durable responses for some patients. However, immunotherapies still fail to shrink many brain metastases while targeted therapies don't achieve long-term responses against these tumors.

To sort out factors that might explain why brain metastases are so difficult to treat, the team conducted advanced sequencing of 88 brain metastases from 74 patients, along with 42 tumors that had metastasized to other organs in 29 of those same patients.

Immune cells in brain tumors associated with longer survival Analysis of highly expressed genes in the brain metastases from the 74 patients divided them into two clusters, with tumors in Cluster 2 having significantly enriched immune signaling gene networks and greater immune cell invasion. These patients had significantly longer survival.

Patients with greater immune infiltration were more likely to have been treated with radiation in the past. This association provides support for combining immune checkpoint blockade with radiation, a concept currently being explored in clinical trials. "This is the first data from patients to demonstrate that radiation can increase immune cell infiltration in brain tumors," Davies said.

Brain metastases have lower immune cell penetration than other tumors

Comparison of a patient's brain metastases to other metastatic tumors showed that tumors outside of the brain had greater immune cell infiltration than those in the brain. Biopsies of metastases outside the brain, then, are likely to overstate the degree of immune cells in the patient's brain metastases.

"This may explain why anti-PD-1 antibodies work more effectively against extracranial tumors than in brain metastases," Davies said. Anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors have a high response rate against metastatic melanoma in general but a low impact on tumors in the brain as a single treatment.

OXPHOS metabolism matters

Cells generally rely heavily on two types of metabolism to survive. Mitochondria use oxygen to convert glucose, fatty acids and proteins into energy by a process of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). A more common form of metabolism in cancer is energy production by glycolysis, the conversion of glucose to energy in the absence of oxygen.

The team's analysis showed that genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation were upregulated in brain metastases, leaving those tumors reliant on that form of metabolism. Previous research by their team and others has also shown that OXPHOS promotes resistance to immunotherapies and targeted therapies.

The researchers found that brain metastases that form in mouse models of melanoma also develop high levels of OXPHOS activity.

IACS-10759, a drug that blocks OXPHOS developed by MD Anderson's Institute for Applied Cancer Sciences (IACS), is in phase I clinical trial against blood cancers and solid tumors. IACS, focused on developing impactful small-molecule therapies, is part of MD Anderson's Therapeutics Discovery Division, a group of clinicians, researchers and drug discovery scientists working to develop innovative treatment options based on the needs of patients and guided by the expertise of MD Anderson clinicians.

The researchers found that treatment with IACS-10759 blocked brain metastases from forming in one mouse model that develops metastatic melanoma, but it had much less impact on primary tumor growth or on the development of lung metastases. Treatment with the drug increased survival of mice with existing brain metastases in other models.

"OXPHOS inhibition could be a whole new therapeutic strategy for treating these patients," Davies said. MD Anderson researchers are working to develop clinical trials.

The group continues to focus on understanding why brain metastases prefer to use OXPHOS and determining if OXPHOS inhibition enhances the effectiveness of targeted and immune therapies for this deadly disease complication.

###

Co-authors with Davies are first author Grant Fischer of Cancer Biology and Melanoma Medical Oncology, a graduate student at The University of Texas MD Anderson UTHealth School of Biomedical Sciences; Jennifer McQuade, M.D., Barbara Knighton, Wanleng Deng, Ph.D., Hussein Tawbi, M.D., Ph.D., Isabella Glitza, M.D., Ph.D., Y.N. Vashisht Gopal, Ph.D., and Patrick Hwu, M.D., of Melanoma Medical Oncology; Fernando Carapeto, Ph.D., Courtney Hudgens, Jason Huse, M.D., Ph.D., Alexander Lazar, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael Tetzlaff, M.D., Ph.D., of Translational Molecular Pathology; Won-Chul Lee, Ph.D., P. Andrew Futreal, Ph.D., and Jianjun Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., of Genomic Medicine; Lauren Haydu, Ph.D., Jeffrey Gershenwald, M.D., and Jennifer Wargo, M.D., of Surgical Oncology; Aron Joon of Biostatistics; Alexandre Reuben, Ph.D., of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology; Sherise Ferguson, M.D., of Neurosurgery; and Joseph Marszalek, Ph.D., of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science. Also Ali Jalali, M.D., Ph.D., Chandrashekar Ambati, Arun Sreekumar, Ph.D., and Nagireddy Putluri, Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; David Kircher and Sheri Holmen, Ph.D., of the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City; Mariana de Macedo, Ph.D., of A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Chendong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., and Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D., of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; and Anuj Srivastava, Ph.D., of The Jackson Lab for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT.

This research was funded by MD Anderson's Melanoma Moon Shot, part of the institution's Moon Shots Program, a collaborative effort to accelerate the development of scientific discoveries into clinical advances that save patients' lives; the Caroline Ross Fellowship, Schissler Foundation Fellowship, and NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (TL1TR000369, UL1TR000371); grants from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA121118-06A, 2T32CA009666-21, P50 CA093459, CA009666, R35 CA220449, R01 CA121118, P30 CA125123, R01CA220297, R01CA216426, U01 CA167234, UO1 CA179674-01A1, and R25 NS070694); the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, the AIM at Melanoma Foundation, and the Melanoma Research Alliance.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Welcome back pirates! As you make your return to campus The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With the new guidelines set in place by East Carolina University do you feel as these precautions will keep you safe?

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President Joe Biden had a three-hour talk with Russian Premier Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, said he laid down some red lines Russia had darned well not cross and that it was his hope this guy he once called a killer does not want another Cold War.
Charles "Chuck" Thoma was a unique guy. He was happiest at home with his wife of 45 years and outside on his farm. Chuck was a retired wildlife biologist and those that knew him best knew that his love for nature was cultivated by his dream job with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Charles 
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Roach AnxietyPart 5: Peace Corps Thailand In 1962, I became the first person from South Carolina to join the Peace Corps, and regrettably, my roach anxiety followed me. After three months training at the University of...

Roach Anxiety Part 4: Call me Number 31 After my Bully Bobby experience at Schneider Elementary School, my parents sent me to YMCA camp in the mountains above Greenville for two weeks during the summer. It was my...
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Blackshear, GA (31516)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
If this species is unique, it would bring the the Remipedia class to a total of 30 separate species.
My Future NC held an announcement in Talley Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. My Future NC is a commission that works throughout the state to advance educational quality and opportunities for students of all ages.
Ocasio-Cortez has no idea the Berlin Wall was built to keep people IN, not out because everybody wants to flee socialism

Whether its just plain arrogance or a lack of proper education  or both  New York Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs tone deafness regarding her own ignorance about worldly matters and economics is stunning.

Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez took to social media to decry POTUS Donald Trumps decision to declare a national emergency in order to secure funds to continue building walls and physical barriers along portions of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Like the rest of the Democratic Left, Ocasio-Cortez would rather make it easier for cartels to traffic human beings and drugs into our country while inundating our communities with poor migrants than live up to their oaths of office by protecting and defending our country and our people.

But what she said about the wall itself  in particular, what it reminded her of  was incredibly ill-informed.

No matter how you feel about the wall, she said, I think its a moral abomination. I think its, like, the Berlin Wall.

The stupidity of that statement is astounding.

While that plays well with her equally uneducated and under-educated Millennial fan base, the fact is the Berlin Wall was built by an authoritarian Communist government in Soviet-aligned East Germany in 1961 to keep people in, not to keep people out.

As the History Channel notes, the Soviet Unions leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev, upset at the continued flow of refugees out of the Communist East to the Democratic West, gave the East Berlin government permission to build a wall to stem the flow of professionals  doctors, craftsmen, engineers, teachers  which they did. Tens of thousands of German families were separated overnight; scores lost jobs they held in West Berlin. Within a year, the East German government had built a second wall, fortified it with guard towers, armed guards, and dogs. Anyone caught trying to escape East Berlin/East Germany was shot on sight.

In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall, the History Channel reported. The wall was torn down in late 1989 after the Soviet Union collapsed (due to its inferior economic model  Communism and socialism).

Ocasio-Cortez gets away with this ignorance because shes never challenged

So for Ocasio-Cortez to make the comparison here that U.S. border walls and fences are the same as the wall built by an authoritarian regime hell-bent on denying their citizens choice and freedom is imbecilic. Its not even remotely accurate.

So why does she make such dumb, easily refutable comments? For one reason, its obvious that her higher education did not include recent Western history.

It also didnt include much about economics though she holds a bachelors degree is in economics; you cant be serious in believing that socialism is superior to capitalism given the readily available examples in the real world and still claim you know anything about economics. (Related: Ocasio-Cortez celebrates LOSS of 25,000 Amazon jobs and billions in tax revenue proving Dems no longer party of Main Street America.)

But also, the mainstream media is to blame for much of Ocasio-Cortezs ignorance of the issues and misplaced confidence. Because they have long ceased to be journalists in the true sense of the word  if they ever were  and are instead nothing more than Left-wing political activists and propagandists, MSM reporters dont challenge Ocasio-Cortez when she says things that are so obviously wrong and so easily fact-checked. Part of the reason is that they want her to be right; the other part is because they need her to be right.

POTUS Trumps border security walls are being built to protect Americans from dangers, not to keep us penned in, deny us our freedom and liberty, and ensure the survival of an authoritarian regime. Not that Ocasio-Cortez knows the difference.

Read more about the lunacy of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at CortezWatch.com.

Sources include:

News.Grabien.com

History.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
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Letter to the Editor

Critical Race Theory Now those that remain in the Republican Party are all upset that the Critical Race Theory might be revealed through the ...
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Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
Officials with the Knox County Public Library will visit the Statehouse in Indianapolis next month to spread a positive message of fiscal responsibility, one they hope will sway legislators away from a bill that would give more fiscal control to the county council.

Library director Emily Bunyan and board president Yvette Kirchoff, also a local attorney with Kolb and Roellgen & Kirchoff, invited other members of the library board on Tuesday to accompany them to Indianapolis on March 12 for legislative day, an event sponsored, Bunyan said, by the Indiana Library Federation.

The organization hosts such days every two years  during the General Assembly's budget session  for library leaders from all over the state to speak with their respective legislators.

And this year, Bunyan said, there is much to discuss.

We want to be positive. We want to tell them about all the wonderful services we offer to the public, Bunyan said. And we want to show them how well we manage our own budgets.

Heavy on their minds, Bunyan told the board, is House Bill 1343, sponsored by Dan Leonard, R-Huntington, which recently narrowly passed out of the Local Government Committee and advanced to the House floor.

The bill would essentially give full control of the library's budget to the county council  if the council wanted it.

Under current legislation, the county council has the right to a non-binding review of the library's budget, which means members look at the spending plan during budget hearings but have no authority to make or suggest any changes as long as its increase doesn't exceed the average growth quotient set by the state Department of Local Government Finance.

And it never has, Bunyan said, at least not while she's been there.

There was amendment made to HB 1343 this week, Bunyan said, that allows the governing body  in this case, the county council  to opt out of the legislation altogether, essentially allowing the current process to remain unchanged.

And county council president Bob Lechner said that's exactly what he would be inclined to do.

I'm aware of that bill, I'm aware of the changes it makes from non-binding to binding, Lechner said. But I'm not a big proponent of either. My choice would be to opt out.

We're not familiar with their situation, their issues, their problems, he said. It's unfair for those (taxing units) to come in, give us a 5-minute presentation and for us to make a determination about their budgets.

Lechner said he acknowledges that the bill is grounded in logic and meant to keep a county's tax rate low.

But the process itself just doesn't allow for proper consideration, he said. We're not going to have the information we need to make a valid decision.

I've not been a fan from the beginning.

Bunyan said she and Kirchoff were going to the Statehouse to speak to legislators with an open mind  hoping they'll have the same in return. She wants to give them the good news about all that the library is doing for its patrons.

And we want to invite them to visit our library, too, she said.

But the bottom line, Bunyan added, is that a taxing entity's budgets are already highly-regulated by both the DLGF and the State Board of Accounts.

No additional oversight is necessary, she argued.

Our budgets have to be approved by the DLGF. The (property) tax caps are in place, she said. We have monthly and annual reports. Our budgets are highly regulated compared to other states.

So our budget is already highly-regulated and extremely well-managed, she said. Our financial situation is excellent.
Coal mine to close this spring, costing 80 jobs

CHANDLER (AP)  A Warrick County coal mine will close this spring, costing about 80 workers their jobs at the surface mine.

White Stallion Energy of Evansville says in a required notice to Indiana's Department of Workforce Development that mining activity will cease in early April at the Liberty Mine.

The notice says workers at the mine that's near the town of Chandler will be given the chance to transfer to one of the company's other mine sites.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports that the mine's planned closure follows Alcoa Warrick Operations' recent announcement that it planned to buy coal from other sources to fuel its restarted aluminum smelter lines in nearby Boonville.

Boonville Mayor Charlie Wyatt says he's disappointed by the news of the mine's pending closure.

State trooper hurt after cruiser struck in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana State Police say a trooper is hospitalized with injuries after a car crashed into his cruiser in slushy conditions on Interstate 70 in Indianapolis.

Sgt. John Perrine says Trooper Andrew Atwell complained of back pain after the crash about 5:10 a.m. Wednesday amid snow and sleet falling in the area.

Perrine says Atwell's cruiser was parked on the shoulder with its emergency lights activated when a truck driven by 57-year-old John Barry struck it from behind. Perrine says another vehicle may have splashed slush onto Barry's windshield.

Berry was ticketed for failure to yield to a stationary emergency vehicle.

Perrine says it was the fourth time in Atwell's two years on the state police force that he was inside his vehicle when it was struck by another vehicle.

Bayer to close Mishawka logistics center, costing 200 jobs

MISHAWAKA (AP)  Pharmaceutical giant Bayer plans to close its customer logistics center, costing 200 workers their jobs.

Bayer announced Tuesday that it will close down its center in Mishawaka, just east of South Bend, over the next 18 months.

The company says in a statement the closure will help it "reduce complexity, improve efficiency and enhance customer service."

Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood says Bayer's announcement was "a little bit of a shock to us" because he's been working with the company on expanding in the area. He says the closure will have a big local impact.

Bayer purchased Elkhart-based Miles Laboratories in 1978, but has been slowly moving its operations out of the area.

Bayer spokesman Chris Loder says all employees affected by the closure will receive severance benefits.

Lawsuit: City shares responsibility for crash that killed 3

ELKHART (AP)  A lawsuit says the city of Elkhart shares responsibility for a crash that killed two children and a man who were walking along a sidewalk.

Authorities say Leonard Grosswiler was driving in August 2017 when his vehicle struck five pedestrians, killing 8-month-old Dolly Thomas, 11-year-old Courtney Smith and 22-year-old Shawn Wolcott. He was sentenced last December to 15 years in the hit-and-run crash, with 10 years to be served in prison.

The Elkhart Truth reports the lawsuit on behalf of the two surviving pedestrians and the families of the dead says Elkhart didn't properly maintain the sidewalk and was aware vehicles had gone over the curb in the area.

Courtney Bearsch, Elkhart director of communications, says attorneys representing the city plan to file "the appropriate legal response."

Siblings sue after urn containing father's ashes disappears

CHICAGO (AP)  The survivors of a man who last year died of pancreatic cancer have filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago contending a shipping company lost some the man's cremated remains.

The ashes of 71-year-old Joel D. Ford of Georgia was to be split into four urns and sent to his four children. Trayce Ford-Reyes of Naperville and her brothers in Texas each received urns. However, a sister in Indiana didn't get one.

The lawsuit contends the urn meant for Tyna Kirk was damaged by United Parcel Service and the ashes thrown in the trash. The family contends a funeral home, a packaging service and UPS failed to properly package an urn containing Joel Ford's ashes.

UPS spokesman Matthew O'Connor said the company hadn't seen the lawsuit but doesn't ship human remains. He said the company will investigate and respond accordingly.
ESAs do not require any training and are not covered by the ADA. However, they are often a legitimate form of therapy and comfort for people that need it. Unfortunately, these laws are sometimes abused by unscrupulous people. Many websites sell ESA kits to certify that a pet is a needed ESA. One Florida attorney even got a certain a cartoon pet certified as an ESA on behalf of a very famous mouse living in Orlando.
Following that they blame Trump for the rise of anti-Semitism. They claim to be progressive, yet they seem to be quite the opposite. Levine is identified as a civil rights lawyer, and so my question to him would be, do only the Palestinians have civil rights?
Death Row houses scores of prisoners who would not be there under current law, which requires all 12 jurors to choose death. The U.S. Supreme Court provoked the change, but left it to the Florida Supreme Court to say how far back the newly defined constitutional right should apply. In a decision that was so arbitrary as to be grotesque, the Florida court picked a date in 2002. Anyone whose case on that date was already final, another artificial distinction, would be out of luck. Why 2002? Thats when Florida might have foreseen, in a Supreme Court decision affecting Arizona, that Floridas split death verdicts would be held unconstitutional.
The media has somehow bought into this storyline. And this isnt the first time Ive criticized Sun Sentinel editors for using the word. (I barged into former Editor Howard Saltzs office with the same complaint sometime before I retired in 2015.) I believe it to be unintentional, more an error of carelessness. But I ask this: Why is it that a city employee who calls out a fellow employee for, say, cheating on a timecard, called a whistleblower, while a person who provides information on a much larger offense, even murder, is labeled a snitch?
Id second all of that, but a dive also seems to me to be a primarily local joint. The people who frequent, say, Wetz Pub in Sunrise are not likely to be found in Nippers Bar in Boca Raton. These are, in other words, the places where the townies drink. And yet, here in South Florida, our most popular dive bars are tourist destinations. Fort Lauderdales Elbo Room was the most commonly cited example of a dive bar in South Florida. Macs Club Deuce, the oldest bar in Miami Beach, or even the greater Miami area now that Tobacco Road is gone, got several mentions as well.
The Senate proposal (SB 182), sponsored by St. Petersburg Republican Jeff Brandes, would allow patients over the age of 18 to smoke marijuana if their doctors decide its the best form of treatment. Patients younger than 18 would be banned from smoking, unless they are terminally ill and have a second opinion from a pediatrician supporting the treatment.
Byrd, who works for F&A Transportation in East Orange, had a suspended license between 1996 and 2006, Ambrose said, but he couldnt elaborate on why it was suspended. Her current license status remains under investigation, Ambrose said.
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a widespread domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focused violence" to "establish a white homeland" and dreamed of ways to "kill almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and searched the internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected."

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.

Hasson, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt on Thursday.

Hasson was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but the government says those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg." Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland outlined in court documents Hasson's alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.

"Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads," Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors say was found in his email drafts. "Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."

A magistrate judge ordered that the Office of the Federal Public Defender represent Hasson; the office declined comment Wednesday.

Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-90s.

Agents with the FBI field office in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson on Friday, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, said Wednesday that Hasson no longer works at Coast Guard headquarters.

"An active duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice," McBride said in a written statement. McBride declined to comment further, citing the open investigation.

Court documents do not detail what prompted federal law enforcement to begin investigating Hasson, but they say Hasson has been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 in Norway. They say Hasson's attack preparations resembled Breivik's.

The manifesto outlined how Breivik planned and prepared his attacks with the aim of providing an outline for others planning similar terrorist operations, the U.S. court filings say.

Breivik took steroids and narcotics, believing it would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks. When law enforcement raided Hasson's apartment, they said they found a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormones. He has also ordered more than 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol since 2016, along with synthetic urine to allegedly bypass possible random drug screenings at work, they said.

Breivik encouraged identifying targets and traitors. In recent weeks, they said, Hasson developed a spreadsheet of targets that included top Democratic congressional leaders and media personalities. The list includes "JOEY," what prosecutors say is a reference to former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., who works for MSNBC; "cortez," an alleged reference to freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York; and "Sen blumen jew," presumably about Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The filing was first reported Wednesday afternoon by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

Authorities seized 15 firearms, including several long guns and rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his basement apartment after executing a search warrant this month. Over the past two years, he had made nearly two dozen purchases of firearms or related equipment and made thousands of visits to websites that sell weapons or tactical gear.

Authorities said Hasson harbored extremist views for years.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist," the government said in court filings, "bent, on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

In an email he drafted in June 2017, he contemplated biological attacks and targeting food supplies, according to court filings. He considered the merits of a "bombing/sniper campaign" and included a "Things to do" list that included purchasing land "out west or possibly NC mtns" for family and researching tactics used during the civil war in Ukraine.

"During unrest target both sides to increase tension," Hasson wrote in the email, according to the court filings. "In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence."

In another letter drafted months later to an American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson called for a "white homeland." He sent the letter to himself nearly two months after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where torch-carrying white-supremacists clashed with anti-racist protesters.

"I never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc.," Hasson said in the letter, according to court filings. "I was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that. However you can make change with a little focused violence."

Hasson's commitment to destruction appeared to increase in recent weeks, according to details from prosecutors. He created a list of "traitors" and targets on Jan. 19 in a spreadsheet on his work computer, they said, which was created two days after he conducted a series of internet inquiries:

8:54 a.m.: "what if trump illegally impeached"

8:57 a.m.: "best place in dc to see congress people"

8:58 a.m.: "where in dc to congress live"

10:39 a.m.: "civil war if trump impeached"

11:26 a.m.: "social democrats usa"

The arrest marks the second time that the Coast Guard has responded to an incident involving alleged white supremacy in recent months. In September, the service reprimanded a worker who flashed what some people identified as a white-supremacy sign in the background of a televised interview with another officer during the response to Hurricane Florence.

"We are aware of the offensive video on twitter - the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response," the service said at the time in a tweet. "His actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard."

That individual was not identified.

The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
I would much prefer for our free enterprise system here in the United States to be able to negotiate drug prices with the manufacturers that own the products which are being dispensed in Canada rather than having to impugn the integrity of our distribution system by having to say I have to buy it from another country, he said. Its really always baffled me as to why we have our military negotiate with the drug manufacturers for lower prices than are available to the general public.
Of potentially greater human significance, scientists have begun unraveling the genes that may help great whites prevent cancer. Large animals, because of the sheer number of cells in their bodies, should be at greater risk that cells will turn cancerous, Shivji said. This should be particularly true of species such as the great white, which can live 70 years or more, giving its cells ample time to develop cancer-causing mutations. But scientists suspect that sharks have a higher resistance to cancer than other vertebrates, and one reason may be the genetic mechanisms for preventing the DNA damage that produces cancer.
Justin Katz, president of the Classroom Teachers Association, described salary negotiations with the school district as the quickest and most amicable in his 12-year tenure with the school system. He said the package still has to be approved officially by a vote of teachers in March.
It didnt take long for Lettman to realize what was actually about to happen. As the jury, consisting entirely of her family and friends, filed in, she began to cry, The Guardian reported.
The men parked in the wide, paver-tiled driveway surrounded by neatly trimmed bushes and tropical landscaping. As the man with the NYC ball cap knocked at the door, the other man appeared to tighten his jacket to cover up the bulletproof vest showing the letters FBI. A hand from inside swung the door open and the two men went inside.
What I love about this service  and I think thats the reason that we have it  is that many of our people do live alone, Cutie said. They are elderly, theyve lost their spouse or theyve lived alone for a long time. And their dog really does become their companion in every way and their closest family member.
Andrew Pollack, who is suing Cruz, former Broward Sheriffs Deputy Scot Peterson, former school watchman Andrew Medina and several others for negligence, won the right in court to attend depositions of the defendants. But the judge said he will not be allowed to invite other Parkland parents to the proceedings, which are closed to the public.
State legislators are considering a law that would forbid cities from regulating electric scooters, described by Gonzales as those things you see flying around the streets in Fort Lauderdale, where an estimated 4,000 people a week are riding scooters downtown and at the beach.
Today, the Department filed a Motion for Rehearing and a Request to Certify the case to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the recent opinion reversing the Departments decision to deny the Kanter Real Estate exploratory oil drilling permit, the Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement. The Department is committed to the protection and restoration of Floridas Everglades and will work with Broward County and local municipalities to provide technical assistance as they pursue their own action regarding this matter. We will also monitor any federal regulatory actions related to this issue.
The Feingolds were honored for their support of Israel's soldiers, including a recent donation of a new synagogue and Torah scroll to the soldiers of an IDF base in Southern Israel. Active-duty Israeli soldiers were also featured during the program. Co-chairs for the gala were Paul and Elyce Segal, and FIDF Palm Beach/Broward Region board members Tom and Donna Segal. The gala raised more than $1.5 million for well-being and educational programs for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. Visit fidf.org for more information on the organization.
Indeed, the sight of a white-throated kingfisher swooping down to snag a fish from the pond provides a welcome respite after the Sunday and Thursday public tours of the Knesset. Its such a contrast to take them from the official bustle of Israels legislature to immerse them in something thats straight out of nature right in the Knessets backyard, she says. I tell them, Im going to take you somewhere you would never expect to see here, and everyone loves it, even people whove never noticed a bird in their life.
Labour councillor Jason Fojtik has resigned over several key issues including 'Labour's lack of leadership over Europe.'

THE resignation of eight Labour MPs earlier this week over the leaderships reluctance to push for a second EU referendum, has come as no surprise to members of Stratford Labour Party.

Cllr Jason Fojtik (Labour, Clopton) said: Like many of us we are disappointed the leadership are not listening to the vast majority of members who want to stay in Europe. Jeremy Corbyn promised us he would lead the party from the bottom up and not the top down but its not been like that. I think Labour has gone further to the left and the Conservatives further to the right and the middle ground has now opened up. The ingredients are there for a new party to fill the void because of the polar extremes that now exist. We will continue to campaign for a referendum to remain in the EU, said Cllr Fojtik said.

Last week Stratford Labour Party called on the leadership of the Labour Party to change its Brexit policy and called for a public vote with labour campaigning to remain.

A motion put forward by the local Labour Party reads: The Stratford-on-Avon CLP resolves to call on the Party leadership to support a new Public Vote with Remain on the ballot paper by tabling a motion or amendment in Parliament in the next few weeks before 29th March. The motion was supported by local party members.
Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.
Earth may be 140 years away from reaching carbon levels not seen in 56 million years

WASHINGTON -- Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth's last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations, new research finds.

A new study finds humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a rate nine to 10 times higher than the greenhouse gas was emitted during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago.

The results suggest if carbon emissions continue to rise, the total amount of carbon dioxide injected into the atmosphere since humans started burning fossil fuels could equal the amount released during the PETM as soon as 2159.

"You and I won't be here in 2159, but that's only about four generations away," said Philip Gingerich, a paleoclimate researcher at the University of Michigan and author of the new study in the AGU journal Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. "When you start to think about your children and your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, you're about there."

Scientists often use the PETM as a benchmark against which to compare modern climate change. But the new study shows we're on track to meet this benchmark much sooner than previously thought, as the pace of today's warming far outstrips any climate event that has happened since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

"Given a business-as-usual assumption for the future, the rates of carbon release that are happening today are really unprecedented, even in the context of an event like the PETM," said Gabriel Bowen, a geophysicist at the University of Utah who was not connected to the new study. "We don't have much in the way of geologic examples to draw from in understanding how the world responds to that kind of perturbation."

The exact environmental consequences of PETM-like carbon levels are unclear, but the increased temperatures will likely drive many species to extinction with the lucky ones being able to adapt or migrate, according to Larisa DeSantis, a paleontologist at Vanderbilt University who was not connected to the new study. In addition, it will take thousands of years for the climate system cool down, she said.

"It's not just about 100 years from now; it's going to take significant periods of time for that carbon dioxide to make its way back into the Earth's crust," DeSantis said. "It's not a short-term event. We're really committing ourselves to many thousands of years of a warmer world if we don't take action quickly."

Studying past climate change

The PETM was a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago. Scientists are unsure what caused it, but during the event massive quantities of carbon dioxide were released into Earth's atmosphere, rapidly spiking global temperatures by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Average global temperatures during the PETM peaked at about 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), about 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than today's average.

Scientists think that during this time and the warm period that followed, the poles were ice-free and the Arctic was home to palm trees and crocodiles. It's not the hottest Earth has ever been, but the PETM was the warmest period since the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Scientists can't pin down exactly how much carbon was injected into the atmosphere during the PETM or exactly how long the event lasted. But their best estimates say between 3,000 and 7,000 gigatons of carbon accumulated over a period of 3,000 to 20,000 years, based on ocean sediment cores that show changes to carbonate minerals laid down during this time.

The massive carbon release and temperature spike drastically altered Earth's climate, causing a major extinction of organisms in the deep ocean that are a key link in the marine food web. Land animals got smaller and migrated north to cooler climates. Some groups of modern mammals, including primates, appeared for the first time soon after the PETM, but scientists are unsure whether this happened as a direct result of the rapid environmental change.

Comparing past with present

Climate scientists use the PETM as a case study for understanding what environmental changes might happen under current human-caused climate change and when those changes might take effect. But they can only average carbon emissions during the PETM over the whole duration of the event - thousands of years. They don't know what those emissions rates were like on a yearly basis, so it's difficult to compare them to the pace of carbon emissions today.

In the new study, Gingerich found a way to mathematically compare modern carbon emissions to PETM emissions on the same time scale. The results showed current carbon emission rates are nine to 10 times higher than those during the PETM.

"To me, it really brought home how rapidly and how great the consequences are of the carbon we're producing as a people," Gingerich said.

Projecting current emissions into the future, Gingerich found that if emissions continue to rise, we could be facing another PETM-like event in fewer than five generations. The total carbon accumulated in the atmosphere could hit the lowest estimate of carbon accumulated during the PETM - 3,000 gigatons - in the year 2159. It would hit the maximum estimated emissions - 7,126 gigatons - in 2278, based on Gingerich's calculations. Humans have emitted roughly 1,500 gigatons of carbon as of 2016.

"The fact that we could reach warming equivalent to the PETM very quickly, within the next few hundred years, is terrifying," DeSantis said.

The findings suggest scientists may not be able to predict the environmental or biological changes that will happen in the coming years based on what happened during the PETM because today's warming is occurring so much faster, according to DeSantis. What makes predictions harder is that today's climate starts from a cooler baseline than the PETM and the species that inhabit Earth are different than those of 56 million years ago.

"It's hard to compare biotic effects because the world during the PETM was quite different," DeSantis said. "We live in a very different world today, with different groups of animals, with humans being the dominant species... but we know there are many negative consequences of dramatic warming on vast numbers of species, including our own."

###

Founded in 1919, AGU is a not-for-profit scientific society dedicated to advancing Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. We support 60,000 members, who reside in 135 countries, as well as our broader community, through high-quality scholarly publications, dynamic meetings, our dedication to science policy and science communications, and our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce, as well as many other innovative programs. AGU is home to the award-winning news publication Eos, the Thriving Earth Exchange, where scientists and community leaders work together to tackle local issues, and a headquarters building that represents Washington, D.C.'s first net zero energy commercial renovation. We are celebrating our Centennial in 2019. #AGU100

Notes for Journalists

This paper is freely available through March 31. Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) can download a PDF copy of the article by clicking on this link: https:/ / agupubs. onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ epdf/ 10. 1029/ 2018PA003379

Journalists and PIOs may also request a copy of the final paper by emailing Lauren Lipuma at llipuma@agu.org. Please provide your name, the name of your publication, and your phone number.

Neither the paper nor this press release is under embargo.

Paper Title: "Temporal Scaling of Carbon Emission and Accumulation Rates: Modern Anthropogenic Emissions Compared to Estimates of PETM-Onset Accumulation"

Authors: Philip D. Gingerich: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

This press release and accompanying images can be found at: https:/ / news. agu. org/ press-release/ earth-may-be-140-years-away-from-reaching-carbon-levels-not-seen-in-56-million-years/

Earth may be 140 years away from reaching carbon levels not seen in 56 million years

AGU press contact:

Lauren Lipuma

+1 (202) 777-7396

llipuma@agu.org

University of Michigan press contact:

Jim Erickson

+1 (734) 647-1842

ericksn@umich.edu

Contact information for the researcher:

Philip Gingerich

+1 (734) 660-4468

gingeric@umich.edu

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: IS teen shocked after UK revokes her citizenship

A British teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria said on Wednesday she was shocked by a government decision to revoke her citizenship and was considering applying to settle in The Netherlands, the homeland of her husband.

Shamima Begum, who travelled to Syria in 2015 and now wants to return to Britain after giving birth in a refugee camp in Syria last week, said the order was "unjust".

"I am a bit shocked," she told ITV News after learning of the move, which was announced in a letter Tuesday from the British government to her mother in London.

"It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son."

She said an "option" could be to apply for citizenship in The Netherlands, where her husband and the father of her newborn child -- an IS fighter believed to be held by Kurdish forces in Syria -- is from and has relatives.

"Maybe I can ask for citizenship in Holland," Begum added. "If he gets sent back to prison in Holland I can just wait for him while he is in prison."

Begum's fate has stirred controversy since she and two friends fled her east London home to join the terror network four years ago when she was aged 15.

The case highlights a dilemma facing many European countries, divided over whether to allow jihadists and IS sympathisers home to face prosecution or bar them over security concerns as the so-called "caliphate" crumbles.

Britain's Home Office said it did not discuss individual cases when asked about Begum.

Interior minister Sajid Javid told lawmakers Wednesday that revoking citizenship was "a powerful tool" not used lightly.

"But when someone turns their back on (our) fundamental values and supports terror they don't have an automatic right to return to the UK," he said.

However Javid hinted that Begum's newborn son could be treated differently.

"Children should not suffer, so if a parent does lose their British citizenship it does not affect the rights of their child," the minister said.

Begum gave birth to her third child at the weekend, and appealed to British authorities to show "compassion" by allowing her to raise the baby in Britain -- while expressing no regret over having joined IS.

In the ministry's letter sent to Begum's mother, it said the teen had the right to appeal the order.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for her family, said it was disappointed with the move and "considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision".

Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, was born in Britain, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen, according to Akunjee.

The Home Office reportedly believes that she is entitled to claim citizenship in the south Asian country.

Chiranjiv Sarker, head of the consular wing and dual nationality issues at Bangladesh's foreign ministry, told AFP it was aware of the case but had not received any contact from the family.

"So far none of her family members (has) approached us," he said. "What I learn from newspapers is that Shamima was trying to return to Britain."

He added that, if approached, the ministry would need to try to verify Begum's Bangladeshi heritage to assess any possible eligibility for citizenship.

Begum is currently in a refugee camp in northeast Syria where she fled to escape fighting in the east of the country along with hundreds of other people with links to IS.

She said she had previously given birth to two other children after marrying in Syria. Both children are said to have died, apparently from illness and malnutrition.

Begum fled Britain with Kadiza Sultana, who has since been reported killed, and Amira Abase.

Begum said in recent media interviews that Abase had stayed in a village where IS fighters were making a final stand against US-backed forces.

European countries have been grappling with what to do with foreign fighters detained in Syria by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who have warned they may not be able to guard their jails once US troops leave.

The British government on Monday rebuffed US President Donald Trump's call for European allies to take back hundreds of alleged jihadists captured in the war-ravaged country.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said the fighters should instead face justice in places where they committed their crimes.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis has condemned a website that publicly singled out a Jewish college student from St. Louis over her views and actions on Israel.

Canary Mission documents people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses, according to its website.

Sophie Hurwitz, a John Burroughs School graduate, recently discovered that her name along with links to her Facebook page and Linkedin profile were listed on the website because of her statements and actions concerning Israel and the Birthright program. The website also names her college major and when she is slated to graduate.

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It includes statements she has made on social media and ones drawn from videos of her at protests.

The Jewish Light is reporting on her listing on the website, which does not list its funders or any staff or volunteers, because JCRC responded to a Post-Dispatch column on Canary Mission and Hurwitz.

Hurwitz said it was scary to see her name on the website. She attends Wellesley College and is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, a left-wing group that supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.

Im a college sophomore, she wrote in an email to the Light. I didnt expect to start my second year living away from home by feeling stalked by an international, shadowy organization. Seeing your face, and details about your life, on a website that you know means to slander you is a surreal, disconcerting experience.

Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles last year suspended grants to a group, the Israel-based nonprofit Megamit Shalom, that appeared to fund Canary, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report.

Haaretz reported that Israeli border control officers have used information from the site to bar political activists from entering the country.

JCRC stated in a letter to the Post-Dispatch that it was dismayed to read about the harassment faced by Sophie Hurwitz because of being included on the Canary Mission website. While we advocate strongly for a safe, secure, and democratic State of Israel, we unequivocally reject anyone who seeks to shut down discussion and disagreement about the Jewish State through intimidation tactics.

Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, JCRC executive director, told the Light that the organization decided to respond because this is a member of our St. Louis Jewish community.

Hurwitz attends Congregation Shaare Emeth and Central Reform Congregation when she is in St. Louis.

We have been hearing from people in the community who feel that all voices on Israel are not equally welcome, and we know that if this were a situation of someone being in any way antagonized or called out because they have openly expressed pro-Israel views, our community would rally to support that person, Picker Neiss said. This isnt about whether or not we agree with a persons opinions but about peoples rights to express those opinions and know that our community is stronger because of the diversity of opinions.
Since the dawn of rock n roll, there have been quite a few rock stars with Jewish heritage. To name a few: Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Gene Simmons, Lenny Kravitz, Geddy Lee and  depending on the decade  Bob Dylan.

But how many have openly gushed about their synagogue, their sons bar mitzvahs and their favorite rabbis?

In 2013, Jeff Tweedy  the longtime frontman of the acclaimed Grammy-winning band Wilco, as well as its folk rock predecessor Uncle Tupelo and a couple of other side projects  converted to Judaism, following a promise to his son made around the time of his bar mitzvah.

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Late last year, the 51-year-old Tweedy released both his first solo album, titled WARM, and a memoir, Lets Go (So We Can Get Back). The book is funny at times, and heavy at others, covering the authors musical triumphs, his battles with prescription drug addiction, his professional divorces from Uncle Tupelos Jay Farrar and Wilcos Jay Bennett, along with the deaths of his mother and father.

Near its end, the book briefly touches on Tweedys conversion, and he has opened up about his newfound Jewish identity in recent interviews promoting the book and the very Wilco-ish new album (which he calls complementary to each other). Tweedy, who grew up in Belleville, Ill. (Wilco is based in Chicago), was not raised Jewish, but his wife and sons were.

Sammy, our younger son, was struggling quite a bit with the [bar mitzvah] process, and kind of begging to not to be forced to go to Hebrew school, Tweedy told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. But it was important to us, and important to his mother.

So Tweedy presented a heartwarming idea to the head rabbi of the familys synagogue, the Reform Congregation Emanuel on Chicagos North Side, to alleviate some of [Sammys] kvetching: Tweedy would go to temple each week with Sammy, and study to convert to Judaism while Sammy was working on his Torah portion.

[I]t seemed to work. He ended up getting bar mitzvahed and I ended up converting, Tweedy said.

Rabbi Michael Zedek performed the conversion, but during the process, Tweedy got to know Rabbi Herman Schaalman, who was his synagogues rabbi emeritus and continued to assist with ceremonies into his 90s.

He spoke at Spencers Bar Mitzvah, and we had had lots of contact with him at our temple, before he retired and even after he retired he spent a lot of time there, Tweedy said. So he played a role in the kids interest in Judaism and Im a deep admirer of his theology.

Schaalman, who passed away at the age of 100 in 2017, was a legendary figure in the Reform movement. A native of Munich, Germany, he was one of five rabbis Leo Baeck brought to the U.S. in 1935 to study at Hebrew Union College. A leader in the movement for much of the 20th century, Schaalman went public towards the end of his life about having changed the ways he felt about his faith, which included questioning his belief in God.

I was really moved by that. A lot of peoples views  on religion and things like that tend to calcify as people get older, Tweedy said of Schaalman. And his thinking was so nimble right up until the end that it allowed him to basically come up with a theology where it wasnt pessimistic, it was more like we dont need a lot of [God] to be good, and I thought that was kind of an inspiring message for a world thats trying to integrate religious beliefs and secular beliefs.

The conversion process also required Tweedy to partake in a certain painful traditional ritual. He didnt go over his circumcision story again in detail, but as he told NPRs Wait Wait Dont Tell Me show last year, it involved a storage closet at his temple, a black operating bag and a mohel who afterwards told him that his sons were big fans.

Tweedy described the synagogue as a place where hes simply known as the father of Spencer and Sammy, not a celebrity.

You eventually blend in as a parent, and a citizen, Tweedy said of the synagogue. My experience with the temple, I think, has been pretty typical of most peoples. Its just another wonderful group of supportive people.

Tweedy sang at both of his sons bar mitzvahs, and he even brought along Mavis Staples, with whom he had been collaborating at the time, to sing at his younger sons ceremony. He said the pretty liberal Reform environment leaves plenty of room for music (especially folk music) to be integrated into prayer. The synagogue also boasts a semi-professional klezmer group called the Ham-It-Up Band.

Theres a lot of free-wheeling and spontaneous music that happens there, that I imagine isnt typical of a more regimented congregation, he noted.

In his book, Tweedy talks about how one of the first songs he ever loved as a kid was The Byrds Turn! Turn! Turn!, a 1960s folk/pop song whose lyrics were adapted almost entirely from The Book of Ecclesiastes by Pete Seeger. Some synagogues even use the song as part of their Rosh Hashanah services.

On his new album, a song called Lets Go Rain references Noahs flood and includes the lyric Now once upon a time I was a Christian. Later it states: Oh I should build a wooden ark/wouldnt you rather live on an ocean of guitars?

The book and album, Tweedy explained, are the product of Wilco taking time off for various reasons.

The book was mostly because Id been presented with an opportunity to do it and I wasnt confident that I would get that opportunity again, so it felt like a challenge to see if I could put together something that was interesting, to share with everybody, he said.

But the songwriter is getting back to his main band very soon. The group announced some tour dates through the summer (including at an annual festival the band created in 2010, Solid Sound, held in North Adams, Massachusetts) and fall, which will likely continue into next year.

Tweedy also told JTA that the band has started planning their 11th studio album, something he hasnt confirmed elsewhere yet.

Tweedy will stop in St. Louis Feb. 28 for a sold-out performance at The Pageant.
Jerry Ehrlich the Executive Director of Cornerstone Center for Early Learning and teacher Sherri Butler play with Caleb Brackett, Kailey Glenn, Sophia Morgado-Esquivel and Darnell Miller at the facility that is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Artist Kehinde Wiley and Ashley Cooper pose in front of Charles I, a painting from the Kehinde Wiley Exhibition recently acquired by the Saint Louis Art Museum. The painting will become a part of the contemporary galleries this summer.
Published: 21 February 2019

Government R&D funding increases in the state budget for 2019

According to Statistics Finland, appropriations for research and development in the budget increase by EUR 107.9 million from the year before. In the state budget 2019, the total appropriations for research and development activities amount to EUR 1,991.1 million. The share of public research funding in gross domestic product is estimated to be 0.83 per cent.

Government R&D funding by objective category in 2018 to 2019

According to social policy objective category, the biggest increase in R&D funding in euros is directed to industrial production and technology, the funding increases by EUR 68.3 million in the state budget for 2019. For the majority of the objective categories, R&D funding either increases or remains on level with the previous year, but R&D funding directed to, e.g. the objective category land use, transport systems and other infrastructure, decreases by EUR 15.2 million from the budget one year ago. The biggest individual objective categories, to which R&D funding is directed, are universities research and development and general advancement of science, which mainly consists of the Academy of Finlands research funding.

Among administrative sectors, research and development activities are financed most in the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The major provider of funding is the Ministry of Education and Culture, whose R&D funding in the budget for 2019 is EUR 1,206.1 million. The increase from the appropriations in the budget one year before is EUR 41.7 million. The R&D funding of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment also grows, by EUR 72.7 million from the budget one year earlier, a majority of which is an increase in the funding of Business Finland.

Government budget allocations for R&D (GBARD) in 2019

R&D funding  million Share of R&D funding, % Change from 2018,  million Real change from 2018, % R&D funding total 1 991,1 100,0 107,9 3,8 Main administrative branches (ministries) Ministry of Education and Culture 1 206,1 60,6 41,7 1,6 Ministry of Employment and the Economy 563,7 28,3 72,7 12,7 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 54,8 2,8 1,2 0,4 Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 68,3 3,4 -1,6 -4,1 Funding organisations Universities 630,5 31,7 14,9 0,5 Universities of applied sciences 67,6 3,4 1,3 0,0 Business Finland 451,2 22,7 59,9 13,2 Academy of Finland 470,1 23,6 25,9 3,9 Government research institutes 183,5 9,2 -5,6 -4,8 Other R&D funding 167,3 8,4 5,5 1,5 University central hospitals 21,0 1,1 6,0 37,4

Source: Government R&D funding in the state budget 2019, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Heidi Pirkola 029 551 3246, tiede.teknologia@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko

Publication in pdf-format (341.4 kB)

Updated 21.2.2019

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Government R&D funding in the state budget [e-publication].

ISSN=2489-3250. 2019. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 27.6.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tkker/2019/tkker_2019_2019-02-21_tie_001_en.html
Kathmandu, February 21

The first regional conference of women in the power sector has concluded in Kathmandu on Thursday.

More than 250 engineers and energy-sector professionals represented their countries at the first regional conference of the Women in Power Sector Network in South Asia (WePOWER)a forum to promote and diversify female practitioners opportunities in the power and energy sector.

They included representatives from 60 participating institutions from local and international power utilities, energy sector organisations, and multilateral agencies.

The World Bank hosted the two day event with the support from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Australian AID and Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Senior and junior professionals and engineering students from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka had attended the event, according to the World Bank.

Besides panel discussions on the viability of jobs, skills, and opportunities in the sector, the conference also had a special interactive session for secondary school girl students to encourage them to find their footing in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
MADISON [emdash] Patricia A. Scheibelhoffer (Novak) passed peacefully from this life into God's arms on Thursday, June 24, 2021. She was a graduate of Rock Creek High School and worked for many years in banking. She was preceded in death by her parents, Adam and Ann Novak and her husband Tho
English20/02/2019

IVANTSOV, DODIK LAY WREATH TO CHURKIN MEMORIAL

ISTOCNO SARAJEVO, February 20 /SRNA/ - Russian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Petr Ivantsov and Chairman of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik laid a wreath to the memorial honouring the former Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin in Istocno Sarajevo on Wednesday.



Dodik pointed out that Churkin became a symbol for Serbs the moment when, in accordance with the Russian policy, at the UN Security Council he exercised his veto and prevented the Serb people from being qualified as genocidal.



He recalled that Churkin indebted the Serbs as Russias permanent representative to the UN in 2015 when he thwarted a draft resolution on Srebrenica proposed by the United Kingdom, and previously, during his diplomatic activities in various places.



"Churkin unequivocally executed the views of the Russian state, which did all in its power for the conflict in the former Yugoslavia to end quickly and be observed objectively. It is important that we keep the memory of his activities and his life with dignity here in Istocno Sarajevo, Dodik told the press.



Ambassador Ivantsov stated that Churkin was a Russian diplomacy great and pointed out that a man lives as long as he is remembered by those who love and respect him.



"Churkins deeds live on and live here in Istocno Sarajevo and that is demonstrated by this event here, which is attended by the BiH Presidency Chairman, Milorad Dodik. This is a testimony of special relations between our nations. This understanding is based on long-term historical and religious relations between the Russians and Serbs, underlined Ivantsov.



The Russians respect other peoples in BiH too, the Croats and Bosniaks, he said.



"We believe that only equality of peoples, with mutual respect and willingness to overcome conflicts and reach compromise, is the basis for the future, based on the Dayton Peace Agreement which we defend, said the Russian Ambassador.



He added that Ambassador Churkin had defended precisely those views at the UN Security Council.



Wreaths to the Churkin memorial were also laid by Mayor of Istocno Sarajevo Nenad Vukovic and Mayor of Istocno Novo Sarajevo Ljubisa Cosic, as well as other delegations.



The Churkin memorial was unveiled on November 6, 2017 in Istocno Sarajevo as a symbol of the Russian diplomats contribution to the defence of Serbs interests.



Apart from the general information and portrait of Vitaly Churkin, the black stone-made memorial also contains the inscription in Russian Thank you for the Russian nyet.



Churkin passed away in New York on February 20, 2017 and was buried in Moscow four days later. /end/ds
Algiers- Feb 21, 2019 (SPS) - Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to Algeria Abdelkader Taleb Omar affirmed, Tuesday in Algiers, that the vote by the European Parliament on the new agreements with Morocco on trade and fishing faces " serious political repercussions in the region and impedes the political solution to Western Saharas conflict.

"These agreements are harmful since they coincide with the new dynamic on promising prospects for the progress of the peace process where a second round of direct negotiations is scheduled for next March," the Sahrawi ambassador told the national radios channel I.

France and Spain urged the EP to submit to the executive power, ignoring the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), added the Saharawi diplomat.

In spite of this, the EP has consciously turned towards the violation of this decision and despite the opposition of some MEPs who called for consultation of the CJEU,

However, he said that "a force has put pressure to get the law passed, on the pretext that Morocco provides them benefits in terms of security and migration, which contributes to supporting colonialism in the region at the expense of "peoples sovereignty."

According to the Saharawi diplomat, "France financed, armed, trained and cooperated with the Moroccan regime to strengthen its presence in Western Sahara.SPS

125/090/700
CRRC gets 2nd double-decker train order from Sydney

From:ChinaDaily | 2019-02-20 20:16

China's CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co Ltd, the State-owned train manufacturer, received a second order from Sydney for its double-decker trains, the company announced on Tuesday.

The order includes a total of 17 double-decker trains and post-delivery maintenance in Sydney. The deal's worth has not yet been disclosed. CRRC Changchun said it will design and manufacture the trains and its Australian partner, Downer EDI, will provide maintenance support.

The new trains will be designed to incorporate automatic temperature control systems and monitoring systems, as well as facilities for those with disabilities.

The two partners won the first order in December 2016 to supply a total of 24 double-decker trains and have delivered a total 732 passenger trains to Australia to date.
Its another mid-month come and gone, and you know what that means: Criterion has graciously allowed us a peek at what they have in store for us in the coming months! This batch of announcements came with a few big surprises for me, personally, including one that Ive been waiting a very long time for them to finally conjure up. If the coming months announcements end up being this good, then this might be one of their finest release years since the collection first started.

First up for May is, a late 40s effort from William Wyler, best known for the epicor the romantic wartime classic. An adaptation of an 1880 short novel by Henry James titled, this lesser-known Wyler effort seems like a smaller and more concentrated piece compared to the larger-scale pictures hes known for. Perhaps Criterions new stunning 4K restoration will allowto enjoy a second life in the classic films fanbase, with of course a few added supplements to boost its value.

May 14th: Funny Games








The Merkel Stain Chancellor Unwelcome in Upcoming Campaigns

Chancellor Angela Merkel may still be the most popular politician in Germany. But with state elections looming this year in eastern Germany, she is not a welcome guest on the campaign trail. She remains persona non grata in the east.
Franco-German Fragility Crisis Smolders Between Berlin and Paris

France and Germany have officially put aside their differences and renewed their landmark friendship accord, the Elysee Treaty. But their convergence only came after much bickering -- and a secret supplementary agreement. By DER SPIEGEL Staff
Trump and Kim to have one-one-one meeting at Vietnam summit



Washington, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



US President Donald Trump will have a one-on-one meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong during their summit in Vietnam next week, a US official said Thursday.

The two leaders, who met for the first time in Singapore last June, are due to hold talks in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on February 27-28.

Trump is seeking to persuade the North Korean leader to abandon his nuclear arsenal.

A US officials said next week's meeting would be "similar in format to what we saw last June in Singapore... there will be an opportunity for the two leaders to see one another one-on-one" before holding meetings with their respective teams.

Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy to Pyongyang, is already in Hanoi holding talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol.

US officials have declined to speculate on what elements might be included in a joint statement at the end of the meeting.

On Wednesday, Trump again praised his relationship with the North Korean leader but said he would have to make a "meaningful" gesture on the nuclear front if he wants to see sanctions lifted.
President Moon Jae-in spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on the telephone on Tuesday night and said he is ready to step up to the role of spearheading cross-border economic cooperation with North Korea. Moon asked Trump to use South Korea as a conduit to reward the North if the reclusive state lives up to its denuclearization pledges. In other words, he told the U.S. president that South Korea is willing to foot the bill of any agreements from a summit with the North.

The leaders of the U.S. and North Korea will sit face to face in a week. At this point, there is only one message South Korea's president should be giving his U.S. counterpart, namely to insist that he persuade North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons. The South will remain a hostage to the North if it keeps even one nuclear bomb.

Such a clear message is even more necessary at a time when the outlook for North Korean denuclearization is increasingly murky. More preparatory talks between the two sides are not expected until Friday. This means the chances of another rushed summit like the debacle in Singapore last year are very high. Already Trump has said he is in "no rush whatsoever" to conclude a nuclear deal with North Korea.

Yet South Korea's president has rashly pledged to help North Korea's economy without any guarantee of complete denuclearization. Surely any economic aid must be preceded by complete denuclearization. Easing sanctions before that happens is the same as giving up.

South Korea will by and by have to play a leading role in aiding North Korea's economic growth if the North is sincere about denuclearization, and the South Korean public will gladly support the expenditure. But there is absolutely no reason to volunteer for that task before the North has given even a hint that it will get rid of its nukes. All Moon has done is deliberately and recklessly relinquished his leverage in the denuclearization process.


5 killed, several seized in Boko Haram attacks in Chad: official



N'Djamena, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



Boko Haram jihadists killed five people, wounded five others, and kidnapped nine -- including six women -- in attacks on two villages in western Chad, an official source told AFP Thursday.

The attacks took place Tuesday night, according to Dimouya Soiapebe, general secretary of Lake Chad province.

"Five people were killed and five wounded" in the first assault, on the village of Bouboura, while the kidnappings took place in a second attack on the village of Ngasia, Soiapebe said.

Chadian troops were searching for the attackers and their hostages, he added.

The following night, seven cowherds and more than 200 head of cattle were seized in the same area by people suspected of belonging to Boko Haram. One cowherd managed to escape, the general secretary said.

Boko Haram is active mainly in Nigeria, but the group periodically stages raids in neighbouring countries such as Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.

It is blamed for the deaths of at least 20,000 people, mostly in Nigeria.

Troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria have been grouped into a mixed, multi-national force to fight the jihadist group.
US-backed Syria force hands back to Iraq 130 IS jihadists



Baghdad, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



US-backed Syrian forces handed over to Iraq on Thursday 130 Iraqi members of the Islamic State group who were detained in Syria, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), however, denied the claim.

Iraqi security forces have received from the SDF "130 Iraqi Daesh fighters," General Yehya Rassoul, a spokesman for Iraq's security media centre, told AFP using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"They used to fight in Iraq but when the battles were over they went to Syria where they were captured by SDF forces during recent fighting," he said.

Iraq declared victory over the jihadist group in late 2017 following a punishing campaign to dismantle its self-declared "caliphate" that once covered a third of the country.

Naim al-Kaood, the head of the security department in Iraq's Anbar province bordering Syria, told AFP the 130 IS fighters handed over were "wanted" by the Iraqi government.

A commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, who declined to be named, said the jihadists were all Iraqi nationals and were transferred to authorities including members of military intelligence.

"Other groups will be handed over to Iraq, including families of the jihadists," said the commander.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said that around 150 IS jihadists and family members were handed back to Iraq.

It said the relatives were taken from Syria to Iraq in trucks of the US-led coalition that has been fighting the jihadists in the two countries.

SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali dismissed Iraq's claims.

"We deny this information part and parcel," he said.

SDF forces, backed by coalition air strikes, have trapped IS jihadists in less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) in the village of Baghouz, their last sliver of territory in eastern Syria.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people, including women and children, were trucked out of Baghouz, but the SDF said that a large number of civilians remained inside.

At the height of its rule, IS imposed its brutal interpretation of Islamic law on a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq that was roughly the size of the United Kingdom.

But the jihadists have since lost almost all their territory and hundreds of foreigners suspected of being IS fighters, as well as related women and children, are being held by the SDF.

Syria's Kurds have long urged their home countries to take the detainees back, but nations have been reluctant.
US-backed Syria force hands back to Iraq 130 IS jihadists: security sources



Baghdad, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



US-backed Syrian forces handed over to Iraq on Thursday 130 Iraqi members of the Islamic State group who were detained in Syria, security officials in Baghdad said.

A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), however, denied the claim.

Naim al-Kaood, the head of the security department in Iraq's Anbar province, which borders Syria, told AFP the jihadists were "wanted" by the Iraqi government, while a commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force said they were all Iraqi nationals.

Iraqi forces "were handed by the Syrian Democratic Forces 130 Daesh terrorists wanted by the Iraqi government," Kaood said.

The Hashed commander, who declined to be named, said the jihadists were handed over to authorities including members of military intelligence.

"Other groups will be handed over to Iraq, including families of the jihadists," the commander said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a similar report on Thursday.

But the Britain-based war monitor said that around 150 IS jihadists and family members were handed back to Iraq.

The Observatory said IS family members were taken from Syria to Iraq in trucks of the US-led coalition that has been fighting the jihadists in the two countries.

SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali denied Iraq's claims.

"We deny this information part and parcel," he said.

The Iraqi reports come as SDF forces, backed by coalition air strikes, have trapped IS jihadists in less that half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) in the village of Baghouz, their last redoubt in eastern Syria.

A final offensive to oust diehard jihadists from Baghouz has stalled as SDF forces try to negotiate the release of hundreds of civilians -- mostly wives and children of IS fighters -- who are still inside the village.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people, including women and children, were trucked out of Baghouz.
Kim must make 'meaningful' gesture to see sanctions ease: Trump



Washington, Feb 20 (AFP) Feb 20, 2019



North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must make a "meaningful" gesture if he wants to see sanctions lifted, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday ahead of a second summit between the two men.

"The sanctions are on in full. I haven't taken sanctions off," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I'd love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that's meaningful on the other side."

Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi next week to discuss progress on the issue of North Korea's nuclear program since they first met in Singapore last year.

"Chairman Kim and I have a very good relationship. I wouldn't be surprised to see something work out," Trump said, without providing further details.

Trump reiterated his view that North Korea has "great" potential for economic development and suggested the Vietnam summit would not be the last.

At their landmark meeting in Singapore last year, the US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work toward "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

But progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Trump on Tuesday said that while he hoped his next meeting with Kim would yield much progress, he was also in "no rush" for results.

The two men are set to meet in Hanoi on February 27-28.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders meanwhile said Trump spoke by phone with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the two men "reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of" North Korea.
Were dinosaurs killed off by asteroid or volcanoes? It's complicated



Washington, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



Every school child knows the dinosaurs were killed off by an asteroid smashing into the Earth some 66 million years ago.

But scientists say the story may not be quite that simple, and that massive volcanic eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years may have contributed to the dinosaurs' demise at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Two studies published Thursday in the journal Science contributed to a longstanding scientific debate about what exactly finished off the mighty reptiles.

Before the 1980s, the dominant theory had been that huge and prolonged volcanic eruptions caused a rapid and deadly shift in the planet's climate by sending vast clouds of ash, gas and dust into the atmosphere.

Then scientists discovered the huge Chicxulub crater of an ancient asteroid impact off the Caribbean coast of Mexico, which they posited had sent so much debris into the atmosphere that it hampered photosynthesis in plants and killed off three-quarters of life on Earth.

Ever since, scientists have maintained a lively debate about the relative contribution of each cataclysmic event to the mass die-off.

The authors of the two reports published Thursday were able to date massive lava flows with far greater precision, whittling it down from around a million years to a period of tens of thousands of years.

"We are able to recreate with great precision the order of events at the end of the Cretaceous period," Loyc Vanderkluysen, a professor of geoscience at Drexel University in Philadelphia, told AFP.

He was part of a team that dated the vast lava flows known as the Deccan Traps in India using radiation measurements. The other team used a different dating method.

The expulsion of lava there over a million years left the Deccan flows more 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) thick in places today, a volume large enough to cover an area the size of France to a depth of several hundred meters, he said.

- No coincidence -



The new dating made by the two teams match up: one found that a "pulse" of volcanic eruptions occurred just before the mass extinction.

The other is less precise but suggests that the majority of lava flows came after the asteroid hit Earth, backing up the idea that the impact triggered an earthquake so massive it would have registered 11 on the moment magnitude scale, something never witnessed by humans.

That in turn set off a wave of volcanic eruptions that lasted some 300,000 years.

"That bolsters the theory that the impact was the main cause," said Vanderkluysen. "It's like shaking a bottle of Orangina, it can accelerate volcanic activity."

The close correlation of the two events -- eruptions and extinction -- is unlikely to be a coincidence, the researchers say.

Other periods of intense volcanic activity have coincided with mass extinction events said Blair Schoene, a professor of geosciences at Princeton and a co-author of the other study.

"The big question is, would the extinction have happened without the impact, given the volcanism, or conversely, would the extinction have happened without the volcanism, given the impact? I don't think we know that answer," he told AFP.

"The main take-home point is that it's not that simple. Nature is complicated," he added. "By studying both phenomenons in as much detail as possible, we can try and figure out what the whole story is."

Mapping the timeline of that long-ago mass extinction is crucial, Schoene said, to understanding the consequences of the current so-called "sixth extinction,' which humans are currently causing.
The daughter of acting North Korean Ambassador to Italy Jo Song-gil, who disappeared with his family last November, was taken back to the North by state security agents, another defector claimed Wednesday.

Thae Yong-ho, the former No. 2 at the North Korean Embassy in London, claimed he confirmed the daughter's abduction through various channels.

"I don't know how many children Jo has, but the child that was in Italy was sent back North," Thae told the Chosun Ilbo. "Jo and his wife are together now."

He added, "I am no longer in a situation where I can publicly urge Jo to defect to South Korea. North Koreans who defect to South Korea are branded traitors and their families face tougher punishment, but if they live quietly in the U.S. or Europe, the punishment is less severe."

Earlier, Thae called on the UN to protect Jo and wrote to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and the South Korean ambassador to Italy.

"I thought it was strange that I didn't get a response from anyone, but now I understand. They kept silent because of Jo's daughter, and I think I should also keep quiet from now on."


Google moves to fix YouTube glitch exploited for child porn



Washington, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



Google-owned YouTube said Thursday it was taking action to close a loophole that enabled users to share comments and links on child pornography over the video-sharing service.

The response came after a YouTube creator this week revealed what he called a "wormhole" that allowed comments and connections on child porn alongside innocuous videos.

"Any content -- including comments -- that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube," a YouTube spokesman said in an email response to an AFP query.

"We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors. There's more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly."

The move came after Matt Watson, a YouTube creator with some 26,000 subscribers, revealed the workings of what he termed a "wormhole" into a pedophile ring that allowed users to trade social media contacts and links to child porn in YouTube comments.

Watson, who uses the name MattsWhatItIs, added that YouTube's recommendation algorithm "due to some kind of glitch is actually facilitating this."

Because ads automatically appear with many YouTube videos, Watson said the actions of the company amounted to "monetizing" the exploitation.

The post by Watson sparked a series of news reports, and according to some media, boycotts of YouTube ads from major firms including Nestle and Disney.

The glitch appeared to allow some users to circumvent bans on child porn by Google and other internet platforms.

YouTube said it was taking "an aggressive approach, beyond our normal protections" by disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors, and by removing "inappropriate comments" alongside videos.

The company said it was also reporting any illegal comments to authorities.
Climate activist Thunberg urges EU to double its carbon reduction targets



Brussels, Feb 21 (AFP) Feb 21, 2019



Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has inspired pupils worldwide to boycott classes, urged the European Union on Thursday to double its ambition for greenhouse gas cuts.

At an EU conference, Thunberg warned that politicians who fail to tackle climate change will be "remembered as the greatest villains of all time" for leading the world to disaster.

"If the EU is to make its fair contribution to staying within the (Paris climate deal) carbon budget for a two-degree limit, it means a minimum of 80 percent reduction by 2030," Thunberg told the conference, receiving warm applause.

"And that includes aviation and shipping," she said in a ten-minute speech before European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and EU civil society. "So around twice as ambitious as the current proposal."

Under the 2015 Paris deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the 28-nation EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990.

EU officials are now talking of increasing the figure to 45 percent.

The young Swede alluded to warnings from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) that warming is on track toward an unliveable 3C or 4C rise, and avoiding global chaos will require a major transformation.

She said there was still about a decade to act to make such a transformation.

"If we fail to do so, then all our achievements and progress have been for nothing," she said.

"And all that will remain of our political leaders legacy will be the greatest failure of human history," Thunberg said. "And they will be remembered as the greatest villains of all time because they have chosen not to listen and not to act."

Thunberg was joined by Belgian student activists who plan to march in Brussels for the seventh consecutive week to fight climate change.

She hit global headlines with her speech in December at a UN climate meeting in Poland and has received support from climate activists.

Every Friday since August, Thunberg has staked out a spot in front of the parliament building in Stockholm, demanding that her government step up the fight against climate change.

In the last six months, tens of thousands of high school students -- in Sydney, Brussels, Berlin, The Hague, London and other cities -- have followed suit.
Samsung launches folding smartphone, first 5G handset



San Francisco, Feb 20 (AFP) Feb 20, 2019



Seeking to rev up demand in the slumping smartphone market, Samsung on Wednesday unveiled a folding handset, becoming the first major manufacturer to offer the feature.

The South Korean giant also appeared to get the jump on rivals by announcing the first device for fifth-generation, or 5G wireless networks, one of four versions of its flagship smartphone, while stepping up its efforts in artificial intelligence and wearables.

The Galaxy Fold, unveiled at a San Francisco event, serves as a smartphone with a 4.6-inch display and unfolds to become a tablet of 7.3 inches.

"We are giving you a device that doesn't just define a new category, it defies category," said Samsung's Justin Denison at the event.

The Fold will be available April 26 starting at $1,980, the company said.

The launch comes with the smartphone market in its worst-ever decline with consumers keeping devices longer and waiting for new innovations.

Samsung made the announcement on the home turf of rival Apple, with the two giants battling for the premium segment of the market.

Denison said the Fold is "a one of a kind luxury device with immersive visuals" and offers "a truly next generation experience" that enables multitasking on its large screen.

The tech giant said the Fold can open up to three active apps simultaneously.

Samsung also announced its new Galaxy S10 handset, upgrading its current line of flagship handsets including one 5G device, getting a jump on rivals expected to make similar announcements at next week's Mobile World Congress.

"We are pushing beyond the limits of today's technology to inspire a new generation of smartphones and recharge growth for our industry," said DJ Koh, head of mobile communications at Samsung Electronics.

"For those who say everything possible has already been done, I say open your mind and get ready for the dawn of a new mobile era. Buckle your seatbelt, the future is about to begin."







- Unfolding future -



He said the Galaxy Fold was designed "for those that want to experience what a premium foldable device can do, beyond the limitations of a traditional smartphone."

Analyst Bob O'Donnell of Technalysis Research said on Twitter: "As expected, it's not cheap, but the #GalaxyFold will still be THE device for gadget lovers."

The S10 handsets, coming in four versions including the 5G model, will offer improved color display with active matrix organic light emitting (AMOLED) technology, improved battery life and upgraded cameras.

They will feature Ai-enhanced software and wireless charging capabilities -- allowing users to charge itself and a second device simultaneously.

No price or release date was announced for the S10 5G version. Other options include the S10e starting at $749, and the largest version, S10 Plus at $999, which will be available March 8.



- AI and wearables -



Samsung also announced that its digital assistant Bixby will be available in new languages -- British English, German, Italian and Spanish -- in addition to the already available US English, Korean and Mandarin Chinese.

The move helps Samsung step up efforts in the rapidly growing field of voice-based artificial intelligence dominated by Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant.

"We are strongly committed to our AI business, and continuously expanding Bixby's intelligence capabilities to provide more users with the best possible AI experience," said Eui-Suk Chung, Samsung's head of software and AI.

The company also introduced a new lineup of wearable tech devices including its Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch, Galaxy Fit trackers and its cord-free earbuds, called Galaxy Buds.

The smartwatch will supports apps designed to monitor blood pressure and stress indicators and is designed to detect a variety of workouts including running, biking and rowing.

"Consumers are increasingly putting their overall wellbeing at the center of their lifestyle decisions, and they're looking for wearables that make it easier to get active and stay balanced every day," said Koh.

The Samsung Fold is aimed at popularizing new kinds of displays in a future where devices can be more easily folded or rolled up.

Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Chinese startup Royole showed off what it claimed is the first foldable smartphone, which can fit into a pocket but unfold into a full-sized tablet computer, which is available in China and the US for some $1,300.

Samsung at the same time is opening three US retail stores to promote its Galaxy line of smartphones, stepping up competition on Apple's home turf.

gc-rl/jm

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

APPLE INC.
SCHOOL NEWS

Jeffers retires after more than 20 years of service

Jeffers retires after more than 20 years of service
Nancy Madsen has written for newspapers in Watertown, N.Y., and Mankato, as well as for PolitiFact Virginia at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Va. Nancy is a graduate of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., and Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y.
Cheong Wa Dae plans to make April 11 a one-off national holiday this year to celebrate the centennial of the Korean government-in-exile in Shanghai, China in 1919.

"The office is currently gathering opinions of various bodies, and it has not been confirmed yet," one insider at the presidential office said.

A temporary holiday can be declared by Cabinet approval. The anniversary used to be April 13, according to a government decision in 1989, but it was changed to April 11 this year because newly discovered historical documents show it was wrong.

Academics proposed April 11 based on the day when the name of the country, the charter, and the cabinet were decided.


Jeffrey Jackson is the managing editor of the Owatonna People's Press. He can be reached at 507-444-2371 or via email at jjackson@owatonna.com
Weather Alert

...URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING EXPECTED... Thunderstorms with heavy rain will cause minor flooding in the following counties... Goodhue...Rice... * Until 600 PM CDT. * At 155 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This will cause urban and small stream flooding in the area. Up to two inches of rain have already fallen, with additional rainfall expected. * Some locations that will experience flooding include... Faribault, Northfield, Cannon Falls, Dundas, Stanton, Nerstrand, Bridgewater, Wastedo and Lake Byllesby. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. &&
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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(0x7fbff93d1e00)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff941eff0)', '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(0x7fbff93d1e00)') 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(0x7fbff941eff0)') 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(0x7fbff93105f0)') 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(0x7fbff941eff0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff941eff0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8ae7480)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff9437d38)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff9437d38)') 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(0x7fbffaef2a08)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd35a020)', '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(0x7fbffaef2a08)') 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(0x7fbffd35a020)') 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(0x7fbffae7def0)') 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(0x7fbffd35a020)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd35a020)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8ae6df8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffdcc0678)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffdcc0678)') 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(0x7fbff93f9948)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff941d240)', '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(0x7fbff93f9948)') 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(0x7fbff941d240)') 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(0x7fbff9288c60)') 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(0x7fbff941d240)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff941d240)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8ae9038)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff939acf0)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff939acf0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Page Content

President of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Michele M. Paige said this week we in the industry are proud to sail full steam ahead with numerous progressive initiatives from world-leading environmental innovations to empowering minorities in the workplace and embracing all people and communities, including LGBTQ, who incidentally tend to travel and spend more in destinations than average.





Her statement follows a series of questions and negative comments made by Opposition Members in the Parliament of St. Maarten regarding the recent travel of Tourism Minister the Honourable Stuart Johnson in which the opposition members questioned whether the trip was a family cruise or a gay cruise.





Paige said, Our recent PAMAC Cruise Summit was anything but a typical pleasure cruise. As a fixture of our Platinum Membership program for more than 20 years, it is one of our annual events giving our Platinum Members, key private and public sector representatives throughout Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America, a direct line to executives from our Member Lines, which account for about 95 percent of the global ocean cruising capacity.





This year's event featured nearly 30 high-level executives who decide where ships call, what is sold and used on board, and how to invest in destinations and infrastructure, along with ample opportunities to develop business and relationships through everything from scheduled one-on-one meetings. A large-scale meeting between all members and executives, and networking functions, to informal meetings both on board and on land, with St. Maarten also maximizes the chance to impress the prestigious audience with an exclusive excursion and preview of the upcoming PAMAC Conference that will be hosted at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino & Spa this June 12-15.





It was also the opinion of the opposition that the decision to travel to attend the summit did not supersede Johnsons responsibility as Shareholder Representative of PJIA to address the financially precarious situation at the Princess Juliana International Airport 9pjIA) at the time. Johnson maintained that all provisions for the USD$5 million liquidity support were in place with the full support of the Council of Ministers. When he learnt the preparations for liquidity support, had a bump in the road Johnson cut short the Summit and convened an emergency meeting with the Minister of Finance and the Airport upon his return to ensure, with the help of his colleague Minister, that the airport workers received their salary.





The need to protect and improve the quality of the Cruise Industry on St. Maarten and address concerns from Taxi Drivers, Tour Operators and other local businesses were amongst the reasons given for attending the PAMAC Summit. The event was also a forum for discussing the concerns of cruise passengers and finding ways to improve visitor experience. Paige said, "Considering the decision-making power at our events, it is no surprise that they have been the spawning point for everything from new tours to entire destination developments, and from securing an inaugural call to 1,000 per cent increases in passenger arrivals. Paige said, Minister Johnson and Port St Maarten are well aware of





this. Their regular participation at our meetings and events in conjunction with their constant communication, partnership and willingness to implement feedback and initiatives has been absolutely crucial in the destination actualising the potential of cruise tourism. This includes St. Maarten being able to boast having the second-highest average spend per passenger ($142.23) in the 2018 BREA study.





From the perspective of the PAMAC Cruise, Minister Johnson's attendance was necessary to discuss the destination's recent and pending initiatives to continue its reinvention following the 2017 storms and offer more experiences with the aim of converting additional cruisers to overnight guests and attracting homeported vessels. In the bigger picture, his work with us following the storms was essential in navigating the destination through that tragic time rebounding to 1.6 million in 2018 along with also being poised to beat its record guest satisfaction level, as shared at the PAMAC Cruise.





According to the FCCA President one of the reasons St. Maarten has become a premier cruise destination extends past the focus on constant improvement, from first implementing water transportation, and centres instead on the constant of that equation provided by Port St. Maarten.





Paige said, Consistency with our destination partners is always advantageous. At FCCA, our largest role is forging partnerships with private and public sector representatives, educating about the industry and then working to mutual understanding and success between our partners and Member Lines.





With this mutual understanding already in place, the path is streamlined to discuss and develop initiatives building that mutual success and building on FCCAs foundation: to maximize cruise passenger, crew and cruise line spending, as well as enhance the destination experience and increase the amount of cruise passengers returning as stay-over visitors.




Page Content

Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour, is closely monitoring the measles situation in Europe, as well as the USA and the Caribbean.





Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause potentially serious illness. As measles remains endemic in most parts of the world, it can spread to any country, including those that have eliminated the disease.





Every un- or under-immunized person regardless of age is therefore at risk of contracting the disease; this is especially true in those countries where persistently low immunization rates increase the risk of a large outbreak with possible tragic consequences.





Countries should achieve and/or sustain at least 95% coverage with two doses of measles-containing vaccine to prevent circulation in the event of an importation of measles.





Travelers who are not up to date with their vaccinations are at higher risk of contracting measles when in close contact with travelers from countries where the virus is still circulating.





The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged European countries to target their interventions to those places and groups where immunization gaps persist.





The WHO says measles killed 72 children and adults in the European Region in 2018. According to monthly country reports for January to December 2018 (received as of 01 February 2019), 82, 596 people in 47 of 53 countries contracted measles. In countries reporting hospitalization data, nearly 2/3 (61%) of measles cases were hospitalized. The total number of people infected with the virus in 2018 was the highest this decade: 3 times the total reported in 2017 and 15 times the record low number of people affected in 2016.





CPS advises guardians and parents to check their childrens vaccination status to see whether they are up to date, adding that it is important to keep the Americas Region measles-free.





If persons decide to travel, they should also check their vaccination status and to make use of every opportunity to get vaccinated according to the vaccination schedule. Consult your physician for additional information.





The majority of people who get measles are unvaccinated.





Other individuals who should get their vaccination status checked are, health care workers, pregnant women, pre-and exam class students, as well as groups at risks such as waste/garbage handlers, the Police, hotel and restaurant workers, and others to verify and update their vaccination status, particularly on Hepatitis B and Tetanus.





Immunization averts an estimated two-three million deaths every year, protecting children from diphtheria, measles, pertussis (better known as whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhea, rubella, tetanus and others.




By Zhan Zhanglin, Li Jianwen

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (ChinaMil) -- The Logistics Department of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement on helicopter medical rescue with a civilian general aviation company.

The PLA Air Force has troops in many locations covering a wide range of terrains. Some units are located in such remote areas as plateaus, deserts, mountains, and islands, where medical resources are usually limited and transport conditions are challenging. In the event of an emergency, it would be relatively difficult to carry out ground medical evacuation. Helicopter medical rescue, however, is considered swift, flexible and possible over a long range, so it is the trend of development for emergency rescue in China.

This strategic cooperation with civilian company will help integrate advantages of joint military and civilian resources in future emergency medical support operations, forming an air transport medical evacuation network with medium- and long-range, all-weather and multi-domain features. It will open up air routes for the medical rescue of injured and ill officers and soldiers.

According to the cooperation agreement, the civilian company shall provide helicopter medical rescue services for officers and soldiers of the PLA Air Force over the next three years. When officers and soldiers need emergency medical attention, the company would provide timely helicopter medical rescue support as long as conditions permit.

The Logistics Department of the PLA Air Force will also organize qualified military hospitals to establish cooperative relationship with the company, and jointly organize medical personnel of the PLA Air Force to participate in helicopter medical rescue training so as to ensure the speed and efficiency of the rescue.
By Zhang Wenwen and Hua Bin



Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores sit atop a military vehicle during a military exercise in Venezuelas Puerto Cabello. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

Recently, the continuing turbulence in Venezuela has become a focus of attention for the international community.

Venezuela held military exercises from February 10 to 15 named the 200th anniversary of the Angostura - 2019, the country's most large-scale military drills ever. It is considered Venezuela's stern response of to the threat of the US military intervention.

Russia, a supporter of the Maduro administration, warned the US against its military interference in Venezuelas internal affairs, saying that it will definitely violate the international law and principles of the UN Charter. Meanwhile, Russia declared that it is ready to mediate Venezuelan crisis.

What behind the wrestling between the US and Russia is their contention for strategic interests in Venezuela. A British media outlet commented, The fate of Maduro has been inevitably thrust into a wider geopolitical game between the US and Russia.

For Russia, Venezuela is a pivotal point in its Latin America strategy. From the strategic perspective, Venezuela is one of the few Latin American countries upholding a stance against the US, thus, supporting Venezuela is favorable for Russia to gain an edge in its geopolitical wrestling with the US. From the economic perspective, Venezuela is a major oil producer, and Russia-Venezuela cooperation in oil and natural gas is helpful for Russia to control oil prices and take the lead in international economic competitions. From the military perspective, Venezuela is an important importer of Russian weapons. Maintaining good relationship with this traditional client will not only provide a profitable market for Russias military industry, but also add a military ally of Russia.

For the US, Venezuela is regarded as its backyard because of the geographical location adjacent to the Caribbean. Since the Monroe period, the US has considered Venezuela part of its 'strategic depth' and endeavored to foster pro-American forces in the country. Moreover, Venezuela is the worlds largest holder of proven oil reserves. Intervening in Venezuelas oil sector will undoubtedly gain an edge for the US in its competition with OPEC and Russia for the pricing power in the international energy market, thus solidifying the petrodollar system.

In general, the situation in Venezuela faces uncertain future. On the one hand, the US military intervention has yet to be approved by the US Congress, and most Americans tend to not use armed forces to solve the Venezuelan crisis. In addition, the US military intervention in other countries internal affairs will violate the spirit of the UN Charter and relevant principles of the international law. On the other hand, it is also unlikely that Russia dispatches troops to Venezuela, as Russia just breathed a sigh of relief from the Syrian battlefield, it may hardly have the ability to intervene in Venezuela.

Moreover, other Latin American countries are actively making mediation, in hope of creating an opportunity for political settlement of the Venezuelan crisis. And in terms of the Maduro administration, it still leaves some leeway though taking a tough stance against the pressure from Western countries. The administration declared that it is willing to dialogue with domestic opposition groups.

Nevertheless, it is doubtless that resorting to force cannot solve the Venezuelan crisis, because that will only make things more complicated and worse. Only when involved parties carry out inclusive dialogue can the Venezuelan impasse be resolved.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A military court on Wednesday convicted Fang Fenghui, former chief of staff of China's Central Military Commission Joint Staff Department, on three accounts of crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment according to law.

Fang was found guilty on accepting and offering bribes, as well as holding a huge amount of property from unidentified sources, according to the court ruling.

He was also deprived of his political rights for life and had his personal properties confiscated, the document said.

The illicit money and properties confiscated will be turned over to the state coffers.
A volcanic binge and its frosty hangover

A major volcanic event could have triggered one of the largest glaciations in Earth's history - the Gaskiers glaciation, which turned the Earth into a giant snowball approximately 580 million years ago. Researchers from Heidelberg University and colleagues from Mexico have discovered remnants of such a large igneous province that resulted from vast lava flows. At the time, it extended over three continents, which today comprises the Earth's crust in parts of Mexico, North America, and northern Europe. The basaltic eruptions must have covered an area of at least a thousand kilometres in diameter. The results of the research were published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters".

Volcanism is a natural process that releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Weathering of silicate rocks on Earth's surface traps atmospheric CO2 and sequesters it in carbonate rocks. "That guarantees long-term stability of Earth's temperate surface conditions in comparison to the hostile environment of its cosmic neighbours, hot Venus and cold Mars," explains Prof. Dr Axel K. Schmitt of the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University. Disturbances of this equilibrium, however, are known to have occurred throughout Earth's history. "At the end of the Proterozoic Eon, there were three worldwide glaciations. From space, the Earth would have resembled a snowball," adds the geoscientist.

Extreme volcanic outpourings resulting in so-called large igneous provinces could be responsible for these Snowball Earth global glaciations. When continental land masses break up, it causes a volcanic binge that also releases massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, which can cause short-term global warming. Then, however, the lava rock begins to weather. "The weathering process is especially intense at tropical latitudes. Over timescales of millions to tens of millions of years, the weathered rocks can sequester sufficient carbon dioxide to plunge Earth's climate into an extreme ice age," explains Prof. Schmitt.

The German-Mexican team which included researchers from the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenda (CICESE) studied basaltic dike rocks from the Novillo Gneiss in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. These dikes are the roots of lava flows that have been long eroded. The research team demonstrated that dike rocks from Mexico are indistinguishable in their trace element and isotopic compositions to dated rocks from Canada and Norway. Moreover, the Heidelberg team was successful in retrieving microscopic mineral grains of baddeleyite from the Mexican samples.

Baddeleyite exclusively crystallises in magma and thus is a reliable indicator for the timing of volcanism. In this case, with the help of a high spatial resolution ion microprobe at the Institute of Earth Sciences, the rare mineral was determined to be 619 million years old. According to Prof. Schmitt, this date perfectly matches the time when the rocks found in Canada and Norway were formed. The researchers speculate that the long-term climate effects of this large igneous province led to the Gaskiers glaciation approximately 40 million years later.

###

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a directive on Tuesday that directs the Pentagon to draft legislation on creating a U.S. Space Force.

It is "a bold, strategic step toward guaranteeing American space dominance," according to the White House.

"Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security," Trump said.

The Space Policy Directive-4 called on the Secretary of Defense to develop a legislative proposal establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces.

The Space Force, nevertheless, will initially be established within the Department of the Air Force, according to the White House.

In June last year, Trump proposed the Space Force to be "separate but equal" with the U.S. Air Force.

The new directive, however, stoked opposition.

"Space security cannot be achieved unilaterally or solely through military means. It will require coordination and cooperation with other spacefaring nations," said Laura Grego, a senior scientist in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement.

"If concentrating authority in a space force creates an incentive for nations to build space weapons that increase the likelihood of conflict, it would be a profoundly bad idea," she said.

The creation of a new military branch still requires the approval of Congress.
Washington: President Donald Trump on Wednesday had a phone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the upcoming summit between the US and the North Korea, the White House said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump and Abe in their phone call reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearisation of the North Korea and discussed the upcoming Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, top North Korea leader, at the end of this month.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he expected to see the ultimate denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula while pointing out that he had no pressing schedule for that objective.

Trump told the press Tuesday that he was looking forward to meeting Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), next week in Hanoi, Vietnam. "I think a lot of things will come out of it," he said.

Trump said he would like to see the ultimate denuclearization of the DPRK, but at the same time noted that he was "in no particular rush" given that the sanctions remain in effect and Pyongyang has refrained from nuclear and missile testing.

"As long as there's no testing I'm in no rush, if there's testing that's another deal ... I hope that very positive things are going to happen," he said.

Trump also said he discussed "probably every aspect" of the second U.S.-DPRK summit with his Republic of Korea (ROK) counterpart Moon Jae-in during a phone conversation the same day.

According to the Office of President Moon, the two leaders intensively discussed ways to cooperate for the success of the upcoming second U.S.-DPRK summit over the phone for about 35 minutes.

The ROK leader said his country was ready to assume any role, if Trump demands, to offer corresponding measures to facilitate denuclearization on the peninsula.

Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, was on his way to Hanoi in preparation for the summit between Trump and Kim, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said Tuesday at a press briefing.

Trump announced on Feb. 8 that his second meeting with Kim would take place in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. He met with Kim for the first time in Singapore in June 2018, reaching several consensuses which have led to the improvement of U.S.-DPRK relations.

However, differences on such key issues as the road map of denuclearization, U.S. lifting sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration still haunt the two sides and hinder negotiations.
The New Zealand dollar fell against its Australian counterpart after strong employment data across the Tasman but then recouped much of the decline after Westpac predicted the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut rates twice this year.

The kiwi was trading at 95.54 Australian cents at 5pm in Wellington from 95.72 cents at 8.15am. It was at 68.48 US cents from 68.61 cents and the trade-weighted index was at 73.98 from 74.15.

The data showed the Australian economy added 39,100 jobs in January, the participation rate firmed and the unemployment rate was steady at 5 percent. Full-time employment rose 65,400 with part-time jobs numbers falling 26,300.

Mark Johnson, private client manager at OMF, says the market had been expecting a 15,000 jobs increase. The unambiguously strong data prompted a rally in the Australian currency and pushed the cross rate as low as 95.34 Australian cents.

But the rally was stopped in its tracks by the Westpac announcement.

Chief economist Bill Evans says he expects the Australian central bank will cut its cash rate from 1.5 percent to 1.25 percent in August and to 1 percent in November.

We have revised down our GDP growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 from 2.6 percent to 2.2 percent, Evans says.

With the slower growth profile, we now expect to see the unemployment rate lift to 5.5 percent by late 2019. That makes a strong case for official rate cuts to cushion the downturn and, in turn, meet the RBAs medium-term objectives, he says.

The RBA recently lowered its 2019 GDP forecast from 3.25 percent to 3 percent.

Evans says momentum slowed dramatically through 2018 from an annualised rate of 4 percent GDP in the first half to about 1.5 percent in the second.

Moving from a 1.5 percent pace to a 3 percent pace seems to be a very large stretch.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Adrian Orr, whose cash rate stands at a record low of 1.75 percent, has said his next move could be either up or down. Economists from ANZ Bank and Infometrics are predicting a rate cut by the end of this year. Most are picking the next move will be a rate hike which the RBNZ has pencilled in for the March or June quarters of 2021.

Johnson said the discovery in Devonport of a second Queensland fruit fly, another male, had little observable impact on the currency market.

The New Zealand dollar is trading at 52.48 British pence from 52.50, at 60.33 euro cents from 60.47, at 75.86 yen from 76.04 and at 4.5864 Chinese yuan from 4.6079.

The two-year swap rate is at 1.8750 percent from 1.8969 yesterday; the 10-year swap rate is at 2.8750 percent from 2.4800.

(BusinessDesk)

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Planning rules will need amending if the country is to increase its use of renewable energy at least cost to the environment and consumers, MPs heard today.

The current national policy statement on renewables is very weak and doesnt give councils sufficient direction on how they should be approaching projects, Meridian Energy chief executive Neal Barclay says.

The company has also been working with officials on how the national policy statement on fresh water management could be amended to better reflect the countrys reliance on hydro generation.

They are hearing us, so I think we are seeing some movement on that, Barclay told Parliaments transport and infrastructure select committee today.

Theres no free lunch here. If we want to avoid carbon emissions and we want to decarbonise our economy then we are going to have to take a position on these renewables and were going to have to make sure they can get consented.

The government wants to see greater electrification of industry and transport to help meet its climate change goals. Last year, national grid operator Transpower estimated that up to 60 terawatt-hours of new renewable generation - equivalent to about four wind farms a year - could be needed to meet that new demand and also replace the countrys coal- and gas-fired generation over time.

Barclay told the committee that Transpowers projections are quite bullish and that he believes on-going energy efficiency gains will tend to feather-off the volume of new generation capacity required over time.

Hydro, geothermal and solar will all play a role, but rapidly falling costs mean wind will meet most of the countrys future load growth, he said.

Even if only two or three new wind farms were being built annually its going to change the landscape in this country - theres no doubt about it, Barclay said.

Thats why were calling out for a national policy statement on renewable energy that acknowledges that, and gives councils the right degree of direction when theyre assessing the national versus the local impact of new generation.

Trustpower spent almost five years consenting the 100 MW wind farm Genesis Energy and Tilt Renewables are advancing near Waverley.

About two-thirds of the submissions on Kaimai Winds proposed development near Paeroa are opposed. The company wants to install 24 turbines  some up to 207 metres high - on the hills east of Tirohia. A hearing is expected mid-year.

Meridian is currently reworking consents it has for wind farms near Waiouru and north of Napier so it can deploy larger, more efficient turbines.

Barclay told the committee that community buy-in is key to consenting new projects and generators should be held to the highest standards.

But he said the consenting process is long and drawn out and projects end up going through the Environment Court inevitably.

If we can do something that doesnt take away the onus on companies like us to do the right things by the communities and those affected parties, but can speed the whole thing up and get the right outcome, thats really what we need.

Earlier today, Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew told the committee that New Zealands hydro-generation means it can integrate more variable renewables like wind and solar into its power system, and more easily, than other countries can.

But that depends on the country maintaining sufficient deep fuel storage  currently provided with coal and gas  for when the lakes are low.

Other options, like pumped hydro, are all quite costly. New options will develop over time, but the country needs to be careful not to remove the thermal generation it relies on when the lakes are low until it has a cost-effective alternative.

This is a challenge we have to solve, she said. We need to work toward a solution on this.

Yesterday, Barclay told journalists and analysts that the governments target to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity supply by 2035 is not economically feasible; 95 percent may be.

Today he told the committee that gas is likely to remain the most economic option for backing up hydro for the foreseeable future.

The country doesnt need to dam new rivers, but amending the consents for some schemes could stretch the resources available and also help meet that deep storage challenge.

Barclay said Meridians consented projects give it options to bring forward during the next eight years. It is now looking to extend that pipeline. Other generators also have consented options and all have the right commercial incentives to bring those to market.

Barclay said some of Meridians longer-term options could include partnerships with communities, as currently happens with some Danish wind projects. Having a community owning a piece of the kit changes their perspective on why it is there, he said.

I dont see new generation being the issue at all. The big issue is largely about the deep storage we need to ensure that we can continue to support our hydro backbone.

If we can stretch the existing lakes, in terms of the flexibility that the hydro operators have, that can be worth a lot. It can actually go a long way to improving the deep storage issue.

(BusinessDesk)

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Summerset Group said full-year net profit was down 11 percent as the property market slows in some parts of the country, leading to a smaller valuation gain on retirement village portfolio.

Net profit was $214.5 million for the 12 months to Dec. 31, versus $239.9 million in the prior year. According to Summerset, the value of the company's investment properties increased by $210 million in 2018, compared with a re-stated $234 million gain a year earlier.

New Zealand's retirement village operators are on a drive to push new development across the nation as they latch on to an ageing demographic providing a tailwind to the sector.

The long-term trend was supported by rapid property price gains, where prospective residents selling into a rising market could pay higher prices for retirement village units. In recent months, however, a cooling housing market has crimped returns.

That demand to house the ageing population helped drive a 21 percent increase in underlying profit, which excludes those revaluation movements, to $98.6 million.

The company will pay a final dividend of 7.2 cents per share on March 21, taking the annual dividend to 13.2 cents, up 20 percent on the year.

Summersets performance continues to be sound with the 21 percent growth in underlying profit achieved in an environment where property price growth in key markets such as Auckland has moderated compared to prior years. This reflects good progress made throughout the business and the consistent demand for what we offer residents," said chief executive Julian Cook.

It sold 339 new occupation rights in 2018 versus 382 in 2017 and completed 301 resales versus 300 in the prior year.

Cook said Summerset built 454 new homes over the year, in line with its guidance of 450. It now has 25 villages completed or in development, and a land bank of nine properties, including two new land purchases. The new sites are in Milldale, north of Auckland and Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington.

Total assets now stand at $2.8 billion versus $2.2 billion in the prior year and the company has a landbank of 3,910 retirement units to support a lift in average build rate to 600 retirement units, over the next two to three years, it said.

Summerset did warn, however, that it is still seeing capacity constraints for construction in many areas of New Zealand, with Auckland the worst affected.

"We do not expect the pressure in the construction market to reduce in 2019. There were a number of construction-related company failures in 2018 and, while we have had very limited exposure to any of these, we believe 2019 may bring more issues and Summerset will continue to be vigilant in this area. We maintain strong relationships with our contractors at all times," Cook said.

He also said that progress in Australia continues and it is now seeking land opportunities.

"We are mindful of the property market conditions in the wider Melbourne area, which is our main area of interest. We will apply the appropriate safety buffers to our financial feasibilities on any sites acquired," Cook said.

The stock last traded at $6.28, down 1.4 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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Carpet maker Cavalier reported a $10 million first-half net loss but its normalised profit rose 68 percent to near the top of its earlier guidance.

That was despite sales falling 7 percent to $70 million for the six months ended December amid softer market conditions, particularly for lower-margin synthetic carpets.

The loss for the six months compares with a $1 million net profit in the same six months a year earlier but normalised net profit, excluding the $12 million write-down of Cavaliers now sold 27.5 percent stake in Cavalier Wool Holdings, was $1.9 million, up from $1.1 million in the year-earlier period.

In December, the company said normalised profit for the six months was expected to come in between $1.6-2 million.

Cavalier is in good shape and well positioned to take advantage of the global resurgence in demand for high-end woollen flooring, says chief executive Paul Alston in a statement announcing the results.

Earnings from Cavaliers wool buying business, Elco Direct were down amid low wool prices due to decreased Chinese demand, although the lower prices are benefiting the carpet business cost of sales.

The carpet maker has changed its strategy and is now focused on marketing its high-end woollen carpets and Alston says it had one of its highest ever sales months for high-end felted carpets in November.

However, market conditions on both sides of the Tasman are becoming increasingly difficult with reduced consumer confidence and lower flooring sales, Alston says.

Confidence in Australia is particularly low and sales are softening. These conditions are expected to continue and will make for a challenging second half of the year, he says.

On top of that, Cavalier will no longer have the earnings for the wool holdings business which contributed $1 million to net profit in the previous second half.

We are building on the success of our Cavalier Bremworth World of Difference positioning and have a number of exciting initiatives underway to build our market share in our home markets of Australia and New Zealand, as well as new opportunities offshore, Alston says.

We will also be releasing a new television campaign in the coming months, further establishing ourselves as marketers of premium wool carpet.

Cavalier will continue to focus on business fundamentals in the second half, including investing in its core operations, particularly a new IT system, customer relationships, expanding its global presence, innovative new product development and on exploring investment opportunities, he says.

While our second half will present some challenges, our direction and our opportunity are clear.

The company will provide full-year guidance once trading patterns results have been established.

The wool holdings sale in September yielded proceeds of $11.8 million and that and other initiatives reduced net debt to $17.3 million at Dec. 31, down 48 percent from the previous December.

The company isnt paying a first-half dividend.

Cavalier shares ended at 51 cents on Thursday and are about 2 percent higher than a year ago.

(BusinessDesk)

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Including all businesses, commercial land and buildings, and farms in the proposed extension of the capital gains tax regime is shaping up as the political sharp end of the battle that will occur over the next nine weeks as the government settles its position on today's final recommendations from the Tax Working Group.

A minority report from three of the 11-strong TWG, including the former deputy commissioner of Inland Revenue, Robin Oliver, supported only the extension of the regime to cover residential investment rental properties, saying they believed "administration costs, complexity and investment distortions that will result from the rules would outweigh the revenues that could be gained from a comprehensive capital gains tax as proposed, and it would not significantly reduce over-investment in housing or increase tax fairness".

"The minority group considers that a more limited capital gains tax could be appropriate if focused on rented residential property where most revenue could be raised."

New Zealand First is also expected to oppose capital gains tax on the proceeds of sale of small and medium-sized New Zealand-owned businesses and its leader, Winston Peters, vowed yesterday that NZ First would not allow the tax to apply to the sale of the family farm. Finance Minister Grant Robertson said today that the government would consult with NZ First and the Greens and announce policy decisions by the end of April, some nine weeks off.

It remains to be seen whether the TWG's recommendation that a farm sale as part of an inheritance - a so-called 'rollover' to the next generation of family owners - would not be taxed is sufficient to placate NZ First, which has billed itself a "no new taxes" party.

"The minority group considers that a more limited capital gains tax could be appropriate if focused on rented residential property where most revenue could be raised," said the report from lobby group Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope, legal firm Bell Gully tax partner Joanne Hodge and Oliver, a pioneer of mid-1980s tax reforms who left the IRD in 2011.

The tax accountant on the group, PwC's Geof Nightingale, was among the eight members to stand behind the recommendations from the group chaired by former Labour Finance Minister Michael Cullen.

However, other tax and legal professionals were quick to zero in on the breadth of the recommendations from a report which, itself, acknowledges both that the cost of capital will rise for small and medium-sized New Zealand businesses if gains on their eventual sale are taxed and that there is a sliding scale of complexity in which adding residential investment property to the capital tax net is the easiest.

Patrick McCalman, a tax partner at the New Zealand arm of global accounting firm Deloitte, warned that, as "a tax on transactions with very limited roll-over relief", such a regime would "present real concerns for private equity, venture capital, listed property trusts and companies engaged in the disposal and acquisition of assets.

The Tax Working Group's final recommendations to include not only residential investment property but all commercial enterprises, land, buildings, and farms in the proposed extension of the capital gains tax regime are shaping up as the key political issue and negotiating point between the governing parties.

The TWG report itself acknowledges a sliding scale of possible outcomes, in which there is "a clear case" for taxing gains on the sale of residential investment property, while "at the other end of the spectrum there will be greater complexity regarding the treatment of corporate groups, unlisted shares and business goodwill".

Listed shares, land-based businesses and commercial property were "in the middle of the spectrum".

The report itself acknowledges that "taxing domestic investors on the gains from their shares would increase the cost of equity capital for these types of companies and could reduce investment".

Finance and Revenue Ministers Grant Robertson and Stuart Nash said in a statement that it was "highly unlikely all recommendations will need to be implemented", although Robertson said that partly reflected the breadth of recommendations, which go into other areas of the tax system, including environmental and so-called 'sin' taxes, treatment of trusts and charities, and the tax status of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

The minority group also opposed a capital gains tax on business assets, saying it would "discourage investment and innovation and tend to lock businesses into current asset holdings and lead to double taxation.

"Concerns with the valuation day approach (taxing growth in the value of assets from the proposed commencement date of 1 April 2021) include its vulnerability to conflicting valuations of assets," the minority said, although the TWG recommendations propose a five-year window for valuation to be undertaken and that various options should be offered.

The group appears to acknowledge that business owners are likely to cherry-pick their valuation methodology from several options, warning that "some taxpayers might choose the highest valuation possible and not necessarily the most reliable".

Robertson said a public consultation would follow April's policy decisions, and only then would legislation be introduced to Parliament with the "intention" that new law be in place for implementation in the year after the 2020 election.

Cullen suggested today the government would struggle to meet its timetable, may need to call in help from other governments with stricter capital tax regimes, and that a staggered approach or implementation in 2022 were possibilities.

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand dollar fared better against the Aussie but lost ground against the US dollar after Westpac Bank said it now expects the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut rates twice this year.

The kiwi was at 68.02 US cents at 745am in Wellington versus 68.48 cents late yesterday. It was at 96.10 Australian cents from 95.54 Australian cents.

"NZD was caught up in a wild AUD session. Kiwi remains vulnerable to offshore headlines. Further volatility is possible," said ANZ senior economist Liz Kendall. The Australian dollar was trading at 70.77 US cents versus 71.63 US cents late yesterday.

The Aussie took a tumble when Westpac Bank said it expects the RBA to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points in August and then in November, bringing it to 1.0 percent. The bank also revised down its GDP growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 from 2.6 percent to 2.2 percent.

Kendall said, however, trading in the Aussie was turbulent as it was boosted by strong employment, fell on the Westpac announcement, saw some gains on positive China-US trade headlines but then sank on news that China's Dalian port will ban coal imports.

Customs at Chinas northern port of Dalian has banned imports of Australian coal and will cap overall coal imports from all sources to the end of 2019 at 12 million tonnes, an official at Dalian Port Group told Reuters.

On trade, China is reported to have offered to buy an extra US$30 billion a year in agricultural products. Kendall said, however, it would have little direct implications for New Zealand, since it would consist in soybeans, corn and wheat, commodities New Zealand doesn't export.

She said that RBA governor Philip Lowe's semi-annual testimony to the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Economics today will be closely watched, in particular after the RBA switched to a neutral stance, essentially putting rate cuts back on the table.

The New Zealand dollar was trading at 52.19 British pence from 52.48 pence and at 60.04 euro cents from 60.33. It was at 75.35 yen from 75.86 yen and at 4.5719 Chinese yuan from 4.5864 Chinese yuan.

The trade-weighed index was at 73.76 from 73.98.

(BusinessDesk)

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BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese peacekeeping troops from the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) exchanged experience in mine-sweeping with the Cambodian troops.

The Cambodian troops Commander Colonel Luk Saray led a group of 10 Cambodian officials visited the Chinese troops' camp on Tuesday and exchanged views on the implementation of peacekeeping missions, army building, emergency defense as well as safe and efficient mine clearance.

The two sides went to a minefield near the Blue Line to continue a practical discussion. The Blue Line, a border between Lebanon and Israel, was created by the United Nations in 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.

Saray said that he was glad to have exchanges with Chinese troops and thanked China for its support to the Cambodian side, hoping that the two sides would continue to strengthen cooperation and support each other.

On the day, Chinese peacekeepers cleared a total of 27 sq meters of minefields, finding and destroying 10 mines.

From last May to now, the Chinese troops from the UNIFIL has cleared 6,078 sq meters of minefields, finding and destroying 1,213 mines.
New Zealand Refining is investigating whether it may be able to bring forward a project to improve the shipping channel into Whangarei harbour by a year.

The widening and straightening of the channel will enable users of the Marsden Point refinery to deliver crude oil in fewer, but larger tankers, and could lift the refinerys margins on each barrel by as much as 30 US cents.

Chief executive Mike Fuge says the project is very exciting and the company is now reviewing its tank maintenance schedule to see if it can have the extra storage needed to cope with the larger cargoes available earlier.

If that can be achieved, the dredging could possibly be carried out during the 2020-21 summer.

The only question is, can we bring it forward?

Theres an opportunity there, he told BusinessDesk. Im not going to promise that we can.

Marsden Point is the countrys only oil refinery and produces about 70 percent of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel used in New Zealand. It is 43 percent-owned by Z Energy, BP and Mobil, and charges those customers to process the crude oil they deliver to the plant. Processing fees are based on refining margins in Singapore.

The total cost of the dredging project is estimated at $60-70 million, with the dredging component of that expected to be about $35 million.

A year of environmental monitoring is required before the project can get underway, and that work will start in the next couple of months.

Fuge said the storage challenge reflects how incredibly optimised the existing refining operation is, with about 60 percent of every cargo going directly into the processing stream.

To cater for an increase in cargoes from 900,000 tonnes to a million tonnes youve got to work quite hard.

The company, which trades as Refining NZ, earlier reported a 62 percent slide in full-year profit after a major shutdown reduced throughput and regional processing margins fell.

Net profit fell to $29.6 million in the 2018 calendar year, from $78.5 million in 2017. Revenue fell 13 percent to $359.6 million, with average margins declining to US$6.31 a barrel from US$8.02 the year before. Throughput fell to 40.44 million barrels, 3 percent less than a year earlier.

As signalled, the sites the largest shutdown since 2004 reduced full-year earnings by about $43 million after running over schedule. Lower margins trimmed earnings by about $12 million while higher power costs and remediation work on the firms fuel pipeline to Auckland increased costs by about $3 million.

A lower New Zealand dollar, and a record 21 million barrels shipped on the pipeline to Auckland, recouped about $9 million of that.

The companys shares fell 4.4 percent to $2.16, taking their loss for the past year to 10 percent. Investors will receive a 4.5 cent final dividend on March 21, down from 12 cents a year earlier.

Fuge said 2018 had been a tough year but the record throughput and strong operational performance in the second half is very encouraging for the years ahead.

With no major shutdowns planned in 2019, he said the company fully expects to lift its operational performance further and achieve throughput of a record 44 million barrels this year. The current record was 42.67 million barrels in 2016.

The firm has maintained a raft of small upgrade projects since completing the installation of the $365 million continuous catalytic regeneration unit in late 2015. It continues to invest to ensure it remains competitive against larger, more modern refineries its customers can also buy product from.

Fuge said the company is re-thinking the final element of a three-stage project to increase the capacity of its fuel pipeline to Auckland. A drag reducing agent it is planning to trial in the third-quarter may increase capacity by 15 percent at lower cost.

The company is also considering a $10 million investment to increase bitumen production as part of its response to market disruption expected in 2020 when new requirements for low-sulphur shipping fuels take effect.

While its hard to know how the change will play out, Fuge said the price differential between products may widen. Prices for diesel and low-sulphur fuel oil may spike before flattening over time.

Fuge said the new requirements are a significant event for the global fuel market and the refinery  which has a bias toward diesel and jet fuel and can process heavier crudes  has to be able to respond.

Increasing bitumen production will enable it to capture more sulphur from its processing and also deliver marine fuel oil with 0.5 percent sulphur. The company may also widen its crude diet.

Fuge said the initiative was an example of the technical and creative skills of the refinerys staff, who identified under-utilised de-sulphurisation capacity within the plant and figured out a way to use it.

(BusinessDesk)

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Unprofitable brewer Moa Group plans to raise up to $3 million through a rights issue to help fund its acquisition of bar and restaurant owner Savor Group if the deal is approved by shareholders at a special meeting next month.

Last December Moa announced a conditional agreement to acquire the business it said would add $3.6 million of operating earnings in its first full financial year.

The conditional agreement is for Moa to pay $13 million up front for Savor Group, of which 60 percent would be in cash and 40 percent in shares. The maximum purchase price, if all contingent elements of the consideration were to become payable, is $21.4 million.

The deal is to be funded by a mix of bank debt, a private placement and a rights issue, it said. Today it said a $5.5 million bank facility has now been conditionally agreed with Bank of New Zealand, and Moa has received firm commitments for a placement of $3 million, at an issue price of 38 cents per share from a group of private investors. That includes $750,000 from a family trust associated with executive chair Geoff Ross. The rights issue will be at the same price.

The issue price for the $5 million scrip component of the purchase price will be the 20-day volume weighted average leading up to the transaction. If that matched the 38 cent price in the upcoming placement, it would equate to 13.3 million new Moa shares, or about 15 percent of the enlarged group.

Moa's shares dropped 2 cents in early trading today, and were recently at 42 cents. Its volume-weighted average price over the past 20 days is almost 46 cents, which would equate to about 11 million shares, or about 13 percent, for Savor's sellers.

The rights issue will be launched after the company obtains shareholder approval for the purchase at a special meeting on March 12.

The one-for-11 offer will seek to raise $2 million with provision for another $1 million of oversubscriptions, Moa said. It is expected to launch in March.

Moa says the deal team is working to close out all conditions and it is expected that the deal will become unconditional if shareholders vote to approve the transaction. Settlement is anticipated on April 1.

Shareholders will also be asked to approve a resolution to elect Savor founder Lucien Law and his business partner Paul Robinson to Moa's board.

Savor owns a collection of bars and restaurants in Auckland. It has also just opened three eateries and a bar in the new Auckland Fish Market. According to Moa, the group's new venues are meeting expectations.

(BusinessDesk)

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Managed funds, including KiwiSaver schemes, will pay unrealised capital gains tax on changes in the value of the New Zealand and Australian shares if the recommendations of the Tax Working Group applying to portfolio investment entities is applied.

Such funds should be "taxed on their Australasian shares on an accrual basis," the TWG recommends, meaning tax would be payable or available for refund if a fund recorded gains or losses in the value of the Australasian assets in its portfolio even if they had not been sold.

However, sharemarket operator NZX is warning that change "would narrow participation in the New Zealand market".

The rest of the capital gains tax proposals released today recommend applying the tax only on 'realised' capital gains, which are measured when an asset is sold.

However, fund managers are already used to the taxation of unrealised gains on assets, mainly shares, bonds and property, held in other countries and are understood to have advised the TWG that taxing Portfolio Investment Entities on realised gains from the sale of New Zealand and Australian assets would be an administrative nightmare.

Nonetheless, it means that the 15 percent or so of Australasian assets that a typical 'balanced' KiwiSaver fund would hold will be subject to tax when previously they weren't.

The TWG recommends offsetting this impact for people on low and middle incomes in KiwiSaver schemes by rebating the tax employers pay on their contributions to employees' schemes back into the employees' scheme. The group also recommends letting low- and middle-income earners pay the lowest personal tax rate, 10.5 percent, on a larger proportion of their income.

"These measures would help offset any negative effects arising from an extension of capital gains taxation," the group notes.

NZX issued comments opposing the proposals, which it said would "discourage investment in New Zealand businesses and stunt the growth of our capital markets".

"New Zealanders are already taxed on income used to acquire shares. Being taxed twice would be unfair," chief executive Mark Peterson said in emailed comments. He feared the changes would lead to increased offshore investment by New Zealand individual and managed fund investors.

"The recommendations outlined today are not fair on New Zealand businesses and may pose risk to economic growth," Peterson said.

A founder of the InvestNow platform that allows investors to pick their own managed funds said the proposals would "skew New Zealand investors away from local assets, distort the KiwiSaver market and mangle the portfolio investment entity regime if introduced."

Taxing unrealised capital gains on PIE funds "marks a return to the bad old days when Kiwis paid more tax on managed funds than direct share investments," said Anthony Edmonds. He noted it was TWG chair Michael Cullen who had introduced the PIE scheme in the 2000s when he was Minister of Finance in the Helen Clark Labour government.

The proposed changes risked "unintended consequences," said Richard Stubbs, a co-founder of Castle Point Funds Management, whose Ranger Fund was nominated this week for the second year as fund manager of the year in the New Zealand domestic equities category.

Leaving foreign shares under the fair dividend rate method "could disadvantage New Zealand share portfolios and see more KiwiSaver funds moved offshore," he said.

The TWG also recommends that individual investors claiming capital losses upon sale of an asset should be required to ring-fence those losses to prevent them being used to offset income from other sources.

Conversely, the group recommends against ring-fencing losses by investors in residential rental property if their capital gains are to be taxed.

(BusinessDesk)

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Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focused violence" to "establish a white homeland" and said, "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland.



Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since at least 2017, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and searched the Internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected."



"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.



...Hasson was arrested Friday on charges of illegally possessing weapons and drugs, but the government said those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg." Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland outlined Hasson's alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing in court documents a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.



"Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads," Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors said was found in his email drafts. "Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."

[Content Note: Threats of mass violence; white supremacy; misogyny; stochastic terrorism.]In yet another chilling reminder that the most urgent terrorist threat in this country is conservative white men with seething resentments and personal arsenals, U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson, a 49-year-old self-proclaimed white nationalist with a massive stockpile of weapons and ammunition, was arrested by federal investigators after planning a large-scale terrorist attack targeting Democratic politicians and journalists.Lynh Bui at the Washington Post reports Naturally, because white supremacy and toxic masculinity go together like rancid chocolate and poisoned peanut butter, Hasson was also a fan of violent misogynist Anders Behring Breivik: "Hasson had been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 people in Norway, and echoed Breivik's attack preparations."Hasson is responsible for his own vile views and his violent urges to act on them.But this didn't happen in a vacuum.Since the day he announced his candidacy for president , Donald Trump has been waging a campaign of stochastic terrorism , rhetorically putting targets on the backs of his "enemies" and hoping that shamelessly violent wrecks among his cultists will do the rest.And here is a man who decided to go on a mass killing spree, aimed at some of Trump's most frequently-invoked targets: Marginalized people, Democrats, and members of the press. before : Trump did not invent white supremacy, but he sure as fuck is doing everything he can to empower it. And that has consequences.No one knows that more keenly than Trump.
Press Release

February 21, 2019 Sen. Nancy files bill promoting breastfeeding Senator Nancy Binay has filed a bill seeking to promote breastfeeding by requiring couples applying for marriage license to undergo a seminar on breastfeeding and infant nutrition. Binay, who introduced Senate Bill No. 2051, said that once the bill is enacted into law, local Civil Registry will only issue marriage licenses to couples who can present a certificate of compliance certifying that they had attended a seminar on family planning, responsible parenthood, breastfeeding and infant nutrition. She said the instructions and information on breastfeeding and infant nutrition as well as the certificate of compliance will be given free of charge. "Early and exclusive breastfeeding of infants has the greatest potential impact on child survival. According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), breastfed children have six times greater chances of survival in the early months than non-breastfed children," Binay said. She said breast milk provides all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed by an infant. It also carries antibodies from the mother that help fight several diseases like acute respiratory infection and diarrhea which are two major fatal illnesses among infants. According to a new study published online by La Leche League on Maternal & Child Nutrition, breastfeeding is beneficial not only to infants but to their mothers as well. The study looked into adult conditions such as breast cancer, pre-menopausal ovarian cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and hypertention as well as into conditions that affect children such as ear infections, ulcerative colitis, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, gastrointestinal infections, obesity, and lower respiratory tract infections. Dr. Melissa Bartick, assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Hospitalist at Cambridge who led the study, said they found out that if 90 percent of American mothers had breastfed for one year it could avert 5,023 cases of breast cancer per year. For hypertension, the study found that 35,392 cases and 322 deaths might be avoided and only 55 women would have to breastfeed to avert a case of hypertension. Researchers concluded that more than 3,340 premature deaths in the US annually were associated with "suboptimal" breastfeeding, in which mothers breastfed for less than recommended, but in line with current rates. Most of the deaths, they concluded, were related to maternal, in particular from heart attacks and diabetes. Bartick pointed out that the study was not meant to put pressure to women but rather to raise awareness on women's health. For her part, Binay said it is the parents' responsibility to provide the "highest attainable standard of health' to their child. She said once the bill is passed into law, offices of family planning in every city and municipality will be mandated to give instructions and information not only those pertaining to family planning and responsible parenthood but also to breastfeeding and infant nutrition. She said the Departments of Health and the Social Welfare and Development and the Population Commission shall furnish each family planning office with the proper information and resources on current studies and research related to family planning, responsible parenthood, breastfeeding and infant nutrition.
Press Release

February 21, 2019 Double Benefit: Lacson Bill on PNP Rank Classification Signed into Law More at: https://pinglacson.net/2019/02/21/double-benefit-lacson-bill-on-pnp-rank-classification-signed-into-law/ Filipinos stand to benefit twofold from a new law authored by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson that provides for rank classification in the Philippine National Police. President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11200, which standardizes the way PNP officers are called, into law last Feb. 8. "This measure eliminates confusion on how our law enforcers must be addressed, and brings our policemen closer to the populace. More importantly, this allows for better coordination between the PNP and other law enforcement units in countering terrorism and other threats to national security," said Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001. Under the new law, the PNP's rank classification system will be distinct from that of the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with ranks used in addressing PNP personnel preceded by the word "Police." The PNP rank classification shall be as follows: Director-General to Police General

Deputy Director-General to Police Lieutenant General

Director to Police Major General

Chief Superintendent to Police Brigadier General

Senior Superintendent to Police Colonel

Superintendent to Police Lieutenant Colonel

Chief Inspector to Police Major

Senior Inspector to Police Captain

Inspector to Police Lieutenant

SPO4 to Police Executive Master Sergeant

SPO3 to Police Chief Master Sergeant

SPO2 to Police Senior Master Sergeant

SPO1 to Police Master Sergeant

PO3 to Police Staff Sergeant

PO2 to Police Corporal

PO1 to Patrolman/Patrolwoman Lacson said the rank classification system should remove confusion on how to address police officers, noting that people still tend to address them by their military rank assignments. "It has been nearly 30 years since the passage of Republic Act 6975, yet almost everyone has been more accustomed to the rank classification using military terminologies but are aware that they are referring to the police and not the military," he said. Also, Lacson said similar ranks between the PNP and counterpart members of the AFP will enhance their interoperability. He cited experiences of policemen and soldiers showing "unnecessary lags" occur when they have to check who are their counterparts. The new rank classification will also spare policemen of having to explain their equivalent ranks to foreign police forces during regional or international policing engagements. "We cannot afford any delay in coordination in counter-terrorism operations and operations against other threats to national security," he said. Meanwhile, Lacson stressed the new rank classification will not militarize the PNP, which will retain its civilian character. "The Philippine National Police shall continue to adopt a service-oriented outlook in consonance with its existing police-community relations doctrine consistent with its sworn duty 'To Serve and Protect,'" he said.
Press Release

February 21, 2019 Drilon lauds signing of Revised Corporation Code Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Thursday lauded the signing into law of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines, a measure which he principally authored and sponsored. Drilon defended and pushed for the passage of the measure which codifies international best practices "in order to make the Philippines an attractive investment destination that is conducive to business and entrepreneurship." The new law, according to Drilon, will strengthen corporate governance standards with the end view of improving the ease of doing business in the country. Its enactment, he added, is very timely given the country's dismal ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report 2019, where it slipped to 124ththis year from 113thpreviously out of 190 countries. The said study conducted by the World Bank measures how easy or difficult it is for an entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-sized business while complying with relevant regulations. "The passage into law of this measure is critical in our bid to improve the country's business climate and make our economy more competitive with the rest of the world," Drilon stressed. The new law, he explained, amends the 38-year-old Corporation Code of the Philippines and contains provisions that remove the minimum number of incorporators, allow the registration of a one-person corporation, remove the requirement for minimum capitalization, permit the electronic filing of reportorial requirements and allow attendance in meetings via remote communication or in absentia, provide protection to minority stockholders, among others. The amended Corporation Code would help simplify the process of incorporation to make the present corporate code attuned with the changing business landscape. With the amendment permiting the establishment of a one-person corporation, Drilon said it will be a lot easier for local business owners and investors to register their business with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Drilon said the new law would also simplify the name verification process, and grant a perpetual life as the default option for corporations. Drilon added that the latest law provides key reforms in four areas of corporate governance, namely: improving the ease of business in the country, prioritizing corporate and stockholder protection, instilling corporate and civic responsibility, and strengthening the country's policy and regulatory corporate framework. In general, the proposed amendments promote efficiency and encourage transparency in all corporate dealings - from formation to daily operations.
Press Release

February 21, 2019 Dispatch from Crame No. 471:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the mindless proposal of a sycophant NYC Chair If National Youth Commission (NYC) Chair Ronald Cardema had his way, our government should only sponsor mindless students and train them to be unquestioning citizens who cater to a tyrant's every whim. Cardema was quoted formally requesting Pres. Duterte "to issue an Executive Order removing the government scholarships of all anti-government scholars." I guess, one can only expect as much if we have a sycophant appointed to the premier office serving our Filipino youth. Unang-una, hindi requirement ng government scholarship ang pagiging bulag na tagasunod. Pangalawa, hindi bahagi ng mandato ng NYC na makialam sa malayang pamamahayag ng saloobin ng mga kabataan. Cardema should do his job and implement programs to help our youth instead of engaging in counterproductive politicking. His insistence in making these kinds of statements highlights his ineffectiveness and his lack of interest in carrying out his office's actual mandate. If he wanted to focus on engaging the NPA, he should have stayed and finished his training with the Philippine Military Academy. Duterte sycophants would have people believe that to criticize the government is to commit sedition. Never mind the fact that freedom of expression and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances are guaranteed by our Constitution. Ang pagsasalita laban sa kamalian ng gobyerno ay hindi lang karapatan, kundi tungkulin ng bawat mamamayang Pilipino. Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. At para sa mabuting kinabukasan, kailangan ang ating kabataan ay marunong mag-isip at matapang magsalita para sa kapakanan ng ating bayan. To quote John Kramer, "the people's silence is a tyrant's greatest advocate." Dapat tayong manindigan laban sa sinumang naniniil sa ating karapatang magpahayag. Ang ating katahimikan ay ang magiging daan para sa muling pag-iral ng diktadurya. Any public official who seeks to suppress dissent is an enemy of democracy and of our people. Our youth should be encouraged to think critically and participate in our democratic processes, not bullied to silence by those who seek to perpetuate tyranny.
Press Release

February 21, 2019 BINAY WANTS TO END DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HEPATITIS PATIENTS Senator Nancy Binay vowed to push for legislation addressing discrimination against hepatitis patients. Speaking at the Asia Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) Public Health Forum, Binay said individuals who are Hepatitis B positive should still be able to lead normal lives, even in the workplace. "Prohibiting people with viral hepatitis B and C from getting a job has no scientific or legal basis and should not be used to prevent someone from getting gainfully employed," Binay said. Binay, a member of the senate committee on health, said she supports the passage of Senate Bill 1520 or the proposed Bloodborne Viral Hepatitis Testing Act of 2017 which seeks to penalize discriminatory acts against people who suffer from Hepatitis B and C. "Discrimination in employment on the basis of being hepatitis B positive alone denies people their basic human and civil rights of being economically productive and contributing to society," she added. Based on the WHO estimates in 2016, around 8.5 Million Filipinos are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. Meanwhile, the Hepatology Society of the Philippines estimates that 7.3 million adult Filipinos are chronically infected making our country hyperendemic for hepatitis B. This rate is extremely high compared to other countries and is more than double the 8% average prevalence of HBV infection in the Western Pacific region. Binay said aside from legislation, education is key in ending the stigma associated with hepatitis. She said her office would study the inclusion of hepatitis information on school health curriculum to dispel myths and misconceptions about the disease. "Another way is to encourage people to talk about hepatitis. I believe the more we talk openly about hepatitis, the less it will be stigmatized," Binay said. "Discrimination has no place in our society. We must strive for equality for all," she added.
Sen. Bam relives Tita Cory's People Power journey, visits Carmelite Monastery

CEBU CITY -- Sen. Bam Aquino relived the journey of his aunt, former President Cory Aquino, before the historic 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted a dictator and restored democracy in the country.

On Thursday, Sen. Bam visited the Carmelite Monastery in Barangay Mabolo that took in and protected Cory and her youngest daughter, Kris, for several days before the bloodless revolution on Feb 25, 1986.

According to Sen. Bam, he got a chance to talk to the Carmelite Sisters, some of whom still remember the time when they gave refuge to the former President.

"This convent is very, very special to us dahil sila ang nagtago kay Tita Cory back in the 80s," Sen. Bam said after the visit.

"A number of them still remember that time, kung paano siya tinulungan ng mga Sister," Sen. Bam pointed out, adding that the Sisters offered to pray for him and his campaign.

Sen. Bam recalled that he and his mother, Melanie, were in Manila before deciding to join the others who were already gathering at EDSA at that time.

In a radio interview before his visit to the monastery, Sen. Bam acknowledged the existence of efforts to undermine the Aquino legacy, including that of his uncle and aunt, former Sen. Ninoy Aquino and former President Cory Aquino.

"Pero alam ko mahal na mahal ng Cebu si Tita Cory, kinupkop pa ng mga Carmelites noong Martial Law," said Sen. Bam.
BEIRUT, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese peacekeeping troops at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Monday and Tuesday taught first-aid knowledge at two public schools in southern Lebanon.

The first-aid skills taught by the Chinese medical team included cardiopulmonary resuscitation and hemostasis.

The Chinese peacekeepers, along with the Lebanese troops, also donated more than 100 first-aid kits to the two schools during the two-day event organized by the UNIFIL and the Lebanese army.

Haifa Gheit, principle of the middle school in Lebanon's southern town of Marjayoun, thanked the Chinese peacekeepers for teaching her students first-aid skills.

"I'm happy and honored that the Chinese medical team came to my school," she said.

Luo Maohua, commander of the Chinese medical team, said the Chinese troops are always committed to its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon by carrying out humanitarian medical assistance.
Since 1887 the Charitable Union has been providing free clothing to those who demonstrate need. Today it offers much more.

Handmade items such as baby buntings, mittens, hats and afghans sold in the gift shop the made by volunteers augment the work work of two full-time and 10 part-time employees.

While other moms sought out back-to-school clothing at retailers like J.C. Penney, Chuck Spaulsberrys mom went to the Charitable Union.Believed to be one of the oldest nonprofits in Battle Creek, if not the oldest, the Charitable Union provides clothing, shoes, household items, and toys, among other things, free of charge to individuals and families who meet certain income guidelines. The Spaulsberrys met those guidelines.Throughout his grade school years, Spaulsberry says, the clothing that he and his sister wore to school was provided by the Charitable Union.All through grade school we were clients of (Charitable Union). Wed get our winter coats from there if we needed them and back to school stuff every few months, Spaulsberry says. At the time as a kid I knew we had limited income and I dont ever remember being ashamed of it. I never felt bad about going there.The organization left an indelible impression on him for many reasons, not the least of which was its mission to care for the communitys most vulnerable populations with respect and dignity.So, when a friend approached Spaulsberry about filling an opening on the Charitable Unions board, he didnt have to think very long about becoming involved on a different level.The chairman of that board, Adam Dingwall, also came into contact with the Charitable Union as a child, but his was from another vantage point.I remembered from when I was a kid. My parents were Kennedy Democrats and they felt really strongly about giving back, says Dingwall, retired CEO of the Battle Creek Family Y Center and Charitable Union board chair.Dingwall was born and raised in Battle Creek and has memories of going with his parents to drop off clothing and other items at the Charitable Union. When his wife, Deb, began serving on the board, he said he got reconnected with the nonprofit.The organization learns of the needs of their clients through other clients who volunteer to serve on an internal Shoppers Council which has been in place for more than 10 years.The idea behind this is to tell us whats going on. Sometimes were not in touch with the people we serve and theyre the ones we want to talk to, says Teresa Allen, Executive Director of the Charitable Union.Though the organizations focus remains on children, a more holistic approach has been taken over time to address outside factors that contribute to the demand for services provided, as a result of that input from Shoppers Council members. This is how a work boot program began.In addition to providing access to free gently-used professional attire, the organization has been providing new and nearly new steel-toed work boots to anyone who can provide proper documentation that they have been hired for a job that requires those boots.While this may seem like a small thing, for individuals who dont have the financial means, it can often be the difference between becoming employed or not. This was particularly true for members of the citys Burmese community who faced an additional obstacle.Through feedback from the Shoppers Council, Allen and her staff learned that the communitys Burmese residents werent able to take advantage of the workboot program because they have smaller feet and those corresponding shoe sizes werent available and they were being turned away. Through a grant, workboots to fit them were purchased.Allen says in 20, more than 710 individuals received the free workboots. The program was averaging 120 people a year when it first began. Once funding started coming, the increased to 310 people annually and in 2018 increased funding enabled the program to grow exponentially.If you get a job in manufacturing and youre currently unemployed, you can get a free pair of steel-toed boots, Allen says. Its a requirement of the job to have proper attire. This is a barrier to many of families we serve to enter the job market in manufacturing. These are good-paying jobs, but they need the proper shoes. This is one more thing that determines who could apply for a job.Allen says when you can take care of the parents and remove obstacles that may be preventing them from securing employment, it benefits their children long-term.You can still be at or below the poverty level, even if youre working 40 hours a week, Allen says.New and gently-used boots are donated by businesses and individuals. Manufacturers also allow Charitable Union staff and volunteers to host boot drives at their facilities where staff members will bring in boots to donate. The organizations Be A Shoe Gooder Giving Tuesday initiative highlighted the steel-toed boot program which resulted in monetary donations.Allen says a strong base of supporters and donors have kept that campaign going. She says organizations that fund the Charitable Union are very supportive of these workforce development efforts.The majority of the jobs Charitable Union clients apply for are in manufacturing and most referrals for boots come from temp agencies that do most of the hiring.While the workboot initiative focuses on jobs in the manufacturing sector, the Charitable Union also has medical scrubs and hospitality uniforms for individuals taking an entry-level job, in addition to the basic business attire.One of first things a hiring manager can tell is that they need a proper skirt or shirt, Allen says. They can have that hard conversation with the job candidate and refer them to us.Those hard conversations expanded in 2017 to include a discussion about the need for feminine hygiene products which led to the creation of the Period Poverty program. Prior to this, the Charitable Union had these items available on an irregular basis.We got a phone call from a donor who said shed inherited all of these tampons through a feminine product drive. So, we had these products and in three months gave away 1,200, Allen says. We were like wow, then our families came to us and asked if we could get more.Once awareness was brought to this ongoing need donations were received to purchase more tampons and pads. Since September 2018, more than 12,000 tampons and pads have been given away.This is an area thats not talked about or funded much and these products are taxed, Dingwall says. When you think about the fact that if youre a young lady and you dont have these products, you dont go to school, and you dont go to work.Weve had female clients who use their vacation time to deal with their periods. Im really glad Teresa has stepped into this area because it really fits with what we do.Like the Period Poverty initiative, a call for bras was borne out of an emergency situation when a fire at an apartment complex in July 2018, displaced 79 residents, 20 of whom were women in need of bras. The Charitable Union was contacted by the local Red Cross chapter to let them know what the needs were.Allen says she and her staff immediately began putting together bedding, household items and clothing for the fire victims. The bras were another story.A local service club stepped up and said that they would write us a check for the bras, Allen says. It was an educational experience. We were buying bras for strangers and trying to decide about sizes. We were trying to be very frugal, but we wanted to get two for each woman.This highlighted a need that the Charitable Union was already aware of. If youre a low-income family and youre making tough choices, things like new socks or underwear are not high on the list. These also are areas that are sometimes overlooked by donors and supporters.Other areas that arent top of mind include prom dresses and wedding dresses, all of which are given away  no questions asked.On March 14, students from the Homer Public Schools will be the first to select from among more than 600 prom dresses. Allen says all thats required is a student I.D.If youre in need of a wedding dress and thats your barrier, Ill give it to you, Allen says.Free clothing continues to be the backbone of the Charitable Union which had its beginnings following a charity ball in January 1887.That dance was hosted by members of the Ladies of Social Responsibility, all of whom were wives of prominent businessman and members of local churches within the community.These ladies noticed children loitering on the street on schooldays and when they asked the children why they werent in school, they were told it was because they didnt have the right clothes, Allen says. Knowing that these children wouldnt be successful if they didnt attend school, these ladies came together to hold a community dance and used the $232.75 raised to buy materials and thread to make clothing for these children.Today the Charitable Union serves about 10,000 unduplicated individuals and they total about 40,000 visits annually, Dingwall says. Clients can come in once a month to shop with proper referrals or documentation that could include Medicaid, WIC, or Bridge cards.They are also asked for social security cards for everyone in the household just one time so we can see that these people really exist, Allen says. But, if you dont have a card we want them to come in and talk to us anyway because we might be able to connect them to other programs that can help their current situations.Dingwall says each of the collaborations the Charitable Union has formed are important to him, but he says the workforce development piece is especially significant for him because it has grown their base of support.Of the organizations $500,000 annual budget, 50 percent comes from grants; 34 percent comes from fundraising and community donor events; and 16 percent comes from revenues generated by sales, which are unrestricted funds, from a gift shop in the front of the building that houses the Charitable Union.The majority of sales in the shop, which has been in business for 15 years, are handmade items such as baby buntings, mittens, hats and afghans made by volunteers. These volunteers are among more than 1,500 annually who augment the work of two full-time and 10 part-time employees.Dingwall says the organization tries not to duplicate services provided by other area nonprofits. Major funders are increasingly encouraging nonprofits to collaborate where there are opportunities to do so.I think every organization in Battle Creek relies on donated money and grant money. Locally, theres always going to be a challenge whether it comes from individual donations or foundations and that pool of funds is not growing, Dingwall says.The Charitable Union focuses on being accessible to be people who fall into the Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed (ALICE) category, identified by United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo region.Our local United Way said we have a certain amount of people living below the poverty level and we know where the line is and that we have a lot of people who are employed and one paycheck away from being in trouble, Dingwall says. In 2014 the United Way started looking at where that population was. In Calhoun County, 41 percent of residents are at or below that ALICE line and 47 percent of those residents live in Battle Creek. Thats a huge amount of the community.The Charitable Union made sure that these are the people were serving. Were geographically located right in the midst of those neighborhoods where these residents live and close to the bus line, so they can ride or walk to us.Even though Spaulsberry has come a long way from the days of those frequent visits to the Charitable Union with his mom and sister, he has never forgotten what the organization did for them. Without this safety net, he says their lives would have been a lot tougher.It just gives hope to so many families, he says. For me, it really let me know at a young age that there are good people and organizations out there.
This article is part of State of Health, a series examining health disparities, how they affect Michigan's children and seniors, and the innovative solutions being developed to address them. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

When Julia Brodeur's* refugee foster daughter first arrived in Michigan from her home country, she spoke just enough English to tell her new foster parents what food she liked and what sport she was interested in playing. But when it came to the knee pains she sometimes suffered, the girl had no way to describe the sensations or talk about what might be triggering them.

"We realized pretty quickly that language barriers were going to be an issue when it came to her medical health," Brodeur says. "She didn't have the vocabulary needed to tell us what she was feeling, or even to explain her symptoms to a doctor when she was sick."

Brodeur's daughter struggles with any kind of physical discomfort, which isn't unusual for refugee foster youth with histories of trauma. But the result was a minefield of misunderstandings. The doctor once diagnosed Brodeur's daughter with asthma after she complained of being unable to breathe when she runs, not understanding that she was just having the normal experience of getting winded.

"A lot of the time she doesn't understand what medical staff are really asking her," Brodeur says. "I often have to act as the go-between, explaining to her what they're saying and doing while it's happening, and trying to fill them in on her history so they have a clearer picture of where she's coming from."

Having a health care translator like Brodeur is vitally important for many Michiganders who may struggle with health literacy  the ability to effectively understand and communicate with health care providers. Although almost everyone has likely experienced not understanding their doctor, health literacy issues may be especially pronounced for refugees, youth, and disadvantaged communities. But a number of organizations and programs in the state are working to bridge the communication gap.

Foster care agencies provide extra support

Anna Yamaguchi-Gradilla, an unaccompanied refugee minor supervisor at Samaritas foster agency in Lansing, says all foster parents of refugee children will face health literacy issues at some point.

"We've had young girls arrive here in Michigan from other countries, and struggle to explain something to a doctor or a foster parent because there's so much stigma attached to women's health in their cultures," Yamaguchi-Gradilla says. "As a result, they're afraid to talk about their medical concerns. Overcoming cultural barriers is very important if you want to ensure that people get the care they need."

Those barriers may differ depending on what community you live in. Yamaguchi-Gradilla says doctors in Lansing, where she works, are generally well-equipped to deal with the city's large refugee population, but Brodeur says doctors in her community are not as culturally aware.

Another barrier to health literacy has to do with a refugee patient's country of origin. All doctor's offices are required by law to provide translators to people who can't speak English, but Yamaguchi-Gradilla says that's "easier said than done."

"Finding a Spanish-speaking translator is relatively easy here in Lansing," she says. "Finding one that speaks Tagalog isn't!"

That's why Samaritas works so hard to make sure each foster family has the necessary resources to address their foster child's health care needs, whether it's sending a caseworker to doctor's visits or finding a translator for the child.

"That way these kids can get the medical care they so desperately need," Yamaguchi-Gradilla says.

Mini medical school teaches children preventative awareness

Language and culture barriers are huge, but so is general lack of education about the importance of preventative care. However, the Michigan Health Council (MHC) has found that one way to overcome Michigan youngsters' lack of health literacy is to begin their medical education at a young age. Mini Medical School, a program developed by the MHC, teaches children how to take care of their growing bodies while also focusing on the importance of disease prevention. Brandess Wallace.

"We cover a lot of ground with these kids," says Brandess Wallace, MHC's community engagement and education coordinator. "We talk about bone health, dental care, nutrition, the importance of exercise, and basic first aid. We also introduce them to medical instruments, letting them touch and play, which helps them understand the purpose of each instrument."

But this particular playtime addresses another major barrier to health literacy in children, and even in many adults: fear of going to the doctor.

"One of Mini-Medical School's goals is to address some of the fear and anxiety that children feel when they're in the health care setting," Wallace says. "We give kids a chance to interact with different medical instruments that a medical professional may use during a visit. That helps to alleviate their fears, and hopefully leads to more positive encounters with health care professionals in the future."

Michigan Health Council's Mini Medical School.

The whole point of Mini Medical School, according to Wallace, is that kids learn the importance of preventative medicine.

"It's more than just eating your fruits and vegetables and staying active," she says. "But to understand that, they have to be taught to take ownership of their own health and wellbeing."

Teaching children about preventive health, anatomy, and basic body functions empowers them to have agency over their own bodies, now and in the future.

"We want to promote health literacy and plant the seed that encourages Michigan's kids to advocate for their health as they grow into adulthood," Wallace says.

The state is making strides towards reaching vulnerable populations

Brenda Jegede, the manager of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' Health Disparities Reduction and Minority Health Section (HDRMHS), agrees that what we learn as children plays a major role in how we approach health care as adults. She says minority populations' fear and mistrust of the health care system are among the largest barriers to health literacy in Michigan. Brenda Jegede.

"We have to look at the relationships certain racial groups have with institutions," Jegede says. "Native Americans, for example, have a long history of being oppressed by institutions. So they're only slowly rebuilding their relationships with the institutions that provide that care."

HDRMHS public health consultant Shronda Grigsby says HDRMHS has worked with providers statewide to address and overcome those barriers. But how exactly does one overcome the ingrained fear of institutions that comes after generations of oppression?

"It can take a long time to repair that damage," Grigsby says, but even small steps can make a big difference.

"Having someone that looks like you behind the counter when you walk in, or seeing a poster on the wall that represents your culture, are small things that can go a long way towards helping people feel welcomed when they step into a medical health facility," she says. "We also provide training for medical staff to help them understand the existing barriers and how to overcome them." Shronda Grigsby.

HDRMHS is also addressing health literacy issues in Michigan by awarding capacity-building grants to health care organizations that can reach out into communities and directly impact disadvantaged populations. Jegede says several Detroit-area primary care clinics are currently using HDRMHS grant funds.

"It allows them to increase access to health care for people, with a focus on building relationships between patients and providers," Jegede says. "That helps significantly with overcoming some of the barriers to health literacy."

The grants allow clinics to provide training for onsite health care providers. Some also hire health care workers to do outpatient work in their communities, providing better education about available services and teaching people to advocate for themselves in a health care setting.

"Health literacy affects every aspect of people's care. People can't be connected to the care they need when they don't know it's there, or they don't understand what they need, or they don't understand what's being offered," Jegede says. "By investigating issues like cultural competency, historical relationships with institutions, and ethnic disparities in health care, we can work towards making sure all people in Michigan are more health literate."

* Name changed to protect the identity of the foster youth.

Sarah Hillman is the news editor at Capital Gains and has been writing stories about issues that impact people's lives for years. She is also the writer and illustrator of a children's book about leadership qualities.

Mini Medical School photos courtesy of Michigan Health Council.
Last year the IMO set a target to reduce CO2 emissions from shipping by at least 50% in 2050. This means that the not just shipping companies need to be involved but also related businesses such as ports.

We need to focus on technology transfer and research and development; we need expertise; we need IMOs Member States to come together as one; we need the Member States to bring forward concrete proposals to IMO. We need to involve all maritime sectors  not just shipping. Investment in port infrastructure is just as important, Lim told the High Level Conference on Climate Change and Oceans Preservation, in Brussels, Belgium, this week.

Initial steps to achieving the IMOs goals will likely include use of Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the Shipboard Energy Efficiency Management Plans (SEEMP) for ships, as well as gathering information under the fuel-oil data collection scheme.

As it stands the 2050 target cannot be achieved using existing technology and senior industry officials have highlighted the need to develop new technologies and fuel sources.

Read more: Revolution needed in marine propulsion to meet IMO's 50% greenhouse gas reduction target

It was noted that the global 2020 0.5% sulphur cap for marine fuel, should be seen as not only a landmark development for the environment and human health but also as a proxy carbon price  increasing the attractiveness of lower-carbon fuels or other means of propulsion for ships.
West added that 2019 will be a record year for Final Investment Decisions (FID). Notably, the webinar came a day after the FID for the Golden Pass project, where ExxonMobil and Qatar Gas will be teaming up on a $10bn LNG export terminal to be built at Port Arthur, Texas.

For the shipping side, Jon Chappell, Evercore ISI fundamental research analyst, stressed that the market could be seeing an incremental capacity shortfall of tonnage in 2019 and 2020. Data from one of his slides showed that, worldwide, some 88m tons per annum of new demand (from liquefaction projects) would come online during 2019  2020- implying a demand for 88 incremental vessels.

Volatility looms large

He emphasized the growing role of the spot market in LNG sales, with the implications that corresponding LNG ship charters done on a spot (or nearly spot) basis. He suggested that nearly 30% of LNG cargoes moved in 2018 were done under contracts of less than one year duration. The result will be volatility in charter rates; he mentioned that move up towards $200,000 per day hires with the onset of the winter season in late 2018.

Chappell explained that such levels - with time charter equivalents estimated to be circa $80,000 per day and $90,000 per day over this year and 2020 - were incredibly profitable for the shipowner but they do not change the overall cost structure for providing LNG, where he estimated that the ocean shipping component is approximately 15% of the overall cost.

Prone to overbuilding

Shipping is prone to overbuilding, a fact acknowledged by the Evercore ISI analyst, who expressed a concern that overcapacity could begin to kick in around 2021-when new vessel deliveries would exceed the implied incremental vessel demand from new facilities coming online around the world.

West had indicated that Australia has moved ahead of Qatar as the worlds leading supplier, but with Qatar set to move into the top spot a few years out. In the third spot, the US was described as a looming powerhouse.
Cruises between Milwaukee and Toronto

June through August, Pearl Mist will operate the 11-night 'Great Lakes & Georgian Bay' itinerary and seven-night 'Great Lakes' itinerary. Both operate between Milwaukee and Toronto, and visit numerous US and Canadian ports of call.

The 210-passenger ship offers all balcony staterooms, all-inclusive fine dining, beer and wine with lunch and dinner and guided shore excursions at every port.

Eleven nights

The 11-night itinerary explores four of the Great LakesMichigan, Huron, Erie and Ontarioas well as Georgian Bay, a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve. The program also includes a visit to Niagara Falls where passengers can take a boat tour of Horseshoe Falls, getting close enough to feel Niagaras misty spray.

Seven nights

The weeklong cruise travels through lakes Michigan and Huron. Passengers will explore the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world and picturesque ports. Through Pearl Seas' award-winning enrichment program, they can learn about Native Americans, early explorers, traders and European settlers who influenced and developed this extraordinary region.

Shore highlights

In addition to Niagara Falls, travelers will visit scenic Muskegon, Michigan, known as the 'Riviera of the Midwest,' and the quaint town of Holland, Michigan, settled by the Dutch in 1847, and home to the only authentic working Dutch windmill in America.

In Windsor, Ontario, they can explore the Canadian 'City of Roses,' and discover the history of the automobile at the Henry Ford Museum. At Mackinac Island, Michigan, visitors step back in time, touring in a horse drawn carriage and having lunch on the veranda of the historic Grand Hotel.

And in Parry Sound, Ontario, passengers can take a seaplane tour of the South Channel and Killbear Provincial Park.

Pre-cruise hotel package

Pearl Seas offers a Premium Pre-cruise Hotel Package with all 2019 Great Lakes cruises departing from Milwaukee, as well as transportation between airports, hotels and the ship in both Toronto and Milwaukee.
The circadian clock is the 24 hour cycle that regulates many physiological processes including sleeping and eating. Many factors affect this internal clock including light and time cues. According to a study published online this month in the Journal of Physiology, exercise can shift the circadian clock, with the direction and amount of this effect depending on the time of day or night in which people exercise.

Exercise has been known to cause changes to our body clock, said study lead author Dr. Shawn Youngstedt, a researcher in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University.

We were able to clearly show in this study when exercise delays the body clock and when it advances it.

Dr. Youngstedt and his colleague from the University of California, San Diego, found that exercising at 7 a.m. or between 1 and 4 p.m. advanced the body clock to an earlier time, and exercising between 7 and 10 p.m. delayed the body clock to a later time.

Exercising between 1 and 4 a.m. and at 10 a.m., however, had little effect on the body clock, and the phase-shifting effects of exercise did not differ based on age nor gender.

The scientists examined body clocks following exercise in 101 participants for up to 5.5 days.

The baseline timing of each participants body clock was determined from urine samples collected every 90 min to measure the time of the evening rise in melatonin and the peak of melatonin several hours later.

Participants then walked or ran on a treadmill at a moderate intensity for one hour per day for three consecutive days.

They exercised at one of eight different times of day or night, but each individual exercised at the same time on all three days or nights.

The timing of the body clock was re-assessed following the third exercise session.

This is the first study to compare exercises effects on the body clock, and could open up the possibility of using exercise to help counter the negative effects of jet lag and shift work, Dr. Youngstedt said.

Further research will look at combining exercise with bright lights and melatonin to see what impact this has on body clocks, as well as examining the effect of changes in exercise duration and intensity on the body clock.

_____

Shawn D. Youngstedt et al. Human Circadian Phase-Response Curves for Exercise. Journal of Physiology, published online February 19, 2019; doi: 10.1113/JP276943
Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Global White Box Server Market Insights, Forecast To 2025



This report studies the Global White Box Server market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global White Box Server market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.



The white box server market expected to reach USD 14.43 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 19.6% between 2019 and 2025.



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https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02191100959/global-white-box-server-market-insights-forecast-to-2025/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=21



White Box Server Market Segmentation:



White Box Server Market by Top Key Players:

Global White Box Server Market Analysis Report includes top manufacturers are: Quanta, Wistron, Inventec, Hon Hai, MiTAC, Celestica, Super Micro Computer, Compal Electronics, Pegatron, ZT Systems along with their company profile, growth aspects, opportunities, and threats to the market development. This report presents the industry analysis for the forecast timescale. An up-to-date industry details related to industry events, import/export scenario, market share is covered in this report.



White Box Server Market segment by Type, the product can be split into

Rack-mount Server

Blade Server

Whole Cabinet Server



White Box Server Market segment by Application, split into

Data Center

Enterprise Customers



White Box Server Market Segment by Region:

North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America



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*Major Highlights of White Box Server Market report:

-White Box Server Market Overview

-Market Competition by Manufacturers

-Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

-Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

-Market Effect Factors Analysis

-Global White Box Server Market Forecast (2019-2025)



Browse Full Report at:



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02191100959/global-white-box-server-market-insights-forecast-to-2025?source=releasewire&Mode=21



*Major Market Developments:



1)In April 2016, Google Inc. (U.S.) and Rackspace Inc. (U.S.) designed a server based on IBM Corp.'s (U.S.) upcoming Power9 processor.



2)In July 2016, Lenovo Group Ltd. (U.S.) established a joint venture agreement with LCFC (Hefei) Electronics Technology, Compal Electronics (Taiwan) is expected to start production for servers



3)Microsoft Corporation (Azure) (U.S.) planned to build two data centers in the U.K. in 2016. Amazon Web Services, Inc. (U.S.) also planned to build data center in London



4)In March 2016, Google Inc. (U.S.) contributed designs for its high-voltage server racks to the non-profit Open Compute Project Foundation, an effort to share designs for data-enter equipment that has changed the balance of power in the computer-hardware industry



Contents of the 15 Chapters for This White Box Server Market Study:-



Chapter 1 To describe White Box Server Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;



Chapter 2 To analyze the top manufacturers of Enterprise Media Gateway with sales, revenue, and price of White Box Server , in 2018 and 2019;



Chapter 3 To display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2018 and 2019;



Chapter 4 To show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of White Box Server, for each region, from 2014 to 2019;



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 2019;



Chapter 12 White Box Server Market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2025;



Chapter 13, 14 and 15 To describe White Box Server channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.



*Target Audience of the Report:

-Associations, organizations, forums, and alliances

-Raw material vendors

-Component providers

-Original design manufacturers

-Original equipment manufacturers

-Cloud service providers

-Operating system providers

-Processor manufacturers

-Research organizations



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The report could be customized according to the client's specific research requirements. No additional cost will be required to pay for limited additional research.



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Contact US :



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Draper, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- The warmer months are quickly approaching. Stores around the country are starting to display trendy bathing suits, and families are impatiently counting down to their annual summer vacations. Anyone who is looking to get the best body and enhance his or her look before visiting the beach or pool this summer is encouraged to try TruVision Health products for weight management and weight loss.



The company is proud to offer innovative products such as truCONTROL, which customers can rely on to kickstart their metabolism, boost energy naturally without jitters, suppress appetite to avoid overeating, and help users optimize body fat for a successful weight loss journey. Additionally, the company offers detox products such as reNUwhich is known to rid the body of harmful toxins and support optimal digestive healthand which added to daily vitamin regimen can help improve weight loss management results.



TruVision Health has designed its products with only the highest quality ingredients. New and repeat customers can trust that their health and wellness are in good hands when adding any TruVision Health product to their daily regimen. Anyone looking to take his or her life back, live a healthier lifestyle, and seeking proper nutritional supplements is encouraged to try the company's products.



To view and learn more about the revolutionary products that TruVision Health has to offer to customers around the world, please visit www.truvisionhealth.com. Furthermore, TruVision Health suggests customers check out its direct selling opportunities to earn money selling its products and receive a significant discount on all wellness products.



About TruVision Health

Located in Utah, TruVision Health is a wellness and nutrition company that encourages people to live healthier lives by offering proper nutritional supplements and a healthy lifestyle. Its purpose is to change the lives of customers through culture and business opportunities and provide high-quality products for health and weight management. The company's products are available exclusively through TruVision Health Associates around the globe and online at https://www.truvisionhealth.com/.
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Machines are machines for paper, plastic films, aluminum foil and flexible laminates. These Slitting Rewinding Machines are broadly categorized as converting machines and are used by manufacturers of Flexible packaging material in conjunction with Rotogravure/ Flexographic printing and Lamination equipment for the production of laminated reels and pouches.



The slitting rewinding machines are dominated by few European players like Atlas Converting Equipment, Kampf, ASHE Converting Equipment, GOEBEL IMS, Euromac, Pasquato, Universal Converting Equipment, Parkland International, SOMA Engineering, Varga-Flexo, Temac and Grafotronic etc. These players are mainly from Europe and have manufacturing bases located in UK, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic and Hungary. There are also several players from United States, Japan, China, Turkey and Taiwan, like Parkinson Technologies, HCI, Revomac, Toshin, Kingsun Machinery and Kunshan Furi Precision Machinery; these players sell few slitting rewinding machines to Russian market through agent and distributors.



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The high-end products are mainly from the Europen players like Atlas Converting Equipment, Kampf, GOEBEL IMS and ASHE Converting Equipment; While the other players are mainly supplying the low-end products.



The global Slitting Rewinding Machine market is valued at 410 million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach 530 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.9% during 2019-2025.



This report focuses on Slitting Rewinding Machine volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Slitting Rewinding Machine market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. Regionally, this report focuses on several key regions: North America, Europe, China and Japan.



Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables: https://www.qyresearch.com/index/detail/955771/Global-Slitting-Rewinding-Machine-Depth-Research-Report



At company level, this report focuses on the production capacity, ex-factory price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer covered in this report.



The following manufacturers are covered:



Atlas Converting Equipment



Kampf



ASHE Converting Equipment



GOEBEL IMS



Euromac



Parkinson Technologies



Pasquato



Universal Converting Equipment



Parkland International



SOMA Engineering



Varga-Flexo



Grafotronic



Class-Engineering



HCI



Revomac



Toshin



Temac



Kingsun Machinery



Kunshan Furi Precision Machinery



Comexi



Segment by Regions



North America



Europe



China



Japan



Segment by Type



Less than 1000mm Web Width



1000-2000 mm Web Width



Above 2000 mm Web Width



Segment by Application



Plastic Film



Paper



Foils



Laminates



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QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), expert's resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc.
Washington City, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Sitel Philippines Corporation today announced that it will be participating in the International Trade Council's Trade Mission to Singapore from March 25 to March 28, 2019.



Sitel Group is one of the largest customer experience companies in the world.



"The Trade Mission to Singapore presents an invaluable opportunity for Sitel Philippines Corporation to continue forging lasting international relationships and to promote ongoing bilateral cooperation with companies in Asia," said Raymund Anthony Ermita, Director Business Development & Account Management. "Sitel Philippines Corporation's participation in this Trade Mission will grow our position as a market leader in the customer experience field."



Included in the trade mission will be a series of networking events, seminars and presentations about business opportunities in Singapore, on-site visits and business-to-business meetings arranged by the International Trade Council.



During the trade mission Sitel Philippines Corporation will also be an invited guest at Internet of Things Asia (http://www.internetofthingsasia.com)  an award winning event, bringing together solutions providers, technology heads, design / solution architects, engineers, academic institutions, investors and start-ups together for an enriching learning and sharing experience.



Companies wishing to schedule a meeting with Sitel Philippines Corporation during the visit may contact the Trade Council's office in Singapore or email sing-mission@tradecouncil.org. For more information about Sitel Philippines Corporation please visit www.sitel.com



About the International Trade Council

The International Trade Council is a 64-year-old peak body Chamber of Commerce representing government export agencies, chambers of commerce and industry associations and businesses from 176 countries. The Council works with businesses to introduce them to new markets, understand the competitive landscape, find new customers, understand potential technical barriers to trade and meet the challenges of expanding in new and/or competitive environments. Council members include 19 national chambers of commerce, 59 state chambers of commerce, 73 government export agencies and 314 local business associations and chambers and approximately 28,800 direct corporate members.



About Sitel Philippines Corporation

Sitel Group's industry-leading subsidiaries provide BPO as a platform through traditional business process outsourcing, digital consulting and design, training and talent management, technology and innovation, consulting and analytics solutions across all stages of the end-to-end customer journey.



Press Contact:

Ron Nolasco

International Trade Council

Tel: +1 202 869 0988

E: ron.nolasco@tradecouncil.org

Website: http://www.tradecouncil.org
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- A new market assessment report on the Screw Closures market provides a comprehensive overview of the Screw Closures industry for the forecast period 2019 - 2026. The analytical study is proposed to provide immense clarity on the market size, share and growth rate across different regions. The profound knowledge and extensive examination of the trends from the yesteryear and future aims at offering the stakeholders, product owners, and marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the Screw Closures market for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026.



Scope Of Report:

Based on the types, the Screw Closures market has been further classified based on geography, application and consumption capability. On the basis of the product application, the industry is bifurcated taking into consideration those in demand and are an outcome of technology advancement. Region-wise, the performance of the industry along with the prominent vendors operating in the geography also illuminates stakeholders, business owners, and field marketing, executives. The different facets of the business based on parameters including new launches, acquisition and mergers and new entrants are discussed extensively during the study.



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The major players covered in this report are

Crown Holdings Incorporation (U.S.), Silgan Holdings Inc. (U.S.), RPC Group PLC (U.K.), AptarGroup Incorporated (U.S.), Amcor Limited Plc (Australia), Guala Closures Group (Italy), Berry Plastics Corporation (U.S.), Reynolds Group Holdings Limited (New Zealand), BERICAP GmbH Co. & KG (Germany), Rexam PLC (U.K.)



On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, including:

- Food

- Beverage

- Healthcare

- Cosmetic & Toiletry



To offer more clarity on the current business environment researchers probe into the import and export status, supply chain management, demand and supply, consumption capability and manufacturing capacity. When assessing the size of the industry special consideration is given to the value and volume of the products and services offered on a year on year basis.



Knowing the trends influencing the 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 behavior 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.



Understanding the market size

The size of the Screw Closures 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 Screw Closures report.



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Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers in these key regions:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Southeast Asia

- India



We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level 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



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In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of automotive genuine leather are as follows:

Historical data : 2014-2017

Base Year: 2018

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2019 to 2026



The study objectives of this report are:

1. To analyze and study the global Screw Closures capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast (2019-2026);

2. Focuses on the key Screw Closures manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

3. Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, analysis.

4. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

5. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

6. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

7. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

8. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.

9. To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

10. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.



Key elements from table of content:

8 Competitive Landscape

8.1 Competitive Profile

8.2 Crown Holdings Incorporation (U.S.)

8.2.1 Company Profiles

8.2.2 Screw Closures Product Introduction

8.2.3 Crown Holdings Incorporation (U.S.) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.2.4 Crown Holdings Incorporation (U.S.) Market Share of Screw Closures Segmented by Region in 2018

8.3 Silgan Holdings Inc. (U.S.)

8.3.1 Company Profiles

8.3.2 Screw Closures Product Introduction

8.3.3 Silgan Holdings Inc. (U.S.) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.3.4 Silgan Holdings Inc. (U.S.) Market Share of Screw Closures Segmented by Region in 2018

Continue.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Global Wine Packaging Market: Introduction:



Packaging manufacturers across the developed regions are focusing on improving distribution process, through economies of scales. These are broadly followed across wine packaging manufacturer, to optimize the resources available to the manufacturers. Globally, wine packaging manufacturers are focusing on providing environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging solution. Also, with increasing need for safe packaging among consumers is fueling the demand for secondary wine packaging such as barrels, racks, trays, boxes, carton partitions, etc. These factors are propelling high demand across wine packaging manufacturer operating across regions of Western Europe and North America market.



Global wine packaging market comprises of a broad range of raw material, but glass raw material, in particular, accounts a significant share of wine packaging market. The glass material is the primary choice of wine packaging manufacturer as glass material is nonporous and impermeable which ensures there is no interaction of oxygen with the wine. Moreover, with increasing consumption of wine in Western Europe market is accounting a huge chunk of demand for wine packaging.



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Global Wine Packaging Market - Market Dynamics:



Over the years, the changing lifestyle pattern across the developing regions of Asia Pacific is one of the prominent factors of increasing wine consumption with is directly contributing to the high demand for wine packaging. Also, wine packaging manufacturers are using sustainable polymer (PET) material for bottles which is recyclable and durable for a long term. These factors have ensured manufacturers to focus on producing wine packaging through reduction of carbon emission which is propelling the growth in wine packaging market.



A rising trend which is observed in wine packaging is the increasing use of corrugated boxes for packaging wine bottles, For instances Smurfit Kappa has designed 'protektapak' corrugated boxes which enables the manufacturer to replace expensive polymers. This factor is expected to drive the need for environmental friendly wine packaging which is anticipated to be pursued by other leading wine packaging manufacturers over the forecast period.



Global Wine Packaging Market - Market Segmentation:



Geographically, the wine packaging market is segmented into material type and packaging type. On the basis of material type the global wine packaging is segmented into plastic, wood, paper and paperboard and metal. Further, plastic material is divided into polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and others. Moreover, paper and paperboard material market is sub-segmented into corrugated paperboard which is further divided into B Flute, C Flute and F Flute. Whereas metal material is further sub-segmented into tin, aluminum, steel, cooper and silver. On the basis of packaging type the global wine packaging market is segmented into primary packaging and secondary packaging. Furthermore, primary packaging is sub-segmented into bottle, kegs and bag in box. In addition, secondary packaging is sub-segmented into capsules, barrels, racks, trays, carrier, seal wax, labels, carton partitions and boxes.



Global Wine Packaging Market - Regional Outlook:



North America

Latin America

Eastern Europe

Western Europe

Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

Japan



The global consumption of wine packaging market is highly concentrated across the region of Europe and North America market. With increasing year on year increasing consumption of wine packaging in countries such as France, Italy and Vatican City, it is anticipated to fuel the growth across the Europe market. APEJ region is anticipated to witness a surging growth with changing lifestyle pattern being one of the key driving factor for increasing wine packaging consumption.



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Wine Packaging Market  Key Players:



Some of the key players operating in the global wine packaging market include Brick Packaging, LLC., All American Containers, Avery Dennison Corporation, Berlin Packaging, Liqui-Box, RTS Packaging, LLC. Visy, THIELMANN The Container Company, Graphica Bezalel, Gallo Glass Company, M A Silva Corks USA, Owens- Illinois, Inc. Saxon Packaging, Shenzhen J&D Packing Machinery Co., ltd., Dongguan Huacheng Can Co., Ltd., Sambucks Co., Ltd., Amcor Ltd., Scholle IPN, Guala Closures Group, Golden State Box Factory, Naggiar, Nampak Ltd., Global Package, LLC., Amorim Cork America, KEYES Packaging Group, Packaging & Converting Intelligence, Waterloo Container Company.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- The latest report Rock Wool Composite Panel Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Rock Wool Composite Panel 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.



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Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Rock Wool Composite Panel 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.



Major Players in Rock Wool Composite Panel market are:

Alstrong, Louisiana-Pacific, Jyi Shyang Industrial, Swedspan, Egger, Weyerhaeuser, Changzhou Jingxue Freezing Equipment , Co., Ltd., Pfleiderer, Swiss Krono Group, Arauco



Most important types of Rock Wool Composite Panel products covered in this report are:

- Fire prevention board

- Water-repellent board

- Other



Most widely used downstream fields of Rock Wool Composite Panel market covered in this report are:

- Industrial

- Petroleum industry

- Construction

- Shipping

- Other



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



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Estimating the potential size of the Rock Wool Composite Panel industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Rock Wool Composite Panel 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 Rock Wool Composite Panel 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 Rock Wool Composite Panel 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.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Rock Wool Composite Panel 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 Rock Wool Composite Panel 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 Rock Wool Composite Panel 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 Rock Wool Composite Panel market.

- 1 Rock Wool Composite Panel Market Overview

- 2 Global Rock Wool Composite Panel Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Rock Wool Composite Panel Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Rock Wool Composite Panel Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Rock Wool Composite Panel Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Rock Wool Composite Panel Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic microorganism generally found in mammals and fleas. Individuals contaminated with Yersinia pestis frequently show symptoms after an incubation time of one to seven days. The three fundamental clinical types of plague diseases are bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. Bubonic plague is the most common type and is characterized by swollen lymph hubs or buboes.



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Plague is transmitted among animals and people through flea-bites. It can be a severe disease in individuals, with a case-casualty proportion of 30% to 60% for bubonic plague, and if it is untreated, it can be lethal. It is an infectious disease and can trigger widespread epidemic through individual-to-individual contact by means of droplets in air. Antibiotic treatment is effective against plague microorganisms.



Increase in incidence of plague is one of the major factors fueling the global plague therapeutics market. Rise in adoption of companion animals and increase in awareness about plague immunization are expected to drive the global plague therapeutics market. However, strict regulations for vaccine approval is likely to hamper the market during the forecast period.



Based on therapeutic type, the global plague therapeutics market can be bifurcated into vaccine and drugs. The drugs segment is likely to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period because of the wide availability and use of antibiotic drugs for treatment. The vaccine segment can be classified into live attenuated vaccine, recombinant vaccine, and inactivated vaccine. The live attenuated vaccine segment is likely to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period, as live attenuated vaccines have high antigenic properties which provide a prolonged stimulation to the immune system against plague. In terms of distribution channel, the global plague therapeutics market can be divided into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and others. The hospital pharmacies segment is likely to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period, as several types of drugs and vaccines are widely available in hospital pharmacies. Moreover, during pneumonic plague, a patient needs antibiotic within 24 hours to prevent death. Hence, patients prefer hospital pharmacies.



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In terms of region, the global plague therapeutics market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global plague therapeutic market. The region is projected to account for a significant share of the global plague therapeutic market during the forecast period due to increase in adoption of companion animals in households and high prevalence of plague diseases in rural & semi-rural areas especially in Southwest U.S. Europe is next lucrative plague therapeutic market for plague therapeutics. Availability of different types of plague vaccines, rise in awareness about plague diseases in countries such as China, India, Mongolia, and Vietnam makes Asia Pacific a promising plague therapeutic market for plague therapeutics during the forecast period. Advancements in drug delivery system, rise in awareness about plague immunization, and high prevalence of plague disease in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to augment the plague therapeutics market in Middle East & Africa during the forecast period.



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Key players operating in the global plague therapeutics market are iBio, Inc., DynPort Vaccine Company LLC, Bayer Healthcare, Pfizer, Inc., and AstraZeneca, among others.



About Transparency Market Research

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Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.



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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Social media is a networking tool which helps any individual to exchange, create, and share information photos, videos and others. In the current scenario social media tool has become the best mode for marketing, promotion and building social relationship across the globe. Photo sharing tool helps in storing, organising and sharing one's photo collections. Increasing internet penetration coupled with adoption of photo sharing tool as a marketing strategy among the social media platforms is fuelling the growth of photo sharing market across the globe.



Photo Sharing Market Segmentation



Photo sharing market is segmented on the basis of platform which includes paid services membership and free services membership. Among both these segments free services membership segment is expected to account for the major market share as compared to paid services membership. However, services provider are offering increased features and add on services in paid services membership which is expected to support the demand of paid services membership during the forecast period.



Photo sharing market is also segmented on the basis of application, which includes personal computers and mobile devices. Personal computers can be further sub segmented as desktop and laptop. Among both of these sub segments laptop is expected to be the major contributor on the pie for photo sharing market as compared to desktop. Increased in number of usage of laptop across the globe is expected to support its growth in photo sharing market during the forecast period. Mobile devices sub-segments include smart phone, tablets and notebook. Among all of these sub-segments smart phones is expected to account for the major share in photo sharing market as compared to other sub-segments. This growth has been supported by the increased usage of smart phone across the developing countries. Moreover, contribution of tablets in terms of share in photo sharing market is also expected show a substantial increase during the forecast period.



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On the basis of end user, the photo sharing market segmentation includes enterprises and individual. Enterprises can further be sub segmented as large scale enterprise, medium scale enterprise and small scale enterprise. Among all these sub segment large scale enterprise is expected to account for the major share in photo sharing market. Increased adoption of online marketing among the product manufacturers and service providers is expected to support the growth of enterprises in photo sharing market during the forecast period.



Globally, photo sharing market is expected to reflect a double digit growth during the forecast period. North America is expected to account for major share followed by Europe in the near future. Moreover developing regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America are expected to show a substantial growth in photo sharing market during the forecast period. Countries such as Singapore and Japan are expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue in photo sharing market. Increased penetration of internet in developing regions is expected to support the growth of photo sharing market.



Photo Sharing MarketDrivers



Availability of wide features for creating and sharing or collections of photos with one and another coupled with increasing connectivity medium is expected to drive the growth of photo sharing market in the near future. Moreover, increased adoption of social media for generating awareness and promotion of the product and services is predicted to fuel the growth of photo sharing market during the forecast period.



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Photo Sharing Market Key Players



Key players operating in photo sharing market includes Yahoo Inc., Cooliris Path Inc., Photobucket Corporation, Phonezoo Communications Inc., Trover, Facebook Inc., Bump Technologies LLC., and Hewlett Packard among others.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Belgium will continue to be the largest exporter of organic fertilizers, with total exports totalling 1.15 million tonnes in 2015. Netherlands and the U.S. will be the other two key exporters. In terms of imports, France continues to be the largest market globally.



Global organic fertilizer demand was pegged at 17 million tonnes in 2016. In terms of value, the market was valued at US$ 5.57 billion. Persistence Market Research projects the market to grow at 7% CAGR through 2025 and reach US$ 10.23 billion.



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According to Persistence Market Research's analysis, demand for animal-based organic fertilizers is higher than plant-based variants. While 6.84 million tonnes of plant-origin organic fertilizers were sold in 2016, animal-origin organic fertilizer volume was pegged at 10.15 million tonnes.



With the utilization of chemical composts and pesticides, there has been a significant reduction in the quality of soil around the world. To meet the rising demand for sustainable methods of agriculture, governments across the globe are supporting farmers to convert their lands into organic. However, there are some challenges here such as certification prices, premium prices of organic substitutes and less production. Hence the governments of both highly developed and developing economies have shaped various strong government projects and strategies like targeted subsidies, market investments, capacity expansion and research support for organic agriculture. Such government initiatives and subsidies promoting the use of plant and animal based fertilizers are fueling the growth of these two segments.



Use of organic fertilizers remains highest in the farming of cereals and crops. This application segment accounted for over 70% revenue share of the market in 2016. By volume, demand from cereals and crops was estimated at 12.53 million tonnes in 2016.



Historically, solid organic fertilizers have remained sought-after, and the trend is expected to remain unchanged during the forecast period 2017-2025. While solid organic fertilizers are projected to grow at 6.2% CAGR, liquid organic fertilizers' growth rate is estimated to be 5.1%.



Europe & Asia Pacific Collectively Account for over 60% Revenue Share



Europe is the largest market for organic fertilizers, followed by Asia Pacific. While Europe will continue to be the largest market for organic fertilizers, it will lose 2.3% revenue share to APAC during the forecast period. North America, the third largest market for organic fertilizers, is expected to account for 21.8% revenue share of the market by 2025-end.



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In its report, Persistence has profile key players in the organic fertilizers market, including Italpollina SpA, ILSA S.p.A, BioStar Renewables, Sustane Natural Fertilizer Inc., True Organic Products Inc., California Organic Fertilizers Inc., The Fertell Company, Purely Organics LLC, Pupuk Kaltim, and Qingdao Sonef Chemical Co., Ltd.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- The world demand for oil has increased exponentially over the years ergo leading many companies to invest in research and development. These companies are investing more and more in new oilfield exploration, especially in the Asia Pacific. These increasing exploration has risen the need for reliable and secure communication method. Quick and secure communication empowers oil companies to discover more onshore and offshore fields. Communications between onshore and remote offshore locations have always been an issue as companies generally search for oilfields in harsh and secluded places.



The robust condition presents an operational challenge that can be solved by oilfield communication solutions. Deployment of communication solutions with higher bandwidth can significantly reduce the cost borne by the oil companies. The major concern of oil and gas companies is to establish communication that can stand harsh weather condition and can be effective even under ocean water and deserts.



North America already has a widespread implication in the oil and gas industry. However, the regions to look out for is the Asia Pacific which is expected to have a monumental impact in the oilfield communication market over the years. Availability of skilled labor and increasing investment in the region will supposedly boost the market in this region. Some of the major key players are Siemens AG (Germany), CommScope (US), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China), Tait Communications (New Zealand), Ceragon Networks Ltd. (US), RAD Data Communications, Inc. (Israel), Airspan Networks (US), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), SpeedCast International Limited (China) and Inmarsat Plc (UK) among many others.



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In market segmentation by manufacturers, the Oilfield Communications report covers the following

- Siemens AG (Germany)

- CommScope (US)

- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China)

- Tait Communications (New Zealand)

- Ceragon Networks Ltd. (US)

- RAD Data Communications, Inc. (Israel) Airspan Networks (US)

- ABB Ltd. (Switzerland)

- SpeedCast International Limited (China) Inmarsat Plc (UK)

- Others



Market split by Type, can be divided into:

- Onshore Communications

- Offshore Communications

- Midstream communications

- Upstream communications

- M2M communication

- unified communications

- WiMax

- VSAT

- video conferencing



Market split by Services, can be divided into:

- Professional Services

- Managed Services



Growth in cloud-based services has also led onshore and offshore sites to stay connected which helps to manage and improve supply chain management. The smooth flow of materials is crucial for oil companies in order to avoid downtime. With pros in the technology comes the cons. The oil companies spend millions on these rigging expedition and are not likely to take kindly to cyber thefts. Increase in cybersecurity has also been a driving factor for the oil communication market. The different oilfield communication used by the oil companies is midstream and upstream communications, M2M communication, unified communications, WiMax, VSAT, video conferencing and onshore and offshore communication among others.



Oilfield operators are paying more for advanced technologies so that they don't need to have many people on their site. Sometimes, on deepwater platform, drilling companies have to invest million dollars, in addition to equipment for remote management capability. Fiber optics communication networks and very small aperture terminals are used across the value chain of entire oil and gas for data and voice communication. Companies are increasingly making use of video conferencing to maintain contact and RigNet provides a program that aids the needs for all other companies.



Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, covering:

- United States

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Southeast Asia

- India



We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level 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 study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Oilfield Communications are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year 2019 to 2026



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The Oilfield Communications research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What will be the growth rate and the market size of the Oilfield Communications industry for the forecast period 2019-2026?

- What are the major driving forces expected to impact the development of the Oilfield Communications across different regions?

- Who are the major driving forces expected to decide the fate of the industry worldwide?

- Who are the prominent market players making a mark in the Oilfield Communications with their winning strategies?

- Which industry trends are likely to shape the future of the industry during the forecast period 2019-2026?

- What are the key barriers and threats believed to hinder the development of the industry?

- What are the future opportunities in the Oilfield Communications?



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Market: Overview



Incinerator is the machinery used for generation of energy from combustion of waste. During the incineration process, several harmful waste materials are converted into gases, heat energy, and particles. These are later used for generation of energy in the form of electricity. The method also helps in the removal of dissolved gases such as carbon dioxide. This method is utilized in the activated sludge process in solid waste treatment facilities across the globe due to its reliability. Increase in significance of the incineration method is estimated to drive the demand. However, regional differences are expected to remain largely unchanged due to the varied expenditure on municipal infrastructure development in individual countries.



Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Market: Key Segments



The municipal solid waste incineration market can be segmented based on product, application, and region. Based on product, the municipal solid waste incineration market can be divided into moving grate, rotary-kiln, and fluidized bed. Moving grate is the commonly used combustion system. Rotary-kiln incineration is a two stage process consisting of a kiln and separate secondary combustion chamber. Fluidized bed incineration involves pre-sorting of the solid waste to remove heavy and inert objects, such as metals, prior to processing in the furnace. Based on application, the municipal solid waste incineration market can be segregated into municipal sewage treatment plants, residential complex, and others. Implementation of strict environmental regulations by municipal councils of various governments is one of the factors boosting the municipal solid waste incineration market. The municipal solid waste incineration market is estimated to expand significantly, as its penetration is increasing in most of the developing countries. Municipal incinerators also produce large amount of harmful gases such as furans, dioxins, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and gaseous hydrochloric acid. This is one of the restraints of the market. Incineration is an energy-intensive technology. This could prove to be a restraint, especially considering the rising energy prices across the globe. Thus, the municipal solid waste incineration market is exposed to risks from alternative sustainable technologies. Companies are carrying out technological advancements in order to lower the costs of incinerators.



Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Market: Regional Outlook



Europe and North America are the major regions of the global municipal solid waste incineration market due to rapid growth in construction and increase in urbanization. In North America, incineration is widely preferred in countries such as U.S and Canada. This has necessitated the use of advanced technology solid waste treatment systems, thereby driving the municipal solid waste incineration market. The Urban Solid Waste Treatment Directive in the European Union encourages countries in Europe to increase the usage of solid waste treatment facilities. Countries in Asia Pacific such as China, India, and Japan are rapidly emerging municipal solid waste incineration market. Rise in industrialization, decline in availability of clean water, high level of waste output by industries such as textile and pulp & paper, and low waste coverage are the key factors driving the global municipal solid waste incineration market. The municipal solid waste incineration market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is anticipated to expand in the next few years due to the recovery from the economic slowdown. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar have invested significantly in development of the municipal solid waste incineration market.



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Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Market: Key Players



Leading players operating in the municipal solid waste incineration market include Suez Environment S.A., Martin Gmbh, Covanta Energy Corporation, Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., and Brickner & Bratton Inc.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- The latest report Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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.



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Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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.



Major Players in Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) market are:

Huntsman, Apicorp, Jiangsu Xinhai Petrochemical, Pemex, ENOC, CNPC, SIBUR, Eni, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery, Chinas CNOOC, Panjin Heyun Industrial Group, Reliance Industries, SINOPEC, Wanhua Chemical, Formosa Plastic Group, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), Oxeno Antewerpen, LyondellBasell, Qatar Fuel Additives Company Limited, Petronas, SABIC



Most widely used downstream fields of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether(Mtbe) market covered in this report are:

- Gasoline Additive

- Isobutene

- MMA

- Medical Intermediate

- Others



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



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Estimating the potential size of the Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) 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 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) market.

- 1 Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market Overview

- 2 Global Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



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Orlando, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Local Medicare help in Orlando from Health Plan Markets is available for free to assist people who are trying to make a switch before the March 31 deadline. Usually, the deadline goes until February 14, but this year it has been extended to allow holders of Medicare plans Orlando to make a switch back if they are interested. The extension is available to those who signed up for a new feature during Open Enrollment and want to switch back.



"This happens every year. People are swamped with the holiday rush and they go online and try to figure out health insurance in Orlando Florida themselves. They end up getting something that they do not like, and they want to switch back. That's why these options are available and the important thing to remember is that you still have time to make the switch. Our advisors are happy to work with you and will offer a free consultation to go over your options and what you can do moving forward." Health Plan Markets Representative



The agency has offered local Medicare help in Orlando for years and will assist anyone looking for affordable health insurance. Their services are free because they are paid by the provider. The advantage to using an agency to find Medicare plans in Orlando is that they can compare multiple plans and prices from several providers. This eliminates confusion and presents clients with clear and simple options that fit a specific area of needs as well as budget.



"If you try to call each provider and go over all the options for health insurance in Orlando Florida that are available to you, it could take weeks and you still may not find all the options that are available to you. On the other hand, we can simplify everything and ensure that you get the facts and information that's necessary to make the right decision for you. Anyone interested in learning more can contact us today."



For more information please contact 844-696-3975 or visit our site About ASKHPM.com



About Health Plan Markets

Health Plan Markets began in 2005, providing free insurance advisement throughout Florida. The company has recently added agents in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Texas, New Jersey, New Mexico and other locations. Agents can also serve those who speak Spanish, Italian, French, Creole, Cantonese and other languages. Feel free to visit the site for more information and to learn more about services offered by HPM or to speak with an agent today.



Related Links:



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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- In global information and communication industry one of the significant trend is shifting of internet services from computers to mobile devices. As the penetration of smart phone is increasing exponentially, most of the companies around the world is focusing to deliver their services with enhanced user experience over the mobile platforms. User experience (also UX) is all about how convenient a person feels while interacting with a system, this system could be a utilization of hardware, web application or a software. User centered designs is one of the key ingredient of digital services and devices and by creating it as differentiator can become the company's competitive advantage in market place while increasing the operational performance at the same time. The user experience includes various functions such as media, visuals, information and functional architects, etc.



Advanced Mobile UX Design Services Market: Drivers & Restraints



The global advanced mobile UX design services is increasing exponentially due to various driving factors such as increasing smart phone penetration in developing economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, increasing mobile banking, mobile shopping, gamming social media browsing, etc. Also, growing penetration of 4G LTE infrastructure is supporting the growth of the advance mobile UX design services market. However, some security factors such as data security and cyber-crime are posed to be major restrains towards the growth of the global advanced mobile UX design services market.



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Advanced Mobile UX Design Services Market: Segmentation



The global advance mobile UX design services market is broadly segmented into geography and type of services. There are various advance mobile UX design services are available nowadays such as, voice over internet protocol, video on demand, web browsing, micro-blogging, live tv streaming etc. Some of the major service type segment included in the global advance mobile UX design services market are;



Web browsing



Streaming



VoIP



Micro-blog



Others



Advanced Mobile UX Design Services Market: Overview



With rapid technological advancement and wide acceptance of smartphones, the global advance mobile UX design services market is expected to expand at healthy CAGR of around 10% during the forecast period (2015-2025). Some of the latest trends identified in the global advanced mobile UX design services market are enhancing personalization features such as rearranging tabs and functions within the mobile app, Date/Time format, themes (color, image, etc.), and preferred language etc.



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Advanced Mobile UX Design Services Market: Region-wise Outlook



The global advanced mobile UX design services market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, global advanced mobile UX design services market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. As of 2014, North America, and Western Europe dominated the global advanced mobile UX design services market in terms of market revenue. Asia Pacific & Japan are projected to expand at a substantial growth and will contribute to the global advanced mobile UX design services market value exhibiting a robust CAGR during the forecast period, 2016?2025.



Advanced Mobile UX Design Services Market: Key Players



The rapid technological changes such as change in operating system, communication technology are pushing advanced mobile UX design services providers to go extra mile for technological advancement to meet the demand of future. Some of the key market players in global advanced mobile UX design services market are Mindtree Ltd., Infosys Limited, RapidValue Solutions, AKTA, Sourcebits, Feathersoft Info Solutions Private Limited, Space Chimp Media, Computer Sciences Corp. and SoftServe Inc.
San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Heat Meters Market: Overview



The demand for heat meters market is likely to see an upswing during the forecasting period 2018  2028 due to rapid advancement in technology accompanied with the change in a lifestyle across the world. Urbanization which has shrouded the world has found various ways to lead a comfortable ways irrespective of weather. Rising espouse of district heating systems along with rapid expansion of commercial and residential establishment is anticipated to boost up the sales of heat meters in various regions of the world.



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Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Norway are majorly known to have installed heat meters market in order to receive hot water. Almost 60% of the households in these countries have them installed. The heat meters market was worth at US$760 mn in the base year and is expected to cross US$ 8.5 mn by the end of the assessed period.



The global heat meters market can be segregated on the basis of technology, product, application, and region. On the basis of product the market is further divided into ultrasonic, vortex, and others. On the basis of technology the market is split into mechanical and static. The heath meters market finds its application in residential and commercial areas. Commercial areas is known to hold a majority share due to quick development of college/university, office buildings, government buildings, hotels, and others in recent years.



The analysts of the report have provided a complete 360 degree synopsis of the market, thus helping the readers to understand the insight of the market. Analysts of this report have conducted extensive research such as collecting information from the primary and secondary research source. Conclusion of the report has been done on the basis of Porter's Five Point analysis, thus helping entrepreneurs to take important step in the market. The report provides various market dynamics such as opportunities, technological advancement, trends, and restrains which might impact the growth rate of the market in years ahead.



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Heat Meters Market: Trends and Opportunities



Polices laid down by government of various countries towards having an energy efficient heat meters market installed in buildings is likely to support the growth of heat meters market in years to come. For instance in the U.S The American society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air conditioning Engineers in 2013 fixed energy standards, according to which there has to be a sub metering in buildings higher that 25000 ft for energy sustainability and efficiency. Increasing stress on effective energy management technology coupled with rising demand for accurate and reliable metering system is prognosticated to steer the heat meters market share.



Rapid industrialization across the world is likely to push the global heat meters market. It is noticed that ultrasonic heat meters to gain major traction due to dirt restraint, high data accuracy, durability, long-term stability, and low energy consumption. Surge in demand for home automation system accompanied with effective planning and management of energy consumption is likely to increase the sales for mechanical heat meters market.



Heat Meters Market: Market Potential



One of the major player in the market, Alliant Energy has recently gained a lot criticism from its customer in the U.S due to high electricity bills. Company has said it is the hot weather which has actually raised the electric bills.



Heat Meters Market: Regional Outlook



On the basis of geography, the global heat meters market is stretched across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the world. Amongst these North America is likely to hold the major share owing to the rules laid out by the U.S Department of Energy. It is anticipated that by the end of 2024, the U.S will set past the 510 thousand units of heat meters. Norms implemented by government in European countries are likely to stimulate the growth of the market. Germany contributes the most among other European countries. It is predicted that China from the Asia Pacific is expected to see a rise in demand for heat meters market.



Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.tmrresearch.com/heat-meters-market



Heat Meters Market: Competitive Landscape



Players are focusing on the research and development to obtain more efficient product. Strategies such as merger and acquisition are be taken up my major players to extend their supplies. Some of the major companies in the market are Landsis+Gyr, Siehl, Qundis, Zenner, Secure Meters, and Siemens.



About TMR Research

TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in today's supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients' conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- According to a new market research report "Healthcare IT Market by Product (EHR, RIS, PACS, VNA, CPOE, HIE, Telehealth, Healthcare Analytics, Population Health Management, Supply Chain Management, CRM, Fraud Management, Claims Management) End User (Provider, Payer) - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets.



The majority of the demand for healthcare IT solutions is driven by the growing need to reduce healthcare costs while adhering to the regulatory requirements set by government organizations for ensuring safety, security, and confidentiality of patient information.



The growing adoption of health information exchanges (HIEs) and EHR systems and improved quality of care and clinical outcomes are some of the other factors driving market growth. In addition to the growing demand for information technology solutions from healthcare providers, the growing need for healthcare insurance providers to efficiently manage a comprehensive record of claims and reimbursements is also expected to contribute to the growth of the global Healthcare IT Market during the forecast years.



Download PDF Brochure: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=252



This report provides a detailed market analysis of various healthcare IT solutions available in the market comprising healthcare provider solutions, healthcare payer solutions, and HCIT outsourcing services. In 2015, the healthcare provider solutions segment accounted for the largest share of the global Healthcare IT Market. Growth in this segment is attributed to the increasing demand for improved patient safety and patient care, stringent regulations regarding healthcare provider solutions, and the need for integrated healthcare systems.



In this report, the healthcare provider solutions segment is further categorized into clinical solutions and non-clinical solutions. EHR, PACS & VNA, mHealth applications, CPOE solutions, ePrescribing solutions, and population health management are some of the key clinical healthcare IT solutions covered in this report. Whereas, pharmacy information systems, supply chain management, revenue cycle management, and healthcare analytics are some of the key non-clinical healthcare IT solutions covered in this report.



Browse 288 market data Tables and 65 Figures spread through 430 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Healthcare IT Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/healthcare-it-252.html



The report also provides the detailed geographic analysis of Healthcare IT Markets covering major countries in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa regions. In 2015, North America accounted for the majority share of the global HCIT market followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. The large share of this region can be attributed to the stringent legislative and accreditation requirements regarding healthcare, the high adoption rate of HCIT technologies in order to curtail the soaring healthcare costs, regulatory requirements regarding patient safety, and the presence of a large number of IT companies in the region. Europe is the second-largest Healthcare IT Market.



Although, the global Healthcare IT Market is highly fragmented in nature; some of the key players in this market include McKesson Corporation, (U.S.), Epic Systems Corporation (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.S.), Philips Healthcare (Netherlands), athenahealth, Inc. (U.S.), Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (U.S.), Dell Technologies (U.S.), and Infor, Inc. (U.S.).



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their pain points around revenues decisions.



Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.



MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for a deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



Contact Us:

Mr. Shelly Singh

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- The report "GMO Testing Market by Trait (Stacked, Herbicide Tolerance, Insect Resistance), Technology (Polymerase Chain Reaction, Immunoassay), Crop Tested, Processed Food Tested, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", The GMO testing market is estimated to be valued at USD 1.58 Billion in 2017. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% from 2017 to 2022, to reach 2.34 Billion by 2022. The base year considered for the study is 2016, and the forecast years are from 2017 to 2022. The market is driven by factors such as evolution in farming technologies, diverse genetically modified processed food production, labeling mandates in several countries, and proper nutrient sufficiency.



Browse 75 market data tables and 50 figures spread through 179 pages and in-depth TOC on "GMO Testing Market - Global Forecast to 2022"



Download PDF Brochure



Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.



"Stacked trait segment projected to be the fastest-growing market during the period 20172022"



Stacked traits are a combination of more than one transgene in a single crop. Bio-fortified crops which are modified for the production of high nutritional content, HT with IR and disease-resistant traits are popular examples of stacked traits. The increased investments and growth in the R&D activities are responsible for the growth of this market.



"Soy, corn, and bakery & confectionery products are largely tested for GMOs in the food safety testing market"



Among the crops and processed foods tested for GMO, crops accounted for the largest market share in 2016, dominated by corn and soy. The bakery & confectionery items are largely tested for GMO testing, which include baking flours, breads, cakes, muffins, and other confectionery & baked goods. The market in breakfast cereals & snacks among processed foods is projected to grow at the highest CAGR due to the presence of a large amount of cereal grains and corn flakes. Food additives such as lecithin, vitamin E (tocopherol), and proteins from genetically modified soybean are also largely tested for GMOs.



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"North America and Europe to dominate the GMO testing market in 2017"



The European region is the largest market for GMO testing in 2016. Countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and other EU countries are major importers of soy, corn, canola, and other crops and processed foods. The countries in the EU are stringent in GMO regulations, which in turn results in vigorous testing of GMO for safety. North America is the major exporter of soy, corn & canola to the world which requires the conduction of tests for GMO labeling according to the importing country mandates. Brazil and Argentina are also the active countries for genetically modified food testing for safety. Asia-Pacific countries are at the growth stage in this market. China is the major country followed by Japan, Korea, and Rest of Asia-Pacific.



This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.), SGS S.A. (Switzerland), Bureau Veritas SA (France), Intertek Group Plc. (U.K.), Eurofins Scientific SE (Luxembourg), TUV SUD AG (Germany), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), ALS Limited (Australia), Merieux NutriSciences Corporation (U.S.), AsureQuality (New Zealand), Romer Labs Diagnostic GmbH (Austria), and Microbac Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.).



In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analyses industry analysis, market share analysis of top players, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging & high-growth segments of the global genetically modified food safety testing market, high-growth regions, countries, and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.



Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.



MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



Contact:

Mr. Shelly Singh

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA : 1-888-600-6441

sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- A major factor driving growth of the biobanking equipment market is growing demand for personalized medicine, which can be attributed to high unmet medical requirements for developing effective therapies. Personalized medicine implies treatments based on preferences, needs, and characteristics of patients. Individuals across the globe have been witnessed to bank their tissues and stem cells, in case any future treatment is required. Development of personalized medicine critically needs individual samples with annotated pathological and clinical data. Several research organizations are focusing on exploring ways for developments in personalized treatments with the help of biological samples. For example, in the previous year, Illumina signed 4 deals, related to biobanking, with the Vanderbilt University, Partners HealthCare, the Montreal Heart Institute, and the University of Colorado, with an aim of developing personalized medicines, and improving the overall healthcare system. This will positively impact growth of the global biobanking equipment market. Other factors influencing the market growth include growing need for discovery and development of cost-effective drugs, rise in private as well as government funding for supporting research on regenerative medicine, surging genomics research activities to study diseases, and advancements in biobanking.



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A prevalent trend being witnessed in the global biobanking equipment market is conservation of newborns' cord blood stem cells. The market for biobanking is highly fragmented, owing to presence of various small and large vendors. Owing to similarity between products available in the market, vendors are focusing on differentiating their services based on value-added services, and automation of existing technology, for thriving in this highly competitive market. According to Fact.MR's recent research, the global market for biobanking equipment is expected to exhibit a high-single digit CAGR throughout the forecast period 2017 to 2022. Sales of biobanking equipment worldwide are estimated to surpass US$ 2,000 Mn in revenues by 2022-end.



Competition Tracking



The report has profiled key players operating in the global biobanking equipment market, which include Becton, Dickinson and Company, Brooks Automation, Inc., Chart Industries, Inc., Greiner Holding AG, Hamilton Company, Merck KGaA, Panasonic Healthcare Holdings, Promega Corporation, Tecan Trading AG, Qiagen N.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and VWR Corporation.



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Regenerative Medicine - Largest Application of Biobanking Equipment



Although regenerative medicine is projected to remain the largest application of biobanking equipment, sales for application in clinical research will exhibit the highest CAGR through 2022. Sales of biobanking equipment for application in life science research will remain relatively lower over the forecast period.



Manual storage are poised to remain sought-after in the global biobanking equipment market. However, automated storage is expected to register the fastest expansion in the market through 2022.



North America will remain the most attractive market for biobanking equipment, expanding at 7.6% CAGR through 2022. In addition, the markets in Japan and Latin America are estimated to witness a parallel expansion, exhibiting similar CAGRs through 2022.



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Blood will Remain Most Lucrative Sample in the Market



Blood is expected to be the most lucrative sample in the market, with sales expanding at the highest CAGR and accounting for the largest revenues through 2022. In contrast, sales of tissues are anticipated to exhibit the lowest CAGR through 2022, based on sample type.



On the basis of product, equipment will remain dominant in the market, with sales poised to exceed US$ 1,300 Mn in revenues by 2022-end. Between consumables, and software & services, the latter is projected to register a comparatively faster expansion through 2022.



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Table of Contents Covered in this report are:



1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market - Executive Summary



2. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Overview

2.1. Introduction

2.1.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Taxonomy

2.1.2. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Definition

2.2. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-2022

2.2.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Y-o-Y Growth

2.3. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Dynamics

2.3.1. Drivers

2.3.2. Restraints

2.3.3. Trends

2.4. Supply Chain

2.5. Cost Structure

2.6. Pricing Analysis

2.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis

2.8. List of Distributors

2.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By Region



3. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast By Product

3.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast By Product, 2012-2022

3.1.1. Equipment Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

3.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

3.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

3.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

3.1.2. Consumables Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

3.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

3.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

3.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

3.1.3. Software & Services Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

3.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

3.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

3.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region



4. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast By Storage Type

4.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast By Storage Type, 2012-2022

4.1.1. Manual Storage Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

4.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

4.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

4.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

4.1.2. Automated Storage Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

4.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

4.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

4.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region



5. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast By Application

5.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast By Application, 2012-2022

5.1.1. Regenerative Medicine Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

5.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

5.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

5.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

5.1.2. Life Science Research Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

5.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

5.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

5.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

5.1.3. Clinical Research Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

5.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

5.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

5.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region



6. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast By Sample Type

6.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast By Sample Type, 2012-2022

6.1.1. Blood Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

6.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

6.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

6.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

6.1.2. Tissues Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

6.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

6.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

6.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

6.1.3. Nucleic Acids Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

6.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

6.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

6.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region

6.1.4. Others Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

6.1.4.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region

6.1.4.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region

6.1.4.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region



7. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast By Region

7.1. Global Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.1. North America Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.1.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.1.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.1.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

7.1.2. Latin America Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.2.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.2.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.2.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

7.1.3. Europe Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.3.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.3.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.3.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

7.1.4. Japan Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.4.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.4.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.4.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.4.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

7.1.5. APEJ Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.5.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.5.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.5.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.5.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

7.1.6. MEA Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

7.1.6.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

7.1.6.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

7.1.6.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

7.1.6.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type



8. North America Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022

8.1. US Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

8.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

8.1.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

8.1.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

8.1.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

8.2. Canada Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

8.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

8.2.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

8.2.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

8.2.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type



9. Latin America Biobanking Equipment Market Analysis and Forecast, By Country, 2012-2022

9.1. Brazil Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

9.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

9.1.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

9.1.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

9.1.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

9.2. Mexico Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

9.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

9.2.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

9.2.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

9.2.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type

9.3. Argentina Biobanking Equipment Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022

9.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Product

9.3.2. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Storage Type

9.3.3. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Application

9.3.4. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Sample Type



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Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- Bar top corks are usually cork stoppers that can be made from natural or synthetic material. Bar top corks are largely used to deliver effective sealing for bottled liquefied products with subsequent re-use and easy manual extraction. With no tools required for opening, bar top corks form an easy and convenient means of bottle sealing, which acts as a driver in accelerating the bar top corks market. Moreover, features such as the reuse of packaged products, owing to the possibility of the re-opening and closing of bar top corks are likely to add to the growth of this market. Over the coming years, the Global Bar Top Corks Market is expected to witness rapid growth as a result of the rising demand from beverage, chemical, and various other end-use industries.



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Global Bar Top Corks Market: Dynamics



The demand for bar top corks is largely driven by the alcoholic beverage industry. The rising applications for air-tight caps and closures such as bar top corks are primarily attributed to the intense rise in the consumption of premium alcoholic beverages such as wine and Champagne. Besides, bar top corks are ecofriendly in nature, i.e. they have less carbon footprint.



Global Bar Top Corks Market: Company Developments and Industry Level Trends



Key market participants all across the globe that operate in the bottle caps and closures market are focusing on designing innovative patters of bar top corks that offer added security as well as enhance the packaging outlook.



ACIC Cork and Closures offers standard metal tops or custom decorated wood tops that can be colored, painted, and imprinted with any logo, with more than 100 varieties



Vinolok Closure Inc. offers a sleek modern solution that is certified by FDA and EU food regulations.



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The global bar top corks market is segmented into seven regions, namely, Latin America, North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Japan.



Western Europe is expected to dominate the global bar top corks market over the forecast period, owing to countries such as Italy, France, and Spain that account for the largest production and export of premium wine and other alcoholic beverages across the globe.



The market for bar top corks in Asia Pacific is expected to be highly lucrative in terms of growth opportunities over the coming decade.



Global Bar Top Corks Market: Key Players



Some of the key players currently operating in the global bar top corks market are: ACIC Cork and Closures, The Cary Company, Corticeira Amorim S.G.P.S, Tapi S.p.a, Berlin Packaging, Widget Co., Bottle Express LLC, Vinolok Closure Inc., W. Langguth Erben GmbH & Co. KG, Guala Closures Group



The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, as well as inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators, and governing factors, along with market attractiveness as per segment. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- E-clinical is a term used in a clinical study with reference to electronic applications which are web-based tools employed to capture live data from clinical trials for faster and better execution. Additionally, e-clinical solutions aid efficient planning, tracking, and execution of this data from different geographic areas. Furthermore, they also improve relationships within departments such as site coordinators of medical affairs and clinical investigators.



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E-clinical solutions refer to a technology which helps accelerate the process of clinical development and aggregate & standardize the collected data for analysis at an individual patient level as well as for cross trail views. The use of e-clinical solutions has simplified the acquisition of analytics and clinical research data. Device & drug tracking, integrated eCRF note changing, real-time notifications, real-time reporting, and configurable report building are a few important features of e-clinical solutions.



The global e-clinical solutions market is expected to expand substantially due to the increasing operational costs & regulatory requirements related to clinical research studies, the rising acceptance of software solutions during clinical trials, and the surge in R&D expenditure in pharmaceutical companies. In addition, e-clinical solutions in Asia Pacific are on the rise owing to the growing number of clinical trials especially across developing countries. Developing markets including India, China, Korea, and Taiwan have become good destinations for the outsourcing of clinical trials due to the low service costs and presence of a large population. However, concerns over patient data privacy and the lack of skilled research professionals are hampering the implementation of e-clinical solution. On the other hand, high operational costs associated with e-clinical solutions are constraining the e-clinical solutions market.



The e-clinical solutions market is segmented by product into the following categories: clinical analytics platforms, Electronic Data Capture (EDC), Clinical Data Management Systems (CDMS), safety solutions, Randomization & Trial Supply Management (RTSM), Electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (ECOA), clinical data integration platforms, Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMS), and electronic Trial Master File (eTMF). EDC and CDMS hold a large market share, whereas ECOA is likely to witness a high growth rate during the forecast period.



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On the basis of delivery mode, this market is segregated into three groups: web-based, cloud-based solutions, and on-premise. Furthermore, the market is divided based on clinical trial phase into the following segments: phase I, phase II, phase III, and phase IV. Finally, in terms of end-user application, the market is classified into the following divisions: medical device manufacturers, contract research organizations, hospitals, consulting service companies, pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries, and others.



Geographically, E-Clinical Solutions market is distributed over North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated this market because of the increasing number of clinical trials conducted in the region, rising investment in R&D resulting in the development of new products, growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, and increasing government support for clinical trials. However, Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a rapid rate during the forecast period on account of the increasing number of R&D projects and the region's developing economic status.



Key players operating in this market include Parexel International Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Merge Health Incorporated, Datatrak International, Inc., BioClinica, CRF Health, ERT, E-Clinical Solutions, OmniComm Systems Inc, and Medidata Solution, Inc. In order to gain a competitive advantage in the industry, these players are actively involved in organic and inorganic growth strategies. Collaborations, partnerships, agreements, and new product launches are some of the important strategies followed by them.



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The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- The global E-Cigarettes 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, offers an insightful take on the drivers and restraints present in the market. It assesses the historical data pertaining to the global E-Cigarettes 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 E-Cigarettes market includes Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to understand the factors impacting consumer and supplier behavior.

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The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global E-Cigarettes Market Research Report: Imperial Tobacco,Reynolds American,Japan Tobacco,Altria,VMR Product,Njoy,21st Century,Vaporcorp,Truvape,FirstUnion,Hangsen,Buddy Group,Kimree,Innokin,SHENZHEN SMOORE,SMOK



Regions Covered in the Global E-Cigarettes 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 E-Cigarettes 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.

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Strategic Points Covered in TOC:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the global E-Cigarettes market

Chapter 2: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the global E-Cigarettes 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 global E-Cigarettes 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

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Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- HTF MI released a new market study on Global Document Databases Market with 100+ market data Tables, Pie Chat, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand in depth analysis. "Global Document Databases Market by Type (, Type Segmentation (Key-Value , Column Oriented , Document Stored , Graph Based , ), Industry Segmentation (BFSI , Retail , IT , Government , Healthcare ) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation), by End-Users/Application (Human Use, Animal Use), Industry Size, Organizations, and Region - Forecast and outlook to 2025". At present, the market is developing its presence. The Research report presents a complete assessment of the Market and contains a future trend, current growth factors, focused opinions, details, and industry certified market data. The research study provides estimates for Global Document Databases Forecast till 2025*. Some of the key players profiled are Emergent BioSolutions, Merial, Merck, Zoetis , Bayer Sanidad Animal, Colorado Serum, PharmAthene, Tiankang, Biogenesis-Bago, CAVAC, Rosenbusch, Agrovet, Vecol, CVCRI, IVPM, Prondil, CDV, Indian Immunologicals, Botswana Vaccine Institute, Ceva Sante Animale, Intervac, JOVAC etc.



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The Global Document Databases market report more focuses on top industry leaders and explores all essentials facets competitive landscape. It explains potent business strategies and approaches, consumption propensity, regulatory policies, recent moves taken by competitors, as well as potential investment opportunities and market threats also. The report emphasis crucial financial details of major manufacturers including year-wise sale, revenue growth, CAGR, production cost analysis, and value chain structure.



In 2017, the Global Document Databases market size was USD XX and is forecast to reach Million YY USD in 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx%. The objectives of this study is to define, market segment having opportunity, and to project the size of the Document Databases market based on company, product type, application and key regions.



Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment etc. cover different segment market size. Also cover different industries clients' information, which is very important for the Major Players. If you need more information, please contact HTF MI at sales@htfmarketreport.com.



**The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates.



Competition Analysis



Global Document Databases Market - Vendor Landscape: The analysts authoring the publication explain the nature and future changes in the competitive scenario of the worldwide companies that are profiled in the publication guide, some of key players that includes in the study are Emergent BioSolutions, Merial, Merck, Zoetis , Bayer Sanidad Animal, Colorado Serum, PharmAthene, Tiankang, Biogenesis-Bago, CAVAC, Rosenbusch, Agrovet, Vecol, CVCRI, IVPM, Prondil, CDV, Indian Immunologicals, Botswana Vaccine Institute, Ceva Sante Animale, Intervac, JOVAC.



The Study is segmented by following Product Type , Type Segmentation (Key-Value , Column Oriented , Document Stored , Graph Based), Industry Segmentation (BFSI , Retail , IT , Government , Healthcare ) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation



Major applications/end-users industry are as follows Human Use, Animal Use



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Region Segmentation: North America Country (United States, Canada), South America, Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea), Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy) & Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)



** Customized Report with detailed 2-level country level break-up can also be provided.

North America (United States, Canada)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America)

Asia (China, Japan, India, Korea, RoA)

Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe)

Others (Middle East, Africa)



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Document Databases are as follows:

- History Year: 2013-2017

- Base Year: 2017

- Estimated Year: 2018

- Forecast Year 2018 to 2025



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Key Stakeholders/Global Reports:

- Document Databases Manufacturers

- Document Databases Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers

- Document Databases Sub-component Manufacturers

- Industry Association

- Downstream Vendors



Following would be the Chapters to display the Global Document Databases market.



Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Document Databases, Applications of Document Databases, Market Segment by Regions;

Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;

Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Document Databases, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;

Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);

Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, 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, Document Databases Segment Market Analysis (by Type);

Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Document Databases Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Document Databases;

Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [, Type Segmentation (Key-Value , Column Oriented , Document Stored , Graph Based , ), Industry Segmentation (BFSI , Retail , IT , Government , Healthcare ) & Channel (Direct Sales, Distributor) Segmentation], Market Trend by Application [Human Use, Animal Use];

Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;

Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Document Databases;

Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe Document Databases sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.



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Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Also, If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Over the years correspondence management has increasingly transformed itself to be one of the core business pillars for enterprises across industries. Across all industries from Banking & Financial Services to Public Sectors - real time and constant communication with client or other associated members in client value chain through correspondence management solution is witnessing ever increasing demand. However, in spite of being crucial, many enterprises over the years are not able to leverage crucial solution like correspondence management to automate certain parts of their processes to save cost for document aggregation and delivery; other than that by not adopting relevant correspondence solutions enterprises have also failed to gain advantage of reusing existing content and avoid duplication.



Real adoption of correspondence management solutions not only save cost, but also provide enterprise with options like compliance with ever changing government regulations, enhanced content efficiency, & better employee productivity. As going gets tough for enterprises and they are trying to save dollars from every opportunity, increasing uptake of correspondence management solutions can certainly improve the bottom line.



Overall, the market for correspondence management solution market size is close to US$1 billion in 2014 and is expected to register growth of 10.5% till 2020 and will reach US$ 1.8 billion by 2020. For vendors it will represent an incremental correspondence management opportunity of US$820 million during the forecast period. In terms of regional adoption, North America is leading the pie of correspondence management by occupying more than 30% of the total market opportunity. At a country level, USA represents the highest potential market for correspondence management, followed by UK and Germany. Within Europe, Scandinavian countries have also demonstrated their interest for the solution in the recent past. Among emerging geographies, Brazil is slightly green field geography, in process of dramatically reducing paper correspondence however, interestingly Middle East Africa is a growing market for correspondence management solution.



In terms of vertical adoption of correspondence management, Financial Services and Public Sector entities are leading the charge and constitute more than 60% of the total market share in 2014. The key drivers for increasing uptake of correspondence management among public sector are increasing traction of electronic communication systems along with emphasis on digitization where old processes are getting streamlined by implementing new technologies. For financial services, increasing requirement of adhering to compliance is driving the correspondence management solution uptake.



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Software License revenue primarily dominates the correspondence management market by holding more than 35% of the total correspondence management solution market opportunity; however for vendors this is an opportunity as the providers need to showcase this as an end-to-end solution; combination of software & services; FMI also noted that Service Providers with Case as a Service portfolio is witnessing preference in the market.



Several categories of providers are targeting correspondence management solution market;



System Integrators like Cognizant, Accenture, Capgemini, CGI & Infosys

Large Software houses like Adobe, EMC, HP, OPENTEXT, Oracle, Pitney Bowes, Metavanteetc

Niche & Specialized vendors like Top Down Systems, Afa, Merlin, CEDAR etc

Boutique System Integrators like SWORD, Gimmal, SynApps



FMI in the upcoming report highlighted that there are several options how vendor can tap this opportunity. The Service Providers should try to go to the market through a solution approach by tying up with software houses and providing it as an end to end solution and behaving like a one stop shop for the correspondence management solution. Also, service providers can evaluate options of offering correspondence management solution as a service under their BPO portfolios.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Personal mobility devices have helped humans for centuries by improving their quality of life especially for the elderly and disabled individuals. A wide range of new, improved, and innovative personal mobility devices are currently available in the global market. Technological advancements and improved product designs in addition to government subventions are expected to propel the market in the near future.



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Personal mobility devices include walkers, wheelchairs, motorized scooters, canes, and crutches. Canes and crutches are manual mobility aids used by the geriatric and disabled population. These are available in simple design and made using metals such as steel and aluminum or wood. The basic 'T' crutch design has evolved to aluminum braces with energy storing tips or ice-gripping tips that function as shock absorbers. Crutches are useful for people having lower-limb injuries. Crutches reduce the weight from the injured or disabled leg and provides support for balance and stability. Crutches also help reduce recovery time and decrease discomfort while walking.



Canes and crutches are thus designed to assist individuals with walking disabilities. Different types of canes and crutches are manufactured by different companies across the globe. They primarily consist of aluminum rods or tubing and have provision for adjustment holes to adjust the size. Canes and crutches are utilized by individuals aged 40 years or above with walking disabilities. Additionally, reasonable product pricing is expected to increase consumer base. For instance, customers who find other advanced mobility products unaffordable, utilize cranes or crutches.



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Rising number of geriatric and disabled population, increasing acceptance of improved and/or technologically advanced products, rising awareness, and affordability of products globally are key factors driving the global canes and crutches market. Rising life expectancy is steadily increasing the percentage of people requiring walking aid in the world. In Europe, one percent of the population requires wheelchair and nearly five to six percent of population need walking aid. Continuous ongoing R&D activities for product improvement along with technological advancements are anticipated to is expected to propel the global canes and crutches market during the forecast period.



The global canes and crutches market can be segmented based on product type, distribution channel, and geography. In terms of product type, the market can be divided into folding canes, quad canes, offset canes, and different types of crutches such as axillary crutches, elbow crutches and forearm crutches. Axillary crutches are also called as underarm crutches. Based on distribution channel, the global canes and crutches market can be segregated into hospitals pharmacies, medical care retail stores, and e-commerce stores.



The global canes and crutches market can be categorized into five major regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Patients with mobility impairment are susceptible to various medical problems due to access barriers in public places, hence there is a consistency in demand for mobility devices. The canes and crutches market is largely centered in developed markets such as the U.S., Germany, the U.K., France, and Japan. The U.S. accounts for a major share of the market. However, the market in countries such as China, South Korea, and India is expanding at a considerable pace due to rise in health care reforms, increase in disposable income, and growth in geriatric and disabled population. Therefore, the market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period.



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Key players operating in the global canes and crutches market include Amigo Mobility International, Inc., Drive Medical and Graham-Field Health Products Incorporated (GF Health Products, Inc.).



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Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- Automotive Monitor Touch Market: Introduction



Monitor touch screens are the basic interface system used in various electronic equipment due to their user-friendly functioning characteristic. The trend towards growing adoption of monitor touch technology has evolved across major sectors and has now emerged in the automotive sector. Automotive monitor touch has become a vital inclusion for the vehicular telecommunications and information system. Automotive manufacturers are increasingly providing monitor touch screen control, as well as entrainment system, in their vehicles and utilizing monitor touch technology as a vibrant tool for marketing. The ease in the functioning and attractive aesthetic features has led towards growing popularity of monitor touch among the consumers.



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Automotive Monitor Touch Market: Dynamics



The key driving factor of the global automotive monitor touch market includes relentlessly increasing population, which have resulted in increased demand for premium, as well as non-premium vehicles SUVs, across all major developing economies. The macroeconomic factors, such as growing urbanization & industrial activities coupled with up gradation of living lifestyle and an increase in demand for luxury, comfort and in-car entrainment system in vehicles across many countries, is further augmenting the sales of automotive monitor touch. The significant increase in the sales of hybrid, as well as electric vehicles, owing to the rise in the awareness, regarding carbon footprint reduction, which is highly anticipated to drive the global automotive monitor touch market. Moreover, considerable growth in the Asian & European automotive sector and technological advancement in traditional automotive display system will create a significant opportunity for the global automotive monitor touch market. Furthermore, the upsurge in the display technology utilized for the automobile is highly anticipated to boost the demand for automotive monitor touch. As automotive monitor touch is installed to provide ease in functioning over the display panel and offer ideal comfort for the occupant, Automotive Monitor Touch is gaining huge recognition across all regions. All the above mentioned major influencing factors are highly anticipated to drive the global automotive monitor touch market over the forecast period. The key restraining factor, such as high cost of insulation material, may hinder the global automotive monitor touch market growth over the forecast period.



Centre Stack Display by the application in the automotive monitor touch market is estimated to account for a significant market share over the forecast period. The prime advantages associated with centre stack display is its centre positioning with maximum visibility and high functionality, making centre stack display an ideal choice for manufacturing automotive monitor touch. On the other hand, among vehicle type segment, the passenger cars are anticipated to see rapid market growth over the forecast period, attributed to increasing vehicle production along with growing demand for premium vehicles.



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Automotive Monitor Touch Market: Regional Outlook



Based on geographies, the global automotive monitor touch market is segmented into seven regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, APEJ (the Asia Pacific excluding Japan) and MEA. Among the above-mentioned countries, APEJ is estimated to account for an outstanding market share in automotive monitor touch market due to the amplified production of passenger cars and electric vehicles in countries, such as China, India, Indonesia and Australia. Europe is anticipated to observe a high growth in the global automotive monitor touch market owing to the existence of top automobile manufacturing companies. Moreover, Middle East & Africa is projected to showcase stable growth in the global automotive monitor touch market due to the rise in the sale of premium cars along with an enhancement in the standard of living across the region. North America is one of the key maturing regions that will generate generous opportunity in the global automotive monitor touch market over the forecast period due to the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles.



Automotive Monitor Touch Market: Prominent players



Prominent players for the global automotive monitor touch market are Robert Bosch GmbH, Fujitsu, Synaptics Incorporated, Valeo, Dawar Technologies, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Harman International Industries Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., Delphi Automotive LLP, Touch Netix and other key market players. The automotive monitor touch market comprises of well-diversified global and regional players with the global vendors dominant in the market.



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Fossil fuel combustion is the main contributor to black carbon around Arctic

Fossil fuel combustion is the main contributor to black carbon collected at five sites around the Arctic, which has implications for global warming, according to a study by an international group of scientists that included a United States team from Baylor University.

The five-year study to uncover sources of black carbon was done at five remote sites around the Arctic and is published in the premier journal Science Advances, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Baylor team used radiocarbon to determine fossil and biomass burning contributions to black carbon in Barrow, Alaska, while their collaborators used the same technique for sites in Russia, Canada, Sweden and Norway.

Baylor research was led by Rebecca Sheesley, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental science in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Tate Barrett, Ph.D., former student of Sheesley and now a postdoctoral scholar at the University of North Texas. Their interest in the research resulted from a desire to understand why the Arctic is changing and what pollutants should be controlled to mitigate that change.

"The Arctic is warming at a much higher rate than the rest of the globe," Sheesley said. "This climate change is being driven by air pollutants such as greenhouse gases and particles in the atmosphere. One of the most important components of this atmospheric particulate matter is black carbon, or soot. Black carbon directly absorbs incoming sunlight and heats the atmosphere. In snowy places, it also can deposit on the surface, where it heats the surface and increases the rate of melting."

Findings showed that fossil fuel combustion (coal, gasoline or diesel) is responsible for most of the black carbon in the Arctic (annually around 60 percent), but that biomass burning (including wildfires and residential woodsmoke) becomes more important in the summer.

The site at Barrow, Alaska, which was the focus of the Baylor team, differed from other sites in that it had higher fossil fuel contribution to black carbon and was more impacted by North American sources of black carbon than the rest of the Arctic. Since 2012, Sheesley has been expanding this work to investigate how combustion and non-combustion sources impact different types of atmospheric particulate matter across the Alaskan Arctic.

###

*This Baylor University research received support from the U.S. Department of Energy (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Field Campaign no. 2010-05876) and Baylor's C. Gus Glasscock Jr. Endowed Fund for Excellence in Environmental Sciences.

ABOUT THE RESEARCHERS

Dr. Sheesley is interested in understanding local to global impacts of atmospheric particulate matter. Her work on air quality spans several continents, with studies in Texas, the Upper Midwest, Southern California, Scandinavia, South Asia and the North American Arctic. Carbonaceous aerosols in the atmosphere are a continually changing complex mixture that interacts with the biosphere, impacts climate change and can have negative effects on human health. She has focused her efforts on refining methods for the analysis of the chemical and isotopic composition of particulate matter and understanding sources and transport of particulate matter in urban and remote environments.

Sheesley is also a faculty fellow with Baylor's Institute of Ecological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (TIE3s), an interdisciplinary and Ph.D.-granting institute that brings together researchers from biological, chemical, atmospheric and geological sciences, with statisticians, anthropologists and engineers to address the most challenging problems facing ecosystems and the environment.

Barrett is a TIE3s Ph.D. graduate of Baylor, where his research focused on trends, optical properties and source contributions to elemental and organic carbon influencing the North American Arctic.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- The latest report Anti-Static Packaging Materials Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/23556



Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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.



Major Players in Anti-Static Packaging Materials market are:

Sharp Packaging Systems, Btree Industry, Taiwan Lamination, Polyplus Packaging, ACE ESD (Shanghai), Taipei Pack, Anand Engineering Udyog, Cir-Q-Tech Tako, Shin Harn Plastic, Betpak Packaging, Pall Corporation, MK Master, Junyue New Material, DaklaPack, Kao Chia, Sewha, Desco Industries, Mil-Spec Packaging, Commodities Source Industrial, Sanwei Antistatic, Heyi Packaging, Selen Science & Technology, Advance Packaging, Dou Yee, TA&A, BHO TECH, Miller Packaging, TIP Corporation, Kim Sheng Plastic Packaging, LPS Industries



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



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Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials 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 Anti-Static Packaging Materials market.

- 1 Anti-Static Packaging Materials Market Overview

- 2 Global Anti-Static Packaging Materials Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Anti-Static Packaging Materials Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Anti-Static Packaging Materials Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Anti-Static Packaging Materials Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Anti-Static Packaging Materials Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



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Phoenix, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2019 -- VoiceAmerica, the leader in online media broadcasting and the largest producer and distributor of live internet talk radio, today announced the upcoming interview with Barry Shore and Tashkent's very own Milana Vayntrub. The episode which will play live on VoiceAmerica.com on Tuesday, February 19th and found here, VoiceAmerica at https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3826 , www.BarryShore.com and www.VoiceAmerica.com.



Barry Shore, The Ambassador of JOY, interviews a dynamic millennial actress, comedian, and activist who is an outspoken bountiful being of happiness and love. Her name is Milana Vayntrub. She is a social media phenomenon who easily and effectively embraces the various channels to promote an awareness of the common humanity of all people. She was born in a foreign country, grew up in the heart of Southern California and leveraged her bright, articulate personality to become the face of one of the most iconic brands in the world, AT&T. Tune in. Be Turned On. And get ready to be AMAZED!



Barry Shore commented "I am enthralled at what Milana has accomplished as a talented and creative person. Our audience will enjoy meeting Milana, learning more about her story, and what aspirations she has for the future."



About Milana Vayntrub

Milana Vayntrub, Adweek Creative 100 and #Can'tDoNothing co-founder, shares her message of hope, opportunity, and global responsibility, challenging others to make the world a better place.



Many know her as saleswoman Lily Adams in AT&T's popular series of commercials or as Sloan from This Is Us, but it is Milana's compelling story as an ex-refugee and advocate for combatting the global refugee crisis that is truly capturing the world's attention. At the age of two, she fled religious persecution in Uzbekistan with her parents to make a home in America. 25 years later, she co-founded the grassroots #CantDoNothing organization, created to encourage others to give their time, money, and voice to assist refugees worldwide.



An "Upright Citizens Brigade"-trained comedian, Milana has appeared on TV and the big screen, including on Showtime's House of Lies and HBO's Californication, and in Ghostbusters and Life Happens. She will also play the role of Squirrel Girl in the Marvel's 2018 series, New Warriors, on Free Form.



In 2016, Milana was named among the top 100 thinkers, makers, and doers in marketing and media by Adweek, which described her as a "creative force for good." She now brings that force to audiences as she shares her inspiring journey to becoming a self-made artist and activist. Charismatic, funny, and illuminating on stage, she encourages audiences to become active citizens, discover the issues important to them, and realize the power that one person has to change the world.



About Barry Shore

Barry Shore is an ambassador of JOY. Barry is focused on transforming the giving space with his mission to make every day giving effortless and his big hairy audacious goal to facilitate the giving of one billion dollars without costing any giver a penny. A successful serial entrepreneur, he sold more than $100 million dollars of diamonds. After a brief retirement at age 33, he returned to business and built an innovative process in 1999 that enabled faxes to be sent and received via email to 17 countries for FREE. Barry had two patents and built a company that sold for more than $10 million dollars and the acquirer is today a $4 Billion company. On September 17, 2004, Barry became a quadriplegic overnight from a rare neurological disease (GBS). His journey since to regain mobility caused him to GO MAD: Go Make A Difference and build the system that enables giving at no cost. He is the Founder of the KEEP SMILING Movement which has distributed more than 1.2 MILLION KEEP SMILING Cards throughout the world.



Barry is also the Founder of the MOL (Minute of Love) Podcast and his show The JOY of LIVING can also be heard on iHeartRadio. With intensive therapy he has become an avid swimmer (2 miles per day, 6 times per week) and has accumulated enough miles over 9 years to swim from his home in Venice, California to Shanghai, China. Listen to live and on-demand episods of the show on VoiceAmerica at https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3826 .



About VoiceAmerica

VoiceAmerica is the original digital broadcast company for the production and delivery of Live Internet Talk Radio programming and continues to be the industry leader in digital media, marketing, and distribution. We are the pioneers of digital radio programming and have been since 1999. We create and distribute over 500 unique and innovative radio programs for our millions of engaged listeners worldwide. Our network channels distribute live programs daily that reach a growing domestic and international audience who connect through all devices via our mobile, desktop, and tablet VoiceAmerica destinations. Learn more at http://www.voiceamerica.com . Download the VoiceAmerica App now to listen live on Apple and Android. follow us on Facebook and Twitter . Call us any time to find out how VoiceAmerica can help you reach your audience, 1-855-877-4666.
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/20/2019 -- The research study is a compilation of incisive insights about key aspects of the global Glass Tiles market influencing its growth during the course of the forecast period 2019-2025. It shows how the sales of various types of products offered in the global Glass Tiles market are increasing or declining in different regions and countries. The regional study provided in the report includes a brilliant assessment of geographical markets on the basis of factors such as CAGR, market share, production, and consumption. The global Glass Tiles market is segmented in quite some detail for clear explanation of key growth areas that market players can take advantage of.



Leading players covered in the global Glass Tiles market report: American Olean, Arizona Tile, Bellavita Tile, Crossville, Daltile, Emser Tile



Access Sample PDF version of this Report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/977233/Global-Glass-Tiles-market



The report offers an exhaustive analysis of the competitive landscape including thorough company profiling of top players operating in the global Glass Tiles market. The market analysts who have authored this research study follow a unique set of primary and secondary research techniques and tools to present information and data in the best and most accurate manner possible. Readers are provided with a detailed outlook of the global Glass Tiles market, which includes carefully calculated revenue and volume growth, CAGR, and market share estimations. The report offers meticulously prepared statistics that show the comparison of the aforementioned estimations for all years of the forecast period.



The research study is a highly recommended resource that stakeholders, market participants, and other interested parties can use to strongly position themselves in the global Glass Tiles market. It discusses about recent developments, future plans, and other important aspects of the business of major players that define their growth in the global Glass Tiles market. The competitive analysis provided in the report gives access to in-depth understanding of how the competition is increasing or moving to a standstill in the global Glass Tiles market.



Market Structure



The report covers every single angle in market structure analysis to show how different segments of the global Glass Tiles market are growing in terms of consumption, production, revenue, volume, and other important factors. The analysts have segmented the global Glass Tiles market by product, application, and region.



Global Glass Tiles Market: Segmentation by Type: Smooth Glass Tiles, Matte-finished Glass Tiles



Global Glass Tiles Market: Segmentation by Application: Residential, Commercial, Infrastructure



Global Glass Tiles Market: Segmentation by Region: North America, Europe, China, Japan



Highlights of Report



,



Market definition, product scope, and overview of the global Glass Tiles market



Extensive analysis of market growth, limitations, prospects, risks, and trends



Deep evaluation of market dynamics, including growth drivers, restraints, and opportunities



Comprehensive research on potential changes in sales volume



Competitor analysis with high focus on the business data, product portfolio, market share, and other vital factors that explain the market growth of the players assessed in the report



Special study on changing market dynamics and overall development of the Glass Tiles industry



Important Sections from TOC



Market Effect Factors Analysis: It sheds light on the effect of environmental, political, and economic changes on the global Glass Tiles market and explains changes in customer preferences and consumer needs. In addition, it offers a detailed account of technological risks and advancements in the global Glass Tiles market.



Market Forecast: It covers price, revenue, and sales volume forecast for the global Glass Tiles market. It also includes price, revenue, and sales volume forecast by type and sales volume forecast by application besides growth rate, revenue, and sales volume forecast by region.



Marketing Strategy Analysis: Under this section, the report focuses on market positioning while providing information about target clients, brand strategies, and pricing strategies. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive marketing channel analysis that explores key subjects, viz. marketing channel development trends, indirect marketing, and direct marketing.



Manufacturing Cost Analysis: It includes a systematic evaluation of important aspects, viz. manufacturing process, manufacturing cost structure, and use of raw materials. Some of the subjects covered under these types of market analysis are labor cost, market concentration rate of raw materials, and price trend of raw materials.



Company Profiling: The companies studied in this section are assessed on the basis of their main business, gross margin, price, revenue, product sales, product category, application, and specification, competitors, and manufacturing base.



Global Glass Tiles Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type, and Application



Regional Analysis by Volume, Value, and Sales Price



Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy, and Downstream Buyers



Access Customized Version of this Report at:



https://www.qyresearch.com/request-discount/form/977233/Global-Glass-Tiles-market



About QYResearch

QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry.
A small group of Central American migrants arrived in Tijuana late Wednesday from Piedras Negras where riots erupted last week, according to Mexican federal police.

The group is part of a larger caravan of 1,800 people who arrived last week at the U.S.-Mexico border across from Eagle Pass, Texas.

There, the Rio Bravo river separates Texas from the isolated Mexican border city of Piedras Negras where Mexican officials locked the migrants into a makeshift shelter, until conditions deteriorated so badly that they tried breaking through the security barriers last Wednesday.

Mexican officials closed the shelter in Piedras Negras on Tuesday and sent the migrants to different, larger border cities like Tijuana, Juarez, Hermosillo, Monterrey and Reynosa.

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Local officials in Piedras Negras paid to bus the caravan travelers to other, larger cities, a psychologist with Doctors Without Borders told the Los Angeles Times.

Federal police said 33 people, including 13 children, were bused to Tijuana and then to Desayunador Padre Chava, a Catholic-run soup kitchen within blocks of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Padre Chava employee said the group had already left for another shelter in central Tijuana by late Wednesday afternoon.

The newly arrived migrants will likely join growing wait lists of asylum seekers, as the U.S. expands a new policy having migrants remain in Mexico after asking the U.S. for asylum protection.

Already, other asylum seekers have been turned back in Tijuana, and Trump administration officials have said they planned to expand the policy to other cities in Mexico.

In November, some 6,000 Central American migrants arrived in Tijuana carrying backpacks, tents and sleeping bags, while authorities scrambled to open emergency shelters.

Conditions in the city-run Benito Juarez emergency shelter deteriorated badly after heavy rains, drawing international criticism and media attention.

A temporary federal shelter was opened on the eastern outskirts of Tijuana, which closed around the same time the latest caravan left Honduras.

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Tijuanas mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum have been very critical of the caravans, with Trump vowing to stop the latest group in its tracks and Gastelum promising Tijuana wont spend a single peso on aid for them.

Gastelum said Mexican federal authorities encouraged the latest caravan to go to cities other than Tijuana.

Some Tijuana residents protested the arrival of Central Americans in November, and a few threw rocks and canisters of tear gas at them while they slept.

The migrants, mostly from Honduras, have said they are fleeing poverty, gang violence and extortion in their home countries. Many have said traveling together in caravans provides safety.

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Mexican immigration officials said of the 6,000 Central Americans that came in November, about 4,000 went to the U.S., about 1,000 voluntarily returned to their home countries and about 1,000 stayed in Tijuana, finding jobs and apartments. Some of those 1,000 in Tijuana are still planning to try to cross into the United States, legally or illegally.

wendy.fry@sduniontribune.com
California looking more like Venezuela

Re SDG&E rolling out time of use rates next month and what it means for you (Feb. 21): So the ultra-left Legislature and the unelected, unaccountable California Public Utililties Commission have directed the SDG&E monopoly to dictate energy usage in my house and all of San Diego.

And we the proletariat have little to no choice but conform, or get multi multi hundred dollar bills for simply trying to cope with life. (Some households simply dont have the choice of energy usage timing!) Forget the quaint notion of increasing supply (peaker plants run with LNG or other sources), nope an unelected bureaucrat will dictate when we will do our laundry, remain cool and eat.

Whats next driving hours? Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro applauds you Sacramento.

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John MacIntyre

San Diego

Solar customers will suffer under new rates

Great article detailing the new time of use pricing for SDG&E customers, but as with many such reports it very much glosses over the real impact of this on solar customers.

Under TOU pricing, solar customers are credited at rates lower than rates for electricity used at night. This means under net metering, having solar panels will go from saving money to perhaps costing more than staying with the grid. This is the hidden motive here, to maintain the profitability of utilities so they can continue to pay out a billion dollars a year in dividends.

As the article mentions, this can be alleviated by installing batteries but of course thats expensive. Are people considering going solar now thinking this through as well?

Todd Maddison

Oceanside

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SDG&E is going to change to a time of use electricity rate system because this is going to make a lot of sense for most customers. Really? Thats the reason?

We will be charged 45-cents/kwh from 4-9 p.m. The average family with two working parents and two children are supposed to come home at 5 p.m. and, what, not turn on any televisions, lights, ovens, dishwashers, washing machine, dryer, laptops or the A/C between 4-9 p.m. in the summer?

Just stay outside till 9 kids, we cant cook dinner till then anyway.

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And that party on Saturday night? Cancel it, unless you have your guests bring some pre-cooked appetizers, candles and a bunch of iPods with extra batteries to play some music and maybe provide some party light atmosphere from the flashlight app on their cellphones.

Idaho pays an average of 9.5 cents/kwh, California pays 19.5 cents and the national average is 13 cents.

Cliff Knight

Scripps Ranch

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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.

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The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board recently met with Dianne Jacob, chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Here is a transcript of the interview with the East County supervisor.

Union-Tribune: Thank you for joining us. We have some questions. I know you have a lot to talk about. One thing that jumped out at me from your speech was you called it an all-hands-on-deck moment for San Diego County, which isnt language were used to hearing from San Diego County. Tell us a little bit about that and how you see this year progressing.

JACOB: It is an all-hands-on-deck moment for San Diego County and heres why. In almost three decades I have never seen the kinds of challenges that were facing in this community. Nor have I seen the change on the Board of Supervisors. When you bring new faces, new energy, bold ideas to faces these challenges, times have changed. The board has changed and were ready to face these challenges head on. Its an aggressive agenda, but we can do it.

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Union-Tribune: What do you see as the number one priority? You laid out several... wildfires, housing, meth and opioid issues. Is there one that jumps to the forefront for you?

JACOB: Were going to do it all, but I think the greatest challenges that are facing us are people with mental health issues, people with addiction and then that all ties into the homeless, because if and its a big if, if we can successfully manage those that have mental health issues and those with addiction, for the long term, then our homeless problem can become a homeless solution. It wont be 100 percent of the homeless, but it will be a huge number.

Union-Tribune: In the mayors State of the City speech, he actually called out the county in as pointed words as hes used in the State of the City. How much of what he said and his kind of finger-pointing factored into your speech and your agenda?

JACOB: Its an issue thats it is an issue that has existed. When we talk about behavioral health services, were talking about mental health services, were talking about addiction; people with both. And what the mayor laid out was a challenge to the county and I welcome that challenge and the county will lead on that.

But on the other hand, we expect the city of San Diego and all other cities in the community to step up, do their part, and keep up with the county. That is going to be key to our success in creating a system of mental health and addiction services, otherwise known as behavioral health issues.

A system of care so that individuals like Ryan that cycled in and out of the system, in and out of jails, in and out of the ERs over a 20-year period until he finally got the treatment services that he needed and fortunately today hes alive and well and hes in recovery and he actually has a job.

So its the system of care thats been lacking in this region and it takes the cooperation of law enforcement, Health and Human Services, the hospitals, the cities. We need partners across the board to create the system of care. So when an individual has an emergency, they get that emergency response, but then there is the follow up to make sure these people are successful and to take care of whatever it is that whether its mental illness or addiction, that those issues be addressed for the long term and then they become successful members of the community.

Union-Tribune: How would you characterize the relationship between the city and the county? In particular, in this post-hep A crisis era. We editorialized pretty toughly on the county and the city for being slow to address that problem, for pointing the finger rather than solving it early on, and then certainly for issuing a report that kind of patted themselves on the back and said that they had handled it well, that you had handled it well.

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JACOB: Lets fast forward. I think what matters right now is we we learn from what happened in the past. Lessons learned, so now, its my intent as the chair of the board, lets move forward. Lets move forward, its a new era in the relationship with the city and the county. I think that relationship is good and I think its going to be better over time. The mayor has committed to work with the county on these issues and other issues and, frankly, were off and running.

Union-Tribune: But how can you say lessons were learned when your response to a critical state audit is to say, well, this the effectiveness of our response to hep A cannot be measured by time or the speed of response alone. People died. On September 1, 2017, you folks declared a public health emergency after there had already been more than a half a dozen deaths and hundreds of cases. And then subsequently your public health officer, with your CAO who was signing off on the report, that wasnt noted enough, said that you guys did a fine job.

So how can you say there was a lesson learned, when thats not what your CAO says? How can we have any confidence in any public health initiative by the county if youve got a CAO defending a fiasco like the hep A response?

JACOB: Time will tell. Time will tell if lessons were learned and theres a and there is a difference into the future as the county reacts to these situations. There were a lot of good things done as far as vaccinations and the teams that went out there and I dont think we should discount that.

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On the other hand, I know I and other members of the board kept asking our public health officer at board meetings regularly when we had reports, why dont we call for an emergency? And we got a response, we dont need to, you know, the CDC and so on. If we look back, 20/20, we should have declared that health emergency a lot sooner. We were listening to our staff. That will change into the future. Ive learned.

I think my colleagues that were there have learned too that when we see a critical situation, we need to jump on it as a board and tell our staff, hey, weve got an emergency here, make that determination in spite of what the staff says. But there is an inclination to listen to your professional staff, particularly your public health officer in situations like that. And on the audit side, I believe that should not have been an internal audit.

And for the audit to have credibility, it should have been independent of the county in order to take an outside look. You know, weve always done after-action reports with fire, disasters, thats and theres been lessons learned from that. The audit report from the county would have had much more credibility had it been an outside, independent entity or individual that had done the audit. Lesson learned.

Union-Tribune: In 2012 or 2013 on his last day in office, Walt Ekard, the CAO said, I can say without fear of honest contradiction that were the best-run local government in America. This came after he I was told by the reporter covering him, he would laugh derisively when asked about criticism of the county. Now you look at this response to the hep A report and its Ekard-ism all over. Are you worried that theres in the senior staff this belief that you guys can do no wrong? Arent you worried that you dont have enough people who are doubters, who are team B-ers who are saying things arent going as well as they should be?

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JACOB: I called it out in the State of the County address.

Union-Tribune: Right, but youve been there 20 years, you know?

JACOB: Change Ive been there 20 years, but we now have an opportunity like weve never had before. We have two new faces, actually three, Supervisor Gaspar has just been there a couple of years, so theres three new faces on the board; fresh perspectives, fresh ideas and big challenges that were facing. Big challenges.

So nows the time to tackle those challenges as a board of supervisors and lead in this county to resolve some of these big, big issues. Not the least of which is fire, wildfire concerns and that balance between high-risk fire areas and our need for housing. We can do both and Ive laid it out. In fact, I have something here as a timeline as to when each of the initiatives I mentioned in the State of the County will be rolled out, if youd like to have a copy of that?

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Union-Tribune: Do you think that the communitys trust in the board is do you need to work on building that? Do you think its strong or how much of a hit did that hep A crisis take on the county on top of, as kind of Chris alluded to, years of, you know, self-congratulatory approaches to to government.

JACOB: Well, first, let me say that outside entities have recognized that the county is one of one of the best managed governments in the nation. It doesnt mean were perfect. It doesnt mean there arent going to be mistakes. Its a $6.2 billion dollar operation with over 17,000 employees, but we must be quicker to respond to those mistakes.

We must be quicker to fix what needs to be fixed and thats the intent of the agenda this year moving forward is to jump on these issues, recognize if theres some personnel changes, organizational changes in order to make county government work for people. Thats what this is all about.

Union-Tribune: Does it a big example just today of how much the county board has changed in the last year. A year ago the county joined the Trump administration on the sanctuary state litigation and now youre suing the Trump administration for its mishandling of asylum seekers. Whats the reason for that shift and what do you read into it? Why thats a pretty significant shift in just a year. Is it just the new faces?

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JACOB: No. There are two separate issues. First of all, what the board did today is significant because the Trump administration changed their safe- release policy back in October. Weve had asylum seekers come into our region over time, its never been an issue, never been a problem.

But when the Trump administration changed their safe release policy in October, what that did is the asylum seekers coming over and the numbers could be four or five thousand that have been dumped on San Diegos streets for San Diegans to take care of and thank God for all of the nonprofits that have stepped up and the county and the city in order to take these people off the streets, put them in a shelter because theyre not here long, maybe 24, 48 hours, maybe 72 hours at most until they are connected with their sponsors somewhere else in the [country].

This has been a change in federal policy and its wrong, its not acceptable and so with the filing of the lawsuit thatll be done probably in about 30 days officially, that we are intent on sending a strong message to the administration that this is unacceptable, its wrong that the federal government is dumping on San Diegans. Not only from a cost standpoint, a humanitarian standpoint, but also the this is a federal issue and the feds need to be held accountable and do their job and reimplement the safe release program as it was prior to October of last year.

Union-Tribune: Supervisor Cox said that hes working with EPA Chapter 9 or EPA District 9 in San Francisco to try to address the problems with the Tijuana River and it kind of sounded like he was doing the good cop approach; whereas, the people who are suing the Trump administration, theyre doing the bad cop approach, but that was a few months ago.

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Has this outreach to the federal government led anywhere in trying to get the problems in the Tijuana River addressed?

JACOB: You know, I dont know the answer to that. Supervisor Cox has been the lead on that from the county standpoint and I think I think youre right, Chris, it has been a good cop, bad cop situation.

Union-Tribune: But has the time come for the county to join these lawsuits because this problem has been going on for years and whoever the president is we dont seem to get anywhere?

JACOB: If I had my way, Id have joined the lawsuit a long time ago.

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Union-Tribune: Twitter!

JACOB: Thats one opinion from one supervisor. Im not speaking on behalf of the board.

Union-Tribune: Do you think that the county will then? I mean if youre one, there are other Nathan Fletcher, has he brought this up as an issue? Im mean theres two.

JACOB: The board hasnt discussed this issue recently.

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Union-Tribune: As chair now, would you agendize it and bring it back for a discussion? You you were pretty strong in your statement right there.

JACOB: I think thats a fair question. I think thats a fair question.

Union-Tribune: Whats the answer? I mean you control the agenda, right, so can we assume itll be brought up in the near future?

JACOB: Well, any any supervisor can put something on the agenda. Yes, Ill put it on the agenda.

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Union-Tribune: Okay.

JACOB: And well discuss it.

Union-Tribune: Back to the issue of homelessness in San Diego. The number one issue with our readers as determined by the types of letters we get. There is a presumption that San Diego is a magnet for homelessness similar to the way its a magnet for migrants from Central America because the weather is the obvious thing.

But its also because were growing more and more accommodating and Im wondering does the county have a facility to actually take I mean take care of the type and quantity of people that might end up coming to San Diego given that they would have mental health problems, drug addiction problems and we have a limited amount of facilities to take care of these people.

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JACOB: Right now we do not have the capacity and we do not have the capacity to take care of the people that are here right now. Thats why there is a sense of urgency. It is a crisis situation and we its an all-hands-on-deck moment and we need partners, we need the cooperation as I mentioned earlier from the cities, from the hospitals, community clinics, law enforcement, everybody coming together and thats what I intend to do.

Union-Tribune: But in terms of setting up setting up that magnet that I spoke of, Im just wondering if in the past maybe that was thought of as a means to send a message to the community that this is not the place you should be coming. Were starting to sound like this is the place to come.

JACOB: I we have no choice here. We cant prevent people from coming in to San Diego that are legally allowed to come into our community and that thats a problem. Because weve got a large number of people right now on the streets, seniors, veterans, families that should come first in terms of getting the help, first, over and above others, take care of San Diegans first. How to prevent other people from coming in? That is a big issue. I dont have an answer for it. I mean

Union-Tribune: Is there a possibility you talk about partnerships, is there a possibility that outreach to other communities that arent in the most expensive city in the country to live in to these people I wouldnt say send them back, but basically partner with other cities where these services already do exist, where they arent overwhelmed by the volume?

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JACOB: To my knowledge, to a certain extent, that has been done and there are cities in the country who would welcome homeless and they want more population. The reason were such a draw, our weather. I mean youd rather be homeless in San Diego than in Detroit, Michigan, for example.

But I think thats part of it and I believe the San Diego Partnership, they had a program where they were giving people bus tickets or airfare in order to go back home where they had relatives and other people. So, that, I think, is all a part of the situation, but its its a worry that were a magnet and that we could have even a bigger homeless problem because of that. Its such a desirable place.

So trying to get our arms around the problem of what we have right now, what we know we have right now is whats immediately in front of us and then work on to make sure that people that come in, that we take a look at them, maybe relocate them to other cities. I had read somewhere that Tulsa, Oklahoma, they wanted more people. They wanted more population. So there may be others too. There may be some ways to do that.

Union-Tribune: In 2016 the [states] legislative analyst, Mac Taylor, put out a statement saying the housing crisis will never be solved in California until politicians get the guts to take on NIMBYs and fight aggressively for a whole new way of doing things. And he didnt spell out what he was talking about, but it was plain he was talking about things like manufactured housing or using shipping containers or using the small home concept that Supervisor Roberts pushed a couple years ago.

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Now this [approach] triggered a massive revolt from homeowners who believe that this will devalue their property. But if were serious about addressing the housing crisis, we need to do things more than build $400,000 affordable house units. So how prepared are you and do you think the board is to take on the people who say, no in my backyard?

JACOB: Well I think weve already taken action to do more on the affordable housing issue than any other jurisdiction in San Diego County and the YIMBY concept, Yes In My Back Yard, I mean were literally making it easier for people to put the so-called granny flat, which really arent granny flats, in their backyards.

Were looking at we already did waive all the development fees for the county, which amounts to about $15,000 and in a couple months well have actually pre-approved building plans for people to choose from. To my knowledge, that could save another $18,000. So thats over $30,000 in incentives in order for people to build these small units up to 1200 square feet.

They can only be rented out for the long term, not short-term rentals and they cant be sold separately. So theyre a part of an existing property. Weve had a lot of calls, a lot of emails, a lot of inquiries on this particular issue and were not done. Were looking at

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Union-Tribune: Is there an estimate of how many that would add?

JACOB: Well, heres the math. We have 172,000 existing homes on existing lots right now in the unincorporated area and many of those lots are big enough, you know, and like city lots are very small, but many are big enough. So if you took 10 percent... 10 percent, thats a lot and that could be used, you know, for a family member. It could be rented out.

But were going to go further with that and Im looking at some additional financial incentives to get some of the homeless off the streets, particularly targeting seniors and veterans, so stand by on that one. We havent completely vetted it out, but theres another opportunity here for incentives.

And I think with incentives and its a partnership again, existing property owners. In addition to that, Supervisor Cox and I are going to bring forward another an action for another $25 million for our Housing Trust Fund. Were off and running on the first $25 million.

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We should get somewhere around 1,000 units out of that. A couple of projects, breaking breaking ground and or that would be $50 million total in our Housing Trust Fund and its unique because its a partnership with the private sector and with the county and using county land also. If theres not county land, you know, then we would invest in whatever land might be available for this. So we put up the property, the private sector builds the homes, but theyre affordable. Theyre affordable for people.

Union-Tribune: And can I just go back to the secondary units for a moment?

JACOB: Sure.

Union-Tribune: You spoke in a speech about and I dont know if you used the term here, but the collision course of housing in fire-prone areas and and housing there. You also mentioned in the speech that 60,000 of those homes in the unincorporated area are in high risk or very high risk areas.

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As the county moves forward especially in a grand way, if that happens on the granny flats, will the county have to sort of have a little nuance as to where theyre going to be allowed in order to not put more population in those fire point areas or is that something you think the county will be looking at?

JACOB: I dont see the county prohibiting housing in the unincorporated area. What I do see in these high-risk fire areas that were not only going to help existing homeowners to put fireproof siding, roofs, vents, close in the vents, whatever is needed along with the defensible space, so theyre theyre about 60,000 as you mentioned of existing homes in the high-risk fire areas, but new development, there will be new standards and were going to be changing the fire code and then actually increasing the code in terms of requirements to build new communities in those areas too.

Its all about saving life and property and so were doing it both for existing and then new new development. But I dont see the county prohibiting the building. We just need to do it right and in the right place at the right time. And since the state law allows us with these secondary units, it gives us a great opportunity for affordable housing and as I said, 172,000 existing homes in the unincorporated area, 10 percent of those, thats a big number.

Union-Tribune: Your note says your agenda says you were going to press state officials to cut or drop the new fee that punishes ratepayers for joining community choice programs that awards SDG&E and other utility monopolies.

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JACOB: Yes.

Union-Tribune: Like you, the editorial board has been very critical over the years of investor run utilities, but the utilities make a powerful case that how can they possibly keep the grid aloft if they dont get some money from people transitioning out of the system? So what do you say to that argument which seems reasonable?

JACOB: Take it out of shareholders pockets, not ratepayers, and dont punish people because they want a choice in where they buy their electricity.

Union-Tribune: Well, their counter-argument is that over decades Weve put literally billions of dollars in infrastructure in the understanding that we would be allowed to recoup our costs. So I know its hard to be sympathetic with these guys, but that is not an irrational argument.

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The idea that the conditions are being changed on them now and all of a sudden they dont have a way to recoup the costs of the infrastructure they were told they could build confidently knowing that it would be paid for.

JACOB: A lot of the infrastructure and I give Sunrise Power Link as an example of that, the environmental [documents], you said, not necessary. Not necessary to sustain our energy needs into the future. They built it anyway.

They got the PUC to approve it and the reason SDG&E likes to build these infrastructure projects is because they make 10.2 percent return on their investment. Their model is flawed. You go back years ago, they should have changed. They should have changed their way. They should have seen what was coming.

But, instead, you know, they kept building, building their infrastructure and that is on them. That is on the company, its shareholders, and should not be on the ratepayers. And now just because we want to insert competition into the electricity market, theyre raising a fuss about that, that its not fair.

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Well, its not been fair to ratepayers for many, many years. So thats why I complimented Gov. Newsom for his first appointment to the California Public Utilities Commission. Its a consumer advocate. He has time in his term in office to completely clean house with the PUC. Theyve done nothing but kowtow to the big utilities. The utilities have controlled the PUC and it has not been a watchdog agency. So its time for a change and its time for a shift of that power to the ratepayers.

Union-Tribune: Moodys had a report last month that downgraded PG&E that also included kind words for SDG&E, saying SDG&E had done significantly more than PG&E or Edison to try to address wildfire risks. So is your opinion slightly mellowing about SDG&E?

JACOB: No. Not at all. SDG&E knew the fire risk and we know what started those fires in 2007. But go back to the Cedar Fire. They sat on their hands for years and even in 2007, there was a group that was convened, I was a part of it, came up with recommendation, involved fire agencies and experts.

Came out with recommendations of what needed to be done. Theyre still doing it. Whats taking so long? Harden in the infrastructure. Change out the wood poles to steel poles. Well, they started doing it and theyve presented that theyve done thousands. Ive asked where are they?

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I dont have an answer to that yet, but you know, its preventing the arcing when the winds blow and they have failed to do their job. Theyve failed to do their job and the taxpayers and the residents have suffered and unfortunately lives have been lost because of it too. Theres no excuses.

Union-Tribune: Does the county does the county have any policing of this infrastructure? Do people go out and look at any of it to determine if its still got insulators on it? If things are still wired correctly, that sort of thing?

JACOB: Unfortunately, not. They answer to the PUC. The PUC is supposed to watchdog. What Ive seen over the years is that what the PUC does, if theres a complaint and there have been, that they ask SDG&E for a report. Well, thats the fox guarding the henhouse. So therein lies the problem. There is no effective watchdog organization over SDG&E that where they should be doing their job and theyre not.

Union-Tribune: What do you think of the relatively new approach during periods of high wind and fire risk that they shut off power? A lot of that is in remote parts of your district?

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JACOB: Bad idea. Bad idea.

Union-Tribune: Why is that? I think thats what I thought at first, but Ive come around to you know what, if its temporary and its and they provide people who need medical treatment with ways to plug in, which they seem to be doing, its a good way to prevent a catastrophe, right?

JACOB: Theyre not. In fact, there was a report out I can get the source, that indicated it was a bad idea and that by proactively shutting off power could create a greater public safety risk than leaving the power on.

You got weve got 2/3 of our unincorporated area back country that is basically on ground water and in order to get water out of the ground, requires electricity. You know, some people have generators, some people dont.

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Very few have generators, but then its the lifesaving devices and Ive heard personal accounts from people that scared to death, elderly folks, they cannot get out of their homes over to a charging station. Theyre not able to do that. So its a life-threatening situation for them if they if the power goes out. SDG&E has not perfected the system. When the power goes out, theyre scared to death and all theyre doing is theyre covering their liability rear end. Pure and simple.

Union-Tribune: So you oppose the change in the state law thats being proposed that would allow them to say, if were not negligent, were not responsible? The current standard is if their equipment causes it, theyre held accountable.

JACOB: They should be held accountable.

Union-Tribune: Other states have laws that say if theyre only accountable if they were negligent with their equipment.

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JACOB: No. If if they cause a fire, theyre responsible for it and they should pay for it and not put it on ratepayers like theyve been trying to do and theyre still trying to do that in the courts. Its wrong.

Union-Tribune: On on community choice though it seems like the county is going to take a pretty big leap there and join with San Diego? Is that going to happen? Is that possible or what percentage of likelihood would you... ?

JACOB: I hope. I hope. You know, it takes three votes, so well see. Thatll be the first initiative that comes to the board, end of the month.

Union-Tribune: Well, I mean I talked about this on Twitter and Nathan Fletcher said, Im her Im her second.

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JACOB: Yes.

Union-Tribune: And, as you said, three votes and those people didnt give you support when you brought this up last time. Your your proposal died for want of a second.

JACOB: Exactly.

Union-Tribune: So should people read the tea leaves and assume that this fails 3 to 2?

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JACOB: No.

Union-Tribune: Why?

JACOB: Im optimistic. Cautiously optimistic.

Union-Tribune: Change is in the air.

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JACOB: Change is in the air. Change is in the air. Yeah.

Union-Tribune: Have you heard from Bill Horn since he left?

JACOB: No.

Union-Tribune: Dianne, getting back to housing. The county has gotten credit its a big operation that gets credit and criticism, homelessness and, you know, affordable housing, and as you pointed out the detail in your speech the affordable housing is the thing the county is doing.

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Also theres just an overall housing shortage and the governor has little tolerance for agencies and local governments that resist housing and affordable housing through Huntington Beach. The county has approved and has many housing developments on the board to be approved that are in limbo right now. Frozen. I think some 10,000 units and so forth.

Whether its the lawsuit or the referendum, does that I guess, two questions. One, do you think whether I or somebody else agrees whether thats the right kind of housing, do you think that the county gets doesnt get credit for approving housing at a time when everybody says thats what the state needs? Do you think thats overlooked?

JACOB: Well, two problems. One is we need to fix the Climate Action Plan or any general plan amendment that increases density in the county is going to be on hold, period and that goes for projects that have been approved.

The second part of that, our general plan update that was done in 2011 cost us a lot of money, a lot of time, but the fact of the matter is what that did, it put growth in the right place. It transferred density basically from the back country, the high fire prone areas, into the more urban, suburban areas. We have three times as much density in that plan than the required number or required allocation by SANDAG.

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So weve done our part with our general plan. Weve done more than our part with our general plan. So moving forward its a matter of how can we provide incentives for new developments in accordance with our general plan and encourage people, developers to develop. Incentives, I mean, is there a way to cut the processing time, cut the amount of money in order to move forward with developments and encourage developers to move to come forward with developments that meet the densities in our general plan.

Its growth in the right at the right place and we need, as a county, to provide those kinds of incentives for people who come in that want to comply with the general plan. If on the other hand, if you want to do something other than that and increase the density, then youre going to run into problems. Youre going to run into the Climate Action Plan, thats immediate future. So Im hoping we get that fixed soon.

Union-Tribune: And I realize that the Climate Action Plan is sort of the linchpin to so much right now, but some people still believe that although its increased density, thats still the kind of suburban style development and the trend is more towards, as you know, transit, transit corridors and and more density in more urban areas. I guess, what do you say to people that say this isnt what we need in the future, these kinds of development, should should the, you know, legal situation resolve itself.

JACOB: Ask that again, Michael, would you?

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Union-Tribune: Im sorry, that was a little convoluted. Is some people dont believe thats the right kind of development for the future. That it still needs to be more dense and more consolidated and near transit areas, transportation corridors, lets not say transit.

JACOB: Obviously, it ideally if we can put higher density development near transit centers and we have a assuming we have a good transit system that takes people from point A to point B, that that is the ideal. Thats the ideal.

But I think on the other hand theres an argument to be made that to provide housing choices because not everybody wants to live in a high rise, not everybody wants to live without a car near a transit station and in the unincorporated area we provide that benefit.

If you look at the unincorporated area, its probably the most affordable living youre going to find. Think about it for a minute. If you live on a well, you have your own water. You dont have to worry about increased water costs. If you live on a septic system, you dont have to worry about increases in sewer costs or relying on what is coming ahead and both of those, water and sewer are going to go up. Youre independent. You can have solar. You can have the backup to that. So you could be completely off the grid and I think that that is what were going to see more of in the future.

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So I mean, you talk about affordable house, you talk about a variety of housing types. We have that in the unincorporated area and and we have land uses that create a an environment in this county thats second to none. Weve got a winery industry. Weve got agriculture promotion program. You know, were theres a benefit to our tourism industry, agri-tourism where people come out and do farm stays and all and its affordable living and people love it. They like getting their hands dirty. I think our kids need to get out and get their hands dirty a little bit too.

Union-Tribune: Economists laugh at the staple of many Climate Action Plans that predict 18 percent of people will ride their bikes to work. Or they laugh at plans that people will broadly embrace mass transit. Were not New York City. Were California.

So what do you say to the idea that that everyones going to flock to mass transit and that thats the key to the future when theres no history theres no example in the history of the west, only in density packed cities of this kind of emphasis on mass transit working. It it seems to me like so many of these Climate Action Plans, when you look at the details, theyre based on assumptions about human nature that arent true.

We have a letter to the editor and we had an op-ed recently that talked about how much of a hassle transit is and this is in a city that is somewhat proud of its transit because of the trolley and things like that. So do you think there is an era of unrealism about this expectation that mass transit is going to solve our problems?

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JACOB: I do.

Union-Tribune: Good.

JACOB: I do. People love their cars and transit not having a car is going to work for some people in some areas of San Diego County, but our county is is huge geographically. Its a big county and we need those roads and we need those highways and it doesnt necessarily mean more pollution.

More and more people are going to be buying electric cars and but we still the even buses. Buses need roads. Electric cars need roads and its not one-size-fits-all in this region. If we want to keep this region as the best place in the world to live and weve got it, weve got it all here, then its important I think to maintain that mix, the mix of housing. Housing near transit, but also dont forget about the roads. Dont forget about the roads.

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Union-Tribune: And yet in 2016, greens opposed the SANDAG ballot measure that was a 50/50 transit and roads because it wasnt enough transit. So youve got a whole movement thats built around an almost religious idea as opposed to something thats driven by facts about what people want.

So how does SANDAG... how does the county deal with this going forward, this gap between what the greens think people want and what people think they want?

JACOB: Well, Im just hoping that people in the cities and the cities basically control SANDAG, the city of San Diego and has the weighted vote that can sway. They only need a few more votes on SANDAG, but I would I would hope that theres a realization at some point in time that we need roads to get around in this county and not everybody is going to take transit. Just look at the look at the empty buses.

Sometimes I sit in La Mesa and I watch the empty buses go by. I watch the trolley. I watch the empty trolleys go by or with very few ridership. The ridership is probably its probably a little more than it was a few years ago. Maybe its 5 percent? Five percent of the people are riding mass transit? Ninety five that means its over 90 percent of the people need roads. Theres too much emphasis in this town about transit. People are not going to get out of their cars. Thats real.

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Union-Tribune: Do you think MTS is talking about a ballot measure coming up soon. Do you think San Diego will support that, depending on what it says?

JACOB: I dont know. I dont know. I think the last what should have what should have happened Matt, I think there should have been two measures. I think that they should have put one on for transit, one for roads, but they didnt. It was all together.

Union-Tribune: On the [countys] Climate Action Plan, a question. ... The Sierra Club has been winning that in court and the county keeps fighting it, should is it a time to negotiate a settlement rather than keep fighting that? Or do you think obviously the county seems to be theres a majority on the board that still seems to want to fight that in court?

JACOB: Well, there were two of us that did not support the appeal and my position is lets put all the resources into fixing it and fixing it as soon as we can and it needs to be a real plan. It needs to be a plan that can be achievable, not anything thats laughable, but something that can be achieved.

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Union-Tribune: But you dont see the board taking a new approach until new membership perhaps comes in, in the 2020 election?

JACOB: Its coming up in a couple of weeks to be discussed again, so well see.

Union-Tribune: Okay. I was just going to touch on reserves. Theres always an argument, too much, too little. Wheres the county on reserves right now? Are we well funded or do we have too much, too little?

JACOB: Were about right. The general accounting standards say we need a couple of months on reserve in case of a you know, a really serious emergency. Now we have a little over $700 million in unallocated reserves that we can tap into.

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The county is in a good position because we also have fund balance and thats where we get out one time money to do these things like Housing Trust Fund and and the incentives for the secondary units. And then were going to be doing more. Were going to be investing more one-time money and so were were right where we should be right now.

But the other thing is and it was on the ballot is a Pension Stabilization Fund to make sure that our pension not only is sustainable into the future, but the county can pay its contribution and weve always paid our required contribution plus that. This Pension Stabilization Fund cannot be touched by a future board for to be spent on anything else because we had it on the ballot and the voters approved that.

Union-Tribune: A few years ago you had there was a lot of talk about the Alzheimers initiative. So what can you tell us about that, about the goals, what was accomplished and whats next on that?

JACOB: Weve done a lot, but not near enough. The numbers are astounding. Its the third leading cause of death in our county. The sixth leading cause of death in the country and thats because we have a faster growing senior population than other populations in the county and age is the biggest risk of getting Alzheimers or related dementia.

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So since 2014 weve weve beefed up the research effort through Collaboration4Cure and we actually have received an NIH [National Institutes of Health], a national grant on one of the, what we call a hit, drug discovery. The drug discovery efforts are paying off even though its going to take a long time to get through the process, but there are two possibilities that researchers have come up with in that area.

Just recently, Dr. Jerold Chun came up with a drug thats already approved by the FDA, its out on the market that treats HIV and there is a possibility that that HIV drug may help with people with Alzheimers or related dementia in either slowing it down or preventing it. And the study that he did, it took about 100,000 individuals that had HIV, that had been receiving this particular drug and these people over time have reached age 65 and older.

And if you take the population of 100,000 there would be several thousand in the normal population group that would have Alzheimers or related dementia by this time and there was only one only one. So his research shows this this may be some promise. Still working on the research side, theres nothing nothing yet that has been put on the market that slows the progression of this devastating disease. So thats on the research side.

On the caregiver side and I thank the U-T for all your efforts in doing what youre doing with your website, the estimated number of caregivers thatll be needed in the next 10, 15 years is 300,000 and most of those are family members and they need help. They need a break. Its very exhausting both emotionally and physically and they cant afford a caregiver to give them a break.

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Youve got your low-income folks and thats IHSS that takes care of those folks and then youve got high-income folks that they can afford to have caregivers come in or afford a facility. But youve got this whole middle group that is in dire straits and very, very stressed out.

So we started a voucher program last a couple of years ago to provide vouchers just to give folks a break. It was very successful, but and that was a full voucher. This year we launched a program to try to stretch the countys money and we put a million dollars into it. Its a 50/50 approach. So the county puts up 50 percent of the voucher and then the person or the family puts up the other 50 percent.

Caregivers need a lot of help, a lot of support, a lot of understanding of the disease, Alzheimer San Diego has just been phenomenal. So we have a lot of partners in this.

My biggest disappointment has been the lack of funding thats come out of the federal government for research and we need their help. Im its a pittance to what has been invested in heart disease or cancer and I dont take away from that because thats important.

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All people dont die of cancer today because of the research and and the treatment. Not all people die of heart disease because of the research investment. All people all people die of Alzheimers and the feds need to really step up big time. Im talking billions of dollars to invest in research. Nothing yet. The sheriff has put in Take Me Home Program for those who wander. About one out of eight will wander. We read about it, we hear about it, probably on a weekly basis and some of them we dont hear about.

And this this is basically to have folks who are at risk of wandering and have them in database so that all law enforcement, if there is a 911 call, they can look at that and say, ah, this person has a problem and what the problem is.

We also started a pilot program in East County. It was a very, very quick story, but it was an 85-year-old man who had severe dementia and his wife was taking care of him and he became very verbally and physically abusive to her at one point. She he hit her arm with a cane. She was on the phone, tried to get help, tossed from agency to agency to agency and finally he ended up in jail because it was a 911 call.

Law enforcement showed up because hed hit her arm. He didnt belong in jail. He fell, hurt himself, ended up in the ER. He didnt belong there either and thats just one incident. So we set up this pilot program that has proven a big success so far. A Separate Path. A Separate Path for these people who are in crisis and so they pick up the phone, 911 call, they describe what it is, its someone with Alzheimers, so now theres a clinician or a social worker that goes out with the first responder to see what are the needs of the individual, of the family, keep the person in their home, aging in place, in their home as much as we can. Its the way of the future and Im hoping to expand that program beyond the East County.

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It was a small group, Santee and Lakeside basically, the Grossmont Healthcare District and the Grossmont Hospital. So were looking for cooperation from other hospitals in order to expand this program. But you take that model and that model could be used for a lot of other things too, but just for this purpose it will relieve the jails, it will relieve the hospital emergency room and people with dementia dont belong in either one.

Union-Tribune: One other question from me and were short on time, but we had the candidates for supervisor in here and there were a lot of questions asked and answers given about the foster care system, which [reporter] Morgan Cook detailed some pretty horrible things on, but I havent heard anything about it since. Are there plans to make that over, to change how thats working and can you give us an update on that?

JACOB: Yes. Yes. In fact, there will be there was a group that was put together and they came out with a whole list of recommendations and and that will be coming to the board very soon and those recommendations to be implemented.

One of the biggest organizational changes will be a centralized system. The system was decentralized some years ago and the thinking behind it, I mean it, it made some sense, but its not working. Its not working because each of the areas are acting individually and theres not a coordinated system.

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Command and control is good and to make sure that everybodys on the same page, doing the same thing, living by the same standards and accountability, accountability in the system. It its a tough, tough area when youre dealing with kids that are coming out of these homes that are very, very dysfunctional and the decision whether you take the kid out of the home or you leave them in the home, its tough.

Ive been on the ride alongs. Ive seen it and it I mean its just absolutely awful what some of these situations are out there. So its the county is in a real tough situation, but we need to do a better job and were going to do it.

Union-Tribune: Okay. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate it.

JACOB: Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your time.
A California state lawmaker introduced a proposal on Wednesday that would require clergy to report child abuse or neglect disclosed during confession.

The bill is expected to inspire a moral debate at the Capitol about the right to private penance versus a desire to protect children, and will force legislators to wade into the debate over the intersection of religion and public safety.

SB 360 is about the safety and protection of children, said Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), who introduced the proposal. The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes  with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk.

Clergy, doctors, psychologists, marriage and family therapists and social workers are among some 46 categories of professionals required to report any suspicion of abuse or neglect to law enforcement.

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But state law offers an exemption for any clergy member who acquires knowledge or a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect during a penitential communication, defined as a sacramental confession or other communication made in confidence.

The proposal received swift backlash from the California Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church.

Inserting government into the Confessional does nothing to protect children and everything to erode the fundamental constitutional rights and liberties we enjoy as Americans, said Steve Pehanich, director of communications and advocacy for the California Catholic Conference.

Hill unveiled his bill amid a public reckoning for the church in California and all over the world.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles and dozens of other dioceses began disclosing new lists of clergy accused of molesting children after a Pennsylvania grand jury in August released a report detailing a cover-up of child sex abuse involving more than 1,000 victims. On Thursday, Pope Francis is convening a four-day summit at the Vatican on protecting children from sexual abuse by clergy.

More stories from Taryn Luna 

taryn.luna@latimes.com

Follow @tarynluna on Twitter.
A landmark new police transparency law should apply to internal investigations of officer shootings and misconduct cases that occurred before this year, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra argues in a new court document.

In a legal briefing for a pending state Supreme Court case, Becerra says state legislators intended for the public to know about all investigations of shootings or confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty by officers within a departments possession when they passed Senate Bill 1421 last year.

That goal could not be achieved if all records of prior conduct were excluded from the laws coverage, said the briefing, which was filed on Wednesday.

California attorney general sued over release of records of police shootings and misconduct probes 

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Becerra, however, has not followed his own legal opinion. He is refusing to release records held by the attorney generals office from incidents that occurred prior to Jan. 1 when the law took effect. Becerra has said he wants courts to definitively interpret that the law applies to records of older incidents before he makes public those held by the attorney generals office. Last week, a First Amendment group sued Becerra for his refusal to disclose the information.

Asked at a news conference last week about his decision not to release the records, Becerra said there are many people whose privacy is at stake.

Im simply trying to abide by some rulings by the courts, Becerra said. Im not trying to block anything. I will do what the courts say I can legally do.

The legal briefing also mentions Becerras decision not to release the records, saying the attorney general is awaiting court rulings on the matter because any public disclosure of personnel records would irrevocably reveal potentially protected information.

Police unions up and down the state have filed lawsuits contending the law should not apply to records of incidents that occurred before this year because of officer privacy concerns. Becerras legal briefing says that argument is wrong.

Moreover, the plaintiffs in a number of cases now pending in the lower courts have contended that SB 1421 does not encompass personnel records that were created, or that relate to conduct that occurred, before the law took effect on January 1, 2019, the briefing says. The Attorney General disagrees with that contention.

The briefing is for a case involving the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which has argued that the states police secrecy laws prohibit the sheriffs department from disclosing a list of deputies with a history of misconduct to prosecutors. Supreme Court justices asked the parties in the case to submit briefings on whether the 2018 transparency law should affect their decision.

Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report.

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liam.dillon@latimes.com

@dillonliam
The pain was so bad, Eric Topol was reduced to tears after he had a total knee replacement in 2016.

His left knee became badly inflamed, and Topol says he was guided into a form of physical therapy that only made things worse.

The La Jolla physician and digital health guru recovered. But the experience hasnt been forgotten. Hes using it as a harrowing example of why physicians and scientists need to make greater use of artificial intelligence, robotics and big data to diagnose and treat patients. He says this digital convergence would also give physicians more time to closely listen to people.

Topol explores the matter in his new book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Heathcare Data Human Again, which will be released on March 12.

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Like his two earlier books on digital health care, Deep Medicine is blunt and critical, but also constructive and optimistic. Topol says AI and big data could become as impactful as the advent of steam engines and the spread of electricity.

You can hear Topol sketch out the future on March 26, when he makes a personal appearance at Warwicks Books in La Jolla. The appearance, which begins at 7:30 p.m., will be held at 7812 Girard Ave.

THE BRAINIAC FROM BOSTON: UC San Diego has chosen a group of renowned scholars, diplomats and business executives to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the School of Global Policy and Strategy. The figures include Steven Pinker, the Harvard experimental psychologist who is known to the public through his mass market science books, including The Better Angels of Our Nature and The Blank Slate.

Pinker will give the keynote address during a two-day forum that begins on April 26 in La Jolla. Click here to learn more. The forum also will feature Jeff Immelt, the former chief executive officer of General Electric, and James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic.

George Watters of NOAAs Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla uses a remotely-controlled deep diving glider to study the impact of fishing and the environment on krill, a commercially valuable crustacean.

KEEPING AN EYE ON ANTARCTICAS VALUABLE KRILL: Travel 7,300 miles southeast of San Diego and youll end up in the South Shetland Islands, an archipelago in the Antarctic thats home to extraordinary numbers of krill, tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that humans consume in health supplements. Krill also are eaten by the crustaceans predators, which includes seals and penguins.

The krill have been getting an unusually close look lately from George Watters, director of the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division at NOAAs Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla.

Watters and his colleagues have been using remotely-controlled underwater gliders to analyze ocean conditions, which tells them a lot about the health and abundance of krill. Theyre also examining how predators are affecting the krill population.

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We tested the gliders off San Diego last summer. Theyre working well, said Watters, who guides the gliders as much as 3,000 feet deep in water clogged with icebergs. Were getting awesome data.

He and his team use a computer mouse to send signals to the gliders, a fairly straight forward process. Well, most of the time it is.

We have to watch out for icebergs, and we dont know where they are until after they have gone by, Watters said.
A pair of thieves with guns robbed two people sitting in a car Wednesday evening in an alley near San Diego State University, campus police said.

The robbers  each wearing black hooded sweatshirts and dark sweatpants  snatched items from the two victims in an alley off Montezuma Road at 55th Street around 8:30 p.m.

The pair made their getaway in a teal Chevy Cavalier driven by a third person, university police said in a crime bulletin issued Thursday morning. The car headed toward College Avenue.

One of the victims received a minor injury during the robbery.

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Police said the victims involved in the off-campus heist were not associated with the university.

San Diego police are handling the investigation, school police said.

Both thieves appeared to be their 20s, police said.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Five rural school districts in San Diego County will be closed Thursday in anticipation of heavy snow, school officials announced Wednesday.

Campuses in the Julian Union School District, Julian Union High School District, Mountain Empire Unified School District, Spencer Valley School District and Warner Unified District will be closed due to inclement weather, according to the county Office of Education.

#Breaking Add Spencer Valley and Warner Unified to the list of school districts closed Feb. 21. Full list: https://t.co/KnRyEGlEGA  SD County Ofc of Ed (@SanDiegoCOE) February 21, 2019

Campuses in many of the same districts were closed Friday and started late Tuesday because of the snow and inclement weather.

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The National Weather Service predicts Mount Laguna could get 18 to 24 inches of snow by mid-morning Thursday, while Palomar could receive 12 to 18 inches overnight. The snow level could drop to 2,500 feet on Thursday.

A winter storm warning is in effect for the mountains until 1 a.m. Friday.

Forecasters expect gusts up to 65 mph in the mountains and 50 mph in Julian, which is expected to get 4 to 6 inches of snow.

The county Office of Education was updating its website and social media accounts throughout the evening Wednesday and could add additional closures Wednesday night.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

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alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
The Union-Tribune profiles a wanted suspect each week in an effort to make our community safer. We partner with Crime Stoppers and local law enforcement to prole known fugitives as well as draw attention to unsolved crimes. This weeks wanted suspect:

Jonathan Chacon, 31

Wanted: Chacon is wanted on a felony warrant for robbery. His criminal history includes other instances of robbery.

Description: Latino, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 143 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Frequented areas: Investigators dont know where Chacon frequents and suspect he may have fled to Mexico.

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Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546
Two additional suspects have been arrested in the December slaying of a Pacific Beach man whom prosecutors said was shot exectution-style as he lay in bed.

Carlos Yslas, 24, and Pedro Ramirez, 27, were already in custody on unrelated charges when they were arrested in the death of 44-year-old Marcantony Mendivil, San Diego homicide Lt. Matt Dobbs said.

The two are scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges Friday.

Police responding to a report of a shooting found Mendivil suffering from an apparent gunshot wound in an apartment on Wilbur Avenue near Quincy Street shortly after 1:45 a.m. on Dec. 29. He died a short time later at a hospital.

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Investigators arrested Freddy Sosa, 37, and Paul Weinberger, 50, earlier in connection with the case. Weinberger lived in the residence where the homicide occurred.

In January, Weinberger and Sosa pleaded not guilty to murder charges in San Diego Superior Court. At that hearing, Deputy District Attorney Flavio Nominati said the two were among a group of masked men who forced their way inside the apartment with at least one shotgun.

The intruders held up the people in the home, found the victim and executed him while he was in bed, Nominati told the judge during the hearing.

A motive for the slaying has not been released.

At the January hearing, Weinbergers attorney, Paul Pfingst, told the judge his client was among the victims when the armed intruders entered his home and killed Mendivil, who had spent the night there.

Pfingst said his client was a job recruiter and often had people visit or stay at his home. He also said the intruders fled in his clients Lexus SUV.

Sosa is a mixed martial arts fighter, according to Pfingst.

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Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

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karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A man was arrested by Chula Vista police on Wednesday morning after two residents called 911 to report a burglary in progress.

Chula Vista police Sgt. Matt Smith told OnScene TV that officers were called by two residents who saw a man trying to break into homes on Max Avenue near Rivera Court shortly before 9 a.m.

Officers responded within about 5 minutes of the call and located a man matching the suspects description on Rivera Court, Smith said. The man resisted arrest but officers were able to detain him without further incident, Smith said. No one was injured.

A resident told OnScene TV that the man apparently had tried to get into several homes in the area, including his garage, before the man took off on a bicycle. He was just going down the street, seeing (what) he could break into, he said.

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The sergeant said officers checked out the neighborhood but had not been able to locate any burglaries that had been completed.

Lt. Dan Peak said the man was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest. No details about the suspect were immediately available.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor called off the pursuit of a minivan suspected of smuggling unauthorized immigrants about three minutes before it crashed and rolled Tuesday evening in East County, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The crash in the rural community of Boulevard, which resulted in minor to moderate injuries for all five occupants of the minivan, happened about an hour before two men were killed and a woman was critically injured when their car slammed into a semi-truck while fleeing from Border Patrol agents in Otay Mesa.

That collision, which happened around 6:15 p.m. at Otay Mesa Road and Sanyo Avenue, happened just moments after a Border Patrol agent tried stopping the car after allegedly seeing a man and woman, both suspected of being unauthorized immigrants, get into the vehicle, Border Patrol officials and San Diego police said.

The crash was about a quarter-mile from the initial stop, Border Patrol San Diego Sector spokesman Agent Theron Francisco said. It was almost like (agents) lit them up (with lights and sirens), the car sped away and almost immediately it hit the semi.

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Authorities on Wednesday did not make public the identities of those involved in the fatal wreck.

The crash in Boulevard, meanwhile, resulted in the arrests of all five occupants of the Mazda MPV minivan, including four Mexican men allegedly riding without seat belts in the back of the van, and the alleged driver, 23-year-old San Diego resident Ashley Alexandra Moreno, who now faces a human smuggling charge in U.S. District Court.

According to court records, federal agents saw Moreno pick up four passengers on Old Highway 80 in Boulevard around 5 p.m., and a few minutes later, agents in a marked Border Patrol vehicle tried to stop the van. When the driver refused to pull over, a chase began.

A Border Patrol supervisor monitoring the chase over the radio advised the chasing agents to end their pursuit at 5:12 p.m., according to court documents. The agent in a vehicle behind the van turned off his lights and siren, but remained within eyesight as the van sped through curves in the road.

Minutes later, while driving on a dirt portion of Shasta Way south of Campo Road, the Mazdas driver hit a large dip in the roadway and lost control of the van, striking a steel fence and utility pole before the van overturned and came to rest on its wheels, California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Travis Garrow said.

When a Border Patrol agent rolled up to the crash site, one occupant was unconscious, one asked for help for his injured companion and three others fled or tried to flee the scene, according to court documents.

All five people were rounded up eventually. Three were hospitalized.

As those events played out in Boulevard, the second pursuit of the night started and quickly ended in Otay Mesa when the Volvo sedan sped off, collided with the back of a Freightliner semi-truck and careened down an embankment.

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It was at least the third multiple-fatality crash in the past 19 months involving Border Patrol pursuits in San Diego County.

In August 2017, three people died and one was hurt when a GMC Envoy linked to a suspected murderer sped away from Border Patrol agents and crashed off Interstate 15 in Rancho Bernardo. And in November 2018, three people were killed and eight were injured when a pickup fleeing from Border Patrol agents hit a spike strip, veered onto an embankment and rolled on westbound Interstate 8 near Boulevard.

Border Patrol policy states agents may get involved in pursuits only when the benefit outweighs any immediate danger created by speeding or other emergency driving techniques.

Francisco said agents and supervisors evaluate speed, traffic, weather and other factors to determine if pursuits should continue, or when they should end because theyre too dangerous.

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The agency overhauled its pursuit policy in the 1990s after a Border Patrol chase in Temecula ended in a deadly crash near a high school, killing four students and a father who was driving his son to the campus.

The latest version of the policy was crafted in 2007, replacing a 2002 version. It was reviewed in November 2010, and has remained in place since then, Francisco confirmed Wednesday.

Francisco said the blame for these deadly crashes falls on the suspected human smugglers.

These smuggling organizations are putting these illegal aliens, these migrants, in dangerous situations by not pulling over, Francisco said. All could be avoided if they simply pulled over. But they value the monetary gain over human life.

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Francisco said that in his experience, immigrants involved in chases like the two on Tuesday are actually pretty scared, hoping it would stop.

Theyre trapped, along for a ride, not in control and in the hands of the smugglers, Francisco said. Theyre often pretty happy to see us when its over (and ends safely). The bottom line is, it comes down to (the smugglers), who run because if they get caught, they dont get paid.

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Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
San Diego announced Wednesday that it will significantly restructure management of its Public Utilities Department this April in response to public outcry last year over excessively high water bills that turned out to be inaccurate.

A new leadership position will be created, three divisions will be combined into one and meter reading functions will be reorganized, said chief operating officer Kris Michell in a memo sent to the City Council Wednesday.

The moves come as city officials prepare to name a new head of Public Utilities. The recruitment process for that job closed on Monday.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer vowed after last years outcry to do whatever was necessary to restore the publics confidence in the department and the citys water billing practices.

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The memo said the reorganization will also involve personnel changes, but Michell didnt name any specific employees whose jobs might be affected.

The new leadership position will be an executive assistant director, who will oversee daily operation of both the water and sewer divisions.

The mayor has directed that all necessary actions be taken to restore confidence in the Public Utilities Department, and we firmly believe the changes described above will make real progress toward that goal, Michell wrote.

A city audit last year found that 2,750 water bills sent to San Diego residents were incorrect and had to be readjusted. The audit also found that 10 meter readers accounted for 71 percent of the errors.

Meter readers figured out how to bypass an accuracy check required when meters are read, the audit said, noting that the city hadnt been measuring the performance of its 36 meter readers.

The audit was ordered after hundreds of San Diego residents complained of surging water bills, in some cases two or three times the usual amount. Furious ratepayers then packed public hearings demanding answers.

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david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
San Diego is aiming to get more feedback on future housing and commercial projects by allowing residents to offer opinions and suggestions online, instead of attending community forums and local planning group meetings.

With this new tool, residents can tell city planners exactly where they would like future development to go and what they want it to look like, Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a news release. We want to make sure we are giving folks every opportunity possible to make their voices heard.

The launch of the new tool comes after a new city audit this winter found that San Diegos 42 neighborhood planning groups lack transparency and fail to attract a cross-section of residents.

The new digital engagement tool is being launched first in Clairemont, where an update to the communitys blueprint for growth is under way.

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The community also has become a key battleground in city efforts to shrink its homelessness problem and solve its affordable housing crisis, with Clairemont residents vocally opposing several proposed projects.

Residents will be asked to specify their priorities for future development in eight geographic zones, including areas near planned stations on a new trolley line along Morena Boulevard and other transportation corridors.

They will pick from a variety of theoretical residential and commercial developments with the requirement that they find at least 5,000 new housing units for the city. Forty percent of those units must be near three new trolley stations.

The digital feedback tool can be accessed at clairemontplan.org/online-community-engagement-tool.

More communities will be given access to the digital feedback tool in coming months, city officials said.

The new online community engagement tool will give residents and business owners who typically are unable to attend meetings and workshops the ability to participate in the community planning process, said City Planning Director Mike Hansen. It will also allow us to gain valuable input from San Diegans on planning their neighborhoods.

Initial reaction to the new digital feedback tool has been negative from a group of community leaders who call themselves Clairemont Cares.

Those who have utilized the tool do not care for it, said a newsletter emailed to group members on Tuesday. It is difficult to navigate if you arent computer savvy and frankly duplicitous.

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The newsletter, however, asked residents to utilize the tool so their voices will be heard. In addition, the group leaders are planning an instructional session to teach members how to use the tool.

Faulconer urged city residents in his annual State of the City speech last month to start embracing new housing projects instead of fighting them based on concerns about community character.

We need more housing in San Diego to make sure that our children and grandchildren can afford to raise their own families in the city they grew up in, the mayor said in a news release about the new engagement tool.

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david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
Environmental activists blasted cities on Wednesday for not following through on pledges to rein in greenhouse gases  calling on elected officials, advocacy groups and business leaders to collaborate on a Green New Deal specifically for the San Diego region.

An annual report card released Wednesday from the local nonprofit Climate Action Campaign found municipalities are stumbling, specifically when it comes to getting people out of their cars and onto cleaner forms of transportation.

The report shows that climate is still not a top priority for cities, Maleeka Marsden, an organizer with the group and co-author of the report, told supporters at a rally in City Heights on Wednesday.

Cities are behind schedule on their goals and failing to make biking, walking and transit viable options for efficient and affordable connections to jobs and housing, she added.

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The report also found that many cities are not monitoring progress on climate targets. The city of San Diego, for example, has called for thousands of commuters to ditch their car commuters in favor of transit, but still doesnt track how people get to work.

Mayor Kevin Faulconers office pushed back on the notion that the region needs its own Green New Deal and defended its progress and cutting climate emissions.

Were open to discussing new ideas and new approaches, but the city already has a blueprint for fighting climate change, Faulconers spokesman Craig Gustafson said in an email. Our focus remains being the regional leader on environmental protection through implementation of the Mayors landmark Climate Action Plan.

The report card, which graded cities on a 100-point scale, gave the city of San Diego and Encinitas the highest scores of 81 points each. Solana Beach was ranked third with La Mesa, Del Mar, Carlsbad and Chula Vista trailing.

Groups in attendance  including the Cleveland National Forest Foundation, Sunrise Movement and SanDiego350  voiced support for drafting a regional blueprint to address climate change.

The idea of making broad investments in renewable energy and transit to create green jobs also appealed to Rick Bates, spokesman for United Here Local 30, which represents hotel workers and others.

Our workers are largely low-wage workers, and they live in communities that are directly impacted by climate change, he said at the rally. We see this as a long-range goal that we need to meet.

The influential San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition said it had yet to take a position on the idea of a local Green New Deal.

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While details were scant, officials with Climate Action Campaign said such a campaign would require a broad coalition and potentially a major tax increase.

Thats a subject we need to explore seriously, said Nicole Capretz, the groups executive director. What kinds of resources are we going to need to invest into our communities to create the world-class city we want and deserve?

The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council has come out in support of the nationally proposed Green New Deal. Head of the labor council Keith Maddox said that for his group to support a parallel effort in San Diego, the plan would need to include a commitment to workforce education and fair wages, among other issues.

We must recognize the monumental impact doing so will have on workers in virtually every industry from defense and shipbuilding to manufacturing to tourism, he said. It is critical that workers and jobs be at the heart of any Green New Deal.

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At the same time, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce said it was open to exploring the idea.

The Chamber is always looking for cost-effective ways  to support a greener, more inclusive and more productive economy, Sean Karafin, vice president of policy and economic research with the Chamber, said in an email. We look forward to learning more about what they have in mind.

While much of the report focused on the shortcomings of climate plans, it also praised the region for recent efforts to dramatically expand the use of renewable energy.

The report lauded officials for considering the adoption of a government-run program called community choice aggregation, which gives elected officials the authority to purchase electricity. Traditionally, investor-owned utilities have controlled that process, inking deals with power providers, from natural gas plants to solar installation and wind farms.

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A number of cities, including San Diego, Encinitas, Del Mar, Oceanside and Carlsbad, are now considering using community choice to form a joint-powers authority to purchase electricity collectively.

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Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
A Gaslamp Quarter chef who was involved in a confrontation with four off-duty San Diego police officers last fall was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on drug and weapons charges.

One of the officers testified in a preliminary hearing that Jonathan Felix pulled a gun on him in a Grantville-area bar parking lot, so he and the other officers drew their guns on Felix.

As Felix backed away on a bicycle, the officers surrounded him, knocked him to the ground, punched him repeatedly and used a carotid restraint to knock him out, Officer Anthony Duncan said.

An on-duty patrol officer testified to taking custody of Felix and pulling a plastic baggie of white powder out of Felixs pocket before he was loaded into an ambulance.

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Felix claims that the off-duty officers were drunk that night and used excessive force when they subdued him in the parking lot.

After hearing that and other testimony, San Diego Superior Court Judge Kenneth So said hed heard enough evidence to send Felix to trial on four charges  one misdemeanor count of possessing cocaine and three felony counts of being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition and possessing a controlled substance while armed with a firearm.

Felix has at least one theft-related conviction from arrests in Arizona in 2007 and 2008, and served less than a year in prison, according to his lawyer.

He could be sent to prison for four or five years if convicted of all counts, attorneys said.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Runyon and defense attorney Alicia Freeze gave conflicting versions of what happened in the strip mall parking lot outside McGregors Ale House on San Diego Mission Road shortly before 3 a.m. on Nov. 7.

The prosecutor and police witnesses who testified Wednesday said five officers  Ross Bainbridge, Anthony Duncan, Frank Bigler, Nicholas Dabbaghian and Jose Rodriguez  met at the bar after their patrol shift ended shortly before midnight on Nov. 6.

Rodriguez and Duncan testified that the group drank, talked shop and got loud at times until the bar closed at 2 a.m. They stood in the parking lot near their cars for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Both men said they noticed Felix messing around in his Dodge Durango and acting suspiciously by pulling a bicycle out of the SUV, riding away and returning twice, then driving the SUV away and returning, all within about 20 minutes.

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The officers said they thought Felix was looking for cars to break into. Rodriguez said he left the parking lot soon after that.

Felix has said previously that he went to the bar after his shift as a chef at Greystone Prime Steak & Seafood. He said he lives near McGregors and often parks his SUV in the lot overnight. He said he rides his bicycle home because parking at his apartment complex is limited.

He also said, at a January news conference, that he thought the loud, rowdy men hanging out in the lot were behaving suspiciously and possibly intended to break into his SUV.

Felix said the men, whom he did not know were police officers, confronted him and drew their guns first.

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Duncan testified that the way (Felix) drove past us didnt feel right, so the officer fetched a pistol from his locked glove box and tucked it into his waistband.

Then, he said, he walked up to Felix to ask him what he was doing. Felix said the other men want to kick my ass. Duncan said he told Felix that wasnt so.

Felix was sitting astride his bike, between the SUV and another car, when he reached with his right hand and pulled a gun from his waistband, Duncan testified.

He started to raise it. I side-stepped and pulled my gun, trying to get cover from the front of his car.

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Duncan said he yelled drop the weapon! and the other officers suddenly were right behind him, guns also drawn and yelling at Felix to drop the gun.

The prosecutor played a security camera video that captured the encounter, showing Felix on the bike, backing away, then falling when one officer kicked him.

The video shows four officers punching Felix and pinning him to the ground until he was rendered unconscious.

Duncan testified that he broke his right hand punching Felix in the side. He said Bigler wrestled the loaded, semi-automatic pistol from Felixs hand and tossed it several feet away, then Bainbridge fetched a set of handcuffs from his vehicle.

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Felix said he suffered a fractured vertebrae, fractured hand, a cut to the back of his head requiring three staples, and lots of bruises and cuts on the face during the struggle.

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pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @pdrepard
Hugo Crosthwaite  a well-regarded artist known for his work on both sides of the border  is fighting cancer, and the community has rallied to help.

A GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $25,000 was created Feb. 19 to help with his care. As of mid-day Thursday morning, nearly 180 donations had been made, raising more than $18,000.

Crosthwaite, who was born in Tijuana and attended San Diego State University, was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer in September. He had undergone surgery and was then given a clean bill of health.

But two weeks ago, after waking up with a swollen leg caused by a large blood clot, doctors discovered the cancer was back and had reached his lymph nodes and entered his blood, kidneys and liver, according to a note on the GoFundMe campaign by Luis De Jesus, director of the Luis De Jesus Los Angeles gallery and a friend of Crosthwaites.

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This week, he began a very aggressive chemotherapy protocol and will require multiple rounds of chemo and radiation therapy, De Jesus wrote.

His family and friends in Tijuana and San Diego who have been assisting with paying for his care are tapped out and he does not have insurance, but he is receiving care in Mexico where the cost is significantly lower, De Jesus said. With upcoming treatments, we anticipate his expenses to be in the mid-$20,000s. Our goal is to raise $25,000 so that he can continue his care. Specifically, the funds will go to paying for multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, diagnostic procedures and continued monitoring of the cancer and DVT (large blood clot).

De Jesus continued: Not only is Hugo an incredibly talented artist, he is a very kind and wonderful human being who generously donates his time to the education of children in school programs, and is an advocate for those with less and those who aspire to have a better life. He has witnessed their struggles and they are documented in his amazing drawings, paintings and murals.

The Rosarito-bred Crosthwaite, whose work has been exhibited all over San Diego for years, most recently completed a project titled In Memoriam: Column A and Column B. The work is part of a larger project at Liberty Station called Installations at the Station.

For the Liberty Station project, Crosthwaite painted 16 murals over the course of 14 days  from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In a story last summer, Union-Tribune freelance contributor G. James Daichendt said the project can be best described as part mural and part performance, where the artist engages visitors through the creation of several small murals.  Crosthwaites piece raises expectations and aims to embody the spirit of life in a border city.

In his GoFundMe campaign, De Jesus said Crosthwaite is dealing with a serious medical situation that requires our immediate attention.

We are asking for your support to assist Hugo and his family as they deal with this medical crisis, De Jesus said. Any financial donation would be appreciated and we thank you for taking the time to read this and consider participating in this cause. And for those who are able, we thank you in advance for helping make his care possible.

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To donate to the GoFundMe campaign, click here.

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Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
The Silver Bay Kennel Club of San Diego  one of the oldest kennel clubs in Southern California  is hosting its all-breed dog show this weekend with obedience, rally and agility trials, tricks, good citizen testing, plus more than 50 dog-related boutiques with pet supplies and gifts for sale. Get up close to 50 American Kennel Club breeds at the Seaside Pavilion at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, plus learn about other dog breeds, responsible dog ownership, and support for dog fanciers.

Silver Bay Kennel Club dog show: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. OBrien, Bing Crosby and exhibit halls at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Free (parking is $15). (858) 755-1161. silverbaykc.com
Fresh Sound Musics 2019 series continues next Thursday when it presents Stephan Crump and his Rosetta Trio, featuring Crump on acoustic bass and Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar and Jamie Fox on electric guitar.

The concert is the second in a series presented by presenter Bonnie Wrights Fresh Sound Music, which this year moved to its new home in Liberty Station.

The Memphis-raised and Grammy-nominated Crump, who hails from a family of artists, formed Rosetta Trio in 2005 to record an album of work written post 9/11. The album, Rosetta, was released in 2006 and garnered praise from fans and music critics  one of whom called Rosetta Trio a string ensemble for the new century.

Crump, whose performance career began at the 2009 International Society of Bassists Conference, has performed and recorded with a litany of musicians  from Patti Austin to Big Ass Truck to the late blues legend Johnny Clyde Copeland.

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The New York-based trio  Ellman and Fox were mainstays in the Bay Area music scene before heading to the East Coast  this month released its fourth album, Outliers.

Fresh Sound presents Stephan Crumps Rosetta Trio: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28. White Box Live Arts at Liberty Station, 2590 Truxtun Road, Studio 205, Point Loma. Tickets at the door: $20 general admission, $10 for students. freshsoundmusic.com/spr2019.html

Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
National Sticky Buns Day

Today is National Sticky Buns Day. Since sticky buns are traditionally a weekend brunch menu item, most restaurants are celebrating a little belated and are inviting pastry connoiseurs to indulge in the glazed buns on Saturday and Sunday. Here are a few spots:

JRDN Restaurant: Jumbo Sticky Buns. $10. Brunch hours only. 723 Felspar St., San Diego. (858) 270-2323. t23hotel.com/jrdn

Jumbo Sticky Buns. $10. Brunch hours only. 723 Felspar St., San Diego. (858) 270-2323. t23hotel.com/jrdn Trust Restaurant: Ultimate Sticky Buns, smothered in caramel sauce, topped with nuts or fresh fruit, and finished with a scoop of ice cream. Saturday and Sunday. Limited quantities. $10. 3752 Park Blvd., San Diego. (619) 795-6901. trustrestaurantsd.com

Today is National Pancake Day

The Morning After will offer diners a choice between three over-the-top pancake flavors served individually or in a pancake flight: Fruity Pebbles pancakes, topped with mascarpone cream and Fruity Pebbles cereal; berry and granola pancakes, with berry compote and almond buttercream; and apple pie pancakes, made with caramelized apples, granola and cinnamon syrup. 531 F St., San Diego. (619) 542-9664. themorningaftersd.com

Sugar Factory American Brasserie will plate up its signature Sugar Factory pancake stack, three fluffy buttermilk pancakes dusted with powdered sugar. Customize the stack with a variety of decadent sauces, fresh fruits and treats, including Nutella, white chocolate sauce, strawberries, blueberries, Oreo cookie crumbles, brownie bites and Reeses pieces chunks. The Theatre Box, 701 Fifth Ave., San Diego. (619) 814-2225. theatrebox.com

Meze Greek Fusion will offer guests four signature hotcakes to choose from: blueberry baklava pancakes, topped with Tahini and Greek honey; peanut butter bacon pancakes; and stacks of three traditional blueberry or buttermilk pancakes. 345 Sixth Ave., San Diego. 345 Fifth Ave., San Diego. (619) 550-1600. gaslampmeze.com

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Cafe 222 has dished up its pancakes for more than 25 years, including orange pecan, made with fresh orange juice, vanilla and toasted pecans; blueberry, with fresh blueberries sprinkled in the batter and topped with more fresh blueberries; granola, with house-made granola sprinkled in the batter; and classic buttermilk pancakes. 222 Island Ave., San Diego.(619) 236-9902. cafe222.com

Friday is National Margarita Day

Amicis Ristobars Coconut Margarita ($12) is crafted with 1800 Coconut Tequila, Cointreau, lime agave, toasted coconut and a salted rim. 5980 Village Way, Suite B106, San Diego. (858) 847-2740. amicisristobar.com

For a harmonious balance of spicy, salty, sweet and sour, Barbusas Inferno ($13) is crafted with Casa Noble Tequila, serrano, strawberry, lemon and a habanero rim. 1917 India St., San Diego. (619) 238-1917. barbusa.com

Green Acre Campus Pointe will serve its sweet and spicy margarita alternative, the Sassy Sangrita ($12.50), made with Arette Tequila, Cointreau Noir and house-made sangrita. 10300 Campus Pointe Drive, San Diego. (858) 450-9907. greenacresd.com

Madison on Parks bar manager Danny Kuehner has crafted a unique twist on the traditional margarita with the Motor Bike ($11), made with El Jimador Blanco Tequila, local watermelon, aperol, ginger and lime. 4622 Park Blvd., San Diego. (619) 269-6566. madisononpark.com

Herb & Wood in Little Italy toasts to the margarita with its Heat & Jalisco ($14), made with tequila, grapefruit juice, red bell pepper syrup, lime and firewater bitters. 2210 Kettner Blvd., San Diego. (619) 955-8495. herbandwood.com

The Blind Burro offers a fresh, fruity and balanced margarita, the Mango Tajin Skinny ($12). At only 96 calories, the drink pairs perfectly with the restaurants south of the border street food menu. 639 J St., San Diego. (619) 795-7880. theblindburro.com

Oceana Coastal Kitchen will serve its Natural Red Head ($15), a bright red margarita served on the rocks and made with Milagro Silver Tequila, Cointreau, house-made sour mix and red bell pepper syrup. Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa, 3999 Mission Blvd., San Diego. (858) 539-8635. catamaranresort.com

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Puesto at The Headquarters will debut its new mobile margarita cart on National Margarita Day. For each pitcher of margaritas  made tableside  a Puesto team member will pull down, slice and press seven to10 juicy limes, then add 12 1/2-ounces of the tequila of the guests choosing and 6 1/4-ounces of organic agave nectar. The pitcher will be stirred and iced to a frost before all the glasses on the table are filled. 789 W. Harbor Drive, Suite 155, San Diego. (619) 233-8880. eatpuesto.com

El Chingons classic El Chingon margarita is made with Agave Blanco Tequila, fresh lime juice and organic agave nectar, for $5 each all day. Signature margaritas and variations, including the Pancho Villa, made with El Jimador Blanco, fresh lime, salt and a choice of Jarritos (popular brand of soft drink in Mexico); Madero, made with Azunia Blanco Tequila, house-made watermelon cordial, lime and Tajin rim. 560 Fifth Ave., San Diego. (619) 501-1919. elchingon.com

Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant will serve guests The Stalker, a combination of jalapeno-infused tequila, lime, celery syrup, smoked salt and fresh greens on top. 2202 Fourth Ave., San Diego. (619) 231-0222. bankershillsd.com

Primavera Ristorantes Primarita is an inspired drink from its neighbor to the south, that is a combination of Sauza Gold Tequila, fresh lime juice, Triple Sec and a float of Grand Marnier. 932 Orange Ave., Coronado. (619) 435-0454. primavera1st.com

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The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows features a modern take on the margarita with its Blood Orange, a California cooler made with Milagro Silver Tequila, Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur, agave, lime and blood orange puree. 2223 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. 619.296.2101. lafayettehotelsd.com

Diversions Elevated Organic margarita is made with Casa Noble Crystal Organic Tequila, Cointreau and agave nectar. Looking for a punch of flavor? Try the Grapefruit Jalapeno or Anejo Honey. Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, 2100 Costa Del Mar Road, Carlsbad. (800) 854-5000.

Water Grills Margarita Verde is a mix of silver tequila, agave and fresh lime with a puree of cucumber, basil and jalapeno, served over ice with an ancho chile salted rim. 615 J St., San Diego. (619) 717-6992. watergrill.com

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carolina.gusman@sduniontribune.com
National City is set to begin cutting down on utility bills by $240,000 a year thanks to a citywide energy and water conservation project that is nearly complete.

The $5.5 million project includes rooftop solar panels installed at six city-owned facilities, as well as upgrades to indoor and outdoor lights, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment, and irrigation controllers for systems such as lawn sprinklers.

The project, in the works since 2014, is expected to generate savings of $5.6 million over the next 25 years, according to city staff.

The city issued a $1.8 million bond  a type designed to allow public agencies to finance renewable energy projects  and took out a $3.7 million tax-exempt lease to pay for the project upfront. The city plans to pay off the lease and bond over the next 25 years with the savings generated by the lower consumption of energy and water at the 12 facilities included in the project.

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It transitions us into a more sustainable environment, providing new equipment to allow us to move into a much longer facility life(span) and keeps us operating at a more cost efficient amount, said city associate civil engineer Jose Lopez, who added that the cost-saving measures benefit taxpayers.

Work completed as part of the project includes:

Rooftop solar panels installed at City Hall, the police station, the public library, a fire station, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Community and ARTS (A Reason To Survive) centers.

Low-flush toilets and urinals put in place in restrooms at almost all of the 12 facilities, including Las Palmas and Kimball parks and the Kimball Senior and Manuel Portillo Casa de Salud Youth centers. The Public Works Department building was the exception.

Upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment at almost all locations, excluding Las Palmas and Kimball parks.

Irrigation controllers at eight facilities, excluding the Kimball Senior Center, Fire Station 34, the Public Works Department and the Casa de Salud Center.

The city and contractors are in the process of getting the equipment commissioned to ensure it is designed, installed, tested, operated and maintained properly. The equipment should be fully up and running by the end of the month, Lopez said.

The project has been in the works since 2014, when the city partnered with Ameresco. The energy efficiency company audited energy and water use at the citys facilities to identify areas where the city could reduce its utility bills. In June 2017, the City Council authorized an agreement with Ameresco to carry out the project, as well as a financing proposal for the project.

Lopez said the city has consider more energy and water conservation upgrades to facilities not included in the project. He said the discussions are still at a preliminary stage.

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
Like a dog with a juicy bone, residents continue to push for Carlsbad to allow off-leash animals on its newly acquired Village H property.

People have let their canines run free there for 20 years or longer. But some dog-lovers now worry that after the city takes control of the site it will enforce its longstanding leash rules.

Until this year the land was owned by farmers and then developers, who looked the other way when residents and their pooches roamed the property. A large contingent of dog owners want that freedom to continue.

Its the happiest place on Earth if you have four legs, said Richard Macgurn, one of two residents who addressed the City Council during public comments Tuesday night.

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He and his wife often take Clarabell, their 16-month-old Vizsla, to run free on the eucalyptus-lined trails at the corner of Carlsbad Village Drive and Victoria Avenue. He called it a unique and special place where people and their pets can meet and exercise together.

Residents have repeated the request at numerous council meetings. But not everyone likes the idea of allowing dogs off-leash.

Environmental activists say dogs interfere with wildlife, leave waste that people dont clean up, and require additional fences that increase costs and block the travel of native species.

And some people are afraid of dogs, especially unfamiliar dogs that are unrestrained.

The land is part of 60 acres that went to the city to settle a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Preserve Calavera. The group claimed the citys approval of the 600-home Quarry Creek development along state Route 78 west of College Boulevard violated environmental protection laws.

City officials are working on final plans for the new, open-space park and will ask residents to get involved in the process, said Chris Hazeltine, director of parks and recreation.

Most of the land will remain as natural habitat for native species.

About 36 acres of the Village H property is north of Carlsbad Village Drive and includes a maintained public trail from the rear of Hope Elementary School on Tamarack Avenue, through a ravine and up the hillside to Carlsbad Village Drive.

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The trails south of Carlsbad Village Drive where people take their dogs are informal paths that were never maintained. That part of the property also includes a 2.3-acre RV storage lot that serves the Calavera Hills community. The RV lot will remain separate from the park.

In January, the council approved spending up to $260,000 to remove trash, thin and trim the trees, erect fences and clean up the trails on the southern part of the property before it officially opens to the public. The work was expected to take 60 to 90 days.

The city requires dogs to be on leashes on all public trails, Hazeltine said in January, but an off-leash park could be added later with the City Councils approval.

Carlsbad already has two other off-leash parks, including one less than a half-mile away on Carlsbad Village Drive, and it is building a third at Poinsettia Community Park. Those three are all much smaller than the area thats gone to the dogs at Village H.

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philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
CARLSBAD

Nonprofit helps launch plastic surgery unit

ConnectMed International, a nonprofit that brings health care standards to underserved parts of the world, helped launch the first plastic surgery division in central Vietnam at Hue University. Surgeons and nurses from the University of California San Diego, Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania representing ConnectMed traveled to Vietnam to complete a weeklong educational and surgical collaboration with Hue University of Medicine to formalize the division. Hue University is now one of three plastic surgery training facilities in Vietnam. ConnectMed also offered a continuing medical education conference and charitable surgeries in partnership with Hue University surgeons. Surgical teams from ConnectMed and Hue University worked to complete 11 surgeries for low-income local adults and children, including tissue expansion for a young burn patient and post-mastectomy microsurgical breast reconstructions. Visit ConnectMed.org.

NORTH COUNTY

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Free workshop on tax credit

A free workshop to learn more about the California Competes Tax Credit will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. March 4 at San Marcos City Halls Community Center, 3 Civic Center Drive. Register at bit.ly/2TGILEB. The credit was created to help businesses that want to move to California or stay and grow in California. Since the program launch, 112 San Diego companies have won $66 million in tax credits. Find eligibility requirements at business.ca.gov/Programs/CaliforniaCompetes. The next application round opens March 4 and closes March 25. Contact Kierstin Rielly of San Diego Regional EDC at kr@sandiegobusiness.org.

OCEANSIDE

Fabric Investments acquires building

Fabric Investments, an Encinitas-based real estate development firm, has acquired a two-story, multi-tenant office and retail building at 2110 S. Coast Highway, Oceanside, for $3.75 million. Fabric Investments plans to turn the building into a modern retail and office mixed-use building named Lagoon. The new space will have 7,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level and 8,000 square feet of creative office space on the second level, and is slated for completion by mid-2019. Amy McNamara and Marc Posthumus of Colliers International San Diego Region represented the seller, Bill Roskowski. McNamara also represented Fabric Investments.

Workshop on cover letters, thank yous

The San Diego Workforce Partnerships North County Coastal Career Center is hosting a Cover Letters and Thank You Letters workshop from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at 1949 Avenida Del Oro, Suite 106. Cover letters are a critical element to job search success. Identify what employers want to know about you before inviting you to an interview, then explore the steps to attention-getting cover letters. Visit workforce.org.

VALLEY CENTER

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First sundowner tonight

The Valley Center Chamber of Commerce holds its first sundowner of 2019 at 5:30 p.m. this evening at 28094 N. Lake Wohlford Road. (Look for the Ridgeview Church and Chamber Event signs.) Meet the chamber board. Cost is $10 per person and includes dinner and raffle ticket. Also, now is the time to sign up to host a sunriser or sundowner. Contact Marian at (760) 749-8472 or info@vcchamber.org.

Please send items to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com at least 10 days before events.

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laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
Four Helix Charter High School students are hoping that a project theyre working on as part of an after-school initiative will help the city of La Mesa reduce the amount of plastic, cigarette butts and trash it sends to the sea.

Alex Chau, Mahmoud Salem, Steven Nguyen and Rachel Hua are building a model of a waste-filtration system out of plexiglass, wood, glue, 3D-printed materials and electrical components that will simulate wastewater flowing into storm drains.

The device includes a plastic gate, a mesh gate and a pushing machine. It is designed to fit snugly inside the La Mesa storm drain system.

Powered by self-generated hydroelectric energy, automatic pistons on the device will catch the waste and move it into a waste container on a set interval. Once plastic and cigarette butts fill the waste container, a computer program the team created will send a notification to indicate it needs to be emptied.

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Mahmoud said he felt compelled to act after watching a film in his environmental science class about the tremendous amount of debris in the ocean. The movie depicted in part how the presence of trash, especially plastic waste, is affecting and altering ocean life.

When it rains, water flows from rooftops, gutters, streets, sidewalks and soil, and the runoff collects and flows into storm drains. Storm drain systems are designed to send runoff to nearby streams, rivers or other water bodies. Unlike sewer systems, most storm water from storm drains is not treated at a wastewater treatment plant, but flows directly into waterways.

We watched a documentary about how plastics go unrestricted into the ocean, Mahmoud said. Polar bears and turtles are dying from eating the the plastic bags and other plastic items.

We also saw how putting netting over the storm drains is really inefficient. The plastics build up and clog the entire system. So Alex had this idea about how to push all the plastics into a separate area so they can be collected. Hopefully, this will work so that wildlife species can recuperate.

Alex said that after one of the big rainstorms in the county in January, he watched helplessly as coffee cups, plastic straws and cigarettes traveled down the street and toward the storm drain and was moved to do something, quickly.

The foursome plan to present their model at a Feb. 23 competition at San Diego State University. There, they hope to do well enough to move on to further related competitions throughout the state and region. The local competition is part of a program in 12 states called MESA  Math Engineering Science Achievement.

The MESA competition, also known as the National Engineering Design Competition, serves as a perfect outlet for us to express our ideas, Alex said.

Mahmoud and Alex recently shared their work-in-progress. The pair brought a Lego prototype of their project to a La Mesa Town Hall meeting last month and explained how their invention would work.

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After their presentation, Mayor Mark Arapostathis commented on the pollution-stoppers use of clean energy. Councilwoman Akilah Weber said, I like how you are focused on preventing things from going to the ocean. Im really impressed.

The following day, Alex, Mahmoud and Steven met for an hour with several La Mesa city staff members at City Hall to clarify their intentions and get feedback.

Public Works Director Richard Leja, Engineering Project Manager Hamed Hashemian and other staff members looked over the students sketches, talked about engineering challenges, showed them where to find maps of the citys stormwater system and gave them some suggestions for their build.

Alex said the team, which recently added Rachel as a member, has already started using some of the citys advice as it continues to improve the plans for the project. Theyve staked out four areas in the city where they would be most likely to put their machine, plus a private storm drain site on the Helix High campus.

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Even as they build their pollution-stopper, the students are also busy working on preparing for other parts of the competition. Those include a technical interview with judges; a presentation that gives an overview of their project and shares relevant data; a 5- to 10-page report with photos, charts, tables and graphs that show all the steps taken and the next steps coming; and a creative pitch of their prototype to a group of judges.

The team also must come up with a realistic cost estimate for their invention. They said they plan to consult with architects and engineers to develop a budget.

Helix is the only East County high school involved with the MESA program in San Diego.

The MESA program has challenged our team to design and engineer a contraption which will have a positive impact upon the community, Alex said, proposing ideas to leaders and taking initiative to proactively seek out issues.

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The students MESA Club supervisor, Helix science teacher Debra Byrd, has a keen appreciation of what the students are doing.

Its a fantastic idea  we need something like this, said Byrd, also a former member of La Mesas Environmental Sustainability Commission.

The best part of this is that about two weeks ago, we were sitting in the classroom on a Saturday and they were sanding pieces of balsa wood, trying to make a bridge, Byrd said of her club students. They were like, We dont want to do this, we want to do something else. 

Two weeks ago, they saw all the trash going into the storm drains. By Monday, they had already done their mock piece with the Legos, then went to the town meeting, made the appointment with the engineers and it just took off. Its been fantastic.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
Two programs that El Cajon started about 1 years ago to help homeless residents in the city have proven to be successes, a report from the city says.

City Manager Graham Mitchell told the City Council last week that partnerships with Crisis House and The Salvation Army have housed more than 100 persons since 2017.

About two years ago, smarting from a 2016 Grand Jury report that said El Cajon, along with La Mesa, Santee and Lemon Grove, lacked resources and services for the homeless, El Cajon turned up its efforts to find housing for the hundreds of homeless persons who live within the citys borders.

The numbers are not in yet from The Regional Task Force on the Homelesss 2019 Point-In-Time Count, but in the previous year, the city saw a small decrease in the number of unsheltered people living in El Cajon. There were 288 homeless individuals counted in 2018 in El Cajon; in 2017, there were 323.

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To make more of a dent in housing those living on the streets, El Cajon reached out to regional organizations including the East County Homeless Task Force and the County of San Diego. It also looked to local nonprofits, trying to focus on permanent housing for homeless individuals.

El Cajon also continues its support for the East County Transitional Living Center, which focuses on temporary housing solutions.

In late 2017, El Cajon began a partnership with the local branch of The Salvation Army, committing $10,000 for a pilot program called A Way Back Home. The city also invested about $150,000 to hire a housing navigator and support housing assistance programs with Crisis House, a social services agency in El Cajon.

Last week, Mitchell reported that A Way Back Home, which reunites homeless individuals with family members outside of the San Diego region, has reunited 35 individuals with loved ones in a positive and supportive environment.

Mitchell did the math and said the average cost per reunification has been $271. He said The Salvation Army is applying for a Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) grant to expand the El Cajon pilot program to the entire San Diego region.

Mitchell said that since starting the partnership with Crisis House, the housing navigator has found permanent housing for 70 individuals  a total of 43 households, at a cost of just over $70,000 in housing assistance funds. He said that 49 of those housed are adults, 21 are children.

Mitchell said that in addition to the 70 individuals housed, the housing navigator has enrolled an additional 25 individuals in an effort to find housing.

Combining the salary for the housing navigator for the past 14 months and housing assistance funds used so far, the cost to secure permanent housing through the partnership with Crisis House has been $1,974 per person housed, he said.

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Crisis House also will be looking for funds through HEAP to expand the program into all of East County. Mitchell said city staff is working with the staff of neighboring cities and Crisis House to develop a possible expanded program.

El Cajon City Councilman Steve Goble said he was pleased that the city has been successful in helping people who want to get off the streets, but said there is more to the story.

This is very successful for those who want to get off the street, Goble said. But what about those that dont want to? We need to think about the next step.

Goble said that in March he is going to propose rotating night shelters that will operate for one- and two-week stints that he said could contribute to a solution.

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He said that at The Salvation Armys groundbreaking earlier this year for its coming community center, talk included the not-for-profit group opening up its gym to homeless individuals for overnight stays.

I think there is an opportunity to talk about rotational night shelters, he said. For when its cold outside and they have to get into a shelter, tonight. We hear from the community that we have to do something. I think we can go to the next level. It will be great for the homeless, for business owners, for the community.

The city and its homeless have often been at odds.

Last year, the city was thrust into the international spotlight when 12 people were handed citations at Wells Park for sharing food with homeless individuals.

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El Cajon had enacted a temporary ban on sharing food in city parks in October 2017 as a safety measure after the San Diego County Board of Supervisors declared the regions growing hepatitis A outbreak a public health emergency.

The city lifted the ban in January 2018 after the county declared the health emergency over.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
The top executive of San Diegos oldest startup accelerator, Connect, is leaving to launch a $50 million venture capital fund for tech companies in Southern California.

As head honcho of Connect for the past five years, Greg McKee said he was constantly reminded of San Diegos biggest hurdle: access to startup cash to grow businesses. The regions dearth of VCs  especially in tech  is well-documented and a near-constant topic among local entrepreneurs.

The trend is not new, but I wanted to do something about it, McKee said.

McKee is joining forces with Los Angeles-based investor Luke Hayes to form Torrent Ventures. Hayes will stay in Los Angeles to scout companies up north, while McKee will hunt in San Diego. But theyre interested in canvassing the entire Southern California region, which McKee sees as an underserved area when it comes to startup investment.

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Theres a huge amount of research dollars coming down here, but we only see a fraction of the capital that goes to Silicon Valley, McKee said.

What kind of companies will they invest in?

The fund will invest in companies that fuse technology with life sciences, such as startups using data analytics or machine learning to improve clinical trials or other problems in health care. McKee said theyre interested in a variety of businesses in these fields. Examples of companies that would pique his interest, he said, are startups like San Diego-based Seqster, which integrates disparate sources of health care data into one place, and CureMatch, which uses machine learning to improve cancer diagnosis.

This investment niche plays to the strengths of San Diegos talent and entrepreneurial background, but it also plays to McKees strengths.

McKee has a long career as a life science executive, both large companies and startups. But he began his career in finance, leading a $550 million portfolio as an investment manager in Japan. For the past half-decade, hes been entrenched in San Diegos innovation world, forming connections with all local universities, research institutions and other breeding grounds of San Diego startups. And hes deeply connected, not just in San Diego, but in innovation hubs across the globe.

McKee said theyre raising money from limited partners primarily outside of San Diego, tapping pools of capital in places like Boston, New York, Seattle and overseas. The fund is not yet closed, but McKee said they expect $50 million to start.

This new fund is the latest in a string of small technology funds opening shop in San Diego. In December, Blueprint Equity announced a $50 million local fund for software startups.

What will happen at Connect?

Connect, a nonprofit thats been operating in the red for the past three years, will need to find a new chief quickly. The organization has a big project in the making with its recently announced Connect All incubator set to open this spring in Chollas Creek.

Connects board chair Tim Scott will become executive chairman, temporarily taking the reins until the accelerator finds a new CEO. But McKee said he plans to remain supportive of Connect, remaining on its executive committee.

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Hopefully we can have a bigger impact now, and I can be more helpful to the ecosystem in this capacity, McKee said.

McKee will officially wrap up at Connect on Feb. 28.

Related reading:

These 30-year-old tech investors just brought a $50M fund to San Diego

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Tech investors launch new startup incubator The Sandbox for engineers

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brittany.meiling@sduniontribune.com 619-293-1286 Twitter: @BrittanyMeiling
Britain can handle the security risks involved with using mobile networks made by Chinas Huawei, the cybersecurity chief said Wednesday, adding to a growing debate among countries on whether the company should be banned, as the U.S. wants.

Ciaran Martin, the CEO of the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, said it was important to have sustainable diversity in the supply of telecommunications equipment. He added that his agency could handle the challenges involved in monitoring suppliers who may not be considered trustworthy  a hint at Huawei.

Huawei, the worlds biggest maker of switching gear for phone and internet companies, has faced rising scrutiny over U.S. allegations that it could be forced by the Chinese government to provide access to consumer data on its networks.

As countries roll out new high speed fifth generation, or 5G, mobile networks, they are seeking suppliers and the issue of whether to ban Huawei has become a heated debate.

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Some frame it as a cold evaluation of the technical risks. Others see it as part of a broader tussle between the U.S. and China for technological dominance. The U.S. has effectively blocked Huawei for years and is accusing China of stealing technology from foreign companies.

U.S. government officials including Vice President Mike Pence publicly warned European allies against using Huawei during a visit last week.

Authorities and telecom operators in countries such as Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic have been reassessing Huaweis role in 5G networks while Australia, New Zealand and Japan have already moved to curb the use of its gear to varying degrees.

China has stridently defended Huawei, considered a crown jewel in its push to become a global technology power, and denounced security concerns as part of a U.S.-led plot to restrain the countrys development.

The United States and a few of its allies are using double standards and deliberately misleading the public on the issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday.

Its hypocritical, immoral and unfair bullying behaviors, said Geng.

Experts say Huawei networks are generally cheaper than those of competitors and are of a high quality, making it a difficult decision for governments and telecom operators to shun the supplier altogether. Banning Huawei could also delay the rollout of 5G networks, which are considered necessary for the next generation of internet-connected things, from self-driving cars to smart factories.

The British government is due to complete a review of its policies on the safety of 5G in March or April.

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Martin said no decisions have yet been made and everything is on the table.

Since 2010, the British government has operated a cybersecurity evaluation center for Huawei equipment, which Martin said was part of the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for the company.

And it is proving its worth, he said, according to a transcript of a speech he gave at a conference in Brussels.

The cybersecurity center in July identified technical issues in Huaweis engineering processes that could make it less safe. Huawei said last month that it would take three to five years to fix the problems.

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Martin said the issues his agency identified relate to cybersecurity standards and are not indicators of hostile activity by China. He told reporters that mistakes in software are the biggest issue for cybersecurity, more so than the risk of a foreign government getting backdoor access.

Huawei competes with a few big rivals, notably Finlands Nokia and Swedens Ericsson, to supply equipment for 5G networks.

Martin said its important not to let the telecom equipment supplier market shrink too much.

Any company in an excessively dominant market position will not be incentivized to take cybersecurity seriously, Martin said, adding that such a company could be a prime target for attack for the globes most potent cyber attackers.

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In a sign of Britains division over 5G, a security think tank warned the same day against using Huawei gear.

Allowing Huaweis participation is at best naive, at worst irresponsible, the Royal United Services Institute said in a report, which cited factors including the difficulty of finding hidden back doors in software.

Germany is still undecided on what to do. It has made clear it doesnt plan to explicitly bar any single manufacturer, though that leaves open the possibility it could frame system requirements in a way that effectively excludes Huawei.

Officials are wary of the security issues that could arise with Chinese involvement, and the German Interior Ministry said Wednesday that internal discussions were still ongoing on how to proceed.

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A direct exclusion of a particular manufacturer from the 5G expansion is at the time not legally possible and also not planned, the Interior Ministry told The Associated Press. For the Interior Ministry the focus is on adapting the security requirements of the telecommunications network in such a way that the security of the network remains guaranteed, including from possibly non-trustworthy manufacturers.

The ministry said for that to be ensured, the requirements must be anchored in Germanys telecommunications law and discussions on how to do that are currently ongoing.

___

AP journalists Frank Jordans and David Rising in Berlin and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cutwater Spirits, a Miramar-based craft distillery built by the founders of Ballast Point Brewing, has been sold to Anheuser-Busch.

Cutwaters line of canned cocktails was a wonderful fit for the brewing behemoths Beyond Beer portfolio, said Anheuser-Buschs Marina Hahn.

This is the time to really do our best to dominate a new category, said Hahn, vice president of new business.

For industry watchers, the sale was a boozy case of deja vu. Several Cutwater executives  including founder/brewer Yuseff Cherney and chief sales officer officer Earl Kight  were leaders of Ballast Point when it sold to New Yorks Constellation Brands in 2015.

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That sale met with an immediate backlash. Some argued that the brewery, a local brewing pioneer, had betrayed its local roots to join a multi-national corporation with enough marketing power to crush smaller rivals. The sales price also drew disbelieving gasps: $1 billion.

Cherney, Kight and Ballast Point co-founder Jack White used their shares to transform a sideline, Ballast Point Spirits, into Cutwater. Making bourbon, rum, gin and other spirits, the distillery eventually moved into a 50,000-square-foot facility that includes canning and bottling lines plus a restaurant.

Cutwaters products are distributed in 34 states, Cherney said, but he insists the company has greater potential. Enter Anheuser-Busch.

One of the things we always battle with is getting out products into the consumers hands, Cherney said. To be able to open that up with the Anheuser-Busch marketing network is huge for us.

Financial terms of the deal were not revealed. Cherney said Cutwaters management team will remain intact.

He was unsure how this sale will be greeted by the countys distilling community, but hoped it would be applauded.

To have this happen with the largest brewing company in the world, he said, for me, its something to be proud of.

Unlike Ballast Point, Cutwater is not a craft distillery. While Cutwater does not publish sales figures, annual production exceeds of 100,000 gallons a year, the maximum amount for the craft designation, according to the American Distilling Institute.

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Still, details of this move were closely followed by members of San Diegos small but growing community of craft distillers.

Congrats to Yuseff and his team, said Geoff Longenecker, owner of San Diegos Seven Caves Spirits.

To everyone in the San Diego craft beer world (and beyond) who will no longer frequent Cutwater out of a dislike for InBev, Constellation, or any of the big alcohol conglomerates, Longenecker added, there are many of us small spirit producers who are endeavoring to make exceptional grain to glass products on a daily basis.

peter.rowe@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1227 Twitter: @peterroweut
The Central Bank of Samoa has identified three concerns with the listing of Samoa on an unofficial blacklist of countries that have weak anti-money laundering (AML) regulations by the European Commission.

Samoa, along with 22 other countries, has been included on a list developed by combining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliance methodology with its own, leaving several countries, including the United States, upset.

In a statement, CBS Governor Maiava Atalina Ainuu-Enari said the new list differs greatly from the FATF process, which Samoa has been cooperating closely with, which is a cause for concern.

Last year, Samoa amended AML legislation to improve compliance with FATF standards, which resulted in a slight upgrade and lessened the reporting requirements of Samoa to the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), FATFs arm in the Pacific.

This is a reflection of how well Samoas AML systems are doing, as the reporting has been relaxed to 12 months [from six months], Maiava said.

It may also be appropriate to note that Samoa has in fact never been blacklisted for non-compliance with the FATF standards.

According to Maiava, CBS is concerned that the European Union (EU) did not provide a detailed assessment, rather just a brief explanation for why Samoa was blacklisted.

Samoa was notified just days before the list was made public, and the countries on the list were not given meaningful opportunity to challenge their inclusion, or address the issues the EU identified, Maiava said.

As a result, the EU has produced a list that is inconsistent with the FATF list, without reasonable support.

Samoa has always been a willing member in the global fight against money laundering and terrorism financing, including adopting the global standards to combat them, said Maiava.

She said CBS stands with the United States, which has significant concerns about the EU diverging from FATFs listings.

The US has also come out to strongly oppose the inclusion of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands on the list, and is encouraging financial institutions to ignore the list.

According to the EU, the list, as a delegated regulation will become official 20 days after its publication following approval by the European Parliament and Council.

The Commission will continue its engagement with the countries identified as having strategic deficiencies in the present Delegated Regulation and will further engage especially on the delisting criteria. This list enables the countries concerned to better identify the areas for improvement in order to pave the way for a possible delisting once strategic deficiencies are addressed, the Commission states.

According to the statement, the Commission will work with listed countries and amend the list as they see improvements.

The blacklist also includes: Afghanistan, American Samoa, The Bahamas, Botswana, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Yemen.
The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) in Falevao has chosen Reverend Tafaigata Galumalemana as its Church Minister.

Speaking on behalf of the church yesterday, Filo Ah Sam who is the Falevao C.C.C.S. Deacon, said their decision is final and it cannot be changed.

The church members have decided and no one can change what the church has decided! We stand by our decision, reiterated Filo, who is also the Secretary for the Church.

The previous Reverend has retired.

The said church is where Prime Minister Tuilaepa Neioti Dr Sailele Malielegaoi is a member and he is also the Paramount Chief. The PM denied having anything to do with the decision making.

This week Reverend Tafaigata and his family were scheduled to attend their welcoming service to carry out their covenant with the C.C.C.S. Falevao. But it was postponed upon the request of Reverend Elder, Samuelu Limu, who oversees the district that includes Falevao.

Saoluafata C.C.C.S. Reverend Elder Samuelu confirmed the postponement of the covenant service, but declined to comment on the issue at hand.

I cannot comment on any of the issues you have raised, he said.

When he was asked about the selection of the Church Minister in the village setting, instead of the church setting, Rev Samuelu said: I cannot comment.

This newspaper also reached out to the C.C.C.S. Elder Reverend Tavita Anesone, who confirmed the C.C.C.S. does not accept the selection by the Falevao Church.

We have written to Rev Limu and told him that the service welcoming the new church minister for Falevao should be stopped.

The Church does not accept the selection by the church, said Rev Anesone.

But Filo said their decision will not change and added that the postponement was a oneoff.

It was out of respect to the Reverend Elder Limu we accepted the postponement but just this once.

The Falevao church is ready to welcome our new Reverend and it has been scheduled for March, he said.

There are 50-plus families serving the church, and 90 per cent have already given their donations to fund activities to welcome the new church minister.

When Filo was asked whether the selection of the church minister was done in the village setting or the church setting, he said: There is one church in Falevao and that is the C.C.C.S., and so the Village Council is made up of Chiefs who are all members. The normal practice is that we raise the matter with the Village Council, and then upon agreement we vote in the church, and then the Reverend Elder will attend to certify our selection.

But this was not the case with Falevao.

It was discussed in the village council, there were two nominees, and then we took it to church for the Reverend Elder to attend to certify our selection.

However, the Reverend Elder disputed one of the names. The church did not agree, so we went ahead and voted on the two names.

We have selected Reverend Tafaigata to be our Church Ministers and the service was to be this weekend, and to our surprise it has been on hold as our selection was not accepted.

It has to be stated that although it was rejected, the covenant Falevao makes is with the Church Minister not the Congregation Christian Church of Samoa and not anyone else, Filo added.

Under the policies of the Church, the Elders and the Reverend Elder that oversees our District does not have a say in who we select, they endorse.

As far as we know Falevao has not violated any of the C.C.C.S. standing policies.

Furthermore, the Churchs Ministers covenant is with the village not the C.C.C.S., Filo added.

When he was asked whether there are plans for the church to become independent  if the C.C.C.S. continues to reject their selection of their church minister  and Filo was reluctant to answer.

Thats a hard question.but if they continue to reject our decision, then my question why..why have they decided to reject our decision, he said.

The Church Secretary also rubbished claims by other church members that the Prime Minister was involved in the decision making.

The Falevao village consists of many High Chiefs, and while Neioti is the Paramount Chief of this village, there are other chiefs in the village who deliberated and consulted on the matter.

And to suggest that the Prime Minister made the decision alone is absurd. He is not the only chief in our village council. Dont insult the village council, Filo added.

He said their village followed all the protocols.

I must say that Neioti donates the premier (taulaga) offering and gives the highest alofa for the previous church Minister, if anything, he does have a say in the events of our church, said Filo.

The Prime Minister during his weekly program confirmed the issue in the village and said he was not involved.

Our village council met to discuss the issue, and all I did was observed.

According to the Prime Minister, the welcoming service has been postponed to March, 2019.

The Samoa Observer also contacted Reverend Tafaigata. However, he declined to comment, noting they are merely servants and they will await the decision by the village.
The Ministry of Police is investigating a robbery and assault of an Asian couple in Vailoa by two men, who were armed with machetes, early Thursday morning.

This was confirmed by Commissioner of Police, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, in response to questions from the Samoa Observer, in relation to a video which surfaced on line showing the crime.

Preliminary investigation indicates the men involved are not the prisoners. We have leads and we are working hard to bring the men involved to answer for their crimes, he said.

The armed men stole $60,000 in cash from the shop.

One-and-One mart owners in Vailoa suffered minor injuries, when they fought off the two men who covered their faces when they held up the couple.
The Electric Power Corporation on Monday announced a $0.09 sene increase in the price of electricity effective from March 1.

The EPC said the increase applies to all domestic and non-domestic users for cash power and induction meter users. Reporter Soli Wilson meets members of the public to get their views on the increase.













Sanele Bentley, Salailua Falealili, 49

Its very hard for the people that are struggling already. It all depends on what the people in these situations do about it. If you have the money its not the problem, but imagine if you were one of these families, it will take a lot of money, which is something they dont have. But in other words, its good too, Samoa is developing, and they need to keep up with the demand because these days everything is used with electricity with so many technological advances. We are all moving forward. Prices will eventually rise and yes its sad for those who cannot afford but things like these, the Government needs to see it and maybe put up the peoples wages.

Rudolf Talia, Moataa, 54

They should look at our people, not everyone is the same, a lot of people are not rich and so if theyre looking to increase the prices again, then its just going to make it worse for these people. Its almost a dollar per unit and units dont take long to finish, and with a lot of EPC projects coming along, they should manage those well  because it seems like theyre looking into recovering their costs through raising prices. A lot of people will be complaining due to this raise, because were the ones who suffer. Why have so many projects when at the end of the day it wont reduce costs for the people? People are going to have many questions.

Gregory Ah Sam, Tulaele, 24

Theres always a good and bad side to everything. This raise in electricity prices is going to teach and encourage our people to save, because electricity can be used recklessly. Standards of living is rising, but at the end of the day we have to be smart about it. But on the other hand, its also not good because some families are not well-off and this will be a struggle, theyll be looking constantly for ways to make their cash power last. There are many questions as to why the prices are rising, its because they are having so many developments and they need to finance it somehow.

Otto Kohlhase, Vaimoso, 23

Standard of living is high but the wages are not good. Its like the balance is kind of off for most people. Electricity prices are high, goods and services are high and it proves its a hard life to live out here with not enough pay provided. The EPC projects need to slow down, if this is how they are doing their stuff is to start slow, one project at a time. They need to give people time to adjust to their changes. I think, if they are looking into raising these electricity prices, surely the public suffers but they can try and help by raising minimum wage to try and balance it out.

Lefau Afa Pupualii, Vaoala, 42

I think whats happening with EPC is that the government is doing a lot of projects and they are looking for ways to raise the funds. Not only are they raising tax, which is mostly where the money comes from, so they need to have so many projects but I dont think they have enough money. Im seeing this as another way for them to fund their projects. But most of what theyre doing now is for the betterment of the country. Yes, they have a lot of projects going on, and prices are rising. But its not for the benefit of one but the whole country. We dont have a lot of resources so the ones they rely on is us, the public, and we as the people, we play our part, we pay our tax. Yes, its going to be expensive for electricity but its all for the progression of our country forward. There are a lot of good changes in our country and thats a good sign.












The demand and need for veterinarians in Samoa is big, says Samoa Animal Protection Society (APS) chairperson, Dr. Joan Macfarlane.

Dr. Macfarlane was present at the animal clinic in Vailima where Japanese volunteer vet, Dr. Rei Kashiyama, has been based for the past year.

During the Samoa Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) tour of the clinic, Samoan media personnel had the chance to observe the work of Dr. Kashiyama, who is the only vet in the clinic.

One of the reasons APS relies on volunteer vets because people in Samoa dont generally want to pay the high fees for veterinary services, said Dr. Macfarlane.

If we were paying the salary of a vet, we couldnt afford to keep the cost of services low enough that at least quite a few people can afford them.

But in order to attract more people to study vet science, they need to know about it so we have some expo planned this year during the career days.

Dr. Macfarlane said more jobs need to be created for vets in Samoa.

Samoa Government jobs probably, even a paid position at APS, and then as a career path for people who go and study vet science at the moment, there are not many jobs for vets.

Theres only probably one or two in Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at the moment. If somebody trains for vet, they will probably go look for work overseas but we actually want them to come to Samoa and provide the service here.

We would like to increase it (number of vets) and if more people value their animals and look after them throughout their lives, there will be high demand for vet services, more vets required.

Dr. Macfarlane said it is a continuous APS job to find vets to after the animals at the clinic.

Vet is a highly paid job and a lot of students need to know that. It is a specialised field.

Dr. Kashiyama has recorded and treated 20 poisoned dogs at the clinic, most of which are male, and has identified animal diseases mostly worms and virus to have been affecting animals. She said such diseases can be prevented.
The Pacific is experiencing an increase in human trafficking cases and leaders in the region as well as international organisations need to address it.

That was the consensus at a recently concluded seminar on tackling human trafficking and people smuggling in the Pacific Islands, which was convened in Apia and hosted by the Pacific Immigration Development Community (PIDC) Secretariat.

Head of the PIDC Secretariat, Maumalo Ioane Alama, said human trafficking is a transnational crime issue that is being recorded as increasing in the Pacific region.

He said discussions during the last day of the seminar focused on the exploitation of fishermen.

Weve seen quite a lot of discussion around the exploitation of fishermen, so weve also discussed a number of cases of sexual exploitation. Also potential sex crimes against children in remote areas and had number of cases reported from across the Pacific. But thats definitely something we are looking at trying to develop some proper response, and how to manage the threat at the border and make sure we can support police in undertaking their investigations, he told media, who were invited to cover the seminar.

A number of Pacific Island states reported multiple cases of human trafficking and people smuggling, which Maumalo said confirms it is national issue that needs to be addressed.

And for those countries that have yet to see an inflow of trafficked persons were very happy to attend this seminar so we can provide them some guidance on how they can solve their policy issues and operational issues, he added.

Maumalo added: Mainly its a national issue and weve had a lot of countries report multiple cases of human trafficking and people smuggling, and weve had a lot of prosecutions in a lot of these countries and our colleagues from Fiji and Solomon Islands have reported successful prosecutions.

Solomon Islands Immigration director, Mason Bugui, said the seminar was an important step forward to address human trafficking and people smuggling.

This is an emerging issue, something that kind of popped out and like many other countries  it has now become a challenge to try and combat it, and trying to stop it.

So this framework we are trying to develop will help a lot and it will strengthen us to move forward with our programs, and it will consume time and resources, he said, in an interview with the Samoa Observer.

The seminar in Apia, according to Mr. Bugui, gives his office an understanding of what they should do to address the problem.

It gave us more understanding of what were supposed to be doing, bringing us together and we seem to understand that some countries are going ahead, and some countries are yet to reach the expectation, he said.

While Pacific Island governments such as the Solomon Islands are ready to tackle the issue, the lack of funding and resources continues to make it difficult for them.
An estimated 0.6 per cent of households in the central Apia area are illegally connecting water to their homes.

This is according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (J.I.C.A.) expert of non-revenue water, Hattori Toshiyuki, who said this number is good  compared to 5-10 per cent of households carrying out the illegal act in other countries.

Mr. Toshiyuki is part of the Capacity Enhancement Project for Samoa Water Authority (S.W.A.) in cooperation with Okinawa, Japan (C.E.P.S.O.), which is a five-year project implemented since August 2014.

We visited 500 households and we counted five or six illegal connections, which accounts to the 0.6 per cent average so 0.6 per cent is a good number for the country but still it is illegal.

S.W.A. Manager (urban division), Faumuina Iese Toimoana, said illegal connections contribute to non-revenue water and those found doing so are fined.

Leakages, distribution, service connection and water tanks account to 85 per cent of the non-revenue water and 40 per cent is customer meter inaccuracy, said C.E.P.S.O. chief advisor Takara Motomu.

Through this project, S.W.A. replaced old meters that are more than six years old. They replaced 1440 meters this year, which is about 40 per cent of the 3,400 households in the central Apia area, Mr. Motomu said, adding because of this S.W.A.s revenue increased.

By how much, he couldnt tell.

We replaced old pipelines and fixed the leaked and non-revenue water declined from 68 per cent to 39 per cent, and our target is 35 per cent.

Faumuina said the production from the water treatment plant was 100 per cent and they only managed to sell 32 per cent.

The other 68 per cent we didnt get any money from it, it is counted in the losses, but thats when we started this project. Now in 2019, we managed to sell 61 per cent and the loss is 39 per cent, Faumuina said.

Faumuina explained through C.E.P.S.O., local officials are able to identify leakages around Apia without assistance, and they are considering taking the project to the rural areas.

C.E.P.S.O. is a very useful project and we learn a lot from it. This is mainly a software package where capacity building is very important to the S.W.A. operation. Thats why they target the S.W.A. operation because when they leave, we will be able to sustain. 

Mr. Motomu said Samoas water has been tested and its quality is safe to be consumed.

S.W.A. was one of the sites visited by the Samoa media on Wednesday as part of the J.I.C.A. media tour.
A man charged with attempted murder of his relative in Fasitoo is awaiting an overseas psychiatrist to conduct a report on his mental state.

Tifaga Aiono, 46, from Fasitoo appeared before the Supreme Court on Monday for criminal mention.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted murder.

Lawyer Tufuga Fagaloa Tufuga is representing Aiono and Fuifui Ioane is the prosecutor.

Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu presided over the matter.

In the Supreme Court, Tufuga requested for the matter to be deferred until an overseas psychiatrist is able to conduct a medical report for the accused.

He said Aiono is not fit to stand trial due to his mental state.

In response, Chief Justice Patu said an application of this nature is always supported with a medical report and evidence by the psychiatrist.

The Court must be satisfied that the accused is not fit to stand trial, he said.

The matter is adjourned on 25 February for defense counsel to find out from the National Health, when this overseas psychiatrist will come to Samoa, and when will (he/she) be in a position to conduct a medical report on the mental status of the accused.

Aiono was denied bail following the incident that occurred in April last year at Fasitoo.

The victim in the matter was allegedly attacked by Aiono with a machete in an unprovoked incident and luckily survived the ordeal.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Tufuga said the accused had been receiving medical treatment from the mental health clinic at Motootua whilst being in custody.

He added there was a medical report on the mental status of the accused from a local doctor, but the prosecution has sought another one from an overseas psychiatrist.

Tufuga was appointed the lawyer for Aiono under the Court-appointed legal aid.
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Feb-20-2019 20:57 TweetFollow @OregonNews Salem Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Dealing Meth and Cockfighting Aispuros ranch in Scio, Oregon revealed more 200 roosters being raised and trained for fighting.

Photos: U.S. District Attorney's Office

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - 37-year old Arturo Aispuro, of Salem, Oregon, was sentenced today to 78 months in federal prison and 5 years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. He also received a concurrent sentence of 60 months for abusing hundreds of roosters by raising and training them to participate in cockfights. According to court documents, Aispuro was a member of a drug trafficking conspiracy operating in and around Salem. In April 2017, with the assistance of a co-conspirator, Aispuro sold 882 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant in Milwaukie, Oregon. Later, in May 2017, law enforcement intercepted Aispuro while he was transporting an additional 442 grams of methamphetamine for further distribution. In June 2017, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents executed a search warrant on Aispuros home in Salem where they found marijuana, cocaine, body armor, a digital scale, vacuum sealers and more than 20 firearms. Agents also found and seized cockfighting literature, vitamins and supplements used to increase roosters stamina and sets of gaffs, sharp metal spurs that attach to a roosters legs. Agents also executed a search warrant on Aispuros ranch in Scio, Oregon where they found more 200 roosters being raised and trained for fighting. The roosters combs and wattles had been removed to make them more effective fighting birds. Aispuro admitted to raising and selling roosters for use in cockfighting derbies for as much as $500 a bird. Aispuro previously pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and training and selling of fighting animals on June 12, 2018. This case was investigated by the DEA with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, and the Linn County Sheriffs Office and prosecuted by Peter D. Sax, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. Source: U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Oregon _________________________________________

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in South Korea's premier Yonsei University and said the occasion assumes greater significance in light of Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. "In the 20th century, Gandhi was perhaps mankind's biggest gift. In the last century, through his life and personality, he showed what the future would be. He in fact used to say my life is the message," Modi said in his address in the South Korean capital.



"This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary and the world is finding in Gandhi's principles a future for mankind's interests," he added.



A later tweet by the Prime Minister's office quoted him as saying: "The thoughts and ideals of Bapu have the power to help us overcome the menace of terrorism and climate change -- two challenges humanity faces in these times.



"Through his lifestyle, Bapu showed what living in harmony with nature is. He also showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations."



Modi's address was followed by that of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke of Gandhi's birthday -- October 2 -- as the International Day of Non-Violence, adding that he was honoured to be part of the celebrations of Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.



Modi is on a two-day state visit to South Korea where he will accept the Seoul Peace Prize and have business and political engagements. He will also address the India-Korea business symposium.




A week after 40 troopers were killed in a deadly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district, the government on Thursday allowed paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir to take commercial flights to join duty or while going on leave.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying, it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".



The Ministry said that the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh CAPFs personnel in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable and ASI, who were otherwise not eligible for air travel.



"This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e; while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return," the order said.





The order also said that this facility is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home while on leave.



CAPF personnel get air courier service on the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector.



The decision was conveyed to the chiefs of the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Assam Rifles (AR), National Security Guards (NSG) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and has come into effect immediately, said the order.
Hammdan tribesmen disown Saudi aggression-backed traitors

[21/February/2019]





SANAA, Feb. 21 (Saba)  Tribesmen and sheikhs of Hammdan district in Sanaa province staged a protest rally to disown traitors backed by Saudi-led aggression coalition and condemn normalization with Israeli entity.

At the rally, the participants stressed on the importance of readiness to make more sacrifices to defend the homeland and its sovereignty.

The protesters affirmed the Warsaw Conference held by US is plan to target the Arab and Islamic nation and erase the Palestinian cause.

The tribesmen renewed the Yemen people strongly stands alongside the Palestinian people and its sacrifices in confronting all US-Zionist conspiracies.

saba
Chandigarh, February 21: The Punjab Government led by Captain Amarinder Singh has cracked down in a big way against unscrupulous travel agents to register 2140 cases under various Acts since it came to power in March 2017. This was disclosed in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra, on behalf of the Chief Minister, in response to a call attention notice moved by MLA Kanwar Sandhu.

Of these 2140 cases, 1107 had been filed under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 528 under The Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act 2014 and another 505 under the Emigration Act, 1983. On the recent case of four Kapurthala youth who were fraudulently sent to Armenia by a group of travel agents, Mohindra apprised the House that three accused agents had already been arrested under the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act 2012, and said the remaining would be apprehended soon.

Brahm Mohindra

A Look Out Circular (LOC) had been issued and raids were being conducted, he added. All the victims had returned from Armenia and safely reached their homes on February 9, Mohindra further informed the House. Reiterating Captain Amarinder Singh's personal commitment to check exploitation of the state's youth at the hands of illegal travel agents, Mohindra said the state would also soon set up a Corporation to provide skill training to youth to match foreign job requirements, the terms of reference for which were being finalised.

Further, he said, the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2012 and the Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act, 2014 had been enacted by the Government, for which the rules had already been framed. Acting on the Chief Ministers directive, the state government had already issued a directive and advisory to all the top civil and police officials to crack down on illegal travel agents through a series of measures to ensure strict compliance with the laws and legislations governing the licensing and operations of travel agents.

SAANJH project of Punjab Police

The measures include holding of educational seminars and publicity campaigns by Punjab Police for educating the common people, especially the youth, about the activities of illegal agents. The 181 helpline set up for the assistance of needy youth laid astray by illegal elements was also being monitored round the clock, Mohindra added. Further, for safe and legal migration in State, various educational seminars were being organised under SAANJH project of Punjab Police, for giving widespread publicity through public meetings. Orientation programmes in collaboration with the Union External Affairs Ministry were also being organised to for pre-departure training of youth going abroad, Mohindra said further.
New Delhi, Feb 21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media. There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations.

The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of "politicization of terrorism" in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

BJP president Amit Shah

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, launched an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike. In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance), he alleged. Citing media reports in Hindi news papers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the the terror attack happened at 3:10 PM on February 14 with the Congress reacting at 5:15 PM.

"The prime minister also knew about it, yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a pseudo nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery channel) for self propagation in Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed. He alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there is slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there. "The prime minister continues to eat chai, samosas at seven o' clock at government expense in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat their food," the Congress spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", on the other hand the prime minister was doing his "propaganda and publicity", he claimed. "Can such conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said. Surjewala said that the Congress party had shown restrain as directed by party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said. The Congress leader said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".
Jammu & Kashmir, 21st Feb: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah today held a press conference and talked about the current political situation in Kashmir, and the communal attacks on Kashmiris all over the country post Pulwama attack. He rued about the indifference shown to the violence against Kashmiris which erupted all over the nation, by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh

No statement has been released by both, about the violence. He mentioned the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and gave the example of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who came on National television the very next day, and asked the countrymen to maintain law and order. There has been no such assurance by the current government. He also slammed Congress for omitting the incidents of violence against Kashmiris, in their press conference held today.

It was disappointing not to see the second major political party even condemning those attacks. The former CM thanked Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for their support to Kashmiris. He thanked the Sikh community specially, for opening up their homes and gurudwaras to the scared and harassed Kashmiris. He applauded the efforts of Sikhs to keep them safe.

Stranded Kashmiris heading back home in a bus arranged by Khalsa Aid

He did avoid mentioning the organisation responsible for sending off nearly 250 harrowed Kashmiri students safely back home, the Khalsa Aid. It is notable here that the Khalsa Aid team, after getting to know about Kashmiri students arriving in Mohali, after being chased out of many states across the country, worked tirelessly round the clock and went home only once each and every student had been sent back home safely.

The team arranged for their safe transportation, and saw to it that no one was left behind. Many Kashmiri students thanked Khalsa Aid after reaching home, posting their gratitude messages on social media.

The National Conference leader said, that when the Kashmiris talk about peace talks and dialogue as the way to a solution to the Kashmir problem, they are condemned and are called anti nationals, with diktats issued to go and live in Pakistan, but the central government has issued a joint statement with the Saudi Arab government, and talked about a composite dialogue.

He questioned the criteria of being called anti nationalist. Also discussed was the issue of security cover being withdrawn from several mainstream politicians, apart from the separatists. He refreshed the memory of two mainstream politicians assassinated by the terrorists as they talked of peace, and questioned the correctness of the current decision. The Kashmiri politicians would go to court if this decision is not thought of again, he said.
Los Angeles, Feb 21: Actor Gwyneth Paltrow, who is considered a popular figure amongst the superhero film nerds for playing Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, says she plans to retire after "Avengers: Endgame". The 46-year-old actor has played the character, who is the personal assistant turned lover of Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, since "Iron Man", the film that marked the beginning of the MCU in 2008.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The upcoming Marvel tentpole, "Avengers: Endgame", will mark her seventh appearance as Potts and Paltrow, in an interview with Variety, said she believes it is time for her to say good-bye to the character. "I mean, I'm a bit old to be in a suit and all that at this point. I feel very lucky that I did it, because I actually got talked into it," the actor said.

Jon Favreau

"I was friends with ('Iron Man' director) Jon Favreau. It was such a wonderful experience making the first 'Iron Man' and then to watch how important it has become to the fans," she added. "Avengers: Endgame" is set to release worldwide on April 26.
Espanola, NM (87532)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 58F. SW winds shifting to N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 58F. SW winds shifting to N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Los Angeles, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/21/2019 --Herpes testing in Los Angeles specialists, Vermont Urgent Care have just been described as top-level providers in their field. The herpes testing in Los Angeles team is extremely pleased to be recognized by their Los Angeles community and are poised to continue to provide top-level service to their patients. Vermont Urgent Care has dedicated a great deal of energy to ensure that they are recognized as leaders in their field. Vermont Urgent Care is excited about the future of urgent care service.



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Atlanta, GA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/21/2019 --First Choice Accident & Injury Care is a highly reliable organization that is primarily based in the state of Georgia. This organization offers both necessary medical support, as well as legal assistance to the victims of accidents. First Choice Accident & Injury Care provides the services of experienced car doctors and auto injury chiropractor in Alpharetta and Atlanta Georgia who are specially trained to treat accident-related injuries. All of these professionals ideally focus on making all of their patients feel both respected and welcome by providing them with extremely compassionate care.



From First Choice Accident & Injury Care people can even seek out the services of a well qualified and experienced boat accident lawyer in Alpharetta and Atlanta Georgia. These legal professionals can play a significant role in resolving the diverse types of disputes regarding any accident injury and medical settlement in an incredibly efficient manner. In case of accidents, typically the insurance company the relevant party would have to provide compensation for all the medical expenses of the victim. However, this does not happen quite many times. In case of any such scenario, people can ideally opt to hire the services of First Choice Accident & Injury Care whose legal representatives can adequately make sure that the all the medical costs incurred by the victim is wholly compensated for by the insurance company of the person at fault. These layers also aim to ensure that the financial compensation is given to the victim for all the pain and suffering they have at to experience due, and the emotional distress caused to them due to the accident.



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About the Company:

First Choice Accident & Injury Care is a highly reliable and well known organization serving the residents of Atlanta, Decatur, Lawrenceville, as well as its nearby regions.
Atlanta, GA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/21/2019 --First Choice Accident & Injury Care is a well-known organization that majorly provides its premier services to the residents of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. The prime aim of this organization is to give the victims of accidents and mishaps with all the aid and support they need after being in a specific traumatic event.



One of the most common and financially damaging mistakes people make after being in an accident is to delay their treatment. This means that the accident victim does not see a physician just after being in an unfortunate event. This delay in treatment subsequently becomes one of the key arguments made by the insurance company of the person as a fault; to deny the claim of the victim. Due to this, they might even run the risk of losing out any financial settlement. From First Choice Accident & Injury Care people can quickly seek out the services of experienced auto injury chiropractor in Alpharetta and Atlanta Georgia who can provide the accident victim with the appropriate treatment. Availing immediate treatment would also go a long way in minimalizing any chances of long-term pain and suffering that might occur due to the accident. First Choice Accident & Injury Care additionally bill the people responsible for the accident, and not its victim. Therefore, the injured victims do not have to worry about their treatment expenses.



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Plymouth Meeting, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/21/2019 --Glick's Exteriors of Plymouth Meeting, PA, was recently honored by CertainTeed Corporation for earning the prestigious SELECT ShingleMaster Status. This top-level roofing credential represents the highest standards of excellence, quality and knowledge in the shingle roofing industry and is attained by only the top 1% of roofing contractors in North America.



"We are pleased to recognize Glick's Exteriors as a SELECT ShingleMaster," says Jay Butch, director of contractor programs for CertainTeed Roofing. "Earning this credential means that Glick's is committed to building its business with a high degree of professionalism and to ensuring its customers are getting the highest quality of work."



The CertainTeed SELECT ShingleMaster credential provides contractors with high-level training and tools to enhance product knowledge and installation expertise along with professional selling tools, business building and management resources.



For companies to earn the SELECT ShingleMaster designation, they must have proof of current liability and workers' compensation insurance, must ensure 50 percent of their shingle installation crew, plus all job supervisors, have passed the CertainTeed Master Shingle Applicator test and employ at least one person who passed the CertainTeed Shingle Quality Specialist test. As a result, as a SELECT ShingleMaster, only Glick's Exteriors can offer CertainTeed's highest level SureStart PLUS extended warranty coverage to its customers, maximizing their protection.



"We want our customers to have the highest levels of confidence in our ability to do the job right the first time," said Sam Glick, president of Glick's Exteriors. "This credential represents a commitment from every member of my team to bring the highest standards of professionalism and quality to every home we work on."



About Glick's Exteriors

Glick's Exteriors is a business with strong Amish principles that provides residential and commercial exterior renovations and installations. Inheriting the generations-old and family-run business mentality in 1987, Sam Glick continues to offer incomparable service based on the skills and values passed down by decades of hard work. Starting at a young age, Sam worked as an apprentice under his father. It is here where Sam learned and fine-tuned his craft and learned the superiority of Amish craftsmanship, the importance of using quality materials and the necessity of affordable pricing. Sam's commitment to family values, combined with the generations of Amish-quality workmanship, is the reason why Glick's Exteriors delivers exceptional service and quality to every job.



To learn more about Glick's Exteriors, call (610) 810-1290 or go to www.glicksexteriors.com.



About CertainTeed

Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has helped shape the building products industry for more than 110 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm's slogan "Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed," inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is North America's leading brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, solar, fence, decking, railing, trim, insulation, drywall and ceilings.



A subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, one of the world's largest and oldest building products companies, CertainTeed has more than 6,900 employees and more than 60 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada. The group had total sales of approximately $3.98 billion in 2018. www.certainteed.com.
The very root and beginning of all theological study is known as theology proper or the doctrine of God. Within this field, the existence, being, and attributes of God are considered and his character is defined within the limitations common to human beings. All Christian theology (from Greek theologia, meaning "words about God" or "the study of God") has the character of God at its center. Our knowledge of God aids our understanding of our own being, purpose, and salvation. From God flows all life and goodness, as a light shining in the darkness.

Despite this, many Christians spend far more time considering things that are secondary to God's character than the character of God itself. There are many reasons for this: 1) Theology proper or the doctrine of God is a complicated subject that often requires intense intellectual study. 2) Theology proper may seem far removed from the daily life of the average Christian. 3) Our continual battle with the sinful nature, which presents itself in our inherent selfishness, causes us to focus on ourselves rather than our Creator. 4) There are some things about God that we are truly unable to comprehend due to our limitations as creatures.

By no means do I intend to dismiss these difficulties, but I do hope to encourage all Christians--young and old, ordained and unordained, male and female--to dip their toes into the deep waters of theology proper, for within those waters lie treasures untold. The entirety of scripture speaks to the nature and character of God, from the first chapter to the last.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13)

The scriptures are the Word of God, and in them he testifies about himself. Those same scriptures speak to us of the importance of knowing God. Not only is knowledge of God the beginning of all theology, but it is also the beginning of all true understanding and wisdom. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, / And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10) Our knowledge of our Creator informs and motivates our worship, and without true knowledge of God our worship cannot please our Creator. "For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, / And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6)

The knowledge of God has been revealed gradually throughout the ages, both through revelatory actions in history and in the recorded revelation that is the Word of God, and awaits an even greater revelation in the future. At all times, knowing the true God, trusting him, and worshiping him have been essential aspects of the believer's life. In the revelation of God's character, the ancient Patriarchs found hope that sustained them as they awaited the fulfillment of his promises, and in some of the darkest days of Israel's history, the prophets spoke of a coming age when the knowledge of the Lord would bring salvation. Isaiah predicted a day when, "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, / As the waters cover the sea," (11:9), and Habakkuk wrote something very similar. (2:14) In addition to prophesying the forgiveness of sins, Jeremiah said the New Covenant that the Lord would make with Israel would be characterized by greater knowledge of God.

"'They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the LORD, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" (Jeremiah 31:34)

True knowledge of God and his character is essential for salvation. If we do not know that God is holy, we will not grieve over our sin. If we do not know that God is merciful, we will have no hope of forgiveness. If we do not know that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, we will not understand the redemptive value of his atonement. If we do not know that the Spirit is likewise God, we will not understand the power that allows us to conquer sin in the Christian life.

Though none of us have a perfect knowledge of God--nor can we, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / So are My ways higher than your ways / And My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9)--scripture clearly teaches that there is a firm link between knowing God and having eternal life. As Christ himself prayed to his Father, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3)

The Apostles of our Church often wrote in the biblical epistles of their desire for believers in their care to know God more fully. Paul prayed that the Colossians would "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..." (Colossians 1:10) Peter longed for believers to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)

Therefore, the consideration of God's character and attributes is not merely an interesting topic of study for the Christian. It is an absolutely essential one! God has revealed himself to us, and this revelation leads us into salvation and makes possible our perseverance in the Christian life. We will never know it all, but we must strive to know and understand that which has been revealed. As the Apostle Peter assures us, "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." (2 Peter 1:3)

Theology proper is not merely for the academics and seminary-trained among us. If we are followers of God, then we ought to long to know God, even as we long to know about anything we love. But while earthly knowledge will pass away, the knowledge of God will carry us into eternity. It is the highest and greatest knowledge we can attain, as the esteemed preacher and theologian Charles Spurgeon so eloquently proclaimed.

"It has been said by some one that 'the proper study of mankind is man.' I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, 'Behold I am wise.' But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with the solemn exclamation, 'I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.' No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God."1

In writing about theology proper, I hope to demonstrate the eternal importance of this subject and encourage all Christians, regardless of station, sex, ethnicity, education, or age, to pursue the knowledge of our Creator, who is forever and always God Almighty, Alpha and Omega, I AM, one in substance, three in personhood, unchanging, unerring, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May the grace of God guide me in this endeavor, and may it benefit the reader.

1. Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. "The Immutability of God", sermon delivered at New Park Street, 7 January 1855.

"All scripture quotations are from The New American Standard Bible, copyright The Lockman Foundation."
Trial of 12 alleged members of notorious Russian gang to be held behind closed doors

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

17:14 21/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI)  The Moscow District Military Court will consider a case against 12 alleged members of a notorious Russian gang led by Georgian-born Aslan Gagiyev behind closed doors, the courts spokesperson Irina Zhirnova told RAPSI on Thursday.

The court will begin hearing the case on March 6.

Earlier, the defendants waived trial by jury or three judges. The case will be considered by one judge.

Twelve defendants stand charged with multiple killings, attempted murders, participation in a gang, racketeering, kidnapping, endangering the life law enforcement officers and ammunition trafficking.

Russian investigators claim that the gang allegedly organized by Gagiyev has been operating since 2004 and includes over 50 members. Members of the gang committed more than 40 contract killings in Moscow, Moscow Region and North Ossetia including murders of high-ranking officials, law enforcement officers and businessmen.

Gagiyev was extradited from Austria to Russia on June 20. He pleaded not guilty and refused to testify. Some members of the gang have already been convicted and are serving long prison terms.
Supreme Court upholds 7-year sentence of ex-Russian judge convicted of fraud

 TASS, Valery Matytsin

14:02 21/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Russia on Thursday upheld a 7-year prison sentence given to a former judge Svetlana Martynova for farming land fraud, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The defendants appeal was dismissed, and the sentence therefore became effective.

In December 2018, the Rostov Regional Court found Martynova guilty of large-scale fraud and sentenced her to 7 years in a penal colony and a 500,000-ruble fine (over $7,500).

The court found that in 2011-2012 Martynova received 40 million rubles ($610,000) from two entrepreneurs for providing them assistance with obtaining an agriculture land in the Krasnodar Region's Kuschevsky District. Yet, she did not fulfill her part of the deal and registered the land in the name of her acquaintances and relatives.

For a long time Martynova ignored investigators' calls and repeatedly refused to come to questioning, the press-service of the court said. After she was indicted in absentia, Martynova was put on the federal wanted list. Later, she was eventually arrested in Moscow. During the hearings she denied wrongdoing.
Apple ordered to pay Russian customers $7,000 for defective smartphones

 flickr.com/ Matt Madd

11:46 21/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI)  Moscows Presnensky District Court in 2018 granted eight claims filed by customers seeking 450,000 rubles (about $7,000) in compensation from Apple Rus, Russias subsidiary of the U.S. corporation, for nonoperating smartphones, the courts press service has told RAPSI.

According to case papers, plaintiffs have bought Apple phones with a 1-year guarantee period and a 5-year service life. However, they have mentioned, smartphones have gone wrong within the guarantee time limit. Examinations have showed that the phones have packed up because of a manufacturing fault.

The customers attempted to settle the dispute with the producer amicably but failed. Therefore, the court considered their lawsuits and granted them.

Currently, 10 more lawsuits against Apple Rus are pending in Moscows Presnensky District Court.




High-ranking Moscow Region official put in detention on corruption allegations

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

09:55 21/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 21 (RAPSI)  Moscows Presnensky District Court has placed Sergey Gribinyuchenko, ex-head of the Moscow Regions Pushkino District suspected of receiving bribes, in detention until April 18, RAPSI correspondent has reported.

The hearing has been held behind closed doors.

According to investigators, on February 18, the official received $20,000 as a bribe from a person acting under the police control in one of the Moscow Regions mall. The illegal gratification was geared up for the protection of one of firms during execution of municipal contracts signed with the Pushkino Distrists administration.

Gribinyuchenko was arrested after taking the bribe.

Currently, Gribinyuchenko is acting mayor of Dzerzhinsky town in the Moscow Region.
During the recent snow storms, Kids' Food Basket, along with area partners and volunteers, were able to deliver 9,250 emergency meals over three days from 15 distribution sites. Founding CEO Bridget Clark Whitney discusses the desperate need for healthy, equitable food, especially in emergency situations.

Hi. Im with my three children in a motel and we havent eaten in three days. Could you help us out?

Im a teacher at Sibley Elementary and Im so concerned about whether or not my students have food. Can I come in to volunteer? I have a small sedan but Ill drive through anything to help.

Somehow, youre always here for us. Our after-school program was cut, we dont have access to any food pantries, our only transportation is walking. But youre here for us, thank you.

With my employer shut down all week, Im losing wages. We really need some help.

Im wondering if youre open? My neighbors on my block are really struggling and this weather makes things so much worse. Can I come and get some food to bring to them?

Join us THIS Friday from Midnight to Midnight for our 24 Hour Giving Party! Well have 24 hours of activities and some of Grand Rapids best DJs playing tunes all day. Midnight starts Cosmic Volunteering, 7 a.m. yoga, 8 a.m. Omelette Bar, and the list goes on. Check out our website kidsfoodbasket.org or our Facebook page for more info. A gift of any size will fund healthy, nourishing meals for local kids. Kids Food Basket is a charitably-funded organization and our meals are not funded by government dollars. Your contribution of any size will truly make an impact. Did you know it takes an average of 250 volunteers per day to make and deliver 8,000 meals? Kids Food Basket is always in need of volunteers. Please check out our website and get hooked in! Really love us? Drop me a note and become a Leadership Volunteer! We need your skills and expertise! Food Drives! We emptied our warehouse for emergency food assistance and need some help with replenishment. A food drive at your place of work, faith community, school, etc. will make a big impact. Please consider a food drive for the wish list items on our website.

Probably one of the greatest leadership lessons of my almost-17 year career of leading Kids Food Basket was learned this past month. The story of how we got there, however, starts about a year agoSeveral members of our KFB team and a few local community leaders began a conversation around snow days and emergency food provision. We had just experienced our third (but not consecutive) snow day that early spring and recognized that, among many challenges snow days create, food assistance was an added hurdle for countless families in our community. Our challenge as the chief hosts of a community-wide response to childhood hunger then was to be proactive and meet that need with a food assistance response plan.As life in the nonprofit sector often humbly reminds us, we simply found ourselves with limited organizational capacity to be able to take on this project. The reasons for it were the most legit  our already lean staff was in the midst of several long-term projects along with executing our critically-needed daily work without any government funding. Our Leadership Team thoughtfully and carefully decided to put this project into a parking lot (or if were being super sustainable, onto the bike rack). Therein lies the core of the leadership lesson  we always must be planning for emergencies, because emergencies are just that  unpredictable, sudden, fierce, and requiring immediate attention, planned or not. Capacity or not.By the end of January 2019, wed already had three snow days this school year. The months of November and December 2018 were pretty mild in terms of Michigan winters, and us tough Michiganders were getting over confident and comfortable in our two inches of snow ... events like polar vortexes and snowmaggedons seemed like distant memories, the old nasty winter tales wed share with the future generations.We were quickly reminded, however, that we were due for good dose of Michigans ferocity  at the epicenter of the polar vortex, with massive lake effect snow and sub-zero temperatures. For a moment, the Poles, Alaska, and Siberia were all a warmer climate than The Mitten State. Now maybe it was that overconfidence, maybe we all thought the media had over-hyped it, but regardless, as a community, we simply didnt plan for a weather emergency so huge as to have schools closed six days in a row.Snow days weigh heavy on our hearts  the families and the children we are serving face so many barriers  poverty IS a huge barrier  and consistent, safe school days break down many of these barriers for our kids. But snow days mean barriers  lack of childcare, loss of wages, lack of consistent meals  and these barriers manage to not only keep families in poverty from moving forward, but often set already-stretched, already-stressed families back even further. We learned here that weather events of this magnitude require planning and resources  and that this was not an incident, its a condition.Living in Michigan, and living in Michigan in 2019 when weather patterns continue to become more drastic, means that the types of weather that cause snow days will not cease  in fact, they could become even more frequent and more intense, as we saw last week. And by Wednesday morning, January 30, as school had been called off for the rest of the week, our team made a conscious decision that action was necessary, action was critical, and action was within our reach.At one point during our two weeks of intense emergency food provision, I was passing our Program Director Austin in a hallway when he looked at me and simply said,And that  right there  couldnt have summed up our two weeks of emergency response any better.On Wednesday morning, January 30, our Leadership Team began a flurry of texts after the alert about the multiple-day closure. We were all simultaneously communicating with each other and our community partners  looking for open, operating, and accessible locations that could possibly be food distribution sites around GR (we had already mobilized three sites in Muskegon and one site in Holland). Our general email inbox and Facebook messenger began to overflow with messages such as these:But it wasnt until we had a discussion with our partners at United Way 211 that we fully understood the gravity of the need and the urgency in which we had to mobilize. In addition to community members lost wages due to snow days, the 211 responders informed us that they didnt have any food pantries or food resource organizations to direct their callers to  that most organizations were closed and they were wondering and hoping that they could send clients to Kids Food Basket. Then and there, the decisions were made  without any debate of whether or not we should  to mobilize our connections and distribute emergency food in the most effective, efficient, and safe way possible.Our team spent Wednesday communicating: calling, emailing, texting, asking, and delegating  with the goal of multiple distribution sites where we could safely and effectively hand out emergency food. The food would include what was already in our warehouse  over 3,000 Supper Packs (healthy food already packed up in ready-to-go gallon bags), and thousands of pounds of fruit cups, meat sticks, apples, pears, carrots, string cheese, pudding cups, sunflower seeds, cheerios, raisins, and other healthy snacks.Perhaps the most important pieces of our Emergency Food Assistance Programming were the incredible, and somewhat unexpected, partnerships that evolved through organizations that came together in this time of crisis. I reached out to one of my best friends and urban planner extraordinaire, Lynee Wells, to ask her advice on a distribution site that would be easily accessible for our families. What was safe, with few barriers, and in the middle of the city? She brilliantly suggested The Rapid, where buses were still running at full capacity and people could easily and safely take the bus to central station, collect what food they needed from Kids Food Basket, and take the bus home.Thanks to the team at The Rapid and support from Mayor Bliss, we were able to serve thousands of emergency meals through that one distribution site. And with 15 different distribution sites, each comes with stories of collaboration, heart-wrenching stories of poverty and need, and stories of impact, where the weekend was a little easier for Esther, the grandmother I met who was caring for her six grandkids who were out of school, and at home, out of food.When we talk to teachers and principals and school coordinators, we often hear the same things about the meals we serve. That our flagship program  the Sack Supper program  is a critical component of 8,000 childrens days. That our students rely on the healthy, nourishing meals that we consistently provide. But in emergencies like this, it isnt only our healthy meal that fills a gap, its the loss of three meals a day that can catapult food insecurity into devastating hunger, as we heard many stories of these past weeks. Often people are surprised when they hear we serve 8,000 meals per day,. In fact, 46 percent of all children, or 79,470 local kids, in these three counties combined receive free/reduced school lunch daily. I dont know about you, but that number is hard for me visualize, and certainly hard to accept. Imagine filling up the Van Andel Arena EIGHT times over  just imagine. Thats how many children in these three counties are facing the barriers of poverty, and likely food insecurity.As the weather (for now) has seemingly calmed, and our team has settled back into leading a daily movement alongside 250 volunteers ensuring that 8,000 Sack Suppers reach children at the end of each school day, I have been overwhelmed by the sheer impact of what we accomplished when our community perhaps needed us more than they ever have.Im sure youll share this sentiment with me  its not about accolades or street cred, its not about our media hits or Facebook likes  we did this, and we did it together, because its just what we do. Its simply who we are. I have believed that since day one with Kids Food Basket, and every day since as Ive made it my lifes work to never stop until we can reach every single child who needs us  simply because the work that we do is good, it is right, and it is so critical as we invest in the future of the community we love.Leading a movement is hard, beautiful, non-stop work  Ive known and lived this for 17 years. Learning to trust the value of our work wholeheartedly, even when it means throwing all planning and precautions out the window, in hopes that the community will yet again respond in incredible fashion, was my lesson to learn over these past few weeks. I emerged from the emergency response work with my heart bursting with anger at injustice and marginalization, the beauty of community, the tenacity of our incredible team, and the impact we made over those two weeks.If you shared our social media posts, made a gift to KFB, dropped off some food to help replenish our warehouse, or simply sent us warm thoughts, thank you. Our team is doing amazing things on the daily here, but it continues to be YOU, our community, who are leading the charge in sharing our story, rising to meet the need, and making sure that all of our children have the nourishment they need to succeed, in school and in life.P.S., many of you have asked how you can help. Here are the top four ways:
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We are celebrating the Queens Gazettes 39th anniversary  but unlike Jack Benny who was eternally 39, we look forward to hitting 40, and many,...

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Police are seeking this man in connection with a robbery in a No. 7 train subway station on Feb. 1.
The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Angelus sold vacant land at 98-04 63 Road for $30 million. Reports say the developer plans to build a residential tower, leading to concerns about the infrastructure in the area.
State Sen. John Liu, center, speaks out against the citys proposal to turn 127-03 20 Ave. into a homeless shelter. He was joined by Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal, left, and Councilman Paul Vallone.
A scientific method for perfect fondue

Cheese fondue is an icon of Swiss cuisine and a dinner party staple. While it may seem like a simple dish, getting the texture right can be a challenge for optimal mouthfeel, dipping and flavor release. This requires the perfect balance of cheese, wine and starch. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega reveal how to use these key ingredients to produce deliciously melted fondue.

Once a fad of the 1970s, fondue has made a resurgence in recent years. And on a cold winter night, there's nothing better than dipping a piece of bread into warm, gooey cheese. But that's only part of the picture. Traditional versions also include wine and seasonings, as well as starch for cohesion. Chemically speaking, fondue is a multiphase system of colloids that require just the right inputs to achieve cheesy perfection. One wrong move could leave the preparer with an unappetizing bowl of separated cheese solids and oils. So, to gain further insight into the flow of fondue, Pascal Bertsch, Laura Savorani and Peter Fischer wanted to assess the effect of starch and wine on the dish.

The researchers started with equal amounts of two traditional fondue cheeses -- Gruyere and Vacherin -- in water. The addition of a potato starch slurry prevented irreversible separation of the dish. To mimic the effects of wine, they added a mixture of water and ethanol. This decreased the viscosity of the fondue, which is required for optimal mouthfeel and dipping coverage. They also incorporated acid to study the effect of lowering the pH, and this generally had the effect of lowering the fondue's viscosity. The researchers also explored alternative thickening agents. Less carrageenan and xanthan gum were required compared to the amount of potato starch needed, but it was carrageenan that provided the creamiest results. Overall, the study shows that a few minor tweaks can result in cheesy perfection every time the fondue pot is brought out.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The study is freely available as an ACS AuthorChoice article here.

The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Any printers with ageing, redundant digital printers and copiers  Jaxon Crocker from ABC Copier Solutions will happily pay you for them and take them off your hands.

Crockers business dismantles the machines and for no cost will pick up and remove them from all Australian cities.

From there, the equipment is packed into a container and shipped to Singapore where it is sold and forwarded on to other countries for potentially years of reuse.

Crocker is currently already picking up redundant machines from KwikCopy, Snap and Worldwide Print and is seeking more customers.

We pick up larger production copiers and smaller machines, we recycle them in an environmentally friendly way. We export them to Singapore which is a hub and then from there they are shipped all over the world, Crocker said.

We buy pretty well anything and everything. We buy Xerox, Canon, Sharp and Toshiba. We focus a bit more on the larger production machines and we can go in and dismantle the machine free of charge so there is no pressure on them to get involved.

The reuse of the machines also means less chance they will end up sitting in landfill.

I imagine a lot of this equipment would have been put in landfill. There is no one doing what we do. This is the thing with Snap and Worldwide are so happy about is because we are paying for the equipment, we are picking it up and they dont have to worry about anything. We are doing it all for them.

The machines are then reused. As an example they might go to Turkey and the machines are reused and that business will keep that machine going for a number of years.

For more information please call Jaxon Crocker on 0438 137 938. You can also check out abccopiersolutions.com.au

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Currie Groups launch of the HP Indigo 7r digital press got some extra grunt this week with Triple Eight racing team V8 legends Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen impressing 60 or more attendees with stories of life on the track.

The event at the Currie showroom in Sydney was one of a trio of launches for the reconditioned press which offers high performance output at an affordable price for printers seeking to upgrade their capabilities or dive into the digital market.

The event featured demonstrations of the HP Indigo 7r and Horizon finishing equipment.

The Real Media Collective chief executive officer Kellie Northwood was also there and spoke of the value of print and paper as a marketing tool, indicating that after declines in growth, the industry is shaping up to be back in the black in the next couple of years.

Currie Group sales and marketing director Phil Rennell says the HP Indigo 7r is a great option for printers seeking an upgrade or digital shift.

Its very logical because we take the old presses and bring them up to date at the factory in Israel to the latest specifications, Rennell told ProPrint.

HP have done a refurbishing process in the past but now it is a ground up and very comprehensive process because the machines are effectively remanufactured.

They look brand new when the come out of the box.

It is about bringing them out of the factory with the newest specification.

HP partnered with Triple Eight racing last year and have since been providing tech support to the team, including the provision of 3D car parts as well as refining Triple Eight's car livery printing solutions in the future.

Jamie Picton (c) from Smack Bang Designs wins the prize with Triple Eight racing team drivers Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen

Whincup, himself the son of a Melbourne printer, spoke of the toll it took on his parents to get his racing career off the ground until a break as a 15 year old with a professional racing team took his career to the next level.

He also spoke of the benefits of having 3D technology and a printed car livery available to the racing team, as this saves time and money and also keeps the teams cars under the 1395kg weight limit.

All those parts bolt straight onto the race car. Plastic is great. It is light and now we can produce a part so much faster than what we used to be able to, Whincup said.

So an example say I want to design a new air vent for the top of my helmet. It was always really quick to sit down and get an engineer to draw it up on the CAD but then it would take months to actually get it. So we would have the designs but trying to get some time on the machines to produce the part took forever. But now we just send it off and its sped up the process massively.

I dont know what the percentage is but so many parts are straight off the plastic printer and straight on the race car.

Printed car livery also saves time by removing the need to paint the car and also makes it easier to customise the look of the vehicle depending if there is a particular need at certain events for a specific look.

It is definitely a lot quicker to be replaced and so much easier than having to paint the car.

Jamie Picton from Sydney's Smack Bang Designs was the winner of the HP lucky door prize on the day.

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"It is essential as a scientist that you evolve your opinion and your recommendations based on the data as it evolves. ... And that's the reason why I say people who then criticize me about that are actually criticizing science. That's the way science works. You work with the data you have at the time."

Dr. Anthony Fauci
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DALLAS  Dallas recently learned that Mint Valley Paper, a paper products manufacturing company, is making a serious move to come to town, but that may not be the only industrial interest the citys seeing.

Mayor Brian Dalton hinted at another possible development in his state of the city address last week.

You heard it here: The Dallas mill site is under negotiation by a prospective buyer, he said, referring to the former Weyerhaeuser mill at Uglow Avenue and Monmouth Cutoff Road that closed in 2009. The intent is to redevelop and market the site for industrial users as it is one of the few remaining 50-plus-acre sites on the I-5 corridor. The city is helping.

Dalton said the city has been booming with construction in the last year, issuing 720 building permits, totaling more than $48 million in value. However, the vast majority of the new construction  not remodel or expansion  is residential. The city issued 143 permits for single-family homes and 32 for multiple-family units.

The city approved four new subdivisions last year, with 118 lots, so more construction is on the way, Dalton added.

What is discouraging to me is exactly zero industrial building permits were issued (in 2018). A real bummer, he said. On our commercial lands, same bummer situation, only one new building permit was issued in 2018 (Grocery Outlet).

That lack of balance of residential construction with industrial and commercial development could be a problem for the city if the trend continues, Dalton said.

We are sure on a roll with houses, but let me interject a reminder that houses are expensive to service, he said. Bluntly put, under the current tax system, they cost the city more in services than they pay in taxes.

He said on average, for every $1 paid in taxes, industry demands 25 cents in services. Commercial costs 75 cents for every $1 in taxes. Residential costs the city $1.25 for every $1 of taxes paid.

These numbers are just approximate. You hear all kinds of numbers, but the point being that in almost every set of numbers you see, residential costs a good deal more than industrial, he said.

The average home pays $780 per year in taxes to the city and receives $975 in services, Dalton said.

How many new houses can we afford to service losing a couple hundred bucks per year, per house if industrial and commercial development cant keep up to fill the gap? he said.

Thats what makes the Mint Valley Paper announcement and movement on the long-vacant mill site so critical, from Daltons perspective.

It looks like industry will finally be the high point of this evening, he said.

Mint Valley Papers new facility  known as Project Indigo for the last two years as it explored site options before landing on Dallas  should move forward unless something unforeseen happens, Dalton said.

Mint Valley still has to obtain all the required permits and approvals, both state and our own, but we are encouraged by the interest being shown in Dallas for new industrial investment and development, he said.

Dalton noted other positive indicators.

Theres a little good news on existing commercial: Filling vacant commercial buildings downtown. Last year, we had 29 vacancies. This year its down to 22, Dalton said. A really good sign  plus with some hope of filling some more soon.

Part of the city is now part of a federal program to benefit lower-income communities called Opportunity Zones, as well. Participants are given capital gains tax incentives for long-term investment in the zones in commercial or residential development.

A slice of east Dallas has been selected as one of a handful of Opportunity Zones in Oregon, a federal program to stimulate investment in economically distressed communities, Dalton said. The tax treatment in the zones is highly favorable to investors and may attract substantial investment in our community over the next few years.
UPDATE March 7:

A 17-year-old male was arrested on March 5 in connection with a Feb. 20 armed robbery in Monmouth.

The arrest was made at approximately 11 a.m. "at a government office in Dallas," Monmouth Police Lt. Isaiah Haines said.

The juvenile was transported to the Yamhill Juvenile Detention Center and charged with second-degree robbery, menacing, first-degree theft and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

"The case is still open at this point, although further arrests are not anticipated," Haines said.

MONMOUTH  One man has been arrested and one is still at large in connection with an armed robbery at a Monmouth convenience store.

Feliciano Mata, 21, of Independence, was arrested and charged with second-degree robbery on Feb. 20.

He also is charged with unlawful entry into a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to the Polk County Jail inmate roster.

At about midnight on Feb. 20, Monmouth Police were dispatched to a reported armed robbery at the Neighborhood Market & Deli, 152 Main St. W., according to an MPD news release. An employee of the store reported that two males entered the store, one brandishing a firearm, and demanded money from the till.

After taking all of the money from the till, about $1,000, both males left the store and fled the area. The employee was not injured.

According to a probable cause affidavit, one suspect wearing a black and white hoodie with Brooklyn across the chest, entered the store by himself. He asked the employee for a certain type of cigar, which the employee had never heard of.

The suspect left the store, but went back inside a couple of minutes later followed by a second suspect. According to the affidavit, surveillance footage shows the second suspect was wearing a green camo jacket, black pants, white shoes and his face was covered with black fabric. He was carrying a gun in his right hand.

The second suspect pointed the gun at the store employee and (made) the first suspect put the money from the cash register into a black bag that he was carrying, the affidavit states. In the video it appears that they leave the store together.

Officers and deputies from the Independence Police Department, Dallas Police Department, Polk County Sheriffs Office and Salem Police Department responded to assist. A K-9 track was attempted, but was ultimately unsuccessful in locating the suspects.

At approximately 1:42 a.m., a Monmouth police officer searching the area located a male subject walking several blocks from the store. The individuals physical description and clothing description matched that of unmasked suspect.

Further investigation confirmed Mata was one of the suspects involved in the armed robbery. MPD Lt. Isaiah Haines said the other suspect was described as about 6 feet tall, possibly Pacific Islander or Caucasian, wearing a green camo hoodie and a black bandanna covering his face.

Stolen vehicle reported

At about 5:12 a.m. on Feb. 20, a caller reported her vehicle was stolen from her driveway in the 400 block of North Ash Street.

She had purchased the vehicle about a year ago from Matas father, according to court documents.

It was found at about 11:15 a.m. in the 5200 block of Riddell Road in Monmouth.

Officers searched the vehicle for any evidence related to the armed robbery and found a black ski mask.

Mata was charged with unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

The investigation is ongoing.
DALLAS  Dallas City Manager Greg Ellis recommended the city keep all the transient lodging tax money used for events and tourism promotion.

A discussion regarding the use of the TLT funding is on the Dallas City Councils Tuesday meeting agenda.

The council did not vote on the proposal Tuesday, but deferred decision until the city's budget process this spring.

Currently, the city contracts with the Dallas Area Visitors Center for tourism and marketing promotion, and gives the organization money collected from hotel and motel taxes (TLT) to perform the task. About $95,000 for marketing and tourism was collected in 2018.

TLT funding can be used for two purposes: event organization and tourism promotion. The visitors center contract for event coordination expired in December 2018, and the city took over that role.

Ellis recommendation will create a new marketing and advertising director, and a tourism kiosk located in City Hall, 187 SE Court St.

The city's budget committee will review the proposal and decide whether to hire and marketing and advertising director, Ellis said.

The marketing of Dallas as a tourist destination has seen less and less investment due to the high overhead of the visitors center wage structure, facilities and administrative costs, wrote Economic Development Director AJ Foscoli in a memo to the council. The less-than-efficient allocation of the TLT dollars that city of Dallas receives on a quarterly basis calls for a rethinking in how it is used for the benefit of this community.

The memo was part of the council meeting agenda and packet sent out to councilors on Friday afternoon.

Foscoli wrote in the memo, approved by Ellis, that keeping the money would enable the city to spend more on direct marketing and advertising of Dallas.

The memo states that Jeremy Teal, the executive assistant to Ellis, would create marketing materials for the city. He would work with recreation and events coordinator Sheila Pierce, who is now organizing annual events such Summerfest.

As most of you are amply familiar with Jeremy Teals expertise in visual graphics, theres no need to go over all of the numerous flyers, posters, website images, videos and pamphlets that he has created, Foscoli wrote.  Unleashing Mr. Teals creativity and prowess to work at developing marketing and advertising materials will help this community by establishing a seamless mechanism by which our recreation and event coordinator will produce events, and Mr. Teal will market and promote them.

JD Shinn, the executive director of the visitors center, said he learned of the recommendation and discussion last week. The organization would lose roughly $95,000 if the council agrees to the recommendation.

It is on the agenda for the (visitors center) board to consider when we meet on Thursday, Shinn said. We will discuss plans for how to move forward hinging on the (councils) discussion (Tuesday) as well as the budgets finalization in the coming months.
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Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 17 February 2019 Star rating: 3.5 ()

Beethoven's complete incidental music to Goethe's Egmont with extracts from the play



Egmont is best known for the overture which has rightly developed an independent life of its own. On this disc on the Beethoven's music for Goethe's playis best known for the overture which has rightly developed an independent life of its own. On this disc on the Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) label, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and conductor Dirk Kaftan give us the complete incidental music with nine numbers in addition to the overture. The orchestra is joined by soprano Olga Bezsmertna , and actor Matthias Brandt gives a spoken narration based on Goethe's play.

Elsewhere on this blog :

Sweeter than Roses: music of Purcell & his contemporaries from Anna Dennis & Sounds Baroque - (   ) CD review



music of Purcell & his contemporaries from Anna Dennis & Sounds Baroque - CD review Sung Poetry : Kitty Whately & Simon Lepper - From the Pens of Women (    ) - concert review

: Kitty Whately & Simon Lepper - From the Pens of Women - concert review Choral music for Advent and Christmas from Portsmouth - CD review



CD review Love songs in Temple Church: Brahms and Schumann for Valentine's Day () - concert review

Brahms and Schumann for Valentine's Day () - concert review An obsession with Norse myths: composer Gavin Higgins introduces his new opera The Monstrous Child - interview



composer Gavin Higgins introduces his new opera - interview Delightful harmonies : Carl Czerny's arrangement of Beethoven's Septet (   ) - concert review

: Carl Czerny's arrangement of Beethoven's - concert review Verdi in Oman: La traviata at the Royal Opera House, Muscat (  ) - opera review

at the Royal Opera House, Muscat - opera review Youth shines: Savitri Grier in Elgar's Violin Concerto - concert review



Savitri Grier in Elgar's - concert review From play to opera: Marlowe's Edward II and Benjamin & Crimp's Lessons in Love & Violence - feature article



Marlowe's and Benjamin & Crimp's feature article A romantic at heart: I chat to violinist Sarah Chang about her forthcoming Cadogan Hall recital - interview

I chat to violinist Sarah Chang about her forthcoming Cadogan Hall recital - interview A jolly good show : Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at Welsh National Opera (   ) - opera review

: Verdi's at Welsh National Opera - opera review Home

Beethoven wrote the music in 1809 and it premiered in 1810 with Goethe highly praising it. Coming two years after Beethoven completed histhe subject of the play, the heroic sacrifice of a man condemned to death, chimed in with Beethoven's own political concerns at the time. The music is not extensive, of the disc's 45 minutes duration some ten minutes is taken up with Matthias Brandt's narration. Simply, Goethe's tragedy about the Protestant revolt in 16th century Netherlands, very much a play of ideas, does not have the need for extensive musical contributions. The biggest is the Victory Symphony which plays at the end, counterpointing Egmont's execution with an image of the Netherlands' ultimate freedom. Beethoven pre-figures this by using the music from the Victory Symphony at the end of the overture, complete with the important piccolo part associated with Egmont's sweetheart Klarchen. Klarchen gets two songs, but as a commoner these are more folk-like in style though still complex, and there is a melodrama for the crucial climax of the play which makes you wish Beethoven had had the opportunity to write more developed incidental music. The rest of the music consists of entractes, designed to link the acts and keep the audience entertained in the pauses. Here Beethoven writes some striking music which brings out the themes of the opera. It is fascinating music, but it does not have quite the sense of individual characteristic movements which makes Mendelssohn's incidental music forwork as a suite. So sensibly, the disc includes linking narratives extracted from Goethe's play by Tillman Bottcher and Matthias Brandt, and spoken by Brandt.Unfortunately for non-German speakers, the disc gives neither translation nor summary of the spoken text. And I have to confess that I found Matthias Brandt's delivery a little too quietly intimate, more radio drama than theatrical presentation. I would have preferred something which evoked the stage more.The performance from Dirk Kaftan and the Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn gives much to enjoy. Though playing on modern instruments, the orchestra gives a tight and crisp performance, with a very lithe focused sound which I enjoyed immensely. Dirk Kaftan's judging of the controlled excitement of the Victory Symphony is excellent, with it never erupting into overblown romanticism, and the instrumental balance is good.This disc is a little short, and I wished that the orchestra could have seen their way to giving us a couple of Beethoven's other overtures. If you have wondered about Beethoven's incidental music and the play which surrounds it, then this is for you.Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Incidental music to Goethe'sOlga Bezsmertna (soprano)Beethoven Orchestra BonnDirk Kaftan (conductor)Matthias Brandt (actor)MDG 937 2111-6 1CD [45.57]
Finance Minister Carole James arrives to deliver the budget speech as she waves to people in the gallery at the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, February 19, 2018. Business leaders say they're concerned the British Columbia government's budget pays too little attention to the potential impacts of a slowing global economy and a shifting housing market. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Vodafone Ghana is, for the third time running, partnering Stanbic Bank as it prepares to celebrate a season of quality jazz music in the country.



Within a period of six years, this event has become established in the Ghanaian society and every passing year takes the celebration to a higher pedestal of excellence. Globally acclaimed artistes such as Gerald Albright, Bob James, Richard Bona and Earl Klugh, have all graced this platform and given customers and stakeholders moments to relish.



This year's event is scheduled to take place at the Labadi Beach Hotel and Fantasy Dome from February 28  March 2nd on the theme: Nostalgia." Celebrated musicians including UB40, Salif Keita and Richard Bona are headline performers for this years event.



Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana said: This partnership is more than jazz. It is a relationship that continues to reflect what it means to excite, appreciate and empower our customers beyond our core strengths. We remain grateful to Stanbic Bank for choosing us for the third time. We look forward to subsequent associations to thrill our customers and stakeholders.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Constituency Sam Nartey George has confirmed he will be appearing before the Emile Short Commission as a witness.



The law maker will make his appearance on Monday, February 25, 3news.com has gathered, despite a decision by his party not to appear before the Commission.



The National Democratic Congress (NDC) had questioned the composition of the Commission, claiming all the members are affiliated with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in one way or the other.



They claimed the Chairman, Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), member Henrietta Mensa Bonsu, a renowned professor of law, and the other member, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, a former Inspector General of Police, are masked over faces of the NPP.



A statement signed by the opposition partys General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, stressed: We remain skeptical about the seriousness with which justice will be pursued under the remit of an Emile Short Commission.



The violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency on Thursday, January 31 involved injuries to some civilians.



Lawmaker Sam George was assaulted by some National Security operatives, an action that has been widely condemned.



What is worse, the operatives were using vehicles belonging to the SWAT Unit of the Ghana Police Service.



The NDC MP says he will go to the Commissions public sitting to give his testimony as an individual

Source: The New Crusading Guide









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The Minority Spokesperson on Finance, James Klutse Avedzi has questioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos failure to speak on the depreciating cedi in his 2019 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday.



In a reaction after the presentation, Mr. Avedzi said it was worrying that President Akufo-Addo did not tell Ghanaians how he was going to arrest the falling value of the cedi.



And the president completely avoided the talk about the performance of the cedi, I have never heard the president said the cedi is depreciating at the low pace, he never talked about it. So he completely avoided it, Mr. Avedzi said whilst reacting to the address in a radio interview with Accra based Joy FM.



To Mr. Avedzi, President Akufo-Addo avoided the talk about the cedi, because he [Akufo-Addo] knew that the cedi is depreciating at a faster rate that he doesnt feel comfortable talking about it and that is why the President didnt mention it at all in his state of the nation address, he said.



This is something that the president must talk about because it is very important to the businessman, the president should tell us what he is going to do to arrest the fall of the value of the cedi, he didnt talk about it.



So as we speak now, the cedi is running over Ghc5.27, so what will it be at the end of the year or the middle of the year, what is the president going to do to ensure that the value of the cedi is stable. I am not impressed and we will come with the debate on it from Tuesday, he added.



Touching on GDP, Mr Avedzi disagreed with President Akufo-Addos position that Ghana was doing her best ever and said, within two years, we have borrowed as a country over Ghc50 billion, the President decided to use the re-based numbers to calculate debt to GDP ratio, and where he says that the debt to GDP ratio has dropped from 57 percent to 54 percent, so that is what he decided to do, to use the rebased figure.



Adding, he said he disagreed with the President completely.



We were here when we borrowed 2.25 billion from Franklin Templeton which was a foreign borrowing because it was denominated in dollars and then yet we applied a local rate of 19.75 percent, that cannot be borrowing with the low-interest rate.

Source: Graphic.com









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President Akufo-Addo was welcomed by Parliament on Thursday to present his third State of The Nation Address in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.



"let us come together shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand and let us all be guided by the inspirational words of (the second stanza of) our national anthem:



Hail to thy name, O Ghana,

To thee we make our solemn vow:

Steadfast to build together

A nation strong in Unity;

With our gifts of mind and strength of arm,

Whether night or day, in the midst of storm,

In every need, whatever the call may be,

To serve thee, Ghana, now and forevermore.



Mr. Speaker, we have our challenges, but our nation is in good health. I thank you very much for your attention. May God bless us all, and our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong" he concluded in his address.



Attached is the full statement







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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will today, Thursday, 21st February 2019, in accordance to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution, deliver the State of the Nation Address before Parliament.



Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states: The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament and before dissolution of Parliament, deliver a message on the state of the nation.



Today's address which will be the third under the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will brief Parliament and the nation on the state of the country.



Expectations



The Ghana Union Of Traders Association (GUTA) expects that government will put in measures to address the fall of the Cedi.



According to them, the steady decline of the Cedi is affecting businesses and apparently making goods generally expensive in the market.



The Institute of Chartered Economists of Ghana (ICEG), Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), and the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), wants the President to touch on the level of insecurity in the country which according to them, had the potential of driving away external investors and affect economic development.



They made references to the series of murder cases including the killing of an investigative journalist with Tiger Eye PI, Mr Ahmed Hussein-Suale, the recent spate of kidnappings, as well as the violence that erupted during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Mother of the dead NDC boy gunned down at the National Democratic Congress [NDC] regional office in Kumasi, Abdul Wasiu Iddrisu on Monday says she believes it is the will of Allah that her son be shot dead.



According to Zainab Suleman she believes her son was called by God because no one can kill her son without Gods approval.



I dont have much to say, but all I am saying is that I thank Allah because it is his will that my son should die at this time. I believe that nobody can kill my son until Allah approves of it, it is Allah who gave him to me and he has taken him back, she tearfully said.



It is sad that Ghana has lost a great person, but we should all keep calm and pray for Allahs protection. I also pray that Allah strengthens, bless and protect the youth of this country from evil attacks, she further added in an interview with Joy FM News,



However, at a solemn Islamic ritual for the deceased, Abdul Wasiu Iddrisu, armed military and police presence prevented attempts by some sympathizers of the deceased from causing trouble at Tafo, a suburb of Kumasi.

Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi/Peacefmonline.com









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Mr. Emmanuel Ofosu, Secretary of the Private Schools Association in the Atiwa East District of the Eastern Region has appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to help organize periodic in-service training programmes for teachers in private schools.



Mr. Ofosu who is also an educationist made the appeal through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after a management and staff meeting of the school at Anyinam.



Mr. Ofosu, a retired headmaster and now a proprietor of the Promising Hope Preparatory School, a private school at Anyinam, told the GNA that non-payment of school fees by parents was thwarting the efforts of private schools to improve upon their structures, bus services and promoting teaching and learning.



According to him, most private learning institutions have lost focus, because some of their fresh tutors employed, have no teaching technics, to guide them to discharge their tutorial work diligently. The secretary said, many prospective entrepreneurs do not know how to start, where to go for assistance and how to manage their enterprises effectively and efficiently.



Mr. Ofosu was optimistic that the Directorate of the GES would assist them in their fields of operations and help the schools keep abreast with the latest teaching methodologies.



The Promising Hope Preparatory School, he said, has earlier organized a two-day seminar, for some 50 teachers from private schools in Anyinam and its environs.

Source: GNA









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The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has asked Parliament not to approve any Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) until the 15-year financing window provided in the PRMA has elapsed.



This, according to ACEP, would help free up funds for the corporation to deliver on its core mandate as an upstream oil player.



It also urged parliament not to approve GNPCs advancement of $250 million to the Ministry of Energy to finance its operations and address energy sector challenges.



ACEP added that Parliament should reject GNPCs proposal to pre-finance the construction of the Gas Evacuation Enclave Roads for the Ministry of Finance.



It said government should work on its credit worthiness and stop using GNPC as a slush fund to undertake its projects.



ACEP made the suggestion in its recent analysis of GNPCs work programme for 2019 financial year issued in Accra.



According to the energy think-tank, the proposed precedence of allowing GNPC to annex royalty belonging to the state was dangerous and could deepen inefficiency of the corporation while denying the state the required investment in public expenditure and savings for future generations.



ACEP emphasised that Parliament should demand a robust plan and timelines for utilising the OCTP Gas to ensure that the payment of $32 million monthly is optimised through full consumption of the contracted volumes from the OCTP fields.



Parliament should direct GNPC to focus on optimising local gas source to encourage investment in Ghanas basins. The basis for LNG investments requires strong justification and guarantees that insulate the country from potential debt, resulting from importation of external gas when local gas is un-utilised.



Furthermore, ACEP nudged parliament to demand that the GNPC provides details of each expenditure item, alongside justifications to allow for careful and informed study ahead of the Mines and Energy Committees sitting and subsequent approval of the Corporations programme.

Source: Daily Guide









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The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Julian Opuni, has suggested the need for Africa to develop and implement a strategy on technology, which will positively impact development of the continent.



Africa must implement a continental strategy with regards to technology which will help drive collaboration, transfer of technology and ideas to impact on the continent as a whole, he stated.



According to him, in Africa, technology is confronted by some challenges, not only in terms of long-term development and prosperity but also the strategic orientation of Africans. Connectivity, literacy, and cost of mobile phones are some of the challenges with technology in Africa, he added.



Speaking as a keynote speaker at the launch of the 4th Ghana CEOs Summit in Accra, Mr. Opuni said, Fidelity Bank has embraced technology in its daily business transactions like the Fidelity Mobile App, Fidelity QR Code Service, known as the F-Pay, etc. which are yielding very good results for the bank. He continued that businesses must use technology to understand what the customer wants in order to deliver value-added products and services.



In his submission, the CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Mr. Yoofi Grant, indicated that mobile money transactions reaching about 50 Billion Cedis last year is an indication that Ghanaians were embracing technology for which reason efforts are being made by government to formalize the economy.



Founder of the CEO Summit, Ernest De-Graft Egyir, indicated that the choice of technology as the theme for this years summit is due to the rapid changes in technology and the prospect it has created for economic growth.



He said about 500 top CEOs whose companies turnover is more than GHC20million will be attending this years event.



The CEO Summit is an annual gathering of CEOs to discuss diverse issues. This years edition is dubbed, The Futuristic Economy: Technology-Driven Future Business and Governance for Economic Transformation. It is slated for May 20 and 21, 2019, in Accra with about 500 CEOs expected to attend.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Ghana recorded about three billion dollars from remittances transferred into the country in 2018 by citizens in the diaspora.



The Director of Diaspora Affairs Office at the Presidency, Mr. Akwasi Awua Ababio, who made the disclosure in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, observed that the inflow was more than revenue generated on other exported resources like gold, cocoa among others.



This is even more than what we receive from donor countries as aid and its time its well recognized with policies geared towards making sure we continue to get that stream of income coming into the country, he said.



The director was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of a three day regional workshop to harness the effective use of migrant remittances on the sub-region for socio-economic development.



The meeting, organized by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in collaboration with other development partners is expected to generate effective regulation, leverage on the use of technology, and improve access to funds among other interventions to reduce the high cost of remittances on the sub-region.



Touching on measures put in place to cut down remittance cost in the country, the director said government was in liaising with regional and international blocs to streamline remittance activities through effective regulation of migration



We are also working on market systems so that through working with registered transfer companies, the Bank of Ghana (BoG), we could harness remittances to develop the country, he indicated.



The use of illegal and unofficial routes to transfer money, Mr. Ababio noted took a larger chunk of funds expected to come into the country and thus encouraged people in the Diaspora not to use such means to transfer money to reduce the high cost of remittances.



We are looking at attaching some incentives and advantages to transfers done through official and legal means like giving the receivers privileges for health insurance among others to make it attractive.



The IOM Chief of Mission for Ghana, Sylvia Lopez-Ekra deplored the high cost of transferring money into the sub-region particularly from Europe, where most African diasporans were located such that the lower the amount you want to send, the high the cost of transfer which is a huge disincentive and basis for people to use wrong channels.



She entreated African countries to work at improving access among rural areas in receiving funds, increase public education among migrants and recipients to put remittances into good use as well as leverage on technology to improve the status quo.



For Ghana, we are doing some good work in that regard but we need to look at regulation of the market to ensure transparency, co-ordinate activities within the transfer corridor so there is free flow of funds and it is easily accessible.



Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation on migration, Ambassador Diana Acconia, in a remark lauded Ghana for creating a Diasporan Unit at the Presidency as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to bring such nationals closer to governance.



He pledged the EUs support to the country and the African Union on the whole, to reinforce the potential of remittances to the growth of the continent in line with achieving Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



Remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa grew from $34 billion in 2016 to $38 billion in 2017, an increase of over 11 percent.



Despite the increase, a trend expected to continue through this year, the region remains the most expensive place in the world to send money with an average cost of 9.4 percent of the transfer amount above the world average, a situation that fell sort of SDG goal 10 to reduce transaction cost of migrant remittances to less than three percent by 2030.

Source: Ghanaian Times









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A consortium of local banks has raised 51 million dollars towards the completion of the 200,000 Social Housing Units in Koforidua, Tamale and Ho, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced Thursday, in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.



The Ministry of Works and Housing is also setting up a one billion Ghana cedi-Housing Fund to support low-income earners to own housing units, the President said and pledged his administrations determination in ensuring value for money in the implementation of the project.



Land banks have been secured to aid in accessing local building materials for the housing project.



The Social Housing Units Project, was, however, started by the Kufuor Administration.



SONA, is in fulfillment of Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution, which stipulates that The President shall, at the beginning of each session of Parliament, and before the dissolution of Parliament, deliver to Parliament, a message on the State of the Nation.



In giving an account of his stewardship, commitment, and some pledges, the President has recounted many interventions and efforts being made by his Government to prosper the economy, improve the health of citizens, boost private sector profitability, ensure holistic education, ensure peace and democratic governance, among others.



Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, Second Lady Samira Bawumia, Former President Jerry John Rawlings and wife Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, former President John Dramani Mahama, Members of the Diplomatic Community, Justices of the Superior Courts, Service Commanders, Members of the Council State and Traditional Rulers, as well as head of public institutions graced the occasion.



There was a noticeable departure from the norm of the characteristic heckling of Presidents by Parliamentarians during such occasions; as it was later explained that the two sides had made a pact to give honour to any Head of State to would now deliver his SONA to the House.



President Nana Akufo-Addo acknowledged the restoration of peace in Dagbon and installation of new Ya-Na, and, thus, commended the Chairperson of the Eminent Chiefs, Otumfuo Osei II, for leading the peace process in resolving the protracted chieftaincy dispute.



The President said the Government was committed to equitable distribution of resources to key institutions across the country to support infrastructural development.



He commended the bi-partisan support towards the referendum of the creation of new regions and expressed optimism that, that support would be extended to the referendum on the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, in September this year.



The President said while the country was exiting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in April, this year, the country would remain disciplined in its fiscal management so that the nation would not return to the path of IMF conditionality.







Source: GNA









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French Businesswoman Has Been In Iranian Custody Since October, Paris Confirms

02/21/19

Source: RFE/RL

A French citizen has been in Iranian custody since October, France's foreign minister has confirmed. Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers on February 20 that Nelly Erin-Cambervelle, a 59-year-old businesswoman from the French Caribbean island of Martinique, was arrested on the Iranian island of Kish on October 21 for allegedly "signing an illegal mining contract and carrying out an unauthorized trip."

Her arrest had not been confirmed by French authorities until now.



Details over the arrest first appeared in local Martinique media last week after a friend and colleague of Erin-Cambervelle was quoted as saying that she had been arrested for illegally buying gold after originally going to Kish to negotiate a minerals contract.



The friend, Patricia Gros-Desirs Dicanot, said that the Iranian authorities were demanding 40,000 euros ($45,392) for her release.



Relations between Paris and Tehran have been strained over the past months despite the two sides committing to upholding the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers -- which the United States exited in May last year.



Paris suspended nominating a new ambassador to Iran after accusing Iran's Intelligence Ministry of being behind an alleged plot to bomb a rally of an exiled opposition group in June.



Tehran has rejected the accusation.



Le Drian said that French consular services had met Erin-Cambervelle several times and were "very concerned about her situation."



The minister also said that she "did not complain about the custodial conditions and appeared to be in good physical and moral health."



"We are in touch with the family and with the Iranian authorities to ensure that Mrs. Erin[-Cambervelle]'s situation improves, while respecting Iranian procedures," he said.



Le Drian declined to give any further details on the case, saying Erin-Cambervelle's family did not wish it to be publicized.



Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the case.



With reporting by Reuters and Le Monde
Iran decries US 'hypocrisy' over planned nuclear sale to Saudi Arabia

02/21/19

Source: Press TV

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced Washington's "hypocrisy" after reports said the administration of US President Donald Trump was seeking to advance the sale of nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia.



source: Iranian daily Etemad

"Day by day it becomes clearer to the world what was always clear to us: neither human rights nor a nuclear program have been the real concern of the US," Zarif wrote on his official Twitter page on Wednesday.

Zarif also pointed to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents in October, saying it further exposed the US double standards for human rights.

"First a dismembered journalist; now illicit sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia fully expose #USHypocrisy."

Day by day it becomes clearer to the world what was always clear to us: neither human rights nor a nuclear program have been the real concern of the U.S. First a dismembered journalist; now illicit sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia fully expose #USHypocrisy.  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 20, 2019

The Trump administration came under fire for acting with equivocation in the wake of Khashoggi's murder and after evidence showed the Riyadh government's role in his slaying.

Zarif's remarks came after a new report by a congressional committee revealed Tuesday that the Trump administration was trying to bypass the US Congress to transfer sensitive nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia.

The House of Representatives' Oversight Committee, which compiled the report, said it was now "launching an investigation to determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump Administration are in the national security interests of the United States or, rather, serve those who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in US foreign policy."

"The Trump Administration's interactions with Saudi Arabia have been shrouded in secrecy, raising significant questions about the nature of the relationship," the 24-page report said.

It also said that efforts inside the White House to "rush" the transfer of "highly sensitive US nuclear technology" to Saudi Arabia were "in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law."

The White House has not commented yet.

The report involved documents, emails and a number of concerns raised by former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, White House attorneys and whistleblowers within the Trump administration.

Back in May, Trump withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and announced reimposition of the sanctions against Tehran that had been lifted as part of the agreement.

The US has also been pressuring the European signatories to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to pull out of the JCPOA.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has, however, said that the bloc is determined to preserve the "full implementation" of the deal, saying it was vital to European security and an effective guarantor of peace.

A few days after the US left the JCPOA, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS that the kingdom would make nuclear weapons if Iran does so.

Iran has always said that it has no intention of developing nuclear arms and the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program has repeatedly been confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
China says will boost 'strategic' partnership with Iran regardless of global developments

02/21/19

Source: Press TV

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged his country's determination to boost "strategic" partnership with Iran regardless of global and regional developments. "No matter how the international and regional situations change, China's resolve to develop comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged," Xi said during a Wednesday meeting with visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.



Chinese President Xi Jinping with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani

(source: Tehran Times)

Under the new situation, the two countries need to further deepen "strategic mutual trust" and provide mutual understanding and support on issues related to each other's "core interests" and major concerns, Xi added.



"We support Iran in playing a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability and are willing to closely communicate and coordinate with Iran on regional issues," he added.



The Chinese president also underlined the need for more anti-terrorism and security cooperation between Iran and China.



For his part, Larijani said Iran took a "strategic and long-term" view to develop relations with China.



Strengthening bilateral friendly cooperation is not only in the interest of the two countries but also important for peace and stability in Asia and the world.he said.



He added that Iran was keen to deepen political mutual trust and promote pragmatic cooperation with China and underscored the need for Tehran and Beijing to support each other in international and regional arenas.



The Chinese president also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, during which the two sides discussed latest regional and international developments as well as expansion of bilateral ties.

Accompanied Speaker Larijani to Beijing for important talks with President Xi & Chinese leadership on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our nations. Topping agenda: #Iran's role in Belt & Road initiative as well as continued political, security & economic cooperation. pic.twitter.com/ELHszym4y5  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 20, 2019

Larijani arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a two-day official visit following his last week's trip to Tokyo, where he held talks with senior Japanese officials on the expansion of commercial and economic cooperation.



Both China and Iran have been targeted by the US economic pressure.



Iran-China Parliamentary meeting

(photo by Islamic Republic News Agency)

Back in May, the administration of US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and announced reimposition of the sanctions against Tehran that had been lifted as part of the agreement.



The US and China have been engaged in economic tensions over the past months, in what is feared to turn into an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies.



The US has already imposed tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese goods, and China has imposed duties on $110bn of US products in tit for tat.
The Dark Side Of The United Arab Emirates (UAE)

02/21/19

by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog)



see google map of UAE

On February 19, the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, jointly with the Delegation for Relations with the Arabian Peninsula, held a hearing on the situation of human rights in Persian Gulf countries. The event featured an impressive line-up of speakers, such as Matthew Hedges, a British scholar who was jailed in the UAE on trumped-up espionage charges. Other witnesses included Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish academic and the fiance of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Ali Alaswad, former member of Bahrain's parliament from the outlawed al-Wefaq party.

In recent years, the human rights situation in the oil-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf has finally received the scrutiny it deserves in the European Parliament. EU governments consider the countries in question as their strategic allies in terms of regional security, energy, trade, and, disturbingly, burgeoning arms exports. This geopolitical status, however, no longer shields them from public criticisms.

This new scrutiny, however, is somewhat unevenly applied. Saudi Arabia has attracted by far the most attention. This is partly because of its size and special status in the Islamic world as the "guardian of the two Holy mosques." Saudi Arabia also makes an easy target because it is perceived as a "medieval kingdom" ruled by a capricious prince who bombs and starves civilians in Yemen, jails women's right activists, and has his critics bone-sawed-not to mention the worldwide spread of militant Wahhabism, a particularly puritanical strand of Sunni Islam, and laxity over terrorism financing and money laundering. The European Parliament condemnedthese abuses in its resolutions. It also demanded, repeatedly, sanctions such as an end of arms sales, asset freezes, and travel bans for the individual Saudi perpetrators.

By comparison, the closest Saudi ally in the region-the United Arab Emirates-gets kid-gloves treatment. True, the European Parliament adopted a resolutioncondemning the UAE for persecuting human rights defenders such as Ahmed Mansour. The house also voted to call for an arms embargo on the UAE, alongside Saudi Arabia, for the country's role in Yemen. This would have been unthinkable only a couple of years ago.

Overall, however, the reaction to human rights abuses in and by the UAE is much more subdued. This is because the Emiratis enjoy a much better image in Brussels and other Western capitals than their Saudi peers. Emirati diplomats and lobby firms at their service portray the country as a beacon of modernity, tolerance, and inclusion in a region where these values are often found wanting. The recent visit of Pope Francis to Abu Dhabi for an interfaith meeting was instrumental in promoting this positive image of the UAE. By tapping into the existing biases and fears of Western public opinion on Islam, the UAE positions itself as a successful model of a Muslim society in the twenty-first century.

However, the relative social openness and the interfaith dialogue are only the visible side of the Emirati model. The other, much less glamorous, side involves a strictly authoritarian regime and repression.

None is better qualified to cast a light on this dark side of the UAE than Matthew Hedges, a British PhD student who is researching the Emirates security apparatus. He was arrested in the UAE in May 2018 on espionage charges and spent seven months in solitary confinement. Hedges gave powerful testimony about this experience in the European Parliament.

He spoke about how he was interrogated non-stop during six or seven weeks, at times for 15 hours a day. He was kept in a small, dark, and windowless cell, from which he could hear other inmates being tortured. Hedges was drugged and manipulated into confessing to crimes he did not commit. Only after he confessed, under heavy duress, to spying for the British intelligence service M16 was he allowed to contact the British embassy.

Hedges's tormentors made a mockery of a fair trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Eventually, after UK diplomatic intervention, he was released on a pardon. The UAE presented it as a gesture of magnanimity towards a citizen of a friendly nation. However, a pardon means that technically the conviction for espionage still stands. It also does not compensate for the violations of his human rights or the consequences to his health of forced drug injection.

There are many others who are still languishing in Emirati prisons for their political activities and can count on virtually no international support. In 2013, a 94 activists were arrested and accused of being members of the Islah party (the Emirati Muslim Brotherhood) and conspiring to overthrow the government. Mohammed al-Roken, the last human rights lawyer in UAE, was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for essentially exercising his profession. According to the Human Rights Watch, in March 2018, the UAE imposed a 10-year prison sentence on prominent academic Nasser bin-Ghaith, whom authorities forcibly disappeared in 2015, for charges that included peaceful criticism of the UAE and Egyptian authorities.

All this repression is conducted by the State Security Court, which operates outside the ordinary legal system, with no oversight and accountability of any sort. And the definition of "state security crimes" is so broad that it can cover not just political opposition activists, but anyone with a semblance of independent thought. In December 2018, the UAE also widened the scope of the penal code in a way that enables the authorities to treat almost any information as a secret vital to the country's defense.

Hedges concluded his testimony by calling on EU governments to hold the "despotic regimes" accountable. At the very least, he said, "enjoying the friendly, blossoming relations with the UAE should not lead us to pretend that we share the same values."

This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament.
In and Out of the Imagination: Locating the Women of Achaemenid Persia

02/21/19

Lecture in London by Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Organized by: Iran Heritage Foundation

Date & Time: Wednesday 27th February at 18.30

Venue: Asia House - 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP

Description

Women are notoriously difficult to find in the indigenous sources of Achaemenid Iran. They are not absent, indeed sources show that royal women could be powerful, wealthy, and influential, but their presence has to be filtered through a range of diverse sources. There is no large-scale presence of women in official Achaemenid art, but that is not to say that the iconography does not exist. In this lecture, Prof. Llewellyn-Jones will bring together the visual representations of women from across the Achaemenid empire and explore the diversity of female 'types' encountered in small-scale artworks like seal images, jewellery and textiles.



This lecture will also consider how, in recent times, Iranian artists have projected an empowered image of Achaemenid women, which has contributed to a form of cultural myth-making about the freedom of women in the pre-Islamic past. The work of the popular artist Hojat Shakiba will be considered (in particular his Irandokht and Kourosh series) and his works will be examined for what they say about current perceptions of ancient Persian women and the way in which the female image in his works creates a kind of Iranian made self-Orientalism.

Biography

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. He is a specialist in the history of ancient Persia and the Near East, ancient monarchy, and the reception of antiquity. Recent publications include King and Court in Ancient Persia (2013), The Culture of Animals in Antiquity (2017), and Designs on the Past: How Hollywood Created the Ancient World (2018). He is currently writing a book on the history and culture of Achaemenid Iran and a study of the Hebrew Book of Esther and its Persian setting.



Tickets & Info:

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Please note we do not issue refunds

If you would prefer to pay by cheque, please make it payable to 'IHF' and send this along with your contact details to: IHF, 63 New Cavendish Street, London, W1G 7LP

The talk will start promptly at 18.30 so please ensure you arrive on time



For any inquiries please contact astrid@iranheritage.org

Telephone: 020 3651 2121

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Paxton, IL (60957)

Today

Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
It's a snowy afternoon right now in New York and fashion month rages on in Milan. But over in London, our friends across the pond are celebrating the BRIT Awards, something I have never quite understood until a recent refreshing Google (to clarify, they are a music awards show, much like the British Grammys, with BRITs serving as an acronym for British Record Industry Trusts Show).

The ceremony is currently airing  Ariana Grande just, unsurprisingly, won big  but what really got us is the red carpet. Specifically PAPER digital cover star and Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander on said red carpet in a stunning feathered cape from Palomo Spain.

Alexander looked unbelievably fabulous in the cape, originally shown in Palomo Spain's fall 2018 collection. He paired it with a sheer white pussybow shirt, black trousers, and glimmering ankle boots. It's the kind of thing you really need to spin around in. After years of boredom, celebrities are finally being exciting again on red carpets! Somewhere up there, Prince is smiling.

Related | Olly Alexander Is Done Being Repressed

Designer Alejandro Gomez Palomo works to combat traditional masculinity, designing clothes that celebrate queer life. His fall 2018 collection was themed around the woods and hunting, a subtle metaphor for cruising. "There's always an element of eroticism, but delicately. And I wanted to make it a bit ironicyou know my father goes hunting every Sunday," he told Vogue at the time. "It is something that is regarded as masculine, so I wanted to play with that."

In his PAPER Pride cover story, Alexander told writer Jacob Brown that "we wouldn't be where we are today without all the gay artists that have come before us and broken down so many barriers. But barriers aren't gone. Particularly for less privileged members of the queer community. There is this very insidious casual homophobia that exists in the fabric of everything including the music industry."

Even as barriers break down, it's thrilling to see artists like Alexander, who represent their authentic selves in lyrics and on red carpets alike.

Stream Palo Santo by Years & Years, below.
For fall 2019, No. 21 sought to reinvent the film noir icon as a stylish Italian bad girl. Nearly every single garment had a cut-out, some fully revealing the bottoms of models as they walked the catwalk. "It all comes from an impression I got watching Brian De Palma's 1980 film Dressed to Kill Again," Alessandro Dell'Acqua, creative director of the brand said in a statement. "I was particularly struck by the atmosphere the director created both with his voluptuous use of the movie camera and with the passionate, sensual music of Pino Donaggio, mounting a true symphony of terror on the screen." Here's everything else you need to know about the show.

Revealing Cut-Outs

Cut-outs on the backs of dresses exposed the biggest hints of skin. Along with matching jackets paired with simple bandeau bras, there was no shortage of revealing moments. "I wanted to recreate a similar mood, sending down the catwalk a strong woman who clearly craves to come on sexy and who, with equal awareness, exalts her own ambiguity through clothes that reveal her real intentions," explained Dell'Acqua.

Off-the-Shoulder

The brand also brought back the off-the-shoulder silhouette, typically reserved for spring and summer clothing. However, in the hands of Dell'Acqua, these pieces were made more wearable with thick winter fabrics or in the form of coats.

Emerald Green

The standout color of the mostly neutral-hued collection? Emerald green. A strapless dress and sequined gown recalled cinematic visions of the early 20th century.

Trench Coat Revival

The most surprising pieces of the show were the revived trench coats. They came patched with metallic fabrics, cut short in the front and long in the back, with military-like structure and even bunched way down below the midriff.

Crystal Mesh
In a mystifying twist in an increasingly troubling case, Empire star and musician Jussie Smollett turned himself into Chicago authorities today and was subsequently arrested. This is the latest concerning Smollett, whose allegations of a MAGA-inspired hate crime committed against him were reported to Chicago police last month.

According to Smollett's account  first given to Chicago police, and then, days later to Robin Roberts on Good Morning America  he was viciously attacked when exiting a Subway restaurant by two masked male assailants who recognized him from TV. Smollett originally alleged that they invoked MAGA epithets and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him before beating him, pouring bleach on him, and tying a noose around his neck. At the initial report of the crime, it was thought that the alleged assailants were white men. A large public outpouring of support from many of Smollett's famous peers followed the news, including a response from President Trump.



Police launched an official hate-crime investigation into Smollett's claims, which reportedly included subpoenas of his phone and banking records. The two Nigerian-American brothers who were allegedly involved in Smollett's attack, identified as Ola and Abel Osundairo, met with prosecutors and were also reportedly found in a car near where the incident is said to have taken place. One of the brothers involved in the alleged attack worked as an extra on Empire, according to a CNN report; the other is said to have been a personal trainer of Smollett's. Law enforcement is now investigating claims that Smollett paid the brothers up to $3,500. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said that police have the check Smollett used to pay the men, per another report from CNN.

That report claims that Chicago police had, upon learning more about the Osundairo brothers, begun searching for clues confirming whether or not Smollett was involved in orchestrating the attack. They found that the brothers were wearing gloves on the night in question, leaving investigators to conclude that, though he was "punched a bit" Smollett's wounds were most likely "self-inflicted." This all follows multiple rumors of hoaxes suggesting that Smollett had always been the mastermind of his alleged attack, all of which Smollett has repeatedly denied. The alleged attack coincides with Smollett's claims that before the incident, he received an envelope with a return address from "MAGA," with a threatening inside made up of letters cut from magazines, and including drawing of a "stick figure hanging from a tree which had a gun pointing towards it," as he told ABC News.

On Twitter this week, Chicago Police Department chief communication officer Anthony Guglielmi stated that the actor has been named a suspect in a criminal investigation. ABC13 reported that Smollett's attorneys are currently in talks with prosecutors. Investigators believe one motive allegedly leading Smollett to stage his own attack was "because he was dissatisfied with his salary," Johnson said.

20th Century Fox, the producers of Empire, have thus far stood by Smollett in a statement since rumors emerged that he was being written off the show. Several reports note that Smollett was charged by local prosecutors for filing a false report in relation to his alleged assault late last month. The actor is expected in bond court on Thursday, February 21. The Advocate reports that Smollett the actor faces one to three years in prison if found guilty, as the charge is a Class 4 felony.

In a Chicago Police Department press conference held today, Johnson expressed concern about the vitriolic details of Smollett's claims, saying "actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career... I'm left hanging my head and asking why. Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbol of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?"

Photo via Getty




Chinese-American filmmaker Jingjing Tian created a six-minute short film that challenges a common archetype of the ever-elusive American Dream: The western cowboy. Cowboy Joe, then, is an exploration of how that archetype remains a powerful symbol of American masculinity, adventure, and old-fashioned virtues, including hard work and rugged individualism.

Joe ponders these ideas as he boldly tells his Chinese father, who has a traditional, "sensible" outlook, that he's moving from New York to a ranch to be a cowboy  that it's his dream, and we, as the viewer, don't get to decide it for him. But then we ask ourselves, as we experience Joe's rejection from his father, Why don't we believe in his dream? Can even the seemingly most outrageous dreams be attainable for us all? After all, isn't the whole point of dreaming whether it "belongs" to America, or not  to feel a sense of freedom, however fleeting?

"I grew up in China and Texas, so in a way, I am the female version of Cowboy Joe," Tian tells PAPER. "He's a fictional manifestation of who I am. As a Chinese American growing up in rural Texas, I was constantly rejected by the people around me, but all I wanted was to be accepted. Why can't I be Chinese and Texan? Why do I have be one or the other? I wore a belt buckle to school. If the Greeks have their gods then America has the cowboy and the freedom of the Wild Wild West. The short film is a reimagination of the traditional Western ideal. It's about a Chinese-American claiming an identity that he's never been given access to, even excluded from. Joe wants the freedom to be who he wants to be and do what he wants to do, no matter what his father or what his tradition dictates him to be. The pathos is that he has the freedom to be all of these things  Chinese, American, cowboy, restauranteur, dancer, New Yorker. He doesn't have to be just one. It's the best form of cultural appropriation because it's about inclusivity."
Finch Paper Looks to Upgrade Facilities, Improve Efficiency Finch Paper CFO, Alex Rotolo, said, "We're 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." Feb. 21, 2019 (The Post Star) - 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. We're 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 Finch's 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. The machine can quickly see little changes and make changes so the paper quality is more uniform, and also just reliability. Our control systems are old so we'd like to have new systems, he said. Other improvements include high-voltage electric upgrades to improve the resiliency of the systems and protect against power failures from the grid, upgrades to the waste treatment plant and improvements to the sheeting assets for increased capabilities and improved efficiency. A project to upgrade the wood yard with a new chipper that can handle longer logs is on hold because Finch did not receive a state grant. It does not make sense for the company to do it without that state funding, Rotolo said. Rotolo did not disclose the cost of the improvements, but said it was many times what the plant has invested previously. The company is looking for more skilled workers to help implement these projects. Finch's head count decreased from about 650 five-plus years ago to 570 currently. Rotolo said the company was trying to right-size employment levels to be on par with its competitors. A reason we didn't go out of business in 2017 was the work we have done to improve the facility and make it more efficient, he said. The full story is available on The Post Star website: Finch Paper Looks to Upgrade Facilities, Improve Efficiency SOURCE: The Post Star Editor's Note: Located in Glens Falls, New York, Finch Paper manufacturers uncoated papers and services numerous markets, including commercial printing and direct mail, book publishing, financial printing, transactional printing, envelope and forms converting, labels and packaging, and specialty papers. To learn more, please visit: To learn more, please visit: www.finchpaper.com .
Paris, France (PANA)  Several French Members of Parliament and Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) attended a news conference at the French Parliament held to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Cameroonian journalist Amadou Vamoulke, from provisional detention for two and half months
Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union and the African Union are ready to work with the president-elect of Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, according to a communique following a joint meeting of EU and AU Foreign ministers, which ended on Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA)  Canadian miner Barick Gold has shown determination to settle disputes between the government of Tanzania and London-listed Acacia Mining Plc after reaffirming its commitment to pay US$ 300 million (over Tanzanian shillings 714 billion) as part of its reform agreement with the government
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Oswego, NY (13126)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
The Children's Museum of Oswego (CMOO) is gearing up for their re-opening later this spring. CMOO announced the hiring of Kathryn Watson as the director of education on Wednesday.
Local federal election race off to early start

By Fred Sherwin

Febuary 19, 2019

The federal election might still be eight months away, however, the local race is already heating up with the Conservative nomination process already in full swing and NDP hopeful Jacqui Wiens poised to get the green light from the party.

Meanwhile, Liberal incumbent Andrew Leslie is sitting in the catbird seat ready to take on all comers including former Liberal rival David Bertshci should the Orleans lawyer win the Conservative nomination.

"We've been canvassing door-to-door almost every week and we started that two weeks after the last election, says Leslie. "So we've knocked on thousands of doors and we've been fundraising, of course, so we're more than ready.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Leslie plans to focus his campaign on the economy and his accomplishments in securing federal funding for projects such as Phase 2 of the LRT and the Ottawa River Action Plan.

"Unemployment in the riding has declined every year since 2015. It was 7.1 per cent and now it's down to 4.6 per cent, Leslie points out. "Nationally, we've seen the creation of 800,000 full-time jobs since we came to power and that's pushed unemployment to a 40-year low. We have lowered income tax for the middle class and introduced the Canada Child Benefit which for the typical family gives them up to $5,500.

Conservative nomination candidate David Bertschi talks to a couple of supporters at a recent meet and greet at the Trim and Watters Tim Hortons. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO

"In terms of federal funding into the riding, we approved the funding to extend the LRT to Trim Road. We approved our share of the sewage resettling project which is part of the Ottawa River Action Plan. And we are prepared to step in and augment funding to the francophone community that is under threat from the Ford government.

Leslie is also proud of his government's commitment to Canada's military veterans.

"We've not only restored the cuts that the former Conservative government made, but we've allocated another $10 billion plus, the former Lieutenant General points out.

While the Liberal incumbent appears to be in mid-election form, the local Conservatives must still select a candidate to oppose him. The contest is a three-man race between Bertschi, retired Armed Forces senior officer Gerry Potter and cyber security consultant Will Hickie.

Berstchi has been holding a series of meet-and-greet events over the past month. During a recent event at the Trim and Watters Tim Horton's, he spoke with a number of local Conservative members who wanted to know his position on issues like the carbon tax and the SNC Lavalin affair.

"It's about meeting and listening to the residents and I am very encouraged, said Bertschi. "I've been getting a lot of tough questions, but it's given me a chance to lay out my position on the issues with the people and it's been very positive.

Among the people who wanted to meet Bertschi face to face was Bradley Estates resident Michael Baillot whose nephew, Alain Rayes, is the Quebec lieutenant for the federal Conservatives.

"I have to admit at first I wasn't too sure, but now after meeting him I'm happy. He has my support for sure, said Baillot.

Gerry Potter served in the military for 35 years. He is currently employed as a consultant to government, private industry, and not-for-profit organizations.

Of the three challengers for the Conservative nomination Potter threw his hat into the ring first, doing so last August when he learned that the Liberals had disqualified groups applying for the Summer Jobs Program if they didn't agree in writing that they supported abortion rights.

"That was the tipping point for me. It went totally against freedom of conscience, freedom of thought and freedom of religion, says Potter.

Potter's website can be found at www.gerrypotter.ca.

Will Hickie is a data scientist who specializes in cyber security as it pertains to defense research and development. Like Bertschi and Potter, he also lives in Orleans. According to his Facebook page he believes that "modern progressive conservative values, sound yet compassionate fiscal policy, and investment in young Canadians is the best way to bring lasting social and economic prosperity to Orleans.

Hickie's website can be found at www.votewill.ca.

Jacqui Wiens is the provisional NDP candidate. The Orleans resident is currently going through the party's vetting process and hopes to be given the green light by the end of the month.

The 23-year-old social activist grew up on Taffy Lane and attended Cairine Wilson High School. In 2017, while living downtown, she joined the Ottawa Centre NDP riding association and served as the riding's provincial treasurer through the 2018 Ontario election.

Now back in Orleans, Wiens wants to use the skills and experience she gained during the provincial campaign to engage with her fellow residents about the issues that affect their daily lives. For more information visit www.facebook.com/pg/Jacqui4Orleans.
This innovative, new pavilion is beyond anything weve ever created and is completely unique to Epcot, said Zach Riddley, portfolio executive, Walt Disney Imagineering. Built on the power of play, it introduces an immersive and interactive city where you can explore, create, and interact with some of your favorite Disney characters. This is an experience worthy of our bold vision for Epcot  and another signature element of our transformation.
Weve signed on because we know that the basic structure of the human brain is mostly constructed in the first three years of a childs life. Weve signed on because we know that were all children cared for and sheltered from damaging stressors in this pivotal time, they would have a stronger start at leading a self-sufficient life of service to society. And the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation tells us that graduates of high-quality early learning centers are 23 percent more employable than those who did not have access to high-quality centers.
Im not thrilled about it, I dont like it, but this is what the president was elected to do in large part, he said. And my big concern ... is I dont think we can get some meaningful legal immigration reform until we fully secure the border.
My plan is to provide relief for these kids who are on a waitlist and those parents who want to provide a better education for their child, Diaz said. We start with the premise that every child is different  and what works for one child may not work for another.
When we think about how this was done, at the highest death toll of any natural disaster in the history of the modern era here in the United States.  Its a tragedy on a tragedy, said Soto. Its time that President Trump and Congress act to draw down this money and have a real plan for Puerto Rico disaster relief recovery.
Although we have done a tremendous amount of investigation in the last 12-plus months and testing and we are in litigation, that does not mean that were not going to continue to both test, investigate and add additional communities into this litigation, Leopold said. Our goal, because of the urgency of these issues, is to move it as quickly as we can.
As the Mayor of Orlando, I remain unwavering in my support for our hometown university and one of our regions greatest assets, he said in a statement. I often tell people I have the best job in the country and I look forward to continuing to serve our city as Mayor.
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a massive domestic terror attack targeting politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson called for "focused violence" to "establish a white homeland" and dreamed of ways to "kill almost every last person on earth," according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland.

Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and searched the internet using phrases such as "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected."

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.

Hasson, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt on Thursday.

Hasson was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but the government says those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg." Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland outlined in court documents Hasson's alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.

"Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads," Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors say was found in his email drafts. "Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."

A magistrate judge ordered that the Office of the Federal Public Defender represent Hasson; the office declined comment Wednesday.

Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-90s.

Agents with the FBI field office in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson on Friday, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed.

Court documents do not detail what prompted federal law enforcement to begin investigating Hasson, but they say Hasson has been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 in Norway. They say Hasson's attack preparations resembled Breivik's.

The manifesto outlined how Breivik planned and prepared his attacks with the aim of providing an outline for others planning similar terrorist operations, the U.S. court filings say.

Breivik took steroids and narcotics, believing it would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks. When law enforcement raided Hasson's apartment, they said they found a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormones. He has also ordered more than 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol since 2016, along with synthetic urine to allegedly bypass possible random drug screenings at work.

Breivik encouraged identifying targets and traitors. In recent weeks, Hasson developed a spreadsheet of targets that included top Democratic congressional leaders and media personalities. The list includes "JOEY," what prosecutors say is a reference to former Rep. Joe Scarborough who works for MSNBC; "cortez," an alleged reference to freshman U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York; and "Sen blumen jew" presumably Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

Authorities seized 15 firearms, including several long guns and rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his basement apartment after executing a search warrant this month. Over the past two years, he had made nearly two dozen purchases of firearms or related equipment and made thousands of visits to websites that sell weapons or tactical gear.

Authorities said Hasson harbored extremist views for years.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist," the government said in court filings, "bent, on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

In an email he drafted in June 2017, he contemplated biological attacks and targeting food supplies. He considered the merits of a "bombing/sniper campaign" and included a "Things to do" list that included purchasing land "out west or possibly NC mtns" for family and researching tactics used during the civil war in Ukraine.

"During unrest target both sides to increase tension," Hasson wrote in the email, according to the court filings. "In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence."

In another letter drafted months later to an American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson called for a "white homeland." He sent the letter to himself nearly two months after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where torch-carrying white-supremacists clashed with anti-racist protesters.

"I never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc.," Hasson said. "I was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that. However you can make change with a little focused violence."

Hasson's commitment to destruction appeared to increase in recent weeks, according to details from prosecutors. He created a list of "traitors" and targets on Jan. 19 in a spreadsheet on his work computer. The spreadsheet was created two days after he conducted a series of internet inquiries:

8:54 a.m.: "what if trump illegally impeached"

8:57 a.m.: "best place in dc to see congress people"

8:58 a.m.: "where in dc to congress live"

10:39 a.m.: "civil war if trump impeached"

11:26 a.m.: "social democrats usa"

First published in the Washington Post
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he was happy to be a "citizen patrol" when he directed his police detail to pull over a texting driver.

The Democratic mayor says the traffic stop occurred Saturday while he was heading to a legislative event in Albany.

The New York Post reports de Blasio saw a driver texting in the car next to his on the FDR Drive in Manhattan.

De Blasio said on Tuesday that the woman needed an "on-the-spot education" about the dangers. The lesson included a ticket.

It is illegal for New York drivers to use mobile devices. Fines can range from $50 for a first offense to $400 for more than three violations.

___

Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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.
"Unfortunately, I don't know that everyone who is involved in this process sees it the same way," Sprouls said. "I am also very concerned that it may be correct that not accepting Dale Whittaker's resignation today would probably be far more damaging to UCF than taking the 'what's best' scenario of accepting it. I fear if we do what I believe is the right thing we will regret doing that with respect to what will happen at UCF and to me that's a terrible place to be."
"Orlando Sentinel Now" is a midday news show features the top news and quirky stories of the day. The show airs weekdays at noon on Facebook and OrlandoSentinel.com. You can join the conversation by commenting and taking polls.
The tweet said: @FlyTPA I have hidden a bomb in a package somewhere in the Tampa international airport. Looking forward to seeing some minorities die.
During a forensic review of the computer, agents said they found video files of children between the approximate ages of 2 and 10, which showed the children being exposed or abused by adults. In one video, a girl of about five was abused while collared and chained, the affidavit said. In another, a boy of about two was shown with a pacifier in his mouth while being abused, according to authorities.
Not only is filing false insurance claims illegal, but it drives up insurance rates for hardworking Floridians, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said in a statement. This deputy swore to uphold and protect the law, but instead he committed fraud for personal gain. No matter who you are, my fraud detectives will find you and you will be held accountable.
Congressman Michael Waltz, the Republican who represents Floridas Sixth District, will be a guest on Orlando Matters at 10 a.m. Saturday on WOFL-Channel 35. He discusses the push to locate the new U.S. Space Command in Florida. He also talks about the role of Congress in the immigration and border wall debate. Host Ryan Elijah interviews Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond about a recently released audit that found serious security questions about the training for new security workers who protect county buildings. (The Sentinel has a content-sharing agreement with WOFL.)
Zorman grew up with music, the son of a pianist and a composer. He took up violin at age 6 at the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel-Aviv. He later graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and in 2009 he earned a masters degree from the Juilliard School in New York.
As part of the settlement, Christini and his employees will undergo mandatory anti-harassment training. The restaurant must also distribute a written anti-harassment policy to its employees that must also include discussion of how social media could also be a place of workplace harassment.
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Yes. I would be the first in line.

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South Africa: Traditional leaders can help debunk patriarchy myths

As custodians of culture, traditional leaders are ideally placed within communities to expose myths around patriarchy and notions of ownership over the bodies of women that continue to persist.

This is according to the Minister of Women Bathabile Dlamini, who on Thursday addressed a dialogue with traditional leaders.

The Minister said her department supports and encourages communities to continue practising their traditions with pride, as long as human rights are not violated.

South Africa has in the recent years had increased incidences of gender based violence, mainly against women and girls. Government responded to the scourge of abuse, neglect and exploitation by establishing the Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat Violence against Women and Children and launching campaigns to fight the scourge of gender-based violence, Dlamini said.

She said it was critical for traditional leaders to work with government in ending gender based violence.

We need to do so because women, young and old, rich and poor, famous and not so famous, experience abuse. Violence against women cuts across all races, including class groups, Dlamini said.

The President in his 2019 State of the Nation Address responded to the call for the fight against gender-based violence with a commitment to increase the budget for gender equality and womens empowerment.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By the end of April, left with few options to ensure the safety of our family, my parents sat down with me and my brother and told us that they were sending us to the United States with other children from our community. They assured us that they wouldn't be far behind, and that we would wait there for them until they could find safe passage themselves.
In a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Eighth Amendments ban on excessive fines applies to state and local governments. In her decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes the Magna Carta to demonstrate that for hundreds of years, society has recognized that fines must be proportion[ate] to the wrong and not so large as to deprive [an offender] of his livelihood. She cites William Blackstone (the leading 18th-century English commentator on the law) to suggest that in order to determine excessiveness of fines, the court must consider a persons wealth. Finally, citing a decision by the late Justice Antonin Scalia (as well as the amicus brief we filed in support of the petitioner, Tyson Timbs), Ginsburg suggests there is a particular risk of excessiveness when government imposes fines in order to raise revenue.
It might be easy to overlook us and see what we do as dead-end jobs being done by teenagers looking for pocket money. I am living proof that you can work in fast food and live a life of purpose. I am a 22-year-old African-American woman and, with some help from financial aid but mostly on what I earn working in this industry, I will graduate this June with a degree in criminal justice, another vital step in my ambition to become a lawyer.
Long Island City: As one of the 45 members of the Amazon Community Advisory Committee, I can attest to the amount of interaction we had with Amazon employees and their interest in doing the right thing for Long Island City. Amazon met with community leaders, business leaders and anyone else that wanted to speak with them. They were truly interested in making Long Island City a better place to live and some of the Amazon employees I dealt with were also looking forward to moving to Long Island City. These employees were not looking to make a quick deal and then move on. As we go forward I know Long Island City will continue to thrive and grow. However, this missed opportunity can linger for many years. The empty commercial space in the proposed Amazon campus will stay that way. The lack of revenue and jobs that would have been generated starting this year will not happen. I hope our politicians and opponents have a plan to compensate for this lost opportunity, but at this point I am very skeptical. Rob Basch
Lest you need a refresher course in that vile capitalized phrase, it was a Russian  a Georgian, actually  who made it famous. Branding those perceived to be threats traitors and counter-revolutionaries, Joseph Stalin spied on them and murdered them and sent them to the gulag. So corrosive was the dictators use of the invective, his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, banned it.
The unidentified German man had his hunting license initially revoked after his dog shot him  hopefully inadvertently  in the arm with a loaded rifle while driving in the woods on their way to hunt deer. The hunter was appealing the ruling made by the municipality of Pfaffenhofen, which initially took his gun permit and refused to renew it after the incident.
Cracks growing across Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf are poised to release an iceberg with an area about twice the size of New York City, said NASA, before adding, It is not yet clear how the remaining ice shelf will respond following the break, posing an uncertain future for scientific infrastructure and a human presence on the shelf that was first established in 1955.
All pilots plan a track for their aircraft to get between where theyre going from and to, Gibson told ABC. Now what that track looks like once it shows up on radar, of course, is another thing entirely.
Hes vetted many White House contenders at the eatery and quizzed them on how they would serve the black community. Sanders made the pilgrimage in 2016, and then-candidate Barack Obama did the same in 2007. Neither candidate, however, ultimately received his endorsement for the primary.
I recognize that I let the court down. I let you down. I let myself down. I let my family down. I let my attorneys down. I can only say I'm sorry. It was a momentary lapse in judgement. Perhaps I talk too much, he groveled.
I think hes completely delusional, Kim said, ripping into the state of the citys schools, subways and housing. He should apologize to New York City first for the last six-and-a-half years, and then maybe, maybe, if he does something positive for the next two years, next year, maybe we can think about him possibly running for mayor. But at this point, come back to us, mayor. We need you here.
Dems in Congress are not shying away from talk of subpoenaing Mueller amid reports that he will soon present the final findings of his investigation into election meddling and possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to Attorney General William Barr.
Most of the bills are dated after Ocasio-Cortezs defeat of Crowley in the Democratic primary, essentially guaranteeing her a seat in Congress. Details are not available for most of the charges listed as supplies. The Amazon shopping spree by the Bronx-born congresswomans campaign is less than a fraction of the $1.7 million spent overall.
"The abuse of minors by ordained ministers has inflicted wounds not only on the victims, but also on their families, the clergy, the church, the wider society, the perpetrators themselves and the bishops," said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila in the Philippines. "But it is also true, we humbly and sorrowfully admit, that wounds have been inflicted by us bishops on the victims and in fact the entire body of Christ.
They say we stopped on the side of the bridge to take some pictures and that I was going over the concrete barriers and they heard me exclaim and they thought I was joking, Bailey said in an interview with CBS DFW.
My students in my classroom are like my children. I love them so much and when they come to school upset and sad because of the way they look, that destroys me as their teacher, said Grimm in a Facebook Live video.
I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's, he tweeted. This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.
She was having seizures, and they were not under control, Guthat said. She didnt have insurance, and I cant help but think if she had just gotten the care she needed, her conditions wouldnt have spiraled into a disastrous state and she would still be alive.
Its unfortunate that people still dont understand the mission of Southwest Key Programs, said Southwest Keys Chief Operating Officer, Joella Brooks, in a statement Wednesday. For the last 30 years, Southwest Key Programs has been taking care of children and their families in the juvenile justice system, unaccompanied minors as well as educating children across the country.
I was surprised that anybody would do that to this museum statue. This is not a Civil War museum and this is not Robert E. Lee. This is General William C. Lee from United States Army Airborne form World War II, so I was hurt and surprised that somebody would actually do this.
In addition to the offensive tweets that included references to the N-word, the hijacker of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's account wrote that he had planted a bomb at Tampa International Airport and was looking forward to seeing some minorities die. The airport said the threat was not credible but has taken appropriate action.
The snowplow driver who took out all the mailboxes had neither been spoken with nor disciplined by the city at the time of the report. Officials said they will take a look at how their plow operators are trained.
Officials believe Hasson, who self-identified as a white nationalist, was taking notes from a manifesto written by Norwegian citizen Behring Breivik, who killed 77 citizens in two coordinated terror attacks in July 2011. Breivik spent three years writing a manifesto on Crusader Nationalism, in which he warned of a wave of Muslim immigration brought on by Cultural Marxism and political correctness, according to the court documents.
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among those who criticized the hire, sharing a story on Twitter Tuesday that knocked Isgur for never working in journalism, and writing, Sorry, didnt get the latest memo after 1,000 experienced + qualified journalists of all stripes were let go w/o warning a few weeks ago and still looking for work: are we still pretending that hires like these are evidence of a meritocracy?
Saladaga also allegedly held a pillow over the 5-year-olds face until he was unable to breathe, according to a press release. And another warrant said Saladaga rubber a pepper on a childs genitals, which caused them to burn.
Unfortunately, when you go through people who have been living in Pasco County for multiple years and you mention his name, the reputation isn't the greatest, Nocco said. The reputation was there that you're not dealing with the most upstanding of elected officials.
When confronted, Reiter told Gilchrist he needed to resign because he did some bad things, according to the criminal complaint. He allegedly confessed to stealing $500,000 to $530,000 from the church over a period of 10 to 12 years to make things better at home.
A day after being brought to Nariki Chosei Hospital, the alleged killer found her way into an elderly womans room shortly after midnight, covered the victims face with a pillow and pummeled the woman with her fists.
"(The woman) advised they had Mr. Engard on video carrying a trash bag out of his apartment to the elevator, entering the elevator, exiting the back doors with the trash bag and then taking the trash bag to the dumpster," read the statement of facts obtained by the Daily News. "Once Mr. Engard got to the dumpster he threw the trash bag into the dumpster and went back inside the apartment building."
In video of the confrontation, taken from the camera worn by Sheriffs Deputy Riley Jarecki, the suspect can be seen calmly sitting in the front seat of his vehicle as the officer approaches the passenger side window. She shines a flashlight in the car after asking the suspect  later identified as Javier Hernandez Morales  if she can search the vehicle to make sure theres nothing dangerous inside.
Attorney Renner Walker, who is representing dozens of lead-poisoned children, had hoped to question Peters under oath regarding other possible motivations for his termination. Peters alleged that a top mayoral aide had pressured him in November 2017 to not release a report on the lead paint scandal.
The men, Tito Martinez-Alvarenga, 19, and Victor Lopez, 20, were taken to the 115th Precinct stationhouse and quizzed about the Feb. 3 shooting of Abel Mosso, 20, on the 90th St. station platform on the No. 7 train in Jackson Heights.
Epstein was once a politically-connected hedge fund manager who counted President Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends, along with many other celebrities. Hes long faced allegations that he forced his underage victims to also have sex with his famous pals who visited him at his mansions in Palm Beach or the Upper East Side. Epstein also owns a private Caribbean island and flew in a private jet nicknamed the Lolita Express by the press.
The road rage erupted after the victims husband asked Jason Mendez, 35, to stop smoking outside the Garnerville store near the small hamlet of Haverstraw just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, a witness told reporters. Instead, the furious smoker got into his car and mowed down his helpless victims, then backed the vehicle over them, Haverstraw police said in a statement.
Of those seven, the agency reported to the NYPD in 2009 that five paving machines are sitting under the highway in the dump for seven years and were being pick(ed) apart by vandals stealing brass fittings, copper wire harnesses and anything else they could sell for scrap, according to papers.
We were never able to give her a fair show because the services werent available, Yuvania Espino of Manhattan said of her 9-year-old daughter Mia, who has cerebral palsy and a muscular disorder  and wont graduate from PS 138 in Harlem on time next year because she never had a specialized academic curriculum or access to a therapeutic gym.
For two years we have been negotiating with the Oakland Unified School District to make our students a priority over outside consultants and central office administrators, Brown said. It's time for them to listen to the voices of the community.
Accompanied by a crying cat emoji, the post continues, With a once cold but now simply broken heart, I am going into mourning. I pray that your kind words and well-wishes will help me to put my best paw forward in my future without Daddy @KarlLagerfeld & as my own woman.
The actors attorneys have not commented Thursday, but said before his arrest, like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.
There was no tire at all, there was no wheel, she adds. Luckily, there are two wheels on each side and two in the front. I have to say, we were in the air for four hours, burning off fuel and just thought of what it is going to be like when we land it was a really smooth landing.
His verbal jousting was legendary but many know Vinny for his favorite saying  Whos better than you? the Facebook tribute concludes. Well Vinny, I think we can all agree on the answer to that, it was you, it always was you! We miss you my boy!
Along with Dolenz, Jones and Nesmith, Tork starred on The Monkees sitcom for two years before it went off the air. Though the band  which sold millions of records  stayed together until 1971 as a recording group, Tork negotiated as end to his contract in 1968 and went solo, playing with artists including George Harrison. The Monkees reunited several times in the following years for concerts and events.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

A shower is possible early. A few clouds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. A few clouds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Cedartown, GA (30125)

Today

A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has warned that the Chairman of the Independen...





A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has warned that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, risks jail term if he (Yakubu) refuses to enlist the party in the Saturdays presidential and National Assembly elections.





Eze advised the INEC boss not to allow misleading interpretations of court judgements on Rivers elections put him into judicial troubles.





Eze, a former spokesperson of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, gave the advice in a statement on Thursday.





He decried the statement of Prof Yakubu on the participation of the Rivers APC in the elections, to the effect that the party would not be fielding candidates in the elections in Rivers.









He reiterated that INEC has no reason not to include the governorship, federal and state assembly candidates in the rescheduled general elections, citing various decisions of higher courts to justify the partys position, and saying the INEC should include APC in the ballot without further delay.









Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, wherein he committed to obey a so-called judgment of the Supreme Court, mysteriously premised on error, falsehood and deliberately misleading as there is no Supreme Court judgment anywhere authorizing INEC to delist APC candidates in Rivers state.





With this fact, I am advising the INEC leadership not to constitute themselves into enemies of democracy by obeying a non-existent Supreme Court judgment. Hence the chairman of INEC must be well guided by credible evidence and not mere media misrepresentations and misinterpretation, which are mischievously aimed at destroying an entire political future of a State.





For the records, APC had, in a letter, which was addressed to the INEC Chairman, dated February 19, through its like; Messrs Tuduru Ede and Co, argued that the APC duly submitted the list of its candidates for Rivers state for the 2019 general elections in line with the timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission, Eze said.
Tunde Fashola, minister of power, works, and housing, has called on Nigerians to slow down on childbirth. The minister, who was a...

Tunde Fashola, minister of power, works, and housing, has called on Nigerians to slow down on childbirth.





The minister, who was a former governor of Nigerias most populated state, Lagos, said any culture that encourages birth without control is a culture that is unproductive.





Speaking at Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) Gabfest 2019, Fashola said: We have to manage our numbers; if your income is not growing, you cant just be having children, and it is a conversation we must have as a nation, its a serious conversation.





If truly we agree that there is poverty, that there is unemployment, then there must come a time as a people, we must have consensus and say lets slow this down a little bit so that we can deal with those who are here.

Otherwise, those who are coming in are coming into poverty. That is not such a difficult matter to agree on. So you guys out there who are still doing that business, please slow it down.





The minister said he has not asked Nigerians to stop giving birth, but he has only requested that they slow it down.





Just slow it down, I didnt say stop it. Abimbola and I stopped this business 18 years ago, so its not every time you have to score goals. But we need to control these numbers, Fashola added.





And those who say culture, that culture is an unproductive culture, it is a culture that will tie us down in backwardness, and we have to leave it behind. If you can manage 20, by all means, go ahead.





But if your resources can manage two and you go and have 10, ah, we leave that matter. We have to confront these things, they have held us back for too long.





Nigeria currently has a population of about 198 million people, estimated to exceed 400 million by 2050  based on current growth levels.









Nigerias population grows at about three percent annually.
Empire actor, Jussie Smollett, has been arrested and is now in police custody. This was confirmed by the Chicago police spokesman, An...

Empire actor, Jussie Smollett, has been arrested and is now in police custody.





This was confirmed by the Chicago police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, on his official Twitter page.





The police spokesman wrote: Jussie Smollett is under arrest and in custody of detectives.





We are trying to be diplomatic and reasonable, and were hoping he does the same.

Meanwhile, the actors bail hearing will take place later today.





Smollet is facing a felony charge for allegedly filing a false police report where he claimed he was attacked and beaten by two Nigerian men shouting racist and homophobic slurs.





However, his attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, in a statement, said the actor has the right to be seen as innocent until proven guilty.





The statement read: Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked.





Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defence.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court, Lagos, Thursday, sentenced a former Managing Director of the defunct Integrated Mic...

Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court, Lagos, Thursday, sentenced a former Managing Director of the defunct Integrated Microfinance Bank Ltd, Simon Akinteye to four years in prison, over 166.9 million dollars fraud.









The court sentenced the convict to four years concurrent term of imprisonment on the nine-count charge preferred against him by the Ministry of Justice.









The court, however, gave him an option of fine of two million naira on each of the counts, adding that same shall be computed cumulatively.









Olatoregun had convicted Akinteye on Feb. 4, after finding him guilty of all nine counts charge bordering on reckless granting of loans without collateral, preferred against him.









Meanwhile, the court had on same Feb. 4, discharged and acquitted his co-defendant, Gabriel Adepoju.









The court had then adjourned Akinteyes sentence untill Feb. 21, (today)









When the case was called on Thursday, the court called for addresses from counsel before reading the sentence.









In addressing the court, the prosecutor, Mrs O. Ndidi, urged the court to impose the maximum sentence as prescribed by law, adding that a person so convicted of such offence, is liable to an imprisonment term of five years.









She argued that in addition, the court is empowered to order a refund of the money.









I submit that the convict be sentenced based on the appropriate law, and that the money be returned to the NDIC, she said.









On his part, defence counsel Mr A. O Sherif, in urging the court for a mitigation before sentence, referred the court to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.









He urged the court not to impose the maximum sentence on the defendant, adding that he is a first offender with no past criminal records.









He urged the court to temper Justice with mercy and impose a light sentence on the convict, adding that same should be allowed to run concurrently.









Delivering judgment, Olatoregun held that the court had been told that the convict is a first offender with no past criminal records.









She, however, held that the convict betrayed the trust of clients of the bank, who had deposited their monies there.









Taking into consideration that the convict is a first offender, the court sentenced the convict as follows.:









On count one, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count two, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count three, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count four, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count five, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count six, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count seven, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count eight, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









On count nine, four years imprisonment or an option of N2 million fine.









The judge held that while the sentence is to run concurrently, the fine imposed would be cumulative, adding that the sentence should serve as a deterrence to others.









In the charge marked FHC/L/234c/16, the prosecution alleged that the convict recklessly and without collateral, approved credit facilities running into 166 million dollars and N33.3 million to themselves









The convict was said to have at different times, withdrawn from the banks account the total sum of N11 million and diverted it to his personal company named Deblad Nigeria Ltd. .









He was also said to have unlawfully withdrawn the total sum of 166 million dollars and paid same into account of one Temitope domiciled with Citi Bank in the United State of America;.









The offences according to the prosecution contravene the provisions of sections 15 (1)(a) ,18() and 18(3)a)(I) of the Banks and other Financial Institution Act Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.








Bishop David Oyedepo, founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners Chapel, has broken silence on the post...



Bishop David Oyedepo, founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners Chapel, has broken silence on the postponed presidential election in Nigeria. Bishop David Oyedepo, founder and General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners Chapel, has broken silence on the postponed presidential election in Nigeria.





Oyedepo, while delivering a sermon, rained curses on those causing crisis and killing Nigerians ahead of the 2019 presidential election.





He pronounced tribulation on those responsible for dragging Nigeria backward.





The Bishop, while decrying the state of the nation, said Nigeria is gone and only surviving on prayers from the Church of Christ.









A country you take one step forward and 20 steps backward, a country where they kill people for sacrifice so they can win the election.





Minus the Church of Christ praying Nigeria is gone, therefore any gang up against the settlement of Nigeria is destroyed.





Anyone that would not let Nigeria go forward will go down for Nigeria, any agent of the devil to bring Nigeria under siege is broken.





Nigeria is long overdue for settlement, On this day, I declare Nigeria must be supernaturally settled. You cant tell how many people travelled to go and vote, how many had accidents due to this mistake.





Is Nigeria not long overdue for settlement, may God recompense tribulation for those that trouble Nigerians.





All the troublers of this nation, I evoke tribulation on your life, all those that would not let this nation go forward shall go down for this nation





But by all means, God will give peace to Nigeria, by whatever means let this nation not see war.





Lord, let your vengeance answer for the rescue of our nation today. Amen.
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All yellow brick roads will lead to one place this weekend when Robidoux Resident Theatre performs a legendary musical.

For the third time in its 39-year run, RRT will be turning the Missouri Theater into a magical, far-off place for The Wizard of Oz.

  

The musical will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Missouri Theater, 717 Edmond St.

Based on the the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the musical will have Natalie Smith, previously seen in RRTs Footloose: The Musical, filling the ruby slippers of Dorothy Gale.

As Dorothy is whisked away from her home state of Kansas to Oz, she meets a magical witch, Glinda (Natalie McDowell) and goes on an adventure with a brainless Scarecrow (Aaron Griffith), heartless Tinman (Taylor Sinclair) and cowardly Lion (Shaun Agnew). Their mission: Meet the magical Wizard of Oz (Richard Boehner) so he can help them all live better lives.

Their travel wont be quite as easy with the vengeful Wicked Witch of the West (Jenny Reinert) on their back, as she vows to avenge her sisters death by capturing Dorothy and her little dog, too.

Myers knows people have a lot of memories attached to the classic musical. She has a few of her own.

I still remember going out and raking leaves with my dad and burning the leaves, because it has that unique smell, and getting everything ready so we could go and watch Wizard of Oz. It was always a special event for me as a kid, she says.

Much like Ozs quartet of misfits has a mission, so does Myers. She wants the musical to be a celebration of all the classic moments people have tied to the show, whether its the 1939 movie starring Judy Garland or subsequent stage productions of it, they should feel at home with this.

Before I ever started doing my research and thinking about the show, I would just ask general people What do you remember from The Wizard of Oz? she says. It is so iconic and I want to bring those pieces back for those memories.

While the musical still will have that classic Wizard of Oz feel, Myers says the cast and crew have added additional excitement and energy to it.

(Were) trying to be true to as many peoples memories as possible ... But we wanted to make it fresh, she says.

In bringing the stage production to life, Myers is working with a cast and crew bigger than almost any other Mainstage production RRT has done.

What I love about it is how many people get involved in the big shows because theres so much to be done. But it really becomes an intense little community in and of itself, Myers says.

On top of that, there are elaborate dance numbers, characters that fly across and a little bit of fire.

Knowing those are iconic pieces, like when the Wicked Witch throws a fireball at Scarecrow. OK, how do we do that onstage? Well first you have to write the fire marshal and say, Please can we use fire onstage? Myers says.

In the end, technical director Frank Polleck, stage manager Andrew Bramlage and musical director Janell Becerra helped get the the job done.

Its more challenging to bring that all to life and, man, our tech people have really, really done their job and then some, Myers says.

Much like the Tinman after he meets his new friends, the production will be a well-oiled machine by the time the public sees it. Earlier this week, RRT held shortened performances for students.

People love to do this show because its for the kids, Myers says. Honestly, we usually do just three performances. But when you put all that work into it and time away from family, (extra) performances (are) a real treat.

As an educator and stage director, Myers says it touches her heart to see kids light up when seeing the musical for the first time.

To bring kids to the theater that might not have had the opportunity to come to the theater, thats a little treat to expose them to the art, to expose them to theater, she says.

Like those memories of Oz Myers has with her family, she hopes this show will help create some new ones with people around the area.

I hope they get to take a trip down memory lane, she says.

The Wizard of Oz is recommended for all ages. Tickets are $12 to $32 and available at rrtstjoe.org or by calling 816-232-1778.

 Andrew Gaug | St. Joe Live
A video of a first-year high school student in Niigata Prefecture being attacked by a group of schoolmates was posted online and went viral on social media, school officials said Tuesday.

The video shows a male student who attends private Niigata Seiryo High School being kicked and hit with a stick by other male students from the same school, including a boy who was expelled last year. School officials say the school was notified about the video, taken Friday evening at a nearby beach, by someone outside the school.

The two-minute, 20-second video also contains footage of the student, who was crouching, being pushed onto the road and repeatedly kicked. It includes comments by multiple students jeering as they say, "He's bleeding, it's great," and, "The guy had a face like he'd been punched from the beginning." - Japan Times
Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer took aim at Nissan, prosecutors and courts on Wednesday, dismissing the charges against the ousted chairman as an internal company matter and saying Japan was out of step with international norms by keeping his client in jail.

"This should have been dealt with as an internal matter," Junichiro Hironaka, nicknamed the Razor, said at his first press briefing.

Ghosn, who was arrested in November over alleged financial misconduct and remains in detention in a Tokyo jail, picked a new team last week with long-time defense attorney Hironaka as a key member to replace Motonari Otsuru, a lawyer who once ran the prosecutor's office investigating him.

Hironaka's combative style contrasts with the low-key approach adopted by a media-shy Otsuru.

Ghosn's switch to an aggressive legal strategy came after his attempts to win bail failed and just before lawyers were due to sit down with prosecutors and judges for the first time to hash out a schedule for pre-trial discovery meetings, where prosecutors will reveal evidence and submit a list of witnesses.

Hironaka said he didn't know why Ghosn picked him, but added that Ghosn probably wanted an experienced criminal lawyer as the case moved toward trial.

The 73-year-old defense attorney is reputed for winning high profile cases, including the acquittal of a senior lawmaker, Ichiro Ozawa, on financial misconduct charges. He also helped free a senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki who was jailed for four months on corruption charges fabricated by prosecutors. - Japan Today
Lazzini Bayik (left) visits a family in Shanshan county, Xinjiang. (Photo/Xinhua)

Securing the border is the business of not only the country, but also our herdsmen. We cannot live a happy life without a peaceful border.This is what Lazzini Bayik, a 40-year-old border guard in western Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, believes.

Lazzini is the third generation in his family to secure the isolated stretch of Chinas border in Xinjiangs Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, the heart of the Pamir Mountains, which is cloaked in snow all year round.

Many roads leading to the national border hide deep in the mountains, which make up the core area that Lazzini and his colleagues patrol.

Lazzini has never slacked off despite the rough terrain and harsh weather conditions. We are soldiers on the frontier even though we are not in uniform. We protect our national border with real actions, he said.

The tradition of guarding the national border in Lazzinis family started with his grandfather, who guided the Peoples Liberation Army to build watch houses at the frontier in the 1950s and later stayed to protect the border with them. From that moment on, guarding the border was a family cause, which Lazzini and his father have also dedicated themselves to.

In 2018, Lazzini was elected as a deputy of the National Peoples Congress. He investigated many farming and pastoral areas to better fulfill his responsibilities.

Farmers and herdsmen have already moved into new houses. Every village has a kindergarten. Our kids can now enjoy 15 years of free education from nursery to high school, he explained.

Lazzini said that just 10 years ago, border guards like him received about 150 yuan per month, but now, they can earn up to 2,600 yuan. All border guards in his county have social security, medical insurance, and other allowances, he added.

The Chinese people are confident of their future as they see more benefits brought by Chinas fast development, Lazzini noted. However, we still need to stay vigilant in protecting the border. We patrol every day to defend our beautiful home, he added.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spoken over the phone with US President Donald Trump ahead of next week's US-North Korea summit.

They discussed an issue of great importance to Tokyo, Japanese nationals who were abducted by North Korean agents decades ago.

After the talks on Wednesday, Abe told reporters: "We agreed that Japan and the US will work even more closely on all levels to resolve the issue of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, as well as the issue of the abductions of Japanese nationals. We spent a lot of time discussing the abduction issue."

When Abe met relatives of the abductees this week, he said he would explain to Trump the plan he has for resolving the issue and ask the US president to convey his ideas to Kim.

The relatives say they want all of the abductees to return to Japan as soon as possible. - NHK
Venezuelas military said Tuesday it was on alert at its frontiers following threats by US President Donald Trump and suspended air and sea links with the island of Curacao ahead of a planned aid shipment. Opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido has vowed to bring aid in from various points Saturday one way or another despite military efforts to block it. But commanders doubled down on their allegiance to President Nicolas Maduro after Trump urged them to abandon him.

The armed forces will remain deployed and on alert along the borders... to avoid any violations of territorial integrity, said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. Regional commander Vladimir Quintero later confirmed media reports that Venezuela had ordered the suspension of air and sea links with Curacao and the nearby Netherlands Antilles islands of Aruba and Bonaire.

Aid is being stored in Colombia near the Venezuelan border and Guaido aims also to bring in consignments via Brazil and Curacao, wh9ich is off the coast of Venezuela. A Brazilian presidential spokesman said the country was cooperating with the United States to supply aid to Venezuela but would leave it to Venezuelans to take the goods over the border. Maduro says the aid plan is a smokescreen for a US invasion. He blames US sanctions and economic war for Venezuelas crisis.

No safe harbor

Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of the Venezuelan legislature, has appealed to military leaders to switch allegiance to him and let the aid through. He has offered military commanders an amnesty if they abandon Maduro. But the military high command has so far maintained its public backing for Maduro -- seen as key to keeping him in power. We reiterate unrestrictedly our obedience, subordination and loyalty to Maduro, Padrino said. Guaido posted a series of tweets calling by name on senior military leaders commanding border posts to abandon Maduro.

He has branded Maduro illegitimate, saying the elections that returned the socialist leader to power last year were fixed. The United States and some 50 other countries back Guaido as interim president. Trump has refused to rule out US military action in Venezuela. He raised the pressure on Monday, issuing a warning to the Venezuelan military. He told them that if they continue to support Maduro, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything. Padrino rejected Trumps threat, branding the US president arrogant.

If foreign powers try to help install a new government by force, they will have to do so over our dead bodies, Padrino said. Venezuelas deputy military attache at the UN announced Tuesday he was siding with Guaido. I declare myself to be in total and absolute disobedience to the illegally constituted government of Mr. Nicolas Maduro, Colonel Pedro Jose Chirinos said in a video posted on social media. Since Guaido declared himself interim president on January 23, he has received the support of an army colonel and an air force general, neither of whom actually have any troops under their command, a retired air force major general and a number of lower-level officers.

Pack of lies

Despite sitting on the worlds biggest oil reserves, Venezuela is gripped by an economic and humanitarian crisis, with acute shortages of food and medicine. It has suffered four years of recession marked by hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund says will reach a mind-boggling 10 million percent this year. An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015. Guaido says 300,000 people face death without the aid but Maduro denies there is a humanitarian crisis.
President Donald Trump signed an order Tuesday outlining his vision for a new Space Force that could one day become a separate military branch on an equal footing to the Army and Navy. Trump wants to create a space force to protect satellites, tackle vulnerabilities in space and assert US dominance in orbit. We have to be prepared, Trump told reporters after signing the directive. My administration has made the creation of a space force a national security issue.

Space Force would be the sixth branch of the military alongside the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard. The order calls for Congress to draft legislation that would establish Space Force as a branch that falls under the Air Force, similar to how the Navy oversees the Marine Corps. Defense Department spokesman Charlie Summers said the Pentagon would submit its legislative proposal within the coming weeks.

With the new directive, Trump is posturing the United States to compete, deter, and win in a complex multi-domain environment characterized by great power competition, Summers said in a statement. The Air Force said a space force would work to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces. But the creation of Space Force is by no means a done deal, as it must be vetted and approved by Congress. Lawmakers and defense officials have reacted with skepticism, wary of the cost and added bureaucracy.
European nations must take back hundreds of Islamic State group fighters captured in Syria, President Donald Trump said late Saturday, after a delay in announcing what he said would be the end of the caliphate. The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial, Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS. The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them.

The US does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go. Once the US-led coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the White House is expected to withdraw American troops. When that happens, the risk is high that foreign terrorist fighters will escape SDF control, posing a new threat. For about two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to take their citizens home, and the US said it was ready to help in the repatriation, but time has been running out.

Several countries, including France, that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and logistical puzzle. We do so much, and spend so much - Time for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory! Trump said in his late-Saturday tweets. On Friday he said announcements on the fall of the caliphate would be made over the next 24 hours, but that deadline came and went.

Deep transatlantic rift

An SDF commander said his US-backed forces slowed their advance to protect civilians. The jihadists declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, but have since lost all but a tiny patch of territory near the Iraqi border. Trumps Syria pullout has highlighted the deep trans-Atlantic rift that emerged under his presidency, and the differing views of the two sides were on display Saturday at a security conference in Munich. A French government source criticized the Trump administrations approach as were leaving, youre staying and added: Theyre trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility.
For the seventh consecutive year, Al Jawhara Centre for Molecular Medicine, affiliated to the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), is launching a national awareness campaign on rare diseases. This is in conjunction with World Rare Disease Day to be observed on February 28 under the slogan Show you are, show you care. Diseases are classified as rare whenever they affect less than one in every 2,000 or more people. There are 100 million individuals in the world affected with a rare disease and nearly 15 million in the Arab world. Most rare diseases are genetic, and accompany the patient for a lifetime, although the effects of some may only manifest at an older age. Dr Cristina Skrypnyk, Medical Genetics Consultant at Al Jawhara Centre and Head of the Organising Committee said: All activities of this year campaign are dedicated to increase the awareness about rare diseases patients, their need for medical and social support, help and tolerance. We aim to increase the education about rare disorders and to create a solid bridge in between the medical, academic and social community. Dr Skrypnyk thanked AGU for the great continues support of this awareness campaign and is looking forward to develop a national plan for rare disorders in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A special event dedicated for families and patients will be held in Aljawhara centre on 27 February, aiming to share their experiences and provide support. A movie and lectures about rare disorders impacts into daily life of the society will be presented in main universities in Bahrain. A rare disorders day booth will be active on 28 of February during the second Pearl Paediatric Conference held in Bahrain and organised by Arabian Gulf University. A flyer and informative leaflets about inheritance types and genetic testing will be distributed in all events venues.
World-renowned innovation festival Unbound will return to Bahrain on March 6 and 7 to showcase some of the most inventive brands, start-ups, and government initiatives seen in Bahrain and across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Expecting to double in size from last year, Unbound Bahrain moves to a new venue, Bahrain National Theatre for the 2019 edition. The MENA regions largest and most exciting innovation festival, Unbound Bahrain is the anchor event of StartUp Bahrain Week held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) in association with the EDB and supported by Tamkeen (The Labour Fund) as a strategic partner and startup community in Bahrain. The festival celebrates the Kingdoms commitment to creating a digital economy and fuelling a digital future for the wider MENA region. The festival will host over 75 speakers and more than 3,000 local, regional and international delegates, including inspiring entrepreneurs sharing their experiences on starting and growing a business venture. Daniel Seal, Founder and CEO at Unbound, said: Unbound is delighted to be returning to the MENA region. This years event promises to be the biggest yet, with speakers from across the globe discussing the very latest in innovation. With startup battles, awards and showcases, Unbound Bahrain provides startups with unique opportunities to connect with investors and help make ideas become a reality. In a very short space of time, Unbound has become the go-to platform for MENA innovators to embrace opportunities in Bahrain and the wider region. The Middle East is embracing digital disruption with technology at the heart of economic diversification. As Governments look to increasingly partner with the private sector to help drive growth and efficiencies, Unbound Bahrain will showcase the latest innovative products and services being developed by startups from around the world. Pakiza Abdulrahman, Manager of Business Development  Startups at the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: The EDB is committed to fostering a supportive environment for start-ups and has found a perfect partner in Unbound to showcase the benefits of doing business in Bahrain and the Middle East. Unbound comes with an immersive experience of running this international event in London, Miami and Singapore, and we are thrilled to host them for a second year to showcase GCC and MENAs startup trends. As digital disruption changes the face of the modern economy, we must do all we can to enable startups and the next generation of innovative technologies. Getting the right balance of soft infrastructure; access to funding; and mentorship in place is crucial to our success and Unbound Bahrain will be the ideal platform to learn more about the technological trends shaping our society.
The Bahrain Red Crescent Society (BRCS) has intensified its humanitarian efforts to help refugees in winter through distributing winter aid to around 350 refugee families from Syria residing in North Lebanon camps. The aid included winter essentials, such as blankets, clothes, heaters and food parcels after storms in Lebanon flooded Syrian refugee camps compounding the misery of people enduring powerful winter winds and biting cold. Dr Fawzi Amin, General Secretary of BRCS, explained that BRCS delegation in Akkar distributed winter aid in a humanitarian gesture that affirms the solidarity of Bahraini people with these refugees. Dr Fawzi praised the delegations initiatives including distributing games to kids, which made them happy in the midst of sufferings. Dr Fawzi noted the importance of BRCS keenness to intensify efforts of Warm Hearts Campaign launched in 2014, where heaters were distributed to hundreds of Syrian refugees at Lebanon. Both Bahraini government and Bahraini people have been offering unparalleled help to the Syrian refugees across the world. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently declared that more than a million Syrian refugees in Lebanon are suffering from difficult living conditions, making relief aid a matter of life and death. Speaking to Tribune, Dr Fawzi said, The initiative is a continuation of our support to the Syrian refugees. This year there were floods in the northern part of Lebanon at the Lebanon Syrian border, which destroyed many refugee camps. Our eight-member team visited the refugee camp in Lebanon along with a few volunteers from Lebanon to appraise the situation. In future, we are not only planning to help Syrian refugees but also providing help to the needy in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. We are planning to visit almost 10 countries by the end of this year to provide aid and engage in voluntary work.
BREAKING NEWS: BIA Police arrested expatriate for sedating passengers and robbing them

BREAKING NEWS: BIA Police arrested expatriate for sedating passengers and robbing them

An Asian expatriate has been arrested by Bahrain International Airport Police authorities for sedating passengers in the transit hall and stealing their money.

The investigation was launched following dazed passengers reported being loss of money after a transit passenger offered them a hot drink.

The suspect was identified and arrested with sleeping pills in his possession

Legal procedures are being taken.
The Fourth High Criminal Court yesterday handed down sentences ranging from three years to life to 16 defendants convicted of smuggling weapons from Iran and committing other terror crimes. The court ordered to punish six defendants with life imprisonment, while six were sentenced to ten years, three to three years and one defendant got a five-year sentence. Three defendants had their citizenships revoked and one defendant was acquitted.

This was announced by Terror Crime Prosecution Chief Advocate General Dr. Ahmed Al Hammadi, who confirmed that the charges the defendants were found guilty of included training on the use and possession of weapons, explosive devices, firearms and ammunition without a license for the purpose of committing terrorist acts. The charges also included hiding and sheltering wanted and convicted individuals, and illegally entering and exiting the Kingdom. Dr Al Hammadi confirmed that 12 of the defendants were fined BD500.
Rio de Janeiro (People's Daily) - One person was killed in a robbery at a luxury hotel in eastern Peru Wednesday night. The Chinese embassy in Peru said there were no Chinese casualties.

According to preliminary information, there were 41 Chinese tourists staying in the hotel with a group from Hong Kong. Only one tourist was robbed of his passport. Peru's interior ministry said the local police had stepped up their efforts to track down the suspect.

The incident happened in the hotel called Amazon Reserve of Inkaterra, in the Madre de Dios. Earlier, some media reported that about 40 passengers, including Chinese and American citizens, had been hijacked in the robbery.

According to the local media El Comercio, the robbery took place between 8pm and 9pm on February 19, with local guide Leon Humani being killed. The hotel's security camera showed more than 10 gunmen wearing hats and covering their faces breaking into the hotel. A staff cut off the power and evacuated passengers. But Humani suddenly appeared, and the robbers mistook him for a security agent and shot him.

The governor of Madre de Dios, Luis Hidalgo Okimura, expressed his regret over the death of Humani and offered condolences to his family. Another staff of the hotel was previously thought to have been killed, but appeared with other travelers at the shelter on the morning of May 20, El Comercio said.

Peru's Interior Ministry said there was evidence that foreigners were involved in the robbery, but the official in charge of the investigation said it was not certain that the robbers were Colombian and Venezuelan.

According to the Chinese embassy in Peru, the embassy will continue to follow the developments and remind Chinese citizens in Peru to enhance their security awareness.
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Punk rockers White Fang, who bill themselves as a punk and noise band, and playing two shows this weekend in Fairbanks  Friday at the UAF Pub and Saturday at The Marlin.
(Newser)  As SWAT officers attempted to serve a search warrant at a Port Richey, Fla., home early Thursday, someone shot at themand that someone has been identified by authorities as Port Richey's mayor. Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco says Dale Massad, 68, was under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for practicing medicine without a license when the SWAT team arrived around 4:40am to serve the warrant, the Miami Herald reports. Massad allegedly fired two rounds and refused to come out even as three others in the house did, but as deputies prepared to use gas, he surrendered. Deputies did not return fire, and no one was injured, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Massad was arrested, and now in addition to the medicine charge he will be charged with attempted homicide, Nocco says.

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Massad, who surrendered his medical license in 1992 after the Board of Medicine accused him of making errors that led to a 3-year-old's death, has had other run-ins with the sheriff's office, including an August incident in which he and his girlfriend were arrested for domestic battery, WFLA reports; those charges were ultimately dropped. "With a search warrant, we profile peoples lives, we look at their pattern of life," Nocco says. "The suspect is a known drug user. The suspect has multiple weapons in the house, which was prevalent in what happened. The suspect has made statements that he doesnt want to go back to jail. The suspect has a previous history of violence. Thats who we were dealing with today." The FDLE was investigating Massad because there were reports of him performing medical procedures on patients at his home. A city council member would not comment on the arrest but said she assumes the vice mayor will step in to the mayor role. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser)  Two women staging a protest in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia ended up inadvertently drawing a large amount of attention to their cause. The women were mimicking an image on the state seal, and one of them was dressed as the Roman goddess Virtus, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In keeping with Virtus, 45-year-old activist Michelle Sutherland left one of her breasts exposed during the protest on Monday outside the state Capitol. Police arrested her for indecent exposure, and that's when the real controversy began. Judge Lawrence B. Cann III made the unusual decision to order Sutherland held without bond until her March 21 court appearancemeaning she'd have to spend a month in jail over the costume.

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The move drew immediate outrage from critics including the ACLU, with Sutherland's supporters calling her a political prisoner. On Thursday, Cann changed his decision and ordered Sutherland released, reports the Washington Post. In court, Cann explained that he had no idea the indecent exposure arrest stemmed from a political protest, because it wasn't mentioned in the arrest warrant. "I had no idea of the backstory," Sutherland's attorney quotes the judge as saying in court. "I had no idea of the context." Meanwhile, a resolution to have Virginia ratify the ERA amendment passed the Senate but died in a House subcommittee. The original image the women were recreating during their protest can be seen here. (Read more Equal Rights Amendment stories.)
(Newser)  He wanted a better salary. That's the alleged motive of Empire actor Jussie Smollett for staging a fake assault on himself, according to Chicago police. Chief Eddie Johnson told reporters Thursday that the 36-year-old actor wasn't happy with what he was making on the Fox show and thought he could improve his position as the victim of a hate crime, reports CBS News. The first step taken by Smollett, who is black and gay, was to send himself a threatening, anonymous letter, says Johnson. When that failed to do much, Smollett concocted the idea of having two men attack him in downtown Chicago, say police. He allegedly enlisted two acquaintances, a pair of Nigerian brothers, who've cooperated with police.

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"To stage a hate crime of that nature, when he knew as a celebrity it would get a lot of attention ... is just despicable," said Johnson. "Why would anyone, especially an African American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?" Smollett could get anything from probation to three years in prison if convicted of filing a fake police report. Johnson also wants him to reimburse the city. As for the bruises and scratches on Smollett's face when he went to police: "most likely self-inflicted," says Johnson, per NBC News. The brothers "punched him a little bit with gloves," but likely not enough to cause the damage. Smollett said his attackers told him this was "MAGA country," and President Trump joined the condemnation Thursday: "What about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?" he wrote. (Read more Jussie Smollett stories.)
(Photo/CCTV)

A video clip of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) building a 1,100-meter pontoon bridge in just 26 minutes over the Yangtze River recently went viral on Chinese social media.

The mission impossible challenge was created for a TV program, and the perfect performance of the PLA soldiers earned them continued praise from the audience.

The PLA success came from years of meticulous training. The soldiers had to handle thousands of kilograms of steel and iron every day. Only by practicing thousands of times could they complete the task in such a short space of time.

(Photo/CNR.cn)

Each day, soldiers completed exercises such as pontoon bridge installation, rescue and disaster relief, as well as basic combat and physical training. These drills are a challenge, not only physically, but also to their own safety.

Because of these daily exercises, the soldiers now have calloused hands, and their skin is covered in scars. However, the PLA soldiers wear these scars as a badge of honor, showcasing their responsibility as guardians of the country.

The video has been watched millions of times since it was uploaded, and Chinese netizens have applauded the respected soldiers.

Apart from their excellent military capabilities, PLA soldiers are also the first helping hand when disaster hits. On Jan. 26, 2018, a photo of soldiers resting in a hall went viral. The photo was taken after heavy snow hit Nanjing, eastern Chinas Jiangsu province. The PLA soldiers were taking a break in a building after helping local citizens shovel snow for hours. They only had 20 minutes of rest before heading out into the storm to start working again.
RTHK: Singapore fines activist over Joshua Wong talk

A Singaporean activist was on Thursday fined for organising a public discussion that featured Hong Kong's democracy campaigner Joshua Wong speaking via Skype.

Jolovan Wham was convicted last month of breaking public order laws after he failed to apply for a police permit before inviting Wong to speak via video call to an audience.

The 39-year-old was also found guilty of refusing to sign a written statement to police. On Thursday he was handed a fine of S$3,200 (HK$18,500).

Wham, who is currently out on bail, said he will appeal against the sentence, but if that fails he said he will choose to serve a 16-day jail term rather than pay the fine.

The activist, who is also an advocate for migrant workers' rights, had described the gathering in November 2016 as "a harmless and straightforward discussion about social movements".

Wong spoke to the audience about the role of civil disobedience and democracy in building social movements.

Organising a public assembly without a permit in Singapore is punishable by a fine of up to S$5,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed for a maximum of six months or both. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
(Newser)  Tyrannosaurus rex may have been the fiercest dinosaur on the planet just before the creatures went extinct, but even T-rex had humble beginnings. A new fossil found in Utah shows that an earlier iteration of the behemoth stood just 3 feet to 4 feet tall and weighed about 170 pounds. A team led by North Carolina State University paleontologist Lindsay Zanno has dubbed this version Moros intrepidus, which means "harbinger of doom," reports CNN. The name is a nod to what the diminutive creature would evolve into millions of years down the road. Moros lived about 96 million years ago, preceding the dinosaur we know as T-rex by 30 million years, and the discovery may help shed light on the relatively scant fossil record of this particular evolution.

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"When and how quickly tyrannosaurs went from wallflower to prom king has been vexing paleontologists for a long time," says Zanno in a news release. "The only way to attack this problem was to get out there and find more data on these rare animals." Not that Moros was a complete wallflower: The discovered bones suggest it was extremely fast. "It could easily have run down prey, while avoiding confrontation with the top predators of the day," says Zanno. At some point, tyrannosaurs supplanted the gigantic allosaurs as the world's dominant dinosaur, but exactly when and why that happened remain mysteries, per the Atlantic. Only newly discovered fossils can help piece the puzzle together, and Moros is seen as a key first step. (Read more Tyrannosaurus rex stories.)
(Newser)  A Pennsylvania man faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison under a new state law if convicted of what police say was his sixth DUI since 2010. But it's a situation where you think "seven years isnt even enough, not by any stretch of the imagination," Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. Police say 45-year-old Deana Eckman was killed and her husband seriously injured when David Strowhouers pickup truck swerved and hit their vehicle head-on in Upper Chichester around 9:20pm Saturday, the same day Strowhouer said he attended his mother's funeral. The 30-year-old allegedly left the scene before returning and claiming his cousin had been driving him in search of cocaine after being with family at a restaurant-bar, per an affidavit.

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The cousin was actually in Puerto Rico, where he lives, police say, noting surveillance video and Strowhouer's own brother confirmed he'd been the truck's lone occupant. Strowhouerin custody on numerous charges including homicide by vehicle while driving under the influencewas ineligible to drive in Pennsylvania after pleading guilty to five DUIs. The Delco Times has details on each, including a May 2017 arrest for which he served more than a year in prison before his release last fall. Copeland cited his past convictions in proposing "to go above and beyond the mandatory sentencing guidelines in this case," per the Inquirer. "Each time, he should have learned the consequences of his behavior. Clearly, he didn't," she adds, per Philly Voice. (This alleged impaired driver claimed to have seen an octopus.)
(Newser)  It would have been quite the interview had it aired. As it is, a testy exchange between Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Dutch historian Rutger Bregman is making headlines nonethelessbecause Bregman recorded it himself and leaked it to the media outlet Now This. How testy? At one point, Carlson says, "Why don't you go f--- yourself, you tiny brain. ... You're a moron. I tried to give you a hearing but you were too f---ing annoying." The details:

Who is Bregman? The historian first came to the world's attention last month in an appearance at the Davos economic summit, reports the Guardian. Among other things, he railed against the hypocrisy of the world's elites traveling first class to the summit to hear about environmental dangers.

The historian first came to the world's attention last month in an appearance at the Davos economic summit, reports the Guardian. Among other things, he railed against the hypocrisy of the world's elites traveling first class to the summit to hear about environmental dangers. A viral rant: This clip from Davos went viral. Bregman complains that nobody at the summit is talking about taxes and the ways rich people avoid paying them: "It feels like I'm at a firefighters' conference and no one's allowed to speak about water."

This clip from Davos went viral. Bregman complains that nobody at the summit is talking about taxes and the ways rich people avoid paying them: "It feels like I'm at a firefighters' conference and no one's allowed to speak about water." Friendly invite: Carlson invited Bregman on as a guest to his show, ostensibly so they could join together in railing against global elites, writes Erik Wemple of the Washington Post. And indeed, the interview begins with Carlson lavishing praise on Bregman for his Davos comments. But Bregman unexpectedly turns the tables. (Watch it here. Vox has the transcript of the early exchange.)

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On the attack: Bregman goes after Fox and Carlson himself: "What the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance." He also says Carlson is "a millionaire funded by billionaires" and "not part of the solution" but "part of the problem, actually."

Bregman goes after Fox and Carlson himself: "What the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance." He also says Carlson is "a millionaire funded by billionaires" and "not part of the solution" but "part of the problem, actually." Pulling the plug: An angry Carlson ends the interview after a slew of insults"and I hope this gets picked up," he says at one pointand Bregman called him on it the next day. "Why didn't you air the interview with me last night?" he tweeted on Feb. 12. "Couldn't handle the criticism?"

An angry Carlson ends the interview after a slew of insults"and I hope this gets picked up," he says at one pointand Bregman called him on it the next day. "Why didn't you air the interview with me last night?" he tweeted on Feb. 12. "Couldn't handle the criticism?" Carlson responds: Carlson himself talked about the interview on his show Wednesday, reports USA Today. He acknowledged that his comments were "rude," but he said they were also "entirely accurate," and "genuinely heartfelt." As for Bregman's accusations: "Whatever my faults or those of this channel, nobody in management has ever told us what positions to take on the air," he said. "Never. Not one time."

Carlson himself talked about the interview on his show Wednesday, reports USA Today. He acknowledged that his comments were "rude," but he said they were also "entirely accurate," and "genuinely heartfelt." As for Bregman's accusations: "Whatever my faults or those of this channel, nobody in management has ever told us what positions to take on the air," he said. "Never. Not one time." Fox explains: The show's executive producer, Justin Wells, explained why the interview didn't air. "Tucker is someone who appreciates many points of view," Wells said, per the Hill. "Sadly, the guest turned an opportunity to have a substantive, informative discussion into an obviously calculated personal insult campaign."

The show's executive producer, Justin Wells, explained why the interview didn't air. "Tucker is someone who appreciates many points of view," Wells said, per the Hill. "Sadly, the guest turned an opportunity to have a substantive, informative discussion into an obviously calculated personal insult campaign." 'A trap': Carlson gets a sympathetic ear from progressive Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks. He notes that Carlson clearly wanted to talk about tax avoidance, but Bregman wouldn't engage. It clearly was a trap and he fell into it," says Uygur, per Mediaite. "Lets just keep it real, thats what happened.

Carlson gets a sympathetic ear from progressive Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks. He notes that Carlson clearly wanted to talk about tax avoidance, but Bregman wouldn't engage. It clearly was a trap and he fell into it," says Uygur, per Mediaite. "Lets just keep it real, thats what happened. Not surprising? "If Carlson had actually read Bregman's book Utopia for Realists, or read his interview with Vox where he condemns right-wing anti-immigrant populists ... none of this would be surprising," writes Dylan Matthews at Vox. Given that Carlson has gotten into hot water for saying immigrants make America "dirtier," this interview "was bound to end in a fight, one for which Carlson apparently wasn't prepared."

(Read more Tucker Carlson stories.)
(Newser)  Not the usual kind of testimony heard before a state elections board: "I love my dad and I love my mom," John Harris told North Carolina officials Wednesday. "I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle, OK? I think they made mistakes in this process." More significantly, Harris testified that he warned his father, Mark Harris, about a political operative's iffy tactics on absentee ballots, reports the Raleigh News & Observer. Mark Harris used the operative anyway, and that decision could cost him a House race. In the still-uncalled race, Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes, but the state won't certify the results. Elections officials have concluded that operative Leslie McCrae Dowless illegally harvested absentee ballots on behalf of Mark Harris.

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"I thought what he was doing was illegal, and I was right, John Harris, an assistant US attorney in North Carolina, told the state board. He said he first became suspicious of Dowless after looking into results of a 2016 campaign, and he relayed those suspicions multiple times to his father and to his father's 2018 campaign strategist, reports the Washington Post. The testimony contradicts the men's assertions that they were not aware of any such trouble with Dowless. "I can tell you that my view is that they heard my concerns, that other people that were a lot closer to the situation and Mr. Dowless endorsed his activity, and Mr. Dowless lied to them repeatedly," he said. Mark Harris, who did not know his son was to testify, cried; John Harris' voice cracked at one point, per the Post. The hearing continues Thursday, with Mark Harris himself expected to testify. (Read more Mark Harris stories.)
(Newser)  House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration President Trump has issued to help finance his border wall, reports the AP. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas circulated separate letters Wednesday to lawmakers seeking co-sponsors to his one-sentence resolution saying Trump's emergency declaration "is hereby terminated." A Castro aide said there were already 102 co-sponsors, all Democrats. Both letters targeted Friday for the measure's introduction. "The President's decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated," Pelosi wrote. While Congress is in recess this week, the House has a brief "pro forma" session Friday for bill introductions but no votes.

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Though the effort seems almost certain to ultimately fall shortperhaps to a Trump vetothe votes will let Democrats take a defiant stance against Trump that is sure to please liberal voters. They will also put some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot. Formally introducing the measure sets up a vote by the full House likely by mid-March, perhaps as soon as next week, because of a timeline spelled out by law. Initial passage by the Democratic-run House seems assured. The measure would then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where there may be enough GOP defections for approval. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine on Wednesday became the first Republican to say she would back a resolution blocking the declaration. Three more GOP senators would need to vote with Democrats for the resolution to win initial approval. (States are also suing.)
(Newser)  More than 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for the US to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion in a bid to pay down the national debt, and on Wednesday, Montana lawmakers formally addressed the proposal. But ... they didn't reject it. As USA Today explains, Rep. Forrest Mandeville, the Republican chair of the state's House Administration Committee, heard about the petition and decided to have "a little fun" with a formal House resolution opposing the sale. "Im thinking stuff like ... 'Whereas, we dont know the Canadian national anthem after the first two words," he told the 20-person committee Tuesday. "Some stuff like that." The committee approved a draft of the resolution, but not for long.

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Mandeville told USAT on Wednesday that the committee had reconsidered the tongue-in-cheek bill request, and this time it was defeated. Of course, that doesn't mean he's worried: "I don't think anyone really believes there is a snowball's chance in Florida that the US will sell Montana to Canada," he says. The Great Falls Tribune notes that he still has hope for his bill, and would love a full House vote on April 1. (Read more strange stuff stories.)
(Newser)  A lieutenant stationed at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, DC, planned to carry out terrorist attacks on Democratic politicians and journalists and use violence to "establish a white homeland," prosecutors say. Investigators found 15 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in the home of self-proclaimed white nationalist Christopher Paul Hasson, who was arrested Friday, the Washington Post reports. In a court filing arguing that Hasson, 49, should remain in jail while he awaits trial, prosecutors said he intended "to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country." The filing quoted Hasson, a Marine Corps and Army National Guard veteran, as saying, "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth." He's scheduled to appear in federal court in Maryland on Thursday.

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According to the Guardian, Hasson is a fan of the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who was convicted of killing 77 people in 2011 and said he did it to combat multiculturalism in Norway. Prosecutors say Hasson kept a spreadsheet of names who appeared to be his targets, per NBC, including Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar, and Sheila Jackson. A federal law enforcement officer told NBC that Hasson's internet searches at work caught the Coast Guard's attention and led to his arrest. Prosecutors said the searches included "best place in dc to see congress people" and "are supreme court justices protected," per the Post; the Guardian reports prosecutors also found emails about biological attacks. The filing said one email draft of Hasson's said, "Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world." (The number of hate groups in the US is at a record high.)
(Newser)  A woman who grew up in Alabama, then left to join ISIS at age 20, will not be allowed back into the US, President Trump said Wednesday in a tweet. "I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!" Trump wrote. Pompeo had said earlier in the day that Muthana is not a US citizen, NBC reports, and has no legal right to return. The 24-year-old had issued a plea to American officials to be allowed back to stand trial. Muthana married three ISIS fighters while in Syriatwo of them were killedand has an 18-month-old son. She says she began moving away from extremism in 2016. Now being held in the al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria by Kurdish forces, Muthana has said that she "deeply regrets" her decision to join ISIS and wants only to come home.

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The outcome could turn on whether Muthana is a citizen. Her family plans to take the administration to court, CNN reports. Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer and Cornell University professor, says her case is "not clear-cut." Her family says she was born in New Jersey in 1994, months after her father left his post as a Yemeni diplomat. That could make her a citizen. But if the government convinces a court that Muthana's father still had diplomatic status, that would be bad news for her, as children of diplomats are not automatically granted citizenship even if born in the US. In a similar case, per the BBC, Britain has stripped Shamima Begum, a teenager being held in the same refugee camp as Muthana, of her citizenship. Trump has called for Britain and other European nations to let ISIS fighters return to their nations and put them on trial. A Muthana family lawyer says Trump "now is trying to play games when it comes to American citizens." (More on the Begum case here.)
(Newser)  Dakota James, drowning victim? So says a coroner, but others suggest the 23-year-old Duquesne University student was murdered by the "Smiley Face Killers"an alleged group said to be eliminating young men across the country, CBS Pittsburgh reports. Officially, James parted with friends after an evening out in downtown Pittsburgh on the night of Jan. 25, 2017, and walked down to the river to urinate. "The evidence indicates he may have fallen into the water, and that time of year, with the water temperature, you only have a couple minutes before you go into shock and thats that," says Allegheny County's district attorney. But James' mother, Pam James, isn't buying it, and an unofficial group of investigators has taken issue with the coroner's report.

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Retired New York City Police detective Kevin Gannon leads the team that's crying foulover details like the lack of decomposition or scratch marks on James after 40 days in water, and seeming ligature marks around his neck. Gannon suggests James was drugged, abducted, held for a time, killed, and placed in the water. That would echo the deaths of roughly 40 young, white, US males found dead across 11 states, in some cases near graffiti of a smiley face wearing a crown, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. The theory dates back to a 2008 New York Daily News article in which Gannon dismisses reports that these young men got drunk and drowned. "I got emotionally involved with the family," he says of the first victim, a New York state student who died in 1997. "I felt for them and their son." Gannon is featured in an Oxygen docu-series on the subject. (Read more serial killer stories.)
(Newser)  "Those responsible for this will pay." A seething Italian official made that claim amid reports North Korea had snatched back the daughter of a diplomat who may have defected to the West, Reuters reports. Talk of the possible defection surfaced after Jo Song Gil, North Korea's acting ambassador to Italy, vanished from Rome in January with his wife. Now Italy says North Korea may have taken Gil's unidentified 17-year-old daughterleft behind when Gil and his wife fled to an unnamed Western countryback home. The Telegraph says she was "snatched off the streets" in Rome. "She now risks being tortured by one of the worst regimes in the world," writes Manlio Di Stefano, undersecretary at the Italian Foreign Ministry, in his angry Facebook post.

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Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat in London who defected to South Korea in 2016, confirms the story. "I do not know for sure how many children Jo had, but the one who stayed in Italy has been sent back to North Korea," he tells a South Korean news agency, per the Guardian. "Jo is currently with his wife." According to Italy's foreign ministry, Pyongyang told them in December that Gil and his wife disappeared Nov. 10 and their daughter was taken back to her grandparents in North Korea four days later. Antonio Razzi, an Italian lawmaker who frequently defends North Korea, took Kim Jong Un's side once again. "Those two wretches left their daughter alone," he said of Gil and his wife. "...It is normal that she was sent back to her grandparents." Italy says it's looking into the matter. (Read more North Korea stories.)
80 percent of China's government and retail services to go digital in 5 years: report

China will make nearly 80 percent of its government and retail services digital in the next five years, according to a report released by Alibaba Cloud Research Center at Alibaba Group.

The report indicated that China is pushing forward with digital transformation across more sectors. Government services and retail business will be affected most by new technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

The report said that government services would be further digitized to serve residents and enterprises better. Supported by Alibabas cloud computing technology, more and more central government agencies and local governments accelerate their digital transformation.

Chinas investment in government services is expected to hit about 16.3 billion yuan by 2020, a compound annual growth of 21.9 percent.

The report also noted that China would make the whole retail industry digital to further merge online services with offline services.

Now, Alibaba Cloud supports 40 percent of the top 500 Chinese companies, as well as nearly 50 percent of Chinas listed companies and 80 percent of the countrys startups.
(Newser)  There were 1,020 hate groups operating in the US last yeara record high, and a 7% increase from 2017, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center's annual report. The last time hate groups surged in the US was in response to the election of Barack Obama as the country's first black president, with numbers rising 9% during the first three years of his presidency to hit the last record of 1,018 in 2011. From that point, numbers dropped each year until 2015, when Donald Trump declared his candidacy for president. Since 2015, numbers are up 30%, Reuters reports, and the SPLC says Trump's rhetoric is partially to blame.

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"The words and imagery coming out of the Trump administration and from Trump himself are heightening these fears," the director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project told reporters. "These images of foreign scary invaders threatening diseases, massive refugee caravans coming from the south. This is fear-mongering." The SPLC says the internet also contributes, with hate groups easily able to recruit members and incite vitriol online. The most significant recent growth is in white nationalist organizations, with their numbers going from 193 two years ago to 264 currently, USA Today reports. (Read more hate groups stories.)
(Newser)  A German court has ruled that a dog owner isn't fit to carry a firearms license after his dog shot him with a rifle. The Munich administrative court dismissed the man's appeal against an earlier decision by Bavarian authorities to withdraw his license to own a rifle, as well as his hunting permit, the AP reports. The decision followed a 2016 incident in which the man, a passionate hunter, was shot in the arm after his dog managed to release the trigger on a loaded rifle that was lying in his car. The court ruled the hunter couldn't be relied upon "because it must be assumed that he will handle firearms and ammunition carelessly in [the] future as well." The man, whose name wasn't released, can appeal the verdict. (Sonny "Tex" Gilligan can relate; his "good dog" shot him, too.)
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his threat to impose tariffs on cars imported from the European Union (EU) if a trade deal can't be reached between the two sides.

"We're trying to make a deal, they are very tough to make a deal with," the president told reporters at the White House. "If we don't make a deal, we'll do the tariffs."

Trump's remarks came three days after the U.S. Commerce Department submitted to the president a report on whether imported cars and parts pose a national security threat under Section 232 of U.S. trade law.

The report, the details of which haven't been disclosed, has already provoked a response from the European Union.

"Were this report translated into action detrimental to European exports, the European Commission would react in a swift and adequate manner," said Margaritis Schinas, a spokesman for the European Commission, at a news briefing in Brussels Monday.

The Commerce Department launched the Section 232 investigation last May at Trump's request to evaluate the effects of imports on national security.

In June 2018, Trump called on Twitter for tariffs of 20 percent on imported automobiles, and in November the president raised the suggested rate to 25 percent after General Motors announced its plan to close several U.S. plants and cut more than 14,000 jobs.

If the tariffs are imposed, prices of cars from EU, Japan and South Korea would spike. The cumulative effect of current and potential U.S. trade actions on automobiles and auto parts could cause new car prices to rise by 2,750 U.S. dollars on average, according to estimation by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) released in a report Friday.

After receiving the Commerce Department report, Trump has 90 days to decide whether to adopt the recommendations and introduce tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam

I spoke last January at the Conferences third edition, organised under the theme of Globalisation: the China Perspective and the US Factor. That spotlight has proved to be far-sighted - as we all know, trade friction between the United States and China, the worlds two largest economies, has dominated political and economic developments since then. And because of globalisation, the impacts of such bilateral tension are affecting many economies, and Hong Kong is no exception. Our GDP growth last year considerably moderated as the year passed by - from 4.6% in the first quarter to 2.9% in the third quarter, and likely to go below 1.5% as forewarned by the Financial Secretary in his weekly blog a few days ago.

While impacts of the trade war will be addressed in one of the sessions in todays conference, I suggest we seize this opportunity to discuss the bigger, and longer term prospects. After all, as one saying goes, development is a journey with no end, but with one new departure point after another. China has proudly gone through a good 40 years of that journey under the reform and opening up policy, bringing significant benefits to her people, including lifting an estimated 700 million people out of poverty. So, lets focus our mind on the next 40 years of Chinas development, which is a well-chosen theme for todays conference.

Since taking office as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), I have had the privilege of listening first hand to speeches made by President Xi Jinping on international occasions. These included two APEC CEO Summits held in Da Nang, Vietnam in 2017 and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in 2018, the 2018 Boao Asian Forum in Hainan and the first China International Import Expo in 2018 in Shanghai. Several key messages delivered by President Xi on those occasions are, in my view, clear and consistent. As I believe they would shed some light on Chinas future development, I venture to offer the impression I have got.



Key messages

The first message is that the global economy is facing some profound changes brought about by a new wave of technological and industrial revolutions. We are experiencing rapid advances in digital economy and shared economy. Governments have to find new development models or new growth drivers to adapt to such changes in order to ensure continued success and prosperity.

The second message is, as a result of globalisation the economic and social well-being of countries and territories is increasingly interconnected. Governments need to pursue an open policy, defy protectionism and unilateralism, and strive to enhance the level of opening-up at both bilateral and multilateral levels, so that win-win solutions could be found to jointly promote global economic growth.

The third message is economic growth should be more inclusive and deliver benefits to all people. Governments should invest more in education, medical care, employment and other areas that are so important to peoples livelihood, and address poverty and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. They should reach out to disadvantaged groups, improve the business environment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, and enable the workforce to better adapt to the industrial and digital transformation so that everyone will have his fair share of opportunity and benefits.

Based on my observation, China is taking to heart those messages through deeds. President Xi has, on many occasions, emphasised Chinas continued commitment to reform and opening up. At the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November last year, President Xi told the world emphatically that, Chinas door will never be closed. It will only open still wider. China will not stop its effort to pursue higher-quality opening-up! China will not stop its effort to pursue an open world economy! And China will not stop its effort to pursue a community with a shared future for mankind!

One would hardly be surprised by the presidents strong commitment, given the achievements of Chinas reform and opening up over the past 40 years. Hong Kong, Im pleased to say, has played in what President Xi described when meeting the delegation I led to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up initiative last November, an irreplaceable role in the Mainlands soaring success story over these past 40 years; we are both a contributor and a beneficiary of the Mainlands opening up. With our unique strengths under one country, two systems, I have every confidence that Hong Kong will continue to benefit and contribute, especially in the context of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt & Road Initiative.

Before I end, I should highlight that the Greater Bay Area, on which an Outline Development Plan has been promulgated earlier this week, has much to offer Hong Kong. Given its significance, the HKSAR Government together with the Guangdong Government and the Macao SAR Government will jointly host a symposium later this morning to discuss the key aspects of the plan. While you may not be able to join us at the symposium, rest assured that you will all have many opportunities to express your views and suggestions in the future. We need you and indeed all Hong Kong people to contribute to its success.

Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, Hong Kong is proud of our contribution to the country and of our own progress over the past 40 years. As Hong Kong integrates further into the overall development of our country, I am sure our country will continue to make us proud in the next 40 years.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave these remarks at the South China Morning Post China Conference on February 21.
Photo via Beidou.gov.cn

Chinese cargo ship Rongda Changsha equipped with terminal products of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System arrived at Brunei recently after embarking from Luojing Port in Shanghai, marking the first successful application of BeiDou terminal products and unveiling the ambition of promoting BeiDou products to the international market.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is a Chinese-developed satellite navigation system, consisting of three satellites, which since 2000, has started to offer navigation services for users in China and neighboring regions.

The deployment of BeiDou-3 was completed in late 2018, with the aim of providing navigation services for countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

The Shanghai-Brunei trip was a trial for not only examining BeiDou-3s capacity, but for learning the users experience and needs. The data collected from the trip has been thoroughly analyzed and applied for updating and prioritizing the marine navigation system, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), manufacturer of the Beidou terminal product on the ship.

It is expected that more services are to come with internet and voice calls in BeiDou Navigation System for further exploring various industrial application scenarios and protecting Chinese outbound routes.
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By PTI

SEOUL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings and values can help the world to address both the pressing issues.

Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Korea's premier university today," Modi said.

"This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said today humanity across the world is facing two serious problems first terrorism and second is climate change.

ALSO READ: Indian economy fundamentals sound, set to reach $5 trillion: PM Modi

"If we look at the life of Gandhi, we can find solutions to both these problems. If we look at his teachings, values and the advice he gave we can find a path forward," Modi said.

"Terrorism has challenged the mankind, and at this time Gandhi's teaching, message of unity, values, his message of changing heart of those taken the path of violence through non-violence can show us the way to hight against the scourge of terrorism," he said.

His remarks assume significance in the wake of the deadly Pulwama terror strike by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

"During the tenure of my friend and former UN chief Ban the UN declared Gandhi's birthday as the day of non-violence and with this declaration we got the strength to fight the terrorism," he said.

Modi said in the 20th Century, Gandhi was perhaps the mankind's biggest gift.

"In the last century through his personality, through his life and values, Gandhi showed us what the future will be. In fact he used to say my life is my lesson."

"Gandhi used to say the God and nature have given everything for a human being's need but not for the greed and all natural resources will be lost if we go for greed. He said our lifestyle should be need-based and not greed based," Modi said.

"During his lifetime there was no discussion on climate change and environment, but through his lifestyle, he did not leave any carbon foot print. and showed what living in harmony with nature is. He showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations."

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and a second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.
A lady in Bangkok, Thiland (right) catches a flower handed by a flower grower (left ) from China's Yunnan province. (Photo/Xinhua)

Southwestern Chinas Yunnan province has witnessed blossoming flower trade in recent years. 8 to 10 million flowers are traded and shipped to over 50 countries and regions in peak seasons, 20 to 30 percent of which are exported to South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Yunnan is Chinas major flower cultivation center thanks to its favorable temperature and humidity, as well as long daylight hours. Now the Belt and Road Initiative is helping to make it an international flower trading center.

Carnations and roses grown in the province are now in high demand from tropical markets such as Thailand, as it is difficult to plant such flowers in such environments. It takes a mere 40 hours for flowers in Yunnan to be delivered to Bangkok after the Kunming-Bangkok expressway opened to traffic.
By PTI

SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday voiced hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can usher in peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond, as US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet next week in Vietnam to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Moon made the remarks while welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a ceremony to unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi which will be put on permanent display at the prestigious Yonsei University here. President Moon praised Gandhi, saying his greatness lies in the fact that he walked the path of peace despite the violence or threats against him or his people.

Noting that his country has also experienced colonial rule, the South Korean president insisted the countries must work together to help establish peace and ensure joint prosperity in the region. "I sincerely hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can be realised into peace and prosperity in Asia, going beyond the Korean Peninsula," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted Moon as saying.

ALSO READ| I was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's teachings: Ex-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

"This year is also a meaningful year to South Korea," Moon told the ceremony, noting the year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the country's provisional government under Japan's colonial rule that lasted 36 years from 1910-45. "Gandhi's teachings that said 'Be the change you wish to see,' and 'There is no way to peace, there is only peace,' especially touch my heart. With the unveiling of his statue today, Gandhi's spirits will forever be in the heart of South Koreans," he added.

Moon on Wednesday thanked India for supporting South Korea's efforts to denuclearise North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. "If permanent peace is established on the Peninsula, this will greatly contribute to peace and prosperity all throughout Asia. I am looking forward to India's unwavering support as it has played a significant role in the global peace movement," he was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

President Trump announced during his State of the Union address on February 5 that his second summit with Kim would take place February 27 and 28 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Singapore hosted the first Trump-Kim summit in June last year when they pledged to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

In Singapore, Trump and Kim signed a vague agreement that committed the two countries to continue working toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula -- but with no explicit obligation by Pyongyang to actually disarm.

North Korea has since claimed it destroyed missile engine and nuclear test sites, but it has not let the international inspectors verify that. Prime Minister Modi arrived here earlier in the day on a two-day state visit. He will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon on Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss the issue of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ahead of the Trump-Kim summit.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top security body Thursday said the country was "not involved in any way" in the Pulwama "incident", which was "conceived, planned and executed indigenously" as Prime Minister Imran Khan authorised the military to respond "decisively" to any Indian misadventure.

In a statement issued after a key meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Khan, the country's top civilian and military leadership said the Pakistan government was "determined to demonstrate" that it is capable of protecting its people.

The meeting was convened to discuss the country's security situation in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack by a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers last week in Jammu and Kashmir.

Days after the terror strike by JeM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said security forces have been given free hand to avenge the dastardly act.

"This is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State," said a statement issued after the meeting, according to the Radio Pakistan.

ALSO READ | Pulwama terror: Army puppet Imran Khan took 'instructions' for radio broadcast, says ex-wife

"The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously," the statement said, referring the Pulwama terror attack as just an "incident.

" The statement said Prime Minister Khan has authorised the armed forces of Pakistan to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India.

" In a video message earlier this week, Khan said Pakistan was not involved in the attack in Kashmir.

India rubbished Khan's comments, saying disclaiming Pakistan's link with terrorist attacks is an oft-repeated excuse by the "nerve centre" of terrorism.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India was not surprised that Khan refused to acknowledge the attack on India's security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism, adding his offer to investigate the attack if provided proof is a "lame excuse".

Ahead of the NSC meeting Thursday, Prime Minister Khan and Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa held a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed region's security situation.

The meeting was attended by Army chief General Bajwa, services chiefs, heads of intelligence agencies, security officials and federal and state ministers for finance, defence, foreign affairs and interior.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure to combat terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, according to media reports on Thursday.

The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Mohammad during his first official visit to Islamabad. The News International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the Crown Prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait of himself and a gold-plated submachine gun.

The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a submachine gun developed by German engineers, and this modified weapon has an elaborate pattern engraved on its gold-plated components, CNN reported. The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister.

Presenting the Saudi Crown Prince with a weapon will likely raise eyebrows at a time when he has been embroiled in controversy over the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered at the country's consulate in Istanbul in October of last year, CNN said.

The Crown Prince travelled to Pakistan, India and China widely seen as an attempt to bolster ties and improve the kingdom's image after a troubled year, the report said.

In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Prime Minister Khan at the Prime Minister's Office here. Khan had thanked the Saudi leader for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi Crown Prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The international community led by the US has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth USD 20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability. China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country. Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his "outstanding support" in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Thursday reinstated the ban on the Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity arm, the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF). However, Saeed, a co-founder of the Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the mastermind behind several attacks on India including the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, continues to roam free.

READ HERE | India's share of water that flows to Pakistan will be diverted to Yamuna, says Gadkari

While there was no official reaction from India, privately officials described it as optics. It would be foolish to take this seriously. even when Saeed was under house arrest earlier, he was allowed to make speeches attacking India, said an official.

The latest ban on Saeeds outfits was announced after Khan chaired a National Security Committee meeting to discuss the recent Pulwama incident and its aftermath.

WATCH | Leaked video shows Pakistan minister vowing to 'protect' Hafiz Saeed and his party

A statement released after the National Security Committee meeting at the Prime Ministers office in Islamabad said the members agreed that the state of Pakistan is not involved in any way, means or form in the said incident and it was conceived, planned and executed indigenously.

The NSC also formally authorised the armed forces to respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India.

READ HERE | We are not involved in any way, says Pakistan's National Security Council on Pulwama Terror Attack

Khan had directed the interior ministry to immediately accelerate actions on ground to ensure this.

If I recall right, he was arrested in December 2001, after we conclusively proved that he was involved in the attack on our Lok Sabha. But he was released in less than three months, and then again arrested and then put under so called House arrest in October, said one official.
By PTI

THE HAGUE: Pakistan on Thursday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to "dismiss or declare inadmissible" India's claim for relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on a death row in the country.

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017.

His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India on Wednesday questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the top UN court to annul Jadhav's death sentence, which is based on an "extracted confession".

Making the final submission in the ICJ on the last day of the hearing, Pakistan's counsel Khawar Qureshi said, "India's claim for relief must be dismissed or declared inadmissible."

ALSO READ | India did not answer key questions in Kulbhushan Jadhav case, claims Pakistan

"India's claim for relief (in the Jadhav case) remains as far fetched now as it was then (May 8, 2017)," he told the judges in his concluding remarks.

Closing the arguments, Pakistan's Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan said, "India seeks relief which they cannot claim from this court."

Asserting that the military court in Pakistan works according to the Constitution, he asked the ICJ to "dismiss India's request" in the case.

Khan also assured the court that the process of judicial review in Pakistan was robust and Jadhav can avail it if he chooses.

"Jadhav has been charged with terrorism for which an FIR has been registered with the police that is a civilian agency.

The military courts have sufficient proof of espionage and the said military court on the available evidence and the judicial confession proceeded to convict him despite he being given the option of going for a judicial review, he has refused to do so," Khan told the court.

He said India claims consular access, "surely (it) was not allowed for good reason in terms of the agreement of 2008, specially for the reason that commander Jadhav being involved in espionage.

" Khan also raked up the Kashmir issue and said Pakistan was awaiting India's response on Samjhauta train blast case and has sought evidence on his country's role in the Pulwama terror attack.

After his submission, ICJ top judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf adjourned the hearing and said a date for the judgement would be announced later.

ALSO READ | ICJ to hold public hearings in Kulbhushan Jadhav case from Monday amid fresh Indo-Pak tensions

On Wednesday, Harish Salve, who was representing India in the case, said that the time has come for the ICJ to make Article 36 a potent weapon for protecting human rights.

On Pakistan's military courts, he said the International Commission of Jurists and European Parliament have criticised their functioning and added that anything diluting provisions of Vienna Convention must fail.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.
By PTI

DHAKA: A fast-moving fire swept through adjoining apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in a historic part of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, killing at least 81 people and injuring several others, the latest such deadly blaze in the country.

Officials said the fire broke out at night a chemical warehouse on the ground floor of a four-storey building named Hazi Wahed Mansion behind a mosque in Old Dhaka's congested Chawkbazar area on Wednesday night and the flames then quickly spread through four other buildings nearby, including a community centre where a wedding party was on. "The salvage campaign is ending here," mayor of Dhaka South Sayeed Khokon said.

Fire officials said that the blaze has claimed 81 lives so far. Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials said the fire spread rapidly due to the multiple chemical godowns that were situated in the area.

Fire service control room spokesman Kamrul Ahsan confirmed the death toll to be 81 while state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital's director Brigadier General AKM Nasiruddin said 78 bodies were kept at their disposal.

Nasiruddin, however, feared that the toll may rise as several people were being treated at the facility with critical burn injuries. Khokon called off the rescue operation around 12:10 PM after nearly 14 hours of efforts.

Two-hundred fire-fighters from 37 units doused the blaze, making their way to the scene through narrow lanes with fire engines. "Some of the bodies were burned very badly, difficult to be identified of the victims, five are children and nine women," a doctor said.

Bangladesh's fire service chief Ali Ahmed said the blaze may have started with a gas cylinder before quickly spreading through the building where chemicals were stored. "The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses. There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. It spread so quickly that people could not escape," he said.

TV images showed the main gate of one of the buildings was locked, leaving its residents trapped, unable to escape the blaze as it swept through its five storeys. Witnesses said the victims also included passersby, some people who were eating food at nearby restaurants and some members of a wedding party.

Over 50 people, including women and children, were also injured and admitted to nearby hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital. Some of the residents were injured after they jumped off the building.

The district administration will provide 20,000 taka (USD 238) to the victims' families for burial, Additional Deputy Commissioner Shafiqul said. The officials said narrow lanes made it difficult for the fire engines to reach the spot. The firefighters used helicopters and long hose pipes to set off the blaze.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina mourned the casualties and ordered the best possible treatment for those injured. State-run facilities were asked to provide free of cost services to the injured. The four-storey building where the fire started is at the risk of collapsing due to damage, according to media reports. The first floor of the building was being used as a warehouse of plastic goods, cosmetics and perfume.

Some families lived on the upper floors, according to residents. The ground floor of the building, where the fire originated, had several shops. The fire from the building immediately caused an electric transformer to explode, which set ablaze several cars parked on the alley. The alley was packed with people because of a wedding ceremony that was being held in the nearby community centre.

An investigation panel has been formed to identify the reason behind the fire. The fire brings back the terrifying memories of another massive blaze in 2010 in an old Dhaka building at Nimtoli, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, that killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fire tragedies in Bangladesh.

It had sparked a public outcry, demanding the relocation of chemical warehouses and stores from the area, but little has been done in the last nine years. The authorities had listed 800 warehouses in the neighbourhood for their transfer to Keraniganj on the outskirts of the capital. The lack of safety regulations in the country was highlighted in 2013 when over 1,100 people died and thousands more were injured when a building housing garment factories in Dhaka collapsed.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The CPM believes that the contours of the alternative to the NDA would be clear only after the Lok Sabha elections and that pre-poll arrangements like Mahagatbandhan will not ensure the formation of a non-NDA government. Only after the Lok Sabha results can one get a clear picture of if an anti-NDA coalition could come to power, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, recalling the outcome of elections in 1996, 1998, and 2004. The Left leader expressed confidence that his party would lend its shoulder in forming an anti-NDA government.

His statements assume significance at a time when pre-poll alliances are at the centre of the countrys political discourse. His rationale is that no regional party will have its influence beyond its States boundaries. Yechury asserted that his partys prime target was to defeat the BJP, and steered clear of speculating who would become prime minister in the event of the saffron partys defeat. Though the Congress is the front runner, it does not saying that openly as any such talk may sound the death knell for the Mahagatbandhan.

Flaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his absence at the all-party meeting held after the attack in Pulwama killed 44 CRPF jawans, he asked why the head of the nation went for a political campaign and gave a miss to the meet. Also in his line of fire was BJP president Amit Shah, who was present during the meeting, for his remark the sacrifices of our jawans will not go in vain as it is the BJP and not the Congress which is in the government.

If the BJP was all that powerful, how come the attack took place now? The saffron party has been in power for the last five years. It is unfortunate that the issue is being politicised by the BJP when Opposition parties are together in condemning the attack, he said. When asked about Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos third front, Yechury said no one had approached his party seeking a tie-up. It was last year that he has made the announcement, but till now there has been no word on it. Usually, before elections, one gets to hear about such political formations, he said.
R Sivakumar By

Express News Service

VELLORE: For forty-year-old Babilona, life is slowly changing with the society beginning to accept her. Once struggled in the life to make both ends meet, she is now running against time, at times, to fulfill her commitments.

Walking into an institute for a six-months beautician course in 2005, has been a spring board for her to come up in life.

This transgender is running a beauty salon in Pallikonda in Vellore district turning the face of their customers glowing. Her life too has begun to glow.

It gives immense pleasure for me to run the salon. I find customers frequently visiting the beauty salon. Now, I am satisfied with what I am doing, Babilona told Express.

Apart from attending to customers in the salon, she is also visiting various places, following orders, to beautify women for marriages and other functions.

Early in the week, I went to Chennai to attend to a customer for a marriage function. I do get more opportunities like this, she said, adding that if she went for beautifying women for functions in their places, she can earn more money.

Babilona is heading a self-help group (SHG), called Bothrej, comprising only transgenders.

With ten members, the group is engaged in rearing milch cows and selling milk as well.

In Puthur, the members of Bothrej group is rearing livestock. They are going door-to-door to sell milk. This helps them earn money to run their life, said AR Sivaraman, project officer (PO) of Mahalir Thittam.

Talking to Express, he said, The SHG was provided with a bank loan of Rs. 1.20 lakh to purchase milch cows.

The Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission (TNSRLM) is providing support, imparting technical training and arranging finance for the highly marginalised section in the society to engage in self-employment.

By engaging in self-employment, we can improve our livelihood and life style. We also get respect from the society. But we expect more help to pour in from the side of the government, Babilona stated.

Another SHG comprising of transgenders is engaged in tailoring and other activities with the guidance of TNSRLM. Four of the members of the group were given two-wheelers that help them commute between workplace and residence easily.

In their long, gruelling fight for leading a life with dignity, this marginalised community is slowly gaining acceptance in the society as they foray into newer areas to eke out a decent livelihood.
By Express News Service

BHAWANIPATNA/NACHUNI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday targeted the Naveen Patnaik Government for poor progress of the State and its refusal to implement welfare programmes of the Centre for fear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi cornering all credits.

Comparing his Governments achievements with the BJD Government, Yogi said, In 19 years of rule, Naveen Government has constructed only 17 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, but the BJP Government in UP has already provided 20 lakh houses to poor people in only two years of BJP governance, he said.

The Odisha Government is yet to meet the target of toilet construction in individual households under Swachh Bharat Mission while the Uttar Pradesh Government has constructed more than 2.6 crore toilets in two years.

In a sharp attack on Naveen for his Governments non-cooperation with the Centres proposal for constructing a memorial to commemorate 200 years of Paika rebellion, the UP Chief Minister charged the BJD Government with disrespecting freedom fighters.

The Prime Minister announced construction of a grand memorial on completion of 200 years of Paika Bidroha. But, the Odisha Government is disrespecting freedom fighters by not providing land for the memorial. This is an insult to the freedom fighters. We should expose the Naveen Patnaik Government for insulting the freedom fighters of the State, Yogi told a meeting of BJP workers at Nachuni in Khurda district.

Addressing booth workers of the party from two parliamentary constituencies, the firebrand leader from Uttar Pradesh exhorted the party workers to debunk the myth created by the BJD Government on the supply of `1-a-kg rice under the public distribution system.

As the Naveen Patnaik Government is claiming credit for `1-a-kg rice, Yogi told party workers to go to the people and explain that bulk of the subsidy (`29) is being provided by the Centre while the State Governments contribution is only `1, he said.

Earlier, the UP CM, at a meeting in Bhawanipatna, had slammed the BJD Government for refusing to implement Modis health care programme Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme saying Naveen is not implementing these schemes as he feared that the Prime Minister will take all credit.

Calling upon party workers to strengthen their assigned booths, Yogi asked them to ensure re-election of Modi Government at the Centre and installation of a BJP Government in the State in the ensuing simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly.

Responding to Yogi Adityanaths allegations, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said no Government has ever constructed 20 lakh houses in just two years. The UP CM should stop making such baseless and hollow statements, Deb added.
Rajesh Abraham By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Manhole-cleaning robot Bandicoot, developed by Thiruvananthapuram-based Genrobotics, is getting orders from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, besides purchase queries from the UAE and Malaysia, but the startup has not made any headway in its home market despite the state governments promise in January last year, due to the bureaucratic rigmarole.

When the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) had announced it would use Bandicoot in the entire Thiruvananthapuram Municipality, the understanding was it would buy 15-20 robots. They had bought one in January last year, but any more, said Genrobotics co-founder Rashid K.

In Kerala, the KWA has undertaken sewage cleaning.The KWA had told us it would proceed and buy the remaining robots after three months. Later, the issue got delayed due to the floods in August, said Rashid.Worsening matters for Genrobotics was the change at the helm of KWA and water resources ministry.

Change of officers affects Bandicoots plans

After A Shainamol and Mathew T Thomas were removed as the KWA MD and water resources minister respectively, we had to start the talks all over again, Rashid said, adding the company faces a similar situation in other states too when the IAS officer, who is leading the talks to have the Bandicoot robot, is suddenly shifted to some other department.

In Kerala, Genrobotics is asked to implement a project model. The aim is to eliminate manual scavenging by 2020. Were implementing a step-by-step model here. The project in Kerala is implemented through KWA as its controlling the sewage and sanitation works in all the municipalities and corporations,  Rashid explained.

Meanwhile, Genrobotics, which received funding from the Kerala Startup Mission, Unicorn India Ventures and Google India MD Rajan Anandan, is getting a steady flow of orders to implement Bandicoot in other parts of the country, and even outside India. Weve installed 10 robots in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana towards the end of this month, said Rashid, pointing out that manholes are more in other states compared to Kerala. Recently we met the Delhi Governments social justice minister. They also want to do away with manual scavenging by 2019. Therell be another meeting with the Delhi Chief Minister soon, he said.

At the Kinfra facility in Thiruvananthapuram, Genrobotics has started its own production lab, where it could manufacture 10 Bandicoot robots per month.Outside India, Genrobotics is in talks with Dubai and Sharjah municipalities to implement robotic scavenging.
Karot hydropower station in Pakistan's Punjab Province. (Photo: Ding Xuezhen)

Islamabad (Peoples Daily)  The Karot hydropower station being built in Pakistan is the first project to be undertaken as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and is the first to be constructed using Chinese technology.

The power station is on the Jhelum River in eastern Pakistans Punjab province and it is envisaged that it will bring sustainable and affordable clean energy to the country.

Environment-friendly project

As the first investment project of the Silk Road Fund, the Karot hydropower station is being developed by Karot Power Company Limited, comprising Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation, and Associated Technologies of Pakistan.

The project has entered the construction peak period, with more than 4,000 on-site staff and about 500 sets of heavy mechanical equipment, Zhang Jun, head of engineering at the Karot hydropower project, told Peoples Daily.

The project has an installed capacity of 720 MW, an annual energy output of 3.2 billion kWh, and a total investment of $1.74 billion. The first unit is expected to meet power generation conditions in April 2021, and all four units are scheduled to come online at the end of November of the same year, according to Zhang.

The project adheres to very strict environmental guidelines, project environment manager Muhammad Mansoor Khan told Peoples Daily. [It is] because we want to build an environmentally-friendly project so as to benefit the local people in a sustained way.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: As mega polls near, interesting possibilities spring up. This time, Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge may have to taken Chincholi MLA Umesh Jadhav, currently in his own party, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, Jadhav who was identified with rebels Congress legislators in Mumbai and returned only after the Yeddyurappa audiotape scandal was exposed, is likely to quit the Congress and contest from Kalaburagi on the BJP ticket.

When TNIE asked him if he is in the Congress on a temporary basis, Jadhav said with laughter, I am still in the decision-making stage and announce it very shortly.Asked if it would bring him a bad name, Jadhav said, I am with my people. Whatever they tell me, I will be doing. He said he has a few issues to be settled before he takes a decision.

Sources in the Congress and BJP agreed that it is only a matter of time before Jadhav decides to jump the ship. For the BJP, Jadhavs entry is very important because Revu Naik Belamagi who earlier contested against Kharge and lost by about 73,000 votes, quit the party in a huff, after being denied ticket for assembly polls.

For the partys sake, the candidature of Jadhav is important as, without him, it will find it difficult to get a good challenger to Kharge. This has been BJPs strategy even earlier. In 2009, it got Gurupadappa Nagamarpalli from the Congress and Beelmagi from the JD(S) in 2014.
Arun Bothra By

In September last year, in an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court criticised a victim of rape. During the trial in the lower court, she retracted from her complaint against the rapist and said that no such incident took place. Based on her changed statement, the trial court acquitted the accused. While deciding on the appeal in this H N Gadhvi versus State of Gujarat case, an annoyed SC not only convicted the accused but also expressed deep anguish over the victims behaviour. The court stopped just short of prosecuting her.

The problem of such somersaults by victims in the courtroom is not new. In India, many criminals escape punishment because victims turn hostile. Especially in cases of crimes against women, victims change their statement in court to help the same person who committed the atrocity on them. Why would a woman do this?

The fact remains that when a minor girl or even an adult woman sides with her rapist in a courtroom, most of the time it is not her decision. It is the elders in the family, relatives or community leaders who decide on the testimony. Victims generally do not have much say in such decisions. When such matters are settled out of court, often in lieu of money, the will and feelings of a victim are rarely taken into consideration. Who gets the money? Obviously the elders. The tragedy is that in this process, she is wronged twice. First, when she is raped. Second, when she is forced to change her statement against her will.

Victims change sides not only in rape cases. Two old but popular examples are the Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder cases where the trial court had to acquit the accused persons mainly because important witnesses turned hostile. While delivering the judgment in the Mattoo case, the judge lamented he was forced to acquit the accused who had committed the murder. The appellate court convicted the accused later following an outcry from the civil society.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the conviction rate in our country is very low. In IPC offences conviction rate is about 40 per cent. In cases of sexual violence it is a poor 18.9 per cent. In states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka it is less than 10 per cent. That means nine out of ten accused in sexual offences are let off in these states.

It is often believed that criminals do not get punished due to poor investigation by the police. The reality, however, is different. It is true that the investigation standards of our agencies are not up to the mark, but most acquittals happen due to the hostility of witnesses and complainants. There are legal provisions to prosecute such people for perjury but these are rarely used and are difficult to prove.

In spite of such difficulties, the state cannot absolve itself of its responsibility. A criminal case is not just a dispute between two private parties. The outcome of a criminal case impacts the entire society. When an accused in a Jessica or Mattoo case goes scot free, it shakes the faith of people in the entire system. It emboldens criminals and scares law-abiding citizens.

If witnesses do not cooperate with the law due to greed or any other reasons, the state has to find ways to overcome this problem. For example, a professional and scientific probe can ensure that even when witnesses turn hostile, cases are taken to their logical conclusion. Once a rape is proved by medical, chemical and DNA examinations, and through other physical and digital evidence, even the victim cannot save the accused. The same holds for other cases too. People can change their statements in court but scientific evidence is permanent.

At present, our investigations are based mostly on oral testimonies. When the same witnesses change their version in court, cases fall flat. In developed societies, enough forensic evidence is collected before putting the accused on trial. As a result, the rate of conviction is high.

And slow trials are another problem. Cases drag in courts for years together. With over 3.4 crore pending cases, ours is one of the slowest judicial systems in the world. As time passes, victims reconcile with the situation and tend to soften. The perpetrators of the crime get enough time to win victims over by hook or crook. Last year, in Madhya Pradesh about 20 people accused of raping minors were sentenced to death. All these trials were completed in a few months time, leaving less scope for the accused for any illegal manoeuvring.

Protection of witnesses can also help in increasing the conviction rate. We often hear that witnesses in important cases are threatened. There have even been instances where upright witnesses were killed. This obviously dissuades people from coming forward to tell the truth. In the West, a lot is done to ensure the protection of witnesses. Sometimes witnesses in sensitive cases are relocated at the governments expense. The state has to ensure that witnesses are protected for telling the truth in courtrooms. Recently, our Supreme Court also brought in place a witness protection scheme.

Conviction of a criminal is the ultimate test of a justice system. If after years of investigations and trials the guilty are let off, it is a waste of time and energy. It is not severity but the certainty of punishment that deters people from committing crimes. We have been increasing the severity of punishments. It is time to ensure that criminals actually get punished.

Arun Bothra

is an IPS officer. Views are personal

Tweets @arunbothra
By PTI

DUBAI: Two Indian-origin entrepreneur brothers in Dubai have announced financial support of Rs one crore to the families of 40 CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Sudhakar Rao and Prabhakar Rao of Dubai-based real estate firm Gemini Group have announced a contribution of AED 500,000 for the families of the martyred soldiers through the Government of India, according to a statement.

The brothers said they will dedicate a portion of their organisation's financial resources as a token of respect for the well-being of the bereaved families.

"The incident happened at a time when we are promoting tolerance, peace and harmony in the UAE - a country that is known to be an oasis of peace and stability in the world," Sudhakar said, adding that "in this Year of Tolerance, let us pray for greater peace and harmony across the world and join hand to promote peace, so that no soldiers are attacked, no children become fatherless."

Indian Consul General Vipul said welcomed the initiatives by the entrepreneur brothers.

"Our security forces keep us safe and secure and it's our duty to support them in all possible ways," he said.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud left New Delhi for China after a 30-hour state visit on Wednesday, leaving mixed feelings in his wake. MbS, as he is popularly known, was received with the trade-mark bear hug by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night.

Given the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the fact that MBS had visited Pakistan a day before his India visit to offer $20 billion in aid and praise Islamabads efforts to fight terror, there were many who felt that India should have been a bit less welcoming towards the prince.

But thats not how foreign policy works, retorted a senior official. Let us not forget that Saudi Arabia supplies over 20% of our crude oil needs, and the fact that over 2.7 million Indians work in the Kingdom, he said.

Although neither named Pakistan publicly, both sides pledged to step up joint counter-terrorism efforts and stressed the need to sanction terrorists and their organisations by the UN, a clear reference to Masood Azhar, the Jaish leader. The two sides also agreed to set up a joint working group to counter terrorism.

On the economic front, Saudi Arabia would invest some $100 billion in India, including $11 billion in the Ratnagiri refinery project, which also has investments from the UAE.

On Wednesday, after a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan, MbS, who arrived with a large delegation, went to Hyderabad House where he held restricted, one-on-one and delegation level talks with the Indian side, led by Modi, after which the PM hosted a lunch in his honour. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval gave the Saudi side a detailed virtual dossier nailing Pakistans involvement in the Pulwama.

While appreciating Modis personal efforts to foster friendly relations with Pakistan, both sides agreed to work towards creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The two leaders then witnessed the exchange of five agreements on tourism, infrastructure, investments, housing and broadcasting. Saudi Arabia also signed the Framework Agreement on the International Solar Alliance. Apart from a joint naval exercise later this year, the two sides decided to explore ways to strengthen maritime cooperation.

In his subsequent address, MbS, said terrorism and extremism were common concerns, and pledged all cooperation to fight it not just with India but also with the neighbouring nations.

On the economic front, Saudi Arabia would invest some $100 billion in India, including $11 billion in the Ratnagiri refinery, which also has investments from the UAE.

Among other things, the crown prince also agreed to increase Indias Haj quota to two lakh. India has extended e-visa facilities to Saudi nationals.
By PTI

BENGALURU: Asserting there is 'no scandal' in the Rafale deal, Dassault Aviation, makers of the fighter jet, Wednesday said it was also in the race for 110 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, for which the government had floated an RFI last year.

The RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the deal was issued by IAF on April 6 2018, the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets.

This was after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) around six years ago.

"There is no scandal in the Rafale deal. We are going to deliver 36 aircraft. If the Government of India wants more aircraft, we will be pleased to deliver. There is also an RFI for 110 aircraft and we are in the race because we feel Rafale is the best aircraft and we have our footprint here in India. So we feel confident here in India," Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier told reporters here.

Asked why Dassault had partnered Reliance despite that company's lack of experience in making defence equipment, Trappier said: "Yes. But I have the experience. I am transferring this know-how and experience to the Indian team. The Indian team has been appointed by a new company Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DARL). They are good for India and the company. So where is the problem?" The deal had raised a political row with Congress relentlessly accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of extending the benefit to industrialist Anil Ambani owned Reliance by firming up an overpriced deal of Rafale jets.

ALSO READ: Aero India 2019: France envoy rejects corruption charges in Rafale deal, says aircraft will likely join IAF in six months

The opposition has been keeping the pot boiling over the deal and made it their electoral campaign for the coming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

India had signed a deal with France in 2016 for 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Asked the reasons for Dassault going ahead with partnering Reliance despite that company's financial problems, Trappier said, "They have their own matters, but we are working together. Our teams, both Indian and French, are working well. So I have no worry for the time being."

Trappier also said they chose Reliance as he wanted to be in charge of the industrial process in the company that manufactures parts of the French aircraft in India.

"I invested my money to have facilities here in India and I found partners," he added.

On Rahul Gandhi's charge that Rafale prices were escalated during NDA rule compared to UPA rule, Trappier said both nations made a rebate of about nine per cent compared to the original pricing.

The CAG report saying that the Rafale pricing was 2.8 per cent cheaper during NDA rule compared to UPA's showed that the pricing was better, Trappier said.

Also, the Supreme Court had said that the deal was totally transparent and hence he was 'very much pleased' with these two observations.

To a query, Trappier said it was sad that politics has taken a front seat in the Rafale deal.

Instead, discussions should have been around the importance of having the fighter aircraft for India's defence needs, he said.

"Rafale has a high-performance capacity. The air force officials have examined the aircraft. This fighter will be one of the backbones of the defence of this country," he said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India has decided to "stop" the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Thursday, in comments that came over a week after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack killing 40 CRPF personnel.

An official later clarified that it was not a "new decision" and that the Water Resources minister was "simply reiterating" what he has always said.

"Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab," Gadkari tweeted.

The reiteration to stop the flow of Indus water to Pakistan comes amid mounting Indo-Pak tension over the Pulwama terror strike that has triggered demands for action against the neighbouring country.

India has already decided to revoke the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan and mounted a diplomatic offensive to isolate it in the international community.

READ HERE | Surplus water to be used by Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan: Jitendra Singh on stopping water to Pakistan

"Regarding the tweet (by Gadkari) about Indus treaty, this is not a new decision. Mantriji is simply reiterating what he has always said. He is talking about diverting India's share of Indus water which was going to Pakistan - and he has always been saying this," Information Officer in-charge of Water Resources Ministry Neeta Prasad said when asked about the issue.

There were demands to stop flow of India's share of Indus water to Pakistan after the Uri terror attack in 2016.

Officials said the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop flow of water.

Under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, the waters of the western rivers -- the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab -- was given to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers -- the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej -- to India.

India's share of water from Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers came to 33 million acres feet (MAF).

While about 95 per cent of the water was being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to 5 per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.

The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states.  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) February 21, 2019

To gain access to this water, India is now building more dams which will be completed in six years, officials said.

In another tweet, Gadkari said, "The construction of dam has started at Shahpur-Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states."

In an address at a public rally at Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Gadkari said, "We have started the work of purification of river Yamuna. After the formation of India and Pakistan, Pakistan got three rivers, and India got three rivers. The rightful water of our three rivers was flowing to Pakistan. Now we will build three projects on them, and divert the water to river Yamuna," he said.

The Union Cabinet in December had approved the Shahpurkandi dam project on the Ravi river in Punjab, a move that was intended to help India arrest its share of water flowing into Pakistan.

For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 was also announced.

In September 2018, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments had signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpur-Kandi project, according to officials.

Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by J-K.


By PTI

NEW DELHI: Jawans of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley will now be able to take a commercial flight to join duty or while going on leave as the government Thursday issued authorisation orders, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

It said the decision will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh paramilitary personnel of the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector who were otherwise not eligible earlier.

ALSO READ: Pulwama terror attack: Indian Army blames Pakistan Army, ISI for suicide bombing on CRPF

"This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, ie while going on leave from J-K to home and return," it said.

The facility, it said, is "in addition" to the existing air courier services for CAPFs where an entire aircraft is booked for the force personnel from either Delhi or Jammu to Srinagar and back.

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in J-K, will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India has prepared a new dossier in the wake of the Pulwama attack on Pakistans support to terrorist groups and terrorism, government officials said on Wednesday, adding the dossier will be handed over to all countries supportive of the Indian position in exposing Pakistans lies.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday met Indias envoys to the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia  Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ajay Bisaria and Ahmad Javed.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the three envoys were given the dossier which will be shared with Indian embassies.

India and Pakistan recalled their high commissioners for consultations as relations between the two countries soured following the Pulwama terror attack.

US President Donald Trump has also issued a strong statement on the attack and asked Pakistan to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad.

On Wednesday, New Zealand passed a resolution condemning the attack. More than 40 countries have issued similar statements.

France is expected to move a resolution to ensure Pakistan-based terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar is listed as a terrorist by the UN.

Azhars terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.

At the forthcoming meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris, France is also expected to lobby to retain Pakistan on the grey list.

India has been reaching out to key countries to garner support for its case against Pakistan. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale has met ambassadors of key countries, including the US, Britain, France, China and Russia.
By PTI

NAGPUR: In the latest incident of assault on Kashmiri students after the Pulwama terror attack, students from the northern state studying in a college in Yavatmal were attacked by members of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, police said Thursday.

The attack happened Wednesday night, police said. The students were also threatened, they added.

A video of the incident has gone viral on the social media and a case has been registered at the Yavatmal police station. The students were attacked around 10 pm outside their rented accommodation on Waghapur Road, police said.

READ | Why is PM Modi silent on Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of country: Omar Abdullah

The students were from the Dayabhai Patel Physical Education College, police said.

Yavatmal SP M Rajkumar told PTI that some students from Kashmir, residing at Vaibhav Nagar under Lohara police station were attacked and threatened by some activists of Yuva Sena.

"The Kashmiri students were returning home after having dinner outside when activists of Yuva Sena intercepted them and slapped them. The video of the incident is there in social media. The victims lodged a complaint at Lohara police station Thursday. Police identified the culprits and have also apprehended the main accused in the incident," Rajkumar said.

A victim of the attack told media, "We were asked to say 'Vande Mataram' if we want to live here. They slapped us and abused us when we were returning from market Wednesday evening," he said.

"The attackers asked us to vacate our rooms here and return to Kashmir within four days," the student said. We were warned that if we failed to return to Kashmir in this time frame, they will kill us," he said. "Some members in our colony intervened and saved us," he added.

"We have nothing to do with it (Pulwama attack).

Whatever happening is happening outside. We have come here to study. If we go back to Kashmir the situation over there is also bad. Neither can we study there nor are we being allowed to study here.

"Where will we go? We want to study here without any tension. We want to thank the police for helping us and now we are feeling a little better," he said.

Asked to comment on the incident, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said, "There is resentment across the country over the Pulwama terror attack. While it is necessary to teach Pakistan a lesson, one should realise nobody is troubled while doing so."

The young leader, son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, said he would conduct an investigation into the Yavatmal thrashing incident and take the necessary action after truth is ascertained.

He also called for unity among Indians.

Meanwhile, a video of the attack has gone viral on social media. It shows the Yuva Sena workers asking the students where they are from. When they say they came from Kashmir, they are slapped, beaten up and threatened with dire consequences.

The assailants can be seen harassing the students and asking them if they are terrorists or if their relatives in Kashmir are terrorists and go around killing Indian soldiers.

In the video, the attackers are also seen forcing the students to shout slogans like 'Vande Mataram' and 'Hindustan Zindabad'.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's top graft-buster Zhao Leji said that new progress had been achieved in the work of disciplinary inspection and supervision in 2018.

Zhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), made the remarks while delivering a work report at the third plenary session of the 19th CCDI of the CPC on Jan. 11. The report was made public on Wednesday.

A total of 25,000 officials, including 29 centrally-administrated officials, were punished for violating political discipline in 2018, according to the work report.

Reform of the disciplinary inspection and supervision system has been deepened. The adoption of Supervision Law and establishment of the National Supervisory Commission in 2018 have ensured that supervision covers everyone working in the public sector who exercises public power, says the report.

Efforts have been made to implement the central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct and address the practice of formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance in the past year, according to the report.

The CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission named and shamed officials involved in 50 cases for violating the frugality code of conduct, and 92,000 CPC members across the country were punished for such violations in 2018, according to the report.

The enforcement of the Party's discipline has been strengthened, says the report.
By Online Desk

Amid condolences pouring from across the globe after the recent terror attack in Pulwama, a youth from Rajasthan's Bikaner has paid a unique tribute to the martyrs.

Gopal Saharan, who is a member of the Bhagat Singh Youth Brigade in Bikaner, got the names of 71 martyrs tattooed across his back to pay homage to the departed souls and ensure that they are not forgotten.

The names include the 40 CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack and 31 others who were martyred elsewhere.

This boy, Gopal Saharan has tattooed the names of the fallen 42 C.R.P.F bravehearts #Pulwama on his back. I guess, no country in the world can threaten India, till the time we have this sort of spirit. pic.twitter.com/VVmGkjb4k2  Ramandeep Singh Mann (@ramanmann1974) February 20, 2019

"We have been organising various ways of paying respects to the soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the country and after the Pulwama attack, I decided that I must do something that will ensure that their names live on and are remembered. I hope that this will increase the respect for these soldiers amongst the countrymen," he told TOI.

ALSO READ: Pulwama attack fallout: Illegal Pakistanis living in Bikaner asked to leave within 48 hours

In the deadly terror attack in Pulwama, 40 CRPF jawans were killed by a suicide bomber on 14 February. The terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.


By PTI

NEW DELHI: In a stinging attack, the Congress cited media reports to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14 for his own "self propagation", and stayed put till the evening despite the Pulwama terror attack in the afternoon that day.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also claimed that the prime minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't have food".

Taking on the BJP, he also accused its president Amit Shah of indulging in "politicisation of terrorism" in his speech in Assam on Sunday.

At a public rally in Assam's Lakhimpur district, Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Meanwhile, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry city on Thursday, Shah hit back at the Congress, saying the opposition party was using the Pulwama terror attack for its "political interests".

"With what face is the Congress raising questions against the Prime Minister? Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the prime minister of trading with soldiers' blood, Congress' (Navjot Singh) Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," Shah said.

READ HERE | India's share of water that flows to Pakistan will be diverted to Yamuna, says Gadkari

Reacting to Shah's remarks later in the day, Surjewala said the BJP president should not forget that it was a Congress government that taught Pakistan lessons in 1947, in 1965 and in 1971.

"Indira Gandhi helped liberate Bangladesh, and 91,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army in Dhaka (in 1971). In contrast, the Modi-Amit Shah duo has always done cheap politics over terrorism and tried to garner votes. Amit Shah needs to learn about patriotism. The kind of politics he is indulging in, he should apologise to the country," he told reporters.

Surjewala also said that he would like to remind the BJP president of an incident in which BJP minister V K Singh had called then Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag a "dacoit" and demanded his removal.

At the press conference, the Congress spokesperson Surjewala also alleged that "in his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten 'raj dharma' (duty of governance)." Citing reports in some Hindi dailies, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm. But, the prime minister was "busy" in film shooting and photo shoots till hours after the attack, he claimed. The prime minister also knew about it (the attack). Yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

ALSO READ | Kashmir issue unresolved because of Jawaharlal Nehru: Amit Shah

The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there was slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", and on the other hand the prime minister was involved in his "propaganda and publicity", Surjewala claimed.

"Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

In a scathing attack on Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that jawans killed in the Pulwama attack are denied the status of martyrs but the PM "gifts" Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani for him to "live happily ever after".

ALSO READ | Why is PM Modi silent on Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of country: Omar Abdullah

Surjewala said the Congress had shown restraint on the direction of party president Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said questions must be asked about the "gross intelligence failure" of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who in a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".

He claimed that the prime minister reached one hour late to receive the mortal remains of CRPF Jawans at the Palam technical airport in Delhi.

Surjewala also hit out at the conduct of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the attack.

He displayed a photograph purportedly showing BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj smiling during the final journey of a slain jawan and cited Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons taking a "selfie" at a soldier's funeral.

Alphons has denied taking the picture himself saying some miscreants circulated his photograph at the CRPF jawan's funeral as a "selfie".

Surjewala asserted that the Congress, when in power, has always taken moral responsibility in such situations.

"During 26/11 (2008 Mumbai terror attack), Shivraj Patil had resigned, owning moral responsibility," he said.

During the press conference, Surjewala also showed a purported video of Modi's press conference in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack and advertisements of the BJP in newspapers following that assault to allege "politicisation of terrorism".
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh Wednesday said those living in urban areas do not understand the worth of Rs 6,000 -- an annual amount to be given to farmers by the Centre -- as people sometimes spend that amount at one go in a restaurant.

The minister's remarks come against the backdrop of criticism from certain quarters over the Budget announcement that Rs 6,000 each would be given to 12 crore farmers every year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).

Opposition parties have criticised the government saying that the amount offered was meagre and insulting to the farming community.

"People living in urban areas spend Rs 6,000 at one go in a restaurant. They don't understand its worth. This amount is important for farmers. Ask anyone in villages, you will get to know," Singh said.

Inaugurating the 14th Agriculture Science Congress at a newly built convention centre here, the minister said the PM-KISAN scheme would give relief to small and marginal farmers.

Hopefully, the urban people would gradually understand what the government is trying to do for this section of the farming community, he said.

The Rs 75,000 crore PM-KISAN scheme, announced in the interim budget of 2019-20, will be officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24 at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Under the scheme, the direct income support of Rs 6,000 will be given in three installments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers having cultivable land up to 2 hectare.

The first installment will be given by March this year.

Singh further said the UPA government had waived crop loan worth Rs 52,000 crore in 10 years, but the current government has allocated an annual budget of Rs 75,000 crore for the PM-KISAN.

Stating that the livelihood security and welfare of farmers is the priority of the government, the agriculture minister said efforts are being made to double farmers income by 2022.

Several measures have been taken to provide cheaper credit to farmers, electronic mandi platform eNAM to realise better returns and focus on allied farm activities like poultry, fishery and animal husbandry to boost additional income, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the government is committed to the upliftment of economically weaker section of the farming community.

The way forward is to transforming agriculture from production centric to income centric, while food security to nutrition security, he said.

Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Director General Trilochan Mohapatra said the four-day Agriculture Science Congress is a unique platform for the agri-scientific community to deliberate on issues that are bothering the sector.

"It is a platform to review what we have achieved and what we have not done and come out with a strategy for future," he added.

The Agriculture Science Congress is being organised by the National Academy of Agricultural Science (NASS), Indian Council of Agriculture Research(ICAR) and Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) here at Pusa complex.

About 2,000 delegates from 17 countries are expected to attend the event that will end on February 23.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while paying tribute to the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers killed in the Pulwama terror attack, addressed them as Shaheed. But the fact remains that whenever the personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are killed in line of duty they are not granted the status of Shaheed (martyr) by the central government, as compared to personnel of defence forces.

CAPF Officers Association (North India), president Amarjit Singh Sidhu said, Since independence, 32,097 personnel of para-military forces have died but we have never been given the status of Shaheed. It is unjust to our men who do the same duty as the army. The bullet does not see the uniform. We want that our personnel should be given the status of martyr.

On February 24, an Adhikar rally will be held by retired para-military personnel at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to press the government to give them the status of martyr.

Sidhu said, The deceased in Pulwama incident are getting as ex-gratia Rs 35 lakh (a total of Rs 50 lakh including risk fund and central welfare fund) by the Union government. Our personnel should be given the same ex-gratia as given to the army personnel. An army personnel gets Rs 35 lakh ex-gratia, plus Rs 40 lakh as insurance till JCO. While for officer it is ex-gratia plus Rs 70 lakh insurance besides other benefits.

CAPFOA, chairman Kulwinderjeet Singh Cheema said, We want facilities like special pay on the pattern of military, revival of pension to the post-2004 recruits, reservation for their wards in education and professional institutions, One Rank One Pension, expectation of GST etc.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The BJP, which has inked a pre-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena, is likely to replace its five sitting MPs in Maharashtra in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due to various reasons, including their performance, sources in the party said Thursday.

As for the Sena, its MP Anandrao Adsul may not be able to contest the upcoming elections due to his health condition, sources said.

"The BJP, which currently has 22 Lok Sabha members in Maharashtra, is set to bring in maximum changes as at least five sitting MPs are unlikely to get another chance in the 2019 general elections," a senior party functionary said.

Some of the reasons for changing the sitting MPs include their shortcomings, their performance in Parliament as well as during the various events organised by the party in the last five years, the BJP leader said.

"Kirit Somaiya (Mumbai North East), Anil Shirole (Pune), Sharad Bansode (Solapur), Sunil Gaikwad (Latur) and Dilip Gandhi (Ahmednagar) are the five sitting Lok Sabha MPs, who are likely to be replaced," the party leader added.

Somaiya has been facing stiff opposition from the Shiv Sena for his continued tirade against party president Uddhav Thackeray and his family, the BJP functionary said.

Sena workers have already opposed the candidature of Somaiya and also warned of voting against him if he is re-nominated, he said.

READ HERE | Days after forming alliance with BJP, Shiv Sena questions India's response to Pulwama terror attack

"The other (four) MPs are mostly facing anti-incumbency as despite the BJP getting a strong mandate (in 2014), their presence was not felt in their respective constituencies," another BJP leader said.

Maharashtra accounts for the second highest Lok Sabha seats - 48 - after Uttar Pradesh, which has 80.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two saffron parties along with their allies had won 42 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra.

The BJP had bagged 23 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in 18 constituencies.

The BJP later lost a Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll.

Asked about the benefits of joining hands with the Sena, which has been constantly criticising the BJP and its central leadership, the BJP office-bearer said, "Both the parties have their dedicated cadres, which means those voters will always vote for the party nominated candidates."

"The alliance also means both the parties will get each others' votes. We have secured at least 70,000 to 1,20,000 votes in each constituency at present because of this alliance. These are dedicated party voters. Even if we change the sitting candidates, these people will still vote for the party. This way, the alliance has brought some comfort to both the parties," the official said.

Adsul, the Lok Sabha MP from Amravati, is likely to be replaced because of health reasons.

"If Anandrao personally communicates to the Sena leadership his inability to contest the elections, the available option before the party would be someone from his family. If he is to be replaced, the party may field someone from his family," a Sena leader said.

The opposition Congress had won just two Lok Sabha seats in 2014 - Nanded (Ashok Chavan) and Hingoli (Rajiv Satav).

This time, Chavan's wife Ameeta, the MLA from Bhokar constituency in Nanded, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from her husband's seat, party sources said.

Party workers from Nanded had earlier urged Chavan, a former chief minister, to contest the Assembly elections scheduled later this year instead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the Maharashtra Congress confirmed that Satav may be given another chance this year.

The NCP, which had won four seats, is also going to replace a few of the MPs.

Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, the MP from Madha constituency in Solapur district, will make way for NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has decided to contest the election from there.

It is also not certain whether NCP MP Dhananjay Mahadik, who represents the Kolhapur seat, will be contesting the election on the party's ticket as there are reports he may join the BJP.

"He has been in touch with BJP leader Chandrakant Patil ever since he got elected to the Lok Sabha. With BJP- Sena alliance (now in place), he can easily win the seat if he joins the BJP or the Sena," a BJP leader from Kolhapur said.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The farmers' long march from Nashik to Mumbai will continue after their leaders' late night parleys with Maharashtra government to address their demands remained inconclusive, the march organisers said Thursday.

Farmers have embarked on a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai for the second time in the last 12 months to protest against what they termed as the "betrayal" of peasants by the BJP governments at the state and centre.

The Kisan Long March-2, expected to take over nine days to complete, is being organised by the CPI(M)-backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

The march could not be taken out Wednesday as police stopped many farmers from reaching Nashik, the AIKS claimed.

Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan met some AIKS representatives in Nashik Wednesday night.

"We held talks with the minister for over three hours. The government appeared positive to 80 per cent of our demands. The minister said he would speak to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis first," AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said.

Dhawale said Mahajan informed AIKS representatives that the assurances would be given in writing.

"The AIKS has decided to go ahead with the march beginning Thursday morning till the government does so," he added.

Dhawale said police were also present during the meeting with Mahajan.

They (police) are not going to stop the farmers now, he added.

Mahajan could not be reached for his comment.

The AIKS has accused the government of not fulfilling assurances given to farmers last year after they marched between the two cities, seeking farm loan waiver, minimum support price for crops, irrigation facilities and provision of a pension to agriculturists.

The AIKS also said it is opposed to the multi-billion dollar Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project which has seen several farmers along the proposed route approach court against land acquisition.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Amid alleged attacks on Kashmiris across country after the February 14 bombing on a CRPF bus, which left 40 paramilitary personnel dead, the National Conference vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said Kashmiris are being maligned under a well knit conspiracy and asserted that attacks on Kashmiris have got blessing and support of New Delhi.

"Under a well knit conspiracy, image of Kashmiris is being maligned and tarnished. The Kashmiris are being targeted in Dehradun, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and other places. The boys and girls, who are studying in outside colleges and universities, have nothing to do with politics. They had gone to these places to pursue education for their better future. Unfortunately, they are being harassed, threatened and evicted from these places," Omar told reporters in Srinagar.

He said initially they thought that some ignorant people were behind these attacks.

ALSO READ | Why is PM Modi silent on Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of country: Omar Abdullah

"However, now it seems that they have got support and blessing of central government party. It now seems there is a well-planned conspiracy to target a particular community," the former chief minister said.

Referring to Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy's statement, he said the Governor has called for boycott of Kashmiris and asked people not to visit Kashmir and not to go for Amarnath yatra.

Omar said they had though it would draw strong condemnation at highest level. "We were hoping that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had talked about embracing of Kashmris from Red Fort, will condemn Governor's statement. However, he did not say anything. May be he was busy."

"The Home Minister should have condemned it and initiated action against those indulging in attacks on Kashmiris and threatening them. But it too ignored it," he said.

The NC vice president said instead of taking action, they are resorting to more politics on it.

Another Governor, he said, is talking about abrogating of Article 370, which grants special status to J&K.

"The situation is being created to make people re-think on two-nation theory. They are being forced to have a rethink whether two-nation theory was a right or wrong decision," he said.

Referring to 2010 Maoist attack on CRPF in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh in which 76 CRPF men were killed, Omar said, "After the attack, nobody called for economic boycott of Chhattisgarh. No hotel denied accommodation to Chhattisgarh people. And no Governor called for boycott of Chhattisgarh".

ALSO READ | Withdrawal of security to separatists a regressive step? NC leader Omar Abdullah thinks so

"Why Kashmiris are being targeted? What is our fault? It is because J&K is a Muslim-majority state. Are we being punished for this very fact and targeted again and again," he said.

The former chief minister also took a dig at country's large opposition party, saying Congress too has remained silent on attacks on Kashmiris.

"We were expecting least from BJP and its leadership but unfortunately Congress too has not highlighted the miseries Kashmiri are facing nowadays," he said.

Referring to PM Modi, Omar said, "Elections will come and go. And if for elections you want to sacrifice Kashmiris for winning the election, then it will be big mistake of country."

"We need a statesman and not a politician. We are only finding politicians and not statesman," he said.

Omar also criticised central government for calling mainstream politicians "anti-nationals" whenever they call for a peaceful dialogue to resolve Kashmir issue.

"When we talk of dialogue to resolve Kashmir issue, we are being labelled as anti-national. However, in joint statement with Saudi Arabia, the government talked of composite dialogue," he added.
Kavya Varghese By

Express News Service

From 1993, Dr Seema Waghmode began rescuing and rehabilitating commercial sex workers and their children in Budhwar Peth, Pune. Not many people are willing to work with commercial sex workers, especially because of the risk involved. These women are generally given no respect, and the mere thought of a future outside red light areas is like a far fetched dream.

But having worked in the world of commercial sex workers for 25 years, she looks after these women and children as her own. She not only trains the women to take up other occupations, but also takes care of their needs, their childrens education, has taught them what their rights are, and how to protect themselves from those around them.

When Seema started Kayakalpa, her husband told her, There will be a lot of difficulties. If you want to do this work, go ahead. But once you begin, never turn back. And Seema did exactly that. She says, Once I began learning what they go through, I just could not think of turning back.

How did you begin working for Commercial Sex Workers and their children?

1993 was a time when HIV/AIDS started becoming a huge problem here in Pune. I joined those from the governments research team, and we had awareness programmes for school and college students. In Kayakalpa, we had the responsibility of working for commercial sex workers.

What does your organisation do?

We have a rehabilitation centre for the children. Now my plan for the future is to make a rehabilitation centre for the sex workers also. We train them for the work theyre interested in doing. We have also fought for their equal rights and made films to make them aware of what their rights are, and how to safeguard themselves from other people and even the police. Because unless they know their rights, they cannot stand up for themselves. We also have a website https://www.seemasproject.org.

What moved you to do what youre doing?

Weve never accepted commercial sex workers as a part of our community. People just dont want to help them out. They think, Its not like they stay on the streets. Little do they know that these women do not stay in the red light area out of their own free will. Once they come here, they cannot run away. Ive heard with my own ears children of these women saying, Ma, Im hungry. Why dont you take in customers? With that, I decided that I just had to take these children out of here. We dont separate the children from their mothers. But we just want them to be far away from these areas.

How do women end up here?

Many women who come here are tricked into getting romantically involved with men, and then get sold in these areas. 98% of women here have been trapped, in one way or the other, into coming to these areas and working. Theyve not come here to sell a thing. Theyve come here to sell their bodies.

When youre offering them an alternative lifestyle, is it hard to convince them to do it?

Many of them come there at really tender ages. Their trust in this world is gone. So one thing is to earn their trust and convince them. Sometimes it takes weeks or even months. But sometimes they dont leave if there is more certainty of receiving income in prostitution. My job is to show them the way and to ensure that they do not feel like they are all alone in the world. If they want to live as prostitutes, we take care of them. If they want to get out of it, I give them a helping hand.

What is the trauma like for these women and children?

That will definitely be there. But if we talk to them with love and counsel them, then things will get better. We have a counselling centre, a treatment centre, and people can come here and talk and spend some time with these women. It is our responsibility to try to get them through the trauma. People ask me why Im doing all this dirty work. But when Im gone, I dont want the number of children being taken care of to decrease. It should keep going. And its possible that someone gets inspired and starts this work in Calcutta. I want more people to come together and help commercial sex workers and their children.

What are the ways in which commercial sex workers and their children still need to be taken care of?

The government is not going to do away with prostitution. But they wont make it legal either. They should be taking care of their health, promote the use of condoms, do everything, but they dont want to do that. The thing is that, back then, no one was ready or willing to work for these women because of the risks. But they need education, too. They also need to be fed; its their right. While people have claimed to build schools for children of prostitutes, most of them have been for boys. What about the girls? Its our duty to ensure that the girls do not go back into this business.

What do you do when you dont have enough funds?

Sometimes when we dont have enough funds, people tell us to shut down the organisation. But weve kept pushing on, and there have been people whove helped us, and thats gone a long way. Im doing it out of my own greed because I like the smiles on the faces of these children. I like being with these children and raising them.

What, from your experience, do you think stops the control of prostitution?

Corruption. Who will you hold responsible? The people? The system? For people to realise that the other person is also a human being, the world needs to change. People need to change, society needs to change, the customers who use these women need to change, the system needs to change, and our politicians need to change.

How is prostitution in India different from prostitution in other countries?

Prostitutes in India are like beggars. Ive worked with NGOs in Australia, Thailand and many other countries. There, the sex workers have earned a name for themselves. They are respected. People dont call for them cheaply.

(This interview was originally published in EdexLive)
By PTI

MUMBAI: Their rekindled bonhomie notwithstanding, the Shiv Sena on Thursday questioned the BJP-led government's response to the Pulwama terror attack, asking it not to wait "till the eve of polling (for Lok Sabha)" to act against Pakistan.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana also asked the Modi government not to depend on the US and European countries to condemn the attack.

"We have to fight for ourselves instead of looking at America or the European countries for support," the Sena said. The Sena said a war between India and Pakistan is underway on social media, adding this marks the start of election campaigning. This social media war has to be stopped, it said.

READ| Pulwama fallout: Kashmiri shawl trader assaulted in Nadia, one arrested

"The martyrdom of soldiers and terror attacks becomes a tool to win elections. How will such a nation face enemies? There are rhetorics of teaching Pakistan a lesson. First do it and then speak. We are only giving warnings since Pathankot, Uri and now Pulwama (terror attacks)," the Sena said.

"We are busy patting our backs over what Donald Trump, France and Iran had to say over the attacks," the party said.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena had on Monday announced a seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, overcoming their strained ties and previous declarations of going solo.

The Sena said Sri Lanka ended the menace of LTTE and the world commended the island nation for it.

The US killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and the world appreciated that country's courage, the party said. "However, we are patting our backs even after doing nothing. It is different for countries like the US and France to condemn the terror attack in Pulwama and another thing to openly say Kashmir is a part of India," it said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that his country will retaliate if India takes action over the Pulwama terror attack.

Unless countries like the US and France tell Pakistan that it will be the loser (in case of conflict with India), such nations can't be considered a true friend of India, it said.
(Photo/Chinanews.com)

When many tourist destinations in and outside China have entered the traditional off-peak season of a year after the Spring Festival, relevant data revealed that travels are on the rise, as airlines, hotels, and travel companies are trying to attract customers with lower prices, Economic Daily reported on Feb. 18.

In Beijing, a storefront owned by the Caissa Touristic Group AG has received many more customers than its workers had anticipated after the Spring Festival holiday. Zhu Bo, a staff member of the store explained that the main reason for the phenomenon was the attractive prices of the products they are selling.

Zhu disclosed that a travel product featuring a seven-day semi-independent tour of Japan is to be sold in March for half the price it was being sold during the Spring Festival.

According to Chinas top tourism website Lvmama.com, the person-times of tourists booking travel products for this February and the coming March after this Spring Festival has grown by about 33 percent so far when compared with the same period during the previous year.

Short trips to foreign countries and long trips to domestic cities are particularly popular, while vacations on islands, tours of famous scenic spots, cultural tours, and cherry blossom themed travels all win the most favor with people.

Zhu Jing, a female white-collar worker from Beijing plans to travel to Sanya, south Chinas Hainan Province from Feb. 21 to 24 and spend 30 percent less money than expected on her travel products when compared to booking online.

Zhu had searched the Internet for flights from Beijing to Sanya before this past Spring Festival, but found out that there was no discount basically, and there wasnt any economy class tickets left for flights with favorable departure times, only first class and business class, according to Zhu.

The ticket price of the same flight started to slump since Feb.17, with a 75 percent discount offered for the economy class ticket, which is now sold for less than 700 yuan (about $103.33).

By Feb.12, data from Chinas leading online travel agency Ctrip showed that the prices of air tickets to popular travel destinations had been gradually lowered from 30 percent to 50 percent of regular prices after the Spring Festival, and that some even slumped by more than 70 percent compared with days before the holiday.

Hotel prices are also seeing remarkable cuts. According to Yu Xinyang, a tourist from east Chinas Zhejiang Province who had visited south Chinas Guangdong Province during the past Spring Festival, the price of the five-star hotel room he booked fell from about 900 yuan per night during the holiday to less than 600 yuan per night now.

Industry insider expressed that off-season travels are good choices for senior people, students, and those who can enjoy paid vacations, for they can not only enjoy lower prices, but avoid the sea of people in the tourist destinations during peak tourism seasons and have a more pleasant tour experience.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the document.

The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

However, it did not name Pakistan in this context.

ALSO READ: Terrorism 'common concern', says Saudi Crown Prince after talks with PM Modi

"Modiji on February 18 said 'the time for talks with Pakistan is over, and now action will be taken'," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

"Modiji on February 20 saying --India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014," he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

The prime minister "forgot" to write the name of "terror nourisher" Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said.

ALSO READ: Crown Prince orders release of 850 Indian prisoners from Saudi jails on PM Modi's request

The Crown Prince "appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister's personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan," the joint statement said.

"In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," it said.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
By PTI

MELBOURNE: Cervical cancer could be eliminated as a public health problem in India within the next 60 years by making existing prevention programmes such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and cervical screening more accessible, according to a Lancet study published Wednesday.

The estimates, which are the first of their kind at a global-scale, indicate that up to 13.4 million cases of cervical cancer could be prevented within 50 years if intervention strategies are scaled-up by 2020.

The average rate of annual cases across all countries could fall to less than 4 cases per 100,000 women by the end of the century -- which is a potential threshold for considering cervical cancer to be eliminated as a major public health problem.

ALSO READ | Team of techies to develop app for cancer detection

For countries with medium levels of development, including India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, this could be achieved by 2070-79, according to the study published in The Lancet Oncology journal.

The study, led by researchers at the Cancer Council New South Wales in Australia, showed that cervical cancer could potentially be eliminated as a major public health problem in 149 out of 181 countries by 2100.

In high-income countries including the US, Finland, the UK, and Canada, cervical cancer is predicted to be eliminated as a public health problem within 25-40 years.

Without expanding current prevention programmes, however, the study predicts that 44.4 million cervical cancer cases would be diagnosed over the next 50 years -- rising from 600,000 in 2020 to 1.3 million in 2069 due to population growth and aging.

"Despite the enormity of the problem, our findings suggest that global elimination is within reach with tools that are already available, provided that both high coverage of HPV vaccination and cervical screening can be achieved," said Karen Canfell from the Cancer Council New South Wales.

"More than two-thirds of cases prevented would be in countries with low and medium levels of human development like India, Nigeria, and Malawi, where there has so far been limited access to HPV vaccination or cervical screening," Canfell said.

However, rates of less than 4 cases per 100,000 would not be achieved by the end of the century in all individual countries in Africa (eg, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) even if high coverage vaccination and twice lifetime cervical screening could be achieved by 2020.

In May 2018, the Director General of WHO called for coordinated action globally to eliminate this highly preventable cancer.

WHO has called for urgent action to scale up implementation of proven measures towards achieving the elimination of cervical cancer as a global public health problem.

These include vaccination against HPV, screening, and treatment of pre-cancer, early detection and prompt treatment of early invasive cancers and palliative care.

A draft global strategy to accelerate cervical cancer elimination, with goals and targets for the period 2020-2030, will be considered at the World Health Assembly in 2020.

"The WHO call-to-action provides an enormous opportunity to increase the level of investment in proven cervical cancer interventions in the world's poorest countries.

Failure to adopt these interventions will lead to millions of avoidable premature deaths," said Canfell.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, with an estimated 570,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2018, of which around 85 per cent occur in less developed regions.

HPV, a group of more than 150 viruses, is responsible for the majority of cervical cancers.

Proven methods are available to screen for and treat cervical pre-cancers, and broad-spectrum HPV vaccines can potentially prevent up to 84-90 per cent of cervical cancers.

Results showed that rapid vaccination scale-up to 80-100 per cent coverage globally by 2020 using a broad-spectrum HPV vaccine could prevent 6.7-7.7 million cases--but more than half of these would be averted after 2060.

If, in addition, cervical screening were scaled-up to high coverage by 2020, an additional 5.7-5.8 million cases of cervical cancer may be prevented globally in the next 50 years, and substantially speed up elimination.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: A little traditional touch to a contemporary home with colours, curios and cushions can make an interesting alteration to the design vibe, suggest experts.

Manisha Chanda, Director, Ishatvam, and Vibhor Jain, Director, ArgentOr Silver, suggest how:

* Colours play an important and significant role in India. Each season, each festival is represented with a different palette of colours that can be incorporated into modern homes. Add these vibrant colours to your space against a pastel western palette.

* Your sofa and chairs could be structured with clean lines and contemporary upholstery. One can use cushions and throws in beautiful traditional prints and weaves to create a perfect amalgamation of traditional warmth as opposed to the relatively cold contemporary.

* Incorporate traditional materials like brass and pieces with filigree into your homes.

* Add unique pieces to your space, such as a large pichhwai (folk art dedicated to Lord Krishna) or a beautiful lantern. They add an interesting element and are great conversation pieces.

* Use the right crockery to add traditional elements into a contemporary home.

* Furniture without ornamentation, mostly in grey/beige, something that brings neutral hues perfectly defines the contemporary aspect. Adding a bold element of something chic and classy, like a piece of silverware, a chandelier or a majestic potted plant, can elevate the interiors celebrating the essence of simplicity with an impact.


Kavya Varghese By

Express News Service

As far as colours go, like most of us Indians, 17-year-old Ariana Gupta from Mumbai has been told, It wouldve been better if you were fairer. Ariana, a 12th grader, has used Snow White to celebrate all skin tones in her debut book, New Age Fairy Tales.

I made sure that my character had all complexions, all colours, and she has sported all the shades because I just wanted kids to know that success is not related to your complexion or anything like that. You cant equate it to something as singular as that, she says.

Ariana deliberately stayed away from making Snow White dark, because she did not want it to be about black or white, which would be another extreme. Beyond the magic, were subconsciously taught messages that will go on negatively shaping our thoughts. But boys dont always need to save the day. Girls dont need to be dormant till Prince Charming arrives. Ariana tackles the destructive messages that fairy tales put across to children, by adding her own twist to them in her book.

New Age Fairy Tales was published in December, 2018, through The Write Place - a publishing initiative of Crossword Bookstores Ltd. The book is 72 pages long, and addresses themes like feminism, body shaming, and our mental and social conditioning. The book uses the characters of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid to tell Arianas version of fairy tales.

As far as the motive to inspire is concerned, Arianas book is similar to Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallos of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls. But while that includes 100 stories of real women from the past and the present, New Age Fairy Tales strives to right the wrongs in stories that have already been written.

But Ariana did not always plan on publishing a book that changed how people think about stories theyve always been listening to. It began with a photoshoot for a Graphic Design portfolio for which Ariana had five friends dress up as key characters from fairy tales. She Indianised them, and made them wear saris and Indian jewellery. She says, I created a poster through which I altered each of the messages that these fairy tales sent out, and after I was done with that, I realised that they actually had the potential to be turned into stories. She then proceeded to reread the fairy tales to find out what wrong messages they were sending out to children, and then began to change the narratives.

While Ariana was worried about whether or not children would be able to relate to the ways in which her characters were altered and presented, she did not underestimate the intellectual capacity of her audience to understand concepts dealing with problems in our society. She recalls fondly, When I read it out to my 7-year-old neighbour, she could instantly relate. She didnt get the part about body shaming, obviously, because I havent explicitly mentioned it, but she got the overall message about being happy in your own skin, and with who you are. Its hard to let go of something that youve grown up with. But what encouraged Ariana was when the little girl said that she liked Arianas fairy tales better than the original stories she was introduced to. A lot of adults who read this book also said that adults should read the book as well, and not just children, Ariana added.

Ariana has also used colour psychology to change was how we perceive villains. According to her, if were given a bunch of colours to choose from, we always pick black as the colour that is associated with evil. But Ariana says that things arent as simple as that, and neither can you classify people as good or bad. Theres always a grey area and I think children should be taught that. Good people can do bad things, she says. But with regard to villains, Ariana doesnt just stop with the colours. She also rejects the pattern of a woman being another womans biggest enemy, be it in the form of an evil stepmother, or an envious witch, or as an evil sea creature. I want the women in my stories to help each other and not be pitted against each other, she stated.

While Ariana is busy with the academic pressures that every 12th grader in India has to put up with, she doesnt just want to stop with a book that empowers women. After she is done with school, she also plans on publishing a sequel about the problems boys face. I want to establish the fact that boys can also be sensitive, and I want to dwell upon things like consent and simplify it so that children are taught such things early, she says. Ariana also has a word of advice to anyone who wants to make a change in the way our society thinks: I think you can just start small, and do everything in your personal capacity to get where you want to be. For me, it was through my art. Start small, and before you know it, something big will happen.

(This article was originally published on EdexLive)
A Sharadhaa By

Express News Service

The picture just got bigger for V Samudras directorial Ranam, a bilingual film in Kannada and Telugu, with south Indian heroine Varalaxmi Sarathkumar joining the cast. She will don the role of a CBI officer in the film that also features Chetan as a revolutionist and Chiranjeevi Sarja in an encounter specialists role.

For Varalaxmi, who made her Sandalwood debut with Sudeep in Maanikya, Ranam will be her third outing in Kannada after Vismaya. Joining her will be another south Indian actor, Dev Gill, who is also playing a similar role. The two are currently taking part in the shoot being held at Minerva Mills where a large set has been created by art director Srinivas.

ALSO READ: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar to make her Telugu debut

City Express got hold of a few pictures from the sets, which shows actors Varalaxmi and Dev participating in a major chase sequence. According to producer Srinivas of RS Productions, this stunt, choreographed by Thriller Manju, will be an expensive action sequence. It is said to cost Rs 10 lakh per day. A nine-day schedule has been planned for this particular fight sequence. It will go on till Sunday, he says.

Samudra, who has predominantly worked in Telugu films, is venturing into making his first Kannada film. This project is being made in two languages, for which the makers have brought on board regional artistes. Nithu Gowda plays the female lead in the film in both the languages.

For this film, Chetan is styling himself as revolutionary freedom fighter Che Guevara, who was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary. Gurukiran will be scoring the music, while Niranjan Babu will take charge of the cameraman for the Kannada version.
By Express News Service

Tanya Hope, who is making her Kannada debut, is already creating a buzz with the song Basanni baa...in Yajamana. And for this she has music composer and film director, V Harikrishna to thank. The peppy song, featuring Darshan, is a hit and has been a favourite. I am happy to be called Basanni. Secondly, I always wanted to be a part of a dance number, an opportunity I got with Yajamana. So far, I have only done songs that feature me in montage shots. Being Basanni, even for few moments, was exhilarating. I like dancing, and I went on to do a full performance. I should thank the choreographer Ganesh, who was very helpful with the dance steps, she says.

There is more than to Bassani in Yajamana, says the young actor, adding, My name is Ganga in the movie and I am a journalist. As an independent journo in the film, I help Darshan in a case that he is fighting for.

Her team, including producer Shylaja Nag and Director V Harikrihsna, was welcoming. Like every newcomer, she also had butterflies in her stomach when she had to face the camera with big stars.

The first day I had to stand opposite Darshan, I forgot my lines. Even though I was trying to keep calm, at one point, I felt I was freezing. Everybody was waiting for me to perform my dialogues, but I went blank. He did see me getting nervous and told me, Stay calm and asked me to look at the camera and deliver the dialogues. Eventually, I got comfortable, says Tanya.

The film also sees her sharing screen space with Rashmika Mandanna, and she is quick to explain that they have completely different roles. Hers is a love angle and I am involved in solving a case. We have two dimensions to the story. At any point, there is no overlap in our roles, she says. At no point had Tanya imaged that she would have two films (Yajamana and Tamil film, Thadam) of hers releasing on the same day (March 1). I will be in Bengaluru and I am preparing myself to watch back-to-back films.

Seeing myself on screen gives me a different kind of high

Unlike the regular model-turned-heroine, Tanya was inspired by her sister to enter tinsel town. When I was younger, it was my sister, who is four years older to me, who always thought of acting, modeling and dancing. I was enamoured by her, and she was my inspiration to become a heroine. When we were young, she was the filmy one and the Madhubala in the house. However, she didnt end up pursuing it, but here I am, she says.

Not coming from a film background, interestingly, she didnt take acting class. From my first film, Ive enjoyed acting. I now love it so much that its just a part of me. I made a mark in Telugu in 2016, and have had three films released in Tollywood, says Tanya, who is now looking forward to her debut in Kannada and Tamil.

Even as she is trying to get comfortable in each industry, Tanya says, Im not saying that I am there or I am perfect. However, I am putting in effort and I am not willing to give up and let it go. These are the key principles I am following in the industry. I believe that if you have an unrelenting spirit, you will succeed, she says.

Irrespective of the language, Tanya wants to go where ever good work takes her. For her, the best part about being in films is the diversity and challenges each day brings along. Watching myself on screen gives me a different kind of high, she says.
Shilajit Mitra By

Express News Service

Snoop Dogg turns up twice in Gully Boy. First on the back of rapper Tony Sebastians t-shirt; and second, in a tribute Vijay Varma pays to the American legend when he breaks into a hilarious singsong: urging the world to visit Mr. Green every day. Varma plays Moeen in the film, a close friend of Ranveer Singhs Murad. A mechanic by day and a carjacker at night, Moeen embodies the spirit of hustling and marginalised existence so essential to life in Dharavi, one of Asias largest slums and the now epicentre of Indias exploding hip-hop scene.

Excerpts from a conversation with the actor...

I cannot get over the scene where you start rapping in the film. (Laughs) That scene was not written like that. During rehearsals, it was Ranveer who suggested I should break into a rap. He said, Mere ko lagta hain Moeen bhai ko idhaar chhott jana chahiye... (I think Moeen bhai should just let go right here).

ALSO READ: Zoya Akhtar, the Dhoni of filmmaking, says 'Gully Boy' star Vijay Varma

It was a conscious choice to keep the rap funny and nonsensical, since Moeen is uneducated and only understands the sound of it. I snuck in the Snoop Dogg tribute in the end. Personally, I am a big hip-hop fan: I have been listening to Eminem since The Real Slim Shady broke out in 2000.

The entire ensemble of Gully Boy, from Siddhant Chaturvedi to the Vijay Raaz, is being praised. How does that make you feel?

If youve followed Zoya Akhtars filmography, you would remember even the smallest characters from her movies. She doesnt treat cinema like a one-hero thing. Gully Boy opens with my character walking down the street, not Ranveers. It was on paper. She really wanted these characters and this world to come alive. I think such an approach should be the norm, instead of being just great.

Theres a muted dignity and self-respect to the character of Moeen, despite the terrible things he does...

The dignity of the character was in the script. The nature of his business, from stealing cars to dealing drugs, is related to the circumstances of his life. Its just a matter of survival. He too is a hard-working man: he spends all day greased up in the garage. He knows everything about cars and how to unlock them. He wants to hang around these rich college kids, but the only way he can do that is by peddling drugs to them.

Theres a frightening moment when you shout at one of the kids in the garage, who is unwilling to leave. It snaps a sudden life back into the film.

That was an improvisation. I needed to establish a certain relationship between Moeen and the kids who work for him. I felt it was missing in the story. So before the shoot, I walked up the child actor and told him not to leave at once. Nobody knew I was going to do it. When it happened, Ranveer and Zoya were floored.

You were brilliant in Pink and Monsoon Shootout. Gully Boy has been hailed as your best performance so far. Whats next for you?

I am doing a web-series written and produced by Imtiaz Ali. I can speak more about it once the announcement is made. Then theres Anurag Kashyaps upcoming production Bamfaad, directed by his long-time assistant Ranjan Chandel. I have a killer role in that one too.
By PTI

LAHORE: An FIR has been registered against Pakistani actor Fawad Khan after his wife refused to administer anti-polio drops to their daughter.

The Lahore Police took the action on a written complaint of the polio team, which visited the Faisal Town residence of the film star where his wife "resisted and then misbehaved with the team".

Pakistan is one of the three countries in the world, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, that suffers from endemic polio.

Poliovirus can cause paralysis or death.

According to the FIR, Khan's wife refused to get administered polio drops to her minor daughter and also hurled threats and misbehaved with the polio team.

Pakistani actor Fawad Khan | AFP

The driver of the family also treated the visiting team roughly.

"Khan's wife did not give any plausible reason for not getting her daughter administered polio drops. Either it is complete ignorance on the part of her or being a celebrity, showing no respect to the polio workers. This is highly condemnable behaviour of a celebrity family," Muhammad Jamil, a district official, said.

READ HERE | Pulwama attack aftermath: All Indian Cine Workers Association announces ban on Pakistani artistes

Fawad is currently in Dubai for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and was not present at home at the time.

However, being the head of the family, a case was registered against him.

According to Pakistani law, in addition to fine, a person has to face imprisonment up to two years for failing to administer anti-polio drops to their children.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson of Prime Minister's Polio taskforce Babar Bin Ata tweeted, "Fawad is our pride, I request him to allow teams to vaccinate the child. Lahore has had a polio case last week, we must protect the child."
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Pratyeka Bharosa Yatra (bus yatra) of the Congress arrived in Kurnool on the second day with APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy reiterating that Andhra Pradesh will get special category status (SCS) with the Congress at the helm of affairs at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting in Kurnool and later at Nandyal, Raghuveera said the Congress strived to give SCS to the State from the very first day. Earlier, speaking to media persons, the party State chief said Gandhi will kick-start the poll campaign of the party in the State from Tirupati on February 22, he added.

APCC vice-president N Tulasi Reddy said that the Pratyeka Hoda Bharosa Yatra would enter Kadapa district on February 21 at Mydukuru.From the district, the yatra will head to Chittoor district.
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Thousands of tribals, farmers, students and workers gathered at Nashik, who had started their second long march to cover 180 km and reach Mumbai on Thursday withdrew the agitation after successful negotiations with Maharashtra cabinet ministers Girish Mahajan and Jayprakash Rawal.

CPI(M) MLA from Surgana in Nashik district J P Gawit made the announcement regarding withdrawal of agitation after the meeting at around 11pm.

In wake of delay in implementation of the promises made by the government, a decision has been taken to set up a committee for reviewing the implementation of promises which would meet at intervals of once in two months and give recommendations on implementation of promises, Gavit said while announcing withdrawal of the agitation.

Maharashtra irrigation minister Girish Mahajan said that Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would soon make a formal announcement regarding the promises made to the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) delegation today and will also speak about various measures taken by the government over the issue.

AIKS president Ashok Dhawale, had earlier in the day said that they had three meetings with Chief Minster Devendra Fadnavis and others including Mahajan. We took the decision to take the long march again only after there was no solution in sight even after three meetings, he said.

Recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers headed by Dr MS Swaminathan needs to be implemented. Remunerative price is another big issue. Though government announces MSP, farmers dont get the rate on several occasion. The onion issue in Maharashstra is well known. We have been asking the government to come up with concrete solutions to solve these problems. If they call a special session for GST, why not do so for farmers, Dhawale said while explaining the reasons that led to the march.

There is tremendous agrarian distress across the country. Farmers are suffering. It has even reflected in election results. We are trying to bring the agrarian crisis to the national agenda, he added.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China expects the upcoming second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to be held smoothly and achieve positive outcomes, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

"It is China's consistent stance that direct contact and dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S. is key to resolving the Korean Peninsula issue," spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing, adding that China always supports the DPRK and the U.S. to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiations.

Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to hold their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28.

Geng expressed hope that the summit would inject new impetus to realizing denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula. "China will continue to make its own efforts and contributions to realizing this goal," he added.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has held that under the guise of hartal, nobody has the right to prevent other citizens from exercising their fundamental rights to carry on business or trade anywhere in India and also to move freely. Justice Sunil Thomas observed that hartal seekers were only intended to withdraw themselves from their work and persuade fellowmen to follow them.

That does not give them the freedom to take the law into their hands and compel others to stop vehicular traffic or force anybody to close down shops. The court issued the order while allowing the anticipatory bail petition filed by 24 people who are accused in a case registered by the Kunnamkulam police in connection with the hartal called on January 2.

According to the prosecution, the petitioners, who formed into an unlawful assembly to protest against the entry of women to Sabarimala, obstructed pathways and threatened shop owners to close down their shops. They committed mischief and when the police tried to obstruct them, they prevented the police from discharging official duties. The petitioners approached the court apprehending arrest.

The court directed the petitioners to appear before the investigating officer within 10 days and undergo interrogation. If they are proposed to be arrested, they shall be released on bail after executing a bond for a sum of `40,000 with two sureties for the same amount. The petitioners should also deposit a sum of `3,000 each before the Magistrate Court concerned, the court said.

The court issued the order while allowing the anticipatory bail petition filed by 24 people who are accused in a case registered by the Kunnamkulam police in connection with the hartal called on January 2
Princy Alexander By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Two-and-a-half years ago, Kumar Dadlani and his wife began their journey from the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of Spain. 83-countries later and visits at major marinas across the globe, they have reached Kochi on their personal yacht.

Kumar, who owns 23 luxury hotels in Spain alone, harbours hopes to build a marina in India one day. Kochi, he says, is an ideal location, however, with the exception of Goa and Mumbai. "This is one of the reasons why we reached Kochi. We want to study the possibility of constructing a marina here. We understand the government has done their bit to promote the international marina, but it is sad that it has not been utilised to its full potential. Marinas should be more friendly for yachts and smaller boats and for that we need a good eco-system of shopping complexes, restaurants and boutique villas along with shops that cater to the sailor's needs. This is what I hope to build once I find the right location," he said.

His travels have been shaped by the people he has met over the years.

"My hotel business was doing extremely good and it still is. When the recession hit in 2008, I decided to lease out my hotels to keep me in safe waters. However, I went from being an extremely occupied person to having a lot of time on my hands. This is when I decided to build a yacht so that my family and I can spend most of our time travelling and studying the possibility of new ventures," he said.

Though Kumar is a Spaniard and has settled down with his wife and his three sons, the Dadlani family originally belonged to the Sindi background. During the partition, they moved out to Pakistan. When they returned, the Dadlanis realised it was not wise to remain in India anymore. This is how Kumar Dadlani's father reached Spanish shores. The rest, he says, is history.

Today, the Dadlani's Lani's Suites de Luxe has been featured recently as the No.1 Most Romantic Hotel in the world in Trip Advisor.

"The Canary Islands receive at least five million tourists per year. It is second in the world for its tourism potential. The weather is very stable. Our hotel is located at a very ideal location, with its rugged volcanic terrain which has black- and white-sand beaches. We have a lot of extra facilities meant for couples, which is probably why we earned the tag," he said.

So far, his travels have cost him at least 3 million dollars. He and his family plan to visit a few more countries, including Oman, Dubai, Egypt, France and hope to reach back in Spain in eight months time.

"We spent at least a week or so in each place. But it depends. We have to utlise at least 10 per cent of our time on repair of our yacht, while the remaining depends on the place we visit," he said. Travelling through the Malacca straits have been one of the most dangerous travels so far.

"At Papa New Guinea, we shut off the light and travelled. We finally docked in front of the Police Station there, but we were told that it was not safe and the police were helpless. In another location, the fishermen came with knives. It was scary and we expect the travel to worsen when we reach Somalia, but we are confident we will make it through all because we are prepared for the worst," says Kumar.
By Agencies

NEW DELHI: Asees Singh Chadha, the 19-year-old nephew of late businessman Ponty Chadha, who was arrested in connection with a hit-and-run incident which claimed the life of a 51-year-old woman from Turkmenistan on Monday, failed to get bail on Wednesday, as a city court threw out his application.

Soon after the rejection of his plea by Metropolitan Magistrate Ambika Singh, Asees lawyers moved the Sessions Court, which will hear his application on Thursday.

Chadha, who was driving a Bentley, was arrested and charged with rash driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder after he allegedly injured Alajanowa Gulsat, a tourist from Turkmenistan, fatally by ramming into an autorickshaw she was travelling in along with two friends, at high speed. The other two women survived the crash, while the auto driver received multiple injuries.

Asees is the son of Rajinder Singh Chadha, Pontys brother and the current chairman of Wave Group. Rajinder is also known as Raju Chadha.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Oil-rich Saudi Arabia sees an investment opportunity of USD 100 billion in India in various sectors, said visiting Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Wednesday here.

Addressing the media along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the crown prince said Saudi Arabia has already invested USD 44 billion in India since the visit of Modi in 2016 to the Gulf nation.

ALSO READ: Crown Prince orders release of 850 Indian prisoners from Saudi jails on PM Modi's request

He also lauded India's strength in the information technology (IT) and said Saudi Arabia too was investing a lot in the sector.

"We understand that there are opportunities for more than USD 100 billion investment in India. We want to strengthen investment and economic ties to ensure useful returns for both countries," the crown prince said.

He informed that Saudi Arabia has invested in India in petrochemicals and diversifying into other sectors.

"We want to increase cooperation with India as it will give a new direction to our relationship," he said.

ALSO READ | Saudi Arabia increases India's Haj quota to two lakh after Modi-Salman talks

Later T S Tirumurti, Secretary (ER) in Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters that there is a commitment by Saudi Arabia to invest USD 100 billion in sectors like energy, petrochemicals and manufacturing.

When asked by when investments would be made, the Secretary said there was no timeline.

The crown prince arrived here on a less than 30-hour visit Tuesday night, a day after concluding his high-profile tour of Pakistan where he said dialogue was the only way to resolve "outstanding issues" between India and Pakistan.

ALSO READ | PM Modi, Saudi Crown Prince hold talks to further deepen strategic ties amid Pulwama tension

In a special gesture, Modi received Salman at the airport here, signifying the importance India attaches to the visit by the leader of the Gulf nation.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Digital Communications Commission in its meeting scheduled on Thursday is likely to discuss the Rs 3,050 crore cumulative penalty recommended by Trai on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The telecom watchdog in October 2016 recommended imposing total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

"DCC may discuss Rs 3,050 crore cummulative penalty that Trai had recommended for Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone," an official source told PTI.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs 1,050 crore each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs 950 crore.

The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to significant consumer inconvenience.

The Trai's recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 per cent of calls on its network were failing as incumbents were not releasing sufficient number of PoIs.

In August, Reliance Jio had submitted to Trai that it will need 12,727 PoIs for mobile services and 3,068 PoIs for STD call facility before commercial launch of its services. The company launched commercial services on September 5.
Winnisquam Echo Sanbornton residents get first look at municipal building designs

by Donna Rhodes write the author SANBORNTON  An overflow crowd forced a public hearing concerning the design and concepts for the construction of both new and reconstructed municipal buildings in the Town of Sanbornton to be moved from the town offices to the Old Town Hall last week, where Keith McBey of Bonnette, Page and Stone, along with Evan Mullen of Port One Architects, revealed their design concepts.



Mullen said that the broad overview would be for a three-phase "domino effect" project where one department would be moved to a new location after the next phase was completed. The primary catalyst for the project he said, was to provide functional space and security needs for the police department, currently housed in a portion of the Life Safety Building.



After meeting with town employees, touring other possible locations and considering the needs of both the town, Mullen designed a police department that would be housed in the current town offices.



"The town office (in the mid 1960's) was well-built, like a concrete bunker, to originally be a fire department," he said.



Through the years, the usage has changed but he said it could now meet the needs of police.



Mullen's design calls for the addition of a 1,200 square foot Sally Port to the right of the building that would include a secure booking area. The rest of the building would be used for office space, private interview areas, storage and locker rooms. The facility would also be made ADA accessible and include temporary holding cells until arrested suspects could be released or transported to local holding facilities.



Chief Hankard pointed out several areas in which this would increase security for his department. Two holding cells, creating separate space for both adult and juvenile detainees, has been a big concern and this design would address that issue. Bathrooms, he said, are actually another huge security issue. When someone is in custody and has to use the bathroom, they currently must be escorted through the police department offices with a civilian administrative staff member, then past any other civilians or fire fighters in the shared hallway before they reach the current facilities.



Since 1997, he noted that Primex, the town's insurance company, has been concerned about the department's noncompliance with these and other security matters. Working with Mullen and McBey, he said their design would address those matters while meeting the needs of the town in the future.



The cost for that reconstruction is estimated to be approximately $842,391.



Next up was a more minor reconstruction plan for the Life Safety building that would further meet the growing needs of the Sanbornton Fire & Rescue Department. Chief Paul Dexter said the space now being utilized by the police department would provide not only added administrative office space for the department, some of which is currently being done inside a small structure housed in an equipment bay, but address safety issues as well. The reconstruction would allow for a small bunkroom for prospective fire science students, locker rooms for the staff, a radio room, and adequate plumbing that would give fire fighters and EMTs a place to decontaminate after an incident. At this time, the chief said, his crew has to be sent home, one at a time, to shower and change out of their contaminated clothing. That poses a health risk to not only them, but their families as well in a career that has already seen an elevated risk for cancer due to the exposure to carcinogens they experience while on the job.



The third phase of the "domino effect," three building project would be the construction of new town offices in the rear of the Old Town Hall on Meeting House Hill. McBey and Mullen said careful consideration was put into that final phase, considering the historic value of the building and the elevation change from the building to the town-owned fields behind it.



"This was a little bit of a challenging site for us when it came to finding a way to connect to this historic building," Mullen said.



The plan they came up with, however, calls for putting a solid foundation beneath the town hall, which would help preserve the aging structure by giving it more stability. From there, a low-profile, 4,000 square foot addition would be built behind it, with a glass-fronted, solar-friendly design that would not only allow for access between the two structures but provide an elevator and stairway to the new town hall basement where vital records could be stored and preserved. The elevator, he explained, would make it ADA accessible and provide ease in moving large files and equipment to and from that storage area.



The town offices would be accessible by a drive that wraps around the town hall with two entries available. The lower level, built partially into the hillside, would house administrative and welfare offices, while the upper level would provide space for the more public needs such as Town Clerk/Tax Collector, the Recreation Department, a planning room, break room and meeting space.



Cost for that project would be $2,715,725.



McBey said his company would guarantee a maximum price of $4,998,120 for all three phases of the project and return any unspent funds directly back to the town.



There were many questions from the more than 50 people on hand for the hearing, one being concern for the integrity of the Old Town Hall. Speaking neither for nor against the proposal, one resident pointed out that by placing a solid foundation beneath the historic, it might be better preserved. Mullen added that the low-profile concept would also keep it visually appealing in the town while providing more functionality to the community.



"The key is not to take away from the three buildings (on Meeting House Hill). It will be subtle and we'll be conscious of the architectural style and history of this building," he said, adding later, "This is all not intended to be luxurious, but functional."



While several agreed that the police department certainly needed more secure quarters by questioned the overall price of the three-building project, there were numerous overwhelming concerns about the tax impact on the town.



Town Administrator Katie Ambrose stated that the total debt service today is lower than in Fiscal Year 2015 and 2016 with the bond for the "Y Project" now complete. The Transition bond payment of $100,000 will be fulfilled in 2019, and $134,000 in annual payments for the highway building will also be done away with in 2022. Remaining payments on the ARA project along Lake Winnisquam will complete by FY 2024.



The tax impact for this latest municipal project, Ambrose said, will be 23-cents per thousand for the initial interest payment, followed by a peak payment of 84-cents per thousand in FY 2021. From there the rate will decrease by 2-cents per thousand each year during the scope of the bond.



McBey said both he and Mullen's company researched all feasible options available and felt they were providing a good solution to the town's safety, security and space needs.



Their designs, financial data on the project, as well as other useful information from the Board of Selectmen are all available on the Sanbornton Town Web site. Final discussions and voting on the matter will take place at the annual Town Meeting in March. SANBORNTON  An overflow crowd forced a public hearing concerning the design and concepts for the construction of both new and reconstructed municipal buildings in the Town of Sanbornton to be moved from the town offices to the Old Town Hall last week, where Keith McBey of Bonnette, Page and Stone, along with Evan Mullen of Port One Architects, revealed their design concepts.Mullen said that the broad overview would be for a three-phase "domino effect" project where one department would be moved to a new location after the next phase was completed. The primary catalyst for the project he said, was to provide functional space and security needs for the police department, currently housed in a portion of the Life Safety Building.After meeting with town employees, touring other possible locations and considering the needs of both the town, Mullen designed a police department that would be housed in the current town offices."The town office (in the mid 1960's) was well-built, like a concrete bunker, to originally be a fire department," he said.Through the years, the usage has changed but he said it could now meet the needs of police.Mullen's design calls for the addition of a 1,200 square foot Sally Port to the right of the building that would include a secure booking area. The rest of the building would be used for office space, private interview areas, storage and locker rooms. The facility would also be made ADA accessible and include temporary holding cells until arrested suspects could be released or transported to local holding facilities.Chief Hankard pointed out several areas in which this would increase security for his department. Two holding cells, creating separate space for both adult and juvenile detainees, has been a big concern and this design would address that issue. Bathrooms, he said, are actually another huge security issue. When someone is in custody and has to use the bathroom, they currently must be escorted through the police department offices with a civilian administrative staff member, then past any other civilians or fire fighters in the shared hallway before they reach the current facilities.Since 1997, he noted that Primex, the town's insurance company, has been concerned about the department's noncompliance with these and other security matters. Working with Mullen and McBey, he said their design would address those matters while meeting the needs of the town in the future.The cost for that reconstruction is estimated to be approximately $842,391.Next up was a more minor reconstruction plan for the Life Safety building that would further meet the growing needs of the Sanbornton Fire & Rescue Department. Chief Paul Dexter said the space now being utilized by the police department would provide not only added administrative office space for the department, some of which is currently being done inside a small structure housed in an equipment bay, but address safety issues as well. The reconstruction would allow for a small bunkroom for prospective fire science students, locker rooms for the staff, a radio room, and adequate plumbing that would give fire fighters and EMTs a place to decontaminate after an incident. At this time, the chief said, his crew has to be sent home, one at a time, to shower and change out of their contaminated clothing. That poses a health risk to not only them, but their families as well in a career that has already seen an elevated risk for cancer due to the exposure to carcinogens they experience while on the job.The third phase of the "domino effect," three building project would be the construction of new town offices in the rear of the Old Town Hall on Meeting House Hill. McBey and Mullen said careful consideration was put into that final phase, considering the historic value of the building and the elevation change from the building to the town-owned fields behind it."This was a little bit of a challenging site for us when it came to finding a way to connect to this historic building," Mullen said.The plan they came up with, however, calls for putting a solid foundation beneath the town hall, which would help preserve the aging structure by giving it more stability. From there, a low-profile, 4,000 square foot addition would be built behind it, with a glass-fronted, solar-friendly design that would not only allow for access between the two structures but provide an elevator and stairway to the new town hall basement where vital records could be stored and preserved. The elevator, he explained, would make it ADA accessible and provide ease in moving large files and equipment to and from that storage area.The town offices would be accessible by a drive that wraps around the town hall with two entries available. The lower level, built partially into the hillside, would house administrative and welfare offices, while the upper level would provide space for the more public needs such as Town Clerk/Tax Collector, the Recreation Department, a planning room, break room and meeting space.Cost for that project would be $2,715,725.McBey said his company would guarantee a maximum price of $4,998,120 for all three phases of the project and return any unspent funds directly back to the town.There were many questions from the more than 50 people on hand for the hearing, one being concern for the integrity of the Old Town Hall. Speaking neither for nor against the proposal, one resident pointed out that by placing a solid foundation beneath the historic, it might be better preserved. Mullen added that the low-profile concept would also keep it visually appealing in the town while providing more functionality to the community."The key is not to take away from the three buildings (on Meeting House Hill). It will be subtle and we'll be conscious of the architectural style and history of this building," he said, adding later, "This is all not intended to be luxurious, but functional."While several agreed that the police department certainly needed more secure quarters by questioned the overall price of the three-building project, there were numerous overwhelming concerns about the tax impact on the town.Town Administrator Katie Ambrose stated that the total debt service today is lower than in Fiscal Year 2015 and 2016 with the bond for the "Y Project" now complete. The Transition bond payment of $100,000 will be fulfilled in 2019, and $134,000 in annual payments for the highway building will also be done away with in 2022. Remaining payments on the ARA project along Lake Winnisquam will complete by FY 2024.The tax impact for this latest municipal project, Ambrose said, will be 23-cents per thousand for the initial interest payment, followed by a peak payment of 84-cents per thousand in FY 2021. From there the rate will decrease by 2-cents per thousand each year during the scope of the bond.McBey said both he and Mullen's company researched all feasible options available and felt they were providing a good solution to the town's safety, security and space needs.Their designs, financial data on the project, as well as other useful information from the Board of Selectmen are all available on the Sanbornton Town Web site. Final discussions and voting on the matter will take place at the annual Town Meeting in March.

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Plymouth Record Enterprise Fire suppression efforts temporarily displace residents of Plymouth Terrace

by Donna Rhodes write the author PLYMOUTH  On Saturday, Feb. 16, firefighters were called to 36 Adrian's Way in Plymouth for an alarm activation at Plymouth Terrace, a 30-unit residential apartment building.



Deputy Chief Tom Morrison said that upon arrival, crews from Plymouth Fire & Rescue heard reports of a kitchen fire in an apartment on the third floor of the building and while making their way to that apartment, they encountered a heavy bank of smoke in the upstairs hallway that reached all the way to the floor.



"Upon entering the apartment, it was discovered that the automatic sprinkler system had knocked down a majority of the fire. The remainder of the fire was put out with a fire extinguisher," Morrison said.



Plymouth police assisted the fire department in evacuating all residents who were remaining in the building at the time of their arrival. Fortunately there were no injuries to either residents or emergency responders.



"Had it not been for the rapid response of fire crews and the presence of automatic sprinklers, the fire damage would have been much more severe," the deputy chief said.



While the sprinkler system did extinguish most of the flames and prevent the fire from spreading, the amount of water it expelled did cause significant other damage to the building, and caused the residences to be deemed inhabitable for the time being.



Plymouth officials then moved swiftly to make arrangements for housing the tenants until restoration repairs could be made, and the American Red Cross was called in to set up a temporary emergency shelter at the Plymouth Town Hall.



Red Cross officials said six residents who sustained damage in their apartments were taken in at the shelter, where their volunteers and the town offered assistance until it has been deemed safe for them to return home. While those six were accommodated for at the town hall, others who were displaced by the incident were able to find shelter at nearby Bridge House or with family and friends.



Plymouth Fire Department continues to work with the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's office to determine the exact cause of that fire. PLYMOUTH  On Saturday, Feb. 16, firefighters were called to 36 Adrian's Way in Plymouth for an alarm activation at Plymouth Terrace, a 30-unit residential apartment building.Deputy Chief Tom Morrison said that upon arrival, crews from Plymouth Fire & Rescue heard reports of a kitchen fire in an apartment on the third floor of the building and while making their way to that apartment, they encountered a heavy bank of smoke in the upstairs hallway that reached all the way to the floor."Upon entering the apartment, it was discovered that the automatic sprinkler system had knocked down a majority of the fire. The remainder of the fire was put out with a fire extinguisher," Morrison said.Plymouth police assisted the fire department in evacuating all residents who were remaining in the building at the time of their arrival. Fortunately there were no injuries to either residents or emergency responders."Had it not been for the rapid response of fire crews and the presence of automatic sprinklers, the fire damage would have been much more severe," the deputy chief said.While the sprinkler system did extinguish most of the flames and prevent the fire from spreading, the amount of water it expelled did cause significant other damage to the building, and caused the residences to be deemed inhabitable for the time being.Plymouth officials then moved swiftly to make arrangements for housing the tenants until restoration repairs could be made, and the American Red Cross was called in to set up a temporary emergency shelter at the Plymouth Town Hall.Red Cross officials said six residents who sustained damage in their apartments were taken in at the shelter, where their volunteers and the town offered assistance until it has been deemed safe for them to return home. While those six were accommodated for at the town hall, others who were displaced by the incident were able to find shelter at nearby Bridge House or with family and friends.Plymouth Fire Department continues to work with the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's office to determine the exact cause of that fire.


Newfound Landing Snowmobile enthusiasts take to the trail in support of Hebron Fire Department

by Donna Rhodes write the author

Robert Ellis, Gina Rescigno and John Rescigno were eager to head out on a 50-mile trail ride last Saturday for the Hebron Fire Department's annual Poker Run. (Photo by Donna Rhodes) (click for larger version) HEBRON  The Hebron Fire Department hosted their third annual snowmobile Poker Run last Saturday as part of their fundraising campaign to purchase a NASCO Crisis Manikin that will be used to train firefighters and EMTs in many valuable ways.



"This mannequin will actually meet all of our needs for training," said the department's Training Officer, Lt. Patti Oakley.



With the life-like device, the crew will be able to practice ECG pattern recognition, take blood pressure, do defibrillation, hone their IV skills, learn Basic and Advanced Airway Management and much more, Oakley said.



Such a training tool is not cheap, however, so all proceeds from this year's Poker Run were earmarked to help HFD reach their $6,500 fundraising goal.



The day began at the fire department where people registered and picked a card to start their poker hand. They then climbed aboard their snowmobiles and headed out on the 50-mile trail. At each designated stop along the way, they drew another card in the hope of coming up with a winning hand at the end of their ride. After a staggered start for all of the snowmobile entrants, people without a snowmobile were also able to take part in the fun by driving their vehicles to each station where they could draw their playing cards. The route, whether by car or snowmobile trails, led them to Sculptured Rocks in Groton, Plain Jane's Diner in Rumney, Newfound Country Store and Bridgewater Inn before heading back to the Hebron fire station.



Gina Rescigno and her husband John were among the participants, testing not only their luck with the cards, but trying out their new snowmobile as well. They teamed up with friends who were experienced riders and looked forward to the adventure.



"This sounds like it's going to be so much fun. It's good to be riding with someone who knows the trails though," Gina said.



Janet Wallace of Groton was in their group and was equally excited to head out and enjoy a crisp sunny day in the woods.



"We've done this in the past, and it's always a great time," said Wallace.



Sam Comeau and his children Stacy and Jamie were the last to leave so they could make sure everyone made it safely along the route. Comeau said he and Stacy drove the course on Friday to set out all the markers and found the snow conditions to be great.



"Everything was freshly groomed, and it's good to go," he said.



That evening, everyone gathered at the Hebron Community Center, where they enjoyed a lasagna dinner prepared by Nancy Brooks as they awaited the announcement of this year's winners. In first place and the winner of $100 from Bridgewater Inn was Neci Peterson who drew the best hand for the day. In second place, receiving $50 from Hannaford's, was Bruce Tramuller, and Robert Ellis won $25 donated by Sculptured Rocks Farm for his third place finish. Sarah Smith ended up with the worst hand of the day but it paid off in the long run when she was presented with a gift certificate to Plain Jane's Diner. There was also a 50/50 raffle and drawings for other prizes. HEBRON  The Hebron Fire Department hosted their third annual snowmobile Poker Run last Saturday as part of their fundraising campaign to purchase a NASCO Crisis Manikin that will be used to train firefighters and EMTs in many valuable ways."This mannequin will actually meet all of our needs for training," said the department's Training Officer, Lt. Patti Oakley.With the life-like device, the crew will be able to practice ECG pattern recognition, take blood pressure, do defibrillation, hone their IV skills, learn Basic and Advanced Airway Management and much more, Oakley said.Such a training tool is not cheap, however, so all proceeds from this year's Poker Run were earmarked to help HFD reach their $6,500 fundraising goal.The day began at the fire department where people registered and picked a card to start their poker hand. They then climbed aboard their snowmobiles and headed out on the 50-mile trail. At each designated stop along the way, they drew another card in the hope of coming up with a winning hand at the end of their ride. After a staggered start for all of the snowmobile entrants, people without a snowmobile were also able to take part in the fun by driving their vehicles to each station where they could draw their playing cards. The route, whether by car or snowmobile trails, led them to Sculptured Rocks in Groton, Plain Jane's Diner in Rumney, Newfound Country Store and Bridgewater Inn before heading back to the Hebron fire station.Gina Rescigno and her husband John were among the participants, testing not only their luck with the cards, but trying out their new snowmobile as well. They teamed up with friends who were experienced riders and looked forward to the adventure."This sounds like it's going to be so much fun. It's good to be riding with someone who knows the trails though," Gina said.Janet Wallace of Groton was in their group and was equally excited to head out and enjoy a crisp sunny day in the woods."We've done this in the past, and it's always a great time," said Wallace.Sam Comeau and his children Stacy and Jamie were the last to leave so they could make sure everyone made it safely along the route. Comeau said he and Stacy drove the course on Friday to set out all the markers and found the snow conditions to be great."Everything was freshly groomed, and it's good to go," he said.That evening, everyone gathered at the Hebron Community Center, where they enjoyed a lasagna dinner prepared by Nancy Brooks as they awaited the announcement of this year's winners. In first place and the winner of $100 from Bridgewater Inn was Neci Peterson who drew the best hand for the day. In second place, receiving $50 from Hannaford's, was Bruce Tramuller, and Robert Ellis won $25 donated by Sculptured Rocks Farm for his third place finish. Sarah Smith ended up with the worst hand of the day but it paid off in the long run when she was presented with a gift certificate to Plain Jane's Diner. There was also a 50/50 raffle and drawings for other prizes.


Meredith News Fifth annual SkateFest brings out crowds

by Erin Plummer

SkateFest brings families to the Center Harbor town rink. (Photo by Erin Plummer) (click for larger version) CENTER HARBOR  A big winter beach party brought out a big crowd for skating, demonstrations, food, and more winter fun during the fifth annual SkateFest.



The SkateFest Winter Beach Party took place Sunday afternoon bringing big numbers to the annual event. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the event put on by the Center Harbor Community Development Association and local partners.



Bill Ricciardi of the CHCDA and The Edge Tie Dye said SkateFest was "little more crowded this year." He said a lot of information was spread by word of mouth and posts on social media about the event passed around.



The weather helped the event, guests enjoyed warmer temperatures and sunshine.



"The weather was perfect; it's warmer than I thought it was going to be," said Jill Weed of The Edge.



A number of local businesses provided free food to visitors. EM Heath's donated hamburgers and hotdogs for the grinning outside the tent. Inside the tent Piccolo Market, Canoe, Rubbin' Butts, The Mug, and Osteria Poggio gave free samples of their food.



Ricciardi and Weed both made and decorated 500 cookies with tie dye icing for the event. Weed said all of them were gone in a few hours.



The Center Harbor Fire Department did a cold water rescue demonstration by the docks.



The Moultonborough Snowmobile Club offered rides out on the ice in their groomer.



"We love it, we've been trying to get more involved in the community," said Jason Heaton of the Moultonborough Snowmobile Club.



He said last year was their first year at the event and it was a big success.



This year marks SkateFest's fifth anniversary.



"I'm actually kind of amazed that it went by so fast," Ricciardi said.



Among the guests were a few families who were up from Reading, Mass., already in the area to ski at Waterville Valley. Brian Walker said they were looking for something fun to do during the day and heard about SkateFest.



"I love how all the local businesses come together for the food," Walker said.



The kids with them agreed the mac and cheese from Canoe was the best.



"We decided to do a family friendly, outdoor activity," said Jen Walker.



Brian Walker also said the fire department demonstration was also great.



"I think it's incredible that everybody comes out and does these things," said Mark Epstein. "It's great that the community comes together."



Employees from Keepsake Quilting volunteered at the event.



"I think it's great and this is our first time involved and we're already talking about what we want to do next year," said Keepsake staff member Patty Donovan of Tamworth.



She said it's a great opportunity to meet local people, including town representatives and local businesses. Donovan also liked the fire department demonstration.



"It's important for us, I think, to see the effort that the fire department and the rescuers go through to save lives," Donovan said.



The store offered a quilt raffle. Volunteer Dawn Carlson of Gilford said Keepsake Quilting has done raffles for other causes such as breast cancer awareness.



"It would be nice to do something here in Center Harbor," Carlson said,



Carson said she loved being part of this.



"This is amazing; I can't wait to do it next year," Carlson said. CENTER HARBOR  A big winter beach party brought out a big crowd for skating, demonstrations, food, and more winter fun during the fifth annual SkateFest.The SkateFest Winter Beach Party took place Sunday afternoon bringing big numbers to the annual event. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the event put on by the Center Harbor Community Development Association and local partners.Bill Ricciardi of the CHCDA and The Edge Tie Dye said SkateFest was "little more crowded this year." He said a lot of information was spread by word of mouth and posts on social media about the event passed around.The weather helped the event, guests enjoyed warmer temperatures and sunshine."The weather was perfect; it's warmer than I thought it was going to be," said Jill Weed of The Edge.A number of local businesses provided free food to visitors. EM Heath's donated hamburgers and hotdogs for the grinning outside the tent. Inside the tent Piccolo Market, Canoe, Rubbin' Butts, The Mug, and Osteria Poggio gave free samples of their food.Ricciardi and Weed both made and decorated 500 cookies with tie dye icing for the event. Weed said all of them were gone in a few hours.The Center Harbor Fire Department did a cold water rescue demonstration by the docks.The Moultonborough Snowmobile Club offered rides out on the ice in their groomer."We love it, we've been trying to get more involved in the community," said Jason Heaton of the Moultonborough Snowmobile Club.He said last year was their first year at the event and it was a big success.This year marks SkateFest's fifth anniversary."I'm actually kind of amazed that it went by so fast," Ricciardi said.Among the guests were a few families who were up from Reading, Mass., already in the area to ski at Waterville Valley. Brian Walker said they were looking for something fun to do during the day and heard about SkateFest."I love how all the local businesses come together for the food," Walker said.The kids with them agreed the mac and cheese from Canoe was the best."We decided to do a family friendly, outdoor activity," said Jen Walker.Brian Walker also said the fire department demonstration was also great."I think it's incredible that everybody comes out and does these things," said Mark Epstein. "It's great that the community comes together."Employees from Keepsake Quilting volunteered at the event."I think it's great and this is our first time involved and we're already talking about what we want to do next year," said Keepsake staff member Patty Donovan of Tamworth.She said it's a great opportunity to meet local people, including town representatives and local businesses. Donovan also liked the fire department demonstration."It's important for us, I think, to see the effort that the fire department and the rescuers go through to save lives," Donovan said.The store offered a quilt raffle. Volunteer Dawn Carlson of Gilford said Keepsake Quilting has done raffles for other causes such as breast cancer awareness."It would be nice to do something here in Center Harbor," Carlson said,Carson said she loved being part of this."This is amazing; I can't wait to do it next year," Carlson said.

Meredith News Islanders offer feedback on Shep Brown's proposal From screens to a river Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
Littleton Courier Backpacker's Cafe open under new management

by Justin Roshak

Joanne Cortese, Patty O'Shea, and Kate McGovern Gill, the team behind Franconia's new old Main Street eatery. (Courtesy Photo) (click for larger version) FRANCONIAThe Backpacker's Cafe at was open for business again Thursday, Feb. 14. The re-opening brought a final end to the long, caffeine-free nightmare on the left side of Main Street.



The Cafe will continue to offer its mix of breakfast and lunch foods, with a strong emphasis on feeding the needs of hikers, skiers, snowshoers, and other out-of-doors types. Entrees include familiar names for sandwiches, such as "The Notch," "The Lafayette," and the "Man-Conia." Curiously, the "Old Man on the Mountain" sandwich is served on Vermont toast.



In the bubble of positive social media enthusiasm last week, one local expressed excitement about the inclusion of a vegan option.



Coffee includes the cafe's own "Backpacker's Blend," from Mad River Coffee Roasters.



The Cafe had closed suddenly the previous year, and it was known that disputes within the ownership team were a factor. Rumors of a vocal confrontation spilling into public were widely circulated, but what was certain is that the cafe remained closed, empty, and unsold for almost a year.



The opening also brings the cycle of Franconia's downtown restaurant full circle.



With the closure of longtime fixture Wendl's and later the Backpack Cafe, the major food stops for skiers and hikers outside of the grocery market and village store had dried up. In conjunction with the closure of the old Ski Shop, several major storefronts were empty or unused. In the case of the Backpack Cafe, no new tenant was possible, while the previous owners worked out their future plans.



The old Wendl's space was filled with Hungry Bear in late 2018 (under ownership of the former proprietor of Littleton's Bagel Depot), filling the breakfast void. Now, with Backpack back in business, the cycle of rebirth is complete. FRANCONIAThe Backpacker's Cafe at was open for business again Thursday, Feb. 14. The re-opening brought a final end to the long, caffeine-free nightmare on the left side of Main Street.The Cafe will continue to offer its mix of breakfast and lunch foods, with a strong emphasis on feeding the needs of hikers, skiers, snowshoers, and other out-of-doors types. Entrees include familiar names for sandwiches, such as "The Notch," "The Lafayette," and the "Man-Conia." Curiously, the "Old Man on the Mountain" sandwich is served on Vermont toast.In the bubble of positive social media enthusiasm last week, one local expressed excitement about the inclusion of a vegan option.Coffee includes the cafe's own "Backpacker's Blend," from Mad River Coffee Roasters.The Cafe had closed suddenly the previous year, and it was known that disputes within the ownership team were a factor. Rumors of a vocal confrontation spilling into public were widely circulated, but what was certain is that the cafe remained closed, empty, and unsold for almost a year.The opening also brings the cycle of Franconia's downtown restaurant full circle.With the closure of longtime fixture Wendl's and later the Backpack Cafe, the major food stops for skiers and hikers outside of the grocery market and village store had dried up. In conjunction with the closure of the old Ski Shop, several major storefronts were empty or unused. In the case of the Backpack Cafe, no new tenant was possible, while the previous owners worked out their future plans.The old Wendl's space was filled with Hungry Bear in late 2018 (under ownership of the former proprietor of Littleton's Bagel Depot), filling the breakfast void. Now, with Backpack back in business, the cycle of rebirth is complete.

Littleton Courier Firefighters battle second blaze at Rotobec Wireless LINC under new ownership, upgrades underway Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
BERLIN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China remained the single largest market for products of the German electrical industry in 2018, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (ZVEI) announced on Wednesday.

The value of products export increased by 10.3 percent to 21 billion euros. The second largest market was the United States, which imported German electrical exports worth 17.8 billion euros in 2018, according to the announcement.

"The already successful cooperation" between Germany and China on many future subjects such as artificial intelligence could be further strengthened, according to Chairman of the management board of ZVEI Klaus Mittelbach.

European countries such as France, the Netherlands and Britain are also among the most important markets of the German electrical industry.

In general, exports of electronic goods from Germany grew by 5 percent to 211.9 billion euros (240.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, despite a slight decline towards the end of the year, the ZVEI said.

In December 2018, the value of German exports amounted to 15.8 billion euros, a slight decline of 0.3 percent compared to the same month last year. "It was the first decrease since July 2016", ZVEI chief economist Andreas Gontermann stated.

Imports of electronic goods increased by 4.4 percent to 191.1 billion euros in 2018, making Germany's export surplus reach 20.8 billion euros. However, towards the end of the year 2018, imports also fell by 0.7 percent in a year-on-year comparison.

In January, ZVEI announced that the German electrical industry is set to increase production by 1 percent with total sales exceeding 200 billion euros in 2019. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)
Littleton Courier Fire at Rocks Estate destroys buildings, plans

Staff unhurt, and citizens share memories

by Justin Roshak

The blaze at the Rocks estate last Wednesday night. Courtesy of Littleton Fire and Rescue. (click for larger version) BETHLEHEMThe evening of Wednesday, Feb. 13 saw devastation to property, though no loss of life, during a fire at the Rocks Estate.



Sirens were first heard around 6 p.m., when Emergency Services reported the first fire alarm, and smoke was seen coming from the four-story Tool Building. Within the hour, the fire was upgraded to two alarms.



The fire began in lower level of the Tool Building, an historic space used for office space, social gatherings, and main programming. It would have been 113 years old this year. Now, only its chimney remains. The former electrical plant building was also destroyed. The New Hampshire Maple Museum was undamaged, and Property Manager Nigel Manley's house was saved, despite being adjacent to the blaze. Manley was able to get out safely, and confirmed that all staff were also safe.



Within minutes of the first announcement, a Franconia resident reported nearly every piece of fire equipment head for Bethlehem. Littleton, Whitefield, and Lisbon were called out as well.



By 7 p.m., the Tool Building was engulfed in flames, and a column of red smoke was reported by multiple eyewitnesses in Littleton.



The section of Route 302 at the base of the hill was closed to civilian traffic while emergency crews made their way inthe white and red lights of ambulances and fire trucks added to the unnatural illumination.



One group of locals climbed the hill to watch the blaze progress, with many taking pictures while they did.



Emergency crews removed propane tanks and capped water lines at the site. By the next morning, the flames had mostly died down, though the blackened foundations still seeped smoke.



Forest Society President Jane Difley expressed relief that no one was hurt, and gratitude to emergency services and for the support of the wider community.



"Operationally, it's a big loss," Manley said.



Farm equipment and computers were destroyed, and debris cleanup will continue for some time.



As the fire progressed, and in the charred aftermath, many residents shared thoughts and memories of the site, which has overlooked Bethlehem and surrounds for so many years.



"I had a life changing event at the Rocks Estate," wrote Samantha Buote Walker. "Married my best friend and entered into the arms of an amazing family and their equally amazing friends."



"This is so sad," remarked Paige Cloutier. "So many memories up there."



"That place has been there forever," added James Clough.



The 1,400-acre Rocks Estate was originally owned and built by the Glessner family. The Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests purchased the property in 1978, and has run a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm since, as well as educational programming related to bees, maple syrup, and other agricultural legacies.



Looking to the future, Manley will assess the Rock's ability to continue planned programming, including booked events. An alternative venue is being sought for the April 6 Maple Dinner.



The Forest Society has set up a fund for donations towards restoring operations at the Rocks. The Rocks Fire Fund is available online, through the Society's Web site. BETHLEHEMThe evening of Wednesday, Feb. 13 saw devastation to property, though no loss of life, during a fire at the Rocks Estate.Sirens were first heard around 6 p.m., when Emergency Services reported the first fire alarm, and smoke was seen coming from the four-story Tool Building. Within the hour, the fire was upgraded to two alarms.The fire began in lower level of the Tool Building, an historic space used for office space, social gatherings, and main programming. It would have been 113 years old this year. Now, only its chimney remains. The former electrical plant building was also destroyed. The New Hampshire Maple Museum was undamaged, and Property Manager Nigel Manley's house was saved, despite being adjacent to the blaze. Manley was able to get out safely, and confirmed that all staff were also safe.Within minutes of the first announcement, a Franconia resident reported nearly every piece of fire equipment head for Bethlehem. Littleton, Whitefield, and Lisbon were called out as well.By 7 p.m., the Tool Building was engulfed in flames, and a column of red smoke was reported by multiple eyewitnesses in Littleton.The section of Route 302 at the base of the hill was closed to civilian traffic while emergency crews made their way inthe white and red lights of ambulances and fire trucks added to the unnatural illumination.One group of locals climbed the hill to watch the blaze progress, with many taking pictures while they did.Emergency crews removed propane tanks and capped water lines at the site. By the next morning, the flames had mostly died down, though the blackened foundations still seeped smoke.Forest Society President Jane Difley expressed relief that no one was hurt, and gratitude to emergency services and for the support of the wider community."Operationally, it's a big loss," Manley said.Farm equipment and computers were destroyed, and debris cleanup will continue for some time.As the fire progressed, and in the charred aftermath, many residents shared thoughts and memories of the site, which has overlooked Bethlehem and surrounds for so many years."I had a life changing event at the Rocks Estate," wrote Samantha Buote Walker. "Married my best friend and entered into the arms of an amazing family and their equally amazing friends.""This is so sad," remarked Paige Cloutier. "So many memories up there.""That place has been there forever," added James Clough.The 1,400-acre Rocks Estate was originally owned and built by the Glessner family. The Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests purchased the property in 1978, and has run a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm since, as well as educational programming related to bees, maple syrup, and other agricultural legacies.Looking to the future, Manley will assess the Rock's ability to continue planned programming, including booked events. An alternative venue is being sought for the April 6 Maple Dinner.The Forest Society has set up a fund for donations towards restoring operations at the Rocks. The Rocks Fire Fund is available online, through the Society's Web site.

Littleton Courier Firefighters battle second blaze at Rotobec Wireless LINC under new ownership, upgrades underway Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
Granite State News LRTC and KRHS Career Fair highly attended

by Elissa Paquette

The Wolfeboro Police Department's K9 Riggs, receives all the admiration a dog could want during the Career Fair at the Lakes Region Technology Center. His handler, Sgt. Michael Strauch, looks on. (Photo by Elissa Paquette) (click for larger version) WOLFEBORO  The 36th annual Career Fair, hosted by the Lakes Region Technology Center and Kingswood Regional High School on Feb. 12 was a success by any measure. Students and teachers from the Middle and High schools streamed down the indoor stairway and into the Lakes Region Technology Center lobby where they began a journey through the center aisle lined on either side with around thirty participating businesses, colleges and nonprofits.



KRHS Guidance Counselor Sheila Foley looked on with pleasure at the number of attendees making their way through the crowd to examine the exhibits and talk to vendors. Kathy Tetreault, the staff member in charge of Career Technical Education Student Services, also marvelled at what she said appeared to be the best attended Career Fair yet. She credited Foley for setting up "the entire event" by reaching out to each person and following up with them to ensure their participation.



Employers were there to talk to students and teachers about the skills necessary for employment in their respective fields, from engineering and health care to precision manufacturing and other trades. Financial and business related professionals were represented, too, offering students the opportunity to ask questions, as were local and state law enforcement agencies and representatives of the armed services.



Tetreault called attention to the students who played host and demonstrated skills. The Agricultural Science students offered boutonnieres they made for the occasion, the Hospitality Program students set the area up, greeted vendors and set aside a "Green Room" to address any needs. And the Culinary Arts students demonstrated their ice carving skills as they put the finishing touches on an ice sculpture they created for the annual Valentine's Day dinner in the Skylight Dining Room.



Attendees could have their blood pressure checked by Health Science students  happy to share and practice their skills, and further down the hallway, Construction Trades students demonstrated equipment they have learned to use, such as metal cutting, and in the Auto Repair shop, visitors could spin lugs under student supervision.



In addition, Brian Laing, Financial Advisor from Edward Jones, spoke as part of the center's My Career, My Future Series, hosted by Ms. Carrie Duran, who commented that his lecture was the best attended lecture in the series by far.



Participants included Circle K - Irving (Ossipee), Citizens Bank, Department Of Corrections, FedEx, From Scratch Baking Company, Great Bay Community College, Hannaford Supermarket (Ossipee), HEB Engineers (Civil, Structural, Surveying), Hope House, Huggins Hospital, In Good Hands, PLLC, IT Department at Kingswood, Lakes Region Community College, Lakeview Inn / Inn on Main, Lucas Roasting Company, Mary Kay (Independent Consultant), MEP: Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Meredith Village Savings Bank, Michael's School of Hair Design & Esthetics, and Mitee-Bite.



The list continues: Mount Washington Valley Regional Collaboration, NH Works, Norway Plains Survey Associates Inc. (Engineering), Ossipee Police Department, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pratt and Whitney, PSI Molded Plastics (formerly Gi Plastek), Safran Aerospace Composites, Seven Suns, Stay Work and Play in NH, The Laker, The Wolfeboro Inn, Thursty Water Systems, Tractor Supply, Turbocam, Tyler Reed Construction, US Army, US Marine Corp., White Mountain Community College, Windrifter Resort, Wolfeboro Area Children's Center, Wolfeboro Community TV, Wolfeboro Bay Rehabilitation Center, Wolfeboro Parks and Recreation, the Wolfeboro Police Department, and the Wolfeboro Trolley Company. WOLFEBORO  The 36th annual Career Fair, hosted by the Lakes Region Technology Center and Kingswood Regional High School on Feb. 12 was a success by any measure. Students and teachers from the Middle and High schools streamed down the indoor stairway and into the Lakes Region Technology Center lobby where they began a journey through the center aisle lined on either side with around thirty participating businesses, colleges and nonprofits.KRHS Guidance Counselor Sheila Foley looked on with pleasure at the number of attendees making their way through the crowd to examine the exhibits and talk to vendors. Kathy Tetreault, the staff member in charge of Career Technical Education Student Services, also marvelled at what she said appeared to be the best attended Career Fair yet. She credited Foley for setting up "the entire event" by reaching out to each person and following up with them to ensure their participation.Employers were there to talk to students and teachers about the skills necessary for employment in their respective fields, from engineering and health care to precision manufacturing and other trades. Financial and business related professionals were represented, too, offering students the opportunity to ask questions, as were local and state law enforcement agencies and representatives of the armed services.Tetreault called attention to the students who played host and demonstrated skills. The Agricultural Science students offered boutonnieres they made for the occasion, the Hospitality Program students set the area up, greeted vendors and set aside a "Green Room" to address any needs. And the Culinary Arts students demonstrated their ice carving skills as they put the finishing touches on an ice sculpture they created for the annual Valentine's Day dinner in the Skylight Dining Room.Attendees could have their blood pressure checked by Health Science students  happy to share and practice their skills, and further down the hallway, Construction Trades students demonstrated equipment they have learned to use, such as metal cutting, and in the Auto Repair shop, visitors could spin lugs under student supervision.In addition, Brian Laing, Financial Advisor from Edward Jones, spoke as part of the center's My Career, My Future Series, hosted by Ms. Carrie Duran, who commented that his lecture was the best attended lecture in the series by far.Participants included Circle K - Irving (Ossipee), Citizens Bank, Department Of Corrections, FedEx, From Scratch Baking Company, Great Bay Community College, Hannaford Supermarket (Ossipee), HEB Engineers (Civil, Structural, Surveying), Hope House, Huggins Hospital, In Good Hands, PLLC, IT Department at Kingswood, Lakes Region Community College, Lakeview Inn / Inn on Main, Lucas Roasting Company, Mary Kay (Independent Consultant), MEP: Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Meredith Village Savings Bank, Michael's School of Hair Design & Esthetics, and Mitee-Bite.The list continues: Mount Washington Valley Regional Collaboration, NH Works, Norway Plains Survey Associates Inc. (Engineering), Ossipee Police Department, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pratt and Whitney, PSI Molded Plastics (formerly Gi Plastek), Safran Aerospace Composites, Seven Suns, Stay Work and Play in NH, The Laker, The Wolfeboro Inn, Thursty Water Systems, Tractor Supply, Turbocam, Tyler Reed Construction, US Army, US Marine Corp., White Mountain Community College, Windrifter Resort, Wolfeboro Area Children's Center, Wolfeboro Community TV, Wolfeboro Bay Rehabilitation Center, Wolfeboro Parks and Recreation, the Wolfeboro Police Department, and the Wolfeboro Trolley Company.


Gilford Steamer Keno question to appear on Gilford ballot

by Erin Plummer Voters will decide next month on a petitioned warrant article asking for Keno to be allowed in town.



The board of selectmen held a public hearing last Wednesday for Article 22, asking whether Keno games would be allowed to be played in the town limits. No one commented at the hearing, which was closed after just a few minutes.



Keno is regulated by the New Hampshire Lottery and, according to state law, it can only be played in municipalities where voters have approved the measure. If Keno is approved, any establishment with a liquor license will be eligible to apply for a Keno license.



Keno was first put on state ballots last March. This year, representatives from the Lottery Commission have been meeting with municipal boards in some of the communities that don't have Keno and providing information in case they want to include it on their 2019 ballots.



Proceeds from Keno benefit full day kindergarten in the state. In a meeting with the Meredith board of selectmen in December of 2018, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Deputy Director Lynda Plante said every district with full day kindergarten is slated to receive $1,100 per student toward kindergarten. With more communities doing Keno, Plante said this number could go up to potentially $1,800 per student.



Communities that don't have Keno can still receive the money. Plante said, however, that the fewer communities that have Keno would make the $1,100 less sustainable. So far, the state has been making enough money to distribute the $1,100 per student and on pace to make its goal and they are hoping more communities will get Keno in the coming town voting year.



Establishments that have Keno receive an eight percent commission and Plante said could attract more business.



Last January, Town Administrator Scott Dunn spoke with the board about any interest in putting Keno on the ballot. He said the selectmen didn't have to take a stance on it either way and there was no requirement to put it on the ballot. It could be put on the ballot by citizen's petition.



The selectmen made the decision not to put it on the 2018 warrant, members of the board saying they wanted to wait and see what the interest was. No petition articles were received and there was no Keno question on the ballot.



Locally, Keno has been approved in Center Harbor, Laconia, Belmont, Tilton, and others.



Voters will decide next month on a petitioned warrant article asking for Keno to be allowed in town.The board of selectmen held a public hearing last Wednesday for Article 22, asking whether Keno games would be allowed to be played in the town limits. No one commented at the hearing, which was closed after just a few minutes.Keno is regulated by the New Hampshire Lottery and, according to state law, it can only be played in municipalities where voters have approved the measure. If Keno is approved, any establishment with a liquor license will be eligible to apply for a Keno license.Keno was first put on state ballots last March. This year, representatives from the Lottery Commission have been meeting with municipal boards in some of the communities that don't have Keno and providing information in case they want to include it on their 2019 ballots.Proceeds from Keno benefit full day kindergarten in the state. In a meeting with the Meredith board of selectmen in December of 2018, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Deputy Director Lynda Plante said every district with full day kindergarten is slated to receive $1,100 per student toward kindergarten. With more communities doing Keno, Plante said this number could go up to potentially $1,800 per student.Communities that don't have Keno can still receive the money. Plante said, however, that the fewer communities that have Keno would make the $1,100 less sustainable. So far, the state has been making enough money to distribute the $1,100 per student and on pace to make its goal and they are hoping more communities will get Keno in the coming town voting year.Establishments that have Keno receive an eight percent commission and Plante said could attract more business.Last January, Town Administrator Scott Dunn spoke with the board about any interest in putting Keno on the ballot. He said the selectmen didn't have to take a stance on it either way and there was no requirement to put it on the ballot. It could be put on the ballot by citizen's petition.The selectmen made the decision not to put it on the 2018 warrant, members of the board saying they wanted to wait and see what the interest was. No petition articles were received and there was no Keno question on the ballot.Locally, Keno has been approved in Center Harbor, Laconia, Belmont, Tilton, and others.

Gilford Steamer Gilford still facing beach staff shortage Town discussing traffic safety options for Scenic Drive Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
Coos County Democrat Local photographers join forces for new business venture

by Tara Giles

Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter write the author

Local photographers Stephanie Dupuis and Bill Rutherford have teamed up to provide wedding photography under the Northern Lights Studio. Both Dupuis and Rutherford will still operate their separate businesses, however plan to join forces for customers to get more out of their special days. (Courtesy Photo) (click for larger version) LANCASTER  Two local photographers have teamed up to provide the community far and wide a wedding photography service under the Northern Lights Studio name. Well known photographers Bill Rutherford and Stephanie Dupuis each own their own separate businesses however decided that a partnership would be beneficial in terms of wedding photography.



When asked what sparked the idea, Rutherford explained, "After doing weddings individually, we saw the benefit both to our customers and to us of working together as a team. Having two photographers allows us to have better coverage of all the details that happen during a wedding. For example one photographer can be with the bride and one with the groom as they're getting ready. While one photographer is capturing the first kiss the other can be photographing the parent's reaction."



Dupuis has been photographing newborns, children, high school seniors and families for the past seven years, in addition she has photographed several weddings. Dupuis' studio is located right in Lancaster.



Rutherford is the owner of NorthWoods Manufacturing in Lancaster. When he's not busy running that successful business, he can be seen behind the lens. Rutherford, who specializes in engagements and weddings has a passion for the art and is rewarded by providing couples with beautiful photographs.



With fancy cell phones and filters one may wonder if the need for a professional photographer is falling by the wayside. Rutherford and Dupuis are proof that hiring a professional is well worth the money.



"It's amazing how many couples say they hired a family member or friend with a camera and regret it now because the pictures aren't what they hoped they would be. A professional photographer has the training and experience to anticipate special moments during a wedding and will be ready to capture them," said Dupuis.



She went on to say, "In addition a professional is used to working with the challenging lighting that often exists in churches and venues. When you hire a professional they always have back up equipment in case something were to fail."



The Northern Lights Studio is located on Main Street in Lancaster above the Polish Princess Bakery.



"With both of us seeing the need in town for a full service photography studio, we plan to combine our strengths to offer the local community one place for all their photography needs," explained Rutherford. "Photographs are important for capturing all of life's milestones; your engagement, your wedding, a newborn baby, and your family as it grows."



The duo plans to maintain both Northern Lights Studio and Stephanie Dupuis Photography as sister companies working together to provide the 'best possible experience' to their customers.



Rutherford and Dupuis each have different strengths they bring to the table allowing them to easily rise to any challenge that comes their way.



LANCASTER  Two local photographers have teamed up to provide the community far and wide a wedding photography service under the Northern Lights Studio name. Well known photographers Bill Rutherford and Stephanie Dupuis each own their own separate businesses however decided that a partnership would be beneficial in terms of wedding photography.When asked what sparked the idea, Rutherford explained, "After doing weddings individually, we saw the benefit both to our customers and to us of working together as a team. Having two photographers allows us to have better coverage of all the details that happen during a wedding. For example one photographer can be with the bride and one with the groom as they're getting ready. While one photographer is capturing the first kiss the other can be photographing the parent's reaction."Dupuis has been photographing newborns, children, high school seniors and families for the past seven years, in addition she has photographed several weddings. Dupuis' studio is located right in Lancaster.Rutherford is the owner of NorthWoods Manufacturing in Lancaster. When he's not busy running that successful business, he can be seen behind the lens. Rutherford, who specializes in engagements and weddings has a passion for the art and is rewarded by providing couples with beautiful photographs.With fancy cell phones and filters one may wonder if the need for a professional photographer is falling by the wayside. Rutherford and Dupuis are proof that hiring a professional is well worth the money."It's amazing how many couples say they hired a family member or friend with a camera and regret it now because the pictures aren't what they hoped they would be. A professional photographer has the training and experience to anticipate special moments during a wedding and will be ready to capture them," said Dupuis.She went on to say, "In addition a professional is used to working with the challenging lighting that often exists in churches and venues. When you hire a professional they always have back up equipment in case something were to fail."The Northern Lights Studio is located on Main Street in Lancaster above the Polish Princess Bakery."With both of us seeing the need in town for a full service photography studio, we plan to combine our strengths to offer the local community one place for all their photography needs," explained Rutherford. "Photographs are important for capturing all of life's milestones; your engagement, your wedding, a newborn baby, and your family as it grows."The duo plans to maintain both Northern Lights Studio and Stephanie Dupuis Photography as sister companies working together to provide the 'best possible experience' to their customers.Rutherford and Dupuis each have different strengths they bring to the table allowing them to easily rise to any challenge that comes their way.


Coos County Democrat Warrant article seeks to raise $300,000 for updated playground

by Tara Giles

Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter Sports reporter - Coos County Democrat and Berlin Reporter write the author LANCASTER  The Board of Selectmen in Lancaster recently approved the Warrant articles residents will vote on at Town Meeting on March 12. Voting will take place throughout the day, while the Town Meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Lancaster Town Hall. Below are just a few of the big ticket articles citizens will be voting on. A complete copy can be picked up at Town Hall.



Article 3 will seek to have approved an operating budget of $6,358,404. This sum does not include any other warrant articles.



Article 2, in regards to the Wastewater Master Plan and Asset Management Programs, seeks to raise $135,000 for the purpose of developing a Wastewater Master Plan and Asset Management Programs for both the wastewater and storm water systems, that will qualify the Town for Federal and State funds. This article is recommended by the budget committee as well as selectmen.



Article 4 seeks to raise $70,000 to appropriate for the Capitol Reserve Fund with the Highway Department at $40,000, Fire Department, $20,000, Library, $5,000 and Cemetery, $5,000.



Article 7 is looking to raise $200,000 to pave Garland Road from Marshall Road to the Gore Road and the Gore Road from Garland to North Road, three miles, with said fund to come from the unassigned fund balance.



Lancaster Selectman Leon Rideout said, "We need to maintain our roads on a timely basis and keep them drivable. We try to pave when we know other work needs to be done to limit any duplication."



Article ten seeks to raise and appropriate $110,000 for the purchase of a new ambulance for the fire department.



Article 12 is looking to raise $20,000 for renovations of town offices. Rideout explained that those renovations will help with efficiency and safety with the last renovations taking place several years ago. The orange counter top, while a favorite to most, was clearly installed sometime in the 1960's.



Article 14 seeks to purchase two new cardiac monitors in the sum of $70,000.



Rideout explained, "Those are important and need to be replaced at timed intervals. The same goes for the ambulance, those are swapped out on a rotation basis with the oldest, highest mileage one being replaced."



Article 20 seeks to raise and appropriate $300,000 for the purpose of upgrading the playground at Col. Town Recreation facility. This will include the removal of the old bleachers that have been unused and not maintained for several years.



Rideout said, "This proposal will make the area safer and expand the area available for family recreation at the park."



Other articles include installing a new sidewalk in front of Col. Town as well as safety nets and handicapped ramps.



Voters will be asked to raise money for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Tri-County Transit, Ti-County CAP, Mt. Washington Regional Airport, North Country Home Health and Hospice, Caleb Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, Service Link, Senior Meals of Coos County and Center for New Beginnings to name a few.



"Several of the items will come from the fund balance so they will not have a tax impact this year," said Rideout.



"The budget is up slightly this year. The budget committee and Selectman worked hard to make sure the tax rate would remain steady though so the town portion of the property tax should remain the same. We do not have control over the School County or State portion of property tax rates," added Rideout. LANCASTER  The Board of Selectmen in Lancaster recently approved the Warrant articles residents will vote on at Town Meeting on March 12. Voting will take place throughout the day, while the Town Meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Lancaster Town Hall. Below are just a few of the big ticket articles citizens will be voting on. A complete copy can be picked up at Town Hall.Article 3 will seek to have approved an operating budget of $6,358,404. This sum does not include any other warrant articles.Article 2, in regards to the Wastewater Master Plan and Asset Management Programs, seeks to raise $135,000 for the purpose of developing a Wastewater Master Plan and Asset Management Programs for both the wastewater and storm water systems, that will qualify the Town for Federal and State funds. This article is recommended by the budget committee as well as selectmen.Article 4 seeks to raise $70,000 to appropriate for the Capitol Reserve Fund with the Highway Department at $40,000, Fire Department, $20,000, Library, $5,000 and Cemetery, $5,000.Article 7 is looking to raise $200,000 to pave Garland Road from Marshall Road to the Gore Road and the Gore Road from Garland to North Road, three miles, with said fund to come from the unassigned fund balance.Lancaster Selectman Leon Rideout said, "We need to maintain our roads on a timely basis and keep them drivable. We try to pave when we know other work needs to be done to limit any duplication."Article ten seeks to raise and appropriate $110,000 for the purchase of a new ambulance for the fire department.Article 12 is looking to raise $20,000 for renovations of town offices. Rideout explained that those renovations will help with efficiency and safety with the last renovations taking place several years ago. The orange counter top, while a favorite to most, was clearly installed sometime in the 1960's.Article 14 seeks to purchase two new cardiac monitors in the sum of $70,000.Rideout explained, "Those are important and need to be replaced at timed intervals. The same goes for the ambulance, those are swapped out on a rotation basis with the oldest, highest mileage one being replaced."Article 20 seeks to raise and appropriate $300,000 for the purpose of upgrading the playground at Col. Town Recreation facility. This will include the removal of the old bleachers that have been unused and not maintained for several years.Rideout said, "This proposal will make the area safer and expand the area available for family recreation at the park."Other articles include installing a new sidewalk in front of Col. Town as well as safety nets and handicapped ramps.Voters will be asked to raise money for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Tri-County Transit, Ti-County CAP, Mt. Washington Regional Airport, North Country Home Health and Hospice, Caleb Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, Service Link, Senior Meals of Coos County and Center for New Beginnings to name a few."Several of the items will come from the fund balance so they will not have a tax impact this year," said Rideout."The budget is up slightly this year. The budget committee and Selectman worked hard to make sure the tax rate would remain steady though so the town portion of the property tax should remain the same. We do not have control over the School County or State portion of property tax rates," added Rideout.

Coos County Democrat Summit by Morrison to celebrate third anniversary Whitefield Common discussed at latest selectmen's meeting Recent Tara Giles Hassan discusses broadband access with local leaders

2021-Jun-24 Whitefield Common discussed at latest selectmens meeting

2021-Jun-24 City Council discusses spending request

2021-Jun-10 City Council discusses abatement applications

2021-Jun-03 More than 100 locals vaccinated at Lancaster Fairgrounds

2021-Jun-03 Friedman takes Division III pole vault title

2021-Jun-03 More... Thanks for visiting SalmonPress.com
By Kate Bradford | Vol . 27, No. 8 | February 2019



Did You Know?

More people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year in the U.S. than all other cancers combined.

People who use sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher daily show 24 percent less skin aging than those who do not use sunscreen daily.

Theres no such thing as waterproof sunscreen. The FDA recommends checking the label, as all sunscreens eventually wash off and should be reapplied after getting wet.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with current estimates showing 1 in 5 Americans developing skin cancer by the age of 70. Although highly prevalent, skin cancer is very preventable.

The No. 1 risk factor for skin cancer is exposure to natural and artificial ultraviolet (UV) light. The American Academy of Dermatology encourages staying out of indoor tanning beds and protecting skin from harmful UV rays by seeking shade, wearing protective clothing, and using broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher.

Studies indicate that nearly half of total UV damage occurs before the age of 20 and that sunlight exposure during childhood likely increases the risk of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. In addition, children tend to spend more time outdoors, are more affected by sun damage and may not be aware of skin cancer dangers, according to the American Cancer Society.

Armed with this information, many state and federal policymakers are seeking ways to lower young peoples risk for developing cancer. Strategies include regulating indoor tanning use and introducing more sun protection policies in schools.

State Action

Indoor tanning. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends that minors not use indoor tanning equipment, and at least 44 states regulate indoor tanning for minors. NCSL published a 2018 online overview of state indoor tanning regulations. It shows that 19 states and Washington, D.C., ban the use of UV tanning devices by minors while other states restrict it. Many states recently introduced additional tanning restrictions for minors.

Sun protection in school. The most recent School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS) by the CDC reports that nearly half of all U.S. school districts recommend allowing students to apply sunscreen at school. Sunscreen is labeled an over-the-counter drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and many schools require certain authorization for students to be provided or allowed to use such medications.

Seventeen states have established policies addressing sun protection in schools. California led the way in 2002, passing the first law allowing students to wear sun-protective clothing and apply sunscreen without a physicians note or prescription. New York passed a similar law in 2013, followed by Texas and Oregon in 2015. Seven more statesAlabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Utah, Washington and Ohiopassed legislation allowing sunscreen use in schools in 2017, with five moreIndiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan and Oklahomafollowing suit in 2018. Illinois already passed a bill at the beginning of this year.

Most of these statutes are similar, but some contain slight variations. Thirteen states allow students to possess and apply sunscreen without a prescription or parent note, with Washington requiring that sunscreen be supplied by the parent. New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania allow students to possess and apply sunscreen only with a note from a parent. Pennsylvania further requires the student to submit a form attesting that he or she knows how to self-apply and is aware of safety precautions for handling the sunscreen. Ohios bill states that its policy regulating employees administering drugs to students should not be construed to prohibit a student from possessing and applying sunscreen at school. School districts can decide whether to require authorization from a parent.

Nine states allow teachers to help students apply sunscreen. Six of these states require parental permission and New York specifies additional permission by the individual school.

California, Illinois Oregon and Pennsylvania allow students to wear sun-protective clothing, while Washington, Illinois and Maryland encourage schools to educate children about sun safety guidelines.

The number of states introducing sunscreen legislation has increased in recent years. In 2017, 12 statesthe most in a single session since NCSL began tracking the issue in 2015considered legislation on sunscreen use in schools. Legislatures in Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington, D.C., considered sun safety bills in 2018. So far in 2019, Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, Rhode Island and D.C. have introduced new bills allowing sunscreen in schools. In addition, the bills in New Jersey and Virginia have carried over to the 2019 session.

Some states are taking different approaches to sun safety. Arizona was one of the first states to include sun safety education in schools through its optional Empower Program. Kentucky and New York require instruction on skin cancer prevention as a part of their health education curriculums and Florida presents case studies about shade structures on school playgrounds.

Meanwhile, Hawaii and California are working on efforts to reduce possible risks from sunscreen use. Following recent research about the potential harm of popular sunscreen ingredients on marine ecosystems, Hawaii became the first state to pass legislation prohibiting the sale and distribution of sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate, or both, without a prescription. In December, California introduced similar legislation. The Hawaii Medical Association and sunscreen manufacturers are concerned that such bans will discourage overall safe and effective sunscreen use, particularly because these are the two key ingredients that prevent sun damage.

Federal Action

To increase skin cancer awareness and nationwide policy action, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published The Surgeon Generals Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer in 2014. Several federal departments and agencies collaborating on efforts related to skin cancer prevention and control, including HHS, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, CDC, FDA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
By Jorge E. Casares

Recent teacher strikes in Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland, Calif. and West Virginia have been fueled in part by teachers demands for more livable wages.

To keep more money in their teachers pockets, Colorado and Connecticut have introduced legislation providing tax credits to preschool educators who are teaching with credentials, associate or bachelors degrees in early childhood education.

For more examples, NCSLs new 2019 Preschool through Third Grade Education Bill Tracker provides a weekly updated list of bills that have been introduced and enacted in legislative sessions across the states. Thus far, 287 bills and resolutions related to early childhood education have been introduced in 41 states.

State legislators have introduced bills to improve early literacy development, address school discipline and reduce class sizes, among several others, this session. Here are some examples from around the country:

Arizonas HB 2083 would require an annual statewide survey of reading proficiency levels of K-3 students and reading programs used.

South Carolina and Oklahoma have proposed to remove mandatory retention policies for students not proficient by the end of third grade.

Kentuckys bill would create academic improvement plans for students struggling in reading or mathematics, which would include intensive remediation and possible retention.

Minnesota and Oklahoma have prioritized preparing teachers to screen for dyslexia.

Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska, New York and Virginia have all introduced bills that would prohibit or reduce the expulsion or suspension of children from early childhood settings.

Oregon has proposed to reduce kindergarten class sizes to one teacher for every 15 students.

NCSLs early learning team will be summarizing these legislative actions and trends in a LegisBrief to be released this fall.

Jorge E. Casares is a research analyst in NCSLs Education Program.

Email Jorge
By Loryn Cesario

Student loan debt remains a top issue at the state and federal level, prompting lawmakers to look for ways to ease the burden of student debt and reevaluate some of the consequences borrowers face when they default on loans.

The Georgia General Assembly is currently considering HB 42, which would prohibit state licensing boards from revoking, suspending or refusing to issue the license of a borrower in default.

Roughly 30 percent of workers require a license to practice their trade or profession. Many occupations require some form of education beyond high school, whether that is a short-term credential, associates degree or bachelors degree.

The additional time spent in education can result in many licensed workers carrying student debt. State laws authorizing licensing boards to suspend, revoke or deny licenses to borrowers in default were originally intended to protect federal and state governments, the backers of many education loans. However, as student loan debt became the second largest category of personal debt in recent years, many states are looking for ways to provide relief even at the expense of tougher collection practices.

Opponents of licensure revocation due to default point to the seemingly counterintuitive result of people in default no longer being able to earn wages in their licensed professions, leaving borrowers severally hindered in their ability to pay back loans. Additionally, they are concerned that licensing boards, which are broadly intended to uphold professional standards and public health and safety, could essentially end up serving as debt collectors.

However, those in support of the practice view it as an effective tool and point to their ability to collect on outstanding debt. In many cases, borrowers are often placed on a repayment plan in line with their ability to pay and are then able to practice with their license.

About half of all states currently allow boards to suspend, revoke or deny licenses based on loan default. However, not all states actively enforce these laws.

Tennessee received national coverage in The New York Times in 2017 for its strict enforcement of such measures. Following the article, Illinois passed legislation repealing the practice. While it is difficult to accurately assess how many borrowers have been affected by these laws, as recordkeeping is inconsistent, the Times' examination of public records led reporters to estimate the number was at least 8,700.

Georgia is looking to join other states that have recently passed similar legislation, including Alaska, Illinois, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Washington. Texas is also considering a similar bill this session.

Lawmakers at the federal level are interested in this topic and have introduced U.S. SB 3065/U.S. HR 6156, a bipartisan bill seeking to repeal state laws allowing the revocation or denial of licenses solely on the grounds of student loan debt default.

To read more about the effects of license suspension on student loan defaulters, read NCSLs LegisBrief on the topic.

Loryn Cesario is a policy associate in the NCSL Employment, Labor & and Retirement Program.

Email Loryn
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday voiced support for Tanzania's sentencing of a Chinese businesswoman to 15 years in prison for smuggling elephant tusks.

According to media reports, Yang Fenglan, a Chinese businesswoman dubbed the "Ivory Queen," was convicted on Tuesday by a Tanzanian court of smuggling about two tonnes of elephant tusks.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a press briefing that China has consistently attached great importance to protecting endangered wild fauna and flora and diligently complied with relevant international obligations.

Geng said that since 2015, China has promulgated measures banning imports of ivory carving, imports of ivory as hunting trophies and commercial processing and sales of ivory domestically, which have won acclaim worldwide.

The Chinese government shows "zero tolerance" to activities involving illegal trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora and related products, bringing relevant criminals to justice in a resolute and lawful manner, said the spokesperson.

China has always demanded that its overseas nationals abide by local laws and regulations, never shielding illegal or criminal acts of its nationals, added Geng.

"We support the Tanzanian authorities in conducting a just investigation and trial of the case," Geng said, adding that China stands ready to work with the international community including Tanzania in protecting endangered wild fauna and flora as well as curbing their illegal trade.
Hong Kong: Monetary chief to retire

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan will retire from his post on October 1.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan thanked him for his outstanding contributions and dedicated service over the past 10 years as the authoritys chief executive.

Norman has been leading the HKMA since 2009 and has worked tirelessly over the years to strengthen the citys monetary and banking systems and promote Hong Kongs position as an international financial centre in Asia.

I respect his wish and decision to retire upon completion of his second term as Chief Executive of the HKMA.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the world has been focusing on reforming the international financial system to increase its resilience against future shocks. Norman has played a pivotal role in the international financial system reform agenda.

Hong Kong has sound and robust monetary and banking systems, the Financial Secretary said, adding the authoritys leadership change would not affect its operation or the stability of the financial system.

"It has been a great honour for me to work with colleagues at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to safeguard Hong Kong's monetary and financial stability, as well as to enhance our competitiveness and position as an international financial centre, Norman Chan said.

A Selection Panel chaired by the Financial Secretary will identify the authority's next chief executive.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Visitors wait to enter the Supreme Court as a winter snow storm hits the nation's capital making roads perilous and closing most Federal offices and all major public school districts, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The Supreme Court is ruling unanimously that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to the states. The outcome Wednesday could help an Indiana man recover the $40,000 Land Rover police seized when they arrested him for selling about $400 worth of heroin.


326-31

Inter-American Development Bank2019

From March 26 to 31,Chengdu will attract worldwide attentions.

Inter-American Development Bank(IDB)is the time-honored and largest regional intergovernmental development financial institution.The annual meeting of Inter-American Development Bank will first land in Chengdu,China.



What is IDB?



What does these foreign friends focus on in Chengdu?



Why Chengdu?



Now lets have a look.





A Brief History of IDB

Full name:Inter-American Development Bank

Include:Inter-American Development Bank,Inter-American Investment Company and Multilateral Investment Fund

Headquarter:Based in Washington,USA

Status:The world's oldest and largest regional intergovernmental development financial institution

Influence:Latin America and even the whole world

Time of establishment:1959.This year marks the 60th anniversary of IDB and the 10th anniversary of China's entry into IDB.

Member States:48,28 in Latin America and 20 in other regions,including the United States,Britain,Germany,France,Japan and other major economies in the world.

China is the 48th member of IDB and the 3rd member from East Asia after Japan and South Korea.

What is the annual meeting of IDB?

IDB Council holds its annual meeting,which is hosted by each member in turn.

Finance ministers or central bank governors of its member countries will attend the meeting.

The meeting will center on the economic and financial situation in Latin American and the world,development strategy and IDB's business strategy.

Why Chengdu?

IDB favored Chengdu's software and hardware strength and scored the highest points after paying site investigations to several candidate cities in China.

1 Chengdu is accelerating the construction of a national central city that fully embodies the new development concept,leading and driving the efficient development of the western urban agglomeration.

2 Chengdu is accelerating the construction of the western financial center by continuously strengthening the five core functions and speeding up the formation of a new financial industry ecosystem.Here,the economic level of financial service entity is significantly improved.Chengdu will continue to deepen financial reforms and increase its international influence as the western financial center.

3 With the aiming of becoming a world-famed cultural city,Chengdu is now developing into a world famous cultural city,a famous tourist city,a famous sporting city,an international food city,a city of music city,and a city of exhibitions.It develops Tianfu culture on the basis of inherits Bashu culture.

4 Chengdu is now integrating into the overall plan of opening up the country.On the one hand,it becomes a strategic frontier in China's Western Campaign in order to stand out as an international hub city.On the other hand,it expands in four directions to seek comprehensive opening-up and embrace the global development with its wider ambition.

How will the IDB Annual Meeting be held

in 2019?

IDB Annual Meeting first arrives in Chengdu on March 26-31,2019,which is sponsored by the People's Bank of China and Inter-American Development Bank,hosted by Sichuan Provincial People's Government and Chengdu Municipal People's Government.

Major Activities"1+4"

1Annual Meeting of IDB

4Mayors Forum,Innovation,Entrepreneurship and SME Development Forum,Business Forum,High-level Seminar on Green Finance

Total number of participants:more than 6500 people.

What is the significance to Chengdu?

1 It releases positive signals to further promote economic,trade,investment and financial cooperation between China and Latin America in the near future.

2 It is conducive to the docking ofThe Belt and Roadinitiative with the development strategies of Latin American countries in order to promote Sino-Latin American economic,trade,investment and financial cooperation to a new level.

3 It is conducive to displaying the 40-year achievements made in Sichuan since the implementation of reform and opening up strategy and promoting the construction of economic corridors and the western financial center.

4 It is conducive to strengthening multilateral economic and trade exchanges and making Sichuan an economic highland.
4H Virtual Fair 2020

Celebrating the local county fair!

COVID-19 may have canceled the local fair, but that's not stopping us from celebrating the best of our community with this tribute to Virtual Fairs 2020. Help us highlight the best of the local fair competition by telling us what you would have entered in this year's fair competitions.
The photo of the Moon and the Earth together in Science. (Photo/CCTV app)

A photo capturing the Moon and the Earth together was published in the journal Science on Feb. 15.

The photo was taken by the microsatellite Longjiang-2, which was developed by a group of Chinese students from Harbin Institute of Technology, in northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province. Hailed as the best ever photo taken of the Moon and the Earth, it went viral on mainstream international media before its publication.

Wei Mingchuan (lower right) (Photo/CCTV app)

Wei Mingchuan, born in 1991, is in charge of the load subsystem in the microsatellite Longjiang-2 on the Chang'e 4 mission, there to explore the mysterious far side of Moon. He was also the chief designer of LilacSat-2, the first nanosatellite independently designed, developed and controlled by students in China.

The 28-year-old student earned himself the nickname Boss Wei as he is almost the eldest in the team of Longjiang-2.

Tai Mier (Photo/CCTV app)

Tai Mier, born in 1996, designed the camera of Longjiang-2, which snapped the stunning photo. Tai was 20 years old when he began the design.

Huang Jiahe, born in 1999, designed software for the ground monitoring station of Longjiang-2.

We are born to dream, member of the youngest team in the Chang'e 4 mission said proudly.
We need legal brains with requisite ...
UK-based data science company Black Swan Data has appointed Pam Roberts as Chief People Officer, and Allen Atwell as Chief Technology Officer.Founded in 2011, Black Swan uses technology and data science to analyse consumer behaviour and build predictive models. The firm is headquartered in London, with additional offices in Exeter, Los Angeles, New York, Cape Town, Budapest and Szeged (Hungary), and employs more than 240 staff. Roberts joins after a spell in New York, where she served as VP Human Resources for eCommerce platform Spring and ran her own HR consultancy. Additionally, she has twelve years senior HR experience in the city, working largely with emerging technology companies and financial services firms including Nomura, Investment Technology Group, hedge fund Man Group, and investment bank WestLB.Atwell joins from MessageLabs, where he was also CTO. He previously worked in senior roles at Mi-Pay, Third Space Learning and Trader.com, and spent six years at Oracle.com, latterly as SVP EMEA Telecom Consulting. During his career, Atwell has also worked for companies including AT&T Bell Labs, HP and Texas Instruments. He will now oversee the development of Black Swan's data science tools.Steve King, co-founder and CEO, comments: 'As Black Swan enters its next phase of growth and as we expand our operations and client base, making sure that we have the right people looking after our technology and our team has been a vital step. Pam is a hugely experienced and impressive Chief People Officer and will help our staff get the best out of their current roles. Allen's industry pedigree will help us ensure our tech offering continues to evolve and deliver impact for our clients'.Web site: www.blackswan.com




BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday conducted the first central bank bills swap (CBS) operation to support the issuance of perpetual bonds by commercial banks.

The CBS, valued at 1.5 billion yuan (around 222 million U.S. dollars), are open to primary dealers at a fixed rate at 0.25 percent, according to a PBOC statement. The swap will be due on Feb. 20, 2020.

The CBS scheme allows dealers to swap the perpetual bonds they hold for central bank bills, which will effectively boost market demand of perpetual bonds.

"CBS is not quantitative easing because it neither increases nor decreases in the monetary base," the statement said.

The PBOC predicts that CBS will have a neutral impact on liquidity in the banking system.

"Besides, the ownership of the perpetual bonds still belongs to primary dealers, which means primary dealers will shoulder credit risks," the statement said.

Perpetual bonds are fixed-income securities with no maturity date and are not redeemable but pay a steady stream of interests forever. The tool is often used to replenish capital for commercial banks, so they have better financing capability to support the real economy.

In January, the Bank of China issued the first-ever perpetual bonds by a Chinese bank, which were oversubscribed by investors including domestic insurance companies, securities firms, and some foreign institutions.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China has made "important and decisive achievements" in poverty relief in the past six years, and will continue its efforts this year to lay a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty by 2020, an official said Wednesday.

In the past six years, China lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million at the end of 2012 to 16.6 million at the end of last year, said Ou Qingping, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, at a press conference.

The poverty headcount ratio has dropped from 10.2 percent to less than 1.7 percent in the same period, Ou said.

As this year is an important year for winning the tough battle against poverty by 2020, and the government has set the target to reduce the rural poor population by more than 10 million this year, he added.

Ou said the country will focus on pushing ahead poverty relief efforts in areas of extreme poverty, meeting the basic needs of poor residents, and raising the quality of poverty relief, among other aspects this year.

The country is aiming to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty and eliminate poverty in all poor counties and regions by 2020.
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Bradford County: Numerous thefts from vehicles leads to arrest of Sayre man

Firestine

A Sayre man is in the Bradford County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail after he was arrested by state troopers in connection with a series of theft incidents that occurred throughout the Sheshequin, Wysox and Ridgebury areas over the course of four weeks.

According to state police, Patrick Michael Firestine, 25, was charged with 14 counts each of theft by unlawful taking or disposition, receiving stolen property, theft from a motor vehicle, and loitering and prowling at nighttime, and one count each of endangering the welfare of children and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.

Police explained that the alleged thefts occurred during the overnight hours between Jan. 20 and Feb. 14.

During the investigation, witnesses told troopers that a man and woman driving a red car with a loud exhaust were in the vicinity when the thefts occurred, police said.

At 2 a.m. on Feb. 14, troopers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Firestine in the 12000 block of Sheshequin Road in Sheshequin Township, police said.

Troopers noted that Firestine was evasive and gave inconsistent answers as to why he was in the area, police said.

Police added that a theft was reported in the morning of Feb. 14 at 9126 Sheshequin Road.

Troopers were able to obtain a search warrant for a Holly Street residence in Sayre and a red Nissan Altima, police said.

While the search of the residence turned up nothing, a traffic stop initiated on the vehicle in question in Sayre turned up Firestine and a female passenger, police said.

During that traffic stop, officers observed drug paraphernalia in the vehicle, police said.

A search of the vehicle turned up items that had been reported stolen by victims along Sheshequin Road, including clearly labeled bank bags, ID and bank cards and vehicle registrations, police said.

The woman traveling with Firestine told troopers that she and Firestine had been involved in the thefts, police said.

The woman also told told troopers that Firestine had brought his 4-year-old nephew along with him during the commission of some of those thefts, police said.

During a few of those instances, the woman told troopers that the boy was being transported in the vehicle without a proper car seat, police said.

Firestine was arraigned Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Todd Carr of Towanda and was committed to the county correctional facility in lieu of bail.

Firestine will re-appear before District Judge Carr for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 27.
Lansdale, PA (19446)

Today

A shower is possible early. Mostly cloudy skies. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A shower is possible early. Mostly cloudy skies. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Wednesday met with Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Djibouti, vowing to enhance exchanges on governance experience.

Hailing the long-standing friendship and healthy and stable relationship between the two countries, Wang said China and Djibouti are friends and brothers of mutual understanding and support of each other's core interests and major concerns.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Djibouti.

Wang called on the two countries to seize this opportunity to further promote pragmatic cooperation across-the-board under the guidance of important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries during last year's Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

On China's development, Wang said China had "unswervingly followed the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, exercised strict Party self-governance in every respect, constantly deepened reform and expanded opening-up, and met the people's increasingly diverse demands in life."

Youssouf said Djibouti was satisfied with the progress of strategic partnership with China, and appreciated China's long-term friendly help. He said Djibouti stood ready to learn from China's experience on development and on the construction of the ruling party.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also met with Youssouf on Wednesday.

"China always views and handles its relations with Djibouti in line with the principle that all countries, big or small, are equal, and assists Djibouti in accelerating its development in line with the concept of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests," the foreign minister said.

Calling China-Djibouti cooperation all-round and strategic, Wang Yi suggested both sides seize the opportunities of jointly participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and implementing the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing summit, to promote the bilateral strategic partnership.

Youssouf said Djibouti would continue striving to develop the long-term strategic partnership with China, and welcomed more Chinese enterprises to invest and set up businesses in his country.
This is where I hang out most of the time, Michael Kean says of his library. He retired in 2008, and expects his new leadership role to be full-time.
Of more than 100 protesters from the Monterey Peninsula and Santa Cruz who turned out on Feb. 10, about 75 paddled or kayaked.
Monterey Bay fishermen catch salmon as far away as Alaska. A proposed copper mine there poses a local threat.
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Sarah Bo, an industrial engineer at Ford

The Sharma sisters

The STEMinista Project started in 2016 with a simple goal: boost interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among fourth through eighth grade girls. In the pilot program's first year, the initiative reached 1,000 girls. Since then, that number has grown to 10,000 young women in Southeast Michigan.Through regular activities like STEMinista Saturdays at the Michigan Science Center (MiSci), young girls go hands-on with real-world STEM applications like the science behind customizing lip gloss and nail polish. They also meet women who look like them with good-paying, future-proofed careers in male-dominated STEM fields. By having female environmental engineers from Ford and infectious disease physicians from WSU and other industry partners at the event, girls have tangible proof that hard work will pay off.According to a recent survey from the National Girls Collaborative project , under one-third of the science and engineering workforce is women. For computer and mathematical sciences, it drops to 25 percent. When you add in intersectionality  the theory that forms of oppression like gender bias and being from a low socioeconomic background stack up  the problem only gets worse.For MiSci chief learning officer Cassie Byrd, that's not acceptable. Over the past year, she's been studying data from the initiative, talking to community partners like Black Girls Code and Digerati Girls , and industry funders including Bosch, Google, and General Motors about the benefits the program provides. She's also been asking and telling partners what's needed to make the biggest collective impact.As a result, The STEMinista Project will change to reflect what's been learned. Now Byrd has a research-validated survey instrument for measuring impact, and is distributing it to her community partners, simultaneously establishing a framework of best practices along the way.The idea is to create a comprehensive dataset or cohort that will show what happens when girls in the region are exposed to STEM at an extremely critical time in their lives  fittingly, fourth through eighth grade. Typically, that's when girls start self-selecting out of science and related subjects.Byrd would also love to see STEMinista Projects pop up around the country now that the evaluation and operations framework are in place, further feeding the dataset and unlocking new understanding.Perhaps the biggest difference moving forward, however, will be how the project utilizes representative role models  women in STEM careers  to broaden the its impact. Byrd wants to ensure that the role models she invites to the program reflect the students they're reaching."My hope is that thinking more deliberately about intersectionality frameworks helps us reach more girls," she said at a recent STEMinista Celebration, marking the beginning of the project's fourth year. At the event, in addition to a panel comprised of program alumni, there were networking activities with role models, time to explore the museum, and a giveaway that included a week at a STEMinista summer camp.Studies have shown that if someone has a STEM role model, that is, someone who positively represents STEM in their lives, they're more likely to see themselves in a STEM career and persist at it when things get tough.That's extremely powerful for young girls, and Byrd is intentional about making sure everyone in the room is represented. "It's a 'if she can see it, she can be it' kind of idea."Take Aditi and Anjali Sharma, co-founders of Lime Lab LLC , which offers free or low-cost technology training to girls and other disenfranchised groups. The sisters founded the company in 2014 after attending a talk at the University of Michigan about open-source, programmable Arduino boards hosted by an editor from Wired.The pair have been involved with The STEMinista Project since its inception in 2016. Now a high school senior, Aditi and her elementary-aged sibling Anjali are role models and mentors themselves. It's this type of environment that Byrd hopes thrives as the STEMinista Project moves forward; the ecosystem is already starting to feed back into itself.Involving girls in STEM at a younger age is paramount to helping them succeed early on. High-school freshman Ghable Bell didn't want anything to do with STEM, but thanks to attending University Prep Science and Math Middle School next door to MiSci for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, she found aspects of science that clicked for her. Now she's taking college credits while in high school because she already finished the junior-and-senior level science classes."Having that confidence and knowing I'm able to understand the concepts, execute these projects, makes a difference in how you perform everywhere else," she said during a panel at the STEMinista Celebration.

Elena and Myra speak about why the STEMinista Project matters from Model D on Vimeo.

Her mom, Tanisha Bell, agreed. Bell has a 9-year-old daughter as well, and even though she was too young to formally enroll in The STEMinista Project with her sister, she participated simply by virtue of tagging along."My younger daughter thinks she's a scientist already," Bell said during the panel, an audience of moms and young girls laughed knowingly in response.Her youngest thinks she's an engineer too, building things and then blowing them up. "I let her be her, and let her explore herself so she learns there are no limitations," Bell said. The now 9-year-old is doing 12th-grade level science projects by herself and getting blue ribbons for them.That type of reassurance is powerful  teaching girls confidence is as important as teaching them algebra. The elder Sharma sister said it's imperative to tell girls that they have the ability and encourage them when the outside world would rather do the opposite."STEM is the future, and we need to include girls in that future," Sharma said. "We need to have our perspective included in the creation of these products, not just the consumption."The article is part of a series, supported by the Michigan Science Center , exploring key regional issues in science over the next five years. Read more articles from this series and others from our collaboration with the Michigan Science Center here Photos by Timothy J. Seppala.
MACAO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The newly-released outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has immediately become a hot topic in Macao's media and society.

Macao Daily, the largest local print media, said in its commentary on Wednesday that the plan has taken the advantage of coordination of the central government and concentration of all resources to break the limits of system difference and regional distance in the Greater Bay Area.

The long-existing barriers that hindered the free flow of people, goods and capital can be solved by such an innovative framework, the daily said.

The social security networks and public service of Guangdong, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macao SAR will connect with each other to boost the development of both the economy and social welfare in the region, it added.

New China and Macao Journal said in its editorials that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area consists of three local jurisdictions governed by three legal systems, has three taxation zones and three currencies. Such a regional cooperation and integration needs hard and innovative work.

Taichung Daily said the influence brought by the plan is not only on the economic phase, but also on the social phase. The plan said the Greater Bay Area will form a common quality living circle, meaning that more concerns and resources will go to environment protection, education, medical care and social security.

Local people can work, live and invest in the mainland with better environment and service quality, which will encourage them to go out and break the limit of Macao's small land area. Such a future will have a tight connection of systemic and cultural consensus among the cities in the region, Taichung Daily commented.

The outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area is a national strategy and an innovative practice of "one country, two systems," Macao's legislator Si Ka Lon said.

It would strengthen the area's industrial competitiveness and further expand the forefront of the country's opening-up, so that the area would form a world-class city cluster that is ecologically friendly, and suitable for living and working, he added.

Rector of the City University of Macao, Prof. Ip Kuai Peng said the enterprises, universities and institutions in the Greater Bay Area would be greatly benefited from such a plan, which aims at building a globally competitive modern industrial system, with technological innovation as a major driving force.

The plan is also helpful for the Macao SAR to pursue the appropriate diversification of its economy and upgrade its industrial structure, he said.

Macao's legislator Ho Ion Sang said the plan has explicated Macao's role in the Greater Bay Area.

The young people in Macao can have more choices, and can fully take their own advantages in the Greater Bay Area, suggested Ho, who is also vice chairman of the General Union of Macao Residents Association.

The outline development plan aims to accelerate the development of Hengqin of Zhuhai as a platform for in-depth cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, said Wong Kit Cheng, Macao's legislator and vice chairwoman of the Women's General Association of Macao.

It made a series of measures for enhancing the cooperation between Macao and Zhuhai on education, medical care, housing and elderly care, which would help improve people's livelihood in Macao, she said.
Leslie McCourt-Nussman began working as the Grand County Middle Schools new principal on Aug. 1. McCourt-Nussman was placed on administrative leave by Grand County School District superintendent JT Stroder in January. [Photo courtesy of Leslie McCourt-Nussman]
Randy Rex, from Grand Junction, Colorado, instructs his Airedale terrier, Ringo, across a teeter totter obstacle at a previous dog agility competition. Rex and Ringo are competing in Moab at the Rock Star Agility Networks Dog Agility Competition on Feb. 23 and 24. [Photo courtesy of Kee Gee]
DUBAI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Asian action superstar Jackie Chan will return to Dubai to film one of his latest movies with director Stanley Tong this month, the Dubai Film and TV Commission has announced.

Jamal Al Sharif, chairman of the commission, said on Twitter that "megastar Jackie Chan is retuning to film in Dubai for the second time after his smash-hit Kung Fu Yoga! The new film is titled Vanguard and is directed by Stanley Tong."

He said the film will be shot in and around Downtown Dubai, City Walk and other prominent locations and residential areas with support from Dubai Film and TV Commission.

"I would like to thank all those in the government and private sector that supported Kung Fu Yoga and will extend their support to the upcoming film," Sharif was quoted by local newspaper Gulf News as saying.

Chan's earlier movie "Kung Fu Yoga," an India-China co-production, marked the martial artist actor's first film shot in Dubai and the Middle East, when it was produced here in September-October 2015.

The film used Dubai locales such as the Atlantis, the Palm, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Shaikh Zayed Road, Dubai Marina, Business Bay and the open desert.
The truth, when it came out, was more pedestrian: Mendonsa, tipsy on a few drinks, had been on a date with his girlfriend at Radio City Music Hall when he heard about the end of the war. They dashed into the street where he saw Friedman, whose uniform reminded him of the nurses hed served with overseas. Kissing her, he later said, was a spontaneous act of gratitude.
Aerial photo shows Liang Zhefeng (1st L), the owner of a guest house, serves tea for customers in Shaoxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 21, 2018. Local tourism had benefited from a project launched in Zhejiang to overhaul the living environment of villages. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Stronger policy support is in the pipeline to shore up China's rural areas and agriculture as the central authorities aim at tackling the "tough tasks" in their development.

For 16 years in a row, the country's "No. 1 central document," the first policy statement released by the central authorities each year and seen as an indicator of policy priorities, focused on agriculture, rural areas and farmers' issues.

Coming at a time when the Chinese economy faces increased pressure, the document, made public Tuesday by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, called agriculture, rural areas and rural people as "the ballast stone," stressing their role in the country's efforts to "win the upper hand in effectively handling risks and challenges."

"In a complicated situation with growing downward pressure on the economy and profound changes in the external environment, it is of special importance to do a good job in work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers' issues," said the document, which noted, "quite a few tough tasks to fulfill."

Rural development is also key to the country's bid to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. To eliminate poverty is part of this goal, and much of it rests on progress in rural areas.

"There are only two years left for us to finish building a moderately prosperous society, making rural work an urgent task," said Ye Xingqing, a researcher on rural economy at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Eradicating poverty, improving the rural living environment and ensuring grain supply are all indispensable parts of the moderate prosperity blueprint, Ye said.

IMPROVE THE WEAK LINK

After decades of industrialization and urbanization, China still has about 560 million rural residents.

Despite drastic changes in the past years of economic growth, China's rural regions still lag demonstrably behind cities in terms of income level, living environment and public services. They also have a huge growth potential that is yet to be fully tapped.

Chen Wensheng, a researcher with the Hunan Academy of Social Sciences, believes this year's No.1 central document showed the Party's "consistent effort to attach great importance to the rural work and firm resolve to improve the weak link of rural development."

Work has been done to channel more funds to the countryside in recent years, with increasing fiscal input and a growing number of rural financial institutions. Rural areas, however, remain financially underserved.

Tuesday's document pledged to prioritize fiscal support and financial services for rural and agricultural development, noting that new loans at the county level should be primarily used for rural vitalization, a strategy proposed in 2017.

Total investment in rural vitalization is likely to exceed 7 trillion yuan (about 1.05 trillion US. dollars), said Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs, at a forum last month.

"By prioritizing agricultural and rural development, the government will tilt towards the sector in financial input, industrial layout, employment, infrastructure and public services, and gradually solve the urban-rural imbalance," said Kong Xiangzhi, a professor with Renmin University's School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.

FIGHT POVERTY

The rural regions are the central battlefield in the country's fight against poverty.

China is making fast progress towards eliminating poverty, with the number of impoverished rural residents declining from nearly 100 million in late 2012 to 16.6 million by the end of 2018. It will only get harder to help those left get rid of poverty.

Yang Chang, an economist with Zhongtai Securities, anticipates the continued intensity of policy support for rural poverty reduction as the fight has entered a decisive stage.

The focus will be put on providing assistance to areas of extreme poverty, via favorable policies ranging from major projects, poor resident relocation, finance and nurturing of talent, according to the document.

Moreover, it demanded "strategic thinking on the post-2020 period after the goal of poverty reduction is accomplished."

"This means even if the current goal is fulfilled, the mission of fighting poverty will continue," Yang said.

ENSURE FOOD SECURITY

As in previous years, Tuesday's document again stressed sufficient supply of farm produce, which is critical for a nation with the world's largest population and upgrading food demand.

After years of increases, China's grain output edged down in 2018, when 657.9 million tonnes of grains were produced, down 0.6 percent from 2017, official data showed.

Efforts will be made to ensure that the country's grain planting area remains steady at 1.65 billion mu, or 110 million hectares, and the area of arable land is kept above 1.8 billion mu, as well as to develop 800 million mu of high-standard farmland by 2020, according to Tuesday's document.

The document also said the country would move to optimize agricultural structure, boost production of green agricultural products or those in short supply, and roll out plans to increase soybean planting and support the dairy industry.

"To tackle pressure in the global trade of farm produce, it is necessary for us to increase the output of agricultural products, improve their quality and lower their costs," said Zhu Xinkai, an agricultural economist and vice president of Renmin University.

Calling agriculture "a weak industry" in China, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Changfu urged to improve supportive system for agriculture in an interview with the People's Daily.

Policy support should be "in line with the World Trade Organization rules and the requirements of the supply-side structural reform" and "steer the agricultural sector towards high-quality, green development," Han stressed.
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Why Is Central Bank Buying Of Gold So Important?

There is an old Yiddish expression called a bubbe meise (pronounced my-seh). I guess the closest English interpretation of this expression would be a grandmothers tale, or in the common vernacular, an old-wives' tale.

Of late, I am seeing a bubbe meise about the importance of central bank buying of gold, and it is making its rounds on websites all over the internet.

We have been hearing for many years about how gold is supposed to soar because countries and central banks are buying the precious metal. Most of the fundamentalists in this market are convinced that this is a bullish signal. In fact, one article I read explained that central bank buying is significant, as central banks are the 'smart money' given their influence on global economics and access to non-public information.

And, all I can think is that this writer does not know their history.

All we heard between 2011 to 2014 was how bullish the gold market was because China and India were buying huge amounts of gold. Yet, gold topped at the time when central banks began their huge buying spree in 2011 and continued down for years during this buying spree. Smart money indeed.

So, unfortunately, the facts do not support the commonly accepted proposition which seems to be making the rounds. In fact, historically, it is more common to see countries selling their gold at the bottom rather than buying.

From 1999-2002, Great Britain sold about half of its gold reserves. But guess what happened after the sales? Yes, gold began its parabolic climb from just below $300 an ounce to over $1,900 within nine years. In fact, that bottom in gold became dubbed the "Brown Bottom," named after Gordon Brown, the U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, who made the decision to sell the gold at that time.

You see, governments are usually the last actors within a sentiment trend. Think about it. Aren't governments enacting new laws to protect investors at the end of bear markets  after all the damage has already been done? So, it is not unreasonable to believe that governments would be the last sellers to the market to conclude a bear market. Moreover, it is common to see them as buyers when markets are near some form of high, such as they seem to have done during 2011-2014. And this is why I was awaiting news of a government selling its gold reserves to represent the culmination of a selling trend several years ago.

Back in 2015, I read an article noting that Venezuela could be selling more than 3 million ounces of gold reserves before year-end. The country had more than $5 billion in maturing debt and interest payments due before year-end without the ability to repay it.

While the 12 million ounces of gold sold by Great Britain at the "Brown Bottom" is clearly more than the 3 million ounces that Venezuela was considering selling, recognize that Great Britain's proceeds from its sale were estimated at around $3.4 billion, whereas the Venezuela sale would have likely netted around $3 billion.

Additionally, back in 2015, the major players within the gold market turned bearish. At September's Denver Gold Forum in 2015, a panel of gold-industry experts came to a consensus that gold is still overvalued and would likely fall below $1,000, perhaps to around $800. Moreover, at the LBMA/LPPM gold conference in Vienna, an expert panel discussion on gold came up with almost an identical consensus. The panel also expected that gold will drop to below $1,000, and perhaps to $800 or less.

Again, more smart money?

In fact, based upon the sentiment exhibited in the media, as well as in my charts, I noted at the time:

These recent events somewhat bolster my argument that the bottom to this market may be closer than most believe, and it may not drop as deep as many believe. As the next, and final, decline takes hold, we will be able to pinpoint the target more accurately. But I have been having strong doubts about whether gold will actually break below $1,000 with so many believing it is almost a certainty. Remember what happened back in 2011 when almost everyone (other than yours truly) believed that it was a virtual certainty that gold was going to exceed $2,000? As the late Yogi Berra would say, this might be "deja vu all over again."

And, in the last quarter of 2015, we rolled out a Miners Portfolio service at Elliottwavetrader.net, and started buying mining stocks for the first time since 2011. In fact, one of our first purchases was Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) when ABX was in the $7 region. A little over 3 years later, and even after a multi-year correction in the complex, the stock is still up 85% and poised to run higher. How many stocks do you know of which have been up 85% in the last 3 years, even after a multi-year pullback?

I was also on the phone with Doug Eberhardt the night that gold hit its final lows putting in my final buying order, as I expected we were hitting the bottom that night. To this end, Doug actually posted:

I can attest to your accuracy on actually buying both gold and silver from us as close to the bottom as one could.

Then, in January of 2016, it was announced that Venezuela sent $1.3 billion worth of gold bars to Switzerland, according to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. In fact, it seems that the Central Bank of Venezuela had reduced its gold holdings in 2015 by 25%, and this is even before hearing about this transfer in 2016. Again, are we supposed to believe this is smart money action?

To add to this bottoming evidence, in early 2016, it became known that the Bank of Canada sold all the rest of its gold. Yes, you heard that right. Clearly, we have more evidence of smart money activity! At the time, I noted that I would consider this akin to the "Brown Bottom" which marked the bottoming of gold back in 2002. I further noted that while 2002 became known as the "Brown Bottom," 2016 may yet become known as the "Maple Leaf Low."

So, I am going to let you in on a little secret at this time. If you want to know what is going to happen in the metals complex, it is not the central banks buying you want to watch. Right now, I would be watching Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) very closely. As long as it remains below 34.29, it still has potential to strike lower lows below those seen in 2018. However, should you see it break out over that level, it will confirm for me that a bottom has been struck, and we are on the verge of a strong rally about to take hold in the complex.

See charts and additional detail on NEM as well as the GDX, GLD & Silver.

Avi Gilburt is a widely followed Elliott Wave technical analyst and author of ElliottWaveTrader.net (www.elliottwavetrader.net), a live Trading Room featuring his intraday market analysis (including emini S&P 500, metals, oil, USD & VXX), interactive member-analyst forum, and detailed library of Elliott Wave education.

 2019 Copyright Avi Gilburt - 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.

Gold Technical Perspective  Why So Bullish?

Does technical analysis need to be so convoluted? Here are a couple of definitions from different sources:

1) Convoluted: (especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow. (source)

2) Convoluted sentences, explanations, arguments, etc. are unreasonably long and difficult to understand.

We are not talking about the accuracy or relevancy; or even the general length of an article centered around charts and graphs. But the convolution of most technical analysis does provoke some head scratching.

Another concern might be the nearly universal use of extrapolation.

1) Extrapolation: the action of estimating or concluding something by assuming that existing trends will continue or a current method will remain applicable. 2) Extrapolate: to infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information.

Judicious use of extrapolation is warranted. However, the inference of trend continuation can lead to predictions and expectations of little foundation or merit.

In this article we will look at three charts (one-year, five-year, and ten-year) of GLD, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF. ( source for all charts)

In order to emphasize simplicity and consistency, I have drawn only two lines on each chart  a rising uptrend line of support; and a descending overhead line of resistance. All three charts are updated as of Friday, February 15th, 2019.

Immediately below is the first chart, a one-year history of daily GLD prices

From this chart we can see that GLD has worked its way higher since its recent low last August. And it appears that it soon may intersect/test overhead resistance at 126. If it does break through and move higher, most observers would probably think that doing so would signal much higher prices.

That seems reasonable, but how high? And what about the downside risk? If it doesnt break through soon, it could fall back to its rising uptrend line of support. Currently, that is a drop of about eight percent to 114.

Is there enough upside potential to offset the downside risk by an acceptable margin?

While there is nothing overtly negative in the chart pattern, there is also nothing obviously positive, either; at least to a degree that would warrant excessive bullish optimism.

So, lets look at the next chart, a five-year weekly history of prices for GLD

On this chart we see that there is a descending line of overhead resistance dating back to at

least February 2014. And the rising uptrend line of support dates back to December 2015.

The longer time periods in both cases are indications of strength. This means that the overhead line of resistance we talked about before willprobably not be broken too easily. And maybe not right away. It has turned back at least three previous attempts in the past three years.

But it also means that the uptrend in place for the past five years cannot be taken lightly, and could provide strong support on any pullback.

So where does that leave us? Is there sufficient technical justification to support wildly bullish claims for new highs in gold prices this year? Next year?

Our final chart just below is a ten-year history of monthly prices for GLD

From this chart we get an entirely different perspective about gold prices. The rising line of support which has been in place for three years is seen within the context of declining line of overhead resistance which goes back almost six years.

In addition, it is apparent that the two lines will soon intersect; and that the price of GLD will eventually cross at least one of those lines. But which one?

If it is the line of overhead resistance, then that would seem to indicate that recent strength in the price of GLD is the foundation for considerably higher prices.

But the risk on the downside is still significant. Possibly much more than most recognize.

It took twenty-eight years for gold to finally surpass its 1980 price peak of $850.00 per ounce. We are now in the eighth year of declining prices for gold. Can you wait twenty more years to see $1900.00 gold again?

By Kelsey Williams

http://www.kelseywilliamsgold.com

Kelsey Williams is a retired financial professional living in Southern Utah. His website, Kelseys Gold Facts, contains self-authored articles written for the purpose of educating others about Gold within an historical context.

 2019 Copyright Kelsey Williams - 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.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (R) meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May made fresh efforts on Wednesday to unlock the Brexit stalemate. Without a breakthrough, as expected, they pledged to talk again before the end of the month. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

BRUSSELS, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May made fresh efforts on Wednesday to unlock the Brexit stalemate. Without a breakthrough, as expected, they pledged to talk again before the end of the month.

The two leaders talked about "which guarantees could be given with regard to the backstop that underlines once again its temporary nature and give the appropriate legal assurance to both sides", said a joint statement published on European Commission website.

They reconfirmed their commitment to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and to respect the integrity of the European Union's (EU) internal market and of the United Kingdom, said the statement.

They also discussed the role alternative arrangements could play in replacing the backstop in future and whether additions or changes to the Political Declaration can be made that are consistent with each other' positions while increasing their confidence in the focus and ambition in delivering the future partnership envisaged as soon as possible.

May arrived in Brussels at around 6am (1700 GMT) on Wednesday. Her latest visit came after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay updated the British cabinet on his talks with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, who reportedly "expressed concerns" over the issue of the Irish backstop.

The backstop is the insurance policy for preventing the return of a hard border in Ireland after Britain leaves the European Union on March 29.

The backstop, which is part of May's Withdrawal Agreement, became one of the main reasons her deal was voted down in Parliament in January. In a vote, MPs later gave their backing for May to renegotiate the policy with the EU.

May is set to return to Parliament in London to update MPs again on Feb. 26. In absence of a deal by then, she will give the House of Commons a say on the next steps in non-binding votes.
The Asia Womens Summit 2019, held recently at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, focused on empowering the women and developing the nation. Presented by Airspeed and Bio-Oil, the summit gathered a roster of inspiring female powerhouses who shared how they overcame their obstacles while juggling their careers, relationships, and lives.

Speakers encouraged and motivated the audience with their own stories of successes, struggles and lessons learned that have helped shape them into the strong women they are today. Among the summits speakers were Department of Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, who shared her advocacy for sustainable tourism in the Philippines. Multi-platinum songwriter Jana Stansfield serenaded the crowd with an empowering song celebrating women, while maritime industry expert Atty. Iris Baguilat focused on employee engagement and satisfaction in the workplace. MFT Group of Companies CEO Mica Tan spoke on family legacy, and ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director Susan Afan closed off the summit by showing how empowering women is an important part of nation-building. Moderating the morning panel of speakers was another powerhouse female, Rosemarie P. Rafael, the Chairman and President of logistics company Airspeed, who continue to thrive in a male-dominated industry for over 30 years.Asia Womens Summit continues to break boundaries and lift women up year after year, and 2019s summit was no different. As aptly said by Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat: Our nations success largely depends on us, women. We can fight, we can achieve, we can dream. As this program pushes, All our dreams are awaiting our action.
Muslim rebels who previously fought for secession from the Philippines have been cleared to help run a new self-governing region in the southern Philippines, Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said Wednesday. Murad said Abdullah Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, would also be appointed as one of 80 members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. Murad will be joined by fellow MILF central committee members and front commanders, whose eligibility earlier came under scrutiny because of criminal cases that might still be pending. But he told ANCs Early Edition beamed nationwide: It is all cleared. Murad was expected to take the role of chief minister of the three-year transition government of the new Bangsamoro autonomous region. Macapaar led deadly attacks in Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato in 2008 after the MILF and the government failed to sign a peace deal. The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, under then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, raised fears that it would lead to the creation of a sub-state for Muslims in Mindanao. Murad said Macapaar, leader of the MILFs 102nd Base Command, will be appointed, noting that the National Bureau of Investigation had cleared him of any pending cases. Macapaar is expected to initially serve as a member of parliament. Depending on the capability and qualifications, members would be tapped for ministerial positions, Murad said.The MILF is awaiting the amnesty proclamation of President Rodrigo Duterte within the year to facilitate the transition of combatants to civilian life under the normalization phase of the peace process. Members of the BTA were supposed to take their oath in Malacanang on Wednesday but the ceremony was reset to Feb. 22, said Murad. He added 41 of them were nominated by the MILF while the rest were handpicked by the government. The transition body is expected to take over governance of the old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao the following week. Murad acknowledged the pressure of governing a region long hobbled by poverty and violence. We are in another level of struggle that is to transform from the revolutionary organization to governance, he said, recalling that some MILF leaders had gone to Malaysia and Turkey for some training. According to Murad, the BTA would still be using the old P32-billion budget for ARMM to deliver on the promise of improved education, social services, and infrastructure this year. Congress allocated an additional P30 billion for the new governments operations, but Murad said the much bigger block grant would have to wait until next year. The new region also stands to receive P50 billion in special development fund after 2019 to help rebuild areas devastated over years of armed conflict.
Kasargode : In a latest development into the Kasargode twin murder case, Kripesh father has demanded a CBI investigation into the case. As per the reports, Krishnan, Kripesh father will be moving to the High Court demanding the central bureau investigation into political murder.

Pointing that they were not satisfied with the police investigation, Krishnan also suspected more culprits behind the case.

He also alleged that outside people were hired to carry out the heinous crime. Sarath and Kripesh, the two youth Congress workers were hacked to death in conflict with CPM at Kallyot, Periya near Kasargod on February 17.

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CRISPR 168

The emergence of a successful CRISPR-Cas9 patent pool for commercial use is unlikely despite efforts by some in the life sciences sector to establish one, according to in-house counsel.

Seven sources from CRISPR-licensee biotech and pharmaceutical businesses explain that while they might be open to the idea of a commercial licensing platform for the gene-editing technology, there are too many financial and practical barriers for one to be viable.

Counsel say that these hurdles include the limited cost-effectiveness of licensing from a platform rather than through patent owners, an inability to buy exclusive licences and the uncertainty surrounding who would enter such a pool and the ultimate value of CRISPR-Cas9-derived therapeutic products.

We would support the concept of any collaborative solution that enables innovation in theory, including a CRISPR patent pool, says Corey Salsberg, vice president and global head of IP affairs at Novartis in Washington DC.

But the concept would have to make sense in that it would address a problem of developing the technology in a way that is valuable to patients and the business. It would also have to be a voluntary platform.

He adds that patent pools are usually built to reduce the high transaction costs of licensing from multiple parties. Considering these necessities, he says, it is questionable whether a CRISPR patent pool is needed or would be workable in the pharmaceutical or biotech sectors.

The vice-president of IP at a Californian biotech firm agrees that the concept of a CRISPR patent pool is interesting but that the impracticality of creating and joining one means it is unlikely to emerge, or at least, be successful.

The general counsel of a global life sciences firm adds: I agree with other companies hesitations in this matter. CRISPR-Cas9 is a tricky space that is still partially unknown.

CRISPR  which stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats  is a bacterial defence system that forms the basis of the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9. Cas9 has garnered increasing attention over the past five years since it was discovered to be a precise, easy-to-use and low-cost way of editing genomes.

A patent pool for the reportedly revolutionary technology has been called for as a way to spur innovation in gene-editing for some time.

The Broad Institute, one of the main CRISPR patent holders, has been proposing a patent pool for the technology since 2017. The organisation has joined discussions to create a non-exclusive joint licensing platform with MPEG LA, a company that puts together patent pools and is famous for putting the mpeg video file model together.

Patent Strategy, a new offering from Managing IP, reported last year that agriculture and human therapeutics companies, including Germany-based seed company KWS, had also been in talks about creating a cross-industry CRISPR licensing platform. Those discussions were stalled, however, after the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that crops modified by CRISPR-Cas9 technologies were to be treated as genetically-modified organisms.

Fewer patents needed



A CRISPR patent pool that limited exclusivity over downstream products would likely not be viable Corey Salsberg, Novartis

One of the main barriers to a commercial CRISPR patent pool is the uncertainty surrounding which patents will go into it and how much they will collectively cost. Sources point out that it may well be cheaper for medical firms to license rights directly from patent owners.

Patent pools have worked very well for telecommunications and digital appliances firms, for example, because they need to purchase hundreds or thousands of licences from numerous patent holders to make particular devices. Buying these rights from a one-stop shop eliminates the costs and time accrued in finding and negotiating fees with multiple patent owners.

But there are far fewer patents for CRISPR at the moment than there are for smartphones or mp3 players, for example, and therapeutics companies do not necessarily need all of them to develop a Cas9 product.

Salsberg at Novartis says there are around 60 CRISPR-related patents in the US, and that a company may only need to get a licence for a small number of them from one or two owners to develop a particular invention.

If you are working to develop a therapy you will only be looking at what applications you need and what patents would cover those. If there are only a few needed, it may make more sense to go for a straight licence deal rather than to spend more money on a CRISPR patent package, most of which you may not need.

The assistant general counsel at a global biotherapeutics company adds that the potential cost of a pool compared to direct licensing deals is a key point of hesitation for his firm.





Whos in?

There is also the matter of who would go into such a pool. Data from iRunways 2018 CRISPR Global Patent Landscape report indicates that most human therapeutic-related patents for the gene-editing technology have been tied up by a handful of organisations, including the Broad Institute and the University of California (primarily, UC Berkeley).

If one or two of these organisations decided to opt out of a CRISPR licensing platform, it would not be a one-stop shop and therefore not of much worth to licensees. And there has so far been little indication of who might be willing to throw their rights into the mix.

Hannes Iserentant, the IP director of Belgium-based biotech firm Celyad, points out that while Broad has demonstrated its willingness to put CRISPR rights into a patent pool, it is not certain which other rights holders are on board with the idea.

UC Berkeley is not on board and it is not clear which other right holders are, he says. Thus, it does not seem to be the one-stop solution it hopes to be just yet.

The Californian biotech VP of IP adds that it is difficult to predict how academic institutions, such as UC Berkeley, might to a CRISPR patent pools creation.

The IP director of another California-based biotech firm adds that the current patent wars over CRISPR rights between some of these owners  particularly UC Berkeley and Broad  means that no one is sure who will ultimately end up owning what.

The ownership question in the CRISPR space complicates things because it is unlikely that these players will enter into a licensing platform arrangement until the question of who is top dog is settled.

Unlike traditional pools in the tech space, a CRISPR platform would need to attract a diverse landscape of patent owners  and it may be difficult to incentivise them into joining.

The biotherapeutics assistant general counsel points out that in mp3 players, for example, it makes sense for everyone to go into a pool because everyone needs access to all patents in that tech to make a product work.

But in the CRISPR space, you have universities inventing foundational academic-level tech but not developing it, and private companies that are selling types of applications being sold by institutions. It is not clear to most businesses whether there would be an equal incentive for these players to put in their IP, considering this diverse set of roles.

He adds that CRISPR tech is evolving so fast that it is impossible for companies to keep up, and a pool would make it easier to monitor the changing landscape. But if not enough players go into the pool, it cant be used for that purpose.



I dont know of any example of a successful patent pool in human therapeutics Hannes Iserentant, Celyad

Salsberg at Novartis agrees that the diverse set of CRISPR players will make it difficult to have a well-filled pool. He adds that, presumably, there will be a huge number of people who want to license the technology out of the pool but do not want to put anything into it.

He points out that such a situation would go against the rule of most established patent pools that if someone wants to take something out, they need to put something in.

Exclusive cell

Should a pool be built and filled with patents from the necessary CRISPR-Cas9 rights holders, there would then be the question of whether pharma and biotech businesses could get the return on investment (ROI) required to justify their research and development spend.

Salsberg points out that the cost of developing medicines is usually in the billions of dollars  and even if a company were to license CRISPR tech to help make some aspects of the process more efficient, any cost reduction gained is unlikely to be significant enough to lessen the need for an exclusivity period.

For that reason, a CRISPR patent pool that limited exclusivity over downstream products would likely not be viable, he says.

Pharmaceutical and biotech firms normally buy exclusive rights to ensure that they have a monopoly on a given therapeutic product and can get the necessary ROI. But that necessity goes against the point of a patent pool, which requires that rights are licensed on a non-exclusive basis  either because that is the only way they can be workable or because it is required by law.

The only way that businesses would enter a CRISPR patent pool is if they could be reasonably sure that they could get a good ROI without exclusivity. But sources say that theyre not certain of whether they could make a healthy profit through such a system.

Essentially, patent pools can only be successful for non-exclusive licences  which could work well in the agricultural sector because of its consolidation and you imagine could work for research and industrial biotech as well, says Iserentant at Celyad. But I dont know of any example of a successful patent pool in human therapeutics, because the kind of investment you need to make typically entails that you want at least some exclusivity.

The associate general counsel of a UK-based pharmaceuticals company says that the problem of the division of royalties from a pool makes the establishment of a CRISPR-Cas9 one-stop shop very difficult. With the patent battles going on, she adds, and the amount of money invested at this point, along with the potential of very large revenue, it is unlikely that the relevant parties will come together.

The Californian biotech VP of IP points out that for a non-exclusive licensing model to work now, there would need to be a rollback of the exclusive licences that have already been granted. The Broad Institute, for example, has licensed a lot of its CRISPR IP on an exclusive basis to Editas  a company that specialises in developing CRISPR-Cas9 technologies  and a patent pool is unlikely to work without these patents.

The bees genes?

With all the barriers blocking the path to a successful commercial CRISPR-Cas9 patent pool, businesses are reluctant to put their weight behind one when they are still not certain whether the technology will be as revolutionary as many have touted.

CRISPR is fairly early in its development and we need a bit more time to see if it is what people think it is, says the Californian biotech VP of IP. There are already publications on other CRISPR systems that reportedly function better and do not have some side effects. She adds that the current assumption is that Cas9 will be fundamental to developments in gene-editing, but it may not turn out to be.

The California-based biotech IP director agrees with this point, and adds that a lot of people in the field are now looking at other enzymes such as Cas12. Businesses may even choose to invest more heavily in these enzymes, he adds, as a way to avoid the current uncertainty in the Cas9 landscape.

Salsberg at Novartis agrees, adding that given the significant effort and transaction costs of setting up a patent pool, a key consideration for any pool would be whether the technology in it would remain essential long enough, or be kept sufficiently up to date, to justify the effort.

As one of the first CRISPR enzymes to be explored, there is no doubt that Cas9 is of value today, but there are already other approaches that could conceivably compete with or displace Cas9 in the future.

A CRISPR-Cas9 patent pool could be a good thing for the commercial human therapeutics world, but a successful platform is just not likely to emerge any time soon. Pharma and biotech firms dont know whether patent owners would be interested in such a pool or  even if they were  whether it would cater to their financial needs.

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China has always attached great importance to the protection of endangered wild animals and plants and strictly fulfilled its international obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an official said Wednesday.

Geng Shuang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Photo: mfa.gov.cn)

Geng Shuang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference that with the Wildlife Protection Law at the core, China has developed a domestic legal and regulatory system, including the Forest Law, and the Regulations on the Administration of Import and Export of Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora.

Since 2015, China has successively issued measures to stop importing ivory carvings, hunting ivory and prohibiting the commercial processing and sale of domestic ivory, which has been well received by the international community, Geng said when he was asked about Chinas stance to the Chinese 'Ivory Queen' smuggler being sentenced to 15 years in jail in Tanzania.

The Chinese government has adopted a "zero tolerance" attitude toward participating in the illegal trade in endangered wildlife and its products, and has resolutely punished criminals.

The Chinese government has consistently required overseas Chinese citizens to comply with local laws and regulations.

We do not protect the illegal activities of Chinese citizens and support the relevant departments of Tanzania to investigate and handle the case in accordance with the law, he stressed.

China is willing to continue to contribute to the protection of endangered wildlife and the suppression of illegal trade, together with the international community, including Tanzania.

Geng also reminded Chinese citizens going to Africa to increase their awareness of law. Do not buy or carry rare wild animal products such as ivory and rhino horns, he added.

A prominent Chinese businesswoman dubbed the Ivory Queen was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Tanzanian court on Tuesday for smuggling the tusks of more than 350 elephants, weighing nearly 2 tons, to Asia, Reuters reports Wednesday.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
The Lux List

In an interview with LUXUO, Francis Srun reveals some of the key trends in luxury selling

Feb 21, 2019 | By LUXUO

Founder of RETAIL PERFORMANCE, an advising company dedicated to a Better Retail World based in Hong Kong, Francis SRUN is an Author, Conference speaker and Luxury and Retail Strategist.

Sruns international career path has seen him work in France, Switzerland, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong with over 20 years of experience spanning both high-end Luxury Sales and Marketing, with houses like Maison Piaget, Ralph Lauren, and Boucheron.

Francis Srun is a world-class recognized expert in Luxury Retail. In 2013 he published Vendre Le Luxe, the first book in France about luxury selling techniques and In 2016, LUXURY SELLING, with international academic and trade publisher Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Interview with Luxury and Retail Strategist Francis Srun

You have been a specialist in the luxury scene in Asia for the past 20 years, what trends do you foresee this coming year in China?

I see the speeding up of a trend already observed: what I call the Viral Luxury in China. Luxury is always about culture. In France, its about self-affirmation. In China, the desire is more about being right. Chinese tend to trust bloggers, stars and increasingly the WECHAT nano-influencers.

How are Chinese consumers evolving? How important is shopping experience for luxury goods today?

Chinese Luxury consumers are so different that it is becoming inappropriate to talk about Chinese Luxury consumers in general. The large spectrum is in particular created by the differences between generations. There is a switch in term of preference from The Powerful Brand to The On Fire Brands. New consumers go to stores looking for the products on fire and want them immediately before others. The excitement is to be able to satisfy what is really hot.

Are the luxury brands current answers to the fast progression of e-commerce adequate?

Luxury Brands still consider E-commerce as a un-wanted necessity. Many of the brands CEO are not buying Luxury online. They are in Europe and enjoy a different lifestyle. E-commerce is not connected to Boutiques but still seen just as a separate channel. Many major e-commerce innovations are happening in China, notably with T-Mall domination, but not only. Luxury Brands again are too slow and forget one simple rationale: Customers buy where they sound their time  and today its on the mobile phone.

How do Malls need to evolve to face the millennials fast evolving consumption habits?

Malls once upon a time were the only place for the weekend. They are air-conditioned, luxurious and represent a new successful lifestyle. Today why millennials would go to the Malls? The New New is online or in Korea, Japan and of course Europe. The Malls in China feature the same brands, with the same products and I have to say, unfortunately, the same low level of service. When the service is good, it is no more exceptional as 20 years ago. Only K11 offers nicely a new perspective with a vision around introducing Art in the shopping Malls in Hong Kong and China. Malls have to showcase new brands, new services.

How do you view the rise of Chinese / Asian luxury brands? What is their forte and what are they missing?

Japan and recently Korea managed to create truly international Luxury brands, but not yet China. At one of my conferences, a Chinese lady owner of a jewellery brand asked me how her brand can become a Cartier or Boucheron. Another founder of a fashion brand wonders if his brand can meet the success of Ralph Lauren. Only one answer: dont think about legacy but deserve it. Mr Cartier, Boucheron, or Lauren were just at that time trying to do the best in their trade. They had something to say and the courage, energy to persevere. What is missing: The patience from what I observe.

Do you see M&As happening in the luxury field this year? Armani as a potential target of a larger Group? Burberry? Others?

M&A in Luxury may keep on happening with major Luxury groups buying the brands of tomorrow. I see a better horizon in betting on rising brands than paying market shares in this changing Luxury environment. The Luxury is always reinventing. More than brands, new Luxury categories are emerging: sneakers, sport-wear, bikes and lifestyles services.

Which public figures/entrepreneurs in the luxury field you will be following closely?

I am very much impressed by the challenges undertaken by Chinese Group Fosun. Would a Chinese group be able to turnaround, succeed in Paris with Maison Lanvin? No Asian groups managed to beautifully turnaround Luxury Brands. Another interesting Brand to follow would be Burberry. Can a heritage brand become a fashion-forward icon?

How can your book provide useful advice to luxury brand managers?

In my two books dedicated to Luxury Selling techniques and customers psychology, I introduced 2 concepts that could help all Luxury Brand managers: luxury buying motivational factors and the persuasive approach. Start to understand how your customers decide: when there is a decision, there is a process and you can influence it. I suggest Luxury Brand managers consider Persuasive marketing: create around your customer positive conditions for a decision for your brand. The best brand is not the one that everyone sees but the one everyone talks about!

Francis SRUN lives between Hong Kong, London and Paris. He can be reached at [email protected]
Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 73F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 73F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tomorrow

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. High around 85F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
The Lee Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement with the city of Cape Coral for the design and construction of a system to connect Yellow Fever Creek and Gator Slough Canal in northeast Cape Coral.

The decision was unanimous with no discussion by the BOCC in a meeting that took less than an hour. The Cape Coral City Council approved the agreement in January.

The news was met with mutual approval.

Im happy to get the project started. The whole point is to restore the historic waterflow into Yellow Fever Creek and improve the water quality flowing into Matlacha Pass and the Caloosahatchee River, County Commissioner Brian Hamman said.

Im happy this has been approved by the Lee County commissioners. Weve been working on this with county staff for a year or two, said Jeff Pearson, utilities director for the city. We believe its a win-win project with a lot of environmental positives.

The project plans include capturing some of the excess flow in the Gator Slough drainage canal and transfer excess storm water to Yellow Fever Creek. The transfer of water will enhance the rehydration of wetlands south of Del Prado Boulevard.

Pearson said the project will also provide more water for the canal system, especially during dry season.

Pearson said there would be a pond on the Conservation 20/20 land at Yellow Fever Creek, where the city is going to build a new park, that will serve as a reservoir where the city can store water and let it settle to naturally cleanse the water along with sunlight.

Before the water is discharged, it goes through natural treatment and is released through Yellow Fever Creek, Pearson said. The water will be in our canals and then pumped underneath Del Prado to the reservoir. There will then be a controlled release into Yellow Fever Creek.

The nutrients tend to come from stormwater runoff from the roads, lawn fertilizer, pets and other pollutants, into the canals, Pearson said.

Cape Coral and Lee County will each construct and maintain their respective portions of the project. The estimated cost for Lee Countys portion is $2 million, with Cape Corals estimated at $1.5 million. The project also received a grant, to deal with increased nutrients in the water from the state in the amount of $175,000, which was approved in 2015.

In 2016, the BOCC approved awarding a contract to AIM Engineering for design and engineering services, and last year approved amendment No. 1 to the FDEP grant, which extended the grant deadline to Dec. 31, 2019.

Design of the project is budgeted in the current fiscal year for Lee County, with construction scheduled for fiscal year 2019-2020.

Cape Coral also has the money budgeted, but has yet to hire an engineer. Once the agreement is signed, the city will finish design on Weir 29, which has been totally permitted.

Jody Sorells, city project manager, said it would be about 24 months before it city could finish the engineering, design and bidding and do the construction.

Hamman said these are the types of projects that need to be done throughout the Lee County watershed to clean up the water that comes from properties and goes into the major waterways.

There are so many people living here now, and they leave nutrients that flow into the water. The key to clean water is to do projects like this that recreate flow ways that Mother Nature intended, Hamman said.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

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In an effort to maintain power after elections in April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has persuaded three fringe parties of the extreme right to form an alliance by promising them two prime seats in a future Cabinet.

One of the parties, Jewish Power, believes in Jewish supremacy and is led by disciples of Meir Kahane, an American-born rabbi who won a seat in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, before he was banned from politics in 1988 for advancing a racist agenda. He was assassinated two years later.

One Israeli television correspondent, Barak Ravid, said the move by Netanyahu was designed to get the Israeli equivalents of David Duke into the Knesset  a reference to the American politician and former Ku Klux Klan leader.

None of the three parties  which also include Jewish Home and National Union  are thought to have any chance on their own of winning the 3.25% of the vote needed to join the parliament. But Netanyahu hopes that together they can cross that threshold and help keep him in power.

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Netanyahu presides over a fragile coalition government, and whether he continues as prime minister after the elections will depend on building a new coalition of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. His Likud Party currently holds 30 seats.

In a statement released late Tuesday, he warned that if the right does not band together it will lose and Benny Gantz, a retired army chief who is running against Netanyahu, will form a leftist government with the support of Arab parties.

Right-wing voters expect you to show responsibility and unite, he said. Do not disappoint them and do not endanger the Land of Israel.

He gave the three parties a strong incentive to join forces, offering two Cabinet positions: housing and education.

Sweetening the deal, he also promised them two seats in his security Cabinet, a small forum of ministers responsible for military and strategic decisions, as well as one of the Likuds seats in parliament.

The three parties have not announced what their alliance will be called. They were expected to do so Thursday, when all parties are required to submit their list of candidates for parliament.

The leader of the largest of the three parties, Jewish Home, is 38-year-old Bezalel Smotrich, who supports the existence of Jewish-only communities, opposes intermarriage and has declared himself a proud homophobe.

In a statement, Jewish Power said the arrangement would prevent the establishment of a leftist government, God forbid.
Many of the asylum seekers who returned to Tijuana to wait for their U.S. immigration court proceedings under a recent Trump administration policy may face those hearings without lawyers.

Weeks after U.S. officials began sending back certain asylum seekers, attorneys are still trying to figure out whether theyre even allowed to practice in Tijuana, let alone whether their organizations have the resources to send staff across the border.

Scores of people, including children with their families, have been returned, according to Mexican immigration officials.

Meanwhile, the first hearings for returnees are about a month away.

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They need to be seen immediately to give attorneys time to prepare, said Carmen Chavez, executive director of Casa Cornelia, a San Diego nonprofit that provides free legal representation in asylum cases.

Insurmountable challenges

Her organization focuses on helping those who are most vulnerable, such as unaccompanied children, navigate the system. Shed like for Casa Cornelia attorneys to be able to help people returned to Tijuana by the Remain in Mexico program, but she says there are logistical hurdles to navigate before that would be possible.

She criticized U.S. officials for implementing the new policy without infrastructure in place to ensure access to legal representation.

All I know is the people in Tijuana are facing insurmountable challenges, and the people trying to help them are facing insurmountable challenges, Chavez said.

She worried about whether attorneys licensed in the U.S. are allowed to practice in Mexico, where they would be able to meet confidentially with their clients in Tijuana and whether their malpractice insurance would cover work that they did across the border. She also worried about how much time staff would lose crossing between countries.

Asylum cases for people already present in the U.S. take between 100 and 200 working hours, she said. Adding in travel to another country would use even more staff resources per case.

She also wondered how returnees would even be able to reach out to the organizations office.

Returnees are given handouts with lists of pro bono immigration attorneys in California, but Chavez worried that they might not have access to a phone that could call the offices U.S. number.

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What does the U.S. say?

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about access to counsel for those returned under the new program.

Consistent with the law, aliens in removal proceedings can use counsel of their choosing at no expense to the U.S. Government, reads an online fact sheet from the department about the program. Aliens subject to MPP [Migration Protection Protocols] will be afforded the same right and provided with a list of legal services providers in the area which offer services at little or no expense to the migrant.

Leah Chavarria, an immigration attorney with Jewish Family Service, another pro bono group on the list given to those who will be attending immigration court in San Diego, said the organization has been trying to determine what capacity, if any, it might have to send staff across the border.

She estimated that if they were able to figure out all of the other logistical concerns, such as having work permits in Mexico, Jewish Family Service might at most be able to take five cases at a time from among the returnees.

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If attorneys step up through their volunteer program to help, the organization might be able to take more, she said.

Its such a strain on resources because if were sending a staff member to Mexico, its going to take their entire day to have a meeting with one client just because of the logistical issues, Chavarria said.

Why having an attorney matters

Not having an attorney can make a big difference in the outcome of an immigration court case.

Between October 2000 and November 2018, about 82% of people in immigration court who didnt have attorneys were ordered to be deported or gave up on their cases and left voluntarily, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University. In contrast, of those who had lawyers, only 31% had the same outcomes.

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In that same time period, about 53% of those facing immigration court did not have attorneys, according to that same data. Among those held in immigration detention centers, which also present logistical challenges for attorneys trying to represent clients inside, 82% did not have lawyers for their cases, according to the clearinghouse.

Among those detained and released while their cases were still pending, 28% were unrepresented, and for those who had never been held in detention, about 41% didnt have attorneys on their cases.

Many attorneys believe that those in Tijuana will have an even more difficult time than those held in detention centers.

Theres certainly more access to individuals that are in detention than individuals who are in another country, said Adela Mason, director of the Immigration Justice Project, which provides legal orientation to detainees at Otay Mesa Detention Center and is also on the San Diego list of pro bono attorneys.

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She said she worries asylum seekers wont even have access to her groups legal orientation program for basic help with their cases and understanding the system.

Another group, Al Otro Lado, is trying to provide at least that support to asylum seekers across the border.

A few attorneys are stepping up that are going to take some of them, but there is no plan to represent these people right now, said Luis Guerra of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, which has been supporting Al Otro Lado.

ER-style legal services

Al Otro Lado provides know-your-rights style introductions to the immigration system with the support of volunteer attorneys both at their offices and in the mornings outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry where asylum seekers gather to hear who will be allowed in from the waiting list to ask the U.S. for protection.

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What we do right now are emergency room immigration legal services, Guerra said.

The organization doesnt have the resources to represent returnees for their asylum cases, Guerra said.

Its really difficult to connect with people who are returned because we have to run all over Tijuana to find them if they dont already know about us, Guerra said. We cant have someone at all ports of entry 24/7 waiting for people to be returned. Its unreasonable. Everything about this policy is unreasonable.

Al Otro Lado is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed this month by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the Trump administration policy in federal court.

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James Rudolph of Rudolph, Baker and Associates, is one of the few immigration attorneys in the border region with offices in San Diego and Tijuana.

He opened the Tijuana office decades ago and obtained, first, a Mexican green card and, then. citizenship, which allows him to work on both sides of the border. In order to make the logistics work, he partnered with a Mexican attorney, he said.

His office doesnt take many asylum cases, he said, but focuses on helping people apply for immigrant visas and those whose tourist visas have been denied. He offered to support attorneys trying to figure out how to see clients in Tijuana.

I know a couple of other attorneys have tried to have an office  its just not, economically, very easy to do it, Rudolph said. I started a long time ago and plowed through the economics of it.

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Kate Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
As the deadline approaches for the withdrawal of U.S. forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria, Americas closest European allies have turned down a Trump administration request to fill the gap with their own troops, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

Allies have unanimously told the United States that they wont stay if you pull out, a senior administration official said. France and Britain are the only other countries with troops on the ground in the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State.

Along with the United States, they have provided training, supplies, logistics and intelligence for the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-dominated group that has done most of the fighting. U.S., French and British forces also man heavy artillery and conduct the airstrikes that have been decisive against the militants.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said last week he was mystified by Trumps policy. On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said there was no prospect of British forces replacing the Americans in Syria.

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Trump: Wheres my Nobel Prize? 

European refusal to stay unless President Trump reverses at least part of his troop withdrawal order is one of several factors that U.S. military officials, lawmakers and senior administration officials have said should make Trump think again.

Their concerns come as the administration has yet to reach an agreement with Turkey not to attack the SDF, which the nation says is a terrorist group. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the Turkish military, massed at the border, is prepared to move into northeastern Syria once the Americans leave.

One of the principal requests the administration has made of the allies, including Germany, which has no forces in Syria, is to form an observer force to patrol a 20-mile-wide safe zone on the Syrian side of the border, separating Turkey from the Syrian Kurds.

Officials in Ankara said Turkeys defense minister, Hulusi Akar, and its military chief of staff would travel to Washington on Thursday to discuss Syria and other regional matters with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

The SDF has appealed to Western nations to keep a force of up to 1,500 in northeast Syria to coordinate air support and back its efforts to hold militants and other adversaries at bay. In anticipation of the departure of about 2,000 U.S. troops, the Kurds are negotiating with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russia, his primary foreign backer along with Iran.

Russia, meanwhile, has proposed that Assads forces simply be allowed to take over the entire area now controlled by the United States and its allies. No one, including the Kurds and the Turks, thinks the regime coming into the northeast is a good idea, the senior administration official said.

Trump has long complained that his own top aides and the military were blocking his determination to exit Syria once the Islamic State was defeated. In December, he said the goal had been achieved and that U.S. troops were leaving now, after which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned. Trump subsequently agreed that the departure would be deliberate and orderly. The military is planning a full withdrawal by the end of April.

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But although national security adviser John Bolton, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others have told allies that some American troops may remain, those reassurances have not filtered up to the level of a presidential order to the Pentagon.

Senate Republicans break with Trump over plans to pull troops from Syria, Afghanistan 

I wont talk to what Sen. Graham or NSA Bolton would like, a Defense official said. Gen. Votel has been very clear that we are currently focused on executing a full withdrawal from Syria at the order of the president. Gen. Joseph Votel is the head of the U.S. Central Command in charge of U.S. forces in the Middle East.

U.S. and foreign officials spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive and ongoing diplomatic discussions and military operations.

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In recent weeks, Trump has said that nearly 100% of the wide swath of Iraq and Syria that once formed the Islamic State caliphate has been liberated, although a small patch of militants has stubbornly hung on in the southeast. Trump said Friday that he expected the complete eradication of the caliphate to be announced over the next 24 hours, but no such announcement has been made.

Military officials have repeatedly flagged what they see as the hazards of a hasty pullout, even after the Islamic States territorial presence has been eliminated. Officials expect the group will retain an insurgent capability and the potential to stage a comeback, as it did after the American departure from Iraq in 2011, and they estimate that from 20,000 to 30,000 militants remain in the two countries.

Senior officials, including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have cautioned that the SDF requires ongoing assistance to stabilize cleared areas.

Last week, Votel said publicly that he did not support Trumps withdrawal decision.

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Graham, who leads a group of lawmakers opposed to the pullout plan, has proposed leaving 200 U.S. troops in northeastern Syria as a way to incentivize European allies.

In a closed-door meeting at last weeks Munich Security Conference, Shanahan faced tough questions from congressional delegates who said he hadnt articulated a substantive justification for Trumps exit plans.

Are you telling our allies that we are going to go to zero by April 30? Graham asked Shanahan, according to an account Graham gave to Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin. When Shanahan replied that those were the presidents order, Graham said he replied, Thats the dumbest [expletive] idea Ive ever heard. Shanahan, he said, agreed that likely consequences included a return of the Islamic State, a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces and an advantage for Iran.

Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino, a Pentagon spokesman, said the meeting was productive and ended on a positive note for all parties.

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An official familiar with the Pentagons view of the meeting said Shanahan was prepared for tough questions from lawmakers but did not want to appear to be questioning the White House plan. Pentagon officials anticipated that portions of the meeting could be made public.

OPINION: 5 reasons why Trump is right about getting America out of Syria 

Bolton has told allies that even if they withdraw from northern and eastern Syria, U.S. troops would remain at the American garrison at Tanf, on Syrias southern border with Jordan. Bolton is the administrations leading hard-liner on Iran and believes, as he recently told reporters, that Tanf is still very strategically important in connection with our determination that Iran not achieve this arc of control stretching from Tehran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

But military officials said they had received no such instructions from Trump. The National Security Council declined to comment on the Tanf situation, beyond referring reporters to Boltons previous remarks on the subject.

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There is some confusion still in the U.S. government about Tanf, the senior administration official said, amid rising confusion about what, exactly, Trumps blueprint entails.

Another U.S. official characterized the situation with Turkey as gridlock on the U.S. side  a lot of parties not seeing things the same way.

The two governments appear to have made progress in resolving a subset of their disagreement over the Kurds. They have been conducting joint military patrols in the Syrian town of Manbij, which was retaken from the Islamic State in 2016, and the Americans have agreed to remove 10 SDF fighters from the area in response to Turkish concerns.

But the future of a safe zone is far less clear. For U.S. officials, it has meant reconciling Trumps withdrawal directive with the reality of the tinderbox that would be left behind. Its not safe to leave these enemies there, without any referee or mediating force, the U.S. official said, referring to the Kurdish fighters and the Turkish military.

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On Tuesday, Erdogan called the proposed safe zone, with Turkish forces in charge, the most practical solution for the return of millions of Syrian refugees who have settled in Turkey and other countries in the region during an eight-year civil war between Assad and his political opponents. He said it depended on the material, logistical support of other countries  a reference to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assistance that Turkey, a member of NATO, has requested from the United States and other countries in the alliance.

Although Erdogan also told Trump that Turkish forces would move farther into Syria to combat Islamic State remnants, U.S. officials said that was unlikely, given their comparatively limited security capabilities.

Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan write for the Washington Post.
South Africa: SARS intensifying revenue collection efforts

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is intensifying its effort to identify and bring to book tax dodgers.

This comes after revelation that the revenue collector is launching units aimed at tackling the illicit tobacco industry and big business. The illicit economics unit was launched late last year, while the large business unit is expected to come to life in April.

Addressing reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said it is important that revenue collection efforts are intensified.

Speaking alongside the Minister was acting SARS Commissioner Mark Kingon, who said the revenue collector is zoning in on many areas that need special focus.

This week, reports emerged of a court sheriff order being issued to an alleged businessman in the tobacco black market. Mboweni said many such cases would come to light.

[This is] in terms of the illicit economy to ensure that what is needed to be rendered to Caesar is rendered to Caesar. So you are going to see, and you are seeing, action in the tobacco space. You have seen commentary around the R7 billion [loss in illegal cigarette sales].

In the fuel space, we are seeing considerable amounts dripping and ghost exports, where duties are not being paid.

In clothing and textiles, theres an effort to firstly detect illicit duties, the economy and the jobs in that [space].

There are comments being made at the State capture commission, where direct notices have been given regarding tax abuse, fraudulent invoices being created and the splitting of salaries. These things are being dealt with by the Unit.

Meanwhile, Kingon announced that SARS was beginning to reduce its VAT credit.

At the MTBPS [Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement] we had a R20 billion addition allocated for refunds for VAT. The credit book for VAT peeked at about R41 billion in September of last year. We are grateful that as of [Tuesday, 19 February], we were sitting at about R24.8 billion VAT credit. So we have brought it down quite significantly, thanks to the efforts of various factors. The team is working extremely hard and obviously looking at our risk processes, Kingon said.

The large business unit will be announced at a formal launch in April.

It is through these efforts that we can finally deliver what is needed by Caesar, Kingon said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pope Francis warned bishops he wants concrete measures to stamp out sex abuse in the church on the first day of a groundbreaking Vatican summit where he handed out 21 proposals for cracking down on predator priests.

Addressing 190 cardinals, bishops, priests, monks and nuns at the start of the four-day event, Francis urged them to hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice, before delegates watched videos of shocking testimonies from victims.

The holy people of God look to us, and expect from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures, Francis said.

After 20 years of scandals that have rocked the church, Francis said he was praying for divine support to help us to turn this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification.

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Francis held the summit after revelations of abuse in Chile, where he initially disbelieved the claims of victims before admitting last year he was mistaken, and in the U.S., where former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was defrocked this month for sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy and sleeping with seminarians.

After Francis spoke, Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up repeatedly as he told delegates that the wounds carried by the victims of priestly predators resembled the wounds of Christ on the cross.

Among the victims whose recorded accounts were played at the summit, one said bishops are the physicians of the soul, and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed in some cases into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith.

Another unnamed victim said a priest had made her have three abortions after repeatedly getting her pregnant, beating her if she refused to have sex. Another warned that abuse by priests was a time bomb set to explode in Asia, where few scandals have yet emerged.

These were brutal, honest testimonies, said German priest Hans Zollner, who helped organize the conference.

We needed to listen to the victims  this was sacred ground, said the Vaticans top abuse investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who said it was the first time some of the delegates had ever heard the testimony of a victim.

During the session Thursday, Scicluna talked delegates through the steps they should take if they hear about abusive priests.

Indicating how little weight some bishops give to the problem, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia, revealed some prelates from Africa and Asia at the summit had asked why child abuse was such a high priority when child labor was a pressing concern in their countries.

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Francis 21 points included telling civil authorities of abuse in compliance with civil and canonical norms, as well as using lay experts in investigations and on semi-independent boards that victims can report to.

The points are very important, a road map  its an understatement to say they should be taken seriously, said Scicluna, who suggested they may be turned into canon law after the summit.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, praised the call for lay experts but was not impressed by the proposal to inform the police about abuse in compliance with local laws.

The reference to local laws is a nod and a wink to people who know that in most countries bishops and clergy are not compelled by law to report sex crimes. Its a way of saying Dont report it if you dont have to,  she said.

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She also warned that two of the proposals suggested the pope would roll back key measures introduced to halt abuse in the U.S.

The 14th point suggests It is necessary to prevent lists of the accused being published, even by the dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and the definitive condemnation.

Here the pope is criticizing the trend among U.S. bishops to release lists of credibly accused clergy  he doesnt like their transparency, she said. What he says sounds reasonable, but definitive convictions can take years and canon law is skewed in favor of priests, while this would take all the dead priests off the table.

She also criticized the 15th proposal about respecting the traditional principle of proportionality of punishment with respect to the crime committed.

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This goes against zero tolerance; it rolls back the one strike and you are out policy, which is the norm for U.S. bishops, she said.

Kington is a special correspondent.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus two main rivals in Israels upcoming election pledged Thursday to run against him on a joint ticket, increasing the pressure he faces even as he came under fire for making a pact with an extreme far-right political party.

Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff, and Yair Lapid, a longtime opponent of the prime minister, said they were joining forces out of national responsibility and would run on a joint party list called Blue and White  the colors of the Israeli flag. Gantz and Lapid have been largely polling in second and third place, respectively, ahead of the April 9 election.

One poll carried out before the political alliance was announced found that a merger between Gantz and Lapid would put them a hair ahead of Netanyahu. The survey by Israeli news site Walla projected the combined team would win 34 seats in the Knesset, or parliament, compared with 33 for Netanyahus ticket.

In the past, Netanyahu has come from behind to win, and some political analysts say he thrives in the role of an underdog because he can galvanize his core supporters with the prospect he may lose. Netanyahu has been prime minister for more than 13 years and is now serving his fourth term.

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However, this years election includes a wild card. Before Israelis go to the ballot box, the attorney general is expected to announce a decision on whether he intends to indict the prime minister in connection with three corruption cases.

Bibi is always winning when hes trailing in the campaign, but he gets fewer seats than predicted when leading in the polls, said Ben Caspit, an Israeli columnist who wrote a recent biography of Netanyahu, who is also known as Bibi.

But this time there may be more panic, Caspit added, with a more challenging opposition. Gantzs list now includes three former Israeli army chiefs of staff. Gabi Ashkenazi joined the party Thursday, and Moshe Bogie Yaalon, a former army chief and defense minister, joined Gantz last month.

I dont think its a very happy morning on Balfour Street this morning, Caspit said, referring to the prime ministers residence.

If Netanyahu does win, the prospect of being indicted may make it hard for him and his Likud party to find coalition partners. That appears to have been on his mind when the prime minister joined forces Wednesday with three right-wing factions, making them potential coalition partners in a new government.

One of those factions is Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, made up of followers of the late Meir Kahane, an ultranationalist American Israeli rabbi. Israeli commentators and U.S. Jewish groups immediately decried the move, saying the faction was clearly an offshoot of Kahanes Kach party, a group that is designated a terrorist organization by the State Department and banned in Israel.

It was outlawed in Israel in 1994 after one of the partys supporters, Baruch Goldstein, fatally shot 29 Palestinians as they prayed at a mosque in Hebron. The group had advocated banning mixed relationships and expelling non-Jews from Israel.

The Jewish American magazine Forward compared the deal to striking an agreement with Israels equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan.

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Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, tweeted that it was morally outrageous to imagine that those who had followed Kahane could be welcomed into Netanyahus political circle. Bolstering ones political strength with those who profess racist views should be unthinkable, he said.

The liberal advocacy group J Street called it disgraceful and dangerous, adding that the move showed there was no line the prime minister wouldnt cross in his desperate attempt to remain in office.

We call on U.S. officials and pro-Israel organizations to condemn Netanyahus efforts to bring these extreme racists into Israels next government, it said.

But Netanyahu has argued that right-wing votes should not be wasted and that the three groups should merge.

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Likud agreed to reserve the 28th spot on its parliamentary list for the Jewish Home party and grant it two Cabinet ministries in a future government if it merged with Jewish Power and another right-wing faction, National Union. There had been resistance among the right-wing Jewish Home and the National Union about teaming up, with Jewish Power seen by many even in the right wing as the radical fringe.

But the merger was so important to Netanyahu that he canceled a visit to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, huddling instead with former military chief rabbi Rafi Peretz, head of Jewish Home, the largest of the three right-wing factions.

The deal gives Jewish Power the fifth and eighth slots on the joint party list, meaning that if the alliance wins five seats, the party will be represented in the Knesset.

Netanyahu lowered all of us not only below the bottom red line but also set a new bar for low, journalist Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. There is only one explanation for Netanyahus odd behavior: he is panicking. He added that bringing in the Kahanists will be a gift greater than gold to Israel-haters and deepen the rift between American Jews and Israel.

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Netanyahu is willing to trample the national interest for a small gain, Yemini wrote.

Gantz, the former army chief of staff, said Netanyahu has lost touch with Zionism and his dignity.

The new ruling party will bring forth a cadre of security and social leaders to ensure Israels security and to reconnect its people and heal the divide within Israeli society, Blue and White said in a statement.

In the statement, issued Thursday morning just hours before a deadline to declare party lists for the election, Gantz and Lapid said they had agreed on a rotation for the prime ministers post. If they win, Gantz would serve as prime minister for the first 2 1/2 years, and Lapid would assume the post afterward.

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Netanyahu has presented the choice for voters as a simple one between a weak leftist government that would sell out Israeli interests and a strong right-wing one headed by him.

A Likud statement immediately attacked the merger, calling it a left-wing government, even though Yaalon is considered further right on the political spectrum than Netanyahu, as are other candidates on Gantzs list.

The choice is clear, said the Likud statement. Either Lapid-Gantzs left-wing government with the support of a block of Arab parties, or a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu.
U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting Islamic State in Syria handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, the first batch of several to come, an Iraqi security official said Thursday.

The official said the Islamic State militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a safe place and being investigated.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the Kurdish-led Syrian fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, are holding more than 20,000 Iraqis suspected of Islamic State membership in prisons in northern Syria.

The handover comes as the U.S.-backed Syrian force is involved in a standoff over the final Islamic State-held sliver of land in southeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.

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Dozens of people, many of them women and children, were evacuated Wednesday from the groups tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, signaling an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants self-declared caliphate that once stretched across a third of both Syria and Iraq. More evacuations of civilians were expected on Thursday.

Some 300 militants, along with hundreds of civilians believed to be mostly their families, have been under siege for more than a week in the tent camp in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria.

It was not immediately clear whether the 150 Iraqis repatriated late Wednesday were among those recently evacuated from Baghouz or militants who had been captured earlier. The SDF is holding more than 1,000 foreign fighters in prisons that it runs in northern Syria, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.

The SDF, and more recently President Trump, have called on countries to take back their nationals, but few want them back.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said Iraq will take back all Iraqi Islamic State militants in Syria, as well as thousands of their family members.
Archaeologists in the United Kingdom say they have traced dozens of Stonehenges massive rocks to two quarries in west Wales. The rocks were transported 180 miles  dragged on wooden sleds, the scientists suggest, by teams of strong men.

The stones, called bluestones after their bluish-gray hue, form the inner circle of the monument that towers over the Salisbury Plain.

Two bluestone quarries, named Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin, were excavated about 3000 BC, according to the authors of a study published this week in the journal Antiquity. Expeditions at the quarries from 2014 to 2016 recovered ancient charcoal and stone tools. In some places, the charcoal was mixed with dirt and stones to form flat platforms, which may have been used like loading bays to distribute the massive pillars, said Michael Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at University College London and an author of the new study.

Among the Welsh hills, bluestones erupted from the ground. There, millions of years ago, sheets of magma slowly cooled into columns. Eons passed and softer rock around the magma eroded. Only the jagged bluestones remained.

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The ancient monument of Stonehenge near Amesbury, England. (Matt Cardy / Getty Images)

Prehistoric workers probably exploited natural weaknesses in the structures, Parker Pearson said. Theyre nearly vertical, he said. All youve got to do is get a lasso around each one and pull.

With ropes and simple tools, such as sandstone wedges shoved into the outcrops joints, excavators may have plucked out a pillar as cleanly as a loose tooth. Those on top of the outcrop could have carefully slackened their ropes to control the pillars descent to a platform below, the authors wrote. From there, workers may have lowered a stone, 6 feet long and weighing 2 to 4 tons, onto a wooden sled to haul it away.

Bluestones are big, but not so big that a burly group of Stone Age men couldnt drag them across the countryside, said Nicholas Pearce, a geochemist at Aberystwyth University in Wales, who was not involved with the current study.

The pillars are the Ikea version of Neolithic megaliths, Parker Pearson joked  the stones peeled off the outcrop as though from ready-to-use kits. Unlike the people who crafted Egypts obelisks from much larger rocks, Stonehenges builders did not need to rework the bluestone pillars.

The bluestones, which are speckled with fingernail-size deposits of white minerals, form an inner horseshoe and ring at Stonehenge. These rocks are not Stonehenges biggest. The sandstone trilithons, the three-part structures made of two vertical stones and a horizontal top, are larger and more locally sourced, though their exact origins are unknown.

Humans buried at Stonehenge probably came from the same region of Wales. Remains at the site contain isotopes consistent with life near the quarries. Just a few miles separate the two outcrops. Standing on one quarry, its possible to see the other, Pearce said.

Radiocarbon dating indicates that the quarry charcoal is about 5,000 years old. The Welsh charcoal and Stonehenge remains suggest a connection in time as well as space. Weve got dates for both quarries that link nicely with the first dates at Stonehenge, Parker Pearson said. The bluestones and early Welsh travelers could have arrived at the Salisbury Plain together. Theres about 100 years of fuzziness in the radiocarbon dating, though. It could be immediate, it could be 100 years from getting from A to B, Parker Pearson said.

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Unexpectedly, the quarries are on the northern side of the hills. The south side is closer to the ocean, where, according to one hypothesis, prehistoric travelers floated bluestones along the coast. An attempt to replicate a bluestone float failed spectacularly in 2000, however, when a raft carrying a stone sank close to shore. Parker Pearson and his colleagues suspect that the stones were transported over land instead, on sledges.

The existence of the quarries conclusively invalidates the misconception that Ice Age glaciers pushed the bluestones into the region, the authors of the new study said.

Bournemouth University archaeologist Timothy Darvill, who was not involved with this report, said that geological evidence points to several other sources of stone, including a site called Carn Menyn. Routes between Wales and Stonehenge remain speculative, Darvill said, though he agreed that stones probably moved over land rather than by sea.

Among Europes megalithic structures, Stonehenge is an oddity. Most other prehistoric builders did not stray more than 10 miles to collect stones for their monuments. Why craft Stonehenge from such far-flung pieces? Parker Pearson offered one idea. He suggested that Stonehenge was a unifying symbol for British tribes, constructed during what may have been a period of economic and population decline.

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A major event like this, he said, would have brought together disparate communities that were growing apart.

Ben Guarino writes for the Washington Post.

Guarino writes for the Washington Post.
It was about 1:30 a.m. and the dance party was winding down. Dozens of teenagers and twenty-somethings had been celebrating for hours in late December at a church gathering in Kutura, a village in northern Nigerias Kaduna state.

Somebody turned off the generator powering the party. As the kids started to wander out of the hall to go home, gunmen waiting outside opened fire.

Haruna Dogara, 20, rushed to escape with a friend, who was shot in the head and killed. Dogara was shot in the arm, hand and leg but managed to limp into a house nearby and was taken to a hospital.

More than six weeks later, in February, he was still there, recovering. I will go back to Kutura, Dogara said, speaking quietly and looking down at his hands. But Im scared.

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Dogara said he didnt understand why the gunmen shot him and his friends that night, killing four.

Haruna Dogara, 20, survived an attack on his village that local authorities blamed on Fulani herders. (Krista Mahr / For The Times)

But other residents and local officials in Kafuna, the district thats home to Kutura, blame the attack on Fulani herders, a semi-nomadic, mostly Muslim ethnic group that herds cattle primarily in northern Nigeria.

They say the group has staged deadly attacks in the last two years on Christian farmers in the district.

Theres no action from the government, said Samuel Augustine, a 54-year-old English teacher whose 18-year-old son was killed that night in December. The police came once to take a report, and that was all.

(Los Angeles Times Graphics)

The fragile security in Nigeria, set to become the worlds third-most populous country by 2050, has been a central theme in the run-up to national elections scheduled for Feb. 23 after a weeklong delay.

President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani former military leader who was elected in 2015, has failed to stop the violence in Nigerias so-called Middle Belt, a swath of states riven by the long-simmering conflict between farmers and herders.

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Nor has he stamped out the Islamist Boko Haram group that still stages regular attacks in the northeast  a broken election promise that critics, including his chief opponent in the presidential race, Atiku Abubakar, often point out.

In the farmer-herder conflict, nearly 2,000 people were killed last year alone in attacks and counter-attacks, according to Amnesty International.

Farmer and teacher Samuel Augustine, 54, sells grain at a local market. His 18-year-old son was killed in a suspected attack by Fulani herders. (Krista Mahr / For The Times)

Farmers and cattle herders have clashed over land for as long as most people can remember in Kaduna. But theyre coming into increased proximity due to climate change.

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As grasslands have been degraded in northern Nigeria, semi-nomadic herders have starting moving their herds into densely populated farming areas to the south. At the same time, as Nigerias population has boomed, farmers have expanded their fields, often into the herders traditional grazing routes.

Disputes between the groups used to be resolved through traditional mediation, but violence has escalated as that system has broken down. Both sides have taken up arms, which have been easier to obtain as illegal firearms circulate more widely from conflict areas in the northeast and Niger Delta, according to the International Crisis Group, a global think tank that works to resolve conflict.

In some places, like Kutura, the conflict has become detached from arguments over land altogether, taking on worrisome religious and ethnic dimensions. It has fanned local and national ethno-religious tensions in a country that is roughly half Christian and half Muslim, rendering the farmer-herder conflict Nigerias gravest security challenge, according to ICG.

In the past, politicians did not exploit religious divisions, said Saleh Momale, permanent commissioner of the Kaduna State Peace Commission, a body created to encourage parties in the divided state to talk.

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The mindset today, he said, has become: You will eliminate me, or I will eliminate you, and the path to war is set.

The political effect of the spiraling violence is already clear in Kafuna, where people think Buhari has been too soft on the herders because of his ties to the group.

Before 2015, people were thinking Buhari would come and save the situation, said Titus Dauda, the district head. But its gotten worse. People have lost faith.

Dauda sets a smartphone on his desk in the district headquarters and swipes through several recent photographs of the bodies of men, women and children laid on the floor in Ungwan Barde, a remote farming village.

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On Feb. 10, 11 people were killed there, he said. When asked who he thought was responsible, Dauda answers, without pause, Fulani herdsmen, of course.

Dauda sees the bloodshed as inextricably wrapped up in religious prejudice. He is a Christian, a minority in the mostly Muslim Kaduna state. He said state authorities were more sympathetic to Muslims and didnt take firm action when Christian farming communities were attacked.

Muslims always have the upper hand, he said.

But Fulani herders say they are also vulnerable.

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After the Feb. 10 attack on Ungwan Barde, farmers in Kufana retaliated and attacked Fulanis living nearby, Dauda acknowledges. He said that after the retaliation started, he had to arrange security escorts for some Fulani who were too scared to move a corpse out of their village alone.

Days later, Kadunas governor said more than 130 Fulanis had been killed in eight villages in that part of the state during that week. Members of the Fulani community in the area put the number closer to 60.

There is no effort to protect our villagers, said Umar Gidado Abubakar, a Fulani herder. He said bandits were responsible for the deadly attack on Ungwan Barde, not herders. We dont know why [the farmers] blamed us.

Momale of the peace commission said part of the intensifying political rhetoric had been making the Fulani community a scapegoat for a variety of crimes. Every sort of violence is ascribed to the Fulani, he said.

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This violence has claimed nearly 3,500 lives in more than 20 of Nigerias 36 states in the last three years, according to Amnesty, and presents a daunting challenge to whoever prevails in this weeks vote.

Buharis administration has taken action. The federal government has increased the number of police and military in hot spots, launched three major military operations in the Middle Belt region, and consulted with leaders on both sides of the conflict.

In 2018, the government released a National Livestock Transformation Plan, designed, among other things, to set up large ranches and modernize Nigerias livestock sector to take some of the pressure off arguments over land.

But both Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group, which have released large reports on the conflict, say that scarce punishment for the perpetrators of crimes has contributed to the problem.

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We dont want to say this person is guilty, or that person is guilty, said Momale, the peace commissioner.

In Kaduna, the peace commission has been visiting communities where attacks have occurred, sitting with farmers and herders to help the groups find a resolution.

Momale said he tried to get both sides to understand that if they continued to fight, there will be never be a winner.

The commissions interventions have worked, to some extent, in Godogodo, a village in the southern part of Kaduna state, where Muslim-Christian tensions have run high for years.

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A house burned out in an attack on Godogodo village in 2016 still hasnt been rebuilt. (Krista Mahr / For The Times)

Along the two-lane road leading to the village, its easy to see how the worlds of the herders and farmers collide. Cattle wander across the paved road and spread out across the hilly agricultural area, walking among carefully planted fields.

Three years ago, farmers who grow maize, beans, yams and potatoes on the outskirts of Godogodo were having regular arguments with local Fulani herders whose cows kept eating their crops.

Were patient people, said Danboyi Dogo, one of the village leaders. When we tried to talk to the herdsmen when they were in our fields, it became violent. People were killed.

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Many residents stopped farming altogether, rather than risk a confrontation. Maybe the fact that farmers deserted their fields stoked the herdsmens confidence, Dogo suggested.

One evening in the fall of 2016, Dogo was at home when he heard gunshots and people moving through Godogodos dirt streets. Fulani gunmen formed a ring around the large village in a coordinated attack that lasted 12 hours, he said.

Some people stayed in their houses, watching as businesses were looted and homes burned. Some young men ventured out to defend the village but were overpowered and driven back. Others dived into the high grasses on the edge of the village and hid, praying not to be found.

When it was over, at least 30 people were dead, according to Amnesty Internationals report, and hundreds of homes had been burned down.

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Military and police have been stationed nearby since then, and the warring groups have met and talked. Now residents agree that things are better, and people are rebuilding their homes and returning to farming.

But the dispute that led to the violence hasnt totally disappeared.

We had reconciliatory meetings with the Fulani leaders, Dogo said, but cattle are still eating the crops.

Gambo Mobutu, pointing to his carefully tended yam crops growing under mounds of earth on the edge of town, says the herders will sometimes help the cows root out the yams from under the dirt.

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Their grass is gone, so they find it difficult, Mobutu explains. So they come to our farms and feed the cows.

He agrees with Dogo that the conflict isnt over, but he understands why his Fulani neighbors are having a hard time.

And that, at least, is a start.

Mahr is a special correspondent.
Paine Field is almost ready to take off. Poised to become Seattles second airport, the site passed a final FAA hurdle Wednesday on its way to start passenger flights in March, a first since the site was built in 1936.

The process had been delayed during the partial government shutdown that ended in January. Three procedural steps still need to be completed before the airport can start operating, but more on that later.

Seattle Business magazine described the new airport in Everett, Wash., as a 604-acre, fog-free unpopulated site 23 miles north of Seattle.

Alaska Airlines plans to start flying March 4, and United Airlines on March 31. The airport will host 24 daily flights to nine destinations, including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose in California. (Kayak.com showed LAX round-trip flights March 6-8 for $245 on Alaska.)

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Flights also will travel to and from Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and Portland, Ore.

The airport 30 miles north of downtown Seattle offers travelers an alternative to busy Sea-Tac. It has a brand-new passenger terminal operated under a private-public partnership between Propeller Airports and Snohomish County.

On Wednesday, Paine Field received a finding of no significant impact from the FAA, which leaves a few more steps before flights can take off and land. Propeller must pay mitigation fees to the city of Mukilteo and the county, and the airport needs to file an amended application for certification. The FAA can then authorize carriers to operate at Paine Field.

The Transportation Security Administration also signed off on the new airports security plan.

Paine Field was built in 1936 as a federal Works Progress Administration project. At one time, it was destined to become one of 10 super airports across the country aimed at creating growth in the region.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
A spidery photo of the lava flow from Kilauea. The unfettered joy of children as they jump into the warm Pacific. An artistic photo of shave ice. These are among the winners of the Hawaii magazine 2019 photo contest, honoring the best images of the islands, shot by professionals and amateurs.

A photo of a lava flow from Hawaii Islands Kilauea volcano took top honors in the 2019 contest. (Zeus Quijano Jr.)

Zeus Quijano Jr. of Orange won the grand prize for his photo of red-hot lava from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii Island flowing into the ocean. It was taken before last years devastating eruption that lasted more than three months.

Zeus Quijano Jr. raises his camera on a beach near Laie during a February visit to Oahu. (Lisa Witzke)

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That was just an amazing experience, Quijano said. He was on a boat tour around sunset when he snapped the winning photo of fiery lava clinging to hardened, black lava at Kupapau Point along the islands south coast.

The more we contemplated it, the more it gave us what locals call chicken skin,  the magazine wrote about the photo.

Lava-viewing during a vacation to Hawaii Island had been on he and his wifes bucket list for a long time.

Were looking to move to the Big Island, Quijano said. We both feel like we belong here.

First place awards were given in several categories.

An owl perched on a fence post near the Hawaii Island town of Kamuela, or Waimea, won first prize in the wildlife category. (Peter K. Tang)

The winning Wildlife image of a pueo (Hawaiian short-eared owl) was taken by Peter K. Tang of Honolulu. He said it took patience to capture an owl sitting on a fence post near Kamuela on Hawaii Island.

My friend ... and I would drive back and forth until we saw a pueo, he told the magazine. Some flew away, and some didnt mind [having their] picture taken.

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Beth Cagnoni of Kihei, Maui, snagged first place in the People category with her photo shot near the northwest corner of the island.

Beth Cagnoni snapped a photo of her children as they jumped into the ocean near Kapalua, Maui. (Beth Cagnoni)

My husband and three boys love jumping off cliffs here in Hawaii, and Kapalua Bay has some lower rocks with a ladder for the younger crowd, so my daughter got to jump too, Cagnoni told the magazine.

The cliff jumping takes place near the Cliff House, a historic venue now used for weddings and other special occasions.

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A few miles down the coast near Lahaina is where Marie Frost captured the winning photo in the Food category.

Marie Frost used her cellphone to snap this winning photo of shave ice. (Marie Frost)

Frost, a resident of Dexter, Mich., who vacations in Hawaii every year, used an iPhone to take a shot of the lilikoi (passion fruit) shave ice at Ululanis Hawaiian Shave Ice.

The peach-colored concoction, served in a blue bowl, stood out against the purple picnic table on which it sat before being devoured by Frost and her boyfriend.

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They use real fruit juice, she said. They leave the seeds in there which is kind of cool.

In the Land category, Tou Thor of San Francisco found inspiration at one of bustling Waikikis lesser-known places: Magic Island, a man-made peninsula adjacent to Ala Moana Regional Park.

A towering fan wave forms off the Napali Coast as waves rushing back from the cliffs collide with the next set coming in. (Jason ORourke)

I always loved spending evenings watching the sunset at Magic Island, Thor told the magazine. Just like the name implies, this place is very magical and Im sure most people agree.

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Jason ORourke of Honolulu traveled to Kauais Napali Coast to take the first place ocean photo at Kee Beach.

He said he shot the image as waves rushing back from the cliffs collide with the next set coming in.

First prize winners received $100 gift certificates for their efforts. Quijano, the grand-prize winner, earned a $500 gift voucher, round-trip airfare to Hawaii for two, plus a stay in a Waikiki hotel.

Submissions are judged by the magazines team of editors, designers and staff.

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Info: Hawaii Magazines 2019 Photo Contest

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
Florida beaches get all the tourist attention, but some of the states most remarkable assets are the aquarium-clear freshwater springs in Central and North Florida.

Theres no better way to appreciate their splendid beauty than by kayak or canoe, and winter and spring are the best times to do it.

A great place to base yourself for a getaway devoted to paddling the springs and the rivers they form is Ocala.

In the Ocala area, you can paddle four rivers in four days and all are well-served by outfitters that rent gear and livery service. At all four, you can launch your own kayaks, too.

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Beyond the beautiful water and vegetation, on these rivers you have a good chance to see wildlife  from manatees to American eagles to alligators and even monkeys.

Heres a guide to help you make your travel plans.

Scenic Silver River near Ocala is popular for canoeing and kayaking. (FloridaRambler.com / Courtesy)

Silver Spring and the Silver River

If I had to pick a favorite of these four, it would be the Silver River.

How can you beat this trifecta of wildlife experiences, all from a December trip? Rhesus monkeys scampering overhead in the tree tops, manatees lolling around in water so clear you can see every scar on their broad backs, and hundreds of ibises, white wings flapping against brilliant blue sky?

You begin your kayak trip at Silver Spring State Park in Ocala, where the outfitter rents clear-bottom kayaks as well as other kayaks and canoes. You can see the best of the river in two hours of out-and-back paddling. (Its not hard to paddle upstream.) But, unless it is an off season weekday (as it was for us in early December), the outfitter will pick you up five miles downstream and livery you back to the state park. If livery service is available, I recommend the downstream trip.

Tip: This is a great river for beginners: Paddling is easy with the current and little skill in turning is required.

Details: floridastateparks.org/silversprings

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Read more about Silver Springs, including the parks cabins. 

Juniper Springs near Ocala is the healthiest, most natural spring in Florida. (FloridaRambler.com / Courtesy)

Juniper Springs in Ocala National Forest

Juniper is a Florida spring with a distinction: Its the healthiest, most natural spring in the state, according to a recent assessment. The water at the springhead is so clear and shallow that boats appear to float above white sand. Because the spring-shed is largely within Ocala National Forest, the Juniper isnt affected by fertilizer and septic tanks, as are most Florida springs and rivers.

Juniper Run is also among the narrowest, with twists and turns that create intimate spaces where the cypress trees and foliage surround you.

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And therein lies the controversy about paddling Juniper Run. If you read online reviews at sites like TripAdvisor.com, a number of people call paddling here the worst day ever. There were enough comments about how difficult this run is and how miserable the experience, we were prepared for something very challenging. We had paddled it a few years ago, but we figured the trail must have deteriorated.

To our surprise, this run was as delightful as we remembered. It does require a paddler to be able to make some tight turns and inexperienced kayakers and canoers might find it frustrating. I say: Just bounce off the edges and laugh.

Tip: Get an early start, as no boats are allowed down the run in the afternoon, in order to ensure everyone finishes by closing time. Also: This is not a good first river if youve never paddled before.

Details: bit.ly/2EmgZbq

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Read more about Juniper Springs 

Alexander Springs is a crystal clear river in Ocala National Forest. (FloridaRambler.com / Courtesy)

Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest

If you want a relaxing, easy paddle with lots of birds and wildlife, Alexander Springs is a good choice.

If you only have an hour or two but want to experience a river with crystal clear water, Alexander is for you.

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If you want to see how two spring-fed rivers 20 minutes apart can look and feel quite different  then paddle Juniper and Alexander back-to-back.

We hadnt planned to paddle Alexander, but when Juniper was closed due to a black bear family hanging out at the canoe launch, it was an easy substitute. And were glad we got to experience Alexander.

There are no motor boats on this river and it is less intensively used than Juniper, so it was a quiet, bird-filled trip whose highlight for us was seeing an American eagle.

Tip: If you want to swim in a spring, Juniper is the best choice in Ocala National Forest. The spring basin is broad with a sandy bottom. Snorkelers and scuba divers enjoy exploring the limestone rocks and boulders in the spring boil.

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Details: bit.ly/2T5dP3F

Read more about Alexander Springs. 

The Ocklawaha River runs through Ocala National Forest. (FloridaRambler.com / Courtesy)

Ocklawaha River along Ocala National Forest

The Ocklawaha is probably the least familiar of the four rivers. Although it receives all the water from the clear Silver River, only the lower portion is clear spring water, as the Ocklawaha begins to darken as tannins seep into the water from vegetation.

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The Ocklawaha forms the western border of Ocala National Forest and thus it passed through wild and natural scenery with an abundance of birds and wildlife.

The best part? Fewer people paddle the Ocklawaha and the space seems vast. There are no telltale highway sounds or power lines to bring you back to daily life.

Tip: If you want to do kayak-camping in a wild place, the Ocklawaha lends itself to a multi-day outing with primitive camping.

Details from an Ocklawaha outfitter, where you also can rent cabins: outpostresort.com/

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Read more about the Ocklawaha River. 

Planning your kayak or canoe trip to Ocala

If youre a camper, your options are many, from Silver Springs State Park to the campgrounds in Ocala National Forest.

We always try to stay in the excellent cabins in Silver Springs State Park. Reserve cabins via reserveamerica.com.

Other cabins are available on the Ocklawaha from Ocklawaha Canoe Outpost. Info at outpostresort.com

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A manatee is easy to spot in the clear water of Silver River near Ocala.- Original Credit: Courtesy- Original Source: (FloridaRambler.com / Courtesy)

FloridaRambler.com gives tips on getaways to the natural and authentic Florida.
The cutline to the photo published on an internet publication described the hero as a bystander. That was no ordinary bystander. It was former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum.

Perhaps, in another circumstance, Werdum, 41, wouldve been nowhere near the Pacific Ocean near his Redondo Beach home that January day.

Werdums a highly trained athlete who submitted mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko in 2010, and then out-smarted Cain Velasquez by setting up his training base in the high altitude of Mexico City before submitting a gassed-out Velasquez in the third round of their 2015 title fight.

He likely would have been preparing for a fight, but in September, Werdum received a two-year suspension that expires in May 2020 for a positive steroid test taken by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

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The good-natured Brazilian reasons that fate put him on those sands for a reason.

I think so, because every other time we go to the beach, we go to the same place for many years  right in front of my home. This time, I went to a different place Id never been, he said. Incredible situation.

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Werdum, his two daughters and wife were enjoying their otherwise typical day at the beach when they heard the sirens wailing from a car that stopped right next to them.

I thought, What happened here? I look out and see the heads of two kids bobbing way out there in the ocean  about 75 yards  and I see one lifeguard coming, running. Just one guy, Werdum recounted over a lunch meeting at the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday in El Segundo.

So I ask, You want help? The lifeguard says, Yes, please. And my wife starts crying, No, please no! because she saw how far out the kids were. The lifeguard got on a big board. I took the smaller flotation device and put it on my chest and started swimming out there  .

Although hes endured 32 professional MMA bouts in destinations like Sydney, London, Mexico City, Brazil and Japan, Werdum said this crisis was truly foreign to him.

He felt his heart racing. There was stress, rough waves, distance to tread and lives in the balance.

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When I first went out there, I was scared. That situation was nothing like the octagon. When I go into a fight, Im OK. This situation nearly broke me  my heart was pounding so fast, Werdum said.

I saw the 16-year-old boy barely afloat. He was very tired. He couldnt breathe, because he had breathed in and drank a lot of water. The lifeguard took the girl. I took the boy, and we got them to the [emergency vehicle for treatment].

Werdums wife shot a video of the scene, narrating that, My husband is so brave, look at him rescuing a teenager  youre awesome, Fabricio.

 Former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum recounts saving a boy from drowning at Redondo Beach.

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Then, last week, Werdum said, someone called me and said, Hey, Werdum, the kids want to see you, they want to thank you. They gave me and the lifeguard flowers.

As Werdum recounted the story, UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo, who also attended the lunch, chuckled at the thought of a flower meaning so much to the grizzled veteran fighter.

What? Werdum responded, feigning indifference. I feel great about what I did now.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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Twitter: @latimespugmire
Two art forms will take center stage at La Canadas Lanterman Auditorium Saturday as the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra and Woodbury University Fashion Design department team up for a free Fashion Meets the Phil concert at 8 p.m.

The 29th anniversary gala concert will include works by Beethoven, Mozart, Rossini and Debussy (with assistant conductor Michael Stanley) and will begin with Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Erskine guest conducting musicians in the national anthem.

Its some of the greatest music ever written, all coming up in one performance, said Steven Kerstein, founding musical director and conductor for the Burbank Phil and longtime La Canada resident.

For a visual treat, soprano Esther Tonea and harpist Alyssa Katahara will be outfitted in customized gowns created especially for them by Woodbury University students in the schools fashion program.

Kerstein said the partnership began five years ago after his teenage daughter recommended incorporating fashion into the annual concert as a way to engage a broader audience.

Since then its been mutually beneficial for the students, who get to work with real-world clients and showcase their work, and the performers, who walk away with pieces tailored to their movements, instruments and personalities.

The fashions have to not only be beautiful, which they are, but they also have to be functional, Kerstein said. So the students listen to the music the performers are going to perform and incorporate the music in their designs.

Anna Leiker chairs Woodbury Universitys Fashion Design program and works with students to plan and execute the concert creations. This year, Woodbury junior Katrin Divinets was selected to work on Khataharas gown, while fellow junior Ahad Alshaea worked with Tonea to create a custom piece for Saturdays show.

Its a wonderful civic engagement program that brings two art forms together, Leiker said. Our students learn from this program the full real-world design experience. And they have a real customer in mind.

Its also a lot of work. Students not only consider the mood and sound of the musical compositions, but work over the course of months to create muslin dress patterns, schedule fittings and respond to musicians feedback.

This year, while Tonea was out of state, Leiker and Alshaea mailed her a dress pattern to try on and conducted a video-conference fitting via FaceTime in order to build a dress form to Toneas exact measurements.

Its always a gamble, but everything looks beautiful, Leiker said.

Lanterman Auditorium is located at 4491 Cornishon Ave., in La Canada. For more information visit burbankphilharmonic.org.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
On the same day the Trump administration said it planned to cancel $929 million in grant funds for Californias troubled bullet train project, Rep. Harley Rouda told constituents in Costa Mesa that he plans to fight like hell every day to help the state get back more of the taxes its residents pay into the federal government.

The Laguna Beach Democrat drew more than 200 people to the Estancia High School gym Tuesday for his first town hall in his 48th District, fielding questions on national topics from the Green New Deal and the 2020 presidential election to the minimum wage and congressional gridlock.

Closer to home, one question that drew a chuckle from the generally supportive crowd was if Rouda thinks it will be difficult to get federal dollars for the state given that Trump does not like California.

The illustration of the moment: the bullet train.

You can argue that the high-speed train doesnt make sense, Rouda said. And many have, as the fraught $77 billion line from Los Angeles to San Francisco drags on $44 billion over budget and 13 years behind schedule, leading Gov. Gavin Newsom to say he was reassessing the project  which President Trump has seized upon, calling the train a waste as his administration bats around withholding remaining funds along with recouping $2.5 billion already dispersed.

But when he talks about taking back his federal dollars  theyre not his dollars, theyre our dollars, Rouda said about Trumps pronouncements. Were the taxpayers. We paid that money.

In other local issues, he said noise from John Wayne Airport, homelessness and housing affordability, and sober living homes are among the top issues facing the 48th District, which includes Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

Some of these are tied together, he said before poking at the number of sober living homes in Costa Mesa  about 100 licensed by the city or state, according to city figures  and how they curb patients at the end of their stays and add to our homelessness issues.

What these fly-by-night organizations do, they literally recruit addicts from around the country to come here where they then receive six months of insurance benefits to provide less than adequate support for that addict, he said.

A constituent holds up a sign stating Medicare-for-all as Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Laguna Beach) addresses a question about Medicare during Roudas first district town hall meeting in the gym at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa on Tuesday. (Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

Rouda also vowed to join the Quiet Skies Caucus to address the noise impacts on cities neighboring JWA. This is a longstanding issue in Newport Beach and especially along the Back Bay, where departure paths have tightened up since the 2017 introduction of the Federal Aviation Administrations NextGen program. Newport leaders and residents regularly meet with congressional representatives and the FAA in Washington and with the carriers locally to ameliorate the impacts.

Like his fellow Laguna Democrat, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, Rouda said he was disappointed in the states lawsuit against the city of Huntington Beach that accuses the city of defying a state law that requires cities and counties to set aside sufficient land for housing development.

While we have housing shortages across California, in our district and other places in our country as well, I dont believe the best way to solve it is with a lawsuit, Rouda said. I would prefer to see a greater effort done sitting around the table. You can have a private conversation that says, Look, weve got to get from here to there and if that doesnt happen, [then] were going to be forced to file a lawsuit.

Rouda added that the state was too quick to jump out and sue.
Before a Newport Beach couple were found slain in their home last week, they became concerned about increasingly erratic behavior by the son who is now charged in their deaths, and they hired someone to investigate him, according to the private investigator on the case.

Michael Youssef of the firm Blue Systems International said Richard and Kim Nicholson first reached out to him in early February, weeks before they were found dead along with their housekeeper, Maria Morse, in their home in the gated community of Bonita Canyon on Feb. 13.

They hired me because they wanted to find their son and wanted me to surveil him and build a case for conservatorship, Youssef said. They felt that hes not acting normal.

Their son, Camden Nicholson, 27, is charged with three counts of murder. He is expected to appear in court for arraignment March 8. He is being held without bail.

Camden Nicholson had stormed out of the home Dec. 13 after a heated confrontation and stole his mothers car and vanished, Youssef said he was told.

They feared that he might have committed suicide or is in the hospital somewhere, Youssef said.

The Nicholsons told the investigator that Camden had been a normal, happy child, but after going away on a Mormon mission for nine months when he was 19, he became severely depressed and began acting strangely.

Youssef said Camden Nicholson was taking weed, definitely on lots of steroids, watching lots of porn and previously had made contact with some escort services.

The couple were able to track him to a hotel where he had been running up charges on his fathers credit card, Youssef said.

He ... started giving away $1,000 tips, according to the father, Youssef said. In some instances, it was totaling up to $15,000.

After his father apparently canceled the credit card, Youssef said, Camden Nicholson sent his parents angry messages, with one reading Youre the fakest person I know and another saying You people are scum, and everyone knows.

Though the texts said not to contact him, the parents didnt relent, Youssef said.

Mostly they were texting him or emailing him, Where are you? Come home, he said.

According to Youssef, Camden Nicholson had not returned to his parents home before Feb. 13, when they were found dead.

Around 9 that night, Camden Nicholson turned up at an emergency room in Irvine, where he made contact with police. That encounter prompted authorities to conduct a welfare check at the Newport Beach home where Richard and Kim Nicholson and Morse were already dead.

Authorities have not disclosed details about the circumstances or manner of their deaths.

Newport Beach police would not comment Thursday about anything Youssef said.

Son accused of killing parents, housekeeper in Newport Beach gated community 

Richard Nicholson was chief executive of West Pacific Medical Laboratory until it was purchased two years ago by Sonic Healthcare USA. He stayed on as a consultant through its rebranding as WestPac Labs last month

The Orange County Business Journal honored him in 2001 as one of eight Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year.

Richard and Kim Nicholson were longtime supporters of Orange County Coastkeeper, a Costa Mesa-based environmental group for which Richard was a board member for 15 years.

Camden Nicholson attended Corona del Mar High School and the University of Utah and was living in Costa Mesa, according to his Facebook profile.

Orange County-based Blue Systems International is, according to its website, a team of former state and federal law enforcement investigators with combined experience of over 100 years.

Daily Pilot staff contributed to this report.
The Laguna Beach Planning Commission unanimously postponed a decision Wednesday night on an application for a new Mediterranean restaurant on Forest Avenue until it has more information about how to dispel possible cooking smells and properly remove trash.

The commissioners expressed support for the idea of a Mediterranean restaurant in Laguna but raised issues with several aspects of the conditional use permit application for the proposed establishment, Mizlala by Amir, including whether it is appropriate for the planned location in the historical Eschbachs building at 305 Forest Ave. The restaurant would take the place of Harmony Tea Bar, which commissioners said closed a few months after opening.

I think everybody likes the idea of the food and the restaurant and what youre providing; its just a question of whether its in the right box, said commission Chairman Roger McErlane.

Applicant Anna Seban wants to bring the 23-seat restaurant to downtown. Specializing in vegetarian dishes cooked by her husband, Amir, the menu would include falafel, salads, shakeshuka (poached eggs with a tomato- and pepper-based sauce), homemade hummus and other dishes.

The couple moved to Laguna Beach from Chicago a few months ago, Anna Seban said. Before that, they ran a restaurant in Israel for 20 years.

Owners of neighboring businesses spoke about concerns that the restaurant would increase parking problems on Forest Avenue and emit smells that could affect their businesses.

The tea place had very strong odors, said artist Marc Whitney, who works in a gallery in the same building as the proposed restaurant. When they moved their trash across the front door [there is no back door]  I smell that stuff too.

Seban and her project manager said they will work to find a solution to the potential odor problem, such as installing a filter or elongating the vent piping so it doesnt blow onto nearby buildings.

The commission suggested the restaurateurs meet with building and water quality officials to obtain more information about the buildings requirements and possible odor solutions before returning with the application.
You might not expect to hear a matriarch of the feminist movement focusing her attention on men. But then again, Gloria Steinem has built her career on being consistently unconventional.

Try to make sure that [children] see loving and nurturing men so that they know it is possible for them to break out of the old-fashioned, masculine role, Steinem said, advising a sold-out audience on Feb. 19 about how to raise children that dispel negative male stereotypes. It is hard to be it if you cant see it.

She addressed what she calls the need for altered gender roles among other topics at An Evening With Gloria Steinem, an event put on by OC Public Libraries at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.

Steinem  a journalist, speaker, activist and trailblazing leader of the womens rights movement since the late 1960s  recently released the third edition of her 1983 New York Times bestselling collection of essays, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.

Each vignette is a step in Steinems decades-long journey of becoming a feminist leader and icon. Included is I Was a Playboy Bunny, the infamous 1963 expose revealing shady working conditions at a Playboy Club, and Ruths Song (Because She Could Not Sing It), which explores her late mothers struggles with mental illness.

Steinem credited her mother as the inspiration for her journalism.

Ive realized over and over again how many of us are living out the un-lived lives of our mothers because they could not be who they should have been able to be, Steinem said. So in some ways Im sure I became a writer and a journalist because thats what [my mother] was before she had what was then called a nervous breakdown, and had such strains in her life that she gave up everything she loved.

Journalist and podcast host Ann Friedman (Call Your Girlfriend) joined Steinem onstage to moderate the discussion about Outrageous Acts, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Her career straddles the worlds of activism and media, Friedman said in a phone interview. Her views have stood the test of time. She has continued to be in dialogue with other feminists and has been engaged with future generations.

Past and present generations in the Bowers auditorium had the opportunity to ask Steinem questions about her work and how to apply her suggestions.

Nicole Walsh, an Orange County attorney, asked Steinem what outrageous acts and everyday rebellions can look like in peoples day-to-day lives.

It just means that when you see something that is unfair or needs naming, or you have a piece of information that could help somebody else, that you just do it, in the moment, Steinem said. I mean, theres only one thing worse than trying and failing, and thats not trying, because you walk around saying, What if?

Though shes best known for her womens rights activism, Steinem has been a champion for a variety of causes, including ending racism, violence, child abuse and LGBTQ discrimination.

She tours the country speaking at rallies and book signings and, at 84 years old, shows no signs of slowing down.

Her parting advice for effecting change? Start small.

I would say the main, generalized problem with activism is that we have a case of the shoulds: what should I do, instead of just doing everything we can, Steinem said. We look up instead of looking at each other.

And if you just do whatever it is that presents itself to you absolutely every day, youre much more likely to create the revolution we need.

Aliese Muhonen is a contributor to Times Community News.
I understand why people get frustrated with the so-called language police.

Personally, I dont mind requests that I use more sensitive language. If a guy named Robert asks me to call him Bob, or for that matter, if a guy named Robert asks me to call him Skippy, its only courteous that I address him as he wishes to be addressed.

The same thing goes for talking about groups of people. I understand why others may not be so accommodating, but, to me, its just politeness writ large.

However, when people try to tell you how to talk, thats when things get ugly. And if they try to use grammar as a justification for their language bullying, things get ugly and stupid. Enter this Feb. 12 tweet from actor James Woods.

The correct pronoun usage in the English language is he for a singular male and she for a singular female. They is used for the plural of either males, females or both. Dont be bullied by hare-brained liberals.

First off, its harebrained, not hare-brained. The one-word form means foolish.

When you make your own hyphenated compound, youre expressly referencing the brain of a hare, which could suggest anything from a craving for delicious grass to a full-blown case of Easter Bunny envy.

Yes, harebrained began life as a reference to a hare. But it has evolved to mean something quite specific, and today, it carries almost no meaningful reference to the rabbits leggy cousin.

One can be forgiven for not checking a dictionary on this matter when one is not engaged in the act of language bullying. But when telling people how to talk  especially with a side of nastiness and insults  failure to confirm the meaning of your own words is downright harebrained.

But, more important: Woods is just wrong about they.

They has been officially recognized as a singular pronoun for centuries. Lexicographers have noted uses going back to the 1300s. And even careful style guides like the Associated Press Stylebook allow it.

Sometimes they to refer to a singular antecedent can help sidestep sexist language, like assuming a hypothetical doctor is male:

If you have an internist, they should know what medicines youre on.

But it would be a mistake to assume singular they started in the 1970s.

Although a lack of a common-gender, third-person singular pronoun has received much attention in recent years from those concerned with womens issues, the problem, as felt by writers, is much older; the plural pronouns have been pressed into use to supply the missing form since Middle English, writes Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English Usage.

As an example, the guide cites a passage from Chaucer penned in 1395: And whoseo fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up.

They is a way to avoid writing he or she over and over.

Another common reason to use they when referring to a singular person is that youre not actually sure it is just one person. This happens a lot when working with pronouns like whoever.

Whoever is unwilling to accept these terms, well  they know where the door is.

In these cases, they spares you an even longer term: he, she or they, as in Whoever is unwilling to accept these terms, well  he, she or they know where the door is.

In the 18th century, some overconfident grammarians started pushing a solution: If you dont know the number or the sex of the person in question, just use the masculine pronoun.

This led to real-world stupidity like this example from a 1983 edition of Readers Digest: She and Louis had a game  who could find the ugliest photograph of himself.

That brings us full circle to Woods: Dont use language rules as a tool to promote ugliness. Youll always come off as harebrained.

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.
Burbank Unifieds facilities-naming committee unanimously voted Tuesday to recommend renaming David Starr Jordan Middle School because of its namesakes controversial writings on eugenics.

Burbank Unified school board members are expected to decide next month whether or not they agree with changing the schools name.

Board members could then decide to select a new name on their own or reconvene the facilities-naming committee to come up with some options.

School board member Charlene Tabet, who heads the naming committee, said she felt compelled to change the schools name after hearing from parents during the committees three public meetings on the matter and researching Jordans beliefs.

Jordan, who was the first chancellor of Stanford University, has become a controversial figure because of his support of eugenics, which endorses controlled breeding to rid society of physical and mental disabilities.

From 1910 up until 1964, roughly 20,000 people considered less-than-desirable, such as minorities and people with mental disabilities, were forcibly sterilized in California due, in part, to the eugenics philosophy.

The ideology was embraced by the Nazi party and notable people, such as Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

I understood where [Jordan] had been and what his viewpoints were, and I didnt agree with that, she said. Tradition is wonderful and nice, but there is a concrete solid argument to do this.

In addition to Tabet, the facilities-naming committee is made up of fellow school board member Steve Frintner, resident Gerrard Panahon, Jordan teacher Dana Ragle, Jordan principal Jennifer Meglemre, parents Gayle Kolodny Cole and Laura Jimenez, and district director of secondary education John Paramo.

Student Ixchel Sanchez Jimenez was also appointed to the committee but was unable to attend the meeting on Tuesday.

Burbank Unified officials started looking at the districts school names this past July in the wake of a national trend to remove public tributes to historical figures who held racist or other intolerant beliefs.

In March, the Palo Alto Unified school board renamed its middle school from David Starr Jordan to Frank S. Greene Jr., after an African American venture capitalist.

Burbank has 15 schools christened after white males, with the exceptions being Providencia Elementary, named after the schools location, and Monterey High School for the street where the school is located.

Parent Erica Quiel is one of the proponents of the name change and said during the meeting she sees this process as a chance for the school district to name a school after a woman and/or person who isnt white.

I think this is a really great opportunity to update the school name to be something relevant for our students, Quiel said.

Whatever name local school officials select, it will likely take several years for district employees to fully phase out Jordan Middle Schools name, Paramo said. School business cards, letterhead and gym clothes can be changed fairly easily, but it will take time for school officials to raise money and install a new marquee and sign for the front of the school.

Parent Konstantine Anthony was in tears when the naming committee made its recommendation because he would have been a target for eugenicists because he is autistic. Hes been a fierce advocate for rights and access for the disabled as a member of the Burbank Advisory Council on Disabilities.

Even though his 6-year-old son, who is also autistic, will attend another middle school in the district, Anthony said the potential renaming offers an important lesson to stand up for whats right.

I hope he takes away two things  that everyone, including him, is worth being respected, and when theres something wrong, you get your friends together and change it, Anthony said.

Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.
California would become the first state to block pharmaceutical companies from paying generic competitors to delay the release of lower-priced drugs under a bill announced Wednesday.

Legislation by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) attempts to end a practice known as pay for delay, in which a drug company stalls the release of a generic drug that would cut into its profits by paying the competitor to slow research, marketing or the sale of lower-priced prescriptions.

The bill, which is the first state legislation of its kind, would change the burden for proving whether theres price manipulation by enshrining in the law that such secret settlements are presumed to be illegal unless a drug company can prove otherwise. By doing so, drug companies would be forced to disclose more information about settlements with rivals. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, who worked with Wood on the bill, said that would sharply increase transparency surrounding the confidential agreements that are otherwise masked as patent disputes.

At a news conference alongside Becerra on Wednesday, Wood said the pay-for-delay practice really is a scheme.

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We want to go after those who are trying to keep the prices of prescription drugs higher than they should be, Becerra added. I believe all Californians will appreciate that as well. No pharmaceutical company should be able to game the system at the expense of hardworking families.

A bipartisan bill pending in Congress also would make illegal any deal that delays the release of generic drugs.

Priscilla VanderVeer, spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the group is still reviewing the legislation but noted that the Federal Trade Commission already has the ability to evaluate the patent settlements and aggressively does so.

Additionally, patent settlements generally permit generic drugs on the market earlier than patent expiration does, generating significant savings for consumers, VanderVeer said in a statement.

The bill comes amid a national discussion over the high cost of prescription drugs. President Trump called attention to the issue in his State of the Union address this month, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed that California create its own consolidated drug-purchasing system to increase the states purchasing power.

Addressing price manipulation would also go a long way toward putting affordable drugs in the hands of those who need it, supporters of the bill said.

The FTC has targeted pay-to-delay agreements in recent years, saying that drug companies are attempting to sidestep antitrust laws by claiming the payments are patent settlements. A study by the agency found the deals to delay generic drugs from being released cost consumers $3.5 billion in higher costs each year.

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The FTC reached a settlement Tuesday with Teva Pharmaceuticals Industry Ltd. over allegations that the company partnered with competitors to slow down the release of generic drugs.

It is outrageous when drug companies pay their competitors in order to keep prices inflated, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. California is leading again on solutions to address problematic prescription drug pricing policies.

melody.gutierrez@latimes.com

Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
A furious federal judge issued a tighter gag order on Roger Stone, the former political advisor to President Trump, after he posted an image on social media showing what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gunsight next to her head.

I want to be clear today. I gave you a second chance. But this is not baseball. There will not be a third chance, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Stone, saying that further transgressions could bring jail time.

Stone, who is facing seven criminal charges in the Russian investigation, posted the offending photo of Jackson on Monday along with a comment calling the court proceedings against him a show trial and suggesting that the judge was biased against him.

He later deleted the post, then uploaded it again after removing the crosshairs symbol, and then deleted that too. Stone denied that he intended to threaten a judge, which is a felony, and apologized in a court filing.

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He asked forgiveness on Thursday when, in a dramatic and risky gambit, he took the witness stand to admit that he had abused the judges trust.

I am kicking myself over my own stupidity, he said. but not more than my wife is kicking me.

Perhaps I talk too much, Stone said, a surprising admission for a man who has become infamous for incendiary, nonstop commentary.

Stones decision to answer questions under oath, however, revealed that the skills of spin and obfuscation  developed over decades as a campaign consultant  have not translated well to the legal quagmire he now faces. At times he looked deflated in his double-breasted suit, and the corners of his lips were anchored in a deep frown.

Jacksons anger flared when she addressed Stone.

How hard was it to come up with a photograph that didnt have crosshairs in the corner? she demanded.

Stone said he didnt notice the symbol when he posted the photo, which he said was found by a volunteer. But he couldnt identify the volunteer, or even the names of all the helpers who cycle through the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., home that he said functions as his headquarters.

Prosecutors also noted that even though Stone has apologized for his Instagram post, he has repeated similar criticisms to several media outlets, including InfoWars, a far-right, conspiracy-themed website.

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Jonathan Kravis, a prosecutor with the U.S. attorneys office in Washington, said Stone has shown a desire to manipulate media coverage that could taint the jury pool for his trial, which has not yet been scheduled.

Stone asked for leniency because he makes a living as a commentator and writer on politics. But he also admitted that hes not being paid to talk specifically about the Russia investigation, meaning a gag order wouldnt necessarily slash his income.

Jackson said Stones work in politics and media only made him more responsible for the content of his Instagram post.

Roger Stone fully understands the power of words and the power of symbols, she said. Theres nothing ambiguous about crosshairs.

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Although she did not say whether she interpreted the post as a personal threat, she said such commentary runs the very real risk of inciting violence.

Jackson had originally issued a partial gag order on Friday, barring lawyers and prosecutors from speaking publicly about the case, but barring Stone only from commenting on the courthouse premises. Stone responded by promising to be judicious in his public remarks about the case.

But because he promptly abused that leeway, Jackson said, Stone will only be allowed to ask for donations for his legal defense fund or succinctly proclaim his innocence. No other comments about the case will be allowed.

Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress and witness tampering in the Russia investigation.

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He was released on $250,000 bond and repeatedly lashed out at special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to raise money for his legal defense fund.

Prosecutors accuse him of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his conversations involving WikiLeaks and hacked Democratic Party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

According to the indictment, Stone tried to conceal the fact that he reached out to WikiLeaks, which received the emails from Russian military intelligence, and that he discussed the organization with Trump campaign officials.

Stone has denied any wrongdoing.

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I will prove in court that any failure of memory on my part was without intent and would be immaterial, he told ABC News after he was arrested Jan. 25. I am human and I did make some errors, but theyre errors that would be inconsequential within the scope of this investigation.
Justice Department officials are preparing for the end of special counsel Robert Muellers nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and believe a confidential report could be issued in coming days, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The special counsels investigation has consumed Washington since it began in May 2017, and it increasingly appears to be nearing its end, which would send fresh shock waves through the political system. Mueller could deliver his report to Atty. Gen. William Barr next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss with reporters sensitive deliberations.

Regulations call for Mueller to submit to the attorney general a confidential explanation as to why he decided to charge certain individuals, as well as who else he investigated and why he decided not to charge those people. The regulations then call for the attorney general to report to Congress about the investigation.

UPDATE: Robert Mueller submits report into whether the 2016 Trump campaign had illegal dealings with Russia 

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An advisor to President Trump said there is palpable concern among the presidents inner circle that the report might contain information about Trump and his team that is politically damaging, but not criminal conduct.

Even before he was confirmed by the Senate, Barr had preliminary discussions about the logistics surrounding the conclusion of Muellers inquiry, a second person said. At that time, though, Barr had not been briefed on the substance of Muellers investigation, so the conversations were limited.

CNN first reported Wednesday that Mueller could send a report to Barr as early as next week.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment, as did a Justice Department spokeswoman.

How detailed either Muellers report or the attorney generals summary of the findings will be is unclear. Lawmakers have demanded that Muellers report be made public, but Barr has been noncommittal on that point, saying he intends to be as forthcoming as regulations and department practice allow. He has pointed, however, to Justice Department practices that insist on saying little or nothing about conduct that does not lead to criminal charges.

The special counsels office, which used to have 17 lawyers, is down to 12, and some of those attorneys have recently been in touch with their old bosses about returning to work, according to people familiar with the discussions. All but four of the remaining 12 lawyers are detailed from other Justice Department offices.

The end of the special counsels probe would not mean the end of criminal investigations connected to the president. Federal prosecutors in New York, for instance, are exploring whether corrupt payments were made in connection with Trumps inaugural committee funding.

If Mueller does close up shop, government lawyers on his team would likely return to their original posts but would be able to continue to work on the prosecution of cases initiated by the special counsels office.

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RELATED: Everything you need to know about whos been charged in the Russia case 

That was the case for two special counsel lawyers, Brandon Van Grack and Scott Meisler, who have left the office formally but are still working on cases begun by Mueller.

When the special counsel brought the case against Roger Stone, a longtime advisor and friend to Trump, for allegedly lying to the FBI, attorneys from the U.S. attorneys office in Washington were assigned to it from the start  an indication that Mueller expects to hand off the investigation soon.

The four prosecutors remaining who arent part of the Justice Department are some of the special counsels highest-ranking lawyers: Aaron Zebley, who is effectively Muellers chief of staff; James Quarles, who is a senior executive in the office; Jeannie Rhee, the lead prosecutor in the case against Michael Cohen, Trumps former personal attorney; and Greg Andres, the lead prosecutor in the trial of Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman.

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According to people familiar with the special counsels work, Mueller has envisioned it as an investigative assignment, not necessarily a prosecutorial one and, for that reason, does not plan to keep the office running to see to the end all of the indictments it has filed.

Muellers work has led to criminal charges against 34 people. Six Trump associates and advisors have pleaded guilty.

Among those who have pleaded guilty are Trumps former national security advisor Michael Flynn; former deputy campaign manger Rick Gates; and former campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, as well as Manafort and Cohen.

Most of the people charged in Muellers investigation are Russians. Because there is no extradition treaty with their country, those 26 individuals are unlikely to ever see the inside of a U.S. courtroom.

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None of the Americans charged by Mueller are accused of conspiring with Russia to interfere in the election. Determining whether any Trump associates had plotted with the Kremlin in 2016 was the central question assigned to Mueller when he got the job, in a moment of crisis for the FBI, the Justice Department and the country.

Days earlier, Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey. The purported reason for the dismissal was Comeys handling of the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton, but Trump said in an interview with NBC shortly after the firing that he was thinking about the Russia inquiry when he decided to fire Comey.

Because FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms to ensure their political independence, the Comey firing rattled Washington, setting off alarms not just in the Justice Department but in Congress, where lawmakers feared the president was determined to end the Russia investigation before it was completed.

In the wake of Comeys firing, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein chose Mueller as special counsel, in part to quell the burgeoning political crisis.

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Mueller, a Vietnam War veteran, prosecutor and former FBI director, was highly regarded. Politicians on both sides of the aisle  as well as law enforcement and intelligence veterans within federal agencies  had long admired and trusted Mueller, a Republican.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt and accused Muellers prosecutors of political bias because a number of them had made donations to Democratic candidates in the past. Some congressional Republicans who back the president have repeatedly attacked Muellers work as corrupted by anti-Trump bias among Comey and his senior advisors at the FBI.

When Muellers investigation ends, it is likely to set off a fresh political firestorm.

Full coverage: Robert Mueller finishes his investigation into President Trumps 2016 campaign 

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Democrats are already demanding a detailed public accounting of what Mueller found, beyond what is in the public indictments and trial evidence to date. Republicans, meanwhile, are poised to escalate their attacks on the special counsels work as a waste of time and money  and paint the end of the investigation as final proof that there was nothing to the suspicion that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Much of Muellers time was spent trying to determine whether the president attempted to obstruct the investigation. Toward that end, Mueller questioned those closest to the president about his private statements about the inquiry, his public tweets that attacked law enforcement officials, and internal White House documents that might shed light on Trumps behavior.

Months of negotiations over a possible interview of Trump came to little. Ultimately, Mueller and the Justice Department did not serve the president with a subpoena, which could have led to a fight at the Supreme Court, and Trumps lawyers submitted written answers to questions from the special counsel.

Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey and Matt Zapotosky write for the Washington Post.
Already-faltering negotiations between the Trump administration and California aimed at resolving a dispute over fuel-economy standards have broken down completely, the White House said Thursday.

The Trump administration has decided to discontinue discussions with the California Air Resources Board about the Environmental Protection Agencys plans to scale back the standards, the White House said in a statement.

The board had been meeting sporadically with officials from the White House, EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in hopes of persuading them not to roll back the Obama-era regulations.

Both sides blamed the other for the breakdown in talks.

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Despite the administrations best efforts to reach a common-sense solution, it is time to acknowledge that CARB has failed to put forward a productive alternative, the White House statement said. Accordingly, the administration is moving forward to finalize a rule later this year with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles.

California officials said the Trump administrations efforts to reach a compromise were less than genuine.

It would be fair to say the negotiations never really began in the first place, said California Air Resources Board spokesman Stanley Young. We had several meetings, but nothing that was meaningful was discussed.

The end of the negotiations increases the likelihood that both sides will spend years fighting in the courts over car pollution standards.

Under former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the agency announced plans last year to relax fuel economy and tailpipe emission rules that were designed to cut down on planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles already rank among the major contributors to climate change. The standards were aimed at getting the nations cars and trucks to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

Under Trump, the EPA has said it is considering freezing the fuel-efficiency targets at 2020 levels.

The EPA has also threatened to take away Californias unique authority to set its own, stricter air pollution standards for vehicles  something the state has been empowered to do since the enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1970.

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California vowed to fight back. The state has sued the Trump administration over the proposed fuel-economy rollback and officials have said they will go to court again if the administration requires them to follow its lower standards.

But the administrations plans to undo federal fuel-efficiency targets wont just affect California. More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have adopted Californias rules. Together, they account for nearly 40% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S.

As a result of the administrations decision to abandon negotiations, car makers could find themselves in a regulatory nightmare in which they have to produce different vehicles for a divided U.S. market  one class of cars that would meet the Trump administrations scaled-back standard and cleaner vehicles for California and the states that follow its regulations.

Although auto makers initially pushed the Trump administration to loosen standards, the aggressiveness of the administrations planned rollback took them by surprise. Several have since made it clear they believe the proposal goes too far, but they have so far failed to persuade the EPA and Transportation Department to take a more moderate approach.

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The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobbying group, released a statement Thursday saying that it supports year-over-year improvements in fuel economy that align with the marketplace. The group encouraged the Trump administration to find a way to maintain a single national standard.

Hopes for a compromise were dim from the start.

Although the Trump administration and California officials met several times over the course of months, officials familiar with the talks told The Times that they were so unproductive that they could hardly be considered negotiations.

Administration officials didnt respond to their California counterparts proposals, repeatedly steered the conversation to small talk, and kept federal employees with technical expertise out of the discussions, according to officials briefed on discussions.

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On Wednesday, as news outlets began publish reports that talks had ended, Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, called on auto makers to pressure the Trump administration into returning to the negotiating table.

Litigation is not the best option here, Carper said in a statement. It wastes time, money, creates uncertainty for American automakers and harms the environment. I encourage automakers to speak out quickly, loudly and clearly against this decision.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Anna M. Phillips 
To the editor: The letter writer who said there is no basis on which Democrats can pursue impeachment of President Trump demonstrated a lack of understanding of the Constitution. The framers were adamant about applying a system of checks and balances to hold each branch of government accountable, including the executive.

This president has chosen to surround himself with corrupt players. He has embraced dictators while maligning our intelligence agencies and international allies. He is a clear and present danger to our democracy, and I regularly exercise my right to protest his actions.

Last November, Americans turned out in historic numbers to elect more than 40 new Democrats to the House. The people have spoken.

Judith M. Barden, Long Beach

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To the editor: Reading the op-ed article on the injuries sustained by people trying to cross the U.S. border from Mexico was heart wrenching. You have to be heartless not to feel the torturous injuries of these migrants who are so desperate to get away from the conditions in their countries.

The bottom line to all this squabbling over the wall is how we all approach this problem. It boils down to peoples worldviews.

President Trump and his followers describe people trying to come across our borders illegally as rapists, drug dealers, sex traffickers and worse. How much they suffer appears not to be much of a concern. Trump sees his wall as a deterrent to keep our country safe from these terrible people.

Then there are people like me who see all this as a truly humanitarian crisis involving people trying to flee grave danger in their countries of origin.

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So, can millions of Americans who voted for Trump have so much hate? Im afraid the answer is yes.

Benny Wasserman, La Palma

..

To the editor: Heres some advice for op-ed article writer Ieva Jusionyte and others so concerned for immigrants who injure themselves: Tell these people not to sneak into the country illegally.

Another brazen point of hypocrisy among those with the open-borders mindset is the lack of compassion for victims of illegal immigration: not only for Americans killed, but for those whose lives have been turned upside down by identity theft, which is a major black-market business.

Pat Murphy, Pacific Palisades

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
The people of Venezuela are standing for freedom and democracy, and the United States of America is standing right by their side, President Trump declared Monday at a rally in Miami.

Its a frequent refrain from this administration. But it needs to be more than a hollow slogan, and the president should stop exploiting this crisis for partisan gain.

Trump showed no regard throughout his speech for its potential effect on the precarious dynamics in Venezuela  a nation whose fate remains uncertain as its illegitimate dictator defiantly clings to power. Indeed, Trumps performance risked playing into the desperate hands of Nicolas Maduro, who often blames American imperialism for his countrys plight.

Trumps craven rally undermines what had been an uncharacteristically well-executed diplomatic effort by his administration.

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Maduros contention is absurd, of course. Venezuela is in shambles because of his own corruption, tyranny and incompetence, something the Trump administration fully understands.

Yet Trump still managed to strike all the wrong notes. He used most of the speech to attack socialism, which risks antagonizing Chavistas who loathe Maduro even though they, like many Scandinavians, still embrace socialism. His threats against Venezuelan security officers who refuse to buck Maduro may instead motivate some to dig in. And his continued insinuations that a military option is under consideration only bolster Maduros coup narrative.

What is particularly frustrating about Trumps craven rally is that it undermines what had been an uncharacteristically well-executed diplomatic effort by his administration.

Before endorsing the claim of National Assembly President Juan Guaido to the presidency, the administration had quietly worked to secure support from key regional and global powers. Where Trumps go-it-alone impulses have sabotaged many foreign policy endeavors, here the administration built a strong multilateral coalition, levied meaningful sanctions, exhibited discipline, and maintained a strong message of support for the oppressed people of Venezuela.

Trumps speech kneecapped that meticulous diplomacy. But there are things the administration could now do to move us productively forward again.

First, lets be clear that the new sanctions on Venezuelas oil will also further limit peoples access to basic necessities. They must be paired with a comprehensive humanitarian surge  one devised, above all else, to actually help the suffering.

There is no excuse, of course, for the fact that Maduro is shamefully blocking U.S. aid from his people  and drawing attention to that cruelty may well further our ultimate political objectives. But what it hasnt done is provide immediate relief for those in urgent need. Life-and-death aid for Venezuelans should not be contingent upon  nor solely aimed at achieving  Maduros ouster.

As we barrel toward a weekend showdown over that stalled aid, we must acknowledge that its delivery is not guaranteed, and its scale is not sufficient. We must dramatically increase our contributions on multiple fronts  including boosting aid to international and regional humanitarian organizations, and overhauling our support for Venezuelan refugees resettling in countries like Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.

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Of course, that brings us to a more fundamental failure of values by the Trump administration.

Consider this: An estimated 3 million to 4 million people have already fled Venezuela in recent years, yet the U.S. has not granted refugee status to a single one. And despite the White Houses apocalyptic portrayals of the country, it continues to deport Venezuelan immigrants and deny legitimate asylum claims, which increased 12-fold from 2014-17.

Those denials have included the exact kind of people Trump championed in Mondays speech, like anti-Maduro activists and military defectors. Thats simply indefensible.

Bipartisan bills have been introduced to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Venezuelan immigrants  the administration should make that designation immediately. It should also raise its historically low refugee cap and greenlight the resettling of Venezuelans, as well as expediting and approving asylum claims. This is the absolute least we can do.

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Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Dont get me wrong: Its refreshing to see Trump take an interest in confronting a repressive dictator. But standing with the people subject to such a despot requires more than platitudes. And Venezuela is the tip of the iceberg.

This president constantly threatens to slash foreign aid to countries in need. He has turned his back on refugees and demonized asylum-seekers. Hes banned travelers from countries like Iran, where we similarly purport to stand with the people against a brutal regime. Hes refused to condemn human-rights abusers from Saudi Arabia and North Korea to China to Russia.

Americas interest in oppressed peoples cannot be selective. Our promises to help them cannot be hollow. Our doors cannot be bolted shut.

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We cannot continue to fail people like Helegner Tijera Moreno, a former Venezuelan army lieutenant who defected in protest of Maduro.

I came here because I thought the United States was the principal opponent of the Venezuelan government and because I thought we had a good chance of help, Tijera said from an immigration detention facility in New Mexico after being denied asylum.

Sadly, I was wrong.

Jesse Lehrich is a Democratic strategist and former foreign policy spokesperson for Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign.
On Thursday, Pope Francis will convene a long-awaited meeting of Catholic bishops and other church leaders to frame a global response to the abuse by clergy of minors and vulnerable adults. The Vatican considered this so-called summit meeting so important that it asked the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last year not to act on new measures to hold bishops accountable for covering up for abusive priests until after the meeting took place.

Its scandalous that the Vatican is convening this meeting only now, after decades of revelations of abuse by priests of children and others, and delay and denial by church leaders (including the current pope, who has apologized after defending a Chilean bishop accused of covering up abuse). If this four-day meeting is to be judged a success, the pope must make it clear to participants that if they wont deal decisively and transparently with predatory priests  and complicit superiors  in their home countries, Rome will do it for them.

That message needs to be sent not only in connection with the abuse of children and adolescents by clergy, an evil that the church has been grappling with for decades, but also with a scandal that has attracted attention more recently: the sexual exploitation of adults, including seminarians and nuns, by powerful clerics. Its increasingly clear that abuse of minors is only one dimension of the crisis.

Its increasingly clear that abuse of minors is only one dimension of the crisis.

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Unfortunately, clerics involved in preparations for the summit have suggested that its focus will be primarily or even exclusively on sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, said that although the sexual abuse of adults must be addressed, the summit should focus on young victims because minors dont have a voice.

But limiting the discussion to the abuse of children would be a mistake  the church needs to address on all forms of sexual misconduct by the clergy, and do it soon.

That reality is underlined by the Vaticans announcement last week that it had defrocked Theodore McCarrick, the 88-year-old former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who had been accused of molesting a teenager decades ago while serving as a priest in New York. (McCarrick said he had no recollection of the abuse and believed he was innocent.) That revelation quickly led to McCarricks resignation from the College of Cardinals. But it then emerged that the prelate also had been accused of sexually harassing young seminarians, contriving to have them share his bed. Two New Jersey dioceses secretly paid settlements to men who said they had been preyed upon by McCarrick.

McCarricks behavior with seminarians figured in a sensational document published last summer by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a retired Vatican diplomat who accused Francis of rehabilitating McCarrick after Pope Benedict XVI had supposedly imposed sanctions on the American prelate. Viganos screed floated a conspiracy theory about a homosexual current in the Vatican, and it may have been unfair to Francis. But his description of McCarrick as a serial predator seems to have been confirmed by the Vaticans decision to defrock him.

Seminarians arent the only vulnerable adults the church must protect from predatory clerics. Francis recently acknowledged that some priests and bishops have been guilty of sexually abusing nuns, and he told reporters that the church has been working on the problem. The Catholic community in India has been shaken by charges that a bishop repeatedly raped a nun, an allegation the bishop denies.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

The abuse of nuns and former nuns by clergy was so outrageous at one French religious order that Benedict disbanded it. Francis went so far as to suggest the nuns had been manipulated into sexual slavery by the founder of the order.

The church obviously must do more to address the abuse of minors, including in the United States. Bishops in this country in 2002 adopted a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that, among other reforms, obliges dioceses to report allegations of sexual abuse of a minor to public authorities. Dioceses also have released the names of priests credibly accused of sexual wrongdoing  through not always in timely fashion. Missing, however, has been a systematic commitment to investigating and if necessary removing bishops who turn a blind eye to the sexual abuse of minors by priests. That needs to be rectified.

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Yet its vital that the church also deal firmly with priests who sexually abuse or exploit vulnerable adults, be they young seminarians, nuns or lay men or women who seek a priests counsel only to be sexually exploited or attacked. The Catholic Church is now facing its own #MeToo moment, and it needs to respond forcefully.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist has been arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home that authorities say he stockpiled to launch a massive domestic terrorist attack targeting politicians and journalists.

Christopher Paul Hasson called for focused violence to establish a white homeland and dreamed of ways to kill almost every last person on earth, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since 2017 at the latest, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and searched the internet using phrases such as best place in dc to see congress people and are supreme court justices protected.

The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country, the government said in court documents filed this week, arguing that Hasson should stay in jail awaiting trial.

Hasson, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt on Thursday.

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Hasson was arrested on illegal weapons and drug charges on Friday, but the government says those charges are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Officials with the U.S. attorneys office in Maryland outlined in court documents Hassons alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.

Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads, Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors say was found in his email drafts. Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world.

The Office of the Federal Public Defender, which has been ordered to represent Hasson, declined comment Wednesday.

Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-1990s.

Agents with the FBI field office in Baltimore and the Coast Guard Investigative Service arrested Hasson on Friday, FBI Baltimore spokesman Dave Fitz confirmed.

Court documents do not detail what prompted federal law enforcement to begin investigating Hasson, but they say he had been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 people in Norway. They say Hassons attack preparations resembled Breiviks.

Breivik took steroids and narcotics, believing it would heighten his abilities to carry out attacks. When law enforcement raided Hassons apartment, they said they found a locked container loaded with more than 30 vials of what appeared to be human growth hormone. He has also ordered more than 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol since 2016, along with synthetic urine to allegedly bypass possible random drug screenings at work.

Breivik encouraged identifying targets and traitors. In recent weeks, Hasson developed a spreadsheet of targets that included top Democratic congressional leaders and media personalities. The list includes JOEY, what prosecutors say is a reference to former Rep. Joe Scarborough who works for MSNBC; cortez, an alleged reference to freshman U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York); and Sen blumen jew presumably Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

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Authorities seized 15 firearms, including several long guns and rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his basement apartment after executing a search warrant this month. Over the last two years, he had made nearly two dozen purchases of firearms or related equipment and made thousands of visits to websites that sell weapons or tactical gear.

Authorities said Hasson harbored extremist views for years.

The defendant is a domestic terrorist, the government said in court filings, bent, on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.

In an email he drafted in June 2017, he contemplated biological attacks and targeting food supplies. He considered the merits of a bombing/sniper campaign and included a Things to do list that included purchasing land out west or possibly NC mtns for family and researching tactics used during the civil war in Ukraine.

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During unrest target both sides to increase tension, Hasson wrote in the email, according to the court filings. In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence.

In another letter drafted months later to an American neo-Nazi leader, Hasson called for a white homeland. He sent the letter to himself nearly two months after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., where torch-carrying white-supremacists clashed with anti-racist protesters.

I never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc., Hasson said. I was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that. However you can make change with a little focused violence.

Hassons commitment to destruction appeared to increase in recent weeks, according to details from prosecutors. He created a list of traitors and targets on Jan. 19 in a spreadsheet on his work computer. The spreadsheet was created two days after he conducted a series of internet inquiries:

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8:54 a.m.: what if trump illegally impeached

8:57 a.m.: best place in dc to see congress people

8:58 a.m.: where in dc to congress live

10:39 a.m.: civil war if trump impeached

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11:26 a.m.: social democrats usa

Lynh Bui writes for the Washington Post.

Bui writes for the Washington Post.
The son of the Republican in the countrys last undecided congressional election testified Wednesday that he warned his parents that he thought the North Carolina political operative now accused of illegally collecting voters ballots used shady methods and should be avoided.

John Harris testified at a state elections board hearing into ballot fraud allegations that he warned his father well before Mark Harris launched his campaign that he didnt trust contractor Leslie McCrae Dowless. John Harris said he thinks Dowless lied about his methods and that his parents believed him.

They believed that the process that he was undertaking was legal, he said of his parents. I think they were lied to and they believed the person who lied to them.

Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of about 280,000 cast in Novembers election, but the race wasnt certified after allegations against the contractor Dowless focused scrutiny on mail-in ballots in two rural counties.

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John Harris, who was working at a law firm during most of the election cycle, testified that he served as a sounding board and reviewed some information in an informal capacity for the campaign. More recently, Harris has worked since October 2018 as a federal prosecutor in the same office that received evidence about Dowless potentially illegal conduct in 2016. No charges have been filed. He said he was testifying in his capacity as a private citizen and not as a Justice Department employee.

The elections board is expected to either declare Harris the winner in the 9th Congressional District or order a new election after the multi-day hearing. McCready has asked the state elections board to order a new election, or leave the decision to the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, which the Constitution makes the final judge of the elections and qualifications of its members.

Mark Harris has previously said he sought out and hired Dowless because he delivered votes, including for a Republican rival in the 2016 GOP primary. Harris said he discussed with an attorney after that primary whether to challenge Dowless incredible results for a GOP rival with mail-in ballots in Bladen County. Dowless methods in the 2016 general election were referred to federal prosecutors, who took no action.

Prior to that, Dowless had felony convictions for insurance fraud and perjury, but Harris has said his consultants missed those charges while looking into Dowless background.

John Harris testified that he initially warned his parents about Dowless after reviewing data from his fathers 2016 primary loss. Mark Harris had lost a Republican primary that June in which GOP rival Todd Johnson, who used Dowless in that campaign, scored 98% of the mail-in ballots cast in Bladen County.

In November 2016, John Harris forwarded a Republican fundraising email amid a vote-counting fight in the close North Carolina governors race. The email claimed that a Democratic Party voting fraud scheme in Bladen County had been uncovered.

Mark Harris reacted to the email with a reply to his son: Amen! But interestingly enough, the guy who made the claim, Dowess (sic), is the same guy that Johnson paid to run the absentee ballot program for him! Guess he didnt like the Dems cutting into his business!

North Carolinas elections director said Monday that Dowless conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation while working for Harris during the 2018 election cycle. Dowless workers in rural Bladen County testified at the special state elections board hearing that they were directed to forge signatures, collect blank or incomplete ballots voters handed over, and even fill in votes for local candidates who hadnt earned them.
The Trump administrations decision to cancel a $929-million grant to Californias troubled high-speed rail project and claw back $2.5 billion in funds already spent has thrust the federal government into uncharted legal territory and poses an existential threat to the states largest investment ever.

Never before, experts say, has the federal government attempted to take back such a large sum of money from California, particularly after it was spent under federal supervision.

I have never seen anything this large, said Ron Flavin, a San Francisco consultant who advises state agencies and local governments on grants. I have never seen anything where they said we are going to cancel a grant because of issues in the administrative or bureaucratic process.

The Federal Railroad Administration this week sent a letter to state officials asserting that the project is out of compliance with major provisions of the grant agreements schedule, scope and payment terms.

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Trump administration to cancel $929 million in California high-speed rail funding 

California has for years struggled to comply with the grants, which are laid out in lengthy legal documents that have been repeatedly modified over the last decade. At the same time, the project has dealt with funding shortages, contract mismanagement, legal disputes and myriad other complex challenges  issues that were identified in a critical state audit in November.

The nearly $3.5 billion at stake represents about one-fourth of all the funding that the project has on hand today, so its loss could push the state into having to make up for the funding while the dispute is resolved or further curtail the schedule and scope of the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train.

This does seem unprecedented, said Eloise Pasachoff, a law professor specializing in federal grants at the Georgetown University Law Center. It is common to take money back that grantees misspent. I am unaware of any time when an agency has threatened to terminate a grant because a grantee is not on target to achieve the substantive goals the grant was meant to achieve.

The aggressive federal action, which experts called extraordinary, follows comments by Gov. Gavin Newsom in hisState of the State speech last week that the project was costing too much, taking too long and lacking a path to completion. He said the state would have the capacity to build a partial line from Merced to Bakersfield in the Central Valley, implying that the larger goals would be kicked down the road.

It was very shortly after Newsoms comments that President Trump demanded repayment of the grants, calling the project a green disaster.

The Federal Railroad Administrations three-page letter to the state gave notice of intent that it would terminate the 2010 grant agreement and said it was also exploring ways to demand repayment of the previous $2.5-billion grant made under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The letter alleged that California was failing to comply with provisions that required it to spend matching funds and said the state had fallen $100 million short of requirement. It also asserted that the state would miss the 2022 deadline to complete 119 miles of construction in the Central Valley and that the states financial reports could not show that it was making reasonable progress with what was being delivered. It also said Newsoms speech represented a retreat from the goals set forth under the grant.

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The rail project has struggled to fund all of its work, shifted funds from future work to current work to pay bills, and in some cases fallen behind schedule in paying its contractors. The cost of preparing environmental documents, buying land and moving underground utilities soared beyond original estimates, further stretching budgets.

The structure of the federal letter implies that it is the first step of a formal process. The letter asks the state to provide information that it has fulfilled the terms of the grant and is making reasonable progress on the construction, as well as evidence that Newsoms speech did not represent a fundamental change in the purpose of the project.

The process for canceling the project involves complex administrative law, which probably will require formal hearings, representation by attorneys and a long decision process within the federal government, as well as potential legal challenges in federal court.

Federal grants provide about a fourth of all state spending and often involve variances or violations of grant agreements, Pasachoff wrote in a 2014 Yale Law Journal article, noting that states have failed to comply with food stamp grants, Medicaid grants and special education grants. Pasachoff said resolving the dispute will take a long time, probably more than a year within the Transportation Department alone.

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The general view is that pulling funds like this is a nuclear option, said David Freeman Engstrom, a Stanford law professor who specializes in administrative law. Many federal grants fund social welfare benefits, so there is a reluctance to penalize misspending by local government agencies if it injures beneficiaries, he said.

Almost never do those violations result in terminations, in part because federal agencies are set up to distribute money, not take it back, and they also lack funding for strict grant enforcement.

But the California rail project became highly politicized even before Trump took office. Congressional committees had previously explored ways to stop the project by rescinding the grants, but it was determined that only the executive branch could terminate a grant after Congress approved legislation for the funding.

The Obama administration repeatedly modified the grants to give the state more breathing room to meet its requirements. The grants are set up so that California has to spend its own money first and then file for periodic reimbursement, a condition that puts the rail agency on a short leash.

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Chairman of troubled bullet train project resigns 

The Federal Railroad Administration has been closely monitoring the project for years, out of concerns about the schedule and cost.

A risk analysis in late 2016 projected a $3.6-billion cost overrun in the Central Valley, and federal officials summoned the top rail authority officials to review the findings in Washington. After The Times obtained the risk analysis and published its findings, state rail authority officials asserted that the federal regulators were simply wrong and that the project was in great condition.

But federal regulators have relaxed many other requirements. They allowed the state to use all of the original $2.5-billion grant before spending matching funds. Then, in a final modification in the closing days of Obamas presidency, they said the state could not access any of the $929-million grant until it had fully matched a nearly equal amount of the original grant.

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As a result, all of the $929-million grant is still in federal hands. All of the $2.5-billion grant was spent by about June 2017, a requirement of the grant.

Rail authority officials say they will respond to the specific allegations in the federal letter within days.
In a claim seeking $20 million from South Pasadena, the mother of Vanessa Marquez says poor tactics, negligence and overreaction on the part of police led to the actress fatal shooting last year.

Marquez, 49, was killed on Aug. 30 by South Pasadena police, who had gone to her apartment for a wellness check. When they arrived, Marquez was having a seizure and would not cooperate with officers offers for medical attention, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, which is investigating the shooting.

As Marquez talked with police and a mental health clinician, she grabbed what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at officers, sheriffs officials said. Two of them fired and Marquez was struck at least once in the torso. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police later determined that the weapon Marquez allegedly held was a BB gun, sheriffs officials said.

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On Wednesday, Marquezs mother, Delia McElfresh, filed a claim against South Pasadena, seeking $20 million in damages for her daughters wrongful death, along with burial and funeral expenses. Her attorneys say they hope the legal action will help vindicate Marquezs civil rights and compel the city to explain how a wellness check escalated into a fatal shooting.

A spokesman for the city of South Pasadena declined to comment, citing the sheriffs investigation. The Sheriffs Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the investigation.

Marquez was working in a fast-food restaurant and had no professional acting experience when she won the role of Ana Delgado, a soft-spoken high school student in the 1988 film Stand and Deliver. She answered a casting notice and scored an audition, riding two buses from her hometown of Montebello to read lines in West Hollywood.

She walked in with school books in hand and created the role of Ana right before our eyes, wrote Toni Livingston-Hix, the films casting director, in a letter asking that Marquez be recognized during the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars telecast.

RELATED: Why this years Oscars In Memoriam shouldnt leave out Stand and Delivers Vanessa Marquez 

Marquez was as powerful as any artist I had ever worked with, Edward James Olmos told The Times. Olmos starred in Stand and Deliver as the East Los Angeles calculus teacher Jaime Escalante.

Marquez went on to play nurse Wendy Goldman on the television drama ER.

In recent years, Marquez had drifted from friends shed met while filming Stand and Deliver. She wrote on Facebook that she was terminally ill, and said that shed been harassed, then shunned and blacklisted, by prominent figures in the film industry.

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Stephanie DeWolfe, South Pasadenas city manager, said after Marquezs death that police had acted appropriately and made every attempt to resolve the situation peacefully.

In the claim, McElfrishs attorneys said police tried to remove Marquez without legal grounds from her second-floor Fremont Avenue apartment. Because of their negligence and poor tactics, the officers allowed the situation to escalate, culminating in their unjustifiable use of deadly force, the claim says.

The attorneys, Vicki I. Sarmiento and Dale K. Galipo, also criticized South Pasadena for not releasing the police report, autopsy report, body camera footage or audio recordings from the incident.

In another shooting involving South Pasadena police and a lookalike firearm in 2017, detectives serving a warrant in Burbank fatally shot 41-year-old Marco Cardoza. The Burbank Police Department, which investigated the shooting, said Cardoza had pointed the replica handgun at South Pasadena detectives before several of them opened fire.
Another storm is moving into Southern California, bringing some rain but also the possibility of snow at very low elevations.

Here are the key things you need to know:

A storm moving in Wednesday night and Thursday morning will bring light rain to coastal and basin areas but snow to very low mountain elevations.

Snow levels will also be lowered to about 2,000 feet Thursday, and up to 6 inches of powder may fall in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains. Its possible that snow levels could fall to 1,500 feet if heavier precipitation moves in.

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Temperatures will likely remain below normal through the week. By Friday, the highs will increase slightly to the mid-50s and low 60s, forecasters said.

Hail is also expected.

Mountain passes  including the corridors of Interstate 5 and 15 and Highways 22, 138, 15 and 154  could be impacted by snow.

A COLD storm system is already producing showers over #SoCal, snow level will drop to @2000' Thu. Check road conditions before you attempt to drive in the mtns! #CAwx #LAsnow pic.twitter.com/mFQ328yNhV  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 20, 2019

OPERATION SNOWFLAKE: Planning on driving through I-5 between Bakersfield and Los Angeles County? Be prepared for snow and a potential closure of I-5 through the #Grapevine. Here are some winter weather driving tips to stay prepared: pic.twitter.com/EMg17dn6tx  Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) February 21, 2019

Low temperatures will hit the 40s in some parts of the L.A. basin Thursday morning, rising to the 50s during the day and then back into the 40s and perhaps even the 30s Friday morning.

Mountain areas will be hit by heavy winds and lows into the 20s.

Winter Weather Advisories issued Wednesday afternoon through Thursday evening for the mountains, Antelope Valley, Cuyama Valley, and SLO County Interior Valleys. #LArain #LAWeather #cawx pic.twitter.com/nHQ0kFhsLn  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 20, 2019

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Some of the protesters were affiliated with the #MeToo movement. Others with Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ groups. Many were simply West Hollywood residents who were fed up with all the drama.

They showed up at a packed West Hollywood City Council meeting Tuesday because of two scandals: the recent sexual harassment allegations against Mayor John Duran and the deaths of two black men in the West Hollywood apartment of white Democratic donor Ed Buck  a man for whom Duran worked as an attorney for several years. Overwhelmingly, the crowd called for Duran to resign.

Lately, I have been exhausted, and I have been embarrassed, Tai Sunnanon, a West Hollywood resident, told the council. I have to defend this city with relatives and friends who live out of state because we have not sought the proper due justice to two black men who have died in our neighborhoods. I am also exhausted and embarrassed by a mayor who uses gay and sexual liberation as a front with undue and unnecessary behavior that is really unbecoming of this city.

Three current or former members of the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles have accused Duran, the groups longtime board chairman, of crude sexual comments and unwanted touching.

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The accusations come three years after the city paid $500,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Durans former council deputy, whom Duran hired after meeting on the gay meet-up app Grindr and having sex with him. Duran was reelected after that scandal, but now many residents say times are different in the #MeToo era and that Duran is a distraction and liability.

Duran refuses to resign, saying he has a crass sense of humor born of the gay liberation movement but that he is not a harasser. He said the outcry is driven by the current mood of the country rather than the rule of law and due process.

Duran has said that if a person does not want a sexual advance, he or she must definitively say no.

I flirt. I crack dirty jokes. I often say things that make some cringe. But I do not threaten or physically assault anyone, Duran wrote in a lengthy Facebook statement Tuesday night.

He added: It is the sin of Salem. Admit that you are a witch  and you will be an ostracized pariah separated from the community. Deny that you did it  and we will burn you at the stake publicly and impose a sentence without investigation or verdict.

Duran has been hospitalized for several days with blood clots. When a friend read his statement at the City Council meeting, the audience booed.

West Seegmiller, holding sign, joins others outside the West Hollywood City Council chambers to call on West Hollywood Mayor John Duran to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Some accused Duran of mocking his accusers. Over the weekend, he tweeted: In my hospital room with 4 gay men exhibiting bawdy gay humor to the delight of all. #knowthyself

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And in an interview last week with the WeHo Times, Duran said of Jason Tong, a chorus member who accused him of putting two fingers in his waistband before a concert: Hes a skinny Korean kid with pimples on his cheek  Look at this guy. Its just not happening.

Duran apologized for that comment, saying he is not racist and that his family is both Latino and Asian.

The City Council has been trying to determine what it can do. City Atty. Mike Jenkins said state law does not allow the council of a general-law city to remove one of its members.

On Tuesday, council members asked staff to place an item on the agenda for the next meeting that lays out possible options, such as ending a mayors term early, censure or restricting city-funded travel.

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Duran is serving his fourth term as mayor, a largely ceremonial position that rotates annually among council members.

The city soon will move its spring municipal elections to November to align with general elections. As part of the transition, the council on Feb. 4 agreed to extend the mayors and mayor pro tems terms by four months. Durans term as mayor therefore would have ended in September instead of May.

On Tuesday, the council rescinded that decision. A new mayor will be installed May 20. Durans term as councilman will end in 2020.

Council members Lindsey Horvath, John DAmico and Lauren Meister last week called on Duran to resign.

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John Heilman, the only councilman who had not publicly addressed the allegations, on Tuesday said, I think its important to move forward with somebody else in charge.

Heilman said Duran had done good work on behalf of the city, the LGBTQ community and people living with HIV and AIDS but that those contributions  are in no way an excuse for misbehavior.

People within the LGBT community have a right to be free from sexual harassment; they have a right to be free from being hit upon by somebody in power, he said.

On Tuesday, protesters also said they were disturbed that Duran had worked as an attorney for Ed Buck.

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The 2017 death of Gemmel Moore, 26, who died of a methamphetamine overdose, and the January death of 55-year-old Timothy Dean, whose cause of death has not been released, have prompted homicide investigations by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Authorities said Buck was present for both deaths in his Laurel Avenue apartment.

Family and friends of the dead men have accused Buck of preying on vulnerable black men for sexual gratification.

Buck has not been arrested or charged in either case, and Duran is not representing Buck in regard to the deaths.

Jerome Kitchen, 30, who said he was Moores godbrother, said the City Council is complicit with this culture of sex crimes.

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They think that if they make the city a beautiful place, if they talk about infrastructure and they have these lavish events, they can neglect their obligation to keep the city safe.
The Newport Beach couple killed in their home last week had hired a private investigator five days before their deaths to find their son, fearing he would hurt himself, the investigator said.

Richard and Kim Nicholson told Michael Youssef on Feb. 8 that they worried their 27-year-old son was suffering from mental illness, and they wanted the investigator to find evidence their son was incompetent so they could obtain a conservatorship, Youssef said.

During his five-day investigation, Youssef said he found that Camden Nicholson smoked excessive amounts of marijuana, took steroids and was addicted to porn. The private eye scoured laptop and phone records as well as other materials but never located Nicholson during that time.

Nicholson has been charged with three counts of murder in the Feb. 13 deaths of his parents and their housekeeper, Maria Morse. In court last week, Nicholson delayed entering a plea until March 8 and was being held without bail.

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Police have not released details about how his parents and their housekeeper were killed. An autopsy was expected to be completed Thursday, said Larry Esslinger, supervising deputy coroner in Orange County.

Nicholson left his parents home in mid-December without notice, said Youssef, who believed they didnt see him again until the day they were killed.

The investigator had been handling the case as a missing persons investigation and had not found any evidence that Nicholson was violent, he said.

At the time of the slayings, Youssef said, he was preparing to publish missing posts with pictures of Nicholson in the hope the public could help find the man.

Nobody ever thought they were in danger, Youssef said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Thursday. It was always about him. They always were worried.

Kim Nicholson told Youssef that her son was an introverted and kind teenager. But when he went on a Mormon mission in March 2010 at age 19, he changed, Youssef said.

Before Camden left on his mission, he was one of the most kindest, gentle, easygoing, and functioning young man, the mother wrote to Youssef. She went on to say that after nine months in the mission field, the doctor called stating, Camden wanted to commit suicide. 

Nicholsons mother told Youssef that she suspected her son had been sexually abused at the Mormon retreat, but he denied it when she asked, the investigator said.

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During the seven years Nicholson lived in the gated community with his parents, he acted erratically, claimed he had seizures and was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder that affects an individuals ability to socialize, Youssef said. He reportedly saw numerous health professionals, including a neurologist and Dr. Suzie Schuder, who was charged in May 2017 with insurance fraud.

Nicholson was also extremely paranoid, Youssef said. When he lived in Denver, he claimed his landlord was watching him and poisoning him with oyster shells.

Weeks before the killings, the investigation found that Nicholson had used a credit card belonging to his father during a hotel stay. He charged excessive tips and spent $15,000 on one transaction, Youssef said. The mans parents paid for all his expenses, according to the report.

On the night of the deaths, Irvine police spoke with a man later identified as Nicholson in the emergency room of Kaiser Permanentes Irvine Medical Center. Based on that conversation, the Newport Beach Police Department was asked to perform a welfare check at the home on Palazzo, said public information officer Heather Rangel.

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When Newport Beach police arrived at the home, they found the three people dead inside.

The parents were very nice, Youssef said, very, very nice people. Its very devastating. I pray for them.

Times staff writer Brittny Mejia and Times Community News contributor Daniel Langhorne contributed to this report.
Nearly a dozen Iranians who had been denied asylum in the United States despite a special program for religious minorities have landed in Los Angeles after having their cases reconsidered, attorneys said.

The refugees, who sought entry under the decades-old Lautenberg-Specter program, arrived last week, said Kate Meyer, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Their applications were initially declined by the Trump administration last February  an unprecedented move for a program with a near-100% acceptance rate, Meyer said. In all, the cases of 87 Iranian applicants were denied.

The government did not provide a reason for the denials at the time, saying it was a matter of discretion.

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In response, some of the refugees and their family members in the United States filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last year. In July, a judge ruled the government must disclose individual reasons for the denials, which would allow the applicants to file an appeal. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reopened the cases as a result.

These families approvals really highlight the arbitrariness of the original mass denials, Meyer said. Without legal action and additional scrutiny of their applications, their original denials would have stood and these families would have remained in limbo in Vienna.

The refugees learned they were accepted a few weeks ago, Meyer said. They were re-interviewed by government officials last month and were approved in late January and early February.

Many in Vienna are still waiting for a resolution on their cases, Meyer said. They are still separated from their families and scared that they will face persecution if they go back to Iran.

Applications under the Lautenberg-Specter program began stalling in late 2016.

Enacted in 1989 to facilitate resettlement of Jews from what was then the Soviet Union, the program later was expanded to include non-Muslims from Iran. Run in partnership with the Austrian government, it requires refugees to have a U.S. sponsor who will cover the costs associated with their travel as well as the typical three- to six-month stay in Vienna.

Many eventually move to California, advocates said, because the state already has large populations of Iranian and Armenian immigrants.

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has resettled more than 36,000 Iranian religious minorities under Lautenberg since 2001, the government said. Many of the refugees are Armenian Christians; others resettled under the program include Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahais and Mandaeans.

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Although admissions from Iran to the U.S. have not completely come to a halt under the Trump administration, they have slowed from 1,061 in the first quarter of the 2017 fiscal year to 29 in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, court records show.

In court filings, according to the International Refugee Assistance Project, the government has said that enhancements to security check techniques led to the increase in denials.

The State Department said the greater number of Lautenberg denials is the result of changes to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program made under President Obama in 2016. The increase has nothing to do with Trumps executive orders on immigration, a department official said last year, adding that the administration remains committed to supporting the Iranian people.

The department said it could not comment on the specific reason for the approvals.

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For those reunited with family, the arrivals marked a burden lifted.

One refugee who lived in Austria for 29 months spent nearly 16 of them without his parents and sister because they were allowed entry into the United States without him.

We came together and thought we would leave together, the 24-year-old said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, for fear of his safety. The day that my parents left, my mother cried. I wanted to cry too, but I held it in.

When he returned home after seeing them off, he said, he was struck by the silence that greeted him.

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I couldnt sleep at night, he said in Persian. My mother wasnt cooking in the kitchen. My father wasnt there watching television.

He lived with two other Iranians after his family left  one made it to Los Angeles with him, and another is still in Vienna, he said.

There were moments, he said, that it seemed like he might not see his family again. And when he heard his application was approved last month, he had a hard time believing it.

I thought either I was dreaming or joking, he said. When I got to to the airport, I saw 10 or 20 people were calling my name, family I havent seen in 10 or 15 years. I felt dizzy thinking of who to say hi to first.

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His aunt, Goharek Garmemasihi, said she spent the last year and a half wondering when her family would be together again. Seeing her nephew walk toward her at the airport last Thursday was one of the best days of my life, she said. But it was tinged with sadness.

No parents should have to go through what my brother and his wife went through, she said.

Her nephew said he worries about the people he met in Vienna who are still waiting for word on their cases.

Their hopes are with America, he said. Our final destination was America  not Austria.
Prosecutors have asked police to conduct a deeper investigation before they decide whether to file charges against a security guard who shot and wounded a YouTube personality during a bizarre clash outside a West L.A. synagogue last week, officials said.

The Los Angeles County district attorneys office referred the case back to the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday, one day after 45-year-old Zhoie Perez, who has gained a measure of notice on YouTube under the handle Furry Potato, was wounded during an altercation outside the Etz Jacob Congregation/Ohel Chana High School building in the Fairfax district.

The LAPD arrested the guard, 44-year-old Edduin Zelayagrunfeld, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon Feb. 14. But prosecutors kicked the case back to the LAPD the next day, said Paul Eakins, a spokesman for the district attorneys office.

Zelayagrunfeld was released from custody Feb. 15, according to online jail records. Perez has not been accused of any wrongdoing, Eakins said.

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YouTube personality Zhoie Perez, 45, talks to media about being shot by a security guard outside the Etz Jacob Congregation/Ohel Chana High School on Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District last week. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Perez  a so-called 1st Amendment auditor who often films near sensitive locations while standing on public sidewalks in an attempt to affirm her right to do so  was recording outside the synagogue for about 40 minutes Feb. 14, according to footage she posted on YouTube.

As Perez recorded video, Zelayagrunfeld repeatedly confronted her, asking her to leave and at times reaching toward his firearm.

Get away from the door, he said shortly before firing, according to Perezs videos. You try one more time, and I shoot you.

Zelayagrunfelds gun appeared to be pointed at the ground when the shot was fired.

Perez continued to record after suffering what she described as a deep graze, and the guard can be heard saying he fired a warning shot.

A spokesman for the LAPD said the case was complete and presented to prosecutors, who had yet to file charges, but he declined to comment further. Zelayagrunfeld is due in court March 15, the spokesman said.

Perez, who has roughly 20,000 subscribers on YouTube, can often be seen prodding sensitive or busy locations in the Los Angeles area in her videos. In recent months, she had confrontations with staff or police near KTLA-TV Channel 5s Hollywood studios and the Islamic Center of Southern California in Koreatown, the latter of which ended in her being pepper-sprayed by a different security guard.

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james.queally@latimes.com

Twitter: @JamesQueallyLAT
Critics of a vast new development in Hollywood are suing the city, arguing that it violated the California Environmental Quality Act and other laws when city leaders gave the green light for the Crossroads Hollywood project.

The Los Angeles City Council voted last month to approve the planned project, which will include glassy towers with apartments, hotel rooms, shops and restaurants on a Hollywood site that spans more than 8 acres. Business and labor groups and other supporters said it would provide needed housing, generate jobs and give an economic jolt to the area.

Opponents countered that the new development would fuel gentrification, worsen pollution and choke the neighborhood with traffic. Now the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and an unincorporated group called Livable LA are suing to halt or delay the project, arguing that the city failed to properly consider how Crossroads Hollywood would affect the neighborhood.

The groups also argued that city officials failed to fully assess an alternative plan that could have spared dozens of existing apartments that fall under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which limits annual rent hikes for tenants. Crossroads Hollywood will include more than 100 units for very low-income households, but more than 80 rent-stabilized apartments are being demolished.

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The lawsuit charges that Hollywood is falling far short of the number of affordable units that it is required to build under its redevelopment plan, and the new project worsens that shortfall by providing fewer affordable units than would be necessary to meet areawide affordable housing goals.

L.A. has shown deliberate indifference to the serious negative impacts and resulting gentrification that this enormous luxury project will have in Hollywood and along Sunset Boulevard, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said in a statement Wednesday.

Los Angeles city attorneys office spokesman Frank Mateljan declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the office is not able to comment on pending litigation.

Kyndra Casper, a representative for the developer, said in a statement that the Crossroads Hollywood team fully believes the project will move forward swiftly irrespective of the lawsuit, given its status as a California Environmental Leadership Development Project  a special designation that allows any California Environmental Quality Act lawsuits against the development to move through the courts more quickly.

As we are confident that we will prevail on the merits, we will continue working with the community in bringing Hollywood this exciting and transformational project, Casper said.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit that treats hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide, has repeatedly gone to court over L.A. planning and development issues.

It sued over a planned Hollywood office complex and reached a settlement that required the developer, Hudson Pacific Properties, to scale back the project. It lodged another lawsuit in an attempt to halt the demolition of Parker Center, which it dropped after the city proceeded with the tear-down. And it is continuing to battle plans for towers next to its Hollywood headquarters.

In addition, AHF counsel Liza Brereton said, the nonprofit is supporting lawsuits over other projects in Hollywood and South L.A.

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The group, which unsuccessfully pushed two years ago for a ballot measure that would have restricted real estate development in the city, has since formed a new division focused on providing affordable housing.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlpertReyes
Cindy Borgeson was eating a cheeseburger at In-N-Out when she got a call from Newport Beach police that she thought would never come.

It had been more than four decades since her 11-year-old sister, Linda Ann OKeefe, was sexually assaulted and strangled. The killer had vanished after dumping the girls body among the cattails in the citys scenic Back Bay.

Borgeson, who was 18 when Linda was killed, was resigned that detectives might never find the man responsible. Her Christian faith gave her the strength to forgive the faceless perpetrator and move forward, she said.

The phone call jolted her back, to that painful time when her sisters body was found in 1973. The detective on the other end asked if she was sitting down. They had arrested a suspect  James Alan Neal, 72  just before sunrise in Colorado Springs, Colo.

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Borgeson had been in touch regularly with investigators over the last several months after authorities launched a renewed effort to solve the cold case, but the news was still unexpected.

An undated photo shows Linda Ann OKeefe, right, sitting with her family at sister Cindy Borgesons graduation. (Cindy Borgeson)

I really in my wildest dreams never thought this would be the outcome, she said.

The break in the case came from technology that would have baffled most in the 1970s, an era better known for Watergate and the Vietnam War than cutting-edge investigative tools.

Back then, DNA testing wasnt available. Instead, investigators tested bodily fluids and blood left at crime scenes for proteins that helped provide clues or narrow a list of suspects.

However, that was far from an exact science, which made DNA testing so crucial when it arrived on the scene, said David Kaye, a lawyer and Pennsylvania State University professor who teaches the law of evidence and applications of forensic science.

Newport Beach detectives in 2018 contacted Parabon NanoLabs, a Virginia-based medical lab, which used DNA from the crime scene to calculate a possible suspects facial composite, gender, ancestry, freckles and skin tone, eye and hair color.

But detectives still couldnt put a name with the computer sketch. They had checked the DNA against databases of convicted felons over the years but continued to come up empty-handed.

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That changed in January when investigators tapped FamilyTreeDNA.com, a genealogical database that the public uses to search for relatives and ancestors.

Private companies that provide ancestry searches from DNA samples submitted by paying participants usually also guarantee privacy for their users. However, customers are alerted to potential matches and can then use the service to connect with possible relatives.

Anybody who uploads DNA thinking, Maybe Ill discover a long-lost relative, is running the risk that the DNA will be used in a police investigation, Kaye said. You also run the risk of finding out that one of your known relatives is a killer.

As genealogical websites grow in popularity, so does their use as an investigative tool for law enforcement.

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Genealogical DNA made a major debut as a crime-solving tool last year after authorities announced they had used it to arrest Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., the suspected Golden State Killer, so named for a string of attacks that included more than 50 rapes and at least 13 slayings throughout California from 1974 to 1986.

Lindas death haunted Newport Beach residents, who were afraid to let their children play outside or walk to school alone in their typically safe community.

For those of us who were there in 1973, weve never forgotten it, Councilman Brad Avery said. This happened at a time that was simpler. Were more hardened today because times have changed.

An undated photo shows Linda Ann OKeefe. (Cindy Borgeson)

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Linda vanished July 6, 1973, on her way home from summer school at what was then Lincoln Intermediate  now Lincoln Elementary  in Corona del Mar. She had called her mother for a ride home that afternoon but was told to walk instead  a detail that Borgeson said consumed her mother with guilt until she died in 2005.

The day Linda went missing, her mother became worried when the girl didnt arrive home. She started making calls, first to friends and neighbors, and later that evening to police. Borgeson helped search, but she was less concerned. She figured her middle sister was being disobedient and would be in trouble when she finally arrived home.

She never imagined Linda might not return.

During their search, police uncovered a few clues that something nefarious may have happened, but nothing conclusive was found. A girl and her mother who saw Linda walking the day she disappeared told detectives that she had stopped near Marguerite Avenue and Inlet Drive, where a turquoise van was parked along the curb with its door ajar. The driver was described as a man in his mid-20s or early 30s with curly hair.

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It was the last time Linda was seen alive by family or friends. A woman who lived on the bluff above where Lindas body was found a day later told detectives she had heard a female scream, Stop, youre hurting me, shortly after 11 p.m. the day Linda disappeared. An autopsy determined the girl had probably been killed around midnight.

Investigators collected and preserved semen left on Lindas body. As detectives hunted for her killer, Lindas family tried to move forward. Borgeson eventually let go of her anger, but she said her parents never fully recovered from the pain of losing a child.

She would have been 57 this year. I wonder sometimes what kind of life she would have lived. Would she be married? Have a family? Probably, Borgeson said. I dont dwell on that because that wasnt her outcome.

This week, Borgeson has found a quiet joy sharing memories of Linda with reporters who knock on the door of her home in Arizona. Her sister, whom she knew as the frog whisperer because of her aptitude for catching the amphibians during family trips to Mammoth, was an old soul, she said.

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She just had this spirituality to her thats hard to put into words, Borgeson said. I know in my heart that Linda was in heaven celebrating with our parents when they arrested him.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
A man shot by an off-duty Los Angeles police detective during a confrontation in downtowns skid row that left both in critical condition last week was expected to be released from the hospital without facing arrest, officials said Wednesday.

The man, who was not identified, had a confrontation with an off-duty LAPD detective in the area of 6th and San Julian streets around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 14, said Capt. Billy Hayes, who leads the LAPDs Robbery-Homicide Division. Detectives have yet to determine how the altercation began, so it remains unclear if anyone will face criminal charges, Hayes said. It was unclear what injuries the man suffered but he was expected to be released from the hospital soon, Hayes said.



For the record: An earlier version of this report said police officials gave an update about the case on Thursday. They spoke on Wednesday.

The detective, identified only as an off-duty LAPD narcotics investigator, suffered a fractured eye socket and was placed in an induced coma as a result of the fight, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the situation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the incident candidly.

Despite his extensive injuries, the 20-year department veteran is also expected to leave the hospital in the next few days, Hayes said.

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LAPD investigators on Monday recovered the detectives handgun from a suspect who was arrested on an unrelated matter, Hayes said. The weapon was among several items taken from the detective after he was knocked unconscious only a few blocks from the LAPDs Central Division station.

Initial accounts portrayed the altercation as an attempted robbery, but authorities have since said it is unclear how the fight started. Several items were stolen from the detective as he lay bleeding in the street, but those thefts may not have been related to the fight, the officials said.

The encounter was captured on video, but the footage is of poor quality, Hayes said. Two or more shots were fired from the officers handgun, but it is unclear from the video when the shots were fired.

Detectives are looking for several witnesses seen on the footage. The video shows the other man repeatedly striking the detective, according to two officials with knowledge of the incident.

The fight unfolded near the Midnight Mission, where hundreds of homeless people often congregate.

The detective had been drinking on the night of the incident and attended a party for a colleague, the officials said. While he does not live in the area, the detective was headed toward an apartment or hotel in Little Tokyo, where he had been staying while attending a training course downtown, the officials said. On the night of the incident, emergency personnel did not realize he was a police officer until hours after the altercation, according to those officials.

The man he fought with, who has been described as homeless, staggered toward the nearby Central Division station seeking medical attention, the officials said. He has refused to cooperate with investigators, according to one of the officials.

Some in the skid row community have questioned if the detective instigated the fight, and warned that the incident could deepen mistrust between the citys homeless population and its police force.

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A detective from a different precinct, comes to skid row, and LAPD is still not really releasing information on what happened. It just leads to bad relations, said Mel Tillekeratne, the executive director of the #SheDoes movement, which advocates for more shelters and housing for homeless women.

Its a community with a lot of trauma, and a lot of these people have suffered trauma at the hands of police.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes
Xavier Bias walked out of the Whole Foods Market in Pasadena and saw another woman looking to the ground puzzled at the white stuff covering the sidewalk.

The woman wasnt sure exactly what she was looking at. But Bias, who is originally from the East Coast, quickly set her straight.

It was snow.

People didnt know what it was, Bias said. I was like, no, this is snow.

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It was that kind of day in some parts of Southern California, where snow dropped at extremely low elevation levels, creating a winter wonderland for a short while. Snow fell in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood, Northridge, San Bernardino, Thousand Oaks and other unexpected places.

Snow level hit the 1,000-foot mark, bringing tiny bits of the white stuff into neighborhoods that had not seen snow in decades. But the show was fleeting, lasting in most cases a few minutes before the sun melted anything that had hit the ground.

By Thursday evening, the storms were moving east, with officials saying the snow elevation level had dropped to 800 feet in Orange County. Snow plows were clearing Ortega Highway between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano.

 Snow comes to Rancho Cucamonga, a rare occurrence in Southern California.

An unusually chilly storm system that originated in Alberta, Canada, was lingering over Nevada and had already blanketed Las Vegas with snow early Thursday. Before daybreak, snow was falling in parts of the Southland, dusting Palmdale and the Lucerne Valley. By the early afternoon, it was snowing across Southern California and winter weather had forced the closure of the 5 Freeway through the Grapevine.

This is probably the coldest storm system Ive seen in my time in California, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Weve had cold mornings and freeze conditions, but I dont remember seeing anything quite this cold.

Forecasters predict that up to 6 inches of powder could fall in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains. Sweet said snow could fall in the Santa Monica Mountains and even some sections of the Hollywood Hills.

By around noon, the predictions were proving to be true.

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Were seeing a little bit of everything out there, said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

After seeing the confusion on social media and as residents began calling in to the weather service, Boldt took it upon himself to clear things up.

Correct, that is snow! Lots of confusion today, he posted on the National Weather Services Twitter account.

He explained that if the precipitation bounces off the ground, then it contains ice, which would make it hail or sleet. If it floats, its snow. In many areas, residents reported seeing small slushy balls, which Boldt said is graupel, snowflakes slightly melted and bunched together.

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The last time it snowed in downtown Los Angeles was in January 1962, according to Los Angeles Public Library archives. During that storm, heavy snow fell in the mountains and high deserts and dusted parts of downtown and West Los Angeles. Most of the city snow, however, melted quickly.

Snow has dusted portions of Los Angeles County over the years, most recently in 2007, according to newspaper archives.

Palmdale received a fresh dusting of powder overnight from the latest storm. Residents brushed the accumulation off their windshields before leaving for work early Thursday.

Good Morning from 1 of our coldest patrol stations! Last night #LASD @PalmdaleSheriff got a little bit of snow. No big deal 30 degrees or 110 degrees, Deputies grab a hoop & patrol. We will be testing for Deputy Sheriff Trainee in #AV411 this weeknd #Palmdale #ThursdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/SRSNPIWJ1E  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) February 21, 2019

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Falling snow levels prompted Bear Valley, Morongo, Snowline and Rim of the World school districts in San Bernardino County to close schools Thursday for a rare snow day.

Its going to be a fairly unusual day, Sweet said, to say the least.

With the snow also comes the potential for significant road closures and travel delays. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory warning of hail and snow in the mountains and interior valleys through the evening. Forecasters warned that the 5 Freeway through the Grapevine and Highway 14 from Santa Clarita to the Antelope Valley could see significant delays.

The 5 is likely to be the biggest concern because of the combination of strong northwest winds pushing moisture up the north-facing slopes of nearby mountains and cold temperatures. Motorists could see 3 to 6 inches of snow accumulation at the pass, according to the weather service. Around noon, the California Highway Patrol announced the Grapevine was closed in both directions because of snow. Highway 74 between Palm Deserts southern boundary and Highway 371 near Anza also remained closed because of snowfall, according to Caltrans.

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Southern California residents took to social media to express their delight and awe over the rare snowfall. One user reported a snow-like substance falling in Agoura. Even Jerry OConnell of Stand By Me piped in.

Calabasas, California, where the Kardashians live, he said in a video on Twitter, pointing at specks of snow on a car. Its snowing right now. Look at this. Snow. Snow. Not hail. Snow.

Patricia Lewis of Rancho Cucamonga was working in a kitchen when her co-worker told her she should take a look outside. Customers had started leaving the restaurant and pointed their phones toward the sky. Lewis didnt want to miss out.

It was confusion at first. I thought, this is nothing big, but then I actually saw the white specks and thought, Hail doesnt do that. You could see it floating gently, she said. [I thought] I need to put this on my [Instagram] story and tell my friends about this.

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The snow kept falling on her way home from work and then suddenly stopped.

Snow-like substance falling now in Agoura pic.twitter.com/cmzj1ZVa3F  Kyle Jorrey (@KyleBJorrey) February 21, 2019

Man is it really snowing in Pasadena? pic.twitter.com/zKNOmOe3qf  Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) February 21, 2019

#BREAKING 5 Freeway through Grapevine closed in both directions due to snow, icy conditions https://t.co/BAUxSDniFE pic.twitter.com/jv1wN8Qdwt  ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) February 21, 2019

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The storm is expected to move out of the region overnight, but the chilly weather that has Angelenos bundling up will linger a bit longer. Overnight lows will drop into the high 20s in some areas, but the Southland will see some gradual warming beginning Friday and continuing through next week.

This weeks cold snap has dropped temperatures low enough to break at least one record. The Santa Barbara Airport recorded a low of 33 degrees Tuesday, edging out the previous record of 34 degrees set in 1990, Sweet said.

Snow fell in Benedict Canyon in 1949. (Los Angeles Times)

More snow coverage:

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L.A. was blanketed by snow 70 years ago. Could history repeat itself today?

Snow Valley has the best snow its had in years. But you cant get there

From the Archives: In 1949, Angelenos get a rare taste of snow at home

Cold storm system will likely bring lowest snow levels so far this season on Thursday, locally falling to 1500 feet or less. Travel impacts of snow and ice likely on I-5 from Grapevine to Santa Clarita, as well as other low elevation passes across SW Calif. #LAWeather #cawx pic.twitter.com/5WiW6bhYEG  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 20, 2019

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7:30am PST

Soledad Pass

Elevation 3209

Highway 14 is OPEN between Palmdale and Santa Clarita @FOXLA @GDLA @NWSLosAngeles pic.twitter.com/EPmqXueA9y  Rick Dickert (@RICKatFOX) February 21, 2019

Oh nice! Post a pic if you get a chance! It's so green here. San Gabriels blanketed with snow. pic.twitter.com/7agRhdSUkU  Chris Intagliata (@cintagliata) February 18, 2019

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
The road to Tlaxiaco is long and serpentine, up a rugged mountain covered with pines.

Locals were curious about us the moment we set foot in the tianguis, the bustling market held each Saturday in the central plaza.

Were here about Yalitza Aparicio, I told Rosa Maria Hernandez, 60, who was busy selling black mole and chicken soup.

She and the other women working nearby instantly smiled and let down their guard.

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Oh, of course, Hernandez said with affection. La Yalitza.

Two thousand miles away in Los Angeles, Yalitza Aparicio is a celebrity, the Oscar-nominated star of Roma who has been hitting the red carpet with the likes of Lady Gaga and Tom Hanks.

Before she left her hometown, she was just a girl like so many here with cinnamon skin, Mixteco and Triqui roots, dreams of becoming a preschool teacher.

A Mexican town watches its Roma star shine. Another treasures fate is less clear 

No one imagined that one day a big movie director would pluck her from the crowd.

Times photographer Gary Coronado and I arrived in Tlaxiaco without notice and with a simple premise: to explore how Yalitzas fame has affected her humble hometown.

Nearly 3 years have passed since Yalitza Aparicio left her job as a preK teacher to bcome the 1st indigenous Mexican nominated for an Oscar. On our final day in her home, Tlaxiaco, Ill give u a glimpse in2 just how much her improbable fame has impacted her far-flung town. pic.twitter.com/9QRQgkcLly  Esmeralda Bermudez  (@LATbermudez) February 6, 2019

I began filling my notebook the moment I boarded the plane from Los Angeles to Mexico City.

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My seatmate, a stylish Mexican woman with blond highlights, said to me: Whys everyone making a big deal about this girl? She was just a maid in a movie. She didnt do anything special.

My next flight into Oaxaca put me next to a council member from the states capital. He spoke to me for nearly an hour about how much Yalitzas indigenous roots had rocked Mexicos racial, class and socioeconomic core.

She opened the door to all the ugliness we Mexicans carry just beneath the surface, said Luis Silva Romo. You could easily fill a book.

To some, he said, what mattered most was: What is she going to do with her fame? Will she lose herself in the glitz and money? Will she reach back and help her people?

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In Tlaxiaco, there was little such scrutiny.

Most people had not seen the movie. There are no theaters here and theres limited access to Netflix.

Still, on the eve of the Oscars, Tlaxiaquenos were rooting for their hometown girl.

Many young women were devoted fans tracking her online: Yalitza in London, Yalitza on the cover of Vogue Mexico, Yalitza on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

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They were aware of the criticism  from trolls on social media, from other Mexican celebrities. Theyve called Yalitza India, her skin burned, her nose smashed.

It hurts, said Nancy Cortez, 25, an architecture student who sells steak tlayudas at the market. It hurts because she looks just like me.

In recent months, journalists have flocked up Yucunino mountain hoping to uncover any personal details about Yalitzas life.

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They visit her grade school, high school and college. Also, the three-room preschool where the 25-year-old taught for three months after filming the movie.

 Children work on their writing inside Jardin de Ninos Mexico, the three-room preschool where Yalitza Aparicio briefly taught after she filmed the movie Roma.

If you venture down the dusty road that leads you out of Tlaxiaco hoping to find Yalitzas mother, sister, brothers  you wont have much luck.

The corrugated metal shanty where she lived recently with her family has been empty for nearly two weeks, said next-door neighbor Geronimo Silva.

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Outside, Christmas tinsel still hangs from a shrub, the wind whistles in the hillsides and stray dogs roam about. The pinatas the family has always made to get by sit unfinished in the backyard.

This was Yalitza Aparicios home before she left to Mexico City film #Roma. She lived in this little shack made of wooden planks & corrugated metal, a few minutes outside of Tlaxiaco. Her family moved here recently. They made pinatas for a living. (The cows belong 2 a neighbor) pic.twitter.com/jwWLZpiyIt  Esmeralda Bermudez  (@LATbermudez) February 2, 2019

Yalitzas sister, Edith Martinez Aparicio, later told me her family doesnt want any more media attention. Shes also signed a contract for an upcoming project she wasnt at liberty to discuss.

At this point, few in town believe the girl up north making movies with the gringos will ever come back home.

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One of Tlaxiacos great prides is the Casa de Cultura. Its been around 4 decades. This is where @YalitzaAparicio auditioned 4 @ROMACuaron. Yalitza came 2 keep her sister company. She was persuaded 2 participate @ the last minute. The Casas director is good friends w/ her family pic.twitter.com/qTqq6iaRUJ  Esmeralda Bermudez  (@LATbermudez) February 4, 2019

Since Yalitza left, shes come back only a couple of times, said Miguel Martinez Oseguera, director of Tlaxiacos Casa de la Cultura.

Martinez Oseguera is a longtime friend of the stars family. He helped the Roma crew set up the casting call where Yalitza was a final, last-minute candidate.

Shes a very simple girl, he said. When she comes back to town, I see her out on the plaza eating chicharrones from her favorite stall.

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Not far away, he said, her driver and bodyguard stand by.

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

@LATBermudez
Most people familiar with the life story of John Wayne are aware that the late movie star was a dyed-in-the-wool right-winger  after all, he was still making a movie glorifying Americas conduct of the Vietnam War (The Green Berets, 1968) well after the country had begun to get sick of the conflict.

But the resurrection of a 1971 interview Wayne gave to Playboy magazine has underscored the sheer crudeness of the actors feelings about gay people, black people, Native Americans, young people and liberals.

This doesnt necessarily mean that its impossible or immoral to enjoy westerns and war movies starring John Wayne; thats a personal choice. But it certainly undermines any justification for his name and image to adorn a civic facility.

I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. John Wayne, 1971

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Were talking about Orange Countys John Wayne Airport. Its long past the time that Waynes name should come down.

This wouldnt be the first time that the airports name has been the subject of debate. Orange County Supervisors pondered the issue in 2008, when local tourism officials expressed concern that the name failed to convey exactly where the airport is located. There may have been other occasions since 1979, when the supervisors christened the airport at the urging of Supervisor Thomas F. Riley.

Riley was an ex-Marine, but his rationale is lost in the mists of time. It may have had something to do with Waynes status as a rock-ribbed Republican conservative, which was Orange Countys self-image in that period.

But that Orange County no longer exists. That should be evident from the results of Novembers election, in which voters turfed out the countys last remaining GOP members of Congress  some of whom had embraced Donald Trump in a fruitless effort to save their careers--and elected an all-Democratic congressional delegation. Orange County today is such an economically and ethnically diverse community that its hard to justify asking any member of that community to board planes at an airport named after an outspoken racist and homophobe, with his strutting statue occupying a central niche in front of the concourse.

Waynes May 1971 Playboy interview has been unearthed before, notably in 2016 when his daughter Aissa endorsed Donald Trump for president. But it may well resonate more today, when iconic representations tied to racism, such as statues of Confederate war heroes, are being evicted from public spaces.

So lets take a gander at some of John Waynes opinions, circa 1971. A typescript of the Playboy interview, which I link to here, has been circulating widely and is the source of the quotes, but I validated it against facsimile pages from the original Playboy edition. Magazine writer Richard Warren Lewis conducted the interview at Waynes home in Newport Beach.

Gay people:

Wayne: Movies were once made for the whole family. Now, with the kind of junk the studios are cranking out.  Im quite sure that within two or three years, Americans will be completely fed up with these perverted films.

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PLAYBOY: What kind of films do you consider perverted?

WAYNE: Oh, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy  that kind of thing. Wouldnt you say that the wonderful love of those two men in Midnight Cowboy, a story about two fags, qualifies?

Black people:

WAYNE: With a lot of blacks, theres quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we cant all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I dont believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.

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PLAYBOY: Are you equipped to judge which blacks are irresponsible and which of their leaders inexperienced?

WAYNE: Its not my judgment. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically. But some blacks have tried to force the issue and enter college when they havent passed the tests and dont have the requisite background.  But if they arent academically ready for that step, I dont think they should be allowed in. Otherwise, the academic society is brought down to the lowest common denominator.  What good would it do to register anybody in a class of higher algebra or calculus if they havent learned to count? There has to be a standard. 

I think the Hollywood studios are carrying their tokenism a little too far. Theres no doubt that 10 percent of the population is black, or colored, or whatever they want to call themselves; they certainly arent Caucasian. Anyway, I suppose there should be the same percentage of the colored race in films as in society. But it cant always be that way. There isnt necessarily going to be 10 percent of the grips or sound men who are black, because more than likely, 10 percent havent trained themselves for that type of work.

Native Americans:

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PLAYBOY: For years American Indians have played an important  if subordinate  role in your Westerns. Do you feel any empathy with them?

WAYNE: I dont feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, if thats what youre asking. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. 

PLAYBOY: How do you feel about the government grant for a university and cultural center that these Indians [then encamped on Alcatraz Island] have demanded as reparations?

WAYNE: What happened between their forefathers and our forefathers is so far back  right, wrong or indifferent  that I dont see why we owe them anything. I dont know why the government should give them something that it wouldnt give me.

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PLAYBOY: Do you think theyve had the same advantages and opportunities that youve had?

WAYNE: Im not gonna give you one of those I-was-a-poor-boy-and-I-pulled-myself-upby-my-bootstraps stories, but Ive gone without a meal or two in my life, and I still dont expect the government to turn over any of its territory to me. Hard times arent something I can blame my fellow citizens for. Years ago, I didnt have all the opportunities, either. But you cant whine and bellyache cause somebody else got a good break and you didnt, like these Indians are. Well all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.

Wayne made these comments against a backdrop of generalized contempt for those he labeled leftists, socialists, and communists, without making much distinction among them.

Some of Waynes defenders have stepped forward to say its unfair to condemn an elderly mans memory for a 48-year-old interview conducted during a very different era. In a statement issued Wednesday to Fox News, Waynes family says, Its unfair to judge someone on something that was written that he said nearly 50 years ago when the person is no longer here to respond.

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But that wont wash. Wayne was a few weeks shy of his 64th birthday when the interview appeared in print. It was 1971, so the civil rights revolution had been going on for years; Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated three years before.

Wayne wasnt expressing the tenor of the times  he was reacting to the advances being won by African Americans through demonstrations and legislation. His words already were retrograde when they were uttered. Wayne wasnt an old conservative who hadnt yet been woke; he had seen the future, and it put him into a racist rage.

The familys statement also refers to Waynes continuing work to find a cure for cancer through the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and the John Wayne Cancer Institute. Its unclear what they mean. Both charities were founded after Waynes 1979 death when his family allowed his name to be used, apparently for fundraising; the institute is located at St. Johns Medical Center in Santa Monica. They may do good work, but it doesnt appear that Wayne himself participated during his life.

Nor did he serve in wartime, despite his later flag-waving and Vietnam War-mongering. Wayne was 34 when the Pearl Harbor attack brought the U.S. into World War II, and reportedly dodged enlistment even in the documentary film unit headed by his mentor, director John Ford, which apparently irked Ford no end.

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The great irony of the airports moniker is that John Waynes old home of Newport Beach hates John Wayne Airport. The first line of the Newport Beach municipal website devoted to the history of the airport states, Each decade that the airport has been in existence has brought with it changes that have adversely impacted Newport Beach neighborhoods.

The city sued Orange County in the 1980s to block the airports expansion, eventually settling on noise abatement rules that remain in effect, more or less. These account for the bizarre take-off pattern experienced by departing passengers, which involves a sharp climb followed by a sudden cutback in engine power as the aircraft crosses over residential neighborhoods.

That leaves us with the question of why John Waynes name should be associated with any civic institution in Orange County, its airport or otherwise. He doesnt appear to have been a major contributor to civic life in his home town or county; in 2016, when a GOP state assemblyman from Orange County tried to get the state to declare a John Wayne Day, he was rebuffed when legislators mentioned Waynes support for the House Un-American Activities Committee and the John Birch Society.

There surely are residents or natives of Orange County more deserving of having their name on the airport. (My vote would go to electric guitar pioneer Leo Fender, a native of Fullerton.) But the most appropriate choice might be the one proposed by those tourism officials in 2008. Just call it Orange County Airport.

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Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

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High on the mountain of Yucunino, where a valley of pines leads you straight to Tlaxiaco, everyone knows about the girl.

La Yalitza, they call her  as if she were a storm that swept through their town. Young and indigenous, she was like so many women here, until she was plucked from her corrugated metal shanty and made a Hollywood star.

Yalitza Aparicio is now up for an Oscar for her role in Roma, and her hometown couldnt be more proud.

But as they eagerly watch to see where fame takes her, Tlaxiaquenos worry about the fate of another treasure in town.

Life in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, rain or shine, revolves around fiestas. In Tlaxiaco, brass bands boom down cobblestone paths with dancers, fireworks and papier-mache puppets up to 10 feet tall. The parades happen every week. Kids join the calendas as soon as theyre able to walk.

Fiesta de la Candelaria, the presentation of the Christ Child, is celebrated in the streets of Tlaxiaco, Mexico. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Wendy Cortes Rodriguez, 15, dances with friends in a calenda celebrating the Fiesta de la Candelaria, the presentation of the Christ Child, parading throughout the streets in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos Fiesta de la Candelaria is celebrated in the streets of Tlaxiaco. Life in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, rain or shine, revolves around fiestas. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos

Detras de la historia: La fama de Roma se siente a un mundo de distancia del humilde pueblo de Tlaxiaco 

In 2015, big news came across the radio station La Poderosa. A prestigious musician, a classical trombonist named Alejandro Zamora, was coming from Mexico City to this town of indigenous Mixteco people.

The mayor, Alejandro Aparicio, persuaded Zamora to start a band at the Casa de la Cultura, a vibrant cultural center run by the city. Zamora, then 34, agreed under one condition: He wanted to launch a symphonic band with only children, each one starting from scratch.

I had this vision in my mind, and the kids in Tlaxiaco seemed to have all the potential, Zamora said.

El Profesor was unlike anything folks in town had ever seen. He was demanding, pushy and passionate, with expectations for recognition that would stretch far beyond the mountain.

Leave no room for error, he constantly told his 65-piece band.

Kids, ages 5 to 17, rehearsed two hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes they rehearsed twice in one day.

One of my sons cried the first few days, said Ewdiuviel Lopez, 45. Hed say, Papa, the profesor yells too much. 

But in time, Lopez said, his three boys learned to appreciate their teacher. They grew attached to their clarinet, saxophone and snare drums.

Zamora taught his students, all Mixtecos like Yalitza, to master dozens of Mexican and Latin American compositions  sones, jarabes, chilenas and fandangos. These were high-energy pieces with rapid, twisting melodies, complicated rhythms and leaping crescendos.

Alejandro Zamora warms up La Banda Sinfonica de Tlaxiaco. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Alejandro Zamora gives instructions to students in La Banda Sinfonica de Tlaxiaco at the Casa de la Cultura in Tlaxiaco. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Alejandro Zamora gives percussion instructions to students in La Banda Sinfonica de Tlaxiaco at the Casa de la Cultura in Tlaxiaco. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos Alejandro Zamora works with the young musicians in La Banda Sinfonica de Tlaxiaco. Leave no room for error, he tells the 65-piece band. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos

He put the tiniest kids, or those missing teeth, on percussion. The rest played other instruments, such as flutes and clarinets, trumpets and saxophones.

At every rehearsal, the conductor stood front and center, slicing the air with his hands and watching each protege like a hawk, sometimes addressing them with the endearment my daughter, my son:

Valeria, mija, you have to catch up!

Christian, youre running too much.

Watch your notes, Diana.

Feel the impulse everyone. Eso! Lets go.

'I had this vision in my mind, and the kids in Tlaxiaco seemed to have all the potential.' Alejandro Zamora

Two years in, the Banda Sinfonica de Tlaxiaco had gained regional acclaim. Tlaxiaquenos talked about the kids at the market, at church and school. Turning the bands name into an acronym, they constantly spoke of BASIT. Have you heard BASIT? theyd ask. They booked the band for their fiestas, weddings and funerals.

We would go everywhere and put on our best show, said band parent Jesus Montes Bautista.

Those with deep roots in Tlaxiaco like to talk about the days before the Mexican Revolution, when their pueblo was famous for craftsmen who turned out fine furniture, shoes and saddlery. Dealers on mules used to trek up the mountain to buy goods in bulk.

Some Tlaxiaquenos grew quite wealthy. They vacationed in France and returned to the town square, or zocalo, in puffy, flounced dresses, penguin coat tails and silk gloves. People all over began to call the town El Paris Chiquito, the Little Paris.

'Roma's' Alfonso Cuaron shows us the Mexico City streets that shaped his Oscar-nominated film 

Years later, during the revolution, rioters ran nearly all those folks out of town.

Today, few relics remain from that era beyond Tlaxiacos historic clock tower. Chippy and faded, it stands over the zocalo, where vendors peddle used clothes and chanclas as cumbias play, toddlers cry and women in aprons yell, Papayas! Papayas!

The town core has about 17,000 people, with thousands more, like Yalitzas family, in the outskirts. Many residents, most of all the indigenous families, lack the most basic necessities. They work menial jobs or survive off the land.

But ask Tlaxiaquenos what theyre most proud of and theyll talk about their towns love of culture and the arts. Every season, at least 600 kids flock to the Casa de la Cultura to take classes in acting, painting, dance and music.

Just as the bands fame was spreading, a new mayor in 2017 took hold of Tlaxiaco. You could say this man was not a big fan of the arts, said Miguel Martinez Oseguera, director of the Casa de la Cultura.

Then-Mayor Oscar Ramirez Bolanos cut many programs at the Casa and slashed Zamoras pay 80%, to $57 a week. Two of his assistants were let go. The third left as well over a pay cut. Parents began buying Zamora rice, beans and bags of tamales.

The worst insult came in 2018, when the mayor forbid the kids from trying out for Oaxacas internationally renowned fiesta, La Guelaguetza. He formed his own band instead, hand selecting what he considered the best teenage musicians of Tlaxiaco. But those candidates didnt make it past the selection committee, and for only the second time in nearly 30 years Tlaxiaco was shut out of the festival.

The town, Martinez Oseguera said, was shocked and furious.

Students participate in a dance class at a preschool in Tlaxiaco, Mexico. Yalitza Aparicio, star of the movie "Roma," taught at the school for three months in 2017-18. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) A young woman feeds her baby in front of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Catholic Church that anchors the Esplanada Benito Juarez. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos Esplanada Benito Juarez in Tlaxiaco. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Tlaxiaco has about 17,000 people, with thousands more in the outskirts. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More Photos

On a recent afternoon, the fourth-generation Tlaxiaqueno sat behind his desk at the Casa, took a deep breath and scratched his bald head as he recounted the drama.

He had faced plenty of strife running the Casa for decades. But the mayors actions, like most Mexican politics, left him helpless and baffled. Was the cause creative differences? Budget woes? Bad tempers? Hes not entirely sure, and Ramirez Bolanos has since left town and couldnt be reached for comment.

Last summer, as the bands survival hung by a thread, the kids got what felt like a miracle. A man running for president campaigned in Tlaxiaco and heard them perform.

Days later, his people surprised Zamora with a phone call. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asked the kids to play at his final campaign rally, before 100,000 people. After he won, he also picked them, from thousands of bands, to perform at his inauguration.

Ask Tlaxiaquenos what theyre most proud of and theyll talk about their towns love of culture and the arts.

The band made national news. Zamora was overjoyed. Most of all, relieved. Mayor Ramirez Bolanos was about to term out and his successor was Alejandro Aparicio, the former mayor who had persuaded Zamora to start the band in the first place.

We made it, he told the kids. The dark days are over.

Aparicio promised Zamora to restore his pay. He vowed to help him open a music university in Tlaxiaco so indigenous kids from all over could feel part of the band.

But the promise was short-lived. On Jan. 1, about an hour after Aparicio took office, a former police officer from northern Mexico rushed up to the mayor and shot him twice  once in the back, once in the chest. Officials continue to investigate the motive for the killing.

At his funeral, the band he so cherished somberly lined up at his casket and played all of his favorite songs.

These days, everything at the Casa de la Cultura is on hold until a new mayor takes charge. No one knows whether the next person will make things right.

Meanwhile, every day, it seems, camera crews arrive in Tlaxiaco eager to tell the story of Yalitza. They go to her shanty in search of her sister, her mother, her brothers  but the family avoids all attention.

So one by one, reporters end up at the Casa, where Yalitza once took dance and painting classes. Where she held her fateful audition.

Members of Ballet Folklorico Son Mixteco wait to perform at the Casa de la Cultura in Tlaxiaco. Yalitza Aparicio, star of the movie "Roma," had her audition at the center. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times

It was here, three years ago, where Martinez Oseguera helped Romas crew hold a casting call for young women. Yalitza, a quiet student with no acting experience, came to keep her sister company and was persuaded to try out at the last minute.

The kids in the banda know the tale by heart. Martinez Oseguera likes to share it every single day, Zamora said, laughing.

When La Yalitza comes up at band practice, their professor offers sage advice.

Its a beautiful story, he tells them. But thats like winning the lottery. What matters most in life is discipline and hard work.

Roma star Yalitza Aparicio is more than her Oscar fairy tale 

On a recent Sunday the kids were full of jitters. They took deep breaths, wiped tiny beads of sweat off their foreheads and tuned their instruments over and over. A guest of honor  the head of Oaxacas Office of Art and Culture  was expected to walk through the Casas door any minute.

Zamora and Martinez Oseguera were certain the frenzy over Yalitza had compelled this powerful woman, with little notice, to trek three hours from the state capital, Oaxaca City.

Usually its impossible to get attention from any of these people, Zamora said.

The band was determined to leave her impressed. The survival of the band was at stake. Maybe, they hoped, this visitor could open the door to this years La Guelaguetza or perhaps assist with some funding.

Zamora stood in front of his band, arms akimbo.

Atencion! he shouted. I want this to be impeccable. I want this to be nothing less than perfect.

Si, profe! his students answered.

When the lady walked in with her long white huipil dress and gold folkloric earrings, the kids reached for their instruments and put on their best show.

Behind the story: On location in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca 

Band members after a recent performance. The band made national news when it performed at the inauguration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times

She was impressed, but will her visit save the band? Its too soon to say.

The next morning, the young musicians of Tlaxiaco assembled in the Casa courtyard, rehearsing once more.

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Produced by Denise Florez

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

@LATBermudez
Oakland teachers are headed to the picket lines Thursday morning, the latest group of educators to demand better wages, smaller class sizes and stronger support staff by walking out of schools.

Representatives of the Oakland Education Assn. and Oakland Unified School District met Wednesday morning, and no agreement was reached, said Keith Brown, the president of the teachers union. The district, he said, offered nothing that will dramatically increase the quality of education for our students.

The Oakland Education Assn. represents about 3,000 teachers at 86 schools.

Teachers plan to picket in front of schools beginning at 6:30 a.m. before heading to a rally at City Hall at 11:30 a.m. followed by a march to the school district central office.

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The union has raised concerns similar to those by United Teachers Los Angeles. More than 30,000 nurses, counselors and librarians went on a six-day strike in January, prompting concessions from the Los Angeles Unified School District, including raises, decreases in class sizes and a commitment to keeping a full-time nurse in every school.

What happened in L.A., West Virginia and all over the country is an inspiring movement of teachers coming together and saying we must demand more for our students, Brown said.

In mid-January, Oakland teachers staged a one-day sick-out, a shot across the bow as negotiations with the district stalled.

Brown said classes are too large, wages are lagging behind surging rents, and classrooms lack key support staff, such as counselors. Just 21 nurses attend to a district of nearly 37,000 students, he said.

The cost of living in Oakland is among the highest in the country. But a beginning K-12 teacher in the Oakland Unified district makes $46,570, according to district figures. The maximum teachers salary is $83,724.

Were the lowest paid teachers in Alameda County, he added. Its driving great educators out.

The district on Wednesday offered teachers a 7% raise over three years, along with a bonus of 1.5%. The union is asking for a raise of 12% over three years.

School closures are another concern. Oakland Unifieds school board voted in January to shutter Roots International Academy at the end of the school year  a decision Brown said had angered many in the mostly minority community it serves.

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Like leaders of UTLA, he blamed the growth of unregulated charter schools for draining district resources.

In preparation for a strike on Thursday, the city of Oakland and local churches planned to open solidarity schools for parents who want to support teachers but cannot keep their children home.

Oakland Unified has said its committed to reaching an agreement with the teachers union to minimize disruptions to learning. As in L.A. during the teachers strike, all schools will remain open. Principals, central office staff and screened temporary teachers will lead instruction, the district said.
Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park on Feb. 17. (Dakota Snider)

For a few days in mid-February, if the water is running and the sky is clear, dusk injects Horsetail Fall in Yosemite with the brilliance of molten lava in a phenomenon called Firefall.

The setting sun turns the waterfall an igneous gold and orange as it tumbles 1,500 feet down the eastern edge of El Capitan. Photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each year around the second week of February, hoping for a glimpse of Firefall.

But if the falls arent running or clouds are shrouding the sunset, the waters wont light up  and by the end of February, they likely wont again for another year.
Its a great week for comebacks  and come-ups  in L.A. shows. The days ahead offer long-awaited hiatus returns from pop and indie greats, alongside tastemaking gigs from jazz and rap acts en route to stardom.

Robyn

If you got burned on Valentines Day, go get your mojo back at this pair of shows with pops undisputed dancing queen at the Palladium. The Swedish icon returns from hiatus for her first L.A. shows in many years as part of Red Bull Music Festival Los Angeles, with smoldering production and celebratory jams in tow. Fans can look forward to a slate of new electronic and R&B-infused tracks from her acclaimed 2018 album Honey, plus empowering favorites like Call Your Girlfriend and Dancing On My Own. Bring your finest glitter and spandex. Tickets start at $59.50. Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Noname

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Rising Chicago wordsmith Noname takes to the Wiltern stage to blur the lines between rap and poetry. The artist born Fatimah Warner has come a long way since her breakout verse on Chance the Rappers 2013 track Lost. Since then, she has toured with Ms. Lauryn Hill and earned both a devoted fan base and critical hype. The young luminary was declared one of the best rappers alive by Rolling Stone last year, getting darker and more complex  in both style and substance  on last years acclaimed Room 25. Come see why the album is being hailed as an instant cult classic. Tickets start at $39. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., 7 p.m. Thursday.

Mazzy Star

As if Mazzy Stars music wasnt soul-wrenchingly beautiful enough, the dream pop legends are quite literally taking fans to church with a show inside the glowing halls of Immanuel Presbyterian. The tour marks a difficult but welcome return for the band, following a hiatus and the death of longtime drummer Keith Mitchell in 2018. Last year also marked the bands first output in five years with the release of its four-track Still EP, hinting that more new music could very well be on the way. Tickets start at $92.50. Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Dave Harrington Group

Dave Harrington is a polymath whose talents span New Yorks jazz scene to live film scores to his psychedelic Nicolas Jaar collaboration Darkside. The latter is perhaps most closely aligned to his latest album, Pure Imagination, No Country, which sees Harrington delving further into jazz-electronic soundscapes while running with a trajectory all his own. Accompanied by his solo project group, expect Harrington and company to crack open his new batch of tracks for a boundary-expanding live show at Zebulon. Tickets start at $12. Zebulon, 2478 Fletcher Dr., 9 p.m. Thursday.

The LAnd Magazine Launch Party and Fundraiser with Open Mike Eagle, Baths, Nocando and more

Celebrate local music and local journalism with the launch of L.A.s new grassroots magazine the LAnd with a night of music from dyed-in-the-wool L.A. mainstays. Rapper and comedian Open Mike Eagle leads the bash at the Echoplex alongside electronic musician Baths, rapper Nocando, band Los Muchachos de Dena, among others. The night will also feature spoken word by Amde Hamilton of the Watts Prophets, live screen printing and, of course, fresh copies of the new glossy mag. All proceeds go to support The LAnd. Tickets cost $18 in advance and $20 at the door, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd., 8 p.m. Friday.

Snarky Puppy and the L.A. Phil

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Enjoy a wild cruise through jazz, funk, and R&B as the Grammy-winning Brooklyn collective makes its anticipated debut with the L.A. Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The group is expected to premiere fresh compositions alongside long-beloved tracks for a cant-miss evening part of the Phils jazz series. Tickets start at $125. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave, 8 p.m. Saturday.
Armani Beauty opened its first dedicated pop-up in West Hollywood earlier this month, celebrating its unveiling with a roster of celebrities, including Dakota Fanning and Katherine Schwarzenegger, and a handful of product exclusives.

The all-red 2,000-square-foot Armani Box is so far the only place in the U.S. to have the brands new Power Fabric High Coverage Stretchable Concealer and the Foundation Balm, which will roll out nationally in March. Also, theres a vending machine on hand that delivers take-home samples as well as other technology such as mirrors that show the shopper what a particular lip color will look like on the person.

Tim Quinn, Giorgio Armani Beauty celebrity makeup artist, said the Melrose Place location was an iconic spot for someone to discover and that although the offering was soup to nuts, skin care through fragrance, the pop-up has a focused and curated feel.

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A look at the Armani Beauty pop-up in West Hollywood. (Franklin Berger / Armani Beauty)

The brand is known for foundation, said Quinn, adding that he often recommends his clients have three different foundations  one each for weekends, evenings and workdays.

Most of our clients like to have a wardrobe of lip colors, Quinn said. Although, everybody needs a good red and a nude  and you can pretty much get away with anything.

In addition to an array of products at the pop-up, which is open through March 24, are exclusives such as $38 lipsticks and $64 foundations.

Armani Beauty pop-up, 8473 Melrose Place, West Hollywood, www.giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com

COS

A new rendition of the classic white shirt for men and women will be unveiled by London brand COS on Monday. (COS)

A closet staple will get a refresh when fashion brand COS launches its White Shirt Project.

On Monday, the London-based brand will roll out the eight-piece offering for men and women in a range of styles. The labels creative director, Karin Gustafsson, said in a media release that the white shirt is intrinsic to the COS DNA, and we remain fascinated by the endless opportunities to reinvent this wardrobe staple.

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The fashion labels designers deconstructed a classic white shirt, changing the proportions and volume to give the piece a modern spin. (The capsule collection is priced from $89 to $115.) For men, there is a stepped-hem Grandad shirt; another style in cotton seersucker; and one with concealed buttons. The Grandad style, known for its collarless and casual silhouette, also shows up in the womens offering, which includes an elongated version with a large patch pocket on the chest.

COS White Shirt Project, available at stores in Beverly Hills, downtown Los Angeles, Westfield Century City and other locations, cosstores.com

Starring by Ted Gibson

Starring by Ted Gibson, billed as a smart salon, is powered by Amazons Alexa technology. The salon features individual pods for clients with the ability to show hair color in different lighting. (FGP Atelier)

The styling areas at the new Starring by Ted Gibson hair salon in Los Angeles were inspired by the pods youd find in first-class airline cabins and they are meant to offer some privacy to guests.

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Opened this week, Starring is also billed as L.A.s first smart salon. Its equipped with Amazons Alexa technology, and lighting inside the pods can be modified so clients can get a look at their hair color in different lighting.

We can ask Alexa to show us several preset colors from sunrise to moonlight so clients no longer have to walk into the parking lot to see what their hair will look like in natural light, said colorist Jason Backe, co-founder of Starring and Gibsons husband.

The 1,100-square-foot appointment-only salon  its the couples first venture in Los Angeles  features five stations that are nine-feet long and 13-feet high. Gibson described the spaces as being cloud-like.

You feel like youre sitting inside a beauty light box, he said. The aesthetic of the place itself is futuristic, light and airy.

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Clients can also stream shows on Hulu, Netflix or Amazon and shop on provided tablets at the salon by scanning QR codes on products in the retail section, including those from Starrings own line.

The duo, who between them have tended to the tresses of Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Angelina Jolie, will have a team of four other stylists on hand to offer the full range of hair services. At the top tier, Gibsons typical rate for a haircut is $2,000, and Backe charges $450 per 30 minutes of hair color services. The other stylists will charge rates commensurate with high-end salons.

Starring by Ted Gibson, 211 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, starring.tedgibson.com

CoSo Beauty

Denver brand CoSo Beauty launched a CBD-infused beauty sheet mask during a Beverly Hills event in January. (CoSo Beauty)

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Los Angeles served as the location for the national launch of a beauty sheet mask infused with CBD oil from Denver-based CoSo Beauty. The mask was unveiled at a January lunch at Ocean Prime in Beverly Hills by brand co-founders Jae Lee and his wife, Katy Lee.

The couple wanted to use Korean beauty technology and combine it with hemp-derived CBD oil. Jae Lee, who grew up in Colorado, had been successfully using CBD for joint pain and sleep.

Each two-piece mask contains 10 milligrams of CBD alongside ingredients such as extracts of rosemary, black licorice and chamomile, which are said to work together to hydrate and soothe a persons face. The Lees suggested using a mask every day for three to five days for best results. The product is $45 for a pack of five masks; and single sheet masks are available for $12.

CoSo Beauty Hemp Oil Infused Facial Sheet Mask, cosobeauty.com

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Kevin Brownlow, the noted British film historian and preservationist, will receive the Robert Osborne Award at this years TCM Classic Film Festival in April, Turner Classic Movies announced Thursday. Few have had a bigger impact on the continuing appreciation for silent film than Brownlow, who has devoted his life to chronicling the form.

Best known for his work bringing to life such silent classics as A Woman of Affairs (1928), Sunrise (1927) and Abel Gances Napoleon (1927), Brownlow is also a documentarian and author of books including The Parades Gone By  (1968), The War, the West and the Wilderness (1979) and Behind the Mask of Innocence (1990). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him an honorary Oscar in 2010.

Last year Martin Scorsese received the inaugural Osborne Award, given in honor of the longtime TCM host and film historian who died in 2017. This years award will be presented April 13 at a screening of Brownlows 1964 film It Happened Here during the festival in Hollywood. Controversial upon its release, It Happened Here is an alternative World War II history in which Nazi Germany invades and occupies the United Kingdom.

Organizers previously announced that Billy Crystal will be honored with a hand-and-footprint ceremony on April 12.

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The 10th TCM Classic Film Festival runs April 11-14 at various venues in Hollywood.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

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calendar@latimes.com

@LATimesMovies
Flora, a two-channel video projection by the Swiss American duo Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler, offers a melancholic true story of love and loss that is both surprising and somewhat confused. If it doesnt quite jell, it does open a curious window on human frailty.

Flora is Flora Mayo, daughter of a wealthy Denver merchant who went to Paris in 1925 with dreams of establishing herself as an artist. A long love affair with a fellow student  a slightly younger man who harbors similar aspirations  in the atelier of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle comes a cropper when the Great Depression sets in. Floras father pulls the financial plug that had been keeping her afloat, and shes finally forced to return to the United States.

All this would likely be of scant interest if, like Flora, the love interest hadnt ever amounted to much. That he was the then-unknown Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti makes his encounter with Flora into a provocative youthful footnote. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where the Hubbard and Birchler installation is on view in a show organized by curator Stephanie Barron, has an admirable collection of nine sculptures and one painting by Giacometti, dating from 1934  the year after Flora left  and 1960.

The two 30-minute videos are projected simultaneously on two sides of a suspended screen, with a single voice-over soundtrack telling the story. The narrative is largely a reminiscence by Floras son, David. He lives quietly in the San Gabriel Valley, is soon to turn 84 and never knew of his mothers relationship with a subsequently world-famous artist until recently, when Hubbard and Birchler came knocking.

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On the front of a screen suspended in a darkened room, a video projection shows Flora Mayos son, David, reminiscing about his mother (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

On the back of a screen suspended in a darkened room, a video projection shows an actress playing Flora Mayo at work on a bust of Alberto Giacometti (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

AT MACCARONE: The psychosexual madness of Trulee Hall 

David is on the front side of the screen, where he handles photographs, letters and other primary documents. On the back, actors perform the story in romanticized scenes recorded in black and white. Fact and fiction blur in what requires more than an hour to take in.

Flora lived a hard life. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1936, worked in the local defense industry during the war, became an office cleaning worker in the 1950s and eventually survived on public assistance. Her last residence was the ironically named Versailles Apartments near Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.

Before leaving Paris, she destroyed all the art she had made. At the entrance to the installation, a bronze bust of Giacometti is a new approximation of a larger Mayo sculpture in a photograph of the two art students together, which was reproduced in James Lords widely praised 1997 Giacometti biography.

AT THE GETTY: A Pontormo masterpiece of extreme imagination 

Perhaps tellingly, the photo shows her looking at him, while he looks into the camera, setting up an implied hierarchy of importance. Son David, understandably miffed at the dismissive comments about his mother in Lords book, defends her strength and fortitude.

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Theres good reason for that. Somewhat buried amid the twists and turns of a poignant family tale is the works intended focus: As a woman, Flora had barely any room to fulfill her 1925 plan to become an artist in the first place. Sexism blocked the path. To remember her now because of a liaison with a man serves to underscore the heartbreak.

LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Through April 7; closed Wednesday. (323) 857-6000, lacma.org
Facebook makes money by charging advertisers to reach just the right audience for their message  even when that audience is made up of people interested in the perpetrators of the Holocaust or explicitly neo-Nazi music.

Despite promises of greater oversight following past advertising scandals, a Times review shows that Facebook has continued to allow advertisers to target hundreds of thousands of users the social media firm believes are curious about topics such as Joseph Goebbels, Josef Mengele, Heinrich Himmler, the neo-nazi punk band Skrewdriver and Benito Mussolinis long-defunct National Fascist Party.

Experts say that this practice runs counter to the companys stated principles and can help fuel radicalization online.

What youre describing, where a clear hateful idea or narrative can be amplified to reach more people, is exactly what they said they dont want to do and what they need to be held accountable for, said Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation Leagues center on extremism.

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After being contacted by The Times, Facebook said that it would remove many of the audience groupings from its ad platform.

Most of these targeting options are against our policies and should have been caught and removed sooner, said Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne. While we have an ongoing review of our targeting options, we clearly need to do more, so were taking a broader look at our policies and detection methods.

Approved by Facebook

Facebooks broad reach and sophisticated advertising tools brought in a record $55 billion in ad revenue in 2018.

Profit margins stayed above 40%, thanks to a high degree of automation, with algorithms sorting users into marketable subsets based on their behavior  then choosing which ads to show them.

But the lack of human oversight has also brought the company controversy.

In 2017, Pro Publica found that the company sold ads based on any user-generated phrase, including Jew hater and Hitler did nothing wrong. Following the murder of 11 congregants at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, the Intercept found that Facebook gave advertisers the ability to target users interested in the anti-Semitic white genocide conspiracy theory, which the suspected killer cited as inspiration before the attacks.

This month, the Guardian highlighted the ways that YouTube and Facebook boost anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, leading Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) to question whether the company was promoting misinformation.

Facebook has promised since 2017 that humans review every ad targeting category. It announced last fall the removal of 5,000 audience categories that risked enabling abuse or discrimination.

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The Times decided to test the effectiveness of the companys efforts by seeing if Facebook would allow the sale of ads directed to certain segments of users.

Facebook allowed The Times to target ads to users Facebook has determined are interested in Goebbels, the Third Reichs chief propagandist, Himmler, the architect of the Holocaust and leader of the SS, and Mengele, the infamous concentration camp doctor who performed human experiments on prisoners. Each category included hundreds of thousands of users.

A screenshot of the Facebook ad buying process showing the number of people the platform thinks are interested in Josef Mengele. (Facebook)

The company also approved an ad targeted to fans of Skrewdriver, a notorious white supremacist punk band  and automatically suggested a series of topics related to European far-right movements to bolster the ads reach.

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Collectively, the ads were seen by 4,153 users in 24 hours, with The Times paying only $25 to fuel the push.

Facebook admits its human moderators should have removed the Nazi-affiliated demographic categories. But it says the ads themselves  which consisted of the word test or The Times logo and linked back to the newspapers homepage  would not have raised red flags for the separate team that looks over ad content.

Upon review, the company said the ad categories were seldom used. The few ads purchased linked to historical content, Facebook said, but the company would not provide more detail on their origin.

Why is it my job to police their platform?

The Times was tipped off by a Los Angeles musician who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from hate groups.

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Earlier this year, he tried to promote a concert featuring his hardcore punk group and a black metal band on Facebook. When he typed black metal into Facebooks ad portal, he said he was disturbed to discover that the company suggested he also pay to target users interested in National Socialist black metal  a potential audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

The punk and metal music scenes, and black metal in particular, have a long grappled with white supremacist undercurrents. Black metal grew out of the early Norwegian metal scene, which saw prominent members convicted of burning down churches, murdering fellow musicians and plotting bombings. Some bands and their fans have since combined anti-Semitism, neo-paganism, and the promotion of violence into the distinct subgenre of National Socialist black metal, which the Southern Poverty Law Center described as a dangerous white supremacist recruiting tool nearly 20 years ago.

But punk and metal fans have long pushed back against hate. In 1981, the Dead Kennedys released Nazi Punks F--- Off; last month 15 metal bands played at an anti-fascist festival in Brooklyn.

The musician saw himself as a part of that same tradition.

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I grew up in a punk scene in Miami where there were Nazis, they would kind of invade the concerts as a place where they knew they could get away with violence, he said.

So he saw it as his duty, he said, to contact Facebook and express his disgust.

Facebook subsequently removed the grouping from the platform, but the musician remains incredulous that National Socialist black metal was a category in the first place  let alone one the company specifically prompted him to pursue.

Why is it my job to police their platform? he said.

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A rabbit hole of hate

After reviewing screenshots verifying the musicians story, The Times investigated whether Facebook would allow advertisers to target explicitly neo-Nazi bands or other terms associated with hate groups.

We started with Skrewdriver, a British band with a song called White Power and an album named after a Hitler Youth motto. Since the band only had 2,120 users identified as fans, Facebook informed us that we would need to add more target demographics to publish the ad.

The prompt led us down a rabbit hole of terms it thought were related to white supremacist ideology.

First, it recommended Thor Steinar, a clothing brand that has been outlawed in the German parliament for its association with neo-Nazism. Then, it recommended NPD Group, the name of both a prominent American market research firm and a far-right German political party associated with neo-Nazism. Among the next recommended terms were Fluchtlinge, the German word for refugees, and Nationalism.

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A screenshot of the auto-suggested target audiences following Skrewdriver. (Facaebook)

Facebook said the categories Fluchtlinge, Nationalism, and NPD Group are in line with its policies and will not be removed despite appearing as auto-suggestions following neo-Nazi terms. (Facebook said it had found that the users interested in NPD Group were actually interested in the American market research firm.)

In the wake of past controversies, Facebook has blocked ads aimed at those interested in the most obvious terms affiliated with hate groups. Nazi, Hitler, white supremacy and Holocaust all yield nothing in the ad platform. But advertisers could target more than a million users with interest in Goebbels or the National Fascist Party, which dissolved in 1943. Himmler had nearly 95,000 constituents. Mengele had 117,150 interested users  a number that increased over the duration of our reporting, to 127,010.

Facebook said these categories were automatically generated based on user activity  liking or commenting on ads, or joining certain groups. But it would not provide specific details about how it determined a users interest in topics linked to Nazis.

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Expanding the orbit

The ads ended up being served within Instant Articles  which are hosted within Facebook, rather than linking out to a publishers own website  published by the Facebook pages of a wide swath of media outlets.

These included articles by the Daily Wire, CNN, HuffPost, Mother Jones, Breitbart, the BBC and ABC News. They also included articles by viral pages with names like Pupper Doggo, I Love Movies and Right Health Today  a seemingly defunct media company whose only Facebook post was a link to a now-deleted article titled What Is The Benefits Of Eating Apple Everyday.

Segal, the ADL director, said Facebook might wind up fueling the recruitment of new extremists by serving up such ads on the types of pages an ordinary news reader might visit.

Being able to reach so many people with extremist content, existing literally in the same space as legitimate news or non-hateful content, is the biggest danger, he said. What youre doing is expanding the orbit.

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Some critics contend that the potential for exploitation is built into the fundamental workings of ad platforms like Facebooks, regardless of whether the target demographics are explicitly extremist.

Finely targeted digital advertising allows anonymous advertisers with who knows what political agenda to test messages that try to tap into some vulnerability and channel a grievance in some particular direction, said Anthony Nadler, a professor at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania who researches how social networks and ad platforms can assist radicalization and spread disinformation. I imagine that the more sophisticated white supremacists out there are trying to figure out how to expand their base.

sam.dean@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @samaugustdean

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UPDATES:

8:30 a.m.: This article was updated with more detail on where the ads purchased by The Times appeared within Facebook
After 11 years in the Hollywood Hills, Rob Benedict is ready for a change of scenery. The Supernatural actor has listed his 1970s home for $3.495 million, or around $1.4 million more than he paid for the place in 2008.

Set on a quarter-acre lot, the property holds a hardwood-filled house, a three-story guest wing, a swimming pool and a hillside deck with sweeping city views. In total, there are four bedrooms and five bathrooms across 4,863 square feet.

Neutral shades of gray cover the living spaces, which include a formal dining room, a living room with a dual-sided fireplace and a family room with a wet bar. Farther in, the first-floor master suite offers direct access to the backyard through French doors.

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Things get a bit more colorful in the guest wing, where a movie theater with stadium seating and a recording studio (Benedict has performed with the indie rock band Louden Swain since 1997) are decked out in a velvet hue. Up above, theres a loft with a balcony.

Outside, the entertainers backyard holds a stone patio, a swimming pool and a spa.

Linda Ferrari of Keller Williams Silicon Beach holds the listing.

A Missouri native, Benedict has regularly appeared in TV and film since the mid-1990s. The 48-year-olds credits include Felicity, Head Case, Kings of Con and the 2005 comedy Waiting

jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94
Surrounded by art depicting vibrant landscapes and black bodies, Marlon James discussed his latest novel, Black Leopard, Red Wolf with writer Roxane Gay at the Museum of African American Art in Crenshaw on Wednesday night.

Gay, author of numerous works including Bad Feminist, Marvel Comics World of Wakanda and Hunger, took a deep dive into James work ethic and mind while discussing various topics.

There are no comfortable sentences where you can just sink in and read it without putting in work, Gay said of Black Leopard, Red Wolf. It really demands an active reading experience.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is James fourth novel, and his first since winning the Man Booker Prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings. It is the first installment of a Rashomon-style trilogy, in which three characters narrate the same story, but each sees it in a completely different way.

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The excitement over James novel began in 2017 when he announced that his next work would be the African Game of Thrones. This year, actor Michael B. Jordans Outlier Society and Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to James Black Leopard, Red Wolf on Feb. 6. The novel was released the day before.

But during his conversation with Gay, James made a revelation: Theyre going to be so disappointed, James joked about Game of Thrones fans. Except for the sex and violence.

Yet the audience showed little signs of disappointment.

Every fantasy novel that starts getting more attention than usual is going to garner comparisons, said David McKnight, who drove from Glendora for the event. It just means its an exciting time for fans of the genre.

The conversation between Gay and James drew an audience of about 300, and was organized by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and Eso Won Books, Leimert Parks longstanding Black-owned shop.

Roxane Gay at the Museum of African American Art in the Crenshaw district. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf follows a man named Tracker who is gifted with a heightened sense of smell, allowing him to follow scents throughout the mythical Africa-inspired lands concocted by James.

Tracker is sent on a quest with a group that includes his friend, the shape-shifting Leopard, to help find a missing boy. As the story unfolds, many things come into question, including Trackers trustworthiness as a narrator.

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The sprawling-style narrative gives the lead character the ability to blend truth with perspective and motive, which puts the burden of deciphering truth on the reader.

Throughout their conversation, Gay and James laughed with the audience when they reflected on the genre novels they grew up reading and the great storytellers of their families who, coincidentally, were also great liars.

In a lot of African stories, the trickster is telling the story, so you already know this is an unreliable narrator, James said.

James also stripped away the religious influences of African folklore and went back to a time when African tales had an inherent eroticism to them.

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It was a very sensual and sensory world, James said. The moral system was different. The whole idea of sexuality was different; the fluidity was different.

The audience reacts during a discussion between Roxanne Gay and Marlon James about his latest book Black Leopard, Red Wolf, at the Museum of African American Art. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

James told Gay about his contempt for space-break sex in literature.

Space-break sex is when a novel gives the reader the lead-up to sex and when the actual act is about to happen, the writer leaves the reader with a space break, and begins again either with the next day or the lovers smoking a cigarette in bed. It leaves much to the imagination.

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Its a sign of subtlety, like subtlety has anything to do with sex, James said. That sexual frankness, frankness in general, is part of the African.

Gay told the audience she read many reviews that said James novel had an overt sexuality, which she did not see.

I wonder if reviewers are fixed on the sexuality of this novel because its queer? Gay asked. Then she added, Or because the characters are black?

Both, James answered.

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James spares no image when it comes to the sex and violence in his latest novel, but he wanted the violence to resonate differently from what Western audiences are often used to.

[In film], theres a lot of violence but never any suffering, James said. If Im going to have [violence], it has to reverberate; it has to echo after pages. It should be connected to suffering.

James flipped the script on many of the historical fantasy themes. Where there is the usual black and white between good and evil, James replaces it with gray areas of moral ambiguity.

The thing about a lot of West fantasies is that its still following European archetypes, James said. Evil is clearly evil. Evil is Sauron. That reflects a Calvinist, Christian worldview.

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Writer and editor Roxanne Gay interviews author Marlon James discussing James latest book Black Leopard, Red Wolf, at the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles on Feb 20. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

While Black Leopard, Red Wolf follows the story of The Tracker, the second installment will be from the perspective of Sologon, a witch who is part of the group sent to find the boy. James, from Jamaica, says he is keeping the third perspective a secret.

James said he has not started the follow up to Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

[Black Leopard, Red Wolf] is a very masculine book, Gay said. Its going to be interesting to have this story told from a womans perspective.
"We need to seriously attempt at negotiating a Programme of Work for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation", stated Sri Lanka's envoy in Geneva Ambassador A.L.A Azeez addressing the Plenary Session of the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD). He urged members of the CD to find a way forward that could facilitate, or create momentum for, work on all core issues.

The Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka assured Sri Lanka's fullest support for all efforts towards generating consensus within CD, building upon the outcome achieved under Sri Lanka's presidency of the disarmament forum last year.

Ambassador Azeez highlighted the importance of CD being representative enough of the whole range of views and perspectives on critical issues in the disarmament and non-proliferation arena. In this context, he streesed that education and training in disarmament and non -proliferation and integration of a gender perspective were necessary to help advance fully informed, well represented, result oriented negotiation on critical issues.

Noting the stalemate in launching substantive negotiations, he asserted that 'Rules of Procedure should aid, not prevent, deliberations on substantive issues'.

He further urged delegations to take a hard look at the challenges that lay ahead, and to consider taking a constructive approach to negotiating a programme of work without further delay.

Full Statement by Ambassador Azeez

Sri Lanka Permanent Mission

Geneva

20 February 2019
The detective was concerned about Linns actions because he had earlier mentioned that his wifes doctor had refused to continue to fill her prescriptions for painkillers, with Linn saying that his wife was in a lot of pain, the court records show.

Linn had also asked the detective to give him leftover prescription painkillers that the detective had not used after a surgery, according to the affidavit. She refused, telling him that would be illegal.

Because of red flags raised by Linns statements and conduct, on Feb. 11 police put a camera in the evidence-processing room where drugs were kept and boxed for disposal, according to the affidavit. Footage on the camera allegedly showed Linn returning to the room, taking items out of a can and putting things in his pocket, along with what sounded like pills rattling.

Grosz said Linn was placed on paid administrative leave Feb. 13. Grosz said a separate internal investigation will focus on whether Linn violated any department policies.

During the search of Linns home, investigators confiscated three prescription bottles for oxycodone and hydrocodone painkillers that were issued to three different individuals  none of them Linn or his wife. There were also THC vape cartridges found in the home during the search.
Sol Yoga  the hot yoga studio at 657 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite 121 inside La Jolla Village Square  has closed with no warning or explanation, costing at least a dozen teachers their jobs and potentially hundreds of clients their prepaid subscriptions for class packages.

Teachers were informed via e-mail on Monday, Feb. 11, the date of the studios closure, that its lease could not be renewed with its landlord.

A notice on Sols website Feb. 19  which still advertised monthly yoga as low as $69  stated: It is with a humbled soul and deeply saddened heart that we must announce Sol Yoga, after passionately serving its (sic) community for 10 extraordinary years, has closed its (sic) doors due to recently developed unforeseen circumstances.

A voicemail the Light left on the cell phone of co-owner and director Troy Burton  inquiring what would happen to his former clients money  was not returned by press time Tuesday afternoon.

I dont know what the truth is, said a former studio manager who spoke to the Light only under condition of anonymity. Ive heard multiple stories. I think its awful for the clients. I think its awful for the teachers. But I was let go the same as anyone else. I lost my job overnight.

Sols Facebook and Instagram pages have been deleted and calls placed to Sol Yoga were greeted by this outgoing message: Youve reached a number that is not currently set up to receive calls, please try again later.

I know a lot of the the teachers are very hurt and very upset, said former Sol instructor Martyn Castens. I felt things could have been done a little differently, more transparently, but I dont want to speak out. Im all about trying to spread the good vibes. Im kind of lucky because I only had one class, but there are people who relied on this studio for their livelihood.

YogaFuzn Studio, 565 Pearl St., which also offers hot yoga, is giving away a free promotional week of classes to Sol students who lost membership payments.

After hearing the way it all happened, Im heartbroken for the number of yoga students who lost money in the surprise closure and are now without their community to practice, said YogaFuzn owner Colleen Boureois.
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Dental offices typically have a standard operating procedure and aesthetic including a simple waiting room, reception desk and examination rooms. When third-generation dentist Tracy Taddey set forth to redesign the office she shares with her father, John Taddey, the family business took on a fresh approach embracing one of La Jollas greatest assets  our ocean views.

Taddey captured what she loves best about growing up in La Jolla  the community, walkability of the Village and stunning views of the ocean  to find their office location at 875 Prospect St. on the top (third) floor. Designed personally by her and her family, the office transforms the typical dentist appointment into a relaxing spa-inspired experience with a crystal chandelier at greeting you at entrance, fresh orchids, modern art and sophisticated color scheme. With an editorial eye on the beauty industry from her early days working at Elle Magazine in New York City, Tracy Taddey has a special appeal for patients in cosmetic dentistry and it shows in the way she makes going to the dentist actually enjoyable for her patients.

We wanted to create a dental office with a calming, welcoming feel, shares Taddey. Nearly every time a patient sits in one of our chairs, they comment on how much they love the ocean views of the waves crashing in. It means a lot to us to make their visit with us comfortable and special.

Theres a special nod to the familys legacy in dentistry where three diplomas from New York University (NYU) shine proudly as Tracy, her father and grandfather all attended the University.

The results? A stylish office space that feels like youve walked into a spa, bringing lots of reasons to smile. Follow the Taddeyteam on Instagram, @taddeylajolla to learn about special offers like their $20 donation to St. Germaine Childrens Charity with every in-office whitening (now $100, and normally $150).

 Tracy Taddey, D.D.S. and John Taddey, D.D.S., 875 Prospect St., Suite 301. (858) 454-9333. lajolladentist.com

 Business Spotlight features commercial enterprises that support La Jolla Light.
For years, Maui Arts League, a non-profit organization, has been elevating fine art within our Maui community while creating unique opportunities for people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds to embrace the experience of art. For the past ten years, Kaanapali Land Management Corp. has been proud to support their efforts through sponsorship of their signature event, the annual Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational (MPAPI).

The 2019 MPAPI kicked off on February 16th with 23 professional plein air painters from Hawaii, United States Mainland and Australia capturing images of Maui the people, the scenery mauka to makai, and the islands historical sites. The public has been enjoying seeing these artists create inspiring artworks, attending art sales, and educational events. And, theres still more to experience with an exciting schedule of finale events happening this week:

On Friday, February 22, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., stroll Kaanapali Beach between Royal Lahaina Resort to Black Rock as well as the grounds of the Royal Lahaina Resort while you watch the artists create their final paintings for the MPAPI Quick Draw. It will be fascinating to watch and even more exciting to see all 23 paintings collectively displayed and available for sale in the hotels Ocean Terrace Restaurant from 12 noon to 1 p.m. This year, for the first time, a painting will be selected to receive a $250 Maui Arts Leagues Quick Draw Award. The Quick Draw will be judged by George Allan, one of Mauis legendary artists. This event is sponsored by Maui No Ka Oi Magazine.

Later that day, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., enjoy an exciting evening during the Art to Heart Gala Awards & Art Sale at the Royal Lahaina Resort Ballroom. Mingle with the 23 MPAPI artists while you enjoy a champagne reception, gourmet dining, smooth live jazz, and 100 original paintings for purchase. Tickets are $195 per person. This event is sponsored by Royal Lahaina Resort.

On Saturday, February 23, an Artists Aloha Reception & Art Sale will be held at the Royal Lahaina Resort Ballroom. Enjoy a Collectors Take an Artist to Breakfast Buffet for you and an artist ($62) from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Then view award paintings plus new paintings and enjoy light refreshments at the reception and art sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by an Artists Panel Discussion with Q&A from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (public admission is free).

The finale will be an Artists Mahalo Gathering & Art Sale held at the Royal Lahaina Resort Ballroom on Sunday, February 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. View award paintings plus new paintings and enjoy light refreshments from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Building a fine arts Museum on West Maui Panel Discussion with Q&A follows from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (public admission is free).

The MPAPI is truly a celebration of art, and Maui Arts League is dedicated to putting art in the hearts of people.

For more information on MPAPI and the Maui Arts League, visit www.CelebrateArtOnMaui.org.
Organic waste going into landfills

As I do photography throughout Hawaii, it gives me a great opportunity to observe the island spaces we live within and how we all can do our part in that management of these islands.

Management of even our garbage dumpsters. Most may not understand putting wasted food and organic yard waste (cut grass, wind-fallen palms and leaves) into dumpsters then fills our landfills, which then also produces methane gases.

It also slows down the composting time of organic materials and fills up our landfill (a limited space of island land).

Place organic waste in a composting area, rather than our dumpsters. Rather than talk, action is really doing our environmental part for all.

LEO THINER-BRICKEY, Honokowai



Stand up for the ocean this year

As we start another year, it is a great opportunity to confirm all things important in our lives. This includes looking ahead and giving love and attention to those things that are dear to us all. In addition to family, business and community, one thing I know for certain is that our ocean, reefs and ecosystem deserves some of that love. I feel that it is important to give back and care for those things that have given me so much pleasure. So I, along with a core group of passionate volunteers (you know who you are!), have made it our quest to stand up for our ocean, beaches and reefs.

This is the year, folks. This is the year to take a stand and make changes that will positively affect our ocean and coastline. I hope that you do more than just think about it. I hope that you will carve out the time (and/or dollars) to effect positive changes that will keep our oceans and beaches clean and safe for all to enjoy!

Who is Surfrider Foundation? Surfrider Foundation started in 1984 when a small band of surfers/ocean lovers found that a polluted stream flowing into their favorite surf break was making people sick, and they decided to do something about it. From there, it ignited a revolution where Surfrider has grown into a worldwide organization.

The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the worlds ocean, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network.

The Surfrider Foundation has built a network of coastal defenders who transform their passion for their coasts into lasting protection. Bridging knowledge and national experts in law, policy and science  both the playbook and team  produces victories for our beaches year after year With 161 chapters and clubs around the world, Surfrider has achieved over 500 victories (since keeping track in 2006).

In Hawaii, we have a unique situation. With over 1.4 million people plus hundreds of thousands of visitors at any given time, inhabiting eight islands and being located over 2,500 miles from the Mainland, this presents us with unique challenges. To list a few:

Over 90 percent of what we use in Hawaii is imported (creating a big carbon footprint).

Currently, only five days of food to support the 160,000 residents on Maui plus 200,000 visitors (at any given time)  this means big food security issues.

Tons and tons of garbage produced daily (including one-use plastics) that is left piling up in our overflowing dumps.

Increased runoff of trash, pesticides, fertilizers, human waste, etc. into our shorelines, reefs and ecosystems  all are killing animals and making people sick.

Increased amounts of plastic pollution building up on our shorelines (think North Pacific Gyres).

Eroding coastlines, reduced coastal access, growing population, increasing weather events

We all agree that we face growing challenges. Throw in the very recent (and largest ever in Hawaii) land sale on Mauis central and North Shore, and I think you would agree that we need to work harder than ever  banding together  to step up and create positive change.

To tackle these and other important issues, Surfrider has developed a series of goals and campaigns.

1. Beach Cleanups: Targeting beaches around the island to collect garbage.

2. Blue Water Task Force: Currently testing 18 beaches on Mauis North Shore to identify any problem areas as well as to develop baseline studies that will help guide and influence future land use above. Also working with partners to establish water testing on South and West Sides.

3. Ocean Friendly Restaurants: Assisting restaurants on the island to convert to more combustible, Earth-friendly practices.

4. Legislation: Supporting laws that eliminate harmful products, plastic pollution (think plastic bags, foam, cigarette butts, one-use plastics).

5. Coastal preservation and access

Our volunteers are the lifeblood of Surfrider. Id love to have you join our network  your local chapter  to work together to help tackle the issues that face our ocean and beaches.

MIKE OTTMAN, 2019-20 Maui Chapter Chair, Surfrider Foundation



Halt the assault on Medicare

At his campaign rallies, President Trump promised to protect Medicare. But now his administration is quietly embracing drastic changes that could choke off seniors access to lifesaving treatments. Consider the administrations new guidance for Medicare Advantage, which enables about 20 million Medicare beneficiaries to obtain subsidized health plans from private insurers. The guidance, which took effect this January, allows insurers to force beneficiaries to try older, low-cost medications before they can access more advanced, expensive drugs.

Administration officials have also proposed weakening key patient protections in Medicare Part D, the popular prescription drug benefit used by 44 million Americans.

For more than 50 years, Medicare has helped seniors access the care they need and deserve. Our government promised us that the Medicare taxes, which were deducted from our paychecks every payday, would be used to ensure we had acceptable health care when we retired. Up to this point, especially in Medicare Part B and Part D, that promise has been kept. The proposed changes described above break that promise our government made to each of us.

THAIR PHILLIPS, RetireSafe
In this and the next article coming up, Im going to show you the new Windows 10 update features. After reading these two articles, you should print them out, because there is a lot of new stuff to go over.

Windows updates can fail to install properly if your PC doesnt have enough free disk space. Microsoft is solving the problem by commandeering about 7 GB of your PCs storage and making it into reserved storage.

Windows Home users can now pause updates for up to seven days. Its a great feature if you need a temporary reprieve from updates. Windows 10 Professional users can still pause updates for up to 35 days at a time.

Windows 10 now has two separate options: Windows Mode and App Mode. You can choose any combination of the two settings. Windows now lets you unpin groups of tiles by right-clicking them and selecting the Unpin Group From Start option. You dont have to remove tiles one by one anymore.

Windows Sandbox is an isolated desktop environment where you can run software in a container without affecting your host operating system. When you close the Sandbox, all the software and files in the sandbox are deleted.

Windows 10 has a search bar thats integrated with Cortana, but theyre separating. In the April 2019 update, the search bar functions as a normal search box, and theres a separate Cortana icon on the Windows taskbar. You can leave the search box on the taskbar and hide the Cortana icon or hide the search box and leave Cortana. Of course, you can also hide both.

Now, you could leave the search bar on the taskbar and disable the Cortana icon, putting Alexa in its place.

The Start Menus search box is getting a lot more useful, however! The file search feature in the Start Menu can now search for files anywhere on your PC using the Windows search index.

To enable this, head to Settings > Search > Searching Windows and select Enhanced (Recommended) to make the indexer search your entire PC.

Microsoft is pursuing a world without passwords. You can now create a Microsoft account without a password online. That account is linked to your phone number, and Microsoft will text you a security code whenever you try to sign in.

On the latest version of Windows 10, you can now sign into it with these password-less accounts and set up a PIN or other Windows Hello sign-in feature to secure your computer. The account doesnt have a password you ever have to type.

Windows update now has a notification (system tray) icon for updates. You can head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options and enable the Show a notification when your PC requires a restart to finish updating option to enable it. After you do, youll see a Windows Update icon with an orange dot in your taskbars notification area when you need to reboot your PC.

Microsoft keeps changing Windows 10s update naming scheme. Windows 10s October 2018 update was named Redstone. Now, to make things even simpler, the April 2019 update was named 19H1, as it was scheduled for release in the first half of 2019.

Windows 10s console now lets you zoom in and out. Just hold the Control key and scroll with your mouse or trackpad. There are also some new experimental console features you can adjust. Right-click any console windows title bar, select Properties and click the Terminal tab to find them. For example, you can configure the text entry cursors color and shape.

Windows has had troubleshooters for a while, but you had to know what type of problem your PC was having and then navigate to the correct troubleshooter. Now, you can just navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot. Youll see a list of recommended troubleshooters that Windows thinks might fix your problem.

Send your computer-related questions to mauimist8669@yahoo.com.
LAHAINA  On Thursday, Feb. 28, fourth and fifth grade students in the Lahaina Complex After School Tutor Project and their parents are invited to attend Family STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Discovery Night.

The event will be held in the Princess Nahienaena Elementary School Cafeteria from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Students and their parents will participate in exciting, unique hands-on demonstrations, science experiments and exploration stations covering chemistry, climate, Earth and space.

Discovery Night is designed to inspire expanding imagination and curiosity among families and to spark new ideas and conversations.

Parents and students have an opportunity to work and learn together.

Pizza and drinks will be provided at the end of the event.

The Lahaina Complex After School Tutor Projects arts and mathematics programs include many enrichment projects during the school year and summer.

Again, this summer, STEM and Lahaina Yacht Club camps will be offered to selected students in grades three through five.
Artists make a Tiezhi (iron branch) work in the shape of dragon for the Lantern Festival parade in Shuangxi Town of Pingnan County, southeast China's Fujian Province, Feb. 19, 2019. Tiezhi parade is a time-honored folk performance in Fujian. With steel pipes or iron bars welded into the shape of branches, a bracket is set up for young artists in traditional costume to sit and perform. The art has lasted more than 300 years in Shuangxi. In 2008, it was listed in the national catalogue of intangible cultural heritage. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

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LAHAINA  The Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational is in full swing with 23 artists working scenes all over Maui and convening at paint-outs that draw crowds of spectators to Lahaina Harbor and Kapalua Bay.

A large exhibit that will include 19 award-winning paintings will be on public display at the Royal Lahaina Resorts 4,000-square-foot ballroom gallery the weekend of Feb. 23-24.

The event is free and family friendly. Highlighting the show are artist demonstrations right in the exhibit area and a public panel discussion each afternoon at 3 p.m. hosted by Maui Arts League.

Four nationally acclaimed professional artists will be on deck Saturday at 3 p.m. discussing the development and serendipity of their careers.

Oahu artist Mark Brown worked his way into a successful art career and now volunteers to monitor the student workshops that inspired him in his youth. Terry Miura from California began as an illustrator for Sports Iilustrated and Newsweek magzines in New York City but chose to paint in oil full-time. Hiu Lai Chong trained at the best art schools in China and the U.S. before launching her career, and Michele Usibelli was a trained architect before she followed her muse to fine art.

All are prolific painters, and each has developed a unique style. Maui gallery professional Kim vonTempsky will moderate.

This discussion is for art students of all ages who wonder what it takes to become a professional artist, and also for art enthusiasts who want to know more about the artists they follow.

Sunday at 3 p.m., also in the Royal Lahaina Ballroom exhibit area, Rae Takemoto, arts integration consultant and founder of Friends of Pomaikai, will facilitate a panel discussion on building an art museum among these panelists: Jean Stern, director of The Irvine Museum Collection at the University of California Irvine Institute and Museum for California Art; Dr. Joycelyn Romero-Demirbag, director of development at the University of Hawaii Maui College; Kirk Kurokawa, Maui artist and former Baldwin High School art student graduate; Tim Garcia, Maui sculptor; Darice Machel McGuire, artist and instructor; Victoria Teoh, Baldwin High School art student; and Daryl Arita, owner of Arita-Poulson General Contracting LLC.

Maui Arts League is spearheading an initiative to build a fine arts museum in West Maui. This project will require the commitment and hard work of the the entire Maui art community.

The museum would be a nexus for art education, art appreciation and fine art exhibits, where students, families and visitors would be able to enjoy and experience art.

For more information on the Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational weekend events, the ticketed awards gala on Friday evening, Feb. 22, or Maui Arts Leagues mission, visit CelebrateArtOnMauiorg.
DTLA - These days one hears occasional warnings that the long-running bull market is coming to a close, that the national economy could shift into recession and sky-high prices will fall. That may in fact happen, but right now there are absolutely zero indicators of it occurring in the Downt
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday (local time). Juncker and May made fresh efforts to unlock the Brexit stalemate but without a breakthrough, as expected, they pledged to talk again before the end of the month. Xinhua-Yonhap



Prime Minister Theresa May said she had made "progress" in talks with the EU on Wednesday as she sought to extract concessions on the terms of Britain's divorce, but as expected there was no major breakthrough.



With less than six weeks until Brexit day, May met European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker hoping for movement on the "Irish backstop" issue  after EU leaders insisted they would not restart negotiations.



Fears are growing that Britain could yet crash out without a deal, and there was fresh drama just before May headed to Brussels as three of her MPs resigned from her Conservative party in protest over Brexit to join a new independent group of lawmakers.



A joint statement from May and Juncker called their meeting "constructive", striking a slightly more positive tone than when the two leaders met a fortnight ago.



"The two leaders agreed that talks had been constructive, and they urged their respective teams to continue to explore the options in a positive spirit," the statement said.



Separately, May said she had stressed the need for "legally binding changes to the backstop"  though the EU has ruled this out.



"We've agreed that work to find a solution will continue at pace, time is of the essence and it's in both our interests that when the UK leaves the EU it does so in an orderly way. And so we've made progress," May said.



May and the other 27 EU leaders approved a Brexit withdrawal agreement at a summit on November 25 last year, but the British leader's own parliament rejected it overwhelmingly on January 15.



Since then, May and her ministers have repeatedly met EU leaders and their negotiator Michel Barnier to urge them to reopen the text to find a way to appease eurosceptic MPs.



'Backstop' stumbling block



The main stumbling block has been the Irish backstop, which provides for Britain to remain in the EU customs union until a way is found  such as a future free trade deal  to ensure that Ireland's border with Northern Ireland remains open.



Brexiteers in May's own Conservative party see this as a "trap" to keep Britain tied to the bloc indefinitely, and have demanded a time limit or exit clause.



But such a clause would be seen in Brussels as a betrayal of EU member Ireland and has consistently been given short shrift by EU officials.



May and Juncker's statement indicated a fresh push to see what guarantees the EU could offer on the backstop to convince sceptical MPs it will not be used to trap Britain.



It also suggested the political declaration outlining plans for future EU-UK ties could be beefed up to "increase confidence" that both sides will try to reach a future deal as soon as possible, so the backstop never has to be used.



May said her Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox would be back in Brussels on Thursday  just three days since their last visit  as the pace of negotiations picks up.



A European source said Cox, whose legal analysis of May's deal confirmed Brexiteer fears, will have a key role to play.



If Brussels does enough on the backstop to persuade Cox to soften his advice, it could help swing the parliamentary arithmetic behind the prime minister.



Without a deal, Britain is due to leave the Union abruptly after four decades on March 29, with no follow-on agreement or transition period to manage trade and economic relations.



Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will meet Barnier on Thursday, while officials in both Brussels and London have played down talk that an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt this weekend could become a "Brexit in the desert" meet, insisting the issue would not hijack the gathering.



Economic chaos feared



Both sides have said they want to avoid a no deal Brexit, and many experts foresee economic chaos, even warning of food and medicine shortages or a renewed threat of unrest in Northern Ireland.



Manufacturing supply chains could be disrupted, and Brexit uncertainty has already been cited as a contributing factor in the closure or departure of several British-based businesses.



On the EU side, the commission on Wednesday published an update on its no-deal planning, with seven out of 19 legal proposals to mitigate the effects now approved.



One option to avoid no deal would be for Brussels to accord Britain an extension to the March 29 deadline, although May insists she will not request a delay.



A delay could keep Britain inside the EU for May 23-26 elections for a new European Parliament, which will start sitting from July 2, presumably without any British members. (AFP)








An undated photograph obtained on Wednesday from attorney Hassan Shibly shows Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old woman from Alabama. AFP-Yonhap



U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is barring a U.S.-born former Islamic State propagandist from returning home, making the highly unusual case that she is not a U.S. citizen.



Trump's refusal to admit 24-year-old Hoda Muthana comes just as he is pressing Europeans to repatriate their own Islamic State fighters and will likely face legal challenges, with U.S. citizenship extremely difficult to lose.



Trump said on Twitter he has "instructed" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the country"  a break with usual U.S. protocol not to comment on individuals' immigration issues.



"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Pompeo said in a terse statement.



"She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States," he added.



The U.S. generally grants citizenship to everyone born on its soil and the Alabama-raised Muthana is believed to have traveled to Syria on a U.S. passport.



But a U.S. official said a later investigation showed that she had not been entitled to her passport, adding: "Ms. Muthana's citizenship has not been revoked because she was never a citizen."



Officials declined further comment but in a loophole that could boost the government case, Muthana's father had been a diplomat from Yemen  and children of diplomats are not automatically given citizenship.



Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shilby, showed a birth certificate that demonstrated she was born in New Jersey in 1994 and said her father had ceased being a diplomat "months and months" before her birth.



"She is a U.S. citizen. She had a valid passport. She may have broken the law and, if she has, she's willing to pay the price," Shilby told AFP at his office in Tampa.





Hassan Shibly, attorney for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria, speaks during a news conference Wednesday, in Tampa, Florida. AP-Yonhap




Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, poses in his office in Tampa, Florida, on February 20, 2019. AFP
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are seen in this file photo before a family photo during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina Nov. 30, 2018. Reuters-Yonhap



U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Japan in May to meet with the country's new emperor and then return in June for a G20 gathering, a White House official said on Wednesday after a phone call between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.



Trump's first visit will likely take place from May 26 to 28, when he is expected to become the first foreign dignitary to meet Crown Prince Naruhito after he succeeds his father, Akihito, as emperor of Japan on May 1, NHK said, citing Japanese officials.



Asked later in the Oval Office if he would be visiting Japanin May, Trump said, "I will be, at a certain time."



Trump will also attend the Osaka meeting of the Group of 20 largest world economies in June, the White House official said.



Trump and Abe spoke by phone on Wednesday to coordinate ahead of the U.S. leader's meeting next week in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



"The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization" of North Korea, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.








By Jung Min-ho







Disney, Nestle, Epic Games and other major brands have pulled their ads from YouTube after reports of a pedophile network rampant in the comments of many videos.





The companies

made the decision after YouTube creator Matt Watson posted a

on Feb. 17 to criticize YouTube, owned by Google, for ignoring pedophiles' exploitation of videos of young children, mostly girls, doing, for example, gymnastics or showing bare legs.





Such videos are often filled with all kinds of lewd remarks directed at the children.





A Nestle spokesperson confirmed that "all Nestle companies in the U.S. have paused advertising on YouTube."





A spokesperson from Epic said: "We have paused all pre-roll advertising  Through our advertising agency, we have reached out to Google/YouTube to determine actions they'll take to eliminate this type of content from their service."





Watson, also known as MattsWhatItIs, accuses YouTube of facilitating the sexual exploitation of children. He said its recommendation system also helps pedophiles find similar videos  many of which carry ads for major brands.





"Any content  including comments  that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube," a YouTube spokeswoman said.





"We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments."





The spokeswoman said the company disabled comments on tens of millions of videos featuring minors and removed thousands of inappropriate comments on videos with young people in them.





About two years ago, major advertisers pulled their ads on YouTube over concerns about them showing up next to extremist and violent content. But many eventually returned after they were reassured that YouTube had made much progress in dealing with the problem.






South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. said Thursday its fixed broadband subsidiary SK Broadband Inc. will merge with No. 2 cable TV operator, t-broad, paving the way for expansion of the telecom's media business.







In a regulatory briefing, SK Telecom said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Taekwang Group, the largest stakeholder of t-broad, for the merger of their two subsidiaries.







If the deal is finalized, SK Telecom will become the largest shareholder in the new entity.







Together with t-broad's cable TV subscribers and SK Broadband's Internet Protocol (IP) television users, the merged company is expected to have 7.7 million of TV viewers to take up 23.8 percent of the pay TV market share.







The leading telecom company's announcement comes just a week after its smaller rival LG Uplus Corp. signed a deal to acquire a 50 percent stake in CJ Hello Co., the nation's largest cable TV operator.







SK Broadband will remain in third place in the pay TV market after the merger, following market leader KT and LG Uplus, once its acquisition deal for CJ Hello is finalized.







SK Telecom had initially planned to acquire a controlling stake in CJ Hello, but the deal fell through due to regulatory hurdles in 2016.







"IPTV and cable TV are the linchpin of the pay TV market's development," SK Telecom said. "We will create synergy between IPTV and cable TV to enhance the media ecosystem." (Yonhap)






Seen is SK hynix's M14 chip-manufacturing facility in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of SK hynix



By Jun Ji-hye



SK hynix has officially proposed Yongin in Gyeonggi Province as a location for the semiconductor cluster that will be created under the government-backed 120 trillion won ($106 billion) project, the company said Thursday.



"A special purpose company (SPC) submitted a letter of investment intent to the Yongin City Government, Wednesday," an official from the world's second-largest memory chip maker said.



The SPC, consisting of SK Engineering & Construction and financial investors, was created to form a site for the SK hynix-led semiconductor cluster. The SPC submitted the letter after consultation with the chipmaker.



The submission of the letter was construed as SK hynix officially asking the government to select Yongin as the chip cluster site, as the letter will be submitted by the Yongin City Government to the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



According to the finance ministry, the government plans to make a final decision on the location by the end of next month.



In December, the trade ministry announced a plan for the project to create a semiconductor cluster in an effort to create synergy in the semiconductor industry that has been hit by weaker global demand and a drop in sales prices.



"Once the site is confirmed, SK hynix plans to invest 120 trillion won to build four semiconductor fabrication plants there after 2022 when the site building work is expected to be completed," the company official said. "In addition, more than 50 subcontractors within and outside the country will move into the cluster, which will create synergy in enhancing a semiconductor ecosystem."



Several municipalities have engaged in heated competition to host the semiconductor cluster as the project will create thousands of new jobs and generate hundreds of billions of won in new tax revenues.



Those participating in the race included Icheon in Gyeonggi Province, Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province, Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province as well as Yongin.



Industry officials said SK hynix may have placed emphasis on the geographical advantage of Yongin as the region is near Seoul, which will make it easier to attract excellent personnel and establish necessary infrastructure such as electricity, water and roads.



The region is also close to the chipmaker's headquarters in Icheon.



"About 85 percent of the member companies of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association are in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province," an industry official said. "If the semiconductor cluster is created in Yongin, companies will be able to organically cooperate in real time."


By:

Light show held in New Zealand for celebrating Lantern Festival

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By Jun Ji-hye







SK Telecom will collaborate with Deutsche Telekom to develop a blockchain platform that will enable people to use digital identification, the Korean company said Thursday.







The nation's top mobile carrier said blockchain-based digital identification will make the process of verifying personal information much simpler and safer.







The Korean and German firms will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC), scheduled to kick off on Monday in Barcelona.







Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom's T-Labs will work together to develop and commercialize blockchain-based mobile identification that can be utilized in various areas including access control, dealings and contracts.







The two firms will also further explore new business opportunities utilizing the blockchain-based digital identification.







"Mobile blockchain identification can be utilized in a variety of areas including logins both online and in offices," said Oh Se-hyun, a head of the blockchain unit at SK Telecom. "Beginning with the latest collaboration, we will further spur the innovation of information and communications technologies."







The company noted that people are currently forced to disclose their personal information such as date of birth and phone numbers when, for example, they buy goods through online shopping malls. They cannot control such information once it is exposed.







Blockchain-based digital identification does not require people to disclose their personal information. They can manage such information on their own and confirm their identification more simply and safely.







The firm said blockchain-based digital identification could also replace identification cards issued by the government such as passports.







SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom expect the new service to enable travelers from Korea and Germany to go through much simpler identity confirmation process.







The two firms plan to give a demonstration of how the blockchain-based digital identification works during the MWC.


Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' IT & mobile communications division, introduces the Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone during a media event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Thursday (KST). / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



Galaxy S10 to hit market on March 8



By Baek Byung-yeul



Samsung Electronics took the cover off its first foldable smartphone Galaxy Fold in a bid to take on Apple's iPhone in the premium smartphone market, in San Francisco, Thursday (KST).



The firm also unveiled four next-generation Galaxy S10 smartphones  the S10e, S10, S10+ and fifth-generation (5G) network-enabled S10 5G  that sport new features such as in-screen fingerprint scanner and wireless reverse charging to charge other devices.



The much-hyped Galaxy Fold will provide a new smartphone experience for users as the foldable smartphone offers a new way to multitask with apps, watch videos, play games and more, the firm said.



"We created Galaxy Fold for those that want to experience what a premium foldable device can do, beyond the limitations of a traditional smartphone," Koh Dong-jin, president of the firm's IT & mobile communications division, said during a media event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.



The LTE Galaxy Fold will hit the market on April 26 starting at $1,980, while the Galaxy S10 smartphones will be available here starting March 8.



Following the announcement of new gadgets, the country's mobile firms  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  said Thursday they will receive pre-orders for the Galaxy S10 phones starting Feb. 25. The S10 5G will be available for pre-orders starting March 22.



Koh said the Galaxy Fold will be an LTE version but Samsung plans to roll out a 5G-enabled version in Korea in May. Given the LTE version is priced at $1,980, Koh said he expects the 5G version will be between 2.3 million won ($2,047) and 2.4 million won ($2,137). He added Samsung is confident that it will sell more than 1 million of the Galaxy Fold.



When folded, the Galaxy Fold only shows a 4.6-inch screen on the front. When it is unfolded, the device becomes a tablet with a 7.3-inch display. The phone can be unfolded smoothly like opening a book as the firm adopted a hinge technology with multiple interlocking gears. The fingerprint scanner is on the side where the thumbs naturally rest.



The two batteries and the components are distributed evenly so that the phone feels balanced when holding it in two hands, the firm said. Combining two batteries, the Fold has a battery capacity of 4,380 mAh, 380 mAh more than the Galaxy Note 9. The Galaxy Fold also has 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.





An image of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



There are six cameras  three on the back, two on the inside and one on the front. With the Galaxy Fold's powerful multitasking feature, users can use other apps during a video call.



To ensure that apps and services work smoothly in the new gadget, Samsung said it has customized the software for the Galaxy Fold, working with Google and the Android developer community.



With the Galaxy Fold, users can experience new ways of using a smartphone. The firm said it can be "an ultimate multitasker" as users can open up to three active apps on the screen so they can perform different kinds of tasks on the phone at the same time.



The Galaxy Fold comes in four colors  silver, black, green and blue.





From left are Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10+ smartphones. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



The S10e, S10 and S10+ have three screen sizes: 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch and 6.4-inch. The S10 5G has a big 6.7-inch screen.



One of the biggest differences from its predecessors is the firm's unique Infinity-O Display, which has sensors and cameras in a hole-punch display. With the new type of display, Samsung could extend the screen to the very edge of the device.



The S10 is also Samsung's first device to feature an in-screen fingerprint scanner except the cheapest S10e, which has a conventional fingerprint sensor on the side. The Galaxy S10 phones are priced ranging from 900,000 won to 130,000 won.



"Galaxy S10 builds on that incredible legacy, and delivers a breakthrough display, camera and performance innovations. With four premium devices, each built for a unique consumer in mind, Samsung is leveraging a decade of industry leadership to usher in a new era of smartphone technology," Koh said.





Seen is Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S10 5G, which runs on a fifth-generation (5G) network. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
YouTube is becoming a new hub for misinformation in Korea. / Reuters



By Jung Min-ho






Cheong Wa Dae's explanation lacks credibility



Cheong Wa Dae has been embroiled in allegations that it compiled a blacklist of the heads of agencies affiliated with the Ministry of Environment.



The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office issued a travel ban on former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung, Tuesday, after acquiring documents supporting allegations that she attempted to remove the chiefs of state agencies appointed during the previous Park Geun-hye administration.



The blacklist allegation first emerged late last year when Kim Tae-woo, a former member of Cheong Wa Dae's special investigation bureau, brought it to media attention. Cheong Wa Dae has been mostly silent about it, but spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom issued a statement Wednesday to refute the widening suspicions that the presidential office pressured the ministry to create the blacklist of figures appointed during the previous administration.



Kim strongly resisted the use of the term blacklist, which has a very negative connotation as it is associated with the previous Park administration in the minds of many Koreans. Some of the former president's close aides were convicted of blacklisting anti-government figures in the cultural sector.



The presidential spokesman explained this was different from the blacklist compiled during the Park government, which was drawn up with the aim of discriminating against people in the film, literature, media and performing arts sectors who opposed the government. Kim stressed that the Ministry of Environment was simply doing its job of inspecting the heads and senior staff at state agencies.



Rep. Hong Yong-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), also underlined that the ministry did nothing illegal, describing the document as a legal "checklist" for assessing the chiefs of the state agencies who are appointed by the president. But the explanations by Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party are not convincing.



Now more people are asking with a heavy heart how the ministry's document is different from the blacklist of Park's Cheong Wa Dae, which was considered one of the most shameful aspects of her failed presidency which ended in impeachment.



The blacklist scandal has tarnished Cheong Wa Dae's image after a series of incidents involving close aides to President Moon. South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo received a prison term recently for his role in an online opinion manipulation case that happened before the May 2017 snap presidential election following Park's impeachment. Rep. Sohn Hye-won, who played a key role in Moon's election campaign, has been hit for allegations of using insider information for speculative investment in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province.



To regain public trust, it is imperative for the presidential office to clear all suspicions that it exerted undue influence in personnel affairs at state agencies affiliated with the ministries.



The prosecution should conduct a thorough investigation to determine the purpose of the list and whether there were any illegalities.




By Arthur I. Cyr





Venezuela's ongoing economic disaster has become a major political crisis. This provides opportunities for the United States and other nations in the Americas and beyond.



The deterioration of the nation's economy has been unfolding steadily now for years. This is the principal legacy of deceased left-wing President Hugo Chavez. Oil is a major national resource, but gross mismanagement and underinvestment have drastically cut production.



The regime of successor Nicolas Maduro, increasingly desperate politically, has engaged in intimidation and corruption as he tries to cling to power. In early January, he was sworn in for a second six-year term in office following a controversial election.



On Jan. 23, Juan Guaido, leader of the legislature, declared himself acting president and demanded that Maduro resign. Confrontation has continued since.



The Trump administration has joined international pressure for Maduro to go. The U.S. is shipping food and medical supplies to help alleviate the human suffering in Venezuela. A major story here is the important leadership role of Colombia, which borders Venezuela and is the initial destination of many supplies.



FARC is the acronym for a powerful rebel army, known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The powerful movement embraced communism.



After the success in 1959 of the revolution led by Fidel Castro, Cuba became a communist satellite and spearheaded subversion in Latin America. The regime survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, a close ally and sponsor, but faces serious structural economic problems.



President Barack Obama's 2016 visit to Cuba was the first by a U.S. chief executive since President Calvin Coolidge in 1928. However, Cuba remains a brutal and repressive dictatorship. Over the years, Venezuela received important aid from the government of Cuba, along with China and Russia.



Early this century, the FARC seemed to be gaining momentum. The evolving conflict resembled the first years of the United States' long and costly military involvement in Vietnam. More and more civilian and uniformed American advisers were being sent, along with a steadily growing array of helicopters, arms and ammunition.



The administration of President George W. Bush significantly expanded aid which began in the Clinton administration and also tried to minimize media attention. This effort was eerily reminiscent of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, which endeavored before 1965 to deflect Vietnam from the news even as U.S. involvement increased.



The long war and unrest made Colombia inviting for powerful international criminals. In November 2011, Viktor Bout, the "Merchant of Death," was convicted and imprisoned. A Soviet army veteran, he became enormously rich dealing weapons and drugs on a global scale.



Colombia was a major profit center for him. Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as Colombia rebels arrested him. Also in 2011, the U.S. Congress ratified trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.



Then, violence in Colombia began to decline, in great contrast to the evolution of the war in Southeast Asia. After years of war, the FARC agreed to disband. In late 2016, Colombia ratified the peace agreement. That is important and a direct reflection of substantial, real strategic change in Latin America.



Stable democracy has not suddenly emerged. Maduro clings to power. Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez is unpopular and party politics in the nation is in turmoil.



However, in Colombia, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America the military has remained in their barracks and refrained from armed coup, a traditional political remedy. That is the real news.





Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of "After the Cold War."






The government plans to take care of illegally dumped waste around the country, amounting to 1.2 million tons over the next three years, the environment ministry said Thursday.







Of the total waste load, 839,000 tons came from the waste abandoned by businesses that either went bankrupt or stripped of their licenses, the findings by the Ministry of Environment showed.







Illegally-disposed waste accounted for 330,000 tons, while 34,000 tons were brought back into the country after they were illegally exported to a third nation, the ministry said.







Nearly 52 percent of them consisted of flammable materials, while about 57.2 percent were non-flammables normally used in construction.







The government said it will process 40 percent, or 496,000 tons, of the total by the end of this year, with the rest to be handled by 2022.







Efforts will be made to maximize ways to recycle the waste and minimize environmental damage to residents living in nearby neighborhoods when the waste gets incinerated, the ministry said.







Thursday's announcement came after Greenpeace reported an illegal shipment of 6,300 tons of plastic garbage by a South Korean firm to the Philippines last year, in a case that drew international criticism.







The South Korean government has taken back 1,200 tons and plans to have the rest delivered. A local firm illegally shipped 6,300 tons of plastic waste to the Philippines







The government said Thursday it will also chase down those who are responsible for the illegal dumping of the waste and enforce measures to have them take care of the articles.







The ministry will talk with construction companies and local governments to work out ways to better process and manage the waste materials, it added. (Yonhap)










A court on Thursday handed down a six-year prison term to a former senior secretary to President Moon Jae-in over a corruption case relating to a gaming industry body.







Jun Byung-hun, an ex-presidential aide for political affairs, was convicted of forcing two home shopping channels and a telecom company to donate 550 million won ($514,260) between 2014 and 2017 to the Korea e-Sports Association, over which he practically held control. But he was not taken into custody after the ruling.







The Seoul Central Court also slapped him with a fine of 350 million won and an overdraft fee of 25 million won.







The court did not issue a warrant to arrest him as it judged that "it is appropriate for him to appeal to a higher court and solve the dispute (with the prosecution) without detention."







Jun is also accused of pressuring the finance ministry in July 2017 to set aside a fresh budget of 2 billion won for a project that the e-sports body had been pushing forward. The budget was drawn up but was scrapped after the prosecution began to probe Jun.







Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for Jun twice in November and December 2017, but they were turned down both times by the court, which cited disputable grounds for the charges. (Yonhap)










By Kim Yoo-chul







President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Cheong Wa Dae, today, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday.







Modi's trip to South Korea comes after Moon made a state visit to India last year. Modi is the first foreign leader to have a state visit to South Korea this year, the presidential office.







The Indian prime minister arrived Thursday afternoon at a military air base in Seongnam, outside of Seoul. The visit is aimed at strengthening the special strategic partnership with the South, and boosting bilateral trade and cultural ties.







"South Korea and India will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas including trade and investment. The level of the bilateral partnership will be expanded into the defense, science and technology and infrastructure areas," the presidential office said, adding the leaders of the two countries will also explore ways to add more dynamism to South Korea's New Southern Policy and India's Look East Policy.







Modi is scheduled to have bilateral and business engagements, unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi and accept the Seoul Peace Price conferred upon him.







A joint press conference is also planned after the bilateral summit, Friday afternoon.







Modi described South Korea as a valued friend for India's key initiatives such as "Startup India" and "Make in India." India is home to large manufacturing facilities of South Korean firms including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor.







Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun were invited to the state luncheon to be held at Cheong Wa Dae after the Moon-Modi summit.







India is a key nation in South Korea's New Southern Policy, one of two major foreign policies of the Moon Jae-in administration that seeks to promote regional cooperation with South Asian countries, as well as the 10 ASEAN member states.







Under the new foreign policy, South Korea is seeking to double its trade with ASEAN countries to over $200 billion by 2020.






An entrance to the North Korean Embassy in Rome, Italy, Jan. 3. / Reuters-Yonhap



By Park Ji-won



The daughter of a missing North Korean diplomat who worked in Rome returned to Pyongyang in the middle of November, the Italian foreign ministry announced Wednesday. The foreign ministry received two notices regarding the charge d'affaires in Rome.



"The first  dated Nov. 20, 2018  (North Korea) informed that the position of charge d'affaires in Rome would be assumed by Mr. Kim Chon. The second  dated Dec. 5, 2018  informed that former Charge d'Affaires Jo Song-gil and his wife had left the embassy on Nov. 10 and that their daughter, having expressed the wish to return to her country to stay with her grandparents, had returned there on Nov. 14, accompanied by some of the female staff of the embassy," Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on its website.



Based on the statement, whether Jo's daughter was forcefully sent back to Pyongyang remains unknown. North Korean envoy to Rome Jo Song-gil and his wife went missing in November, and a South Korean newspaper reported that they applied for asylum in an unspecified Western country. The whereabouts of Jo's daughter, reportedly a 17-year-old high school student, were unknown back then.



The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported to the National Assembly's intelligence committee in November about a media report that Jo, who was based in Rome, made a request to the Italian government for protection for the defection. Jo's term was supposed to conclude at the end of November 2018, but he left his official residence early November.



The Italian government's confirmation came after Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy North Korean ambassador to Britain who defected to South Korea in 2016, said on Wednesday that Jo could not take his daughter with him when he escaped.



Thae told The Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, Wednesday that the North Korean embassy in Italy uncovered Jo's intent and immediately sent his daughter to Pyongyang by plane. "I confirmed it in various ways over the last month."



He was quoted as saying, "North Korea is stepping up punishment against the remaining families of defectors if they defect to the South as they are considered traitors to the North's revolution, while lowering the punishment if they live in the U.S. or Europe."



Thae reportedly said later he could no longer urge Jo to join him after he learnt through his sources that Jo's daughter had been forced to return to North Korea.



Thae last month urged the South Korean government to protect Jo and wrote an open letter asking him to come to Seoul so "they can work together to help the two Koreas' unification."



The Italian government is conducting necessary checks to confirm the forcible repatriation of Jo's daughter, according to media reports.



Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi was quoted as saying they are "carrying out the necessary checks" and that his ministry is "following the affair."



Italian Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano also wrote on Facebook that if forcible repatriation is confirmed, it "would be of unprecedented gravity." He added, "Those responsible for this will pay, you can be sure of that."



Meanwhile, Riccardo Noury, an Amnesty International spokesman in Rome, expressed worries about the case. He said Thursday on Twitter that the Italian authorities must provide clarification.




U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to the media before the arrival of President Donald Trump during a rally at Florida International University on Feb. 18 in Miami, Florida. AP-Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton plans to visit Cheong Wa Dae later this week for a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong and consultations over the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit.



"John Bolton is set to hold a meeting later this week with National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong at Cheong Wa Dae, to notify the presidential adviser about Washington's thoughts, expectations and rapprochement for President Donald Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un," a source who is knowledgeable about the issue said, Thursday, without elaborating further.



Regarding Bolton and Chung's pre-summit meeting, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a media briefing the presidential office couldn't confirm reports of the U.S. official's upcoming visit.






Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 30th, 2018 (Photo: AFP/VNA)

During the phone call, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, the White House said.

US President Donald Trump will likely visit Japan as a state guest on May 26th, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

During his visit, Trump is expected to become the first foreign dignitary to meet with the emperor after his ascension to the throne in May.

US President Donald Trump on February 19th called the Republic of Korea (RoK) President Moon Jae-in to discuss the 2nd summit with DPRKs leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, next week.

President Donald Trump said he discussed the upcoming summit with RoK President Moon Jae-in.

"I look forward to being with Mr Kim and I think a lot of things will come out of it," Trump said. "We had a tremendous first summit, it was really breaking the ice, but a lot of things came from that, including good relationships."

RoK President Moon Jae-in told Trump he hopes the summit will provide a 'critical turning point' to accomplish complete denuclearization, a peace regime on the peninsula and development of DPRK-US relations, according to a statement from Moon's office.

In their 35-minute phone call, Moon offered to help in any way he could, his office said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced his upcoming meeting with DPRK leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi on February 27th - 28th./.
A national flag is on the ground near Exco, Daegu, Monday, before the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) holds its joint speech session there for candidates of its leadership race on Feb. 27. / Yonhap



By Park Ji-won



The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) will hold its national convention Feb. 27 to choose a new leader and members of its Supreme Council.



However, it is being criticized for attracting ultra-right wing supporters and focusing more on satisfying them rather than promoting the individual candidate's political vision. The candidates for the leadership race continue to make controversial remarks purportedly seeking to impress so-called "Taegukgi troops," a group that allegedly supports impeached former President Park Geun-hye. The group has been expanding its presence after calling for the "nullification" of Park's impeachment for years, while actively participating in anti-government protests and political gatherings



Former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, a candidate for the leadership race, said during a televised debate Tuesday, "I don't agree with the validity of the impeachment of former President Park." He hadn't given an opinion on this until a few days ago, and the remarks were seen as showing he is still one of Park's supporters. Later, former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Rep. Kim Jin-tae criticized him, saying Hwang should have spoken on the matter earlier.



Kim Joon-kyo, a candidate for the Supreme Council, also made controversial remarks at a joint stumping session Monday, saying, "Moon Jae-in is not a president, but rather a betrayer of the country. Let's impeach Moon Jae-in." He later apologized for not "respecting other candidates" after he was criticized, but attracted large public attention nonetheless.



Their remarks were likely in response to the extreme group's political mobilization, according to political insiders. The stumping session held in Daejeon and Daegu was attended by a large number of Taegukgi troops who have swung their support behind Kim. They have been participating in election events in large groups and heckle Hwang and Oh whenever they make speeches.



The group reportedly accounts for only 2 percent or about 8,000 of the LKP membership, but has been a very vocal minority.



Earlier, when the LKP's emergency leadership committee decided to expel a lawmaker who made defamatory remarks about victims of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, more than 1,000 text messages were sent to interim chief Kim Byong-joon and the ethics committee chief to stop the expulsion.



Many people think the LKP should cut ties with the pro-Park group, while some claim it should embrace it.



In a nationwide poll of 502 adults conducted by Realmeter, Thursday, 57.9 percent said they think the LKP should abandon the Taegukgi group, while 26.1 percent said it should be part of the conservative party. The pollster said the survey shows that if the LKP cuts ties with the extremists, it may attract centrists and nonpartisan groups. But it added this might be difficult to do as most conservatives think the LKP should embrace the pro-Park group.



"The party's campaign has already been overwhelmed by the defamatory remarks about the May 18 movement, Taegukgi troops and Park's impeachment," a senior LKP lawmaker said. "It is no good for the party to fixate on the past if it wants to unify conservatives and win in the general election."


Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin walks out of the Seoul Central District Court after being sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, Thursday. Yonhap





Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Thursday for his involvement in a massive online maneuver by the military designed to sway public opinion.







The Seoul Central District Court handed down the verdict on Kim, who headed the ministry from late 2010 to June 2014. The court did not arrest him as it allowed him to appeal without detention.







The court also sentenced Lim Kwan-bin, a former policy planning chief at the ministry who was charged alongside Kim, to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years.







Kim, who also served as national security adviser to then President Park Geun-hye, was indicted in March last year for instructing the Cyber Command to write some 9,000 internet comments in support of Park's conservative government.







Kim was also accused of pressuring ministry officials into scaling down an internal investigation into the covert operations in early 2014.







The court found the defendants guilty of abuse of power in carrying out the illicit cyber operations. (Yonhap)






If you hit back, don't expect Korea's self-defense law to excuse you. / Graphic by Cho Sang-won



By Jung Min-ho



On Oct. 9, a stranger made an unprovoked attack on a man in his 30s. To protect himself, the man grabbed the attacker and threw him to the ground.



The altercation left the man with serious injuries, including a broken nose, which a doctor said would take six weeks to mend. On the other hand, the assailant suffered only a few scratches.



Yet police concluded that both men were responsible for the "fight," in which, according to police, both attacked each other and suffered injuries.



Korea has a "stand-your-ground law" that allows people to use force to protect themselves or others against threats.



But many believe the law is nothing but a name because of its lack of flexibility for defenders.



Under the law, people are allowed to use force to "prevent unjust infringement of one's or another person's legal interest," as long as there are reasonable grounds for that act and the degree of force does not go beyond reasonable bounds. But the law, as precedents and police guidelines show, deems using weapons and inflicting injuries on the attacker that would take more than three weeks to recover from unreasonable  a standard many find almost impossible to meet in reality.



If both sides sustain injuries, police almost always press assault charges on both, regardless of how the fight started and how serious each person is hurt, urging them to settle and drop allegations.



"Police do not want to give an impression that they are taking sides with anyone," Kwak Dae-kyung, professor at the police administration department of Dongguk University, told The Korea Times. "This is why police are cautious about making a conclusion that one of them did so for self-protection."



Also, there are too many petty altercations for police to handle. "It just takes too much time and effort to find out exactly what happened with physical evidence for every single case," he said. "Thus, police try to conclude the case quickly for everyone involved by convincing them to settle."



Some people refuse to settle and bring the case to court. But the court rarely recognizes self-defense claims.



"The court interprets the law very narrowly, which is the key of the issue," lawyer Kim Yong-min said. "As long as the court's current interpretation stands, there are few things police and prosecutors can do to change it."



According to the law, which states that the defense act should not exceed reasonable limits, the person should not use greater force than that inflicted on him or her, which Kim thinks is the most nonsensical part of the law.



Also, Korean laws do not treat such situations occurring inside homes differently from ones outside. This is why the Chuncheon District Court found a 20-something man guilty of beating a thief who broke into his house in 2014  a case that sparked a national debate on the self-defense law.



The man, surnamed Choi, was given an 18-month prison term, suspended for three years, for beating a thief with his fist and an aluminum pole at his house in Wonju, Gangwon Province, at 3 a.m. The thief was rendered brain dead and has remained in a vegetative state.



If the same thing occurred in the United States, experts say Choi would go unpunished for what he did.



Nearly all states in the United States allow people to use deadly force to protect themselves inside their homes, based on the "Castle Doctrine," the legal notion that "your home is your castle and you have the right to use any force to defend it." Many states also have laws that expand the use of deadly force beyond their homes.



But change may be coming here. Over the past few months, dozens of petitions were posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website to urge the government and the National Assembly to revise the self-defense law.



"The current law is ridiculous," one petitioner wrote. "If the person wants to protect himself within the boundaries of law against a robber with a knife, the person should be able to kick the robber's hand to remove the weapon. This is close to impossible."



The presidential office said it will respond to any petition that gains more than 200,000 signatures within a month.










The Seoul metropolitan government said Thursday it will open an exhibition this week on late Canadian missionary Frank Schofield and his four compatriots in recognition of their contribution to Korean independence movement against Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.







The exhibit, which will run from Saturday through March 31 at City Hall, will feature 50 documents, videos and photos of the five people under the theme of "Korea's Independence Movement and Canadians."







Schofield (1889-1970) took part in the 1919 popular movement that protested for independence and was part of Korea's independence movement against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.







He came to Korea in 1916 to work as a bacteriology professor at Severance Union Medical College in Seoul and also worked as a Christian missionary. Schofield actively took part in the Korean independence movement, reporting Japan's brutal colonial rule to the rest of the world and helping Korean independence fighters in prison.







After Korean liberation in 1945, he devoted his life to education and medical activities, working as a veterinary professor at Seoul National University. Also known by his Korean name, Seok Ho-pil, Schofield became the first and only foreigner buried at the patriots' section of Seoul's National Cemetery in 1968.







The other four Canadians are Stanley Martin (1890-1941), also a medical missionary, Robert Grierson (1868-1965), the first physician missionary to Korea, Archibald Barker, a missionary, and Frederick McKenzie (18691931), a correspondent who covered and helped the Korean struggle against Japanese colonialists.







Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon will attend the exhibit's opening ceremony on Tuesday along with invited guests, including Dean Schofield, Schofield's grandson. (Yonhap)










By Park Si-soo







Police caught 1,650 foreigners committing crimes in northern Gyeonggi Province last year, with concerns over the number nabbed for drug consumption.







The area is home to numerous factories and other industrial facilities that have workers from developing countries.







Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency, responsible for the area, revealed its crackdown data for 2018 on Thursday.







The figures showed 64 people were arrested while others faced criminal procedures without detention. Violence (426 cases) dominated, followed by intellectual crime (230), theft (139), drug violations (36) and sexual crime (23).







The total was slightly less compared with 2017 (1,777 cases).







The agency is concerned about drug violations, which were running at between one and five between 2010 and 2015. They spiked at 83 in 2016, but fell to 49 in 2017 and 36 last year. Officials say they will have to remain vigilant to prevent the figures from bouncing back.








By Kang Seung-woo





Park Sang-ki
Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Thursday, after receiving a two-and-a-half-year prison term for orchestrating the military cyber command's online opinion rigging operation in 2012. / Yonhap



By Kim Jae-heun



Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, Thursday, for ordering a massive online operation by the military to rig public opinion in favor of the then-conservative ruling party in 2012.



The Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of intervening in politics contrary to the Military Criminal Act; but allowed him to remain free as he is standing trial on other charges.



"Kim's act distorted people's political opinion and prevented politicians and political parties from having free competition," the court said in its ruling. "It is unacceptable, for any reason, for a state organization to illegally intervene in forming public opinion for the purpose of creating specific opinions."



The court said his act gravely violated the military's obligation to be politically neutral. "The obligation was made after the June 10, 1986 uprising as the military was deeply involved in politics and damaged the value of free democracy. But Kim, who was the chief of the defense ministry, violated this obligation and betrayed the public's trust in the military."



Kim was accused of orchestrating the military's Cyber Command to support the then ruling party and criticize its opponents before and after the general election and presidential election in 2012 under the Lee Myung-bak administration.



Soldiers at the cyberwarfare command were ordered to write positive comments online to news articles favorable to the then-ruling Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the Liberty Korea Party, and malicious ones for the then-main opposition Democratic United Party. The cyber command posted about 9,000 such comments.



Kim, who headed the ministry from 2010 to 2014, was appointed as national security adviser to Park Geun-hye during her presidency.



The court also found Kim guilty of abusing his power to interfere with the ministry's 2013 internal investigation of the Cyber Command's involvement in political activity. The investigation was conducted as suspicions had emerged, but the internal probe team concluded at the time there had been no systematic cyber operation and that some soldiers at the command posted such comments voluntarily.



Leaving the court, Kim said he respects the court's decision and he would review whether to appeal.



Lim Kwan-bin, a former policy planning chief at the defense ministry, also received an 18-month prison term suspended for three years, for his involvement in the cyber operation under Kim.



The two were arrested in November 2017, but were released from custody after two weeks when a court decided there was little chance Kim would flee or destroy evidence, and Lim posted 10 million won bail.


Honorees from the 2018 Miss Korea pageant hosted by Hankook Ilbo are seated together in the Grand Hall of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Feb. 21, before the start of the 14th annual spring concert hosted by The Korea Times. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Lee Min-hyung





U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take "meaningful" steps for denuclearization to earn a lifting of sanctions on his regime, a few days before their second summit in Vietnam.



"The sanctions are on in full," Trump told reporters at the White House, Wednesday (local time). "I have not taken sanctions off. I would love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that is meaningful on the other side."



The U.S. leader implied that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be a long process, saying he hopes to hold more summits with Kim down the road.



"I don't think this will be the last meeting by any chance," Trump said.



Starting this week, Trump is making remarks on the upcoming summit with Kim on a daily basis, even if his comments do not come with any details on what will be discussed during the much-anticipated meeting. On Tuesday, the U.S. president said he would take enough time in the ongoing dialogue with the North and that he remains in "no rush" to realize complete denuclearization of the peninsula.



Trump and Kim will start their two-day summit in Hanoi, Feb. 27. The meeting is a follow up to the historic Singapore summit last June during which the two leaders reached a broad consensus on the North's nuclear disarmament.






The portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by Vietnamese artist Tran Lam Binh, center, are displayed at a cafe in Hanoi on Wednesday, a week ahead of the second Trump and Kim summit. AFP-Yonhap



The Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea has given a green light to Kim Jong Un's delegation to travel to Vietnam next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday (local time).



The Vietnamese government requested an exemption from sanctions for the entire delegation to travel to Hanoi and there was no objection by any of the 15 council nations, the council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations were private.



The exemption covers anyone in the delegation who is on the U.N. sanctions blacklist and therefore is banned from traveling and subject to an asset freeze. It will also allow all delegation members to take home luxury goods whose import to North Korea is banned by the council.



The sanctions committee granted the same exemptions for the North Korean leader's delegation ahead of Kim's first meeting with Trump in Singapore in June.



The sanctions committee can grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis for any reason consistent with the objectives of relevant Security Council resolutions. One objective is peacefully resolving the North Korea nuclear issue.



At the Singapore summit, Kim pledged to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula, without providing a clear timetable or roadmap on abandoning North Korea's nuclear weapons. U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at making progress on Kim's pledge, in return for unspecified concessions, has since made little headway.






General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Nguyen Phu Trong welcomes Lao Minister of Public Security Vilay Lakhamfong (Source: VNA)



Minister Lilay Lakhamfong congratulated Vietnam on its important achievements in recent times, and expressed his delight at the sound development of the Laos-Vietnam special solidarity which has brought about practical benefits for both peoples.

Informing the host of Laos recent situation, especially in national security work, and the outcomes of the talks between the two public security ministries, he affirmed that the Lao ministry will coordinate closely with the Vietnamese side to effectively carry out the signed cooperation agreements.

Hailing the significance of the visit by the Lao newly-accredited Minister of Public Security, the Vietnamese Party and State leader affirmed that the Lao ministry has contributed to the development of the Vietnam-Laos special relations.

Speaking of the outcomes of the talks, as well as the results of cooperation between the two ministries, he stressed that their relationship deserves to be a pillar in the two countries ties.

He asked both sides to maintain close coordination in protecting national security and maintaining social safety and order; step up information exchanges; and support each other at regional and international forums on crime prevention and control, especially in cross-border crimes./.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to the media  before the arrival of President Donald Trump  during a rally at Florida International University in Miami on Feb. 18. Bolton is scheduled to travel to South Korea later this week, according to CNN. AFP-Yonhap





U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will travel to South Korea this week for talks before next week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, CNN reported Wednesday (local time).







Bolton is slated to be in South Korea later this week for discussions about the summit between Trump and Kim set for Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, the broadcaster quoted two U.S. government officials as saying.






U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Wednesday (local time). Trump said North Korea's leader must make a "meaningful" gesture for the U.S. to lift sanctions on Pyongyang. Reuters-Yonhap





U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday (local time) that North Korea must take "meaningful" steps toward denuclearization to win sanctions relief from the United States.







Trump plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27 and 28 to flesh out an agreement they reached at last June's first summit in Singapore to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program.







"We'll be meeting with Chairman Kim for two days and I think we'll accomplish a lot," Trump told reporters at a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the White House. "I don't think this will be the last meeting by any chance."







Washington has sought to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs under the inspection of outside experts.







North Korea has in turn called for "corresponding measures," such as sanctions relief and a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.







"The sanctions are on in full, as you know," Trump said. "I haven't taken sanctions off. I'd love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that's meaningful on the other side."










Jung Sang-gyu poses with his book "Forgotten Heroes, Independence Fighters." Courtesy of Jung Sang-gyu



By Park Jin-hai



Jung Sang-gyu, author and social activist, is an odd man out. People of his age have grown increasingly nonchalant to history as they are busy honing foreign language skills and pursuing higher education.



Jung, who studied mathematics and economics at the University of Oregon, renounced his permanent U.S. residency status and chose to join the Air Force to fulfill his military duty. In 2014, while he was serving as an officer, he began to study independence fighters, and a year later launched the "Independence Fighters App."



"I was no different from others before. As an expat student living in the U.S., I had lived fiercely constantly trying to prove myself, competing with other students," said the 31-year-old Jung who is a working committee member for the Presidential Commission on the Centennial Anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement and the Korean Provisional Government.



He was determined to come back to his home country for his sick father and aging mother, but his comrades he met at the frontline division changed his entire life.



"In my division, there were soldiers from families of independence activists including the great-grandson of Kim Gu who led the Independence Army. From them, I heard stories about their families unlike I had ever heard before. I was so moved by how they gave their lives for the people and the country under Japan's colonial rule," he said.



"At the same time, I was so ashamed of myself, having lived without knowing of their sacrifices and noble spirit. As an Air Force officer myself, I felt inspired by all those independence fighters as the great officers who lived before me, with my heart filled with overwhelming emotions. I thought not only me, but all others should learn about their great deeds."





"Independence Fighters" mobile application Jung developed



Then he came up with the idea to make a mobile application. His "Independence Fighters App" gives the push alarm service to its over 330,000 users on commemorative days like the date of their birth/death along with stories of those forgotten heroes. It also provides information on memorials, museum and statues of those heroes in a user's vicinity.









While he was preparing for the service, trying to find information about those activists, he learned how those heroes were forgotten, Jung said.



"There are some 14,000 names the government registered as independence fighters. But, going over school history books over the past 10 years, only the same 20 to 25 names of independence fighters appeared repeatedly with no addition of new names. Learning more about those nameless heroes, I couldn't help but think that although they are anonymous, their deeds were no lesser than well-known heroes, say, Yu Gwan-sun and An Jung-geun."



Through his application, Jung says he reached many descendants of independence fighters who want to reclaim their parents' or grandparents' honor.



"Under the current system, those now aged sons and daughters should bring the documents that can prove their dead ancestors' participation in the independence movement. It means they have to travel to Japan and China, accompanying translators, and collect related documents on their family history. That is almost impossible for financial reasons and their old age. So they end up writing petition letters to presidents and mayors for help, but nothing is done on the part of government," he said.



To be registered with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, they again should meet some unilateral requirements including minimum three-month imprisonment.



"Mentioning such reasons as lack of budget and personnel, the government didn't even try to make a joint committee that can study and verify those many forgotten independence fighters. Using networks of people from independence families, I'm planning to launch a private entity in the field of the independence movement that works like VANK, an NGO conducting public diplomacy."





"Forgotten Heroes, Independence Fighters"
Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, second from right, announces plans to expand the Gwangju-Hyundai Motor employment model nationwide at the government complex in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



By Park Hyong-ki



The central government will use and expand a model by Gwangju City and Hyundai Motor aimed at boosting job creation across the country's provincial areas, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Thursday.



The ministry said the government will encourage regional offices to adopt and develop the model with companies of any size to open plants, create jobs and spur growth in their respective regions.



It will launch a committee consisting of experts from the private and public sectors to begin accepting proposals from regional and city governments by the end of March to set up joint ventures with companies.



The committee will then select two to three areas where the selected regional offices and companies can locate their manufacturing ventures and begin hiring employees by the end of June.



Those that have gained approval will receive not only support and tax cuts from the government, but also regional administrations will offer further incentives and other financial packages.



The central and regional governments will cover 50 percent of the costs to build a high-tech joint venture plant, and support the building of childcare centers and workers' apartments near the factory.



The finance ministry said it hoped it could also attract Korean companies that have established plants overseas to come back home.



"We are seeking to expand the Gwangju model amid rising unemployment, especially in areas hit hard by local industry downturns," Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in a press conference in Seoul.



"The proposals have to show that they will be win-win among the involved parties including regional offices, companies, workers and local residents in the long term."



In January, Gwangju City and Hyundai Motor agreed to set up a manufacturing joint venture in the city's industrial center that will hire around 11,000 workers to build Hyundai's small sport utility vehicles beginning 2021.



Under the plan, workers of the Gwangju-Hyundai joint venture will get paid 50 percent of the average annual income earned by those who work at Hyundai's main Ulsan factory. They are also expected to work 44 hours a week, less than the 52-hour workweek.



The city government will provide tax incentives and fill in the workers' income gap by financing their healthcare, housing and other social security costs.



Backed by the central government, this plan is aimed at "redistributing jobs" amid the onslaught of weak employment data over the past months.



Analysts say although the model looks promising, the private sector should take the lead in job creation.



"I feel cautious about the model, given that the government is leading the project to create jobs. The private sector has to be at the forefront in job creation," said Yun Chang-hyun, an economist at the University of Seoul.






The National Gugak Center will be holding traditional Korean dance and music performances throughout 2019. Courtesy of the National Gugak Center



Traditional



Saturday Performances

National Gugak Center

Throughout 2019



Every Saturday at 3 p.m., the National Gugak Center holds a performance showcasing traditional Korean music and dance. This series will take place all throughout 2018. Each week the series will exhibit the works of various gugak artists. Various performances throughout the month of February will include the piri, pansori and sanjo. There will also be a traditional fan dance at the end of the month.

Tickets cost 10,000 won to 20,000 won. For more information, visit gugak.go.kr or call (02) 580-3300.



Gugak Concert DaDam

National Gugak Center

Feb. 27



In 2019, National Gugak Center will continue its DaDam concert series in which members of the public can come in to discuss various aspects of traditional Korean music and culture with experts as well as enjoy performances by professional gugak musicians. On Feb. 27, reporter Kim Hwan-young will give a talk on the topic of love in Korea, especially how it was portrayed in traditional Korean culture. He will also be gifting audiences with his books, "Let's Talk About Korea" and "Humanities for CEOs."

Tickets cost 10,000 won to 20,000 won. For more information, visit gugak.go.kr or call (02) 580-3300.





This exhibition will be at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea until April 7. Courtesy of the MMCA



Museums



The Essential Duchamp

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Until April 7



A French-American artist, Marcel Duchamp was born in 1887 and worked with paint, sculpture and film mediums. He is known as one of the most prominent contemporary artists and drew inspiration from Cubism, Dada and conceptual art. To commemorate the 50th year since his death, the MMCA will host the exhibition The Essential Duchamp until April 2019. The exhibition will include many of his works such as "Fountain," "The Large Glass" and "Etant Donnes." The exhibition is a cooperative effort of the MMCA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Tickets cost 4,000 won. Visit mmca.go.kr for more information.



What Ought to Be Done? Work and Life

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Until April 7

Harun Farocki was a German artist who conveyed his critical views of the world through his films and other works using multimedia. Making a statement of how media and industrial technology have negative consequences on humanity, Farocki tried to restore rationality in a period of time he considered to be chaotic and beyond reason. Touching upon other aspects of society such as labor and war, he incorporated poetry into film to create a raw and honest opinion of the world. The exhibition will feature several of his major works including The Parallel I-IV series, "Interface" and "Workers Leaving their Workplaces."

Tickets cost 4,000 won. Visit mmca.go.kr for more information.



Civilization: The Way We Live Now

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Until Feb. 19



This exhibition is the accumulation of over 300 works from 130 artists depicting human life in the modern world. The main medium of the exhibition is photography, and the MMCA will the first museum to feature the exhibition before it is shown at different museums throughout the world. The exhibition is split into eight sections, each of which pertains to a different aspect of society. Such facets include human relationships, power dynamics and conflict. The artists come from all different backgrounds. Korean artists featured include Noh Sun-tag and Kim Tae-dong. This exhibition is a collaborative effort by MMCA and the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography. Tickets cost 2,000 won. Visit mmca.go.kr for more information.





This exhibition will be held at Seoul Museum until Feb. 28. Courtesy of Aardman Animations Limited and Seoul Design
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Windy with scattered thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Windy with scattered thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A lawyer for Kokomo Common Council President Bob Hayes has questioned whether a challenge of Hayes candidacy meets the legal requirements to garner a hearing before the Howard County Election Board.

Manny Herceg, an Indianapolis attorney with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, spoke Wednesday at an election board meeting, citing concerns with the wording of a candidate challenge filed last week.

The challenge, initiated by Kokomo resident Josh Layton, alleges that Hayes "primary residency may not be Howard County. Property records attached to the challenge show Hayes and his wife as the owners of a home in Osceola.

Hayes, who works at Delphi and is seeking re-election to his at-large seat, lists a separate, Kokomo address in his candidate filing records and told the Tribune in a previous interview that he has been a lifelong resident of Kokomo for 67 years.

Meanwhile, Herceg believes the challenge doesnt even meet the basic requirements of the statute.

He pointed to state code that says a challenger, in their sworn statement filed with the election board, must question the eligibility of the candidate to seek the office and set forth the facts known to the voter concerning this question.

Herceg noted that Layton, in his challenge of Hayes candidacy, crossed out the words is not, instead choosing to write that Hayes primary residency may not be Howard County.

Thats not a fact, thats an opinion, said Herceg. And as a basic requirement of the statute, the challenge cant be heard and should be dismissed without setting a hearing because its not based on a fact.

He had to verify this under oath, and he started to write a fact, and then he crossed it out and wrote an opinion. So, respectfully, I would contest that this challenge is invalid on its face."

He said the board should "not waste the time to set a hearing.

Ultimately, board members requested that Herceg submit his motion to dismiss in writing by noon Friday so that we could confer with our county attorney on that, said Democratic election board member Derick Steele, who gave an early interpretation of the controversy.

My gut would be, while I understand the assertions that qualifications of facts may render them lesser than what we would typically like to see, Im not sure that that would rise to the level of the dismissal on its face, noted Steele, a Kokomo attorney.

Like with any general pleading, I would think that when were talking about  it being insufficient on its face, we need to air on the side of the challenger. If theres any grounds here that we could possibly see a basis for the challenge  and not making any determination about Mr. Hayes residency  but if it may be an inappropriate residence, thats enough of a grounds, I think, from my perspective from the board, to at least survive to at least get us to the hearing.

In response, Herceg underlined what he sees as a clearly written piece of law, saying that because its based on statute, it has to be strictly interpreted.

The Legislature, in their wisdom, could have said, set forth the facts or beliefs known to the challenger, he continued. But it didnt. It said set forth the facts.

And may not live in Kokomo aint a fact.

Also on the board are Republican Napoleon Leal and Howard County Clerk Debbie Stewart. Leal, however, was represented Wednesday by a proxy, Phil Thurston, who himself vied unsuccessfully for the city council in 2015.

Thurston said Wednesday was the first time he had seen the challenge and needs time to consider it before making a decision.

I need to read it, he noted. Thurston is expected to stand in for Leal into next month.

Board members are now expected to confer with Howard Countys attorney, Alan Wilson. A special meeting will be called if board members choose to rule on Herceg's motion before the challenge's official hearing.

A hearing on the Hayes candidacy challenge is set for 2:30 p.m. March 4.

Its possible that the case could be settled before March 4 if board members choose to rule favorably on the motion to dismiss.

Wendt and Jones

Regardless of how the Hayes case goes, two other challenges will move forward to March 4.

Challenges were filed last week against Democratic council candidates Chris Wendt and Jimmy Jones.

Jones has filed to run in the Democratic primary for the councils 2nd district seat, against incumbent Bob Cameron; Wendt initially filed in the 2nd district race before switching to the Democratic primary contest for the councils three at-large seats.

The challenges against Jones and Wendt were both filed by Kokomo resident Justin Kingery, who wrote the same thing for each candidate: The candidate has not voted in a Democratic primary and is ineligible to file on the Democratic ballot.
South Africa: KZN Growth Fund gets new CEO

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Sihle Zikalala, has welcomed the appointment of Aubrey Shabane as the new Chief Executive Officer of the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Fund (KZNGF).

Shabane has been a valuable asset since he joined the KZNGF as a chief investment officer in 2015 and we are confident that he will continue to excel in his new responsibility, Zikalala said.

The KZNGF is a development financier of the KZN Provincial Government within the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.

Zikalala described Shabane as a dynamic leader and seasoned senior executive, adding that 80 percent of the total projects funded by the KZNGF happened during the four years when he was leading the investment team.

Shabanes appointment comes as a major boost for the EDTEA family, as we pay more attention on supporting manufacturing initiatives which have a huge potential to take the economy of the province to greater heights and create jobs. We commend the KZNGF for the role it has played in the implementation of our Black Industrialists Programme, which is aimed at altering economic patterns in our province, Zikalala said.

Prior to joining the KZNGF, Shabane was the Head of Equity Investments at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, responsible for over R7 billion of assets under management. He also spent years as a Corporate Finance Manager at Deloitte.

He holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from Leeds University Business School, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from UNISA and a Bachelor of Technology in Financial Management from Durban University of Technology.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Steven E. Tucker raises his hand as he takes an oath that he will tell the truth as he enters a guilty plea before Judge Andrew Self Wednesday afternoon.
PLEASANT PRAIRIE  An outage that left three subdivisions near the state line without running water for about an hour on Wednesday was caused by a leaking hydrant valve, according to village officials.

Village Public Works Director John Steinbrink said the leak was reported by a resident around 10 a.m., and the repairs were made in under an hour.

It wasnt a main break, but a minor break that someone had called in, he said.

At the time of the initial call, public works crews anticipated the repairs would take about five hours, but because the break was not major, Steinbrink said, it took less time. He said the cause of the leak itself had not been determined.

The leak had affected Pleasant Homes, Green Tree and Prairie Trails West subdivisions between 125th Street to 121st Street just north of the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

Residents were advised that they would see cloudiness in the water following the repair. The condition is due to air in the waterlines and running their faucets would flush the air from the lines.

Residents with additional questions about the water outage can call the village at 262-925-6700.

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Their friend, Ethan Corrigan, of Kenosha, said he would do fine with just a jacket for the free meals for a year.

Id be able to eat these with the (waffle) fries and Chick-fil-A sauce five meals a day, he said dipping some of the fries into the sauce. Mm-mm. Thats how many meals I eat a day.

Summer Moore, of Kenosha, is a veteran when it comes to the campout. This was her ninth one, she said.

But, she prefaced it by saying that, in years past, the restaurant chain didnt have a residency requirement. Moores family is from Alabama, and Chick-fil-As are popular in the South with headquarters in Atlanta. These days, the campouts cater to residents of the community.

A while back, they didnt have the zip code regulation, so my parents and I would get up at three in the morning and wed drive to openings in Florida, Georgia  my parents are so much fun, she said.

Moore, a freelance film producer and piano teacher, had been visiting her parents last week, and an airline offered her a $500 voucher to return to Wisconsin at a later date. But, she turned them down because she had already planned to be at the campout in Pleasant Prairie. She also went to one in Gurnee, Ill., because she met the zip code requirement.
Barely six months after it entered the private labour recruitment for the external market, Premier Recruitment Limited, a member of the Ruparelia Group, yesterday sent its first batch of 8 Ugandan ladies to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where they will work as domestic workers on a two year contract.

The ladies, left Entebbe International Airport, on January, 19 2019 at 5:40pm aboard Ethiopian Airlines and safely touched down in Jeddah at 02:50am on January 20th 2019. In Jeddah, they were received by partners and associates of Premier Recruitment, for onward placement at their respective places of work.

The workers were seen off by Mr. Kanak Shah, the Premier Recruitment Ltd, General Manager and Ms. Marley Ritah, the External Recruitment Operations Manager. Ms. Marley, advised the ladies to continue acting professionally and work hard so as to pave way for more Ugandan recruits. This being our first batch of recruits in under 6 months since we entered the market, is significant in our history and in the life of these ladies. This is the first of many, many more to come. We are very proud of this moment and wish all the eight (8) ladies the best of luck in this new chapter of their lives, said Ms. Marley.

Stories Continues after ad

Mr. Kanak Shah, reiterated the companys commitment to provide gainful and dignified employment opportunities to Ugandans here and abroad. Premier Recruitment has a commitment to helping decrease the high level of Ugandan unemployment by providing opportunities for Ugandans here in Uganda and abroad. We are committed to providing a superior level of customer service, compliance, integrity and honesty to both our clients and recruits and those already deployed to the field, he said.

Kanak added that all company staff have been trained about the relevant labour laws, so as to be able to deliver a professional recruitment service but also keep everyone up-to-date and compliant with any changes and updates within Employment Law, both here and abroad.

Premier is licensed by Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development for Internal Recruitment and a member of the Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies.

According to Mr. Rajiv Ruparelia, CEO Premier Recruitment, the Uganda labour externalisation industry is a vital source of livelihood for both the employees and their families and a major pillar of the economy that ought to be protected by all the stakeholders and bad apples weeded out. Uganda has a competitive advantage over a number of African countries because of our good English that we need to leverage just like our neighbours in Kenya.

According to the World Bank and IMF Balance of Payments as well as Bank of Uganda data, personal remittances to Uganda have grown by 174.6 per cent from $451.6 million (Shs1.66 trillion) in 2007 to $1.24 billion (Shs4.5 trillion) in 2017, but our neighbours, Kenya raked in $1.962 billion (UShs7.2 trillion) in 2017 and $2.5 billion (Shs9.2 trillion) in 2018, noted Rajiv, adding: Diaspora remittances to Uganda are equivalent to 30 per cent of Ugandas traditional export earnings- $3.4 billion (Shs12.5 trillion) in 2017 and $3.6 billion (Shs13.2 trillion) in 2018 and almost 3 times bigger than coffee export receipts- $555.4 million (Shs2 trillion) in 2017 and $436.4 million (Shs1.6 trillion) in 2018. Protecting and harnessing more value from this vital sector should be the responsibility of everyone.

Rajiv also said, beyond direct economic gains, labour externalization had other benefits such skills transfer, mobilization of capital for investment and improving household incomes and standards of living for their dependents back home. The Bank of Uganda, Personal Transfers Survey 2017 indicated that the Middle East was the second biggest source of remittances to Uganda (28.6 per cent) after Africa (29 per cent). Europe (20.7 per cent) and North/South America (18.41 per cent) were third and fourth respectively.

According to the Uganda Association for External Recruitment Agencies, there are 140,000 skilled and semi-skilled Ugandans working in the Middle East as blue-collar professionals as well as technicians, security personnel, porters, drivers, cleaners, housekeepers, catering and hospitality personnel. Domestic workers only account for about 30 per cent. The survey also showed that remittances benefited up to 820,000 households and that $6 out of every $10 received, went to financing household expenses and education.
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Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced that the Galveston Seawall Beach and Dune Habitat Restoration project received the Best Restored Beaches in America for 2018 award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA). The Galveston Seawall Restoration project will be recognized at the 2019 Coastal Summit Program in Washington D.C., March 12-14.

Our Texas beaches are a crucial part of our communities, said Commissioner Bush. The restoration of these beaches not only assures our coastal resiliency but restores recreation areas that thousands of Texans enjoy each year. The Texas General Land Office is honored to partner with the Galveston Park Board of Trustees. Their contribution to this project will impact not only the Galveston community, but also our great state."

Prior to 2017, the historic Galveston Seawall area had not seen a major restoration project for almost 23 years. In 1994, 710,000 yds3 of sand were placed along the seawall. This original project is recognized as the first Gulf of Mexico beach nourishment project in Texas. Fourteen years later in 2008, the impacts of Hurricane Ike resulted in an emergency placement project (approximately 500,000 yds3 in 2008/2009) to reestablish a sand beach in front of the original sections of the seawall. This was necessary to protect the untreated piles supporting those original seawall sections. These emergency actions were primarily focused on providing structural support and protection to the seawall; and had relatively nothing to do with enhancing a public beach.

Restoration of the Galveston Seawall gained national recognition because it was the very first beach project of any kind implemented on the Texas coast that exceeded 1,000,000 yds3 of sand. It is by far the largest project ever implemented in Texas.
Opinion Policies

Editorials are longer opinion pieces that are written by a group of community members recruited across campus who address relevant issues on a local, national and international level. Editorials are research-based. The purpose of the Editorial Board is to promote discussion concerning relevant issues in the community while advising on possible solutions. Topics are chosen via relevancy and interests of the members, which are then discussed by the Editorial Board in order to reach a general consensus concerning the topic or issue.

Feedback policy

If you have a grievance concerning the content or argument of the Editorial Board, please contact either Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or the Editorial Board as a whole (editorialboard@iowastatedaily.com). Those wanting to respond to editorials can also submit a letter to the editor through the Iowa State Daily website or by emailing the letter to Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or Editor-in-Chief Sage Smith (sage.smith@iowastatedaily.com).

Column Policy

Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions.

Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Georgia Van Gundy, executive director of the Iowa Business Council, presents to the Ames Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Wednesday on "Iowa's Competitive Dashboard."
Although our favourite super star musicians, Ayo Balogun aka Wizkid, and Tiwa Savage have not come forward to deny or accept their rumoured relationship, they just keep pointing us to it.

Just this afternoon, Tiwa Savage tweeted a lovely message at her rumoured lover, Wizzy, causing another frenzy on social media.

Tiwa, who has been absent on social media for a while, has come back with a bang, snatching the headlines again as usual, with how much Wizkid inspirea her.

See tweet

https://twitter.com/TiwaSavage/status/1098593709485101056?s=19
Vanguard

The Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro Campaign Organization has urged Nigerians especially members of his constituency to come out en masse to vote for candidates contesting on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The Sun

Lumumba Dah-Adeh is the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) former members of the House of Representatives.

Daily Times

An applicant, and holder of the Higher National Diploma (HND) programme, Samson Adeosun has been reportedly killed on Tuesday night in an attack on the campaign train of Mr Lola Ashiru, the Kwara South Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Leadership

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has described as absurd, the lies, propaganda and accusations against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Daily Trust

Social Democratic Party (SDP) has called on its members and other electorate to vote en masse on Saturday for its adopted presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Nation

Police operatives in Lagos State have arrested three persons with stolen card readers.

Tribune

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, on Wednesday, explained that his decision to vie for the senate was in yielding to arguments by several people that he shouldnt be selfish with his political network, experience and qualification garnered over the years.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar has assured his party members and supporters that they will the 2019 presidential election, holding this Saturday.

The former vice president gave this assurance at the 84th National Executive Council meeting of the opposition party on Tuesday.

Atiku in his address, highlighted all the areas where the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians, including his disregard for the rule of law  He says he will win the election not for himself but for the people of Nigeria that have totally suffered in the last four years.

His words; So, let me reassure you, we are going to win these elections. And to our long-suffering citizens, I say do not despair, our time is now, and together we shall reshape the destiny of our beloved country.
Senator Ben Murray Bruce has urged Nigerians to go the polls on Saturday, not fighting ourselves to death, so that our neighbours will not inherit our fathers property.

The lawmaker, a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, top member and supporter of Atiku Abubakar, their partys presidential candidate, said this on Thursday via social media. Senator Bruces urged Nigerians to go to the polls, completely shunning violence.

The 2019 presidential election will hold on Saturday, 23rd February, in every state of the federation, after a previous postponement last Saturday.

Mr Bruce added that Nigerians must bear in mind that we are brothers and sisters born by Mother Nigeria, therefore we mustnt fight ourselves to death.

His words: Let us go to the polls without violence and bitterness. We are brothers and sisters born by Mother Nigeria. If we fight ourselves to the death, it is our neighbours that will inherit our fathers property. We do not want that at all. This Saturday, let us choose. Let us not kill.
Nigerians have been reacting to the now trending gist that vice president Yemi Osinbjo has resigned his position as the number two citizen of the country following allegations of marginalization from the government. He was said to have been angry that he didnt receive an invitation to the security meeting which held yesterday, February 20th.

However, the federal government has come out to debunk such claim as untrue and said Yemi Osinbajo is still the vice president of the country.

Osibanjos media aide, Laolu Akande, also said the vice president would not have resigned over the non-invitation to Wednesdays security meeting, as he couldnt be part of it all the time.

Reactions:

Its sad to see how the erudite @ProfOsinbajo Prof Osinbajo is being treated by the tribal government of Buhari and APC. Its just a shame!!  Chinemerem (@Chisq4impact) February 21, 2019

You should resign now. How can a country hold a security council meeting without the VP involved? They found it worthwhile to invite northern governors? Osinbajo, wake up and atikulate before it becomes too late. #LetsGetNigeriaWorkingAgain  Ichie Emmanuel Ogb (@IchieOgb) February 21, 2019
Popular Nigerian author and lawyer,Bemigho Reno Omokri, has advised men who intend to be happy in life not to go for high maintenance women when they re ready to settle down. The 45-year-old added that one can never be rich if one marries any of such women.

He made this known via his twitter handle yesterday, February 19th.

He said:
Democracy and the Corrupt Seven (Eight)

By Craig Murray



February 20, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - So now it is eight. If you want to understand that the UK truly is not a functioning democracy, consider this. Joan Ryan is all over the MSM this morning as being the eighth defector to the Independent Group. Yet astonishingly, while she is universally reported as citing anti-semitism as the reason she is leaving, it appears not one MSM journalist has asked her about her receipt of US$1 million from the Israeli Embassy for spreading Israeli influence. Not one. Nor has any mainstream media outlet cited the fact in its reporting today. Most, of course, never even mentioned it at the time.

ORIGINAL

I have heard it argued again and again on television this last 48 hours that it is deeply undemocratic for the electorate to be offered a choice that is any more complicated than between Red Tories and Blue Tories. It is apparently unthinkable and deeply wrong that Corbyns standard German style social democracy  which is routinely labeled hard left and communist  should be proffered to voters for them to support, or not.

The overwhelmingly Blairite MPs have put this case again and again to Labour Party members in repeated leadership elections, and have been roundly and repeatedly defeated. But now, according to no less a person than Tom Watson, Deputy Leader of the party, the losers policies must be embraced by the Party and adopted by its leadership, as to do otherwise is an affront to democracy. I confess I find this argument impossible to follow.

Corbyn has compromised already to a huge extent, even accepting that a Labour government will retain massive WMDs, in deference both to the imperialist pretensions of the Blairites and the personal greed of the demented Strangeloves who comprise the membership of the GMB Union. Labours pro-Trident stance will persist, until such time as enough Blairites join this forced march, or rather chauffeur driven drive, across their personal caviar and champagne strewn desert to their promised land of media contracts, massively remunerated charity executive jobs, and non-executive directorships.

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Democracy is a strange thing. This episode has revealed that it is apparently a democratic necessity that we have another referendum on Brexit, while being a democratic necessity not to have another referendum on Scottish Independence, while the notion that the MPs, who now have abandoned the party and manifesto on which they stood, might face their electorates again, is so disregarded that none of the fawning MSM journalists are asking about it. In rejecting this option, the Corrupt Seven are managing the incredible feat of being less honorable than Tory MPs defecting to UKIP, who did have the basic decency to resign and fight again on their new prospectus.

Dick Taverne is a more directly relevant precedent, particularly as he was deselected as sitting Labour MP precisely because of his support for the EU. Taverne resigned, and fought and won his seat in a by-election in 1973, before losing it in the second 1974 election. There are also precedents for crossing the floor and not resigning and fighting under your new banner, but then there are also precedents for mugging old ladies. It is deeply dishonorable.

Luciana Berger is a one trick pony and it is worth noting that her complaints about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party date back to at least 2005 , while Tony Blair was still Prime Minister. Berger had already by April 2005 spotted anti-Semitism in the National Union of Students, in the Labour Party and in her student union newspaper, those being merely the examples cited in this single Daily Telegraph article. I am extremely sorry and somewhat shocked to hear of the swamp of anti-semitism in which we were all already mired in 2005, but I do find it rather difficult to understand why the fault is therefore that of Jeremy Corbyn. And given that Tony Blair was at that time Prime Minister for eight years, I cannot understand why it is all Corbyns fault and responsibility now, but it was not Blairs fault then.

On the contrary, the Telegraph puff piece states that Berger had met Blair several times and was Euan Blairs girlfriend. This was of course before the privately educated Londoner was foisted on the unfortunate people of Liverpool Wavetree, doubtless completely unfacilitated by her relationship with Euan Blair.

The kind of abuse Berger has evidently been attracting since at least 2005 is of course a crime. Two people have quite rightly been convicted of it. Joshua Bonehill-Paine and John Nimmo sent a series of truly disgusting tweets and both were jailed. Both are committed long term neo-nazis . Yet I have repeatedly heard media references to the convictions squarely in the context of Labour Party anti-semitism. I have never heard on broadcast media it explained that neither had anything to do with the Labour Party. Like the left wing anti-semitism Berger has been reporting since at least 2005, this Nazi abuse too is all somehow Jeremy Corbyns fault.

It is further worth noting that in that 2005 article Berger claims a 47% increase in attacks on Jews, which is highly reminiscent of recent claims from community groups, such as the 44% increase claimed 2015 to 2017 or the 78% increase in violent crimes against Jews in the UK in 2017 alone claimed by the government of Israel.

One antisemitic attack is too many and all anti-semitism is to be deplored and rooted out. But if all these claims repeated again and again over decades of 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70% increases in attacks per year were true, then we would be now talking of at least 12,000 violent attacks on Jews per year, if we take Ms Bergers 2005 claim as the baseline.

Yet we are not seeing that. The average number of convictions per year for violent, racially motivated attacks on Jewish people in the UK is less than one.

If we add in non-violent crimes, the number of people convicted per year for anti-semitic hate crime still remains under 20 . And I am not aware of a single such conviction related in any way to the Labour Party.

Let me be perfectly plain. I want everybody convicted and imprisoned who is involved in anti-semitic hate crime. But the facts given above would cause any honest journalist to treat with more scepticism than they do, the repeated old chestnut claims of huge year on year increases in anti-semitic incidents.

There really are in logic only two choices; either anti-semitism is, contrary to all the hype, thankfully rare, or the entire British police, prosecutorial and judicial system must be systematically protecting the anti-semites. And I hardly see how they could blame Jeremy Corbyn for that.

None of this will stop the relentless promotion of the Corbyn anti-semitism theme, as the idea of a leader not completely behind the slow extirpation of the Palestinian people is unthinkable to the mainstream media class. The Corbyn anti-semitism meme is possibly the most remarkable example of evidence free journalism I have ever encountered.

Still more fascinating is the way the broadcasters are going to devote an astonishing amount of time to these political puppets. Of one thing I can assure you  these seven MPs will get more airtime than the 35 MPs of the SNP, with at least twice as many Question Time and Today programme appearances.

At some stage they will have to form a new party, in order to get airtime in elections. At what stage Blair declares for them is an interesting question. It is also a crucial test of just how horribly degraded the Lib Dems have now become. My old friend Charlie Kennedy will be spinning in his grave at an alliance with the Blairite warmonger faction, but the modern party appears bereft of any of the old Liberal values, cleared away by Clegg and his fellow orange Tories. If the party members do not revolt at association with Mike Gapes and Angela Smith, it really is time to wind the party up.

That the Corrupt Seven are some of the most unpleasant people in British politics is not entirely relevant, nor is the question of which interest groups are funding them. They are just an emission of pus, a symptom of the rottenness of the British body politic. They have nothing interesting to say and are feeble tools of the wealthy, thrown out as protection for a crumbling political system. The end of the UK is not pretty, and this is one of its uglier moments. It really is beyond time to crack on with Scottish Independence and the reunification of Ireland.

Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers  many of whom do not necessarily agree with the articles, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk
The major obstacle to creating our database, my research team would discover, was that the U.S. government is often so secretive about its war on terror. The Constitution gives Congress the right and responsibility to declare war, offering the citizens of this country, at least in theory, some means of input. And yet, in the name of operational security, the military classifies most information about its counterterror activities abroad.

In general, the American public has largely ignored these post-9/11 wars and their costs. But the vastness of Washingtons counterterror activities suggests, now more than ever, that its time to pay attention. Recently, the Trump administration has been talking of withdrawing from Syria and negotiating peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Yet, unbeknownst to many Americans, the war on terror reaches far beyond such lands and under Trump is actually ramping up in a number of places. That our counterterror missions are so extensive and their costs so staggeringly high should prompt Americans to demand answers to a few obvious and urgent questions: Is this global war truly making Americans safer? Is it reducing violence against civilians in the U.S. and other places? If, as I believe, the answer to both those questions is no, then isnt there a more effective way to accomplish such goals?

As co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs , Im all too aware of the costs that accompany such a sprawling overseas presence. Our projects research shows that, since 2001, the U.S. war on terror has resulted in the loss -- conservatively estimated -- of almost half a million lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan alone. By the end of 2019, we also estimate that Washingtons global war will cost American taxpayers no less than $5.9 trillion already spent and in commitments to caring for veterans of the war throughout their lifetimes.

When I first set out to map all the places in the world where the United States is still fighting terrorism so many years later, I didnt think it would be that hard to do. This was before the 2017 incident in Niger in which four American soldiers were killed on a counterterror mission and Americans were given an inkling of how far-reaching the war on terrorism might really be. I imagined a map that would highlight Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria -- the places many Americans automatically think of in association with the war on terror -- as well as perhaps a dozen less-noticed countries like the Philippines and Somalia. I had no idea that I was embarking on a research odyssey that would, in its second annual update, map U.S. counterterror missions in 80 countries in 2017 and 2018, or 40% of the nations on this planet (a map first featured in Smithsonian magazine).

February 20, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - In September 2001, the Bush administration launched the Global War on Terror. Though global has long since been dropped from the name, as it turns out, they werent kidding.

This is particularly true of missions in which there are American boots on the ground engaging in direct action against militants, a reality, my team and I found, in 14 different countries in the last two years. The list includes Afghanistan and Syria, of course, but also some lesser known and unexpected places like Libya, Tunisia, Somalia, Mali, and Kenya. Officially, many of these are labeled train, advise, and assist missions, in which the U.S. military ostensibly works to support local militaries fighting groups that Washington labels terrorist organizations. Unofficially, the line between assistance and combat turns out to be, at best, blurry.

Some outstanding investigative journalists have documented the way this shadow war has been playing out, predominantly in Africa. In Niger in October 2017, as journalists subsequently revealed, what was officially a training mission proved to be a kill or capture operation directed at a suspected terrorist.

Such missions occur regularly. In Kenya, for instance, American service members are actively hunting the militants of al-Shabaab, a US-designated terrorist group. In Tunisia, there was at least one outright battle between joint U.S.-Tunisian forces and al-Qaeda militants. Indeed, two U.S. service members were later awarded medals of valor for their actions there, a clue that led journalists to discover that there had been a battle in the first place.

In yet other African countries, U.S. Special Operations forces have planned and controlled missions, operating in cooperation with -- but actually in charge of -- their African counterparts. In creating our database, we erred on the side of caution, only documenting combat in countries where we had at least two credible sources of proof, and checking in with experts and journalists who could provide us with additional information. In other words, American troops have undoubtedly been engaged in combat in even more places than weve been able to document.

Another striking finding in our research was just how many countries there were -- 65 in all -- in which the U.S. trains and/or assists local security forces in counterterrorism. While the military does much of this training, the State Department is also surprisingly heavily involved, funding and training police, military, and border patrol agents in many countries. It also donates equipment, including vehicle X-ray detection machines and contraband inspection kits. In addition, it develops programs it labels Countering Violent Extremism, which represent a soft-power approach, focusing on public education and other tools to counter terrorist safe havens and recruitment.

Such training and assistance occurs across the Middle East and Africa, as well as in some places in Asia and Latin America. American law enforcement entities trained security forces in Brazil to monitor terrorist threats in advance of the 2016 Summer Olympics, for example (and continued the partnership in 2017). Similarly, U.S. border patrol agents worked with their counterparts in Argentina to crack down on suspected money laundering by terrorist groups in the illicit marketplaces of the tri-border region that lies between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

To many Americans, all of this may sound relatively innocuous -- like little more than generous, neighborly help with policing or a sensibly self-interested fighting-them-over-there-before-they-get-here set of policies. But shouldnt we know better after all these years of hearing such claims in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where the results were anything but harmless or effective?

Such training has often fed into, or been used for, the grimmest of purposes in the many countries involved. In Nigeria, for instance, the U.S. military continues to work closely with local security forces which have used torture and committed extrajudicial killings, as well as engaging in sexual exploitation and abuse. In the Philippines, it has conducted large-scale joint military exercises in cooperation with President Rodrigo Duterte's military, even as the police at his command continue to inflict horrific violence on that countrys citizenry.

The government of Djibouti, which for years has hosted the largest U.S. military base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier, also uses its anti-terrorism laws to prosecute internal dissidents. The State Department has not attempted to hide the way its own training programs have fed into a larger kind of repression in that country (and others). According to its 2017 Country Reports on Terrorism, a document that annually provides Congress with an overview of terrorism and anti-terror cooperation with the United States in a designated set of countries, in Djibouti, "the government continued to use counterterrorism legislation to suppress criticism by detaining and prosecuting opposition figures and other activists."

In that country and many other allied nations, Washingtons terror-training programs feed into or reinforce human-rights abuses by local forces as authoritarian governments adopt anti-terrorism as the latest excuse for repressive practices of all sorts.

A Vast Military Footprint

As we were trying to document those 65 training-and-assistance locations of the U.S. military, the State Department reports proved an important source of information, even if they were often ambiguous about what was really going on. They regularly relied on loose terms like security forces, while failing to directly address the role played by our military in each of those countries.

Sometimes, as I read them and tried to figure out what was happening in distant lands, I had a nagging feeling that what the American military was doing, rather than coming into focus, was eternally receding from view. In the end, we felt certain in identifying those 14 countries in which American military personnel have seen combat in the war on terror in 2017-2018. We also found it relatively easy to document the seven countries in which, in the last two years, the U.S. has launched drone or other air strikes against what the government labels terrorist targets (but which regularly kill civilians as well): Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. These were the highest-intensity elements of that U.S. global war. However, this still represented a relatively small portion of the 80 countries we ended up including on our map.

In part, that was because I realized that the U.S. military tends to advertise -- or at least not hide -- many of the military exercises it directs or takes part in abroad. After all, these are intended to display the countrys global military might, deter enemies (in this case, terrorists), and bolster alliances with strategically chosen allies. Such exercises, which we documented as being explicitly focused on counterterrorism in 26 countries, along with lands which host American bases or smaller military outposts also involved in anti-terrorist activities, provide a sense of the armed forces behemoth footprint in the war on terror.

Although there are more than 800 American military bases around the world, we included in our map only those 40 countries in which such bases are directly involved in the counterterror war, including Germany and other European nations that are important staging areas for American operations in the Middle East and Africa.

To sum up: our completed map indicates that, in 2017 and 2018, seven countries were targeted by U.S. air strikes; double that number were sites where American military personnel engaged directly in ground combat; 26 countries were locations for joint military exercises; 40 hosted bases involved in the war on terror; and in 65, local military and security forces received counterterrorism-oriented training and assistance.

A Better Grand Plan

How often in the last 17 years has Congress or the American public debated the expansion of the war on terror to such a staggering range of places? The answer is: seldom indeed.

After so many years of silence and inactivity here at home, recent media and congressional attention to American wars in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen represents a new trend. Members of Congress have finally begun calling for discussion of parts of the war on terror. Last Wednesday, for instance, the House of Representatives voted to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and the Senate has passed legislation requiring Congress to vote on the same issue sometime in the coming months.

On February 6th, the House Armed Services Committee finally held a hearing on the Pentagons counterterrorism approach -- a subject Congress as a whole has not debated since, several days after the 9/11 attacks, it passed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump have all used to wage the ongoing global war. Congress has not debated or voted on the sprawling expansion of that effort in all the years since. And judging from the befuddled reactions of several members of Congress to the deaths of those four soldiers in Niger in 2017, most of them were (and many probably still are) largely ignorant of how far the global war theyve seldom bothered to discuss now reaches.

With potential shifts afoot in Trump administration policy on Syria and Afghanistan, isnt it finally time to assess in the broadest possible way the necessity and efficacy of extending the war on terror to so many different places? Research has shown that using war to address terror tactics is a fruitless approach. Quite the opposite of achieving this countrys goals, from Libya to Syria, Niger to Afghanistan, the U.S. military presence abroad has often only fueled intense resentment of America. It has helped to both spread terror movements and provide yet more recruits to extremist Islamist groups, which have multiplied substantially since 9/11.

In the name of the war on terror in countries like Somalia, diplomatic activities, aid, and support for human rights have dwindled in favor of an ever more militarized American stance. Yet research shows that, in the long term, it is far more effective and sustainable to address the underlying grievances that fuel terrorist violence than to answer them on the battlefield.

All told, it should be clear that another kind of grand plan is needed to deal with the threat of terrorism both globally and to Americans -- one that relies on a far smaller U.S. military footprint and costs far less blood and treasure. Its also high time to put this threat in context and acknowledge that other developments, like climate change, may pose a far greater danger to our country.

Stephanie Savell, a TomDispatch regular, is co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. An anthropologist, she conducts research on security and activism in the U.S. and in Brazil. She co-authored The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffers new dystopian novel (the second in the Splinterlands series) Frostlands, Beverly Gologorsky's novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power and John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II.

Copyright 2019 Stephanie Savell
Pompeo, Pence & the Alienation of Europe



If the objective was to further isolate the U.S., the two officials could not have done a better job last week, writes Patrick Lawrence.



By Patrick Lawrence

February 20, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - W hat a job Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did in Europe last week. If the objective was to worsen an already critical transAtlantic rift and further isolate the U.S., they could not have returned to Washington with a better result.

We might have to mark down this foray as among the clumsiest and most abject foreign policy failures since President Donald Trump took office two years ago.

Pence and Pompeo both spoke last Thursday at a U.S.sponsored gathering in Warsaw supposedly focused on peace and security in the Middle East. That turned out to be a euphemism for recruiting the 60plus nations in attendance into an antiIran alliance.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran, Pompeo said flatly. The only delegates this idea pleased were Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and officials from Gulf Arab nations who share an obsession with subverting the Islamic Republic.

Pence went on to the annual security conference in Munich, where he elaborated further on a few of the Trump administrations favored themes. Among them: The Europeans should ditch the nuclear accord with Iran, the Europeans should cut off trade with Russia, the Europeans should keep components made by Huawei and other Chinese companies out of their communications networks. The Europeans, in short, should recognize Americas global dominance and do as it does; as if it were still, say, 1954.

It is hard to imagine how an American administration can prove time and again so out of step with 21stcentury realities. How could a vice-president and a secretary of state expect to sell such messages to nations plainly opposed to them?

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Pounding the Anti-Iran Theme

Pompeo, who started an Iran Action Group after the Trump administration withdrew last year from the 2015 nuclear accord, returned repeatedly to a single theme in his Warsaw presentations. The Iranians, he said, are a malign influence in Lebanon, in Yemen, and Syria and Iraq. The three HsHouthis, Hamas, and Hezbollahthese are real threats.

Pence ran a mile with this thought. At the outset of this historic conference, he said , leaders from across the region agreed that the greatest threat to peace and security in the Middle East is the Islamic Republic of Iran. To be noted: all the leaders from across the region in attendance were Sunnis, except for Netanyahu. The major European allies, still furious that Washington has withdrawn from the nuclear accord, sent low-level officials and made no speeches.

The European signatories to the Iran accord knew what was coming, surely. While Pence insisted that Britain, France and Germany withdraw from the nuclear pactthe time has come, he saidhe also criticized the financing mechanism the three set up last month to circumvent the Trump administrations trade sanctions against Iran. They call this scheme a special purpose vehicle,  Pence said. We call it an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous revolutionary regime.

There were plenty of European leaders at the security conference last weekend in Munich, where Pence used the occasion to consolidate what is beginning to look like an irreparable escalation of transAtlantic alienation. After renewing his attack on the Iran agreements European signatories, he shifted criticism to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Now under construction, this will be the second undersea pipeline connecting Gazprom, the Russian energy company, to Germany and other European markets. Last month the U.S. renewed threats to sanction German companies working on the $11 billion project. We cannot strengthen the West by becoming dependent on the East, Pence said at the security conference Saturday.

These and other remarks in Munich were enough to get Angela Merkel out of her chair to deliver an unusually impassioned speech in defense of the nuclear accord, multilateral cooperation and Europes extensive economic relations with Russia. Geo-strategically, the German chancellor asserted , Europe cant have an interest in cutting off all relations with Russia.

US Primacy V. Europes Future

Merkels speech goes to the core of what was most fundamentally at issue as Pompeo and Pence blundered through Europe last week. There are three questions to consider.

The most obvious of these is Washingtons continued insistence on U.S. primacy in the face of full-frontal resistance even from longstanding allies. Since day one, President Trump has restored American leadership on the world stage, Pence declared in Warsaw. And in Munich: America is stronger than ever before and America is leading on the world stage once again. His speeches in both cities are filled with hollow assertions such as theseeach one underscoring precisely the opposite point: America is fated to continue isolating itself, a little at a time, so long as its leaders remain lost in such clouds of nostalgia.

The other two questions concern Europe and its future. Depending on how these are resolved, a more distant transAtlantic alliance will prove inevitable.

First, Europe must soon come to terms with its position on the western flank of the EuroAsian landmass. Merkel was right: The European powers cannot realistically pretend that an ever-deepening interdependence with Russia is a choice. There is no choice. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative , as it progresses westward, will make this clearer still.

Second, Europe must develop working accommodations with its periphery, meaning the Middle East and North Africa, for the sake of long-term stability in its neighborhood. The mass migrations from Syria, Libya and elsewhere have made this evident in the most tragic fashion possible. It is to Germanys and Frances credit that they are now negotiating with Turkey and Russia to develop reconstruction plans for Syria that include a comprehensive political settlement.

As they do so, Washington shows no sign of lifting sanctions against Syria that have been in place for more than eight years. It may, indeed, impose new sanctions on companies participating in reconstruction projects. In effect, this could criminalize Syrias reconstructionmaking the nation another case wherein Europe and the U.S. find themselves at cross purposes.

Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune , is a columnist, essayist, author, and lecturer. His most recent book is Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century (Yale). Follow him @thefloutist. His web site is www.patricklawrence.us .

This article was originally published by " Consortium News " -
Womens Critical Role in Saving the Environment

By Cesar Chelala

February 20, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Womens critical role in saving the environment took a new twist when on February 7, 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Democrat-New York) introduced a new climate change resolution which intends to push the U.S. to take the lead role in reducing carbon emissions to the environment. The proposal, Recognizing the Duty of the Federal Government to Create a Green New Deal, strives for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

According to this proposal, the U.S. economy would shift from fossil fuels such as oil and coal, and replace them with renewable resources such as wind and solar power. Republicans have called the plan a pipedream that would ravage the economy and lead to a huge tax increase. President Trump said that it sounds like a high-school term paper that got a low mark.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez is part of a group of women that have been working worldwide in defense of the environment. This is happening at a time when the global demand for a wide range of natural resources is threatening the worlds environmental health to an unprecedented degree.

In Sweden, Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old girl, has become an ardent advocate for the environment. She protested in front of Swedens Parliament handing out leaflets that read, I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future. Last January, she gave an impromptu speech at Davos in front of a star-studded guest list. Thunberg told them, Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.

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Traditionally, women are protective of the quality of the environment, which they believe is essential for the healthy growth of their children. A global survey of public attitudes on the environment sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program showed that more women than men prefer to choose a lower standard of living with fewer health risks than a higher standard of living with greater health risks.

Pregnant women, particularly, are vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Each step in the reproductive process can be altered by toxic substances, which increase the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, fetal growth retardation, and peri-natal death. Women and children are more affected by environmental disasters.

Eloisa Delmonte, a high school teacher in Entre Rios, Argentina, told me, In Argentina it is the rural teachers who were carrying out to a large extent the fight against Monsanto and other agrochemical companies that carry out aerial fumigations with glyphosate (among other toxics) in the fields without taking into account the presence of schools in those areas. Entre Rios has, for this reason, the sad record of being the province with the highest rates of childhood cancer in the country.

On January 22, 2019, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, declared at the World Forum in Davos: Brazil is the country that most preserves the environment. Three days later, a dam from Minera Vale, in Minas Gerais, collapsed, and 12 million cubic meters of toxic mud flooded 290 hectares, leaving 150 dead and 238 missing. The dam had a safety factor in accordance with the worlds best practices, stated Vale S.A., the builder of the dam that collapsed.

In 2018 in Argentina, the deforested area of protected forests in the provinces of Salta, Santiago del Estero, Formosa and Chaco was 112,766 hectares, equivalent to twice the territory of the city of Buenos Aires, according to the environmental organization Greenpeace. Noemi Cruz, who coordinates the organizations forest campaign, said, Governments cannot continue to violate national regulations by allowing forest clearings where these are prohibited.

Last September, then California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in three northern California counties after wildfires burned thousands of acres, destroyed homes and critical infrastructure, and threatened ancient trees in Yosemite National Park. These are just a few examples of threats to the environment and to the ensuing quality of life.

In Latin America, indigenous women have become especially active in the use of techniques to protect the environment, and in developing strategies to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. They respond to threats that affect their quality of life, such as climate change, and the interests of mining and petroleum exploiting corporations on lands belonging to indigenous communities.

After Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras, women from the Garifuna Afro-indigenous community located on the Caribbean coast of Honduras created the Garifuna Emergency Committee. It organized seed banks for food security, planted fruit trees to limit the erosion of coastal areas, and helped to relocate communities away from high-risk areas, among other activities conducive to the improvement and recovery of community life.

Maxima Acuna, a winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, played a leading role in the Resistance to the Conga Project of gold and copper exploitation in the Cajamarca region, in the Northeast of Peru. Despite threats of violence against her and her daughter, they continued their activities against the project, considering it a serious threat to the ecosystem and water sources in the area. In 2016, the project was abandoned, largely due to the opposition of people like Acuna, who risked their lives in this endeavor.

Berta Caceres, murdered in 2016 because she opposed a dam that threatened the sacred lands of the Lenca Indians in Honduras, did not have the same luck. Her daughter, Bertha Zuniga, has continued her mothers work, despite serious physical attacks against her life and that of the members of her group.

Fortunately, there is increasing evidence that women in various countries around the world are assuming central roles in the grassroots environmental movement. And there is a growing belief among those concerned about it that development policies that do not involve women and men on an equal footing will not be successful in the long term.

Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.
Trumps Demagoguery Goes Off the Rails

By Finian Cunningham

February 20, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - I t may seem oxymoronic, but President Trump is living proof that lunatics can think big. Not content with only threatening regime change in Venezuela, the American leader is expanding his mission to rid the Western hemisphere of socialism, with Cuba and Nicaragua next in line for US salvation.

In a particularly unhinged speech last weekend in Miami, Florida, Trump declared Venezuelan President Nicolas Madura a Cuban puppet and failed dictator. Trump denounced socialism with a verve that has not been heard from a US president since the depth of the Cold War more than 30 years ago.

In Venezuela, and across the Western hemisphere, socialism is dying and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn, said Trump inferring the Troika of Tyranny that his national security advisor John Bolton  another lunatic  previously coined to describe Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

The Miami Herald reported Trumps speech as a harbinger for regime change in the three Latin American countries.

Trumps claim of democracy being reborn is a bit hard to take at a time when this president is declaring state-of-emergency powers at home to push through his faltering border wall vanity project. Dozens of US states are suing Trump for presidential over-reach of executive powers. Constitutional scholars are warning of an incipient shift to fascism under Trump.

For Trump to then proclaim he is spearheading freedom and liberty for the entire Western hemisphere is a foreboding sign that his megalomania is spectacularly out of control.

The prospects of the US military fighting a war in Venezuela, let alone Cuba and Nicaragua as well, are in the realms of impossible fantasy. But with this Commander-in-Chief the fantasy is being entertained.

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Trump in his Miami speech delivered a mafia-like ultimatum to the Venezuelan military. Either it supports the US-anointed minor opposition figure Juan Guaido who declared himself acting president of Venezuela almost a month ago, or the armed forces face obliteration, said Trump.

With the tone of an organized crime boss, Trump warned that Venezuelas defense forces were risking their lives by supporting the failed dictatorship of former President Maduro. If you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything, added Trump.

In response, President Maduro slammed Trump for his Nazi-like speech and for daring to threaten his countrys military with annihilation if it does not submit.

The criminality of the occupant in the American White House is astounding. The brazen threat of aggression against another nation  as well as implicitly against Cuba and Nicaragua  is on par with the fascism of the 1930s leading up to World War II.

The flying in of US military cargo planes to Colombia and Brazil purportedly laden with food aid for Venezuela is a flagrant cover for mounting an armed incursion. In close coordination with the CIA-groomed opposition figure Juan Guaido, the US is contriving a deadline of this weekend for the aid supplies to be allowed entrance into Venezuela.

President Maduro is refusing to permit the US material into his country. Venezuelas armed forces are resolutely in support of the government in Caracas and therefore can be counted on to block any attempt to force the US aid across the borders from Colombia and Brazil. The impasse may, however, provide pretext for US military intervention.

The impending crisis whipped up by Trump with Venezuela seems insane. The South American country may be in economic turmoil, but it is hardly a humanitarian catastrophe meriting such drama. Besides the turmoil has largely been instigated by Washington slapping sanctions and asset freezes on Venezuelas lifeline oil economy. If the US were to lift its illegal sanctions on the country then much of the chaos would subside.

For the Trump administration to declare a minor opposition figure as the recognized president of Venezuela is an audacious violation of international law and norms. Shamefully, several European states have sought to legitimize Washingtons subversion in Venezuela.

Of course, subverting the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro has the all-important prize of allowing US capital to get its hands on Venezuelas colossal oil wealth.

Another motive is to eradicate any threat of good example in Uncle Sams presumed backyard. If Venezuela can be subjugated, then the Trump administration has Nicaragua and Cuba next in its cross-hairs for regime change. There is also the benefit of suppressing any political opposition domestically within the US, with a campaign against socialism in the Western hemisphere used to smear emerging socialists at home.

Still another motive for Trump is to desperately find a patriotic purpose with which to mobilize his support base. Despite his blustering campaign promises, Trump has delivered very little to his voters over the past two years. With his 2020 re-election bid in sight, Trumps faltering border wall project is perhaps the most embarrassing failure. Not able to deliver on his vanity project, Trump is casting around for an alternative cause celebre.

Fighting socialism in Venezuela and elsewhere in the Western hemisphere is Trumps next star-turn. But how absurd can it get? Trump is presenting himself as more messianic than Cold War hawks in Washington during past decades when they could at least plausibly invoke Soviet expansionism as a propaganda threat.

Trumps lunatic demagoguery is going big  off the rails.

Finian Cunningham

has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.

This article was originally published by " SCF " -

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Peace and joy
The Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC) under the leadership of Charlie Wiles has deemed it proper to honor me and my wife, Carolyn, as the Interfaith Ambassadors of 2019. We are both humbled. Even more, we are committed to prove ourselves worthy of this recognition by such an esteemed interfaith group. CIC consists of a myriad of faith traditions that cover the full spectrum of religious life in Central Indiana and beyond, and we are grateful to be a part of its legacy.

Interfaith means a lot to me and Carolyn. Its interactions and connectivity has been a part of our lives that began with our respective conversions to Al-Islam over 40 years ago. But interfaith as a purpose and a mission began to pulsate in our lives when Imam W. Deen Mohammed instructed his community  following the noble example of the Prophet Muhammed of Arabia  to get involved with people of other faiths; firstly with Christians and Jews, two faiths that Muslims accept as our religious siblings, the children of our collective father, Abraham.

Imam W. Deen Mohammed demonstrated for us how to get involved with sustained interfaith relations. It was his demonstrative interfaith that connected us with Chiara Lubichs internationally Catholic-based Focolare Movement that is headquartered in Rome, Italy, but established and operating in over 180 countries worldwide. Ive been blessed to visit Focolare centers in Rome, Jordan and the Philippines.

As the Imam of the Nur-Allah Islamic Center, our membership has invested greatly in interfaith, working with many churches and synagogues as well as with Habitat for Humanity. In 2008 I accompanied Charlie Wiles as he led an interfaith delegation to Amman, Jordan, to build a Habit for Humanity home for a Palestinian family.

Our interfaith life has placed us in the company of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on numerous occasions. Weve been the guests of the Vatican in Rome quite a number of times. Over the years we have developed interfaith relationships with very many churches, synagogues and temples.

Being blessed to attend Martin University under the tutelage of Father Boniface Harden and our special lady Sister Jane Schilling gave us the perfect setting for growing our interfaith muscles. The two faith-education leaders encouraged me to pursue a degree in humane exchange. Im quite thankful for their guidance. This field of study only increased my interfaith abilities. My struggles and learning at Martin University resulted in my earning a bachelors degree (graduating summa cum laude) in 2003.

Our interfaith life was greatly enriched by the honorable Rev. Dr. Andrew J. Brown and his son Dr. Thomas L. Brown. We have also enjoyed interfaith success with Dr. T. Garrott Benjamin and Dr. David Hampton of Light of the World Christian Church. These men are faith leaders who readily accepted the beauty and the challenges of interfaith without diluting or shying away from their personal faith convictions.

Being honored as the Interfaith Ambassadors of 2019 is a recognition of past achievements; however, Carolyn and I accept it as a beckoning that we can and must do more interfaith interaction so that future generations may have a testimony of what G_d is doing with His human family  bringing us all together as ONE FAMILY that is diverse yet united.

Interfaith has strengthened Carolyn and me as believers in Al-Islam while also strengthening our belief in the human excellence in people of other faiths. The Quran is quite clear that Allah is an inclusive Creator. Chapter 2: verse 62 reads, Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

If you want to support an excellent organization while witnessing interfaith in action please join us at the annual CIC fifth annual Interfaith Banquet at 5 p.m. March 24 at Martin University, 2171 Avondale Place. For more information, visit centerforinterfaithcooperation.org/5th-annual-interfaith-banquet.

Michael Mikal Saahir is the resident Imam of Nur-Allah Islamic Center. He can be reached at nur-allah@att.net or at 317 753-3754.
America is a Fourth World country! A country once known to be the top manufacturer of goods, now finds itself with entire cities and regions riddled with abandonment. Built to order cities, like Gary, Indiana, still wreak of the stench that selfish corporate citizens like the U.S. Steel Mill leave in their wake, after they have decided they no longer have use of those cities. Cities like Detroit, Michigan; Camden, New Jersey; Flint, Michigan; East St. Louis, Illinois; and a host of other American Rust Belt cities, all have large inventories of abandoned manufacturing plants with massive buildings, and neighborhoods with residential structures and lots that have sat empty for decades.

Manufacturing in America as weve known it, seduced us with the idea that being average was OK. We gave away some of our humanity by finding our spot on the assembly line, in what workforce developers classify was low-skill, high-wage employment. Americans, were hoodwinked upon graduating high school to get on at the factory and find their place. Many Americans never imagined that corporations would ever close up shop for good and force the very people they asked to give up some of their humanity to then figure out how to live. Manufacturing corporations, which defined the way of life for so many people and large parts of Americas land space now said, You figure it out. Interestingly enough, they began saying it 50 years ago. The nostalgia that still exist in the minds of many Americans for the return of manufacturing plants obstructs the creativity of their humanity to reimagine a new way of life.

What if we abandon the ideas that once lured us away from our humanity, begin to reimagine, and thereby, redefine our way of life and use of the land in our cities?

I have toured nine cities in six states in seven months. The devastation that I have witnessed in Americas Rust Belt cities has forced some citizens who are committed to their cities to exercise a level of creative genius that is inspiring. I have observed thriving urban farms, to residents acquiring the vacant lot nearest their property by working with their county land bank and cooperative marketplace commerce spaces with very little burden for citizens to run business. Average citizens, who never thought of running for public office are winning government leadership positions in their municipalities. The citizens doing the work in these cities could have very easily found refuge in the nearest suburb, but they realized that the opportunities to take ownership of their communities increased when powerful manufacturing corporations that once defined their space and way of life up and disappeared.

As many of the cities and regions once defined by manufacturing continue to shrink, there has to be a reimagining of each institution in our communities. School corporations in cities that once needed multiple schools and sizeable structures now find it necessary to consolidate.

Are we willing to reimagine dynamic learning spaces smaller in size and number well before the point at which we find ourselves with no other choice? Likewise, in the process of reimagining our schools lets do it in a way that does not place all the expectation to sacrifice on those groups already at the margins socially.

Opportunities abound to take ownership of our communities and cities. To reimagine them according to what we would like them to be. We can continue to concede our humanity to the next big cluster of corporations who would propose sweet possibilities and an alluring way of life, but one thing the last few decades should have taught us is that they will only do it for as long as it is exceedingly profitable for them to do so. Our humanity and living environment is rarely, if ever, factored into their decisions.

John W. Anderson Jr. is a doctoral student and a lecturer of sociology at Ball State University.
For nearly a year, city officials, national project coordinators and community organizations have partnered with the goal of transforming 58 miles of the White River in Marion and Hamilton counties. Now, equipped with a grand vision, theyll spend the next few months figuring out how to make it happen.

Through the first two phases of the project  Discovery and Envision  the White River Vision Plan team came up with numerous projects and ideas that could change the way residents interact with the river. Ropes courses, rock climbing, boardwalks and new trails  these are the things that could give new life to a river that, as it is right now, doesnt have a positive reputation with its dirty water.

Brad Beaubien, Indianapolis administrator of long-range planning for the Department of Metropolitan Development, said hes met many people throughout this process who had never even thought of the river as something they could get to and use. A project of this size could change that.

The river was here before us, and it will be here after us, Beaubien said. Its this timeless thing that we all share.

The White River Vision Plan is a joint effort between the city of Indianapolis, Hamilton County Tourism and Visit Indys philanthropic arm, Tourism Tomorrow. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm Agency Landscape + Planning is leading the project. The plan is made up of nine guiding principles  respecting the rivers history, restoring the environment and ecology, drawing people to the river, etc.  and imagines the river in six sections. There are seven specific regions within those sections, including downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple, where the plan shows the possibilities for different amenities. The plan is not concrete, though, and the team is still taking community feedback on its website, mywhiteriver.com.

Some of what the plan will try to accomplish, including increased connectivity to the river, will require a healthier river to attract people.

A fundamental idea is that in order for us to improve the ecological health of the river, people have to care about it, Beaubien said. In order for them to care about it, it has to be a meaningful part of their life at some point.

Brie Hensold, an urban planner and co-founder of Agency Landscape + Planning, explained she wanted to be part of the White River Vision Plan because she saw the river as a jewel.

The river is a shared asset, she said.  Its been such an important part of building Central Indianas history.

The White River Vision Plan aims to preserve and display some of that history. For example, the river used to be a segregated swimming spot, so African-Americans had access to only a portion of the beach and water. Beaubien said he would want to honor that history.

Part of the plan also involves making the river safer for people and wildlife. Dams in the river are dangerous for people swimming or kayaking because they create cyclones at the bottom. They also make it so species cant migrate. The dams are necessary for different functions such as water intake for power plants, but it would be desirable, Beaubien said, to create a series of smaller dams that would be safer.

As Beaubien told a group of citizens at a meeting earlier this month at Central Library, the White River Vision Plan is moving into its toughest stretch: the Action phase. How much of the grand vision will come to be? Where will the money come from? How difficult will it be to coordinate communities across almost 60 miles of river? As for funding, Beaubien said he could imagine local governments pitching in, as well as state resources and even federal help.

One of the pieces of that grand vision is already a sure thing. A group of arts organizations received $50,000 in November 2018 to build a floating stage, along with outdoor lighting. The goal is for shows to start this summer.

Ambrose Property Group is developing a former General Motors stamping plant on the citys west side with the goal of making the river more accessible to the public. Mali Jeffers, director of marketing and community initiatives at Ambrose, said the development will be mixed-use and could include anything you would find in a downtown, including residential area and workspaces.

I think the river wouldnt serve as much of a physical and mental barrier as it does right now, Jeffers said of the possibilities for more similar development along the river. Traffic flow and connectivity will become easier  and the neighborhoods like The Valley, Stringtown, Hawthorn and all of west Indy wont feel as disconnected.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

The White River Vision Plan is reimagining the way residents in Marion and Hamilton counties could use the river. This rendering of the downtown area shows a series of safer dams, trails connecting to the river and a floating stage. (Photo provided)
Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 (HSV-2) is a growing public health concern for many African-American Women. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 48 percent of African-American women between the ages of 14 and 49 were infected with HSV-2. This was a shocking revelation considering that nationally, 21 percent of all women between the ages of 14-49, regardless of ethnicity, are infected with the virus. In essence, African-American women comprise almost half of the number of those infected with the virus, despite the fact that they compromise only 13.7 percent of the United States population.

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) researchers have reported that men may be two to four times less likely to acquire HSV-2 than women. This is partially due to anatomical differences in genitalia, as women have more exposed and delicate areas on their genitalia by which the virus can be transmitted. It has also been suggested that these high rates of infection by African-American women may be due to societal barriers such as inaccessibility to adequate health care and lack of education regarding sexual health.

In terms of health care, it has been shown that insurance coverage presents a barrier for many women of color, as African-Americans obtain fewer health insurance policies than other ethnic groups. African-Americans are also more likely to have lower paying jobs that frequently offer no health insurance benefits, making them less likely to seek care for STD related symptoms.

Regarding sex-education, comprehensive sex-education programs have proven effective at increasing the use of contraceptives. Comprehensive sex-education programs are inclusive models of health education that provide individuals with the knowledge, skills and values to make informed and healthy decisions about their sexual health. Contrary to popular belief, comprehensive sex-education programs have not been shown to promote early engagement in sexual activity. Nonetheless, many states only offer abstinence sex-education programs, with very few offering comprehensive programs.

Although the Black community is vastly impacted by HSV-2, there are some methods that can be taken to reduce transmission. Antiviral therapy has been shown to be an effective tool in reducing transmission rates in individuals living with HSV-2. Antiviral therapies are medications taken by individuals with existing HSV-2 infections to help manage the virus. If taken as directed, antiviral medications can help to reduce transmission of the virus. Condom usage has also been noted as an additional tool for reducing transmission, if combined with antiviral therapy. However, condoms alone cannot fully protect against HSV-2. In addition to these methods, behavioral approaches such as talking to current and potential sexual partners about ones HSV-2 status, abstaining from sexual activity during outbreaks and educating oneself on the virus have been shown to reduce transmission rates.

In addition to the health challenges that HSV-2 presents, individuals in the African-American community living with the virus may experience an array of psychological symptoms. Being diagnosed with a chronic health concern can sometimes be a difficult adjustment. Individuals in the African-American community experiencing this concern can benefit from the help of mental health professionals. Psychologists and other mental health professionals can play a vital role in encouraging and implementing behavioral strategies to help deal with the virus. Moreover, mental health professionals can help individuals understand that this type of infection is fairly common and can be contracted unbeknown to women. Subsequently, individuals should not blame themselves. Mental health professionals can assist in helping individuals to rationally process their feelings. If you or someone you know is living with HSV-2 or another STD, and is experiencing psychological distress, consider enlisting the help of a trusted mental health professional.

Ajasha M. Long is a doctoral student at Ball State University and member of the Indiana Association of Black Psychologists.
Is it really possible to disagree without being disagreeable?

Civic Saturdays will put that theory to the test when people from all walks of life come together to discuss the inherent tensions and competing values that exist in American democracy, according to the press release.

This time of civic fellowship aims to give people of differing perspectives a chance to discuss their civic and political values, while also practicing the art of listening, the press release continued.

Its sure to be a lively one-hour discussion.

This country is founded on a lot of high ideals that we have yet to live up to, said Erin Kelley, Spirit and Place program director and Civic Saturdays discussion facilitator. Its not enough to have words on paper. Youve got to make it real. Its OK to disagree. We should disagree when it comes to policy. We should disagree when it comes to politics. Weve got to come up with new ways to see each other as citizens.

Civic Saturdays are part of an initiative through Citizen University, based in Seattle, designed to foster a national dialogue to create informed and empowered Americans. Kelley was one of several people chosen nationwide to become a fellow. She received training on how to conduct discussions about Americans duty to be responsible citizens. To ensure an interesting conversation, attendees are encouraged to bring a friend with a differing viewpoint. In addition to discussing the topic at hand, Civic Saturdays also include poetry, song and a civic sermon. Thats a lot to pack into one hour.

It is a nice tight, concise program, Kelley said.

Civic Saturdays

Come out and discuss topics that help you become more civically minded and live up to the ideals set forth by the Founding Fathers. Each Civic Saturday will feature a different topic for discussion.

When: 11 a.m.-noon Feb. 23, 6-7 p.m. April 16, 11 a.m.-noon July 20

Where: Sixth floor reading room, Central Library, 40 E. St. Clair St.

Civic Saturday
Guwahati, Feb 21 (IBNS): Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, in a tweet to boycott everything Kashmiri is drawing fervid reactions from public to political parties including BJP.

The Meghalaya governors response came at a time when the entire country was mourns and protesting against Pulwama terror attack in which 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) were killed.

Reacting to Roys comment, Assam BJP MLA Mrinal Saikia said Kashmir is a part of India and the Kashmiris were part of the Indian population.

What is happening in Kashmir, actually responsibility goes to Pakistan. Under instigation, help of Pakistan, the terrorism is running in Kashmir. So should blame Pakistan, boycott Pakistan. But, we should not boycott Kashmir, Mrinal Saikia, BJP MLA of Assams Khumtai Assembly constituency said.

On the other hand, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Nizamuddin Choudhury said the Meghalaya governors statement was not acceptable.

Kashmir is not outside of India. Kashmir is an integral part of India. Terrorists have no religion. All terrorists should have to be killed. We cant blame all Kashmiris for it. The statement from a governor is not acceptable, the AIUDF MLA said.

Earlier, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had replied to the Roy's tweet: "These are the bigots driving Kashmir over the abyss. While you are at it Tathagata why dont you stop using our rivers to generate your electricity as well?

These are the bigots driving Kashmir over the abyss. While you are at it Tathagata why dont you stop using our rivers to generate your electricity as well? https://t.co/BS1zAG78Xx  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 19, 2019

"

Reactions are also coming from the general people of Assam over the Meghalaya governors appeal to boycott Kashmiri.

Rinku Sarma, a Guwahati-based homemaker said it was an unwelcome statement coming from the Meghalaya governor.

The whole people of Kashmir are not responsible for what was happened in Pulwama. We cant blame the entire people of Kashmir for it, Rinku Sarma said.

On the other hand, 35-year-old youth Mridul Haloi said: "It is very unfortunate for the country at this moment that a constitutional head of a state has made such type of statement."

The entire country should be together at this moment. At a time when the people of the country are in mourning following the terror attack, such statements will make the situation even worse. All the people of Kashmir are not responsible for the Pulwama incident. I think it is an immature statement, Haloi said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)




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Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region.
As tensions on Israels southern border heighten, so too does the risk of greater conflict between Gazas ruling terrorist group Hamas and the IDF. Haaretzs Yaniv Kubovich writes that the growing risk is directly related to the growing violence being perpetrated by Palestinian rioters:

Violent nighttime incidents along the Gaza-Israel border are creating a new risk of a broader conflict with Hamas and are different in nature than the weekly protests that have been carried out on the border on Fridays for almost a year.

On Monday evening, another violent nighttime demonstration took place across the border from Kibbutz Nahal Oz. These protests are led by a Hamas special night forces unit and are aimed at harassing Israeli soldiers and residents of Israeli border communities near the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The nighttime unit is comprised of older, more experienced operatives, in contrast to the young men who are prominent at the Friday protests, and the level of violence is much higher at the nighttime demonstrations.

On Monday, dozens of Palestinians began arriving at the border fence shortly before dark, at around 5 P.M., equipped with tires to burn and other gear. As soon as darkness fell, they began burning the tires and tried to roll them as close as possible to the fence to make it harder for Israeli snipers to spot and to target key operatives on the Gaza side

The Israeli army is handling the nighttime demonstrations differently from the weekly Friday protests, which take place during the day. The combination of the darkness, the extreme violence, the fear of Palestinian infiltrations and the bombs thrown at soldiers have all led officers to order increased use of live fire.

This increases the risk of Palestinian casualties, which in turn could elicit a violent response from Hamas or Islamic Jihad in Gaza. And that point, the path to broader escalation is short
Riots broke out along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, leaving one Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier badly wounded after he was hit in the neck by shrapnel from a homemade bomb. The IDF launched a counter-attack on two positions held by the terror group Hamas.

Nineteen Palestinians were arrested Tuesday on Jerusalems Temple Mount after they tried to enter a closed area that was patrolled by Israeli security. The area, known as Gates of Mercy, was closed because the group managing it had ties to Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected any funding from Israel, saying, Every penny we have, we will transfer to the families of the martyrs. 

As violence along the Israeli-Gaza border continues, new reports indicate that Hamas is now using women as human shields in their demonstrations.

Recent anti-Semitic attacks in France have prompted protests. At least 80 Jewish graves were defaced with Nazi symbols in eastern France. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the attacks, saying anti-Semitism must be condemned wherever and whenever it rears its head.

This weeks Israel in the News Perspective features The Fellowships Yonit Rothchild on Rabbi Yechiel Ecksteins greatest legacy.
The newly formed group will work on spreading good news about the city.

Group Formed to Foster Pittsfield Pride, Counter Naysayers



Virginia O'Leary is looking to counter those who speak negatively about the city. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Virginia O'Leary has so many great memories growing up in Pittsfield.

She remembers swimming in the lake, the local stores of old, and cruising up and down North Street on a Friday night.

She enjoyed it so much that after leaving for college and a career, she came back. And she loves it here.

"There are so many good people in Pittsfield, there are so many people who care," O'Leary said.

This past summer, she had just watched a movie at the Little Cinema at the Berkshire Museum and went to dinner in Great Barrington.

Another woman overheard O'Leary and her friend talking about the movie and chimed in. She asked O'Leary where she had seen it and O'Leary told her in Pittsfield. The response was one of badmouthing her hometown. And that isn't the only time she's heard somebody local say negative things about the city.

"I've heard repeatedly 'oh, I can't go to Pittsfield in the evening because it is not safe, there is nothing going on in Pittsfield, are there any nice houses in Pittsfield?' All of those are quotes that I've really heard said to me. And every time it is like a gut punch," O'Leary said.

O'Leary isn't going to deny the challenges in Pittsfield, she knows it isn't perfect and knows it never was perfect. But she is going to speak up and challenge the people who only focus on those negatives and counter them by telling them about the good things and reasons to love the city.

"I don't want to fight. I just want to counter that narrative," O'Leary said.

She's formed Pittsfield Prosper, an organization of like-minded people who support the city and the positive things happening here. Collectively, they're looking to "change the narrative" of how people know and talk about Pittsfield and aim to foster pride in the community.

"It really meant the world to me to think that there was going to be a movement to help change the narrative of this environment, this community, which we love so much," said Ty Allan Jackson, who was skeptical at first of yet another new initiative but embraced the concept entirely after meeting with O'Leary.

The group isn't a non-profit but rather an initiative headed by O'Leary. She's bankrolled the startup of the process personally and sees it as a five-year effort to change the fabric of how people view the city. The group will focus on sharing and promoting the city at every turn.



Those at the kick-off event were asked to share with others why they love the city of Pittsfield. "It will take every segment of the community, every generation, the silent generation, the baby boomers, gen x's, millennial, etc. to change the narrative. In other words, it will take all of us. It will take more than a village to raise this community," Jackson said.

O'Leary believes the big change in the perspective about the city came with the loss of General Electric.

But that was 35 years ago, she said, and so much has changed.

"We have to get out from under that," O'Leary said.

The former college professor published a paper in the mid-1990s on how people respond to challenges. One crux of the work was that it focused on three types of responses. First, the individual can turn to just simply surviving at the new lowest level. Or the individual can work back to the baseline and be recovered.

But there is a third.

"The third possibility is using the challenge as the impetus to go beyond where you were when it all began," O'Leary said. "My hope for Pittsfield is that thriving lies ahead."

She started kicking around the idea during the summer to start such an initiative and it gained traction. She said she had come up with the idea and just started talking to everyone she could about it.

The group held a kickoff event on Wednesday at Proprietor's Lodge. The audience was asked to write down the things they love about the city, share that with others, and tell their own story.

Deb Tart is exactly one of those people like O'Leary. She grew up here and remembers sledding at Clapp Park, going for penny candy, and lining up at the Dairy Queen, all traditional events for those growing up in the city. When all of her friends from high school left, she decided to stay. It's where she raised two children.

"Pittsfield is me. To not believe in Pittsfield is like not believing in myself. To be afraid of Pittsfield is to be fearful of myself. Pittsfield has always been my compass and helped me get through my path in life. It is comfortable. It is rewarding. It is not perfect but it is our home," Tart said.



Wynton, the group's mascot, makes his way around the tables. She now opened her own business, Berkshire Dog, and always gets the questions about why she decided to do so in Pittsfield. Because it isn't as bad as many people think or say.

"There will always be the negativity from the naysayers but I really believe if we stand together and remind people of all the positive attributes Pittsfield has to offer we will become stronger as a community," Tart said.

O'Leary introduced the organization's mascot, her poodle Wynton, who strolled around the audience featuring a Pittsfield Prosper shirt. O'Leary has clothing for people to wear. She has stickers and pins. She envisions it as a local movement.

"The major goal is fostering pride in Pittsfield, sharing our positive stories, and countering naysayers," O'Leary said.

Jackson said the efforts will be tracked as the organization promotes the city on every medium possible. Jackson cited the recent Berkshire Blueprint report that also calls for a change in the narrative for the Berkshires when it relates to business as a similar effort.
CINCINNATIToday the Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) joins with the Humane Society International #BeCrueltyFree campaign, to ban animal testing for cosmetics in all major global beauty markets by 2023.

The #BeCrueltyFree campaign was launched in 2012 with the aim of extending the European Unions legal precedent  banning cosmetics animal testing and the sale of newly animal tested cosmetics  to countries where this practice is still allowed or even mandated by law. P&Gs support for #BeCrueltyFree will include joint education and capacity-building programs for non-animal alternatives, continued development of new animal-free approaches to safety assessment and advocating for the legislative end of cosmetic animal testing in key global beauty markets.

Kitty Block, President of Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States, said: This partnership represents an important milestone in our efforts to end animal testing for cosmetics worldwide through our #BeCrueltyFree campaign. By working together with forward-looking companies like Procter & Gamble, we can make this ambitious goal a reality.

Kathy Fish, Chief Research, Development and Innovation Officer, Procter and Gamble, shared We are pleased to partner with the Humane Society International in the quest to end cosmetic animal testing. Im proud of the passion and expertise our researchers have contributed already to this goal. I know they will continue to be a force for good, providing leadership and advocacy to help achieve our shared vision.

For over two decades, P&G, HSI, the HSUS and Humane Society Legislative Fund have collaborated on the development and regulatory uptake of animal-free test methods. The organizations expect that by bringing their complementary strengths together, they will reach the end goal more quickly. A key focus will be gaining acceptance of new methods by regulators and enrolling many companies and governments globally to adopt cruelty-free public policies and practices.

Dr. Harald Schlatter, P&G Corporate Communications and Animal Welfare Advocacy, added: Weve invested more than $420 million over forty years in developing non-animal test methods. Our researchers have led or co-designed at least twenty-five cruelty-free methods that have replaced animal testing of cosmetic products. HSI and the HSUS have been powerful partners in advancing these methods globally.

Troy Seidle, HSI Vice President for Research & Toxicology, said: Animal testing of cosmetics not only causes unnecessary animal suffering, but it also represents outdated science. For more than 20 years, we have collaborated with Procter & Gamble to advance the development and regulatory acceptance of non-animal testing approaches, but in order to finally move proposed cosmetic animal testing bans into law in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and other influential markets, we need the active support of major industry leaders such as P&G. With the power of P&Gs household brands, Im confident we can achieve a legislative end to cosmetic animal testing globally within five years.

Media contacts:

Procter & Gamble

Humane Society International

Canada: Christopher Pare, 438-402-0643, cpare@hsi.org

Europe/UK: Wendy Higgins, +44 (0) 7989 972 423 (mobile), whiggins@hsi.org

United States: Nancy Hwa, 202-676-2337 (direct), 202-596-0808 (cell), nhwa@hsi.org

Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund

About Humane Society International

Humane Society International and its partner organizations together constitute one of the worlds largest animal protection organizations. For more than 25 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide  on the Web at hsi.org.

About the Humane Society of the United States

The Humane Society of the United States is the most effective animal protection organization, as rated by our peers. For more than 60 years, we have celebrated the protection of all animals and confronted all forms of cruelty. We and our affiliates are the nations largest provider of hands-on services for animals, caring for more than 100,000 animals each year, and we prevent cruelty to millions more through our advocacy campaigns. Read about our more than 60 years of transformational change for animals and people. HumaneSociety.org

About the Humane Society Legislative Fund

The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Visit us on all our channels: on the web at hslf.org, on our blog at animalsandpolitics.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/humanelegislation and on Twitter at twitter.com/HSLegFund.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Fairy, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Lenor, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, SK-II, Tide, Vicks, and Whisper. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.
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We hope we can develop the asylum mechanism in a way that we can basically do away completely with cross-border asylum applications, meaning thered be no mass migration to target countries, stated Jukka Kopra, a deputy chairperson of the National Coalition Parliamentary Group.

THE NATIONAL COALITION says it is prepared to increase the refugee quota but only on the condition that a new asylum system based on quota refugees is created by the European Union.

The National Coalition stresses that it is key to process asylum applications exclusively at so-called disembarkation centres to be established outside and controlled immigration centres to be established at the borders of the European Union.

Kopra explained that such a system would ensure, first, that asylum applications are received only from people who are genuinely in need of international protection and, second, that people not in need of protection do not make the journey to the European Union.

He was unwilling to shed light on how much the refugee quota could be increased.

Kai Mykkanen (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, told Uutissuomalainen roughly a year ago that adopting a new, quota refugee-based asylum system could result in a tenfold increase in the refugee quota in Finland. He estimated later in an interview with YLE that the number of quota refugees could grow tenfold in the EU, but not necessarily in Finland as the country is already accepting a high number of quota refugees relative to its size.

We havent considered the numbers yet, said Kopra.

The numbers that have been announced earlier  raising [the quota] possibly from the current 750 to 1,000  could apply in the event that we successfully put a stop to cross-border asylum applications, he added.

Members of the European Union agreed last summer to promote the establishment of the disembarkation centres and prevent the movement of asylum seekers between the member states. The 28-country bloc also conceded that more time will be needed to set up the centres in North Africa, as not a single country has yet to declare its willingness to host such a centre.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
Billboard Music Award winning and GRAMMY Award nominated choir, J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise, will drop their soulful, new radio and digital single, "Miracle Worker," February 22nd. It will release in both audio and video configurations on all digital outlets.



News of this new song comes on the heels of the group's great success. Over the last two years, the choir has dominated the gospel music airwaves with their Top Ten hit "No Reason to Fear" and the No. 1 smash, "You Deserve It." The album, You Deserve It (Jamestown), which was nominated for a GRAMMY Award while winning six Stellar Gospel Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, an ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Award, and many other accolades and chart-topping achievements.



"Miracle Worker," was written by up-and-coming gospel artist, Rich Tolbert, Jr., and JJ Hairston. It is a melodic worship medley that declares the miracle working power of God. Birthed out of a collaborative effort and recorded live before an audience of over 10,000 fans in Washington, DC, this song takes the worship experience with Hairston and Youthful Praise to a new level.



"Miracle Worker," is the first radio single off of the forthcoming JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise album set to release in the summer of 2019. This marks the first release through Hairston's Jamestown recording label and their new distribution deal with The Orchard, a Sony Music company. The album was recorded in two sessions, one in Abuja, Nigeria at COZA Church and the second half was recorded at Hairston's home church City of Praise in Landover, MD.



"I am amazed at the awesome things that God continues to do for YP and myself," Hairston says. "This deal with The Orchard will allow for us to spread our ministry to new corners of the world. It's something my wife, Trina, and I never imagined. It is our prayer that this song reminds people that miracles still happen. They are not just Bible stories, but even today God works miracles in homes, families, bodies, marriages and so much more. Not only that, but He shows us in signs and wonders that continue to blow our minds."



It's been a busy time for Hairston. Recently, he co-headlined the 2018 McDonald's Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour that hit 13 major markets across the country. All proceeds from the tour went to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. He's also taken several international tour dates in Europe and Africa. He and his wife, Trina, are also preparing for the publication of their new book, "Amazing Love."

Tags : J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise miracle worker J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise news J.J. Hairston & Youthful Praise new single
The last time you went out for your weekly linguine appointment, you may have noticed some unfamiliar noodles on the menu. Sopre-huh? Mallor-what? New York is in the throes of a pasta boom, with chefs clamoring to find obscure shapes and sometimes even inventing them. Its like Play-Doh, right? Its a dough that we can do anything with, says Vics chef Hillary Sterling. There are endless possibilities of pasta. This rush of innovation is being driven in part by increased knowledge of regional Italian cooking, but the internets influence is also at play: YouTube makes research easier while Instagram encourages finding foods that stand out. However, no budding pasta geeks library is complete without a copy of the Encyclopedia of Pasta, which Lilia and Misi pasta savant Missy Robbins says became a bible for her kitchen. If youre more the eating type, heres a primer on niche pastas around town.

1. Torcia

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Osteria Morini, 218 Lafayette St.

The torch-shaped pasta hails from somewhere in Italy, but thats about as specific as it gets.

2. Pici

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Fiaschetteria Pistoia, 647 E 11th St.; Cafe Altro Paradiso, 234 Spring St.; LArtusi, 228 W. 10th St.

This hand-rolled peasant pasta is hearty in the traditional Tuscan manner.

3. Casoncelli

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Benno, 7 E. 27th St.; Leonti, 103 W. 77th St.; Morandi, 211 Waverly Pl.; ViceVersa, 325 W. 51st St.

These often-gondola-shaped ravioli are associated with the towns of Bergamo and Brescia.

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Misi, 329 Kent Ave., Williamsburg; Vics, 31 Great Jones St.

Appropriately shaped like UFOs; its not clear where  if anywhere  these delicate stuffed pastas (introduced here by Sterling) come from.

5. Sopressini

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Don Angie, 103 Greenwich Ave.

A real fringe pasta, at best, thats also called borsa vuota (open purse), this one has an origin story as murky as reused pasta water.

6. Malloreddus

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Arco Cafe, 886 Amsterdam Ave.; Misi, 329 Kent Ave., Williamsburg.

The national Sardinian pasta, according to Arco Cafes Daniele Fiori, its made by pressing the dough against a woven basket.

7. Cappellacci

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: I Trulli, 124 E. 27th St.; Legacy Records, 517 W. 38th St.

These eggy ravioli are the signature starch of the northeastern city of Ferrara, where they come pumpkin-stuffed; elsewhere theyre made to look like a cone-shaped hat.

8. Lumache

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Carmentas, 50 Starr St., Bushwick; Scampi.

Named after snail shells, this pasta, produced for centuries in Gragnano, Campania, is now found all over.

9. Corzetti

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Misi, 329 Kent Ave., Williamsburg; Trattoria Italienne, 19 W. 24th St.

This Ligurian pasta traditionally gets stamped, like Madonna cookies, and was a kind of status brag in medieval times. (A modern variant includes the Grateful Dead logo.)

10. Gigli (or Campanelle)

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Barano, 26 Broadway, Williamsburg; Colonie, 127 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn Heights; Morandi, 211 Waverly Pl.

Shaped like a type of lily, these may be of Tuscan origin.

11. Fazzoletti

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Faro, 436 Jefferson St., Bushwick.

You may be tempted to wipe your chin with one of these Northern Italian handkerchiefs, but its simple shape belies the difficulty of making a pasta so thin its nearly see-through.

12. Radiatori

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Zero Otto Nove, 2357 Arthur Ave., The Bronx.

Theres debate over whether this stubby pasta  named, oddly, after radiators  was invented between the two World Wars or in the 1960s.

13. Malfadini

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Lilia, 567 Union Ave., Williamsburg; Locanda Verde, 379 Greenwich St.; Leuca, 111 N. 12th St., Williamsburg.

These Naples noodles were supposedly dreamed up in 1902 to honor Princess Mafalda, or were renamed for her.

14. Borsa

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Vics, 31 Great Jones St.

Purse, in English, this is Sterlings effort to design a four-cornered ravioli that stands up.

15. Alisanzas

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Arco Cafe, 886 Amsterdam Ave.

Fortified with lard, this one varies in shape throughout Sardinia and is served with ragu or an oil-cheese sauce.

16. Culurgiones

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: As a special at Don Angie, 103 Greenwich Ave.; and LArtusi, 228 W. 10th St.

These dumplings, braided on top, originated in Ogliastra, Sardinia, and were made individually for major religious holidays.

17. Estrella

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Upland, 345 Park Ave. S.

We kind of just made it up, admits Justin Smillie of his signature pasta, a happy accident that resulted from stumbling onto a star-shaped die.

18. Caramelle

Photo: Marvin Orellana/New York Magazine

Where: Barano, 26 Broadway, Williamsburg; Don Angie, 103 Greenwich Ave; Faro, 436 Jefferson St., Bushwick.

Shaped like a candy wrapper, these cute ravioli are praised for their dough-to-filling ratio and are likely from Emilia-Romagna.

Additional reporting by Yelena Dzhanova.

*This article appears in the February 18, 2019, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!

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A young Kenny and Eve Shopsin. Photo: Courtesy Shopsin Family

Kenny Shopsin was the king of the New York diner, as skilled at manning a short-order station as he was at doling out acerbic aphorisms. Shopsin passed away last year, 36 years after he and his late wife opened Shopsins, the temple to downtown eccentricity that is still carrying on his legacy in its latest iteration at Essex Street Market.

Shopsin also published the very excellent cookbook, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, in 2008. Following his death, his co-author, Carolynn Carreno, combed through her documents of the conversations she had with Shopsin that didnt make it into their book. What she found  as will be unsurprising to anyone who knew or ever interacted with Shopsin  was a trove of Shopsins unique wisdom and insights. Today, Grub is happy to share 20 of these previously unpublished thoughts from Shopsin on everything from the purpose of goals to what restaurants are for to cooking what you know. Get an egg cream, and sit down.

On the meaning of life:

The only way to not be crushed by the stupidity of life is to pursue something energetically and gain as much satisfaction as you can before it gets stupid  and just ignore the fact that its stupid. The whole thing is shitty. Youre gonna fucking die.

On customers:

Bad customers drive away good customers  if your definition of a customer is not how much money he spends but the style he spends it. I want people to be themselves, not to want to watch people be themselves.

On unrequited love:

It must be nice to have someone who loves you hopelessly even if you dont want them. Its like having a customer you dont want who eats your food and likes it.

On the brutality of shared love:

Love is a contact sport as far as Im concerned. So is friendship.

On cooking:

Like they say to a writer, Write about what you know. Cook with ingredients you like. The ones that bring you back to your childhood, the ones that you enjoy touching, the ones you enjoy eating, the ones that you have a good feeling for, you know. And not try to go beyond that. At least not for a really long time.

On facing adversity:

Exercising judgment is the hardest thing in life and exercising judgment that is part of a style is harder yet. Thats what a restaurant does: it exercises judgment of a certain style.

On bringing people together:

People I like being with generally like being with each other. Im not sure what it is, but theres probably five or ten things that are common [among them]: interested in actually communicating with others, self-deprecating, in love with themselves.

On a fate worse than death:

I dont mind dying but I do mind being embarrassed. I wish I lived in old times when there werent tests for these things. Now people blame you. Youre an idiot.

On leaving good-enough alone:

You just cant make some things better. Like if I say: I love you, theres no way I can improve on that statement. Not, I love you very much. Either I love you or I dont love you. You cant improve on it.

On confidence:

If you understand your intrinsic value in the world, you can put up with a lot of shit and have a happy existence.

On the importance of restaurants:

Thing I do best is creating a community of people I love to be with and who love to be together. Because there is no church anymore, no YMCA. Unless you go somewhere to get laid or married.

On the perils of restaurant fame:

The thing that makes it appealing is that it appeals to the wrong kind of people, who want to watch that happening. Its ironic, because theyre the people who will stand on line for two hours to get in.

On getting involved:

[One] modern phenomenon is that people have begun to savor their spectatorship rather than being involved. They dont want to be a part of it, or if they do, they dont know how. They construct an artificial wall between reality and themselves  and they dont cross it.

On culinary success:

A good chef has rigid parameters for how something should taste. Either his tastes are ubiquitous, or he terrorizes people into thinking its great. Usually both happen at the same time.

On the demands of New York City:

They seem to think that the city of New York is a shareholder in my biz and that its my obligation to make as much as humanly possible to fulfill my obligation to the city.

On staying humble:

So if things are going so well in your life that you start to get this megalomaniac successful feeling, this inflated ego, this belief that youre Tom Cruise, that you understand everything, youre guilty of wretched excess, of treading past your human, defective self toward godlike. Its excess, its a no-no. It has to do with why Adlai Stevenson had a hole in his shoe. Why we worship someone like Elvis til they get so out of reach as a fallible human being that we hate them.

On improvising in the kitchen:

Once you have a solid foundation which is uniquely your own, once you feel really comfortable with your ingredients and your ability to actually physically cook, its really easy to fuck around. And its enormously fun. And it will take you more places than the magic kingdom will.

On ambition:

Its just an initiation into the idea until the abilities to appreciate life for the moments in a row starts to make you a deeper and more fulfilled person, and the energy you put towards pursuing the goals  it starts out obsessive.

On the point of goals:

My stupid goal: Ive risen above that and I dont need a goal, Im just stupid. I just float free, knowing that after youve pursued a stupid goal for a long time, even if you understand its not important, you understand its a device to help you overcome the absurdity of life.

On finding comfort:

My lifestyle and the way my restaurant looks, cluttered and all that  I like that. Like is a mild word. I love that. I feel really happy there. When Im in my place, surrounded by all the tchotchkes in the window. Too many packages, too many aprons stacked up, avocados here and there  I love that. Its my place.
A contrite Claire Williams has faced the F1 media in Barcelona, admitting Williams' absence from the opening two days amid fierce speculation was "embarrassing".

But the once-great British team's deputy boss would not comment on precisely what the problem was back at the Grove factory.

"It wasn't just one thing," she told Finland's MTV, "but I'm not going to talk about it publicly.

"We need to focus all of our energy on this test."

Williams' delayed FW42 finally got up and running on Wednesday, some 8 seconds off the leading pace.

Many have observed that Williams' simple livery and car design, coupled with the Barcelona delay, hint at obvious money problems.

"No, it has nothing to do with money," Claire Williams insisted. "It's about not getting the car ready on time.

"First we wanted to do a shakedown and we found that we couldn't. The parts just did not match as we expected," she said.

"But I'm not going to go into any details about why this happened. We still need to analyse it and ensure that it doesn't happen again.

"There is no excuse. All the other teams finished their cars on time, and we did that as well for over 40 years. It is embarrassing that we are so late.

"I can only apologise to all the fans and to our drivers. We are all extremely disappointed," Williams added.

She said the team now has to "live with compromises" ahead of the 2019 season, just as Williams desperately needs to pull itself off the back of the grid.

But she rejected rumours Williams might not be able to race in Australia with two cars.

"I can guarantee that we will have not only two cars in Australia but a spare chassis and enough spare parts," she said.

"It would be an understatement to say that the last days have been terrible for us, but finally we have the car on track and we can start working."

One big rumour during the delay is that technical boss Paddy Lowe could be sacked. Lowe's media duties for the entire Barcelona test have been cancelled.

"I did not pay much attention to all the speculation," Williams said, "but we are not going to waste energy with blame or washing dirty laundry in public."

As for Lowe, Claire said he will "concentrate his energy on getting our car in the best possible condition" rather than taking difficult questions from the media.

(GMM)
(TNS)  Impassioned voters packed a hearing this week to oppose a bill replacing Georgias electronic voting machines, with many of them telling lawmakers that the states proposed new voting system is no more secure.State legislators listened to three hours of testimony during the first hearing on a bill to buy touchscreen machines that print ballots, a $150 million technology that would create a paper ballot that could be used to check the electronic count.Members of the House subcommittee didnt vote Tuesday on House Bill 316 and will continue hearing from the public Wednesday.Voters told state legislators that touchscreens are an expensive solution that wont solve concerns about election integrity . They want paper ballots bubbled in with a pen, saying a $30 million hand-marked paper ballot voting system is the best way to prevent tampering and hacking.Hand-marked paper ballots are the state of the art when it comes to secure voting systems, said a voter, Elizabeth Shackelford as she received a round of applause from the audience. Security of our vote is extraordinarily paramount. ... Why would you not go for the ultimate in transparency?But election officials said the touchscreen voting machines, called ballot-marking devices, are accurate because they can help avoid errors that could be introduced by voters marking their ballots by hand.Ballot-marking devices are best because they ensure more accuracy for the voters intent, said Lynn Bailey, elections director for Richmond County. Voters stand a better chance of having their choices more accurately reflected on a ballot marked by a machine rather than by a human hand.The heated debate over voting machines comes after last falls contentious election for governor that focused on voting rights and election security.Voters struggled with long lines, broken voting machines, rejected ballots and skepticism from supporters of Democrat Stacey Abrams that the election was fair. Republican Brian Kemp, who was secretary of state at the time, said the election was accurate, but he too wants the state to replace its 17-year-old direct-recording electronic voting machines.Critics of the touchscreen system, including cybersecurity experts, say the computer-printed ballots couldnt be trusted.Voters wouldnt necessarily catch errors on their printed ballots, and voting information could be encoded in bar codes that humans wouldnt be able to verify.Theres not a person here that can read a bar code, said a voter, George Balbonda. You guys are boldly cramming this bill down our throat.About 55 percent of Georgia voters surveyed said in a poll bylast month that they prefer paper ballots filled in by voters over paper ballots filled in by a computer.Georgia is one of the last four states that relies entirely on electronic voting machines without a paper backup.A federal judge ruled last fall that Georgias current voting machines put elections at risk, but she stopped short of ordering voters to switch to paper ballots so close to Novembers election.State election officials and legislators have said the state should buy a replacement voting system this year, test-run it during municipal elections in the fall, and put it in place statewide in time for next years presidential primary elections.The bill would also notify voters before their registrations are canceled, limit absentee ballot rejections because of apparent discrepancies in signatures, prevent changes in polling places 60 days before an election and create audit requirements before election results are certified.
According to Google, last month people searched on its platform for medication disposal near me more than they ever have before. So Google Maps has partnered with authorities in seven states, as well as numerous businesses and organizations such as Walgreens and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (EDA), to make it easier for people to find places where they can dispose of their unwanted drugs.Users can now search for things like drug disposal near me on the platform and it will pull up nearby results from more than 3,500 nationwide locations. Currently a pilot program, the new feature can bring up locations such as pharmacies, hospitals and government buildings and display their hours and other information. The pilot is live as of Thursday in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
(TNS) - Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer was in DeWitt this afternoon to announce that he is backing a bill that helps police departments purchase high-tech screening tools that detect lethal drugs, such as fentanyl.Schumer said the opioid crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, especially in Onondaga County, which experienced more 200 deaths from overdoses linked to heroin combined with fentanyl since 2016.Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin. It is a dangerous drug that when touched or inhaled can cause a deadly reaction, Schumer said.Schumer, surrounded by Central New York law enforcement officers, said he is backing the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources Act, which is known as the POWER Act," to help police departments purchase these high-tech, handheld screening devices. The portable chemical screening devices, also known as interdiction devices, can detect a drug in an area before an officers sees or touches it, which will minimizes the risk of dangerous exposure.According to Schumer, the bipartisan bill, creates a new grant program through the U.S. Department of Justice that will help law enforcement agencies purchase the devices, which are between $30,000 and $80,000 each. Under the POWER Act, grants will cover 80 to 90 percent of the costs, Schumer said.DeWitt Police Chief John Anton said the DeWitt Police Department was called to 52 overdose calls in 2018.Our officers are in danger, Anton said, who hopes to receive funding to purchase one device for the town department. These devices will help to keep officers and the public safe.2019 Syracuse Media Group, N.Y.Visit Syracuse Media Group, N.Y. at www.syracuse.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Expediting resources for roads and other forms of transportation to make sure there is adequate evacuation and access for emergency personnel. Coastal flooding made Wilmington inaccessible for four days during Florence.

Improve public roads and buildings to lower the risk of collapses during hurricanes. Increase state funding for stream, tributary and river management to prevent flooding.

Dedicate a significant amount of money to building affordable housing, and make better use of tax credits available in counties declared as being in a state of disaster.

(TNS) - Eastern North Carolina communities still struggling to recover from recent hurricanes have banded together to accelerate financial help and to take steps to prevent debilitating flooding in the next major storm.On Wednesday, the Eastern N.C. Disaster Recovery and Resiliency Alliance drove that point home in a news conference at the state Legislative Building in Raleigh, where they also met with individual lawmakers.State Rep. Holly Grange, a Republican from Wilmington, steered the event, which included about two dozen officials and supportive state legislators. She said the alliance began with an informal meeting in Burgaw, and gradually took shape with a list of priorities, which members discussed with federal officials in a trip to Washington, D.C., in October.Those priorities include:Hurricanes Florence and Michael struck last year, and Grange said many people are still waiting for government aid from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.I look at this as an effort in southeastern North Carolina to bridge that rural-urban divide, Grange said.Local officials said they still have considerable work to fully recover.Our world has changed and we need to come together in a non-partisan, nonpolitical way, Sen. Harper Peterson, a freshman Democrat from New Hanover County, said. This is a crisis that will continue and repeat itself. ... Were still suffering five months later. Thats unacceptable.Hurricane Florence caused an estimated $13 billion in damage. The General Assembly last fall approved about $50 million as an emergency first step, and then followed up later in the month with a comprehensive plan to spend $850 million on recovery and repairs.Gov. Roy Cooper had proposed spending $750 million immediately and $1.5 billion over several years. He ultimately approved the legislatures spending plan, which calls for spending about half of it now and reserving the rest for when needs are more apparent, in the coming months.At Wednesdays news conference, officials gave a dire overview of Eastern North Carolina today.In Duplin County alone, 892 homes and nine businesses were damaged by flood waters, said Wallace Mayor Charles Farrior Jr. He said it would be another four to six months before his town is back to normal.People have sold their homes and moved away or searched for higher ground to move to. Some are still paying for relief efforts out of their own pockets because of delayed government assistance, he said.Steven Barger, mayor pro tem of Boiling Springs Lakes, said the community has spent $1.5 million on storm recovery so far but will have to spend more than $18 million to complete needed work, and town funds are dwindling.In Whiteville, Mayor Terry Mann said the entire downtown flooded. Gradually, business owners are returning, he said, but many who had leased property are looking for safer locations in town.Rep. Ted Davis, a Republican from New Hanover County, said significant logistical problems need to be addressed, such as figuring out what happens when flooding isolates neighborhoods, or when the airport cant function, when to evacuate a nursing home or how to find emergency supplies and gasoline.It goes on and on and on, Davis said.2019 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)Visit The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) at www.newsobserver.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
United States: Union leaders for West Virginia teachers ended a two-day strike on Wednesday that they had called to oppose charter schools, clearing the way for classes to resume for about 270,000 students.

The state`s educators, among the lowest-paid in the nation, sparked a wave of US teachers strikes last year when they walked off the job to demand higher pay. That nine-day strike ended after West Virginia agreed to a 5 percent raise.

In their latest job action, teachers went on strike on Tuesday to protest a bill in the West Virginia legislature that would have allowed the state`s first seven charter schools to open. Although the bill was defeated on Tuesday in the House of Delegates, the strike continued on Wednesday, keeping most of the state`s 700 schools closed as teachers rallied to stop lawmakers from reviving the bill.

"Our voices were heard," Fred Albert, president of the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Teachers will return to work on Thursday, Albert said, but union leaders would monitor deliberations in the state legislature this year to oppose the charter school proposal.

Charter schools are publicly funded but run by private groups. Advocates say the schools offer parents a wider array of educational opportunities for their children. Critics say they benefit profit-driven private organizations and that some of them oppose organized labor.

While the strike in West Virginia wound down, another one is looming in Oakland, California. Teachers there are expected to strike on Thursday over charter school accountability. The teachers are also seeking raises and more nurses and guidance counselors.

WEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS



Union officials have complained that wealthy organizations from outside West Virginia are pushing for charter schools. Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, had vowed to veto the charter schools legislation, which had passed the state Senate but was defeated in the House of Delegates.

A separate bill, backed by the governor, which authorizes the promised pay raise for teachers and does not address charter schools, was advancing in the legislature, the West Virginia Democratic Party said on Twitter on Wednesday.

West Virginia is one of only six US states that does not allow for charter schools, according to non-profit research group the Education Commission of the States.

The American Federation of Teachers called the charter schools bill an act of retaliation for the strike last March that secured higher pay for teachers. That strike was followed by similar actions in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Washington: The Trump Administration on Wednesday announced its intent to provide USD 9.5 million in assistance to the Maldives as part of its effort to strengthen its ties with the island nation. In a meeting with visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed their common interest in deepening bilateral ties and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Shahid underscored the importance of his government's reform efforts to the vitality of Maldives' democracy and future prosperity, according to the State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino.

"Pompeo expressed strong support for the US-Maldives partnership, announcing the intent of the State Department to work with the Congress to provide USD 9.75 million in additional assistance for Maldives," Palladino said.

During the meeting Pompeo hailed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enhance aviation security and an intent by USAID to facilitate sustained collaboration with the Maldives. He also noted that the US is cooperating with the Maldives to share best practices in the areas of debt strategy, public financial management, and combatting financial crimes.

Pompeo also welcomed the Maldives commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said.
Islamabad: Pakistan's top security body Thursday said the country was "not involved in any way" in the Pulwama "incident", which was "conceived, planned and executed indigenously" as Prime Minister Imran Khan authorised the military to respond "decisively" to any Indian misadventure.

In a statement issued after a key meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Khan, the country's top civilian and military leadership said the Pakistan government was "determined to demonstrate" that it is capable of protecting its people.

The meeting was convened to discuss the country's security situation in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack by a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers last week in Jammu and Kashmir.

Days after the terror strike by JeM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said security forces have been given free hand to avenge the dastardly act. "This is a new Pakistan and we are determined to demonstrate to our people that the State is capable of protecting them and believes that monopoly of violence stays with State," said a statement issued after the meeting, according to the Radio Pakistan.

"The incident was conceived, planned and executed indigenously," the statement said, referring the Pulwama terror attack as just an "incident."

The statement said Prime Minister Khan has authorised the armed forces of Pakistan to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India."

In a video message earlier this week, Khan said Pakistan was not involved in the attack in Kashmir.

India rubbished Khan's comments, saying disclaiming Pakistan's link with terrorist attacks is an oft-repeated excuse by the "nerve centre" of terrorism.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India was not surprised that Khan refused to acknowledge the attack on India's security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism, adding his offer to investigate the attack if provided proof is a "lame excuse".

Ahead of the NSC meeting Thursday, Prime Minister Khan and Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa held a one-on-one meeting during which they discussed region's security situation.

The meeting was attended by Army chief General Bajwa, services chiefs, heads of intelligence agencies, security officials and federal and state ministers for finance, defence, foreign affairs and interior.
Islamabad: At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure on terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, a media report said.

The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Mohammad during his first official visit to Islamabad.

The News International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the Crown Prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait and a gold-plated gun.

The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister.

In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Prime Minister Khan at the Prime Minister's Office here. Khan had thanked him for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi Crown Prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The international community led by the US has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth USD 20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability.

China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country.

Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his "outstanding support" in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries.
(TNS)  Bay County, Fla., leaders approved a $100 million bond issue on Wednesday to pay for Hurricane Michael recovery work.The money will cover mainly debris removal, infrastructure and stormwater system repair. The decision comes after the county took out a similar $50 million bond for hurricane recovery in November.The Bay County Commission approved the bond issue during its regular meeting on Wednesday. Under the agreement with SunTrust Bank, the county will get $50 million in March and another $50 million in April."We need to continue to pay contractors, we can't just keep putting them off," Commissioner William Dozier said. "That's why we're doing this."The county faces an estimated $400 million bill for hurricane recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to reimburse the county for most of its recovery spending. However, the reimbursement process could take years  time the county doesn't have to delay recovery spending."That first $50 million loan we took out has already been spent," Dozier said, referring to the November bond issue. "We've done so much debris pickup."Ashley Stukey, county budget officer, said the county had 15 years to pay back the $100 million. The deal was shaped so the loan only had three years of interest, Stukey said."Hopefully we can get FEMA money back fast enough to pay all the interest off before the principal," Stukey said.Dozier noted that while he and his fellow commissioners have mainly talked about the high cost of debris removal after the hurricane, there are other costs the county must cover too."There's also damage done to infrastructure and county buildings and whatnot," he said. "This money is going to go a long way toward moving us in the right direction."Later in the meeting, the commission approved residential and commercial zoning requests for a 2,534-acre active adults housing project planned by the St. Joe Company. The previously announced project will be built west of State 79 and north of the Intracoastal Waterway in West Bay.Ian Crelling, community development director for the county, said with the zoning approved, St. Joe can move forward with construction plans. A construction date has not been set."They can now submit to us for building development orders," Crelling said.The commission also approved the first phase of an artificial reef construction project. The concrete reef will be built about 7 nautical miles out from Panama City Beach with $120,000 in Gulf recovery money paid by BP after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill."Artificial reefs are important for divers and fishermen," Crelling said. "The more places there are to fish and dive, the better it is for the community."The new artificial reef comes after some on the other end of the county apparently were damaged by the hurricane.In a recent email toBob Cox, president of the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association, wrote that his organization had found that the hurricane had moved some of the reefs it oversees."In one of our shallow reef areas that averages 20 feet deep, we have early evidence that many of our 2- and 3-ton structures resting on the bottom moved approximately a quarter mile while piling mounted structures stayed in place," Cox wrote. "We expect hurricane impacts to be less at deeper depths as damage storm currents and surge decrease with increasing depth."Cox wrote that when visibility and conditions improve for diving, his group would make more assessments of the hurricane's underwater impacts."From previous experiences, strong storms have both positive and negative impacts as nature continually changes our environments both on land and underwater," Cox wrote.2019 The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.)Visit The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.) at www.newsherald.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Pakistan on Thursday reinstated the ban imposed on Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a UN-designated terrorist organisation led by 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, according to news agency PTI.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) held at the Prime Minister's Office, according to PTI.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations. It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organisations by the Ministry of Interior," PTI reported quoting a spokesperson.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

Earlier on Wednesday, following immense international pressure over last week's Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 jawans, the Pakistan Army had asked Hafiz Saeed to lay low.

The country's military has asked him to maintain a low profile and avoid public appearances, sources had told Zee Media.

On February 14, over 2,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district.

Terror outfit JeM claimed responsibility for the attack and Kashmiri local Adil Ahmad Dar was identified as the suicide bomber.

Hafiz Saeed, the founder of banned terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), has also led several terrorist attacks targeting innocent lives across India.
NEAR BAGHOUZ: The operation to destroy Islamic State`s final vestige of rule in Iraq and Syria hit a temporary snag on Thursday, as an expected evacuation of the remaining civilians from its last enclave in eastern Syria did not go ahead.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has steadily driven the jihadists down the Euphrates, has surrounded them at Baghouz near the Iraqi border, but does not want to mount a final attack until all civilians are out.

Iraqi sources said the SDF handed over more then 150 Iraqi and other foreign jihadists to Iraq on Thursday, under a deal involving a total of 502.

The SDF had expected to pull the last civilians from Baghouz on Thursday, but trucks it sent in left empty. "We can`t get into details, but today no civilians came out," SDF official Mustafa Bali told Reuters.

Baghouz is all that remains for Islamic State in the Euphrates valley region that became its final populated stronghold in Iraq and Syria after it lost its major cities of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017.

Its capture will nudge the eight-year-old Syrian war towards a new phase, with U.S. President Donald Trump`s pledge to withdraw troops leaving a security vacuum that other powers are seeking to fill.

Though the fall of Baghouz marks a milestone in the campaign against IS and the wider conflict in Syria, Islamic State is still seen as a major security threat.

The group has steadily turned to guerrilla warfare and still holds territory in a remote, sparsely populated area west of the Euphrates River - a part of Syria otherwise controlled by the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies.

Bali told Reuters the SDF would attack Baghouz once the civilian evacuation was complete. He did not say how much more time was needed to finish off the remaining Islamic State militants, or give a new estimate of how many fighters remained.

The SDF has previously estimated several hundred fighters - believed mostly to be foreign jihadists - are still inside. A Reuters witness saw warplanes in the sky over Baghouz on Thursday though there was no sound of fighting or shelling.

The U.S.-led coalition said on Wednesday "the most hardened" jihadists remain in Baghouz. More than 2,000 civilians left the enclave on Wednesday, the SDF said. It has said more than 20,000 civilians left Baghouz in the days leading up to the start of the SDF`s final push to capture the enclave this month.

The SDF has not ruled out the possibility that some Islamic State fighters had left Baghouz with the civilians. SDF and coalition forces are recording the names and questioning everyone who has left in the civilian convoys.

Many of the people who left the enclave in civilian convoys have been Iraqis, some of whom said they had crossed from Iraq into Syria as Iraqi government forces made gains against Islamic State on the other side of the frontier.

FACING THE CONSEQUENCES

Two Iraqi military sources told Reuters the handover of Islamic State fighters on Thursday was the first of several.

"The majority of the fighters are Iraqi," said a military colonel whose unit is stationed at the Syrian border. "But we have a few foreigners."

The mayor of Iraqi border town Al-Qaim, Ahmed al-Mahallawi, said some fighters` families were also transferred. The U.S.-led coalition directed questions to the SDF.

Islamic State, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared himself "caliph", or leader of all Muslims, in 2014, attracted members from all over the world, including many Western states.

A Turkish official said Turkey was doubling down its own security measures to make it harder for foreign fighters still in Syria or Iraq to pass through Turkey, noting that the threat was much greater than the 800 that the SDF says it is holding.

Western countries refusing to repatriate jihadists were not living up to their responsibilities and leaving countries like Turkey to face the consequences, the official added.

Britain has stripped the citizenship of a teenager who went to Syria aged 15 to join Islamic State. But interior minister Sajid Javid said he would not take a decision that would leave anyone stateless, after Bangladesh said it would not accept her.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a woman born in the United States who joined Islamic State did not qualify for U.S. citizenship and had no legal basis to return to the country.
PESHAWAR: Afghan Taliban leaders said on Thursday that their new political chief will not be attending peace talks with U.S. envoys due to take place in Qatar next week.

US officials had been keen to negotiate with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, hoping the Taliban`s co-founder and military veteran would add momentum and have the clout to discuss tough issues surrounding the end of America`s longest war.

But senior Taliban leaders said Baradar would not be travelling to Qatar, citing different reasons including problems obtaining travel documents as well difference among the leadership over his precise role in the talks.

Baradar was released from a Pakistani jail in October and his appointment was widely seen as marking a new push by the Taliban to emerge from the political and diplomatic shadows.

Baradar, who earlier led the insurgent groups military operations in southern Afghanistan, was arrested in 2010 by a team from Pakistan and U.S. intelligence agencies. A co-founder of the movement, he was a close friend of the reclusive late Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre, "Baradar" or "brother".

"Actually Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar wanted to go to Qatar and personally head the peace talks but due to a host of reasons, he would not be able to travel to Qatar and participate in talks," one leader told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin said earlier this week that he was unable to say whether Baradar would be attending.

JANUARY TALKS

The last round of talks ended in Qatar in January with both the hardline Islamist movement and U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad hailing progress after a longer-than-expected six-day session.

U.S. officials familiar with discussions said they were hoping to get more details over fresh assurances from the Taliban that they would not allow Afghanistan to be used by groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State to attack the United States and its allies - a key demand by Washington.

The timing of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of foreign forces remain sticking points, while Washington is also pushing the Taliban to talk to the Afghan government.

The movement has so far boycotted the government, saying it is a puppet of the United States - a position that has alarmed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Another Taliban official said they were not expecting breakthroughs in the coming talks, adding that they also wanted to discuss the exchange of prisoners and lifting bans on the movement of Taliban leaders.

The Taliban side will continue to be headed by lead negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a figure who has been increasingly active diplomatically and who recently met Afghan opposition politicians in Moscow.

The movement earlier announced that its team would meet U.S. negotiators this week in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, as well holding talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. The meetings did not take place for reasons that remain unclear.

Staging near daily attacks against the Western-backed Afghan government and its security forces, the Taliban contest or control nearly half of Afghanistan and are widely seen as more powerful than at any time since being toppled from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The United States has nearly 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan defence and security forces as well as a separate counter-terrorism effort.
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu`s strongest challengers in Israel`s April general election joined forces on Thursday, a dramatic turn in a race his right-wing Likud party has been predicted to win easily.

In anticipation of the announcement of a new centrist alliance between former military chief Benny Gantz Resilience party and ex-finance minister Yair Lapid`s Yesh Atid faction, Netanyahu orchestrated a merger of far-right parties on Wednesday that could help him build a governing coalition after the ballot.

The Resilience party, in a statement, said Gantz, Lapid and Moshe Yaalon, a former defence minister, "decided to establish a joint list that will comprise the new Israeli ruling party". Gantz and Lapid, who met overnight, agreed on a "rotation for the prime minister`s post" in which Gantz would hold office for the first two and a half years of a new government`s term before Lapid took over.

Israelis vote for party lists of candidates for seats in the 120-member parliament. Since Israel`s creation in 1948 no one party has clinched an outright majority in the legislature and so post-election coalition-building has determined the composition of governments and who leads them.

Netanyahu, 69, has been in power for the past decade, with Likud at the helm of a parliamentary bloc. Opinion polls have forecast a Likud victory, with some 30 parliamentary seats, in the April 9 ballot, with Resilience and Yesh Atid each trailing by a wide margin and Netanyahu on track to form a rightist coalition similar to the one he heads.

But the surveys also predicted a much tighter race and a possible upset should Gantz, 59, and Lapid, 55, team up and then form a centrist and left-wing parliamentary bloc larger than a Likud-led alliance.

In its statement, Resilience announced that another popular former armed forces chief, Gaby Ashkenazy - like Gantz a political newcomer - had agreed to join the new centrist alliance.

`WITCH-HUNT`

Netanyahu`s political future has also been clouded by three corruption cases in which the attorney-general is expected to decide soon whether to accept police recommendations to indict him. The prime minister is suspected of wrongfully accepting gifts from wealthy businessmen and dispensing favours in alleged bids for favourable coverage in a newspaper and a website.

Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing, saying he is a victim of a left-wing witch-hunt to topple him. His opponents are attacking his record and underlining the need for clean governance. While Gantz and Lapid worked out their deal, Netanyahu helped negotiate the merger of two far-right parties, Jewish Home and Jewish Power, that could give followers of the late anti-Arab rabbi, Meir Kahane, a stronger voice in politics.

Leaders of Jewish Power have portrayed themselves as successors of the US-born Kahane, who served one term in the Knesset in the 1980s as head of the Kach party. Kach advocated the "transfer" of Palestinians to neighbouring Arab countries and also called for a ban on intermarriage between Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Kahane`s movement was subsequently banned from Israeli politics as racist. He was assassinated in 1990 in New York by an Egyptian-born American.
Hyderabad: A 48-year-old man from here was allegedly shot dead in the US by an unidentified man, his family members claimed on Wednesday.

K Govardhan Reddy, a resident of Uppal area here, was attacked by the assailant at a fuel-filling station-cum supermarket in Florida on Tuesday, according to one of Reddy's friends Ramesh.

"We got the information today morning that a masked man shot dead Govardhan when he was alone at the store and fled away. As per preliminary information, the accused did not take away any cash. The motive of the killing is not known," Ramesh said based on information received from a relative staying in the US.

Goverdhan is survived by a wife and two daughters. He had gone to the US around five years ago and worked as a manager there, Ramesh said.
PARIS: A French TV channel said on Wednesday it had been forced to cut short a live Facebook broadcast from a desecrated Jewish cemetery in eastern France because of an onslaught of anti-Semitic commentary.

Separately, two swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found painted in red on a monument at a different cemetery near Lyon.

"Our country is confronted with a resurgence of anti-Semitism undoubtedly without precedent since the Second World War," President Emmanuel Macron said later on Tuesday in an annual speech to Jewish leaders in France.

France 3 television said it went live from the first cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim on Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron was visiting to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalised with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse.

But as it broadcast footage online to its more than 1.3 million Facebook followers, the feed was inundated with anti-Semitic commentary and abuse.

"We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including "Heil Hitler", "dirty Jew" or "dirty Jews", comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the Jewish community," the channel said in a statement explaining its decision.

"Within minutes, the number of vile and illegal comments had gone well beyond our capacity to moderate them," it explained, adding that it would have taken 10 or 20 staff to handle the onslaught. "We refuse to traffic in hatred."

ALARM

The attacks on the cemeteries are the latest in a series of incidents across France in recent weeks that have alarmed the Jewish community and prompted calls for harder hitting legislation against those responsible.

In reaction to the upsurge in anti-Semitic incidents, Macron told Jewish leaders that a bill would be introduced by May aimed at curbing hate speech on the internet.

Macron said it would require internet platforms to quickly take down hate speech and identify the authors.

On Tuesday evening, some 20,000 people, joined by politicians from all parties, gathered at the Place de la Republique in central Paris to denounce anti-Semitism. Similar rallies were held in cities across the country.

While France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with a community of around 550,000 people, there continues to be a steady drip-feed of anti-Semitic attacks. Commentators have blamed incitement not only from the far-right but from the far-left and fringe Islamists.

In 2018, the number of anti-Semitic incidents increased by 74 percent nationwide, figures released last week showed, despite having fallen somewhat in previous years.
WASHINGTON/HANOI: A week before a second summit with North Korea`s leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump held out the prospect of an easing of tough sanctions on the country, but only if it does "something that`s meaningful" on denuclearisation.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump also said he expects to meet with Kim again after their Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital.

Trump said he did not think North Korea was reluctant to denuclearize, in spite of a lack of concrete progress since he and Kim met for a first summit in Singapore in June.

"I dont think theyre reluctant; I think they want to do something," he said. "Well see what happens. The sanctions are on in full. I havent taken sanctions off, as you know. Id love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something thats meaningful on the other side."

Trump said he and Kim had "a good relationship" and added: "I wouldnt be surprised to see something work out."

He said he and Kim have made a lot of progress but "that doesnt mean this will be the last meeting."

Trump`s comment was his most explicit yet that the United States might be willing to consider easing sanctions on North Korea before Pyongyang completely abandons its nuclear weapons program.

The administration has previously said that sanctions will remain in place until North Korea`s complete denuclearisation.

Trump spoke as his special envoy for North Korea was due in Hanoi to finalise preparations for the summit. Stephen Biegun is expected to hold talks with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Trump said on Tuesday he wants North Korea to end its nuclear program "ultimately," but had no pressing time schedule for this, provided it stuck to a freeze in nuclear and missile testing in place since 2017.

When Trump and Kim met in Singapore, it was the first ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

Kim pledged then to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but negotiations have made little headway since, with North Korea demanding a lifting of punishing US-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees.

In September, Kim expressed willingness to permanently dismantle facilities at his country`s main nuclear site of Yongbyon in return for corresponding U.S. moves.

Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang this month which he said would include discussion of such corresponding steps, but the State Department had offered no sign of any specific progress.

Biegun said after his North Korea visit his talks had been "productive" but there was "hard work to do" before the summit.

Sources in Hanoi said earlier that Vietnam was preparing for Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for the summit with Trump.

It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel the thousands of kilometres (miles) through China by train, from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to Vietnam, meaning he would have to set off later this week in time for his planned Feb. 25 arrival.
PewDiePie seems to have given up and conceded defeat.

Or so says the video uploaded by Felix 'PewDiePie' Kjellberg on Wednesday: I might as well upload this since we are losing..

PewDiePie goes on to review books in the video, in the hope of gaining more subscribers. He also shares a screenshot that shows that the gap between the two YouTube giants down to a little over 8600.

We can bring back and stop T Series again. Let's do it, he says in the video.

At the time of filing the story, PewDiePie had gained back and was 36000 subscribers ahead of T Series.

The one-man Swedish content creator PewDiePie has been locked in an online battle with music T-Series for the most-subscribed channel on YouTube for months.

PewDiePie, known for his video-game commentary, held the mantle for more six years only to be threatened by T-Series fast ascent to the top in mere months. Several Pewds (PewDiePie fans) and top YouTube content creators came out in PewDiePie's support, some to the extent of hacking worldwide printers, Google Chromecasts and defacing the Wall Street Journal website.

Latest to support PewDiePie in his the battle against T-Series is SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who meme review with Justin Roiland, creator of popular adult animated science fiction sitcom Rick and Morty.
DEHRADUN: A Pakistani prisoner lodged in Rajasthan's Jaipur Central Jail was found dead following a brawl with other jail inmates, said reports on Thursday.

According to ANI, the deceased Pakistani prisoner was identified as Shakar Ullah.

Rajasthan: Pakistani prisoner Shakar Ullah found dead today in Jaipur Central Jail; Jaipur Jail IG Rupinder Singh says, "he was lodged here since 2011 and died following a brawl with other inmates." pic.twitter.com/G20cICefpi  ANI (@ANI) 20 February 2019

He had an ugly fight with other Jaipur Central Jail inmates on Wednesday, according to jail officials.

A Pakistani prisoner has allegedly been murdered in the central jail, Rupinder Singh, IG (Jail), said.

Senior administrative and police officials rushed to the jail after learning about the incident.

However, it is still unclear as to what caused the brawl. The authorities are probing the matter.

Singh said the inmate had been in the jail since 2011 and had died after a brawl with other inmates.

According to media reports, the Pakistani prisoner had received severe injuries on his head from a blunt object.

Shakar Ullah was serving a life sentence in connection with a terror-related case for which he was convicted in 2017, said reports.

The incident comes days after at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in an attack on their convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, for which Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility.

As a precautionary measure, Pakistani prisoners lodged in other jails of the country have been shifted to separate barracks.

Confirming the development, PVK Prasad, IG (Prisons), said, ''A Pakistani prisoner lodged in Dehradun jail has been kept in a separate barrack.''

It may be recalled that anti-Pakistan sentiments are high these days in the wake of a deadly suicide attack on the CRPF convoy in J&K's Pulwama.

Hundreds of people have taken to streets and protested against the killing of CRPF jawans in Pulwama by Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Several countries across the globe had strongly condemned the Pulwama attack and pledged support to India in dealing with terrorism.
Dehradun: Life will never be the same for Mange Ram (38) of Balupur village in Haridwar, a survivor of the hooch tragedy that claimed more than 100 lives in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Though Ram, the only breadwinner of his family, survived the tragedy, he lost his vision. The blindness that has befallen upon Ram could be permanent, doctors said.

Similarly, Suresh Chand (45) of Bindukharak village in Haridwar became blind after consuming the spurious liquor. "Methyl alcohol or methanol is dangerous for the human body and can damage the optic nerve and cause permanent blindness," said Dr. Rakesh Gupta, an ophthalmologist.

The government doctors said they have seen such reports in local media. "We will send a team of doctors to verify these reports of blindness and provide treatment, if needed," said Dr H.K. Shakya, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Haridwar district.

These are not the only cases of people losing sight due to the spurious liquor. Nearly a dozen people in several villages of Haridwar and adjoining Saharanpur district too have lost their vision. "We have also received reports of blindness," confirmed Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police (Law and Order).

The state excise department and the police are likely to shortly launch a campaign against the spurious liquor in the district through social media and with the help of NGOs. The hooch death toll in the Haridwar district alone has reached 43.

The state government is enacting stringent laws to curb the spurious liquor business, which has been thriving in the backward areas of the state.
Rocky journey

Whats next?

(TNS)  Dallas County in 2012 embarked on a new venture: development of a case-tracking software that could be used in any Texas criminal court  and could be sold to other counties.To split the $16.7 million bill , the county partnered with Tarrant and Travis counties.The system was supposed to go live by 2015. But the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, or CUC  the nonprofit at the helm of the project  missed that deadline after its software developer left the business. Then came another missed deadline. And another.Now  after more than six years of extensions, objections from judges and at least $26 million of taxpayer money  Dallas County is suspending payments toward the still-unfinished courthouse program.The pause, as officials have called it, is supposed to last until September. If CUC hasnt launched the software in Tarrant County by then, some Dallas County commissioners have threatened a vote to pull the plug for good.Every single deadline has been missed, and if that doesnt give you any pause  its been giving me pause for seven years, said Commissioner Elba Garcia.CUC says the countys requests for customization are partly to blame for the delays. But another missed deadline might spur Dallas County to end the years-long saga marked by a corporate bankruptcy, arguments on the commissioners dais and a plea from criminal court judges to ditch the program.The future is still uncertain. On Tuesday, the Commissioners Court was scheduled to vote on a $495,000 contract to hire a consultant who would help officials determine the viability of completing the software. The decision was postponed at the request of county staff.Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the agreement with CUC to pause payments doesnt preclude the county from considering other options before September.Tarrant County officials are more optimistic about the programs future  the administrator there said last week hes confident the software will be in place by the fall.Jenkins said he hopes for a similar happy ending for Dallas County.Nobody wants this to work more than I do, Jenkins said. Nobody wants me to be wrong more than I do because weve sunk a lot of money in this.On its website, CUC touts its TechShare initiative as a way for counties to control their destiny. The idea is that counties can band together to share software development costs and recoup some of their investment by selling the system to other counties.For example, a basic version of the juvenile case management system that Dallas County pioneered is now used by most counties in Texas.The software for the criminal courts, known as the TechShare.Court project, would help judges manage every aspect of a case  from the time a defendant is booked into jail through sentencing. Currently, judges and clerks have to check different systems depending on whether they need to pull up a court setting, bond information or a legal filing.TechShare.Court, which began in late 2012, stumbled in its early days. American Cadastre or AMCAD  the developer hired by CUC  went bankrupt in 2014. Left with incomplete code, CUC hired former workers from the company to finish the job.An analysis commissioned by CUC in 2014 described the code as outdated and inefficient, thereported at the time. Travis County walked away from the project the next year after spending $3.3 million.Dallas County officials also raised concerns. The countys chief information officer, Stanley Victrum, wrote in a confidential 2014 memo, which was obtained by, that the county should pursue a more cost effective and sustainable option.Victrum cited a $6.7 million cost estimate from the software provider of the countys civil courts, Tyler Technologies, to provide a case-tracking system for the criminal courts.Tyler Technologies had bid for the CUC criminal courts project. Dahill said he wasnt authorized to disclose the companys estimate.Judges also opposed moving forward . In a rare display of unity, all 31 criminal court judges in Dallas County came out against the TechShare case-tracking software in 2015. They, too, said they preferred Tyler Technologies, whose Odyssey software is used by neighboring counties. The judges complained in a letter that the TechShare software they tested didn't seem finished and that it didn't meet their needs.The deadline to go live in Dallas County shifted to 2016. Then to 2017. And then 2018. The budget grew to more than $22 million.CUC Executive Director John Dahill said in response to emailed questions that Dallas County staff requested development work beyond what had been identified as the initial implementable version of the software.For example, Dahill said, Dallas County commissioners approved a plan last fall with 21 requirements to go live that had been defined by CUC together with county staff. But after that vote, county personnel produced a list of 612 new items for CUC to analyze, he said.Custom software development can be challenging, Dahill wrote. And one of the most difficult aspects  especially when there is a large number of stakeholders in varying roles  is determining the limits of the initial version of the software to be implemented, versus additional functionality to be developed over time.Mike Cantrell fiercely defended the software during his tenure as a county commissioner, which ended Dec. 31. Cantrell said that as owners of the program, the counties would avoid paying an outside vendor to upgrade and maintain it. He dismissed criticisms about missed deadlines.Everybody acts like, oh, this is so unique, and it shouldnt be happening. Baloney, Cantrell said in a 2017 public meeting. It happens in every single IT project that you have.Commissioner Theresa Daniel, head of the countys information technology committee, said she continues to back TechShare.Court despite the delays.Anyones whos worked in any software development project  Im not aware of anyone that knew exactly what they could expect when they got into the development of it, she said.Daniel said her support for TechShare is grounded in the success of its juvenile case management system and another software tailored for prosecutors. Those two systems debuted in Dallas County years ago and are used in many places around the state.But Craig Morrissey, who is leading the TechShare.Court project in the county's IT department, told commissioners two years ago that programmers faced challenges as they tried to create the new software for court operations that were not consistent from court to court.The county set June 2018 as the new target date.We can sustain this project schedule without a problem, Morrissey told commissioners.But last fall, the project wasnt ready, and county staff asked commissioners to approve an extra $1.5 million. Cantrell, Daniel and Commissioner John Wiley Price signed off on the payment. A March deadline emerged.If this is what they need to complete it, we owe them that, County Clerk John Warren told commissioners in September. Because otherwise were going to start all over again.But in November, J.J. Koch, who campaigned against the software, won an election for Cantrells open seat. That meant detractors now outnumbered the TechShare.Court supporters on the Commissioners Court.Koch said the county is essentially being held hostage by CUC.We have taken CUCs word for it in so many respects far too much, Koch said. And it has cost us dearly.The new Commissioners Court rejected a $1.4 million maintenance and operations payment for the case-tracking software with a 4-1 vote. Daniel was the lone dissenter.In early February, Warren told county officials in a letter that employees in his office and the district clerks office had stopped working on the software. A briefing from CUC to publicly discuss its progress was scheduled for Feb. 5. But then it was canceled.Tarrant County Judge B. Glen Whitley asked to discuss the project with Jenkins and Garcia on Jan. 31, according to officials. Dahill said Whitley was already scheduled to meet with the Dallas County officials on another matter and invited the CUC leader to join.Dahill said CUC didnt cancel the public briefing. He wrote in an email that he informed Dallas County staff of the discussion with Jenkins and Garcia, and there was general agreement that there was no longer a need for a presentation to the Commissioners Court.Jenkins said CUC blamed the latest TechShare.Court delay on a Dallas County employee he didnt publicly identify.They claimed the employees request for them to fix problems with the program as it was being developed was making them late in being able to meet their obligations, the county judge said in a Commissioners Court meeting.But Dahill said he didnt attribute the delays solely to Dallas County personnels requests for new requirements. He listed complicating factors, such as the integration to the countys other software systems and departures of key staff and participants.There are things both parties could have done to move this project forward in a better manner, Dahill wrote. Upon successful implementation in Tarrant County, we believe that Dallas County will continue with the relatively small amount of work necessary to successfully implement TechShare.Court.Tarrant County Administrator G.K. Maenius said the software there is fairly complete and that the final product will be something that truly fits Texas counties. The county has either spent or budgeted $17.6 million for the project, he said.In Dallas County, the expenses total about $30 million if it also includes money to pay internal staff and contractors tied to the project, officials said.Commissioners are expected to return to Jenkins proposal to hire a consultant who can advise the county on how to proceed with the courthouse software.Price, who has supported the project in the past, said the suggestion was reasonable.Youre still being told the same thing, and you havent been given any real product, Price said. At some point in time you have to say, hey, lets pump the brakes and make an assessment.
Hyderabad: The Congress has decided to contest all the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in the polls due by May, a key party functionary said on Thursday.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Telangana R C Khuntia told PTI that a recommendation to this effect was sent to the party's central leadership for approval.

The Congress had struck a seat-sharing deal with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) for the state Assembly polls held in December 7 last year and the four parties had contested the election under the banner of "Prajakutami" (People's Front).

Asked if the Congress would reach out to the TDP, CPI and TJS for support in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Khuntia said, "We are talking to them. We have good relations (with them) and (we will) appeal to all parties to support us."

The TJS, meanwhile, confirmed that the Congress had approached it for support in the Lok Sabha election.

"They (Congress) requested us to support them in the parliamentary election. Our state committee will take a final decision (on the request)," TJS president M Kodandaram told PTI.

The "Prajakutami", which had taken on the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state Assembly polls, came a cropper with the Congress winning 19 seats and the TDP two in the 119-member House. The CPI and the TJS had drawn a blank.

Kodandaram expressed hope that the alliance would continue in the Lok Sabha polls as well.

"I would say the form may change but in some form or other, understanding and alliance may continue," he said.

A senior leader of the TDP, led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, admitted that a section of the Congress was not in favour of the alliance but "some important leaders" of the grand old party wanted it to continue.

TDP sources said a final call on what needed to be done by the party during the polls in Telangana would be taken by Naidu, who was in touch with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which had forged the Bahujan Left Front with several parties for the Assembly polls, has reached out to the CPI for an understanding for the parliamentary election, sources said.
Rameswaram: Five Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy Thursday for allegedly fishing in the island nation's waters, a Fisheries department official said here.

The fishermen from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai district were fishing near Neduntheevu off the Lankan coast when they were arrested, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Pudukottai, Kumaresan said.

They were taken to Kangesanthurai along with their boat, he added.

Eight fishermen from Mandapam in Ramanathapuramn district were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly fishing in Sri Lanka's territorial waters, Kumaresan said.

Two boats were also seized, he added.

He alleged that Lankan navy personnel had snapped the nets of as many as 50 boats of Rameswaram fishermen who had put out to the sea in over 500 boats Wednesday.
It has been a decade since Kajal Aggarwal entered the Telugu film industry. She has always been the top actress and ranks high on the priority list of many filmmakers in Telugu and Tamil film industry. Kajal has done different kinds of roles and has been lauded for many.

Incidentally, her sister Isha also entered the film industry but couldnt sustain for long.

The latest news is that she has teamed up with actor Sharwanand for the first time ever. The film is being directed by Sudheer Varma and is being shot at exquisite locations of Valencia. This film is a gangster drama. The duo is shooting for a romantic song there and almost 250 dancers are roped in for this song.

The schedule is expected to be on for three more weeks in Spain. Kajal had signed for this film a year ago but she was busy with other commitments and Sharwanand was also busy will 'Padi Padi Leche Manasu'. Finally, things have fallen into place.

She was recently seen in 'Kavacham', where she was paired opposite Sreenivas Bellamkonda. The film has received mixed responses, however, she was appreciated for her performance. The actress has paired up with Sreenivas again for a Teja directorial which is titled 'Sita'. The first look of the film was released recently and it looks pretty good as both Kajal and Sreenivas look mischievous. Well, the film will release later this year.

Kajal is awaiting the release of her remake project 'Paris Paris'. The film is a Tamil remake of Bollywood blockbuster 'Queen', a Kangana Ranaut starrer. She also has Kamal Haasans 'Indian 2' in her kitty.
Jaipur: A three-member medical board will conduct the post-mortem examination of the Pakistani prisoner's body, killed here by fellow inmates, officials said on Thursday.

"A three-member board is being constituted for the post-mortem which will be conducted here under the supervision of judicial magistrate," Rupinder Singh, Inspector General (Prisons) Rupinder Singh, told PTI.

Shakrullah (50), was the module operator of a Pakistan based terror outfit and was lodged in the Jaipur central jail since 2011.

He was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2017 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The prisoner was killed on Wednesday in the TV room of the jail after a brawl with other inmates over the choice of channel to watch.

A case was registered with Lalkothi Police Station against four inmates? Ajit, Manoj, Kulvendra and Bhajan Meena.

Jaipur Police sources said that the ministry of external affairs has informed the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi about the matter.

Shakrullah was lodged in a Punjab jail till 2010 for running a module to radicalise local youth with support and guidance of Pakistan based handlers.

The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had brought him from Punjab for interrogation in similar charges and booked him.
Jodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court Thursday rejected the interim bail plea of self-styled godman Asaram.

In his bail application, Asaram had stated that his wife Laxmi Devi was seriously ill and was admitted in the hospital. Since he has been in the jail for the past five years continuously, he be granted bail to attend his wife.

Justice Sandeep Mehta, while rejecting his bail plea said, "The court has no sympathy with such criminals." He was hearing the plea after justice Sangeet Lodha had refused to hear the plea Monday.

Objecting to his plea, government counsel argued that Asaram's wife was fine and not serious as was mentioned by him.

The court was also provided with the medical report of his wife and considering the report and the arguments, rejected the bail plea of Asaram.

Before this, his three parole pleas have been turned down, twice by the District Parole Committee and once by the high court.

A Jodhpur court in Rajasthan had convicted Asaram and two of his associates in a 2013 rape case. He is currently serving a life term sentence in the Jodhpur central jail for raping a minor girl.
New Delhi: The gorgeous Katrina Kaif is currently shooting the last schedule of her next release 'Bharat'. Kat joined Instagram in 2017 and since then has been treating her fans with breathtaking pictures. She has over 18.4 million followers on the social media app and her pics and videos go viral in no time.

The actress took to Instagram stories on Thursday to share a collage of pictures in no-makeup look. Without any makeup on, she looks radiant as ever!

Check out the screenshot from her Instagram stories here:

Katrina's last outing 'Zero' received mixed reviews from the audience but the actress's performance was praiseworthy. Audience showered Kat with compliments post the release of 'Zero' and it will be interesting to see what the actress has to offer in 'Bharat'.

Coming to 'Bharat', the film has been high on buzzword ever since it was announced and its one of the biggest releases of this year. It stars Salman Khan as the male lead along with an ensemble star cast of Disha Patani, Nora Fatehi, Tabu, Varun Dhawan and others.

It is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and is slated to release on June 5.
Itanagar: Normal life was hit in Itanagar Thursday as several students' bodies and civil societies called for a 48-hour bandh, seeking changes in the proposals made by a government-appointed panel on the issue of granting permanent residence certificate (PRC) to non-Arunachalees.

The Joint High Power Committee, after holding parleys with the stakeholders, has recommended granting PRC to six communities, who are not natives of Arunachal Pradesh but has been living in Namsai and Changlang districts for decades.

The proposal has evoked resentment among several community-based groups and students'organisations, who claimed that the rights and the interests of indigenous people will be compromised if the state government accepts it.

A senior officer said that the agitators, on the first day of the two-day bandh, hit the streets in the state capital and pelted stones at government vehicles, prompting the police to detain 21 of them.

They demanded that the government reconsider the JHPC recommendations, which is set to be tabled in the Assembly during the ongoing interim budget session, he said.

All business establishments remained closed on Thursday and public vehicles stayed off the roads, Superintendent of Police M Harsh Vardhan said.

"Apart from a few stray incidents, no untoward incident was reported from any part of Itanagar," the SP said, adding that the administration has made elaborate arrangements to ensure security of people during the bandh.
Lucknow: The Met office has predicted rains, thundershowers and even hailstorm in the next 24 hours till Friday in western Uttar Pradesh. According to the weatherman, due to a western disturbance, strong winds will accompany the rains and thundershowers and at some places it might even turn into a hailstorm as the weather has taken a U-turn after a warm Wednesday.

The Regional Met office has advised people not to pack away the woollens yet. After a spell of a few warm days another bout of the winter chill is on its way. Moisture laden winds will bring back the chill early morning and in the late evening, it was informed.

The maximum temperature here on Wednesday was 20 degrees Celsius while the minimum was 13.8 degrees. The humidity level was 98 per cent. The day temperature has fallen by over 3 degrees at many places while the minimum has improved by 2.6 degrees in the past three days since Monday.

So far there has been an average of 38 mm of rain in February across Uttar Pradesh but the figure might rise over the next few days. It is likely to snow heavily in the neighbouring hill state of Uttarakhand over the next 48-hours till Saturday, which would further affect the Uttar Pradesh weather.
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday shared the final frame of the seat sharing between the two parties in Uttar Pradesh for upcoming Lok Sabha poll.

The list released by SP-BSP has details of 75 of the state's 80 seats, of which BSP will fight on 38 seats and the SP on 37.

Mayawati and Akhilesh had already announced not to field their candidates from Amethi and Rae Bareli -- the stronghold of the Gandhi family. The remaining three seats would go to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal.

With this announcement, the battle for Uttar Pradesh has now officially become a three-cornered contest as Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi had recently announced that his party will field candidates on all 80 seats in the state.

The 37 seats in the SP quota include Kairana, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Badaun, Bareilly, Lucknow, Etawah, Kanpur, Kannauj, Jhansi, Banda, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Phulpur, Faizabad, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi and Mirzapur. The BSP will contest from Saharanpur, Bijnor, Nagina, Aligarh, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Dhaurahara, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaiserganj, Basti, Salempur, Jaunpur, Bhadohi and Deoria, among other constituencies.

(with PTI inputs)
RAJAMUNDRY: BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday on Thursday lashed out at the Congress saying that Kashmir would never have turned into a contentious issue if Sardar Patel had become the first prime minister of India and not Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Referring to the Pulwama terror attack, which was orchestrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaise-e-Mohammed, Shah said: Jis Kashmir ke kaaran ye sab aatankwaadi ghatna Pakistan karwa raha hai, wo Kashmir samasya ka koi janak hai toh Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ke karan aj Kashmir phasa hua hai. Agar Sardar Patel desh ke pehle PM hote toh aaj desh mein Kashmir samasya na hoti (Pakistan orchestrates terrorist activity because of Kashmir. If anyone is responsible as the creator of the problem, it is Nehru. Had Sardar Patel become the first PM of the country instead of him, this would never have happened)."

BJP President Amit Shah : Jis Kashmir ke kaaran ye sab aatankwaadi ghatna Pakistan krwa raha hai, vo Kashmir samasya ka koi janak hai toh Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ke karan aj Kashmir phasa hua hai. Agar Sardar Patel desh ke pehle PM hote toh aaj desh mein Kashmir samasya na hoti. pic.twitter.com/ws6oom01RO  ANI (@ANI) 21 February 2019

The BJP chief stressed that the entire nation was standing in support of the martyrs but the Congress is trying to gain political mileage out of the incident by taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being allegedly busy in shooting for a film on the day of the attack. He said, Jis din ghatna hui usi din PM ji koi karyakram mein the uska mudda banaya hai. Aap jitna aarop lagana hai lagado (The PM was at an event when the attack occurred but the Congress can level allegation against him and the party is welcome to do so..)."

BJP President on Congress remarks, 'When country was mourning loss of lives of our jawans in #PulwamaAttack in afternoon, PM was shooting for a film till evening': Jis din ghatna hui usi din PM ji koi karyakram mein the uska mudda banaya hai. Aap jitna aarop lagana hai lagado. pic.twitter.com/uASidztue9  ANI (@ANI) 21 February 2019

Shah heaped praises on PM Modi and said that he is someone who works for 18 hours every day for the betterment of India. He added that forces have been given free hand by the Prime Minister to avenge the the terror attack.

The senior BJP leader also slammed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for leveling charges against the Centre in the wake of the Pulwama attack. He (Naidu) trusts the PM of Pakistan and does not trust the PM of India. One should not stoop down to this level for their political interests, he said.

Shah made these statement after launching Labharthi Sampark Abhiyan, a nationwide campaign to contact over 22 crore beneficiaries of BJPs Central and state government programmes.

(with ANI inputs)
Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelors degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.
SRINAGAR: Pakistan once again violated ceasefire by resorting to firing along the Line of Control in Poonch sector in early hours of Thursday.

The firing started at around 1:00 am and continued till 3 am.

According to reports, the Pakistani Army targetted residential hideouts, creating panic among locals.

This is the third instance of the Pakistan army violating ceasefire in two days.

It continued firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district for two days in a row on Wednesday, prompting the Indian Army to retaliate, a defence spokesperson said here.

"At about 1830 hours Wednesday, the Pakistan army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by resorting to heavy shelling with mortars and firing of small arms along the LoC in Kalal and Nowshera sectors of Rajouri district," he said.

The Pakistan army had resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on Tuesday as well.

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.

Pakistan continues to violate the ceasefire understanding of 2003 despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the agreement during flag meetings between the border guarding forces of the two nations, the official said.
(Story by: Ashutosh Chandra)

New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former minister in Nitish Kumar government, Tej Pratap Yadav on Thursday reiterated his stand on the Ram Temple issue and said that his party will construct the 'Mandir' at Ayodhya.

Son of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav, Tej Pratap was speaking during the expansion of student wing of RJD. He said that if his party comes to power in Bihar, he will ensure that the temple at Ayodhya will be built with contribution from people of all the religions, ie. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian.

Giving an open challenge to BJP and RSS, the 30-year-old said if the opponents decide to come face to face, he will rip them off.

In a direct attack on the BJP government, Tej Pratap said, "BJP has only cheated people in the name of Ram Mandir and Lord Ram and Hanuman Ji must be extremely upset with them." He added further saying, "BJP and RSS people always attack from behind. If they consider themselves to be real leaders, they should start an open fight and I will rip them off alone."

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over work carried out so far on cleaning of River Ganga, he said that the issue has been completely ignored by him and the condition of the holy river has deteriorated even further. This was not the first time Tej Pratap took on PM Modi and BJP. Earlier, he had openly issued a threat to PM Modi for downgrading his father's security cover from Z+ to Z.

The Yadav scion asked the student wing of RJD to unite to get the party supremo Lalu Yadav released from jail so that they can see him as the Chief Minister of Bihar once again.

During the event, the RJD leader also asked the students to show their solidarity with the party by shouting and raising slogans for two minutes.
Beijing: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi would meet on the sidelines of next week's Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers' conference in China amid Beijing's continued blocking of India and other countries' moves to list Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

The meeting assumes significance as it will be the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed on February 14.

China, while expressing shock over the incident, reiterated its stand to block moves to list Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee.

The 16th meeting of the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers would be held at the Chinese city of Wuzhen in the eastern Zhejiang province on February 27, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Wednesday.

"During this foreign ministers' meeting, the three Foreign Ministers will focus on implementation of our leaders' consensus, and exchange views on major international, regional issues of common concern and deepening trilateral cooperation.

"I am sure this meeting will achieve positive outcomes," Geng said.

Besides Swaraj and Wang, the meeting would be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he said.

Official sources here told PTI that Swaraj and Wang would also meet on the sidelines of the RIC ministers meeting.

This is expected to provide an opportunity for both the ministers to have in-depth discussions on China's reluctance to back efforts by India, the US, the UK and France to list Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee.

China, an "all-weather" ally of Pakistan and a veto-wielding member, has stonewalled all efforts by the four countries by putting technical holds since 2016.

However France, also a veto-wielding member, has announced that it would move a new resolution in the 1267 Committee to list Azhar in the light of the Pulwama attack.

To a question about the RIC meeting taking place under the shadow of the Pulwama attack, Geng, while reiterating China's stand, said that Beijing would adopt a constructive stand on this issue.

China hopes that with the concerted efforts by the three countries, RIC ministers meeting will achieve positive outcomes, he said.

"You talked about the designation of JeM head as international terrorist, I have already answered many questions regarding the same.

"The 1267 committee of UN Security Council has clear rules and procedures when it comes to designation of terrorists and terrorist organisations. On this issue, we will adopt a constructive attitude to work with all sides," Geng said.

In a written reply to a question from PTI about France's decision to once again move a proposal to list Azhar as a global terrorist, Geng said: "I am not aware of the specific situation you mentioned. The 1267 security committee has clear norms on the listing and procedures of terrorist organisations or individuals. China will continue to communicate and cooperate with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible manner".

On February 15, Geng, when asked about the External Affairs Ministry's appeal to all members of the UN Security Council to list Azhar as a global terrorist after the Pulwama attack, said: "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 handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and responsible manner".

On the forthcoming RIC meeting which is an annual affair, Geng in his Wednesday's media briefing said that China, Russia and India are important countries of the world and newly-emerging markets. They share important common interests and responsibilities in maintaining world peace, stability and development.

Since the establishment of the trilateral mechanism, this has played an important role in enhancing strategic communication and coordinating positions, and seeking consensus and cooperation between the three countries, he said.

In last November, leaders of the three countries held an informal meeting in Argentina.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear a plea seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged killing of three BJP workers in West Bengal.

The plea has been filed by BJP leader and lawyer Gaurav Bhatia, who had sought a CBI probe into the matter.

During Tuesdays hearing, Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Bhatia had argued for a CBI investigation of the murders of the party workers.

The brutal murder of three WB BJP workers is a fit case for CBI probe and if this case is not fit for a detailed investigation by CBI, then no case comes under the ambit of CBI probe, argued Bhatia.

On May 30, an 18-year-old BJP worker named Tirlochan Mahato was found hanging from a tree in Purulia`s Balarampur district.

Shortly after this incident, another BJP worker, Dulal Kumar was found dead in a similar manner in the same district.

On July 28, one more BJP leader, Shaktipada Sardar was hacked in West Bengal`s Diamond Harbour area.

The deaths of three BJP leaders had sparked an outrage in the state with the BJP blaming the Trinamool Congress for the attack.

However, the leaders of the ruling TMC rejected the allegations and denied any role in the killings. They attributed the killings to infighting within the BJP.

(With ANI inputs)
India will buy 200 Ka-226T helicopters from Russia for its defence forces out of which 140 will be manufactured under the Make in India project. Russian Helicopters Holding Company (a part of Russia's state corporation Rostec) and several Indian companies signed Memorandums of Understanding at Aero India 2019 in Bengaluru to produce components for the Ka-226T.

"We are facing an ambitious task because the world has so far not seen such projects of transferring leading-edge rotorcraft production. To set up the production of Ka-226T helicopter, its assemblies and components, is not possible without the reliable Indian partners and future suppliers having a sufficient number of technological competences and work experience in the aviation sphere. The objective of current interaction between Russian and Indian industrial enterprises is to present the background information on the project, a joint discussion of technical issues and finding further ways of cooperation," said Russian Helicopters Director General Andrey Boginski.

The companies with which Russian Helicopters signed the MoUs are Elcom, Valdel Advanced Technologies, Dynamatic Technologies, Integrated Helicopter Services and Bharat Forge. The Indian companies will manufacture blades, radiostations, landing gear and the parts of fuselage for the Ka-226T.

"We have launched a new stage of Ka-226T project: identifying the chain of manufacturers among the Indian companies. I am positive that the agreements reached today will result in a long-term mutually beneficial cooperation at a later stage when the production of Ka-226T is transferred to the customers territory," said Boginskiy.

Rostec Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy Victor Kladov said that Russia will assemble only 60 Ka-226T while the remaining 140 will be manufactured in India, which opens up ample opportunities. He added that that Rostec will also bid for the 111 helicopters required by the Indian Navy. The deal is expected to be worth almost Rs 22,000 crore.

The Defence Ministry had on February 12, 2019, issued Expression of Interest (s) for shortlisting of potential Indian Strategic Partners and foreign OEMs for Procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) for the Indian Navy. The helicopters selected would replace Chetak Helicopters and will be utilised for search-and-rescue (SAR), casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), low intensity maritime operations (LIMO), passenger roles and torpedo drops. While 16 helicopters would be supplied by the company chosen, the remaining 95 aircraft will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian Strategic Partner.

"The programme of localisation of production of Ka-226T helicopter in India is a key project within the scope of the "Make in India" programme. The contract provides for the delivery of 60 Ka-226T assembled in Russia and the production of 140 units in the territory of the partner country. That said, the project opens up ample opportunities: I am sure that the rotorcraft assembled in India will be in high demand in this country as well as in the third markets. In particular, we intend to take part in a bid for the delivery of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters for the Indian Navy. The selection of Ka-226T will allow India to reduce expenditures for transportation, maintenance, personnel training due to the localization of production in its own territory," said Kladov.

Russian Helicopters pointed out that Ka-226T, whose distinctive feature is its modular design, features coaxial main rotor system and has a maximum take-off weight of 3.6 tons. The chopper can transport up to 1 ton of payload. Ka-226T can be easily fitted with a transport cabin which can accommodate up to six people and can also be modified top carry special equipment.
NEW DELHI: After the withdrawal of the Most Favourable Nation (MNF) status to Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that the government has decided to stop India's share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. Gadkari said in a tweet that water from Eastern rivers will be diverted to Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

Under the leadership of Hon'ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) 21 February 2019

"The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states," he said in another tweet.

The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states.  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) 21 February 2019

Earlier, addressing a public rally, the senior BJP leader had said, "When India and Pakistan were divided, three rivers were given to Pakistan and three to India. However, India continuously gave the river water supply to Pakistan, but now we will use that river water supply to nurture the Yamuna river through the Yamuna project."

As per the Indus Water Treaty, India allows the water of Ravi, Beas, Sutlej rivers to flow into Pakistan. It is to be noted that after the Uri attack in 2016, the government had decided to fast track the water projects in the region with an aim to curb the river flow across the border to Pakistan. Gadkari's decision is set to increase the pace of such projects and it is going to hurt Pakistan a lot in the long run.

The Indian government has been making several efforts to make Pakistan pay for supporting the perpetrators of Pulwama terror attack, which was carried out by a suicide bomber owing allegiance to Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. New Delhi has already received support from more than 40 countries in condemning the terror attack and demanding Pakistan to stop supporting terror outfits flourishing in the country.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that it has nothing to do with Pulwama attack. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that Islamabad was not involved in the terror attack and he will take action in this regard only after receiving credible inputs from India.
New Delhi: In order to secure its CRPF jawans and other paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir valley will now be able to travel by air to join duty or while going on leave as the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday approved their entitlement of taking a commercial flight to and fro Jammu-Srinagar and Delhi-Srinagar.

The decision of MHA will immediately benefit approximately 7.8 lakh personnel of CAPFs in the ranks of constable, head constable and Assistant sub-inspector of police, who were otherwise not eligible earlier. As per the announcement, this will include their journey on duty as well as leave, i.e, while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return.

The decision was conveyed to the chiefs of various paramilitary forces including the BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB by the Home Ministry and has come into immediate effect, according to a letter made public on Thursday.

The official Twitter handle of Home Minister of India shared the news in a series of tweets:

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces."

The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces.   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 21, 2019

"This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave."

This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave.   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 21, 2019

In Jammu and Kashmir Sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector.

Subsequently, the Service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 3) Jammu-Delhi sector in Dec 2017.   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 21, 2019

The number of flights were further extended in Dec 2018. In addition, air support is provided from IAF as and when required.   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 21, 2019

"In Jammu and Kashmir Sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Subsequently, the service was extended to cover  Delhi-Jammu, Jammu-Srinagar, Srinagar-Jammu and Jammu-Delhi sector in December 2017. The number of flights was further extended in Dec 2018. In addition, air support is provided from Indian Air Force as and when required," the official said.

The ministry said that for the Jammu and Kashmir sector, an air courier service was already available for CAPFs jawans and this was extended in December 2017 to cover more routes like: Delhi-Jammu, Jammu-Srinagar, Srinagar-Jammu and Jammu-Delhi.

A senior official said jawans and sub-officers, the ranks who were killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama in J-K, will now be able to book tickets in commercial flights and claim reimbursement from their organisation or force. "Step will allow more and more personnel to undertake air travel to and from Kashmir but the requirement of running convoys of the security forces cannot be brought to zero," the official told PTI.

The announcement from the Ministry of Home Affairs comes in the wake of the killing of at least 40 CRPF jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

As many as 65,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in the state as part of 65 battalions apart from units of the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Security Guard present in the Kashmir valley for rendering a variety of roles in the internal security grid.

Questions were raised as to why these troops are not allowed to travel by air so that the risk and threat of travelling on road, in large convoys in the Kashmir Valley, is eliminated.

(With PTI inputs)
SEOUL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Yonsei University in South Korea's capital Seoul.

PM Narendra Modi was accompanied by South Korea President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the unveiling of a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the Yonsei University in Seoul.

Highlighting relevance of Bapus message in today's world. PM @narendramodi unveiling the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University, Seoul in the presence of President @moonriver365, 1st lady Kim Jung-sook & former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. #Gandhi150 pic.twitter.com/6rq1COcBgd  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) 21 February 2019

While unveiling the bust of Mahatma Gandhi, PM said, ''The thoughts and ideas of Gandhi ji have the power to help us overcome the menace of terrorism and climate change, two big challenges that humanity faces in these times.''

''It is an honour to unveil the bust of Bapu at Yonsei University in Seoul. This becomes even more special because we are doing so at a time when we mark the 150th birth anniversary of Bapu Ji,'' PM Modi said.

''Through his lifestyle, Bapu showed what living in harmony with nature is. He also showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations,'' the PM said in his address.

PM Modi had arrived in South Korea's capital Seoul on Thursday morning on a two-day visit to the East Asian country during which the two sides will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

PM Modi will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and also receive the Seoul Peace Prize which has been conferred on him in recognition of his dedication to international cooperation, global growth and human development.

Besides summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Modi will also have a number of engagements with the Korean leadership, businesses and Indian community.

At present bilateral trade is around 21 billion dollars and is targeted to reach 50 billion dollars by 2030. Another important aspect is the strengthening of cultural relations which speaks volumes of India's soft power.

Prime Minister will meet the mayor of Kimhae city, which is believed to have ancient ties with the city of Ayodhya. It acts as a catalyst for people to people relations.

As part of the global celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister will unveil a bust of Mahatma at the Seoul campus of Yonsei University.

He will also interact with the Indian community in South Korea.

Bilateral talks between PM Modi and South Korean President Moon will take place on Friday.

Ahead of his visit, the PM described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two countries share values and vision for regional and global peace.

PM Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and a second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

He said collaboration between the two in the field of science and technology is encouraging, with joint research ranging from basic to advanced sciences.

"Our people to people ties and exchanges, as always, provide the bedrock of our ties of friendship,'' he said.

"Working together, we are determined to take our relationship forward as a 'future-oriented partnership for people, prosperity and peace'," the PM said.

(With PTI inputs)
SEOUL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Korea's capital Seoul on Thursday morning on a two-day visit to the East Asian country during which the two sides will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

PM Modi will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and also receive the Seoul Peace Prize which has been conferred on him in recognition of his dedication to international cooperation, global growth and human development.

Besides summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in, Prime Minister Modi will also have a number of engagements with the Korean leadership, businesses and Indian community.

"In a few hours from now, Prime Minister will address the India-Korea Business Symposium and will also launch India-Korea Startup Hub. It will be a great push and assurance for more Korean companies to invest in India and also a boost for bilateral trade,'' a tweet from MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

READ: In South Korea, PM Narendra Modi greeted with 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogans

At present bilateral trade is around 21 billion dollars and is targeted to reach 50 billion dollars by 2030. Another important aspect is the strengthening of cultural relations which speaks volumes of India's soft power.

Prime Minister will meet the mayor of Kimhae city, which is believed to have ancient ties with the city of Ayodhya. It acts as a catalyst for people to people relations.

As part of the global celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister will unveil a bust of Mahatma at the Seoul campus of Yonsei University.

He will also interact with the Indian community in South Korea.

Bilateral talks between PM Modi and South Korean President Moon will take place on Friday.

Ahead of his visit, the PM described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India', and said as fellow democracies the two countries share values and vision for regional and global peace.

PM Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and a second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

He said collaboration between the two in the field of science and technology is encouraging, with joint research ranging from basic to advanced sciences.

"Our people to people ties and exchanges, as always, provide the bedrock of our ties of friendship,'' he said.

"Working together, we are determined to take our relationship forward as a 'future-oriented partnership for people, prosperity and peace'," the PM said.

(With PTI inputs)
SEOUL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived in South Korea on a two-day official visit during which the two countries will seek to enhance cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment.

PM Modi was recieved by top South Korean officials at the airport.

South Korea: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Seoul. He is on a two-day visit to the country. pic.twitter.com/h9zRzrnsTN  ANI (@ANI) 20 February 2019

Upon his arrival in the South Asian country, PM Modi was given a rousing welcome by the Indian diaspora, which gathered in large number at Lotte Hotel in Seoul to welcome their leader.

The PM was greeted with 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram' slogans by the members of the Indian community living in Seoul.

PM Modi responded by waving at the crowd gathered at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.

#WATCH South Korea: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets members of the Indian community at Lotte Hotel in Seoul. He is on a two-day visit to the country. pic.twitter.com/qTUCUEq7tc  ANI (@ANI) 21 February 2019

Ahead of his departure from India, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the visit would strengthen India's special strategic partnership with South Korea and add dynamism to the Look East Policy.

"Continuing the momentum of high-level exchanges. PM @narendramodi emplanes for Seoul on a 2-day State Visit to the Republic of Korea," he tweeted.

Ahead of his visit, the PM described South Korea as an important partner for India's key initiatives such as 'Make in India' and said that as fellow democracies the two nations share values and vision for regional and global peace.

PM Modi has been invited by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

This will be his second visit to the Republic of Korea and the second summit meeting with President Moon.

In his departure statement, the PM said his visit is reflective of the importance "we both attach to our relationship".

"We regard the Republic of Korea as a valued friend, a nation with which we have a Special Strategic Partnership. As fellow democracies, India and the ROK have shared values and a shared vision for regional and global peace," said the PM.

"As fellow market economies, our needs and strengths are complementary. South Korea is an important partner for our 'Make in India' initiative as well as in our 'Start Up India' and 'Clean India' initiatives," PM Modi said.

He said collaboration between the two in the field of science and technology is encouraging, with joint research ranging from basic to advanced sciences.

"Our people to people ties and exchanges, as always, provide the bedrock of our ties of friendship. We were touched by President Moon's decision to send the First Lady as his special representative at the 'Deepotsav' Festival held in Ayodhya last November," he said.

The "growing depth and variety" in the relationship of the two countries has been accentuated by the harmony between New Delhi's Act East Policy and South Korea's New Southern Policy.

"Working together, we are determined to take our relationship forward as a 'future oriented partnership for People, Prosperity and Peace'," said PM Modi.
Description

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will assist in the formulation of the new national population policy for Mauritius which will, among others, address issues that are critical for the demography of the country such as fertility and ageing population.

This was the focus of discussions held yesterday, during a courtesy call by the UNFPA Madagascar Representative and Country Director for Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles (Head of Mission based in Madagascar), Mr Constant-Serge Bounda on the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.

In a statement, Mr Constant-Serge Bounda, reiterated the UNFPA continuous assistance to Mauritius and expressed interest to explore the opportunities of exchange programmes between the organisation and Mauritius while recalling that Mauritius is already a showcase for the African continent and a model for the world.
NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Pervez Musharaff accepted Jaish-e-Mohammed's role in the Pulwama terror attack that claimed lives of over 40 jawans.

In an interview to a private news channel on Wednesday, Musharaff expressed grief over the attack and condemned it. Calling it a terrible, the former Pakistan PM said, It is terrible. We regret and we condemn it. There is no sympathy that I will have I was attacked by a Jaish cadre. I don't think even Imran Khan would have sympathy for (Jaish).

He, however, firmly maintained that Pakistan had no role in the attack. Maulana did it, Jaish did it but let us not blame the (Pakistan) government... There should be a joint investigation team and get the details. And if the government is involved it will be regrettable."

The condition in which Pakistan is, I don't think the government will get into such a situation, he said in a veiled reference to the nation's economic crisis.

Musharaff further added that action should be taken against the banned terror outfit JeM. They should be banned.

On February 14, over 2000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district. The attack resulted in the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel and injured many others. JeM claimed responsibility for the attack and Kashmiri local Adil Ahmad Dar was identified as the suicide bomber.

According to intelligence agencies, the RDX used to attack the bus was procured by Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi and handed over to JeM operatives. The process of collecting RDX reportedly began in March 2018 and the explosives were smuggled using backpacks, cylinders and coal bags to Tral village of Pulwama mainly by women and children.

In the aftermath of the attack, three Jaish terrorists were killed by armed forces in a 16-hour operation in Pulwama's Pinglan area, 12 km from the spot of the February 14 attack. An Army major and four security personnel also lost their lives.

India also withdrew the status of the Most Favoured Nation to Pakistan.
National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday asked Jammu and Kashmir governor to ensure the security of Kashmiri students 'forced to return home in wake of threats'. He also questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of the country.

"Why is PM silent on Kashmiri students being targeted in various parts of the country," asked Omar.

He lamented that "when we talk of dialogue, to resolve the Kashmir issue, we are branded as anti-national".

He said that the talks with Pakistan cannot be held in the backdrop of Pulwama-like attacks, adding, "Our PM has talked about 'muh tod jawab' but such a reply not possible in the current situation".

Speaking on the withdrawal of security to separatist leaders, Omar alleged that he isn't aware of anybody misusing security.

He further alleged that the withdrawal of security to Kashmiri separatists is a "regressive step".

Earlier in several tweets, he had said, "Withdrawal of security to mainstream political workers & office bearers is a retrograde step that will only weaken political activity in the valley. This is regardless of the fact that no one from @JKNC_ has had their security withdrawn in yesterday's list."

Urging Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to reconsider his administration's decision, the former chief minister said they will approach the court if it is not revisited.

"I would like to encourage @jandkgovernor to reconsider this step. If it is not revisited we will approach the courts & ask them to intervene," Omar wrote in a series of tweets.

He alleged that there seemed to be an element of pick and choose at play in the decision to withdraw the security of some mainstream political activists.

"I have no doubt this step was taken without taking in to consideration inputs from central & state intelligence agencies which can only mean it's been done for political purposes & there is an element of pick & choose at play here," he added.

The state government on Wedneday announced withdrawal or downgrading of security of 155 persons, including 18 separatists. The list included former IAS officer Shah Faesal and PDP youth president Waheed Parra.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at 10 locations in Jharkhand and West Bengal in connection with a terror funding case involving the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI).

The residences and offices of close aides and companies associated with PLFI chief Dinesh Gope in Ranchi, Gumla, Khunti and Kolkata were searched for their alleged role in the financing of the PLFI, news agency PTI reported quoting an NIA spokesperson.

The NIA seized cash approximately Rs 3.41 lakh, incriminating documents pertaining to payments/investment by PLFI chief/cadres in various firms and immovable properties, fake PAN cards and fake identity cards, bank accounts details and fixed deposits, documents showing payments made to the various shell companies, 40 mobile phones and other digital devices containing incriminating information, he said.

The seized items also included diaries containing entries of investments, he said. He said the concerned persons are being examined.

The case is related to depositing of extorted levy amount by Gope through associates namely Vinod Kumar, Yamuna Prasad, Chandra Sekhar Kumar, Nand Kishore and Mohan Kumar, who have been arrested. Gope is absconding, he said. The operations were carried out with the support of Jharkhand and West Bengal Police, NIA spokesperson said.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Rajasthan government over the killing of a Pakistani prisoner by fellow inmates in Jaipur Central Jail in the state. The NHRC also asked all the states and the union territories to take precautionary measures in all jails where Pakistani nationals are lodged.

The prisoner, Shakrullah (50), was killed on Wednesday in the TV room of the jail after a brawl with other inmates over the choice of channel to watch. A module operator of a Pakistan based terror outfit, he was lodged in the Jaipur central jail since 2011. He was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2017 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

A three-member medical board will conduct the post-mortem examination of the body. "A three-member board is being constituted for the post-mortem which will be conducted here under the supervision of a judicial magistrate," Rupinder Singh, Inspector General (Prisons) Rupinder Singh, told news agency PTI.

A case was registered with Lalkothi Police Station against four inmates -- Ajit, Manoj, Kulvendra and Bhajan Meena.

Jaipur Police sources said that the ministry of external affairs has informed the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi about the matter, said PTI.

Shakrullah was lodged in a Punjab jail till 2010 for running a module to radicalise local youth with support and guidance of Pakistan based handlers. The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had brought him from Punjab for interrogation in similar charges and booked him.
BENGALURU: After more than three-and-half decades it was conceptualised, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is finally battle ready. Tejas Mark 1 (Mk1) got the Final Operational Clearance (FOC) on the first day of Aero India 2019 at the Yelahanka Air Force base on Wednesday.

The setting sun provided the perfect setting for the ceremony to hand over the FOC certificate and documents to Chief of India Air Force Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, who called the aircraft "battle ready".

Pointing out that the LCA Tejas was "ready" and has "behaved like a true fighter" during the mega exercise Gaganshakti 2018 and the recently concluded Vayushakti in Rajasthan's Pokhran, ACM Dhanoa said this is the "proof of the pudding".

While setting his sight on the still-in-the-development-stage Tejas Mark 2, the IAF chief expressed his happiness at the FOC for the world's lightest fighter Tejas Mk 1.

"It's a major milestone today. Tejas has taken part in Gaganshakti 2018 and Vayushakti recently. And it performed extremely well with a high sortie generation rate and the required weapons capabilities. We have got the Tejas Mk 1. Now we need Tejas Mk 2," he said.

The FOC was given after Tejas successfully demonstrated its capabilities in firing the Derby Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range missile, mid-air refuelling and air-to-ground bombing.

IAF is looking at 83 Tejas Mk 1 fighters at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore.
JAMMU: Indian Intelligence agencies have warned that Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is planning to carry out more Pulwama-like attacks in the near future.

Intelligence agencies have alerted the security forces about fresh intercepts on JeM planning more attacks in the days to come.

According to the specific inputs gathered by the intelligence agencies, Pakistan-backed terror outfits like JeM and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are planning to carry out an IED attack targeting security forces and military vehicles plying on the Chowkibal and Tangdhar routes in Jammu and Kashmir.

Intelligence sources claimed that a green coloured Scorpio vehicle is being prepared to carry out a ''fidayeen'' attack very soon.

The sources further claimed that JeM was planning to release more videos of Pulwama attack in order to motivate its newly recruited cadres.

About 50 to 60 local Kashmiri youths have been recruited by the JeM in last few months, the intelligence sources said.

Fresh intelligence inputs received on Hizb-ul-Mujahideen suggested a surge in infiltration from across the Line of Control (LoC) by its terrorists.

Local support to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists has also risen in the recent past, the sources warned.

Intelligence sources claimed that at least 5 to 6 trained 'fidayeen' are ready to infiltrate into the Indian side. They are presently stationed at terror launch pads along the LoC near Gurez sector and waiting for an opportune time.

Top intelligence sources had told Zee Media on Wednesday that women and children were recruited to transfer explosives used in the Pulwama terror attack from one point to another.

The explosives were carried from across the border over a period of few months and the actuating mechanism to trigger the explosives were created locally.

Both the components were fitted in the bomb justs days before the attack.

On February 14, over 2,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora (near Awantipora) in the Pulwama district.

The attack resulted in the death of at least 40 CRPF personnel and injured many others.

Terror outfit JeM claimed responsibility for the attack and local Kashmiri youth Adil Ahmad Dar was identified as the suicide bomber.

Based on their investigation, the agencies claimed that military A5 grade category RDX used in the attack, which was transported across the border in small quantities over a period of few months primarily by women and kids. These were accumulated in Pulwama for the February 14 attack.

RDX is a highly unstable compound and is often mixed with wax or soap to make it stable for easy handling, said sources in the Army.

Military grade RDX is, however, mixed with high quality stearic or octadecanoic Acid. An A5 grade RDX denotes 98.5 to 99.5 percent purity and is reportedly very expensive.

The entire planning and execution of the Pulwama attack and suicide bomber Dar's training was supervised and monitored by Ibrahim Azhar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar and father of Mohammad Usman, who was killed in an encounter with the security forces on October 30 last year.
NEW DELHI: The Home Ministry on Thursday issued a notification saying that the personnel of Assam Rifles can arrest anyone and search a place without warrant in northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.

The notification said that "an officer of the rank corresponding to that of the lowest rank of members of the Assam Rifles" has been given these powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Assam Rifles personnel will exercise these powers and discharge their duties "under sub-section(1) of section 41, sections 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 149, 150, 151 and 152 of the CrPC within the local limits of the area comprised within the border districts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram", the notification said.

As per Section 41 of the CrPC, any police officer may, without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person. Section 47 gives powers for search of place entered by person sought to be arrested, PTI reported.

Section 48 of CrPC states that a police officer may, for the purpose of arresting without warrant any person whom he is authorised to arrest, pursue such person into any place in India. Section 49 says the person arrested shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary prevent him from escaping.

The Assam Rifles, which also guards the highly volatile India-Myanmar border, is the main counter-insurgency force in the Northeast.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which is in effect in some parts of the Northeast, gives similar powers to the Indian Army operating in the region.

(with PTI inputs)
Boeing is aggressively pushing the F/A-18 Super Hornet for the Indian defence forces and on Thursday met officials of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) to fine-tune its strategy. The company claims it is planning to make the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which it says will deliver on Indias need for an aircraft carrier and land-based multi-role fighter, under the "Make in India" scheme.

"The Indian forces will get the next-generation F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters in an entirely new factory-of-the-future in India, delivering performance, affordability, and indigenization for Indian customers," said Boeing after the meeting on Thursday during the Aero India 2019 at the Yelahanka Air Force base in Bengaluru. "The partnership will create jobs, industrial capacity and a globally competitive Indian supply chain," the company added.

Pointing out that the F/A-18 was introduced in 2007 and has a proven combat track record, Boeing said the fighter is "highly capable across the full mission spectrum and continually evolving to outpace future threats". The F/A-18 Super Hornet should be a clear choice for the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, the company added.



Pushing for more AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and the KC-46A aerial refueler for the Indian Air Force, Boeing claimed that it is offering advanced capabilities to the Indian armed forces. The company also offered additional P-8 long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, and the twin-engine Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft.

The IAF will get 22 AH-64E Apache and the "first helicopter will join the force in July and give significant combat capabilities", said David Koopersmith, vice president and general manager, Boeing Vertical Lift, a division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). The $1.4 billion deal for 22 Apaches was signed in September 2015 and the helicopters will be based at the Pathankot air base in Punjab and Jorhat in Assam.

The first batch of IAF pilots who will fly the AH-64E Apaches and CH-47F(I) Chinooks are being trained in the USA. Training and support facilities will be established in India once the delivery of the helicopters starts later in 2019, said the company.
New Delhi: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday questioned the decision of his son and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's seat-sharing pact with Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing his party workers at Samajwadi Party headquarters in Lucknow, the party patriarch clearly showed his displeasure over the alliance forged between his party and BSP. He said, "SP-BSP alliance is inappropriate. Some people are only creating trouble for the party."

He also took a veiled attack on his son Akhilesh's work style and told his party workers that BJP's election preparation is way ahead of them.

"BJP seems to have taken an edge in 2019 general assembly elections. They have decided their candidates and finalised suitable candidates to contest the elections," he said. "No preparations for the upcoming elections have been carried out in your party. The candidates, who came to know about getting tickets to contest the polls are working. However, the remaining others are in a state of confusion," he said, in a scathing attack on Akhilesh's work style.

"Tickets have not been decided so far," he added.

"You have appointed me as a mentor but you have not yet made cleared my role and my responsibilities in the party. The number of girls in the party has drastically reduced. When girls and women get actively involved in a party, it helps in performing better in an election," the SP veteran said during the address.

Mulayam also made it clear that he was unhappy that Mayawati-led BSP being given half of the seats in the alliance for Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha elections. "Akhilesh will be contesting on only 40 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, I have formed the government of full majority thrice on my own. When I was the Chief Minister, I had won 39 out of 80 seats and three by-elections. After winning 42 seats, I became the Defence Minister."

The remarks from Mulayam came days after he created a stir in Parliament saying he wished that Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power in Centre in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Samajwadi Party will contest 37 seats and BSP on 38 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the general assembly elections, the two parties said today while releasing a list of seats. While announcing the alliance earlier, the two parties had said they will contest from 38 constituencies each out of the 80 in the state.

According to PTI, the 37 seats in the SP quota include Kairana, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Badaun, Bareilly, Lucknow, Etawah, Kanpur, Kannauj, Jhansi, Banda, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Phulpur, Faizabad, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi and Mirzapur.

The BSP will contest from Saharanpur, Bijnor, Nagina, Aligarh, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Dhaurahara, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaiserganj, Basti, Salempur, Jaunpur, Bhadohi and Deoria, among other constituencies.
BENGALURU: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat flew in the indigenous LCA Tejas combat aircraft at the ongoing Aero India 2019 show in Bengaluru on Thursday. Principal Scientific Advisor to Government PS Raghavan is also scheduled to a ride in the aircraft later.

The Army Chief's sortie comes a day after Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), the regulator for military aviation gave the Final Operation Clearance (FOC) to the home-grown fighter clearing way for induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF).

CEMILAC chief P Jayapal handed over the FOC certificate to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa at the Aero India show on Wednesday.

"It's a major milestone today. Tejas has taken part in Gaganshakti 2018 and Vayushakti recently. And it performed extremely well with a high sortie generation rate and the required weapons capabilities. We have got the Tejas Mk 1. Now we need Tejas Mk 2," he said.

Tejas Mark 1's operational clearance comes more than three-and-half decades after it was conceptualised. The fighter aircraft has been designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

At the recently concluded Vayu Shakti exercise in Rajasthan's Pokhran, the LCA performed air-to-ground attacks and successfully displayed air-to-air refuelling, thus demonstrating its operational and strategic dexterity in contemporary combat situations.

The induction of Tejas is of immense importance for the IAF, which has been struggling with a dwindling number of squadrons. The Initial Operational Clearance (IOC), which paved way for the induction of the aircraft in IAF's 45 Squadron in July 2016, was obtained in 2013.

LCA Tejas, along with yet-to-be-inducted Rafale aircraft will form the mainstay of the IAF in the years to come along with existing Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters.
Description

Government is moving towards the development of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) to host all spatial data with the vast amount of data that grows exponentially each day. The NSDI is a platform for collecting, sharing and disseminating geospatial data which aims at facilitating access to information, free of charge, and providing a special tool for analysing, and determining solutions to the needs and requirements of national development objectives.

The announcement was made yesterday by the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr Yogida Sawmynaden, at the opening of a three-day workshop on Geospatial Data for Infrastructure organised by the National Computer Board at the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower in Ebene.

Minister Sawmynaden explained the rationale of adopting such technologies in a modern world where information in the form of digital data has become the foundation on which governments, industries, and organisations base many of their decisions. He observed that as we reflect on the uses of geospatial data, one of the most significant growth areas in the broader world of data is the area of data visualisation. Whether rendering information in two or three dimensions, he said, geospatial data is the key to visualising data, which is why it has become one of the most sought after forms of data.

He further underlined that companies and institutions have come to the awareness that not only must they have access to the right data at the right time, they must also have access to analysis of the raw data to make correct decisions. As for Mauritius, he emphasised that in view of protecting the most important and sensitive biodiversity, effective and transparent spatial data for biodiversity conservation and land use planning is vital.

Moreover the Minister highlighted that a solution for preventing and resolving land use conflicts is for organisations to encourage early engagement in these development projects. This is what NSDI can help to achieve, he added. By mobilising an NSDI, it is possible to solve these spatial data issues, such as availability and transparency, for all involved parties, said Mr Sawmynaden.

In 2015, the Government embarked on the Open Data Initiatives to promote transparency; public service improvement; innovation and efficiency. Furthermore, in April 2018, the Open Data Portal was launched and to bring more value to the data, Government is now moving to geo-spatial data.

Workshop on Geospatial Data for Infrastructure

The workshop on Geospatial Data for Infrastructure aims to create awareness among high Government officials on geospatial data as infrastructure on which applications and services are built, and how these data produce revenue and opportunities. Another objective is to empower public IT professionals on geo-spatial data and in developing analytical dashboards for Open Data.
NEW DELHI: A sessions court in Delhi will start hearing from Thursday in the Sunanda Pushkar death case, which allegedly involves her husband and Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, from Thursday.

Tharoor will depose before the sessions court, said reports

Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014.

The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court had earlier transferred the case to the Sessions Court.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal sent the case to Additional Sessions Judge Arun Bhardwaj since the offence under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code was triable by a sessions judge, news agency PTI had reported.

The court also directed the Delhi Police to preserve a vigilance report in the matter.

The court also dismissed a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking its permission to assist the court in the case.

The court posted the matter for hearing on February 21.

The maximum punishment for the offence is 10 years of imprisonment.

It is to be noted that in its chargesheet, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the case, had earlier ruled out a murder charge against Tharoor and instead alleged that constant mental torture of Pushkar by the Congress MP led her to commit suicide.

Tharoor- a Congress MP from Kerala - has been charged under sections 498A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but has not been arrested in the case.

He was granted regular bail on July 7 last year after he appeared before the court in pursuance to the summons issued against him. He was summoned by the court had on June 5 after it observed that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against him.

Sunanda was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014.

The couple was staying in the hotel as the official bungalow of Tharoor was being renovated at that time.

The court had directed the Delhi Police to hand over various documents filed along with the charge sheet, including statements of witnesses, to Tharoor on a plea moved by him.

As per the court orders, the Delhi Police had in September handed over copies of all the evidence, including electronic and documentary proof, to Tharoor. The documents included statements of various witnesses recorded in the case.

(With Agency inputs)
RAIPUR: A food stall owner in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur is offering a discount of Rupees 10 on chicken leg piece to customers who say 'Pakistan Murdabad', said reports on Thursday.

According to news agency ANI, food stall owner Anjal Singh also blamed Pakistan for the attack on the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

''Pakistan never valued humanity and they never will. That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts," Singh said.

Chhattisgarh: A food stall owner in Jagdalpur is offering a discount of 10 on chicken leg piece to customers who say 'Pakistan Murdabad'. Anjal Singh, stall owner says,"Pak never valued humanity&they never will.That's why everyone should say Pakistan Murdabad from their hearts" pic.twitter.com/ugEN8N5L5E  ANI (@ANI) 21 February 2019

It may be recalled that anti-Pakistan sentiments are high these days in the wake of a deadly suicide attack on the CRPF convoy in J&K's Pulwama in which at least 40 troopers were killed and several others injured.

Hundreds of people have taken to streets and protested against the killing of CRPF jawans in Pulwama by Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Several countries across the globe had strongly condemned the Pulwama attack and pledged support to India in dealing with terrorism.

India has also warned Pakistan in the backdrop of the Pulwama attack and initiated efforts to isolate the hostile neighbouring country for providing covert support to terrorism.
RAIPUR: In yet another incident of cyber attack, the official website of Chhattisgarh unit of BJP was allegedly hacked by Pakistan hackers, reports said on Thursday.

The hackers claimed that they belong to Pakistan.

A message posted on the website read, "We are Pakistan Cyber Attackers."

Chhattisgarh: BJP state website hacked by Pakistani hackers. D Mashke, state BJP IT cell head says, "More than 100 websites were hacked in a cyber-attack, our website was one of them. We've registered a complaint. They can't take us head on, that's why they resort to such things" pic.twitter.com/hb7J1xSzOI  ANI (@ANI) 21 February 2019

The hackers threatened of a serial blast and attached photographs of Pakistan flag and their Army on the hacked website.

A message posted on the website read, "Don't even think about getting hold of Kashmir."

Sharing more details of the incident, D Mashke, Chhattisgarh BJP IT Cell head, said, "More than 100 websites were hacked in a cyber attack. Our website was one of them.''

The BJP leader said that they have registered a complaint in this regard.

''They can't take us head on and that's why they resort to such things," he added.

Following the cyber attack, the BJP website was inaccessible for some time.

ANI also reported that a website belonging to Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was also hacked by unidentified Pakistani hackers.

''The country whose mind has been hacked by terrorists will only indulge in this. They have been exposed and isolated globally hence such antics,'' Naqvi told ANI.

However, this is not the first time that Indian websites have been hacked by foreign attackers.

A website of BJP's Goa unit was recently hacked by unknown persons, who posted "Pakistan Zindabad" message on it.

The identity of the group which carried out the cyber attack ''Team Pak Cyber Experts,''and an individual's name "Mohammad Bilal" was also posted on the web page, after it was hacked.

A Pakistani hacker going by the online handle Muhammad Bilal, who is also a member of ''Team Pak Cyber Experts,'' had recently hacked the official website of BJP veteran LK Advani.

It may be recalled that anti-Pakistan sentiments are high these days in the wake of a deadly suicide attack on the CRPF convoy in J&K's Pulwama in which at least 40 troopers were killed and several others injured.

Hundreds of people have taken to streets and protested against the killing of CRPF jawans in Pulwama by Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Several countries across the globe had strongly condemned the Pulwama attack and pledged support to India in dealing with terrorism.

India has also warned Pakistan in the backdrop of the Pulwama attack and initiated efforts to isolate the hostile neighbouring country for providing covert support to terrorism.
Chennai: Amidst loud cheers of hundreds of supporters, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan celebrated the first year anniversary of his political party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), which translates to Centre for Peoples Justice in English.

Hoisting the party flag at his office in Chennai, Haasan thanked his fans for being the family that helped in the upbringing of the party.

"I am not going alone, it is we and we have people's strength, he said.

Taking a dig at the current state of Tamil Nadu politics and he said, the world is witnessing the corruption in Tamil Nadu.

Haasan will travel to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu to carry out party activities and public meetings later in the day.

Over the last few days, top political parties in Tamil Nadu announced their pre-poll alliances and seat-sharing pact. The AIADMK first came out with an official announcement of their seat-sharing pact with the BJP and PMK, followed by the DMK which formed an alliance with Congress.

After hinting about his political outfit for several days, Haasan formally launched his party on February 21, 2018, it at a public meeting in Madurai after visiting Former President APJ Abdul Kalams residence in Tamil Nadus Southern district Rameshwaram.

Party is registered with the Election Commission of India and has appointed several district secretaries and functionaries.

The actor has also displayed an ideological leaning towards the Left and the Dravidian movement. Regarding electoral alliances he has remained non-committal and maintained that the party would like to keep its hands clean and not ally with the two Dravidian parties.

Haasan's party is the only major new-entrant in Tamil Nadu's political landscape. With uncertainty looming over his decision regarding an alliance, it would be interesting to observe the strategy that the party follows ahead of Lok Sabha election 2019.
New Delhi: Akshay Kumar's 'Kesari' is one of the biggest releases of the year and has been high on the buzzword ever since it was announced. The actor plays a fearless Sikh warrior in the film and the teasers of 'Kesari' had created quite a buzz. After a long wait, the trailer has finally been unveiled and it is bound to take the excitement level for the film up a notch.

The trailer begins with Akshay's powerful voice and the entire 3-minute that follow are gripping. The background music and intense dialogues will give you goosebumps and will make it harder to wait for the moment when the film finally hits the screens.

Check out the power-packed, intense trailer right here:

The shooting of the period war drama film had wrapped up in December 2018.

The film also stars Parineeti Chopra and has been helmed by Anurag Singh.

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, Isha Ambani and Twinkle Khanna are the producers of the film.

'Kesari' tells the story of Havildar Ishar Singh who participated in the Battle of Saragarhi (in which an army of 21 Sikhs fought against 10,000 Afghans in 1897) while yearning for the respect of his estranged daughter.

The film is slated to hit the screens on March 21, 2019.
PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking bail in three cases in fodder scam, citing ill health.

Yadav moved SC challenging the order of Jharkhand High Court which had rejected his bail application.

The RJD chief is currently undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

The fodder scam is related to fraudulent withdrawal of government funds from the treasuries of various districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power and Yadav the chief minister.

Yadav was lodged in Ranchi jail in December 2017 in these cases.

A meeting of several leaders is also scheduled with RJD chief Yadav in Ranchi.

With barely three months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the "Mahagatbandhan" (grand alliance) in Bihar is all set to finalise the seat sharing formula in the state by February 25, party leaders said on Wednesday.
Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will address a NDA Sankalp Rally here in Bihar on March 3 that will be a show of strength for the alliance and a reply to the Congress' Jan Aakansha Rally, garnering the largest ever political gathering in Patna.

With just nine days to go for the rally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with its two allies Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), is putting together all collective social and political resources to counter the February 3 Jan Aakansha Rally by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, where its Grand Alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal was also present.

The NDA leaders along with thousands of BJP workers, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar`s JD-U and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan`s LJP members have taken to the streets to reach out to people, particularly their supporters in rural, as well as urban pockets for the upcoming rally.

The party enthusiasts are busy campaigning in villages, panchayats, blocks, sub-divisions and district headquarters to garner the largest numbers ever to congregate at the Gandhi Maidan.

The Congress' Jan Aakarshan rally was also held at the same venue and was also the first mega rally by the party in many years in the state.

"The NDA`s Sankalp Rally is going to be more than 10 times bigger than Rahul Gandhi`s rally. People will realise it," BJP state chief Nityanand Rai said.

Senior BJP leaders, including Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, half a dozen Union Ministers and over a dozen Bihar Ministers along with Nitish Kumar, and senior JD-U member R.C.P. Singh and party legislators and MPs, LJP chief`s son MP Chirag Paswan are also personally trying to make it a grand success.

Bihar`s JD-U chief Vashisht Narain Singh said the NDA will leave nothing to chance to organise the biggest ever rally here. "We have been mobilising our party leaders, workers and supporters to persuade people to attend the rally in large numbers."

The Sankalp Rally will be the first joint rally of Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar and their first big show after Nitish Kumar joined hands with the BJP in July 2017 after dumping the RJD and the Congress.

Nitish Kumar had ended his 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in 2013 following the rise of Modi ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Rai told IANS that the BJP, JD-U and LJP leaders were busy addressing rallies in rural and urban areas requesting their supporters to attend the rally to show their strength.

Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi have also visited half a dozen districts and addressed people during the inauguration of different projects in the last two weeks and laid foundation stones and launched projects worth crores of rupees to send the political message that they were committed to Bihar`s development.

Chirag Paswan told party leaders and workers on Wednesday that the LJP`s role is "important in this rally" and asked every party worker to attend it.

The LJP`s Pasupati Kumar Paras, a Bihar Minister and younger brother of Ram Vilas Paswan, said that a big crowd at the Sanjalp Rally will vindicate the stand that the BJP-led NDA`s support base is intact and it would better itself in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"NDA rally will send a clear and loud message that Modi will become PM again," he said.

According to the seat-sharing formula, the BJP and the JD-U will contest 17 seats each, while the remaining six seats will be given to the LJP.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD won four seats and the Congress two. The JD-U, which contested separately, won two seats. The BJP-led NDA won 31 seats, with the BJP`s tally being 22. One seat went to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
PATNA: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, who shifted to his allotted government bungalow recently vacated by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, has compared it to a seven-star luxury resort that can put top-end hotels to shame.

46 AC wale bungalow mein rehte the Tejashwi, five-star hotel bhi fail (Tejawshi lived in a bungalow with 46 ACs, even five-star hotels will fall flat in front of it) tweeted Modi.

Lambasting Yadav for wasting public funds and occupying the bungalow illegally, Modi questioned how could someone think about the welfare of poor and backward classes while continuing to live in such a luxury mansion.

It feels like we've entered a 7-star hotel. Everything is special and nothing is ordinary. Crores have been spent on this bungalow, he said adding that the maintenance of the bungalow in its current shape would be like "maintaining an elephant".

"It would be quite difficult for me," he said.

He added that the five-star bungalow was 100 times better that Patna Raj Bhavan - the official residence of Bihar Governor.

 46       , -, ,         --  -      ?        -              , .... pic.twitter.com/ysXQWJIkyW  Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) February 20, 2019

Modi moved into the bungalow at 5, Deshratna Marg adjacent to the Chief Ministers official residence on Tuesday.

"I am stunned to see the extravagant decoration and furnishing of the bungalow, which surpass those at the Raj Bhawan and 1, Anney Marg (official residence of the CM). There has been a splurge as if it were meant for some raja-maharaja," he told reporters.

"I can now see the reason behind the obsession with this bungalow. Money has been blindly spent on its decoration, he said adding that crores (of rupees) must have been spent to lend the bungalow its current grandeur".

Modi added that he would apprise Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the matter and will request him to personally visit the premises and "get a glimpse of the lavish lifestyle of his former deputy".

"I will also request Kumar to consider shifting to 5 Deshratna Marg as the grandest bungalow should belong to the chief minister," the senior BJP leader remarked in a lighter vein.

Yadav was involved in a protracted legal battle over the occupancy of the government bungalow, located on 5, Deshratna Marg in Bihar's capital city Patna.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dismissed Yadav's plea, challenging a previous Patna High Court order asking him to vacate the bungalow, and ordered him to shift to the accommodation allotted to the leader of the Opposition. The apex court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader for pursuing litigation up to the top court even after two benches of the high court dismissed his plea.

Yadav, who lost the deputy chief ministers chair in July 2017 when allegations of corruption against him led Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to walk out of the Grand Alliance and realign with the BJP, has been allotted 1, Polo Road the bungalow previously occupied by Modi.

He is, however, yet to take possession of the bungalow after having vacated 5, Deshratna Marg last week.

Following Modi's claim of Yadav' recently vacated bungalow containing five-star facilities, Bihar Building and Construction minister Maheshwar Hazari on Thursday questioned the funding process of installing such facilities.

Ministers were eligible to spend only Rs 3 lakhs in five years, so either he used his own money or funds were used from the department, said Hazari.

The department will conduct a high-level inquiry (in the matter), he added.

With PTI and ANI inputs
Tirupati: AICC President Rahul Gandhi will offer worship at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala here on Friday, a senior party functionary said.

AICC Secretary C D Meyyappan told PTI that Gandhi will land at the Renigunta airport here in the afternoon Friday and reach the hills by road.

After offering worship, he will come down to address a public meeting at Taraka Rama Stadium, Meyyappan, who is also in charge of Andhra Pradesh, said Thursday.

In the rally, Rahul Gandhi would speak out on the Special Category Status to thebifurcated Andhra Pradesh and other issues facing the nation, he said.

Thereafter Gandhi would fly back to New Delhi, he said. It was going to be Rahul Gandhi's maiden visit to the holy hills as President of the Congress, Meyyappan said.

He said in his capacity as AICC General Secretary Gandhi had visited the shrine.
NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah will on Thursday launch his party's nationwide exercise to contact over 22 crore beneficiaries of various welfare programmes of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in several states ahead of crucial Lok Sabha election 2019.

Shah will kick off the campaign from Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry city, the party said in a statement on Wednesday.

The party aims to cover every beneficiary household under the programme as it seeks to retain power at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Amit Shah will also members of at least 50 families at Rajamundri who have benefitted from various welfare schemes of the BJP governments.

India currently has twenty-two crore beneficiaries.

The BJP said its workers have reached out to the beneficiaries and claimed many of them shared pictures of the party flag flying at their houses as part of its another campaign "Mera Parivaar Bhajapa Parivar" (My family, BJP family).

Shah will address party workers from four adjacent Lok Sabha constituencies and travel to Karnataka later in the day to attend other political programmes, the statement from the party said.
The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.

On Thursday, in the morning, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC received the Clerk of the Parliament, Mr Neil Laurie, for the presentation of two Bills for Assent.

Following, at 1 William Street, His Excellency presided at a meeting of the Executive Council.

In the afternoon, at Government House, His Excellency and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a reception in support of Foodbank Queensland, and the Governor addressed guests.
- Former president John Mahama has advised President Akufo-Addo to disband vigilante groups in Ghana

- He added that the NPP first introduced vigilantism into Ghana when they were in opposition

- Mahama further noted that the party has confidence in Ghana's security system with regard to its upcoming electoral process

Former president John Dramani Mahama has called on President Akufo-Addo to disband vigilante groups in Ghana.

Wrapping up his campaign tour of all the 275 constituencies, he added that it is the presidents duty to ensure that Ghana is free of such groups.

According to a report by Classfmonline.com, he explained that all political parties have machomen who provide intra-party security.

READ ALSO: Video of fake cedi printing room surfaces online

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), he went on, introduced vigilante groups in Ghana to train them as thugs for the party.

Mahama further noted that the government is putting resources of the state at the disposal of vigilante groups, and that stimulated responses from other parties.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), he said, is however committed to peaceful elections and would therefore not do anything to threaten nor breach the security of the state.

To him, the NDC has confidence in the states security agencies to ensure that its presidential primaries, which would be held on Saturday, February 23, 2019, will be peaceful.

For that reason, he added, the party will not deploy any organised party security group for that purpose.

Seven people are contesting for the position of NDCs flagbearer, to lead the party into the 2020 elections.

They are John Mahama, Goosie Tanoh, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Sylvester Mensah, Alban Bagbin, Professor Joshua Alabi and Nurudeen Iddrisu.

READ ALSO: Meet the Ghanaian soldier declared as the strongest in Africa

Ghana News Today: Vice President Involved in Accident / NDC Justifies Vigilante Groups | #Yencomgh

Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook page or on Instagram with your stories, photos or videos

Source: Yen
- Efforts to see governments agenda of ensuring that the national capital, Accra, becomes the cleanest city in the whole of Africa have been advanced.

- This is evident as Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Ghanas biggest waste management company, has unveiled a new set of mechanical street sweepers.

- A short ceremony was held at the forecourt of the State House on Wednesday February 20, 2019 to unveil the vehicles.

Zoomlion Gh Ltd unveils new set of mechanical street sweepers in a bid to combat Ghana's waste challenge

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Lets disband vigilante groups - Kennedy Agyapong

The mechanical street sweepers are vehicles used to keep roads, pavements and other hard surfaces clean and free from debris.

The conventional street sweepers, numbering about 10, use jets underneath the vehicles to spray water unto the road surface.

This helps to loosen particles and reduce airborne dust. It also brushes and scrubs the dirt off the surface, while a cylindrical broom-like brush sweeps the debris onto a conveyor belt which leads to a storage container inside the vehicle.

Zoomlion Gh Ltd unveils new set of mechanical street sweepers in a bid to combat Ghana's waste challenge

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Unilever Ghana Limited presents winners of Keysoap Baako P3 promo with awards

The theme of the ceremony was Delivering Effective and Efficient Service Approach to Ghanas Waste Challenge.

Speaking at the ceremony, The Greater-Accra Regional Minister, Honourable Ishmael Ashitey said waste should be seen as wealth.

He added that increasing the existing solid waste infrastructure is one of the priority focus areas of every assembly.

"It is the believe of the various MMDAs to look at waste management in a more holistic manner along the entire value chain of Collection, Transporting, Disposal and treatment," he added.

Zoomlion Gh Ltd unveils new set of mechanical street sweepers in a bid to combat Ghana's waste challenge

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Parents of 14 year old speech-impaired girl who was assaulted demand justice

On her part, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Hon. Hajia Alima Mahama said government has deepened collaborations with all players, both locally and internationally towards making Ghanas sanitation outlook a brighter one.

This, according to her, has been done by consolidating the successes made over the years and making new efforts to reach a higher pedestal.

She further stated that the Mechanised Street Sweepers shall be stationed at the Regional Capitals and deployed along the major highways within the cities such the N1 and the N4 to augment the cleaning activities of our manual sweepers.

Zoomlion Gh Ltd unveils new set of mechanical street sweepers in a bid to combat Ghana's waste challenge

Source: Original

READ ALSO: Kumasi shooting: Deceased's mother died in 2018 when Mahama visited

Hon. Alima Mahama said it is her expectation that Zoomlion Ghana Limited would effectively collaborate with all the MMDAs concerned to ensure smooth deployment of the equipment in order to maximize the associated benefits.

This innovative strategic equipment she believes with no doubt, will contribute significantly towards bringing Ghana closer to the attainment of the presidents vision of making Accra the cleanest city.

Also, Executive Chairman of Zoomlion Group of Companies, Dr. Joseph Siaw said it is in response to a national call for close partnership between government machinery and the private sector players that his outfit has been challenged to transform its operational activities to respond effectively to the presidents charge of total environmental cleanliness.

He assured traditional leaders of his commitment to intensify collaboration with them in order to reach out to the citizenry to ensure environment cleanliness.

Zoomlion Gh Ltd unveils new set of mechanical street sweepers in a bid to combat Ghana's waste challenge

Source: Original

YEN TV's team of correspondents were at the event and have produced the video below below.

READ ALSO: Young girl who was caught up in bomb meant for Kwame Nkrumah tells her story

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Source: Yen.com.gh
VILLANOVA, Pa.The formation of stars is inextricably linked to the formation of planets, and stars ultimately provide the energy that is essential for the support of life. In the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star formation to Earth, stars are born from the collapse of large clouds of interstellar gas and dust. In clouds like this, the star formation rate is mysteriously lower than expected. A Villanova University research team led by David Chuss, PhD, 95 CLAS, professor of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has played a key role in developing a new camera for NASAs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy that measures the polarization of radiation from such clouds, and in doing so unveils the magnetic fields that can affect the star formation process. The camera is called the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus (HAWC+), and its development was led by Darren Dowell, PhD, of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Villanova team, which also includes Javad Siah, PhD, assistant professor of Physics, and postdoctoral researcher Jordan Guerra, PhD, has led the analysis of the some of the first results from HAWC+. These measurements have shed new light on the shape and strength of the magnetic field in the Orion region and provide a glimpse into the potential of HAWC+ to increase critical understanding of how stars form.

In general, stars form at a much lower rate than is expected from simple models, said Dr. Chuss. Magnetic fields are a possible mechanism that can explain why star formation is so inefficient. HAWC+ is well-poised to address this question and crack the case on this fundamental mystery in our understanding of the star formation process.

Villanova student Joe Michail 19 CLAS, who is double-majoring in both Astronomy and Physics, has been working with Dr. Chuss for three years on this remarkable research. Joe has flown on two SOFIA observation flights, contributed to the calibration of data from the instrument and assisted with the research paper.



Since coming to Villanova, Joe has excelled. As a researcher, he has continued to demonstrate resourcefulness, thoughtfulness, creativity and diligenceall qualities that are essential to becoming a world-class scientist, said Dr. Chuss. His work in our collaboration has been of such high quality that it has attracted the attention of leaders in Infrared Astronomy.

After working as an astrophysicist with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for 11 years, Dr. Chuss returned to the Villanova Department of Physics to teach. His work with NASA has created many unique research opportunities for students like Joe.

Having Dr. Chuss as a faculty mentor since my freshman year has provided me with the kind of research experiences I dont think I could have found anywhere else, says Joe, who plans to move on to graduate school next year. Its been an amazing experience.

About Villanova Universitys College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Since its founding in 1842, Villanova Universitys College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has cultivated knowledge, understanding and intellectual courage for a purposeful life in a challenging and changing world. With more than 40 majors across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, it is the oldest and largest of Villanovas colleges, serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students each year. The College is committed to a teacher-scholar model, offering outstanding undergraduate and graduate research opportunities and a rigorous core curriculum that prepares students to become critical thinkers, strong communicators and ethical leaders with a truly global perspective.
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Venice, FL (34285)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 74F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 74F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
States are facing a new danger as legal marijuana spreads across the country: Explosions and fires at cannabis factories are sending workers to the hospital with severe burns, revealing the nascent industry's lack of proper safety standards.In the 33 states where the drug is legal for medical or recreational use, at least 10 fires or explosions have occurred in the past five years at facilities that extract hash oil used in edible products. Nearly all resulted in serious injuries for production-line staff.The extraction process is continuing to evolve," Raymond Bizal, director of California and Oregon regional operations for the National Fire Protection Association, told POLITICO. "The fire-safety industry has to play catch-up.Most of the states where marijuana is legal offer no safety and health guidance for the new industry. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which researches work-related injury and illness, has conducted only two hazard evaluations of legal marijuana facilities, neither of which focused on the extraction of hash oil. Even in those states that do offer safety and health guidance  Colorado, California, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington  fire safety officials complain that worker safety protections are often inadequate.Worker safety is a matter of growing urgency because legal marijuana is a booming business. In 2018 there were an estimated $10.4 billion in U.S. sales of legal medical and recreational marijuana. That translated into 259,000 jobs, according to cannabis research firm New Frontier Data. Some estimates project sales to reach $40 billion by 2021.
The Residential Tenancies Act (Family Violence) Amendment Bill 2018, which was recently passed, will not only allow tenants who are victims of family violence to terminate their lease early but will also protect the rights of property owners by ensuring the new legislation could not be used without just cause.

This bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 and the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006 to provide for termination of tenants' interests on the grounds of family violence, and for related matters.

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) welcomes the move, noting the importance of the preventative measures that were in place to stop the legislation from being misused.

REIWA fully supports the WA governments decision to amend the act. Family violence is a growing issue in our community and we all have a responsibility to help eradicate it and ensure measures are put in place to assist victims instead of punish them. However, it was also important to protect the rights of property owners by ensuring the new legislation could not be used without just cause," said REIWA President Damian Collins.

REIWA said that the new legislation has a legally binding declaration. Should there be cases where there has been no criminal charges filed, the victim will sign a declaration to reaffirm their claims. Hence, going to court can be left out of process.

In addition, the declaration carries significant penalties should the claimant be found to be making false statements.

This will act as a hefty deterrent against the misuse of this legislation, which is designed to help only genuine victims of family violence. REIWA welcomes this outcome as an important step in the process towards reducing the burdens of the residential tenancy system on victims of family violence while also protecting the rights of property owners, Collins said.
BESSEMER, Mich. - Gertrude K. Newberg, 94, passed away with many loved ones by her side at Aspirus Hospital in Bessemer on Feb. 13, 2019.

Gertrude was born June 11, 1924, in Ironwood.

Gertrude's parents, Benjamin Finco and Helena (Bongers) Finco, immigrated from Oberhausen, Germany, to the United States in 1910. Gertrude was the youngest of eight children and the only one to graduate high school from St. Ambrose Catholic School in Ironwood. Gertrude was special and unique to all who knew her.

On July 4, 1945, Gert married the love of her life, Sonny Newberg. Annually, they celebrated their July 4th anniversary on Lake Gogebic, fitting of her "firecracker" personality. Gert and Sonny lived in Chicago; North Carolina; and Bergland. Gertrude worked at Wrigley's Gum Factory and owned and operated the Bergland Cabins. It is here, where she found her love of Lake Gogebic and endless treasured memories.

Family was important to Gertrude throughout her life. Early in life, she and her husband, loved entertaining family at Lake Gogebic where they built their home. It's this home, where family and friends gathered to fish, swim, pontoon, snowmobile, talk politics, and eat polenta. Later in life, every holiday was shared with nieces and nephews, enjoying fine food, conversation, and of course, an abundance of humor, with a dash of sarcasm creating unforgettable memories. Gert also enjoyed her dog, Muffin, who was her true companion.

She is survived by a sister-in-law, Gloria Finco, of California, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, all of which, were so very special to her. She will be missed, dearly, and a part of Gert will sparkle in the eyes of those who were so fortunate to have loved and known her.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Sonny Newberg; parents, Benjamin and Helen (Bongers) Finco; seven siblings, Anton Finco, Joseph Finco, John Finco, Leo Finco, Benjamin Finco, Adele (Finco) Bugni and William Finco.

In accordance with Gert's wishes, a celebration of life will take place in the summer of 2019 at Lake Gogebic where her ashes will be spread.

The family would like to sincerely thank all of her caregivers, her special friend and caregiver, Pat LaGalo, and the staff at Aspirus for their compassionate care.
By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

HURLEY  The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is considering reclassifying Iron Countys County Road A in the town of Saxon, changing it from a rural major collector to a rural minor collector.

While the final decision hasnt officially been made yet, county officials expect the reclassification will inevitably happen.

As of right now, County A does not meet the criteria for a major collector. So they are removing it and turning it into a minor collector, Highway Commissioner Mike Swartz recently told the Daily Globe.

While th...
Oracles researchers first stumbled across DrainerBot last summer, when network analysts flagged a suspicious spike in data traffic from some Android devices. Soon the company traced the bots code to a Dutch firm that specializes in combating app piracy.

The Dutch company, Tapcore, released a statement Wednesday saying it had no involvement in the scheme. Tapcores main business aims to help app developers get paid, through advertising, when software pirates use their apps illegally.

Tapcore strongly denies any intentional involvement in this supposed ad fraud scheme and are extremely surprised by the Oracle findings. Weve already launched a full scale internal investigation to get to the bottom of it and will be providing updates as they become available.

Tapcores software is ordinarily integrated into other apps before theyre published, and only serves ads to users who acquired the apps illegitimately, according to its website. Downloading an app with Tapcores code in it from the Google Play Store, for example, is not supposed to trigger the advertising. Tapcores offer to advertisers does not appear to mention the ad bot.
UTICA  In 1949 lightning struck the wooden steeple of St. Patricks. Rather than replace the steeple, the towers top was patched up. Now parishioners of St. Patricks Catholic Church in Utica have mobilized to give the towns skyline a lift. After decades the church  which was built in 1915  is getting its steeple back.

A new steeple is but the beginning for the extensive project. An effort to replace the damaged steeple has resulted in the discovery of a need for more work on St. Patricks Church, including new stairs winding up the bell tower and fresh paint inside the church. The need for improvements have been discussed for quite some time, said St. Patricks Churchs Rev. Maurice Current. In the last 1-2 years its really begun to unfold, he said.

One of the main projects  in addition to replacing the long-missing steeple  is to modernize the 100-year-old bell. To eliminate manually ringing the bell, an electronic system will be implemented. However, the old bell isnt going anywhere. It was really important that we use the original bell, said Colette Stelling, a church construction committee member. It was gifted to the church in 1915 by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Sanley in honor of their daughter, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Peter Hubertus).
YORK  A criminal case against Jamison Hall, 36, of York, in which it is alleged that he intentionally hit a pedestrian with his vehicle, has been bound over to District Court.

Hall has been charged with second degree assault, a Class 2A felony, which carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, a Class 2 felony, which carries a possible maximum sentence of 50 years in prison; and failure to stop and render aid, a Class 3A felony which carries a possible maximum sentence of three years in prison  upon conviction.

According to court documents, York Police officers were called about a fight in a convenience store parking lot in York. When officers arrived, they say they spoke with a man and a woman.

The man and woman allege that while they were walking in the parking lot, Hall drove up behind them in an aggressive manner. They alleged that he accelerated toward the man and struck him with his vehicle sending the man flying into the air. The alleged victim said Hall then left the scene before officers arrived.

The police say in the report filed with the court that the man had abrasions and pain in different parts of his body.
New Jersey's family leave program will expand to allow workers who miss time to care for a newborn child or sick family member to collect more of their pay and remain on leave longer.Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation expanding the program into law Tuesday, saying the changes to the decade-old program will allow it to help more workers and strengthen the state's overall economy."When we honor and protect workers we strengthen our economy. When you allow workers to take care of themselves and loved ones, we strengthen families," Murphy said during a ceremony at the JFK Library in Piscataway.New Jersey is one of only five states that offer paid family leave through employee payroll deductions, and the expansion marks the first significant change to New Jersey's program since it was created in 2009.Workers were eligible to take off six weeks to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, or to take care of a sick child, parent or spouse, and receive up to two-thirds of their pay, capped at 53 percent of the statewide average weekly wage or $650 a week.Under the new law, the permitted paid time off would double to 12 weeks and the benefit would increase to 85 percent of their pay and the cap would rise to 70 percent of the statewide average, or about $860 a week.Workers will also be permitted to take up to 56 days of intermittent leave within a 12-month period under the new law and eligibility for leave is also being expanded to include caring for siblings, in-laws, grandparents, grandchildren and other blood relatives , as well as other close friends who are considered the equivalent of a family member. Victims of domestic violence or sexual assault are also now eligible for the paid leave, as are family members who care for them.The boosted benefits are expected to take effect in July next year and could require the payroll tax paid by workers to increase in order to support the expansion.Currently the tax is 0.08 percent of the first $34,400 wages, up to about $28. But the new law will expand the deduction to the first $131,000 in wages. The new rate will be calculated based on that change and the funds the program is projected to need.The new law also eliminates a one-week waiting period for the payment of family leave benefits and expands protections for workers who take leave to companies with 30 or more employees, rather than the current threshold of 50 or more.Business advocates opposed the expansion, arguing that while employers do not pay the tax that funds the leave that it is still a mandate that forces them to pay more overtime to cover for workers on extended leave or hire replacements. They argue the expansion, plus the state's rising minimum wage and new requirement that all workers receive sick time hurts businesses ability to compete in a high-cost state.Murphy and other supporters countered that workers deserve protections and the economy ultimately benefits."A stronger, more secure middle class, working families in this state, the better it is for them and the better it is for those who employ them," the governor said. "There's a confidence, there's an increase in productivity."Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-19th of Fords, said the expansion would allow more workers to take advantage of the program, which advocates claimed was underutilized because the benefits weren't enough."Today we send a very clear message that family matters, that family is important. And that the best way for people to demonstrate they care about their family is to be there when they're needed the most," Coughlin said.Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd of West Deptford, was unable to attend the ceremony but released a statement saying the new law would set an example for the rest of the nation to follow."Paid leave can ease financial burdens and provide peace of mind for working families at critical times in their lives. Caring for a newborn child or a loved one with a serious illness can be a real challenge for those who can't afford to lose their paychecks for an extended amount of time," said Sweeney, who spearheaded the drive to create the paid family leave law in 2009. He also championed expanding benefits in 2017 when legislation was approved by lawmakers but vetoed by then Gov. Chris Christie.
Yes. I will do my part to conserve household energy usage, even if I'm uncomfortable in my home.

No. It is too hot to conserve household energy usage.

I already conserve, even before ERCOT requested it.

Maybe, depending on the reason ERCOT provides and whether or not I am home during that time.

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Hong Kong: Bay area dev't to benefit HK

Chief Executive Carrie Lam

Welcome to the symposium on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area jointly organised by the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. I wish to extend my special gratitude to Deputy Chairman Lin Nianxiu of the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Director General Guo Lanfeng of the Department of Regional Economy of the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC). They have travelled all the way to Hong Kong from Beijing to introduce the contents of the Outline Development Plan to representatives from various sectors from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. We are also honoured to have Governor Ma Xingrui of Guangdong Province and Chief Executive Chui Sai-on of the Macao Special Administrative Region visiting Hong Kong to set out the key work of Guangdong and Macau in implementing the Outline Development Plan.

Three days ago, the Central Government promulgated the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It is a national strategy personally devised, personally planned and personally driven by President Xi Jinping. It is not only a key development strategy in the countrys reform and opening up in the new era, but also a further step in enriching the practice of one country, two systems. Through further deepening co-operation amongst Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, its objectives are to promote co-ordinated economic development in the Greater Bay Area, leverage the complementary advantages of the three places, develop an international first-class bay area for living, working and travelling, and further enhance the Greater Bay Areas supporting and leading role in the countrys economic development and opening up.

On July 1, 2017, witnessed by President Xi Jinping, the NDRC and the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau signed the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Greater Bay Area in Hong Kong. Since then, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has kept in close contact with relevant central ministries and the governments of Guangdong and Macau to draw up and introduce policies and measures for the development of the Greater Bay Area. The Outline Development Plan is the best manifestation of the close co-operation amongst the three governments and their positive interaction with central ministries. In the process of drawing up the Outline Development Plan, the HKSAR Government put great efforts into reflecting the views our bureaus and departments obtained from consulting relevant sectors and stakeholders. On behalf of the HKSAR Government, I wish to thank the Central Government wholeheartedly for according much importance, and indeed accepting those views of Hong Kong.

On August 15 last year, the first plenary meeting of the leading group for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, chaired by Vice Premier Han Zheng, took place in Beijing. Chief Executive Chui Sai-on and I attended the meeting as leading group members, demonstrating the key role played by Hong Kong and Macau in the Greater Bay Area. In his opening remarks, Vice Premier Han Zheng insightfully elucidated on three issues - why we develop the Greater Bay Area, what kind of Greater Bay Area is to be developed, and how we develop the Greater Bay Area. Today, I also wish to share my views on why Hong Kong needs to proactively participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area and how Hong Kong would do so.

Why Hong Kong should participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area

For many years, Hong Kong has been one of the top performers in terms of global competitiveness, due to its excellent geographic location, its free and open market, as well as its advantages being an international city under one country, two systems. Nonetheless, as competition with nearby economies and globally intensifies, the strengths of Hong Kongs traditional industries are weakening. Today, amidst a slowdown in global economic growth and a rise of protectionism, Hong Kong faces increasingly serious challenges. As such, we must strive to innovate and develop high-value-added and diversified industries, in order to give new impetus to the economy of Hong Kong.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an enormous market with a population of 70 million and a gross domestic product of US$1.5 trillion. As one of the most open and economically vibrant regions in China, the Greater Bay Area is well placed to give new impetus to the development of Hong Kong, providing the people of Hong Kong, especially young people, with new horizons and new opportunities for developing their careers. Hong Kong must therefore grasp such invaluable opportunities and proactively take part in the development of the Greater Bay Area to create better conditions for ourselves.

How Hong Kong should participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area

Under one country, two systems, Hong Kong enjoys unique dual advantages. On the one hand, Hong Kong is part of China; on the other hand, our economic, legal and social systems are different from those of the Mainland. Hong Kong is a highly open and international city, with a business environment that is open and facilitating, as well as professional services that are of excellent quality. Our strengths can complement the advantages of the nine Mainland cities within the Greater Bay Area, such as the size of their market, an all-rounded industry system, and their relative strength in technology. In fact, taking forward the co-ordinated development of the Greater Bay Area is conducive to further enhancing Hong Kongs status as international financial, transportation and trade centres, as well as an international aviation hub. In other words, Hong Kongs role in the development of the Greater Bay Area needs to change from being a connector to being a more proactive participant. Meanwhile, the Governments new roles of facilitator and promoter, as advocated by the current-term Government, will help Hong Kong take part in the development of the Greater Bay Area, allowing everyone in Hong Kong to become beneficiaries of the Greater Bay Area.

It is therefore evident that one country, two systems is not only Hong Kongs advantage in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but it is also the key foundation for the internationalisation of the Greater Bay Area. Central leaders have time and again emphasised that in the process of taking forward the development of the Greater Bay Area, the principle of one country, two systems, people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong and the people of Macau governing Macau with a high degree of autonomy will be strictly adhered to. The development of the Greater Bay Area will enrich the practice of one country, two systems and is conducive to maintaining the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau. It will not, as some people worry, blur the boundaries between the two systems, nor will it weaken Hong Kongs status as a separate customs territory. It certainly will not lead to the assimilation of Hong Kong into the Mainland either.

Future work focuses

To develop Hong Kong into an international metropolis with enhanced competitiveness, we shall follow the guiding directions in the Outline Development Plan, proactively co-operating with relevant central ministries, the Peoples Government of Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR Government in jointly taking forward work relating to the development of the Greater Bay Area. The HKSAR Governments future work focuses include: (i) consolidating and enhancing Hong Kongs status as international financial, transportation and trade centres as well as an international aviation hub; (ii) developing an international innovation and technology hub; (iii) expanding the scope of development for sectors in which Hong Kongs strengths lie; (iv) strengthening infrastructural connectivity; (v) fostering youth innovation and entrepreneurship; and (vi) fully utilising Hong Kongs international connections and networks to promote the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area overseas and attract capital and talents to the Greater Bay Area. I shall briefly elaborate on our work in the areas of finance, aviation, innovation and youth entrepreneurship.

Financial services

Hong Kongs status as the worlds premier international financial centre is well recognised. The city is ranked third in the Global Financial Centres Index and holds the top spot in Asia. Apart from our efficient links to other major commercial centres all over the world, Hong Kong has a financial regulatory and supervisory framework that is in line with international standards, as well as a strategic geographic location. Hong Kong can leverage on the development of the Greater Bay Area to promote the efficient flow of factors of production to support the development of the real economy. Meanwhile, we should make good use of the Greater Bay Areas enormous population and economic scale to promote the development of the financial services sector in Hong Kong. The HKSAR Government has maintained close liaison with the governments of Guangdong and Macau to seek support from the Central Government to implement concrete measures to promote financial co-operation within the Greater Bay Area and promote financial development in the region.

Aviation development

Hong Kong is an international aviation hub. The Hong Kong International Airport connects to over 220 destinations. It handled over 74 million passengers and 5.1 million tonnes of cargo and air mail in 2018. Looking ahead to our future development, Hong Kong International Airport has an important strategic function for both the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the entire country. The three-runway system, which is under construction, will help strengthen connections between the countrys and the worlds flight destinations. The HKSAR Government will continue to support nearby airports in the Greater Bay Area to pursue development jointly based on complementarity and each airports uniqueness. We shall also further expand the Greater Bay Areas domestic and international aviation networks, proactively take forward inter-modal services, expedite the development of general aviation, expand cross-boundary helicopter services, and leverage Hong Kongs unique role as a centre for manpower training of the aviation industry and for aviation financing and leasing in driving the development of the entire Greater Bay Area.

International I&T hub

The country has all along given staunch support to Hong Kongs I&T development. In May 2018, President Xi Jinping gave a personal instruction, affirming that Hong Kong has a solid science and technology foundation and high-quality technology talents, and that Hong Kongs science and technology sector has made significant contributions to the development of Hong Kong and the country. The instruction also supports Hong Kongs development into an international I&T hub. In line with the spirit of President Xi Jinpings personal directive, the HKSAR Government benefitted from concrete measures that had the Central Governments support and co-operation in the past year, including (i) realising cross-boundary remittance of science and technology funding of the Central Government to Hong Kong; (ii) signing a co-operation arrangement with the Ministry of Science & Technology fostering I&T co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong; (iii) establishing that the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will set up an affiliated institution in Hong Kong to facilitate its research institutes to establish their presence in the two research clusters to be set up at the Hong Kong Science Park; and (iv) establishing a Greater Bay Area academician alliance in Hong Kong to promote exchange and co-operation amongst academicians of the CAS and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, bringing prominent scientists in the region to advise on technological development in Greater Bay Area.

In fact, after the planning and investment by the current-term Government in the last year or so, Hong Kong is ready to take on an important role in the work of developing the Greater Bay Area into an international I&T hub. The HKSAR Governments concrete work on this front includes: (i) actively developing the Lok Ma Chau Loop into the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park; (ii) developing a base for co-operation in scientific research through liaising with top-tier enterprises, research and development institutions and higher education institutions on the Mainland and overseas; (iii) actively pursuing the establishment of the two research clusters at the Hong Kong Science Park on healthcare technologies, as well as artificial intelligence and robotics technologies; (iv) nurturing local I&T talents through measures such as the Postdoctoral Hub Programme and the Reindustrialisation & Technology Training Programme; (v) increasing scientific research funding for universities and providing tax deduction for the expenditures incurred by enterprises on R&D; (vi) introducing the Technology Talent Admission Scheme to enlarge Hong Kongs I&T talent pool; (vii) establishing the Innovation & Technology Venture Fund to invest on a matching basis in local I&T startups; and (viii) opening up government data and introducing a pro-innovation government procurement policy.

The measures above would strengthen Hong Kongs own I&T capabilities. Together with the supporting policies in the Outline Development Plan, they will certainly speed up the process of developing an international I&T hub in the Greater Bay Area.

Encouraging youth innovation and entrepreneurship

The HKSAR Government encourages Hong Kongs young people to participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area and endeavours to provide more opportunities for the development of Hong Kongs young talents in innovation and entrepreneurship. Our objective is to foster the Greater Bay Area to become a world-class international platform for innovation and entrepreneurship. Through co-operation with subvented and non-governmental organisations, the HKSAR Government will provide young people starting their businesses in various Greater Bay Area cities with startup grants, support, counselling, guidance, and incubation services. We shall also co-operate with the Guangdong Provincial Government to establish an Alliance of Hong Kong Youth Innovative & Entrepreneurial Bases in the Greater Bay Area with a view to providing a one-stop information, publicity and exchange platform, thereby supporting the development of Hong Kong youth entrepreneurs in the Greater Bay Area.

Conclusion

As President Xi Jinping mentioned in his speech at the meeting with the Hong Kong and Macau delegations from various sectors in celebration of the 40th anniversary of countrys reform and opening up on November 12, 2018, the Greater Bay Area is to be developed under the conditions of one country, two systems, three customs territories and three currencies, without any precedents internationally. We should be bold in experimenting in order to break new ground. Hong Kong should improve its inner strength and resilience, as well as strive to create new drivers of economic growth. Facts speak louder than words: with the support of the Central Government, the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau implemented in the past year or so many measures for the development of the Greater Bay Area. None of them breached the principle of one country, two systems. The HKSAR Government will continue to fully put the principle of one country, two systems into practice, as well as proactively explore new development directions, expand fresh development space, and give renewed development impetus for Hong Kong through our participation in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Speaking of functions of the government, I noticed that Governor Ma Xingrui mentioned at the meeting of the Peoples Congress of the Guangdong Province on January 28 that the Guangdong Provincial Government will mobilise every force in the province to take forward the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. I also wish to state my position clearly: the HKSAR Government will spare no effort and do everything we can to take forward the development of the Greater Bay Area. Yet this colossal project also requires the participation of enterprises, professional sectors and ordinary people. The promulgation of the Outline Development Plan can help different sectors of society better understand the basic principles and broad policy directions of the development of the Greater Bay Area, such that they can consider how to expand their scope of development through opportunities brought about by the Greater Bay Area. To deepen understanding of the development of the Greater Bay Area in the wider society in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, the HKSAR Government will launch different forms of publicity and promotional activities to allow enterprises and the public, and young people in particular, to understand and grasp the opportunities brought to them by the development of the Greater Bay Area. We also attach greater importance to our overseas promotion efforts. Last June, I led a delegation to Paris, France to conduct promotional activities jointly with the governments of Guangdong and Macau, which were well received. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau are planning to go overseas together again this year to jointly promote the Greater Bay Area.

I encourage you all to visit the HKSARs dedicated website and our WeChat official account to learn more about the opportunities brought about by the development of the Greater Bay Area. Let us all grasp the opportunities of the development of the Greater Bay Area for a better tomorrow.

This is a translation of the remarks made by Chief Executive Carrie Lam at the Symposium on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on February 21.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
YORK  A barn which housed show animals and equipment owned by Larry and Rita Hoblyn was destroyed by fire Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 20.

The York Fire Department was dispatched to the scene at 1418 Road 14  about two miles east of the York County Fairgrounds, just after 1 p.m.

When they arrived, the blaze was well underway.

The Waco Fire Department was called in for mutual aid and the York County Sheriffs Department arrived on the scene to provide traffic and other assistance.

Trains were halted for approximately an hour and a half so tankers wouldn't be blocked from crossing the tracks just west of the scene.

At the scene, York Fire Chief Mike Lloyd was informed that a worker at Hoblyns farm was moving snow when he saw smoke coming from the cupula on top of the barn. He was able to get all the show animals  but one  out of the barn before it became fully engulfed.

Gates were moved outside the barn, in order for the cattle to move further away as the barn literally became an inferno.

The barn and its contents were a total loss. A dollar value of the loss has not yet been established, nor has the cause of the fire.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday the political union between Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid as party of left-wing generals posing as right-wingers. During a 16-minute speech, the prime minister promoted his own security record, attacked Gantz and Lapid on economy and scrutinized their alleged support for Iranian nuclear deal.

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The speech came in the wake of an earlier announcement by The Israel Resilience Party and Yesh Atid Party that they were joining forces ahead of April electionsa dramatic move that shook up the country's political system and created the first credible alternative to Netanyahu's decade-long rule.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: AFP)

Whoever votes for Lapid and Gantz votes for the left ... They talk about unity but in reality, they are planning to introduce left-wing policies and left-wing plans," said Netanyahu. In 1992, we got Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo disaster, in 1999, Ehud Barak and the intifada, with exploding buses and more than 1,000 dead."

"It's important that we continue to lead the country our way, on a path of success, security, prosperity. But tonight I want to tell you honestly, it's not at all a sure thing," Netanyahu said.

The prime minister went on to list a series of his accomplishments, including building a wall along the Egyptian border to halt the flow of African migrants (which he said Gantz opposed), lowering unemployment, and forging new diplomatic alliances, including in the Arab world.

Netanyahu during his speech (Photo: AFP)

He also said he had helped persuade the Trump administration to recognize contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital and scuttle the international nuclear deal with Iran, which Netanyahu said both Gantz and Lapid approved. They supported the dangerous nuclear agreement with Iran, which would have allowed it to obtain an arsenal of nuclear weapons in order to destroy us  But I didnt accept it and worked against the deal.

"They say the country is in a bad condition," he said. "It's never been in a better condition."

Netanyahu also recalled being interviewed by Yair Lapid, during his time as a news presenter, where Lapid allegedly admitted his lack of basic knowledge in economic matters. He failed as an economy minister  and what about Gantzs economic record? He went bankrupt after his one and only attempt to make it in the private market, the prime minister said.

"Do you know that I saved the Israeli economy from collapse in 2003 and again in 2009 against the backdrop of global financial crises?" Netanyahu said. "Do you know that I have transformed the Israeli economy into one of the strongest and most advanced economies in the world?  We see progress, development and rising wages.

Netanyahu during his speech (Photo: Reuters)

Netanyahu then claimed Lapid and Gantz would conspire with small Arab parties to prevent him from forming a parliamentary majority.

"Tonight the decision is as clear as it ever was: a new left-wing government, weak, led by Lapid and Gantz, with a blocking majority of Arab parties, or a strong right wing government presided over by me," he said.

Polls released on Israeli TV stations showed that together, Gantz and Lapid could surpass Netanyahu's ruling Likud to become Israel's largest faction after the April 9 vote.
Anti-Semitism in 2019 manages to reach far-fetching conclusions in the name of hatred of Jews, thus uniting the extreme right and extreme left in this ideology.

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Groups that identify themselves as either anti-globalization or anti-Zionist, use their platforms to spread anti-Semitic and racist propaganda, according to the findings of Israeli media research company Vocativ.

Hello, Moshe? Look like the goyim are suspecting something

Images and caricatures of Jews with stereotypically long noses are prevalent on the social media pages of these groups.

In France, where a wave of recent anti-Semitic attacks was preceded by anti-Jewish messaging appearing among members of the anti-government yellow vest movement, images of Adolf Hitler with a yellow vest photoshopped onto him also recently began to appear on these pages.

Following the recent anti-Semitic attacks in France, social networks have been abuzz with propaganda targeting the Jewish community, which includes posts entitled "Uncle Adolf didnt finish the job" and "You did a good job, friends! France belongs to you and not the Zionist Jews."

Even Alain Finkielkrauta well-known writer and son of a Holocaust survivor who was caught on camera being abused by a yellow vest protester, calling him a dirty Zionist shitcontinues to deal with anti-Semitic abuse online, where countless photoshopped images of him with an exaggerated nose are splattered across those social networks.

Alain Finkielkraut with photoshopped nose

Vocativ monitors communications on the Internet using technological tools developed for intelligence agencies.

The effect it has on the physcology and the way it's propagated on the social media is quite sophisticated. Our company has for some time been identifying algorithms linking popular movements to anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli messages," said Vocativs founder Mati Kochavi.

Kochavi gives an example of a social media post, urging "those who support the yellow vests to foster hatred for Jews and Israel because the banks are owned by Jews and (French President Emanuel) Macron worked for Rothschild."

For instance, one extreme-right group posted an old anti-Semitic saying: "Republican France is actually the France of the Jews who slaughter the people, and who the kings of France expelled from here a dozen times."

In another example, a social media page entitled, "A better world without Jews" is run by an extreme Russian-based right-wing group called "Grakov."

Hitler with a photoshopped yellow vest

Meanwhile on the far-left, activists celebrate Alain Sorala well-known Holocaust denier with several convictions for anti-Semitic incitement, and French comedian Dieudonneself proclaimed anti-Zionist and inventor of the quenelle gesture, a chest-level version of the Nazi salute.

Rabbi Shmuel Lubetzky, a leading rabbi in the Parisian Jewish community, said that in the wake of the recent attacks, hes met with many yellow vest activists who have apologized and denounced the anti-Semitic views shared by some of the movements members.

"On the one hand, there is a show of solidarity, but on the other hand, these activists told us what they think about us in a very straightforward manner," said Lubetzky. Many rabbis have received encouragement from priests who wish to strengthen the Jewish community and renounce anti-Semitism."

Rabbi Lubetzky believes the rise of anti-Semitism in the country correlates directly with the rise of the yellow vest movement.

Every Saturday the yellow vests stage demonstrations, which has a mixture of both the extreme right and the extreme leftall the extremists. They spur one another on and create this atmosphere, he added.
Actor Jussie Smollett claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary on the hip-hop TV drama "Empire," Chicago's police chief said on Thursday.

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Smollett, a 36-year-old Jewish, black and openly gay actor, has been arrested after he was charged with lying to police in connection with the alleged attack on January 29.

"Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told a news conference, adding that the actor paid $3,500 to two brothers to stage the supposed hate crime.

Actor Jussie Smollett, 36, appears in a booking photo provided by the Chicago Police Department in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., February 21, 2019

Smollett had claimed that two apparent supporters of US President Donald Trump had struck him, put a noose around his neck and poured an unknown substance over him.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved felony criminal charges against Smollett for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report, police said on Wednesday. He has a bond hearing scheduled for later on Thursday.

Last week, police arrested two brothers who were recognized from surveillance footage of the area where Smollett said the attack occurred. One of the brothers worked with Smollett on "Empire," according to police and their lawyer.

Actor Jussie Smollett (Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images)

Police released the brothers two days later without charges. They confessed and became cooperating witnesses, Johnson said.

Since the alleged attack, Smollett had received support on social media, including from several celebrities and Democratic presidential candidates. But others were skeptical of the incident, which Smollett said occurred around 2am on a Chicago street during one of the city's coldest weeks in recent history.

In an interview with "Good Morning America" last week, Smollett said he was angry that some people questioned his story, and he suggested the disbelief might come from racial bias.

Officials from 20th Century Fox Television, which airs "Empire," did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Johnson called for Smollett to apologize to the city.

"How can an individual who has been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city in the face by making these false claims?" the police superintendent said
The US ambassador to Israel on Thursday urged deeper business ties between Israeli settlers and Palestinian businessmen in the West Bank, angering Palestinian leaders.

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David Friedman, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump, was speaking in Jerusalem at a forum to encourage business links between Israeli settlements and Palestinians.

"There are many, many Palestinians that would like to be freed up to engage in business ventures with Israelis, and they're entitled to that opportunity," Friedman told Reuters at the two-day forum attended by Israeli government officials, international businessmen and a handful of Palestinians.

David Friedman (Photo: Reuters)

Friedman's remarks were immediately attacked by Palestinian officials as encouraging settlement activity in the West Bank.

"This constitutes a stab in the back of the Palestinian people," said Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee.

"We warn against any involvement or participation of any Palestinian in projects with settlers, or meetings called by the American ambassador."

Most of the world considers the settlements illegal under international law, a position Israel rejects. US criticism of Israeli settlement building has died down since Trump took office.

Many Palestinians view engagement with the settlements as "normalization," arguing that doing business with Israelis in the West Bank legitimizes their presence and hinders future Palestinian sovereignty.

West Bank

However, thousands of Palestinians work in settlements, often in manufacturing or construction jobs which they say offer higher wages than similar jobs in Palestinian cities.

Haldun al-Husseini, a Palestinian garment manufacturer from Jerusalem who attended the forum, says business with Israelis is key to improving the Palestinian economy, where unemployment stands at 32 percent.

"Most of my business comes from Israelis," Husseini said. "If we don't work together, we will not improve Palestinian lives."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas severed all political contacts with the White House after Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and opened a US embassy in the city last May.

Those decisions delighted Israel, which claims all of Jerusalem, including the eastern sector captured in 1967, as its capital. But the moves dismayed Palestinians who see east Jerusalem as their capital.

Earlier this week, it was revealed the United States Consulate General in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, will be absorbed into the new US Embassy to Israel in March, creating a single diplomatic mission for both parties.
US-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, the first batch of several to come, an Iraqi security official said Thursday.

The official said the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a "safe place" and being investigated.

The transfer marks the biggest repatriation from Syria of captured militants so far -- an issue that poses a major conundrum for Europeans and other countries whose nationals have been imprisoned as foreign fighters in Syria. The SDF is holding more than 1,000 foreign fighters in prisons it runs in the country's north, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.
A dynasty of racism and provocation is on its way to the Israeli parliament after the joint Jewish Home-National Union Party has agreed to run together with Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) in the upcoming April 9 race for the 21st Knesset.

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The agreement on the union, which will be broken off immediately after Election Day, follows days of hectic talks egged on by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who put a lot of pressure on the sides and even made concessions of his own to make it happen. This merger could lead to the election of a party that shares the ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane's radical and racist movement Kach.

The Otzma Yehudit Party is the latest incarnation of the Jewish National Front, a party that was established ahead of the 2006 elections, but its roots are in the Kach movement, which Kahane established in the 1970s.

National Union head Bezalel Smotrich; Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Otzma Yehudit's Itamar Ben-Gvir (Photos: Alex Kolomoisky, AP, Yoav Dudkevitz)

Kach was a radical and racist right-wing movement with fascist characteristics; it called to expel Arab citizens from Israeli territory and promoted racist legislation against all non-Jews. It also believed in making Israel a Halachah state (ruled by Jewish law) and in annexing all parts of Greater Israel.

Kahane managed to get elected to the Knesset in 1984. In response, all of the parliament's factions came together to pass a law forbidding parties that incite to racism from running in the elections. The Kach Party and Kahane found themselves out of the Knesset, but different movements based on their ideology continued operating.

Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Knesset (Photo: David Rubinger)

After the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, when Kach member Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Palestinians at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, all factions of the movement were recognized as terror organizations and were consequently outlawed.

The Jewish National Front was founded by Baruch Marzel, who was a prominent activist in the Kach movement in his youth. In 2006, the party waged an extremist campaign, filled with incitement against party leaders both on the left and the right.

At one campaign rally, Marzel told supporters that "We need to carry out a targeted killing against (Ariel) Sharon and (Shimon) Peres at the polls. They're a danger to Israel."

The party released a flyer showing then-party leaders Ehud Olmert (Kadima), Amir Peretz (Labor) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) wearing keffiyehs, which were reminiscent of posters of Yitzhak Rabin wearing the Middle Eastern headdress before he was murdered.

Baruch Marzel (wearing a dark shirt and standing with his back to the camera) with Elor Azaria in Hebron after the soldier shot a seriously wounded terrorists to death

The Jewish National Front also made no effort to hide its Kahanist roots, and its propaganda videos showed photos of Rabbi Kahane accompanied by the statement: "The path we've been on is the path we will always be on."

The provocations only got the party about 25,000 votes, which were not enough to send a representative to the Knesset.

This changed in the 2009 elections. The party was relaunched in 2008 under the name Eretz Yisrael Shelanu (Our Land of Israel) after Marzel struck an alliance with Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo. Shortly before the deadline for parties to submit their lists of candidates, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu joined the National Union Party, which was made up of several small right-wing parties. Placed in the fourth spot on the list was Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, a representative of the Kahanist party who, like Marzel, was a prominent activist in Kach. The National Union got four seats, and Ben-Ari became a member of Knesset.

The Kahanist MK's term was, as expected, filled with provocations and extremist comments. Shortly after he was elected, Border Police forces arrested Ben-Ari at the Yitzhar Junction after he clashed with security forces during an illegal protest. He climbed on a military vehicle to stop it from moving, while shouting at the troops who tried to remove him: "You are not allow to touch me."

In another incident, Ben-Ari was recorded at a rally calling left-wing NGOs "traitors that must be oppressed at any cost," "internal bacteria" and "enemies of Israel." In addition, he chose to have his office near the East Jerusalem refugee camp Shuafat, clashed with Arab MKs, participated in a memorial service for Meir Kahane and disseminated a poster with a photo of Supreme Court justices wearing keffiyehs.

Michael Ben-Ari on the eve of the 2013 elections (Photo: Haim Zach)





After the end of the 18th Knesset's term, the National Union broke up and the Jewish National Front's members went on to establish Otzma LeYisrael (Power to Israel) along with MK Aryeh Eldad.

During the 2013 elections campaign, the new Kahanist party disseminated messages against the Arab population and ran under the slogan "There are no rights without duties." They put up signs across the country with the word "Loyalty" in Arabic, which led to complaints to the Central Election Committee that the signs were racist.

Baruch Marzel (second from the left) with Aryeh Eldad (second from the right) and Michael Ben Ari (right) launching the Otzma LeYisrael Party campaign with the word 'Loyalty' in Arabic and the slogan: 'There are no rights without duties' (Photo: Uriya Tadmor)

The party almost made it to the Knesset, but fell short of a few thousands of votes to pass the election threshold, which at the time was two percent of the vote and today is 3.25 percent.

Ahead of the 2015 elections, the party changed its name again to Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and joined the Yachad Party, which was founded by former minister Eli Yishai after he left the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. Baruch Marzel was put on the fourth spot of the joint party's list of candidates. The party received over 125,000 voters, but fell short of the new election threshold.

Alongside Marzel and Ben-Ari, there is another prominent member of the party, who became its most well known figure in recent yearsItamar Ben-Gvir. Over the past few years, Ben-Gvir has been working as a lawyer representing Jewish terror suspects and Jews accused of "price tag" vandalism. Among his clients are the two main suspects in the murder of the Dawabsheh family in the Palestinian village of Duma.

Ben-Gvir is also a political activist who started his journey in the Kach movement. During the Oslo Accords, he took part in violent protests against Yitzhak Rabin. He was filmed waving the Mercedes emblem that was ripped from the prime minister's car and said: "We'll also get to Rabin himself." Rabin was murdered by a Jewish extremist at a Tel Aviv peace rally in 1995.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel of Otzma Yehudit (Photo: Hagai Aharon)

Since then Ben-Gvir has been involved in numerous protests, repeatedly arrested and prosecuted, and convicted several times of incitement to racism, support of a terror organization, rioting and hindering a police officer in the line of duty.

Over the past decade, he has served in different roles in Otzma Yehudit, including as an aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari and as the party spokesman.

Speaking of Netanyahu's involvement in the merger between the parties, Ben-Gvir said: "Netanyahu pushed for us to be there, and expressed his opinion time and again that we need to be part of this bloc. Netanyahu didn't suddenly discover Dr. Ben-Ari or fall in love with Itamar Ben-Gvir. He knows the math, and he knows that if we don't unite, he won't have a coalition."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair, on Wednesday sparked outcry on social media, clashing with slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's grandson, Yonatan Ben-Artzi, calling Rabin "a murderer of Holocaust survivors."

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The exchange of insults began when Ben-Artzi posted a hawkish tweet about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's performance as a soldier.

"(Israel Resilience Party leader) Benny Gantz exposed the lie veteran military men know so well: Bibi is a coward. He was a cowardly soldier and a mediocre warrior at best," Ben-Artzi wrote on his Twitter page, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.

Yair Netanyahu (Photo: Yariv Katz)

"Everybody who served in the (IDF elite Sayeret Matkal) unit knows he (Netanyahu) jumped off a boat during an operational activity for fear of being shot (by friendly fire) and that his carelessness led to the discovery of (our) forces," Ben-Artzi wrote in reference to a quote by Netanyahu about his performance in the War of Attrition in 1969.

"I almost drowned in the Suez Canal after returning from an operation during the War of Attrition. Bullets whistling from all directions hit my boat. I jumped overboard with an ammunition box attached to my back. My comrades pulled me by the hand and prevented me from drowning," Netanyahu was cited as saying in his speech in the conference marking 50 years since the establishment of Sayeret Matkal.

In response, Yair, who is known for his extreme remarks, tweeted:"Your grandfather was the one who experienced nervous breakdowns in every battle (especially during the Six-Day War), except for the Altalena Affair, where he proudly commanded over the murder of Holocaust survivors who tried swimming to shore, only because they were rightists.

Yonatan Ben-Artzi (Photo: Alex Gamburg)

The Altalena Affair was a violent confrontation between the newly-created IDF that comprised the Palmach elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Jewish community during the British Mandate for Palestine and the Etzel (Irgun), one of the Jewish paramilitary groups, in June 1948.

The Palmach was established in 1941, with Rabin being one of its founders and leaders.

Yitzhak Rabin (Photo: Yaakov Saar, GPO)

In Rabin's autobiography "Service Book" that was published in 1979, he wrote:" A reinforcement of Etzel warriors, who disembarked from the ship coming from Tel Aviv, swarmed the shore. They opened fire at us. We fired back at the Etzel squads that were deployed throughout the shore in significant numbers.

"The house next to us was controlled by Etzel members. We made a pact with them: They dont shoot at us and we don't shoot at them. (Suddenly) a sound of explosion shook the building. Etzel launched a shell at the Palmach headquarters.Me and Amos Horev went up to the roof of the building and threw grenades at the squads deployed on the shore.

"One of the Etzel commanders lost his self-control, and shouted: 'why are you shooting at Jews?'

"I replied that 'When Jews cease shooting at us, will cease shooting at Jews," Rabin wrote in his memoir.

Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995 by a Jewish right-wing extremist during a Tel Aviv peace rally.
The prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is fading by the day as violence and radicalism grow -- and "the risk of war continues to loom large," the UN's special envoy to the Middle East warned Wednesday.

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Nikolay Mladenov also told the UN Security Council that a negotiated two-state solution is drifting further away.

Nikolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. (Photo: AP)

"What is needed, first and foremost, is the necessary leadership and political will for change," he said. "Until that will can be found, Palestinians and Israelis will continue to slide into increasingly hazardous territory."

Mladenov stressed that leaders must believe peace is possible through negotiations -- and that leaders and the international community must be committed to support Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal based on UN resolutions and bilateral agreements.

He said the international community must also understand "that the weaker party  the Palestinian people who have lived under occupation for more than 50 years  need our support more than ever."

"Unfortunately, unilateral measures, continuing violence, financial pressures and the lack of progress towards peace are exacting a heavy toll on Palestinian society and undermining the foundations of peace," Mladenov said.

Palestinian protests on the Gaza border with Israel (Photo: Reuters)

The envoy said Hamas' continuing control of Gaza, severe restrictions on movement imposed by Israel, "and the Palestinian Authority's restrictive measures are pushing the situation to a breaking point."

"The militant build-up continues as the risk of ever more radical and extremist groups pushing both sides into war grows by the day," the UN envoy warned.

He said that with prospects of reconciliation between the Palestinian factions dimming, people in Gaza "feel more and more left to their own devices  with no representation, no relief and no way out."

Last month, Mladenov outlined steps to support stability for the Palestinian Authority including expanded trade opportunities, addressing financial issues, increasing services for its people, and ensuring security coordination with Israel.

He said these measures "are not a substitute for peace."

These must be matched by Israel, he said, including ending its policy of settlement construction and expansion and creating opportunities for Palestinian development in Area C in the West Bank, which is under exclusive Israeli control and home to dozens of Israeli settlements.
Right-wing parties on Thursday slammed the decision by Israel Resilience leader Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid for their decision to join forces and signing a rotation agreement ahead of the April 9 Knesset elections.

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According to the agreement, should Gantz and Lapid's joint list win enough seats to form a government, former IDF chief Gantz will serve as prime minister for the first two and a half years, and will be replaced by Lapid for the second half of the four-year term.

Lapid and Gantz (Photo: EPA, Avi Mualem)

"The choice is between a leftist government led by Gantz and Lapid, and supported by an obstructionist bloc of the Arab parties, or a rightist government led by (Benjamin) Netanyahu," one Likud official said.

Gideon Sa'ar, who secured the fifth spot on the ruling party's Knesset list, harshly criticized Gantz and Lapid's merger.

"A rotation agreement was a ludicrous idea in 2015, and still is today," Sa'ar said in reference to the rotation agreement between then-Labor leader Isaac Herzog and Hatunah chair Tzipi Livni in the 2015 elections.

"Gantz and Lapid teaming up only shows that neither of them is certain of his ability to lead and gain broad public support. Gantz splitting the leadership with Lapid won't make the latter more suitable (to serve as prime minister) in the eyes of the public," he said.

Gideon Saar (Photo: Saar Hess)

Likud's top candidate, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, also blasted the union.

"This morning the goal is clearer than ever(to achieve) a wide, strong and united right-wing bloc headed by Netanyahu and the Likud. Anything other but that will drag Israel dozens of years backwards in terms of security and the economy. We cannot repeat the mistakes that we have already regretted in the past," Edelstein said.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas Party also lambasted the move. "This union jeopardizes Judaism. Gantz, who supports civil marriage and transportation on Shabbat, teamed up with Lapid, whose hatred for Jews became his life work," the party said, adding that it would support Netanyahu for prime minister.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who heads the Likud offshoot Kulanu, took the opportunity to promote his own party. "While other parties are preoccupied with their work arrangement, Kulanu remains the only party that looks after the public, the Israeli family unit and the middle class. Only Kulanu presents a national and social agenda. (We are) the sane and responsible right. The public knows who its servants are and who worries only for himself and his associates."

The Gantz-Lapid deal also drew fire from some corners of the left, with opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich of Labor accusing Gantz and Lapid of an ideological deficiency.

"Israeli politics has never seen such a vague party lacking in ideology. (It is) a hybrid created in PR offices," she said. "What is their stance on the two-state solution? Are they social democrats or capitalists? Would they sit in a Netanyahu-led government?"

Labor faction chairman Itzik Shmuli, however, expressed his support for the merger.

"We welcome Gantz and Lapid's union because it promotes the chance of forming an obstructionist bloc vis-a-vis Netanyahu, who is supported by Meir Kahane's successors, Shmuli said, referring to the murdered head of the now defunct, outlawed Kach party, who in the 1980s advocated the "transfer" of Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries and called for a ban on intermarriage between Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg (Photo: Moti Kimchi)

Meretz leader MK Tamar Zandberg said: "After the union by the center, the time has come for the left to team up in order to establish a center-left government. Meretz will leave no stone unturned to make that happen. We have 12 hours left (until the parties' deadline for submitting their final Knesset lists to the Central Elections Committee) and we call on Labor Chairman Avi Gabbay to immediately join us at the negotiations table."
Reasons for the Slow Housing Market

Home sales have been ticking down for months. It's been particularly bad in the West, where 15 percent fewer homes were sold in December compared to the previous December. The slowdown is widely expected to continue, but how it affects local governments will differ.That's largely thanks to a government's property tax policies. According to a new analysis from Fitch Ratings, the places least vulnerable to a slow housing market have strong caps on property tax rates and have assessed property values that lag far behind market values.That bodes well for places out West, such as California, which has one of the nations toughest restrictions on property taxes. Thanks to Proposition 13 , which caps property tax rates, counties in California were spared from severe drops in property tax revenue when the housing market collapsed in 2007 because that revenue was already artificially depressed, according to Fitchs analysis.You have a huge way to go for the market decline to affect the assessed value, says analyst Amy Laskey, who co-authored the report. Thats why in Los Angeles, you saw big home price declines, but there was no corresponding decline in assessed value.By contrast, places without caps on property tax revenue have assessed values that trend closer to actual home values. That creates more volatility.So while Los Angeles and Chicago had similar declines in home values -- about 40 percent between 2006 and 2012 -- assessed values in L.A. only dipped by 2 percent. In Chicago, they fell by a whooping 28 percent.Rising mortgage rates and home prices are largely being blamed for the current slowdown.According to new data from the National Association of Realtors , the market is slowest in the West, which along with the Midwest, has shown minimal or zero gains in prices from a year ago. Nationally, prices are up nearly 3 percent from last December, but thats roughly half the average growth rate in 2017.Some believe that the 2017 federal tax overhaul's new limits on mortgage interest and property tax deductions will create more downward pressure on home prices in certain places across the country. That will affect localities differently, too.Cumberland Advisors CEO John Mousseau is watching places where wealth is concentrated and where taxes are high, including Boston, New York City and its suburbs in Northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, Conn. Homeowners in these places are no longer getting the tax breaks they used to on their properties. As long as theres no recession," he says, "I think home prices in places like these will stagnate or maybe even decline a little." That could further hurt the local government's property tax revenues.But declining home prices aren't necessarily a bad thing, Mousseau says. According to Fitchs data, several major markets -- including many out West -- are currently overvalued. I think what youll see is a realignment of house prices, he says. The idea that house prices can go up 6 or 7 percent a year -- I think thats going to go away.
The French government will adopt an international organization's definition of anti-Semitism and propose a law to reduce hate speech from being circulated online, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday as he stressed that anti-Zionism was a form of anti-Semitism.

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Macron, speaking at the annual dinner of a Jewish organization, said France and other parts of Europe have seen in recent years "a resurgence of anti-Semitism that is probably unprecedented since World War II."

Macron said applying the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their daily work.

Macron speaking to representatives of the Jewish communities in France (Photo: AFP)

Since the intergovernmental organization approved the wording in 2016, some critics of Israel have said it could be used suppress Palestinian rights activists. The definition states anti-Semitism can take the form of "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor."

Macron said he thinks that view is correct.

"Anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism," the French leader said in Paris at the dinner of Jewish umbrella organization CRIF. "Behind the negation of Israel's existence, what is hiding is the hatred of Jews."

Macron mentioned anti-Semitism based on "radical Islamism" as a rampant ideology in France's multi-ethnic, poor neighborhoods.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his appreciation at France's adoption of the international definition of anti-Semitism, in a phone call with the French leader ahead of the speech, Netanyahu's office said.

Emanuel Macron visits a desecrated Jewish cemetery in Alsace (Photo: AP)

Macron also said his party would introduce legislation in parliament in May to force social media to withdraw hate speech posted online and use all available means to identify the authors "as quickly as possible."

He especially denounced Twitter as waiting days, sometimes weeks, to remove hate contents and to help authorities so a judicial investigation can be led. At the same time, he praised Facebook's decision last year to allow the presence of French regulators inside the company to help improving practices combating online hate speech.

A day earlier, Macron visited the first cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, in eastern France, to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse.

France 3 television, which broadcast the visit live, said it had been forced to cut short the live feed to its more than 1.3 million Facebook followers after it was inundated with anti-Semitic commentary and abuse.

Emanuel Macron visits a desecrated Jewish cemetery in Alsace (Photo: AFP)

We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including Heil Hitler, dirty Jew or dirty Jews, comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the Jewish community, the channel said in a statement explaining its decision.

Within minutes, the number of vile and illegal comments had gone well beyond our capacity to moderate them, it explained, adding that it would have taken 10 or 20 staff to handle the onslaught. We refuse to traffic in hatred.

Also on Tuesday, Macron observed a moment of silence with parliament leaders at the Holocaust museum in Paris.

On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor's office said that a man has been arrested over a torrent of hate speech directed at Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut during a Saturday march by yellow vest protesters. The insults included words like "Zionist!" and "Go back to Tel Aviv!" and "We are France!"

The man was taken into custody Tuesday evening after a police inquiry was opened into a suspected public insult based on origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion.

Separately, two swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found painted in red on a monument at a different cemetery near Lyon.

In other incidents this month, swastika graffiti was found on street portraits of Simone Veil, a survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, the word "Juden" was painted on the window of a bagel restaurant in Paris and two trees planted at a memorial honoring a young Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 were vandalized.

'Juden' painted on the window of a bagel restaurant in Paris

"That's our failure", Macron said. "The time has come to act."

The French government last week reported a big rise in incidents of anti-Semitism last year: 541 registered incidents, up 74 percent from the 311 registered in 2017.

On Tuesday evening, some 20,000 people, joined by politicians from all parties, gathered at the Place de la Republique in central Paris to denounce anti-Semitism. Similar rallies were held in cities across the country.

Graves desecrated with swastikas are seen in the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, near Strasbourg, France, February 19, 2019 (Photo: Reuters)

While France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with a community of around 550,000 people, there continues to be a steady drip-feed of anti-Semitic attacks. Commentators have blamed incitement not only from the far-right but from the far-left and fringe Islamists.

In 2018, the number of anti-Semitic incidents increased by 74 percent nationwide, figures released last week showed, despite having fallen somewhat in previous years.
In the US, a Muslim civil rights group called for a congressional investigation Wednesday after its lawsuit revealed that the government has shared its terrorist watchlist with more than 1,400 private entities, including hospitals and universities.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Congress should look into why the FBI has given such wide access to the list, which CAIR believes is riddled with errors. Broad dissemination of the names makes life more difficult for those who are wrongly included, CAIR says. Many on the list are believed to be Muslim.
Israel Resilience Party leader Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid signed a rotation agreement and will run together in the upcoming April 9 elections, they announced early Thursday.

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Gabi Ashkenazi will also join them, making him the third former IDF chief in the party, in addition to Gantz and to former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon.

In the joint party's Knesset list, Gantz will be placed first, Lapid second, Ya'alon third and Ashkenazi fourth. Under the agreement, the joint party will include an equal number of candidates from Israel Resilience and from Yesh Atid, and will also include candidates from Ya'alon's Telem Party.

Left to right: Gabi Ashkenazi, Moshe Ya'alon, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz

The Israel Resilience Party, in a statement, said Gantz, Lapid and Ya'alon, "decided to establish a joint list that will comprise the new Israeli ruling party."

Gantz and Lapid, who met overnight, agreed on a "rotation for the prime minister's post" in which Gantz would hold office for the first two and a half years of a new government's term before Lapid took over.

"The new ruling party will bring forth a cadre of security and social leaders to ensure Israel's security and to reconnect its people and heal the divide within Israeli society," the statement from Israel Resilience said.

MK Orly Levy-Abekasis was also holding talks with Gantz on a possible merger between Israel Resilience and her Gesher Party, but late Wednesday night she announced that her party will run alone after the talks with Gantz failed. "Gantz is being managed by others," said Levy-Abekasis.

In anticipation of the announcement of the new centrist alliance between Gantz and Lapid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orchestrated a merger of far-right parties on Wednesday that could help him build a governing coalition after the ballot.

National Union head Bezalel Smotrich and Jewish Home leader Rafi Peretz (Photos: Yoav Dudkevitch)

Israelis vote for party lists of candidates for seats in the 120-member parliament, the Knesset. Since Israel's creation in 1948 no one party has clinched an outright majority in the legislature and so post-election coalition-building has determined the composition of governments and who leads them.

Netanyahu, 69, has been in power for the past decade, with Likud at the helm of a parliamentary bloc.

Opinion polls have forecast a Likud victory, with some 30 parliamentary seats, in the April 9 ballot, with Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid each trailing by a wide margin and Netanyahu on track to form a rightist coalition similar to the one he heads.

But the surveys also predicted a much tighter race and a possible upset should Gantz, 59, and Lapid, 55, team up and then form a centrist and left-wing parliamentary bloc larger than a Likud-led alliance.

While Gantz and Lapid worked out their deal, Netanyahu helped negotiate the merger of Jewish Home-National Union and Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), that could give followers of the late anti-Arab rabbi, Meir Kahane, a stronger voice in politics.

Itamar Ben Gvir and Baruch Marzel of Otzma Yehudit (Photo: Hagai Aharon)

Leaders of Otzma Yehudit have portrayed themselves as successors of the US-born Kahane, who served one term in the Knesset in the 1980s as head of the Kach party.

Kach advocated the "transfer" of Palestinians to neighboring Arab countries and also called for a ban on intermarriage between Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Kahane's movement was subsequently banned from Israeli politics as racist. He was assassinated in 1990 in New York by an Egyptian-born American.
Israel Resilience Party leader Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid signed a rotation agreement and will run together in the upcoming April 9 elections, they announced early Thursday.

Gabi Ashkenazi will also join them, making him the third former IDF chief in the party, in addition to Gantz and to former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon.
Venezuela is paying heavy premiums for fuel imports from Russia and Europe, with fewer than a dozen sellers seeing the risk as worth the reward after flows from the United States dried up because of sanctions, trading sources said and data showed.

The South American nation exports crude but its refineries are in poor condition - hence the need to import gasoline and diesel for petrol stations and power plants, as well as naphtha to dilute its heavy oil.

Since the United States imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela on Jan. 28, products supplies have mainly come from Russian state oil major Rosneft, Spain's Repsol, India's Reliance Industries and trading houses Vitol and Trafigura, according to sources and vessel-tracking data.
A rubbery sea creature with an irritating habit of clinging to ships and invading beaches could help measure plastic pollution as it can filter tiny particles from the ocean and store them in its soft tissue.

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Israeli researchers have found that ascidiansround, palm-sized animals also known as sea squirtscan thrive in dirty industrial areas and pristine waters alike, allowing them to detect and analyze waste and its impact in various regions.

A staggering amount of plastic flows into the ocean each year. The United Nations says it is as if a garbage truck full of plastic was dumped into the water every minute, a rate some estimates show could lead to oceans carrying more plastic than fish in 30 years.





Israeli researcher Gal Vered holds a sea squirt taken out of the Red Sea as part of research work (Photo: Reuters)

"(Sea squirts) just sit in one place all their life and filter the water, like a pump," said Gal Vered of Tel Aviv University, and who co-published the researchers' findings in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.

"They can really give us a picture of what the whole reef, the whole ecosystem felt during its life."

Sea squirt (Photo: Reuters)

As a bonus, sea squirts are related in evolutionary terms to human beings. So studying them and the plastic inside them could be more insightful than looking at creatures like fish or clams.

"Although we don't look alike at all, we have similar systems," said Noa Shenkar, of Tel Aviv University's zoology department and museum of natural history.

Durable and dangerous

Plastic never disappears. Over time it breaks down into microplastics, ranging from the size of a grain of rice on down. They mix with tiny plastic beads found in products like cosmetics and cleaners that were flushed away.

Sea squirt (Photo: Reuters)

These are eaten by wildlife, filling their bellies, exposing them to chemical additives and, potentially, entering the food chain, said Vered.

Vered searched piers and rocks in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, eventually finding a cluster of sea squirts on a brick.

Sea squirt (Photo: Reuters)

Back in her lab, a gentle push on one squirt's belly saw the creature let loose the eponymous squirt of water. Invisible to the naked eye are the microplastics, perhaps once part of a bag or bottle, and that were found at all the sites they tested along Israel's coasts.

"We as humans invented a material that can last for hundreds, thousands of years, and then we use it as a single-use product. It's quite a paradox," she said.
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By Kylie MacLellan and Gabriela Baczynska LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union on Thursday played down the chances of clinching an immediate Brexit divorce deal but diplomats said they were edging closer to a legal compromise that Prime Minister Theresa May hopes will win over the British parliament. May is trying to get changes to the divorce package before putting it to another vote in parliament. If she fails, May will have to decide whether to delay Brexit or endanger the world's fifth largest economy by leaving without a deal on March 29. May's finance minister, Philip Hammond, raised hopes that a revised deal was on the cards by saying lawmakers could get an opportunity as early as next week to vote on a revised deal. But within hours of his comments, a British government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, played down the likelihood of a deal within days. "It doesn't feel like we will have a deal by next week," the source said. May's biggest problem is the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy to keep the border open between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland if a future trade deal falls short after Brexit. Parliament instructed her to replace the backstop by reopening the Withdrawal Agreement, but the EU ruled that out. Britain's Brexit ministry said after talks in Brussels on Thursday that negotiations were now focused on getting new guarantees on the temporary nature of the Irish backstop. In a statement after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox met EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the ministry gave a clear indication that May was no longer pushing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, even if that remained the government's preferred option. "The simplest way to get legally binding changes on the backstop is to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. That remains the Government's position," the ministry said. But, referring to talks on Wednesday between May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, it said the two leaders "agreed that work would now focus on guarantees relating to the backstop that underline once again its temporary nature and give appropriate legal assurance to both sides, as well as alternative arrangements and the political declaration." Diplomats said the two sides were moving towards a separate legal statement - a "parallel declaration" or "interpretative instrument" - on the backstop. "We are also looking at updating the declaration on future EU-UK ties after Brexit to give more prominence to the 'alternative arrangements' sought by Britain," said one EU diplomat who deals with Brexit. "But May won't get any firm wording before Feb. 28." Barclay, Barnier and Cox were due to continue talks "urgently" at a technical level, the UK's Brexit ministry said. BREXIT COMPROMISE? Legal assurances that the backstop is temporary would address a key concern of many Brexit-supporting members of her party who fear it could lock Britain into EU rules indefinitely. Brexit-supporting members of May's Conservative Party have been conspicuous by their silence about the shift from aiming to replace the backstop, as they demanded, to a legal addendum. May, once a reluctant supporter of EU membership who won the top job in the political chaos following the 2016 referendum, has promised to give lawmakers a chance to decide what to do about Brexit on Feb. 27 unless she can bring back a deal. A second diplomat, briefed on the May-Juncker talks, confirmed the EU would only signal this was the direction of travel, rather than offering a precise text, before May faces another vote in parliament. "The parliament needs first to indicate clearly this option would then gain their support in the form of ratifying the Brexit deal. If they do that, we hone out exact words in the second week of March and it goes to the summit for approval." Otherwise, the summit of all EU national leaders that is due on March 21-22 in Brussels, would have to agree a Brexit delay for Britain beyond March 29, sources in the bloc said, to delay the worst-case scenario of an abrupt split without a deal. May will have a further chance to lobby EU leaders at the weekend in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh during an EU-Arab League summit focused on migration, trade and security. British lawmakers voted 432-202 against her deal on Jan. 15, the worst defeat in modern British parliamentary history. With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, Britain is ensnared in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project that it joined in 1973. Juncker said failure to agree an orderly divorce would be economically devastating. "If no deal were to happen, and I cannot exclude this, this would have terrible economic and social consequences in Britain and on the continent," he said. "But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue." (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Andrew MacAskill in London; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alison Williams and Frances Kerry)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he expects to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again after their planned summit next week in Hanoi. Speaking at the White House, Trump said he would like to remove sanctions on North Korea, but that he needs to see Pyongyang make a move first on denuclearization. "I don't think this will be the last meeting by any chance," Trump said. The United States has been demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States. North Korea has been insisting on the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and security guarantees. Trump has been eager for the Feb. 27-28 summit in Vietnam, even though a first meeting in Singapore in June produced only vague commitments from Kim and little concrete progress since. "I think they want to do something. Well see what happens," Trump said, adding that he would need to see "meaningful" progress from the other side before making any changes to the U.S. sanctions. On Tuesday, Trump had reiterated that he wants North Korea to end its nuclear program, but added that he is in no rush and had no pressing time schedule for Pyongyang. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Tim Ahmann and Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the newly confirmed US attorney general should be the person who decides whether to publicly release the much-anticipated Russia report, which could be completed as early as next week.

The remarks came as CNN reported that Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has headed the probe since May 2017, could deliver his final report next week, possibly when Trump travels to Asia for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Asked at the White House whether Mueller should release the text while the president is out of the country, a subdued Trump said "that will be totally up to the new attorney general," Bill Barr.

On whether the report should be made public, the president again deferred: "From what I understand, that will be totally up to the attorney general."

"He's a tremendous man, a tremendous person, who really respects this country and respects the Justice Department," Trump added.

Related Video: Andrew McCabe Speaks Out About Russia Probe

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Mueller has been investigating allegations that Russia interfered in the last US presidential election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded in that effort.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the probe as a "witch hunt," while some Democrats have accused him of obstructing justice.

Barr has been in the job just one week, and lawmakers are keen to learn how much of Mueller's findings Barr and the Justice Department will disclose to Congress.

Barr was strongly critical of the Mueller investigation in 2017 while he was in the private sector. During the recent confirmation process he notably declined to commit to making Mueller's report public, something which has bothered many Democrats.

Congressional Democrats, reacting to the report that Mueller might soon deliver the results of his investigation, demanded it be released publicly.

"I believe AG Barr must make the #MuellerReport public so all can learn how #Russia meddled in the 2016 election & whether that crime was aided & abetted by @realDonaldTrump or his campaign," congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said on Twitter.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) evacuated hundreds of people from the Islamic State (IS) enclave of Baghuz, east Deir Ezzor, on February 20, according to local and international reports.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on the same day that about 40 trucks carrying 2,000 people, including 180 IS fighters, left Baghuz for an unknown location in Iraq.

The Kurdish news outlet ANHA published footage on February 20 showing hundreds of civilians, mostly IS families, leaving Baghuz. A woman speaking at 39 seconds in the footage says shes Russian.

According to AFP, SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said on February 19 dozens of civilians and some fighters have handed themselves over.

Responding to these and other reports, the International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve said on Twitter: We are aware of open-source reports of ISIS fighters reportedly surrendering [] We cannot independently verify these reports. However, the SDF continue to receive civilians attempting to escape to safety and the most hardened ISIS fighters still remain in Baghuz. Credit: ANHA via Storyful
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will release 850 Indians from its prisons after a request from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to New Delhi, India's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Saudi jails hold the greatest number of Indians incarcerated in any country abroad. As of January 2019, 2,224 Indians were jailed in the kingdom for crimes including murder, kidnapping, bribery, cheating, and offences related to drugs and alcohol, according Indian Foreign Ministry figures. Some 2.7 million Indians in Saudi Arabia form the largest expatriate community in the kingdom, with many working in low-paid jobs in sectors such as construction, domestic services and retailing that Saudis spurn. "At the request of the PM @narendramodi, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails," India's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a tweet. On Monday, Saudi Arabia ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners from its jails, according to Pakistan's information minister. Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, paid a visit to India's arch regional rival earlier this week, before heading home and then flying to New Delhi. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia signed investment agreements with Pakistan worth $20 billion. In New Delhi on Wednesday, Prince Mohammed said he expected investment opportunities worth more than $100 billion in India over the next two years. The Crown Prince's Asian tour, which will include China, is regarded as part of an effort to help rebuild his reputation abroad after the killing last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership. Saudi officials have denied accusations that Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and have detained 11 suspects in connection with the killing. (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Washington (AFP) - Once declared too radical by Democratic leaders, the policies pushed by Bernie Sanders including universal health care have tilted toward mainstream party acceptance, themes he and several rival progressives will uphold on the US presidential campaign trail.

Sanders on Tuesday became the latest figure to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Donald Trump for the White House in 2020, squaring off against several other progressives who have embraced many of the issues he championed during his visionary first presidential bid.

Back in 2016, debate swirled about pushing for a substantial expansion of health coverage through "Medicare for All," raising the US minimum wage to $15 per hour, free tuition at public colleges, and aggressively combatting climate change.

"We were told that all of these concepts were ideas that the American people would never accept," Sanders said in a video launching his candidacy.

"Well, three years have come and gone, and as a result of millions of Americans standing up and fighting back, all of these policies and more are now supported by a majority of Americans."

Of the major Democrats already in the race, several espouse progressive policies popularized by Sanders.

Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, all 2020 candidates, co-sponsored his Medicare for All legislation in 2017.

Julian Castro, another Democratic hopeful, joins Gillibrand in supporting universal early childhood education.

And Warren, Booker and Harris have all proclaimed support for the Green New Deal, an ultra-progressive platform to combat climate change that was unveiled this month by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising liberal star.

"I got laughed at three years ago when I said climate change is one of the great crises facing our planet," Sanders told Vermont Public Radio on Tuesday. "People are not laughing now."

Story continues

- Embracing socialism? -

Trump's re-election team seized on Sanders' announcement as an opportunity to blast his Democratic rivals for supporting an extremist agenda.

"Every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism," the Trump 2020 campaign said in a statement.

Sanders has nevertheless had tremendous influence on the party.

"It's a sign of Sanders' success that he now has so many imitators," Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, told AFP.

Following November's midterm elections, the Congressional Progressive Caucus -- co-founded by Sanders in 1991 -- wields more power than at any time in its history.

"We're seeing 2020 candidates adopting his ideas," Scala added. "And I think his ideas are becoming a marker, or a dividing line, among the primary contenders."

Some candidates have already sought to distance themselves from the 77-year-old liberal, as Harris did last weekend during her first-ever visit to New Hampshire, the state which votes second in the nominating process, after Iowa.

"The people of New Hampshire will tell me what's required to compete in New Hampshire," she said at a campaign event in Concord. "But I will tell you I am not a democratic socialist."

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat known for forging consensus across party lines, said this week that the Green New Deal and positions like Medicare for All were currently more aspirational than realistic.

As an example she rejected the prospect of tuition-free college. "If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would," she said at a town hall.

But a leftward shift in Democratic politics is underway.

"The 2018 elections certainly confirmed that, to a certain extent," said James Thurber, a government professor at American University.

"Many new Democratic members were elected on Medicare for All and more support for higher education."

Scala, the New Hampshire professor, said the effects of the Great Recession of a decade ago keep reverberating through American life, ultimately bringing out "the strain of populism" that led to Sanders and Trump.

Sanders was an outsider candidate three years ago. But with his massive political network, muscular fundraising capacity, and resilient message, he is now a frontrunner.

He would need to best multiple formidable rivals -- including former vice president Joe Biden, should he enter the race -- and victory is anything but assured.

Sanders could become a "prophetic figure in the party who moved the party with a message, but never actually becomes the nominee," Scala said.

"So his ideas win, but he may not."
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The risk of Britain crashing out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal to ease Brexit has increased this month, the deputy head of the European Commission said on Thursday.

Asked during a conference in Brussels if Britain would leave on the date scheduled, First Vice President Frans Timmermans said his fear in the last couple of weeks had increased that "they might crash out even if they don't want to".

"The risk of leaving without a deal has increased," he added.

Timmermans compared efforts by some British lawmakers to try to prevent Prime Minister Theresa May taking Britain out of the EU without a deal to the apocryphal tale of England's Danish King Canute who ordered the tide to stop but failed. Unless Britons can rally behind an alternative, Brexit is the default, he said.

He said the EU was willing to be flexible in amending the deal May agreed in November to get it ratified but he urged pro-Brexit lawmakers to end the "pipe dream" of avoiding a hard border in Ireland while pursuing different EU and UK economic rules and stressed that Brussels would not "throw Ireland under the bus" in defending the interests of a fellow EU member.

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Toby Chopra)
By Andrew Osborn and Katya Golubkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new nuclear missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the United States or by deploying faster missiles or both, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. In Washington, the U.S. State Department dismissed Putin's comments as "propaganda designed to divert attention from what Washington alleges are Moscow's violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington's decision this month to quit a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty. But in his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, he said Russia's reaction to any deployment would be resolute and that U.S. policymakers, some of whom he accused of being obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps. "It's their right to think how they want. But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing," Putin told Russia's political elite to strong applause. "Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located," he said. "These weapons, by their tactical and technical specifications, including their flight time to the command centers Im talking about, will fully correspond to the threats that will be directed against Russia." The U.S. State Department said Washington was not developing "exotic new nuclear weapons delivery systems" and repeated its claim that Russia violates the INF treaty while the United States does not. "President Putins remarks are a continuation of Russias propaganda effort to avoid responsibility for Russias actions in violation of the INF Treaty," added a State Department spokeswoman on condition of anonymity. Russian nuclear missiles already target the United States and vice versa. Putin's statement is likely to evoke memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when the then Soviet Union responded to a U.S. missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Washington said this month it was suspending its obligations under the 1987 INF treaty because of what it said were Moscow's violations, starting the process of quitting it and untying its hands to develop new missiles. FLIGHT TIME Any U.S. move to place new missiles in Europe would cut the time it took some U.S. missiles to reach Moscow to 10-12 minutes, Putin said, something he called a serious threat. Such a scenario, if left unmatched, would open up the possibility of Russia being hit by a nuclear strike before its own missiles fired in response could reach U.S. territory. The Russian land-based missiles that currently target the United States are based on Russian territory and therefore the flight time to major U.S. population centers would be longer than for U.S. missiles deployed in Europe. Putin did not confirm how, technically, Russia would deploy missiles with a shorter strike time. Possible options include deploying them on the soil of an ally near U.S. territory, deploying faster missiles on submarines, or using one of the hypersonic weapons Moscow says it has under development. In his speech on Wednesday, Putin said that a submarine capable of carrying a new underwater drone with nuclear strike capability, which is called Poseidon, would be launched this spring, and also spoke of the successful development of a new hypersonic missile called Tsirkon. Russian state television on Wednesday broadcast footage of Poseidon being tested for the first time, the RIA news agency reported. TREATY WITHDRAWAL The INF Treaty banned Russia and the United States from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe and its demise raises the prospect of a new arms race between Washington and Moscow, which denies flouting the treaty. Putin responded to the U.S. move by saying Russia would mirror Washington's actions by suspending its own obligations and quitting the pact. But the Russian leader, who has sometimes used bellicose rhetoric to talk up Russia's standoff with the West, did not up the ante. He did not announce new missile deployments, said money for new systems must come from existing budget funds and declared that Moscow would not deploy new land-based missiles in Europe or elsewhere unless Washington did so first. On Wednesday, he made clear however that he was ready, reluctantly, to escalate if the United States escalated and that Russia was continuing to actively develop weapons and missile systems to ensure it was well prepared for such an eventuality. Putin said Russia wanted good ties with the United States, but was ready with its defensive response if necessary. "We know how to do this and we will implement these plans immediately, as soon as the corresponding threats to us become a reality." (Additional reporting by Polina Nikolskya, Tom Balmforth and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and James Dalgleish)
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that progress had been made in solving the impasse over the backstop arrangements for the Irish border that has hindered her Brexit deal but added that time was running out to secure changes.

May is in Brussels seeking to change the agreement she struck with the EU last year, after the deal was heavily defeated by British lawmakers.

Lawmakers in May's Conservative party have criticised backstop arrangements to avoid a hard border in Ireland, saying that under the current deal it could lock in EU rules for Northern Ireland indefinitely.

"I've underlined the need for us to see legally binding changes to the backstop that ensure that it cannot be indefinite. That's what is required," May told international broadcasters after meeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

May said that negotiations with the EU would continue "at pace."

"Time is of the essence, and it's in both out interests that when the UK leaves the EU, that it does so in an orderly way. So we've made progress."

Earlier in the day, three pro-EU lawmakers quit the Conservatives, criticising her approach to Brexit in an illustration of the tensions in May's party.

They believe there should be another referendum on May's deal, while some Eurosceptic lawmakers in her party believe Britain should leave on March 29 even if it means leaving without a deal.

"The question of our membership of the European Union has been a matter of disagreement in our party for many years now and it was never going to be easy for the UK to leave the European Union after over 40 years of membership," May said.

"But I believe that by delivering on the result of the referendum... were doing the right thing by the country."

(Writing by Alistair Smout, Editing by William Maclean)
Milwaukee, WI (53187)

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Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that an Alabama woman who fled to Syria to join ISIS in 2014 is not a U.S. citizen and, as a result, is not entitled to return to the U.S. with her 18-month-old son, as she had hoped to do.

Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States, Pompeo said in a statement. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria.

Muthana, 24, was taken to a refugee camp in northeast Syria by Kurdish forces after escaping ISIS territory.

An attorney representing Muthanas parents claims she is a U.S. citizen despite the fact that her father was serving as a Yemeni diplomat when she was born in New Jersey, which, according to the State Department, means she is not entitled to birthright citizenship.

Muthanas son was fathered by one of the three ISIS fighters she was married to during her time in the caliphate. In a 2015 tweet, she urged Americans to carry out domestic terror attacks.

Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! she wrote, according to The Guardian. Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day . . . Kill them.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Muthana pleaded with U.S. officials to allow her return to America, citing her youth and immaturity at the time she fled to Syria.

I would tell them please forgive me for being so ignorant, and I was really young and ignorant and I was 19 when I decided to leave, she said.

More from National Review
Reuters

Daniel R. DePetris

Politics, Asia

And only 3 percent think Pyongyang will dismantle its nuclear program.

Poll: 73% of Americans Dont Believe North Korea Will Denuclearize

With the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un getting closer with every passing day, the prognosticators get louder and louder. It is safe to assume that, back in Washington, trepidation hovers in the air. Some Korea hands are nervous that Trump will put the U.S. troop presence in South Korea on the table as a bargaining tool, while others are calling the February 27-28 meeting in Hanoi a last chance for the Trump administration to extract bold, substantive nuclear concessions from Pyongyang. The safe bet in town is to wager that Trump will fly back home with little to show for the effort.

Evidently, foreign policy analysts in Washington arent the only ones who are skeptical of diplomacy with the North Koreans resulting in the Hermit Kingdoms denuclearization. This week, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs published its latest survey on American attitudes towards the talks, its opinion of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and the American peoples aspirations for a nuclear-free world in general.

At the same time President Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that he is no rush to speed the negotiations towards a successful conclusion, Americans continue to take a cold-hearted, realistic view of ongoing U.S.-North Korea diplomacy. They have witnessed North Koreas antics before and have seen U.S. policy fail time and time again. And its reflected in the numbers: according to the poll, 73% of Americans dont believe North Korea will denuclearize, a figure high enough to suggest that pessimism cuts across political lines. Only 3% are very confident that the North will dismantle its nuclear infrastructure and destroy its nuclear warheads, a number so low that it can be classified as within the polls margin of error.

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While the survey doesnt inquire about why Americans are so fatalistic on this question, it can likely be explained. When the average American hears the word North Korea, he or she typically imagines a cult-like dictatorship with a massive conventional (although antiquated) army that executes defectors with anti-aircraft guns, tests missiles at a steady clip, and puts tens of thousands of North Koreans into concentration camps. Notwithstanding Kim Jong-uns coming-out party as a globe-trotting statesman, the Kim regime is still very much seen by the American people as untrustworthy, duplicitous, tricky, and barbaric. They have watched previous American presidents try their hand at negotiating with the North, only to observe those negotiations come to nothing as Pyongyang stalls on verification or is caught spinning centrifuges at an undisclosed facility. Simply put, Americans have viewed North Korea as a mortal enemy for so long that there is very little in the way of trust and positivity.

Americans may doubt denuclearization is achievable for another reason: North Korea is already a nuclear weapons state, which means the Kim regime will need to make the conscience decision to forgo the one asset that has all but eliminated a U.S. military option against him. Kim Jong-un is no dummy: he realizes what can happen to a U.S. adversary if it doesnt possess a nuclear capability. He could ask Saddam Hussein and Muammar al-Gaddafi about it if it werent for the fact that both are dead and buried, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

What about the U.S.-South Korea alliance? Are Americans prepared to reassess the strategic relationship with Seoul if a miracle does in fact occur and Kim Jong-un decides to actually denuclearize?

Apparently not. The Chicago Council poll finds that 51 percent of Americans believe the United States should maintain its alliance with South Korea and keep U.S. troops on South Korean soil even if Pyongyang shuts down its nuclear weapons program. This finding is in keeping with past polling from the Council, including a 2016 survey in which 70 percent of Americans supported U.S. military bases in South Korea over the long-termincluding 72 percent of Trump supporters. Its as if the U.S.-South Korea alliance is ingrained in the American psyche as untouchable, a prime piece of real-estate Washington should hold onto as a strategic hedge to watch over an emergent Chinese superpower.

This survey is not capable of telling us about whether North Koreas denuclearization is an even realistic prospect. What this latest poll does reveal, however, is that the American people are keeping their expectations for a nuclear breakthrough extremely low. Unless President Trump can prove them otherwise, Americans may very well look at the next summit in Hanoi as a worthless, choreographed exercise.

Dan DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities as well as a columnist for the Washington Examiner and the American Conservative. You can follow him on Twitter at @DanDePetris.

Image: Reuters

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Brussels (AFP) - Three months from the European Parliament election, the assembly's dominant centre-right bloc has been weakened by a rift over how to handle Hungary's populist leader Viktor Orban.

The conservative European People's Party produced the current president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and polls suggest it will remain parliament's largest group.

But the start of EPP flagbearer Manfred Weber's campaign has been overshadowed by Orban's increasingly strident attacks on Juncker and on the European institutions themselves.

The party, and Weber, now face mounting calls to expel the Hungarian nationalist from the EPP from those who argue his authoritarian tendencies run counter to European values.

And the battle within the EPP mirrors the broader confrontation across the continent between the mainstream federalist parties and, in several countries, a rising populist wave.

Weber, a German from the Bavarian conservative CSU party, has thus far defended the EPP's decision to allow Orban's Fidesz to swell its ranks in the Strasbourg assembly.

But the Hungarian government's direct attack on Juncker's Commission -- with the launch of an anti-immigrant, eurosceptic campaign -- has increased the pressure on him to act.

"You too have a right to know what Brussels is preparing," the government's campaign material declares, along with images of Juncker and liberal US billionaire George Soros.

"They want to bring in the mandatory settlement quota; weaken member states' rights to border defence; facilitate immigration with a migrant visa," the government claims.

This drew a furious response from the European Commission spokesman, who said the campaign "beggars belief" and branded it a "ludicrous conspiracy theory".

But it also stirred a political response from the ranks of Orban's fellow EPP leaders.

"The claims made in the campaign are deceitful, misleading and are not based on facts," tweeted Joseph Daul, the French president of the centre-right party.

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"I strongly denounce Hungary's attacks and baseless conspiracies against President Juncker, who is a true Christian Democrat and a real European leader".

Weber retweeted Daul's broadside, but neither party leader called for Fidesz to be expelled.

Juncker's view was already known. He said last year that Orban's party has no place in the EPP.

- Weber's dilemma -

The EPP chose Weber as its leading candidate, with the support of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, at a party conference in Helsinki last November.

The MEP's main rival, former Finnish leader Alexander Stubb, had argued for the party to distance itself from Orban, but delegates favoured Weber's call for party unity.

Now, however, he is under fire for his lack of charisma, and opinion polls predict the EPP will lose seats in May's vote, even if it remains the biggest bloc.

"He's trapped. If he opens the debate, he forces the entire party to take a position," argues Eric Maurice, from the Schuman Foundation think tank in Brussels.

To expel Fidesz from the group, at least seven EPP member national parties would have to formally write to request this. None have yet done so.

Nevertheless, Gunnar Hokmark, head of the Swedish contingent, has written personally to Weber to argue that Orban's case should be debated at a party meeting next week.

And Othmar Karas, head of the EU parliament candidate list for the Austrian conservative OVP, on Wednesday called again for Fidesz to be suspended from the group.

But the biggest national group, the Germans, are more reticent.

"If we push him out he'll fall into the arms of Salvini," argued a German MEP from Merkel's CDU, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League, has made no secret of his efforts to form a eurosceptic front during the campaign.

He has already been in touch with Orban and French right-winger Marine Le Pen seeking an alliance.

Without Fidesz, the EPP will lose 12 of what are currently its 217 seats in a parliament that will be 705-strong after Brexit.

Weber will need at least half of the MEPs to back him if he is to make good on his ambition to succeed Juncker as head of the Commission.

He could do this by forming a broad centre-ground alliance, but with both the EPP and the Socialists expected to lose ground, he will need liberal backing.

And if he's seen as Orban's ally, he won't get it. "His lack of reaction makes him even less legitimate in the eyes of the Greens, Social Democrats and Liberals," Maurice told AFP.

"All this increases the chances of an alternative candidate," he argued. Waiting in the wings is Michel Barnier, former French minister and now EU Brexit negotiator.
By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) - Some 3,000 teachers in Oakland, California, walked off the job on Thursday in a contract dispute over salaries, class size and a proposal to close two dozen schools, the latest in a series of strikes by U.S. educators that began last year.

The Oakland Unified School District vowed to keep schools open during the strike, saying it will use central office employees, principals and temporary emergency teachers to conduct classes for the district's 37,000 students.

The teachers' chief demands include a 12 percent pay raise, reductions in class sizes and the hiring of more support staff such as nurses, school psychologists and guidance counselors.

The union also is opposing a plan presented by Oakland's school superintendent in November to close as many as 24 of the district's schools.

Union officials said the proposal follows a pattern of shutting down public schools and converting most of them to private, independently run non-district "charter schools."

Such moves in the past, the union says, have drawn state funding away from the district while leaving its public schools shouldering the bulk of higher-cost special education classes.

HEART AND SOUL

"Students, this is a fight for your education," union president Keith Brown said in a video on Twitter. "This fight is for the heart and soul of public education in Oakland."

The Oakland Education Association, the union representing the city's teachers, has been negotiating for two years with the district.

The walkout in Oakland began as teachers across West Virginia returned to school after ending a two-day strike they had called to oppose an expansion of charter schools there, clearing the way for classes to resume for about 270,000 students statewide.

West Virginia educators, among the lowest-paid in the nation, sparked a wave of U.S. teachers' strikes last year when they walked off the job to demand higher pay. That nine-day strike ended after West Virginia agreed to a 5 percent raise.

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Statewide teacher strikes last year also occurred in Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma. Teachers in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest school district, walked off the job for six class days in January in a strike over many of the same issues raised in Oakland.

A teachers strike in Denver was settled last week, ending a labor dispute that centered on demands for higher pay and a more predictable wage structure.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Tarrant amd Tom Brown)
OUTSIDE BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP)  U.S.-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, an Iraqi security official said Thursday, marking the biggest repatriation from Syria of captured militants so far.

The official said the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a "safe place" under investigation.

The transfer comes as the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces is involved in a standoff over the final sliver of land held by IS in eastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.

Many believe the IS threat won't end with the pocket's recapture and that an insurgency is underway. In a foreboding sign Thursday, the IS claimed responsibility for back-to-back suicide attacks that hit a village miles away, leaving more than a dozen people dead in a rare targeting of civilians.

A few hundred people  many of them women and terrified-looking children  were evacuated Wednesday from the group's tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, signaling an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants' self-declared "caliphate" that once stretched across a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Some 300 IS militants, along with hundreds of civilians believed to be mostly their families, have been under siege for more than a week in the tent camp in the village of Baghouz. It wasn't clear how many civilians remain holed up inside, along with the militants.

More trucks were sent in Thursday to the tip of a corridor leading to the camp to evacuate more people, but Associated Press journalists on the ground outside Baghouz said no civilians emerged.

"We thought more civilians will come out today and we sent 50 trucks over," said an SDF commander who goes by his nom de guerre, Aram. "We don't know why they are not coming out."

Another SDF official said IS militants closed the roads so the civilians could not come out, citing an absence of military pressure on the group as a possible reason.

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Nearly 20,000 people left through a humanitarian corridor on foot from the IS holdout earlier this month but the militants closed the passage and no civilians left for a week until Wednesday. The presence of civilians and possibly senior members of the militant group in Baghouz have slowed the group's defeat.

Hundreds of women and children from Wednesday's evacuation could be seen in the middle of the desert on the way out of Baghouz, in what appeared to be a screening area in an open field. SDF fighters could be seen among them but journalists were not allowed to approach or film them. A large convoy of coalition vehicles, armored and vans, headed in their direction.

The U.S.-led coalition declined to comment on the evacuation.

The issue of captured foreign fighters in Syria poses a major conundrum for European and other countries whose nationals have been imprisoned in Syria. The SDF is holding more than 900 foreign fighters in prisons it runs in the country's north, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.

The Kurdish-led SDF  and more recently President Donald Trump  have called on these countries to take back their nationals. The SDF says it cannot afford to keep the captured foreigners in Syria, but few of their countries want them back.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq will take back all Iraqi IS militants in Syria, as well as thousands of their family members.

The Iraqi security official, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the SDF are holding more than 20,000 Iraqis suspected of IS membership as well as their families in prisons and camps in northern Syria.

An Iraqi intelligence official said among those were around 500 Iraqi IS fighters, adding that these will be transferred back home in batches. The intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the first group of 150 was transferred to Iraqi authorities aboard 16 pickup trucks Wednesday night and that they have been moved to the capital Baghdad for interrogation.

An Alabama woman who joined IS in Syria also made headlines after the U.S. said Wednesday she won't be allowed to return with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen. Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

The 24-year-old Hoda Muthana has said she made a mistake and regrets aligning herself with IS. She is now in a refugee camp in Syria along with others who fled the militants.

On Thursday, back-to-back suicide car bombings in a market in Deir el-Zour province killed 14 civilians and an SDF fighter, a commander said.

IS claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency and said the attack targeted an SDF vehicle.

Adnan Afrin, of the SDF, said the two blasts went off in the village of Shahil, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the al-Omar Oil Field base. He said two suicide bombers stopped their cars and detonated their explosives in the market.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a car bomb that was detonated remotely as a convoy that includes workers and technicians who work at the oil field was passing. The Britain-based war monitor said 20 were killed and others wounded.

Also on Thursday, a French diplomatic official and an SDF official said they are trying to verify reports that Fabien Clain, a Frenchman who is one of Europe's most-wanted members of IS, was killed in an airstrike in Syria.

Clain is considered a key figure in the 2015 attacks in Paris, and it was his voice that claimed responsibility in the name of Islamic State for the deadly onslaught in his home country. Neither official would be named given the ongoing verifications in Baghouz, and a U.S. military spokesman said the coalition could not confirm the reports.

The Baghouz pocket's recapture by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters would spell the territorial defeat of IS and allow Trump to begin withdrawing American troops from northern Syria, as he has pledged to do, opening a new chapter in Syria's eight-year civil war.

___

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed reporting.
By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) - Two opposition leaders on Thursday accused Moldovan authorities of poisoning them, drawing a rapid denial from the ruling party, just days before a parliamentary election that threatens to tip the east European country back into crisis. Maia Sandu and Andrei Nastase, who have joined forces to campaign against the ruling Democratic Party ahead of Sunday's vote and accuse its leadership of rampant corruption, said doctors had discovered heavy metals in their blood. "Suspicions arise, and against the background of the attitude of the current government to those whom they think are dangerous, this case should be taken seriously," Sandu said. "The authorities want our deaths," Nastase added. A spokesman for the pro-Western Democratic Party rubbished the allegation and said "strange accusations are heard in the last few days and are becoming more and more fantastic." "Unfortunately, the election campaign in Moldova has sometimes exceeded common sense," said the spokesman, Vitalie Gamurari. The election pits the Democratic Party, which heads the current government and denies corruption allegations, against the Socialists, who favor closer ties to Russia. Nastase and Sandu's ACUM bloc oppose both these main parties and on Thursday also signed a pledge not to enter into a coalition with them in case of a hung parliament. The election threatens to entrench a split in the country between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces at a time when concerns over corruption and democracy have soured its relations with the European Union. [L5N2081U0] 2014-2015 CRISIS Opinion polls suggest no party will win an outright majority, which could set the scene for months of coalition talks or another election. Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, which is squeezed between Ukraine and EU member state Romania, plunged into political crisis in 2014-2015 after $1 billion was pilfered from three banks. The scandal tarnished the image of pro-Western forces in the country, which the European Parliament last year declared "a state captured by oligarchic interests". The EU has also frozen aid to Moldova after a local court struck down the victory of Nastase in the Chisinau mayoral race on a technicality. The election campaign has been dogged by worries that the election will not be free and fair. President Igor Dodon, a former Socialist party leader, on Tuesday told his supporters to be ready for mass protests if the Democratic Party tried to cling on to power. "The current authorities are ready to do anything to save power," he said. "On February 24, everyone should be able to make their choice freely. I know that people are bribing, intimidating, threatening ... Do not be afraid. Take the money and vote as your conscience tells you." Facebook Inc said last week it had disrupted an attempt to influence voters in Moldova. [L5N2097RB] Government employees were linked to some of the activity, the California-based social media company said. Authorities in Chisinau denied knowledge. (Writing by Matthias Williams, Editing by William Maclean)
Lille (France) (AFP) - Northern France, with its huge ports and historic trading links to England, has more to fear than most if Britain makes a messy exit from the European Union next month, but local leader Xavier Bertrand insists everything is ready.

For months, politicians on both sides of the narrow stretch of sea that separates France and Britain have been warning about the consequences of a disorderly "no deal" Brexit, from transport chaos to major trade disruption.

But Bertrand, who until recently feared monster traffic jams himself around the port of Calais, now predicts that cars, trucks and trains will continue flowing smoothly to Britain whatever the outcome of the tortuous Brexit negotiations.

"From our point of view, for the ports and the tunnel, we will be ready," he told AFP in Lille, the capital of the Hauts-de-France region that sits just 27 kilometres (17 miles) from southern England at the narrowest point of the Channel.

"Perhaps having sounded the alarm, that woke everyone up," said the head of the region since 2015, a right-wing independent who is widely viewed as having national, perhaps even presidential, ambitions.

Finding solutions for Brexit, which will in theory see Britain leave the common customs system of the European Union on March 29, has entailed forward-planning, extra resources and technology, he explained.

Around two million trucks head to Britain every year on ferries from Calais, while an estimated 17 percent of all goods exported from Britain travel in the opposite direction through Dover.

Bertrand says that truckers will be encouraged to fill out their customs paperwork on a new online platform before arriving at Calais or the nearby port of Dunkirk -- which will speed up the loading of boats.

Anyone without papers will be stopped kilometres from the coast in newly created holding areas where customs officials -- an extra 700 are being recruited nationally -- will assist with the formalities.

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New facial recognition technology will also be deployed to speed up passport controls.

- 'Pragmatism' needed -

Problems, if there are any, are likely to come from the British side -- or EU headquarters in Brussels, Bertrand believes.

"I know that for Dover it is more difficult," he said, referring to physical restrictions imposed by the white cliffs surrounding the town. "The access to their port is more difficult."

And he has pleaded for "pragmatism" from EU leaders and officials dealing with the process of detaching Britain from a trading bloc it joined more than 40 years ago.

The biggest error would be to insist on re-instating inspections on food and animals being transported between the countries, given that the health and safety norms are currently the same.

"If the Brits change their norms, then we'll change our controls, but until then, let's show some common sense," he said.

And any attempt to introduce visas for Britons travelling to continental Europe, and vice versa, would also be impossible to manage in the short-term.

"We'd need hundreds of border agents who won't be there for March 29 nor even for 2020," he said.

- Brexit business -

Further ahead, once Britain's divorce from the EU is finally agreed, Bertrand sees business opportunities, like his political rivals in areas of Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands which also sit across the sea from Britain.

On his Twitter account, he trumpets every new investment announced by a British company, from drugmaker AstraZeneca to metals group Liberty House and most recently a driving experience group called Palmer Sport.

"It's not about going to poach them," Bertrand said. "When you see friends in difficulty you shouldn't try to take advantage."

But he's clear that Brexit will have an economic cost for Britain and that the Hauts-de-France region, with its cheap real estate and manufacturing base, particularly in the car industry, could benefit.

"If they want to leave, they'll have the easiest conditions with us," he claimed.

He has already proposed a low-tax trade zone to attract companies to the area around the port of Calais and the entrance to the Channel tunnel, which has provided a high-speed rail link between Britain and the continent since 1994.

"The president (Emmanuel Macron) has said yes," Bertrand said.

A new international school in Lille is also part of efforts to make the city more attractive to British executives, who can reach London in one hour and 20 minutes by train.
The question of whether two women who joined ISIS in Syria and Iraqone British and another American-bornshould be allowed to return to their respective countries has provoked fierce debate on how Western governments should treat citizens who left to join the caliphate.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has told the State Department to ban the return of Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old U.S.born woman who left Alabama for Syria in 2014 and is now detained in a Kurdish camp. I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country! Trump wrote on Twitter.

Britains Home Secretary Sajid Javid, meanwhile, has moved to revoke the citizenship of teenager Shamima Begum, who left London to marry an ISIS fighter in Syria four years ago and has begged to be allowed to return with her newborn son.

The resistance to Muthana and Begums repatriations comes only days after Trump on Twitter asked Britain, France, Germany and other European leaders to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that U.S.-backed forces had detained in Syria. The alternative, he warned, is that we will be forced to release them adding that the U.S. does not want to see the militants permeate Europe.

Heres what to know about the debate over governments responsibilities towards returning fighters, their wives and children.

How many returning ISIS fighters are there?

An estimated 6,000 Western European nationals joined ISIS in Syria and Iraqroughly a third of whom have already returned home, according to a 2018 Kings College, London report. Far fewer Americans attempted to join ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraqsome 300 according to a study by George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism.

Why has this become an issue now?

Because of the almost complete collapse of ISIS physical caliphate. Once spanning an area the size of Britain, the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) say ISIS-controlled territory has shrunk to part of one small town near the Iraqi border. Despite U.S. intelligence officials warnings that the jihadist group still poses a serious threat and has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots, the U.S. is pulling its troops from Syria. The SDF says it has detained over 800 fighters of nearly 50 nationalities, but does not have the capacity to put them on trial.

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Why are people focussing on Hoda Muthana and Shamima Begum?

Journalists came across the two women, along with Canadian Kimberly Gwen Polman, in a Kurdish refugee camp in mid-February.

Begum was the subject of national media attention when she fled London at the age of 15, along with two classmates from her east London school. When a reporter showed her a hard copy of the letter stating her citizenship was being revoked, she questioned whether the move to block her was just because I was on the news four years ago. The 19-year-old had appeared to show little remorse in interviews with U.K. media, though she denied actively joining in ISIS activities: I never did anything dangerous. I never made propaganda. I never encouraged people to come to Syria.

Muthana has a high profile in the U.S., having called for the killing of Americans and glorifying ISIS on social media from inside the caliphate. She says she has renounced extremism and in and interview with the New York Times expressed deep remorse for her actions.

How have other European leaders reacted to Trumps demand?

Most countries have refused to commit to repatriating their citizens. Frances justice minister Nicole Belloubet has said has said she would take back militants on a case by case basis rather than en masse, while her counterpart in the foreign ministry has in the past called French fighters enemies of the nation who should face justice abroad. Germany has pledged to put returning fighters on trial, while acknowledging that repatriation would be extremely difficult.

Why should any of these countries take back people who joined their enemies?

Analysts have pointed out that its illegal to leave a citizen stateless under international law. It was thought that Begum had Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother, the BBC reports, but Bangladeshs minister of foreign affairs has denied that and said there is no question the South Asian nation would admit her. Britain says Begums son, born Feb. 16, will remain a citizen.

Muthanas legal status is also unclear. Although she was born in the United States, she is not a citizen Pompeo said Wednesday, she does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. But an attorney representing Muthanas family told the Associated Press the Administrations stance is based on an incorrect designation of her fathers diplomatic status and she formerly held a U.S. passport.

Yet beyond questions over the legality of leaving citizens stateless, experts suggest revoking Begums citizenship could be counter-productive from a security perspective. Groups like Islamic State have been incredibly successful at planting the seed in peoples minds that Western governments and Western societies do not care about their Muslim citizens, says Katherine Brown, a senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at Britains University of Birmingham.

Appearing to contravene human rights and the rule of law adds fuel to this idea that Muslims are treated differently in the West than anybody else, she adds. Back in Syria, the SDF warns the camps of ISIS detainees represent a time bomb. So far, leaders around the world are failing to agree on how to defuse it.
By Catarina Demony and Goncalo Almeida LISBON (Reuters) - The crew of Venezuelan oil tanker, the Rio Arauca, that has been stuck in the middle of the river Tagus in Lisbon for nearly two years due to unpaid debt, is set to be dismissed, managers Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said on Thursday. BSM also said in a statement sent to Reuters another Venezuelan tanker, the Parnaso, which is in dry dock at the port of Setubal, south of Lisbon, will also have its crew removed later this week due to a lack of payment from owners PDV Marina, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA. Lisbon's maritime court ruled to take possession of the Parnaso last August. Both vessels are under BSM management. PDVSA had no immediate comment on the issue. The amount owed by PDV Marina to BSM globally is at least $15 million, according to a source at the company and a document seen by Reuters. BSM said the Rio Arauca arrived in Lisbon in May 2017 but has been inactive and unable to dock since then. "BSM, as the manager for Rio Arauca, has operated a crew rotation, maintaining sufficient manning levels aboard to ensure the vessel's safety and security while at anchor in the Tagus for the past 21 months," BSM said, adding that the vessel was securely at anchor. Legal responsibility for the vessel now sits with the arresting parties, it said. The port authorities in Lisbon and Setubal declined to comment on BSM's intention to remove the crews. Lisbon's Port Authority (APL) said Rio Arauca had entered the port with a cargo of crude for the local oil firm Galp Energia, but later Portuguese navigation company Navex declined to continue to be the tanker's agent. The tanker was then subject to "successive arrest orders", APL said. APL filed a petition against the ship owner PDV Marina in April 2018 over accumulating monthly charges of 200,000 euros. APL said PDV Marina owed it a total of 1.7 million euros as of the end of last year. In August 2018 another arrest order was issued by bunker fuel broker Amoil. BSM said that Amoil secured a maritime lien on the vessel claiming an unpaid debt by PDV Marina. Rio Arauca arrived in Lisbon with 26 crew members but Portugal's Immigration and Border Service (SEF) said only 16 people still remained aboard. Various tankers with Venezuelan crude around the world have been arrested by authorities or otherwise prevented from leaving because PDVSA has not been able to pay for hull cleaning, inspections, and other port services. (Reporting By Catarina Demony and Goncalo Almeida, Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; editing by Andrei Khalip and David Evans)
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Wyoming is known for its wide open spaces -- and its a place where a murder mysteries could also stretch on for decades. In 1976, Alice Prunty, a 37-year-old woman whod married three times and had five children, came to Fremont County, Wyoming for a fresh start. She found one with her neighbor, Gerald Uden, a man who also had been divorced three times who was taken by Alice's self-sufficiency. Five months after meeting, they married, according to Oxygen series Killer Couples." They bought a f
Washington (AFP) - US lawmakers said Tuesday they were probing whether President Donald Trump is rushing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia to please corporate supporters who stand to profit handsomely.

The House of Representatives committee in charge of investigations, led by the rival Democratic Party since last month, said that "multiple whistleblowers" warned of conflicts of interest "that could implicate federal criminal statutes."

Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, asked the White House to turn over documents including those related to a meeting two months into Trump's tenure between his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Saudi Arabia's powerful Mohammed bin Salman, who shortly afterward became crown prince.

An initial report by the committee said that "strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively" to transfer sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia.

"These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia -- and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his administration to the present day," the report said.

The United States cannot legally transfer nuclear technology to countries without reaching so-called Section 123 agreements, which provide assurances of peaceful energy use.

The House committee voiced fear that Saudi Arabia -- the world's top oil exporter -- could convert US knowhow into making a nuclear bomb, heightening already severe tensions with regional rival Iran.

The committee said that the leading proponent of building nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia has been IP3 International, a company whose subsidiary in 2016 listed retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn as an advisor.

Flynn served briefly as Trump's national security adviser before resigning over lying about secret communications with Russia, for which he was convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

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The Trump administration in its very first week tried to rush through approval of IP3's bid to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia until a legal adviser ruled that Flynn had a conflict of interest, the committee said, citing whistleblowers.

- Still pushing for deal -

IP3's influence has apparently not ended, with the committee voicing alarm at a report by news site Axios that Trump personally met with representatives of the company among other firms just last week.

Another key proponent of transfers to Saudi Arabia, according to the committee, has been Thomas Barrack, a businessman with longstanding interests in the Arab world who organized Trump's inauguration.

He recently drew controversy for playing down Saudi Arabia's killing of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, an incident that has hardened views in the US Congress against Prince Mohammed.

Barrack told a forum that "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse" to those in Saudi Arabia, whose agents strangled and dismembered the Washington Post contributor after he was lured into the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, according to officials. Barrack later apologized.

US lawmakers, including some Republican allies of Trump, have been pushing for the United States to distance itself from Crown Prince Mohammed in the wake of Khashoggi's killing and the devastating Saudi-led, US-backed war against rebels in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's most serious humanitarian crisis.

A group of senators including Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, last year jointly appealed to Trump to freeze talks on a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia, questioning the judgment of the kingdom's policymakers.

The United States in 2009 completed a 123 agreement with the United Arab Emirates in which the US ally pledged not to enrich domestic uranium or reprocess spent fuel, steps that could be used to build a nuclear bomb.

Saudi Arabia has walked back from similar promises, although some experts believe Riyadh is talking tough largely to pressure Iran and that it is unlikely to seek nuclear weapons so long as it enjoys US security guarantees.
Beirut (AFP) - A car bomb Thursday killed oil workers and fighters from a US-backed force battling the Islamic State group in east Syria, the Kurdish-led alliance said, with a monitor putting the death toll at 20.

A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the attack killed mostly oil workers, as well as fighters in the village of Shheel close to an oil field acting as a base for the anti-IS force.

Jihadist "cells are trying to stop our progress," Adnan Afrin told AFP.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 oil workers and six conscripts died after "the car bomb was detonated remotely".

The SDF fighters were escorting the workers in vehicles from the Omar oil field, the monitor said.

The SDF are fighting to expel the jihadists from the last shred of their "caliphate" in the village of Baghouz, some 100 km (60 miles) south along the Euphrates river.

The SDF took control of the Omar oil field in October 2017, and have turned it into their main base in the area.

IS seized large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" there, but have since lost all but the Baghouz holdout to various offensives.
Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: Shutterstock/census.gov

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the Trump administrations plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, but experts believe its addition would have dire consequences for communities with large numbers of immigrants.

This question also could set off a lot of insecurities and distrust that certain populations have currently of the U.S. government, Jennifer Van Hook, a sociology and demography professor at Pennsylvania State University, told Yahoo News. Because it sounds like somebodys looking into their citizenship, wondering if they belong in the United States, raising fears that the information they provide to the census could then be passed along to law enforcement agencies or ICE, and then be used to either target them or people that they know in their community.

The census hasnt asked about citizenship since 1950, but as of last week, the Supreme Court will decide whether the 2020 census will include the question Is this person a citizen of the United States?

In January, about five months ahead of this summers printing deadline, Manhattan District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the Department of Commerce to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 census, adding that it was unlawful for a multitude of independent reasons. But when the Trump administration filed an appeal and requested that the Supreme Court weigh in on a dispute about evidence, the high court stepped in, bypassing what would likely have been a lengthy federal appeals court process.

Van Hook believes the question has no place in the census.

The decennial census is not designed to collect information about the composition of the population. The chief focus is to get a head count of the population, Van Hook said. We have other surveys to collect information about the characteristics of the population, including citizenship status.

The idea of including a citizenship question has long been controversial. When Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, announced last March that the citizenship question would be added to the census, there was an immediate outcry. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against Ross and the Department of Commerce.

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For over 200 years, the decennial head count of every person living in the U.S.  citizens and noncitizens  has helped states determine how funds, now hundreds of billions of dollars, are allocated according to population size. The 2020 census, which begins on April 1 of next year and ends that summer, before congressional reapportionment and redistricting, also helps determine the allocation of House of Representatives seats and Electoral College votes.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross speaking on July 16, 2018. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Ross, who said the Department of Justice requested the citizenship question, justified its addition as a means to obtain an accurate count of the voting-age population and enforce a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects against voting discrimination. However, it was revealed in court documents released by the Trump administration that Ross sought to have the question added prior to receiving and approving the DOJ request, allegedly violating federal rules and procedures.

Former Census Bureau Director John Thompson, who reviewed the district court ruling against the Department of Commerce, told Yahoo News that he was never made aware that Ross had talked about adding the citizenship question.

Thompson also noted the bureaus own assessment about respondents concerns around confidentiality.

The Census Bureau has done its own research that shows that the citizenship question will reduce self-response among the noncitizen population, Thompson said.

Thompson pointed out a larger issue with the citizenship question: the follow-up process. Noncitizens who dont respond to the census can expect a census worker at their door, considering that after the last census, the bureau hired over 600,000 employees to visit about 50 million addresses up to six times each, according to the Government Accountability Office, which has already declared the 2020 Census a high-risk project vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.

After theyve made a specific number of visits, if you cant find anyone that could respond for the household directly, they will try to find a knowledgeable surrogate, said Thompson. In some cases, it would be neighbors. In some cases, it would be maybe an apartment building supervisor or some other source. The guideline is to try to find a knowledgeable source.

Former Census Bureau Director John Thompson (Photo: U.S. Census/handout photo)

But Thompson, who lives in Oregon, said proxy information is well known not to be as accurate as self-reported data.

My neighbors dont know my age, Thompson said. They can only guess at my race by my physical appearance. Weve never talked about that. And they dont know if Im a citizen or not a citizen.

Beyond the census, smaller surveys like the American Community Survey, which is sent out yearly to one in six U.S. households, ask about citizenship.

A smaller, more detailed questionnaire, the American Community Survey takes on average 40 minutes to complete, Thompson said, adding that it has worked fine to support voting rights under multiple administrations, both Democrat and Republican.

Kenneth Prewitt, who served as Census Bureau director from 1998 to 2001, agreed that the survey is sufficient in gathering information on citizenship, and called the rationale for including a citizenship question in the census simply false.

We have good data that has been used for the last decade or more very successfully [through] the American Community Survey, Prewitt added.

Prewitt told Yahoo News that the citizenship question on the census feels like a surveillance system, not a census system.

If it is on the form, combining it with some other data that we have about citizenship drawn from administrating records, it allows you to construct a register of everyone who is a citizen and noncitizen in the country, he said.

There is cause for privacy concerns, despite the fact that according to the 72-year rule a respondents information cant be made public until 72 years after its been collected. But in the not-so-distant past, the Census Bureau shared data with the military for the draft during World War I and gave Japanese-Americans information to the Secret Service during World War II.

If you are an immigrant, an undocumented immigrant, or if youre a U.S. citizen who is married to an immigrant or is part of a mixed-status family, youre going to think twice before answering that question on your census form because the government will have that information, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C.

It is this hesitancy, and overall resistance to take the census, that civil rights groups fear will have a ripple effect throughout vulnerable communities. States with large immigration populations, such as California, New York, Texas and Florida, all of which filed suit against the Department of Commerce, stand to be most affected if noncitizens decide not to take the census. But Noorani said theyre not the only ones.

Its the states in the Southeast and the Midwest, which have seen fast growth in the immigrant population, that really depend on a full and fair census count, said Noorani. Federal funding for highways and schools are determined in large part by the census, so if youre a rural suburban school district in the middle of the country who is benefiting from a growing immigrant population, you want every one of those kids and families counted.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. (Photo: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Aurora Humanitarian Initiative)

States like California, Noorani said, are spending upwards of $100 million in state money to ensure a full count. States like Nebraska, they dont have those kinds of resources, he added.

All communities would be hurt, said Beth Lynk, director of the Census Counts Campaign at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Having an unfair count and an inaccurate count of the census will negatively impact the ability of the federal government to distribute federal funding for key programs and will disproportionately impact key communities that are traditionally harder to count, like communities of color, immigrant communities, low-income communities, indigenous communities, communities that have young children and more.

But Steve Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, said theres a big advantage to having both noncitizens and citizens counted. We would now add foreign-born to the [follow-up] work, said Camarota, who was the lead researcher on a contract with the Census Bureau examining immigrant data in the American Community Survey. From a researchers point of view, that would be incredible to be able to say, a little more definitively, how big is this undercount.

Still, Camarota said he understands the controversy that the proposed inclusion of the citizenship question is causing. Everyone has a suspicion here, he said.

Democrats worry that the question is designed to get people not to respond or hold down the representation of people who tend to be sympathetic to the Democratic Party, he said.

As for Republican concerns, Camarota said the citizenship question could show that a significant number of people who arent supposed to vote and register are doing so and could tell you exactly what the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives or in the state legislature in California would have been had you not counted all those noncitizens.

While critics fear the inclusion of a citizenship question will result in a massive undercount, Camarota thinks that may be overblown.

If you look at the American Community Survey, with the rise of Trump, we didnt see a big drop-off [in participation]. Its true that people are less willing over time to answer that question, but theyre also less willing to tell us whether theyre married, how much money they make.

Starting in June, about half a million households will receive a test questionnaire that contains the citizenship question, because survey changes are required to be tested. In the meantime, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for the questions ultimate inclusion in 2020.

We are very, very fearful that there would be an undercount that would render our community more invisible if the citizenship question is allowed to stay on, John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told Yahoo News. There is very heightened fear in our community already about the federal government and about privacy, and the citizenship question simply exacerbates it.

Yang said the Asian community in the U.S. is made up predominantly of immigrants or the children of immigrants, and when asked if they will still take the census if the citizenship question remains, he said, We want to ensure that theres a fair, accurate count, but we also want to make sure that our community feels protected and feels safe.

Elizabeth OuYang, coordinator of New York Counts 2020, speaking outside the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City on Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

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The death of legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld leaves a huge hole at the head of Chanel, but the fashion juggernaut is in such rude health it is likely to power on without him, analysts say.

The workaholic German turned around the fading fortunes of Coco Chanel's iconic house in his 36 years in charge, setting the template for the modern luxury fashion industry.

When the iconoclastic Lagerfeld took over in 1983, the brand was dowdy and somewhat doddery, but by hitching its rich heritage to the supermodel sass of Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer he made its clothes the armour in which women began to break the glass ceiling.

He had previously performed a similar miracle for the Fendi sisters in Italy, turning what the New York Times called a "boring bourgeois (Roman) furrier into a hip fashion name".

Such was their gratitude that the brand took out a full-page black-trimmed advert in the newspaper Wednesday to thank "Karl for the most beautiful journey. With all our love, your Fendi family."

With the label now worth $3.8 billion (3.3 billion euros), they had a lot to thank him for.

At Chanel he did the same thing but on an even bigger scale, making it one of the three richest luxury houses in the world.

Ever the showman, he packed Paris' enormous Grand Palais with celebrities for his spectacular shows.

- Sales of $9.6 billion -

Until last year the real scale of his financial success at Chanel was kept secret. But in June the Wertheimer family who own the brand released figures for the first time showing sales of $9.62 billion in 2017.

That put them ahead of Gucci and just behind Louis Vuitton as the biggest luxury fashion label, although much of Vuitton's profits come from sales of bags and luggage.

Even without Lagerfeld, whose name became synonymous with the brand, Chanel is still "a Ferrari of the luxury world", analyst Luca Solca of Bernstein Consulting told AFP.

"There is no doubt that the house is in a very strong position," he said.

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Solca said Chanel had the "ideal business model", with its handmade haute couture collections allowing it to "keep its prices high", while its perfumes and cosmetics "also appeal to the middle classes, who can get into the brand through its fragrances or lipstick".

In fact, Lagerfeld's death could push up sales even further with "very strong interest in his final collections which could almost become collectors' items," he added.

Within hours of the designer's death at the age of 85 on Tuesday, Chanel said Virginie Viard -- who Lagerfeld has called his "right and left hand" -- would be stepping into his shoes as creative director.

Solca believes that "a few new ideas" would do Chanel no harm. "There is a big hunger for novelty right now with brands like Gucci and Balenciaga" breaking records with edgy and irreverent collections.

- 'Unsinkable' brand -

"Chanel is a myth, the brand has such power that it is unsinkable," insisted Eric Briones, one of the founders of Paris School of Luxury.

"In fact, following Karl should be fairly easy stylistically because he did not impose his own look but instead riffed on the base" of Coco Chanel's classic themes.

"It's even a great chance to bring new life into Chanel," Briones added.

More difficult will be finding someone with Lagerfeld's gift for making headlines.

"What will be tough is following Karl in terms of image, marketing and communication," Briones told AFP.

Lagerfeld was also a phenomenal workhorse, putting out an average of 14 collections a year for Chanel and Fendi as well as overseeing his own label well into his eighties -- a pace that would have burnt out many half his age.

"He has become a model for so many other creators," Briones said. "He worked so hard, managed to please everyone, and was totally free in what he said -- totally ignoring political correctness," he added.

Indeed he could often be "staggeringly straight-talking" without somehow ever damaging the brand, said Arnaud Cadart of Flornoy management consultants.

Cadart sees few problems on the horizon, arguing that "other great houses have managed to survive the loss of great creators like Yves Saint Laurent or Christian Dior."

"The brand is a more important than the designer, and Virginie Viard, who worked alongside Lagerfeld for 30 years, had quite a bit to do with that success," Cadart added.

Fashion, however, is a notoriously fickle business. The British designer Phoebe Philo -- formerly of Celine -- who has a large feminist following, is often mooted as a possible longterm replacement for Lagerfeld.
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said he was still puzzled by the decision of former veterans affairs minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to quit last week, even after she addressed the Cabinet on Tuesday. Trudeau is battling allegations that his officials last year pressured Wilson-Raybould, then justice minister, to ensure construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoided a corruption and bribery trial. Trudeau insists there was no wrongdoing and said Wilson-Raybould has not made clear her reasons for leaving. In an unusual move, she was allowed to address her Cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, even though she was no longer a minister. "I continue to be surprised by Jody Wilson-Raybould's decision ... This is not a decision that remains clear to me," he told a televised news conference in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Trudeau's version of events was backed up by Michael Wernick, the head of the federal civil service, who was present for several top-level meetings with Wilson-Raybould last year and said nothing untoward had happened. "There was no inappropriate pressure put on the minister at any time," Wernick told the House of Commons justice committee on Thursday, saying Wilson-Raybould had had plenty of opportunities to complain had she felt the need to. Wilson-Raybould, who on Wednesday said "I hope that I have the opportunity to speak my truth", is consulting lawyers to determine how much she is able to say. She is due to address the justice committee next week. The Globe and Mail on Thursday said Wilson-Raybould told the Cabinet she had come under improper pressure from officials. "How she interprets and perceives those conversations she can tell you next week. I can tell you my view very firmly is they were entirely appropriate, lawful, legal," said Wernick, a civil servant who is not a member of Parliament. The issue could threaten the ruling Liberals' election chances this October. Opposition politicians have accused the Liberals of a cover-up and want a full public inquiry. SNC-Lavalin is a major employer in the province of Quebec province, where the Liberals say they need to capture more seats in the October election to have a chance of holding on to power. "We believe in the independence of the judiciary and we believe in fighting for good jobs," said Trudeau. The prime minister on Wednesday sought to calm restless parliamentarians at a meeting to discuss the resignations of Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau aide Gerald Butts, a major architect of the Liberals' surprise victory in October 2015, who quit on Monday while insisting he had done nothing wrong. Trudeau sidestepped questions about how he planned to handle the crisis, party sources said. Signs of stress remain. Two Liberal legislators voted with the opposition on Wednesday in a failed bid to launch a public inquiry, while a female Liberal member of parliament tweeted her support for Wilson-Raybould, adding the hash tag #IStandWithHer. The former minister, who the Globe and Mail said had ignored the pressure to go easy on SNC-Lavalin, was demoted from the justice ministry last month. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky)
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he would not accept partial payment of tax transfers owed by Israel, which decided to withhold reimbursements in retaliation for payments to prisoners jailed for attacks.

"We shall not accept the (tax) money if it is not paid in full," Abbas told a central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved the freezing of $138 million (122 million euros) over the Palestinian Authority's payments to prisoners jailed for attacks on Israelis.

Abbas also said he would not end financial support for the families of Palestinian attackers imprisoned or killed by Israel.

"Every penny available will be allocated to the families of martyrs and prisoners," he said.

The PA says the payments are a form of welfare to families who have lost their main breadwinner.

Many Palestinians view prisoners and those killed while carrying out attacks as heroes in their conflict with Israel. Palestinian leaders often venerate them as martyrs.

Israel alleges the payments encourage further violence.

Under a 1994 agreement, Israel collects around $190 million (170 million euros) each month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports. It transfers the money to the PA.

The $138 million in withheld money is to be deducted incrementally from monthly payments over a 12-month period.

Abbas said Israel's decision to withhold the funds was meant to pressure Palestinians to accept a peace deal being prepared by US President Donald Trump.

The US plans are to be formally presented after Israel's April 9 elections.

But the Palestinian Authority says it can no longer trust the United States as an honest peace broker after Trump in 2017 recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Israel claims Jerusalem as its "undivided" capital, while Palestinians view Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The Palestinians are already contending with a cut of more than $500 million in annual aid by Trump's administration, mostly to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The PA, which has limited sovereignty in parts of the occupied West Bank, relies heavily on external financial aid.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un react at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

American College of National Security Leaders

Security, Asia

Diplomacy can work: Here's what the American College of National Security Leaders thinks about the second Trump-Kim summit.

40 Retired Generals and Diplomats Support Continued US-North Korea Diplomacy

Last June, amid dramatically rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, President Donald Trump traveled to Singapore to meet with DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong-un. While unorthodox, there is little denying that the presidents top-down approach created an opportunity for a breakthrough that eluded his predecessors. The two leaders agreed in principle on the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Largely symbolic with many essential details left unresolved, the meeting dramatically reduced tensions in the region and created space for diplomacy to succeed. As retired Generals, Admirals, Ambassadors and Senior Executives we believe that, as the President prepares to return to the region, his focus must be on obtaining results. He must move beyond symbolism if he hopes to make real headway towards ending the danger of the North Korean nuclear program.

The nuclear issue is a proxy for the viability of the regime. That is, the threat is not North Koreas acquisition of nuclear warheads, but it is the status and influence of the regime in the region. President Trumps conversations with Kim Jong-un about denuclearization require strategic diplomacy unlike making real-estate deals or negotiating a business merger.

Intent on advancing U.S. interests and safeguarding peace in the region, we must consider the concerns of those sitting on the other side of the table. Negotiations require intense and sophisticated preparation.

So, just what does Pyongyang want? Before he sits down with Kim Jong-un again, the president and his advisors need to try to answer that question. Fortunately, like his father and grandfather before him, the younger Kim (although responsible for horrific abuses) is neither irrational nor are his goals unknowable. Three generations of Kims have played weak hands well, surviving amidst bigger stronger states as the Soviet Union dissolved, China moved from Mao to markets, and their fraternal twin became a global model for economic development and democratic transition. History has taught Pyongyang that their isolation and autarky is the linchpin to their survival. Washington must not continue to mistake the DPRK as overly beholden to China. Also, although economic incentives may tempt Kim Jong-un more than his predecessors, he knows that North Korea has spent far more developing nuclear weapons than it could ever expect to receive for abandoning them. Ultimately, what three generations of the Kim dynasty have soughtand what Kim Jong-un will seek later this monthis the security that would come with a transformed relationship with the United States and the confidence that, if he abandons his nuclear deterrent, the United States will not quickly lose interest in his country or seek to overturn his regime. Although nuclear issues understandably attract the most attention, embracing and crafting that new relationship is the fundamental challenge President Trump faces.

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An element of that new relationship is the difficult and drawn-out work of defining denuclearization: freezing DPRK nuclear and missile production and development and, ultimately, producing a comprehensive roadmap to a complete verified irreversible nuclear disarmament. While the president and Kim can start this effort in Vietnam, nuclear programs and mutual animosities that took decades to put in place will take months and years to undo. In this regard, patience, vigilance, and dedication are not just virtues. They are the only possible way forwardtaking precedence over pace.

In Vietnam and beyond, we urge President Trump to consider that the DPRK pursued nuclear weapons in spite of the enormous direct cost of the program and the equally high indirect cost of the ensuing international isolation. While sanctions hurt North Korea, Pyongyang was willing to endure them in order to achieve its greater strategic goals. Relieving sanctions would go a long way towards demonstrating U.S. commitment to a new relationship, but we should not assume the DPRK will suddenly shift its priorities. That is not to say that North Koreas interests exclude sanctions relief as they are clearly prioritizing economic development, but lifting sanctions is only one of many tools that promote progress on denuclearization. Our negotiators must not view sanctions relief as a guarantor of regional security and safety.

Finally, the president can take one other short-term step to create a more constructive atmosphere for the relationship and a new narrative in the region. Agreeing to establish liaison offices in each others capital, and committing to upgrade those offices to embassies is an early step in the right direction. Having direct lines of communication would not only facilitate communications on denuclearization issues, but it would also be a platform to talk to Pyongyang about other issuessuch as the need to address North Korean human rights abuses and narcotics trafficking and to accept the U.S. commitment to the ROK. The best outcome for the meeting is to move towards more fully normalized ties and a more normal, enduring relationship, that underlie peace and security in the region.

Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender, USA (retired)

Vice Admiral Don Arthur, USN (retired)

Brigadier General Donald Bolduc, USA (retired)

Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, USMC (retired)

Rear Admiral Christopher W. Cole, USN (retired)

Major General Peter S. Cooke, USA (retired)

Vice Admiral Dirk J. Debbink, USNR (retired)

Brigadier General John W Douglass, USAF (retired)

Major General Paul Eaton, USA (retired)

Major General Mari K. Eder, USA (retired)

Vice Admiral Michael Franken, USA (retired)

Lieutenant General Walter Gaskin, USMC (retired)

Vice Admiral Kevin P Green, USN (retired)

Major General Richard S. Haddad, USAF (retired)

Rear Admiral Jan Hamby, USN (retired)

Major General Robert A. Harding, USA (retired)

Rear Admiral Charles Harr, USN (retired)

Brigadier General Don Harvel, USAF (retired)

Major General Sanford E. Holman, USA (retired)

Brigadier General David Irvine, USA (retired)

Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, USA (retired)

Ambassador Patrick Kennedy (retired)

Major General Steven Lepper, USAF (retired)

Major General Randy Manner, USAF (retired)

Ambassador Edward Marks (retired)

Brigadier General Carlos Martinez, USAF (retired)

J.R. McBrien, Esq. Senior Executive Service, U.S. Treasury Department (retired)

Major General David Morris, USA (retired)

Brigadier General J. Scott OMeara, USMC (retired)

Major General Gale S. Pollock, USA (retired)

Brigadier General John M. Schuster, USA (retired)

Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, USN (retired)

Brigadier General Paul Greg Smith, USA (retired)

Ambassador Edward S. Walker (retired)

Major General Brett Williams, USAF (retired)

Lieutenant General Willie Williams, USMC (retired)

Major General Margaret C. Wilmoth, USA (retired)

Brigadier General Daniel P. Woodward, USAF (retired)

Major General Margaret Woodward, USAF (retired)

Brigadier General Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D. U.S. Army (retired)

Major General David T. Zabecki, USA (retired)

This statement was organized by the American College of National Security Leaders, a network of retired Admirals, Generals, Ambassadors, and Senior Government Executives.

Image: Reuters

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As a birth photographer, Janaina Oliveira has watched a lot of newborns get welcomed into the world. But she recently captured something on camera that few people ever witness: a baby being born inside the amniotic sac.

The mother, Monyck Valasco, gave birth to a baby boy, named Noah, in Brazil last month. The amniotic sac that protects a developing baby in the womb usually pops right before birth (you know, when a woman's water breaks). But Valasco's never did...and little Noah was born inside a totally intact sac.

RELATED: The Photo of the Baby Born in His Amniotic Sac Is Breaking the InternetHere's Why It Happens

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Noah isn't the first baby to be born in the amniotic sac, but it is very rare. Only about one in every 80,000 births involve all or some part of the amniotic sac, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where doctors delivered a baby in his sac back in 2015.

Sometimes called "en caul," amniotic-sac births can be perfectly safe for the mama and baby, as long as they both get proper care immediately after delivery. Noah, for example, is doing just fine now.

RELATED: A Newborn Crawled Out of the Womb in This Viral Video of a "Gentle C-Section"

Christine Greves, MD, an ob-gyn at the center for obstetrics and gynecology at Orlando Health in Florida, previously told Health that the amniotic sac and the fluid inside of it cushion and protect the baby during pregnancy. She said she describes it to her patients as a type of "water balloon."

If the sac doesnt break naturally when a woman goes into labor, doctors can deliberately puncture it at the hospital. They can also pierce through it while making an incision during a Cesarean delivery, says Dr. Greves, who has delivered en caul babies herself. In certain situations, such as with premature births, doctors will purposefully deliver babies in their sacs to protect the little one through the birth process.

RELATED: Is Your State Baby-Friendly? This New Study Names the Best and Worst Places in the U.S. to Give Birth

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In most births, however, the sac is delivered after the baby is born as part of the placenta. But occasionally, parts of the sac are delivered with the baby. Sometimes, a portion of the sac will get stuck on or around the babys head and face, resembling a helmet. (The word "caul" is derived from the Latin word for helmet.)

When a baby is born totally inside the sac, it has to be ruptured within a few minutes so the babys lungs can begin to take in oxygen, Dr. Greves says.

This unusual type of birth has actually been seen as a positive sign throughout history. Sometimes it's considered to be good luck, or even an indication that the child has special powers. Who knows, maybe little baby Noah will grow up to be some kind of a superhero.

RELATED: 5 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Pregnancy
The wait is officially over. Last year, when it was announced that yet another restaurant rankingdubbed The World Restaurant Awards would join the likes of Michelin and the Worlds 50 Best roundup, there was a lot of buzz. The award show amassed an impressive panel of judgesincluding Daniel Humm, Clare Smyth, Rene Redzepi, and Rosio Sanchezand promised to subvert the usual trend of restaurant awards (think tongue-in-cheek categories like Tattoo-Free Chef.) And Monday night in Paris, those inaugural awards were finally announced, spanning ten countries across four continents, according to a statement.

The awards were divided between Big Plates (12) and Small Plates (6) categories, for a grand total of 18. Big Plates awards, which included designations like Enduring Classic and Original Thinking, were doled out to champion excellence and integrity, according to the World Restaurant Awards site, as well as better promote diversity. Small Plates, on the other hand, were given out in recognition of contemporary cultural nuances and the role that social media plays in gastronomy. Thus, the Instagram Account of the Year award was fittingAlain Passard took that one home, and with just one look at his feed, youll understand why. And the winner of the buzzy Tattoo-Free Chef award, also in the Small Plates category, was won by none other than the iconic Alain Ducasse.

The ultimate restaurant winner was Wolfgat in Paternoster, South Africarecognized with a Big Plate for a menu that is perfectly balanced between creativity and accessibility." Head chef Kobus van Der Merwe (pictured above) crafts the menu with seasonal foods, sustainable seafood, wild herbs, and foraged items. If youre in Cape Town, Wolfgat is a two-hour drive away; however, youll want to book in advance, since only 20 diners can fit in each seatingthe website says, by keeping it small, we keep it sustainable. The restaurants Western Cape location also earned it a Big Plate for Off-Map Destination, since it feels worlds awaya small cottage overlooking the South Atlantic, described as "a restaurant of idyllic rustic dreams."

Other winners include Tokyos Inua, which received a Big Plate for Arrival of the Year, and Refettorio (Food for the Soul)the not-for-profit started by Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore to tackle food waste and food insecurity that also took home a Big Plate for Ethical Thinking. To see the full list of winners, head to the World Restaurant Awards site.
Human hand placed on the Bible, pray to God.

The following post originally appeared on The Fem Word, a global platform amplifying women's voices and stories.

I had my first encounter with our nation's abortion debate on an otherwise unremarkable day when I was about eight.

The details are fuzzy - I don't remember where I was exactly or where my mother and I were driving to - but I starkly remember the protest signs bearing graphic images of aborted fetuses surrounding our car. I remember crying, terrified, in the back seat. Despite this experience, I wouldn't learn exactly what the word "abortion" entailed until long after I was sent to Catholic school.

From 5th grade until I left for college, I wore some version of plaid and studied hard to ensure my theology grade did not drag down my GPA. On mass days, classes would come second to sitting in pews and being berated for not closing our hymnals quietly enough. I joined the choir and eventually become a cantor both out of my love for music and because any Catholic school chorister will tell you it makes time fly. We would pray for all the saints, the ill, the dying and deceased, our neighbors, and the unborn babies.

Related: 5 Ways You Can Combat Abortion Stigma

Our sex education was limited to "don't" and "but only in marriage to make children," once in 5th grade and once in 8th grade. As a sophomore in high school, one health class period was devoted to discussing sexually transmitted infections. To this day, I can't spell chlamydia without looking it up - or explain how it differs from gonorrhea. There were no lessons about birth control (outside of abstinence, of course), and no talk of how to negotiate the tricky sexual politics we, especially the girls, inevitably would face.

"Even after I left the Church in my late teens, I struggled to reconcile my progressive perspective with my inner conflict about abortion."

Each January, I would watch some of my peers, teachers, and parent chaperones board a bus to march for life in Washington, D.C. I'll admit I didn't quite understand why anyone would willingly stand out in the cold and (sometimes) inclement weather just to prove a point. That being said, I was one of half a million people walking, chanting "my body, my choice," and waving signs to protest the Trump administration at the inaugural Women's March in 2017. Things change. Perspectives change. People change. I know I did.

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But getting to that point in an environment that precludes discussion of complex moral issues, and actively perpetuates harmful rhetoric about women's bodies and choices, is not simple. Growing up, my standing in the anti-abortion camp was a given - though, much like sex, never talked about. For much of my adolescence, abortion was a bogeyman - the A-word that represented the ultimate transgression and gravest of sins for women: ending a life and placing her own above another's. In that silence, as there so often is with silence, there was stigma and shame.

Shame is an effective tool. Feelings of guilt can be so potent and insidious that even those, like myself, who leave the capital "C" Church find themselves wrestling with the cultural and religious lessons they internalized as children. Rather than reveal our shame for the world to see and potentially stigmatize, we stay silent and hide our questions, our traumas, and our dissent.

Even after I left the Church in my late teens, I struggled to reconcile my progressive perspective with my inner conflict about abortion. It wasn't enough that I felt like a bad Catholic for questioning the Church's and my formative community's stance on women, sexuality, and gender. I also felt like a bad feminist for even having to think about whether I believed in a woman's right to choose what is best for her over what had been drilled into me for years - that life begins at conception. But what about her life, I wondered.

It's more than religion, though. Our culture wrongs women continuously in many ways, including thrusting upon us the expectation that motherhood is our ultimate and most sacred of destinies. In school, this expectation was telegraphed to us constantly ("Hail Mary . . . blessed are thou among women"). Then there was the only viable alternative as communicated to us by male priests: becoming a nun.

Even today, when I share that I am not considering or planning for children in my future, I am told that I will change my mind or even met with outrage. This reaction is spurred in part by our societal belief that women must put the needs of others above their own, and that to do otherwise for any reason is not only selfish but shameful. This stigma exists even in spite of research from the Guttmacher Institute finding that 59 percent - nearly 6 in ten - of women having abortions in the United States are already mothers.

"There was no single defining, light bulb moment when I stepped over the no man's land between anti-abortion and pro-choice."

Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong about wanting to be a mother. Just as there is nothing wrong with not wanting to be a mother. Having that choice, however, is vital to helping us as a culture overcome this idea that women are meant for a specific biological and emotional destiny. That women cannot and should not be the center of their own lives, even for a moment.

There was no single defining, light bulb moment when I stepped over the no man's land between anti-abortion and pro-choice. My realization that I believe wholly and passionately in a woman's right to choose was something that came to me as gradually as watching snow cover a lawn. My views, however, were tempered in the furnace of the 2016 election and the anti-woman, anti-choice policies and rhetoric that dominate our daily cultural discourse ever since.

Today, we face an administration that is more openly hostile toward abortion than we have ever seen. Political candidates openly run on promises of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized abortion nationwide, and which these politicians and their constituency view as a moral blight on our country. Supreme Court justices are nominated (and confirmed) in part because they have records indicating they will support an anti-abortion agenda.

Critics calling for the government to "defund" Planned Parenthood (for which abortions make up approximately 3 percent of all the organization's services) fail to seriously consider the ramifications for those who rely on Planned Parenthood's necessary cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing, and both sex and reproductive education services.

States like Missouri, Kentucky, Utah, and Tennessee continue to pass abortion restrictions devoid of scientific evidence that tie up clinics and providers in red tape with the explicit purpose of making abortions more challenging or even outright impossible for some women (especially women of color) to access. These targeted legislative hit jobs have led to the rise of unethical crisis pregnancy centers, which are notorious for using coercive tactics to counsel reluctant women against abortion. This past June, the Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that these centers need not provide abortion information to pregnant visitors.

Finally, inaccuracies and flat-out lies about abortion - that having an abortion will hurt a woman's future fertility, or that women who have abortions are more likely to suffer mental health issues or develop breast cancer - continue to perpetuate a toxic cycle of shame and ignorance.

The truth is, despite declining rates, abortion is a common experience for women in the United States, as nearly one in four will terminate a pregnancy in her lifetime. In fact, it's so common that Catholic women have abortions at relatively the same rate as all women. The reasons for terminating a pregnancy can be complex and related to a multitude of personal, medical, and socioeconomic factors beyond whether the woman is for or against abortion. Arguments that rob women of the choice to prioritize their own bodies, desires, and lives reduce women to being of second importance.

Some in the anti-abortion movement will argue that they believe women deserve better than abortion. I agree with them on part of that sentence: that women deserve better. My counter argument is that abortion - much like comprehensive health and reproductive care, policies that mandate paid family leave, and unfettered access to birth control - can be part of that better for women living in a society that purports to value freedom and choice, but only for some.

To be transparent: I have never had an abortion because I have never been pregnant. This fact, however, neither discredits my opinion nor discounts my voice.

I also have never before had this discussion out loud and with other women. It was only at this most recent Women's March, as I walked with my friends in the cordoned-off streets of Washington, D.C., that I brought up the subject in an effort to organize my thoughts. After all, it was an appropriate setting.

On our way to the gathering point, we stepped over remainders of the previous day's March for Life. Anti-abortion stickers stuck to metal sign posts. A box three-fourths-filled with leftover anti-abortion posters. Discarded flyers and buttons being swept up in the street. To me, they were strange reminders of the life I had once lived. A life I left for one of choice and possibility for myself, my sisters, the women I do and don't know, and, should I choose to have them, my daughters.
An 81-year-old South Korean widow is the only person living on a disputed island in the East Sea.

The Dokdo Islands have been at the center of a battle between Japan and South Korea for more than 300 years. And, at the moment, Kim Sin-yeol is the only person who lives there.

While people like policeman, lighthouse operators, and tourists come and go, Kim is the only human who remains on Dokdo as a permanent resident.

She has lived there since 1991, when she moved to the disputed island with her husband. He died last October, but Kim has no plans to move. She said living on Dokdo is relaxing, her son-in-law, Kim Kyung-chul, told CNN. Being there, her mind is at ease.

But Kims home island is at the center of a longstanding dispute. According to Japan, South Korea is illegally occupying the territory, which they call the Takeshima Islands. Japan says it has been sovereign territory since the 17th century. Koreans claim the island have been theirs since the sixth century.

The islands also represent a civic duty to many Koreans. Despite it being a three-hour ferry from the mainland, its estimated that more than 160,000 tourists visit the islands every year, although not all of them step foot on the rocks. In the 1950s, Koreans stationed armed guards on the island to cement their control.

[Koreans] are very protective of their culture and their racethey want to protect whatever they have, French photographer Tim Franco, who photographed the islands, told National Geographic. This is one thing that they kept back from World War II and it's very important to them to keep it.

Kims is the only home on the island  and the Korean government does not plan to encourage others to move there. According to them, there is only room for one permanent household on Dokdo. And Kims daughter and son-in-law are planning to move in soon.

It's a symbol that civilians continue to reside on the Dokdo Islands, Kim Jin-hee, Kims daughter, told CNN. We never even once thought about leaving the Dokdo Islands.
OAKLAND, Calif.  Thousands of teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday, demanding higher wages for teachers and more resources for students in their district.

The Oakland Education Association, who organized the strike on behalf of 3,000 Oakland educators, are demanding a 12 percent raise in salary, smaller class sizes and more counselors and nurses for students.

After being unable to reach an agreement with the school district, the union called for the Thursday strike. Teachers picketed at their schools in the morning, then hundreds rallied together at Oaklands city hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza midday. Some chanted, Which side are you on, board, which side are you on? They planned to picket again at school closing times.

Were on strike for our students, said Estefania Rodriguez, a sixth-grade humanities teacher at Alliance Academy in what she called deep east Oakland, where there are majority black and brown students. She noted that wage increases mattered, but more important were additional resources to serve students. Were asking for the education our students deserve.

Oakland teachers, in a district serving 37,000 students, are the latest to demand more pay and better classroom conditions. Tens of thousands of educators in Los Angeles went on strike last month, and won a better agreement, as did West Virginia teachers earlier this week.

Leading Democratic lawmakers in California expressed support for the striking teachers in Oakland, including Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) who said teachers deserve a living wage, proper resources, and our support.

Teachers invest their time and energy to educate the future of our country, and they deserve our support, tweeted Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is running for president in 2020.

All teachers want this strike to be as short as possible. Rodriguez added, saying the strike planned to continue into Friday, and until their demands were met. We want to be back in our classrooms with our students. But were striking  until we have an offer that is sustainable.

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Oakland teachers strike outside Oakland city hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza -- Feb. 21, Oakland, California. (Photo: Celeste Lavin/HuffPost )

At the rally, Laura Jetter, a sixth- to eighth-grade teacher at La Escuelita, held a sign (pictured below) that read: I live with my parents because I cant afford rent.

Several Oakland teachers said they and their colleagues couldnt afford to live in the area on their current wages.

Oakland, just across the water from San Francisco and the tech hub of Silicon Valley, has long been mired by the affordable housing crisis plaguing the Bay Area and California more broadly.

We cant live in the Bay Area, Rodriguez said, noting that teachers in Oakland were experiencing a specific financial hardship, due to gentrification and unaffordable housing.

She said some teachers were living up to two hours away. She lives in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale, but has trouble making rent and is already looking for elsewhere to live once her lease is up.

Paula Mitchell, a teacher on special assignment at Grass Valley Elementary who has been teaching in Oakland for over 25 years, said that while she is fortunate to have long been living in a place at a reasonable price, she cant afford to leave it and move elsewhere in Oakland if she wanted to.

Its like $2,600 a month for a one-bedroom  Thats like 75 percent of my salary, Mitchell said. Most teachers cant do that.

She added that the cost of living has risen so much in recent years that some teachers have had to take second jobs to get by. That doesnt make for high-quality teaching, she added.

Laura Jetter, a sixth- to eighth-grade teacher at La Escuelita, holds a sign at the rally: I live with my parents because I cant afford rent -- Feb. 21, Oakland, Calif. (Photo: Celeste Lavin/HuffPost )

School district officials have said they dont get enough money from the state to be able to spend more on wages and other resources. The district may even have to lay off some staff soon, but those would not be teachers, reported CNN.

However, teachers HuffPost spoke to said the issue was the district mismanaging funds, spending too much on administrators and outside consultants rather than on its classrooms.

I really believe the district has been mismanaging funds and they need to cut money from the top and send it down to the schools, Jetter said at the rally.

HuffPost reached out to district officials, but did not immediately get a response. Oakland Unified schools had a message on its website Thursday that it remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with OEA, and that all schools would remain open during the strike.

Earlier this week, the school district had proposed a 7 percent wage increase and 1.5 percent bonus over three years. But the teachers union has demanded a 12 percent increase.

Teachers also mentioned school closings in the area as a problem, as well as the growth of charter schools draining students and resources from the districts public schools.

Teaching is the hardest thing you could ever do, Mitchell said. People need to understand, we work so hard and for so long have gotten so little respect. We want honoring of the crucial, critical job were doing.

She noted there were larger systemic issues in how schools are funded nationwide.

So much needs to change to make sure our schools are equitable and there arent huge disparities between wealthy communities and poor communities, she said. Its time to deal with it.

Oakland educators on strike, protesting at the rally at city hall  Feb. 21, Oakland, California. (Photo: Celeste Lavin/HuffPost )

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Utah man who shouted that he wanted to 'kill Mexicans' charged with federal hate crimes

Utah man who shouted that he wanted to 'kill Mexicans' charged with federal hate crimes originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A Utah man who allegedly attacked three men with a metal pole after shouting that he wanted to "kill Mexicans" has been charged with federal hate crimes, authorities said.

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday indicted Alan Covington on three counts of hate crimes. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Covington is accused of entering a Salt Lake City tire shop on Nov. 27 and yelling that he wanted to "kill Mexicans" before striking a man in the head with a metal pole. The grand jury indictment alleges that the attack was "an attempt to kill." Covington then allegedly struck another man with the pole. Both men suffered bodily injury.

(MORE: Woman who called Michelle Obama an 'ape in heels' pleads guilty to FEMA fraud)

Covington is also accused of swinging the pole at a third man in an attempt to injure him.

The indictment alleges Covington attacked the three men, who are employees at the tire shop, because he believed they were Mexican.

The FBI is investigating the case with the help of the Salt Lake City Police Department.

(MORE: Alligator found during drug bust at Pennsylvania home)

It's unclear whether Covington, who is also facing state charges, has retained an attorney to represent him on the federal charges. He is being held at the Salt Lake County jail on $100,000 bond, according to booking records.

The alleged incident renewed calls for Utah to strengthen its state hate-crimes law, which currently doesn't name protected groups.

"This attack sowed fear into our community," Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said in a statement Wednesday, applauding the indictment. "It is time Utah adopt comprehensive hate crime legislation to give law enforcement and investigators the tools they need to prosecute these types of crime."
Homeland Security, Democrats seem to find rare common ground after Central America trips originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen traveled to Central America this week where her message wasn't all that different from several Democrats.

Their answer? More should be done to protect Central American families in the first place, so fewer seek refuge in the United States.

The comments in recent days by Nielsen and Democratic lawmakers suggests there's rare common ground on what's mostly been an explosive and divisive political issue. It's also in contrast to President Donald Trump's past reluctance to support foreign aid efforts and his insistence that only a border wall will do.

Speaking at a conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, Nielsen on Wednesday said she's reached an agreement with the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to address the "root causes" of migration. That would include better "information sharing, public messaging and security cooperation in order to ensure migrants receive protection closer to home rather than making the dangerous journey north," her office said in a statement.

The majority of migrants arriving at the border come from Guatemala, followed by Honduras and El Salvador.

Sens. Tom Carper of Delaware and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who led a group of Democrats to visit the region in recent days, also said more could be done to collaborate with those countries to improve security for residents so they don't want to leave.

PHOTO: Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., asks a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she testifies to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP, FILE)

Carper said he was open to the administration's plan to make it easier for people to file a claim for amnesty or asylum from their home country, instead of at the border. He said he has shared notes with the administration, which, he said, seemed open to exchanging lessons learned.

"There's been a pretty good collaboration, and I'm encouraged by that," Carper told reporters in a call on Wednesday.

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Overall, the number of people caught trying to cross the border illegally in recent years has plummeted -- from about 1.6 million in 2001 to less than 400,000 last year.

But apprehensions have crept higher in recent months. Since October, U.S. officials have apprehended more than 200,000 people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, an 85 percent increase from this time last year, according to data provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

(MORE: Border arrests up 85 percent over same period last year: US Customs and Border Protection)

The types of people arriving at the border have changed too. Instead of young men from Mexico looking for work, most common during the George W. Bush administration, CBP said large groups of 200 to 300 people traveling together from Central America -- mostly families with young children -- are arriving at the same time to claim asylum. Often, the groups are coordinating via social media and only take a few days to reach the border by bus, officials said.

On Wednesday, Nielsen, who support building a border wall, approached the issue diplomatically, meeting privately with Guatemalan Minister of Government Enrique Degenhart, Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco and Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Public Security Mauricio Landaverde.

"I thank my foreign counterparts for their determination to increase cooperation with the United States on stopping the formation and movement of caravans and the networks that facilitate them," she said in a statement afterward.

Democrats like Carper and Merkley are still balking at the administration's hard-line approach on immigration, which also has called for asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through the courts.

(MORE: Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen says asylum seekers will be forced to wait in Mexico)

But calls to address the root cause of migration through diplomacy seems to suggest at least some common ground between the two sides, even as Trump's tweets focus solely on border wall construction and favor his "America First" agenda over diplomacy.

"What's driving people is hope -- hope for a better life," Merkley told reporters Wednesday. The question, he said, should be, "Are we doing enough?"
DNA test reunites sisters in South Korea after 47 years originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

After nearly five decades of living without knowing each other, two South Korean-born sisters embraced each other at a subway station in Daegu, a city 180 miles outside of Seoul, thanks to a DNA test.

"The chances of finding each other really are one in a billion without taking a DNA test," Rafi Mendelsohn at MyHeritage told ABC News. "Taking the MyHeritage DNA test has enabled Kim and Christine to finally discover their biological family for the first time in their lives."

Christine Pennell was 2 years old when she was left at the Banyawol subway station in Daegu, the sisters told ABC News. A few weeks later, Kim Haelen -- then only 6 weeks old -- was abandoned at Daegu Station, a different stop.

(MORE: DNA test reunites siblings abandoned separately in South Korea in 1984)

They were brought under the care of two different orphanages in Daegu, and no one knew the infants were related, they said.

PHOTO: Christine Pennell and Kim Haelen distributed flyers in Daegu, South Korea hoping to find trace of their biological parents. (ABC News)

Christine, the elder sister, was adopted and grew up in the United States as a happy child in a loving family where she had five brothers and sisters, she told ABC News. But still, she always wondered about her biological family.

"I kind of tried starting [to find them] when I was about 24 or 25," she said. "And then I was told there's no information, so it wasn't possible for me to go anywhere with it."

Kim, the younger sister, grew up as a big sister in a home in Belgium with two younger sisters and two older brothers, she said. She never imagined she would meet a blood-related older sister.

But after some health problems, she started wondering about her genealogy. So, in December, she did a DNA test with MyHeritage -- just hoping to find some information, not necessarily any family members, she told ABC News.

(MORE: Hundreds of siblings separated in foster care reunite at Disneyland)

On Jan. 25, the results came in through an email, telling her she had what appeared to be a full biological sister.

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"That cant be, that cant be," Kim said she told her husband in shock. She couldn't stop looking at the results, which indicated she could email the match through the company, and she decided to reach out.

"I never have luck in lottery and games. Now, they found out that I have a sister -- this is a jackpot," Kim told ABC News.

On the other side of the planet, Christine, who did a test with MyHeritage DNA after being inspired by the movie "Lion" to find out about her biological family, was about to go out for dinner when she received an email from Kim saying, "I think we're related."

"Im shaking and Im crying, and I haven't even opened up the email yet," Christine recalled to ABC News. "It was such a gift ... I never thought that would ever happen for me."

(MORE: Siblings reunite after 70 years thanks to DNA kit)

That night, they had their first video chat -- and they've been in touch ever since catching up on their lost sisterhood through hours of phone conversation and emails.

"That was the first time I ever saw somebody that somewhat looked like me. Because you always wonder as an adoptee, whose eyes do I have? Whose hands?" Christine said. "Now, I have my sister, and we're so much alike.

PHOTO: Kim Haelen, left, and Christine Pennell found themselves not only similar in appearance but also the way of life. (ABC News)

They decided to reunite where they were separated. So on Feb. 15, Christine flew to South Korea from Connecticut and Kim from Belgium to make up for the time they missed over the last 47 years.

Kim pulled into the Daegu subway station where she was abandoned all those years ago and saw her sister waiting for her train.

"And we're now together," Kim told ABC News. "It's wonderful."

(MORE: DNA tests prompt a family reunion 52 years in the making )

In South Korea, Christine and Kim did what all sisters would do growing up together: They picked out dresses for each other at the mall and tried traditional Korean cuisine. They realized they had more things in common than just the looks.

"We both dont like fish. We both like to sing and dance. We both like to smile and laugh a lot and are very silly. We pretty much have a good amount of energy," Christine said, adding that they're both mothers to grown children themselves.

(MORE: Hundreds of separated migrant families reunited )

Now they've found each other, Christine and Kim are hoping to find their birth parents. During their week-long visit to South Korea, they made flyers and distributed them across community centers and police stations in Daegu, hoping someone would recognize the sisters from their pictures.

"The fact that were full-blood sisters means our parents were together long enough for us both to be born. And theres a good chance that they're still together and we may have more siblings," Christine said.

"I want to know who they are," Kim said, "and I want to search with Christine."

ABC News Joohee Cho, Sorah Choi and Hansol Park contributed to this report.
Couple hoping to identify Airbnb guests who stole TVs, toiletries in viral video originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A Georgia couple who says their home was robbed is looking for the thieves  people who rented the space through Airbnb.

The couple rented out one of its properties on Airbnb to four guests for a three-night stay over the weekend, Luke, one of the homeowners, told ABC News on Wednesday. He said they were surprised to find video from their Nest home camera showing the guests moving their TVs and most of the home's contents into a car parked outside. He said he loaded the videos onto his Facebook page to find the renters and that the videos have since gone viral.

Luke, who works in corporate sales, asked that his last name not be used because he was afraid the burglars would "find him."

(MORE: Inside the 1st global anti-Airbnb conference: Huge French fines, NYC raids)

The Airbnb tenant was new on the platform and had no reviews on his profile, Luke said. He was also a local, which made Luke wonder if maybe he wanted to have a party, but not at his own house. The couple accepted the booking because they were "trying not to pre-judge someone [and] give them a fair opportunity," Luke said. The stay cost $835 for three nights.

PHOTO: Surveillance video catches thieves stealing TVs from Airbnb rental. (WSB-TV)

(MORE: Girls smoking weed in stolen car get caught after accidentally apparently uploading video to cloud)

Luke and his husband, Rob, had installed their Nest camera at the house's entryway. The first night, they noticed 10 to 15 people leaving the house, which "flagged that they might be having a party," Luke said.

The next day, at 5:30 a.m., Luke said he saw a woman and a toddler leave the house in the car that had been parked in the driveway all night. An hour later, another car arrived. The driver parked the car and sat in the driveway.

(MORE: Airbnb guest accused of throwing wild house party that caused over $18,000 in damages)

Then, Luke said, the Airbnb houseguest put a 60-inch TV into the car with the help of two people who had been sitting in the car.

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The group then proceeded to take most of the couple's possessions, including sheet sets, large bottles of body wash and other toiletries and cleaning supplies that they kept in a locked master closet to turn the house over quickly between guests.

"On the night of Feb. 17, 2019, the subjects are seen taking items such as flat-screen TVs and bag from the residence," wrote the investigating officer in a DeKalb County Police Department report.

"Investigators are working to identify all of the suspects involved," a spokesman for DeKalb County police told ABC News. In the report, the suspect is identified as Brian Williams, Luke's Airbnb renter. Police confirmed this after matching Williams' identifying information with proof of payment for the Airbnb provided by Luke.

In a statement emailed to ABC News, Airbnb wrote: "Our community's safety is our priority. We are supporting our host via our Host Guarantee and have suspended the guest accounts as we investigate this incident."

(MORE: Airbnb guests caught on camera breaking into neighbor's home, police said)

"Airbnb has been responsive," Luke said, asking for an itemized list and serial numbers of the stolen items. He said he's not that worried because no one got hurt and because they are insured up to $1 million with Airbnb.

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Luke and his husband have several properties and are Superhosts on Airbnb. They have hosted about 500 Airbnb bookings in the last several years and this has been their only bad experience, Luke said.

In addition to the house being trashed, Luke said the guests left behind a mess: about 30 marijuana joints left partially smoked, liquor bottles, food containers and shattered French doors, which are visible in the video he uploaded to Facebook.

But the couple remains committed to staying Airbnb Superhosts.

"We continue to book the house," Luke said, adding that he's going to be more cautious with local renters and take off the feature that allows people to book without the host's specific approval. The house was being cleaned and serviced right away.

Their next guest arrives on Friday.
On a cold day in February 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spent a few minutes before a scheduled appearance at the opening of a new casino in Schenectady bantering with reporters about weed. A lifelong law-and-order Democrat, Cuomo swung to the right of his party when it came to cannabis legalization, and for years, he remained stubbornly dubious about the benefits of medical marijuana, despite significant support from doctors; when he finally signed the Compassionate Care Act into law in the summer of 2014, it was not without reluctance.

But it was three years later, and Cuomo had just approved an expansion of the program to reach even more patients; not to mention, thered been an undeniable sea change amongst his fellow lawmakers across the country towards total legalization at the state level. Maybe time and experience had made Cuomo more open-minded and New York would be next?

I dont support recreational marijuana, Cuomo said firmly, and then adding with a chuckle, Apparently you do, which explains some of the stories youve been writing.

He riffed on the same Dad joke a few more times  It does explain a lot to me!, You know the law!  while summarizing his concerns with full legalization, which at that point had passed in eight states, plus Washington D.C. (That number has increased to 10.)

The flip side  is its a gateway drug and marijuana leads to other drugs and theres a lot of proof thats true, Cuomo asserted, although there isnt. Theres two

sides to the argument.

Two years later, and everythings changed. Pushed by primary opponent Cynthia Nixon to finally accept that legalization is inevitable, Cuomo has proposed the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act (CRTA), which would legalize marijuana for adults over 21, and create an Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to oversee a new recreational marijuana program, as well as the existing medical program. Cuomo has said that hed like to see state lawmakers vote on the bill in April, and if passed, it would be effective immediately, with retail sales starting early next year.

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Cuomos bill expunges criminal records for marijuana offenses that are no longer illegal would automatically be sealed. When you consider that over 700,000 New York City residents, the majority Black and Latino, were arrested for low-level marijuana offenses over the last 20 years, thats a pretty big deal  as is the bills licensing structure, which bans growers from opening or having a majority stake in retail dispensaries. Minority and women-owned small businesses would have priority in obtaining cannabis licenses, and wouldnt have to compete with a market dominated by seed to sale, vertically integrated companies with a lot of capital. Plus, revenue would be generated by taxes on growers and distributors  retailers and consumers wouldnt be taxed at all.

But thats not to say there isnt a growing infrastructure of cannabis companies ready to jump in, as soon as the switch is flipped  already, 10 registered organizations are licensed to grow, distribute and sell medical marijuana in New York, and several have already made significant investments to prepare for recreational sales by snatching up prime real estate in  where else? New York City.

MedMen opened its first New York store last April. Photo credit: Richard Drew/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Last April, MedMen Enterprises, a California-based cannabis company, opened New York Citys first dispensary on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a prime piece of real estate just steps from the New York Public Librarys stately main branch. The dispensarys 2,000 square foot open floor plan has a cool, modern Apple Store aesthetic, right down to the touchscreen displays. MedMen considers itself part of the lifestyle and wellness industry, not health care, and they deliberately did not want their dispensaries to feel clinical, or seedy and transactional.

To get their hands on the lease, MedMen  which was founded in 2010  had to absorb a whole company, Bloomfield Industries, one of the original medical marijuana license holders in New York. Originally approached by Bloomfield to manage their three dispensaries in the state, MedMen learned that their fourth permit was for this much-coveted spot. This was back in early 2017, when Cuomo was still worried about marijuana being a gateway drug; it was perhaps a risky play, but MedMen had a vision.

From the beginning, our expectation was that New York was going to legalize adult use, Daniel Yi, communications executive for MedMen, tells Rolling Stone.

Theres a lot of wall space currently going unused at their Manhattan outpost. The walls are covered in equally spaced holes, like a pegboard, and its easy to envision them holding shelves stacked with a full range of legal marijuana products, like their dispensaries in California and Nevada.

Across the East River, Citiva opened Brooklyns first dispensary on Flatbush Avenue, across the street from Barclays Center, nabbing not one but two neighboring storefronts. Just one of the lots is open to the public for the time being. The other, of course, they intend to use the other when their business expands to include recreational sales.

For now, only the 33,000 New York State residents with medical marijuana cards are allowed to purchase cannabis, which come in the form of vape pens, tinctures and capsules  but no flower. Smokable marijuana is verboten under the current medical program, but would be legal under the proposed CRTA. (The bill otherwise bans home-growing, but it does allow certified patients up to four cannabis plants.)

MedMen and Citiva are both vertically integrated businesses, producing and selling their own cannabis, a structure that the proposed CRTA forbids. Luckily, all that extra real estate wont go to waste  Cuomos bill makes an exception for registered organizations to apply for adult-use retail licenses for the four dispensary locations allowed for each license under the medical program. New cannabis retailers are allowed a maximum of three.

Keep in mind, this is the first salvo from the governors office, and it will probably change a lot between now and when it becomes law, Yi says. But we welcome participation by other players. Broad and diverse participation is a good thing for the industry and were supportive of creating ownership and career advancement opportunities for people in communities that were impacted by the failed war on drugs. And you will not be able to create more social equity without broadening the field for other other people to participate in.

Older head shops, like this one in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had a decidedly different aesthetic from the new set of stores. Photo credit:  Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts/Newscom/ZUMA

The fact that, at one point in time, possession of marijuana could be penalized with life in prison. Thats in stark contrast to the post-legalization marketing of marijuana as a mainstream lifestyle trend. Stoner culture has always existed, of course, and head shops have been selling plastic bongs, grinders, High Times magazine and marijuana-leaf accessories for decades. Many New York City bodegas carry the basics, like one-hitters, mesh screens, and glass pipes, all sold under the guise of being for  wink  tobacco use.

But the shady veil has been lifted.

New York, as a market for cannabis consumption, is probably one of the most sophisticated retail environments in the world, says Sasha Kadey, Chief Marketing Officer for Greenlane, the distribution company behind the California-based brand Higher Standards. Higher Standards opened its flagship retail store in Manhattan in late 2017.

Nestled between Anthropologie and Fat Witch Bakery inside Chelsea Market, Higher Standards, with its cement floors, brick walls and high ceilings, looks more like a home decor boutique than a smoke shop. If Nancy Meyers were to direct a stoner comedy, Higher Standards is where Meryl Streeps character would knock out all her holiday shopping  there are Forestry Wool throws, Malin & Goetz scented candles, a curated selection of vintage designer lighters, and the LEVO oil infuser, perfect for making homemade cannabis butter scones on Christmas morning. The store is stocked with items meant to appeal to a connoisseur who likes the finer things in life, including their own line of upscale care and maintenance tools, designed to leave smoking accessories clean and functioning at their best for maximum potency and, most importantly, flavor.

People pay top dollar for their dry herb or concentrate, and then they might go home and smoke it out of a dirty pipe, says Kadey. Thats akin to buying a really nice steak or a really nice piece of fish and eating it off of a dirty plate or cooking it in a dirty pan  you shouldnt be paying hard earned money for flavor only to mute it by smoking it out of something dirty.

Greenlane, the brands parent company, does most of its business supplying smoke shops with the latest and greatest smoking and vaping accoutrement; the company got its start in 2005 with an initial focus on the Volcano vaporizer, which at that time still had no e-commerce or distribution model. Their business quickly expanded to include other premium smoking and vaping brands, which they distribute to mostly independent smoke shops, head shops and dispensaries at wholesale prices.

Greenlane had done a lot of research into how to stay competitive as states legalize marijuana and the level of sophistication of the marketplace increases, Kadey explains to Rolling Stone. I think the biggest challenge a market like New York is going to have is enabling dispensaries to offer a competitive enough collection of all the different product categories  youve already got your choice of [black market] delivery services thatll show up at your door with dozens of different strains and product available. Whats going to make consumers say, Man, Im going to be better off going into a dispensary than I am sticking with my delivery service?

Higher Standards business model has never involved marijuana itself, but that too could change once adult-use is legalized  like MedMen and Citiva, the company has a killer location and plenty of extra product space.

We feel the store provides the optimal model for that, if you just add a couple dispensary counters at the back, Kadey says. I suspect there will still be a lot of red tape around what you can do and where you can do it, so its by no means a foregone conclusion. But should all of the stars align for us, it would have to be a dream come true.
Texas Moms Body Is Found in Lake, 2 Months After Boyfriends Remains Recovered After Cryptic Text Texas Moms Body Is Found in Lake, Boyfriend Also Dead

A body found in a Texas lake Sunday belonged to the estranged boyfriend of a 26-year-old mother who hasnt been seen since Feb. 5, a Grand Prarie police spokesman confirms to PEOPLE.

Police continued their search this week for the woman, Weltzin Garcia, who vanished earlier this month along with Alfonso Hernandez, the 28-year-old father of her two children, ages 3 and 6.

Before they disappeared, Hernandez sent a text message to his family, that simply read, Goodbye, according to police.

Hernandezs body was found over the weekend by dive teams whod been combing Dallas White Rock Lake for the pair, police say.

Authorities found Hernandezs car at the lake soon after the pair were reported missing.

The police spokesman tells PEOPLE Hernandezs phone was found in the car. Garcias phone was recovered from Hernandezs pants pocket, according to investigators.

Results of an autopsy are still pending, but police said there were no obvious signs of trauma to Hernandezs body.

Grand Prairie police confirmed to NBC 5 that there was a warrant out for Hernandezs arrest following a January domestic assault incident involving Garcia.

Garcias twin, Atziry Garcia Mireles, spoke to the outlet on Monday morning, and said she believes her sister is still alive.

Im not gonna break down anymore, said Mireles, who is caring for the missing pairs kids. I just need to be strong and brave for them, thats the only option I have right now.

Mireles said the youngest child believes that she is his mother.

Hes thinking Im his mom, but hes little you know, she said. Hes calling me mommy every time so its like very emotional for me, but Im not gonna break down because I need to be strong for them and they need to know that everything is going to be okay.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Mireles said Monday Hernandez has previously expressed suicidal thoughts, but she did not expect him to hurt himself.

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I still do not understand why hed do that to his family, to his kids, she said. We dont know why.

Family members also told NBC 5 that Garcia and Hernandez had relationship issues with Hernandez seeking treatment for anger management.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text home to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
For years Tyson Timbs passed by an Indiana police impound lot on his way to work where he could see his Land Rover, confiscated in 2013 after he sold an undercover officer four grams of heroin. It was a visual reminder for him that this wasnt over, Timbs lawyer, Wesley Hottot, tells Rolling Stone. That he was still being punished.

Timbs is one of thousands of people around the country who have had their cars, cash, homes and other property seized when they are suspected  even if they are never convicted  of committing a crime. A 2015 study found that over the preceding decade, the federal government had used civil forfeiture as justification to confiscate billions of dollars of cash and property. The federal government has only become more bullish in the years since, with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions declaring in 2017 his intention to dramatically expand the practice. I love that program, Sessions said at the time. We had so much fun doing that, taking drug dealers money and passing it out to people trying to put drug dealers in jail. Whats wrong with that?

Whats wrong with it, all nine members of the Supreme Court agreed Wednesday, is that the practice can be unconstitutional if the seizure constitutes an excessive fine, something the Eighth Amendment protects against. Its the first time that civil forfeiture has been subjected to Constitutional scrutiny.

Take, as the Supreme Court did, the example of Timbs. About six years ago, Timbs was on a streak of bad luck: he got addicted to prescription painkillers, then hooked on heroin. Around the same time, his father died and, as a result, he came into a bit of money. Timbs used most of it  $42,000  to buy a Land Rover. He used some of the rest to buy drugs, and sold some of those drugs  less than $400 worth  to an undercover officer introduced to him by a friend who, unfortunately for Timbs, was a confidential informant for the police.

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It was Timbs first drug offense. He was convicted and sentenced to a year of house arrest, plus five years probation, and ordered to pay $1,200 in fees. But the state of Indiana wanted more than just the conviction: they wanted the Land Rover. The state seized it, arguing that the truck had been used to transport drugs.

The maximum monetary fine for Timbs crime was $10,000. The first two courts where his civil suit was heard ruled the seizure amounted to an excessive fine, but the Indiana state Supreme Court disagreed, and the case went to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Protections against excessive fines have been enshrined in law going all the way back to the Magna Carta, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in the majority opinion, because they can be used to retaliate against enemies or chill political speech. They can also be employed, not in service of penal purposes, but as a source of revenue, she added.

This is the dirty secret of the American criminal justice system: that police and prosecutors can impose crippling fines on people, as they did in this case, says Hottot, a senior attorney at the libertarian nonprofit Institute for Justice. Wednesdays ruling could change that. What this means for advocates across the country is that they now have a federal Constitutional backstop that says that even if the state decides that Im going to lose my home, my car or my cash, a judge gets to decide whether or not that is excessive under all of the circumstances.

For now, thats all Timbs gets: the chance to go back to Indiana, where he can argue that the seizure was unconstitutional, then wait for the lower courts verdict. Hottot, for his part, is optimistic. This is a strong signal that there are limits to the governments power to take property from people.

What exactly those limits are, however, remains an open question. Next, Hottot says, Were going to have to establish, case by case, what the Supreme Court thinks is excessive That is the next, 50-year project for advocates like the Institute for Justice.

In the meantime, the truck remains in custody of the state of Indiana, although, according to Hottot, it has disappeared from the impound lot. We didnt know where it went for about a year, the lawyer says, though the state had indicated in media reports that it has been moved to indoor storage.

If Timbs gets the car back at all it will be a victory, even if its more symbolic than anything else so many years later, the car will have lost much of its value. We hear stories every day of the week where people get their vehicles back three, four, five years after they were seized, never getting before a judge, Hottot says. And when they get those vehicles back theyre worthless. The window has been left open, the tires are flat, the transmission has rusted. Its really a burden on people like Tyson.
Its a decidedly grim circle of life that moves us all in Sea of Shadows, a tight, troubling documentary eco-thriller that charts a compelling course of consequence from Chinese black-market apothecaries to the near-extinction of a rare whale in the Sea of Cortez, hitting on Mexican crime cartels and institutional corruption along the way. Austrian director-cinematographer Richard Ladkani has form in this field, having previously co-helmed Netflixs urgent anti-poaching doc The Ivory Trade, and once more brings sturdy conventional craftsmanship and boots-on-the-ground engagement to an environmentally conscious, unabashedly heart-grabbing expose. With its clear crowd-pleasing credentials confirmed by an audience award win at Sundance, Sea of Shadows will sail through the festival circuit; in an ideal match of sensibilities, National Geographic has secured worldwide rights.

Louie Psihoyoss 2009 Oscar-winner The Cove provides the most obvious commercial precedent for Sea of Shadows, though Ladkanis film is something of a shape-shifter, its startling story expanding into unexpected areas as it darts between land and sea, with the big blue at the mercy of inland misdeeds. At times, it seems to be two different films entirely  one, a gritty probe into the dark heart of a Baja California crime syndicate, the other an emotion-drenched study of a marine life rescue mission  that wouldnt necessarily gel if not for the fact that tragic reality has inextricably yoked them together. Told with straightforward investigative nous and a judicious teardrop of anguished sentimentality, the film makes a virtue of its many clashing participants: journalists, scientists, activists, navy officials and fishermen, each with a slightly different stance on the matter.

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At the heart of all this buzzing, impassioned human activity, meanwhile, are two endangered species from the deep, one an accidental casualty of the others active targeting. For bands of poachers in the Gulf of California, the totoaba fish is swimming, slippery gold: the creatures swim bladder, once extracted and dried, is highly prized as a health and cosmetic product in China and Hong Kong, where it sells on the black market for amounts exorbitant enough to earn the label aquatic cocaine. Numbers are consequently dropping for the species, though not as drastically as they are for the vaquita porpoise, of which only 15 are said to remain in our waters, having been decimated by the illegal gillnets used to easily gather totoaba.

Working nimbly as his own cameraman, Ladkani climbs aboard with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society crew as they cruise the Sea of Cortez to remove these nets one by one  dredging up a devastating amount of suffocated sea life in the process  and getting tensely caught in the fray with the circling boats of agitated poachers. We also spend significant time at sea with a group of marine biologists on a quest to capture, protect and preserve the few remaining vaquitas; initially presented as the films feelgood narrative, it takes a more emotionally testing tone as the project runs into complications. A wrenching extended scene involving an ailing vaquita in captivity plays out like the anti-Free Willy, though its ensemble of achingly invested human aides leaves us with at least some faith in our own species.

On dry land, meanwhile, Ladkani must thread together several different lines of enquiry, as he questions the Mexican navys degree of complicity in the crisis, follows undercover investigators into the underworld dealings of feared Totoaba Tzar Oscar Parra, and tracks the growing discontent of local fishermen incensed that environmental restrictions are impinging on their already modest livelihood. Prominent Mexican news anchor Carlos Loret de Mora and leading conservationist Andrea Crosta  a familiar face from Ladkanis last film, as the director of the Elephant Action League  serve as guiding onscreen allies to proceedings.

This is a lot of business to juggle, but editors Georg Michael Fischer and Verena Schonauer keep the films slick, well-shot assemblage of action footage and occasional talking-head commentary smooth and pacy  while also knowing the right spots at which to linger and let the viewers vicarious fear and fury come to a head. (Music use is brisk and effective, if not notably inspired.) With apologies to the films distributor, Ladkani aptly resists the temptation to wallow in gorgeous, National Geographic-style underwater spectacle in a body of water so rich in marine life that Jacques Cousteau dubbed it the aquarium of the planet. Were shown just enough of its riches to make us swoon, just rarely enough to remind us that its slipping through our greedy landlubber fingers.

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Canadian artists RAMZi (real name: Phoebe Gulleimot) and Priori (Francis Latreille) have announced the cancellation of their joint LP as Jumanji. The album, which was slated for release on FATi Records, was met with criticism for its incorporation of audio clips from countries such as India, Brazil, and Mali, as well as samples from Vande Mataram, which is the national song of India. The project was condemned on social media for cultural appropriation, and in response to the criticism, FATi Records released a statement on their website stating that the production of FAT02 - Jumanji has been halted and excerpts were removed after members of the community voiced legitimate concerns regarding its content.

FATi Records asserted that it was never our intention to exotify our music for the sake of making it more exciting, nor was the inclusion of this sampled material an afterthought, but later concluded that after reading the feedback and engaging in thoughtful discussions, we realize that our process was misguided. Read their full statement below.

The production of FAT02 - Jumanji has been halted and excerpts were removed after members of the community voiced legitimate concerns regarding its content. After thoughtful consideration we have decided to cancel the release of this album. Here are a few words about our approach and our decision.

The samples used on this record stem from different parts of the world (incl. India, Brazil, Mali, Canada and many more). We have compiled and collected these specific audio clips over time through an appreciation for music, film and politics from a variety of different cultures. Far be it from us to utilize sounds and voices from different cultures to better ourselves financially or otherwise. In the spirit of Fourth World music, we intended this project as an ode to fusion, a way of harmoniously bringing together a wide range of influences across genres and cultures.

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After one of us took an Indian Music Theory class, we were deeply moved by Preetha & Soumyas interpretation of Vande Mataram and decided to sample the word Vande, as enunciated by people of different generations; one sung by a child, with the pitch unaltered. We knew of the patriotic nature of the song and thought it aligned well with our appreciation of Indian music. It was never our intention to exotify our music for the sake of making it more exciting, nor was the inclusion of this sampled material an afterthought.

At the essence of Jumanji (and by extension FATi Records) is a sense of fantasy and child-like adventure, the album being an invitation to go on a journey through different microcosms, beyond any specific genre or era. Paired with a desire to contrast Canadas colder climate, our mutual interest in ecology led us to create oneiric soundscapes that are far removed from our day to day reality. Drawing from a wide variety of influences in and outside of music, and inspired by a friendship that developed in the process, we intended to create music with a sense of togetherness.

After reading the feedback and engaging in thoughtful discussions, we realize that our process was misguided. No matter our intentions, it is not up to us to determine if the use of borrowed material is upsetting to members of cultures we are not a part of - especially cultures that have experienced the traumas of colonization. We believe cultural identity and social/political equality comes before the music, which is why we decided to call off the production of this record. We are committed to an ongoing process of reflection and education and would like to thank everyone who has provided thoughtful and nuanced criticism.

Read about RAMZis Phobiza vol. 3: Amor Fati on Pitchforks year-end list The Best Electronic Music of 2018.
At approximately 5:00 a.m. CT on Thursday morning, Empire star Jussie Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police and was arrested for a class 4 disorderly conduct, filing a false police report. The charges stem from an incident in which the 36-year-old actor, who is openly gay, claimed two white men wearing ski masks attacked him with a rope and bleach while asking if he was that f*ggot Empire n*gger and yelling, This is MAGA country!

Four hours later, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stepped in front of reporters for a news briefing in which he detailed the CPD investigation and the exact circumstances of Smolletts crime.

Johnson opened his remarks by saying he wished that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention because thats who really deserves the amount of attention that we are giving to this particular in distinct. He would later say that a number of homicides were solved by the CPD while the Smollett investigation was going on, and that he hoped the press would give the families of those victims this amount of attention.

He continued by decrying Smolletts actions:

[He] took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to advance his career. Im left hanging my head and asking why. Why would anyone  especially an African-American man  use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol and see an opportunity to manipulate that symbol to further his own public profile?

At that point, Johnson revealed that Smollett had paid brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, who had worked on Empire, $3,500 to stage the attack. After being later questioned by reporters, he stated that they had the actual check the brothers had received as payment. According to Johnson, Smollett orchestrated the attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary from the hit FOX show.

Smollett initially tried to attract attention by sending a false letter that relied on racial, homophobic and political language. When that failed to draw the intended result, the actor moved on to arranging what Johnson described as a simply shameful scar that Chicago didnt earn and certainly didnt deserve.

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Speaking of scars, Johnson revealed that while the Osundairos did punch Smollett during the staged attack, the scars and bruising on the actors face were likely self-inflicted. He also said that while Smollett was on the phone with his manager, Brandon Moore, at the time of the incident, police do not know yet if Moore was aware of the plan. However, there are still a number of subpoenas and warrants yet to be served.

Superintendent Johnson went on to praise the police work by the detectives who handled the investigation, noting that it was indicative of the work detectives do every day in this city. They combed through hours of camera footage, all while treating Smollett as the victim in the case. Following the Osundairos back in time through the video, they saw them take a ride share to the scene of the staged attack, and that led them to obtaining the pairs names and identities. Detectives discovered they had booked a roundtrip flight to Nigeria with a return date of February 13th. While they were out of the country, detectives continued their investigation until the brothers were arrested at customs upon returning.

After interviewing her clients, the brothers attorney, Gloria Schmidt, told police she thought something was fishy about the case and that she believed They are not offenders; they are victims. It wasnt until the 47th hour of the brothers detainment that they confessed to the circumstances of the plot, turning from suspects into corroborating witnesses. They were released from custody hour later. Further investigation into phone records revealed Smollett had been in touch with the Osundairos an hour or so before and after [the staged attack] and while they were out of the country.

Up until that point, Smollett was given the benefit of the doubt. When we discovered the actual motive, quite frankly, it pissed everybody off because we have to invest valuable resources, Johnson told reporters.

We do not nor will we ever tolerate hate in our city, whether that hate is based on anyones race, sexual orientation, or anything else, he added. I am offended at what happened I only hope the truth about what happened receives the same amount of attention as the hoax did.

Johnson also expressed concern over what this means moving forward for hate crimes [I worry] hate crimes will now publicly be met with a level of skepticism that previously didnt happen.

Smollets attorney turned him over smoothly at 5:00 a.m. CT. He is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing 1:30 p.m. CT. Smollett faces up to three years in prison if found guilty.

Johnson reiterated numerous times during the briefing that while the CPD treat every hate crime claim seriously, they didnt give this incident any special attention because of Smolletts celebrity. You all gave this more attention specifically than we do, he told the media. He lamented the amount of resources and time spent [on this case] that were never getting back.

Absolute justice would be an apology to this city which he smeared, admitting what he did, Johnson concluded. And then be man enough to offer what he should offer up in terms of all the resources that went into this.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel also issued a statement, which you can read below.

I want to thank all of the Chicago police officers who have worked on this case, and all of the private citizens and business owners who have stepped forward with information and video evidence to help us get to the bottom of what was reported as a hate crime. All across Chicago, in every neighborhood, there are signs in front yards and in windows that read, Hate Has No Home Here. It is a sign that expresses our shared values and defines our great city. Chicagos message to the world is that no matter where you come from, who you love, or how you pray you will always have a home here. Our laws exist to reflect and defend those values, and hate crimes will never be tolerated. A single individual who put their perceived self-interest ahead of these shared principles will never trump Chicagos collective spirit.

Below, find Smolletts mugshot:
The More Children a Woman Has, the More Slowly She Will Age, Study Suggests

There could be another (surprising!) anti-aging solution for women: having more children.

According to a study conducted by researchers at Simon Fraser University in 2016, the number of children a woman gives birth to can have an effect on the rate at which her body ages  slowing the process down. This contradicts the commonly accepted idea that having more children accelerates the aging process.

Health sciences professor Pablo Nepomnaschy and postdoctoral researcher Cindy Barha led the study, which looked at the correlation between the number of children born to a woman and the length of her telomere.

A telomere is the protective tip at the end of each strand of DNA, and is key in the aging process. As humans age, telomeres naturally get shorter, and shorter telomeres are the main cause of the age-related breakdown of cells because once they become too short, those cells can no longer reproduce.

Some common physical examples of this can be seen in skin and hair, which are most affected by the shortening because they reproduce the most often.

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The study  which evaluated a pool of 75 indigenous Guatemalan women over the course of 13 years  found that the women who gave birth to more children had longer telomeres.

The slower pace of telomere shortening found in the study participants who have more children, however, may be attributed to the dramatic increase in estrogen, a hormone produced during pregnancy, Nepomnaschy told Science Daily.

Estrogen functions as a potent antioxidant that protects cells against telomere shortening, he added.

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Another plausible explanation for why having a higher number of children slows down the shortening of telomeres is the social environment it creates.

Nepomnaschy explained that women with more kids tend to receive more support from outside sources, like relatives and friends, which can help increase the amount of metabolic energy she has.

This, in turn, contributes to tissue upkeep and slows down aging.
Miley Cyrus' Biggest Revelations in New Interview -- Liam Hemsworth, Sexuality and Hannah Montana 'Where I am in life right now is very complex.'

Miley Cyrus is speaking out like never before.

The 26-year-old pop star covers Vanity Fair's March issue and, in both a personal essay and an interview, delves into her early days in the spotlight, her sexuality and relationship with Liam Hemsworth, and why Donald Trump once called her. Read on for the five biggest bombshells.

She's 'redefining' what it means to be queer and in a hetero relationship

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Cyrus and Hemsworth tied the knot back in December, following a years-long, on-again, off-again relationship. Previously, Cyrus has been open about being "a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community," and she notes that that hasn't changed despite her commitment to her heterosexual relationship.

The reason that people get married sometimes can be old-fashioned, but I think the reason we got married isnt old-fashioned -- I actually think its kind of New Age," she tells the magazine. "Were redefining, to be f**king frank, what it looks like for someone thats a queer person like myself to be in a hetero relationship. A big part of my pride and my identity is being a queer person."

"What I preach is: People fall in love with people, not gender, not looks, not whatever. What Im in love with exists on almost a spiritual level," she continues. "It has nothing to do with sexuality. Relationships and partnerships in a new generation -- I dont think they have so much to do with sexuality or gender. Sex is actually a small part, and gender is a very small, almost irrelevant part of relationships.

"Like, who gives a f**k if hes a guy, if Im a girl, or if he was a woman? Who gives a f**k?" she adds. "We really are stronger together. One is the loneliest number.

In her essay, Cyrus writes that she's been "inspired by redefining again what a relationship in this generation looks like."

"Sexuality and gender identity are completely separate from partnership," she writes. "I wore a dress on my wedding day because I felt like it, I straightened my hair because I felt like it, but that doesnt make me become some instantly 'polite hetero lady.' (PS: Straight women are badass, too.)"

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Cyrus also plays with her gender identity when it comes to work.

Every producer Im working with on this new record is male," she tells the magazine. "Theres not a lot of female producer options for me. But its fun to be the female in the room that has the most say.

I have such male energy," she adds. "I think I associate with male energy more, because I maybe do feel this sense of power.

In addition to both her relationship and work, Cyrus tries to challenge gender norms in her day-to-day life with fashion and beauty choices.

"The amount of disruption it causes to see a 'female' living outside of societal norm. Where men can be praised, women are frowned upon. Ive experienced that first-hand," she writes. "The panic it causes for me to perform wearing a mens Gucci suit, unzipped, baring my chest, versus coming out of my hotel greeting fans in a skirt with long, highlighted, blown-out hair."

"The 'gold stars' I receive for being 'pretty' and for following the rules are really discouraging and uninspiring, but that also fuels me," she continues. "It inspires me to continue to challenge boundaries; and be myself, even if some days I know exactly who that is more than other days. Who I am now is a mosaic of who I have ever been. How I feel can be drastic but life is fun, thrilling, and exhilarating this way."

She isn't sure if she would've married Hemsworth if their Malibu home hadn't burned down

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Though the newlyweds are the picture of happiness now, Cyrus reveals in her essay that the devastating Woolsey fire last November prompted them to get married, something she's not sure she would've done otherwise.

"What Liam and I went through together changed us. Im not sure without losing Malibu, we wouldve been ready to take this step or ever even gotten married, who can say?" she says. "But the timing felt right and I go with my heart. No one is promised the next day, or the next, so I try to be 'in the now' as much as possible. If I ever find myself thinking too far ahead, I acknowledge that anxiety and bring myself back into my body and out of my head."

When you experience what we experienced together with someone, it is like glue," she adds of the fire, which she calls "unsettling." "Youre the only two people in the world who can understand.

Cyrus says that her life is "zero percent different" since tying the knot, and reveals that "losing the house changed us much more than getting married changed us.

Weve worn rings forever, and I definitely didnt need it in any way. It actually is kind of out of character for me, she says of the convention that surrounds getting married. "... Liam and I have also found a new bond underneath all that rubble. Going through a natural disaster, the grief you experience is really unlike any other loss. No more, just different. In our position, it feels or looks like everything is replaceable and you can start again, but you cant buy spirit."

Before Hemsworth bought their Malibu home that burned down, Cyrus had a connection to the house

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Though their house "wasn't filled with expensive, meaningless s**t," it was filled with art and other fond memories.

"[There were] personal letters and drawings from Heath Ledger, John Kricfalusi, Joan Jett, Murakami, David LaChapelle, and so many others that I respect including our lovely photographer Ryan McGinley," she reveals in her essay, before describing the history of the home during her interview.

You couldnt make this up. The first record that I ever made as myself -- not as Hannah Montana, the first record I ever made as Miley Cyrus -- I did most of that record in that house, she says of the home, which was once owned by music producer Matthew Wilder.

Years later, when Cyrus and Hemsworth were on a break from their relationship after filming The Last Song, Hemsworth purchased the house without knowing its history.

And then [Liam] shows up, ready to move in. And the old owners are cleaning out the garage and getting out all these plaques and s**t with my face on it. Liam showed up and was like, What the f**k? Cyrus recalls.

She 'went crazy for a couple of years' while filming Hannah Montana

Vanity Fair

The hit Disney Channel show premiered and released its first album in 2006, when Cyrus was being managed by her mom, Tish, and on set with her dad, Billy Ray, who also played her father in the series.

No wonder I went crazy for a couple of years, she says. But no, my parents are so cool. Both of my parents are big stoners. I remember one time the producers on Hannah Montana started screaming at me cause they thought that I was smoking pot in the dressing room. And I was like, Im not f**king smoking pot in the dressing room. Go knock on my f**king dads door. It was my dad.

Growing up "on a f**king tour bus" with her famous father and becoming recognized in her own right weren't always easy things to deal with as a teenager.

I remember getting my license and it being a big deal that I was driving. Almost like the milestones in my life were milestones for America. It almost felt like America was a weird godparent, you know? Cyrus says. I was so influential in kids lives that I was like Americas nanny. Like, Just sit your kids in front of me and Ill teach them how to be a good person. Which maybe backfired on the American godparent.

Donald Trump once called to tell her that he loved her performance

Following Cyrus' performance of "We Can't Stop" and "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards -- which is now widely remembered for its highly sexualized dance moves, where Cyrus twerked against Thicke -- she got an unexpected phone call from Donald Trump.

Cyrus was staying at the then-future president's hotel in New York when she picked up the phone to Trump telling her, "I loved it." Thinking back on that moment now, Cyrus wonders about how Trump came to be elected and what it says about Americans that he was.

And now hes our president, Cyrus says. You know, I said I would move away if he became president. We all said a bunch of s**t we didnt mean. Because we really thought: Maybe people will listen. Maybe people actually realize how detrimental this will be to our f**king country if this happens. Obviously they didnt."

"But for me to move away -- what the f**k is that going to change? As someone who is so proud of being an activist, am I going to feel proud of myself just running away from, and leaving everyone else here to live under, a completely racist, sexist, hateful a**hole?" she continues. "You cant leave everyone else to fend for themselves.

Despite her distaste for the current administration, Cyrus admits to loving "when pop culture and politics meet."

I think theyre not always married completely happily. They challenge each other. But I think especially in this time, pop culture and politics are the same f**king thing," she says. "Especially with the president that we have right now. Weve made a celebrity our f**king president. People listen to what celebrities have to say more than activists half the time. So, by having that platform, what the f**k are you going to say?

"Ive said it before, and in this I will always be certain: if you think Im a rebel without a cause, you arent paying enough attention," she adds in her essay.

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Thanks to Marie Kondo, people across America are getting rid of everything in their homes that doesnt spark joy, and nonprofits like Goodwill say they are gladly accepting all that clutter.

Lauren Lawson, a representative for Goodwill, says many of their local organizations have seen a spike in donations in January that correlate to the rising popularity of Kondos Netflix series, Tidying Up, which premiered Jan. 1.

We know that a number of our community-based Goodwill organizations have seen a year-over-year spike in donations in January that they attribute to Marie Kondos show, she says.

She notes that because Goodwill is comprised of 161 independent organizations across America, she cant provide a nationwide overview of the apparent uptick. But branches around the U.S. have documented the surges theyre experiencing.

RELATED: Stars are Sparking Joy! All the Celebs Who Are Attempting Marie Kondos Popular Tidying Method

In January, Lawson says donations in the Houston market were up 22 percent, while donations in Roanoke, Virginia, rose 20 percent, and those in Grand Rapids, Michigan went up 16 percent.

The Tampa Bay Times recently reported that, across Tampa Bay, Goodwill has experienced a 3 percent increase in drop-offs throughout its 10-county region, resulting in an additional 5 million pounds of clothes, furniture and other items being dropped off just in the month of January.

Our donations departments keep getting calls from people saying theyve been inspired to clean out their clutter, Tampas Goodwill spokesperson Chris Ward told the outlet. At our Wesley Chapel store, donations have tripled.

While Lawson says not all Goodwills have experienced an uptick in donations and some of the local organizations cite other factors that might have contributed to their increase, such as warmer temperatures and New Years resolutions, the popularity of Marie Kondo is certainly reaching far and wide.

WATCH THIS: We Tried It: Marie Kondos The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Story continues

We are seeing a steady buzz about the show on social media channels across the Goodwill network, and we thoroughly embrace the philosophy of reorganizing your closets and reusing your household goods! Lawson says.

Kondos 8-episode series has inspired fans to hilariously document their obsession on social media, binge-clean their homes, and purchase her first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, in record numbers, putting it back on the bestseller list, five years after its initial U.S. release in 2014.

Her organization practices, dubbed the KonMari Method, dictate an order in which you should clean out your entire house. Rather than working room by room, followers clean by category, starting with clothes, then move onto books, papers, komono (aka miscellaneous things) and sentimental items.

The main takeaway however, is that rather than judging items by how often theyre used or their value, Kondo instructs that cleaners should pick up each item they own and ask themselves if it sparks joy in them. If it does, it stays. If it doesnt, it goes. Before giving anything the boot (or the garbage bag, as the case may be), Kondo says to thank the item for its service.

RELATED: Marie Kondo Reveals What People Love (and Loathe) on her New Netflix Show, Tidying Up

Kondos method spread across the globe with the popularity of her book, which has sold 8 million copies and been translated into 40 languages.

Inspired to try KonMari? Pick up Life-Changing Magic or its illustrated companion book, Spark Joy, and tune into Tidying Up on Netflix. All episodes are now streaming.
WASHINGTON  Roger Stone was prohibited from commenting any about Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation  including the charges that he faces.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson placed new restrictions on Stone after he posted a picture of her on Instagram earlier this week that featured a photo of her and of a rifle crosshairs.

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Stone deleted the post on Monday, and his attorneys later filed an apology with the court. In a hearing on Thursday, he again apologized, according to CNN and other media reports.

But Berman Jackson ordered Stone back to court on Thursday for a hearing to reconsider a limited gag order she imposed last Friday. It prohibited him and other parties from speaking to the media in and around the courthouse in a way that could prejudice potential jury members.

Her latest order is far more restrictive, as it applies to statements made about the case through radio broadcasts; interviews on television, on the radio, with print reporters, or on internet based media; press releases or press conferences; blogs or letters to the editor; and posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other form of social media. Stone also may not comment publicly about the case indirectly by having statements made publicly on his behalf by surrogates, family members, spokespersons, representatives, or volunteers.

At the hearing, Stone was contrite. He took the witness stand and called the Instagram post a stupid lack of judgment, according to CNN. The judge, though, said that the apology rings quite hollow. She also said that if he violates the new gag order, she could reverse his release on bond pending his trial.

The conditions of Stones release include not violating local, state, or federal laws, and to avoid contact with witnesses.

Story continues

Stone was arrested last month as part of Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Stone is accused of misleading Congress about the nature of his contacts with WikiLeaks, and of intimidating a witness.

He has longtime ties to President Trump, and his political career extends to work he did for President Richard Nixons 1972 re-election campaign. More recently, Stone is known for his striking attire and outrageous statements, including those he has made on Alex Jones Infowars. Since his arrest, he has lashed out at Mueller multiple times. In the Instagram post, he referred to him as a deep state hitman. He referred to Jackson as an Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges again[st] Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime.

Now Stone will have a blanket restriction on what he says, other than to profess his innocence. His attorneys argued that a sweeping gag order would have an impact on his livelihood as a public speaker on radio and elsewhere.

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Universal Leasing is about to open a Tesla electric car showroom in Budapest, near the Petofi Bridge on the Pest side, HVG reports.

Clients who have ordered a Model 3 car and have received an order number may register for a test drive of the model.

The showroom will be owned by the Hungarian sales agent backed by Tesla Dach, which covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

There is a good chance that a maintenance centre will be opened later, HVG adds.
The foreign ministry has summoned the Swedish ambassador to Hungary over recent remarks by Annika Strandhall, Swedens minister of social affairs, the ministry said in a statement.

Strandhall said on Twitter that developments in Hungary were alarming. She said that the Hungarian governments latest family policies reeked of the 1930s and suggested that those policies affected the independence women have fought for.

In its statement, the Hungarian ministry expressed outrage at Strandhalls accusation against the Hungarian government of Nazism for helping families with children.

The pro-migration Swedish minister refuses to acknowledge that the Hungarian government is spending public money on Hungarian families rather than on migrants, the statement added.



Photo: youtube
The organisers of the Red Bull Air Race have visited Zamardi, on Lake Balaton, in their search for an alternative venue for this years event, the towns mayor told MTI.

The organisers negotiated with city leaders last week, and also met local officials from Fonyod, another city on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, said Gyula Csakovics.

Visitors could watch the race from Zamardis 3km-long beach, while pilots could use nearby airports in Sarmellek, Siofok or Szentkiralyszabadja, he said.

Hosting the race just a week after Balaton Sound, a music festival that draws tens of thousands of youth to the same venue, wouldnt be a problem, as thats what the high season is for, he added.

Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos recently said the capital would not issue a permit for the Red Bull Air Race, planned for July 12-14 of this year, because of inadequate conditions, prompting a search by local organiser Hungaroring Sport for an alternative venue.

The city of Keszthely, on the south-west shore of Lake Balaton, has also indicated it would welcome the race in July, partnering with the neighbouring spa town of Heviz.



MTI Photo
The leading online economic daily comments on the draft EU budget plans, and suspects that the EU will use carrots to lure Hungary into the Eurozone.

A pro-government commentator thinks that the core EU states do not respect the sovereignty of other members at all.

In Portfolio Attila Weinhardt commenting on the 2020-2027 EU budget draft plans leaked in the German media, suspects that Hungary may be adversely impacted by the restructuring of EU funding.

According to the German-French deal discussed, the Eurozone countries would get earmarked sums. In order to access more structural funding, Hungary will be compelled to meet the ERM-II regulations and the countrys admission to the Eurozone.

Weinhardt interprets all this as the Eurozone countries efforts to redistribute as much of the EU funds among themselves as possible, and at the same time, to incentivize non-Eurozone member states to speed up their efforts to join the zone.

In Magyar Nemzet, Levente Sitkei, without explicitly mentioning the leaked budget draft, accuses EU core powers of using the European Union to further their own economic interests.

Sitkei writes that Hungary respects the sovereignty of all EU member states, and never interferes with their own decisions, while other states continuously pressurize Hungary for the putative violation of democratic norms, and try to force the Euro on it.

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

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The municipal assembly of Budapest passed the citys budget for 2019. According to the budget decree, the capital will have revenues totalling 266 billion forints (EUR 837.8m), while total expenditure is expected to reach 380 billion forints.

Under the decree, the difference should be covered from 25.3 billion forints left over from previous years, a loan of 66.7 million forints as well as from domestic bond sales totalling nearly 28 billion forints.

The city is also planning to repay 6 billion forints of its foreign debt. The assembly passed the decree with 20 votes for, 9 against and 1 abstention.

Gergely Karacsony, the left-wing oppositions contender to run Budapest, has said that this years city budget is a testament to the capitals inability to finance its own operations.

The Parbeszed partys co-leader told a press conference in front of the Metropolitan Assembly that the budget was a humiliation for the city as its administration had only managed to fill the 67 billion forint hole (EUR 211m) by resorting to borrowing.

Residents do not want the ongoing investments in Budapest that are deepening the hole, he added. A lot of money has been made available for the Prime Ministers hobbies and misguided projects, yet the capital has been unable to launch developments using its own resources, he said.

Several vital public services such as public transport, cleaning and car parks may deteriorate due to a lack of resources, he said, adding that Budapest residents were getting very little return on their tax contributions, he said.

Socialist councillor Csaba Horvath said the budget was a factor of Budapests continuing downslide.

The city leadership is confronted by a 114 billion forint deficit this year in addition to a 67 billion loan to be taken out after last years deficit of 131 billion forints, Horvath said.

Jozsef Gal, a Budapest deputy of LMP, said Mayor Istvan Tarlos had failed when it came to managing the city. Budapest amasses a debt of 25 billion forints each year, the citys deficit this year will account for 67% of its revenues, he said.

Gal also criticised the continuous increase in the cost of major investments, such as the upgrade of metro line 3, which would more than double in costs.

Marcell Tokody, a Budapest deputy for conservative Jobbik, said the budget showed that the city is using up its resources.

The city will cover more than half of its 114 billion forint deficit this year by taking out a 67 billion forint loan, he noted, while revenues from the sale of investments in previous years will cover the rest, he said.

A councillor of the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said the assemblys 2019 budget showed that Prime Minister Viktor Orban is still keeping Budapest on a respiratory machine, opening or closing off the oxygen tap as he pleases.

The budget shows that the city does not have sufficient reserves to implement its own development projects and relies on state funding for investments, Erzsebet Gy Nemeth said.

The fact that the city will be taking out a 67 billion forint loan contradicts Tarloss earlier assertion that the city had cleared all its debt, Nemeth said.



MTI Photo: Mohai Balazs


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Funding bill moves forward

WORLAND - With the Wyoming Legislature seeking to authorize funds to establish an industrial hemp pilot program, WESTI Ag Days organizers made sure to include a discussion of hemp on the agenda last week.

Washakie County Extension Educator Caitlin Youngquist provided some facts she had researched regarding hemp. She said hemp has not been grown in the United States since 1970 and, in fact, the last commercial field was in 1957.

She said there are many cultivars from the hemp plant and industrial hemp is found in fiber, seed and cannabidiol (CBD). Another cultivar is THC, commonly referred to marijuana.

The seeds from hemp can be used for food, the oil for paint and personal care products and the fiber for fabric, insulation, carpeting and cordage (rope).

"There's a lot of different uses of the plant depending on what cultivar is grown and how it's processed," Youngquist said

The CBD is produced by female flowers and has been used to treat epilepsy and pain. It is a high value specialty crop, Youngquist said.

With the U.S. having just recently declassified hemp as a controlled substance, Canada and China produce most of hemp that the U.S. imports. She said

industry research provided to the Congressional Research Service showed that the U.S. imported $688 million in hemp products with 24 percent personal care products, 19 percent food and 19 percent CBD, for the top three uses.

Industrial applications were at 18 percent and consumer textiles 14 percent.

HISTORY

Farmers stopped growing hemp in 1970 after the controlled substances act banned marijuana and all derivatives, hemp included.

Things began changing in the U.S. in 2014 with that year's Farm Bill, that allowed hemp to be grown as research projects and 10 states began pilot programs administered by universities or state governments. The product was restricted from any interstate transport.

In 2015 the Wyoming Legislature, in response to the 2014 Farm Bill, approved legislation to allow supervised use of hemp extracts for medicinal treatment including epilepsy.

In 2017, the Wyoming Legislature passed legislation designating hemp as an agricultural crop, approving a pilot program but providing no funding for the program.

Last year, the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act defining hemp as .3 percent THC or less.

States and tribes may submit plans to U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement a hemp regulatory program.

NEW LEGISLATION

This year the Wyoming Legislature is working on House Bill 171 that provides funding of $120,000 for a full-time position and $315,000 to set up the hemp regulation program including laboratory supplies and equipment, testing, employee training.

The bill unanimously passed the House on Feb. 5. It received introduction in the Senate and was passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee Thursday. Sen. Wyatt Agar (R-Thermopolis) said the bill was scheduled to be before the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday and he was planning on bringing forth an amendment.

He said, "My one worry is that it only allows for one annual testing instead of random testing. His amendment would change it to allow for a random testing that would give the state more flexibility.

The bill was referred to Appropriations Tuesday. Bills had to come out of committee Wednesday in order to continue in the process.

QUESTIONS

Questions that arose during the WESTI Ag Days discussion included:

If farmers grow hemp where do they sell it. Extension Educator Jeremiah Vardiman said, "We're in a race. Whoever can establish manufacturing will be the hub."

Who would test the THC? Youngquist and Vardiman said current pilot programs in other states have the state providing testing of the THC throughout the growing season. Wyoming's testing is still being worked on in HB 171.

There is limited options for insuring hemp crop.

Growing practices will influence THC levels including soil, weather and irrigation.

Former legislator Mike Baker said, "Wyoming has a good reputation for growing seeds for others to grow. If it grows in Wyoming it will grow anywhere." He added that Wyoming's niche could be in developing a seed service and certifying clean seed to other states.
Projects designed to enhance, increase visitors to Pioneer Square

WORLAND  The Wyoming Business Council conducted a placemaking workshop in Worland recently and it inspired several groups to look at projects in the community. Those groups came together recently to exchange ideas and support a grant proposal.

According to the WBC website, Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to make your community a better place to live, work, and play by transforming underutilized public spaces into vibrant community places. Placemaking capitalizes on a local communitys assets, inspirations and potential that contribute to peoples health, happiness, safety and well-being. As a place becomes more desirable and welcoming, people will want to spend more time in them. Because of this, Placemaking can increase both the sales tax and property tax base within a community.

In recent meetings the Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission began talking about ideas to enhance Pioneer Square that might encourage visitors to stop and spend time in Worland. At the same time, Public Works Director Brian Burky was working on getting public input and developing specific plans for Pioneer Square.

In addition, RT, fresh off their successful first

annual Trim-A-Tree program was looking for a summer program in a Worland park. The groups met at the BAPC meeting Feb. 7.

Burky said he is seeking a $5,000 Placemaking grant from the WBC. His concern was if the BAPC decided to seek a grant from the WBC as well, they would be competing against each other.

Upon hearing of his plan, the BAPC said they would support Burky and his grant proposal in anyway they could.

Burkys proposal is to provide additional seating in the southwest corner of Pioneer Square at Big Horn and Ninth. Work last summer enhanced the front entrance to the park at Big Horn and Tenth, including some game tables and benches and water fountain. He said he would like to add two game-top picnic tables, possibly some patio furniture and some outlets for those wishing to charge digital devices.

RT Communications, he said, has agreed to create a WiFi hotspot in the park.

Other amenities would include updating the information kiosk, and possibly adding some outdoor games like Connect 4 or Tic-Tac-Toe.

Burky said he has the matching grant funds through his city budget, as well as funds committed from the Newell Sargent Foundation.

He said during the early fall he sought public input at a farmers market and at city council meetings, presenting three options for Pioneer Square and the proposal with the most votes was the one he presented to the BAPC.

BAPC member James Donahue said the park project incorporated 90 percent of the ideas from the BAPC so he was excited about the project.

Chairman Scott Fritzler said other ideas they had discussed was an art wall for seasonal artwork and offering movies, similar to what Ten Sleep did last summer.

The movies is where RT comes in. Linda Weeks, RT marketing and sales supervisor, said during the Trim-A-Tree lighting event she was talking to Burky and they began talking about offering movies.

She is working on a plan for RT to offer movies in the park four nights during the summer. Tentative Saturday dates were July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10 and Aug. 17. It was suggested moving movie night to during the week because so many people go out of town on the weekends in the summer, it competes with opening weekend of movies at the local theater and there are community events during those weekends.

Weeks said the project is in the preliminary planning stages so she is not opposed to new dates or even a week day.

She said movies would be shown about 9:30 p.m.

They would need a theater system. She said the proposal would have RT providing $1,000 toward funding and she would be seeking sponsors to help cover the rest of the cost of the equipment.

Other ideas are to invite food vendors to park along Ninth Street for concessions during movie nights, a sponsor for free popcorn, and many volunteers for setting up and cleaning up after each event.

Weeks said they would show family movies.

The screen would be placed next to the big trees at the back of the park, behind the bell tower so it should not be a hindrance to drivers on Tenth or Big Horn, Weeks said.

For both park projects, BAPC member Landis Benson said, This is perfect. This is something we can get behind and not compete with.

Dennis Koch, council liaison to the BAPC said, I love this idea.

With the focus of these projects on Pioneer Square, the BAPC said they could turn their future Placemaking ideas to another park. Mike Dykman suggested Riverside Rotary Park or Hillcrest Park as they are also along main thoroughfares for travelers.
Wyoming County Schools officials will meet with stakeholders from both Westside and Wyoming County East high schools Wednesday evening to determine if the historic sports rivalry between the two will continue.
Mary Catherine Brooks/The Wyoming County Report

On Feb. 8, Wyoming County Board of Education joined the growing list of counties across West Virginia that have signed a resolution against Senate Bill 451, an omnibus bill that anchors teacher pay raises to education reform. Pictured, in front from left, are Superintendent Deirdre Cline, board president Mike Prichard with the resolution, board vice president Allan Stiltner, Wyoming County WVEA co-president Tina Adams, Wyoming County AFT president Jaquetta Lester, Wyoming County WVEA co-president Lisa Collins; in back, assistant superintendents Robin Hall and Rebecca Cooke, board members Mike Davis and Betty England, along with Wyoming County School Service Personnel president Mary Wykle.
"I have nothing to say that anyone in Oregon should be interested in," she said. "I was sick during that time and I'm better now. I haven't forgotten what happened up there. It never leaves me. I can't go back and change what happened in Oregon. It's the most painful thing in my life. But that life is over. I have a new life. A better life.
Nacogdoches, TX (75965)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 73F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 73F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Jake Jarvis can be reached by phone at 304-935-0144, on Twitter at @JakeJarvisWV or by email at jjarvis@statejournal.com.
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RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP)  Relatives of a man who died in a Mississippi jail last May filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday, saying witnesses saw jail guards beat the man before his death.

The suit was filed in federal court in Jackson by Betty Hill, the mother of the late Harvey Hill. The 36-year-old died in the Madison County jail on May 6 after he was arrested for trespassing.

No cause of death has ever been confirmed for Hill. Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland said the state medical examiner has yet to return a final autopsy report. Mississippi's crime lab has a monthslong backlog because of a shortage of pathologists to complete autopsies.

"I've made no comment on his cause of death," Breeland said. "I've been very careful not to, because I don't know."

Lawyers alleged Tuesday that inmates got into a fight during a meal and that a guard, in trying to stop the fight, assaulted Hill. The lawsuit alleges that a guard felt Hill didn't show proper respect and so a group of guards "resolved to teach him and other inmates at the detention center that the jailers were in charge."

Lawyer Derek Sells said a group of guards later removed Hill from his cell, put him in handcuffs, beat him and pepper-sprayed him.

"And then he was put back in his cell, in obvious need of medical care, and left to die," Sells said.

Sells said lawyers had multiple witnesses who had provided information about Hill.

Madison County sheriff's spokesman Heath Hall declined comment when asked what happened, saying county lawyers haven't seen the lawsuit. Sells and lawyer Carlos Moore said the county was earlier presented with a claim notice warning of the lawsuit.

Hill's relatives said they felt he had been murdered and they wanted justice.

"He was a good person and he didn't deserve any of what happened to him on that day," sister Cassandra Hill said.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Miles said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation hasn't yet finished a probe of Harvey Hill's death. Miles said that the when the probe is finished, findings will be presented to a grand jury.

Moore said an assistant U.S. attorney had told him the FBI was investigating. U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst said a prosecutor and investigator met with Moore, but "at no time" did anyone from the U.S. attorney's office tell Moore that federal officials were investigating.

"We will neither confirm nor deny any open investigations," Hurst said in a statement.

The lawyers declined to say how much in damages they felt would be appropriate for Hill's death.

Moore said his law firm is also representing family members of two other people who died in the Madison County jail in recent months.
Editor's Note: This article has been modified to include new information about Henry Spencer, provided by the Lowndes County Sheriff's Department.

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - Two people are accused of neglecting a vulnerable teenager in Lowndes County.

On Tuesday, sheriffs deputies responded to a disturbance call at a residence on Highway 373 Lot 32.

Once they arrived, they spoke with the resident, 36-year-old Teresa Haynes, who claimed she was assaulted by her husband, Henry Spencer, 60.

However, Spencer was not there at the time.

While investigating the scene, deputies found an 18-year-old male in "uninhabitable" conditions.

Sheriff Mike Arledge said the man is a family member and requires extensive care that was not being met by Haynes and Spencer.

Officers arrested Spencer when he returned to the location and charged him with domestic violence and neglect of a vulnerable adult.

According to the sheriff's department, Spencer is a sex offender in Lowndes County and was not registered at his current location. He now faces an additional charge of failure to register as a sex offender.

Haynes was also arrested and charged with the neglect of a vulnerable adult.

The sheriff said the teenager was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Columbus. His current condition is unknown.

The Department of Human Services is assisting with the case.
Months after the sellout of workers at United Parcel Service (UPS) by the Teamsters union, which imposed a pro-company contract against a majority no vote, local unions are continuing the anti-democratic processes to push through equally rotten supplemental agreements.

Workers in the upstate and western New York regions rejected their supplemental agreement twice due to the crisis-ridden state of the pension fund, lack of harassment protections and essentially no improvements for part-timers. Despite their opposition, workers are being forced to accept it.

In the second vote held on February 5, 65 percent of members opposed the agreement. However, on February 11, the national leadership led by James Hoffa, declared the agreement ratified, citing a clause in the constitution that requires a two-thirds vote to defeat a contract if fewer than half of eligible members vote. The turnout for the vote was 46 percent of the roughly 4,000 eligible workers in the region. While union officials blamed workers for not participating, the lower voter turnout expresses more the workers lack of confidence in the Teamsters than support for the deal.

The Teamsters used the same obscure clause to impose the national master agreement last year when workers around the country rejected it 54.7 percent to 46.3 percent despite a concerted campaign by the Teamsters leadership using misinformation and even threats. Covering 250,000 workers at UPS hubs and warehouses, the contract created a new tier of lower-paid hybrid drivers, maintaining poverty wages for part-time warehouse workers who make up 70 percent of the workforce, and gave a green light to management to continue speedup and harassment.

The same tactics are now being used to impose supplemental agreements, which union locals negotiate separately and must be ratified before the national master contract can take effect, although management is already using changes in contract language to undercut logistics giant Amazon.

Supplemental agreements for central Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania, Local 243 (based in metro Detroit), and Local 804 (based in Long Island City, New York) have not yet been finalized. In order to repeat the tactics used against UPS workers in upstate and western New York, local union bureaucrats are in closed-door negotiations with UPS, keeping workers in the dark about any details on their progress or not even providing a timeline for completion and ratification.

Such is the case in Local 804, which covers 7,000 workers in Long Island City, New York. Workers attended a general membership meeting on February 17 to learn about the status of negotiations on their supplemental agreement. The meeting was held at the Local 282 union hall in Lake Success, 17 miles away from Long Island City, to discourage a big turnout.

Attendees learned only that negotiations would resume in March in California. In conducting negotiations on the other side of the country the Teamsters leadership exposes its desire to maintain tight control over the process. This secrecy is intended to forestall rank-and-file opposition to the concessions that the Teamsters leadership is planning to impose upon members in violation of democratic principles.

We dont know what is happening with our supplemental, one worker told the World Socialist Web Site. There has been a blackout from the union.

A worker with 13 years of experience at the Maspeth, New York, facility said they were voting no. We will not give [UPS] two things they want. We will not give Sundays and flexibility. They want Sundays without paying the overtime rate. That is what is holding [up] finishing the contract.

During the Local 804 meeting none of workers grievances about the master contract were addressed. Speaking to the WSWS, several workers expressed opposition to the contracts creation of hybrid workers, who work both in the warehouse and as delivery drivers with lower pay and protections. Hybrid drivers are taking away overtime and pay from regular drivers, said Tchalla Mercer, a combo helper at a hub in Brooklyn, New York. It is not fair for them or their families.

We must have no hybrid workers set up in the master contract imposed on us, because we must have full-time workers, said a driver named Phil. He explained that the company wants us older workers to be in competition for jobs and pay, by pitting the younger workers against them.

The Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) faction, which has a large presence in Local 804 and other parts of New York, hopes to keep workers chained to the union, promoting the false hope that it can be reformed. Instead of mobilizing broad-based opposition of workers at UPS and UPS Freight against the anti-democratic imposition of the national and local agreements, the TDUs proposal for a fight is to eliminate the two-thirds clause in the constitution and replace the Hoffa administration with new leaders in the 2021 elections.

Despite the mass opposition to the master contract, TDU never called for a strike. They focused instead on securing a no vote, claiming workers could force the union and UPS back to the bargaining table to secure a good contract. This campaign was a conscious attempt to throw dust in the eyes of workers, under conditions where the unions have demonstrated again and again that they work as agents of the bosses.

TDU has been advocating for reform of the Teamsters union since the mid-1970s, to no success. In 1991 TDU backed the election of Ron Carey as Teamsters president, despite the fact that Carey, as president of Local 804, had enabled UPS to replace full-time jobs with lower-paid part-time positions. Once in the top Teamsters post Carey proceeded to isolate strikes and endorse givebacks in contracts with various companies, culminating in the betrayal of the 1997 UPS strike.

Carey was forced from office after it was determined that he had used an illegal kickback scheme designed to siphon money from the union treasury to fund his 1996 re-election campaign.

TDU supporters in the Teamsters leadership are engaged in betraying the membership and forcing through concessions no less than the unions old guard around Hoffa. This flows from the fact that TDU shares the same pro-capitalist and nationalist perspective as the bureaucrats they claim to oppose. Like the old guard leadership their primary concern is to maintain their comfortable posts in the leadership, not the defense of workers, who they view with fear and hostility.

Workers can achieve nothing through attempts to reform the Teamsters. They can and they must embark on an independent road by forming their own democratic organizations, rank-and-file workplace committees that will wage a genuine fight against the corporations.

These rank-and-file committees should demand the elimination of tiers, the promotion of all part-time workers to full time, an end to company harassment, workers control over health and safety, along with secure and full pensions and full health care benefits. To assert these demands requires the development of a network of workplace and factory committees to unify workers across the company with their class brothers and sisters at Amazon, FedEx, US postal service and the whole warehouse-logistics industry internationally.

We urge all workers to share their stories and join the fight to build rank-and-file committees by emailing upsworkers@wsws.org and signing up for the UPS Workers Newsletter.
Three thousand teachers in Oakland, California began a strike at the end of class yesterday to demand increased pay and a reduction in class sizes. They are also opposing plans by the Democratic Party-controlled school board to slash funding and close as many as one-third of the schools in the district. The strike is the latest in a wave of strikes by educators against the bipartisan assault on teachers and public education.

The Oakland walkout began as unions sabotaged the two-day strike by 33,000 teachers and school employees in West Virginia. The West Virginia teachers walked out Tuesday to oppose legislation that would introduce the states first ever charter schools. None of the issues that provoked their nine-day strike last year have been resolved.

During a press conference Wednesday night, the leaders of the West Virginia affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said they were sending teachers back to school Thursday because of a bipartisan effort to back Republican Governor Jim Justices clean bill that would not tie a five percent pay raise to charter schools, school privatization or the requirement that unions get annual permission to deduct dues.

West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) President Dale Lee and AFT-WV President Fred Albert praised Justice, a billionaire coal baron, who has championed tax cuts for the energy industry that have bled the public schools and other state services dry. Justices funding bill will do nothing to address miserably low teacher pay, chronically underfunded schools and impossibly high out-of-pocket health care costs, which triggered last years walkout.

Aware of the deep opposition among teachers and fearful of a repeat of last year, when striking teachers revolted against union orders to return to work based on similar worthless promises, Lee and Albert claimed they were only following the orders of their members to end the strike.

We have been in touch with our members, Albert said. Overwhelmingly they wanted Senate Bill 451 to be dead, and their work in the capitol was done I have heard over and over, that I am going to act in their best behalf and that I would never do anything to betray their trust. Even as reporters asked about teachers in the coal mining areas such as Mingo County defying the order, Albert said hopefully, As we came out united and strong, we need to go back united and strong.

The decision provoked a firestorm of anger from educators on social media, denouncing the sellout by the unions.

One teacher posted, Apparently unions didnt learn their lesson last year!!! Another said, Now we just don't trust Mitch [Republican Senator Mitch Carmichael], but we don't trust you. Who needs legislation to kill the Union... You guys are doing a fine job on your own. Too much still wrong. Another said, Our fight isnt over.

I am reluctant to return to the classroom until this has been resolved to the satisfaction of the majority of educators, a substitute teacher at the state capitol in Charleston told the WSWS Teacher Newsletter. Justice could have issued the stand-alone bill weeks ago, but he failed to do so. Why? There is plenty of precedent for reneging on promises and verbal commitments. I say hold the line. I am not getting paid during this work stoppage, but I truly believe it is the most appropriate action.

Since the revolt by West Virginia teachers in February 2018, the unions have done everything they can to block strikes. When they have been unable to prevent strikes, the unions have worked to isolate them. They are terrified that if two strikes occur at the same time, teachers will seize on the idea of a united struggle nationwide.

The unions withstood a three-day strike by Denver, Colorado teachers earlier this year after the United Teachers Los Angeles shut down and sold out the six-day strike by 33,000 teachers in the nations second largest school district. Denver was sold out before the West Virginia strike started. Now the unions are shutting down West Virginia on the eve of the strike in Oakland, where the Oakland Education Association has kept teachers on the job for more than a year without a contract.

The isolation of these strikes has only emboldened the ruling class. This was underscored by the release of a plan by Los Angeles School Superintendent Austin Beutner, a former investment banker backed by billionaire school privatizer Eli Broad, to break up the district into smaller units to facilitate the expansion of charter schools. Charter schools already siphon off $600 million a year from traditional public schools in California.

The unions are not working class organizations, but instruments of the ruling class. They are aligned with the Democratic Party and are seeking only to get their own cut from the privatization of public education. AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen-Garcia are both in the top one-percent of income earners, making $543,150 and $414,824 a year, respectively.

Oakland teachers must draw the sharpest lessons from these experiences. If the struggle is not to be isolated and betrayed by the unions, rank-and-file teachers must take the conduct of the strike into their own hands.

The WSWS Teacher Newsletter urges Oakland teachers to form rank-and-file strike committees, independent of the unions, in every school and community to mobilize the broadest support from students, parents and all workers throughout the Bay Area, California and beyond. Statewide strikes and a national walkout must be prepared to oppose the bipartisan attack on public education.

Oakland teachers have powerful allies in the tens of millions of working class peoplein the factories, offices, public sector, Amazon and UPS warehouses, in the telecom, retail and service industrieswho face the same enemies and the same fight. The logic of the developing class struggle is toward a general strike of all workers.

All over the world, opposition to austerity and social inequality is growing. Teachers who are committed to the future of the next generation have been in the forefront of the struggle, with strikes in recent days and weeks in Morocco and Berlin. These have been part of a growing eruption of class conflict, highlighted by the Yellow Vest protests in France and the upheaval of maquiladora workers in Matamoros, Mexico.

There is a growing interest in socialism and recognition of the bankruptcy of capitalism, which subordinates every aspect of life to private profit and has put more wealth in the hands of three billionairesJeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gatesthan the bottom 160 million people who live in the US.

Rank-and-file committees should formulate their own demands, which begin with the needs of teachers and their students, not what the corporate-controlled politicians, news media and union officials say is affordable.

Instead of squeezing working class families with more regressive taxes, education should be funded through a massive increase in taxes on the corporate and financial oligarchy, which has accumulated its unfathomable private fortunes at the expense of hundreds of millions of working people. The wealthiest two of Californias 114 billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Ellison of Oracle, could cover the budget of every K-12 school in California and still have $20 billion each left over.

A genuine fight to defend public education will inevitably encounter the resistance of all those who defend the wealth and power of the corporate and financial elite, Democrats no less than Republicans. The growing movement of teachers and other sections of the working class must become the spearhead for the building of a political movement of the working class in opposition to both big business parties and the capitalist system they defend.
Even as trade talks between the US and China reach a crunch point in the next two days when top negotiators meet in Washington ahead of the expiration of a March 1 deadline, trade war is brewing on another front.

Late Sunday, the US Commerce Department handed President Trump its report on whether auto imports into the United States constitute a threat to national security. Trump, who has said he likes punitive tariffs, last year used the threat of imposing duties of up to 25 percent on cars and auto parts to secure an agreement from Japan and the Europe Union to enter into bilateral negotiations with the US on new trade agreements.

But with little progress being made in the discussions with the EU, due primarily to European opposition to US demands on agriculture, the administration could move towards carrying out its tariff threat.

Yesterday Trump again threatened to impose tariffs unless agreement was reached with the EU. Were trying to make a deal, theyre very tough to deal with, he said. If we dont make a deal, well do the tariffs.

The investigation was initiated last May under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, which gives the president the power to invoke tariffs on imports that endanger national security. It is believed that the report states that auto imports do constitute such a threat.

Trump has 90 days to consider the report, the contents of which have so far not been released, and to decide on action. Section 232 has already been invoked to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium in March last year and Trump refused to make an exemption for the EU allies in June.

The EU is clearly concerned that Trump may decide to go ahead with imposing auto tariffs. On Monday, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas warned that the EU was ready to retaliate if the threat went ahead.

Were this report to translate into actions detrimental to European exports, the European Commission would react in a swift and adequate manner, he said.

Schinas would not speculate on the contents of the report. But a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated: From what weve heard, [it] does conclude that European car imports constitute a threat to [US] national security.

Last weekend at the Munich Security Conference, at which she advanced her most forceful criticism yet of the foreign policies of the Trump administration, Merkel said she found it shocking that German cars were considered a threat to US national security. She pointed out that the largest plant of the carmaker BMW was not located at its base in Bavaria, Germany, but in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

If were serious about the transatlantic partnership, its not easy for me as German Chancellor to read that the American Department of Commerce apparently considers German and European cars to be a threat to the national security of the United States, she stated.

If the tariffs are imposed, Germany would be the country most heavily impacted. According to a report by the Ifo institute in Munich and cited by the Financial Times, German car exports to the US would be halved over the long term if the rate were 25 percent.

According to Gabriel Felbermayr, the Ifos centre head for foreign trade, a tariff of 25 percent would reduce total German car exports by 7.7 percent, or 18.4 billion, and the value added by the German car industry would fall by 7 billion, or 5 percent.

While it is not certain that Trump will go ahead at this point, there are members of his administration who may well push for action. Peter Navarro, Trumps White House trade adviser, is one of them.

A leading hawk on economic relations with China, whose technological development he regards as an existential challenge to the US, Navarro has been no less strident on Germany. He has denounced the euro as an undervalued deutschmark that gives Germany an enormous advantage in exports markets. He has condemned Germanys gas deal with Russia as a threat to European security.

The agreement struck between Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last July stipulated that the two sides would discuss joint action on the reduction of tariffs and trade barriers relating to industrial goods other than cars. They also agreed to seek changes in the working of the World Trade Organization. But from the beginning, there has been a conflict over the US insistence that agriculture had to be included, with the EU maintaining that the issue is off the table.

In his Monday press conference, Schinas said the US and the EU should refrain from taking any measures that went against both the letter and the spirit of the July agreement.

President Juncker trusts Presidents Trumps word. The EU will stick to its word as long as the US does the same, he said.

A view in White House economic circles is that the agreement by the EU for talks was only ever a stalling tactic. They believe its objective is to tie the US up in lengthy negotiations, without making any meaningful concessions to Washingtons demands, until the end of the Trump presidency.

The threat of tariffs has also produced alarm in the US auto industry. The Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents auto parts suppliers, warned that tariffs would shrink investment in the US at a time when the industry is being hit by declining sales.

These tariffs, if applied, could move the development and implementation of new automotive technologies offshore, leaving America behind. Not a single company in the domestic auto industry requested this investigation, it said in a statement.

Declaring that it was alarmed and dismayed, the association called for the Commerce Department report to be released. It said secrecy only added to uncertainty and it was critical for the industry to have the opportunity to review the recommendations and advise the White House on how the proposed tariffs, if implemented, would put jobs at risk, impact consumers, and trigger a reduction in US investments that could set us back decades.

Just before Trump received the report, the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR), weighed in with criticism of any tariff move. In a report issued last Friday, CAR said that a worst-case scenario would see the loss of 366,900 jobs in auto and related industries, an increase in the price of light duty vehicle prices by an average of $2,750, including US-built vehicles, and a reduction in US sales of 1.3 million units.

It said major auto groups had indicated that the cumulative effect for the US would be an $83 billion price increase and that there was no evidence auto imports posed a threat to national security.

Matt Blunt, the president of the American Automotive Policy Council, representing the three major US car manufacturers, said: We certainly think it would be very harmful to impose the tariffs. I am unaware of the any organisation, company or entity that thinks broad-based tariffs on autos and parts would be helpful for the US economy or the US auto industry.

The widespread opposition in US industry circles to the Trump tariff threats poses the obvious question: why is the administration pursuing them in defiance of all apparent economic logic?

One factor is that they are viewed as a lever in the trade negotiations to force the EU and Japan to take increased US exports, particularly of agricultural products.

But there is also another, deeper, reason. There are concerns, not only in the Trump administration, but in US ruling circles more broadly, that the impact of the globalisation of production on auto, auto parts and steel, as well with high-tech sectors, has weakened the industrial capacity of the US to wage war.

In other words, that tariff measures are considered necessary to pull production essential to the military back to American soil under conditions in which growing economic and geo-political tensions between the US and its rivals are descending toward confrontation and open conflict.
On Monday, a coalition of 16 Democratic Party-controlled states led by California filed a lawsuit opposing Donald Trumps national emergency declaration to construct a border wall along the US-Mexico border without congressional approval.

The legal challenge, filed by states with a total population of over 130 million, marks a major escalation in the bitter conflict between the pro- and anti-Trump factions in the ruling class. Fundamentally, the legal question the courts will answer is: can the president usurp the powers of the legislature?

On Tuesday, Trump responded to the filing with a tweet denouncing Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left. When Trump announced the national emergency last Friday, he claimed the absolute right to do so and that he expects to do very well in court.

The 16 states have selected a favorable forum for their suit and anticipate the US District Court for the Northern District of California will issue an injunction halting construction of the wall while the case pends. The Trump administration will then appeal this injunction, likely right to the Supreme Court.

After resolving the injunction, the case will be heard on the merits back in district court. Legal analysts widely anticipate the district court and the intermediary appellate court, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, will rule against the national emergency. This will set up a showdown on the Supreme Court, which is solidly conservative, with 5 Republican and 4 Democratic appointees.

It is possible Trump could disobey a lower-court injunction and build the wall using the thousands of soldiers currently deployed to the border. In late 2018, Trump attacked the Ninth Circuit for ruling against his decision to ban asylum applicants crossing the US-Mexico border.

Trump tweeted on November 22: The 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster. It is out of control, has a horrible reputation  Judges must not Legislate Security and safety at the Border, or anywhere else. They know nothing about it and are making our Country unsafe.

The core of the 16 states complaint is that the national emergency declaration violates the constitutional separation of powers because the executive branch is claiming powers to legislate and appropriate funds reserved to the legislature under Article I of the Constitution.

A Supreme Court decision in Trumps favor on this questioneven a deliberately narrow onewould mark a historic break with more than 200 years of constitutional precedent, giving the president powers that are not enumerated in the Constitution and have never been recognized by the judiciary. Such a decision would fatally discredit the court in the eyes of the American population: one reason why the conservative majority may not be prepared to issue a ruling favorable to Trump, in addition to concerns that Trump may not be the most suitable candidate to head an American authoritarian regime.

The fact that Trump has taken such a step and that the Supreme Courts position is uncertain testifies to the far-advanced degeneration of democratic principles in the American ruling class. In the 1974 case US v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled by an 8 to 0 unanimous vote (with Justice Rehnquist recused) establishing that there was no absolute executive privilege and that the president must comply with subpoenas issued by the courts or Congress.

Today, Trumps declaration is being downplayed in the corporate media while leading Democrats refuse to call for his impeachment for illegally usurping the powers of Congress.

While the 16 Democratic states complaint says there is no factual basis for the declaration, it does not challenge the power of the president to declare national emergencies or allocate billions of dollars without congressional authorization in general.

It argues, rather, that the national emergency is not necessary in this case because border apprehensions are declining and because most drugs pass through ports of entry where walls and checkpoints already exist.

Even if the Administration could constitutionally redirect funds toward the construction of the border wall, the complaint reads, this Administration does not satisfy the criteria in the statutes that it invokes to enable it to do so.

The Democratic Party is encouraging the federal courts to issue the narrowest ruling possible so as to not curtail the national emergency powers upon which the military-intelligence agencies that control the Democratic Party rely.

Agencies like the FBI, NSA, CIA and Defense Department draw their political strength from secret actions taken without approval from the courts or Congress. Under the Obama administration, the Democratic Party and the military-intelligence agencies justified unprecedented unconstitutional actsincluding drone assassination of US citizens, mass surveillance and undeclared warson the pseudo-legal ground that the war on terror is a semi-permanent national emergency that renders the Bill of Rights a dead letter.

In a Tuesday New York Times op-ed column titled Why Trumps Emergency Declaration Means Danger for the Courts, Lawfare editor and former Obama national security task-force member Robert Chesney urged the Supreme Court not to set the dangerous judicial precedent of curtailing the national emergency powers of the presidency.

While advising the courts to strike down this national emergency declaration, Chesney warned against throwing the baby out with the bath water in the course of second-guessing the president in this extreme instance, resulting in a temptation of courts to second-guess in less-justified circumstances.

Cautioning against a reckless anti-deference decision, Chesney called for the courts to rule that this is an extremely rare instance in which the courts should block the emergency powers of the president. In other words, the Democratic Partys main aim is to protect and maintain the immense powers of the state from the outsider Trump.

Regardless of the Democrats acceptance of the underlying emergency powers, the lawsuit has sparked a growing conflict between Trump and the state of California, with a population of nearly 40 million.

On Tuesday, Trump announced his administration would demand repayment of some $3.5 billion in federal funds allocated to Californias high speed-rail project, which California Governor Gavin Newsom recently cancelled.

Newsom responded, Its no coincidence that the Administrations threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the Presidents farcical national emergency. This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we wont sit idly by.

However the lawsuit plays out, Trumps declaration of a national emergency is part of his turn toward more open forms of dictatorial rule. He proclaimed in his state of the union address and subsequent speeches that fighting the evil of socialism has become a central component of US foreign and domestic policy.

Across the world, the ruling classes are responding to the international growth of the class struggle by relying more and more on extreme-right forces responsible for the worst crimes of the 20th century. The antidote to this process is the fight to build a powerful, mass movement in the working class for socialist revolution.
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As students begin classes in 2019, universities are increasingly integrated into a military build-up, bound up with Australias frontline role in the escalating US-led confrontation against China.

On October 15 last year, the state Liberal government of New South Wales (NSW) launched the Defence Innovation Network (DIN), aimed at expanding military research at campuses across the state.

The initiative, first announced in late 2017, is part of a broader push by Labor and Liberal-National governments at the state and federal levels to subordinate university research ever more directly to the needs of the arms industry and the military itself.

The network will function as an intermediary between the government, defence companies and universities. NSW Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair stated: This Network will act as a brokerone where it can hear the problems facing industry and find the right people in our universities to solve them. The DIN was initially allocated a $1.25 million budget. By the time of its official launch, the figure had reached $5 million.

Underscoring the importance of DIN, the launch was attended by a number of prominent political, academic and defence industry figures, including Assistant Minister for Defence Senator David Fawcett, Minister Niall Blair and NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte.

The network has been founded under the aegis of the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and the NSW state government, in collaboration with seven major universities: Macquarie University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, the University of Technology, the University of Newcastle, the University of Wollongong, and Western Sydney University.

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) is the Australian Department of Defences principal agency for military research and development. Operating on an annual budget of $400 million and with a staff of 2,300, it works closely with the defence industry, universities and the scientific community to develop military technologies and capabilities.

The DST Group has been instrumental in the militarisation of Australian universities. In 2014, it announced the formation of the Defence Science Partnerships (DSP) program. According to Dr Alex Zelinsky, then the groups chief defence scientist, it would provide a uniform model for universities to engage with Defence on research projects and ensure a consistent approach to intellectual property and cost sharing.

The DST Group has since been working to establish state-wide defence and university networks similar to the DIN. In 2010, it oversaw the formation of the Defence Science Institution (DSI) with the University of Melbourne and the Victorian government. In January 2018, it launched the Defence Innovation Partnership (DIP) in collaboration with the South Australian state government, Adelaide University, the University of South Australia and Flinders University.

The DIN has announced it will fund and promote research projects in the fields of:

AI, cyber, autonomous systems and electronics;

Aerospace, radar, sensors, antennae;

Signal and image processing;

Materials sciences and prototyping;

Mathematical and statistical modelling;

Quantum technologies and intelligence; and

Advanced human performance.

DIN has made the development of advanced drone technologies a central focus of its work.

Drones have become an increasingly important part of US-led wars of aggression throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. They have been used extensively to carry out mass surveillance and targeted killings, which amount to extra-judicial murders.

The network is determined to meet growing demands for new drone technology. Even before the official launch, the DIN contributed $650,000 in funding towards research to resolve problems in drone detection, as well as for the use of artificial intelligence systems in mine detection.

In October last year, DIN announced the Drone on Demand project, which includes researchers from UTS, the University of Sydney and UNSW. The project aims to develop specialised, custom-made drones using 3D printing. Such drones could eventually be built during combat and on the battlefield. The designs are also intended to be stealthier than existing drone models, with special rotor blades to minimise sound.

As well as simplifying the ability of the defence companies to exploit academics and researchers already working at participating universities, the network is seeking to cultivate a layer of academics ready made for the needs of the defence industry and the military.

It currently offers 14 defence scholarships for PhD students, as well as 30 defence internships for PhDs. It has also formed a partnership with the Australian Sciences Institute to provide $230,000 in funding to place 30 specialist PhDs in the defence industry over three years.

The launch of the DIN is another step in Australias preparations for war. The Australian political establishment has committed itself to the US-led confrontation with its geopolitical rivals, especially China and Russia.

In November 2011, Australia, under the Greens-backed federal Labor government, served as the launching pad for the pivot to Asia, a vast US-military build-up directed against China. The Labor government signed a military agreement with then President Barack Obama, providing for the expansion of US basing arrangements and the ever greater integration of the Australian military into the US war machine.

This collaboration has been deepened by every government since. In 2016, the Liberal-National Coalition government, with the full support of the Labor Party opposition, boosted military spending to $495 billion over a decade. Some $195 billion alone is earmarked for military acquisitions.

The advanced technologies that the DIN and similar university defence networks are seeking to develop are viewed by the Australian ruling elite as essential to the catastrophic conflicts that they are preparing.

The expansion of military research has gone hand in hand with ever greater restrictions on research grants.

The federal government has imposed a national interest test for nationally-funded research grants, while cutting overall research funding outside military and intelligence-related fields. The Department of Defence, invoking national security, has demanded the unrestricted ability to prohibit the publication of research, as well the right to warrantless entry, search, questioning and seizure powers to monitor compliance with its decisions.

Successive governments have worked in concert with university management to develop extensive ties between US defence companies and Australian universities. In 2017, Lockheed Martin opened the $13 million Science, Technology, Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab) at Melbourne University. This is the arms manufacturers first multi-disciplinary R&D facility outside the United States.

In October last year, Lockheed announced that it would be the first partner of the University of Adelaides Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), a research centre dedicated to developing artificial intelligence technologies.

Lockheed has the closest ties to the Pentagon. It is involved in developing high weaponry, including the Hellfire-II missiles used extensively in Washingtons wars of aggression.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), as the youth wing of the Socialist Equality Party and the world Trotskyist movement, is committed to the fight to build an international anti-war movement of the working class, directed against the source of conflict, the capitalist system.

As part of this struggle, the IYSSE over the coming year will expand its exposures of the militarisation of universities and fight to mobilise students, staff and academics against the subordination of their campuses to the war preparations of the ruling elite.

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Thousands of teachers in Morocco were attacked by government security forces Wednesday as they demonstrated for higher pay and greater job security in the capital city of Rabat. Hundreds were injured after police opened fire with water cannon and waded into crowds swinging their batons.

The demonstration was held as part of a general strike by Moroccan workers to commemorate protests that broke out in the country eight years ago, on February 20, 2011.

The police opened fire with water cannon and charged the protesters when they approached the Royal Palace of King Mohammed VI. Dozens of teachers were taken by ambulance to local hospitals after they had been beaten to the ground in the police charges.

The public school teachers marched through the capital city to protest fixed-term contractsa form of contract laborfirst imposed by the government in 2016. Many wore white robes, the traditional garb of teachers, and carried hand-made signs with both workplace grievances and political slogans. The contract workers receive no health benefits or pensions, and they earn an average of $454 a month (about 400 euros).

Teacher Naima Kalaii told Agence France Presse, We are doing a peaceful march, but unfortunately, the police are cracking down on us. Teachers are falling to the ground. Teachers are being insulted. Our message is education. Stop the injustice.

Demonstrators carried banners reading, No to the dismantling of public schools, and Im a Teacher, I earn 400 a month, but they also displayed political signs and chanted slogans against the brutal monarchical regime, including End the dictatorship, Mafia government and Freedom for political prisoners.

Numerous teachers wore orange jumpsuits and carried signs identifying themselves as teachers of jail cell number 9, because they are locked into the ninth pay grade and cannot receive any additional salary above the abysmally low maximum. They demanded the right to be promoted to the tenth pay grade with compensation backdated to 2013, when the present system was introduced.

The march was organized by the Moroccan National Coordination of Teachers (CNPCC) and mobilized teachers from many other cities besides Rabat, including Tenghir, Azilal, Taroudant, Agadir, Tiznit and Chishawah. Protest strikes began Monday and were scheduled to take place throughout the week.

Other workers took part in similar protests in Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, Al Hoceima, Chefchaouen, Larache, Ksar-el-Kebir, Fez, Guelmim, Tetouan and Sefrou.

The protests are expected to culminate in massive marches on Sunday, February 24.
Speaking at the February 11 fascistic rally in El Paso, staged to promote a border wall, Donald Trump, Jr. revved up a hand-picked right-wing crowd for his father by proclaiming that loser teachers were indoctrinating babies from birth with socialism.

With background chants of USA, USA, the presidents oldest son stated, I love seeing some young conservatives because I know its not easy. Keep up that fight. Bring it to your schools. You dont have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth. You can think for yourselves. They cant.

With teacher strikes continuing to escalate across the US, including West Virginia and California, Trump Jr.s provocative remarks express the ruling classs deep fear of the growing popularity of socialism and the rise of the class struggle. Adding teachers to his ever-growing enemies list, Trumps crisis-ridden regimes turn to McCarthyite red-baiting is inseparably linked with plans for repression, symbolized by the demand for a militarized wall with Mexico. The undercurrent of fascistic violence came to the surface when one of Trumps supporters attacked a BBC cameraman at the rally.

Hysterical attacks on socialism were a major component of Trumps State of the Union speech, which was followed by a declaration of a global war on communism and socialism in a bellicose speech at Florida International University in Miami. Such fascistic appeals increasingly characterize the administration, with the president reiterating some 36 times in his short Miami speech the words socialism or communism.

As the WSWS noted at the time of the State of the Union, while the the anti-socialist nightmares of the ruling elite were [previously] focused on the Soviet Union, China or another foreign country. Under Trump, these fears were directed against an internal enemy, radicalized American workers and youth.

For good reason, the ruling elites face an increasingly angry and combative working class. In 2018, nearly half a million American workers went on strikethe highest figure since 1986, the greatest change in a generation. This resurgence of the class struggle is part of a worldwide upsurgefrom the Yellow Vests in France and the insurgent strike by maquiladoras workers in Matamoros, Mexico, to massive struggles on virtually every continent.

Teachers, who constituted the majority of strikers in the US last year, represent a danger to the gilded aristocracy not just by force of numbers, but most especially because they have begun to take independent action in defiance of the unions. While the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) have systematically sought to weaken and divide teachers by preventing or isolating strikes, such struggles are not letting up.

On the contrary, West Virginia teacherswhose courageous strike one year ago galvanized teachers across the countryhave walked out again, demanding the withdrawal of a legislative plan to charterize schools in the state, the fulfillment of promises broken over the last year, and real improvements in public education. Arizona teachers, who struck for six days last spring, have been vocally calling for renewed walkouts should the governor fail to deliver on promised pay increases this year. In Oklahoma, the site of a 10-day strike last spring, teachers are demanding at least a $3,000 additional pay bump this year.

These struggles again are being driven by workers from below, while the unions operate as political police, seeking to contain the class struggle. When asked about a renewed walkout in Oklahoma, the union told local media, the OEA [Oklahoma Education Association] is aggressively working with lawmakers to make sure that doesnt happen.

Nothing has been resolved in any of the previous strikesas schools continue to reel under the impact of decades of budget cuts. Oakland teachers will strike today, and new struggles threaten to erupt in virtually every school district in the country.

Moreover, parents, young people and the population as a whole have registered their overwhelming approval of these long-overdue struggles, with polls showing upwards of 80 percent in favor of walkouts. In Denver and Los Angeles, the strikes were complemented by sit-down protests and rallies by thousands of students. Young people are indeed increasingly politicized and identifying as socialists.

For Trump and his ilk, public education, like all social rights, is socialism. This oligarchy sees any incursion on their ability to profit as intolerable. It hates educators because they are standing in the way of the financial rewards anticipated in the plundering of the $4 trillion education market. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks firmly for this policy when demanding choicei.e., the destruction of what she views as compulsory education.

Teachers launched a firestorm of anger at Trumps remarks. One commented on the Washington Post report, Socialism sounds pretty good to me, especially if it involves health care and retirement security for everyone. Gina Canevi wrote a blog in Education Week emphasizing that teachers will not be intimidated. I believe in health care for all and higher living wages. I also believe that public education is a social good, not a market-driven exercise. So, if that makes me a socialist, so be it.

In contrast, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has made no comment about Trumps rant on loser teachers preaching socialism. Far from defending teachers against red-baiting, Weingarten (annual salary $543,000) is a rabid anti-communist and would no doubt agree that socialist teachers have no business in the classroom.

There is a long and ugly history to the unions adoption of anti-communism and its corollary, the suppression of the class struggle. Weingarten was the protege of the long-time president of the AFT, Albert Shanker, a particularly vicious opponent of socialism who supported the Vietnam War, partnered with the CIA campaign to subvert Latin American unions, and assisted in the illegal US Contra War in Nicaragua. A fervent supporter of the reactionary anti-Russia campaign, Weingarten also held a secret meeting with former Trump strategist and open fascist Stephen Bannon in 2017 to discuss mutual investment projects.

Moreover, the AFTs seat at the table and access to government-sanctioned dues-checkoff was solidified by purging socialist teachers. In 1941, it pulled the charters of three New York and Philadelphia locals citing their socialist and communist leadership, expelling one-third of their membership, approximately 8,000 teachers. When the state of New York enacted the Feinberg Law and summoned hundreds of public school teachers to House Un-American Activities-style hearings between 1949 and 1958, the AFT stood by, allowing educators to be driven from the profession. Alongside this political censorship on behalf of the government, the AFT prevented strikes, abetting the long legacy of poverty wages for teachers.

In line with the class interests of a union leadership that takes home five or even ten times the income of an ordinary teacher, the AFT is downplaying the significance of the US turn to authoritarian and dictatorial policies. On the occasion of Trump declaring a national state of emergency, the AFT issued a statement complacently describing it as a fake emergency and calling for Congress to hold Trump accountable. They suggest that it is merely an election stunt and that Trump is pouting.

Friedrich Engels, the co-founder with Karl Marx of scientific socialism, once said: Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.

These words have never been truer than today. As America teeters on dictatorship, the Trump administration reflects not an aberration, but a worldwide danger of world war and fascism. This phenomenon expresses not the strength of capitalism, but its dead-end and intractable crisis.

Emerging on the scene of history is the mighty international working class. The objective logic of the class struggle is bringing that working class into a direct confrontation with the capitalist profit system. The fascistic threats of the Trump administration are an urgent warning. The defense of all basic rights including public education requires an end to imperialist wars, social inequality and the ever-more rapacious profit system. Teachers, take the next step and join the Socialist Equality Party.
Democratic State Senator Audrey Gibson and other Jacksonville area politicians have called for a variety of repressive measures, including city-wide curfews and the deployment of the National Guard in response to a spike in homicides in recent weeks.

There were 13 shootings in Jacksonville from Thursday of last week through Sunday. Six of those resulted in homicides.

Four people were shot and two killed, including a 14-year-old, in a single incident on Thursday evening when a fistfight between two women at a local park escalated into an exchange of gunfire among the spectators, according to the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office (JSO).

On Saturday, there were three homicides, including a 41-year-old woman who was allegedly murdered by a 46-year-old woman whom she had history with, according to the JSO. The other victims were a 27-year-old man killed in a drive-by shooting and a 19-year-old man slain in an incident in front of an at-home barbershop, according to police. Another man was also wounded in that shooting.

On Sunday, a 42-year-old man was killed and his female companion critically injured in a shooting inside a home. Another man was shot three times on Sunday by armed carjackers but was expected to survive.

Since January 1st, there have been 26 murders in Jacksonville, the most of any city in Florida. There were 126 homicides in Jacksonville in 2018.

At a press conference held on Monday, State Senator Gibson and Representative Tracie Davis, both Democrats and in whose districts some of the shootings occurred, called for the militarization of the city in response to the violence, including instituting a citywide curfew of 10 p.m. for all residents and bringing in the Florida Highway Patrol to help police the city.

Gibson also suggested that the National Guard be deployed in the city, an act that would require an order from Floridas Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

I dont have a problem calling out the National Guard. I am not interested so much in having armed guardsmen on every corner, but we need to have a bigger presence in this citywhatever that looks like. I know some people will want to be a little bit jittery about that, but we are not safe, bringing in the Guard is certainly an option, Gibson told reporters.

Davis also told the media she would advocate for more public surveillance cameras to be installed throughout the city and would ask city officials to expand upon the existing shot-spotter technology.

Davis and Gibson were joined at the press conference by Anna Lopez Brosche, a Republican city councilwoman who is running against Republican Mayor Lenny Curry in next months mayoral elections. Brosche has campaigned heavily on the issue of crime in the city, blaming the incumbent mayor for failing to stop the surge in violence in recent years.

The call for the suspension of democratic rights in response to the recent killings is a demonstration of the political orientation of Gibson and Davis. Urging city officials to declare a state of urgency emergency, the Democratic party operatives would have citizens believe that it is a lack of effective policing, rather than the vast levels of social inequality within the city, that is responsible for the citys high crime rate.

For decades, politicians in Florida have echoed the national trend of increasing funding for law enforcement at the expense of vital social needs. At the same time, the living conditions of the working class in Jacksonville and throughout the state have stagnated or declined.

Jacksonvilles official poverty rate of 17 percent, representing 142,385 people, exceeds the state average of 16.1 percent. For adolescents, the rate is higher still, with 22.4 percent aged 12 to 17 and 27.6 percent of children age six and younger under the poverty line.

Residents of Jacksonville are already subjected to oppressive levels of policing. Mass patrols, arbitrary traffic stops, and stop-and-frisk tactics are features of everyday life in the citys poorest neighborhoods.

An article published in 2017 by the Florida Times-Union and ProPublica headlined Walking While Black exposed the JSOs use of pedestrian ticketscitations issued for jaywalking and similar crimesas a pretext to harass and intimidate the citys poor and minority populations.

Citing statistics drawn from the previous five years, the article found that pedestrian citations were disproportionately issued to blacks, almost all of them in the citys poorest neighborhoods. In the last five years, blacks received 55 percent of all pedestrian tickets in Jacksonville, while only accounting for 29 percent of the population. Residents of the citys three poorest zip codes were about six times as likely to receive a pedestrian citation as those living in the citys other, more affluent 34 zip codes.

The report also found that many of the citations were issued illegally, including six tickets written for not carrying an ID while walking, which is not a crime. It stated that of the 658 tickets issued by Jacksonville police from 2012 to 2017 for crossing the street while not in a crosswalk, 353 were issued in error. Undersheriff Bob Ivey all but admitted that the citations were issued as an excuse to harass and search poor residents, telling ProPublica, Shame on him, that gives me a legal reason to stop him.

More recently, in a blatantly anti-democratic operation, JSO officers charged nine men with felonies for brandishing guns in rap videos posted online. All nine men were charged with being felons in possession of a firearm, even though none were in possession of guns at the time of their arrest and it is impossible to prove whether the guns featured in the various videos were real or not.

It is notable that the call by Jacksonville Democrats to declare a state of urgency emergency comes only a week after President Trump declared his own state of emergency to bypass Congress and build a wall along the southern border. Like their Republican counterparts, the Democrats have nothing but contempt for constitutional protections and will utilize any excuse to institute police state measures.
Last night, the George Washington University Program on Extremism reported that federal authorities have arrested a 49-year-old Coast Guard Lieutenant, Christopher Paul Hasson, who was plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against socialist groups, Democratic Party politicians and media personalities.

Hasson is a neo-Nazi whose self-proclaimed idol is Anders Breivik, the Norwegian fascist terrorist who killed 77 people in a 2011 attack on a youth camp of the Norwegian Labour Party. A supporter of Donald Trump, Hasson was stockpiling a small arsenal of weapons and researching how to attack left-wing groups and how to prepare for civil war if the president is impeached.

Hasson is not a backcountry lone wolf but an officer who, until last week, was working at Coast Guard headquarters in the heart of Washington, D.C. According to court filings in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, Hasson was a Marine from 1988 to 1993 and then spent two years on active duty in the Army National Guard.

The first sentence of the filings reads, The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.

These initial court documents only provide a small window into Hassons plans. What they do show is that Hasson was performing Google searches for socialist groups that he wanted to attack.

Prosecutors included a list of groups and public figures who Hasson wanted to target in their filings. These include the DSA, a reference to the Democratic Socialists of America, as well as DSA-aligned Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Hasson also wrote that Sen blumen jew was on his hit list, an apparent reference to Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). Hasson included a number of mostly African-American and Jewish politicians and media personalities on his list of targets.

Since 2017, Hasson had been stockpiling weapons. His Silver Springs, Maryland residence was raided on February 15 and federal agents recovered 15 firearms, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition and an extensive electronic library of fascist propaganda.

Hasson was inspired by the 2017 Nazi attack at Charlottesville, Virginia, when a fascist drove into a crowd of protesters, killing anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer.

At the time, the court filing says Hasson wrote a letter to an unidentified leader of the American neo-Nazi movement in which Hasson says, I am a long time White Nationalist, having been a skinhead 30 plus years ago before my time in the military I fully support the idea of a white homeland.

He wrote that liberalist/globalist ideology is destroying traditional peoples (especially) white, according to prosecutors. Hasson added, No way to counteract without violence. It should push for more crack down bringing more people to our side. Much blood will have to be spilled to get whitey off the couch. For some no amount of blood will be enough. They will die as will the traitors who actively work toward our demise.

Hasson also made thousands of visits to Nazi websites from January 2017 to January 2019.

The federal filing notes that Hasson was inspired by the manifesto written by Breivik before he carried out the 2011 attack.

Among the deadly mistakes Breivik lists in his manifesto, cited by prosecutors, is to select an overwhelmingly protected individual as a target for assassination. Twelve failed attempts on an extremely well-protected individual could have alternatively been 12 successful attacks on lesser targets executing more than 50 primary targets. Targets should be influential media personalitiesmulticultural politicians, journalists/editors, cultural Marxist professors, Marxist writers/artists Obviously, focus on individuals who do not have armed guards.

This fascist detritus is the social layer that Trump is whipping up with his anti-immigrant and anti-socialist rants. On Monday, Trump declared before a crowd of extreme right-wing Cuban and Venezuelan exiles that communism and socialism must be defeated. The twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere, he said, reading words written by his fascistic advisor Stephen Miller.

Trump has also intensified threats of physical violence against public figures who have spoken out in opposition to his presidency. Last week, Trump tweeted that he wanted retribution against Alec Baldwin, the actor who parodies Trump on Saturday Night Live. This clear incitement to physical violence was downplayed by the corporate press.

On October 27, 2018, a Trump supporter opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing eleven people and wounding seven in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history. The killer stated explicitly in online statements that he was motivated by Trumps attack on immigrants and that he wanted to make the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), of which Tree of Life was a part, pay the price for helping migrants.

HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people, he wrote. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

In August 2017, after the Charlottesville attack, Trump praised the neo-Nazi rioters as very fine people and denounced the alt-left for protesting the Nazis. What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt-right, do they have any semblance of guilt?

The arrest also raises questions about the prevalence of fascist and far-right forces within the US military.

It is difficult to believe the Coast Guard was unaware of Hassons fascist sympathies considering he worked in Coast Guard headquarters, would have been subject to detailed background checks and held fascist views for decades. In September 2018, the Coast Guard was forced to respond to widespread criticism when a Coast Guard member flashed a neo-Nazi hand symbol on television during Hurricane Florence.

While there is not a mass base for such attacks, these revelations are an urgent warning for the working class. The ruling class is cultivating fascist forces who are preparing acts of violence against the political left. A powerful movement from below must be built to defend the working class from the threats of these fascist thugs.
The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) and organisations linked to it are seeking to divert a protracted struggle by plantation workers for decent wages and improved conditions into futile appeals to the estate owners and the Sri Lankan government.

The pseudo-left formations campaign is a response to the deepening crisis of the Sri Lankan ruling elite and the growing hostility of estate workers to the plantation trade unions. The FSP is determined to prevent plantation workers from breaking with the unions and developing an independent struggle against the employers, the government and the capitalist system.

Over 100,000 estate workers struck for nine days last December to demand a 1,000-rupee daily wage ($US5.50)a 100 percent increase. The nationwide walkout was betrayed by the plantation unions which ended the strike.

In January, with government support, the unions signed a backroom agreement with the plantation companies. The sell-out deal included a nominal wage risefrom 500 to 700 rupeesbut tied it to backbreaking productivity increases.

The FSP was established in 2012 by a breakaway faction of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which had been thoroughly discredited by its support for Colombos communalist war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the governments attacks on democratic rights. FSP founders declared that they had differences with the JVP and claimed to have engaged in self-criticism and to have moved to the left.

The FSP has called for a broad left alliance involving its front groupsthe so-called 1,000 [rupee] movement, the Estate Workers Centre, the Centre of Workers Struggles, the National Struggle Centreand other left groups and the trade unions as well as the JVP.

On February 4, the FSPs Estate Workers Centre (EWC) held a conference in the plantation town of Bandarawela, alongside a series of public meetings.

FSP leader and EWC secretary Duminda Nagamuwas address to the February 4 conference was politically revealing.

Nagamuwa commented on the dire social conditions in the estates, contrasting them with the huge profits being made the plantation companies. Paying estate workers a 1,000-rupee daily wage, he proclaimed, would not create any problems. He also criticised the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) for signing the sell-out collective agreement.

In typical opportunist fashion, Nagamuwa proclaimed that that the best opportunities for winning a 1,000-rupee daily basic wage are at hand.

The most important of these opportunities, he said, were forthcoming elections, including for the presidency, over the next nine months.

All political parties will come to demand your vote. If we can build a broad mass movement in the coming months we can win, he said. Nagamuwa referred to the backing of the 1,000 movement by the unions, student groups and other organisations.

In other words, the FSPs broad front campaign is directed towards pressuring the government, the capitalist parties and the companies into granting the plantation workers demand for a 1,000-rupee daily basic wage. This is a cynical attempt to revive illusions that have been shattered by the bitter experiences of workers over the past four months alone.

While reaping huge profits, the plantation companies face intense competition from other tea-producing countries and want drastic increases in production and cuts in labour costs, to protect their bottom line. This is indicated by the paltry daily wage increase in the collective agreement and new, even more ruthless, productivity demands.

Other members of the FSPs 1,000 movement, include the pro-capitalist Movement for Agriculture and Land Reform (Monlar), the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU), the Free Trade Zone and General Workers Union (FTZGWU) and the so-called Praxis Collective.

Monlar and other NGOs, together with the CTU, FTZGWU and various fake left organisations, fully endorsed the US-orchestrated regime change operation to bring Maithripala Sirisena to power in the 2015 presidential election. Washington was hostile to President Mahinda Rajapakse and backed his ouster because of his political relations with Beijing.

The CTU and the FTZGWU have a long and sordid record of betraying workers in their respective sectors. For its part, the Praxis Collective looks to Chantal Mouffe, a leading theoretician of so-called left populism who backed Syriza in Greece. The Syriza government has imposed the dictates of the European banks and financial institutions for crippling austerity measures targeting the working class and the poor.

The defining feature of all these formations, including the FSP, is their hostility to the fight for socialism and their acute nervousness over the growing rebellion of workers, in Sri Lanka and internationally, against the trade unions.

Most of the protests and strikes in the plantations over the past four months erupted in defiance of the unions.

Sri Lankas plantation unionsthe CWC, the LJEWU, the National Union of Workers, the Democratic Peoples Front and the Up-country Peoples Frontare thoroughly discredited because they function as an industrial police force for the plantation companies. Most of the union heads have been appointed ministers in past or present capitalist governments.

This is why the Socialist Equality Partys call for the establishment of independent workers action committees won important support and was taken up by plantation workers at the Abbotsleigh Estate.

Plantation workers need to beware of the pseudo-left FSP and its various associates. Notwithstanding their criticisms of the plantation unions, these groups oppose workers organising as an independent political force.

The FSP urges estate workers to build a common trade union to fight for the right to land, a house and a private address, and to win a monthly wage, but does not advance a socialist and internationalist perspective. In other words, the pseudo-left organisation is seeking to subordinate plantation workers to the capitalist system that is responsible for the social crisis they confront.

In reality, decades of experience have demonstrated that plantation workers cannot improve their living and social conditions and have a decent life while the large plantations are owned and controlled by the corporations.

The escalating assaults on estate workers by the plantation companies and the government are part of a broader onslaught against the working class and its basic rights in every country.

The government confronts a mounting debt crisis and is totally committed to implementing the austerity demands of the International Monetary Fund, including job destruction, the privatisation of state-owned industries and the gutting of welfare programs and subsidies to the poor.

The only way the working class and the poor can improve their living standards and secure a decent future is for the large plantations, banks and major companies to be placed under public ownership and workers control. This requires the fight for a workers and peasants government based on a revolutionary socialist program. Such a struggle can only be carried forward by uniting with the international working class.

Nationalist organisations such like the FSP are hostile to such a program. The FSP promoted illusions in Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain from the outset. It hailed them as models for broad popular movements and then covered up their attacks on Greek and Spanish workers. The FSP is taking the same reactionary path in Sri Lanka.

The SEP urges workers, young people and progressive intellectuals to reject the political trap being set by the FSP and attend the conference called by the Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee on March 17 at Hatton Town Hall. The conference, which is entitled The lessons of the plantation workers struggle and the way forward to win wages and social rights, is aimed at opening up a genuine political discussion on the issues facing estate workers.

The author also recommends:

Sri Lankan SEP rejects Frontline Socialist Party invitation for a dialogue of lefts

[23 November 2013]

The Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) replies to the United Socialist Party

[14 August 2015]
On Tuesday night, the big-business Socialist Party (PS) called rallies in several cities after an altercation Saturday between right-wing ex-Maoist commentator Alain Finkielkraut and a protester wearing a yellow vest. The man, known to French intelligence for his Islamist ties, called Finkielkraut a dirty Zionist. Since then, the media have mounted a furious campaign to denounce the anti-Semitic left and demand that the yellow vests support the PS demonstration.

Anti-Semitism is a reactionary and repugnant ideology, indissolubly tied to fascism and the worst genocide of world history: the massacre of the Jews in fascist Europe. The mass murder of six million Jews, including nearly all the over 76,000 Jews deported from France to Nazi death camps, with the active assistance of the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime, is a horrific crime that cannot and will not ever be forgotten. The struggle against any trace of anti-Semitic influence is part of the essential work of any socialist organization of the working class.

But the PS is in no position to lecture anyone about anti-Semitism. Examining the reactionary record of the PS and of President Emmanuel Macrons Republic on the March (LRM) party exposes their pretenses to oppose anti-Semitism as a political fraud. While they mount a campaign to tar the entire yellow vest movement against social inequality as genocidal and racist, and to discredit rising opposition in the working class across Europe, they are themselves appealing to racism and strengthening neo-fascistic tendencies.

The PS invited virtually the entire French political establishment to join its protest. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and 23 other LRM ministers participated, together with former Presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. The Stalinist French Communist Party (PCF), the Greens, the Democratic Movement of Francois Bayrou, the leader of the right-wing Republicans (LR) party Laurent Wauquiez and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan of the Arise France (DLF) party, allied to neo-fascist leader Marine Le Pen, all attended.

The PS leader, Olivier Faure, invited Marine Le Pen, saying she would be welcome. He refused to invite her National Rally (RN) party, stating that its entire history is precisely bound up with the question of anti-Semitism and racism. Faure wanted to get the support of Vichys political descendants against the yellow vests, but without unmasking his own fraudulent maneuver by letting figures like Marines father Jean-Marie, who has been convicted of making anti-Semitic statements, attend a rally supposedly called against anti-Semitism.

Le Pen ultimately did not attend the rally. The RN published a communique refusing to march alongside organizations and politicians who either have done nothing against the spread of Islamist networks in popular neighborhoods, or encouraged them, or even discuss them in a criminal and irresponsible doublespeak.

While the yellow vest protesters have mobilized with the support of most of the French population against Macron, the PS is mobilizing the government with the support of the political establishment against the yellow vests, while making its deals with anti-Semitic forces. It received broad support in official circles. Alongside the Freemasonry, the unions sent top officials to the PS protest, after having called off strikes in order to isolate the yellow vest protests.

At the rally, General Confederation of Labor (CGT) chief Philippe Martinez again denounced the yellow vests, whom he had slandered as neo-fascists before their first protest on November 17 in order to justify the unions decision to shut down strikes in solidarity with their actions. He called for CGT members to join the PS protest, however. There, he asserted that the yellow vests racism has shocked me from the beginning of the protests, and a small part of the yellow vest movement is poisoning the rest.

The only sections of the political establishment that were not welcome were those who did not fall in line with the media campaign slandering the yellow vests. Unsubmissive Frances Jean-Luc Melenchon complained he had not been invited. He was the target of a media campaign for having criticized the political exploitation of the struggle against racism and anti-Semitism by the PS. But Melenchon, a former PS minister, finally decided to join in this act of political exploitation and participate in the PS rally in Marseille.

PS-LRM propaganda against anti-Semitism is hypocritical and corrupt to the bone. The recent rise of anti-Semitic crimes across Europe is an extremely serious phenomenon; they have increased 60 percent over the last year in Germany and 69 percent in France. But it is impossible to fight against the rise of anti-Semitism without fighting the entire ruling class and the capitalist system.

In Germany, official statistics highlight the role of the far right, which is responsible for a large majority of such crimes. But the far right is prospering with the tacit support of Germanys Grand Coalition government, whose Interior Minister Horst Seehofer infamously hailed neo-Nazi riots in Chemnitz during which a Jewish restaurant was attacked.

In France, the PS and Macrons LRM government that emerged from it in 2017 have played the central role in legitimizing the heritage of French political anti-Semitism.

Hollande twice invited Marine Le Pen to the Elysee presidential palace. These were the first times a neo-fascist politician had been invited to the Elysee. At the same time, he sought to inscribe in the constitution deprivation of nationality, the legal mechanism that Vichy used to deport the Jews to the death camps and justify repressing the Resistance. Finally, last November Macron hailed Philippe Petain, the head of the Vichy regime that approved these deportations.

The target of all these policies that reinforce anti-Semitism is growing opposition in the working class. Alongside the yellow vest protests in France, strikes in Portugal, Belgium and Germany are unfolding. The ruling class is terrified, and it is seeking to foment by all means necessary the political conditions to more broadly carry out repression.

Thus PS Prime Minister Manuel Valls attended a rally in Madrid of the Spanish right-wing parties including the new fascist party, Vox. This demonstration aimed to install a right-wing coalition government that would include Voxa party that defends the record of fascist dictator Francisco Francos army during the civil war, that is, the use of mass murder against left-wing workers.

The yellow vest movement expresses the rejection by workers and significant layers of the middle classes of policies that have been imposed in Europe over decades. It is critical now to draw political lessons. After three decades of growing imperialist war since the Stalinist dissolution of the USSR in 1991, and a decade of deep austerity since the 2008 crash, capitalism is in a mortal crisis. The growth of anti-Semitism is again indissolubly bound up with this crisis of capitalism.

The struggle against it requires a conscious break with all these political tendencies that legitimize anti-Semitism while claiming to fight it, and a struggle to build a Trotskyist vanguard in the working class. Faure sought to present the PS as the historic opponent of anti-Semitism by mentioning the participation of PS founder Francois Mitterrand in a protest against the defacing of a cemetery in Carpentras in 1990. In fact, this example refutes his arguments.

Mitterrand, an ex-Vichy official, cynically participated as a scandal erupted about his continuing ties to Rene Bousquet, the Vichy chief of police who organized the Vel dHiv mass round-up of Jews for deportation in 1942. This scandal illustrated that the alliance formed between the PCF, petty bourgeois Pabloite forces like todays New Anticapitalist Party, and the PS after the May 1968 general strike was a reactionary trap for the workers movement. It handed over the working class bound hand-and-foot to the PS, a bourgeois party pursuing austerity and militarist policies.

Thirty years later, the descendants of these parties are tacitly promoting anti-Semitism to poison the political atmosphere, all the while cynically claiming to combat it.

The Parti de legalite socialiste (PES) bases its policy on the growing international upsurge of the class struggle, of which the yellow vest movement is one expression in France. It fights anti-Semitism by seeking to arm the working class with a Marxist and internationalist, that is to say Trotskyist program to fight for political power, against Stalinist and Pabloite tendencies that have capitulated to capitalism, which is rotting on its feet.
Statistics shedding light on dangerous political developments in Germany were released over the past week. Antisemitic crimes and acts of violence have risen sharply over the past year. According to the latest figures from the federal government, police forces across the country registered 1,646 antisemitic criminal acts during 2018. This is 10 percent more than in 2017. For that year, the federal government registered 1,504 antisemitic attacks.

The number of antisemitic acts of violence grew even more quickly last year, by 40 percent. While the police confirmed 62 violent crimes in 2018, it was 37 a year earlier.

The figures were provided in answers by the grand coalition to parliamentary questions tabled by the Left Party on antisemitic criminality. The answer also revealed that the largest number of antisemitic violent crimes were perpetrated by individuals associated with the far-right spectrum. Out of 755 criminal acts categorised as antisemitic, 670 were labelled politically motivated crimes (PMKs). Twenty-five are listed as PMK-foreign ideology, 17 as PMK-religious ideology, and eight as PMK-left-wing.

These extremely concerning figures were barely noted by the political establishment and mainstream media. Most newspapers published brief news items, and neither the German chancellor nor leading politicians from the government or opposition parties made statements. At the government press conference on February 13, Interior Ministry spokesperson Soren Schmidt dismissed the question of how these attacks were to be explained and what was being done to prevent them by saying that the governments antisemitism ombudsman was looking into the matter. He had no further comment to make at this time.

The published figures are obviously a major irritant for the establishment parties. The figures expose the lying official claim, supported by the far-right AfD, that antisemitism in Germany has been imported, and is linked above all to Muslim immigrants. As the statistics reveal, the vast majority of antisemitic incidents are not linked to religious or foreign ideology, let alone left-wing groups, but are the responsibility of the far right.

The rise of antisemitic crimes is part of a growing wave of far-right violence. According to the latest figures on right-wing criminality published by the Interior Ministry, there were 19,105 crimes committed between January and November 2018 that were classified as PMK-right-wing, including 1,072 acts of violence. In addition, one successful and six attempted murders motivated by right-wing politics took place. The real number is likely much higher.

Most of the right-wing criminality and acts of violence last year occurred in September. During this month, neo-Nazis repeatedly marched through Chemnitz to witch-hunt foreigners and left-wing opponents. During the right-wing extremist marches, antisemitic attacks also occurred. In one of these incidents, a neo-Nazi mob attacked the Jewish restaurant Schalom. At the time, there was no outcry in the media or political establishment. On the contrary, leading government officials, including Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and former head of the domestic intelligence agency Hans-Georg Maassen, declared their solidarity with the right-wing extremist protests, and denied that any violent attacks took place.

The figures that have now been published are an indictment of the German government and the entire ruling class, which have created the conditions in which violent right-wing extremist thugs and antisemites are able to act ever more aggressively. The established parties are promoting and defending the right-wing extremist AfD, cooperating with it in parliamentary committees, and embracing its programme so as to enforce militarist policies, the strengthening of the domestic repressive apparatus and social spending cuts.

The grand coalitions refugee policy is just as heavily influenced by the AfD as its strengthening of the police, intelligence agencies, and military. The grand coalitions Verfassungsschutz Report, issued by the domestic intelligence agency, also bears the AfDs imprint. While the AfD and its right-wing extremist supporters are merely mentioned as the victims of alleged left-wing extremism, all opposition to capitalism, nationalism, militarism, and imperialism is denounced as left-wing extremist and unconstitutional. The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) is taking legal action against surveillance by German secret service.

In his book, Why Are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy, and the Return of Fascism in Germany, SGP Deputy National Secretary Christoph Vandreier examines in detail how the AfDs rise was systematically prepared ideologically and politically by the intelligence agencies, political parties, the media and university professors. This created the intellectual environment within which fascism could thrive once again almost 75 years after the collapse of the Third Reich.

In the first chapter, The return of German militarism, Vandreier deals with what is in a certain sense a programmatic article, The transformation of the past, which appeared in Der Spiegel in early 2014. Authored by Dirk Kurbjuweit, who was subsequently promoted to the position of deputy editor-in-chief of Germanys largest news magazine, the article appealed for a revision of the crimes of German imperialism in the twentieth century. As key witnesses in support of this transformation, Kurbjuweit cited the right-wing Humboldt University historian Jorg Baberowski, and the best-known Nazi apologist of the post-war period, Ernst Nolte.

He cited Nolte as saying, among other things, I am more and more convinced that we should attach more weight to the role played by the Poles and the British [in the question of responsibility for triggering World War II] than is usually the case. Nolte also accused the Jews of  Their own part in the gulag, because some Bolsheviks were Jews. Although Kurbjuweit remarked that this has long been an argument of jew haters, he went on to comment, But this man [Nolte] wasnt wrong about everything. He then cited Baberowski, a firm supporter of Nolte, who stated, Hitler was not a psychopath, he was not vicious. He did not want to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table.

Baberowskis breathtaking falsification of history and downplaying of Nazi crimes met with no opposition whatsoever from academia and the media, wrote Vandreier in Why are They Back? He then dealt with the reasons for this. The sharp shift to the right in intellectual life in Germany cannot be explained by referring to the spinelessness of a few professors. Behind this quiescence lies a fundamental development: the return of German militarism. The falsification of history prepares the ground for new wars.

It is now commonplace for right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis to ridicule the Nazis victims without any protests coming from the political establishment or media. At the end of January, AfD parliamentary deputy Marc Jongen delivered a fascist speech following the annual parliamentary commemoration of the Holocaust in which he relativised the Nazis crimes. Prior to this, AfD deputies in the Bavarian state parliament boycotted a Holocaust commemoration event. And on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Polish right-wing extremists demonstrated on the grounds of the former concentration camp and shouted anti-Semitic slogans.

In contrast to the 1930s, fascism is not yet a mass movement. But it is equally as dangerous due to the support it enjoys from high places. The most important lesson of German history is that the struggle against fascism, antisemitism and militarism is inseparable from the fight against their source, the capitalist system, and against all defenders of this bankrupt system. This is the perspective of the SGP. The SGP is running candidates in the European elections to arm the opposition of workers and young people to the far-right danger with a socialist programme.
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Mary Ann Phillips, 65 and a lifelong Wrangell resident, passed away February 5, 2019 in Zihuantanejo, Mexico while on vacation with her family.

She was born on November 18, 1953 in Bishop Rowe Hospital to Maurice and Mary Buness.

She attended Wrangell Public Schools until her family moved to the Tacoma area in 1964. She returned to Wrangell with them in January 1970 and made her home here since. After graduating from Wrangell High School, she attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

She married her high school sweetheart Vern Phillips, of Wrangell, on June 16, 1972 in the First Presbyterian Church. She had to two sons, Dustin and Scott Phillips, both of Wrangell. An important part of Ann's family was Dustin's significant other Kayla, and children Hailey and Michael.

She worked for her family's insurance business, then Vern and Ann bought and worked a fish tender for a few years until the Phillips family established Sea Level Seafoods in 1985. She was a permanent fixture in the office and in June of 2018, she retired after 33 years. She enjoyed running up the Stikine River with Vern, family, music, filling the porch of her home with colorful flowers, friends, sunbathing and vacationing in Mexico.

Taking after her mother, she was locally famous for her wonderful cooking and entertaining. For many years she organized the cuisine for the Stikine Sportsmens' Game dinner and other events; whether it was an intimate dinner party or a reception spread, her guests knew the food would be plentiful, appetizing and delicious. She was a longtime volunteer at Elks Lodge 1595 and a member of the Friends of the Irene Ingle Public Library.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Maurice and Mary Buness of Wrangell and her brothers Steve Buness of Wrangell and Sam Buness of Valdez.

She is survived by her husband Vern; sons Dustin and Scott; sisters Kay Jabusch and Marie Davidson, both of Wrangell; brothers Mike Buness and Scott Buness of Wrangell and Mark Buness of Juneau and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm, Thursday, February 21 at the Harbor Lights Church. A celebration of life gathering will follow at the Wrangell Elks Lodge.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Wrangell Public Library Summer Reading Program.
Mongolia is a sovereign state in East Asia. There are more than 4,000 rivers in Mongolia. Many of the country's largest waterways are located in the Northern Arctic Basin, which is situated in northern and central Mongolia. Most of the rivers are seasonal, with massive discharge during the summer, when snow melts and rainfall increases. During the winter, most of the rivers freeze and some even act as roadways. Rivers in the east flow into the Pacific, while those in the south and west drain into lakes. The Orkhon River is the longest river in Mongolia.

The Longest Rivers in Mongolia

Orkhon River

The Orkhon River flows for 698 miles from its source in the Khangai Mountains to its mouth at the Selenga River, which flows north to Lake Baikal in Russia. The two major tributaries of the Orkhon River are the Tamir and Tuul rivers. Although the Selenga discharges more water, it is significantly shorter than the Orkhon River. The ruins of ancient capitals of the Mongol Empire and the Uyghur Kingdom are both located along the Orkhon River, and the Orkhon Valley has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kherlen River

The Kherlen River, which is also referred to as the Kerulen, rises in the southern slopes of the Khentii Mountains, close to Burkhan Khaldun Mountain, within the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area. The river flows east through the Khentii Province before crossing the eastern Mongolian steppe, and then flows into China. The river has a total length of 677 miles from its source to its mouth in Hulun Lake, which is located in the Inner Mongolia region of China.

Tuul River

The Tuul River flows for 437 miles, from its source in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area to its mouth at the Orkhon River. The river is considered sacred to the Mongol people, who refer to it as the Khatan (Queen) Tuul. Additionally, the palace of leader Wang Khan was located along the riverbank. The river flows through the southern edge of Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, before draining into the Orkhon River, which flows to the Selenga River. The Tuul River is among the few rivers in Mongolia that provide a habitat for the endangered sturgeon.

Water Pollution in Mongolia

The mining industry is the largest threat to clean water in Mongolia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mongolian government allowed miners to operate with few regulations, given that mining benefitted the economy. However, the mining industry dumped significant amounts of wastewater and other raw materials into the rivers, leading to extensive water pollution. Despite the eventual introduction of laws designed to protect Mongolia's rivers and water catchment areas, about 350 million cubic feet of untreated wastewater continue to be discharged into waterways each year.
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Congressman David Cicilline serves lunch to seniors at the Leon Mathieu Senior Center in Pawtucket following his announcement, Wednesday, of the bipartisan CREATES Act that will lower prescription drug prices for seniors by increasing competition and making it easier for generic drugs to enter the market.
A car crossed the median on Interstate 75 and struck a northbound vehicle, killing two sisters who were traveling behind their father in northern Michigan, police said.
A 10-year-old girl had high levels of meth in her system when she died last year, and the Elkhart County prosecutor announced that two people have been charged in connection with her death.

The unnamed child died in Elkhart on June 9, 2018.

Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Elaine Becker announced Thursday that 30-year-old Erica Reschke and 34-year-old Brandon Hobbs, of Cassopolis, were charged in connection with the death.

Investigators determined that Reschke was hired to clean out a home while the owner was out of town. Hobbs brought the child and the girl's 9-year-old sibling to a home in Elkhart County for the evening. Both children were on the autism spectrum and required intensive supervision by caregivers.

Reschke and Hobbs both reportedly described the home as a "hoarder house" due to its level of disarray.

Homicide investigators learned that the 10-year-old had apparently ingested meth brought to the home by Reschke, where both children could have had access to it. A detective also said he saw possible marijuana and unsecured firearms cases in places the children could access.

Reschke first denied to police any knowledge of the meth but a month later admitted shed bought it from someone in Michigan, brought it to the home, hid it from Hobbs and forgot where shed put it.

Detectives dont think Hobbs brought the meth into the house.

The couple says that on the night of June 8, the 10-year-old began vomiting, and by the next morning, she was not breathing. Reschke called 911 as Hobbs performed CPR.

The girl's autopsy determined she died from methamphetamine toxicity and bowel obstruction. In addition to autism, the 10-year-old showed signs of pica, a disorder causing a person to eat nonfood items. Though not medically diagnosed, the medical examiner found pennies, wood, plastic and other objects in her body.

Reschke allegedly admitted the meth should never have been in the same room as the 10-year-old, given concerns of the picalike behavior.

Reschke has been charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony, and one count of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony. She faces a maximum penalty of 42 1/2 years at the Indiana Department of Correction.

Hobbs has been charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony. He faces a maximum penalty of 2 1/2 years at the Elkhart County Correctional Complex.

Both suspects have been before a magistrate judge for an initial hearing. They are scheduled for a plea hearing April 18, and a trial date has been scheduled for May 6.
FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) A Wednesday morning house fire in Frankfort has been ruled intentionally set, according to Frankfort Fire Assistant Chief Ed Cripe.

Cripe confirmed one person is in jail, facing preliminary charges of arson.

Firefighters were called to the 900 blocks of Delphi Ave. around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. That's in a residential area on the north side of the city.

According to fire inspector Jeff Cline, a man called the police to report his house was on fire. When officers arrived, Cline said the man alluded that he may have set the fire himself. Police detained him and questioned him, according to Cline.

When inspectors went through the fire, what was found lined up with what the man told police. Cline said an accelerant was used in the fire.

Firefighters worked for more than three hours to put out the flames.

Cline said the name of the suspect will not be released until formal charges are filed. The man could be charged with a Level 4 Arson, which Cline said was an endangerment to firefighters. Cline said the suspect is currently in the Clinton County Jail.

No injuries were reported.

Neighbors next to and across from the home weigh in on what's happened. Debbie McDole, a neighbor across the street, said she was woken up by her husband. When she stepped outside the fire had escalated.

"Within 10 minutes it was coming through the roof," said McDole. "I didn't see anything out the front but I believe they had already kind of knocked out that front window. There's a giant hole in the front where the smoke was just rolling out of there"

Many in the neighborhood weren't surprised to see that the house was in the public's eye again.

"Kind of a common nuisance there's a lot of traffic just kind of in and out," said McDole. "You know I really don't know the people, don't know what they are about. It's just you know, you are a neighbor you are out in the yard. You see things."

Fires like this raise concern, especially during the winter. Neighbors feel there are a lot of fires in this town and they hate hearing the sirens of the fire trucks so often.

"I'm glad nobody was hurt, period," said McDole. "Regardless of either direction. You know fires, especially in the winter time, they are just devastating."
UTICA, N.Y. -- Students at the Midtown Utica Community Center celebrated World Anthropology Day Wednesday.

The event is founded by the American Anthropological Association and is celebrated at more than 100 institutions throughout the country.

In Utica, day's activities included art and a Korean Cooking Workshop. Anthropology professor Kathryn Stam of SUNY Poly gave an interactive lecture about how important culture is to our community.

"Everything that we do here is a way of celebrating culture and welcoming people and recognizing the how important culture is with everything we are doing here, said Stam.

This event gave students the opportunity to learn about other cultures.
ROME, N.Y. -- Father Paul Angelicchio has been named in a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing a teenage altar boy when the priest worked at a church in Onondaga County in the late 1980s, according to the Rome Sentinel.

He's the pastor of the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist and Transfiguration on East Dominick Street in Rome.

NewsChannel 2 reported he was placed on a leave of absence by the Syracuse Diocese in 2016 to investigate the claims. Church officials then deemed the accusations were not credible and he returned to service.

The paper reports that a new lawsuit was filed February 14 hours after the "Child Victims Act" was signed into law in the Northern District of new York court.

The Syracuse Diocese, in December, released a list of 57 accused priests.

Angelicchio's name was not on that list.

*The original photo of Angelicchio was provided by the Rome Sentinel.
The New York State Department of Conservation and the New York State Parks hosted a free ice fishing clinic, but a great deal of the clinic dealt with safety issues. New York State Parks Natural Resource Stewardship Biologist Tom Hughes talked about the proper way to dress, how thick the ice should be, and even weather conditions.

"In a big body of water like Oneida Lake, you have to know where youre going because if youre out there in the middle of the lake and its snowing, you may not be able to get back."

Thats exactly what happened just a few weeks ago on Oneida Lake. D.E.C. Fisheries & Wildlife Technician Scott Cornwell explained what you can do if you should happen to fall through the ice.

"Typically I tell everybody if you want to go ice fishing to carry a pair of ice safety picks. Those are 2 handles with spike points that you can have that you can use to kind of crawl your way out of the ice if need be. Hopefully that doesnt happen, but that is something that you should carry with you."

The day wasnt totally centered around safety. Many got to learn about different types of fish, and D.E.C. Fisheries & Wildlife Technician Robert Poprawski kept kids entertained with the latest in fishing technology.

"(This looks like the video game version of outdoor fishing.) Thats exactly what it is, and you know exactly when theres a fish underneath you. (Thats kind of cheating isnt it?) Its basically cheating, and its great at keeping kids entertained. It also turns fishing into a video game."

And the kids were definitely entertained.

"Look inside there. Thats scales. Ewww thats disgusting!"

If you do decide you want to try ice fishing, make sure you tell someone where youre going, pick a nice day to go, and always bring a buddy.
VIENNA, N.Y. -- State police were called to a domestic dispute in Vienna  over marijuana plants.

Allegedly the girlfriend wanted them gone and called police Tuesday.

Before troopers arrived, her boyfriend, Shad Hinman is accused of ripping the plants out of their pots and tossing them into the fireplace.

The house filled with smoke.

He's facing a number of charges, including criminal possession of a weapon  state police say there was a rifle hanging on the wall.
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LTD., HYATT (THAILAND) LIMITED, HYATT ARUBA N.V., HYATT ASIA PACIFIC HOLDINGS LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRALIA HOTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRIA GMBH, HYATT BEACH FRONT N.V., HYATT BORNEO MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT BRITANNIA CORPORATION LTD., HYATT CC OFFICE CORP., HYATT CHAIN SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT CRYSTAL CITY LLC., HYATT CURACAO N.V., HYATT DISASTER RELIEF FUND, HYATT DO BRASIL PARTICIPACOES LTDA, HYATT EQUITIES L.L.C., HYATT FOREIGN EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT FRANCHISING CANADA CORP., HYATT FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT FRANCHISING LATIN AMERICA L.L.C., HYATT FULFILLMENT OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT GLOBAL SERVICES INC., HYATT GTLD L.L.C., HYATT HOC INC., HYATT HOLDINGS (UK) LIMITED, HYATT HOSPITALITY SERVICES L.L.C., HYATT HOTEL MANAGEMENT LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CONSULTANCY SERVICES ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF KANSAS, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF MARYLAND, HYATT HOTELS FOUNDATION, HYATT HOTELS MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, HYATT HOTELS OF CANADA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF FLORIDA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF PUERTO RICO INC., HYATT HOUSE CANADA INC., HYATT HOUSE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT HOUSE HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY L.L.C., HYATT INDIA CONSULTANCY PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (ASIA) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (EUROPE AFRICA MIDDLE EAST) LLC, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - JAPAN LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - SOUTHWEST ASIA LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -SEA (PTE) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS CO., HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOTEL MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL MILAN L.L.C., HYATT INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL SERVICES INC., HYATT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HYATT LACSA SERVICES INC., HYATT LOUISIANA L.L.C., HYATT MAINZ GMBH, HYATT MARKETING SERVICES INC., HYATT MARKETING SERVICES NIGERIA COMPANY LIMITED, HYATT MINNEAPOLIS LLC, HYATT MINORITY INVESTMENTS INC., HYATT MSS L.L.C., HYATT NORTH AMERICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HYATT OF BAJA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HYATT OF CHINA LIMITED, HYATT OF FRANCE S.A.R.L., HYATT OF GUAM LIMITED, HYATT OF ITALY S.R.L., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF MACAU LIMITED, HYATT OF MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF PHILIPPINES LIMITED, HYATT PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS L.L.C., HYATT PLACE ANNE ARUNDEL BEVERAGE INC., HYATT PLACE CANADA CORPORATION, HYATT PLACE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT PLACE OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT REGENCY COLOGNE GMBH, HYATT REGENCY CORPORATION PTY. LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES CANADA INC., HYATT SERVICES CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT SERVICES GMBH, HYATT SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT SHARED SERVICE CENTER L.L.C., HYATT TRINIDAD LIMITED, HYCANADA INC., HYCARD INC., HYSTAR L.L.C., Hyatt Corporation, INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL RESERVATIONS LIMITED, JOINT VENTURE ITALKYR CLOSED JOINT STOCK COMPANY, JUNIPER HOTELS PRIVATE LIMITED, KSA MANAGEMENT INC., KYOTO HOLDING CO., LHR-PARTNERS LTD., LORING PARK ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, LOST PINES BEVERAGE LLC, MACAE PARTNERS S.A.R.L., MAHIMA HOLDINGS PRIVATE LIMITED, MARION RESERVATION CENTER L.L.C., MEXICO CITY HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MILAN HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MIRAVAL ARIZONA GUARANTOR LLC, MIRAVAL GROUP LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA HOLDINGS LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA OPERATING CO. INC., MIRAVAL RESORT TUCSON LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS I LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS II LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS III LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS TRUST, MRG ATX BEVERAGE HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS II LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX INVESTMENT LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG ATX OPERATIONS LLC, MRG CRW HOLDINGS LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG CRW OPERATIONS LLC, MUNICH OPCO GMBH, Miraval Resort, OASIS LUXURY RENTALS INCORPORATED, PARIS HOTEL COMPANY B.V., PARK HYATT HAMBURG GMBH, PARK HYATT HOTEL GMBH, PARK HYATT WATER TOWER ASSOCIATES L.L.C., PH NEW YORK L.L.C., PHMC RESIDENCIAS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., POLK SMITH REGENCY LLC, PT HYATT INDONESIA, PVD INVESTMENT COMPANY S.A.R.L., Peabody Hotels & Resort, RCG PROPERTIES LLC, REGENCY BEVERAGE COMPANY LLC, REGENCY RIVERWALK BEVERAGE LLC, RESERVATIONS CENTER L.L.C., RIO JV PARTNERS PARTICIPACOES LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS S.A.R.L., ROSEMONT PROJECT MANAGEMENT L.L.C., ROUTE 46 MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES CORP., RUNWAY HOLDING L.L.C., RUNWAY L.L.C., SAO PAULO INVESTMENT COMPANY INC., SAO PAULO INVESTORS LIMITED, SASIH, SDI EQUITIES INVESTOR L.L.C., SDI INC., SDI SECURITIES 11 LLC, SDI SECURITIES 6 LLC, SELECT HOTELS GROUP L.L.C., SELECT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., SEOUL MIRAMAR CORPORATION, SERVICIOS DE HOTELERIA SAN JOSE S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SERVICIOS HOTELEROS LA PAZ S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SETTLEMENT INVESTORS INC., SHG PUERTO RICO INC., SIERRA HEALTHSTYLES LLC, SJC DESARROLLOS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SKS CORP. N.V., SMC HOTELS B.V., SOROCABA PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA, SOROCABA PARTNERS S.A.R.L., STANHOPE L.L.C., STARHILL LORING PARK L.L.C., SUGAR LAND/HP LLC, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL COMPANY LIMITED, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, TIJUANA PARTNERS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., TR MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT LLC, TUCSON VILLAS HOLDINGS LLC, TUCSON VILLAS LLC, TWO SEAS HOLDINGS LIMITED, Two Roads Hospitality, WAILEA HOTEL & BEACH RESORT L.L.C., WAILEA HOTEL HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS L.L.C., WEST END RESIDENCES L.L.C., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY INC., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS, ZURICH ESCHERWIESE HOTEL GMBH, and ZURICH HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V..
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National Bank of Canada provides various financial products and services to retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services, such as credit, and deposit and investment solutions, as well as international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment provides investment solutions, trust and estate services, banking services, lending services, guaranteed investment certificates, mutual funds, notes, structured products, and other wealth management solutions through internal and third-party distribution networks. The Financial Markets segment offers risk management products and services; and debt and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance expertise; financial products and services to individuals and businesses in Cambodia; and the activities of targeted investments in certain emerging markets. The company also offers credit cards. It provides its services through a network of 483 branches and 1,573 banking machines. The company was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The company offers laundry additives, including bleach products under the Clorox brand, as well as Clorox 2 stain fighter and color booster; home care products primarily under the Clorox, Scentiva, Formula 409, Liquid-Plumr, Pine-Sol, S.O.S, and Tilex brands; naturally derived products under the Green Works brand; professional cleaning, disinfecting, and food service products under the CloroxPro, Clorox Healthcare, and Clorox Total 360 brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals, and supplement products under the RenewLife, Rainbow Light, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Stop Aging Now brands. It also provides grilling products under the Kingsford and Match Light brands; bags and wraps under the Glad brand; and cat litter products under the Fresh Step, Scoop Away, and Ever Clean brands. In addition, the company offers dressings and sauces primarily under the Hidden Valley brand; water-filtration systems and filters under the Brita brand; and natural personal care products under the Burt's Bees brand. Further, it markets its products under the Ayudin, Clorinda, and Poett brands. The company sells its products primarily through mass retailers, grocery outlets, warehouse clubs, dollar stores, home hardware centers, third-party and owned e-commerce channels, military stores, and distributors, as well as a direct sales force. Clorox has a collaboration partnership with Cleveland Clinic and the CDC Foundation. The Clorox Company was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.

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Newell Brands Inc. designs, manufactures, sources, and distributes consumer and commercial products worldwide. Its Appliances and Cookware segment offers household products, including kitchen appliances, gourmet cookware, bakeware, and cutlery under the Calphalon, Crock-Pot, Mr. Coffee, Oster, and Sunbeam brands. The company's Commercial Solutions segment provides commercial cleaning and maintenance solutions; closet and garage organization; hygiene systems and material handling solutions; and home and security, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms products under the BRK, First Alert, Mapa, Quickie, Rubbermaid, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, and Spontex brands. Its Home Solutions segment offers food and home storage; fresh preserving; vacuum sealing; and home fragrance products under the Ball, Chesapeake Bay Candle, FoodSaver, Rubbermaid, Sistema, WoodWick, and Yankee Candle brands. The company's Learning and Development segment provides writing instruments, including markers and highlighters, pens, and pencils; art products; activity-based adhesive and cutting products; labeling solutions; and baby gear and infant care products under the Aprica, Baby Jogger, Dymo, Elmer's, EXPO, Graco, Mr. Sketch, NUK, Paper Mate, Parker, Prismacolor, Sharpie, Tigex Waterman, and X-Acto brands. Its Outdoor and Recreation segment offers products for outdoor and outdoor-related activities under the Coleman, Contigo, ExOfficio, and Marmot brands. The company markets its products to warehouse clubs, department stores, drug/grocery stores, mass merchants, specialty retailers, distributors and e-commerce companies, home centers, sporting goods retailers, office superstores and supply stores, contract stationers, and travel retailers. The company was formerly known as Newell Rubbermaid Inc. and changed its name to Newell Brands Inc. in April 2016. Newell Brands Inc. was founded in 1903 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Toyota Motor Corporation designs, manufactures, assembles, and sells passenger vehicles, minivans and commercial vehicles, and related parts and accessories. It operates in Automotive, Financial Services, and All Other segments. The company offers hybrid cars under the Prius, Prius PHV, C-HR, LC HV, LS HV, Camry, JPN TAXI, Avalon, Crown, Century HV, UX HV, Corolla SD, Corolla Sport, and WG HV names; fuel cell vehicles under the MIRAI and SORA names; and conventional engine vehicles, including subcompact and compact cars under the Yaris, Aqua, Passo, Roomy, Tank, Etios, Vios, AGYA, Rush, GLANZA, and Raize names. It also provides mini-vehicles, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and auto parts under the Toyota name; mid-size cars under the Camry and REIZ names; luxury cars under the Lexus, Avalon, and Crown names; Century limousines; sports cars under the LC and Supra names; and recreational and sport-utility vehicles under the Sequoia, 4Runner, RAV4, Highlander, and Land Cruiser names. In addition, the company offers pickup trucks under the Tacoma and Tundra names; Minivans, Cabwagons, and Semi-Bonnet Wagon under the Alphard, Vellfire, Noah/Voxy, Esquire, Calya, Estima, Sienta, and Sienna names; and trucks and buses. Further, it provides financial services, such as retail financing and leasing, wholesale financing, insurance, and credit cards; and designs, manufactures, and sells prefabricated housing. Additionally, the company operates GAZOO.com, a web portal for automobile information. It operates in Japan, North America, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, Oceania, Africa, and the Middle East. The company was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Toyota, Japan.

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Inter Pipeline Ltd. engages in the petroleum transportation and storage, and natural gas liquids (NGL) processing businesses in Canada and Europe. The company operates through four segments: Oil Sands Transportation; Conventional Oil Pipelines; NGL Processing; and Bulk Liquid Storage. The Oil Sands Transportation segment transports petroleum products through Cold Lake, Corridor, and Polaris pipeline systems covering approximately 3,300 kilometers of pipeline and 3.8 million barrels of storage capacity; and related blending and handling services. The Conventional Oil Pipelines segment is involved in the transportation of crude oil through Bow River, Central Alberta, and Mid-Saskatchewan pipeline systems covering approximately 3,900 kilometers of pipeline and 1,635,000 barrels of storage capacity; and related blending, handling, and marketing activities. The NGL Processing segment processes pipeline natural gas to extract NGL, including ethane, propane, butane, and pentanes-plus; and fractionates NGL stream to produce ethane products and propane plus. These NGLs are used as energy products; and as a feedstock for the petrochemical and crude oil refining industries. The Bulk Liquid Storage segment engages in the storage and handling of bulk liquid products. This segment operates 8 bulk liquid storage terminals and approximately 19 million barrels of storage capacity. Inter Pipeline Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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GoDaddy Inc. engages in the design and development of cloud-based technology products in the United States and internationally. The company provides domain name registration product that enables to engage customers at the initial stage of establishing a digital identity. It also offers shared Website hosting products that provide various applications and products such as web analytics, SSL certificates, and WordPress; Website hosting on virtual private servers and virtual dedicated servers products, which allows customers to select the server configuration suited for their applications, requirements, and growth; managed hosting products to set up, monitor, maintain, secure, and patch software and servers for customers; and security products, a suite of tools designed to help secure customers' online presence. In addition, the company provides presence products, such as Websites + Marketing, a do-it-yourself mobile-optimized online tool that enables customers to build websites and e-commerce enabled online stores; online appointments and store capabilities that allows customers to transact business directly on their websites; and a range of marketing tools and services designed to help businesses acquire and engage customers, and create content, as well as search engine optimization that helps customers get their websites found on search sites; and social media management services. Further, it offers business application products, such as Microsoft Office 365, email accounts, email marketing, and Internet-based telephony services. The company serves small businesses, individuals, organizations, developers, designers, and domain investors. GoDaddy Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Exxon Mobil: AKG Marketing Company Limited, Aera Energy LLC, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company, Ampolex (Cepu) Pte Ltd, Ancon Insurance Company Inc., Barnett Gathering LLC, Barzan Gas Company Limited, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Celtic Exploration Ltd., Coral FLNG S.A., Cross Timbers Energy LLC, Ellora Energy Inc., Esmeroon Oil Transporta Imperial Oil Limited, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, Esso Deutschland GmbH, Esso Erdgas Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Overseas) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc., Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited, Esso Global Investments Ltd., Esso Italiana S.r.l., Esso Nederland B.V., Esso Norge AS, Esso Petroleum Company Limited, Esso Raffinage, Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise, Exxo Holdings Inc., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., Exxon International Finance Company, Exxon Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Exxon Mobile Bay Limited Partnership, Exxon Neftegas Limited, Exxon Overseas Corporation, Exxon Overseas Investment Corporation, ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil (Taicang) Petroleum Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Company Limited, ExxonMobil Alaska Production Inc., ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd, ExxonMobil B Resources Company, ExxonMobil Capital Finance Company, ExxonMobil Capital Netherlands B.V., ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, ExxonMobil Chemical France, ExxonMobil Chemical Gulf Coast Investments LLC, ExxonMobil Chemical Holland B.V., ExxonMobil Chemical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil China Petroleum & Petrochemical Company Limited, ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V., ExxonMobil Development Company, ExxonMobil Egypt (S.A.E.), ExxonMobil Exploracao Brasil Ltda., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited, ExxonMobil Finance Company Limited, ExxonMobil Financial Investment Company Limited, ExxonMobil France Holding SAS, ExxonMobil Gas Marketing Europe Limited, ExxonMobil General Finance Company, ExxonMobil Global Services Company, ExxonMobil Golden Pass Surety LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Company Holland LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Norway AS, ExxonMobil Hong Kong Limited, ExxonMobil International Services SARL, ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas S.r.l., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc., ExxonMobil LNG Services B.V., ExxonMobil Lubricants Trading Company, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, ExxonMobil PNG Limited, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical Holdings Inc., ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH, ExxonMobil Production Norway Inc., ExxonMobil Qatargas (II) Limited, ExxonMobil Qatargas Inc., ExxonMobil Ras Laffan (III) Limited, ExxonMobil Rasgas Inc., ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, ExxonMobil Russia Kara Sea Holdings B.V., ExxonMobil Sales and Supply LLC, ExxonMobil Technology Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Funding Ltd., Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Golden Pass LNG Terminal Investments LLC, Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures LLC, Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil Resources Limited, Imperial Oil Resources N.W.T. Limited, Imperial Oil/Petroliere Imperiale, Infineum Italia s.r.I., Infineum Singapore Pte. Ltd., InterOil Corporation, Jurong Aromatics Corporation Pte Ltd, MPM Lubricants, Marine Well Containment Company LLC, Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Limited, Mobil California Exploration & Producing Asset Company, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company, Mobil Chemical Products International Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc., Mobil Erdgas Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil International Petroleum Corporation, Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast Inc., Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Mobil Producing Texas & New Mexico Inc., Mobil SerLimited, Mobil Venezolana De Petroleos Inc., Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Company Inc., Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., Mountain Gathering LLC, Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., Palmetto Transoceanic LLC, Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas Global Company LDC, Permian Express Partners LLC, Phillips Exploration LLC, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), SPI Limited, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., SeaRiver Maritime Inc., South Hook LNG Terminal Company Limited, Tengizchevroil LLP, Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l, Trend Gathering & Treating LLC, Wolverine Pipe Line Company, XH LLC, XTO Delaware Basin LLC, XTO Energy Canada, XTO Energy Inc., and XTO Holdings LLC.
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The following companies are subsidiares of Franklin Resources: AdvisorEngine, AdvisorEngine Inc., Alumcreek Holdings LLC, Athena Capital Advisors, Balanced Equity Management, Balanced Equity Management Pty. Limited, Benefit Street Partners, Bissett & Associates Investment Management, Brandywine Global Investment Management Europe Limited, CCPF GP Holdco No.2 Limited, CCPF No.2 (GP) Limited, CCPF No.2 LP, CP Industrial Management LLC, CP Intermediate Holdco Inc., CRM Software LLC, Clarion Gramercy (Deutschland) GmbH, Clarion Gramercy (UK) Limited, Clarion Gramercy Limited, Clarion Partners Europe Ltd., Clarion Partners Holdings LLC, Clarion Partners LLC, Clarion Partners Securities LLC, Clarion REIM South America Holdings LLC, Clarion REIM South America Invsetimentos Imobiliarios Ltda, ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure (North America) Pty Limited, ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure International Pty Limited, Darby - Hana Infrastructure Fund Management Co. Ltd., Edinburgh Partners, FT FinTech Holdings LLC, FT Opportunistic Distressed Fund Ltd., FTC Investor Services Inc., FTCI (Cayman) Ltd., FTPE Advisers LLC, Fiduciary International Holding Inc., Fiduciary Investment Management International Inc., Fiduciary Trust (International) Sarl, Fiduciary Trust Company International, Fiduciary Trust Company International of Pennsylvania, Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada, Fiduciary Trust International LLC, Fiduciary Trust International of California, Fiduciary Trust International of Delaware, Fiduciary Trust International of the South, Franklin Advisers GP LLC, Franklin Advisers Inc., Franklin Advisory Services LLC, Franklin Marketplace Loan GP LLC, Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC, Franklin SystematiQ Advisers LLC, Franklin Templeton Alternative Investments (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Franklin Templeton Asset Management Mexico S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, Franklin Templeton Austria GmbH, Franklin Templeton Capital Holdings Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Chile SpA. V., Franklin Templeton Companies LLC, Franklin Templeton Digital Advisory Services GmbH, Franklin Templeton Fund Management Limited, Franklin Templeton GSC Asset Management Sdn. Bhd., Franklin Templeton Global Investors Limited, Franklin Templeton Holding Limited, Franklin Templeton International Services (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton International Services S.a r.l., Franklin Templeton Investment Management (Shanghai) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited, Franklin Templeton Investment Services GmbH, Franklin Templeton Investment Services Mexico S. de R.L., Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Co. Ltd., Franklin Templeton Investments (Asia) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments (ME) Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Australia Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., Franklin Templeton Investments Japan Limited, Franklin Templeton Investments Poland sp. z o.o., Franklin Templeton Investments South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Franklin Templeton Investor Services LLC, Franklin Templeton Investimentos (Brasil) Ltda., Franklin Templeton Luxembourg S.A., Franklin Templeton Magyarorszag Kft., Franklin Templeton Management Luxembourg S.A., Franklin Templeton Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Franklin Templeton Private Equity LLC, Franklin Templeton Services (India) Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Services LLC, Franklin Templeton Servicios de Asesoria Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Franklin Templeton Slovakia s.r.o., Franklin Templeton Social Infrastructure GP S.a r.l., Franklin Templeton Strategic Investments Ltd., Franklin Templeton Switzerland Ltd., Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Private Limited, Franklin Templeton Turkey Advisory Services A.S., Franklin Templeton Uruguay S.A., Franklin Venture Partners (Talos Cayman GP) LLC, Franklin Venture Partners LLC, Franklin/Templeton Distributors Inc., ITI Capital Markets Limited, K2 Advisors, LM (BVI) Limited, LM Holdings 2 Limited, LM Holdings Limited, LM International Holding LP, Legg Mason & Co (UK) Limited, Legg Mason & Co. LLC, Legg Mason (Chile) Inversiones Holdings Limitada, Legg Mason Asset Management Australia Limited, Legg Mason Asset Management Hong Kong Limited, Legg Mason Asset Management Singapore Pte. Limited, Legg Mason Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Legg Mason Holding (Switzerland) GmbH, Legg Mason Inc., Legg Mason Investment Funds Limited, Legg Mason Investments (Europe) Limited, Legg Mason Investments (Switzerland) GmbH, Legg Mason Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor LLC, Legg Mason Royce Holdings LLC, Onsa Inc., RARE IP Trust, RARE Infrastructure Limited, REDROSE Caesar S.a r.l., Random Forest Capital, Random Forest Capital LLC, Rensburg Sheppards plc, Riva Financial Systems Limited, Royce & Associates GP LLC, Royce & Associates LP, Royce Fund Services LLC, Royce Management Company LLC, TSEMF III (Jersey) Limited, TSEMF IV (Jersey) Limited, Templeton Asset Management (Labuan) Limited, Templeton Asset Management (Poland) TFI S.A., Templeton Asset Management Ltd., Templeton Global Advisors Limited, Templeton Global Holdings Ltd., Templeton International Inc., Templeton Investment Counsel LLC, Templeton Restructured Investments III Ltd., Templeton Restructured Investments IV Ltd., Templeton Restructured Investments L.L.C., Templeton Turkey Fund GP Ltd., Templeton Worldwide Inc., Templeton do Brasil Ltda., Templeton/Franklin Investment Services Inc., WHITEROSE Caesar S.a r.l., Western Asset Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Western Asset Management (Brazil) Holdings Limitada, Western Asset Management (Cayman) Holdings Limited, Western Asset Management Company Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios Limitada, Western Asset Management Company LLC, Western Asset Management Company Limited, Western Asset Management Company Pte Ltd., Western Asset Management Company Pty Ltd, and Winfield & Company.
Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells carbon black products in Germany, the United States, South Korea, Brazil, China, South Africa, the rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and various conductive carbon black grades for polymers, coatings, and battery electrodes. It also provides rubber carbon black products for applications in mechanical rubber goods under the PUREX brand, as well as in tires under the ECORAX brand name. The company was formerly known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A r.l. and changed its name to Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. in July 2014. Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Senningerberg, Luxembourg.

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Walmart Inc. engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications. The company offers grocery products, including dry grocery, snacks, dairy, meat, produce, deli and bakery, frozen foods, and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, as well as consumables, such as health and beauty aids, pet supplies, household chemicals, paper goods, and baby products; and health and wellness products covering pharmacy, over-the-counter drugs and other medical products, and optical and clinical services. It also provides gasoline stations and tobacco; home improvement, outdoor living, gardening, furniture, apparel, and jewelry, as well as tools and power equipment, housewares, toys, seasonal items, mattresses, and tire and battery centers; and consumer electronics and accessories, software, video games, office supplies, appliances, and third-party gift cards. In addition, the company offers fuel and financial services and related products, including money orders, prepaid cards, money transfers, and check cashing and bill payment. It operates approximately 11,400 stores and various e-commerce websites under 54 banners in 26 countries. The company was formerly known as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and changed its name to Walmart Inc. in February 2018. Walmart Inc. was founded in 1945 and is based in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Wall Street analysts have given Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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17 hours ago

| June 26th | 2021 6:00 AM

What to Do When Your Portfolio Bores You: Go Skydiving Instead

You're allocated, diversified and saving 10% or more for retirement. You (or your robo-advisor) have the rebalancing thing down pat. But you're a little bored. Life isn't all that exciting. And when Bobby next door makes money in some obscure cryptocurrency, you might feel a little, well, put out. Your returns aren't 400% like his. And so, you look into tweaking your portfolio.
Since 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services to institutional, retail, and high net worth investors. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, balance sheet management, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 1,400 bank branches and 4,800 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.

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Julie Falk, Ph.D., is a certified mindfulness teacher and a registered yoga teacher. She is a volunteer with Healthy Adams County, working with the Behavioral Health Task Force and Community Wellness Connections.
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Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. provides various banking products and services to individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Commercial Banking and Global Wholesale Banking. It offers deposits and other bank funding instruments; debit and credit cards; digital pre-paid solutions; payment platform; loyalty programs; employee benefit vouchers; payroll loans; digital lending and online debt renegotiation services; mortgages; home equity financing products; consumer credit; and local loans, commercial and trade finance, guarantees, structured loans, and cash management and funding solutions, as well as on-lending transfer services. It also provides funding and financial advisory services related to projects, origination and distribution of fixed-income securities in the debt capital markets, financing of acquisitions and syndicated loans, other structured financing arrangements, and subordinated debt and energy efficiency transactions; advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets transactions; and stock brokerage and advisory, equity, and equity research services. In addition, the company structures and offers foreign exchange, derivative, and investment products for institutional investors, and corporate and retail customers; and provides market making services. Further, it offers instant payment services; range of products and services focused on the agribusiness sector; microfinance services; and online automotive listing and digital car insurance solutions, as well as digital trading platform. The company provides its financial services and products to its customers through multichannel distribution network comprising branches, mini-branches, ATMs, call centers, Internet banking, and mobile banking. Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in SAo Paulo, Brazil.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Eaton: ADF Systems SARL, Abeiron III Limited, Aeroquip (UK) Limited, Aeroquip Financial Ltd., Aeroquip Iberica S.L., Aeroquip International Inc., Aeroquip Limited, Aeroquip do Brasil Ltda., Aeroquip-Vickers, Aeroquip-Vickers Canada Inc., Aeroquip-Vickers International S.a.r.L., Aphel Technologies, Argo-Tech, Arrow Hose & Tubing, Arrow-Hart S. de R.L. de C.V., Azonix Corporation, Babco Electric Group, Beijing Internormen-Filter Ltd. Co., Beijing Yoosung Shinhwa Automobile Parts Co. Ltd., Blinda Industria e Comercio Ltda., Bussmann International Holdings LLC, Bussmann International Inc., Bussmann S. de R.L. de C.V., Bussmann do Brasil Ltda., CBE Services Inc., CEAG Notlichtsysteme GmbH, CI ESI de Colombia, CTI-VIENNA Gesellschaft zur Prufung elektrotechnischer Industrieprodukte GmbH, Cambridge International Insurance Company Ltd., Cannon Technologies Inc., Centralion Industrial Inc., Chagrin Highlands III Limited, Componentes de Iluminacion S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper (China) Co. Ltd., Cooper (Ningbo) Electric Co. Ltd., Cooper B-Line Inc., Cooper Bermuda Investments Ltd., Cooper Bussmann (U.K.) Limited, Cooper Bussmann Hungaria Kft., Cooper Bussmann LLC, Cooper Capri S.A.S., Cooper Colombia Investments Ltd., Cooper Controls (Watford) Limited, Cooper Controls Limited, Cooper Crouse-Hinds (LLC), Cooper Crouse-Hinds (UK) Ltd., Cooper Crouse-Hinds AS, Cooper Crouse-Hinds B.V., Cooper Crouse-Hinds GmbH, Cooper Crouse-Hinds LLC, Cooper Crouse-Hinds MTL Inc., Cooper Crouse-Hinds Pte. Ltd., Cooper Crouse-Hinds S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper Crouse-Hinds S.A., Cooper Csa Srl, Cooper Edison (Pingdingshan) Electronic Technologies Co. Ltd., Cooper Electric (Changzhou) Co. Ltd., Cooper Electrical Australia Pty. Limited, Cooper Electrical International LLC, Cooper Electronic Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cooper Enterprises LLC, Cooper Finance (Canada) L.P., Cooper Finance Group Ltd., Cooper Finance USA Inc., Cooper Germany Holdings GmbH, Cooper India Private Limited, Cooper Industrials, Cooper Industries (Canada) Inc., Cooper Industries (Electrical) Inc., Cooper Industries Colombia S.A.S., Cooper Industries FZE, Cooper Industries Finance B.V., Cooper Industries Finanzierungs-GbR, Cooper Industries Global B.V., Cooper Industries Holdings (Canada) Inc., Cooper Industries Holdings GmbH, Cooper Industries International LLC, Cooper Industries Japan K.K., Cooper Industries LLC, Cooper Industries Malaysia SDN BHD, Cooper Industries Middle East LLC, Cooper Industries Poland LLC, Cooper Industries Romania SRL, Cooper Industries Russia LLC, Cooper Industries Trading Limited, Cooper Industries UK Subco Limited, Cooper Industries Unlimited Company, Cooper Industries Vietnam LLC, Cooper Interconnect Inc., Cooper International Holdings S.a.r.l., Cooper Investment Group Ltd., Cooper Investment Group S a.r.l., Cooper Investments Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Cooper Korea Ltd., Cooper Lighting LLC, Cooper Lighting de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper Menvier France SARL, Cooper Mexico Distribucion S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper Netherlands Investments Ltd., Cooper Notification Inc., Cooper Offshore Holdings S.a.r.l., Cooper Power Systems LLC, Cooper Power Systems do Brasil Ltda., Cooper Pretronica Lda., Cooper Safety B.V., Cooper Securite S.A.S., Cooper Security Limited, Cooper Shanghai Power Capacitor Co. Ltd., Cooper Switzerland Investments Ltd., Cooper Technologies Company, Cooper Univel S.A., Cooper Wheelock Inc., Cooper Wiring Devices Inc., Cooper Wiring Devices Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper Wiring Devices de Mexico S.A de C.V., Cooper Xi'an Fusegear Co. Ltd., Cooper Yuhua (Changzhou) Electric Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Copperlogic, Cutler-Hammer Electrical Company, Cutler-Hammer Industries Ltd., Cutler-Hammer SRL, Cyme International T & D Inc., D.P. Eaton Electric, Digital Lighting (Dong Guan) Co. Ltd., Digital Lighting Co. Limited, Digital Lighting Holdings Limited, Dongguan Cooper Electronics Co. Ltd., Dongguan Fu Li An Electronics Co. Ltd., Dongguan Wiring Devices Electronics Co. Ltd., E. Begerow, E.A. Pedersen Co., EIC Holding GP I, EIC Holding GP II, EIC Holding GP III, EIC Holding GP IV, EIC Holding I LLC, EIC Holding II LLC, EIC Holding III LLC, EIC Holding IV LLC, EIC Holding V LLC, EIC Holding VI LLC, ETN Asia International Limited, ETN Holding 1 Limited, ETN Holding 2 Limited, ETN Holding 3 Limited, EX Innovations Limited, Eaton (China) Investments Co. Ltd., Eaton Aeroquip LLC, Eaton Aerospace LLC, Eaton Ann Arbor LLC, Eaton Asia Investments Corporation, Eaton Automation G.m.b.H, Eaton Automation Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Automotive Components Spolka z.o.o., Eaton Automotive Spolka z.o.o., Eaton Automotive Systems Spolka z.o.o., Eaton B.V., Eaton C.V., Eaton CHB LLC, Eaton Capital Unlimited Co., Eaton Controls (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Eaton Controls (UK) Limited, Eaton Controls S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Corporation, Eaton ETN Offshore Company, Eaton ETN Offshore II Company, Eaton Electric, Eaton Electric & Engineering Services Limited, Eaton Electric (Japan) Ltd., Eaton Electric (South Africa) Pty Ltd., Eaton Electric (Thailand) Ltd., Eaton Electric AS, Eaton Electric ApS, Eaton Electric Company Ltd., Eaton Electric G.m.b.H., Eaton Electric Holdings LLC, Eaton Electric Limited, Eaton Electric Manufacturing Middle East LLC, Eaton Electric S.I.A., Eaton Electric S.a.r.l., Eaton Electric S.r.l., Eaton Electric SPRL, Eaton Electric Sales Ltd., Eaton Electric Spolka z.o.o., Eaton Electric d.o.o., Eaton Electric s.r.o., Eaton Electric s.r.o. (Slovak Republic), Eaton Electrical (Zhongshan) Co. Ltd., Eaton Electrical Equipment Co. Ltd., Eaton Electrical IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton Electrical Ltd., Eaton Electrical Products Limited, Eaton Electrical S.A., Eaton Electrical S.A. (Venezuela), Eaton Electrical Systems Limited, Eaton Electro Productie S.r.l., Eaton Elektrik Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Eaton Elektrotechnika s.r.o., Eaton Energy Solutions Inc., Eaton Enterprises (Hungary) Kft., Eaton Enterprises Limited, Eaton Enterprises S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton FZE, Eaton Filtration (Denmark) ApS, Eaton Filtration (Italy) S.r.l., Eaton Filtration (Poland) Sp. z.o.o., Eaton Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Filtration BVBA, Eaton Filtration Ltd., Eaton Finance (Ireland) Limited, Eaton Finance S.a.r.l., Eaton Fluid Power (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Fluid Power Limited, Eaton Fluid Power S.r.l., Eaton France Holding S.A.S., Eaton Germany G.m.b.H., Eaton GmbH & Co. KG, Eaton Holding (Austria) G.m.b.H., Eaton Holding (Netherlands) B.V., Eaton Holding (UK) II Limited, Eaton Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Holding I B.V., Eaton Holding I Limited, Eaton Holding II LLC, Eaton Holding II Limited, Eaton Holding II S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding III B.V., Eaton Holding III Limited, Eaton Holding III S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding IV S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding IX S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding International LLC, Eaton Holding LLC, Eaton Holding Limited, Eaton Holding S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding SE & Co. KG, Eaton Holding SRL, Eaton Holding V B.V., Eaton Holding V S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding VI B.V., Eaton Holding VI S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding VII B.V., Eaton Holding VIII S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding X S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding XII B.V./S.a.r.l., Eaton Holec AB, Eaton Holec OY, Eaton Hydraulics (Luzhou) Co. Ltd., Eaton Hydraulics (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., Eaton Hydraulics (Proprietary) Limited, Eaton Hydraulics LLC, Eaton Hydraulics Systems (Jining) Co. Ltd., Eaton I Spolka z.o.o., Eaton II LP, Eaton III LP, Eaton IV LP, Eaton India Innovation Center LLP, Eaton Industrial Clutches and Brakes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Industrial Corporation, Eaton Industrial IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton Industrial Systems Private Limited, Eaton Industries (Argentina) S.A., Eaton Industries (Austria) G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries (Belgium) BVBA, Eaton Industries (Canada) Company, Eaton Industries (Chile) S.p.A., Eaton Industries (Colombia) S.A.S., Eaton Industries (Egypt) LLC, Eaton Industries (England) Limited, Eaton Industries (France) S.A.S., Eaton Industries (Ireland) Ltimited, Eaton Industries (Israel) Ltd., Eaton Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Eaton Industries (Japan) Ltd., Eaton Industries (Jining) Co. Ltd, Eaton Industries (Korea) Limited, Eaton Industries (Luxembourg) B.V./S.a.r.l., Eaton Industries (Morocco) LLC, Eaton Industries (Netherlands) B.V., Eaton Industries (Philippines) LLC, Eaton Industries (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Industries (Spain) S.L., Eaton Industries (Thailand) Ltd., Eaton Industries (U.K.) Limited, Eaton Industries (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Eaton Industries Company, Eaton Industries EOOD, Eaton Industries G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Holdings Ltd., Eaton Industries II G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries KFT, Eaton Industries LP, Eaton Industries Manufacturing G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Panama S.A., Eaton Industries Pte. Ltd., Eaton Industries Pty. Ltd., Eaton Industries S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Industries SAC, Eaton Industries Sdn. Bhd., Eaton Industries s.r.o., Eaton International B.V., Eaton International Corporation, Eaton International Industries Nigeria Limited, Eaton Japan Co. Ltd., Eaton LLC, Eaton LP, Eaton Leasing Corporation, Eaton Ltda., Eaton MEDC Limited, Eaton Madeira SGPS Lda., Eaton Manufacturing G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing II G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing III G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing LP, Eaton Middle East LLC, Eaton Moeller B.V., Eaton Moeller S.a.r.l., Eaton Phoenixtec MMPL Co. Ltd., Eaton Power Quality (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Power Quality AB, Eaton Power Quality Limited, Eaton Power Quality OY (Finland), Eaton Power Quality Private Limited, Eaton Power Quality S.A.S., Eaton Power Solution Ltda., Eaton Production International G.m.b.H., Eaton Protection Systems IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton S.A.S., Eaton S.r.l., Eaton SAMC (Shanghai) Aircraft Conveyance System, Eaton SE, Eaton Safety IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton Safety Limited, Eaton Senstar Automotive Fluid Connector (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Services S.a.r.l., Eaton Solutions S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Switzerland Holding I GmbH, Eaton Switzerland Holding II GmbH, Eaton Technologies (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Eaton Technologies G.m.b.H., Eaton Technologies IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton Technologies Private Limited, Eaton Technologies S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Technologies S.A., Eaton Trading Company S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Truck Components (Proprietary) Ltd., Eaton Truck Components S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Truck Components Spolka z.o.o., Eaton Truck and Bus Components (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton US Holdings Inc., Eaton Worldwide LLC, Eaton-Powerware, Electromanufacturas S de R.L. de C.V., Electrum Group Ltd., Elpro Technologies Pty. Limited, Ephesus Lighting, Ephesus Lighting Inc., FHF Bergbautechnik GmbH & Co. KG, FHF Funke+Huster Fernsig GmbH, FHF New World GmbH, Fast Eaton (Xi'an) Drivetrain Company Ltd., Fifth Light Technology Ltd., Funke+Huster (Tianjin) Electronics Co. Ltd., Funke+Huster GmbH, GeCma Components electronic GmbH, Georgetown Financial Services Ltd., Gitiesse Asia Pte. Ltd., Gitiesse S.r.l., Green Holding Company, Guangzhou Nittan Valve Co. Ltd., Hein Moeller Stiftung G.m.b.H., Hernis Scan System do Brasil Comercio E Servicos LTDA, Hernis Scan Systems - Asia Pte. Ltd., Hernis Scan Systems A/S, IE Power, Illumination Management Solutions Inc., Iluminacion Cooper de las Californias S de R.L. de C.V., Innovative Switchgear Solutions Inc, Institute for International Product Safety G.m.b.H., Integrated Hydraulics, Integrated Partial Discharge Diagnostics, Intelligent Switchgear Organization LLC, Internormen Filters Private Limited, Internormen Technology, Jeil Hydraulics, Kaicheng Funke+Huster (Tangshan) Mining Electrical Co. Ltd., Lian Zheng Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., MP Group SAS, MTL Instruments (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, MTL Instruments B.V., MTL Instruments GmbH, MTL Instruments LLC, MTL Instruments Private Limited, MTL Instruments SARL, MTL Italia Srl, MTL Partners II Inc., MTL Partners Inc., Marina Power and Lighting, Martek Power F SAS, Martek Power GmbH, Martek Power Limited, Martek Power Limited (UK), Martek Power S.A. de C.V., Martek Power SA, McGraw-Edison Development Corporation, Measurement Technology Limited, Menvier Overseas Holdings Limited, Micro Innovation Holding, Moeller Electric (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Moeller Electric Ltda., Moeller Electrical Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Moeller Holding Gmbh & Co. KG, Moeller Industria de electro-electronicos do Amazonas Ltda., Morestana, Nittan BVI Co. Ltd., Nittan Euro Tech Spolka z o.o., Nittan Global Tech Co. Ltd., Nittan Valve Co. Ltd., Norex AS, Ocean Technical Systems Limited, Oxalis Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Oxalis Group, Oxalis Group Limited, PKL LLC, PT. Eaton Industries, PT. Fluid Sciences Batam, PerkinElmer - aerospace division, Phoenixtec Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Phoenixtec International Corp., Phoenixtec Power, Pigozzi, Polaron Components Limited, Polimer Hortum Teknolojileri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Polimer Kaucuk Sanayi Ve Pazarlama, Polimer Kaucuk Sanayi ve Pazarlama A.S., Power Distribution, Pringle Electrical Manufacturing, Productos Eaton Livia S.L., Pulizzi Engineering, RTE Far East Corporation, RTK Instruments Limited, Riseson International Limited, Rizhao Yoosung Shinhwa Automobile Parts Co. Ltd., Rolec Comercial e Industrial, SOURIAU, Santak Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Santak Electronics Company Limited, Saturn Insurance Company Ltd., Scantronic Benelux B.V., Schreder-Hazemeyer, Scoremax Limited, Sefelec GmbH, Sefelec SAS, Semelec SAS, Senyuan International Holdings Limited, Senyuan International Investments Limited, Shinhwa Precision Co. Ltd., Shinhwa Takahashi Precision Co. Ltd., Silver Light International Limited, Silver Victory Hong Kong Limited, Standard Automation & Control LP, Sure Power Inc., TGM Automotiva, TT (Ireland) Acquisition Limited, Tai Ah Electrical Ltd., Taiwan Nittan Industrial Co. Ltd., Telkom Kenya, The MTL Instruments Group Limited, The Oxalis Protection Technology India Private Limited, Tractech, Tractech (Ireland) Limited, Tractech Industries (Ireland) Limted, Turlock B.V., Tuthill Coupling Group, U.S. Engine Valve Company, UPE Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Ultronics, Ultronics Nordic Sales AB, Ulusoy, Vickers International Inc., Vickers Systems Limited, Viking Electronics Inc., WPI-Boston Division Inc., Winner Hydraulics Ltd., Wireless Power and Communications AS, Wright Line, Wright Line Holding Inc., Wright Line LLC, and Zhenjiang Daqo Eaton Electrical Systems Co. Ltd..
Central Pacific Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Central Pacific Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Banking Operations, Treasury, and All Others. It offers various deposit products and services, including personal and business checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, and time certificates of deposit. The company's lending activities comprise commercial loans, financial and agricultural loans, commercial mortgages, and construction loans to small and medium-sized companies, business professionals, and real estate investors and developers, as well as residential mortgages, home equity, and consumer loans to local homebuyers and individuals. It also provides debit cards, internet and mobile banking, cash management and electronic banking services, traveler's checks, safe deposit boxes, international banking services, night depository facilities, foreign exchange and wire transfers, trust services, retail brokerage, and wholesale funding services. In addition, the company offers wealth management products and services, including non-deposit investment products, annuities, insurance, investment management, asset custody, and general consultation and planning services. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 31 branches and 69 automated teller machines in the state of Hawaii. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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I am sure you have your own versions of rail road tracks masquerading as county highways too.

These fun rides have been brought to you by the fine folks who control our state budgets in Madison. Many of whom put our previous Governors own higher political ambitions over the needs and safety of our states infrastructure. Some of which wouldnt dare think of raising a gas tax the past eight years for fear they would get kicked out of the good ole boys club that forgot Wisconsin has 68 other counties besides Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha. Dont get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of fiscal conservancy in government. I just dont particularly follow the conservancy of courage displayed when our elected state leaders failed to stick up for more things like responsible infrastructure funding, safety of our citizens, and local control. You know, the things that most Republicans used to champion for.

Instead, driving over many of our state highways has become the painful equivalent of walking over broken glass barefoot. How many times have you offered your car a pat on the dash board and apologized out loud for making it drive over a bumpy road? There is only so much local road crews can do with a shovel full of asphalt.
As physicians, we dont know what to recommend, how to recommend it or what dosage to give, Rudin said. And right now CBD supplements are completely unregulated. So if someone asks me, I cant recommend them because I have no information or evidence to know the dosage or side effects. Right now, I dont think science is in a good place to tell. There is still more work to do.

Health concerns

People equate legalization with marijuana with being safe, Strunz said. There are identified risks associated with marijuana use. We have some of the greatest researches here at the UW, why not take the time to study it more? A lot of what we have is anecdotal, I think we need very cautious how proceed.

The police chief said he is open to the concept if research backs up the claims.

If research out there supports it for prescribing legitimate, medical conditions  like it is for childrens seizures  under those circumstances I am OK with it, Strunz said. But thats not what people are talking about. Recreational use is a far different issue I believe still warrants a great deal more thought and research.

Robinson said Wisconsonites are using cannabis regardless of the legal ramifications.
The Dane County District Attorneys Office, for example, has had virtually the same number of prosecutors  28  for more than 30 years. During that same time, the countys population has grown from about 300,000 people to more than 500,000. Many cases today are more complicated, with high-tech evidence. And heavy workloads and stagnant pay have contributed to lots of turnover among staff.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday hes glad lawmakers recognize the problem, and he hopes some of the 61 positions Assembly Republicans want to add across the state will be assigned to fast-growing Dane County.

Ozanne said the goal isnt to lock up more people. Its to handle the most serious cases with the time and resources they deserve. More prosecutors also should improve efficiency and help retain experienced staff. He added that jail diversion programs would be enhanced by more prosecutors because properly assessing potential participants for such programs takes time and confidence to do right.

According to staffers for Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, who sits on the Legislatures budget-writing committee, the distribution of the 61 new positions hasnt been determined yet. We trust Assembly Republicans will recognize the needs in rural areas as well as Wisconsins second-largest county.

Higher pay and more people to support our courts should be included in the next state budget.
Busch was a 1986 Portage High School graduate who posthumously received a Purple Heart and Silver Star for his role in defending the crew of a downed helicopter in Somalia, part of a series of events that were depicted in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down.

Wheeler, 47, of Pardeeville, joined social media at its rise in the early 2000s solely for the purpose of honoring his cousin at every opportunity, he said  including on military holidays and in honor of Buschs July 30, 1968, birthday, as well as the date of Buschs death, Oct. 3, 1993.

Wheeler and Busch, his older cousin by about three years, had spent many summers hunting and fishing in the very same areas along Highway 33 and he still thinks about Busch every day.

Dan was an easy-going guy whod do anything for you, Wheeler said. He was great to be around  he always had a good attitude and was cheerful and ambitious. In high school, he decided he would join the Army and that he wanted to be an Army Ranger  to join Special Forces and to achieve that elite status, and from there, he went into the Delta Force. That was Dan: He was the kind of person who when he set his mind to do something, he did it. Family and God were the two things that meant the world to him.
The culverts exist, said Scott Maass, a non-voting member of the ad hoc committee.

They havent been dug out in a long time, he said, but they are still there.

Since theres still money available from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources grant that funds two-thirds of the lake studys cost, Arnold suggested using some of that money to explore the culverts, with the permission of the landowners.

Haney said its possible to gather even more data about the lake, but he doesnt want to give the impression that the study is being dragged out indefinitely.

Because Tuesdays meeting did not include a quorum of committee voting members, nothing could be decided as to the direction of future study or the creation of a lake management proposal.

However, Dan Kremer, the citys parks and recreation manager and chairman of the committee, suggested that work on the management plan could start even while additional research is being conducted.
She said her mother wanted to be a sober grandmother, and she wanted to move her clothes and furniture out of Kraemers house and be with her children and other family members. Rataczak did not want to go back to living with Kraemer after going to jail, Herman said.

Herman said she requested her mothers counseling records in 2018, and records indicated Rataczak had not seen a mental health counselor at Pauquette Center since 2011, two years before her death.

That person taught her how to live life after sobriety, Herman said, adding that her mother thought a sober jail sentence would help with that life goal.

While answering a question from special prosecutor Robert Kaiser, Herman mentioned a 1994 divorce between Rataczak and her biological father, and Herman said her father later was permanently disabled in a 1995 automobile accident.

Martinez objected, saying that asking questions about decades-old incidents was not in line with the courts ruling to now allow statements about whether past incidents were risk factors or suicide attempts.

Kaiser argued that he doesnt care how many times the defense tries to point to various instances and claim Rataczak was sad or at risk of killing herself.
Garrett Moll is no stranger to the WIAA Division 2 individual state wrestling tournament having qualified each of the last three seasons.

Now the Lodi senior will look to accomplish something he has yet to do in his final state appearance; make a run to the state title. Molls pursuit of the gold will begin Friday on Day 2 of the three-day tournament which kicks off today at the Kohl Center in Madison.

The 132-pound Moll has been on an absolute mission this postseason, steamrolling his way to both regional and sectional titles after capturing the Capitol Conference crown. In his five combined postseason matches, Moll has given up a combined five points.

Molls current run of form hit a new high at last weeks 2 Adams-Friendship Sectional. After breezing through to the finals by way of a technical fall and a major decision, Moll made easy work of Edgertons Cole Bavery.

In a match of defending fifth-place state finishers, Moll handled the Crimson Tide senior to the tune of a 6-0 win to earn an opening-round bye at the state tournament. Moll (40-5) will meet the winner of tonights preliminary match between Lomiras Alex Gundrum (37-11) and Bloomer/Colfaxs Sawyer Best (29-4) in Friday afternoons quarterfinals.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, in his first major legislative act as Wisconsins chief executive, vetoed a Republican bill that would have tapped state surplus funds to cut taxes for the middle class, calling it fiscally unsound and lacking bipartisan support.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, called Evers divisive for insisting on something to which they say theyll never agree: capping a state tax credit for large manufacturers. Evers wants to cap the credit at $300,000 to offset part of revenue lost through his tax cut.

Evers issued a statement late Wednesday announcing his veto, which he had signaled was coming. A veto message from Evers said the GOP bill would be unsupported going forward as it relies simply on draining state reserve funds.

The message said Evers objects to the bill being enacted apart from the process by which lawmakers typically make big tax-and-spending decisions: the state budget. Evers plans to announce his state budget proposal next week, and he has said it will include his plan for a middle-class tax cut.
Thompson dismissed the Southern Poverty Law Centers designation of the organization as a hate group, calling it irresponsible and unfounded.

Hagedorn faces fellow state appeals court judge Lisa Neubauer in the April 2 election. Hagedorn is backed by conservatives while Neubauer has support from liberals. The race to replace retiring liberal Justice Shirley Abrahamson is officially nonpartisan. Conservatives hold a 4-3 majority on the court.

Hagedorn has drawn attention in recent weeks for founding a Christian elementary school in 2016 that allows the firing of teachers for being gay and the expulsion of students if they or their parents are gay.

As a law student in the mid-2000s, Hagedorn wrote blog posts in which he argued that the U.S. Supreme Courts striking down of an anti-sodomy law could lead to the legalization of bestiality and contended that gay pride month at his workplace was homosexual propaganda that created a hostile work environment for Christians.

In 2004, while Hagedorn was in law school, he interned with Alliance Defending Freedom, which was then known as Alliance Defense Fund.

Thompson did not say whether Hagedorn would step aside from any cases involving Alliance Defending Freedom that could come before him.

Judge Hagedorn is refusing to recuse himself from cases involving an organization from which he has knowingly, personally profited, Tyler Hendricks, Neubauers campaign manager, said in a statement. Wisconsin voters will have to decide if they can trust him to be fair, impartial and independent.
State Corrections Secretary-designee Kevin Carr said the department plans to close Lincoln Hills youth prison as soon as realistically possible while signaling that Gov. Tony Evers in his budget will take aim at the embattled agencys staffing shortage.

Evers, meanwhile, said Wednesday he will not include money in his budget for a new prison in Green Bay.

Carr, who has served as a U.S. marshal, told senators at his confirmation hearing Wednesday he would usher in a new era for criminal justice in Wisconsin, a task that would be no small challenge.

We have a window of opportunity that is wide open for us to really change criminal justice in this state, to make it fairer, to have better outcomes, Carr said.

Carr called the implementation of Act 185, the law passed last year that will shutter Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls by 2021, complex, and said he and the governor are committed to closing the facility as soon as possible.
I hope Im not the only one tired of the twisted, lying, half truths and ultra liberal babble spewing on the pages of the Star Times from Pat Nash. It looks like she gets her news from the lying fake news media, who wouldn't know the truth if they were sitting on it. It's a constant bash President Donald Trump, who has more brains, ability and git-her done than Barack Obama and crooked Hilary Clinton could ever dream about.

There's never a mention of Obama, crooked Clinton, or the FBI leaders who launched a political coup on President Trump. Those facts abound aplenty if you watch the Fox channels and listen to the talk shows on 99.9 FM in Wausau. They must have hit her liberal nerves because she even blasts Sean Hanity in her column. It must be because he makes a very good case of how the communist leaning liberals are out to destroy this country night after night.

The liberals aren't out to take your guns. Another outright lie. Just look at the agenda of the new crop of socialist liberals, lots of anti-gun bills. To a liberal, guns just get in the way of their socialist/communist agenda of total control of everything. How many guns do the people living in a communist country have? The first thing Venezuelan president Chavez did was take away the peoples guns. No surprise there. How's that working for the people now?
A Mauston man faces drug charges after police say he maintained a drug trafficking place.

Joshua Gardner, 36, is charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of methamphetamine, possession of THC, neglecting a childconsequence is bodily harm and possession of drug paraphernalia. He faces up to 10 years imprisonment for the first charge.

According to the criminal complaint:

A Mauston Detective obtained a search warrant signed by a judge for residential drug search Jan. 24. The search warrant was executed on an Elm Street residence in Mauston.

Evidence located inside the residence included crack cocaine, baggies of a leafy green substance suspected to be marijuana, methamphetamine, a crack pipe, a black scale with white residue, cash and several electronic devices.

The Detective noted an overwhelming odor of burnt and raw marijuana in the residence.

The Detective met with an adult male sitting in the back of a patrol vehicle. He stated he came to Mauston to work on some music. The male, identified as Feazell Jones, admitted to smoking marijuana but did not indicate knowing why police were at the residence.
Smolletts story seems to have unraveled. Prosecutors have charged him with filing a false police report. The two attackers, both reportedly Smolletts acquaintances, have told police he paid them to help stage the incident. He was allegedly unhappy that a threatening letter sent to his studio hadnt gotten more attention.

But this isnt just about Smolletts need for attention. This apparent hoax, the latest of dozens of fake hate crimes alleged against Trump supporters, has an ideological root as well. It comes from the same playbook as the lies leveled last month against the now-famous students of Covington (Kentucky) Catholic School.

At the heart of both deceptions is a postmodern belief system whose central tenet is that ones racial and social identity supersede truth and reality.

According to this intersectional system of thinking, the distinction between not only good and evil but also between fact and fiction is determined not based on choices made and moral reasoning, nor on evidence and facts, but rather on ones position in a grand hierarchy of historical victimhood.
JUNEAU A 42-year-old Watertown man entered a not guilty plea Wednesday to charges of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl.

Gregory L. Howell is charged with first degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. He could face up to 60 years in prison.

Howells arraignment was held on Wednesday in the courtroom of Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger.

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According to the criminal complaint, the family was staying with Howell in a motel room in Watertown. On Dec. 8, the girl was doing errands with her mother and preferred to stay with Howell watching television when her mother went to the store.

The girl later went to her grandmothers house to spend the night. According to the criminal complaint, the grandmother noticed blood in the girls underwear and the girl told her that Howell had been touching her. The girl was taken to Watertown Regional Medical Center and Watertown Police met them there.

The girl told a social worker during an interview that Howell had assaulted her eight times since she was 5. She said he assaulted her while her mother was sleeping. The mother said that she started seeing Howell in March.
Morrow, who worked with five others in a small lab at Richelieu Foods, was qualified to be a pharmacist and his supervisor questioned why he came to work at the frozen pizza plant.

Ben was essentially making pennies compared to what he would be making as a pharmacist, Morrows supervisor said, according to the Beaver Dam Police Department incident report.

I never understood why Ben wanted to work at Richelieu when he had such an impressive resume, he told police.

Morrows supervisor told police he believed it was odd that Morrow left a decent paying job at PPD, a company that conducts medical testing, to make less money at Richelieu Foods. Morrow had worked on the afternoon shift at Richelieu since the summer of 2017.

Morrows supervisor said he hired Morrow because Morrow had a chemistry degree, although that was not required for the job.

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Morrows supervisor said he was a good employee and always was on time. He also could be friendly and dressed well, but could be a bit sloppy with the details of his work.

Ben would constantly forget to date and time-stamp documents he was required to fill out for purposes of effectively performing his job duties as a quality control employee, the supervisor said.
JUNEAU  Now that the Dodge County Board has approved funds to cover a shortfall created by closing the Pod J jail facility, life can go on for the Dodge County Sheriffs Office.

A 23-6 vote approved using carry-over funds from the 2018 General Fund to cover the nearly $500,000 deficit. The vote was taken Tuesday at the monthly board meeting in the Dodge County Administration Building.

Four board members were absent.

The shortfall came about after the closure of Pod J, a low-risk detention center that both the county board and the sheriffs office agreed needed to be closed. The old facility needs major repairs and no longer fills its purpose. The beds in that facility were moved into the newer county jail facility, filling spots formerly leased to house federal prisoners. Since that revenue stream diminished in the lead-up to the facilitys closing on Dec. 17, a substantial revenue shortfall resulted.

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Sheriff Dale Schmidt informed board members of the projected shortfall at the time, because the decision to close Pod J had not been included in the 2018 budget.
Conagra is planning to expand its plant in Beaver Dam and create about 140 full-time jobs.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation announced this week that Conagra will receive up to $750,000 in state income tax credits over the next five years to support the expansion. Conagra said it will invest about $78 million to update and expand the 350,000-square-foot cold storage facility at 1201 Green Valley Rd.

Workers at the plant package frozen vegetables under the Birds Eye brand. The WEDC is a public-private partnership that provides incentives to companies to create jobs.

Birds Eye frozen vegetables have been a fixture in freezers in Wisconsin and around the country for generations, and I applaud the company for continuing to invest and grow in our state, said Mark Hogan, the secretary and CEO of the WEDC, in a statement. As a company with facilities all over the country, Birds Eye was looking at other options for this expansion. Its decision to expand in Wisconsin is a testament to the states strong business climate and outstanding workforce.

The amount of money Conagra will actually receive will depend on the exact number of jobs the corporation creates and the exact amount of money it invests.

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The Sauk County Board on Tuesday rejected terms of a proposed settlement resolving a lawsuit over public records.

The board was slated to vote on an agreement with the Baraboo News Republic in which the county would have agreed to release documents it previously withheld and reimburse the newspaper $45,000 for its attorney fees.

The board instead voted 15-12, with Supervisor Valerie McAuliffe of Prairie du Sac abstaining, to change language within the proposed settlement. The new language states that the countys insurance company will reimburse the newspaper for only $10,000 of its expenses.

If they want to put this to rest and put this all behind us, then theyll gladly accept it, said Supervisor John Deitrich of Reedsburg, who made the motion to amend the settlement terms. They have attorneys on retainer for crying out loud. This is a steak dinner for somebody. So $10,000 is more than enough.

Officials denied the newspapers public records requests for certain documents involving the controversial ousting of the countys former top official and the hiring of her replacement. They also denied access to documents involving the zoning case of a town of Bear Creek man found dead in October 2016 on property the county deemed a public health hazard.
The Sauk County Drug Task Force found more than 500 grams (about 1.6 pounds) of marijuana in a Baraboo home Wednesday morning, resulting in charges for two men and one woman.

In the narcotics search at 419 1st St., Baraboo, authorities confiscated 539 grams of marijuana  with a street value of roughly $5,400, according to priceofweed.com  and four oxycodone pills. Oxycodone is an opioid prescribed to relieve pain.

The suspects, all three from Baraboo, were all charged with possession of paraphernalia. Jordan D. Parchem, 34, was charged with possession with intent and bail jumping. Joshua J. Jaczynski, 34, and Marisa L. Cook, 31, were charged with possession of THC. Cook also faces a charge of possession of a Schedule II narcotic.

According to the Baraboo Police Department, several adults at the house cooperated with officers during the drug search.

The task force includes members of the Baraboo, Reedsburg, Lake Delton, Sauk Prairie and Plain/Spring Green police departments, the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Sauk County Sheriffs Department.

Follow Susan Endres on Twitter @EndresSusan or call her at 745-3506.
Is that how we really want to label something in Baraboo? Brown said. Youre picking on 85 homes to get a grant to fix the road.

City staff reassured Brown that the blight designation would only be used to get the street repaired, and wouldnt remain attached to the neighborhood. While many properties in the neighborhood show signs of deterioration, city staff said they dont consider Lake Street a slum.

Its not a reflection on them, necessarily, City Administrator Ed Geick said. Its more a reflection on the street.

The Common Council voted in late 2017 to borrow money to pay for the estimated $1.1 million cost of rebuilding Lake Street. But that project and other road work was delayed by late-summer flooding. Leaders said the closing of a state Community Development Block Grant program, in which the city had $800,000 tied up in a revolving loan fund, presented an opportunity to secure aid. The state would give the city that money in grant form.

Its giving us a way to get that money back and use it, Geick said.

Residents said they were satisfied with staff reassurances. Theyll be notified when the matter goes before the council. Commissioner Patrick Liston said a rebuilt street and new sidewalks should improve property values.

Follow Ben Bromley on Twitter @ben_bromley or call him at 745-3507.

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Every week the girls had regular checkups the Winona city health officers, Dr. William V. Lindsay and Dr. Hans M. Lichtenstein.

The hook shop served miniature drinks of beer and liquor to customers, he recalled. But the workers were very careful not to get their paying customers drunk because they didnt have a liquor license.

An old-timer relates that the first houses in the Winona area were the Red Front on Washington Street, the Stone House on the Wisconsin side of the old wagon bridge and the houses on West Second Street.

A Winona man said at one time there were action rooms on the second floor of the Rademacher Drug Store. In those years the drug store was located on Second Street, between Main and Center streets.

Men used to be enticed into the building with the offer of free beer and a hot game of poker.

The most famous lady entertainer was a madame known as Queenie LeVaque. She was the oldest and stayed the longest.

Her house, the first and also the best known place in town, was a two-story brick building on the north side of Second Street.

Some of the Winonans who best remember the women are former cab drivers.
The sign hanging above Johnny Gs restaurant on Main Street has been obscured in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 double homicide that has raised questions about the future of the popular late-night spot.

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This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sign hanging above Johnny Gs restaurant on Main Street has been obscured in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 double homicide that has raised questions about the future of the popular late-night spot.

More than two weeks since the restaurant experienced its second fatal gang shooting in the past six years, owner Johnny Giannakis said he doesn't know whether he'll open the doors again.

"Were hoping to reopen, but were not sure if well be able to," he said Thursday, adding he doesn't know whether customers would return.

"Maybe wed re-brand, maybe not. Were still dealing with the insurance company right now, so its too early to say. Those guys dont move too fast. Its a whole can of worms."

There were about a dozen customers at Johnny G's at about 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 6 when Anthony Brian Cromastey, 30, and Rodney Albert Kirton, 25, pulled out guns and fatally shot one another "simultaneously" in a dispute involving members of the same street gang, police say.

Past reporting on charges laid against Cromastey in Red Deer, Alta., following a 2012 drug bust indicates police had identified him as a member of the Mad Cowz street gang.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver said during a Feb. 8 press conference that a situation where two people fatally shot one another simultaneously was unheard of in Canada. The deaths were the fourth and fifth homicides in Winnipeg in 2019; four of the five have been the result of gun violence.

A third man, Braedon Lee Gordon, 18  also identified by police as a member of the Mad Cowz  was charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with the incident Feb 6 violence. Video surveillance from inside the restaurant reportedly shows Gordon  who arrived with Cromastey  assaulting Kirton after he was shot.

The Johnny Gs Main Street location  which was one of a few downtown spots that stayed open as late as 4 a.m.  was the site of a fatal gang shooting on Feb. 15, 2013.

Dylan Chatkana, a 15-year-old Mad Cowz member, walked into the restaurant and opened fire in a targeted hit. William Edward Moar, a 24-year-old member of the rival B-Side gang, was killed after being shot in the neck. Chatkana was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years.

Giannakis said his Exchange District Johnny Gs location, which also stayed open until 4 a.m., will now close at 1:30.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe
A two-year investigation has revealed about one in six youths in custody in Manitoba were kept in solitary confinement for more than 24 hours and the province has the highest rate of using pepper spray on jailed youths in the country.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A two-year investigation has revealed about one in six youths in custody in Manitoba were kept in solitary confinement for more than 24 hours and the province has the highest rate of using pepper spray on jailed youths in the country.

Manitoba Corrections doesnt keep accurate records on its use of segregation or pepper spray, the investigation showed. In response, the provincial justice minister has described the lack of proper record keeping as "an ongoing issue" the province is trying to address.

In separate reports released Thursday, the Manitoba Ombudsman and the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth called on the province to restrict its use of segregation and pepper spray and properly report both.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth Daphne Penrose

Advocate Daphne Penrose also recommended Manitoba end solitary confinement (segregation for more than 24 hours) and create a mental-health centre for youths in custody. The provincial government hasn't made any commitment on the advocate's six recommendations, but is adopting 32 recommendations the ombudsman's office put forward to clarify government policies on segregation and pepper spray use within its jails.

Five per cent of youth in custody in the province between September 2015 and August 2016 were in solitary confinement for more than 15 days. The advocate's office also found 92 per cent of jailed youths had been previously physically or sexually abused or otherwise traumatized. Between 11 to 22 per cent had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

During 2015-16, there were 1,455 incidents of segregation at the province's two youth jails: the Manitoba Youth Centre in Winnipeg and Agassiz Youth Centre in Portage la Prairie. Of that number, 99 segregation stays were longer than 15 days.

Manitoba Youth Centre observation unit room #1 (left) and room #2 (right).

The results of the investigation were "extremely concerning, unacceptable and must be immediately changed," Penrose said.

She said her office is forming a plan to ensure the recommendations are implemented because the situation illustrated by the 2015-2016 data "cannot continue."

"I'm going to continue to report on it if it continues to be an issue," she said.

"I'm optimistic that things will change, but I am going to monitor this very closely, because this is a fundamental, basic human right."

The joint investigation, which was announced in December, 2016, found Manitoba Corrections doesn't keep an accurate list of youth who are in segregation, how long they've been in, or why they're there. The lack of proper record keeping delayed the investigation because it meant that ombudsman's office staff had to go through boxes of files by hand to compile the data, Manitoba Ombudsman Marc Cormier said.

KATIE MAY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Ombudsman Marc Cormier

Cormier said the province's improper collection of data appeared to be the result of "a systemic misunderstanding of internal policy and orders."

Justice minister Cliff Cullen acknowledged the gaps in data collection and said the province is looking at other jurisdictions to find ways to improve.

"I can't really speak to past practices. I'm not here to blame anyone else politically," he said. "Clearly, we recognize there was inadequacies in procedures, the Ombudsman has addressed those for us. We agree with the recommendations that the Ombudsman has put forward. Our staff have been working diligently with the Ombudsman to make sure proper administration and oversight (is) in place."

Cullen emphasized most youth who were held in segregation were there for a relatively short time -- two thirds of youth were in segregation for less than one day, and a "common" length of stay was 30 minutes. He said "a lot has changed" over the past two years since the ombudsman and advocate collected their data, but acknowledged the province doesn't currently have a system in place to track segregation and pepper spray incidents in youth jails.

"Both segregation and pepper spray are used only as a last resort in our youth facilities. That will continue to be the case," he said, saying segregation is not being used to discipline youths.

Download Use of Pepper Spray and Segregation in Manitobas Youth Correctional Facilities

Manitoba Justice is expected to begin tracking segregation in its youth jails March 1, as part of the ombudsman's recommended changes. The province says it has already changed its pepper-spray policies, and the rest of the ombudsman's recommendations will be implemented at the beginning of next month.

The province's announcement last week of its intention to launch an internal review of Manitoba's youth justice and child-welfare systems is a good step, Penrose said, but added it's one that still focuses on "systems of last resort" rather than on mental-health services and treatment for traumatized youths. She said it's neither surprising nor coincidental that the province decided to announce its review just before the results of the joint investigation were publicly released.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Justice minister Cliff Cullen

The advocate's report reveals that of the four provinces that allow pepper spray use in youth jails  Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia are the others Manitoba had the highest rate from 2012-2017. The number of pepper-spray incidents is on the decline: they decreased by 89 per cent, from 46 in 2010 to five in 2017. A spokesperson for Minister Cullen said pepper spray was used twice in 2018 and hasn't been used in youth jails so far this year.

In a statement, NDP Justice Critic Nahanni Fontaine described the investigation as "troubling."

"All children must be kept safe, even those serving sentences. Today, the Pallister government refused to listen to the expertise of the Advocate and heed her call for better youth mental health supports.They also failed to take responsibility for the accurate and consistent reporting of these methods. Children deserve better," the statement said.

Download Use of solitary confinement and pepper spray

Nineteen complaints about the use of pepper spray in 2015 and 2016 prompted the investigation, which took longer to finish because of the province's lack of consistent record keeping, the reports said. The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth joined forces with the Ombudsman's office to investigate, because in 2016, the advocate didn't have the power to investigate the youth justice system. Legislation empowering the advocate to examine those issues was implemented last year.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  Winnipegs Liberal MPs are rallying around their embattled prime minister, but Manitobas opposition MPs say they expect the SNC-Lavalin scandal to only get worse.

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This article was published 20/2/2019 (857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Winnipegs Liberal MPs are rallying around their embattled prime minister, but Manitobas opposition MPs say they expect the SNC-Lavalin scandal to only get worse.

On Wednesday, the Liberals voted down a motion to launch a public inquiry into the resignations of former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and Justin Trudeaus closest advisor, Gerald Butts.

The scandal surrounds a plea bargain SNC-Lavalin sought from Ottawa on corruption charges, with anonymous sources claiming Trudeau pressured Wilson-Raybould to cut a deal for the massive Quebec engineering firm in order to avoid job losses.

The ethics commissioner is investigating allegations, published by The Globe and Mail, that Trudeaus office tried to pressure the former attorney general, who says she cant describe what happened unless he waives solicitor-client privilege. Nevertheless, the Liberal-controlled justice committee has asked Wilson-Raybould to testify.

"We have a process in place," said St. Boniface-St. Vital MP Dan Vandal, who voted against the motion calling for an inquiry because of both probes. "That is adequate at this time."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES St. Boniface-St. Vital MP Dan Vandal

Only two Liberal MPs supported the NDP motion Wednesday, which Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen said illustrates the government's reluctance to be forthright.

"The prime minister is acting like he has something to cover up," said Bergen, the MP for Portage-Lisgar.

Bergen said the justice committee has "no credibility" because Liberals, who control the committee, admitted that their house leaders office had already asked those named in the scandal whether they would testify. The Liberals rejected the idea that this revealed political meddling.

She also challenged Trudeau on his handling of anonymous comments from within his own party, which he deemed "sexist" and "racist comments" on Friday.

Trudeau apologized Wednesday for not reacting sooner to those comments, which claimed Wilson-Raybould was pushy and "in it for herself," as well as editorial cartoons showing her  an Indigenous woman  being gagged, tied up and beaten by Trudeau.

Yet Bergen accused the Liberals of sexism Wednesday, as their heckling MPs drowned out her voice when she asked the Speaker whether Trudeau had the right to vote on the call for a public inquiry, given hed be implicated in it.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Conservative MP Candice Bergen for Portage-Lisgar

"Liberals do not like it when strong women speak," Bergen said in the House.

She told the Free Press she feels Trudeau heckles Conservative women far more often than men in the House. "He doesn't actually like it when women who disagree with him, and aren't falling all over him, speak up and challenge him."

She also described Wilson-Raybould as "very nice and personable."

Bergen and NDP MP Daniel Blakie said only an inquiry would get to the bottom of a shifting storyline, which took another turn Wednesday.

The Globe revealed that court records show prosecutors had already rejected a plea bargain for SNC Lavalin some two weeks before the date that Trudeau said he raised the issue with Wilson-Raybould last September. That timeline raises the prospect of Trudeau having asked her to reverse the prosecutors' decision.

"The only way to get a full picture is to have a public inquiry," said Blaikie, the MP for Elmwood-Transcona, citing a partisan justice committee and a narrow mandate for the ethics commissioner.

"It sounds to me like she was having to stand up for some important principles," he said. "She may have had to be pushy to do that, but that's the kind of thing you would want, and expect, in an attorney general."

SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Wilson-Raybould recused herself from Wednesdays vote, and urged Trudeau to waive solicitor-client privilege. "I hope I have the opportunity to speak my truth," she told the House.

Tory MP Robert Sopuck lamented the "uncalled for" remarks about Wilson-Raybould.

"It's quite clear to me that there's something hidden and we need to uncover it," said the Neepawa-area MP, lambasting Liberal talking points which he deemed nonsensical.

On Tuesday, when reporters asked International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr his reaction to the previous weeks revelations, he instead recounted events touting an Asia-Pacific trade deal and "reading to grades 5 and grades 4 on Love to Read Week" in Winnipeg.

"Its my job to focus on how trade deals are helping Canadians get jobs," said the Winnipeg South Centre MP.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Centre MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Robert-Falcon Ouellette said he was encouraged that Wilson-Raybould will testify at the committee. "She should have her chance to speak," he said.

The Winnipeg Centre MP said she was "principled" and rejected the idea that she was any more pushy than other MPs.

"Ive had colleagues yell at me, and I've yelled at colleagues. We've had strong conversations. There are good days and bad days, and you've just got to work through it."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
A group of councillors is recommending local lawyer Sherri Walshs contract as city halls Integrity Commissioner be renewed for a second, two-year term.

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A group of councillors is recommending local lawyer Sherri Walshs contract as city halls Integrity Commissioner be renewed for a second, two-year term.

Councillors on the governance committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend Walshs reappointment.

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press Files Sherri Walsh, the integrity commissioner for the City of Winnipeg.

Walsh also explained to the committee why she had recused herself from investigating a complaint against a councillor, which she said had been reported incorrectly by some media outlets.

"Shes provided a lot of work to date and a lot of work still needs to be done," said Coun. Devi Sharma, chairwoman of the governance committee and council Speaker, in supporting Walshs re-appointment.

Walsh was hired by council in February 2017 on a two-year contract, which ran from April 1, 2017 to March 31 of this year. The original contract included options for a further five, two-year renewals.

Renewal of Walshs contract will be reviewed by Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee before it goes to council for a final decision.

Walsh had presented her latest annual report to the committee, which detailed her work throughout the past year, including dealing with public complaints against three councillors for alleged breaches of the Council Code of Conduct.

In response to a question from Coun. John Orlikow on how she deals with conflicts of interest, Walsh explained that the contract is actually between city hall and her firm, Hill Sokalski Walsh LLP. Terms of the contract, she said, prohibit any of the firms lawyers from representing clients in a complaint against a member of council which would require her investigation as Integrity Commissioner.

Walsh said the firm is allowed to represent clients suing city hall, however, she added, she would recuse herself from an investigation if one of those clients also makes a complaint to the Integrity Commissioners office against a member of council. In that instance, she said, the investigation would be assigned to another lawyer unrelated to her firm.

That was the case, Walsh said, for the investigation into the complaint of developer Andrew Marquess against Orlikow. As Marquess engaged Walshs firm for a separate legal action against city hall and several senior department officials, Walsh said Marquess complaint against Orlikow was assigned to London, Ont-based lawyer Gregory Levine, who has been an integrity commissioner for several Ontario municipalities.

Walsh said media had incorrectly stated that she had recused herself from the Orlikow investigation because of a small financial donation she had made to him during the 2010 civic election campaign.

Walsh said that a legal opinion provided by Levine in 2017 to her, acting as the citys Integrity Commissioner, concluded a campaign donation to a councillor before the position was created did not create a real, or apparent, conflict of interest and should not preclude her from pursuing investigations against Orlikow or any other councillor in a similar situation.

Levine said in his report that it would be "problematic" if an Integrity Commissioner were to make a campaign donation while holding the office of Integrity Commissioner "because it would raise serious questions of impartiality."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.cacomm
Winnipeg health officials are hoping the worst is over after a surge of patients at emergency rooms caused four city hospitals to open up dozens of contingency beds in recent days.

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Winnipeg health officials are hoping the worst is over after a surge of patients at emergency rooms caused four city hospitals to open up dozens of contingency beds in recent days.

The influx of patients began late last week and appeared to peak Tuesday, when some ambulances that normally would head to Health Sciences Centre were instructed  temporarily  to transport patients to other hospitals. By Wednesday morning the measure was lifted.

Real Cloutier, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told a press conference Wednesday that surges in patient numbers occur from time to time in winter.

An increase in patients with respiratory illnesses and unusually long hospital stays lately for admitted patients were the main reasons the system got backed up, he said.

"We want the public to be aware that we are facing very high demands," Cloutier said. "Trying to staff contingency beds is a challenge.... Our staff get ill. It certainly puts a lot of pressure on people."

The WRHA executive said contingency beds are always added during flu season, which occurred earlier than usual this year. Some of the over-capacity beds were opened several weeks ago, some more were added last week and some as recently as Tuesday. Altogether, 72 beds at four hospitals were added.

Cloutier said no patients were placed in hallways. He said space was found for the additional beds on wards and inside emergency departments.

He said hospital officials were still analyzing the situation, but it appears that ERs experienced an influx of patients at the same time as outflows from the hospitals stalled because beds were occupied by people being treated for more highly acute illnesses.

"We know this happens every year, and we try as best as we can to manage it," he said of the spike in patients. "So we thank our staff for their hard work in managing."

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said she was pleased that Cloutier acknowledged the large workload being absorbed by staff.

"Nurses are working flat-out. They're doing what needs to be done to ensure that we're providing safe patient care," she said.

Jackson said the over-capacity beds were being staffed largely through overtime, including mandatory OT, adding the situation is not sustainable.

Jackson said she was "very skeptical" that workload issues will disappear once the second phase of the Pallister government's hospital reform plan is implemented by fall. Phase 2 includes the closure of ERs at Concordia and Seven Oaks hospitals, leaving Winnipeg with three ERs (at St. Boniface and Grace hospitals and HSC).

"I think that consolidation has caused strain in our system and has really reduced the ability of hospitals to handle unexpected increases in patient volume, as we're experiencing now, and increases in high acuity patients," she said.

Meanwhile, Cloutier said the WRHA will closely monitor the situation. He said he didn't anticipate that the system will have to add any more contingency beds in the days ahead.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
The Indian and Metis Friendship Centre will rise again, say spokespeople for two groups willing to put in the elbow grease and organizational know-how.

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The Indian and Metis Friendship Centre will rise again, say spokespeople for two groups willing to put in the elbow grease and organizational know-how.

The centre at 45 Robinson Street in the North End was discovered ransacked and looted late last week after lying unused for months.

The Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres is determined there will be a new friendship centre in the city, even if it is not at the current address.

"Its the oldest incorporated friendship centre in Canada, established in 1957 or 1958 and even before that, it was running back in the 1940s," said the association's president, David Gray.

"Winnipeg has the largest Indigenous population in Canada. Were not going to not have a friendship centre there," Gray vowed in a call from his law office in Swan River.

The other group thats stepped forward is the Bear Clan. Its executive director, James Favel, said in a separate phone interview that the volunteer safety patrol is equally determined to restore the centre, even if its at a new location.

A routine Bear Clan patrol discovered an open door blown in and blocked with snow. Volunteers entered the building and discovered it had been robbed; its fixtures smashed, files strewn in the administrative offices, and electronics missing. Even copper pipes and wiring in washrooms and the kitchen had been gutted and stripped.

The Bear Clan secured the building as best they could, called police and, on the weekend, showed media through the wreckage.

Gray said word of the sacking of the building came as a shock but after months of it lying unused, theres now an impetus to start from scratch to rebuild the centre and its services.

"We are looking to see if there is an Indigenous organization there that wants to be a friendship centre and wed like to hear from them. We have a process for determining who would be a good fit," Gray said.

There are 119 Indian and Metis friendship centres across Canada and the model for how they work, with federal and provincial accounting and funding mechanisms, are well established and something that could be adopted by a group willing to work with the provincial association, he said.

"if we cant find someone, then were going to establish a new organization. There will be a friendship centre in Winnipeg," Gray said.

The Winnipeg centre had struggled in recent years, with a succession of administrative officials, none of whom managed to get the centre on a firm footing.

The final decline came when the centre lost its funding from the provincial association in March 2017 and the entire board resigned.

A new board comprised of people affiliated with the American Indian Movement (AIM) took over later in 2017 and the funding was temporarily restored. But the new board couldnt come to terms with the provincial association, which pulled the funding again in 2018. The centre closed its doors last summer.

At one time it hosted community events such as Halloween parties, Christmas events and an annual pancake breakfast with police and politicians serving flapjacks to hundreds of people. A hub for the north end, it ran a food bank and various services including a seniors' centre. It was perhaps best known for a huge bingo that regularly drew fans from across the city, until its lottery licence was pulled.

Me-Dian Credit Union holds a mortgage on the property worth about $450,000 and there have been media reports that the centre owes the city about $35,000 in taxes.

Favel said he shares the provincial associations concerns with how the centre has been managed, the same concerns that community members have been raising for years.

The looting was the final straw, Favel said.

"Its just such a tragedy and if I can have a part in putting things back on track, it would be an honour to do that," Favel said. "Weve demonstrated a capacity for leadership and Id like to take a role in that way. We have a huge volunteer base and we could help staff a place like that while its starting out," Favel said.

Both groups agree the building on Robinson may be too damaged to restore.

"Ive been aggressive about the timeline and I want it sooner rather than later but it may not be as soon as I like," Gray said.

Added Favel: "Theres no chance that that building could be up and running by April. No chance."

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
A former pastor from Winnipeg who was arrested trying to meet a supposed teenager for sex in Arroyo Grande while on vacation with his family will serve time in a California prison rather than his native country.

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A former pastor from Winnipeg who was arrested trying to meet a supposed teenager for sex in Arroyo Grande while on vacation with his family will serve time in a California prison rather than his native country.

Nathan George Rieger, a former pastor and educator at the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Church, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in state prison for his conviction on a felony charge of meeting with a minor for a lewd purpose.

He faced a maximum of four years, and currently has about 73 days of time served and other credits.

Before his arrest, Nathan Rieger had served nearly 20 years as pastoral executive for the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Church.

Superior Court Judge Jacquelyn Duffy denied a motion to allow Rieger to serve his time in Canada and also told him that he must register for life as a sex offender. A District Attorneys Office spokesperson was not immediately available following the hearing for clarity on whether that registration applies in Canada.

Rieger, 53, has been in custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail since Jan. 16, according to jail logs, following a recommendation by the Probation Department. Following Wednesdays hearing, he was to be taken into custody by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials for prison placement.

Following a week-long trial and less than a day of jury deliberations, the Canadian citizen was convicted in December of attempting to meet a supposed 15-year-old girl for sex in Arroyo Grande last August when he was in California with his family for a vacation.

During trial, jurors were shown sexually graphic conversations Rieger had through a messaging app with an Arroyo Grande police detective, who was posing as the 15-year-old using photos of a female officer. Rieger was arrested Aug. 10 in a parking lot, where he had coordinated to meet the girl.

Rieger testified in his own defense that he believed the girl was "role-playing" and was actually in her late 20s or early 30s..

After Riegers conviction, defense attorney Charles Magill was successful in postponing his sentencing while he researched whether the U.S. has a treaty with Canada that would allow Rieger to serve his sentence there. Though Magill reported that there indeed is such a treaty, Duffy on Wednesday denied that motion.

Nathan Rieger, 53, right, stands next to defense investigator Robert ODay during Riegers trial. (Joe Johnston / San Luis Obispo Tribune/jjohnston@thetribunenews.com)

During the hearing, Magill argued to Duffy that Rieger should only be sentenced to probation, citing his attendance at sex addiction groups since his arrest.

"He is attempting to address his issues," Magill told Duffy.

But Deputy District Attorney Julie Antos countered that Rieger denied his crime on the stand during trial, perjuring himself under oath. She also argued that Rieger has shown no remorse for his actions since his initial interview with the detective.

Asked by Duffy if he wanted to make a statement, Rieger paused for a moment before replying, "No, thanks."

Before his arrest, Rieger had served nearly 20 years as pastoral executive for the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Church at 782 Main St. The church is part of a global evangelical mission that has more than 2,500 congregations on six continents.

 San Luis Obispo Tribune
OTTAWA - Canada's top bureaucrat launched a vigorous defence Thursday of the government's handling of the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, bluntly declaring allegations of political interference to be false and even defamatory.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers remarks to Liberal supporters in Halifax on Wednesday February 20, 2019. Trudeau visited friendly Nova Scotia territory on Wednesday evening to thank fundraisers and recall happier times, as controversies rage in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith

OTTAWA - Canada's top bureaucrat launched a vigorous defence Thursday of the government's handling of the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, bluntly declaring allegations of political interference to be false and even defamatory.

Michael Wernick, clerk of the Privy Council, took opposition MPs to task for jumping on the anonymously-sourced allegations to accuse the government of obstructing justice.

He also challenged former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould's assertion that solicitor-client privilege prevents her from responding to the allegations that she was improperly pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to spare the Montreal engineering giant a criminal trial on charges of corruption and bribery related to government contracts in Libya.

Wernick was testifying during the first round of hearings by the House of Commons justice committee into the affair that has rocked the Liberal government, resulting in Wilson-Raybould's resignation from cabinet last week and the departure of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's principal secretary, Gerald Butts, earlier this week.

The allegations first surfaced in a Globe and Mail report two weeks ago, citing unnamed sources.

"I'm here to say to you that the Globe and Mail article contains errors, unfounded speculation and, in some cases, is simply defamatory," Wernick told the committee.

From everything he knows, Wernick said the Prime Minister's Office handled the matter with integrity. There was vigorous debate internally about whether Wilson-Raybould should exercise a legal option to instruct the director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin. That agreement is a kind of plea bargain in which the company would pay restitution but not get a criminal conviction that could financially cripple the company by barring it from bidding on government contracts.

Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick waits to appear before the Justice Committee meeting in Ottawa, Thursday February 21, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Wernick said those discussions were perfectly legal and didn't cross the line into improper pressure on the attorney general, whom he noted was repeatedly assured by Trudeau that a final decision on the matter was hers alone. In essence, he said the controversy is much ado about nothing.

"We are discussing lawful advocacy that the minister take a lawful decision which in the end she did not take," he told the committee, noting that the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin continues.

Wernick is not a lawyer. But he said based on his decades of experience as a senior bureaucrat under multiple Liberal and Conservative governments, he doesn't believe solicitor-client privilege stops Wilson-Raybould from telling her side of the story.

He said he doesn't see where she was acting as a solicitor giving advice to either the cabinet, which never discussed the matter, or the prime minister.

"The prime minister said at every occasion verbally and in writing that she was the decider so she was not giving legal advice to the prime minister," he said. "She was the decider, the full and final decider."

Under opposition questioning, Wernick allowed that he might not be aware of every conversation in which Wilson-Raybould may have felt pressured. He also acknowledged that she may have interpreted something that was said, including by him, as undue pressure.

But if that was the case, he said there were "multiple, multiple, multiple" occasions on which Wilson-Raybould could have reported the matter to the federal ethics commissioner or to the prime minister, which she did not. Among other things, he said she could have raised the matter with the ethics commissioner in early January, when Trudeau informed her he was moving her to the veterans affairs portfolio  a move Wernick denied amounted to firing or demoting her.

"The fact is she was offered another seat at the table in cabinet, which is a privilege that one per cent of one per cent of one per cent of Canadians have," Wernick said.

"Maybe she didn't feel that way," countered NDP justice critic Murray Rankin.

"Then she could have declined the offer of the seat," Wernick shot back.

Wilson-Raybould is expected to testify before the committee on Tuesday. Wernick predicted she'll express concerns about undue pressure in three meetings which occurred in September and December. He said in his view all three, two of which he described in some detail, were "entirely appropriate, lawful, legal" and on which he's prepared to "submit to the judgment of the ethics commissioner," who last week initiated an investigation into the allegations.

Wernick prefaced his testimony on the SNC-Lavalin affair with a remarkable speech in which he said he's "deeply concerned" about the deteriorating tone of partisan discourse  including incitements to violence that he fears will lead to someone getting shot during this fall's election campaign.

Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt called Wernick's testimony "stunning" and proves inappropriate pressure was applied to Wilson-Raybould.

Both Raitt and Rankin pointed to the fact that Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of justice in early January, after the meetings described by Wernick.

"Everybody knows you can't direct the attorney general but you can fire her and that's what happened," said Rankin.

Earlier at the committee, Justice Minister David Lametti also said it was entirely appropriate for the Prime Minister's Office to discuss the SNC-Lavalin prosecution with Wilson-Raybould.

Speaking in Halifax Thursday, Trudeau said he remains puzzled by Wilson-Raybould's resignation from cabinet despite her explanations this week behind closed doors to cabinet ministers and the Liberal caucus.

"This is not a decision that remains clear to me," Trudeau said.
HALIFAX - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Thursday his government is responding to a desperate plea from the grieving mother who lost all seven of her children in a recent house fire, saying he wants to "give this family a little solace in a time of unbelievable tragedy."

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, meets with Muslim leaders and community members following a vigil held for the seven siblings of a Syrian refugee family who died in a house fire and the surviving mother and father in Halifax on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

HALIFAX - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Thursday his government is responding to a desperate plea from the grieving mother who lost all seven of her children in a recent house fire, saying he wants to "give this family a little solace in a time of unbelievable tragedy."

Kawthar Barho, whose husband Ebraheim is in a medically induced coma to recover from extensive burns, has told local politicians and religious leaders in Halifax that she wants to be reunited with family members living overseas because she has no other relatives in Canada.

The prime minister, in Halifax on Thursday for a funding announcement, said Halifax MP Andy Fillmore had already contacted Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen about expediting the immigration process for some family members.

"I can't comment on specific cases, but in heartbreaking cases like this we're certainly looking at doing what we can to bring this family that has suffered such a devastating loss together," said Trudeau, who attended a vigil in Halifax's main square Wednesday night in support of the Barhos.

The Barhos arrived in Nova Scotia with their children as privately sponsored refugees in September 2017.

Early Tuesday, a fast-moving fire killed all of their children: Ahmad, 14; Rola, 12; Mohamad, 9; Ola, 8; Hala, 3; Rana, 2 and Abdullah, who was born in Canada on Nov. 9.

The cause of the fire remains unclear.

Fillmore said immigration applications were being reviewed Thursday.

"This is an absolute priority to get this done as quickly as possible," he said. "I think it's absolutely critical that we get those family members here as quickly as we can."

The Liberal MP said he had met with Kawthar at the hospital, where she was asked if there was anything federal officials could do to help.

"She made it clear that it was her family," Fillmore said.

Natalie Horne, vice-president of the community group that sponsored the Barhos' refugee claim, said some family members from Syria have already registered with the UN refugee agency, which should help speed up the process.

Typical refugee claims can take several years to complete.

"Once (the Barhos' story) leaves the headlines and people go back to their lives, there's still going to be a wake of tragedy for Kawthar and for Ebraheim," said Horne, vice-president of the Hants East Assisting Refugees Team.

"It will be a long road to recovery ... It's really important for us to get family here who can support them on that journey."

Horne said Kawthar Barho told her the fire was caused by an electric baseboard heater that ignited a couch.

However, deputy fire Chief David Meldrum said residents should be wary of reading too much into that kind of speculation.

"We're aware of the reports that are in the media, as well as other information on social media," Meldrum said in an interview. "I want to remind everyone this information is not coming from official sources. Our investigation is ongoing."

Meldrum said if the investigation uncovers anything that would affect community safety, that information will be released to the public as soon as possible.

Still, he said it was unclear how long the investigation would take.

Ehab Zalok, an expert in fire safety engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, said the fact that neighbours heard a bang before flames spread rapidly through the house suggests something non-solid, like a gas, may have caused the fire to spread rapidly.

He said the scale of the fire, which destroyed much of the home's top floor, suggests it was "much more than just (a) structure burning or furniture burning" because that kind of fire usually takes longer to grow.

"If you have something burning for a few minutes you would expect that people will smell something like smoke, smoke alarms will sound  something to prepare people for what's coming, which is a bigger fire," he said in an interview.

A funeral for the children is expected either Friday or Saturday, said Imam Abdallah Yousri of the Ummah Mosque in Halifax.

Though the mosque can hold about 2,000 people, Yousri said the ceremony will be moved to a larger venue. That site had yet to be selected by Thursday afternoon.

The Barhos had lived in the Halifax suburb of Spryfield for only a few months, having moved to the city from nearby Elmsdale, N.S., to take advantage of language training and other immigrant services. They had planned to return to Elmsdale next month.

Neighbours say the children missed their old school and the friends they had made there.

The Barho family was among 1,795 Syrian refugees who have come to Nova Scotia in recent years.

The Trudeau government granted asylum to 40,000 Syrian refugees in 2015-16.

A brutal civil war has raged across Syria since 2011, claiming more than 400,000 lives.

 With files from Brett Bundale and Holly McKenzie-Sutter
Hudbay Minerals, which sent Manitobas mining sector reeling with the pending closure of its entire Flin Flon mining and smelting operation, is spending $124 million to double gold production in Snow Lake.

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Hudbay Minerals, which sent Manitobas mining sector reeling with the pending closure of its entire Flin Flon mining and smelting operation, is spending $124 million to double gold production in Snow Lake.

The company says refurbishing its New Brittania ore-processing mill, plus newfound gold, copper, zinc and silver deposits at its Lalor mine, is set to more than double gold production to approximately 140,000 ounces annually for the first five years.

Hudbay said its plan supports a further 10-year lifespan for the Lalor mine, with ore from nearby satellite deposits holding the potential to extend operations of the New Brittania mill beyond 10 years. The company estimates a gold-production cost of $450 per ounce, "positioning Lalor as one of the lowest-cost gold mines in Canada."

Recent gold prices have been around the US$1,340 mark.

The news comes on the heels of the company last year announcing the closure of all operations in Flin Flon in 2021, which had been the northern citys main economic engine since 1927. The closure represents a loss of 900 jobs.

Hudbays latest announcement was welcome news for an industry hit so hard, the Mining Association of Manitoba last year laid off its executive director.

"Thats great news for the mining industry in Manitoba," said Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. "Hopefully, this will be the shot in the arm the industry needs in Manitoba. Hopefully, they can use this to address some of the workforce issues in Flin Flon."

Hudbay has not specified additional hiring, but spokesman Scott Brubacher said the company is working on plans to transition workers from the shuttered Flin Flon operations.

"I can tell you our priority is to offer opportunities in Snow Lake to existing employees," he said. "To support that, we will be looking to provide training, so that we have the right skills for the roles that need to be filled, and that people have the opportunity to learn them."

Supplied With more ore deposits being found, HudBay Minerals is increasing its mining and milling efforts in the Snow Lake area.

Davidson said hes encouraged by prospecting reports from northern Manitoba, suggesting there may be more good news to come.

Hudbay said the recent decision was supported by an investment of $14 million on airborne and ground geophysical surveys, and it expects a similar investment in 2019 will locate additional mineral deposits.

Snow Lake chief administrative officer Robert Hedley said a reaction from Mayor Peter Roberts is expected this morning.

"Nothing official, but you can certainly say were happy," Hedley said.

Snow Lakes population is 899, and the community is located 684 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Lalor was discovered in 2007, and its main production shaft was completed in 2014.

kelly.taylor@freepress.mb.ca
TORONTO - Huawei Technologies Inc. is adamant that it won't abandon Canadian consumers, telecommunications companies and universities, even if the country's government bans its 5G technology.

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Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei's Board of Directors, leaves a media roundtable event in Toronto, on Thursday, February 21, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO - Huawei Technologies Inc. is adamant that it won't abandon Canadian consumers, telecommunications companies and universities, even if the country's government bans its 5G technology.

Speaking through a translator at a media roundtable Thursday, the technology giant's chairman Liang Hua stressed that he believes there is a way for the business to forge ahead in the country, though he noted the relationship between Canada and the company's home country China is "not ideal."

"If Huawei were to be excluded from the deployment of 5G in the country then there are still customers that will choose us. In that case, we will also continue to provide services to those customers that have chosen us," he said.

"At the end of the day, we hope the decisions on 5G can be based on technology, instead of other factors. We want it to be a level playing field."

Liang's comments and his visit come as Huawei is encountering intense scrutiny in the wake of the December arrest of its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States, which seeks to extradite her over accusations of fraud and violating international sanctions against Iran.

Huawei has already faced restrictions on its technology from three of Canada's Five Eyes intelligence allies  the U.S., Australia and New Zealand  and telecommunications partners, including Telus Corp., have said if Huawei is banned their 5G wireless networks could be delayed and more expensive.

Huawei has primarily been working with Telus and Bell in Canada on wireless technology, but also sells smartphones through Rogers and Videotron under their main brands, as well as some secondary brands such as Virgin Mobile, Fido and Koodo.

The company  with a Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ont. and research facilities in Ottawa, Markham, Waterloo, Ont., Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton  has also committed money to collaborations with the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, McGill University and the University of Waterloo.

Liang insisted the recent scandal hasn't damaged such relations or the company's respectability, adding that is "not realistic" for Huawei to expect to serve every market, though it does have 30 5G contracts around the world.

"I don't think there is a negative impact on the company's reputation, but rather I think they just gave us a round of free advertisement around the world," he said.

"In the short-term, if there were some political influence (or) some political factors in play, it might have an impact on our scale of investments, but in the long run, we still believe it is all down to the technologies."

Liang announced that Huawei would be adding 200 jobs to the Canadian market and increasing its research and development investments in Canada by 15 per cent in 2019, following a $180 million of investment it made in Canada in 2018.

He also said the company was committed to ensuring all intellectual property generated with Canadian institutions Huawei partners with is kept within the country in arrangements that benefit both the organizations and Huawei. It employs 1,100 workers in the country, including 700 focused on research and development.

He insisted that wouldn't change based on whether a ban is implemented and denied that the announcements were made in an effort to influence the forthcoming decision.

Liang skirted questions about precisely how damaging a ban could be for the company and wouldn't say what he felt China and Canada could do to repair their relations.

He did, however, open up about Meng's recent troubles.

"I believe she is innocent and I hope the Canadian legal system can bring justice back to her and hope that she can be freed and reunite with her family soon, but I am not a lawyer, so I can't comment on the substance of the case," he said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version referred to Liang Hua as Hua on second mention. It also had an incorrect spelling for Meng Wanzhou.
PORTLAND, Maine - Gov. Janet Mills is throwing her support behind a 145-mile transmission line across western Maine to supply Canadian hydropower to electricity consumers in Massachusetts, citing economic and environmental benefits under a sweetened proposal by Central Maine Power.

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Maine Gov. Janet Mills holds a 1-pound block of carbon to make her point as she talks about her decision to support a transmission project that would bring Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts residents, on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Portland, Maine. Mills spoke at the Portland Jetport before heading to the nation's capital to attend the annual National Governors Association winter meeting. She was accompanied by Director Angela Monroe of the governor's energy office and Greg Cunningham from the Conservation Law Foundation. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

PORTLAND, Maine - Gov. Janet Mills is throwing her support behind a 145-mile transmission line across western Maine to supply Canadian hydropower to electricity consumers in Massachusetts, citing economic and environmental benefits under a sweetened proposal by Central Maine Power.

The $1 billion New England Clean Energy Connect will reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lower carbon emissions and reduce electricity costs across the region  at no cost to Mainers, said Mills, a Democrat.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills holds a 1-pound block of carbon to make her point as she talks about her decision to support a transmission project that would bring Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts residents, on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Portland, Maine. Mills spoke at the Portland Jetport before heading to the nation's capital to attend the annual National Governors Association winter meeting. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

At the same time, a new proposal filed with state regulators Thursday includes $258 million in incentives that would boost the number of electric vehicle charging stations, subsidize heat pumps, improve rural high-speed internet, and help low-income ratepayers.

"This stipulation includes substantial benefits to the Maine economy, substantial benefits to Maine ratepayers and substantial benefits in our efforts to combat climate change," Mills said.

The Central Maine Power project would provide a conduit for electricity produced by Hydro-Quebec to reach Massachusetts to meet its green energy goals. It was embraced by Massachusetts officials after New Hampshire regulators pulled the plug on the controversial Northern Pass Project.

The New England Clean Energy Connect calls for building a high-voltage power line from Beattie Township, Maine, on the Canadian border to the regional power grid in Lewiston, Maine.

Much of the project calls for widening existing corridors, but a new swath would be cut through a 50-mile segment of wilderness in western Maine. CMP already agreed to tunnel underneath the Kennebec River Gorge because of concerns raised by environmentalists.

Supporters say the project would provide electricity for 1 million homes and drive down electricity rates for all of New England.

Critics say it would spoil vast tracts of wilderness and harm Maine's homegrown green power initiatives, like solar and wind power. The Natural Resources Council of Maine contends the project has failed to show that there would be a reduction in greenhouse emissions.

"This massive corridor would cause large-scale damage to Maine's North Woods, would not reduce carbon pollution and could block local clean energy projects that would provide real jobs and benefits for Mainers," said Dylan Voorhees, a leader of the council.

Addressing growing criticism of the proposal, CMP has been working with behind the scenes for several weeks to sweeten the pot to win over critics and a skeptical governor.

On Thursday, CMP filed a "stipulation" with incentives including $140 million for rate relief for retail customers, $50 million for low-income energy customers, $15 million to subsidize heat pump purchases and $15 million for electric cars and charging stations.

The new incentives were enough for Mills to authorize her energy office to support the proposal. Also signing on to the proposal was the Conservation Law Foundation, a major environmental group that had vehemently opposed the Northern Pass Project in New Hampshire.

Speaking to reporters departing for the National Governor's Association meeting, Mills said she believes the project will win a certificate of public need and necessity by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. But there will be further review by the PUC and other state and federal agencies.

She said an independent consultant, London Economics International LLC, concluded carbon dioxide emissions would be lowered by 3.6 million metric tons and ratepayers would save $20 million to $40 million per year.

Holding up a cube of carbon, she said the carbon reduction would amount to 80 million pounds. "Eighty million of these one-pound cubes of carbon  no longer emitted into our atmosphere. To me that's significant," she said.

This story has been corrected to show the transmission line would start in Beattie Township, not Mount Beattie Township, on the Canadian border.
Googles revelation earlier this month that Google Assistant could be used with its Nest home security and alarm system security was a surprise.

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Googles revelation earlier this month that Google Assistant could be used with its Nest home security and alarm system security was a surprise.

Why? Because the Nest Guard alarm/motion sensor/keypad never listed a built-in microphone.

Now, Google has admitted it mistakenly did not list a microphone as part of the products tech specifications. Its updated product page now mentions one.

"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part," Google said.

"The microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option," the companys statement continued. "Security systems often use microphones to provide features that rely on sound sensing. We included the mic on the device so that we can potentially offer additional features to our users in the future, such as the ability to detect broken glass."

Googles admission, first reported by Business Insider, comes as consumers increasingly find their privacy being encroached upon by technology. Last month, Apple said a FaceTime bug let users eavesdrop on conversations even if they didnt answer a group chat request. And Facebook is still reeling from the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the personal data of an estimated 87 million Americans were exposed to manipulation for political purposes during the 2016 election.

Googles Nest has not dodged concerns either. Last week, some Nest security system users got emails requiring them to update their passwords and suggesting they turn on two-factor authentication after reports of hackers taking over home security cameras  and scaring one family with a fake alert about an impending North Korea nuclear attack.

Google, which acquired Nest for US$3.2 billion in 2014, announced the Google Assistant update for the Nest Guard product in a blog post two weeks ago. The update would let users arm their system with their voice and also control other products such as a Nest Thermostat and door locks.

"The Google Assistant on Nest Guard is an opt-in feature, and as the feature becomes available to our users, theyll receive an email with instructions on how to enable the feature and turn on the microphone in the Nest app," the company said. "Nest Guard does have one on-device microphone that is not enabled by default."

Security and privacy experts voiced concerns about Googles pronouncement at the time. Nest system users had been able to use Google Assistant but needed a separate Google Assistant-ready device to hear commands, security site CSO noted at the time. "I suppose it depends upon your outlook on if you are happy or creeped out that your security system secretly had an undocumented microphone capable of doing the listening all along," it said.

This isnt the first time Google has faced criticism. In August, The Associated Press reported that apps such as Google Maps will save time-stamped location data even with the location history turned off.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit digital rights group, offered its take about the Nest development on Twitter on Wednesday: "No product should ever come with a secret microphone, regardless of whether or not its enabled. Thats just bad security design."

 USA Today
MONTREAL - Strong sales abroad helped propel a leap in Gildan Activewear Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit last year as the company looked to e-commerce for bigger gains in 2019.

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Gildan Activewear Inc. president and CEO Glenn Chamandy poses for a photograph following the apparel manufacturer's annual meeting Thursday, February 5, 2015 in Montreal. Gildan Activewear Inc. says strong sales propelled a leap in profits last quarter. The Montreal-based clothing manufacturer, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, saw fourth-quarter sales jump 13.6 per cent to $742.7 million compared with $653.7 million a year ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL - Strong sales abroad helped propel a leap in Gildan Activewear Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit last year as the company looked to e-commerce for bigger gains in 2019.

China has now outstripped Canada as the Montreal-based clothing manufacturer's third-largest market, after the U.S. and Europe, chief executive Glenn Chamandy said.

"Our fastest growing market is China," Chamandy told a conference call with investors Thursday. "We're continuing to see really good...international growth."

About 86 per cent of the company's US$743 million in sales last quarter stemmed from the U.S., driving a 14 per cent overall revenue bump.

The rise included a 19 per cent jump in international sales to US$66.1 million compared with US$55.4 million a year ago.

Broken down by product, activewear sales totalled US$569.3 million, up from US$465.4 million. Hosiery and underwear sales took a hit, however, and fell eight per cent to US$173.4 million in the fourth quarter as Gildan-brand sock sales dropped and mass retailers opted not to replenish Gildan-brand drawers, the company said.

"Our Gildan-brand underwear is doing very, very well in e-commerce today," Chamandy qualified, highlighting the potential of online sales. "Our American Apparel continues to grow. We're leveraging all of our brands today as we go forward in e-commerce."

Gildan, which nabbed American Apparel's intellectual property rights and some manufacturing equipment in 2017, projects "strong double-digit" growth in online sales, said chief financial officer Rhodri Harries.

Last spring, Gildan expanded American Apparel's presence with a new online store, providing a runway for the brand to sell its wares  from hoodies to high-waist jeans  to more than 200 countries. The brand returned to the Canadian market with an online store in November.

"Obviously, its still on a relatively small base," Chamandy added of e-commerce sales as a whole. "We're just in the beginning stages, really."

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, is aiming for mid-single-digit sales growth in 2019, with adjusted diluted earnings per share of between $1.85 and $1.87.

"A large private-label men's underwear program was secured with a major U.S. retailer  our inference is that it is Walmart  in 3Q, and is expected to positively impact 2019 results," said analyst Keith Howlett of Desjardins Securities in a research note this week.

In reporting its results Thursday, Gildan raised its quarterly dividend to 13.4 cents per share from 11.2 cents.

The clothing maker earned a profit of $59.6 million or 29 cents per diluted share in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from a profit of $54.9 million or 25 cents per diluted share during the same period in 2017.

On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned 43 cents per share last quarter, up from 31 cents per share a year earlier.

The result matched the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Gildan reported a profit of $350.8 million or $1.66 per share on $2.91 billion in sales in 2018 compared with a profit of $362.3 million or $1.61 per share on $2.75 billion in sales in 2017.

On an adjusted basis, Gildan says it earned $1.86 per share last year, up from an adjusted profit of $1.72 per share in 2017.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GIL)
Carlos Ghosn is not guilty of the crimes he is accused of and his arrest was the result of a conspiracy at Nissan Motor Co., the jailed car titans new lawyer said as he kicked off his defence campaign in Tokyo.

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Carlos Ghosn is not guilty of the crimes he is accused of and his arrest was the result of a conspiracy at Nissan Motor Co., the jailed car titans new lawyer said as he kicked off his defence campaign in Tokyo.

Nissans internal problems are the reason behind Ghosns jailing in Japan, and the carmaker should have dealt with its issues within the company rather than involve prosecutors, Junichiro Hironaka, Ghosns newly appointed defence lawyer, told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday. He didnt name any company officials.

The media conference, taking place just days after Ghosn replaced his legal team, is a sign the car executive is going on the offensive in his battle to clear his name. The lawyers comments echo those previously made by Ghosn and his family, who have suggested that Ghosns plans for a merger between Nissan and its French partner Renault SA were a reason some within Nissan wanted him out of the picture.

Ghosn appears to be deploying a new strategy as he awaits trial on charges of aggravated breach of trust and filing false statements to regulators regarding US$80 million in deferred income looms. The ousted leader  who brought Nissan and Renault together with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in the worlds biggest auto alliance  has lost two requests for bail and faces years in prison in Japan if convicted. He denies the charges.

Confronting a Japanese legal system with a 99 per cent conviction rate, Ghosn replaced a legal group led by former local prosecutor Motonari Otsuru with one overseen by Hironaka, who is known for aggressive tactics defending high-profile clients such as a former senior bureaucrat accused of corruption.

Ghosn is betting that an attorney with a history of challenging the insular Japanese legal world  Hironaka is nicknamed "The Razor"  can make him a free man again. Hironaka successfully defended Atsuko Muraki, a former senior bureaucrat charged in 2009 with falsely certifying an organization as representing disabled people so it could use cheaper postage rates. A third member of Ghosns new team, Hiroshi Kawatsu, was part of that defence. Muraki won 37.7 million yen (US$340,000) in compensation from the government.

Hironaka also helped win acquittal for longtime politician Ichiro Ozawa, who was indicted in 2011 for allegedly being involved in a campaign finance scandal. Ghosns former chief lawyer Otsuru was one of the leading prosecutors in that case.

Ghosns case has put Japans justice system under a spotlight. It has been criticized for its heavy reliance on defendants confessions, which are often made without a lawyer being present. In an emailed statement to media on Wednesday, the International Federation for Human Rights urged Japan to address "serious flaws" in its criminal justice system exposed by Ghosns jailing. Hironaka also said the case raises questions about Japans legal system.

While Ghosns arrest put added strain on the already tense relationship between Nissan and Renault, the two carmakers have in recent weeks taken steps to restore trust.

Jean-Dominique Senard, who replaced Ghosn as Renaults chairman, was in Japan last week to meet with Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa and other board members and executives. Senard and Saikawa discussed the operations of what is the worlds biggest car alliance and Nissans current initiatives, among other topics.

The visit is among the first steps by Senard to tackle the challenges facing the Franco-Japanese partnership as the sides try to forge a fresh path without Ghosn, who enforced a common vision on the alliance over two decades. Nissan, which ousted Ghosn as chairman soon after his arrest, is said to have sought a review of the pacts lopsided power structure. Saikawa has criticized Ghosn for having too much authority and making decisions that werent in the best interest of the Japanese company.

Nissan took a US$83-million (9.2 billion yen) charge this month over Ghosns deferred compensation for the eight years ending in 2017. In doing so, the carmaker is trying to end any debate over whether Ghosn hid millions of dollars in income deferred until his retirement from his fellow executives and board members. The carmaker is also investigating a Dutch entity set up to co-ordinate the alliance jointly with Renault.

 Bloomberg News
Remember that old stereotype of construction workers whistling and cat-calling when women would walk past job sites?

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This article was published 21/2/2019 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Remember that old stereotype of construction workers whistling and cat-calling when women would walk past job sites?

Well, if you think things have changed for the better since it's 2019, you'd be wrong.

At a press conference Thursday where the minister of labour Patricia Hajdu announced federal support for women wanting to enter the building trades, a senior union official made several sexist remarks before and after his introduction of the minister.

Robert Blakely, Canadian operating officer of Canada's Building Trades Unions, whose organization played an important role in getting the $3.14 million in federal funding for the project, alluded to the importance of truthfulness in his remarks.

"Real friends who tell you the truth are the ones who know the right answer to the question, "Do I look fat in these pants," he said.

Minister Hajdu then got on the stage and played along with the joke which Blakely added further remarks to.

In later comments at the gathering in the packed room made up roughly half and half of men and women at a union office, Blakely apologized.

"I have been sitting here thinking to myself did I do something dumb again?" he said. "If I offended anyone I am sorry."

But Blakely's questionable remarks didn't end there.

He later told a story about an earlier meeting with a female colleague who was about to speak, referencing a comedian's use of the term "sassy" and saying that "sassy" was a good way to describe her.

And even later he made reference to the "beautiful women" who were part of the presentation and that helped make "this a good day."

Afterwards Blakely said he and Minister Hajdu are old friends and that is was a learning experience for him.

"The context of the bit about 'do you look fat in these pants' ... the minister and I have done this sort of schtick before," he said, adding that he understands it's one thing to do it in private and another thing when it is done in public in front of a room full of people.

Asked for thoughts on the incident Hajdu said in a prepared statement, "Changing the culture of workplaces is an ongoing process. It will take actions like the one we announced today that will support women in the trades across the country take their place. The success of women in the workplace depends on all of us to work together and support each other to change long standing norms."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
The head of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. has voiced his discomfort at the idea of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's recent production curtailments, designed to draw down a glut of trapped crude oil and decrease the differential between western Canadian and U.S. benchmark oil prices.

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Canadian Pacific Railway president and CEO Keith Creel addresses the company's annual meeting in Calgary on May 10, 2017. The head of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is voicing his displeasure at Alberta's $3.7-billion deal with Canada's two biggest rail companies -- including CP Rail -- to ship more crude via iron horse amidst the pipeline crunch squeezing oil-sands producers. Keith Creel, speaking at a conference in Miami yesterday, said his company "didn't like it at all" when Premier Rachel Notley stepped in to work out a plan that aims to move up to 120,00 barrels of oil per day by rail by 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

The head of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. has voiced his discomfort at the idea of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's recent production curtailments, designed to draw down a glut of trapped crude oil and decrease the differential between western Canadian and U.S. benchmark oil prices.

So the government steps in, we didnt like it at all," said Keith Creel, speaking at a conference in Miami on Wednesday.

"I dont think thats healthy in a commercial space. You can let the commercial deals work and let commerce take place and the deals will drive right good business decisions and investment decisions," Creel said, adding that the moves caused "uncertainty."

"I was pretty clear about it  I just dont think its healthy."

Despite his laissez-faire viewpoint, Creel admitted that Notley's most recent move was "just as good if not better" than others hammered out by CP Rail.

Notley announced Tuesday that Alberta will spend $3.7 billion to move 120,000 barrels of landlocked oil per day to market by rail, a program that benefits both CP and rival CN Rail.

The railways have drawn on lessons from unfilled contracts following the crude-by-rail boom five years ago, entering into multi-year contracts with oil shippers that set minimum volumes and higher fees to help insulate them from volatile demand.

"We realized the risk in dealing with crude, probably more so than any other railroad because we were burned so bad the last time," Creel said.

Notley's plan will see Alberta lease about 4,400 rail cars to get more oil to foreign markets, including refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast, while the province works to increase pipeline capacity.

The rail plan will net $2.2 billion for taxpayers, with the increased traffic expected to boost commercial, royalty, and tax revenue by $5.9 billion, she said.

Opposition Leader Jason Kenney dubbed the deal "corporate welfare" and "a catastrophic mistake."

Initial daily shipments of 20,000 barrels are expected to begin as early as July along tracks owned by CP Rail as well as Canadian National Railway Co.

Crude-by-rail exports have spiked over the past year amidst a pipeline shortage and a big discount on Western Canadian Select oil, hitting a record 353,789 barrels per day in December, a 133 per cent year-over-year increase, according to the National Energy Board.

DBRS analyst Amaury Baudouin said in a recent report that "there is no indication that the trend is going to reverse."

Companies in this story: (TSX:CP, TSX:CNR)

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version stated that Keith Creel objected to Notley's oil-by-rail program.
OTTAWA - "In the matter of solicitor-client privilege, the member opposite must know that there are real dangers of unintended consequences, particularly on the two court cases currently wending their way through the courts."

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - "In the matter of solicitor-client privilege, the member opposite must know that there are real dangers of unintended consequences, particularly on the two court cases currently wending their way through the courts."

- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Feb. 19, 2019

Federal opposition parties resumed their demands this week that Trudeau let former cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould speak to allegations that she felt pressured to avert a criminal trial for Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.

Wilson-Raybould, who resigned from cabinet last week, has said she cannot comment because she is bound by solicitor-client privilege, which still applies even though she's no longer the justice minister and attorney general.

The Conservatives and NDP want Trudeau to waive that privilege so Wilson-Raybould can offer her side of the story.

But in response to such a demand from Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer during question period on Tuesday, the prime minister said doing so could harm two court proceedings involving SNC-Lavalin.

Those involve the fraud and bribery case against SNC-Lavalin in connection with its work in Libya nearly a decade ago, and the company's appeal of the decision by federal prosecutors not to negotiate an agreement that would let it avoid a criminal trial in that case.

So is it true that revealing the discussions between Wilson-Raybould and the prime minister or members of his staff and cabinet have "unintended consequences" on the two cases?

Spoiler alert: The Canadian Press Baloney Meter is a dispassionate examination of political statements culminating in a ranking of accuracy on a scale of "no baloney" to "full of baloney" (complete methodology below).

Trudeau's remark earns a rating of "a little baloney."

THE FACTS

SNC-Lavalin is facing fraud and bribery charges in relation to business ties between it and Moammar Gadhafi's regime in Libya and could be excluded from future government contracts here and elsewhere if convicted.

The federal justice minister is unique in that whoever holds the position is also the attorney general, the government's top lawyer. In that vein, the government can consult the attorney general for legal advice and those discussions can be protected from disclosure.

But the Globe and Mail first reported this month, citing unnamed sources, that Wilson-Raybould felt pressured last fall to intervene and get federal prosecutors to offer the company a deal that would see it pay a fine rather than face a criminal trial. She refused.

Federal prosecutors in October rejected SNC-Lavalin's request to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement and pay for the criminal case to be dropped. The company has since appealed that decision and is waiting to find out whether a court will hear its request for a review.

These are the two cases Trudeau mentioned in response to Scheer.

The Liberals have admitted to numerous private discussions about SNC-Lavalin, including a meeting that Wilson-Raybould had with Trudeau in September and another between her and Gerald Butts, Trudeau's former principal secretary, in December.

Trudeau and Butts have denied directing or otherwise pressuring Wilson-Raybould, who was shuffled out as justice minister and attorney general to veterans affairs last month in a move widely seen as a demotion. She resigned from cabinet Feb. 12.

While Wilson-Raybould has refused to talk about those discussions publicly, citing solicitor-client privilege, she says she has hired former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell to advise her on what she can say.

Trudeau has similarly said that he is consulting Wilson-Raybould's replacement, Justice Minister David Lametti, on what parts of their conversation can be safely revealed.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Whether solicitor-client privilege applies to interactions between the attorney general and other officials depends on the circumstances  and when it is invoked, the circumstances that give rise to the claim of privilege should be spelled out, says Toronto lawyer Lee Akazaki of Gilbertson Davis LLP.

That hasn't happened in this case, aside from Trudeau saying that he told Wilson-Raybould that the decision whether to stop SNC-Lavalin's prosecution was up to her and that the potential economic ramifications of a guilty verdict for a major company were raised.

That makes it hard to asses the degree to which waiving solicitor-client privilege could affect the criminal case and judicial review.

Assuming the attorney general was asked for advice about the ongoing prosecution, Akazaki says that advice "should be kept confidential in order to prevent any appearance of interference by the executive branch of government in an ongoing judicial proceeding."

That is particularly relevant in a criminal case or judicial review such as those facing SNC-Lavalin, said Andrew Martin, an expert on legal ethics at the University of British Columbia, who added that once privilege has been waived it can't be restored.

"I imagine it would inform SNC-Lavalin's arguments on the judicial review, depending on what was said," Martin said, "and they could probably use what was said as part of their application for judicial review."

University of Ottawa law expert Elizabeth Sanderson, who previously served for many years as a federal-government lawyer, echoed the view that SNC-Lavalin's lawyers could turn around and use any disclosed conversations between Wilson-Raybould and others in their defence.

All of which assumes, she said, that the discussions did touch on the details of the case and were not simply an attempt by Trudeau or his staff to get the former attorney-general to use her powers to intervene.

"There's a real distinction between talking about the evidence or the legal opinion they developed to say why they think they have to pursue this case, which may reveal some of their strategy in litigation, versus a flat-out: 'Don't pursue this case.' Which has nothing to do with the case."

THE VERDICT

Any analysis of the prime minister's assertion about the impact of waiving solicitor-client privilege is muddied by the fact neither Wilson-Raybould nor Trudeau have elaborated on the nature and context of the discussions that took place around the SNC-Lavalin case.

Still, the fact the case was discussed at the highest levels of government does raise the very real prospect that the contents of those discussions could have an impact on the proceedings and thus any waiver should be carefully considered.

"I think what he said is quite fair," said Martin. "Don't get me wrong, it's politically convenient. I don't know that he's unhappy with this answer. But it is the correct answer."

Akazaki said it is imperative the government provide more information about the nature of the discussions between Trudeau and Wilson-Raybould, but that when it comes to the prime minister's comment: "Based on what we know at the present time, it is accurate."

The statement is correct based on what the prime minister has said, but he's keeping crucial details to himself. For that reason, Trudeau's comment ranks as "a little baloney."

METHODOLOGY

The Baloney Meter is a project of The Canadian Press that examines the level of accuracy in statements made by politicians. Each claim is researched and assigned a rating based on the following scale:

No baloney  the statement is completely accurate

A little baloney  the statement is mostly accurate but more information is required

Some baloney  the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing

A lot of baloney  the statement is mostly inaccurate but contains elements of truth

Full of baloney  the statement is completely inaccurate


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Payday 2 maker Starbreeze has applied for an extended reconstruction period as it looks to find stability after filing for administration.

The Stockholm District Court initially approved the company's reconstruction up until March 3, 2019, but Starbreeze is now asking for another three months to get its house in order.

It's been a rough couple of months for Starbreeze, with chief exec Bo Andersson leaving the company back in December after the underwhelming launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead left it in dire financial straits.

The developer-publisher was then raided by Swedish authorities on suspicion of insider trading, resulting in the arrest of one unnamed person.

Moving forward, Starbreeze has pledged to carry out the restructuring plan it laid out back in December, and says it will continue to focus on its core business of internal development and publishing.

It's also hoping to work with external parties to ensure that non-core operations can be developed in a "positive way."
The government of Canada has announced $638 million in investments to ensure that Indigenous peoples living in urban, rural and northern communities have better housing outcomes, according to Employment and Social Development Canada.

Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of Families, Children and Social Development and minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and Seamus O'Regan, minister of Indigenous Services, made the announcement on Wednesday.

"Improving and protecting Indigenous housing is a priority for our government, Duclos said. "In a country that is as prosperous as Canada, there is no excuse for anyone to be left out on the street."

Through Reaching Home: Canadas Homelessness Strategy, a total of $413 million is dedicated to addressing Indigenous homelessness in urban centres over the next nine years.

Additionally, as part of the countrys National Housing Strategy, a total of $225 million is dedicated to preserving and improving the condition of housing units for urban Indigenous families living in cities or urban centres across the country.

A portion of this federal investment, $200 million, will be delivered through the Canada Community Housing Initiative as part of new and more progressive bilateral agreements with provinces and territories. The remaining $25 million will be for Indigenous housing projects through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund.

The government is also currently working with Indigenous housing providers, national Indigenous organizations, and other partners to explore innovative, long-term approaches for meeting the housing needs of Indigenous peoples regardless of where they live.

"We know there is much important work ahead to close housing and infrastructure gaps across the country, and we continue to work hand in hand with First Nations, Inuit and Metis Nation partners to implement distinctions-based housing strategies announced in Budget 2018," O'Regan said.
PD: 3 women accused of stealing over $1,500 in clothing from Plainville Old Navy
At stop lights or freeway on and off ramps, youve probably seen people holding signs and asking for money. It can be tempting to hand over your spare change, but next time you may want to think twice.
The Nebraska Legislature had a late night until 10 last Thursday, when the hearing concluded for the three bills relating to the highly debated property tax issue: LB314, LB497 and LB677.

Public comments for and against the three bills were heard by the Legislatures Revenue Committee.

Numerous Nebraska farmers, local brewers and professionals related to the alcohol industry, as well as rural school administrators, were in attendance and spoke their piece about a possible property tax decrease and related possible alcohol and tobacco increases to offset it.

The comments left the committee seeking answers and unsure where to turn.

According to the Norfolk Daily News, LB314 was amended. The amendment would remove the per gallon tax increase on beer, wine and liquor, but would instead increase sales tax on alcohol an additional 3 percent.

My original intent was to utilize the existing excise tax system and raise it by an amount that equals roughly 10 cents per drink. My thought was that 10 cents per drink would be manageable for all involved and would be a cost that could be passed on, State Sen. Tom Briese, R-District 41, told the Daily News.

It was Briese who introduced a bill to increase the state alcohol sales tax from 5.5 percent to 6 percent. Under earlier discussed plans, the cigarette tax also would go up $1.50 a pack along with increased taxes on wine, beer and liquor.

Briese said the bill has been revised to accommodate some concerns of craft brewers.

What we did, were going to have a surtax at the retail level, he told the Daily News. Alcohol will be taxed at a statewide sales tax rate of 8.5 percent, instead of the currently existing 5.5 percent. If you do the math on that, say on a case of beer at $20, at 3 percent it would be a 60 cent increase.

In a press release, Briese said he was looking for a more transparent way for consumers to see where dollars are being collected, while keeping our local small businesses able to offer competitive prices on the shelves.

The amended bill could lead to a possible road to answers or possibly another dead end. The lengthy process is to continue.
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.
Weber State to Participate in Solar Decathlon

February 20, 2019

OGDEN, Utah  A team of students from Weber State Universitys building design & construction program has been selected as one of 11 international teams to compete in the 2020 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a collegiate competition that challenges students to design and construct highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy.

Weber State has been making a name for itself as the Wasatch Front leader in sustainable design for residential construction, said Jeremy Farner, WSU design engineering technology associate professor. Thats our goal, and participation in Solar Decathlon gets us one step closer.

The competition includes six teams from the United States and four international teams from Canada, Chile, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Weber States team leader, Heidi Ouzts is a bachelor of integrated studies major, who is combining building design and construction with interior design in preparation to pursue a masters degree in architecture. The competition will be her first experience with designing a net-zero building. In addition to participating in the design, she will be responsible for ensuring the project stays on track.

Im really excited to be a part of the competition, Ouzts said. It is the first opportunity for most of us in the program to design a building. We get to be innovative and research new products that relate to sustainable building design.

The year-and-a-half-long competition includes two parts: a design challenge and a build challenge. This semester, the Weber State team will focus on designing a duplex and triplex to be built in Salt Lake City. The homes will be net-zero, meaning they produce as much energy as they consume.

At the end of the semester, the team will travel to the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, for the Design Challenge Weekend. There they will present their designs to a panel of judges who will provide feedback and suggestions. Winning teams will be recognized at an awards banquet.

Following the Design Challenge Weekend, the team will take summer, fall and spring semesters to construct the homes and create a presentation for the Build Challenge Event in Washington, D.C., in July 2020. There teams will exhibit rendering and models of their projects before panels of industry experts.

Weber States team will partner with Redfish Builders, who built the first net-zero community in Salt Lake City, to build the homes. Redfish Builders will cover most of the labor and construction costs. After completion, the units will be sold for under $300,000 each, which Redfish Builders hopes will prove that a net-zero home does not have to be too expensive.

Green building is really important right now, Ouzts said. Doing something like this as a university shows we are leading the way into green building and sustainable design. Weber is training its students to be leaders in green building design.

Visit solardecathlon.gov for more information about Solar Decathlon.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
From left, Aledo ISD Bearcat Growth Committee Co-Chairs Christi James and Jim Scott presented information to the AISD board Tuesday night about what the committee has done so far and what they will be doing at future meetings.
A California college student has been indicted for allegedly creating a phone app through which he sold drugs, officials said.
At left, Capt. Carolyn Dillon assists one of the operating-room technicians in setting up the operating room for another surgery at CRDAMC. CRDAMC was honored by the American College of Surgeons for exemplary surgical patient care in calendar year 2017.
Fort Hood, TX (76544)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
Washington: Fox News host Tucker Carlson responded on Wednesday to a now-viral video of an unaired interview in which he swore at a guest, calling him a "moron" and a "tiny brain," by apologising for his use of profanity but defending his fiery reaction as "entirely accurate."

Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Credit:AP

"I did what I try hard never to do on this show, and I was rude," Carlson said in a video posted to Fox News's website about his exchange with Dutch historian Rutger Bregman.

The host later added, "There is some profanity and I apologise for that. On the other hand, it was genuinely heartfelt. I meant it with total sincerity."

Last week, Carlson invited Bregman onto his show following the historian's January appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Bregman made headlines worldwide after he excoriated the conference's attendees - a who's who of global elites - for tax avoidance.
Vatican City: Pope Francis promised that concrete action against child sexual abuse by priests would result from a conference he opened on Thursday, with one cardinal acknowledging that the Church had to fight "the enemy within".

Francis convened Catholic leaders from around the world for the four-day meeting to address the scandal that has ravaged the Church's credibility in the United States - where it has paid billions of dollars in settlements - Ireland, Chile, Australia, and elsewhere over the last three decades.

Illustration: Matt Golding Credit:

His opening remarks appeared aimed at countering scepticism among victims who said the meeting looked like a public relations exercise.
Julie Bishop wasnt a foreign policy philosopher of epic proportions. Rather she approached the job that will define her place in the political history books by practically and pragmatically pursuing Australias interests.

She has been criticised for the lack of a grand vision or an overarching blueprint for how to navigate the turbulent first quarter of this century - something you might badge the Bishop doctrine.

But her period as foreign minister was one in which the post-1945 international order began to fray faster than anyone expected. If Bishop failed to develop a complete and comprehensive policy for the rise of China, for instance, then most statespeople, policy wonks and commentators are failures along with her.

Consider what Bishop contended with between 2013 and 2018. Early on, there was the downing of flight MH17 - not a random incident but the tragic eruption of a revanchist Russias determination to test the will of the West.
There are calls for the Queensland government to do more to combat the emerging threat of silicosis, after it was revealed hundreds of workplaces have been fined in a crackdown on the engineered stone industry.

Queensland Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace says Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is currently investigating eight businesses for systemic breaches of workplace rules regarding silica.

WHSQ is currently undertaking eight comprehensive investigations for suspected breaches of primary duties under the WHS Act relating to respirable crystalline silica, Ms Grace said.

Queensland Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace. Credit:Tony Moore

The maximum penalties that may be imposed under the Act are $3 million for corporations, $600,000 for officers of a company and $300,000 for individuals.
A man involved in one of Sydneys most notorious murders has died at Long Bay jail hospital overnight.

Michael Murphy, 65, was serving a life sentence after he and four others killed Anita Cobby, a nurse and beauty pageant winner, in 1986.

Anita Cobby, winner of Miss Western Suburbs in 1979.

A NSW Corrective Services spokesperson on Friday morning confirmed that Murphy died due to natural causes about 11.55pm on Thursday.

"The Corrective Services Investigation Unit, which is part of the NSW Police Force, is investigating and will prepare a report on the death," the spokesperson said.
After a montage of excruciating dates in which series creator Alexandra Cunningham (Aquarius, Desperate Housewives) and director Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights, The Affair) establish immense sympathy for Debra, her luck seems to change. She meets a fellow by the name of John (Bana), a doctor who turns up for their dream date oddly underdressed but proves solicitious and charming - and has even risked his neck with Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Middle East. Dirty John, based on a true story, is set in California's well-to-do Newport Harbor. Credit:Bravo Debra is smitten, but her hostile, bratty adult daughter (Juno Temple, effortlessly irritating and amusing) smells a rat. What follows in the first half of the eight-part series is never terribly surprising, and it's certainly hard to imagine anyone who knows the story staying the whole way through. Where Dirty John is perhaps most revealing is in its understanding of how people's pasts, their traumas, their beliefs and their desires cause them to behave in the strangest ways - whether it be Debra refusing to see what's right in front of her eyes, Debra's nephew (Kevin Zegers) rationalising his mother's murder in bizarre fashion, or Debra's own mother (Jean Smart, evidently having found Estelle Getty's Golden Girls wig) being perhaps the scariest character of all.

A 1941 portrait of actress Hedy Lamarr. Credit:AP Loading Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

Stan A fascinating documentary about Hedy Lamarr, an extraordinary woman who was so much more than the moviegoing public ever imagined. By the time she fled Europe's impending cataclysm in 1938 she had already lived a remarkable life. A few years later her ingenious design for radio-controlled torpedoes might have struck a decisive blow against Hitler's U-boats had the US Navy not shelved it - but her invention lives on today in technology all around us. Lamarr's children and grandchildren join historians and contemporaries to fill in a poignant picture.

Nailed It!: Mexico

Netflix It's nice to see that Mexico is full of happy home bakers every bit as bubbly and technically deficient as the Americans who compete in Original Recipe Nailed It! Tasked with recreating the masterpieces of master cake-makers they fail in imaginative and spectacular fashion. If you think one episode will do you, make it "Fails from the Crypt", in which a typically colourful human cast attempt a chocolate ghost, goblin and chupacabra, and busts of a skeletal death saint dressed in traditional Mexican attire.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The Cleaners

Docplay Are we seeing a genocide in Burma as an externality of an algorithm written by nerds in California? That's one of many disturbing questions raised in this documentary about the overworked, underpaid and underqualified Filipino "cleaners" who moderate content for global social media giants. With an individual cleaner having to approve or delete 25,000 images per day, even the documentation of war crimes is being reflexively destroyed by people who can't comprehend what they're looking at but who are sometimes fatally traumatised by what they see. Shocking.

There's a lot going on in The Fosters - and it makes for fine family viewing. Credit:Stan The Fosters

Stan This involving foster-family drama sure has a whole lot going on. The two-mum family is headed by policewoman Stef (Teri Polo) and teacher Lena (Sherri Saum), and as the series begins, their family comprises Stef's 16-year-old biological son, Brandon (David Lambert), and 15-year-old adopted twins Jesus and Mariana (Jake T. Austin and Cierra Ramirez). Then they take in troubled 16-year-old Callie (Australian Maia Mitchell), who immediately embarks upon on a mission to rescue her little brother, Jude (Hayden Byerly), from his abusive foster father. But then, once Jude is ensconced in the increasingly crowded house, Brandon becomes determined to move in with his father - much to his mother's distress.

It's clear that the show's creators have put a lot of thought into their characters, plots and messages, and that these will strike a lot of chords. One example comes when the walled-off Callie refuses to put pen to paper for her English teacher: he appeals directly to her hostility by talking about Joan Didion's philosophy of writing as a hostile act. It's fine family viewing - and there are five seasons of it. Filmmaker Kevin Smith, pictured here in January, is a terrific storyteller in Silent but Deadly. Credit:AP Kevin Smith: Silent but Deadly

Amazon Prime Video Filmmaker Kevin Smith is a terrific storyteller but a terrible judge of a story. When he's at his best in this one-man theatre show he's a lot of fun. With infectious good cheer he supplies amusing, well-paced anecdotes in which his goofy self and his long-standing cannabis habit are the butts of the jokes.
WA's jobless rate hit 6.8 per cent in January, according to ABS figures released on Thursday.

Its a jump of 0.4 per cent on December's figures and is equal to the March 2018 figure. Before March the rate hadn't hit those heights since 2002.

The unemployment rate continues to rise. Credit:Tamara Voninski

WA now has the second-highest unemployment rate in Australia, behind Tasmania at 7 per cent.

There are now 97,600 unemployed people in WA, up nearly 7000 from December 2018 and 17,000 from January last year.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
Regional Editor

Derek Draplin is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as an opinion producer at Forbes, and as a reporter at Michigan Capitol Confidential and The Detroit News. Hes also an editor at The Daily Caller.
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Georgia Ann Ackerman, 78, of Loogootee, passed away at 1:50 a.m. Thursday, June 24, 2021, at her home. She was born July 9, 1942, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to the late George and Winifred (Fettic) Carrico. Georgia married Albert T. "Skip" Ackerman on Sept. 30, 1961, and together they raised 
There is perhaps no better example of the confluence of border security and Americas labor supply than Yuma, known as the Winter Salad Bowl of the United States, where lettuce and broccoli are grown a few miles from the border fence. Before the government increased its enforcement  with fencing, additional agents and harsher jail sentences  farmers there once relied on a steady stream of undocumented workers. But this harvest season, there are an estimated 3,800 H-2A workers in the city, almost all from Mexico, up from 2,858 in 2016, according to Yuma officials.
Maduros government deems the aid operation a Trojan horse invasion by the United States and has ordered the severing of sea and air links with three Caribbean islands being used as staging grounds for aid. It also dispatched military reinforcements and warned of cadavers on the borders. The bulk of the aid is in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where the oppositions allies, including billionaire Richard Branson, are hosting a benefit concert for Venezuela on Friday.
Despite Franciss call for concrete steps, organizers have said the meeting is designed foremost to be educational  emphasizing the imperative not to bury abuse accusations. They have also said the church is not aiming to draw up a single, global standard for dealing with abuse. Corrupt legal systems or draconian laws in some countries make it unrealistic, church officials have said, for the Vatican to mandate that all bishops report abuse accusations to criminal authorities  a standard that is common within the U.S. church.
Likud agreed to reserve the 28th spot on its parliamentary list for the Jewish Home party and grant it two cabinet ministries in a future government if it merged with Jewish Power and another right-wing faction, National Union. There had been resistance among the right-wing Jewish Home and the National Union about teaming up, with Jewish Power seen by many even in the right wing as the radical fringe.
It was remarkable to me that we were in a time that the leader of the FBI and the leader of the Department of Justice, certainly with respect to this investigative effort, that we were having conversations that would include mentions of things like the 25th Amendment, McCabe said. I had worked for over 20 years at that point without ever discussing the 25th Amendment at work, or at home, or on the media, for that matter.
Trump has long complained that his own top aides and the military were blocking his determination to exit Syria once the Islamic State was defeated. In December, he said that the goal had been achieved and that U.S. troops were leaving now, after which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned. Trump subsequently agreed that the departure would be deliberate and orderly. The military is planning a full withdrawal by the end of April.
But Francis has not altered official church teaching on homosexuality and has reaffirmed the official ban on gay priests. There have been several recent portrayals, sensitive and otherwise, about the priestly life in those shadows. A detailed January New York Magazine article by Andrew Sullivan estimated that 30 to 40 percent of U.S. parish priests were gay, implying a profound contradiction given the institutions teachings. Sullivan described the lives of these closeted men and theorized that widespread homosexuality in the priesthood had fed, unintentionally, a poisonous omerta, or code of silence: Gay priests who slipped up and had consensual relationships were vulnerable and therefore liable not to speak up if they learned about abuse.
In a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, McCabe revealed the critical role he played in moving forward the investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election. In the days after Comey was fired, McCabe authorized opening an investigation into Trump personally  a case that would explore whether Comeys firing was an attempt to obstruct justice and whether Trump himself was compromised by the Kremlin. McCabe moved so quickly to initiate the case that some at the Justice Department were initially concerned he might have acted out of a desire for vengeance over Comeys firing, people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, have said.
For everyone, the collective revelation of these activities have served to educate us all on the past, punctuate the changes that have been made by our Order and in society, and direct us to continue to closely follow our values today, Jesse S. Lyons, an assistant executive director of the fraternity, said in a statement.
In that time, the small Trump hotel empire has become smaller: Trump hotels in Panama City, Toronto and New Yorks SoHo neighborhood have removed the presidents name. The company had planned to expand into dozens of U.S. cities with new lines of lower-cost hotels. But last week, Eric Trump announced that he was shelving that plan, saying politically driven criticism and media scrutiny had made it impossible.
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The bigger threat to Trumps declaration is the courts. A group of states led by Democratic governors have filed suit against the administration, while other groups  representing border landowners and other potential parties who could be affected by the border wall or the shifting of appropriated funds to pay for it  are either preparing lawsuits or have filed them already.
The Justice Department revealed earlier this month that it had opened an investigation into how prosecutors handled the Epstein case, though the probe is likely to be of limited impact. That inquiry will be conducted by the Office of Professional Responsibility, which can result in findings that could lead to employees being fired. Acosta is no longer a part of the Justice Department, and it is unclear if he will still work for the government by the time the probe concludes.
I thought what he was doing was illegal, and I was right, John Harris said about Dowless. He added: I had no reason to believe that my father actually knew, or my mother or any other associate with the campaign had any knowledge. I think Dowless told them he wasnt doing any of this, and they believed him.
Small-dollar fundraising, the type that benefited Sanders in 2016 and this week, could emerge as a critical factor in the Democratic primary. There is growing skepticism among Democratic voters about wealthy benefactors influence on the political process, posing risks for candidates relying on large donations. Sanders ranks as the best example of that; in 2016 he kept his campaign in the running until the end of the primaries, although Clinton had a lock on the partys major donors.
A: We try to serve the people of Austria, to make reforms  even if they are unpopular  to put our country in a better position. I think people see our way is successful. We managed to reduce the unemployment rate, to increase the economic growth rate and to reduce taxes for hard-working people. We tried to integrate those who came as refugees to Austria during the last years, but on the other hand, we tried to reduce the flow of those who want to come but have no right to come to our country. Im happy that we have the support of the people.
The Brexit bandwagon continues to roll on for now, with a deadline date of March 29th now barely six weeks away. At present, MPs are debating on the next potential steps in the Brexit process, as the prospect of no-deal exit increases with every passing day.

While theres plenty of speculation about how a no-deal Brexit would impact on the UK economy, the uncertainty surrounding our exit from the European Union is already damaging business growth nationwide.

The evidence suggests that that Brexit has certainly had an impact on business investment in the UK. Well explore this further below, while asking how its affecting company spending across a range of sectors.

Has Investment Increased or Fallen Recently?

Overall, business investment declined again during the second quarter of 2018, with Brexit uncertainty cited as the primary reason for this.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), its estimated that investment by firms fell by 0.7% in the three months to June 2018, following a similarly sharp contraction of 0.5% in the first quarter.

This coincided with findings from the Bank of England (BoE), which revealed that firms are actively putting investment on hold (or diverting it abroad in the case of multinational companies like Sony and Panasonic).

Driven by economic uncertainty and fears about the UKs future trade relationship with the EU, this trend is likely to continue for as long as a no-deal exit remains on the card.

However, the BoE governor Mark Carney and financial advisors like Downing believe that investment could rebound if a withdrawal deal is struck, as this will instantly help the UK to retain its single market access.

What About International Investment?

These figures contrast sharply with the amount of capital being sunk into the UK from overseas, as foreign companies look to either eschew or capitalise on the Brexit fall-out.

In fact, overseas investment levels in the UK rose their highest level last year, with the value of foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks peaking at 1,336.5 billion.

Most of this investment came from developing economies like China and India, with contributions from the latter nation showcasing a staggering 321% increase on the previous years figures.

While this may be seen as a cause for celebration in some instances, there are two key things to keep in mind. Firstly, some investors may be looking to leverage the weakness in the pound in order to achieve a profit at a later date, with this strategy particularly relevant to commercial property investments from overseas.

Secondly, some of these investments may have been made in the belief that the UK would strike a favourable withdrawal agreement with the EU, and it will be interesting to see if these volumes as a no-deal Brexit looms large on the horizon.
A look at the most extreme form of hate crimes  domestic right-wing terrorist attacks  reveals the distance between reality and what movies lead us to expect. There are relatively few of what we might call Hollywood Crimes, such as Timothy McVeighs bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 or Dylann Roofs 2015 massacre in an African American church at Charleston, S.C. Often, the information about the incidents and attackers is so convoluted that its not even entirely clear they were primarily motivated by politics.
The legislation was described as necessary to defend Russia from outside cyberattacks. But the effect would be to give Russian authorities a firm hand over Internet providers and users inside the country. A few years ago, Russia required every provider to install black boxes known by the acronym SORM on their lines so the secret services could intercept communications. Assuming the legislation is approved, the next generation of black boxes would be far more ambitious, according to Andrei Soldatov, co-author of The Red Web, a book about the history of the Internet and the Russian authorities. New, larger black boxes would be installed by every provider and at every Internet exchange point, all of them connected to a new government center. Mr. Soldatov said the main goal is to seize control of the Internet in case the Kremlin finds it is coming under the threat of political unrest or rebellion.
When Congress ceases to have any meaningful authority in relation to the president, the only check on a presidents behavior will be elections every four years. The result of this will be whipsawing changes back and forth between the preferences of one or another charismatic leader capable of mesmerizing enough of the population. Congress is supposed to be a mediating and moderating branch, with the Senate as the ultimate rudder of the polity, since it is the only legislative or executive branch that does not turn over every fourth year. But Congress can achieve consistency of policy direction for the country, only if it can serve as a meaningful check on the executive.
Case in point: Last week, Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the tanking of a deal negotiated by her fellow Democrats in which Amazon promised to build a new headquarters in Long Island City, New York, right next to her congressional district. Amazons departure cost the city between 25,000 and 40,000 new jobs. Forget the tech workers whom Amazon would have employed. Gone are all the unionized construction jobs to build the headquarters, as well as thousands of jobs created by all the small businesses  restaurants, bodegas, dry cleaners and food carts  that were preparing to open or expand to serve Amazon employees. They are devastated by Amazons withdrawal. (Amazons founder and chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, also owns The Post.)
But the attack on our democracy had its limits. Russian President Vladimir Putin could not lead us to distrust our own intelligence agencies or the FBI. He could not cause us to view our own free press as an enemy of the people. He could not undermine the independence of the Justice Department or denigrate judges. Only we could do that to ourselves. Although many forces have contributed to the decline in public confidence in our institutions, one force stands out as an accelerant, like gas on a fire. And try as some of us might to avoid invoking the arsonists name, we must say it.
DoubleVerify, a NYC-based provider of marketing measurement software and analytics, acquired Zentrick, a Ghent, Belgium-based digital video technology company that provides middleware solutions to execute and perform online video advertising.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Following the deal, the Zentrick engineering teams will continue to operate from offices in Ghent, Belgium.

Led by Pieter Mees and Frederik Neus, Zentrick is a digital video technology company that provides middleware solutions to drive the execution and performance of online video advertising for the worlds largest brands, platforms and publishers.

The software further enables publishers to detect and resolve issues behind breakage as they occur.

For media platforms and publishers, the middleware eliminates the technical overhead and latency associated with supporting multiple third-party data integrations (e.g., measurement, attribution and audience providers).

Led by Wayne Gattinella, CEO, DoubleVerify is an independent provider of marketing measurement software, data and analytics that authenticates the quality and effectiveness of digital media for large brands and media platforms. Since 2008, the company has served hundreds of Fortune 500 companies.

FinSMEs

21/02/2019
For companies that are serious about being proactive and that see compliance as a competitive advantage rather than a box-ticking exercise, we believe several lessons can be drawn from our background in helping organizations see around unexpected corners  whether those be geopolitical in nature, compliance related or high-stakes security and risk.

Below are six common pitfalls and blind spots related to building and maintaining a compliant organization:

1. Failing to look at the external operating environment in your compliance risk assessment

Situation or market-driven factors, including political developments such as elections and rising geo-political tensions, are just as likely to lead to elevated compliance risks as weaknesses in companies compliance programs. Sometimes, even organizations with highly sophisticated programs find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time or are simply unprepared for major market occurrences from a compliance perspective. Incorporating assessments on external developments into programs can reduce the likelihood of this happening.

This is naturally more practiced in the environment, social and governance space, and less so with regard to anti-bribery and corruption (ABAC), fraud and even  to an extent  sanctions risk. By extending this practice to risk assessments, disciplined companies can better focus on situation or market-driven compliance risks, and therefore draw from those risk assessments to model locally or situationally appropriate solutions (e.g., for local engagement strategies). Companies can also use this to enhance controls in high enforcement or highly politicized environments.

2. Considering impact only in terms of compliance enforcement

Compliance breaches or failures have consequences far beyond regulatory sanctions, they can create significant challenges or obstacles to business, locally and in other parts of the world. Indeed, compliance-related crises are on the rise globally, involving loss of licenses, civil society action against companies, disruption to operations and businesses and regulatory pressure. These issues can have significant reputational, operational and financial impacts. Considering broad-based impact is an excellent starting point to create linkages between compliance risk managers and other parts of the business.

This approach has two immediate benefits: first, it enables compliance teams to secure buy-in from the business and to draw on business resources to identify realistic options to remediate significant compliance challenges. Second, it raises awareness within compliance and other business teams to spot when a compliance breach might trigger other risks  a step which is critical to avert risk contagion and to contain and properly manage these risks.

3. Over-focus on list-based, reactive sanctions management

Taking an overly legalistic or black-and-white approach to sanctions management that relies on checking individuals and entities against specially designated nationals and other lists is no longer optimal or appropriate. The new order of sanctions is fast-moving and not necessarily tied to a widespread sanctions regime. Some sanctions regimes (e.g., Europe vs. U.S. on Iran sanctions) compete and are mutually exclusive, and others are not even labeled as sanctions (e.g., those against Qatar). Factoring country or industry risk into your sanctions assessment means that you can flag up potential or high-risk parts of your business that may come under or be associated with sanctions because of changes in the political environment.

4. Failing to achieve a sustainable use of resources

Most if not all compliance teams would be significantly more successful in their missions if they had limitless resources at their disposal. In truth, resources are often scarce and teams need to weigh carefully where they will deploy them with the greatest impact. Using a comprehensive, risk-based approach and being creative in considering both internal and external factors when benchmarking and prioritizing where best to place resources and conduct proactive testing (see point 5 below) can go a long way to help compliance managers make the most of what theyre given to work with. The first step in achieving this objective is typically for companies to look back at their baseline risk assessment and align annual strategy plans to the areas flagged as highest risk. That is easier said than done when teams also need to cope with daily, transactional support to the business.

With that in mind, the second step is to think about optimizing resources. If you have a small team, it could be a suboptimal use of its time to be conducting due diligence research. There may be more efficient ways to outsource and manage output from specialist providers. Considerations such as seniority and levels of experience are relevant to make this decision. Compliance management technology tools have significantly evolved over the past few years: there are more options for compliance teams to use economical, centralized management platforms. Many companies find this lightens the burden on their in-house team, allowing it to engage with business units to build capacity or tackle specific or more systemic compliance issues.

5. Not testing, monitoring or doing on-the-ground checks

Even programs that look fantastic on paper need to be assessed for their suitability in practice. Companies that fail to conduct regular audits and proactive testing and monitoring are less likely to identify shortcomings in the practical application of their program. In turn, companies that prioritize such work correctly through the focused application of the right tools can efficiently use testing with the greatest possible impact, even if those companies are working with limited funds. Data analytics and transaction testing tools, which are highly resource-efficient, are an excellent starting point for testing and monitoring. Their application allows companies to tie together different data points or data sets as well to map flashpoints in their organization where they need to dedicate more resources.

6. Generic ABAC training

Training that is general and not tailored to specific job functions by definition has limited applicability for different parts of the business where risks are the highest. Companies that go the extra mile and develop training programs aimed at specific job functions like accounting will have a greater impact. Where real-life case studies are used during trainings, they should be adjusted for different trainings to speak to the specific audience at hand and focus on applicable remedial measures or management strategies and lessons learned from the company itself. The focus should be on questions like What did we do wrong to get into this situation?, What can we be better at? and What challenges would you and your job function face dealing with applying these management strategies, and where would you look for internal or external support?

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Maria Knapp, pictured above right, is a Senior Partner of Control Risks Compliance, Forensic and Intelligence practice covering Europe and Africa, supporting clients in designing and executing complex and multijurisdictional investigations, anti-bribery and corruption risk advisory, strategic intelligence, and third party management. She is a qualified solicitor who has worked and lived in the UK, France and Sub-Saharan Africa and is a fluent French speaker. She can be contacted here.

Oliver Wack, left, is a Principal of Control Risks and the head of its North America risk analysis and consulting team. He leads on the development of corporate market-entry and risk analysis and benchmarking programs, as well as the development and delivery of political and corruption risk analysis and consulting tasks for U.S. clients, with a focus on Latin America. He speaks fluent English, French, German and Spanish. He can be contacted here.
Like many Liberians who fled their countrys back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003, Menyongar applied for asylum when she arrived in America in 1994. Her request was denied when she was unable to reach relatives in Liberia to get proof of her family ties to a politician there, whose prominence she feared would make her a target should she return. She was able to remain in the United States under TPS until 1999, when the program expired for Liberians and DED was created to extend protection to about 10,000 people at the time.
She also said she was wary of agreeing to the formation of the committee without more details. We asked for the specifics: What are you talking about? What would this look like? How would this be done? 
Calvert County

These were among reports received by the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-535-2800 or 301-855-1194, the Crime Solvers line at 410-535-2880 or the state police Prince Frederick Barrack at 410-535-1400.

CHESAPEAKE BEACH AREA

MALICIOUS DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

Silverton Lane, Feb. 5. A 31-year-old Chesapeake Beach man was arrested after he attempted to enter a residence by force and screamed at individuals inside. When he was unable to enter the residence, the man ripped a screen door off its hinges and threw deck furniture, causing damage. He was charged with malicious destruction of property less than $1,000

LUSBY AREA

DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

Lusby area, 4:56 a.m. Feb. 10. A Saint Leonard man was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting that occurred at 12:51 a.m. where deputies located several gunshot holes in the front of a womans residence, and a lodged bullet in a bedroom closet door.

PRINCE FREDERICK AREA

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Vianney Lane, 100 block, Feb. 5. A 19-year-old man was arrested after Saint John Vianney Catholic Church reported a theft and he attempted to cash two checks totaling $120. The assailant was charged with theft $100 to under $1,500.

Charles County

There were no reports received by the Charles County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-932-2222 or 301-870-3232. The website ccso.us has crime statistics and information on crime prevention programs.

REWARDS FOR INFORMATION

Crime Solvers will pay a reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The 24-hour hotline is 866-411-8477. Callers may remain anonymous.

St. Mary's County

These w ere among reports received by the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-475-8008. To submit a tip, call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. The Leonardtown Barrack of the state police has an anonymous tip line at 301-475-2936.

CALIFORNIA AREA

THEFT/BREAK-IN

First Colony Way, 45100 block, Feb. 8. A 31-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested at a retail store after he damaged electronics merchandise by breaking into the packages and removing security devices. He then attempted to leave the store with the merchandise concealed in his shopping cart. He was charged with theft and malicious destruction of property.

GREAT MILLS AREA

ASSAULT

Indian Way, 45900 block, Feb. 5. A 36-year-old Great Mills woman was arrested and charged with second-degree assault after a reported disturbance.

LEXINGTON PARK AREA

ASSAULT

David Way, 20600 Feb. 2. A woman threw a metal bucket at a person during an argument, which struck them in the face and caused an injury. The woman also threw hot wax on the persons couch causing damage to the furniture. A second person intervened to keep the woman from committing further assaults, but was also assaulted. A 62-year-old Lexington Park woman was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of destruction of property.

MECHANICSVILLE AREA

ASSAULTS

Allen Rd., 29700 block, Feb. 8. During an argument, a man grabbed a person around the neck, kicked holes in a door, and broke the persons glasses and a kitchen table. The 39-year-old Mechanicsville man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property.

Calvert Cir., 42300 block, Feb. 7. A woman threw an item at a person, which struck them in the head. The 41-year-old Mechanicsville woman was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.

Huntt Rd., 30100 block, Feb. 2. A 41-year-old Mechanicsville man was arrested after he struck a person in the face, causing a black eye and a lacerated lip. He was charged with second-degree assault.

Riverview Rd., 41300 block, Feb. 3. A man assaulted a male during an argument, and grabbed him around the neck, strangling him. The 40-year-old Mechanicsville man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.

ARREST

Mechanicsville area, Feb. 7. A Mechanicsville man was arrested on an outstanding warrant for second-degree rape and third-degree sex offense.
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Kahns Rd., 11000 block, 9:39 a.m. Feb. 11. A resident reported someone was possibly heard inside the home, and when he checked, the resident found the front door slightly ajar. Nothing was reported missing and there was no sign of forced entry. At this time, no entry is believed to have been made into the home. No property was reported missing.
I dont consider myself a consumer advocate, Mr. Horowitz told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. If youre on television, you have to really be broadcasting in the public interest . . . but you also have to be objective. . . . I do a lot of stories where the consumers wrong  where theyre trying to rip off companies, too.
I did not have an easy life. And I cant promise you an easy life here, Ruby Corado told Fabiola. The two were sitting under disco balls and next to the cots and emergency blankets in the D.C. homeless shelter that caters mainly to the LGBTQ community. But I can promise you peace of mind. And I can promise you that you will never be alone on your journey again.
Montgomery County

The following information, provided by the Montgomery County Police Department, shows selected offenses reported to police. Crime reports may be based on preliminary information that is subject to change as a result of further investigation.

REWARDS FOR INFORMATION

Crime Solvers of Montgomery County, a nonprofit organization, pays up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in connection with felonies. Call the 24-hour hotline at 800-673-2777. Callers may remain anonymous.

District 1

Rockville Station

Telephone: 240-773-6070

ROBBERY

Gude Dr. E., 600 block, 6:41 p.m. Feb. 10. Robbery reported.

WEAPON

Mannakee St., Unit block, 3:23 p.m. Feb. 8. Weapon law violations.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Baltimore Rd., 700 block, 7:04 a.m. Feb. 9. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Bou Ave., 5700 block, 4:38 p.m. Feb. 7. Shoplifting.

Bou Ave., 5700 block, 7:55 p.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Decker Pl., 16200 block, 11:50 a.m. Feb. 10. Theft from motor vehicle.

Frederick Rd., 15900 block, 1:14 p.m. Feb. 8. Larceny.

Frederick Rd., 16000 block, 8:37 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from building.

Horners Lane S., 500 block, 9:37 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

Hungerford Dr., 700 block, 3:07 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Hungerford Dr., 700 block, 2:24 a.m. Feb. 9. Shoplifting.

Hungerford Dr., Unit block, 5:25 p.m. Feb. 10. Larceny.

Lofstrand Lane, 600 block, 3:29 p.m. Feb. 4. Embezzlement.

Mannakee St., Unit block, 2:46 p.m. Feb. 7. Larceny.

New Mark Esplanade, 300 block, 3:39 a.m. Feb. 11. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Park Potomac Ave., 12400 block, 10:34 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

Park Potomac Ave., 12400 block, 2:18 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

Parklawn Dr., 12000 block, 10:47 a.m. Feb. 12. Stolen property.

Parklawn Dr., 12200 block, 10:38 a.m. Feb. 5. Larceny.

Prettyman Dr., 300 block, 7:31 p.m. Feb. 6. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Randolph Rd., 5400 block, 12:39 a.m. Feb. 12. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Rockville Pike, 700 block, 11:09 a.m. Feb. 11. Theft from motor vehicle.

Rockville Pike, 1500 block, 6:04 p.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Scott Dr., 9200 block, 5:23 p.m. Feb. 5. Larceny.

Stickley Rd., 4900 block, 3:22 p.m. Feb. 4. Theft from motor vehicle.

Traville Gateway Dr., 9700 block, 10:12 a.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Traville Gateway Dr., 9700 block, 2:05 p.m. Feb. 9. Shoplifting.

Twinbrook Pkwy., 12300 block, 5:48 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

Beall Mountain Lane, 12400 block, 10:23 a.m. Jan. 31. Motor vehicle theft reported.

District 2

Bethesda Station

Telephone: 240-773-6700

ARSON

Greentree Rd., 5900 block, 9:18 a.m. Feb. 11. Arson reported.

ROBBERIES

Lawrence Ave., 3800 block, 1:18 a.m. Feb. 8. Robbery reported.

Woodmont Ave., 7300 block, 4:37 p.m. Feb. 8. Robbery reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Arlington Rd., 7100 block, 9:31 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from building.

Barn Wood Lane, 10800 block, 1:53 p.m. Feb. 8. Larceny.

Bentcross Dr., 10000 block, 7:21 p.m. Feb. 7. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Connecticut Ave., 8000 block, 12:29 p.m. Feb. 6. Theft from motor vehicle.

Democracy Blvd., 7100 block, 11:15 a.m. Feb. 1. Embezzlement.

Democracy Blvd., 7100 block, 8 p.m. Feb. 6. Theft from building.

Democracy Blvd., 7100 block, 7:43 p.m. Feb. 9. Shoplifting.

Gloster Rd., 5900 block, 9:04 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Goldsboro Rd., 6400 block, 10:53 a.m. Feb. 6. Theft from building.

Greenlawn Dr., 5900 block, 6:10 p.m. Feb. 2. Purse-snatching.

Greentree Rd., 6200 block, 1:35 p.m. Feb. 6. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Halbert Rd. W., 6400 block, 11:25 a.m. Feb. 12. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Harrogate Rd., 9900 block, 8:16 a.m. Feb. 11. Theft from motor vehicle.

Nicholson Lane, 5800 block, 5:33 p.m. Jan. 29. Theft from motor vehicle.

Old Georgetown Rd., 11700 block, 7:25 a.m. Feb. 11. Theft from motor vehicle.

Rapley Preserve Dr., 9300 block, 12:29 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

River Rd., 5100 block, 11:25 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

River Rd., 5600 block, 12:48 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

Rockville Pike, 11400 block, 3:33 p.m. Feb. 9. Shoplifting.

Turnberry Dr., 9400 block, 4:45 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from motor vehicle.

West Hwy. E., 4300 block, 4:28 p.m. Feb. 6. Larceny.

Western Ave., 5300 block, 11:57 a.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

Westport Rd., 5100 block, 2:42 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Willard Ave., 4700 block, 8:07 p.m. Feb. 6. Theft from building.

Wisconsin Ave., 6800 block, 2:56 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from building.

Woodglen Dr., 11300 block, 5:06 p.m. Jan. 23. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Woodmont Ave., 7700 block, 3:17 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from building.

16th St., 8300 block, 10:25 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

16th St., 8300 block, 5:03 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Cordell Ave., 4900 block, 9:13 p.m. Feb. 6. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Executive Blvd., 6100 block, 9:09 a.m. Feb. 11. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Grosvenor Pl., 10300 block, 11:44 a.m. Jan. 18. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Wisconsin Ave., 6800 block, 8:38 p.m. Feb. 4. Motor vehicle theft reported.

District 3

Silver Spring Station

Telephone: 240-773-6800

University Blvd. E., 700 block, 8:05 a.m. Feb. 6. Robbery reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Bonifant St., 900 block, 2:24 p.m. Jan. 28. Theft from motor vehicle.

Brisbane St., 1700 block, 12:23 p.m. Feb. 5. Larceny.

Broadbirch Dr., 2300 block, 11:06 a.m. Jan. 29. Shoplifting.

Brock Dr., 10100 block, 10:36 a.m. Feb. 11. Theft from motor vehicle.

Cameron St., 8500 block, 6:35 a.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Castle Blvd., 14000 block, 9:29 p.m. Feb. 3. Purse-snatching.

Castle Blvd., 14100 block, 10:57 p.m. Feb. 9. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Colesville Rd., 8600 block, 11:50 a.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

Colesville Rd., 10100 block, 3:04 p.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

Countryside Dr., 2400 block, 9:59 a.m. Feb. 5. Larceny.

Devere Dr., 1100 block, 7:48 a.m. Feb. 11. Theft from motor vehicle.

East West Hwy., 1100 block, 7:29 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

East West Hwy., 1100 block, 2:32 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from motor vehicle.

East West Hwy., 1100 block, 1:20 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

Edgewood Ave., 10200 block, 9:05 a.m. Feb. 10. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Elkhart St., 1900 block, 11:55 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Ellsworth Dr., 900 block, 3:33 p.m. Feb. 7. Shoplifting.

Ellsworth Dr., 900 block, 4:13 p.m. Feb. 7. Shoplifting.

Ellsworth Dr., 900 block, 3:55 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from building.

Fenton St., 8100 block, 6:56 p.m. Feb. 6. Larceny.

Fenton St., 8400 block, 9:07 p.m. Jan. 25. Theft from motor vehicle.

Fidler Lane, 1100 block, 7:18 a.m. Jan. 31. Embezzlement.

Flower Ave., 8400 block, 10:49 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from building.

Forest Glen Rd., 1500 block, 8:54 p.m. Feb. 9. Larceny.

Garland Ave., 8800 block, 5:07 p.m. Feb. 6. Theft from building.

Georgia Ave., 8100 block, 7:24 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from building.

Georgia Ave., 8200 block, 3:53 a.m. Feb. 10. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Glen Ross Rd., 2000 block, 8:46 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Glenridge Rd., 9100 block, 7:24 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Hampton Hollow Dr., 3400 block, 3:15 p.m. Jan. 28. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Linton St., 9200 block, 3:47 p.m. Feb. 10. Theft from motor vehicle.

Lockwood Dr., 11200 block, 6:25 p.m. Feb. 6. Larceny.

Milestone Dr., 1000 block, 11:43 a.m. Feb. 3. Larceny.

Mozart Dr., 2900 block, 3:51 p.m. Feb. 9. Burglary, breaking and entering.

New Hampshire Ave., 10100 block, 5:09 p.m. Feb. 11. Shoplifting.

New Hampshire Ave., 11200 block, 11:02 a.m. Feb. 4. Shoplifting.

New Hampshire Ave., 11200 block, 9:08 a.m. Feb. 9. Theft from building.

Old Columbia Pike, 11700 block, 9:09 p.m. Feb. 10. Theft from building.

Pershing Dr., 800 block, 5:22 p.m. Feb. 4. Theft from building.

Philadelphia Ave., 800 block, 4:36 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Shinnecock Dr., 13100 block, 11:07 a.m. Feb. 5. Larceny.

Silver Spring Ave., 900 block, 9:58 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Wayne Ave., 800 block, 5:22 p.m. Feb. 9. Shoplifting.

Wayne Ave., 900 block, 4:30 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from building.

Winhall Way, 700 block, 5:12 p.m. Feb. 1. Larceny.

Second Ave., 8600 block, 10:08 a.m. Jan. 31. Theft from motor vehicle.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Lockwood Dr., 10800 block, 11:08 a.m. Feb. 5. Motor vehicle theft reported.

November Cir., 1500 block, 2:10 p.m. Feb. 4. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Sligo Ave., 600 block, 3:08 a.m. Feb. 12. Motor vehicle theft reported.

West Hwy. E., 1100 block, 5:50 p.m. Feb. 8. Motor vehicle theft reported.

District 4

Wheaton Station

Telephone: 240-773-5500

ROBBERY

Newport Mill Rd., 11100 block, 11:36 a.m. Feb. 6. Robbery reported.

WEAPON

Georgia Ave., 13600 block, 10:08 p.m. Feb. 9. Weapon law violations.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Bel Pre Rd., 2200 block, 5:57 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from building.

Bennion Rd., 4500 block, 4:03 a.m. Jan. 30. Theft from building.

Bucknell Dr., 10900 block, 7:23 p.m. Feb. 6. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Carmody Dr., 1900 block, 5:56 p.m. Feb. 8. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Connecticut Ave., 13700 block, 3:31 a.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

Connecticut Ave., 14000 block, 3:59 p.m. Feb. 1. Shoplifting.

Connecticut Ave., 14000 block, 5:55 p.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Crisfield Rd., 12800 block, 9:47 p.m. Feb. 9. Larceny.

Fox Valley Dr., 4000 block, 8:04 a.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

George Washington Dr., 16500 block, 9:09 a.m. Feb. 7. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Georgia Ave., 10900 block, 6:18 p.m. Feb. 10. Shoplifting.

Georgia Ave., 11200 block, 2:17 p.m. Feb. 5. Shoplifting.

Georgia Ave., 11200 block, 6:29 a.m. Feb. 10. Shoplifting.

Georgia Ave., 11200 block, 10:03 p.m. Feb. 10. Larceny.

Good Hope Rd., 14700 block, 10:32 p.m. Feb. 10. Larceny.

Grand Pre Rd., 14200 block, 8:28 a.m. Jan. 31. Theft from motor vehicle.

Homecrest Rd., 14500 block, 11:48 a.m. Jan. 29. Theft from motor vehicle.

International Dr., 3700 block, 10:49 a.m. Feb. 7. Theft from building.

Kimblewick Dr., 200 block, 12:46 a.m. Feb. 8. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Leisure World Blvd. N., 3300 block, 9:44 a.m. Feb. 5. Theft from building.

Long Green Dr., 14200 block, 9:01 a.m. Feb. 5. Burglary, breaking and entering.

New Hampshire Ave., 15600 block, 4:20 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from building.

University Blvd. W., 1100 block, 12:43 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

University Blvd. W., 2600 block, 7:53 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from building.

University Blvd. W., 2900 block, 8:14 p.m. Jan. 26. Shoplifting.

University Blvd. W., 2900 block, 3:48 p.m. Feb. 5. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 3:44 p.m. Jan. 30. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 2:30 p.m. Jan. 31. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 12:13 p.m. Feb. 4. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 6:32 p.m. Feb. 5. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 1:37 p.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 5:13 p.m. Feb. 6. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 3:24 p.m. Feb. 7. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 11100 block, 5:21 p.m. Feb. 10. Shoplifting.

Veirs Mill Rd., 12200 block, 6:02 p.m. Feb. 9. Theft from motor vehicle.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Medway St., 3100 block, 3:25 p.m. Feb. 7. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Postgate Terr., 4000 block, 7:31 a.m. Feb. 6. Motor vehicle theft reported.

District 5

Germantown Station

Telephone: 240-773-6200

ASSAULTS

Richter Farm Rd., 13500 block, 10:23 a.m. Feb. 8. Aggravated assault.

ARSON

Shamrock Glen Cir., 20800 block, 4:18 a.m. Feb. 1. Arson reported.

ROBBERIES

Century Blvd., 19800 block, 2:17 p.m. Feb. 6. Robbery reported.

Frederick Rd., 19900 block, 11:50 a.m. Feb. 12. Robbery reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Appledowre Cir., 20000 block, 6:54 a.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Charity Lane, 17500 block, 3:09 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Circle Gate Dr., 19300 block, 10:34 a.m. Feb. 8. Theft from motor vehicle.

Clarksburg Rd., 22700 block, 4:30 p.m. Feb. 5. Shoplifting.

Damascus Blvd., 10000 block, 9:03 a.m. Feb. 8. Theft from motor vehicle.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 5:13 p.m. Jan. 18. Larceny.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 3:03 p.m. Jan. 19. Shoplifting.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 7:21 p.m. Feb. 7. Shoplifting.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 5:11 p.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 12:59 p.m. Feb. 9. Larceny.

Frederick Rd., 20900 block, 2:42 p.m. Feb. 11. Shoplifting.

Marble Hill Pl., 17800 block, 4:53 p.m. Jan. 30. Theft from motor vehicle.

Seneca Meadows Pkwy., 20600 block, 12:45 p.m. Feb. 2. Shoplifting.

Waters Row Terr., 20300 block, 1:19 p.m. Feb. 7. Larceny.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

Harmony Woods Lane, 18700 block, 1:49 p.m. Feb. 8. Motor vehicle theft reported.

District 6

Gaithersburg Station

Telephone: 240-773-5700

ASSAULTS

Christopher Ave., 400 block, 1:51 p.m. Feb. 9. Aggravated assault.

Frederick Ave. N., 400 block, 11:02 p.m. Feb. 8. Aggravated assault.

Frederick Ave. N., 500 block, 3:11 p.m. Feb. 6. Aggravated assault.

Lost Knife Cir., 18200 block, 3:45 p.m. Feb. 8. Aggravated assault.

Lost Knife Cir., 18400 block, 12:46 a.m. Feb. 6. Aggravated assault.

Montgomery Village Ave., 19100 block, 2:26 p.m. Feb. 5. Aggravated assault.

ARSON

Smoothstone Way, 18900 block, 11:36 a.m. Jan. 23. Arson reported.

ROBBERIES

Dakota Dr., 8500 block, 3:07 a.m. Feb. 8. Robbery reported.

Montgomery Village Ave., 19200 block, 7:46 p.m. Feb. 11. Robbery reported.

Snouffer School Rd., 8000 block, 8:41 a.m. Feb. 10. Robbery reported.

WEAPONS

Lost Knife Rd., 9600 block, 2:01 p.m. Feb. 9. Weapon law violations.

Southern Night Lane, 1100 block, 6:53 p.m. Jan. 24. Weapon law violations.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Bac Pl., 9400 block, 7:57 a.m. Feb. 10. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Bureau Dr., Unit block, 12:58 p.m. Feb. 8. Theft from motor vehicle.

Cactus Ct., 18000 block, 7:52 p.m. Feb. 7. Larceny.

Christopher Ave., 400 block, 3:23 p.m. Feb. 4. Theft from motor vehicle.

Clopper Rd., 800 block, 9:45 a.m. Jan. 12. Theft from motor vehicle.

Filbert Dr., 19800 block, 5:17 p.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Filbert Terr., 7500 block, 4 p.m. Feb. 5. Theft from motor vehicle.

Frederick Ave. N., 600 block, 3:56 p.m. Feb. 1. Shoplifting.

Gaither Rd., 9200 block, 3:48 p.m. Feb. 8. Larceny.

Golden Ash Way, Unit block, 6:44 p.m. Feb. 6. Burglary, breaking and entering.

Ramsdell Terr., Unit block, 9:40 a.m. Feb. 7. Theft from motor vehicle.

Russell Ave., 700 block, 12:23 p.m. Feb. 8. Shoplifting.

Shady Spring Terr., 17600 block, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2. Theft from motor vehicle.

Thorburn Rd., Unit block, 3:41 p.m. Feb. 6. Theft from motor vehicle.

Tschiffely Square Rd., 100 block, 2:05 p.m. Feb. 4. Theft from building.

Washingtonian Blvd., 10100 block, 9:26 p.m. Feb. 4. Theft from building.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Montgomery Village Ave., 19300 block, 10:54 a.m. Feb. 9. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Olde Towne Ave., 200 block, 8:23 a.m. Jan. 26. Motor vehicle theft reported.

Ridgeline Dr., 10300 block, 5:58 a.m. Feb. 6. Motor vehicle theft reported.

PROSTITUTION

Perry Pkwy., 600 block, 12:33 a.m. Jan. 15. Prostitution reported.

Takoma Park and other areas

ROBBERY

New Hampshire Ave., 7400 block, 5:21 a.m. Feb. 11. Robbery reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Merrimac Dr., 900 block, 12:31 a.m. Feb. 6. Shoplifting.

New Hampshire Ave., 7600 block, 10:26 a.m. Feb. 8. Theft from building.
Members of the caucus say Maryland has impeded enrollment at the four schools by allowing other state colleges to duplicate programs that once attracted a diverse student body to the historically black colleges and universities. The offer of $100 million is not enough, they say, to remedy decades of disparities allowed by the state.
THE DISTRICT

Hearing seeks cause of deaths in explosion

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled a hearing to determine the probable cause of a fatal natural gas explosion more than two years ago.

The NTSB said in a news release Tuesday that the hearing is scheduled for April 23 at its conference center in Washington. The hearing was originally scheduled for March 12.

Authorities said the explosion at an apartment complex in Silver Spring, Md., on Aug. 10, 2016, killed seven people and injured dozens.

Last November, Marylands two U.S. senators said federal investigators needed to wrap up their inquiry.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded the explosion stemmed from a gas leak in a utility room housing the complexs meters.

 Associated Press

VIRGINIA

Professor announces candidacy for primary election

Fairfax Countys already crowded Democratic primary election to replace county Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova added another name last week when Alicia Plerhoples, a Georgetown University law professor, announced her candidacy.

Plerhoples, 39, had been running for a county school board seat in McLean but decided to abandon that race in hopes of working to bridge the economic gap in Virginias most populous jurisdiction as leader of the board of supervisors, she said in a statement.

There are two Fairfax Counties, divided by economic security and opportunity, Plerhoples said. I am running for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors because I want to close the gap through affordable housing, public education, environmental justice and transportation improvements.

Bulova (D) is set to retire at the end of her third term in December. The other Democrats seeking to succeed her are Supervisor Jeff C. McKay (D-Lee), county school board member Ryan McElveen (D-At Large) and Reston-based developer Tim Chapman.

 Antonio Olivo

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Both Jackson and prosecutor Jonathan Kravis grilled Stone on how he found the image and why he posted it. Stone gave inconsistent answers, saying first that it was posted by a volunteer and then that a volunteer sent him the image but he posted it himself. He said he cant remember who gave him the picture or the names of everyone who has access to his phone.
People from as near as Silver Spring, Md., to as far away as North Carolina claimed to have seen Justice, but experts said that is unlikely, given that when hes not at the nest, Justice likes to hang out at Oxon Cove Park in Maryland, at the campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington or at Hains Point on the Potomac River in Southwest Washington.
But one of the most disputed provisions would have introduced charter schools in the state, one of the few with none. It would also have established educational savings accounts  a type of voucher  for families of special-needs students and students who have been bullied. Under the program, the state would deposit about three-quarters of the money it spends on individual public-school students into an account for families to use for private schools and other education needs.
I admired the fathers audacity. Some parents wonder about this but dont dare raise the question in a room full of other parents. Since homework is experienced by nearly everyone, it gets much attention. The latest comes from the Center for American Progress, in an unusual report based on an online survey, Homework and Higher Standards. The report from the liberal think tank buttresses the pro-homework argument but suggests to me (usually a homework fan) an adjustment that might please that dad.
The city uses enrollment projections to determine its school budgets and predicts the number of students enrolled in the system will increase by nearly 2 percent next academic year  the second straight year it has experienced such a bump. That increase would bring enrollment in the traditional school system to just under 50,000 students. The growth is in elementary and middle school grades, Ferebee said.
Anne Arundel County

The following were among incidents reported by the Anne Arundel County police. For information, call 410-222-8050.

PASADENA AREA

ROBBERY

Fort Smallwood Rd., 9000 block, 2:15 a.m. Feb. 13. Two males accosted an elderly woman as she was returning home from work. They threatened her with handguns, entered the residence, took cash and other valuables, then fled.

Annapolis

These were among incidents reported by the Annapolis Police Department. For information, call 410-268-9000.

ROBBERY

Forest Dr., 1300 block, 1:30 p.m. Feb. 6. Two males accosted a male pedestrian, demanded cash and started reaching into the boys pockets. When the boy tried to push their hands away, the assailants punched him and fled empty-handed. Two Annapolis boys, ages 11 and 12, were arrested and charged with attempted robbery, attempted theft, and second-degree assault.

HOME INVASION/BURGLARY/ARREST

Juliana Cir., unit block, 3:20 p.m. Feb. 13. A 20-year-old Laurel man was arrested after he threatened to kill a female acquaintance, then broke into her home looking for her, and threatened a person inside with a handgun. He was charged with home invasion and numerous handgun violations and assault charges.

SHOTS FIRED

Madison St., 1100 block, 1:40 a.m. Feb. 12. Responding to calls about shots fired, police discovered two parked unoccupied vehicles, the entry door to an apartment building, and the window of an occupied apartment had been struck by bullets.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Bay Ridge Ave., 700 block, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 2. A package left outside the front door of a residence was stolen.

Bowman Dr., 1800 block, 10 p.m. Feb. 9 to 9 a.m. Feb. 10. An unlocked vehicle was entered. Nothing was reported missing.

Conley Dr., 100 block, 7:35 a.m.-5:10 p.m. Feb. 13. Jewelry and two 21-inch flat-screen televisions were stolen from a residence entered through an unlocked door.

Washington St. W., unit block, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Feb. 8. A parking pass was stolen from a vehicle with a previously broken window.

Howard County

These were among incidents reported by the Howard County Police Department. For information, call 410-313-2236.

COLUMBIA AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Brook Way, 5200 block, Feb. 6-7. A license plate was stolen from a vehicle.

Columbia Rd., 5600 block, 12:43 a.m., Feb. 9. Tires were stolen from a vehicle.

Freetown Rd., 6400 block, 5 a.m. Feb. 9. An attempt was made to enter a convenience store by force at a gas station.

Glen Oaks Lane, 9500 block, late Jan. to early Feb. An attempt was made to enter a vacant residence by breaking a window. Nothing was reported missing.

Gramercy Pl., 10600 block, 2:50-7:45 p.m. Feb. 9. An attempt was made to enter a residence by force.

Oakland Mills Rd., 7000 block, Feb. 6-7. Car batteries were among property stolen from multiple vehicles overnight.

Ridermark Row, 11300 block, 3:08 p.m. Feb. 8. An attempt was made to enter a residence by tampering with the locks.

Stevens Forest Rd., 5900 block, Feb. 11. An attempt was made to enter a residence by prying open a door.

ELKRIDGE AREA

ROBBERY

Marshalee Dr., 6000 block, 11:37 a.m. Feb. 8. A male walked up to a teller at a bank branch located inside a grocery store and demanded cash. The employee complied, and the assailant fled.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Montgomery Rd., 7200 block, 6:43 p.m. Feb. 11. A vehicle was entered. Nothing was reported missing.

Rockledge Ct., 6400 block, Feb. 7-8. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

VEHICLE THEFT

Critter Ct., 5800 block, Feb. 7-8. A 2005 white Ford F-250 pickup was stolen.

ELLICOTT CITY AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Baltimore National Pike, 10000 block, 10:24 p.m. Feb. 11. An attempt was made to enter a business by breaking a front window.

Court House Dr., 3600 block, 9:17 p.m. Feb. 11. An attempt was made to enter a vacant residence by force.

Oakton Lane, 8400 block, Feb. 8-9. Tires were stolen from a vehicle.

SAVAGE AREA

VEHICLE THEFT

Greenwood Pl., 8800 block, 3:03 p.m. Feb. 12. A white Dodge Caravan was stolen.

WOODSTOCK AREA

VEHICLE THEFT

Gretchen Nicole Ct., 10300 block, Feb. 7. A 2007 tan Toyota Sequoia was stolen.
The industry really shouldnt be headed this way, says T.J. Clark, co-founder and CEO of TurnKey Vacation Rentals, a national full-service property manager. Certain essential amenities should always be included in the rate. At TurnKey, for example, high-speed WiFi is included in every home. Theres also a washer and dryer or a comparable service on the premises. In fact, we wont work with homes that dont have these capabilities, Clark says. We see these items, and many more, as standard amenities for vacation rentals, which guests should expect to be included, not part of an upsell. Were also not shy to highlight these items that arent always free at hotels as benefits for staying at one of our properties over another .
Shortly after the store opened, two teenage patrons, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, told Skip they wanted to put out a record by their hardcore punk band, the Teen Idles. Skip ended up producing the record and showing the pair how to set up a label of their own. The label, Dischord Records, helped put Washington on the punk-rock map, issuing records from epochal bands such as Minor Threat and Fugazi. MacKaye, who played in both bands, became one of the most well-known figures in D.C. music and punk worldwide. Amid the cacophonous din at the end of Minor Threats Steppin Stone, he can be heard saying, Skip, we love you!
Before Urbinati started dressing actors, she wanted to be a writer  a Hemingway/Tolstoy, serious kind of writer. She thinks about styling as building a narrative about an actor. Take the Rock. Before he came to her, he was the big guy in oversized clothes. But that made him look sloppy, disheveled. Whats the best way to dress a guy with arms the size of a building? she asked herself. We do all his suits custom. I approached a bunch of different brands, and I said we want to change his fashion image. Trust me. Youll be glad you came on board.
Melting ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice and Snow World caused the area to close over the weekend. The Chinese ice festival is typically open through February. (China Stringer Network/Reuters)

Ice and snow sculptures carved by nearly 10,000 artists in the city of Harbin have melted during a sudden warm spell, forcing the earliest closure of Chinas biggest winter festival.

Daytime temperatures have poked above freezing in northern Chinas warmest week this winter, prompting officials to close Monday, more than 10 days ahead of schedule.

Of course, we do have a sense of crisis, a park official said, adding that it was closed for safety reasons because the sculptures began to melt.

The winter park in Harbin, a northeastern city known for its bitterly cold weather, had attracted more than 1 million visitors since it opened December 23.

Some visitors who bought tickets to admire the ice versions of two Italian landmarks  the Colosseum in Rome and the Milan Cathedral  were disappointed by the early closure. Last year, the park shut March 10.

Why didnt you inform us in advance, a tourist wrote in a post on Weibo, a Twitter-like blog popular in China. Ive booked my train ticket and hotel, and now you are closed.

Park tickets have been refunded, the park official said.

The Harbin winter festival has drawn millions of visitors from around the world since it began in the early 1980s. It brings a lot of money to Harbin, a landlocked city in the province of Heilongjiang. The Chinese festival is one of the worlds four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japans Sapporo Snow Festival, Canadas Quebec City winter carnival and Norways Ski Festival.

 Reuters

Read more from KidsPost:

Ice transformed into works of art at annual festival in Harbin, China

On frigid days, why does it sometimes rain instead of snow?

Migrating snow geese are a beautiful sight but a scientific concern
Unconventional Rome gallery marks anniversary with new exhibition.

22 Feb-2 March. GALLA, an exhibition space showing original, quality art works at affordable prices, celebrates its first year with works on paper by its stable of artists: Bankeri, Federica Bartoli, Ombretta Gamberale, Matilde Guarnieri, Carlotta Leoni, Onze, Gio Pistone, Franz Prati and Lu Tiberi.

The birthday party / show opening runs from 18.00-22.00 on Friday 22 February and can be visited until 2 March during gallery opening hours (Wed-Sat 14.00-20.00).

Located on Via degli Zingari in the heart of the Monti quarter, GALLA is designed as a permanent collective exhibition, continuously changing.

The gallery shows unconventional works by artists working in various fields including painting, engraving, architecture, sculpture, street art and muralism, illustration, combine art, installation, applied arts.

For details about GALLA see Facebook page.
Piccolo Cinema shows kids' movies in Trastevere.

Children in Rome can look forward to free animated movies screened on Friday afternoons over eight weeks thanks to the organisers behind Piccolo America.

The Piccolo Cinema initiative runs from 22 February until 12 April at the Regina Margherita school on Via Madonna dell'Orto 2, in the Trastevere neighbourhood in which Piccolo America hosts its hugely popular film festival each summer.

"Once we realised that many children were discovering the cinema in the S. Cosimato arena" - explains Piccolo America president Valerio Carocci - "we understood that the solution to [counteract] the absence of people in cinemas was to bring the films not just into the piazze but also into schools. "

The animated film festival, which has the support of the Lazio Region, begins on Friday 22 February at 16.45 with Shark Tale. The screenings continue at the same time on the subsequent seven Fridays.

The next appointment will be 1 March with Pollicina, then Rio on 8 March, Megamind on 15 March, Il principe dEgitto on 22 March, La strada per El Dorado on 29 March, Sinbad on 5 April and finishing with I Croods on 12 April.

The films will be screened in Italian and admission is free.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Localized flooding is possible.
One final wrap up forum will be held at the high school. Joel said that meeting date has not been scheduled yet, but it would probably happen before the end of the school year.

The superintendent reported the first meeting in Valparaiso was well attended by community, board members, staff and administration. It lasted about an hour, which will be the approximate duration for all meetings.

Were trying to keep it to an hour, but if there is discussion going on we wont cut anybody off, he added.

That is because the purpose of the meetings is to have a meaningful discussion that can help guide the districts strategic plan.

To spur that discussion, there are three questions that are being asked at each of the forums.

What is different for you now compared to 10 to 20 years ago?

In regards to what you see different, what do you believe are two action solutions and what is the school and personnel role in the solution?

What skills do you want students to graduate Raymond Central with as a

foundation to their future?

While these are the basic topics, the forums are not limited only to them.
 Currently the death penalty is not valid

per the state Supreme Court

OLYMPIA (Feb. 15) 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 voted 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 if 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.
Stats & stuff

The Waco Trib, in its response to Eric Machs letter concerning the negative effects of illegal immigration, cant help its liberal self by pointing out that illegal immigrants only account for a rather small fraction of homicides and crime in general, as if this is supposed to make us all feel safer. As they so deftly point out, native-born Texans commit the majority of crimes. So why would we want to allow even one more criminal to enter illegally if we already have so many? If I gave you 1,000 M&Ms and told you they were all good except one might kill you, how many would you let your child eat? We cant just let anyone and everyone come in.
Given our interview with Democratic Precinct 2 Commissioner Patricia Chisolm-Miller, were also surprised at her vote against the resolution. That said, Commissioner Jones is right about one thing: The resolution introduced Tuesday was done with little discussion. And as a new commissioner  even one who was privy to previous discussions on this issue  Chisolm-Miller at least deserves a formal breakdown of facts and figures of how a unit-road system might benefit her taxpayers at the very time the governor and state legislators accuse local taxing entities of being wasteful.

However, we see no reason why current wastefulness should continue till the 2021 legislative session. County Judge Felton should press for a full formal presentation within the next few weeks, then ask for another vote. No one on the court could then excuse himself or herself for being uninformed, only obstinate.

Officials who have adopted the unit-road system say their counties over time have saved money by consolidating expensive resources such as equipment and labor and placing such resources under a county engineer or road superintendent. Perry, who has studied the system in some depth, says that under the current precinct-based model, some precincts purchase more expensive equipment than is needed for just one precinct.

Of course, one reason for the status quo is the age-old hurdle to better governance: Power. Some politicians dont want to give up their fiefdoms, even if it might benefit their taxpayers in the long run.
If the goal is to build a border wall, then President Trump has made the wrong decision at every turn. In early 2018, Trump had the opportunity to secure $25 billion in funding for his border wall in exchange for legal status for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. Instead of taking the deal, he blew up the negotiations with his s---hole countries remark and by demanding changes to legal immigration policy.

Then in June, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1.6 billion for 65 miles of fencing by an overwhelming bipartisan 26-5 margin. This could easily have passed the House and Senate. Instead, Trump later shut down the government over wall funding and demanded $5.7 billion. Result? After a disastrous 35-day shutdown, he got less  $1.38 billion  than he would have if he had just gone along with the bipartisan deal six months earlier.
"Our initial thought was that's a very strange place to find a moon," Showalter said.

Proteus also has a massive crater on its surface, called Pharos, likely left behind after an impact from a comet or another passing object that nearly destroyed the moon at some point in its history.

Perhaps, Showalter and his colleagues suggest, Hippocamp is some of the shrapnel from that ancient collision. Only by sending a spacecraft back to the Neptune system to compare the worlds' compositions can scientists know for sure.

Though the outer solar system is sometimes seen as dark, cold and dreary, the story of Hippocamp demonstrates how much activity has gone unnoticed in this distant region, said Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory who was not involved in the new research.

Scientists say Neptune's icy largest moon, Triton, is an object acquired from the Kuiper belt sometime after the planet's formation. Its arrival probably jostled the inner moons, causing collisions that flung some bodies outward and fragmented others.

"It's just fascinating for dynamicists" studying how solar system bodies interact and evolve, Mandt said.
Supporters shook McNamaras hand and said they admired his dedication to the job. McNamaras wife, Charlotte, said she is fully supporting a potential third term for her husband.

Every morning that man gets up and runs circles around me every day, she said. That is no joke. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, he is going nonstop. I know he is doing a great job and he loves the people of McLennan County.

McLennan County Republican Club President Wesley Lloyd said caterers at Thursdays luncheon ran out of food and seating for the large lunch crowd. He said it was a testament to support of McNamara, but the announcement was not a surprise.

It was not a shocking announcement, but it is good to get it out of the way for him, because he is doing a good job, they appreciate him and like him, Lloyd said. He obviously has a lot of enthusiasm for the job still and you can tell it when he speaks. My impression is that it feels like he has unfinished business, so we need our elected officials to stay hungry.
Is it feasible? And the answer is: yes, its feasible, Kazanas said to the school board Tuesday. Could River Valley Intermediate be a middle school? And the answer is: yes, it could with additions and some renovations. But the whole goal is continuing to look at how we meet the five- and 10-year growth of that age group.

Specific programs

In addition to growth of the overall student population at each school, the district is considering how to accommodate potential growth in participation in specific programs, including Career and Technical Education courses in culinary arts or forensic science, district spokeswoman Traci Marlin said. Both areas of study require specific equipment for students to use to learn, and if Midway wants to expand those programs, it will have to provide the necessary equipment for all students who want to participate.

Midway could meet its growth needs by rearranging campuses to make two middle schools of 1,200 students each, or it could keep the current middle school and build another in Hewitt, Kazanas said. That would be necessary to meet the districts 10-year expected growth.
Heritage banquet

The Baylor University Black Student Union will have its 32nd annual Black Heritage Banquet at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 in the fifth-floor banquet room of the Cashion Academic Center, 1401 S. Fourth St.

The keynote speaker will be Jemar Tisby, president of The Witness, Black Christian Collective and author of The Color of Compromise.

Student tickets are $10, and general admission tickets are $20, available at the ticket office in the Bill Daniel Student Center, 1311 S. Fifth St. Ticket deadline is Friday.

For more information, call 710-7982 or email Rachel_Bay1@baylor.edu.

McLennan GOP

The McLennan County Republican Club will meet at 11:45 a.m. Thursday in Knox Hall at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.

Sheriff Parnell McNamara will speak. Lunch is $15.

Cactus Society

Nationally known cactus and succulent expert, writer, photographer and lecturer Woody Munnich, from Cedar Grove, New Mexico, will speak to the Central Texas Cactus and Succulent Society at 7 p.m. Friday at the Carleen Bright Arboretum, 9001 Bosque Blvd. in Woodway.
While the storyline is for fun, the music presents a challenge for both music and theater students. The operettas vocal lines and word-heavy lyrics require trained singing to pull off while its plot demands an equal amount of trained acting. Theater and opera offer both, but with stylistic differences. Were trying to blend the two, explained Parker. Added Morrison, Everybody has to do everything.

Theres also the issue of singing without body mikes  standard practice for opera students, new for musical theater ones  and the operettas British sense of humor, which inspired cast members to come up with a new local verse for the well-known I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General tune.

The MCC production features a cast of 30 with a 17-player orchestra that mixes Waco professionals and college students. The orchestra includes woodwind players Richard and Helen Shanley, a clarinetist and flutist respectively, retired from the Waco Symphony Orchestra and the Baylor music faculty. The two will play side-by-side with their former students Jun Qian and Cara Dailey, respectively, who teach at Baylor and play in the WSO.

Its truly a collaboration, both with faculty and students, said Morrison.

Thursdays performance is part of the Hearts in the Arts Theatre Gala, which will feature a pre-performance reception. Gala tickets are $75 and must be reserved by Thursday by calling 299-8604. Proceeds benefit MCC scholarships and special projects for MCC visual and performing arts students and faculty.

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Radio station staffers are usually adept at watching the clock  in commercial broadcasting, minutes mean money  and Thursday morning, Feb. 21, will find Waco public radio employees and fans with their eyes on the clock from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

That's the Power Morning window when the station, KWBU-FM (103.3-FM), is asking supporters to phone in their pledges to help KWBU meet its fundraising goal of $60,000. This year's goal represents an uptick from last year's goal of $55,000, but Joe Riley, president and CEO of Brazos Valley Public Broadcasting Foundation, said the increase is simply because operational costs rise from year to year.

"Our support from our listeners continues to rise, but we would like to see it match our expenses," he said. KWBU counts roughly 1,000 supporting members within its listenership.

Those calling in pledges or making them online on Power Morning have those dollar amounts equalled by matching funds, one reason the station is pushing for supporters to respond during that time, Riley said.
Huntsville City School students enrolled in a career education program are striving for a high-skilled, high-wage job.

On Thursday, almost 200 students signed letters of intent to continue their career paths after graduation.

For some like Tiffany Dinh, cyber security is the path.

When Im going to the work force Im intentionally trying to do cyber security in the future, she said.

For others, the goal is construction.

But there are a lot of other options out there other than sitting at a computer all day, said Jaime Angel, Huntsville High School senior.

Angel plans on attending Calhoun Community College for two years and then getting his hands dirty in construction.

North Alabama employers are constantly looking for those workers.

The average age of a skilled tradesman is 59... and for every one of those that retires, like every four that walks out, there's only one coming back in to take their place, said Wade Thompson of Associated Builders and Contractors.

After signing their letters of intent, students walked out to a job fair where they could find future employment.

Angel knows his strengths as he spent seven years in Mexico watching his dad work in construction.

He says the hands-on approach of learning is best for him.

Stuff that I can learn in construction will be on the job site, he said. Its not going to be a computer or textbooks.
For many, seeing brilliant, blue sparks flying past a welding mask in a factory is just welder fusing metal together. Melissa Zeilinski said for her, its more like watching an artist at work.

These are a different type of artist. When you look at what they do on machining a part, or welding a part. We have engineers that design them. Well, somebodys got to build them and thats our trades, said Zeilinski.

Teledyne Brown cut the ribbon on their new High Bay Manufacturing Building in Huntsville on Thursday. Teledyne Brown cut the ribbon on their new High Bay Manufacturing Building in Huntsville on Thursday.

Zeilinski is the Director of Human Resources at Teledyne Brown Engineering (TDE). She said finding these specialized artists is a challenge.

It seems for a while, everybody was going to college and not a lot of people were going to trades. So were really feeling that shortage right now, said Zeilinski.

Right now, TDE is searching for several of them. On Thursday, the company cut the ribbon on its new High Bay Manufacturing Building. The 22,000 square-foot addition to the Huntsville plant will bring with it 30-40 new jobs in welding and machining.

Since we are a basically a life-cycle manufacturing, from start to finish, we create large, fabricated assemblies that we actually build and test here in Huntsville, well need skilled assemblers. And that is also going to add to our welding force as well, said Scott Hall, Sr. Vice President of Maritime Systems and Manufacturing.

For TBE, one method of recruiting comes from adding new technology to help build for the energy, defense and space industries. Jeff Holley, the director of manufacturing operations, said two new pieces of equipment specifically for the new building, including a SNK-300RB, to increase the size of the parts they can build.

Holley said TBE is also working on recruiting by changing the workflow environment.

Were able to do all the machining in this building with the more complex parts and the more complex machines to keep them all close together so that we can use the employees to help out and move parts and have more of a lean atmosphere in order to be more competitive, Holley said.

Zeilinski told WAAY 31 that its not just the gear companies like theirs have to consider when it comes to recruiting, but also the financial incentive.

The company recently expanded their employee referral incentive to skilled workers, like welders and machinists. Originally, it was just for the engineers.

They can recruit 10 people, 20 people, doesnt matter. But as long as they pass the 90 days, we cut them a check for $2,000 and thats been really successful. Cause like I said, our employees are our best recruiters, said Zeilinski

She said another challenge is staying on top of the market demand for rising salaries.

Even in the last six months, the markets adjusted again. So we have to keep readjusting so that we make sure that our employees are paid market value, said Zeilinski.

According to the Alabama Department of Labor, in 2017, the average salary for welders and machinists $39,906 and $42,649 respectively.

Companies like TBE are also keeping a close eye on community colleges, such as Drake State Community College, for their future workforce.

Advanced Manufacturing Chair Bob Grissim said he has started seeing an uptick in welding and machining enrollment in the last five years, but the perception of these jobs still stands in the way of rapid growth.

Its not the same as it was back in the 50s and the 60s. Most everything is in a computer-controlled environment, so that environment itself has to be much cleaner than it used to be, said Grissim.

In the meantime, Zeilinski told WAAY 31 that TBE is already advertising to bring in machinists and welders available now.
An Ardmore man is charged with third-degree domestic violence after investigators found a belt marking across the face of one of his sons.

Kevin DeWayne Owens Sr., 46, was charged and released from the Limestone County Jail Wednesday on $5,000 bond. Owens surrendered to authorities Tuesday after Limestone County Sheriffs Office investigators obtained warrants for domestic violence against a child.

After visiting the child at his school and observing the belt marking on his face, investigators learned the boy and his two brothers were also regularly taking home food and milk from school, said Stephen Young, sheriffs office spokesman.

They observed during a home visit that the home apparently did not have adequate food for the boys, and they had nothing in their rooms but a mattress, Young said. Investigators also discovered Owens had a long history with DHR in Alabama and Tennessee.

Owens had a separate refrigerator in his own room with food and soft drinks, Young said.

Limestone County DHR is currently working to get the children registered for nutritional program assistance.
Even though we've seen a break in the rain, there is still imminent danger for many homeowners, especially with more rain on the way.

One Shoals woman, Suzanne Robinette, said she's terrified she could lose her house along Bluewater Creek in Killen. She showed us how high the water got at her house on County Road 432 in Lauderdale County and why the place is so special to her.



A floating ant bed at McFarland Park A floating ant bed at McFarland Park

"My dad built it, and he passed away last year," said Robinette. "Everything washed away, our chairs, our grills. We had a huge metal garbage can down there. It's gone."

Robinette said she hasn't seen the water get this high around the creek in almost two decades. She said she's thankful the rain stopped and didn't reach her house that's up on stilts. With more rain coming, she's worried they could lose the home.

"It could wash it on away, if it gets any higher. With the rapids of the creek, it was rolling. It was rolling yesterday," said Robinette.

Emergency management officials in Lauderdale County are urging people to stay off the creeks and Tennessee River this week. McFarland Park in Florence will be closed until the water levels go down. TVA has also closed the Rockpile Recreational Area near the Wilson Dam because of the rising river.
The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has submitted its January progress report to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey

All of this stems from a WAAY31 investigation into the parole boards policies and procedures. In October, Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall said they were disappointed with the parole board and removed Cliff Walker as chairperson, replacing him with Lyn Head. Walker still serves on the three-person board.

In October, Ivey issued executive order 716 which halted early paroles for 75 days and told the board to come up with a corrective action plan to fix its problems.

The boards original plan was shot down by Ivey and Marshall. The second corrective action plan was submitted on Dec. 28.
An officer with the Ardmore Police Department dove into this flooded roadway to rescue a woman from her car.

Police say the woman was unharmed.

Flooding in Ardmore. (Photo courtesy of Shane Brown) Flooding in Ardmore. (Photo courtesy of Shane Brown)

WAAY 31 viewers Donna Hereford and Shane Brown sent us these images of that flooding at Hwy. 53 at the Stateline Bridge.

The water has begun to dissipate and the car is being towed.

If you are in that area, try your best to avoid it.

Remember to never drive in flooded areas.
According to the Fayetteville City Administrator Scott Collins, Fayetteville Fire Department Chief Coby Moon submitted his resignation during a meeting Thursday at 9:00 a.m. after he was on unpaid leave the last two days.

The interim captain is Jeff Smartt. The city uses a service to find personnel, and they have started looking for a new chief.

Collins said he can't release any information about the complaints against Moon yet.

Moon became the interim chief in January 2018 when the previous chief, Danny Travis, retired following a suspension. Collins said Moon became chief in May 2018.
While we're getting a little bit of a break from rain throughout north Alabama, the storm has still had a major impact throughout the area. It has closed several roads in Jackson County. Some people are not following the advice of emergency management agencies who said it's dangerous to drive through water covering roads.

Garrett Corbin lives in Jackson County. When it rains he's used to driving through it on Mill Road, "We come through here quite a bit when the water comes up," said Corbin.

The Jackson County EMA warned doing that is a big no-no and can be life-threatening, "I guess I've been through it so many times I just aint worried about it," said Corbin.

Several cars kept driving through the water. County workers did come out and move the "road closed" sign to make sure drivers don't get down the road. Mill Road is just one of many closed roads.

Jackson County EMA posted on their facebook page a list of 8 total roads throughout the county that have standing water on them. FEMA said it only takes a foot of water to float many cars and you can't tell, especially at night, whether the road might be washed out.

Thankfully, there have not been any rescues made for people stranded in flood waters in Jackson County. Overall, the EMA told WAAY 31 the storm is not as bad as they anticipated, which is one reason why Corbin risks crossing the flooded Mill Road, "This area floods pretty often when we get a good bit of rain," said Corbin.

The Jackson County EMA is going to be keeping a close eye on roads throughout the county and will reassess things on Thursday. In the meantime, drivers have to navigate around the closed roads.
Two people were arrested Wednesday after a morning drug raid.

Tyler Pruett, DeKalb County Sheriffs Office spokesman, said the DeKalb County Special Response Team assisted in a search warrant executed on Jackson County Road 163 near Henagar.

The Alabama State Trooper Regional Drug Task Force, Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Jackson County Narcotics Unit were also involved in the raid.

During the search, an undisclosed amount of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia was found. Firearms were also seized by the ATF on scene, Pruett said.

Paul Nathan Brooks II, 51, of Henagar and Mitchell Phillips, 48, of Fort Payne were arrested at the residence.

Brooks was charged with distribution of a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Phillips received charges for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and loitering in a drug house.

Both are currently being held in the Jackson County Detention Center, said Pruett.
Allison Janney, who will be a presenter after all Photo: Matt Sayles/Getty Images

Since Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the Oscars approximately eight hundred years ago, keeping up with the Academys endless tweaks and reversals around this years ceremony has been a full-time job. For those who still dont know what to expect after the last red carpet interview this Sunday, weve compiled a list of the latest in the Academys announcements. Bear in mind that, this year more than ever, these facts are subject to change.

1. There wont be a host.

After leaving us speculating about who would host the 2019 Oscars well past Thanksgiving, the Academy announced Kevin Hart as their host in early December. After Harts homophobic tweets from 2009 to 2011 drew negative attention to the Academys choice of host, Hart refused to apologize and instead stepped down from the position. Rather than find a replacement, the Oscars announced theyd go hostless for the second time in the ceremonys history. On February 20, rumors circulated that Whoopi Goldberg might be a secret host, but ABC has denied the story.

2. There will be musical numbers.

From four of the five nominees! Plus, at least one extra. After initially announcing that they would only stage two of the five nominated songs at the ceremony, the Academy bowed to criticism and announced it would make room for all five numbers. Due to scheduling issues, however, All the Stars from Black Panther will not be part of the lineup. These remaining songs are:

 Bette Midler performing The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns.

 Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (not Jackson Maine!) performing Shallow from A Star Is Born.

 Jennifer Hudson singing Ill Fight from RBG.

 Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (sorry, Tim Blake Nelson-Heads) dueting on When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

 Due to logistical issues, Kendrick Lamar and SZA will not be singing All the Stars from Black Panther, and nor will any other artist, so it will not be part of the telecast.

On February 19, the Academy tweeted that Adam Lambert and Queen will also perform on the broadcast (presumably without Rami Maleks vocals mixed in).

3. Here are the presenters:

On February 1, the Academy announced they would discontinue the tradition of having the previous years four acting winners present the trophies to their successors, and that they would reportedly look for bigger stars to present these major awards instead. Fans werent happy, and neither was 2018 Best Supporting Actress Allison Janney, so the Academy reversed this decision, too. The new presenting lineup is:

For the Acting Categories:

 Allison Janney

 Frances McDormand

 Sam Rockwell

 Gary Oldman

For the eight Best Picture nominees, a selection of notables unconnected to the films will introduce each film. Serena Williams has already been revealed as A Star Is Borns representative, but you can possibly figure out the rest yourself:

 Chef Jose Andres

 Dana Carvey

 Queen Latifah

 John Lewis

 Diego Luna

 Tom Morello

 Mike Myers

 Trevor Noah

 Amandla Stenberg

 Barbra Streisand

The first three waves of announced presenters are:

Elsie Fisher, Danai Gurira, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Keaton, Helen Mirren, John Mulaney, Tyler Perry, Pharrell Williams, Krysten Ritter, Paul Rudd and Michelle Yeoh.

Javier Bardem, Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Emilia Clarke, Laura Dern, Samuel L. Jackson, Stephan James, Keegan-Michael Key, KiKi Layne, James McAvoy, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Momoa and Sarah Paulson.

Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Charlize Theron, Tessa Thompson and Constance Wu.

4. Heres what the sets will look like:

On February 18, Academy Awards production designer David Korins posted a first peek of his design for the Dolby Theatre, calling the undulating gold proscenium CRYSTAL CLOUD, although many have noted its striking resemblance to a certain presidential haircut. Korins added that we have about 40,000 real roses on stage, but did not disclose whether or not Kenny G would be stranded among them.

5. Every award will be televised.

In February, the Academy announced that four awards, including the award for Academy President John Baileys own cinematography branch would be cut from the broadcast, awarded during commercial breaks, and edited down to air later on in the evening. After facing high-profile backlash from seemingly all of Hollywood, the Academy reversed their decision, announcing they would give each winner 90 seconds of traditional, live coverage.

6. Except for Best Popular Film.

That particular idea was scrapped in September.

7. What is Whiskey Cavalier?

Its not a Gene Kelly musical-within-a-musical, nor is it a thoroughbred Triple Crown winner, despite the name insisting otherwise. Its a spy procedural that ABC was hoping to lead out the Oscars broadcast, This Is Us-after-Super Bowl-style. Many speculated that this was the reason behind the Academys various efforts (I want to say schemes but I wont say schemes) to keep the broadcast to a tight three hours, though conventional wisdom cites such factors as raising ratings and broadening the appeal.

The Oscars will air live on February 24 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC, all 24 categories and five songs  and previews for Bourbon Chavelier or whatever  intact.
Photo: Midwest Films

Working in modern media inevitably means being inured to a steady stream of depressing news about cutbacks. It feels like every other week, another talented writer is suddenly out of a job, or worse, a publication has been shuttered completely. According to a recent report, 2018 marked the worst year of media layoffs since 2009, and things arent looking much better for 2019: Over 2,100 media employees have already lost, or will lose, their jobs since the beginning of February. (Most notably, BuzzFeed laid off 220 employees, which accounts for 15 percent of its staff, including all seven members of its national desk.)

Digital-media companies are under constant threat by a variety of forces  Facebook and Googles duopoly on web advertising, venture/vulture capitalists who punish their investments for failing to meet unrealistic expectations, a culture indifferent to paying for news that doesnt come from a legacy outlet  and it doesnt look like there will be substantial change on that front anytime soon. But maybe the future of journalism has always been grim in one form or another  just on a smaller, more regional scale that predates the internet era.

Joan Micklin Silvers 1977 film Between the Lines, whose new 2K restoration will have its New York premiere run at Quad Cinema starting this Friday, presents a milieu familiar to any journalist or writer working today: a renowned publication faces an impending sale to a wealthy businessman and the staff struggles to adjust to new material realities. The film follows a week in the life of the Back Bay Mainline, a fictional Boston alt-weekly modeled after real alt-weeklies the Boston Phoenix and the Real Paper, where screenwriter Fred Barron previously worked. Founded in the late 60s, the Mainline was once a radical underground rag whose coverage of events like the covert bombing of Cambodia and the Kent State massacre helped sow the seeds of dissent. Since then, however, the paper has become a little too comfortable with its assumed countercultural status, publishing stale copy from its half-interested staff. Despite their internal identity crisis, the Mainlines success has caught the fancy of potential buyers who want nothing more than to sand the edges off their new investment, much to the staffs rancor.

Silver and Barron filter this professional backdrop through the lives of its large ensemble cast, made up by young talent in some of their earliest roles. Harry (John Heard), the Mainlines star journalist, has turned his back on the investigative pieces that won him awards in favor of insipid culture journalism, primarily because his hard-hitting work didnt actually change much of anything. His on-again-off-again photographer girlfriend Abbie (Lindsay Crouse) still takes pride in her work at the paper and maintains enough ambition to know that the Mainline will be just one stop in her career. The arrogant careerist Michael (Stephen Collins) has sold a book about the death of the counterculture, clearly exploiting the movement of his youth for financial gain, and itches to leave the Mainline, believing it to be below him. When hes not boasting about sizable advances and possible film rights, he browbeats his reporter girlfriend Laura (Gwen Welles), who has lost her journalistic drive since the 60s and bemoans the compromises of adulthood.

In sharp contrast to the cynicism of the elder statesmen, the young, intrepid David (Bruno Kirby) investigates a corruption scandal involving a local record promoter, hoping to finally graduate from the classifieds desk. Silver highlights Davids determination while also capturing the staffs general disinterest in his story. He only gains their respect when hes confronted by actual physical violence. Even the films comic relief, the Mainlines gregarious rock critic Max (Jeff Goldblum), experiences tangible stress: His $75-a-week salary forces him to sell promo records for extra cash and to constantly beg for raises hell never receive. Its not that Im unhappy here. Im fucking broke! he screams at the Mainlines publisher, who could not care less about his plight.

Between the Lines takes places during the height of alt-weeklies, long before the omnipresence of the web and its subsequent demands. Yet, the film remains prophetic about the anxieties that writers and publications share in the face of financial pressures. The Mainlines editor Frank (Jon Korkes) struggles to herd his writers while fighting administrative battles hes bound to lose, like ceding more and more space to advertising. At one point, he threatens to punch Stanley (Lewis J. Stadlen), the head of advertising, on his way out the door if he doesnt ensure that copy wont suffer because of printing expenses. The middle-management enemy of the entire staff, Stanley despises the bohemian atmosphere of the Mainline and longs for a more draconian publisher to keep the staff in line. Hell eventually get his wish.

With Between the Lines, Silver and Barron depict the duplicitous nature of the sort of publisher more interested in profit than quality. When rich asshole Roy Walsh (Lane Smith) eventually buys the paper, he holds an all-staff meeting where he preaches pragmatism (We need a broader based readership in order to get a larger number of advertisers.) and calm (We bought the Mainline not for what it can be but for what it is, Its a good staff and we want to keep it together to the greatest degree possible, etc.). But behind closed doors, he demands a writer be fired for the crime of questioning his authority in front of everyone. When Frank tells him that the whole staff will quit in protest, he remains deeply unconcerned. I run several newspapers. I can have a staff in here tomorrow as far as that goes, he says calmly.

Between the Lines also illustrates how the lack of a strong union forces people into selfish corners that belie their shared interests. The Mainline writers talk a good game about running the paper as a collective or quitting en masse if Walsh buys the paper, but when the time actually comes, most everyone falls in line and keeps their grievances private. Only the papers idealistic receptionist, Lynn (Jill Eikenberry), publicly quits when Walsh takes over, saying that she doesnt want to work for some communications empire. Everyone else watches her leave, silent and ashamed, preferring to keep whats left of their jobs instead of standing in solidarity.

While the advertising hurdles, administrative hang-ups, and management drama in Between the Lines resonates with the new media landscape, the films hyper-regional alt-weekly culture sadly feels like a specter from the past. Local journalism has severely contracted in the 40 years since Between the Lines release; over 1,800 newspapers have ceased publication since 2004, a third of them in rural communities. Alt-weeklies in particular have suffered since the advent of the internet: Politicos Jack Shafer points to the migration of low-cost advertising to the web, the shuttering of local retailers (record stores, bookstores, etc.), which used to reliably stock and advertise in alt-weeklies, and the cultural ubiquity of the smartphone as contributing factors to their demise. The Boston Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Philadelphia City Paper, and the Baltimore City Paper all closed between 2013 and 2017. In August of 2018, the famed Village Voice ceased all new editorial content and laid off half its staff a mere 11 months after they ceased print publication. Still, there are some alt-weeklies that continue to fight the good fight: Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story on Los Angeless new local publication The LAnd, created by former L.A. Weekly contributors after that paper was taken over by new ownership.

Between the Lines digressive structure and amiably comedic tone keeps the various professional dilemmas from devolving into self-serious screeds about the State of Journalism Today. At the same time, Barrons own alt-weekly credentials (by his own admission, he was basically the Jeff Goldblum character) provides Between the Lines with enough verisimilitudinous detail that it becomes something of a living document in 2019. I laughed and cringed in equal measure when the Mainlines film critic requests funding, for whats presumably the umpteenth time, to attend the Cannes Film Festival and hes essentially laughed into silence. Similarly, a characters optimistic choice to become a freelancer takes on a depressing edge in light of the current economy.

Between the Lines chronicles the various compromises and heartbreaks a writer must accept (or reject) in order to stay afloat in a cutthroat media landscape. Replace the typewriter with a Wi-Fi connection and the concerns are almost exactly same. The future of journalism may seem grim, but perhaps its the same as it ever was.
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Lots of high school kids are way too busy keeping up their grades, participating in extracurricular activities, preparing for university, maybe working after school.

Braxton Moral took a different approach. The 16-year-old studied for two diplomas: one from his high school in Ulysses, Kan., and the other from Harvard.

Moral will receive a bachelors in liberal arts degree (ALB) this May from Harvard Extension School, an online program for degree-seekers who do not have the time to pursue a normal college campus experience.

But he doesnt think its a big deal.

I mean, its not like it hasnt been done before, he said.

Gifted students

Moral is among a small number of gifted high school students who, in addition to sitting through hours of classes, participating in extracurricular activities and finishing their homework, dedicate their evenings and weekends to online courses from the Harvard Extension School.

Despite his modesty, Morals case is pretty unusual, according to Harvard.

Its very, very uncommon to have a student that age going through the degree programs at Harvard Extension, said Harry Pierre, associate director of communications for Harvards Division of Continuing Education. According to Pierre, 96 percent of the current Harvard Extension School student body is older than 21. In the programs history, it has never had more than 10 teenage students in one undergraduate class.

Morals case is especially uncommon because soon after he enrolled in the program, Harvard Extension School required anyone enrolling in a degree program to be at least 21 because, according to the admissions website, the program is intended for working adults with years of work experience.

Harvard Extension School really caters to those people who, for some extenuating circumstances, werent able to come to the traditional campus experience, Pierre said. The average HES student is an adult with a full-time job and/or a family, he added.

WATCH: 16-Year-Old Kansan to Graduate From High School ... and Harvard

?The right fit

But for Moral, HES seemed like the right fit.

I was really bored. I was really looking for more stimulation in school, he said.

After a lot of research, Morals father found the program, and even though Braxton was not its target demographic, he and his family felt the flexibility of the program and the prestige of access to Ivy League courses was just right.

Though most of his Harvard courses were online, Br Though most of his Harvard courses were online, Braxton Moral, 16, spent one summer taking classes on the campus of Harvard University. Though most of his Harvard courses were online, Braxton Moral, 16, spent one summer taking classes on the campus of Harvard University.

The program, which costs $54,400 for the 32 classes required to earn a bachelors degree  relatively cheap even compared with costs at many public institutions, not to mention one from Harvard College, which weighs in at $46,340 a year for those who do not receive financial aid  is mostly online. But in Morals case, because of his age, he was able to also attend classes on the Cambridge, Mass., campus in the summer with other teenagers taking courses through a separate summer school program.

The summer school program, however, is not a degree program. And given Morals eagerness to earn a degree, his family and guidance counselors at Harvard decided the extension school would be best.

A lot of our Harvard Extension students, their full-time job is their career and theyre coming to school part time, meaning theyre not in class 10 hours a day, Pierre said.

High school important, too

But Braxton said he didnt want to give up high school despite being ready to pursue a bachelors degree.

I get to have a normal high school experience, which is nice, he said. I dont have to worry about lacking those social skills that you develop during that time. So, I appreciate all the benefits that I get from being able to be in both.

Hes never had the arrogant attitude. Hes been just a pretty down-to-earth student, said Mark Paul, Morals high school principal.

He is bright, but it takes more than just being bright to do this. It takes being committed. And he has taken on this goal and been committed to it, Paul said, adding that Braxtons whole experience has been pretty normalized.

Braxton says his teenage life in Ulysses, a Midwestern town with a population of 6,101, is like that of any other high school kid: movies, video games, martial arts and a good friend group.

They all, you know, make fun of me for this type of stuff, he said, referring to his hefty extracurricular commitment of earning his bachelors degree.

But other than that, they theyre nice, he said. They dont treat me differently.

A career in politics?

Being relatable is extremely important to him, he said, because he hopes to go into politics later.

Its very important to people. They really do search for relatable people to run for office, he said. Because youre supposed to be representing them, and how can you represent them if youve never had the same experiences?

From the very beginning he wanted to get into politics and thats his demeanor at all times  when you talk to him, hes very jovial, his principal said.

The next step to Morals career? Law school.

Ill probably end up going to Harvard Law, I hope, he said casually.

But before starting that chapter, Moral will walk across the stage of Ulysses High School to receive his high school diploma. A week later, he will walk across the stage at the Cambridge campus to receive his college degree
The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Indian national Jasmeet Hakimzada, declaring him a major foreign drug trafficker.

Six other people and entities were also sanctioned, including Hakimzada's parents, who allegedly help him run his operation.

"Jasmeet Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world," a senior Treasury Department official said.

Hakimzada lives in the United Arab Emirates. He is accused of running a worldwide drug trafficking ring that smuggles heroin, cocaine, opioids and other substances into the United States, Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Treasury said he has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through a trading company in the UAE.

A U.S. federal grand jury indicted Hakimzada in 2017 on 46 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Under the sanctions, all of Hakimzada's assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. citizens are barred from doing any business with him.
MOSCOW - The U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Thursday confirmed that its diplomats have not been granted access to detained U.S. national Michael Calvey a week after the founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund group was detained in the Russian capital.

Just hours before the embassy announcement, Russian state prosecutors formally indicted the investor.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement it had asked multiple times to visit Calvey but had not received permission, which it said flouted consular rules between the two countries.

"We insist on access now," the statement said.

Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Download File 360p | 7 MB 480p | 9 MB 540p | 12 MB 720p | 26 MB Original | 244 MB Copy Download Audio Thumbnail Fri, 07/12/2019 - 13:00 Anonymous (no roles) (not verified) Media Duration 00:01:59 Americans Indictment Potentially Decisive Moment for Russia, Trade Groups Say Last weeks shocking detention of one of Russias most renowned and publicly visible American entrepreneurs not only caught fellow foreign investors off guard, it may have prompted a moment of national reckoning about how Moscow handles investor relations, say both Kremlin-aligned and international trade groups.Baring Vostok founder Michael Calveys arrest Feb. Last weeks shocking detention of one of Russias most renowned and publicly visible American entrepreneurs not only caught fellow foreign investors off guard, it may have prompted a moment of national reckoning about how Moscow handles investor relations, say both Kremlin-aligned and international trade groups.Baring Vostok founder Michael Calveys arrest Feb.

On Wednesday, the head of a U.S.-Russian trade organization told VOA that Calvey, who had already been held in a Moscow pre-trial detention center for six days, had been meeting with his lawyers but had not yet had consular access.

"I've spoken to [Calvey's] colleagues, but not him, since the detention," U.S. national Alexis O. Rodzianko, president of the Moscow-based American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told VOA on Tuesday.

Rodzianko, who had just left discussions about Calvey's detention with various Russian, U.S., and European members of Moscow's financial community, said, "I understand [Calvey] has met with his lawyers. I understand that he has not yet had consular contact  that's as of lunchtime today."

According to terms of the Vienna Convention, consular access must be provided within a 72-hour window from the time of arrest, meaning that a member of the U.S. government should have visited Calvey by now.

On Wednesday, a State Department spokesman declined to confirm Rodzianko's assertion, citing privacy concerns, but seemed to indicate that the U.S. Embassy was still seeking access to the businessman.

"We are aware that a U.S. citizen was arrested on Feb. 14, 2019, in Russia," said the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of not being identified. "The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is aware of the case and will be following it closely, and will provide all appropriate consular assistance. We have no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad."

Calvey is the second American to face prosecution in Russia since late December, when Paul Whelan, a former Marine, was jailed on accusations of spying. Russia announced Whelan's detention on Dec. 31, some 24 hours after his arrest.

Russian Lawyer: Suspected US Spy Had Classified Material on Him The lawyer for an American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Tuesday that his client was given a flash drive containing Russian "state secrets" before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them.His family insisted that he was entrapped and denied that he is guilty of espionage.Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December. The lawyer for an American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Tuesday that his client was given a flash drive containing Russian "state secrets" before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them.His family insisted that he was entrapped and denied that he is guilty of espionage.Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December.

Whelan's family sharply criticized Russia's handling of the announcement, noting that security officials divulged his arrest hours into the start of New Year's Eve, which in Russia marks the start of a weeklong national holiday. Delaying the announcement, they said, drastically decreased Whelan's chances of securing access to legal and consular resources within the mandated 72-hour window.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman Jr., was finally permitted to meet with Whelan six days after the arrest.

Fraud indictment

Calvey has been charged with fraud stemming from a protracted dispute with shareholders of Vostochny Bank, of which Baring Vostok owns 52.5 percent. He was detained along with five others, including three Baring Vostok employees, according to the Russian state news agency, RIA Novosty.

A coalition of lobby groups representing European businesses active in Russia has issued a joint statement expressing concerns about the arrest of Calvey and his colleagues.

"The detention of Baring Vostok's top management has sent shock waves through the country's business community and can potentially seriously damage the investment climate and attractiveness of Russia for foreign direct investments," it said.

Baring Vostok Senior Partners Take Charge After its Founder Arrest Moscow-based private-equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners announced Monday that senior partner Elena Ivashentseva and co-founder Alexei Kalinin are in charge of the company after its founder and senior partner Michael Calvey, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of embezzlement.Moscow Basmanny court judge Artur Karpov ordered Calvey, the founder of the firm and one of the countrys longest-standing and most prominent American investors, held in custody until at least April 13, arguing that the Moscow-based private-equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners announced Monday that senior partner Elena Ivashentseva and co-founder Alexei Kalinin are in charge of the company after its founder and senior partner Michael Calvey, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of embezzlement.Moscow Basmanny court judge Artur Karpov ordered Calvey, the founder of the firm and one of the countrys longest-standing and most prominent American investors, held in custody until at least April 13, arguing that the

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to make a passing reference to Calvey's case during his annual State of the Nation address to the federal assembly on Wednesday.

"Good faith business shouldn't feel threatened by the law or constantly feel the risk of criminal or even administrative punishment," Putin said.

If convicted, Calvey faces up to 10 years in a Russian prison.
A U.S. Coast Guard officer who federal prosecutors allege stockpiled weapons to launch a spree of domestic terrorism and mass murder will appear in court Thursday.

Police arrested Christopher Paul Hasson last week on drug and weapon charges after finding a large stash of guns, ammunition and drugs in his suburban Washington apartment.

Federal prosecutors are expected to argue at Thursday's bail hearing that Hasson must remain in jail until his trial.

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," the government's court filing says. It calls Hasson a "domestic terrorist bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

Along with the weapons and drugs, investigators found documents in which Hasson allegedly calls for "focused violence" and expresses a desire to "establish a white homeland."

A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncov A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncovered by U.S. federal investigators in the home of U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson in Silver Spring, Md., in a photo provided Feb. 20, 2019. A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncovered by U.S. federal investigators in the home of U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson in Silver Spring, Md., in a photo provided Feb. 20, 2019.

He is said to have written about ways to "kill almost every last person on Earth," and called the idea of a biological attack and poisoning the nation's food supply "interesting."

Investigators also found a hit list of liberal politicians Hasson allegedly singled out for assassination, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a number of Democratic presidential candidates. CNN and MSNBC television personalities were also included on the list.

Prosecutors said they believed Hasson was not just fantasizing but was serious about his plans. They said he was a longtime white nationalist and neo-Nazi.



They said he spent time studying the manifesto of far-right Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people during a 2011 massacre.



Hasson has a public defender who as of late Wednesday afternoon had yet to comment on the charges.
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant accused of amassing a cache of weapons and plotting to attack Democratic politicians and journalists was ordered held for two weeks on Thursday while federal prosecutors consider charging him with more crimes.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, appeared in a burgundy jumpsuit but did not speak during a brief hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Prosecutors said the charges already filed against him are "just the tip of the iceberg."

"There is an intent to murder innocent civilians," U.S. Attorney Jennifer Sykes told Judge Charles Day.

Hasson is described by federal prosecutors as a "domestic terrorist" and self-described white supremacist who had a list of potential targets including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC television host Joe Scarborough.

Hassan also searched the internet for where members of Congress live, and which public figures had security details, prosecutors said.

Public defender Julie Stelzig, representing Hasson, pointed to his military service as evidence of his character. She said Hasson's gun collection was not extraordinarily large, and that he should not be held accountable for writing disturbing emails which he ultimately did not send.

"We are not yet a country that criminalizes people for their thoughts," Stelzig said.

In a draft email from June 2017 cited by prosecutors, Hasson wrote: "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something."

A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncov A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncovered by U.S. federal investigators in the home of U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson in Silver Spring, Md., in a photo provided Feb. 20, 2019. A locked case containing bottles of Tramodol uncovered by U.S. federal investigators in the home of U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson in Silver Spring, Md., in a photo provided Feb. 20, 2019.

Hasson was assigned to the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was arrested Friday on weapons and drugs charges.

The Coast Guard has confirmed an active duty member was arrested after a probe by its own investigators, the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, but said it was offering no further details because of the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors said 15 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were found at Hasson's residence. They also said he studied a manifesto by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who in July 2011 killed eight people in downtown Oslo with a car bomb and then shot dead 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a Labour Party camp.

According to prosecutors, Hassan had also been studying manifestos by "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski and Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui.
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is set Thursday to resume high-level talks with Chinese officials, aiming to ease a trade standoff thats unnerved global investors and clouded the outlook for the world economy.

A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will meet in Washington with a U.S. team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as well as Larry Kudlow, a key White House economic adviser, and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser. The talks are expected to end Friday.

The worlds two biggest economies are locked in a trade war that President Donald Trump started over his allegations that China deploys predatory tactics to try to overtake U.S. technological dominance. Beijings unfair tactics, trade analysts agree, include pressuring American companies to hand over trade secrets and in some cases stealing them outright.

To try to force China to change its ways, Trump has imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese goods. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of its own. China rejects the allegations and complains that Washingtons goal is simply to cripple a rising economic competitor.

On March 2, the Trump administration has warned, it will escalate its import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent if the two sides havent reached a resolution by then. But in recent days, Trump has signaled that he may be willing to extend the deadline if negotiators are making progress.

The conflict has rattled markets. Its also fanned uncertainty among businesses that must decide where to invest and whether Trumps tariffs - which raise the cost of the affected imports - will be in effect long enough to justify replacing Chinese suppliers with those from countries not subject to the tariffs.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have all downgraded their forecasts for the global economy, citing the heightened trade tensions.

After meetings last week in Beijing, Lighthizer said the two countries had made headway.

And citing upbeat comments from the two countries, Xingdong Chen, chief China economist at BNP Paribas, said the negotiators are likely to make progress, convincing Trump it is worth extending the tariff truce if necessary.
KYIV - Ukraine's State Security Service SBU accused Russia on Thursday of meddling in the electoral process in Ukraine by creating illegal structures to help guarantee victory for a certain candidate.

Ukraine holds a presidential election in late March. Its relations with Russia have been very poor since Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and started backing armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

SBU deputy head Viktor Kononenko told a news briefing that a group of Russian citizens and their Ukrainian collaborators had used financial bribes to set up a network of people ready to vote for a certain candidate and to influence public opinion.

"This activity is illegal and implies an impact on the election results," Kononenko said, adding that the plot involved "citizens of Ukraine who have been cooperating with Russian structures for a long time".

Kononenko declined to say which of the 44 registered candidates stood to benefit from the scheme.

The incumbent, the pro-Western Petro Poroshenko, veteran opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy are the frontrunners in the election race.

The latest opinion poll puts Zelenskiy in first place, with Poroshenko second and Tymoshenko third.

Russian authorities have denied any interference in Ukraine's election campaign.

Kyiv has also previously accused Moscow of orchestrating large-scale cyberattacks as part of a "hybrid war" against Ukraine, which Russia also denies.

Kononenko said the organizers of the vote-buying scheme hoped that 680,000 people would vote for a certain candidate as the result.

"This pyramid involved citizens of Russia, citizens of other countries and citizens of Ukraine who participated in the work of the political headquarters on the territory of Russia. We are working exclusively on the Russian traces," he said.

The head of Ukraine's cyber police, Serhiy Demedyuk, told Reuters last month that hackers probably controlled by Russia were stepping up efforts to disrupt Ukraine's election with cyberattacks on electoral servers and personal computers of election staff.
North Korea's human rights issues are likely to be sidelined at the upcoming second summit between Washington and Pyongyang, according to experts, but a top U.N. rights official hopes progress is made on the subject.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi Feb. 27-28, with hopes of making progress on denuclearization following vague outcomes reached at the historic first summit in Singapore in June.

Trump said he mentioned North Korea's human rights issues at the first summit, but some observers criticized him for what they saw as shrugging off Pyongyang's human rights record while meeting with Kim.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the United Nations special in FILE - Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special investigator on human rights in North Korea, holds up a lock given to him by North Koreans who escaped from the country, during a press conference, Oct. 23, 2018, at U.N. headquarters in New York. FILE - Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special investigator on human rights in North Korea, holds up a lock given to him by North Koreans who escaped from the country, during a press conference, Oct. 23, 2018, at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea, stressed that it is important "North Korea meets and starts a dialogue" with U.N. officials, and said he hoped Trump would raise the subject of human rights at the summit.

"What I would like to see coming from the summit in the upcoming month is concrete and tangible results in regards to the engagement of North Korea with my office," Quintana told VOA's Korean service last week. "And that would be the starting point, the starting point to then address substantive issues on North Korea."

Not a security threat

Other experts, however, say human rights are unlikely to be on the summit agenda because North Korea's violations of international norms do not directly threaten U.S. security.

Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses, said, "If the United States is planning on going in there and trying to make some headway on denuclearization, they will probably not say anything about human rights, or keep it to a minimum."

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said human rights were unlikely to be discussed because the subject "does not impact the U.S., its allies, and other [countries] of Northeast Asia in anything like the existential threat of missile and/or nuclear attack."

Signs depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and No Signs depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are displayed in a barbershop in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 19, 2019. The two leaders have become style icons ahead of their upcoming summit in Hanoi. Signs depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are displayed in a barbershop in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 19, 2019. The two leaders have become style icons ahead of their upcoming summit in Hanoi.

Some experts also warn that bringing up human rights with North Korea in the early stages of negotiations on denuclearization will be counterproductive.



"If [Trump] wants to get anything done with North Korea, he probably shouldn't bring it up, because North Korea will recoil against any attempts to lecture them on human rights," said Gause.

John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy in Focus, agreed, saying, "I believe if the United States wants to get a deal on North Korea's nuclear program, it should stick to talking about national security questions."

'Code' for regime change

Manning said mentioning human rights to North Korea, which "terrorizes its citizens to maintain order and social control," will be seen as "a code word for regime change."

Quintana agreed, adding, "North Korea has seen the issue of human rights for decades as an issue used for political purposes, an issue used to change the system of North Korea."

Experts said human rights would most likely be brought up in the future if there were improvements in North Korea's relationships with the U.S. and the international community.

Le Phuc Hai, 66 and To Gia Huy, 9, pose for a phot Le Phuc Hai, 66 and To Gia Huy, 9, pose for a photo after having Trump and Kim haircuts in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 19, 2019. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have become style icons in Hanoi, a week before their second summit there. Le Phuc Hai, 66 and To Gia Huy, 9, pose for a photo after having Trump and Kim haircuts in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 19, 2019. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have become style icons in Hanoi, a week before their second summit there.

"Human rights needs to be solved as an organic process as North Korea evolves its relationship with the outside world," said Gause. "So you have to hope  that human rights will come along with North Korea becoming a much more responsible nation and treating its citizens with more respect as it becomes a nation that interacts with the outside world."

Manning said, "I suspect if we move forward with U.S.-[North Korea] normalization talks, human rights will have to be addressed in that process."

Don't wait, some say

Human rights activists, however, think the U.S. should not wait to raise the issue with North Korea.



Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said, "Waiting until the establishment of liaison offices, or even the establishment of diplomatic relations with North Korea, will be akin to capitulation on the human rights front."

The U.S. may set up a liaison office in Pyongyang, CNN recently reported, and the U.S. agreed to establish "new relations with North Korea" in the joint statement issued at the Singapore summit.

FILE - A man watches photos showing North Korean c FILE - A man watches photos showing North Korean children suffering from famine at a photo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 27, 2014. FILE - A man watches photos showing North Korean children suffering from famine at a photo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 27, 2014.

If the U.S. does not bring up human rights at the upcoming summit, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, thinks it will send a message "giving Kim the green light to continue his horrific repression of the North Korean people."

Quintana pointed to various North Korean human rights violations, including the denial of freedom of the press, religion and expression. He added that among more severe abuses such as forced labor, the most critical issue to address is North Korea's treatment of political prisoners.

"I publicly urged North Korea  to release all the political prisoners who are being detained in North Korea in those camps which are closed to any kind of [international] monitoring," said Quintana.



Scarlatoui said North Korea must grant U.N. human rights officers access to its political prison camps for "the ultimate goal" of "the full, final, verifiable dismantlement of North Korea's prison camp system."



Approximately 120,000 people are estimated to be held in political prison camps, subject to torture and forced labor.

Resolution in Congress

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican, introduced a resolution this month calling for North Korea to dismantle its labor camps. The resolution also calls on the international community to issue targeted sanctions on North Korean officials responsible for committing crimes against humanity.

Quintana stressed that improving its record on human rights will be crucial if North Korea wants to develop its economy.



He said, "The international community  starting this process of engagement with North Korea needs to understand that one of the partners in the agreement will be a country with this kind of political prison camps, and that cannot be accepted."

Feffer also thinks North Korea needs to address its human rights conditions if it wants to open up its economy. "At a certain point  North Korea will find that the scale of human rights abuses will prove to be a deterrent to outside investment  participation in multilateral institutions, perhaps even bilateral trade," said Feffer. "That's when the government will have to make some hard choices about the direction of its internal policies."
WASHINGTON - The United States said Wednesday that it would refuse to take back a U.S.-born Islamic State propagandist who wants to return from Syria, arguing that she is no longer a citizen.



The Trump administration's refusal to admit Hoda Muthana, 24, could set precedent and face legal challenges, because it is generally extremely difficult to lose US citizenship.



"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States."

FILE - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a FILE - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Feb. 1, 2019. FILE - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Feb. 1, 2019.

"We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria," he added.

Pompeo did not elaborate on the legal rationale for why the Alabama native, who is believed to have traveled to Syria on her U.S. passport, was not considered a citizen or where she should go instead.



Pompeo's statement on Muthana  one of the comparatively few U.S.-born jihadists amid the hundreds of Europeans to have joined the ranks of the Islamic State group in Syria  is at odds with his calls on other countries to take back and prosecute their own jihadist nationals.



Just this weekend, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to chastise European allies who have not taken back IS prisoners caught in Syria.

US-born, then radicalized

Muthana was born in the United States to parents from Yemen who became naturalized American citizens, according to the Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University, which has identified 64 Americans who went to join IS in Syria or Iraq.



In late 2014, shortly after moving to Syria, Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of herself and three other women who appeared to torch their Western passports, including an American one.



She went on to write vivid calls over social media to kill Americans, glorifying the ruthless extremist group that for a time ruled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq.



But with IS down to its last stretch of land, Muthana has said she renounced extremism and wanted to return home.



Muthana, who has been detained by U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters, said that she had been brainwashed by reading social media as a closeted teenager in Hoover, Ala.



"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly," she said in a note to her lawyer reported by The New York Times.

Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, 24, is pictured in his office in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 20, 2019. The United States said Wednesday that it would refuse to take back Muthana, a U.S.-born Islamic State propagandist, who wants to return from Syria, saying that she is no longer a citizen. Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, 24, is pictured in his office in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 20, 2019. The United States said Wednesday that it would refuse to take back Muthana, a U.S.-born Islamic State propagandist, who wants to return from Syria, saying that she is no longer a citizen.

She was married three times to male jihadists and has a toddler son.

Hard to lose citizenship

The U.S. decision on Muthana comes amid rising debate in Europe on the nationality of extremists. Britain recently revoked the citizenship of Shamina Begum, who similarly traveled to Syria and wants to return to her country of birth.



Britain asserted that she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship because of her heritage, but the Dhaka government on Wednesday denied that she was eligible, leading her to become effectively stateless.



U.S. citizenship is significantly more difficult to lose. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War as slavery was abolished, establishes that anyone born in the country is a citizen with full rights.



In recent years, it has been considered virtually impossible to strip Americans of citizenship, even if they hold dual nationality.



The U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 1967 Afroyim decision rejected the government's attempt to revoke the nationality of a Polish-born naturalized American after he voted in Israel.



And last year a federal judge rejected a government attempt to strip the nationality of a Pakistani-born naturalized American who was convicted in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.



But Trump has campaigned on a hard line over immigration and raised the prospect of ending birthright citizenship ahead of last year's congressional elections.



In 2011, President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes that killed two Americans in Yemen  prominent al-Qaida preacher Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son  but did not believe it was possible to revoke citizenship.
YAOUNDE - A new study confirms rape has become a weapon of war in Cameroon's separatist conflict, and many victims are terminating pregnancies with crude, unsafe abortion techniques.

Sixteen-year-old Mercy Azefor says she was raped in Nkambe while hiding on her mother's farm after her parents were killed in April 2018. Nkambe is in the Northwest region, one of two areas where English-speaking separatist groups are fighting to break away from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

Azefor says a family running from the fighting drove her to Yaounde. There, she met pastor Grace Mbegno of Divine Redemption Ministries, who took her in.

Two months ago, Azefor gave birth to a baby girl.

"I gave her the name Gracious because she is all that I have," Azefor said. "I do not want her to go through what I went through. She will certainly have good education and help others tomorrow. She knows no other father than God who created her."

A Cameroonian nonprofit group, the Rural Women Center for Education and Development, is keeping track of at least 300 school-age girls from the Northwest region who became pregnant as a result of rape, either from suspected separatist fighters or government soldiers.

Dangerous procedures

Vera Wirsiy, coordinator of the center, says the group was motivated to carry out the study after a 14-year-old rape victim came to a hospital in the Northwest town of Ndop and asked that her six-month pregnancy be terminated.

"The young girl came to do an abortion," Wirsiy said. "The medical personnel tried to find out what happened. She told him the community is not safe, gunshots, her grandmother is not able to take care of her. The guy impregnated her and ran."

Wirsiy said at least 130 of the 300 girls they met had already had abortions, with some using crude traditional means that endanger their lives.

Panje Roland of Cameroon's Ministry of Women Empowerment said many more women and girls in the Northwest and Southwest regions have been victims of sexual exploitation, but it is difficult to know their numbers because many are hiding.

'Weapon of war'

In December, Allegra Baiocchi, coordinator of the U.N. system in Cameroon, called for the protection of women and girls in the war zone and a stop to what she called humiliating practices.

"We know that rape is today a weapon of war and many women, thousands of women, have had to flee and are today even more vulnerable to sexual abuse," she said.

A report last year by rights group Amnesty International criticized both the Cameroon military and separatists for abuses of civilians.

In October, the government of Cameroon said it had opened investigations into reports of police and soldiers raping teenage girls and young women.
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JUBA - A South Sudanese rebel group says it is investigating accusations in a United Nations report that the group's fighters committed rape and sexual violence against civilians.

Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, deputy military spokesman for the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), said the group will punish anyone found guilty of committing such violations.

There is a committee being inspected by our chairman to investigate those alleged incidents that took place. In case we find any one responsible for those atrocities, he or she will be held responsible immediately Gabriel told VOA's South Sudan in Focus.

The report, released by the U.N. human rights office last week, accused both rebel and government forces of rape and sexual violence against women and girls, some as young as eight, in South Sudans northern Unity Region.

The U.N. said at least 175 women and girls were victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence during the latter third of 2018, and said the actual number of victims was likely much higher. It said the acts may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, spokesman for South Sudan Peoples Defense Force, said he is yet to see the report but doubts it contains anything new.

I think it is the same old wine which is just put in a new bottle. The same thing they have been talking about  a, b, c, d, e. But when we get down to ground, we normally find all the accusations to be untrue, he told VOA.

He said government investigators looked into the U.N. report.

"They went on the ground and tried to correlate what was released and compared with the results on the ground, and we have discovered it was a pile of lies," he said.

FILE - Women and girls speak to members of a U.N. FILE - Women and girls speak to members of a U.N. peacekeeping patrol as they walk to get food in Bentiu, fearful of being attacked on the way, near Nhialdu, South Sudan, Dec. 7, 2018. FILE - Women and girls speak to members of a U.N. peacekeeping patrol as they walk to get food in Bentiu, fearful of being attacked on the way, near Nhialdu, South Sudan, Dec. 7, 2018.

Accountability

The U.N. report concluded that there are reasonable grounds that warring parties in South Sudan have committed atrocities that could lead to charges of war crimes

The Commission has been able to identify several commanders from the SPLA, both factions of the SPLA-IO, and other armed groups, as well as two governors of states and a country commissioner, in relation to whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that they exercised command or superior responsibility at the time that the violations and alleged crimes occurred, the report said.

Gabriel said his group will ensure that any of its soldiers found guilty of the alleged atrocities will be held accountable.

Whoever is responsible for doing anything wrong, if he is brought up and hes found guilty, yes, he can be judged by the court, and he can be indicted if he has to be indicted. You cannot go against the law.

The U.N. human rights investigating body said the South Sudan government has taken no real steps toward accountability.

The African Union Commission recommended the formation of a "hybrid court" for South Sudan that would focus on high-profile and high-level perpetrators of atrocities.

The U.N. report said the formation of the courts has stalled, due to a lack of political will from the government.

John Tanza contributed to this report.
As China and the United States resume high-level talks in Washington Thursday, there are signs that the two may be closing in on a deal.

Reuters news agency is reporting that top trade officials from both sides are trying to hammer out the details of six broad agreements aimed at resolving the most difficult issues from forced technology transfers, to state subsidies and cyber theft.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said there is no magical date for reaching a trade deal, a comment some felt suggests that the March 1 deadline, which could trigger a steep hike in tariffs from both countries, could be postponed if progress is being made.

Resumption of High-level US-China Trade Talks Raises Hopes The Trump administration is set Thursday to resume high-level talks with Chinese officials, aiming to ease a trade standoff thats unnerved global investors and clouded the outlook for the world economy. A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will meet in Washington with a U.S. team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as well as Larry Kudlow, a key White House economic adviser, and Peter Navarro, a The Trump administration is set Thursday to resume high-level talks with Chinese officials, aiming to ease a trade standoff thats unnerved global investors and clouded the outlook for the world economy. A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will meet in Washington with a U.S. team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as well as Larry Kudlow, a key White House economic adviser, and Peter Navarro, a

Meanwhile, a senior Communist party adviser, speaking at a forum organized by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, predicted Washington and Beijing would reach a trade deal in early March . He also said that Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, is likely to be released by April or May.

FILE - Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Office FILE - Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as she exits the court registry following the bail hearing at British Columbia Superior Courts in Vancouver, British Columbia on Dec. 11, 2018. FILE - Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as she exits the court registry following the bail hearing at British Columbia Superior Courts in Vancouver, British Columbia on Dec. 11, 2018.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the newspaper, Xie Maosong, an adjunct professor at the Central Party School, said he was confident that is what would happen because of what he called the countermeasures China had taken.

Those "countermeasures" include Bejings detention and charging of two Canadian citizens  Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor  for endangering state security.

US Ambassador: Arrests of Canadians in China Unacceptable The U.S. ambassador to Canada said Saturday that her country was "deeply concerned" about China's "unlawful" detention of two Canadians. Ambassador Kelly Craft said in a statement to The Associated Press the arrests of ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were "unacceptable" and urged China to end the arbitrary detentions. They were her first public comments on the cases. China detained the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release The U.S. ambassador to Canada said Saturday that her country was "deeply concerned" about China's "unlawful" detention of two Canadians. Ambassador Kelly Craft said in a statement to The Associated Press the arrests of ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were "unacceptable" and urged China to end the arbitrary detentions. They were her first public comments on the cases. China detained the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release

Meng is currently on bail in Canada awaiting possible extradition to the United States.

According to a Reuters report on Thursday, U.S. and Chinese negotiators are working on six broader agreements as well as a 10-item list of shorter-term measures.

Analysts tell VOA, that while it appears a more comprehensive deal is coming together, the details of any agreement will be key in determining whether it is a success or just an opportunity to kick long-standing issues down the road.

Christopher Balding, an economist and associate professor at Fulbright University Vietnam, said deals like the one China and the United States are working on take time.

There will be a lot of paperwork and time spent making sure individual agreements for industries are worked out, he said.

The other issue that is going to be the real hang up, and this is going to be the real hang up for Beijing, is that there is some type of verification mechanism, Balding said. Its not just the agreement, but what comes after the agreement.

William Choong, a senior fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, said while they are two entirely different issues, the way President Trump is handling China is similar to how he is working with North Korea.

Choong said much like the meeting between Kim Jong Un and Trump in Singapore led to a North Korea deal 1.0, next week were going to get a 2.0 deal with North Korea in Vietnam.

The trade deal that is coming up is similar, he said.

It will not be the all and end all. We are going to see more iterations along the road, Choong said. Whatever agreement they settle on, that the Americans and Chinese agree on, will be enough to let go of some of the steam, some of the pressure that has built up.

That will give Trump a chance to kick the March 1 deadline further down the road, he added.

Chinese state media reports on Thursday were upbeat about the meetings.

An editorial in the China Daily, entitled Decisive Talks Must be Forward Thinking, said, both sides should cherish the narrowing of their differences that has been achieved, as it has involved more than just picking off low-hanging fruit.

Trump Says No 'Magical Date' for Imposing More Tariffs on China President Donald Trump says there is no "magical date" for reaching a trade deal with China, suggesting again the March 1 deadline for new tariffs could be pushed up."I think the talks are going very well," Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday. "I can't tell you exactly about the timing. The date is not a magical date because a lot of things are happening. President Donald Trump says there is no "magical date" for reaching a trade deal with China, suggesting again the March 1 deadline for new tariffs could be pushed up."I think the talks are going very well," Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday. "I can't tell you exactly about the timing. The date is not a magical date because a lot of things are happening.

Calling President Trumps suggestion that the deadline could be delayed a conciliatory signal, the paper also added that it would be naive to think that such a Gordian knot of differing goals and ambitions will be simple to unravel, especially as the discussions are now about the most divisive and touch-a-nerve issues.

It also said Washington needs to be realistic about what China can and cannot do. What that actually entails will only be clearer when the complete agreement is released.

China more than anything wants this to go away because it is hindering a lot of their confidence building measures and investment decisions, thats what they are really hoping to get out of it [a deal], Balding said.

Choong agrees, noting that what Beijing wants is to get Trump off its back. But, he added, how China could change course enough on issues such as forced technology transfers is unclear.

I do not know how the Chinese are going to put something that is significant enough in the agreement to actually placate the Americans, Choong said. The Chinese, he said, are looking for a way to play Trump, much like North Korea has done.

If Trump gets enough on paper that looks satisfactory, he can go away to the Twitter-verse and say look Ive got this big deal with the Chinese.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. does not intend to ease economic sanctions against North Korea until it is confident the North has substantially reduced the threat it poses as a nuclear-armed country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.

The American people should know we have the toughest economic sanctions that have ever been placed on North Korea, and we wont release that pressure until such time as were confident weve substantially reduced that risk, Pompeo told NBCs Today show.

North Korea says sanctions are partly responsible for what it calls a food crisis. Pyongyang is demanding the sanctions be eased and is asking the United Nations for food help.

The U.N. says 41 percent of North Koreans dont have enough to eat.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is interviewed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo during her "Mornings with Maria Bartiromo" program on the Fox Business Network, in New York, Feb. 21, 2019. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo during her "Mornings with Maria Bartiromo" program on the Fox Business Network, in New York, Feb. 21, 2019.

Secretary Pompeos comments come a week ahead of President Donald Trumps second summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

Pompeo said he is very hopeful Kim will fulfill the promises that he made in Singapore last year at the first U.S.-North Korea summit for Pyongyangs complete denuclearization.

But neither side has spelled out how and when North Korea would disarm, and U.S. intelligence reports suggest Kim has not moved to destroy his nuclear arsenal.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told a congressional panel last month that North Korea has halted its provocative behavior by refraining from missile tests and nuclear tests for more than a year.

As well, Kim Jong Un continues to demonstrate openness to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Coats said.

Despite the end to testing, Coats said, We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its (weapons of mass destruction) capabilities, and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities.

Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization, he added.

ie 2i ei iiii ie iee i FILE - Intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen at a grand military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Feb. 9, 2018. FILE - Intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen at a grand military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Feb. 9, 2018.

?Coats said the North Korean leader and the rest of the countrys rulers view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.

The recent assessment is at sharp odds with Trumps boast after returning to Washington after the June Singapore summit: Just landed  a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.

Pompeo said denuclearization is what we have to get for the American people. We have to reduce the threat of a nuclear-armed North Korea. And then in turn, we can work on peace and security on the peninsula and a brighter future for the North Korean people.

Pompeo said he hopes Trump and Kim will take a truly historic step forward at their meeting in the Vietnamese capital.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo contended Thursday that an American-born woman who defected to the Islamic State terrorist group is not a U.S. citizen and should not be allowed to return home from Syria because her father was a Yemeni diplomat.

President Donald Trump said he ordered Pompeo to not let the woman, Hoda Muthana, return to the U.S., even though her lawyer says she is willing to face U.S. prosecution for willingly going to Syria and using social media to praise the killings of Westerners.

"She may have been born here," Pompeo told NBC's "Today" show. "She is not a U.S. citizen, nor is she entitled to U.S. citizenship."

He contended that the 24-year-old woman, now with a child born in a relationship with one of her three jihadist husbands, is not an American citizen because of her father's diplomatic status.

But Muthana's lawyer is telling U.S. news outlets that the father had ended his diplomatic service "months and months" before his daughter was born in the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey in 1994, thus making her an American citizen.

The lawyer, Hassan Shibly, told CNN that Muthana "should have known better" than to leave her home in the southern state of Alabama in 2014 without her parents' knowledge to head to Syria to embrace Islamic State.

Shibly said she immediately was locked up with 200 other women and told she would not be released unless she married one of the IS fighters.

Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, is pictured in his office in Tampa, Florida, Feb. 20, 2019. Hassan Shibly, lawyer for 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, is pictured in his office in Tampa, Florida, Feb. 20, 2019.

Muthana posted on Twitter a picture of herself and three other women appearing to burn their Western passports, including an American one.

Now, however, with territory held by IS dwindling fast, Muthana has renounced extremism and wants to return home to confront any criminal charges that could be lodged against her.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family, and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly," she said in a handwritten note to her lawyer.

Shibly said, "She wants to face our legal system."

Standing in the way is Trump.

"I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!" he said Wednesday on Twitter.

I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

The U.S. normally grants citizenship to anyone who is "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States, which would exclude the children of diplomats such as Muthana, if indeed Muthana's father was a diplomat at the time of her birth.

Muthana's lawyer said, "We cannot get to a point where we simply strip citizenship from those who break the law. That's not what America is about. We have one of the greatest legal systems in the world, and we have to abide by it."

Trump has attacked European allies that have not taken back hundreds of IS prisoners caught in Syria, where Trump plans to withdraw U.S. troops. By comparison, relatively few Americans have embraced radical Islam. The Counter Extremism Project at George Washington University has identified 64 Americans who joined IS in Syria or Iraq.

Europe is debating the nationality of some extremists. Britain recently revoked the citizenship of Shamina Begum, who like Muthana traveled to Syria and wants to return to her country of birth.

London asserted that because of her heritage she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship, but the Dhaka government Wednesday denied that she was eligible, leaving her effectively stateless.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistans prime minister, Imran Khan, has authorized his military forces to immediately respond to any aggression against the country by India, officials said Thursday.

The move underscored a dangerous escalation in tensions between the two nuclear-armed rival nations in the wake of last weeks deadly car bombing of an Indian paramilitary convoy in the disputed Kashmir region.

A Pakistan-based militant group known as Jaish-e-Mohammad has reportedly claimed responsibly for the violence that killed more than 40 security forces in Pulwama district.

New Delhi has vowed to punish Islamabad for sheltering the militants, saying the Indian army chief has been given a free hand to take whatever action was required.

India-Pakistan Tensions Escalate After Deadly Kashmir Attack India says Pakistan should stop misleading the international community and take action against the perpetrators of a deadly militant attack in Indian Kashmir, while Islamabad warns it will swiftly retaliate if New Delhi launches any military action.Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals have escalated since a suicide bombing last week against Indian military forces in disputed Kashmir killed 40 paramilitary personnel.India's foreign ministry said Tuesday that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran India says Pakistan should stop misleading the international community and take action against the perpetrators of a deadly militant attack in Indian Kashmir, while Islamabad warns it will swiftly retaliate if New Delhi launches any military action.Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals have escalated since a suicide bombing last week against Indian military forces in disputed Kashmir killed 40 paramilitary personnel.India's foreign ministry said Tuesday that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran

Pakistan rejects Indian charges of playing a role in the February 13 attack and maintains the militant group has long been outlawed as part of counter-extremism measures.

The Indian military threat has fueled mutual tensions and prompted Khan to convene an emergency meeting Thursday of top civilian and military leaders to assess the situation, officials said.

The prime minister authorized armed forces of Pakistan to respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure by India, according to a statement issued after the National Security Committee meeting.

The forum, it noted, again cautioned India against linking the Pakistani state to what it said was a condemnable incident and reiterated Islamabads offer of cooperation in investigating it.

We expect India to positively respond to the offers. Based on the investigation or any tangible evidence provided, state of Pakistan shall take action against anyone found using our soil, the statement said.

India has severed already-limited trade links with Pakistan and suspended the only bus service for divided Kashmiri families in the Himalayan region, which has caused two of the three wars between the two countries.

New Delhi and Islamabad have equipped their militaries with nuclear weapons since they last went to war in 1971, raising fears another conflict could escalate into a nuclear exchange.

A separate statement issued by the Pakistani Interior Minister said that the NSC meeting also decided to ban two controversial Islamic charities linked to the radical cleric, Hafiz Saeed, who India accuses of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The charities, known as Jamaat-ud-Dawa (Jud) and Falah-e-Inasaniyat Foundation (FIF), are allegedly fronts for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Let) that New Delhi says was behind the three-day carnage in the Indian financial capital, which left 166 people dead, including Americans. Until now, the two groups had been placed on a government terror watch list.

The move is being seen as an attempt to defuse tensions with India, though there was no immediate response from New Delhi.

Washington has offered $10 million for bringing to justice Saeed for the Mumbai attacks. Saeed lives freely in Pakistan because authorities say there is no solid evidence linking him to Mumbai attacks.

The U.S. has already outlawed LeT along with JuD and FIF as foreign terrorist organizations.

India has severed already-limited trade links with Pakistan and suspended the only bus service for divided Kashmiri families in the Himalayan region, which has caused two of the three wars between the two countries.

New Delhi and Islamabad have equipped their militaries with nuclear weapons since they last went to war in 1971, raising fears another conflict could escalate into a nuclear exchange.
Coalition warplanes launched new airstrikes against the last remaining enclave of the Islamic State terror group's self-declared caliphate after efforts to evacuate additional civilians stalled.

The strikes, accompanied by artillery fire, targeted the outskirts of the final piece of IS-held territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghuz on Thursday, a day after 2,000 civilians were evacuated from the area.

Multiple air and artillery strikes on #Baghouz atm. Operation continues here although theres no ground offensive due to presence of Daesh families in the area. pic.twitter.com/4iG5y8DUTh  zana amedi (@zana_med) February 21, 2019

"Coalition warplanes hit several targets on the western front," Adnan Afrin, a commander with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, told VOA.

"This created mayhem among the [IS] terrorists and gave an opportunity to some civilians in their captivity to flee," he added.

The strikes allowed hundreds of civilians to escape the IS enclave by foot, Afrin said, noting some fighters were taken into custody.

Coalition and SDF officials say they believe hundreds of IS fighters remain holed up in Baghuz, many taking refuge in a collection of tents spanning no more than several hundred square meters. Officials, however, fear many IS fighters are also hidden in a network of tunnels and caves below the village, using an untold number of civilians as human shields.

Efforts to negotiate the release of the civilians have been slow, as a core group of the remaining IS fighters refuses to surrender.

Previous attempts to evacuate civilians, most of them from IS families, were slowed or delayed when fighters opened fire on those trying to flee.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) acc Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accompany women and children as they wait in a field after fleeing the Islamic State (IS) group's last holdout of Baghuz in Syria, Feb. 21, 2019. Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accompany women and children as they wait in a field after fleeing the Islamic State (IS) group's last holdout of Baghuz in Syria, Feb. 21, 2019.

SDF officials say once all remaining civilians have been evacuated, they intend to clear Baghuz of IS for good.

They say the IS fighters are running low on supplies such as ammunition and medicine, but admit it may be several days before they can move in.

"SDF can't launch the last offensive with them remaining in the camp," SDF Commander Zana Amedi tweeted Wednesday. "Operations to rescue civilians are likely to continue in coming days, since thousands remain trapped."

?Complicating efforts, SDF officials and observers on the ground say IS fighters, either from Baghuz or from sleeper cells located nearby, have launched a series of counterattacks on the outskirts of Baghuz and in nearby areas.

A U.S. soldier sits atop an armored vehicle on a r A U.S. soldier sits atop an armored vehicle on a road in Syria's northern Deir Ezzor province, Feb. 21, 2019. A U.S. soldier sits atop an armored vehicle on a road in Syria's northern Deir Ezzor province, Feb. 21, 2019.

Kurdish officials, as well as the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Thursday blamed the terror group for a suicide bombing at the al-Omar oil field, in the nearby town of Al-Sahil.

SOHR monitors on the ground said the blast targeted a convoy of workers. They said at least 20 people were killed, including six members of the SDF.

Despite such setbacks, Kurdish forces say they expect total defeat of IS in Syria by the end of the week.

Thousands of people, including civilians and some suspected foreign fighters who had joined IS, have streamed out of Baghuz over the past several weeks.

Many have ended up in camps like al-Hol in northeastern Syria, unsure of what will become of them. And SDF officials have said they have 800 to 1,000 foreign fighters in custody.

Late Tuesday, the SDF transferred more than 150 IS fighters to Iraqi custody, sending them by truck across the Syrian border. Iraqi officials said the move was part of a deal to repatriate and prosecute members of the terror group.

A truck carries men identified as Islamic State gr FILE - A truck carries men identified as Islamic State group fighters who surrendered to Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they are transported out of IS's last holdout of Baghuz, Syria, Feb. 20, 2019. FILE - A truck carries men identified as Islamic State group fighters who surrendered to Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they are transported out of IS's last holdout of Baghuz, Syria, Feb. 20, 2019.

Still, questions remain about what to do with thousands of other foreign fighters and their families. Many anti-IS coalition members, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany, have refused to take some back.

There are also concerns that once Baghuz is liberated, IS still has the capacity to wage an insurgency in both Syria and Iraq.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials warn up to 30,000 IS fighters are still spread across the two countries.
SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae-in has staked his legacy on the stunning diplomatic progress he has forged with North Korea, as well as the behind-the-scenes orchestration of the U.S.-North Korean summits.

But following months of stalemate on North Korea nuclear talks, Moon's presidency faces a crucial moment, with President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un set to meet for the second time next week.

Moon, a liberal who took office in May 2017, is desperate for a breakthrough so he can continue engagement with the North that has driven the three-way diplomacy but is now held back by tough U.S.-led sanctions against Pyongyang. There's hope among Moon's supporters that progress by Trump and Kim on the nuclear issue will allow the partial sanctions relief needed for the Koreas to resume joint economic projects that were shelved during previous standoffs.

But Moon may be disappointed in his push for quick sanctions relief.

It remains unclear whether Kim is ready to deal away his nukes, and Washington still sees economic pressure as its best form of leverage over Pyongyang. If the nuclear negotiations break down, Moon could face a serious political dilemma over whether to continue to engage with the North or join another U.S.-led pressure campaign.

A look at the stakes for Moon as Trump and Kim prepare to meet in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi:

Moons shot

Moon, who has preached that Seoul should be in the driver's seat when dealing with Pyongyang, has prioritized improving bilateral relations with North Korea, which he says would help drive nuclear progress between Washington and Pyongyang.

A son of North Korean war refugees, Moon has vowed to build on the legacies of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. Under their "Sunshine Policy," which Moon had a hand in building as Roh's chief of staff, economic inducements from Seoul resulted in temporary rapprochement and summits in 2000 and 2007 with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's late father. In a phone conversation with Trump on Tuesday, Moon said the South was ready to proceed with inter-Korean economic projects to induce further nuclear disarmament steps from Kim.

But Moon is in a tougher spot than his liberal predecessors, who governed when the North's nuclear threat was nascent. Kim's arsenal now includes purported thermonuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

The Trump-Kim meeting in Hanoi could be pivotal in determining whether things head toward a stable and nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, or the cementing of the North as a nuclear power. With crucial parliamentary elections coming next year, Moon can't afford a major setback in inter-Korean relations, his strongest issue.

Moon continues to enjoy a good level of public support for his rapprochement with North Korea. But recent polls show there's also growing skepticism among South Koreans, especially among older people, over whether Kim will ever give up his nukes.

"As long as the Kim Jong Un regime is there, North Korea will never abandon its nuclear weapons, even if we pay them hundreds of billions of dollars or trillions of dollars," said Thae Yong Ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016.

"The nuclear weapons are gravity that pulls the regime together," Thae said. "They make up for the North getting behind in the inter-Korean competition and provide an instant solution to the North's inferiority in conventional military power against the United States and South Korea."

Worries in Seoul

While Moon focuses mainly on North Korea, there's criticism that huge problems are being mishandled at home.

There's discontent over a rapidly decaying job market  the 1.22 million South Koreans measured as jobless in January represented the highest number in 19 years. The bad economy has also compromised government efforts toward reforming powerful family-owned conglomerates often accused of monopolistic behavior and corruptive ties with politicians. There's also worry over the long-term effects of a falling birthrate as many women put off marriage and child birth because of financial instability, grueling working hours and limited daycare services.

Deep gender, age and political divides seem to be coming to the head on the eve of an election year, and the ruling liberals have seen their popularity decline over scandals, including the arrest of a pro-Moon provincial governor for his involvement in manipulating online opinions ahead of the 2017 presidential election.

"Inter-Korean relations have been the only thing going well for the Moon government," said Yul Shin, a politics professor at Seoul's Myongji University. "But enthusiasm will quickly wane if we go through event after event without producing real changes on denuclearization."

Hopes of restarting joint projects

The Koreas in recent months have taken military measures to reduce conventional threats, opened a liaison office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and vowed to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics.

Now they want sanctions dialed back so they can resurrect two major symbols of rapprochement that provided much-needed hard currency to North Korea: a jointly run factory park in Kaesong and South Korean tours to the North's scenic Diamond Mountain resort.

At their third summit in Pyongyang in September, Moon and Kim agreed to make progress on both projects. Kim said later during his annual New Year's speech that the North was ready to restart the projects "without any precondition," while making a nationalistic call for stronger cooperation between the Koreas.

South Korea suspended tours to Diamond Mountain in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean tourist. Seoul's previous conservative government closed the Kaesong park in February 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test.

It's impossible for Seoul to restart the projects under current international sanctions, which have strengthened significantly since 2016 as North Korea sped up its weapons development.

One potential deal could see Pyongyang agree to verifiably dismantle its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon and freeze its nuclear program. Washington, in return, could agree to take steps to free up inter-Korean activities at Kaesong and Diamond Mountain, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University and one of Moon's policy advisers.

The Security Council would probably need to pass an entirely new resolution on the North for inter-Korean economic activities to resume, which is difficult to imagine until Kim takes deeper steps toward verifiably and irreversibly relinquishing his nuclear arsenal, said Lim Soo-ho, an analyst from the Seoul-based Institute for National Security. Even if this happens, it still leaves U.S. unilateral sanctions, which would put South Korean companies doing business in the North under the threat of U.S. boycotts.

Trump would need to go through an exhaustive process to soften U.S. sanctions, Lim said, because of a 2016 law that demands significant progress not only on North Korea's nuclear disarmament but also on its dismal human rights record for punitive measures to be suspended or removed.
WASHINGTON - A rocket will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel's Beresheet spacecraft, which aims to make history twice: as the first private-sector landing on the moon and the first from the Jewish state.



The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet, which means "Genesis" in Hebrew, is to lift off at 8:45 p.m. (0145 GMT Friday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private U.S.-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk.



The Israeli craft will be placed in Earth orbit, then begin a seven-week trip under its own power to reach the moon and touch down on April 11 in a large plain.



The unmanned mission is part of renewed global interest in the moon and comes 50 years after American astronauts first walked on the lunar surface.



"For the future of our children, the state of Israel and for the belief that anything is possible, join us and wish Beresheet luck on its way to the moon!" said a collective message from SpaceIL, the nonprofit organization that designed the Israeli craft.

Contest entry



Entrepreneurs, not government space agencies, financed the mission, initially as a potential entry in the Google Lunar XPRIZE contest.



That competition planned to award $30 million to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive lunar missions. The contest closed without a winner in March 2018 but the SpaceIL team continued its mission and purchased a spot on a SpaceX rocket.



Other partners are Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's space agency, and the country's Ministry of Science and Technology.



So far, only Russia, the United States and China have made the 384,000-kilometer (239,000-mile) journey and landed spacecraft on the moon.



China's Chang'e-4 made the first soft landing on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, after a probe sent by Beijing made a lunar landing elsewhere in 2013.



Americans are the only ones to have walked on the lunar surface, but have not been there since 1972.



For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the moon's formation.



Technically, it is far from a trivial mission.



After its initial boost from the Falcon 9, the Beresheet's British engine will have to make several ignitions to place the spacecraft on the correct trajectory to the moon.



When it arrives, its landing gear must cushion the descent onto the lunar surface to prevent Beresheet from crashing.

FILE - A time capsule including drawings by Israel FILE - A time capsule including drawings by Israeli children, pictures of Israeli symbols and other items, which will be placed in a spacecraft to be sent to the moon, is displayed by a scientist in Yehud, east of Tel Aviv, Dec. 17, 2018. FILE - A time capsule including drawings by Israeli children, pictures of Israeli symbols and other items, which will be placed in a spacecraft to be sent to the moon, is displayed by a scientist in Yehud, east of Tel Aviv, Dec. 17, 2018.

Beresheet will carry a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.



At a cost of $100 million, "this is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft on the moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding," IAI said in an earlier statement.



"Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the moon as a result of a private initiative, rather than a government."



India next

After China earlier this year, and now Israel, India hopes to become the fifth lunar country in the spring with its Chandrayaan-2 mission. It aims to put a craft with a rover onto the moon's surface to collect data.



Japan plans to send a small lunar lander, called SLIM, to study a volcanic area around 2020-21.



As for the Americans, a return to the moon is now the official policy of NASA, according to guidelines issued by President Donald Trump in 2017.



"This time, when we go to the moon, we're actually going to stay," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said last week.



To achieve this, the U.S. space agency is changing its model and no longer wants to design the missions itself.



The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which has installed equipment on Beresheet to upload its signals from the moon, said last week that it aims to land instruments later this year or next year and that it is inviting private-sector bids to build and launch the U.S. probes.



The U.S. space agency plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the moon's orbit by 2026, and envisages a manned mission to Mars in the following decade.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are preparing to introduce a resolution challenging President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the country's southern border.

The resolution sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas is set to be filed Friday, and could get a vote in the full House by mid-March.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a letter Wednesday encouraging both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to sign on as co-sponsors and said the measure would "move swiftly."

Trump declared an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border last week after Congress passed a border security package totaling nearly $1.4 billion but without fulfilling his calls for $5.7 billion to construct a border wall.

US States Sue Trump Administration in Showdown Over Border Wall Funds A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California sued President Donald Trump's administration on Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California came just days after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise. A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California sued President Donald Trump's administration on Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California came just days after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise.

Trump says a wall is necessary to stop immigrants and drugs from illegally entering the country. Opponents say a wall is an expensive and ineffective measure, and that border security money would be better spent on more customs agents and boosting screening technology at points of entry.

US Polls Show Majorities Oppose National Emergency Declaration Latest numbers reflect a deep political divide, with 51 percent of Americans polled opposing the emergency declaration, and 39 percent in favor

The House resolution has a strong chance of passing the Democrat-led House. Republicans control the Senate, so a number of members of Trump's party would have to go against him in order for the measure to pass there. If it does clear both chambers of Congress, it would go to Trump's desk to meet a certain veto.

Trump: 'Absolute Right' to Build Border Wall U.S. President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday he had an "absolute right" to declare a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional approval of funding for it.Sixteen states sued Trump late Monday in federal court in California where judges have overturned other Trump initiatives during his 25-month presidency.But the U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday he had an "absolute right" to declare a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional approval of funding for it.Sixteen states sued Trump late Monday in federal court in California where judges have overturned other Trump initiatives during his 25-month presidency.But the U.S.

In addition to the legislative challenge to Trump's declaration, there are also a number of legal challenges that have been filed in recent days. Those include lawsuits from a collection of 16 states that say they are being harmed because Trump is diverting money from other programs to pay for wall construction, as well as landowners whose property is in the potential wall's path.
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PARIS - France is in touch with Iran to improve the conditions of a French woman who was arrested in October on the Gulf island of Kish for allegedly signing an illegal mining contract, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday.

Nelly Erin-Cambervelle, a 59-year-old businesswoman from Martinique, had been on the island as part of her import-export business and her arrest until now had not been made public.

"She went to Kish island, not far from Dubai, which is considered to be Iranian territory. She was arrested and she is today in prison since Oct. 21, 2018 on the grounds of having signed an illegal contract and carrying out a non-authorised trip," Le Drian told lawmakers.

Details over her arrest first appeared in the local Martinique media last week after Patricia Gros-Desirs Dicanot, a friend and colleague of Erin-Cambervelle, was quoted as saying that she had been arrested for illegally buying gold after originally going to Kish to begin negotiating a minerals contract.

Dicanot said that the Iranian authorities were demanding 40,000 euros ($45,392) for her release.

Le Drian declined to give any further details on the specifics of the case.

"The consular services have been able to meet her several times and are very concerned about her situation," Le Drian said. "We are in touch with the family and with the Iranian authorities to ensure that Mrs Erin's situation improves, while respecting Iranian procedures."

Iranian officials did not immediately respond for comment.

Relations between France and Iran have been strained over the last six months despite the two sides committing to upholding a 2015 nuclear deal.

Paris suspended nominating a new ambassador to Iran last year after an alleged plot by Iranian intelligence and had not responded to Tehran nominations for the top diplomatic post in France.
LONDON - The British governments effort to revoke the citizenship of a British-born Islamic State bride, currently held in a refugee camp in northeast Syria, risks being overturned on appeal, say some legal experts.

A former top British prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, told VOA he thinks it likely that this decision will be held to be unlawful.

He says 19-year-old Shamima Begum should be repatriated and placed in a de-radicalization program. We have excellent experience of de-radicalizing people and often they go on to work in preventing others from being radicalized armed with the unique knowledge of the journey of a radicalized person. This ultimately protects our fellow citizens, he says.

Britain Debates Whether Islamic State Recruits Should Be Given Second Chance British-born Sumaiyyah Wakil was 16 years old when she sneaked away to war-torn Syria, flying first to Bulgaria, then Turkey, to join the Islamic State terror group.Once in ISs de facto capital, Raqqa, she bragged, according to British court documents, about watching the public stoning of a woman, describing the killing as so cool.But now her family say the British authorities should repatriate her when she re-emerges, likely soon, from IS territory as well as other British teenagers who joined the British-born Sumaiyyah Wakil was 16 years old when she sneaked away to war-torn Syria, flying first to Bulgaria, then Turkey, to join the Islamic State terror group.Once in ISs de facto capital, Raqqa, she bragged, according to British court documents, about watching the public stoning of a woman, describing the killing as so cool.But now her family say the British authorities should repatriate her when she re-emerges, likely soon, from IS territory as well as other British teenagers who joined the

Begum, whos in a Kurdish-managed refugee camp in northeast Syria, joined the militant group in 2015 at the age of 15, running off with two school friends, all from east London. One of the girls died in an airstrike in 2016; the other, Amira Abase, is still in IS territory. At least 900 Britons, an estimated 145 of them women and 50 minors, joined IS.

What to do with them?



More than 900 foreign jihadists and 3,200 wives and children are being held by the Kurds, including U.S.-born Hoda Muthana, whos being barred from returning to the United States on the grounds that she has no right to American citizenship.

Trump Administration Says US-Born Jihadist Can't Return The United States said Wednesday that it would refuse to take back a U.S.-born Islamic State propagandist who wants to return from Syria, arguing that she is no longer a citizen. The Trump administration's refusal to admit Hoda Muthana, 24, could set precedent and face legal challenges, because it is generally extremely difficult to lose US citizenship. "Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.  The United States said Wednesday that it would refuse to take back a U.S.-born Islamic State propagandist who wants to return from Syria, arguing that she is no longer a citizen. The Trump administration's refusal to admit Hoda Muthana, 24, could set precedent and face legal challenges, because it is generally extremely difficult to lose US citizenship. "Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. 

According to the State Department, her Yemeni father held diplomatic status at the time of her birth, a claim denied by the girls family.

The question of what to do with surviving foreign IS recruits  especially IS brides, many of whom were teenagers when recruited  is fast becoming a major international crisis and prompting diplomatic rifts amid rising concerns that they represent a collective security risk if left in Syria, but also individual security threats, if returned to their home countries.

The Kurds have warned that they cant keep the recruits much longer.

That is also the position of the Trump administration, which, for more than a year, has urged European governments to take back surviving recruits  and prosecute them. Otherwise, they will slip away, they say, from refugee and detention facilities in northeast Syria and pose a greater threat once unsupervised. Last Saturday, President Donald Trump urged the Europeans to take charge of their rogue citizens, saying the alternative is the Kurds will have to free them.

Viewed as threat



The Europeans, though, see the surviving fighters and their wives as a grim threat, the deadly legacy of a murderous movement that has been defeated on the battlefield. Western intelligence officials say they are already overstretched trying to monitor tens of thousands of suspected extremists who never left their home countries. And European governments say mounting prosecutions will be difficult as they wont be able to gather sufficient evidence for convictions.

Potential Repatriation of Jihadis Raises Concern About Children In northern France, Lydie and Patrice Maninchedda have been waging an uphill battle, sustained by local media, to repatriate their three grandchildren from Syria. They have never met the children, ranging from one to five years. In northern France, Lydie and Patrice Maninchedda have been waging an uphill battle, sustained by local media, to repatriate their three grandchildren from Syria. They have never met the children, ranging from one to five years.

Opinion polls in Britain show the overwhelming majority does not want the IS survivors to be re-admitted. Amid a mounting public outcry about the possibility of Begum returning to Britain, British Interior Minister Sajid Javid Wednesday announced he was revoking her citizenship, saying that as her parents had been born in Bangladesh she is a dual national and therefore can apply for a Bangladeshi passport. Under international law, it is illegal for a country to make someone stateless by removing his or her citizenship.

FILE - Renu Begum, eldest sister of missing sister FILE - Renu Begum, eldest sister of missing sister of missing British girl Shamima Begum, holds a picture of her sister while being interviewed by the media in central London, Feb. 22, 2015. FILE - Renu Begum, eldest sister of missing sister of missing British girl Shamima Begum, holds a picture of her sister while being interviewed by the media in central London, Feb. 22, 2015.

The Bangladeshi government, though, has now also declared that Begum, who gave birth Sunday to a boy, is not a Bangladeshi citizen, saying she is British by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh. The country's foreign minister, Shahriar Alam, says there is no question of her being allowed to enter Bangladesh.

Afzal says the British government failed to do due diligence before revoking Begums citizenship and that the revocation will likely be overturned, if her family appeals the decision, as they have indicated they will. Her family says she was groomed by IS recruiters. The Bangladesh government has already confirmed that she is not one of theirs and a simple phone call before this decision was made would have shown that. It therefore seems likely that this decision will be held to be unlawful, he says.

Redemption possible?

Afzal, a former CEO of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, gained national attention in Britain for pioneering difficult prosecutions to tackle honor-based violence and forced marriage, as well as child sexual exploitation and grooming by Muslim-based gangs in the northwest of England.

She is British, born here, schooled here, radicalized here and therefore she is our problem, he says. He argues she should be prosecuted for membership of a proscribed terror organization and there may be other crimes after investigating and she should face justice here.

But longer-term, Afzal places faith in the effectiveness of de-radicalization programs. He compares the IS recruitment of youngsters with sexual grooming. I have long said that the process of grooming for extremism is the same as that for sexual exploitation and also organized crime. The manipulation of vulnerable people is at its heart.

There is fierce debate over the effectiveness of de-radicalization programs, which aim to change a person's ideas and attitudes by not only tackling ideology but confronting personal issues which may have been at the root of the drive toward radicalization. And the picture is mixed across Europe with some rehabilitation methods being more successful than others.

A Year After France Attacks, De-radicalization Efforts Are Trial and Error An idyllic country manor set among the vineyards of the Loire River Valley, known for producing some of the worlds finest wines, is where France sought to pioneer its efforts to combat the radicalization of Muslim youth, but the experiment did not prove to be a success.The efforts were late in coming, compared with other European nations. Britain launched its campaign shortly after the 2005 London attacks. An idyllic country manor set among the vineyards of the Loire River Valley, known for producing some of the worlds finest wines, is where France sought to pioneer its efforts to combat the radicalization of Muslim youth, but the experiment did not prove to be a success.The efforts were late in coming, compared with other European nations. Britain launched its campaign shortly after the 2005 London attacks.

Experts acknowledge that de-radicalization is not an exact science and techniques that work with one person fail with another. Each de-radicalization candidate has to be approached differently and the exercise has to be prolonged and is expensive both in terms of time and money, they say.

And even then success in not guaranteed. Ahmed Hassan, the Parsons Green tube bomber, who detonated a bomb on a train in London in 2017, injuring 51 people, had been enrolled in a de-radicalization program for months.

But there have also been plenty of documented successes, including Hanif Qadir, who was radicalized in 2002 and joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan before breaking with the militants when he recoiled at the use of children as suicide bombers. Now active in de-radicalization, he told the BBC he thought Begum would be a good candidate for rehabilitation.

That view is shared by the The Times reporter Anthony Loyd, who first interviewed the 19-year-old. Her inflammatory remarks to him and subsequent media interviewers, including expressing no remorse for joining IS and defending the beheadings carried out by the militants, prompted public outrage.

But writing in The Times Thursday, Loyd noted that in private conversation with him away from other IS members, she expressed deep anger about the groups cruelty. Loyd wrote that he thought within the mental confines placed upon her by the so-called caliphate there lurks an independently-minded young woman who, with the right help, may be able to emerge from her radicalized state.
PARIS - Pope Franciss groundbreaking sex abuse summit coincides with an explosive movie and separate book released in France this week  one on a pedophilia scandal roiling the French church; the other on homosexuality in the priesthood.

Francois Ozons "Grace a Dieu"  or "By the Grace of God"  got the go-ahead just hours before its release on Wednesday, despite efforts to block it in court. The movie is based on a real scandal still rocking the French Catholic church. It involves priest Bernard Preynat, accused of molesting dozens of boys during the 1980s and 90s.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin waits for the start of FILE - Cardinal Philippe Barbarin waits for the start of his trial at the Lyon courthouse, central France, Jan. 7, 2019. FILE - Cardinal Philippe Barbarin waits for the start of his trial at the Lyon courthouse, central France, Jan. 7, 2019.

The archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, is currently on trial on charges of failing to act against the accusations, which he denies. Preynat has confessed to molesting boy scouts, and is also due to go on trial later this year.

The movie has already grabbed a top award at Berlins international film festival. Its release here comes at a crucial moment for the Vatican, where senior bishops are meeting for a four-day summit on sexual abuse in the church.

Here in France, Ozons movie is drawing praise, including from members of the Catholic hierarchy, who were invited to its preview.

Vincent Neymon, spokesman for the French Bishops Conference, told French TV the movie was excellent in terms of portraying the victims, although less so when it came to clerics. He called it "a building block in the fight against pedophilia."

Ozons depiction is not black and white  a reality he acknowledged in an interview on French radio. When he met the real-life protagonists, he said, he realized everyone was a victim to a certain extent. "Only now, is the church coming to terms with the seriousness of sexual abuse," he said.

French victim of sexual abuse, Francois Devaux, al French victim of sexual abuse, Francois Devaux, also president of the French association of victims of priests abuse "La Parole Liberee" (Freed Speech), addresses the media outside the entrance of the Paul-VI residence at the Vatican, Feb. 20, 2019. French victim of sexual abuse, Francois Devaux, also president of the French association of victims of priests abuse "La Parole Liberee" (Freed Speech), addresses the media outside the entrance of the Paul-VI residence at the Vatican, Feb. 20, 2019.

Francois Devaux, head of victims group La Parole Liberee and who is portrayed in the movie, told French TV he hopes the church finally takes action on a scandal that has tainted the institution for centuries.

Meanwhile, a controversial book on homosexuality in the church hit stores on Thursday. "In the Closet of the Vatican" is reportedly based on hundreds of interviews, and exposes a gay sub-culture and duplicity allegedly rife in the Catholic hierarchy.

French writer and journalist Frederic Martel poses French writer and journalist Frederic Martel poses during a press conference on Feb. 20, 2019 in Rome about his latest book "Sodoma" that investigates homosexuality in the Vatican. French writer and journalist Frederic Martel poses during a press conference on Feb. 20, 2019 in Rome about his latest book "Sodoma" that investigates homosexuality in the Vatican.

In interviews, gay author Frederic Martel describes a so-called silent majority in the church, where he claims members are protecting their sexual status by pretending to be homophobic. The book has drawn criticism, however, and some believe it may undermine efforts to gain acceptance of homosexuality within the church.
CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido left Caracas with some 80 lawmakers on Thursday on a 800-km (500-mile) trip to the Colombian border where they hope to receive food and medicine to alleviate shortages in defiance of President Nicolas Maduro.

Crowds formed alongside a main highway out of the capital, waving Venezuelan flags and whooping in support, as the convoy of buses departed.

Guaido, recognized by dozens of countries as Venezuela's legitimate head of state, has pledged to bring in the humanitarian aid by land and sea on Saturday. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency on January 23 and denounced Maduro as an usurper.

"Through this call for humanitarian aid, the population will benefit from the arrival of these goods to the Venezuelan border," said opposition legislator Edgar Zambrano, as he waited to board a bus in a plaza of eastern Caracas.

Maduro's beleaguered socialist government denies there is an economic crisis in Venezuela and has said soldiers would be stationed along the country's borders to prevent potential incursions.

He accuses the Trump administration, which recognizes Guaido and is supporting the relief effort but has levied crippling sanctions against his government, of seeking to force his ouster.

Guaido still has not provided details on how they will bring in the aid. Opposition figures have suggested forming human chains across the Colombian border to pass aid packages from person to person and fleets of boats arriving from the Dutch Caribbean islands.

The United States has sent tons of aid to Colombia's border with Venezuela, which Maduro has mocked as a "cheap show." Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has alleged the aid is poisonous and could lead to cancer.

On Wednesday, Maduro's socialist administration said it had closed the country's maritime border with the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, after Curacao's government said it would help store aid destined for Venezuela.

Colombia expelled five Venezuelans from Cucuta for "carrying forward activities which attack citizen security and social order," its migration agency said in a statement late on Wednesday.

"We know there is interest by the Maduro dictatorship in affecting national security because of coming events," agency director Christian Kruger added in the statement.
Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day visit to boost the countrys international image sullied by the recent killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and to enhance economic ties. But the path to better ties between Saudi Arabia and China is riddled with political hurdles.

China has spent the last few days assuring Iran, Saudi Arabias political rival, that the Crown Princes visit would not affect its approach to the Middle East. Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday that his resolve to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged.

Saudi Arabia, a Sunni country, and Iran where most people belong to the Shia Muslim sect, have been engaged in a long standing struggle for influence in the Middle East.

For Beijing, its a delicate balancing act between Saudi Arabia, which is seen as a close ally of the U.S., and Iran, which is openly critical of Washington.

China has been good at keeping a kind of subtle balance between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, professor of politics at the Hong Kong Baptist University said.

Beijing needs support from both wealthy Muslim nations at a time when it is engaged in a trade war with the U.S. and a major slowdown in its economy. It also needs Saudi support for the Belt and Road program, which has not yet made much of a mark west of Pakistan.

Mutual concerns

Beijings own relationship with Riyadh has not been very smooth. The relationship [of China] with Saudi Arabia has never been easy, Cabestan said.

One issue is Iran. The other issue [between China and Saudi Arabia] is more religious because it has to do with the restrictions imposed on the Chinese Muslims in China. Not only the Uighur but also the Hui people in Ningxia, he said.

The Saudi leadership has to worry about its image in the Muslim world and close association with China involves some risks. But China has its own worries about engaging too closely with Saudi Arabia.

China is very worried about any kind of Wahabi influence on its Muslims. And that has always been a kind of objective limitation to any kind of friendship or close cooperation and understanding between the two countries, Cabestan said.

The Saudi Crown Prince introduced a new element to this delicate relationship by emerging as an investment rival in Pakistan, which is the showcase country for Chinas prestigious Belt and Road program.

Saudi Crown Prince Concludes Landmark Pakistan Visit Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has concluded a landmark two-day visit to Pakistan where he oversaw the signing of unprecedented investment deals worth $20 billion and ordered the release of more than 2,000 Pakistanis from Saudi prisons.Pakistani President Arif Alvi bestowed the country's highest civilian honor on the Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, at the end of official meetings."What we did in Pakistan is just the beginning," MBS said in a nationally televised remarks before boarding Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has concluded a landmark two-day visit to Pakistan where he oversaw the signing of unprecedented investment deals worth $20 billion and ordered the release of more than 2,000 Pakistanis from Saudi prisons.Pakistani President Arif Alvi bestowed the country's highest civilian honor on the Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, at the end of official meetings."What we did in Pakistan is just the beginning," MBS said in a nationally televised remarks before boarding

He announced a $20 billion investment in Pakistan, half of which will go to building an oil refinery in Gwadar next to a Chinese built port in the coastal city.

Though the investment would boost the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of the Belt and Road program, it could also be a matter of concern for Beijing.

In practice, a major additional investor in or close to Gwadar should represent a boost for CPEC but Beijing will be a little politically wary nonetheless, said Andrew Small, author of China-Pakistan axis: Asias new geopolitics.

Saudi Crown Prince Signs $20B in Investment Deals in Pakistan Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who is currently on a high profile visit to Pakistan, has ordered the release of more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners from Saudi prisons. Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudry posted the news on Twitter Monday: "As a sequel to Prime Minister of Pakistan request, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of KSA Mohammad Bin Salman has ordered the immediate release of 2107 Pakistani prisoners Saudi Jails. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who is currently on a high profile visit to Pakistan, has ordered the release of more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners from Saudi prisons. Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudry posted the news on Twitter Monday: "As a sequel to Prime Minister of Pakistan request, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of KSA Mohammad Bin Salman has ordered the immediate release of 2107 Pakistani prisoners Saudi Jails.

For Pakistan, it does represent a gentle rebalancing away from dependency on China, which some on the Pakistani side think had grown excessive  even if China will remain a critically important partner, he said.

But Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Center for Research & Security Studies, does not agree, The latest investment comes after consultations between China, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to further develop CPEC, he said.

Multilateral or bilateral relations are not defined by faith and ideologies. They are determined by economic interests, " Gul said.

Economic dimensions

The Saudi prince also offered to invest $100 billion in different projects across India. This is significant because India has been reluctant to adopt the Belt and Road program and accept Chinese investment offers related to it. The large scale Saudi entry into Indias investment market would reduce New Delhis need for Chinese money.

Saudi Arabia to Cooperate with India on Terrorism Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in New Delhi that terrorism is a common concern and his country would cooperate with India in combating terrorism and extremism. On a visit to New Delhi, Prince Salman said Wednesday that there were potential opportunities for investment of $ 100 billion in India. His trip to New Delhi has coincided with spiraling tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of a terror attack that killed 40 paramilitaries in Indian Kashmir.  Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in New Delhi that terrorism is a common concern and his country would cooperate with India in combating terrorism and extremism. On a visit to New Delhi, Prince Salman said Wednesday that there were potential opportunities for investment of $ 100 billion in India. His trip to New Delhi has coincided with spiraling tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of a terror attack that killed 40 paramilitaries in Indian Kashmir. 

Though political aspects may pose problems, China and Saudi Arabia are expected to make some breakthroughs in economic areas.

There is an attempt to combine Saudi Vision 2030 with Chinas Belt and Road program. Saudi Vision 2030 aims at diversifying the country from an oil-based economy to one that is a producer of exportable goods and services.

Analysis: For Economic Reforms, Saudi Prince Needs Moderate Islam The man who may soon be king of Saudi Arabia is charting a new, more modern course for a country so conservative that for decades there were no concerts or film screenings and women who attempted to drive were arrested.Since catapulting to power with the support of his father, the king, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed changes that could usher in a new era for one of the United States most important allies and swing the kingdom away from decades of ultraconservative dogma and restrictions The man who may soon be king of Saudi Arabia is charting a new, more modern course for a country so conservative that for decades there were no concerts or film screenings and women who attempted to drive were arrested.Since catapulting to power with the support of his father, the king, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed changes that could usher in a new era for one of the United States most important allies and swing the kingdom away from decades of ultraconservative dogma and restrictions

Although Washington remains its most important strategic partner, Riyadh seems to be preparing for a post-oil era, by enhancing its cooperation with other countries, which it hopes can bring about more chances to deepen cooperation with emerging economies, so as to improve its ability to withstand economic and political risks by putting its eggs in different baskets, said Niu Song, a researcher in Middle East studies at Shanghai International Studies University.

China hopes to win more oil projects like the Yanbu refinery in Saudi Arabia while Riyadh wants to attract Chinese investment in infrastructure construction, housing, and tourism development.
DHAKA, BANGLADESH - At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said Thursday.

Dozens of people were trapped in the buildings, unable to escape onto narrow streets clogged with traffic, as the highly combustible stores of chemicals, body sprays and plastic granules erupted in flames.

Fire control room official Mahfuz Riben told AFP that 69 people had been killed while Bangladesh's fire service chief Ali Ahmed said the death toll could rise further.

"The number of bodies may increase. The search is still going on," he told AFP.

Ahmed said the blaze at Chawkbazar in the old part of the city may have started with a gas cylinder before quickly spreading through a building where chemicals were stored.

The flames raced through four adjoining buildings, which were also used as chemical warehouses.

"There was a traffic jam when the fire broke out. It spread so quickly that people could not escape," he said, describing a part of town where the streets are very narrow and residential buildings stand just centimetres apart.

Another fire official told reporters the blaze, which began around 10:40 p.m. on Wednesday, has been "confined" but not yet extinguished despite the efforts of more than 200 firefighters.

"It will take time. This is not like any other fire," he said, adding the inferno became so devastating due to the "highly combustible" chemicals stored there.

TV images showed the main gate of one of the buildings was locked, leaving its residents trapped, unable to escape the blaze as it swept through its five storeys.

Firefighters work at the scene of a fire that brok Firefighters work at the scene of a fire that broke out at a chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb. 20, 2019. Firefighters work at the scene of a fire that broke out at a chemical warehouse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb. 20, 2019.

'Flames were Everywhere'

Witnesses said members of a bridal party in a nearby community centre were also caught in the fire and many of them were injured.

Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ibrahim Khan said at least two cars and 10 cycle rickshaws were burned in the fire.

"The victims included passersby, some people who were eating food at a restaurants and some members of the bridal party," he said.

Television images showed firefighters climbing ladders to try to spray water on one of the buildings where the fire had largely been contained. One helicopter was also seen hovering over the area.

Bacchu Mia, a police inspector at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital said at least 45 people were injured, including four who were in critical condition.

Hundreds of people rushed to the hospital to look for missing relatives.

Haji Abdul Kader, whose shop was destroyed in the fire, said he only survived the blaze as as he had left the shop to go to a pharmacy.

"When I was at the pharmacy, I heard a big bang. I turned back and saw the whole street, which was jam packed with cars and rickshaws, in flames. Flames were everywhere," he told AFP.

"I got burned and rushed to hospital," he said.

Sohag Hossain, one of the injured, told the Daily Star that he and two of his friends were working at a plastic factory in one of the buildings at the time of the fire.

Suddenly, they heard a huge noise. They tried to flee but could not escape the fire.

A similar blaze in 2010 in an old Dhaka building, which was also used as a chemical warehouse, killed more than 120 people in one of the worst fire-related disasters in Dhaka.

Dhaka city authorities launched a crackdown on chemical warehouses in residential areas following the blaze, but efforts to rein in the practice have waned in recent years.
CAIRO, EGYPT - Arab media is reporting that both the Saudi-led coalition and forces loyal to the Houthi militia group are starting to implement a redeployment agreement worked out by mediators in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, last December. Witnesses, however, say that they have not detected significant movement of forces.

Arab media reported scattered clashes in parts of Yemen Thursday, despite some reports that the warring sides had begun to implement a U.N.-sponsored redeployment in and around the Yemeni port city of Hodeida.

Optimism about the Hodeida agreement during a presentation by U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths to the Security Council several days ago created fresh hope about jump-starting the stalled plan for the country's largest port and lifeline to the capital, Sana'a.

United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griff United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, right, speaks to President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, during talks on Yemen, in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, right, speaks to President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, during talks on Yemen, in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.

"Since I last talked to you a few weeks ago, we have made some significant progress in the implementation of the agreements reached in Stockholm toward the latter part of year," said Griffiths. "The parties have now confirmed to Lt. Gen. Michael Lolesgard and to me their agreement for the first phase of the Hodeida redeployment plan."

Despite the official optimism, a spokesman for Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi told Arab media that his side would not start redeploying until the Houthi militia group evacuated the two smaller ports of Salif and Ras Aissa.

He says that the process of the government pullout (from its forward positions at) Kilometer 8 won't start until the first steps of the (Stockholm) agreement begin and the Houthi militiamen remove land mines and withdraw their forces from the ports of Ras Aissa and Salif.

Redeployment of Fighters From Yemeni Seaports Imminent Redeployment of opposing forces in Yemens civil war away from crucial seaports could begin within days, but that development is being tempered by a warning that humanitarian operations are at risk of running out of money in a matter of weeks. Redeployment of opposing forces in Yemens civil war away from crucial seaports could begin within days, but that development is being tempered by a warning that humanitarian operations are at risk of running out of money in a matter of weeks.

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported that the U.N. has given the Houthis four days to withdraw from Ras Aissa and Salif and that Saudi-coalition forces would begin pulling back from parts of Hodeida that they control after the initial Houthi withdrawal. The TV channel indicated that the Houthis would have another 11 days to evacuate the port of Hodeida.

Ali Shaabi, a spokesman for the Houthis, told al-Hurra TV that some analysts in the capital, Sana'a, (now under Houthi control) were "skeptical" about implementing the agreement.

He says that there remain many obstacles on the ground before implementing the (Hodeida) agreement and that there are a number of issues still pending that should normally have preceded the pullout, including a cease-fire, which has not completely taken effect in order to allow the redeployment to begin.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, tells VOA that there has been an escalation of the conflict in Yemen in recent days, which does not bode well for a pullback in Hodeida.

"The rising military activity does not suggest that the two sides are about to reach terms or that the Houthis are going to pull out (from Hodeida)," said Khashan. "The Houthis are on the offensive on the border with Saudi Arabia. In recent days they have captured mountainsides ... hills on the Saudi side of the border. Saudi media reports say at least 16 (Saudi) soldiers were killed last week. This is the largest casualty toll (for the Saudis) since the beginning of the war."

Khashan argues that the Warsaw Conference on Iran (last week) "has complicated matters in Yemen" and that Tehran has been using its clout in Yemen with the Houthis  whom they support  to express their displeasure with the outcome of the international meeting in Poland.
MOSCOW - Last weeks shocking detention of one of Russias most renowned and publicly visible American entrepreneurs not only caught fellow foreign investors off guard, it may have prompted a moment of national reckoning about how Moscow handles investor relations, say both Kremlin-aligned and international trade groups.

Baring Vostok founder Michael Calveys arrest Feb. 14 on charges of fraud stemming from a lengthy legal dispute with Russias Orient Express Bank sparked widespread speculation about whether the days of unbridled reiderstvo  aggressive Kremlin-backed asset raids and corporate takeovers synonymous with Yukos, Russneft, Bashneft, Stolichnaya Vodka and VKontakte  were a thing of the past, or whether, perhaps, Calvey had actually committed a crime.

A recent Moscow court decision to extend Calveys detention without trial for a minimum of two months on the grounds that his release poses a flight risk, along with news that hes been denied consular access in violation of the 1966 Vienna Convention, doesnt bode well for professionals such as Aleksander Khurudzhi, who has been tasked by the state with rehabilitating Russias image as a secure place to invest.

This is a shock

From my point of view, what happened is in complete contradiction with statements of a Russian president who, from all rostrums, has expressed the same unchanging viewpoint: that Russia is open for investments and that Russia will do its best to attract and safeguard both Russian and foreign investments, Khurudzhi, deputy ombudsman for the Kremlin office of business ethics, told VOA.

This is a shock, he added. It undermines all the work being conducted by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. All the work that has been done for the last seven to eight years aimed at improving the investment climate. It undermines trust in the system as such ... (and our entire) team isnt sleeping at night. Without any exaggeration, the work is being carried out for 24 hours. This is a challenge for all of us, for our whole team.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Fed Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including the State Duma parliamentarians, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and other high-ranking officials, in Moscow, Feb. 20, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including the State Duma parliamentarians, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and other high-ranking officials, in Moscow, Feb. 20, 2019.

Indeed, during his annual State of the Nation address before Russias Federal Assembly on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin, who has been faced with record-low approval ratings, even made a fairly explicit reference to Calveys detention.

To achieve ... great (economic) objectives, we must get rid of everything that limits the freedom and initiative of enterprise, Putin said. Honest businesses should not live in fear of being prosecuted of criminal or even administrative punishment.

Putin, who met Calvey multiple times since the American arrived in Russia in the mid-1990s, has said he had no foreknowledge of Calveys arrest, and that despite his repeated calls to keep commercial disputes and litigation from culminating in spurious charges against foreign investors, he has no direct influence over how Russian courts render their verdicts.

CEO and co-founder of the investment fund Hermitag FILE - CEO and co-founder of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management Bill Browder attends the "Prospects for Russia after Putin" debate in the Houses of Parliament, London on Nov. 18, 2014. FILE - CEO and co-founder of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management Bill Browder attends the "Prospects for Russia after Putin" debate in the Houses of Parliament, London on Nov. 18, 2014.

Vocal Kremlin critics, such as Hermitage Capital co-founder Bill Browder, are deeply skeptical of these claims.

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.

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.

Seen as a ploy

For someone like Browder, it would seem Putins claim of political impotence in the face of a fully independent judiciary, despite copious historical evidence to the contrary, is nothing more than a cynical public relations ploy meant to portray Russia as a nation of procedural law, while denying justice and consular access to the very foreigners who fastidiously try to abide it.

Even prominent Putin allies, such as Russias ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, have sounded the alarm, calling Calveys arrest an economic emergency.

FILE - Alexis Rodzianko talks to Reuters in Moscow FILE - Alexis Rodzianko talks to Reuters in Moscow, Sept. 16, 2009. FILE - Alexis Rodzianko talks to Reuters in Moscow, Sept. 16, 2009.

For U.S. citizen Alexis O. Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia and a longtime Moscow resident, the initial shock of Calveys detention might, however ironically, reveal a longer-term opportunity to recalibrate Russias ties with foreign investors.

Sure, at this point its damaging. It certainly makes every one of us who were here thinking about, Well, you know, how far is it from me to his prison cell? he told VOA. But I think it could be a defining issue for the business climate here. It could be the beginning of a bad streak, or it could be the signal for Russia to actually take some positive action.

Calvey's formal indictment on Thursday, however, speaks more to the former than the latter outcome.

Rodzianko, whos convinced the charges against Calvey are without legal merit, said hes personally convinced the arrest stemmed from a commercial dispute in the usual sense, and that people who set it up were not expecting the resonance that it (has) received.

Asked if he thought Calveys arrest could be in any way politically motivated, he said he was convinced it was not.

But then I think, in the circumstances, it cant but be political, just because of the current state of affairs, because of the current state of relations, Rodzianko said. Its just too easy to make that connection, which I dont think is a proper connection, but I dont see how it can be avoided.

Two possible outcomes

I think its a symptom of a problem that Russia has, and Russia has to deal with, he added. It could (have one of) two outcomes.

One, he said, is that Calveys arrest will come to signify a continuation of a malevolently corrupt practice that Russian and foreign investors have come to face on an endemic basis.

Or, it might actually be a mistake which leads to significant reform, which might improve the situation for both foreigners and Russians investing in Russia, Rodzianko said.

A spokeswoman for the Moscow district court said that Calvey, who was detained along with other members of the firm on suspicion of stealing $37.5 million (2.5 billion rubles), faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Pete Cobus is VOAs acting Moscow correspondent.
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21 February 2019  In collaboration with local health authorities, WHO and UNICEF have concluded a nationwide measles and rubella vaccination campaign in Yemen reaching more than 11.6 million (90%) children aged 6 months16 years across the country.

WHO, with the support of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, contributed to the campaign through the provision of vaccines, fuel, training, deployment of health workers and supervisors, as well as raising awareness among communities about ways to protect themselves against these diseases.

Dhamar, Mareb and Sanaa governorates have reported over 100% coverage due to a large number of internally displaced persons coming from other governorates. The campaign continued for an additional 3 days in districts where low coverage was reported.

Despite the challenging conditions, WHO teams and health workers were able to reach high-risk areas, IDP camps and marginalized communities with awareness-raising activities and vaccination.
More than 15 world-famous varieties of tulips are on display at the event (Source: banahills.sunworld.vn)

Taking place from February 14 to March 31, the festival with theme "Land of Colourful Flowers" has turned the area into a little "Netherlands with over 1 million bulbs, along with special art performances.

More than 15 world-famous varieties of tulips are on display at the event.

The flowers have been imported directly from the Netherlands and grown in the Central Highland city of Da Lat, which has ideal weather conditions for tulips.

Some have also been planted and grown in Ba Na, dubbed as the second Da Lat in Vietnam.
Customers buy goods at a household grocery store in Ha Noi. The amendments to enterprise and investment laws should include measures to boost the development of household businesses. - VNS Photo Doan Tung

Organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the conference aimed to collect opinions about plans to amend the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprise being compiled by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

VCCIs Chairman Vu Tien Loc said it was critical to create the legal framework for business households to promote their development.

Loc cited statistics showing there were nearly five millions business households in Vietnam who contributed more than 30 per cent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP). However, the existing policy framework for business households is inadequate and there was a lack of equalities between business households and official enterprises.

Loc added that many existing policies made business households reluctant to transform into enterprises.

The amendments to the Law on Enterprise should take into account effective solutions to transform business households into enterprises in an effort to promote the development of the private sector, Loc stressed.

Why are business households which use hundreds of workers each not regarded as enterprises? Their nature is enterprise, in fact. Not recognising business households as enterprises could be the largest bottleneck of the Vietnams business legal system, Loc said.

Loc said the amendments to the law should regulate business households to be a type of enterprise while creating favourable conditions, especially in tax and accounting policies for small and micro businesses at the same time.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said the ministry would take into account VCCIs recommendations, admitting that the current policies of encouraging businesses households to transform into enterprises did not bring about expected results.

According to lawyer Le Van Ha from Pathlaw law firm said it was necessary to recognise their legal status and develop a policy framework for their development.

Loc also said that the procedure for registering a business needed to be simplified further, adding that Vietnams ranking in market entry by the World Bank remained low.

Regarding the Law on Investment, Loc said the amendments should focus on effectively deregulating business prerequisites.

Nguyen Van Toan, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, said that investment regulations needed a breakthrough to attract investors who owned high technology companies and promote the links between domestic firms and foreign-invested companies.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment on Saturday published the draft amendments on its e-portal for public comments.

It said that the goal of amending the two aforesaid laws was to create advantageous, transparent, fair, safe and friendly investment and business environment for every citizens, enterprises and at the same time improve the State management efficiency on doing business activities.
The press brief announcing the launch of New Music show held in Hanoi on February 20.

This information was announced at a press conference held by the Goethe Institut Hanoi on February 20.

According to Director of Goethe Institute Vietnam, Wilfried Eckstein, in Vietnam, New Music has gained considerable importance in cultural life and enjoys growing interest among the young and old. Vietnamese composers and musicians perform new music for national and international audiences. Their musical spectrum is wide-ranging. For them, in addition to the European music of the 20th century as a reference for the art of composing, there is a multi-faceted Vietnamese music history ready to inspire and challenge them.

Acknowledging this musical wealth and the variety of musical paths, the Goethe-Institut promotes concerts that break new ground in terms of sound aesthetics. We also look at the beginnings of New Music in Europe and we promote innovation in Vietnams music. he said.

The series of events on New Music will open with a performance of Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schonberg on February 21 at the Youth Theatre, No.11 Ngo Thi Nham street, Hanoi. The eight musicians are specialised in contemporary music and experimental playing practices at the interface between performance, improvisation and the interpretation of composed music.

The programme will include a Multimedia Concert composed by Vietnamese artist Luong Hue Trinh under the direction of conductor Jef von der Schmidt, which combines traditional Vietnamese music with contemporary composition and improvisation. The performance is considered as an aesthetic exploration into the role of women today. Vietnamese artists will also perform their talent at a concert by Vietnamese composer Ton That Tiet, Nguyen Thien Dao and Vu Nhat Tan. The performance will be based on the Vietnamese concept of the Five Natural Elements.

The series of events will also include performances that broaden the artistic message in terms of sound, melody, rhythm, shape and the use of media. New music is searching for new sounds, new forms or novel combinations of old styles, whether it continues existing traditions or deliberately breaks with them.
The launching ceremony of the Hanoi branch of KB Kookmin Bank

The Hanoi branch of KB Kookmin Bank is located on the 25th floor of the Landmark72 building. Following the Ho Chi Minh City branch, this new office focuses on providing financial services to Korean corporations and promotes investment in the northern region of Vietnam.

According to KB Kookmin Bank, the Hanoi branch also plans to offer financial services for Vietnamese individual customers through its digital banking solutions. Customers also gain access to the interconnected system of KB Financial Group in Vietnam, which includes subsidiaries such as KB Risk Insurance Company and KB Securities Company.

"Kookmin Banks Hanoi branch will make continuous efforts to provide Vietnamese customers as well as Korean corporations with diversified financial compensation. This branch will also be the springboard for our global promotion in other countries," said Hur Yin, CEO of KB Kookmin Bank.

Hur Yin, CEO of KB Kookmin Bank, praised the growth potential of Vietnam's financial market

The bank's representatives said that despite Vietnam's recent tightening of foreign banks' licenses, Kookmin Bank has been approved by the State Bank of Vietnam for the new establishment in early 2019.

In recent years, Korean financial institutions have flocked to Vietnam as the country promises a large labour force with low costs, a stable political system, investment attraction policies, and the annual economic growth rate of over 6 per cent.

Korean financiers are also enticed by the fact that the majority of Vietnams 100 population million does not have a bank account. This means ample business opportunities in the fast-growing country for foreign bankers.

South Korean banks entering Vietnam in wake of FDI surge Inspired by many South Korean businesses and investors making a splash in Vietnam, many South Korean financial institutions are seeking to further invest or shore ...

S Korean banks to expand in VN In addition to the wave of investments in the banking and finance sector from financial institutions in Japan, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the ...
Around 12,000 people fled their homes due to radiation fears after the nuclear meltdown. (File photo: AFP/Behrouz Mehri)

The Yokohama district court ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to pay 419.6 million (US$3.8 million) to 152 local residents, a court spokeswoman told AFP.

The verdict was the fifth time the government has been ruled liable for the disaster in eastern Japan, the world's most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Presiding judge Ken Nakadaira said the government and TEPCO "could have avoided the accident if they had taken measures" against the tsunami that sparked the disaster, according to public broadcaster NHK.

In March last year, a court in Kyoto, western Japan, ruled both the government and TEPCO were responsible and ordered them to pay 110 million to 110 residents.

However, in a separate case in September 2017 in Chiba near Tokyo, the court ruled that only the operator was liable.

Around 12,000 people who fled after the disaster due to radiation fears have filed various lawsuits against the government and TEPCO.

Cases have revolved around whether the government and TEPCO, both of whom are responsible for disaster prevention measures, could have foreseen the scale of the tsunami and subsequent meltdown.

Dozens of class-action lawsuits have been filed seeking compensation from the government.

Triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake, the tsunami overwhelmed reactor cooling systems, sending three into meltdown and sending radiation over a large area.
At the reception (Source: hanoimoi.com.vn)

Chung made the remark during a reception in Hanoi on February 19 for a delegation from the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, during which he expressed his belief that the partnership between Vietnam and Russia as well as Hanoi - Moscow cooperation will only grow stronger.

He showed his admiration for achievements made by Russia in e-Government development, including inter-ministerial and inter-sectorial and action systems and a national platform system for processing dispersed data.

Mikhail Mamonov, Russian Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, who is leading the delegation, shared Russias experience in building Moscows public administrative model and developing smart cities, and the possibility of applying these models in Vietnam.

He talked the design of a national public service portals, solutions to a national services portal and information systems in interaction with people and businesses.

He gave advice on building a cyber information security centre for Vietnams Government office to ensure cyber security.
This seasons livery retains Papaya Spark as the primary colour, but the blue is a slightly different shade. Known as Vega Blue, its an existing McLaren OEM (original equipment manufacturer) colour

Young racing talents Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz will take charge of the dazzling MCL34, which features a fresh twist on the Papaya Spark design that debuted last year. Developed by AkzoNobels Sikkens brand, the coatings system offers numerous performance and sustainability benefits, all with significantly reduced emissions.

Scientists and technicians at McLaren and AkzoNobel have gone the extra mile ever since the partnership began. For the new season, theyve worked together to develop new, technologically advanced coatings features designed to specially modify the surface characteristics. This will help to reduce drag and contaminant adhesion, as well as improve surface slip and durability  which should ultimately increase performance on and off the track.

Were really excited about the new system weve developed with the experts at McLaren, said Peter Tomlinson, director of AkzoNobels automotive and specialty coatings business. Both of us believe in the relentless pursuit of excellence and the technical teams have done an amazing job. The 2019 car looks fantastic and is a brilliant example of innovation in the fast lane.

The 2019 coatings system offers numerous performance and sustainable benefits, such as the latest UV curing primer technology, low film weight, a water-based colour coat and super-fast clearcoat.

Simon Roberts, chief operating officer at McLaren Racing, said: The MCL34 once again looks brilliant in its distinctive Papaya Spark livery. Our work in the off-season with our trusted partner of ten years, AkzoNobel, has resulted in a significant 14 per cent savings of Papaya Spark compared with last years livery. Together we are constantly looking to make marginal gains on and off the track and to challenge our teams to innovate and find new technical developments. Im really pleased with this seasons result.

A lot of time has been spent on chasing even the most marginal gains. The teams focused in particular on further paint weight reduction and process improvements to increase the throughput of the paint shop between races, he added.

The 2019 driving line-up might be new, but AkzoNobel and McLaren have been working closely together since 2008, when the companys premium Sikkens brand first became the official supplier of paint solutions to the McLaren F1 team.

The first Grand Prix of the new season will take place in Melbourne, Australia, on March 17.
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Special Olympics Nevada (SONV) will host the 2019 Las Vegas Polar Plunge fundraiser beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Palms Place Hotel and Spa.

The Polar Plunge invites brave residents to take a chilly winter dive into the Palms Place pool to raise money and awareness for SONV. The family-friendly event will include food and drinks, festivities, raffles, awards, games and meet-and-greets with members of local law enforcement  departments that have chosen Special Olympics as their charity of choice.

Participants must raise a minimum of $125 to take the Plunge and enjoy the full festivities, which include an official Polar Plunge long-sleeve T-shirt. Additional fundraising incentives are available at different monetary levels. Guests are invited to watch their friends or family take the Plunge and may enjoy the post-Plunge festivities for an additional cost. Costumes are encouraged and this years event features a luau theme.

Plunge with a Purpose focuses on SONVs mission of promoting inclusion, empowering people with disabilities and helping to put an end to bullying. Proceeds from the Las Vegas Polar Plunge benefit SONV to offer year-round training and competitions in 10 different sports, schools programs and health resources all completely free of charge to more than 3,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the state.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle opened the 3-day Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church on Thursday in the Vatican, speaking about the need for pastors to know and feel the pain of abuse victims and heal their wounds.

By Robin Gomes

The figure of the risen yet wounded Jesus is the inspiration and model for the clergy and bishops of how to heal the wounds of minors abused in the Church.

The abuse of minors by ordained ministers has inflicted wounds not only on the victims but also on their families, the clergy, the Church, the wider society, the perpetrators themselves and the Bishops, said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle in his presentation at the start of the 3-day Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, that kicked off on Thursday in the Vatican.

We humbly and sorrowfully admit, that wounds have been inflicted by us bishops on victims and in fact the entire body of Christ.

He said that the bishops lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve.

Shutting eyes on abuse

The Archbishop of Manila said that people rightly point a finger at the pastors of the Church, who are called to have the smell of the sheep, but who run away when they find the stench of the filth inflicted on children and vulnerable people who they are supposed to protect.



In this regard, the cardinal drew attention to the encounter between the Risen Christ and Thomas, where Jesus insisted His disciple should touch His wounds.

Wounds remain wounds, the cardinal said and the wounds of Christ remain in the wounds of our world. How can we profess faith in Christ when we close our eyes to all the wounds inflicted by abuse? the cardinal asked.

Each of us and our brothers and sisters at home, Card. Tagle said, must take personal responsibility for bringing healing to this wound in the Body of Christ and make the commitment to do everything in our power to see that children are safe in our communities.

Love and compassion

The Filipino cardinal noted that Jesus allowed himself to be wounded as he touched the wounds of the poor, the sick, tax collectors, women of ill repute, persons afflicted with leprosy, noisy children, outsiders and foreigners.

He was crucified because he loved these concrete persons who were themselves wounded by society and religion. By sharing in their weakness and wounds, he became a compassionate brother rather than a harsh judge.

The 61-year old cardinal pointed out that wounds are often inflicted by the blindness of ambition and legalism and misuse of power that condemned an innocent person to die as a criminal. He said we need to put aside any hesitation and to draw close to the wounds of our people because only the wounds of love and compassion can heal.

If we want to be agents of healing, we have to see and touch the wounds of others, which are Christs wounds in the wounded people. The denial of wounds and death leads to the death of others and to our own death.

Solidarity, accompaniment

Cardinal Tagle explained that justice alone cannot heal the broken heart of survivors of abuse. If we are to serve the victims and all those wounded by the crisis, he said, we need to take seriously their wound of resentment and pain and the need for healing. Resentment can be like a disease, that slowly and steadily infects people, until their enthusiasm and energy are gone. With increasing stress, they are prone to heightened anxiety and depression, lowered-self-images, interpersonal conflicts that arise from the inner brokenness.

Regarding the issue of asking the victims to forgive, Card. Tagle said it does not mean they should just let it all go, excuse the abuse and just move on. Forgiveness, he said, is one powerful and even scientifically supported pathway for eliminating pain and resentment in the human heart.

We as the Church should continue to walk with those profoundly wounded by abuse, building trust, providing unconditional love, and repeatedly asking for forgiveness in the full recognition that we do not deserve that forgiveness in the order of justice but can only receive it when it is bestowed as gift and grace in the process of healing.

Card. Tagle, who is president of Caritas Internationalis, pointed out that sometimes bishops and religious superiors are tempted, and even pressured at times, to choose between victim and perpetrator. But a focus on justice and forgiveness shows that both need attention.

Victims need to be helped to express their deep hurts and heal from them. Perpetrators need to be served justice, helped to face the truth without rationalization, and not neglect their inner world.

Learning from the Risen Lord and his disciples, the cardinal said, we look at and touch the wounds of victims, families, guilty and innocent clergy, the Church and society. Beholding Jesus wounded by betrayal and abuse of power, we see the wounds of those hurt by those who should have protected them.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis expressing the Holy Father's sorrow for the loss of life and injury caused by the fire in the capital, Dhaka.

Pope Francis has expressed his sadness at the loss of the life and injuries caused by a devastating fire that ripped through densely packed buildings in an old quarter of Bangladesh's capital between Wednesday and Thursday night, killing at least 81 people.
Pope Francis has sent a telegramme of condolences to the Bishop of Gbarnga in Liberia where over 40 people were killed in a mudslide in the north of the country.

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis has expressed deep sorrow to learn of the injury and loss of life caused by a mudslide in Gbanipea, Liberia, and has assured his prayers for all those affected.

In a telegramme signed on the Popes behalf by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope said he is close to all who are affected by the tragedy.

He said he is praying for those who mourn the loss of their loved ones and for the emergency personnel who assist the victims.

Liberian President George Weah declared last Monday a day of national mourning after more than 40 people were killed in the mudslide at an alleged illegal mine in the north of the country.

The national disaster management agency has been searching for survivors since the incident in Nimba County last weekend, and authorities said the region is inaccessible and getting the necessary equipment there is posing a challenge.

The president also declared the region a national disaster zone and ordered authorities to isolate the area, provide security and prevent illicit mining.
Speaking to Authorities, members of Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps in Panama City, Pope Francis challenges the country to be a land of encounter, convocation, and dreams.

By Sean-Patrick Lovett

A quote from a South American revolutionary, the words of a popular prayer, and the verse of a poem by a national hero. Thats how Pope Francis chose to address Panamas President, decision-makers, and members of the Diplomatic Corps, in his first public discourse since arriving in this Central American nation.

Simon Bolivar

If the world had to choose its capital, the Isthmus of Panama would be marked out for this great destiny. Thus spoke Simon Bolivar. The 19th century military hero, political statesman, and revolutionary icon, dreamed of unifying what today we call Latin America. He convoked the leaders of his time in the hopes he could convince them to share his dream of a Great Fatherland.

In Panama, on Thursday, Pope Francis repeated that quote and underlined the idea of a convocation as something that helps us realize we really can create, and dream of, a great fatherland that can include, respect and embrace the multicultural richness of each people and culture.

He then described Panama as a land of convocation and of dreams. By welcoming the dreams of young people, the Pope said, Panama challenges the certainties of our time, and opens ups new, vital, respectful, and compassionate horizons.

A popular prayer

Give us our daily bread: may we eat it in our own homes and in a state of health worthy of human beings. Thus reads a popular Panamanian prayer.

Pope Francis used it to illustrate how governments and political leaders need to guarantee an authentically human politics.

Young people, he said, demand this commitment. They demand that those in charge live in simplicity and transparency, with a clear sense of responsibility for others and for our world.

Ricardo Miro

When they see you, my native land, they might say that you were shaped by Gods will, so that beneath the sun shining down upon you, all humanity can come together in you. Thus sings a poem by Ricardo Miro, Panamas most revered poet and writer.

For Pope Francis, these words express the hope that another world is possible.

Young people, he said, urge us to take our part in building it, so that our dreams do not remain ephemeral or ethereal. We must ensure that everyone has the chance to dream of a tomorrow, said the Pope. Because the right to the future is a human right as well.

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Negative surgical margins in patients undergoing partial nephrectomy pT1 or pT2 renal cortical tumors

Establish nodal status for patients undergoing extirpative surgery for clinical N+M0 renal cortical tumors

Biopsy before ablation for a renal cortical tumor

Nephrectomy or biopsy (of the primary site or another site) prior to initiating systemic therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Quality measurement promotes clinical standards and is critical to assigning value-based incentives for health care delivery

There are no endorsed quality metrics in kidney cancer

Constructing composite measures may better align performance measurement with tangible patient outcomes

Unintended punitive consequences to hospital-based quality measurement may disproportionately impact safety net hospitals

Gore JL, Wright JL, Daratha KB, et al. Hospital-level variation in the quality of urologic cancer surgery. Cancer 2012 Feb 15;118(4):987-996. Lawson KA, Saarela O, Abouassaly R, et al. The impact of quality variations on patients undergoing surgery for renal cell carcinoma: A National Center Database study. Eur Urol 2017 Sep;72(3):3790386.

San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) The last session of GU ASCO 2019, How Can We Better Treat Kidney Cancer, started with Dr. John Gore presented quality metrics in kidney cancer care. Dr. Gore notes that quality measurement entails several processes, including effectiveness, efficacy, equity, patient-centeredness, safety, and timeliness. Dr. Gore then mentioned that health care value is disparate in the United States, considering that the country has the highest per-capita spending per person for health care ($9,892), but is 27in life expectancy (78.8 years). By comparison, Japan is 15in spending ($4,519) and 1in life expectancy (83.9 years).Dr. Gore states that the time for health care delivery reform is now. In the past, health care was typically producer-centered, incentivized for volume, unsustainable, and fragmented. The present and future platform is patient-centered, incentivized for outcomes, sustainable, and coordinated. Past systems and policies were fee-for-service payments, whereas the present and future policies include value-based purchasing, Accountable Care Organizations, bundled payments, medical homes, quality/cost transparency, and population-based payments. Health care quality, according to Dr. Gore, stems from the structure, a process, and outcomes.Specific to kidney cancer, Dr. Gore notes that there are several quality metrics in kidney cancer:In work from Dr. Gores group, they examined hospital-level variation in outcomes after inpatient urologic oncology proceduresIn the state of Washington, the authors identified 853 patients from 37 hospitals who underwent cystectomy, 3018 patients who underwent nephrectomy from 51 hospitals, and 8228 patients who underwent prostatectomy from 51 hospitals. Complications captured by patient safety indicators were rare. Hospital-level variation was most profound for the length of stay outcomes after nephrectomy and prostatectomy (variance in prolonged LOS, 8.1% and 26.7%, respectively), thromboembolic events after nephrectomy (8% of variance), and mortality after cystectomy (7.1% of variance). They concluded that hospital-level variation confounds the care of urologic cancer patients, noting that transparent reporting of surgical outcomes and local quality-improvement initiatives should be considered to improve quality.Previous work from the NCDB has been used to determine hospital-level variations in RCC surgical quality after adjusting for differences in patient- and tumor-specific factors [2]. Over 1100 hospitals were benchmarked for quality, with 10-31% identified as providing poor care for a given quality indicator. To evaluate hospitals, the authors utilized a Renal Cancer Quality Score, derived of (i) the percentage of T1a tumors undergoing partial nephrectomy, (ii) Percentage of T1-T2 tumors undergoing MIS for radical nephrectomy, (iii) Percentage of positive surgical margins following partial nephrectomy, (iv) length of stay after radical nephrectomy, and (v) percentage of 30-day readmissions after radical nephrectomy. Lower Renal Cancer Quality Score hospitals had smaller referral volumes and were less academic compared with higher Renal Cancer Quality Score hospitals (p<0.001). Higher Renal Cancer Quality Score was independently associated with lower 30-day, 90-day, and overall mortality (aOR 0.92, CI 0.90-0.95); aOR 0.94, CI 0.91-0.96; aHR: 0.97, CI 0.96-0.98, respectively], per unit increase. The authors concluded that superior quality is associated with improved patient outcomes, including mortality benefit.Dr. Gore concluded with several take-home messages from his talk:Presented by: John L. Gore, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WashingtonWritten 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:
Thanks to a recent grant award, Eastman Institute for Oral Healths ongoing efforts to improve access to healthcare for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) will be addressed through a new educational initiative.

The Working for Inclusive and Transformative Healthcare (WITH) Foundation awarded Dr. Cynthia Wong $50,000 for a one year project to develop online training modules for medical and dental professionals to promote inclusive health for people with IDD.

Most medical and dental schools provide insufficient training in treating people with IDD, said Dr. Wong, principal investigator for the grant and assistant professor at Eastman Institute. As students progress into residencies and clinical practice, many feel uncomfortable interacting and managing patients with IDD, negatively affecting the number of providers willing to see patients with IDD.

Additionally, a study led by the University of Bristol revealed that people with IDD die, on average, 16 years earlier than the general population. Avoidable deaths were more commonly contributed to the lack of quality healthcare in the population with IDD, compared to the general population.

Other data shows that physicians and dentists have expressed that their knowledge of disabilities is insufficient. Wisconsin healthcare providers, for example, reported that communication barriers and complexity of social and medical situations limited them in delivering equal quality health care to patients with IDD.

 People with IDD should receive the same quality of healthcare as the general population, stressed Dr. Wong. This project aims to provide the skills to improve the access to and quality of care provided, promote inclusion for adults with IDD in mainstream medical and dental settings, and encourage patient-centered multidisciplinary collaboration between healthcare providers and patients.

Dr. Wong, who will be joined by Eastman colleagues Drs. Adela Planerova and Erin Shope, said the curriculum will be accomplished through web-based learning modules, coupled with suggested clinical applications. Dr. Tiffany Pulcino, director of UR Medicines Complex Care Center and experienced in web-based training, will offer mentorship and support along with her staff.

The interactive learning modules, co-designed and co-led by patients with IDD, will cover topics such as healthcare access and disparities, cultural diversity and inclusion, risk of diseases and healthy choices, communication and interdisciplinary approach.

 We want to increase providers comfort level by improving their knowledge and skill set in this area and provide much better access for patients with IDD around the world, Dr. Wong added. Were grateful to the WITH Foundation and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry for their support and partnership with this critical issue.

The goal is to establish a sustainable and reproducible curriculum in training healthcare providers at all levels to understand the disparities, acquire the skill set needed to provide and appropriately deliver high quality care, and establish a multidisciplinary healthcare network to ensure the continuity of care for people with IDD. Dr. Wong and her team will collaborate with MCC Hygiene School, Special Olympics New York and Special Olympics International.

For more than 100 years, Eastman Institute for Oral Health has had a significant impact around the world in research and clinical training and continues to carry on George Eastmans legacy by helping the underserved and people with special and medically complex needs.

In recent years, several Eastman Institute faculty have been recognized nationally for their leadership in advocacy, improving access, education, community service and innovation as it relates to treating patients with IDD. EIOH has received millions in federal and private funding for unique training and treatment initiatives.

UR Medicines successful Complex Care Center is the regions first primary care and dental practice dedicated to caring for adults with medically complex conditions and IDD. Renovations are almost complete for a new, unprecedented inter-disciplinary clinic at Eastmans headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., designed to accommodate a wide range of patients with various dental, physical and behavioral needs.

 Whether our general dentists and specialists are working alone, or side by side with physicians, patients with special needs are getting the highest quality care and our residents and students are getting a superior education, said Eli Eliav, DMD, PhD, director, Eastman Institute for Oral Health.

Established in 2002, WITH Foundation (formerly known as Special Hope Foundation) is a private foundation that focuses its support on organizations and projects that promote establishing comprehensive and accessible health care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistrys mission is to improve the quality of healthcare for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Venezuela has warned the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and other Caribbean nations against serving as a springboard for a suspected US invasion, in a statement published Thursday by its foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Venezuela has warned the Dominican Republic , Puerto Rico and other Caribbean nations against serving as a springboard for a suspected US invasion, in a statement published Thursday by its foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza.

"Venezuela expresses concerns about strong signs that the US is using the territories of some Caribbean nations as platforms for planning and organizing operations of illegal and terrorist nature," the tweeted statement reads.

Arreaza said he had established contacts with Caribbean governments to alert them to "unauthorized use" of their territories in preparation for the attack, which aims to overthrow Venezuela's legitimate government and replace it with a "puppet" regime.

Venezuela closed the border and suspended air links on Wednesday with Caribbean islands ahead of this Saturday's attempt by US-backed Venezuelan opposition to bring in relief aid, which has been flown to the island of Curacao. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is recognized by Russia, China and several others, called the delivery a prelude to invasion.
Tanzania hopes to promote itself as a tourism destination for Russian tourists against the backdrop of the industry's growing share in the national GDP, Simon Marco Mumwi, Tanzania's ambassador to Russia, said during a presentation devoted to the country's tourism industry on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Tanzania hopes to promote itself as a tourism destination for Russian tourists against the backdrop of the industry's growing share in the national GDP, Simon Marco Mumwi, Tanzania's ambassador to Russia, said during a presentation devoted to the country's tourism industry on Thursday.

"[It is] our endeavor to promote tourism to Tanzania in Russia ... The sector of tourism makes up around 12 percent of the GDP and in the next few years there is a potential to improve," Marco Mumwi said.

Mumwi added that Russian tourists were increasingly choosing Tanzania as a tourism destination.

"The number of tourists grew from 7,435 in 2016 to 10,610 in 2017," the ambassador noted, adding that last year was very successful in terms of the number of Russian tourists who visited Tanzania.

The diplomat expressed hope that the statistics for 2018 would show that as many as 15,000 Russian tourists visited Tanzania that year.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Tanzania thinks there is a lot to gain from participating in the Army-2019 military-technical forum in Russia and may attend the event, Tanzanian Ambassador to Russia Simon Marco Mumwi told Sputnik on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Tanzania thinks there is a lot to gain from participating in the Army-2019 military-technical forum in Russia and may attend the event , Tanzanian Ambassador to Russia Simon Marco Mumwi told Sputnik on Thursday.

"We have been invited and we are waiting for a response from [the country's government in] Dar-es-Salaam. It is them who will make a decision but it is something interesting because we know from our collaboration, there is a lot ... to gain if we participate," Mumwi said.

The military exposition near Moscow will bring together 1,200 exhibitors from 14 countries on June 25-30. It will feature outdoor demonstrations with live fire and air shows by aerobatic teams.

Tanzania for the first time participated in the Russian military-technical forum in 2015. In 2016, Russia and Tanzania signed an agreement on military cooperation and a contract providing for the training of Tanzanian servicemen in Russian military schools on the sidelines of the event.
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Tanzania wants to strengthen military cooperation with Russia to enhance its defense capabilities and improve training, Tanzanian Ambassador to Russia Simon Marco Mumwi told Sputnik on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Tanzania wants to strengthen military cooperation with Russia to enhance its defense capabilities and improve training, Tanzanian Ambassador to Russia Simon Marco Mumwi told Sputnik on Thursday.

"It is our duty to strengthen the relationship [in the military field] even more and we believe that the potential for getting Russian capability assistance is big. The possibility of cooperating even more is there and we have some programs of training this side [in Russia] so we look forward to closer cooperation," Mumwi said.

The diplomat emphasized that Russia and Tanzania had a close military relationship.

"We have a very close friendship in terms of military cooperation. I can assure you we are comfortable," Mumwi said.

In 2018, Tanzania and Russia signed an agreement on defense industry cooperation that provided for the deliveries of military equipment, its maintenance as well as the training of military personnel. The agreement will be valid for five years and then will automatically be extended for another five-year term if none of the parties decides to withdraw from it.
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Morocco rejects any unilateral attempts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that, in particular, pertain to the issue of Jerusalem's legal status, as this only contributes of the suffering of the Palestinian people, Moroccan Ambassador to Russia Abdelkader Lecheheb said on Thursday

MOROCCO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Morocco rejects any unilateral attempts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that, in particular, pertain to the issue of Jerusalem's legal status, as this only contributes of the suffering of the Palestinian people, Moroccan Ambassador to Russia Abdelkader Lecheheb said on Thursday.

"We reject all unilateral attempts to solve the Palestinian problem, we consider this to be a violation of intentional law. Morocco relentlessly continues to reaffirm that the attempts to distort the legal status of Jerusalem are the reason for sufferings of Palestinian people that continue until now," Lecheheb said at a roundtable discussion on the status of Jerusalem at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency's press center.

US President Donald Trump has stated on numerous occasions that his administration has been preparing a so-called deal of the century for Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

However, Palestinians rejected Washington's involvement in the conflict settlement after Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy there in 2018, despite UN recommendations to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in the city until its legal status was settled.

Within the framework of the settlement process, the Palestinians have been demanding that the future borders between the two sovereign states run along lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War they have even said they are open to a possible exchange of territories. They hope to create their own state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with a capital in East Jerusalem.

Israel has refused to return to the 1967 borders and share Jerusalem, declaring the city its eternal and indivisible capital.
UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and other diplomats from the United Nations member-states paid tribute on Wednesday to late Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who died two years ago.

"Today we commemorate the second anniversary of the sudden and tragic death of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin," Nebenzia told reporters at the UN. "Ambassador Churkin was a true son of his country, a defender of Russian interests, at the same time, he was a champion of multilateralism. He enjoyed great respect of his colleagues."

Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Kairat Umarov, France's Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari, and Palestinian envoy to the organization Riyad Mansour were also among the diplomats who attended the commemoration.

"Everyone who worked here or even watched from outside, they were looking at him (Churkin) as if at a diplomatic giant, the person who so zealously defended the country's position, but, at the same time, he actually could find the way to compromise," Umarov said.

"Apart from the politics, he was a very humane, caring person, a great intellectual with a very great sense of humor, and he won the hearts of everyone here at the United Nations."

The tribute took place in front of the UN Security Council chamber, where Churkin represented Russia's interests for more than a decade.

"He was born to be here (the Security Council), he was an outstanding diplomat and (had) an outstanding personality, people like this cannot pass unnoticed and leave a place without leaving a mark on it," Nebenzia noted.

Churkin was born in Moscow on February 21, 1952. He served as Russia's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Russian representative to the UN Security Council from April 2006 until his death on February 20, 2017.

The diplomat was buried on February 24, 2017, at a Moscow cemetery.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and other diplomats from the United Nations member-states paid tribute on Wednesday to late Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who died two years ago

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2019) Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and other diplomats from the United Nations member-states paid tribute on Wednesday to late Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who died two years ago.

"Today we commemorate the second anniversary of the sudden and tragic death of Ambassador Vitaly Churkin," Nebenzia told reporters at the UN. "Ambassador Churkin was a true son of his country, a defender of Russian interests, at the same time, he was a champion of multilateralism. He enjoyed great respect of his colleagues."

Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Kairat Umarov, France's Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre, Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari, and Palestinian envoy to the organization Riyad Mansour were also among the diplomats who attended the commemoration.

"Everyone who worked here or even watched from outside, they were looking at him (Churkin) as if at a diplomatic giant, the person who so zealously defended the country's position, but, at the same time, he actually could find the way to compromise," Umarov said.

"Apart from the politics, he was a very humane, caring person, a great intellectual with a very great sense of humor, and he won the hearts of everyone here at the United Nations."

The tribute took place in front of the UN Security Council chamber, where Churkin represented Russia's interests for more than a decade.

"He was born to be here (the Security Council), he was an outstanding diplomat and (had) an outstanding personality, people like this cannot pass unnoticed and leave a place without leaving a mark on it," Nebenzia noted.

Churkin was born in Moscow on February 21, 1952. He served as Russia's permanent envoy to the United Nations and Russian representative to the UN Security Council from April 2006 until his death on February 20, 2017.

The diplomat was buried on February 24, 2017, at a Moscow cemetery.
The Belgian national security council believes that foreign terrorist fighters, who fought in Syria alongside militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia), should be prosecuted under "a certain form of international justice" system and serve their sentence in regional camps, a spokesperson for the Belgian government said on Thursday

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2019) The Belgian national security council believes that foreign terrorist fighters, who fought in Syria alongside militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia ), should be prosecuted under "a certain form of international justice" system and serve their sentence in regional camps, a spokesperson for the Belgian government said on Thursday.

"The preference is a certain form of international justice ... Camps in the region should be the place of detention [for foreign terrorist fighters]," the spokesperson told reporters after a meeting of the council, chaired by Prime Minister Charles Michel.

The issue of potential return of foreign terrorist fighters to Europe and challenges associated with the returnees have been in the spotlight for several years now.

On February 16, US President Donald Trump called on the European countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, to take back more than 800 IS fighters, captured by the United States in Syria, and put them on trial.
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The European Union and Azerbaijan have called on Turkmenistan to join the Southern Gas Corridor project, EU Commissioner for Budget and Resources Gunther Oettinger said on Wednesday

BAKU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2019) The European Union and Azerbaijan have called on Turkmenistan to join the Southern Gas Corridor project, EU Commissioner for Budget and Resources Gunther Oettinger said on Wednesday.

Oettinger is currently paying a visit to Azerbaijan, where he has met with country's president, Ilham Aliyev.

According to the EU commissioner, a high-ranking representative of Turkmenistan took part in a session of the Advisory board on the Southern Gas Corridor in Baku earlier in the day and signaled the country's interest in joining the project.

It us up to the Turkmen leadership to make a final decision on joining the gas corridor, Oettinger noted.

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project, an initiative of the European Commission, is aimed at obtaining new sources of gas supplies to Europe. The project envisages the construction of the infrastructure that will help deliver gas from the Caspian region, namely Azerbaijan, to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. The first phase of the corridor was launched in May 2018.
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
Credit U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen with sticking to a worthy objective. She has been working for years now to see that America pays back at least some of the Afghan citizens who risked their lives to help the U.S. in their country.
FINALLY, a fine summer, which we Minnesotans appreciate, having endured winters attempts to depress us, and just when we were about to go into therapy and talk about how emotionally unavailable our dad was, summer came along and here I am on a sunny day with relatives on a porch enjoying a 
The week after Rebecca Grant took away her kids' video games for a month, after a year of relaxed pandemic rules, her 10-year-old son was livid. He gave her the silent treatment, mostly ignoring her except to spit out a hurtful, "I don't love you," one night at bedtime.
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Manafort, who is 69, deserves between 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million.

President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort will be sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Virginia on March 8, according to a court filing posted on Thursday.

The filing, dated February 19, also said that Manafort must file his sentencing memorandum by the evening of March 1, with the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller having the opportunity to then file a reply by March 6, Reuters said.

Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence for Manafort, after a jury last year convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.

Read alsoFormer Trump campaign chairman Manafort could face 19-24 years in prison  media

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.
Guns and ammunition were found at the home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

A U.S. Coast Guard officer has been arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack, court documents show.

Police found a cache of weapons and ammunition at the Maryland home of Christopher Paul Hasson, the BBC reports.

The self-proclaimed white nationalist had drawn up a list of targets including prominent Democratic politicians, according to prosecutors.

He is said to have drawn inspiration from the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," U.S. District Attorney Robert Hur said in the court documents.

Read alsoPutin: Russia ready to destroy U.S. missiles if Washington deploys them in Europe

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct."

Prosecutors said that in a draft email from June 2017 Mr Hasson wrote: "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax, not sure yet but will find something."

Fifteen guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were found in Mr Hasson's basement flat along with illegal drugs, the attorney's office said.

A list of possible targets included Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer as well as media personalities including MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough.
Lukashenko is unlikely to choose a pro-European policy.

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that Russia's plans include the annexation of Belarus and movement closer to the borders of Western Europe.

"The key risk is the repetition of the Ukrainian scenario with war and annexation in Belarus," he told in an interview with the Ukrainian news portal LIGA.net. "Such a scenario is awaiting that country if it does not start reforms."

He advised the Belarusians to begin reforms leading to democracy and freedom "in order to protect themselves from Russian aggression."

Read alsoStoltenberg: NATO preparing for world with more Russian missiles in Europe

"Only these things will create protection from Russian aggression," he said.

Rasmussen says he well remembers statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Belarus should be included in a "large Russian state," and this is very similar to the illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

"And I would like Belarus to get more assistance from the West. But we need to see Belarus' reorientation towards freedom and democracy," he said.

At the same time, the ex-head of NATO realizes that President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko does not want to reform the country and move to the West.

"Yes, he does not want to. But also Lukashenko does not want to live under Putin's oppression. He needs to choose: either reforms, or the constant oppression by the Russians," Rasmussen said.
Monitors also reported the amassing of self-propelled and towed artillery systems.

Monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have spotted groups of tanks in Russian-occupied districts in Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine.

In particular, on February 17, aerial imagery available to the SMM revealed the presence of the following military hardware in non-government-controlled areas: 17 tanks (type undetermined), nine pieces of self-propelled and 18 pieces of towed artillery or mortars in a training area near Myrne (28km south-west of Luhansk) and 27 tanks (type undetermined) in a training area near Kruhlyk (31km south-west of Luhansk), the OSCE SMM said in its update on February 21.

Read alsoTwo Ukrainian soldiers wounded amid Thursday attacks in Donbas

On February 18, aerial imagery available to the SMM revealed the presence of: 17 tanks (type undetermined) in a training area near Buhaivka (37km south-west of Luhansk); six tanks (type undetermined) in a training area near Shymshynivka (27km south-west of Luhansk); and 21 tanks (type undetermined) in a training area near Ternove (15km south-east of Luhansk).

Aerial imagery available to the SMM revealed on February 18 the presence of eight pieces of self-propelled and 23 pieces of towed artillery in a training area near Buhaivka.

"The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons in implementation of the Memorandum and the Package of Measures and its Addendum," the update said.
There is no information about enemy casualties yet.

Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded amid attacks by Russia-led forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on Thursday, February 21.

"From 00:00 to 18:00 Kyiv time today, the enemy mounted five attacks on our troops' positions. Weapons banned under the Minsk agreements were used in two of them," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an evening update on February 21. "As a result of shelling, two JFO members were wounded in action."

Read alsoUkraine not to launch direct dialogue with Donbas occupation authorities  Gerashchenko

In the Skhid (East) sector, Russia's hybrid military forces shelled Ukrainian positions near the village of Pisky in Donetsk region, using 82 mortars, while grenade launchers, in particular, anti-tank ones, were used near the village of Vodiane. The enemy opened fire from large-caliber machine guns and small arms near the village of Pavlopil.

In the Pivnich (North) sector, Ukrainian positions near the village of Krymske came under fire from 82mm mortars and an anti-tank complex.

The Ukrainian military fired back, using allowed weapons.

There is no information about enemy casualties yet.

The situation in the JFO zone is under control, the Ukrainian side said.
Gerashchenko recalled the negotiations take place only in the Minsk format.

Ukraine's Representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group for the Donbas settlement, First Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko has said there would be no direct dialogue between Ukraine and the representatives of Donbas occupation authorities.

Read alsoRussian armed formations in Donbas have more tanks than Germany or France  Poroshenko at UNGA

"There will be no direct dialogue with the pseudo-republics in Russian-occupied Donbas and the legitimation of the Kremlin's puppet regimes," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.

She recalled the negotiations take place only in the Minsk format, including participants from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE.

"The agreements are signed by representatives of three parties  Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE. There is not a word about 'LPR'/'DPR' and such useless abbreviations in the Minsk agreements," she said.

According to Gerashchenko, "there are two scribbled signatures by Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky, whom Putin brought to the negotiating room at the last minute."

"We will be talking about the liberation of Donbas with the Kremlin, with the mediation of our international partners, but not with the Kremlin's puppets," she added.

Earlier, "DPR" leader Denis Pushilin has called on Ukraine leadership to start direct negotiations regarding the conflict in Donbas.
According to intelligence reports, one invader was killed and another two were wounded.

Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted 13 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as killed in action.

"One Ukrainian soldier was killed in the past day. According to intelligence reports, one invader was killed and another two were wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on February 21, 2019.

Read alsoRussian armed formations in Donbas have more tanks than Germany or France  Poroshenko at UNGA

Russian occupation forces opened fire from 82mm and 120mm mortars, weapons installed on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms, attacking the defenders of the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Lebedynske, Vodiane, Shyrokyne, Novo-Oleksandrivka, Khutir Vilniy, Katerynivka, and Novotoshkivske.

"Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the report said.
The man had reportedly been deployed there as part of the Wagner private military company.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office received from residents of Vinnytsia region information claiming that former Berkut riot police operative Ruslan Horbik, who is one of the suspects in the Maidan shooting case, could die in action in Syria during a mission involving Russia's "Wagner" private military company

The investigators are now verifying the reports, Hromadske wrote Feb 20.

The publication notes that in 2015, Horbik obtained Russian citizenship and enrolled to Russian police.

In February 2018, his family was informed of his death, while no details were specified. Horbik was buried in his native village of Luchinets, Vinnytsa region, the report says. The body had allegedly been handed over to his relatives at the border with Russia in Kharkiv region.

The Horbik family say they were not aware of him being part of Wagner PMC.

Read alsoIndependent Orthodox church emerged in Ukraine thanks to feat of Heavenly Hundred Heroes  Metropolitan Epifaniy

As UNIAN reported earlier, At the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014, mass protests in Ukraine led to a change of authorities. Law enforcers and government-hired armed thugs (titushki) were on the other side of the barricades. According to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, as a result of the tragic events of February 1820, 2014, at least 107 people were killed.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko says the investigation into the shootings during the Maidan uprising in 2014 established 66 perpetrators who are suspected of murder, including 46 who fled to the Russian Federation, while the rest are now under arrest.

"Wagner" is a private military company Russia has been using as a front player in various hot spots across the globe. Chief of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Hrytsak, provided evidence confirming that the PMC is a secret detachment of the country's military intelligence.

According to a Russian news outlet Fontanka, Wagner took part in the battles in Donbas on the side of Russian occupation forces, in particular, in the battles for Debaltseve. Russian nationalist publication Sputnik and Pogrom wrote that it was the PMC Wagner that killed the notorious militant leaders Alexei Mozgovoi, Pavel Dremov, Alexander Bednov, Yevgeny Ishchenko, and others.
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Chubarov believes Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave a very clear message to the world community during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Member of Parliament of Ukraine Refat Chubarov has said if the Russian Federation is not deprived of its veto right at the UN Security Council, the organization will become dysfunctional.

"The president very clear said this, and we need to look for allies on the issue of depriving Russia of the veto right at UN Security Council. Otherwise, the UN will continue to turn into an organization that is unable to do anything," he told one of the Ukrainian news TV channel, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

Read alsoOSCE PA to discuss militarization of Crimea, Azov Sea at winter meeting

Chubarov also believes Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave a very clear message to the world community during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

"When you call on Russia to stop hostilities, you call for the end of war, and when you call on Ukraine to stop protecting yourself, you call on Ukraine to abandon sovereignty. I will add that this means Ukraine will never agree to cede its sovereignty."

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at the UN General Assembly in New York City on Wednesday, February 20 that it was time to deprive Russia of its veto right at the United Nations.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will hold its 18th Winter Meeting at the Hofburg Conference Centre in Vienna on February 21-22, 2019.

Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Member of Parliament of Ukraine Refat Chubarov has said the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) will discuss the militarization of Russian-annexed Crimea and the Sea of Azov at its winter meeting.

Speaking on one of the Ukrainian news TV channels, he said the OSCE PA convened in Vienna (Austria) today, while the issue of militarization of Crimea and the Sea of Azov will be one of the main topics on the agenda

He added the Russian delegation had also arrived in Vienna.

"President Petro Poroshenko gave a very timely speech at the UN General Assembly yesterday, while today, we will continue discussing these topics. The president yesterday gave an objective, factual, and committed analysis of the military situation around Ukraine and other neighbors of the aggressor state. I want world leaders to make their conclusions," he said.

Read also33 European states call on UN members to consider non-recognition measures against Russia for Crimea

As reported earlier, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will hold its 18th Winter Meeting at the Hofburg Conference Centre in Vienna on February 21-22, 2019, featuring speeches by President of the Austrian National Council Wolfgang Sobotka, OSCE PA President George Tsereteli, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovakias Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, and others.

The OSCE PA's general committees will meet to hear from government representatives of OSCE participating States and discuss matters related to political and security affairs, economics and the environment, and human rights and humanitarian questions.
The Constitution now enshrines the European identity of the Ukrainian people and the irreversibility of the European and Euro-Atlantic course of Ukraine.

Today, February 21, amendments to the Constitution came into force, fixing Ukraines aspiration to become a member of the European Union and NATO.

The legislation enters into force the day after the law on fixing Ukraines strategic path on membership in the EU and NATO was published in the Holos Ukrainy parliament gazette.

According to the text of the law, amendments are made to three articles of the Constitution  Art. 85, Art. 102, and Art. 116, as well as the preamble, and transitional provisions.

The document establishes in the Constitution "the European identity of the Ukrainian people and the irreversibility of the European and Euro-Atlantic course of Ukraine."

Read alsoPoroshenko at UNGA: Russia occupies 7% of Ukraine's territory, kills 13,000 people

Also, it states that the Verkhovna Rada defines the foundations of domestic and foreign policy, the president of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of the states strategic course, while the Cabinet of Ministers shall ensure its implementation.

As reported, President Petro Poroshenko on January 19 signed a law amending the Constitution regarding the strategic course of the state to acquire full membership in the European Union and NATO.

The ceremonial signing of the document took place during a speech by the head of state in the Verkhovna Rada. Parliament adopted the relevant law on February 7.
The U.S. envoy also called on Russia to free all hostages, political prisoners and prisoners of war.

Acting U.S. Permanent Representative of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Ambassador Jonathan Cohen says the United States pledges diplomacy, sanctions, and security assistance to support Ukraine.

"The United States will continue to draw on the range of measures we have at our disposal, including diplomacy, sanctions, and security assistance to support Ukraine and make clear to Russia that the only resolution the international community can accept is the end of Russia's efforts to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We'll continue to coordinate our efforts with the many other countries supporting Ukraine," he said at the UN General Assembly's 67th plenary meeting on the situation in Ukraine.

Read alsoEU states, five more countries call on Russia to "immediately stop fuelling conflict" in Donbas

"Ukrainians have repeatedly shown that they will not be deterred from charting their own course and the United States will stand with the Ukrainian people until there is an end to Russian aggression," he said.

According to him, Russia attempts to justify its aggression against Ukraine by saying it is defending Russian-speaking people. "However, Russian aggression has been disastrous for the people living in those regions who have seen the humanitarian situation continue to deteriorate. The UN estimates that this conflict has taken over 10,000 lives. Beyond that toll, 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and 3.5 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance," he said.

He also called on Russia to free all hostages, political prisoners and prisoners of war.

"The United States calls on Russia to immediately release the over 70 Ukrainians it has unjustly imprisoned, including Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, and Ruslan Zeytullayev," he said.

According to him, Russia also created a hostile and dangerous environment for journalists and media workers, human rights defenders and defense lawyers to perform their work independently and without interference in Crimea. "Russia must ensure the proper and unimpeded access of international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non-governmental organizations to Crimea and cease any abuse against individuals there, without any discrimination," he said.
The Ukrainian president insists on a comprehensive, a real-time monitoring of the situation along the Russian border with Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that the Kremlin is being prepared for a military strike on Ukraine.

"Military experts would tell it straight that an armed grouping at the Russian border with Ukraine is an offensive strike group personnel. It has nothing to do with defense. They are meant for military strike. This is what the Kremlin is being prepared for. Thus, further escalation to a full-scale war is not an unrealistic prospect," he said at UN General Assembly debates in New York City on Wednesday, February 20.

Read alsoPoroshenko at UNGA: Russia occupies 7% of Ukraine's territory, kills 13,000 people

"That is why we should ensure a comprehensive, a real-time monitoring of the situation along the Russian border with Ukraine. Knowing the aggressor as I know him, I would like to assure you that most of all he is afraid of transparency, public attention and the world knowing his plans," he said.

As UNIAN reported, as part of his working visit to the United States, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on February 20 participated in the UN General Assembly, where for the first time in the history of this organization plenary debates took place on a new agenda item: "The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine."
The EU urges Russia to fully implement the Minsk agreements.

Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida, the head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, says at the UN General Assembly 67th plenary meeting titled, "The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," that 28 European Union member states and five more countries call on Russia to "immediately stop fuelling the conflict " in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.

"We call on Russia to immediately stop fuelling the conflict by providing financial and military support to the armed formations, and we remain deeply concerned about information on the presence of Russian military equipment and personnel in areas currently not under the control of the Government of Ukraine," Almeida said in a statement on February 20 on behalf of the European Union. The candidate countries, namely the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania, as well as the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, align themselves with the statement.

Read also33 European states call on UN members to consider non-recognition measures against Russia for Crimea

"The EU remains firm in its call on all sides to swiftly and fully implement the Minsk agreements and honor their commitments in full in order to achieve a sustainable political solution to the conflict in line with OSCE principles and commitments. We call on Russia to fully assume its responsibility in this regard and to use its considerable influence over the armed formations it backs to meet the Minsk commitments in full. Respect for these principles and commitments must be restored," he said.

According to him, the EU fully supports the efforts of the Normandy format, the OSCE, and the Trilateral Contact Group. "A sustainable ceasefire is urgently needed. Regrettably, the security situation remains highly volatile and a genuine ceasefire has not been reached yet. The sides should withdraw heavy weapons, disengage and undertake comprehensive demining. In violation of their commitments the sides continue to shoot and fortify their military positions along the line of contact inside the disengagement areas, which we condemn," he said.

The EU also condemns the continuous deterioration of human rights situation in the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, too.

"The duration of the EU's economic sanctions against Russia is linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements," he said.

The EU also strongly condemns the continued threats and restrictions to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), which occur predominantly in areas currently not under the control of the government of Ukraine. "This hampers the SMM from fulfilling its mandate. The SMM must have safe, secure, unconditional and unimpeded access throughout Ukraine," he said.
Before a Yemeni restaurant opened in this South Korean resort island last year, diner Kim Hee-yeol knew little about either the food or the people from the war-ravaged country.

But after sampling the kebabs, flatbread and hummus at Restaurant Wardah, prepared by refugee chefs and served up by the eager Yemeni wait staff, she is getting to know both.

Eating the food cooked and served by the people makes me feel that I know Yemen better, says Kim, who was among a mixed crowd of Koreans, Yemenis and tourists on a busy Friday evening at Wardah.

I was moved by the waiter who tried to take the order in Korean using a translation App. They are really trying hard to adapt to the country, she says.

Eating the food cooked and served by the people makes me feel that I know Yemen better.

Last spring, some 500 Yemenis fled the civil war raging at home and arrived on Jeju, a bustling tourist island off the southern coast of South Korea with a visa-free-policy.

Their somewhat unusual mass arrival sparked concerns both on the island and the mainland, where Koreans had little exposure to either refugees or Muslims  although the restaurant is now changing that, one meal at a time.

Wardah, which means flower in Arabic, is the brainchild of a local restaurateur and musician Ha Min-kyung, who decided to open up her music studio to shelter the Yemenis after learning from a social media group that many had started sleeping rough as their savings ran out.

Restaurant Wardah serves entirely halal food such as lamb and chicken kabsa, agdah chicken, kebab, flat bread and hummus.  UNHCR/Neil P George

Hummus is among dishes prepared and served by Yemeni staff at Restaurant Wardah.  UNHCR/Neil P George

Ha Min-kyung decided to open Restaurant Wardah after hearing that hundreds of Yemeni asylum-seekers were struggling to find proper halal food on Jeju Island.  UNHCR/Neil P George

The Yemenis thanked me so earnestly for something that was so easy to do that I felt almost ashamed, says the 38-year-old, her eyes turning watery at the memory. The studio was empty most of the time and all I had to do was to unlock it. How difficult is that?

After spending months helping and supporting Yemeni asylum-seekers and becoming their friend, Ha realized that many of them were not eating properly as it was difficult to get proper halal food in Jeju.

With support from her Yemeni and Korean friends, she decided to open the islands first Yemeni restaurant, giving it the name Wardah, which is also a name that the Yemenis gave her.

The eatery now serves up entirely halal food including kababs, rice, falafel and agdah chicken, as well hummus and other Middle Eastern staples. Yemeni customers get a special 50 per cent discount.

The Yemenis thanked me so earnestly for something that was so easy to do.

This is a taste of home, says Mohammed Ali, 37-year-old asylum-seeker and Wardah regular. Outside, I only ate vegetables because I wasnt sure if the chicken sold in the Korean shops were proper halal. I dont worry about that here.

Among frequent diners is Nathan Dewan, from the United States, who has been living on the island for about four years teaching English at a Korean public school.

Food is something that we can all relate to and also is a great medium for the sharing of a personality and a story  It is wonderful to have this place for the bridging of cultural gaps, says Nathan.

Ongoing conflict and dire conditions in Yemen have displaced an estimated 2.3 million people within the country and more than 20 million are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Some 70,000 people have fled abroad in search of safety.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is on the ground in Yemen, actively providing urgent humanitarian assistance. It does not consider that any person from Yemen can safely return to his or her home country at this time.

Chef Mohammed Ameen Almaamari (left) and waiter Sami Al-baadani (right) fled the deepening crisis in Yemen and reached Jeju via Malaysia.  UNHCR/Neil P George

Restaurant Wardah opened in late 2018, offering Yemeni food on Jeju Island.  UNHCR/Neil P George

All the food offered at Restaurant Wardah is halal, cooked and served by the Yemeni asylum-seekers on Jeju Island.  UNHCR/Neil P George

For Ha, seeing her restaurant filled with Koreans, Yemenis and visitors all interacting over food, has been an unexpected delight.

I would have laughed if someone told me last year that I was to open a Yemeni restaurant, she says. Before the Yemenis started to arrive here, I didnt even know there was a country called Yemen. I had no idea who refugees were.

Since 1994, Korea has received nearly 49,000 asylum claims and currently hosts about 2,900 refugees and humanitarian status holders from various countries of origin including Pakistan, China, Syria and Yemen.

The South Korean government granted temporary humanitarian status to the majority of the 484 Yemenis who sought asylum on the island, and recognized two as refugees. However, challenges remain, particularly for 56 asylees whose claims have been rejected, although they have the right to appeal and thus will not be repatriated immediately.

We did not come to Korea for money or for better jobs. We came because Korea is a safe country."

We did not come to Korea for money or for better jobs. We came because Korea is a safe country and because Korea was our only option, said Sami Al-baadni, 23-year-old Yemeni waiter at the restaurant. We cannot return now or even in the near future. If we return, we will die.

For his part, Mohammed Ameen Almaamari, Wardahs 35-year-old chef, wants peace in Yemen and the chance to go home in safety. Meanwhile, he asks Koreans to see Yemenis as human beings, beneath the different race, culture and religion.

All the signs are that the restaurant is helping to achieve that hope. After dining at Wardah, Kim Hee-yeol becomes reflective about the need to do more to help refugees in their time of need.

We can be concerned about the unknown, but that is not the fault of the unknown is it? she notes. I wish the government would increase its efforts in persuading and reassuring the people about Koreas responsibility in protecting refugees.
Latvia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Andrejs Pildegovics has called on Russia to release illegally imprisoned Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko and stop the persecution of other political prisoners.

He said this at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, February 20, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Latvia also calls on Russia to release all illegally detained Ukrainian political prisoners, including Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and journalist Roman Sushchenko," the European diplomat said.

At the same time, he drew attention to persecution, killings and human rights violations in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, especially in Crimea.

"The most vulnerable and affected group in Crimea continues to be the Crimean Tatars, whose history is fraught with suffering and persecution. We are very alarmed by all reports on torture, enforced disappearances and suspected killings, as well as continuous violations of the freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of religion or belief, and media freedom," the Latvian ambassador said.

He emphasized that Latvia strongly condemns discrimination against Crimean Tatars and "will continue to raise this issue at the international level."

He also promised to make efforts to ensure full and unhindered access to Crimea to international monitors, including human rights observers.
The Czech Republic will send two trucks with humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine next week, Radio Praha has reported.

Two trucks transporting 46 tonnes of humanitarian aid will depart for eastern Ukraine from the Czech Republic on Monday [Feb. 25], the report says.

As noted, the convoy heading to the town of Slovyansk in Donetsk region will contain hygiene supplies, warm clothes and roofing material for people living on the frontline.

The assistance is organized by the Krnov branch of Caritas Czech Republic and the public association "Ukrainian Initiative in the Czech Republic".

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The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) announced the launch of flights from Kyiv to Reykjavik with connections in European cities.

The launch of the flights became possible after the signing of the partnership agreement with the Icelandair airline, Avianews reports.

The flights from Kyiv to Reykjavik are performed with one connection lasting 1-3 hours via Helsinki, Copenhagen, Munich or Frankfurt. The first segment is operated by the UIA, the second  by the Icelandair.

A roundtrip ticket price starts from UAH 10,400 at a rate including the checked baggage up to 23 kg.

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By Bongino , Feb . 20, 2019





Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Alabama woman who fled the country to join ISIS in Syria will not be allowed to return to the United States.





Fox News reports that Pompeo said in a statement, Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States. She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport, nor any visa to travel to the United States. We continue to strongly advise all U.S. citizens not to travel to Syria.

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The day is marked annually on February 20 pursuant to the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated February 11, 2015 "On Commemoration of the Heroism of Participants in the Revolution of Dignity and Honoring the Memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred."

These days four years ago, during the Revolution of Dignity, the confrontation between the Ukrainian people and the then regime reached its peak. February 20, 2014, the greatest number of the Maidan activists was killed. On the next day, February 21, 2014, the official authorities of Ukraine legally recognized the killed protesters as the victims. On the same day, the farewell ceremony took place on the Independence Square in Kyiv, and the fallen activists were called "the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred" in mourning speeches.

On January 22, 2014, the first Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, Sergei Nigoyan and Mikhail Zhiznevsky died of gunshot wounds during clashes in the Kyiv city center. On the same day, the body of activist Yuri Verbytsky with traces of torture was found in the forest near Kyiv. By February 18, 2014, a total of nine activists were killed. February 18-20, the greatest number of people  78 activists  were killed on Maidan. Later, another 20 activists were killed. Apart from Ukrainians, the Belarusians, Armenians and Georgians became the victims of the Yanukovych regime. All of them became the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, the fighters for Ukrainian independence.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko awarded 105 Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred the title of the Hero of Ukraine posthumously, and three foreigners  citizen of Belarus Mikhail Zhiznevsky, citizens of Georgia Zurab Khurtsia and David Kipiani  were awarded the Order of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred posthumously. Ukraine paid too high a price for liberation from the dictatorship and its civilizational choice to be the part of Europe.

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Some 5.2 million people in one way or another feel the impact of Russian aggression, with 2.3 million people in need of humanitarian support, including from the UN, but the UN's humanitarian program is only 37% funded.

Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, stated this at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, February 20, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"UN considers that 5.2 million Ukrainians continue to be exposed to the consequences of the protracted crisis, directly or indirectly," the EU diplomat said, providing the latest statistics.

In this regard, he mentioned the United Nations multi-year 2019-2020 Humanitarian Response Plan, which, he said, contains appeals for donor funding.

"According to the UN, for 2019, $162 million is needed to reach the 2.3 million most vulnerable men, women and children with humanitarian assistance and protection in Ukraine. We recall that the previous response plan for 2018 was valued at $187 million, but was regrettably funded only by about 37%," the diplomat said.

He noted that the decreasing level of humanitarian funding is rapidly reducing the ability to deliver humanitarian assistance. "This may, together with the restrictions on access of humanitarian assistance to the affected regions, result in eroding the standard of living of the most affected people and create new humanitarian needs," he said.

He recalled that the European Union, together with its 28 member states, is the biggest donor of humanitarian and early recovery and development assistance to Ukraine. It has provided over EUR 681.1 million since the beginning of the conflict of which approximately half for humanitarian aid.

"We can confirm today our pledge to do our utmost in this field to diminish the suffering of Ukrainian population," Vale de Almeida said.
The armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the seizure of Ukrainian Navy ships together with crew members in the Kerch Strait, as well as blocking access to the Sea of Azov by Russia is not bilateral, but a global concern.

"Russia escalated tension by using force against Ukrainian vessels. We call for the immediate release of the vessels and the twenty-four crew members that are detained in Russia," said Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations Mona Juul, who also spoke on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden, at the UNGA meeting on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

She also called for the permanent restoration of free access to Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov.

We stress that these violations of international law  the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter  are not a bilateral or European concern, but a global one, Mona Juul said.

The Permanent Representative of Norway also drew attention to the militarization of the Crimean peninsula by Russia and the constant violations of human rights by the occupation authorities in Crimea.

At the same time, the European diplomat pointed to the failure to implement the Minsk agreements, in particular, non-compliance with the initial ceasefire commitments.

We call on Russia to stop fueling the conflict by providing financial and military support to the armed formations and to withdraw its military equipment and personnel from non-government controlled areas, the diplomat stressed.

In addition, Norways Permanent Representative called on the Secretary General and the whole UN to assess what more can be done to restore security and respect for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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Lithuania condemns the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and calls for the release of Ukrainian sailors and other Ukrainians illegally detained by Moscow.

This is stated in a statement by the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Crimeas occupation.

Lithuania strongly supports Ukraines sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. We condemn the ongoing military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine that flagrantly violates international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, and bilateral agreements between Ukraine and Russia. We will continue to support Ukraine and coherently implement the policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea five years ago," the statement says.

Lithuania will continue to aim at having the international community strengthen its response to flagrant violations of international law by the Russian Federation in Ukraines Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine, the Kerch Strait, and the Sea of Azov. Thus, international and EU sanctions against the Russian Federation must stay in place until Russia completely withdraws from the illegally occupied territory of Ukraine.

At the same time, we have to respond to the current attempts of the Russian Federation to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, such as abridging the freedom of navigation in the Sea of Azov, as well as to provocative actions by Russian forces that rammed, shot at, and seized Ukrainian navy vessels and their crews in the Black Sea, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry noted.

We condemn these grave violations of international law and call on the Russian Federation to immediately release the sailors and all other Ukrainian citizens it illegally detained, to ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports and to allow freedom of navigation in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, to put an end to all human rights violations, to respect all fundamental freedoms in Crimea, including freedom of the media, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of thought, belief, and religion, as well as to end persecution of Crimean Tatars, the statement says.
The United States has described Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014 as "brazen" and said it would keep pressure on Russia in place until it implements the Minsk Agreements and de-occupies the Ukrainian peninsula.

Ambassador Jonathan Cohen, Acting Permanent Representative of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, made this statement at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, February 20, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The United States will continue to draw on the range of measures we have at our disposal, including diplomacy, sanctions, and security assistance to support Ukraine," he said.

He stressed that Washington would never recognize the Kremlin's purported annexation of Crimea. "Our Donbas-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia fully implements the Minsk agreements. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine," Cohen said.

The U.S. diplomat noted that the the only resolution the international community can accept is "the end of Russia's efforts to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

He also added that "Russia must ensure the proper and unimpeded access of international human rights monitoring missions and human rights non-governmental organizations to Crimea and cease any abuse against individuals there, without any discrimination."

Cohen said that the United States "firmly stands with Ukraine" in the face of Russia's aggression. "We are committed to the success of a stable, prosperous, democratic, and free Ukraine," the U.S. ambassador said.

At the same time, he drew attention to the recent escalation by Russia of the situation near the Kerch Strait. He called on Russia to immediately release the vessels and crew and cease obstructing, delaying, and harassing the transit of vessels in the Kerch Strait to and from Ukrainian ports.

The U.S. diplomat also called on Russia to "immediately release the over 70 Ukrainians it has unjustly imprisoned, including Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, and Ruslan Zeytullayev."

He promised that Washington "will continue to coordinate our efforts with the many other countries supporting Ukraine."
EU ambassadors have agreed to impose additional sanctions against Russian citizens.

Eight people, who are considered to be involved in the seizure of Ukrainian military near the Kerch Strait in November 2018, expect freezing of accounts and a ban on entry into the EU, Radio Liberty reported.

The list of persons subject to new sanctions will be published in the coming weeks.

The ambassadors also agreed to extend the existing sanctions against 163 individuals and 44 legal entities responsible for undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine. They will be officially extended in early March.

On November 25, 2018, Russian border ships in the Kerch Strait fired on and seized three Ukrainian warships that sailed from the port of Odesa to the port of Mariupol. Twenty-four Ukrainian sailors were captured.

After Russian-controlled "courts" in Crimea ruled to arrest the captured sailors, they were all taken to Moscow.

All of them called themselves prisoners of war.

On January 15 and 16, Moscow's Lefortovo District Court ruled to extend the arrest of captive Ukrainian sailors for three months. The lawyers of Ukrainian sailors challenged the ruling.

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Russia's violation of international law in the Sea of Azov, as well as its armed aggression in the Black Sea, is currently one of the main concerns for European diplomats and a priority in the European Union's efforts to respond to Russian aggression.

EU Permanent Representative to the UN Joao Vale de Almeida said this on Wednesday at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The situation in the Azov Sea remains high on our agenda. The EU expressed its outmost concern about the dangerous increase of tensions in the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait and Russia's violations of international law which has led to the seizure of Ukrainian vessels and their crews by Russia and shots being fired at them, wounding several Ukrainian servicemen," he said.

He added that there was no justification for the use of military force by Russia. "Russia's aggressive actions also affect the security situation in the entire Black Sea region," Vale de Almeida said.

In addition, he, on behalf of the European Union, called on Russia to ensure "the immediate and unconditional release of all detained Ukrainian servicemen as well as the return of the seized vessels."

According to the European diplomat, "the EU also expects Russia to ensure unhindered and free passage through the Kerch Strait to and from the Azov Sea, in accordance with international law."

Vale de Almeida promised that Brussels would follow closely the situation. "We are determined to act appropriately, in close coordination with our international partners," he said.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, almost 13,000 people have been killed, 30,000 people have been wounded, and another 1.5 million become displaced.

"The results of the aggression are wrenching and unprecedented for post-war Europe: about 13,000 people killed, 30,000 wounded, 1.5 million internally displaced persons, massive destruction of Donbas, usurpation of Ukrainian property in occupied Crimea, large-scale violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the occupation authorities, political persecution and intimidation of Ukrainian citizens in order to suppress any manifestations of anti-occupation sentiments, stepped-up militarization of the occupied peninsula," reads the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

As the Foreign Ministry reminds, Russia began the occupation of Crimea five years ago by grossly violating international law. And although the illegal fake referendum and the Russian status of Crimea were not recognized by the world, the unwillingness of the international community to respond decisively to Russias bold act of aggression allowed the Kremlins criminal regime to continue the aggression and occupy part of the Ukrainian Donbas. And on November 25, 2018, Russia once again committed an open act of aggression against Ukraine, attacking Ukrainian Navy ships in the Kerch Strait and the neutral waters of the Black Sea.

At the same time, the Ministry stressed that the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian soldiers, the growing political and practical support of the international partners helped Ukraine to restrain aggression. A powerful international coalition has been created and actively supports Ukraine, stepping up pressure on Russia, demanding complete de-occupation of the Ukrainian territories and raising the cost of the continuation of aggression.

In this regard, the Foreign Ministry stressed that Ukraine and the international partners call on Russia to immediately release all political prisoners and prisoners of war. Further delay in fulfilling this requirement by Moscow should have very specific consequences, including sanctions, the statement reads.

In addition, the Ministry insists that an end to the aggression of the Russian Federation in Donbas should be supported by the deployment of a full-fledged peacekeeping mission of the UN, and its mandate should cover the entire conflict zone.

The statement also highlights that the international community supports Ukraine in the Crimean issue, as evidenced by a number of UNGA resolutions, which provide a straightforward estimation of the Moscows policy, urge Russia to comply with international humanitarian law and to de-occupy the peninsula, condemn the militarization of Crimea and adjacent parts of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

The Ministry expressed gratitude to the partners for practical assistance in developing the Ukrainian Armed Forces, carrying out reforms and stabilizing the economic situation in the country, which was burdened by the war, and stressed that only Ukraine with the strong economy and powerful army can force the enemy to retreat.

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine also underscores that the restoration of territorial integrity of Ukraine is necessary not only to secure the future of our people. "It is a key to restoration of confidence in the European and world security system, which should be based on unconditional respect of the independent states for the norms of international law and tough response to the violation of these norms," the statement reads.

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At present, 68% of Ukraine's population take advantage of the opportunities provided by the decentralization reform.

"Today, 68% of Ukraine's population live in a new system of self-government and have new decentralization opportunities, while the remaining 32% do not have these opportunities. Therefore, our task is to create capable, united territorial communities on 100% of the territory of Ukraine," Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said at the meeting of the Association of United Territorial Communities, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He added that this task should be fulfilled in 2020.

As reported, on January 23, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, within the framework of strengthening local self-government capabilities, initiated the transition to a new stage of the decentralization reform, which provides for consolidation of the successes achieved, formation of capable communities, change in the territorial structure, clear division of powers and functions of control of different levels of government, as well as active development of local democracy forms. The goal of the new phase is to introduce and consolidate the changes by 2020 in order to hold the local elections already on a new legislative and territorial basis. As of now, 876 capable communities are formed in Ukraine, and the local budgets have grown significantly - up to almost UAH 234 billion.

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Russian occupation forces launched 13 attacks, using weapons banned under the Minsk agreements 11 times, on Ukrainian troops in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in eastern Ukraine.

A total of 125 82mm and 120mm mortars were fired into Ukrainian positions. In addition, the enemy shelled Ukrainian strongholds, using weapons on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns and small arms, the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

In the zone of action of tactical force East, the Russian-led forces launched attacks on Ukrainian strongholds, using 120mm mortars, automatic mounted grenade launchers and heavy machine guns  near Lebedynske (16km east of Mariupol), 120mm mortars  outside Vodiane (94km south of Donetsk); 120mm mortars, hand-held antitank grenade launchers and heavy machine guns  in the area of Shyrokyne (20km east of Mariupol); sniper weapons  near Marinka (23km south-west of Donetsk).

In the zone of action of tactical force North, occupants fired 82mm mortars, weapons on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of different systems on the JFO units near Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk); 82mm and 120mm mortars, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns and small arms  near Vilne (70km south-west of Donetsk); 82mm mortars, mounted antitank grenade launchers and heavy machine guns  outside Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk); 82mm mortars, hand-held antitank grenade launchers and heavy machine guns  near Novotoshkivske (53km west of Luhansk)/

One Ukrainian serviceman received a fatal wound.

Today, the enemy has not opened fire yet.

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By the hill , Feb . 20, 2019





Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday that he's far from sure that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation will clear up questions about President Trump and Russia.





He said he was hopeful the Mueller probe will provide some answers, but warned it might not even draw a conclusion on whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

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Bank confident in its legal position, based on the facts and the law



Zurich/Basel, 21 February 2019  After six weeks of hearings before the 32nd Chamber of the Paris Court of First Instance, the judges delivered an adverse judgment against UBS AG and UBS (France) SA yesterday. In a French criminal proceeding, the court must have unequivocally convincing evidence to bring a verdict against a defendant. The court's judgment fails this test.

UBS reiterates that it consistently contested any criminal wrongdoing in this case. The bank respected and followed its obligations under Swiss and French law as well as the European Tax Savings Directive. UBS has already announced and filed its appeal of the verdict.

The conviction is not supported by any concrete evidence. In addition, following a detailed review of the judgment, it is clear that the decision contains significant flaws that will need to be addressed by the Court of Appeals. The many flaws of the decision include, but are not limited to, the following:

The judgment is extremely superficial, inconsistent and contradictory. It does not address the vast majority of legal and factual arguments made by UBS.

A technical document comparison reveals that the text of the decision against UBS AG is largely a copy and paste of documents issued by the prosecution and the investigating judge prior to the trial and the banks defense. It is completely unprecedented, that the evidence, explanations and legal arguments put forward by UBS are not responded to in any depth. The verdict on the merits only contains generic legal reasoning that does not specifically address the points made on hundreds of pages by the defense.

Example of the superficial nature of the verdict: The charges were limited to three specific types of unpaid taxes (income tax, wealth tax and corporate tax). Irrespective of the lack of any wrongdoing by the bank, UBS argued that consistent proof that only these three types of taxes were being considered for both a conviction and the calculation of any penalty needed to be provided. This argument was not addressed in the legal reasoning or the calculation of the penalty. It is just one of many examples in the verdict where the burden of proof is not met and no response is provided by the court to UBS arguments.

Example of the inconsistent nature of the verdict: The decision acknowledges that "it is true that none of the UBS customers heard during the investigation stated that they had been approached in France by a Swiss client advisor, or even met a Swiss client advisor on the national territory." However, the judgment completely discounts this fact, simply implying that all of these customers are not credible without providing any proof to that effect.

Example of the contradictory nature of the verdict: The decision acknowledges that there are exceptions allowing certain meetings with French clients on French soil. These exceptions include situations, for example, where existing clients are being met or for simple marketing events. The judgment then goes on to state that it does not need to address these exceptions, as they do not apply to UBS, because the bank is not allowed to solicit on French soil. While the bank has always contested any illicit solicitation, this argument by the court is contradictory.

The judgment makes legal errors and draws conclusions of guilt based on assumptions that are mistaken. Examples of this include:

The verdict relies on Article 755 of the French General Tax Code in order to conclude that clients had committed tax fraud, which is the necessary predicate offense for the laundering of the proceeds of tax fraud. However, Article 755 took effect on January 1, 2013, well after the period covered by the charges (2004 to 2012). In addition, Article 755 only applies to the inheritance and gift tax (droits de mutation a titre gratuit) which was not covered by the charges.

During the investigation, the request of UBS to view the tax authority files of its regularized French clients who had paid back taxes to the French state was denied. In the verdict, the decision to deny this request is justified with the argument that all parties had access to the same level of information, which is simply not correct. Only the French state, as a party to the case, had full access to the files of the French tax authorities.

The judgment claims that UBS should have assumed a lack of tax compliance for all assets of clients who paid taxes through the anonymous withholding tax of the European Savings Tax Directive of 2004 (ESD). The verdict does not take into account that this option  the anonymous withholding tax  was not only entirely legal, but also the automatic default option of the ESD. Very few European citizens with accounts in other European countries actively opted for a transmission of individual tax data, but instead were automatically elected into the anonymous withholding tax.

The calculation of the fine is contradictory.

Even if liability in this case existed, which UBS strongly contests, the calculation of the fine is contradictory. The verdict initially argues correctly that the basis for the calculation of a fine in such matters must be the proceeds of tax evasion, which it explicitly defines as the tax under the law, which was not paid. However, two paragraphs later in the judgment, the fine is then incorrectly calculated based on the total regularized assets (EUR 3.7 billion) as opposed to only the taxes which should have been paid on those assets, representing a fraction of the total amount.

The calculation of the civil damages is completely unsupported.
A comprehensive capital gains tax has been recommended by the Governments Tax Working Group, which estimates the $8 billion raised over five years could go towards changing the bottom tax rate and reducing tax on KiwiSaver for low- and middle-income earners.

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Tax Working Group chair Sir Michael Cullen said the capital gains tax recommendation came about through "concerns about the structure, fairness and balance of the tax system".

Sir Michael Cullen Source: 1 NEWS

"New Zealanders earning just salary and wages are taxed on their full income, but we have several situations where you can earn income from gains on assets and not be taxed at all."

He said it was not a "jack-up" by the Labour Party to implement their own policies, and emphasised the recommendations were currently proposals.

What a Capital Gains Tax would look like

The working group recommended the introduction of a comprehensive tax on capital gains, treating it as an income on assets such as investment properties, land, shares and business assets.

The family home, personal and household items, cars, boats and art would not be included.

The working group called New Zealands lack of a comprehensive capital gains tax as "regressive", labelling it as inconsistent treatment of capital that benefits the wealthiest. It also said it would close tax loopholes and push Government from a reliance on wage and salary tax, allowing a reduction in this area.

It estimated a capital gains tax could bring in $8 billion in the first five years, meaning income tax rates could be reduced.

Sir Michael said issues that could arise from a capital gains tax could be a "lock-up" with people delaying selling their asset, discouragement in investment and revenue volatility. He said if it were to be implemented, there needed to be assistance from countries with similar capital tax such as Australia or Canada.

Tax reductions

In addition to the capital gains tax, the working group suggested adjusting New Zealands lowest tax rate of 10.5 per cent.

Currently the initial earnings of workers $0-$14,000 is taxed at this rate. The group said that allowing New Zealanders to earn more at this rate would benefit all workers, support those transiting to work and would reduce inequality.

The Working Group proposed two options, the first rising the 10.5 per cent income bracket to $0-$22,500 or $0-$20,000 for personal income tax, adjusting the next 17.5 per cent bracket from $14,001-$48,000 to $22,501 or $20,001-$48,000.

The second option would change the 10.5 per cent bracket to $0-$30,000, making the 17.5 per cent bracket to $30,001-$48,000.

If the changes were implemented, the "ordinary" New Zealand worker could possibly see $15-$16 a week from the recommended tax reduction.

Changing the lowest tax rate would be going back to an alteration the previous National Government had planned to implement, increasing the 10.5 per cent bracket from the current $14,000 to $22,000. That was alongside changes to the two middle income brackets, with the changes dropped by the Government to be reallocated through the families package.

KiwiSaver tax reductions

It suggested a targeted tax reduction for the employer contribution by low- and middle-income earners to encourage savings, as well as refunding the Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax for KiwiSaver members earning less than $48,000.

Environmental changes

The working group said the New Zealand tax system could place taxes on "harmful activities", with Sir Michael saying there were opportunities to address greenhouse gases, water pollution, solid waste and transport and congestion and "to make the Emission Trading Scheme work more as a carbon tax over time".

He said the group supported a tax on water extraction but the issue of Maori rights on water needed to be addressed first.

"Its not as difficult of an issue" as many thought, he said, adding there needed to be someone "brave enough" to work on the issue.

Business

Reinstating depreciation on buildings, changing "black hole" reduction rules and changes to loss continuity rules were recommended by the group.

Government response

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said the Government would "take a measured response" to the report that highlights "some unfairness" in New Zealands tax system.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said it was unlikely that all the reports recommendations would be introduced, and a response would be released in April.

Any legislative changes passed by the Government would only come into force in April, 2021 in order to give the New Zealand public a chance to vote at the 2020 election for the changes.

Yesterday, National finance spokesperson Amy Adams said the Government were "mistaken in thinking it can maintain that momentum and lift productivity by taxing more or that a Capital Gains Tax is the answer to a multitude of problems".

"Economic growth averaged more than 3.5 per cent in the last three years under National," she said.

"National favours sensible economic policies that encourage growth and investment, keep the cost of living as low as possible and let New Zealanders retain more of what they earn. Thats the best way to ensure more jobs are created and that all our communities can prosper."
Federal term limits

I am convinced now more than ever, by recent events, that we could make the biggest improvement in our federal government by forcing term limits on our elected officials.

And, I am sorry to say it would have to be by force! Most will not leave voluntarily due to the money and, just as important, the power and adulation.

Many have been there so long they have forgotten their job is to represent our will.

Todays stalemate is the result. Term limits would help correct this.

Robert Hanner, Sapulpa

Dirty Harry wannabes

Here we go again! We have a statewide opioid problem, so lets legalize marijuana. Makes Okie sense.

While the federal government tries to tighten regulations to acquire guns, Oklahoma legislators vote to let any yahoo who thinks hes Dirty Harry carry a gun  without training on laws concerning usage of the weapon or a license to attest he knows how to handle it.

There will be a lot of bystanders wounded and killed by these idiots, and the shooters will learn the law while standing before a judge being tried as a felon.
"My fear is that if the country does not treat the Capitol assault with the gravity of an independent counsel to root out its causes, then the country will invite further assaults on our government with broader goals than just overturning a certified presidential election," said Tulsa resident Charlie Transue.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday announced the appointments of Chip Keating as secretary of public safety and Brian Brurud as secretary of veterans affairs and military.

Keating, 39, is a principal with Keating Investments, a real estate and oil and gas investment company. He served as an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper from May 2001 to August 2004.

Keating, of Oklahoma City, holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University.

He is the son of former Gov. Frank Keating.

Brurud, 58, is from Bartlesville. He is a former commercial airline and fighter pilot who serves as the CEO of Check-6 Inc., a global performance consulting company.

He holds the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and numerous other military honors. He received a bachelors degree in geology from Oklahoma State University.

Both posts require Senate confirmation and the nominees will serve in an unpaid capacity.

Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @bhoberock

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Our goal is to ensure the investigations integrity, and any comment would be highly inappropriate, Forbes said.

Asked how long the investigation is expected to continue and when it began, Forbes glanced at the boards outside counsel, Drew Neville, who indicated she should not answer.

Forbes took the written statement with her and declined to provide it to university staff to transcribe and distribute, which would have been the usual procedure.

Perhaps coincidentally, Forbes did not read the statement until after adjournment, which means it may not be included in the meeting minutes.

Officials said the regents are keen to distance the investigation from the university, which is why Rainbolts statement was not released through OUs communications office.

It is unclear whether the sexual harassment allegations stem from that investigation or were brought forward separately.

Gallogly, meanwhile, has come under fire for what some perceive as an attempt to discredit Boren.

During his first few months in office, Gallogly announced layoffs in some nonteaching areas, imposed spending cuts and fired some high-level administrators close to Boren.
"You don't want things so convenient that you don't even know when fraud might be occurring, but on the other hand you don't want it so secure no one can vote," the state election board secretary says.


By Bongino , Feb . 20, 2019





Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) father is unhappy with her comments about Jamaicans and marijauana and says his deceased family members must be turning in their graves.

Last week, when the Democratic presidential candidate was asked if she supports legalizing marijuana, she replied Half my familys from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?

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Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE
State health officials recorded the first pediatric death from influenza this season in Oklahoma County.

Deaths attributed to influenza have, for the most part, affected adults 50 years old and older. This week marked the first pediatric death for a person between 5 years old and 17 years old.

Young children are among those most at risk for serious illness and death from influenza, so healthy individuals who get a flu shot are helping to protect those who cannot take a flu shot, including infants under the age of 6 months, Oklahoma County Health Department Executive Director Gary Cox said in a prepared statement.

Thirty-one people have died so far for the 2018-19 flu season, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Six of those deaths have occurred in Tulsa County. No infants or toddlers have died from the flu. Two people between 18 and 49 years of age have died from the flu, according to state data.

More than 1,200 people have been hospitalized this season. Flu hospitalizations have approximately doubled since early February.
WASHINGTON  Construction on facilities worth a combined $178 million at Altus and Tinker Air Force bases that would provide training and maintenance for a much-heralded new aircraft could be threatened if President Donald Trump redirects these funds as part of his national emergency declaration.

Up to $3.6 billion of U.S. Department of Defense military construction projects could be reallocated to build a border wall under Trumps national emergency, according to the White House, a tactic Sen. Jim Inhofe has said he opposes.

Inhofe said last week he does not support the use of Department of Defense dollars to fund the wall, although he said Trump was left with no choice but to declare the emergency to ensure stronger border security.

I want to make sure this declaration has minimal, if any, impact on our military and reimburse all the necessary accounts affected by the decision, Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said in a statement released Friday.

Trump declared a national emergency late last week to secure additional resources for a border wall after the House and Senate agreed to pass a bill that included $1.4 billion for a partial barrier, but not a wall, at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump originally wanted $5.7 billion for the wall.
OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Senate on Wednesday passed a measure that would designate the rib-eye as the official state steak.

Senate Bill 21 passed by a vote of 40-7. It heads to the House for consideration.

Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, is the author.

He said the state has 5.1 million head of beef cattle and ranks third nationally in beef cows.

He said the measure will promote agriculture, which is one of the major drivers of the states economy.

Murdock said the rib-eye is the most popular cut of beef in the nation.

Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @bhoberock

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Echols, in his remarks Thursday, acknowledged that he has been publicly not pleased with previous actions of the Oklahoma State Department of Healths board before the Legislature went into regular session. The board passed controversial emergency rules in July that, among other restrictions, banned smokable marijuana product sales.

It later rescinded those limitations and approved a pared-down set of emergency rules that did not detail protocols for product testing, which prompted the working group to create its own set of testing recommendations for evaluation.

Attorney General Mike Hunter issued a letter in December indicating his doubts that the health board had authority under SQ 788 to implement the testing recommendations.

Echols said Thursday that the OMMA  currently under the Health Department umbrella  should have rule-making powers with regard to hazardous materials testing.

A Rules Committee member asked Echols on Thursday about provisions in the bill for inventory tracking of medical marijuana products. Echols said that of the 33 states with some form of cannabis legalization, 21 have implemented some version of what he said is known as seed-to-sale tracking.
Russ colleagues, for the most part, seemed to think that ship has already sailed and voted 77-23 to send HB 2325 to the Senate. A similar bill there calls for a county option to allow children under 12 accompanied by an adult.

The full House also dealt with one of Speaker Charles McCalls pet peeves on Wednesday, passing HB 2472 with only five votes against. HB 2472 authorizes local officials to impose fines of up to $10,000 for trains that block crossings for more than 10 minutes.

McCall produced witnesses during the bills committee hearing who said trains often block major roads in their towns for up to an hour at a time. McCall said working with the railroads has produced unsatisfactory results.

In committee work, the Oklahoma Legislature on Wednesday began the process of recovering $30 million given to the state Health Department last year in the midst of a bizarre crisis-that-wasnt.

The Houses half of the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted without dissent to amend the current fiscal year 2019 budget by taking the $30 million from the Health Department and giving $5 million to the Governors Quick Action Closing Fund and $2.5 million to the district court system.

The remainder is to be held for other uses.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Faith leaders and others on Thursday lobbied lawmakers to reject a bill that would allow a person to carry a weapon without training or a permit.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed House Bill 2597 by a vote of 18-4. The measure is expected to be taken up next week by the full Senate.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he would sign the measure.

Chris Moore, pastor of Fellowship Congregational United Church of Christ in Tulsa, said the group was not opposed to the right to own firearms but opposes removing training.

It may seem futile, he said. We still believe we have not only a public safety and common good argument to make, but a moral argument, he said. How far are we going to go down this road where we, it seems to me, put our faith and trust in guns, which is not what our traditions call us to do.

Shannon Fleck, executive director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, said the measure will make guns more widespread and could contribute to an increase in violence.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Two priorities of Gov. Kevin Stitt, including a $1,200 teacher pay raise, were sent to the state Senate by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

House Bill 1780, by Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, which authorizes the hikes in the state minimum pay scale, passed without dissent but not without criticism.

We have to address our teacher shortage, and that is going to take a multifaceted approach, McCall said in a news release after the bill passed. Pay is one aspect of that approach. We need better pay to show our current teachers that we value their service, and we need to be able to encourage new teachers to enter the profession and retain those experienced, veteran teachers that we already have.

Some Democrats objected to the bill because it does not include raises for support personnel or more money for classrooms.

My sugar mama wife is a public school teacher, and I know our family would appreciate a pay raise, said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City.

But, he added, teacher after teacher has told him more resources are needed in the classroom.
 Two unnamed, unindicted co-conspirators and unnamed UAB members of beating Brian Abernathy to death March 13, 2008, in retaliation for Abernathys having stabbed a UAB member.

 An unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator and an unnamed UAB member of the July 19, 2009, beating death of Blake Ford upon orders from gang bosses.

The indictment also links the 2011 carjacking and fatal shooting of a University of Tulsa student to the racketeering conspiracy.

The grand jury alleges that Billy Joe Hamons was a UAB member who on May 31, 2011, stole firearms during a Prue home invasion and later killed student Sufeng He during an attempted carjacking in Tulsa. Hamons later carjacked a Tulsa family before he eventually was fatally shot by Tulsa police officers.

In addition to Baldwin, Anderson, Clinton, Jameson, Seaton and Simmons, others charged with conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise are Mathew D. Abrego, Dustin T. Baker, Eddie L. Funkhouser, Elizabeth D. Lewis, Charles M. McCulley, Dillon R. Rose, James C. Taylor, Brandon R. Zimmerlee and Robert W. Zeidler.

The 15 named in the racketeering count are also charged with drug conspiracy along with Lisa J. Lara, Sisney A. Large and Young, also known as Richard Pearce, according to the indictment.
This can be done in an extremely specific and defined area  such as a prison  without affecting the phones of people nearby the facilities, Elliott said.

The public is at risk as long as the (Federal Communications Commission) prevents us from taking proper action, Elliott said.  It doesnt have to be this way. Cost-effective solutions are available.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said the indictments this week target some members of the UABs top echelon, known as the Main Council.

A number of people who have been indicted have been on the Main Council, are on the Main Council or at a minimum had a lot of influence in what happened with the UAB, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis A. Fries.

I dont want to go into any evidence in the case and talk about specifics, who did what. Just suffice it to say that we have indicted members of the Main Council, Fries said.

The number of members on the Main Council ranges from single digits to double digits, Fries said.

Federal prosecutors said they believe the multi-count indictment unsealed Wednesday will disrupt and eventually dismantle the UAB.
David Phillips, executive director of First Step, said that after Catheys initial relapse he never had a violation or sanction. Phillips presented Cathey a medal with an inscription on the back, The 180 Man, which represents the 180-degree turnaround his life took.

The other two men who graduated Thursday were Christopher Davis and Miguel Chavez.

Chavez said he faced at least two years in prison after being caught twice with a scale and marijuana. At the time, he only looked forward to the next day and getting high, not what the future may hold.

He said if imprisoned he would have come out the same or worse. Now, Chavez plans to go to school to get a drafting degree and become an architect.

It helped me really see who I am as a person, Chavez said.

Davis was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute when months later he was charged again with that crime, as well as possession of drug proceeds.

He was afraid for his children to see him behind bars. He wanted to be a role model for them.
Dear Dr. Fox: I read your tribute to your cat, Pinto Bean. I had to put down my beloved Bella Charlotte last month after a protracted pancreatitis. She was 13 years and 7 months. I adopted her as a parvo survivor at age 3 months. She was just a little poodle mix who never had a good hair day in her life.

I am a critical care nurse and deal with death on a regular basis. But this was nothing like Ive ever experienced. When Bella Charlotte became septic, my capable and trusted veterinarian and I knew we were in the fight of Bellas life.

From the onset, it was 33 days and my Bella was gone. Subsequent hydration and IV antibiotics were to no avail. There were multiple hospital days and sleepless nights for all of us.

My heart breaks for you. The guilt I felt and still feel is haunting. My Bella trusted me. I know she was suffering, and it was the humane thing to do. However, holding my sweet girl as she fought death was an image that I cannot escape. I believe I let her down, even though I know she was not ever to be well again.

Our babies are now free from this earthly chain. Your beloved Pinto Bean and my Bella are surely best buds, as they look for us to join them. Blessings and Peace.  J.W., Tulsa, Oklahoma
Chips, melted cheese, sizzling chicken and cool salsa and sour cream  it just may be the ultimate comfort food. And it's meant to be shared. 
The local Chinowth and Cohen Realtors office and the Minuteman Pizza Parlor recently collected a combined 1,153 pounds of food for Sand Springs Community Services.

Sand Springs Community Services Executive Director Nathan Woodmansee said the local businesses both delivered food to the organization for Valentines Day. Sand Springs Community Services is a nonprofit that provides temporary assistance with food, clothes and bills to people in crisis situations.

Partnerships with local businesses are essential for us to facilitate our programs, Woodmansee said.

He said Chinowth and Cohen donated 262 pounds of food and $500 in cash, which helps fund expenses like buying fuel for trucks, and Minuteman donated 891 pounds of food.

Chinowth and Cohen Managing Broker Tudie Bryan said the Local Love food drive is part of the companys efforts to give back to the community and the local agents selected Sand Springs Community Services to support.

In the recent past, weve supported the Winter Glow Banquet, Charles Page High School Senior Celebration and participated in the Museums Art of Giving Tree Decorating Contest where we came in Second Place and raised $200 for DaySpring Villa, Bryan said in a statement. We want to be good corporate citizens.
Why did you become a teacher?

I cant remember a time that I didnt want to be a teacher. There are two factors I believe that led me to becoming a teacher. The first is that I come from a family of teachers, which was influential and inspiring. Secondly, I believe my personal teachers throughout my early education fostered my love for learning, and I wanted nothing more than to be just like them some day.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

To just pick one aspect of my job that I enjoy most would be hard. I enjoy that each day is different. I love that 9-year-old students keep you on your toes. I enjoy watching my students process learning, especially when reaching that aha moment when everything clicks. I love the excitement of meeting my new students each year and watching how much they grow in the year I have them in class.

What teaching moment is most memorable to you and why?
An Alabama-based beverage company is considering building a manufacturing plant in Owasso.

The Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission on Wednesday, Feb. 20, OKd a preliminary subdivision plat at the corner of 76th Street North and North 75th East Avenue. Applicant John Droz of Cyntergy and landowner 7611 Investment Co. LLC sought the plat approval for 19.59 acres on behalf of proposed developer Milos Tea Co. Inc. of Bessemer, Alabama, documents show.

The parcel, which sits on unincorporated Tulsa County land just east of the Macys Fulfillment Center, is served by city of Tulsa water and sewer. Records indicate plans for a 102,435-square-foot building.

Milos Tea Company has experienced significant growth as more consumers demand all natural, fresh-brewed teas and lemonade like Milos, Lynn Darty, Milos vice president of administration said in a statement. To support this growth, we have investigated multiple sites in the Midwest for plant expansion including Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Darty, who declined to elaborate by phone, said the company is considering various sites and has not purchased any land or begun any construction.
Reasors Foods will close its grocery store in south Broken Arrow, according to a statement from City Manager Michael Spurgeon.

The location, inside a shopping center at the intersection of Elm Place (161st East Avenue) and New Orleans Street (101st Street South), will reportedly close by the end of April.

Spurgeon said in the statement the news disappointed the city amid its efforts to revitalize the area around the intersection. The city was reportedly in discussions with the company about the location.

City staff has been in constant communication with Mr. Reasor and his company for the last year regarding this location, Spurgeon said in a statement. In these discussions, the city would have considered possible incentives to keep the store open.

However, Mr. Reasor conveyed that the size of the space simply no longer works for their store model, and they made a business decision not to put money into a building (which Reasors does not own) that does not meet their needs.

Spurgeon said the city will continue working with the company to find an alternate location in south Broken Arrow.
Theres no denying the power of social media in rapidly spreading news to a large audience. Digital marketers are aware of this, and by design the more a person consumes about a topic, the more they will see it in their news feed.

We are creating our own culture in that way on social media, said Meg Weinkauf, founder of the Faithful Leader. How do you know we know what we should look at and what we shouldnt, and whats truthful and whats not?

Looking beyond the click-bait headlines, identifying where a story is coming from and checking to see if other news outlets are reporting similar information can help determine if a story is legitimate news.

A lot of sites that might look like news sites really arent news sites at all, said Dick Pryor, general manager of KGOU. Legacy, traditional news organizations tend to get it right and tend to abide by a code of ethics.

The panel suggested seeking out information from outlets that offer a differing viewpoint than what you agree with. By broadening your source material, you can better understand all sides of a story.

If you agree with the media you are reading or watching all of the time, you are doing it wrong, Anderson said. You should question things, and you should disagree. It stretches us and makes us smarter.

Mike Averill 918-581-8489 mike.averill@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @Mike_Averill

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- Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma said Kenya would not cede even an inch of its blocs to any government

- She accused Somalia of misleading the world over location of the disputed four blocs by showing them as being in itss territory yet they lied squarely in Kenya

- Nairobi demanded an apology from Mogadishu over the attack on its sovereignty

- Somalia denied allegations that it had auctioned Kenya's blocs in the United Kingdom

Kenya has remained ironclad on its decision not to cede any of its territory to Somalia in the heated maritime boundary dispute.

The two countries are at loggerheads over the alleged auctioning of Kenya's gas and oil blocks to the United Kingdom by Somalia, allegations the latter dismissed.

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READ ALSO: Meru miraa traders ready to lose business after Somalia-Kenya diplomatic tiff

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma said Kenya would not cede even an inch of its territory to any other government. Photo: Amb Monica Juma/Twitter.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja defends HELB defaulters, says order to arrest them is unlawful

Speaking to the press on Thursday, February 21, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma made a firm declaration that no part of the country's territory would be lost.

She reiterated that Somalia was lying to the world about the boundaries using illegal maps which depicted Kenyas territory as constituting part of its maritime territory.

"Kenya demands the Federal Government of Somalia to withdraw the illegal maps, make appropriate apologies and comprehensive response to the attack on Kenya's sovereignty," Juma said.

The firm CS stated Nairobi had exercised reasonable patience and had not overreacted as perceived, despite failure by Mogadishu to respond to key issues raised in a diplomatic dispute resolution approach initiated after the alleged auctioning of its oil and gas blocs.

"Not even an inch of Kenya will be ceded to any government. We are patiently waiting on Somalia's response on key issues we raised which shows how much Kenya has restrained itself from overreacting," she said.

Juma observed that some other countries could have taken much worse decisions on disputes lesser than the one Kenya was embroiled in with her neighbour.

Somalia's President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo. Somalia filed the dispute before International Court of Justice. Photo:Nation.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga stirs laughter after claiming Kisii people are fertile, work hard at night

"There are countries which have gone way to far on issues less than this," she said.

Kenya summoned its envoy from Mogadishu and sent away Somalia's ambassador after learning of the auction done in the UK on Thursday, February 7.

Juma explained that the decision to recall Kenya's ambassador and send away Somalia's envoy had no ill motive, was not a reaction to the happenings but was a move to facilitate consultations on resolving the stalemate.

She accused Mogadishu of provoking Nairobi explaining that the State had been thrice notified through presidential proclamations about the location of the blocs which fall squarely in the latter's territory.

TUKO.co.ke understands the border row is hinged on blocs known as 230, 231, 232, and 233 which Somalia was allegedly planning to auction to the highest bidder.

Mogadishu filed the matter at the International Court of Justice five years ago with the verdict yet to be delivered.

"Kenya understands our historical boundaries and we believe that Somalia too understands the same. Kenya has always chosen the path of peace, tolerance and accommodation with our neighbours. We remain committed to peaceful resolution of the dispute," Juma stated.

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Underage Prostitutes And Drug Users in Kenya | Tuko TV

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- Glory Mziray was Tanzania Forest Service Head of Communication and had convened a press conference at the parastatal's Mpingo House offices, Dar es Salaam

- She addressed the press eloquently for 10 minutes giving updates on upgrading of forest statuses

- Mziray, however, lost breath and consciousness moments into the question and answer session

- She was pronounced dead shortly after being admitted to a nearby hospital

A press conference convened by Tanzania Forest Service (TFS) Director of Communication Glory Mziray turned tragic after she collapsed and died moments after completing her presentation.

Mziray had invited journalists in TFS offices at Mpingo House, Dar es Salaam to cover the event where she gave updates on the upgrading of forest status in the country on Tuesday, February 19.

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READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna refers to lawyer Ahmednassir as 'thief' and 'conman'

Tanzania Forest Service Head of Communications Glory Mziray addressing the press in a past event. She collapsed and died on Tuesday, February 19, shortly after completing her speech. Photo: Dar24.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Inside prostitution and drug dens of Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums in Nairobi

In a video captured by Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), seen by TUKO.co.ke, a beaming Mziray is seen making her presentation confidently and eloquently at first.

However, things gradually changed for the worst as she wound up her presentation.

Shortly after completing her speech, Mziray was seen gently scratching her chest with her left hand then leaning on the lectern as if to position herself well to take questions from the journalists.

She looked stable as one journalist requested her to state her name and position.

The deceased went ahead to respond by saying her name but dragged on to state her position gradually losing her breath and collapsing.

Elizabeth Edward, a reporter with MCL Digital who was among journalists covering the event at TFS offices narrated the subsequent happenings of the heartbreaking incident.

Glory Mziray who was addressing the press lost her breath and consciousness shortly into the question and answer session. Photo: The Standard.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Tanzania court sentences Chinese ivory smuggler to 15 years in jail

"I received a call to cover the event during the day and when I reached TFS offices, I found my colleagues from two other media houses. We joked with Mziray before she issued the press statement which lasted less than 10 minutes," said Edward.

She narrated that Mziray begun losing her breath towards the question and answer session thereafter collapsing and leaving them helpless.

"I raised(a) hand to ask a question but my TV counterpart asked her to state her name and position. She struggled to complete her introduction and lost her breath and consciousness. We tried to do basic first aid but all in vain," added Edward.

The reporter said they hurriedly took Mziray to hospital within 10 minutes but she was pronounced dead shortly after admission.

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Underage Prostitutes And Drug Users in Kenya | Tuko TV

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Popular reality TV star, Khloe Kardashian, has finally walked away from her relationship with baby daddy Tristan Thompson.

TUKO.co.ke understands the culprit behind their breakup is none other than Khloe's sister Kylie Jenner's best friend, Jordyn Woods.

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READ ALSO: Husband of woman who died while giving birth to 5 kids pleads for financial support

READ ALSO: Hopekid resurfaces on social media days after woman accused him and DK Kwenye Beat of raping her

According to Enews, Jordyn was caught getting cosy with Tristan at a house party right after Valentine's Day.

Apparently, the pair decided to create their own fairytale and bury their tongues in each other's mouths during the soiree.

READ ALSO: Kenyans explain why ladies appear prettier on social media than in real life

Khloe's baby daddy, however, refuted the claims and dubbed them as fake news.

The beauty's best friend, Malika, said it was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A lot of social media users, however, rubbished the whole charade saying it was just another story line meant to spice up the socialites' reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Kylie has not yet commented on the issue but TUKO.co.ke understands she is conflicted and trying to figure things out.

Khloe's relationship has been marred by scandals and uncertainty.

First, the mother of one was accused of stealing another woman's man then having a baby with him.

Just before giving birth to her gorgeous daughter, Khloe's lover was spotted making out with other women and accompanying them to his hotel room.

Khloe 'confirms' break up report. Photo: @hollywoodunlocked /Instagram

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Would you vote for a heterosexual president? | Tuko TV

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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.

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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: Kenya Breaking News Today
Deputy President William Ruto's daughter, June, is now a Kenyan diplomat representing the country in Poland.

Despite the politician's family refuting earlier reports that June did not secure the plum job, a tweet by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma confirmed the rarely seen woman was a charge daffaires in the European nation.

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READ ALSO: Rebel Jubilee MPs claim Ruto is growing 500,000 acres of maize in Congo

June Ruto in grey. Photo: Monica Juma/Twitter.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: David Murathe now links DP Ruto to mega corruption scandals in Jubilee

Monica who is in Poland to attend Warsaw Summit which focuses on security in the Middle East was received by June at the airport upon landing.

"I arrived in Warsaw, Poland to attend the Warsaw Summit which will be looking at security in the Middle East, taking place tomorrow. Was received by June Ruto, Charge DAffaires," she tweeted.

Though Ruto's daughter's appointment had been kept a top secret both within and without the Jubilee government, sources confirmed June joined the Foreign Affairs Mnistry in 2014 as an international relations and trade officer.

READ ALSO: Rift Valley politician introduces new lover months after break-up with William Rutos daughter

June Ruto receives CS Monica Juma. Photo: Monic Juma/Twitter.

Source: Twitter

June holds a Masters degree in International Studies from the University of Queensland and a bachelor degree in diplomacy from the United States International University.

Despite her enviable CV, Kenyans questioned the rationale behind the secret appointment.

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.

Youngest and Jobless Master's Degree Holder in Kenya | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko Newspaper
Commentary

Thinking big with Green New Deal

Eugene Robinson: We have no choice but to think big with Green New Deal
LATHAM, N.Y.  The main ballroom inside The Century House was filled with people there on Fr
IN THE post-vaccination world, borders will reopen to travellers from outside, with the exception of certain countries and subject to specific requirements.

In this second summer under the pandemic we will be restless and chafing against our current border closure regime as large numbers of Caribbean persons want to renew our significant diaspora connections in North America and elsewhere.
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.
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A teenage girl with pre-existing medical issues is among 16 people who died from Covid-19 yesterday.

Covid-19 deaths in Trinidad and Tobago returned to the double digits yesterday, after two consecutive days of single digits.

There were seven Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday and on Thursday.
Trinidad and Tobagos borders will officially be reopened on July 17, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced yesterday.

From that day, T&T citizens who want to return home will be allowed to do so.

But there will be conditions attached, the Prime Minister said.

Those conditions will depend on whether or not the person has been fully vaccinated with a World Health Organisation-approved Covid-19 vaccine, said the Prime Minister.

He was speaking during yesterdays Ministry of Health media conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Anns.
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pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, February 21

The Trump Administration on Wednesday announced its intent to provide USD 9.5 million in assistance to the Maldives as part of its effort to strengthen its ties with the island nation.

In a meeting with visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed their common interest in deepening bilateral ties and their shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Shahid underscored the importance of his governments reform efforts to the vitality of Maldives democracy and future prosperity, according to State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino.

Pompeo expressed strong support for the US-Maldives partnership, announcing the intent of the State Department to work with the Congress to provide USD9.75 million in additional assistance for Maldives, Palladino said.

During the meeting Pompeo hailed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enhance aviation security and an intent by USAID to facilitate sustained collaboration with the Maldives.

He also noted that the US is cooperating with the Maldives to share best practices in the areas of debt strategy, public financial management, and combatting financial crimes.

Pompeo also welcomed the Maldives commitment to judicial reform, transparency, and rule of law, Palladino said. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, February 21

Democrats in the US House of Representatives plan to introduce a resolution on Friday to end President Donald Trumps national emergency declaration on border security, according to aides to Representative Joaquin Castro.

So far, 92 lawmakers have joined Castro in backing the legislation, which under House rules could advance within weeks to a debate by the full chamber, which is controlled by Democrats.

Trump declared a national emergency last week in order to take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

Trumps move came after Congress declined to fulfil his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter on Wednesday to both Democratic and Republican members inviting them to cosponsor Castros resolution. She said the House will move swiftly to pass this B ill.

Both the House and the Republican-led Senate could pass a resolution terminating the emergency by majority vote. However, any such measure would then go to Trump, who would likely veto it. Overriding the veto would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers.

A coalition of 16 US states led by California sued Trump and top members of his administration on Monday to block his decision to declare the emergency.

The lawsuit said Trumps declaration was a misuse of presidential power. Reuters
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Washington, February 21

A US Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a target list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures has been arrested on firearms and drug charges.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday.

The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country, US District Attorney Robert Hur said in a motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial.

The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct, Hur said.

Hasson, who was arrested on Friday, is being held on drug charges and for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.

The US Attorneys office said 15 guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hassons cramped basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with illegal drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone.

Prosecutors said Hasson identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for focused violence in order to establish a white homeland.

Hasson routinely perused portions of the Breivik manifesto on amassing firearms and how to compile a list of targets, they said.

Among the documents seized, according to prosecutors, was a draft letter to an unidentified American neo-Nazi leader in which Hasson described himself as a long time White Nationalist and a man of action.

A spreadsheet of potential targets compiled by Hasson included Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats in the House and Senate.

Media personalities on the list included CNNs Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo and MSNBCs Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough.

Prosecutors said Hassons Internet searches included such queries as most liberal senators, where do most senators live in DC and are supreme court justices protected. He also routinely perused pro-Russian, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi literature.

In a draft email, Hasson wrote that Liberalist/globalist ideology is destroying traditional peoples esp white. No way to counteract without violence.

According to prosecutors, Hasson began obtaining his cache of firearms in 2017 and had also expressed a desire to obtain biological weapons.

Hasson, a lieutenant in the US Coast Guard, has been working at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016 as an acquisitions officer, according to prosecutors.

He served in the US Marine Corps from 1988-1993 and also spent two years in the US Army National Guard.

Hasson is to appear before a court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday.

Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, is serving a 21-year sentence for the July 2011 massacre of 77 people, most of them teenagers who were attending a youth camp.  AFP
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

London, February 20

Britain stripped a teenager who travelled to join Islamic State of her citizenship on security grounds, triggering a row over the ramifications of leaving a 19-year-old mother with a jihadist fighters child to fend for herself in a war zone.

The fate of Shamima Begum, who was found in a detention camp in Syria last week, has illustrated the ethical, legal and security conundrum that governments face when dealing with the families of militants who swore to destroy the West.

With Islamic State depleted and Kurdish-led militia poised to seize the groups last holdout in eastern Syria, Western capitals are trying to work out what to do with battle-hardened foreign jihadist fighters, and their wives and children.

Begum, who gave birth to a son at the weekend, prompted a public backlash in Britain by appearing unrepentant about seeing severed heads and even claiming the 2017 Manchester suicide attack was justified.

Begum, who is currently in a Syrian refugee camp, described the move as unjust. I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. Its a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like its a bit unjust on me and my son, she told ITV News channel from the camp.

Begum claimed that she was being treated harshly because I was on the news four years ago, saying that she heard of other people being sent back to Britain. I dont know why my case is any different, she added.

She had pleaded to be repatriated back to her family in London and said that she was not a threat. But ITV News published a February 19 letter from the interior ministry to her mother that said Home Secretary Sajid Javid had taken the decision to deprive Begum of her British citizenship.

The letter asked Begums mother to inform her daughter of the decision and set out the appeal process. When asked about the decision, a spokesman said Javids priority was the safety and security of Britain and the people who live here.

Begum was one of three outwardly studious schoolgirls who slipped away from their lives in Londons Bethnal Green area in February 2015 to fly to Turkey and then over the border into the cauldron of the Syrian civil war.  Agencies

Labour questions govt move

The governments move to strip Begum of her citizenship has been attacked by the Opposition Labour Party, with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott calling it a failure of security obligations and breach of human rights law

If the government is proposing to make Shamima Begum stateless it is not just a breach of international human rights law but is a failure to meet our security obligations to the international community, Diane Abbott, Labour spokeswoman on home issues

Under the 1981 British Nationality Act, the UK home secretary has the power to deprive a person of their citizenship if satisfied that it would be conducive to the public good and they would not become stateless as a result

Meanwhile, an e-petition started last week since Begum's case hit the headlines has attracted nearly 45,000 signatures calling for preventing her return to the UK

Islamic State closer to defeat in last Syrian enclave
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, February 21

At a time when Pakistan is under immense global pressure on terrorism, the country's cash-strapped government has gifted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman a gold-plated assault rifle, a media report said.

The unusual gift for a visiting foreign dignitary was presented to Mohammad during his first official visit to Islamabad.

The News International reported that Pakistan's Senate delegation called on the Crown Prince at the Prime Minister's House where Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani gifted him a portrait and a gold-plated gun.

The Prince is also Saudi Arabia's defence minister.

In a similar gesture from the cash-rich kingdom in January, Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also the Tabuk Governor, presented a gift of 'gold Kalashnikov' and bullets to Prime Minister Khan at the Prime Minister's Office here.

Khan had thanked him for the gold-plated Russian gun.

The Saudi Crown Prince's just-concluded high-profile visit to Islamabad came in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. The attack was carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The international community led by the US has pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth USD 20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Pakistan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund a multi-billion bailout package to overcome the country's financial instability.

China, Islamabad's close ally, has also offered financial aid to the country.

Pakistan Monday conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e-Pakistan on Salman for his "outstanding support" in reinvigorating the ties between the two countries. - PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Wellington, February 21

New Zealands former prime minister has denied writing an article attributed to her by the official newspaper of Chinas ruling communist party that praised the Asian giants economic development at a time of strained ties.

The first-person opinion piece, headlined We need to learn to listen to China, was published under Jenny Shipleys name on the website of the Peoples Daily on Monday. It had become its top-read English-language story by Thursday.

It is important for the foreign minister and prime minister and others to understand that I would never think of getting into a public situation like this, at such an important time for New Zealands relationship, Shipley told the New Zealand Herald newspaper. She said she had not been aware of the piece.

Shipley, who is the chairwoman of the New Zealand subsidiary of China Construction Bank, did not respond to Reuters request for comment on Thursday.

The Peoples Daily, which published a Chinese version in the newspapers main edition on Jan. 23, said it was looking into the matter and declined further immediate comment.

The item drew a backlash from Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday its timing was very unwise.

An intelligence agency decision in November that rejected participation by Chinese technology giant Huawei in New Zealands 5G network has left politicians and foreign policy analysts worried about relations with one of New Zealands key trading partners.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns first visit to Beijing has faced scheduling issues and China last week postponed the New Zealand launch of a major tourism campaign.

Shipley said she had been interviewed by a Chinese newspaper in December for a feature article that had already been published, the New Zealand Herald said.

An article with comments on topics similar to those in Mondays piece ran last month on the website of the China Daily, a separate state-run newspaper, but was couched in the third person and put Shipleys comments in quotation marks.

Shipley was New Zealands first female prime minister and led the country from 1997 to 1999 as head of the centre-right National Party. Reuters
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Washington, February 21

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, has been slammed by her father for saying that she smoked marijuana in her younger years and supports it becoming legalized.

Donald Harris, an economics professor at Stanford University, claimed his daughter was playing "identity politics" and added that she was harming her family's Jamaican ancestors, Politico reported on Wednesday.

"My dear departed grandmothers as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family's name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics," he said in a statement to Kingston-based Jamaica Global Online.

"Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty." Donald Harris' daughter, a first-term senator from California who launched her 2020 campaign last month, appeared on New York-based radio show "The Breakfast Club" earlier last week and was asked if she opposed the legalization of pot.

"That's not true," she told the show's co-host.

"And look, I joke about ithalf jokinghalf my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?" Harris, whose mother is an Indian, said she smoked a joint in college. "I have... And I inhaled," she added, a joking reference to former President Bill Clinton's comment on the campaign trail in 1992 that he smoked marijuana but "didn't inhale".

Kamala Harris' campaign made no comment on her father's reaction.  IANS
gspannu7@gmail.com

Vatican City, February 20

Two cardinals criticised on Wednesday Pope Franciss approach to the clerical paedophilia crisis, saying abuse of power was not to blame but homosexuality.

We turn to you with deep distress! The Catholic world is adrift, US Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke and German Cardinal Walter Brandmueller said in an open letter to the heads of the bishops conferences.

Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel, they said.

They blamed a corruption of the absolute moral law, referring to homosexuality, which they described as the denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law.

The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the church, promoted by organised networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence, claimed the cardinals, who belong to the churchs conservative wing.

The Catholic church considers the practice of homosexuality to be a sin.

The letter comes a day before Pope Francis opens a historical summit at the Vatican on the protection of minors in a bid to end a scandal which has dogged the Roman Catholic church for decades.

Burke and Brandmueller criticised Francis, saying they were among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions... (that) have not only not had any response, but are part of a more general crisis of the faith.

They called on the head bishops to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the church.  AFP
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 20

Kashmiri students and traders, who reached safely home today, had many a story to narrate on the help extended by members of the Sikh community in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, providing them not only food and shelter in Punjab, but also protection.

To express gratitude, hundreds took to the Internet. A cartoon depicting a Sikh extending his arm to a drowning Kashmiri was an instant hit. Cartoonist Suhail Naqashbandi tweeted: Sardar means a leader and they lead by example. Hats off for being everywhere to help.

A picture of members of the Sikh community standing guard outside a college in Punjab went viral too. This is real humanity which these braveheart brothers showed, tweeted Peer Adil, an engineering student.

We will never forget what you have done for us in this hour of distress, wrote Dr Showkat Shaida even as the Gulmarg Snow Bikers Association announced to charge 60 per cent less from Sikh tourists and a doctor vowed free consultation to Sikh children for the whole year.

Khalsa Aid India won special appreciation. There are so many Punjabis to make sure every Kashmiri is safe here, said Amarpreet Singh, the director.

Punjab has nearly 4,000 Kashmiri students. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh too came in for praise. We will ensure their dignity is preserved. No innocent will be subjected to harassment, he has assured.
editorial@tribune.com

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

The SAD-BJP MLAs came under fire from both Treasury benches as well as other Opposition parties  AAP and Lok Insaaf Party  even as their demand to allow a resolution on condemning the Pakistan PM was not accepted.

Though the party MLAs did try to fight back by getting aggressive, their attempts were weakened in wake of a joint scathing attack by both the ruling party and AAP.

All through the proceedings, the SAD found itself at the receiving end. Be it the issue of private bus operators taking over the transport sector or the illicit drug trade; the issue of senior Akalis attending bhog ceremonies of militants during the days of terrorism or their poor governance being responsible for the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura incidents, the alliance MLAs had to bear it all.

After their resolution was not allowed, the Akali-BJP MLAs staged a walkout. Outside the House, Parminder Singh Dhindsa accused Congress ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for stalling the resolution, which exposed their double face. Channi, while opposing the resolution, had taunted the Akali Dal, saying that while they talk of nationalism now, Parkash Singh Badal had once torn the Constitution.

During discussion on Governors Address, the party came under fire from AAP MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke and LIP chief Simarjit Singh Bains. Both accused the Congress of failing to tackle the transport mafia Aruna Chaudhury, Transport Minister, assured the House that the timetable of private buses would be changed soon. She accused the AAP government in Delhi for allowing the private diesel-run buses from Punjab to operate, while the state-owned buses were barred.

Bains, without taking names, said that no action was being taken against the big fish in drug trade. It was then that Bikram Majithia recited a poem and in two minutes he summed up the state of governance under the Congress rule.

Why the rejection

On the resolution moved by MLA Parminder Dhindsa to declare Pakistan a terrorist state, the Speaker said a private member had to inform 15 days in advance to move a resolution. He observed that it was seen that members were using privileges like call attention notice to raise same issues to disrupt the House proceedings.

Short takes

Do you have a leader, Capt asks Akalis

Taking a dig at SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh asked, Whether the party has any leader since Sukhbir seems to be always missing from the House? He blamed the Akalis for eroding the dignity of the House. It was unfortunate the way the Finance Ministers speech was disrupted for petty political gains, he said, while referring to an old incident when he had once seen Parkash Singh Badal pulling the Speaker out of his chair.

Bains grabs attention with his similes

LIP MLA Simarjit Singh Bains had the MLAs sit up as he spoke on how he was the guard (conscious keeper) of the House during the previous government as well as now. The House is like a train with the first compartment being the drivers seat (pointing to the seat of the Leader of the House) and mine being the 117th. The driver of the engine has changed, but the guard has remained the same. He said this to bring home the point that corruption was rampant so were drugs and mafias.

Majithia turns poet to slam govt in style

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithias poem, rendered in the House got him the sobriquet of kavi. The poem went: Bhai sahib Sat Sri Akal ji, Pehlan vi mile san ho gaye do saal ji; Oho Kaptan bhaisahib boldan; Jinno saar chahunda si Punjab bolda; Kita se prann lokkan vich khad ke, payi se kasam gutka sahib phad ke; Poori tarah ho ke antar dhiyan main; Sangatan de vic ditta se byan main; 90,000 crore utte pher deni leek ae, naukri pehchauni ghar ghar teek ae; Pehlan vaang unvain atta dal milega; Khand te gheo vi sagon naal milega; 50 lakh dene smartphone doston; phonan ch bhara leyo meri ring tone doston; Kite hoye vaade te kasam payi gayi; jaande ne saare kinni nibhayi gayi; Socha se kya te kya ho gaya; vaada hi kya jo vafaa ho gaya.

After tiff, Sidhu, Majithia avoid each other

Despite carrying an armoury of controversial photographs to take on his bete noire Bikram Singh Majithia in the Vidhan Sabha session on Wednesday, Navjot Singh Sidhu left the Vidhan Sabha before Majithia arrived. Flaunting controversial pictures associated with Majithia, Sidhu was heard speaking loudly about possible impact of the pictures on the image of the former minister. Sidhu also showed a picture of Harsimrat Badal in Pakistan when he had also gone there on an invitation by Pakistan PM Imran Khan.


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editorial@tribune.com

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

For the Punjab BJP, former CM Parkash Singh Badal is numero uno in the Shiromani Akali Dal even though he has passed on the party reins to his son Sukhbir Badal. Senior BJP leaders say Badal Junior lacks his fathers political finesse.

He has a long way to go in learning the nuances of politics and taking everyone along. The rumblings in the SAD after he took over as party president cant be ignored. We have discussed this issue several times at our party meetings, a BJP leader said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by BJP state president Shwait Malik. It is Badal Senior who holds discussions with our party president Amit Shah on important matters. We look to him for motivating the cadres of both parties. At the same time, we have a sound working relationship with Sukhbir.

On seat-sharing, top BJP leaders say the names of potential candidates are yet to be decided. The process for picking candidates will commence only after the elections are announced. The state election committee will send names to the central committee which will take the final call. Party president Shah is scheduled to hold a meeting in Chandigarh on February 24 on booth-level arrangements, said one of them.

It is decided that we will contest the Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Amritsar seats. We did get feelers from different quarters on the Akalis looking to swap the Hoshiarpur and Amritsar constituencies. But it did not work out, a former Punjab BJP chief said.

The party may field former state vice-president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina or ex-minister Anil Joshi from Amritsar where in 2014 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was trounced by Capt Amarinder Singh. Among the names doing the rounds for the Gurdaspur ticket are that of Mumbai-based businessman Swaran Salaria, Vinod Khannas widow Kavita and actor Sunny Deol. For Hoshiarpur seat, the BJP may stick to MoS for Social Justice Vijay Sampla or opt for Phagwara MLA Som Parkash or Rajesh Bagga.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Bengaluru, February 21

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Thursday said it was wrong to blame them for the Mirage 2000 crash (on February 1) without the Court of Inquiry (CoI) getting completed.

The crash had killed two pilots--Squadron Leaders Samir Abrol and Sidhharth Negi--who were attached to Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). The two were on a test flight of the mirage upgraded by the HAL.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director R Madhavan was asked at a press conference at the Aero India here on the bad press his company was getting, especially after Union Minister Gen VK Singh (retd), a former chief of the Army, questioned the HALs capability saying parts of the planes are falling on the runaway.

Madhavan said, We will not comment on that. However, we will wait for the CoI to be over. Let the report come out. The crash was not the way it was reported in the media and people have blamed the HAL without knowing the full facts.

He said, We do feel bad when people talk ill of us, but the morale has not dropped.

The HAL team led by the CMD announced that it intended to have the first flight of the next version of the Tejas called the Mark 1A in 2022. The production can start in one year after the flight. We expect the order in one or two months, he said.

On being asked about the production schedule of the Mark 1-A, the HAL team said, By 2022 we would have graduated to producing 24 planes a year, indicating that the 83 planes planned under the Mark1A project would be done in three years.

The Mark1A would have 43 upgrades over and above the existing version called the initial operational clearance (IOC).

On Wednesday, the Tejas was given a final operational clearance (FOC) certification. The HAL is listed to make 123 Tejas; of these 20 are called the initial operational clearance (IOC) version and another 20 the FOC version. The IOC version is already being supplied to the IAF, while the FOC version production would commence after this certification.

Commenting on the fiscal condition, CD Anantha Krishnan, Director, Finance, HAL, said, There is absolutely no problem of financials. We have reserves of Rs 12,000 crore. The issue was with the cash flow that is being sorted out. The inflows have started coming from customers (largely the IAF).

The matter of financials had raised an alarm in the Ministry of Defence as the HAL, a profit-making company, borrowed Rs 960 crore.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, February 21

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after Bollywood actor Sunny Leone's namesake featured among the toppers list in Bihar government's recruitment exam.

Tejashwi tweeted: The state government followed a policy of "farzi topper banao, farzi naukri pao (make fake toppers, get fake job)."

    ,                       



                Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) February 21, 2019

The Bihar Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) recently invited applications for the post of junior engineer and it uploaded the provisional merit list on its website on Wednesday, which bizarrely showed Sunny Leone as the topper.

If the list of candidates who had applied for about 200 posts, uploaded on the website of Public Health Engineering Departments website, is to be believed the name of the Canadian-born film actor figures as the top ranker.

A girl with the same Sunny Leone, fathers name Leona Leone and date of birth as May 13, 1991, is shown as the topper with 98.5 points in her diploma of engineering.

Bihar PHED had invited applications for the post of junior engineer (civil) between January 15 to 31, based on the marks obtained in diploma in engineering.

However, there is no confirmation that the candidate is genuine or somebody just filled up the online form out of sheer fun.

The candidate at number third on the list also appears to be fictional as it has the name bvcxzbnnb.

When the matter was brought to the notice of PHED minister Vinod Narayan Jha, he hastened to clarify this is not the final list. Those whose names figure will have to undergo a screening process which would include verification of their documents and certificates.

The departments special secretary Satish Chandra Mishra responded with a mix of bemusement and bewilderment and said I do not know who is Sunny Leone.

But it does sound a name that might have been uploaded on the website by way of mischief. We will get it sorted out.

Unlike the 38-year-old celebrity, who was born to Sikh parents settled in Ontario and started off as a porn star taking up her onscreen name, her namesake in the list has been described as a female belonging to the general (unreserved) category.

She is said to have scored 98.5 points, 73.5 of these awarded on account of her education and the rest under the head experience.

The list of about 18.000 duly registered candidates has more bizarreness to offer. The third ranker an EBC (Extremely Backward Classes) candidate has been called bvcxzbnnb and his father is mggvghhnnnnn names which read like computer passwords.

Also, the second ranking Nirmal Chakrabortys father is, oddly, called Om Puri. With PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Seoul, February 21

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now and Mahatma Gandhis teachings can help the world to address the pressing issues.

Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen Indias strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

It is a matter of great honour and my good fortune to unveil the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Koreas premier university today, Modi said.

This occasion assumes greater significance since we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Gandhi and for the world he is the foremost messiah, he said.

Terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing now, he said and underlined that Mahatma Gandhis teachings can help the world address the pressing issues.

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in. PTI
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Patna, February 21

More than 16 lakh students in Bihar took the Class 10 Board examination on Thursday wearing slippersin line with a government order aimed at checking rampant cheating.

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) notified that students wearing shoes and socks will not be allowed to enter the examination centres.

A total of 16,60,609 students appeared for the exams at 1,418 centres across the state. The exams end on February 28.

The BSEB also banned erasers and blades and asked the students to enter the examination centres 10 minutes ahead of time.

According to officials, for the first time, the students would get their roll number, name and other details printed on the answer sheets.

Authorities imposed prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more people in a 200 metre area around every examination centre. Security forces were deployed to prevent cheating.

"We have installed CCTV cameras and ordering videography and live webcasting of examination centres," said the official.  IANS
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, February 21

Their rekindled bonhomie notwithstanding, the Shiv Sena on Thursday questioned the BJP-led governments response to the Pulwama terror attack, asking it not to wait till the eve of polling (for Lok Sabha) to act against Pakistan.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana also asked the Modi government not to depend on the US and European countries to condemn the attack.

We have to fight for ourselves instead of looking at America or the European countries for support, the Sena said.

The Sena said a war between India and Pakistan is under way on social media, adding this marked the start of election campaigning. This social media war has to be stopped, it said.

The martyrdom of soldiers and terror attacks becomes a tool to win elections. How will such a nation face enemies? There are rhetorics of teaching Pakistan a lesson. First do it and then speak. We are only giving warnings since Pathankot, Uri and now Pulwama (terror attacks), the Sena said.

We are busy patting our backs over what Donald Trump, France and Iran had to say over the attacks, the party said.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena had on Monday announced a seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, overcoming their strained ties and previous declarations of going solo.

The Sena said Sri Lanka ended the menace of LTTE and the world commended the island nation for it. The US killed Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and the world appreciated that countrys courage, the party said.

However, we are patting our backs even after doing nothing. It is different for countries like the US and France to condemn the terror attack in Pulwama and another thing to openly say Kashmir is a part of India, it said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asserted that his country would retaliate if India took action over the Pulwama terror attack.

Unless countries like the US and France told Pakistan that it would be the loser (in case of conflict with India), such nations couldnt be considered a true friend of India, it said. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

Justice L Nageswara Rao recused himself on Wednesday from hearing a contempt case filed by the CBI in the Supreme Court against the West Bengal Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar for allegedly obstructing probe into the Saradha chit fund scam.

When the case came up for hearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Rao said he didnt want to hear it as he had appeared for the West Bengal Government as an advocate in an earlier case.

There is a problem. My learned brother (Justice Rao) had appeared for the state government and he does not want to be part of the Bench, said the CJI.

After brief proceedings, the Bench asked both sides to file their additional affidavits and complete the procedural formalities by February 25 and posted the matter for further hearing on February 27 before a reconstituted Bench.

West Bengal Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De, Director General of Police Virendera Kumar and former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Monday denied CBIs allegation of having obstructed the Saradha chit fund scam probe but tendered unconditional and unambiguous apology for alleged disobedience to the court.

Rajeev Kumar  who was the Kolkata Police Commissioner  when several CBI officials investigating the scam were detained  was interrogated by the probe agency on the orders of the top court and has since been transferred today as Additional Director General (ADG) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Crime Investigation Department or CID.

On February 5, Attorney General KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had accused the Kolkata police chief of tampering with the electronic evidence and handing over doctored document to CBI investigators.

In separate affidavits filed in response to the contempt petition, the three officials accused the CBI of forcefully attempting to enter the Kolkata Police Commissioners residence on February 3 without valid papers.

The West Bengal Government and the state police did not obstruct the investigation nor did any official deny cooperation to CBI, they submitted.

The Supreme Court had also ordered Rajeev Kumar-- who headed an SIT that probed Saradha chit fund scam -- to faithfully cooperate with the CBI team proving the scam but protected him from arrest. He has since been interrogated by the CBI in Shillong.

I dont want to hear the case as I appeared for the West Bengal Government as an advocate in the past. L Nageswara Rao, SC Justice
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21



The Congress on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for indulging in self-promotion by way of a film shoot at the Jim Corbett park even minutes after the Pulwama terror attack.

Hitting back, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered whether the Congress wanted India to cow down to Pakistan and stop all the works?

Addressing a press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the PM continued shooting with the Discovery channel at the Corbett after the news of killing of 40 CRPF jawans broke.

The pseudo-nationalist PM continued shooting for his self-promotion even after news of the terror attack, Surjewala said, citing minute-by-minute detail of the PMs programme on February 14, the day of the attack.

Surjewalas attack was based on media reports that claimed the PM was in Nainital shooting that day after the news of Pulwama attack broke at 3.10 pm.

Surjewala flashed media reports and said, The PM continued shooting and then went out of the Corbett and waved at supporters who chanted Modi, Modi. He then went to a local guesthouse and had tea and snacks. Even when he returned to Delhi he first went to his residence and only then came to the airport to lay tributes to the soldiers whose bodies lay in wait for the PM for over 40 minutes.

Surjewala also targeted Tourism Minister KJ Alphons for his selfie with the bodies of slain soldiers and BJP MP and national executive committee member Sakshi Maharaj for politicising the last journey of a soldier.

He said, This is the character of the PM and his party. For them self-promotion is all that matters. This is the first time any head of state has insulted the sacrifice of soldiers in this way, Surjewala added.

He also questioned BJP chief Amit Shah for saying at a poll rally after the attack that the sacrifice of soldiers would not go waste because the country is in the hands of the BJP and not the Congress.

The Congress questioned the PM for not declaring a national mourning of a few days despite demands from political parties and charged the PM with going ahead with major programmes and announcements in poll season to draw political mileage.

The Congress had earlier said that they would stand with the Government in this time of trial and would back any step the government took.

Returning with its attack on the government on Thursday, the Congress said, We are bringing facts to public knowledge, including how PM Modi insulted the memory of dead soldiers by shooting a film right after their death.

Country firmly believes in PM Modi's leadership: Prasad

Castigating the Congress, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, The Congress should know that regardless of all these connotations, India firmly believes in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his leadership and the ability to secure the country, Prasad said.

Prasad said it was clear that the Congress wanted India to stall, which is why it was making such "baseless and lowly" allegations against the Prime Minister, he added.

In fact, Pakistan would be happy because the Congress is actually speaking its language, alleged Prasad. The style may be different but what the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Congress are saying is basically similar, he said.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 21

The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the joint statement issued after his talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the PM forgot to write the name of terror nourisher Pakistan in the document.

The statement, issued hours after the Modi-Crown Prince talks, said the two leaders condemned the Pulwama terror attack in the strongest possible terms and called on all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. However, it did not name Pakistan in this context.

Modiji on February 18 said the time for talks with Pakistan is over, and now action will be taken, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

Modiji on February 20 saying--India and Pakistan will talk as Modiji has been trying for since May 2014, he said, referring to a paragraph in the document that talked about the Indian and the Saudi sides agreeing on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan. The Prime Minister forgot to write the name of terror nourisher Pakistan in the joint statement, Surjewala said.

The Crown Prince appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014, including Prime Ministers personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan, the joint statement said.

In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan, it said.

The talks between the Prime Minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district. PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, February 21

Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at his office on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organisations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground. - PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

Bengaluru, February 20

The US aerospace giant, Lockheed Martin, announced a new fighter jet programme specifically for Indias needs at the Aero-India on Wednesday.

The company says the F-21 addresses the Indian Air Forces unique requirements and integrates India into the worlds largest fighter aircraft ecosystem. It has said it would produce the plane in India with Tata Advanced Systems.

On being asked how the new jet was different from the F-16, Dr Vivek Lall, vice president of strategy and business development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, said, The F-21 is different, inside and out. The plane will be our response to the expression of interest invited by the Ministry of Defence for manufacturing 114 fighter jets.

The company manufactures the F-16 jet, the F-22 stealth jet and also the F-35 joint strike fighter. Lall, on being asked if the company could also offer the F-35 fighter jet, said an offer for that can be made by the US Government, but the route to F-35 can passes through the F-21.

The new jet (F-21) highlights our commitment to delivering an advanced, scalable fighter aircraft to the IAF, the company said, adding it is makes for an unprecedented Make-in-India opportunity.

Meanwhile, the UK made a new offer that would propel India into the next league. Sir Dominic Asquith, the British High Commissioner to India, said, We want this strong relationship to continue. Future defence technologies are increasingly going to be delivered by collaborative programmes, in which India has the potential to take its place.

On being asked if the offer was to collaborate for the Tempest, a sixth generation jet, Savraj Sidhu, from the combat air acquisition team of the Ministry of Defence of the UK, said, We are going to have exploratory talks on Indias future combat requirements. He answered yes when asked if India could be offered to join the Tempest programme.

The Tempest programme is being led by BAE systems. Sir Andrew Pulford, senior military adviser to the BAE, said the first flight of the plane was expected in 2023.

To be made in India
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

It is an all-out political war following the Pulwama terror attack. Congresss strident strike against the BJP, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, received an equally forceful reaction from the ruling party.

While Union Minister Ravi Shakar Prasad will be issuing a point-by-point rebuttal of the Congresss allegations, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said he was not surprised over such statements given the past record of the Congress.

Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah accused the Congress of playing politics and trusting Pakistan more than the BJP. He said Prime Minister Modi worked for more than 18 hours every day and allegations regarding his commitment on the countrys security would have no affect on the people of the country who knew this well.

The Congress on Thursday targeted Modi for indulging in self-promotion by way of a film shoot at the Jim Corbett park even minutes after the Pulwama terror attack.

Speaking in Andhra Pradesh, Shah said the problems and the situation in Kashmir, because of which Pakistan was carrying out such dastardly attacks against India, was all because of Congresss Jawaharlal Nehru.

Had Sardar Patel been the Prime Minister, India would not have faced the Kashmir problem as the issue would have been resolved there and then, Shah was quoted as saying by a news agency.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 20

Namvar Singh, writer, poet, critic and one of contemporary Hindi literatures tallest figures, has died after a month-long illness, his family said on Wednesday. He was 92.

Singh died on Tuesday night at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He had not been keeping well for more than a month and was on ventilator for three weeks. He died at 11.51 pm on Tuesday, his daughter Sameeksha said.

His last rites were performed by his son Vijay Singh according to Vedic rituals at the Lodhi Road crematorium here in the presence of a host of literary personalities, academics, former students and journalists.

Singh gave Hindi literary criticism a new direction with his books such as Chhayavaad, Itihas Aur Alochana, Kahaani Nayi Kahaani, Kavita Ke Naye Pratimaan and Dusri Parampara Ki Khoj. The authors death, which marks the end of an era, led to scores of people sending in condolences.

President Ram Nath Kovind said Singhs death was a huge loss to not only Hindi literature but also other languages in India. Deeply saddened by the demise of the great critic, Namvar Singh, who established a new paradigm in Hindi literature and criticism... My condolences to the grieving family and the world of Hindi literature, Kovind tweeted in Hindi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described him as a towering figure of Hindi literature who gave it new direction through his literary criticism.

According to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Indian languages lost a powerful voice with the death of Singh. He spent his life in creating a tolerant and democratic society. Restoring dialogue in India will be the real tribute to him, Gandhi said.

Born on July 28, 1926, in Varanasis village Jiyanpur (now in Chandauli), Singh completed his MA and PhD in Hindi literature from the Banaras Hindu University. He also worked as a professor in his alma mater BHU as well as Jodhpur university and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He served as the editor of two Hindi magazines, Janyug and Alochana.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh wrote: Namvar Singhjis death is a personal loss for me. Despite ideological differences, he knew how to respect people. His death is a huge loss for Hindi literature and our society. My condolences to his family.

Dr Namvar Singh had a special place in Hindi literature. His work and contribution will continue to influence the upcoming generations. My tribute, said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said: Eminent critic of Hindi literature, Namvar Singhji is no longer with us. Humble tribute to the man who gave new direction and stature to criticism in Hindi literature.

Paying tributes to the author, Rajkamal Prakashan, which published his books, said his demise was like the disappearance of the sun from the galaxy of Hindi literature. He was the biggest name in Indian literature and gave a new direction to Hindi literary criticism and a new meaning to the tradition of vaad-vivaad aur samvaad. He was like a father figure to me. This is a big loss for us, Ashok Maheshwari of the publishing house said.  PTI

END of AN ERA
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Raipur, February 21

A CRPF commando was on Thursday injured in an encounter with Naxals in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, officials said.

They said the special jungle warfare battalion of the force, CoBRA, and the state police were out for an operation in the Badelanka-Chintalnar axis of the district in south Bastar when two encounters took place with the Maoists.

A CoBRA constable has sustained a bullet injury during the operation and he is being evacuated. More details are awaited, a senior official said.

The jawan belongs to the 201st battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), he said. PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 21

Without naming Punjab directly, the Government of Canada has advised its citizens to stay away from "border with Pakistan" in view of escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has jumped to the top of the list of countries prepared by the Canadian government and where Canadian citizens have been advised to either exercise a high degree of caution owing to constant threat of terrorist activities "throughout the country at all times".

The Canadian government has advised its citizens to 'avoid non-essential travel' to a number of Indian states and areas including, the border with Pakistan (it means Punjab and Rajasthan), the border with Bangladesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The reason for travel advisory against travelling to these states has been cited as "due to conflict". The government of Canada has regularly been updating its list of travel advice and advisories so as to keep its citizens aware about changing threat perceptions and circumstances prevailing in other countries.

One of the reasons for issuing and updating the travel advisories was that a lot of Canadians venture out on travel to other countries at the outset of spring season over there and the Canadian government wants that that the Canadians should themselves apprised about travel risks before chalking out any travel plans.

If India has spiralled to the top of the list of "dangerous places" for Canadians, China figures at its end after France, Madagascar, Indonesia, Haiti, Venezuela, Philippines, Jordan, Brazil, Tunisia, Jamaica and Thailand.

In case of France, the Canadian government has advised its citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution" mainly owning to the "current elevated threat of terrorism" apart from the ongoing large gilets jaunes protests on Saturdays in that country.

The Canadian government has asked its citizens to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia for "political and social tensions" and has advised them against travelling to Venezuela for "significant level of violent crime and unstable political and economic situations".

Similarly, the Canadian authorities fear high crime rates and regular gang-related and other violence in Brazil could harm its citizens travelling to that country.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 21

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Asees Singh Chadha, who was arrested after his speeding Bentley rammed into an auto-rickshaw killing a foreign national and leaving three persons injured in Lutyens Delhi.

Additional Sessions Judge Sudesh Kumar granted relief to Chadha on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of the like amount.

A magisterial court had yesterday dismissed his bail plea.

A 51-year-old Turkmenistan national, Gulshat Alijanova, was killed, while three persons  Raghubir Singh, the auto-driver and a resident of Sangam Vihar, and Turkmenistan nationals Alma Gul Atayeba (33) and Gulia Yyam (55)  were critically injured on Monday in the accident.

A case was registered against Chadha under Section 279 (rash driving) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder, punishable with life imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code, the police had said.

Chadha is a nephew of business tycoon Ponty Chadha, who was killed along with his brother in 2012 after both sides opened fired at each other. PTI
shalender@tribune.com

Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambanis eldest son, Akash Ambani is all set to tie the knot with Shloka Mehta on March 9. This will be followed by a grand reception on March 11. The preparations for wedding festivities have already kick-started.

A musical night was held recently at Ambani residence, Antilia, in Mumbai. A few pictures and videos from the musical night have made their way to social media. In one of the pictures, Dandiya queen Falguni Pathak is seen entertaining the guests.

Before getting into pre-wedding ceremonies, Akash Ambani will be heading to Switzerland from February 23 and 25 for his bachelor trip.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 20

Local and non-local businessmen staged a protest here on Wednesday demanding safety of Kashmiris living outside the Valley.

The protesters included traders from the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities. They gathered near the Hari Singh High Street and raised slogans.

Our Kashmiri brothers are being harassed. This should not happen. This is a political game. Harassing students is a cowardly act. Some parents have sold land and gold for the education of their children. Steps should be taken to create a peaceful atmosphere. I was born here and so far, I have never faced any problem, said Rajendra Kumar, a businessman.

Sushant, a businessman from Kolkata, said steps should be taken to ensure the security of Kashmiris. I have been doing business here for the past many years but never faced any problem. Measures should be taken for the safety of Kashmiris living outside the state, he said.

After raising slogans, the traders took out a procession and later dispersed peacefully.
editorial@tribune.com

Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 20

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into the suicide attack on a convoy of security forces in which more than 40 CRPF men were killed on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Pulwama district last week.

A team of NIA led by its Director General YC Modi visited the spot on Wednesday even as it had already inspected the spot along with forensic experts on February 15. The visit, a day after the attack, had taken place along with the visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who visited Kashmir and reviewed the situation in the wake of the incident.

The police have already registered a case in this regard and started an investigation into the attack, which was carried out by 22-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar of Gundibugh in Pulwama district, who rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the CRPF convoy on February 14. The convoy, carrying over 2,500 CRPF men, was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar, days after the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway due to poor weather conditions.

In all, 19 persons, including three relatives of the suicide bomber, have already been arrested by the police and are being questioned. Police sources said an FIR showing the involvement of Dar had also been registered, while his father would also be arrested as a part of the investigations.

The martyrdom of more than 40 CRPF men has led to tension following angry demonstrations against the perpetrators of the attack. There have been reports of harassment of students and businessmen from Kashmir staying in various parts of the country. On the external front, the Centre has conveyed its strong resentment to Pakistan for perpetrating the attack, even as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has denied any involvement in the incident.
editorial@tribune.com

Jammu, February 20

Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh on Wednesday said Pakistan-sponsored terrorists were trying to disrupt peace in the state. He directed officials to put all resources to use to create a secure environment.

Referring to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF men were killed, the DGP said, We must learn from the incident and be resilient in our approach. He was addressing a darbar (meeting) of trainees during a visit to the Sher-i Kashmir Police Academy in Udhampur district. He also interacted with the officers besides reviewing facilities being provided to the trainees.

Pakistan-sponsored terrorists are making attempts to disrupt peace and order in the state, but like (in the) past, their attempts are bound to fail, the police chief said. He impressed upon the men to be prepared for future contingencies.

We need to put all resources to use to create a secure environment in the state, he said. He emphasised upon trainees to have a proactive approach to their training and stay focused, keeping in mind the organisational goals.

The DGP advised the trainees to develop interest in IT and computers. We have to excel in different fields of policing to provide better services to the people.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 20

The J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu, on Wednesday urged the state administration for initiating a strict penal action against the anti-national elements that had raised pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans.

The Bar association also sought immediate withdrawal of cases filed against nationalists people of Jammu purportedly at the behest of Kashmir-based mainstream political parties and separatists groups.

It also unanimously decided to suspend the work in all courts, including the High Court, on Thursday to pay homage to the bravehearts who attained martyrdom while fighting the militants in Pulwama district.

Anti-national sloganeering followed by stone-throwing on Jammu people was done with the intent to flare up communal passions at the behest of Kashmir-centric politicians and secessionist forces, said BS Slathia, senior advocate and president of Jammu Bar Association, while addressing a press conference here.

Such individuals are the internal support structures of terrorism and we urge the Prime Minister and the Governor to take decisive steps for dismantling the same, Slathia added.

The office-bearers of the Bar association also criticised the unwarranted imposition of curfew and excessive use of coercive force by the police against the Jammu residents who were on the streets protesting against Pakistan and its internal terror modules in the backdrop of the recent dastardly Pulwama terror attack.

They also lashed out at the Kashmiri politicians for competing with each other while allegedly floating fake and communal narrative against the Jammu region and its people.
editorial@tribune.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Londi (International Border), February 20

Amid mounting tension between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, an eerie silence prevails in the villages along the 198-km International Border in the Jammu region.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has started shifting its people from border villages, fearing major retaliatory action from India.

Residents of Londi village in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district, which is a stones throw from the International Border (IB), said three major villages in Pakistans Amruchak tehsil  Sukhmal, Sukhechak and Chajar  located opposite their village had been vacated by the Pakistan Rangers.

Hectic activities are going on the other side of the border as the Rangers have been replaced by the Pakistan army and there is no civilian activity, said Rajinder Sharma, a resident of Londi. He said: For the past couple of days, we have not heard the call for prayers from the mosques located on the other side of the border.

Fear has gripped the villagers who are uncertain about the situation against the backdrop of the killing of 40 CRPF men in the Pulwama suicide car blast and the subsequent worsening of relations between the two neighbouring countries.

In the Arnia sector of Jammu district, the situation is no better. Border dwellers are worried over the activities on the other side of the border. There is a heavy deployment on the other side of the border, former sarpanch of the Changia panchayat Raghuvir Singh said, adding, border villagers have been evicted by the Pakistan authorities.

From Londi to Changia, where the Tribune Team visited on Wednesday, fear and uncertainty was visible in the border residents of Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts. An eerie calm prevailed in the areas.

Senior state officials remained tightlipped over the situation. They, however, said they had prepared a contingency plan and were ready to deal with any situation.

As per the official data, 457 villages with a population of 4,51,856 are located along the IB and the Line of Control in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts in the Jammu region. Residents of the villages are the worst victims of the Pakistan shelling and firing.

Of them, over 1.50 lakh people are living along the 224.5-km-long stretch of the LoC in the Jammu region and the rest live on the International Border.

Pak violates ceasefire along LoC in Rajouri

Jammu: The Pakistan army violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri district for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, prompting the Army to retaliate, a defence spokesperson said. Around 6.30 pm on Wednesday, the Pakistan army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by resorting to heavy shelling with mortars and firing of small arms along the LoC in the Kalal and Nowshera sectors of Rajouri district, the spokesperson said. The Pakistan army had resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri on Tuesday as well. The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations  2,936  by Pakistani troops in the past 15 years along the Indo-Pak border. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 20

Experts from Korea and World Bank will work closely with the Department of Environment, Science and Technology to find out workable solution for solid waste problem and challenges in Himachal Pradesh.

The World Bank team led by Environment Specialist Pyush Dogra, Consultant to the World Bank Dr Sampat and experts from Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF) led by Dr Lee Dong Hoon today held a meeting with senior government functionaries in this regard.

The team along with officers of the Department of Environment, Science and Technology visited the Municipal Corporation Shimla and waste to energy plant, NAC, Arki and identified local issues on municipal solid waste.

The team held discussions with all stakeholder organisations in a summit under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Environment) R D Dhiman in order to identify important issues regarding management of solid waste, technology transfer and the challenges faced by the state government.

Dhiman said the areas of collaboration had been identified which include support in developing agro climatic zone-based municipal solid waste management strategy of Himachal, support for technology transfer through successful models and best practices, development of training modules and manual for panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies.

The team also met Chief Secretary BK Aggarwal and briefed him about effective management strategy for solid wastes both for rural and urban areas.

Director, Department of Environment, Science and Technology DC Rana said the experts would undertake technical analysis of solid waste management in three countries Pakistan, Nepal and India in South Asia and in India they will work with the Government of Himachal Pradesh.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 20

The district administration, Chamba, has sought the help of the Army to supply essential items to Pangi villages. All routes to the villages have been cut off for the past few days due to an avalanche.

Chamba DC Harikesh Meena said there had been heavy snow and avalanches in many areas of Pangi and Bharmour. Due to that,certain villages had been cut off.

We requested the Army to provide food and necessary medication to such villages. Since there was heavy snow today also, the aid could not be provided to the cut-off villages. We will make efforts with the help of the Army when the weather improves, he said.

The Pangi valley is a remote, rugged and poorly developed tribal area of Chamba district. It is one of the most remote areas in the state. The valley comprises Saichu, Hudan Bhatori and Sural Bhatori valleys. Roads conditions are poor. In winters, the valley remains cut off due to heavy snow.

The Saach Pass at an altitude of 14,500 feet (4,400 m) is open to the traffic between mid-June and October, but closed due to heavy snow.

Pangi tehsil covers 1,601 square kilometres and had a population of about 20,000. The valley has 16 panchayats and 54 villages. The valley is mostly inhabited by Pangwala and Bhoti people.

Bharmour MLA trapped for five days

Bharmour MLA Jia Lal has been trapped in the Killar area of the Pangi valley for the past five days. Sources said he was trying to come out from the Doda area of Jammu and Kashmir.
editorial@tribune.com

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 20

The state government will sign MoUs for projects worth Rs 2,500 crore in the tourism, real estate, health and industry sector on February 25 so that all clearances can be granted before the global investors meet will be held in June, later this year.

The MoUs will be signed between the investors and the respective Principal Secretaries in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here. Some of these projects are an outcome of the Investors Meet held in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

The BJP regime is planning to hold a global investors meet at Dharamsala after the Lok Sabha elections. Various departments like Industry, power, tourism, agriculture, health and ayurveda have prepared projects to rope in investment worth Rs 85,000 crore.

The idea behind signing the MoUs before the meet is to ensure that all clearances pertaining to land transfer, essentiality certificate, nod from the state Pollution Control Board and electricity board are complete well in time before June. This will help send a positive signal that there are no cumbersome procedures to set up industrial units, power projects or health resorts in Himachal and the hill state has an investor-friendly atmosphere, said an official.

As per the proposal prepared by the Industries Department, a target of attracting Rs 20,000 crore each in the power and infrastructure and logistics sector, Rs 15,000 crore in the manufacturing sector, Rs 10,000 crore in the tourism and hospitality sector and Rs 5,000 crore each in healthcare and fitness, agri-business sector and information technology, electronics and skill development has been planned.

It is for the first time that Himachal will try to attract foreign investment by holding investors meet overseas. Besides, inviting investors to the meet in Dharamsala, a high-level team led by the Chief Minister or Industries Minister could travel to these places, both in India and abroad. In India, investors meet will be held at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana and Hyderabad.

All the departments are working overtime to prepare projects to be offered to the investors. Deputy Commissioners have been asked to identify land which can be offered for various tourism, industrial and agriculture-horticulture projects. The Ayurveda Department has prepared projects for the setting up of wellness centres, aroma parks and medicity at various locations all over the state.

The previous Virbhadra regime had also held investors meet at various places, but finally there was very little investment and a majority of investors, who attended the meet, did not make the investment in the state.

To be held after LS elections

The BJP regime is planning to hold a Global Investors Meet at Dharamsala after the Lok Sabha elections. Various departments like Industry, power, tourism, agriculture, health and ayurveda have prepared projects to rope in investment worth Rs 85,000 crore.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Mandi, February 20

The police on Tuesday night shifted seven Kashmiris out of Ponta panchayat under Sarkaghat Assembly segment in the district.

In the wake of Pulwama attack, residents of the panchayat had asked the Kashmiris to leave the village. Later, the matter was reported to the police. The police intervened in the matter and shifted the Kashmiris out of the village in view of their safety.

These Kashmiris had been working as hawkers in the region to earn their livelihood and were staying in a rented accommodation.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a dispute between two local groups was behind the incident. On the complaint of the house owner, the police registered a case against several miscreants who had damaged windows of the house where the Kashmiris were staying.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rugved Thakur issued a show-cause notice to the Ponta panchayat to clarify its stand over the issue passing a resolution to ban the Kashmiris in the area.

The DC directed all panchayats in the district to refrain from passing any such resolution.
editorial@tribune.com

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

The Bharatiya Janata Partys recent win in the MC elections and the Jind Assembly bypoll is a vindication of its governments policies and programmes, said Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya on the opening day of the Budget session here on Wednesday.

In his address to the Assembly, he further said, The sifarish-free recruitment has enthused the public. The government continues to usher in newer and bolder governance reforms in keeping with the sentiments of all sections of society, he said.

The Governor dismissed the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal with a brief mention of the governments commitment to construct it, while he dwelt on the construction of upstream storage dams for better utilisation of floodwaters of the Yamuna. He read out the address for a tad over six minutes before saying that he considered it to be already read by members of the Assembly.

In six minutes, the Governor touched upon several initiatives of the Manohar Lal Khattar government in the past four years. A dedicated authority for the welfare of farmers, electronic payments to them, the governments resolve to achieve ODF++ status, 56,000 government jobs on merit, 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections and 22 medals in the Commonwealth Games found mention.

The increase in sex ratio to 914 girls per 1,000 boys on the back of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme, reduction in the maternal mortality ratio by 26 points, fall in the under-five mortality from 43 to 37 per 1,000 live births also figured prominently in the address.

The governments ambitious programme to develop five cities along the KMP corridor as a part of the Panchgram vision was listed among the achievements.

The Governor said Haryana was well on its way to becoming the first state in the country to disburse first quarterly instalment of Rs2,000 to each of over 10.5 lakh small and marginal farmer families under the newly launched Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.

Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala said the government did not want the Governor to read out the entire address because it had nothing to show as its achievement.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, February 21

The body of the Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi was cremated with full military honours in his native Hisar town on Thursday.

Gandhi had died during a rehearsal for the Aero Show when two Hawk aircraft of the aerobatic team Surya Kiran collided midair in Bangaluru on Tuesday.

Earlier, his body was taken to Hisar airport from Delhi via helicopter and brought to his home at PLA Sector in the town today morning.

Gandhi is survived by his wife Himani and five-year-old son Riyan.

His father Madan Mohan Gandhi is a retired bank official, while mother Dr Sudesh Gandhi retired recently as a principal scientist from Ch Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. His elder brother Nitin is an engineer in Sweden.

Sahil joined the NDA after completing his 10+2 from the Campus School at HAU, Hisar, in 2000 and was commissioned in the IAF in 2004.

A large number of people, including local MP Dushyant Chautala, Rajya Sabha MP DP Vats, local MLA Kamal Gupta, IAF officers and district officials, attended his last journey and paid their respects to the departed soul.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, February 20

Five persons, including four of a family, were killed when their car collided with a truck near Raiya village on the Jhajjar-Kosli road on Wednesday, the police have said.

The deceased have been identified as Virendra (37), his wife Sushila (35), son Priyanshu (15), daughter Rinku (17) and Sunil (32). They were returning from New Delhi to their village Kasni in Jhajjar after attending a wedding.

There were light rains in the area where the accident took place around 7 am, the police said.

The collision was so severe that Virendra and Sunil died on the spot. Residents of nearby areas took out their bodies entangled in the front portion of the car.

Virendra was driving the car, while Sunil was sitting beside him. The truck driver fled, leaving the vehicle behind.

A team of the CIA police, which was on its way back to Jhajjar after conducting a raid in a nearby area, was the first to reach the spot on hearing the sound of the collision.

The police took Sushila, Priyanshu and Rinku to the Civil Hospital in Jhajjar, where doctors declared them brought dead.

Later, a JCB machine was pressed into service to clear the road.

Investigating Officer Ranbir Singh said an unidentified truck driver had been booked, while the investigation was in progress to ascertain the cause of the accident. The bodies were handed over to the family od the deceased persons after the postmortem examination, he added.

Bus overturns in Karnal, 12 injured

Karnal: In all, 12 passengers were injured as a Haryana Roadways bus, going to New Delhi from Yamunanagar, overturned following a collision with a car on the Karnal-Indri road on Wednesday. They were taken to hospitals in Indri, Karnal and Ladwa. The condition of all 12 persons was said to be stable. The investigation is in progress. The case has not been registered so far, said Satparkash, SHO, Indri police station. He said the car collided head on with the bus when it tried to overtake a truck near Budheri village. The impact of collision was such that the bus overturned in a trench. TNS
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, February 20

A 13-year-old girl from West Bengal was allegedly abducted and gangraped in the districts Daultabad village on Monday night. She had gone to the local market to buy milk when she was abducted by three boys. Two of them allegedly raped her at gunpoint.

The police rescued her on Tuesday from a dinghy accommodation and caught hold of one of the boys, who tried to escape by jumping off the roof. He injured his legs.

Sources said he was medically unfit to be arrested. His age could not be ascertained, the police said.

A case was registered against three boys under Sections 366, 365, 363 and 506 of the IPC, the POCSO Act and the Arms Act.

When the girl did not return home from the market, her family started searching for her. Later, the family filed a missing person complaint, said police spokesperson Subhash Bokan.

The girls mother reportedly told the police, The accused threatened my daughter not to make any sound or else they would kill her. They raped her in darkness. She is in immense pain. Whenever she tries to speak up, she gets scared. She mumbles that she can feel the gun around,

Child Welfare Committee chairperson Shakuntala Dhull said, The girl is in trauma. She is shivering and clinging on to her mother. All she utters is gun and darkness. She is not in a state to speak.
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Climbdown, about-turn, volte-face  no matter what you call it, political parties are doing it all rather briskly in the countdown to the Lok Sabha elections. After years of animosity and bitterness, the Shiv Sena has stitched a pre-poll alliance with the BJP for the parliamentary and Assembly battles in Maharashtra. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had announced last year that his party would have no truck with the saffron party, is now singing paeans to Narendra Modis leadership. He claims that the BJP has changed its way of dealing with its allies. In any case, this stop-gap arrangement hardly gives the impression that the bickering partners have managed to sort out their differences over the Ram temple and other issues. The new-found bonhomie may not last long as Uddhav is bent on having the next Chief Minister from his party.

The Shiv Sena is no longer the second biggest constituent of the BJP-led NDA. The spot has now been claimed by Tamil Nadus ruling party AIADMK, which has tied up with the BJP and the PMK. The three parties had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections separately, with the AIADMK, led by then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, clinching 37 of the 39 seats and the others winning one each. After her death, the party finds itself on a weak wicket due to strong anti-incumbency sentiments. That largely explains why it is back on the BJPs side. The PMK, which has been shuttling between the NDA and the UPA over the past two decades, seems to have conveniently forgotten the fact that it was denied a ministerial berth in the Modi government.

Ironically, the BJP, which has been ridiculing opposition parties for forging opportunistic alliances  dubbing these as mahamilawat and mahathugbandhan  is taking the same route. This desperation suggests that the party is jittery about its electoral prospects and is not regarding another five-year term at the Centre as a foregone conclusion. With the 2014 Modi wave a thing of the past, Amit Shah and Co are busy clutching at straws. Whether the gamble will help them or their rivals is anybodys guess.
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

That a 19-year-old Indian-British citizen, in the first flush of youth, careening on New Delhis posh Chanakyapuri area in a posh-er Bentley, unmindful of the traffic, crashes into an autorickshaw, killing a foreign tourist and injuring two others, doesnt kindle any shock. It has the ring of ordinariness on Indian roads, routinely witnessing reckless driving and fatalities. What is astonishing is that the accused, nephew of the late liquor baron Ponty Chadha, had been enjoying paid police security for the past three years. Reports claim that he was being escorted by gunmen at the time of the accident, raising a pertinent question: Why should a professional state police force offer its services in lieu of money to the immensely privileged, who can, indubitably, hire private guards?

His father, chairman of Wave Group, had sought six gunmen from the Punjab Police, at a price of Rs 8 lakh per guard per annum. For a family that rides a Bentley Bentayga, costing an upward of Rs 3.5 crore, it is small change. What makes it consequential is the perceived status symbol of having cops in uniform at their beck and call. The Punjab Police did go by the rulebook, there being a provision for such security after threat evaluation. But should it become a part of this foul image game? In this case, family feud and business rivalry were cited as the reasons, simulating frivolity, since prominent businessmen must encounter it at some stage.

The privilege of paid protectees needs to go; it has been twisted enough. The police is not a mercenary force. In a state under the grip of multiple crime syndicates, from sand mining to drug mafia, the Punjab Police need all hands on deck. Their duty is towards all people, especially those with no means to hire bouncers or guards, and yet may be under real threat  the family of a rape victim taking on an influential accused; an honest officer fighting rogue elements with political patronage. It is here, the police must have their back.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Washington, February 21

The US has slapped sanctions against a UAE-based Indian man and his parents for allegedly running a global money laundering and smuggling network for heroin.

The US Department of Treasury on Wednesday said Jasmeet Hakimzada, who lives in the UAE, runs a global drug trafficking network that smuggles heroin, cocaine, ephedrine, ketamine, and synthetic opioids into the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Since 2008, Hakimzada has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit proceeds using his UAE-based company Maiwand General Trading Company LLC through financial institutions in the US, Brazil, India, Panama, the UAE and the UK, it alleged.

The Department of Treasury also designated his parents and four entities registered in India or the UAE that form part of the narcotics trafficking organisation run by Hakimzada.

Jasmeet Hakimzada's global drug trafficking and money laundering network has been involved in smuggling heroin and synthetic opioids around the world, said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The Treasury said it designated Harmohan Hakimzada, Hakimzada's father, for him being primary partner in the drug trafficking and money laundering operation; and Eljeet Kaur, his mother, who serves as an officer in two front companies in India.

The four entities designated today include three entities based in India  Maiwand Exim Private Limited, Maiwand Tobacco Limited, and Maiwand Beverages Limited  and UAE-based Maiwand General Trading Company LLC, which operates as a front for an array of illicit activities to include shipping narcotics and illegal pharmaceuticals as well as laundering large sums of narcotics proceeds.

On April 5, 2017, a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee indicted Hakimzada on 46 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering, the Treasury said in a media release.

Over the course of three years from 2014 through 2016, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an extensive investigation into Hakimzada's global narcotics and money laundering operation uncovering dozens of drug trafficking and money laundering-related transactions transiting the US involving numerous US banks, as well as drug shipments directly to the US using commercial international courier services. PTI
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Washington, February 21

A Hindu-American advocacy group and an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits have urged the US to take action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit and its leader Masood Azhar and to condemn the alleged role of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China in providing physical and diplomatic cover to such terror organisations.

The move came days after a deadly terror attack on the convoy of CRPF personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. A suicide bomber from the Pakistan-based JeM drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus on February 14, killing 40 security personnel.

The two groups handed over a letter, jointly signed by them, to the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback urging the Trump Administration to take action, both at the international as well as at the domestic levels, to censure the terrorist organisation.

"We call upon the US government to condemn in all international for the role played by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and China in providing physical and diplomatic cover to terrorists like Masood Azhar that have wreaked havoc in Kashmir," said the letter, signed jointly by the Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

The IAKF represents the Kashmiri Pandit community residing in the US, while the HAF is a non-profit advocacy organisation for the Hindu-American community.

The letter was read in full before Brownback and the participants of the International Religious Freedom held at the US Capitol on Tuesday, by Vijay Sazawal, the international convener of the IAKF.

Sazawal said, "There is a cultural genocide happening in Kashmir".

"The environment of intolerance at the grassroots level only feeds into the ecosystem which breeds terrorists like Masood Azhar who then carry out such transnational attacks in Afghanistan and India," said Jay Kansara of the HAF.

Meanwhile, another organization of Kashmiri Pandits said it would host a virtual conference to highlight the paradigm shift which has occurred within the community globally.

"The conclave will be an opportunity for the global audience to hear the prespectives of speakers' (from Jammu and Kashmir) and policy positions on the theme of the conference in the light of the present-day developments," the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) said in a statement.

Former J-K finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Peoples' Democratic Party leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig, chairman of J-K People's Conference Sajjad Gani Lone, president of J-K Bharatiya Janata Party Ravinder Raina, and former union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari are likely to address the global multi-media event, to be attended by community members from various parts of the world, the media release said.

In a separate statement, the Kashmir Hindu Foundation condemned the February 14 terror attack, saying these attacks in Kashmir prove that the radical jihadi mind-set has penetrated deep into the psyche and polluted the minds of a major population of Kashmiri muslims in the Valley. PTI
Brig Gurmeet Kanwal (retd)

Brig Gurmeet Kanwal (retd)

Former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi

SINCE March 2016, China has consistently refused to allow the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council to designate Masood Azhar, the chief of the internationally banned terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), as a global terrorist. Soon after the Pulwama attack on February 14, a Chinese spokesman condemned the attack but refused to relent on the issue despite the JeM having accepted responsibility for the strike.

The so-called reset in the China-India relationship after the Wuhan summit meeting held in April 2018 does not seem to have affected Chinas stubborn support for the chief of a banned terror outfit. Why is China so much in favour of Masood Azhar? To answer this question, it is necessary to take stock of the larger China-India relationship and Chinas quest to dominate Asias geostrategic landscape while simultaneously pursuing its ambition to replace the US as the worlds pre-eminent power.

Chinas military assertiveness in the South China Sea (it has occupied some of the disputed Spratly islands and has reclaimed land from the sea to build a military airstrip) and its belligerence on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea are indicators of its growing proclivity to settle territorial and boundary disputes by force rather than through diplomatic negotiations.

China still suffers from the Middle Kingdom syndrome and finds it difficult to accept India as a co-equal power in Asia. China would like to see India reduced to the level of a subaltern state. In order to maintain its assumed supremacy as the tiger on the Asian mountain, China is engaged in executing a carefully formulated plan aimed at the strategic encirclement of India. Pakistan is a key tool in Chinas plans to destabilise India and, hence, it is to be supported and saved from embarrassment as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In the words of the leaders of the two countries, the China-Pakistan friendship is strategic and is higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans and sweeter than honey. China has guaranteed Pakistans territorial integrity. China continues to oppose Indias nuclear weapons programme and refuses to discuss nuclear CBMs (confidence-building measures) with India. China has a clandestine nuclear warheads-ballistic missiles-military hardware technology transfer relationship with Pakistan that has led to the undermining of strategic stability in South Asia.

Without massive Chinese support, Pakistan would be in no position to wage a proxy war against India. It is Chinas proxy war as well. China is Pakistans second largest trading partner. As part of his belt and road initiative (BRI), President Xi Jinping has announced plans for massive investment in the development of infrastructure for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a distance of 3,000 km. The total investment in the proposed corridor is expected to be about $62 billion. Pakistan, of course, has failed to realise that the CPEC is a debt trap that will eventually make it the 23rd province of China.

China is gradually extending its maritime outreach to the Indian Ocean. In the northern Indian Ocean, China is engaged in acquiring port facilities through its string of pearls strategy to enable the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) Navy to operate in the seas around India. It has built ports in Sri Lanka, off Myanmar, in Qatar and Pakistan. Gwadar port on the Makran coast of Pakistan has been leased to China for 40 years. China has also upgraded ports in Chittagong (Bangladesh) and Lamu (Kenya). These ports can be converted to naval bases in due course.

Chinas support to the military-backed regime in Myanmar; efforts at making inroads into Nepal; increasing activities in the Bay of Bengal; its relentless efforts to increase its influence in Bhutan and Bangladesh; its attempts to isolate India in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and keep Indias participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at a low ebb are all indicators of its intention to bog India down in an unstable neighbourhood.

Territorial and boundary disputes that are carried over from history and left unresolved carry within them the seeds of future conflict. Indias unresolved territorial and boundary dispute with China and an un-demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the Indo-Tibetan border do not augur well for long-term peace and stability between these two Asian giants.

China is steadily enhancing its military capabilities. The military gap between China and India is growing as the latters military modernisation is constrained by its low defence expenditure, which is now about 1.5 per cent of the GDP, while Chinas defence budget has maintained a steady rate of growth for over a decade. At present, there is a quantitative gap between the PLA and the Indian armed forces. If Indian military modernisation continues to stagnate, this will soon become a qualitative gap as well. With the rapid modernisation of the PLA, China will soon be in a position to dictate terms to India on the settlement of the territorial dispute.

India is poised to defend its territory against Chinese aggression. However, that capability is not adequate to deter aggression. India must upgrade its military strategy against China from dissuasion to deterrence. Only the capability to take the war into Chinese territory will deter the adversary from initiating another border war. Such capability is provided only by strike formations of the Army, combined with the ability of the Indian Air Force to dominate the skies over Tibet to give Army commanders a free hand and to inflict punitive damage, and the ability of the Indian Navy to dominate the Indian Ocean. India needs at least two Strike Corps to take the war into Chinese territory  one each for Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

With Pakistan as its foremost ally in the region, China poses a long-term strategic challenge to India as a competing regional power in Asia. It will remain a major military threat till the territorial dispute is resolved. India needs to take this reality into account and distinguish between what China professes  peaceful co-existence  and what it actually does, and plan accordingly.

In the near future, a situation of tenuous peace and tranquillity is likely to continue to prevail along Indias Himalayan frontier. It will be punctuated increasingly by patrol face-offs, Chinese transgressions like those at Chumar (2014) and Doklam (2017) and new claims on Indian territory such as the Tawang Tract in Arunachal Pradesh.

Not relenting on the issue of designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UNSC is part of Chinas game plan to embarrass India in its quest for strategic dominance. India must continue to develop its comprehensive national power and keep its powder dry.
G Parthasarathy

G Parthasarathy

Former Diplomat

National attention is now on the forthcoming elections. This is accompanied by national determination to respond strongly to the Pulwama outrage. A related foreign policy issue that requires careful monitoring is the upcoming US withdrawal from Afghanistan. This will inevitably lead to increasing Taliban control of Afghanistan, especially in Pashtun-dominated areas, bordering Pakistan. Pakistani terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (renamed later as Jaish-e-Mohammed) established training camps in southern Afghanistan, when the ISI-backed Taliban ruled Afghanistan till November 2001. The Taliban colluded with the ISI during the hijacking of IC-814 to secure the release of three terrorists, including Jaish leader Masood Azhar, from Indian jails.

The proposed withdrawal will be seen as the failure of yet another US misadventure abroad. These serious misadventures in the past included a debacle in Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia and Iraq. After 17 years of fighting in Afghanistan, the US-backed government today controls just over half the country, with the remaining areas either contested, or controlled by the Taliban. Roughly, 40 security personnel are killed every day, with over 10,000 civilian casualties in 2018. The Taliban have attacked major urban centres. In these circumstances, the Ashraf Ghani-led government is fearful of being ditched by the Trump administration, with whom differences have developed on American insistence to postpone the next presidential elections.

While President Trump is not popular in any major world capital, his desire to avoid any foreign military involvement enjoys widespread support domestically. The unseemly hurry with which Trumps chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad is seeking to carry forward talks with the Taliban, facilitating an early withdrawal, is evident. Gulf countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and their rival Qatar are helping the US endeavour to execute a face-saving withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Gulf states are using a carrot-and-stick approach to compel Pakistan to back the American effort. With Pakistani foreign exchange reserves reaching a new low of $6 billion, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are providing Pakistan $12 billion to keep its economy afloat.

While Pakistan may appear elated at the prospect of US withdrawal, expecting a Taliban takeover thereafter, there are now several imponderables, with Iran and Russia appearing set to force developments in a somewhat different direction. The Iranians appear to have persuaded the Taliban that Teheran can play a crucial role in making peace between the Taliban and Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen and Shia Hazara groups, across the Iran-Afghanistan border. The Taliban were at war with these groups known as the Northern Alliance, when last in power. The conference on Afghan peace in Moscow was attended by prominent Afghan leaders, former President Hamid Karzai (no great friend of the US), Hanif Atmar, set to contest the next presidential elections, and Tajik strongman Atta Mohammed Noor, together with members of the Taliban. With Mullah Baradar, who was jailed for years by Pakistan, now playing a leading role in the Taliban, Pakistan cannot expect that a Taliban-backed government will yield to diktats from Rawalpindi

and Islamabad.

Russia and Iran appear to be outmanoeuvring the US in engaging the Taliban. There is, paradoxically, a measure of complementarity in the aims of the US and Russia, when it comes to disregarding or marginalising the role of the Ghani government in fashioning a new architecture for governing Afghanistan. Moves in this direction could, however, lead to a split in the Taliban, especially if the largely Pakistan-based Haqqani network remains a predominantly ISI proxy. Equally, excluding representatives of the Ghani government from talks with the Taliban, as both the US and Russia have done, is a recipe for continuing internal conflict.

The Taliban have never formally recognised the Durand Line as the international border with Pakistan. The situation along the border is further complicated by the emergence of a strong sense of Pashtun resentment and sub-nationalism across the line. This alienation arises from the brutal operations in tribal areas under Pakistan armys Zarb-e-Azb operations. These sentiments are symbolised by the emergence of the Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). Complicating matters further for Pakistan, an estimated 4,000 armed members of the Tehriq-e-Taliban Pakistan, once ISI protegees, are now spread across Afghanistan. Their desire for revenge against the brutalities of the Pakistan army cannot be underestimated.

India will have to monitor these developments. The Taliban have given indications that they understand the importance of Indias role, especially in building the Chahbahar Port and its economic assistance to Afghanistan. There are, however, several challenges for India, including the possibility of the Taliban returning to their medieval practices. But these issues can be handled with astute diplomacy and readiness to continue with economic assistance, which has won us many friends in Afghanistan.

Amidst these developments, Iran announced on February 12 that 28 of its soldiers were killed in a blast near the Iran-Pakistan border. The Iranians vowed retribution. The Iran ambassador in Islamabad was summoned the next day for a strong protest from Pakistan, claiming that six Pakistani soldiers were killed along the border. All this happened even as hectic preparations were underway in Pakistan to welcome the Saudi Arabia Crown Prince. Pakistan appears insistent on promoting terrorism and provoking three of its neighbours  Iran, Afghanistan and India.
KP Nayar

KP Nayar

Strategic Analyst

For the first time since the global oil shock of 1973, Indias faltering steps towards energy security have given way to a holistic oil diplomacy that lays stress on personal chemistry, combining it with trade-offs and a strategic vision. At the centre of such diplomacy is Abu Dhabi, which has graduated in the past four years from a buyer-seller relationship in oil with India into an important guarantor of this countrys energy security.

Here is a poser. Which minister of any foreign country has visited New Delhi the most number of times in the past year? The natural temptation is to name a minister from Bangladesh, Bhutan or Mauritius, nations with which Indias engagement goes beyond foreign affairs and spills over into development support or cultural synthesis. Some people may name Myanmar or Afghanistan because of layers of bilateral security overlaps.

The correct answer is Sultan bin Ahmad Al Jaber, a member of the UAE Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai. He is officially designated to be responsible for economic, political, development and social files of the UAE, promoting the UAEs strategic relations with a number of countries. Such responsibility now includes India.

Some of Al Jabers whistle-stops in New Delhi or Mumbai have lasted no more than a few hours. Add to that, in the past year, Al Jaber has had about a dozen meetings in Abu Dhabi with members of the Narendra Modi government who now make frequent stops in the UAE as their bilateral engagement grows by leaps and bounds.

What has India gained so far from such hands-on, fast-paced, face-to-face diplomacy by Al Jaber, whose style has been to abjure the easier option of videoconferencing with his Indian counterparts or to do business by telephone? For starters, there is the Rs 3 lakh-crore Ratnagiri refinery and petrochemicals project, which has become the most visible showcase for tripartite investment by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and India.

But there are several, more enduring, long-range ventures with the UAE that guarantee Indias vital energy security. One such is an ongoing programme of filling up Indias strategic petroleum reserve with crude oil from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), of which Al Jaber is the CEO. The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) has built three underground storage reserves which together guarantee critical oil supply for the country for 10 days in the event of war or global disruption in the movement of fuel.

Al Jaber and Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, agreed last November to cooperate on expanding Indias strategic petroleum reserve to 22 days. The ISPRL is building two more underground storage reserves to facilitate this: one at Chandikhol in Odisha and another at Padur in Karnataka.

The oil-producing Gulf countries have always wanted to cooperate in similar ways with India, recognising as far back as the 1980s that India would emerge in the 21st century as the biggest or the second biggest importer of their primary natural resource, namely oil. In the aftermath of Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait, the emirate looked at India to build an overseas base for its oil industry comprising transportation, refining and storage for its petroleum products. The idea was that its core economic base should be free from vulnerabilities such as another foreign invasion or domestic tumult.

After PV Narasimha Raos visit to Teheran in 1993, Iran unfurled a charter of energy cooperation that envisaged not only oil supplies, but also downstream petrochemical industries and use by India of Irans geographic proximity to gas-rich Central Asia. Oman followed with a proposal to build a sub-sea pipeline to India and a refinery that would guarantee a big part of Indias energy needs by a country that is at its best in the region at making friends of all ideological or religious persuasions and influencing them.

But all these plans by the Gulf countries fell by the wayside because Indias petroleum bureaucracy considered it its mandate and holy mission to raise relevant, irrelevant and irrational objections to all such proposals at the implementation stage. As a reporter who covered all prime ministerial visits that generated such proposals and followed up on them in subsequent years, I was often witness to the sheer frustration of Gulf leaders and decision-makers due to the extreme negativity of Indian babudom to any overseas proposal to improve Indias energy security.

In February 2016, ADNOC and ISPRL agreed on establishing their strategic petroleum reserve in Karnataka. Almost a year passed in tardy negotiations with the Indian bureaucracy playing its old game. To speed up the agreement, a deadline was set. The deal would become final during the visit of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, as chief guest during Republic Day 2017.

The audacity of the petroleum bureaucracy was such that even two days before Republic Day, it tried to delay the signing of a memorandum of understanding between ADNOC and the ISPRL. At this stage, Al Jaber stepped in, and working directly with Pradhan, made the deal possible. That the two men enjoy good chemistry has made subsequent energy cooperation between India and Abu Dhabi possible. Al Jaber is no novice: earlier, he handled the UAEs development programme in Egypt, where the bureaucratic problems are similar to Indias.

By cutting through the red tape and going directly to the political leadership, Al Jaber succeeded where other countries failed for decades in tapping the potential of Indias energy market to mutual advantage. Much has been achieved in bilateral cooperation since then. But for India, the crown jewel is a 10 per cent oil concession in Abu Dhabis offshore Lower Zakum facility which Al Jaber successfully steered in February 2018 for a consortium of ONGC Videsh, Indian Oil Company and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd.

In recognition of the success of the first holistic effort in Indias oil diplomacy with the Gulf and for his numerous contributions to the global energy sector, PM Narendra Modi last week honoured Al Jaber with an International Lifetime Achievement Award.
Swarthmore, PA (19081)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Satinder Pal Singh

Lalru, February 20

Tension prevailed at the Universal Group of Institutions, Lalru, when a Kashmiri student was reportedly thrashed by a group of college students after he liked a Facebook post against the Indian Army.

Pooja Siyal, SDM, Dera Bassi, along with police officials and the SHO of the area, visited the spot and found it to be a case of minor altercation between students.

Sources said someone had posted a comment against the Army following the Pulwama attack, which was liked by a few students, including a Kashmiri.

Upset over this, students got into an argument with the 21-year-old Kashmiri student, who liked the post.

The matter escalated when students objected to the post and locals asked Kashmiri students to vacate their rented premises. Sensing trouble, the college management approached the police.

Other Kashmiri students studying at the institution gathered outside a hostel this evening and requested the administration to make arrangements for their travel to Jammu.

The students claimed that after the Pulwama incident, the situation had turned tense here and they needed to go back to their native places for some days.

Later, Dera Bassi DSP Simranjit Singh, along with officials of the local administration, reached the campus and managed to persuade the Kashmiri students to stay put after assuring them that they would be provided ample security.

The police said the matter was being investigated.

The students have settled the issue and the situation is peaceful.

Meanwhile, the police have stepped up security outside all college campuses having Kashmiri students.

A vehicle of the police now remains deployed at all colleges to check any untoward incident.

The police said colleges had also counselled Kashmiri students.

The sources said students staying in rented accommodation were more worried about their safety.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 21

A non-profit organisation, Khalsa Aid, on Wednesday night received several messages and calls from the Kashmiri students who were ferried to Jammu free of cost.

People of the Kashmir Valley have now taken to social media for posting their gratitude towards the Sikh community.

From free car services from Car Plaza, Anantnag, and Dr Adil Wanis free dental services for one month, to Alburaq Groups free air tickets to IPTS Heights School offering free of cost education to Sikhs, Kashmiris are offering discounts and free services to Sikhs.

In a state of panic, more than 800 Kashmiri students fled Dehradun, Ambala and several other parts of nort India to escape backlash from the locals in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.

Initially, 21-year-old Khawaja Itrat, a student of CGC, Landran, and a member of Jammu and Kashmir Students Organisation (JKSO), had made arrangements for facilitating Kashmiri students stay in Mohali at his residence.

There, former SGPC member Amarinder Singh had made provision for the students billeting at Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan, Sohana, last Sunday. However, most students chose to leave for Jammu in the evening. On Sunday night, when nearly a hundred students arrived in Mohali on the assurance of protection given to them by the Punjab CM, Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan made four of its rooms available to the students.

Within 24 hours, Khalsa Aid, a non-profit organisation, offered to ferry the students back to Jammu free of cost.

The volunteers have reported to have sent off more than 400 Kashmiri students back home, safely.
editorial@tribune.com

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20

For managing surplus funds of public sector enterprises and state departments, the Haryana government will float a non-banking financial corporation (NBFC) in the next fiscal. The government has already submitted application in the regard to RBI and awaiting its nod to commence operations.

The state government has already incorporated Haryana State Financial Services Limited (HSFL) as a limited company under the Companies Act with an authorised capital of Rs 10 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs 2 crore.

Authorised capital is the maximum amount of the capital for which shares can be issued by a company to the shareholders while paid-up capital is the amount for which shares of the company were issued to the shareholders and payment was made by the shareholders.

At any point of time, paid-up capital will be less than or equal to authorised share capital and the company cannot issue shares beyond the authorised share capital of the company.

NBFC namely Haryana State Financial Services Limited will soon commence operations. It will try to maximise the yield on funds and also will give loan to public sector enterprises, said TVSN Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana, at a recently held bankers meeting.

Currently, state departments or public sector enterprises park their surplus funds with different banks. After the formation of the NBFC, the entire fund management will be centralised. Since the entire process is streamlined, it will result in centralised mechanism for prudent management of funds under the overall control and supervision of General Administration Department.

According to a senior official in Haryana government, the NBFC will help the state government in providing better deposit rates to the state government entities.

According to information, the NBFC would also enable quick and hassle-free lending and create financial discipline among the states public sector enterprises and various departments.

Once accorded approval, the company will deposit and lend money to the state government bodies such as municipal body, wholly owned or semi-owned bodies of the state government.

It will also carry on the business of a finance company and provide short or long-term loans to the state government entities. It is believed that it will receive grants, loans and advances from the state government, banks, financial institutions, companies, trusts, cooperative societies and other financing agencies.

Haryana State Financial Services Ltd
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

The 33rd meeting of the GST Council was adjourned to February 24 (Sunday) after Finance Ministers of opposition-ruled states, including Punjab, Delhi and Kerala, opposed video-conferencing and sought a physical interaction instead.

More members wanted the meeting via video-conferencing to take place today but some members wanted a physical meeting to be held. A few expressed their opinions (through video-conferencing) and the discussions were incomplete. We will try and take the issue forward on Sunday, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

It was crucial to hold the meeting also because today was the last date for filing GSTR 3B returns and it was important to extend the date by two days (till February 22) all over India because the government servers had been experiencing heavy traffic. In view of disturbances in Jammu & Kashmir, the last date for filing returns for J&K has been extended to February 28.

Finance Ministers from six states had requested Jaitley, who is also the head of the GST Council, to postpone the 33rd meeting because they opposed discussions on crucial issues such as a special scheme for the real estate sector and a single rate of tax on lottery at a physical meeting where each and every member of the Council is present.

The Council will consider two reports on the issue. One by Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel and another by Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, February 20

The Finance Ministry today announced to pump in Rs 48,239 crore in 12 public sector banks (PSBs) in this fiscal to help them maintain regulatory capital requirements and finance growth plans.

With this funding, the total amount of capital infusion would increase to Rs 1,00,958 crore of the planned recapitalisation of Rs 1.06 lakh crore for PSBs for the current fiscal, according to Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar.

The remaining Rs 5,000-crore capital infusion would be used as buffer for any contingency or growth capital for Bank of Baroda which is in the process of merging Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with itself.

It (pending Rs 5,000 crore) may be used for any contingency or for growth capital wherever it is necessary, including amalgamated entity of Bank of Baroda, Kumar said.

Corporation Bank is the biggest beneficiary of this round of capital infusion with Rs 9,086 crore of funding, followed by Allahabad Bank with Rs 6,896 crore. Explaining the rationale for giving higher capital to these two banks, Kumar said equipping these two better performing banks, currently under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) supervision of the RBI, would help meet requisite capital thresholds of 7.375 CET-1 ratio, 8.875% Tier I ratio, 10.875% of capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) and the net NPA ratio threshold of below 6%.

Further, Rs 4,638 crore and Rs 205 crore will be provided to Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra. These banks have recently come out of the regulatory supervisory framework PCA of the RBI.

Kumar further said Punjab National Bank will get Rs 5,908 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 4,112 crore, Andhra Bank Rs 3,256 crore and Syndicate Bank Rs 1,603 crore.

The government will pump in Rs 12,535 crore in four other banks under PCA  Central Bank of India, United Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.  PTI

Corporation Bank biggest beneficiary
Germany Rebuffs UK Call to Lift Ban on Arms Exports to Saudi Arabia

(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted Feb 20, 2019)

Despite a strongly-worded letter by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt (L) and a number of unofficial representations, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas declined to budge on Germanys unilateral arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. (AFP photo)

Germany will maintain its ban on weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in Berlin after meeting his British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt, on Wednesday.Germany will hold firm on its decision to halt weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, shrugging off British warnings that the embargo could hurt European credibility and efforts to bring peace in Yemen, Agence France Presse reported from Berlin."The stance of the government is that we won't deliver weapons to Saudi Arabia at the moment," Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after talks with his British counterpart about the decision taken in October over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it added.A decision on lifting the ban would "depend on developments in the Yemen conflict" and whether measures agreed to in recent peace talks enter force there, he said.Speaking alongside Maas, Hunt said actions such as Germany's would not help the Yemeni peace process. "In fact, we worry that it would do the opposite  it would reduce our influence on that process," he said.It is interesting to note that neither minister, whose every move is normally reported, has mentioned the meeting on their departments websites, where all such meetings normally proliferate. This is clearly an indication of the embarrassment this public row has generated in both capitals.But the issue goes beyond embarrassment, as Germanys unilateral veto is having serious consequences on national and international weapons programs in many of Germanys defense partners.Germany unilaterally blocks the supply of Eurofighter components to the UK. The veto is a new dimension and creates a precedent, as Germany is contractually bound to support any export by Eurofighter partner nations, Matthias Wachter, Head of Security and Raw Materials at the Federation of German Industries (BDI), told Defense-Aerospace.com.The German government is thus deliberately risking the failure of current and future European joint projects such as the Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS), he added.BAE Systems is reliant on the approval of export licences by a number of governments in order to continue supplies to Saudi Arabia, the London-based company said this morning. Germanys current position on export licensing may affect the groups ability to provide the required capability, Bloomberg reported.BAE shares fell as much as 7.1 percent in London, the biggest drop since June 24, 2016, the day after the Brexit vote. They were trading 6.4 percent lower at 472.3 pence as of 9:54 a.m.Chief Executive Officer Charles Woodburn said on a conference call on the companys financial results this morning that industrial partners including Airbus SE are equally concerned about the German restrictions. BAE has been adapting its supply chain to minimize the impact of the ban, and is not facing a cliff-edge scenario regarding exports, Bloomberg reported him as saying.Prior to the meeting, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Hunt had sent a letter to Maas on February 7 warning him that Germany's ban undermined common European defense projects and the ability of NATO allies to fulfill commitments.-ends-
AI expert warns that military robots could go off the rails and wipe out the very people they are supposed to protect

Richard Moyes, a founding member of the non-government organization Campaign to Stop Killer Robots (CSKR), warns that autonomous military robots may develop their own intelligence and turn against its human creators. In particular, Moyes says that advancing technologies are opening doors to opportunities (and risks) that even the smartest experts cannot predict.

A human cant really make legal or moral judgments about the effects that they are creating through the use of these systems, he says.

Moyes expresses his concern that a malfunction in how these robots operate can potentially lead to the loss of lives of actual human soldiers. He is pushing toward creating an international law that would ensure humans remain in complete control of robotic weapons systems.

This is about protecting civilians and human dignity  but it is also a practical issue for [the military]. Soldiers dont want to be sent into battle alongside systems that are unpredictable and might go off the rails, he admonishes.

CSKR has repeatedly called for autonomous weaponry to be banned on all battlefields. Their efforts, however, have not manifested into anything concrete  robot systems are still being deployed in todays warzones.

The evolution of war and how it is fought

Gone are the days of warriors on horses, wielding swords, and screaming battle cries. As society has changed, so too has warfare and how we fight it. Today, battles are fought in the technological sphere, and were more likely to die from people pressing buttons or wielding virtual reality data than being shot.

That doesnt mean that physical battles do not happen. Tactics also play a huge role in which side will win a skirmish. For these scenarios, governments are now turning toward robotic systems that not only possess more physical strength than a human, but can think and react to various stimuli autonomously. Prototype robot soldiers are already being deployed in many of todays warzones, including those being fought in Iran and Afghanistan. They range in size from tiny eight-pound robots to the worlds biggest robot, a 700-ton dump truck that can haul 240 tons of earth at a time.

These robots are not even what military experts call finished. Robotics executives say that what were seeing is only the first stages of this type of technology.

Are we sowing the seeds of our own destruction?

The concept of using robots for war is based on life preservation. If less humans were in vulnerable states, such as in a warzone, then it makes sense that less humans would die. Furthermore, robots dont need to sleep, never get tired, and are accurate almost all of the time. They are the perfect killing machines. It seems like a win-win situation until you stop to consider the potential consequences of making an amoral being highly intelligent and capable.

Or, perhaps amorality is no longer an accurate characteristic of robotic systems. When discussing the ethics of artificial intelligence, experts warn that autonomous systems are inherently tainted by its programmers. Decision-making processes, for example, are biased toward the person who designed the software.

Foregoing the potential ramifications that this might have in war, this could also imply that robots may eventually develop very real human emotions. We may soon witness robot psychologists getting sad, or robot doctors getting stressed.

Or robot soldiers getting angry?

It is difficult to determine what lies ahead in our future, especially as our horizon is slowly (yet steadily) being colored by the steel touch of robotics.

Sources include:

DailyStar.co.uk

Brookings.edu

NickBostrom.com [PDF]
Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Indian Lake often magnifies wintry February conditions, sending gusts, snow drifts and other hazards onto the roadways that surround it, Indian Lake police Chief Jerry Bellak said.

The roads are downhill from most of the homes, so water collects there and freezes up in the winter, he said. It can get to the point where when something happens, its difficult to respond.

Thanks to a U.S. military program, Bellak found a heavy-duty reinforcement.

Indian Lakes police department added a 2008 military-grade Humvee to its fleet last month through the Defense Logistics Agencys 1033 Program, which makes surplus military vehicles, weapons and other equipment available to municipal law enforcement agencies across the country.

In recent weeks, the department has used it to trek through otherwise unpassable territory during security rounds and pull stranded cars back onto roads, he said.

And the department is planning to start doing safety checks for local retirees when temperatures plummet or surge within the small community, Bellak said.

Weve taken this thing places Id never dream of taking our (Ford) Explorer, he said.

Municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies across the nation are eligible to acquire equipment through the program, but theres a thorough paperwork process to complete, Bellak said.

Once he was approved, Bellak said he stayed active on the programs website for a year, waiting for an opportunity to find a quality Humvee that was nearby and available.

You can see whats available from bases across the United States. But its first-come, first-served  and you have to go check it out to see what youre getting, he said. And you dont know how many other departments across the country might be looking at it, too.

Bellak ended up finding a 2008 model with just 49,000 miles on it from a depot in Chambersburg.

The vehicle was stripped of some of its military components  including a gun turret  and outfitted with an Indian Lake Borough Police Department logo, he said.

This is going to be an outstanding tool for resident safety, he added. Ive gotta thank the mayor and borough council for authorizing it.

One too many

As a community with a large number of residents who live elsewhere during the winter months, Indian Lake has been providing security checks on homes for years, double-checking to see if homes are secure or security systems are working.

The death of a 97-year-old Portage Township woman earlier this month has prompted Bellak to begin offering the same checks for retirees who remain in their homes during periods where extreme conditions  both frigid temperatures or summer heatwaves  can cause issues.

In the Portage Township case, the woman was at home on her own and apparently ran out of oil to heat her furnace during a period temperatures were well below zero, investigators said.

I dont ever want to see something like that happen again  anywhere, Bellak said.

That death was one too many.

The borough is sending out a newsletter in the coming weeks, asking at-risk residents to call the department and alert them if theyd like police to make routine checks on them, he said.

Snow Day, the musical

Schools across the region cancelled classes Wednesday  but one Cambria County district chose a musical method to tip off students.

In a video broadcast on Central Cambria School Districts student-run television station, Superintendent Jason Moore picked up an acoustic guitar and joined four high school music program students to perform a winterized rendition of John Denvers classic Take Me Home, Country Roads.

Central Cambria students Aaron Caplea, Jake Kopco, Rhys Long and Ayden Stiffler took turns singing School is closed, stay at home, while Moore strummed along beside them.

I hear her voice in the morning hours she calls me. The robocall reminds me that theres no school today, Long crooned in one line.

The quintet performed under the name Less is Moore.

The video, viewable through The Tribune-Democrats Facebook page, was getting plenty of attention on social media Wednesday.

Its the second cancellation video that district students and staff have released this year.

Winter conditions

Wednesdays storm dropped 4 inches of snow on much of the Johnstown area, including Richland Township.

Totals varied across the region.

Parts of central Somerset County, including New Baltimore received 7 1/2 inches, while Buffalo Mills, Bedford County, recorded 7 inches, National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Colbert said.

Garrett in southern Somerset County had 6 inches of snow, while Brush Valley, Indiana County, received less than 3 inches, he said.

The early Wednesday storm created troublesome travel conditions across the region, but area 911 officials said few problems were reported.

Near whiteout conditions caused several tractor trailers to become temporarily disabled on Route 22, but conditions improved by the early afternoon, a Cambria County 911 supervisor said.

Ohio Street was also briefly closed, he said.

Thursday travel

Colbert said the Thursday morning commute could be slick and slushy, with up to an inch of ice or freezing rain falling on the region overnight.

Its going to create an icy mess, he said.

But with temperatures at or above freezing, it should help road crews who are cleaning up Thursday morning.

Conditions are expected to warm up throughout the day  into the 40s.

Highs should remain in the 40s through the rest of the week, although another storm could hit the region over the weekend, Colbert said.
Stephen Peprah, a STEMCivics Charter School junior, challenged his fear of water and won with this surfing effort at Samara Beach in Costa Rica.
@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.
For billions of years, a tiny moon has been slyly orbiting the ice giant  now the little lovely has a poetic name, as well as a surprisingly violent backstory.

A few billion years ago, a comet crashed into one of Neptunes moon, Proteus  just another day in the life of a celestial body. While the impact was almost enough to shatter the moon in half, she remained intact  but not before sending off a little offspring into world.

That fragment of Proteus has been doing the rounds along with the other moons ever since, but had gone undetected by us voyeurs down here. Until 2013, that is, when she was discovered by some eagle-eyed astronomers combing through pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope.

It was just incredibly difficult to detect, says Mark Showalter from the SETI Institute, who first spotted the moon in 2013 and describes it in the journal Nature.

Imagine discovering a new moon  and then being tasked with naming it? The load of that honor might be a bit intimidating, but for Showalter, it wasnt a problem. He named it Hippocamp.

When it came time to pick a name out of Greek and Roman mythologies from the seas, it was like, Oh, thats not a hard one, he says.

Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

The rules of the International Astronomical Union require that the names of Neptunes moons be selected from Greek and Roman mythology figures of the undersea world. The mythological hippocampi had the upper body of a horse and the tail of a fish. They pulled Neptunes aquatic chariot through the water and were often the mounts of nymphs and other various inhabitants of the sea. Their name has been given to both the modern seahorse (whose genus is Hippocampus) as well as the seahorse-shaped bit in the human brain, where it forms an important part of the limbic system, the region that regulates emotions.

The newly discovered moon has a wee diameter of just 21 miles and stays in close contact with its mother moon, whose orbit is about 7500 miles away. Hippocamp is the seventh inner moon of Neptune, and brings the total to 14.

The European Space Agency explains that Hippocamp is part of a long and violent history of Neptunes satellite system. Even big Proteus was the result of a cataclysmic event involving Neptunes satellites, writing: The planet captured an enormous body from the Kuiper belt, now known to be Neptunes largest moon, Triton. The sudden presence of such a massive object in orbit tore apart all the other satellites in orbit at that time. The debris from shattered moons re-coalesced into the second generation of natural satellites that we see today. Given that Hippocamp was born from a later bombardment, she is considered a third-generation satellite.

Based on estimates of comet populations, we know that other moons in the outer Solar System have been hit by comets, smashed apart, and re-accreted multiple times, noted Jack Lissauer of NASAs Ames Research Center, California, USA, a coauthor of the new research. This pair of satellites provides a dramatic illustration that moons are sometimes broken apart by comets.

Nobody said it was easy being one of the ice giant's moons, but at least the newest member of the pack has a sweet new name and a host of new admirers five planets away.
One of the rarest insects in the world, the Wallaces giant bee, has been found in Indonesia.

In 1858, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace discovered a tremendous bee while exploring the Indonesian island of Bacan. With a wingspan of two and a half inches  as long as a human thumb  and four times larger than a European honeybee, Wallace described the female as a large black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag-beetle. And thus, the Wallace's giant bee (Megachile pluto) entered the world of scientific literature.

Now recognized as the world's largest bee, despite its enormous size it wasn't seen again until 1981 when entomologist Adam Messer rediscovered it in Indonesia. Messer's observations of its behaviors  like how it used its giant jaws to gather resin and wood for its nests  provided some insight, but still, the bee remained generally elusive. It wasn't seen again for decades, making it the "holy grail" of bees.

But now the bodacious bee has been rediscovered once again, according to Global Wildlife Conservation. In January, a search team that set out to find and photograph Wallace's giant bee found success in Indonesia, bringing hope that the species may still be thriving in the forests.

It was absolutely breathtaking to see this flying bulldog of an insect that we werent sure existed anymore, to have real proof right there in front of us in the wild, said Clay Bolt, a natural history photographer specializing in bees, who took the first photos and video of the species alive after spending years researching the right habitat type with trip partner, Eli Wyman. To actually see how beautiful and big the species is in life, to hear the sound of its giant wings thrumming as it flew past my head, was just incredible. My dream is to now use this rediscovery to elevate this bee to a symbol of conservation in this part of Indonesia, and a point of pride for the locals there.

 Simon Robson

Messers rediscovery gave us some insight, but we still know next to nothing about this extraordinary insect, said trip member and bee expert Wyman, an entomologist at Princeton University, and formerly at the American Museum of Natural History, which has a single historical specimen of Wallaces giant bee. I hope this rediscovery will spark future research that will give us a deeper understanding of the life history of this very unique bee and inform any future efforts to protect it from extinction.

This is the second rediscovery of one of Global Wildlife Conservations top 25 most wanted species  species that have fallen off the radar and are feared to be extinct. Given the alarming, recent headlines that insects could be gone in a century, the more we can learn about endangered ones, the more we can work to protect them. In the meantime, it's heartening to know that in the forests of Indonesia, there are bird-sized bees doing their thing.

For a good read, see Bolt's account of the discovery here.
The 2019 Geneva Motor Show is only two weeks away, and automakers are already rolling out teasers of vehicles they will showcase in Switzerland. Among them, theres the Aston Martin Project 003, a new hypercar that the British firm is looking to launch in 2021. We only have a teaser shot and little info right now, but Project 003 looks and sounds exciting, to say the least.

Aston Martins Third Hypercar the Project 003

As the name suggests, the Project 003 will become Aston Martins third supercar. It follows the Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro, formerly known as projects 001 and 002. The British firm says Project 003 has its DNA "deeply rooted in concepts and technology currently being developed" for the Valkyrie, but it doesnt say how much it will borrow from the upcoming hypercar.

The Aston Martin Project 003 Will be a More Practical Supercar

The Project 003 is being design to offer more practical concessions to road use

Just like the Valkyrie, Project 003 will be built around a lightweight structure, likely based on technology from Formula One. It will also feature active aerodynamics and "outstanding levels of downforce" for a road-legal car. The active suspension will be based on the Valkyries.

So is Aston Martin building a special-edition version of the latter? Not exactly. The British firm says the Project 003 is being designed to offer "more practical concessions to road use," meaning it will include space for luggage. Its also being engineered for both left- and right-hand drive, so it will be sold globally. More importantly, it will be a hybrid.

The Aston Martin Project 003 Wont Feature a Naturally Aspirated V-12

While the Valkyrie features a naturally aspirated V-12, Project 003 will be a hybrid

This is where Project 003 will be entirely different. While the Valkyrie features a naturally aspirated V-12, the 003 will come with a turbocharged gasoline engine and an electric motor. Theres no word as to what unit Aston Martin will use, but the company has two options. Either the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 borrowed from Mercedes-AMG or a brand-new powerplant. The Valkyrie is also some sort of hybrid since it has a KERS system, but the Project 003 will be a pure hybrid with at least one electric motor. It could have two though, in order to obtain a powerful AWD layout.

Information is rather limited here, but the "hypercar" badge should translate into an impressive output. Given its more road-friendly characteristic, Project 003 might not be as powerful as the Valkyrie, which benefits from 1,130 horsepower, but it should have close to 1,000 or even a bit more. It should be light too, maybe just 100 pounds heavier than the 2,271-pound Valkyrie, mostly due to the extra luggage room and other road-friendly features.

The Aston Martin Project 003 Features a Sleek Design

The only available teaser right now suggests that Project 003 will be just as sleek as the Valkyrie.

But it doesnt seem like it will borrow too many design cues. The rear end appears to be significantly different, with long and slim taillights, a not-so-aggressive wing, and less muscular rear fenders. But it will have the same layout, with a canopy-style cabin, a roof-mounted intake, and a massive diffuser.

The Aston Martin Project 003 is Limited to 500 Units

Aston Martin plans to build 500 examples of the Project 500. It might not seem like a lot, but its actually a massive number compared to the Valkyrie. The latter will be built in only 150 units, while the AMR Pro track version will roll out the production line in just 25 examples.

Further reading

Read our full speculative review on the 2020 Aston Martin Mid-Engined Supercar.

Read our full review on the 2018 Aston Martin Valkyrie.

Read our full review on the 2019 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro.
If you are a true car enthusiast, you need to own an Alfa Romeo at least once in your lifetime. Driving the Stelvio Quadrifoglio really proves that the Alfa Romeo experience is still there. But, most importantly, the Stelvio feels special, and that really sets it apart from everything else. We spent a few days with the Stelvio and could not get enough, and that was just driving around town. If there was a race track around, we probably would not stop until there was no fuel or tires left. The Stelvio, at least in the Quadrifloglio configuration, is just a beautifully crafted machine that begs to be driven.

Background

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is the brands first SUV.

There are six different trim levels, but the one that is truly awesome is the top of the line Quadrifolio.

While the regular versions are powered by a 2.0-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine, the Quadrifolio comes with an all-aluminum, twin-turbo, 2.9-liter, V-6. The direct-injected DOHC engine is basically a Ferrari engine with two cylinders chopped off. The monster engine puts out 505 horsepower and pulls to 7,400 rpm. There are lots of other SUV manufacturers with engines that put out more than 500 horsepower but they dont sound like this engine. But more on this later.

Drivetrain

The awesome engine, assembled in Termoli, Italy is bolted to an eight-speed automatic transmission and routes the power to the ground through a standard all-wheel-drive system. The transmission offers huge aluminum shift paddles that are attached to the steering column so that you can reach them easier. The transmissions behavior depends on the mode selector, giving you a choice of response depending on your mood.

The Natural mode is best for comfortable daily driving while Advanced Efficiency mode is best for optimum fuel economy.

Dynamic really wakes things up with sharper steering feel and more aggressive throttle and transmission mapping. But go one notch more into Race mode and everything changes. In Race mode, the engine runs on more boost, the exhaust is opened up, the car is noticeably louder, and the stability control is turned off. You even get a notice on the dash that says Race mode is best in manual shifting.

Driving Impressions

Put the car in Normal or Advanced mode, and you can drive around town and enjoy this car just like any other car. But in Race mode, and the personality of the car changes - it becomes an animal.

First off, the exhaust sound of the Ferrari-derived engine is so intoxicating that you want to drive with the windows down and the engine at redline.

The sound of this engine at redline brings a smile to your face, and the blat sound that occurs at every upshift is fantastic. The personality of the Stelvio can be defined by the message on the dashboard when you switch to race mode. It says Best Race Experience with shifter in manual. While most other cars want to take away the control from the driver, the Stelvio practically begs the driver to take charge. And, thats part of what makes the Stelvio special. Something very few cars offer is that personality.

The Stelvio features double wishbone front suspension with an Alfa Link multi-link design rear suspension. The suspension uses composite and aluminum extensively throughout and is designed for great road holding. Throw the car in a corner, and the Stelvio will amaze you with its charm and capability. It is not just about ultimate grip. Lots of cars can produce lots of grip. A Corvette is great at huge numbers but it cant produce the feel to the driver that the Alfa Romeo can produce.

The steering on the Stelvio has a quick 12:1 ratio and talks to the driver.

Grab the carbon fiber and suede steering wheel, and you can totally understand what the front tires are doing, enabling you to push the car comfortably in any condition. The magic has to be in the dampers. The tuning of the dampers in the Stelvio may not be noticeable to many drivers, but they are a work of art. The body control motions of the Stelvio are so incredibly well controlled mostly because of the damper tuning. Put the car in Race mode, and the ride stiffens up noticeably, but while the ride is always firm, it is never harsh. Very few cars can achieve that level of control. Get out of the Stelvio and get inside most other high-performance SUVs, and you feel like you got inside a car with a wet sponge for a suspension system.

Attack a corner in the Stelvio, and the car rewards you with great communications and great balance. Thanks to the limited-slip differential and the torque vectoring system, you can really drive the Stelvio with minimal understeer.

The Stelvio comes with standard iron brake rotors, but you can order full carbon brakes if you wish for an additional $8,000.

Our car did not have the expensive option, and you wont need them unless you plan on racing the Stelvio. The Stelvio features a segment-first integrated braking system, replacing a traditional system of electronic stability control (ESC) and brake booster for even more instantaneous braking responsiveness. The innovative electromechanical system improves braking performance through a faster increase in pressure and makes it possible to vary brake feel jointly with the mode selector. This solution also saves weight, but it has received some poor reviews on brake feel around town. If you are a good driver and have a good feel for the brake pedal, you will not have any issues. Otherwise, stopping around town may be a bit jerky, but it will be on you, as the driver.

Interior

Get inside the cockpit, and the special feeling continues. Our car did not have the optional sport seats, but Alfa Romeos standard seats are better than other manufacturers sport seats. The standard seats are firm but comfortable, and their range of adjustment was fantastic. They offer adjustable side bolsters that really hold you in.

If you order the $3,500 Sparco carbon fiber seats, you will lose some weight and the heated seats function, but you'll gain even more support.

Final Thoughts

Alfa Romeo is doing well, and people are beginning to notice. Alfa Romeo sold 23,800 vehicles in 2018 - a 98% increase from 2017. Roughly half of those were the Giulia sedan and the other half the Stelvio. Interestingly, only about 10-percent of Stelvio buyers select the Quadriflglio.

The Stelvio is a very special vehicle that really appeals to the true enthusiast. The average driver will never appreciate or understand what makes this so fantastic, but we are just glad that it exists.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.

Read our full review on the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio.
ONCE AGAIN OUR BLOG COMMUNITY SETS THE AGENDA FOR LOCAL NEWS AS OUR KCMO SNOW COMPLAINTS INSPIRE COVERAGE AND A LITANY OF PATHETIC EXCUSES FROM POLITICOS!!!

Here are several factors that complicate KCMO snow removal KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As the kids enjoy a fresh round of snow (and yet another day off school), Amanda Trout knows the streets in her West Waldo neighborhood will remain snow-covered for a while. "It tends to be the side streets tend to be a bit more treacherous, even for days after the main roads are OK," Trout said.

Something to stick in your pipe and smoke for the overnight . . .Credit toPublic radio wants toand not developer giveaways.But this link captures the essence of thealong with paltry double talk from City Hall. Checkit:
Lies, Damn Lies, and Airport Politics In November 2017, Kansas City voters overwhelmingly supported building a new single terminal at the airport. Voters were told, time and again, that the airlines would pay for it-that no taxpayer funds would be used.

At least one part of it . . . There's so much to unpack but this quick snippet does a great job of calling into question some of the money that Edgemoor wants KCMO to front. Checkit:
Kansas City Crime Fight Hope

New violence prevention group hopes to deter crime KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's been a deadly year so far in Kansas City, Missouri. Less than two months into the year, 19 people have been killed in the city, primarily as a result of gun violence. A new group, informally called the Violence Response Team, is forming to help combat this issue.

Rock Chalk Suspect Prankster Returns

Man who made bomb threat at KU Edwards campus arrested again KANSAS CITY, Mo. - After skipping multiple court appearances, the 66-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man who told a professor at the KU Edwards Campus that he had a bomb strapped on him and a bag of grenades is back in jail. Richard A. Ellis was arrested Wednesday and booked in Johnson County Jail.

Golden Ghetto Gunman Report

Man, 21, faces charges in fatal shooting of Overland Park teen A 21-year-old man is charged in the fatal shooting of an Overland Park, Kansas, teenager in January.Ben Workman, 17, was killed in an apartment near 80th and Farley streets Jan. 23.A witness told police two men fled the scene. Alan Hicks is charged with murder and robbery.Investigators believe Workman may have known Hicks.

Tense Traffic Stop Topic

After state report finds racial disparity in traffic stops, advocates and lawmakers call for change KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Racial tension between law enforcement and the black community is high. In 2000, the Missouri legislature passed a statute that requires all law enforcement officers to report a driver's race for every traffic stop to the attorney general's office. That statute came about because of allegations of racial profiling from concerned citizens.

JoCo Po-Po Ask: Who Is This Lady?!?!

Lenexa Police request public's help in identifying woman LENEXA, KS (KCTV) - Lenexa Police are requesting the public's help in identifying a woman. The Lenexa Police are requesting the public's help in identifying a woman who picked up a person's check book, that accidentally left it behind, and put it in her purse.

Kansas City Intimidation Push Back

KCPD: Man arrested for allegedly intimidating neighbor who called police to report burglary KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City police confirmed to FOX4 Thursday they have arrested a suspect who allegedly intimidated a man living in the Historic Northeast for calling police to report a recent burglary at his home. Police told FOX4 the suspect, who turned out to be a neighbor, will likely face property crime charges.

Home Care Tragedy

Olathe man charged in death of mother who weighed 58 lbs OLATHE, KS (AP) -- An Olathe man who is charged with first-degree murder told investigators that he didn't seek medical care for his ailing mother before she died weighing just 58 pounds and suffering from open bed sores, according to court records.

A quick rundown of all the local crime news, police reports and alleged misdeeds in and around the metro . . .Developing . . .
Anti-gay activist Sevier a 'security concern' in Missouri | The Wichita Eagle Chris Sevier, the anti-gay, anti-porn advocate who met with Kansas lawmakers earlier this month, has been deemed a security concern in the Missouri Capitol after lawmakers found him to be 'jittery and suspicious.'

Or to be fair, a legislative gadfly who might not get many supporters on either side of the aisle. Checkit:
(Image credit: Daniel Fung/Shutterstock)

Lenovo's share price jumped 11 percent on February 21 after its latest earnings report proved tech companies could survive, and even thrive, despite the ongoing not-quite-trade-war between the U.S. and China.

But that doesn't mean Lenovo is enthused about the conflict between the U.S. and China. "Definitely we don't want to see more trade war, political tension," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing told Reuters. "If that continues, that would affect everyone, not just us, all multinationals."

Relations between the U.S. and China have grown increasingly hostile over the last year. Tariffs on goods originating from China quickly ballooned past initial estimates as they expanded to include more product categories. The U.S. also asked Canada to arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou for allegedly violating sanctions.

The countries have also engaged in a battle over memory and storage. After the U.S. barred American companies from exporting goods to Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Company, China retaliated with increased scrutiny of companies like Micron. Neither seems willing to deescalate the conflict any time soon.

But Lenovo seemingly sidestepped those concerns in its most recent financial quarter. The company said it had a net profit of $233 million--as opposed to the $289 million loss from the year prior--which beat analyst expectations of $207 million. It also increased its share of the PC market to 24.6 percent despite that market's decline.

Those successes were repeated across Lenovo's various business groups, from workstations to mobile phones, and they all contributed to the company's highest quarterly revenues in four years. Investors responded by pushing Lenovo's share price up the 11 percent we mentioned earlier, bringing the stock to a 36-month peak.
Photo Source: Lenovo

Lenovo has finalized an $8.3 million settlement to a class-action lawsuit regarding the use of software from Superfish, an ad company whose programs endangered sensitive data, in its laptops.

A quick refresher on the Superfish scandal: researchers discovered in 2015 that, contrary to Lenovo's claims, the company's adware tools compromised secure connections between consumers and the websites they visited. The idea was to inject ads on those sites--which probably wouldn't have been a popular choice anyway--but hackers could use those mechanisms to steal private information.

Superfish's programs were also said to affect the performance of the systems on which they were installed. That was a triple-whammy for Lenovo customers. Their laptops were injecting ads into the sites they visited, exposing their activity to hackers, and performing worse than they should have because of that setup. Needless to say that wasn't a particularly good look for Lenovo.

The company settled with various state groups and the Federal Trade Commission after the Superfish scandal blew up. Then came the class-action lawsuits, and after making its way through the U.S. District Court for Northern California, this settlement is finally ready to compensate affected consumers for the problems. Maybe that will finally bring an end to this four-year-long saga.

Top Class Actions reported that people who purchased the following models of Lenovo laptops between September 2014 and February 2015 are eligible for compensation via this settlement:

G Series: G410, G510, G710, G40-70, G50-70, G40-30, G50-30, G50-45

U Series: U430P, U430 Touch, U530 Touch

Y Series: Y40-70, Y50-70

Z Series: Z50-75, Z40-70, Z50-70

Flex Series: Flex 2 14D, Flex 2 15D, Flex 2 14, Flex 2 15, Flex 2 15(BTM), Flex 10

MIIX Series: MIIX 2-10, MIIX 2-11

YOGA Series: YOGA 2 Pro-13, YOGA 2-13, YOGA 2-11BTM, YOGA 2-11HSW

The settlement is expected to pay out between $40 and $750. People who submit a claim form without providing an itemized "proof of loss" will receive the $40. Those who provide those itemizations can get up to $750 to recover the costs of credit monitoring, technical assistance, and other services that may have been prompted by the revelation of the flaws in Superfish's tools.
Editors' Note: Updated at 9:38 p.m. ET with impressions from a demo after Samsung's Unpacked event.

After years of focusing more on fashion than function, smartwatch makers are chasing after Apple to make their wearables more useful for tracking health and fitness. Samsung just unveiled a version of its smartwatch, the $200 Galaxy Watch Active, designed with wellness in mind.





The new watch, on sale March 8, is more lightweight than last years Galaxy Watch, and has a new strap made of softer, more durable material. In the demo area at Samsung's Unpacked event today (Feb. 20), Samsung reps told us the material used in the straps is resistant to stains and rips. It certainly felt comfortable when we held it, and we can imagine it feeling smooth on your wrist throughout the day.

Like the original version, the Active model has built-in GPS and heart rate sensor for accurate workout-tracking, and the watch can automatically start tracking a half-dozen or so types of workouts, including running and biking. (You can manually track dozens of others.) It also tracks sleep cycles, including REM, deep and light sleep, just like a Fitbit does. This sets Samsungs watch apart from Apples, because the Apple Watch doesnt offer a native sleep-tracking app.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Active is water-resistant for swim-tracking, just like the last version, with 5ATM water resistance and IP68 resistance rating. You can charge the watch wirelessly, even using the Wireless PowerShare feature on the new Galaxy S10 phones to charge up when you place the watch on the phone's back.

But Samsung's newest watch goes further than its past versions.

Health at the forefront

Samsung says the Galaxy Watch Active can help people track their blood pressure with a new watch app, My BP Lab, that the company developed with the University of California, San Francisco. That app will be available to download March 15.

Its unclear if or how the watch takes blood pressure readings on the wrist, or if Samsung has obtained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A Samsung rep at Unpacked told us you enter in baseline blood pressure rate, and the watch uses that data to track you from there, but we're still eager to see how this works in practice. It seems unlikely that the Galaxy Watch Active is capable of taking oscillometric blood pressure readings, like Omrons FDA-cleared HeartGuide smartwatch. Ive reached out to the company for clarification and will update this story with more information.

Samsungs reach into health with the help of an institution like UCSF is major. UCSFs ongoing Health eHeart Study uses information from fitness trackers and smartwatches to research heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation. Apple worked with Stanford Medicine to develop its own smartwatch-based study, the Apple Heart Study.

The Galaxy Watch Active comes in one size, 40mm, and four shades  black, silver, rose gold and sea green.

A Fitbit rival

Samsung also has a Fitbit rival due out in the second quarter of 2019, the $99 Galaxy Fit, which also automatically tracks exercise, stress and sleep. That device also has a built-in heart rate monitor, but unlike the Galaxy Watch Active and its circular 1.1-inch display, the Fit features a rectangular 0.95-inch screen similar in style to the Gear Fit 2 from Samsung.



The Fit comes in two colors, black and silver, and is super lightweight  or "lighter than a strawberry," Samsung says. It's got 5-ATM water resistance, so it can stay when you hit the showers.



Stay tuned for full reviews of both the Galaxy Watch Active and the Galaxy Fit when they go on sale.

Senior Editor Philip Michaels contributed to this report from San Francisco.
The Galaxy S21 is Samsung's latest, and we're coming up on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but the Galaxy S10 series is still kicking and is still supported. You can find them refurbished or used, and they should have Android 11 by now. This is great, especially if you don't want to spend top dollar on a Galaxy S21 Ultra or Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The Galaxy S10e is the most affordable and compact of the bunch; the Galaxy S10 is the standard flagship; and the Galaxy S10 Plus is the biggest and most premium version, save for the 6.7-inch Galaxy S10 5G.

These handsets share much in common, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor, but there are some pretty big differences across the board, too. Here's how to choose the right Galaxy S10 for you.

Galaxy S10e vs. Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S10 Plus vs. Galaxy S10 5G: Specs compared

Galaxy S10e Galaxy S10 Galaxy S10 Plus

Galaxy S10 5G Price $749 at launch, now $599 $899 at launch, now $749 $999 at launch, now $849 $1,299 Display (Resolution) 5.8 inches (full HD+) 6.1 inches (quad HD+) 6.4 inches (quad HD+) 6.7 inches (quad HD+) Rear Camera(s) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2); 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4) 16-MP ultrawide (f/2.2);12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4); hQVGA 3D depth sensor

Front Camera(s) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9); 8-MP depth-sensing (f/2.2) 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9); hQVGA 3D depth sensor

CPU Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International) Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International)

Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International) Snapdragon 855 (North America); Exynos 9820 (International)

RAM 6GB, 8GB 8GB 8GB, 12GB 8GB Storage 128GB, 256GB 128GB, 512GB 128GB, 512GB, 1TB 256GB, 512GB microSD Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB Yes, up to 512GB

Battery 3,100 mAh 3,400mAh 4,100mAh 4,500mAh Battery Life (hrs:mins)

9:41

10:19

12:35

Not yet tested Colors Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Prism Green (except U.S.), Canary Yellow (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Prism Green (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Ceramic White, Ceramic Black, Prism Green (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Majestic Black (Verizon exclusive), Crown Silver Size 5.6 x 2.75 x 0.3 inches 5.9 x 2.77 x 0.3 inches 6.2 x 2.91 x 0.3 inches 6.4 x 3.0 x 0.3 inches

Weight 5.29 ounces 5.5 ounces 6.17 ounces 6.98 ounces

Galaxy S10 price and availability

Following the launch of the Galaxy S20 series, the 5.8-inch Galaxy S10e started at $599 for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 came in at $749 to $849 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage to start. And the 6.4-inch Galaxy S10 Plus was priced at $849 for its bigger display with the same 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.



The Galaxy S10 5G cost $1,299. Unlike the other flavors of the Galaxy S10, the 5G variant only comes with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

Unfortunately, we'd recommend against buying the S10 5G at this stage. Not only is the device difficult to track down these days, but as a first-generation 5G device, it doesn't support all deployments of 5G that carriers are using, meaning it's not very future-proof.

Besides, the newer Galaxy S21 Plus offers better 5G connectivity and all-around superior performance for a whopping $300 less than the S10 5G cost when it came out in 2019. So if you want a 5G Galaxy, we strongly recommend looking to one of the newer models, or even last year's Galaxy S20 series.

Galaxy S10 design, size and display

The entire Galaxy S10 family sports Samsung's Infinity-O display design. Instead of featuring a notch that hangs from the top of the screen, there's a hole punch on the top right side. It's fairly unobtrusive, but the S10 Plus and S10 5G have a wider hole punch to accommodate their dual front cameras, while the other phones have a smaller hole for a single front camera.

The Galaxy S10 Plus has dual cameras up front, and some don't like the hole-punch look.

The key difference between the four models is size. The Galaxy S10e has a 5.8-inch, full-HD display, which is the same size screen as the iPhone 11 Pro. The Galaxy S10 steps up to a 6.1-inch, quad-HD panel, and the Galaxy S10 Plus packs a 6.4-inch, quad-HD panel. At 6.17 ounces, the Galaxy S10 Plus is on the hefty side but still more than an ounce and a half lighter than the iPhone 11 Pro Max (7.97 ounces), which has a slightly bigger 6.5-inch screen. And the S10 Plus isn't even the largest Galaxy S10 of them all  that designation is reserved for the 6.7-inch, 6.98-ounce S10 5G.

The Galaxy S10 Plus has a 6.4-inch screen, while the S10 has a 6.1-inch display.

The screens on all four models benefit from Samsung's Dynamic AMOLED technology, which utilizes dynamic tone mapping for a wider range of a color and a reduction in blue light. However, all the S10 panels lack the 120Hz refresh rate of the newer S20 and S21 series. While the displays on the S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G are curved, the panel on the S10e is flat.

The Galaxy S10e has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button.

The Galaxy S10 weighs a manageable 5.5 ounces, while the S10e is a remarkably light 5.3 ounces.

Galaxy S10 color options

The Galaxy S10, S10e and S10 Plus all come in multiple colors, including Prism Black, Prism White and Prism Blue, as well as Flamingo Pink (except in the U.K.) and Prism Green (except in the U.S.).

The Galaxy S10e comes in yellow and green. The Galaxy S10 Plus has pink and white options.

The Galaxy S10e comes in Canary Yellow, but not in the U.S. And the 5G model offers less exciting choices  Majestic Black, which is exclusive to Verizon, and Crown Silver.

For those willing to splurge, the S10 Plus comes in Ceramic Black and Ceramic White, but those special editions are available only if you opt for the top-end 512GB or 1TB models.

Galaxy S10 fingerprint sensor

The Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded in the display, which makes it fairly easy to unlock these phones. Unlike optical sensors, such as that found on the OnePlus 8, this ultrasonic reader provides slightly better accuracy and security by creating a 3D contour of your finger. It can also work when your finger is wet or damp.

However, the sensor can occasionally register a false negative, forcing you to touch the sensor again. You have to be careful not to tap too quickly. One hacker has claimed to have fooled the scanner using a 3D printed fingerprint, but for most users this sensor should be fine for unlocking the device.

The in-screen fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10 is pretty fast, but it's not always accurate.

One of the trade-offs for the cheaper Galaxy S10e is that it lacks an in-screen fingerprint reader; instead, Samsung embedded the sensor into the power button on the side of phone. Based on our testing, this sensor is more reliable than the under-screen one, though it is harder to interact with if the phone is lying flat, given its location.

Galaxy S10 cameras

As you might expect, the S10e has the fewest cameras, but it's no slouch. It offers the same 12-megapixel sensor as the other models, plus an ultrawide 16MP camera. And you get Samsung's improved Scene Optimizer feature for automatically recognizing up to 30 different scenes.

The Galaxy S10e comes with dual rear cameras, including an ultrawide shooter.

The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus add a third camera to the back, a 12-MP, /2.4 lens that enables 2x optical zoom. (The S10e has to make do with digital zoom.) Then the S10 5G goes a step further, with a total of four lenses on the rear, thanks to the addition of a time-of-flight sensor for advanced spatial recognition.

On the front, the S10e, S10, S10 Plus and S10 5G all share the same 10-MP, /1.9 lens for selfies, but only the Galaxy S10 Plus plus packs a secondary depth sensor up front, which enables bokeh in selfies and the ability to colorize a subject while keeping the background black and white. The S10 5G also has a secondary front-facing sensor, but it's another time-of-flight camera, rather than a conventional one as in the S10 Plus.

Overall, the Galaxy S10 is a good shooting partner, but it's not quite the best camera phone given its age. Samsung's has really stepped up its imaging tech in the last couple of years, delivering breakthroughs like the 108-MP sensor in the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, or the incredible zoom features on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. If you're curious how the Galaxy S10's camera stacks up to the competition, check out our Galaxy S10 vs Pixel 3 camera face-off.

Galaxy S10 specs and performance (and 5G)

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor powers all four of Samsung's S10 flagships in the U.S, while Samsung's own Exynos 9820 is the CPU elsewhere. Samsung says the 855's built-in AI helps predict and prepare for app launches, which should speed up performance, while improved support for the Unity graphics engine boosts gaming performance over previous Galaxy S generations.

Based on our Galaxy S10 benchmark testing, this phone does indeed live up to the hype. It scored 10,732 on Geekbench 4, which was the highest score we had ever seen from an Android phone at the time of the S10's release. The iPhone XS is a bit faster in this test, but the S10 Plus pulled ahead on the 3DMark graphics test. You'll obviously see better performance from Samsung's 2020 and 2021 premium handsets, which feature Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon 865, 865 Plus, and 888 processors, but the S10 range is still plenty fast enough to consider purchasing today.

The Galaxy S10 Plus (left) comes with a max of 12GB of RAM.

On the Galaxy S10e, you start with 6GB of RAM but can opt for 8GB, and you can choose from 128GB or 256GB of storage. The Galaxy S10 comes with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. The S10 Plus tops out at 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, making it one of the first smartphones to reach those heights in terms of memory. And the S10 5G sits somewhere between all of those, with 8GB of RAM and the option of either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

The one area where the Galaxy S10 5G unsurprisingly pulls ahead is its data performance. We've speed tested the phone in Chicago, which was one of the first launch cities for Verizon's 5G network, and we have seen speeds exceed 1Gbps. And we were amazed as the S10 5G downloaded a 33-minute, 158MB episode of Netflixs Nailed It in an astonishing 5.6 seconds.

However, Verizon's network is far from widespread. That's been addressed since the carrier rolled out its nationwide sub-6GHz network in tandem with the launch of the iPhone 12, however, the Galaxy S10 5G cannot connect to that side of Verizon's 5G infrastructure. For that, you'll need the Galaxy S20, S21, or another one of the best 5G phones.

Galaxy S10 battery life and PowerShare

No surprise here. The Galaxy S10e has the smallest battery of the bunch at 3,100 mAh, but that doesn't mean it offers the least battery life; that's because it also has the smallest screen at 5.8 inches. This capacity is actually slightly better than the 3,000-mAh pack in the Samsung Galaxy S9.

The Galaxy S10e features a headphone jack and can wirelessly charge other devices.

The Galaxy S10 features a generous 3,400 mAh battery, while the Galaxy S10 Plus boasts a huge 4,100 mAh battery. By comparison, the Galaxy S9 Plus had a 3,500 mAh battery. In our battery tests, the Galaxy S10 Plus lasted a whopping 12 hours and 35 minutes, which is one of the best times we've seen from a flagship within the last couple of years. The phone also once featured in our list of the best phone battery life.

The regular Galaxy S10 endured for a very good 10:19, while the Galaxy S10e lasted a solid but unspectacular 9:41 on our battery test. For a comparison against the newer S20 devices, the standard Galaxy S20 fared just 9 hours and 31 minutes, while the Galaxy S20 Plus lasted a much better 10 hours and 31 minutes and the Galaxy S20 Ultra hit an epic 12:03. (All S20 tests were performed with each phone set to 60Hz mode.)

Each of the four Galaxy S10 phones offer Samsung's PowerShare feature, which allows users to charge other phones or Samsung's new Galaxy Buds wirelessly. You just place the other handset or buds on the back of the phone.

Bottom line

Given all the differences between the four models, which version of the S10 should you consider? Here's how we break it down after testing the four phones.

Get the Galaxy S10e if you want a compact phone that's easy to use with one hand but you don't want to sacrifice performance or pay a high price. The regular Galaxy S10 is the phone to get if you want a fairly big screen, a fingerprint reader in the display and a third rear camera for ultra-wide shots.

The Galaxy S10 Plus is the flagship to buy if you want a big display and battery and a second front camera, plus the option for a crazy amount of RAM and storage. And as for the Galaxy S10 5G, although it offered impressive performance at the time, newer 5G phones have it beaten in terms of connectivity and affordability  so skip it.
Samsung is getting serious about storage with the Galaxy S10. The 5.8-inch S10e, 6.1-inch S10 and 6.4-inch S10+ all start with 128GB as standard. Thats a big step up from the 64GB base storage in last years Galaxy S9 lineup.

Better yet, owners are free to expand upon the included storage with the use of a microSD card, up to 512GB in size. Heres how the Galaxy S10s storage options differ across models, as well as how much each one will cost.

Storage options Prices Galaxy S10e 128GB, 256GB $749, $849 Galaxy S10 128GB, 512GB $899, $1149 Galaxy S10+ 128GB, 512GB, 1TB $999, $1249, $1599

Breaking it all down

The $749 Galaxy S10e comes with 128GB of storage, but you can also upgrade to 256GB. The S10e is the only Galaxy S10 variant to offer 256GB aside from the 5G version of the phone (more on that later). A 256GB S10e will set you back $849  $100 more than the base 128GB version. Note that the 128GB model features 6GB of RAM, while the 256GB one is paired with 8GB RAM, like on the 6.1-inch and 6.4-inch devices.

The Galaxy S10 and S10+ start at $899 and $999 respectively for 128GB. Rather than offering 256GB as an upgrade, these devices go straight to 512GB for an added $250. As with many of Samsungs handsets over the years, customers will be able to add microSD cards up to 512GB in size for even more space for media and apps. Stuff one of those cards into an S10 or S10+ with 512GB built in, and youre looking at 1TB of total capacity.

Additionally, the S10+ offers a 1TB option with a whopping 12GB of RAM. Thats easily more storage and memory than any other phone on the market, even including the McLaren Edition of the OnePlus 6T and its 10GB of RAM. The 1TB S10+ will cost a whopping $1599, and like the 512GB model of the 6.4-inch handset, it exclusively be sold in either Ceramic White or Ceramic Black.

What about the Galaxy S10 5G?

The 6.7-inch Galaxy S10 5G wont be available on March 8 like the other versions of Samsungs new phone. Instead, Samsung is saving the 5G models release for closer to the middle of the year, when carriers will light up their 5G networks.

When it does go on sale, the S10 5G will carry 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. Samsung isnt saying that it will sell any other configurations at this time, which is quite odd, because the smaller, LTE-only S10+ will be available with significantly more capacity and memory.

Credit: Tom's Guide
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is a very innovative and exciting foldable phone, but Samsung doesnt justify the high price for this first-generation device.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is a phone that elicits mixed emotions. On the one hand, theres the sheer wonder and excitement of holding a foldable phone  and seeing it transform from a 4.6-inch handset to a 7.3-inch tablet and back again. That excitement continues when you see an app that's running on the front screen instantly pop up on the larger display, and when you start running three apps at once on the bigger canvas.

The other emotion is trepidation. Even though Samsung has made several enhancements to make the Galaxy Fold more durable since it delayed the devices launch, the company strongly suggests that you use a light touch when pressing on the display. Then theres the emotional sticker shock when you realize that this phone costs nearly $2,000.

As I used the device for this Samsung Galaxy Fold review, I vacillated between all of these emotions  and kept coming back to a single question: Who is the Galaxy Fold made for? The answer is: Very brave and very well-off early adopters who are willing to live with a product that feels like a refined prototype.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Cheat sheet

Galaxy Fold specs Starting Price: $1,980

OS: Android 9.9 with One UI

CPU: Snapdragon 855

RAM: 12GB

Storage: 512GB

External display (closed): 4.6 inches (HD+)

Main display: 7.3 inches (QXGA+)

Rear cameras: 12-MP wide-angle (f/1.5 to f/2.4); 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4); 16-MP ultra-wide (f/2.2)

Front camera (closed): 10-MP selfie (f/2.2)

Front camera (open): 10-MP selfie (f/2.2); 8-MP RGB depth (f/1.9)

Fingerprint sensor: Bixby button

Colors: Space Silver, Cosmos Black

Battery: 4,380 mAh

Battery Life: 10:01

Size: 6.3 x 2.5 x 0.66 inches (62.9 x 160.9 x 17mm)

Weight: 9.48 ounces

Samsung has durability improvements to the Galaxy Fold, including extending the top display, adding caps to the hinges, and putting a metal layer beneath the screen.

The 7.3-inch display is very immersive and lets you run three apps on the screen at once, but the front 4.6-inch screen is quite small.

When folded, the Galaxy Fold is considerably thicker than other phones, which means its best stored in a jacket pocket or purse.

The Galaxy Fold lasted 10 hours on the Tom's Guide web-surfing battery test, which is not great, but you can save power by using the front screen for checking notifications.

AT&T is the only carrier that is selling the Galaxy Fold directly, but you can also buy it unlocked. And that's not a bad idea; the AT&T version comes with lots of bloatware.

A Galaxy Fold case comes in the box to further protect the device, along with a pair of wireless Galaxy Buds.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold went on sale through AT&T and Best Buy on Sept. 27, as well as through Samsung.com .

The Fold is one of the most expensive phones ever. It costs $1,980 in the U.S. and 1,800 in the U.K. (2,000, $2,214), or about double the price of most premium flagships. (For context, the Galaxy S10 Plus starts at $999, and you can get a model with 1TB of storage and 12GB of RAM for $1,599. The iPhone 11 Pro Max with 512GB of storage costs $1,449. In essence, youre paying about a $380 to $530 premium for the Folds ability to fold.

For those scoring at home, the Fold would cost you $66 per month, at least if you pay off your phone in 30 months using one of AT&T's Next plans.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Design

Even though this is my second go-around with the Samsung Galaxy Fold, theres still a real Wow factor to this device. Thanks to a sophisticated, 20-part, dual-axis hinge, you can open this clamshell just like a book, transforming the Fold from phone to tablet mode.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The motion is fairly smooth and natural; Ill admit I felt a bit like a secret agent as I used the Fold in public, surfing the web or watching a video and then closing the whole thing up before I walked away. But I also felt nervous that someone might try to steal the device from me.

It's worth noting that the main display is plastic, not Gorilla Glass, like the outer cover display. But Samsung has fortified the larger panel by placing a metal layer beneath the screen. (See more on the Galaxy Folds durability below).

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

When closed, the Galaxy Fold feels like a throwback phone, and a chunky one at that. Its quite tall and narrow, and 0.66 inches thick. Thats about double the thickness of the Galaxy S10 and iPhone 11 Pro Max. This size was not optimal for the front pocket of my pants; its a better fit for a blazer pocket or a purse.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Galaxy Fold weighs a hefty 9.5 ounces, compared to 7.97 ounces for the iPhone 11 Pro Max and 6.9 ounces for the Galaxy Note 10 Plus. And I felt this weight strain my hands and forearms a bit when playing games for more than 10 minutes at a time; but if youre watching a movie or TV show, you can lean the Fold on your lap.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Im not a fan of the Galaxy Folds button layout: Samsung decided to separate the power button and fingerprint reader on the right edge of the Galaxy Fold. It would have made more sense to combine them, which would have enabled users to power on and unlock in one fluid motion. Instead, the fingerprint sensor doubles as the Bixby button, which you can program to open other apps, as well. Even though its less secure, I wound up using facial recognition to unlock the Fold because its simply faster.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The device comes in two color options: Space Silver and Cosmos Black. That's a bummer, because Samsung was going to offer funkier colors like Astro Blue and Martian Green through its site before it redesigned the phone.

The other important thing to note is that the Fold doesnt have a headphone jack, but this isnt a huge deal because Samsung includes wireless Galaxy Buds in the box.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Durability

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Samsung made several changes to the Galaxy Fold's design to address durability concerns before it launched for the public.

Top display extended: Some reviewers accidentally removed this protective layer, so now it goes all the way to the edge; users are much less likely to accidentally damage the device.

Some reviewers accidentally removed this protective layer, so now it goes all the way to the edge; users are much less likely to accidentally damage the device. Hinges now have caps on them: This move should prevent debris from getting caught behind the screen.

This move should prevent debris from getting caught behind the screen. Samsung narrowed the gap between the two sides: There's still a small space for stuff to get inside the Fold when closed, but it's improved.

There's still a small space for stuff to get inside the Fold when closed, but it's improved. Metal layer added underneath the display: This increases rigidity and makes touch interactions feel more solid.

All of these tweaks add up to a foldable that feels much closer to a $2,000 phone. Closing the phone still has a reassuring clap, like a book, and the hinge system feels pretty smooth. However, Samsung still treats this as a different class of phone when it comes to how it wants you to handle it. The company cautions that you  use a light touch when touching the 7.3-inch display and to keep the Fold free of water and dust.

One reviewer from TechCrunch reported that his Galaxy Fold was damaged after one day of use. The center of the screen became pixelated with a blob, but the cause is not clear. Thus far, we have not encountered issues with our review unit.

Samsung claims that the Galaxy Fold can withstand 200,000 opens.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Displays

Its best to think of the front display on the Samsung Galaxy Fold as an at-a-glance screen for quick interactions. Thats because its just 4.6 inches, which is Lilliputian compared to even the best small phones (typically 5.5 inches and up). Because the screen is narrow, its also difficult to type on.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

During my testing, I used the front display maybe 15% of the time, which included checking Gmail (but not responding), reading a news story with one hand while on the subway, and changing tracks on Spotify. Anything more made me feel that I needed the larger screen.

Samsung Galaxy Fold (left) and Apple iPad Mini (right).

The interior 7.3-inch display is where the real action is  an oversized Super Active Matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) canvas thats sharp and colorful but with a couple of trade-offs. On the plus side, I really enjoyed watching the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer; it really felt like I was using a tablet. I could even access and edit articles in our site's CMS because of how wide the display is. This is something I cant do as easily on the 6-inch-plus-size screens of the Galaxy Note 10 and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

(Image credit: Future)

During one commute home, I watched The Boys on the Prime Video app and felt like I had a mini movie theater in front of my eyes. If youd rather not have big bars above and below the display you can choose which apps go full screen in the Settings app.

However, the crease in the middle of the Folds display is noticeable when you use apps with a white background, such as Chrome and Gmail. Its not ugly, just distracting. And you can feel the crease when youre using various apps. The good news is that the crease isnt as noticeable when viewing head-on movies, photos or anything with lots of colors.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

On our testing, the Galaxy Folds display averaged 525 nits of brightness, which is not as bright as the Galaxy Note 10 Plus (686 nits) and nowhere near as bright as the iPhone 11 Pro Max (761 nits).

The OLED panel on the Fold of the color gamut registered 124.8% of the sRGB color gamut in Natural mode, which is about the same as the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and a bit higher than the iPhone 11 Pro Max (118.6%).

The notch in the top right corner of the display can cut off videos should you decide to watch in full-screen mode; you can hide this notch by turning on an option in Software, but this just creates a black bar across the top of the screen.

My bigger problem with the Folds notch is that you cant swipe down from the right side of the screen to reveal your notifications and quick settings. Instead, I had to shift my finger toward the middle of the display. However, you can also use the fingerprint sensor to open and close the notification shade with a swipe down and up.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Software

To make the most of its foldable design, Samsung worked with Google to devise a couple of clever software features. The first is App Continuity, which enables you to open an app on the cover display and then have the app immediately fill the larger screen when you unfold the phone.

One of the coolest features of the Galaxy Fold is App Continuity. If you're using an app like Google Maps on the front screen, you can open the display and it will instantly fill the larger display. This feature worked really well in my testing, with most apps popping up instantly.But you will need to tweak a setting if you want a given app to keep running on the small screen when you close the phone again.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The other handy feature is Multi Active Window, which allows you to run up to three apps at once on the Galaxy Folds large display. You swipe in from the right side of the screen to open additional apps, and can also easily resize the apps and move them around with your finger.

A decent number of third-party apps already support this multitasking mode, such as Spotify and Slack, but I noticed that Skype does not. It will take time for more developers to update their software for foldable phones like this.

By default, the big-screen keyboard offers a split layout to speedup thumb typing on such a large canvas, but I found myself switching to a regular layout because it felt like less work. No matter which mode you choose, swipe typing is supported.

If youre not a fan of carrier bloatware, I recommend that you buy the unlocked version of the Galaxy Fold. The AT&T model I reviewed had 19 apps from AT&T and AT&T-owned brands, including everything from DriveMode and Visual Voicemail to Bleacher Report and AT&T TV. I would prefer a much cleaner canvas for a $2,000 smartphone and I think Fold owners would, too.

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Cameras

Having six cameras on a phone seems like overkill, but it isnt given the Samsung Galaxy Folds unique design. Just like the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 , theres three shooters on the back of the Galaxy Fold: a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 16-MP ultra-wide lens and a 12-MP telephoto lens.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Up front  when the Fold is closed  theres a 10-MP camera for selfies. And when unfolded, the Galaxy Fold has another 10-MP main camera plus an 8-MP depth camera for portraits.

Shooting with the Fold closed feels borderline sneaky because its so compact. You just double press the power button and start firing away. Its particularly good for selfies, as you dont have to stretch your thumb far at all to shoot.

The problem is that the 4.6-inch screen is pretty small for framing shots; I found myself using the larger 7.3-inch panel when I wanted to make sure that I liked what I was capturing. Surprisingly, I didnt find shooting with a tablet-size display in front of my face embarrassing, which is probably due to the small bezels around the screen. But, in this mode, it is a two-handed affair.

Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Galaxy Fold is capable of delivering gorgeous photos with saturated color and a stunning amount of detail, as evidenced by this flower close-up. The rich purple really shines through, and the veins in the petals are well defined.

Image 1 of 3 Galaxy Fold (standard lens) (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Image 2 of 3 Galaxy Fold (wide-angle lens) (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Image 3 of 3 Galaxy Fold (zoom lens) (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I also had fun playing with the multiple lenses in Times Square. The standard wide-angle camera captured the myriad signs with crisp detail, and I could easily make out details on the signs as I zoomed in. The wide-angle shot resulted in a noticeable fish-eye effect toward the edges, but it got a lot more of the surrounding buildings into the frame.

Like the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy Fold comes with artistic new Live Focus modes, including spin bokeh, zoom bokeh and color print. I especially like the latter option, as it colorizes the main subject while leaving everything else black and white.

However, the Fold fell flat compared with the iPhone 11 Pro Max in this portrait of my two colleagues, Henry and Kate. The camera washed out both of the subjects faces and made Henrys jeans look like pants. Adam Ismail, who reviews lots of phones for Toms Guide, said of the Folds shot that Henry and Kate looked like they needed medical attention. You can also make out more texture and details in Kates shirt on the iPhone 11 Pro Maxs shot.

The Galaxy Fold also offers a dedicated Night mode, which I put up against the Night mode of the iPhone 11 Pro Max. When I snapped a photo outside around 7:30 p.m. in almost complete darkness, the Fold produced a brighter image, as you can make out more of the tree in the foreground. The iPhone 11 Pro Maxs shot also has more of an orange cast to it, especially in the street, it's image also provides better contrast in the bricks and better detail.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The front camera on the Galaxy Fold can take sharp selfies. Theres a fair amount of detail here in my hair and in the folds in my shirt.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Video

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is a very capable phone when it comes to shooting video. It can record in 4K at up to 60 frames per second. And the device can shoot super steady video when you press the hand icon in the camera app.

In our footage shot near Bryant Park, the Galaxy Fold kept stead as I walked, but the camera had some trouble with the bright sunlight, as some faces looked washed out. However, the fountain looked pretty sharp, and the Fold did a good job rendering the surrounding buildings when I activated the ultra-wide camera.

When I engaged the telephoto lens on the Fold to shoot a nearby Le Pain Quotidien, I could make out small details like the Pick Up Here sign.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Performance

Given that the Samsung Galaxy Fold has the same Snapdragon 855 processor as the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 line of phones, its not a surprise that it offers comparable performance. The main difference is the whopping 12GB of RAM included in the Fold, which did seem to help juggle having multiple apps open on screen at once. I didnt notice much lag as I ran three apps simultaneously.

On Geekbench 5, a relatively new benchmark that measures overall performance, the Galaxy Fold scored 728 on the single-core portion of the test and 2,619 on the multi-core portion. The Galaxy Note 10 Plus scored 736 and 2,691 respectively, which is pretty much identical, while the OnePlus 7T scored a slightly higher 744 and 2,802.

The iPhone 11 Pro Max blew away the field with a single-core mark of 1,334 and a multi-core score of 3,517. We'll be running additional tests throughout our time with the device.

To gauge graphics performance on the Galaxy Fold, we ran GFXBench; the phone turned in a score 1,038 frames on the high-tier version of the Aztec Ruins Vulkan test (offscreen). The iPhone 11 Pro max notched a higher number  1,657 frames.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Battery life

With a 4,380 mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has pretty good staying power given its huge display, but other phones last longer on a charge. On the Tom's Guide battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE (we used AT&T's network) at 150 nits of screen brightness, the Galaxy Fold's battery lasted 10 hours and 1 minute.

This runtime is pretty good when you consider that we used the larger 7.3-inch display for the entire duration of this test. (We will be retesting where we use the smaller front display for a quarter of the time.) By comparison, the Galaxy Note 10 Plus lasted an average of 11:09 on our test, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max averaged 11:54.

Best phone battery life: Longest-lasting smartphones

On a day with intermittent usage, which included snapping photos, streaming music, watching video clips and checking email, the phone still had 60% capacity left at 9:15 p.m; I had unplugged the phone at 6:30 a.m.

On a day when I used the Galaxy Fold more heavily, which included watching two full TV episodes on Netflix, the Fold was down to 25% come 9 p.m. Thats still more than a full days worth of endurance.

(Image credit: Future)

I loved being able to fire up the Wireless PowerShare feature on the Galaxy Fold, which allows you to charge other phones and accessories by simply placing them on the back of the Samsung handset. This includes the wireless Galaxy Buds, which Samsung throws in for the $1,980 price.

Samsung Galaxy Fold review: Verdict

The Galaxy Fold feels like a phone from the future, and yet from a practical perspective it falls a bit short. When I was using Slack in one window, Gmail in another and Spotify in yet another on the 7.3-inch screen, I could see myself using my laptop less and a device like this more. I also liked being able to review and edit large documents on the go. And its just cool to close the whole thing up when youre ready to walk way.

But that doesnt mean you should invest $2,000 of your own money. Even if you put aside the lingering durability concerns around the Galaxy Fold, I find the overall design bulky and heavy, and the front display is too small. And while the cameras are solid, the iPhone 11 Pro has leapt ahead with its better HDR and night mode.

So as much as I appreciate what Samsung has accomplished with this first-generation foldable phone, I would suggest that most people wait for the sequel and for other foldables to hit the market before they take the foldable plunge.
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[February 21, 2019] Walters Family Foundation Funds Transformative Projects That Strengthen Michigan Communities

MILFORD, Mich., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Since its inception, the Walters Family Foundation has contributed funding to support a variety of innovative projects that strengthen Michigan communities. These projects align with the family's mission to fund ideas that conserve the natural environment, celebrate arts and culture, advance economic vitality and empower people to reach their full potential through learning initiatives. In 2019, the Foundation is seeking new proposals from Michigan-based organizations that will further advance its mission. The Walters Family Foundation has championed ideas that range from creating a microgrant program for entrepreneurs in Eastern Market, Detroit to improving trout stream flows on Milligan Creek in Cheboygan County. Grant recipients include Detroit Promise Schools, Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Huron Pines, The Nature Conservancy, Detroit U Prep, Detroit Institute of Arts, Eastern Market Growing Communities and Midtown Detroit Inc. "The projects we have funded illustrate innovative approaches to empowering individuals and confronting complex problems in our communities and natural environments," said Carol Walters, Walters Family Foundation President. "We're interested in proposals that reflect our values of visionary thinking, integrity, collaboration and continuous learning." The Detroit Institute of Arts' "DIA Head Start" program is one such project. The DIA, partnering with certain Head Starts in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, will offer a multi-visit program to underserved pre-schoolers and their parents who have not had previous exposure to the museum. The program will provide gallery experiences in art and art-making and informal learning opportunities in order to familiarize the children and their families with te museum. "We'll be engaging families who might not be as comfortable at the museum. Any time an amazing cultural resource in the city can connect with parents and their young children, it's a positive for the community," says Teri John, Executive Director of Learning and Engagement , Detroit Institute of Arts.



Huron Pines is another Walters Family Foundation grant recipient. The organization is working to support the restoration of the trout habitat on Milligan Creek in northeastern Michigan. Funding contributed to the replacement of undersized culverts that impeded fish from moving freely up and down stream. The creek's new arch structures help preserve quality trout habitat and stream health, which in turn improve the recreation and the economy in the area. "One of our priorities is to support restoration of Michigan streams, rivers and lakes. Providing free movement of fish up and down Milligan Creek is in line with our objectives," says Walters. Midtown Detroit Inc. applied for funding from the Walters Family Foundation to develop a sustainable public courtyard within the Selden Innovation Corridor, a new innovation hub for startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses in redeveloped vacant spaces in Midtown Detroit. The central courtyard will serve as the outdoor anchor of the Corridor, providing a place for residents and also configurations for small group meetings, open air workspace and community events. The grant fund also supports sustainable environmental features including a permeable pavement and bioswale systems. "Developing underutilized spaces, such as the Selden Corridor, are known to be advantageous to the community because once activated, they foster interaction, collaboration, productivity and further revitalization," says Sue Mosey, Executive Director, Midtown Detroit, Inc.

In 2019, the Walters Family Foundation seeks to fund ideas that incorporate diverse perspectives, risk-taking and original solutions to challenging issues. "We want to see more great ideas and more visionary thinking. We encourage organizations to put forth innovative proposals that carry the promise of lasting impact," says Carol Walters. The Walters Family Foundation was created to build a legacy of family stewardship. It seeks to strengthen Michigan communities through grantmaking that supports conserving the natural environment, celebrating arts and culture, advancing economic vitality and empowering people to reach their full potential through innovative learning initiatives. The Walters Family Foundation believes in the relationship between communities and the natural environment and is committed to supporting projects that encourage and preserve their mutual, lasting vitality. For more information about the Walters Family Foundation please visit their website www.waltersffmi.org or contact Shilpa Bavikatte, Program Officer, at 248.205.1390 or shilpa@waltersffmi.org. Contact:

Shilpa Bavikatte, Program Officer

248.205.1390

shilpa@waltersffmi.org View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/walters-family-foundation-funds-transformative-projects-that-strengthen-michigan-communities-300800120.html SOURCE Walters Family Foundation

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[February 21, 2019] Blue Danube Systems Coherent Massive MIMO Delivers Industry's Highest Capacity Gains in Multiple Commercial Networks

Blue Danube Systems, a provider of intelligent wireless access solutions that help mobile operators address the challenge of explosive data growth, is today announcing significant results from multiple new FDD deployments in commercial networks with live traffic. These multi-unit installations show more than 2.5 times higher cellular capacity and significantly increased user throughputs for both legacy LTE (News - Alert) terminals as well as new generation smartphones. Blue Danube's BeamCraft 500 antennas were deployed in 4G LTE networks in dense urban megacities and other areas with high traffic load nearing full bandwidth utilization. The systems exploited intelligent analytics-based multi-site optimization, and the performance was measured directly from the operators' network performance management systems. The results exhibit increasing gains with the number of units deployed and highlight the benefits of multi-site optimization and coordination. Consistent performance improvements were observed across all multi-site deployments where BeamCraft units faced each other and intercell coordination can be fully exploited, with capacity gains reaching and exceeding 2.5X over the whole cluster. In addition, the Blue Danube deployments increased average user download speeds and extended 4G LTE service to previously underserved areas, providing improved indoor coverage t high demand location including hospitals, mass transit terminals and high-rise buildings with vertical beamforming.



Blue Danube's unique Coherent Massive MIMO system has been deployed by five 4G LTE operators worldwide and has been in commercial network operation in North America since 2016 serving thousands of users and carrying hundreds of gigabytes of data traffic daily. In addition to solving capacity challenges in today's 4G LTE networks, Blue Danube's products are fully compatible and software upgradable to support 5G NR. The company is extending the technology capability to support TDD bands, starting with 2.5 and 3.5 GHz frequencies, and enable FD-MIMO operation in future products. "These results re-enforce why Blue Danube remains a Massive MIMO vendor to be watched," said Daryl Schoolar, Practice Leader at Ovum (News - Alert) . "FDD spectrum bands remain the primary spectrum bands in use today. The ability to add more capacity to those bands is of utmost importance to mobile operators."

"Today's results clearly showcase the unmatched performance of our Coherent Massive MIMO technology," said Mark Pinto, President and CEO of Blue Danube Systems. "There are no other solutions available in the market with the same level of performance in live commercial operation. The flexibility of our solution enables unique capabilities from vertical beamforming to on-demand capacity with dynamic time-of-day beamforming. We have proven our technology for FDD mode and are now expanding our capability to TDD as well as higher frequency bands." Blue Danube is participating at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) in Barcelona, Spain, February 25-28. Blue Danube can be found in Hall 2, hospitality stand 2M63. About Blue Danube Systems Blue Danube Systems designs intelligent wireless solutions for mobile communication providers and other applications. Our portfolio of active antenna array products is based on an innovative technology that assures RF coherency at any frequency and form factor. The solutions are implemented on a cost-effective and flexible hardware architecture with software enabling highly accurate and agile beamforming. Combined with cloud-based AI/ML algorithms for network optimization, our Massive MIMO solutions enable a significant increase in capacity on today's cellular networks and smartphones while being fully extensible to future 5G networks. Blue Danube Systems is a privately held start-up backed by Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake along with other investors including AT&T (News - Alert) . For more information, please visit www.bluedanube.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221006022/en/

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[February 21, 2019] International Recruit and Staffing, Jeffrey Jedlicki Invest in AI Application to Improve Satisfaction Levels and Placement Matching

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- International Recruit and Staffing owner Jeffrey Jedlicki (headquarters: Delray Beach, Florida; president and CEO: Jeffrey Jedlicki) has invested in a new technology set of AI applications to improve satisfaction levels and placement matching, through its internal investment and development. 1. Background and Objectives

Corporate points of interaction for improving customer engagement and employment can be difficult for firms to provide high levels of ROI at all times in response to customers' diverse requests. Our technology offers an AI application solution that uses internal and external data to assign the agent most suitable for them. As an end result, the placements and quality of service improve. Through this investment, we aim to improve the performance of the company and provide support in increasing use of its services. This advancement will use this opportunity to expand our product developments and sales activities. 2. Overview of Technology

Our technology uses the latest machine learning technology to build predictive models based on internal data, such as demographic information and past interactions, as well as external data obtained by the company. These models are then used to assign customers the agent most suitable for them. In addition, the prediction model is automatically updated, allowing high precision to be maintained at all times. This service is being deployed in the financial, insurance, and IT industries, and its expansion into a variety of situations, including outbound sales, is expected in the future. 3. Our Story:

Our vision was to start an organization that could bring a high-quality service to the employmnt market. Jeffrey Jedlicki opened the doors of International Recruit and Staffing as an employment agency. Over time, International Recruit and Staffing evolved into a top executive recruitment firm for a global audience complete with an experienced team of Recruiters, Account Executives and Researchers.



In the early days, International Recruit and Staffing focused solely on the Finance Industry with a special emphasis on the Sales, Human Resources and Data Capture. Then the idea hit to expand into vertical markets and new emerging markets such as Healthcare, & IT. Since then, International Recruit and Staffing has been on a high growth trajectory. Today, International Recruit and Staffing' many practices areas include: Automated Packaging & Material Handling, Automation Industrial Technology, Robotics, Electronic/Physical Security Technology, IT & Cybersecurity, Energy & Sustainability, HVAC, Healthcare IT, Labels & Labeling, Life Sciences, Military Transition, Military Leadership Excellence, Food & Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Processing & Packaging, Plastics & Flexible Packaging, Government Technology, and Supply Chain & Logistics.

And we've made an impact. Executive search is not perception, packaging, or pontificating. It's about the hard, not so pretty work of contacting talented people, gaining their trust, and giving them the opportunity to enhance their careers and at the same time helping our client achieve their corporate goals. We've also become part of the establishment. Success does that. But we haven't forgotten where we came from. We base our business on the same cornerstones that made us one of the best search firms in the country. Namely, we bring our unique ability to stay agile, nimble, and personal to each search in order to maintain speed of delivery and quality of service. In addition, we strive to provide the best client and candidate experience possible. Even though International Recruit and Staffing, Inc. continues to thrive, we stay real and humble and refuse to stand on our laurels. We are open to new synergies to improve local and enterprise communities. Ask how we can help you or your organization today. Related Images ai-technology-in-recruiting.jpg

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Jeffrey Jedlicki Related Links Jeffrey Jedlicki View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/international-recruit-and-staffing-jeffrey-jedlicki-invest-in-ai-application-to-improve-satisfaction-levels-and-placement-matching-300799932.html SOURCE International Recruit and Staffing

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[February 21, 2019] Anixter International Inc. Appoints Bill Simon, Chuck Swoboda to the Board of Directors

Anixter (News - Alert) International Inc. (NYSE: AXE) today announced the appointment of two new members, Bill Simon and Charles "Chuck" Swoboda, to its board of directors, effective March 1, 2019. "We are pleased to announce two significant additions to our board," said Sam Zell, Chairman of Anixter's board of directors. "Bill brings a wealth of experience leading complex global companies, and Chuck will contribute his deep expertise of the electrical and lighting businesses. I am confident that their perspectives will be valuable to Anixter as we move forward and grow our business." Mr. Simon is the former President and Chief Executive Officer (2010 to 2014) and Chief Operating Officer (2007 to 2010) of Walmart U.S., a leading retail corporation. Prior to joining Walmart, Mr. Simon held several senior positions at Brinker International, Diageo, Cadbury-Schweppes, PepsiCo and RJR-Nabisco. He also served in the public sector as Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services. Mr. Simon is currently a senior advisor to the investment firm KKR and serves as the President of WSS Venture Holdings, LLC. He currently serves on the boards of directors of Darden Restaurants, Inc. and Chico's FAS Inc. Mr. Simon received his B.A. (Economics) andMBA from the University of Connecticut.



Mr. Swoboda was formerly the Chairman (2005 to 2017) and Chief Executive Officer (2001 to 2017) of Cree (News - Alert) Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer of semiconductors and lighting products. As the CEO, he led the transformation of Cree from a small R&D focused company to a $1.6 billion multi-division global products company. Since 2017, Mr. Swoboda has served as the President of Cape Point Advisors, LLC, a private consulting company. Mr. Swoboda graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. About Anixter

Anixter International is a leading global distributor of Network & Security Solutions, Electrical & Electronic Solutions and Utility Power Solutions. We help build, connect, protect, and power valuable assets and critical infrastructures. From enterprise networks to industrial MRO supply to video surveillance applications to electric power distribution, we offer full-line solutions, and intelligence, that create reliable, resilient systems that sustain businesses and communities. Through our unmatched global distribution network along with our supply chain and technical expertise, we help lower the cost, risk and complexity of our customers' supply chains. Anixter adds value to the distribution process by providing approximately 130,000 customers access to 1) innovative supply chain solutions, 2) nearly 600,000 products and over $1.0 billion in inventory, 3) over 300 warehouses/branch locations with over 9 million square feet of space and 4) locations in over 300 cities in approximately 50 countries. Founded in 1957 and headquartered near Chicago, Anixter trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AXE. Additional information about Anixter is available at www.anixter.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005939/en/

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[February 21, 2019] AM Best Revises Outlooks to Positive for Somerset Reinsurance Ltd.

AM Best has revised the outlooks to positive from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb+" of Somerset Reinsurance Ltd. (Somerset Re) (headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda). The ratings reflect Somerset Re's balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its marginal operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. Somerset Re is a life and annuity reinsurer registered in Bermuda. The company is focused on providing underwriting and reinsurance solutions to the life reinsurance marketplace while also offering reinsurance capacity to companies in need of reinsurance solutions for in-force asset intensive business. Somerset Re also provides additional counterparty risk alternatives. The revised outlooks reflect Somerset Re's very strong level of risk-based capitalization measured in absolute terms and by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best anticipates the current capitalization level to support new business growth over the intermediate term without the need to access additional funding. Early profitability is noted as part of Somerset Re's operating profile, with recent financial metrics in line with its submitted business plan. Conversely, Somerset Re's very strong capital profile is based on the limited amount of business generated by the company to date, at the early stage of its business plan. The company is backed by a very experienced reinsurance management team with deep ties to the industry. While the company has developed a trend in profitability, a limitation to the ratings level for the company will continue until a meaningful trend can be esablished over the near to intermediate term. It is noted that to date the company has been growing the business in line with the growth forecast in the original business plan. AM Best will continue to monitor the execution of Somerset Re's growth to assess the reliability of the earnings profile and financial metrics as trends develop. AM Best anticipates that the company will continue with a profitable earnings profile going forward.



Positive rating action could occur if the company is able to continue to demonstrate a trend of profitable operations along with a capital and business profile in line with the submitted business plan. Conversely, negative rating action could occur if the capital structure of the company declines due to adverse impacts from execution of the company's business plan. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases.

AM Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry. Visit www.ambest.com for more information. Copyright  2019 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005962/en/

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Companies continue to move business critical workloads and their most sensitive data to the cloud, yet security challenges remain, according to new research.

While 72% of respondents feel the public cloud is more secure than what they can deliver in their own data center and are moving data to the cloud, there is also a significant visibility gap remains, making it hard for businesses to understand where and how their critical data is handled in the cloud.

The survey conducted by Oracle and KPMG identified a 3.5X increase in the number of organizations with more than half of their data in the cloud from 2018 to 2020. In addition, 71% of organizations indicated that a majority of this cloud-data is sensitive, up from 50% last year. However, the vast majority (92%) noted they are concerned about employees following cloud policies designed to protect this data.

The report found that the mission-critical nature of cloud services has made cloud security a strategic imperative. Cloud services are no longer nice-to-have tertiary elements of ITthey serve core functions essential to all aspects of business operations.

The 2019 report identified four key areas where cloud security challenges remain for many organizations.

Confusion about the shared responsibility security model has resulted in cybersecurity incidents. Eighty-two percent of cloud users have experienced security events due to confusion over the shared responsibility model. While 91% have formal methodologies for cloud usage, 71% are confident these policies are being violated by employees, leading to instances of malware and data compromise. CISOs are too often on the cloud security sidelines. Ninety percent of CISOs surveyed are confused about their role in securing a SaaS environment versus the cloud service provider. Visibility remains the top cloud security challenge. The top cloud security challenge identified in the survey is detecting and reacting to security incidents in the cloud with 38% of respondents naming it as their top challenge today. Thirty percent cited the inability of existing network security controls to provide visibility into cloud-resident server workloads as a security challenge. Rogue cloud application use and lack of security controls put data at risk. Ninety-three percent of respondents indicated they are still dealing with shadow IT in which employees use unsanctioned personal devices and storage or file share software for corporate data. Half of organizations cited lack of security controls and misconfigurations as common reasons for fraud and data exposures. Twenty-six percent of organizations cited unauthorized use of cloud services as their biggest cybersecurity challenge today.

The second annual Oracle and KMPG Cloud Threat Report 2019 is based on a survey of 450 cyber security and IT professionals from private and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada), Western Europe (United Kingdom), and Asia (Australia, Singapore). For more information, go to www.oracle.com/cloud/cloud-threat-report.html.
[February 21, 2019] Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, and MS Technologies Announce Launch of Enlist E3 Soybeans for the United States in 2019

WILMINGTON, Del. and WEST POINT, Iowa, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), and MS Technologies are pleased to announce the U.S. launch of Enlist E3 soybeans for 2019 planting, in one of the largest soybean technology system launches ever. The companies have completed their respective production plans, commercial offers, employee training and have received regulatory approvals in accordance with company product launch policies and Excellence Through Stewardship. "Enlist E3 soybeans are industry-leading triple-stack herbicide tolerant soybeans that give farmers broader choice and flexibility in selecting herbicide tolerance traits, genetics and crop protection solutions. We are pleased to offer this important technology to U.S. growers through many Corteva Agriscience seed brands as well as through many licensees," said Corteva Agriscience Chief Executive Officer-Elect, James C. Collins, Jr. "Enlist E3 soybeans incorporate advanced herbicide tolerance and enable use of our Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides to give growers a complete solution for exceptional weed control." "This is great news for U.S. soybean growers," notes Joseph Merschman, president of MS Technologies. "This announcement clears the way for even more soybean growers to experience the high-yielding elite genetics and exceptional weed control offered by the Enlist E3 soybean system." Jointly developed by Dow AgroSciences and MS Technologies, Enlist E3 soybeans provide tolerance to new 2,4-D choline in Enlist Duo and Enlist One herbicides, as well as glyphosate and glufosinate herbicides. Enlist Duo herbicide is a combination of new 2,4-D choline and glyphosate, a convenient blend for control of tough broadleaf and grass weeds. Enlist One herbicide is a 2,4-D choline product offering the same excellent broadleaf weed control with greater tank-mix flexibility, including the ability to tank mix with qualified glufosinate products. Farmers can apply Enlist herbicides in burn down through post-emergence in conjunction with Enlist E3 soybeans to help control tough and glyphosate-resistant weeds; additional tolerance to glufosinate means they can utilize three post-emergence herbicide modes of action in Enlist E3 soybean fields. An additional benefit of Enlist E3 soybeans is no plant-back window after a burn down application of Enlist herbicides. With near-zero volatility and reduced potential for physical drift, Enlist herbicides with Colex-D technology are designed to land and stay on target. Enlist E3 soybeans will be available for planting in 2019. Enlist E3 soybeans will be available in commercial quantities across all Corteva Agriscience brands in 2020, including Corteva Agriscience's flagship Pioneer brand, as well as from Stine Seed Company and Merschman Seed Company. Corteva Agriscience and MS Technologies also plan to broadly license Enlist E3 soybean technology. The companies are currently in discussions with more than 100 seed brands. With this broad licensing approach, robust ramp-up plans and extensive seed production, Enlist E3 soybeans are expected to be planted on more than 10 percent of U.S. and Canada soybean acres in 2020. Enlist E3 soybeans are approved for cultivation in the U.S., Canada and Brazil. Enlist E3 soybeans have receive import authorization in importing countries including China and the Philippines. Enlist E3 soybeans should now be managed through standard grain handling practices in the U.S. for products containing biotechnology traits. For more information about Enlist E3 soybeans and the Enlist weed control system, please review product labels, the Product Use Guide and the Technology Use Agreement and Enlist.com. For additional information about the status of regulatory authorizations for agricultural biotechnology seed products, please visit http://www.biotradestatus.com/.



To learn more about the Enlist weed control system, visit Enlist.com, follow us on Twitter at @EnlistOnline or go to our YouTube channel. About Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont

Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), is intended to become an independent, publicly traded company when the previously announced spinoff is complete by June 2019. The division combines the strengths of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow AgroSciences. Corteva Agriscience provides growers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry  including some of the most recognized brands in agriculture: Pioneer, Encirca, the newly launched Brevant seed brand, as well as award-winning Crop Protection products  while bringing new products to market through our solid pipeline of active chemistry and technologies. More information can be found at www.corteva.com.

Follow Corteva Agriscience on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. About MS Technologies

MS Technologies LLC is a leading trait, technology and soybean genetics provider. MS Technologies features a portfolio of in-house traits, as well as wide access to other traits and technologies through collaborative agreements with other parties. For more information on MS Technologies, visit our website.  TM SM Trademarks and service marks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners MS Technologies is a trademark of M.S. Technologies, L.L.C, 103 Avenue D, West Point, Iowa 52656 USA. Enlist E3 soybeans are jointly developed by Dow AgroSciences and MS Technologies. The Enlist weed control system is owned and developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. Enlist Duo and Enlist One herbicides are not registered for sale or use in all states or counties. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your area. Enlist Duo and Enlist One are the only 2,4-D products authorized for use with Enlist crops. Consult Enlist herbicide labels for weed species controlled. Always read and follow label directions. 2019 Dow AgroSciences LLC. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corteva-agriscience-agriculture-division-of-dowdupont-and-ms-technologies-announce-launch-of-enlist-e3-soybeans-for-the-united-states-in-2019-300799940.html SOURCE DowDuPont

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[February 21, 2019] GE Elects Catherine Lesjak to Board of Directors

GE (NYSE:GE) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Catherine Lesjak to the GE Board, effective March 1, 2019. Ms. Lesjak is the former chief financial officer of HP, where she held a wide range of prominent leadership roles over the course a 32-year career with the company. GE Lead Director Thomas Horton said, "We are very pleased to welcome Cathie to the Board. She brings deep experience in a complex global technology business. The insights she gained over a long career at HP will be of great benefit to GE as we move forward." GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., said, "Cathie is a respected leader who is known for her independence and sound judgment, strong financial and operational acumen, and leadership through periods of change, including a significant shift in HP's portfolio strategy. We look forward to having her join the GE Board." Ms. Lesjak, 60, served as CFO for HP and its pedecessor, Hewlett-Packard (News - Alert) Company, from 2007 to 2018. She most recently served as interim chief operating officer of HP and, in 2010, served briefly as interim chief executive officer for the company. Earlier in her career she served as senior vice president and treasurer and in other financial management and controllership roles. Ms. Lesjak will retire from HP at the end of February.



Ms. Lesjak serves as a director for SunPower Corporation, a vertically integrated solar company, as well as the board of the Berkeley Haas Business School. She holds a B.S. from Stanford University and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley. About GE

GE (NYSE:GE) drives the world forward by tackling its biggest challenges. By combining world-class engineering with software and analytics, GE helps the world work more efficiently, reliably, and safely. For more than 125 years, GE has invented the future of industry, and today it leads new paradigms in additive manufacturing, materials science, and data analytics. GE people are global, diverse and dedicated, operating with the highest integrity and passion to fulfill GE's mission and deliver for our customers. www.ge.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005811/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Tangoe Examines Key Tech Trends at Mobile World Congress 2019

Executives at Tangoe, the Telecom Expense Management (TEM) and Managed Mobility Services (MMS) leader, will share insights into the key themes at the 19th Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, February 25-29. Tangoe (News - Alert) sees sharp interest in 5G cellular, advanced technologies, cybersecurity and managing cloud expenses from its global clients. Tangoe, the top provider of telecom and mobility solutions, works with the leading brands to optimize their technology spending and help their organizations work more efficiently. Tangoe's recent acquisition of MOBI combined the industry's TEM and MMS leaders to create a global technology management powerhouse, which manages more than $40 billion in annual technology spend and 10 million connected devices-nearly five times more than Tangoe's nearest competitor. Tangoe's perspective on key issues on the MWC 2019 agenda include: Widespread use of 5G transmission will grow in the next year, as more organizations take advantage of its increased data transfer speed, reduced latency and faster reaction times across millions of devices used in the mobile workforce.

will grow in the next year, as more organizations take advantage of its increased data transfer speed, reduced latency and faster reaction times across millions of devices used in the mobile workforce. More organizations will adopt advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), although adoption may be slowed by lack of a common programming language and a shortage of AI developer skillsets.

such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), although adoption may be slowed by lack of a common programming language and a shortage of AI developer skillsets. As sensor and smartphone technology become more advanced, devices will eventually introduce scan-less cybersecurity features. Expect biometrics to advance beyond traditional measures to enable access based on other unique traits, like a user's tone of voice, movement style or typing patterns. As cloud adoption expands, companies are seeing their IT expenses increase. Companies continue to transition from fixed to cloud-based expenses, which are more difficult to track. As organizations drown in cloud license complexity, they will look more to managed services that can control costs.



News - Alert) , Senior Vice President of Strategy, Tangoe. "This is the first year the combined team from Tangoe and MOBI will be at MWC, and we are excited to share our expertise in telecom and mobility solutions with customers, prospects, partners and industry influencers. Our team will also be sharing how Tangoe is transforming the industry to helps its customers improve productivity and their bottom lines." MWC, the premier annual event of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association ( GSMA (News - Alert) ), annually draws the largest international group of telecom and mobility executives to discuss industry developments and issues. More than 107,000 industry representatives attended MWC 2018, 55 percent holding senior level positions.

NOTE TO EDITORS Journalists attending Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) are invited to meet with Tangoe executives onsite in Room 2.1C6Ex, Hall 2, Upper Level. For more information, please contact Emily Allen, Articulate Communications, tangoe@articulatecomms.com, or +1 212-255-1198. ABOUT TANGOE Tangoe is the global standard for America's greatest brands. Tangoe customers trust them to optimize more than $40 billion of telecom expenses and manage the lifecycle of more than 10,000,000 mobile devices. Customers cite five reasons Tangoe is their preferred solution: Customers - Tangoe has earned the trust of a who's who of America's greatest companies.

Technology - Tangoe offers modern, cloud-based, advanced-architecture technology solutions.

Savings - Tangoe leads the industry in one-time, continuous and total cost savings.

Global Reach - Tangoe serves the global needs of the largest, most sophisticated companies.

Customer Service - Tangoe delivers ever-better service for customers. Tangoe is the industry leader. They optimize more telecom expenses and manage more mobile devices than their next three competitors, combined. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005608/en/

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[February 21, 2019] E Ink, TOPPAN and Isetan Mitsukoshi Partner to Develop World's First Full-Color, ePaper Digital Point-of-Purchase Sign

E Ink Holdings, "E Ink" (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology, today announced its Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) has been used by TOPPAN Printing Co. Ltd. and Isetan Mitsukoshi to develop the world's first digital point-of-purchase (POP) sign using a full-color Electronic Paper Display (EPD). E Ink's first generation ACeP display is capable of displaying well over 32,000 colors, making the solution an attractive and sustainable alternative to wasteful paper POP. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005604/en/ E Ink, TOPPAN and Isetan Mitsukoshi Partner to Develop World's First Full-Color, ePaper Digital Point-of-Purchase Sign (Photo: Business Wire) E Ink's ACeP display achieves a full color gamut, including all eight primary colors, using a proprietary four pigment microencapsulated electronic ink containing cyan, magenta, yellow, and white. Rich color is achieved by having all the colored pigments in every pixel as opposed to the side-by-side pixel colors achieved with a color filter array (CFA). Like other E Ink ePaper technology, ACeP is low-power with paper-like readability under virtually all lighting conditions. Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd., which has been promoting initiatives for the reform of working practices and from ESG, or Environment, Social, and Governance, perspectives, worked with TOPPAN to develop POP signage to reduce paper waste from in-store promotions, and to enhance worker efficiencies. Isetan Mitsukoshi will install a prototype in the Isetan Shinjuku store for their "HANABANASAI" campaign that launches on February 20, 2019. The POP product developed by TOPPAN and Isetan Mitsukoshi enables a simple content update process through a PC or smartphone for greater operating efficiency and reduced environmental waste. The signage does not require any power at the location of installation for easy mobility around stores when layout changes are needed. The addition of E Ink's ACeP display brings an enhanced visual appeal to the in-store promotions, with the ability to update information wirelessly.



"E Ink appreciates TOPPAN's initiative to drive the ACeP POP business at a top tier Japanese department store. As technology guides our world in becoming increasingly connected, it's imperative that we find sustainable solutions that help our workers and the environment," said Naoki Sumita, General Manager of E Ink Japan. "We look forward to working together with TOPPAN to continue efforts to expand ACeP in the POP market and in other potential markets." "We are pleased to jointly test the potential of full-color ACeP from E Ink, and look forward to the collaboration toward a digital POP product that contributes to solving the efficiency & waste challenges in the retail sector," said Heeday Danjo, General Manager, TOPPAN Printing Co., Ltd.

A pilot of the solution is scheduled to be on display at the Front Entrance of Isetan Shinjuku Main Store in Tokyo, Japan, from Wednesday, February 20 to Tuesday, March 26. About E Ink Holdings

E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TWO), based on technology from MIT's (News - Alert) Media Lab, has transformed and defined the eReader market and is redefining the signage, architecture and design, mobile, wearable and retail markets with its ePaper technology, enabling a new multi-billion dollar market in less than 10 years. Its corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper displays as well as expanding the use of its technologies into a number of other markets and applications including smart packaging and fashion. Its Electrophoretic Display products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technologies are a standard for high-end LCD displays and have been licensed to all major liquid crystal display makers in the world. Listed in Taiwan's Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and the Luxembourg market, E Ink Holdings is now the world's largest supplier of ePaper displays. For more information please visit www.eink.com. About TOPPAN Printing Co., Ltd

Founded in 1900, the TOPPAN group has harnessed printing technologies to grow beyond traditional printing business and now offers a broad range of products and services in the Information & Communication, Living & Industry, and Electronics segments. TOPPAN has a long-standing technical & business relationship with E Ink, dating back to before 2001, and provides electronic paper displays and business solutions to the market. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, TOPPAN is the world's leading printing group with approximately US$14 billion in annual sales, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 7911), and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 stock index. For more information on, please visit www.toppan.co.jp/en/. About Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd.

The Isetan Mitsukoshi Group was created in 2008, through the business integration of Mitsukoshi, established in 1673, and Isetan, established in 1886. Isetan Mitsukoshi is Japan's No.1 department store group with annual sales of approximately US$12 billion in fiscal 2017, operating 24 stores in Japan and 34 stores overseas. There are about 250 million visits to the Group's stores every year, including the flagship Isetan Shinjuku Main Store, the department store with the highest sales in Japan, operated by Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd. The Group's vision is "Connecting people and bridging times." Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 3099), and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 stock index. For more information, please visit www.imhds.co.jp/english/company/isetanmitsukoshi.html. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005604/en/

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[February 21, 2019] UBS Declares Quarterly Coupon Payments on Exchange Traded Notes: AMU and AMUB

UBS Investment Bank today announced coupon payments for the ETRACS Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSE Arca (News - Alert) : "AMU") and ETRACS Alerian MLP Index ETN Series B (NYSE Arca: "AMUB"), both traded on the NYSE Arca.







NYSE

Ticker ETN Name and Prospectus/

Pricing Supplement* Valuation

Date Ex-

Date Record Date Payment

Date Coupon

Amount Payment

Schedule Current Yield

(annualized)** AMU ETRACS Alerian MLP Index ETN 2/15/19 2/28/19 3/1/19 3/11/19 $0.2918 Quarterly 7.23% AMUB ETRACS Alerian MLP Index ETN Series B 2/15/19 2/28/19 3/1/19 3/11/19 $0.2918 Quarterly 7.23%

* The table above provides a hyperlink to the relevant prospectus and supplements thereto for each of our ETRACS ETNs, which are identified by their names. For more information on each ETRACS ETN, see "List of ETNs". **"Current Yield (annualized)" equals the current Coupon Amount, multiplied by four (to annualize such coupon), divided by the Closing Indicative Value of the ETN on its current Coupon Valuation Date rounded to two decimal places for ease of analysis. The Current Yield is not indicative of future coupon payments, if any, on the ETN. You are not guaranteed any coupon or distribution amount under the ETN. About ETRACS ETRACS ETNs are senior unsecured notes issued by UBS AG, are traded on NYSE Arca, and can be bought and sold through a broker or financial advisor. An investment in ETRACS ETNs is subject to a number of risks, including the risk of loss of some or all of the investor's principal, and is subject to the creditworthiness of UBS AG. Investors are not guaranteed any coupon or distribution amount under the ETNs. We urge you to read the more detailed explanation of risks described under "Risk Factors" in the applicable prospectus supplement, or product supplement and pricing supplement, as applicable, for the ETRACS ETN. UBS AG has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus and supplements thereto) with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC (News - Alert) , for the offerings of securities to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus, along with the applicable prospectus, pricing, or product supplement to understand fully the terms of the securities and other considerations that are important in making a decision about investing in the ETRACS. The applicable offering document for each ETRACS may be obtained by clicking on the name of each ETRACS identified above. You may also get these documents without cost by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. The securities related to the offerings are not deposit liabilities and are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency of the United States, Switzerland or any other jurisdiction. About UBS UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. UBS' strategy is centered on our leading global wealth management business and our premier universal bank in Switzerland, enhanced by Asset Management and the Investment Bank. The bank focuses on businesses that have a strong competitive position in their targeted markets, are capital efficient, and have an attractive long-term structural growth or profitability outlook. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 52 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 14% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This material is issued by UBS AG and/or any of its subsidiaries and/or any of its affiliates ("UBS"). Products and services mentioned in this material may not be available for residents of certain jurisdictions. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Please consult the restrictions relating to the product or service in question for further information. Activities with respect to US securities are conducted through UBS Securities LLC, a US broker/dealer. Member of SIPC (http://www.sipc.org/). ETRACS ETNs are sold only in conjunction with the relevant offering materials. UBS has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus, as supplemented by the applicable prospectus supplement, or product supplement and pricing supplement, for the offering of the ETRACS ETNs) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read these documents and any other documents that UBS has filed with the SEC for more complete information about UBS and the offering to which this communication relates. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you can request the applicable prospectus supplement, or product supplement and pricing supplement, by calling toll-free (+1-877-387 2275). In the US, securities underwriting, trading and brokerage activities and M&A advisor activities are provided by UBS Securities LLC, a registered broker/dealer that is a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS AG, a member of the New York Stock Exchange and other principal exchanges, and a member of SIPC. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a registered broker/dealer and affiliate of UBS Securities LLC. UBS specifically prohibits the redistribution or reproduction of this communication in whole or in part without the prior written permission of UBS and UBS accepts no liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in this respect. Alerian MLP Index, Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index, Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index, AMZ, AMZI, and ANGI are trademarks of Alerian and their use is granted under a license from Alerian.  UBS 2019. The key symbol, UBS and ETRACS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of UBS. Other marks may be trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005244/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Vantage Data Centers Completes Phase One of 142MW Mega Campus in Northern Virginia

Vantage Data Centers, a leading provider of wholesale data centers in support of business and mission-critical applications, today announced the completion of phase one of the Ashburn campus located in the heart of "Data Center Alley" in Northern Virginia. The 42-acre campus will consist of five data centers totaling 142MW and more than 1 million square feet when fully developed. Phase one provides customers with 6MW of critical IT capacity and is the company's largest campus in history to welcome customers. "As we open the doors at our newest campus, we are attracting major hyperscale, cloud and enterprise prospects across the globe," said Lee Kestler, Vantage's chief commercial officer. "We have a robust pipeline of activity, and we are now focused on ramping up the second phase of development to keep up with demand." Customers can expect the same premier wholesale data center services that the company offers in its other Tier 1 markets. The Ashburn campus features a new design complete with extensive diverse fiber connections, as well as solar and wind energy sources onsit, the first of its kind in Northern Virginia. Customers will also benefit from the campus' industry-leading power usage effectiveness (PUE) and water usage effectiveness (WUE), and Class A amenities including office space, conference rooms and breakrooms.



"Loudoun County is the largest data center market in the world and companies like Vantage help make that a reality," said Buddy Rizer, executive director of economic development for Loudoun County. "With our continued growth throughout the region, the demand for data centers is skyrocketing. Companies from all over the world are seeking out providers like Vantage in Loudoun due to our low power rates, favorable business climate and talented workforce." Phase two of the campus will consist of an additional 8MW of IT capacity and is scheduled for completion in August.

About Vantage Data Centers Vantage Data Centers is a leading North American wholesale data center provider in six strategic markets: Silicon Valley; Northern Virginia; Phoenix; Quincy, Washington; Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. Vantage has 10 operational facilities totaling 98MW of capacity and five facilities currently under development totaling 97MW. The company provides highly scalable, flexible and efficient data center solutions to hyperscale, cloud and enterprise customers, offering unique value through its commitment to exceptional customer service and sustainability. For more information, visit www.vantagedatacenters.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005157/en/

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[February 21, 2019] ECS Awarded Prime Spot to Participate in $70 Million US Mint Digital Enterprise Services Contract

ECS, a leader in advanced technology, science, and engineering solutions, has been named one of five prime awardees of a $70 million, five-year, U.S. Mint Digital Enterprise Services contract to provide a full range of digital enterprise services across the U.S. Mint's IT landscape. ECS will have the opportunity to compete for task orders that will help maintain the U.S. Mint's current IT environment and applications while modernizing systems and architecture to employ the latest technologies, agile IT delivery, and cloud-based as-a-service offerings. This indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract covers IT modernization including data center consolidation, migration to cloud, managed service delivery operations, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service ( SaaS (News - Alert) ), platform as a service (PaaS), DevSecOps paired with agile methodologies, secure mobility, and enterprise cybersecurity. ECS will leverage its 17 years of experience providing program management and technical solutions on large enterprise programs in support of the United States Postal Service National Customer Support Center ( USPS (News - Alert) NCSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as strong partnerships with premier technology companies and leading cloud platforms. "ECS looks forward to implementing the systems and architecture to provide advanced, mission-responsive suppot for the U.S. Mint enterprise," said John Heneghan, ECS senior vice president of enterprise solutions.



"We are thrilled to partner with the U.S. Mint to provide transformative IT modernization," said George Wilson, president of ECS. "We will leverage the latest technologies to enhance the flexibility and efficiency with which the Mint is able to meet its mission objectives." About ECS

ECS, a segment of ASGN, delivers advanced solutions and services in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), application and IT modernization, and science and engineering. The company solves critical, complex challenges for customers across the U.S. public sector, defense, intelligence and commercial industries. ECS maintains partnerships with leading cloud, cybersecurity, and AI/ML providers and holds specialized certifications in their technologies. Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, ECS has more than 2,400 employees throughout the U.S. and has been recognized as a Top Workplace by The Washington Post for the last five years. For more information, visit www.ECStech.com. About ASGN ASGN Incorporated (NYSE: ASGN) is a leading provider of IT and professional services in the technology, creative, digital, engineering and life sciences fields across commercial and government sectors. Operating through its Apex (News - Alert) , Oxford and ECS segments, ASGN helps leading corporate enterprises and government organizations develop, implement and operate critical IT and business solutions through its integrated offering of professional staffing and IT solutions. Our mission as an organization is to be the most trusted partner for companies seeking highly skilled human capital and integrated solutions to fulfill their strategic and operational needs. ASGN was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Calabasas, California. For more information, visit us at asgn.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005557/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Blockchain Security Leader CertiK Joins the Universal Protocol Alliance

The Universal Protocol Alliance, a coalition of leading blockchain organizations including Bittrex International, Uphold, Brave, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley, and BitGo, has announced CertiK, a technology pioneer in blockchain security and auditing with over $1.2B in assets secured, has joined the organization. The news was announced at the Universal Protocol Alliance Council meeting in San Francisco and was attended by the leadership of the member organizations, media, and influential members in the world of blockchain. The Universal Protocol (UP) Alliance is a growing coalition of the biggest and most respected organizations in the world of blockchain that have united around a new universal transparent reserve standard that aims to attract the next 100 million users to cryptocurrency. The combined expertise of each member organization has enabled the creation of the Universal Protocol Platform, a technology platform that allows for the minting, custody, and storage of digital 'proxy' assets that allow for better digital asset products, and the introduction of a set of safeguards required for the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency. CertiK, founded by Yale Department Chair of Computer Science Zhong Shao and Columbia University Assistant Professor Ronghui Gu, has developed patented Formal Verification technologies combined with best-in-class security experts to offer smart contract auditing, penetration testing, and threat detection for blockchain. The company is highly regarded by leading researchers and premier investors, and it recently announced a grant from IBM for Professor Gu's research on the DeepSEA program language to create formally verified smart contracts in Hyperledger Burrow.



"CertiK is one of the most trusted blockchain security technology companies in the world and is on the cutting edge of research and innovation," said Dan Schatt, Chairman of the Universal Protocol Alliance and also President of Cred. "Their involvement in the UP Alliance further demonstrates UPP's commitment to smart contract code integrity, transparency and value substantiation, the foundational elements needed to give everyone the confidence in using universal tokens the Alliance will be minting the coming weeks, months and years." By joining the UP Alliance, CertiK will lend their smart contract security, leveraging mathematical proofs to audit a host of tokens that will be launched on the UP Platform, starting with the Universal Dollar to be released shortly.

"Bringing the next 100 million users into cryptocurrency is a bold, but necessary mission for blockchain technology. It is a milestone that cannot be achieved alone," said Daryl Hok, COO of CertiK. "We are honored to join this prestigious group of organizations and excited to use our technology to provide the most rigorous security assurances and facilitate greater adoption." The UP platform will enable a new world of tokenized digital assets - ranging from Proxy blockchains such as Bitcoin, to Proxy securities, and Proxy private equity - and will facilitate the instant and seamless conversion of different forms of value. In doing so, the UP Platform will unlock the vast and untapped full potential of blockchain to transform how individuals and businesses store and transfer value, with Proxy Tokens representing the next generation of digital money. The announcement was made at the first UP Alliance Council meeting last night in San Francisco. The event was attended by member organizations, media, and blockchain industry leaders including: Brendan Eich, creator of Javascript and co-Founder of Brave, Michael Arrington (News - Alert) , Founder of TechCrunch and Arrington XRP Capital, Howard Wu, Managing Partner of Dekrypt Capital, JP Thieriot, CEO of Uphold, and many more. About the Universal Protocol Alliance A coalition of cryptocurrency companies and blockchain pioneers, the Universal Protocol Alliance seeks to accelerate the adoption of blockchain as a mainstream financial technology by making digital assets more accessible, secure and convenient to own. The Alliance Members consist of Bittrex International, Cred, Uphold, Brave Software, CertiK, Blockchain at Berkeley, and BitGo. Learn more at: www.universalprotocol.io View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005562/en/

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[February 21, 2019] OneTrust Scales Customer Base More Than 400% to Over 2,000, Doubles Headcount to 600 Employees and is Awarded 16 Patents in 2018

Global growth fueled by new regulations and consumer demands for privacy protection ATLANTA, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OneTrust, the largest and most widely used dedicated privacy management technology platform, today announced year-over-year growth across product offerings, customers and employees. In 2018, OneTrust customers grew to surpass 2,000 worldwide. To meet this demand, OneTrust more than doubled global headcount to exceed 600. OneTrust's international growth continued with expanded key offices in Atlanta, London, as well as a new local office in Melbourne. OneTrust also invested heavily in product expansion of its privacy management platform and as a result was awarded 16 new patents by the USPTO for significant first-to-market capabilities to simplify the organizational task of managing privacy compliance. 2018 also brought independent recognition to OneTrust's position as a leader in the market. According to Forrester in The Forrester New WaveTM: GDPR and Privacy Management Software, Q4 2018 report, OneTrust "Leads the pack for vision and execution." Additionally, Fast Company has recently named OneTrust among the world's most innovative companies. Read more: OneTrust "Leads the Pack for Vision and Execution" in GDPR and Privacy Management Software Evaluation Innovative and Intelligent Products Powered by 16 Awarded Patents in 2018 Alone

The last year brought major changes to the global privacy landscape. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Brazilian LGDP were passed and several other countries and regions promoted similar privacy-focused bills. Managing privacy in today's evolving global regulatory landscape can be a complicated, time-consuming and risky process. OneTrust's products integrate legislation from around the world into repeatable processes, analytics and actionable intelligence. In the last year, OneTrust launched more than a dozen new or updated solutions, including Vendor Risk Management, Incident and Breach Response, Universal Consent Management, Mobile App Consent and Targeted Data Discovery. OneTrust's products are supported by a massive regulatory intelligence database to fuel the automation of privacy and security compliance. OneTrust's privacy database maps over 500 global privacy and data breach laws into the platform, Cookiepedia provides details and categorization insight on more than 6.5 million cookies and tracking technologies and Vendorpedia provides active security and privacy certifications as well as security and trust registrations for over 4,000 global vendors. Learn more about OneTrust products. Growth Surpassing 2,000 Customers, Including 200 of the Global 2,000

OneTrust's customer base surged past 2,000 in 2018, and includes 200 of the Global 2,000, 80 of the Fortune 500, the world's largest airline, hotel company, beverage company, retailer, publisher, consulting firm, car manufacturer and more. Learn more about OneTrust's customers. In 2018, OneTrust hosted the world's first user conference dedicated to privacy technology, PrivacyTech, to bring together this global customer base to earn about the latest technology and innovations driving global privacy compliance. PrivacyTech is expanding in 2019 with events in both Atlanta and London. OneTrust also hosted more than 100 local PrivacyConnect events in over 80 cities globally throughout 2018 and is continuing the series this year, focusing on the CCPA, GDPR and the growing list of global privacy laws.



The Most Awarded Privacy Management Technology Company

OneTrust's product line and executive team have been recognized by more industry and global awards than any other dedicated privacy management technology. Honors include Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019, four 2019 Info Security PG Global Excellence Awards, 2018 Cyber Defense Magazine Global Awards for Privacy Management Software and Privacy Expert of the Year (CEO, Kabir Barday) and IDG CIO's Ones to Watch 2019 (Blake Brannon, VP Product). See all OneTrust awards. Read more in the Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March-April 2019) now available online, on the Fast Company App and on newsstands beginning February 27

Empowering Customers with the World's Largest Dedicated Privacy Technology Team

Regardless of privacy team size or budget, customers are supported by the shared knowledge of 600 OneTrust employees across six global locations, with two-thirds dedicated to product and customer success. The OneTrust team holds more than 300 privacy and security certifications to create automated and efficient products that help organizations of all sizes make privacy a reflex of their business. Deep Partnerships with the Industry's Leading Organizations

OneTrust's success is fueled by relationships with the industry's top consultants, law firms and trusted advisors. In addition to a large partner network of resellers and outsourcing, OneTrust forged several new partnerships in 2018. For example, OneTrust and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced a strategic partnership, including a free Vendor Risk Management Tool for CSA members, translations for CSA CAIQ, CCM and GDPR code of conduct templates and collaboration on building the CSA GDPR Centre of Excellence in Berlin. "Throughout the last year, we partnered with our customers to build a platform that is flexible to adjust to the world's proliferating privacy regulations, and our growth in product, customers and employees is a testament to our vision and ability to execute," said Kabir Barday, OneTrust CEO and Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP). "We've created the world's most comprehensive solution to tackle these growing privacy challenges, whether it's a small business to a complex multinational scaling a global privacy program. We're excited about our continued growth and success and will continue to deliver the most feature rich, easy-to-use, and cost-effective solutions for our customers." For additional information, or to request a live OneTrust Privacy Management Software demo, visit OneTrust.com or email Info@OneTrust.com. About OneTrust

OneTrust is the largest and most widely used dedicated privacy management technology platform for compliance with global privacy laws. More than 2,000 customers, including 200 of the Global 2,000, use OneTrust to comply with global data privacy regulations across sectors and jurisdictions, including the EU GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), ePrivacy (Cookie Law) and more. OneTrust helps organizations implement global privacy requirements, including Data Protection by Design and Default (PbD), Data Protection Impact Assessments (PIA/DPIA), Vendor Risk Management, Incident and Breach Management, Records of Processing (Data Mapping), Consent Management, Cookie Consent Banners, GDPR Data Subject Rights and CCPA Consumer Rights. The comprehensive platform enables privacy and security teams automate recordkeeping and demonstrate compliance to regulators and auditors through a combination of intelligent scanning, regulator guidance-based questionnaires, automated workflows and developer plugins. Consumer-facing modules empower marketers to create on-brand experiences for users to customize and manage privacy and marketing preferences. The platform is enriched with content from hundreds of templates based on world-class privacy research conducted by our 300+ in-house certified privacy professionals. The software, available in 50+ languages and can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise. The OneTrust Global Privacy Community brings together thousands of professionals each year to share best practices and breakdown the latest technology innovations driving global privacy compliance. Events include PrivacyConnect, free workshops in 80+ international cities focused on practical implementation of global privacy laws and PrivacyTech, OneTrust's global user conference. OneTrust is co-headquartered in Atlanta and in London with additional offices in Bangalore, Melbourne, Munich and Hong Kong. The fast-growing team of privacy and technology experts surpasses 600 employees worldwide. To learn more, visit OneTrust.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Media Contact:

Gabrielle Ferree

Public Relations

+1 770-294-4668

Media@OneTrust.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/478210/OneTrust_Logo.jpg

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[February 21, 2019] Nick Lane Assumes Role as President of AXA Equitable Life

AXA Equitable Life, a leading financial services company and subsidiary of AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH), today announced Nick Lane has assumed his previously announced position as President of AXA Equitable Life with responsibilities for the company's Retirement, Wealth Management and Protection Solutions businesses as well as its Marketing and Digital functions. Nick Lane reports to AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Pearson, and joins the firm's Management Committee. Most recently, he served as CEO and President of AXA Japan, where he was responsible for a $5.4 billion annual revenue1 business and led a team of 9,000 employees and distributors. "I am pleased to have Nick join our management team and bring his unmatched energy and passion to AXA Equitable Life," said Mark Pearson, President and CEO, AXA Equitable Holdings. "His extensive background and deep industry experience will strengthen the team and accelerate our ability todeliver differentiated value for our customers, partners and shareholders."



Lane first joined the company in 2005 and held a variety of leadership roles. Among his key accomplishments are enhancing the business through product diversification and expanding the firm's distribution channels through alliances with property and casualty carriers. He also launched fee-based versions of the company's flagship variable annuity products to meet evolving financial advisor and customer needs. "It is an honor to rejoin my talented colleagues at AXA Equitable Life at an exciting time for the company and the customers we have the privilege to serve," said Nick Lane, President of AXA Equitable Life. "We have a tremendous opportunity to help even more Americans protect their families and prepare for a dignified retirement by continuing to deliver innovative products and trusted financial advice."

Lane also led global strategy for AXA Group, oversaw its asset management business and served on the boards of AllianceBernstein, AXA Investment Managers, AXA Private Equity and AXA Real Estate Management. Prior to joining the company, Lane was a leader in the sales and marketing practice of the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University. Lane also served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. ABOUT AXA EQUITABLE LIFE AXA Equitable Life is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). Founded in 1859, the company is one of America's leading financial services providers with 2.4 million customers and more than $209 billion of assets under management (as of 9/30/18). AXA Equitable Life's mission is to help people retire with dignity, protect their families and prepare for their financial futures with confidence. ABOUT AXA EQUITABLE HOLDINGS AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH) is one of the leading financial services companies in the U.S. and is comprised of two complementary and well-established principal franchises, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (AXA Equitable) (NY, NY), issuer of life insurance and annuity products, and AllianceBernstein. We have been helping clients prepare for their financial future since 1859 and have a combined total of more than 12,100 employees and financial professionals, 5.3 million customer relationships and $668 billion of assets under management (as of 09/30/18). 1 FY18 IFRS Gross Revenues of AXA Japan as reported by AXA Group on February 21, 2019, using the average FY18 /$ exchange rate of 1.18. GE-2427746(02/19) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005535/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Media Alert: Gourmia & Cat Cora Bring Healthy Eating Demos to the 2019 Housewares Show

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Connected Home will again be one of the hottest topics at the upcoming International Home + Housewares Show, and Gourmia will be breaking new ground by showcasing their new Smart Kitchen Appliances that leverage the power of the Internet of Things (IoT). Celebrity Chef Cat Cora will also be demonstrating how easy it is to quickly cook a delicious meal at the show.







Who: Gourmia and Celebrity Chef Cat Cora



What: IoT Smart Kitchen and traditional appliances that enable the 21st century chef to take advantage of the latest cooking technology:





Cool Cooking Innovation: Gourmia has designed unique, built-in refrigeration for its new line of cooking products that allow cooks to put a meal's ingredients into the unit hours prior to start of the cooking process, keeping it fresh and cold. Both units can be controlled by a single app (iOS/Android)  the exclusive Gourmia mobile app! Both units can be integrated with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

A complete line of Toaster Oven and Air Fryer combos  Gourmia is launching an extensive lineup of Toaster Oven Air Fryers with options for every kitchen.

More combo units for today's busy chefs

Gourmia products are carried by retailers nationwide including Costco, BestBuy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's, Macy's, Target, and more

Supplementary new traditional appliances will be demoed in the Gourmia booth Where: International Home + Housewares Show, Booth L11344



When: Cat Cora's Cooking Schedule

Sunday, March 3rd: 11:00 a.m., & 4:00 p.m.

Monday, March 4th: 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m.

Cat will be cooking at the IH+HS Cooking Theater on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Note : Special media/broadcast interviews available upon request



Coffee: Coffee will be served all day on Sunday through Tuesday in the Gourmia booth.

About Gourmia

Headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, Gourmia is passionate about cooking and the tools for the healthy lifestyle. As one of the faster growing housewares brands, Gourmia's founders know that cooks are looking for dependable, easy-to-use tools that will make their lives easier. From air fryers cookers to multi-purpose cookers and smart kitchen appliances, the team at Gourmia has taken input from chefs and consumers to make their products the best in their category. All of the company's products are designed to deliver a higher standard of innovation, performance, and value. Gourmia's kitchen appliances are available at leading retailers nationwide. For additional information, please visit www.gourmia.com. About Cat Cora

Cat Cora is a world-renowned chef, author, restaurateur, contributing editor, television host and personality, actress, avid philanthropist, health and fitness expert, lifestyle entrepreneur and proud mother of six. Cat made television history in 2005, when she became the first female Iron Chef on Food Network's Iron Chef America. Since then, she shattered the glass ceiling as one of the first females to dominate the historically male culinary industry. Cat has blazed her own trail through the culinary world, becoming the first female inducted into The Culinary Hall of Fame. Cat will be the judge on ABC's upcoming culinary competition series, "Family Food Fight." For her restaurants, amazing recipes and books, visit her website www.catcora.com or follow her on Instagram @catcora. Media Contact:

Rita Lee

Copernio

(714) 891-3660

gourmia@copernio.com All products/services and trademarks mentioned in this release are the properties of their respective companies.

 2019 Gourmia. All rights reserved. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/media-alert-gourmia--cat-cora-bring-healthy-eating-demos-to-the-2019-housewares-show-300799555.html SOURCE Gourmia

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[February 21, 2019] Guiding Principles on Ethics in Digital Health Produced During a Seminar at Stanford Libraries

Stanford Libraries and more than 30 partners, including Proteus (News - Alert) Digital Health, today unveiled Guiding Principles on Ethics in Digital Health resulting from a multiday seminar that brought together industry, academic and nonprofit leaders to address the growing concern about management and use of personal health data by digital health organizations. The statement begins to define 10 principles for digital health entities to ensure the ethical use of their products and services and the information they collect and generate. These principles aim to help digital health organizations navigate potential conflicts between individuals' need for privacy and society's need for protecting public health. "Libraries have long served as staunch advocates of protecting personal data," said Michael A. Keller, Stanford's university librarian and vice provost for teaching and learning. "An academic library's online and offline environments are designed to pique conversation and debate, and given the exponential rate of developments occurring in the digital health space, we offered to initiate the conversation and report out on results of the seminar." In July and November 2018, participants discussed and deliberated what consumers should expect from a digital health organization and what obligations that organization has to consumers and to society. The resulting Guiding Principles represent the shared views of over 30 participants: 1. The products of digital health companies should always work in patients' interests. 2. Sharing digital health information should always be to improve a patient's outcomes and those of others. 3. "Do no harm" should apply to the use and sharing of all digital health information. 4. Patients should never be forced to use digital health products against their wishes. 5. Patients should be able to decide whether their information is shared, and to know how a digital health company uses information to generate revenues. 6. Digital health information should be accurate. 7. Digital health information should be protected with strong security tools. 8. Security violations should be reported promptly along with what is being done to fix them. 9. Digital health products should allow patients to be more connected to their care givers. 10. Patients should be actively engaged in the community that is shaping digital health products. Additional details for each of the 10 principles are available online for download and broader sharing. "The range of senior level participants in the meetings and the quality of contributions give me confidence that a set of leaders are emerging who take ethical considerations associated with management of personal data very seriously," said Keller, who convened the Digital Health Ethics Seminar and is planning to launch an entire series of conversations with leaders from various industries to discuss ethical implications in their respective verticals. Future seminars under consideration are ethics in communications, transportation, and agriculture and food supply. According to former Surgeon General and Proteus Board Member Regina Benjamin M.D., who also participated in the Seminar, "the Guiding Principles on Ethics in Digital Health is a positive step towards ensuring organizations take seriously their duty to care for personal data and do no harm. It is also very valuable to set expectations for patients, so they are aware of the potential risks of using a digital health product." Stanford Libraries have been at the forefront of development of digital technologies, tools and information services. The Guiding Principles for Ethics in Digital Health and all forthcoming documentation from the other seminars in the series will eventually be deposited into the Stanford Digital Repository and become part of the university's discovery environment. "Our intent is to not just make these principles as accessible as possible, but to preserve them as a snapshot in time for researchers and industry leaders invested in this topic," said Keller. "This is only a first step at addressing the ethical questions looming in digital health. We must start somewhere, so let these principles serve as the conversation starter," said Keller. "We want this first set of ten statements to spur conversations in board rooms, classrooms and community centers around the country and ultimately be refined and adopted widely." To download the Guiding Principles, learn more about the participants and the seminar visit https://library.stanford.edu/digitalhealthethics. ABOUT STANFORD LIBRARIES Stanford Libraries is considered a leading institution for the development of digital technologies, tools and services impacting libraries and archives worldwide. With notable developments in digital technology and its use to increase speed-to-knowledge, Stanford Libraries has become a destination for many of the world's leaders of knowledge curation. With a collection of over 12 million items, Stanford Libraries has created a dynamic discovery environment that powers research, teaching and learning at Stanford and beyond. https://library.stanford.edu | @StanfordLibs About Proteus Digital Health Proteus Digital Health is enabling a new category of pharmaceuticals: Digital Medicines. These include widely used drugs, formulated so they communicate when they have been ingested; a wearable patch that detects medicines and captures physiologic response; mobile applications to support patient self-care and physician decision-making; and data analytics to serve the needs of health system managers. The company has more than 540 issued patents that protect this enabling technology, and regulatory clearances in the U.S., European Union and China. Proteus Digital Health is privately held by investors that include Carlyle, Essex Woodlands, Kaiser Permanente, Medtronic, Novartis, Otsuka, and ON (News - Alert) Semiconductor. Further information is available at: www.proteus.com. Connect with us on Twitter (News - Alert) @ProteusDH. PARTICIPATING MEMBERS IN DRAFTING GUIDING PRINCIPLES:







Regina Benjamin, M.D. Gulf States Health Policy Center, UAB 18th Surgeon General of the United States Samuel Brown, M.D. Intermountain Associate Professor, Critical Care & Medical Ethics Caricia Catalania IDEO Head of Healthcare William Carson, M.D. Otsuka Pharmaceutical President of Clinical Development Jennie Chin Hansen Independent consultant Former President of American Geriatrics Society Sheila Colclasure Acxiom (News - Alert) Senior Vice, President Global Data Ethics Stan Crosley Indiana University (News - Alert) Director of Center for Law, Ethics & Applied Research Robert Epstein, M.D. Epstein Health Chief Executive Officer Ken Favaro Act2 Managing Partner Frank Fischer Neuropace Chief Executive Officer Amy Gutierrez, Pharm D. Kaiser Permanente Chief Pharmacy Officer Jodi Halpern, M.D. Ph.D. UC Berkeley Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities Michael A. Keller Stanford University Vice Provost for Libraries and University Press and Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Alan Levy Chrono Therapeutics Founder, Board member, former CEO David Magnus, M.D. Stanford University Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics Praveen Raja PATH Vice President Technology Development Kate Rosenbluth Cala Health Chief Executive Officer Paul Saffo Stanford University Consulting Professor of Engineering George Savage, M.D. Proteus Digital Health Chief Medical Officer Mona Sobhani, Ph.D. University of Southern California Director of Research and Operations, Center for Body Computing Joseph R. Swedish Anthem, Inc Senior Advisor, former Chairman and CEO Jon Symonds HSBC Vice Chairman of HSBC Holdings Andrew Thompson Proteus Digital Health Chief Executive Officer Conrad Vial, M.D. Sutter Health Chief Physician Executive Benjamin Wanamaker Aetna CVS Vice President, Consumer Technology and Services Andrew Wright Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Vice President of Digital Medicines Meng Zhang Tencent General Manager Tencent Medical Information Center

And others who prefer to remain anonymous. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005343/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Brex Hires Elenitsa Staykova as Head of Marketing

Brex, the first corporate card for startups, today announced it has hired Elenitsa Staykova, the company's first female executive, as Head of Marketing. A Bulgarian immigrant who most recently ran growth for Cloudflare, Staykova will help shape the marketing department and continue to build a powerful company as Brex expands and moves upmarket. "We're thrilled Elenitsa is joining us to lead our growing marketing team," said Henrique Dubugras, CEO and co-founder of Brex. "Her experience as a marketing leader scaling an organization through enterprise and international expansion, plus her unique background make her a welcome addition to the Brex executive team as we continue to build our brand." As Brazilian natives, Brex co-founders Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi are passionate about the diversity of opinions from different cultures, which reflect the varying backgrounds of the startup founders that Brex serves. Staykova's addition to the Brex tam brings the percentage of first generation immigrant employees at the company to over 42%.



Prior to joining Brex, Staykova was Head of Growth at cybersecurity company Cloudflare. She helped scale the company from 50 to 1,000 employees and built the demand generation and growth function. She also led the international expansion of the marketing teams outside of San Francisco to London and Singapore. Staykova first developed her passion for financial services with positions at The World Bank and UBS Investment Bank. Additionally, as a Startup Advisor and Mentor for First Round Capital, Staykova has a strong foundation in the startup ecosystem. "I've always been passionate about working for companies who are solving major pain points for businesses. Brex is facilitating access to capital and financial services in a way that has never been done before, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on what they do best - building their business. Their first product, corporate card for startups, gained an impressive traction," said Staykova. "I'm excited to lead the marketing team and to join the stellar leadership team that has already helped Brex become one of the hottest startups in the world."

About Brex For startups, Brex delivers corporate cards quickly, easily, and with higher limits than traditional corporate cards, instantly and with no personal guarantee. Founded in 2017 by the founders of Brazilian payments processor Pagar.me, Brex is backed by Y Combinator Continuity, Ribbit (News - Alert) Capital, Greenoaks, DST Global, Peter Thiel and Max Levchin and has raised a total of $215M in funding. Brex participated in the Y Combinator Winter '17 batch. The company's headquarters are in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.brex.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005216/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Ivalua Public Procurement & Acquisitions Summit to Showcase Innovations & Government Success Stories

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ivalua, a leading provider of global Spend Management Cloud solutions, today announced details of an event focused on bringing private sector best practices to the public sector. The Ivalua Public Procurement & Acquisitions Summit will bring together thought leaders and public sector professionals at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington D.C. on April 3, 2019. The Summit will focus on showcasing success stories in public procurement, thought leadership sessions on how to maximize value and technological innovations that will transform the ability of procurement leaders to deliver value to their constituents. Agenda highlights include: Thought leadership keynote by Raj Sharma, founder of the Pubic Spend Forum, on why now is the time to transform public procurement

Corey Roberts , P2P Project Director at CACI, on how CACI achieved virtually 100% paperless procurement and accountspayable processes

, P2P Project Director at CACI, on how CACI achieved virtually 100% paperless procurement and accountspayable processes The latest Artificial Intelligence applications that will make public purchasing as simple as consumer shopping and bring actionable insights to user fingertips

A case study on how Shared Services Canada is transforming federal procurement in Canada

Discussions on the future of procurement including the role of marketplaces

Thought leadership on how to enable smarter procurement today



online. Registration is required but is free for all acquisitions and procurement practitioners. "Governments and agencies at all levels are facing tremendous pressure to maintain or improve services in the face of budgetary pressures, yet face unique constraints when it comes to purchasing," said Dan Amzallag, CEO of Ivalua Inc. "Delivering private sector best practices to public sector procurement is possible today. This event will showcase the innovators doing just that and the technology that will deliver ever more value tomorrow."

About Ivalua

Ivalua is the Procurement empowerment platform. Recognized as a Leader by Gartner and other top analysts, Ivalua's Source-to-Pay suite is leveraged by leading federal, state and local governments and over 300 leading companies across the globe to manage over $500 Billion in direct and indirect spend. The platform's combination of ease-of-use, depth, breadth, and flexibility ensures high employee and supplier adoption, rapid time to value and the ability to meet unique or evolving requirements, evidenced by the industry's leading 98%+ retention rate. Realize the possibilities at www.ivalua.com. Media Contacts

Michael Gallo

Lumina Communications for Ivalua

212-239-8594

Ivalua@Luminapr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ivalua-public-procurement--acquisitions-summit-to-showcase-innovations--government-success-stories-300799526.html SOURCE Ivalua

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[February 21, 2019] Lacework Extends Multicloud Support with Workload and Account Security for Google Cloud Platform

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lacework, the industry's first solution to bring automation, speed, and scale to cloud security, today announced support for workload and account security for Google Cloud Platform (GCP). With this update, users can now apply Lacework's comprehensive, automated approach to anomaly detection, configuration compliance, and other cloud and container use cases for their data and operations running in GCP. With this update, Lacework also now supports Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) allowing customers to apply threat detection and deep visibility into cloud events for workloads and accounts across multiple platforms, including GCP, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, and others. This makes Lacework the most comprehensive cloud security solution on the market today addressing the growing trend among modern enterprises to distribute their operations to different platforms. "As a Lacework customer we are excited to see their continued innovation in the area of multicloud support and, in particular, deep integration with Kubernetes and GKE," said Will Gregorian, chief information security officer (CISO) at Iterable, a leading SaaS provider of customer engagement solutions for the modern marketer. "Gartner predicts that by 2020, 75% of organiztions will have deployed a multicloud or hybrid cloud model." [1] As this trend continues, organizations will no longer be able to rely on point solutions, or products that specialize in single cloud platforms. The Lacework solution is purpose-built for end-to-end compliance and security management for all cloud and container activity, and the addition of support for GCP now means that customers can confidently operate in all of the three major cloud platforms.



"The cloud is all about flexibility, and customers are free to choose the platform that works best for their business and technology needs," said Dan Hubbard, chief product officer at Lacework. "Managing security and compliance should not add complexity into the work of security teams. Lacework simplifies this work with a solution that address threats and vulnerabilities in all cloud and container activity, irrespective of platform." For more information on Lacework, please visit www.lacework.com or visit Lacework at the upcoming RSA Conference in San Francisco, March 4 - 8, 2019 at booth #4603.

About Lacework Lacework is the industry's first solution to bring automation, speed, and scale to cloud security enabling enterprises to safely innovate fast in the cloud. Unlike conventional security tools built for static datacenters, Lacework is designed to self-adapt to the cloud's ever-changing configuration and workloads. Just like DevOps automates code deployment, Lacework automates cloud security, empowering IT to continuously keep cloud environments secure and compliant. Based in Mountain View, California, Lacework is a privately held company funded by Sutter Hill Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Spike Ventures, the Webb Investment Network (WIN), and AME Cloud Ventures. Find out more at www.lacework.com . Media Contact

Jacqueline Meyler

Lumina Communications on behalf of Lacework

(669) 234-9775

Lacework@LuminaPR.com [1] (Gartner, Market Insight: How Tech CEOs Can Position and Promote Services in the New World of Hybrid Cloud and Multicloud, 13 September 2018) View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lacework-extends-multicloud-support-with-workload-and-account-security-for-google-cloud-platform-300799520.html SOURCE Lacework

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[February 21, 2019] Carroll University Continues to Innovate by Selecting Campus Management's Full Suite of CampusNexus Solutions

BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Campus Management Corp., a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise solutions and services for higher education, announced today that Carroll University has selected the CampusNexus platform to replace its legacy system. The private liberal arts institution, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin, will be using the cloud-based platform, including CampusNexus Student, CampusNexus CRM, and CampusNexus Finance, HR and Payroll, for its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health Sciences and School of Business to drive student and operational success. The institution also plans to use Occupation Insight, Campus Management's cloud-based workforce analytics tool to better align academic programs and student skills with the needs of a rapidly evolving job market. "We selected Campus Management because of the company's forward-looking vision, innovative products, and commitment to our goal of improving student services, engagement, and outcomes," said Dana Stuart, Vice President for Finance and Administration, Carroll University. "With a modern platform and innovative delivery system, we can focus more resources on developing academic programs and services that directly impact students." Built on Microsoft technology, Campus Management clients benefit from Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the trusted Microsoft Azure cloud platform. The strong Microsoft foundation enables Campus Management to focus solely on higher education innovations, academic delivery and operational efficiencies. "We embrace forward-thinking institutions that align with our core principle of building a strong culture by fostering colaborative partnerships in support of higher education," said Jim Brigadier, Senior Vice President of Field Operations, Campus Management. "Our solutions will enable Carroll University to provide students with greater program flexibility and differentiated learning modalities, as well as supporting their personalized pathways to success."



For more detail about Campus Management visit www.campusmanagement.com. About Campus Management Corp.

Campus Management is a leading provider of cloud-based SIS, CRM and ERP solutions and services that transform higher education institutions. Today, more than 1,100 institutions in over 30 countries partner with Campus Management to transform academic delivery, student success, and operational efficiency. Campus Management is the 2018 Microsoft Global Education Partner of the Year. Carroll University Carroll University was incorporated in 1846, making it Wisconsin's first four-year institution of higher learning. Situated in Waukesha, the independent, co-educational comprehensive university is grounded in the liberal arts tradition, and offers more than 95 areas of study, multiple graduate programs and a clinical doctorate in physical therapy. For more information, visit www.carrollu.edu, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Media Contact:

Ashley Prince

Media Relations

Campus Management Corp.

954-249-1124

aprince@campusmgmt.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carroll-university-continues-to-innovate-by-selecting-campus-managements-full-suite-of-campusnexus-solutions-300799162.html SOURCE Campus Management Corporation

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[February 21, 2019] Yext Unveils Major Washington, D.C. Area Expansion, Plans to Create Five Hundred New Tech Jobs in Northern Virginia

ROSSLYN, Va., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext, Inc., the leader in Digital Knowledge Management (DKM), has revealed its new Washington, D.C.-area headquarters and its plan to hire five hundred people over five years, accelerating Northern Virginia's tech boom. A 42,500 square foot office space at 1101 Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn, Virginia, the Yext office will be home to the company's rapidly growing footprint in the area, underscoring the Washington, D.C. area's growth as a major tech hub. "Yext is experiencing rapid growth as we create the groundbreaking technology businesses need to provide perfect answers in the services consumers use to find them. Growing our presence in the D.C. area is a critical step in continuing that momentum," said Howard Lerman, Yext Founder and CEO. "We plan to create five hundred jobs in Greater D.C. in the coming years for talented, creative people who want to build a new technology category, so we are establishing a brand new, state-of-the-art space to fuel our growth today and well into the future." Yext will occupy the top three floors of 1101 Wilson Boulevard, as well as the building's roof terrace. The Yext office will have an open floor plan, fully stocked kitchens, and offer free meals to all employees. Heralding the continued emergence of Yext as one of the country's fastest-growing technology companies, the Yext logo at the top of the building will be visible from Washington across the river, and for miles around. The new office will be the launchpad for the company's continued rapid growth in Northern Virginia and the D.C. area. 1101 Wilson is a cutting-edge, LEED-Gold certified building with views of downtown Washington, the Capitol Dome, the Washington Monument, and the Potomac River. The building feature a gym, bike storage, a lounge, onsite market and cafe and other amenities, and is located on the Rosslyn Metro stop.



Lerman is a Virginia native and a graduate of the Commonwealth's prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, along with eighteen other Yexters, including CTO Tom Dixon, CIO Sean MacIsaac, and Head of Research and Development Kevin Caffrey. Lerman added, "Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia are emerging as one of the country's major hubs for tech talent, which was a key factor in our decision to expand in the area. Our new office will be a key foothold as we continue our global growth."

Want to join the Yext team? Visit Yext Careers to learn more. About Yext: Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT) is the leading Digital Knowledge Management (DKM) platform. Our mission is to give companies control over their brand experiences across the digital universe of maps, apps, search engines, voice assistants, and other intelligent services that drive consumer discovery, decision, and action. Today, thousands of businesses including brands like Taco Bell, Rite Aid, and Steward Health Care use the Yext Knowledge Engine to manage their digital knowledge in order to boost brand engagement, drive foot traffic, and increase sales. Yext has been named a Best Place to Work by Fortune and Great Place to Work as well as a Best Workplace for Women. Yext is headquartered in New York City with offices in Berlin, Chicago, Dallas, Geneva, London, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo and the Washington, D.C. Area. For more information, visit yext.com . Forward-Looking Statements This release includes forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding plans to hire employees and the growth of our business in the D.C. area. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "seeks to" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Actual events or results may differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, and these differences may be material and adverse. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, including but not limited to those detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof or to conform such statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as required by law. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yext-unveils-major-washington-dc-area-expansion-plans-to-create-five-hundred-new-tech-jobs-in-northern-virginia-300799270.html SOURCE Yext, Inc.

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[February 21, 2019] MaxLinear to Showcase New RF Solutions and Broad Semiconductor Portfolio for 5G Networks at MWC 2019

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS - MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE: MXL), a leading provider of radio frequency (RF), analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for the connected home, wired and wireless infrastructure, and industrial and multimarket applications, will showcase its latest Wireless Access RF solutions along with its broad and unique portfolio aimed at enabling next generation 5G networks at the GSMA (News - Alert) Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona Spain from February 22-28, 2019. Over the next several years, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) across the globe will be deploying advanced 5G networks to scale capacity and to support advanced services enabled by 5G technologies. Critical to the success of the worldwide 5G buildout is the availability of advanced solutions that address key challenges associated with next-generation wireless network infrastructure and services. To help solve these challenges, MaxLinear has developed a portfolio of innovative semiconductor building blocks targeting 5G infrastructure solutions in the areas of Radio Access deployment and capacity upgrade, wireless backhaul to the Core Network, power management for high-performance infrastructure equipment, and "last meter" deployment of 5G Fixed Wireless Broadband services. High-Performance RF Solutions for 5G Active Antenna Systems Radio networks supporting 5G and LTE (News - Alert) -Advanced services are embracing Active Antenna Systems (AAS) with massive-MIMO and 3D beamforming capabilities to boost their efficiency of spectrum resource usage and maximize available over-the-air capacity. AAS systems incorporate several antenna elements into a compact antenna structure, which combined with the wide radio bandwidths of 5G, creates key challenges in terms of integration, power efficiency, and scalable radio performance. Network operators face similar power and bandwidth challenges to deploy advanced Multi-RAT Macro (MRM) radio head solutions that support legacy cellular standards (GSM, 3G, LTE etc.) in addition to 5G capabilities. MaxLinear's just-launched MxL1500 and MxL1600 Wireless Access RF solutions deliver the integration, performance, and efficiency required by next-generation, high-capacity AAS and MRM radio systems. These advanced building blocks offer a highly-integrated Quad-RF engine, support up to 400MHz Tx bandwidth and feature class-leading power consumption. Leadership Modem and RF Solutions for 5G RAN Wireless Backhaul With the deployment of next generation 5G New Radio (NR) networks in wide-bandwidth millimeter-wave spectrum, high-performance backhaul solutions are critical to supporting Gigabit-class throughput and massive over-the-air capacity available through 5G NR. MaxLinear's newest generation of wireless backhaul solutions, the MxL85650/MxL85110 modems and MxL1105 RF transceiver, provide a complete, high-performance wireless backhaul solution with fiber-like throughput for 5G RAN infrastructure in both microwave and millimeter-wave spectrums. The solution supports up to 20Gbps link capacity with advanced features including 2GHz ultra-wideband channels, high-order modulation, and channel aggregation. MaxLinear wireless backhaul solutions also provide scalability up to E-band frequencies (57-86GHz) to enable MSOs to both upgrade existing wireless backhaul assets and undertake new wireless backhaul deployment for 5G RAN as spectrum availability allows



Power Solutions for 5G Infrastructure 5G infrastructure equipment requires high-performance, energy-efficient power solutions to support dynamic, high-demand equipment workloads and high-efficiency operation to minimize thermal management challenges and operational costs. MaxLinear provides a broad portfolio of power management and power delivery solutions for infrastructure, enterprise, and data center applications that provide board area savings, high-efficiency operation and exceptional thermal performance for demanding 5G infrastructure applications.

Solving the "Last Meter" Challenge for 5G Fixed Wireless Broadband Services 5G New Radio in millimeter-wave spectrum is turbocharging the deployment of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services, offering MSOs the ability to create new revenue streams by providing wireline-class broadband speeds to homes without the need for a physical broadband line installation. However, higher-frequency cellular radio signals, such as those in 3.0 to 4.9GHz cellular bands and millimeter-wave bands, are known to have problems penetrating building structures. This limitation creates a "last-meter" challenge to bridge the 5G FWA services from outside to inside the home. Until now, this problem has typically been addressed through a professional installation process which requires drilling through the wall of the building. Creating this physical connection is often impractical, cost- and labor- intensive, and considered undesirable by customers and building owners. MaxLinear's AirPHY technology is an innovative solution to the "last-meter" problem. AirPHY provides a completely wireless, robust, point-to-point, multi-gigabit link capable of penetrating commonly used building materials, including concrete, wood, brick, and low-E glass. By utilizing advanced wireless communication technology, AirPHY helps MSOs to accelerate 5G FWA uptake by minimizing on-premise service time or even allowing consumers to perform self-installation, thereby eliminating the need for a truck roll or service call to the home for new service installations. "MaxLinear is bringing to market cutting-edge radio, modem, and power solutions that solve key challenges faced in 5G infrastructure devices and new 5G service rollouts," said Brendan Walsh, Vice President of MaxLinear's Wireless Infrastructure Group. "With our advanced semiconductor platforms, we enable our customers to bring innovative infrastructure solutions to market that address new challenges and opportunities associated with the global 5G rollout." MaxLinear will be conducting briefings on its next-generation solutions portfolio for 5G infrastructure devices at MaxLinear's meeting space at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) , located in Fira Gran Via Hall 2, Stand A64MR from February 22-28, 2019. For an appointment, please contact sales@maxlinear.com. About MaxLinear, Inc. MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL) is a leading provider of radio frequency (RF), analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for the connected home, wired and wireless infrastructure, and industrial and multimarket applications. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. For more information, please visit www.maxlinear.com. MxL and the MaxLinear logo are trademarks of MaxLinear, Inc. Other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning or implying future financial performance, industry trends, anticipated product performance and functionality, and trends and growth opportunities affecting MaxLinear, in particular statements relating to MaxLinear's wireless access RF solutions and MaxLinear's portfolio aimed at enabling next generation 5G networks, including but not limited to potential market opportunities, functionality, and the benefits of use of MaxLinear's products. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current, preliminary expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may contain words such as "will be," "will," "expected," "anticipate," "continue," or similar expressions and include the assumptions that underlie such statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: intense competition in our industry and product markets; risks relating to the development, testing, and commercial introduction of new products and product functionalities; the ability of our customers to cancel or reduce orders; uncertainties concerning how end user markets for our products will develop; our lack of long-term supply contracts and dependence on limited sources of supply; potential decreases in average selling prices for our products; and the potential for intellectual property litigation, which is prevalent in our industry. In addition to these risks and uncertainties, investors should review the risks and uncertainties contained in MaxLinear's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including risks and uncertainties identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. MaxLinear is providing this information as of the date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005312/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Built in Chicago, Online Start-Up and Tech Magazine, Features DIAMOND KEY SECURITY

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In his latest Built In Chicago article, journalist Alton Zenon III, wrote: "Digital security is everything these days, as news of data breaches are becoming as commonplace as weather updates. But investing in security can be expensive and time-consuming, and require a lot of technical knowledge. And even after you implement all the protections you think you need, there may be a hidden pathway to your data you aren't even aware of. Diamond Key Security is out to change all of that with its cryptography and encryption hardware." The article comes at a defining moment for DKS, a nonprofit organization gearing up to conduct a PR and fundraising campaign raising awareness about cyber security and support in its quest to ensure a safe, secure Internet for everyone. For more information and to read the full article, visit the Built In Chicago at: https://www.builtinchicago.org/2019/02/11/diamond-key-security-hardware-security-module



Diamond Key Security Managing Director, W. Stuart Jones states, "Our organization, Diamond Key Security, was founded because every second of every day, sensitive informationfrom credit card numbers and health care information to classified military intelligenceis transmitted online. Data breaches are becoming increasingly prevalent, and every Internet-enabled device and network is at risk. The average person is defenseless against the tremendous online threats. When one person is at risk; we all are at risk - this article underscores the importance of cryptographyand DKS' critical role in making the Internet safer." About Diamond Key Security

Diamond Key Security, headquartered in Palatine, Illinois, was formed in March 2017 as a not-for-profit corporation described under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Its educational, charitable, and scientific purposes include conducting scientific research in the development, enhancement, and deployment of transparent, auditable cryptographic technologieshelping to safeguard the internet for the public good. For more information, visit dkey.org.

Contact:

Sylvia R. Hampton, MSM

Hampton Bates Public Relations

O 603.570.4816

M 617.413.6764

E 209809@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/built-in-chicago-online-start-up-and-tech-magazine-features-diamond-key-security-300799467.html SOURCE Diamond Key Security

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[February 21, 2019] CenTrak Recognized in 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services: Positioned Highest for Ability to Execute in Visionaries Quadrant

NEWTOWN, Pa., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CenTrak, the market leader in Enterprise Locating and Sensing Services, announced that Gartner, Inc. has recognized the company as a Visionary in the January 2019 Magic Quadrant report for Indoor Location Services, Global. In the Visionaries quadrant, CenTrak was positioned highest for Ability to Execute. "We are thrilled to be recognized as a Visionary in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, especially in our first year of evaluation" said Wil Lukens, Chief Commercial Officer at CenTrak. "Since our inception, CenTrak's goal has been to futureproof end users by ensuring that their location investments can support the enterprise and be scalable to future IoT use cases. It is wonderful to be acknowledged for sticking to our vision." CenTrak's unique Multi-Mode technology leverages BLE, Wi-Fi, Zigbee and UHF networks. Certainty-based accuracy is delivered by multiple supplemental technologies including Second Generation Infrared (Gen2IR), IRUS (Hybrid Gen2IR - Ultrasound), Low-Frequency, and Passive RFID. CenTrak manufactures over twenty-five distinct tags and sensors, many of which operate on multiple networks. CenTrak devices are power efficient and offer unique features including waterproof and weatherproof options, configurable buttons, audible and visual alerting, temperature and humidity sensing, LCD displays and tamper detection. CenTrak's technology can be deployed in fully supervised mode, a reuirement for most enterprise use cases.



CenTrak systems have been installed in over 1,700 facilities throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Middle East, and Latin America. CenTrak is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Halma plc (FTSE 100). Gartner subscribers can download the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, Global here.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About CenTrak

CenTrak improves enterprise operational efficiency and quality via the industry's most robust and scalable Locating and Sensing Services offering. CenTrak's technology supports high velocity IoT updates and sub-room level accuracy across the entire enterprise. For more information, visit CenTrak.com. CenTrak, Enterprise Locating and Sensing Services, IRUS, Gen2IRand Multi-Mode are registered trademarks of CenTrak, Inc. About Halma Halma plc is a global group of life-saving technology companies. Our companies provide innovative solutions to many of the key problems facing the world today, from water security to preventable blindness. Halma is a FTSE 100 company (LSE: HLMA) with over 6,000 employees in more than 40 subsidiaries worldwide. Together we have a Purpose that drives everything we do: Growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day. Our business is split into four sectors. Halma's Process Safety products protect people and assets at work. Infrastructure Safety saves lives, protects infrastructure and enables safe movement. Our Medical Sector technologies enhance the quality of life for patients and improves quality of care delivered by providers. Our Environmental and Analysis companies focus on products and technologies for analysis in environmental safety and life sciences markets. CONTACT:

Adam Peck

1-215-860-2928

apeck@centrak.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/centrak-recognized-in-2019-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-indoor-location-services-positioned-highest-for-ability-to-execute-in-visionaries-quadrant-300799664.html SOURCE CenTrak Inc.

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Neel Bhatt, a UW assistant professor of otolaryngology, specializes in treating patients with voice problems. Through his work, he began to realize people did not like the sound of their own voices. With the transition to school over Zoom, many students can relate to the discomfort of hearin
[February 21, 2019] GiveSendGo Acquires FaithLauncher

BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GiveSendGo, the world's largest Christian fundraising platform, announced they have moved forward in acquiring personal fundraising site FaithLauncher. This will create even more opportunities for sharing Hope in our world. The two companies are excited about how this merger will create a centralized place for Christians to create campaigns and support each other both financially and prayerfully. "GiveSendGo and FaithLauncher have shared a common mission of not just fundraising to raise money, but raising funds to share the Hope of Jesus in the world. With this acquisition, we will be able to unite the body of Christ, allowing Christians world over to make an impact far greater than they can on their own," said Jacob Wells, CFO of GiveSendGo. "We welcome the FaithLauncher family to GiveSendGo's global community, and are excited to see where this acquisition will lead us." FaithLauncher's users will be added to the GiveSendG family and will be able to utilize GiveSendGo's top of the line customer service team, as well as all the unique and easy to use features available on their platform.



"I am very excited that FaithLauncher will be joining GiveSendGo as we both share an unwavering belief in collaboration," said FaithLauncher Founder Fernando Chavez. "FaithLauncher's early vision was to create an online community where Christians could work as one to support their causes, and there is no better home for FaithLauncher to continue rapidly growing and expanding that vision than with GiveSendGo." GiveSendGo and FaithLauncher finalized the acquisition February 2019.

About GiveSendGo Launched in 2015, GiveSendGo is the world's largest free Christian fundraising platform available in over 26 countries. Millions of dollars have been raised, but more importantly, millions of lives changed by the Hope that has been shared. GiveSendGo is changing the "why" behind crowdfunding. Crowdfunding - no longer just about raising money. Contact:

Heather Wilson

209767@email4pr.com

GiveSendGo.com

443-944-1789 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/givesendgo-acquires-faithlauncher-300799341.html SOURCE GiveSendGo

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[February 21, 2019] Sectigo Unveils Cybersecurity Industry's First Zero-Touch S/MIME Solution

Businesses worldwide have reported $12 billion in fraud losses since 2013 as a result of 78,000 BEC attacks (FBI). To address this cybersecurity risk and increase compliance with industry and government regulations, Sectigo (formerly Comodo CA (News - Alert) ), the world's largest commercial Certificate Authority and a leader in web security solutions, has released the industry's first Zero-Touch deployment email encryption and digital signing solution to use the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) protocol. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005501/en/ Sectigo Zero-Touch deployment of S/MIME certificates works seamlessly with Apple (News - Alert) Mail and other popular operating systems to ensure email messages and attachments are encrypted, complying with HIPAA, GDPR, DFAR, and other standards. Sectigo Zero-Touch S/MIME enables both public and private S/MIME certificates to be issued from a single, cloud-based platform. The product uses automation to deploy digital certificates across every desktop, tablet, and mobile phone in an enterprise, modernizing email security and removing the burden on users of manual push and pull approaches to email encryption. With this release, Sectigo is the first provider to enable email gateways to scan encrypted traffic inorder to detect malware or other malicious content. The solution also allows the gateway to sign email on behalf of the sender.



Zero-Touch deployment of S/MIME addresses the industry's growing need for email encryption due to BEC and other spear phishing schemes that can expose vulnerabilities and lead to costly fines. These threats have led to enactments of regulations such as HIPAA/HITECH, GDPR, and the United States Department of Defense's DFARS, requiring contractors to comply with email encryption to minimize risk of a breach. Modernizing Email Security

S/MIME email certificates update the security profile of the email communication by authenticating the sender, encrypting the email content and attachment, and providing assurance of integrity. Unlike traditional S/MIME certificate deployments, which place the burden on the user to participate in manual certificate and key management for desktop and mobile devices, Zero-Touch deployment is designed to be invisible to the user. "Sectigo is the first web security provider to deliver public-trust S/MIME. Our Zero-Touch deployment product responds to market demand for automation of email identity management with a frictionless email security solution that leverages the strength of S/MIME," explained Lindsay Kent, VP of Product Management, Sectigo. "Our customers enjoy the efficiency of iOS, so we are delivering on the promise of S/MIME by fitting into architectures to deliver a similar user experience." Encryption Key Features and Interoperability Sectigo Certificate Manager enables S/MIME interoperability with secure email gateways (SEGs) so that enterprises can continue scanning encrypted emails - an industry first. The platform's encryption key history and escrow capabilities allow recovery of lost or destroyed keys, even after the certificate holder has left the company, as well as decryption of emails using older keys. Sectigo sends the entire encryption key history to all desktop and mobile mail applications, enabling decryption of older emails. The same keys and certificates can be pushed or pulled on both mobile and desktop devices. Available today, Zero-Touch deployment S/MIME is a single application within the larger enterprise management platform offered by Sectigo. The solution works with the most popular email operating systems including Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook and Exchange, as well as Apple Mail, with additional application integrations coming in this spring. To learn more, visit www.sectigo.com or download the Zero-Touch Email Certificate Deployment white paper. About Sectigo Sectigo (formerly Comodo CA) provides web security products that help customers protect, monitor, recover, and manage their web presence and connected devices. As the largest commercial Certificate Authority trusted by enterprises globally for more than 20 years, and more than 100 million SSL certificates issued in over 200 countries, Sectigo has the proven performance and experience to meet the growing needs of securing today's digital landscape. Follow Sectigo on LinkedIn or Twitter (News - Alert) @SectigoHQ. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005501/en/

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[February 21, 2019] A10 Networks Ships Industry-leading 100 Gbps NFV Solution for 5G Secure Application Services

A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN (News - Alert) ) today announced that it has shipped the industry-leading 100 Gbps virtual machine for 5G secure application services with the Thunder Convergent Firewall (CFW). The solution has already been adopted by a major telco provider in the Middle East for its 5G environment. The 100 Gbps virtual machine provides the fastest throughput available in the market and helps customers transition to an agile, scalable and software-defined network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVi) required for the commercial roll-out of 5G networks. As mobile service providers transition to 5G, NFV provides many advantages in the consolidation of network functions and the ability to develop virtual infrastructures that are more flexible and scalable with a lower TCO. Service providers can scale services up or down or move network functions from location to location to respond to changing demands. It is clear 5G networks will drive a whole range of new services for customers. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by A10 Networks (News - Alert) , smart cities were identified as a top use-case driver by service providers. Security and flexibility of the network will be critical. "The transition to 5G is upon us, and now is the time for mobile service providers to begin the transition to NFVi to prepare their networks for 5G. A10 Networks' Thunder CFW consolidates multiple network functions to provide lower latency and total cost of ownership. Mobile operators can more quickly transition to NFV and prepare for the 5G transition with Thunder CFW's industry-leading scale and performance, and flexible form-factors," said Yasir Liaqatullah, vice president of product managemnt, A10 Networks.



A10 Networks' security solutions are being adopted by major telco providers and are being consumed in both physical and virtual form factors. These service providers are transitioning portions of their network infrastructure to virtual network functions (VNF), while maintaining other physical network functions (PNF). By providing both virtual and physical solutions, A10 Networks helps ease the integration of combining PNF and VNF in the same infrastructure. Customers select the Thunder CFW to protect their networks with highest scale physical appliances combined with industry-leading performance of virtual appliances. A10 Networks also partners with leading orchestration providers to help give customers integrated orchestration and management across physical and virtual functions. A10 Networks NFV Thunder CFW 5G-GiLAN solution includes:

Highest Performance - Up to 100 Gbps, 2.5x the performance of similar solutions.

Up to 100 Gbps, 2.5x the performance of similar solutions. GiLAN Consolidation - Consolidates GiFW, CGNAT, application visibility and intelligent traffic steering to increase operational efficiency and better security on the GiLAN.

Consolidates GiFW, CGNAT, application visibility and intelligent traffic steering to increase operational efficiency and better security on the GiLAN. Application Visibility & Control - DPI-based L7 application visibility for effective policy enforcement and control provides enhanced Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) support and compliance.

DPI-based L7 application visibility for effective policy enforcement and control provides enhanced Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) support and compliance. Intelligent Traffic Steering - Subscriber-aware traffic steering to enhance new business models with differentiated service offerings for new revenue streams.

Subscriber-aware traffic steering to enhance new business models with differentiated service offerings for new revenue streams. GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) Support - GTP Firewall with granular SCTP filtering defends the mobile core against GTP-based attacks initiated from RAN or GRX/IPX networks.

GTP Firewall with granular SCTP filtering defends the mobile core against GTP-based attacks initiated from RAN or GRX/IPX networks. Orchestration and management - Integration with leading orchestration solutions, making A10 Networks VNF and PNF form factors highly suited for 5G environments.

- Integration with leading orchestration solutions, making A10 Networks VNF and PNF form factors highly suited for 5G environments. Accelerates Adoption of SDN/NFV - Achieve on-demand capacity with versatile software options (PNFs, VNFs, containers and bare metal) across SDN/NFV environments. Supports A10 FlexPool subscription-based capacity pooling licensing model for flexible consumption. About A10 Networks A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN) is a Reliable Security Always company, providing a range of high-performance application networking solutions that help organizations ensure that their data center applications and networks remain highly available, accelerated and secure. Founded in 2004, A10 Networks is based in San Jose, Calif., and serves customers globally with offices worldwide. For more information, visit: www.a10networks.com and @A10Networks. The A10 logo, A10 Networks and Reliable Security Always are trademarks or registered trademarks of A10 Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005181/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Alliance Memory to Highlight Automotive and Mobile Low-Power SDRAMs, PSRAMs, and EOL ICs in Embedded World Debut

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alliance Memory today announced its technology lineup for Embedded World 2019 , taking place Feb. 26-28 at the Exhibition Centre in Nuremberg, Germany. Exhibiting at the trade fair for the first time (Hall 3A, Stand 613), the company will highlight its extensive line of automotive temperature SDRAMs, high-speed pseudo SRAMs (PSRAMs), and the latest additions to its portfolio of mobile low-power SDRAMs, including SDR (LPSDR), double data rate (LPDDR), and DDR2 (LPDDR2) devices. Alliance Memory will also showcase its offering of discontinued Cypress Semiconductor CY62256 low-power SRAMs and end-of-life MT41K512M16 8G DDR3L SDRAMs from Micron Technology.

At Embedded World 2019, Alliance Memory will showcase its complete lineup of automotive temperature CMOS SDRAMs , including double data rate (DDR), DDR2, and DDR3 devices in a wide range of densities. The AEC-Q100-compliant DRAMs are optimized for high temperature requirement applications, including Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS); powertrain; automotive active safety and autonomous driving; connectivity and in-vehicle-networking (IVN); carputers (customized PCs in cars); telematics; and infotainment systems. For wireless, automotive, networking, and industrial applications, highlighted PSRAMs feature densities from 8Mb to 128Mb in 6.0 mm x 7.0 mm x 1.0 mm 48-ball FPBGA and 4.0 mm by 4.0 mm by 1.0 mm 49-ball FPBGA packages. The devices offer industrial temperature ranges and fast access speeds of 70s. They operate from a single power supply of 1.7V to 1.95V or 2.6V to 3.3V. Power-saving features for the PSRAMs include auto temperature-compensatedself-refresh (ATCSR), partial array self-refresh (PASR), and a deep power down (DPD) mode.



To extend battery life in mobile devices, the LPSDR SDRAMs that Alliance Memory will feature at Embedded World 2019 offer power consumption of 1.8V and densities of 128Mb, 256Mb, and 512Mb in 54-ball and 90-ball FBGA packages. Highlighted LPDDR devices feature power consumption from 1.7V to 1.95V and densities of 256Mb, 512Mb, 1Gb, and 2Gb in the 60-ball and 90-ball FBGA packages. Enabling ultra-slim designs, LPDDR2 SDRAMs on display offer power consumption of 1.2V/1.8V and densities of 1Gb, 2Gb, and 4Gb in the 134-ball FBGA package. Alliance Memory is collaborating with Cypress Semiconductor Corporation to help ensure ongoing availability of some of the CY62256 series 32k x 8 SRAMs, offering them with their original part numbers. Alliance Memory will showcase this offering at Embedded World 2019, in addition to its own direct replacement for the devices: the AS6C62256 family.

Alliance Memory is also offering several end-of-life 8G DDR3L SDRAMs for which Micron Technology announced a last-time buy date of Jan. 13, 2019. The MT41K512M16 devices will be on display, along with versions for three of the ICs featuring Alliance Memory part numbers and the same genuine single-die Micron silicon as the Micron-numbered parts. Alliance Memorys ICs provide reliable drop-in, pin-for-pin-compatible replacements for a number of similar solutions in industrial, automotive, medical, communications, telecom, and consumer electronics products. The devices eliminate costly redesigns by providing long-term EOL components. In addition, the company performs minimal or no die shrinks, which frees up engineering resources. About Alliance Memory Inc.

Alliance Memory is a worldwide provider of critical and hard-to-find DRAM and SRAM memory ICs for the communications, computing, consumer electronics, medical, automotive, and industrial markets. The companys product range includes DRAMs and SRAMs with commercial, industrial, and automotive operating temperature ranges and densities from 64Kb to 8Gb. Privately held, Alliance Memory maintains headquarters in San Carlos, California, and regional offices in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. More information about Alliance Memory is available online at www.alliancememory.com . All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. Editor resources: More information:

https://www.alliancememory.com/visit-alliance-memory-at-embedded-world-2019/ Agency Contact:

Bob Decker

Redpines

+1 415 409 0233

bob.decker@redpinesgroup.com Alliance Memory Contact:

Kim Bagby

CFO

+1 650 610 6800

kim@alliancememory.com



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[February 21, 2019] Jacobs Awarded U.S. Federal Partner of the Year at Avaya ENGAGE 2019

DALLAS, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:JEC) was honored for its outstanding collaboration, contribution and commitment to innovation at Avaya's ENGAGE 2019 conference. Recognized as the U.S. Federal Partner of the Year, Jacobs received Avaya's Partner of the Year Award celebrating leaders across five categories (Innovation, Mid-market, U.S. Federal, Cloud and Service). The Avaya ENGAGE 2019 conference is the premier event for the future of communication experiences and its impact on digital transformation. Focused on building long-term client relationships to become one of the largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional and construction services, Jacobs was not only Avaya's top-line revenue producer in the U.S. Federal space in 2018, but also grew its overall business with Avaya by 325 percent in the past year, selling the most end devices  secure and non-secure telephones  in the federal sector, including the single-largest sale ever to a federal agency. The scope of the project was for Jacobs to install and provision 33,000 endpoints. "Jacobs provides innovative solutions for highly technical, critical operational requirements," said Jacobs Aerospace, Technology and Nuclear Senior Vice President Jennifer Richmond. "We look forward to our continued partnership with Avaya, sustaining our focus on providing clients solutions to enhance and simplify communications, and collaborate on services that create experiences that matter." Avaya creates intelligent communication experiences for customers and employees, and builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance ad simplify communications and collaboration  in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both.



Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2018 revenue and a talent force of more than 80,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

For press/media inquiries:

Kerrie Sparks

214.583.8433 Brian Morandi

720.286.0719 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jacobs-awarded-us-federal-partner-of-the-year-at-avaya-engage-2019-300799076.html SOURCE Jacobs

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[February 21, 2019] Evisions Builds Upon Its Higher Education Knowledge with the Hiring of James Buxton

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Evisions, Inc., the most trusted provider of software solutions and services for higher education, announced today that James Buxton joined the company as an advisor to its client and product teams, and as an account representative to its clients. He comes to Evisions directly from the higher education industry, where he gained first-hand understanding and practical insight into the responsibilities and challenges routinely faced by higher education professionals. "Evisions is excited to join forces with James," said Brian Stevens, vice president of sales and marketing at Evisions. "With over 13 years of experience in higher education, coupled with his desire to scale the positive impact he had at one college to many more schools, James is uniquely qualified to further strengthen Evisions depth of higher education knowledge that allows us to serve our clients so well." Prior to joining Evisions, Buxton spent 13 and a half years working at Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama. Progressing from Academic Advisor to Director of Articulation to Registrar, he was able to impact students first-hand. Among his accomplishments was helping the college more than double its graduation rate over a four-year span. "I couldn't be moe thrilled to be working for the best company in the business," explained Buxton. "Evisions has always held a special place in my heart. In my previous roles, from Academic Advisor to Registrar, I relied heavily on Argos to perform daily tasks, reporting, and to be innovative in my operations. Our college also used FormFusion and IntelleCheck to seamlessly run business processes. All combined, Evisions was part of our institution's DNA, and I look forward to bringing my passion, energy, and love of higher education to help create just as much success for so many more colleges and universities."



About Evisions, Inc.: Evisions develops innovative, easy-to-use software solutions that help higher education administration professionals work more efficiently. Focused exclusively on the needs of colleges and universities, Evisions solutions simplify workflows, eliminate manual and redundant processes, and increase productivity through greater efficiency. Evisions solutions include Argos, IRIS, IntelleCheck and FormFusion; and every solution is backed by Evisions superior support services and a commitment to customer success. Learn more and join our conversations at Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Press contacts: Eric Goldman

Evisions, Inc.

(714) 824-5252 x236

eric.goldman@evisions.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evisions-builds-upon-its-higher-education-knowledge-with-the-hiring-of-james-buxton-300798278.html SOURCE Evisions, Inc.

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[February 21, 2019] MassRoots' Planned Acquisition, COWA Science Corporation, Continues to Gain Traction

MassRoots, Inc. ("MassRoots" or the "Company") (OTCQB:MSRT), one of the leading technology platforms for the regulated cannabis industry, announced today that its planned acquisition, COWA Science Corporation ("COWA Science"), received sales orders for an aggregate purchase value of over $275,000 in January 2019. Not all sales orders have been fulfilled and there can be no assurances COWA Science will realize the revenue of these orders. COWA Science provides small and mid-sized operators the scale and cost advantages of their larger competitors by leveraging the collective purchasing power of its network, similar to Farmers Business Network and Chempoint in agriculture and industrial chemicals, respectively. This empowers entrepreneurs to compete with larger, multi-state operators while maintaining their local roots and independence. There are approximately 9,397 active licenses for marijuana businesses in the United States, according to Cannabiz Media, and many localities require local ownership or control of those businesses as part of the licensing process. "By developing a network of small businesses, we are creating a sales and distribution channel through which we can offer products and technologies at every step of the cannabis supply chain-from cultivators to dispensaries to consumers," stated Mr. Christopher Alameddin, COWA Sciences' Chief Executive Officer. "This allows operators, especially those with limited staff, to stay focused on their core business while we handle their supply chain needs." MassRoots has entered into a definitive agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire COWA Science Corporation for common-stock consideration valued at approximately $5.78 million, and dependent on COWA Science achieving revenue milestones of $2.5 mllion and $7.5 million. The closing of the Agreement is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the completion of audited financial statements of COWA Science. In the event that the Agreement has not been closed by May 15, 2019, MassRoots may terminate the Agreement by providing written notice to COWA Science.



For more information, please see the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 12, 2019. About MassRoots

MassRoots, Inc. is one of the leading technology platforms for the regulated cannabis industry. Powered by more than one million registered users, the Company's mobile apps empower consumers to make educated cannabis purchasing decisions through community-driven reviews. The Company's rewards program, WeedPassTM, enables consumers to earn tickets to movies, sporting events, and festivals by shopping at participating dispensaries. MassRoots has been covered by CNN, CNBC, Fox Business, Fortune, Forbes, and Reuters (News - Alert) . For more information, please visit www.MassRoots.com/Investors and review MassRoots' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005209/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Gopher Performs Successful Communication Testing of GopherInsight MESH Alpha Version

San Diego, CA, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Gopher Protocol Inc. (OTCQB: GOPH) ("Gopher), a company specializing in the development of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence enabled networking and tracking technologies, including its GopherInsight global mesh network technology platform for both mobile and fixed solutions, announced it has performed successful communication testing of the Alpha version of its GopherInsight MESH system.

In this phase of tests, communication between gateways and nodes was evaluated and reviewed while GPS tests were also performed. All results were successful, and the platform was cleared for field testing outdoors. "We completed our MESH system Alpha version laboratory testing as originally scheduled, and Im pleased to announce a satisfactory result," stated Danny Rittman, Gophers CTO. The tests adhered to a comprehensive protocol emphasizing robust features and characteristics. Additionally, we developed a mobile application that was used to visualize the results. The system is now ready to go outdoors for field testing. Its an exciting time for Gopher as we monitor the progress of what was initially a concept evolve into a sophisticated MESH system that we plan to use in a wide variety of future applications." About Gopher Protocol Inc. Gopher Protocol Inc. (OTCQB: GOPH) (Gopher) (http://gopherprotocol.com/) is a development-stage company which considers itself a native IoT creator, developing Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled mobile technology platforms. Gopher has a portfolio of Intellectual Property that, when commercialized, will include smart microchips, mobile and security applications and protocols, and supporting cloud software. Gophers system envisions the creation of a global mesh network. The core of the system will be its advanced microchip technology that can be installed in any mobile or fixed device worldwide. Gopher envisions this system as a low-cost, secure, private mesh network between any enabled devices, providing shared processing, advanced mobile database management/sharing and enhanced mobile features as an alternative to traditional carrier services.



https://www.avant-ai.net Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov). In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, the Companys ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, the Companys successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Companys products. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Contact: Dr. Danny Rittman, CTO Gopher Protocol Inc. Media: press@gopherprotocol.com

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[February 21, 2019] Neptune Flood and Hippo Insurance Partner to Create First Online Home and Flood Insurance Solution

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Neptune Flood, a data driven flood insurance company, recently partnered with Hippo Insurance to provide the best coverage for today's homeowners. Hippo and Neptune both offer consumers a seamless digital experience with speed, transparency and first-class service. The strategic partnership will give Hippo customers direct access to flood insurance with Neptune Flood, which will be woven into its intuitive and efficient online binding process. Neptune Flood launched in the fall of 2017 with technology that allows users to quote and buy flood insurance in under two minutes, removes the traditional waiting period and doesn't require the standard elevation certificate. Born out of the expanding need for flood insurance, Neptune offers coverage in low and high-risk flood zones with savings up to 20% over the government's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The company's advanced mapping technology provides highly accurate flood zone and risk-evaluation, offering homeowners near flood areas a better sense of their insurance needs. "Many of our customers, across Texas, Pennsylvania and California are in need of high-quality flood insurance to properly protect their homes and prized valuables," said Assaf Wand, CEO and Co-founder of Hippo Insurance. "Neptune Flood's use of technology, expedited onboarding experience and fantastic coverage options makes them a perfect match for our modern home insurance coverage and seamless sign-up process." Hippo is transforming insurance for today's households with modernized coverage. By eliminating process inefficiencies and outdated policy provisions, the company offers enhanced coverage at a savings of up to 25%. Hippo's 60-second online quote and four-minute policy binding process makes it one of the fastest and easiest way to obtain home insurace on the market.



Hippo currently offers home and condo insurance to residents in 15 states and is rapidly expanding into new states each month. Neptune's API allows for quick, deep integration into Hippo's platform, speeding the flood insurance buying process and delivering an unprecedented client experience. The aligned mission and vision of the companies is the cornerstone of the relationship. "Neptune is forming relationships with transformational distribution partners with a passion for changing the way households think about and buy insurance," said Jim Albert, CEO of Neptune Flood. "Hippo is an example of our commitment to best in class partners who share our values in educating and helping our neighbors better protect their homes against the risk of flooding, while saving time and money."

Nearly 80% of the properties flooded by Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged the Texan coastline in 2017, were considered low-risk homes by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While banks and lenders do not require homeowners in low-risk zones to obtain flood coverage with their home insurance policies, Hippo and Neptune are working together to fill the gap between lender requirements and the reality of increasing flood risk. About Neptune Neptune Flood utilizes advanced data analytics and mapping technologies to create sophisticated algorithms for the risk of flooding. This revolutionary approach to pricing flood risk often results in superior coverage and savings over the National Flood Insurance Program of up to 20%. Neptune is available in 23 flood-prone states for homeowners in low and high-risk flood zones. Neptune Flood was founded in 2016 by insurance and technology industry veterans, including CEO Jim Albert, with a goal of bringing advanced analytics and extreme ease of use to the flood insurance market. Neptune's policies are backed by some of the largest reinsurers in the world, all rated "A" (Excellent) or better by A.M. Best. Learn more, visit http://neptuneflood.com. About Hippo Hippo is on a mission to transform home insurance for the modern household. Among its many innovations, Hippo allows homeowners to get a quote and purchase home insurance online in 60 seconds or less, save up to 25 percent compared with traditional insurers, and obtain smarter coverage for modern households. This includes protection for possessions like appliances, consumer electronics and home offices. Founded in 2015 by Assaf Wand and Eyal Navon, Hippo made its debut in the insurance marketplace in April 2017, and has raised $109 million to reinvent home insurance through its initial funding rounds. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit http://www.myhippo.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neptune-flood-and-hippo-insurance-partner-to-create-first-online-home-and-flood-insurance-solution-300799379.html SOURCE Neptune Flood

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Electro Scan Inc. Named to Fast Company's Annual List of The World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019

Electro Scan Inc. has been named to Fast Company's prestigious annual list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2019.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220006066/en/

Ruggedized machine-intelligent probe precisely locates pipeline defects & quantifies leakage rates, in Gallons per Minute or Liters per Second, for all new & existing pipelines, including Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP). (Photo: Business Wire)

The list honors companies making the most significant impact to industry and identifies those demonstrating how to thrive and grow in today's volatile business world.

The World's Most Innovative Companies list is Fast Company's signature franchise and its most highly anticipated annual editorial effort. The list prvides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of today's economy.







"We are honored to be amongst this distinguished group of pioneering companies," stated Chuck Hansen, Chairman, Electro Scan Inc.

The company's machine-intelligent hardware & software-as-a-service ( SaaS (News - Alert) ) platform replaces less accurate and subjective legacy technologies, such as Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and acoustic sensors, to efficiently & effectively prioritize capital investments and to verify strict quality assurance standards in accordance with contract requirements.

This year, Fast Company's editors sought groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries, with Electro Scan Inc. part of its Urban Development/Real Estate industry category.

A key advantage is its repeatability of test results across all pipe materials, multiple hardware and software platforms, users, and equipment configurations.

"Given the trillion-dollar price tag (News - Alert) for fixing worldwide sewer & water networks, utilities can't afford to use inadequate legacy inspection methods to prioritize repairs or approve new installations," stated Hansen.

"Successful pipeline condition assessment doesn't come from what you occasionally find," stated Carissa Boudwin, Electro Scan's Vice President, Marketing. "It comes from what you consistently find & repeatedly measure in Gallons per Minute or Liters per Second."

This week's Fast Company announcement coincides with the Trenchless Middle East conference in Dubai, UAE, and the Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport Show in Indianapolis, IN.

ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.

Founded in 2011 with corporate headquarters in Sacramento, CA (News - Alert) , the company designs, develops, markets, and supports technology services for pipeline condition assessment, environmental compliance monitoring, and independent rehabilitation effectiveness. The company sells and licenses equipment to local governments and utilities to conduct their own pipeline testing and offers a Technology-as-a-Service solution in partnership with authorized contractors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220006066/en/
[February 20, 2019] Mizuho Securities and Perella Weinberg Partners Form Strategic Collaboration

Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. ("Mizuho Securities"), a leading Japanese investment banking and securities firm, and Perella Weinberg Partners ("PWP"), a leading global independent advisory firm, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on cross-border M&A advisory involving Japanese companies. Under the MOU, Mizuho Securities and PWP will provide strategic advice to Japanese companies on cross-border M&A transactions in North America and Europe, and to companies in North America, Europe and other areas looking to pursue transactions in Japan. Yasuto Hamanishi, Head of Global Investment Banking at Mizuho Securities, stated, "Perella Weinberg Partners is recognized as a trusted advisor, with leading franchises in the most attractive advisory sectors and geographies. Access to the experience and expertise of PWP's bankers in mergers & acquisitions across a broad range of sectors in North America, Europe and the Middle East will enhance Mizuho Securities' ability to deliver the highest-quality, tailored advice to its premier Japanese client base. This collaboration will create new opportunities for the clients of both companies as they benefit from our combined decades of experience, deep industry insights and superior market and regional intelligence. As part of the collaboration, Mizuho Securities will second personnel to PWP." "This partnership will provide a unique advisory platform for companies pursuing cross-border transactions into and out of Japan" said Joseph Perella, Founding Partner and Chairman of PWP. "The client-centric culture we share provides the foundation for a highly productive partnership that will benefit our clients and our firms. This is a natural next step in the continuing evolution of our global advisory business, and we look forward to combining our deep sector expertise and reputation for truly independent thinking with Mizuho's diverse Japanese client base and best-in-class execution."



About Mizuho Securities Mizuho Securities, a core subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, is a leading Japanese investment banking and securities firm. With its combined strength as a global investment bank backed by a nationwide client base in Japan and full-service securities business network, Mizuho Securities provides best-in-class professional services to its diverse array of individual and corporate clients with approximately 10,000 employees, 263 offices in Japan and 24 offices outside Japan as of Dec. 31, 2018. Mizuho Securities now provides global M&A support to clients with 140 M&A bankers in Tokyo, New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Mumbai. For more information on Mizuho Securities, please visit: http://www.mizuho-sc.com/english/index.html

About Perella Weinberg Partners Perella Weinberg Partners is a leading global independent advisory firm, providing strategic and financial advice and asset management services to a broad client base, including corporations, institutions and governments. The Advisory business advises clients across a range of the most active industry sectors and international markets. Together with its affiliates, the Asset Management business has capital commitments and managed assets of approximately $13.4 billion. With approximately 650 employees, Perella Weinberg Partners maintains offices in New York, Houston, London, Austin, Calgary, Chicago, Denver, Dubai, Los Angeles, Paris, and San Francisco. For more information on Perella Weinberg Partners, please visit: http://www.pwpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220006015/en/

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[February 20, 2019] Arrow Electronics and We Care Solar Win 2019 Edison Award for Innovative Solar Suitcase Technology

Arrow Electronics (News - Alert) and nonprofit We Care Solar have won a 2019 Edison Award for We Care Solar Suitcase 3.0, a portable and durable power system that provides sustainable energy for around-the-clock, effective obstetric care in remote and off-grid maternal health facilities around the world. The Edison Awards, named after Thomas Alva Edison, recognizes and honors the world's best innovators and innovations. Worldwide, more than one billion people live without electricity - and 300,000 women die in childbirth, often turned away from health centers that lack power. We Care Solar is a nonprofit that has teamed with Arrow to ensure women have access to safe childbirth in well-lit health facilities and equip medical providers with the power to save lives. Arrow offered to help improve the Solar Suitcase, a sun-powered, waterproof, compact system that includes medical-quality lighting, a fetal monitor, rechargeable headlamps, and cell phone charging for remote health workers to make emergency referrals. To optimize We Care Solar's lifesaving technology solution, Arrow helpe create a lower cost, more powerful design that is now easier to manufacture at scale, install and operate. Each unit is expected to work for at least five years before requiring a simple battery replacement. Extensive field testing is continuing in Uganda, and expanded manufacturing in the United States is planned for 2019.



"Having the light changed the lives of the health workers and the patients. It changed everything," said Maimuna Muye, a Nigerian midwife. All nominations were reviewed by the Edison Awards Steering Committee and the final ballot sent to an independent judging panel. The judging panel was comprised of more than 3,000 professionals from the fields of product development, design, engineering, science, marketing and education, including professional organizations representing a wide variety of industries and disciplines.

The Edison Awards will announce gold, silver and bronze award winners at the Edison Awards Gala on April 4 in New York. About Arrow Electronics Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) guides innovation forward for over 200,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2018 sales of $30 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at fiveyearsout.com. About We Care Solar We Care Solar is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that promotes safe motherhood and reduces maternal mortality in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, mobile communication, and medical devices using solar electricity. We Care Solar has equipped 3,500 health centers and emergency response teams in 27 countries with Solar Suitcases, serving 1.8 million mothers and their infants. Learn more at www.wecaresolar.org. About Edison Awards Established in 1987, the Edison Awards is a program conducted by Edison Universe, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to fostering future innovators. For more information about the Edison Awards, please visit www.edisonawards.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220006012/en/

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[February 20, 2019] Bugcrowd Named To Fast Company's Annual List Of The World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Bugcrowd , the #1 crowdsourced security company, announced that it has been named to Fast Company's prestigious list of the World's Most Innovative Companies (MIC) for 2019. The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture. Bugcrowd was recognized by Fast Company for its leadership and innovation in the security sector . Founded in 2012, Bugcrowd was the first company to offer managed bug bounty, vulnerability disclosure and next-gen penetration testing to customers in more than 50 industry sectors in over 30 countries. As a result, more leading companies around the world including Atlassian, Fitbit, Jet.com, NETGEAR, Square, HP, Mastercard, and more trust Bugcrowd for crowdsourced security. According to industry research, there will be more than 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity roles by 2021, with more than half of all organizations looking to fill open positions. Bugcrowd helps fill this critical gap, connecting organzations with the world's most elite hackers to identify and fix vulnerabilities before adversaries can take advantage of them.



"At Bugcrowd, our mission is to make the internet a safer place, filling the cybersecurity skills shortage while providing opportunities for security researchers around the globe," said Ashish Gupta, CEO at Bugcrowd. "As cybersecurity continues to be a growing concern for both organizations and consumers, we have been steadfast in our growth and development to advance this mission. It's an honor to see our progress recognized by Fast Company and to be named as one of the companies leading the industry forward." Bugcrowd's holistic approach to crowdsourced security provides customers actionable intelligence to measure success, multiply impact, and bring more secure products to market. Bugcrowd upholds the most rigorous standards of security for customers and researchers, achieving both Soc 2 Type 1 compliance and ISO 270001 certification.

The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy. "Established players are showing the same kind of nimbleness that we've generally associated with startups," said Fast Company deputy editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with senior editor Amy Farley. Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March-April 2019) is now available online at https://www.fastcompany.com/MIC , as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning February 27th. The hashtag is #fcmostinnovative. About Bugcrowd

Bugcrowd is the #1 crowdsourced security company. More Fortune 500 organizations trust Bugcrowd to manage their bug bounty, vulnerability disclosure, and next gen pen test programs. Bugcrowd's award-winning platform combines actionable, contextual intelligence with the skill and experience of the world's most elite hackers to help leading organizations solve security challenges, protect customers, and make the digitally connected world a safer place. Based in San Francisco, Bugcrowd is backed by Blackbird Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Industry Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Rally Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Triangle Peak Partners. Learn more at www.bugcrowd.com . About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies and thinkers on the future of business. Since 2011, Fast Company has received some of the most prestigious editorial and design accolades, including the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) National Magazine Award for "Magazine Of The Year," Adweek's Hot List for "Hottest Business Publication," and six gold medals and 10 silver medals from the Society of Publication Designers. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta and the publisher is Amanda Smith. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com. Michelle Dailey

Bugcrowd, Inc.

press@bugcrowd.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bugcrowd-named-to-fast-companys-annual-list-of-the-worlds-most-innovative-companies-for-2019-300799160.html SOURCE Bugcrowd

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[February 20, 2019] U.S. Cellular Launching Samsung Galaxy S10 Presale on February 21 with 50 Percent off Deals for New and Current Customers

U.S. Cellular (News - Alert) , the only wireless carrier that pays you back for data you don't use, is kicking off its presale for the Samsung (News - Alert) Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e on Feb. 21 with 50 percent off deals for everyone. New U.S. Cellular customers on any Total Plan and current upgrade-eligible customers on an Unlimited Plus Plan can get 50 percent off of the Galaxy S10e, or they can put that amount towards the purchase of a Galaxy S10 or S10+.1 U.S. Cellular will offer the three Galaxy S10 smartphones in Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue and Flamingo Pink, and the Galaxy S10+ will also be available in new, premium Ceramic models: Ceramic Black and Ceramic White. They will all be available for purchase in store and online on March 8. Anyone who pre-orders Galaxy S10 or S10+ from U.S. Cellular between Feb. 21 and March 7 can receive free Samsung Galaxy Buds ($129.99 value) via the Shop Samsung App. This promotion will last for a limited time only, while supplies last, and consumers can visit http://promos.samsung.com/terms for more information. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is an ultra-powerful and intelligent phone with a variety of new features that truly demonstrate the next generation of Galaxy. They include: World's First Dynamic AMOLED Display : As the first HDR10+-certified smartphone, the display provides vivid digital content, and with dynamic tone mapping, you'll see a wider range of color for a brilliant, realistic picture.

: As the first HDR10+-certified smartphone, the display provides vivid digital content, and with dynamic tone mapping, you'll see a wider range of color for a brilliant, realistic picture. In-Display Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner : By just touching your screen, an in-display sensor reads the 3D contours of your physical thumbprint for improved anti-spoofing, and it even unlocks in extreme sunlight and in cold temperatures from any angle (not available on Galaxy S10e).

: By just touching your screen, an in-display sensor reads the 3D contours of your physical thumbprint for improved anti-spoofing, and it even unlocks in extreme sunlight and in cold temperatures from any angle (not available on Galaxy S10e). Epic Camera : A full kit of pro lenses and an ultra-wide, 123 degree panoramic field of view, similar t the human eye, ensures you can effortlessly capture professional quality photos.

: A full kit of pro lenses and an ultra-wide, 123 degree panoramic field of view, similar t the human eye, ensures you can effortlessly capture professional quality photos. Intelligent Performance: The new AI software automatically optimizes battery, CPU, RAM (News - Alert) , and even device temperature based on how you use your phone, and continues to learn and get better over time. It can even learn how you use your device to launch your most frequently used apps faster.

The new AI software automatically optimizes battery, CPU, RAM (News - Alert) , and even device temperature based on how you use your phone, and continues to learn and get better over time. It can even learn how you use your device to launch your most frequently used apps faster. All-Day Intelligent Battery 2 : A smarter battery optimizes usage based on how you live, to deliver an intuitive and energetic peak performance around the clock.

: A smarter battery optimizes usage based on how you live, to deliver an intuitive and energetic peak performance around the clock. Wireless PowerShare: Wirelessly charge your Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Watch Active or even a friend's phone3 just by placing them on the back of your Galaxy S10 device.



Customers who purchase the Galaxy S10, S10+ or S10e at U.S. Cellular can take advantage of the company's exclusive Unlimited with Payback plans that pay customers back for data they don't use. Customers will get paid back $10 per month when they use less than 3GB of data per line, so a family of four can save up to $40 per month. U.S. Cellular will offer the Galaxy S10e for $25 per month (128 GB) and $28.33 per month (256 GB), Galaxy S10 for $30 per month (128 GB) and $38.33 per month (512 GB), and Galaxy S10+ for $33.33 per month (128 GB), $41.66 per month (512 GB) and $53.33 per month (1 TB), all on 30 month equipment installment plans.

1 Offer requires new qualifying smartphone purchase on a 30-month retail installment contract with $0 Down and 0% APR and Device Protection+. New customers: Total Plan required. Current Customers: Unlimited Plus Plan and upgrade eligibility required. Discount comes via a monthly bill credit. Credit approval required. Taxes and charges such as USF and RCRF apply. Unlimited Plus Plan(s) automatically shift to 2G when each line reaches 25GB. Additional terms apply. See uscellular.com for details. 2 Based on average battery life under typical usage conditions. Average expected performance based on typical use. Actual battery life depends on factors such as network, features selected, frequency of calls, and voice and data usage. 3 Wireless PowerShare limited to Samsung or other brand smartphones with WPC Qi wireless charging, such as Galaxy S9, S9+, S8, S8+, S8 Active, S7, S7 edge, S7 Active, S6, S6 edge, S6 Active, S6 edge+, Note9, Note8, Note FE, Note5, and wearables such as Galaxy Watch Active, Gear Sport, Gear S3, Galaxy Watch, and Galaxy Buds. May not work with certain accessories, covers or other brand devices. May affect call reception or data services, depending on your network environment. About U.S. Cellular U.S. Cellular is the fifth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier offers coverage where the other carriers don't and a wide range of communication services that enhance consumers' lives, increase the competitiveness of local businesses and improve the efficiency of government operations. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or www.uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220005171/en/

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[February 20, 2019] Samsung Raises the Bar with Galaxy S10: More Screen, Cameras and Choices

New premium smartphone experiences help celebrate 10 years of Galaxy innovations TORONTO, Feb. 20, 2019 /CNW/ - Celebrating a decade since the launch of the first Galaxy S, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. introduces a new line of premium smartphones: Galaxy S10. With three unique devices, the Galaxy S10 line is engineered to meet the distinct needs of today's smartphone market, so consumers can do more of what they love. Each device delivers a next-generation experience in the categories consumers care about most: groundbreaking innovations in display, camera and performance. A testament to a decade of innovations, Galaxy S10 is designed for those who want a premium smartphone with powerful performance and sets the stage for the next generation of mobile experiences. For consumers looking for a supercharged device, Galaxy S10+ takes every spec  from display, to camera, to performance  to the next level. Galaxy S10e is built for those who want all the premium essentials in a compact package on a flat screen. Featuring the all-new Dynamic AMOLED display, next-generation camera, and intelligent performance, the Galaxy S10 line offers consumers more choices and sets a new standard for the smartphone. "Since its launch ten years ago, the Galaxy S series has stood for premium innovation  offering consumers an incredible experience, and the ability to find the device that's right for them," said DJ Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. "Galaxy S10 builds on that incredible legacy, and delivers breakthrough display, camera, and performance innovations. With our new premium devices, each built for a unique consumer in mind, Samsung is leveraging a decade of industry leadership to usher in a new era of smartphone technology." Introducing the Dynamic AMOLED Display: Full Screen Experience with Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor

Galaxy S10 is made with Samsung's best screen yet, the world's first Dynamic AMOLED display. As the first HDR10+-certified smartphone, the display delivers vivid digital content, and with dynamic tone mapping, you'll see a wide range of colour for a brilliant, realistic picture. Galaxy S10's Dynamic AMOLED display produces vibrant bright colours1 and extraordinary contrast ratio on a mobile device for even deeper blacks and brighter whites.2 Verified by DisplayMate, you'll also enjoy exceptionally accurate colours on your mobile device3 even in harsh sunlight. What's more, the Dynamic AMOLED display also reduces blue light through its TUV Rheinland-certified Eye Comfort display4 without compromising picture quality or adding a filter. The result of a groundbreaking engineering process, Galaxy S10's unique Infinity-O Display packs an array of sensors and camera technology into a hole-in display  so you can maximize your screen real estate without any distractions. Galaxy S10's Dynamic AMOLED display also includes the first-ever in-display Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor5 that reads the 3D contours of your physical thumbprint  not a 2D image of it  for improved anti-spoofing. With FIDO Alliance Biometric Component certification, this next generation biometrics authentication offers vault-like security that only you can unlock. Pro-Grade Camera

Building on Samsung's camera leadership of Dual Pixel and Dual Aperture firsts, Galaxy S10 introduces new camera technology and advanced intelligence that makes it easy to take epic shots and videos: Ultra-Wide Lens: A first for the S Series, Galaxy S10 offers an Ultra-Wide Lens with a 123-degree field of view, like the human eye, so what you see is what's in frame. Perfect for impressive landscape shots, big panoramas and even fitting the entire extended family into the photo, the Ultra-Wide Lens ensures that you'll always be able to capture the full scene.

A first for the S Series, Galaxy S10 offers an Ultra-Wide Lens with a 123-degree field of view, like the human eye, so what you see is what's in frame. Perfect for impressive landscape shots, big panoramas and even fitting the entire extended family into the photo, the Ultra-Wide Lens ensures that you'll always be able to capture the full scene. Super Steady &High-Quality Video Recording: Galaxy S10 offers Super Steady recording with digital stabilization technology. Whether you're dancing in the middle of an amazing concert or trying to record every detail of a bumpy bike ride, Super Steady allows you to capture the moment. Both front and rear cameras can shoot in up to UHD quality, and in an industry first, the rear camera gives you the flexibility to record in HDR10+. 6

Galaxy S10 offers Super Steady recording with digital stabilization technology. Whether you're dancing in the middle of an amazing concert or trying to record every detail of a bumpy bike ride, Super Steady allows you to capture the moment. Both front and rear cameras can shoot in up to UHD quality, and in an industry first, the rear camera gives you the flexibility to record in HDR10+. AI Camera: Galaxy S10 makes already smart features more accurate with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) so you can get pro-grade shots worth sharing without having to manually select any advanced camera settings. Scene Optimizer can now recognize and more accurately process additional scenes because of the NPU. And with Shot Suggestion, Galaxy S10 offers automatic composition recommendations so you can frame your photo better. Intelligent Performance Features to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Phone

Galaxy S10 is built with premium hardware and machine-learning-based software that works hard, so you don't have to. From brand new power sharing capabilities to AI-powered performance enhancement and Intelligent Wi-Fi, Galaxy S10 is Samsung's most intelligent device yet, from the inside out. Wireless PowerShare 7 : Samsung introduces Wireless PowerShare on Galaxy S10, making it possible to easily charge Qi-certified smartphones and even compatible wearable devices. In addition, Galaxy S10 is capable of charging itself and a second device simultaneously via Wireless PowerShare 8 , while connected to a regular charger, enabling you to leave your second charger at home while on a trip.

Samsung introduces Wireless PowerShare on Galaxy S10, making it possible to easily charge Qi-certified smartphones and even compatible wearable devices. In addition, Galaxy S10 is capable of charging itself and a second device simultaneously via Wireless PowerShare , while connected to a regular charger, enabling you to leave your second charger at home while on a trip. Intelligent Performance: The new AI software on the Galaxy S10 automatically optimizes battery, CPU, RAM, and even device temperature based on how you use your phone, and continues to learn and get better over time. Leveraging AI-capabilities, Galaxy S10 also learns how you use your device to launch your most frequently used apps faster.

The new AI software on the Galaxy S10 automatically optimizes battery, CPU, RAM, and even device temperature based on how you use your phone, and continues to learn and get better over time. Leveraging AI-capabilities, Galaxy S10 also learns how you use your device to launch your most frequently used apps faster. Intelligent Wi-Fi: Galaxy S10 comes with Intelligent Wi-Fi that allows for an uninterrupted and safer connection by seamlessly switching between Wi-Fi and LTE, as well as alerting you of potentially risky Wi-Fi connections. Galaxy S10 also supports the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, making better Wi-Fi performance possible when connected to a compatible router.

Galaxy S10 comes with Intelligent Wi-Fi that allows for an uninterrupted and safer connection by seamlessly switching between Wi-Fi and LTE, as well as alerting you of potentially risky Wi-Fi connections. Galaxy S10 also supports the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, making better Wi-Fi performance possible when connected to a compatible router. Bixby Routines: On Galaxy S10, Bixby automates your routines and provides personalized recommendations to make your life easy. With pre-set and personalized routines, such as Driving and Before Bed routines, which are customized based on your habits, Galaxy S10 makes things simpler by automatically reducing device touches and cutting steps out of your day. 9 The Best Comes Standard: Galaxy Foundation and Next Level Ecosystem

The Galaxy S10 line offers everything you have come to expect from the Galaxy S series and moreincluding Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, IP68 water and dust resistance10, a next-generation processor and Samsung services like Bixby, Samsung Health, Samsung Pay and Samsung DeX. You will get the largest storage capacity available on a Galaxy device  the S10+ even comes with 1TB of built-in storage11 -- and the ability to add an additional 512GB microSD card for up to 1.5TB of total storage.12 Speed: Galaxy S10 gives you the capability to access next-generation Wi-Fi 6 13 , which gives you prioritized and faster access 14 over other users in crowded areas, like an airport. Experience lightning fast LTE for downloading and browsing capabilities.

Galaxy S10 gives you the capability to access next-generation Wi-Fi 6 , which gives you prioritized and faster access over other users in crowded areas, like an airport. Experience lightning fast LTE for downloading and browsing capabilities. Gaming: Engineered for the best possible gaming experience, Galaxy S10 is built with AI-based on-device gaming performance optimization software and premium hardware including Dolby Atmos for gaming mode and a vapor chamber cooling system. Galaxy S10 is also the first mobile device to be optimized for games created on the Unity platform.

Engineered for the best possible gaming experience, Galaxy S10 is built with AI-based on-device gaming performance optimization software and premium hardware including Dolby Atmos for gaming mode and a vapor chamber cooling system. Galaxy S10 is also the first mobile device to be optimized for games created on the Unity platform. Security: Galaxy S10 is built with defense-grade Samsung Knox, as well as a secure storage backed by hardware, which houses your private keys for blockchain-enabled mobile services. Galaxy S10 Availability & Pre-Ordering

Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e will be available in Canada in three colours: Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue.15 The Galaxy S10+ will also be available in two all-new premium Ceramic models: Ceramic Black and Ceramic White.16 In Canada, the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e will be available in stores and online beginning March 8, 2019. Pricing starts at $1,019.99 for Galaxy S10e, $1,259.99 for Galaxy S10 and $1,419.99 for Galaxy S10+. Pre-orders for the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e run from February 20 to March 7, 2019. Customers who pre-order the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ or Galaxy S10e at Samsung Experience Stores, Samsung.com/ca or at select carrier and retailer partners until March 7, 2019 and trade-in their old device, will receive up to $200 off their purchase in addition to the value of their trade-in device.17 At select Canadian carriers, customers will instead receive bonus Galaxy Buds when they pre-order a Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ or a Wireless Charger when they pre-order a Galaxy S10e until March 7, 2019.17 Customers are only eligible for The Trade-In Program or the Gift With Purchase as determined by Samsung Experience Store, Samsung.com/ca, or select carrier and retailer partners. Terms and conditions will vary by participating carrier and retailer partner.17 For more information about Galaxy S10, visit www.samsung.com/ca/smartphones/galaxy-s10. You can also pre-order a device today from https://www.samsung.com/ca/smartphones/galaxy-s10/buy. Galaxy S10 Line Product Specifications









Galaxy S10e Galaxy S10 Galaxy S10+ Display 5.8-inch, Full HD+ Flat Dynamic

AMOLED, 19:9 (438ppi) 6.1-inch Quad HD+ Curved

Dynamic AMOLED, 19:9

(550ppi) *Default resolution is Full HD+ and can

be changed to Quad HD+ (WQHD+) in

Settings 6.4-inch Quad HD+ Curved

Dynamic AMOLED, 19:9

(522ppi) *Default resolution is Full HD+ and can

be changed to Quad HD+ (WQHD+) in

Settings *Screen measured diagonally as a full rectangle without accounting for the rounded corners Camera Rear: Dual Camera with OIS

- Wide-angle: 12MP Dual Pixel AF,

F1.5/F2.4, OIS (77)

- Ultra Wide: 16MP FF, F2.2 (123)

- 0.5X optical zoom, up to 8X

digital zoom Front:

- Selfie: 10MP Super Speed Dual Pixel AF, F1.9

(80) Rear: Triple Camera with Dual

OIS

- Telephoto: 12MP PDAF, F2.4,

OIS (45)

- Wide-angle: 12MP Dual Pixel

AF, F1.5/F2.4, OIS (77)

- Ultra Wide: 16MP FF, F2.2

(123)

- 0.5X/2X optical zoom, up to

10X digital zoom Front:

- Selfie: 10MP Super Speed Dual Pixel AF,

F1.9 (80) Rear: Triple Camera with Dual

OIS

- Telephoto: 12MP PDAF, F2.4,

OIS (45)

- Wide-angle: 12MP Dual Pixel

AF, F1.5/F2.4, OIS (77)

- Ultra Wide: 16MP FF, F2.2 (123)

- 0.5X/2X optical zoom, up to

10X digital zoom

Front: Dual Camera

- Selfie: 10MP Dual Pixel AF,

F1.9 (80)

- RGB Depth: 8MP FF, F2.2 (90) Body 69.9 x 142.2 x 7.9mm, 150g 70.4 x 149.9 x 7.8mm, 157g 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8mm, 175g

(Ceramic: 198g) AP 7nm 64-bit Octa-core processor (Max. 2.8 GHz + 2.4 GHz + 1.7 GHz) 8nm 64-bit Octa-core processor (Max. 2.7 GHz + 2.3 GHz + 1.9 GHz) *May differ by market and mobile operator Memory 6GB/8GB RAM (LPDDR4X),

128GB/256GB

+ MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) 8GB RAM (LPDDR4X),

128GB/512GB + MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) 8GB/12GB RAM (LPDDR4X),

128GB/512GB/1TB + MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) *May differ by market and mobile operator.

*User memory is less than the total memory due to storage of the operating system and software used to operate

the device features. Actual user memory will vary depending on the operator and may change after software upgrades are

performed SIM Card Single: one Nano SIM and one MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) Dual(Hybrid): one Nano SIM and one Nano SIM or one MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) *May differ by market and mobile operator.

*MicroSD card sold separately Battery18 3,100mAh (typical) 3,400mAh (typical) 4,100mAh (typical) Fast Charging compatible on wired and wireless Improved wireless charging speeds with Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare19

*Wired charging compatible with QC2.0 and AFC

*Wireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA

*May differ by market and mobile operator OS Android 9.0 (Pie) Network Enhanced 4x4 MIMO, Up to 7CA, LAA, LTE Cat.20

- 2.0Gbps download, 150Mbps Upload *May differ by market and mobile operator Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM - 1.2Gbps Download / 1.2Gbps Upload *May differ by market and mobile operator Bluetooth v 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo*, Glonass, BeiDou*) *Galileo and BeiDou coverage may be limited Payment NFC, MST *May differ by market and mobile operator Sensors Accelerometer, Barometer,

Capacitive Fingerprint Sensor,

Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic

Sensor, Hall Sensor, Proximity

Sensor, RGB Light Sensor Accelerometer, Barometer, Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro

Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor,

Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor Authentication Lock Type: Swipe, Pattern, PIN, Password

Biometric Lock Types: Fingerprints, Face Audio Stereo speakers and earphones: Sound by AKG Surround sound with Dolby Atmos technology (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus included) Audio Playback Format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DSF, DFF, APE Video MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

*All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice About Samsung Electronics Canada

Samsung Electronics Canada inspires Canadians to reach their full potential through a transformative ecosystem of products and services that deliver innovation and distinct design to every aspect of their connected lives. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, virtual reality and wearable devices, tablets and digital appliances. In 2017, Samsung was ranked No. 6 in Interbrand's "Best Global Brands" list and named one of the top 10 Most Influential Brands in Canada, based on a study by Ipsos Canada. Dedicated to helping make a difference in the lives of Canadians, Samsung's award-winning Hope for Children corporate giving initiatives supports public education, sustainability and health-related issues in communities across the country. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com. Follow Samsung Canada at facebook.com/SamsungCanada, or Instagram @samsungcanada or Twitter @SamsungCanada. To purchase or explore all our products, visit our website at https://shop.samsung.com/ca/ _____________________________ 1 According to DisplayMate, peak luminance of up to 1200 nits 2 Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+'s display has been awarded a certification for 100% Mobile Colour Volume with a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1 by 3 According to DisplayMate, 0.4 JNCD colour accuracy at DCI-P3 colour gamut. DisplayMate is the recognized worldwide standard for image and picture quality. Over 200 computer and video publications in 70 countries use DisplayMate for their editorial reviews, lab testing, and evaluations of video hardware 4 TUV Rheinland, a globally recognized certification institute, awarded Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e's display the Eye Comfort Certification based on its ability to drastically reduce the harmful effects of blue light. This certification can be found on www.tuv.com with the ID 1419064785 5 Available on Galaxy S10 and S10+. Galaxy S10e has a Fingerprint Sensor located on the power button 6 HDR10+ recording quality may vary based on sharing platform and playback environment; HDR10+ colour is only available on supported devices or platforms 7 Wireless PowerShare limited to Samsung or other compatible smartphones with WPC Qi wireless charging, such as Galaxy S9, S9+, S8, S8+, S8

Active, S7, S7 edge, S7 Active, S6, S6 edge, S6 Active, S6 edge+, Note9, Note8, Note FE, Note5, and Samsung wearable devices including Galaxy

Watch Active, Gear Sport, Gear S3, Galaxy Watch (46/42mm), and Galaxy Buds. May not work with non-Samsung accessories or covers. May

affect call reception or data services, depending on your network environment 8 If you charge two devices simultaneously, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 for Galaxy S10e, S10, and S10+ may not be available 9 Bixby Routines Driving routine only available in cars with Bluetooth capabilities 10 Water resistant in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. Rinse residue/dry after wet. Not advised for beach or pool use 11 1TB of built-in storage only available on a Galaxy 10+ device 12 Up to 512GB additional storage with external MicroSD card for maximum 1.5TB storage capacity available only on Galaxy S10+. MicroSD card sold separately. Availability may depend on country and manufacturer 13 Faster than previous Wi-Fi protocols. Wi-Fi 6 support may not be available depending on the country or region you live in 14 Actual speed may vary depending on the country, carrier, and user environment 15 Model and colour availability may vary depending on country or carrier 16 Ceramic version only available on 8GB/512GB and 12GB/1TB Galaxy S10+ models 17 *Conditions apply. Receive a credit of $100 or $200, as applicable, plus the value of your trade-in device, when you: (1) pre-order an eligible Samsung Galaxy S10 device ($100 on eligible Samsung Galaxy S10e or $200 on eligible Samsung Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10+ between February 20, 2019 and March 7, 2019 from a participating authorized Canadian carrier or retailer, Samsung Experience Store, or online at http://www.samsung.com/ca/; (2) complete the associated outright purchase, new activation or contract renewal by April 30, 2019; and (3) trade in a device with a minimum $25 trade-in value or $0 trade in value depending on the participating carrier and retailer, Samsung Experience Stores or online at http://www.samsung.com/ca/. Offer is limited to one (1) trade-in device per eligible Samsung Galaxy BS10 device. Proof of purchase required. While quantities last. No rain checks. No cash value. Offer is subject to change or cancellation without notice. Offer is open to Canadian residents only. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer unless otherwise specifically agreed to by Samsung in writing or by the participating Canadian authorized carrier or retailer. See full Terms and Conditions available at www.samsung.com/ca/promotions for more details and how to redeem your credit 18 Typical value tested under third-party lab condition. Rated (minimum) capacity is less. Actual battery life may vary depending on network environment, usage patterns and other factors. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com 19 Wireless PowerShare limited to Samsung or other compatible smartphones with WPC Qi wireless charging, such as Galaxy S9, S9+, S8, S8+, S8 Active, S7, S7 edge, S7 Active, S6, S6 edge, S6 Active, S6 edge+, Note9, Note8, Note FE, Note5, and Samsung wearable devices including Galaxy Watch Active, Gear Sport, Gear S3, Galaxy Watch (46/42mm), and Galaxy Buds. May not work with non-Samsung accessories or covers. May affect call reception or data services, depending on your network environment SOURCE Samsung Electronics Canada

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[February 20, 2019] Renesas Synergy Platform Adds Low Power S5D3 MCU Group with Advanced Security for Industrial IoT Endpoint Devices

High Integration MCUs Simplify Application Development with Secure Cryptographic Engine and Synergy Software Package TOKYO, Japan, February 20, 2019  Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today extended its high integration Renesas Synergy S5 microcontroller (MCU) series with the introduction of the entry-level S5D3 MCU Group. The four new S5D3 MCUs join the mid-range S5D5 and high-end S5D9 MCU Groups with similar S5 Series featuresintegrated 120 MHz Arm Cortex-M4 core and advanced securityas well as general-purpose features that simplify designing cost sensitive, low power Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint devices. The entry-level S5D3 MCUs target a broad range of industrial, building automation, and office equipment, as well as smart metering, and home appliances employing a capacitive touch human-machine interface (HMI).







The Renesas Synergy Software Package (SSP) supports the S5D3 MCUs with HAL drivers, application frameworks and real-time operating system. Embedded system designers can use either of the Renesas Synergy development environments--e studio or IAR Embedded Workbench--to build and customize their designs. Based on a 40nm process, the S5D3 MCUs integrate a secure cryptographic engine (SCE7) with key protection that safeguards the MCU boot code and IoT endpoint device communication with a root of trust. This capability eliminates the need for external security functions and reduces BOM cost. The SCE7 features encryption hardware accelerators like RSA, DSA, AES, ECC, SHA and true random number generator (TRNG) to provide a secure system connection to the cloud. Each S5D3 MCU offers superior power consumption of 100 A/MHz in active mode, ultra-low 1.3 A in standby mode, and 900 nA for a VBATT supply that keeps the integrated real-time clock running, making these devices ideal for applications that require low power and high performance.



The S5D3 MCUs offer 512 KB flash memory and a large 256 KB SRAM memory. This unique 2:1 ratio of embedded flash to SRAM supports intensive communication stacks utilization for robust IoT connectivity, and the 8 KB data flash enables more read/write cycles than the competition. Each S5D3 MCU integrates several analog components including two 12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), a 2-channel 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC), high-speed 6-channel comparator, temperature sensor, and a 6-channel programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The S5D3 MCUs also offer a scalable set of 13 independent 32-bit general-purpose timers, and communications interfaces such as USB, CAN, I2C, SPI, SDHI, and SSI.





The S5D3 MCUs beat the competition with superior security, memory performance, MCU scalability, and Synergy Platform support, said Daryl Khoo, Vice President, Product Marketing, IoT Platform Business Division, Renesas Electronics Corporation. The cost-optimized and pin-compatible S5D3 MCUs are scalable up through the S5D5, S5D9 and S7G2 MCU groups if customers later require additional features, more memory, or higher performance. About the Renesas Synergy Platform The Renesas Synergy Platform is a fully supported software/hardware platform that accelerates time to market and removes the obstacles engineers face designing IoT products. By enabling development to begin at the application programming interface (API) level, Renesas reduces the complexity with designing security-aware connected devices and HMI systems with graphical user interfaces and capacitive touch. The Synergy Platform is accessible from the Renesas Solutions Gallery, and consists of integrated software, development tools, and scalable Arm Cortex-M-based Synergy MCUs fully accessible through the software APIs. There are no upfront licensing fees or back-end royalties  everything is included in the purchase price of the MCU.



Pricing and Availability The Renesas Synergy S5D3 MCU Group are available now from Renesas Electronics worldwide distributors, and are priced from $5.10 USD to $5.40 USD in 10,000-unit quantities.



S5D3 Group MCUs Flash SRAM Package R7FS5D37A2A01CLJ 512 KB 256 KB 100-pin LGA R7FS5D37A3A01CFP 512 KB 256 KB 100-pin LQFP R7FS5D37A3A01CFM 512 KB 256 KB 64-pin LQFP R7FS5D37A3A01CNB 512 KB 256 KB 64-pin QFN The TB-S5D3 Target Board Kit, priced at $34.00 USD, allows customers to evaluate the S5D3 and start their system development using an on-chip debugger, through-hole pin header access to all MCU pins, USB port, LEDs, and capacitive touch buttons. The kit comes with users guide, design files, schematics, PCB layout and bill of materials (BOM) cost.



Watch the video Design your next IoT solution using the Synergy S5D3 MCU, and learn more about the new S5D3 MCUs in Booth 1-310 (Hall 1) at embedded world, February 26-28, 2019 in Nuremberg, Germany.



About Renesas Electronics Corporation Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power, and SoC products, Renesas provides comprehensive solutions for a broad range of automotive, industrial, home electronics, office automation, and information communication technology applications that help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com.



### (Remarks) Renesas Synergy is a trademark of Renesas Electronics Corporation. Arm and Arm Cortex are registered trademarks of Arm Limited in the EU and other countries. IAR Embedded Workbench is a registered trademark of IAR Systems AB. All other names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.



Media Contacts: Americas Mark Alden Renesas Electronics Corporation + 1-408-546-3402 mark.alden.eb@renesas.com As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.

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[February 20, 2019] Japan Blockchain Technology Market Size, Share, Trends and Forecast 2018-2023

A recent report by KD market insights titled as " Japan Blockchain Technology Market (20182023)" provides the key trends, opportunities and challenges market will face in the forecasted period of 6 years i.e. 2018-2023. The study also provides the Japan Blockchain Technology Market.







Blockchain technology is used to record Bitcoin transactions via a global network of computers. It is a continuously growing list of blocks (records) that are linked and secured using cryptography. Each new block created is connected to the previous block via a cryptographic Hash. Japan is trying to become the worlds Blockchain hub. Japan SBI (Strategic Business Innovator Group) is creating a venture capital fund to invest in Blockchain technology. The fund is expected to reach USD 450 Mn by mid-2018.



Request for Sample @ https://www.kdmarketinsights.com/sample/3250 By industries, the Japan Blockchain market is divided into BFS (Banking Financial Service), Insurance, Supply Chain management, and healthcare. Banking and Financial Services holds the largest market share. Japan has developed digital customer IDs for the banking sector based on Blockchain technology. The three largest banks in Japan are the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFJ), Mizuho and the Smitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, and they use Blockchain technology to view each others customer details upon approval. Ripple collaborated with 61 Japanese Banks and developed Blockchain Payment. Japan is also trying to apply Blockchain technology across various other domains. A major Japanese electricity company is collaborating with a start-up to test a peer to peer energy trading system. After Cryptocurrencies gained recognition in Japan, the Japanese government disclosed various methods to evaluated Blockchain technology that would transform various industries.





Key growth factors: o Japan has adopted the Blockchain technology for financial transactions and decided to use it to verify government tenders o Japanese brokerage companies are planning to launch a consortium to drive the adoption of Blockchain technology in the industry. The goal is to boost efficiency and provide better customer service o Blockchain technology will be widely used in the P2P energy market in order to ensure customers can trade electricity among themselves and automatically receive payment, hence allowing them to reap profits from their excess power Threats and key players: o Japan has made very progressive use of Blockchain technology across various domains. However, the country needs to pay more attention to security,and policy making to make maximum utilization of the technology Browse Full Report With TOC@ https://www.kdmarketinsights.com/product/japan-blockchain-technology-market Table Of Content@ Chapter 1: Executive summary 1.1 Market scope and segmentation 1.2 Key questions answered in this study 1.3 Executive summary Chapter 2: Introduction 2.1. Blockchain technology-Functionality 2.2. Blockchain application 2.3. Blockchain use cases 2.4. Value chain-Blockchain technology market Chapter 3: Japan Blockchain Technology Market overview 3.1. Market overview- Key observations, global historical (2016-2017) and forecasted (2018-2023) market size (USD bn) 3.2. Market trends 3.3. Market drivers Chapter 4: Japan Blockchain Technology Market by industries 4.1. Japan segmentation by BFS, Insurance, Supply Chain, Healthcare and other industries  Industry overview, market share Continue@ Check for Discount@ https://www.kdmarketinsights.com/discount/3250 About KD Market Insights KD Market Insights has come with the idea of helping business by intelligent decision making and thorough understanding of the industry. We offer a comprehensive database of syndicated research, customized reports as well as consulting services to help a business grow in their respective domain. At KD Market Insights, we offer our client a deep Market research reports accompanied by business consulting services that can help them to reach on top of the corporate world. Our customized reports are built by keeping all factors of the industry in mind.



Contact Us 150 State street, 3rd Floor, Albany, New York United states (12207) Telephone: +1-518-300-1215 Email: - sales@kdmarketinsights.com Website: - www.kdmarketinsights.com As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.

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[February 21, 2019] Verto Analytics Announces Expansion of Executive Team to Manage Growth and Increase Revenue

NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verto Analytics is pleased to announce it has hired several new executives to support Vertos growth in key areas of its business. Additions to the team include the following.

VP of sales Tony Perucca in Seattle, Washington

VP of client services Jenni Hartwig in San Francisco, California

VP of custom research Vinayak Nair in Toronto, Canada

VP of finance Paul Stenback in Helsinki, Finland Tony Perucca, based in Seattle, has been appointed as VP of sales to oversee the growth of Vertos presence in the Pacific Northwest with local technology clients. Tony helped lead the Seattle office of Comscore for many years, with solutions ranging from competitive intelligence and audience ratings, to segmentation models and survey research. His role is to manage the growth for Vertos local Seattle office and expand the availability of solutions to local technology customers. As new VP of client services, Jenni Hartwig has bolstered Verto Analytics focus on the customer experience. She combines strong strategic thinking with peerless work experience in the media measurement industry, and has 20 years of experience working with top technology clients in behavioral analysis and custom research. Her background includes work at Comscore, where she led client teams in custom solutions, account management, and sales. She is based in Vertos San Fracisco office.



As VP of custom research, Vinayak Nair is helping Verto make its offerings available in new verticals and markets by leading Vertos U.S. market insights and analytics team. He also supports solutions development for Vertos enterprise customers globally. He is based in Vertos Toronto office, in Canada. Hartwig, Nair, and Perucca all report to Pat Brennan, president of Verto Analytics.

More and more companies are recognizing that cross-device, behavioral analysis should be core to their research approaches in brand tracking, ad evaluation, and basic consumer understanding, says Brennan. Given our unique panel assets, we felt it was time to bring in proven and highly talented leaders like Jenni, Tony, and Vinayak to help guide both our capability and clients through this transition. In addition, Paul Stenback has joined Verto as VP of finance, in Vertos Helsinki Data Lab and Verto global headquarters. Paul brings a long background from technology growth companies (e.g. LeadDesk) and M&A consulting (e.g. Ernst & Young) with him; he is helping Verto organize and manage financial planning, budgeting, and investor relationships. He reports to Hannu Verkasalo, CEO and founder of Verto Analytics. Customers like Google, Zynga, Spotify, Yahoo and CNN have endorsed Vertos single-source audience measurement data in their respective use cases around consumer journeys and competitive intelligence. To learn more about Verto Analytics, read our blog , follow us on Twitter , or learn more at https://www.vertoanalytics.com . About Verto Analytics Verto Analytics is a media measurement company that offers a holistic view of the consumertheir behavior along with demographics, lifestyles, attitudes, and interests. Verto owns and operates single-source, passively metered consumer panels in select markets that gives it the power to measure behavioral changes over time across all mediasecond by second. Brands, publishers, and researchers can benchmark against competitors and the market, fill in the gaps in the consumer journey, and identify ways to increase engagement and loyalty, with Vertos services. All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Media Contact: Ritu Singh, ritu.singh@vertoanalytics.com

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[February 21, 2019] Seoul Semiconductor Made Global Distributor Stop Selling Everlight Product in Japan

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890) ("Seoul"), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that it has concluded a patent infringement lawsuit seeking an injunction on the sales of certain LED product sold by Mouser Electronics ("Mouser"). The accused LED product was manufactured by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Everlight"). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005040/en/ Seoul Semiconductor's Headquarters in Korea (Photo: Business Wire) In February 2018, Seoul filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court, accusing the LED product manufactured by Everlight and sold by Mouser of infringing an LED patent of Seoul's affiliate. Mouser agreed not to export the accused Everlight LED product in Japan, and Seoul therefore agreed to withdraw the lawsuit. The patented technology involved in this litigation serves to efficiently extract light emitted from the internal LED structure by attaching a light reflection structure to the LED chip, which would increase light extraction efficiency significantly. Seoul has established hundreds of patents arising from this patented technology, which covers an LED module, package, chip, and epitaxial structure. This patented technology has been widely applied to mid-power LED products, such as lighting, automobiles, and mobile phones, whose power consumption is less than 1 W (watt). Seoul has already obtained a judgment of injunction against certain Everlight LED products in Germany. In December 2018, the District Court of Dusseldorf rendered judgments in favor of SSC's infringement claims, including ordering an injunction against sales of the accused Everlight products. The Court also ordered to recall the accused Everlight products sold after July 13, 2012 from the distributor's commercial customers. "In order to create a fair competition market, we will continue enforcement efforts to prevent manufacturers and distributors from selling suspected-infringing products," said Nam Ki-bum, sales and marketing executive vice president of Seoul. "We will continue our best efforts to develop essential technology that enables our customers to benefit from our technology innovation."







[A List of court judgments & resolution made in favor Seoul against Everlight] Country Date Judgment U.K. 2018.02.14 Patent Court declared Everlight's patent invalid and ordered Everlight to pay approximately $1 million dollars in litigation costs to Seoul. Germany 2018.12.07 Mannheim Court ruled in favor of Seoul and ordered Everlight to bear the statutory costs of the court proceeding. This judgment became final because Everlight abandoned an appeal. Germany 2018.12.10 Mannheim Court dismissed Everlight's claim against a distributor of Seoul and ordered Everlight to bear the statutory costs of the court proceeding. This judgment became final because Everlight abandoned an appeal. Germany 2018.12.11 Dusseldorf Court issued a permanent injunction against sales of the accused Everlight products and ordered to recall the accused Everlight products sold after July 13, 2012 from its distributor's commercial customers as a first instance decision. Korea 2018.12.13 Patent Court declared the challenged claims of Everlight's patent invalid. This judgment became final because Everlight abandoned an appeal. Japan 2019. 1. 17. A Distributor of Everlight products agreed not to sell the accused Everlight product in Japan.

About Seoul Semiconductor Seoul Semiconductor develops and commercializes LEDs for automotive, general illumination, specialty lighting, and backlighting markets. As the second-largest LED manufacturer globally excluding the captive market, Seoul Semiconductor holds more than 13,000 patents, offers a wide range of technologies, and mass-produces innovative LED products such as SunLike - delivering the world's best light quality in a next-generation LED enabling human-centric lighting optimized for circadian rhythms; WICOP - a simpler structured package-free LED which provides market leading color uniformity and cost savings at the fixture level, providing high lumen density and design flexibility; NanoDriver Series - the world's smallest 24W DC LED drivers; Acrich, the world's first high-voltage AC-driven LED technology developed in 2005, including all AC LED-related technologies from chip to module and circuit fabrication, and nPola, a new LED product based on GaN-substrate technology that achieves more than ten times the output of conventional LEDs. UCD constitutes a high color gamut display which delivers more than 90% NTSC. For more information, please visit www.seoulsemicon.com/en. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005040/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Protolabs Selected to be Featured in National Manufacturing Tour

Digital manufacturing leader Protolabs (NYSE: PRLB) will be showcased as part of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) State of Manufacturing Tour, which highlights manufacturing's digital transformation, the job opportunities created by this transformation, and the skills required now to work in the industry. The cross-country tour will run from February 19-28, stopping on Feb. 22 at Protolabs' U.S. 3D printing facility in Raleigh, NC, and the company's Minneapolis-area CNC machining and injection molding facilities on Feb. 25. NAM's President and CEO Jay Timmons and Manufacturing Institute Executive Director Carolyn Lee will be a part of Protolabs' events, which will host students (at the Minnesota event) and include tours of the manufacturing facilities. "This year's tour is about highlighting the 'next frontier' in manufacturing, and every day Protolabs deploys the type of advanced technologies that define modern manufacturing," said Timmons. "We are excited to tell Protolabs' story and the positive impact the company is having on communities across the country." Timmons and Lee will also participate in roundtable discussions with Protolabs employees about the current state of manufacturing, workforce opportunities, and how to adapt to changes as the industry continues t evolve. In Minnesota, they will be joined by Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Mayor, and E.J. Daigle, Dean of Robotics & Manufacturing at Minneapolis' Dunwoody College of Technology.



"Protolabs is a pioneer in digital manufacturing," said Vicki Holt, President and CEO of Protolabs, who also serves as the Small and Medium Manufacturers Vice Chair on NAM's board of directors. "We're excited to be part of this event to provide an up-close view of what manufacturing looks like today, how this digital evolution benefits product developers, and how this tech-enabled manufacturing landscape is creating new opportunities for workers." The NAM is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12.8 million workers, contributes $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, and accounts for more than three-quarters of all private-sector research and development in the country, according to NAM statistics. The Manufacturing Institute is the workforce and education partner of the NAM.

Event Details

The Feb. 22 Raleigh event starts with a tour at 4 p.m. (ET), followed by a roundtable discussion with NAM's Timmons and Lee and Protolabs employees. The 77,000 sq.-ft. Raleigh facility houses Protolabs' 3D printing services and is considered one of the largest additive manufacturing plants in the world. The Feb. 25 Minnesota events start with a tour of the Plymouth plant at 9:30 a.m. (CT), followed by a tour of the Brooklyn Park facility at 10:30 a.m. At 11 a.m., also in Brooklyn Park, Timmons, Lee, Frey, Daigle, Protolabs employees, and area students will meet for a roundtable discussion of manufacturing workforce opportunities. Protolabs' 154,000 sq.-ft. Plymouth plant includes injection molding services, and its 215,000 sq.-ft. Brooklyn Park facility, which opened this past fall, houses CNC machining services. About Protolabs

Protolabs is a leading digital manufacturing source for rapid prototyping and on-demand production. The company produces custom parts and assemblies in as fast as one day with automated 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding processes. Its digital approach to manufacturing enables accelerated time to market, reduces development and production costs, and minimizes risk throughout the product life cycle. Visit protolabs.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005075/en/

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Shawn Sanders, a junior marketing major from Asheville, North Carolina, donates blood during the blood drive. Rawls Annual Battle of the Organizations Blood Drive took place from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Feb. 20, 2019, in the Rawls College of Business.
[February 21, 2019] NEO Connect Welcomes Nine PTFs from Provisus

NEO Connect, is pleased to announce that Series PTFTM of nine offering memorandum funds from Provisus Wealth Management ("Provisus") are now available on NEO Connect. Provisus is the sixth company to distribute products on NEO Connect, which has allowed fund providers to raise close to $700 million in assets to date. The nine Platform Traded FundsTM (PTFs) are now available under the following symbols: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005624/en/ Provisus Wealth Management, including President and CIO Chris Ambridge, joined Erik Sloane, Head of Funds & Trading at NEO, to celebrate the nine new Platform Traded FundsTM now available on NEO Connect. This represents the sixth fund provider to distribute products on NEO Connect, which has allowed fund providers to raise close to $700 million in assets to date. (Photo: Business Wire)







Fund Symbol Provisus Global Real Estate Class - Series PTF PVSRE Provisus Canadian Equity Class - Series PTF PVSCA Provisus U.S. Equity Class - Series PTF PVSUS.U Provisus International Equity Class - Series PTF PVSIN.U Provisus Global Equity Class - Series PTF PVSGB.U Provisus North American Equity Class - Series PTF PVSNA Provisus Multi-Strategy High Yield Fixed Income Class - Series PTF PVSHY Provisus Total Equity Class - Series PTF PVSTT Provisus Emerging Markets Equity Class - Series PTF PVSEM.U

"We are proud to celebrate today's milestone at Provisus as we make our suite of pay-for-performance structured funds more broadly available to the advisor community. These funds allow investors to pay passive prices for active management," said Chris Ambridge, President and Chief Investment Officer, Provisus. "We are proud to embrace the efficient PTF format and look forward to accessing the NEO Connect distribution network in a cost efficient manner." NEO Connect is Canada's newest and most efficient distribution platform for all types of funds: it allows for bulk trading, integrates seamlessly with investment advisors' front and back-office systems, requires no minimum investments and distributes its market data to all main market data distribution platforms used by investment advisors. Using NEO Connect, investment advisors can purchase and redeem PTFs with the same ease and efficiency as they trade ETFs and corporate securities. They look up the symbol using their existing equity trading tools, choose the number of units they want and hit "buy". The order executes at the end of the day at NAV, without any bid/ask spreads. The resulting position automatically integrates into their client accounts - it's that simple. "We are thrilled to welcome Provisus to the NEO family as the newest champion to embrace the PTF revolution," said Jos Schmitt, President and CEO, NEO. "Provisus and NEO are natural partners, both dedicated to meeting our clients' objectives and prioritizing transparency in everything we do. PTFs continue to grow in popularity within the advisor community because they enable greater efficiency and cost savings for advisors and fund providers, and ultimately, they create a better experience for the end investor." NEO Connect is now home to 59 funds from six fund providers, and is used by 15 dealer networks. Click here to view the full fund directory. About NEO Connect NEO Connect is Canada's new fund distribution platform launched in May 2016 within the Aequitas Innovations Inc. group of companies. NEO Connect is a complementary offering to the NEO Exchange, Canada's next generation stock exchange that puts the needs of investors, businesses looking to raise capital and dealers first. NEO Connect is available to all investment dealers at no cost and streamlines the fund purchase and redemption process, making it easier and more cost-effective for advisors to transact and asset managers to distribute their products. An initial test trade can be organized and executed within 24 hours. To arrange a test or learn more, contact the NEO investor helpline toll-free at 1-844-567-6424 or visit: https://www.aequitasneo.com/en/connect/neo-connect Join us on social media: twitter | linkedin | facebook View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005624/en/

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[February 20, 2019] Lenovo Delivers Strong Performance with Highest Quarterly Revenue in Four Years and Record Pre-Tax Income

Lenovo (News - Alert) Group (HKSE: 0992) (Pink Sheets: LNVGY) today announced results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018. Lenovo posted its highest group revenue in four years of US$14 billion, up 8.5% YOY (12.8% YOY excluding currency impact). The company reported strong pre-tax income of US$350 million (up 133% / +US$200 million over the previous year) - an all-time record for the company as all businesses continued to report profit improvements. The Group recorded a net profit of US$233 million for the fiscal quarter, significantly improved from the net loss of US$289 million in the same quarter of last year. Basic earnings per share in the third fiscal quarter was 1.96 US cents or 15.35 HK cents. "When we set out on our journey of Intelligent Transformation, our goal was to restore and then accelerate Lenovo's business momentum, while providing our customers and partners with the best technologies in smart IoT, smart infrastructure and smart vertical solutions. We've done exactly that and more - our strength and position as the industry's most prolific global technology organization is firmly established. What I'm most pleased to see is how Lenovo is bucking the current industry trend - we're strong, have delivered record-breaking results this quarter and are only getting stronger", said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and CEO. Business Group Overview: The Intelligent Devices Group (IDG) posted record revenue and profit; powered by its third straight quarter since inception of revenue growth - up 6.2% YOY to US$12.4 billion. During the quarter, the PC and Smart Devices (PCSD) business under IDG reported US$10.7 billion in revenue, up 11.6% YOY, and sequentially extending the Group's momentum from the previous quarter. PC revenue grew 16% YOY, outperforming the market by more than 17 points with PTI margin also improving by 1 percentage point. Lenovo maintained its position as the world's undisputed leader in PC sales with record market share of 24.6%. A focus on high-growth and premium segments saw Workstations, Thin and Light devices, and Visuals revenue outgrow the market by more than 30 points, Gaming by 16 points and Chromebook by over 220 points.

under IDG reported US$10.7 billion in revenue, up 11.6% YOY, and sequentially extending the Group's momentum from the previous quarter. PC revenue grew 16% YOY, outperforming the market by more than 17 points with PTI margin also improving by 1 percentage point. Lenovo maintained its position as the world's undisputed leader in PC sales with record market share of 24.6%. A focus on high-growth and premium segments saw Workstations, Thin and Light devices, and Visuals revenue outgrow the market by more than 30 points, Gaming by 16 points and Chromebook by over 220 points. The Mobile Business Group ( MBG (News - Alert) ) under IDG posted its first worldwide profit since the Motorola acquisition in October 2014. This notable achievement came from masterful execution on Lenovo's strategy to reduce expenses, streamline the Group's product portfolio and focus on core markets. Notably North America saw a breakthrough quarter for the Group with volumes outgrowing the market by a staggering 40 points. Additionally, MBG's focus on other specific geographies is also showing significant results: Lenovo retains the #2 position in Latin America, despite currency fluctuations and supply constraints. In China, thanks to a range of new products under the Lenovo brand, the Group continued to build on the momentum quadrupling revenue and reporting strong growth in PTI margin. Lenovo's Data Center Group (DCG) reported its fifth consecutive quarter of profit growth (PTI margin up 3.6 percentage points YOY) on a 31% YOY increase in revenue to US$1.6 billion. In fact, DCG recorded YOY revenue growth in all geographies, highlighted by triple-digit growth in North America, and double-digit growth in Asia-Pacific, EMEA and Latin America. The NetApp joint venture, which is now operational in China, will further strengthen the portfolio and expand business opportunities. Hyperscale once again served as a significant contributor with triple-digit revenue growth and Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) revenue grew almost 70% YOY. The Group not only remained #1 on the TOP500 list of supercomputers globally, but also increased its lead. ** * IDC (News - Alert) CY2018 Q4 Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker

** Top500 List of Supercomputers, 52nd edition, Nov. 2018 https://www.top500.org/lists/2018/11/ with 140 of the top 500 supercomputers, 56 systems ahead of the nearest competitor About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$45 billion Fortune Global 500 company and a global technology leader in driving Intelligent Transformation through smart devices and infrastructure that create the best user experience. Lenovo manufactures one of the world's widest portfolios of connected products, including smartphones ( Motorola (News - Alert) ), tablets, PCs (ThinkPad, Yoga, Lenovo Legion) and workstations as well as AR/VR devices and smart home/office solutions. Lenovo's data center solutions (ThinkSystem, ThinkAgile) are creating the capacity and computing power for the connections that are changing business and society. Lenovo works to inspire the difference in everyone and build a smarter future where everyone thrives. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Weibo, read about the latest news via our StoryHub, or visit our website at https://www.lenovo.com.







LENOVO GROUP FINANCIAL SUMMARY For the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018 (In US$ millions, except per share data) Q3 18/19 Q3 17/18 Y/Y CHG Revenue 14,035 12,939 8 % Gross profit 2,050 1,751 17 % Gross profit margin 14.6 % 13.5 % 1.1 pts Operating expenses (1,616 ) (1,547 ) 4 % Expenses-to-revenue ratio 11.5 % 12.0 % 0.4 pts Operating profit 434 204 112 % Other non-operating expenses - net (84 ) (54 ) 55 % Pre-tax income 350 150 133 % Taxation (85 ) (425 ) (80 %) Profit/(loss) for the period 265 (275 ) N/A Non-controlling interests (32 ) (14 ) 125 % Profit/(loss) attributable to equity holders 233 (289 ) N/A EPS (US cents) Basic 1.96 (2.53 ) N/A Diluted 1.92 (2.53 ) N/A

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190220006007/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Illinois Legal Aid Online announces the appointment of its third Executive Director

The Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) Board of Directors and staff welcomed their new Executive Director, Elizabeth Evans, to the organization on January 14, 2019. Elizabeth is a seasoned and savvy nonprofit executive and an experienced lawyer. Elizabeth served in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for eight years, was a staff attorney in the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and worked as a policy analyst in Washington, D.C., before attending law school. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005641/en/ ILAO is an award-winning nonprofit that uses technology to lower barriers to the lw so that people can understand their legal options, make informed decisions, and represent themselves in court when they cannot afford a lawyer. "ILAO is going to undertake significant growth based on advances in machine learning, AI, and other technology," said Paul Seeman, Board Chairperson. "We will seize the opportunity to lead another transformation in access to justice and extend the capacity of legal services. We're delighted to have Elizabeth lead our drive toward increasing access to justice for low and moderate income people and families."



Elizabeth has successfully launched numerous social enterprises and led innumerable policy campaigns on topics that make our country better, fairer, and more just. She previously served as the Executive Director of Bluestem Communications, The VIVA Project (a teacher leadership network working on K-12 education policy), and the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. She established and ran the government relations and nonprofit resource center for the IFF and worked at the Child Welfare League of America in Washington, D.C. "I am delighted to join the team and entirely impressed with the groundbreaking work ILAO has done to expand legal services' capacity. I am anxious to join our colleagues in helping improve outcomes and access to the civil justice system," said Ms. Evans.

About Illinois Legal Aid Online: Since 2001, ILAO has improved the lives of millions of people by connecting them to the resources they need to resolve their legal problems. ILAO puts the law within reach for all Illinois residents, regardless of their location, income, and education, by simplifying our complex legal system and connecting people to legal information and assistance on ILAO's innovative statewide website, IllinoisLegalAid.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005641/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Huobi Korea Strengthens Anti-Money Laundering Protections

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In the interest of preventing fraud and abuse, complying with South Korea's regulations, and protecting financial markets as well as its users, Huobi Korea is strengthening its protections against money laundering, identity theft, voice phishing, and other forms of abuse. "Though we're relatively new in the Korean market, safety, security, and compliance have long been major priorities for Huobi as a whole," said David Oh, Chief Communications Officer of Huobi Korea, which launched in 2018. "For that reason, this is a natural move for us and is an integral part of our plans for growth in the Korean market." Among other recently-enacted security enhancement measures, Huobi Korea has: Strengthened deposit and withdrawal processes via enhanced monitoring of abnormal transactions

Enhanced transparency for Huobi Korea's won-based fiat-to-crypto services

Taken other measures to abide by the regulation and guidelines from the Krean Financial Services Commission



Continuously update its FDS (Fraud Detection System) algorithms based on a monitoring list of abnormal transactions

monitoring list of abnormal transactions Establish a hotline between Huobi Korea and other exchanges aimed at preventing criminal activity "We are always trying to make sure that Huobi Korea's customers can trade safely," said Oh. "Our mission is to create an environment where all customers can safely trade, and we plan to actively support our clients in preventing damage caused by accidents such as voice phishing and identity theft."

About Huobi Group: Consisting of ten upstream and downstream enterprises, Huobi Group is the world's leading blockchain company. Established in 2013, Huobi Group's accumulative turnover exceeds US $1 trillion. It proudly provides safe, secure, and convenient cryptocurrency trading and asset management services to millions of users in 130+ countries. Find us at www.hbg.com About Huobi Korea: Established in 2018, Huobi Korea is an extension of Huobi Group, one of the world's leading blockchain company. Huobi Korea is dedicated to provide reliable and secure services as an exchange, with plans to develop a more comprehensive blockchain ecosystem, including a blockchain research institute, portal businesses and financial services. For more info, visit www.huobi.co.kr For enquiries please contact: Jiayi Li, +65-92295769, media@huobi.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huobi-korea-strengthens-anti-money-laundering-protections-300799512.html SOURCE Huobi Korea

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[February 21, 2019] Gateway Mortgage Group Elevates Industry Veteran Scott Henley

Gateway (News - Alert) Mortgage Group, a full-service mortgage company licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, announced today Scott Henley will become the company's Chief Production Officer. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing all strategic initiatives that drive mortgage volume across the organization. Henley will lead the sales and operations functions for both retail and correspondent lending. "Scott has worked in the mortgage industry for over 25 years and has a substantial amount of experience in correspondent and retail lending," said Stephen Curry, CEO of Gateway. "He developed and launched Gateway's correspondent lending division, which has been a huge success. We are fortunate to have Scott at Gateway and he will continue to be a valued asset to our executive leadership team." Prior to joining Gateway, Henley was an effective leader in Bank of America's Correspondent Lending Division. He was responsible for business development and driving revenue within BofA's correspondent clients consisting of banks, credit unions and independent mortgage bankers. cott attended Texas A&M University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics.



"Gateway has a long tradition of success and industry leadership," said Henley. "Our origination teams, both in retail and correspondent lending, are some of the best the industry has to offer. I am eager to work closely with our sales leaders as we maintain a keen eye on smart, strategic growth in all of the markets we serve. The future is bright at Gateway, and it is an exciting time for us." Gateway Mortgage Group has been recognized twenty-six times as an industry leader including eight times by Inc. Magazine as one of the country's fastest-growing privately held companies and its company culture has been awarded Top Workplace credentials a total of twelve times by Mortgage Executive Magazine, National Mortgage Professional Magazine, and The Oklahoman.

The company recently announced it has received conditional approval from the FDIC to merge with Farmers Exchange Bank, based in Cherokee, Okla. About Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC. Gateway is one of the largest privately held mortgage origination and servicing companies in the United States. Established in 2000 and headquartered in Jenks, Oklahoma, the company employs more than 1,200 team members in over 160 offices nationwide and currently services $17 billion in residential mortgages. For more information about Gateway, visit www.GatewayLoan.com. Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC (NMLS 7233). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005612/en/

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[February 21, 2019] Five More AI-Powered Medical Clinics Now Open in Phoenix

"Running in to grab a gallon of milk" is now synonymous with "running in to get that nagging earache treated" for Arizonans living in the Phoenix area thanks to five more Akos Med Clinics now open in Safeway stores in Scottsdale (2), Ahwatukee, Chandler, and Laveen. Five other locations, which opened last November, are in Gilbert, Phoenix, Glendale, Mesa and Tempe. An 11th clinic will open in Casa Grande later this month, and a 12th in Boise, Idaho in March. "We are committed to providing our customers unprecedented convenience for their total health needs," said Joe Leyba, director of Pharmacy for Albertsons Companies Southwest, which operates Safeway stores. "Our hope is that these clinics help improve access to healthcare in the neighborhoods where we have these locations because they are located in the same place our customers are already buying groceries and picking up their prescriptions." So what makes this visit to a healthcare provider different from the norm? Patients experience a completely automated health encounter using Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality. Here's how it works: Patients start on a tablet or smartphone and engage with the Artificial Intelligence. The AI guides them through registration, insurance validation, payment, and information collection required for diagnosis.

At the end of the Q&A, the patient is guided to an exam room where they sit in front of a computer screen and a rack of simple-to-use, FDA-approved medical devices.

Augmented Reality guides the patient on how to use the devices to collect objective measurements such as weight, temperature, blood pressure, and blood oxygen content, as well as ear, nose and throat images, and chest, lung and abdomen sounds.

The AI asks follow-up questions and the onsite medical assistant takes labs, if warranted, until the information necessary for diagnostic decision is collected.

A complete patient work-up is sent electronically to an Akos medical provider (physician or nrse practitioner) with a breakdown of potential illnesses and treatment options.

Through a video consultation, the provider engages with the patient to review the AI-collected information, verify the diagnosis, and confirm or modify the treatment plan formulated by the system. Warranted follow-up tests and/or prescriptions are ordered and sent to appropriate healthcare partners.

The entire process takes about 20 minutes; often less.

After the visit concludes, the system automatically charts the visit into the patient's electronic health record, and bills insurance.

The clinics have staff on site to assist patients throughout the process and to clean the instruments between uses.



Akos Med Clinic accepts most insurance plans, AHCCCS and Medicare. Cash visits are only $75, about half the cost of a typical urgent care visit. For more information or to schedule a tour of the clinics, please call Andrea Smiley at 480-560-9214 or andrea.c.smiley@gmail.com.

ABOUT AKOS MED CLINIC Akos Med Clinic, a partnership between Akos and AdviNOW Medical, offers a uniquely efficient healthcare experience leveraging the latest in medical innovation through Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Health. At Akos Med Clinic, we believe that some things in life are worth waiting for, but healthcare shouldn't be one of them. For the latest news, health tips and more, follow Akos Med Clinic on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. ABOUT ALBERTSONS COMPANIES Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. We operate stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190221005162/en/

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[February 21, 2019] FinAPU Supports Union Investment in Internal Credit Risk Assessment in the Money Market Fund Sector

VIENNA, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Investment is the asset manager of the cooperative financial group in Germany and manages more than 330 billion Euro for private and institutional investors. Union Investment is one of the leading fund companies in Germany. In the future Union Investment will rely on the support of the innovative risk management platform FinAPU for its internal credit risk assessment. FinAPU enables networked risk management and a credit risk assessment of securities and issuers in real time. The risk models, processes and functions implemented at Union Investment have been adapted to the requirements of the EU Money Market Fund Regulation and aligned with the company's requirements.



Flexible workflow design enables the integration of in-house processes "Thanks to the regulatory expertise of the persons involved, we were able to adjust models and processes efficiently and benefit from the experience with auditors and banking regulators," specifies Sebastian Schafer, responsible for the implementation of the new EU Money Market Fund Regulation at the portfolio management group of Union Investment, describing the benefits of the new cooperation with FinAPU. "We are convinced that the user-friendly and stringent design of the rating application ensures high-quality results. The high data quality of the input parameters because of the close cooperation with established data providers is very helpful."

The challenge during the implementation phase was the integration of different databases and processing large amounts of data. Because FinAPU comprises master, owner and fundamental data of 31 million entities, which are automatically linked, evaluated and sent to defined processes and models. The successful application at Union Investment proves that FinAPU provides a valuable contribution to the core tasks of fund companies. Find out more: www.finapu.com (https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824704/FinAPU_Logo.jpg) Contact:

Felix Diem

+43-650-811-8163

Harald Hintenberger

+43-664-137-7809

info@finapu.com FinAPU GmbH

Thunhofgasse 7/9

1120 Vienna, Austria

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[February 21, 2019] Aetina Announced New Nvidia Xavier Carrier AX710

Speed Up AIoT Industry with 10G Lan Supported TAIPEI, Taiwan, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Aetina Corporation, an expert of edge AI computing solutions provider in industrial computer market, has launched their brand-new carrier board AX710 that exclusive designed for Nvidia Jetson AGX Xavier. AX710 features its board to board connector support PCIe x8 like 10G Lan, which drives intelligent platform well in the speedy and data-based environment nowadays. Jetson AGX Xavier is born to leading the intelligent life, and AX710 is the best one to liberate its entire power, brings a better, more thoroughly, and more variously applicate conditions for Xavier. As latency is mattering in the intelligent life; due to the high bandwidth, 10G Lan is the key that can redue the latency and push the data matter in life. Not only 10G Lan, AX710 fully supported M.2 device and USB type C, which makes Xavier easier to integrate with other hardware, bring a high accommodation to work and reach the AIoT standard.



In the era with cameras around, AX710 flexibly supported multi-camera like FHD camera x6, 4K camera x4, and GMSL/FPD-LINK cameras. With up to four to six cameras, the application can be more abundant in different industries like surveillance in retail, inspection machines in factory, or monitors for vehicle solutions. Moreover, Aetina provides value-added service iNAVI for smart quickly start, which built-in embedded OS based on Linux, including Secure Boot and System Recovery. Aetina pre-integrated the necessary driver porting and request OS specifications.

Serve a one-stop shopping experience is Aetina's operating purpose for customers. Since its teamwork in intelligent industry, Aetina brings various eco-partner together, they aim to integrate all not only hardware but also software. "We are working on making everything ready to all the customers. Therefore, they will not worry about how to drive a smart platform in their original solutions," said Joe Lo, the general manager of Aetina. Aetina, founded in Taiwan in 2012, is a long-term support provider of high-performance GPGPU and Nvidia Jetson AI edge computing solutions for embedded applications. Aetina offers a smart, innovated, and reliable solutions of GPU that help customers approaching their needs and to solve the problems. Details will also be shown in Nuremburg Germany, everyone is welcome to visit Aetina at Embedded World 2019 in Hall 1, 1-259; or visit their website: www.aetina.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/823099/Jetson_Xavier_Carrier_AX710.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/823098/Aetina_Corporation_Logo.jpg

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School personnel from East Dale Elementary post up on Speedway Avenue, continuing the statewide campaign to protect public education. Although legislators voted to table the omnibus bill indefinitely Tuesday, school personnel are cautious as to what actions will be made before the sessions end.

I see it from both sides, Taylor Myers, a kindergarten teacher at East Dale, said. I see it from the point of view where if the session is over tonight and the bill is actually dead after this evenings session, people think we should go back. I also see it from the side of Are they going to still play tricks? Even though the charter school bill isnt actually out there, they can add amendments to any of them.
Lubbock, TX (79409)

Today

Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Helen Louise McCabe died peaceably with her daughters by her side Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021 at Stonerise (Mapleshire) Nursing Facility in Morgantown, WV. She was born December 4, 1924 in Walnut Hill, Pennsylvania. She was a daughter of the late Hosea Metheny and Gertrude Myers Metheny. Surv
ALBANY  Bert Kreischer is a comedic storyteller, or a stand-up comic who tells long stories. And to make sure you know he's funny, he laughs at his own jokes most of the time, often mentioning how other participants in his anecdotes were themselves so uproariously amused by him that they were rolling on the floor with chortlement as humor-validating snot streamed from their noses.

Kreischer, who performed at The Egg on Wednesday during the first of two soldout nights, is that funny buddy or uncle who's got a sufficiently skewed view of the world and sufficient regard for his ability to tell you about it that anything can become a five-, 10- or even 15-minute story. A bearded, beefy bro, Kreischer's signature move is to doff his T-shirt at the beginning of the show, strolling the stage with his round, dad-bod belly proudly preceding him, gold chain and medallion glinting against his chest hair.

Alcohol and pot consumption play co-starring roles in many of his bits, as does facile grossness like fecal incontinence in public, which is apparently a family trait. While his father was the one who crapped his pants in Kreischer's 2018 Netflix special, it's the comedian himself who does it in a story he told Wednesday. "I had a fart hiding behind a poop," he said by way of explanation, with the former's urgency leading to the latter's emergence. The result was this family moment: "My daughters watched their dad wipe his ass with a shirt."

Kreischer is skilled enough to have regular moments of insight and inspiration, as when congenital health problems with his purebred dog led him to this realization: "You mean Hitler was wrong? So you're telling me that if he'd won the war, blonde chicks would be walking around with hip dysplasia?"

He also scored with a routine about his prepubescent daughters having their periods for the first time. While mostly funny, if not nearly as gross as Kreischer seems to think it is, the bit contained the most genuine, touching moment of the show, when his eldest daughter, suddenly confronted by this signal of womanhood, bursts into tears, saying, "I'm not ready to be a big girl now."

Lively and responsive to his enthusiastic audience, Kreischer on occasion wandered off into discursions; his story "The Machine," about getting involved with the Russian mob while on a college trip, runs less than 14 minutes in the online version that has racked up almost 50 million views, but on Wednesday it went on for almost 18 minutes as a result of riffs and interpolations. He's also not as disciplined with his language as one would expect. For every vivid, original description, as when he explained that a rock climber must not enjoy masturbating because "his hands are the texture of dog paws," Kreischer reached for dull or inapt analogies, such as describing a man's atrophied arm as "swinging back and forth like a boat lost at sea."

As amusing as he can be, there's also something dismayingly retrograde about Kreischer. He's a straight white male who celebrates his paternal and spousal ineptitude, admits to being at least partly racist and homophobic, and casually relies on sexist dismissals of women  all the while selling out theaters and toting up tens of millions of online views for a single routine. Any competent comedian can get a cheap laugh by reinforcing his audience's common prejudices and perceptions. Great comics don't comfort. They provoke.

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  blog.timesunion.com.tablehopping  @Tablehopping  facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
ALBANY  The offices of the New York Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators are located on South Swan Street, close to the state Capitol. On Tuesday, a woman who answered the association's locked door told a reporter she did not work there, but was only waiting for someone.

Then she closed the door, locked it and pulled down the blinds.

The odd exchange was emblematic of recent attempts to seek information about the association's finances just days after it wrapped up its gala Caucus Weekend celebration in Albany.

The group is the nonprofit arm of the state Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. Its primary focus is supporting education and leadership opportunities for minority youth, according to its mission statement.

Among the unanswered questions: How much money did the group raise last year at its scholarship gala during the 2018 Caucus Weekend? Did this years event, which sold out with tickets starting at $225, raise enough money to cover the costs of the party while funding scholarships for minority students? And why hasn't the association, a registered charity, managed to file its required paperwork with the state attorney generals office?

On Wednesday, Attorney General Letitia James' office acknowledged sending the association a Jan. 4 "notice of delinquency" stating that it has for the past two years failed to file its annual reports with the attorney general's Charities Bureau.

The bureau received the delinquent filings  including 990 forms also required by the IRS  within the 30-day window specified by the letter, but went back to the association with questions. The bureau is currently in discussions with the group in an attempt to get its filings into satisfactory shape.

James' spokeswoman Delaney Kempner said the office has "been in touch with the Association regarding some concerns with their filings and are actively working with them to resolve those concerns  a standard practice used with many charities. We will continue to monitor this situation and will take further action if necessary."

She said it is unclear when the filings will be complete and available to the public. Kempner could not immediately say whether this is the first time the group has received a delinquency letter.

The most recently available filings by the group show that hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations go to fund Caucus Weekend and associated events, and not to scholarships.

The groups treasurer, Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, said in December he did not remember signing a check for a scholarship in 2018. He also did not remember how much the group had awarded in scholarships.

The groups chair, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, implied that the association was struggling to carry out its mission in a December 2018 statement to the New York Post.

When I became chair of the organization in October 2017, there were many financial deficits, but I am proud to say that after alternative protocols and procedures were put in place, the organization is fiscally sound, Walker told the Post.

The Brooklyn Democrat refused to talk with a reporter after an event at last weekend's caucus gathering in Albany. Instead, she led a Times Union reporter across a lobby at the Hilton Albany hotel to one of her communication staffers and walked away. The staffer did not answer any questions either.

Walker and her chief of staff did not return calls for comment left Tuesday and Wednesday; her Albany office was locked Wednesday morning.

Spokespeople for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins did not respond to requests for comment.

A 2017 Times Union investigation raised questions about how the 34-year-old charity spends the money it raises. In that report, the group vowed to increase the percentage of its revenues that it spends on scholarships.

READ CHRIS BRAGG'S 2017 STORY "IN LAWMAKERS' SCHOLARSHIP CHARITY, MORE MONEY FLOWS TO PARTIES."

In the nonprofit's official program for its 2015 retreat, then-Chairwoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, an Assemblywoman from Buffalo, stated that "we intend to double the amount of scholarship funds given to students in their respective districts."

Charities are generally supposed to spend at least a third of their revenue on their stated mission, according to Charity Navigator, a watchdog group.

From 2011 to 2015, the group took in more than $2.7 million, the vast majority through its annual weekend retreat, according to its IRS filings.

In its 2016 federal filing, the group spent nothing on scholarships. That year, the association took in $513,819. The previous year, it handed out $35,745 in scholarships after taking in $564,677 in revenue.

Instead, the group's funds went to support the annual weekend gathering, including expenses such as "limo services," pricey concerts and well-paid speakers. For its 2015 retreat, the association reported $565,000 in revenue. Of that, just $36,000 (6.3 percent) went to grants for "education/scholarships."

Charities are required to make their 990 forms available to the public for examination.

The associations caucus weekend is a major draw for other elected politicians, lobbyists and union leaders.

This years Caucus Weekend sponsors included health care, retail and education unions, gaming companies  Pretlow, the association's treasurer, is the chair of the Assembly's Racing and Wagering Committee  and utilities. The scholarship gala dinner was hosted by reigning Miss America Nia Franklin and included a speech by U.S. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a former Assemblyman.

Although the group's paperwork problems persist, Walker has made some changes: The group used a new website and social media accounts for this years gathering, including an online donation portal run by Act Blue, which provides fundraising software for Democrats and progressive groups.

Its unclear who received past scholarships, when they received them, how they applied for the scholarship or who selected the recipients.

The associations website says there is a selection panel that chooses scholarship winners based on criteria set by the panel.

Its unclear what those criteria are.
Kenneth C. Crowe II / Times Union

TROY  A 40-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday in Rensselaer County Court to setting fires in Lansingburgh the night of June 5, 2018, District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly said.

Duane Miles of Seminole Street, Schaghticoke, will be sentenced on a felony count of second-degree arson to five years in prison and five years' post-release supervision March 22 by County Court Judge Debra Young. The plea satisfied a 21-count indictment.
Hampton Bays

A New York City police detective killed by friendly fire while responding to a robbery scene was hailed at his funeral on Wednesday as a consummate law enforcer with people skills befitting his lifelong nickname: "Smiles."

Brian Simonsen, whose posthumous promotion to detective first grade prompted a lengthy standing ovation in a crowded Long Island church, was shot in the chest on Feb. 12 outside of a cellphone store in Queens.

He and six other officers opened fire on a robbery suspect who police say was pointing what appeared to be a handgun. Simonsen's partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was hit in the leg and arrived at the funeral in a wheelchair.

"The only two people responsible for Brian's death, the only two, are the career criminals" involved in the robbery, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said firmly, delivering a eulogy in a voice sometimes choked with emotion.

To the devastated men and women of the 102nd Precinct, where Simonsen worked, and to officers around the city, O'Neill said: "Thank you for your dedication."
Washington

A Coast Guard lieutenant who was arrested last week is a "domestic terrorist" who drafted an email discussing biological attacks and had what appeared to be a hit list that included prominent Democrats and media figures, prosecutors said in court papers.

Christopher Paul Hasson is due to appear Thursday in federal court in Maryland after his arrest on gun and drug offenses, but prosecutors say those charges are the "proverbial tip of the iceberg."

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Hasson, who works at the Coast Guard's headquarters in Washington, has espoused extremist views for years, according to prosecutors. Court papers detail a June 2017 draft email in which Hasson wrote that he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth," and pondering how he might be able to acquire anthrax and toxins to create botulism or a deadly influenza.

In the same email, Hasson described an "interesting idea" that included "biological attacks followed by attack on food supply" as well as a bombing and sniper attacks, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

In September 2017, Hasson sent himself a draft letter that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland," prosecutors wrote.

Hasson routinely read portions of a manifesto written by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik that prosecutors said instructs would-be assailants to collect firearms, food, disguises and survival tools, court papers said. Breivik, a right-wing extremist, is serving a 21-year sentence for killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage.

Federal agents found 15 firearms  including several rifles  and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside Hasson's basement apartment in Silver Spring, Md. They also found a container with more than 30 bottles that were labeled as human growth hormone, court papers said.
ALBANY  The merits of denser development in the city are in the walkability, affordability, environmental benefits and stronger vibe, its advocates say.

But some of the changes in Albany, with its unique urban attributes, are meeting pushback, with traffic, parking and quality-of-life impacts the key concerns.

Common Council member Judy Doesschate said it's the excessiveness with some projects that some find hard to take.

"It's the level of development with developers looking to squeeze every square inch out of a lot of land to develop it and also, building up higher than is otherwise allowed," she said.

"I think there's a strange aversion to density on certain projects," Albany Planning Commissioner Chris Spencer said.

A citywide rezone paved the way for developers to take a chance on Albany. The rezone was guided by Albany's comprehensive plan adopted in 2012, the blueprint for future city growth, Spencer said. The new zoning took affect in 2017.

Denser development's selling point is efficiency  more people in one area accessing retail and commercial shops and less of a need to spread out water, power and sewer infrastructure. But with that also comes challenges for finding nearby parking, congested roads and, inevitably, taller buildings.

And Albany is a city unto its own. People have moved out to the suburbs in recent years. It's burdened with a tax-exempt property rate of 64 percent. Changes from the 1960s to create the Empire State Plaza still reverberate.

Eagle Hill's experience

In the uptown neighborhood of Eagle Hill, a proposed six-story apartment complex at 1211 Western Ave. has faced opposition to the point where, last year, Mayor Kathy Sheehan called for a halt to the process until their concerns were addressed.

For years, proposals have been thwarted by those living on residential side streets in shadows of the University at Albany and the state Harriman Campus  job hubs that developers often use as reasoning for denser, residential projects.

Councilmember Tom Hoey said the developers haven't engaged the neighborhood, and questions whether residents' concerns are actually being considered.

"We've got to give the taxpayer some kind of say," Hoey said, pointing to the major investment people make in purchasing a home. "You can't just say no to everything, but I think there should be a little bit more input from the neighborhood."

Growing pains

Park South Neighborhood Association President Andrew Harvey said not all of Albany's residents understood the implications of the rezone.

"They're learning the hard way about what rezone is meaning for their community," he said.

Harvey is all too familiar with the growing pains of denser development, with parking being a top issue in his neighborhood where Albany Medical Center Hospital sits.

When the neighborhood created its urban renewal plan in 2006, residents knew that density would be necessary, Harvey said.

"In order to support a vibrant commercial sector, you need to have a denser population," Harvey said.

Park South was in a unique position where the population was mostly transient and in need of new investment, so there wasn't the pushback on projects that other, more stable, neighborhoods have, Harvey said.

Where growth happens

Education and medical centers throughout Albany have influenced where new development has taken place, with large apartment complexes and dorms rising along Washington Avenue Extension across from UAlbany and a recent proposal for a large housing complex across from St. Peter's Hospital on New Scotland Avenue.

While many cities will initially see outward growth in their downtowns, the Empire State Plaza wiped out thousands of downtown homes decades ago, leaving the capital city in a unique situation, said Ray Bromley, an urban planning professor at UAlbany.

"Albany is this very strange city because of this hollow downtown and having such a high percentage of governmental and commuter employment," he said.

Denser development in downtown Albany would be easier to pursue, Bromley said  something that developer Ryan Jankow, of Jankow Companies, can attest to.

Jankow said the company is renovating and expanding a mixed-use building at Pearl and Pine streets downtown. Between a smaller residential population and more lenient zoning requirements, he said they felt less resistance.

"Businesses are generally in favor of residential projects because they are looking to expand their customer base," he said. "The city is actively looking to revitalize downtown, so the process tends to be streamlined when there is an active effort to bring new life to an area."

On the flip side, the developer was met with resistance from some Pine Hills neighbors when Jankow initially proposed the redevelopment of the former Playdium Bowling alley site at 363 Ontario St.

Jankow said residents' input was taken into consideration in the planning for three four-story buildings with 109 apartments and upwards of 6,000 square feet of retail space.

"We do our best to address all of the major concerns while ensuring the project meets the requirements of the planning (and) zoning boards," he said. "With the Playdium project, for example, we moved the building back off the road and pulled back the fourth floor so when you view it from one side of the road it appears to better fit in the neighborhood."

The city currently is going through the more than 300-page document to make minor adjustments and for clarity. Council members have also proposed their own adjustments.

In the city's prior zoning, those looking to make changes to their property or build new often had to apply for variances or special use permits, leading to unpredictability on whether a project would get approved, Spencer said.

"To some degree, neighborhoods liked that because it gave them a chance to show up and oppose something, give feedback, and oftentimes derail projects," he said. "A lot of councilmembers feel that the neighborhood should vote on these projects," but if they did, there'd be little investment in Albany.

Planning Commissioner Spencer said the city encourages developers to reach out to the local community where they're proposing projects to get feedback.

Some agreement

Not all Albany residents have pushed back against the denser development, instead recognizing that more of it could help alleviate the concerns others express.

City resident Jen Ceponis, who owns a home near the Playdium project, said people don't realize parking and traffic problems are caused by development outside the city, where people commute each day into Albany.

"The point of building dense near the colleges and universities is so that people can live nearby and not rely on cars," she said. "My family welcomes new development and housing choices, especially those that are nearby transit and can benefit from the city's walkability and services like bike and car share."

For others, the disconnect might be in people misunderstanding the zoning itself, said board members of the Helderberg Neighborhood Association. The association fell victim to not having all the information late last year when controversy ensured around a medical tattoo business taking up shop at 372 New Scotland Ave.

"Sometimes the voices in opposition appear to be a little bit louder than the ones that approve of something," said association chair Samantha Curry. "We have been working hard to encourage more attendance to our neighborhood meetings to act as a channel of transparency and communication between parties."
ALBANY- Three weeks after New York's ethics watchdog panel voted behind closed doors whether to investigate the activities of a former top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, there has been no indication that the commission moved forward with any inquiry.

The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics won't reveal the results of its court-ordered vote, but the fact that the Cuomo administration has not been notified strongly suggests JCOPE decided not to probe the actions of Cuomo or his government aides.

Under state law, if at least eight of the 14 JCOPE commissioners had voted to open a "substantial basis investigation," the panel was required to provide written notice to the "individual who is the subject" of the investigation.

Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor, said that JCOPE has not sent any notifications on the matter to Cuomo, his administration, or to the governor's campaign.

"No, to all of the above," Azzopardi said.

Under a court order issued in December, JCOPE was forced to vote on whether to open an investigation into complaints filed by state Republican Chairman Ed Cox and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who was Cuomo's 2018 GOP opponent for governor.

They alleged that Joseph Percoco, the powerful former executive deputy secretary to the governor, had improperly used state resources while managing Cuomo's 2014 re-election campaign. Cox's complaint also called for investigations into Cuomo and Executive Chamber staff, including whether they "knowingly aided and abetted or acquiesced" to any illegal actions by Percoco.

As the 2018 campaign for governor unfolded, JCOPE declined to take action on the complaints filed by the Republicans, despite a law requiring a vote within 60 days of receiving a sworn complaint. The delays prompted Cox and Molinaro fo file a lawsuit. In December, state Supreme Court Justice Patrick McGrath ruled JCOPE was required to vote on whether to pursue the matter.

On Jan. 31, JCOPE sent a letter to the judge indicating that it had taken "a vote," as required, on the Republicans' complaints at a meeting two days earlier.

The wording of that JCOPE letter to McGrath suggested that JCOPE commissioners had taken a single vote. It's unclear whether the vote was about Percoco's activities or Cuomo's potential knowledge of illegality.

"The letter speaks for itself," said JCOPE spokesman Walter McClure. "We have no other comment beyond that."

It's also not clear whether Percoco's activities in 2014 might be outside the reach of commission because state law requires employees be notified of such an ethics probe within a year of leaving government service.

After rejoining the administration following the successful 2014 re-election campaign, Percoco left the state payroll again in January 2016 and has not returned. The evidence of his possible misuse of state resources emerged in his corruption trial that began early last year.

Cox said he has also not received any notification from JCOPE, including whether it has closed an investigation.

"From the outset of our complaint, JCOPE has operated in the dark, flouting the law and it appears nothing has changed," Cox said. "We will be contacting the court this week to request they compel JCOPE to provide the court with details and proof of their alleged vote. The fact remains that concrete evidence of a crime exists."

Cox said the state GOP will "pursue every legal option available to us to ensure Cuomo and JCOPE are held accountable."

It's not clear whether the state GOP will ask McGrath to publicly reveal the result of the JCOPE vote, which the agency was required to provide to the judge under a court order.

The Republicans' attorneys have previously maintained that JCOPE is required to notify complainants within two weeks of an investigation closing.

JCOPE, however, maintains notification is not required at this time.

Percoco was convicted last year of accepting more than $300,000 from two development firms in exchange for government favors. He is scheduled to report to a federal prison by March 1 to begin his six year term behind bars.

Percoco's apparent campaign work in the governor's Manhattan office occurred during an eight-month period in 2014 when he was managing Cuomo's re-election effort but not working for the Executive Chamber. Those activities provided key context in the trial, but were not the basis of any of the federal charges against him.

Aides to Cuomo testified during Percoco's trial last year that during the campaign that year he often used his former desk in Cuomo's Manhattan office, where the two were only steps apart.

Records obtained by the Times Union show that on several days Percoco's former government phone was used to make campaign-related calls, and that the governor was present in the Manhattan office during those times.

Cuomo has said he was unaware that Percoco was campaigning from his office; that he believed Percoco was doing "transition work" after leaving his position as executive deputy secretary. Cuomo's administration has also said it would cooperate with any JCOPE inquiry.

Percoco's phone records show that during an eight-month period, 68 calls were made from his former state office to Cuomo's Manhattan campaign headquarters  an apparent violation of state regulations. Percoco's phone line was also used to call Cuomo's fundraisers, campaign consultants and the campaign's election lawyer. There were 837 calls over 68 days made from the taxpayer-funded phone in Percoco's former office, records showed.

JCOPE, created in 2011, has faced abundant criticism that its rules prevent the public from knowing whether or not it is pursuing an investigation. It has also been the subject of criticism for its close ties to Cuomo, who appoints a plurality of its commissioners.

Since its inception, all of JCOPE's executive directors have been former Cuomo administration attorneys. Its current top staffer, Seth Agata, was an administration counsel and campaign volunteer for Cuomo in 2014. He appeared as a witness at Percoco's trial.

In addition to filing a complaint with JCOPE, Cox also formally requested the Manhattan district attorney's office launch a criminal probe of Percoco's campaign work from his taxpayer-funded office. There is no indication that office took any action.
Colonie

The Albany International Airport will install a $1.4 million photovoltaic solar array with funding from New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. Another $1 million in state funds will be used for a new aircraft hangar at Schenectady County Airport.

Saratoga County Airport has received $719,000 to build a storage building for snow removal equipment, while Columbia County Airport will spend $510,000 in state funds on a new airport fueling facility.

The investments were part of $23.6 million in state grants to 31 airports statewide.
Of more than 45,000 photograph entries, it was a pair of lions that stole the hearts of judges for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

ALSO READ: 'Mutant' coyotes with icy blue eyes photographed in and near Pt. Reyes

David Lloyd, of New Zealand and the U.K., took top honors in the People's Choice Award category for his black-and-white photograph of two lions nuzzling noses in Tanzania. The image will be on display alongside the other winners, to be announced in October, at the Natural History Museum in London from October 19 to June 30.

Lloyd's lions will be kept company by an urban fox, mating male penguins, playful wild dogs and one tragic polar bear. You can view the photos in the above gallery.

ALSO: Inside Oakland's Bell Labs of the 1960s

The winning images were selected from over 45,000 entries, by professionals and amateurs, across 95 countries. Now in its 55th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award annually showcases the world's best photography and photojournalism.

The photographs in the competition "celebrate the astonishing diversity of life on earth, whilst challenging us to address the big questions facing our planet," a press release said.

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.
Albany's Union Missionary Baptist Church will celebrate African American Heritage Month on Sunday by honoring The Rapp Road Historical Association during its 11 a.m. worship service.

Beverly Bardequez, the association's president, will speak to the congregation about the history, creation and development of the African American community in the Rapp Road neighborhood off Western Avenue. Families still living there trace their roots to Mississippi and the people who came north to Albany, first settling in the city's South End, during the Great Migration.
Webster Groves, MO (63119)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Localized flooding is possible.
You are the owner of this article.
Aaron Scotti and Mads Mikkelsen in Iceland on the set of Arctic.
John L. Glenn Jr. of Thomasville passed away on Thursday June 24, 2021 at his residence. His full obituary and service details will be announced soon at www.allenfh.com.
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CUMBERLAND  Rebecca Jane Wallace (nee Topper) passed away peacefully at her home on Bedford Road, Cumberland, on May 11, 2021. Additional notice and information to be provided for memorial services planned for mid to late August.
While the homicide of a young man appears to be shrouded in mystery, a fight over roughly $188,000 is among the many muddy details that have surfaced since his death. Alexander Arthur Stevens, 24, of Frostburg, Maryland was found dead, naked and with his throat slashed in Mountain Maryland woods on Jan. 4. Although police ruled his death a homicide, they have not named a suspect. Yet events that led to  and facts uncovered after  his death include myriad odd details sprawled inside thick files in the Allegany County Courthouse.
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The foundation alleges Hill did not file her lawsuit in a timely manner  the EEOC issued a letter to Hill allowing her to sue the state, but it had a 90-day time limit, the filings said. However, the foundation did not opine on the timeliness of two other EEOC charges from 2018 other than to deny the allegations.
Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health segments. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, diabetes, and women's health, as well as vaccine products. The Animal Health segment provides discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets a range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as a suite of digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. The company has collaborations with AstraZeneca PLC; Bayer AG; Eisai Co., Ltd.; and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians and physician distributors, veterinarians, and animal producers. The company has an agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting investigational treatment combinations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir in HIV; and a collaboration agreement with Amathus Therapeutics to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. It also has a collaboration with Biomed X Gmbh for building on ongoing research projects in the fields of oncology (DNA damage response and RNA splicing) and autoimmunity (intestinal epithelial barrier in autoimmune diseases). Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

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Gray Television, Inc., a television broadcast company, owns and/or operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. The company also broadcasts secondary digital channels affiliated to ABC, CBS, and FOX, as well as channels affiliated with various other networks and program services, including CW Plus Network, MY Network, the MeTV Network, Justice, Circle, This TV Network, Antenna TV, Telemundo, Cozi, Heroes and Icons, and MOVIES! Network; and local news/weather channels in various markets. In addition, it is also involved in the video program production, marketing, and digital businesses, including Raycom Sports, Tupelo-Raycom, and RTM Studios; and production of Power Nation programs and content. It owns and operates television stations and digital properties in 94 television markets. The company was formerly known as Gray Communications Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Gray Television, Inc. in August 2002. Gray Television, Inc. was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.: 2235158 Alberta Limited, A.J. Amer Agency, AHC Digital LLC, AIX Limited, AJG Coal LLC, AJG Financial Services LLC, AJG Meadows LLC, AJG North America ULC, AJG RCF LLC, AJGRMS of Louisiana LLC, ARM RE Ltda., AVIATION INSURANCE SERVICES, AVRECO, Ace IRM Insurance Broking Group, Acumus Holdings Limited, Acumus Interco Limited, Acumus Ltd, Adams & Associates International, Adaptive Marketing LLC, Adco General Corporation, Advanced Benefit Advisors, Aequus Trade Credit, Affinity Marketing Group, Ahrold Fay Rosenberg, Aires Consulting Group, Alesco Risk Management Services Limited, Alize Limited, Allied Claims Administration Inc., Alternative Market Specialists, Altman & Cronin Benefit Consultants, American Freedom Carriers Inc., American Security Services Corp., American Wholesalers Underwriting Ltd, Andrew-Anthony Insurance Agency, Anthony Hodges Consulting Limited, Antrobus Investments Limited, AquaSurance, Argentis, Argentis Financial Group Limited, Argentis Financial Management Limited, Argus Benefits, Armstrong/Robitaille/Riegle, Artex (SAC) Limited, Artex Cedar Hill, Artex Corporate Services (Malta) Limited, Artex Corporate Services Limited, Artex Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Holdings (Malta) Limited, Artex Insurance (Guernsey) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance (Tennessee) PCCIC Inc., Artex Insurance Brokers (Malta) PCC Limited, Artex Insurance ICC Limited, Artex Intermediaries Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Bermuda) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Cayman) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Gibraltar) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Guernsey) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (International) Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (Malta) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Artex Risk Solutions (UK) Limited, Artex Risk Solutions Inc., Arthur J Gallagher (Norway) Holdings AS, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AUS) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (Illinois), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Insurance Brokers of California Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher (Aus) Pty Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Bermuda) Holding Partnership, Arthur J. Gallagher (Life Solutions) Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Arthur J. Gallagher (U.S.) LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Asesoria S.A.C., Arthur J. Gallagher Australasia Holdings Pty Ltd., Arthur J. Gallagher Brokerage & Risk Management Services LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Broking (NZ) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Financial Services Professionals Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Group Quebec ULC, Arthur J. Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Latin America LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Management (Bermuda) Limited, Arthur J. Gallagher Real Estate Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services (Hawaii) Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services of Utah Inc., Arthur J. Gallagher School Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Service Company LLC, Arthur J. Gallagher Services (UK) Ltd, Ashmore & Associates Insurance Agency, Atlantic Risk Management Corp., Atrex Insurance (Cayman) SPC Limited, Avantek Pty Ltd, Axe Insurance PCC Limited, BIS Insurance Services, Baker - Tillys employment benefits solutions, Ballard Benefit Works, Bankers Financial Benefits, Barmore Insurance Agency, Behnke & Co. Inc., Bellisle Pty Ltd, Belmont Associates Consultants, Belmont Insurance Holdings Limited, Belmont International, Belmont International Limited, Benefit Development Group, Benefit Management Group, BenefitLink Resource Group, Benefits Planning & Insurance Agency, Benefits Unlimited, Bennett & Shade Co., Bergvall Marine, Bergvall Marine A.S., Besselman & Little Agency, Big Savings Insurance Agency Inc., Blenheim Park Ltd, Blenheim Park Services Limited, Blue Holdings Pty Ltd, Blue Horizon Insurance Services, Blue Water Benefits, BluePeak Advisors, Blueleaf Consulting Pty Ltd., Bluewater Incorporated Cell Insurance Company, Bollinger Inc., Bollinger Insurance Services Inc., Bowen Miclette Britt & Merry of Arkansas Inc., Brendis & Brendis, Brim AB, Broker Benefit Services, Brokerage Professionals, Brown Hobbs & McMurray Insurance, Bultman/Bell Associates Inc., Burkwald & Associates, Burns-Fazzi Brock & Associates, Bushong Insurance Associates, C&B Consulting Group, CGM Gallagher Insruance Brokers (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited, CJM Solutions Inc., CMA Solutions LLC, Cairnstone Financial, California Insurance Center, Capital Bauer Insurance Agency, Capitol Benefits Group, Capsicum CRLA LLP, Capsicum Re Brasil Participacoes Ltda, Capsicum Re Latin America Corretora De Resseguros Ltda, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Bermuda Limited, Capsicum Reinsurance Brokers Miami Inc., Carefree Marketing Inc., Carpenter Cammack & Associates, Cashan & Co., Castle Insurance Associates, Centennial Insurance Agency, Charity First Insurance Services Inc., Charles Allen Agency, Charter Lakes Insurance Agency, Chris Schroeder Insurance, Christie-Phoenix, Cintran Claims Canada Limited, Classic Insurance Services, Cleaveland Insurance Group, Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers, Cohn Financial Group, Coleman Group Holdings Limited, Coleman Holdings Limited, College and University Scholastic Excess Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Commercial Insurance Brokers, Complete Benefit Alliance, Complete Financial Balance, Complete Financial Balance Pty Ltd, Consolidated Casualty Specialties LLC, Construction Risk Solutions, Contego Underwriting Limited, Contego Underwriting Ltd, Continental Excess & Surplus, Convergence Risk Services Ltd, Copper Mountain Assurance Inc., Cornwall & Stevens Co., Corporate Benefit Advisors, Corporate Life Consultants, Countrywide Accident Assistance Limited, Coverdell & Company Inc., Coverdell Canada Corporation, Cowles and Connell, Craig M. Ferguson & Co., Crist Elliott Machette Insurance Services, Crombie Lockwood (NZ) Limited, Davis-Poston & Associates, Denman Consulting Services, Detlefs Johnson & Partners, DiBrina Group, Dickinson & Associates, Discount Development Services L.L.C., Discovery Benefit Solutions, Dodson-Bateman & Co., Donald P. Pipino Co. Ltd., E. S. Susanin Inc., EHE Holdings LLC, EHS Holdings Limited, Elantis Premium Funding (NZ) Limited, Elantis Premium Funding Limited, Elite Benefits Insurance Marketing Services, Employee Benefits Analysis Corp., Employee Benefits of The Carolinas, Encore Insurance & Bonding, Everett James, Evolution Risk Services Limited, Evolution Technology Services Limited, Evolution Underwriting Group, Evolution Underwriting Group Limited, Evolution Underwriting Limited, Excel Insurance Services, FYI Direct Canada Corporation, FYI Direct LLC, Farallone Pacific Insurance Services, Fenchurch Faris Limited, Fidelity Benefits & Insurance Services, Financial Profiles Inc., Finergy Solutions Pty Ltd, First Agency, First Iowa Insurance Agency, First Premium Inc., First Premium Insurance Group, Fish & Schulkamp, Fishermans Insurance Services, Foley Healthcare Limited, Fortress Financial Solutions Pty Ltd, Fortress Insurance LLC, Foundation Strategies, Fox Lawson & Associates, Franklin-Case Agency LLC, Fraser MacAndrew Ryan Limited, Friary Intermediate Limited, Fuller & O'Brien, G.S. Chapman & Associates Insurance Brokers, G.S. Levine Insurance Services, GBS (Australia) Holdings Pty Ltd, GBS Administrators Inc., GBS Insurance and Financial Services Inc., GBS Retirement Services Inc., GBS Specialty Markets LLC, GGB Finance 1 Limited, GGB Finance 2 Limited, GGB Finance 3 Limited, GGB Finance 4 Limited, GPL Assurance, GPL Assurance Inc., Gabor Insurance Services, Gale Smith & Co. Inc., Gallagher (Bermuda) Insurance Solutions Ltd., Gallagher - Grace/Mayer Insurance Agency, Gallagher Bassett Aires Inc., Gallagher Bassett Canada Inc., Gallagher Bassett Insurance Services Ltd., Gallagher Bassett International Ltd., Gallagher Bassett NZ Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. , Gallagher Bassett Services Pty Ltd., Gallagher Bassett Services Workers Compensation Victoria Pty Ltd., Gallagher Benefit Services (Canada) Group Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services (Holdings) Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., Gallagher Benefit Services Management Company Limited, Gallagher Benefit Services Pty Ltd, Gallagher Benefits Consulting Limited, Gallagher Bomford Couch Wilson, Gallagher Burgess, Gallagher Canada Acquisition Corporation, Gallagher Caribbean Group Limited, Gallagher Clean Energy LLC, Gallagher Communications Limited, Gallagher Community Clinic RPG LLC, Gallagher Consulting Ltda, Gallagher Corporate Services LLC, Gallagher Coyle, Gallagher CyberRisk, Gallagher Energy Risk Services Inc., Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC, Gallagher Holdings (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Bermuda Company Limited, Gallagher Holdings Four (UK) Limited, Gallagher Holdings Three (UK) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (Barbados) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Kitts & Nevis) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Lucia) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers (St. Vincent) Limited, Gallagher Insurance Brokers Jamaica Limited, Gallagher International Cash Management s.r.l., Gallagher International Holdings (US) Inc., Gallagher Investment Advisors LLC, Gallagher Inwest Group, Gallagher Koster, Gallagher Lambert Group, Gallagher Madison Risk & Insurance Services, Gallagher Mauritius Holdings, Gallagher Mississippi Brokerage LLC, Gallagher RE Colombia Ltda Corredores de Reaseguros SA, Gallagher Risk & Reward Limited, Gallagher Risk Group LLC, Gallagher Risk Placements Pty Ltd, Gallagher SKS, Gallagher Service Center LLP, Gallagher-Tarantino, Galtney Group, Game Day Insurance Inc., Gardner & White Corp., Gardner Marine Agency, Garza Long Group, Gatehouse Consulting Limited, Gault Armstrong Kemble Pty Ltd, Gault Armstrong SARL, Giles Group, Giles Holdings Limited, Giles Insurance Brokers, Gillis Ellis & Baker Inc., Goodman Insurance Agency, Grandy Pratt Co., Greenseed Alternative Mangaers Platform Ltd, Grossman & Associates, Group Benefits of Arkansas, Group Insurance Associates, Gruppo Marcucci, HLG Holdings Limited, HMG-PCMS Limited, HPF Investments LLC, HR Owen Insurance Services Limited, Hagan Newkirk Financial Services, Hagedorn & Company, Hardman & Howell Benefits, Harlequin Insurance PCC Limited, Hartstein Associates Inc., Healthcare Professionals Purchasing Group LLC, Healthcare Risk Solutions, Heath Lambert Group Ltd., Heath Lambert Limited, Heath Lambert Overseas Limited, Heiser Insurance Agency, Henderson Phillips Fine Arts Insurance, Herbruck Alder & Co., Heritage Insurance Brokers (CI) Limited, Hesse & Partner AG, Hesse Consulting, Hexagon ICC Limited, Hexagon Insurance PCC Limited, Hill Chesson & Woody, Hogan Insurance Services, Home & Travel Limited, Honour Point Limited, Horseshoe Corporate Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services Ltd, Horseshoe Fund Services USA Inc., Horseshoe ILS Services UK Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Advisors US LLC, Horseshoe Insurance Advisory Ltd., Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings Ltd, Horseshoe Insurance Services Holdings US Inc., Horseshoe Management (Gibraltar) Limited, Horseshoe Management (Ireland) Ltd, Horseshoe Management Ltd., Horseshoe PCC Limited, Horseshoe Re Limited, Horseshoe Services (Cayman) Ltd, Horseshoe Services (Pty) Ltd, Horton Insurance Agency, Housing Authorities Services Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Human Resource Management Systems, I-Protect Underwriting Pty Ltd, IBIS Advisors, IBS Reinsurance Singapore Pte Ltd, ILS Fund Services Ltd., ISG International, ITI Solutions, Igloo Insurance PCC Limited, Independent Benefit Services, Independent Fiduciary Services, Ink Underwriting Agencies Limited, InsSync Group Pty Ltd, Inspire Underwriting Limited, Instrat Insurance Brokers, Instrat Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Instrat Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Insurance Acquisitions Holdings Limited, Insurance Associates Inc., Insurance Dialogue Limited, Insurance Dialogue Ltd., Insurance Plans Agency, Insurance Plus Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Insurance Point, Insurance Risk Managers of Missouri Inc., Insure My Villa Limited, Insure Pty Ltd, Integrated Healthcare Strategies, InterNational Insurance Group, InterPacific Underwriting Agencies, Intermountain Financial Benefits, Interstate Insurance Underwriters, JPGAC LLC, James F. Reda & Associates, James R. Weir Insurance Agency, Jenkins and Associates, Joe E. Martin Inc., John P. Woods Co. Inc., Jones Brown, Jones Brown Group Inc., Jones Brown Insurance Solutions Inc., Joseph Distel, Joseph James & Associates Insurance Agency, Just Landlords Insurance Services Ltd, KDC Associates, KRW Insurance Agency, Kahl Insurance Services, Kaler Carney Liffler & Co. Inc., Kane Group - Insurance Management Operations, Kelly Financial, Kent Kent & Tingle and RBS, Keyser Benefits Corp., Kingspark Enterprises Pty Ltd, L&R Benefits, LSG Insurance Partners, Learn About Money Limited, Lewis & Associates Insurance Brokers, Leystone Insurance & Financial, Life Plans Unlimited, Lincoln Financial Management, Longfellow Financial, Lucas Fettes Limited, Lucas Fettes and Partners Limited, Lutgert Insurance, MA Underwriting Pty Ltd, MDM Insurance Associates, MG Advanced Coal Technologies-1 LLC, MGA Insurance Services, MRS Holdings Ltd., Madison Scott & Associates, Managed Healthcare Solutions, Mannequin Insurance PCC Limited, Marchetti Robertson & Brickell Insurance, Marine Insurance Service, Martin Gordon & Jones Inc., McDowall Associates Human Resource Consultants, McIntyre Risk Management, McLean Insurance Agency, McNeary, McPherson Benefits Group, McRory & Co., Mecacem Insurance SPC Ltd, MedInsights Inc., Melton Insurance Associates, Memberworks Canada LLC, Merit Insurance, Metcom Excess, Metzler Bros. Insurance, Meyers-Reynolds & Associates, Mid America Group, Midwest Surety Services, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers, Mike Henry Insurance Brokers Limited, Mike Henry Insurance Funding Limited, Miller Buettner & Parrott, Miller-Harrison Insurance Services, Milne Alexander Pty Ltd, Minvielle & Chastanet Insurance Brokers, Monument Insurance (NZ) Limited, Monument Llc, Monument Premium Funding Limited, Mortgage Insurance Agency, Murphy Consultants, Mutual Insurance Services, NationAir Aviation Insurance, National Administration Co., National Ethics Association, National Transportation Adjusters, Nelson/Monarch Insurance Services, Nicoud Insurance Services, NiiS/Apex Group Holdings, Nonprofit Insurance Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Noraxis Capital Corp, Nordic Forsakring & Riskhantering AB, North Alabama Insurance, Nourse Insurance Brokers, O'Gorman & Young, OAMPS (UK) Limited, OAMPS Gault Armstrong Pty Ltd, OAMPS Limited, OAMPS Special Risks Ltd, Offshore Market Placements Limited, Optimum Talent, Orb Financial Services, Orb Financial Services Limited, Osprey Insurance Brokers Limited, Oval Group, Oval Healthcare Limited, Oval Insurance Broking Limited, Oval Limited, Oval Management Services Limited, Oxygen Insurance Managers, P2 Group, PEN Insurance Management Advisors Ltd, PT IBS Insurance Broking Service, Pacific Insurance Agency, Palmer Atlantic Insurance, Palmer Atlantic Insurance Ltd, Palmer Atlantic Risk Services Ltd., Park Row Associates, Parkstar Enterprises Pty Ltd, Parmia Pty Ltd, PartnerSource, Pastel Holding (NZ) Company, Pastel Holdings Pty Limited, Pastel Purchaser (NZ) Limited, Pastel Purchaser Pty Limited, Pavey Group Holdings (UK) Limited, Pavey Group Holdings Limited, Pavey Group Limited, Pearson Dunn Insurance Inc., Pen Underwriting Canada Limited, Pen Underwriting Group Pty. Ltd., Pen Underwriting Limited, Pen Underwriting Pty Ltd, Persing Dyckman & Toynbee Inc., Personal Advice Services Pty Ltd, Petty Burton Associates, Pointer Insurance Agency, Portmore Insurance Brokers (Wilshire) Limited, Portmore Insurance Brokers Limited, Potter-Holden & Co., Powell Insurance Agency, Premier Insurance Services Inc., Premier Risk Services, Premium Finance Corporation, Preston-Patterson, ProSource Financial, Professional Agents Risk Purchasing Group LLC, Professional Claims Managers, Proinova AB, Proinova Agency AB, Pronto California Agency LLC, Pronto California General Agency LLC, Pronto Florida Claims LLC, Pronto Florida General Agency LLC, Pronto Franchise LLC, Pronto General Agency Ltd, Pronto General Agency Management LLC, Pronto Holdco Inc., Pronto Holding California LLC, Pronto Holding Florida LLC, Pronto Insurance Agency of Laredo Inc., Pronto Premium Finance LLC, Property & Commercial Ltd., Property Insurance Initatives Limited, Property and Commercial Limited, Protected Insurance Company, Protection Plan Association Inc., Protek Group Limited, Providium Consulting Group, Ptarmigan Underwriting Agency Limited, Ptarmigan Underwriting UK Limited, Purple Bridge Claims Management Limited, Purple Bridge Finance Limited, Purple Bridge Group Limited, Purple Bridge Investments Limited, Purple Bridge Online Services Limited, Purple Bridge Publishing Limited, Quantum Underwriting Solutions Limited, Quillco 226 Limited, Quillco 227 Limited, R. L. Youngdahl & Associates, R.G. Speno Inc., R.W. Scobie, RA Rossborough (Guernsey) Ltd., RA Rossborough (Insurance Brokers) Ltd, REGENCY Group inc., RGA Referencing Limited, RGA Underwriting Limited, RIL Administrators (Guernsey) Ltd., RJ Dutton Inc., RSM Insurance Services Limited, Reassurance Holdings Inc., Rebholz Insurance Agency, Reid Manson Ltd., Reimbursement Services, Rentguard Limited, Reward Management Limited, Reynolds & Rodar Insurance Group, Riley & Associates, Rio 587 Limited, Rio 588 Limited, Risk & Reward Group, Risk Management Partners Limited, Risk Placement Services Inc., Risk Planners, Risk Services (NW) Limited, Risk Services (NW) Ltd., Risk Solutions Group Limited, Robert A. Schneider Agency, Robert Keith & Associates, Roberts & Roberts Insurance Service, Robinson-Adams Insurance, Rossborough Healthcare International Ltd, Rossborough Insurance (IOM) Ltd., Rossborough Insurance Services Ltd. (Jersey), S. A. Freerks & Associates, SEG Insurance Ltd, SGB-NIA Insurance Brokers, SHILLING Ltd, SKANCO International, SMERI AB, SRS Underwriting Pty Ltd, Secure Enterprises Pty Ltd, Securitas Re, Sellers Group, Sentinel Indemnity LLC, Septagon Insurance PCC Limited, Shuford Insurance Agency, Sigma II Insurance Agency, Sinclair Billard and Weld Limited, Sobieski & Bradley, Solid Benefit Guidance, Spanjers Insurance Agency, Spataro Insurance Agency, Specialised Broking Associates, Specialty Risk, Stackhouse Poland, Stackhouse Poland Bidco Limited, Stackhouse Poland Group Limited, Stackhouse Poland Holdings Limited, Stackhouse Poland Midco Limited, Stackouse Poland Limited, Stanton Group, Stark Johnson & Stinson Inc., Steel Agency, Strata Solicitors Ltd, Strategic Health Plans Corp., Strathearn Insurance Brokers, Strathearn Insurance Brokers (Qld) Trading Trust, Strathern Insurance Group Pty Ltd, Strathern Integration Holdco Pty Ltd, Strathern Unit Trust, Strong Financial Resources, Summit Insurance Group, Sunday and Associates, Sunderland Insurance Services, Super Advice Corporate Services Pty Ltd, Taylor Benefits, Texas Insurance Agency, Texas Insurance Managers, The BeneTex Group, The Buchholz Planning, The Chapman Group, The Commonwealth Consulting Group, The Daniels Group Inc., The EHE Group LLC, The EHE Insurance Agency LLC, The Eagle Insurance Agency LLC, The Eriksen Group, The Forker Company, The Gleason Agency, The Great Lakes Agency, The HR Group, The Hawk Agency, The Human Capital Group, The Lance Group, The Levitt/Kristan Co., The MW Bagnall Company, The Old Greenwich Consulting Group, The Parks Johnson Agency, The Plus Companies Inc., The Presidio Group, The Producers Choice, The Rains Group, The Splinter Group, The Titan Group, The Treiber Group, The Woodsmall Companies Inc., Title & Covenant Brokers Ltd., Title Investments Limited, Tom Sherwin Insurance Agency, Total Reward Group, Total Rewards Group (Holdings) Limited, Towle Agency, Transwestern, Tri-State General Insurance Agency, Triad Insurance Agency, Triad USA, Tribeca Strategic Advisors, Trinder & Norwood, Trip Mate, Trissel Graham & Toole, Tropp & Co., Tudor Risk Services, Tyloma Holdings Limited, Uni-Care Inc., Unison Inc., Universico Group, Unoccupied Direct Limited, V2V Holdings LLC, VEBA Service Group, Vasek Insurance Services Limited, Velo ACU LLC, Velo Holdings Inc., Verbag AG., Vertrue LLC, Victory Insurance Agency, Vincent L. Braband Insurance, Vital Benefits, Voluntary Benefits Solutions, W. E. Kingsley Co. Inc., WM. W. George & Associates, Walker Taylor Agency, Welling Associates, Wesfarmers Insurance - Insurance Brokerage Operations, Western Benefit Solutions, White & Company Insurance, Whitehaven Insurance Group, William Gallagher Associates Insurance Brokers, William H. Connolly & Co., Williams Insurance Agency Inc., Williams-Manny Insurance Group, Winn & Company Insurance Brokers, Wischmeyer Benefit Partners, Woodbrook Underwriting Agencies, Woods & Grooms, WorkCare Northwest, Worksite Communications, Y. S. Liedman & Associates, YOA Capsicum Reinsurance Broker Limited, Zenor Limited, Zuber Insurance Agency, and e3 Financial.
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The following companies are subsidiares of AON: 6824625 Canada Ltd., 7193599 Canada Inc., A.B. Insurances Limited, ADIS A/S, AIB Services Limited, AIS Affinity Insurance Agency Inc., AIS Insurance Agency Inc., AMXH LLC, ARM International Corp., ARM International Insurance Agency Corp., ARMRISK CORP., AS Holdings Inc., ASPN Insurance Agency LLC, Access Plans USA Inc., Acumen Credit Insurance Brokers Limited, Adm Administradora de Beneficios Ltda., Administradora Aon C.A., Admiseg SA, Admix, Admix - Administracao Consultoria Participacoes e Corretora de Seguros de Vida Ltda., Aeropeople Limited, Affinity Group Insurance Services Limited, Affinity Insurance Services Inc., Affinity Risk Partners (Brokers) Pty Ltd, Agenion N.V./SA, Agility Credit Insurance Brokers Limited, Alexander & Alexander Holding B.V., Alexander Clay, Alexander Insurance Managers (Netherlands Antilles) N.V., Alexander Reinsurance Intermediaries Inc., Allen Insurance Associates Inc., Alliance HealthCard Inc., Alliance HealthCard of Florida Inc., American Insurance Services Corp., American Special Risk Insurance Company, Aon (Bermuda) Ltd., Aon (CR) Insurance Agencies Company Limited, Aon (DIFC) Gulf Limited, Aon (Fiji) Ltd., Aon (Isle of Man) Limited, Aon (Thailand) Limited, Aon 180412 Limited (in liquidation), Aon ANZ Holdings Limited, Aon APAC Holdings B.V., Aon Acore Sarl, Aon Adjudication Services Limited, Aon Affinity Administradora de Beneficios Ltda., Aon Affinity Argentina S.A., Aon Affinity Chile Ltda., Aon Affinity Colombia Ltda. Agencia de Seguros, Aon Affinity Mexico Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Aon Affinity Mexico S.A. de C.V., Aon Affinity Servicos e Participacoes Ltda., Aon Affinity do Brasil Servicos e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Aon Agencies Hong Kong Limited, Aon Americas Holdings BV, Aon Angola Corretores de Seguros Limitada, Aon Antillen N.V., Aon Aruba N.V., Aon Assurance Agencies Hong Kong Limited, Aon Australia Group Pty Ltd, Aon Australian Holdco 1 Pty Ltd, Aon Australian Holdco 2 Pty Ltd, Aon Australian Holdco 3 Pty Ltd, Aon Austria GmbH, Aon Bahrain W.L.L., Aon Belgium B.V.B.A., Aon Benefit Solutions Inc., Aon Benfield (Chile) Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Aon Benfield Argentina S.A., Aon Benfield Australia Limited, Aon Benfield Brasil Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Aon Benfield Canada ULC, Aon Benfield China Limited, Aon Benfield Colombia Limitada Corredores de Reaseguros, Aon Benfield Fac Inc., Aon Benfield Global Inc., Aon Benfield Group Limited, Aon Benfield Inc., Aon Benfield Israel Limited, Aon Benfield Italia S.p.A., Aon Benfield Japan Ltd, Aon Benfield Latin America SA, Aon Benfield Limited, Aon Benfield Malaysia Limited, Aon Benfield Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro SA de CV, Aon Benfield Middle East Limited, Aon Benfield New Zealand Limited, Aon Benfield Panama S.A., Aon Benfield Peru Corredores de Reaseguros SA, Aon Benfield Puerto Rico Inc., Aon Bermuda Holding Company Limited, Aon Bermuda QI Holdings Ltd., Aon Beteiligungsmanagement Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, Aon Bolivia S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Aon Botswana (Pty) Ltd., Aon Brazil Holdings LLC, Aon Broking Services SA, Aon Broking Technology Limited, Aon CANZ Holdings B.V., Aon CANZ Holdings N.S. ULC, Aon Canada Holdings N.S. ULC, Aon Canada Inc., Aon Canada Intermediaries GP, Aon Captive Services Antilles N.V., Aon Captive Services Aruba N.V., Aon Cash Management B.V., Aon Central and Eastern Europe a.s., Aon Centre for Innovation and Analytics Ltd, Aon Charitable Foundation Pty Ltd, Aon Chile Holdings LLC, Aon Commercial Insurance Agencies Hong Kong Limited, Aon Commercial Services Ireland Limited, Aon Commercial Services and Operations Ireland Limited, Aon Consolidation Group Pty Ltd, Aon Consulting & Insurance Services, Aon Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Aon Consulting (Thailand) Limited, Aon Consulting Bolivia S.R.L., Aon Consulting Ecuador S.A., Aon Consulting Financial Services Limited, Aon Consulting Inc., Aon Consulting Kazakhstan LLP, Aon Consulting Limited, Aon Consulting Private Limited, Aon Consulting Romania SRL, Aon Corporate Services (Isle of Man) Limited, Aon Corporate Services Limited, Aon Corporation, Aon Corporation Australia Limited, Aon Corporation EMEA B.V., Aon Credit International Insurance Broker GmbH, Aon Cyprus Insurance Broker Company Limited, Aon DC Trustee Limited, Aon Danismanlik Hizmetleri AS, Aon Delta Bermuda Ltd., Aon Delta UK Limited, Aon Denmark A/S, Aon Deutschland Beteiligungs GmbH, Aon Direct Group Inc., Aon Edge Insurance Agency Inc., Aon Energy Caribbean Limited, Aon Enterprise Insurance Agencies Hong Kong Limited, Aon Finance Bermuda 1 Ltd., Aon Finance Bermuda 2 Ltd., Aon Finance Canada 1 Corp., Aon Finance Canada 2 Corp., Aon Finance International N.S. ULC, Aon Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Aon Finance N.S. 1 ULC, Aon Finance N.S. 5 ULC, Aon Finance N.S. 8 ULC, Aon Finance US 1 LLC, Aon Finance US 2 LLC, Aon Financial & Insurance Solutions Inc., Aon Finland Oy, Aon France, Aon Global Holdings 1 Limited, Aon Global Holdings 2 Limited, Aon Global Holdings 3 Limited [In strike-off], Aon Global Holdings Limited, Aon Global Operations plc, Aon Global Risk Consulting B.V., Aon Global Risk Consulting Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Aon Global Risk Research Limited, Aon Grana Peru Corredores de Seguros SA, Aon Greece S.A., Aon Groep Nederland B.V., Aon Group (Bermuda) Ltd., Aon Group (Thailand) Limited, Aon Group Holdings International 1 B.V., Aon Group Holdings International 2 B.V., Aon Group Inc., Aon Group International N.V., Aon Group Pty Ltd, Aon Group Venezuela Corretaje de Reaseguros C.A., Aon Hewitt (Bermuda) Ltd., Aon Hewitt (Ireland) Limited, Aon Hewitt (PNG) Ltd., Aon Hewitt (Thailand) Ltd., Aon Hewitt Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Aon Hewitt Consulting Korea Inc., Aon Hewitt Financial Advice Limited, Aon Hewitt GmbH, Aon Hewitt Health Market Insurance Solutions Inc., Aon Hewitt Hong Kong Limited, Aon Hewitt Inc., Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting Inc., Aon Hewitt Investment Management Inc., Aon Hewitt Japan Ltd., Aon Hewitt Limited, Aon Hewitt Ltd., Aon Hewitt Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Aon Hewitt Management Company Limited, Aon Hewitt Middle East Limited, Aon Hewitt Risk & Consulting S.r.l., Aon Hewitt Risk & Financial Management B.V., Aon Hewitt Trust Solutions GmbH, Aon Hewitt US Holdings Limited, Aon Holding Deutschland GmbH, Aon Holdings (Isle of Man) Limited, Aon Holdings Antillen N.V., Aon Holdings Australia Pty Limited, Aon Holdings Austria GmbH, Aon Holdings B.V., Aon Holdings Botswana (Pty) Ltd, Aon Holdings Corretores de Seguros Ltda., Aon Holdings France SNC, Aon Holdings Hong Kong Limited, Aon Holdings International B.V., Aon Holdings Israel Ltd., Aon Holdings Japan Ltd, Aon Holdings Limited, Aon Holdings Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Aon Holdings Mid Europe B.V., Aon Holdings New Zealand, Aon Hong Kong Limited, Aon Hungary Insurance Brokers Risk and Human Consulting LLC, Aon Insurance Agencies (HK) Limited, Aon Insurance Agencies (Macau) Limited, Aon Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Aon Insurance Brokers (Pvt) Ltd., Aon Insurance Management Agencies (HK) Limited, Aon Insurance Managers (Antilles) N.V., Aon Insurance Managers (Barbados) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Bermuda) Ltd, Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Dublin) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Guernsey) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Holdings) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Isle of Man) Ltd., Aon Insurance Managers (Liechtenstein) AG, Aon Insurance Managers (Luxembourg) S.A., Aon Insurance Managers (Malta) PCC Limited, Aon Insurance Managers (Puerto Rico) Inc., Aon Insurance Managers (Shannon) Limited, Aon Insurance Managers (USA) Inc., Aon Insurance Managers (USVI) Inc., Aon Insurance Managers Gibraltar Ltd., Aon Insurance Micronesia (Guam) Inc, Aon Insurance Underwriting Agencies Hong Kong Limited, Aon Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Philippines Inc., Aon International Cooperatief U.A., Aon International Energy Inc., Aon International Holdings Inc., Aon Investment Holdings Ireland Limited, Aon Israel Insurance Brokerage Ltd., Aon Italia S.r.l., Aon Japan Ltd, Aon Jauch & Hubener Gesellschaft m.b.H., Aon Korea Inc., Aon Latam Holdings N.V., Aon Lead QI B.V., Aon Life Agency of Texas Inc., Aon Life Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Aon Life Insurance Company, Aon MacDonagh Boland Group Ltd, Aon Majan LLC, Aon Management Consulting Taiwan Ltd., Aon Mauritius Holdings, Aon Meeus Assurantien B.V., Aon Mexico Business Support SA de CV, Aon Mexico Holdings LLC, Aon Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., Aon Middle East Co LLC, Aon Nederland C.V., Aon Netherlands Operations B.V., Aon Neudorf Finance S.a.r.l., Aon New Zealand, Aon New Zealand Group ULC, Aon Norway AS, Aon Overseas Holdings Limited, Aon PHI Acquisition Corporation of California, Aon PMI International Limited, Aon Parizeau Inc., Aon Pension Trustees Limited, Aon Pensions Insurance Brokers GmbH, Aon Polska Services Sp. z o.o., Aon Polska Sp. z o.o., Aon Portugal - Consultores Unipessoal Lda., Aon Portugal - Corretores de Seguros S.A., Aon Premium Finance LLC, Aon Private Risk Management Insurance Agency Inc., Aon Private Risk Management of California Insurance Agency Inc., Aon Product Design & Development Australia Pty Limited, Aon Product Design and Development New Zealand Limited, Aon Product Risk Services Hong Kong Limited, Aon Property Risk Consulting Inc., Aon Qatar LLC, Aon Re (Thailand) Limited, Aon Re Bertoldi - Corretagem de Resseguros S.A., Aon Re Bolivia S.A. Corredores de Reaseguros, Aon Re Canada Holdings SARL, Aon Real Estate B.V., Aon Realty Services Inc., Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc., Aon Retirement Plan Advisors LLC, Aon Retirement Solutions Limited, Aon Risiko & Unternehmensberatungs GmbH, Aon Risk & Asset Management Pty Ltd, Aon Risk Consultants Inc., Aon Risk Insurance Services West Inc., Aon Risk Management (Pty) Ltd, Aon Risk Services (Chile) Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Aon Risk Services (Holdings) of Latin America Inc., Aon Risk Services (Holdings) of the Americas Inc., Aon Risk Services (NI) Limited, Aon Risk Services (PNG) Ltd., Aon Risk Services (Thailand) Limited, Aon Risk Services Argentina S.A., Aon Risk Services Australia Limited, Aon Risk Services Canada Inc., Aon Risk Services Central Inc., Aon Risk Services Colombia SA Corredores de Seguros, Aon Risk Services Companies Inc., Aon Risk Services EMEA B.V., Aon Risk Services Ecuador S.A. Agencia Asesora Productora de Seguros, Aon Risk Services Holdings (Chile ) Ltda., Aon Risk Services Inc. of Florida, Aon Risk Services Inc. of Hawaii, Aon Risk Services Inc. of Maryland, Aon Risk Services Inc. of Washington D.C., Aon Risk Services Northeast Inc., Aon Risk Services South Inc., Aon Risk Services Southwest Inc., Aon Risk Services Venezuela Corretaje de Seguros C.A., Aon Risk Solutions (Cayman) Ltd., Aon Risk Solutions Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas SA de CV, Aon Risk Solutions of Puerto Rico Inc., Aon Riskminder A/S, Aon Romania Broker de Asigurare - Reasigurare SRL, Aon Rus Insurance Brokers LLC, Aon Rus LLC, Aon S.p.A. Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Aon Saver Limited, Aon Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, Aon Securities Investment Management Inc., Aon Securities LLC, Aon Securities Limited, Aon Service Corporation, Aon Services (Guernsey) Ltd, Aon Services (Malta) Ltd, Aon Services Group Inc., Aon Services Hong Kong Limited, Aon Services Pty Ltd., Aon Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi ve A.S., Aon Soluciones S.A., Aon Soluciones S.A.C., Aon Southern Europe UK Limited, Aon Sp. z o.o., Aon Special Risk Resources Inc., Aon Superannuation (PNG) Limited, Aon Superannuation Pty Limited, Aon TC Holdings Inc., Aon Taiwan Ltd., Aon Treasury Ireland Limited, Aon Trust Company LLC, Aon Trust Corporation Limited, Aon Trust Services B.V., Aon UK Group Limited, Aon UK Holdings Intermediaries Limited, Aon UK Limited, Aon UK Trustees Limited, Aon US & International Holdings Limited, Aon US Holdings 2 Inc., Aon US Holdings Inc., Aon Ukraine LLC, Aon Underwriting Agencies (HK) Limited, Aon Underwriting Managers (Bermuda) Ltd., Aon Underwriting Managers Inc., Aon Versicherungsberatungs GmbH, Aon Versicherungsmakler Deutschland GmbH, Aon Vietnam Limited, Aon Ward Financial Corporation, Aon-COFCO Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Aon/Albert G. Ruben Insurance Services Inc., Asevasa Argentina S.A., Asevasa Caricam S.A., Asevasa Chile Peritaciones e Ingenieria de Riesgos S.A., Asevasa Mexico S.A. de C.V., Asevasa Panama S.A., Asian Reinsurance Underwriters Limited, Asscom Insurance Brokers S.r.l., Association of Rural and Small Town Americans, Associacao Instituto Aon, Assurance Licensing Services Inc., B E P International Corp., B.V. Assurantiekantoor Langeveldt-Schroder, BMS Insurance Agency L.L.C., Bacon & Woodrow Partnerships (Ireland) Limited, Bacon & Woodrow Partnerships Limited, Bain Hogg Group Limited (in liquidation), Baltolink UADBB, Bankassure Insurance Services Limited, Bayfair Insurance Centre Limited, Beaubien Finance Ireland Limited, Beaubien Finance Limited, Beaubien UK Finance Limited, Becketts (Trustees) Limited, Becketts Limited, Beech Hill Pension Trustees Ltd, Bekouw Mendes C.V., Benefit Marketing Solutions L.L.C., Benfield Advisory Inc., Benfield Corredores de Reaseguro Ltda., Benfield Finance (London) LLC, Benfield Group, Benfield Investment Holdings Limited, Benfield Juniperus Holdings Limited, Benfield do Brasil Participacoes Ltda. (dormant), Benton Finance Ireland Limited, Benton Finance Limited, Blanch Americas Inc., Bowes & Company Inc. of New York, CEREP III Secondary Manager LLC, CFSSG Real Estate Partners I LLC, CFSSG Real Estate Partners II LLC, CIF-H GP LLC, Cammack Health LLC, Cananwill Corporation, Cananwill Inc., Cardea Health Solutions Limited, Casablanca Intermediation Company Sarl, Celinvest Amsterdam B.V., Chapka Assurances SAS, Citadel Insurance Managers Inc., CoCubes, CoSec 2000 Limited, Coalition for Benefits Equality and Choice, Cocubes Technologies Private Limited, Coles Hewitt Partnership, Contingency Insurance Brokers Limited, Contractsure Limited, CoverWallet, Coverall S.r.l. Insurance and Reinsurance Underwriting Agency, Credit Insurance Brokers (Reynolds) Limited, Crion N.V., Custom Benefit Programs Inc., Cut-e, Cut-e (UK) Limited, Cut-e Assessment (Hong Kong) Limited, Cut-e Assessment Solutions Europe Limited, Cut-e Australia Pty Limited, Cut-e Consult DMCC, Cut-e Danmark A/S, Cut-e Finland Oy, Cut-e GmbH, Cut-e Ireland Limited, Cut-e Nordic AS, Cut-e Norge AS, Cytelligence, Delany Bacon & Woodrow Partnership, Dempsey Partners, Denney O'Hara (Life & Pensions) Limited, Doveland Services Limited, E. W. Blanch Holdings Limited, E. W. Blanch Investments Limited, E.W. Blanch Capital Risk Solutions Inc., E.W. Blanch International Inc., EW Blanch Limited, Elysium Digital IP Products LLC, Elysium Digital L.L.C., Ennis Knupp Secondary Market Services LLC, Essar Insurance Services Limited, Exploitatiemaatschappij Beukenlaan 68-72 B.V., Farmaseg - Solucoes Assistencia e Servicos Empresariais Ltda., Farmsure Limited [In strike-off], Finaccord Limited, Financial & Professional Risk Solutions Inc., Futurity Group Inc., GTCR/AAM Blocker Corp., Ge.f.it. S.r.l., Gefass S.r.l., Glenrand M I B (Mocambique) Corretores de Seguros Limitada, Global Safe Insurance Brokers S.r.l., Globe Events Management, Gotham Digital Science LLC, Gotham Digital Science Ltd., Grant Liddell Financial Advisor Services Pty Ltd, Grant Park Capital LLC, Groupe-Conseil Aon Inc., Grupo Innovac Sociedad de Correduria de Seguros SA, HIA Insurance Services Pty Ltd., Hall Rhodes Holdings Limited, Hall Rhodes Limited, Hamburger Gesellschaft zur Forderung des Versicherungswesens mbH, Harbourview West Lake Co-Invest (GP) LP, Health Index Advisors LLC, Healthy Paws Pet Insurance LLC, Henderson Corporate Insurance Brokers Limited, Henderson Insurance Brokers Limited, Henderson Insurance Partnership Limited [In strike-off], Henderson Risk Management Limited, Hewitt Amalco 3 ULC, Hewitt Amalco 4 ULC, Hewitt Amalco 5 ULC, Hewitt Associates (a partnership), Hewitt Associates Administradora e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Hewitt Associates Corp., Hewitt Associates Outsourcing Limited, Hewitt Associates Pty Ltd, Hewitt Associates S.C., Hewitt Associates SAS, Hewitt Associates Servicos de Recursos Humanos Ltda., Hewitt Beneficios Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Hewitt Holdings Canada Company, Hewitt Insurance Brokerage LLC, Hewitt Insurance Inc., Hewitt International Holdings LLC, Hewitt Management Ltd., Hewitt Risk Management Services Limited, Hewitt Western Management Amalco Inc., Hogg Group Limited, Hogg Robinson North America Inc., Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency Inc., I. Beck Insurance Agency (1994) Ltd., IAO Actuarial Consulting Services Canada Inc., INPOINT INC., IRM/GRC Holding Inc., Impact Forecasting L.L.C., Inspiring Benefits, Inspiring Benefits Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Insuractive Limited [In strike-off], Insurance Broker Aon Kazakhstan LLP, International Risk Management (Americas) Inc., International Risk Management Group Ltd, International Space Brokers Europe Limited, International Space Brokers France, International Space Brokers Inc., International Space Brokers Limited, Inversiones Benfield Chile Ltda., J H Minet Puerto Rico Inc., J. Allan Brown Consultants Inc., JDPT Manager LLC, Jenner Fenton Slade Limited, John Reynolds & Company (Credit Insurance) Limited, John Reynolds & Company (Insurances) Limited, John Reynolds & Company (Life & Pensions) Limited, Johnson Rooney Welch Inc., K & K Insurance Brokers Inc. Canada, K & K Insurance Group Inc., K & K Insurance Group of Florida Inc., K2 Technologies Inc., KVT GP LLC, Kloud S.a.r.l., Krumlin Hall Limited, Lake Erie Real Estate General Partner Limited, Lake Tahoe GP LLC, Lake Tahoe II GP LLC, Lake Tahoe III GP LLC, Lake Tahoe IV GP LLC, Lenzi Paolo Broker di Assicurazioni S.r.l., Lincolnshire Insurance Company PCC Limited, Linx Underwriting Solutions Inc., Lombard Trustee Company Limited, M.A. Shakeel Management Ltd. Amalco, MacDonagh Boland Crotty MacRedmond Ltd, Marinaro Dundas S.A., Marinaro Dundas SA, Mark Kelly Insurance and Financial Services PTY LTD, McLagan (Aon) Limited, McLagan Partners Asia Inc., McLagan Partners Inc., Membership Leasing Trust, Minet Consultancy Services Ltd, Minet Group, Minet Holdings Inc., Minet Inc., Minet Re North America Inc., Modern Survey Inc., Muirfield Underwriters Ltd., NBS Nominees Limited, National Insurance Office Ltd., Nauman Insurance Brokers Limited, Nexus Insurance Brokers Limited, One Underwriting Agency GmbH, One Underwriting B.V., One Underwriting Health B.V., One Underwriting Pty Ltd, Optica Agency A/S, Optimum Risk Solutions Limited, Ovatio Courtage SAS, P.G. Bradley & Co Limited, PGOF Manager 1 LLC, PRORUCK Ruckversicherungs Aktiengesellschaft, PT Aon Benfield Indonesia, PT Aon Hewitt Indonesia, PT Aon Indonesia, PWZ AG, Paragon Strategic Solutions Inc., PathWise Solutions LLC, Penn Square Manager 1 LLC, Penn Square Manager II LLC, Portus Consulting, Portus Consulting (Leamington) Limited, Portus Consulting Limited, Portus Online LLP, Praesidium S.p.A. - Soluzioni Assicurative per il Management, Premier Auto Finance Inc., Private Client Trustees Ltd., Private Equity Partnership Structures I LLC, Probabilitas N.V./SA, Protective Marketing Enterprises Inc., Randolph Finance Unlimited Company, Rasini Vigano Limited, Redwoods Dental Underwriters Inc., Richard Kiddle (Insurance Brokers) Limited, Risk Laboratories LLC, Riskikonsultatsioonide OU, Ronnie Elementary Insurance Agency Ltd, SA Special Situations General Partner LLC, SG IFFOXX Assekuranzmaklergesellschaft mbH, SLE Worldwide Limited, SN Re S.A., Salud Riesgos y Recursos Humanos Consultores Ltda. (former Aon Corporte Advisors Ltda.), SchneiderGolling IFFOXX Assekuranzmakler AG, SchneiderGolling Industrie Assekuranzmaklergesellschaft mbH, Scritch Inc., Shanghai Kayi Information Technology Co. Ltd, Sheppard Netherlands B.V., Specialty Benefits Inc., Sports Insure Limited [In strike-off], Strategic Manager-III LLC, Stroz Friedberg (Asia) Limited, Stroz Friedberg Inc., Stroz Friedberg LLC, Stroz Friedberg Limited, Stroz Friedberg Risk Management Limited, Superannuation Management Nominees Limited, Suresport Limited [In strike-off], Swire Blanch MSTC II SA, Swire Blanch MSTC SA, TTG BRPTP GP LLC, TTG Cayuga Bavaria Intermediate 2 S.a.r.l, TTG Core Plus Investments LLC, TTG German Investments I LLC, TTG Investments II LLC, TTG Irish Investments I LLC, TTG Manager LLC, Tecsefin S.A. en liquidacion, The Aon Ireland Mastertrustee Limited, The Aon MasterTrustee Limited, The John Reynolds Company Limited, The Key West Saxon Group LLC, The Townsend Group Inc, The Townsend Group LLC, Townsend Alpha Manager I LLC, Townsend Alpha Manager II LLC, Townsend Alpha Manager III LLC, Townsend Group Asia Limited, Townsend Group Europe Ltd., Townsend HWL GP Ltd., Townsend Holdings LLC, Townsend Lake Constance GP Limited, Townsend REF GP LLC, Townsend Re Global GP Limited, Townsend SO Manager I LLC, UAB One Underwriting, UADBB Aon Baltic, UK Credit Insurance Specialists Limited, UNIT Versicherungsmakler GmbH, US Underwriting Solutions S.r.l., USLP Underwriting Solutions LP, Underwriters Marine Services Inc., Unidelta AG, Unirobe Meeus Groep, UnitedPensions Deutschland AG, Univers Workplace Solutions, VERO Management AG, Ventiv Technology, WT Government Services LLC, WT Technologies LLC, Wannet Speciale Verzekeringen B.V., Wannet Sports Insurance GmbH, Ward Financial Group Inc., West Lake General Partner LLC, West Lake II GP LLC, Wexford Underwriting Managers Inc., White Rock Insurance (Americas) Ltd., White Rock Insurance (Europe) PCC Limited, White Rock Insurance (Gibraltar) PCC Ltd., White Rock Insurance (Guernsey) ICC Limited, White Rock Insurance (Netherlands) PCC Limited, White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd., White Rock Insurance Company PCC Ltd., White Rock Insurance PCC (Isle of Man) Limited, White Rock Services (Bermuda) Ltd., White Rock USA Ltd., Willis Towers Watson, Worldwide Integrated Services Company, Wrapid Specialty Inc., Zalba-Caldu Correduria de Seguros SA, and cut-e USA Inc..
Advocates and Democratic lawmakers knew forcing a House vote on the ERA  let alone winning its passage  was a long shot. But part of the goal of the last-ditch push was to make Republican lawmakers, especially those in swing districts like Yanceys, cast a vote one way or the other. Some GOP delegates have said they support the ERA, but they havent had to vote because the speaker has kept the bill off the floor.
Johnson & Johnson researches and develops, manufactures, and sells a range of products in the health care field worldwide. It operates through three segments: Consumer Health, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices. The Consumer Health segment offers baby care products under the JOHNSON'S and AVEENO Baby brands; oral care products under the LISTERINE brand; skin health/beauty products under the AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR. CI:LABO, NEUTROGENA, and OGX brands; acetaminophen products under the TYLENOL brand; cold, flu, and allergy products under the SUDAFED brand; allergy products under the BENADRYL and ZYRTEC brands; ibuprofen products under the MOTRIN IB brand; smoking cessation products under the NICORETTE brand; and acid reflux products under the PEPCID brand. This segment also provides women's health products, such as sanitary pads and tampons under the STAYFREE, CAREFREE, and o.b. brands; wound care products comprising adhesive bandages under the BAND-AID brand; and first aid products under the NEOSPORIN brand. The Pharmaceutical segment offers products in various therapeutic areas, including immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The Medical Devices segment provides electrophysiology products to treat cardiovascular diseases and neurovascular care products to treat hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke; orthopaedics products in support of hips, knees, trauma, spine, sports, and other; advanced and general surgery solutions that focus on breast aesthetics, ear, nose, and throat procedures; and disposable contact lenses and ophthalmic products related to cataract and laser refractive surgery under the ACUVUE brand. The company markets its products to general public, and retail outlets and distributors, as well as distributes directly to wholesalers, hospitals, and health care professionals for prescription use. Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 and is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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The simple fact is, anybody can be a successful entrepreneur.

People from all walks of life can tread the path of creating a successful business.

That is why I collaborated with This is Money to launch the Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge - which offers readers the chance to win a year of mentoring and support for their business and a potential investment of up to 50,000.

Entrepreneurs with the right attitude and achievements make the most successful businesses according to angel investor Andy Yates

So what makes a great entrepreneur and have you got what it takes? First, let's debunk some myths that have no business in the world of start-ups.

Big fat start-up lie #1

Start-ups are just for youngsters

Nonsense. Experience and a strong track record in a sector or industry, a great network, business nouse - all things that can be priceless.

Big fat start-up lie #2

Women and diversity are not welcome

It is true that recent research from the British Business Bank shows a lamentable lack of diversity in the start-ups that get funded. But that is changing and fast.

Women founders and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds are becoming more empowered and in demand from investors.

So it is not about where an entrepreneur comes from, it is about where they want to go to.

In my experience entrepreneurs with the right attitude and achievements make the most successful businesses.

We want you: Enter This is Money's The Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge for business advice, mentoring and the chance to pitch for up to 50k of seed funding

Take our Great British Entrepreneur Quiz to find out if you could be in with a great chance to win support and investment that could transform your business.

1. What do you want to achieve as an entrepreneur?

a. To make a difference.

b. To make a lifestyle choice.

c. To make a bundle of cash.

2. How committed are you?

a. I will do whatever it takes.

b. I will commit whatever time I can manage.

c. I will do whatever makes sense - I have a lot of things on the go.

3. Are you a team player?

a. I know I cant do this alone - I do, or will, work with experienced people with complementary skills.

b. I know I can work on my own or with other people.

c. I know what I am doing and I can take this on myself - after all, the reason I am in this business is that I can do it better than other people.

4. Where do you want to be in five years' time?

About Andy Yates Andy Yates is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor. He co-founded, grew and exited his own major fintech business, Digital Look, before going on to invest in, advise, support, mentor and grow a portfolio of exciting start-ups. He has backed entrepreneurs across a whole range of sectors. These start-ups have already seen their value grow by more than 150million. Now he is passionate about helping more entrepreneurs to grow and flourish.

a. I want to see my product or service used by thousands of people.

b. I want to be happy.

c. I want to be sitting on a beach.

5. How are you going to make money?

a. I have spoken to customers, I know what they want and what they would be willing to pay and I have worked out my supply and distribution costs.

b. I have spoken to suppliers, worked out the costs and I reckon I can make a margin.

c. I will provide it, customers will come.

6. How are you going to grow sales?

a. I am passionate about my business. I am going to lead initial sales and then hire more experienced people.

b. I am not a sales person, so I will focus on getting the product right and sort out the rest later.

c. I will provide it, customers will come.

7. Have you got any competitors?

a. Yes, but I have identified the gap in the market, understand the market size and opportunity and outlined clear reasons why people would buy from me.

b. Yes, there are some big competitors but I know who they are and I will watch them closely.

c. No, I havent got any competitors - my business is unique.

8. How much profit is the business going to make in five years' time?

a. I am ambitious and forecast strong growth based on reasonable assumptions from what I already know of the market and the opportunity.

b. As long as I pay the bills and do my best to grow, the business should make profits.

c. The business is going to be massive. Revenues are going to go through the roof, while costs will stay really low.

9. How much do you know about your industry or sector?

a. I and/or my team have experience and contacts in this sector.

b. I have done a bit of work in this area and reckon I should be okay.

c. I know what I am doing. How hard can it be?

10. What have you achieved so far?

a. I have sorted out my initial product/service and got some initial sales/traction/data/PR/social media followers/marketing exposure.

b. I have done a lot of research.

c. I have a brilliant idea.

Have you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

If you answered mainly As: Well done. You are on the right track to getting outside help, backing or investment.

Click here to apply to the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge now as the deadline of 1 March is approaching and you don't want to miss out.

If you answered mainly Bs: Think carefully about what you really want.

You may be a lifestyle or consultancy business - which is great and can give you the freedom and control you want - but to get backing or investment you may need to be more ambitious.

If you answered mainly Cs: Business is much harder than you think. You might get lucky and you may have struck gold. But, dont be in a gold rush to give up the day job.
People aged 40 and over are being encouraged to take a 'mid-life MOT' of their money, health and career by the Government.

It has launched a new website today helping people to do a personal, financial and physical stock-take, and is offering a 'toolkit' to employers interested in providing such services to workers.

Self-employed people can also ask for free MOT sessions from the Government-backed Pensions Advisory Service, although it is unclear whether these will be offered more widely in future.

The service is being championed by Pensions Minister Guy Opperman, who explains to This is Money why at the bottom of the article.

Mid-life MOT: People aged 40 and over are being encouraged to do a stock-take of their money, job and health

The MOTs are designed to help middle-aged people think about their jobs and skills, money situation and general wellbeing, and make an informed plan for later life.

Insurer and pension firm Aviva has already piloted a scheme for 100 staff which covered such issues, and now plans to roll it out to everyone in its workforce aged 45 and over.

Legal & General and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme have also run such programmes for their workers.

The new government website and employer toolkit cover broadly similar topics:

Your money

Will the retirement you get be what you want?

Are your plans on track?

What changes might happen which could impact on current and future finances?

How does Aviva's mid-life MOT work? Staff are invited to face-to-face guidance seminars at the insurer's main UK offices  London, Bristol, Eastleigh, Norwich, Sheffield, York, Glasgow, Dorking and Perth. They are offered a 12-part guide covering wealth, work and wellbeing, pointed towards Government resources that might help, and given a free 30-minute consultation with a qualified financial adviser to discuss their money situation.

Your job

Will your current job be suitable for you as you get older?

Do you want to change your working pattern or reduce your hours, and how do you talk to your employer about this?

Do you want to learn new skills or retrain?

How do you get help from a careers adviser?

Your health

How can you stay fit and healthy as you get older

Could your health or caring for others stop you doing your job?

Where can you get help if you are caring for someone and need to balance this with your work?

What support will employers offer?

Are you interested in doing voluntary work?

An official report published two years ago, calling for the state pension age to rise to 68 by 2039, also proposed the introduction of a mid-life MOT programme.

The Government-backed study, published by ex-Confederation of British Industry boss John Cridland, suggested people should be helped to plan their later lives with a scheme addressing their lifestyle, skills, paid and unpaid work, and retirement income.

Poll Would you take a mid-life MOT? Yes No Would you take a mid-life MOT? Yes 325 votes

No 61 votes Now share your opinion





Launching the scheme, Pensions Minister Guy Opperman said he wanted everyone to have access to a physical and financial health check at a crucial time in life's journey.

'Just like when you take your car to the garage, a mid-life MOT will highlight where improvements might be made to ensure everything is running smoothly when it comes to your health, wealth and self.

'It will aim to fine tune your financial engine, ensure that you're in strong enough shape to negotiate any bumps in the road, and hopefully programme your career sat-nav to help you to get to your chosen destination via the quickest route.'

Alistair McQueen, head of savings and retirement at Aviva, says of the Government initiative: 'This is great news for the fastest growing population of workers in the UK  those in mid-life, between the ages of 45 and 60.

'Aviva estimates that this age group will represent more than one in three UK workers in the coming decade.

'Those in mid-life are facing up to the reality of a longer working life, and are found to be the most stressed and least happy in the UK.

'Those in mid-life need more support. The UK also needs their invaluable skills, talent and potential.

'Aviva piloted its own mid-life-MOT in 2018, with great results. Employee confidence about their futures received a big boost.

'We are now taking the mid-life-MOT to all our people aged 45 and over in the UK. We are committed to creating a working environment where age is no barrier to opportunity.

'Hopefully other employers will follow where Aviva and the DWP are leading.'
Huawei has pledged to bring forward plans to address British security concerns within four months.

The promise comes after officials from GCHQ's cyber-security arm said they had not yet had a 'credible' response from the Chinese telecoms group.

They have warned technical issues with Huawei equipment  used throughout the UK's mobile and internet networks  could leave it open to hackers.

Huawei has pledged to bring forward plans to address security concerns after officials from GCHQ's cyber-security arm said they had not yet had a 'credible' response from the group

At the same time, Huawei is under pressure in western countries over US claims its kit could be tapped by the Chinese government for spying, a claim the firm has repeatedly denied.

The company has promised to spend at least 1.5billion to address British concerns.

And yesterday Ryan Ding, head of Huawei's carrier business group, said a 'global and comprehensive' plan was expected to be approved within weeks.

It faces bans on its equipment being used for new 5G mobile networks in the US, Australia and New Zealand, while in the UK officials are yet to say whether it will be allowed in.

The US has led calls for restrictions on firm, but yesterday President Trump appeared to extend an olive branch.

He tweeted: 'I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible.

'I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies.'
Standard Chartered bank has set aside 690million to pay fines in the US and UK over misbehaviour stretching back more than a decade.

The lender said it has been hit with a 102.2million penalty from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority watchdog over failings in its systems designed to prevent financial crime.

Part of the cash will also be used to pay a 31million settlement over claims it rigged foreign currency exchange markets, which was reached earlier this year.

Standard Chartered bank said it has been hit with a 102.2m penalty from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority watchdog over failings in its systems designed to prevent financial crime

Bankers working for the lender in 2008 used internet chatrooms called 'Old Gits' and 'Butter the Comedian' to discuss fixing prices with their rivals at other firms.

And Standard Chartered is also facing a separate fine from the US over busting sanctions in Iran.

The investment bank has been under threat of prosecution over work in Iran since 2012, when it was found to have hidden 200billion of illicit deals which gave drug kingpins and terrorists access to the financial system.

Standard Chartered  which is headquartered in London, but makes most of its money in the Middle East and Asia  was fined 415million by US regulators at the time and forced to sign a so-called deferred prosecution agreement.

This required the financial institution to install an independent monitor to make sure the law was not broken again.

Standard Chartered was warned there would be criminal sanctions if there was a subsequent breach.

US investigators believe the bank's Dubai branch worked with Iranians after the DPA was signed, violating sanctions meant to cut the Islamic republic out of the financial system due to its support for terrorism.

The bank could appeal against the US and FCA fines, meaning its total bill may be lower than the 690million set aside.

Shares in Standard Chartered fell 0.6 per cent, or 3.9p, to 612.9p in trading yesterday.
The corporate raider fighting to shake up Barclays suffered a huge setback last night after one of his biggest backers rubbished his plans.

Aviva Investors refused to support Edward Bramson in his campaign to win a seat on the Barclays board, declaring it could see no merit in the proposal.

The intervention was a body blow for Bramson because Aviva is one of his fund's largest investors, as well as a major Barclays shareholder.

Bust-up: Corporate raider Edward Bramson, left, and David Cumming, chief investment officer for equities at Aviva, right

The rupture came as Barclays posted annual profits of 3.5billion, down 1 per cent on a year earlier.

The lender hiked its dividend from 3p to 6.5p per share, and said it will launch buybacks in future to boost the stock price.

Its results included a strong performance in the investment banking arm. This will be seen as another setback for Bramson, who is forcing Barclays shareholders to vote on whether he should get a board seat at the bank's annual meeting this spring.

The 68-year-old activist, who lives in Connecticut, has been scathing about performance at Barclays' investment bank and is believed to favour huge cutbacks at the prized division.

Barclays boss Jes Staley with his wife Debbie

But the 15 per cent rise in profits at the investment bank was seized on by the Barclays hierachy as evidence their strategy is working.

Chief executive Jes Staley said: 'We started to see the earnings potential of the bank, as the strategy we have implemented began to deliver. This was evident in the improved performance across the group compared to 2017.'

Aviva  which holds 0.85 per cent of Barclays' stock, making it one of the bank's 20 largest shareholders  is the first investor to make its views public.

It is a double blow for Bramson because Aviva also owns 19 per cent of Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) C, the fund he is using to target Barclays.

Critics will argue that if he cannot even win support from Sherborne's own backers, he is unlikely to command the confidence of Barclays' wider investor base.

Aviva echoed a City view that Barclays' new chairman Nigel Higgins should be free to set out his plans for the bank without a rival on the board. Higgins takes over from John McFarlane at the annual meeting.

David Cumming, chief investment officer for equities at Aviva, said: 'We do not see merit in Bramson's proposal to join Barclays' board as a non-executive director.'

McFarlane urged shareholders to oppose Bramson's bid for a board seat, saying the bank is only jut finished with years of painful cutbacks and restructuring.

Profits at Barclays' investment banking arm rose 15 per cent last year, outperforming all of its European rivals. The lender hiked its bonus pool for staff by 9 per cent to 1.7billion, the first time it has increased pay-outs in five years.

Meanwhile, Staley was paid 3.4million for 2018, down from 3.9million a year earlier.

The fall was largely because he handed back a 500,000 bonus after wrongly trying to unmask a whistleblower who had written poison pen letters about a senior colleague.
Centrica - the firm behind British Gas - suffered a sharp drop in its shares today after the energy giant's annual results undershot City expectations.

Lacklustre figures and cost-cutting plans triggered fears that the group might slash its generous dividend payments, sending shares down 11 per cent in early trading to 1.22 - its lowest level for a year.

The company blamed external factors for the performance. Profits at its British Gas household supply arm tumbled 19 per cent as, it said, an energy price cap and heightened competition triggered a customer exodus last year.

At Centrica's British Gas arm, profits sunk 19 per cent to 466million in 2018

British Gas shed nearly three quarters of a million, or 3 per cent, of its customers.

The gloomy Centrica also warned that Ofgem's latest default tariff price cap, enforced at the start of 2019, was going to dent its future financial performance. It expects a one-off hit of 70million in the first year.

On a brighter note, the group's bottom line staged a modest recovery following a torrid performance in 2017.

It chalked up a 12 per cent rise in operating profits to 1.39billion, and revenues rose 6 per cent to 29.7billion, but this fell short of analysts forecasts.

The company bemoaned increased maintenance costs on its UK nuclear reactors, and lifted the lid on plans to dispose of its US franchise home maintenance business, Clockwork, to free up extra cash.

Group boss Iain Conn said: 'Centrica's financial performance in 2018 was mixed against a challenging external backdrop.

'Volumes in Spirit Energy and nuclear were disappointing and recovery in North America business was slower than expected.'

He added that the company is taking actions to drive cost efficiency as its cash flow comes under pressure.

Centrica expects to make 250million of cost savings in 2019 and is targeting an additional 500million of savings beyond this year.

Commenting on the fall in the share price, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: 'Centrica is being voted down on fears it will stop paying generous dividends in the future. A warning that the energy price cap will constrain cash flow in 2019 could be taken as code for a potential dividend cut.'

'You also have to remember that a November trading update saw the company explicitly link the destiny of the dividend to meeting targets on debt and cash generation,' he added.

Centrica's payments were maintained at 12p per share for 2018, but the firm made no mention of 2019's potential dividend today alongside its cost-cutting plans.
Banking giant Barclays said its profits slipped 1 per cent to 3.49billion last year as it paid out 2.2billion in conduct and litigation charges.

British Gas owner Centrica warned that its financial performance in 2019 will suffer as a result of the energy regulator's default tariff price cap.

And Heathrow Airport is toasting its 'best ever year' after passenger numbers and revenues took off.
Tucked away somewhere in my investments I have some Lloyds shares.

If I had any sense, I probably would have sold them by now. I might have done so had it been easier, but when I say tucked away I mean it  they are held as paper share certificates and Im not entirely certain where they all are.

Lloyds small army of shareholders  including yours truly  got some good news yesterday with a hefty bump to the dividend and share buyback.

Its tempting to give yourself a pat on the back and say job well done, but owning Lloyds shares long-term has provided as many lessons in the pitfalls of investing as it has the successes.

Dividends are good news but the long-term share price chart for Lloyds is not a pretty picture

Lloyds shares might have a healthy forecast yield of 6 per cent, but even after yesterdays bounce the 61.6p share price remains about 10 per cent below the 70p level it was knocking around a year ago and substantially down on the 88p recent peak of May 2015.

Mind you, thats nothing compared to how bad the chart looks for long-term investors.

Stretch the time frame back to before the financial crisis and the picture is of a sharp and sizeable drop from above 5 a share, to a decade spent bumping along the ground.

My own history of owning Lloyds shares dates back to the Halifax demutualisation. I had a Halifax Building Society savings account and when it became a bank I was just old enough to qualify for free shares.

As Halifax became HBoS and banks boomed in the early 2000s, I held onto them all the way up to the heady heights of 11, and then all the way back down again, as the banks crashed to earth.

Ultimately, the disastrous arranged marriage of HBoS and Lloyds pulled the latter into the picture  and dragged it down too  and my shares became those in Lloyds Banking Group.

Even more bad news followed, but when it came to the 2009 rights issue I reasoned that I may as well buy at the knockdown price of 37p, on the basis that short of the bank going bust (which wasnt out of the question), theyd probably be worth more in the future.

Lloyds being Lloyds, the shares did manage to fall below that 37p level but then rose again. At one point Id more than doubled my money on that rights issue investment, but then Brexit worries for the UKs domestically-focussed bank sent the shares down again.

Shareholders in Lloyds Banking Group will receive a slice of a 4billion dividend payout

So, beyond the fact that Im not sure where the certificates are, why do I still hold Lloyds shares?

Well, the dividend helps: I asked Laith Khalaf, at Hargreaves Lansdown, to run the numbers for me and us Lloyds shareholders have had 12.81p paid out per share since dividends restarted in 2015.

Thats 35 per cent of the 37p cost of the rights issue shares. A pretty good return, Laith said, but added that most holders back in 2009, probably had a few nasty losses to recover.

Lloyds shares are also currently pretty cheap.

Our unloved banks are still considered only an investment for the brave and despite Lloyds having largely sorted its finances out, it still only trades on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 7.65, below even its lowly five-year average of 9.

The idiotic mis-selling of PPI still hangs over Lloyds and its fellow banks (they continued to flog the insurance for years after we and other publications exposed dodgy sales tactics) but costs are now easing.

That said, Ill admit that ten years ago (or even five) I expected Lloyds to be doing better by now.

You may argue that thanks to the dividend shareholders have been paid to wait. The only problem is that if wed put our money elsewhere, we might have got paid more.

Over ten years, Lloyds shares are up 8.4 per cent, while the dividends it has paid out are worth 22 per cent of the 57.8p share price a decade ago - over the same period, the average UK equity income investment trust has a total return of 261 per cent.
Refusing to strike a bill could bring retribution, he said. Its not unknown for a bill from the Senate to be amended by the House in a way that turns it on its head. At that point, sometimes the best thing to do is to ask the measure be stricken from the other bodys agenda, which kills the measure. Norment didnt need to say (though perhaps he mentioned it when his GOP colleagues gathered to discuss what to do) that the House might consider a refusal to strike as a kind of nuclear action  one that could blow up the chances of agreement on the more than 40 bills on which House and Senate conferees are now negotiating.
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Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) In an apparent attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday alleged that efforts were on to introduce an "inhuman" religion in the country on the basis of divisive politics.

Banerjee, without directly naming it, accused the saffron party of trying to impose its choice of food, clothing and religion on the people and then deciding who would stay in the country and who would be thrown out.

"They are trying to create an inhuman religion based on their belief and decide who are going to stay in the country and who will leave. They are deciding in which language people will speak, what the people will eat and wear. They are trying to change the history of the country," she said at a programme on the International Mother Language Day.

"If some people are trying to implement one law as per their will, we will not let them do so. We don't support this theory of divisive politics...," she said.

Banerjee urged people not to pay heed to provocations meant to create differences among them and stay united.

"United India is what we want. Let's think and speak about unity.... There must not be any divide and rule policy," she said.

Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress chief, said she does not believe in the politics of dividing people on the basis of their religion, caste and creed.

The chief minister also criticised the threats that a Kashmiri medical practitioner in Kolkata received following the Pulwama terror attack.

"We cannot ask a Kashmiri shawl trader to leave because an incident had happened. How audacious they are to order one doctor who is practising here for more than 20 years to leave for one single incident," she said.

She asked people to use their mother tongue to protest the move to divide the country.

Earlier in the day, Banerjee urged people to respect all languages, but take pride in their mother tongue.

"Best wishes to all on International Mother Language Day. Respect all languages but take pride in your mother tongue," she tweeted.

International Mother Language Day is observed around the world on February 21 to promote awareness on linguistic and cultural diversity. PTI SCH NN AAR
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) A man allegedly involved in more than 113 cases of murder, dacoity and robbery, was arrested in Kapashera following a brief exchange of fire with the police, a senior officer said on Thursday.

Raju alias Hakla was involved in more than 113 cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, snatching, among others. Officials of several police stations were searching for him, the officer said.

Acting on a tip off, a Crime Branch team laid a trap near the expected place of his arrival in the early hours on Wednesday. The accused's car was intercepted and he was instructed to surrender, police said.

Instead of doing so, he fired upon the police party and tried to flee, they added.

He fired at a head constable, but missed. In retaliation a policeman also fired a round in the air from his service pistol and the police team manage to overpower the accused from Pushpanjali Farm House in Kapashera, they said. PTI SLB NSD
Union Minister files police complaint alleging social media

abuse

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 21 (PTI) Union Minister Alphons

Kannanthanam Thursday filed a police complaint alleging insult

and abuse through social media over a photo of him standing

near the coffin of a slain CRPF personnel killed in the recent

terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

In his complaint to state police chief, Loknath Behera,

Kannanthanam said it was "unethical" and "illegal" to unleash

false campaign against him in connection with his visit to the

house of V V Vasanth Kumar, the martyr CRPF jawan from the

state, to pay last respects.

The petition, submitted through the advocate, also urged

the police to take stringent action against those responsible.

A police release said the complaint was handed over to

the hi-tech cell for a comprehensive probe.

The union minister of state for tourism had faced severe

criticism on social media recently for posting a photo in

Facebook, in which he was seen standing near the coffin of the

slain jawan during the time of the last rites.

Many netizens alleged that it was a selfie and accused

him of using the tragic incident as an opportunity for

self-promotion.

Categorically denying the charges, the minister clarified

that he does not take selfie and it was a photo taken by

someone and sent to his office, which his media secretary put

on the FB page. PTI LGK

ROH ROH
Amit Shah lambasts Naidu for remarks on Pak view on Pulwama

(Eds; rpting with minor edits)

Amaravati, Feb 20 (PTI): Launching a scathing attack on

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his

remarks on Islamabad's claim of it not being involved in the

Pulwama terror attack, BJP president Amit Shah Thursday said

the former had more faith in Pakistan Prime Minister than on

RPT on Narendra Modi.

"Chandrababu endorses what Pakistan Prime Minister Imran

Khan says on Pulwama that his country is not involved in the

dastardly attack.

He is taking Imran Khan's side in his greed for vote bank

politics and is seeking to create doubts on India's Prime

Minister. Don't indulge in such mean and low politics," the

BJP president said.

Shah said the people of Andhra Pradesh would seek an

answer from Naidu on this in the coming elections.

"Fix a border... how low do you want to stoop in

politics," Shah said.

Naidu had Wednesday reportedly said: "Pakistan has made

it clear that it has no role in the Pulwama attack.

Suspicion is now strengthening across the country that

political expediency could be behind the attack. We will not

tolerate such things to further political vested interests."

The Telugu Desam Party had initially circulated this

message on the Telegram mobile App about Naidu's remarks

during the teleconference with party leaders and local

television news channels also ran scrolls on it.

Some time later, the message was apparently replaced with

another one that read there were 'doubts' on Pakistan Prime

Minister Imran Khan's remarks.

It said: "There are many doubts on Pakistan Prime

Ministers remarks. There is a debate in the country on the

remarks by (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee."

"The country's security is in danger due to the

inefficiency of the rulers. BJP leaders have ruined the

country through their dubious acts," the TDP quoted

Chandrababu as saying in the fresh narrative.

During Thursday's rally, Shah again accused Naidu of

indulging in gross corruption, particularly in the development

of the states new capital city Amaravati and the multipurpose

Polavaram project.

He said the Centre had been giving funds to the state

to build these projects, but the state government was

indulging in 'large-scale corruption'. "It could not spend the

funds for Amaravati or Polavaram," he said.

"I don't know whether or not he gets an award for any

achievement, but Chandrababu will surely bag the political

deceiver award in the country.

He deceived his own father-in-law and TDP founder N T

Rama Rao, later Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi.

All this only to further his political vested interests,"

Shah said. PTI DBV APR TVS

APR APR
They have a direct conflict of interest if they try this case, he wrote. Depending on who they support in the election, they could influence the outcome of the election by either an acquittal or conviction in this case. Further, any juror, Republican or Democrat anywhere would have the same conflict of interest prior to the election.
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday a PIL seeking direction to authorities to protect Kashmiri students who are allegedly being attacked in various parts of the country following the Pulwama terror strike.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna on Thursday took note of senior advocate Colin Gonsalves' submission that the plea needed to be heard urgently as it relates to the safety and security of students.

The bench, which refused to list the plea for hearing on Thursday, however, assured Gonsalves that it will be listed for consideration on Friday.

The petitioners Tariq Adeeba and Olivia Bang alleged in their plea that students from Kashmir Valley are being attacked at different educational institutions across the country after the Pulwama terror attack and authorities concerned should be directed to take actions to stop such assaults.

"Order directing the Centre to direct the heads of all institutions particularly, but not restricted to, educational institutions, to take immediate steps to protect the lives and dignities of minorities and Kashmiris facing discrimination and attacks," the plea said.

The petition, filed through advocate Satya Mitra, sought direction to the Centre for taking steps to prevent "threats, assaults, violent attacks, social boycotts, ostracism, evictions and other coercive acts" committed by groups and mobs against "Kashmiris and other minorities".

The plea sought a direction to the Centre and other authorities for prosecuting people engaging in hate speech and appointment of a nodal officer in every state and union territory, including politically-sensitive districts to prevent any acts of violence, discrimination and vigilantism.

It also sought direction to the Centre and other authorities to immediately set up a nationwide helpline number and to establish a web site containing the contact details of the nodal officers appointed in politically-sensitive districts who are responsible for maintaining law and order.

"There is a sudden rise in the incidents of crimes against Muslims and Kashmiris after the Pulwama terrorist attack on February 14 in which over 40 soldiers were killed... Immediately after the attack, mobs and vigilante groups engaged in vitriolic hate speech and began attacking, and threatening Muslims and Kashmiris throughout the country, said the petition.

"These incidents are a part of organized hate campaign against the Muslims and Kashmiri, most cases which are fabricated and the hysteria that now surrounds India has been engineered to gain political mileage

"The extremist groups have led vigilante mob attacks across the country to enforce nationalism by leaders of various groups who claim to promote and instigated hate crimes, "the petition said. PTI SJK LLP ABA SA
Sarma launches 'Bharat Ke Mann ki Baat, Modi ke Sath' campaign

Dibrugarh, Feb 21 (PTI) Assam Finance minister Himanta

Biswa Sarma Thursday launched the BJP's campaign to seek

suggestions from people across the country to help the party

prepare its manifesto.

Sarma launched the campaign named 'Bharat Ke Mann ki

Baat, Modi ke Sath' campaign here.

Through the campaign the BJP will try to reach out to

one hundred million people all over India to seek their

suggestions which will be reflected in the party's election

manifesto, Sarma said talking to reporters in Dibrugarh.

BJP will place drop boxes in 7,500 places where

members from the public can drop their suggestions for perusal

by the party and for consideration in the manifesto, Sarma

said.

He also said that BJP will take suggestions from

subject matter experts and specialists in different fields

through their various outreach programmes.

The month-long programme started on February three

will conclude on March three next, the minister added. PTI COR

ESB

RG RG
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) In the wake of DASS and steno cadre protest in the city, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Thursday accused the services department of deliberately trying to "hamper" the functioning of the government ahead of the Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly.

The services department comes under Lt Governor Anil Baijal in the national capital. The Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly is beginning Friday.

Sisodia wrote to Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev and asked him to implement the Sahai Committee's recommendations or Cabinet decisions.

Earlier in the day, Sisodia met protesting employees of his government who are demanding restructuring of the Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services (DASS) and steno cadre.

Three members of the Delhi Government Employees Welfare Association (DGEWA) have been sitting on a hunger-strike outside the Delhi Secretariat for the last four days in favour of their demands.

"It seems services department is completely insensitive to the plight of employees of government of Delhi and deliberately trying to hamper the functioning of the government by compelling the employees at such a crucial time when the budget session is in the offing and also the financial year closing," Sisodia said in the letter.

Umesh Batra, the general secretary of the DGEWA, said there are around 12,000 employees pertaining to DASS, steno and clerk cadre.

According to a government statement, Sisodia expressed solidarity with the protesting employees.

Addressing hundreds of protestors, the deputy chief minister rued that services do not come under the AAP government, adding that he was "pained" to see the DASS cadre continuously subjected to "injustice".

"Since May 2015, we are fighting to retain the services with the Delhi government. This is not a personal fight, but a fight against the repressive system," a government statement quoted Sisodia as saying.

He appealed to the employees to call off their hunger strike as it affects the health of those sitting on the protest, the statement stated.

Sisodia also conveyed the assurance from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that the elected government is committed towards the interests of employees working for the Delhi government. PTI BUN



DPB

DPB
Srinagar, Feb 21 (PTI) Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh Thursday visited Army units in central Kashmir where he was briefed on the ground situation prevalent in the valley, a defence spokesman said.

Concluding his two-day visit to Kashmir, the Northern Army commander, accompanied by Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, visited units in central Kashmir, he said.

He said Lt Gen Singh was briefed by the commanders on the ground situation.

Appreciative of the measures and Standard Operating Procedures instituted by the units to minimise civilian causalities, the Army commander emphasised on meeting the security challenges more effectively, the spokesman said.

Lauding the excellent synergy amongst all the security forces, Lt Gen Singh exhorted all ranks to maintain a safe, secure and peaceful environment for the people of Kashmir, he said. PTI SSB MIJ AQS
(Eds: Incorporating Chief Minister Adityanath's statement)

Unnao (UP), Feb 21 (PTI) Six people were killed and 18 more injured when three vehicles were involved in an accident on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Mirzapur Ajigawan village here early Thursday, police said.

The incident took place at about 2 am when a truck carrying pipes lost control and hit a divider. As the pipes got scattered on the expressway, a bus coming from behind overturned and hit a car from the back.

Three women, two children and a man were killed on the spot, while 18 people sustained injuries, Circle Officer, Bangarmau, Ambrish Bhadauria said.

The bus was going to Muzaffarpur in Bihar from Delhi, he said, and added that attempts were on to identify the victims.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of life in the accident, and prayed for peace to the departed souls.

He also instructed officials to ensure that the injured get proper medical treatment, an official statement said. PTI CORR ABN/NAV IJT

IJT
Jammu, Feb 21 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Police has registered a case in connection with allegedly raising of anti-national slogans by some stranded Kashmiri Muslims passengers here and issued a 'hue and cry notice' to trace three unidentified persons, officials said.

Police issued pictures of the three accused persons involved in raising anti-national slogans.

Thousands of Kashmiri Muslims passengers, including students, are stranded in Jammu following the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway owing to heavy snowfall and rains which triggered multiple landslides.

A case has been registered against the unidentified persons in connection with raising of anti-national slogans during protests by stranded Kashmiri Muslim passengers near the GGM science college in Jammu on February 11 in the Nowabad police station, the officials said.

The case has been registered under Sections sedition (124A RPC), Punishment for wrongful restraint (341), Punishment for rioting (147) rioting, armed with deadly weapon (148) and endangering life or personal safety of others (336).

As per the hue and cry notice issued by SSP Jammu Tajinder Singh, SP city North, Jammu has intimated that some unknown persons have raised anti-national slogans near the college, out of which the pictures of three unidentified persons have been traced out and are wanted in the FIR.

"As such photographs of these unidentified persons are being published for the information of police establishments and public in general, having any clue related to whereabouts and present locations of these accused persons, communicate the same on the contacts of police," the notice said.

Police procured CCTV footage from nearby shops and proved the anti-national slogans were raised within the protesting stranded Kashmiri Muslims in Jammu.

Hundreds of college students in Jammu boycotted classes for three days last week and held protests in parts of the city since a group of stranded Kashmiri Muslism passengers allegedly raised "objectionable" slogans.

The students alleged that the passengers raised "pro-Pakistan" and "anti-India" slogans and demanded that they be booked for sedition. PTI AB KJ

KJ
Jaipur, Feb 21 (PTI) A three-member medical board will conduct the post-mortem examination of the Pakistani prisoner's body, killed here by fellow inmates, officials said on Thursday.

"A three-member board is being constituted for the post-mortem which will be conducted here under the supervision of judicial magistrate," Rupinder Singh,

Inspector General (Prisons) Rupinder Singh, told PTI.

Shakrullah (50), was the module operator of a Pakistan based terror outfit and was lodged in the Jaipur central jail since 2011.

He was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2017 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The prisoner was killed on Wednesday in the TV room of the jail after a brawl with other inmates over the choice of channel to watch.

A case was registered with Lalkothi Police Station against four inmates Ajit, Manoj, Kulvendra and Bhajan Meena.

Jaipur Police sources said that the ministry of external affairs has informed the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi about the matter.

Shakrullah was lodged in a Punjab jail till 2010 for running a module to radicalise local youth with support and guidance of Pakistan based handlers.

The Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had brought him from Punjab for interrogation in similar charges and booked him. PTI SDA RHL
Srinagar, Feb 21 (PTI) Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah Thursday said their stand on holding dialogue with Pakistan has been vindicated by the India-Saudi joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with oil-rich kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

"Amid the din & clamour for war, India-Saudi joint statement on creating conditions conducive for talks btw (between) Pak & India is a welcome step. Message for war mongers is loud & clear. Also, by promising investment in both nations, MBS surely knows the art of keeping everyone happy," Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Mehbooba said she failed to understand the outrage over her statement cautioning against any armed confrontation between India and Pakistan.

"Unable to understand the outrage over my statement today. Anybody with half a brain wouldn't advocate war especially between two countries that are nuclear powers. All the tv anchors yelling for war, I suggest you pack your bags and join our troops at the borders," she said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said he was glad to see that Modi government has acknowledged that dialogue was the only way forward.

"I'm glad to see the Modi government acknowledge what some of us in J&K have been saying all along - dialogue is the only way forward & for that India & Pakistan will have to work to create the right environment," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

He said the India-Saudi joint statement talked about "creating conditions for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan".

"When some of us say this we are called anti-national & Pakistani agents in various TV studios.

"When Govt of India acknowledges the need to create suitable conditions for dialogue & that too in a statement with a 3rd country this is suddenly the height of patriotism & nationalism," he added.

The talks between the prime minister and the Saudi Crown Prince came days after the February 14 attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The crown prince lauded Modi for the "consistent efforts" made by him since May 2014, including the prime minister's personal initiatives, to have friendly relations with Pakistan. "In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for the resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan," T S Tirumurti, Secretary (ER) in Ministry of External Affairs said Wednesday.

PTI MIJ RCJ
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.

There was no immediate reaction from the Prime Minister's Office and the BJP over the allegations.

The opposition party also accused BJP president Amit Shah of "politicization of terrorism" in his speech in Assam following the attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Shah, while addressing a public rally at Lakhimpur in Assam, had said that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, launched an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike.

In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten "raj dharma" (duty of governance), he alleged.

Citing media reports in Hindi news papers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the the terror attack happened at 3:10 PM on February 14 with the Congress reacting at 5:15 PM.

"The prime minister also knew about it, yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a pseudo nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery channel) for self propagation in Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

He alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there is slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour there.

"The prime minister continues to eat chai, samosas at seven o' clock at government expense in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat their food," the Congress spokesperson said.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", on the other hand the prime minister was doing his "propaganda and publicity", he claimed.

"Can such conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

Surjewala said that the Congress party had shown restrain as directed by party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today," he said.

The Congress leader said that questions must be asked about the gross intelligence failure of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism". PTI ASK GVS
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Showing a greater understanding of the threat of terrorism being faced by India, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman proposed real-time intelligence sharing between the two countries during talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, government sources said Thursday.

During talks between the two leaders on Wednesday, both sides agreed to set up a comprehensive security dialogue at the level of national security advisers and a separate joint working group on counter terrorism.

The Crown Prince, particularly, underlined his country's strength on intelligence and critical information and talked about how the two countries can work together in intelligence sharing on a real-time basis, the sources said.

A joint statement on Wednesday said both sides called on all states to reject use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructure and cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists. However, there was no mention of Pakistan or Pakistan-based terror groups.

The sources said the Saudi leader's visit was significant in the context of giving "tremendous substance" to India's strategic partnership with the gulf nation in the context substantially enhancing security cooperation, particularly in maritime security and intelligence sharing.

"The Crown Prince acknowledged that keeping in mind the common threats of terrorism, it is extremely important to work closely to enhance security cooperation between the two countries," said a source.

They said the Saudi side also displayed considerable sensitivities towards India's concerns on terrorism as well as in recognising New Delhi's position on Jammu and Kashmir.

The sources said there was significant change in Saudi Arabia's understanding about the threat of terrorism India was facing.

It is definitely a long way, the sources said, adding they not only condemned the Pulwama terror attack but denounced it and in that context the Crown Prince himself mentioned that we will have a realtime intelligence sharing.

There was a clear recognition that conditions will have to be created for resumption of comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan, they said.

Sharing India's assessment of the Saudi prince's visit here, the sources said one of the key highlights was a strong thrust he has given on Saudi investments in India including the "pledge" to invest USD 100 billion.

Asked about release of the joint statement around 10:30 PM, nearly nine hours after the talks between the two leaders ended, the sources said it was ready by 5 PM but the Saudi side wanted to include in the document the release of Indian prisoners from Saudi jails as requested by Modi.

The Saudi Crown Prince Wednesday ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in his country's jails after talks with Modi.

The Crown Prince indicated that he would like to extend a gesture on prisoners' release. He wanted data about them. Then our envoy got the data from Riyadh. It was passed onto them, the sources claimed, explaining reasons for delay in issuance of the joint statement.

There was speculation that differences over mentioning of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism caused the delay which the sources strongly rejected. PTI MPB ZMN
"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people," Tagle said. The result, he said, had left a "deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve."
(Eds: Updating with Randeep Surjewala's reax to Amit Shah's remarks)

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) In a stinging attack, the Congress cited media reports to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14 for his own "self propagation", and stayed put till the evening despite the Pulwama terror attack in the afternoon that day.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also claimed that the prime minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't have food".

Taking on the BJP, he also accused its president Amit Shah of indulging in "politicisation of terrorism" in his speech in Assam on Sunday.

At a public rally in Assam's Lakhimpur district, Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Meanwhile, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry city on Thursday, Shah hit back at the Congress, saying the opposition party was using the Pulwama terror attack for its "political interests".

"With what face is the Congress raising questions against the Prime Minister? Congress called the Army chief names, it raised doubts over the surgical strikes (on terror havens in Pakistan), it accused the prime minister of trading with soldiers' blood, Congress' (Navjot Singh) Sidhu embraced Pakistan Army chief, the previous Congress president cried when terrorists were killed," Shah said.

Reacting to Shah's remarks later in the day, Surjewala said the BJP president should not forget that it was a Congress government that taught Pakistan lessons in 1947, in 1965 and in 1971.

"Indira Gandhi helped liberate Bangladesh, and \R91,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army in Dhaka (in 1971). In contrast, the Modi-Amit Shah duo has always done cheap politics over terrorism and tried to garner votes...

"Amit Shah needs to learn about patriotism. The kind of politics he is indulging in, he should apologise to the country," he told reporters.

Surjewala also said that he would like to remind the BJP president of an incident in which BJP minister V K Singh had called then Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag a "dacoit" and demanded his removal.

At the press conference, the Congress spokesperson Surjewala also alleged that "in his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten 'raj dharma' (duty of governance)."

Citing reports in some Hindi dailies, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm.

But, the prime minister was "busy" in film shooting and photo shoots till hours after the attack, he claimed.

"The prime minister also knew about it (the attack). Yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar," he claimed.

The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister continued to "enjoy boat rides" with the camera crew and later ensured that there was slogan shouting by BJP people in his favour.

On one hand the country was picking up the "pieces of our martyrs", and on the other hand the prime minister was involved in his "propaganda and publicity", Surjewala claimed.

"Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films," he said.

In a scathing attack on Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that jawans killed in the Pulwama attack are denied the status of martyrs but the PM "gifts" Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani for him to "live happily ever after".

Surjewala said the Congress had shown restrain on the direction of party president Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that "insults martyrs".

"The Congress and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said questions must be asked about the "gross intelligence failure" of this government and on the "priorities of a prime minister who in a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism".

He claimed that the prime minister reached one hour late to receive the mortal remains of CRPF Jawans at the Palam technical airport in Delhi.

Surjewala also hit out at the conduct of BJP leaders in the aftermath of the attack.

He displayed a photograph purportedly showing BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj smiling during the final journey of a slain jawan and cited Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons taking a "selfie" at a soldier's funeral.

Alphons has denied taking the picture himself saying some miscreants circulated his photograph at the CRPF jawan's funeral as a "selfie".

Surjewala asserted that the Congress, when in power, has always taken moral responsibility in such situations. "During 26/11 (2008 Mumbai terror attack), Shivraj Patil had resigned, owning moral responsibility," he said.

During the press conference, Surjewala also showed a purported video of Modi's press conference in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack and advertisements of the BJP in newspapers following that assault to allege "politicisation of terrorism". PTI ASK NSD

NSD
Jaipur, Feb 21 (PTI) The Election Commission has appointed Rajasthan's chief electoral officer Anand Kumar and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart VLK Rao as international election observers for the parliamentary polls in the eastern European country of Moldova.

Moldova had requested the Election Commission of India for sending international observers and the poll panel appointed the two officers, a statement said.

The parliamentary elections in Moldova will be held on Sunday. PTI SDA SOM

SOM
Kushwaha slams Sushil Modi for criticising Tejashwi over

bungalow

Patna, Feb 21 (PTI) Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief

Upendra Kushwaha Thursday slammed Bihar Deputy Chief Minister

Sushil Kumar Modi for accusing RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav of

having splurged money on decorating the government bungalow he

vacated recently.

Kushwaha, a former Union minister also questioned why

was the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister now in possession of the

same "7 star" premises if he felt aversion to the alleged

opulence of his predecessor.

In a statement issued here, Kushwaha alleged that

leaders of the BJP were raising "an irrelevant matter" to

divert public attention from "real issues like health,

education and agrarian distress".

He challenged the ruling NDA in the state to make

public the expenditure that has been made on the official

residence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ever since he assumed

power in 2005.

Yadav, who became the Deputy CM in November, 2015 lost

the post in July 2017 after Kumar left the Grand Alliance and

returned to the NDA.

He, however continued to occupy 5, Deshratna Marg

Bungalow adjacent to the CMs residence 1, Anne Marg despite

the state governments directions to vacate.

Yadav, who is now the leader of the opposition in the

state assembly has been allotted the 1, Polo Road bungalow

previously occupied by Modi, vacated last week the Deshratna

Marg Bungalow after his petition challenging the state

governments order was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Sushil Modi, who entered the new premises two days

ago, had taken along a posse of journalists before whom he

alleged that public money had been splurged by the young RJD

leader for equipping his official residence with "7 star

facilities".

Kushwaha, who left the NDA in December last year and

joined the Grand Alliance subsequently, also said that Yadav

must be appreciated for his "honesty" as he "did not take away

even a spoon while vacating the bungalow".

He also pointed out that having been born to Lalu

Prasad and Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers of Bihar,

Yadav "had always lived in air-conditioned houses and he has

been honest enough to admit the same in public, unlike BJP

leaders who get ACs installed for their cattle but pretend to

be living simple lives." PTI NAC

RG RG
Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) Following are PTI's top stories

from the eastern region at 9 pm.

STORIES ON THE WIRE:

CAL 4 PULWAMA-VHP

Mahagathbandhan leaders don't want stern action

against Pak: VHP

Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain

Thursday claimed that the entire country wants revenge against

the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack but leaders of

'Mahagathbandhan' don't want "stern action" against Pakistan.

CAL 5 WB-VHP-TMC

Bengal government harbouring anti-nationals: VHP

leader

Kolkata: Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain accused the

TMC government in West Bengal on Thursday of harbouring

anti-national elements and wondered whether being a

nationalist was a crime in the state.

CAL 6 OD-LD PM-KISAN

After initial reluctance, Odisha says it will be part

of PM-Kisan yojna

Bhubaneswar: Shedding its initial hesitation, the

Odisha government Thursday decided to be part of the Pradhan

Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme and extend all support for

its implementation in the state, a top official said.

CAL 7 BH-NITISH-ARTICLE 370

Cannot even think of scrapping Article 370: Nitish

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday

strongly opposed the demand for abrogating Article 370, amid

the clamour for doing away with the special provision granting

autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the Pulwama

terror attack.

CAL 8 WB-SHIP-CAPSIZE

Bangladeshi cargo ship capsizes in Hooghly river, all

crew members rescued

DiamondHarbour: A Bangladeshi cargo ship capsized in

the Hooghly river in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district

Thursday but all eight crew members, including an Indian, were

rescued by local fishermen, police said.

CAL 9 OD-LD FARMERS

Odisha farmers' strike hits life

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Thursday witnessed a dawn-to-dusk

strike called by a leading farmers' body and backed by the

Congress as well the BJP to protest the state government's

alleged lack of concern towards their demands.

CAL 10 JH-COURT-SOREN

J'khand HC asks Shibu Soren to pay Rs 2,500 to

petitioner challenging his win from Dumka LS seat

Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court Thursday asked Shibu

Soren to pay Rs 2,500 to Sunil Soren, who filed a petition

challenging the JMM president's election from Dumka in the

2014 Lok Sabha polls.

LGC 1 WB-COURT-VISVA BHARATI

Ex-VC, registrar, teacher of Visva Bharati sentenced

to jail in forgery case

Bolpur: A court here Thursday sentenced former

vice-chancellor of Visva Bharati univeristy Dilip Kumar Sinha,

ex-registrar Dilip Mukhopadhaya and former teacher Mukti Dev

to five years imprisonment in a forgery and conspiracy case.

PTI

RG RG
Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) Senior VHP leader Surendra Jain accused the TMC government in West Bengal on Thursday of harbouring anti-national elements and wondered whether being a nationalist was a crime in the state.

The international joint general secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) alleged that under the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule, Bengal had become a safe haven for jihadis, Rohingya migrants and anti-national elements, while Hindus were facing persecution.

"The TMC government is giving protection to anti-nationals and attacking those who are patriots. If we wave the national flag and raise slogans in favour of Mother India, is it a crime in Bengal?," he asked.

Claiming that VHP workers were being arrested by the police in the state, Jain said, "We do not need permission from the TMC government to wave the national flag, it is our constitutional right."

Commenting on Wednesday's attack on an anti-war march taken out by a human rights organisation in the city, he said, "What do you except a patriot to do when you see some people are supporting terrorists and Pakistan."

"The entire country wants revenge against the perpetrators of terror attacks on our jawans. When the country is united, some people are taking out rallies, saying they want peace. So, what will the common people do? They will attack those anti-nationals," the VHP leader said.

The rights body -- Association for Protection of Democratic Rights -- had alleged that the BJP, the VHP and the RSS were behind the attack. The charge has been denied by all the three organisations.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the attack and asked the police to take action.

TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee dismissed Jain's allegations as baseless and said outfits like the VHP were trying to trigger communal polarisation in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Jain announced a number of programmes the VHP would take up in West Bengal in the months to come, including during Shivratri on March 6.

"On Shivratri, the VHP cadre will throng various Shiva temples across the country and offer water to the deity with a prayer for a Ram temple in Ayodhya," he said.

The VHP leader criticised opposition leaders for opposing a Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, saying these "leaders of the mahagathbandhan (the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties) want to create hurdles in the path of the Ram temple as they want to use it for political purpose. For us, it is a matter of faith". PTI PNT KK RC
Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday welcomed the move allowing paramilitary personnel deployed in Kashmir to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave but said it came when the current government had reached its "expiry date".

Without naming the BJP government, she accused it of ignoring intelligence inputs of the Home Ministry.

"It's better late than never. There was an intelligence input and the Home Ministry asked for permission for air lifting. That time they (Centre) did not allow... they did not care... If the doctor comes after the death then it will not help," Banerjee told reporters.

"When the expiry date is over and people have been killed and now you are taking decision," she claimed.

Banerjee accused the Centre of "total failure" in containing the mishap though there was an intelligence input and alleged it was "doing politics".

"They are a total failure. They are misusing the situation. When our jawans are getting killed, we are doing politics," she said.

Personnel of the paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley for counter-terror operations have been entitled by the government on Thursday to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

This includes, the order said, their journey for joining duty, transfer, tour or going on leave. Till now, officers in the rank of Inspectors and above were given this air travel facility.

As many as 65,000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in the state as part of 65 battalions apart from units of the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Security Guard present in the Kashmir valley for rendering a variety of roles in the internal security grid. PTI SCH RG AAR
Sitharaman wants defence PSUs to target global markets

(Eds: adding quotes)

Panaji, Feb 21 (PTI) Defence Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman Thursday asked public sector defence firms to aim

at selling their products to other countries also and not rely

only on the "captive market" of the Indian armed forces.

She was addressing a gathering after launching

off-shore patrol vessel `Sachet' of the Coast Guard at Goa

Shipyard Limited, a PSU, in Vasco.

"I want every defence public sector undertaking to

look at themselves as manufacturers of international class,

not just depend on your captive market which is the defence

forces, or the Coast Guard...," she said.

"You have a market everywhere," the minister added.

When the Indian defence or commerce minister goes

abroad, foreign countries show immense interest in buying from

India things such as off-shore patrol vessels and speed-boats

for guarding their coasts, she said.

Several South East Asian countries are interested in

buying from India defence products which they would have

otherwise procured from western firms, Sitharaman said.

The Union government will ensure that defence firms

get their due orders so that "so that the workforce is

completely busy," the minister said.

"But I also want the management, together with expert

workforces, to devise a plan whereby you will work very

closely with the Ministry of Commerce to make sure that you

capture those (outside) markets which are appreciative of your

work," she added.

"If they are appreciative of your work, half the

bridge is already crossed," the defence minister said.

"Be the leader. Tell us what you want from the

ministry. Your workers deserve more from you rather than every

now and then coming and pleading with the Ministry of

Defence," she added.

PSU managements "should have self-confidence that I

know this market which exists in X country or Y country, can

the government of India help us get order from there," she

said.

"I request the management to say that we are capable

of competing globally, we want those markets, help us to do

that," Sitharaman added.

She also spoke about private sector's role in India's

defence purchases.

"Armed forces are buying...which is required for their

operational capabilities, therefore there's no grudge about

buying, but can the buy be serviced by both private and public

sector is a very important question," she said.

"That is where the PM (prime minister Narendra Modi)

is inviting everybody to make in India (which) has enthused

and encouraged Indian investors, Indian manufacturers to get

into private sector manufacturing abilities which will cater

to India's defence forces and their requirements," she said.

Patrol vessel Sachet is part of a project under which

a total of five such vessels would be built for the Coast

Guard. The project was inaugurated by Modi in November 2016.

Sachet will be deployed for policing the Indian

Exclusive Economic Zone. It is 105 metres long and has a

displacement of 2,350 tonnes at full load. The ship, with an

endurance of 600 nautical miles, will have a crew of 133

including 14 officers. PTI RPS KRK VT

VT VT
He will next be seen in The Big Bull
LS polls: BJP may drop five sitting MPs in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) The BJP, which has inked a pre-

poll alliance with the Shiv Sena, is likely to replace its

five sitting MPs in Maharashtra in the upcoming Lok Sabha

elections due to various reasons, including their performance,

sources in the party said Thursday.

As for the Sena, its MP Anandrao Adsul may not be able

to contest the upcoming elections due to his health condition,

sources said.

"The BJP, which currently has 22 Lok Sabha members in

Maharashtra, is set to bring in maximum changes as at least

five sitting MPs are unlikely to get another chance in the

2019 general elections," a senior party functionary said.

Some of the reasons for changing the sitting MPs

include their shortcomings, their performance in Parliament as

well as during the various events organised by the party in

the last five years, the BJP leader said.

"Kirit Somaiya (Mumbai North East), Anil Shirole

(Pune), Sharad Bansode (Solapur), Sunil Gaikwad (Latur) and

Dilip Gandhi (Ahmednagar) are the five sitting Lok Sabha MPs,

who are likely to be replaced," the party leader added.

Somaiya has been facing a stiff opposition from the

Shiv Sena for his continued tirade against party president

Uddhav Thackeray and his family, the BJP functionary said.

Sena workers have already opposed the candidature of

Somaiya and also warned of voting against him if he is

renominated, he said.

"The other (four) MPs are mostly facing anti-

incumbency as despite the BJP getting a strong mandate (in

2014), their presence was not felt in their respective

constituencies," another BJP leader said.

Maharashtra accounts for the second highest Lok Sabha

seats - 48 - after Uttar Pradesh, which has 80.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two saffron parties

along with their allies had won 42 of the 48 seats in

Maharashtra. The BJP had bagged 23 seats, while its ally Shiv

Sena had emerged victorious in 18 constituencies. The BJP

later lost a Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll.

Asked about the benefits of joining hands with the

Sena, which has been constantly criticising the BJP and its

central leadership, the BJP office-bearer said, "Both the

parties have their dedicated cadres, which means those voters

will always vote for the party nominated candidates."

"The alliance also means both the parties will get

each others' votes. We have secured at least 70,000 to

1,20,000 votes in each constituency at present because of this

alliance.

"These are dedicated party voters. Even if we change

the sitting candidates, these people will still vote for the

party. This way, the alliance has brought some comfort to both

the parties," the official said.

Adsul, the Lok Sabha MP from Amravati, is likely to be

replaced because of health reasons.

"If Anandrao personally communicates to the Sena

leadership his inability to contest the elections, the

available option before the party would be someone from his

family. If he is to be replaced, the party may field someone

from his family," a Sena leader said.

The opposition Congress had won just two Lok Sabha

seats in 2014 - Nanded (Ashok Chavan) and Hingoli (Rajiv

Satav).

This time, Chavan's wife Ameeta, the MLA from Bhokar

constituency in Nanded, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha

polls from her husband's seat, party sources said.

Party workers from Nanded had earlier urged Chavan, a

former chief minister, to contest the Assembly elections

scheduled later this year instead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the Maharashtra Congress confirmed that

Satav may be given another chance this year.

The NCP, which had won four seats, is also going to

replace a few of the MPs.

Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, the MP from Madha constituency

in Solapur district, will make way for NCP chief Sharad Pawar,

who has decided to contest the election from there.

It is also not certain whether NCP MP Dhananjay

Mahadik, who represents the Kolhapur seat, will be contesting

the election on the party's ticket as there are reports he may

join the BJP.

"He has been in touch with BJP leader Chandrakant

Patil ever since he got elected to the Lok Sabha. With BJP-

Sena alliance (now in place), he can easily win the seat if he

joins the BJP or the Sena," a BJP leader from Kolhapur said.

PTI ND NP

RSY RSY
Geneva, Feb 21 (PTI) China and the US may be the largest producers of coal power, but power plants in India take the highest toll in the world when it comes to health, a global study claims.

Coal-fired power plants produce more than just carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, said researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Coal burning also releases particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury -- thus damaging the health of many people around the world, they said.

To estimate where action is most urgently required, the researchers modelled and calculated the undesired side effects of coal power for each of the 7,861 power plant units in the world.

The results, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, show that China and the US are the two largest producers of coal power, but power plants in India take the highest toll in the world when it comes to health.

Central Europe, North America and China all have modern power plants, but Eastern Europe, Russia and India still have many older power plants equipped with insufficient flue gas treatment, said Stefanie Hellweg from ETH Zurich's Institute of Environmental Engineering, who led the study.

As a result, these power plants only remove a fraction of the pollutants -- while also often burning coal of inferior quality.

"More than half of the health effects can be traced back to just one-tenth of the power plants. These power plants should be upgraded or shut down as quickly as possible," said Christopher Oberschelp, the lead author of the study.

The global picture of coal power production shows that the gap between privileged and disadvantaged regions is widening. This is happening for two reasons.

Firstly, wealthy countries -- such as in Europe -- import high-quality coal with a high calorific value and low emissions of harmful sulphur dioxide.

The poorer coal-exporting countries such as Indonesia, Colombia and South Africa are left with low-quality coal, which they often burn in outdated power plants without modern flue gas treatment to remove the sulphur dioxide.

"In Europe, we contribute to global warming with our own power plants, which has a global impact. However, the local health damage caused by particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide occurs mainly in Asia, where coal power is used to manufacture a large proportion of our consumer products," said Oberschelp.

"Global coal resources will last for several hundred years, so the harmful emissions need to be limited politically. It is particularly important to leave coal that is high in mercury and sulphur content in the ground," said Oberschelp.

Researchers said reducing the negative health effects of coal power generation should be a global priority.

"But further industrialisation, especially in China and India, poses the risk of aggravating the situation instead," they said.

The initial investment costs for the construction of a coal power plant are high, but the subsequent operating costs are low. Power plant operators thus have an economic interest in keeping their plants running for a long time, according to researchers.

"The best option is therefore to not build any new coal power plants. From a health and environment perspective, we should move away from coal and towards natural gas -- and in the long term, towards renewable energy sources," said Oberschelp. PTI SAR

SAR
They lived without household heat for more than a year in their tidy brick home not far from bustling Route 17. Their financial problems werent of their own making  it started when Danny suffered a stroke  but they had to deal with it.
The Hague, Feb 21 (PTI) Pakistan on Thursday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to "dismiss or declare inadmissible" India's claim for relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on a death row in the country.

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India on Wednesday questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the top UN court to annul Jadhav's death sentence, which is based on an "extracted confession".

Making the final submission in the ICJ on the last day of the hearing, Pakistan's counsel Khawar Qureshi said, "India's claim for relief must be dismissed or declared inadmissible."

"India's claim for relief (in the Jadhav case) remains as far fetched now as it was then (May 8, 2017)," he told the judges in his concluding remarks.

Closing the arguments, Pakistan's Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan said, "India seeks relief which they cannot claim from this court."

Asserting that the military court in Pakistan works according to the Constitution, he asked the ICJ to "dismiss India's request" in the case.

Khan also assured the court that the process of judicial review in Pakistan was robust and Jadhav can avail it if he chooses.

"Jadhav has been charged with terrorism for which an FIR has been registered with the police that is a civilian agency. The military courts have sufficient proof of espionage and the said military court on the available evidence and the judicial confession proceeded to convict him despite he being given the option of going for a judicial review, he has refused to do so," Khan told the court.

He said India claims consular access, "surely (it) was not allowed for good reason in terms of the agreement of 2008, specially for the reason that commander Jadhav being involved in espionage."

Khan also raked up the Kashmir issue and said Pakistan was awaiting India's response on Samjhauta train blast case and has sought evidence on his country's role in the Pulwama terror attack.

After his submission, ICJ top judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf adjourned the hearing and said a date for the judgement would be announced later.

On Wednesday, Harish Salve, who was representing India in the case, said that the time has come for the ICJ to make Article 36 a potent weapon for protecting human rights.

On Pakistan's military courts, he said the International Commission of Jurists and European Parliament have criticised their functioning and added that anything diluting provisions of Vienna Convention must fail.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav.

The four-day hearing in the Jadhav case opened Monday amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. PTI CPS ZH AKJ ZH

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The Hague, Feb 21 (PTI) The ad-hoc judge for Pakistan in the International Court of Justice, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, on Thursday joined the proceedings in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, days after suffering a cardiac attack.

Jillani made the solemn pledge as the ad-hoc judge, International Court of Justice (ICJ) top judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.

He joined the proceedings ahead of the beginning of the hearing on the fourth day during which Pakistan will submit its final arguments.

Pakistan, while presenting its case on Tuesday, asked the ICJ to adjourn the case, citing his illness. It also submitted a request for his replacement.

However on Wednesday, the ICJ said that it has not received any evidence that the ad-hoc judge for Pakistan was unable or unwilling to continue to exercise his duties.

Jadhav, 48, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India moved the ICJ in May 2017 for the "egregious violation" of the provisions of the Vienna Convention by Pakistan by repeatedly denying New Delhi consular access to Jadhav. PTI CPS ZH AKJ CPS
Vatican City, Feb 21 (AFP) Pope Francis on Thursday opened a landmark Vatican summit on fighting child sex abuse, calling for "concrete measures" and handing top Catholic bishops a roadmap to tackling paedophilia in the church.

"The holy people of God looks to us, and expects from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to be undertaken. We need to be concrete," he said as the summit opened, the first of its kind.

"Hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice," he said as the three-and-a-half day meeting began.

Francis handed out a 21-point list of "guidelines" which included suggestions such as drawing up mandatory codes of conduct for priests, training people to spot abuse and informing police.

Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the summit's organisers, described the proposals as "a roadmap for the future development of policy" which "governs all aspects of getting it right".

The ongoing scandal has again escalated into a crisis which has touched many countries across the globe, with recent cases affecting Chile, Germany and the US.

The 82-year-old pontiff hopes to raise awareness about abuse through prayers, speeches, working groups and testimonies from victims.

The summit, he said, was a moment to "turn this evil into an opportunity for awareness and purification" and "heal the grave wounds that the scandal of paedophilia has caused, both in the little ones and in believers".

Those gathered heard from unnamed abuse survivors, one of whom told them: "You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed -- in some cases -- into murderers of the soul, into murderers of the faith".

Another, a woman, described the horrors of being forced to undergo three abortions after being raped by a priest.

The summit aims to educate 114 top bishops who will then return home with clear ideas on how to spot and deal with abuse and paedophilia.

"We humbly and sorrowfully admit that wounds have been inflicted by us bishops on the victims and in fact the entire body of Christ," Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told the assembly.

"Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve," he said.

The scale of the task has been further complicated by the fact that some churches, in Asia and Africa in particular, deny the problem exists.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of the pope's trusted allies in the United States and one of the summit's four organisers, said he hoped people "see this as a turning point".

The US Catholic Church is undergoing one of the worst crises in its history following last week's defrocking of a former cardinal -- American Theodore McCarrick -- for sexually abusing a teenager 50 years ago.

Three themes -- responsibility, accountability and transparency -- form the backbone of the summit and will provide its participants with the keys to ensuring child safety, he said.

Scicluna had said ahead of the meet that reforms in the pipeline would see canon law "tweaked".

But the suggestion that Church laws only need fine-tuning has angered many, including Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a public database that documents cases of proven or suspected sex crimes by clerics.

"Canon law has to be changed: not tweaked, not modified, but fundamentally changed, so that it stops prioritising the priesthood... over the lives of children, and vulnerable adults who are sexually assaulted by them," she said.

Scicluna insisted that summoning Church leaders from across the globe to Rome "is, in itself, a very important message".

He spent 10 years as the Vatican's top prosecutor of paedophilia cases and was picked by Francis to travel to Chile last year to hear from victims whose voices had previously been silenced by an internal Church cover-up.

Scicluna has called for an end to the code of silence and culture of denial within the beleaguered centuries-old institution.

"We have to face facts because only the truth of the matter, and confronting the facts, will make us free," he added. (AFP) SCY

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Abuja, Feb 21 (AFP) Nigeria's rescheduled presidential and parliamentary elections will take place this weekend, the electoral commission said on Thursday, adding there would be not be a second delay.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week postponement last Saturday, just hours before polls were due to open, triggering widespread anger.

Logistical issues in the delivery of ballot papers and election material were blamed, leading to a scramble to be ready in time for the new date.

In an update on preparations, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu told a news conference in the capital, Abuja, that the panel was "fully on course" for voting this weekend.

Election materials had already been delivered to 19 out of Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, he said.

All states bar one would have received them by the end of the day, he added.

"I want to reassure you that elections will hold on Saturday," Yakubu told reporters.

"There won't be another postponement. The commission does not envisage there will be a postponement of the election scheduled for 9th March."

President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term of office in Saturday's election, at which just over 84 million people are registered to vote.

Nigeria's main political parties have accused the other of conspiring with INEC to rig the result, with competing claims of sabotage.

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of seeking to use dead voters, foreigners and manipulating the electoral roll.

INEC itself denies any political interference. "There is no feeling in the commission of sabotage," said Yakubu.

All parties and candidates have signed an agreement to conduct peaceful elections and to respect the vote but there has been a marked change in tone since the postponement.

The PDP in particular has opposed Buhari's call for the police and military to be "ruthless" with vote-riggers and ballot-snatchers.

Buhari and the APC said the move was justified to curb election violence, in a move backed by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.

The PDP said that was a "recipe for crisis". The party's candidate, Atiku Abubakar, likened Buhari's order to "the era of dictatorship and military rule".

INEC's Yakubu acknowledged the issue and said the police were the main security agency with responsibility for election security.

But he said the military could be called in at the request of the police. (AFP) SCY
Seoul, Feb 21 (PTI) South Korean President Moon Jae-in Thursday voiced hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can usher in peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond, as US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet next week in Vietnam to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Moon made the remarks while welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a ceremony to unveil a bust of Mahatma Gandhi which will be put on permanent display at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

President Moon praised Gandhi, saying his greatness lies in the fact that he walked the path of peace despite the violence or threats against him or his people.

Noting that his country has also experienced colonial rule, the South Korean president insisted the countries must work together to help establish peace and ensure joint prosperity in the region.

"I sincerely hope that the great spirit of Mahatma Gandhi can be realised into peace and prosperity in Asia, going beyond the Korean Peninsula," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted Moon as saying.

"This year is also a meaningful year to South Korea," Moon told the ceremony, noting the year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the country's provisional government under Japan's colonial rule that lasted 36 years from 1910-45.

"Gandhi's teachings that said 'Be the change you wish to see,' and 'There is no way to peace, there is only peace,' specially touch my heart. With the unveiling of his statue today, Gandhi's spirits will forever be in the heart of South Koreans," he added.

Moon on Wednesday thanked India for supporting South Korea's efforts to denuclearise North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"If permanent peace is established on the Peninsula, this will greatly contribute to peace and prosperity all throughout Asia. I am looking forward to India's unwavering support as it has played a significant role in the global peace movement," he was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

President Trump announced during his State of the Union address on February 5 that his second summit with Kim would take place February 27 and 28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Singapore hosted the first Trump-Kim summit in June last year when they pledged to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

In Singapore, Trump and Kim signed a vague agreement that committed the two countries to continue working toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula -- but with no explicit obligation by Pyongyang to actually disarm.

North Korea has since claimed it destroyed missile engine and nuclear test sites, but it has not let the international inspectors verify that.

Prime Minister Modi arrived here earlier in the day on a two-day state visit. He will hold bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon on Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss the issue of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, ahead of the Trump-Kim summit. PTI AKJ AKJ
Seoul, Feb 21 (PTI) Mahatma Gandhi's lifestyle was a crucial lesson for the world facing the daunting challenge of global warming and climate change as he lived such a life that he did not leave any carbon footprint, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday.

Unveiling a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Modi said in the 20th Century, Mahatma Gandhi was "perhaps the mankind's biggest gift".

"In the last century through his personality, through his life and values, Mahatma Gandhi showed us what the future will be. In fact he used to say my life is my lesson," said the prime minister, who arrived here on Thursday on two-day visit.

"Mahatma Gandhi used to say the God and nature have given everything to fulfil a human being's need but not the greed. The natural resources are not enough if we want to satisfy our greed. He used to say our life should be need based and not greed based," Modi said.

He said that terrorism and climate change are two biggest challenges mankind is facing and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings and values can help the world address both the pressing issues.

"During Mahatma Gandhi's lifetime there was no discussion about climate change and environment, but the statesman led such a life that he did not leave any carbon footprint. He showed what living in harmony with nature is. He showed that it is important to leave a clean and green planet for the future generations."

"Gandhi used to say we don't have the right to take away the natural resources that belong to the future generations. We should leave a better world for them so that they could breath clean air, get clean water," the prime minister said.

Modi is visiting South Korea on the invitation of President Moon Jae-in. This is his second visit to the Republic of Korea since 2015 and second summit meeting with President Moon Jae-in.

After unveiling Mahatma Gandhi's bust, the prime minister met the mayor of South Korean city Gimhae and gifted him a Bodhi tree sapling as a mark of close ties between the two countries.

An agreement was signed in 2000 by the two countries to develop Ayodhya and Gimhae as sister cities, following which a memorial was constructed in Ayodhya which is visited by a large number of tourists from South Korea every year.

People in South Korea believe that 2,000 years ago, an Ayodhya princess had married Korean King Kim Suro. At present, their descendants are members of the Crock Clan.

Members of India-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group also called on the prime minister and discussed the role of Parliament in improving bilateral relations. PTI PMS AKJ PMS

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Seoul, Feb 21 (PTI) Former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday said he was inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and his bust, unveiled at the prestigious Yonsei University here, will serve as the source of inspiration for the people of South Korea.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to strengthen India's strategic ties with South Korea, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the prestigious Yonsei University here.

"It (Mahatma Gandhi's bust) is the most invaluable gift to the Korean people and the university students," Ban said, adding that from this day onwards, it will serve as the source of inspiration for common people.

He said he started his diplomatic career from India in 1972 and was inspired by the principles of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Gandhi's seven deadly sins, which are: Politics without principle, Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice. It is most inspiring even for all of us," the former UN Secretary General said.

Ban was the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. He held office from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016. He was unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly for a second mandate in June 2011.

He said he felt honoured to be invited to serve as a member of international advisors to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by the Indian Prime Minister.

"Indian government or India had decided to place the bust of this great figure on the campus of Yonsei University," he added.

Ban said as UN Secretary General, he found Prime Minister Modi as one of the "strongest and staunchest" supporter of the United Nation, world peace, human rights, climate change and overall sustainable development. PTI SMJ AKJ

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Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) Taimur Ali Khan is already a household name thanks to the constant media attention on the two-year-old but mother Kareena Kapoor Khan says the scrutiny is sometimes too much.

The actor said while she and husband Saif Ali Khan don't believe in stopping the paparazzi from clicking pictures of their son, the media should be a little more responsible.

When asked how does she look at the massive popularity of Taimur, Kareena told PTI, "We view it as something socially irresponsible because we have been such good parents, we haven't shied away, we never hid Taimur's face. In Hollywood, they don't allow children's faces to come (publish). But because Saif and I took the modern approach, we can't do that."

The 38-year-old actor said both Saif and her don't want to to cover Taimur's face when they are out as it will "probably scar him more."

"He would think 'what is happening?' I don't want him to grow up in that fear. I want him to grow up and fly, that's what parents want their children to do. I can't keep him away."

Kareena said just a "little bit more responsibility" should be there because he is a child.

"That would be nice from the media. I have never stopped them. But the constant attention, scrutiny (isn't good). Hopefully he's going to be a cool kid like his parents, be more interested in music and sports. That's what we want," she said on the sidelines of an event where she was announced as the ambassador for 'Swasth Immunised India' - a nationwide vaccination and immunisation campaign.

Kareena said she has become a lot more responsible after becoming a mother and feels her life now revolves around Taimur.

"It's important for mothers to have the knowledge of vaccination, they have to get the child immunised. It's important for mothers to have more knowledge because for a newborn infant, they are taking that responsibility.

"That's why my life is in Taimur's hands because everything's about him. I hope people understand that and take it in a positive way," she added. PTI JUR BK

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MUMBAI, February 20, 2019/PRNewswire/ --

Godrej Interio, India's leading furniture solutions brand, announced today the launch of its exclusive new research study: 'Harness the Power of Social Capital' that reveals the challenges and solutions for the modern day workspaces.







(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/772546/GodrejInterioLogo.jpg )



Industry experts like Ajith Nair, Director, Aon Hewitt and Ravi Sarangan, Executive Director, Edifice Architects launched the report which encapsulates views of over 100 organisations in India. The study was launched at Godrej Interio's brand new Social Office Experience Zone center at Fort, Mumbai.



The study revealed how the transforming nature of work and a younger workforce are altering workplaces, from pure 'work hubs' into 'social hubs'. It found the current Indian workforce, of which 46% are millennials, prefer three types of workplaces - to focus, relax and collaborate.



Anil Mathur, Chief Operating Officer, Godrej Interio, said, "Godrej Interio research study found that about 29% of Indian workforce felt the need to have collaborative space, and 15% preferred to have a zone that would help them relax and rejuvenate in the office. About 61% of them at the same time also needed a place to concentrate without distractions when required. Of these 56% said that their office lacked such spaces currently. Basis these insights, we developed the concept of Social Office. The workplace must align with the expectations of the employees, the way today's modern workers function is very different, and the workplace must provide them the enabling environment they need to be engaged. Allowing space for the individual aspirations of these employees will help them be highly productive."



He added, "The sedentary nature of work, as well as the increasing number of hours spent in the workplace, is causing adverse effects on employee health. The Social Office understands the direct link between employee health and productivity and creates an environment that supports the health and well-being of the employees."



The beauty of the Social Office lies in its variety. The Social Office offers a right balance of 'ME' and 'WE' spaces - different types of work environments that employees can use as they please, to facilitate their work. The Social Office not only encourages collaboration and brainstorming but also counterbalances that by facilitating private meeting areas and quiet spaces designed for privacy and a distinct lack of distraction, to suit the employees looking for a space to do intense, focused work.



Based on the changing consumer needs and workstyles, Social office provides a space that not only gives a productive, enjoyable work life, it also provides an opportunity to socialize with colleagues during and after work.



Sameer Joshi, Associate Vice President, Marketing (B2B), Godrej Interio, said, "We expect the Social Office furniture to attract traction in the metros such as Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Delhi NCR owing to the presence of business hubs. The market for the same is nascent, and it is expected to be at Rs. 200 Cr. However, it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12%. We expect organizations to soon pick up the trend of Social office in the years to come. It will be a growth driver for us for the overall turnover of 1500 Cr in 19-20 with an expected growth rate of 20% year on year."



The experience centre spread across 3,500 sq ft area at the iconic Godrej Bhavan in Fort, Mumbai has been created to give a first-hand experience of the social workspace.



About Godrej Interio:



Godrej Interio (GI) is India's leading furniture brand in both home and institutional segments with a strong commitment to sustainability and centres of excellence in design, manufacturing and retail.



Led by the largest in-house design team in the country in the furniture category and awarded with 33 India Design Mark Awards till date, GI aims to transform spaces with its thoughtfully designed furniture to create brighter homes and offices with products that have the highest design quotient in aesthetics, functionality and technology. Godrej Interio has 7 manufacturing facilities situated at Mumbai, Haridwar, Shirwal, and Bhagwanpur.



For more details, please visit: http://www.godrejinterio.com.



Source: Godrej Interio PWR

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Mumbai, Maharashtra, India  Business Wire India

Capgemini today announced Airbus as the winner of the NASSCOM-Capgemini Global Leadership Award for Innovation at the NASSCOM Technology & Leadership Forum 2019, held at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.



The award was presented to Luc Hennekens, CIO, Airbus by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, during the Global Leadership Awards on February 20, 2019. Several members from Capgemini Group leadership including Thierry Delaporte, Chief Operating Officer and member of the Group Executive Board, Capgemini; Ashwin Yardi, CEO, Capgemini in India and member of the Group Executive Committee, and Patrice Roy, Global Account Executive for the Airbus account at Capgemini, attended the awards evening.



The NASSCOM-Capgemini Global Leadership Award for Innovation honours the spirit of innovation exhibited by individual organizations that leverage the power of technology to transform their businesses.



At Capgemini, we are driven by our focus on enabling our clients sustained growth through innovation and we understand the challenges businesses face while undertaking their digital transformation journey. It is with great pride that we collaborate with Airbus and support the digital transformation journey of the company, said Thierry Delaporte, Capgemini.



About Capgemini



A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business value of technology comes from and through people. It is a multicultural company of over 200,000 team members in more than 40 countries. The Group reported 2018 global revenues of EUR 13.2 billion.



Capgemini in India comprises over 106,000 team members working across 12 locations Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. Learn more about Capgemini in India at www.capgemini.com/in-en.



Visit us at www.capgemini.com. People matter, results count. PWR

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I think it went very well, and we got a lot of input from the community, he said of the meeting attended by about 125. I was just hoping for as much input as we could get  Were just gathering the information that came out. Everybodys weighing in, and were just interpreting it to see where we go from here.
(Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PR Newswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.)

MUMBAI, February 21, 2019/PRNewswire/ --

Millwood Kane, a 25-year old investment consulting firm, is now an official partner of Cyprus's Flagship development - Ayia Napa Marina, a 300 million-euro project located in Ayia Napa, a Mediterranean resort town on the southeast coast of Cyprus

Millwood Kane International (MKI) an investment consulting firm with real estate at its core announced its partnership with Ayia Napa Marina, Cyprus's flagship development to promote the brand in the Indian market. With a great history of working with partners to deliver strong returns on their real estate investments, Millwood Kane International brings 25 years of knowledge and insight into various industries and markets enabling clients to harness lucrative and creative cross-border opportunities across Europe, Africa and Middle East using Cyprus as a hub.







(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/824981/HarrisKoureasNish_Bhatt.jpg )



A 300 million-euro project, Ayia Napa Marina aims to tap into the niche Indian audience looking for attractive investment options along with luxurious lifestyle offerings. Positioned as an ultimate residential yachting destination, Ayia Napa Marina offers an unparalleled lifestyle with the finest nightlife, recreational and shopping experiences, customised at the discerning few who appreciate and desire for the perfect intersection of nature, leisurely comfort, and community living.



Strategically located in the eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - Cyprus is a safe haven blessed by beautiful nature, year-round sunshine, modern infrastructure, a high standard of living and a genuine culture of warmth and hospitality. Fully compliant with EU laws and regulations, Cyprus's simple and transparent tax system is one of the most attractive in Europe. Its modern legal system is widely recognized as being effective and business-friendly and the destination offers a modern, competitive and simple business environment coupled with a high quality of life, making it an ideal place for both visitors and investors. According to a research report by Knight Frank, 20% of the Indian buyer preference is for a villa, since countries such as Cyprus and Sri Lanka are seen more as second home options and holiday destinations. As investment is the prime reason for Indian buyers, a shift in lifestyle and the option to gain permanent residency or citizenship are other factors that attract resident Indian buyers to foreign shores like Cyprus.



Speaking on the partnership, Nish Bhatt, CEO, Millwood Kane International, said, "India is a huge and potential market for us. Indian HNI's are heavily investing in real estate in other countries and the numbers have grown by 166% in the last 10 years.Almost 50% of all India's UHNWI* & HNI have foreign real estate in their portfolios, which is the highest in the world. Which makes this partnership very meaningful for us as we wish to deliver to our Indian clients the most exclusive options to accommodate their investment decisions. We are trusted by our clients to help them handpick the best cross border investments and with Ayia Napa Marina, we wish to bring Indians one of the most highly sought maritime, commercial and residential developments on the island."



Harris Koureas, Deputy CEO of Ayia Napa Marina Cyprus said, "We are extremely happy to be introducing our most modern integrated luxury marina development today in the Indian market. Cyprus makes for an ideal investment destination for Indians seeking high yield returns, great infrastructure and quality of living. With its uniquely distinct positioning, Ayia Napa Marina marries luxury living with beauty of nature with breath-taking panoramic views of the Mediterranean, the marina, spectacular beaches and a quintessential modern lifestyle. We are very positive to see a high interest level in the Indian market for our very first venture and look forward to revealing the ANM luxury villas and the East Tower today bundled with a limited incentive offer."



About Millwood Kane International



Millwood Kane International has successfully helped individuals and companies grow their wealth, build their legacy and preserve their investments for future generations. Millwood Kane International is an investment consulting firm with real estate at its core. We are committed to delivering strong returns, providing enhanced value through efficiencies that are achieved through a holistic and tailored approach. With in-depth knowledge, a diverse culture and insights into various industries and markets, our clients benefit from unique and creative crossborder opportunities. Millwood Kane International has cultivated global partners and resources allowing individuals and corporations a route to Europe, Africa and the Middle East through using Cyprus as a hub, reaping the benefits of a more efficient tax environment, whilst enjoying one of the best lifestyles in the world.



About Ayia Napa Marina



Rising out of the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, Ayia Napa Marina blends strategic location with striking architecture to capture the true essence of stylish Mediterranean beachfront living, surrounded by the wealth of natural beauty, cultural heritage and welcoming hospitality that Cyprus is renowned for. This exclusive integrated development offers luxurious residences, world-class yachting facilities, a variety of retail boutiques, waterfront fine dining options, recreational and nightlife experiences. It offers all the benefits of elegant modern living in a unique location, with crystal clear seas, stunning beaches and incredible views. With complete privacy and round-the-clock security for homes and yachts, Ayia Napa Marina is the ideal residential, yachting and social destination, offering everything one needs to relax and enjoy the exciting lifestyle of the Mediterranean.



For more information visit: www.marinaayianapa.com/l/millwood-kane-international





Source: Millwood Kane International PWR

PWR
Chandigarh, Feb 21 (PTI) The Punjab government will reimpose 3 per cent social security fund on registration of properties in urban areas from April this year, state revenue minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria informed the Assembly Thursday.

Replying to a question of former finance minister and SAD MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa during Question Hour, Sarkaria attributed waiving of 3per cent social security fund for two years to non-achievement of stamp duty and registration charges as one of the reasons.

The government had waived 3 per cent social security fund on registration of properties in the urban areas on July 28, 2017. This relief would expire on March 31, 2019.

"This three per cent social security fund will again be imposed with effect from April 2019," said Sarkaria.

The minister informed the House that the state government had not been able to achieve the target of stamp duty and registration charges for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (till January, 2019).

The government's collections have been Rs 2,109.68 crore (2016-17), Rs 2,153.95 crore (2017-18)and 1,891 crore (2018-19) for these years as against the target of Rs 2,600 crore, Rs 2,400 crore and Rs 2,500 crore respectively, said Sarkaria.

The revenue minister also blamed sluggish real estate market as another reason for not achieving the target. PTI CHS VSD MR

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Boeing holds talks with HAL and MDS on F/A-18 Super Hornet

"Make in India" plan

Bengaluru, Feb 21 (PTI) Aerospace company Boeing Thursday

held discussions with its partners, Mahindra Defence Systems

(MDS) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on the proposed

F/A-18 Super Hornet 'Make in India' plan.

The partners are developing comprehensive plans to set-up

a new 'factory of the future' to manufacture Super Hornet

locally, Boeing said after the discussions at the Aero India

air show at the Yelahanka air base here.

The program is expected to work with several Indian

suppliers to grow a thriving defense aerospace base which

could accelerate other programs, a company statement said.

The facility will create a world-class, highly trained

aerospace workforce, it said.

The public-private partnership is intended to bring

Boeing, HAL and MDS' global scale and supply chain, its

best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes, as well as

experience in designing and optimising aerospace production

facilities to expand India's aerospace ecosystem and help

realise the 'Make in India' vision.

Boeing's Super Hornet is a proven platform that offers

the fighter of the future for India networked, survivable

and reliable, the statement said.

Introduced in 2007, the F/A-18 Super Hornet is the

world's preeminent carrier capable aircraft and best suited

for India's naval fighter requirements designed from day one

for carrier operations, according to Boeing.

The Super Hornet is highly capable across the full

mission spectrum for the Indian Air Force and is a true

multi-role aircraft, able to perform virtually every mission

in the tactical spectrum, it said.

In addition, Boeing also laid out at Aero India its

future defence plans proposing the KC-46A aerial refueler,

AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, additional P-8 long-range

maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, and the

twin-engine Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C)

aircraft.

Boeing also highlighted its growing services, sustainment

and training footprint in India which is delivering

exceptional operational capability and readiness for current

platforms at a competitive cost structure, another release

from the company said.

The P-8I and C-17 operated by the Indian Navy and

Indian Air Force have high mission readiness rates of >85%, as

a result of this commitment.

For the soon-to-be-inducted AH-64E Apaches and CH-47F(I)

Chinooks, the first batch of Indian Air Force pilots have been

undergoing training in the United States, it said.

Boeing also plans to establish rotor craft training

and support capabilities in India as deliveries commence this

year, it said.

Boeing also shared its success on 'Make in India',

highlighting the contributions of its 160+ suppliers that

provide parts and assemblies covering aerostructures, wire

harness, composites, forgings, avionics mission systems, and

ground support equipment for some of its most advanced defence

platforms.

Boeing also highlighted the deliveries of the first

batch of AH-64 Apache fuselages by Tata Boeing Aerospace

Limited, the Joint Venture with Tata Advanced Systems Limited,

which is the sole-producer of fuselages globally. PTI RA APR

APR APR
New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Congress over allegations of leakage of Aadhaar numbers of LPG users, saying the leaders of opposition party were creating doubts on "temples" of energy of Indian economy through fabricated claims.

He denied any breach of privacy or leak of Aadhaar number of domestic cooking gas (LPG) users saying "all data is safe and secure."

"There is no leak, no violation of privacy at all," he said at a function organised to give out first batch of 2,582 letters for allotment of petrol pumps out of the 78,493 that were advertised in November.

Pradhan said he had got the claim of a security lapse and leak of Aadhaar numbers of LPG users of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), which were first made by a French hacker, examined by the company.

"We found no breach in security and systems," he said charging the Congress of using the claim made by the French hacker to cast doubts on India's blue-chip oil companies which have during all times ensured steady supply of auto and cooking fuels to every nook and corner of the country and without disruption fed needs of security apparatus.

"These are fabricated claims," he said. "Who were you doubting? IOC? The company which has consistently delivered fuel in all weather conditions at the highest mountain peaks in Ladakh. Or BPCL which ensured there is no disruption in LPG supplies when Kerala was inundated by floods. These companies ensured kerosene, LPG and petrol and diesel is supplied when Chennai was under floods. They airlifted fuel to blockade-hit Manipur without bothering about cost," he said.

Oil companies, he said are not political tools. "They are institutions. Temples of energy, Church of energy, Dargah of energy. You can have doubts over the priest but have you ever heard of doubts being cast on the temple, church or a mosque?" he asked.

Without naming Congress president Rahul Gandhi, he said: "Yuvraj's party does not have faith in India and so is creating such doubts."

Pradhan handed over letters of intent (LoI) to successful applicants for 2,582 places.

In all, 78,493 locations were advertised for setting up of petrol pumps and interest sought from those owning lands.

About 75,000 sites were applied for by close of the deadline in January. After processing, the first batch of allotments has been done. The remaining allotments will be done over the next 4-5 months, he said.

"It has been traditionally seen that the strike rate of sites advertised being converted into actual petrol pumps after necessary formalities and scrutiny has been 15 per cent. We are targeting 25-30 per cent this time which means 20,000 petrol pumps will come up. Each petrol pump employs 10 persons so it will create 2 lakh direct jobs," he said.

The allotments are being done through an online draw of lots in "most transparent manner," he said.

The country currently has 64,214 petrol pumps, most of them owned by state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). Private sector Nayara Energy owns 5,063 pumps, Reliance Industries 1,400 and Shell 144.

He said those asking about job creation should look at the employment just the 20,000 petrol pumps will create.

LPG user base, he said, has doubled in less than five years to 26 crore. "Between 1954 and 2014, 13 crore LPG connections were given. We have given an equal number of connections in four years and nine months."

Of the 13 crore LPG connections given, 6.75 crore have been provided free of cost to poor households, he said.

Oil Secretary M M Kutty said India's oil demand is expected to grow by 3-3.5 per cent over 2040 and gas by 4-5 per cent.

The expansion of retail outlets is planned to enhance the availability of fuel across the country, he said. PTI ANZ ANZ MR

MR
Friedman warns of Russia meddling in polls, says Facebook must

be contained, made accountable

Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) Award-winning American columnist

and author Thomas Friedman has warned Indians about the

possible meddling of Russia in the upcoming hustings through

unregulated media like Facebook, exactly the way they did to

the detriment of the US in the 2016 presidential elections.

President Vladimir Putin will be "voting" in the

summer general elections, the author of the book 'The World is

Flat' said here Thursday.

"If you (Indians) think they (Russians) will not be

playing in your elections, you are not paying attention.

Believe me, Putin will be voting in your election," Friedman

said speaking at a annual Nasscom summit here.

The noted political thinker and author also accused

Facebook of "fundamentally violating the trust" that got the

US a president like Donald Trump.

When a country like the US, which is a champion of

liberal thoughts, talks about building boarder walls and

chooses to "go into the dark", it impacts the whole world, the

three-time Pulitzer Prize winner said, adding Trump's imprint

through his policies is spreading "venom and poison" across

the world.

The comments come in the light of accusations of

Russians using social media platforms like Facebook to spread

fake news among the American electorate, which resulted in the

surprise defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Trump in

the November 2016 polls.

The American national investigation agency FBI is

currently probing both Trump's personal involvement in Russian

meddling and also Moscow's role in the polls.

Similarly, the British also launched a probe against

Moscow after it has come to light that the Brexit referendum

too was manipulated by Russia using social media. Two years

ago, the British in a thin margin of 52 percent voted to leave

the EU by March this year.

Friedman said a platform like Facebook has deep

insights, courtesy a massive invasion of individual privacy,

and said it's essential for entrepreneurs to know

constitutional morality along with computer codes.

"Mark Zuckerburg did computer coding in college but

did not take a constitutional course in the college. He

extended the Facebook platform all over the world without

thinking about the privacy or election implications. And we

are now paying the price for that," Friedman said.

He further said a newspaper like The New York Times,

for which he writes, is strictly regulated, unlike a Facebook

which revels at zero oversight.

Facebook, however, wants a newspaper's advertisers and

readers, without the regulation over things like fake news, he

said, calling it as a fundamental violation of trust.

When asked about the growth of India and China, he

said both the countries have their own strengths. Drawing

parallels with a super-highway, he said China has a smooth

road with an uncertainty lurking on the political front, where

rights are trampled on.

As against this, in India, the journey is very bumpy

with a lot of hindrances in between but far on the horizon is

something that kindles optimism.

"Whether it is a mirage or an oasis only time will

tell," he said, adding the way India has stuck to democracy

for so long and how a land of 1.34 billion people votes in a

largely free and fair election is nothing but a "miracle".

He said the lack of natural resources is India's

biggest strength, which results in all the people being forced

to use their minds and work extra. PTI AA

BEN BEN
(Eds: Updating with details of court verdict)

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Observing there was a 'wilful default', the Supreme Court on Wednesday held Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communication(RCom), guilty of contempt of court and ordered the debt-laden company to clear the Rs 453 crore dues to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson within four weeks or face a 3-month jail term.

In a verdict that came as a setback to Ambani, the apex court also pulled up the industrialist for his "cavalier attitude" demonstrated through the affidavit filed in the court and said any "unconditional apology" given must be rejected.

Besides Ambani, the court held Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd Chhaya Virani as well as their three companies guilty of contempt of court,

"The RCom group is directed to purge the contempt of this Court by payment to Ericsson the sum of Rs 453 crore within a period of four weeks from today. In default of such payment, the Chairmen who have given undertakings to this Court will suffer three months imprisonment," said a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran.

It directed the registry of the apex court to pay Rs 118 crore deposited by the RCom group to Ericsson within a period of one week from Wednesday.

The court said there is no doubt that the three Reliance Companies have "wilfully not paid the sum of Rs 550 crore plus interest and have thus breached the undertakings given to this Court".

"We are also of the view that in the facts of the present case, wilful default is made out...," the court said, adding it is not a case of accidental or unintentional disobedience.

It also imposed Rs one crore fine on each of the three companies and directed the amount to be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks from today and in case of default the chairmen of these companies will have to undergo one month's imprisonment.

Shortly after the pronouncement of the verdict, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Ambani, said he respects the decision of the apex court and expressed confidence that the group will honour the directions on payment of dues to Ericsson.

"We respect the Supreme Court's order. We have faced our difficulties. However, the court ruled the way it has ruled," Rohatgi told PTI.

"I am sure Rcom will honour the Supreme Court's order," he added.

The 41-page verdict by the apex court came on three contempt petitions filed by Ericsson for non-payment of its Rs 550 crores dues for the work of operation, maintenance, and management of RCom's network the telecom equipment maker has done since 2013.

The court while dealing with the facts of the case said the undertakings given by the three chairmen of the three companies on August 9, last year that Rs 550 Crore dues of Ericsson will be paid subject to the sale of assets was neither in accordance of the apex court's order of August 3, 2018 nor as per the undertaking given by directors of the company before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

"In view of this, it is clear that the three Reliance Companies had no intention, at the very least, of adhering to the time limit of 120 days or to the extended time limit of 60 days plus, as was given by way of indulgence, by the order dated October 23, 2018.

"The undertakings given on the footing that the amount of Rs 550 crore would be paid only out of the sale of assets was false to the knowledge of the three Reliance Companies," it said, and added, "This itself affects the administration of justice, and is therefore, contempt of court".

Dealing with the affidavit of Ambani filed in the contempt petition of Ericsson, the bench said he has stated RCom has not taken or received any advantage on account of the undertaking submitted before the top court.

Terming the statement of Ambani as "wholly incorrect", the bench said that without filing the said undertaking in the court, RCom could not have sought quashing of the insolvency proceedings.

"We are of the view that any unconditional apology given that there was no intention to make any wrongful undertaking or that the undertaking was submitted bona fide must be rejected. It is clear that this reply affidavit clearly demonstrates the cavalier attitude of the deponent (Ambani) of this affidavit to the highest court of the land," the bench said.

It said that to say that the sum of Rs 550 crore would be paid only out of sale of assets of the three Reliance Companies is a "deliberate misstatement" made in the undertakings as well as the applications for extension of time filed before the Court, which was done with the purpose of circumventing the orders of this Court.

Referring to the letter of January 21, written by advocates on behalf of RCom group to Ericsson offering to clear the dues with interest subject to withdrawal of contempt petitions, the bench said the Reliance Companies were able to pay the outstanding amount, but were wilfully refusing to do so.

The apex court dismissed the contempt petition filed by Ericsson with respect to the Chairman of State Bank of India, saying the bank has nothing to do with Rs 550 Crore which has to be paid only by the three Reliance Companies.PTI MNL RKS GSN GSN

GSN
The four-day hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice will conclude on Thursday with both India and Pakistan making their final submissions.

Now, it will be a long wait for the sentence. On an average, it takes at least six months for judges to deliberate and come to a verdict.

After both parties conclude their arguments, judges usually deliberate the case and discuss the questions the case raises. The junior-most judge in the hierarchy would be invited to make his or her arguments first. That way, he or she would have had the chance to speak his/her mind before all the seniors reveal how they think.

A drafting committee is formed then and the judges usually draft their opinions. The matter is put to vote and the majority opinion prevails. However, in the case of a tie, the president has a casting vote. In an effort to bring his colleagues around to a unanimous verdict, the president usually helps bring both sidesin case of differing opinionstogether to cobble together a compromise.

In the Jadhav case, Pakistani judge Tassaduq Hussain Jilliani was sworn in as an ad-hoc judge on the last day of the hearing. On the first day on Monday, he was dramatically taken away from the courthouse as he had the flu, which worsened after he came to the court.

Pakistan had argued that it has the right to have a judge of its choosing, especially since India already has a judge on the bench, Dalveer Bhandari. As Judge Jilliani is indisposed, the co-agent Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan asked for a short adjournment of the case to ensure fairness. On Wednesday, however, the court assured Pakistan that despite Jilliani was absent from the hearings, he could still be included in the deliberation. All the transcripts have been shared with Jilliani and he could watch the proceedings on the ICJ website, too.
The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, might be the last prominent world leader to visit India before the country gets into election mode. The importance of this visit is underlined by the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself received Salman at the airporta brand of hosting reserved only for very special guests. The timing of the visit, in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attacks, too, is significant. Getting an Islamic nation to denounce the attack was equally important.

Now that the prince has left for the next leg of his tour in Beijing, what is the assessment of his visit to New Delhi? South Block seems pretty upbeat with the outcome, emphasising that it was a very fruitful meeting. They point towards the key takeaways: the decision to establish a Strategic Partnership Council in both countries at the ministerial level, to be guided by the leaders themselves; the decision to have a comprehensive security dialogue at the level of National Security Advisors, and the setting up of a joint working group on counter-terrorism.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has decided to invest 100 billion dollars in India, across sectors that include, infrastructure, agriculture and refineries. New Delhi regards this as a great faith in India's robust economic growth. The prince, in fact, termed as magnificent the opportunities available in India for investment.

The joint statement issued at the end of the trip condemned the attack on Pulwama in the strongest terms, and the prince has agreed to India's line on cross-border terror funding and the need to get terror outfits and their leaders proscribed by the United Nations.

But, look carefully at the documents, and it is not difficult to notice that the outcome of the tour was rather modest. Even the strengthening of military ties is limited to a joint naval exercise, the date of which is yet to be decided. There are hopes that such exercises will be done with the Army and Air Force too, at some later date. Incidentally, it is not new for the Navy to exercise with KSA. They do this regularly when passing through the Red Sea, in what is called Passex or passage exercises. The new exercise will only be old wine in new bottle, albeit more planned.

Even KSA's announcement to join the International Solar Alliance, which is Modi's baby, is not such a big development. Over 100 countries are on board, including important technology suppliers like France.

Should India have expected more, given the way in which Modi has been wooing West Asia? He has made high optic trips across the region, including KSA, UAE, Oman, and even Palestine, Jordan and Israel. Despite the Act East focus of his government, it is actually his Gulf nation relations which have stood out.

For KSA, India is no doubt an important country. A regional power, a big supplier of manpower, as well as a big consumer of its chief exportsoil and gas. KSA is India's fourth largest trading partner, but the balance of trade is vastly in KSA's favour. India is also one of the eight strategic partnerships KSA has entered with, which again is a big deal for both countries.

On the other hand, Pakistan is also an important nation, not least because it is a part of the Islamic world. Imran Khan received an important bail-out package, 20 billion dollars that could inject some life into Pakistan's crumbling economy.

Thus, KSA has played a fine balancing act. While in Islamabad, the prince agreed that the countries should not try to politicise the United Nations list of sanctions, but in India, he said that terror outfits and their leaders should be blacklisted by the UN. Given that all these noises revolve around Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is responsible for most terror attacks against India, and which enjoys the patronage of Pakistan, the prince has done a fine balancing act. Are his statements contradictory? The jury is out on that point.

Again, the prince made the right noises about regional connectivity projects, read the Belt and Road Initiative. He agreed with India's stand that these projects should conform with internationally established rules and respect sovereign concerns. Yet, part of the funds given to Pakistan are likely to be used in projects around the Gwadar port area, part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the showpiece of BRI.

Including Haj quotas and releasing 850 prisoners from Saudi jails (a little over 2,000 Indians are lodged there) sweetened the visit, as did the prince's compliments to Modi for having tried to work with Pakistan ever since he took charge. But, there was only a vaguely termed statement, to the effect that it was important to create the right conditions for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan.

India has been careful in its relations with KSA for a number of reasons. It kept a diplomatic silence on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The outcomes of this visit may not be as spectacular as Modi would have wanted, but perhaps this is a long-term investment, which may yield a dividend much later, and when it is crucial. For instance, joining forces on counter-terrorism and intelligence gathering, in which KSA says it has expertise, could be very, very useful some day. Meanwhile, there is always the assurance that our energy security is ensured, for the present at least.
Five people have been charged in the shooting, and Evans said he expects there will be more arrests. He also said his office is seeking to have a special prosecutor appointed to the case.
What works against him are the below average dialogues and a sloppy script
Congress legislator from Kampli, J.N. Ganesh, who was arrested for allegedly assaulting his party colleague and Hosapete MLA Anand Singh in a midnight brawl at a resort in Bidadi, has been remanded to judicial custody till March 6.

Ganesh had been absconding for a month after the incident on January 19 before getting arrested on Wednesday evening by the Ramanagara police from Gujarat.

The midnight brawl at Eagleton resort had embarrassed the Congress party, which had herded all its legislators into the hotel allegedly to prevent horsetrading by the BJP.

The party, which was busy firefighting an internal rebellion with a few party MLAs lead by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi going into a huddle in a Mumbai hotel, had been jolted by the brawl that landed one of its legislators in the hospital and sent another absconding.

While senior Congress leaders tried to strike a compromise between the two legislators to evade a police case, Singh's family went ahead with the case against Ganesh. He was booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

In the FIR lodged at the Bidadi police station on January 21, Anand Singh alleged that Ganesh picked up a quarrel when he was walking towards his room after dinner on January 19 night.

"Ganesh accused me of not extending financial aid to him during the elections. He used expletives and assaulted me by throwing a flower (earthen) pot. He grabbed me and banged my head against the wall," said Singh in the complaint. The report also states that after Singh collapsed, Ganesh crushed his stomach beneath his feet, and punched him with his fist, screaming, "Die, die", in a frenzy. He also threatened Singh that he would kill his nephew (Sandeep). Singh sustained a black eye and severe pain in his body.

Strangely, the police showed no urgency in arresting the accused, and even the opposition BJP chose not to pursue the case though the lawmaker kept evading arrest for nearly a month.

The police said they had formed teams and that they were looking for him in Ballari, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Andaman.

Interestingly, it was a day after Ramesh Jarkiholi (who attended the budget session after the party issued a second whip) met Ganesh's family in Ballari that the police were able to locate him in Gujarat. Ganesh also withdrew his bail application submitted to the special court. Sources in the party said that Ganesh agreed to surrender after the party assured him that his interest would be protected.

Singh, who had sustained a hairline fracture in his right cheek bone and one in the ribs, is now recuperating.

"We have collected circumstantial evidence from the resort. If need be, the MLAs and a minister who were present during the assault will be summoned for questioning," said Ramanagara SP B. Ramesh.
Even as the preparations for the Congress Working Committee meeting and a public gathering in Gujarat on February 28 have begun, the grand old party is facing a double trouble in the state.

The ruling BJP has begun a state-wide protest against opposition leader Paresh Dhanani for his alleged remarks over Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the Statue of Unity. Along with this, the website of the Gujarat Congress was hacked.

Dhanani was suspended for a day on Wednesday from the proceedings of the state assembly after his alleged remarks in the house that scrap was used to make the statue of the Iron Man. His remarks led to protests from the BJP which demanded an apology from the Congress leader. Dhanani, however, said that he had only mentioned facts that are also written at the statue's site.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Dhanani's comments would have a negative impact on the Congress party.

Meanwhile, the website of the Gujarat Congress was hacked on Thursday. The oldest and largest political party in India looted the country for 70 years and it evolved into a natural party of thugs, read a post put up by the hackers on the website, leaving the Congress in a huge embarrassment. The contents were later taken off.

Congress spokesman Manish Doshi said that the party has lodged a police complaint and expressed hope that the perpetrators would be brought to book. He also said that the protests against Dhanani is BJP's attempt to divert attention from the real issues.

On Thursday, Gujarat Congress in-charge Rajiv Satav chaired a meeting to discuss preparations for the CWC meeting and the public gathering. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and a host of other leaders will take part in the CWC meeting.

Rahul Gandhi has already blown party's poll bugle in Gujarat by addressing a public meeting in Dharampur on February 14. The party, however, will try to pitch hard on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf in Rahul Gandhi's second public meeting.
Competition to sell over 100 aircraft to the Indian Air Force continues to remain intense, despite massive delays in procurement, and companies are often ready to use any means to promote their wares. And also pull down rival offerings!

On Wednesday, US manufacturer Lockheed Martin stole the headlines at the Aero India air show by unveiling the F-21 fighter as its customised offering for the Indian Air Force. The F-21 offering provoked both excitement and debate, with some aviation experts calling it a 'rebranded' version of the venerable F-16, with more emphasis on its industrial cooperation package than design advances.

Combat Proven, Future Ready, and still called the F/A-18 Super Hornet. ;-)

Catch them here at #AeroIndia2019

MORE: https://t.co/348oYdTR3L pic.twitter.com/cbIHRCeHco  Boeing India (@Boeing_In) February 21, 2019

Not surprisingly, US giant Boeing on Thursday took a dig at the F-21. In a tweet, Boeing India promoted its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter, also on offer to the Indian Air Force. Boeing tweeted, Combat Proven, Future Ready, and still called the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing, which have been rivals on the US and global fighter markets for decades, have been eyeing the Indian aircraft requirements for years.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet | Boeing

Both the Super Hornet and F-16 were offered for the Indian Air Force contract to buy 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), launched in the previous decade. While neither fighter was short-listed, the contract itself was junked by the Narendra Modi government in 2015. Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin are vying to supply 114 fighters to the Indian Air Force in a new contest, announced in 2018.

During the 2011 Aero India show, Boeing had unveiled a Super Hornet featuring advanced options for the Indian Air Force. These included conformal fuel tanks mounted atop the aircraft's wings, an infra-red sensor to detect aerial targets and a large-area cockpit display screen, which replaces multiple such screens. Boeing has continued to promote many of these enhancements, with the US Navy planning to buy the large-area cockpit display system and conformal fuel tanks for its fleet of Super Hornets. However, the F/A-18 designation has remained.

Interestingly, the F-21 offered to the Indian Air Force has a large-area cockpit display and also conformal fuel tanks, which the F-16 has had since the 1990s.

That Boeing and Lockheed Martin are serious about fighter orders from India is evident from the fact that both firms have brought aircraft to Aero India, unlike some European and Russian rivals.

To promote the Super Hornet in India, Boeing has partnered with HAL and Mahindra, while Lockheed Martin is promoting the F-21 with Tata Advanced Systems.
Issue has got complicated after India failed to get FEO tag for him
Krstic, who moved to Hungary in 1989, grew up in Slovenia watching Hollywood westerns, Fellini flicks and Russian silent films at the local movie house. A devoted cinephile, he crams Ruben Brandt with references to such auteurs as Sergei Eisenstein, Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa. In Kurosawas Yojimba, Krstic notes, "There's a dog with a human hand in his mouth. David Lynch made an homage to Kurosawa in his film Wild at Heart, and in Ruben Brandt, I paid homage to both directors with a little cardboard dog with a human hand in his mouth hanging from the interior rear-view mirror in the car of the bad guy, Barutanski. By the way, his car is a Lincoln Continental Mark III, a tribute to William Friedkins French Connection. I wanted to steal from the best by putting these images into my film and hopefully giving them fresh shape. This is how art and science go forward. All the time, we are standing on the shoulders of somebody else."
RTHK: US white supremacist 'plotted mass murder'

A US Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a target list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures has been arrested on firearms and drug charges.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week and a powerful arsenal seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

"The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," US District Attorney Robert Hur said in a motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial.

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," Hur said.

Hasson, who was arrested on Friday, is being held on drug charges and for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.

The US Attorney's office said 15 guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hasson's cramped basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with illegal drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone.

Prosecutors said Hasson identified himself as a "White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland."

Hasson routinely perused portions of the "Breivik manifesto" on amassing firearms and how to compile a list of targets, they said.

Among the documents seized, according to prosecutors, was a draft letter to an unidentified American neo-Nazi leader in which Hasson described himself as a "long time White Nationalist" and a "man of action."

A spreadsheet of potential targets compiled by Hasson included Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats in the House and Senate. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: Bangladesh says IS teen not a citizen

A British teen who joined the Islamic State group in Syria has no claim to Bangladeshi nationality, Dhaka's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after the UK government decided to revoke her citizenship.

"Bangladesh asserts that Ms. Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh," the ministry said in a statement. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.